To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.
And this utter incongruity between Protestantism and historical Christianity is a plain fact, whether the latter be regarded in its earlier or in its later centuries. Protestants can as little bear its Ante-nicene as its Post-tridentine period. I have elsewhere observed on this circumstance: "So much must the Protestant grant that, if such a system of doctrine as he would now introduce ever existed in early times, it has been clean swept away as if by a deluge, suddenly, silently, and without memorial; by a deluge coming in a night, and utterly soaking, rotting, heaving up, and hurrying off every vestige of what it found in the Church, before cock-crowing: so that 'when they rose in the morning' her true seed 'were all dead corpses'—Nay dead and buried—and without grave-stone. 'The waters went over them; there was not one of them left; they sunk like lead in the mighty waters.' Strange antitype, indeed, to the early fortunes of Israel!—then the enemy was drowned, and 'Israel saw them dead upon the sea-shore.' But now, it would seem, water proceeded as a flood 'out of the serpent's mouth, and covered all the witnesses, so that not even their dead bodies lay in the streets of the great city.' Let him take which of his doctrines he will, his peculiar view of self-righteousness, of formality, of superstition; his notion of faith, or of spirituality in religious worship; his denial {9} of the virtue of the sacraments, or of the ministerial commission, or of the visible Church; or his doctrine of the divine efficacy of the Scriptures as the one appointed instrument of religious teaching; and let him consider how far Antiquity, as it has come down to us, will countenance him in it. No; he must allow that the alleged deluge has done its work; yes, and has in turn disappeared itself; it has been swallowed up by the earth, mercilessly as itself was merciless." [Note 1]
That Protestantism, then, is not the Christianity of history, it is easy to determine, but to retort is a poor reply in controversy to a question of fact, and whatever be the violence or the exaggeration of writers like Chillingworth, if they have raised a real difficulty, it may claim a real answer, and we must determine whether on the one hand Christianity is still to represent to us a definite teaching from above, or whether on the other its utterances have been from time to time so strangely at variance, that we are necessarily thrown back on our own judgment individually to determine, what the revelation of God is, or rather if in fact there is, or has been, any revelation at all.
1 comments:
Blimey! This is a bit deep for me, and having been on blogger for sixteen months now, I do wonder if I am reading blogs, that are a little( a lot) above my limited understanding. All these quotes, from these fine men, who must know the ins and outs, because they are teachers, are very neccessary. I can see that. But! What none of the learned seem to grasp, when looking at the less learned, is this: (or at least, it seems to me, it is this) they are speaking always to individual souls. For their words to become doctrinal, they obviously, have to go through the allotted processes and procedures, but for their words to save souls, ointment must be poured away , seemingly needlessly. Christ, as a person, real, there, needing, be it you or me, must be recognised, not just in argument, but maybe, in the still determined protestant.The Pope speaks of being in a crowd and being carried in a sway, but warns us, that ultimately, we appear alone before God. His words impacted me, as I often hide out at the back of Church events, seeking security in a crowd.
When an ex-protestant attacks Protestantism, I imagine, unless the fellow listening is very sure of God's presence in his life, he will feel condemned by the words, when infact, the speaker is hoping to convict, not condemn.
Converts to Catholicism might do well to remember this, in their enthusiasm to 'spread' their new found religion. I, am a cradle Catholic, poorly catechised, and spent most of my youth, with my father, visiting other religions (all Christian). My Dad is a Charismatic Catholic, confirmed into the Church at twenty seven. I discovered the rosary a couple of years ago, and now my Dad is rosary crazy! He's still Charismatic, has the strongest faith I have ever known in a man. No-one matches my Dad's faith. I am so blessed to have been given him as a father.
Sorry, I've digressed. I always let it get personal. I'm not a teacher, bit I see the need for teachers to be able to deliver the truth to the guys on the ground, who do have to dish out their truths to 'normal' non-religious people. That's why I keep pressing priests to do bible studies for the laity, woteva else you say about the Proddy's, they knew how to connect with the man on the street with the word that cuts through bone and marrow. Think Wesley! He also promoted the rosary, well one of his relations did. An ex-Anglican lawyer confirmned that to me. Protestants have a lot to bring with them, into Rome, let's acknowledge that, because it's true. Reformation was needed. Ok, it became deformation, but imagine if ego's had not ruled the day, and just a cleaning of house had been in operation.
May we all be one.
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