Protestantism Arose Because People Longed to Have Assurance of Salvation

Protestants accept, and always have accepted, all the great fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith which were preserved in the Roman Church down through the centuries, as well as in the Churches of the Last. Protestants hold to the doctrine of the Trinity, to the incarnation of the Son of God, to the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ, to His physical resurrection, to His ascension to God’s right hand in heaven, and to the fact that He is coming again as Judge of the quick and of the dead. In these doctrines Protestants and Catholics so-called are in unanimity. We who are called Protestants have nothing new to offer as to them. We maintain what the Church has maintained all down through the centuries. How, then, did the cleavage between the old church and the newer group come in? It was not the result, as some supposed, of the political upheavals in Europe, though these did come in connection with it; but it was the result of a widespread exercise among the common people of Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland and the Scandinavian countries as to how a troubled conscience could find pardon and peace and become sure of personal salvation.
Now I am not saying anything unkind in regard to our Roman Catholic friends or their views when I remark that there is no certainty of eventual salvation for anybody in the Roman Catholic church so long as he is in this life. For instance, when I was in Rome some time ago I found they were still celebrating masses for the repose of the soul of Pope Leo XIII. Now, Leo died a good many years ago. Many of us here who are middle-aged or older remember when he passed away. Nobody in the church of Rome knows today whether Pope Leo XIII is in heaven, in hell, or in purgatory; but they hope that he has at least gotten as far as purgatory. Masses are still being offered in the thought of getting him out of purgatory and eventually getting him into heaven. That is not a singular thing. Rome promises no assurance of salvation to anybody in this life.
In the little paper, Our Sunday Visitor, published by Bishop Noll, in the April 23 issue, 1939, are found these words:
“We do not know with certainty what the eternal destiny of any individual may be unless he is canonized by the church.”
Of course, no individual is canonized by the church until he has been at least one hundred years dead, so that what I said in the beginning is true. Rome gives no assurance of personal salvation to anybody while he is still in this life.
You can take the history of a good Catholic—and I have great respect for my Catholic friends and I would not want to say one unkind thing about them, but they, of course, if they were. speaking of my views, would feel free to point out what they thought was erroneous in them, and I feel free to do the same thing in regard to their views. But you take a person born into a good Catholic family. As a child, he is baptized and his baptism is supposed to deliver from the defilement of inbred sin. Suppose the child dies suddenly after baptism. I ask, “Has that little child gone to heaven?” Nobody can tell me. Nobody knows for certain. But if he grows up, he is instructed in the teachings of the church and when he comes to the proper age and shows an understanding of the instruction received, he takes his first communion, and is confirmed into the membership of the church. He comes home from the first communion happy to have had that wonderful privilege. But I say to the officiating priest or I say to the parents, “Are you absolutely certain now that this dear child is saved, saved for eternity?” The answer is, “No, nobody can be sure of that.”
What then? Well, the child is now called upon to persevere in good works, to be sure to make a good confession whenever he is conscious of having sinned, to do the prescribed penance put upon him, by the father confessor, to attend every church service he possibly can, and, above everything else, to be present at Easter time. And as he grows up from boyhood to young manhood and does all this, is he eventually certain of salvation? I have put the question definitely. I have often put it to Roman Catholic priests with whom I have been in conversation. I remember one answering me in the words of the Roman Catholic translation of the book of Ecclesiastes, “No man knoweth whether he is worthy of favor or hatred.”
Well, suppose this person perseveres all through life. He is very faithful in walking according to the ordinances of the church. He is very regular in attending the sacrifices of the mass, receives the communion as frequently as he possibly can. Is he then sure of salvation? No, he is still left in absolute uncertainty. Perhaps he enters into the marriage relation. Marriage is called a sacrament and is recognized as lasting as life itself, and this person observes the rules of the church in everything in regard to marriage, and a father or a mother carries out to the end all that is required by church order and regulation. Again I put the question, “Is this person saved? Are you certain now that this person will spend eternity in heaven?” The answer is, “No, no, nobody can be sure.”
Finally, this one comes down to death and a kindly, well-meaning priest is sent for and he gives the last rites of the church and perhaps lays a crucifix upon the breast of the departing one who breathes his last and goes out into eternity, and I turn to the officiating priest and say, “You are sure, aren’t you, that this dear one has gone to heaven?” The answer is “No one can tell, nobody knows. Very few people in the hour of death are good enough for heaven. Many are too good for hell but too bad for heaven, and so there is a state called purgatory, in which they enter in order eventually to be cleansed, and friends are asked to pay for masses for their souls in order that they may pass from purgatory to heaven.”
I have before me a little paper. It is a parish paper from one of the churches of this city. I won’t mention which one, but I notice a little item in it of striking importance. It says:
“You are often wondering to whom to make a gift, and what to give. . . . But have you ever thought of sending a gift to the Poor Souls, to your friends and relatives still held captive in Purgatory? And yet, they are craving for something you can give to them: the soothing drops of Christ’s precious Blood to extinguish the cleansing flames. This year, be resolved to include your beloved dead when you prepare your Thanksgiving and Christmas gifts. Have for them MEMBERSHIPS in the EUCHARISTIC WEEKS ASSOCIATION. There is no gambling, no insecurity, no loss in the investment we propose. The SHARES offered are drawn from the Eucharistic Treasury. Christ, the King, is the Banker: His Sacred Heart is inexhaustible. His generosity is infinite . . . The SHARES are the Poor Souls. Some of them are probably your actual creditors. They can do nothing to redeem themselves. Unless you pay off their debts of sin to God, they may have to stay a long time in the fiery prison. . .”
Now. I did not write that. No Protestant critic of the Church of Rome wrote that. That is a statement in the parish paper, put out by a local priest, urging his friends, his members, his parishioners to do what they can, give of their money for masses in order, as he puts it in so many words, to redeem the Poor Souls in purgatory.
Well, after masses have been offered for years, I turn to the officiating priest as he comes down from the altar and I say, “Now, are these souls redeemed from purgatory? Are they in heaven at last?” He says, “No one knows, no one can know.” That was the best that the Church of the middle ages was able to give to anxious, troubled, conscientious, distressed men and women who were facing eternity. And they said, “We want assurance, we want to know for certain how a man may find. peace with God: we want to know how one may be sure that his sins are forgiven, that he has life eternal, that he has been freed from guilt and that he is certain of going to be with God in heaven when death takes him from this world.”
It was the attempt to answer those questions from the Word of God that resulted in what has been called Protestantism. And there is as much need today as there was then for the testimony given in the sixteenth century in answer to those questions.