"Never Needs Alteration."
By Editor
THE Rev. D. S. Phelan, editor of the Catholic Western Watchman, of St. Louis, Mo., in a sermon on "What Must I Do to Obtain Eternal Life?" published in the Watchman in its issue of Aug. 8, 1907, says: "God is truth. His law is the same and never needs alteration. Therefore, when the lawyer this morning asks our Lord: 'What must I do in order to obtain eternal life?' our Saviour answers him and says: 'Keep the commandments.' 'Observe the law.' And that answer is for all time." The above is true. God's "law is the same and never needs alteration." That is true. The injunction to "keep the commandments" "is for all time." Mark it, reader. Now if this be true, as it irrefutably is, why does the Roman Catholic Church presume to change that law and defend the change? Take for instance the command concerning the Sabbath: It is quoted in Butler's Catechism, an authoritative Catholic work, that "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day" means "To sanctify the Sunday." All intelligent Catholics know that Sunday-keeping is not commanded by the Sabbath precept; and, moreover, the claim is directly made by Roman Catholics that the church made the change in the law. That change, then, certainly made of God's truth a lie. It declared that the law does need alteration. Now we believe the editor is right, because his statement is in harmony with the Bible; but the teaching of the church is wrong. Which will we follow, the law that "never needs alteration," or the changing, uncertain traditions of men?