King's Business - 1921-06

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T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S

-Free Catholics.” This organization is by no means to be' despised as a freak, for unfo rtunately a g reat number of the younger set in th e m inistry are enlisted in its numbers, and w hat is still more deplorable, the tenets of th is Society a re of the most extreme kind. The Rev. J. S. Burgess, the Secretary of th e Society, makes the following astounding statem ent, “There is every need for a popular devotion of the ROSARY TYPE . . . . as A k indergarten of meditation and prayer it unlocks the door to many treasu res.” Another member of th e Society is a Methodist M inister, the Rev. W. G. Peck, of Black­ burn, England, who makes th is an ­ nouncement, “Some F ree Churchmen m ake use of Catholic methods in th eir p riv ate devotions, and it would cause no little .surprise if it could be known how many a MANSE contains a CRUCI­ F IX .” Mr. Peck is likely among th a t number for in no less unm istakeable term s he makes clear his ROMANIZED CREED as follows:— “The case for the SACRIFICE OF THE MASS is ju st as strong as the case for P ra y er.” i ‘‘The ROMAN CHURCH is a mar­ vellous institu tion and the world owes her many g reat debts,” “THE CONFESSIONAL needs to be recognized . , . as a valid means of grace in the community of Christian men.” “ IN SPITE of all her defects th ere is an UNDYING FASCINATION IN THE ROMAN CHURCH.” Ah, th a t is it! The sorcery of Rome holds these men spellbound! No wonder the same w rite r adds “The ROMAN CHURCH . . . IS THE MOTHER of all W estern Christendom . . . SOME OF US look w istfully towards h er.” The Rev. J. D. Jones, D.D., the pop­ u la r and well-known Bournemouth Con­ greg ational preacher, has w ritten a book in support ell th e doctrine j of Purgatory. He advocates prayers for th e dead, contending for a “ PURIFY­

ING PR INC IPLE” afte r death, adding, “When our fath ers (th e Reformers) . . . . swept away the very idea of a PROBATIONARY L IFE they went too far . . . th e re was real tru th in th is doctrine.” The leavening influences of this Romeward movement are to be wit­ nessed in th e p ersisten t endeavor which is made by th e leadfers to th ru st a litu r­ gical service on th e worshippers in non- episcopal places of worship.1 There was published a t E aster, 1919, a NON-CON­ FORMIST PRAYER BOOK, which upon exam ination is found to con tain :— 7 P rayers from the Roman Catholic P rayer Book. 4 P rayers from th e Roman Catholic Breviary. 19 P rayers fo r the Dead. And what is most preposterous of all is a printed prayer to be used by th e m inister during the Holy Communion Service, which has special reference to the BREAD used in th a t service. This Sacrificial P ray er is tak en piecemeal out of the Roman Catholic Missal and reads as follows:—- “ RECEIVE, O HOLY FATHER, THIS BREAD WHICH I, THINE UN­ WORTHY SERVANT, DO OFFER UNTO THEE ; BESEECHING THEE THAT . . . . IT MAY BECOME AN ACCEPTABLE O F F E R I N G FOR M I N E O W N COUNTLESS SINS, TRANSGRESSIONS AND FAILINGS, AND FOR ALL HERE PRESENT; AS ALSO FOR ALL FAITHFUL CHRIS­ TIANS, LIVING AJSD DEAD; THAT IT' MAY AVAIL BOTH ME AND THEM FOR SALVATION UNTO ETERNAL L IFE . Amen.” Comment surely is needless, for was this not the blasphemous teaching of th e Mass Sacrifice which caused the m artyr deaths of Cranmer, L atim er and Ridley? It bu t remains now for us to show th a t th is re tu rn of pre-Reforma- tion doctrine and practice has seized the very strongholds of P ro te sta n t Evan-

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