THE PALMERSTON CONTROVERSY
SOME THINGS THE PUBLIC ARE DYING TO KNOW FROM THE REV. MR. CLARKE The following letter from the Rev. Father J. Lynch appeared in the Falmerston and Waikouaiti Times of June 27: ~ ■ ' Sir,Here I leave the Catholic teaching on .this question, deeming its evident mildness and charity its own defence. I could have marshalled some hundreds of witnesses, all unanimous in explaining. the muchabused axiom in a most charitable manner. What I have given should be more than sufficient to convince all decent and fair-minded men of the Church's attitude towards the salvation of non-Catholics. For, as Dryden says, '' Truth has such a face and such a mien that to be loved need only to be seen' (Hind and ant her). . 'Unfortunately, non-Catholics see or hear very little of the genuine and official teaching of the Catholic Church. Thus, when we remember that Protestantism for the last three hundred years has been little more than a campaign of calumny against the Catholic Church when we call to mind the vile and detestable tactics of such anti-Pope institutions as the Protestants' Alliance in fraudulently manufacturing lying accusations against Catholics and their faith when we bear in mind that average Protestants never read a Catholic book wherein Catholic teaching is explained, but depend for their information on the rabid tings of pulpitpreaching, pur-blind, Pope-pounding parsons —then indeed we Catholics are constrained by Christian charity to look upon them with countenances more in sorrow than in anger. I charged Rev. Mr. Clarke with controversial dishonesty, and have proved my charges. I have asked him again and again to give a straightforward answer to clear, direct, and relevant questions. He has not done so. With woeful reiteration he has trumped up again and again the same old quotation from the Creed. Only this and nothing more. His attempts to convict the Catholic Church of intolerance have only served to plunge him still deeper in the pit into which lat first decoyed him. (1) I want to know, and every candid, honest man in this district wants to know: What right had Rev. Mr. Clarke to accuse the Catholic Church of intolerance because of her
axiom while it is laid down in the pages of his own Presbyterian Confession of Faith that the Scottish Kirk “is the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no oirdinary possibility of salvation” ? (Confession of Faith, ch. xxv., p. 105.) These are plain and unmistakable words. (2) I want to know why does not Rev. Mr. Clarke accuse his friend John Calvin, the real founder and father of Presbyterianism, of intolerance, seeing that Calvin wrote in the fourth book of his Institutions these words; “ Outside the Church we can not hope for remission of sins or for salvation” ? (3) I want to know why does not Rev. Mr. Clarke denounce the intolerance of a Calvinist catechism of the seventeenth century wherein we read the following “ Outside the Church there is only damnation ; all who separate from the communion of the faithful to form a sect apart should not hope for salvation so long as they remain thus separated” ? (4) I want to know why Rev. Mr. Clarke is not horrified at the words of the Helvetic Confession of Faith of 1565: “ There is no salvation outside the Church, any more than there was outside the Ark.” The Saxon and Belgian Confessions of Faith have similar words. It is a pity that Rev. Mr. Clarke could not see his way to mind his own affairs and set his own Presbyterian household in order before he took upon himself the duty of lecturing Catholics on charity and toleration. The ridiculous position wherein he now finds himself may for the future make him withhold his traducer’s pen. If the commandment of God andl Christian charity do not restrain him from bearing false witness against his neighbor (the Catholic Church), at least discretion and common sense should. It never pays to make oneself ridiculous except one be an expert comedian and adopts farce and caricature as a profession. But no one ever looks for comedy or humor from a Presbyterian parson. Gloomy Calvinism has killed all that long ago. Hence I give Mr. Clarke the advice of the old frog to the young one: “Look before you leap.” e J. Lynch, P.P. Catholic Presbytery, June 11.
The following somewhat cruel letter from a Presbyterian layman, which appeared in the same issue of the Palmerston paper, may be considered as administering the final coup de grace to the hapless Palmerston pastor —■
' Sir, —To your paper my attention was directed a few weeks ago by reason of the controversy which was then begun between your local Catholic priest and Presbyterian minister. ' As behoves one who hails from Edinburgh and who was personally acquainted with many of the most eminent divines who flourished in his native land during the latter half of the Victorian era, men who were shining lights in a bright age, I take more than a passing interest in matters affecting the Presbyterian Church and her doctrine in my adopted country. ' I know something, but nothing profoundly of the principles and doctrines of the Presbyterian Church. ' The Catholic Church is condemned by the Presbyterian Church for many errors of commission and omission, but never did the Presbyterian Church by her principles or doctrines either expressly or impliedly, nor heretofore did anyone professing to speak for that Church, assert that the Church of Rome taught that outside of her fold there is no salvation. ' There should not have been any controversy at all about the question. It certainly appears to me that Father Lynch rushed too hastily to the press to publicly challenge Mr. Clarke to substantiate a statement which he, Mr. Clarke, had as hastily and very injudiciously made in your paper. Had Mr. Clarke's attention been quietly drawn to his error he would doubtlessly have made amends. But, being so aggressively challenged by Father Lynch, it is hard to blame him for the stand he took. ' The statement in question is a purely theological one. "Outside of the true religion or visible Church of Jesus Christ there is no ordinary possibility of salvation" is a doctrine taught by every Christian Church on earth, and every Christian Church qualifies the doctrine by teaching that not external members only of the Church will be saved, but all who in the sight of God are fit to be saved. Presbyterians, Catholics, members of all other sects and creeds, heathens and cannibals, who according to the light God has given them live righteously, will be with Him one day in heaven.
That is roughly but honestly the doctrine of the Presbyterian Church. It is likewise the ■ doctrine of the Catholic Church and all other Christian Churches.'" ' It appears to me that not all of our ministers to-day are of the calibre of the pastors I knew at Home and in this fair growing land in the early days. They seem to lack the learning and profundity of the Catholic priests against whom they right as one with hobbled limbs. V. ; V . '-'••'-" This is not as it should be; our- ministers have behind them the splendid traditions of the Church' of Scotland, for whom our ancestors bled and died. •"-; 'I think it is time that the Presbytery insisted that all ministers should at stated intervals foregather, and where possible at a Theological College, to be examined as to their progress in knowledge of • the Word and in all matters pertaining. to their high calling. " ': ; : S'.'.;'-■ ; ; ' No, Sir, the controversy in question should: not have happened. Yours, etc., , '<'-.-•' Alex. McMillan. . 'Dunedin, June 19, 1913.' ''■'.-'■.*;
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New Zealand Tablet, 10 July 1913, Page 45
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1,289THE PALMERSTON CONTROVERSY New Zealand Tablet, 10 July 1913, Page 45
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