The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1910. SPAIN AND THE VATICAN.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12588, 20 August 1910, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1910. SPAIN AND THE VATICAN.

While .we. are quite willing to concede the contention of the correspondent vho, in our yesterday's issue, foi"niiiatsd a reply to our article of the previous day ion the crisis in Spain, we must emphatically repudiate his Miggesti'On that our statement of the position was'•weakened by the inclusion of "some glaring' inaccuracies." He, certainly, has failed to prove us guilty of one single inaccuracy, for mere counter assertion coupled with the. vilification of Martin Luther cannot be accepted as argument. We but affirmed an obvious fact when we stated that the present crisis in Spain is the outcome, of an open rupture between the Spanish Government and the Vatican, caused by. the determination of the former to curtail the dominating influence of. the religious associations. In proof of this statement we quoted the bold announcement contained in the King's Speech at the opening of the Spanish Parliament on the 15th of June last. The purport of .that announcement permits, of no misunderstanding, anjd clearly indicates that the yeast of the Reformation is -at ..work: We regret that "G. J. F." should see fit to taint his defenca' of the Church he champions by a bitter and unjust-"allusion-to-the author of the, Reformation. Wo cannot at the moment place our. finger on the particular; epistle from, which he professes,, to quote, but we do not hesitate to believe- that the words he quotes would be robbed of their shameful significance wera they to be coupled with their context. For instance in Luther's commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, he might be- quoted as saying this: "Perfect righteousness is this —to <lo nothing, to hear nothing to know nothing; of the Law of" Works.' Yet this quotation, though literally collect, would entirely misrepresent Luther's conception of justification by faith unless it were followed by his further declaration, that "when I have this glorious righteousness dwelling ir my heart by faith, I come forth unto another kingdom, and I do good works how and 'whensoever occasion is offered." As it stands we are inclined io regard the quotation with which <;G. J. F. M demeans his letter as akin i:> the- graceless accusation of Pope P;;ul 111., who, it will bo remembered, charged Luther with unbridled licentiousness because he .had espouse-! in public wedlock Catherine de Bora. Equally irrelevant io tho matter at is-.susVthe statement of " G. J. F." that "the liberty of the Reformation was that which was upheld by massacre." But to this accusation there is a pertinent {inowcr, and this answer l^as Keen very clearly exprassed by Robert J. Drummcn.d: 'rTiiere have been dark pages in the hist'jiT of Protc-ytaiif'sin of which wo are ashamed, and w!i;ch we think it unfair to bring up against v..s. . . . Enlightenment, growing un-

clerstanding of the principles of Christianity, iias led us to a higher stage 'of'thought and practice. We now undeistand batter the duty of tclerat;on, the si a of persecution, the rights of liberty and of conscience. Does the same hold true of Romanism?"' To this

latter question "G. J. F." himself provides the most conclussive answer when h? says: "The Catholic Church

(in Spain) is the State Church.- to the exclusion of every other ; but no persons ar-3 hindered from following Iheir.

own non-Catholic practices, .provided tliey do not make any public manifes-

tations of them." AYe wonder if our

correspondoaMi apprectiaites the significance of this proviso, and recognises in it a restrictou of religious liberty which would be intolerable in a.British community? In this Dominion, for ex-

ample, our Catholic 'fidlow coikm sis% enjoy equal liberty with the members of every other denomination, and the result is An atmosphere of religious peace and toleration. In Spain there must be no public manifestation of any faith other than "that of the Church of Rone. We mentioned that one of the complaints against these religious associations in Spain was precisely the s-am3 .xs had been the case in France, i.e., that they had accumulated enormous wealth at; .he public expense. "G. J. F." replies that if the Church is wealthy hsr wealth is justly acquired If we chose to be ns uncharitable as our correspondent is in his allusion to Marian Luther, we might retort that, historically, it was the building of St. Peter's that brought about the Reformation. For confirmation "G. J. F." need only look up the facts concerning Luther's meeting with Tetzel at the time when- that emissary of Leo X., tho successor of Julius, was prosecuting the sale of Indulgences. As to the assertion of our correspondent that tha Church in Spain is using rer wealth to promote social, educational, and industrial progress, we can only say that this view does not appear to he shared by the political representatives of the Spanish people. Moreover, we are unable to blind ourselves to the facts of history. Every nation which has preceded Spain along the hiies which Gsnor Oanalejas and his colleagues are now pursuing has moved forward to igreater power and influence, and. larger liberty. Spain, the once pro id mistress of the world, has lost her glory and become a power of secondary importance. For the jest, w.< i-nay say that we have no intention of making the Spanish crisis the subject of a religious controversy. We have expressed our opinions concerning the rupture that has occurred between the. Government of Spain and the Vatican, and we are pleased to believe that ml ultimate outcome of the-existing trouble will bo identical with that which las invariably followed the Reformation.