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T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
more th a n th e H igher Critics who have been tearing th e Old Book to pieces, b u t they are now exalting it as th e in spired, infallible Word of God.” Thus th e ear and the confidence of th e public were secured. Then began a series of sermons setting fo rth the dis tinctive ten ets of Rome. “All we have said about God is tru e ,” they said; “ bu t who is H is representative on earth ? All we have said about th e Deity of Christ is tru e ; bu t we m ust remember th a t the Pope is His vice-gerent. All we have said about th e atoning blood is tru e ; bu t it m ust be applied to th e soul through th e sacraments, adm inistered by th e ac credited successors to the Apostles. All we have said about the Bible is tru e; it is the very Word of God; b u t the Church is its in terp reter. Modern cri ticism has discredited it. Come to us, we will restore to you th e dear old Book w ith th e au tho ritativ e in terp retation of its tru th s .” It was repo rted th a t as a direct re su lt of th is “mission,” seventeen thou sand new members were added to the Roman Catholic churches of Boston-—■ ten thousand women and seven thousand men. I th in k th e repo rt was an exag geration ; b u t th ere is no doubt of the fact th a t the policy of th e “P au list F a th e rs”-—many of whom were doubt less driven to Rome in search of some basis of au tho rity , afte r the Bible had been discredited by th e universities and theological colleges, in which they were trained in unbelief-—is a real menace to P rotestantism . GO SHOW ON MEMORIALS The editor of “Life” says: “Hon. Cass G ilbert, a man of judg m ent on some subjects, is quoted in the papers as deprecating haste about w ar memorials, especially monuments and arch itectu ral splurges. “Yes; let us go slow on such things, even when approached to give money for them . Mark the graves, cure the
h u rt, pay th e bills so far as possible, bu t w ait about memorials u n til we get b reath and see where we are. “This recent w ar will be remembered a long time. It is still a question how many of th e nations will survive it. In Europe things have by no means set tled yet. There is h ard ly a square yard of th a t continent th a t may not blow up any m inute. Nobody knows how re sumption of norm al life is to be accom plished, if a t all, or when. Things are still very, very much in tran sition . Until they settl§, it is obviously unsuitable to make memorials of the war, even in this country.” ^>4. ’MM m m YE SHALL BE AS GODS A Los Angeles m inister said in his sermon a few Sundays ago: “Three m ighty tru th s do I celebrate today: The glory th a t is man, th e depths from which he has sprung, and the splendor of his destiny. “Who shall tell th e greatness of the hum an sp irit? He is th e suprem e trium ph of evolution. Through un counted ages he has marched, through fire, m ist and slime and seething agony, undaunted and invincible, un til today he stands the conqueror of th e elemehts, the m aster of n a tu re ’s law, intelligent worker w ith God in th e creation of an ideal universe, superb dream er of divine dreams. Some of th e mud still clings to his clothes, and his hands are not wholly clean, b u t th e vision splendid illum ines his soul and in his h e a rt burns th e sacred fire. The glorious courage and eager sacrifice of F land ers fields stops the mouths of th e cynic and mis anthrope. H um anity need not fear so long as its sons are w illing to die for a g reat ideal.” Thus we are carried back to th e days when th e devil said to th e first man, “ Ye shall be as gods.”
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