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X. Keep on the Safest Side.
— Melancthon, the favorite disciple of Luther, had prevailed on his mother to follow him in the path of the so-called Lutheran Reformation. On her death-bed she called her son, and solemnly charged him to tell her the truth: —
"My son, by thy urgency I have abandoned the Catholic Church, and followed the new religion. I am about appearing before God, and I adjure thee by the living God, tell me, and keep not the truth from me, — in what faith must I die?"
Melancthon bent his head, and was silent for a while. There was a struggle in his heart between love for his mother and the pride of sectarianism. But at last he made answer: —
"Mother, the Protestant doctrine is the easiest, but the Catholic is the surest!"*
Then, if the Catholic religion is the surest, surely one should embrace it, and much more never abandon it to embrace a less safe one.
This simple argument, based on good sense, determined Henry IV. to become a Catholic. A conference on religion was going on in Saint Denis, before the king and his court. On one side many Catholic doctors; on the other, the ministers Duverdier, Morlas, Salette, and some others.
The historian Perefixe tells us that "The king, observing that none of the Protestant divines dared to deny that one may be saved in the Catholic Church, remarked: 'What! you are all of one accord in that there is salvation in the Roman Church?' 'Certainly,' rejoined the minister, 'provided a man leads a good life.' Then, turning to the Catholic doctors, 'do you think, gentlemen,' he asked, 'that I can work out my salvation remaining a Protestant?' 'It is our belief, sire, and we solemnly profess it before you, that having once known the true Church, you must enter it, and that there is no salvation for your soul if you remain a Protestant.'
"Whereupon the king judiciously remarked, in addressing the ministers: It is then the behest of prudence that I should belong to the religion of the Catholics, and not to yours. For, you agree with them that in their religion I can be saved; whereas, in yours, I can be saved, it is true, in your opinion, but not in theirs. According to prudence, then, I must keep on the safest side."
And he became a Catholic.
— Melancthon, the favorite disciple of Luther, had prevailed on his mother to follow him in the path of the so-called Lutheran Reformation. On her death-bed she called her son, and solemnly charged him to tell her the truth: —
"My son, by thy urgency I have abandoned the Catholic Church, and followed the new religion. I am about appearing before God, and I adjure thee by the living God, tell me, and keep not the truth from me, — in what faith must I die?"
Melancthon bent his head, and was silent for a while. There was a struggle in his heart between love for his mother and the pride of sectarianism. But at last he made answer: —
"Mother, the Protestant doctrine is the easiest, but the Catholic is the surest!"*
Then, if the Catholic religion is the surest, surely one should embrace it, and much more never abandon it to embrace a less safe one.
This simple argument, based on good sense, determined Henry IV. to become a Catholic. A conference on religion was going on in Saint Denis, before the king and his court. On one side many Catholic doctors; on the other, the ministers Duverdier, Morlas, Salette, and some others.
The historian Perefixe tells us that "The king, observing that none of the Protestant divines dared to deny that one may be saved in the Catholic Church, remarked: 'What! you are all of one accord in that there is salvation in the Roman Church?' 'Certainly,' rejoined the minister, 'provided a man leads a good life.' Then, turning to the Catholic doctors, 'do you think, gentlemen,' he asked, 'that I can work out my salvation remaining a Protestant?' 'It is our belief, sire, and we solemnly profess it before you, that having once known the true Church, you must enter it, and that there is no salvation for your soul if you remain a Protestant.'
"Whereupon the king judiciously remarked, in addressing the ministers: It is then the behest of prudence that I should belong to the religion of the Catholics, and not to yours. For, you agree with them that in their religion I can be saved; whereas, in yours, I can be saved, it is true, in your opinion, but not in theirs. According to prudence, then, I must keep on the safest side."
And he became a Catholic.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre