Thursday 29 August 2013

wiseman

Cardinal Wiseman
WISE WORDS FROM A WISE MAN! 
(At least on this occasion)
  Regular visitors to this blog will realise that my tendencies to quote Roman Catholic Cardinals (at least favourably) are few and far between. However, I do like to give credit where credit is due and I readily acknowledge that truth is truth no matter what source it comes from. I have decided to give you a quote which I came across a few years ago from one Cardinal Wiseman, who tirelessly worked for the conversion of England to Romanism after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1831. In the quote below, he deals with the thought of a man who converts from Roman Catholicism to Bible Protestantism. Wiseman, in keeping with the church that spawned him, was a wily character but he never spoke truer words than these:




 "The individual - by some chance or other - probably through the ministry of some pious person - became possessed of the word of God, of the Bible; that he perused this Book; that he could not find it transubstantiation or auricular confession, that he could not discover in it one word of purgatory, or of venerating images. He perhaps goes to the priest, and tells him that he cannot find these doctrines in the Bible; his priest argues with him, and endeavours to convince him that he should shut up the book that is leading him astray; he perseveres, he abandons the communion of the Church of Rome - or, as it commonly expressed, the errors of that church - and becomes a Protestant. Now through all this process, the man was a Protestant; from the beginning he started with the principle, that whatsoever is not in that book, cannot be true in religion or an article of faith - and that is the principle of Protestantism."

These are true words, no matter who spoke them. Coming from a Cardinal of the Roman Church, they are very perceptive indeed. 


If the Cardinal is right…

[1] The Psalmist David espoused Protestant principles because he wrote:
"Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." (Psalm 119: 128)

[2] Then Isaiah espoused Protestant principles because he wrote:
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:20)

[3] Then the Bereans espoused Protestant principles because when Paul spoke in their synagogue:
"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11)

[4] Then Agur the son of Jakeh espoused Protestant principles because he wrote:
"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." (Proverbs 30:5-6)

[5] The Apostle Paul espoused Protestant principles because he wrote:
"What saith the Scripture…?" (Romans 4:3/Galatians 4:30)

I appreciate the difficulty of attributing a historical title to those who lived long before it came into popular usage, but perhaps this is just another way of saying that true Protestantism is really Bible Christianity. If so, then where does this leave Cardinal Wiseman and others like him who came so far, but it seems not far enough?

THE END 



 

1 comment:

  1. Maybe we could include the Thessalonians for Paul says of them:
    For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. 1 Thessalonians 2:13

    Paul wrote to Timothy:
    As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine...1 Timothy 1:3

    John wrote:
    Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 2 John 1:9-11

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