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Show I HE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE ONLY AUTHORITY Tfse World, Judging the Church from Her Human Side, is Seldom fair and Just-In Just-In Her Divine Nature Rests the Only Power to Authenticate the Bible. (Written for 1 lie liitermountain Catholic.) ! Heresy, derived from the Greek" hairesis denoting denot-ing choice or selection moans, in a religious s MM', the choice and defense of opinions contrary :nithorized-teachings of ihe religious com-), com-), unity to which one owes obedience. Heresy in-..lves in-..lves iwo ideas (l),the deliberate and voluntary rij.rtien of some doctrine proposed by the su-pittne su-pittne authority established in any church as nec--sary to be believed; anl (2) defiantly persisting in rejecting- a doctrine which one knows to be a p.-cia! tenet of that particular religious community, commu-nity, in which the contumacious person claims membership. In the Catholic sense it applies 'to ii -I. -n ii I of dogmas of faith proposed by the Church V- ii- nee ssary to b dievod. -I The Catholic h, in defining articles of f.iitli. claims ay . "-'t ..nd infallibility, because of I liie presence in hi o i.. her of Christ, who is "the way. ihe truth i,n i life' This was included in me command given to the Apostles to "teach all iiieions" for lie said: "I am AvJlh you all dffys mi!., ihe consummation ,f the world." The words iMldressed 10 Ihe Apostles ratify the claim of their external appointment to teach, and coming, as tbev do. from Christ, give them the right, and therefore the authority, -to teach what" he revealed to them. i But the authority to teach, in order to be infallible, infalli-ble, must have something more than the mere ex-v ex-v nial appointment. It is the presence of her divine di-vine Founder, who is her light and life, that guards her divine .side and preserves her free from error. Through the presence of Christ the divine life of ihe Church is sustained and maintainedand in defining articles of faith, which must be believed, she simply expresses in words what is internally manifested to her. This is the ground work on which her authority rests, and this authority, when applied to dogmatic teaching, is restricted to the revealed Word of Cod. In oi her words, all articles ' o1 faith defined by the Church have their foundation founda-tion m the revealed Word. Hence Catholic teaching teach-ing so little understood -and supposed -to be the reverse 0f AVhat it really is maintains that the ".Kirch is authoritative in her teaching, but infallible infal-lible only in defining dogmas. She has authority io make laws and regulations, afco. in her adminis-i adminis-i ration, but she is not infallible in these; because in .'ill matters of discipline and administration it is only ihe human side of the Church that acts, and wh.never is human is imperfect; therefore mav be mi-taken. But in matters of faith which we" are commanded to believe ("he that believeth and is baptized will be saved'' must mean that we believe seniething) lne Church, through her union, with hrist and ihe indwelling of the Iloly Ghost, is both ai-'horiiative and infallible, and as to defined dogma-, one is not free to choose a contrary opinion which would be heresy. Farther than this, viz., a l. ik.iI of revealed truths defined by the Church and 1 "in - a part of her infallible teaching, the y iUe ot heresy does not .extend. f i :i- world is in daily contact with ihe fallible or j human side ih. Church; it rarely sees, and never t - vim belongs , the infallible or divine side, I .'".' judgments follow the senses or the expe- I V'"'- 'VTy-day life when -pronounced against I ": ,( llim";i- its human ir fallible side, thev are - I m f nr and just. X Catholic is bound to de- 1 ,h' 'iTcguhinti-s and extravagances that led i '' ,lu' r'fnnatioii. nor is the Church, which j I ' '"" i hvr leachinc" capacity in the ! ' ii oj Ire-it, to be censured. Their existence v- -my a ,art of the fallible or human side of 'him h. ),.: which ihere is no guarantee against.-iJ against.-iJ " v " ' 'hiini of immunity from, error. i v i h .his ex1,lanal ion of the authority of the I 1 111,1 limit of her infallible teaching. ' iU r',ini the necessity of considering 111 'onneci.on with ihe revealed Word.'espe-'"i'li.o.. Word.'espe-'"i'li.o.. wiiich must be settled before the iwi. a-- ihe P.ible. ean.be brought into court i vs. )y what aulhorily is this settled i It I . impo;-i;,iit mid serious proposition, that its ) should be authetilicate,! before it is adduced 1 On the authority of Martin Luther. - eonjsedly fallible, the epistle of St. - y- excluded from the canon of the serip-,i serip-,i -. '1 -.rro(.t. then the old fashioned Bible i. lo,(ks v.hich are not authentic records, and 1 J I .iv he taking for inspiration books which j ; liispnv... , Hence the necessity, not only of hut miallible authority the correlation - two terms already explained in settling : 1 "l s"i-iptures. Tlie -authority needed I ,lnT "iI-v unerring, in order to be certain ! , ."' "'V(' J'ispirel word wiih nothing ad- i ! "' ' subtracted therefrom but it must be I 1 I- it oi ihe Bible also. All who 'denv the in- j "thorny of the Church in settling the ! v ; . " iiuthority extrinsic to the Bible it- I " '" '" nmhility to settle the canon or to tell !, j n.-pirel or what is not therefore follows, j ,; '.' ''" v Ii-U upon ihe. books received hy I 1 ; ' -in .-ii as canonical '. But the Church, stripped i I ' 1 "'ll'l attribute, may deceive and be do- j x " lil,:u ,rr decision would rank no higher '".'t oi a leading Unitarian professor in the School. Cambridge, who some yea rs ago 1 ,1k' nispiratiou of nearly the entire Old ' -j -m, t Si. Vaul's epistle to 1 he' Hebrews, the j 1 ti.s ot dude and James, the second of St. Pe- I l'r -"in 1"! AIMKa.1-vl'se- Assumil1? tIl(1 Church to j ...iiUr , ier decision would avail nothing in set- ! y h canon. What then U Those who oppose ( iiuichs infallible authority cannot appeal to 1 ' ii.,n. because back of tradition there must be "' .Mithority that vouches for tradition itself as ( "nTnng witness. Again, those who adopt this , 7aini ,,ia1 tradition may err, and has j 'yregiously, on important points. Flimin- ! I to'l" rT r;n",llV rr'- from those who profess, i w thnstians, the question to he answered for . 1 - infidels, agnostics, rationalists and pagans is: by j what authority is the canon of Scriptures established? estab-lished? There is absolutely none, 'and hence they have none, and as a matter of fact in most denominations denomi-nations each minister makes his. own ; canon, by-adopting by-adopting or rejecting such books as may or may not suit his taste and religious sentiments and feelings. In arguing, then, on the necessity of faith from a; Scriptural standpoint, with the infidel, rationalist, rational-ist, agnostic or pagan, here is the first great difficulty diffi-culty to be encountered. "Tie that believeth and is, baptized shall be saved," say the advocates of that , form of Christianity who are unable to establish the canon of Scriptures. Yes, answer unbelievers, i provided you can with certainty establish for us j what is or is not inspired. We find certain books in one Bible which are eliminated from other editions, edi-tions, and we find further one book, namely, the epistle of St. James, set aside by the great founder of the reformation as uninspired, and designated as an 'epistle of straw." But this is not the only difficulty to be settled before one can elicit an act of faith. Admitting the canon, for the sake of ar- , gument, the sufficiency of the Scriptures for the integrity of faith will be next tested. F. D. |