Peter Versus the Pope
“And we have the more firm prophetical word; whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place.” — 2 Peter 1: 19.
The Douay Bible is the version accepted by Roman Catholics. It is a very imperfect translation of the Scriptures. Near the close of the fourth century, now that the Church at Rome had become so intimately connected with the Latin people, Damascus, Bishop of Rome, thought the time had arrived when the Bible should be translated into the Latin tongue; and he induced Jerome, a learned scholar, to undertake the work. Some one in North Africa, during the second century, had translated it into Latin. This was taken by Jeromeas the basis of his translation, and, by comparing it with other manuscripts, he made what is known as the Latin Vulgate. The Douay Bible (so called because the Old Testament was first issued from Douay in France) is a translation of this Latin translation, and is not so near the truth as later translations from the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts — the languages in which the Bible was written. But at the Council of Trent, in the 16th century, this version was approved, and for this reason — not because it is the best — it is to-day the Catholic Bible. But, imperfect as it is, if our Catholic friends will only read it without the fetters of priestly interpretation, it will give them very clear ideas as to the doctrines of grace. And we shall quote from it in this study of Peter’s teaching in comparison with the dogmas of the chores he is said to have founded.
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One of the first things which strikes me as I open this Douay Bible is the ‘‘Admonition,’’ in which the readers are urged to accept without questioning the teaching of the church; and that it should not be read at all ‘‘ without the advice and permission of the pastors and spiritual guides whom God has appointed to goyern his church.’? And yet, Cardinal Gibbons, in his little book, grows horrified at the charge that the Roman Catholic Church is opposed to reading the Scriptures, and is the enemy of the Bible, — so horrified, indeed, that he is almost profane. ‘‘ Good God!’ he exclaims, ‘‘ what monstrous ingratitude, what base calumny!’ But, like everything that savors of profanity, these exclamations add no force to his words, but rather weaken them. And they are made to appear more profane, after we have read the 15 pages in which he tries to prove that the Bible should not be generally circulated, and that no man has the right to interpret the Scriptures for himself. This ‘*‘admonition,’’ however, does not deter us, for when we turn to the words of our text, we see that Peter gives very different advice:
‘¢ And we have the more firm prophetical word, whereunto ye do well to attend, as to a light which shineth in a dark place.”’
Peter is writing this epistle, not for Priests and Bishops but for the people, and he tells them they will do well to attend to the word of Prophecy. He refers to the Scriptures, and the most difficult parts of them at that. When he says (verse 20): ‘¢ No prophecy of Scripture is made by private interpretation,”’ he certainly does not mean to contradict what he has just. said in advising them to attend to their meaning. The Apostle refers not to the explanation of Scripture, but to the making of it at first: ‘* For prophecy came, not by the will of man at any time, but the holy men of God spoke inspired by the Holy Ghost.’? Men did not make this Bible of themselves, but were moved to write by the Holy Spirit. So men can interpret the Scriptures, only as they are filled with the Holy Spirit, who has been promised to guide us into all truth; and, as the gift of the Spirit is not for any class, but for all who believe and obey, so the interpretation of Scripture is not for any class, but for all who will trust the Spirit to guide them.
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Difficult passages do not explain themselves, any more than they wrote themselves, but God, who moved men to write them, can explain them unto men; and it is the Apostle Peter’s teaching in this passage, that we are to read them simply under God’s guidance.
The passage, therefore, really means that no scripture is of private, but of public interpretation — open to everybody who is under the influence of the Spirit.
Here is a note to Peter’s first Epistle in the Douay Bible: This epistle is written with such Apostolic dignity as to manifest the supreme authority with which its writer — the prince of the Apostles — has been vested by his Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.’? To those who love the Bible, while they accept the supremacy of Peter, it must be comforting to find that he urges his readers to attend to its words, and for once they will do well to consider Peter as supreme, and ask the priest to stand aside.
We will now, as fairly and fully as we can, state the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, and compare them with the teachings of the Apostle Peter:
I. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHES THAT GRACE IS GIVEN TO THE SOUL BY AN OUTWARD ORDINANCE, CALLED A ‘‘SACRAMENT.”’ ‘+A Sacramentis an outward sign, instituted by Christ to give grace.’’ (Catechism.) Now hear the Apostle Peter: ‘Grace to you, and peace be accomplished in the knowledge of. God and of» Jesus Christ our Lord.’? (2 Pet. 1:2.) Here it is asserted that grace is in the knowledge of Christ. To know God, in Christ, is to bea partaker of grace, without external ordinance. Again Peter says: ‘¢ All things of his Divine power, which appertain to life and godliness, are given us through the knowledge of Him who hath called us by his own proper glory and virtue.’’- (2 Pet. 1:3.) In this passage all things which God’s power can give us, including all grace and all graces, come through our knowing Christ. To know him is to be saved. To know him is to have all things that pertain to life and godliness. Not to know him is to be lost, though every ordinance instituted by God and man has been applied to you. If, therefore, we take Peter’s teaching as final, we must reject the Pope’s assumption of grace through the Sacraments.
Il. THE RoMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHES THAT BAPTISM IS THE SACRAMENT WHICH ‘‘CLEANSES US FROM ORIGINAL SIN, MAKES US CHRISTIANS, CHILDREN OF GOD, AND HEIRS OF HEAVEN,’’ AND THAT ‘‘ BAPTISM IS NECES-SARY TO SALVATION.’’ It is clear as light that Peter flatly contradicts these statements. In his sermon on the Day of Pentecost he exalted Christ, and said: ‘* Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:21).”’ Salvation for the asking!
In reply to their question, ‘*‘ What must we do, men and brethren?’’ the Douay version makes Peter say: ‘* Do penance, and be baptized everyone of you, in the name of Jesus, for the remission of sins.’? The word rendered *‘ do penance”’ is correctly translated ‘‘repent’’ in the 19th verse of the following chapter: ‘’ Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.’’ It means simply to change one’s mind — to turn from sin to Christ, the sin-bearer. Here is God’s definition of repentance: ‘+ Let the wicked forsake his way, and let the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’ (Isa. 55:7.) No penance here. Free mercy through Jesus Christ.
But according to their own version Peter puts ‘* penance”’ before baptism, an order the Roman Church will by no means allow. Their command is ‘‘ be baptized,’ and then ‘‘ do penance.””
Taken in the light of other scriptures, the expression ‘¢ baptized for the remission of sins ’? cannot mean that baptism itself cleanses from sin. Blood, not water, cleanses the soul! The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”’
The Devil said to Jesus: ‘It is written.’? Jesus did not deny it, but replied, ‘‘ It is written again!*’? And, if we are to know what the Bible teaches on any subject, we must take account of the ‘‘ agains.”’
Let us not follow the Satanic method of taking a passage from its surroundings, and building a dogma upon it. The worst errors in the world have arisen from this very practice.
The fact is, remission of sins comes through repentance and faith, and baptism is a symbolic expression of that remission. ° Peter puts this question beyond doubt in the following words, which seem to have been written just for this error: ‘* Whereunto baptism, being of the like form, now saveth you also, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the examination of a good conscience towards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”’ (1 Pet. 3:21). Whatever else baptism may do, it does not put away the ‘ fiith of the flesh,’’ and this ‘filth’? of the flesh surely includes original sin, which the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church says is washed away in baptism.
We are here driven to choose between the teachings of the Catechism and the teachings of the Apostle Peter. The Catechism was made by fallible men. Peter wrote as ‘‘moved by the Holy Ghost;*’ and they who regard him as the foundation of their church should accept his word; but it is evident that if they wish to have only the stones in their foundation which Peter took from the quarry of truth, they must dig up, and cast aside salvation by baptism. Peter reiterates his opposition to this error so frequently and clearly, that ‘‘a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err,’’ if he will but read. Listen to his words before the council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:7-11): ‘+ Men, brethren, you know that in former days God made choice among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, who knoweth the hearts, gave testimony, giving unto them the Holy Ghost, as well as to us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt you God to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which neither our fathers, nor we have been able to bear? But, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe to besaved.’’ ‘‘These Gentiles,’’ Peter tells us, ‘‘ hear the word of the gospel), and believe.’? Their hearts are ‘‘purified by faith,’’ not by baptism. They were saved by grace, applied through faith: ‘‘ By the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe to be saved.’’ Paul does not withstand, but stands with Peter in this, when he says, in that midnight scene, to the jailer, ‘‘ Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.’’ |;
Cardinal Gibbons, trying to prove the primacy of Peter, says again in his little book: ‘‘In the apostolic council of Jerusalem Peter is the first whose sentiments are recorded. Before his discourse, there was much disputing. But when he had ceased to speak, all the multitude held their peace.”? ‘They held their peace because they knew that Peter was right in declaring that the Gentiles were saved by simple faith in Christ, without circumcision — which they had met in that council to discuss — or any other ordinance being made the channel. Now if the Cardinal will only be as good as the brethren of that council, who held their peace, he will forever keep quiet about salvation through baptism; and he may appropriately take the words of Peter as addressed to him and his brethren in error: — Now, therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the necks of the people, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe to be saved.”? This yoke of ritualism was not put upon us by Peter. Let us throw it off, and be free through the abounding grace of God.
The same thought is repeated by Peter in his sermon to Cornelius; (Acts 10:36). “God sent the word to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all);”’ and, in the 43rd verse, — ‘t To him all the prophets give testimony, that by his name, all receive remission of sins who believe in him.”’ There is no baptismal salvation here! ‘* By his name allreceived remission of sins; ’* — all who are baptized? Not a word of it; but ‘“‘all who believe in him!’
After the household of Cornelius believed and were saved, Peter commanded them to be baptized as a confession of their faith. This agrees with our Lord’s treatment of Nicodemus. Jesus is telling the Jewish ruler about the divine part in the new birth, when he says, ‘‘unless a man be born again of water and of the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” (John 38:5.) The water in this text refers to the cleansing power of the Spirit through the truth. But, in the verses that follow, where he speaks of the human element in the process of salvation, it is — believe! believe! believe! from beginning to end; not a word about bap. tism! Read the 16th verse: ‘* For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVETH IN HIM may not perish, but may have life everlasting.’? In the 18th verse — ‘‘ He that believeth in Him is not judged, but he that doth not believe is judged already.’? Again, in the last verse of the chapter — ‘‘ He that believeth in the Son hath life everlasting, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him.’”’ So, you see, a greater than Peter, Peter’s master, teaches that salvation is by simple faith in Christ. And we are not left in the dark as to the instrument which God uses to produce this new light in the soul. Peter tells us of the precious promises, by which we are made partakers of the divine nature. ‘* Thy word,’’ says David, ‘is light.”? Jesus, the light of the world, shines through his revealed truth; and the Roman Catholic Church has as much right to shut up the sun-light in the houses of the priests, and tell the people the only way to get day-light is to come to the priests for it, as it has to shut up this light in the minds of the priests, and tell the people they must come for it.
Turn now to 1 Peter 1:23, and we shall see the part God’s word has in the new birth. ‘* Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by the Word of God, who liveth and remaineth forever.’’? And in the 25th verse — ‘‘ This is the Word which by the Gospel hath been preached unio you.”’ These words need no priestly interpretation; their meaning is on the surface. ‘‘The incorruptible seed’’ is planted in the heart — not by baptism, but ‘‘ by the Word of God.’’ And this word which ‘+ by the Gospel is preached unto us,”’ is recorded in the Bible. To attempt to put a priestly lock upon it is worse than the attempt to take out a patent on air and sun-light! It is like laying the hand of blight on the life germs of nature, and saying that the grass shall grow, and flowers bloom, only by the will of a class! Such a course, if possible, might turn our hillsides and gardens into barren wastes; and such a policy, in reference to the Word of God, has once turned this world into worse than a moral wilderness, a very charnel-house of spiritual death, of which Italy, Mexico and Spain are examples of to-day.
Paul asks the Thessalonian Christians to ‘* pray for us that the Word of God may run and may be glorified,’’ (2 Thess. 3:1.) Though he was in chains, he wrote to Timothy — ‘ But the Word of God is not bound.’’? It has been bound and burnt by those who would keep its plain teachings from the people, but, thank God! it never ran so fast or so far as it does to-day. The leaves of this ‘‘ tree of life,’ scattered by God’s providence, are everywhere healing the nations. The angel, flying through the heavens with the everlasting Gospel, has become a host filling the air and brightening the sky of every clime!
If Peter, now amid brighter glories than he beheld on the Mount, can look down upon this earth, we believe that nothing gives him greater pleasure than this universal diffusion of the truth which exalts, not him, but the Lord, at whose pierced feet he lays his crown! And could he return to earth, he would still exalt Jesus, as ‘*‘ He who bore our sins in his body on the tree,”’ ‘¢ by whose stripes we are healed.”’
In all his sermons and writings Peter mentions the word ‘church ’’? but once, and then only in sending greeting, but he is never tired of speaking of Him, who is the ‘‘Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.’? Nota whit would he change his confession of faith: ‘Trust perfectly in the grace which is offered you in the revelation of Jesus Christ.’’ (Pet. 1:13.) Not partially, but ‘‘ perfectly trust’ in this grace.
As he saw ‘‘ Jesus only ’’ on the Mount of Transfiguration, he would have us to see Jesus only as the object of faith.
And now, you who put such honor on Peter, will you believe his words, and simply look to Christ for salvation from sin?
III. ANOTHER DOGMA OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IS THAT THOSE WHO ARE CLEANSED IN BAPTISM RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST AND A SORT OF SANCTIFI-CATION IN THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION. All of which Peter flatly denies. The household of Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before they were baptized: ‘*Can any man forbid water that these shouid not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we?’’? (Acts 10:47.) And we are not left in ignorance as to the channel through which the Holy Ghost came to them. ‘+ While Peter was yet speaking, the Holy Ghost fell on all that heard the word.” Those who hear the Word of God, and obey it, have the promise of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 5: 82.) But, are we not commanded to be confirmed? As a sacrament conferring grace, nowhere in the New Testament. Confirmation is a work which God has delegated to no one on earth. Read what Peter says as to this: ‘¢ But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will himself perfect you, and confirm and establish you.’’ (1 Peter 5:10.) This agrees with the prayer of Jesus to the Father: ‘‘Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.’’ Paul says: ‘+ Our Lord Jesus Christ who also will confirm you unto the end.’’ (1 Cor. 1:8.)
Paul confirmed the churches in Asia by preaching the word to them, and that is the confirmation mentioned in the New Testament. Scriptural confirmation is a work of God, done in our hearts, through the truths revealed in the Book.
TY. ANOTHER DOGMA OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IS THAT ALL SINS COMMITTED AFTER BAPTISM ARE PUT AWAY BY THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE, WITH CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION. Peter meets this, too, with a flat denial. He declares that ‘* you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled; “needing no addition from us, ‘‘ who through him’ (not through penance) ‘‘ are faithful in God who raised him up from the dead, and hath given him glory that your faith and hope might be ’’ — in penance? No — ‘‘in God; purifying your souls (not by penance, but) in the obedience of charity.’ (1 Peter 1:18-22.) There is no joy in a religion of penance. Catholic theologians hate and berate the claim that any Christian can be sure of heaven. The nearest they come to it is when they teach that there is salvation inside of their church, and only damnation out of it. Those inside, who have been well taught in this, feel complacently safe, whatever be their character. The man who has no conscience, because he has surrendered it to the priest, is, of course, at ease, but it is a rest which, like the sleepy disease of Africa, is a symptom of death. The truly devout among Catholics, so far as I have been able to learn, know nothing of the joys of Paul, when he says: ‘‘ Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.”’
Clouds of penance give no refreshing showers, while they obscure the sun, and shut off its joyful rays. Even self-denial, for its own sake, and not for the sake of Jesus Christ, loses its blessing. All religious duties have a black pall thrown over them, the blackness of which enters the very soul. Spiritual exercises are prescribed as penances, and thus the things which God has ordained should be wings on which we mount up as eagles are made weights which we must drag like criminals in a chain-gang.
It is refreshing to turn from this appalling gloom and blackness to the radiant religion of the Apostle Peter. Listen! ‘¢ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that cannot fade, reserved in heaven for you who by the power of God are kept by faith unto salvaticn ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein you shall greatly rejoice, if you must for a little time be made sorrowful in divers temptations, * * * * whom having not seen you love; in whom also, now, though you see him not, you believe, and believing shall rejoice with joy unspeakable, and glorified.’’ (1 Peter 1:3-9.)
Here is salvation not measured by penance or merit, but by the great mercy of God, as ‘‘the Father of the Lord Jesus
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Christ!’? Here is a religion not fearing the torments of purgatory, but cherishing a lively hope through a living Christ. Here is assurance of salvation not based on my ability to say so many prayers, or do so many disagreeable things, but upon the power of God, which keeps me through faith unto salvation. Here is an inheritance for me that cannot be reached by its enemies, for it is reserved in heaven — God’s power keeping the inheritance for me, and keeping me for the inheritance. No wonder that Peter declares we have a ‘joy unspeakable.’? Unspeakable suffering purchased an Uns peakaule inheritance, and left us not a farthing to add. ‘Oh, for such joy let rocks and hills Their lasting silence break; And all harmonious human tongues The Saviour’s praises speak.’
Now to you who are trying to get forgiveness by penance the Apostle Peter offers a better way. Your sins, all of them, have been borne by Christ. ‘If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.’’ He does not break a few shackles, and leave us to wear off the rest by penance, but the hammer of his merit shatters every shackle, and lets fall their pieces at his pierced feet. Leave them there, and rejoice that you are free through the grace of God.
V. ANOTHER DOGMA TAUGHT BY THE ROMAN CATH-OLIC CHURCH IS THAT PENANCE, OR THE TEMPORAL PUNISHMENT DUE TO SIN, MAY BE REMITTED BY INDUL-GENCE. We are told that an indulgence does not mean a license to sin, but only a remission of the temporal punishment due to sin. But since it is indulgence for sins past, present or future, it is evident that in the minds of the people who get indulgences they are little less than permission to sin. I quote the words of the Church Catechism:
‘*’To gain an indulgence, we must be in a state of grace, and perform the works enjoined.’’ In other words, we must be baptized and confess to the priest, and do such things as please the dignitaries whose right it is to grant indulgences. At first the
Pope kept this privilege as his own, and for several centuries a thriving business was carried on for the benefit of the Papacy. St. Peter’s Cathedral was built, to a large extent, by the sale of indulgences. ‘’Tetzel’s hawking them for sale on the streets of Germany hastened the Reformation. They are granted to-day in Baltimore, whether for money or for good things done to the church depeuds upon the wish of him who grants them. Kecent Catholic writers, indeed, say that there is more reason now than formerly for granting indulgences, for penances are not so heavy as they used to be, and to meet the demands of justice for sins committed, persons should give or do what may be required to secure an indulgence. The words of Peter will force themselves upon me: ‘And many shall follow their riotousness, through whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken’ of, and through covetousnesss shall they, with feigned words, make merchandise of you.’’ (2 Peter 2:2.) There was a time when this applied to the traffic in indulgences with terrific force, but an open Bible, the breath of God’s mouth, has consumed the evil in its worst form. And yet the custom of charging so much for so many prayers for the living or the dead is as bad. The mission of Jesus Christ was to minister, and not to be ministered unto, and the church, Protestant or Roman, that has resolved itself into a society for forcing money out of people has sadly fallen.
VI. THE LAST DOGMA OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, ON WHICH WE WILL HEAR THE OPINION OF PETER, IS THAT EVEN THE SAVED, AFTER BAPTISM, CON-FIRMATION, PENANCE AND INDULGENCE, MUST GO THROUGH PURGATORY BEFORE THEY CAN BE FITTED FOR HEAVEN. And purgatory is a place of some kind of fire, for that passage of Paul, in which he says that some will ‘‘ be saved so as by fire,”’ is taken out of its connection and made to sustain this dogma. We are told that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison, and this is interpreted as referring to Purgatory, whereas the context shows that ‘‘ the spirits in prison ’’ were only those who ‘* waited for the patience of God in the time of Noah, when the Ark was a-building,’’ which may mean that Jesus preached through Noah to ‘‘ the incredulous,’’ and that their spirits were so bound by prejudice, unbelief and sin that they could be said to be in prison. The mission of Christ was to ‘+ preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up.’’ (Isa. 61:1.) Because Peter tells us that the gospel was preached to the dead, we are not to infer that some one went to Purgatory to preach it, for the lost, all through the Scriptures, are called ‘dead in sin.”’
So far as I can ascertain, the best of Catholics are expected to go through Purgatory. Even for Popes and Bish-Ops prayers are offered year after year — many years after their deaths — that their souls may repose. Penance here and Purgitory hereafter is the poor Roman Catholic’s experience.
A nun, of whom we have read, had spent most of her time in torturing penance, even walking on cut glass; and whenshe
came to die, she said that her feet were already burning in the fires of Purgatory. This is the experience of thousands to-day. Penance and gloom here, and death is an entrance into a darker valley, with fire on the other side between us and the Father’s house. But such was not Peter’s expectation: ‘+ Wherefore, brethren,’’ he says, ‘‘ labor the more that by good works you may make sure your calling and election.’? Do not labor to be saved, but that you may prove that you are saved. ‘* Faith without works is dead.’”’? ‘‘ For doing these things,’’ he continues, in practicing the virtues just mentioned, ‘‘ you shall not sin at any time ’’ — and now comes the bright prospect — ‘for so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’? (2 Peter 1:10-11.)
I can imagine nothing more horrible than the deaths of our Catholic friends. You have been in the death room, where the candles are burning. This means that it is dark! Blow out the candles, friend, and let in the sun. ‘The path of the righteous shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”’
Note the contrast between this and the experience of Christians who have died with faith in a personal Christ. Thrilled with a hope like Peter’s, only this ‘*‘ abundant entrance’’
is before them. Mr. Payson, while dying, said: ‘‘ I am going to bathe in an ocean of purity and benevolence and happiness to all eternity.’’ ‘‘Oh for arms to embrace him and for a well tuned harp,’’ said good old Samuel Rutherford as he passed into the brighter light. ‘‘Glory to God!’ said Mr. Abbott, ‘‘I see Heaven sweetly opening before me!’’ And he entered it with the angels that came to lead the way! Paul did not feel that he was slipping into Purgatory, when he said: ‘*‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness!”’ Not crowns of flame, but crowns of righteousness! That same Paul said: ‘*To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.’’? Lazarus was carried by the angels unto Abraham’s bosom. The thief on the cross went with Christ straight to Paradise.
And after a while, when your time and mine comes, we
can say with Pope:
‘¢The world recedes; it disappears;
Heaven opens on my eyes, my ears
With sounds seraphic ring —
Lend, lend your wings!
I mount! I fly!
O grave! where is thy victory?
O death! where is thy sting?’’
Listen! I can hear the words of that redeemed soul just entered into the Heavenly City: ‘‘The Lamb that’ was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity, and wisdom and strength, and honor and glory, and benediction.’? (Rey. 5:12.) Listen again. The voice of the Apostle Peter rings out above the rest as he repeats a verse in that same chapter of Revelation: ‘‘’To Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, benediction and honor, and glory and power, for ever and ever.”’ Not glory to church; not glory for merit or for work, for suffering in penance or Purgatory. but unto the Lamb shall be the glory, now and forever.