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THE CATHOLIC IIERALD
1S PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY
M. FITHIAN,
No. 72 North Second Street, Philadelphia.
Terms.—Two Dollars and Fifty Cents, if paid
inadvance, or'Three Dollars, payable half yearly,
No paper discontinued until all arrearages are
settled.
All Communications, except from Agents or
Subscribers enclosing remittances, must be post
paid, and addressed ‘+ To the Editor of the Ca-
tholic Herald, Philadelphia, Pa.’?
By permission of the Post-Master General, any
Post-Mastercan frank a letter containing a remit-
tance, fora Subscriber.
Poetry.
From the Boston Pilot.
“IDOLATRY. 7
Were you ever—were you ever—on the olive hills of
-Oc Spain ty) OMANI WS
Have you seen the Spanish maidens pray, or heard their
“iveaper strain, , ,, / Dist yaff
Have you seen the proud Hidalgo. bend low his haughty
nee,
“To the ‘altar of the lamb—ane called you this—idolatry?
id you ever walk the princely aisle, in Venice, or St
0) Mark, ? >"! Pad ect seh
- Where in the brightest noan-day, ‘tis solemA, stillfand dark?
- Did you ever see the swarthy sons of the merchant kings
of yore .
Kneel meekly—like the, publican—just within the open
cr tt i
Or have you been in Florence fair, of Rome, orinCologne,
~ And heard in theit Cathedrals grand the orgin’s heavenly
% tone, ' t ie dF .
And when—all sou! you left them—like a skylark o'er the
at ys Bea La hotel. vee
Did you call the creed you saw observed nought but idol.
™ } . ely Lat
katy?
vert
Or more than this, who that hath knelt ina cabin Church
coxy [RO TOW Se MG Hw
“Oa Erin's soul, and gazed upon the happy and the holy:
The eyes thut shone, aud hearts that beat in spite of
misery
Who would call a faith like theirs, guilty idolatey ?
M. D.
Oh!
From the U. S. Catholic Miscellany.
~~ READING THE SCRIPTURES.
("The fundamental. axiom ‘of Protestantism
that every Christian is bound to search the
Scriptures and to judge and decise (yr himself
_as to the meaning. In this system, all belief,
all faith, depends on the perusal of the Bible.
;No man should believe a doctrine which he
does not find in the Scriptures ;. and no man
should allow or depend on another to search
the Scriptures for him... Protestants: ever tell
‘us, that Almighty God has given the Scrip-
tures to all Christians, clergy and laity alike,
_without any distinction ;_and that all are enti-
ued, and bound, freely to use the sacred vo-
lume, in order to learn His, holy trath.. It is
incessanily repeated that all, things necessary
to salvation ere to be thus learned, from the
Bible, that nothing should be received from
‘any other source, and that it is the express
‘command. of God, that aLL should ‘search
the Scriptures.” us L
In fact, a very slight consideration will suf-
fice to show that in the Protestant system, the
‘primary, fundamental, all-important, duty, of
every. christian, is, attentively to study the
Scriptares. ‘This is no ,collateral, secondary
duty 5 but one appertaining to the very essence
of Christianity. . Itis from this reading that
each one is bound to learn what religious doc-
trine he is to believe, and what religious, pre-
cepts he is to;obey; And we are not unfre-
quently told that where the Bible is not read
there may bea belief more or, less supersti~
tious or irrational, but there cannot prevail
true and pure Christianity.
_ Faith then, in this system, . cometh, not as
St. Paul thought, by hearing, [Rom. x. 17.];
but from attentively reading and searching the
Scriptures. ; And as the holy Apostle said,
according to his belief: ** How then, shall
they call on him, in whom they have not be-
lieved? Or how shall they believe him, of
whom they have not heard?.. And how shall
they hear, without a, preacher ?"’.; [Rom,
14.]5
soin this new system we must say,
on him in whom they have not believed?) Or
how shall they: believe’ him, of whom they
have not read 2 “And how shall they read,
without a Bible? - ee
Having therefore in mind, the importance
and necessity of the principle, that every in-
dividual christian is bound to peruse the Serip=
tures, according to the: Protestant’ scheme’ of
hrisianity, the question presents” itself:
Did Almighty God ever lay on all christians
such an obligation?“ Did he ever command
that every ‘christian should,’ in this sense,
“ search the Scriptures.” .
While treating of this point in our paper of
the 3d inst. and afier a brief notice of the true
force of ‘the command, i were given, in
the words : ‘search the Scriptures, we ‘added
the following cursory remarks. era ten
If Almighty: God,‘ either inthis’ or any
place, absolutely commanded that all Chris-
tians should read and search the Scriptures,
he would not have left the world for the 1400
pears, which-elapsed between the establish-
ment. of Christianity: and ‘the invention of
printing, in such a state, that it was impossible
that one. Christian in a hundred could obtain
possession of a copy, of, the Scriptures. Le
does not command and enjoin things impossi~
ble. |. oda ‘ a
(If He requires that: all: Christians should
[search the Scriptures, any human law pre-
venting it must be impious and unchristian.
Do not the laws of South Carolina prohibit
the teaching of negroes to read ? “ And do they
lation. of the State from fulfilling this com-
mani, if any there be?’ ‘We do not see how
this | pretended ‘absolute injunction and* our
State action can be reconciled.” ve
‘These two paragraphs have called forth the
following answer from a corre- pondent of the
server,’ who signs himself H. and! writes
thus, from Barnwell Cy HL. rs
According to the principles assumed in the
first observation, (10 use ‘the Editor's own
may be forced into a conclusion, which, if he
be a propagandist, will, i re materially
with his operations—thus : CEO RE Tl,
Jesus Christ, when he suid ty his Apostles,
**go ye into all the world, and preach the
‘ospel (i. e. the salvation of Christ) fo every
creature,” ! could not have intended that all
men should hear the news of salvation—be-
cause if this had been so, he would not have
Jeft undiscovered and unknown for more than
1400 years the whole continent of America
and its millions of inhabitants as well as other
countries then unknown to which it was im=-
possible that. the. Apostles ‘and successive
preachers could have access. ° ** Ife does not
command and enjoin things impossible.”
‘The argument (if any there be at all rele-
vant to the peint at issue) contained in the
second observation, may be stated thus—Gud
will never command what human governments
will forbid 1, |
We style this an answer, for we presume
it was intended as one: but we confess we do
not exactly see how it solves the difficulty or
militetes against our objections.
lt certainly seems clear to us that Almighty
God never absolutely commanded every indi~
vidual Indian, who, during those 1400 years,
roamed over this yet undiscovered and un-
known continent, to hear and believe the
preaching of the Aposiles and their successors,
while they were engaged in’ preaching inthe
Synagogues and Churches of Europe, Asia,
and Africa. » We have heard some wondrous
tales of the aenteness of Indian hearing. * But
we rather. incline to the opinion that, with the
fullest allowance for their skill, they could ‘not
hear across the AUantie or the Pacific. And
we hold it utterly ridiculous to say, that Al-
mighty. God absolutely: commanded ‘them’ to
du so. » And moreover, it seems equally ab-
surd to assert that God has enjoined on all
bristians to read and search the Scriptures,
while for 1400 years it was impossible for the
vast majority of them to obtain a copy. We
thank Hs for his very: apposite comparison.
A command to read 2 book, whieh it is impor=
sible you can ever get, is certainly set off by
a command. to hear the voice of a speaker
eight or ten thousand miles distant. Dees H:
hold that God has issued both of those com-
mands!y9) > : ret ‘
The command of the Saviour: “Go “ye
into the whole world and preach the Gospel
x.|10 every creature.” (Mark xvi. 15.) was ad=
dressed, not to the Indians of America and the
‘Philadelphia, Thursday, August 29, 1844.
mutatis mutandis ; how then, shall they call
not operate to prevent one-half of the popu-| ~
term) and by parity of reasoning, I think’ he |“
other unapproached or” inaccessible” naiions,
ut to the apostles and their successors in the
ministry. ‘It enjoined oa them a work, which
was to be gradually performed. .‘They were
to preach ** Penance and remission of sin. in
Hlis name, unto all nations, beginning at Je-
rusalem.”” (Luke xxiv. 47.) Undoubiedly
there was a corresponding ‘obligation on all
nations to hear and believe ‘their preaching.
But this obligation in point of fact, kept pace
with the progress of their mission, ~N
“No man
was absolutely commanded to hear and believe,
until the approach of the teachers made hear-
ing and believing possible.
‘We may appear. by this exposition to be
helping H. toa pority:” He may say: As
the fact that Almighty’ God left 80 many na-
tions, for such'a length of time, without the
means of hearing and believing the apostles
and their successors, proves indeed that such
nations, while left in that state, were not ab-
solutely required to hear and believe, but does
not prove that Almighty: God by a general
command does not require all nations to do 80,
when they can} so. in like‘ manner,’ the fact
thet He left’ the’ overwhelming majority of
Christians 1400 years without, tlle means of
obtaining copies’ of the ‘sacred’ Scripture,
proves indeed that that majority, left thos un-
provided, were not absolutely required to per-
form an impossibility, but it does not ‘prove
that, by a general law." He does not require
all christians, who can obtain them, to ‘search
the Scriptures, in order, to find therein the
words of ‘eternal life. ” oe
‘This purity’ however ‘avails’ IT.’ nought.
The command, which it would allow, even if
otherwise established by positive arguments,
would not be a command on all christians,
but practically ‘a command on a very small
minority of them for' the first 1400 ‘years of
Christianity, and time will aly tell on what
Proportion after’ that period ; and theréfore it
cannot be such a command to search ‘the
Scriptures, as Protestants advocate, and Pro-
testantism requires.. ©” | nea
=
Af it were, a'series of ‘consequences would
follow; from whieh we'trust (1. would shrink.
vas Protestants contend, Almighty God
had established ‘searching the’ Scriptures, as
the precise mode, by which tthe true doctrines
and precepts of Christianity are to be learned,
and if, as is* proved by history, [le® left the|
overwhelming majority of Christians for 1400
years, utterly unable to search the Scriptures,
ithtanifestly follows that He no more required
that majority to believe the doctrines of Chri
tianity, than he did, the undiscovered ‘Ameri-
can Indians ; and that they were as incapable
of being true Christians, a3 were the Indians
themselves. It follows ‘secondly, from the
same premises, that for 1400 years after the
preaching of the Apostles, the poor whom,
we are taught to look on, as specially loved by
our Father, because of their poverty, were on
the contrary precisely rejected therefcre, inar~
much a8 17 prevented them front obtaining
and searching the Scriptures aid becoming
pure Christians, instead al superstitious bigots.
At follows, that true Christianity is established
only- by’ disseminating copies of the Bible,
and that as the Aposites did not place copies
in the hands of every one. of their converts,
they did vot establish Christianity, but rather
a'superstitious belief on authority. Ii follows
in one’ word, ‘that, the ‘general diffusion of
Christianity even among those who have been
called christians, is tu be dated, not ‘as has
heretofore been thovght, from the days of the
Apostles, but from the time, ‘when the inven-
tion of Printing first rendered it possible for
men of all classes generally to obtain copies
of the Holy Scriptures 3 in precisely the same
mapner,'that the’ diffusion of Christianity
among the American’ Indians’ is tobe dated,
not from the time of ‘the Apostles, but from
the advent of Missionaries among them.
St. Treneus of Lyons, in the second century
used to think that these nations. which’ had
been converted by the Apostles and their’ im-
mediate successors, and possessed not copies
of the Scriptures: to ‘stady und search, could
nevertheless be good Christians. **Many na-
tions of barbarians, without paper and ink,
have, through the Holy Spirit. the words of
salvation written’ in~ their hearis.’* ©
Haeres. iii. 4.] As however those nations
had not been converted by searching the Scrip.
tures, St. Treneus must be wrong iu coumend=
ing the correctness of their belief. Alas! he
was not aile to foresee that sume \1300 years
after his death, the important discovery’ would
be made that in order ‘10 find the words of
eral de
1.
Whole Number 607 |
eternal life.” » Almighty God absolutely com-
manda ‘alt christians to *! search the Scrip-
"He held the ‘opinion universally re-
ceived at his day, and still held in the Catho-
lie church, that Fuith cometh by hearing, and
that reading the Scripture was not wbsulutely
required to form a true Christian. 1"
In regard to the second remark, we must
still urge it as relevant to the subject: Our
object was not to assert thet God commands
nothing that human Goreroments will forbid
--though we recollect hearing some such prin-
ple advanced in reference to the late discus-
sion on the marriage question in the Psesby-
terian Communion. We meant it as an argu-
ment ad hominem. :
We believe that very generally the laws of
this State, in regard to the instrucvon of
slaves, are considered neither impious nor un~
christian, but justified by the necessities o
the case. ‘Ihe subject is generally looked on
asone, in reference to which: the State can
legislate. This opinion-we could’ not recon=
eile with whavis asserted to bean absolute
command of God, that all Christians should
read and searth the Scriptures.’ We were
not aware; that any one amongst.us had stig-
matized those Jaws as impivus and unebris-
tian, and as null and void, because opposed to
the Law of God. “We knew of no pious as-
sociations to teach in defiance of them} nor if
any: Bible Society, that naturally sought to
remedy evils at home before evils abroad, and
to distribute the Scriptures among that class.
n one word, we saw no sign that any one of
those; who clamor so much about the absolute
command of God on all to read the Scriptures, ,
soaght consistently and manfally to carry out
their own principle, in a case, where, if the:
believed it true, they themselves had violated
it, and were bound to rescind’ their action.
And we suspected, as we suspect still, that it
is what Mr,-Newman would ail, a cénven-
tional topic, 19 be used anly against Catholics.
ad we conceive ita fair reply, to show that
those who would have us condemned, contra-
dict and conde:an themselves, ae
me Veen os
5 From the, Cathotic Advocate.’ ¢* \ vt
WORSITIP OF THE,VIRGIN MARY AND
“OF THE SAINTS. 06077
oy Clarksville, Tenn. July 31st, 1844.75
= Such is the heading’ of ‘an ‘anicle in the.
Primitive Standard, edited by an’ Episcopal
Clergyman of this city, in which he alludes to...
my private communication t6 him on ap arti-
cle in his editorial columns of July 6ih. © He
there boldly étated that.s'the invocation of the
Virgin Mary‘end of the Saints originated A.
D, 595,” with “some other calumnies more
atrocious still. “1; of course, understood him
to mean that'we invoked the Blessed Virgin
and saints as we do invoke the Dirty; and his
paper of July 20th,’ proves that I did not
tmisundersiand him, for he there repeats, snd
says distincily: These extracis will, we know,
ully satisfy our readers that the Romanists
invoke the Virgin’ Mary as God,” I denied
to him ‘in ptivaté, that such was the case,
and told him: **We do not invoke the Virgin
Mary or saints as we do God, we merely ask
her intercersion.”” “Now, that the editor may,
marvel a liwle more at my indiscretion, as he
says he did, I repeat the same words publicly,
confident of ‘expressing the’ belief ol all the
Catholics on the face ‘of the earth, and unless
he comes forward with clear testimony fron,
a General Council, or universal decree of the
church, by whicl to prove directly, Ist. ‘That
we do invoke the Virgin Marty and. saints as
Gods and ‘2dly, that “this practice originated
in 594, I charge him guilty of wilful calumny.
ividval ‘opinion can. ever be’ universal
0} ng therefore, I want universal proof, no
individual opinion, @ particudari ad generalem
non valet argumentatis,’ In his’ attempt at
proof, he most wantonly contradicts himself,’
as | will show, and his proofs go down to the’
present and last centuries, snstead of 5941! [)
say that he most wantonly contradicts himself.’ *
Any one who reads ‘carefully his proofs’ will’
see a marked distinction between the invoca~"
tion of saints and that of the Deity, ©" °° *
is ‘first ‘reference examined. “Il Pope
Gregory does ‘not distinguish the, power of
the Blessed Virgin ‘from that of God, how,
can he consistenily with himself speak of her”
assumption into heaven; a God is not assu-!
med into heaven, he ascends there of himself? »
If she be a God in the mind of the Pope, she’
must be able of herself to ascend into heaven.
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