e day on which this world is to come to an
end? And when their prophecy fails of execution they coolly put off our
destruction to another time.

Very recently several hundred Mormon women presented a petition to the
government at Washington protesting against any interference with their
abominable polygamy and they insist that their cherished system is
sustained by the Word of God.

Such is the legitimate fruit of private interpretation! Our civil
government is run not by private judgment, but by the constituted
authorities. No one in his senses would allow our laws to be interpreted,
and war to be declared by sensational journals, or by any private
individuals. Why not apply the same principle to the interpretation of the
Bible and the government of the Church?

Would it not be extremely hazardous to make a long voyage in a ship in
which the officers and crew are fiercely contending among themselves about
the manner of explaining the compass and of steering their course? How
much more dangerous is it to trust to contending captains in the journey
to heaven! Nothing short of an infallible authority should satisfy you
when it is a question of steering your course to eternity. On this vital
point there should be no conflict of opinion among those that guide you.
There should be no conjecture. But there must be always someone at the
helm whose voice gives assurance amid the fiercest storms that _all is
well_.

Third--A rule of faith, or a competent guide to heaven, must be able to
instruct in all the truths necessary for salvation. Now the Scriptures
alone do not contain all the truths which a Christian is bound to believe,
nor do they explicitly enjoin all the duties which he is obliged to
practice. Not to mention other examples, is not every Christian obliged to
sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work?
Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred
duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you
will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The
Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we
never sanctify.

The Catholic Church correctly teaches that our Lord and His Apostles
inculcated certain important duties of religion which are not recorded by
the inspired writers.(150) For instance, most Christians pray to the Holy
Ghost, a practice which is nowhere found in the Bible.

We must, t