The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1925. A LUDICROUS THEOLOGIAN

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 20, 3 June 1925, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1925. A LUDICROUS THEOLOGIAN

THE first duty of a logician is to define his terms. That the Editor of the 01 ago Daily Times is not a logician is apparent from the fact that although he set out to chastise a body which he dubbed the "Christian Church," he not only neglected to indicate the scope of his criticism by defining the term "Church," but also he tacitly refused to do so when challenged by a correspondent. Ambiguity of this kind is known to logicians as the fallacy of equivocation. Last week we commented briefly upon lour;neighbor's looseness of expression. Wo now propose to examine some of the arguments contained in the article in question so that'readers may enjoy the mass of confused rubbish that passes for sane reasoning with the Editor of our local morning paper.

J Briefly summed up the contention of the Otago Daily Times amounts to this; that because some educated men will not accept the dogmas or submit to the authority of the Christian Church, it is the duty of that Church to accept the opinions and submit to the authority of those men; further, that the educated men in question know little or nothing of theology is the be.st of good reasons why the Church should accept them as theological dictators. Under the comprehensive title “Christian Church” the Editor 'of, the Times includes all. denominations professing Christianity—-the Catholic Church as well as, all the rebel sects (there are more than six hundred of these) embraced by the general term “Protestantism.”; The fact that, Catholicism and; Protestantism; are separated as widely as truth is from error, the fact that the latter is itself divided into a multitude of warring sects, , without 7 auth-

ority, without definite teaching, without fixity, or without unity in shape, form, or degree, does : not enable the ■ Otago Daily Times to discern any difference ; between them. The victim of such confusion; hardly could be expected to understand that Christ, Who is Infinite Truth, could not have established a body made up of several parts, some of which deny as damnable error what others teach as truths necessary to salvation. When we admit that Christ established a Church, and when we see around us a large number of “Churches” all teaching contradictory ■doctrines, it is safe to assume that all but one are interlopers. That effectually disposes of Protestantism, for the reason that Protestant sects, born, even the oldest of them, about three hundred years back, the newest composed, altered, augmented, and restored under our own eyes, are not, and cannot be, the Church established upon the Apostles, who received from Christ authority to speak in His name. Those who say with (be Otago Daily Times that the Church slum Id be reformed, unconsciously produce the strongest of reasons why it should not be reformed; for they cannot admit the right of the Church to exist at all without at the ■same time admitting the divinity of Christ. It sounds ridiculous to hear Protestant church members say that Christ was not God, that He was only a good man and a \<i, gioat philosopher. That is equivalent (o saving that He was an impostor and a blasphemer. He claimed to be God, and if He were not God the Church He established has no right, to exist as the mouthpiece of God, But if, on the other hand, it is admitted that He is God, then it is rank presumption on the part of any human being to attempt to alter or reform the institution which He established and guaranteed against error for all time. We must either accept the Church completely or reject her entirely there can be no half measure in this. But the Editor of the Times, having satisfied his readers that he has no logic, hastens to assure them that he knows nothing of history either. He reproduces a quotation to the effect that the Church was the greatest factor for good during the Middle Ages I hat , '!, true; but the Medieval Church was !. ie Catholic Church, free from the perseculo".of godless governments, the tools of avaricious men. Our critic evidently has not heard of the Reformation of the sixteenth century, at which time in the name of God the reforming heretics attacked the Church with fire and sword, plundered her possessions, destroyed her monasteries, and put her children to death for conscience sake I hey established a Church with the libertine Henry \ 111 as its head, and freed: from the restraint imposed by Catholic teaching, they wore able to oppress and impoverish : the peop!e at their own sweet will, , And they did all this in the sixteenth century - with the same plea that the Otago Daily Times uses in the twentieth— that the Church should be reformed and made up to date, as if the truth could become too old as if the wisdom of God could get behind the lines. Had the Editor . of, the , Otago Daily l imes read . of that medieval rebellion he I'.y • ( !■. 1 ae\ Cl , have confused i the ; conglomera-

tion of contradictions - and negations, , which is Protestantism, with the one, true, . Catholic Church established •by Christ!' He tells us, too, that men with' intellects capable of grasping new knowledge have little time for the Church. Against this we place the opinion of Sir Bertram AVihdlepAihdHs an authority of some moment. ■, He writes: “And so to anyone worried by. the bearing or supposed bearing of any scientific hypothesis upon matters close to his heart I would say, ‘Do not be worried; theories come and go, but God remains for ever, and there can be no possible ultimate contradiction or difference between the tenets of His Church and the laws of His creation.’ ” The great army of Catholic scholars and scientists, priests and laymen, the great host of erudite converts of which the Church can boast gives the lie. direct to the theory..that knowledge and infidelity go hand in hand. My faith, ’ said the great Pasteur, “is as great as that of a Breton peasant, and if I knew more it would be as great as that of a Breton peasant’s wife.” But our Daniel goes on to warn us that the age. of blind submission to authority is gone. We go fin ther and say that it was never present. The Catholic Church has never demanded blind submission from her children; and as Protestantism is based upon , the doctrine of Private Judgment which in itself is a denial of authority, — it follows that Protestantism cannot demand blind or any other kind of submission from its followers either. The Catholic first satisfies himself of tho existence, nature, and omnipotence of God. Reason proves to him that God must Vhe above reason, but not opposed to it. Historical testimony, which reason forbids him to doubt, tells him that God founded a Church which He commanded all men to obey in matters of faith, morals, and discipline. Therefore, to submit to the authority of the Church is in strict accordance with the dictates of reason.

The article, while it teems with contradictions and absurdities, yet proclaims the failure of Protestantism to satisfy the human desire for religion. The advice to the Church t) change her doctrines to suit the opinions of unbelievers cannot be meant fur the Protestant sects, for this is precisely what they do habitually, w ith dire results. . What lis needed more than anything else is not modernised doctrines but a little old-fash-ioned humility. When learned men,;: are irreligious the fault is not with tho. Church but with themselves. They might be good astronomers but poor theologians. One may have talents without having faith and purity of heart, bather Lambert tells ! .His of some learned men who are more ignorant of religion than a. child. “They arc often haughty spirits who | presume; to judge God, to argue with Him as an - equal, -and to measure His 'void by the dimensions of their feeble reason. .;•> . Therefore, they are justly rejected as presumptuous minds, find deprived of that light which is given hilly to simple and loving 'hearts. ; God docs not love proud - rebels.” BSmiMi . j.i’F vaenu/. ~5 ■■■,?■>.7