The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

""""412 THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS.out for the country of Israel, and beggedto heal him. The prophet told him to go andwash seven times in the Jordan ;but Naaman,instead of doing as he was directed, became veryangry, and said I":thought he would have comeout to me, and touched with his hand the . . . placeof the leprosy, and healed me. Are not the Abanaand the Pharfar, rivers of Damascus, better than allthe waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, andlbe made clean ?" But the servants of Naamau remonstrated with him, and besought him to complywith the prophet s injunction, tellinghim that theconditions were easy, and the Jordan was at hand.Naaman went and washed, and was cleansed. Ouropponents, like Naaman, cry out :Why should yougo to a priest, a sinner like yourself, when, secretlyin your own room, you can approach God, the purefountain of grace, to be washed from your sins ? Ianswer, because Jesus Christ, a prophet, and morethan a prophet, has commanded you to do so.The last charge that I will notice is the most serious and the most offensive. We are told that private Confession is lawless ;that the conscience soonbecomes enfeebled and chained and starved byit; and, worse and worse, that sins are more readilycommitted, if followed by an absolution conveyingpardon. In other words, that the more attachedCatholics are to the practices of their holy religion,the more depraved and corrupt they become. Or,if they remain faithful to God, this is not by reasonof,but in spite of their religious practices.1IV. Kings v.