Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/633



Our own authorities are pagan. Our secularized priesthood loves authority as it guarantees an easy life of comfort. (:And, since the Church has allied itself with the secular authority, the injunction which St. Paul made to the faithful in Rome is no more valid. For the Church herself has become a secular power. She defends herself in the same way as any state does.:) The admonition, "do good if you do not want to fear the authority," has become pointless because both the state ami church authority has lost the moral right to punish evil  when they themselves are steeped in all evils. All they care about is that (the Christians) attend masses, vigils, am other formal ceremonies. The Church authority stakes the salvation of all on masses, eternal prayers; she sings intermittently pealms for the dead; in the em she always sings them out or hell. Now this authority has nothing left with which to threaten, because she can redeem the dead souls from hell by her ceremonious acts. 212*