Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org
WISEWORDS FROM A WISEMAN
Regular visitors to this
site 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. 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...where does this leave Cardinal Wiseman and
others like him who came so far, but it seems not far enough?
THE END