Romanism In The Light Of History

Romanism in the Light of History By Randolph H. McKim, D. C. L. Rector of the Church of the Epiphany, Washington, D. C. We have a Dictator before whom we must prostrate ourselves, . and he silent t and bow our heads, This Dictator is History H xa al Ji 5vY dXY 6o Ke pa iartv 6 Xpiarbs s. BASIL. G. P. Putnams Sons New York and London fmfcftetbocfoet lpre00 1914 By the Same Author Christ and Modern Unbelief Present-Day Problems of Christian Thought Gospel in the Christian Year Problem of the Pentateuch A Soldiers Recollections xpx-4 Go THE MEMORY OF MY REVERED FRIEND AND TEACHER WILLIAM SPARROW PREFACE THE history and purpose of the following essays may be briefly stated When the famous encyclical of Pope Leo XIII. on The Reunion of Christendom was republished in the American press, it seemed fitting, as well as respectful, that Protestants should make some acknowledgment of such an appeal. Summoned by the kindly voice of the illustrious head of the Roman Church to restore unity to Christendom by submission to the sovereign spiritual authority of the Roman Pontiff, and invited to make this submission in the name of Holy Scripture, and of the ancient Fathers of the Church, I ventured to answer in an Open Letter, citing the Holy Father himself to appear at the bar of history, and justify the tremendous claim which he makes upon our consciences. The second essay in this volume is an attempt to exhibit, in a brief space, the verdict of history which is neither Roman Catholic nor Anglican upon all the essential points of doctrine and jurisdiction contained in the said encyclical of Pope Leo XIII. on Christian unity. My letter bore date, Feast of the Annunciation, 1897, The third essay, on theFundamental Prin vi Preface ciples of Protestantism 1 contains the substance of three lectures, delivered in the city of New York in my parish church, in the year 1879, n reply to a lecture delivered in St. Anns Roman Catholic Church, New York, on the Results of the Protestant Reformation, by the very Rev. Thomas S. Preston, V. G., and subsequently published by Robert Coddington, New York. The pamphlet to which these lectures is a reply may be taken as a fair specimen of the Roman Cath olic argument. The then Pope, though esteemed a liberal man, urged against Protestantism, in one of his encyclicals, some of the same accusations, and Mr. Mallocks articles in theNineteenth Century, at the same period, took up some of the same points. The fourth essay is a reprint of certain Open Letters, published in the autumn of 1908, which were occasioned by a sermon in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Westminster, London, by Cardinal Gibbons, claiming for the Roman Catho lic Church in America the honor of being the first to establish religious liberty in the New World. I have given in an introductory essay some account of the enormous losses sustained by the Roman Catholic Church in the different countries of Europe since the promulgation of the dogma of papal infallibility in 1870, and also an estimate of the present condition and prospects of that Church in the United States, R. H. McK. April I5 1914 CONTENTS PAGE I. THE PRESENT OUTLOOK FOR ROMANISM . 3 II. POPE LEO XIIFs ENCYCLICAL ON THE RE UNION OF CHRISTENDOM I. The Reunion of Christendom . . .25 II. Pope Leo XIIIs Encyclical on Christian Unity 33 III. An Open Letter to His Holiness Leo XIII. . 43 IV. Was St. Peter the Rock .... 59 V.Preliminary Propositions Necessary to the Papal Claims 68 VI. St. Peter and the Power of the Keys . . 74 VII. The Primacy of St. Peter .... 79 VIII. The Primacy Anciently Conceded to the Bishop of Rome . . . . .81 IX. The Development of the Papacy . . 97 X. The Forged Isidorian Decretals . . 99 XI. Irenams on the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome 102 XII. St. Cyprian on the Equality of Bishops, .105 XIII, Witness of the Greek Church to the Inde pendence of National Churches . .112 XIV, The Church of Rome and Holy Scripture . 115 XV...