k 1
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
<: . ^iP w?p
:^r
1.0
I.I
1^
2.5
18
L25 III U i 1.6
V]
i^
/#
^l
Hiotographic
Sciences
Corporation
23 WEST MAIN STREET
WEBSTER, N.Y. 1 tSSO
(716) 872-4503
>»;^^
,<i
fc-T 4£
2i
CIHM/ICMH
Microfiche
CIHM/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.
Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques
Technical and Bibliographic Notas/Notes techniques et bibliographiques
The Institute has attempted to obtain the best
uiriginal copy available for filming. Features of this
copy which may be bibliographically unique,
which may alter any of the images ir. the
reproduction, or which may significantly change
the usual method of filming, are checked below.
Coloured covers/
Couvertura da couleur
I 1 Covers damaged/
Couvertura endommagte
Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restaur^e et/ou pelliculAe
Cover title missing/
Le titre de couverture manqua
Coloured maps/
Cartes gtegraphiques en couiaur
Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/
Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleua ou noire)
Coloured plates and/or illustrations/
Planches et/ou illustratio.is en couiaur
Bound with other material/
Reli* avac d'autres documants
D
D
D
Tight binding may causa shadows or distortion
along interior margin/
Larellure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la
distorsion la long de la marge int^rieure
Blank leaves a<^ded during restoration may
appear within the text. Whenever possible, these
have been omitted from filming/
II se peut que certaines pagns blanches ajouties
lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans la texte.
muis, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont
pas 6tA filmAas.
Additional comments:/
Commentaires supplAmentaires;
L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire
qu'il lui a iti possible de se procurer. Les details
de cat exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du
point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier
une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent e;;iger une
modification dans la m^thoda normale de filmage
sorit indiquAs ci-dessous.
I I Coloured pages/
Pages de couleur
Pages damaged/
Pages endom magmas
Pages restored and/oi
Pages restauries et/ou pellicul^es
Page? discoloured, stained or foxe<
Pages iicolor^es. tacheties ou piaudes
Pages detached/
Pages ditach^es
Showthroughy
Transparence
Quality of prin
Quality inigala de I'impression
Includes supplementary materia
Comprend du materiel supplementaire
Only edition available/
Seule Mition disponible
I I Pages damaged/
I I Pages restored and/or laminated/
r~7j Page? discoloured, stained or foxed/
FTI Pages detached/
FTj Showthrough/
f~~j Quality of print varies/
□ Includes supplementary material/
Con
r~] Only edition available/
D
Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata
slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to
ensure the bost possible image/
Les pages totalement ou partieilement
obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure,
etc.. ont M filmdes d nouveau de facon i
obtenir la meilleure image possible.
This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/
Ce document est film4 au taux de reduction indiuu^ ci-dessous.
10X 14X 18X Z2X
y
12X
16X
20X
26X
30X
a4x
28X
32X
The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks
to the generosity of:
Seminary of Quebec
Library
L'exemplaire fllmA fut reproduit grflce h la
ginirositd de:
S^minaire de Quebec
Bibiiothdque
The images appearing here are the best quality
possible considering the condition and legibility
of the original copy and in keeping with the
filming contract speuifications.
Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and ending on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.
The last recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol ^•^' (meaning "CON-
TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"),
whichever applies.
Les images suivantes ont M reproduites avec le
plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et
de la nettet« de l'exemplaire film6, et en
conformity avec les conditions du contrat de
filmage.
Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprim6e sont filmte en commen9ant
par le premier plat et en terminant ftoit par la
dernlAre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second
plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont filmfo en commenpant par la
premiere page qui comporte une ompreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
la dernlAre page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.
Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la
derniire image de cheque microfiche, selon le
cas: le symbols — »> signifie "A SUIVRE", le
symbols ▼ signifie "FIN".
Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning f?i the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, as many frames as
required. The following diagrams illustrate the
method:
Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre
filmis A des taux de reduction diff6rentn.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre
reproduit en un seul ciichi, ii est filmi d partir
de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche k droite,
et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre
d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la mdthode.
1
2
3
1
2
3
4
5
6
^f
€tHiS^^<^ti
»^^
>A u
FATHER
D AflEN'S
> , " ■ ■ ■ '
LECTURES
I. The Private Interpretation of the Bible.
•I. The Catholic Church the Only True Church
of God.
III. Confession. ^ if if if if if i^
IV. The Real Presence.
V. Answer! to Popular Objections Against the
C^^Bc Church, if if if if
HOKi 1 900. .^""^-n: :/..i. •' , ■:• v:^^.;v^' ' -
*■*>*«, v.^.^if**-*'- ',fr
/)'
■,■!?
v-cva
'^^® , wdS*'^-
5feixv^^ ^^tvVi
i
I
i. I *
''S-!
{
I
j
n i-^y
FATHER DAMEN'S LECTURES.
$y +
^ l8.M
THE
\
Vf 8
PBITATE liTEBPBETATIOH OF THE BIBLL
Sermon Preached at the Basilica, Ottawa, Canada.
14th December, 1871.
<i,oi h.*i***i'"*/*."',?!"* '* ''»P«^ed. shall be saved : but be
'l^h vers! "°' '*'*" ^ ^""^•'"n^d-Mark xvi. chap a^
Dearly Beloved Christians— When our Divine
Saviour sent His Apostles and His disciples
,yiroughout the whole universe to preach the
gospel to every creature, He laid down the con-
duiopsof salvation thus .—'« He that believeth
and is baptized "said the Son of the living God^
shall be saved but he that believeth not shall
be condemned." Here, then, our blessed Lord
laid down the conditions of salvation ; two con-
i^
2 THE PRIVATE INTERPRETATION I
ditions — faith and baptism. He that believeth \
4tnd is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall bo condemned, or is damned ; \
hence then two conditions of salvation — faith >
and baptism. I will speak this evening on the I
condition of faith. j
We must have faith in order to be saved, and
must have divine faith, not human faith ; human [
faith will not save a man, but divine faith will. ■
WHAT IS DIVINE FAITH? (
It is to believe^ upon the authority of Gk)d, the
truths that God has ravealed — that is divine
faith. To believe all that God has taught upon
the authority of God, and to believe without
doubting, without hesitating ; for, the moment
you commence to doubt or hesitate, that
moment you commence to mistrust the authority
of God, and, therefore, insult God by doubting
His word. Divine faith, therefore, is to believe
in what God has taught, but to believe without
doubting, without hesitating. Human faith is
when we believe a thing upon the authority of
men — on human authority — that is human
faith ; but divine faith is to believe without
doubting, without hesitating, whatsoever God ^'
has revealed upon the authority of God, upon
the word of God ; therefore, my dear people, it
is not a matter of indiflference what religion a
man professes providing be be a good man. You
hear it said now-a-days in tibis nineteenth cen-
,'%c^.
-*«*.. ■ %
I i
OF THE BIBLE. 3
^ of Uttle faith - you hear it on all sides,
IT MiTTBBS NOT WHAT BKUSION
mat 18 heresy, my dear people, and I will prove
It to you to be such. If it be a matter o?iI!
difference what a man believes, proving he bL
a good man, why then it is useless fo? God to
make any revelation whatever. Ha maS h at
ChriS to tr.T I w- 'T^^^^'^'' ' '^^^t "«« for
teach ^nw- *»"* His Apostles and disciples to
t« hi- *"'°^' '^*^°«^ "atio'is are at liberty
or disciples ? You see at once that this would
teJZ i'^f-^^i " '^"'l '«^«*J« a thing oJ
Sa^fs to hl'K^.?' r^?' *° ^' believed; He
wells . .V '^'"^"1 ''^'°«^^' He teaches or
Xttever fe- u ^*° *' ^''""'^ ^^ Relieve
wnatsoever God has revealed, for. mv dear
people, we are bound to worship God b^th Sh
mTn and rI .1 ^''^ \^^^}^r of the whole of
man, and He claims the whole of man H«
matter what denomination, church or reiigioa
1* not a Christian who will deny w« ar. bound
* THE PRIVATE INTERPRETATION
to beliOTe ^-hatBoever God has revealed ; there-
^fait " '"'* * T^^' °^ indifference what
religion a man pro/esses ; he must profess the
true religion if he would be saved. But
WHAT IS THE TRUE BELIGION ?
To believe all that God has taught. I am sure
even my Protestant friends will admitThis Is
right ; for If they do «ot, I would say they are
Sends ' is tn*'^.-^^'*^'" ?/ '"y Protestant
menas, is to believe m the Lord .Tftsna "
Jesus. Why says my Protestant friend
hving God. Agreed again— thanks be to God
Jesus fCir- °° «T''^'?« •' W« believe that
He is Sd T„ fu- ^°" °u *^' "^g »od. that
&art'anJsoSaI tt'T^^^llA'^
fee "alht • ." ^^"^* "^^ GodTSenTe m^S
bejieve all He teaches. Is not this so mt
dearly beloved Protestant brethwn and sister^?
Md that's the right faith, ain't it ? "S
yes say my Protestant friends, " I suoss thaf
Son'rtff I-*'-; ?>^"«^« that jlsTis^l
bon of the hvmg God, we must believe all that
Christ has taught. We Catholics say The same
and here we agree again. ^ '
Christ, then, we must believe, and that is the
It
OF THE BIBLE. 5
Suthf ILTr'^f^ ^'^^''^ »" 'hat Christ has
fafth there is no ^!\ 'T''^'^' ^""^ ^"^0° tJa
there is no hoL '.^i^**'""^' ^ft^out that faith
there 7s "eS L^S^.T'"''^' '^^' ^^^
words of Christ for it '<R? k .^^>^^« *he
shall be condemnpV" *^A' beheveth not
Christ. V detr lil...T' ^^"'* ; hut if
me, ul^rVir JeternaTd, 1"°^}^' 'T?^^^'
all that He h^ ta^ He' mT«r^- *" ''^"r
means to Know what hi u '?°^* g»^e me the
could not conTe J^4 for tSi S^ ^^'!f*
not know. Christ is a Sod inW«f rH°1 ^ <**»
.rntirnTd'oi^r?-^^^^^^^
to be H 8 win-fo3 L — ^ ™ •*." °°* »^°^
THE MEANS OF KNOWING
times within the r?ach of T^e^T- f^tM 'H
people have a ri^hf +^ « i ^".i'**"^^® > lor, as all
figh\toiirm"tr ftisz' ^har4?Y ■*
taught, and beliflvn it ""^"'ng waat Crod has
Secondly,toe means that Gn/*"^' *^''' '°^^'
^arevLtCsetSrr^KT*Je.uUe^^
ehall learn the Lths £ Gn^*f ^"^^^''^ 'b«y
ti»ey may believe them ISlV"*' *""«'"' "'at
means that God riv^ ^„ ?°1 ^^ «''^ed. The
taught must be an'^Shble r.''"''"' ^^*' H« '^8
means, far if n bT^^^^^ meane-an inlalJiw!
infalhble means, so that if I ^* ™"8t be an
that means he w^ Jf/a Li °""^ '°''^'«« "«« of
mistake or ewor J« "•'»"»%, without fear n,
all the tru^'^^^Xt \° " ^"^"^jX of
thmk there can bTanZ.. *' **"g^'- I don't
not what heT aoK"* P"''^^* here-I ", J
">"* .«« pbA^t^Sf "^f °'.an unbeliever-
premises aire"' the ^oSrrr- ""-^ t^e««
n»*t^ »>«ar it in miS T'J.^,^'-«fo«. I want
on these premises reste 111 k^'h "P«** i*. for
^ificourse and reas^S^^ ^t '*T«^i^ "^^J
njf , under pain of etS' , ^ G^od commands
»H that He'C tenift/f"'?^*'"'^' *» ^eK
the means to know 42 tJ' ^"^^ to give m^
the means that God J^s .S J^^f *»°8l»t. and
iw t«Wh* - ttuuS h™^ 1° ^'^'^ ^hat He
Wi«un the reachrf KLi.7* *^^° »t all time^
"^?e means to a8^Tw^> ™°«t be an
X^ ?' ^« ^ be^r^R' "^ ? '"»" makes
a'Uhe truths God has ta^^'^*" ^ knowledge of
^<^«d given u.a„4';„
OP THE BIBLE. j
«ay my Protestant friends. •' He hft« " a j
«o says the Catholic • OoH ^ „7 • ^^
means. ^"'""''"c • ^oi has given us such
WHAT IS THE MEANS GOD HAS OIVKN
friend, "the Bibt. the whoHf ^^« ^^pie.U,nt
nothing but the Bibfe " But we cltSt'" ''''*'
No; not the BiliJ^ or»^ * • ^atiiolics say
tion 'but LKe Seh"oVSj^n« S'^'^"*"
the fact, and I dpfv uii L ^ '^ P'o^e
and a]l the preacht« fn/^P!^**^'* •>'«"»'«"
unprove what fXr; t<^°4h^ ."^T. '^
It IS not the private \nL^J^^^" \^^^' *^®i.
•!!« book 10 «°. -DM sfdo S'' Hr;r«
<'hn8t sent His AnnatiL +t V ■'^^ **"* ^^o'-
universe, anf'sair'" Go ^^^2°* f' ^^''^^
teach all nations banti^^.^ It' ^^^'^^f?". and
of the Father and of /hi I *^®'".'° *^« «am«
«h08t ; teachina f hiJ ! ^°? *""* "^ '*»« Holy
whatsoe.4rita^jtr j^nd n:, .^" S!"4
<iid not sav • " <=;if /i^«, ^uueu you. Christ
scatter th^^oveAhe^XlnTM^'*''^^ ^'^^
-ad his Bible anrj^Ji^^f i--?--
8
THE PRIVATE INTERPRETATION.
Christ had said that, there never would have
been a Christianity on the earth at all, but a
Babylon and confusion instead, and never one
Church the union of one body ; hence, Christ
never said to His Apostles, go and write Bibles
and distribute them and let everyone judge for
themselves. That injunction was reserved for
the 16th century, and we have seen the result
of it. Ever since the 16th century there have
been springing up religion upoxi religion, and
cnurches upon churches, all lighiing and
quarreling with one another ; and all because
of the private interpretation of the Bible.
CHRIST SENT HIS APOSTLES
with authority to teach all nations, and never
gave them any command of writing the Bible •
and the Apostles went forth and preached
everywhere and planted the Church of God
throughout the earth, but never tho'ight of
writing. The first word written was by'' Saint
Matthew, and he wrote for the benefit of a few
individuals. He wrote his Gospel about seven
years after Christ left this earth, so that the
Church of God established by Christ existed
seven years before a line was written of the New
Testament. St. Mark wrote about ten years
after Christ left this earth ; St. Luke about
twenty-five years, and St. John about sixty-three
years after Christ had established the Church of
God. St. John wrote the last portion of ike^
OF THE BIBLE. g
the Church ->f r)^u a u " *^"'' ^arth, and
Cathoirc reliin had .t'?/"'?*'"^^^'^- ^he
before the^ wa^'c 31r£f*?ir'^
written. Now r aut /^P^««'«ci, oeiore it was
separated X'thre^ Ce "ihosT'k'^-^^'^
people who lived betw Jn fh. a • , • ^^'^^^^
Bible and the estabtL^enh/^cCcV^I
Jesus, were thev rpaihr nu • x- '^^urch of
t.an.;enligh£dSfst£f^K°hev?nT-
the religion of Jesus ? Wher^ i« ft. ^ ./^^
the most nprfo/»f /^*• nu • x- *^ , ^ ^^nstians,
the Wood^of Je us cS'^^'i^ *^K ^^«' *■'"'' °f
know what thev hndr."! . -^"^ ^°^ ^'^ ^^^7
Was it from the h1 1° ^ '*^" '^^i-" «°«l8 ?
because fhi Rii ^^ *^^y ^^^■^iied it ? No
ou^s^it^ Srha^* Tef^" A""' r "^
«ixtv-five years wifhw f ?'^ ^^""^ fo'
Were the ApJstJesThrLtianr'l^^r.^:'^ "^'•
fear Protestant friends ? You
4hey were the very founders '
-INow, my dear friends.
[>^'SBE^
10
THE PRIVATE INTERPRETATION
II
KONE OP THE APOSTLES EVBB READ THE BIBLB»
not ono of them except, perhaps, St. John, for
all of them had died martyrs for tiie faith of
Jesus Christ, and never saw the cover of a Bible ;
for every one of them died martyrs and heroes
for the Church of Jesus before the Bible was
completed. How, then, did those Christians
that lived in the first sixty-five years after
Christ had left this earth — how did they know
what they had to do to save their souls ?
They knew it precisely in the same way that
you know it, my dear Catholic friends. You
know it from the teaching of the Church of
God, and so did the primitive Christians know
it. Not only sixty-five years did Christ leave
the Church He had established without a Bible,
but over three hundred years. The Church of
Qod wafi established, and went on spreading
itself over the whole globe without the Bible
for more than three hundred years. In all that
time the people did not know what constituted
the Bible. In the days of the Apostles, there
were written many false gospels. There was
the (jospel of Simon, the Gospel of Nicodemus,
of Mary, of Barnabas, and the Gospel of the
Infancy of Jesus; and ail of these Gospels
were spread among the people, and the people
did not know which of these was inspired, and
which false and spurious. Even the learned
themselves ware disputing whether preferenc
'^e
OF THE BIBLE.
u
Gospel of>rk. th?7o^'S"£.rrtf«
of Luke, the GosdaI rxf ^u^^t r ^^^y* ^^ that
the Go;pel oflfj:U^° ^^1'^^^ ?'
regard to the Enisilflfl. '^. * **^ "»
8puriou8 Epistles Sen' an J [^ were many
at a loss J over t^^ hCdJef iKkZ"
which Gospel was fafee or spmilnTot^ih^l
inspired; and. therafnrA f»Z, ,J ' ^'^'"^
the Bible for theL Se fof ?L*'°?^f ""^ **te
wimt constitutedttTS^if Jf fetbl°'*l^"^
not until the fourth centnr; th.i.l J* ^^^
Rome, the HeadT the Sch ,h« ' ^""^^ "^
of St. Peter asflpmhi«>!i + ^"!f *''^' the successor
coUQcil, t,ouncu, and there m that
I
IT WAS DECIDED THAT THE BIBLE
IT^ftT Sl?3 T S'? *^« Word 'of God.
Mary, the Infancy of Jesus and°°R Nicodemus.
all these other Epistles wpr.c ""''*'' *"'^
least, unauthentic ; at leasriLfPfr""'' °'"' ^'
evidence of thp.V ;:!o!* I- ** ^'^^'"^ '■"^^ no
Gospels of St Luke EJ!*'*'°\/°'^ 'h^' the
and the Book of ReVS*^''' '^^''^ **»'' J«J'".
j God and the spLtl t&,rpV"^'^*'f'' ''^
they could-notTakeThrB?hLtr1ht^ i^
' I'l !
12
I i i I
i I !
^HE PRIVATE INTERPRETATION
intended man to learn £.T«1- ^^^'°"'-- « be-
have left the ChrSn worW 7*"^ J'"°'°u* ^°^^'
years without the Ckpiif *^'''' ^T'^"*
Not only for three hnnlln ' assuredly not.
left without the BiblP £ f ^®*''' V^* '""'^ '^as
hundred vearathlr'h;-?* ^°'' ^'"f thousand four
out tha^^S toL^SrS'^ar^^^^^^
was invented, Bibles wfre ^e Ss ^'r k?"^
were costly thinea N«™ ^^' ^'''^^s
aware, if you havf;««/h^ ^°" '"°'* »'^ •>«
art of printW JL fni'1'1'*'^ »' *"• t^a* the
than fZ ffdrld vr4 *'** ""i^ * ""'^ «"«'»
of the 15ih cSnrv /«w ^?' **"'°' '^« ^i'Jdle
years beJore theS wl; a Prof.«r^ ''"^ u^"°*^«*''
As I have sa^d hlf^,! ^'^testant in the world.
books were S S s^ti'^Cr ^
it took I fortune a Z-i^ '^J-^ *'° ""'"^ '^**
at the probable cost of a Bible J ft .*t '^'""7^
ns suppose that a man sho^M work ten r«'' 'f
make a copy of thp R.Ki^ "'" worK ten years to
•Jay ; well then tL I' ?1 ^*™ » dollar a
J' weu, tiien, the cost of that Bible would
OF THE BIBLE.
13
years, the eos^'of I r-m' * ^^y- *<^' twenty
to you : My Xar tJ,^^ "^"^^ *°*^ said
Protestant pUcher would IL'T '""'^ ' '^^«
must get a Bible • vm? i„ *^. **' •^<'"' " Yo"
street at such 1 sb^m °** •'°*' °° Sussex
Murray strS"'' Y^ZuZ ^^^ ''^^•'°'*
be told it was $8,000 You wSlJ'^L'l?^' ^"f
exclaim, ** The Lord a^^^ i , ^^ "^^^7 to
to Heaven '^^,' Z b^o'ok? ir* "^^ ''
would be : " No • vo„ ^„ * u , °® answer
read it." You mumu? I.* ^^^ *^^ ^'^^^ '^d
asked, is not ^o^ i**"^ P"''^' •>"* «e
Yes. of course it i«h,f '°°' ''^'^^ «8.000?
money. ^ if v'' f /**? '*^ ^*'" '^^^^ "«*
that s^Ctfon deCnds .?^ ^t* * •?''1«' »"«*
would have to Zafn ouSde^r^^'"'!^ ^*^°
Heaven. This wonti kf u , ® ^mgdom of
indeed. PorT/oO^ear: the'S^ '''''''''''''
WAa LEPT WITHOUT A BIBLE •
«* «« in tea thousand, not one 'in twenty
14
THE PRIVATE INTERPRETATION
! I
thousand before the art of printing wa»
invented, had the Bible; and would our DivTn^
Lord have left the world without that book if it
^ZeTZ7 trr:^ salvation r\lc
rrntVa' all S Bi les'thrS ^"^ "
writfpn from tu/u • .'"'®8' 'oat Bibles were
written trotn the beginning, and that every man
woman and child had a cop, ; what good wHl
read ? It is a blind thing to such nersonn
Even now one-half the inhabftants ^o th^
SenTthr?'- .^°T^^'' *« *^« Bible wa^
Tread i[ bST" *^''^ ^*"^*«^^ ^ «>e able
10 read it. But it is said we have it translatpd
now in French. English, and other Sguages
f-^t A*^- J^^' ^"* *'« you sure you havf a
Srd^of S ^"*^^ ' 1 °°*' ^'»° J-ave notTh:
Word of God. If you have a false translation
ha tT'^"^,""*^ .S°^ «^*» yo« a«cer afn
tnat ? How find out that vou havp a fn.fhf.,i
translation from the Greek Z hZw Tdo
mends , for my translation I must depend unon
W uZr "I*?' learned-upon their' decis^
«hn!ii K :,?^-^/!^'" ^\'^''^^' ^'^PPoae the learned
imshonfd'L'f '"•/''• *'^«i'- "P'^^ioDs. and some of
vou^ S • ^ '* '' ^°°** '^'^ ^"'"^ foi«e. then
your faitn is gone; you must commence
toow thi trlw"*"*'"^' ^*"^« you do not
imow ijae translation is annA m^™ ^:i.i ,
"MriTTT -ww,:!.!^ J
intin^ wag
our Divine
^t book if it
►n ? Most
)ose for a
bibles were
every man,
t good will
low how to
b persons.
its of the
) Bible was
i would be
to be able
translated
languages
yon have a
'Ve not the
ranslation,
1 ascertain
a faithful
5W ? I do
separated
)end upon
• decision,
le learned
d some of
alse, then
commence
a do not
th regai'd
OF THE BIBLE.
15
to the Protestant translation of the BiblP
ett"~ W ''^ '*f >' translation a'nd'Kf
!^j «• . ^o'»' own learned divines, preachers
^t ouf a?r tli'^'' "1**° ^^°'« Xmes to
point out all the errors there are in Kins JamA«'
tamslation. and Protestants of va^ous^denZi
S^Sst"!?'^?.^*- SomeyeragowhenI
^ved in bt Louis, there was held in that citv
we^^L'ww f Ti^*^'^ ^ denomfnatioS
were mvited to that convention, the obie^
te^ r?°«l^«' a new translaton of £
Bible, and give it to the world. The nrnL«S
Sf ^s2Lrr*r ^^'^ published ^St
Wm^^ V?fP-"'*^'*- ^ learned, a very
i^^^r^I^"^''' ^ ^^^ it wa«. stood nl
and. mgmg the necessity of givine a n«w
S^if^t.*^ WsaidXt! in Z
SK wer^iih^*''^^"- of t^e Bible,
TSIBXY THOUSAND BBBOBS !
rtl^R-??"' • ^^' '"y ^^^ Protestant friends
^ ^'^^ ?.y°°' S^'^ and teacher. What a
teacher, with 30,000 errors ! The Wd save ns
tr^ •^"'^^IL ^""^ «"»' is b^ enough
M 80,000 IS a httle too mneh. A««f.hi:
l^reacner stood op in that convention-Tthilj;
i I
i I
THE PRIVATE .NTERPRCTATK)N
He was a Baptist-and uwm„ *u
giving a new translating^ °/ !t^ necessity of
that for 300 years nfi/lu °^ '^« Bible, said
Word of Godf r tCa: Vil' ''i""'"*^e
Word of God at all L!^! *'*^« " «<>* the
preachers for von v^. n " ^^ your own
?« doubt, my ?riend " ''"i"'^ ""« newspapers
is going on ,7En"lZd\r.^ """"' tnow wC
«go they sent in a petitL^T^p'' ,.*"°« 'i'^e
an allowance of a ft.^ *i *** Parliament for
for the purpose of leTtJn ""'^'^ P°°°ds ster£
of jl^e VV^d^thaT^P/ '^ew translation
beaded and carried on k. ^T^"* »« being
and clergymen. K„e° ^{/'°'"1*'»* B^hopf
a little worse than Ihe „,?' °^^ gi^le will be
people, how can yJS be t-'' . ^"*' ""^ ^^''^
You say the Bible is vn„r „ •'. °J ^^""^ ^ith ?
know if you have it^ r!.'?'*'^' ''"' ^«« ^o not
moment that all should hat!>\"Ru."PP°«« '<»• a
read it and have a fairhft. .^'H®' should all
then it cannot be the S«*'r''*'^*'°' ^^^^
the private interDretatjl ? ?5 '°*°' because
mfaliible, but o^e contrl *^' ^'**'« ^^ "^ot
the source and fountain nftf^'-T^* ^'^"iWe.
and heresies, and aTwLf „^"^f "^ «"««
doctrines ! Do not beJ^^A "^ blasphemous
just only keep calm midnln""^ '''" ^"«"^«.
There are now ®" *° "^^ arguments.
>N
necessity of
^ihle, said
without the
3 is not the
your own
jiewspapers
Know what
Some time
lament for
da sterling
translation
is being
it Bishops
»le will be
'» nay dear
ur faith ?
ou do not
ose for a
should all
5n ; even
because
le is not
fallible,
f errors,
phemous
• friends,
:uments.
OF THE BIBLE.
tr
THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DUTOBBNT PROTBSX.
ANT DENOMINATIONS
ZitsltlT^ TY "■ r^*"^' I <>^om have
churphP« a«7- M xr ,^ °^°^® Protestant
nusDand could do the same thing — senH hia
Protestant denominations or churches and In
every one of thJm Tan":? "e tueX t^
diifer and contradict one anotheraid cann7
liet us suppose here is" ""•' """^ "*''"' " "^iit.
.18
in !
1
THE P«,v.TB ,NTERP.,,,„,„
^® 18 a sincerp ur. i>
prayerful man. H°°rf/ ^"•'"caaing and'
prayerful spirit, anffromlh' '^'^ i^ible ^i„*'^f
prS J 'i?^:„f^"^ ^-Soiti «"L"r '^
«ads the BiKsr anH-? ««"-/«anTt.
tWe should be no BishoLtu.""'^ ''^"^ "• '^a
cols Tf T°'"^ ">«" Then *[h "'•r^^^^
by sprinkling, an?7hit'ifl*^l"" "^^^
»« *o ten ,ou that y J a^ ^^'^^
fON
:r;
OF THE BIBLE.
19
i^caamg and'
Bible in a^
^^ the Bible-
e»'e must be-
^ can be no-
JP^nts, and
^^ ^resby.
> o^a-n; lie-
^"« it. that
^^•♦^sbyters.
'scopalian,.
a the he,"
prayerfui
'« Baptist
oest nian^
e Baptist,
'^as," says
.'» ft •'j
' and
i^n I was
was done
n at all.
Christ/'
*il," and
you are
*you are
^ comes-
st, and
"aLbw
----Wo,
4m thP RihLt' ^"'^•^^ 8^^ several texts
ixie spmt 01 God movmg within von 9"
J^Tr''" ^^y« *he Protistrnt "we are
11 ^Kri '^*«°° and judgment" " WeU "
says the Methodist, " if you never fc]f .Ju ■
hea°s then, f „i K ^"'^"I"?."'* °^^* ««°»«8 i°. a^d
:^aro;^^^^^^^^^^
says he : " that idea is good enough to sca;e
COMES XN THE QUAKBB ;
he recommends them not to be quarreling
and advses them not to baptize at S He fs
taith. Another comes in and says " Bantiza
the men and Jet the wom«n ohll. 7*?.?!
«»ble says. " unless a man"beTom' ag"ak' o?
i f '
i li ri
! 'Mi
"; "I
20 -
THE PRIVATE .NTERPRETAT.ON
SSt^l?Z?.'.^-' ^^no. enter ...
ffcors .^\i;fsU- 4Ve^^tL\:^
•'e presumptuous ^Sf' "^"^ ^^^^ he, "You
tl^'Kr^'-.^" y«» Know •'^T"'°p'"""« «'"
*» Heaven, shake, ml t^^tu ^""'^ ^^"' to ro-
have here brought tLeth'""' «hake." [
denommHtions. differin^^f'^'"' '^^^« »'• eigh
understanding the ft R, ''*'." '"'« another or
vvnat. then, if x brou«hf f .°.'^'"P'«'a'"'u.
different denominations St t^**^«' the 352.
their guide and teachfng, id '°^ *he Bible foP
ALL DIFPEBINO PfiOM nm
^« they aU riffht 9 T '''^''^•
StrS" ->'" *here^"nneS"^f '^ ^«»-
He'^'not'^^oTsat^g. f ^^nott s'a^^
another 8ay8 they ^^\t'>! ?« "««^«ary
baptism is requiafteZoTher .''"';. One sa/^.
Doth true ? Th,-a ^""*^®^ s i is not • arA
friends; all canS^be L!° '^r^'hiiity.' ^^
He that has the tm« ^ ^^« *hen is true ?•
7"" say; but the Bi^^.^^»°''^g o^ the BAle
-."the Bible oy^t^y^^^ ^/^ us who tha't
- '' « not the teacher ^l S^^/^J- The
- -"c £>,oie, my dear
^TION
[inot enter into
says he, "the
2© the men "
'^3^8 he, - You
umptuous set
^ fays, *' that
^rk out yo?7r
^^ you do not
>u want to ^o.
shake." f
^^n or eight
another, or
erent ways,
terpretation.
l^ the 352.
he Bible for
'HER.
f© is a heJl^
Are both
other says
liecessarj,
^ne sajs-
5 not ; are
>iJity, my
-n is true?-
the Bibie,
who that
ei. The
^y dear
OF THE BIBLE.
21
PJ^^Pi?* /^ * ^^^^ ^^^ ' we Catholics aUow that
the Bible is the Word of God, the language of
inspiration, and every Catholic is exhorted to
read the Bible, but good as it is, the Bible, my
dear friends, does not explain itself ; it is a good
book, the Word of God, the language of inspira-
tion. Your understanding of the Bible is not
inspired for surely you do not pretend to be
inspired ! Now, then, what is the teaching of
the Church upon the subject ?
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SAYS
the Bible is the book of God, and that God
Has appointed an authority to give us the true
meaning, It is with the Bible as it is with the
constitution of the United States. When-
Oreorge Washmgton and his associates wrote the
Constitution and the Supreme Law of the United
btates, they did not say to the people of the-
btates, let every man read the Constitution and
make a government to himself, let every man.
make his own explanation of the Constitution.
11 Washington had done that, there never would
have been a United States. The people would,
all have been divided among themselves, and
the country would have been cut up into a
tliousand different divisions or governments..
What did Washington do ? He gave them,
the Constitution and the Supreme Lav, and
appointed his Supreme Court and SimrpmA
Judge 01 the Constitution; and that Supreme
■'It
• uill.
I i ^ 1 ! i J
■MH'I'
I! I!
■1 I i
If
Hi I
' Mil'
I- IIP
■ I
iiii
22 THE PRIVATE .NTCRFRETATWN
cit'^ens of the United ^t^^*'°° *" »« the'
*xcep,ion. from the pJSdfnlt" ;C ^.^*h°°t
are bound to go bv th« ^1 • • ^ "*® **<«8»i-. AH
Court, and if is th^a^lT?" *^^*^^S°P'««'e
Jfeep the people toStwf ^ *'<'°«' «>at can
oi the United States Th°'^ P'^"""'^* *'»« "nion
take the interpretation nf ♦T^Jf * *^« People
tbe.r own mind's? htt "motet' £°'«*«*'^ in
of union. And bo it ;« ,-~™®°* there zs an end
?B here and in En°iXrj^^''^t'^«°*' «« i*
Js' a Constitution a Hn^if'^^^^^*'^- There
Supreme Judge of tha?Con«f?'*?'*' «' ^'»^' *
Supreme Court or ChiS T« m ''*^-' *°** *^^^
meaning of the Con/AfnK^ *? f*^® "^ the
*very well-ruled co^tl 1^ ^^ "»« ^a^- In
thmg as this -a sSJlfr °"'«* ^ «"«h a
supreme judge that In ?».^^' 8"P"me court,
to abide by.^ ' Therei«^' ^''^^^ ««« ^^^d
supreme law, sunreme LJ!;^ ^""^^ "^^^y a
»nd all are bound bTL^!if^'- '°P''«'°« J"dge,
hat - governmont'air%^^ ^*^ '"*
Chief, ^hoZZiZl'^'^^'t' ^V"^^
S-our a.„ has esS^ea V^^^
HIS SUPBEaiE JUDGB
give us the true revelation and
rATlON
:0 give the tme
on to all the
,'"" aU. without
the beggar. AH
01 thi3 Supreme
"one, that can
serve the union
^nt the people
constitution in
here is an end
^ernment, so it
where. There
nrt, or law, a
tion, and that
give us the
t^e law. In
1st be such a
ipreme court,
ie are bound
y county a
?reme judge,
and without
Even among
>n of affairs
P ? By their
our Divine
Lis Supreme
OF THE BIBLE.
23-
doctnnes of the word of Jesus. The Son of the
Jivm^r God has pledged His word that that
Supreme Court is infaijible, and therefore the
true Oathohc never doubts. "I believe," says
the Catholic, *' because the Church teaches me
so ; I believe the Church because God has
spoken and upon the authority of God. But
our Protestant friends say, " We believe in the
Bible^;' Very well; how do you understand
the Bible ? «* Well," says the Protestant, - to
the best of my opinion and judgment that it is
the meaning/ of the text." He is not sure of it,
but to the best of his opinion and judgment,
ihis, my friends, is only the testimony of a,
man — it is only human faith, not divine
taith. It is divine faith alone by which we
give honor and glory to God, by which we
adore Eis infinite wisdom and veracity, and
that adoration and worship is necessary for
salvation. I have now proved to you that the
private interpretation of the Scriptures cannot>
be the guide or teacher of man.
elation and
~l1
i
!iii (
-! I
!
M I'
lid
H!
! )
i i! i|!i
Hi;
11 IHi '
ll !
I I
th
I
1 !
Ill'
I'' I
e^
Si
fo
Yi
m
ct
wi
Bi
m
W
be
ai]
11.
THE CAIBOUC CiBCH.
THE flSiy TBIIE CfllfBCB Of
Sermon Preached at the Basilica, Ottawa. Canada,
I 18th December, 1871. '
Saviour, 1 proved to you that faith is necesJarv
for salvation and without faith theeisnosar
naS •■ Z'^^r^ ^""^ *^^^« i« eternal dam-
nation. Bead your own Protestant Bible 16th
S5 V '*''??^^'^ *^^^^ *^^° i° the Catholic
Bible Now, then, what kind of faith must a
man have to be saved? Will anv faifh rLt
Why, if any faith will do th^LTJ^'H 1°,?
ZTctui '^^t ^^'^ «fs-the- de;^rsXii:;e
and tremble. --, „, therefore, not a matter of
,!i
'\\ I
\ m •
h
i\ ■ I
' l!!^ = V !
• II! ' i
I I
m
i m
lull
ml
U i ;!ii:
'^ ' liiO:
26
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
mdifference what lelieinr, „
must profess the 3 ^ "^^^ professes ; he
without that there [ ^o hoi T ,''''S^°'^' ^^^
stands to reason mv 1„? ^ f '^*"on, for it
repeals a thinTor tL.f ^^°^^^' *^a* if God
to be believed^ j^ t^ tf * ^^'^8' ^^ ^^nts
God. Doubting ffis wor?'^' ?^'*, ^' *° '°«°lt
with doubting Ld hpS ' ° ''^"«^« even
God, because^it k doubW^-'' ^° ^°«°" *°
We must, thereforfi k!]- ^ ^'^ «^««d word,
without hesSnf ' ft? ^'*^?°* doubting
Catholic Church Xre L r!)'?'*^ .°J^* "^ ">«
be no divine faith out of fJ^f/T^f ¥^ - «an
of my Protestant Snds S ^.?'^<'?- ^ome
this-tohearmesav^hL 'I ^Z '^°«^^e<l at
Church there L no St fj^^ °^. *^« Catholic
faith there is no sawt*^'.*"!^ *^^t without
will prove all I have SV' ^*"^°^*^°°- I
of the Catholic Church tLri*^' t^'^ *^** °at
faith. What is dS fS 9 "wu''^ "° <^'^«
a thing upon theTuthS of S'° ^" ^^'«^«
It without doubting, Sont 1?^?'*^"'^ ''«^«^«
a" our separated bTethri !*-i°8- ^ow.
Catholic Church take thl- ?''^.^"^^ "f the
?f the Bible for their '„??''^1' i°*^'P'«*a*ion
mterpretation ,rf the ^ ^' *""* *^ P^vate
BIBM CANNEVEE GIVE THEM
divine faith. Let mn f • ^
a moment h«re is a PrLhll*"''^' ^''PPose for
^« -.ui«, irom the readW .7~i,L ^X, f^a^s
J
1
c
1
8
r
w
b
a
C
j^
fa
P<
h(
tt
Bible hd
bi
^n professes ; he
ue religion, and
salvation, for it
pie, that if God
{iing, He wants
'rod IS to insult
^o believe even
^ an insult to
3 sacred word,
lout doubting,
i<i out of the
le faith — can
lurch. Some
e shocked at
^ the Catholic
3 that without
amnation. I
said that out
be no divine
en we believe
f and believe
*ting. Now,
Jide of the
iterpretation
the private
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH OF GOD.
suppose for
IS Bible he
27
icomes to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is
' 11 nu^'J'''' ^^^ *^i« is t^e most essential
S, nu . r-^*T ^o<^*^i^es — the foundation of
aU Christianity. From the reading of his
Bible he comes to the conclusion that Jesus
Christ 18 God; and he is a sensible man, an
mteUigent man, and not a presumptuous man.
And he says here is my Unitarian neighbor
who IS just as reasonable and inteUigent as I
am, as honest, as learned and as prayerful a
man as I am, and, from the reading of the
• i S^ .^^^^^ *^ *^^ conclusion that Christ
is not God at all ! Now, says he, to the best
of my opmion and judgment, I am right, and my
Umta^ian neighbor is wrong ; but after all
says he, I may be mistaken ! Perhaps I have
not tlie right meaning of the text, and if I am
wrong perhaps he is right after all; but to the
best of my opinion and judgment, I am right
and he 18 wrong. On what does he believe?
On what authority ? On his own opinion and
judgment. And what is that ? A human opinion
— human testimony, and, therefore, a human
laith. He cannot say positively : - 1 am sure
positively sure — as sure as there is a God in
heaven— that this is the meaning of the text •'»
therefore, he has no other authority but
HIS OWN OPINION
and j'udgment, and what his preacher tells him •
t)ut the preacher is a smart man. There are
a
!1 W
ill
28
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
=sTo^i,^^n3^eaelje„ also, but that
and nothing Le, and theri*^ f^thority,
faith. What is humL faithT R^?^ ^•"°^''°
thing upon the testimony of m! ^eheving a
faun, beheving a thine oX?*?' *°^ ^^i^'^e
The Catholic has V^„?%*"?*^'°°'iy of God.
Because the Catholic saTsT hf*^' ■*°** ^V?
such a thing. Whv? L^^'^''^ "* «°el» and
teaches me so An/ ^..T''!"^? *^« Church
• Church ? Because^^ l^ ^"^ ^ *'«"«^« the
believe the teacW oHb^X '^'^^^^'^ me to
threatened me wftb t ^T^' ^''^ <^i has
believe the Church p.n?"''"'*'"" ^ I do not
Peter, in his Epttle fch*'"' **"«1^* ^y St.
prophecy or inteSat on „f ^ <J^ ?° P"^"*^
the unlearned and uw^hi *^® ^^"Ptwe; for
Hcriptures-theaL f ^u". ""««* t^e very
That"^ is strong FanTuri *^'"^ "''^ damnation^
that is the lanfuate W' A^ ^T P«°PJ«. but
Apostles. The uniearSL '*1;' *^« ^^^ "f the
the Bible to thei? otTf ^''i ''^^'^We ^«st
after all the Se^« damnation! And yet
language of inspSiLn-^Va? f ^°'*' *^«
a true Bible, as Z Oath. r 'r.'^^^" ^^ have
Protestants hkve not ^^™s I'ave and you
Protestant frSds. do'nofhl'"^ ^'."^^^ "^^^o^^d
saying that. Your owSl . ! f ^''^d at me for
and Bishops teU Z thTt^nH ^"^"?* P'^^cheiB
T^hole volumes ^n;,^i*'i**-^°^«ia^« written
- -*.*wi 1^ prove that ''
•W]
the
mi
ev
m(
Ui
I an
-"TsMaa
* also, but that
aaan authority,
e only human
Believing a
Q; and divine
kimony of God.
^» and whv ?
^e in such and
e the Church
I believe the
manded me to
.and God has
if I do not
taught by St.
^ no private
>cripture; for
st the very
1 damnation.
• people, but
) head of the
stable wrest
^ And yet
3f God, the
len we have
'^e and you
^rly beloved
'd at me for
i preachers
ave written
> that the
faulty
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH OF GOD. 29
Inglish iransJation, which vnn hotr^ ;„
the Protestants themselves have agreed thaTthf
iaCstffs ?eV^ilf h^ C^bolt^Surth
and LreC rt^I's^Xta'^e ?eSerd'"
meaning of the Bible. And hT ' '"^^
HAS PEOVIDED 4 TEACHER
mml be „ inMibili^.' 13", ,S' JS
l\ I
! 1 i';':
: r mi
'mi
II I'!
I
30
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
r iui;)!;
iV^ lo,n!l^°^*^^* constitation and supreme
tew as you thmk proper, for then there would
tfi^rooer Th constitution as he should
tmnK proper. Therefore, in all eovernmpnta
and to the supreme judge is referred all different
aThavf fn iK^^'^T'^f "^ *1^« «°P'«me judge
♦^ofy • " *''"^^' ^^'^ if tJiey did not abide bv
that decision, why, my dear people, there would
^n^usSon. '""^ "'"''' ^"^^ ^'^"''^>'' disorder and
Agam, suppose for a moment that fh-.
Blessed Saviour has been less Tse than human
governments, and that He has not Sided for
ffisC nf\T^°.^ "'u^^« constitutLrand o?
-Uis law ol the Church of God. If he had nof
my dear people, it would never have stood asit
has stood for the last 1838 years He hJ
hen, established a supreme c^^^" a Spreme
if^l."". *^^ ^^°^«^ of the living CtodTt^s
ffi •'* "^ »" Bides, by ProtertaS' and
e'SSrhed^'^^cruth"^^^^^^^^ T' ^^* ^-
gl our ProtesUnt'a, So^^:^ £ tL't
He has established but one Church-
BUT ONE CHUECH
-for Whenever Christ speaks of His Church.
RCH
ion and supreme
ben there would
was allowed to
)n as he should
ill governments
. supreme court,
rred all different
of the Qonstitu-
supreme judge
d not abide by
pie, there would
y, disorder and
aent that the
se than human
ot provided for
itution, and of
If he had not,
ave stood as it
trs. He has,
iTt, a supreme
ing God, it is
otestants and
lat Christ has
range to say,
iedge, too, that
h —
^ Hifl Church
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH OF GOD. ^
oneness, a union, a unity. He speaks o?rT;«
Church as a sheep fold, in whLhTere fs S?
one shepherd-that is at the head of aU and
the sheep are made to follow his voice OtW
sheep I have who are not of this fold? them So
shall wither away, produce no fruiHnd i onlv
fit to be cast into the fire - th«.t.Te '; *.„ ^1°°'^
tion. This is plain speakingT my ^^r TeopT;
'1
i' I
Him 1 1
'! tall! I ;
I ii'f'ii
ililM
I I
I)! 11
;(!!,| I
SI';!
32
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
but there is no use in „ •
^ant to speak the trnfh r''^''"'^ '''^ t^th. T
preached ft in thJrZeJZ' "1 '^« ^P^^ "^a
the Church of our Lolr.Z '*^^»'ion out of
Chnst. Now.-hichTs that Ph^'^r"' J«««8
are now 852 differpnt of Church.? There
e^'stence. and aS e Jf ''''^'^* Churche ?«
are added ; and beafl/f^-^ ^^^' °°« »' two more
Catholic Church ''noI'?."'"u''^'' '^^^^e S
various churches is the one rh"'' ."^ '^^ *hese
and Saviour Jesus Christ Pa'".'!^ "^ "" ^O'd
*he Church of Jesus r , '^" <'^'»»m to be
&f\ it is evSn -no Sn/l'^"' ^^^^-^
Slr^u °^ J««"8 except tfe^ '*" ''« the
established by Jesus ^ \^^ ""*« that was
£bhshHis4urch ' mi^'^'^u "'"^ J^""B
^ere upon earth. And hl„ ? ^ ^^«» He was
Christ was upon earth fei?/ ^ ^t is tha
thu-ty-eight years ago. c£ ° ^°°'^'«d and
years ago. That is an Jwf/ ^' T*^ ''o™ 1.871
by all. He lived on earfh .S""*^ ^^'^ '^'^'"itted
■Ihat is the time Chrisf .olu.-'^^® ^^ars over
upon earth. Adv ru ^J*aWished His Church
«f ted isas ytZ S not V^^J. *^«* i«« 2
Ciin8t,butistheinstLH^ the Church of Jesus
^an or other ; nofo Ch °st"I'r?*'°° "^ «S
-omsyouthatitiScSe^h^J,^^^^^^
RCH
»g the truth. I
as the Apostlea
salvation out of
^aviour Jesus
burcb? There
ot Churches in
jne or two more
oer, there is the
,0^ all these
3h of our Lord
J cJaim to be
dear, beJoved
^ can be the
^»e that was
When He was
ago it is that
hundred and
;S born 1,871
•act admitted
■s. Take 33
years over.
His Church
3at has not
•ch of Jesus
'ion of some
Qan. Now,
the Church
^^i history
iirch. Shfi
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH OF COD. 33
on^the fece'^f*f^°''^!i^ ?^'"*'^ denoiuination8
on me lace of the earth, has existed 1,888 vears
Al history. 1 say, bears testimony to this nn^
only Catholic history, but Pagan hLoiy ' a„d
Protestant h.story, indirectly.^ The Wstorv
Lty thafth?""'^^' '' ^ P-P'-- •>-- 'S:
CATHOLIC CHURCH IS THE OLDEST ;
the first ; is the one established by our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. If there be anv
that Hm» w ^ ^*' """"^ '°*° existence since
IS T wf.'. • ^T """^^ ^ ««« ^^ to-morrow
dear J^.f' l''^ ^- *^°"«*"'' dollars. My
dear preachers, here is a chance of makinl
aThisVr'v tTl'°"^'^ ^°' you.° n" only'
all History, but all the monuments of antiauitv
of the'Sh? "V-^^^^'^V^"'^ ^li thenaS
ot the earth proclaim it. Call on one of vour
preachers and ask him : Which was the first
Church -the first Christian Church Was it
the Presbyterian, the Episcopalian, the Church
of England, the Methodist, the Universalis? or
the Unitarian ? And they will answpr Z, tI
was the CathoUc Church. ^Bu^ my dlar friends
If you adm t that the Catholic Church is the
Srist whf ''* ~ *^^ ^^""''^ ««*^Wished bv
tt?*-:^i:n^„?r'.^Catholic? Tothi; .,
become corrupted ; has faUen into error, and
i I
* I I
11
' 'i$l'H
lit
hi
•i
34
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
And to thfs" wo answer "Th'!.V*-<P!r '.^"^'^^
Church has WrT^ \^ '^** *' *^® Cathoii
of God to the enT „f r- ^^ *?^ *'"« Churcl
Jesu8. strike me dead in .r' '^f*^ *^« *™tl^.
fall dead in thTs nuS '1*^'« P'^'Pi* - let me
apreacher o a faftetSni ''"l ."u* ^"°* *'', ''^
I have asserted 7ftf in .u v'"^P™^« wJiat
been n^^o Vu x *'^® Cathohc Church han
aZitt7byau'thrsh?T.' .'' ^'"^' - ^«
and shall LthrtrufchurSf *f"<^ Church yet.
end of time for CW h °^ ^"^ ""^^'^ the
gates of he'll shall ni"' ^'"T^^^ ^^""^ '^e
Church. He savs h^f TtT''*'^ ^^ainst this
rock, and that'^L gate? of'L^r^\"n"P°'' ^
Sc«h"hasSF-^' ^^ -
SX^Ii \^iP^^^^^ a^iXrfa^nf i?
ns. then He is «» ^ : ^® ^^^ deceived!,
imnoator t^l '^„^" ™P?«t°'- •' If He be an I i
. -— , ,.,.„ .,„ ,B uoi troa ; and if He hA nnt I '
hurch
»ary to establish' a ^ ,k '"' °"''' '""' '"""" °' °'''- '*
h. a new religion ! ^DosiSn a Cfari««'in% is a cheat and '
lat if the Catholic Sa^;, Again in St. Matthew, chap,
true Church, then E;^^°J„3f«"d 20 verses. our'Divm^^
' the true Church E ?Lh ^„n* ^^' ^P''^"*^ = " Go ye therefore
* Jesus Christ has Cme of th« L^f '""' ''. ^^P''''°g ^^'"^ '° the
'US.; hear what I Hoh alSf t! t'' ^"1°^ *^^ ^""' ^^<^ "f the
lohc Church now. Ur I havt^.r '°f .'^"'^ *° °''««'^« ^hatso-
3t the true Church "? JesT fhT^ ""^f 'IZ""'" " ^''•" «ay« He,
'ears ago, then I t « f „V- , ^° <** ''le Living God • I the
i us, and thou art J^"i f .^'^'^''"^ *^^ .?te™al T?uth, am 'w^fh
speak the truth, fewat fc' 'T" "?"^ ^^'^ «°^ "^ *he world "
pulpit -let me Ch m! PK °[^T'J ^^^'^^^ t'l'*' H« ^hall be
lo not want to be &^'' ^^"''^ *" <J»3'«. '" the end of time, to
I will prove what Ka^ consummation of the world. But Christ
ioliccLrch hasfc JfZh 1*^ '^' ^^"^''*' '^^' *«-«"«
of God, as islZcZS'to^^'^'^'u^"'}^^'''''- ".therefore,
true Church vet I ^**'*^°"° Church has fallen into error and
of God untSS theSr^f ^""f 1'"''''^''' '^''^^^ s^yZCs,
omised that the |Hrh„<. k l "'i-^''^" abandoned her. If so
ail against this |Sb R. ™^'" ^'' °'**^ ' '^ He has broken ffis
' buUt it upon a fw 't «n * ^a'"-' •'""' '"^^ *^^'« *« "^o Christian-
lell shall neverljYh^' lib .t^^ our Divine Saviour _ St.
ar people, if the \Zm send S t?^ ^r \*' Promised that He
: error, then the|tTabidrwih\ %^^'''"^ *^^ ^P'"* °^ 'J^^"th.
'ust her ; and if iGhos? f Jq • ^f' ^Z ^^^'- ^^' then, the Holy
ed against her, ISurnth ^n^T'* u^ l'""^^' *^*«^^« ^^^ Church
•mise ; then He I fieJrn^r,'* i^^^"' ^'' ^^^ *'"°*J^ ^^^ e^«'. then
has deceived I !f„ f ^^' ^*^ ''^^i^' ^^d never can be one
If He hetitA.'i\?'.'^J^? Church of God, for where
nd if He be not I '""" " "*" *'"'''^ '^'^'^ is no error whatsoever!
* ft
Wil'i :
mii
li'
!!!^h:
36
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH,
Who shall teach all truth forever • tbf^r^tr...
there never has been a sinX error in /h'
Church of God. or Christ has fS i^ ^t
US lo ueai and believe th« teachinff rf fh^
ZZ u 'i' ""'^^^ ** *" times and in Si
places. He does not say, hear the Church for 1
ttar!''h''/f "'■'• r ^°' '"^^ tl^°"«'»"'i five hunSed
lion, without any reservation, or any restriction
of tune whatsoever. That is. at aU times in
all things until the end of t me J^T^tu^
does . , ,^^ Church.Tet hTm'be'uito the?
aS:;VrLt\'a:f tTat^^J as a puhlLt:
to heqr ih^ ri u^ ' ^^* ^^^^^ ^^'^0 refuse
Couid' airist comman J t to b eTe^b^rcS
lea ] „, "'f '"'"'•* ^'^'^ l«d "^e astraj-could
Chl^ "''^ "'""^ ^f tJ^is teaching of the
Uimch IS corrapson, could Hp fha oL c
U^:JZTl^ '^^' i^^"' -JrXctn o°r
IhTchurch wV^r.!'!^^^"?- .*^e .teaching of
Our l^ivine Saviour commands me t hetf and
tiat He will send
m,
Jver; therefore,
e error in the
' failed in His
arist commands
caching cf the
les, and in all
ie Church for a
iid five hundred
)ut any Hmita-
any restriction
all times; in
; and he that
I be unto thee,
ts a publican,
le who refuse
)ked upon as
u ? One that
nd a pubhcan
^g language,
^e the Church
istray— could
ching of the
the God of
restriction or
3 teaching of
ad ? Again :
to hear and
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH OF GOD. 37
^eUeve the teaching of the Church, in the 8am«
.^??,7,^ f if He himself were to ;;eak to7^^
He that hearath you," says He, in His cWe*
to the Apostles, -heareth Me, and He that
despiseth you despiseth Me." So then whenl
teaches i refuse what Grtethts.^'^^^S
Chnst has made the Church the organ by wh ch
He Hpeaks to man, and tells us positivd^that
as It xle Himself were to speak to us Ther«
■'' th'e crSifs So^'^ -np-S'
Take the ground or foundation of this edifice
away, and ,t crumbles down. So with regard to
these pillars upon which the roof rests „.l^
them away and the roof will fall in 4n Pi
thTtr'utl'a'nTth^^ *'^ ^-"^ -^'^he pii.a'^1
tl?oPiTi-^r^'^f'\''''y ^-° his own
ZTtLI'It?^?^^ '^P'^? '^ligion and church
nev7r7frrZ^°*''""^ "P '"'" existence, and has
il
■ c (
li
! lilMi(lll!
Mjiilji'in:
CI-
' ;i!i
II i
38
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
I GAVE MY MISSION
ui Flint, Miehigan. I invif^ o„ t u
here, my PxotSt fiS^ds tn ^^^' <^°'^-
me. A good ^^te^^nt '^'"^^ ^""^ ^^
and said : « I ^aifmvi f°T "^^ '» me
to eonver«e wiayl^'^VLf^^B opportunity
belong to. my frieij ?" said L « t "1^*^ ^° ^'^^
telfi'e. my'Sefd^H*^ ^^^ *- But
started ?" ' " ™ Te'rrl xJ! ^*^ ^our Church
he. " Who starterthe SS ?^°?'" ^^^^
the twelve Apostles my frtZ^'' "^^ .'^^"' ^^^^
were twelve farmed/' slfs' T"^^-. " ^^'^^
be onged to the same Ghureh tt 't> >^ *"
-but we quarreledTith n,fv ^"'t^''^^''-y*^"*n
from him, and st^I^ « "IP^'T^^^"' separated
" And th^t!" sayT^I " 1/?^"^ 1 ''"' o^'^-"
you belong to-!?he twelvl ff ' ^'''^r ^P^^tles
That Chufch ^! Ztj^ ^1"°^'' °^ I^^l'ana !"
years ago A few v^ ^''^^'""' **'0"' ti^een
^"i4:s;) H?r »"':\--
informant; "U k LdT "'°'^'" '^'^ my
shop now '" Affam^ D^ f waggon-maker's
the Galaaons,Xr^' " Tho!!^',"' ^^? ^P'«"e to
even an an^el fX' ,,..!^°"?.h we Apostles, or
preach to you a dl^eTnil^lffrSt^nd
A
hV'
RCH
)N
as I have done
come and see
an came to me
his opportunity
Church do you
' To the Church
• **Ha! ha!''
r<Jh too. But
your Church
Indiana," says
and who were
aid I. '* They
^' "we all
e Presbyterian
'iier, separated
of our own."
^elve Apostles
' of Indiana !"
about fifteen
ben I was in
Q the Church
taken to a
^e. '^Butit
'»" said my
?gon-maker's
lis Epistle to
Apostles, or
to come and
'om what we
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH OF COD. 39
'tr%fT^Tf' ^'* *^'^ ^' anathema." Says
^k ^^^' {^any one shall dare to preach a
I W fr* ^1?'*";^^ ^""^^ ^^^fc we have pSed
let them be damned." That i« ihlil'
of St. Paul, because, my deX be o\'e?^^^^^^^
religion must come from God! not Tom ^n
No man has a right to estabhsh a reH^L n *
"^r. ^' ^ .?^^^ *^ ^i«*ate to his felTow men
BELIGION MUST COMB FEOM GOD
i^t f2 ''"^f • ° *^**, '^ °°* established by God
an institution of God ; and, therefore did Sf
- ltu.T Z A^" .f P^^"^ '^ '^- Gaiat on^s*:
iJiough we Apostles, or even an an^el tmn^
heaven, were to come and preach °ovou a ne^
and not of man, and this is a fact — a faH- nf
history-and no fact of history so weU suDDorted
tH°eSi ?r^^u..-..'^'^* theCathZiSIs
«r '.—•'.>•"= v^uuruu esiaoiisiied by Jesus Christ
tnZtirrrW* K^"" hiBtoricaHacTthS
all the Protestant Churches are the institution
M
ill
mil
I, I
III
Mi
fi ' if
^lJ;ll
ill
im^^
nll^illlli I
iJm ■ i; I I
I'll;
Wpi
llli
40
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
or institutes!' Tn the yZ\ .V""''' ^""'^S
ago-the first Protestant^ ^melnrl^^ ^«*«
Before hat one, there warnof p *^ ^''^''i'
the world, not on the falfof ?L ^™^«tant in
and that one. as aU histev L, ^^°^^ ^a^h ;
Luther, who Vas a CatE ^"' *"'' .^^« ^^'tin
irom the Church throuS^ n?^''' ""^"^'^^ ^^^y
nun- He waa /"'^^'^ P^^ ae, and married a
Church-cut Z bani'shTrh*^'^ ^^*"" t^e
^religion of his ' otr^lf^^f tr^*'^«^
there wasnotaProtP^tanf- *t. ^^^^'''^^ Luther
the first to raisftlTst^'Z^^' ^^^l^ ' ^« ^^^
revolt against the Church of PnW ''«'"'°" ^"^^
h's disciples that itb"v 1 i^"'^", ^^ ^aW to
for their guide, and thl did *k''' *^« ^^^e
quarreled with him Iwit,;, "' ^".* *^«y «oo°
«* others, and every one^o"'^''"'' " """^'"^^
new religion of his oZ, a a *¥""' ^'a^ted a
Martin Luthe^. 1^' JohnV^ ^'''^P^'^ ^f
Geneva, established the Pvf k f'^-"' '"'^O' in
and hence almost all „> fu '^^•'^^^an religion,
name of thSlLf <jer T fT""' ^o by the
" Why are you a Lnfh ^^ ^'"^ -Protestant,
•'Well, says^he! " becauseT h 'J'^ '''''"^''
doctnne of good MaS Cher -r' '"^ *^«
Christ, but of man-Mlrtin T nfj: ^^""^ °°* "^ I
1. And I will give
of their founders
^520^351 years
e into the world.
>t a Protestant in
tile whole earth;
is us, was Martin
^est, who fell away
e, and married a
3ated from the
ne made a new
Martin Luther
le world; he was
ot rebellion and
od. He said to
take the Bible
>, but they soon
i» and a number
^iiem, started a
the disciples of
'alvm, who, in
terian religion
gions go by the
the Protestant,
^y friend ?"
believe in the
" hence not of
er. And what ■
^0 had broken I
^^ the altar of "
rried a Sister
I -^^ ^NLY TRUE CHURCH. OF GOD. 41
Ufh^^f'. "^^'I ^^^. ^^'' *^^^^ *^^ «a«^e oath
ot chastity and virtue. And this is the first
[founder oi Protestantism in the world The
iZl 0^%^^ ^^:'^ -'^'^ ^'' known teils you
i they came from Martin Luther. So the Presbv
I terians are sometimes called Calvinists because
I CAME HENRY THE EIGHTH.
Ir^Lron ' Sf""^'': '■'"^ t^'""^'^ '^« Catholic
i religion he wrote a book against Martin
-H^'k \\defence of the Cathoh^ doctrine
xha book I have myself seen in the library of
he Vat|can at Rome a few years ago 'Cnry
the VIII. defended the religion, and for so
'i L^Faith '"*''' r?^ *^^ ^°P^' "Defender
•51 ttie b aith. It came down with his
ft"To da?' ^U '^' ^""-^ '^'^^^'^ Vi«*»"a inherits
Arrai' h,,?! ^^^ ""^'"^ '« Catharine of
honof to S n^-' ''*' ^^^^ «°°rt » °>aid of
nonor to the Queen, named Ann Bolevn who
was a beautiful woman, and captiS/in
appearance Henry was determinV to Lve
Her But he was a married man. He nut if in
a petUion to the Pope to be allowed to'^mar^
vZ~i,f ^ *°°'''^ P^""o" it was, for the
Pope had no power to grant the prayer of it
ft'ZT .-d -". the>shops i^ X worH
v»..^«v gu agamsc tiie wUl of God. Christ says :
If a man putteth away his wife, and marrieth
'!!
f|'!
i!!
r ii : , •
;l; ! / H
I n; •
1 I
m t,
Mi !
II II If!
! fl^M'
!'!' I'
! ■ I ■ ■■ '
1 -i; liii
'Ife
I ; I
42
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
adultery £} as the C."''*^'./"'"'^^"^*'^
maid of bono.. preltil^^s^'ZT r'''^''
the Church V Fni!^o ]* ^°^' ^^ *^^ "'^me of
cote ttT Th?*''"''?^ ''"* *hey sh^uTv S
Eus one, JnfwoX Se f""^ ^^*^""« ^« "
Apostles said^-r bellve in^tt'n'l ''nJ^'
the holy Catholic C Wh - ♦vf ^°'^ *^^°«''
in the Anglican Church T^;: ^^\^^^^^ /aid
their religion for fhlt Tu ^g^'cans deny
not Koman CathoS ' CJre fn^nOTV^*
lies. Whaf I'fl fh^ ^« • ^ J^nglish Catho-
lie 9 {^tZ fr nTtte gLI t'tdT'.."?*^"'
- universal - spread all ovei-^^^-*^"-'
everywhere the Lme. NoT first of Si "if
Anglican Church is not spread Llnv ^
fiarili • ;+ ^.^i- __• . . ^Jf^^au all over th^
— ... . It onl^ Biisis in a few countries, and
H
', and he that
Yf committeth
uld not grant
lie took Ann
unicated from
> was another
e first, more
i^es of Henry^
00. He took
th and sixth
nder of the
>f England;
' the name of
Episcopalian
3w-a-days to
shall never
Catholic is a
ess it. The
Holy Ghost,
'never said
licans deny
Sieve in the
irch. Ask
Jay yes, but.
jlish Catho-
i^ord Catho-
Catholicus
earth, and
0/ all, the
• over the
atries, and
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH OF GOD. 43
<5hiefly only where the English language is
spoken. Secondly, they are^ not the lame aU
over the earth, for there are now four different
Anghcan Churches : The Low Church, the High
Church the Kitualistic Church and the
Puseyite Church. Catholicus means more than
this, not only spread all over the earth and
everywhere the same, but it means, moreover,
at all times the same, f^om Christ up to the
present day. Now, then, they have not been
in existence from the time of Christ. There
never was an Episcopalian Church or an
Anglican Church before Henry the VHI The
Catholic Church had already existed one
thousand five hundred years before the Epis
copal Church came into the world. After Epi.-
copalianism, different other churches sprang up
Next came the Methodist, about one huS
^d sixty years ago. It was started by John
Wesley, who was at first a member of the
Episcopalian Church, subsequently joined the
Moravian brethren, but not liking them he
Church^ 'IF'' A ^\.r^ - ^^' ^^*b«di8t
OHurch. After John Wesley, several others
"i:XV r''^"^^^^' came^he Campbellftes
LtabHhpji'^r'^ This Church was
i K^ ^ Alexander Campbell, a Scotch-
man. Well, now, my dearly beloved people
you may think that the act ^i Z 12^^^
Apostles of Indiana was a ridiculous o^'' but
they had as much right to establish a Church
:|N«:i
44
II I
ifiji!
Ill:
i iim
ill il|;;r
■' ill" ■ II .ii;
I ' '' :
|ir: ji^i"
mm \
U
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
THEY HAD NO BIOHT AT ALL,
and neither had Henry the VIII. nor the rest
w *^tv1 f'i?. "8^* whatsoever. Christ had
S that' ff^'r.^'^'^,!\*°<^ g'^«° His solemn,
oath that His Church should stand to the end
of time ; promised that He had built it uDon«
rock, and that the gates of hell shou IdTever
Pff^fl against it. Hence, my dear neonle
all those different denominations or reSns
are the mventions of man, and I ask tou ca„
man save the soul of his fellow-man ^b?' an v
mstitu ion he can make ? Mus. not rJlidon
come from God ? and therefore, my deariv
setollv "T'^T ''^'^'^°' think "^overil
seriously. You have a soul to save, and that
soul of yours nmst be saved or damned • either
one or the other ; either dwell with God in
heaven or with the devil in hell. m,erlre
seriously meditate upon it. When I gave mv
missions ,n Brooklyn, New York, several Pro^
testants became Catholics. Among thmther;
Virg nian. He was a Presbyterian. After hi
had listened to my lectures, he went to see his
minister, and he asked him to be knd enough
to exp am a text of the Bible. The master
gave him the meaning. " Well, now •• ^^aT^
gentleman, '-are you positive and sure ■•"'-— ^
that it
IS'
THi ONLY TRUE CHURCH OF GOD.
45
uther or Job. j the meaning ot the text, for several other
■ Protestants explain it differently ?" " Whv mv
dear young man." says the preacher. •' we
never can be certain of our faith." " Well
then, says the young man, " good-bye to you ;'
11 I cannot be sure of my faith in the Protest-
ant Church 1 will go to where I can." and he
n the Catholic Church, and if our faith is not
true. Christ has deceived us. I would, therefore,
begof you. my separated brethren, to procure
yourselves Catholic books. You have read a
great deal against the Catholic Church • now
read something in favor of it. You can never
Wh ^.^^''"P^/'f ' '^°**?*'^ '^ y°" do not hear
both sides of the question. What would you
ttiink 01 a judge, before whom a policeman
would bring a poor offender, and who. on the
ctiarge of the policeman, without hearing the
prisoner, would order him to be hung ? "Give
me a hearing." says the poor man, " and I
Will prove my innocence ; I am not guilty."
says he. The policeman says he is guilty.
" WELL. H4NO HIM, ANYHOW."
says the judge. What would you say of that
judge ? Cnmmal judge ! unfair man ! You are
guilty of the blood of the innocent. Would
not you say that ? Of course you would. WeU
^ow, ^j, uuariy ueioveu Ji-fotestant friends, that
IS what you have been doing aU along ; you
W." an.irl fln/a
ire that it is-
"T
I '' I
46
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
I I
i.i Hi
ill
i f
WW
^nl^^nlZT'rLTy'^^^ °f *»»« question and
of Si .^ U8 Catholics as a superstitious lot
Drer-i.pivfi fi? ' ** ^°" ^^^^'^ ''een treating us
love, and a spirit of charity, in° the K nl
Protestln/ brethren w'°\ "Y r'^^^'^^ ''^'•'^«<i
give my heaSfbCrX tve or'yot f^^
Se*'^* tel^^ "^ PrU'to your/hav;
aone. Well, say my Protestant friends,
RCH
'^G question and
superstitious lot
Jople, idolatrous
)ing and telling
hat, after all, is
nan ? My dear
e other side of
think it worth
the Jews dealt
IS Christ ; and
rews dealt with
le Church and
illow me to tell
een treating us
WB and Pagans
3stle8. I have
>ut if St. Paul
he would have
t himself bad
harder thmgs
, not through
gh a spirit of
the hope of
may be saved,
learly beloved
would gladly
>r your salva-
Fou as I have
» friends,
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH OF GOD.
47
<i
IP A MAN THINKS HE IS RIGHT,
would not he be right ?" Let us suppose now a
man m Ottawa, who wants to go to Chicago
but takes a car for New York ; the ccnductoi?
asks for his ticket, and at once says • *♦ You
are m the wrong car ; your ticket is for Chicago
but you are going to New York." ** Well what
of that," says the passenger, ** I mean VelL"
Your meaning will not go well with you in the
end, says the conductor, - for you will come
out at New York, instead of Chicago." You say
you mean well, my dear friends, but let me tell
you that meaning well will not take you to
heaven ; you must do well also. - He that
doeth the will of my Father,*' says Jesus, - he
alone shall be saved." There are millions in
heU that meant well. You must do well, and
be sure you are doing well, to be saved. There-
tore, my dearly beloved separated brethren I
would advise you to procure at the Mission
store, on Sussex street, a book called " Points of
Controversy." Eead it attentively, and you
won t read it without being thoroughly con-
vmced that the Catholic Church is the only true
^^^^J" ?^^''^' ^^^°» I ^<^^ld advise you to
add the *' Catholic Christian Instructed," which
explains all the ceremonies of the Catholic
religion . and all of you, my dear Catholics,
^..^..^^ iiwvc tiicoo uijuixti m your lamilies You
should read them yourselves, and lend them to
48
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, ETC.
il llii!
separated brethren, you ^u^r^ be «.l'^'°,';
posted in your religion, so thSyou may b" M.
to give a reason for the faith thatTs wiihin von
I thank my separated brethren for their k[nd'
I Tone 77"^ '" *i^^^^ controversial lectures.'
Of course tT„ "^'^- """^^^^ *° °««"«J them
ui course, I have given some hard rans hnt
the truth should be spoken, and h 3d be
nonsense for me as n foti^^K^ • 7 """ "^
' preach the Catholic doctSnes" ^"''*' ""'' *°
ii ^i
. -
ij i(
I It
II.
'Mli
;isHiiii,[
'H, ETC.
B instrumental toj
mong so many|
bt to be all well
t you may be able
bat is within you.
Q for their kmd-
oversial lectures,
to offend them,
hard raps, but
ind it would be
:c priest, not to
III.
CONFESSION.
Sermon P'-eached a. the l,r,n,aculate Conception
Church, New York, 1879.
|-M'a'^,x. ''' "P '^^ ^'' ^"^ "^'^ '"'0 'hy hC^e . ••
-D«aWt/ iJeZoi^ed C/»m<iaMs-There is hardly a
hiT'J °"'' ^° -^ /^"8'°" °° accou„7of
Ltnderp7nnT '" ''^^'^"^"'ly calumniated.
How nftii misrepresented, as confession
How olten have you lieard it asserted, some-
times by ministers of the Gospel, somet mes m
Sabbatn schools and sometirnes in books n
rSi,-"^ f !• ''^''^'?"iated and slandered, that
Catholics believe that, in order to obtain the
and't^.,''H**''"f "^' ^" '^'^y ^^- t° ^0 iB to go
dol'f .tT„ ° 1^'^^ --^: -fter having
Lf «rn" .■' Zy .r" '^""^"--•"^e ag^m their course
ol sm ; and others have gone so far as to say
' lUiiimi
illnV
50
fliiM
l:in
ill 11 illiilJ
! I
ipiiilifl
ipli i =
M l!lllill|i|F
''1^1^
lillilljl !;nM
i
fill
I r Hii;! I
til' lillif' ! '
il! ! I
liliHiif iiiiiji ij
mi ' il
;
II
ml !:
CONFESSION.
pardon of our sC Tn? ^^^'J°. °''**'° *!>«
minister or preachL Ko * ''®'**"'» English
to give th^^STXTKW^?^--
forgiven in ^^^^ *^^ ^^ich sins are
THE CATHOLIC CHUSCH.
been guilty of adSri h^l} f^* ? ' "^^'^ ^^ ^^s
-hen guilt'y of foSi^ti^sar' wh''-'^'
has whipped his wife « "„ ^ ' ^^en he
when he has been ^l!!;.„ . "I™* °' ^L and
will do. (Laughter.f ™"''^ ^'^^' ^ shilling
you wteeteen IT T ^'^' Catholics-
day; of yS life £°;^, *" confession all the
liever pawTne pe^Jt ^k^ *¥' ^«" ^ave
your sfns. K mLt'le^fc^^J P'^'°° °^
who preach the Gosnel J^ It. * "^ '"''^ "^^^
of such a religion that' Z^ ^* """'* '^^ *hink
another bv cafumnv aL »f T"„*° P"' -^o^n
region of GodT Ts tS S^ity'p^ Tl '""^
It to your own frnm^ a^*no^ "ixatianiiy / 1 leave
sense of tho^ who are not ri'f^f-' '' *^^ g°°d
have heard it repeatedly 'i^S"'?.' *"*? .^^°
God? I« that L spiSi o?ctw*l^^^r*..^^
""-"" -o^ner body of Ohristians"hy-' slandering'
t
I
(
s
I
II
to the priest a
ler to obtain the
certain English
sutured so far as
which sins are
CONFESSION.
51
ja»
has been guilty
s mother, and
sin, he has to
; when he has
sum, or $2.50;
nie ; when he
'» or $1, and
ink, a shilling
r Catholics—
fession all the
^at you have
^he pardon of
of such men
Qust we think
to put down
Is that the
^ty ? 1 leave
► to the good
cs, and who
the spirit of
hv 9 4^^ „._x
V * ~vyj put
7 slandering
and misrepresenting their doctrines. Whv do
they not attack the real doctrines of the
Church? Why have they beaten the way
attacking doctrmes of which, in reality, their
Ignorance clearly shows they know nothing.
Every Catholic abhors the idea of believing that
sins can be forgiven for money. The Catholic
Church considers it one of the greatest sacrileges
m existence. If a priest were to take money
for forgiving sins, according to the laws of the
Catholic Church that priest could never exercise
priestly functions any more ; but there never
has been an instance of that kind, for that
priest would be degraded for life. What, then, is
the Catholic doctrine on » , »
THE SUBJECT OF CONFESSION ?
The Catholic Church teaches that no sins can
be forgiven without true and sincere repentance
on the part of the sinner for the sins bv which
he has offended God, and a firm resolution to
avoid all sins for the future. Ask any Catholic •
tan the priest forgive you your sins ii vou are
not sorry for them?" Even the most ignorant
t^atnolic will answer you : *' No sir " No
sms can be forgiven without true and sincere
sorrow and repentance for them. Do you not
believe m that, my dear Protestant friends?
Ul course I do." Vnn QQTT ilr^ «^^1„ \T_ ._ .. .
18 the Catholic doctrine. Then. aKain. the
Cathohe Church teaches that no sin can be
Ill
iiml^
tl f ill I i !i
mmi
f! j! "''
i!;!
ml • <
ill I !
mm
m i
m
I Hi;; / i
ii!( i I ;
I
> ■ iir li
■ 1|!||Mnl..,ii:
I ' r i ' ; . I ;
m "ill
:M!|;!i;; ^
jill ;
ill':': ; -
!M
SIMf;i!!:!i
! II f!'!;:' [■'■:''l'i
52
CONFESSION.
V
to do all in C poUtrJ"^^ *^^*'^°''°«'i
iuture; for there would Ll^ *'^"'*^ '"» fo'' '^e
unless there was llso a^.f^'""*''® "P^'^t'^nce
mence a newT^'e-to In'^*"'"'^**^"'' ^o com-
*J.v dear ftotlttant SaT£' *^^ ^"*'^«-
oi>jection to that ? "No Sr'fw' ^""^ *°y
m: opinion." Well thin ' ^* '^ P^'^^isely
Catholic without inni^^t' ^x°° ^« «<> &' a
Catholic doctrine • you rp«^-/*- ^^at is the
, Catholic religion manv „!' t ^°" '"''1^ ^''^^ *h^
'your errors and embrL. ^r^ ''"?^'* "^^^^don
misfortune is this that m«^t' f "'^- ^"^^ t^e
keep you in error :theV^j°V/. Z'' ^''^"^^'^^
doctrine of the Catholic ChL^h f ^°^ ^^^ *^^
very well if you were to kn!f ^L^"'. *^«y ^now
th« Catholic Church v '^ ^^"^ doctrines of
Catholics, unless som. T" '^""^'^ become
would hold ;ou1rom?mbrr"'\r°«^''«''»tio''«
then, the Ca'^holfcToctrineTtL*?' ^'^- 8«'
has a true and sincere rZ^t * 7^^° * ^a°
and a firm resolution to do S"-' ^""^ ^'^ «i^«'
avoid sin for the future If H^ ^'' P''^^' *«
dispositions, he confesses h^f ^^'°.' ^"^ *l»ese
of God, th;n thTZlZV'''!u'' *»>e priest
forgiving his sins in KL\^ £, ^t ''
THE AUTHOEITY OP GOD.
believr *ty>If ^y Protestant friend. " ..„
'""■' ""° ^"""^ ^'^^ the power of fo^givi^g
:»!l||l illHlli
nd sincere sorrow
fully determined
^void sin for the
mcere repentance
nination to com-
Q f or the future.
have you any
that 18 precisely
5u are so far a
• That is the
)u only knew the
would abandon
'futh. But the
yo\r preachers
' ^^t you see the
; for they know
he doctrines of
^ould become
considerations
the truth. So,
tt when a man
e for his sins,
n his power to
en, with these
8 to the priest
fjoe power of
Crod and by
3.
friend
n
\Tr\-n
f ,7 ^-f I*
of forgiving
CONFESSION. 53
ims. Well now, I do not believe in that that
r^" iTw f r ^'^'7^ ^^^" "«^«' ''^i^ve ^
ai. J.8 not the priest a man?" '< Whv nf
Well, then. I shall never believe that the
nest can forgive sins." Now. my Protestant
Ihat? Let us examme whether God can give
luch power to man— to forgivs sins in Hi!
.ame^nd by His authority, if He chooseTto do.
0. What do you say to that ? Can God give
^uch power o man ? " Of course," says C
rotestant friend, " God can do anything ; G^d
8 all-powerful. If God wishes to give such,
)ower to man He can do it ; who is to hinder
Urn from gmng such power to man ?" Well
iv^n^Z^ *" P'"? *° y°"' "^^' *^at God has'
iven this power to man. " No, sir. vou can
.ever do that," says my Protestant friend But
will prove to you that God has given such
ower to man ; for no man, with common sense
L'^^^tl"^ ^"""^^ ^°' * '^o^^ei't that God
an give this power to man. i shall prove it to
ike T *""" T'' ^f *^^* i« the'^Sook you
>f; i ^u"",""*.* ]?y dear Protestant friends?
.ate ^v^''^"^^''"*' ^"'■''^^^ ^« CathoHcs
lave a very high veneration; and it is from
his ho y book of God that I shall ^Jove ICt
xod has given such power to man.
^.n the ninth chapter of the Gospel of St
atthew we read that on a certain occasion.
If !
ii iiilii:
lUU'
I ': U
i 'if"-'
iilil
I' Mil
' 'i 11)11
W! ii!i
M
! Illllilllliilii
54
CONFESSION.
saw the poof mkipH "^^l °" ^'^««ed Lord
be 01 good hMrt ft, • ^ P*'^'^'^ -an ^ " Son.
gooa ieait, thy sins are forgiven thee."
THE SCEIBES AND PHAEISEKS
heard the Blessed Saviour sav " Tv, •
forgiven thee " ^r.^ tl ■^' ■'^^J' ^^^^s are.,
themselves and Jf -^^ murmured withini
And Christ reaZ^^f *°'8'7" S'^s but God?" ft
minds, S f^.^'fe*^,^_«e«ret thoughts of theirl
Which is it easiest sl^tZ rsTre t *'^^ 1^
thee, or, take un f>i.r k^? "^ } ^^^ forgiven |t
house ?' But "'saS' S '^.'??J'^ -*« tl^Jl
toowthat the Son of Ma;" ml ^°" "^^yh
that you may knoVlhShe Kf God* ZV
hundred^and seCtv S. '^'^' ""^^ ^^g'^*^^"
was born in th'Sra^UXheS'''.. S^^f
power on earth to forgive s ins " ?L . if *^ ^^?
He say to the man «iohJ fi ' ,"°** *^®'i ^^
thy Jd and tTjolhy tts^'^^^ * d^f ^ -^F
fan was instautly cured and h. ^^^ 'u^
bed and walked Vot^^.i" *^.^^ ^P ^^«
J^ivine Saviour n«vf;:.^:T /^^T^* , ^^^^^ our
i^
G
fc
fr
tl
01
f iiii '
iilfMi.i I
--me Saviour performed a"miraeleT^i,,^,": p
vine Lord a man
ar Blessed Lord
was moved with
ied man : ** Son,
rgiYen thee."
CONFESSION.
5S
USEES
" Thy sins are
I'mured within
1 our Protestant
sins but God ?"
loughts of their
irmur at this?
IS are forgiven
walk into thy
at you may
3 does not say
n of God, but
Son of Man."
d man— He is
le Father and
man eighteen
igo, when He
ai) ** hath the
and then did
sy: ''take up
' and the sick
took up his
► Here, our
cle to prove
ihat, even as man, He had the power of forgiv-^
ng sms. ^
Now, in St. John, twentieth chapter, our
Saviour says: -AH power hath been given to
IMe m heaven and on earth ; therefore, as the
ather hath sent Me, I also send you As I
ave been vested by the Father with all power
^ I also send you vested with all power ; and
ihen, breathing upon them (Apostles , He said :
Keceive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you
shaU forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose
sms you shall retam, they are retained." Now
my dear Bible friends, you who say the Bible is
your teacher, I beg of you, in the name of God
to divest yourselves of aU prejudices, of all
preconceived notions, and kindly, sincerely/
before God, study the Bible, study the words of
Jesus Christ. What did Christ mean when He
said breathing upon His Apostles: - Keceive
ye the Holy Ghost ?" Who is the Holy Ghost ?
The Holy Ghost is the Third Person of the
ri'^'^^^^tu ^'^^'^^' "I^eceive ye the Holy
CjHost ; that IS, ** Receive ye the power of God "
for Holy Ghost, in the Holy Scriptures,
frequently stands for the power of God; as in
tne first chapter of
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
pur Divine Saviour says: "Not manv dava
nence you shall receive the power of God*'"
What was that power of God? It was the
w
^niiiiiiii
^ 'ill i'[
' i'liii .' ; '
u umii ;
iimmmV'
mil
i;
''IP M
i ' ■ \ .1 '■ I' I'M''
!'!!lil 11 ;,'^.
iilli
.'„
I ! !
I II
'Iflfli
lip
II
(iliiiii
i'l'p'iiii
''11 I
56
CONFESSION.
and whole S ^you «£?' f ^' ^'""'l "^ ^'^^
forgiven them " Zlffhl /"'^'^^ ^''^^ ^'e
What did our Div ne s«if" *"'' '^P"°'' '
said, " Whose fiin? vl T^n ^ "^^^^ ^hen He
forgiven them."^He Tft it-'^'tl *^«>' ^'^
forgiving sins ^ ^^^'^ *^^ P^^er ofj
>aS Ser^^^chutr i^T^ T"? "^ ^t.
ant doctor. I Skid fh« I'l ^***y' * P^°*e«t-
alone with the lad vfor^f *°' *° *«*^« °»e
did so. In the meantir^/'''T T'^T^'' ^''^ ^«
confession, and aS£red to herl.,*^' ^^""'^
tions of our holy telisiol th « *^^ consola--
the Church. Havinf !T+r*^\^^°''*'"«°ts offr
•doctor that he Sf feme M'/.T'^i*' *^«r
was a yankep »»^ \?' ""^^ *lie doctor la,
Yankees are a verv T "' • ^^''^ ^'^^t the|l'
always want to k^^th^r and ouW' '^'^'^l"
•doctor, that isav.y-i;^pe3nt^:.tio;fSJ
CONFESSION.
sr
Is I know what you. are driving at, I will
Inswer you. I heard the confession of that
^ciy. "lou do not pretend to forgive the
ins do you ?" said the doctor. '* Yes, sir, I
10." '' Well, sir," continued the doctor,' *' that
a very extraordinary power." **Yes, sir
is; but you do not beheve in that power'
octor ?" said I. - No, sir," said he, ** nof no ; I
Lx^^u ^f ^^^^ 1^ any such nonsense as that."
I Well, doctor," said I, **do you believe the
^postles had the power of forgiving sins ?"
(<
NO, SIR,
>»
SAID HE, *'l DO NOT."
" Well, doctor, what did our Divine Saviour
lean when, breathing upon His Apostles, He
3aid, Eeceive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose sins
IxTu ^^^^} J^^^^"^^ *^^y ^^^ forgiven them?'
u xxr n T ^^^^^* ^®^^' doctor, at that time ?"
Well, I declare," said he, " that is a tough
luestion." " A little tough, doctor. Will you
)e kind enough to answer it ?" " Well," said the
Idoctor, ** I am not prepared for that now. I
lam here on professional business, and am not
prepared to answer you now, but I will see you
^Sain." "Do, doctor, please see me again."
ine doctor was a sincere and honest man, and
when he arrived at his office he remembered his
promise to see me again, and, knowing that he
I should become familiar with the subject in
order to talk with me, he procured himself some
books on the Catholic doctrine, and read them
li;i|.-i('
I
'"' 'nil, I
ml
i ( I hi, I, I
I ! 'if III II
'I WWl^
I '
i li "
I'i i !
If !i !!
ilpif"
iiiiiii
i;
i si::
58
CONFESSION.
tSl thlHonrfe ri; • ^« ''— eon-
became intereSd r the 1?^°" T^'"- H«
more books, and fiZjl b«?„l ' *°4 Procured
^he Catholic Church kfjl?^® convinced that
God. Three weeks after fUf^,,*''''" ^^"'^^ "^
at my door. "Walk in " i^ /.?'? "^"^^ ^ ™P
in. "Father." says he *.?iS^ -^oetor walke3
enough to hear muT!.,?' • ^£ ^''^ "'e J^ind
hear your confes^on ? wT ^ ." ^^' ^^^^tor !
in that ?" (LaSr . ^^^ T" '^'^ ^°* »'e«eve
H "andbeK&thr^*,,'^"'/'''^^^''' «*y«
Catholic Church I Im f 1^'" '^^f *"°^« «^ *^e
that it is the only trrChrTh'^^T^'^''^*^
would like to make mv f /^^°<^' ^^'^ I
nght. doctor ; get'^oTyo^ knS'.^"''^: '1 ^"
ct id- tttJ ti^r^^^^^^^
friends: he was a very ^ae „^^*° ^■ ?°' ^^
man— a very 8mfl.r/^; f"'* well educated
be, ^ ^°"^* '^^^ '• and so wise you will
MI DEAB PBOTESTANT FEIENDS
docC tTof to^lLLte^.^^'*^-* *^e
question. But her«1f,f '"' ^. ^'^^^ "^ the
a one-sided p;or-r,"''"''^°'*°°^ = ^^"^ ^r«
sides of the au2,L ^T,?''^^'' ^^^Pine both
m you ever read7aath;iic b^okTnTufe:
9 became con-
le origin. He
and procured
Jonvinced that
rue Church of
>re came a rap
doctor walked
you be kind
"Eh, doctor !
io not believe
father," says
)ctrines of the
ily convinced
^ God, and I
sion." **A11
. He got on
ion, and re-
ell, perhaps,
Jay to-night;
?" No, my
ell educp,ted
i^ise you will
DS,
CONFESSION.
59'
ne ; you are
amine both
didly, now,
your life ?''
I No, sir, I would not take up a Catholic book."
ided people How can you give an impartial
udgment when you have examined but one side
)f the question? What would you say of a
ndge who sits in the criminal court, when a
policeman brings in a poor fellow, and says to
he judge : " Judge, this man is guiltv of such
md such a crime." "Well, then, hang him,
says the judge. "But," says the poor man
Judge, I am innocent, and I am able to prove
my innocence. I am able to bring you evidence
and witnesses to prove that I am innocent."
'.< w */^® policeman insists that he is guilty.
We !, hen," says the judge, " hang him anj
iiow. (Laughter.) What would you say of
Buch a judge ? " Ah !" you would say, <' unjust
cruel blood-thirsty man; you arJ'guiUy of
shedding mnocent blood ! Why do you not
[hear the man? Why ^o you not hear his
evidence, and his witnesses, and his proofs?
i:ou are guilty of the blood of an innocent man
and you have condemned him without examin-
ation. Well, now, my dear Protestant friends.
aUow me to tell you (and I hope you will not be
|onended, tor no man of sensA «nr. h^ ^tt^„A„j
•L '™th) that 18 the way you have been
treating the Catholics all the time. "Hang
60
CONFESSION.
I h I, iliiJi
III,
HI I,
1, I ' I '
iN'j'''i|!ij
■ : il It
"ij!
^H 1'^
1
1
^H
i'l h
^H , 1 '''
1
IS THAT THE PART OP A SENSIBLE MAN ?
Is that just, I ask you ? It is va,,, j. j i,
hkve been condemning ua -von }.o„ 1 . ^°"
ing us into ridicule ° you have hpin t'V^"^
up to the odium of the neoX wJft ^°/'^'°8. "^^
what the Catholic retSl It all ThT^
the way Jesus Christ w^ trt'ed 1;<1 T^ •'
the way you arp frp«f;«T!i, /'» ' ^^^ *^** "
Christ.^ Oh . mvd««?^p^t ^f T"" of Jesus
become more jus^ 21 ?'^?*^«*'^'^* fiends, do
charitabra's yoTr fewm^n ""T", "'''
fim not without knowing that W^'li ^°°<^«'^°
to be condemned Hn ,rJ 'le really deserves
the question but gle a faT Z"'- ""V^^l," "^
sides: Do I a«t fZl^- Clearing to both
that r.o?%L'trs^' r::zti% ''
recommer d fn v/m, f^ wouia therefore
lie bX You^ ha?e^/r7' ^'T^^^^« ^^*^^-
aaamQf r,o ^^^^ ^ g^eat many books
against us; now examine the other siX of ?k
question. Procure yourselves Cu7h^- u i^^
in which onv ^..*-i _^®^^^®® Cathohc books.
and tho7oughiy7^eS "^'t ^^^^^^^^^^ stated
ugniy aeiended. I recommend to you
'H ever examiu«
on? Did you
^r in your life ;
demn us with-
BLE MAN ?
"^ery hard to
ig so unjustly
ne of you can
a fact. You
ve been turn-
en holding us
hout knowing
all. That is
. and that is
vers of Jesus
friends, do
J honest and
I. Condemn
ally deserves
' one iiide of
ing to both
enable ? Is
d therefore
Blves Catho-
many books
side of the
lolic books.
^hly stated
lend to you
CONFESSION.
61
^l^t^^^^^^/^IJowing books: "Protestantism and
Catholicity,'' -Points of Controversy," and
*' The Manual of Instruction."
I must continue, with my proof from the
Bible, on Confession. In St. Matthew our
Divme baviour says (sixteenth chapter) • " I
will give to you," says He to His Apostles, ^ the
keys ot the kingdom of heaven. And whatso-
ever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in
heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on
earth shall be loosed likewise in heaven"
Here, you see, our Divine Saviour gave to His
Apostles
A VERY EXTBAORDINARY POWER.
For what purpose were the keys? Why of
course, to open the door. They'were given for
the purpose of unlocking Heaven to the repent-
ant sinner. Here, again, our Divine Saviour
coniers the same power on His Apostles that He
conferred upon them in the Gospel of St. John
(twentieth chapter.) Now, did the Apostles
understand these words of Christ in the same
manner as we Catholics understand them, in
the nineteenth century, and as they have been
understood for so many centuries ? Did they
really believe that they had the power of for-
giving sms ? They did ; and thev gloried in
Corinthians, says : *' Let
as the ministers of Christ
man
the dispenser.
I I,
liii
0.
I' "'
«l!'i ''"'
M I
f
^iilfliMi'ill
Ml mif
I IWi\&>
62
CONFESSION.
A^ o^^l ^ ^?''' '^^^* « an ambassador ?
t^^n^fK *'^°' '" "°^ ^'^^ '« sent by one power
Ss L J^^'^'t *^' ^"S"^'^ Government
Benas an ambassador to Waahir.ntr,^ n, 1
ambassador acts in the name J th'e En. S
GoTernment, and whatsoever he does in Wash
ington IS considered as done by the eS Lh
Government Itself : his acts are the actf of the
Enghsh (Government. " Now " savs Sf L i
M we are the ambassadors o7'chrt"^Sv£
wL He"!/""?"*-^. *?^^°^. a-baesadors?
«f ft 1^ J ■ „ ^ ^^^ g've to you the kevs
bLu b?nr'*°°" of heaven, and whatsoever yTu
and their u!f ^^"'* constituted His Apostles
and their lawful successors in the ministrv thl
priests and Bishops of the Church ffis am h«„
sadors. Acain anv.. «(■ b i • ' , ^® ambas-
teGn,1 wJ,. f-^'°°*' °°^y becomes reconciled
W trod when his sins are foraiven. " Sn " „„
fwl-^^'^o'^y ^rg^^'Pg him his Bins/' An^.
.^...x.-xa, oi. ^onn the Apostle, in his Fi^st
CONFESSION.
63
Ipistle and first chapter, says : " God is faith-
ful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
■IS from our iniquities, if we confess them.
"if we confess them."
[There, St. John the Apostle makes confession
- condition, without which no sin is forgiven,
od is faithful and just to cleanse us from our
iniquities, ** to forgive us our sins, if we confess
them." Hence, we see that in the primitive
days of Christianity the Christians went to con-
fession. In chapter xix., 18th verse, of the Acts
of the Apostles, we read : '' And many of those
who believed, came, confessing and declaring
their deeds." The multitude of the people -~
those who had been received into the Church-
came, says the Bible, " confessing and declar-
^^8*^^11' sins" to the Bishops and priests
ot God. They did the same as Catholics do
now: they came in crowds to confession, as
Catholics do now on great festivals, such as
Easter, Christmas, etc.— so says the Bible. Did
the primitive Christians not know the Catholic
doctrine? Were they ill-instructed ? They knew
it8 doctrines from the very lips of the Apostles,
and hence the Catholic religion is now as it was
m the primitive days — in the days of the
Apostles.
And St. James the Apostle says to the priests
ot the Church : *' Contess vnnr aina n.-nc. +.^ +v.«
Other, and pray one for the other, that you may
!'if
Ijilp^fiili
i li m
iii
'f'^'^lliiif
if
illl; !iii
mi- mm
sjihii.
lifpiiilli:
'''III
64 '
^ CONFESSION.
»ms, Dut also the priest is bound to do so anri
so also, must the Bishops and the CardLls
and even the Pope himself is bound to Zfn
confession, should he hflv« +L • ^ ? ^^ *^
fall into sin fn^hc • ,. ^ misfortune to
iciu into sm, lor he is a man 1 ke the rp^f nf no
and any man may fall into sin ^88^^^
moral and holy lives and haar.\l i P^^^'
sin- but Pvpn /f fi^ i^ ^®P themselves from
Ero7 the ctrri*7'J^l.^i«¥P3. and
sms. The words of "ch;^;* ^\ ^l^fS^
>t. James the
ins a condition
3f the Church,
lerely the laity
i and tell their
to do so, and
he Cardinals ;
3und to go to
misfortune to
Jhe rest of us,
Confession is
by all. The
fall into sin
as a general
to lead pure,
>m selves from
imit any sin,
ik or twice a
e nothing to
eir youth —
umble tbem-
)tain the for-
e you many
io prove that
^r Lord and
Lord and
ind to their
^i^shops and
oi forgiving
iave quoted
CONFESSION. 65
are so plain, so explicit and so expressive, that
it is impossible for any man who believe in
the Bible to doubt them. *' Whose sins you
shall forgive," says the Son of the living God.
** they are forgiven them." There is no other
meanmg to this but that He gave them the
power of forgiving sins. " Well," says my
Protestant friend, '*! suppose the Apostles had
the power of forgiving sins — that is plain from
the Bible; but how do you get that power?"
Well, now, when o^r Divine Saviour established
His Church here upon earth, tell me, did He
mean that the Church which He established was
to last only during the lives of the Apostles ?
Was it to die with the Apostles? ''Oh no!"
says my Protestant friend, *' of course not ; it
was to last forever, for if it were not to last for-
ever, we would then be badly off." Weil then
it was to last forever, you say. Was it the
intention of our Divine Saviour that the Church
which He established should continue as He
had established it, without any change? .
*' Well, I suppose so ; I guess that was His
intention." Well, then, as He estabUshed it
with the power of forgiving sins, therefore that
power must remain in the Church ; that neces-
sarily follows. If you admit the premises, you
must consequently admit the conclusion.
Christ estabUshed His Church with the power
of forgiving sins, and He wishpd Hm Church to
remain as He established it: therefore He
Mi
' Ii!i
mi
r 11 Iff 11(1 'I i
II
ii;i!Jil!!:
mm
'Hi
' 1 i
III
CONFESSION.
Ihflid^:' T'' '" ''^'"^ '° His Church to
poTei tT' P^r s 2? tr ^r ^^^^^^
Apostles. I say you all know that hutihl
facUs, my dear Protestant frienl. you wSo Ire
Itet" ZVu 2:,!^?^ J^n-ve^litl^
Paul was not on« '^^'^>'„*^°ow. now, that St.
Jew, and a very zealoiiA J«l . k / u ^ ^^^ ^
nf nVv.^ u ^ zealous Jew ; but, by a miraplA
01 Grod, he was conyerted and pf^^,. d ™i^acie
vprf-prl o«^ u r""^^*"*^"* a.na alter ne was con-
tiz iris « "*r or.r^^^
acrain
--C3
CONFESSION.
67
Timothy and Titus; and so on. These, St.
Paul consecrated Bishops of the Church and
gave to them the power of forgiving sins in the
name of God and by the authority of God, just
as he received it himself. Now, I will not quote
any more texts from the Holy Scriptures
because it would occupy too much time. I will
now, however, give quotations from
THE EARLY WRITERS OF THE CHURCH—
those who lived in the very days of the Apostles
themselves, and who received all their Chris-
tianity from the Apostles. I will quote from
their writings to show that in their day—
eighteen hundred years ago— the doctrine of con-
lession was preached as much as it is preached
now. The first one from whom I will quote is
bt. Clement. St. Clement was a disciple of St.
i'eter the Apostle, and he was baptized and
instructed by St. Peter in all the doctrines of
the Catholic Church. He also was ordained by
^t. Peter a Bishop of the Church of God, and
afterwards became one of the successors of St
Peter as Pope. St. Peter was the first Pope and
bt. Clement was the fourth. Of St. Clement,
bt. Paul says, in one of his Epistles, " that the
name of Clement is written in the book of life '*
so that the Bible testifies that Clement is 'a
samt of God. Now, Clement saji in his first
•iiijoriud leter has taught that the faithful are
ii
'Uriir^:,:'
ilL, ^
i] |i I !''
iir
'i i
i ii
! 'iii/t i if;
;i ii ■
, I fill
liii
fdliif
!i'i:iii#''' ^''
SniMII/i 11 i!!i
i! !
imn
1 1 i i i i
1 |lfi;i!i;|!pi'i^
68
CONFESSION.
S ?f "fhl''f *^'^ ^« *° *J^« priests of the!
Sd in' S« h °'t' Jf y r" °f y°" has con!
envv orto^ ^^'* thonghts of infidelity, of
W;„f f °u'^' f *°y »**'«' evil thought let'
him not be ashamed to confess this to the Dries
i woK cf ^' '''^'''''y counserand by
Thi=T 1 .^°'*' ^^ ""^y be healed by him "
This 18 the language of a disciple of it Sr
the Apostle written eighteen hundred years
ago when Catholicity was in its very cradle
In the same century lived DionVLs fh."
Areopagite, who was a convert of St Pa,il «« !
we read of his conversion in the Biblf Th "f
preachihl'r ^'f ^*- ^^^' we'ntio Athens o
foTth \nH 'P'^ ""^y ^^"""^^ «"°vert8 to the
laith, and among those converts was « \r«r,!
eminent judge, a great philosopher-DionvsTus'
the Areopagite (Acts svii.). and when S?d'
but Demophalus, comparing ^^^so^uiion ,
CONFESSION.
THE SACRED OFFICE AND FUNCTIONS
69
of the priest with his sins, upbraided and
reproached him, and refused him absolution,
thereby driving the priest into despondency.
In his despondency and despair, the priest
wrote to Dionysius, complaining of the harsh-
ness of Demophalus, who refused him absolu-
tion for his sin. And then it was that Diony-
sius ^rote his Eighth Epistle to Demophalus,
m which he said: " We have received the keys
of the kingdom of heaven to pardon the repent-
ant sinner, but you have abused this power
and you have driven the repentant priest to
desperation by refusing him absolution of his
sms." Hence from this you see that at that
time --eighteen hundred years ago— not only
the laity, but the clergy, confessed their sins, in
order to obtain absolution. In the second
centu y — over seventeen hundred years
ago—lived Irenaeus, who was a disciple of
Polycarp, and he (Polycarp) was a disciple of St.
John the Apostle. Now, Irenaeus mentions that
some women came to the Church and publicly
confessed their sins, but others were converted
with much difficulty ; some spent their lives in
holiness, confessing their sins, but others
renounced the faith. Why did tliey renounce
the faith ? Because they had not the courage to
confess their sins, and they knew that the true
iaith would not save them unless they did con-
70
CONFESSION.
;. |!|f|jir;r.||;!!.i
II 1
|!i!!i!i
IliiiS
confess thefr ^ oTk^tUeler \f Jl"
same centurv liver] Tprt«ii;« u ? ^^ *^^
a whole bo"k on ColssSr'anJ^w r'^^
called "De PcBnitSa '° in Jh^'^K^''^"
being thoroughly convinced nfpf !. T' ^'*'^°"*
at that time belfeved by <"'°^^««'0'i was
Hfi«r t!^. ^"''^ CHBISTUN WOBLD.
(eSZioIT^^B^^'''^'^,^ °f --Session)
attentive Rheir present ^lf„ ?'?*!'' °^°'«
p^Sorg^sfB^C"^^^^^^^^^^
«nTifron+;/ ^ '^ ^^y* ^i^e a man who has
contracted . some secret diseasp whini; u •
ashamed to expose to tL evroMiT. I ^^ '*
and prefers to perish r«Thl. .1^ P^iysician.
knnwr^" T^ 4. n? . rather than make it
Known. Tertulhan mveighs a^ainsf fwT i
shame, and sava • '* "^^^^s agamst that false
Jirst imagine to av^elfTv.?"!!".!.. ^^^.i ^^^
^, - — ,, &A^«»i(iiUQa oi tile
iiad not the
led the faith,
irietians seven-
ty must either
Qned. Iq the
10 has written
that book is
hat book he
the subject —
it preparation
e the disposi-
obtain the
>ad that book,
ago, without
ml'ession was
BLD.
confession)
ople, more
than to sal-
eir sins, and
lan who has
v^hich he is
e physician,
tn make it
st that false
t back from
lat hell-fire,
thee ; and
CONFESSION.
71
k >% 'M ^.U
iuaa oi me
buture pumshment, that thou mayest not doubt
concerning the adoption of the remedy * *
When, therefore thou knowest that against
he^l-fire, after the firat protection of baS
ordered by the Lord, there is yet in confession a
second aid, why dost thou abandon thy sX
tion ? Why delay to enter on that which tZ
Iknowest will heal thee ? Shall the sinner
inZntldlfZfTr (E-mologis) has betrl
^instituted by the Lord tor his salvation, neglect
St. Cyprian, after having spoken of the
.ecessity of doing penance tnd of confessing
.athohcs, in. volume, page 51), gays: "T
fceseech you, most dear brethren, let each con-
fr ifv-.'"'''!,.^'^'- ^' *'^''* ^*« '^^^^^ i« among
Fwhile th^e ^^';^%^'« «o°fe««ion can be admitted!
JwHile the satisfaction and the remission or
ptxtorS:^""^^ *'^ ^'-*« - p'-^-^
thP^°dh!?iAr-^V-"'y ^^^\ P«°P^e, believed by
Lt Pvn!. ?'*'*° ^°'^^ '^P to the time
that Protest." ntism came into the world m
the year 1620 - three hmidred aTSft"
ChrltiJ. ' T- ??*^ then the whole
K^tiristian world, without anv exeenfmn
K4° ?t!irf.i!^°'^«o?« "PO'^ quotations.
!;«« ,7"t" " "'"'"^^ 1-fwyou lui to-morrow morn-
ing, il I were to give all the quotations from
iill
i\': h
mm
ii pi
mm
I
iv,
72
CONi-="ESSION.
those who have written on the subject of conn
fessiwi, m the first, second, third and fourth
centuries; but, if I were to do this, 1 would
keep you too long, and were I to do that very
likely I would be treated as '
A CBETAIN PEEACHER,
m Louisiana, was once treated. He was a very
earnest and zealous man and was accustomed
very often to preach long sermons, and so it
Happened that frequently people would leave the
I meeting-house while he was speaking. On one
occasion he was preaching a very long sermon
and, as usual, the people began leaving the
place, one by one, until finally they had all
gone and he was left alone with the sexton ; buti
he still continued preaching away at the sexton,
until lie also became tired ; so, taking the keys,
of the meetmg-house, the sexton walked up to
the desk ol the preacher, and said: '* Brother
when you get through, will you be kind enouc^h
to lock the door ?" Well, I would not care to be'
treated m this manner, and so, I will try not to,
commit cue same fault. I will, therefore, pass!
over the quotations I migh^t give from the early
writers of Christianity; but it is the reading of
these Fathers of the Church (by the Fathers of
the Church we do not mean the early priests '
but we mean those who lived in the primitive
days of Christianity, who were disfmcyniaV,a^ f..r
their learning and for the sanctity ortheiJ
r
fi
li
A
yv'
G
h
•tt
11
CONFESSION.
73
ctity of theii
lives) who wrote in Latin and Greek
years ago that has led so many Enclish
ministers to the Catholic Church. The EnS
clerpmen-that is, the Protestant ones -have
read these books, and they find that s-xteen
hundred years ago the Catholic Church was
precisely the same as it is to-day and here
ore. the ^Catholic Church must \e the t'ue
Church of God. " We have changed, we have
CW and ^^^^^''^fdoned the doctrines of
w«nf f. Apostles, and therefore if we
want to save our souls by belonging to the
Church of God, we must go back to
*HE CATHOLIC CHURCH."
And within the last thirty-five vpnra o„rv,o +
thousand .five hundred Protes ant ministers "n
England. m Germany and in this country "have
\Zl„t ^ast thirty-five years, nearly a hundred
Severv vi: ''''''. ''""'''''^ to "the Catholic
hV nri!I?F - •' ^■S*' '^^'^y Of these are Catho-
America. iiie last Archbishop of Baltimni-o
Nas a Protestant ; Father Preston, of New Crk
GeLral o7 N^^H ''"'^^^ °°^°«' *^e Vi^-'
f.r''l,?it"-''-T ^P™*««t*"t; and the
ftho^p"™"^"" ""'-^ "''i"^ *° enumerate all of
those whj are now Catholic priests, in th^s
74
CONFESSION.
■ I'.i
ii
^^^^^B
III
ii 11 1'"
^^^^H
, i"i
^milil'iliM
,11'
^^H
1
1 ! ,
^H '
1 '!i:i
1
1
^^^H
^^H'
j'l
country and in England, and who were once Pro-
ttf stant ministers. What induced these m en * * to
come over " to the Catholic religion ? Almost
all of them had to lose a great deal, had tJ
sacrifice ^ nr^at many things, such as the los2
of large salaries, influential friends, etc. They
came over " to the Catholic Church, because
they were well convinced that it is the only true
Church of God. You have heard of the conJ
^rsion of the Bishop of Carolina— Bishop Iven
I Whan he was a Protestant Bishop he probably
had a salary of $12,000 a year, and
many perquisities besides. Well, when he
became a Catholic he had nothing whatsoever
ane he had to teach a little school in Manhat'
tanville, which gave him $50 per month, in
order to support himself and his wife. His wife
also became a Catholic. Afterward he was head
01 the Catholic Protectory of ^ew York He
lost everything by his conversion. He was not
only cut off from all his former friends and
society, but suffered the loss of an immense
salary and a very comfortable living. Seel
what a sacrifice it was ! What caused him 1. 1
make this sacrifice, my friends ? Nothing but
a strong conviction that the Catholic religion is
•fu^'',¥.u^^ ''^^'^''^^ ^^^^^^- ^^d so it was
with all the preachers who became^ convinced
t^at^ they^were on the wrong track, and mustj
^iiciiigo meir coarse, and turn back to the ric^ht
one, if they wanted to save their souls. But
were once Pro-
d these men **to
igion ? Almost
at deal, had t,
iich as the loss
nds, etc. Thej
IJhurch, because
is the only true
rd of the con-
i — Bishop Ives,
op he probably
a year, andl
i^ell, when he
no; whatsoever,
001 in Manhat"
per month, in
wile. His wife
rd he was head
ew York. He
. He was not
jr friends and
an immense
living. See
caused him t^
Nothing but
olic religion is
Lnd so it was
me^ convinced
ick, and must
k to the right
r souls. But
CONFESSION. y^
:a the 'r«e^eirg™of Got^^^Vt't^e S^
himself, when he'ls SiteYto 1^^^ ''T
deliver some lectures th«f x!t i u '' ^"^'^ ^
way from New'S 'to^ltllo':;;: '' "'' "'' ""''
BishopJtTartLttl/LtS. ." r^"'
stand on quicksand thlTi ''^^'^ced that we
'wrong reliSn a„^ ' "t ' '^u^' "^^ ^^^ ^^ *he
Whit Xr;^,^ ' J • ^® ^°°^ ^'^ere the rock is
ae ,uicks^and°X o:tTZTX:f "'
Church of God" ''Rnf „ •■! ., ^'^ *™8
shall we do ? we a, . ^trriT^ *^' ^' " ^*»**
femilies,andhow8b'irwr "'?' '^'^'^ ^a^«
P'shop, " I have nothing to sav to fhl. '^
Catholics Lv .1- ^T "**" °«'^«i' became
^d^ed that the Sh£ Chtc^^ fhf oh'T'"
:hureh of God. On one oi'l^ri^J^^^
fiinister of thf^ P%.^cKx,4. • -7- -" ^s ounani
ill
isiil
'ill-;
I iifi?
liliii.'M!:i!i:il
I I'l Ml
iiw' ^r''
i§mn
76 CONFESSION.
ister. I at once commenced reasoning with*
liim to prove that the Catholic religion is the
only true religion, but he interrupted me and
said : " Do not reason with me at all ; do not
speak to my intellect. I am as thoroughly
convinced that the Catholic religion is the only
true religion as you are yourself ; so do not
reason with me, but give me the courage to
become a Catholic." I gave him all the
encouragement I could, but it seemed to have
4io effect. He wrote to me frequently, and in
all his letters he told me that he was thoroughly
convinced that the Catholic religion is the only
true one, and the only one in which he could
save his soul ; and yet he kept on preaching
Presbyterianism all the time, and finally died a
Presbyterian. Bread and butter, my dear
people, are powerful things to a hungry man,
and they kept him back. Now, these are facts ;
and I might tell you many more such facts in
regard to Protestant ministers, and I can give
you the names and residences of those who
have acknowledged to me that they were
thoroughly convinced that there is no other
religion than the Catholic religion.
Now, what trust can be put in these men—
the men who slander and misrepresent us and
our religion ? None whatever. Now, my dear
peopje, 1 say to you in all charity and love (for I
feel for you), do not be guided by such men, but
follow your own convictions. You believe in
CONFESSION.
77
the Bible ; then I say to you, follow that Bible-
read it without prejudice, without preconceived
notions ; pray fervently to God that He may
CaSrfaltir. "''' ^^" -'' -- -- toX
Again, it has been said that confession is
AN INVENTION OF MAN.
sl^lf* 'w^^^^t'Tl f °°'" P'otest^nt friends
I \*i u 'v'/ *'^*' ^^ 80, surely then thev
ought to be able to tell us the man who invented
t where It was invented, when it was invented
and m what country it was invented. I del v al
the preachers of the world-I defy them all to
tell me the name of the man who invented con°
fession, to give me the name of the place where
it was invented, and the date when it was
invented For the last three hundTed
years, ever since Protestantism came into
lld^l'Z'' T''*T "*■ ^" denominations have
fn ordr rT^i" T^T 't^^"^''^ ^""^ investigation
m order to find out when, where and by whom
riT ™' ^?\ introduced ; and after thre^
have rn/i!^'' of labor and investigation they
have not been able to find it out. And whj
not ? Because there is no other institutor of
confession than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of the livmg God. There is no other date of the
[institution of confession than the year 83 -
-^suM^eununared and forty-six years "ago— when
[the Son of God, breathing upon His^IportS
i H'\i
' ■!):' ■ '•
,' ■;
V\0'''
1 1
^i''^^'
i
m-.^
1
.( ill
'iM
' . 1
''ij
I'Ji
1 11
^^ CONFESSION.
you shall forgive, they are Ibrgiven them."
Then and there alone, in the Holy L.nd. sancti-
fied with the blood of Jesus Christ; then and
there, conlession was instituted by the Son of
the living God, and, many, many ministers have
acknowledged that confession is an institution of
Crod, and they have tried of late years to intro-
fhl" W T%1^ themselves. You are aware that
the High Church Episcopalians are preaching
qonfession now in England, in America, ana all
over the world; and t.here are probao.v tuirty
different Protestant chui-ches in New York
«nw '' T«''^ i^^^ ,'''■' preaching confession
now. After three hundred and . fifty years
tl t"^ ^^''''\ '""^'^ *° *l»e conclusion
that they have been wrong, and are now
convinced that confession must be an insti-
tution ot God, and they are therefore inviting
all to go to confession— but they do not get
much custom yet (Laughter.) What is the
reason that they do not get much practice ? It
is because they are married men. perhaps, and
people do not like to go to confession to a
married man. for fear he might tell their secrets
to his wite : and the Lord save them if the wife
knows It ! (Great laughter.) Whether that is
the reason or not, I cannot say, of course, but
at any rate, they are not much troubled with
conlession.
When I was giving a mission in Thirty-
r"'
CONFESSION. 79
seventh street, in the Church of thp tt^i^
wanTeft Hl'T''' ^'^^ cSaeld^tid^fi
wanted to make her confession. "Are voi. «
Cathohc, madam?" I asked. '•No.sJ^ll
Baid," I am an Episcopalian. "Well thin
m nir "tf .^° ?H™ Wol*t;"a
man " Th,-« I^' '^'^/^^' " ^« '« * carried
man. Ih s shows, my dear Christians — the
very preaching of these men shows -that thev
wvme orgin. Agam they say that confession
demoralizes the people, that it is an ins" tu on
.of corruption and of immorality. Those oaS
who go about preaching are, as a generaS
very immoral men and women and imposVunon
the people. They know what surtsTrtaaR
the people, and they teU them that confes-
8ion IS m instiiution of immorality Here is
he criterion by which you will find out Sher
confession promooes immorality or not You
mlS'wtl'^^r^*' ^^^«'« and CathS:
the dl™ ^^"i *»^^^.been going to confession all
their /hiU *^«": Ji^/vare very anxious that
tiieu- children should be exact and re^rnlar
Jenfed';rtr°"'"t" J^^>' are"tay7ct!
Srei in^''^'"**' /^^° *^^y««« t*"^* their
vou tWnt -f ^u**. J^!"^*'^y '" confession. Do
e^ni;i 1**?* ^**>®' "'*'^** "lotJier knew by
ih%-^ ^ZTa T"" ^"'f^^'»°'"" proaucea immorality.
dauS^** be anxious to see their son or theS
daughter go to confession regularly evory
f1
U:^
80
CONFESSION.
month ? Why is it, then, that Catholic fathers
and mothers are so anxious that their children
should attend to confession ? It is because they
know, by their own experience, that the con-
fessional is the most powerful of all meaas
to preserve the morality and purity, in an
especial manner, of the young— to preserve them
good and holy. When Catholic fathers and
mothers see that their sons and daughters go
pgularly to confession they are freed from all
uneasiness ; they know they are all right, and
say to themselves: '*That is the best boy in
New York," or **That is the best girl in New
York," for they know they are doing right.
They would not go to confession if they were
not honest and good— they know that.
Hence the Catholics who know, by experience,
what confession is. know also that it is the
most powerful of all engines to promote moral
ity, purity, benevolence, charity— in a word, to
promote a Christian life, to promote a Chris-
tian character.
atholic fathers
their children
s becau "«>::' they
that the con-
of all meaas
purity, in an
preserve them
fathers and
daughters go
'reed from all
all right, and
i best boy in
girl in New-
doing right,
if they were
know that,
y experience,
hat it IS the
umote moral
in a word, to
lote a Chris-
IV.
THE.
REAL PRESENCE.
Sermon Preached at the Immaculate Conception
Church, New York, 1879.
" And whilst they were at supper Jesus took bread and
blessed and broke and gave to His Disciples, and said:
'Take ye and eat ; this is My body ;' and, taking the chalice,
He gave thanks, and gave to them, saying : ' Drink ye all of
this, for this is My blood of the New Testament which shall
bashed for many, for the remission of sins.' "—St. Matthew,
chap, xxvi., verses 26 and 28.
Dearly Beloved Brethren — I will prove from
forty-five texts of the Bible the doctrine of the
Catholic Church. I will also prove that the
Catholic religion is the Bible religion, and that
Protestantism stands condemned by its own
Bible ; and, moreover, I will prove that we must
believe in mysteries — that is, in truths which
'\vc uo not understand.
Now, in order that you may understand the
I'X ;
i!
82
THE REAL PRESENCE.
9^. our separated tSren ''? ^^ ^°«*"'^-
fnends-and that is aTfa^ru""^ Protestant
18 very hard to sav wha^oft^f '^.•'"b'- ^''^ it
do believe, and what £ ^ w ''Z-*"' ^"«°ds
^ary so much from e2h ,T^ '"^^'^^^ - they
asserts as ^^"^ "t^er. What one
^ OOSPEL TRUTH,
i3p;?dTs:-,7;;^e W; hence it
terians say that in Com J',?'^'^^- The Presby
the real Body and Bkod of ?r \' '''' ""' tak*'
wine as an emblem of Chrii'™^^* bread and
and the Baptists, and som. „* J^' Methodists
Communion we tkke bre^d^nl^"' '^^ '^at in
emblem of Christ brt In '^'''^' "^ot as an
The Lutherans-who ate^ .'^'T'^ "^ Christ.
Protestantism started^th EtS t''^' '°'
his religion — say it is bZn „ j ^"*^«'" and
Body and Blood of Christ 1 ?K '''°'' "ut the
The High Church EpiscoiHo ^^ '""^« time.
Body and Blood of ffit andTv. '*^-' " '« the
and wme at all ; but iT is „i*^.'" " °° "read
tion. "' « IS not transubstantia-
all beTieve" 'Hb!,? J^^^ ^f^^ to say what thev
the Cathoh. nu„^l "'^^ «tate the doctriU 'I
- -— u .s the teaching of 'th^
ma
THE REAL PRESENCE. 83
Church which God established—the Church
which was established by Jesus Christ, as I
proved on a previous evening, and I defy any
one to refute it — I do not care who he is —
Beecher, or any one else. I defy them all to
prove that the Catholic Church is not the
Church established by the Son of
THE LIVING GOD, JESUS CHRIST.
I say, then, that the Catholic Church teaches
that by the power of God, and by the words of
Jesus Christ, spoken by the priest in the Mass,
the bread and wine are changed into the body
and blood of Jesus Christ, and are truly and
really received by the faithful in Holy Com-
munion.
Now, undentanding the doctrine of Protest-
antism and the doctrine of Catholicity, let us
see which has the Bible on its side—whether it
IS with Catholicity, or whether it is with
Protestantism. For this purpose 1 shall read
to you from the sixth chapter of St. John, and
I will give you nothing but the Bible, and your
own Protestant Bible, if you wish. I read from
the Gospel of St. John, the sixth chapter, com-
wmcmg with the forty- jSfth verse of that
chapter ; and when you go home examine your
^:^ble, dearly beloved Protestant friends. ^ Do
not think when I say dearly beloved Protestant
friends i speak hypocritically — I love yqh, mv
dear Protestant friends ; I "feel a y^j d.jep
*i
gt
liij
S4 THP oo
THE REAL PRESENCE.
SiHiittre^^lrf ?„ ^f ^ -M give na,
Lave said : " if s written '^ ^fr .^*- J^^^^' «« I
ti-ey shall aU be ^S bJUd ' W.^ ^^^
time would come when th« ^L T^ *^^* *^^«
taught not merely hv fh P?P^^ ^""W be
Baen. but that they L'h T^'^''^^ ^^^ ^««
Christ being Go&rhV;,i«^t^o^ God,
' " Fv. ""^'^ "KOraECY IS FULFILLED.
and&ie^a^^eSL'ett'r 1.^^^ ^^^^er
man hath seen the Tfhl ^'\ ?°' ^^^^ any
God he hath seen the^pifc " "' ^^ "^-^ ^« «'
The words of Ghriat «t Thl .-^^"'y- eerily."
earth were equivaW t^ 1 .*"^' ^^ ^a« on
that believethLXhtth '"'"'', '^*^- "He
He promises thTm eternaf t '^"u^'V^S '^^0."
Him, and he comLencrd v.- ^''^"'. ^^^^^^ ^
solemn manner "Sn '^*"'*"'^^ ^^ this
believeth in Me h«tT, ' , *°'™' he that
immediately He comm.rf ^?.'"°« "f^'" and
am." says CWst Ti^f ?f •* -t?^ doctrine-"!
fathers did eat mannl In .r"^. °^ ^^'- ^our
died. This is tC bZ^ /'''^. ^^-^ they
heaven : that if any man elt t'T^^ ^""^
<^«- I am the K L^^ l^'j^^^'^-y not
~ ----- iivi a ''■ dead
vould give my
exceedingly,
^you do not
^t. John, as I
'^ophets, and
and that the
>le would be
fcs, who were
gilt of God,
a, and
ED.
the Father
fot that any
e who is of
I "—in the
ly, verily."
t^e was on
ath. " He
sting life.^'
believe in
^e in this
^e that
iife," and
itrine — ** I
ife. Your
and they
ing from
3 may not
a "dead
THE REAL PRESENCE.
85
bread " — "which comes down from heaven. If
any man eat of this bread," which He eays
He is Himself, "he shall live forever, and
the Bread that I give to you is My own flesh."
My dearly beloved Protestant friends, do you
believe that it is the flesh of Jesus Christ?
** No," says my Protestant friend. ** Oh ! no,
sir, I do not believe any such nonsense as that."
What, my dear Protestant friends, do you not
believe in the Bible ? Do you not believe the
word of God ? He says it is His flesh : do you
believe it? "No, sir. I do not." Well, but
then, my dear friends, you do not believe in the
Bible; you do not believe in Jesus Christ.
"Why," says my Protestant friend, "how in
the world can I believe in such a thing as
that ? I do not believe in it because I do not
understand it. We Protestants are an intelli-
gent and enlightened people, sir, and we do not
beUeve in a thing we do not understand. It is
good enough for Catholics to believe in such
things, because they are simple-minded people
who pin their faith to the sleeve of their priest ;
but we Protestants, we are an intelligent people,
and we do not believe in things we do not
understand."
DO YOU NOT, MY DEAR FRIENDS?
" No, sir, we do not believe in things we do
tell me, do you believe that you see ? " Well,
r
Iljliil
vPI!
Ill
86
, . ^"^ ^EAL PRESENCE
your eye ? Lo v^„^a^ T \^^ oP^^^on of
address a congLation of .7*^°*^ i^*'' ^^'^'^ I
people, aU of fS nZl ^'"« ""^ ^"^ Oxouamd
the retina of m. ITtT ?P^«««'»*ed npon
<»lor ; and this material nW "'"^P"' ^"""'^ «^d
of my eye brings ZmyiSZZlT '^ ^«*^^
conceptions — thonaht« Tf • ^^*^' '^«*« and
shape, of form, of S etc ? "'"'' ^^'""^^^ "^
maS;i'=pTcC uXihe'St!: nr,^- ^'^^
can bring to mv rnin!i l.- t ^*" °^ °^y ey«
thing, afl theTe^ tWhtf ttcl 'r^^^^*"^
explam that to me ? T^lt ^ <^° you
greatest man that has ever 1 L/°^.*^- ^^^
philosopher — has ZZTi 77 *^^ greatest
how matter can act upon sZf "'^M *° ?P^*'"
au action of matter onTheSif .^°''' ^''' ''
picture of my sight »oti^T ^ '' ^'^^ material
is a spirituaUhfng, wS caZoTK'""'' ^^'«^
or touched, which v«n .„ f""''* ^^ seen, felt
a mystery-Ke is-r.!.- "''^ '^P'*^"- He« is
world can explain fc *^' '^^ '^^ ^^ the
aatuai mysteries mv ^ J o '^° "°' ^^^'eve in
Do you not bSfi^*' ^'■'^'^stant friends ?
;• Why^ceViniy YZ' ^^ ^^ ^an hear ?
hear.'^ Well anr^ hotf / "T "^ ^^w that I
pose that itaTtt^J-.^-^, ".I ^up-
THE REAL PRESENCE.
87-
you do not hear with your eyes. Can you
explain your hearing ? - Oh, no !" Here is
ANOTHER NATURAL MYSTERY
which you do not understand. Can you explain
how that httle air which comes from my Ws
the vibration of which air brings to your ear a
sound and that sound brings to your mind my
thoughts, ideas and conceptions? Here is
another natural mystery which you cannot
comprehend You say, you do not believe in
mysteries ; but here is another one you cannot-
understand, but in which you believe.
Do you believe that I move my hand ? "I
suppose so ; 1 see it." And how do I move my
hands? By my will. And what is my will?
It IS a spiritual thing, which cannot be seen, or
telt , and that by the simple act of my will I
set into motion my hands, my lips, my eyes
and my feet. In a word, the whole body of
man is set into motion by the simple act of his
will. Here is a mystery— here is a thing which
you do not understand, but which you believe
in.
You say you do not believe in mysteries, and
what are you yourself but a mystery, from the
crowr, of your head to the sole of your foot.
What IS a man but a combination of ,mystery
upon mystery. You say you do not believe in
„.,^.„^,^ ^^^ r,iiau is till nature dui mystery?
Ihe seed that you throw into the earth takes-
""S
o
THE REAL PR,.SENCE.
'Slltll
flowers comp « H^ii^l ^'^wers, and frum 'those
the polr of dr^S/'.r^Tv.'^ rots can have
matirial thai tm fh" ttt^'f "" *^^
leaf, that forma th^ fhZ, ' .. ^^^V^s the
so 'delicate a ,vl; tZ.."''^ fl""''' '* ^^
transforms it into 'fr^t ^^"'^^^ .^""^ f°rm, and
YOU ARE TOO SMART FOE THAT
Oo you believe that this earth r.r.'„u- u
dwell is an immpnafl h„ii !i, . °° ^^^''^ ^e
sands of mOes in c^rcnSffi *^** ^T'^es thou-
its cities, towns and vT/'"-f~* ''*"' ^'^^^ ^11
nvers, iSains eti ^'n '*' \"'''' ^^^''^ ^"^
ball re,tP tn'^oth n|, A" 7^' ^^^ '""'^
X^^rr:sS.iS^r^^
not fall ? W}i V ifl if a.. ^^r\^^, ^ Why does it
vou ««V ^^ ',^^ ^* suspended there ? - Whv -
jou say, It IS gravitation." An^ «,v.o. :.![
THE REAL PRESENCE.
89'
gravitation ? You cannot expU'm what it is
t.re 18 another natural mybtery, something
elHe you do not understand. ^
You believe in telegraph lines, do you not ?
You believe m sending despatches. When you
stand and talk to the operator, in the twinkling
ot an eye whatever you say to the telegraph
operator here in New York is gone to Europe
It es not take a minute to travel. What do
you understand that to mean ? ** Why " vou
say, -it is elecoricity." Well, [ guess 'it is :
but will you be good enough to tell me what
electricity is? **I do not know." There it is
again : a mystery— something you cannot com-
prehend, but still you believe in it. And so mv
dear people, light is a mystery; no man' has
ever been able to explain precisely what light is
lou ad have some idea what hght is ; but no
man, irom the days of Adam to the present
time could explain precisely what light is.
Newton the philosopher who was applauded as
paving discovered it, has been refuted, and we
do not know yet what light really is. It is a
natural mystery. And darkness is a mystery
and water is a mystery, and '
EVERY BLADE OF GRASS IS A MYSTERY,
and the stars in the firmament of heaven, and
every living creature in the water and in the
earth is a mystery : and you attempt to say, my
Aroiestant friends, that you do not beheve in
IMAGE EVALUAHON
TEST TARGET (MT-S)
LO
I.I
2.2
S lis
2.0
18
Lil 111 U lllll 1.6
J. LUUVU^CLyiilKj
Sciences
Corporation
m^
V
<v
N>
%
V
'-^*1>
.^e^^ "i
i\
33 WEST MAIN STREET
WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580
(716) 87^-4503
^ _
"C^^^ "i
^
A"
%
^'^ THE REAL PRESENCE.
were* m«n !f °'*°' "«° that you aro. If yon
r«fto rf.. * ^'"^ °^°'« education, if yon
™ Vf iXf? P^"°«°Phy -^d kne; a litde
«JtAmJL ** sciences, you would never
attempt to say you did not believe in mysteries •
and every time that you say that y^ dTno*
that vVu 2'*'"'' ^°" P'*'^''^'"' *° *»>« ^«°W
knowZw .„ ^ i^""*".* '"^- Because you
perhaps by looking at a map, can tell the
boundaries of the country in which you 1 ve vou
JiotTT'J r *° enlightened people fiit'^do
not be t6o fast " Do not crow until you get
out of the woods," as the saying is It k if!?
becanse you know so very littfe tha^you a ttemp
to say you do not believe in mvsteries ThJ
oTttl^if ""°P^«'^ --Sntmc men
full of f.;^^'^^ acknowledged that the world is
mvsWv^P^"^':v.*°'* ^"^"^^ everything is a
ana that the mmd of God is unlimited and
without bounds it follows that in t^e mind of
^od there are thousands of truths which the
Ss LTr °*?°?^ ^^**''"°' ^°<i all these
the m^H «f "^ "" *^' '"'°'* °^ «'^' and which
tne mind of man cannot comprehend all thps«
are mysteries to the mind of man The more
developed the mind of man is, the more truths
mu^wr'' ''^'^ * '^'^ °f "ttle education
must look upon m mysteries. For instance, the
Ssfi:
THE REAL PRESENCE. 9f,
-he^S'^Xr^.T*^. '' "mathematical mind
thrt,!^* ^ *'"*.'^^ "° mathematics which
Se Tt an Zf^^'^^'^f ^ mathematics cS
see at aJl and regards as a mystery. And
so It IS with the arithmetician ; the resnltTof
the^Rnl/?ff !?^**"««' may solve a problem by
buftSmltTs : wo^E: '■ '"^ ^""^ " '^ ^ ^™'^'
AND so ms WITH THE MIND OF OOD.
the mindTf S.T ""^^^ ^" ^^^'^^'^* t"^*hs to
of m^n ""^^ •'^ mysteries to the mind
He^sZ's ^^•' t£?^ reveals these truths-when
ne says . That is a truth," is not man bound
to believe it ? Is not God the infallible truth
tba cannot deceive ? Is not His the wi Som
that cannot be deceived? When, therefore^
truth 18 presented to our minds which w do Aot
understand, what is the duty of man ? Is he
not bound to beheve it ? Is he not bo„n^ tf
believe what God teaches ? Do yl see a„v
mends ? You think you are reasonable in re-
jecting mysteries, but, in reality, you are verv
unreasonable. When an mfallible Truth sa^s a
92
THE REAL PRESENCE.
■' It
1 ,' .
k
thing, is it wise and reasonably that we should
not believe it ? In other words, is it not wise
and reasonable for man to believe what God
teaches ? ** Oh, of course," says my ^^rotestant
friend; "man is bound to believe what God
teaches, whethe-- he understands it or not."
Very well, then ; all we ask of you is to inquire,
has God said it ; and if He has said it, man is
bound to believe it.
Now, then, with regard to the truth here
before you — the truth of Transubstantiation —
namely^ that the bread and the wine, by the
power of God, and by the words of Jesus Christ,
spoken by the priest in the Mass, are changed
into the body and blood of Jesus. Has God said
that it is ? We must examine, and if God has
said it, man is bound to believe it. Do you not
as;ree with me now, my dear Protestant friends ?
Where is the man that proposes to be a Chris-
tian, and does not say with me, ** that is right,
sir. If God has said it, we are bound to believe
it." Well, then, let us see if God has said it.
You want the Bible ? " Yes, Father, we want
the Bible — we love the Bible, sir." Very well,
then, we shall give you the Bible : ** And Jesus
said, I am the bread of life which came down
from heaven. I am the Living Bread which
came down from heaven, and the bread that I
will give to you is My flesh."
i^e should
t not wise
(That God
^rotestant
vhat God
or not."
inquire,
t, man is
uth here
tiation —
J, by the
18 Christ,
changed
God said
God has
) you not
friends ?
a Chris-
is right,
believe
3 said it.
we want
ery well,
id Jesus
ne down
d which
d that I
THE REAL PRESENCE.
93
JESUS S.UD IT IS HIS FLESH.
Do you believe it ? Do you believe the Word of
^< An^ fh?! ^ """^^ ^^^ *^ y^« i« % flesh.''
satri li'^'i^'^^'^^""^ *°^^^g themselves,"
says St. John the Apostle, and said " how can
this man give to us His flesh to eat ?" You
^see, the Jews understood our Divine Saviour in
the hteral sense of ihe word-that thlj Te^e
tty'sard"*^^ 'fJ^''''' ^^^ "^'^^^^^-^
S to 'eat f'\T *t'' ^^^ ^^^^ *^ ^« ^i«
- Am J T ^^^"^ ^^^^^ ^aid to them :
th^T h ^T?u ^ i^^ ^°*^ ^^^^> ^^^^«« you ea
the fle.h of the Son of Man, and drink His
blood, you shall not have lifj in vou^ fou
Bhall never be savec^ you shall neve/see eternal
\f. hi. fl ^^'u^ '^^^*^ ^y ^^«^ and drinketh
My blood hath everlasting life, and I will raise
il ^? "" f,^ ^^«* ^^3'." Chri'st here trreatens
K^tT^^ ^^amnation those that refuse to eat
His flesh and dnnk His blood. Now, my dear
SfcWh^'^ attention to that ; you beliLe 'n
the Church ; you glory m being a Catholic, and
you do not go to confession, you do not go to
bon of Man, and Jesus Christ says vou shall b^
damned. Mind that well, my LrSatScs
^uT ^'\*^^' ^^'^« ^f Jesus Christ -You -
Sf Ch ^T i^^^^J^^•'' ^'Hethateat;?^
My flesh and drmketh My blood," says the
1 1
m
^' '
94
THE REAL PRESENCE.
Saviour, " hath everlasting life, and I will raise
him up on the last day, and he will live for-
ever; for,"^says Jesus Christ, *' My flesh is
meat indeed and My blood is driuK indeed."
Christ knew that after fifteen hundred years
Protestantism would come into the world in
Germany, and that Protestantism would deny
that it is the real body and the blood of Jesus,
and that they would say that the . bread and
wine were only in memory of Christ. There-
fore, says Jesus : " My flesh is food indeed,"
in truth and in reality, " and My blood is drink
indeed," in truth and in reality. When, there-
fore, you desire to derive from the Bible the
real and actual doctrine, you must read the
Bible as it is — add nothing to it, take nothing
away from it. Take the plain, obvious mean-
ing of God's holy book, and then you have the
Catholic doctrine. In order to derive the
Protestant doctrine from the Bible, you must
say just the contrary.
CHRIST SATS, *' MY FLESH IS FOOD INDEED. '
*'I believe it," says the Catholic; and the
Protestant says, ** I do not." Christ says,
** My blood is drink indeed," in truth and
reality. ** I believe it," says the Catholic ; and
the Protestant says, " Lord Jesus, allow me to
differ from you. You say it is your flesh, now
allow me to differ from you. You say it is
your blood, allow me to differ from you, and I
Ql raise
live for-
iesh is
adeed."
i years
orld in
d deny
Jesus,
id and
There-
ideed,"
s drink
, there-
ble the
ad the
lothing
mean-
ive the
ire the
1 must
ED. '
ad the
says,
t and
; and
me to
bi, now
r it is
and I
THE REAL PRESENCE. 95
liope you wiJl not take it as an m-«u ah
me to tell vou it i« nnil k ji ?*'^*- ^low
the Prot sLt reliS wl ^""^ ''^^' '^ ^''
contrary of That E ^''^t? P'^^^sely the
Bible cListiS ? Tt lhrdJ7' ""l' '' *^^
" Yes, my Saviour it is K k^'^'7^^ '^y^''
blood." 'is it t^;lS4ho i^^^^^
tian ? The Protestant says . ^ The B fc^^™"
faith, the Bible is my teacher " And £ p-m'"^
says : ** If therA ha JL.r • i ^^^ ^'^^ ^ible
•him call L the priest 7Z' Pvf ""l°8 ^^"^ '«*
him pray oyethi^lLr Church, and let
of the Bible thnt +k^" • ! '^ *^® command
b.l,„. ji... „ p„^,^, ^JJ oil. „Do^u
«
DO YOU CONFESS YOUR SINS ?
Why! do you think i am such a simpleton
96 THE REAL PRESENCE.
as that ?" answers my Protestant friend. Bu<
the Bible sa3''s so, my dear friend. Here you go
against the Bible again. The Bible says also
that you must fast. Christ says : "1 have
given you an example, that as I have done, you
do in like manner." Christ fasted. Do you
fast? "Of course not." The Bible tells us
that the Apostles fasted, even after Christ had
gone (thirteenth chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles). We read of the Saviour fasting and
praying. Do you fast ? ** Oh no, we do not
fast." Well, then, you do not follow the Bible.
** Unless you do penance," says the Saviour of
the world, " you shall all perish." It is com-
manded in the Bible, and you say you follow
the Bible. Christ Himself fasted forty days and
forty nights, and the Apostles fasted. 1 cannot
say too much in this lecture, as it would take
too much time from the real subject on which I
speak to-night — Transubstantiation.
*' For My flesh," says Jesus, '' is meat indeed
and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth
My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me,
and I in him. As the living Father hath sent
Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth
Me, the same also shall live by Me." He does
not say, he that eateth the remembrance of Me,
or he that eateth the figure of Me ; but He says,
he that eateth Me. You say, my dear
Protestant friends, you do not believe in
mysteries. Well, now, I think it is a very great
THE REAL PRESENCE.
97
mystenous thing to eat the figure of a thing I
do not beheve there is a man in New York who
eould do that, for it would be pretty hard to
kDow how to go about it. Yes, my dear friends,
1 tnmk that is
A VERY MYSTERIOUS . THING.
" He that eateth Me/' says Christ. *' the same
also shall live by Me. This is the bread that
came down Irom heaven, and he that eateth
this bread sball live forever." Many, therefore,
ot His Disciples hearing it, said : ** This is a
hard saying, and who can believe it?" Some
of His Disciples, therefore, you see, understood
our Saviour to say that they must literally eat
His flesh and drink His blood ; for, if the
Disciples understood Him as Protestants under-
stand Him— -that they were merely to eat a
piece of bread and drink a cup of wine— none of
the Disciples would have made any fuss about
It. But they understood Him in the literal
sense of the word, and, therefore, they said :
This IS a hard saying." Now, the Disciples
were to be the teachers of the world. Christ
had chosen them for that purpose to go all over
the world and to teach all nations of the earth •
and It was. therefore, all-important that His
Disciples should understand His doetrine-that
they should have a correct idea of His doctrine
L^\^^ M* ^^^^ ^^ ^^^0^' *^en He Himself
would be the cause of the whole world going
98 THE REAL PRESENCE.
into error. Then, if He was not to be under-
stood in this manner, He was b^and, by aU
the laws of justice, to explain Himself to His
Disciples. Did He do it ? No ; but He
insisted, more and more, that it was His body
and blood. And Jesus, knowmg in His heart
that His Disciples murmured at this, said to
them : ** Does this scandalize you ? Do you
think this is beyond My power? You have
seen Me giving sight to the blind, hearing to the
deaf, speech to the dumb, restoring the lame
and reviving the dead." Well, now, says
Christ, if I can do these things, why can I not
also change bread and wine into My body and
into My blood? You believe that I have
changed the dust of the earth into a living man,
at the creation of time, and that I took
A RIB OUT OF ADAM's BODY
and changed it into a woman. Now, says
Christ, as it were, if I changed the dust of the
earth into a living man, and a bone into a
living woman, why cannot I also change bread
and wine into My body and blood ? " If, then,''
says Christ, '*you shall see the Son of Man
ascend up where He was before, it is the spirit
that quickened, the flesh profitetK nothing.
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit
and life." They are realities — not dead figures,
not dead remembrances. ** The words that I
have spoken to you are -spirit and life ; but there
THE REAL PRESENCE.
99
are some among you that believe not ;" for He
knew who they were that did not believe and
who would betray Him. You see Christ put
those who do not beheve on a level with Judas.
And He said, therefore: *'I say to you that
no man can come to Me, unless it be given to
^n^/^/^|.^^*^f-" ^^^^ of the Disciples
could not believe what Christ said, and theyleft
Mim ; and Christ never called them back: but
turning to the twelve Apostles. He said : " Will
you also go away ? Will you also abandon Me,
because I teach a doctrine that you do not
understand ?;' And Simon Peter, the first Pope,
InT'^^ n'°J '' '* ^f ^' *^ ^^^^ s^all we
go / i\ly God, says he, if we cannot take Thv
word, whose word, then, shall we take "> We
have known and we have behoved that Tnou
art the Son of the living God, and therefore,
says Peter, we beheve it, because Thou, the Son
ol the living God, hath said it. We beheve it
says Peter, m the name of all the rest of the
Apostles, whether we understand it or not.
Thou, oh ! God, Thou infallible truth and
wisdom. Thou hast said it, and we believe it.
Well, is It not a reasonable thing to beheve, my
Protestant friends, what God has said ? Did
the Apostles beheve as we do ? Did the primi-
tive Christians believe as we do ? They did •
they believed that it was the real body and blood
of Christ.
I
lOO
It
THE REAL PRESENCE.
WHERE IS YOUR PROOF*/
r
The Bible is my proof. You will take nothing
but the Bible, and so you must have the Bible.
I will now read from St. Paul's Epistle to the
Corinthians (First Epistle and tenth chapter),
where St. Paul exhorts the Christians to lead
holy lives ; and he gives them as a motive that
they should lead holy lives, because they were
permitted to receive the body and blood of
Jesus Christ (chap, x., v. 14). "Wherefore, my
dearly beloved, li\- from the service of idols. T
speak as to wise men. Judge you yourselves
what I say."
i leave it to your own judgment — you are
wise men, you are intelligent men. Is it not
fair '.^ Is it not reasonable that you should tiy
from the service ol idols, and from everything
that is sinful, because, said be, " The cup of
blessing which we bless, is it not the Commun-
ion of the blood of Christ, and the bread which
we break, is it not the Communion of the body
of the Lord ?" T read it as it is in the Pro-
testant Bible. You see, St. Paul takes it for
granted that they all believed it, and that there -
tore they should lead pure and holy lives,
because they were daily permitted to receive the
bodv and the blood of Jesus Christ. And in
ft.'
chapter xi. oi the same Epistle to the Corin-
thians, St. Paul says, after instructing them to
receive worthily : " I have received from the
THE REAL PRESENCE.
lOl
lothing
5 Bible.
) to the
lapter),
to lead
ve that
)v were
ood of
:>re, mv
lols. I
ir selves
ou are
? it not
3uld dv
L-ythhig
cup of
mmun-
[ which
le body
be Pro-
3 it for
t there -
Y lives,
;ive the
And in
Corin-
hem to
Dm the
Lord that which I also deliver unto you, that
the Lord Jesas, the night in which He was
betrayed, took bread, and, giving thanks, broke
and said : ' Take ye and eat ; this is My body,
which shall be delivered for you. Do this for a
commemoration of Me. This cup or chalice is
the new testament of My blood. This do ye, as
often as you shall drink, for a commemoration,
or in memory of Me.'" '* Oh," says my Pro-
testant friend, " that explains all. Do this
in remembrance of Me." Do what ? *' Take
and eat," says Christ, '' This is My body; take
and drink, this is My blood ; and do' this in
remembrance of Me." Do what in remem-
brance of Me? "Take and eat. this is My
body, " and drink, "this is My blood," Here is
THE SOPHISTEY OF OUR PROTESTANT FRIENDS,
in their explanation of the Bible. Christ did
not say : Take the bread in remembrance of
Me ; take this wine m remembrance of Me.
But He said " Take and eat ; this is My body,
and take and drink ; this is My blood," and do
this eating of My body, and this drinking of
My blood, in remembrance of Me. He did not
say, take a sup of wine and a piece of bread,
and remember Me ; but He said : " Take and
eat ; this is My body, and take and drink; this
is my blood." Kemember Me as often as you
shall eat My flesh and drink My blood —
remember My suffering and My death. This in
T02
THE REAL PRESENCE.
••t
precisely the explanation which St. Paul gives
of these words of Jesus Christ ; for, says St.
Paui. *' As often as you shall eat this bread, and
drink this chalice, you shall show the death of
the Lord until He cometh "—you shall
remember the death of Christ, whenever yon
take your Holy Communion. " Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this
cup unworthily sihall be guilty of tho body
and blood of the Lord " — shall be guilty
of the profanation of the body and blood
of Jesus. Bu' , my Protestant friend, how can
1 profane the body and blood of Jesus, when
'.he body and blood oi Jesus are not there at all ?
It must be there or I cannot profane it. If you
would give the Bible the proper construction
you would have to ackr*owledge it is the body
and blood : but you deceive yourself in an
incorrect construction, " But let a man prove
himself, and so let him eat of the bread dnd
drink of the chalice ; for he that eateth and
drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judg-
ment to himself, not respecting the body oi
the Lord.** "I eat," says St. Paul, *' my own
damnation, for I eat and drink unworthily,
because I do not respect the body and blood of
Jesus there."
Now let me call yonr attention once more to
words of the institution of Jesus Christ, recorded
in St. Matthew, chapter xxvi., verse 26 1 *' And
while they w^m at supper, Jesus took bread in
THE REAL PRESENCE.
P ' IXA.
103
His blessed and venerable hands, and He
blessed and broke and gave to His Disciples and
said, * Take and eat, this is My body.' " This
was the night before He died on the cross — the
night when, for the last time, He was to be with
His Apostles in the flesh. Who shall attempt
to say that Christ ever spoke anything else but
the truth ? Who shall attempt to call into
question the truth of the words of the Son of
God ?
** TAKE AND EAT,"
((
SAYS HE ; THIS IS MY BODY ;
TAKE AND DRINK ; THIS IS MY BLOOD.
»»
Did He speak the truth at that time ? Why, of
course He did. Christ ever spoke the truth,
for He is Truth itself. If, then, Christ spoke
the truth, the Catholic doctrine is the true one.
If you say it was not His body and blood, then,
my dear friends, you give the lie to Jesus. And
where is the man who laas the daring insolence
and the daring blasphemy to accuse the Son of
the living God of a lie.
Will you, my dear Protestant friends, give the
lie to Jesus ? Do you believe in Jesus Christ ?
"I do," you say. Do you believe what He
Bays •? ** I do not," you say. Then if you do
not believe in Jesus you are not Christians. Do
not be talking any more about the Bible, for
a« i. u«i: j„ ^'xi. _- mi 1 j
yuu uu null uuiitjvu ui uibutir. iiirow overuoara
all Christianity, or become converts to the
Catholic faith. You cannot believe in Jesus
11
|i||!
U'
104
THE REAL PRESENCE.
t 1
and the Bible and hold on to your Protestant-
ism, and deny that Christ spoke the truth. He
did speak the truth. He said it was His body
and it was His blood ; and to say it was not His
body and blood is giving Him the lie.
Now, this doctrine of the Catholic faith is as
old as Christianity itself. It has been believed
from the beginning of the Christian world,
before Protestantism came into the world. You
have only to read the works of St. Ambrose and
St. John Chrysostom — and they are referred to
by Protestants also as men of great learning, of
extraordinary sanctity and virtue. These men
have written whole books, fifteen and sixteen
hundred years ago, on the Pieai Presence of
Jesus Christ in the Adorable Sacrament of the
Eucharist , and I thank God that many of our
Protestant friends believe in the Bible, and that
many Protestants are giving up their heresy
and their error, and are admitting now the
doctrine of the Catholic Church , and even m
Germany, m spite of all the persecutions against
the Catholic Church, under Bismarck, hundreds
and hundreds of Lutherans, hundreds of
learned men, of ability and wealth, are coming
over to the Catholic Church — Protestant
ministers among them. And in England, how
many Protestant clergy, within the last thiriy-
five years, have been converted to our hoSy
faith? ' Not less than two thousand ^tive
handnad. By whai ? By reading those books
Bstant-
1. He
s body
lot His
h is as
elieved
world,
. You
se and
•red to
ing, of
ie men
jixteen
Qce of
of the
of our
d that
heresy
w the
ren in
gainst
idreds
ds of
3ming
Bstant
I, how
hirty-
' ho5?
1 >tive
books
THS REAL PRESENCE.
that were written sixteen hundred years ago in
Latin and Greek by our holy ancestors of the
faith, and which contain the Catholic doctrine
precisely as it is to-day. " We have been led
astray; we have been separated from our
mother, the original Church ; we have done
wrong ; we have gone into the way of eternal
perdition, and we must go back," they say.
Hundreds and thousands are coming back at the
present day to the Catholic Church in Germany,
m England and in the United States. Many
men who were once Protestant ministers are
now Catholic priests, and several of them are
Catholic Bishops, and even Cardinals, because
they were men of intelligence,
MEN OF LEARNING AND EDUCATION ;
they were not carried away by blind prejudice ;
they did not follow the road of the vulgar crowd.
*' I hate Catholicity, anyhow," you say. The
Jews hated Jesus Christ, and that did not save
them. And so you hate the Catholics anyhow ;
and that is not going to take you to heaven.
Let 'me tell you that. When you are in
eternity you will remember it, and then you will
say. *' Ah ! that I had taken the advice of that
old man ;" but then it will be too late, for when
you are once in that ** lock-up " there is no
getting out of it. Of course, there is no use of
joking about these things. It is a very serious
matter, and you have a soul to save. Save that
'4
11
IT
IjiiH,
'iljL.
icA
THE REAL PRESESCB,
soul, and the only way to do so is by ikQ tme
religion, and no religion established by man can
do that. Therefore, I would recommend to all
of you to pray fervently to God to draw you
into the right path. Get the books which I
have recommended — the three books which we
call the set. Eead them, and study them, that
you may be able to understand the doctrine of
the Catholic religion. When I gave a mission
at St. Joseph's there was a young Virginian
who went to his preacher and said to him :
" You must ajoswer the questions contained in
this pamphlet of Father Damen, and if you do
not do 80 to my satisfaction I am going over to
the Catholic religion; and he proposed the
questions, "Well," said the preacher, "you
must not be thinking about these things : do
not be bothering your head about them.**
" Well," says the young man, " I am not going
to damn my soul ; I must know the truth, and I
want you to prove to me the truth." "Well,"
says the preacher, " I cannot do that ; and
there is no man in the world that can do it."
"Well, then," says he, '' good-by to you; I
shair become a Catholic." And he became a
Catholic, and a very highly educated Catholic.
Now, was he not a sensible young man '? He
wanted proof, and when he could not get it he
went where he could gei it, I say, then, get
w^ P«,iiipiii^« vA/ii^fifciuiiig luv ieciures, ana react
it attentively, and take it to your preacher and
THE REAL PRESENCE.
107
he true
lan can
d to all
a-w you
vhich I
itth we
n, that
irine of
aission
rginian
him :
ined m
you do
)ver ta
ed the
"you
?s: do
hem.'*
going
. and I
Well,"
; and
io it."
^ou; I
amea
tholic,
? He
\> It he
n, get
i read
)r and
a3k him to refute it, and refute it to your satis-
faction ; and if he does not satisfy you, come to
me, and I will make you sure of the truth.
m
kki
m
^™
E''
1 ^
1
■i.
1
■
!
'1
' !
i.
V.
IISVEBS TO POPElii OBJECTIOIS
MUIST THE CATU CHDBCI.
Lecture Delrvered at the Basilica, Ottawa, Canada,
19th December, 1871.
" Remember my word that I said to you," said Jesus.
" The servant is not greater than his Master ; if they have
persecuted me they will also persecute you : if they have kept
my word they will keep yours also ; but all these things they
will do unto you for my name sake, because they know not
him that sent me." — St. John, xv. chap., 20 and 21 verses.
Dearly Beloved Christians, — The Blessed
Saviour has foretold that those who beheve in
Him and who follow His religion shall be per-
secuted, shall be calumniated, shall be slandered
and misrepresented. ** The Disciple is not
better than the Master," He has said. ** And if
they have calumniated, and slandered and per-
secuted the Master, they will do the same to the
"nianinlft " TTp-np.A. mv rlpnrlv hftlnvftd r!fi.+.Vinlii»
an
no
ANSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS
I'il !
I^retax w, and sisters, it is the lot of the true
Church of God for ever to be slandered, calum-
uiated and persecuted. It has been so of old.
\Vhoare the Prophets ?" says the Saviour.
Did not your fathers stone them and put them
ChrJti?' And the Apostles and Sv^
Christians for three hundred years suffered a
fearful persecution for the religion of Jesus
Christ. Hardly had the Church leen ushered
into existence when she was surrounded by a
host of enemies, that all swore aloud her de-
struction and her annihilation. Rome and Jeru-
Balem combined together to check her progress •
all the powers of the Pagan C^sars^and the
P fest ^i"?f •^'" '^' Magistrates and Jewish
i-nests, all the Synod, and the Jewish Svna-
fhTilf ^"'mT'^ *<'8;ether and swore aloud
SI- ^ •■ '^""^"^ ^^^^ "''*^^g untouched, and
notlni;; undone to smother in its verv cradle
the Church of the Most High God-the Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church. For three hun
t JrTlu *^'' 1"°'^ °* persecution was lifted
up and the earth was anointed with the bl.od
oi the martyrs of the Church of Jesus. Borne
Jerusalem, Antioch, Lyons, and other ci^es
were covered with the bodies of her generous
ftdth nrA?°''pr-^f ^*'*y^« t^^* died for the
faith of Jesus Christ. Even the tyrants and the
by one, and finally enveloped entire cities in one
conflagration that thousands m.Vht rlx'^v^^t
O * ^^iiWiWL CUV
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
II I
the true
calum-
of old.
Saviour,
ut them
fimitive
fifered a
f Jesus
ushered
ed by a
her de-
id Jeru-
>gre&8 ;
nd the
Jewish
Syna-
i aloud
d, and
cradle
J Holy
ehun-
5 lifted
biuod
Rome,
cities
lerous
or the
ad the
bh one
in one
KUJL Olll
once. Three hundred years I have said of fear-
ful persecution was raised against the Churchy
and during these three hundred years not less
than eighty millions — that is nearly three times
the population of the United States — died mar-
tyrs tor the Holy Catholic and Apostolic iaith»
and are in the enjoyment of heaven to-day for
their heroism and devotion. The reign of per-
secution ceased on the conversion of Constantine
the Great, who was the first Catholic emperor.
When freedom of conscience and freedom of re-
ligion was given to the Catholic Church, even
then the Church had never been without persecu-
tion, and even up to his day the Church meets
with opposition on all sides — in Austria, in
France, in Russia, in England, in Ireland, and
in Scotland — and, 1 may say, throughout the
world. It is true, my dearly beloved people,
few countries there are now where Catholics are
put to death for their faith, except in Japan and
China ; but where is the country the Catholic is
not slandered in ? is not calumniated ? is
not misrepresented ? I do not know
of one. And should we be vexed about
this, my dear friends ? Not at all ; we should
feel cheerful and happy, because it is one of the
evidences that the Catholic religion is the true
religion — the Catholic Church the true Church
of God ; because she is, as the Saviour has fore-
told, ever treated as her Divine master was —
slandefiedy caiumniated and misrepresented.
0'\
m
if :
112
^£ I
n
AxVSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS
this Dominion; but even in th •« n„^^- "'^ u°
1-opnesy of the'SavLn fuyled^''"^^^^^^^
slander you and calumniate you, andthevaS
sake' ' ZTtl 1 -" -g--«Uformyrmei
sake and that is done in this Dominion as
well as m every other country 411 tin^l „? •?
18 said against the ChurcK God aU kind« ^
doctnaes are attributed to us, which in "llitv
we abhor, so that the objections of our seDarSS
brethren against the Catholic relirionanToSd
"lies unllf fh "^ ""'* '* ^^'^ "^''"me Cath-
a one thinks he is a brave man hnf^! i. • ^
eowflvrl «*T « " "i**ve man, but no, he is a
coward. I am a brave man " he Rpva m^
think?" fl«;i ;.*' '^'^ *^«y «ay' and how
_^^^^^ „^ wnai will they
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
"3
my," you are made a coward. Hundreds and
tbousands there are in a special manner in the
Old Country, and in this Dominion, that are
kept from embracing the Catholic religion be-
cause their friends will fall out with them, and
their business not be as successful as before —
you are therefore cowards. Even in this Domin-
ion I say there is a petty persecution against
the Catholic Church. Our separated brethren,
with all their good and kind feeling towards us,
vf t have objections against us ; but these objec-
tions are grounded in ignorance. I have an-
nounced that I would answer this evening these
poDular objections against the Catholic religion,
und the first of these objections is this : Our
Protestant friends say Catholics are not allowed
to read the Bible. This is false, this is a cal-
umny, this is a slander. Catholics not allowed
to read the Bible ! Have you ever seen a Cath-
olic Bible, my dear Protestant friend? '* No, I
never did." If you had seen a Catholic Bible,
you would have found on the first page a letter
from Pope Pius the VI., exhorting all to read
God's Holy Scriptures, for edification, for in-
struction, for sanctification. This is the letter
of the Pope to all the faithful throughout the
whole world, that the Bible should be open to
ail. Hence you are wrong, my dear Protestant
friend—you have been badly informed when you
have been told that CathnhVa gva nr^f ail^xir^/i +r.
xead the Bible. And yet that is the impression
'• 'ffh
li
114 ANSVrERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS
of almost all our Protestant friends, that the
Lathohc IS not allowed to read the Bible I
have no doubt, that during these holy missions
many of our Protestant friends living in the
neighborhood of the Cathedral must have said
t© themselves—" why, what a devoted people
these Catholics are ; what a fervent set of people ?
There they go, trotting over the sidewalk at half-
past four m the morning, and again in crowds
coming back from Church at twi and eleven
o clock at night — what a devoted and zealous
people they are ? Poor, poor, benighted people '
—poor Ignorant creatures ! But why do not
they read the Bible ? If they would read
the Bible they would sleep like us Pro-
testants, until seven and eight o'clock in the
morning Poor benighted, ignorant people!
vvnat pity they are not allowed to read the Bible '
Why, if they read the Bible they would turn
Protestants at once; and oh! would not they
make a zealous set of Protestants? For they
are the people to make sacrifices for God and
then: religion. But the priest would not let
them read the Bible ; he wants to keep them in
Ignorance ! He knows if they read the Bible u. ,
would become Protestants." What! Cath^.K 3
not allowed to read the Bible ? Go among your
Catholic neighbors, my Protestant friends, and
you wiU hardly find a family but has a family
i^ible, and it ib ox ?n to all. '' But why then '"
mjB my Pro^a^v it iriends, " do you Catholics
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
"5
make such a fuss and excitement about introduc-
ing the Bible into the Public schoold ?" The
reason is this. The Catholic will make no
objection at all, provided you have the right
kind of a Bible. " But what Bible do you pro-
pose to introduce — the Protestant version ?"
And the Catholic says, ** That is no Bible at all,
sir ; that is only a piece of the Bible," says the
Catholic, " and a mighty bad piece at that."
You have not the two books of the Maccabees ;
you have not all the Book of Esther, not all of
Tobias, nor the history of Susannah ; therefore,
you have not all of the Bible, and Catholics can-
not in conscience submit to a falsification of
God's Holy Word. The Catholic says, "if we
must have a Bible, well, let us have a whole one,
and not a piece ; a real Bible, a faithful transla-
tion of God's Holy Book. The Catholic can
never consent in conscience that his chUd should
be compelled to read a Bible which he knows is
not a Bible. That is one reason we have against
the Bible now used in Public schools ; and we
have another reason : We Catholics have for
the Bible a very great veneration ; we look upon
it as the language of God to man, and hence the
Church commands that whenever the priest
reads in the pubHc service a portion of the Bible,
he must kiss it with veneration ; and that when-
ever he reads the Gospel, all the congregation
must stand up out of respect for God's Holy
Word. Such is our veneration and respect for
m
11 6 ANSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS
the Word of God-for the Bible. Now, school
books are nevei respected by boys and girls :
they tear them, blot them over with ink, throw
them about, stand upon them, sit upon them
and so on; and we Catholics do not want the
Bible to be treated in that manner, and, there-
fore, object to the Bible in the Public schools.
y^G^l. i^nynow, says my Protestant friend.
It cannot be denied that the Catholic religion
IS opposed to education and the fine arts " I
deny it emphatically I deny it ; and, moreover,
1 assert that there is no religious denomination
that does as much for education as the Catholic
religion. The government of England, some
lew years ago, appointed a commission of gentle-
men, who were to travel over the whole world
and take statistics everywhere, and see in what
country was the most done for education. And
they came back — and mind you these men
were not Catholics, they were evervthing but
Catholics and opposed to the Catholic religion—
and when they came back with their statistics,
tHey proved that there was not a country in the
world where as much was done for education
and learning as was done in the Papal States—
the States of the Pope. That the Papal States
had exceeded all other countries in the world
lor the means they employed for free, gratuitous
education, in every branch of learning and of
science ; and that next to the Papal States come
. — . ^^,._. ^^^j, jjj^-oij ci-iiigiiouiieu. country m
school
girls ;
throw
them^
nt the
there-
hools.
riend,
ligion
J." I
eover,
lation
tholic
some
3ntle-
«^orld,
what
And
men
I but
on —
sties,
a the
ation
;es —
bates
rorld
it0U3
id of
5ome
E*y in
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
117
the world, and England stood in the background,
far behind other nations of the earth. And \ et
you say the Catholic religion is opposed to edu-
cation. Why, my dearly beloved separated
brethren, are you then ignorant that in the Cath-
olic religion there are over a hundred religious
orders who devote themselves, by a solemn vow
to Cxod, to spend their whole lives, all their en-
ergies and all their talents, for the education of
their fellow-men. Such, for instance, is the
Order of the Jesuits. Every professed Jesuit
makes a solemn vow to God that he shall spend
his whole life, all his talents, all his energies of
body and soul and mind, for the education of all ;
and that ho shall receive nothing whatsoever for
educating bis fellow-man, excepting his board
and clothes — nothing beyond that — no pocket
money, no gold chains, no gold watches, no gold-
mounted canes, no fine carpet in his room, but
the hard mattress ard the bare floor, mean fur-
niture, the table of the ordinary man in society^
possessed of nothing of his own whatsoever. So
do the Brothers of the Christian Doctrine ; so do
the Sisters of Notre Dame, the Ladies of Sacred
Heart, the School Sisters, and a numbt^r of
others too long to enumerate. All of these, by
a solemn vow to God, bind themselves to spend
their lives in the education of their fellow-crea-
tures. Do we find any like that among Protest-
«,nta 9 W^dprA QTA thp mpTi anrl whpro ovp tU
ladies among them who will spend their lives in
118
ANSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS
ieaehmK a 1 lor no other remuneration than
board M.d clothes ? Ask them for such services,
on such conditions and they would ask you
jvhether you thought they were fools. Get me
«I^/fi? !1*^V^^°"^T'' ^'^d lady willing to
«we anything of their ov-n, a.nd never get ma,r..
N^Jk ^ '^^A^^ humanity and education.
Nowhere o«,t of the CathoUc Church can you
T^ '""^ 9*?«face8 for the e.lucation of the p6or.
M^^^J^° A ^^""'"^ ^PP"^^'^ *« education !
My dear friends, travel over this whole Domin-
ion, and everywhere yon will iind coUeges. uni-
versitier,, a,6ademies, select schools, parochial
schools schools for the rich and the poor
everywhere you find them established. Is that
an evidence that Catholics want to keep peopK
m Ignorance ? What a strange contrud LdoS
my Protestant friends. Examine all the col
Si f *u°'''?f^'*'.^^' academies and boarding
schools of this Dominion and the United States
fn irraSV"' ^^* °"«-*^'^1 °^- t^e boarders
in he Catholic colleges, universities and acad-
frTenL l^f*"'*^"". ^^ '^'^'^r Protestant
inends, why do you send your children to Cath-
ic schools ? " Well, sir, because I am con
vinced that the Catholic education is mor^thor-
father "Vti '■ T'^'^rK'"'''^ *^^ Protestant
fn » r»fJr"'"^u''*,* ^''^° I ^^""J ^y daughter
to a Catholic school or nunnerv. her vivt^^ i=
m periect safety. If I sent her to a fashionabie
Q than
irvices,
ik you
jret me
ling to
er pos-
t mar '
3ation.
in you
3 poor,
ition !
omin-
}, uni-
3chial
poor ;
s that
)eople
ion in
) col-
rding
kates,
rders
icad-
stant
)ath-
con-
;hor-
;tant
:hter
able
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
119-
Protestant school she might be married before I
knew anything about it." ** My boy," says the
Protestant father, ** is a wild fellow, and I want
to keep him in. I sent him to the Catholic
college because I know that the education is
good, and the discipline is stricter there than
anywhere else ; therefore," says he, "I send my
boy to the Catholic school." And yet, with all
that, you say the Catholics want to keep people
in ignorance. Why then cend your boy or your
daughter to wiie Catholic institutions? With
one eye you frown upon the Catholic religion,
and with the other smile upon it, and say it is,.
after all, the best. The Catholic religion op-
posed to education and fine arts ! If it had not
been for the Catholic religion the fiine arts-
would have entirely fallen into decay and ruin.
What are the fine arts ? Music, Sculpture,,
Painting, Architecture, and Poetry. These are
the fine arts. Well, now, the Catholic religion,
you say, is opposed to the fine arts. Sculpture,
for instance. The moment Protestantism came
into existence, and wherever it had the power of
doing it, it did away with the statuary in the
House of God ; broke the statues of the Saints
and the Blessed Virgin, and did not even re-
spect ttie image of the Saviour, but broke it
asunder, and took the bread out of the mouth of
the sculptor. The Catholic religion has always
encouraged the sculptor by the statuary in her
churches. The &ajxte in regard to painting.
m
120
Answers to popular objections
The paintings were torn from the walls of the
churches that Protestants stole from us thev
tore them from th. walls and effaced the ft;scoe3
because they looked upon them as violations ot the
hif T "^ ?-f; ^°^ '° ^^'^ regard to music
-that beautiful art that stirs up the soul ; lifts
It up to heaven, takes us away torn earth as it
were. Music-where has it found enco~
ment if not m the Catholic Church ? Wh™
the great masters of music ? Mozart, Beethov^
Mercadante, Eossini, and a numb;, of others'
.ill of whom were Catholics. The grandest
music, most masterly and soul-stirrinl nowTn
existence rom the Catholic brain and pe^
Protestantism has been in existence 350year^^
BO, and during all that time it has never pro
duced a musician that can be compared ^[tfa
Mozart or Beethoven or Mercadante So well
convinced are Protestants of this now inlhe
United States, that in all the fashionable
churches m New York and Boston and oSer
large cities, the> are aU adopting the Catholi^
STheir r"'"'' '^'^^r *^^' *^^'« i« ^o Sing
in their own music but something like Yankee
?ptoLrriT*t^''^ "^P '"^^ s'oul anJhfS
Z «annf ^u° ^'*^""= '*"<^' therefore, they
are adopting the compositions of the creat
masters of the Catholic Church. And so agafn
with regard to architecture, my dear peonTe
Have Protestants, for th^ l«=f L^tH^^F-^.-
all the wealth that they-have^-ininS/and
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
121'
I of the
; they
'escoes
} of the
music
; lifts
, as it
irage-
ho are
loven,
thers,
wildest
ow in
pen.
irsor
' pro-
with
well
1 the
lable
)ther
holic
hing
Qkee
[ft it
they
reat
?ain
•pie.
ivith
and
other countries, produced such architecture as
the Catholic Church has given to the world ?
The great architects of England, of Canada and
the United States, when they travel through
Europe, stand ^vrapped in wonder before the
grand Catholic churches and basilicas they see
in Rome, and everywhere else ; stand before
them perfectly amazed— taken out of their
8ense8,as it were, as they contemplate the grand-
eur and architectural beauty of those magnifi-
cent edifices— before St. Peter's in Rome, St.
John Lateral, St. Mary Major ; before the Cath-
edrals of Cologne and Notre Dame of Paris and
Antwerp. All these grand productions of the
brain of the architect were of Catholic concep-
tion, ideas conceived by architects full of Cath-
oli<3 faith and sublime ideas of the beauty and
grandeur that should adorn the temple con-
structed for the worship of the Living God that
dwells upon our altars. And the generous Cath-
olics come forward with open hands and purses
in order to build those grand cathedrals and
basilicas. London, m England, made an at-
tempt to throw St. Peter's into the shade by
building St. Paul's. H^. ! Ha! St. Paul in
London is nothing but a " ginger bread " com-
pared to St. Peter's in Rome. And in the
United States, where among our separated
brethren there is so much affluence and wealth,
have they done anything or built anything that
would be a monument of grand and sublime
.122
ANSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS
'M
Pi
Ideas in the sliape of a temple ior the worshin
olthe Livmg God? Nothing. Poor Is thf
Catholics of New York are, they have com
menced a cathedral on which they have spent
altogether one million three hundred thousand
dollars, and it is not one-third finished jSwUh
all then: poverty they have undertaken to bui d
Soflhe^TrV^V'" "^ the wonder aS
the rJthli^ ^'^'^^^ ^''"^'- ^"-i yet you say
S^^^Sd^'Lr;-^^^^
^«eTch-n =^ - iaTi
t^o^^nH 'f'^'"-'^ '' T°«^<^ *o ^^^ ars educa-
tion and learning. Agam. they say that the
usefi'l^vw?' people., the greatest and most
uselul invent ons now m the land are aU of
Catholic origin. Who invented the art of prin?-
ing? Was It not a Eoman Cathohc ?-a hun
?a"e''orth^'"V^'U^« ^ ^-*-'-t onZ
lace 01 tne earth. Who invpnfprl +v.«
a1l!antSr;- forv^Sdltsfe"-
nilymg glass Who again invented the iSS
compass ? Was it not a Catholic ? ThrS
S "terT'^'^.*" ^'^'^°*^<>"« and discofei:
wl J^^ '*^*' Canadians, how dare vou sav it
Who first gave you AmenVa 9_o^/™i*y '*'
this country, this land of freedom andlro^^rii" ?
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
123
A Catholic— Christopher Columbus. He it was
who has given you the very soil on which you
stand, and the bread you eat and the clothes
you wear. The Catholic religion has at all
times encouraged discoveries and inventions
and supported the artist and cheered him up'
whereas Protestantism, you must acknowledge
It, has crushed the energies and efforts of the
sculptor, the painter, and the musician
Again," says my Protestant friend, *' I could
never be a Catholic because the CathoHcs violate
the hrst commandment of God." That com-
mandment says, *' Thou shalt not make to thy-
sell any graven image, nor the likeness of any-
thing m the heavens above, nor on the earth
beneath, nor in the waters under the earth, thou
Shalt not adore nor worship them." " Now, you
Catholics violate that command of God,' and
there is no slander about this : you have only
to go to the Catholic Church to find the evi-
dence. What is that over their altar there ?
The image of Christ crucified— a likeness of
the things m the heavens above. And what
IS that there? The image of St. Ann, the
mother of the Blessed Virgin. And that?
ihat is St. John the Baptist, and therefore,
the likenesses of the things in the heavens
above. Therefore you Catholics violate the
commandments of God hv mplnViA' *v.^a« ,•
and statues." - Well," my dear reverend min-
ister of the Gospel, my dear preacher, ** will you
124
f SI
'trfl
I
ANSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS
BavAf "rV°°'^ ^"^ y°"' liome?" "Yes"
my friend's draZg room an/f' -^^^ ^''^'^ '""^
"Whatifi+W !■ ^ ^° ^^«^^e° with God."
vvnat IS that painting ?" " Thaf- ;<. +i,Ji"i
ness of my darling wife." " Where it !h?^,:
on'e .^' ^ ^''j^tLt ?the^™^.^^^^ ""«
the door ?" '< WeU si? 1^'''*''^^ *,^^^^ «^^'
"wh;°^t«n^?
breake; o^" God ■« °*''**°* preacher, " what a
There L tt SetssTru' mSer""'^. "^ '
say is in heaven above the/p ^+1^^!,'^^''^*'°
vour wife whn ;„ ' fu ^^ *^® likeness of
and There is thaf n\' '""l^^ ^''''<'<^^'
of the things in thp t , '^' . '^^ ^i^^^ness
" w„ I- u ? ,. *^^ waters under the Pavtl, c
looiish, loolish priest." savs he "'^n
We tTbi t\^ *^-« picC'hangiVuT
we Ckthlcs break it W h^ ^ ''"', ^"^ «*^ '^^^
the Church." "TWJ tZ^ ,!^'' ''H'''''' ^
tiiem,"hesav8 " hntT , ° ''*™ *'^ make
vnn «i„v^i ^' ''^* you adore them." "Herp
you slander us ; we do not a<1nr. „„.. ..!^^
images m the Church " " "" -""^ ""-^ "' »"«
then ?"
Why have you them
■KTu I. "J^ uave you
Why have you the portrait of
your
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 125
mother?" -Because," says he, " whenever I
look at It, I remember how good a woman she
was ; It seems to say to me : ' Be good, be a
Christian ! When I look at that picture, I feel
myself excited to practice all the virtues of
-which she has given me the example. I re-
member all the good lessons she used to give
me." -Why, you area Cathohc, mv friend »
ihis is precisely the use Catholics make of the
pictures and statues m the Church. When the
Catholic looks at the image of Christ crucified
he says, ' See what the Saviour has sutfered for
me— how He has shed out His precious blood to
save my soul. 1 must, therefore, love Jesus '
Whenever the Catholic looks at the statue of the
Blessed \irgm Mary, he says, * How pure, how
lioly, and how chaste was Mary, the Mother of
Jesus ; I must endeavor to imitate her puritv in
the service of God.* When we look at ^the
statue of St. Joseph, or any other saint, we say
ihese saints were men as we are ; they lived
m this world, had the same passions and the
same difficulties to contend with, as we have
but m spite of all these they were faithful to
Crod. I can do the same,' says the Catholic ' I
must, therefore, make an eff )rt to imitate their
virtues and copy their example in human con-
duct. ' ''Bat," says my Protestant friend. «*vmi
bow down before them. Have I not seen Cath^
ohcs in this church, during this mission, bow-
ing to that image over the altar ?" " No ; not
I'?.'
'I?
w
126 ANSWERS TO POPULAR 0B;ECTI0NS
bows not to the m«i kT '• ^'^^ Catholic
homage \o Senr&t'V'C. ''^ ''"^ '"
dear friend •->" " Nn ■- j! .i. n-. ** ^^'"''"8' my
at the name of Ss tl pfh^T.^-^*' "'"^
every knee shall bow in Lavef L f ' "^f '^*
even in hell " " nZ , ''°*^®n, and earth, and
of the Blessed V^n^^^llT .^ ° '?^ ^'^"^^
the statue but tn thl ^ ^^- ^°' °ot *<>
-statue-theSessed vir'ArP'^'t"*"^ ''^ 'he
God." "Is nnf 11;"^^''' ^^""'y' ^^^ ^lother of
croBfnr. i\ ^^^y * creature?" '• Yes a
bow to' an7crel^e^""*^<^fe''r T'' -*
when first I camp fr. n++ ^' ^^ ^^^^ ^a-n*
+V... 4.u:«.l . ""uic, oui you Catholics nvpri^ft
Bi;;srd"%r»?n .'"*^' **^ "'"•^^ f°«« ^bo"t" ts;
isiessed Virgin; you cannot find a Catholic
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 127
Church with an altar to God in it, in which
i.u^ Z!.''^*. ^^^ ^ *^^ Blessed Virgin also.
I think that IS wrong, sir." '« Well," my dear
Protestant friend, - suppose for a moment that
the mother of George Washington was to come
to New York on a visit ; what excitement and
tuss there would be there— roaring of cannon
and tirmg of pistols, and bands of music march-
ing through the streets, and bonfires and illum-
inations; the ladies of New York dressed up
m the grandest possible style, and in beautifid
carriages, rolling through the streets of New
lork. Should I say, * Ladies, what is all this
luss and excitement about? Where are you
going ?' They would answer, * Sir, we go to pay
our respects to the mother of Washington ; she
has put up at the Astor House, and we go to see
Iv. Well ladies,' I wo«ld say, * why is the
mother of Washington more than any other
woman that you should thus honor her?' * Oh
sir,' they would say, ' it is easy to see you are a
L>utchman ! What, sir ! you say not honor the
mother of Washington, who has given us so
great a son ; a son who has made us a free, in-
dependent, glorious, and prosperous people?
J^^y^ .^^y* ^^ ^^^^ ^ot honor the mother
of Washington ?' ' All right,' say I, 'go and
honor the mother of Washington ; I love to see
gratitude m th^ hparfa nf *w^ ^««^i^ > »> t>-_j.
tell me, my friends, has not Mary given us a
greater son than Washington ? Has not Jesus
'liii
'28 ANSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS
made ue heirs of Caven- InT ° u^'"' ^^
Catholics be an nmrrot?f i' ^"^^i ^°"^'* ""* we
respect the motheXt ^^ ^'^P'" "' ^« '^^'^ '^o'
Iriend. '' that ia r^v^** -^ ^^ Jrrotestant
So it i; ^Vthf Srir^rtSci-^"-"
iiffion • if; is o i.z.n« •'^^"«» t>i ine OatJiolic re-
the Catholic rehS k 'f hf ' f"^ ^^^' P'°f''^' i*'
it must be a Snli^ *^^ " '^wn of God. then
religioa There can t * ^^^P*"™' and natural
of God S T ^ °° ^r°'^ '"^ the works
the author of the\blT*^?L "' .r^"^'
nature, and the auihnf ^f\u . "■^^^"'^ °^
AU these are the works nf r a^' *'."l ''^^S'"'^-
be in the works „fp'/ u^°^ ' ^""^ '^ere must
union ; and therefore tb^T^^;-* "'''''"<^' ^
reasonable. scripfS td''na'tt:i"'.?r,f
anyhow;- says my Protestant mnSer "Jlf"
when thTSstXs 'H^I C-\r''^' ^"<^
gation sav ' Holy Marv ' w^^'- *t^. '"'"Sre-
»ie, my dear reverend air ^T ^^^^' *^^^
•^ouid." « WeU. mydea; r;;e;end pVaXr. J
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 129
think you say the ' Hail Mary ' sometimeB ?"
ZT/r-r^"" " I think you do ; have
you not family prayer every night ?" " Yea."
prayer? Yes. and i( you do, we will pray
hard fo» your converoion." '• Well, you will
ha^e to pray mighty hard, for Father Damen
will prove a hard case to convert." Well I eo
to his family prayers ; and it consists in an ex-
temporaneous prayer and in reading a chapter
of the Bible ; and. after the prayer if said, S
the greatest solemnity, the minister opens the
Book of God, and reads the first chapter of St
i.uke: and among other things he reads, is
this : "And the angel Gabriel came to M^y!
Ifh^fu '■ M*'' '^*'^' ^"" "^ ^'^''^' the Lord is
with thee blessed art thou among women •"
and Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Ghost, sad
"and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." " Stop '
stop, says I, "you are saying the Hail Maryf-'
r;w .""'..v*^'.**^' "^ '"" '"I'y reading iay
Bible. "Yes but my dear man, the HaU
Mary 18 m he Bible." " Well, my God, thatt
"WpH p"k ""T' H^"' " hefore," says he.
Well Rebecca," says he to his wife, " what is
going to become of us ! Wo are half-Papists
already ; we have been saying the ' Hail Mary '
l\ u^l,*"** °r^' ^"^^ it '" Is it true or
... ''-» TTiiv-ii juu gu Home to-
Jight read the 1st chapter of St. Luke, in your
own Protestant Bible, and you will find the
130
ANSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS
nonsense of vLUorlJ^cll^^^^?'' *' '^«
the "Hail uZ '^Tnd * * "^'''v^ '.^^'^g
texts of God's Ho iy W thW' .'^?*''^*" '^«
doctrines. You read it ovJr „ J*""*^'" ^**'^°««
you are blind and do no? seek r' '^'^"' ''"'
the doctrine of the Oathnn! r'- ^'"'^■^'"'^ "^
Bible. And why*iS'it?hatto/aSnd° T'
causa of your DreinrliPA % u ?""^ ^ ^^-
rehgion, TnL'p SraboIrreSnT/' ^""^
ever opened the Bible at «ll . f ^ ^' •^/'"'^ ^^^
teaching of your parent. i^T"'* '* ^'''°^*^«
your cLrchrKugh Ur tear'hP'''"''^^"^ "^
the Bible. Yon have tJ^^ tu * ^™ ?"^ ""'
preference to God's Holv tLI'' r*'^'"^ '"
that dare to ^ ufetSt' yl'guSf 1!
beTf\T1>" ^'*^'''"'' Chris ian Sl^ould
p to^^f 0^, Who a. £1^., ,-5
dear Protestant friends - ZT. h! ^f **' "^^
^S ' wS^m'Z' h''^^ ""Other/ A^Tr
guai upon earth ? Th ''^P"* ^"^ ^'^''
Joseph. The fir f LartvrV'fl ""'f^'^f- ^^■
Jesus, who were thev 9 P ' ^u ^l'"8tJos of
what does jZ: t% ' " Br/ssS'!™-' ^'"'
fortheirs is the Kin^m orHeavTl'-'Zr;
AGAtNST THE CAtHOLlC CHUkCtt. ,3,
^d He say " blessed are the rich " (nr H^ i,
do not wani fn ^h""' ""^ ""T f*«bionabJe peopl^
with the Catholics. bSu el'ere"'!^ tTTf:
Paddies and too many Biddies amonTth^m^
Well, my dear Protestant friends if vnf, a^ \
want to associate with the Paddies and rS^^*
Agdin. Ihere are in vour rpli«,/x« ''"«^.
tne day they have a dozen of candles ^r/ihl
altar-m the very middle of the Z • What^!
tr7^. Iff; ^- did tLy S:'^^
anvtr„„J X-° ^ I. what you do not know
' """= -"""'' '' *"« wuMues upon the altar
Mr
w
iii Ai^SWERS to POPULAR OBJECTIONS ' ..
were introduced by the Apostles. They were
, PerBeeuted, and had to celebrate Mass or Divine
bemce in subterranean caves, in the Catacombs
fi ^TV ''^"*"' •" "»« darkness of the night,
m order to escape persecution ; and, theretbre
til M*' T "Shts- When the persecutTon
ceased, three hundred years after the Church
had^been estabhshed-when Constantine th^
^nft^^r/' *"■ V**""" "'■ r«»gion-tbe Catholics
continued to make use of lights upon the altar
as a remembrance of the persecution of *hei;
fathers in faith. So that candle on the altar
says to every Catholic Christian child, '■£.
m^ber that your ancestors t.nd the Apostles
quently the candle on the altar is an emblem of
iTm. f "? '' *^? ^u^"^ "'■ ^°^« ' J««>i« has given
the iltar^hr'^ ^^''^ ^. ^^'^ Holy Sacrifice of
the Altar because He loves us, because He
wished to remam with us all days, even to the
consummation of the world. nW that lamp
emblZoSr/" !T' '•^ *^^ ^It" i«^n
emblem of the oye of Jesus for man ; and that
ttle lamp that burns day and night, all the
time, is an indication that Jesus is there upon
upon the altar say to every Catholic; "Love
soTnili f 'f h""'^"'^ '°^«- He has loved yi
R^.?r. *l?*He has given you His Body and
t^„ th«n . "°T'^°>«'»t of your souls/ Re
bliril. tn621 intra fr\^ 1^-- it T _ -1-
, - , ,-..,. ^. ..^.^ avvv. • juove tiesus, and
' ^^^'""^ ^^^ CATHOLIC CHt/Rctt
candles upon the altar are burn.n'^ir^'*'^' ^be
honor and glory to God ''" » 'J^'^^ ,!<> give
my rtotestant friend " ; '^®"' now, ' savs
Idea! What honor 'and V* *^*' »* <3°eer
candle give to God m.*^ ^w7, '''*'> »" old
friends you believe Fn th«f lu '"•>' dear
have obtained a srelt ^iJ Whenever yon
fnd you want to honor ST' ^ P** t""4h
Jt, what do you do ? h! ^^°^''*' *^at obtained
Jght many^caX, ^1:1 W?r'^"""''"S
darkness of night nfn*k *"'<'.hes. and turn the
«nd besides tS, tu iL';"^^'"^^^ "^ day!
And what are these boifS °'*°/ »>»°firM
kinds of old rubbish o„j. J ?^ made of ? ai?
give honor a* ry to thf ''""f •• "^^^ «" ^
n>ade you a triumphant n! ^f ''* «^"«'al that
»°d glory can an o?d ^P "^ •*• ^^a* honor
general? "Weif».^'<^ barrel give to von^
»eans we taJS'show VeY' "t^^^ o^eoffie
gave us such a ste^^ Ztl V^t^Sener&l that
purpose the CathSurnsZ IT *^« ^''^e
adW to honor Jesus. Si„^' '^^^ "Pon the
candles upon the altar ?"Tl ^^^ ^*^e we
because the candle nnL fu "' "^^ dearpeonle
sentation of the Ho^rGhl^f !"" ^« ^ 'Se-
?nt?RSL^i*«?. days afterTh, Jt/^^d ia
Ar^r. 77 ""^^"' wifcj Holy Ghoflf no^'j" *°^'^aaau
Ml
i
1)
»34 AJ,S*ERS to POPULAR OBJECTtOKS .
ignorant men tinW^ !^ ^"^ *^'® Apostles vere
dare not preach i n?,^' TJ"*""*"/ '°«°' ^^a
when the CvGh^«f^"''''%**''""8^ fe»'; but
shape of tongues of tf?^ ^"""^ "'' ^^""^ '° *l>e
spirit of God! ^nd ient fo^tr' f^i ^''^ ^^'
Churci. all over thp !oLv m *°'^ P'^^'^^ the
the candle T thp ?^*^- ^°^' '^'^ blaze of
of a Church mit 3 n ,*T, ^^^^ »>■* the child
Luthe?S;ft^f ^f f «c'^,';)f T VT ^^'"'
a child of the" fihnrlh ;■'.?, ," ?^ Wesley—but
the Holy Ghost ttr! '"'"*'•"* ^^' ^''^' *ad
uponthe altar ''lif^'V '"^^ the candle
i| and h^Sess' Lr/ou'r; 7Sf ^
'' TWe ri '1^''''"' ^^m- Lfby Go?-'
very nonsensical "An fl' ' aPPe^'sto me
and never read th«t r / ^°" '■^*"* *« l^iWe
the temple there shonSt "T"'?^^** *J^^* ^
and that all should wS fh<lr r''^" "^ f***'''
entering the temni/f„ *T ,^^"^8 m it before
that they shouKome 2'S "^°t^ '^''^
with a pure heart o^ ii»t<> the temple of God
cathoircLr:rtC iiTt?"^- .^^^^t^^
and every CathoJi7n.,f '* /ountam wuli water
that . a^m'oniolVht t/!^ ^ ^^.^'.' -<»
'••Jo SLf P"" '« Od. fe ."' "•"
Testament ^^ifi^f?*^' "that is ,„ «! ^*y«
«rdert adore H"'' ^" ''^ ^'^nTonT'T'^
God. "m, .™ and worshnir- *''*'■«»
there are J^ '« "• ^^ong yo„ E Jk "l"- '''« ""^
^^e you one at all ? r a ^?:°'«8tant
/J
a'i? I don't
believe
136 ANSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS, ETC.
the Protestants know if fh»„ v.„ . ,
saint; and they objJct to bZl .!"' , "^ ''"«'«
Catholics Thnr«;a„ ? ^ P®"?'" amonff.
bad. " ■Amonf vou ^^"^ '^^'' "^ ^-roteBtants
ft-iend. 4hr*^arbad7wesir '*-':'t'"*
never had been a bad wwJTI ' ^^^""^
neighbor's wif^ Q/. » *^ ^^''^ ^is
it the Church thfrwt'''T''* ^°' **>** ? Is
given for thV r!f^;^.? missions continuaJly
given lor the reformation of the peonlfi 9 'Vhi
i"
#