God's Way k The Only Right Way 7 Si ' God’s Way Is The Only Right Way I WHY THROW LOGIC TO THE WINDS? Five-sixths of mankind believe in life after death, believe that happi- ness eternal is every man’s destiny, but oh, how sadly they are divided on the all-important question: How is everlasting happiness in Heaven to be attained? A general answer, which must ap- peal to the common sense of every- one, might be stated thus: Heaven’s reward is to be attained according to the terms of Him Who has prepared it and offers it. The world is filled with illogical people when matters practical are concerned. People are logical theor- ists when dealing with others, but do not like to have others be so logical and consistent when dealing with them. They remind us of the man in the parable, who sought the cancella- tion of the debt which he owed to his master, and who went away forth- 2 GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY with to throttle the one who asked for the same consideration from him. No one presumes that he could be a law to himself in respect of those to whom he owes allegiance here on earth, whether it be the state, or the head of the local community, or even his employer. He knows that he must ‘ conform himself to programs which are prepared for him. He would much prefer not to pay any taxes, but the State says that he must. He would prefer to be a bank president, but others will not favor him with that position. He would prefer to receive double the amount of remuneration for the work which he does for an- other, but it is not given to him. Yet, he understands the fairness of all this. He knows that the people of any nation, state, county, city, village, must be governed by law. He knows that citizenship entails obligations; that in organized society he is only a unit, and may not act independently of all others. He knows that he may not work for another unless invited, and subject to the terms imposed by GOD'S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 3 the employer. He knows that any other policy would lead to chaos, whether in society or in business. Why is he not equally logical and sensible when there is question of seeking a happy existence in the life to come? In relation to Almighty God he is the creature, and therefore by his very nature, dependent and subject; in relation to Almighty God he has no right to make laws, but only to obey them ; in relation to Almighty God he holds the position of employee towards his employer, and therefore must look for remuneration only in accordance with the terms stipulated. The terms for salvation must be the same for all alike, and therefore all must work for it in accordance with a well-defined plan. There is a saying “the world owes us a living” ; but we know that this is not true in practice. The most we could expect from it is to be ushered to a state institution—and even there we would be under orders. We know that we attain unto preferment only by hard labor and struggle. Millions 4 GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY of people assume that God owes them Heaven, but He does not. The most He owes us is a chance for Heaven conditioned on the fulfillment of very definite terms. It is true that God makes the acquisition of Heaven com- paratively easy when we take into ac- count the glory and grandeur and the eternal character of it. But He owes it to His own infinite perfection to ex- act compliance with His demands — the same for His every child. God would cease to be God if He were in- different towards the conduct of His creatures. He must love virtue and hate iniquity with all the power of His Being. HEAVEN IS A PRIZE TO BE WON Holy Scripture represents Heaven as a prize to be won, and we all know that a prize is always offered in re- turn for service rendered according to clearly stipulated conditions. Let I us suppose that you came before a | group of school children and offered j a beautiful wrist watch to everyone who would work an arithmetic prob- nOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 5 lem for you on the blackboard. Fol- lowing your offer every child protest- ed, and insisted that he and she would get the prize on their own conditions. One child declared that he would get the watch for spelling ten words for you ; another child stipulated that she would get the watch for composing half a dozen sentences for you. You would at once perceive the unfairness of such procedure. You would tell the children that you do not owe the prize to any of them ; that it rests with you to give it or to withhold it; that if you should decide to confer it, it is your place and not theirs to determine on what terms it will be awarded. Again, let us suppose you are an employer of people. A man comes to you and declares that he intends to work for you; that he will keep your books, and that you are compelled to pay him 1100.00 a week for his ser- vices. Would you not indignantly show him the door, because of his un- warranted and unreasonable atti- tude? You may employ him if you wish; and if you should employ him 6 GOD’S WAT IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAT you and not he will determine what his remuneration should be. It must be clear, therefore, that people have no right to fashion their own religion, to dictate to the Al- mighty whether He will be served by them or not, or to decide the quality or quantity of the service they will render. Religion is made for man by God, and not by man for God. It should be equally clear that the Almighty should want unity and har- mony of service ; that He should want every member of the human family to know Him aright, and to serve Him uniformly. If this be true, the pre- valent notion that one religion is as good as another, or that it cannot mat- ter whether a man has affiliation with any religion or not, is not defensible. Establish the fact that God actually made His will known to mankind, that He actually outlined a plan of salvation, and all people must look for salvation in accordance with it. What authority would you trust out- side divine revelation for the attain- ment of eternal well-being? Whose GOD S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 7 opinion among thousands would you choose when so much is at stake? II A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE IS A DANGEROUS THING We all believe in the adage that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” On this principle we should not be influenced in the slightest de- gree by men, otherwise educated, who have never specialized in the things of God, in the things of religion, in the things of the soul. In every country there are men, professors at universities, writers of books, politi- cians, scientists, who may be quite competent to speak in line with their professions, but who should be scorned when they pretend to give su- preme court pronouncements on re- ligious matters. These men, after going to school for many years, fill their libraries with books which deal with their specialty, and to become experts must never cease feeding their minds on data relating to their profession. But how can they also be 8 GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY proficient or specialists in matters re- lating to religion ? What sort of soul education have they had? Not so much as a kindergarten, or a primary education, yet many of them presume to be others' teachers. Their souls have also been starved spiritually. They have remained away from reli- gious instruction ; they have given no encouragement to grace. Yet, because they are learned men otherwise, it is assumed that their judgment counts for much when they foolishly do give expression to religious views. Just as we go to the astronomer | and not to the politician to learn the facts about a new star, so we go to the Teacher commissioned by God Himself for a knowledge of religious , facts. We certainly should never think of going to H. G. Wells, or to Bertrand Russell, or to Arthur Bris- ] bane, or to Sinclair Lewis, to Elmer Barnes, or to George Bernard Shaw, for a knowledge of such facts; and more particularly should we refrain from going to those who have an in- terest in destroying religion in the GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 9 land. The number is not small of those who are attempting to do this, particularly through the printed word, and because it pays. They are aware that millions of the ‘‘un- churched'’, and millions more of the dishonest and immoral are more dis- posed to read their attacks on the Christian faith than they are to read defenses of it, simply because it is much easier for them to slip a little farther backward than to push for- ward and wage a fight against the “old man with his vices and concupi- scences." Truth Is Independent of Our Attitude A fundamental error of our age is to talk and write about “truth" as though it were subjective, and might, therefore, be contained in a hundred contradictory expressions. Truth is something fixed, something eternal, something objective. It remains what it was, no matter how many thousand conflicting opinions might be volun- teered concerning it. Only recently a new planet was discovered. Yet it has existed in the firmament for thou- 10 GOD’S WAT IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAT sands, or millions of years according to the scientists. It has existed as an objective thing without people know- ing anything about it. The powerful telescope has brought it before the human eye, and the human mind now says “credo” to it. But it would re- main an objective fact even if no per- son said “credo” to it. It would re- main a very definite, fixed, single thing even if everybody expressed dif- ferent opinions about it—and only one opinion would be right. So also must religious truth be ap- proached. It remains as it was orig- inally revealed, by the Almighty, whether we know about it or not, whether we have different opinions about it or not. There can be only one correct opinion about it, and our only interest should be to ascertain the fact. HUMAN NATURE CANNOT SAVE ITSELF At this time much is being written about the ability of human nature to save itself independently of any supernatural helps, and this teaching GOD'S WAT IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAT 11 is being crystallized into a move- ment headed by Irving Babbitt of Harvard, Norman Forester, Rev. Charles Potter, Paul Elmer More, Harry Emerson Fosdick. These men are not in complete agreement, and therefore the religion of Humanism, which they advocate, is not very defi- nite. Mr. Babbitt, for instance, be- lieves in revelation and in the super- natural. However, he so emphasizes the dominance of man’s free will that he believes that he could elevate him- self to a high state of perfection by the right kind of choice in the exer- cise of his free will. Mr. More thinks that man can, by a sort of intuition, know what others learn by faith, and can by aiming high accomplish what Christianity teaches can be attained only through grace or supernatural helps. The Rev. Dr. Fulton Sheen defines Humanism in its broad sense, as “an endeavor to have Christianity with- out Christ, godliness without God, and Christian hope without the pro- mise of another life.” 12 GOD’S; WAY IS THE OI^LY RIGHT WAY But if we bear in mind that our destiny is supernatural, it becomes clear that no man can reach it of his own power. A human being can never rise above the human unless lifted up by some higher power. Hence that teaching of Christ’s faith becomes plausible which represents God as having invested the souls of Adam and Eve, His first creatures, with a supernatural life. He created them according to His own image and like- ness, and elevated them from the posi- tion of mere creatures to that of adopted sons. Holy Scripture tells us that our first parents forfeited this supernatu- ral status when, put to the test, they disobeyed God. Faith teaches that hu- man nature, which existed at that time solely in Adam and Eve, was on trial; that therefore, when they lost the supernatural status, their descen- dants were deprived of it at the time of their souls’ creation. Faith also teaches, however, that the supernatu- ral life of soul might be recovered by everyone on compliance with certain GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 13 conditions, divinely imposed, but al- ways in relation to the infinite repar- ation which was to be made by God Incarnate in the course of time. Why Should Not a Second Adam Re- pair Injury Done By the First ? Christianity holds that nineteen centuries ago God became Incarnate by assuming a body and soul to His divinity, and that as the God-man He offered an infinite atonement for man- kind’s sin, while He paid the pur- chase price for the restoration of the supernatural life to the souls of men. Faith teaches that this supernatural life, even since the Atonement, is not actually bestowed on the soul at the moment of its creation, but that every soul may come into its possession by submitting to the rebirth which takes place in Baptism. History offers proof sufficient that man has never attained to a proper knowledge of God, or of his religious duties by what might be determined natural religion. St. Paul assures us, and history supports his contention, that by pure reason, unaided by revel- 14 GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAT ation, man could arrive at a knowl- edge of the existence of God, at a knowledge of the soul's immortality and at the general conviction that man is a dependent creature and therefore owes worship to the Creator. But that pure reason cannot go be- ; yond this is clear from the status of religion in pagan nations, whether of old or at the present time. Their peo- ple believe in a plurality of gods, who | were not only antagonistic to one an- I other, but were made the patrons of 1 all sorts of vices. Hence those who acknowledged them could not have j any definite standards of right and ' wrong, and particularly not of fixed ; and special duties to them. ! In supernatural religion the nature and attributes of God are defined, as ! well as the special obligations of ser- vice and worship. Man accepts super- natural religion in the same manner j he accepts nearly all his knowledge, | namely, by faith. Even the scientist, ! who insists that he has arrived at cor- I rect conclusions, must begin with an GOD'S WAT IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAT 15 act of faith. He has never seen an atom or an electron. He has never discovered one in his laboratory. He only knows that they exist. Practical- ly everything which the child learns at school is accepted by faith; prac- tically everything which you read in the daily newspaper you accept by faith. We should, therefore, be predis- posed to assume thi^t God has taught us much about Himself and about our duties to Him, and that He expects us to accept this knowledge by faith ; by such childlike faith as is imposed in the school teacher, in the expert phy- sician or surgeon, in the captain who pilots the boat over the rough seas to a given port in Europe or South America. WHAT IS FAITH? Now, not only is revelation super- natural, but the acceptance of this revelation from God or from the teaching authority which He has left in this world must be a supernatural act in order to be meritorious. The Christian religion defines faith as a 16 GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY supernatural virtue by which we be- lieve what Almighty God has reveal- ed, not because it appeals to our rea- son, but because the God Who has made the revelation could not be de- ceived Himself, and could not deceive us. There are numerous people in this world, to whom the revelation of God makes a very strong appeal, but who withhold their submission from Him. They have not received the supernat- ural gift of faith, because they have sought it rather by their study and investigations than by prayer. Being a supernatural thing it must come directly from God. It has always been taught in the Christian Church that the gift of faith is infused by the re- ception of Baptism which brings the supernatural life to the soul in the first instance. He does not act sincerely who re- fuses to accept the full revelation of God because it contains much of mys- tery. He should rather expect to find mystery in the supernatural order, particularly since the natural order is full of mystery, to which he does not GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 17 hesitate to bow in submission. The wisest ones in this world will readily confess that there is far more in the natural order which they do not com- prehend than there is of the compre- hensible. Christ referred to the supernatural assistance which man needs for Hea- venly merit when He declared : ‘'Without Me you can do nothing.’" St. Paul referred to the power of supernatural assistance for Heavenly merit when he declared : ‘T can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me.” Bereft of the supernatural life, a man can earn nothing but natural merit when he does good and avoids evil. By natural goodness he cannot “lay up for himself treasures in Hea- ven.” While he lives in the natural order the best of his works can have a value only commensurate with that order. When he lives in the super- natural order, and acts from super- natural motives, all the good works which he performs, and all the evil which he avoids, have a supernatural 18 GOD’S WAT IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAT value, and are therefore meritorious of reward in Heaven. WHAT DOES “SUPERNATURAL” MEAN? Do we need to state more than this fact in order to bring home convic- tion to you ? If the reasonableness of the supernatural be not apparent, it is because most people have an incorrect conception of what it is. When they read about the “supernatural,” they immediately think of miracles or of palpable direct communication be- tween God and the individual. Now while miracles belong to the super- natural order, because they can be performed only by the power of God, we usually do not refer to them when we speak about the supernatural. Even nature itself originated in the supernatural since it can be traced back to God ultimately, as everyone, including the evolutionist, must grant. But who is there who will deny that eternal bliss is supernatural? And is not every immortal being destined for eternal bliss? If so, then every human being is destined for a super- GOD'S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 19 natural life beyond the grave. Grant all this—and who could honestly deny it?—the means to that destiny must be of the same nature as the destiny itself. When we speak of the supernatural in religion, we mean, first of all, the possession of a revelation from the Almighty, which guarantees both cor- rectness of belief and certainty con- cerning the demands made by the Creator on the creature for the at- tainment of bliss eternal. We mean, secondly, that supernatural condition of soul which elevates the human be- ing to union with the Creator. We mean, thirdly, the helps of a super- natural character which God has left with an Institution for the mainten- ance and promotion of this union with God, and even for restoration of such union in case it should be severed by serious sin. We might say we mean, fourthly, that supernatural enlight- ment of the mind and that assistance of the will, which the Almighty im- parts directly to the individual for the avoidance of evil and the perform- 20 GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY ance of good. It was the prevalent belief of all Christendom for centu- ries that the Son of God not only ele- vated human nature as such when He united it to His divinity in the In- carnation, but that He left with the world provision for the union of every individual with His God in what is known as the sacramental system entrusted to His Church. RELIGION WAS NEVER KNOWN EXCEPT AS “ORGANIZED” Religion was never understood by the people of any nation as disso- ciated from an organization or sys- tem. It is only in these latter days that we hear of a distinction between Christianity and churchianity. It has always been assumed that the whole human family should acknowl- edge, serve and worship God “with one heart and one mind;” that all should be members of “one flock un- der one shepherd.” It has always been believed that the Almighty made a revelation of His will, whether through Abraham, through Moses, through Christ, through Buddha, GOD’S WAT IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAT 21 through Mohammed, through Joe Smith. Religion has always existed as a system, whether in Judaism, in the Roman or Grecian Empires, in China, Japan, in India, in Christian- ity, in the Ottoman or Mohammendan world, in its established forms in England, Germany, Russia and other countries. Religion was always, therefore, very definite in organization, in its confessions of faith, in its practices. But today, in the so-called Protestant countries, there is a drift from or- ganized religion and, therefore, from religion itself. The theory of private judgment is basically responsible for this, yet day after day we read and hear that a life built on certain Chris- tian principles is equally acceptable to God as a religious life pursued in harmony with, and under the direc- tion of a religious system which claims God Himself as its Founder. This new departure is due to one of several situations: (1) The man who has been out- side of organized religion, and 22 GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY watches it as an interested outsider, observes irreconcilable conflicts be- tween the different organized forms; he cannot fail to note their mutually contradictory teachings ; it is clear to him that multitudes could not give an explanation or reason why they are what they are. Hence he cannot com- prehend how his doubts would be settled ; how conviction could be brought home to him, how peace could become his possession if he , identified himself with one or other ! religious sect. (2) This same man observes that , most of the churchmen who fall un- j der his observation do not seem to ; know their own mind ; he does not see j unity of belief in the same denomina- j tion; he notes that their spokesmen | do not emphasize, if they do not al- together repudiate, the supernatural, and hence theirs cannot be more than i human institutions engaged in social 1 uplift or the reformation of people j through political effort. He cannot \ harmonize this situation with the di- vine origin and divine guidance claim- GOD'S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 23 ed by the several religious systems, and therefore he feels just as secure outside as in. (3) The majority of those who are not allied with organized Chris- tianity have never given much con- sideration to the one form of the Christian religion which has unity and harmony of belief and practice, whose existence is world-wide, which does claim divine guidance, which is the mother Church of all, in whose ranks all Christians in the world were enrolled as members for many centuries, which can trace its origin back to the very days of Christian- ity’s Founder. These facts about the Catholic Church are patent to people in countries where her members pre- dominate, and hence the Protestant sects elicit little interest from them. In countries like our own, or like England and Germany, where Catho- lics constitute a small minority, where a popular prejudice against their organization is outstanding, where the impression prevails that many points of Catholic teaching are 24 GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY unreasonable, and that Catholic wor- ship consists of mere ceremonial, where the notion is entertained that the profession of the Catholic faith and the exercise of American citizen- ship are incompatible, where the lit- erature of the day is anti-Catholic in spirit, where, for these reasons, the Catholic faith is very unpopular—^the claims of the oldest religion in Chris- tendom are not investigated. (4) Of course, there are many who have studied history, who are conversant with the fact that Catho- licism is nineteen centuries old, with a following today exceeding that of all other forms of Christianity by 100,000,000. They are aware that the Catholic Church knows her own mind and is never hesitant about speaking it clearly. But they haven’t the cour- age to confer with her because of the spiritual exactions she makes of her members. She will not tolerate in her fold those, who, having once been validly married, have secured a di- vorce and have married a second time—and the country is full of such OOD S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 25 persons. Unfortunately they cannot become Catholics without submitting to the test exacted of Herod by John the Baptist. She will not admit to her Sacraments those who are habit- ually given to any immoral or dis- honest practice, who will not make restitution of ill-gotten gain. She re- quires faithful attendance at divine worship every Sunday of the year. She requires her people to get down on their knees after sinning, acknowl- edge their guilt and promise amend- ment. These demands are all admired by the outsider, but he prefers not to subject himself to them as yet. NOT DOCTRINE, BUT LACK OF GOOD WILL, DETERS PEOPLE It is not the doctrinal teaching of the Catholic Church which keeps these people out of her fold. In all other matters they want conviction and readily accept the seemingly in- credible. They know that God Him- self has promulgated laws which bind the consciences of men; they know that morality can have no sound foundation without definite teaching; 26 GOD’S WAT IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAT they know that when doctrines are imperfectly believed, as they are by the generality of people in the United States, the moral results are anjrthing but encouraging;they know that Pas- cal was right when he declared: “If the axioms of mathematics imposed a moral obligation man would doubt ' them if not reject them.” Do you belong to this class? Re- member what our Divine Savior said to a man who was not ready to divide j his attention between the things of ' this world and the things of the world to come: “This night thy soul j shall be required of thee.” j The pride of man’s intellect and the exactions of his passions are the j two principal hindrances to the in- vestigation of the claims of the Cath- olic Church. They prompt man to procrastinate the tendering of his submission. It was this pride of in- tellect which caused the fall of Luci- I fer and his followers, which caused | the fall of Adam and Eve. They j themselves would be their own gods, they “would not serve.” It is not sur- GOD’S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 27 prising, therefore, that the descend- ants of Adam should exhibit the same traits. This pride of intellect sum- mons God and His Church before its tribunal and passes judgment on them. People do not trust their own judgment in anything else of impor- tance. They consult others before in- vesting their money; they seek the advice of experts in different fields. Yet they will not listen to God Him- self speaking in their interest; they will not submit their feeble intelli- gence to His infinite intelligence. You must live for the soul, for your eternal welfare. The virtues which, you admire in others you must prac- tice yourself. A Summary One bereft of physical life cannot act at all ; one bereft of supernatural life cannot act supernaturally. But man must act supernaturally if he would hope to reach his supernatural destiny. Supernatural life is impart- ed in the first instance by the divine- ly appointed ordinance of Baptism, through which Christ says man is 28 GOD'S WAY ISI THE ONLY RIGHT WAY “born again” of the Holy Ghost. But a man does not baptize himself. Man must be taught about God, about his duties, about the terms of salvation. But this instruction must be imparted by another. Man must be guided, directed and assisted by supernatural helps. But he is not to be his own guide, and the supernatural things must be dis- pensed to him by others. Just as God Himself does not bap- tize the individual directly, neither does He instruct him nor dispense His means of grace directly. It need not be stated that no man, uncommissioned, may presume to act in the name of God. The teacher who instructs your child in school does not do so without a commission; he or she is engaged for the purpose by a Board with full authority to act. The physician, who guides and directs you along the way of health, may not do so uncommissioned or unauthor- ized. He must be properly licensed and officially recognized for such guidance. COD'S WAY IS' THE ONLY RIGHT WAY 29 Now just as the conduct of secular education is the function of the state or of some sort of government, even if it be only a local government; just as the lawyer and the physician must have a commission from some author- ity centered in some sort of govern- ment, so evidently must the “minis- ter of Christ and dispenser of the mysteries of God.” He must have a commission, delegation, and must be able to prove it, or who would entrust his eternal salvation to him? Christ came to be the “way, the truth and the (supernatural) life” for man, but He was to reach people through His Kingdom vitalized supernaturally by the Holy Ghost and functioning through duly commissioned men. Too much emphasis cannot be laid on this fact, which is overlooked en- tirely by those who claim that they can attain unto salvation by their own efforts, independently of the religion of which God Himself is the Author. Why is it not clear to people that there should be an organized society in this world for the promotion of the 30 GOD'S WAY IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAT eternal well-being of man, just as there is an organized society for the promotion of the temporal well-being of man? Just as the state is constituted of a large number of individuals united for a common purpose, under a com- mon authority, so should there be a spiritual kingdom in which the same individuals are united for the pursuit of an eternal destiny under a common authority. Just as a high degree of material civilization itself is not attainable outside of a well-ordered state, so, it would seem, a high degree of spirit- ual civilization would not be attain- able outside a well-ordered religious system. Faith teaches that even human so- ciety has divine approbation, and that its rulers represent Almighty God in the legitimate authority they exercise. Now the Kingdom of Christ in this world is of direct divine insti- tution, and its teaching body was di- rectly and expressly commissioned to represent its Founder. Its accredited GOD'S WAY IS THE ONIW RIGHT WAT 31 representatives were empowered, and delegated, to administer supernatu- ral things in order that man’s higher life, the supernatural life, might be promoted in relation to his eternal salvation. ^ Pamphlet No. 3 in the series deals with the Kingdom of Christ, its char- acter, its credentials, its authority and capacity to act in the name of God and in behalf of the people’s eter- nal interests. I f j This is No. II in a series of | I pamphlets prepared by J. F. N. j j and published by OUR SUNDAY j I VISITOR, of Huntington, Ind. | I No. I—“After Death—What?” j j No. II—“God’s Way Is the j I Only Right Way.” I 0 I 1 No. Ill — “God’s Kingdom j j There Through His Kingdom ! I Here.” ! I These and others are recom- j I mended for serial reading to the j I agnostic, skeptic, and to the j I prospective convert. j I The price of single copies, f j postpaid is 10c; five cents each | ! if five or more copies are | ordered. ! n ' • W IV V.