Yesterday, 07:52 AM
PART SECOND.
XVII. The Catholic Priest, and the Protestant Ministers.
— People, especially in Europe, have a very erroneous idea of Protestant ministers. They look upon them as a sort of priests, endowed with a special and sacred character, which distinguishes them from all other persons and gives them authority in matters of religion. Hence many offset Protestantism and its parsons against the Church and her priests. It is a preposterous idea; yet it is worth its while to dwell a little upon it.
What is a priest? He is a man consecrated exclusively to God, by the sacrament of order, which he receives by the imposition of the hands of the Bishop, and gives him, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, a character holy and indelible, the power and charge of teaching religion to men, celebrating the holy Sacrifice, pardoning sins, and sanctifying the faithful. By the sacrament of order, the priest receives a participation of the very power of Jesus Christ over souls. He is made priest forever, and will remain priest forever, even in spite of himself; so much so that his power and the sanctity of his ministry are absolutely independent of his personal qualities.
Let us turn the other way, and see what a Protestant minister is. A difficult question, this; for, like Protestantism, the Protestant minister is a veritable Proteus, slipping from your grasp when you feel sure of having a good hold of him. It is not the same minister in Paris as it is in New York. The definition that fits him in London will not suit the latitude of Berlin.
Yet, amidst this prodigious variety of the species, the genus remains, and in its general outlines it has been thus defined by Count de Maistre: "A Protestant minister is a gentleman dressed in black, who, on a Sunday, delivers from a pulpit some fine talk."
For my part, I would say with more severity, that "A heretical minister is a man who takes upon himself the sinful charge of attacking, in the name of the Gospel, the Church of Jesus Christ, and of spreading or maintaining error in the midst of men."
I say "they take upon themselves," because God has not commissioned them. God has sent to men the pastors of his Church, and he has promised to be with them, even to the consummation of the world. Such is the divine mission, the only true pastoral and evangelical mission. The hand of fellowship, nominations by consistories, salaries by government, cannot confer a religious character, cannot give a divine mission. Nothing can take the place of the Holy Ghost, or of the sacrament of Order.
I say, moreover, that the heretical minister is culpable, indeed; very much so. For he attacks the work of Jesus Christ, he attacks the true faith, and falls under the anathema pronounced by St. Paul against all men who preach doctrines at variance with those of the Church. Nill-he-will-he, be he in good faith or bad faith, the Protestant minister does a very bad work, robbing the Christian of that faith, which is the foundation of salvation.
Protestant pastors may have virtues, but that does not alter the question. It is their ministry which is perverse, not their persons. To what rare qualities and talents they may possess, we will grant our personal esteem, by all means. Yet their anti-Catholic work is none the less detestably impious, and worthy the condemnation of every Christian soul. Superficial minds get generally puzzled by these two things: the form makes them forget the substance; and in the man they ignore the heretic.
Will you know what, in fact, gives power to Protestant ministers? It is not their words, nor their doctrines, nor their virtues, but the Catholic instinct, deeply true, and, surviving in the heart of Protestants, unknown to themselves, for an authority visible, living, and teaching in matters of religion. In this, as in everything else, Protestantism subsists only in what it has received from Catholicity. It is heart-rending, however, to see poor souls, often true and honest, at the mercy of men without fixed religious principles, tossed by every wind, and very often without even a belief in our Lord Jesus Christ.
It would be an insult to the Catholic clergy to compare with them the pastors of Protestant sects. As Protestantism is no religion, whatever they may say to the contrary, so its ministers have not the authority of the priesthood, no matter how hard they may try to have its appearance.
[I deem it useless to institute here a comparison between our missionaries and those who are called Protestant missionaries. It is well known (especially since Mr. Marshall's work on the Missions has been published) how null and futile those pretended missions have been, and how its agents have been more interested in cotton and opium than in promoting the glory of God. Besides their own welfare, those agents of Foreign Missions work only to put every obstacle in the way of success for our martyr-apostles.]
XVII. The Catholic Priest, and the Protestant Ministers.
— People, especially in Europe, have a very erroneous idea of Protestant ministers. They look upon them as a sort of priests, endowed with a special and sacred character, which distinguishes them from all other persons and gives them authority in matters of religion. Hence many offset Protestantism and its parsons against the Church and her priests. It is a preposterous idea; yet it is worth its while to dwell a little upon it.
What is a priest? He is a man consecrated exclusively to God, by the sacrament of order, which he receives by the imposition of the hands of the Bishop, and gives him, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, a character holy and indelible, the power and charge of teaching religion to men, celebrating the holy Sacrifice, pardoning sins, and sanctifying the faithful. By the sacrament of order, the priest receives a participation of the very power of Jesus Christ over souls. He is made priest forever, and will remain priest forever, even in spite of himself; so much so that his power and the sanctity of his ministry are absolutely independent of his personal qualities.
Let us turn the other way, and see what a Protestant minister is. A difficult question, this; for, like Protestantism, the Protestant minister is a veritable Proteus, slipping from your grasp when you feel sure of having a good hold of him. It is not the same minister in Paris as it is in New York. The definition that fits him in London will not suit the latitude of Berlin.
Yet, amidst this prodigious variety of the species, the genus remains, and in its general outlines it has been thus defined by Count de Maistre: "A Protestant minister is a gentleman dressed in black, who, on a Sunday, delivers from a pulpit some fine talk."
For my part, I would say with more severity, that "A heretical minister is a man who takes upon himself the sinful charge of attacking, in the name of the Gospel, the Church of Jesus Christ, and of spreading or maintaining error in the midst of men."
I say "they take upon themselves," because God has not commissioned them. God has sent to men the pastors of his Church, and he has promised to be with them, even to the consummation of the world. Such is the divine mission, the only true pastoral and evangelical mission. The hand of fellowship, nominations by consistories, salaries by government, cannot confer a religious character, cannot give a divine mission. Nothing can take the place of the Holy Ghost, or of the sacrament of Order.
I say, moreover, that the heretical minister is culpable, indeed; very much so. For he attacks the work of Jesus Christ, he attacks the true faith, and falls under the anathema pronounced by St. Paul against all men who preach doctrines at variance with those of the Church. Nill-he-will-he, be he in good faith or bad faith, the Protestant minister does a very bad work, robbing the Christian of that faith, which is the foundation of salvation.
Protestant pastors may have virtues, but that does not alter the question. It is their ministry which is perverse, not their persons. To what rare qualities and talents they may possess, we will grant our personal esteem, by all means. Yet their anti-Catholic work is none the less detestably impious, and worthy the condemnation of every Christian soul. Superficial minds get generally puzzled by these two things: the form makes them forget the substance; and in the man they ignore the heretic.
Will you know what, in fact, gives power to Protestant ministers? It is not their words, nor their doctrines, nor their virtues, but the Catholic instinct, deeply true, and, surviving in the heart of Protestants, unknown to themselves, for an authority visible, living, and teaching in matters of religion. In this, as in everything else, Protestantism subsists only in what it has received from Catholicity. It is heart-rending, however, to see poor souls, often true and honest, at the mercy of men without fixed religious principles, tossed by every wind, and very often without even a belief in our Lord Jesus Christ.
It would be an insult to the Catholic clergy to compare with them the pastors of Protestant sects. As Protestantism is no religion, whatever they may say to the contrary, so its ministers have not the authority of the priesthood, no matter how hard they may try to have its appearance.
[I deem it useless to institute here a comparison between our missionaries and those who are called Protestant missionaries. It is well known (especially since Mr. Marshall's work on the Missions has been published) how null and futile those pretended missions have been, and how its agents have been more interested in cotton and opium than in promoting the glory of God. Besides their own welfare, those agents of Foreign Missions work only to put every obstacle in the way of success for our martyr-apostles.]
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre