Private Judgement. 3

Different opinions on minor matters are to be expected, but that is no reason why those holding the same should not dwell together in amity and enjoy communion in the great fundamentals of the faith. If one is satisfied that certain "days" should be observed, that he had divine warrant to solemnly celebrate "Christmas" or "Easter," then let him do so. But if another is convinced that such "days" are of human invention and devoid of divine authority, then let him ignore them. Let each one act from religious conviction and not allow the fear of censure from, or contempt of, others to deter him; nor the desire to ingratiate himself in the esteem of his fellows induce him to act contrary to his conscience.

Each Christian is responsible to believe and act according to the best light which he has from God and continue to examine His Word and pray for more light. The dictates of conscience are not to be trifled with, and the right of private judgment is ever to be exercised by me and respected in others. Thereby the Christian duty of mutual forbearance is alone maintained, and a spirit of tolerance and charityexercised.

"I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say" (1 Corinthians 10:15). In those words, the apostle called upon the saints to decide discreetly if what he had further to advance on the subject, condemned them for continuing to feast in idol temples. He was treating with whether or not such an action came within the scriptural definition of idolatry. In terming them "wise men," he intimated that they were well able to weigh an argument, and therefore, it was their duty to examine carefully and ponder prayerfully what he said. In his "you judge," he signified his desire for them to be personally convinced, from the exercise of those spiritual "senses" which pertain to all the regenerate (Heb 5:12-14).

"Judge for yourselves: is it lovely that a woman pray unto God with her head uncovered?" (1 Corinthians 11:13). Not only would Paul have them obediently submit to the divine requirements, but also perceive for themselves what would be fitting, appealing to their sense of propriety, adding, "Does not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man has long hair, it is a shame unto him?" (verse 14).

Again, "Let the prophets two or three speak, and let the others judge" (1 Corinthians 14:29). Once more, they were called upon to exercise their own judgment — in this case, whether the messages given out by those claiming to be "prophets" were really the oracles of God.

Now, this right of private judgment, and the duty of each person to determine for himself what God's Word teaches, is categorically denied by Rome, which avers that "ignorance is the mother of devotion," and that the highest form of service is that of "blind obedience."

The Papacy insists that the Church is absolutely infallible in all matters of Christian faith and practice, and is the divinely authorized interpreter of the Rule of Faith. During Session IV, the Council of Trent (1563) decreed that "No one, relying on his own skill, shall, in matters of faith and of morals pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine, wresting the sacred Scripture to his own senses, presume to interpret the said sacred Scripture contrary to that sense which holy mother Church — whose it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures — has held and does hold; or even contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers."

This was ratified and repeated in the Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Council (chapter 2): "We, renewing the said decree, declare this to be their sense, that in matters of faith and morals, appertaining to the building up of Christian doctrine, that is to be held as the true sense of Holy Scripture, which our holy mother Church has held and holds, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense of the Holy Scripture; and therefore that it is permitted to no one to interpret the sacred Scripture contrary to this sense."

Nor has the arch-deceiver and enslaver of souls receded one hair's breadth from that position since then. The following propositions were denounced by the Papacy: "It is profitable at all times and in all places for all sorts of people to study the Scriptures, and to become acquainted with their spirit, piety, and mysteries" (Proposition 79). "The reading of the Holy Scriptures in the hands of a man of business and a financier [Act 8:27-28] shows that it is intended for everybody" (Proposition 80). "The Lord's day ought to be sanctified by the reading of books of piety, and especially of the Scriptures. They are the milk which God Himself, who knows our hearts, has supplied for them" (Proposition 81). "It amounts to shutting the mouth of Christ to Christians, and to wresting from their hands the Holy Bible, or to keeping it shut from them, by depriving them of the means of hearing it." Those, together with many other similar postulates, were "condemned to perpetuity" as being "false and scandalous" in his "bull" (a Papal decree to which is affixed the Pope's seal) — Unigenitus by Clement 11, issued on September 8, 1713.

In 1824, the encyclical epistle of Pope Leo 12 complained of the Bible societies, "which," it said, "violate the traditions of the Fathers and the Council of Trent, in circulating the Scriptures in the vernaculartongues of all nations." "In order to avoid this pestilence," said this poor creature, "our predecessors have published several constitutions…tending to show how pernicious for the faith and for morals is this treacherous instrument" — that is, the Bible society.

In those countries ruled by the emissaries of the Vatican, God's Word has ever been, and still is, withheld from the people; and they are forbidden to read or hear it read, under pain of the Pope's anathema. All known copies of it are seized and committed to the flames. At this very hour, the Lord's people in Spain are being persecuted for their loyalty to the Bible. So would they be in all English-speaking countries today, if the Romanists could secure full temporal power over them. The Lord mercifully grant that such a catastrophe may never again happen.

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