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Show I ' : ; i I OonatDoIic Queries, and Mimn Cftereto j I "What proof have you that Lelhcr sanctioned big- ;!i amy? I His permission lo the landgrave, Phillip of I llcssc, to take a second wife during the lifetime ; l of the first, and his published writings afford ample f proof. j Philip of Hesse, a great friend of the lioforma-lion, lioforma-lion, applied in lo Luther for authority to j marry an additional wife, bigamy being punishable I at that lime wiih death by the German law. In his f, letter he cites the exam pi of the old law prophets, ? declares bigamy not forbidden by the old law and ii the new, and personally declares it Impossible for V him to be pure with only one wife. The landgrave I had in mind a published sermon of Luther ( 1527), " in which he said: "It is not forbidden that a man "j should have more than one wife. I could not for- i bid it today. Hut I would not advise it." (Cf. Lu- j Uki's complete works, vol. xxxiii, p. "2 et seq). j This permission was granted on condition that it ' be kept secret (Do Wette, Luthers Letters, etc.. v. pp. 2.'57 et eq), and Philip was married March 4, I 1.VP. jo Margart von Sala by Moiander, himself . n minister with three wives living; (Janssen, "Jlis- ; i"iy of the . fierman , people," vol. iii, p. 40S). I Whru the mailer became public Lulher, on the prin- f ciplc that the nd justifies the means, declared it i lawful to deny ibe fact of the marriage. "What I would it matter if. for the sake of greater good and ; i of the Christian Church, one were to tell a biir lief ;: f.Tansscn. iii. 4-ki'i. On this question road. 'Lu- ; ilier: An Historical Portrait." J. Yerres, rh. xxi. i v, y.i2-i!t. f. TVhat are the conditions of entrance into the Cath- f: olio Church? I' Must a convert to your Church be baptized again 1 and confess the Fin? of a lifetime? I The Catholic Church, in accordance with the . teaching- of the Scriptures, requires of all adults I who seek admittance ij,to her one true fold the rc- j pent a nee f nil past sin. the detestation of all past j- r'Tor, and the tinn, certain belief in all the doc- I. 'tines taught, by Christ. "He that believeth and is I baptized sh iil bo saved" (Mark xvi 36); "Do pen-jtsiee pen-jtsiee and be baptized" (Acts ji. 38). If a convert is absolutely pure of his baptism. ; he cannot be rehaptizod, but is bound to confess all I grievous sins committed after baptism. Tf a Prot- cstant is trieertain about his former baptism a i: frequent case in our day of lax Christian views and I practice he' is baptized conditionally with the j f! firm: "If thou art not baptized. I baptize thee in j j the name of the Father and of the Son and of flie Holy fSIuv-t." The Sacrament of Penance is also given conditionally, so that a convert is certain of I the forgiveness of tins through one sacrament or ! 1 he other. A convert is obliged to study carefully the doctrines doc-trines of the catechism, so that, he may have an accurate knowledge of Catholic teaching, and be able intelligently to take the oath of the profession I of faith: ''With a sincere heart, therefore, and j with unfeigned faith, I detest every-error, heresy and sect, opposed io the said Holy, Catholic and I . Apostolic Roman Church. So help me God, and I ihese His holy gospels, which P touch with my I , hand." 1 ShoulJ a person live and die in the Church of their I baptism, especially if they have Fworn to do so? I I have met a number of Lutherans in the north- west who told me that they had taken an oath to j die Lutheran. Such an oath to worship Christina 1 false Christianity, which He as God of truth ne cessarily condemns, is not binding, once a person discovers that the Catholic Church is the only church possessing; the entire gospel of the Savior. He must abandon his heresy and schism once he discovers them, else salvation is impossible. Such a one does not hate his own parents and other relations, as some simple souls are taught to believe, but rather loves them the more, and prays until death for their conversion. Xaturally he will be anxious for thein. knowing- that possibly they may be sinfully, resisting the grace of God which would bring- them into the true fold. How strangely strange-ly intolerant are some parents, who. contrary to that tirst principle of their Protestantism private judgment persecute with bitter hatred their own flesh and blood who, obedient to conscience and to God's grace, embrace the religion of their forefathers, fore-fathers, in the obi Church of Jesus Christ. Error is never consistent. '"The religion of my parents is good enough for me," say seine. If you were born in poverty, would I you think the condition of your parents precluded all notion of your bettering your condition? So. in like manner, once convinced of the poverty of the partial gospel you possess, as a rational man you are bound to embrace "the unsearchable riches" of the true gospel of Christ (Eph. iii. S). Is it true that Catholics are bound to hate Protestants? Protest-ants? I read in your profession of faith that every convert must take the following; oath on the gospels: ' "With a sincere heart therefore, :uid with unfeigned faith, I detest and abjure every error, heresy, and sect opposed to the .said Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Ro-man Church." It is not true. The universal love of our fellow men, no matter what their race, color or religion, is the strict commandment of Christ: "Tlrou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. xix. 19). And the beloved disciple. St. John, teaches: "If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveih not his brother, whom he seeth, how can ho love God. whom he seeth not?" (1 John iv. 2(1). The words of the profession of faith are objective ob-jective and imply that, as followers of Christ in the one divine society which lias ever kept His gospel pure and uncorrupted, we detest, even as He and His apostles did (Matt, vi 15; xii 15, 30; xvi 16:'xviii IT: Rom. xvi 17; 1 Cor. i 10; Gal. i 9: Eph. iv 4; ITeb. xiii 7-9, etc.), all Tieresy which is a denial of God's truth and schism, which is a withdrawal from the one fold of the Good Shepherd (John x 16). They in no way .refer to the individuals individu-als of false religions or spurious Christianities, who, through the sins of their ancestors and ignorance ig-norance of the true gospel, are separated from the Church of the living God. My mother a good soul and a sincere Protestant-assures Protestant-assures me that it will break her heart if I become a Catholic. I believe all the teachings of your Church, but find it hard to pain one so dear to me. A very practical difficulty and one that has been given me scores of times by timid, doubting souls. The true fellower of Christ dare not hesitate to obey His teaching once it is known, for to be false to one's conscience is to instantly imperil one's eternal salvation. Our Lord speaks of this opposition of relatives, but declares that He and His teaching must come first : . ''For I come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother He that loveth father or mother more than ATe, is not worthy of ITe" (Matt, x 35, 37). :No. true parent can find fault with a child who is loyal to. conscience and to truth; no true parent can desire a child to commit grievous sin by deliberately de-liberately refusing; to do what he knows to be the will of God... - The Catholic Church interprets the fourth commandment, com-mandment, ''Honor thy father and thy mother." to imply obedieuce in all that is good and lawful. If a parent command or advise something contrary con-trary to God's law, a child is bound to disobey, on hc apostolic principle: "We ought to obey' God rather than men" (Acts v 29). ' Why Is. the Church opposed to cremation? On May 19, 188b', a lloman decree forbade Catholics Cath-olics "to join those societies whose object was to spread the practice of cremation, or to leave orders for the cremation of one's body or that of another." an-other." The reasons for the Church's opposition are: 1st. Although there is no' intrinsic reason why cremation is unlawful and no divine precept to bury the dead, still it is contrary to the universal practice of the Jews under the old law (Gen. xxiii 4, Tob. ii- 7-9) and the Christians under the new. 2nd. It is today advocated by modern unbelievers, unbeliev-ers, who knowing the Christian respect for the dead arises from the fact of the resurrection, hope by' this practical method to undermine the belief in immortality. "Catholics have grave reasons to oppose op-pose cremation," writes the pantheistic Free Mason Ma-son Ghisleri (Almanaceo. dei Liberi Muratari for 18S1); "this purification of the dead by means of fire would shake to its foundations Catholic predominance, pre-dominance, based on the terror which it has surrounded sur-rounded death" " "Oh. rapid transformation! transforma-tion! in one short hour commingled with the inner in-ner being of the great All." Urfl. The early Christians buried the dead after j tiki example of Christ as a protest against the pa-j pa-j gun denial of the resurrection, and out of respect for the. body which had been the dwelling place of God by the reception of the Eucharist, j 4th. Cremation today is opposed to the whole I spirit of the burial service of the Catholic Church, although should cremation be made a compulsory ' law, as some of its advocates demand, she could easily adapt her prayers and funeral services to this new method. 5th. Medical men and jurists have opposed cremation cre-mation on the ground that it destroys all evidence of the cause of death, so often needed in criminal cases of poisoning Cth. There is no objection to cremation in times of pestilence or in such cases as the late flood in Galveston, when it is needed for the public good. ("Cremation and Christianity," Dublin Review. Re-view. April, 1890; "The Ethics of Cremation," The Month. May, 1875; "Is Cremation Christian Burial?" Bur-ial?" ibid., 1884). Perhaps what you style a miracle may be due to some unknown law of nature. You must admit that as yet we do not know all her secrets. A little reflection will convince a man that knowledge of all the laws of nature is not necessary to determine whether a particular fact be a miracle mir-acle or not. Medical science may make great strides within the next century, but no new medicine medi-cine will ever be able to bring the dead to life. Hypnotic suggestion may effect some wonderful new cures, but it never. will give sight to a man without eyes. A new Edison may make some new discoveries more marvelous than his, yet no inventor in-ventor will ever -be able to calm the winds and waves at a word or to pass through a closed door. If, then, we have good evidence of an effect beyond be-yond the power of any creature, as, for instance, the feeding of 5,000 men with five loaves, the very uniformity oi the laws, of science forbids us to deny the miracle in virtue of sonw unknown law. It is merely a question of evidence. |