GOD THE TEACHER
MANKIND:
A PLAIN, COMPREHENSIVE EXPLANATION OP CHRISTIAN
DOCTRINE,
THE CHURCH AND HER ENEMIES.
BT
MICHAEL MULLER, C. SS. R.
NEW YOEK, CINCINNATI, AND ST. LOUIS :
BENZIGER BROTHERS,
PEIKTEES TO THE HOLT APOSTOLIC SEE.
1880.
1 31957
gwpdwatut:
THOMAS FOLEY,
Bishop Administrator of Chicago.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1877, by
MICHAEL MtJLLEE,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED AT THE BOYS' PBOTECTOBY, WEST CHESTEB, N. Y.
TO
OUR HOLY FATHER, PIUS IX:
WHO defined the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception of the Virgin Mother.
Who convened the CEcumenical Council of
the Vatican, and defined the dogma of Papal
Infallibility.
Who is the Successor of St. Peter, the Supreme
Head of the immortal Church of Christ, the Infal
lible Teacher and Guardian of the Faith, the
Sovereign Judge of Councils, enjoying the Primacy
both of honor and of jurisdiction, the Centre of
Christian faith and unity ; the Corner-stone upon
which the City of God on earth reposes, the Prince
of priests, the Pastor of pastors, the Guide of
guides, the cardinal Joint of all Churches, the
Keystone of the Catholic Arch, the impregnable
Citadel of the communion of the children of God.
Who lives in the hearts of more than two hun
dred millions of Christians, and in whose heart the
whole world lives:
This work is most reverently dedicated by his
unworthy priest and devoted Son in Christ.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Dedication - - - - - - .. .. . jjj
CHAPTER I.
Introductory — .-.-..„ - • - ix
CHAPTER IL
The value and necessity of Christian Doctrine - - . . Xxi
CHAPTER III.
An exhortation to spread the Truth --.... xxxv
CHAPTER IV.
EXPLANATION OF THE INTRODUCTION
TO THE CATECHISM.
Why we are in this World ?---.-... -3
What is most Necessary for us to know and to believe? - 8
Who is Good before God ?-----„. -10
What will be the Eeward of the Good ?---.. 12
What will be the Punishment of the Wicked ? - - - - 13
What then should be our Greatest Care in this World ? 15
CHAPTER V.
GOD THE TEACHER OF MANKIND.
§ 1. God the Father our Teacher ------- 17
Who can teach us how to serve God according to his Will? - 17
How does God make Himself known by the Visible World ? - 18
How does God make Himself known by our Conscience? - - 20
vi CONTENTS.
PAGB.
When did God make Himself known by his Word? ... 23
Who were the Patriarchs ? - 24
How did the Patriarchs serve God ? - - - - - -29
Who were the Prophets ? 32
How did the Prophets prove their Divine Mission ? • 33
What is a Miracle ? 33
To whom does God grant the Gift of Miracles ? - - ' - 34
What is a Prophecy ? 38
Why were all those Prophecies made ? - - - - - -42
In whom were all those Prophecies fulfilled ? - 43
In what Condition was Mankind at the Coming of the Redeemer ? 43
§ 2. God the Son our Teacher 45
Through whom did God reveal Himself most clearly ? 45
How do we know that Jesus Christ is the Promised Redeemer and
the Son of God? 47
Whom did Christ appoint to teach his Doctrine to all Nations ? 54
How were the Apostles prepared for their Divine Mission? 55
What were those Powers of Christ ? 57
What did Christ call the Apostles and those who believed in Him ? 58
Whom did Christ appoint to take his Place ? 60
What Power had the other Apostles as Teachers ? - - - - 61
What Power had the Apostles as Priests ? 62
What Power had the Apostles as Rulers or Pastors of the Church ? 66
How long will the Church last ? - - 69
How can Christ be with his Apostles to the End of the World, since
the Apostles died ? 70
Who is the Lawful Successor of St. Peter? 71
Who are the Lawful Successors of the other Apostles ? 75
§ 3. God the Holy Ghost our Teacher - ' 77
Were the Apostles to exercise their Powers immediately after they
had received them ?---_____ 77
When did the Holy Ghost come down upon the Apostles ? - 81
How did the Apostles prove their Divine Mission ? - 83
Is, then, the Doctrine of the Apostles to be received as the Doctrine
of Christ? .85
CONTENTS. Vll
FAGB.
Does then, the Holy Ghost abide -with the Church ? - 88
Why does the Holy Ghost abide with the Church ? ...'.,- 90
How does the Holy Ghost preserve the Church in the Purity of
Faith? 91
When does the Pope, by the Assistance of the Holy Ghost, teach
infallibly? 100
Are, then, the Definitions of the Pope New Articles of Faith ? - 105
Is Man, then, Infallible?- - - - 107
How does the Holy Ghost preserve the Unity of Faith in the Church? 108
What then is the Faith of the Koman Catholic? 110
§ 4. The Catholic Church the Guardian of Divine Truth - - 118
Has the Word of God been preserved Pure and Uncorrupted ? - 118
How does the Church preserve the Word of God? - - - - 121
What is Holy Scripture ?-- - - - - - - 125
How is the Holy Scripture divided ? 125
What do the Books of the Old and the New Testament contain ? 126
What is Tradition? 128
How has the Unwritten Word of God come down to us ? - - 134
Must we believe the Unwritten Word of God just as firmly as the
Written? 137
Is it Easy for Every One to understand the Holy Scripture ? - 139
Who is the Infallible Interpreter of Holy Scripture ? 141
Does not the Church forbid the Reading of the Bible? 142
Why does the Church forbid the Private Interpretation of the
Bible? - 144
CHAPTER VI.
NINTH ARTICLE OF THE APOSTLES7 CREED.
How many Churches did Christ establish ? - - - - - 153
By what Marks is the Church of Christ easily known ? - - - 154
Which Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic ? 156
Show how the Catholic Church is One 156
Show how the Catholic Church is Holy ----- 165
What does the Word Catholic mean? 179
Show how the Eoman Church is Catholic, or Universal - - 180
viii CONTENTS.
PAG«.
Show how the Catholic Church is Apostolic. ----- 199
Why is the Catholic Church called Koman? ... 203
Did this Power of the Pope also include the Power to depose
Temporal Bulers ? 206
Can Protestant Sects claim to be One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic ? 224
If, then, only the Koman Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and
Apostolic, what follows? 243
Is the Faith of the Boman Catholic Divine or Human ? - - - 250
Do Protestant Sects teach Divine Faith on Divine Authority? - 251
Will such Human Faith save them ? 261
Must, then, all who wish to be saved, die united to the Catholic
Church? - - - -'- - - - - - 264
Who are not Members of the Boman Catholic Church ? - - - 267
Why are those Persons lost who have been justly excommunicated,
and who are Unwilling to do what is required of them before
they are absolved ? ........ 272
Would it be right to say that one who was not received into the
Church before his Death is damned ?----- 285
Will all Catholics be saved? 300
What do we beliove when we say, "I believe the Holy Catholio
Church "?• . .. ........ 305
CHAPTER VII.
A Word to every Catholio - ^L» - - - - - •_ 329
CHAPTER I.
Introductory.
OUR Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, has declared thai
he was sent by his heavenly Father "to preach the
Gospel to the poor." (Luke iv, 18.) "Let us go," said
he to his apostles, " into the neighboring towns and
cities, that I may preach there also, for to this purpose
am I come." (Mark i, 38.) This mission of Jesus Christ
was and is to be continued by his priests : " As the
Father hath sent me, I also send you." Immediately
before ascending to heaven, he again laid and impressed
upon all pastors of souls that most important duty of
preaching. His last solemn word to those whom he
charged to continue his work is : " All power is given to
me in heaven and on earth." The universe belongs to me
by title of heritage. Already heaven is acquired by my
labors and sufferings. The earth remains to be conquered,
and I rely on you, my apostles, my priests, to subdue
it to the empire of my grace : " Go, then, and teach all
nations, and preach my Gospel to every creature."
In compliance with this obligation, "the apostles went
forth and preached everywhere " (Mark xvi, 20), in the
face of all kinds of opposition. " They obeyed God
rather than men." (Acts v, 29.) St. Paul would not
even allow any one to regard as a merit his zeal to
X INTRODUCTORY.
announce the Gospel. To preach was for him, as he tells
us, a necessity. He uttered against himself a kind of
anathema if ever he neglected so sacred a duty: "Woe
to me if I do not preach the Gospel !" What he most
emphatically insisted on, in his Epistles to Timothy and
Titus, was the duty of preaching the word of God* He
adjures his two ; disciples, and all pastors of souls, by all
that is most holy and awful; he adjures them by the
presence of God and of Jesus Christ, by his future com
ing, by his eternal reign, to preach the word of God, to
preach it in season and out of season — to use all per
suasive means which the most ardent charity inspires :
" I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the living and the dead, by his coming and his
kingdom, preach the word; be instant in it in season
and out of season ; reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience
and doctrine." (2 Tim. iv, 1, 2.)
Hence the Church has never ceased to exhort her pas
tors to discharge most faithfully their duty of preaching
the word of God. In one of her canons she ordains that,
if a priest having charge of souls should fail to give them
the bread of the word of God, he should be himself
deprived of the Eucharistic Bread; and if he continue
in his criminal silence, he should be suspended. The
preaching of the word of God has, indeed, always been
the great object of the solicitude of the Church. The
Council of Trent arms the bishops with her thunders, and
charges them to inflict her censures upon those mute
pastors whom the Holy Ghost has branded as "dumb
dogs, not able to bark." (Isa. lyi, 10.) The all-important
duty of giving religious instruction was never more bind
ing, and more necessary to be complied with, than it is in
INTRODUCTORY. XI
our age. What the Fathers of the Council of Trent say
on this duty applies more emphatically to our age and
country :
11 As the preaching of the divine word," they say,
" should never be interrupted in the Church of God, so
in these our days it becomes necessary to labor, with more
than ordinary zeal and piety, to nurture and strengthen
the faithful with sound and wholesome doctrine, as with
the food of life : for false prophets have gone forth into
the world (1 John iv, 1), with various and strange
doctrines (Heb. xiii, 9), to corrupt the minds of the faith
ful, of whom the Lord has said : I sent them not, and
they ran j I spoke not to them, yet they prophesied.
(Jer. xxiii, 21.)
" In this unholy work their impiety, versed as it is in
all the arts of Satan, has been carried to such extremes,
that it would seem almost impossible to confine it within
bounds ; and did we not rely on the splendid promises of
the Saviour, who declared that he had built his Church on
so solid a foundation that the gates of hell should never
prevail against it (Matt, xvi, 18), we should be filled with
most alarming apprehensions, lest, beset on every side by
such a host of enemies, assailed by so many and such
formidable engines, the Church of God should, in these
days, fall beneath their combined efforts. Not to mention
those illustrious states which heretofore professed, in piety
and holiness, the Catholic faith, transmitted to them by
their ancestors, but are now gone astray, wandering from
the paths of; truth, and openly declaring that their best
claims of piety are founded on a total abandonment of
the faith of their fathers,— -there is no region however
remote, no place however securely guarded, no corner of
xil INTRODUCTORY.
the Christian republic, into which this pestilence has not
sought secretly to insinuate itself. Those who proposed
to themselves to corrupt the minds of the faithful, aware
that they could not hold immediate personal intercourse
with all, and thus pour into their ears their poisoned doc
trines, by adopting a different plan, disseminated error
and impiety more easily and extensively. Besides those
voluminous works by which they sought the subversion
of the Catholic faith, they also composed innumerable
smaller books, which, veiling their errors under the sem
blance of piety, deceived with incredible facility the simple
and the incautious." (Preface to the Catechism of the
Council of Trent.) "It is, indeed, incumbent upon the
ministers of the altar,'7 says our Holy Father, Pius IX,
in his address of 1877 to the Lenten preachers, " to lift up
their voices as loudly as possible, to save society from the
abyss." " Cry," says the Lord to the pastor, "cease not,
lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their
wicked doings." (Isa. Iviii, 1.) " If thou dost not speak
to warn the wicked man from his way, that wicked man
shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at
thy hand." (Ezech. xxxiii, 8.)
Now, if we see such perverse zeal in the ministers of
Satan to spread, by all possible means, their doctrines, with
what zeal should not Christians, and especially Christian
pastors, be moved to make known the ^Gospel truths, and
repeat them in season and out of season, regardless of
fastidious minds which are displeased when a priest
repeats a thing, and goes over old but necessary ground
again ! " What !" exclaims St. Francis de Sales, — " what !
is it not necessary, in working iron, to heat it over and
over again, and in painting, to touch and retouch the
INTRODUCTOEY. Xlll
canvas repeatedly J How much more necessary, then, is
it to repeat the same thing again and again, in order to
imprint eternal truths on hardened intellects, and on hearts
confirmed in evil ! St. John the Baptist and the Apostle
St. Paul spoke from out their prison walls j St. Peter
spoke freely and forcibly before the ancients, saying that
it is better to obey God than men j and the Apostle St.
Andrew spoke from the wood of the cross."
. When in Japan, St. Francis Xavier climbed mountains,
and exposed himself to innumerable dangers, to seek out
those wretched barbarians in the caverns where they dwelt
like wild beasts, and to instruct them in the truths of
salvation. St. Francis de Sales, in the hope of converting
the heretics of the province of Chablais, risked his life
by crossing a river every day for a year, on his hands
and knees, upon a frozen beam, that he might reach, and
preach to, those stubborn men. St. Fidelis, in order to
bring the heretics of a certain place back to God, cheer
fully offered up his life for their salvation.
Being desirous to contribute my mite to meet and
withstand the mischievous activity of the emissaries of
Satan, to rear the edifice of Christian knowledge on its
own secure and solid basis, — the true teaching of its divinely
commissioned teachers, — to afford the great mass of the
faithful a fixed standard of Christian belief, easily accessible
to their understanding, and to pastors a practical form of
religious instruction ; to supply a pure and ever-flowing
fountain of living waters, to refresh and strengthen at
once the pastor and the flock, I have, to the best of my
ability, arranged in order, expounded, I trust with clear
ness, and sustained by argument, the entire economy of
religion, comprehending, as it does, the whole substance of
XIV INTRODUCTORY.
doctrinal and practical religion. As, in imparting instruc
tion of any sort, the method and manner of communicating
it are of considerable importance, so, in conveying instruc
tion to the people, the method and manner should be
deemed of the greatest moment. As to the method, I have
been guided by St. Augustine, who says in his treatise,
" Manner of Teaching the Ignorant :" " The true method
of teaching religion is to begin our account of religion from
the creation of all things in a state of perfection, and de
velop the whole history of Christianity down to the exist
ing period of the Church, and, through the Church, down
to our own time ;" in other words, to show how Almighty
God, from the beginning of the world, has always been
the teacher of mankind through those whom he first
taught in person, and then commanded to teach others in
his name and by his authority. This method I have followed
in my series of Catechisms as the one which appeared to
me the most natural, the most sensible, the easiest to be
understood, the best calculated to establish faith, and the
most necessary in our age of unbelief and corruption.
What is more natural than to speak first of the divine
teacher, and afterward of what he teaches ? What more
sensible than to rear the sublime edifice of all Christian
knowledge on its own secure and solid foundation, — the
authority of God in the Church ? What more easy to be
understood than the foundation of our religion, if historically
developed ? What can be better calculated to inspire
faith than the method which shows how God teaches us
through those whom he has appointed to teach in his name
and by his authority? What, above all, more necessary
in these days than to give Catholics and non-Catholics
a correct idea of the spirit and essence of our religion,
INTRODUCTORY. XV
in order to make them love and embrace it with a stead
fast faith f
A large portion of the Catholic laity are insufficiently
instructed in the principles and reasons of their religion,
and need a fuller instruction, in order to detect and resist
the wiles of their Protestant and infidel enemies, who lie
in wait for their souls. They need the fullest instruction,
not only in Catholic dogmas and practices, but in the
great underlying principles which show that the Church
is inherent in the divine order of creation and represents
it, and that whatever is incompatible with her teaching is
incompatible with her divine order, nay, with the Divine
Being himself. They need it, in order to detect and
avoid the poisonous breath of the world. The Church is
not the one religious body among many j it is the only
religious body. As without God there is nothing, so
without the Church, or outside of her, there is no religion,
no spiritual life. All the pretended religions outside of
her are shams, at best have no basis, stand on nothing, and
are nothing, and can give no life or support to the soul,
but leave it out of the divine order to drop into hell. Cath
olics need to know this, and to understand well how their
religion is based on divine revelation, and its guardian
ship on earth invested in a body of men presided over by an
infallible guide, divinely commissioned to teach all men,
authoritatively and infallibly, all its sacred and immutable
truths, — truths which we are consequently bound in con
science to receive without hesitation. This is the fixed
standard of Christian belief; it is the basis upon which
all dogmas rest. If this all-important truth is well under
stood by Catholics, they will not easily be caught in the
snares of infidelity.
XVI INTRODUCTORY.
Nor can a discussion of doctrinal points be of any great
use for one who is not thoroughly convinced of the divine
authority of the Church. This being once accepted, every
thing else follows logically, as a matter of course. Hence,
no one should be admitted to the fold of Christ who
does not firmly hold and declare that the Roman Catholic
Church ruled by the successor of St. Peter is God's sole
appointed teacher of the Gospel on earth. However
familiar persons outside the fold may be with Catholic
doctrines, or however much they may believe in Catholic
dogmas, without holding this the fundamental truth of Cath
olic faith, they should never be allowed to join the Church.
The moment it is well understo9d and firmly believed,
there need be but little delay about their abjuration.
As to the manner of presenting the truths of the Cath
olic religion, it should be, says St. Francis de Sales in
his happy way, very charitable. " Mildness," said he,
" has more influence over men than severity. We catch
more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a barrel of
vinegar. Pride is so natural to man, especially to relig
ious sectarians, because they have no infallible authority
for their doctrine. Hence every harsh W9rd imbitters
their hearts, rather than instructs them. Every time I
have made use of cutting language, of reproachful or
fault-finding words, I had cause to regret it. If it has
been my fortune to win over some heretics" ( he is said to
have converted seventy-two thousand), " it is to be attrib
uted to the power of^ gentleness. Charity and sincere
affection have more influence over the heart, I will not
say than severity, but even more than the force and
solidity of argument. Jesus Christ, who might have
thought severity necessary toward the stiff-necked Jews.
INTRODUCTORY. XV11
nevertheless taught his divine doctrine with unparalleled
amiability and affection. Those who allow their zeal to
get the better of their temper when conversing with sin
ners and non-Catholics, make their cause suspicious. The
light of truth, even when presented by a cautious hand,
often injures the weak eyes of dissenters ; but when it is
rashly, and regardlessly of feelings and dispositions, thrust
full into the face, it entirely blinds them. Never will truth
make its way forward without charity. It is quite different
with impiety ; for, if we take from the works of Luther,
Calvin, Zwinglius, and Beza, all calumnies, abusive lan
guage, invectives, mockeries against the pope and the
Church, there will be very little left to engage attention."
When attacked by heretics with insolent language, he an
swered them calmly and mildly, without the least appear
ance of contention, in accordance with the doctrine of St.
Paul: "If any man seem to be contentious, we have no
such custom, nor hath the Church of God." (1 Cor. xi, 16.)
He listened most kindly to the objections of heretics or
infidels. When it was his turn to speak, instead of wast
ing his time in disputing with them, he showed them the
beauty of the Catholic faith in general j then depicted
the impiety of those who had defamed it, and showed the
deadly effect of Protestantism on the soul, on the heart,
on the intellect, on the morals and manners, on politics and
society itself. Each truth of the faith, in particular, he
presented in its genuine simplicity, and extolled the grace
and beauty peculiar to it in such a natural manner, that all
hearts were irresistibly won for it. He was most careful
never to allow a single word of controversy to fall from
his lips. Then he passed on to such pious reflections and
thoughts as the subject naturally suggested, and it was in
XVlll INTRODUCTORY.
this that his hopes principally rested : " For," said he,
" my experience of thirty years7 ministry has taught me
that man is converted only when his heart is touched, his
conscience awakened from its slumbers, convicted of sin,
startled with a fearful looking forward to judgment to
come, and made to cry out, 'Men, brethren, what shall
we do to be saved ? 7 When we present moral truths
with piety and zeal, they are like so many burning coals
thrown into the faces of our hearers, who are edified by
this manner of speaking, for they have a conscience,
though it may have long slept, and in the interior of their
souls a witness for the truth of what we tell them, though
they may have long smothered his voice. When, assisted
by the grace of God, we have awakened conscience from
its slumbers, and made the voice of reason, which has
been silenced, as it was amid pagan abominations, audible
in the depths of the soul, and the man has become alarmed
for his safety, he becomes more tractable, and is more
easily induced to receive private instruction, in which we
may easily brush away the cobweb theories, negations,
sophistries and falsehoods of Protestantism, and instruct
the neophyte in the glorious and life-giving truths of the
Gospel."
As I have endeavored to follow St. Augustine's method,
and St. Francis de Sales' manner, of conveying instruc
tion, it is hoped that this work may prove to all a treasure
of knowledge, a source of comfort, a monitor of conscience,
an arsenal of defence, an antidote to neutralize the poison
of false doctrines and principles, a minister to do away
with prejudice, remove ignorance, promote piety, and con
firm belief.
INTRODUCTORY. XIX
Should some answers be thought rather long for cate
chetical instruction, it should be borne in mind that the
work is intended not only for the ignorant who are to be
catechised, but also for all persons who desire information
and instruction ; and principally for priests, school-brothers
and school-sisters, Sunday-school teachers, and for all those
who have charge of the religious training of the young.
It is left to the discretion of the teachers to select such
portions of the answers as suit best the capacity of those
whom they are to instruct.
The " Intermediate No. Ill Catechism, for High Schools
and Academies," published in 1877, forms the text of the
work ; and the order of questions and answers there
observed is preserved throughout.
I have only to add that I submit this, and whatever else
I have published, to the better judgment of our bishops,
but especially to the Holy See, as I am most desirous to
think nothing, to say nothing, to teach nothing, but what is
approved of by those to whose charge the sacred deposit
of faith has been committed, — those who watch over us?
and are " to render an account to God for our souls."
CHAPTER II.
THE VALUE AND NECESSITY OF CHEISTIAN DOCTRINE.
IF we wish to go to a certain city, the first thing we do
is to ask the way that leads to it. If we do not know
the way, we can never arrive at that city. So, too, if we
wish to go to heaven, we must know the way that leads to
it. Now, the way that leads to heaven is the knowing
and doing of God's will. But it is God alone who can
teach us his will ; that is, what he requires us to believe
and to do, in order to be happy with him in heaven. And
God himself came and taught us the truths which we must
believe, the commandments which we must keep, and
the means of grace which we must use to work out our
salvation. To know God's will is to know the true religion.
This knowledge is, indeed, the greatest of all treasures.
Hence the Lord says to all men, through the great prophet
Jeremias : " Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in
the abundance of his wealth ; but let him that does glory,
glory in his knowledge of me," that is, of my will. (Jer.
ix, 23). It is for the same reason that Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, exhdrts all men to " seek first the kingdom
of God and his justice " (Matt, iv, 33), and calls those
" blessed who hunger and thirst after justice," that is, after
the knowledge of God's holy will. " Martha, Maltha," he
said, " thou art solicitous about many things. Ma'ry," who
Xxii THE VALUE AND NECESSITY
is sitting at my feet, to listen to my words, has "chosen
the better part."
As the Christian Doctrine, or the way to heaven, has
been revealed by God himself, it is clear that all those
who do not know the Christian Doctrine, who never attend
to its explanation, but remain ignorant of their religious
duties during life, cannot know the way to heaven, and,
not knowing it, can never reach heaven. They are con
tinually going astray, and taking the wrong road that leads
to hell. There is no middle way. If we are not on the
road to heaven, we are on the road to hell. We must
walk either one way or the other.
How necessary it is, then, to learn the Christian Doctrine !
What will become of us, or what sort of life shall we lead
hereafter, if we are careless about being instructed in the
religion upon which the happiness not only of the present,
but also of the future life, depends. Not knowing God,
not knowing how to love and serve him, man is like the
beasts of the field, nay, inferior to those beasts ; for the
life of a man without religion is a daily outrage against
God, who created man to know him, love him, and serve him
in this world. Instead of this, the man without religion
becomes the servant of the devil ; when he dies, God will
not receive him ; he will cast him off, and the miser-
/ /
able man will fall into the hands of the devil, whom he has
served all his life, and who will repay that service by
tormenting him forever in hell.
A person who knows and speaks many languages, —
French, Latin, German, Italian, — is admired for his learn
ing. But to be fully instructed in our religion is a thou
sand times more beautiful, and a thousand times more
necessary and more useful. It is the knowledge of
OF CHEISTIAN DOCTRINE. XX111
knowledge, the service of services. It is for this reason
that our dear Saviour said : " Blessed are they that hear
the word of God;" and aga'in : li Blessed are the ears
that hear what you hear," i. e., the Christian Doctrine.
If pastors of souls are obliged, under pain of mortal
sin, to preach the word of God, the faithful, too, are
bound in conscience to go and listen to the word of God.
Does a child not listen to the word of his father?
Does a servant not listen to the word of his master?
Does a senseless beast not hear the voice of its keeper ?
And shall a Christian not listen to the word which God,
his Creator, speaks to him in sermons and instructions ?
The Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ went to the temple
in Jerusalem, and there listened attentively to the expla
nation which the Jewish priests gave of the law of God.
It was our Lord himself who had given the law, and he
knew its meaning. There was, then, no necessity at all
for him to listen to the explanation of the law. Yet he
went and listened attentively to it, in order to show us, by
his example, the obligation under which we are of listen
ing to the word of God. As, in corporal distempers, a
total loss of appetite, which no medicines can restore,
forebodes certain dec^y and death, so, in the spiritual life
of the soul, a neglect of, or disrelish for, religious instruc
tion is a most fatal symptom. Wha^ hopes can we enter
tain of a person for whom the science of virtue and of
eternal salvation seems to have no interest f
u He who turneth away his ears from hearing the law,'5
says the Holy Ghost, — " his prayers shall be an abomina
tion." (Prov. xxviii, 9.) St. Paul wrote to the Christians
of Rome that " those who did not like to have the know
ledge of God, were delivered up by God to a reprobate
XXIV THE VALUE AND NECESSITY
sense, to do those things that are unbecoming, to become
filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wicked
ness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity,
hateful to God, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, foolish, dissolute, without affection,
without fidelity, without mercy." (Rom. i, 28-32.) " He,
therefore, who is of God," says Jesus Christ, " heareth
the word of God; but he who heareth it not, is not of
God." (John viii, 47.) But u whosoever shall not receive
you, nor hear your words," says our Lord to the apostles,
" going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust
from your feet. Amen I say to you, it shall be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the
day of judgment, than for that city."
Daily experience, indeed, shows that there is no more
effectual means for reclaiming sinners to penance, and
rousing the just to greater fervor in the service of God,
than an assiduous listening to the word of God. David,
learned and enlightened as he was, repented of his crime
of adultery only after Nathan the prophet had reproved
hip for it in the name of God. Josaphat would not have
given up his sinful alliance with an idolatrous people, had
not Jehu, in the name of God, sharply reprimanded him
for it. St. Augustine was very learned ; his conscience
reproached him sharply for his bad life ; he felt very un
happy, and yet for all that, he did not abandon his evil
ways until he came to Milan, where he was converted by
the sermons and instructions of St. Ambrose. Would that
we could see the hearts of many before and after a sermon or
an instruction ! What a sudden change for the better
would be noted in many hearers who went to hear the word
of God without thinking in the least of changing their
OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. XXV
manner of life, but who, after the sermon, left the church
with deep sorrow for their sins, and a y true purpose of
amendment !
The devil knows and fears this po'wer of the word of
God. Hence he makes all possible efforts to prevent both
the just and sinners from going to listen to sermons and
instructions. He suggests to them : You are sufficiently
instructed; you know all your Christian duties j you have
already heard so many sermons, you can hear nothing new ;
you may read in books all that can be said in sermons,
and thus save yourself the fatigue of going to church and
staying there so long. If he cannot prevent them at all
from going, he does all in his power to distract them during
the sermon, or make them feel sleepy, or bored in listen
ing to it, in order thus to prevent them from reaping any
benefit from the word of God.
We read in the life of St. Anthony of Padua that the
devil often caused disturbance during the sermons of this
great saint. One day a noble lady was listening with the
greatest attention to his preaching. Suddenly a strange
messenger stood before her, and gave her a letter which
stated that her darling child was dead. Alarmed at this
sad news, she rose immediately to leave the church. On
beholding this, St. Anthony cried out to her : " Stay, for
your child is not dead. That strange messenger is but a
disguised devil." Something similar happened during a
sermon of St. Vincent Ferrer. One day, whilst he was
preaching in a public square, in presence of a large'
audience, there were seen three wild horses, running
toward the people. Now, when St. Vincent saw that
every one of his hearers was greatly frightened, and
endeavored to save himself by flight, he cried in a
XXVI THE VALUE AND NECESSITY
loud voice : u Stay, be not afraid, those horses will no*
hurt you; they are evil spirits, who have come to pre-
vdnt you from listening to the word of God, and from
being converted." He then made the sign of the cross
over the horses, and the evil spirits suddenly disappeared,
If only all men were so well persuaded of the -necessity
of hearing the word of God, and of its wholesome effects,
as the devil is, the Church would be crowded at every
sermon and instruction. Whilst we listen to the word of
God, Jesus Christ speaks at the same time to our hearts,
since he is then present with us, according to his promise j
" Where there are two or three gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt, xyiii, 20.)
Whence the same happens to us as befell the two disciples
on the road to Emmaus : hearing the words of Christ, they
felt their hearts burn within them. (Luke xxiv, 32.)
St. Anthony the hermit, while listening to the words of
the holy Gospel, felt himself so powerfully moved, that he
forsook the world and all that it had, and withdrew into
the wilderness, to live alone with God. The like is also
related of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. On hearing a sermon
on the vanity of earthly things, he conceived such a dis
gust for them, that he turned his back upon the world, and
hastened to hide himself in a cloister.
Every Christian should, then, always bear in mind what
our Lord says in the Gospel : " Not in bread alone doth
man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the
mouth of God." (Matt, iv, 4.)
God is so pleased with those who eagerly listen to the
explanation of the Christian Doctrine, that he often mani
fests his pleasure by miracles.
One day four thousand, and at another time five thou-
OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. XXV11
sand people followed our Lord into the wilderness to hear
him preach 5 and as they had nothing to eat, he multiplied
a few fishes and loaves of bread in so wonderful a
manner that all were filled. St. Gregory relates a remark
able circumstance of a visit which St. Benedict paid to
his sister, St. Scholastica. After they had taken supper,
Scholastica requested her brother Benedict to delay his
return to his monastery until the next day, in order that
they might entertain themselves until morning on religious
subjects, especially on the happiness of the other life. St.
Benedict, unwilling to transgress his rule, told her that he
could not pass a night out of his monastery. So he begged
her not to insist any longer upon the violation of his rule.
When Scholastica saw that her brother was resolved on
going home, she laid her hands, joined, upon the table,
and her head upon them, and with many tears begged of
Almighty God to prevent her brother from returning home,
in order that she might have the pleasure to listen to his
spiritual discourse. No sooner had she ended her prayer,
than a tremendous storm of rain, thunder, and lightning,
began to rage. St. Benedict was forced to remain, in spite
of himself. He complained to his sister, saying : u God
forgive you, sister ! what have you done 1 " She answered :
" I asked of you a favor, and you refused it ; I asked it of
Almighty God, and he granted it. Go now if you can."
So St. Benedict was obliged to stay with his sister
Scholastica until next day. They spent the night in
conversation upon spiritual subjects, chiefly on the hap
piness of the blessed, after which both most ardently
aspired, and which she went to enjoy four days after.
One day Brother Albert, Provincial of the Franciscans,
was to preach in the church of the convent in which St.
XXVlii THE VALUE AND NECESSITY
Catharine of Bologna lived. Catharine had just put the
bread in the oven when the bell rang for the sermon.
Immediately making the sign of the cross, she said to the
bread, " I recommend you to the Lord's care," and there
upon she left the bakehouse, and went into the church.
The preacher spoke for five hours : it was more than
time enough for the bread to be burned and reduced to
cinders j however, when she took it out of the oven, it
was of a more beautiful brown than usual. (Life of the
Saint, p. 327.)
One day St. Anthony of Padua preached to an immense
concourse of people. It was a beautiful summer's day.
But scarcely had he begun his sermon, when the sky
clouded over, and showed every symptom of a very severe
storm. The saint went on quietly, notwithstanding the
peals of thunder and the flashes of lightning that played
among the clouds. The people were frightened, and
prepared to seek a shelter from the drenching rain that
threatened them. When St. Anthony noticed the une'asi-
ness and fright of his auditors, he recollected himself for
a moment, and then cried out, in a loud and clear voice :
lt Christians, fear nothing ; do not leave your places j
remain where you are, and I promise you, in the name of
God, that not one drop of rain shall fall upon you." At
these words the people felt easy : no one moved from his
place. Wonderful to relate, the rain fell in torrents, the
hail devastated the surrounding fields, but the sky aboVe
the auditory of St. Anthony remained clear and serene.
(Life of St. Anthony of Padua.)
If God, on the one hand, has, by miracles, shown the great
pleasure which he takes in those who are eager to hear
his word, he also, on the other, has, by frightful punish-
OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. XXIX
ments, shown his great displeasure with those who do not
care for the Christian Doctrine.
St. Francis Regis once gave a great mission in the city of
Naples. Several nights before the mission began, he went
through the streets to every house. He knocked at
each door, as he went along, and when it was opened, he
said : " Please, for the love of God, to come to the sermons
of the mission.'7 In a certain house there was living a
very wicked woman : her name was Catharine. St. Francis
knocked at the door of Catharine's house. When it was
opened, he said : " Please, for the love of God, to come and
listen to the word of God during the mission." Catharine
answered and said : " No, I will not go to the mission."
St. Francis left the house, and went on his way. The
next evening St. Francis came again to Catharine's house,
and knocked at the door. The door was opened. u How is
Catharine ? " said St. Francis. u Catharine !" a voice an
swered, " Catharine is dead!" "Then," said St. Francis,
" let us go upstairs, and see the dead body." They all
went up to a room where a dead body was laid on a bed.
It was the dead body of the wicked Catharine, who only
the night before had said, u I will not go to the mission."
They stood round the dead body. St. Francis stood in
front of it, and looked at the pale, lifeless face. Then
he said, with a loud voice, u 0 Catharine ! Catharine ! you
that would not come to the sermon! tell me, — in the name
of God, I command you to tell me, — where are you ?
where is your soul ?" A moment passed, and the corpse
opened its mouth. That dead tongue moved, and answered
in a frightful voice, " / am in hell."
Catharine had lived many years, and committed many
dreadful mortal sins. Still our dear Lord did not send
XXX THE VALUE AND NECESSITY
her to hell. Then St. Francis came to her from God. He
asked her to listen to him, and be converted. She answered :
" No, I will not listen."
Another terrible example of divine justice occurred in
174:5, when St. Alphonsus and his missionary priests were
preaching at Foggia. One of the priests went- through
the public places, to call the people to the church. Happen
ing to pass before a tavern, he invited the drinkers to
listen to the word of God, and take part in the other
exercises of the mission. A tipsy fellow, holding up his
glass, called out, " My father, would you like to see what
is my mission ?" and putting the glass to his lips, he
instantly dropped down dead. (Life of St. Alphonsus.)
When we hear the Christian Doctrine explained, we
should listen with the intention to profit by it. Our
dinner, says Father Furniss, C. SS. R., does us very little
good, unless we have an appetite for it. So hearing God's
word in a sermon, instruction, or Catechism, or when we
read a good book, will do us very little good, unless we
have an appetite for it, and a desire to hear it. If we do
not feel this desire, we should at least wish for it, and
pray for it, and it will be given to us. It is one of the
seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, called the gift of "under
standing."
Moreover, we must not go to an instruction or sermon
through mere curiosity, for example : to hear how some
body preaches, nor only because we are obliged to go,
and would be scolded if we were absent. We must go
to hear the word of God, because it is able to save our
souls. (James i, 21.)
In almost every instruction we hear something recom
mended which we feel in our hearts just suits us. This
OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. XXXI
is a particular light which God sends from heaven into
our hearts. We must then say to ourselves, Now I will
begin this very day to do that very thing : " Be ye doers
of the word of God, and not hearers only." (James i, 6.)
When we have eaten our dinner, we keep the food in
our stomach, to feed our body. So, when we have heard
an instruction, we should keep some of it in our mind, to
think about afterward, amd feed our souls with it. In the
stable of Bethlehem there were the infant Jesus, Mary his
mother, and Joseph, and the shepherds. When the shep
herds were gone away, Mary, who was full of divine
wisdom, kept the words of the poor ignorant shepherds in
her heart, and thought of them, and meditated on them.
(Luke ii.)
Again, when we go to an instruction, we should listen
to it with attention. The sin of Adam has made our
minds very weak, and we cannot always keep our atten
tion fixed. But we should not be wilfully distracted.
Sometimes people will listen to any little trifle, instead of
listening to an instruction. There was a great city called
Athens. The soldiers were on their way to this city to
destroy it. The people of the city were in great fear.
They met together to think what should be done to save
the town. Amongst them was one very wise man, called
Demosthenes, who stood up and began to speak to them.
The people would not listen to him. They talked and
made a great noise, so that he could not be heard. De
mosthenes, therefore, gave over speaking, and was silent
for a few minutes.' Then he cried out to the people that
he had a story to tell them. When they heard that he
was going to tell them a story, they became very quiet,
silent, and attentive. He began his story : " There were
XXX11 THE VALUE AND NECESSITY
two men," he said, " travelling together. One of them
had hired an ass from the other. In the middle of the
day they stopped. He who had hired the ass got off it.
As the sun was very hot, he sat down in the shadow of
the ass. 'No,' said the other, t you shall not sit down in
the shadow of my ass. You hired my ass, but ,you did
not hire its shadow.' r' When Demosthenes had said this,
he gave over speaking. The people called out to him to
go on. Then he said to them : u My good people, when I
speak to you about the shadow of an ass, you listen to me ;
but when I speak to you about the safety of this town,
you do not listen.'7 So, many people will let themselves
be distracted by the shadow of a fly, or any little trifle,
instead of listening to the word of God. Hear what the
fishes did : —
You may have heard how God made an ass speak to
Balaam, to tell him that he was doing wrong. (Num. xii.)
He was angry with the ass, and beat its side with a stick,
and the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and it said :
" What have I done to thee ? Why dost thou strike me ? "
Something like this happened in times of old : — One day
St. Anthony was preaching in a town called Rimini. The
people would not listen to him. So he came down from
the pulpit, went out of the church, and walked till he
came to the sea. He stood on the sand of the sea -shore,
and cried out to the fishes in these words : " Fishes of the
sea and of the rivers ! listen to me. I wanted to preach to
the people, but they would not listen to me. So I am
going to preach to you." When he had said these words,
an immense number of fishes of all sizes came round him,
covering all the sea. The little fishes came first. Behind
them were the middle-sized fishes, and then the great
OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. xxxiii
fishes. They were in good order, and very quiet, with
their heads out of the water, turned toward the preacher.
Then St. Anthony spoke to them in these words : " Fishes,
iny little brethren ! you ought to thank your Creator for
all the good things he has given you. First, there is the
beautiful water in which you live, — the sea water as well
as the fresh water, whichever you like best. Then there
are the holes and caves in the rocks, where you can go
when a storm troubles the water. God has made you able
to swim, and given you all that you eat, to preserve your
lives. In the great Deluge, when it rained on the earth
for forty days and forty nights, all the other animals were
drowned, and you only were kept alive. When the
prophet Jonas was thrown into the sea, God gave him to
you, to keep him alive for three days. When the people
came to Jesus, and asked him to pay the tribute, you
helped him to pay it. You were the food of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, before and after his resurrection ! Now,
when you remember all these great favors you have
received from God, you ought to bless him and thank
him, even more than other creatures." When the fishes
heard these words, they opened their mouths, and bowed
their heads, and showed how great was their desire to
thank God. Then St. Anthony, full of joy, cried out :
" Blessed be the great God, because the fishes praise him
when men refuse to praise him." And now, when the
people heard what a wonderful thing had happened to the
fishes, they all went out to see it. They knelt down before
St. Anthony, and asked him to pardon them, which he
did. Then the saint turned round, gave his blessing to
the fishes, and sent them all away. So Almighty God
worked a miracle, to let us see how much he desires that
XXXIV THE VALUE AND NECESSITY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.
we should listen to Ms holy word, which is full of power.
(Eccles. viii.)
Let us be at least as good as the fishes, and listen to the
words of life which Almighty God speaks to us. What
we hear in an instruction is not the word of a man, but
the word of God. "You received my word/7 says St.
Paul, u not as the word of man, but as it is indeed, the
word of God." (I Thess., ii, 13.) We should always have
a great love for the Christian Doctrine, and especially for
the book which briefly contains the Christian Doctrine
in question and answer, — the Catechism. One day St.
Teresa was asked by her sisters in religion what book they
should often read and study. The great saint answered :
" The Catechism ; for this is the book which contains and
explains the law of God : n that is, it treats, 1, of all the
truths we must believe ; 2, of the commandments we must
keep 5 and, 3, of the means of grace we must use, — that
is, the sacraments and prayer, — in order to be happy with
God forever in heaven.
CHAPTER III.
AN EXHORTATION TO SPREAD THE TRUTH.
KENELM DIGBY, author of the " .Ages of Faith," who
did so much to awaken what was afterward the " Oxford
Movement," was led to the Catholic faith by means of the
barber who used to shave him when he was a member of
the university. The barber began to instruct him in the
broken conversations occurring from day to day. Then he
lent Mr. Digby books, and the barber thus became the
teacher of the university man. Let us rest assured that
God has given to every good Catholic his vocation, his
sphere of action, and holy influence, wherein he can pro
claim to those around him that faith which maketh wise
unto salvation. Let no one be a coward j let every one
show as much determination and courage for the propa
gation of the truth as its enemies evince for the spreading
of error.
Our women are doing what they can ; and if not always
as well as we could wish, they deserve our gratitude for their
good intentions, and their efforts in a right direction. But
our educated laymen are doing comparatively nothing.
They seem to be too much engrossed in the business world,
in the world of politics, in making or in spending their for
tunes, to have time or thought for the interests of their
religion. If they had the proper spirit, and were animated
by an, ardent zeal for religion, they might, working in
submission tQ; and under the direction of, the pastors of
XXXVI AN EXHORTATION
the Church, do incalculable good. It is a shame for them
that they should allow their proper work to be done by
women, or not be done at all.
The motives which should induce us to be zealous in
spreading the truth, especially in instructing in it the
little ones, are : first, the great interest which Jesus Christ
takes in children ; second, the more abundant fruits reaped
from the care bestowed upon the young, and the great
merit which is derived from giving religious instruction.
Children are the most noble part of the flock of Christ.
For them he has always shown a particular love and af
fection. It was to children that he gave the special honor
of being the first to shed their blood for his name's sake.
He has held them up to us as a model of humility, which we
should imitate : " Unless you become like little children,
you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." He wishes
that every one should hold them in great honor : " See
that you despise not one of these little ones." Why not ?
" For I say to you, that their angels always see the face
of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt, xviii, 10.)
He wishes every one to be on his guard, lest he should
scandalize a little child : u He that shall scandalize one of
these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him
that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and
that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea."
(Matt, xviii, 6.) He says the love, attention, and respect
paid to a child, is paid to himself: "And Jesus took a
child, and said to them : Whosoever shall receive this
child in my name, receiveth me." (Luke ix, 48.)
He rebuked those who tried to prevent little children
from being presented to him that he, might bless them :
" And they brought to him young children, that he might
TO SPREAD THE TRUTH. XXXVil
touch them. And the disciples rebuked those who brought
them; whom, when Jesus saw, he was much displeased,
and saith to them : Suffer the little ones to come unto me,
and forbid them not : for of such is the kingdom of God.
Amen I say to you, whosoever shall not receive the king
dom of God as a little child, shall not enter into it. And
embracing them, and laying his hands upon them, he
blessed them." (Matt, x, 13-16.)
The Son of God came into the world to redeem all
who were lost. But do children profit by his abundant
redemption ? Do they draw from the source of graces
that are open to all ? Will they be marked with the seal
of divine adoption, and be nourished with his own flesh,
in the sacrament of his love ? Will they be counted, in
the course of their career, among the number of his faith
ful disciples, or among the enemies of his law? Will
they one day be admitted into his kingdom ? Will they
be excluded? Is heaven or hell to be their lot for all
eternity ? The fate of children is in the hands of their
natural guardians, and of those set over them. If the
zeal of those to whom their training and education are
confided be not active for their salvation, Jesus will lose in
them the fruit of his sufferings and death. How many are
deprived forever of the knowledge, sight, and possession
of God, because they have not received right religious
instruction ! And who is answerable to God and human
ity for the loss of those souls, unless those whose plain
duty it was to impart such instruction ?
If the first years of life are pure, they often sanctify
all the after-life 5 but if the roots of the tree are rotten
and dead, the branches will not be more healthy. Man
will become, in his old age, what religious education
XXXV111 AN EXHORTATION
made him in his youth : " A young man, according to his
way, even when he is old, he will not depart from it.77
(Prov. xxii, 6.) All is a snare and seduction for youth.
If the fear of God, the horror of evil, the maxims of
religion, are not profoundly engraven in the soul, what is
to protect young people from their passions ? What can
be expected of a young man who has but seldom heard
of the happiness of virtue, the hopes of the future life,
and the blessings or the woes of eternity ? Can we, know
ing, as we do, how much Jesus Christ loves children,
resign ourselves to leaving them in their misery ? " The
kings of the earth have their favorites;" said St. Augustine.
The favorites of Jesus Christ are innocent souls. What
is more innocent than the heart of a child whom baptism
has purified from original stain, and who has not, as yet,
contracted the stain of actual sin ? This heart is the
sanctuary of the Holy Ghost. Who can tell with what
delight he makes of it his abode ? " My delicts are
to be with the children of men." Look at the mothers
who penetrated the crowd that surrounded the Saviour,
in order to beg him to bless their children. They are at
first repulsed 5 but soon after, what is their joy when they
hear the good Master approve their desires, and justify
what a zeal, little enlightened, taxed with indiscre'tion !
Ah ! let us understand the desires of the Son of God.
" Suffer," says he to us, — " suffer little children to come
to me." What ! You banish those who are dearest to
me ? They who resemble them belong to the kingdom of
heaven. If you love me, take care of my sheep, but
neglect not my lambs. "Feed my lambs." " Despise
not one of my, little ones." " See that ye condemn not
one of these little ones." (Matt. xviii; 10.) I regard, as
TO SPREAD THE TRUTH. XXXIX
done to myself, all that is done to them. O Saviour of
the world ! the desire to be beloved by thee, and to
prove my love for thee, urges me to devote myself to
the thorough instruction of children.
How great and consoling are not the fruits of zeal,
when it has youth for its object ! What difficulties do we
not encounter, when we undertake to bring back to God
persons advanced in age ! Children, on the contrary,
oppose but one obstacle to our zeal, — levity. All we need
with them is patience. Their souls are like new earth,
which waits only culture to produce four-fold. They are
flexible plants, which take the form and direction given
to them. Their hearts, pure as they are from criminal
affections, are susceptible of happy impressions and ten
dencies. They believe in authority. A religious instinct
leads them to the priest and the good teacher. They
adopt with confidence the faith and the sentiments of
those who instruct them. Oh, how easy to soften that
age, in speaking of a God who has made himself a child,
and who died for us — to awaken the fear of the Lord,
compassion for those who suffer, gratitude, divine love,
in souls predisposed, by the grace of baptism, to all the
Christian virtues ! Ask the most zealous pastors, and all
will tell you that no part of their ministry is more consol
ing than that which is exercised for youth, because the
fruits are incomparably more abundant. Although all our
efforts for the sanctification of an old man, ever unfaithful
to his duties, should be crowned with success, they could
not help his long life being frightfully void of merits, and
a permanent revolt against heaven. But, if there be a
child in question, our zeal sanctifies his whole life j we
deposit in his soul the germ of all the good that he will
XI AN EXHORTATION
do, and we shall participate in all the good works with
which his career will be filled. All believers have come
out of one single Abraham. From one child well brought
up a whole generation of true Christians may proceed.
In the little flock that surrounds any one of us, God sees,
perhaps, elect souls, regarding whom his Providence has
formed great designs, — pious instructors, holy priests, who
will carry far the knowledge^ of his name, and aid him
in saving millions of souls. Into what astonishment would
the first catechists of a St. Vincent de Paul, of a Francis
Xavier, be thrown, had they been told what would become
of those children, and what they would one day accom
plish ! But even supposing that all those confided to
us follow the common way, we have in them the surest
means of renewing parishes. To-day they receive the
movement, in fifteen years they will give it. They will
transmit good principles, happy inclinations to their own
children, who will transmit them in their turn. It is thus
that holy traditions are established, and a chain of solid
virtues perpetuated : ages will reap what we have sown
in a few years. It is by these considerations that the
greatest saints and the finest geniuses of Christianity
became so much attached to the religious instruction of
youth. St. Jerome, St. Gregory, St. Augustine, St. Vin
cent Ferrer, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Francis de Sales,
St. Joseph Calasanctius, Gerson, Bellarmin, Bossuet,
Fenelon, M. Olier, etc., believed they could never better
employ their time and talents than in consecrating them
to the religious instruction of the young. "It is con
sidered honorable and useful to educate the son of a
monarch, presumptive heir to his crown. . . . But the
child that I form to virtue, — is he not the child of God,
TO SPREAD THE TRUTH. xli
inheritor of the kingdom of heaven ? " (Gerson.) Have
we/ always comprehended all the good that we can do to
children by our humble functions ?
There is, indeed, nothing more honorable, nothing more
meritorious, nothing which conducts to higher perfection,
than to instruct men, especially children, in their religious
duties. This instruction is a royal, apostolic, angelic, and
divine function. Royal, because the office of a king is to
protect his people from danger. Apostolic, because the
Lord commissioned apostles to instruct the nations, and,
as St. Jerome says, thus made them the saviours of men.
Angelic, because the angelical spirits in heaven enlighten,
purify, and perfect each other according to their spheres,
and their earthly mission is to labor without ceasing for
the salvation of man. St. Peter Chrysologus calls those
who instruct others in the way of salvation, " the substi
tutes of angels." Indeed their mission is divine ; they
carry on the very work of God himself. Everything
that Almighty God has done from the creation of the
world, and which he will continue to do to the end, has
been, and will be, for the salvation of mankind. For this
he sent his Son from heaven, who enlightened the world
by his doctrine, and who still continues to instruct his
people by his chosen disciples. Those, then, who direct
children in the paths to heaven, who allure them from
vice, who form them to virtue, may fitly be termed
apostles, angels, and saviours. Oh ! what glory awaits
those who perform the office of angels, and even of God
himself, in laboring for the salvation of the souls of chil
dren ! If this employment is honorable, it is also not less
meritorious. What is the religious instruction of children,
but conferring on a class of our race, the weakest and most
xlii AN EXHORTATION
helpless, with inconceivable labor and fatigue, the great
est of all blessings f For, while the physical development
of the child advances with age, it is not so with the
mental : religious instruction alone can develop the noble
faculties of the soul. The soul of a child would, so to
speak, continue to live enshrouded in pagan darkness, if
the teacher did not impart and infuse the light of truth.
All the gold in the world is but dross in comparison with
true religious knowledge.
Our Saviour says : " Whosoever shall give to drink to
one of these little Ones, even a cup of cold water, shall
not lose his reward." (Matt, x, 42.) May we not infeV
that those who bestow upon children the treasures of
divine knowledge will receive an exceedingly great
reward ? If God denounces so severely those who
scandalize little children, " But he that shall scandalize
/ /
one of these little ones, it were better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were
drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matt, xviii, 6), what
recompense will those receive who instruct and sanctify
them I
Those who give their efforts and means to this object,
choose the surest way to appease the anger of God, and to
insure their own salvation. They choose the best means
of attaining a high degree of perfection. Almighty God
gives to each one the graces proper to his vocation. Those,
therefore, who are devoted to the religious instruction of
children, must rest assured that God will give them extra
ordinary graces to arrive at perfection. " Whoever," says
our Lord, " shall receive one such little child in my name,
receiveth me." (Matt, xviii, 5.) Whosoever, then, believes
that our Saviour will not allow himself to be surpassed in
TO SPREAD THE TRUTH. xliii
..liberality, must also believe that he will bestow his choicest
blessings on those who instruct children in the knowledge
of God and the love of virtue.
What obligations have not the " angels ?? of children,
" who always see the face of the Father who is in heaven "
(Matt, xviii, 10), to pray for these teachers, their dear
colleagues and charitable substitutes, who perform their
office, and hold their place on earth ! " Believe me," said
St. Francis de Sales, "the angels of little children love
with a special love all those who bring them up in the fear
of God, and who plant in their tender souls holy devotion."
The children will pray for their teachers, and God can
refuse nothing to the prayers of children, and their suppli
cations will ascend with the prayers of the angels.
To .be destitute of ardent zeal for the spiritual welfare
of children, is to see, with indifferent eyes, the blood of
Jesus ; Christ trodden under foot ; it is to see the image
and likeness of God lie in the mire, and not care for it ;
it is to despise the Blessed Trinity : the Father, who cre
ated them ; the Son, who redeemed them j the Holy Ghost,
who sanctified them j it is to belong to that class of shep
herds, of whom the Lord commanded Ezechiel to prophesy
as follows : " Son of man, prophesy concerning the shep
herds of Israel : prophesy and say to the shepherds : Thus
saith the Lord God : Wo to the shepherds of Israel. . . .
My flock you did not feed. The weak you have not
strengthened j and that which was sick, you have not
healed ; that which was, broken, you have not bound up ;
and that which was driven away, you have not brought
again ; neither have you sought that which was lost. . . .
And my sheep were scattered, because there was no shep
herd : and they became the prey of all the beasts of the
xliv AN EXHORTATION
field, and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in
every mountain, and in every high hill : and there was
none, I say, that sought them. Therefore, ye shepherds,
hear the word of the Lord : Behold, I myself come up6n
the shepherds. I will require my flock at their hands."
(Ezech. xxxiv, 2-10.) To be destitute of this .zeal for
the religious instruction of our children, is to hide the five
talents which the Lord has given us, instead of gaining
other five talents. Surely the Lord will say : " And the
unprofitable servant, cast ye out into the exterior darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt.
xxv, 30.)
What a shame for us to know that the devil, in alliance
with the wicked, is at work, day and night, for the ruin
and destruction of youth, and to be so little concerned
about their eternal loss ; just as if what the holy fathers
say was not true, that the salvation of one soul is worth
more than the whole visible world ! When has the price of
the souls of little children been lessened ? Ah ! as long as
the price of the blood of Jesus Christ remains of an infinite
value, so long the price of souls will remain of a like value !
Heaven and earth will pass away, but this truth will not.
The devil knows and understands it but too well. He
delights in us if we are hirelings, because we have no
care for the sheep, and see the wolf coming, and leave the
sheep and fly. (John x, 12.)
On the day of judgment, those who have neglected
this great duty will be confounded by that poor man of
whom we read, in the life of St. Francis de Sales, as fol
lows : " One day, this holy and zealous pastor, on a visit of
his diocese, had reached the top of one of those dreadful
mountains, overwhelmed with fatigue and cold, his hands
TO SPREAD THE TRUTH.
and feet completely benumbed, in order to visit a single
parish in that dreary situation. While he was viewing,
with astonishment, those immense blocks of ice, of an un
common thickness, the inhabitants, who had approached to
meet him, related that some days before a shepherd, run
ning after a strayed sheep, had fallen into one of these
tremendous precipices. They added that his fate would
never have been known if his companion, who was in
search of him, had not discovered his hat on the edge of
the precipice. The poor man, therefore, imagined that
the shepherd might be still relieved, or, if he should have
perished, that he might be honored with a Christian
burial.
" With this view he descended, by the means of ropes,
this icy precipice, whence he was drawn up, pierced
through with cold, and holding in his arms his companion,
who was dead, and almost frozen into a block of ice.
Francis, hearing this account, turned to his attendants,
who were disheartened with the extreme fatigues which
they had every day to encounter, and availing himself of
this circumstance to encourage them, he said : l Some
persons imagine that we do too much, and we certainly
do far less than these poor people. You have heard in
what manner one has lost his life in an attempt to find a
strayed animal ; ^and how another has exposed himself to
the danger of perishing, in order to procure for his friend
a burial, which, under these circumstances, might have
been dispensed with. These examples speak to us in
forcible language ; by this charity we are confounded, we
who perform much less for the salvation of souls intrusted
to our care, than those poor people do for the security of
animals confided to their charge.' Then the holy prelate
AN EXHORTATION
heaved a deep sigh, saying : 'My God, what a beautiful
lesson for bishops and pastors ! This poor shepherd has
sacrificed his .life to save a strayed sheep, and I, alas!
have so little zeal for. the salvation of souls. The least
obstacle suffices to deter me, and makes me calculate every
step and.Jrouble. Great God, give me true zeal, and the
genuine 'spirit of a good shepherd ! Ah, how many shep
herds of souls will not this herdsman judge!'" Alas!
how just and how true is this remark ! If we saw our
very enemies surrounded by fire, we would think of means
to rescue them from the danger ; and now we see thou
sands of little children, redeemed at the price of the
blood of Jesus Christ, on the point of losing their faith,
and with it their souls ; and shall we be less concerned
and less active for these images and likenesses of God,
than for their frames, their bodies 1
We hear a little child /weeping, and we at once try to
console it ; we hear a little dog whining at the door, and
we open it ; a poor beggar asks for a piece of bread,
and we give it ; and we hear the mother of our Catholic
children, the Catholic Church, cry in lamentable accents,
" Let my little ones have the bread of life, — a thorough
religious instruction," and shall we not heed her voice ?
We hear Jesus Christ cry, u Suffer the little ones to come
unto me," by means of solid instruction ; we see him weep
over Jerusalem, over the loss of so many Catholic chil
dren, ami we hear him say, "Weep not over me, but for
your children ; " and shall neither his voice nor his tears
make any impression ? Shall we say with the man in the
Gospel : " Trouble me not, the door (of our heart) is now
shut : I cannot rise and give thee " ? (Luke xi.) If an
ass, says our Lord, fall into a pit, you will pull him out,
TO SPREAD THE TRUTH. xlvil
even on the Sabbath-day; and an innocent soul, nay,
thousands of innocent children, fall away from me, and
pass over to the army of the apostate angels, and become
my and your adversaries- — and wiH you not care ? What
cruelty, what hardness of heart, what great impiety !
'Truly the curses and maledictions of all those who led a
bad life, and were damned for want of Christian "instruc
tion, which we neglected to give them, will, fall upon us !
What shall we answer ? " And he was silent.77 * (Matt,
xxii.)
* Pope Paul V, in order more diligently to encourage the faithful to
teach and to learn Christian Doctrine, granted the following indul
gences :
J.. The Indulgence of one hundred days to all teachers, fathers and
mothers, every time they instruct the children and domestics in the
Christian Doctrine.
2. The Indulgence of one hundred days to all the faithful, every time
they/ employ themselves for half an hour in teaching or learning the
Christian Doctrine.
To these Indulgences was added by Clement XTI:
3. The Plenary Indulgence, after confession and copamunion, on the
Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, on Easter Sunday, and
on the. Feast of the holy Apostles, SS. Peter and Paul, to those who have
the pious custom of assisting at, or teaching, the Christian Doctrine.
THE CHURCH.
i CHAPTER IV.
EXPLANATION OF THE
If INTRODUCTION TO THE CATECHISM.
WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD.
MANY years ago a strange sight, a singular contrast,
might have been witnessed in the great city of Babylon.
Throughout the streets and public places of that populous
city the inhabitants were feasting, singing, and rejoicing.
Wherever the eye turned, it beheld signs of triumph and
gladness. But in the midst of this rejoicing there is one
spot where sadness reigns. Upon the banks of Babylon's
streams a vast multitude is assembled. There are strong
men borne down by sorrow j there are feeble women
pining away with grief; there are old men whose hoary
heads are bowed down with sadness ; little children lan
guishing in pain. The faces of all are pallid, their eyes
filled with tears. They rest their wearied limbs beneath
the shade of the mournful cypress. Their harps, their
musical instruments, hang sadly upon the branches of the
willow. No hand is raised to touch them, no finger evokes
sweet music from their chords. They are silent ; they
are neglected. There naught is heard save the sighs, the
moans, the sobs of the multitude, as they blend confusedly
4 WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD.
with the murmur, the dash of the stream. Naught is seen
save the tears that trickle down from their eyelids, and
blend with the flood. Let us draw near those poor unhappy
creatures, and ask them the cause of their tears. They
weep, they are heart-broken, because they are exiles ;
because they are far, far away from their home, their
native land. This alone is the cause of their tears.
, /
How mournful are the days of exile ! How sweet it is
to breathe once more the air of our native land ! The
bread of the stranger, like the bread of the wicked, is
bitter to the heart. The streams of a foreign land may
murmur in soothing tones, but they speak an unknown
tongue. The birds in foreign lands may sing sweetly, but
they want one melodious note : they do not sing to us of
home. The scenes in other lands may be wildly fair, but
they have not that sweet, that soothing charm, which
endears every object in our native land. We are poor
exiles here below, far away from heaven, our true home ;
we, therefore, constantly suffer the pain of exile. We are
never satisfied in this world. We always crave for some
thing more, something higher, something better. Whence
is this continual restlessness which haunts us through life,
and even pursues us to the grave ? It is the home-sick
ness of the soul. It is the soul's craving after a Good that
is better and more excellent than the soul herself is.
King Solomon, in search after happiness, devoted his
mind to the gratification of every desire of his heart : "I
said in my heart, I will go, and abound with delights and en
joy good things. I made me great works, I built me houseSj
and planted vineyards. I made gardens and orchards,
and set them with trees of all kinds, and I made me
ponds of water, to water therewith the wood of the young
WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD. 5
trees. I got me men-servants and maid-servants, and had
a great family : and herds of oxen, and great flocks of sheep,
above all that were before me in Jerusalem : I heaped
together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of
kings and provinces : I made me singing-men and singing-
women, and the delights of the sons of men : cups and _
vessels to serve to pour out wine : and I surpassed in
riches all that were before me in Jerusalem : my wisdom
also remained with me. And whatsoever my eyes desired,
I refused them not : and I withheld not my heart from
enjoying every pleasure : and esteemed this my portion, to
make use of my own labor."
After such ample enjoyment of all earthly pleasures,
might we not think that Solomon was happy indeed ?
Nevertheless, he tells us that his heart was not satisfied,
and that he found himself more miserable than before.
" And when I turned myself," he says, " to all the works
which my hands had wrought, and to the labors wherein
I had labored in vain, I saw in all things vanity and vex
ation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the
sun." (Eccles. ii, 11.)
What happened to Solomon happens still, in one shape
or form, to every man. Give to the man, whose dream,
whose waking thought, day and night, is to grow rich,
to live in splendor and luxury ; whose life is spent in plan
ning, and thinking^ and toiling, — give all the kingdoms of
the earth, all the gold of the mountains, all the pearls of
the ocean. Give him the desire of his heart. Will he be
happy 1 Will his heart be at rest ? He will find that
riches are like thorns — that they only wound and burn.
They seem sweet, when beheld at a distance ; but indulge
in them, and at once you taste their bitterness. All the
6 WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD.
goods and pleasures of this world are like a fisher's hook.
The fish is glad while it swallows the bait, and spies not
the hook ; ^ut no sooner has the fisherman drawn up his
line, than it is tormented within, and soon after comes to
destruction from the very bait in which it so much
rejoiced. So it is with all those who esteem themselves
happy in their temporal possessions. In their comforts
and honors they have swallowed a hook. But a time will
come when they shall experience the greatness of the
torment from which they expected unalloyed delight.
Now, why is it that the riches and pleasures of this
world cannot make us happy ? It is because the soul was
not created by and for them, but by God for himself. It
is God who made our heart, and he made it for himself.
When man first came forth from the hand of God, his heart
turned to God naturally, and he loved creatures only as
loving keepsakes of God. But sin and death came into
the world. The heart of man was defiled and degraded.
He turned away from the pure and holy love of God, and
sought for love and happiness amid creatures. But our
heart seeks in vain among creatures. Our heart is small
indeed, but its love is infinite. It can find rest only in
God. Whatever we love out of God brings only pain and
bitter disappointment.
A thing is made better only by that which is better
than the thing itself. Inferior beings can never make
superior beings better. The soul, being immortal, is
superior to all earthly things. Earthly things, then, c^n-
notmake the soul better. God alone is the souPs supreme
goodness and happiness. He who possesses God is at
rest. The more closely we are united with God in this-
life, the more contentment of mind, and the greater
WHY WE ARE CT THIS WORLD. 7
happiness of soul, shall we enjoy. For this reason, St.
Francis of Assisium used to exclaim :
"What to me are earthly treasures,
Flashing gems and gleaming gold ?
Gems and gold heal not the heartache,
Gleam in vain where love grows cold.
Thou, dear Lord, art my heart's treasure,
Thy pure love is all I prize ;
Thou hast boundless wealth unfailing
In the home beyond the skies."
St. Teresa, too, would often exclaim :
"Earthly joys soon end in sorrow,
Pleasure brings but grief and pain ;
Beauty's bloom is frail and fleeting,
Darkness and the grave remain !
Thy sweet smile, dear Lord, brings gladness,
Thy love's sweetness ne'er can cloy ;
Thy immortal, dazzling beauty
Fills all heaven with endless joy."
Certainly, true contentment is that which is found in
the Creator, and not that which is found in the creature, —
a contentment which no man can take from the soul, and
in comparison with which all other joy is sadness, all
pleasure sorrow, all sweetness bitter, all beauty ugliness,
all delight affliction. Hence it is that St. Augustine, who
had tasted all pleasure, exclaimed :
" Earthly fame dies with its echo,
Earthly love but half reveals
Life's dread meaning, man's deep blindness,
And the fate that death conceals.
Thou, dear Lord, art all my glory —
Praised by thee, I shall be blest :
In thy wisdom's cloudless splendors
Shall my yearning soul find rest."
Ah ! we are poor exiles here below. God created us, and
he created us for himself; and until we can enjoy God, and
WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD.
see ^him face to face, we can never find true rest. There
H always a void in our heart, — a void which cannot be
filled by father or mother, by brother or sister, or our
dearest friend: it can be filled by God alone. Hence
the first and most important question in the Catechism is .*
1, What is most necessary for us to know and to believe 1
And the answer is : It is most necessary for us to know
and to believe that there is a God, who rewards the good
and punishes the wicked.
Our future and true home is heaven. To go to heaven,
we must know the way that leads to it. Now, the begin-
ing of the way to heaven is the knowledge of God. u For
he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and is a
rewarder of those that seek him." (Heb. xi, 6.) " And
this is life everlasting," says our Saviour, " that they
may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent." (John xvii, 3.) " Without this
faith it is impossible to please God." (Heb. xi, 6.) But
as without this faith man cannot please God and be saved,
his Creator has made faith easy for him.
Man is born a believing creature, and cannot, if he
would, destroy altogether this noble attribute of his nature.
If he is not taught, and will not accept, a belief in the
living and uncreated God, he will create and worship
some other god in his stead. He cannot rest on mere
negation. There never has been a real, absolute un
believer. All the Gentile nations of the past have been
religious people ; all the pagan powers of the present are
also believers. There never has been a nation without
faith, without an altar, without a sacrifice. When
Columbus discovered America, he found that the Indians
had their creed, though of a vague and simple nature.
WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD. 9
They believed in one supreme being, inhabiting the sky,
who was immortal, almighty, and invisible. Every family
had a house set apart, as a temple to this deity. The
natives had an idea of a place of reward, to which the
spirits of good men repaired after death, where they were
reunited to the spirits of those whom they had most loved
during life, and to all their ancestors. Here they enjoyed,
uninterruptedly and in perfection, those pleasures which
constituted their felicity on earth. (Irving's " Columbus,"
vol. i.) " It is only the fool) the impious man, that says
in his heart, There is no God." (Ps. xiii, 1.) He says so " in
his heart," says Holy Writ j he says not so in his head,
because he knows better. There are moments when, in
spite of himself, he returns to better sentiments. Let him
be in imminent danger of death, or of a considerable loss
of fortune, and how quickly, on such occasions, he lays
aside the mask of infidelity ! He straightway makes his
profession of faith in an Almighty God ; he cries out :
"Lord! save me; I am perishing ; Lord! have mercy
on me !" The famous Volney was once on a voyage with
some of his friends off the coast of Maryland. All at
once a great storm arose, and the little bark, which bore
the flower of the unbelievers of both hemispheres, ap
peared twenty times on the point of being lost. In this
imminent danger every one began to pray. M. de Volney
himself snatched a rosary from a good woman near him,
and began to recite Hail Marys with edifying fervor, nor
ceased till the danger was over. When the storm had
passed, some one said to him, in a tone of good-natured
raillery: u My dear sir, it seems to me that you were
praying just now. To whom did you address yourself,
since you maintain that there is no God?" "Ah! my
10 WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD.
friend," replied the philosopher, all ashamed, u one can be
a sceptic in his study, but not at sea in a storm." (NocJ,
" Catech. de Rodez," i, 73.)
A certain innkeeper had learned, in bad company, all sorts
of impiety. In his wickedness he even went so far as to
say that he did not believe in God. One night he was
roused by the cry of " Fire ! fire !" His house was on
fire. No sooner had he perceived the dreadful havoc
going on than he cried, with clasped hands : " My God !
O my God ! God Almighty ! God of grace and mercy !
have pity on me and help me !" Here he was suddenly
stopped by one of his neighbors : " How ! wretch, you
have been denying and blaspheming God all the evening,
and you would have him come now to your assistance !"
(Schmid and Belet, " Cat. Hist.," i, 43.)
From these examples it is clear that the mouth of the
infidel belies his own heart. That there is one God, who
made all things, and who rewards the good and punishes
the wicked, is the first and most necessary truth for us to
know and to believe, — a truth to which no reflecting man
can shut his mind : it is so deeply impressed on the mind of
man, that to banish it altogether is impossible. Hence the
Vatican Council says : " Therefore, if any one shall deny
one true God, Creator and Lord of things visible and
invisible, or who shall not be ashamed to affirm that, ex
cept matter, nothing exists, or shall say that the substance
and essence of God and of all things is one and the same,
let him be accursed." (Vatic. Coun. I, Canons 1, 2, 3.)
2. Who is good before God ?
Those only are good before God icho do liis holy will.
This God gave us to understand, in express terms, when
he said to Adam : " And of the tree of knowledge of
WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD. 11
good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For, in what day soever
thou slialt eat of it, thou shalt die the death." (Gen. ii, 17.)
By this commandment man was clearly given to under
stand that the continuation of his happiness, for time and
eternity, depended upon his obedience to the will of God.
To be free from irregular affections and disorderly passions,
and to transmit his happiness to his posterity, was entirely
ic his power. If he made a right use of his liberty, by
always following the law of God j if he preserved un
sullied the image and likeness of his Creator and heavenly
Father; if, in fine, he made a proper use of the creatures
confided to his care, he would receive the crown of life
everlasting, as a reward for his fidelity. But if he swerved,
even for a moment, from this loving will of God, he would
subject himself to the law of God's justice, which would
not fail to execute the threatened punishment.
But did God, perhaps, afterward, in consideration of
the Redemption, lay down other and easier conditions
for man's happiness and salvation ? No. He did not
change these conditions in the least. Man's happiness
still depended on his obedience to the divine will. " Now
if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do
and keep all his commandments, the Lord thy God will make
thee higher than all the nations of the earth, and all these
blessings shall come unto thee, and overtake thee : yet so
if thou hear his precepts." (Deut. xxviii, 1, 2.) And our
divine Saviour says : "You are my friends, if you do the
things that I command you." (John xv, 15.) He himself
gave the example, having been obedient even unto the
death of the cross j thereby teaching all men that their
happiness and salvation depend on their constant obedience
to the will of their heavenly Father, All men, without
12 WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD.
exception, were made by God to be happy with him for
eVer in heaven, on this one condition : " He that doth
the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter
the kingdom of heaven.'7 (Matt, vii, 21.)
3. What will be the reward of the good?
The reward of the good will be to enjoy God forever in
heaven.
God says: "lam thy reward exceeding great." (Gen.
xv? 1.) Even in this life, the reward of those who do the
will of God is very great. It was for his obedience to
the will of God that Abel obtained from the Lord the
testimony that he was just ; that Henoch was translated
by God, in order that he should not see death. On account
of his obedience to the will of God, Noe and his family
were saved from the deluge j Abraham became the father
of many nations ; Joseph was raised to the highest dignity
at the court of the King of Egypt. For the same reason
Moses became the great servant, prophet, and lawgiver of
the land, and the great worker of miracles with the people
of God. Obedience to the will of God was, for the Jews,
at all times, an impregnable rampart against all their e'ne-
mies 5 it turned a Saul, a persecutor of the Church, into a
Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles f it turned the early
Christians into martyrs — for martyrdom does not consist
in suffering and dying for the faith j it consists, rather, in
the conformity of the martyr's will to the divine will,
which requires such a kind of death, and not another.
Nay, Jesus Christ has declared that it is by obedience to the
will of his heavenly Father that every one becomes his
brother, his sister, and even his mother ; " Whosoever,"
he says, " shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven,
he is my brother, and , sister, and mother." (Matt, xii, 50.)
WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD. 13
But in the world to come, in heaven, God is the reward
of the obedient, in a manner altogether incomprehensible.
He is an infinite ocean of happiness. In this ocean of
happiness the saints live for ever and ever. They are
penetrated with God's own happiness more than iron can
be penetrated with fire ; and therefore, "Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man,
what things God hath prepared for them that love him.'7
(1 Cor. ii, 9.)
4. What will be the punishment of the wicked ?
The wicked will suffer the eternal torments of hell.
Man, when leading a life contrary to God's will, is alto
gether out of his place. A tool that no longer corresponds
to the end for which it was made, is cast away ; a wheel
that prevents others from working, is taken out and
replaced by another ; a limb in the body which becomes
burdensome, and endangers the functions and life of the
others, is cut off and thrown away ; a servant who no longer
does his master's will, is discharged ; a rebellious citizen,
violating the laws of the state, is put into prison j a child
in unreasonable opposition to his parents is disinherited.
Thus men naturally hate and reject what is unreasonable
or useless, or opposed to, and destructive of, good order,
whether natural or moral. What more natural, then, than
that the Lord of heaven and earth, the author of good
sense and of good order, should bear an implacable hatred
to disobedience to his holy will?
The man in opposition to the will of God suffers as many
pangs as a limb which has been dislocated j he is continually
tormented by evil spirits, who have power over a soul that
is out of its proper sphere of action ; he is no longer under
the protection of God, since he has withdrawn from his
14 WHY WE ARE IN THIS WOELD.
will the rule for man's guidance, and has voluntarily left
his watchful providence. God sent Jonas the prophet to
Ninive, and he wished to go to Tarsus. He was buffeted
by the tempest, cast into the sea, and swallowed by a mon
ster of the deep ! Behold what shall come upon those who
abandon God's will, to follow their own passions and in
clinations ! They shall be tossed, like Jonas, by continual
tempests ; they will remain like one in a lethargy, in the
hold of their vessels, unconscious of sickness or danger,
until they perish in the stormy sea, and are swallowed up
in hell: "Know thou and see that it is a bitter and
fearful thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God, when
he desired to lead thee in the way of salvation, and that
my fear is not with thee, saith the Lord God of hosts."
God grants to the devil great power over the -disobe'di-
ent. As the Lord permitted a lion to kill a prophet in
Juda, in punishment for his disobedience to the voice of the
Lord, so he permits the infernal lion to assai} the proud
and the disobedient everywhere with the vilest tempta
tions, which they feel themselves too weak to resist, and
thus fall a prey to his rage. Unless they repent soon, like
Jonas, of their sin of idolatry, as it were, they will not be
saved, as was the prophet, but will perish in the waves of
temptations, and sink into the fathomless abyss of hell.
And even in this world sin becomes its own punishment.
It destroys health, peace of mind, good-will to men, ruins
the body, and tortures the soul j in a word, makes life, that
God certainly did not will to be unhappy, the greatest
misery to its possessor.
Disobedience to God's will turned the rebellious angels
out of heaven j it turned our first parents out of paradise ;
it made Cain a vagabond and a fugitive on earth j it
WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD. 15
drowned the human race in the waters of the Deluge ; it
brought destruction upon the inhabitants of Sodom and
Gomorrha. Disobedience to the will of God led the Jews
often into captivity ; it drowned Pharao and all his host
in the Red Sea: it turned Nabuchodonosor into a wild
' -
beast ; it laid the city of Jerusalem in ashes ; it has ruined,
and will still ruin, whole nations, empires, and kingdoms ;
it will finally put an end to the world, when all those who
always rebelled against the will of God will, in an instant,
be hurled into the everlasting flames of hell by these
irresistible words of the Almighty : "Depart from me,
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for
the devil and his angels," there to obey the laws of God's
justice forever.
5. What, then, should be our greatest care in this world ?
Our greatest care in this world should be to know and
to do the holy will of God.
To serve God according to his will is the principal end
of life. To regulate all the affairs of the universe, to be
always successful in our undertakings, to heap up the riches
of this world, obtain great honors and dignities, extend
our possessions beyond bounds, without having rendered
our Creator the service which is due him, is, in the judg
ment of heaven, to have done nothing, to have lived on
earth in vain. On the other hand, to have done nothing
for the world, to have always languished on a sick-bed, to
have been despised by all our fellow-men, to have lived
in some obscure abode, but to have served God throughout,
would be enough, because we should have conducted to its
last end the only thing for which this present life was
given us.
The remembrance of this truth has more than once ren-
16 WHY WE ARE IN THIS WORLD.
dered the wisdom of children superior to that of old men.
In a tender age St. Teresa retired into a solitary place,
and spoke to herself thus : " Teresa, you will be either
eternally happy or eternally unhappy ! Choose which you
please.'' Young Stanislas de Kostka gave all to God,
and nothing to the world. Being asked why 'he acted so
strangely : " I am not made for this world," he replied,
abut for the world to come." Let the world cry out
against this truth j let the flesh revolt against it ; let all
the demons deny and oppose it, — it is and remains an
immortal truth, that we were created by God to serve him
in this world according to his will, and, as a reward for this
service, to possess him forever in the next, or to be pun
ished in hell forever for having refused to obey the Lord.
Who but an atheist would dare deny this truth ?
CHAPTER V.
GOD THE TEACHER OF MANKIND.
§1. — GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
1. Who can teach us how to serve God according to his
will?
God alone can teach us his holy will, either by himself,
or by those to whom 'he has made his ivill known.
Man was created by God for a state of perfection.
But man cannot learn even in what that perfection con
sists, without^ being taught. This is a plain fact. Every
one bears witness to it. Each one has had a mother who
taught him the first elements of instruction. The mother
watches over the gradual dawning of reason. She
teaches the child how to think, how to reason, by teaching
it words and language. She teaches it how to distinguish
between right and wrong, to love virtue, and to hate sin,
to pray to God. Thus she implanted in the child's heart
the first lessons of religion.
The means, then, by which all of us began to acquire
knowledge, and to advance in the way of perfection, was
instruction ; and the means by which we continue to
acquire knowledge and to approach perfection, is also
instruction. The powers of reasoning, in a full-grown
18 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
man, are but the fruit of instruction. He is still the child
of men, the child of parents, the child of those who sur
round him.
Instruction is necessary, in order to acquire the know
ledge of natural truths j but instruction is still more
necessary in order to learn those truths which are super
natural, and lead us to heaven. For, " hardly do we guess
aright at things that are upon earth," says Holy Scripture,
il and with labor do we find the things that are before us :
but the things that are in heaven, who shall search ? "
(Wisd. ix, 16.) For this reason St. Paul says: "No
man knoweth what is in man, except the spirit of man ;
and in like manner no one knoweth what is of God, unldss
the spirit of God." (1 Cor. ii, 11.) The end for which
man was created, his everlasting union with God, says the
Vatican Council, is far above the human understanding.
It was, therefore, necessary that God should make him
self known to man, and teach him the end for which he
was created, and what he must believe and do, in order
to become worthy of everlasting happiness.
2. How does God make himself known 1
God makes himself known: 1, by the visible world;
2, by our conscience ; 3, by his word.
Never, from the very beginning of the world, has God
the Father, who is most merciful and kind, been wanting
to his own. Having created men to know him, he did not
leave them in the dark, but on many occasions, and in
various ways, manifested himself to them, and pointed
out, in a manner suited to the times and circumstances, a
sure and direct path to the happiness of heaven. He
revealed himself to man by creation. Although hidden in
creation, he constantly speaks to man through his great
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 19
works. An architect speaks to us through a beautiful
building, a painter through a painting, a writer through
a book. God the Father speaks to men in like manner :
" He hath manifested his power and divinity in the crea
tion of the world." (Rom. i, 19.) He shows his power in
the storm, in the cataract, in the earthquake : u For the in
visible things of him are understood by the things that are
made." (Rom. i, 20.) He makes known his wisdom in the
laws by which he governs the boundless universe : " The
wisdom of God reacheth from end to end mightily, and
ordereth all things sweetly." (Wisd. viii, 1.) God the
Father shows his beauty in the flower, in the sunbeam,
in the many-tinted rainbow j his justice in the punish
ments which he has inflicted, and continues to inflict,
on the wicked ; he displays his goodness and liberality
in the heavens, which give us light and rain j in the
fire, which gives us warmth j in the air, which preserves
our life j in the earth, which furnishes us with various
kinds of fruit j in the sea, which gives us fish 5 in the
animals, which give us food and clothing : " He left
not himself without testimony, doing good from heaven,
giving rains and fruitful seasons." (Acts xiv, 16.) Hence :
" All men are vain in whom there is not the knowledge
of God j and who, by these good things that are seen,
could not understand him that is. neither, by attending
to the works, have acknowledged who was the workman.
. . . For, if they were able to know so much as to make
a judgment of the world, how did they not more easily
find the Lord thereof? " (Wisd. xiii, 1, 9 ; Rom. i, £0 ;
Aots xiv, 16.) Therefore, "if any one shall say that
the one true God, our Creator and Lord, cannot be
certainty known by the natural light of human reason.
20 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
through created things, let him be accursed." (Vatic.
Counc. II, !.)•
3. How does God make himself known by our con
science ?
By our conscience, God reminds- us of his justice in
ewarding the good and punishing the tvicked.
God speaks to man, not only through the visible works
of his creation, but lalso through an inner voice in the^soul
of man, which is called conscience. For instance, a wicked
man ^wishes to gratify his evil desires, without shame,
without remorse. In order to do this, he tries to get rid
of religion. So he says: "There is no God, there is no
hell, there is no hereafter ; there is only this present life,
and all in it is good." But a secret voice and monitor with
in him speaks, and will not be silenced, and tells him :
" There is a just God who will punish you for your crimes in
hell ; there is a strict and terrible judgment that awaits you
after death." This is conscience, that never deserts a man,
that cannot be stifled or killed. In the silence of the night,
when others are sleeping around him, he cannot sleep.
His conscience tortures him. It asks him : " Were you
to die in this state this night, what would become of you?
It is a terrible thing to fall unprepared into the hands of
the living God ! Think of eternity ! eternity ! eternity !
Think of the worm that never dies, and the fire that never
' / y
quenches !" No wonder that men sometimes commit
suicide. They cannot bear the remorse of conscience,
and so they try to find rest in death. The hell of the
wicked begins even in this world, and it continues through
out all eternity in the next. For this reason St. Paul
says: " Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man
that worketh evil." (Rom. ii; 9.) Witness Adam, who,
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 21
after his fall, hid himself from the face of the Lord amidst
the trees of paradise."- (Gen. iii, 8.) Cain, who, after the
murder of his brother Abel, said : " My iniquity is greater
than that I may deserve pardon. ... I shall be a vagabond
and a fugitive on the earth. 'Every one that findeth me
shall kill me.". (Gen. iv, 13, 14.) Henry VIII, King of
England, when on his death-bed, took those who stood
around his Bed for so many monks whom he had cruelly
treated. This vision was but his bad conscience torment
ing him for his evil deeds.
Another man was a great sinner; but he went to
make a good confession. See him after confession : his
countenance is radiant with beauty ; his step has become
again light and elastic, his soul reflects upon his features
the holy joy with which it is inebriated j he smiles upon
those whom he meets, and every one sees that he is
happy. He trembles now no more when he lifts his eyes
to heaVen j he hopes, he loves ; a supernatural strength
vivifies and animates him j he feels himself burning with
zeal and energy to do good ; a new sun has risen upon his
life, and everything in him puts on the freshness of youth.
And why ? Because his conscience has thrown off a
load that bent him to the earth ; it tells him that now he
is once more the companion of angels ; that he has again
entered that sweet alliance with God, whom he can now
justly call his Father ; that he is reinstated in his dignity
of a child of God. He is no longer afraid of God's
justice, of death and hell. Now this voice of conscience,
which fills the souls of the just with peace and happiness,
and strikes terror into the souls of the wicked, does not
come from ourselves, for it punishes us, and admonishes
us to dread an invisible avenger of sin, and to hope in a
22 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
rewarder of virtue ; nor does it come from education, for
it is found even in the untutored savage. When Columbus
discovered America, the chieftain of an Indian tribe one
day said to him : " I am told that thou hast lately come
to these lands with a mighty force, and subdued many
countries, spreading great fear among the people ;' but be
not, therefore, vainglorious. Know that, according to
our belief, the souls of men have two journeys to perform
after they have departed from the body : one, to a place
dismal and foul, and covered with darkness, prepared for
those who have been unjust and cruel to their fellow-men ;
the other, pleasant and full of delight, for such as have
promoted peace on earth. If, then, thou art mortal and
dost expect to die, and dost believe that each one shall be
rewarded according to his deeds, beware that thou
wrongfully hurt no man, nor do harm to those who have
done no harm to thee." (Irving's " Columbus," chap, v,
p. 483.) From this short oration of a heathen it is
evident that there is a voice of conscience even in the
savage, telling him what is right and wrong, praiseworthy
and blameworthy.
Therefore, St. Paul says: "When the Gentiles, who
have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the
law : these having not the law are a law to themselves,
who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their
conscience bearing witness to them, and their thoughts
between themselves accusing, or also defending one an
other." (Rom. ii, 14, 15.) The voice of conscience is, then,
from God, from that holy and just Being who made our
heart, and from the beginning stamped upon the soul of
man the conception of right and wrong. Therefore, it is
said: "In every work of thine regard thy soul in faith ;"
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 23
that is, follow the voice of thy conscience in every work
of thine, "for this is the keeping of the commandments."
(Ecclus. xxxii, 27.)
4. When did God make himself known by his word ?
God made himself known by his word when he spoke to
men : 1, in his own person ; 2, by the patriarchs and pro
phets ; 3, by his only Son.
God speaks to man by his works ; he speaks to him
through his conscience. But, in order to leave man no
possible excuse for not arriving at the knowledge of God,
lie revealed himself to man by his own word. If a friend
visits us at night, and finds us sitting in the dark, he speaks,
he makes use of words, to show that he is really present.
In like manner God, wishing to reveal himself to man sitting
in the darkness of this life, addressed words to him.
This is the very first article of faith. God spoke to our
first parents in the garden of paradise. After God had
made man, he appeared to him, and, like a good father,
told him who he is, why he had made him, and what he
must believe and do to be happy with him in heaven, and
escape the everlasting pains of hell. God gave man the
light of the Holy Ghost, so that man knew God, knew
his holiness and 'perfections. And he knew himself, and
the nature in which God had created him j he knew the
law of God, the reward attached to its observance, and the
punishment incurred for its transgression.
And how intimate was the intercourse between God
and man, even after the fall ! Though cast out of Eden,
man had not entirely lost one of his greatest privileges :
that of hearing the voice of God, and receiving direct
communication from him. God promised Adam a Re
deemer j he taught him to offer sacrifice : that is, the way
24 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
in which he wished to be worshipped f for the sake of the
Redeemer he promised him, and all his descendants, pardon
and grace to merit heaven, by obeying his law.
The familiarity between God and Cain and Abel was
quite as close as it was between God and Adam : " The
Lord had respect to Abel and his offerings, but to Cain
and his offerings he had no respect." (Gen. iv, 4, 5.) The
fall did not entirely break that communion. What broke
it was the subsequent wickedness of mankind. As in
the case of Cain, a wilful crime lost him the privilege of
that near* presence of God which original sin had not.
But as yet man had very close and constant intercourse
with God, — so constant, that it seems nothing could be done
in the way of religious observance without God's direction.
Immediately, too, on sacrifice being offered, there was a
sensible sign of God's acceptance or otherwise j and a
voice from God was so usual that no surprise or change
in ordinary feeling was caused by it.
5. W no were the patriarchs ?
The patriarchs were those holy men who lived fromf tJie
time of Adam to that of Moses ; as Noe, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, etc.
The world in which we live is the temple of God. The
earth, with its flowers and verdure, forms the carpeted
floor. The sky above, with its sun and moon and stars, is
the vaulted dome. God created this temple, in order that
man might worship him therein, lead a holy life, and gain
an eternal reward. But God foresaw, from all eternity,
that man would not always live up to this sublime end.
God, then, would have been frustrated in his design in
creating the world, had he not decreed, from all eternity, to
send a Redeemer, through whom he was to be reconciled
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 25
to man. It was, therefore, principally for the sake of the
Redeemer that the world was created, for he was to come
into this world for the justification and glorification of
man : " Or do enim natures creatus est et institutus propter
ordinem gratice" says St. Thomas Aquinas.
The principal end of the creation of the universe is *
Christ, that through him man might receive the grace of
God here below, and everlasting glory in the world to
come. Although it be true that the Eedeemer, so to
speak, is a certain part of this world, which is prior to
him in material existence, yet, if considered in his final
end, he is prior to the world. For this reason St. Paul
calls our blessed Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the beginning,
tlie first-born from the dead, that in all things he may hold
primacy : " Because in him it hath pleased the Father
that all fulness should dwell, and through him to reconcile
all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of
the cross, both as to things on earth, and the things that
are in heaven." (Col. i, 18-20.)
As God created the world principally for the sake of
the Redeemer and his religion, so also for his sake he has
preserved the world. To create the world, God used no
effort. He simply said, " Be it done," and all was done.
But, to redeem the world, God the Father willed that his
well-beloved Son should become man, sacrifice wealth,
honors, pleasure, and everything that man holds dear 5
that he should suffer poverty, contempt, persecution, and
at last die upon the cross, and pour out every drop of
his heart's blood. Now, if God preserves the universe, —
the material temple, — for the sake of religion, he must, of
course, watch with still greater care over the preservation
of his religion. Wishing, then, that the religion revealed
26 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
to Adam should be handed down tmcorrupted to his
descendants, and foreseeing, at the same time, that this
religion would be abandoned or misinterpreted by many,
he provided, from the beginning, a set of holy men called
patriarchs, to whom he spoke, and who, in his name,
should proclaim the revealed truths, and teach the way of
salvation to their fellow-rnen.
The first who abandoned the truth was Cain, Adam's son.
He*had sinned in the choice of his offering. God reproached
him for it. Instead of being sorry for his sin, he added
to it the sin of murder. Soon after, God appeared to him,
saying : u Cain, where is thy brother Abel I " u I know
nothing of him : am I my brother's keeper f " he impu
dently replied. u What hast thou done with thy brother Ty
said the Lord. " Thou hast killed him, thou hast shed his
blood upon the ground, and that blood cries to heaven for
vengeance. Cursed shalt thou be, a wanderer and a
vagabond on the earth." This terrible threat was fulfilled
to the letter, and for several hundred years that Cain lived
after, he was made to suffer the frightful consequences
of his crime.
Cain was now banished from the u face of the Lord,"
and was condemned to live separate from the members of
Adam's family, who feared God. He became the father
of a numerous family, who were brought up by him with
out any fear or knowledge of God. Cain had now become
what is called an open infidel or unbeliever, and had ceased
to teaxch and practise any religious duty. God, however,
provided a believer and faithful bearer of truth in Seth,
the next son of Adam, born after the murder of Abel.
The whole family of Cain were unbelievers, who neVer
troubled themselves in any way at all about prayer or
GOD THE FATHER OUE TEACHER. 27
sacrifice, or the worship of God ; while Seth was a just
man, who taught all his household to fear God, and to
offer the sacrifices which God had commanded. Enos, the
son of Seth, was particularly remarkable for having exerted
himself to assemble the people for the public worship of
God j and so strong was the feeling on the part of the
different families of Seth and Cain, that they remained
for some centuries separated from one another 5 the relig
ious families looking upon the impious race as quite unfit
company for themselves, and the unbelievers having just
the same scorn and contempt for those who feared God as
the same kind of persons have still at the present day.
Then began the distinctive term, " sons of God," or
" people of God," in contradistinction to the term, u sons
of men," the descendants of Cain.
In this state of things Almighty God showed mercy to
the unbelieving race. He sent Enoch, a very holy man,
to warn them that God would come surrounded with all
his holy angels, "to execute a judgment against all the
blasphemers of his name, for all the hard things they had
spoken against him." (Jude xv.) God, however, gave
them still a trial of one hundred and twenty years ; but
seeing that, instead of profiting by his repeated warnings,
they grew more wicked, he destroyed them all in the
Deluge.
All men, except the pious Noe, with his family, had
perished in the Deluge. Noe taught his children the re
ligion which God had taught man from the beginning.
From him all nations carried away with them, into the
lands in which they settled, the knowledge of a just God?
who rewards the good and punishes the wicked ; the hope
in a Redeemer to come ; the consciousness of right and
28 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
wrong ; the duty of prayer, and of observing the Sabbath
with sacrifices. Such was the simple religion which Noe
taught his sons j and this would have continued if the
nations had preserved what they had learned from Noe.
Unhappily, however, they did not preserve it. Though
they were too frightened at the memory of the" terrible
judgment of the Deluge to become infidels like the people
before the Deluge, they began to wish for objects of wor
ship which they might be able to see. So they gave
themselves up to their evil inclinations, and became, at
last, so wicked and foolish, that, instead of worshipping the
true God, they worshipped the sun and the moon, certain
men and animals, and even idols of gold and silver, and of
stone and wood.
At this time, about three hundred and fifty years after
the Deluge, God appeared to Abraham, and commanded
him to leave his country, his family, his home, in order
that he might not be exposed to the society of the wicked,
and to induce him to consider the earth as a place of exile,
and heaven his true home ; to make him the father of a
people who were to be different, in manners and religion,
from all the other peoples of the earth. Abraham believed
and obeyed God, who rewarded him for his submission.
By a solemn alliance which he made with him, God prom
ised to take him and his posterity under his protection,
to make him the father of a great people, to give him a
land that was rich and abundant, called Chanaan, for
himself and his posterity. God also promised that the
Redeemer, or Messiah, should be born of the race of Abra
ham. (Gen. xviii.) God swore by himself to the fulfilment
of these promises, and appointed circumcision as a mark
to distinguish Abraham and his posterity from all the other
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 29
peoples of the earth. (Gen. xvii, 14; xxii, 16; Heb. vi,
13; xvi, 17.)
Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, and heir to the
promise, went into Egypt, where the covenant, and the
warning threats against those who forgot God, began to
be fulfilled. The descendants of Abraham became very
numerous, but they entirely lost his singleness of mind
and purity of heart. God, ever faithful to his warnings,
in order to centre in himself the hopes and aspirations of
this ungrateful people, caused them to feel the bitterness
and ignominy of the degrading bondage of the Egyptians,
but at the same time raised up Moses to be among them
the representative of the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. Holy Scripture tells us that God also appeared
and spoke to many other holy and illustrious men. All
these were teachers from God, and therefore infallible
in their teaching, " whether men would hear, or whether
they would forbear." That patriarchal body, simply
because it was God's ordinance, was a guide, sure and
infallible, to the extent of the revelation of God, as then
made known.
<>, How did the patriarchs serve God ?
The patriarchs served God: 1, by faith, hope, and
charity ; 2, by prayer and sacrifice ; 3, by doing what they
knew to be the ivill of God.
During their lives the patriarchs gave abundant proofs
of their implicit faith in the one living God, of their firm
hope in the faithfulness of his promises, and of their char
ity toward God, by scrupulously keeping his command
ments, and walking reverently in his sight. Holy Scripture
tells us of Henoch : " Henoch walked with God, and was
seen no more, because God took him." (Gen. v, 24.)
30 GOD THE FATHER OUE TEACHER.
This tf walking with God " is, of course, walking by God's
rule or law, leading a practical, highly religious life, and
consequently enjoying close communion with God on
earth, especially when at prayer, and in the act of offering
sacrifice to the Lord. The patriarchs had their places of
worship. They did not merely worship God under the
vault of heaven ; they had places set apart for divine wor
ship. The phrase, " before the Lord," frequently occurs,
and in a local sense. Cain and Abel, for instance, brought
their offerings to a certain spot ; and when Cain was ban
ished, he " went out from the face of the Lord " (Gen. iv,
16), which, in regard to God's omnipresence, would, of
course, have been impossible. The reference, therefore,
is to a local presence, to a place in which God met his
worshippers, and made himself known to them, either by
showing his glory, or by an answer to prayer, or by some
other sensible means. So, also, in the case of Abraham
(Ibid, xviii, 22), after the angel had left him, and gone
toward Sodom, "Abraham as yet stood before the Lord."
The patriarchs clearly believed that in certain places,
especially consecrated to his service, God would be best
propitiated and served,
Then, again, besides places of worship, there were min
isters : special persons appointed to officiate, and to offer
sacrifice. The instance of Melchisedech shows this : " He
was priest of the most high God." And Abraham must
have been quite familiar with the character of the priestly
office, from the respect which he showed Melchisedech, and
his- receiving a blessing from him : " Without all contradic
tion, that which is less is blessed by the greater." (Heb.
vii, 7.) f ^
The patriarchs had also their religious ceremonies and
GOD THE FATHER OUE TEACHER. 31
customs. There was the consecration ceremonial, by which
places were set apart for worship, by anointing them with
oil, as at Bethel, when Jacob anointed the pillar, and
poured a drink-offering on it.
There was the ceremony of baring the feet on entering
consecrated places, which is still observed in the East.
There was also a posture for worship, viz., the bowing
down to the ground in prayer before the Lord.
There was a special day for the performance of
religious duties : the Sabbath, the institution of which dates
from the creation, appearing in the book of Genesis by
the mention of weeks. Noe, we are told, "waited yet
seven other days," and "sent forth the dove out of the
ark,'7 and " he stayed yet other seven days, and he sent forth
the dove, which returned not any more unto him." (Gen.
viii,l2.) " And before the giving of the ten commandments,
it is spoken of as a Sabbath : " And he said to them, this is
what the Lord has spoken : To-morrow is the rest of the
Sabbath, sanctified to the Lord." (Ex. xvi, 23.) And in
the 27th verse of the same chapter we have that Sabbath
spoken of as the seventh day: "And the seventh day
came, and some of the people going forth to gather (the
manna) found none."
From all this it is clear that the patriarchs were men of
a lively and definite faith ; men of constant prayer, and
models of scrupulous exactitude in complying with all the
prece'pts of the Lord. The God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, live.s among us Christians with a far more tender
love. What a shame and confusion for us, if, on the
day of judgment, we shall see that the patriarchs have
surpassed us in faith, hope and charity !
32 GOD THE FATHEK OUR TEACHER.
7. Who were the prophets ?
The prophets were holy men, sent ~by God to teach
especially the Jeivish people to observe Godjs law given
through Moses.
About the time of Moses the grossest darkness of the
understanding, and the most lamentable depravity of the
will, prevailed almost over the entire world. All mankind,
with the exception of the Jews, had lost the knowledge of
God, and the hope in the Redeemer to come ; they w<3r-
shipped creatures, even the very demons, as gods, and
the most shameful vices were praised as virtues. From
the corrupt mass of mankind, however, God had chosen
the Jews, or Israelites, as his people ; over them he
watched with special care, in order that, through them, all
those truths of religion which he had made known to man
kind from the beginning, should be preserved, and that
from them, at last, should be born one holy enough to be the
mother of the Redeemer. God appeared to Moses, his
faithful servant, and made him his great lawgiver, pro
phet, and performer of miracles. Through him he led the
Jews out of Egypt, gave them the ten commandments,
and instituted the priesthood of Aaron, whose duty it was
to preserve and to teach all that God had commanded the
Jews to observe in their religion.
From time to time, God sent other prophets for the
salvation of his people. These men led holy lives, often
secluded from the world, in poverty and hardship. They
left their retreats only by the order of God, and to perf6rm
the duties of their ministry ; they did not flatter kings
}r princes ; they denounced all evildoers, regardless of
their smiles or frowns j they sought only God and his
holy religion. Good kings honored the prophets as men
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 33
of God j the wicked persecuted them, and sometimes put
them to death, because these holy men fre'ely denounced
their evil passions, and reproached them with their crimes.
Very celebrated prophets were Elias, Eliseus, Isaias,
Jeremias, Ezechiel and Daniel.
8. How did the prophets prove their divine mission ?
The prophets proved their divine mission ~by miracles
and prophecies.
When God sent a prophet to his people, he would speak
to him in this or a similar manner : " I sanctified thee, and
made thee a prophet unto the nations . . . thou shalt go
to all that I shall send thee : and whatsoeVer I shall com
mand thee, thou shalt speak." (Jer. i, 57.) Now, in order
to make the people believe the prophets, God wrought
through them great miracles.
9. What is a miracle ?
A miracle is an extraordinary worJc, which cannot be
done by natural powers, but by the power of God alone.
A miracle is an effect produced contrary to the laws
of nature, and which can be performed by the power of
God alone. He has established the order of nature. He
also can change and suspend that order. He alone can
derogate from the laws which he has established for the
government of the world, so that, when a miracle takes
place, God acts and makes known his power. When
a man, then, declares himself to be a messenger from
God, and at the same time, in support of the truth of
his assertions, performs true miracles, his assertion must
certainly be believed. His declaration is confirmed by
the power of God, who cannot allow the performance of a
miracle in support of deception or lying. Miracles are, as
it were, credentials signed by the hand of God himself j
34 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
and not to believe an assertion so confirmed, is to resist
the voice of God, who speaks through miracles.
Miracles were, then, the strongest and most striking
proofs which God could furnish, in order to make the
people believe the prophets. Elias, for instance, pre
vented rain for three years, exterminated four hundred
and fifty idolatrous priests, raised to life the son of a
widow, made fire descend from heaven, divided the river
Jordan with his mantle, and passed through it on dry
land, confronted kings, was fed by a raven and an angel,
foretold that Je'sabel, an idolatrous queen, would be
devoured by dogs ; he was carried in a chariot of fire to
heaven, and he will return to the earth at the end of the
world, to lalbor for the conversion of the Jews. (3 Kings
xvii ; 4 Kings, i ; Ecclus. xlviii ; Mai. iv, 5 ; Matt, xi, 14,
xvii, 10; James v, 17.)
Eliseus, like Elias, made a dry path through the waters
of the Jordan, multiplied oil for a widow, raised a dead
child to life again, cured Naaman of leprosy, foretold the
victory of the kings of Juda, Israel, and Idumea, over the
Moabites ; also the miraculous victories of the Israelites
over the Syrians ; and lastly, by the touch of his body, he
raised a dead man to life. (4 Kings xvii ; Ecclus. xlviii,
13; Lukeiv, 27.)
10. To whom does God graint the gift of miracles ?
God grants the gift of miracles to such only as hola or
teach the truth.
God is true. He can neither deceive nor be deceived,
and therefore he can reveal nothing but the truth. To
convince men of the truth, he has wrought miracles in
confirmation of the truth. " In order that the obedience
of our faith,'7 says the Vatican Council (c. iii), " might
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 35
be in harmony with reason, God willed that to the interior
help of the Holy Spirit there should be joined exterior
proofs of his revelation, to wit : divine facts, and especially
miracles and prophecies, which, as they manifestly display
the omnipotence and infinite kno'wledge of God, are most
certain proofs of his divine revelation, adapted to the intelli
gence of all men. Wherefore, Moses and the prophets . . .
showed forth many and most evident miracles and pro
phecies." If God, then, performs miracles through certain
men, it is evident that they hold and teach the truth, for
it would be blasphemous to think that God would grant
the gift of miracles to such as neither hold nor teach the
truth.
There were false prophets before and after the coming
of the Redeemer. They pretended to be sent by God ;
and to prove their divine mission, they tried to perform
miracles. But they never succeeded. In some instances
they succeeded, by the help of the devil, whose ministers
they were, in performing certain wonderful things, or
false miracles. When Moses performed great miracles
before Pharao in Egypt, the magicians of the king tried
to imitate the miracles of the great servant of God. They
cast their rods before the king, and, by devilish enchant
ments, their rods seemed to be changed into serpents. But,
when Moses continued to perform miracles, the magicians
were constrained to confess that they were unable to do
what Mo'ses did, saying to the king, " This is the finger
of God."
One day the prophet Elias " came to all the people of
Israel and said : How long do you halt between two sides?
If the Lord be God, follow him j but if Baal, then follow
him. And the people did not answer him a word, And
3G GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
Elias said again to the people : I only remain a prophet
of the / Lord : but the prophets of Baal are four hundred
and fifty men. Let two bullocks be given us, and let
them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in
pieces and lay it upon wood; but put no fire under ; and
I will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood, and put no
fire under. Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call
on the name of my Lord : and the god that shall answer
by fire, let him be God. And all the people answering said :
A very good proposal. Then Elias said to the prophets
of Baal : Choose you one bullock, and dress it first, be
cause you are many : and call on the names of youi
gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock
which he gave them, and dressed it : and they called or
the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, O
Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that
answered. And when it was now noon, Elias jested at
them, saying : Cry with a louder voice, for he is a god,
and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey,
or perhaps he is asleep and must be waked. So they cried
with a loud voice . . . but there was no voice heard,
nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed.
Elias said to all the people : Come ye unto me.
And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the
altar of the Lord, that was broken down. And he built
with twelve stones an altar to the name of the Lord, and
he made a trench for water of the breadth of two furrows
round about the altar. And he laid the wood in Order, and
cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood, and
he said : Fill four buckets with water, and pour it up6n
the burnt-offering, and upon the wood. And he said, Do
the same the second and the third time, And the water
GfOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 37
ran round about the altar, and the trench was filled with
water. And when it was now time to offer the holocaust,
Elias the prophet came near and said : 0 Lord God of
Abraham, and Isaac and Israel, show this day that thou
art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that accord
ing to thy commandments I have done all these things.
Hear me O Lord, hear me, that thy people may learn that
thou art the Lord God. Then the fire of the Lord fell
and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones,
and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the
trench. And when all the people saw this they fell
on their faces, and they said : The Lord he is God, the
Lord he is God." (3 Kings xviii.)
When Simon the Magician, by the aid of the devil,
raised himself in the air, to make the people of Rome
believe that he was sent by God, St. Peter and St. Paul
prayed that God might confound this false prophet; and
suddenly Simon fell from on high, broke his legs, and was
killed.
At the time of Martin Luther, a certain man named
William was drowned. Luther was requested to raise him
to life again. He commanded him repeatedly to rise from
the dead. It was all in vain. (Bredenbach. 1. vii, c. 1.)
A certain Lutheran preacher begged a man named
Matthew to feign death, and have himself carried as a
corpse to the church, and then to rise at his bidding, so
that the people might believe he had been raised to life
again by the prayer of a Protestant preacher. Matthew
complied with the request. He was carried to the church,
apparently dead. The preacher approached the coffin and
said in a loud voice : " Matthew, I command you to rise in
the name of Christ, whose Gospel I preach." But Matthew
38 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
never rose. He was dead ; God had punished him. (Franc.
Torrianus, 1. i, " De Dogmatibus.")
Frederick Staphil relates that Luther once endeavored
to cast out the devil from a possessed girl in Wirtemberg,
but he was so terrified, that he tried to escape, both by the
door and the window, which, to his great consternation,
were both made fast. Finally, one of his companions broke
open the door with a hatchet, and they escaped. (Resp.
contra Jac. Smidelin, p. 404.) Moses, Elias, and other
true prophets, proved by real miracles that they were sent
by Almighty God, and spoke what God inspired them to
speak. Hence they were readily believed when they
reminded the people of keeping the law of God, exhorted
them to repentance, and extolled the tender mercies of
the Lord. u If, then," says the Vatican Council, " any
one shall say that divine revelation cannot be made
credible by outward signs, and therefore that men ought
to be moved to faith solely by the internal experience of
each, or by private inspiration;" or, u if any one shall
say that miracles are impossible, and therefore that all the
accounts regarding them, even those contained in Holy
Scripture," are to be dismissed as fabulous or mystical, or
that miracles can never be known with certainty, and
that the divine origin of Christianity cannot be proved
by them, let him be accursed." (Vatic. Counc. Ill, can.
3 and 4.1)
11. What is a prophecy?
A prophecy is tlie foretelling of some future event, 'known
to him only to ivJiom God revealed it.
Through the prophets God also made known to the
Jews what should happen to them, and in connection with
them; what should happen to other nations ; but he ^
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 39
cially foretold, through them, the Messiah, whom the Jews
expected, and by whom all nations were to be saved.
As to the Jews, the prophets foretold the general ruin
of the kingdom of Israel : that the city and temple
would be destroyed, and restored for a time ; that the
Jews would be captives in Babylon, and that they would
again return j that they would reject the Messiah, and
put him to death ; that God would abandon them, and dis
perse them over the whole earth ; that he would make an
eternal covenant with another people, and that the Jews
would be converted at the end of the world.
As to the prophecies concerning the Messiah, the
prophet Daniel foretold the precise time of the Messiah's
coming. While the Jews were captives in Babylon, God
sent his a'ngel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel to inform
him : 1, that the city and the temple of Jerusalem would
be rebuilt ; and, 2, that seventy weeks would elapse from
the publication of the edict for the rebuilding of the city
and temple to the coming of Christ j 3, that in the middle
of the seventieth week the Messiah would be put to
death j 4, that he would be rejected by his own people,
and consequently would cease to regard them as his ; 5,
that, after this, the city and the temple would be entirely
destroyed; 6, that, before the demolition of the temple,
the abomination of desolation would be seen in that holy
place j and, 7, that, immediately after, the Jews would
suffer a desolation which would endure to the end of time.
(Dan. ix, 24, 25, 27.)
The prophet's weeks are understood, by all interpreters
of the Holy Scriptures, to mean years for days, so that
sixty-nine weeks of years amount to 483 years. The
edict for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem was made by
40
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
Artaxerxes Longimanus, in the twentieth year of his
reign, which was the year of the world 3548. Now, if
to 3548 we add Daniel's weeks of years, 483, the number
will be 4031, which is the year of Christ's baptism by St.
John, and the commencement of his public life, lasting
about three years and three months, — the middle of the last
seventieth week, in which Christ was put to death. The
Jews abandoned and denied Jesus ; they were rejected
by him as reprobates, and then the Romans destroyed
their city and temple : the abominations committed in the
temple, as described by Josephus, were horrible. Since
that time the Jews have been dispersed over the whole
earth, and, though even aided in their 'attempts to rebuild
Jerusalem by idolatrous emperors who hated Christianity,
they failed in every effort.
Isaias foretold that the Messiah should be born of a
virgin : " Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and his name shall be called Emmanuel." (Isa. vii, -15 )
"And Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy
Ghost, and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary," (Matt, i, 23.)
Micheas foretold that the Redeemer should be born In
the city of Bethlehem, as even the Jews declared to the
Magi, in the presence of Herod. (Mich, v, 2 ; Matt, ii, 5,
6.) And Christ chose to be born in a stable of Bethlehem.
/ / /
Isaias and David foretold all the pains, sorrows, and
insults, which the Saviour was to endure, and that, in a
manner so precise and accurate, as to lead one to suppose
that they had been eye-witnesses of the sufferings of the
Redeemer : " I have given my body to the strikers, and
my cheeks to them that plucked them ; I have not turned
away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon
me." (Isa. 1, 6.) "I am a worjj^and no man, the
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 41
reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. " (Ps. xxi,
7.) " There is no beauty in him, nor comeliness : de
spised and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with infirmity : surely he hath borne our intir-
.mities, and carried our sorrows, and we have thought him
as it were a le'per, and as one struck by God, and afflicted."
(Isa. liii.) " And they gave me gall for my food, and in my
thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. " (Ps. Ixviii, 22.)
" Many dogs have encompassed me : the council of the
malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands
and feet, they have numbered all my bones. They parted
rny garments amongst them, and upon my vesture they
cast lots." (Ps. xxi, 17-19.)
David foretold the resurrection and ascension of the
Redeemer, saying, u Thou hast ascended on high, hast
led captivity captive." (Ps. Ixvii, 19.) " Sing ye to God,
who.mounteth above the heavens." (Ps. Ixvii, 34.)
The prophet Joel foretold that the Redeemer would
send down the Holy Ghost : "I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy." (Chap, ii, 28.)
The Saviour's everlasting priesthood was also foretold
in these words: " He shall be a priest upon his throne7'
(Zach. vi, 13) ; "Thou art a priest forever, according to
the order of Melchisedech." (Ps. cix, 4.)
The prophets also foretold the conversion of the Gentiles,
and the foundation, spread and duration of Christ's Church,
saying that the Messiah shall be the light of the Gentiles,
and that all nations of the earth shall be blessed in him ;
that he shall establish a new sacrifice, and a new priest
hood, and found a kingdom of God, reaching from sea to
sea, to the end of the earth, which shall never be destroyed,
42 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
but shall stand forever. (Mai. i, 11 ; Isa. Ixvi, 21 j- Jer. iii,
15; Zach. ix, 10; Dan. ii, 44, and vii, 14.)
12. Why were all those prophecies made?
They were made : 1 , to keep alive man's hope in tlie Re
deemer to come; 2, to prepare him to receive the Redeemer.
When God intends to do something very extraordinary,
lie generally prepares men for it by revealing to them,
beforehand, what he -is about to do. When he intended
to destroy the world 'by the Deluge, he made it known
•through Noe, a hundred years before the event took place.
God acts- thus with men because he does not wish to
overwhelm them by his strange and mysterious dealings.
Now the most wonderful thing that God ever decreed is
the sending of the Redeemer, — the Incarnation of his well-
beloved Son, — for the salvation of mankind. From the
beginning he made provision that, by the holy patriarchs,
the hope in the Redeemer should be carefully preserved
am6ng the people. But the nearer the time apprdached
for his coming, the more did God the Father revexal,
through his prophets, portions of the Jewish history, as
well as what regarded the religion to be established by
the Redeemer, in order that the Jews, seeing in their own
immediate history these prophecies verified by the e^vent,
might find in them an evident proof of the prophecies
regarding the Messiah and his religion, know him theVeby,
and receive him with great joy and gratitude. These
prophecies were made, long before the coming of the
Redeemer, for Malachias, the last of the prophets, pro'-
phesied four hundred and filfty years before Christ. They
were carefully preserved and read by the Jews as divine
oracles j they also were translated into different languages,
and spread among the pagan nations. Now if it is asked :
GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER. 43
13. In- whom were all those prophecies fulfilled?
The answer is : In Jesus Christ, the Son of God ; and
in Christ were also fulfilled all those figures which related
to or typified his life, as ivill be seen in . the next instruction.
14. In what condition was mankind at the coming of
the Redeemer ?
, With the exception of the Jews, all mankind had fallen
into idolatry and all kinds of vices-.
God the Father had promised a Redeemer- 'to our first
parents, but he did not send him immediately after 'their
fall. He waited about four thousand years before sending
him, in order that men might feel their weakness and
misery, and the need they had of a Redeemer, sigh for
his coming, and appreciate the great blessings which they
were to receive through him. When Christ came at
length, the grossest ignorance and immorality prevailed
everywhere. The true God was hardly known, save in
one single corner of the earth, in Judca : and even there,
how very few knew and loved him ! As to the rest of
the world, some worshipped the sun, some the brutes, some
the very stones, and others again even viler creatures
still ; nay, many even worshipped the very demons as
gods.
Everywhere there reigned the night of sin which blinds
souls, and hides from them the sight of the miserable state
in which they are living as enemies of God, condemned .
to^hell. The most degrading vices were extolled even as
virtues. The world cried for light. Men could no longer
see their way. Why are we here ? Who made us ?
Whither are we going ? Whence the evil in the world f
Why have we a desire for immortality ? Why does noth
ing on earth satisfy us ? Why our yearning for perpetual
44 GOD THE FATHER OUR TEACHER.
happiness ? Such were the questions that resounded
everywhere — in the schools of philosophy, in the forum, in
the market-place, in the temple, at the fireside. No one
could answer ; and yet the social, domestic and religious
happiness of the world was at stake on these questions
then, as it is now. What remedy could be applied to heal
such inveterate evils of the mind and the will ? Pagan
philosophers, poets and orators, had tried their best to
elevate mankind j but they had tried in vain. It had be
come evident to all that no human means were adequate
to remedy the e" vils of the world, and make mankind triily
happy. " God himself, " exclaimed the great Plato,
" must come down and be our master and our guide."
(De Legib. 1, 4.) " Yes,'7 say the fathers of the Vatican
Council, " if any one shall say that it is impossible or in
expedient that man should be taught by divine revelation,
concerning God and the worship to be paid to him, let
him be accursed." (Vatic. Counc. II, can. 2.)
God had tried, in many ways, to make the pagans return
to him, and do penance for their sins. He sent the terri
ble disaster of the universal deluge ; he sent fire upoyn the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrha j he chastised Egypt,
Chanaan, and many other places, in a most frightful ma'n-
ner. He made prophets and other holy men live among
them, as Daniel, Jonas, Job, to teach them by word and
example how to worship the true God and be saved : u He
scattered the Israelites among the Gentiles, in order that
they might declare to them his wonderful works, and that
there is no other Almighty God besides him." (Tob. xiii,
4.) He instructed King Nabuchodonosor by dreams, Bal-
tassar by a mysterious handwriting on the wall j he also
spoke to the pagans by the inner voice of their conscience,
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 45
and by natural blessings, "doing good to them from
heaven, giving rains and fruitful seasons." (Acts xiv, 16.)
But all was in vain with the greater part of them. They
plunged themselves deeper and deeper in the abyss of
idolatry and immorality. Nothing could draw them from
their evil ways, and stop the universal corruption.
But mankind, though without God, and estranged from
Mm, everywhere looked anxiously forward to the coming
of ll The desired of nations," foretold by the prophets,-— a
season annually commemorated by the Catholic Church in
her service during Advent, when she sings again the an
them of the prophet : " Drop down dew, ye heavens, from
above, and let the clouds rain the Just ; let the earth be
opened, and bud forth a Saviour." (Isa. xlv, 8.) The " ful
ness of time " came at last. " The light shone into the dark
ness :" Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came and was this
light by his holy doctrine, divine example, and the means
which he gave us to obtain the grace of God, and lead
holy lives.
§ 2. — GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
1. Through whom did God reveal himself most clearly 1
Through his only Son, Jesus Christ, whom he sent to
teach us : 1, what ive must believe ; 2, what we must do ;
3, what means of grace we must use to be saved.
There is in the human heart a craving, a necessity,
to have God for teacher, and God himself satisfied this
Braving which he implanted in the human heart. God
46 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
the Father spoke to our first parents in paradise j he spoke
to the patriarchs and prophets, and finally, as St. Paul
assures us, he has spoken, for the last time, by his dnly-
begotten Son.
But merely to hear the voice of a friend is not enough,
the heart longs for something more : the eyes yearn to look
upon him. God knows this want of the human heart, and
he has satisfied it. The prophets besought him, again and
again, to show himself: "Show us thy face, 0 Lord, and
we shall be saved." This, too, was the ardent prayer of
Moses : a 0 Lord ! show me thy glory.'7 (Exod. xxxiii,
13.)
In the Old Law God satisfied this desire, by manifesting
his presence to the Israelites, under the form of a cloud
and a pillar of fire. He next commanded an ark or
tabernacle to be made, and there he manifested his presence
by a peculiar, supernatural light, called the Shekinah.
But all this satisfied neither man's heart, nor God's un
bounded love. If we love a person dearly, it is not enough
for us to hear his voice, or to see him in disguise : we wish
to behold him face to face. God gratified even this desire.
He had commanded a tabernacle of wood to be made by
the hand of man, and that tabernacle he chose for his
dwelling-place. But now, when the fulness of time was
come, when God had decreed to send his Son into the
world that we might be rede'emed and adopted as children ;
then, with his own divine hands, he made a living taber
nacle, holy and spotless, the Immaculate Virgin Mary,
and in that tabernacle he took up his abode. There he
formed for himself a human body and soul : u Thence he
came forth and appeared," as St. Augustine says, " to men,
to a world in the decline of old age, and in the throes of
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 47
death, in order that, while everything about them
rapidly going to decay, he might, by his presence, infuse
into all new life and fresh vigor.'7 In becoming man, God
revealed himself most clearly. Men saw God? heard -God7
even touched God.
2. JIow do we know that Jesus Christ is the promised
Redeemer, and the Son of God ?
We learn it : 1, from the mouths of the prophets: 2,
from the declarations of the angels ; 3, from the testimony
of his heavenly Father ; and, 4, from his oivn testimony.
The prophets had foretold the coming of a great king,
but not a king of this world ; Otherwise they would not
have described him as the " reproach of men, and the out
cast of the people r (Ps. xxi, 7), nor called him u a man
of sorrows." (Tsa. liii, 3, 4.) They promised a king of a
spiritual and supernatural kingdom which was to begin
and spread over the earth, to be consummated o'nly in
heaven. Now, what the prophets had foretold of the
/ f - I rJ
Redeemer, was all visibly and historically fulfilled in
Christ, the son of God ; and to deny this true and real ful
filment of prophecy in the person, the life and the death of
Christ, and the effect of his life, death, and teaching, on the
world, is to deny the value of all testimony, and the truth
of all history. Jesus Christ came at the time foretold by
the prophets ; he lived, suffered and died, in the manner
foretold by the prophets 5 he rose from the dead, asce'nded
into heaven, and founded an everlasting kingdom, — the
Church, — as was foretold by the prophets. And not only
do we see fulfilled in Christ the prophecies regarding the
Redeemer, but we see also fulfilled in him all the figures
by which the deeds and sufferings of the Redeemer were
indicated many centuries before. The principal types
48 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
or figures of Jesus Christ are, Abel, Noe, Isaac, Joseph,
and Jonas. Abel is a figure of the Messiah, because he
offered sacrifice, was killed by his own brother, and be
cause his blood cried aloud to heaven for vengeance.
Our Lord offered sacrifice, was put to death by the Jews,
his brethren, and his blood cried to heaven for mercy,
Abel's murderer became a vagabond on the face of the
earth ; the murderers of our Lord are condemned to wan
der over the earth without priest, without king, without
sacrifice. Noe is a figure of Jesus Christ. " Noe " sig
nifies consoler ; " Jesus " signifies saviour. Noe alone finds
grace before God j our Lord alone finds grace before his
Father. Noe built an ark, which saved him and his
family from the Deluge ; our Lord built a Church, to save
from eternal death all who are willing to enter it. Isaac
is a figure of Jesus Christ. Isaac is the well-beloved son
of his father ; our Lord is the well-beloved son of the
Eternal. Isaac, though innocent, is condemned to death,
is to be sacrificed by his father, and must himself caYry
the wood j Jesus Christ is innocently condemned to death ;
is immolated by his Father, through the hands of the Jews,
and carries on his shoulders the wood of the cross.
When Isaac was tied to the pile, he did not a murmur
and when our Saviour was tied to a pillar, he did not com
plain. Joseph, too, is a figure of the Redeemer. Joseph,
the well-beloved son of his father, is sold by his brethren
to strange merchants, is condemned for a crime of which
he is innocent, is found in a prison with two criminals,
to one of whom he announces pardon, to the other
punishment. Our Lord, the beloved son of his Father, is
maltreated by his brethren, the Jews j is sold by Judas,
aiid given up to the Romans j is condemned for crimes of
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 49
which he is innocent ; is placed on a cross between two
criminals ; promises heaven to one, and leaves the other
to his perdition. And as Joseph passed from a prison
to a throne, so our Lord passed from the cross to the
throne of God. Jonas, who remained three days in the
whale, and was delivered from it, is a figure of Jesus
remaining three days in the grave, and then arising
from it.
j f
From the writings of their own prophets Christ proved
to the Jews that he was the Redeemer promised and
expected from the beginning of the world : " Search the
Scriptures," said he to the Jews, "and the same are they
that give testimony of me." (John v, 39.) He also con
vinced the unbelieving disciples from the writings of the
prophets, saying to them : " 0 foolish and slow of heart
to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to
enter into his glory ? And beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning him." (Luke xxiv, 25—28.)
From the same writings of the prophets Christ proved
also that he was God ; for the prophets call the Redeemer :
" God, God with us, the Wonderful, the Father of the
world to come the Lord, Jehova, our Just One," etc. (Isa.
14 ; ix, 6 ; xxxv, 4 j Dan. ix, 24 ; Jer. xxiii, 6.)
The angels, too, bore witness that Christ was God and
the Saviour of the world. The angel Gabriel said to the
Blessed Virgin : " The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow
thee. And therefore, also, the Holy which shall be born of
thee, shall be called the Son of God." (Luke i, 35.)
" Thou shalt call his name Jesus," said the angel to St.
50 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
Joseph, ll for he shall save his people from their sins."
(Matt. i, xxi.)
When Christ was born, an a^igel appeared to the shep
herds, saying : "Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the pe'ople. For
this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.77
(Luke ii, 8-11.)
But Jesus had still a greater witness to prove that he
is the Son of God. At his baptism, and on Mount
Thabor, God the Father himself, by a voice from heaven,
recognized him as his well-beloved Son, whom all were
to hear. (Matt iii, 17; xvii, 5.)
God the Father revealed also to St. Peter that Christ
is the Son of God. When Christ asked the apdstles,
" Who do you say that I am ? " Simon Peter answered,
" Thou art Christ, the son of the living God." And Je&us
said to him : u Blessed art thou, Simon, because flesh and
blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is
in heaven." (Matt, xvi, 16—17.)
But Christ had still stronger arguments to prove that
he is the Redeemer and the Son of God, and equal to
his Father in all things. He confirmed his doctrine by
many miracles. Hence Christ said to those who doubted
his word : " If you will not believe me (my word),
believe my works, that you may know and believe that
the Father is in me, and I in the Father." (John x, 38.)
The miracles by which Jesus Christ proved that he is
God and the promised Redeemer, are clear, palpable,
many in number, and of varioujs kinds. Heaven and
earth obeyed his voice. He restored sight to the blind,
hearing to the deaf, and speech to the dumb. A dumb
man, possessed by the devil, is presented to him. By a
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 51
mere act of his will, Christ casts out the devil, and the
dumb man speaks. There is no disease that he does not
cure, no evil that he does not remedy. The lepers are
made clean, the lame walk, the dead arise at his touch or
bidding : " Young man, arise !" said he to the widow's son,
and the young man was restored to life. u Lazarus, come
forth !" he cried out, and Lazarus, dead for some days,
arose from the grave. By his will, water is changed into
wine, at the wedding-feast in Cana ; the winds and waves
become calm ; the devils leave the persons they possessed j
a few loaves of bread are multiplied so as to feed five thou
sand persons, and fill twelve baskets with the fragments
which remained. Whilst he was hanging on the cross,
the sun acknowledged him for its Lord and Creator, by
withholding its light, and the whole world was enveloped in
great darkness j the rocks, by rending asunder j the whole
earth, by shaking • death, by letting many persons who had
been dead, leave their graves alive, and appear to their
friends in Jerusalem ; the centurion and his soldiers, by
exclaiming, "Indeed this was the Son of God." (Matt,
xxvii, 54.)
Christ, by his own power, rose from the dead, asce'nded
into heaven, whence he wrought many miracles through
his apostles and the martyrs, teaching and professing
their faith in his divinity. One of these miracles is most
remarkable. It happened in Africa, in 484, and is attested
by most reliable eye-witnesses : Hurich, king of the
Arian vandals, most cruelly persecuted those who believed
in the divinity of Jesus Christ: he had the tongues of
the Christians of Tipasa cut out ; yet they spoke without
tongues as distinctly and fluently as before, and proclaimed
everywhere that Jesus Christ is true God, and equal to the
52 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
Father. About sixty of these Christians fled to Constan
tinople, where all the inhabitants saw them, and heard
them speak daily for many years.
But Christ proved himself to be the Messiah and the
Son of God, not alone by stupendous miracles. He also
proved the truth of his assertions by foretelling such
things as God alone can know ; for instance : his betrayal
by Judas, and his denial by Peter f the manner of his
death ; his resurrection from the dead ; his ascension into
heaven, and the spreading of his doctrine over the whole
earth. One of the most striking prophecies of Christ
which we see accomplished is this : Jesus Christ foretold
that the temple of Jerusalem would be so totally de
stroyed, that not even one stone should be left on another.
Julian the Apostate, in order to fix on Jesus Christ the
brand of imposture, and thus to bring the Christian
religion into disrepute, formed the project of rebuilding
the Jewish temple, which, if he could have carried out,
would have sufficiently answered his wicked design. He
accordingly commanded the Jews to repair to Jerusalem,
to rebuild their ancient temple, and reestablish their
ancient worship. The news that the temple was to be
rebuilt, was no sooner spread abroad than contributions
came in from all hands. The Jewish women stript them
selves of their most costly ornaments, to contribute toward
the expense of the building: they even helped to dig the
ground, and carry out the rubbish in their aprons and the
skirts of their gowns. It is also told that the Jews
appointed some pickaxes, spades, and baskets to be made
of silver, for the honor of the work. The po'wer of Julian,
the exertions of the chief overseer, Alypius, the rage and
insolence of the Jews and pagans, plunged the disciples
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 53
of our Lord into the most profound grief. But the good
bishop, St. Cyril, lately returned from exile, consoled them
by telling them that the power of God would prostrate
Julian's wicked design, that the desolation of the temple
should last to the end, and that the Jews would not be
able to put one stone upon another. The old foundations,
and some ruins of the walls of the temple, were first
removed. Then they began to dig the new foundation,
on which work many thousands were employed. But
what they had thrown up in the day, was, by repeated
earthquakes, cast back again the night following into the
trench. " And when Alypius the next day," says
Ammianus Marcellinus, " earnestly pressed on the work,
with the assistance of the governor of the province, there
issued such hbrrible balls of fire out of the earth near the
foundations, as rendered the place, from time to time, inac
cessible to the scorched and blasted workmen. And the
victorious element continuing in this manner, obstinately
and resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance,
Alypius thought proper to give over the enterprise."
Besides the earthquakes and fiery eruptions, Christian
writers make mention of storms, tempests, whirlwinds,
lightning, crosses impressed on the bodies and garments
of the assistants, and a flaming cross in the heavens, sur
rounded with a luminous circle. The infidels attempted
to wash out the shining crosses that were impressed on
the bodies and garments of those assisting at the rebuild
ing of the temple, and in which there was something that
in art and elegance exceeded all painting and embroidery :
but it was increased by the fiery eruption, which was
frequently renewed, till it overcame the rashness of the
most obdurate, for it continued to be repeated as often as
54 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
the projectors ventured to renew their attempt. Socrates
tells us that at sight of the miracles the Jews at first cried
out that Christ is God, yet returned home as hardened
as ever. St. Gregory Nazianzen says that many Gentiles
were converted, and became Christians.
Christ's doctrine having been confirmed by miracles
and prophecies, and accompanied by a sinless life and by
works of love and mercy (Matt, iv, 23 ; Acts x, 38,)
was received as the teaching of God the Father himself
by those whose hearts were well disposed toward so holy
a doctrine. Hence the people exclaimed that Christ
taught as one having authority, and not as their Scribes
and Pharisees. (Matt, vii, 28.)
3. Whom did Christ appoint to teach his doctrine to all
nations ?
Christ appointed the apostles and their lawful successors
to teach all nations.
It was the will of the heavenly Father that no one
should be saved unless through Christ, his well-beldved
Son ; that is, through faith in his d6ctrine, through hope
in his merits, through clmrity toward God and all men,
through the sacraments and prayer, as means of grace,
and through obedience to his .orders : "I am the way,
and the truth, and the life," says Jesus. " No one cometh
to the Father, but by me." (John xiv, 6.) But Christ did
not wish to live forever in the flesh, in this world, to
teach and sanctify all nations. So, from among his
followers, he chose twelve men to be the witnesses of what
he taught and did. As he intended to send them to teach
all nations in his name, he called them apostles, which
means messengers, giving them to understand that he had
chosen them to preach to all nations what they had seen of,
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 55
and heard from him. Therefore, he said to them : u You
shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea
and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth."
(Acts i, 8.)
4* How were the apostles prepared for their divine
mission ?
1 , Christ himself instructed them in his doctrine ; 2, lie
promised them the Holy Ghost ; 3, he gave them his own
poivers.
One day the Lord said to the prophet Jeremias:
" Before thou wast born, I knew thee and sanctified thee,
and made thee a prophet unto the nations." Jeremias,
thinking that he was not able to preach to the nations,
said : " Ah, ah, ah, Lord ! behold I cannot speak, for I
am a child." To this excuse the Lord replied : " Say
not, I am a child j for thou shalt go to all that I shall send
thee, and whatsoever I shall command thee, thou shalt
speak. Be not afraid at their presence, for I am with
thee to deliver thee." And then the Lord put forth his
hand, and touched the mouth of the pro'phet, and said to
him : " Behold I have given my words in thy mouth.
Lo ! I have set thee this day over the nations, and over
kingdoms, to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and
to destroy, and to build, and to plant." (Jer. i, 5-10.)
By these words of the Lord the prophet Jeremias felt
encouraged to go and preach to the nations. The apos
tles had to be encouraged in the same manner. Like
Jeremias, they could say to our Lord, when he wished them
to go on this hitherto unheard-of and seemingly impossible
mission : <* Ah, ah, ah, Lord ! behold, we cannot speak ; "
we are ignorant men, children as it were, having no
courage for so awful an office. But Christ consoled and
56 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
encouraged them. After he had taught them for three
years and a half, and during forty days after his resurr^c-
tion, he could say to them, as was said to Jeremias, viz. :
" Behold, I have given my words in thy mouth." "Behold,"
said Jesus to the apostles, " all things whatsoever I have
heard of my Father, I have made known to you."
(John xv, 15.) But you may tell me: " We are but a
few poor fishermen, without human learning, without
wealth, without worldly influence or natural eloquence,
without any human qualification whatever for so vast an
undertaking ; we have but our foolishness to confound the
learning and philosophy of Greece and Rome, to silence
oracles, to destroy the impure orgies of Paganism, to
reclaim all mankind from evil ways, and to plant, on
the ruins of a gigantic idolatry which possesses the world,
the bright, the glorious, the unsullied banner of the cross.
Who will listen to us when we preach to a wicked world
thy doctrine, which is so contrary to all human passions
and evil inclinations ? How can we, a handful of poor,
ignorant, unarmed men, withstand and overcome a hostile
world ? And how shall we be able to remember and
rightly comprehend all that thou hast taught us, forgetful
and slow of understanding as we are ? " But I say to you,
fear not, for, " the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom the
Father will send in my name, he will teach you all
things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I
shall have said to you." (John xiv, 26.) He is the " Com
forter ; " he will give you such courage and wisdom, and
knowledge and strength, as no power on earth can cope
with. I send you clothed with the same powers with
which I myself have been invested by my heavenly Faiher :
ii All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. As the
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 57
Father hath sent me, I also send you." (Matt, xxviii, 18 ;
John xx, 21.)
5. What were those powers of Christ ?
1, His power as teacher ; 2, his power as priest ; 3, his
power as ruler.
We find, in the thirty-first chapter of Deuteronomy, that,
when Moses had written the law of God in a book, he
gave this book to the Levites, and commanded them to
place it in the tabernacle, beside the ark of the covenant,
as a testimony against Israel. On another occasion, when
many of the Israelites rebelled against Moses and Aaron,
and wished to claim a share in the priestly authority, God
ordered twelve rods, each bearing the name of one of the
tribes, to be placed in the tabernacle, together with the
rod of Aaron. On the next morning it was found that
Aaron's rod alo'ne bloomed, and brought forth fruit. This
miraculous rod was the emblem of authority. It was a
witness that God had confided the spiritual rule to Aaron
and his lawful successors, and to them alone. This rod
was also placed in the tabernacle beside the law of God.
On another occasion, God ordered a vessel filled with
manna, — that miraculous bread from heaven, — to be placed
beside the law of God and the rod of Aaron.
These three things, — the book, the rod, and the manna, —
signify the three distinct powers which God conferred
upon the priests of the Old Law. The book signifies the
office of teacher ; the rod signifies the office of visible
head or ruler; and the manna signifies the grace of God,
which was given to the Israelites through the ministry of
the priests. The three offices, then, of teacher, of priest,
and of ruler, or visible head, existed in the Jewish Church
of the Old Law, when our divine Saviour came on earth.
58 GOD THE SON OUE TEACHER.
Our divine Redeemer confirmed and consecrated these
three offices, by uniting them in his own divine person.
He was a teacher, he was a priest, and he was a king.
He was the teacher of nations, the light of the world.
He taught all men what they must believe, what they
must do, and what means they must use to obtain and
preserve the grace of God. He was a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchisedech. He was, as the
prophet foretold, and as he himself declared, the king
of an everlasting kingdom. As teacher, he taught us
that to know and do the will of his heavenly F/ther
was the only way to heaven ; as priest, he sacrificed his
life upon the cross, and thereby obtained for men the
graces necessary for salvation 5 as ruler, or king of an
everlasting kingdom, he declared that all men had to
believe and to do wrhat he taught them, if they would be
saved.
6, , What did Christ call the apostles and those who
believed in him ?
He called them his Church, of which he is the invisible
head.
Our dear Saviour sowed the seeds of his divine doctrine,
and watered them with his blood. But he himself made
very few converts. He left the conversion of the world
9 f ' /
mainly to his apostles and to their lawful successors.
Nevertheless, he had made a sufficient number of converts
to form of them a well-organized society, which he callec
his Church, or his kingdom on earth. This society con
sisted of the immaculate Virgin Mary, twelve apostles
seventy-two disciples, and some other followers of our
divine Saviour, with Christ himself as its chief teacher,
pontiff and ruler : for, " God the Father/7 says St. Paul,
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 59
"hath made Christ the head over all the Church." (Eph.
i, 17—22.) But when the time drew near for our Saviour
to return to heaven, he appointed one of his apostles to
take his place as visible head arid chief pastor on earth,
he himself continuing to be the invisible head of the
Church in heaven.
The community of the apostles and the Other true
believers formed the visible body of the Church of Christ j
and a visible body or society must have a visible head.
It is in the nature of things that this should be so : there
never has been, and never can be, a living, active, organ
ized body without a living head. Reason and experience
teach us that there can be no order, no law, no civilization,
without some final authority which, of its very nature, must
be supreme ; in other words, supreme authority is the
foundation of order and law. We see the necessity of such
authority whithersoever we turn. Every ship must have
its ca'ptain. Every railroad engine must have its engineer.
In every society we find a president. In every govern
ment there must be a president or a monarch. Even
amongst the brute beasts or the tiny insects we find the
principle of authority in practice. We find, for instance,
that ants and bees have their queen or supreme ruler.
Now the same God who gave so wonderful an order
to nature, the same God who planted in our reason
the principle of order and authority, must observe this
magnificent and necessary law in the greatest of his
works, — the establishment of his Church, or kingdom
on earth. Nothing, therefore, ca,n be more natural than
to find that our Lord Jesus Christ appointed one of
his apostles to be the visible head and chief pastor of \\is
Church.
60 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
. 7. Whom did Christ appoint to take his place ?
Christ appointed the apostle St. Peter to be the visible
head and chief pastor of his Church.
Christ compared his Church to a house, and made St,
Peter its foundation, saying : " Thou art Peter (that is, a
rock), and upon this rock I will build my Church."
(Matt, xvi, 18.) He compared his Church to a flock, and
made Peter its chief shepherd, saying : " Feed my lambs,
feed my sheep." (John xxi, 15-17.) By lambs, Christ
means the faithful ; and by sheep, the pastors. To Pester,
therefore, Christ intrusted both the pastors and the faith
ful, when he said, " Feed my lambs, feed my sheep."
Peter, being made the head and chief pastor of the Church,
received also from Christ greater powers than the rest of
the apostles. To him he gave the poVer to make laws for
all the pastors, as well as for all the faithful, and to enforce
those laws, saying : " I will give to thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind
upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven j and what
soever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also
in heaven." (Matt, xvi, 18-19.) There is no possibility of
mistaking or explaining away the plain, emphatic words
of Christ to Peter by which he invested him with the
prerogatives of the head of his Church.
By virtue of this supreme power, Peter called the dis
ciples together, and presided over the council which they
held in Jerusalem to elect a new apostle in the place of
Judas : and the council readily recognized this power. It
was Peter who first preached Jesus crucified, and converted,
by his sermon, three thousand persons. It was Peter who
first declared that the Gentiles were to be admitted to
baptism, according to a revelation wWeh h§ had received.
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 61
Peter, too, first decided, in an assembly of the apostles at
Jerusalem, that the Christians were no longer to be sub
jected to the Jewish law of circumcision ; and the assembly
bowed to his decision. From all this we clearly see that
Peter was the head of the Church ; because on all those
occasions he exercised the office of Supreme Head of the
Church of Christ, and no man questioned it.
The apostles and their lawful successors acknow
ledged Peter as the head of the Church. When the
evangelists give the names of the apostles, they always
name Peter first : for instance, when St. Matthew gives us
the names of the apostles, he says : " The names of the
twelve apostles : The first, Simon who is called P^ter."
(Matt, x, 2.) Now it cannot be said that Peter was always
named first, either because he was the eldest, or because
he had been called to the apostleship before the rest, for
St Andrew was both older than. Peter, and had become a
disciple of Christ before him. The true reason, therefore,
why the evangelists always name Peter first, is because
he held the first or highest office in the Church. Hence
the Fathers of the General Council of Ephesus, A. D.
431, say: "It is known in all ages that Peter was the
prince and the head of the apostles, the foundation-stone
of the Catholic Church. This is a fact which no one
doubts."
8. What power had the other apostles as teachers?
They had the i power to preach Christ's doctrine, and to
be judges in matters of faith and morals.
When Christ said to his apostles, " Go and teach all na
tions, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you" (Matt, xxviii, 19-20), he empowered
the apostles to spread abroad, explain, and preserve his
62 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
holy doctrines, pure and uncorrupted, and to condemn and
reject all false teachings j he empowered them to inveigh
against crime and to encourage virtue j to trace out to
every one his individual duties, to monarchs as well as to
their subjects, to the learned and to the ignorant, to the
rich and to the poor, to the just and to the sinner ; he
empowered them to offer to all men instruction, counsel, and
hope f to encourage the good, to exhort the weak, to con
vert the sinner, to speak of the sweet consolations of the just,
and to describe the fearful state of the impenitent sinner ;
he empowered them to condemn and reject all false prin
ciples, impious writings of every description, wicked
societies. In a word, Christ empowered the apostles to
proclaim his doctrine, everywhere, one and the same j to
defend his rights on earth against every enemy ; to resist
with all their might the passions and evil tendencies of
nations, communities, or individuals ; to make constitu
tions and decrees conducive to the^ preservation of faith
and morals, and even to proscribe such opinions as
approach, more or less closely, open heresy.
9. What power had the apostles as priests?
They had the, power to offer up the holy sacrifice of the
Mass, to administer the sacraments, and to perform other
priestly duties.
When Christ said to the apostles at the last supper,
"Do this (that is, offer the unbloody sacrifice which I
have offered) for a commemoration of me " (Luke xxii,
19), he empowered them to change bread and wine into his
bo'dy and blood by the words of consecration, and offer
him to the heavenly Father, under the appearance of
bread and wine. Thus Christ gave to the apostles power
over his own sacred body, power over himself. The
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 63
eternal, omnipotent God, in whose presence the pillars of
heaven tremble ; that God before whom the earth, and all
that dwell thereon, before whom the boundless universe,
with all its countless suns and planets, before whom all
created things are but as a drop of water, as a grain of
sand, as if they were not, — that God of infinite majesty
and glory made himself subject to the apostles when he
said, li Do this for a commemoration of me !" The mon-
archs of the earth have great power, their commands are
obeyed, their very name is respected and feared, thou
sands and thousands of their fellow-men are subject to
them 5 but the priestly power of the apostles is far
greater. Great was the power of Adam when he came
forth from the hands of God, in all the majesty of justice
and innocence. He was the king of creation, and all the
creatures of the earth obeyed him. Great was the power
of Moses when, by a single word, he divided the waters
of the Red Sea,, and led a vast multitude, dry-shod, through
the surging billows. Great was the power of Elias, who
caused fire to rain from heaven upon the heads of his
enemies. Great was the power of Joshua, wrho, in the
heat of battle, raised his hands to heaven, and com
manded the sun : " Move not, O sun ! " he cried,
" and thou, moon ! stand still ! " and the sun and the
moon obeyed his voice. They stood still in the midst
of the heavens, for the space of an entire day. Great,
indeed, was the power which God thus gave to man,
but the power given by Christ to the apostles was infinitely
greater. Whenever they said Mass, they held in their
hands, after the words of consecration, Jesus Christ, their
Lord and God, to receive him, and to give him to all those
who wished to receive him in holy communion. This
64 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
power which Christ gave to his apostles, surpasses far
.even the power of creation. By creation, God produces
the substance of bread out of nothing, by his word ; but
by the words of the apostles, in consecration, the sub
stance of bread and wine is changed into the most sa'cred
body and blood of Christ. Ah! when we see tlie apoities,
weak, sinful men as they were, gifted with a power which
angels could not and did not dare to claim ; when we see
them exercising power over God himself, possessing power
to carry him, and give him to whom they willed, we can
not help exclaiming, in amazement : " 0 wondrous miracle !
0 marvellous power ! " A greater power than this God
could not give — it was his own infinite power.
But, as Christ could not wish to enter, by holy com
munion, into souls as long as they were in mortal sin, the
great power of the apostles to change bread and wine into
Christ's body and blood would have been of little avail to
the greater part of mankind, had not Christ given to the
apostles another power, viz.: that of forgiving sins by
means of the sacraments, especially by the sacraments of
baptism and penance. Therefore he said to the apoitles :
" Go, baptize mankind in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; " " Whose sins you shalt
forgive, they are forgiven them." (Matt, xxviii, 19 5 John
xx, 23.) This power was given to the apostles to free men
from their sins, and prepare them for the union with Christ
in holy communion. This power, too, surpasses that of
any created being, either in heaven or on earth. An
earthly judge has great power, yet he can only declare
one innocent who has been falsely accused j but the apostles
received power to restore to innocence even those who
were guilty.
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 65
The kings of the earth are powerful, yet their po'wer
extends only to a few countries, while the power of
the apostles embraced the whole earth. Their po'wer
reached to the highest heavens, it penetrated even to the
ve'ry gates of hell. The treasures of kings are silver
and gold, — perishable metals j but the treasures of the
apostles were the imperishable merits and graces of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Kings have power over the
bodies of men only ; but the apostles had power over men's
souls. Kings have po'wer over their subjects only ; but
kings and emperors themselves were subject to the
apostles, because from them they had to expect not oiily
the light of the true faith, but also the pa'rdon of their
sins, — the grace of God. Kings have po'wer to o'pen and
to close the prison-gates on earth ; but the apostles had
power to open and to close the jgates of heaven and of
hell. The influence of their power was felt in heaven,
in giving to it the elect ; it was felt in hell, in snatching
from it victims ; it was felt in purgatory, in consoling
efficaciously its great sufferers.
But Christ said to his apostles : u To me is given all
po'wer in heaven and on earth. As the Father has sent
me, I also send you." He who bestows all power, excludes
none. Christ, therefore, gave to his apostles the power
to cast out devils from possessed persons, and to prevent
the evil spirits from hurting men in their bodies or
property: "And calling together the twelve apostles,'7
says St. Luke (ix, 1), " he gave them power and authority
over all devils." And the same evangelist tells us, also,
that the disciples cast out the devils from possessed
persons, at which power they were greatly amazed, and
said : " Lord, the devils also are subject to us in thy
66 . GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
name." (Luke x, 17.) Christ also gave to his apostles
power to bless or consecrate things for the divine service, or
for the pious use of the faithful : as altars, chalices, vest
ments, churches, graveyards, h6ly-water, oil, bread, -wine,
palms. By the sin of Adam the curse of God had come
upon all creatures : u Cursed is the earth in thy work,"
said God to Adam. (Gen. iii, 17.) But Christ came to
take aw^y not only man's sin, but also the curse which
had fallen upon all other creatures of the earth. And as
Christ gave power to the apostles to drive out sin from
the souls of men, by their applying to them the merits of his
redemption through the sacraments, in like manner he
gave them power to free creatures from the curse of sin,
by their applying to them the blessing of redemption,
through prayers and blessings, in order to make them work
good to those that love God ; for u every creature,"
says St. Paul, "is sanctified by the word and prayer."
(1 Tim. iv, 5.)
St. Matthew tells us, in his po'spel (vii, 29), that our
Saviour was teaching the people as one having power
and authority, and not as their Scribes and Pharisees.
Christ, who chose the apostles to take his place as teacher
and priest, wished also that, like him, they should teach
with power and authority. To increase their authority,
he gave them another power: -the power of ruling and
governing those who believed in him, and were baptized.
10. What power had the apostles as rulers or pastors
of the Church?
It ' S
They had the power of governing the faithful, under the
supreme authority of St. Peter.
Christ said to his apostles : u Amen I say to you,
whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 67
in heaven j and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth,
shall be loosed also in heaven." (Matt, xviii, 18.)
In these words Christ gave power to his apostles to
govern his Church, to regulate the divine service and the
manner of administering the sacraments, to govern nations,
kings and peoples, according to his unchangeable doctrine 5
to make laws for them, and to enforce those laws, by
refusing the sacraments to those who transgress them, or
by expelling such transgressors from her society, or by
imposing upon them such works of penance as were
deemed proper for their own spiritual good, and that of
others.
Gifted with this threefold po'wer of Christ, the apostles
were greater than the patriarchs, — greater, more exalted,
than the prophets. A widow of Sarephta fed the prophet
Elias for some time. As a reward for her charity, the
prophet obtained for her the miracle that her pot of meal
wasted not, and her cruse of oil was not diminished, and
thus sustained that family in a miraculous manner. The
apostles did more : they fed not merely one family, but
the nations of th,e world ; they gave not mere material
bread, but the living bread from heaven : the body and
blood of Jesus Christ ; they strengthened the souls of
men with the oil of grace, which they administered to
them in the holy sacraments.
Elias raised, moreover, the widow's son to life ; but
the apostles did more : they raised to life the dead souls of
hundreds and thousands. In the sacraments of baptism
and penance, they raised to the life of grace the souls of
those that were dead in mortal sin.
Elias caused fire to rain from heaven upon the heads of
the wicked. The apostles caused not simply material fire
68 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
/
to fall from heaven, they did far more : they caused the
fire of divine love to fall upon the cold hearts of sinners,
and moved them to contrition j they inflamed them to a
new and perfect life.
Again, the apostles were greater than the prophets.
The prophets beheld the Redeemer only from af^r, in the
dim future. The apostles beheld him present before their
eyes. They touched the long-wished-for Redeemer with
their hands ; they offered him up to the heavenly Father f
they carried him through the streets j they even fed on
the precious blood of this Holy One ; they received him
into their hearts, and united themselves most intimately
with him in holy communion.
The prophets foretold that, when the fulness of time
should come, God would write his laws, not on stone, but
on men's hearts ; he would govern men, not by the law
of servile fear, but by the sweet bonds of holy love j that
God himself would dwell in them, and direct them by his
grace. Now, this fulness of time for which the prophets
sighed, came with Jesus Christ. He gave his grace, his
own divine life, to man, and he gave it abundantly ; and,
as the ministers of that grace, he chose, not the prophets,
not his angels, but his apostles.
The apostles had the patriarchal dignity of Abraham.
Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful. The apo7s-
tles were, in reality, the fathers of the faithful, for they
made them the children of God, by preaching the Gospel,
and especially by administering to them the holy sacra
ments. They stood at the helm of the Church, — the ark
of salvation, — like Noe. They were consecrated forever
according to the order of Melchisedech. They were
invested with a dignity far higher than that of Aaron.
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 69
Aaron offered up only the blood of sheep and oxen, while
the apostles offered up the blood of the Lamb of God,
our Lord Jesus Christ. They had the authority of Moses.
Mo'ses led the people of God, through the desert, to the
promised land 5 the apostles led the children of God,
through the desert of this life, to the true land of promise,
— their home in heaven.
Great, unutterably great, indeed, were the powers of the
apostles. But these powers were not bestowed upon them
for their own private benefit. They received them for
the spiritual welfare of the people. And as Christ came
to save and sanctify all men, it was his will that his power
as teacher, as priest, and as ruler, should continue as long
as his Church lasts.
11. How long will the Church last ?
The Church will last to the end of the world.
From the very beginning the Church of Christ was made
up of two classes of men : of teachers and hearers, of
priests and people, of rulers and subjects. Thus estab
lished, it will continue to the end of time, according to
Christ's promise, " The gates of hell shall not prevail
against my Church." Christ calls his Church his kingdom
on earth, which he has acquired at the cost of so much
toil, and la'bor, and suffering ; it is that kingdom which he
purchased with his own blood, and which he loves more
than his own life. It would be blasphemous to think
that any power should ever be able to tear that kingdom
from Christ. The Church is the sheepfold of Jesus Christ ;
he is her divine shepherd. No hellish wolf will ever be
able to take entire possession of this sheepfold. The
Church is the household of which Christ is the master.
No power will succeed in destroying that household. The
70 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
Church, says St. Paul, is the body of Christ. Christ,
then, is inseparably united with his Church. Sooner shall
the sun refuse its light ; sooner shall the stars fall from the
firmament ; sooner shall the precious blood of Christ lose
its atoning power j sooner shall God cease to be God, than
Christ cease to protect and defend his body, — the Church.
"Behold," says he to the apostles, UI am with you all
days, even to the end of the world." (Matt, xxviii, 20.)
12. How can Christ be with his apostles to the end of
the world, since the apostles died ?
Christ is with his apostles to the end of the world, in
their laivful successors.
It is fitting to remember again what Christ said to his
apostles : " All power is given to me in heaven and on
earth." Had our Saviour, when he uttered these words,
considered himself God, he could not have said, " is
given to me," because, as God, he had, from the beginning,
as much power as his heavenly Father. He spoke as man,
then, when he said, u All power is given to me," and as
man he could and did receive all power from his heavenly
Father ; that is, his power as teacher, as priest, and as ruler,
together with the power of conferring, as man, this three
fold power on other men — on his apostles. He tells his
apostles: "As the Father hath sent me, I also send
you ;" that is, as the Father hath sent me to confer uptm
you the powers I have received from him, I also send
you to confer upon others the powers you have received
from me, and they are to confer again upon others the
powers they received from you, and so on to the end of
time. I shall die, it is true, but the powers received
from my Father will not die or cease with my death ; they
will continue in you. You, too, will die, but with youi
GOD THE SON OUR TE1CHETR. 71
death the powers received from me will not cease j they
will continue in those upon whom you confer them, and
so on to the end of the world. It is thus that I am with
you, in your successors, to the last day of the world. I
will be, to the end of the world, with you, Peter, as head
of my Church, in your successor, and also with you, my
other apostles, in those who take your place.
13. Who is the lawful successor of St. Peter*
The Pope, or the Bishop of Home. (Council of Flor
ence, 1438.)
One thousand eight hundred and forty odd years ago,
a poor, meanly-clad wanderer went to the capital of the
world, — the wealthy, magnificent city of Rome. He
passes its gates, and threads his way, unobserved, through
populous streets. On every side he beholds splendid
palaces, raised at the expense of down-trodden nation
alities ; he beholds stately temples, dedicated to as many
false gods as nations were represented in Rome ; he
beholds public baths and amphitheatres, devoted to
pleasure and to cruelty ; he beholds statues, monuments,
and triumphal arches, raised to the memory of blood
thirsty tyrants. He passes warriors and senators, beg
gars and cripples, effeminate men and dissolute women,
gladiators and slaves, merchants and statesmen, ^orators
and philosophers — all classes, all ranks, all conditions of
men, of every language and color under the sun. Every
where he sees a ma'ddenin^ race for pleasure, Everywhere
the impress of luxury, everywhere the full growth of
crime, side by side with indescribable suffering, diabolical
cruelty and barbarity.
And this poor, meanly-clad wanderer was St. Pester,
the head of Christ's Church. How the noble heart of
72 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
the poor fisherman of Galilee must have bled when he
observed the empire of Satan so supreme ; when he wit
nessed the shocking licentiousness of the temple and the
homestead ; when he saw the fearful degradation of wdman,
groaning under the load of her own infamy ; when he saw
the heart-rending inhumanity which slew the innocent
babes, and threw them into the Tiber ; when he saw how
prisoners of war, slaves, and soldiers, were trained for
bloody fights, and entered the arena of the amphitheatre,
and strove whole days to slay one another, for the special
entertainment of the Roman people !
Here, then, was to be the scene of his labors. Into
this foul mass, into this carcass of a rolten society, St.
Peter was come to infuse a new life, to lay the foundation
of a new Rome, — a Rome, which, instead of paganism
and depravity, should convey the truth and the blessing
of Christian virtues to the farthermost ends of the earth.
When Peter, the first pope, came to Rome, that city was
the condensation of all the idolatry, all the oppression, all
the injustice, all the immoralities, of the world, for the
world was centred in Rome. Peter laid his hand to the
plough, and never once looked back. For twenty-five
years he struggled, and succeeded in establishing, in the
very midst of this centre of every excess of which the
human mind and the human heart could be guilty, a
congregation of Christians to whom St. Paul could address
an epikle, and state in it that the fair fame of their faith
had already spread over the whole world: "I give
thanks to my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all,
because your faith is spoken of in the whole world."
(Rom. i, 8 j xvi, 19.)
The foundation of a new world had been laid by St.
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 73
Peter, the first pope. He established his see in Rome;
there he suffered martyrdom for the faith.
That St. Peter resided and died at Rome is a fact
which is attested by unvarying and universal testimony,
— a fact which has been transmitted by oral tradition, and
is recorded in the writings of the Fathers, St. Cyprian,
Tertiillian, St. Ambrose, St. Athanasius, and others ; it is
recorded in the writings of historians, St. Irenseus, St.
Epiphanius, Eusebius, St. Isidore ; it is recorded in the
writings of sovereign pontiffs, and of the Councils of
Ephesus, of Chalcedon, of Lyons, of Florence. This
fact is also commemorated every year by festivals, such
as that of the Chair of St. Peter at Rome ; of the Chains
worn by St. Peter at Rome. It is a fact of which we are
. f .' ' x.
continually reminded by multitudes of the faithful, who
are constantly seen around the tomb of the Prince of the
Apostles. This fact is also evident from the preeminence
which the See of Rome has always held over all other
churches. Peter, then, haVing ultimately fixed his abode
and his see at Rome, Rome was called, by the Fathers of
the Church, the See of Peter ; and the Bishop of Rome,
the Successor of Peter j and the supremacy of the Roman
Pontiff, the Supremacy of Peter ; and communion with
Rome, Communion with Peter. u Rome has become the
capital of Christendom," says St. Leo the Great, " be
cause it was there that St. Pe'ter established his see." (Serm.
in Nativ. Apost.) Since then, pope has succeeded pope, in
spite of persecution and death, in spite of the opposition
of pa'gan philosophy and of pagan intrigue, of pagan hate
and of pagan enmity. Two hundred and fifty-five popes,
till now, have succeeded one another in the See of St. Peter.
Of these, seventy-seven are honored by the Church as
74 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
saints, and twenty-seven have, in imitation of St. Peter,
suffered martyrdom for their faith. It was from the centre
of Rome that the popes governed the Church through the
lawful successors of the apostles. Hence the Council of
Florence defined that " the Roman Pontiff is the true
Vicar of Christ, and the head of the whole Church,
and the father and teacher of all Christians ; and that to
him, in blessed Peter; was delivered, by our Lord Jesus
Christ, the full power of feeding, ruling, and governing the
whole Church." (Acts of the Seventeenth General Council
of Florence, A. D. 1438 : L'abbe, vol. xviii, p. 526.) And
with the approval of the Second Council of 'Lyons, the
Greeks professed u that the Holy Ro'man Church enjoys su
preme and full primacy and preeminence over the whole
Catholic Church, which it truly and humbly acknowledges
that it has received, with the plenitude of power from
our Lord himself, in the presence of blessed Peter, prince
or head of the apostles, whose successor the Roman Pdn-
/ / f
tiff is." (Acts of the Fourteenth General Council — Second
of Lyons— A. D. 1274; Labbe, vol. xiv, p. 512.) "If
then," says the Vatican Council, li any shall say that
the Roman Pontiff has the office merely of inspection or
direction, and not full and supreme power of jurisdiction
over the Universal Church, not only in things which
belong to faith and morals, but also in those which relate
to the discipline and government of the Church, spread
throughout the world ; or assert that he possesses merely
the principal part, and not all the fulness, of this supreme
power ; or that this power which he enjoys is not ordinary
and immediate, both over each and all the churches, and
over each and all the pastors and the faithful, let him be
anathema." (Cap. III.)
GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER. 75
14. Who are the lawful successors of the other apostles ?
The lawful successors of the other apostles are the bishops
of the Roman Catholic Church, who are in communion ivith
the pope.
God the Father sent Christ, his well-beloved Son, to
teach his holy will to all mankind. Christ, again, sent
his apostles to take his place and continue his work. In
like manner, the apostles chose others, ordained them
bishops and priests, to continue their work. St. Paul, for
instance, ordained Titus, and left him in Crete, to ordain
/ / /
other bishops and priests to succeed him : u I have left thee
in Crete," he writes to Titus, "in order that thou shouldst
set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldst
ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee.""
(Titus i, 5.) Those bishops who were ordained by the
apostles, ordained again other bishops and priests, wher
ever they were needed ) and these again, in their turn,
ordained others, and so on, in regular succession, down to
our own time. Thus every one of our own bishops and
priests is the direct descendant of one or other of the
apostles. Therefore, every Catholic bishop can, with
truth, say to his flock : u I was consecrated bishop by
such a Catholic bishop j he himself was consecrated by
such another Catholic bishop, and so on, in a direct line,
which reaches to the apostles, themselves. It is thus,
through an unbroken line of bishops, that I hold from the
apostles their own power to preach to you the word of
God, to administer to you the sacraments, and to exercise
the spiritual government over your souls. With St. Paul,
therefore, I can say to you : ' For Christ we are ambassa
dors, God, as it were, exhorting by us.' " (2 Cor. v, 20.)
Indeed, if the Church is the spouse of Christ, the popes,
76 GOD THE SON OUR TEACHER.
/
"bishops, and priests are her guardians. If the Church is
an army ranged in battle, the popes, the bishops, and the
priests are her generals. If the Church is a vessel, steer
ing across the storms of persecutions, the popes, bishops,
and priests are her pilots. If the Church is the mystic
body of Christ, and if the faithful are its members, the
popes, the bishops, and priests are the principal members
of this body. By their eyes, Jesus Christ watches over
his flock ; by their feet, he carries to every nation the
Gospel of peace j by their hearts, he diffuses everywhere
the life of that divine charity without which all is dead.
It the Church is the people of acquisition, bought at a
great price, the popes, the bishops, and the priests are the
leaders, the teachers, the princes, of that chosen genera
tion. If the Church is that sacred edifice, built up by the
Divine wisdom itself for the children of God, the popes,
the bishops, and the priests are the administrators of this
palace ; they are the columns of the Church, upon which the
whole world rests. God the Father has created the world
without the popes, the bishops, and the priests, but it is (inly
through them that he saves it. God the Son redeemed
the world without the popes, the bishops, and the priests,
but it is only by them that he applies his blood to
the souls of men, and secures the fruits of his copious
/ / / 7
Redemption. And you can hardly name a single blessing
of the Holy Ghost, without beholding by the side of that
blessing the priest as the instrument through which that
Divine Spirit communicates his blessing. Yes j if St.
Bernard is right in saying that all comes to us through
Mary, we are also right in saving that all comes to the
people through the popes, the bishops, and the priests, — all
happiness, all graces, all heavenly gifts.
§ 3. — GOD THE HOLT GHOST OUR TEACHER.
1, Were the aposiles to exercise their powers im
mediately after they had received them ?
No ; Christ commanded them to wait for the coming of
the Holy Ghost.
When a king levies soldiers to make war, he must have
weapons wherewith to arm them. It would be utterly
foolish to send them to fight without arms. It would be
simply to sacrifice his men to no purpose, and to invite
defeat. Surely God acts with, at least, equal wisdom :
" He does not call," says St. Bernardine of Sienna, " with
out giving, at the same time, to those whom he calls, all
.that is necessary to accomplish the end for which he
calls." (Serm. I, De St. Joseph.) Jesus Christ chose the
apostles to continue his work on earth. Their duty was
to teach his holy doctrine. In order to teach it well, it
was necessary for them to understand it thoroughly, and
to remember it all. But the apostles were at first men"
without learning, most of them being poor fishermen when
called by Christ. They were, naturally enough, full of
the prejudices of their nation ; their ideas were altogether
worldly. Christ had instructed them for three years, in
public and in private. Sometimes he spoke to them in
parables, at other times he addressed them in plain lan
guage. But his parables were to them so many riddles,
and his more open instructions they interpreted in a wrong
sense. They scarcely knew for what end he had come on
78 GOD THE HOLT GHOST OUR TEACHER.
earth ; they did not as yet understand that the world was
to be redeemed by his blood. Even on the day of his
ascension, they were figuring to themselves the deliverance
of their country from the yoke of the Romans ; and their
thoughts were of seeing their Master seated, like one of
the old Jewish kings, on the temporal throne of King
David. Such was their ignorance, such were their ideas.
Certainly, as they then were, they were not fit to be sent
to preach Christ's doctrine to all nations, or, indeed, any
doctrine at all. Moreover, the apostles were to take
Christ's place, and continue his work as priests. Christ, as
priest, offered his life on the cross for the salvation of
/ / /
mankind ; and his desire was that he himself should be
offered by the apostles in the sacrifice of the Mass. To
be fitted to take the place of Christ as priest, to repre
sent him in his highest character in a worthy manner,
it was necessary for the apostles to be like him in all
things, — willing, in imitation of their divine Master, to
sacrifice, for the sake of his religion, all that was near and
dear to them. It was necessary that they should be
willing even to lay down their lives for the sake of the
faith. In a word, it was necessary for them to be pos
sessed of heroic virtues, for they were to go as lambs
among a pack of wolves. If, at the ascension of our
Lord, the apostles were not prepared to take Christ's place
and continue his work as teachers, they were still less
prepared to continue his work as priests. It is true they
had been in the school of Jesus Christ for three years ;
they had witnessed, day by day, his example of charity
and meekness, his zeal for the salvation of souls, his spirit
of self-sacrifice. Yet, for all that, the apostle? had made
little progress in virtue. They often yielded to feelings
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 79
of envy, and to many human weaknesses and imperfections.
We find the two sons of Zebedee ambitious ; one wishing
to sit on the right hand, and the other on the left, of Jesus
Christ. On the very eve of Christ's crucifixion there
arose among the apostles a dispute for the first place.
Finally, the apostles were to be rulers of Christ's kingdom
on earth, — the holy Catholic Church.
They were to announce not only to the subjects of the
rulers of nations, but also to the rulers themselves, that
they were bound to hear the Church like the humblest,
and to submit their souls to her guidance, under pain of
eternal banishment from the presence of God. Should
they dare to command where it was their duty to obey,
their mistake would be disastrous to themselves, because
" there was no respect of persons with God." (Rom. ii,
II.)- Such a religion could not be announced without
being contradicted, hated, and even most cruelly perse
cuted, especially by the monarchs of this world, who refuse
to recognize any one superior to themselves. Poor apdstles,
especially poor St. Peter, the head of the apostles ! At
the voice of a servant-maid, Peter had denied his divine
Master, and taken a solemn oath that he knew him not.
And so fearful, so weak, so cowardly were the others that,
when their Lord was seized in the garden, they ran awa'y,
and left him alone in the hands of his enemies. During
his passion, not one of them stood up for his defence ;
and whilst he was hanging on the cross, St. John alone
had the courage to stand at the foot of that cross. ,They
hid themselves, through fear of the Jews ; the slightest
danger affrighted them j the least obstacle discouraged
them. Such were the apostles, even on the day of Christ's
ascension into heaven Christ knew them to be uncul-
80 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
tivated, and yet he chose them to confound the learning
of the wise of this world ; he knew them to be ignorant,
and yet he selected them to unravel the most ingenious
sophistry ; he knew them to be weak, and yet he called
them to exhaust the cruel ingenuity of all their persecti-
tors. Idols were to crumble before them into dust ; men
were to be astonished, without knowing why, to find them
selves Christians. But God was pleased, says St. Paul,
to choose the foolish things of the world, in order to
confound the wise ; and the weak things of the world, in
order to confound the strong. (1 Cor. i, 27). As, at the
sound of his voice, the universe came into being out of
nothing, so he had only to bless his apostles, and his
Church, or kingdom on earth, and a new spiritual world,
stood forth, all beautiful, in the midst of nations.
And Christ had repeatedly promised this blessing to the
apostles. The Holy Ghost was to bestow it upon them.
" The Comforter, the Holy Ghost," he told them, " whom
the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all
things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I
shall have said to you." (John xiv, 26.) For this bless
ing Christ commanded the apostles to wait, before leaving
Jerusalem to announce the Gospel to all nations. Not
long after Christ's ascension, the apostles received this
blessing in abundance. According to promise, Christ sent
upon them the Holy Ghost, the spirit of life, to animate
them ; the spirit of grace, to sanctify them ; the spirit of
wisdom, to enlighten them j the spirit of love, to unite them
to himself ; the spirit of prudence, to guide them ; the spirit
of fortitude, to strengthen them ; the spirit of piety, to cOm-
fort them, and make them fervent; the spirit of peace, to
calm their passions j the spirit of purity, to make them
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 81
pure ; the spirit of liberty, to detach them from all earthly
things ; the spirit of joy, to console them j the spirit of
humility, to inspire them with a mean opinion of them
selves ; the spirit of obedience, to brin^ them in perfect
subjection to the divine will j the spirit of charity, to
accompany all their thoughts and actions.
2. When did the Holy Ghost come down upon the
apostles ?
On the feast of Pentecost the Holy Ghost came down upon
the apostles in the shape of fiery tongues.
After the ascension of our Saviour, the apostles assem
bled together in an upper-room in the city of Jerusalem,
and remained there for ten days, occupied in prayer, the
Blessed Virgin and the holy women being with them.
The roofs of the houses in Palestine being flat, the upper-
room was often the best and largest, as well as the most
retired. It was in this upper-room that St. Peter proposed
the election, by lot, of an apostle to take the place of the
apo'state Judas. The lot fell upo'n Matthias, who took at
once the place of Judas. The sacred assembly was com
posed of about one hundred and twenty persons, awaiting
the coming of the Holy Spirit. At length, on the tenth
day of their retreat, the Jewish feast of Pentecost, while
they were all assembled together, u suddenly," about nine
o'clock, " there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty
wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they
were sitting ; and there appeared to them parted tongues,
as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost ; and they
began to speak in divers tongues the wonderful works of
God, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. "
(Acts ii; 2.) No sooner had the Holy Ghost come down
82 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
upon the apostles, than he at once banished from their
minds and hearts error, ignorance, prejudices, worldly mo
tives, earthly desires, and, as Christ had promised, taught
them not only some, but all truths. In a moment he
changed them completely. A moment before, they were
ignorant ; but now they are all filled with the most
profound knowledge. A moment before, they could not
understand the plainest truths ; but now they understand
the great mysteries of religion. Just a moment before,
they were ignorant disciples j but now they are made the
teachers of all nations. Such is their eloquence and thair
power of mind, that they convince the greatest orators,
and confound the most learned philosophers. On the
very day of the descent of the Holy Ghost, St. Peter
preached to the Jews, and converted three thousand per
sons. Like so many lions, all the apostles go forth, ani
mated with zeal and charity. No obstacle, no power, no
force, could stop their progress. The sure prospect of the
most cruel death could not prevent them from performing
the duties of their sacred ministry. Their words, animated
with the love of God, penetrated and inflamed the heart*
of their hearers, like darts of fire. The cities of Jerusalem,
' f I 4 / -i
Antioch, Ephesus, even Rome itself, the great mistress of
the world, listen with rapture and amazement to the burn
ing words of the fishermen. At the sound of their voices
the temples of the heathen gods fell, as the walls of Jericho
fell at the sound of the trumpet of Josue. Regardless of
danger, they preached Christ crucified, in defiance of all
the powers of the world. They passed from city to city,
from province to province, from kingdom to kingdom, to
preach against the most ancient abuses and the most deeply-
rooted vices. The whole world opposed them j but they
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 83
were stronger than the world. The cross and gibbet were
set up before them to silence them, but they replied : " We
must announce the things that we have seen and heard ;
we must obey God more than man." In a word, they
made such rapid progress, they preached with such won
derful success, that their doctrine reached the extremities
of the world, as then known. It was thus that they estab
lished the kingdom of Christ on earth, — the holy Catholic
Church, — not by the force of arms, not by the severity of
cruel laws, not by means of wealth, but by the strength,
light, and courage, planted in their souls by the Holy Ghost.
In defence of Christ's doctrine, they even laid down their
lives. St. Peter was crucified at Rome, with his head down.
On the same day St. Paul, who had been especially ap
pointed Apostle of the Gentiles, was beheaded in Rome.
St. Andrew was crucified in Patras, in Greece. St. James
the Greater was beheaded. St. James the Less was cast
down from the battlements of the temple. St. Simon was
sawed in two% St. John the Evangelist was cast into a
cauldron of boiling oil, and, being mercifully preserved, he
was banished to the isle of Patmos, where he wrote the
Apocalypse. Two years after, he returned to Ephesus,
and died at the age of ninety. We learn from tradition
that the other apostles also suffered and died for the sake
of the Gospel which they preached.
3, How did the apostles prove their divine mission?
By many miracles, which they wrought in the name of
Jesus.
If we open the books of the Old Testament, we find, in
! , " f ^ / ' '
almost every page, accounts of miracles worked by God in
behalf of hi»s people. In every great emergency, and
whenever it was expedient to warn, to protect, tQ
84 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
or to chastise, we find the hand of God stretched out for
the performance of miracles. When our Saviour appeared
in this world, his birth, his life, his death and resurrection,
were a series of miracles. He established his divine
mission by the working of miracles. His apostles and
disciples did the same, under his eye, and by his positive
direction : " Going," said he to them. " preach, saying :
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise
the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out deVils." (Matt, x, 7,
8.) Christ knew that the heathen nations, blinded as they
were with superstition and idolatry, sunk in sensuality,
governed by their brutal passions, and having no distinct
ideas regarding supernatural things, could not, without any
other force or power than the preaching of poor fishermen,
be induced to forsake their false gods and worship an
invisible God. nor renounce their carnal passions, in the
hope of a spiritual reward in another world. Therefore,
when he imparted to his apostles the great commission to
convert the world to his religion, he granted them, at the
same time, the poVer of miracles j thus to show that they
were really God's ministers, and that he spoke and wrought
through them. Hence we find that the apostles continued
to work miracles after the ascension of their Divine
Master. The first preaching of the Gospel in Jerusalem,
after the day of Pentecost, was accompanied, and rendered
effectual, by the miraculous healing of the lame man, at
the gate of the temple, by St. Pe'ter and St. John. St.
Peter also cured Eneas of the palsy, and raised Tabitha to
life. His very shadow cured the sick (Acts v, 15) ; and even
the handkerchiefs of St. Paul were the instruments em
ployed by God for signal manifestations of divine power.
In a word, the Gospel was introduced and everywhere
GOD THE HOLT GHOST OUR TEACHER. 85
established by miracles, as St. Mark tells us at the end of
his Gospel : "And the apostles, going forth, preached
everywhere : the Lord working withal, and confirming
their doctrine with miracles that followed."
4. Is, then, the doctrine of the apostles to be received
as the doctrine of Christ ?
Yes, for Christ said to his apostles : u He that heareth
you, heareth me." (Luke x, 16.) u It is not you that speak,
but the Holy Ghost." (Mark xiii, 11.)
Allured by no earthly advantage, and subdued by no
other force than that of the truth preached and confirmed
by the miracles of the apostles, the learned and the igno
rant, the Jews and the Gentiles, Greeks and barbarians,
meekly bent their necks to the yoke of Christ, shook
off their ancient prejudices, and professed themselves the
followers of a crucified God. To become a Christian, a
follower of Christ, in those days, was almost equivalent to
certain martyrdom. The most trying of torments were
employed against the Christians : racks and wheels, to
stretch and disjoint their limbs ; iron teeth, to tear their
flesh ; fire, gridirons, boiling oil, melted lead, to torture
them ; wild beasts, to devour them. Some of them were
flayed alive, or scourged till their bowels burst forth ;
others were sawed in two j some, again, had their hands
and feet cut off, their eyes and teeth plucked out, their
nails torn off; some were wrapped, in pitch, and used as
torches to light up the streets of infidel cities. But their
faith was stronger than all torments : it overcame them
all, it overcame death itself.
And the faith of the early Christians was so strong,
because they beheld in the apostles Jesus Christ himself
continuing, in them and through them, the work of redemp-
86 GOD THE HOLT GHOST OUR TEACHEE.
tion for the honor of his heavenly Father and the salvation
of mankind. When they heard the apo'stles preach, they
most firmly believed that Jesus Christ preached to them,
because he had said to those preachers : (t Go and teach all
nations ; he who heareth you, heareth me." " You despised
me not," writes St. Paul to the Galatians, "you 'did not
reject me, but you received me as an angel of God, even
as Christ Jesus. I bear you witness that, if it could be
done, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and
would have given them to me." (Gal. iv, 14, 15.) The
same apostle says of the Thessalonians : " We thank God
without ceasing: because, when you had received of us
the word of the hearing of God, you received it not as the
word of men, but, as it is indeed, the word of God, who
worketh in you that have believed." (1 Thess. ii, 13.)
Yes, " I in them " (the apostles and their successors), says
Jesus Christ, u and thou, Father, in me. The glorj>
which thou hast given me, I have given them." (John xvii,
22, 23). Indeed, the apostles and their successors are men
all divine. The royal prophet says of them : " Ye are
gods." To forgive sins, to cause the Holy Ghost to dwell
in the soul, to change bread and wine into the body and
blood of Christ, are miracles that can be performed only by
God himself. Yet, by the command of God, his priests
perform these miracles every day. They may, therefore,
truly be said to be gods j for, as St. Gregory Nazianzen
says, " to have the power of an apostle of Christ is to be
a god on earth, with the commission to make gods of his
fellow-men." Next to God, an apostle, or a successor of
an apostle, ranks highest in power. This truth can be
understood only in heaven. If men upon earth could
fully understand this truth, they would die of love.
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 87
What admiration and respect, what love and veneration,
would be elicited for him whom the Lord would, associate
with himself to govern the universe, to rule with him the
course of the stars, the changes of the seasons, and,
if you will, to create with him new worlds ! A vocation
so marvellous would place this privileged mortal in a rank
apart. But the apostles and all their successors are the
objects of a distinction far more glorious. They are not
called, it is true, to direct the course of the sun, to excite
or calm the winds — all that is within the sphere of
nature and time. They are called to a higher office : to
give to heaven the elect ; to snatch victims from hell ; to
sanctify souls j to concur in the redemption of a world,
spiritual and indestructible ; to fill the greatest of kingdoms
with inhabitants, all radiant with glory, divine and ever
lasting.
Since God, then, has placed the apostles and all their
successors, — the popes, bishops, and priests of the Catholic
Church, — upon the thrones of his own power and sanctity ;
since he has given them the titles of " saviours of the
world," since he calls them his " cooperators in the divine
work of redemption/' what wonder if he commands all
men to hear, to obey, and to honor them, as they are bound
to hear, to obe'y, and to honor God himself! " He that
heareth you," says he, " heareth me ; " " He that toucheth
you, toucheth the apple of mine eye." In the apostles,
therefore, and in their successors, every good Christian
sees the ambassadors of the blessed Trinity: "Go," says
Christ to them, — "go and baptize all nations in the name
of the Father, and of the / Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
In them, therefore, the Christian beholds the representatives
of God the Father, to sustain his cause, to make his name
88 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
respected, to defend his interests, to promote his glory, to
vindicate his honor, to adopt for him children, and to
prepare them for his service and his kingdom. The good
Christian sees, in the apostles and all their successors,
the representatives of the Son of God j because, in his
name, and by his authority, they preach his Gospel, offer
in sacrifice his body and blood, dispense his mysteries and
his graces. He sees in them the agents of the Holy
Ghost : " It is not you that speak," says Christ, " but the
Holy Ghost." (Mark xiii, 11.)
5, Does, t lu 11, the Holy Ghost abide with the Church I
, Yes ; forf Christ promised that the Holy Ghost would
always abide ivith the Church.
Our divine Lord made a great promise to all his faithful
followers, when he said: If you love me, I will pray to
my Father, and he will send you the Holy Spirit, that ho
may always dwell in you. " If you love me, keep my
commandments. And I will ask the Father that he shall
give you another Paraclete (Comforter), that he may abide
witfy you forever." (John xiv, 15, 16.) This promise was
fulfilled on the tenth day after his ascension into heaven.
On that day the apostles did not receive the Holy Ghost
for themselves alone j they received him also to com
municate him, by themselves and their successors, to all
faithful followers of Christ. Indeed, it is not even natural
to suppose that the special gifts and powers by which the
knowledge of Christ, and faith in him, were to be spread
over the world, were to die out with the first few men to
whom those gifts and powers were given. St. Luke tells us
that, when the apostles heard that Samaria had received
the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John.
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
89
These two apostles prayed for them that they might re
ceive the Holy Ghost, who was not as yet come upon a^iy
of them, Then they laid their hands upon them, and
they received the Holy Ghost. (Acts viii, 14-17.) Thus
did the faithful receive the Holy Ghost by the ministry
of the apostles or their sucessors, both in baptism and con
firmation. On this account St. Paul writes : " The charity
of God is poured forth in our hearts by the H61y Ghost,
who is given to us." (Rom. v, 5.) Hence, St. Bonaventure
says, that " the just receive, not only the gifts, but also the
person, of the Holy Ghost" (1 Sent., d. 14, a. 2, 9, 1).
because, when the Holy Ghost infuses his charity and
other gifts into a soul, he is so united to his gifts, that he
infuses them together with himself. The same is taught by
the renowned Master of Sentences (Lib. i, dist. 14 et 15),
who quotes St. Augustine and others in support of this
doctrine. " Grace," says Suarez, " establishes a most
perfect friendship between God and man; and such a
friendship requires the presence of the friend, that is, the
Holy Ghost, who stays in the soul of his friend, in order to
unite himself most intimately with him, and reside in his
soul, as in his temple." It is for this reason that St. Paul
writes to the Corinthians: "You are the temple of the
living God • " as God saith : "I will dwell in them, and
walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall
be my people " (Lev. xxvi, 12) ; "I will be a father to you,
and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord."
(Jer. xxxi, 9.) Since that remarkable day on which the
Holy Ghost came down upon the apostles, he has never
abandoned, and will never abandon, the faithful followers
of Christ, the living members of his Church.
90 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
6. Why does the Holy Ghost abide with the Church ?
To preserve the Church in the purity of doctrine and in the
unity of faith.
" Truth," says St. Thomas Aquinas, " is the good —
the life of the intellect ; whilst falsehood is the evil — the
death of the intellect. As long as man remained innocent,
it was impossible for man's intellect to believe that to be
true which was really false. As, in the body of the first
man, there could not be the presence of any evil, so, in
like manner, in his soul there could not be the belief in
anything false." But, alas ! ever since the fall of our
first parents, there have been two elements continually
combating each other, — truth and falsehood, virtue and
vice, true faith and heresy and infidelity. Satan is called
in Holy Scripture the father of lies. From the beginning
of the world he tried to turn all religious truths into lies.
He practised this black art in paradise j and haVing
succeeded in making our first parents believe his lying
tongue, he has ever since continued to practise it on then
descendants, thus to draw them away from God whom he
hates, and to spread error and vice among men. But in
spite of the efforts made by Satan and his agents, — the
enemies of truth, — to destroy and falsify all religious
truths, they never succeeded in obscuring it in the Holy
Catholic Church. In her, Christ's holy ddctrine has always
been preserved pure and uncorrupted, because the Holy
Ghost, Jthe Spirit of truth, reigns forever in the Church,
and abides with her; for which reason, in the Catholic
Church, even children have an intuition of truth without
fear arid confusion, and talk of God and his mysteries
as if they had conversed with angels, while they dis
play a clear knowledge of the whole circle of revealed
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 91
truths, in comparison with which knowledge the wild
guesses and perpetual contradictions of the most famous
and learned pagans, or unbelieving philosophers or secta
ries, are but inarticulate cries.
One day a little Irish girl was weeping to find herself
in a Protestant school, to which she had been carried by
force, and where it was considered a useful employment
of time to blaspheme the Mother of God. " How do you
know she is in heaven ? " said a grim Protestant spinster
to the little girl. The child knew very well that Our
Lady is the Queen of heaven, and enthroned by the side of
her divine Son, but had never asked herself how she knew it,
nor met any one before who was impudent enough to deny
it. She winced for a moment, as if she had received a
blow, then flinging back tho long hair which fell over her
face, this child of a Galway peasant fiercely answered :
" How do I know she is in heaven ? Why, you Protes
tants don't believe in purgatory. If she is not in heaven,
she must be in hell. It's a pretty son who would send
his mother to hell ! " Such an answer will surprise no Cath
olic; it may astonish a Protestant. Other children say
like words a hundred times. The gift of faith is a light
of the Holy Ghost, which enlightens the minds of the
faithful, even of children, to know and to believe that
what the Church teaches is a holy and divine doctrine.
X7. How does the Holy Ghost preserve the Church in the
purity of faith ?
By f making the head of the Church the infallible teacher
in matters of faith and mo'rals.
When our Lord Jesus Christ established his Church, he
knew that in all future a^es certain men, moved bv
/ / / / X
human weakness or Satanic malice, or by both combined,
92 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
would arise to corrupt or misinterpret the holy doctrine of
his Church ; for, men are free agents, and if they will
go against God, God, haVing given them this most glorious
privilege of freedom, does not deprive them of it, e'ven
when they use it against himself, though, as he has
unmistakably warned them, he will call them to strict
account for their use or abuse of man's noblest gift. Now,
to remove all doubts about the true meaning of Christ's
doctrine, and to preserve it pure and free even from every
chance of error, it was necessary that there should be
some one privileged by God to state plainly, with divine
certainty, that doctrine in all points of faith and m6rals ;
in other words, it was necessary that there should be a
supreme judge to decide in all disputed points of divine Jaw,
from whose sentence there should be no appeal. With-
/ f / / / /
out this necessary safeguard, the way was forever open
to error, and the work of Christ on earth practically
useless.
If every man in the country were to explain the laws of
the State as he pleases, there would be nothing but con
fusion and disorder in society. In like manner, if every
man were to interpret the sacred, eternal law of God,
the doctrine of Christ, as he pleases, there would be noth
ing but confusion and disorder in religion. In order to
prevent confusion and disorder in society, human wisdom
found it necessary to appoint a supreme/ judge to decide
ultimately in all disputed points of civil law. Now, if
even human wisdom sees the necessity of appointing a
supreme judge, to decide ultimately in all points of civil
law, it is most clear that God, who is infinite wisdom, could
I - / T I
and did not fail to appoint a supreme judge to decide ulti
mately in all points of divine law, in order thus to prevent i
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 93
the possibility of confusion in religion. There never was
a time when men were left to themselves to fashion their
own religion, to invent their own creed, their own form
of worship, and to decide in matters of religion, as they
pleased* There always existed on earth a visible teaching
authority, to which it was the bounden duty of every
man to submit. During the four thousand years that
elapsed before the coming of the Redeemer, the doctrines
that were to be believed, the feasts that were to be
observed, the sacrifices, the ceremonies of worship,
everything connected with religion, were regulated by the
living, authoritative voice of the patriarchs, the priests, and
the prophets. In the Old Law, God appointed a tribunal,
presided over by the high-priest, to judge in all contro
versies, both of doctrine and morals. The decision of this
tribunal was final, and without appeal. The Jewish his
torian, Josephus, who was well acquainted with the laws ana
religion of his own nation, says (lib. 2, contra Appium) :
"The high-priest offers sacrifice to God before the other
priests j he guards the laws, judges controversies, punishes
the guilty, and whoever disobeys him is punished as one
that is impious toward God." But a still greater authority
than Josephus, the word of God itself, bears witness to
the fact (Deut. xvii, 8-12) : " If thou perceive," says Holy
Scripture, " that there be among you a hard and doubtful
matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and
cause, and thou seest that the words of the judges within
the gates do vary, arise and go up to the place which the
Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt come to the
priests and to the judge, that shall be at that time, and
thou shalt ask them, and they shall show thee the truth
of the judgment. And thou shalt do whatsoever thev shall
94 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
say, and thou stialt follow their sentence. Neither shalt thou
decline to the right hand, nor to the left hand. But
he that will be proud, and refuse to obey the command
ments of the priest who ministereth at the time to the Lord
thy God, and to the decree of the judge, that man shall die,
and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel." Here,
then, is clearly a tribunal, appointed by Almighty God
himself, to decide in the last resort, — a tribunal from whose
sentence there is no appeal. Consider carefully every word
of the inspired text. There is no exception, the rule is for
all; the terrible sentence is pronounced against every trans
gressor : whosoeVer shall refuse to abide by the decision
of the high-priest, shall die the death. Witness the puV
ishment of Core, Dathan and Abiron : the earth opened
and swallowed them up for refusing to obey. This su
preme tribunal remained intact until the coming of the
Redeemer. Our Lord himself assures us of this : " The
Scribes and Pharisees have sat on the chair of Mdses.
All things, therefore, whatsoever they shall say to your
observe and do.77 (Matt, xxiii, 2.) Again, our Lord assurer
us that he came not to destroy the law, but to make it per-
feet. He therefore established, in the New Law, in hia
Church, that which, in the Old Law, was most necessary
for the preservation of faith and morals, He gave to the
whole world an infallible judge and teacher in the person
of St. Peter, the head of his Church, and in every successor
of St. Peter, to decide ultimately in all points of faith and
morals. Christ himself assures us that Peter and his suc-
i ( '
ccssors are the infallible teachers of his religion. He told
St. Peter that, by his prayer to his heavenly Father, he
had obtained the gift of infallibility for him and all his
successors: "I have prayed for thee (Peter), that thy
GOD THE HOLT GHOST OUR TEACHER. 95
faith fail not ; and thou, being once, converted, confirm thy
brethren." (Luke xxii, 31, 32.) Christ prayed to his
heavenly Father that St. Peter and his successors should
possess the gift of teaching his religion infallibly, or with
divine certainty ; because he wished that the never-failing
faith of St. Peter and his successors should be forever the
foundation-stone of his Church. He assi/res us of this great
truth, when he asked the apostles, a Who do you say that
I am ? " (Matt, xvi, 15); to which question Peter made
answer, saying : " Thou art Christ, the Son of the living
God." To this reply of St. Peter, Christ most solemnly
answered : " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar- Jona : because
flseh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my
Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee that thou
art Pe'ter, and upon this rock I will build my Church."
In these words Christ plainly says : As it is my Father
who has made known to thee, Peter, that I am his Son,
so, also, I make known to the whole world that thou
and thy successors shall always know and understand
who I am, and what I have taught, because I have
intrusted you with my whole flock : teachers and hearers,
priests and people, rulers and subjects : " Feed my lambs,
feed my sheep." (John xxi, 16.) Your faith, I most
solemnly promise, shall not fail, since no power shall pre
vail against thee and thy successors, so as to cause you to
teach anything else than I myself have taught : " The
gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church," built
upon your never-failing faith. (Matt, xvi, 18.) Hence it
is that within the Church the successor of Peter speaks
like his Master, " as one having authority," that he and
all the elect of God obey that authority. They know that
he who said, " Thou art Cephas (a rock), and upon this
96 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
rock I will build my Church," lives and reigns in the Holy
See. There is his throne on earth. There is the supreme
tribunal before which the saints have always pleaded.
" To it." as St. Irenseus wrote, " all the Churches must have
recourse ; " with it, all the faithful everywhere must always
agree." St. Athanasius, driven from his see, appeals to
Julius, the Roman Pontiff. St. Dionysius of Alexandria,
accused of heresy, implores Pope Stephen to examine and
judge his faith. St. Pexter of Alexandria has recourse to
St. Damasus. St. Cyril of Alexandria flies to St. Celes-
tine. St. Jero'me tells the Roman Pontiff, "Whoso
gathereth not with thee, scattereth." Tertullian calls him,
" the bishop of bishops." St. Ambrose says that where
he is " there is the Church." St. Augustine accepts the
judgment of St. Innocent as that of heaven. St. Cyprian
told Antonianus, " To be united with the See of Rome is to
f ' • /
be united to the Catholic Church ; " and, when even
heretics appealed to the Sovereign Pontiff, pointed out the
absurdity of their " going to the Chair of Peter, whence
sacerdotal unity takes its rise." The amazing words of
our Lord to St. Peter find their sure interpretation in the
actual history of the Church, and the loving obedience of
tlje saints. The one is but the fulfilment of the other.
Everywhere the Roman Pontiff, — a Victor, a Damasus, a
Stephen, an Innocent, or a Gregory, — claims the same
supreme authority, and everywhere the saints confess,
with acclamation, that he derives it from God. Every
/ f i
part of Christendom bears witness, from the earliest
ages, that the Church is built on Peter. At the same
moment, as Socrates relates in his history, the Bishops
of Constantinople, Gaza, Ancyra, and Adrianople, driven
from their sees, commit their cause to Pope Julius. The
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 97
Council of Antioch adopts the words of Juvenal, Bishop
of Jerusalem, that "it is an apostolic tradition that the
Church of Antioch should be directed and judged by the
Church of Rome." "Peter has spoken by Leo/' says
the Council of Chalcedon. Churches, the most remote
from the centre of unity, proclaim the same truth as loudly
as those which are contiguous to it. At the Council of
Aries, the Bishops of London, York, and Lincoln, confess,
in the name of all their colleagues, the rights and pre
rogatives of the Holy See. / When England had finally
conquered Wales, and the Bishop of St. Davids was sum
moned to do homage to the See of Canterbury, he
replied that the British bishops had never recognized
any superior " except the Holy See." The Church of
Scotland gave a similar answer to the Archbishop of York
when he claimed jurisdiction over it, and "the answer
was approved/'' as Lingard observes, " by Pope Clement
III." These are only a few examples out of thousands.
There is no opposing voice in the whole multitude of the
faithful.
It is clear that the infallibility of the pope was implied
and assumed by the Fathers of the Church in every word
they uttered. Without this conviction, all that the saints
said of the Roman Pontiff and his office would have been idle
verbiage or criminal exaggeration. Their own fervent
confessions prove that the perpetuity of the faith was not
a more certain truth to them than the ineYrancy of its
chief witness. They understood, from the reiterated
declarations of our Lord to Peter, unique in the whole
history of God's dealings with man, that the Holy See
was designed to be the eternal bulwark against heresy,
the rock of the Church, the centre of unity, and arbiter
98 GOD THE HOLT GHOST OUR TEACHER.
of the faith. And they said so. They could not affirm
this fundamental truth more explicitly than their Lord
had done, nor exalt the functions of his Vicar more
magnificently than he who gave to him " the keys of the
kingdom of heaven.77 And the councils echoed the
same imperishable doctrine. They neither assembled
without the pope's permission, nor dared to promulgate
their decrees without his sanction.
The pope, by his own motion, often condemned and
defined Catholic doctrine, both before and after the first
general council j and if the obstinacy of the party con
demned by the pope made it advisable to have recourse
to general councils, then those councils, after the most
mature deliberation, were never found to do anything else
than adhere to the sentence already passed by the pope.
The Council of Ephesus, in forming its judgment against
Nestorius, said that it did so, " following the canons and
the epistle of the pope." The same council also ratified,
without any further examination, the papal condemnation
of Pelagianism.
The Council of Chalcedon, in drawing up its decisions
on the point of controversy, did not appeal to the synod
whicK had been held at Constantinople under Flavian ; it
appealed only to the decree of the pontiff.
In the judgment upon Eutyches, Cecropius, Bishop of
Sebaste, declared, in the name of all his brethren, that the
Bishop of Rome had sent to them a formulary • that they
all followed him, and subscribed his epistle.
The Sixth General Council, in like manner, declared
that it adhered to the dogmatic epistle of Pope Agatho,
and by it condemned the heresy.
" The Bishop of Rome," say the Greek Synods and
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 99
doctors of the Church, "has no need of being taught,
because he knows, with an unerring knowledge, what is
requisite for the' unity of the bo'dy of the Church."
(Alzog's "Univ. Ch. H.," p. 674.)
The decrees of the Fifth General Council, in 381, were
not published as binding on conscience before they had
been confirmed and declared as sound Catholic doctrine
by the pope, for the simple reason that Christ bound him
self solemnly only to Peter and his successors^ that their faith
should not fail ; that is, that e'very one of them would
always be so enlightened by the Holy Ghost as to under
stand the true meaning of his doctrine, and state and teach
it plainly with divine certainty^.
When the Fathers at Chalcedon said, "Peter hath
sp6ken by Leo," they did not mean, " Peter hath spoken
lies by Leo/7 but that the voice of the pope in every age
is the voice of Peter, as his is of the God who said to him,
' f '
"Feed my sheep." "Peter is not dead," as St. Ambrose
said ; and when a great saint cried out, long ages ago, to
the Roman Pontiff of his day, "Thou judgest all, but art
judged by none," he did not propound the senseless doc
trine that the Church is subject to a fallible authoVity, but
that the Prince of the Apostles rules her to the end of
time, and that therefore the pope was all that St. Bernard
and St. Francis of Sales called him in their day — all that
the Vatican Council has proclaimed him in ours. It was for
all the saints of God an elementary Christian truth that
" exrror can have no access to the Roman Church," as
St. Cyprian confessed, because, as St. Ambrose and St.
Augustine declared, " the Chair of Peter is the rock which
the gates of hell will never overcome." " The faith of the
Apostolic See," says Pope Hormisdas. " has always been
100 GOD THE HOLT GHOST OUR TEACHER.
inviolate; she has preserved the Christian religion in its
integrity and purity j therefore, anathema upon all who
depart from this faith.'7 (Alzog's " Univ. Ch. H.," p. 674.)
It has, then, always b^en the belief of the -Catholic
Church the that Pope, in his solemn decisions in matters
of faith and morals, is infallible j that is, he cannot be
deceived nor deceive : in other words, that what the
pope teaches when he speaks to all the faithful as chief
pastor and teacher of the Church, is infallibly true. This
is an article of faith which we must believe as firmly
as we believe that there is a God j to say or even to
think otherwise is to be an apostate from the faith
before God.
u We teach and define," say the Fathers of the Vatican
Council, " that it is a dogma (an article of faith) divinely
revealed ; that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex
cathedra, — that is, when, in the discharge of the office of
pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his
supreme apostolic authority he defines a doctrine regal-d
ing faith or morals to be held by the Universal Church, —
by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed P^ter,
is possessed of that infallibility with which the Divine
Redeemer willed that his Church should be endowed for
defining doctrine regarding faith or morals ; and that,
therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irre-
formable of themselves, and not from the consent of the
Church. But if any one — which may God avert! — presume
to contradict this our definition, let him be anathema."
(Cap. iv.) Now if any one asks :
8. When docs the pope, by the assistance of the Holy
Ghost, teach infallibly?
We answer : The pope teaches infallibly when, as
GOD THE HOLT GHOST OUK TEACHER. 101
teacher of all Christians, he defines a doctrine concerning
faith or morals.
We do riot claim for the pope infallibility in his opinion,
nor in his conversation, nor when writing a book of
theology as a private doctor, etc. He is infallible, as the
universal father, in all matters of faith and morals j in all
facts, natural or supernatural, which affect the faith or
moral government of the Church ; in ail doctrines, logical,
scientific, physical, metaphysical, or political, of any kind
whatsoever, which imperil the integrity of the faith or the
salvation of souls j he is infallible in determining the relig
ious action which the Church has to take in this world,
and the means she must use in order to fulfil the duties
which God has imposed upon her. Whenever, then, the
Holy Father, as Chief Pastor and Teacher of all Christians,
proceeds, in briefs, encyclical letters, consistorial allocu
tions, and otker apostolic letters, to declare certain truths,
or anything that is conducive to the preservation of faith
and moVals, or to reprobate perverse doctrines, and con
demn certain errors, such declarations of truth and con
demnations of errors are infallible, or ex-cathedra acts
of the pope, and therefore are binding in conscience, and
call for our firm interior assent, both of the intellect and
the will, even though they do not express an anathema
on those who disagree. To refuse such interior assent
would be, for a Catholic, a mortal sin, since such a
refusal would be a virtual denial of the dogma of infalli
bility, and we should be heretics were we conscious of
such a denial. (St. Alphonsus Liguori, " Theol. Moral.,"
lib. i, 104.) It would even be heresy to say that a'ny such
definition of truths or condemnations of perverse doctrines
are inopportune, as is clear from a brief of Pope Pius IX,
102 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
dated Nov. 6, 1876, and addressed to a bishop of Germany.
The London Tablet, Dec. 16, 1876, writes: "A very
important letter from his Holiness, addressed, as it
appears from internal evidence, to a bishop in Germany,
though the name of that bishop is not forthcoming?
has been given to the world by the newspaper entitled La
Croix. Though it has been made public not in a very
regular manner, yet, as it has been already reproduced by
the French Catholic press, we cannot do wrong in noticing
it. The Holy Father, after intimating his approval of the
bishop's condemnation of some plan, the nature of which is
not stated, goes on to deal with the case of certain German
priests, who, ( after having long delayed manifesting their
adhesion to the dogmatic definition of the Vatican Council,
touching the infallible magisterium of the Ro'man Pontiff,
have at last made their profession to this effect, but de
claring, at the same time, either that they had cmly made
up their minds to do so because they saw those German
bishops who had defended the opposite opinions in the
council accept their definition, or else they admitted, indeed,
the do'gma defined, but without admitting the opportifne-
ness of the definition.7 The Holy Father goes on to say
that, as the definitions of General Councils are infallible, by
reason of the fact that they proceed from the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit assisting the Church, they cannot but
teach the truth j and that truth does not derive either its
force or its character from the assent of men ; rather, as
it proceeds from God, it requires a full and entire consent,
dependent on no condition. Nor could any heresy have
ever been proscribed in an efficacious manner, if it had
been permissible to the faithful to wait, before submitting
to the definition of the truth, for the assent of those who
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 103
opposed that definition, and were condemned by it. ' This
doctrine/ adds his Holiness, i which is the same for the
definitions of (Ecumenical Councils, and for the definitions
of the Supreme Pontiffs, was clearly expressed by the
Vatican Council when it taught, at the close of its defini
tions, that l the definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irre-
formable of themselves, and not in virtue of the consent of
the Church.7 (Sess. iv, c. iv, in fine.) The Supreme
Pontiff then passes judgment on the other class of persons
just mentioned. ' It is still more absurd/ he says, ' to accept
the definition, and persist in saying that it is inopportune.
The vicissitudes, indeed, of our times, the errors as
numerous as all that have ever existed, the fresh errors
which are every day invented for the destruction of the
Church, the Vicar of Christ deprived of his liberty, and
the bishops of the power, not Only of assembling, but even
of teaching, — all attest with what opportuneness Divine
Providence permitted that the definition of the pontifical
infallibility should be proclaimed at a time when the right
rule of belief and conduct was about to be deprived of all
other support. But putting all these considerations on one
side, if the definitions of (Ecumenical Councils are infal
lible, precisely because they flow from the wisdom and coun
sel of the Holy Spirit, nothing, surely, can be more absurd
than to think that the Holy Spirit teaches, indeed, things
which are true, but may still teach them inopportunely.'
The bishop to whom the letter is addressed is, therefore,
instructed to warn any such priests, if there are any in
his diocese, that it is not permitted to them so to limit
their assent as to make it depend upon an act, — even a
praiseworthy act, — of this or that bishop, rather than
on the authority of the Church; and that they must
104 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
adopt the definition 'by a full and entire assent of
intelligence and will, unless they would depart from the
true faith.7 "
In the question of the infallibility and authority of the
Apostolic See, there is one thing which we should be careful
to bear in mind : Jesus Christ gave to his Church not
only gifts and powers, he gave her, also, an infallible
kno'wledge of these gifts and powers. We must believe
that she has this knowledge, and knows, with infallible
certainty, what she is, and what is in her, and what belongs
to her. It is, therefore, not for us to say where the
authority of the Church ceases, and where the authority of
human experiment begins. The Church alone can judge
how far her authority goes. What things come wholly
within the domain of science, and what things belong to the
region of faith and morals j where the boundary line is to
be drawn, and in what attitude we have to place ourselves
as to certain subjects, — these things are altogether beyond
our power or our right, and are wholly within the judg
ment of the Apostolic See. It is left to the Church alo'ne
to tell us what is and what is not necessary for the salvation
of our souls. If she tells us that certain things are part of
the faith which she has to teach, or necessary for this faith,
we are bound to believe her. We have no more questions
to ask : " No man,77 say the Fathers of the great Council
of Nice, u ever accused the Holy See of a mistake, unless
he was himself maintaining an error. The case of St.
Cyprian will occur to every one. The enemies of the
Church have never been able to mention a single instance
of a pope who departed one hair's-breadth from the true
faith of the Church, — a fact which is admitted even by
Protestant writers. Even in the midst of the most evil
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUH TEACHER. 105
days, the sanctity of the See of Rome was never wholly
obscured." (Ecglehardt, "Ch. Hist.," vol. i, p. 312; Mar-
heineke. "Uni. Ch. Hist.," Erlangen, 1806.) The true
explanation of this fact must be sought for in the prayer of
Christ, in which a promise is given to Peter and his suc
cessors that they shall enjoy immunity from all error in
matters of faith (Luke xxii, 32), and to which pointed
reference is made by the popes, Leo the Great and Agatho.
Pope Leo says, in his Sermon iv, 4 : " All are confirmed
in Peter, and the assistance of divine grace so regulated,
that the grace which is conferred by Christ on Peter passes
on through Pe'ter to the other apostles." Let us be humble,
and say, with King Oswy : " I say, like you (St. Wilfred),
that P0ter is the porter of heaven, and that I will not
oppose him, but will, on the contrary, obey him in all
things, lest, when I come to the doors of the heavenly
kingdom, there be none to open them to me, if I am at
variance with him who carries the keys. In all my life I
will neither do nor approve any thing or any person that
may be opposed to him." (Alzog's " Uni. Ch. Hist.," vol.
ii, p. 93.)
9. Are, then, the definitions of the Pope new articles of
faith?
No ; the Holy Father can make no new articles of faith ;
he merely defines (that is, finally determines) what is offaitji,
according to Holy Scripture and t tradition : "The Holy
Spirit" say the Fathers of the Vatican Council, u was not
promised to the successors of Peter, that ~by his revelation
they might make known new doctrines, but that by his assist
ance tficy might inviolably keep, and faithfully expound, the
revelation or deposit of faith delivered ihrougji the apostles."
Hence, when the pope defines any point of doctrine pertain
ing to Catholic faith, it is as much as to declare that the
106 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUE TEACHER.
doctrine in question was revealed to the apostles, and has
come down to us from the apostles.
lt The pope can change nothing that Christ has estab
lished, as of faith, or of morals. The pope could not permit
Henry VIII to put away his lawful wife and to marry
another. The Protestant Episcopal Church had . to be
invented to perform that task. The pope cannot author
ize me to steal what does not belong to me, or, to hate my
neighbor and wish him eVil. The infallibility of the
pope is not omnipotence. It does not give him the liberty
to do whatever he pleases. On the contrary, the pope is,
almost every day, declaring that he cannot do this or the
other thing that his persecuting tormentors ask him to do.
His infallibility, then, consists in this : that, while the
faith that is in him is also in the other bishops and in
the faithful, in these it does not so exist that in one or
other of them, or even in many of them, it may not fail.
But the privilege granted to the successor of St. Petei
is that his faith can never fail. His privilege of
infallibility is not to change one iota of the faith, but to
keep it pure and undefiled. The nonsense about the pope,
in virtue of his infallibility when teaching the Church,
coming to meddle in the political party quarrels of coun
tries, where no question of faith or morals is involved, is
too drivellingly insensate to be contradicted. The faith
and doctrine of the Catholic Church is open, and may be
read by all men 5 by laymen as by the hierarchy, by non-
Catholics as by Catholics. This faith and doctrine the
Pope of Rome, by the singular gift to Peter by our Lord,
is infallible in kteping and declaring." (From the N. Y.
Freeman's Journal.)
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 107
10. Is man, then, infallible ?
No man is infallible of himself ; but the pope is infallible,
by the assistance of the Holy Grhost, when he teaches any
thing as Chief Pastor and Doctor of the Church.
The pope, it is true, is man ; but, from the beginning
of the world, God has spoken through men. He spoke
though the patriarchs and the prophets. But the pope is
a greater patriarch than Abraham, he is greater than Mel-
chisedech in priesthood, greater than Moses in authority,
greater than Samuel in jurisdiction j he is Peter in
power, Christ by unction, pa'stor of pastors, guide of
guides j through him the Holy Ghost speaks and teaches
the whole flock of Christ. This is the doctrine of the
apostles, say the Fathers of the Vatican Council : " And
indeed all the venerable Fathers have embraced, and the
holy orthodox doctors have venerated and followed, their
apostolic doctrine, knowing most fully that this See of
holy Peter remains ever free from all blemish of error,
according to the divine promise of the Lord our Saviour,
made to the Prince of his Disciples : i I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not 5 and when thou art converted,
confirm thy brethren.7
" This gift, then, of truth and never-failing faith was
conferred by heaven upon Peter and his successors in this
Chair, that they might perform their high office for the
salvation of all ; that the whole flock of Christ, kept away
by them from the poisonous food of error, might be nour
ished with the pasture of heavenly doctrine ; that, the
occasion of schism being removed, the whole Church
might be kept one, and, resting on its foundation, might
stand firm against the gates of hell." (Cap. iv.) It is,
then, the Holy Ghost who speaks through the pope J
108 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
through him he preserves the purity of Christ's doctrine;
and teaches it free from every blemish of error.
11. How does the Holy Ghost preserve the unity of faith
in the Church ?
By granting toiler members the gift of faith, which en
ables them to believe all that the Church teaches.
,As Christ, by his prayer, obtained the gift of infalli
bility for Peter and his successors, in like manner he
obtained, by his prayer, the gift of faith for the rest of his
flock : " Holy Father," he prayed on the eve of his p^s-
sion, " keep them in thy name whom thou hast given me,
that they may be one, as we are also. And not for them
only do I pray, but for them also who, through their word,
shall believe in me, that they all may be one, as thou,
Father, in me, and I in thee ; that they may be one in us,
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." (John
xvii.) According to the interpreters of holy Scripture,
Jesus Christ asks of his heavenly Father that all his fol
lowers might participate in the one and in the same Holy
Ghost, so that in him, and through him, they might all be
united to the other divine persons. Now, all the prayers of
Christ were heard by his Father, as he himself tells us,
when he prayed to his Father to raise Lazarus from the
dead : lt Father, I give thanks tha£ thou hast heard me,
and I know that thou hearest me always." (John xi, 41.)
As Peter and his successors then obtained, by Christ's
prayer, the gift of teaching infallibly, so, also, the flock of
Peter obtained, by Christ's prayer, the gift of believing
most firmly all that Peter in person, or through his suc
cessors, would teach them., Various, gifts of the same
Holy Spirit are given to different persons, says St. Paul,
that each may discharge 14s own duty: u For in one
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUK TEACHER. 109
/•
spirit we were all baptized into one body . . . and in
one spirit we all have been made to drink." (1 Cor. xii,
13.) As the Vicars of Christ are infallible in teaching, so
the Church is infallible in believing.
The head of the Catholic Church, — the body of Christ, —
being infallible, the whole body shares the inerrancy of
the head. Peter and his sucessors were made infallible
in all that relates to faith and morals, not for their own
sake simply, but for the sake of their flock, that truth
might never be subject to correction, and that all the
pastors and the faithful might be eternally secured from
error. Adhering to the infallible judgment of Peter, they
cannot be deceived. Such is the God-given privilege
of the whole Catholic Church. We have a right to be
/ '/•'••/ /
peremptory in condemning every kind of heresy, and we
condemn it with an infallible judgment, for we do not
speak in our own name, like heretics ; no, we speak in the
name of him to whom it has been given, as the, Vatican
Council says, u to be possessed of that infallibility with
which the divine Redeemer willed that his Church should
be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith and
morals." It is the perpetuity of this undying authority of
Peter which distinguishes the Church of Christ from
human sects. It alone supplies both the safeguard of
Christian truth, and the ^est of Christian obedience to
truth. Without this infallible authority, all is disorder,
and the whole plan of redemption a mockery ; there is
neither Church nor Christianity, but only sects and opin
ions. Outside the Church neither unity nor obedience
is possible, because nothing exists which can maintain
the one, or enforce the other. To be separated from the
divine authority of the pope, is to be separated from God,
110 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
and to have no place in the kingdom of Christ : " Where
Peter is, there also is the Church of Christ ; " that is, all
those who believe and teach as the pope does, form the
true Church of Christ.
12. What, then, is the faith of the Roman Catholic ?
The faith of the Roman / Catholic is a gift of the Holy
Ghost, enabling him to believe firmly all that God teaches
through his Church.
Our belief in a person's word is firm, in proportion as we
think that he is not deceived in his knowledge ; that he
knows well what he says, because he is wise and prudent ;
that he will not deceive us, because he loves the truth, and
fears God. Thus, in transacting business, we give more
credit to a learned or able, than to an ignorant, man ; to a
learned man who is virtuous, than to one who is not so.
Now, God is the first and essential truth. His know
ledge extends to all things, and is infinitely perfect j he is
essentially true in his words. He knows things olily as
they are, and can speak them only as he knows them.
Therefore, when God speaks, whether it be in his own
divine person, or through the apostles and their lawful
successors in the Catholic Church, we must listen and obe'y?
simply because it is the voice of God, who can neither
deceive nor be deceived. We must have the most respect
ful, submissive faith in all that he has revealed to us
through his Church, and believe her doctrine with the
utmost firmness and simplicity, with an unwavering con
viction of their reality.
/ / . /
We must believe all the articles of faith more firmly
than we believe the proposition that the whole is greater than
its part. We should believe them more firmly than what
we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, touch with our
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. Ill
hands. We should be more certain of these articles of
faith than we are of our own existence, which is a reality
of which we cannot doubt j yet the things of faith are
still more real, having been taught by God, who cannot
deceive us. Our knowledge of natural things comes
through the senses, which often deceive us. Hence there
is nothing true in the universe of which we ought to be
so certain as of the mysteries of religion. " Faith,"
says St. Basil, " always powerful and victorious, ex
ercises a greater ascendency over f minds than all the
proofs which reason and human science can furnish, be
cause faith obviates all difficulties, not by the light of
manifest evidence, but by the weight of the infallible
authority of God, which renders them incapable of admit
ting any doubt." It was thus that Abraham believed
when, notwithstanding all the impediments of nature,
he felt sure that he should see himself the father of
a son, and, through him, of many nations. ''He be
lieved in hope against hope," says St. Paul, ii that
he might be made the father of many nations, accord
ing to what was said to him : i So shall thy seed be.' r'
And he was not weak in faith, for he considered neither
his old age, nor that of his wife Sarah. He distrusted
not the premise of God, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being most fully convinced that whatsoever
God has promised he is able to perform.
The faith of Moses was so great, that St. Paul says of
him that " he acted with the invisible God as though he
were visible."
Similar was the faith of the famous and valiant Count
de Montfort, who, being told that our Lord, in the Host,
had appeared visibly iu the hands of the priest, said to
112 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
/
those who urged him to go and see the miracle: "Let
those go and see it who doubt it j as for myself, I believe
firmly the truth of the mystery of the Eucharist, as our
mother, the holy Church, teaches it. Hence, I hope to
receive in heaven a crown more brilliant than those of
the angels ; for they, being face to face with God, have
not the power to doubt."
The noble Count St. Eliazer used to say that, with re
gard to matters of faith, he believed them so firmly that,
if all the theologians in the world strove to persuade him
to the contrary, their logic would not have the slightest
effect on him.
And, in truth, faith ought to take precedence of reason,
demonstration, experience, and all other motives of certi
tude, with the true Christian and new man regenerated in
Jesus Christ: "Consider," says St. Augustine, " that you:
are not called reasonable, but faithful, since, when a'ny one
is baptized, we say, He has become one of the faithful."
We must have this firm faith not only in some, but ifc
all the truths which God has made known, although they
may be altogether incomprehensible to us. Faith will not
allow of the rejection of even one ; and he who should
voluntarily entertain a doubt of one single article, one single
point of faith, could not be said to have faith at all. We
believe everything that God has revealed, precisely for
this reason, that God lias said it.
The word of God, who is infallible truth itself, and who
cannot deceive nor be deceived, is the why and wherefore
of our belief. To say or to think, I believe this article,
this truth of faith, but I do not believe that, is as much as
to say or to think, I believe that God tells the truth in
this point, but he tells it not in that ; it is as much as to
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 113
say, God is capable of telling a lie. This is blasphemy j
it is even the denial of God's existence.
And also to say or to think, I cannot believe such an
article, or such a mystery of faith, because it is too obscure,
too incomprehensible, and contrary to reason, is to exhibit
a lamentable lack of reason. To be a man, it is neces
sary to have reason. Reason is the light^ of man. But
reason tells us that it is necessary to submit to faith, and
that there is no sense in him who wishes to subject to his
reason the Author of his reason ; and that to wish to under
stand what is above his intelligence, is to be without
intelligence.
Reason tells us that our religion would not be divine if
it were not above reason. For God would not be God,
if he were not incomprehensible ; and my soul could not
adore him, if my mind could comprehend him. It is one
thing to say that such a mystery is contrary to reason,
and another to prove it. In order to prove that a doctrine
is contrary to reason, we must have a clear, precise idea
of what that doctrine is. We can say, for instance, that
it is contrary to reason to assert that a square is a circle,
for we have a clear, precise idea of what a square is, and
what is a circle. But we cannot say with certainty that
a doctrine or a mystery of our holy faith is contrary to
reason, for we can never have a full, clear, precise idea
of that doctrine or mystery. We cannot have this clear
idea, simply because those doctrines are far above reason.
We cannot say, for instance, that the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity, the doctrine of the three divine persons
in one divine substance, is contrary to reason, because
we can never have a clear, precise idea either of God's
essence, or of the nature of the three divine persons.
114 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
And what is true of the Trinity is true also of all the
other doctrines and mysteries of our holy faith. They are
not against reason, but they are above reason. Reason
is aboVe the senses, and faith is abcfve reason.
" Certainly," says St. John Chrysostorn, "since the
works of God incomparably surpass the capacity of our
minds, the thoughts whereby we seek to penetrate the
abysses of faith are always accompanied with folly, and
resemble labyrinths which it is very easy to enter, but from
which it is almost impossible to come forth. These thoughts
spring from pride ^ and as proud minds are ashamed to
believe or to admit that which they ca'nnot understand,
they entangle themselves in difficulties from which they
cannot easily issue. Is it true, then, proud man, that you
can understand how the sun and stars were created j how
the earth, with all its riches, was called forth from chaxos ;
how the magnet attracts iron ; how a single grain of corn
sown in the earth produces a thousand other grains ? You
are not ashamed to own that you cannot answer these
things ; and when there is question of things of a more
sublime nature, of things that are above the comprehension
of angels, you will not avow your ignorance — you make
bold efforts to understand them. Fool! the shame is not
the inability to comprehend them, but the daring to sound
them."
Speaking of Rahab, who received the spies, and of
whom St. Paul says that fyer faith saved her from the
unhappy fate of her fellow-citizens, St. Chrysostom praises
the simplicity of her faith, and adds: "This woman did
riot examine what the spies said, neither did she reason
with herself thus : How can it be possible that the captives
and fugitives now wandering in the desert will capture a
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
115
city so strong and so well provided as ours ? Had she
argued thus, she had been lost."
/ / /
Those of the Israelites, on the contrary, who, hearing
of the prodigious strength and power of the countries they
were to conquer, -yielded to diffidence, notwithstanding the
divine assurance that they should vanquish their enemies,
even without fighting them, were deprived, by their infi
delity, of the happiness which God had promised to their
faith.
What could be more strange or more opposed to reason
than to command a father to sacrifice his only and most
/ / / l
innocent son ? Arid yet Abraham put himself in readi
ness to offer sacrifice without discussing the commandment,
or adducing arguments to prove its unreasonableness. He
considered only the divinity and wisdom of tlim who
commanded.
Another person, who wished to show himself more reason
able, refused to strike a prophet, as he had been ordered
to do. Such a thing he thought was improper. But
his disobedience was soon punished, for a lion rushed upon
him and devoured him, not far from the place where the
fault had been committed.
Saul having been ordered by God to put the Amale-
kites to death, with their flocks and herds, found it reason
able to spare the king, and to set aside the best and
fattest of the flocks for sacrifice. Asa recompense for his
fine reasoning on the subject, he was overwhelmed with
many evils, and finally lost his kingdom.
The infant at the mother's breast takes what it sees not ;
sometimes it will even close its eyes when it might see
what it takes, as though it confided entirely in its mother,
and in the love she bears it j in like manner the soul
116 GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER.
draws the milk of faith from the bosom of the Church,
which she sees not. She reposes on the infinite wisdom
and goodness of Jesus Christ, who can teach her nothing
but what is true, and give her nothing that is not good.
It is on this juice of divine faith that the just man lives,
as St. Paul tells us ; he avoids not only o'pen heresy, he
also diligently shuns, and his heart dissents from, those
opinions which approach it more or less closely ; and he
religiously observes those constitutions and decrees where
by such evil, opinions, either directly or indirectly, have
been proscribed and prohibited by the Holy See. For, to
be a good Catholic, "it is not sufficient," says the Vatican
Council, u to shun heretical pravity, unless those errors also
be diligently avoided, which more or less nearly approach
it. We, therefore, admonish all men of the further duty
of observing those constitutions and decrees by which
such erroneous opinions as are not here specifically enu
merated, have been proscribed and condemned by this
Holy See." (Can. iv.)
Tfce faith of St. Teresa was so firm, that it seemed to
her she t could convert all heretics from their errors j
and so simple, that she said, the less she comprehended a
mystery, the more firmly she believed it, arid the more
devotion it excited in her : she tasted a singular pleasure
in not being able to comprehend it. She silenced all objec
tions to a mystery, by saying : il The Son of God, Jesus
Christ, has revealed it to us, and we have no more queV
tions to ask."
Indeed, the fact that Jesus Christ has said or done this or
' i
that thing, or has taught it to his Church, and commanded
her to teach it to all nations, must be for us the weightiest
of all reasons to believe it. The famous word of the
GOD THE HOLY GHOST OUR TEACHER. 117
Pythagoreans, u The master has said it/' was with them a
foolish idolatry, believing, as they did, that no one could
be deceived. Applied, however, to Jesus Christ, it must
be a first principle, a sacred axiom, for eVery Christian.
The heavens and the earth shall pass awa'y, but " the
truths of the Lord remain forever." (Ps. cxvi, 2.) He
has said : " What is great before men is an abomination
before God." He has said : " Sooner will a camel pass
through the eye of a needle than the rich e'nter the king
dom of heaven." He has said : " Woe to you who now
rejoice, for you shall weep ; " " Blessed are those who
weep." He has said : " He who renounces not all, and
himself also, cannot be my disciple." He has said it.
Re'ason, perhaps, might suggest that these oracles must
be explained, softened, modified ; that it cannot compre
hend how we can find peace in war, glory in contempt,
delight in crosses. But the good Christian listens only
to his Master : u Christ has said it." He would not have
said it, were it not true. The good Christian believes most
firmly the doctrine of the Catholic Church, which the
apostles have proclaimed, which so many saints and wise
men have preached, which the blood of the maVtyrs has
cemented, which miracles have proved, which reason
confirms, which the elements and insensible creatures have
announced, which the demons themselves are constrained
to acknowledge ; yes, the good Christian receives the
doctrine of the Catholic Church, glorious with so many
victories, racliant with so many crowns, laden with the
spoils of all its enemies. If, in imitation of the martyrs,
the good Christian has not the happiness to die for this
doctrine, he endeavors at least to live up to all its precepts.
118 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
$ 4. — THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE
TRUTH.
f f /
The Catholic Church is a living society, established by
God. It will always remain as God made it. What he
constituted the head of the Church, will continue to be
the head. What he constituted the teaching authority,
will continue to be the teaching authority. What he con
stituted the subordinate members, or the hearing Church,
will always so continue 5 and the faith which God com
missioned his Church to teach to all nations, will always
continue the same faith, for the Catholic faith or religion
is the word of God, and the word of God is unchangeable.
Hence, if any one asks :
1, Has the word of God been preserved pure aiid uu-
corrupted ?
We answer : Most assuredly ; for it is impossible that
the ivord of God can be corrupted in the infallible Church.
If we consider the ancient Jewish people, it is impos
sible not to be struck by the wonderful fact of a whole
people surpassing all o'ther nations in antiquity, and living
throughout in the very midst of universal idolatry and
degradation, bearing intact the deposit of the natural, or
the primitive religion^ that is, of the belief in, and worship
of, one only God, spiritual, holy, all-powerful, Father and
Judge of all men ; such, in fact, as the wnole Christian
world worships now.
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 119
It was not long before all the nations, illumined origin
ally by the light of primitive religion, saw that light
expire. They lost themselves in the paths of super-
stiuon and idolatry. They wandered farther and farther
away from the truth, and nothing could draw them back to
the right way. Thus the human mind generally lost
sight of the truth wliich the Jews alone preserved. Is
not this a real prodigy in the moral o'rder ? How did the
J-ews alo'ne escape the universal shipwreck of reason ?
How came it that they alone held fast to the primitive
truth, and resisted the tendency of the human mind
toward error, — they wlio were more ancient than all other
nations, and consequently might, as they advanced in age,
have become corrupted much sooner than the others I
They were naturally not less gross, not less carnal, not less
affected by that moral wound which inwardly weakens all
mdrtal men. How are we to explain this grand fact ?
The preservation of religious truth among this people can
be explained only by attributing it to the same means by
which truth was first made known to man : the intervention
of God.
The same God who incessantly watched over his sacred
word before the coming of Christ, has also watched with
the same care over the purity of his word after Christ's
coming. Hence our Lord says in the Gospel: tl1t is
easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of
the law to fall.'7 (Luke xvi, 17.) The J/wish Church was
commanded by God to try, and, after sentence, to stone
any one, whoever he might ba, who counselled them to
depaVt from the true God : so solicitous did God require
that Church to be in sa-ving the people from error.
Christ requires his Church to be just as solicitous in
120 THE CATHOLIC CHUECH
saving the people from error. Hence she has never failed
to cast her stones of condemnation, reprobation, and
excommunication, at those who^ left the truth, taught
perverse doctrine, and led their fellow-men into error and
perdition. Witness every General Council, witness every
Brief, Apostolical Letter, Consistorial Allocution of the pope,
condemning and reprobating heresies and errors of the
age 5 witness the condemnation or the prohibition of so m^ny
heretical, licentious, and immoral books. In the days of
the primitive Church there was, in the market-place, a
great burning of books which had been condemned by the
apostles. In the succeeding centuries, the works of heretics
were condemned as soon as they appeared. This practice
of condemning false and immoral books has been continued
to this day. De Lamennais and Gioberti, Rosmini and
Ventura, — of whom the two last have been imitators of the
humble Fenelon, the two first of the arrogant Tertullian, —
are examples, in our own day, of the ceaseless vigilance of
the successors of St. Peter in rebuking and destroying
eri^or. The two first resisted the voice of Peter, and
withered away like a tree blasted by lightning ; the two
last obeyed his paternal remonstrance, and, by their
humility, acquired fresh titles to the love and respdct of
Christians, to whom they have left so excellent an exa'm-
ple. Such is the sleepless fidelity of God's Vicar, and
such are the fruits of his divine mission, to preserve the
children intrusted to him in the purity and simplicity of
our most holy faith. Before his presence error cannot
f 7 /
hide her face, and the spirits of darkness, despairing of
success, return to the abyss from which they came.
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 121
2. How does the Church preserve the word of God ?
The Clyurch preserves the word fof God, partly in the
Holy Scriptures, and partly in tradition.
The Catholic Church possesses a large volume of sacred
writings, called the Holy Scriptures, or Holy Writ, or the
Bible, or the written word of God. The Church regards
the Bible : 1, as an authentic book, because its various parts
are written by those authors to, whom they are attributed;
2, as a genuine book, because every part of it has come
down to us as the author wrote it, without any essential
change ; 3, as an inspired book, because either God himself
rev/aled the things contained in each part, and which the
author could not have known unless by God's revelation ;
or because God directed the author in the selection of
things already known to him. and preserved him from
error whilst writing them. Hence, St. Paul recommends
this " Scripture inspired by God" to Timothy (2 Tim. iii,
1 6), arid St. Peter calls its writers " holy men of God," who
"spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost." (2 ^et. i, 21.)
The Fathers of the Church call the Bible a holy and divine
book, and frequently tell us that God himself is its author.
The pure preservation of the sacred writings is alto
gether owing to the parental solicitude of the Catholic
Church. The Church existed as a well-organized society,
having full divine authority, before there was ever any
question of the Scriptures. This is an undeniable fact.
In the ancient law, we see the Jewish Church established
and governed j MOses invested with authority ; the people
going to him to seek the judgment or sentence of God;
Aaron clothed with the priesthood j Joshua placed at the
head of their armies ; the synagogue directed by Chiefs, —
and as yet the Scriptures had no existence. The first tables
122 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
of the law, graven by the hand of the Lord, had been broken
by Moses 5 the second were not brought down from Mount
Sinai, and given to the people, until some months after
ward. It was v6ry much later, according as eve'nts suc
ceeded one another, that Moses wrote the Pentateuch.
As for the other books written by the judges, by Da'vid,
Solomon, and the prophets, — they did not exist till many
centuries after the institution and complete development
of the ancient Church 5 and it was only a few years before
the coming of our Saviour that the list of the canonical
books of the first part of the Bible, or the Old Testament,
was closed by the Second Book of the Machabees.
Then our divine Saviour comes. He preaches, he com
mands his disciples to preach throughout the whole world,
but he does not write anything, nor does he command any
one else to write. He imparts his own authority to St.
Peter and to the otjier apostles. After his ascension he
sends down his Spirit upon them, and from that moment
the Catholic Church is established. She assembles in
council, to appoint a successor to Judas, or to declare
the Jewish ceremonies abolished j she pronounces on the
questions concerning the Gentiles 5 she preaches, she bap-
tizes7 she converts the world 5 she speaks in all things with
the voice and authority of God, — and as yet the New
Testament is not written. Of all the apostles and disciples
there are but seven who have wri'tten ; and they have
written only fragments of history and some letters.
First came St. Matthew, who began to write his
pel, at the earliest, six years after the ascension of Christ.
St. John did not publish his, with his letters and the Apo
calypse, till toward the close of the first century 5 that is,
forty years after St. Paul had said to the Romans, " Your
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 123
faith is spoken of in the whole world." (Rom. i, 8.) At the
time when St. Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles, there
existed many churches, governed each by its own pastor,
as we see in this book of the Acts. The churches of
Rome, of Corinth, Colosse, Thessalonica, Galatia, certainly
existed before the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians,
Colossians, Thessalonians, and Galatians, were written.
The Apocalypse contains exhortations and reproofs ad
dressed to bishops of the churches. At least ten
generations of Christians had lived and died before the
world knew such a book as the Bible. It was only in
the fourth century, when the persecutions were over, that
the Church could and did gather together the scattered
books which she had carefully preserved. She determined
which were canonical (holy and inspired), and which were
not. Many books which were considered inspired, and
supposed to have been written by the apostles or their
disciples, were set aside and rejected as spurious, or not
inspired. The Catholic Church collected the proper books
in one volume ; she put this volume into the hands of
her children j she told them it was the word of God, and
commanded them to believe and receive it as such.
As the art of printing was not invented until more than a
thousand years after the authorized collection of the
Scriptures, the Church had the Bible copied thousands of
times. She translated it into different languages^ and
continued to watch over its safety, and to guard it with
parental care, amidst storms and revolutions, amidst fire
and floods, amidst changes and persecutions. . She presses
it to her bosom as a treasure of priceless value j her
children repeatedly shed their blood to preserve it, rather
than expose or surrender it to the danger of profanation.
124 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
' /A s /
Under the fiery persecutions of Diocletian, hundreds of
Christians laid down their lives rather than give up the
sacred books ; and later on, during the revolution of the
middle ages, the first thing always thought^ of by the
monks, who were then the principal transcribers of the
Bible, was to transport the sacred volume to the mountains,
or to some other place of safety, at the first approach
of danger.
As it is the Catholic Church alone that has pre
served the sacred Scriptures, so also, the Catholic Church
alone can assure us that these writings are inspired by
God, have God for their author, are his infallible word.
Inspiration is something altogether supernatural, something
that cannot be perceived by any of the senses j soine-
thing which cannot be rendered, infallibly certain by feel
ing or reason, or any merely human testimony, for no man
ever saw a prophet or an evangelist converse with God.
No sacred writer ever asserted that any of his writings
were inspired. No private man, therefore, is able per
sonally to discover, satisfactorily, divine inspiration either
in the forty-five books of the Old Testament, or in the
twenty-seven of the New. To know what is from God,
inspired qr spoken by God, it . is necessary to have
come from God, and to be guided by God. And the
Catholic, Church alone is that society which is established
and guided by God, to make known to men, with divine,
infallible certainty, what is the word of God, and what is
not. She has parsed her infallible judgment on the holy
Bible. TKe Council of Trent says: "If any one does
not receive all these books, with their parts, as sacred and
canonical, let him be anathema." After such a solemn
declaration of the Church concerning the authenticity and
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 125
inspiration of the holy books, every Catholic says, with
St. Augustine : " For my own part, I should not have
believed the Gospel, if I had not been influenced by the
authority of the Catholic Church.'*' Luther himself, the
apostate monk, could not help making a similar declara
tion : " We are compelled," he says, "to concede to the
Papists that they have the word of God; that, without
them, we should have had no knowledge of it at^ all."
(Comment, on St. John, chap, xvi.) Now then, answer
to the question of the Catechism :
3. What i? Holy Scripture ?
Holy^ Scripture is a collection of books, written under the
inspiration of the IIftly Ghost, and acknowledged by the
Church to be the written word of God. Now,
4, How is the Holy Scripture divided?
Holy Scripture is divided into the books of the Old and
of the New Testament, or of the Old and of the Neiv Law.
{ > f /
The Bible is divided into two parts. The first part con
tains those books which were written before the coming of
Christ ; and the second part consists of those books which
were written after Christ's coming. All the books of the
first part, combined, are called the Old Testament, or the Old
Law. The word, " testament," means alliance, or covenant.
The Old Testament is the alliance, or covenant, which God
made with the ancient Jewish people, through his great
servant, Moses. It is a contract containing, on the one
part, the commands and promises of God j and, on the
other, the engagements of the Jewish people to keep God's
commands.
» /
The books of the second part of the Bible are called the
New Testament. The New Testament is the alliance, or
covenant, which God has made with his new people, the
126 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Christians, through Jesus Christ, his own beloved Son,
This alliance is more perfect than was the ancient one
with the Jews.
5. What do the books of the Old and the New Testament
contain ?
The books of the Old Testament contain the principal
truths which God revealed,, before the coming of Christ ; and
the books of the New Testament contain part of the truths
which God revealed through Christ and his apostles.
In order to prevent men from forgetting or altering his
law, God commanded Moses to write down all his Ordi
nances. He also afterward inspired the prophets and Others
to write their prophecies, their instructions, and, in later
times, the doctrine and history of the Catholic Church.
t1 j •> j
According to their contents, the books of the Old Testa
ment are divided into three parts :
1. The historical books, twenty- one in number. They are :
the five books of Moses : Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Ntfm-
bers, Deuteronomy. These are called the Pentateuch, or
the Law. In them are related the creation of the world, the
lives of the patriarchs, and the covenant which God made
with his people, who were called the Jews, or the Hebrews,
or the Israelites. The other historical books contain
either the history of the people of God in general, such
as : the books of Joshua, that of Judges, the four books of
Kings, the two books called Paralipomenon, the books of
Esdras, that of Nehemias, and the two books of Machabees f
or they contain the history of certain saints or other illus
trious personages, such as: the histories of Job, Ruth,
Tobias, Judith and Esther.
2. TJie moral books, or the books of instruction. These
teach men how to lead holy lives j they are: the one
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 127
hundred and fifty Psalms of David, the Proverbs, Eccle-
siastes, the Canticle of Canticles, the book of Wisdom,
and Ecclesiasticus.
3. The prophetical books, namely: the books of the
four great prophets, Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, and Daniel;
to which may be added David, t and the twelve minor
prophets : Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas,
Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, and
Malachias. These are called the minor prophets, because
they wrote less than the first four. The books of the
prophets mostly contain prophecies or announcements of
future events.
The books of the 'New Testament are also divided,
according to their contents, into three parts :
1. The historical books (the Gospels written by St.
Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John), and the Acts
of the Apostles, written by St. Luke.
2. The books of instruction, which are the fourteen
Epistles by St. Paul : one to the Eomans, two to the
Corinthians, one to ^the Galatians, one to the Ephesians,
one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians; two to the
Thessalonians, two to Timothy, one to Titus, one to
Philemon, one to the Hebrews; one by St. James 5 two by
St. Peter ; three by St. John j and one by St. Jude.
3. The prophetic book, or the Apocalypse, or Revela
tions, by St. John. The catalogue of the books of the
Old and the New Testament is called the canon of the
Scriptures, and hence the sacred writings themselves
are called canonical. " These divine writings," says St.
Isidore of Pelusium, "which are set before thee in the
Church of God, receive as tried gold, they having been
tried in the fire by the divine Spirit of the truth. They
128 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
are steps whereby to ascend to God." (Lib. i, Ep. 369 ;
Gyro, 96. Paris, 1638.)
All the sacred truths, however, taught by our divine
Saviour and his apostles, are not found in the sacred
Scriptures. Hence, it is said in the Catechism that the
New Testament contains but part of the truths which God
Revealed by Jesus Christ and his apostles. Several of
these truths have been handed down by tradition.
6. What is tradition ?
Tradition is that part of Christ's doctrine which is not
recorded in the New Testament.
Tradition signifies testimony or truth, handed down by
word of mouth from father to son, and generation to
generation. By tradition, as here used, is understood the
word of God, not written in the sacred books, but pre
served in the memory of men in the manner described.
In no age did God wish that all he had taught men for their
salvation should be fully and clearly recorded in writing.
In fact, for two thousand years there was no written
word of God. Moses was the first whom God inspired
to write down that which he had made Ijtnown to mankind
from the beginning of the world until his time. But
God did not inspire Moses to write down a full, clear state
ment of all religious truth.
Were Noe, or any other of the patriarchs, to come to us
with a copy of what Moses wrote about his knowledge of
God and the truths revealed by the Lord, he would tell
us that he had a wider, clearer, more definite, arid more
practical knowledge of religious truth, than is conveyed by
the words of Moses to the isolated reader. We find, for in
stance, the distinction made between clean and unclean
' * /
animals, which distinction evidently had reference to the
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 129
divine institution of sacrifice, of the origin of which we
nowhere read in Scripture. Nor are we told what animals
were fit, and what were unfit, for that holy rite. All, this
Noe would, of course, have known by divine tradition.
He was to take by sevens of the clean, and by twos of
the unclean.
In the account of the fall of man, there is no express men
tion made of the evil being who caused the fall, but only
of the visible form which he assumed. That it was Satan,
all the patriarchs and the Jews knew ; but the fact that it
was Satan, is mentioned in a part of holy Scripture which
was never in the hands of the Jews, viz. : the 12th
chapter of the Apocalypse, verse 9. That Henoch pro
phesied, is nowhere recorded in the Old Testament. Yet
the patriarchs, after Henoch, and the Jews knew Henoch's
prophecy about our Lord. It has been preserved by tra
dition, and confirmed by St. Jude the Apostle, 14, 15 :
u Now of these Henoch also, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied, saying : Behold, the Lord cometh with thou
sands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, to reprove
all the ungodly for all the works of their ungodliness,
whereby they have done ungodly, and of all the hard
things which ungodly sinners have spoken against God."
Holy Scripture also tells us of Henoch : " Henoch walked
with God, and was seen no more, because God took him."
7 /
(Gen, v, 24.) The expression, " was seen no more," implies
his removal from the earth. But we certainly should
neVer have discovered the important fact of his trans
lation in the flesh without other help than those words
themselves afford. Throughout the rest of the Old Testa
ment writings there is no clear statement of this fact.
We owe our certain knowledge of the real case entirely
130 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
to the words of St. Paul, who gives an explanation of it in
his Epistle to the Hebrews : " By faith Henoch was
translated, that he should not see death, and he was not
found, because God had translated him : for before his
translation he had testimony that he pleased God." (Heb.
xi, 5.) The knowledge of the fact, however, was preserved
traditionally among God's people, and the truth of the
tradition is confirmed by an inspired writer. Henoch is
still living and in the flesh.
In the whole period before the Deluge, we have but
one recorded revelation respecting man's spiritual interests,
and that is the statement made to the serpent : " And
the Lord God said to the serpent : Because thou hast
done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle and beasts
of the earth : upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth
shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will put enmities
between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed ;
she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her
heel." (Gen. iii, 14, 15.)
Now that statement, by itself, is evidently quite inade
quate as a foundation for such a living, practical system
of religion as existed at that time. It requires the exist
ence of a divinely-appointed teaching Church, with its
groundwork of traditional knowledge, to give a value to
that statement. The patriarchs before the Flood could not
possibly have obtained from that brief statement all the
knowledge of the truth which they undoubtedly had. The}
knew the extent and value of that statement by the teach
ing of the divine system in which they lived, and which
they humbly followed
Even when we come to Abraham, who seems to have
lived in the very light of God's countenance, we find that
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 131
the revelation made to him is brief and indistinct. Surely,
in the words, " in thy seed/' there is not enough whereon
to build the whole religion of Abraham.
The main feature, however, of the patriarchal Church,
was sacrifice, which requires more particular notice. We
do not read anywhere of the institution of the rite of sacri
fice, nor of the meaning of the rite, nor is there any com
mand mentioned for offering sacrifice till we come to the
Mosaic time : but allusions in the book of Genesis show
) >
that sacrifices were continually going on, and in some
cases, as for instance, Gen. xv., they were sacrifices of a
very peculiar nature, and of a highly ceremonial charac-
ter. We find Abraham, by God's command, offering not
merely a lamb or a bullock, but " a cow of three years
old, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three
years ; a turtle also, and a pigeon." (Gen. xv, 9.) The
offerer of such sacrifices learned a great deal by his habit
of sacrificing. He was schooled by it into a due acknow
ledgment of God as his Creator, taught humility, and a
dependence upon something with which God had pro
vided him to become acceptable in his presence. The
tendency of every sacrifice manifestly was to impress
upon man, practically, a sense of his own unworthiness
to appear before God without some atonement ; to teach
him that without some death or suffering, undergone on
his account, he could not worship God pro'perly ; to make
him, so far as he could then be made, a Christian. A
sense, then, of sinfulness, and of the necessity of atone
ment, was the practical habit formed by sacrifices j and so
mankind were trained in a state of preparation for the
Gospel and its benefits.
What, then, is the light in which we are to regard t^ese
132 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
brief revelations of holy Scripture? We are to look
upon them as solemn declarations, full of deep meaning
and import, presupposing a divine teaching system, but
clothed and wrapped up, as it were ; not speaking clearly,
if at all, to persons who knew nothing else than those
words, yet giving sufficient knowledge to those living
under a divinely-appointed teacher of traditional know
ledge. There was a patriarchal body, a patriarchal
church, in which there was a system of religious education,
clear and distinct, so far as it went ; a ceremonial and
certain sacraments, by which men were drawn toward God,
and taught the knowledge of the truth. That patriarchal
church, or body, simply because it was God's ordinance,
was a guide sure and infallible, to the extent of the revelaf-
tion then made known. It had all the essentials of a
teacher from God. Its knowledge, though partial, was
clear, and its utterance distinct and infallible.
This is a most important thing to bear in mind, because
infidelity, rationalism, and heresy, in every form, are
always taking advantage of the brevity of holy Scripture,
its want of explicitness, to the disparagement of its teach
ing, and of religion in general. For instance, the fact that
the doctrines of the immortality of the soul, and the resur
rection of the body, are not explicitly stated in the books of
Moses, has given occasion for asserting that those truths
were not known at that time ; and that all that holy men
of old were looking to, all that, in fact, the Church of
Israel desired and hoped for, lay on this side the grave ;
and that life and immortality were in no sense brought
to light before the coming of the Gospel. Such a distinction
between former dispensation and the Christian is used as
an argument against the Christian revelation.
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 133
We ought, then, to remember that the patriarchs,
and the patriarchal body generally, had a clear, definite,
practical knowledge of religious truth, — a wider knowledge
than the mere words of holy Scripture, had they possessed
them, could have conveyed to isolated minds. They
infallibly preserved, by divine tradition, the religious truths
and the promises of God.
From the beginning of the world to the time of Moses,
the faithful followers of God believed in an unwritten
divine revelation or in tradition. From the time of
Mdses, almost to the time of the coming of the Redeemer,
those, also, who were saved outside the Jewish people,
had faith in tradition. It was also by tradition alone
that the Jews knew several religious truths : such as the
Trinity, original sin, the spirituality and immortality of
the soul, the future incarnation. It was a tradition
among the Jews that, besides the written revelation, Moses
also received, on Mount Sinai, an oral and traditional
revelation, which he transmitted to the priests. To this
tradition our Saviour appealed. (Matt, xxiii, 2.) Moses,
the judges, King David, and others of the inspired writers,
repeatedly referred the Jews to it. The traditions of
the Pharisees and of the heathens only are condemned.
There has ever been a Church of God, a society pos
sessing and preserving a full and clear traditional know
ledge of divine ,truth, independent of all writing, or
collection of writings. Of course this is so under the
GospeHispensation. Our blessed Lord founded his Church,
committed to her the deposit of truth, commissioned her
to teach that truth to all nations, and promised to be with
her so teaching^ till he should come again; and to that
teaching he enjoined obedience under the severest menace :
134 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
"He that believeth not shall be condemned." (Mark
xvi, 15.) Those doctrines which our Lord^and Saviour
Jesus Christ taught his apostles by word of mouth,
but which they have not committed to writing, together
with those which the Holy Ghost dictated to them, and
which they were to transmit to the Universal Church,
are called the Christian traditions, or the word of God,
not written in the New Testament. Holy Scripture itself
and the early Fathers of the CHurch tell us that the whole
doctrine of Christ and his apostles was not written down :
" There are also," says St. John, at the end of his Gospel,
" many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were
written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be
able to contain the books that should be written." (Chap,
xxi, 25.) "All things," writes St. Epiphanius, "are not
found in the holy Scripture, for the apostles have taught
us some by tradition, some by writing." Whence, for
instance, do we know that the Old and the New Testament
are inspired writings 5 that the Sunday is to be kept holy,
instead of Saturday ; that the baptism conferred uj5on
infants by heretics is valid ; that baptism is necessary for
children j that the receiving of holy communion is not
necessary for the salvation of infants ? These and oiher
doctrinal or moral truths we know only by tradition.
7. How has the unwritten word of God come down to us ?
The unwritten word of (jrod has come down to us by the
constant and invariable teaching of the Church.
The apostles taught the truths which they had learned
from Christ. They took great care to instruct their dis
ciples thoroughly, and make them capable of so instructing
others. Thus their pure and holy doctrine was delivered
to the first bishops and priests of the Roman Catholic
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 135
Church. By them it was, in like manner, handed down to
their successors, and so on, unimpaired, to those who, at
the present time, teach in the Catholic Church. This we
know fromVhat St. Paul writes to the Bishop Timothy,
and from the early Fathers of the Church : "And the
things which thou hast heard of me before many witnesses"
writes St. Paul, "the same commend (intrust) to faithful
men, who shall be fit to teach others." (2 Tim. ii, 2.) St.
Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who was acquainted with
many of Christ's disciples, and especially with St. John,
writes : ** I have always taught what I have received from
the apostles."
" We received the Gospels from the apostles," says St.
Clement ; " they were sent by Jesus Christ ; Jesus Christ
was sent by God. Receiving command, and by the resur
rection of our Lord fully secured, and strengthened by the
Holy Spirit, the apostles went out, announcing the coming
of the kingdom of God. They preached through the
country and towns, and appointed bishops and deacons,
their first fruits, and whom they had proved by the
spirit. These our apostles knew, through Je^us Christ,
that disputes concerning episcopacy would arise ; where
fore they appointed those of whom I have spoken, and
thus established the series of future succession, that, when
they should die, other approved men might enter on their
ministry." (Ep. i, ad Cor., Tuter P. P. Apost., t. i, p. 171:
Amstel. 1724.) The pastors of the Church, then, taught
what they received. Christ left his revelation living in the
divine authority of the pastors of his Church ; by these it is
left also living in the unanimous consent of the Fathers and
Doctors of the Church ; in the decrees and decisions of Gen
eral Councils and of the Sovereign Pontiffs; in the liturgies
136 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
or other forms of prayer ; in the acts of the martyrs ; in
the public and solemn administration of the sacraments 5 in
the catechisms and books of instruction of Christian writers j
in the faith, the prayers, the religious practices of the Chris
tian family, and the Christian monuments of the Church.
The Catholic Church is the Jiving Gospel Those who have
seen the grand cathedrals in Europe tell us that there they
found expressed, in the most striking forms of the Rcmian-
esque and Gothic styles, the precept of prayer, the faith
in the Real Presence, and in the holy sacrifice of the Mass,
the distinction between clergy and people, and the preemi
nence of bishops over simple priests j that there they read
the principal truths of the Gospel in the pictures and em
blems on the window-glass. And those who have visited
the catacombs of Rome tell us that there they saw altars
for the celebration of the Mass ; the bones of martyrs under
the stone upo'n which Jefeus Christ was offered ; tribunals
of penance, where the Christians, during the first three
centuries, confessed their sins, befo're receiving holy com
munion ; that there they found sculptures representing
Christ crucified, his ever blessed Virgin Mother MaVy,
his holy apostles, the primacy of St. Peter, the belief in
purgatory, the invocation of saints, and the practice of
baptizing infants.
Now, this is the Gospel written in the blood of martyrs
on the tombs and vaults of these catacombs, engraven in
the very b6wels of Rome, inlaid in stone and in marble, as
precisely and clearly as in our catechisms. Again, were
we to examine the documents of old libraries, the books of
the Greek and Latin Fathers, of the writers of controversy
of eVery country and of every century, we should find
the Gospel spoken and proclaimed in all languages, as on
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 137
/ /
the day of Pentecost. Finally, if we recall to our mind the
universal religious practices : the frequent use of the sign
of the cross, the practice of fasting in Lent, prayer for
the dead, repeating the Apostles' Creed, — are they not the
living Gospel ? Indeed, the Catholic Church and the
Gospel are one. Where else could we find the " Thou art
Peter," — that is, the Church founded upon Peter ? Where
else should we find the " I am with you all days," — that is,
an episcopate uninterrupted from the days of Jesus Christ
to our own time ? Where else should we find the "Whose-
soeVer sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them," —
that is, the ministry of the forgiveness of sins ? Where else,
indeed, should we find the sacrifice of which the apostle
speaks — the realization of the words of St. Paul, " We have
an altar," — that is, the universal and perpetual sacrifice
announced by the prophets, the sacrifice according to the
rite of the high-priest of Salem, the sacrifice under the
appearance of bread arid wine, the " priest forever, accord
ing to the order of Melchisedech " ?
All these are facts which most eloquently bear witness
to ^the Gospel truths of the Catholic Church ; they are
witnesses which no heresy can silence j they are barriers
in defence of her Scriptural and traditional truths, which
no subtlety can undermine, no boldness surmount.
, 8. Must we believe the unwritten word of God just as
firmly as the written ?
Yqs, because the one is the word of God just as well as
the other.
The doctrines taught by Jesus Christ and his apostles,
which have not been written in the New Testament, are
/ '
no less true than those which are there written. The
apostles taught the true doctrine of Christ not less by
138 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
their preaching than by their writings j and the Holy Ghost
expressed his will as well by their tongues as by their
pens. "Therefore, brethren," writes St. Paul, "stand
fast, and hold the traditions which you have learned,
whether by word or by our epistle." ("2 Thess. ii, 14.)
"It is, then, evident," writes St. John Chrysostom, "that
the apostles taught many things without writing, which
we must believe as firmly as those which are written."
(Horn, iv, on 2d Epist. to the Thessal.)
Hence, " if you are a Christian," says Tertullian,
" believe what has been handed down." (De Prescript,
xix.) To refifse to believe in the unwritten word of God
is as much as to say to the Lord: "I will believe in thy
word — in all that thou te'llest, on condition, that thou
takest the trouble to give it to me in writing." What
folly, what impiety is this ! Such impiety is abhorred
and condemned by the Catholic Church. " There are,"
says the Council of Trent, " truths and rules of conduct
contained in unwritten teaching, which, being received by
the apostles from the lips of Christ himself, or delivered
by the apostles themselves, under the dictation of the
Holy Ghost, have come down as from hand to hand, eVen
to us. These traditions the Council receives and venerates
with the like piety and reverence as it does the holy
Scriptures ; arid if any one knowingly and deliberately
h«lds the aforesaid traditions in contempt, let him be
anathema." (Sess. iv.) " Let us, therefore," says St. John
Chrysostom, "account the tradition of the Church worthy
of faith. It is tradition — ask no more." (Horn, iv, in
Epist. ii, Thess., n. 2.) " It never was," says St. Vincent
of Lerins, " it nowhere is, it never will be, allowable for
Catholic Christians to teach any other doctrine than that
THE GUAKDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 139
which they have received ; and it always has been, every
where is, and will be, their duty to anathematize those who
do otherwise." (Commonit. adv. Hsereses.) The infalli-
ble rule of faith which Christ left for all men is to believe
all that his Church teaches. Wherefore, " that only is
of divine faith which God has revealed, and which the
Church proposes to our belief." Not to believe what the
Church teaches is " to be a heathen and a publican," a great
sinner before God. Certain it is, that whatever truth
the Catholic Church proposes to our belief, it is contained
either in holy Scripture or in tradition. But the authori
tative reason for believing it, is the divine, infallible teach
ing authority of the Church. We need her unerring voice,
especially in the interpretation of holy Scripture. Hence
it is asked in the Catechism :
9, Is it easy for every one to understand the Holy
Scripture ?
And the answer is : No ; for, what St. Peter says of the
Epistles of St. Paul may be applied to many other passages
of holy Scripture, namely : " There are certain things in
his (St. Paul's], Epistles which are hard to be understood,
which the unlearned and unstable ivrest, as they also do the
other Scriptures, to their own destruction." (2 Pet. iii, 16.)
Evidence of this simple truth is seen every day. Protes
tant sects, such as the Mormons, build systems of the grossest
immorality on perverted texts of Scripture. C/nly recently,
members of an English sect called the Peculiar People were
brought up for trial in the civil courts, for having caused
the death of a child. They refused to call in the services
of a doctor when the child was sick, justifying their conduct
by such Scriptural texts as : " The Lord shall heal the
sick man," "Not a bone of him ye shall break," etc.
140 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Luther declared on his death-bed : " We are mere sch^ol-
boys, incapable of thoroughly understanding one single
verse of Scripture ; and it is with difficulty we succeed in
learning the A B C of it. Five years' hard labor will
be required to understand Virgil's Greorgics ; twenty years'
experience to be master of Cicero's Epistles ; and a hundred
years' intercourse with the prophets Elias, Eliseus, John
the Baptist, Christ, and the apostles, to know the Scrip
tures ! Alas ! poor human nature ! " (Florimond Remond,
b. iii, c. ii, fol. 287; Laign, Vita Lutheri, fol. 4.) The
Scriptures greatly differ from all human writings. These
can be understood at once, provided the mind be applied
to them, and be sufficiently disciplined to follow the author's
train of thought. There is no such thing as meaning hid
den behind meaning in human writings. Once we have
mastered them, we know the whole of their contents. Not
so with holy Scripture. After we have critically studied
the language of the Scripture ; after we have accumulated
all external information bearing on its matter ; after we
have availed ourselves of all the aid which the Church
provides for her children, even then we have not exhausted
its meaning.
The sense of holy Scripture cannot, as it were, be
mapped, or its contents catalogued ; but after all our dili
gence, to the end of our lives, and to the end of the
Church, it must be an unexplored and unsubdued land,
with heights and valleys, forests and streams, on the right
and left of our path, and close about us, full of concealed
wonders and choice treasures. Of no doctrine whatever,
which does not actually contradict what has been delivered,
can it be peremptorily asserted that it is not in Scripture j
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 141
of no reader, whatever be his study of it, can it be said
that he has mastered every doctrine which it contains.
This peculiarity of the holy Scripture, namely, that a
great deal more meaning is implied in the word of God
than is expressed, constitutes the great difficulty in the way
of discovering its sense. The word of God is, indeed, a
word holy and adorable j but a word that remains silent
under every interpretation. When difficulties and doubts
arise, then I must have some external guide or interpreter
that shall solve those difficulties, and satisfy my doubts,
and that guide or interpreter must be unerring.
10, Who is the infallible interpreter of Holy Scripture ?
The Catholic Church alone is the infallible interpreter of
holy Scripture.
We learn the sense of Scripture in the same way as we
learn the rest of Christian Doctrine, that is, by consulting
and listening reverently to our divine teacher, the Cath
olic Church j for the sense of Scripture was divinely
impressed upon the mind of the Church by her divine
Founder, from the beginning of her existence ; that sense
being, in matter of fact, nothing more nor less than the
deposit of faith, which it was the Church's duty and office
to guard, interpret, and develop, according as occasion
should serve. " The apostles," says St. Irenseus, " care
fully intrusted the Scriptures to their successors j and to
whom the Scriptures were intrusted, to them also was
committed the interpretation of Scripture." Accordingly,
the Church has decreed, in the Council of Trent, that no
one should presume to interpret the Scriptures in a sanse
contrary to that which she has held and holds, or contrary
to the unanimous consent of the Fathers : " No prophecy
142 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
of Scripture," says St. Peter, "is made by private inter
pretation." ( 2 Pet. i, 20.)
The Church may make known the sense of any passage
of Scripture in two ways : directly or indirectly. She
makes it known directly, either by a solemn definition, or
by the universal consent of the Church, from the Earliest
times. She makes it known indirectly, when she tells
us that we are to interpret Scripture according to the
analogy of faith ; that is, in such a way that our inter
pretation shall be in harmony with her teaching upon all
other points of Christian Doctrine.
As to the unanimous assent of the Church, we may
learn this from the writings of the Fathers, who, themselves
were but exponents of the mind of the one living, divine
Teacher. But in order to be bound by the interpretation
of the Fathers, the Council of Trent tells us that that
interpretation must be morally unanimous, and, moreover,
on some point in connection with faith or morals. But,
11, Does not the Church forbid the reading of the Bible?
No ; not the reading, but the private interpretation, of
tlie Bible is forbidden.
The Scriptures contain, indeed, the revealed mysteries
of divine faith. They are, undoubtedly, the most excellent
of all writings. They are written by men inspired by
God, and are not the words of men, but the infallible
word of God, which can save our souls. (1 Thess. ii, 13 ;
James i, 21.) But then they ought to be read, even by
the learned, with the spirit of humility, and with a fear
of mistaking their true sense, as many have in all ages.
Monseigneur de Cheverus, in his sermons, often dwelt on
the necessity of some teaching authority to render un
wavering the faith of the learned as well as of the igno-
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 143
rant. To convince Protestants of this necessity, he often
repeated, in his discoiirses to them, these simple words :
" Every day, my brethren, I read the holy Scripture like
yourselves j I read it with reflection and prayer, having
previously inv6ked the Hdly Ghost, and yet, at almost
every page, I find many things that I cannot understand,
and I find the great necessity of some speaking authority,
which may point out to me the meaning of the text, and
render my faith firm." And his hearers immediately
made the application to themselves. " If Monseigneur
de Cheverus," said they, "who is more learned than we,
cannot comprehend the sacred Scripture, how is it that
our ministers tell us that the Bible is to each of us a full
and clear rule of faith, easily understood of itself, and
requiring no aid in understanding its meaning T7 Taking
occasion from the admission that even the most learned
cannot agree as to matters of faith, the zealous bishop
pointed out how wisely God came to aid human weakness
in the discovery of truth, by appointing a living, speaking
authority, which, drawing its origin from Christ or his
apostles, has descended down to us by an uninterrupted
succession of pastors, professing, at all times and in all
places, and without the least variation, the same holy
doctrine as was taught and professed by the apostles.
The Bible is, indeed, the book of books, or the best book.
Hence the Church encourages the faithful to read the holy
Scriptures j for, says Pope Pius VI, " they are the most
abundant sources, which ought to be left open to every one,
to draw from them purity of morals and of doctrine, to
uproot the errors which are so widely spread in these
corrupt times." To guard, however, the faithful against
corrupted Bibles, and against erroneous interpretations, the
144 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
chief pastors of the Church have decreed that, with regard
to reading the Bible in the vernacular, we should have the
learning and piety requisite for it, and that the translation
should be approved by the Holy See, or acco'mpamed with
explanations by a bishop. The reading of the Bible will
always be attended with great spiritual advantage, if it is
read with becoming reverence, humility, and pious disposi
tions. It is, then, false, utterly false, to say that the
Catholic Church forbids us to read the Bible. We are
not forbidden to read the Bible, but we are forbidden to
interpret it according to our own whim, giving the word
of God any meaning which we choose to give it. And,
,12. Why doe^ the Church forbid the private interpre
tation, of the Bible?
Because numberless ^heresies have risen from the private
interpretation of the Bible.
From the time of the apostles to the present day, there
have risen unlearned men, as well as men accomplished in
every kind of learning, who undertook to interpret the
Bible according to their own private opinions. The
consequence was, that the ignorant were led into errors,
for want of knowledge, and the learned, through pride
and self-sufficiency. Instead of interpreting Scripture
according to the teaching of the Church, and learning from
her what they should believe, they have tried to teach the
Church false and perverse doctrines of their own. They
avail themselves of the Scriptures to prove their errors.
They say that they have the Scriptures on their side, which
are the fountain of truth. But these deluded men do not
consider that the truth is found, not by reading, but by
understanding, the holy Scriptures. This arrogance in
interpreting the Bible according to their fa'ncy proceeds
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 145
from pride. But God resists the proud, and withholds
from them the light of faith. In punishment for their
pride and want of submission to the teaching of his
Church, he permits such men to fall into all kinds of
errors, absurdities, and vices ; he permits the holy Scrip
tures, which are a great fountain of truth, to become to
them a great fountain of errors. So that to them may
be applied the words of our divine Saviour : " You err,
not knowing the Scriptures " (Matt, xxii, 29) ; and of St.
Peter : " They wrest the Scriptures to their own destru'c-
tion." (2 Pet. iii, 16.)
The Adamites pretended to find in the book of Genesis
that they were as pure as our first parents, and need not
be ashamed of being naked any more than Adam and Eve
before the fall. Arias pretended to find, in forty-two
passages of the Bible, that the Son of God was not equal
to the Father. Macedonius maintained that from holy
Scripture he could prove that the Holy Ghost was not
God ; and Pelagius asserted, on the authority of holy
Scripture, that man could work out his salvation without
the grace of God. Luther asserted that he found in Isaias
that man was not free ; and Calvin tried to prove from
Scripture that it is impossible for man to keep the com
mandments. There is no error so monstrous, no crime so
heinous, no practice so detestable, which perverse men have
not endeavored to justify by some passage of Scripture.
St. Augiistine asks, " Whence have risen heresies and
those pernicious errors that lead men to everlasting perdi
tion ? " and he answers : " They have risen from this :
that men understand the Scriptures wrongly, and then
maintain presumptuously and boldly what they thus under
stand wrongly." (In Joan. tr. xviii.) Thus, " the Gospel,"
146 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
as St. Jerome observes, " is, for them, not the Gospel of
Christ any longer, but the gospel of man, or of the oVvil :
for the Gospel consists, not in the words, but in the sense,
of Scripture, wherefore, by false interpretation, the Gospel
of Christ becomes the gospel of man, or, of the devil.77
" My thoughts, saith the Lord, are not as your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways j for, as the heavens are
exalted aboVe the earth, even so are my ways exalted
aboVe your ways, and my thoughts above ^your thoughts.'7
(Isa. 1, 8, 9.) Who, then, shall, by his private reason, pre
tend to know, to judge, to demonstrate, to interpret, the
unsearchable ways of God, and the incomprehensible, divine
mysteries hidden in the holy Scripture ? " How can I
understand it, if no one explains it to me ? 77 (Acts viii.)
To sum up what has been said : In the olrder of time,
the Catholic Church precedes the Scripture. There was
no time when a visible and speaking divine authority did
not exist, to which submission was not due. Before the
coming of Je'sus Christ, that authority among the Jews was
in the synagogue. When the synagogue was on the point
of failing, Jesus Christ himself appeared ; when this divine
personage withdrew, he left his authority to his Church,
and with her his Holy Spirit. All the truths which we
believe to be divine, and which are the objects of our faith,
were taught by the Church, and believed by millions of
Christians, long before they were committed to writing, and
formed what is called the New Testament. And those
truths would have remained to the end of the world, pure
and unaltered, had that primitive state continued j that is,
had it never seemed good to any of the apostolic men, as
it did to St. Luke, to commit to writing what they had
learned from Christ. He did it; he says, that Theophilus,
THE GUARDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 147
to whom he writes, might know the verity of these words in
which he had been instructed.
A Catholic, therefore, never forms his faith by reading
the Scriptures, his faith is already formed before he
begins to read ; his reading serves only to confirm what he
always believed : that is, it confirms the doctrine which the
Church had already taught him. Consequently, if these
books had not existed, the belief in the facts and truths of
Christianity would have been the same ; and it would not
be weakened if those books were no longer to exist.
As the Catholic Church made known to the Chris
tians those facts and truths long before they were recorded
in writing, she alone could afterward rightly decide, and
infallibly state, what books did, and what did not, contain
the pure doctrine of Christ and his apostles ; she alone
could and did know what books were, and what were not,
divinely inspired j she alone could and did make that
inspiration an object of faith ; she alone can, with infalli
ble authority, give the true meaning, and determine the
legitimate use, of the holy Scriptures.
Although the Scripture, the true word of God, is not to
us a ride of faith, taken independently of the teaching
authority of the pastors of the Church, the successors of
the apostles, yet it is not inferior to the Church in excel
lence and dignity. It is inspired, holy, and divine. Hence,
it is the custom of the Church to erect a throne in the
middle of councils, on which she places the sacred books
as presiding over the assembly, occupying, as it were,
the first place, and deciding with supreme authority. When
celebrating Mass, she wishes that the faithful, during the
reading of the Gospel, should all rise, and remain stand
ing, to show their reverence for the sacred truths. We
148 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
venerate the Scriptures as a sacred deposit bequeathed to
us by the kindest of parents, containing truths of the
highest moment, practical lessons of saving morality, and
facts of history relating to the^life of our divine SaViour,
and the conduct of his disciples, eminently interesting
and instructive. For all this we are very grateful.
Besides, the Scriptures come forward with a powerful
aid, to support, by the evidence of their contents, both the
divine authority of the Church, and the divine truths of
the faith which we have received from her, applying that
aid to each article, and giving a lustre to the whole So
Theo'philus, when he read that admirable narration which
St. Luke compiled for him, was more and more confirmed
in the verity of tilings in which he had been instructed.
(St. Luke i, 1-4.)
For those, however, who reject the divine authority of
the Church, the holy Scriptures can no longer be authentic
and inspired writings — they are for them no longer the
word of God ; for they have no one who can tell them, with
divine certainty, what books are, and what are not,
divinely inspired ; they have no one who, in the name of God,
can command them to believe in the divine inspiration of
the writers of those books. Explaining them as they do,
according to their fancy, and translating them in a way
favorable to their errors, they have, in the Scriptures, not
the Gospel of Christ, but that of man or the devil, calcu
lated only to confirm the ignorant in their errors, and the
learned in their pride and self-sufficiency. We read, in
the Gospel of St. Matthew and of St. Luke, that Satan
hid himself under the shade of the Scripture when he
tempted our divine Saviour. He quoted passages from
holy Scripture, in order to tempt him to ambition and
THE GUAEDIAN OF DIVINE TRUTH. 149
presumption. But he is answered : " Begone, Satan j it
is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Satan,
being overcome, left for a time. But not long after, under
the mask of Arius, Nestorius, Pelagius, Luther, Calvin,
John Knox, Henry VIII, and a host of other heresiarchs,
he renewed his attacks on Jesus Christ, in the person of
the Catholic Church. This demon is heresy, which hides
itself under the shade of Scripture. Were Satan to utter
blasphemies, he would be known at once, and men would
flee from him in horror. So he deceives them under
the appearance of good j he repeats passages from holy
Scripture, and men naturally listen to him, and are apt to
believe and follow him. But the good Catholic answers
him : " Begone, Satan ! It is written, He that will not
hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and
the publican." (Matt, xviii, 16.) This is the great, the
infallible, and the .only rule of faith, that leads to him who
gave it, — Jesus Christ.
The heretics and Catholics to whom St. Dominic
preached the Gospel, put together in writing the strongest
arguments in defence of their respective doctrines. The
Catholic arguments were the work of St. Dominic, who
confirmed the Catholic doctrine, by many passages of holy
Scripture. The heretics, too, quoted holy Scripture in
confirmation of their doctrine. It was proposed that both
writings should be committed to the flames, in order that
God might declare, by his own interposition, which cause
he favored. Accordingly, a great fire was made, and the
two writings were cast into it : that of the heretics was
immediately consumed to ashes, whilst that of the Cath
olics remained unhurt, after it had been cast into the fire
three times, and taken out again.
150 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
This public miracle happened at Fanjaux j the fruit of
it was the conversion of a great number of heretics of both
sexes. The same kind of miracle happened at Montreal.
St. Dominic drew up in writing a short exposition of the
Catholic faith, with proof of each article from the New
Testament. This writing he gave to the heretics to exd!m-
ine. Their ministers and chiefs, after much altercation
about it, agreed to throw it into the fire, saying that, if it
burned, they would regard the doctrine which it contained
as false. Being cast thrice into the flames, it was not
damaged.
Let us unceasingly thank Almighty God for the grace
of being children of the Catholic Church. St. Francis de
Sales exclaims : " 0 dear Lord I many and great are the
blessings thou hast heaped on me, and I thank thee for
them. But, how shall I be ever able to thank thee for
enlightening me with thy holy faith ? O God I the beauty
of thy holy faith appears to me so enchanting, that I am
dying with love of it ; and I imagine I ought to enshrine
this precious gift in a heart all perfumed with devotion.77
St. Teresa never ceased to thank God for having made
her a daughter of the holy Catholic Church. Her conso
lation at the hour of death was to cry out : " I die a child
of the holy Church, I die a child of the holy Church."
CHAPTER IV.
THE NINTH ARTICLE OF THE APOSTLES'
CREED.
" THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH." *
FOR love of man, God created the boundless universe,
with its stars and countless worlds, and he made the uni
verse, the temple of his endless love. The stars of heaven,
as they sweep along in silent harmony, are ever singing a
wondrous song, and the sweet burden of their song is,
" God is love and truth.7'
This world is the temple of God's love and truth. The
green earth, with its flowers, is the carpeted floor. The
clear sky above is the vaulted dome j its pillars are the
mountains, white with eternal snow. The mists and vapor
that are ever ascending, like the smoke of sacrifice, remind
us of the thoughts of love and gratitude that should ever go
up to heaven from our hearts. The whispering of the
winds, the rush of the storm, the murmuring of the brook,
and the roar of the cataract, are the music that raises our
hearts to God. And when God had finished that won
drous temple of his love, " He saw that it was good."
(Gen. i, 25.)
* Enough has been said to show that God teaches mankind through
his Church. It would be proper now to explain what the Church
teaches, beginning with the explanation of the Apostles' Creed. But
as many may wish to see in one volume the whole doctrine on the
Church, it has been deemed advisable to place, in this volume, the
t xplanation of the Ninth Article of the Creed.
152 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
For love of man, God has raised a still more wondrous
temple, — the temple of his holy Church. Millions and
millions of chosen souls have aided in building this wo'n-
drous temple. Its foundation was laid at the gates of
paradise. The patriarchs and prophets have labored at
it, through the long ages of hope and expectation. It was
completed, in the fulness of time, by the Only-Begotten of
the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. This temple of love
was consecrated by the Holy Ghost on that wonderful day
of love, the Feast of Pentecost. The summit of this
glorious temple of love now rises to the highest heavens,
and to the throne of the living God himself. In its depth,
it reaches to that region of suffering where those are
detained who are to be cleansed from all stain, before
entering into the joys of heaven. In its width, it extends
over all the earth, and shuts out no one who is willing to
enter its portals. In this new creation, far more than in
the old, God looks on those things that he made, and sees
that they are " very good" What God does, is done well —
is a perfect work. The establishment of the Catholic
Church is the grand work of his power ; it is the greatest
fact in history, — a fact so great, that there would be no
history without it ; a fact permanent, entering into the
concerns of all nations on the face of the earth, appearing
again and again on the records of time, and benefiting,
perceived or unperceived, directly or indirectly, socially,
morally, and supernaturally, every member of the human
family.
From the beginning of the world God always had but
one Church to teach his religion toymen, and lead them to
heaven ; Satan, too, from the beginning, has tried to have
a church and a worship of his own. He found followers
153
among the angels to refuse submission to God's holy will.
Need we wonder at seeing him find followers among men I
As the faithful servants of God are known and distin
guished by their ready obedience to the divine authority
of the Catholic Church, so those who are deceived by
Satan are known by their want of submission to the
divine authority of the Church. They form churches of
their own, in opposition to the true Church of God. In
the ninth century, the Greeks separated from the Roman
Catholic Church, and formed a church of their own, called
the Greek Church. In the beginning of the sixteenth
ce'ntury, Martin Luther, an apostate friar, preached a
doctrine of his own ; he gained many followers in Ger
many, who left the Catholic Church, and formed what is
called and known as the Lutheran, or Protestant, Church.
In 1531, Henry VIII, King of England, fell away from
the Catholic Church, and made himself the supreme head
of the English, or Anglican, Church. These, and other
churches, are the work of man. No doubt, every one who
is acquainted with the life of our Lord and is asked :
1. How many churches did Christ establish ?
Will answer : Christ established but one cliurcli.
Indeed, as there is but one Christ, so there is, and can
be, but one Church of Christ. The Church is called the
body of Christ. Now, as Christ has but one body, so he
can have but one Church. Christ himself tells us plainly
that he established but one Church. He did not say to
St. PeW, Upbn thee I will build my churches : he said,
" Upon thee I will build my Church." He never said,
The gates of hell shall not prevail against my churches j
he said, u The gates of hell shall not prevail against my
Church." In fact; that our Lord established but one
154 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
Church, is self-evident ; it needs no proof. We are as
certain of it as we are that there is but one God. St.
Paul asserts this in the clearest terms : " One Lord, one
faith, one baptism ; " that is, as there is, and can be, but
one Lord, so there is, and can be, but one faith, one
religion, one Church. And as our Lord established but
one Church, it follows, necessarily, that all other churches
are not the work of Jesus Christ. They are the work of
man ; the Church of Christ, the Catholic Church, alone is
the work of God.
All the works of God have something divine and
supernatural about them, — something that at once proclaims
their divine origin ; something that distinguishes them, in
an unmistakable manner, from the works of man. As the
Catholic Church is the work of God, she has something
about her to show that she is from God j she has marks
graven on her which make it impossible for one to be mis
taken about her being the true Church of Christ 5 she has
the most incontestable proofs of her divine mission and
authority, to convince all who wish to be convinced.
2. By what marks is the Church of Christ easily known ?
By these four : The Church of Christ is: 1, one; 2,
she is holy ; 3, she is Catholic ; and, 4, she is apostolic,
Above all, perfect unity must be found in the Church
of Christ ; for Christ calls his Church a " building," a
"kingdom," a "city," a "flock," a "house," a " b6dy."
In order to establish, insure, and preserve unity, he made
St. Peter the foundation of the building, the chief ruler
of the kingdom, the key-holder of the city and house, the
principal shepherd of the flock, the head of the body.
And on the eve of his passion, Christ asked for a unity in
Lis Church, like that which unites the three divine persons
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 155
in one and the same nature : " Father," he prayed, " keep
them whom thou hast given me, that they may be one,
even as we are one." (John xvii, 11.) Moreover, he
prayed that this union might last forever, and that it
should be the distinctive mark of his Church : " I pray,
also," he says, "for all those who, through their word, shall
believe in me, that they may all be one, as thou, Father, in
me, arid I in thee, that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me." (John xx, 21.) The ap6stles express very
clearly the necessity of unity, and show that it is a
distinctive mark of the true Church : "Be careful,"
says St. Paul, "to keep the unity of the spirit in the
bond of peace. One body and one spirit, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism."
tfnity, then, is a distinctive mark, and an essential condi
tion of the Church of Christ. That Church which has no
unity, caWot be the true Church \ and that Church which
has unity, must certainly be divine.
In the Church of Christ holiness also must be found, no
less than unity. Christ shed his blood for no other purpose
than to form for himself, says St. Paul, a pure Church,
"without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; that it
should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. v, 25.)
Moreover, as the Church of Christ teaches the true faith,
holiness must be the result of this faith, since Christ says :
" A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit." (Matt. vii,18.)
According to Christ's promise, miracles will be performed
by the true believers of his Church, and bear " witness to
her holiness." (Mark xvi, 17.)
The Church, however, is not composed of the elect
alone, for Christ compares her to a net which draws out of
the sea "good and bad fish" (Matt, xiii, 47); to a, field
156 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
where the cockle grows together with the wheat, until the
day of the harvest. (Matt, xiii, 30.)
Again, during his public life, Christ declared repeatedly
that his unalterable purpose was to unite, in one religious
society, all mankind, of every age and clime, and afford
his followers the means to free themselves from sin, and
become reconciled to God ; to grow in purity and holiness
of life, and thus enter into life everlasting. He spoke
always and everywhere, in language most clear and ex
plicit, of this note of universality, as one peculiar to his
kingdom. (John x, 16; Matt, xxviii, 19.) All the pro
phecies relative to the Messiah spoke of the whole human
race as the flock of Christ, whose kingdom was to extend its
bounds " till it embraced all pagan nations." (Matt, xv, 24 ;
Ps. cix, 2.) Christ's Church, therefore, must be Catholic,
or universal.
Finally, Christ has most solemnly promised to be with
his apostles to the end of the world, and he has made
St. Peter the first Bishop of Rome, the foundation of the
Church, and her supreme head. Christ's Church, theVe-
fore, must be apostolic. Holy Scripture itself gives us
this full information about the marks of the true Church
of Christ. And if it is asked :
3. Which Church is one, holy, Catholic and apostolic I
The answer is: The Roman Catholic Church aUne is
one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic.
It is easy to
4. Show how the Catholic Church is one.
The Catholic Church is one, because all her members are
united : 1, in one faith ; 2, in one worship ; 3, under one
infallible head.
CREED. 157
1. The Catholic Church is one, because all her members
are united in one faith.
Unity is especially divine. It exists in its perfection
only in the adorable Trinity. Wherever we find unity in
created things, we may be sure that it is an image and
reflection of God. Now, in this world, there is one society,
and only one, in which unity has always existed, and has
neVer been broken. This society is the Catholic Church.
This society is the most numerous, the first, and the most
ancient of all the communities that call themselves Chris
tian. The Catholic Church is found in all kingdoms and
states 5 it reaches from pole to pole, from east to west ;
embraces all ranks and classes of men. The members of
the Catholic Church differ from one another in their
character, in their education, in their modes of thought ~
they differ in their language, in their habits of life, iu
their sympathies and prejudices; in a word, they diffe/
from one another in everything that distinguishes ma.a
from man. But in one thing they are all united : in relig
ion. In religion, alone, they are all of one mind and ox^e
heart. In this wonderful society you will find t'le
passionate Italian, with his glowing imagination ; you v ill
find, also, the stolid and tenacious Englishman ; the lively
and brilliant Frenchman ; and the quiet, thoughtful German.
You will find there the stately Spaniard ; the witty, impul
sive Irishman, and the acute and practical American. All
these, and so many other races, though they contiast
violently with one another in every natural gift and
habit ; though they retain all their distinctive peculiarities
as men and citizens, yet in religion they are all one — abso
lutely one. Throughout the whole Catholic world, the
myriads of every nation, climate, and language, nobles
158 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
and peasants, monarchs and slaves, philosophers and little
children, there exists a unity of faith and doctrine, so
divine and absolute, so spontaneous and yet so perfect, so
unshackled and yet so complete, that a cardinal in Rome
or a neophyte in China, a mathematician in Holland or a
wood-cutter in Syria, or a little child anywhere, would give,
in substance, the same answer to any question updn a'ny
doctrine of the Church.
2. When their children are born, all bring them to be
regenerated in the same waters of baptism. When they
become unfaithful to their baptismal vows, and sin against
God's commandments, they all have recourse to the same
tribunal of penance. They all seek strength at the same
eucharistic table, and, animated by the same faith, they
receive truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ. In
sickness, when they are about to appear before their God,
they all send for the priest of the Church, and receive
the sacrament of Extreme Unction. They all are one,
not only in faith, but also in worship.
And what more natural than this oneness in worship f
Christ, who taught us our religion, has also taught us how
to worship his heavenly Father in a manner worthy of his
divine majesty. He instituted the holy sacrifice of the
Mass, iii which he is at once the High-Priest and the Victim*
Through the hands of his priests he offers himself for us
to his heavenly Father as a sacrifice of adoration, of
thanksgiving, of atonement, and of impetration. Since
the institution of the Mass, paradise blooms again, the
heavens are purple, the angels shine in white, and men
are exhilarated. This sublime and profound mystery,
which scandalizes obstinate unbelievers, and arouses the
pride of Protestants, is; neVertheless, that which renews
THE APOSTLES' CEEED. 159
the face of the earth, satisfies the justice of God. redeems
man unto salvation, opens heaven, sanctifies the world,
and disarms hell. It is this mfstery^ which has engen
dered a more holy religion, a more spiritual worship, and
a purer virtue among men, because it is more interior j
from it spring the most efficacious sacrament, more
abundant graces, more sublime ceremonies, more perfect
laws ; it is that tender adoption of men, as children of
God, substituted for the more ancient alliance between
God and man, which was founded upon fear. This mystery
is the striking manifestation of all truths, and the censure
of all errors : all vices find their condemnation therein,
all virtues their principle, all merits their recompense ; it
is, in short, the foundation of faith, the support of hope,
and the most powerful motive for the love of God.
The holy Mass is the sun of Christianity, and the sum
mary of all that is grand, and magnificent, and most pro
digious, both in the triumphant and in the militant Church
of God. The angels almost envy us this divine sacrifice.
Protestants and infidels may say, with a sneer, that it is
the pomp and glitter of our ceremonies and altars that
draw the faithful to the church. Not so. The fickle nature
of man cannot be charmed long by such transitory things.
Our altars, indeed, we adorn, we decorate our churches,
we embellish the priestly vestments, we display the g6r-
geous ceremonies of the Church, but not to attract the
people ; we do all this simply because our Lord Je^us Christ
is present there, our Saviour and our God, surrounded
by countless myriads of angels. This is the grand source
of the magnificence of our architecture, the gorgeousness
of our vestments, the diversity of our Ornaments, the
sound of our organs, the religious harmony of our voices,
160 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
and the grandeur and order of all our ceremonies, both in
the consecration and dedication of our churches, and the
solemn celebration of the Mass.
This is the reason why we adorn ourselves with our
. gayest attire, why we rifle the gardens of their sweetest
and choicest flowers to decorate our altars, and scatter them
in lavish profusion before the feet of our sacramental King.
This is the reason why our sacred altars glitter and sparkle
with cheerful lights, while clouds of sweet-smelling incense
float up and around the sacred Victim.
It is related of Frederick II, King of Prussia, that, after
having assisted at a solemn high Mass, celebrated in the
church of Breslau by Cardinal Tringendorf, he remarked :
" The Calvinists treat God as an inferior, the Lutherans
treat him as an equal, but the Catholics treat him as God."
Yes, indeed ; it is only the Catholic Church that is the home
for our dear Saviour. His presence fills her halls to over
flowing with joy and gladness. Her propitiatory altars are
the anchors of hope for the sinner j her sanctuaries, the
antechambers of heaven. Take away the blessed sacra
ment, and you take away her Saviour. Give her the blessed
sacrament, and you give her a glory, an honor, a triumph,
the greatest possible this side of paradise. Her altars are
the altars of joy, because they are the altars of the saving
Victim for the sins of the world ; for which reason the robed
priest begins the tremendous sacrifice with the antiphon :
"I will go unto the altar of God, to God who rejoiceth my
youth.'7
This sacrifice of adoration, of thanksgiving, of atone
ment, and of impetration, is offered up daily, nay, hourly,
all over the world. To it come the simple peasant from
his woods; the shepherd from the mountains; the man of
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 161
business, the solemn religious, the devout student, the
holy recluse, the laboring youth, the innocent child, with
its baptismal robe unsullied, the penitent sinner who has
atoned, or who is atoning, for having stained the purity of
his soul : all, all draw grace and strength, and consola
tion and virtue, from this ever-flowing fountain of spiritual
riches, in proportion to the measure of their faith, confi
dence, fervor, and devotion. To this fountain of healing
water the poor walk free and favored, as in presence of
nature f they can approach it as nearly as kings, and can
enjoy equally the splendor and loveliness of the altar of God.
Here ends the land of malediction. Here God is before
all, and all are before God ; his children, his creatures —
nothing more, nothing less — all alike in this. No one
marshals you, no one heeds you ; here you may kneel and
weep in secret, or lie prostrate before the Good Shepherd
and the Lamb of God, in the blessed sacrament ; here
each sun that rises will find you more consoled, with
healthier looks, less pale ; here the workings of an uneasy
conscience are soothed and made straight j or rather, here
it is that you find time and opportunity for reconciliation
with God.
Here the poor sinner is assisted to enter upon the way
of salvation j here he is supplied with that living water,
of which those who drink shall never more feel thirst ;
here we find the female sex, gifted with great faith and
ardent devotion, turning their hearts to the Catholic altar,
whether in joy or sorrow, in sickness or in health, like
the innocent child, who always runs thither for help where
he trusts most ; here the poor pilgrim, wearied with
fatigue, kneels down on the altar-steps, to thank Him who
has watched over him during a long and perilous journey;
162 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
here a distracted mother comes into the temple to pray
for the recovery of her son, whom the physicians have
given over ; here God is our Father, the angels and saints
our friends.
O how glorious, how sublime, is the worship of the
Catholic Church, as she celebrates daily, hourly, the tri
umphal march of the Prince of Peace around the world
which he has redeemed ! Hour after hour, in all parts
of the world, the solemn anthems of Catholic worship roll
heavenward, like " the noise of many waters." Mirrate
after minute, hour after hour, day after day, month aYter
month, year after year, and century after century, the
glorious anthems of the Catholic Church have rolled on
unbroken through the long lapse of eighteen hundred
changeful, fleeting years. The unnumbered voices of
every age, and sex, and rank, which have sounded from
that hour when the angelic harmonies charmed the midnight
air of Bethlehem, even to this very moment, — all seem
borne to our ears in one overpowering flood of sweetest,
heavenliest harmony.
3. Tfye Catholic Church is one, because all her members
are united under one infallible head.
Yes j more than two hundred millions of Christians
venerate and obey the Holy Father, Pope Pius IX, as the
successor of St. Peter, the supreme, earthly chief of the
immortal Church of Jesus Christ ; the father of souls ; the
guide of consciences ; the sovereign judge of the religious
interests of humanity ; the head of Catholic Christendom ;
the mouth of Christ's Church, ever living and Open to teach
the universe ; the centre of Christian faith and unity j
the light of truth, kindled to illuminate the world; the
adamantine base of a divine edifice, which the powers
CREED. 163
of darknes.3 can never shake ; the corner-stone upon which
the city of God here below reposes j the prince of priests,
the father of fathers, the heir of apostles j a greater
patriarch than Abraham, greater than Melchisedech in
priesthood, than Moses in authority, than Samuel in juris
diction ; in a word, Peter in power, Christ by unction,
pastor of pastors, guide of guides, the cardinal joint of
all the churches, the keystone of the Catholic arch, the
impregnable citadel of the communion of the children of
God. Were the holy Pontiff, Pius IX, permitted to go
abroad amid his children, every knee would bend before
him, in token of cheerful obedience j every voice would
salute him, in proof of the deepest veneration, and every
tongue would bless him with untold affection ; head and
body, ruler and subjects, the shepherd and the flock, the
Sovereign Pontiff and the people, would be seen to be one
heart and one soul. All Catholics live in the heart of the
Father of the Faithful j and he lives in the hearts of all
Catholics, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, abiding with
them, and uniting them all in one faith, in one worship,
and under one head : u Therefore," says St. Jerome, u was
one of the twelve set over all the others as the recognized
head, in order that all occasion of schism might be
removed." (Opp. T. ii, p. 279.)
This miracle of unity of human minds and hearts in all
things has been perpetuated, from age to age, in a world
where everything else is changing, and is perpetuated
silently and peacefully, without effort and without con
straint. So irresistible is the mysterious power that thus
joins together so many human hearts, that even the convert
of yesterday, whether he lives in the very centre of Euro
pean civilization, or amid the savage tribes of Africa, feels
164 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
already the sweet spell upon him, and finds his heart beiting
in unison with the great heart of the Church, as if he had
been suckled at her breast, and had lain in her bosom from
infancy.
In the whole history of the human race there is no
record of any such miracle as this. Even were all the
dead to rise from their graves, and to crowd our streets and
thoroughfares, it would not be a greater miracle. Like
the Jews of old, the men of the present generation "desire
a sign," in order that they may believe ; and now here is
a sign, a standing miracle, more luminous, more dazzling,
than the noonday sun. " Truly the finger of God is here.'7
One day a certain Protestant of Pennsylvania came to
Archbishop Kenrick, of Baltimore, to tell him that he
wished to become a Catholic. " What induced you," asked
the archbishop, " to take this step ?" " The bugs, the
bugs !" he replied. " What do you mean by that ?" "I have
often noticed," said he, u how in nature animals follow
their leader, and are kept united together by him. The
same must be true in religion : only that one can be of
divine origin which has a leader whom all are bound to
follow. As I find this only in the Catholic Church, I feel
convinced that she is the true Church, in which alone I can
be saved." If St. Paul could say to the heathens, " You
might have found out the true God by his works, if you
had cared to do so," surely God may say, in the great day,
to the children out of the Catholic Church : a You might
have known the true Church by her unity, if you had
not closed your eyes."
The next mark by which Christ wished his Church to
be distinguished is that of holiness. But, in speaking of
the holiness of the Catholic Church, we do not mean to »ay
CREED. 165
that every member of the Church is holy. The field of
the Church is wide, and has weeds as well as wheat. In
the very company chosen by our Lord Jesus Christ him
self, there was a Peter who denied him, and a Judas who
betrayed him. So it is at the present day, So it will be
to the end of time. Should, then, any one ask :
5, Show how the Catholic Church is holy ?
We answer : The Catholic Church is holy : 1. in Jesus
Christ, her Founder ; 2, in her doctrine, which is Christ's
doctrine; 3, in her means of grace, the proper use of which
makes us h6lyt; 4, in many of her members, whose holiness
has been confirmed ~by miracles and extraordinary gifts.
1. The Catholic Church is holy in her Founder, who is
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But what mind
of man or angel can conceive the greatness of the holiness
of Jesus Christ, which is, indeed, infinite ? To say that his
h61iness is greater than that of all the saints and angels
united, is to fall infinitely below it. Jesus Christ, as God,
is infinite holiness itself, and the sum of our conception of
holiness is but the smallest atom of the holiness of God.
David, contemplating the divine holiness, and seeing that
he could not, and never would, be able to comprehend it,
could cmly exclaim : " 0 Lord ! who is like unto thee f r
(Ps. xxxiv, 10.) 0 Lord! what holiness shall ever be found
like to thine ? It is an utter impossibility for any human
or angelic understanding to conceive an adequate idea of
the holiness of Christ. All we can say is, that his holiness
is infinite. The Catholic Church, then, is holy in her
divine Founder.
2. The Catholic Church is also holy in her doctrine, which
is the doctrine of Christ and his holy apostles, and his doc
trine is the expression of the will of his heavenly Father :
166 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
" My doctrine is not mine, but of him that sent me." (John
vii, 16.) As the will of God is most holy, so 'also the doyc-
trine expressing the holy will of God must be most holy.
Hence, the book containing the word of God is called
the holy Bible, or holy Scripture. Every action and every
word of our Saviour breathes holiness, inspires holiness,
and leads to holiness. Therefore he calls those blessed who
learn his doctrine : " Blessed are your ears, because they
hear. For, fwnen I say to you, many prophets and just
men have desired to hear the things that you hear, and
have not heard them.'7 (Matt, xiii, 16.) Hence, all those
who live up to this doctrine are called saints : " You are
a chosen generatio'n — a holy nation/7 says St. Peter of
the Christians. (1 Pet. ii, 9.)
The very enemies of the Catholic Church bear witness
to the holiness of her doctrine. Why have so many fallen
away from her faith ? It is because they had not courage
enough to live up to her holy precepts. Why is it that so
many do not embrace the Catholic faith who know that
the Catholic Church is the only true Church of Christ?
It is because they are afraid of her holy morals. Even
the most wicked feel naturally convinced that the Catholic
religion is holy : a fault in a Catholic is considered, — and
considered rightly, — more grave than in one who is not
a Catholic.
3. The Church is holy in her means of grace. It is her
office to make men holy. She holds out to her children
not only the holy example and doctrine of her divine
Founder as the pathway to holiness, she also offers to
them the means of grace, which enable them to live up
to her holy doctrine. By his divine example and holy
doctrine Christ showed us the narrow road that leads to
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 167
heaven. But what would it avail us to know the road
to heaven, if we had no strength to walk on that strait,
and, to fallen humanity, hard road 1 This strength we have
not of ourselves. God is the greatest supernatural good.
We can, then, acquire this good only by supernatural
strength, that is, by the help of Almighty God. By his
sufferings and death, Christ obtained for us all the graces
necessary to live up to his holv doctrine, to overcome all
the evil inclinations of fallen nature, all the temptations, all
the trials and struggles of life. These graces he wished
to be applied to our souls by means of the sacraments
and prayer, and he appointed his Church to sanctify her
children by these means of grace.
The child is born in sin ; the Church cleanses it in
baptism, and makes it a child of God. The child is weak ;
the Church strengthens it in confirmation, makes it a
brave soldier, to battle with the world, the flesh, and the
devil. The child is wounded, falls into sin ; the Church,
like the good physician, probes the wounds, and pours into
the bleeding heart the oil and wine of hope and consolation,
in the sacrament of penance. The child is hungry and
weary ; the Church feeds it with heavenly food, nour
ishes and refreshes it with the precious body and blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ. The heart of the young man feels
the fire of that love which first came from God, and which
has become unholy only by abuse j and the Church, like a
fond mother, sanctifies and preserves this natural love of
the bridegroom and the bride. In the holy sacrament of
marriage she blesses this love before the altar of God, and
declares its bonds perpetual. And should the heart of
the young man aspire to a higher and holier destiny ;
should he desire, in his inmost soul, to soar high above the
168 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
weakening tenderness of mere human lovej should he
desire to become the saviour of his fellow-men, the codper-
ator with God himself in the great work of redemption,
the holy Church leads him by the hand, she " blesses,
sanctifies, and consecrates " him before the altar of God ;
she makes him a priest forever, a priest of the Most
High God.
At last, when her child is dying, the holy Catholic
Church comes to his bedside with sanctifying oil and the
prayer of faith ; she administers to him the sacrament of
Extreme Unction, to strengthen and console him in his
fearful death-struggle. But her love does not end at the
bed of death. She opens wide the doors of her temple ;
she offers an asylum even to the dead body of her child.
She blesses that body which was once the temple of the
living God, and she even consecrates the very ground in
which that body is laid to rest.
The love of the Church for her children does not pause
even at the grave. Day after day she offers up her
prayers ; day after day she offers up the holy sacrifice of
the altar for the souls of her children departed. The
husband may forget the wife of his bo'som, the mother may
forget the child of her heart, but the holy Church does not
forget her children, not even in death : her love is divine,
it is eternal. And in this love the Church is impartial :
she is just to all. As the holy spouse of Christ, she loves
justice and hates iniquity. She lias spurned the anointed
king from the temple of God, until he repented of his crime ;
and on the head of the lowly monk, who spent his days
in labor and prayer, she has placed the triple crown.
At one moment she bathes with baptismal dew the
peasant's child ; and at another, she boldly confronts the
CREED. 169
imperial might that dares assail her holy altar. Now the
Church is accused of despotism, because she upholds the
rights of lawful authority ; and again, she is accused of
aVrogance, because she dares to protect the poor, the down
trodden, and the friendless.
She blesses all things that are good in this world j she
protects and encourages the fine arts. Truth is the essence
of order, the essence of beauty. Religious truth is heavenly
order, is supernatural beauty. The Church is the living
spouse of heavenly truth ; she must, therefore, be the friend,
the protector, of all beauty and order, and so she has proved
to be for over eighteen hundred years.
In the Church, all that is good and beautiful in art or
nature has been purified as in a heavenly crucible, and
consecrated to the service of religion. The poet seeks to
please the imaginations of men, and the Church unfolds
before him the annals of Christianity. She tells him of
the august sacrifice of infinite love, which is her soul and
life, and she tells him of her heroic sufferings, of her
martyr faith ; and the poet draws holy inspiration from
these touching records, and incites men to a higher, to
a holier life.
The painter and the sculptor seek to place before our
eyes the happiest, the most sublime of conceptions j and
the Church bids them look into her treasure-house, where
they find the most perfect models of every virtue, —
models of pure, of noble, of heroic self-sacrifice.
The architect seeks to build up a monument of strength,
and intellect, and beauty ; and the Church unlocks for him
the sublime, mysterious meanings of her ceremonies and
symbols. Guided by her inspiration, he teaches the life
less stone, he teaches the spreading arch, the pointed spire,
170 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
to speak to men of faith, of hope, of love ; he teaches them
to speak of prayer, of sacrifice, of heaven.
The orator strives to nerve men for the solemn duties,
the grand conflicts of life ; the Church of Christ, touches
his lips with living fire from the altar, and his eloquence
flows on in an impetuous stream of " thoughts that breathe,
and words that burn."
The musician seeks to weave his entrancing spells
around ear, and heart, and soul ; and the Church breathes
into his soul the glorious, wondrous melodies which she
has borrowed from the angels of heaven, and her music
seems like beatific worship, and the worship on earth like
beatific music.
4. The Church is holy in many of her members.
What is more natural than this ? A mother that teaches
her children so holy a doctrine, sets before them con
stantly the example of her divine Founder, that they
may live and die as he did. A mother that has such
powerful means to sanctify her children, cannot but be
holy in the fruits of sanctity, in the saints, and in the
sacred institutions which she has produced.
To be convinced of the personal sanctity of millions of
her children, we have but to ({pen the annals of Church
history. ^ There we read of thousands of men and woVen
who fulfilled the spying of Christ : " Whosodver shall lose
his life for my sake and the Gospel, shall save it." (Mark
viii, 35.) Such was the havoc made during the eaVly
persecutions of the Church, that her martyrs alone amount
to thirty thousand for every day in the year.
How many thousands of the children of the Church
followed that spying of the Lord : " If thou wilt be perfect,
go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and come,
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 171
Mow me!" (Matt, xix, 21.) And, "Every one that
hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall
receive a hundred-fold, and shall possess life everlasting.'-'
(Matt, xix, 29.) Astonishing, indeed, is the number of
those who have followed this saying of our Lord, by em
bracing the religious life.
St. Athanasius writes that in his time there were
monasteries like tabernacles, full of heavenly choirs of
people, who spent their time in singing psalms, in reading
and pralying 5 that they occupied a large extent of land,
and made, as it were, a town among themselves. Such
immense numbers resorted to the religious life in Palestine,
that Isidore was the superior of one thousand monks, and
his successor, Apollonius, of five thousand in the same
monastery. In the cloistered community of Oryrynchus
there were ten thousand monks. Upon a hill in Nitria, about
twenty miles from Alexandria, there were five hundred
monasteries under one superior. Palladius relates that
he saw a city in which there were more monasteries than
houses of seculars, " so that, every street and corner
ringing with the divine praises, the whole city seemed a
church." He also testifies to having seen multitudes of
monks in Memphis and Babylon, and that not far from.
Thebes he met with a Father of three thousand monks.
St. Pachomius, who lived about three hundred years after
Christ, had seven thousand disciples, besides one thousand
in his own house 5 and Serapion had ten thousand monks
under his jurisdiction.
Theodoret records that there were also multitudes of relig
ious women throughout the East, in Palestine, Egypt, Asia,
Pontus, Cilfcia, Syria, and also in Europe : " Since our
172 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
Saviour," he says, "was born of a Virgin Mother, the
fields of holy virgins are Everywhere multiplied."
Nor was the great increase of religious houses confined
to the early ages of the Church, for Trithemius, who died
about the year 1516, says that, in his time, the pro'vince
of Ments alone contained one hundred and twenty-four
abbeys ; and that there was a time when they had fifteen
thousand abbeys, besides priories and other small monas
teries, belonging to his order.
f St. Bernard, in his Life of St. Malachy, records that, in
Ireland, there was a monastery out of which many tho'u-
sands of monks had come forth : " A holy place indeed,"
he says, " and fruitful in saints, bringing forth abundant
fruit to God, insomuch that one man alone of that ho'ly
congregation, whose name was Luanus, is reported to
have been the founder of one hundred monasteries. And
these swarms of saints have not only spread themselves
in Ireland and Scotland, but have also gone into foreign
parts ; for St. Columba, coming from thence into France,
built the monastery of Luxovium, and raised there^a
great people, their number being so great that the divine
praises were sung by them day and night without inter
mission. St. Columba founded one hundred monasteries,
of which thirty-seven were in Ireland, a country which
was, for centuries, known all over Europe as the Island
of Saints and of Doctors." According to Archdall, there
were in Ireland seven hundred and forty-two religious
houses.
St. Bernard, in the space of thirtv years that he was
abbot, founded one hundred and sixty monasteries. So
rapid was the progress of his order that, in the space of
fifty years from its establishment, it had acquired five
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 178
hundred abbeys j and at one time no fewer than eight
hundred were dependent on Clairvaux.
The Franciscans seem to have been particularly blessed
in the speedy and extensive propagation of their order/
for, about the year 1600, one branch of this order, called
the Observantines, is said to have numbered one hundred
thousand members. This order reckons at present two
hundred thousand men and three hundred thousand sisters,
including the tertiaries. It posse'sses two hundred and
fifty-two provinces and twenty-six thousand convents, of
which five are in Palestine, and over thirty in Turkey.
More than eighty-nine emperors, kings and queens have
been admitted into the order, which has, moreover, the
glory of having furnished three thousand saints, or beati
fied persons, of whom seventeen hundred are martyrs.
Nor is the Church less holy in many of her members,
in our day. Who really takes Christian care of the poor,
the sick, and the friendless, but the Catholic Church ?
She has founded such orders as the Sisters of Charity, the
Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and so many
others, in order to administer to their wants.
Where can you find, outside of the Catholic Church,
that young and beautiful virgin, who lays at the foot of
the cross her youth, her wealth, and her beauty ; who
sacrifices all earthly hope and love, to spend her days in
a loathsome hospital, and to watch, during the long, dull
night, by the bedside of the sick and dying ? The charita
ble, heroic deeds of these holy virgins have already brought
conviction to the minds and hearts of many non-Catholics.
St. John the Evangelist tells us that our Saviour cured
one day a young man who had been born blind. The
Pharisees heard of this, and were filled with rage and
174 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
envy. They took the young man aside, and said to him :
" Give glory to God 5 that man that cured you is a sinner."
" Well," said the young man, " whether he be a sinner or
not, I cannot say. But one thing I do know, and that is,
that he has cured me. God does not hear sinners. If
this man were not from God, he could not do such things."
(John ix.) This was the argument of the young man in
the Gospel; this, too, is the simple argument of every
honest non-Catholic. The bigots and Protestant preachers
say to the returned soldier, to the young man who has
just come forth from the hospital where he suffered during
a long and pdinful illness: " The Catholic Church is
sinful and corrupt." " Well/7 the young man answers,
" whether she is corrupt or not, I do not know j but one
thing I do know, and that is, that I was at the point of
death, and now I am well : and I owe it, after God, to the
good Sisters of the Catholic Church. They waited on me in
the hospital, in the battle-field j they nursed me as tenderly
as a mother or a sister could have done : and they did it
without pay? without any human motive or reward. Now,
a bad tree cannot bring forth such good fruit. If the
Catholic Church were as sinful and corrupt as you say,
God would not give her children such heroic devotedness."
Behold, again, the holy charity of the Catholic Church
toward the very outcasts of society, — those poor, fallen
creatures, that have become the dishonor of their sex !
See how closely she imitates her divine spouse, our Lord
Jesus Christ ! Jesus is present at a great feast. A poor,
sinful woman, notorious on account of her wicked life,
falls prostrate at his feet. She washes his feet with her
tears, and wipes them with her hair. The Pharisees are
shocked and scandalized. They say in their hearts:
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 175
" This man is no prophet ; if he were a prophet, he would
know what kind of a woman that is who kneels at his
feet ; he would spurn her from him." But Jesus knows
well the sinful life of Magdalen, and yet he does not
reject her. On the contrary, he defends her before them
all, and says to her: "My child, go in peace, thy sins
are forgiven thee ! "
Ah, how full of mercy and compassion is the heart of
Je'sus Christ ! Now look upon his spouse, the holy Cath
olic Church, and see if she is not worthy of her heavenly
Bridegroom ! The unfortunate woinan whom many have
helped to drag into destruction, has not now a hand
stretched out to save her. The world that allured and
ruined her despises her, and laughs her to scorn. The
proud, self-righteous Pharisee turns away from her in horror
and disgust. The grace of God at last touches her heart.
She sees herself abandoned by all, she turns her despair
ing eyes to God. Friendless, homeless, and alone, she
wanders through the dark by-ways of this valley of tears
till at last she stands at the ever-open portals of the holy
Ca'tholic Church. She enters, she falls at the feet of the
priest of Jesus Christ. She weeps, she repents, she is
forgiven.
See those pure virgin nuns, who are justly called the
Daughters of the Good Shepherd ! They have sworn,
before the altar of God, to devote their whole life to the
reformation of these poor outcasts of society, — these
unhappy victims of a heartless world. See how gently
they receive the fallen one, how kindly they treat her !
See how she enters the convent chapel, and at the very
feet of Jesus, in the blessed sacrament, she pours out her
prayers, and sighs, and tears ! She experiences at last
176 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
that there is rest for the weary, that there is hope for the
sinner ; that there is, indeed, a heaven on earth, in the
holy Catholic Church.
In every age, and in every country through which the
Catholic religion has spread, there have been ma^iy Cath
olics who showed, in their daily conduct, that they complied
with the words of St. Paul : u This is the will of God,
your sanctification." (I Thess. iv, 3.) They were scrupulous
keepers of the commandments of God, fulfilling the whole
law and the prophets. How could it be otherwise ? Jesus
Christ, in the blessed sacrament, — this divine food, the
source of all sanctity, — never ceases to bring forth holy
bishops, like St. Charles Borromeo, St. Francis de Sales,
St. Alphonsus Liguori j holy priests, like St. Vincent de
Paul, St. Francis Xavier, St. Peter Claver; holy virgins,
like St. Teresa, St. Catharine of Sienna, St. Zitta, St.
Rose of Lima ; holy widows, like St. Frances de Chantal ;
holy martyrs, like Borie, Gagelin, and so many others.
That God confirmed the holiness of his servants by
many miracles and extraordinary gifts, may be read in the
Lives of the Saints, or in any Church history. "Amen,
amen, I say to you," said Christ, " he that believeth in
me, the works that I do he also shall do, and greater than
these shall he do " (John xiv, 12) ; and, " These signs shall
follow them that believe : In my name they shall cast out
devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take
up serpents, they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and
they shall recoVer." (Mark xvi, 17, 18.) Accordingly, we
read that SS. Paphnutius, Remigius, Otto, Robert, Dom
inic, and many others, cast out the devil from possessed
persons. When St. Bernardine of Sienna, St. Anthony
of Padua, St Francis Xavier, and others, preached to an
CREED. 177
audience composed of people from different countries, every
one believed he heard his own tongue spoken. St. Hilary,
St. Magnus, St. Patrick, and others, banished snakes and
other reptiles. St. Gregory Thaumaturgus moved a moun
tain, to obtain a site for a Church. St. Patrick, St. Martin,
St. Benedict, St. Dominic, St. Anthony, St. Francis of Paula,
and many others, raised dead persons to life. St. Francis
Xavier raised twenty-five, and St. John Capistran, thirty
dead persons to life. St. Stanislas the Martyr restored a
man to life who had died three years before, and presented
him before the court to testify that he had bought from
him a certain piece of ground for his church, and that he
had paid him in full.
The Catholic Church, then, is holy in her doctrine and
means of grace ; she is holy in all those of her members
who live up to her holy doctrine. She is holy in the
strenuous efforts which she has always made to put down
errors, correct abuses, destroy sin, and cure all kinds of
evils.* Any one who reads, for instance, the acts of the
* In uprooting evils, in putting down errors, and heresies, and the
like, the Church never used violent means, such as confiscation of goods,
banishment, exile, bloodshed and death. The Church has always
taught her children to suffer persecution for the sake of Christ, but
never to commence it and carry it on. Her spirit is to love her enemies,
to pray for their conversion, and to return good for evil. Hence she
has, at all times, invariably condemned such actions of Catholic mon
arch's as were opposed to this spirit of meekness and charity. King
Ferdinand established what is called "The Spanish Inquisition." He
had good reason to believe that the Moors and the Jews were enemies
to his government. In those days outspoken heresy was looked upon
as an offence against religion as well as against the State. Accordingly,
he erected a civil tribunal for the trial of those of his subjects who were
suspected of heresy and disloyalty. By this civil tribunal the Moors
and Jews were oppressed, not so much on account of their heresy, but
rather on account of their rebellious spirit, arising from heresy. The
178 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
Council of Trent, cannot fail to notice that one-half of its
chapters treat of the great work of reformation. In this
council the Church proscribes duels, reduces liturgies to
unity, banishes profane airs and se'cular mtisic from her
temples, institutes seminaries for the education of the
clergy, establishes, at cathedrals, free-schools and lectures
on holy Scripture, for the instruction of the people j she
reminds her pastors that they are bound to continence, to
residence, to frequent and diligent preaching ; she inter-
object, therefore, of the Spanish Inquisition was to preserve the integ
rity of the kingdom, rather than that of the Catholic religion. From
the beginning of the action of this political institution, Pope Sixtus
IV was exceedingly displeased with it. He urged his objections so
strongly, that the ambassadors of both courts were ordered to leave
their respective stations, and Ferdinand commanded all his subjects to
leave Borne. The pope also commanded that the Inquisition should
not be established in any other province. The Holy Father did all in
his power to stop the prosecutions, and to soften the punishments in other
cases. He also insisted that the civil rights and the property of every
condemned person should be restored to him, or, if he was dead, to his
children. Pope Leo X excommunicated the Inquisitors of Toledo. Pope
Paul III lamented bitterly the condition of the Spanish Inquisition, and
assisted those who were opposing its introduction into Naples. Pope
Pius IV aided St. Charles Borromeo in keeping it out of Milan. The
statement of these facts is verified by Llorente's work, or by Professor
Hefele's (of Tubingen) Epitome of Llorente, in his "Ximenes." The
excesses of the Spanish Inquisition would not have taken place had the
court of Spain been obedient to the briefs and commands of the popes.
Whenever temporal princes persist in meddling with matters which do not
pertain to their province, they will always pass the limits of justice. It
would be great folly for any one to blame the Church for those excesse-
of her members which she disowns, abhors, and condemns. No Protes
tant or infidel could even produce a brief of a pope or an act of a coun
cil sanctioning religious persecution. The Catholic Church is indeed
opposed to heresy; but the only weapons she uses to extirpate it are, to
explain her doctrine to all non- Catholics, and to be charitable and meek
toward them.
CREED. 179
di£ts all appearance of simony and venality in the distri
bution of ecclesiastical offices, in preaching indulgences,
and in administering the sacraments.
Thus the tree is pruned, but not uprooted j the pastors,
those heavenly physicians, cure their patients, but do not
kill them ; the clergy and the religious orders are reformed,
but the priesthood and the religious state are not abol
ished j incontinence is suppressed, though universal mar
riage is not preached j the weeds in the field of the Lord
are plucked up? but the good seed is preserved. This is
a reformation, not of the Church, but by the Church, — a
reformation to bring about which, she was established by
Christ ; a reformation which she accomplishes by her
general councils, by her zealous bishops and holy priests, by
her fervent religious orders and congregations of both sexes,
and by so many pious confraternities. But the Church her
self, her doctrine, her means of grace, her order of govern
ment, are all divine and holy, and therefore can never be
reformed : it would be a monstrous impiety to say that she
could be reformed.
What a glorious Church is ours ! What power but that
of God could make her so divinely one in her faith, in her
morality, in her worship, in her government ? What
holiness but that of the Lord could make her so holy in.
her Founder, in her doctrine, in her sacraments, in her
members ? What more natural than that the Lord of all
power and of all holiness should make this Church Catholic,
as to time, place, and doctrine ? But,
6. What does the word Catholic mean ?
The word Catholic means Universal.
Now it is easy to —
180 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
7, Show how the Roman Church is Catholic, or Universal.
The Roman Church is Catholic ; 1, because she has ex
isted in all ages ; 2, because she teaches all nations ; and,
3, because she maintains all truths.
1. The Koman Church is Catholic, because she has
existed in all ages. This Church is Catholic, or universal,
in her duration. She goes back, without a break, through
the apostles to Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ to the
origin of the chosen people, and through Abraham and the
patriarchs even to our first parents in paradise. The
enemies of God hate his holy Church ; they hate the pope,
they hate the bishops and the priests ; they grind their
teeth, they foam at the mouth, they tremble with rage,
and seem as if they would tear into pieces all the popes,
bishops and priests that have ever lived, from Peter to the
present day. Why ? Because Jesus Christ continues to
live in P6ter? and in his successors j he speaks to the
world and teaches it, through them, like one having
authority. It is for this very reason that the Church will
remain forever ; for, truth and justice being in the end
always victorious, the Church will not cease to bless and to
triumph. All the works of the earth have perished, time
has obliterated them. The Catholic Church remains : she
/ /
will endure until she passes from her earthly exile to her
country in heaven.
Human theories and systems have flitted across her
path, like birds of night, but have vanished ; numberless
sects have, like so many waves, dashed themselves to
froth against this rock, or, recoiling, have been lost in the
vast ocean of forgetfulness. Kingdoms and empires that
once existed in inimitable worldly gra'ndeur^are no more j
dynasties have died out, and have been replaced by others.
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 181
Theories and sceptres and crowns have withstood the
Church ; but, immutable, like God, who laid her founda
tion, she is the firm, unshaken centre, round which the weal
and woe of nations move : weal to them if they adhere to
her, woe to them if they separate from her. If the world
takes from the Catholic Church the cross of gold, she will
bless the world with one of wood. If necessary, her pas
tors and all her children can suffer and die for the faith,
but the Catholic Church remains : she is immortal.
We cannot but smile when we hear men talk of the down
fall of the Catholic Church. What could hell and its agents
do more than they have already done for her destruction ?
They have employed tortures for the body, but they could
not reach the spirit ; they have tried heresy, or the denial
of revealed truth, to such an extent that we can see no room
for any new heresy ; they have, by the hand of schism, torn,
whole countries from the unity of the Church j but what she
lost on one side of the globe, she gained tenfold on the other.
All these assaults have ignominiously failed to verify the
prophecies of hell, that " the Catholic Church shall fall."
Look, for instance, at the tremendous effort of the so-
called Reformation, together with its twin sister, the
unbelief of the nineteenth century ! Whole legions of
Church reformers, together with armies of philosophers,
armed with negation, and a thousand-and-one systems of
paganism, furiously attacked the Chair of Peter, and
swore that the Papacy should fall, and, with it, the whole
Church. Three hundred years are over, and the Catholic
Church is still alive, and more vigorous than ever. She
is the glorious Church of all ages. And as Christ made
her Catholic, or universal, as to time, so also he made her
Catholic as to place.
182 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
2. She teaches all nations : " Going therefore," said our
Lord to his apostles, " teach ye all nations j " and, " You
shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Jude'a,
and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth."
More than fifteen hundred years ago there hun'g in the
catacombs of Rome a lamp shaped in the form of a ship,
at whose helm sat St. Peter, steering with one hand, and
with the other giving his blessing. On one side of this
miniature ship were engraved the words, "Peter dies
not;" and on the other, the words of our Saviour/ "I
have prayed for thee." (Luke xxii, 32.)
There could not be a more beautiful symbol of the
Catholic Church. She is the lamp which has dispelled
the darkness of heathenism, and has furnished the nations
with the brilliant light of truth ; the Church is a ship,
which has carried this light safely, through the storms of
ages, to the ends of the earth, bringing with it blessings
to the nations, and gathering into its apostolic net, as it
sailed along, the perishing children of men. And at the
helm sits the poor fisherman of Galilee, St. Peter, in the
person of the pope, together with his assistants, the
Catholic bishops and priests, directing the course of the
vessel, now to this, now to that distressed country, now to
this, now to that sorrowing people, to carry to them, not
gold, not silver, but what is infinitely more precious, —
faith j and with faith, true civilization, based upon the
unchangeable principles of supernatural morality, true
prosperity, true happiness, and peace on earth and for
eternity. j
It was not by the circulation of the Bible, by Bible
societies or by money, but by the living voice of the
Roman Church, — it was through the popes, the Catholic
183
bishops and priests, that Christianity, at the end of the
third century, covered the whole then known world. The
Capitoline temple, and with it the many shrines of idola
try, the golden house of Nero, and with it Koman excess
and Roman cruelty, the throne of the Csesars, and with it
Roman oppression and Roman injustice, had all passed
away, and there stood the Rome of the Fathers of the
Church, — the Rome which has yet to do such wonders in
the world.
" And the Alight shone into the darkness." Pope after
pope, the principal bearers of the light of the true faith,
sent forth to the nations bishops and missionaries, full of
the spirit of self-sacrifice, solely devoted to their great
task j and by the inflamed zeal, the fervent piety, the
earnest prayers and penances, the astounding miracles, the
bright examples and spotless lives of these apostolic men,
new tribes and new nations were gained for Christ, year
after year. Thus, St. Austin carried the light of faith to
England, St. Patrick to Ireland, St. Boniface to Germany.
The Frieslanders, the Moravians, the Prussians, the
Swedes, the Picts, the Scots, the Franks, and hundreds of
others, were brought to the bosom of the Church through
the preaching and labors of the bishops and priests of the
Roman Catholic Church. Driven from one country, their
influence was made to act on another. When Solisman,
the Sultan, threatened to wipe out Christianity from
Europe, Roman Catholic bishops and priests went to the
East Indies, to China, and Japan. When Europe failed
in its fidelity, and listened to the siren voice of heresy,
Catholic bishops and priests were sent to the newly-
discoVered continent of America, and to the West Indies.
Gregory XVI devised plans for missions to the interior
184 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
i /
of Africa, — missions which are yet working winders.
This great work of enlightening the world with the true
light of the Catholic religion, the Church accomplished,
more particularly by those astonishing organiz^tiqns called
religious orders.
Besides carrying the light of faith to all nations, those
religious orders did another thing : they civilized the
countries to which they had been sent.
In the pagan world, education was an edifice built up
on the principles of slavery. The motto was: lt Odi pro-
fanum vulgus et arceo" — I hate and shun the common
people. Education was the privilege of the aristocracy.
The great mass of people was studiously kept in ignorance
of the treasures of the mind. This state of things was
done away with by the Roman Catholic Church, when she
established the monastic institutions of the West. The
whole of Europe was soon covered with schools, not only
for the wealthy, but even for the poorest of the poor.
Education was systematized, and an emulation was
created for learning, such as the world had never seen
before. Italy, Germany, France, England, and Spain,
had their universities j but, side by side with these, their
colleges, gymnasiums, parish and village schools, as
numerous as the churches and monasteries which the
efforts of the Holy See had scattered, with lavish hand,
over the length and breadth of the land.
And where was the source of all this light ? At Rome.
For, when the barbarian hordes poured down upo;n Europe
from the Caspian Mountains, it was the popes who saved
civilization. They collected, in the Vatican, the manu
scripts of the ancient authors, gathered from all parts of the
earth at enormous expense. The barbarians, who destroyed
THE APOSTLES7 CREED. 185
everything by fire and sword, had already advanced as
far as Rome. Attila, who called himself tl the Scourge of
God," stood before its walls j there were no emperor, no
pretorian guard, no legions present, to save the ancient
capital of the world. But there was a pope : Leo I.
And Leo went forth, and by entreaties, and threats of
God's displeasure, induced the dreaded king of the Huns
to retire. Scarcely had Attila retired, befo're Genseric,
King of the Vandals, made his appearance, invited by
Eudoxia, the empress, to the plunder of Rome. Leo met
him, and obtained from him the lives and the honor of
the Romans, and the sparing of the public monuments
which adorned the city in such numbers. Thus Leo the
Great saved Europe from barbarism. To the name of Leo
might be added those of Gregory I, Sylvester II, Gre
gory XIII, Benedict XIV, Julius III, Paul III, Leo X,
Clement VIII, John XX, and a host of others, who
must be looked upon as the preservers of science and the
arts, even amid the very fearful torrent of barbarism that
was spreading itself, like an inundation, over the whole of
Europe. The principle of the Catholic Church has ever
been this : u By the knowledge of divine things, and
the guidance of an infallible teacher, the human mind
must gain certainty in regard to the sublimest problems,
the great questions of life; by them the origin, the end,
the aim and limit of man's activity, must be made known,
for then only can he venture fearlessly upon the sphere
of hiiman efforts, and human developments, and human
science." Andj truly, never has science gained the
ascendency outside of the Church that it has Always held
in the Church. And what is true of science is true, also, of
the arts. It is true of architecture, of sculpture, and of
186 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
painting. We need only point to the Basilica of Pe'ter,
to the museums and libraries of Eome. It is to Rome
the youthful artist always turns his steps, in Order to
drink in, at the monuments of art and of science, the
genius and inspiration he seeks for in vain in his own
country. He feels, only too keenly, that railroads and
telegraphs, steamships and power-looms, banking-houses
and stock- companies, though good and u'seful institutions,
are not the mothers of genius, nor the schools of inspira'-
tion ; and therefore he leaves his country, and goes to
Rome, and there feasts on the fruits gathered by the hands
of St. Peter's successors, and returns home with a name
which will live for ages in the memory of those who have
learned to appreciate the true and the beautiful.
The depravity of man shows itself in the constant
endeavor to shake off the restraint placed by law and
duty upon his will : and to this we must ascribe the lice'n-
tiousness which has at all times afflicted society. Passion
acknowledges no law, and spares neither rights nor
conventions j where it has the power, it exercises it to the
advantage of self, and to the detriment of social oVder.
The Church is, by its very constitution, Catholic, and hence
looks upon all men as brothers of the same family. She
acknowledges not the natural right of one man Over
another j and hence her Catholicity lays a heavy restraint
upon all the efforts of self-love, and curbs, with a mighty
hand, the temerity of those who would destroy the har
mony of life, implied in the idea of Catholicity.
One of the first principles of all social happiness is,
that before the law of nature, and before the face of
God, all men are equal. This principle is based on the
unity of the human race, the origin of all men from one
THE APOSTLES' CKEED. 187
common father. If we study the history of paganism, we
find that all heathen nations overturned this great prin
ciple, since we find among all heathen nations the evil of
slavery. Prior to the cdming of Christ, the great major
ity of men were looked upon as a higher development of
the animal, as animated instruments, which might be
bought and sold, given away and pawned 5 which might
be tormented, maltreated, or murdered ; as beings, in a
word, for whom the idea of right, duty, pity, mercy, and
law, had no existence. Who can read, without a feeling
of inte'nse horror, the accounts left us of the treatment of
their slaves by the Romans ? There was no law that
could restrain in the least the wantonness, the cruelty, the
licentious excess of the master, who, as master, possessed
the absolute right to do with his slaves whatsoever he
pleased. To remove this stain of slavery has ever been
the aim of the Catholic Church. " Since the Saviour and
Creator of the world,7' says Pope Gregory I, in his cele
brated decree, " wished to become man, in order, by
grace and liberty, to break the chains of our slavery, it
is right and good to bestow again upon man, whom nature
has permitted to be born free, but whom the law of nations
has brought under the yoke of slavery, the blessing of
his original liberty." Through all the middle ages, —
called by Protestants the dark ages of the world, — the echo
of these words of Gre'gory I is heard ; and, in the thir
teenth century, Pope Pius II could say : " Thanks be to God
and the Apostolic See, the yoke of slavery does no longer
disgrace any European nation." Since then, slavery was
again introduced into Africa and the newly-discovered
regions of America, and again the jpopes raised their
voices in the interests of liberty. Pius VII, even at the
188 THE NINTH AETICLE OP
time when Napoleon had robbed him of his liberty, and
held him captive in a foreign land, became the defender
of the negro. Gregory XVI, on the 3d of November,
1839, insisted, in a special Bull, on the abolition of the
slave trade, and spoke in a strain as if he had lived and
sat side by side with Gregory I, thirteen hundred years
before. But here let us observe, that not only the vindi
cation of liberty for all, not only the abolition of slaVery,
but the very mode of action followed in this, matter by the
popes, has gained for the Church immortal honor, and the
esteem of all good men. When the Church abolished
slavery in any country where it existed, the popes did
not compel masters, by harshness or threats, to manumit
their slaves j they did not bring into action the base in
trigues, the low chicanery, the canting hypocrisy, of
modern statesmen ; they did not raise armies, and send
them into the lands of their masters to burn and to pillage,
to lay waste and to destroy ; they did not slaughter, by
their schemes, over a million of free men, and another
million of slaves 5 they did not make widows and orphans
without number j they did not impoverish the land, and
lay upon their subjects burdens which would crush them
into v6ry dust. Nothing of all this. That is not the
way in which the Church abolished slavery. The popes
sent bishops and priests into those countries where slavery
existed, to enlighten the minds of the masters, and con
vince them that slaves were men, and consequently had
immortal souls like other people. The pastors of the
Church infused into the hearts of masters a deep love for
Jesus Christ, and consequently a deep love for souls.
They taught masters to look upon slaves as created by the
same God; redeemed by the same Jesus Christ, destined
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 189
for the same glory. The consequence was, that the re
lations of slave and master became the relations of brother
to brother; the master began to love his slave, and to
ameliorate his condition, till at last, forced by his own
acknowleged principles, he granted to him his liberty.
Thus it was that slavery was abolished by the preaching
of the popes, bishops and priests. The great barrier to
all the healthy, permanent, and free development of
nations was thus broken down ; the blessings, the privileges
of society, were made equally attainable by the masses,
and ceased to be the special monopoly of a few, who, for
the most part, had nothing to recommend them except their
wealth.
It is thus that the Catholic Church has accomplished
the great work of enlightening society. She has shed the
light of faith over the East and the West, over the North
and the South, and with the faith she has established the
/ '
principles of true science on their natural bases. She
has imparted education to the masses, wherever she was
left free to adopt her own, and untrammelled by civil
interference. She has fostered and protected the arts
and the sciences ; and to-day, if all the libraries, and all
the museums, and all the galleries of art in the world
were destroyed, Rome alone would possess quite enough
to supply the want, as it did in former ages, when others
supplied themselves by plundering Rome. She has
abolished slavery, and established human freedom. She
truly is what she is called : Catholic for all ages, Catholic
for all nations, and —
3. She is Catholic, because she maintains all truths.
The Roman Church is universal, or catholic, as to doc
trine. Her doctrine is the same everywhere. What she
190 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
teaches in one country, she also teaches in another.
Her doctrine in one place is her doctrine in another.
There can be in the Roman Church no new doctrine, no
local belief, no creed in which the whole Church has not
been united — the Church uniting to condemn all variations
from this belief. New discipline, new practices, new
orders, new methods, may be adopted by the Church,
according to the requirements of her work ; but there
can be no doctrine which has not existed from the begin
ning, as it was received from Christ and the apostles.
A doctrine, to be truly Catholic, must have been believed
in all places, at all times, and by all the faithful. By
this test of catholicity, or universality, antiquity and
consent, all questions of faith are tried and decided.
Doctrines and articles of faith may be newly defined, as,
for instance, that of the Immaculate Conception or of the
Infallibility of the Pope, but there can be no new doctrine.
Novelty is a quality of heresy ; for, though some errors
may be very old, yet they are new as compared with
the truth. In every case, the truth must first appear
before its corresponding error. The denial of any truth
supposes its previous assertion. Like the divine Founder
of the Roman Catholic Church, her doctrine is the same
yesterday, to-day, and forever.
" Some years ago," writes Mr. Marshal, a distinguished
English convert, " I was present, officially, at the examina
tion of an English primary school, in which the children
displayed such unusual accuracy and intelligence, as long
as the questions turned only upon secular subjects, that I
was anxious to ascertain whether they could reason as well
about the truths of the Catechism as they could about
those of grammar and arithmetic. I communicated
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 191
my desire to their clergyman, who kindly permitted me to
have recourse to a test which I had employed on other
occasions. I requested him to interrogate them on the
Notes of the Church, and when they had explained in the
ilsual manner the meaning of the word Catholic, I took up
the examination, with the consent of the priest, and
addressed the following question to the class : ' You say
the Church is Catholic because she is everywhere. Now,
I have visited many countries, in all parts of the world,
and I never came to one in which I did not find heresy.
If, then, the Church is Catholic because she is everywhere,
why is not heresy Catholic, since heresy is everywhere,
also V ' If you please, sir/ answered a little girl, about
twelve years of age, ' the Church is everywhere, and
everywhere the same ; heresy may be every where too,
but it is everywhere different.' r
The Church is unceasingly assailed by new errors,
yet she always and everywhere is consistent with herself;
she explains and develops her earlier definitions, without
even the shadow of change appearing ; she has declared,
hundreds of times, that she can introduce no innovations,
that she has no power to originate anything in matters of
faith and morals, but that it is her right and office to
maintain the divine doctrine as contained in Scripture
and tradition. She has convoked nineteen General Coun
cils, and in each pronounced a solemn anathema on all
who in the least deviated from the fafrith. In all ages she
has undergone the most cruel persecutions, because she
maintains all truths, and for this very reason she will be
persecuted to the end of the world. But rather than
yield one iota of her doctrine, she is willing to make every
sacrifice : she permits whole countries to leave her, her
192 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
pastors to be murdered, her children to be imprisoned and
exiled, rather than permit one tittle of the law to be abol
ished. See, for instance, what she has done and suffered
in upholding the dignity of the sacrament of marriage, — •
the corner-stone of society !
See the workings of Catholic and Protestant doctrines
of marriage in society ! Take the common instance of a
man in whose heart there is a fearful struggle between
conscience on the one hand, and blind, brutish passion on
the other ! His wife, — that wife whom he once loved so
dearly, — has become hateful to him. Perhaps she has lost
the charm of beauty which once fascinated his heart.
Another stands before him — she is young, she is beautiful.
Protestantism, like the tempter of hell, whispers in his ear :
" Sue for a divorce. The marriage bond can be broken.
Youth and beauty may yet be yours. " And the voice of
conscience, the voice of Grod, is stifled. Brutish passion
conquers. Divorce is sought and obtained, and the poor
wife is cast away, and left heart-broken and companionless.
And the children of such a marriage, — who shall care for
them ? Who shall teach them the virtues of obedience and
charity? How can they respect a divorced mother, an
adulterous father ? No, these children become naturally
the curse of society. They fill our prisons, our hospitals,
the brothels.
On the contrary, if that man is a Catholic, the holy
Church speaks to him in solemn warning : " See ! " she
says, " you took that wife in the day of her early joy and
beauty. She gave you her young heart before the altar.
You swore before God and his angels to be faithful to her
until death. I declare to you, then, that, at the peril of
your immortal soul, you must keep that union perpetual.
CREED. 193
That union shall end only when you have stood by her
death-bed, when you have knelt at her grave."
The Catholic Church has always regarded Christian
marriage as the corner-stone of society ; and at that corner
stone have the pastors of the Church stood guard for eigh
teen centuries, insisting that Christian marriage is one, ;
holy and indissoluble. Woman, weak and unprotected,
has always found at Rome that guarantee which was
refused her by him who had sworn at the altar of God
to love her and to cherish her till death. Whilst in the
nations which Protestantism tore from the bosom of the
Church, the sacred laws of matrimony are trampled in the
dust ; whilst the statistics of these nations hold up to the
world the sad spectacle of divorces almost as numerous
as marriages, of separations of husband from wife, and
wife from husband, for the most trivial causes, thus grant
ing to lust the widest margin of license, and legalizing
concubinage and adultery 5 whilst the nineteenth century
records in its annals the existence of a community of
licentious polygamists within the borders of one of the
most civilized countries of the earth, we have yet to see
the decree emanating from Rome that would permit even
a beggar to repudiate his lawful wife, in order to give his
affections to an adulteress.
The female portion of our race would always have
sunk back into a new slavery, had not the popes entered
the breach for the protection of the unity, the sanctity, the
indissolubility of matrimony. In the midst of the barbar
ous ages, during which the conqueror and -warrior swayed
the sceptre of empire, and kings and petty tyrants acknow
ledged no other right but that of force, it was the popea
that opposed their authority, like a wall of brass, to the
194 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
sensuality and the passions of the mighty ones of the earth,
and stood forth as the protectors of innocence and outraged
virtue, as the champions of the rights of women, against
the wanton excesses of tyrannical husbands, by enforcing,
in their full severity, the laws of Christian marriage. If
Christian Europe is not covered with harems j if polygamy
has never gained a foothold in Europe ; if, with the indis-
solubility and sanctity of matrimony, the palladium of
European civilization has been saved from destruction, it
is all owing to the pastors of the Church. " If the popes,"
says the Protestant Yon Miiller, — "if the popes could
hold up no other merit than that which they gained by
protecting monogamy against the brutal lusts of those in
power, notwithstanding bribes, threats, and persecutions,
that fact alone would render them immortal for all future
ages."
And how had they to battle till they had gained this
merit ? What sufferings had they to endure, what trials
to undergo ? When King Lothair, in the ninth century.,,
repudiated his lawful wife, in drder to live with a concu
bine, Pope Nicholas I at once took upon himself the
defence of the rights and of the honor of the unhappy
wife. All the arts of an intriguing policy were plied, but
Nicholas remained unshaken j threats were used, but
Nicholas remained firm. At last the king's brother,
Louis II, appears with an army before the walls of Rome,
in oVder to compel the pope to yield. It is useless —
Nicholas swerves not from the line of duty. Rome ia
besieged j the priests and people are maltreated and plun
dered ; sanctuaries are desecrated ; the cross is torn down
and trampled under foot, and, in the midst of these scenes
of blood and sacrilege, Nicholas flies to the Church of St.
THE APOSTLES' CEEED. 195
Peter. There he is besieged by the army of the emperor
for two days and two nights ; left without food or drink,
he is willing to die of starvation on the tomb of St. Peter,
rather than yield to a brutal tyrant, and sacrifice the
sanctity of Christian marriage, the law of life of Christian
society. And the perseverance of Nicholas I was
crowned with victory. He had to contend against a
licentious king, who was tired of restraint j against an
emperor, who, with an army at his heels, came to enforce
his brother's unjust demands 5 against two councils of
venal bishops : the one at Metz, the other at Aix-la-
Chapelle, who had sanctioned the scandals of the adulter
ous monarch. Yet, with all this opposition, and the
suffering it cost him, the pope succeeded in procuring the
acknowledgment of the rights of an injured woman.
And during succeeding ages we find Gregory V carrying
on a similar combat against King Robert, and Urban II
against King Philip of France. In the thirteenth century,
Philip Augustus, mightier than his predecessors, set to
work all the levers of power, in order to move the pope
to divorce him from his wife, Ingelburgis. Hear the noble
answer of the great Innocent III : —
" Since, by the grace of God, we have the firm and
unshaken will never to separate ourselves from justice
and truth, neither moved by petitions, nor bribed by
presents, neither induced by love, nor intimidated by hate,
we will continue to go on in the royal path, turning neither
to the right nor to the left j and we judge without any
respect to persons, since God himself does not respect
persons."
After the death of his first wife, Isabella, Philip Augus
tus wished to gain the favor of Denmark by marrying
196 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
Ingelbiirgis. The union had hardly been solemnized,
when he wished to be divorced from her. A council of
venal bishops assembled at Compiegne, and annulled his
lawful marriage. The queen, poor w6man, was summoned
before her judges, and the sentence was read and trans
lated to her. She could not speak the language of France,
so her only cry was, " Rome ! " And Rome heard her
cry of distress, and came to her rescue. Innocent III
needed the alliance of France in the troubles in which he
was engaged with Germany ; Innocent III nee'ded the
assistance of France for the Crusade j yet Innocent III
sent Peter of Capua as legate to France. A council is
convoked by the legate of the Pope ; Philip refuses to
appear, in spite of the summons, and his whole kingdom is
placed under interdict. Philip's rage knows no bounds ;
bishops are banished, his lawful wife is imprisoned, and
the king vents his rage on the clergy of France. The
barons, at last, appeal to the sword. The king complains
to the pope of the harshness of the legate ; and when
Innocent only confirms the sentence of the legate, the king
exclaims, a Happy Saladin ! he had no pope ! ?? Yet the
king was forced to obey. When he asked the barons
assembled in council, " What must I do ? " their answer
was, " Obey the pope ; put away Agnes, and restore
Ingelburgis." And, thanks to the severity of Innocent
III, Philip repudiated the concubine, and restored Ingel-
burgis to her rights, as wife and queen.
Hear what the Protestant Hurter says in his Life of
Innocent : "If Christianity has not been thrown aside, as
a worthless creed, into some isolated corner of the world j
if it has not, like the sects of India, been reduced to a mere
theory ; if its European vitality has outlived the voluptuous
THE APOSTLES7 CREED. 197
effeminacy of the East, it is due to the watchful severity
of the Roman Pontiffs — to their increasing care to main
tain the principles of authority in the Church."
As often as we look toward England, we are reminded
of the words of Innocent III to Philip Augustus. We
see Clement using them as his principles in his conduct
toward the royal brute, Henry VIII. Catharine of Ara-
gon, the lawful wife of Henry, had been repudiated by
her disgraceful husband, and it was again to Rome she
appealed for protection. Clement remonstrated with
Henry. The monarch calls the pope hard names. Cle
ment repeats, u Thou shalt not commit adultery !" Henry
threatens to tear England from the Church — he does it ;
still Clement insists, " Thou shalt not commit adultery !"
The blood of Fisher and Moore is shed at Tyburn ; still
the pope repeats, "Thou shalt not commit adultery !"
The firmness of the pope cost England's loss to the Church.
It cost the pope bitter tears, and he prayed to heaven not
to visit on the people of England the crimes of the despot j
he prayed for the conversion of the nation j but to sacri
fice the sanctity, the indissolubility of matrimony, — that
he could never do ; to abandon helpless woman to the
brutality of men who were tired of the restraints of
morality, — no, that the pope could never permit. If the
court, if the palace, if the domestic hearth, refused a
shelter, Rome was always open, a refuge to injured and
down-trodden innocence.
" One must obey God more than man." This has ever
been the language of the Church, whenever there was
question of defending the laws of God against the powera
of the earth ; and in thus defending the laws of God, she
has always shown herself Catholic.
198 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
Oh, how sad would be the state of society were the
popes, the bishops, and priests to be banished from the
earth ! The bonds that unite the husband and wife, the
child and the parent, the friend and the friend, would be
broken. Peace and justice would flee from the earth.
Robbery, murder, hatred, lust, and all the other crimes
condemned by the Gospel, would prevail. Faith would
no longer elevate the souls of men to heaven. Hope, the
sweet consoler of the afflicted, of the widow and the
orphan, would flee away, and in her stead would reign
black despair, terror, and suicide. Where would we find
the sweet virtue of charity, if the popes, the bishops, and
priests were to disappear forever ? Where would we find
that charity which consoles the poor and forsaken, which
lovingly dries the tears of the widow and the orphan, —
that charity which soothes the sick man in his sufferings,
and binds up the wounds of the bleeding defender of
his country! Where would we find that charity which
casts a spark of divine fire into the hearts of so many
religious, bidding them abandon home, friends, and every
thing that is near and dear to them in this world, to go
among strangers, among savage tribes, and gain there, in
return for their heroism, nothing but outrage, suffering,
and death? Where, I ask, would we find this charity,
if the popes, the bishops, and priests were to disappear
forever f
Let a parish be for many years without a priest, and the
people thereof will become the blind victims of error, of
superstition, and of all kinds of vices. Show me an age,
a country, a nation, without priests, and I will show you
an age, a country, a nation, without morals, without virtue.
Yes, if " religion and science, liberty and justice, prin-
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 199
ciple and right," are not empty sounds — if they have a
meaning, they owe their energetic existence in the world
to the "salt of the earth," — to the popes, bishops, and
priests of the Catholic Church.
Finally, the Church, one, holy and Catholic, is also
apostolic. Now, should some one ask :
8. Show how the Catholic Church is apostolic.
We answer : The Catholic Church is apostolic, because her
chief pastor, the pope, is the lawful successor of St. Peter, and
the bishops are the laivful successors of the other apostles, from
whom they have their doctrine, their orders, and their mis
sion, through an unbroken succession of bishops.
The Catholic Church can show precisely how she
obtained possession of the divine authority of the apostles.
The Ro'man Pontiff, Pius IX, can name the two hundred
and fifty-three popes who, without a break, handed down
the authority of St. Peter, the head of the apostles, even
to himself. He can tell the day and hour of his election
and consecration, which are consigned to imperishable
monuments.
Every bishop of the Catholic Church can also show the
authentic titles which prove the transmission of the apo
stolic authority from the pontiff, who founded his Church,
down to himself, the validity of his 7ordination, and the
legitimate character of his mission. Every priest receives
his authority from his bishop. Thus there is not a break
in those glorious lines of bishops, which each episcopal
see, and above all sees, that of Peter, can show alike to
friend and foe. Here nothing is arbitrary, nothing un
certain. The apostolic ministry is perpetuated, under
the presidency of the head of the apo'stles, with the
perpetual presence and assistance of Him who promised
200 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
to be with his own, even to the end of the world. Thus
the authority of the minister of our altars does not depend
on the power of any temporal monarch, nor on the people ;
it depends solely on the head and chief pastor in the
apostolical hierarchy. What noble independence this !
It is the security of the faithful, and constitutes both the
greatness of the Church, and the dignity of her pastors.
In the beginning of the thirteenth century the pope
sent ambassadors to the famous Tartar monarch, Jengis
Khan. The Tartars asked the ambassadors, " Who is the
pope ? Is he not an old man at least five hundred years of
age ?" They might have said twelve hundred, and they
would have been right ; for, as Pius IX has said so truly,
" Simon may die, but Peter lives forever : " and Peter will
live until time shall have ended its course. Pius IX is to us
Peter 5 for each pontiff, as he comes, reigns upon Peter's
throne, speaks with his voice, binds and looses with his
hands, opens and closes the kingdom with the keys which
Peter once took from the pierced hands of his divine
Master ; and he will hold those keys of life and death till
the number of the elect is filled, and the last of the
redeemed enters his Father's house.
The Church taught and governed in our days by the
pope and bishops, differs not in its essential character
from the Church taught and governed by Peter and the
apostles. Let us see how Peter exercises the authority con
ferred on him, and, through him, upon all his successors, by
Jesus Christ. After the resurrection of our Saviour, who
appeared to Peter first of all the apostles, he is the first
to proclaim that resurrection to all the people, and he
confirms the truth of his testimony by a miracle. ( Acts ii,
14 j and, iii, 15.) After the ascension of our Lord, Peter
CREED. 201
assembled the apostles and some disciples in the upper-
chamber, and addressed them thus, " The Scripture must
needs be fulfilled/7 which foretells the defection of Judas,
and his place being taken by another. We, therefore, must
choose one from among us, who has been a witness to the
miracles and resurrection of the Son of God, to take his
place. (Acts i, 16.) Is the Gospel to be preached to
the Gentiles ? It is Peter to whom the solution of the
difficulty is revealed 5 it is he who decides, "all holding
their peace, and giving glory to God." (Acts iii, 18.)
Peter first received the Gentiles into the Church ( Acts
x ), after having been the first to introduce the Jews into
her sacred fold. At a later period the question of circum
cision and the ceremonies of the law came up. Peter at
once rose up, and explained the common faith. All
listened in silence. A decree was made in which the
faith on this point was determined forever. Peter visited
the Christians of Joppe, Lydda, Galilee, Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, etc. ( Acts ix.) Everywhere
he founded new congregations of Christians, and visited
them all in, his office of Supreme Pastor. From Jerusalem
he went to Antioch, from Antioch to Rome, where he
combated the heresy of Simon the Magician, and finally
sealed his glorious apostleship by dying a martyr's death.
As the lawful successor of the Prince of the Apostles, the
pope decides, without appeal, matters of faith and morals,
convokes general councils, presides over and confirms them,
founds churches, visits them in person, or by his delegates,
appoints bishops, confirms them in the faith, and acts in all
as the Supreme Head and Pastor of the Catholic Church.
Peter took possession, for himself and his successors, of all
the prerogatives and duties of the Sovereign Pontificate.
202 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
Now let us see how the apostles exercise the authority
conferred on them by Christ, From the Acts of the Apos
tles we learn that they teach and preach the Gospel, they
baptize and impose hands, — that is, give confirmation,-—
they found churches, and give them pastors ; they choose
one to succeed Judas ; in the Council of Jerusalem, they
regulate whatever concerns faith and discipline, saying, " It
has seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us" (Acts xv,
82) ; they resolve difficulties, and repress scandals that
arise, and, if necessary, they excommunicate him who de
serves to be cut off from the communion of the faithful, till
he truly repents ; they command the Christians to avoid
teachers who were not sent by Christ (Tit. iii, 10), and
to receive their oral traditions as well as their written in
structions (2 Thess. ii, 14); they clearly teach that the
Church is founded upon the apostolic ministry (Eph. ii,
20) ; that Christ appointed apostles, pastors, doctors, in a
word, a teaching and governing body, to accomplish the
work of sanctifying the elect, that "we be not carried
about with every wind of doctrine" (Eph. iv, 12-14);
they also teach that the Holy Ghost has appointed bishops
to rule the Church of God (Acts xx, 28) ; that the read
ing of holy Scripture " is profitable," to those especially
who " teach and reprove others," yet that they contain
difficult passages, " which the unlearned wrest " from their
true meaning " to their own destruction. n (2 Pet. iii,
16.) What is all this but precisely what the bishops ot
the Catholic Church practise to-day f They teach, decide
on points of faith and morals, give confirmation, ordain
priests ; they govern, punish, excommunicate, grant in
dulgences, recommend the faithful not to become familiar
with heretics; they assemble in council, to regulate in
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 203
matters concerning faith, morals, and discipline ; and all this
they do in the name of the Holy Ghost, who has promised
them his assistance. They teach that the unwritten word
of God is to be received with the same faith as the written ;
and each bishop says, with the great apostle, that he is
" appointed , by the Holy Spirit" to govern his Church.
Thus we see that the Church of Jesus Christ, as described
by St. Luke, St. Paul, St. James, and the others, is pre
cisely the same as the Church which is called one, holy,
Catholic and Apostolic. Now,
9. Why is the Catholic Church called Roman ?
fThe Catholic Church is called Roman: 1, because the
visible head of the Church is Bishop of Rome / 2, because
St. Peter and his successors fixed their see in Rome ; 3,
because all the Catholic Churches in the world profess their
union with the Roman Church.
The Catholic Church is called Roman, because at Rome
the pope, as visible head of the Church, has fixed his see.
St. Peter was the first pope and first bishop of Rome.
After having preached in Jerusalem, and presided for
seven years over the Church of Antioch, he left St.
Ignatius in his place at Antioch, and went to Rome, where
he fixed his see. He was, however, often absent to
perform his apostolical duties in other countries. He
came to Rome in A. D. 40. Having remained there for
some considerable time, he went back to the East, but
returned to Rome not long after. In 49, on account of
some tumult raised by the Jews against the Christians,
St. Peter and St. Paul were banished from Rome by
Claudius, but they were soon allowed to return. St.
Peter returned again to the East, and in 51 was present
at the General Council held at Jerusalem by the apostles,
204 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
where, in a discourse, he showed that the Gentile converts
were not bound by the Jewish ceremonies. St. Peter
went back to Rome a few years previous to his martyrdom,
in the reign of the Emperor Nero. But before his final
return thither, he preached the Gospel over all Italy, and
likewise in other provinces of the West. When again in
Rome, he and St. Paul, by their prayer, put an end to the
magical delusions of Simon Magus. Enraged at this, the
tyrant Nero put both apostles into the Mamertine prison.
After an imprisonment of eight months, St. Peter was
scourged, and then crucified with his head downward.
He chose this manner of crucifixion, because he believed
himself unworthy to suffer and die in the same way as
his divine Master. According to Eusebius and Others,
he held possession of the See of Rome for about twenty-
five years, assisted by St. Paul, who shared with him
the honor of having founded Christian Rome.
St. Peter, then, the Prince of the Apostles, who first
occupied the Apostolic See, transmitted, by the command
of God, to the pontiffs, who even to the end of time should
occupy his see, his primacy in the apostolate and in the
pastoral charge, together with all the authority which he
had received froni God our Saviour. Hence the Greeks,
in 1274, subscribed this profession of faith, which was
preaented to them by Gregory X : " The holy Roman
Church possesses a supreme and complete primacy and
authority over the whole Catholic Church j she acknow
ledges truly and humbly that she received it, together
with plenary authority, from the Saviour himself, in the
person of Peter, the Prince or Head of the Apostles, of
whom the Roman Pontiff is the successor j and as she is
bound more than the other churches to defend the truth
THE APOSTLES7 CREED. 205
of religion, so, if any questions arise concerning the faith,
they ,ought to be determined by her judgment. Whoever
considers himself wronged in any matter which pertains
to the Church, can appeal to her tribunal ; and in all the
causes which relate to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, recourse
may be had to her judgment. All churches are subject
to her, and the prelates who govern them owe respect and
obedience to her. The plenitude of power belongs to her
in such a manner, that the other churches are admitted by
her to a share in her solicitude. Several of these, espe
cially the patriarchal churches, have been honored with
various privileges by the Roman Church, without preju
dice to her prerogatives, which she must preserve whether
in General Councils or in certain other cases." (Labbe,
t. xi, p. 965.)
In the fourteenth century, it is true, several popes
resided at Avignon, in France, yet they did not cease,
on that account, to be the Bishops of Rome and the heirs
of St. Peter. Rome is, indeed, the capital of Christendom,
and is justly called the Eternal City, for it has always been
the centre of Catholic unity, and the see of the successors
of St. Peter.
From St. Peter's time every succeeding head of the
Church was Bishop of Rome, and, seated in the Chair of
Peter, governed the Church as her Sovereign Pontiff, as
the visible representative of ecclesiastical unity, as the
supreme teacher and guardian of the faith, as the supreme
legislator and interpreter of the canons, as the legitimate
superior of all bishops, as the final judge of councils,
enjoying the primacy both of honor and jurisdiction ; so
that the pagan historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, styled
Pope Liberius " the overseer of the Christian religion j"
206 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
and the Fathers, the Councils, the Doctors of the Church,
ecclesiastical writers, and the saints of all ages, have called
the Bishop of Rome pope, that is, father, because he is
the common spiritual father of all Christians. They have
called him also the Most Holy Father, the Universal Bishop
of the Church, the Vicar of Christ, the Pastor of pastors,
the Judge of judges. They have given him the ti'tle of
Sovereign Pontiff, because he is superior to all other pon
tiffs or bishops, not only as to honor, but also as to juris
diction, and because he exercises supreme authority in the
Universal Church. On account of this primacy or suprem
acy which the head of the Church has received immediately
from God, in the person of Peter, the Council of Trent de
fines that the faithful, of whatever dignity, — be they kinga
or emperors, bishops, primates, or patriarchs, — owe him a
real and true obedience. The same council declares that
it pertains to him to provide the churches with pastors to
determine the impediments which make marriage null and
to dispense with them, to convoke a General Council,
to confirm its decrees, to resolve the doubts raised by them,
to create cardinals, to appoint bishops, to watch over the
reform of studies, to correct abuses, to decide the most
grave causes in which bishops are concerned ; he can
reserve to himself the absolving from certain grave crimes,
absolve those who have possessed themselves of ecclesias
tical property : without his judgment nothing of impor
tance can be established in the Church.
Here it may be asked :
10. Did this power of the pope also include the power
to depose temporal rulers ?
The London Tablet, Dec. 5, 1874, answers this question
as follows :
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 207
" We firmly believe that the deposing power actually
exerted by more than one Roman Pontiff, and owing its
efficacy to the spontaneous assent of the Christian con
science, is manifestly included among the gifts of Peter.
We believe it, among other reasons, because no power
can be wanting to his supreme jurisdiction, of which the
safety of the Christian commonwealth, committed to his
oversight, may at any time require the exercise. He is
God's vicegerent. The Church, which is God's kingdom
on earth, was built by her divine Founder a upon this
rock." The Almighty Architect might have chosen an
other foundation, but he chose this, and the gates of hell
have not been able to subvert it. It is true that St. Peter
never used the deposing power, but that was because
Christendom had not yet begun to exist ; it is equally true
that neither Pius IX nor any of his successors are ever
likely to use it, but that is because Christendom has ceased
to exist. There is a great host of Christians — more than
ever there were — but there is no longer any Christendom.
There is not in the whole world so much as a solitary
state, unless it be one of the South American republics,
which even professes to shape its policy by the law of
God, much less by the counsels of his Vicar. They did
so for many ages, to their own advantage, but they
have ceased to do it. Only the Moslem now affects to do
everything 'in the name of Allah.' Governments are no
longer Christian. Their very composition proves it. Even
in the cabinet of one who is called, as if in derision, * His
Apostolic Majesty,' there are two Jews. Every one
knows how the rest are formed ; they might all write over
their council doors, if they were candid enough, ' No
truth here.' For them, as Gibbon would say, all religions
208 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
are * equally true a,nd equally false.' Some princes encour
age their own children to change their religion, in o'rder
to make a good marriage. Others, while professing to
honor Peter, sit down to table with miscreants whom he
has excommunicated. Christendom no longer exists. If
it did, certain crowned malefactors, who make a treaty
with Atheists and Freemasons, and persecute bishops, would
probably find that, as St. Ambrose says, 'Peter is not dead.'
But if Christendom should ever be restored, which does not
seem likely, we profess our unhesitating conviction that
the deposing power of God's Vicar would revive with it.
u When states were wholly Catholic, as they were for
a good many centuries, when all men believed, with the
saints and martyrs, that it was to the pope that the
Almighty said, ' Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth,
shall be bound in heaven j? when the supreme authority
of the Holy See was at once the bulwark of thrones, and
part of the public law of Europe 5 when Csesar said to
bishops, presided over by the papal legates, as Constan-
tine, the master of the world, said to the Fathers at Nice,
6 Nos a vobis rede judicamurj — nobody disputed that, as
members of the Christian commonwealth, kings and princes
were subject, by the law of God, to the authority of the
Roman Pontiff. It was his office to restrain, by all the
means which the decree of God and the faith of Christians
gave him, any abuse of their power by which either the
interests of religion or the just rights of Christian people
were prejudiced. He was at once the guardian of the
faith, and the only invincible enemy of tyrants. The
most eminent non-Catholic writers have confessed that
Christianity was preserved from what Guizot calls ' the
tyranny of brute force/ mainly by that vigilant and fear-
CREED. 209
less intervention of the Holy See, for which, as some of
them sorrowfully admit, no substitute can now be found.
But it is evident that the extreme penalty of deposition,
the application of which is now transferred from the pope
to the mob, could only be enforced in a state of society
which has long since passed away, and is never likely to
return.
" The only remonstrants against the spiritual authority,
even when its judgments were most formidable, were
worthless princes, who wished to filch the revenues of
episcopal sees, and a few depraved prelates, who wished
to curry favor with such princes. The Church lived in
those days, as Emerson observes with true American
candor, i by the love of the people? They knew who
was their friend. His judgments had no terror for them.
The modern jealousy of the Holy See, which has only
transferred all spiritual authority, as Professor Merivale
remarks, i from the Church to the State,' has been as
fatal to liberty as to religion. The state most violently
opposed to the Holy See at this day is Prussia, and the
only representatives of liberty in Prussia are the Catholic
bishops and clergy. Even German Protestants witnessr
against the ruthless enslavement of mind and conscience
in a country in which only two institutions now remain :
the barrack and the goal. What Neander would have
said of the present tyranny in Prussia, we may judge
from his own words : 6 Beautiful/ he exclaims, ' and worthy
the frankness becoming a bishop, is the language of St.
Hilary of Poitiers to Constantius.' And what did the
saint say to Caesar, who ruled after the fashion of Bismarck
and his master ? l Tyrannus non jam humanorum, sed dim-
norum es. Antichristum prcevenis et arcanorum mysteria
210 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
ejus operaris.' It was a strong thing to say to Caesar
sitting in his purple robe. If St. Hilary lived in our day,
he would soon be in a Prussian prison, with the learned
Neander, if he ventured to applaud him, in the next cell.
It was the popes, says Hurter, who saved Christianity
6 from the tyranny of the temporal power, and from becom
ing a mere State function, like religion among the Pagans.7
It was well for Hurter that his lot was not cast in the
age of Bismarck. Even Leibnitz would have been deemed
a mortal enemy by the Prussian Constantius. It was the
inventor of the integral calculus who actually proposed,
though a Protestant, ' to establish in Rome a tribunal to
decide controversies between sovereigns, and to make the
pope its president, as he really did, in former ages, figure
as judge between Christian princes. But ecclesiastics
should, at the same time, resume their ancient authority,
and an interdict or an excommunication should make kings
and kingdoms tremble, as in the days of Nicholas I or
Gregory VII.' Leibnitz would evidently be out of place
in contemporary Prussian society. They have no room
there for such as he was, except in their prisons j and
those cheerful abodes will soon be too full to hold any more.
" If popes no longer depose bad princes i by the author
ity of Peter/ there are others who depose good ones
without any authority at all. In order to depose them
more effectually, they have taken to cutting off their heads.
Cromwell and his fellows did it in England ; Mirabeau and
his friends in France. These energetic anti-popes did
not object at all to deposition, provided it was inflicted
by themselves. They object to it still less now ; it has
become a habit. Englishmen deposed James II, after
murdering his father, and put a Dutchman in his place,
CREED. 211
In other lands they are always deposing somebody. The
earth is strewn with deposed sovereigns. Sometimes
they depose one another, in order to steal what does not
belong to them. One of them has deposed the pope
himself, at least for a time, and all the rest clap their
hands. They do not see that by this last felony they have
undermined every throne in Europe. Perhaps in a few-
years there will not be a king left to be deposed. Since
the secular was substituted everywhere for the spiritual
authority, kings have fared badly. The popes only rebuked
them when they did evil ; the mob is less discriminating.
And the difference between the deposing power of the
popes and that of the mob is this, that the first used it,
like fathers, for the benefit of religion and society ; the
second, like wild beasts, for the destruction of both."
There is, therefore, among all true Catholics, but one
unanimous voice as to the supreme authority of the head
of the Roman Church, viz. : that Jesus, the Son of God
and of man, gave to Peter and his successors that fulness
of jurisdiction and power which will keep the Church in
safety till he comes back in the day of judgment j and to
deny that supreme authority is to be at sea, drifting about
with the currents of opinion, and tossed on the troubled
waves of Protestantism, Calvinism, Quakerism, Mormon-
ism, Spiritualism, and all the other isms and sophisms.
Now, in order that the great power and authority
bestowed upon St. Peter should be often present to our
minds, that apostle is represented with keys in his hand.
He holds two : one a symbol of his jurisdiction, and the
other of his orders. One key is turned toward heaven,
to show that St. Peter had the power of opening or
closing itj the other is directed toward the earth, to
212 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
show that he had full authority over the faithful, and the
power of imposing laws upon them.
The pope, however, is not only the head of the Church,
he is also a temporal prince. In the establishment of his
Church, our divine Saviour did not consult the civil
authorities ; neither Herod nor Pilate was asked for ap
proval. If those rulers had not lived at all, they could not
have been more completely ignored, so far as establishing
the Church, preaching and teaching the doctrine of Christ,
and performing all the offices of the Christian ministry, go.
Csesar and his officers had no voice in this. They had
authority in the kingdoms of the world, but none what
ever in the kingdom of God. It was established, and to
be spread and to last forever, whether they willed it or not.
The apostles, especially the head of the apostles, and
their successors, are to exercise their power in perfect
freedom. They are freely to teach what is true, freely to
condemn what is false j freely to denounce the crimes of
men and of governments ; freely to constitute the hierarchy
in various countries j freely to let persons have recourse to
them in their doubts, and freely to reply to them ; freely
to condemn those who refuse obedience to the Church ;
freely to separate from the Church those who have
separated themselves from her, by persisting in error or
in disobedience ; freely to define religious and moral truths,
that is, give laws binding on minds in believing, and on
consciences in acting. The ruler of nations and the lord
of many legions, though he had not been consulted at all
in the establishment of the Church, was bound to hear her
voice, like the humblest peasant, and submit his soul to
her guidance, under pain of eternal banishment from the
presence of God. He might pretend to command when
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 213
it was his duty to obey, but the mistake was sure to be
disastrous to himself, as indeed the final result proved.
When the divine Master had finished his work, and his
Vicar reigned in his place, the independence of the spiritual
power, in its own province, was, if possible, still more
evident. We know what was the attitude of the apostles
toward the State. In questions of the soul, they set it at
naught. They taught loyalty to Caesar in all that relig
ion does not condemn, as their successors do at this day,
so that among Christians was found a host of martyrs,
but not a single conspirator or assassin f but when Csesar
required disloyalty to God, the apostles and the Christians
bade him defiance. They knew the penalty, and accepted
it. It was perfectly understood that Csesar, like other
beasts of prey, had claws and teeth, and could use them.
He did use them with considerable effect. He had soldiers,
lictors, prisons, axes, and scaffolds. But such engines,
destructive as they were, could only hurt the flesh ; and
the apostles and Christians were told not to " fear them
that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul.'7
They were warned that they would be " brought before
governors," but that they were not even to take thought
what they should say. The divine Master would teach
them what to say.
The conditions of the combat between Christ and Csesar,
between the spiritual and the secular power, will never cease.
In order that the head of his Church might enjoy perfect
freedom in the exercise of his power, under God's provi
dence the pope became a temporal prince. He obtained
his temporal power before Constantine abandoned Rome,
and it was confirmed and completed by Charlemagne,
more than a thousand years ago. God inspired Christian
214 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
princes to attach a principality to the Holy See, calleM the
Patrimony of St. Peter,— the States of the Church : " It
has been the will of God," says Pius IX, " that the princes
of the earth, even those who are not in communion with
the Church of Rome, should defend and maintain the
temporal sovereignty of the Holy See, which has been,
by a disposition of divine Providence, enjoyed for many
centuries by the Roman Pontiffs. The possession of
that temporal dominion enables the reigning pope to
exercise his supreme apostolical authority in the govern
ment of the Universal Church with that liberty which is
necessary to fulfil the duties of his apostolical office, and
procure the salvation of -the flock of Christ." (Allocution,
May 10th, 1850.)
The pope, then, possesses his territory under a title
higher and older than any government in the world.
Napoleon I sought to destroy this temporal power of the
pope, but was forced at last to admit the necessity of papal
independence : " The pope," he said, " is not at Paris ;
it is well : we reverence his authority precisely because he
is not at Vienna nor at Madrid. At Vienna and at
Madrid they feel the same with regard to Paris. It is,
therefore, better that he should be neither with us nor
with any of our rivals, but in Rome, his ancient seat,
holding an equal balance between all sovereigns. This is
the work of the centuries, and they have done well. The
temporal power is the wisest and best institution that could
be imagined in the government of souls."
The temporal dominion of the pope being a moral
necessity for the well-being of the Church, the Holy
Father and the bishops have pronounced anathema against
all those who impugn it. History, indeed, sometimes
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 215
show! us the Supreme Pontiff under another aspect.
•There were times when his triple crown crumbled, when
his sceptre shrunk to a hollow reed, when his throne be
came a shadow, and his home a dungeon. But God per
mitted this only to show us how inestimable is human
virtue, when compared with human grandeur. Human
grandeur may perish, but virtue is immortal. God per
mitted it, to prove to the scoffing infidel world that the
simplicity of the patriarchs, the piety of the saints, the
patience of the martyrs, have not as yet vanished from the
earth. God permitted it, in fine, to show the rabid enemies
of our holy faith that, though our common father were in
chains, though his motives were calumniated, and though
his kingly power were destroyed, yet the Church, the holy
Catholic Church of Jesus Christ, is still able to guide and
to support her children, and to confound, if she cannot
reclaim, her enemies.
The pontiff is firm, immovable as a rock. No threats
can awe, no promise can tempt, no sufferings can appall
him. With exile, the dungeon, and death before his eyes,
he dashes away the proffered cup, in which the pearl of
his liberty is to be dissolved : " Non possumus" is his
bold and noble language. " We can die, but we cannot
give up the rights of the Church.'7 The Catholic world
cannot, and will not, submit and agree to the sacrilegious
occupation of the Papal States by any government. The
voices of more than two hundred millions of Catholics will
ring from every land under the sun, demanding perfect
liberty of action for their common spiritual father, and
the undisturbed possession of the Patrimony of St. Peter.
The spirit of opposition to the temporal power of the pope
is but the spirit of modern Paganism, which aims at the
216 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
destruction of civil government, the rights of justice, the
law of God and of man. All justice-loving men admit
this. The opposers of the temporal power start from the
pagan principle of separation of the temporal from the
spiritual ; they are either bigots, or infidels, or vain and
frothy theorizers, or corrupt politicians of the Masonic
sect, or restless demagogues ; and if they be Christians,
their faith sits as lightly on their conscience as a feather
on the back of a whirlwind: they are all pervaded by the
pestilential spirit of modern Paganism. When a govern
ment becomes indifferent in religious matters, wishes to
assume supreme control over the asylums of suffering
humanity, secularizes churches and schools, caring only
for the mere literary or arithmetical education of its sub
jects ; when it makes laws infringing on the rights of
conscience or property ; when it interferes with the sacra-
mepts and the rites of the Church, then it is pagan in
spirit. It endeavors to prevent men from attaining the
end of creation ; it ceases to be a free government, or to
fulfil the end for which all governments were instituted.
Every temporal ruler who denies the pope's rights to his
temporal power, will soon find his own abolished.*
* When the pope is elected according to established regulations, and
if he consents to his election, he becomes at once invested with author
ity over the Universal Church, though he be neither a bishop nor a
priest, nor deacon, nor subdeacon, but a mere cleric. He is capable
of performing every act belonging to papal jurisdiction; he can, for
instance, grant indulgences, pass censures, grant dispensations,
appoint canons, institute bishops, create cardinals. But the peculiar
power of the priesthood and the episcopacy, such as forgiving sins,
administering the sacraments of confirmation and of holy orders, he
cannot exercise until he has first been consecrated. From what has
been said, it follows that the Papacy, the Sovereign Pontificate, is a
dignity, not of orders, but of jurisdiction. If the pope be a bishop at
the time of his election, he receives no other consecration. Being
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 217
As the Papacy is of divim right, so also is the Episco
pacy of divine right. Christ willed that there should be
bishops to assist the pope in the government of the Church.
For this reason St. Paul says, " The Holy Ghost hath
placed you bishops to rule the Church of God." The word
u bishop " means overseer, inspector, or superintendent.
The choice of a bishop has to be made, or at least to
be confirmed, by the pope ; from him each bishop holds
his jurisdiction 6ver the territory assigned to him by
the pope. Episcopal jurisdiction has been instituted by
Christ in such a manner that each bishop should receive
his jurisdiction from the pope, who makes the bishops
sharers in the power of the keys which Christ gave to
Peter alone, and, in his person, to his successors : " The
Lord," says Tertullian, " has given the keys to St. Peter,
and, through him, to the Church." St. Gregory of Nyssa
says the same, in other words : " Through Peter, Christ
has given the keys of the kingdom of heaven to the
bishops." As Peter and his successors alone have re
ceived the keys of the kingdom of God, they alone can
communicate the use of them to the rest of the pastors.
From Peter and his successors the bishops hold the
clothed with the episcopal character, he is on an equality with the
other bishops; but as pope, and vested with the dignity and authority
of head of the Church, he is superior to all the pastors of the Church.
If, at the time of his election, the pope is not in holy orders, he cao
receive them all on the same day. The privilege of consecrating a
pope who is no bishop at the time of his election, belongs to the Bishop
of Ostia.
When the pope is elected he changes his name, because he is the
successor of St. Peter, whose name was changed by Jesus Christ.
The pope can be taken from any rank of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.
In the early ages of the Church, subdeacons were but seldom raised to
the dignity of the Papacy ; but deacons were often elected. Priests
were seldom chosen to fill that high office, and the appointment of
218 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
jurisdiction wliich they exercise in their dioceses 5 it is by
him that they hold, in their dioceses, the place of Christ,
as priests, as pontiffs, as doctors, as legislators, as judges,
as heads and pastors of the faithful under their jurisdiction,
and are, as St. Paul says, ambassadors for Jesus Christ,
God's coadjutors, who exhort the faithful by their mouth ;
for all this is what constitutes jurisdiction. This ddetrine
has been solemnly declared by Pius IX, in his Encyclical
Letter of Nov. 9th, 184G, addressed to the archbishops
and bishops of the Catholic Church : " Come with an
open heart," he says, " and with full confidence, to the See
of the blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, the centre of
Catholic unity, and the summit of the episcopacy, whence
the episcopacy itself derives its origin and its authority.''7
Episcopal consecration, however, is not necessary for
bishops to it was of very rare occurrence. The first pope raised from
the episcopal office to the papal throne was Formosa, Bishop of Oporto,
who was elected in 891. The discipline of the Church, in this respect,
has undergone a great change; for, from about the end of the thirteenth
century, it was the ordinary practice to select the pope from among the
bishops, and from 1592 to 1775 we find but three popes elected who
were no bishops at the time of their election. In our times, Clement
XIV, Pius V, and Gregory XVI, were tho only persons who were sim
ple priests at the time of their elevation to the Papacy. The pope is
elected by the cardinals. For many centuries the pope was elected
by the Roman clergy, and the faithful took a very active part in the
election; but, for many years past, the election has been confined to
the cardinals, who are the princes and senators of the Church, and are
vested with a dignity inferior only to that of the pope.
The learned are divided in their opinions in reference to the origin
of cardinals, and the derivation of the name cardinal, Some think
that cardinal comes from the word cardo, cardinalis, a hinge on which
a gate or a door turns; because the cardinals are the hinges or pivots
on which the government of the Church rolls. According to Baronius,
Bellarmin, and other liturgical writers, the officiating priests of the
parishes and churches of Rome were the first cardinals; and they were
so called because, when they accompanied the pope to the altar, they
CREED. 219
the exercise of episcopal jurisdiction ; all that is neces
sary is, that the election of a bishop should be confirmed
by the pope. This confirmation of the pope gives to the
bishop-elect canonical institution, and confers on him juris
diction over all the faithful of the territory which has been
assigned to him. This jurisdiction, received from the pope,
may also be taken away by the pope. Bishops, however,
cannot be deprived of the power which is essentially con
nected with orders and the episcopal character, because
that power is received immediately from God. Should,
therefore, a bishop become a heretic, he still retains
his episcopal character, in virtue of which he validly,
though unlawfully, confers confirmation, holy orders, and
offers the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
stood ad cornua, that is, at the corners or angles of it. Besides the
churches served by priests, there were a great many hospitals, the
administration of which was intrusted to deacons. These deacons also
attended the pope whenever he officiated, and, with the priests of the
parishes, stood at the corners of the altar; hence, the distinction
between the cardinal priests and the cardinal deacons. The titular
bishops of the sees in the vicinity of Rome, called suburbicarian
bishops, attended the pope on all solemn ceremonies, and took up
their positions, like the priests and deacons of whom we have just
spoken, at the corners of the altar, and hence the origin of cardinal
archbishops. The latter, in virtue of their episcopal consecration,
have always taken precedence over the cardinal priests and cardinal
deacons.
The dignity of cardinal, in the sense in which that word is now
understood, is the highest in the Church, next to that of the pope.
The cardinals are the princes and senators of the Church, the coun
cillors of the pope, his coadjutors and vicars in the functions of the
Sovereign Pontificate. They form the consistory, or the council of the
pope, who selects them from all nations, to aid him in the government
of the Church.
By a Bull of Sixtus V, published in 1586, the number of cardinals
was fixed at seventy. They are divided into three orders, namely: six
cardinal bishops, fifty cardinal priests, and fourteen cardinal deacons.
220 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
All bishops are on an equality as to their episcopal
character, but the jurisdiction of some, — of patriarchs,
metropolitans, and archbishops, — is more extended than
that of others. This privilege of greater power is conferred
by the pope alone, as he may think fit to grant to this
or that bishop a greater or less share of the supreme
authority which he holds over all the churches.
In the early ages of the Church, the title patriarch
(sovereign father, chief father) was given to the titular
bishops of the sees of the most important cities, such as
Alexandria, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Antioch. The
Patriarch of Rome has always been considered the universal
patriarch. The bishops presiding over the capital cities
of the empire were called metropolitans, but, in later times,
archbishops, that is, chief bishops. The patriarchal
The six cardinals of the first order are the Bishops of Ostia, Porto,
Palestrina, Albano, Sabine, and Frescati, suffragans of the Patriarchate
of the West. The cardinal priests are nearly all bishops, but, as they
have only the title of priests, they belong to the second order. The
cardinal deacons are so called, because their title is only that of
deacon.
In the council held at Lyons, in 1248, Pope Innocent IV presented
to the cardinals the red hat, as a sign of their being obliged, if neces
sary, to shed their blood for the cause of God and of his Church. In
1464, Paul III presented them with the red cassock and cap. In 1630,
the title of Eminence was given to them exclusively, by an order of
Urban VIII. But the choicest and most glorious of tlieir privileges is
that of electing the pope. The cardinals cannot, whilst the Holy See is
vacant, exercise papal jurisdiction, nor have they the power of making
laws, unless the interests of religion may urgently require it. ( Collegium
Cardinalium sede papali vacante nullam hdbet potestatem condendi leges. —
llleiffenstuel.) The body of cardinals is called the College of Cardinals,
or Sacred College. The assembly of cardinals, when they meet for the
purpose of electing a pope, takes the name of Conclave. The word
conclave is also applied to the place in which they meet for the purpose
of the election, which is now the Quirinal Palace, where as many rooms
have been prepared as there are cardinals, and where they remain shut
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 221
churches were established by the Holy See, wherein the
power rests of extending or limiting the jurisdiction of
any bishop ; for, "everything," says St. Leo, " which
Christ has given to the other bishops, has been given
through St. Peter."
Besides the pope and the bishops, there are other
legitimate pastors, called parish priests, who are subject to
their respective bishops ; for, as the bishop possesses the
plenitude of the priesthood, he enjoys by divine right, that
is, by Christ's institution, a superiority not only of prece
dence and of honor, but even of authority, over all his
priests, who, without his good-will and pleasure, can do
nothing in regard to ecclesiastical matters. He is the
pastor of his whole diocese. He can, therefore, give to
this or that priest jurisdiction more or less extended.
up till the election has taken place. They meet once a day in the chapel
of the palace, where a scrutiny is made of their votes, which are writ
ten and placed in an urn. This is repeated every day till two-thirds, at
least, of the votes are in favor of one candidate for the Pontifical Chair,
who is then considered duly elected.
The pope may resign his power and authority. In the history of
the Church we find more than one instance of a pope laying down his
dignity and power, after having exercised them for some time. St.
Celestine V, who, from a devout hermit, was raised to the Chair of
Peter, abdicated his functions after a reign of scarcely four months
and was succeeded by Cardinal Cajetan, under the name of Boniface
Vin. Alarmed at the responsibility of the office, and finding tho
performance of his usual exercises of prayer and meditation impractic
able, he determined to go back to his former solitude, and in a
Consistory held at Naples, he abdicated the Pontifical Chair, assumed
his former name of Peter, put on again his old religious habit, and
entreated those around to select an efficient successor. In the annals
of the Church we find the names of others who willingly laid aside
the power and authority conferred on them as Vicars of Christ.
Everything connected with the dying moments of the pope ia
invested with that solemnity and gravity suited to the high and holy
office which, during life, he had fulfilled. His domestic prelates and
222 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
For good reasons he can also restrict the jurisdiction
which he had given, and even withdraw it altogether.
In the early ages of Christianity, there was but one
Church in each city or town, in which the faithful 'assem
bled under the presidency of the bishop. But when, in
the course of time, the number of Christians had consider
ably increased, and bishops were unable to attend to the
spiritual wants of their flock, dioceses were divided into
parishes 5 that is, a union of many families, who assemble
in a particular church, called parochial church, to assist
at the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and the other duties of
religion. Each parochial church is attended by a priest
called the parish priest, whose duty it is to instruct the
people in the way of salvation, and administer to them the
sacraments of baptism, holy eucharist, penance, matri
mony, and extreme unction. From a custom long estab-
the chief dignitaries of his household are summoned around his bed.
He then makes a profession of his faith, grants particular favors to all
about him, requests their prayers, and receives from the hands of the
Sacristan Prelate the holy Viaticum, and from the Cardinal Peniten
tiary a plenary indulgence. If his state -will allow of it, he summons
before him the College of Cardinals, in the presence of whom he
renews his profession of faith. He recommends to them the Church
of God, and engages them to select, as his successor, the person whom
they believe most worthy to feed the sheep and the lambs. The
domestic prelates remain at his bedside when he is in the agony of
death, and the Sacristan Priest recites the recommendation of the
departing soul, and a part of the passion. Scarcely has the pope
breathed his last, when the Cardinal Camerlingo, preceded by the
master of the ceremonies, repairs to the palace, and takes up his posi
tion at the foot of the bed, on which the deceased pope lies, his face
covered with a white veil. The cardinal kneels down, and offers up a
short prayer. He then stands up, and the attendants uncover the face
of the pope. The Camerlingo approaches the body, strikes three times
the head of the deceased with a small silver hammer, and calls out
his name three times. He then turns toward the assistants, and says,
" The pope is indeed dead.'; (Power's Catechism.)
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 223
lished, the parish priest can dispense his parishioners in
matters of fasting and abstinence, and in the observation
of Sundays and holydays. Parish priests are often assisted
in their labor by other priests, called vicars or coadjutors.
Every parish, then, has three immediate pastors : the pope,
the bishop, and the parish priest.
All the particular churches in the world profess their
union with the Church of Rome. She is the mistress of
all others : " To be united with the See of Rome," says
St. Cyprian, " is to be united with the Catholic Church,
for the Church of Rome is the principal Church ; the
Bishop of Rome, the chief bishop ; the episcopal throne
of this Church is the throne of Peter, the source and
centre of ecclesiastical unity j and therefore all bishops
of the world must, either directly or indirectly, be in
communication with Rome, in order that, by thus com
municating with her, the union of all may be preserved."
And St. Irenseus, who lived in the first century, declares
that, instead of scrutinizing the doctrine delivered by
Christ and his apostles," and searching tradition, it is
enough to inquire what is the teaching of the Church of
Rome: " For it is necessary," says he, "that the whole
Church, — that is, the faithful of the whole world, — should
be in communion with this Church, on account of its more
powerful authority ; in which communion the faithful of
the whole world have preserved the tradition that was deliv
ered by the apostles. When, therefore, you know the faith
of this Church, you have also learned the faith of the others."
(Contr. Haeret. iii, 3, n. 2.) " Whoever," says St. Jerome,
" is not in communion with the Church of Rome, is outside
the Church." (Adv. Jovian., lib. i, n. 26.)
The One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church,
224 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
then, unites all the distinguishing marks of her divine
institution and mission. Nowhere do these distinctive
marks of the Church of Christ appear with more lustre
than in those holy assemblies, called General Councils.
The Church's unity appears most strikingly in the union
of all the members to the same supreme head who con
voked the councilr presides over it, confirms and Executes
its decrees. The sanctity of the Church is clearly seen
in her condemnation of errors, and extirpation of abuses.
The catholicity of the Church is seen in the convocation
of the pastors of the whole Christian world ; and the aposto-
licity of the Church is manifest in the assembly of all the
bishops, the successors of the apostles, who are convoked,
heard, and called to judge in matters of faith and morals,
to regulate discipline, to acknowledge the authority of
tradition, to confirm the doctrine of the apostles, and,
after their return to their respective dioceses, to com
municate to their diocesans " what hath seemed good to
the Holy Ghost and to them ;" at which the hearts of all the
faithful in the world are filled with consolation and joy,
and deep gratitude toward Jesus Christ, who continues
to speak to them through blessed Peter and the (ither
apostles, in their lawful successors, the bishops of the
One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church.
11. Can Protestant sects claim to be One, Holy, Catholic
and Apostolic ?
By no means ; 1. Because they have no infallible head
and teacher, and every Protestant believes tvhat he chooses
to believe. 2. Because the founders of the sects u;ere all
wicked men, who taught impious doctrines. 3. Because they
sprang up only long after Christ had founded his Church.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, with the
THE APOSTLES7 CREED. 225
exception of the Greek schismatics, a few Lollards in
England, some Wa-ldenses in Piedmont, scattered Albi-
genses or Manicheans, and a few followers of Huss and
Zisca among the Bohemians, all Europe was Roman Cath
olic. England, Scotland, Ireland. Spain, Portugal, France,
Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Holland,
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, — every civilized nation
was in the unity of the Catholic faith* Many of these
nations were at the height of their power and prosperity.
Portugal was pushing her discoveries beyond the Cape of
Good Hope, and forming Catholic settlements in the East
Indies. Christopher Columbus, a Roman Catholic, had
discovered America, under the patronage of the Catholic
Isabella of Spain. England was in a state of great pros
perity. Her two Catholic Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge contained, at one time, more than fifty
thousand students. The country was covered with noble
churches, abbeys, and monasteries, and with hospitals,
where the poor were fed, clothed, and instructed.
However, the progress of civilization tended to foster a
spirit of pride, and encourage the lust of novelties. The
prosperity of the Church led to luxury, and in many cases
to a relaxation of discipline. There were, as there always
have been, in every period of the Church, the days of
the apostles not excepted, bad men in the Church. The
wheat and tares grow together until the harvest. The
net of the Church encloses good and bad. The writings
of Wickliffe, Huss, and their followers, had unsettled the
minds of many. Princes were restive under the check
held by the Church upon their rapacity and lusts. A
Henry VIII, for example, wanted to divorce a wife to
whom he had been married twenty years, that he might
226 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
marry a young and pretty one. He could not do this, so
long as he acknowledged the spiritual supremacy of the
pope. Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, wanted two wives.
No pope would give him a dispensation to marry and live
with two women at once. Then there were multitudes of
wicked and avaricious nobles, who wanted but an excuse
to plunder the churches, abbeys, and monasteries, whose
property was held in trust for the education of the people,
and the care of the poor, aged, and sick, all over Europe.
Then there were priests and monks eager to embrace a
relaxed discipline j and many people who, incited by the
cry of liberty, were ready to rush into license, and make
war upon every principle of religion and social order, as
soon as circumstances would favor the outbreak of this
rebel spirit in individuals and masses. Now when God,
says St. Gregory, sees in the Church many revelling in
their vices, and, as St. Paul observes, believing in God,
confessing the truth of his mysteries, but belying their
faith by their works, he punishes them by permitting that,
after having lost grace, they also lose the holy kn6wledge
which they had of his mysteries, and that, without any
other persecution than that of their vices, they deny the
faith. It is of these David speaks, when he says : " De
stroy Jerusalem to its foundations " (Ps. cxxxvi, 7) ; leave
not a stone upon a stone. When the wicked spirits have
ruined in a soul the edifice of virtue, they sap its foundation,
which is faith. St. Cyprian, therefore, said : " Let no
one think that virtuous men and good Christians ever
leave the Wsom of the Church j it is not the wheat that
the winds lift, but the chaff ; trees deeply rooted are not
blown down by the breeze, but those which have no roots.
It is rotten fruits that fall off the trees, not sound ones ; bad
THE APOSTLES CREED. 227
Catholics become heretics, as sickness is engendered by
bad humors. At first, faith languishes in them, because of
their vices ; then it becomes sick j next it dies, because
since sin is essentially a blindness of spirit, the more a
man sins, the more he is blinded ; his faith grows weaker
and weaker ; the light of this divine torch decreases, and
soon the least wind of temptation or doubt suffices to
extinguish it." Witness the great defection from faith in
the sixteenth century, when God permitted heresies to
arise, in order to exercise his justice against those who
were ready to abandon the truth, and his mercy toward
those who remained attached to it 5 to prove, by trials,
those who were firm in the faith, and to .separate them
from those who loved error ; to exercise ,the patience and
charity of the Church, and to sanctify the el6ct; to give
occasion for the illustration of religious truth and the holy
Scripture ; to make pastors more vigilant, and value more
the sacred deposit of faith j in fine, to render the authority
of tradition more clear and incontestable. Heresy arose
in all its strength j Martin Luther was its ringleader and
its spokesman.
Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar, a bold man and a
vehement declaimer, having imbibed erroneous sentiments
from the heretical writings of John Huss of Bohemia, took
occasion, from the publication of indulgences promulgated
by Pope Leo X, to break with the Catholic Church, and
to propagate his new errors, in 1517, at Wirtemberg, in
Saxony. He first inveighed against the abuse of indul
gences ; then he called in question their efficacy j and at last
totally rejected them. He declaimed against the supremacy
of the See of Rome, and condemned the whole Church,
pretending that Christ had abandoned it, and that it wanted
228 THE NINTH AETICLE OP
reforming, as well in faith as discipline. Thus this new
evangelist commenced that fatal defection from the ancient
faith, which was styled u Reformation." The new doctrines,
being calculated to gratify the vicious inclinations of the
human heart, spread with the rapidity of an inundation.
Frederick, Elector of Saxony, John Frederick, his suc
cessor, and Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, became Ltither's
disciples. Gustavus Ericus, King of Sweden, and Christian
III, King of Denmark, also declared in favor of Lut-her-
anism. It secured a footing in Hungary. Poland, after
tasting a great variety of doctrines, left to every individual
the liberty of choosing for himself. Muncer, a disciple of
Luther, set up for doctor himself, and, with Nicholas Stark,
gave birth to the §ect of Anabaptists, which was propagated
in Suabia, and other provinces of Germany, in the Low
Countries. Calvin, a man of bold, obstinate spirit, and
indefatigable in his labors, in imitation of Luther, turned
Reformer also. He contrived to have his new tenets received
at Geneva, in 1541. After his death, Beza preached the
same doctrine. It insinuated itself into some parts of
Germany, Hungary, and Bohemia, and became the religion
of Holland. It was imported by John Knox, an apostate
priest, into Scotland, where, under the name of Presby-
terianism, it took deep root, and spread over the kingdom.
But, among the deluded nations, none drank more deeply
of the cup of error than England. For many centuries
this country had been conspicuous in the Christian world
for the orthodoxy of its belief, as also for the number of its
saints. But by a misfortune never to be sufficiently
lamented, and by unfathomable judgment from above, its
Church shared a fate which seemed the least to threaten
it. The lust and avarice of one despotic sovereign threw
CREED. 229
down the fair edifice, and tore it off from the rock on
which it had hitherto stood. Henry VIII, at first a
valiant asserter of the Catholic faith against Luther, giv
ing way to the violent passions which he had not sufficient
courage to curb, renounced the supreme jurisdiction which
the pope had always held in the Church, presumed to arro
gate to himself that power in his own dominions, and thus
gave a deadly blow to religion. He then forced his subjects
into the same fatal defection. Once introduced, it soon
overspread the land. Being, from its nature, limited by
no fixed principle, it has since taken a hundred differ
ent shapes, under different names, such as : the Calvinists,
Arminians, Antinomians, Independents, Kilhamites, Glass-
ites, Haldanites, Bereans, Swedenborgians, New-Jeru-
salemites, Orthodox Quakers, Hicksites, Shakers, Panters,
Seekers, Jumpers, Reformed Methodists, German Metho
dists, Albright Methodists, Episcopal Methodists, Wesleyan
Methodists, Methodists North, Methodists South, Protestant
Methodists, Episcopalians, High Church Episcopalians,
Low Church Episcopalians, Ritualists, Puseyites, Dutch
Reformed, Dutch non-Reformed, Christian Israelites,
Baptists, Particular Baptists, Seventh-day Baptists, Hard
shell Baptists, Softshell Baptists, Forty Gallon Baptists,
Sixty Gallon Baptists, African Baptists, Free-will Baptists,
Church of God Baptists, Regular Baptists, Anti-mission
Baptists, Six Principle Baptists, River Brethren, Wine-
bremarians, Menonites, Second Adventists, Millerites,
Christian Baptists, Universalists, Orthodox Congrega-
tionalists, Campbellites, Presbyterians, Old School and
New School Presbyterians, Cumberland Presbyterians,
United Presbyterians, The Only True Church of Christ,
573 Bowery, N. Y.? up stairs, 5th story, Latter-day Saints,
230 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
Restorationists, Schwentfelders, Spiritualists, Mormons,
Christian Perfectionists, etc., etc., etc. All these sects
called Protestants, because they all unite in protesting are
against their mother, the Roman Catholic Church. .
Some time after, when the reforming spirit had reached
its full growth, Dudithius, a learned Protestant divine, in
his epistle to Beza, wrote : " What sort of people are our
Protestants, straggling to and fro, and carried about by
every wind of doctrine, sometimes to this side, sometimes
to that ? You may, perhaps, know what their sentiments
in matters of religion are to-day, but you can never tell
precisely what they will be to-morrow. In what article
of religion do these churches agree which have cast off
the Bishop of Rome? Examine all from top to bottom,
and you will scarce find one thing affirmed by one, which
was not immediately condemned by another for wicked
doctrine." The same confusion of opinions was described
by an English Protestant, the learned Dr. Walton, about
the middle of the last century, in his preface to his Polyglot,
where he says : " Aristarchus heretofore could scarce find
seven wise men in Greece ; but with us, scarce are to be
found so many idiots. For all are doctors, all are divinely
learned ; there is not so much as the meanest fanatic who
does not give you his own dreams for the word of God.
The bottomless pit seems to have been opened, from
whence a smoke has arisen which has darkened the
heaven and the stars, and locusts have come out with
stings, a numerous race of sectaries and heretics, who have
renewed all the ancient heresies, and invented many mon
strous opinions of their own. These have filled our cities,
villages, camps, houses, nay, our pulpits, too, and lead the
poor deluded people with them to the pit of perdition."
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 231
" Yes," writes another author, " every ten years, or nearly
so, the Protestant theological literature undergoes a com
plete revolution. What was admired during the one
decennial period is rejected in the next,- and the image
which they adored is burnt, to make way for new divin
ities j the dogmas which were held in honor, fall into dis
credit ; the classical treatise of morality is banished among
the old books out of date j criticism overturns criticism ;
the commentary of yesterday ridicules that of the previous
day, and what was clearly proved in 1840, is not less
clearly disproved in 1850. The theological systems of
Protestantism are as numerous as the political constitutions
of France — one revolution only awaits another." (Le
Semeur, June, 1850.) It is indeed utterly impossible to
keep the various members of one single sect from per
petual disputes, even about the essential truths of revealed
religion. And those religious differences exist not only
in the same sect, not Only in the same country and town,
but even in the same family. Nay, the self-same individual,
at different periods of his life, is often in flagrant contra
diction with himself. To-day he avow opinions which
yesterday he abhorred, and to-morrow he will exchange
these again for new ones. At last, after belonging, succes
sively, to various new-fangled sects, he generally ends by
professing unmitigated contempt for them all. By their
continual disputes and bickerings, and dividing and sub
dividing, the various Protestant sects have made themselves
the scorn^of honest minds, the laughing-stock of the pagan
and the infidel.
These human sects, the "works of the flesh," as St.
Paul calls them, alter their shape, like clouds, but feel no
blow, says Mr. Marshall, because they have no substance.
232 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
They fight a good deal with one another, but nobody
minds it, not even themselves, nor cares what becomes of
them. If one human sect perishes, it is always easy to
make another, or half a dozen. They have the life of
worms, and propagate by corruption. Their life is so
like death that, except by the putridity which they exhale
in both stages, it is impossible to tell which is which,
and when they ^are buried, nobody can find their grave.
They have simply disappeared.
The spirit of Protestantism, or the spirit of revolt
against God and his Church, sprung up from the Reformers'
spirit of incontinency, obstinacy and covetousness. Luther,
in despite of the vow he had solemnly made to God of
keeping continency, married a nun, Equally bound as him
self to that sacred religious promise ; but, as St. Jerome
says, "it is rare to find a heretic that loves chastity."
Luther's example had indeed been anticipated by Carlo-
stadtius, a priest and ringleader of the Sacramentarians,
who had married a little before ; and it was followed by
most of the heads of the Reformation.
Zwihglius, a priest and chief of the sect that bore his
name, took a wife.
Bucer, a member of the order of St. Dominic, became
a Lutheran, left his cloister, and married a nun.
OEcolampadius, a Brigittin monk, became a Zwinglian,
and also married.
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, had also his wife.
Peter Martyr, a canon-regular, embraced the doctrine
of Calvin, but followed the example of Luther, and mar
ried a nun.
Ochin, General of the Capuchins, became a Lutheran,
and also married.
THE APOSTLES' CKEED. 233
Thus the principal leaders in the Reformation went
forth * preaching the new gospel, with two marks upon
them : apostasy from faith, and open violation of the most
sacred vows.
The passion of lust, as has been already said, hurried
also Henry VIII of England into a separation from the
Catholic Church, and ranked him among the Reformers.
Those wicked men could not be expected to teach a
holy doctrine j they preached up a hitherto unheard-of
11 evangelical liberty," as they styled it. They told
their fellow-men that they were no longer obliged to
subject their understanding to the mysteries of faith,
and to regulate their actions according to the laws of
Christian morality ; they told that every one was free to
model his belief and practice as it suited his inclinations.
In pursuance of this accommodating doctrine, they dissected
the Catholic faith till they reduced it to a mere skeleton ;
they lopped off the reality of the body and blood of Christ,
in the Holy Eucharist, the divine Christian sacrifice offered
in the Mass, confession of sins, most of the sacraments,
penitential exercises, several of the canonical books of
Scripture, the invocation of saints, celibacy, most of the
General Councils of the Church, and all present Church
authority j they perverted the nature of justification,
asserting that faith alone suffices to justify man ; they
made God the author of sin, and maintained the observance
of the commandments to be impossible.
As a few specimens of Luther's doctrine, take the fol
lowing : " God's commandments are all equally impos
sible." (De Lib. Christ., t. ii, fol. 4.) " No sins can
damn a man, but only unbelief." (De Captio. Bab., t. ii,
fol. 171.) " God is just, though by his own will he lays
234 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
us under the necessity of being damned, and though he
damns those who have not deserved it." (Tom. ii, foil. 434,
436.) u God works in us both good and evil." (Toni. ii,
fol. 444.) " Christ's body is in every place, no less
than the divinity itself." (Tom. iv, fol. 37.) Then for his
darling principle of justification by faith, in his eleventh
article against Pope Leo, he says : " Believe strongly that
you are absolved, and absolved you will be, whether you
have contrition or no."
Again, in his sixth article : " The contrition which is
acquired by examining, recollecting, and detesting one's
sins, whereby a man calls to mind his life past, in the bit
terness of his soul, reflecting on the heinousness and mul
titude of his offences, the loss of eternal bliss, and
condemnation to eternal woe, — this contrition, I say, makes
a man a hypocrite, nay, even a greater sinner than he was
before."
Thus, after the most immoral life, a man has a compen
dious method of saving himself, by simply believing that
his sins are remitted through the merits of Christ.
As Luther foresaw the scandal that would arise from his
own and such like sacrilegious marriages, he prepared
the world for it, by writing against the celibacy of
the clergy and all religious vows j and all the way up,
since his time, he has had imitators. He proclaimed that
all such vows u were contrary to faith, to the command
ments of God, and to evangelical liberty." (De Votis
Monast.) He said again : " God disapproves of such a
vow of living in continency, equally as if I should vow
to become the mother of God, or to create a new world."
(Epist. ad Wolfgang Reisemb.) And again: " To attempt
to live unmarried, is plainly to fight against God."
CREED. 235
Now, when men give a loose rein to the depravity of
nature, what wonder if the most scandalous practices
ensue f Accordingly, a striking instance of this kind
appeared in the license granted in 1539 to Philip, Land
grave of Hesse, to have two wives at once, which license
was signed by Luther, Melanchthon, Bucer, and five Other
Protestant divines.
On the Other hand, a wide door was laid open to another
species of scandal : the doctrine of the Reformation
admitted divorces in the marriage state in certain cases,
contrary to the doctrine of the Gospel, and even allowed
the parties thus separated to marry other wives and
other husbands.
To enumerate the errors of all the Reformers would
exceed the limits of this work. I shall therefore only
add the principal heads of the doctrine of Calvin and the
Calvinists : 1, that baptism is not necessary for salvation ;
2, good works are not necessary j 3, man has no free
will ; 4, Adam could not avoid his fall 5 5, a great part of
mankind are created to be damned, independently of their
demerits : 6, man is justified by faith alone, and that
justification, once obtained, cannot be lost, even by the
most atrocious crimes j 7, the true faithful are also infal
libly certain of their salvation ; 8, the Eucharist is no
more than a figure of the body and blood of Christ.
Thus was the whole system of faith and morality over
turned. Tradition they totally abolished ; and, though they
could not reject the whole of the Scripture, as being
universally acknowledged to be the word of God, they
had, however, the presumption to expunge some books of
it that did not coincide with their own opinions, and the
rest they assumed a right to explain as they saw fit.
236 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
To pious souls, they promised a return 'to the fervor -of
primitive Christianity ; to the proud, the liberty of private
judgment ; to the enemies of the clergy, they promised the
division of their spoils ; to priests and monks who were
tired of the yoke of continence, the abolition of a law
which they said was contrary to nature j to libertines of
all classes, the suppression of fasting, abstinence, and con
fession. They said to kings who wished to place them
selves at the head of the Church as well as the State,
that they would be freed from the spiritual authority
of the Church ; to nobles, that they would ,seer a- rival
order humbled and impoverished ; to the middle classes,
and the vassals of the Church, that they would be em^n^
cipated from all dues and forced services.
Several princes of Germany and of the Swiss cantons
supported by arms the preachers of the new doctrines.
Henry VIII imposed his doctrine on his subjects. The
King of Sweden drew his people into apostasy. The
Court of Navarre welcomed the Calvinists ; the Court of
France secretly favored them.
At length Pope Paul III convoked a General Council
at Trent, in 1545, to which the heresiarchs had appealed.
Not only all the Catholic bishops, but also all Christian
princes, even Protestants, were invited to come.
But now the spirit of pride and obstinacy became most
apparent. Henry VIII replied to the pope that he
would never intrust the work of reforming religion in
his kingdom to any one except to himself. The apostate
princes of Germany told the papal legate that they recog
nized only the emperor as their sovereign ; the Viceroy of
Naples allowed but four bishops to go to the council ; the
King of France sent only three prelates, whom he soon
CREED. 237
after recalled. Charles V created difficulties, and put
obstacles in the way. Gustavus Vasa allowed no one to
go to the council. The heresiarchs also refused to appear.
The council, however, was held, in spite of these difficul
ties. It la'sted over eighteen years, because it was often
interrupted by the plague, by war, and by the deaths of
those who -had to preside over it. The doctrines of the
innovators were examined and condemned by the council,
at the last session of which there were more than three
hundred bishops present j among whom were nine cardi
nals, -three patriarchs, thirty-three archbishops, not to
, mention sixteen abbots or generals of religious orders,
.and one hundred and forty-eight theologians. All the
decrees published from the commencement were read
over, and * were again approved and subscribed by the
Fathers. Accordingly, Pius IV, in a consistory held on
the 26th of January, 1564, approved and confirmed the
council in. a book which was signed by all the cardinals.
He drew up, the same year, a profession of faith conform
able in all respects with the definitions of the council, in
which it is declared that its authority is accepted j and
since that time, not only all bishops of the Catholic
Church, but all priests who are called to teach the way
of salvation even to children, nay, all non-Catholics, on
abjuring their errors, and returning to the bosom of the
Church, have sworn that they had no other faith than that
of this holy council.
The new heresiarchs, however, continued to obscure
and disfigure the face of religion. As to Luther's senti
ments in regard to the pope, bishops, councils, etc.,
he says, in the preface to his book, u De Abroganda
Missa Privata :" " With how many powerful remedies and
238 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
most evident Scriptures have I scarce been able to fortify
my conscience so as to dare alone to contradict the pope,
and to believe him to be Antichrist, the bishops his apostles,
and the universities his brothel-houses ; " and in his book,
" De Judicio Ecdesice de Gram Doctrina" he says : " Christ
takes from the bishops, doctors and councils, both the right
and power of judging controversies, and gives them to all
Christians in general."
His censure on the Council of Constance, and those that
compose it, is as follows : " All John Huss's articles were
condemned at Constance by Antichrist and his apostles "
(meaning the pope and bishops), u in that synod of Satan,
made up of most wicked sophisters ; and you, most holy
Vicar of Christ, I tell you plainly to your face, that all
John Huss's condemned doctrines are evangelical and
Christian, but all yours are impious and diabolical. I
now declare," says he, speaking to the bishops, u that for
the future I will not vouchsafe you so much ho'nor as to
submit myself or doctrine to your judgment, or to that of
an angel from heaven." (Preface to his book, " Adversus
falso nominatum ordinem Episcoporum.") Such was his
spirit of pride that he made open profession of contempt for
the authority of the Church, councils, and Fathers, saying :
" All those who will venture their lives, their estates, their
honor, and their blood, in so Christian a work as to root
out all bishoprics and bishops, who are the ministers of
Satan, and to pluck by the roots all their authority and
jurisdiction in the world, — these persons are the true chil
dren of God, and obey his commandments." (u Contra Sta-
tum Ecdesice et falso nominatum ordinem Episcoporum.")
This spirit of pride and of obstinacy is also most appar
ent from the fact that Protestantism has never been ashamed
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 239
to make use of any arguments, though ever so frivolous,
inconsistent, or absurd, to defend its errors, and to slander
and misrepresent the Catholic religion in every way
possible. It shows itself again in the wars which Protes
tantism has waged to introduce and maintain itself. The
apostate princes of Germany entered into a league, offen
sive and defensive, against the Emperor Charles V, and
rose up in arms to establish Protestantism.
Luther had preached licentiousness, and reviled the
emperor, the princes, and the bishops. The peasants lost
no time in freeing themselves from their masters. They
overran the country in lawless bands, burnt down castles
and monasteries, and committed the most barbarous cruel
ties against the nobility and clergy. Germany became
at last the scene of desolation and most cruel atrocities
during the Thirty Years7 War (1618-1648). More than
one hundred thousand men fell in battle, seven cities
were dismantled, one thousand religious houses were razed
to the ground j three hundred churches, and immense
treasures of statuary, paintings, books, etc., were destroyed.
But what is more apparent and better known than the
spirit of covetousness of Protestantism ? Wherever Protes
tantism secured a footing, it pillaged churches, seized
Church property, destroyed monasteries and appropriated
to itself their revenues.
In France, the Calvinists destroyed twenty thousand
Catholic churches j they murdered, in Dauphiny alone,
two hundred and fifty-five priests, one hundred and twelve
monks, and burned nine hundred towns and villages. In
Kngland, Henry VIII confiscated to the crown, or dis
tributed among his favorites, the property of six hun
dred and forty-five monasteries and ninety colleges, one
240 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
hundred and ten hospitals, and two thousand three hun
dred and seventy-four free-chapels and chantries.
They even dared to profane, with sacrilegious hands,
the remains of the martyrs and co'nfessors of God. In
ma'ny places they forcibly took up the saints' bo'dies
from the repositories where they were kept, burned them,
and scattered their ashes abroad. What more atrocious
indignity can be conceived ? Are parricides or the most
flagitious men ever worse treated ? Among 6ther instances,
in 1562, the Calvinists broke open the shrine of St.
Francis of Paula, at Plessis-Lestours ; and finding his body
uncorrupted fifty-five years after his death, they dragged
it about the streets, and burned it in a fire which they
had made with the wood of a large crucifix, as Billet and
other historians relate.
Thus at Lyons, in the same year, the Calvinists seized
upon the shrine of St. Bonaventure, stripped it of its
riches, burned the saint's relics in the market-place, and
threw his ashes into the river Saone, as is related by the
learned Possevinus, who was in Lyons at the time.
The bodies, also, of St. Irenseus, St. Hilary, and St.
Martin, as Surius asserts, were treated in the same
ignominious manner. Such, also, was the treatment offered
to the remains of St. Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury,
whose rich shrine, according to the words of Stowe, in
his Annals, " was taken to the king's use, and the bones
of St. Thomas, by the command of Lord Cromwell, were
burnt to ashes in September, 1538.
The Catholic religion has covered the world with its
superb monuments. Protestantism has now lasted three
hundred years ; it was powerful in England, in Germany,
in America. What has it raised ? It will show us the
THE APOSTLES7 CREED. 241
ruins which it has made, amidst which it has planted
some gardens, or established some factories. The Cath
olic religion is essentially a creative power, built up, not to
destroy, because it is under the immediate influence of
that Holy Spirit which the Church invokes as the creative
Spirit, " Creator Spiritus." The Protestant, or modern ^
philosophical spirit, is a principle of destruction, of per
petual decomposition and disunion. Under the dominion
of English Protestant power, for four hundred years,
Ireland was rapidly becoming as naked and void of
ancient memorials as the wilds of Africa.
The Reformers themselves were so ashamed of the
progress of immorality among their proselytes, that they
could not help complaining against it. Thus spoke Luther :
" Men are now more revengeful, covetous, and licentious,
than they were ever in the Papacy." (Postil. super Evang.
Dom. i, Advent.) Then again : "Heretofore, when we were
seduced by the pope, every man willingly performed good
works, but now no man says or knows anything else than
how to get all to himself by exactions, pillage, theft, lying,
usury." (Postil. super Evang. Dom. xxvi, p. Trinit.)
Calvin wrote in the same strain : " Of so many thou
sands," said he, " who, renouncing Popery, seemed eagerly
to embrace the Gospel, how few have amended their lives !
Nay, what else did the greater part pretend to, than, by
shaking off the yoke of superstition, to give themselves
more liberty to follow all kinds of licentiousness ? " (" Liber
de Scandalis") Dr. Heylin, in his History of the Refor
mation, complains also of " the great increase, of vicious-
ness " in England, in the reforming reign of Edward VI.
Erasmus says : " Take a view of this evangelical
people, the Protestants. Perhaps 'tis my misfortune, but
242 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
I never yet met with one who does not appear changed
for the worse." (Epist. ad Vultur. Neoc.) And again :
" Some persons/7 says he, a whom I knew formerly
innocent, harmless, and without deceit, no sooner have I
seen them joined to that sect (the Protestants), than they
began to talk of wenches, to play at dice, to leave off
prayers, being grown extremely worldly, most impatient,
revengeful, vain, like vipers, tearing one another. I speak
by experience." (" Ep. ad Fratres Infer. Germanise"
M. Scherer, the principal of a Protestant school in
France, wrote, in 1844, that he beholds in his reformed
church uthe ruin of all truth, the weakness of infinite
division, the scattering of flocks, ecclesiastical anarchy,
Socinianism ashamed of itself, Rationalism coated like a
pill, without doctrine, without consistency. This Church,
deprived alike of i^s corporate and its dogmatic character,
of its form and of its doctrine, deprived of all that con
stituted it a Christian church, has in truth ceased to exist
in the ranks of religious communities. Its name continues,
but it represents only a corpse, a phantom, or, if you
will, a memory or a hope. For want of dogmatic
authority, unbelief has made its way into three-fourths of
our pupils." (a IJEtat Actualde TEglise Eeform6e en France,
1844.)
Such has been Protestantism from the beginning. It is
written in blood and fire upon the pages of history.
Whether it takes the form of Lutheranism in Germany,
Denmark, and Sweden • Anglicanism in Great Britain, or
Calvinism and Presbyterianism in Switzerland, France,
Holland, Scotland, and America, — it has been everywhere
the same. It has risen by tumult and violence j propa
gated itself by force and persecution 5 enriched itself by
CREED. 243
plunder, and has never ceased, by o'pen force, persecuting
laws or slander, its attempt to exterminate the Catholic
faith, and destroy the Church of Christ, which the fathers
of Protestantism left from the spirit of lust, pride, and
covetousness, — a spirit which induced so many of their
countrymen to follow their wicked example j a spirit, on
account of which they would have been lost anyhow, even
if they had not left their mother, the One Holy Eoman
Catholic and Apostolic Church. Having seen the total
absence of unity in Protestantism, total absence of holi
ness in its authors and their principles, total absence of
catholicity ) for want of truth, which alone can rule and
enforce obedience everywhere throughout the world j and
total absence of apostolicity , because it arose only three
hundred years, ago, — and no honest man will say that the
apostles were Protestants, — it is easy to answer the
question :
12. If, then, only the Roman Church is one, holy, Cath
olic and Apostolic, what follows I
It follows that the Eoman Catholic Church alone is the
one true Church of Christ.
There are men foolish enough to talk of Protestantism
as if it were a name for some religious faith, system, or
organization ! They even speak of the Protestant religion,
or the Protestant Church ! There is nothing of the kind.
There is, and there can be, but one true religion. The
word " religion," says St. Augustine, is derived from the
Latin word re-eligendo (to reelect), because, after having
lost our Lord by sin, we ought to reelect, or choose him
again, as our true and only Lord and sovereign Master.
But, according to the same saint, the word a religion w is
derived from reiigando (to reunite), because, it reunites
244 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
man with God, with whom he was primitively united,
but from whom he voluntarily separated by sin. Hence,
according to St. Thomas Aquinas, religion is a virtue
which teaches us to live in union with God. Now, to live
in union with God is to keep our will united to his ; in
other words, it is to do the will of God. Religion, there
fore, is the knowing and doing of God's will. He alone
who knows and does the will of God has religion — is a
truly religious man. Hence religion has always been one
and the same : 1, in its Author, who is God, who taught
man his will, either in person or through those to whom he
made his will known ; 2, in its doctrine.
As God has always taught man the same truths con
cerning himself, man, the world, morality, divine worship,
grace, the object of religion, and the means to preserve and
spread it, it is clear that religion must always have been
one and the same from the beginning of the world.
As to himseif, God has always taught, from the begin
ning of the world, that he alone is the only one God,
infinitely perfect, the Creator and Redeemer of all things ;
that the Redeemer would save the world, and that we
would be sanctified by his Spirit. These truths, however,
are more fully known to Christians than they were to
the Jews.
Concerning man, God has always taught that he created
him to his likeness, being composed of a body, and a soul
which is spiritual, free, and immortal ; that man fell through
his own fault ; that all men are born in a state of sin and
degradation ; that they will all rise at the last day, and that
tliere will be eternal rewards for the just, and eternal punish
ments for the wicked.
With regard to the world, God has always taught that
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 245
he created it out of nothing j that, by his infinite power
and wisdom, he governed and preserved it j that he will
purify it by fire, and that there will be a new heaven and
a new earth.
As to morality, God has always taught the same laws,
the same distinction between good and e>il ; always com
mended the same virtues, and condemned the same vices.
As to his worship, God has always taught the same two
essential acts of worship, viz. : prayer and sacrifice.
As to grace, God has always taught that it was neces
sary for every man to be saved j that he would give it, on
account of the Redeemer, to all those who would use those
means through which he wished to bestow it.
As to the object of religion, God has always taught that
it was to destroy sin, and to lead men to true happiness.
As to the means of preserving and spreading it, God
has always used the same means, choosing certain men,
and investing them with his own authority, to teach his
religion authoritatively, and with divine certainty. So
that to hear and believe the infrMible teachers chosen and
sent by God, is to hear and to believe God himself. Such
infallible teachers were, as we have seen, the patriarchs
and Moses and the prophets, before the coming of the
Redeemer ; and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and his
teaching Church, — St. Peter and the other apostles, and
their lawful successors, in the New Law. As religion has
always been one and the same from the beginning of the
world, because the same God has always taught one and
the same religion, in like manner the teaching authority
has always been the same, which is God's own infallible
authority, invested in those of whom he said : " He who
heareth you heareth me." There has, therefore, always
246 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
been but one and the same religion, but one and the samo
Church. As man, by passing through the different stages
of life, does not cease to be the same man, so religion has
never ceased to be the same, though it has not at all times
been taught as fully as it is at the present day ; and the
Christian religion, as taught by Christ in the Roman
Catholic Church, is far more perfect, and is far richer in
graces, than it was before the coming of the Redeemer.
It is, therefore, quite absurd to speak of Protestantism
as of a religion or church j the truth is one, errors are
many ; the Church, the pillar and ground of truth, is one j
sects are many that deny the truth an,d the Church's in
fallible authority to teach truth. Every sensible man,
then, seeing a class of men drawn into a whirlpool of end
less religious variations and dissensions, is forced to say :
" This is only an ephemeral sect, without substance and
without any divine authority j it is a plant not planted by
the hand of Almighty God, and therefore it will be rooted
up j it is a kingdom divided against itself, and therefore it
will be made desolate ; it is a house built on sand, and there
fore it cannot stand j it is a cloud without water, which is
carried about by the winds j a tree of autumn, unfruitful,
twice dead, by the want of faith and morality, and there
fore it will be plucked up by the roots ; a raging wave of
the sea, foaming out its own confusion j a wandering
star, to which the storm and darkness are reserved for
ever j a withered branch, cut off from the body of Christ,
the One Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church,
which alone is established by Christ on earth as his i pillar
and ground of truth/ in one fold, watched over by his one
chief shepherd, ever immovable amid the storms of hell ;
with unshaken faith, amid the variations of philosophical
247
systems, the infernal persecutions of the wicked, the revolu
tions of empires, the attacks of interest, of prejudice, of
passion, the dissolving labors of criticism, the progress of
physical, historical, and other sciences, the unrestrained
love of novelty, the abuses which sooner or later under
mine the most firmly-established human institutions. The
faith of this Church alone is divine, because she alone
teaches with divine authority."
This is clear to every unprejudiced and well-reflecting
mind. Mr. T. W. M. Marshall relates the following, in
one of his lectures :
"A young English lady, with whom I became subse
quently acquainted, and from whose lips I heard the tale,
informed her parents that she felt constrained to embrace
the Catholic faith. Hereupon arose much agitation in the
parental councils, and a reluctant promise was extorted
from the daughter that she would not communicate with
any Catholic priest till she had first listened to the convinc
ing arguments with which certain clerical friends of the
family would easily dissipate her unreasonable doubts.
These ministers were three in number^ and we will call
them Messrs. A, B and C. The appointed day arrived
for the solemn discussion, which one of the ministers was
about to commence, when the young lady opened it
abruptly with the following remark : f I am too young and
uninstructed to dispute with gentlemen of your age and
experience, but perhaps you will allow me to ask you a
few questions V Anticipating an easy triumph over the
poor girl, the three ministers acceded with encouraging
smiles to her request. ' Then I will ask you/ she said
to Mr. A, l whether regeneration always accompanies
the sacrament of baptism V 6 Undoubtedly/ was the
248 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
•
prompt reply 5 * that is the plain doctrine of our Church.'
6 And you, Mr. B/ she continued, — l do you teach that
doctrine T i Grod forbid, my young friend/ was his
indignant answer, ' that I should teach such soul-destroy
ing error ! Baptism is a formal rite, which/ etc., etc.
6 And you, Mr. C/ she asked the third, l what is your
opinion T ( I regret,' he replied with a bland voice, for
he began to suspect they were making a mess of it, * that
my reverend friends should have expressed themselves a
little incautiously. The true doctrine lies between these
extremes ' — and he was going to develop it, when the
young lady, rising from her chair, said : i I thank you,
gentlemen; you have taught me all that I expected to
learn from you. You are all ministers of the same church,
yet you each contradict the other, even upon a do'ctrine
which St. Paul calls one of the foundations of Christianity.
You have only confirmed me in my resolution to enter a
Church whose ministers all teach the same thing.' And
then they went out of the room, one by one, and probably
continued their battle in the street. But the parents of
the young lady turned her out of doors the next day, to
get her bread as she could. They sometimes do that sort
of thing in England.
u Another friend of mine, also a lady, and one of the
most intelligent of her sex, was for several years the dis
ciple of the distinguished minister who has given a name
to a certain religious school in England. Becoming dis
affected toward the Episcopalian Church, which appeared
to her more redolent of earth, in proportion as she aspired
more ardently toward heaven, she was persuaded to
assist at a certain Ritualistic festival, which it was hoped
would have a soothing effect upon her mind. A new
CREED. 249
church was to be opened, and the ceremonies were to be
prolonged through an entire week. All the Ritualistic
celebrities of the day were expected to be present. Her
lodging was judiciously provided in a house in which were
five of the most transcendental members of the High
Church party. It was hoped that they would speedily
convince her of their apostolic unity, but, unfortunately,
they only succeeded in proving to her that no two of them
were of the same mind. One recommended her privately
to pray to the Blessed Virgin, which another condemned
as, at best, a poetical superstition. One told her that
the pope was, by divine appointment, the head of the
Universal Church ; another, that he was a usurper and
a schismatic. One maintained that the ' Reformers J
were profane scoundrels and apostates ; another, that
they had at all events good intentions. But I need not
trouble you with an account of their various creeds.
Painfully affected by this diversity, where she had been
taught to expect complete uniformity, her doubts were
naturally confirmed. During the week she was invited
to take a walk with the eminent person whom she had
hitherto regared as a trustworthy teacher. To him she
revealed her growing disquietude, and presumed to lament
the conflict of opinions which she had lately witnessed, but
only to be rewarded by a stern rebuke ; for it is a singular
fact that men who are prepared at any moment to judge
all the saints and doctors, will not tolerate any judgment
which reflects upon themselves. It was midwinter, and
the lady's companion, pointing to the leafless trees by the
roadside, said, with appropriate solemnity of voice and
manner : i They are stripped of their foliage now, but
wait for the spring, and you will see them once more wake
250 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
to life. So shall it be with the Church of England, which
now seems to you dead.' ' It may be so/ she replied j
1 but what sort of a spring can we expect after a winter
tvhich has lasted three hundred years T You will not be
surprised to hear that this lady soon after became a
member of a Church which knows nothing of winter, but
within whose peaceful borders reigns eternal spring."
And why do we see an eternal spring within the peaceful
borders of the Catholic Church I The reason is contained
in the answer to the question :
13. Is the faith of the Roman Catholic divine or human ?
The faith of the Roman Catholic is divine, for, to believe
the Catholic Church is to believe God himself.
The Roman Catholic Church is the heir to the rights of
Jesus Christ. She is the faithful depositary of the spiritual
treasures of Jesus Christ. She is the infallible teacher of
the doctrines of Jesus Christ. She wields the authority
of Jesus Christ. She lives by the life and spirit of Jesus
Christ. She enjoys the guidance and help of Jesus
Christ. She speaks, orders, commands, concedes, prohibits,
defines, looses and binds, in the name of Jesus Christ.
The Catholic believes in this divine authority of the
Church, and therefore believes and obeys her ; and in
believing and obeying her, he believes and obeys Almighty
God himself, who said to the apostles and their lawful suc
cessors in the Catholic Church : u He that heareth you
heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me."
(Luke x, 16). His faith, therefore, is divine, because
it is based on divine authority ; it gives peace to his soul,
and contentment to his heart j it is for him, as it were, a
perpetual spring of happiness and joy.
CREED. 251
14. Do Protestant sects teach divine faith on divine
authority?
No / the faith of Protestants is based upon human author
ity, becaiise their founders were not sent by God, nor did
they receive any mission from his Church.
The aim of Protestantism was to declare every man
independent of the divine authority of the Catholic Church,
and to substitute for this divine authority that of the
Bible, as interpreted by himself. Protestants, therefore,
hold that man is himself his own teacher and his own law
giver | that it is each one's business to find out his own
religion, that is to say, that every one must judge for himself
what doctrines are most consistent with reason and the holy
Scriptures; or that he must follow the teaching of the
clergyman whose views best commend themselves to his
judgment. He does not acknowledge that God has a
right to teach him j or, if he acknowledges this right, he
does not feel himself bound to believe all that God teaches
him through those whom God appointed to teach mankind.
He says to God : If thou teachest me, I reserve to my
self the right to examine thy words, to explain them as I
choose, and admit only what appears to me true, consistent,
and useful. Hence, St. Augustine says : " You who believe
what you please, and reject what you please, believe
yourselves or your own fancy, rather than the Gospel."
The faith of the Protestant, then, is based upon his pri
vate judgment alone ; it is human. As his judgment is
alterable, he naturally holds that his faith and doctrine is
alterable at will, and is therefore continually changing it.
Evidently, then, he does not hold it to be the truth j for
truth never changes. Nor does he hold it to be the law of
God, which he is bound to ob^y j for; if the law of God
252 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
be alterable at all, it can only be altered by God himself,
never by man, any body of men, or any creature of God.
But some Protestants, for instance, the Anglicans, think
that they approach very near to the Catholic Church,
They will tell you that their prayers and ceremonies are
like many prayers and ceremonies of the Catholic Church,
that their creed is the Apostles' Creed. But, in principle,
they are all equally far off. Thus they profess to believe
in one Church, which has, unfortunately, become half a
dozen ; in unity, which ceased to exist long ago, for want
of a centre ; in authority, which nobody needs obey,
because it has lost the power to teach j in God's presence
with the Church, which does not keep her from stupid
errors j in divine promises, which were only made to be
broken ; in a divine constitution, which needs to be
periodically reformed j in a mission to teach all nations,
while she is unable to teach even herself; in saints, to
whom Anglicans would be objects of horror and aversion ;
and in the sanctity of truths which their own sect has
always defiled, and which are profanely mocked at this
hour by its bishops, clergy, and people, all around them.
The world has had occasion to admire, in various ages,
many curious products of human imbecility, but at no time,
and among no people, has it seen anything which could be
matched with this. Compared with Anglicanism and its
myriad contradictions, the wildest phantom which ever
mocked the credulity of distempered fanaticism was a
form of truth and beauty, a model of exact reasoning and
logical symmetry.
Even an untutored Indian chief, by the aid of his rude
common-sense, and the mere intuition of natural truth, does
not fail to see the folly of Protestant belief, and confounds
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 253
/ / /
and ridicules it before those Protestant missionaries who
come to convert his tribe to Protestantism. Elder
Alexander Campbell, in a lecture before the American
Christian Missionary Association, relates the following :
" Sectarian missionaries had gone am6ng the Indians to
disseminate religious sentiments. A council was called,
and the missionaries explained the object of their visit.
'Is not all the religion of a white man in a book?' quoth
a chief. * Yes/ replied the missionaries. ' Do not all
white men read the book ? J continued the chief. Another
affirmative response. i Do they all agree upon what it
says ? 7 inquired the chief, categorically. There was a
dead silence for some moments. At last one of the mis
sionaries replied : i Not exactly ; they differ upon some
doctrinal points.' i Go home, white man/ said the chief,
1 call a council, and, when the white men all agree, then
come teach the red men \ J J
The absurdity of Protestantism being so easily perceived
by the rude child of the forest, Protestantism has never
been able to convert a heathen nation, although it has £very
human means in its power. It has a vast number of
ministers, plenty of ships to carry these ministers to every
country, boundless wealth, and great armies and navies to
terrify the heathen, also its merchants scattered through
every quarter of the globe ; with all this, Protestantism
has not converted a nation, nor even a city or tribe, of
heathens to Christianity, after three hundred years7 exist
ence. It has been ascertained that, during the last fifty
years, Protestantism, in Europe and America, has collected
and spent over one hundred and twenty-five millions of
dollars, for the purpose of converting the heathens. One
hundred millions of Bibles, Testaments, and tracts, have
254 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
been printed in various languages, and scattered throughout
the world for the same purpose. Five thousand mission
aries, with large salaries, varying from a hundred to five
hundred pounds each, and also an additional allowance for
their wives and families, are kept annually employed in
the work, and yet all to no purpose. No result whatever
can be shown.
During every month of May, the various sects of
Protestants hold their anniversary meetings in London and
New York. At these gatherings speeches are made and
reports read, in which the people are told of the wonder
ful conversions that are just going to take place ; of a
great door opened for the Gospel j of fields white for the
harvest j of bright anticipations j of missionaries who now
enjoy the confidence of the natives j of Pagans stretching,
or who are about to stretch, forth their hands to God
immediately ; of printing-presses which are in constant
operation ; of schools to be opened ; of sums spent in
Bibles 5 of Bibles, Testaments, and tracts distributed.
Every promise is made for the future, but nothing what
ever is shown for the past. The meetings are ended,
votes of thanks are given to the various chairmen,
prayers said, subscriptions received, and the huge delusion
lives on from year to year.
Some of the missionaries give up the work in despair,
others in disgust. Some run away from the first appear
ance of danger j others fly from persecution, b^ing terrified
at the very idea of martyrdom. One missionary comes
back to his native country, because of the sudden death
of his wife ; another, to bury his youngest daughter in
Ler mother's grave j another leaves the field of his
missionary labors, to console his dear mother on her
CREED. 255
death-bed ; another comes home to look after some small
property left him by his father, who recently died j one
comes home to preserve the life of a delicate child, who
did not seem to thrive in the place where he was stationed j
another left to attend to the education of his children,
whom he could not feel in his heart to rear up amongst
Pagans ; another comes home, because his wife has
quarrelled with the wives of some of the cither mission
aries 5 another, to be present at his eldest daughter's
marriage. Ma'ny Protestant missionaries give up the
work of saVing souls for more lucrative pursuits, such as,
good commercial or government situations, or to become
merchants on their own account j whilst a few, possessed
of sufficient ability, have become newspaper correspdnd-
ents ; and more than one, instead of converting the
Pagans, have themselves become converts to the Jewish
and Mahometan religions, having got rich wives of these
persuasions.
Protestant travellers and writers who have visited the
fields of Protestant missionary l^bor, have themselves
fiirnished the world with these details. They tell of a few
converts here and there, who relapse into paganism when
ever the missionaries withdraw. They tell us that the
missionaries become tyrants, and persecute the people
when they get the chance ; that they drive the natives into
the Protestant meeting-houses by force, and make them
more brtital, profligate, crafty, treacherous, impure, and
disgusting, than they were before. One writer states how
he found, in the Sandwich Islands, that the Protestant
missionaries had civilized the people into draught-horses,
and evangelized them into beasts of burden ; that they
were literally broken into the traces; and harnessed to the
256 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
vehicles of their spiritual instructors, like so many beasts
of burden. The poor natives are compelled to draw their
pastors, as well as their wives and daughters, to church,
to market, or for pleasure, and are whipped like horses.
The same writer says, the missionaries destroy heathenism,
and the heathens also j that they extirpate Paganism and
the people at the same time j that the natives are robbed
of their land, in the name of religion, and that disease,
vice, and premature death, make their appearance together
with Protestantism. The missionaries are dwelling in
picturesque and prettily furnished coral-rock villas, while
the miserable natives are committing all sorts of crime and
immorality around them. The depopulated land is recruited
from the rapacious hordes of enlightened individuals who
settle within its borders, and clamorously announce the pro
gress of the truth. Neat villas, trim gardens, shaven lawns,
spires, and cupolas arise, while the poor savage soon finds
himself an interloper in the country of his fathers, arid
that, too, on the very site of the hut where he was born.
When will Protestants learn wisdom from the rude child
of the forest ? When will they see the absurdity of their
teaching? It is strange how men will put their reason
in their pocket, and prefer darkness to light, error to truth,
folly to wisdom.
That man might know what to believe, Christ, who
alone could tell him, founded the Roman Catholic Church,
to be^ forever " the pillar and ground of truth." Whoever
declines to follow this guide, must live without any sure
guide. There is. no other, because God has given no
other. Hence Pius IX spoke lately of Protestantism, in all
its forms, as " revolt against God," it being an attempt
to substitute a human for a divine authority, and a
THE APOSTLES7 CREED. 257
declaration of the creature's independence of the Creator
The creed of the apostate has only one article. If God,
it proclaims, chose to found a church without consulting
man, it is quite open to man to abolish the church with
out consulting God.
A body which has lost the principle of its animation
becomes dust. Hence it is an axiom that the change or
perversion of the principles by which anything was pro
duced, is the destruction of that very thing : if you can
change or pervert the principles from which anything
springs, you destroy it. For instance, one single foreign
element introduced into the blood produces death j one
false assumption admitted into science destroys its cer
tainty ; one false principle admitted into faith and morals
is fatal. The Reformers started wrong. They would
reform the Church, by placing her under human control.
Their successors have, in each generation, found they did
not go far enough, and have, each in turn, struggled to
push it further and further, till they find themselves
withdut any church life, without faith, without religion,
and beginning to doubt if there be even a God.
It is a well-known fact that, before the Reformation,
infidels were scarcely known in the Christian world.
Since that event they have come forth in swarms. It is
from the writings of Herbert, Hobbes, Bloum, Shaftes-
bury, Bolingbroke, and Boyle, that Voltaire and his party
drew the objections and errors which they have brought
so generally into fashion in the world. According to
Diderot and d'Alembert, the first step that the untract-
able Catholic takes is to adopt the Protestant principle of
private judgment. He establishes himself judge of his
religion — leaves and joins the reform. Dissatisfied with
258 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
the incoherent doctrines he there discovers, he passe?
over to the Socinians, whose inconsequences soon drive
him into Deism. Still pursued by unexpected difficulties,
he finds refuge in universal doubt ; but still haunted by
uneasiness, he at length resolves to take the last step, and
proceeds to terminate the long chain of his errors in
infidelity. Let us not forget that the first link of ^this
chain is attached to the fundamental maxim of private
judgment. They judged of religion as they did of their
breakfast and dinner. A religion was good or bad, true
or false, just as it suited their tastes, their likings ; their
religious devotion varied like the weather j they must feel
it as they felt the heat and cold.
New fashions of belief sprang up, and changed, and
disappeared, as rapidly as the new fashions of dress.
Men judged not only of every revealed doctrine, but they
also judged of the Bible itself. Protestantism, having
no authority, could not check this headlong tendency to
unbelief. Its ministers dare no longer preach or teach
any doctrine which is displeasing to the people. Every
Protestant preacher who wishes to be heard, and to retain
his salary, must first feel the pulse of his hearers ; he must
make himself the slave of their opinions and likings.
It is, therefore, historically correct that the same prin
ciple that created Protestantism three centuries ago has
never ceased, since that time, to spin it out into a thousand
different sects, and has concluded by covering Europe and
America with that multitude of free-thinkers and infidels
who place these countries on the verge of ruin.
What is the spiritual life of Protestants ? They seem
to have lost all spiritual conceptions, and no longer to
possess any spiritual aspiration. Lacking, as they do, the
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 259
light, the warmth, arid the life-giving power of the sun
of the Catholic Church, they seem to have become, or to
be near becoming, what our world would be if there were
no sun in the heavens.
For this reason it is that Protestants are so completely
absorbed in temporal interests, in the things that fall under
their senses, that their whole life is only materialism put
in action. Lucre is the sole object on which their eyes
are constantly fixed. A burning thirst to realize some
profit, great or small, absorbs all their faculties, the whole
energy of their being. They never pursue anything with
ardor but riches and enjoyments. God, the soul, a future
life, — they believe in none of them ; or rather, they never
think about them at all. If they ever take up a moral or
a religious book, or go to a meeting-house, it is only by
way of amusement — to pass the time away. It is a less
serious occupation than smoking a pipe, or drinking a cup
of tea. If you speak to them about the foundations of
faith, of the principles of Christianity, of the importance
of salvation, the certainty of a life beyond the grave, — all
these truths which so powerfully impress a mind suscepti
ble of religious feeling, —they listen with a certain pleasure ;
for it amuses them, and piques their curiosity. In their
opinion all this is " true, fine, grand." They deplore the
blindness of men who attach themselves to the perish
able goods of this world ; perhaps they will even give
utterance to some fine sentences on the happiness of
knowing the true God, of serving him, and of meriting by
this means the reward of eternal life. They simply never
think of religion at all, they like very well to talk about
it, but it is as of a thing not made for them, — a thing with
which; personally, they have nothing to do. This indif-
260 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
ference they carry so far, — religious sensibility is so enti/ely
withered or dead within them, — that they care not a straw
whether a doctrine is true or false, good or bad. Religion
is to them simply a fashion, which those may follow who
have a taste for it. " By and by, all in good time," they
say ; " one should never be precipitate ; it is not good to be
too enthusiastic. No doubt the Catholic religion is beau
tiful and sublime ; its doctrine explains, with method and
clearness, all that is necessary for man to know. Whoever
has any sense will see that, and will adopt it in his heart
in all sincerity ; but after all, one must not think too much
of these things, and increase the cares of life. Now, just
consider we have a body : how many cares it demands !
It must be clothed, fed, and sheltered from the injuries of
the weather ; its infirmities are great, and its maladies are
numerous, It is agreed on all hands that health is our most
precious good. This body that we see, that we touch,
must be taken qare of every day, and every moment of the
day. Is not this enough, without troubling ourselves about
a soul that we never see ? The life of man is short arid
full of misery j it is made up of a succession of important
concerns, that follow one another without interruption.
Our hearts and our minds are scarcely sufficient for the
solicitudes of the present life : is it wise, then, to torment
one's self about the future ? Is it not far better to live in
blessed ignorance ? "
Ask them, what would you think of a traveller who, on
finding himself at a dilapidated inn, open to all the winds,
and deficient in the necessaries of life, should spend
all his time in trying how he could make himself most com
fortable in it, without ever thinking of preparing himself
for his departure, and his return into the bosom of hid
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 261
family ? Would this traveller be acting in a wise and
reasonable manner ? " No," they will reply ; " one must
not travel in that way. But man, nevertheless, must confine
himself within proper limits. How can he provide for two
lives at the same time 1 I take care of this life, and the
care of the other I leave to God. If a traveller ought not
regularly to take up his abode at an inn, neither ought he
to travel on two roads at the same time. When one wishes
to cross a river, it will not do to have two boats, and set a
foot in each : such a proceeding would involve the risk of
a tumble into the water, and drowning one's self.77 Such is
the deep abyss of religious indifferentism into which so
many Protestants of our day have fallen, and from which
they naturally fall into one deeper still : infidelity.
15. Will such human faith save them ?
No , for St. Paul says : u It is impossible to please God
without faith." (Heb. xi, 6.)
To be saved, we must do the will of God : " Not every
one that saith to me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven ; but he that doth the will of my
Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven." (Matt, vii, 21.) The will of God the Father
is that men hear and believe his Son, Jesus Christ :
" This is my well-beloved Son. Him you shall hear."
Now, Jesus Christ said to his apostles and their lawful
successors : a He that heareth you heareth me, and he that
despiseth you despiseth me 5 and he that despiseth me
despiseth him that sent me," — the heavenly Father. Now,
Protestants despise God the Father, because they do not
listen to his Son speaking to them through Peter and the
apostles, in their lawful successors. Turning, as they do,
tlieir back upon them most contemptuously, they follow
262 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
their own will in all religious matters. Assuredly no
Protestant would engage and pay a servant who would
tell him, " I will serve you according to my will, not
according to yours." How, then, could God the Failier
admit one into his kingdom who has always refused to do
his will, — who, instead of learning the will of God, the
full doctrine of Christ, through the Catholic Church, was
himself his own teacher, his own lawgiver, his own judge,
in religious matters? Every one who is not a Catholic
should remember that there never was a time, from the
beginning of the world, when God left men free to fashion
their own religion, to invent their own creed and their
own form of worship. Christ never designed that the
sacred truths of his religion should be submitted to the
people by the apostles and their successors for discussion,
for criticism, and for private interpretation, with liberty
to alter and amend, or reject them, as ignorance, prejudice,
or caprice might dictate. He never submitted his
doctrines to the opinions or criticisms of the Scribes,
Pharisees, or Sadducees of Jerusalem, or the learned
Pagan philosophers j he never sanctioned what is termed,
in modern times, " freedom of conscience " and " private
interpretation;" on the contrary, from the beginning of
the world, God established on earth a visible teaching
authority, to which it was the bounden duty of every
man to submit, if he would be saved. If one, then, who
is not a Catholic, seriously considers the question, " Is it
God that speaks through the Catholic Church f he fulfils
a most sacred duty, and acts according to reason. Far
from offending God, he honors him by using his reason to
distinguish the voice of God from that of man — the
supreme, divine authority from mere human authority.
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 263
But as soon as he is convinced that the authority of the
Church is from God, he is bound to believe most firmly
all that he is told on this authority. Common-sense tells
him that, when he hears God speak, he hears nothing but
truth ; no matter whether or not he understands it, he is
obliged to say, Amen, it is so. " Without such faith"
says St. Paul, " it is impossible to please God."
Take the case of one who is not a Catholic, but who
has studied all the doctrines of the Church. He makes
up his mind that all that the Church teaches is reason
able and consistent with holy Scripture, and so he believes,
and becomes a Catholic. Is his faith divine ? Does he
become a Catholic in the right way ? No ; his faith is
based, as yet, on individual reason alone.
There is another. He considers the antiquity of the
Roman Catholic Church j her unity in faith j the purity and
holiness of her doctrine ; her establishment by poor fisher
men all over the world, in spite of all kinds of opposition ;
her invariable duration from the time of the apostles j the
miracles which are wrought in her ; the holiness of all those
who live according to her laws 5 the deep science of her
doctors 5 the almost infinite number of her martyrs 5 the
peace of mind and happiness of soul experienced by those
who have entered her bosom ; the fact that all Protestants
admit that a faithful Catholic will be saved in his religion 5
the frightful punishment inflicted by God upon all the
persecutors of the Catholic Church ; the melancholy death
of the authors of heresies ; the constant fulfilment of the
words of our Lord, that his Church would always be
persecuted. He seriously considers all this ; he is enlight
ened by God's grace to see that the Roman Catholic
Church alone is the true Church of Jesus Christ; he is
264 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
convinced that her authority is from God, and that to hear
and obey her authority is to hear and obey God himself:
and so he accepts and believes all that she teaches, because
it comes to him on the authority of God, and therefore must
be true ; not because he himself sees liow or why it is true.
This is true divine faith — this is the right way to become
a Catholic. Such faith is absolutely necessary. It is
necessary by necessity of precept. Our blessed Lord
says : " He that belie veth and is baptized shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be condemned." This pre
cept is affirmative; in as far as it obliges us to believe all
that God has revealed ; it is negative, in as far as it for
bids us to hold any opinions contrary to the revealed truth.
Such faith is necessary by necessity of medium, for,
" without faith, it is impossible to please God," (Heb. xi,
6.) "If you believe not, you shall die in your sins."
(John v, 38 ; viii, 27.)
16. Must, then, all who wish to be saved die united to
the Catholic Church ?
Yes ; for out of the Catholic Church there is no salvation :
1, because she alone teaches the true faith ; 2, because in
her alone are found the means of grace and salvation.
Our divine Saviour says : " No one can come to the
Father except through me." If we then wish to enter
heaven, we must be united to Christ, — to his body, which
is the Church, as St. Paul says. We must then be united
to his Church. Therefore out of that Church there is no
salvation.
Again, Jesus Christ says : Whoever will not hear the
Church, look upon him as a heathen and a great sinner.
Therefore, out of the Church there is no salvation.
Holy Scripture says ( Acts ii, 47) : " The Lord added
* See Predestination — Vol. on Grace and Sacraments, p. 117.
THE APOSTLES' CREED.
265
daily to the Church such as should be saved." Therefore
the apostles believed, and the holy Scriptures teach, that
there is no salvation out of the Church.
Hence the Fathers of the Church never hesitated to
pronounce all those forever lost who die out of the
Roman Catholic Church : " He who has not the Church
for his mother," says St. Cyprian, " cannot have God
for his Father j" and with him the Fathers in general say
that, "as all who were not in the ark of Noe perished in
the waters of the Deluge, so shall all perish who are out
of the true Church." St. Augustine and the other bishops
of Africa, at the Council of Zirta, A. D. 412, say : " Who
soever is separated from the Catholic Church, however
commendable in his own opinion his life may be, he
shall, for the very reason that he is separated from the
union of Christ, not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him." Therefore, says St. Augustine, u a Christian
ought to fear nothing so much as to be separated from
the body of Christ (the Church). For, if he be separated
from the body of Christ, he is not a member of Christ j
if not a member of Christ, he is not quickened by his
Spirit." (Tract, xxvii, in Joan., n. 6, col. 1992, torn, iii.)
uln our times," says Pius IX, " many of the enemies of
the Catholic faith direct their efforts toward placing every
monstrous opinion on the same level with the doctrine of
Christ, or confounding it therewith ; and so they try more
and more to propagate that impious system of the indiffer
ence of religions. But quite of late, we shudder to say it,
certain men have not hesitated to slander us by saying
that we share in their folly, favor that most wicked sys
tem, and think so benevolently of every class of mankind
as to suppose that not only the sons of the Church, but
266 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
that the rest also, however alienated from Catholic unity
they may remain, are alike in the way of salvation, and
may arrive at everlasting life. We are at a loss, from
horror, to find words to express our detestation of 'this new
and atrocious injustice that is done us. We love, indeed,
all mankind with the inmost affection of our hearts, yet
not otherwise than in the love of God and our Lord Jesus
Christ, who came to seek and to save that which had
perished, who died for all, who wills all men to be saved,
and to come to the knowledge of the truth ; who, there
fore, sent his disciples into the whole world to preach the
Gospel to every creature, proclaiming that those who
should believe and be baptized should be saved, but that
those who should not believe should be condemned. Let
those, therefore, who wish to be saved, come to the pillar
and the ground of faith, which is the Church 5 let them
come to the true Church of Christ, which, in her bishops
and in the Roman Pontiff, the chief head of all, has the
succession of apostolical authority which has never been
interrupted, which has never counted anything of greater
importance than to preach, and by all means to keep and
defend the doctrine proclaimed by the apostles at Christ's
command. This apostolical authority of the Church has,
from the apostles' time, ever increased in the midst of
difficulties of every kind ; it has become illustrious through
out the whole world, by the splendor of miracles and by
the blood of martyrs ; it has been exalted by the virtues
of confessors and virgins j it has been strengthened by the
most wise testimonies and writings of the Fathers j it has
flourished, and does flourish, in all the regions of the earth,
and shines refulgent in the perfect unity of faith, of sacra
ments, and of holy discipline. We who, though unworthy,
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 267
hold this supreme See of the Apostle Peter, wherein
Christ has laid the foundation of the same Church of his,
shall never at any time abstain from any cares or labors
that, by the grace of Christ himself, we may bring those
who are ignorant, and who are going astray, to this only
road of truth and salvation. But let all those who oppose
themselves, remember that heaven and earth shall indeed
pass away, but that nothing can ever pass away of the words
of Christ, nor change be made in the doctrine which the
Catholic Church has received from Christ, to be kept,
defended, and preached.'7 (Allocution to the Cardinals,
held on the 17th Dec., 1847.)
17. Who are not members of the Roman Catholic Church ?
All unbaptized persons^ unbelieverSj apostates , heretics,
and all excommunicated persons.
But how do we know that unbaptized persons are not
saved 1 We know it, because Jesus Christ has said : " Un
less a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John iii, 5.)
Heaven is the union of Almighty God with the elect, —
those who are quite pure, without the least stain of
sin. But God, who is holiness itself, cannot unite himself
to a soul that is in sin. Now, as those who die without
baptism remain forever stained with original sin, they can
never be united to Almighty God in heaven.
And why are unbelievers and apostates lost ? Unbe
lievers and apostates are lost, because it is said that,
" without faith, it is impossible to please God." In our
day and country, it is become fashionable for a large
number of men to have no religion, and even to boast of
having none. To have no religion is a great crime ; but
to boast of having none is the height of folly.
268 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
The man without religion is a slave to the most degrad
ing superstition. Instead of worshipping the true, free,
living God, who governs all things by his providence, he
bows before the horrid phantom of blind chance or inexor
able destiny. He is a man who obstinately refuses to believe
the most solidly established facts in favor of religion, and
yet, with blind credulity, greedily swallows the most absurd
falsehoods uttered against religion. He is a man whose
reason has fled, and whose passions speak, object, and decide
in the name of reason. He is sunk in the grossest
ignorance regarding religion. He blasphemes what he does
not understand. He rails at the doctrines of the Church,
without knowing really what her doctrines are. He sneers
at the doctrines and practices of religion, because he can
not refute them. He speaks with the utmost gravity of
the fine arts, the fashions, and matters the most trivial, while
he turns the most sacred subjects into ridicule. In the
midst of his own circle of fops and silly women, he utters
his shallow conceits with all the pompous assurance of a
pedant.
But why is it that he makes his impious doctrines
the subject of conversation on every occasion I It is,
of course, first to communicate his devilish principles to
others, and make them as bad as he himself is ; but this
is not the only reason. The good Catholic seldom speaks
of his religion ; he feels assured, by the grace of God,
that his religion is the only true one, and that he will be
saved if he lives up to it. Such is not the case with the
infidel ; he is constantly tormented in his soul : " There is
no peace, no happiness for the impious," says the holy
Scripture. He tries to quiet the fears of his soul, the re
morse of his conscience j so he communicates to others,
269
on every occasion, his perverse principles, hoping to meet
with some of his fellow-men who may approve of his
impious views, that he thus may find some relief for his
interior torments. He resembles a timid man, who is
obliged to travel during a dark night, and who begins to
sing and cry out, in order to keep away fear. The infidel
is a sort of night-traveller ; he travels in the horrible
darkness of his impiety. His interior conviction tells him
that there is a God who will certainly punish him in the
most awful manner. This fills him with great fear, and
makes him extremely unhappy every moment of his life ; he
cannot bear the sight of a Catholic church, of a Catholic
procession, of an image of our Lord, of a picture of a
saint, of a prayer-book, of a good Catholic, of a priest j
in a word, he cannot bear anything that reminds him of
God, of religion, of his own guilt and impiety : so, on
every occasion, he cries out against faith in God, in all
that God has revealed and proposes to us for our belief
by the holy Catholic Church. What is the object of his
impious cries ? It is to deafen, to keep down, in some
measure, the clamors of his conscience. Our hand will
involuntarily touch that part of the body where we feel
pain ; in like manner, the tongue of the infidel touches,
on all occasions, involuntarily as it were, upon all those
truths of our holy religion which inspire him with fear of
the judgments of Almighty God. He feels but too keenly
that he cannot do away with God and his sacred religion,
by denying his existence.
The days of the infidel are counted. What a fearful
thing it is for him to fall into the hands of God in the
hour of death ! He knows this truth, and because he
knows it, he dies in the fury of despair, and, as it were,
270 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
in the anticipated torments of the suffering that awaits him
in hell. Witness Voltaire, the famous infidel of France !
He wished to make his confession at his last hour. But
the priest of St. Sulpice was not able to go to his, bedside,
because the chamber-door was shut upon him. So Voltaire
died without confession. He died in such a terrible
paroxysm of fury and rage, that the marshal of Richelieu,
who was present at his horrible agony, exclaimed: "Really,
this sight is sickening ; it is insupportable !" M. Tronchin,
Voltaire's physician, says : " Figure to yourself the rage
and fury of Orestes, and you'll still have but a feeble
image of the fury of Voltaire in his last agony. It would
be well if all the infidels of Paris were present. Oh ! the
fine spectacle that would have met their eyes !" Thus is
fulfilled in infidels what God says in holy Scripture : " I
will laugh at the destruction of those who laughed at me
during their life."
Witness Tom Paine ! A short time before he died he
sent for the Rev. Father Fenwick. Father Fenwick
went, in company of Father Kohlman, to see the infidel
in his wretched condition. When they arrived at Paine's
house, at Greenwich, his housekeeper came to the door
and inquired whether they were the Catholic priests :
" For," said she, " Mr. Paine has been so annoyed of late
by ministers of different other denominations calling up6n
him, that he has left express orders with me to admit
no one to-day but clergymen of the Catholic Church."
Upon assuring her that they were Catholic clergymen, she
opened the door, and invited them to sit down in the parlor.
"Gentlemen," said she, "I really wish you may succeed
with Mr. Paine ; for he is laboring under great distress of
mind ever since he was informed by his physicians that
CREED. 271
he cannot possibly live, and must die shortly. He sent
for you to-day, because he was told that if any one could
do him good, you might. He is truly to be pitied. His
cries, when he is left alone, are truly heart-rending. ' O
Lord ! help me ! ' he will exclaim during his paroxysms of
distress. ' God, help, Jesus Christ, help me ! ' repeating
the same expressions without any the least variation, in
a tone of voice that would alarm the house. Sometimes
he will say, t 0 God ! what have I done to suffer so much ? '
Then shortly after : i If there is a God, what will become
of me V Thus he will continue for some time, when on
a sudden he will scream as if in terror and agony, and call
out for me by name. On one of these occasions, which
are very frequent, I went to him and inquired what he
wanted. i Stay with me,' he replied, i for God's sake ;
for I cannot bear to be left alone.7 I then observed that
I could not always be with him, as I had much to attend
to in the house. ' Then,' said he, * send even a child to
stay with me ; for it is a hell to be alone.' I never saw,"
she concluded, " a more unhappy, a more forsaken man.
It seems he cannot reconcile himself to die."
The fathers did all in their power to make Paine enter
into himself, and ask God's pardon. But all their endeav
ors were in vain. He ordered them out of his room, in
the highest pitch of his voice, and seemed a very maniac
with rage and madness. "Let us go," said Father
Fenwick to Father Kohlman. " We have nothing more
to do here. He seems to be entirely abandoned by God.
Further words are lost upon him. I never before or since
beheld a more hardened wretch." (" Lives of the Catholic
Bishops of America," p. 379, etc.)
To the infidel and evil-doer these examples present
272 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
matter worthy of serious reflection, while the believer
will recognize in them the special judgment of God, which
is too clearly indicated to be doubted by any honest mind.
Let the unbeliever remember that the hour wi}l come
when he shall open his eyes to see the wisdom of those
who have believed j when he also shall see, to his con
fusion, his own madness in refusing to believe. u Oh !
that he would be wise, and would understand that there
is none that can deliver out of the hand of the Lord ! 7?
(Deut. xxxii, 39.)
18, Why are those persons lost who have been justly
excommunicated, and who are unwilling to do what is
required of them before they are absolved ?
Because the sin of great scandal, for which they, as dead
members, were expelled from the communion of the Church,
excludes them from the kingdom of heaven.
Such excommunicated persons are, for instance, all mem
bers of secret societies. The aim of secret societies is
to abolish the Christian religion and the Church of Christ j
nay, to banish the law of God, and the very idea of
his overruling providence j to overturn every legitimate
secular authority ; to destroy the present basis of society,
and to construct a new one, wherein all may be free to
follow their passions. The members of these societies have
been excommunicated by several popes : by Clement IX,
Benedict XIV, Leo XII, and Pius IX.
Our Lord gave to his Church the power of separating
men from the "onefold," and making them *' heathens
and publicans. The purpose and effect of excommuni
cation are to cut culprits off from the body of Christ ; to
cast them out of his Church, as unworthy of the Christian
name, and as deprived of rights which were • acquired
CREED. 273
by baptism. The excommunicated, then, are shut out
from those avenues of grace which have been provided in
the Church ; they cannot receive the sacraments j the
holy sacrifice of the Mass is not daily offered for them j
and if death surprises them while they still obstinately defy
the Church, the separation from the Church, which they
have wilfully chosen to maintain on earth, will be main
tained also in the other world — they will remain separated
forever from the communion of the saints in heaven."
(See Part I, Secret Societies, § 15.)
Why are heretics lost ? Heretics, that is to say, baptized
persons who choose such doctrines of the Roman Catholic
Church as please them, and reject the rest, are lost
for the reason given by St. Paul the Apostle, who says:
"A man that is a heretic, after the first and second
admonition, avoid j knowing that he who is such an one
is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own
judgment." (Tit. iii, 10, 11.)
The word of God, in the first commandment, is : "I am
the Lord thy God." By this commandment all men are
obliged to believe in God as the Infinite Being, who is
essentially good and just, the sovereign Author and Lord of
all things, who has an absolute authority over all, — an
authority which he can exercise either directly by himself,
or through an angel, a prophet, or one or more of his
reasonable creatures. God, therefore, has a right to com
mand the human understanding to admit certain truths,
the human will to perform certain duties, the senses to
make certain sacrifices. Nothing can be more reasonable
than to submit to such a command of God. This submis
sion is called faith, which, as St. Paul says, " bringeth
into captivity every understanding to the obedience of
274 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
Christ." ( 2 Cor. x, 5.) As soon, then, as man hears the
voice of his Maker, he is bound to say, "Amen : it is so."
I believe it, no matter whether I understand it or not.
But Protestants have no regard for God when be says,
" I am the Lord thy God. I have a right to tell you
what you must believe and do, in order to be saved, and
you are bound to submit to my will, and practise the relig
ion which I have established." The Protestant answers :
"Of course, I believe that thou art the Lord of heaven and
earth, but I believe only what I choose to believe j " thus
defying the Almighty to prescribe a religion for him.
Protestants, therefore, live constantly in violation of the
first commandment.
They also transgress the second commandment of God,
which says : " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain." By this commandment God forbids all
men to blaspheme him or any of his saints, or to ridicule
religion. Yet what is more common among Protestants
than to blaspheme Jesus Christ in his Mother and other
saints ; what more common than to ridicule the religion of
Christ and its holy practices ? Are not Protestant books,
sermons, tracts, and conversations, filled with abusive lan
guage, invectives, mockeries against Christ, his religion
and his saints ?
Protestants also transgress the third commandment of
God, which says : " Remember thou keep holy the Sab
bath day." By this commandment God commands all
men to worship him in the manner which he has prescribed.
From the beginning of the world, God wished to be wor
shipped by the offering of sacrifices ; but Protestants have
done away with the worship of the sacrifice of the Mass,
which Christ commanded to be offered up by his priests
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 275
and all Christians. They refuse to give God the honor of
adoration ; that is, to honor him as the sovereign Lord of all
creatures, and to acknowledge their entire dependence on
him, by offering the sacrifice of the. body and blood of his
divine Son, Jesus Christ, in holy Mass. Instead of thus
honoring and worshipping him, they blaspheme Christ by
calling this holy sacrifice a superstitious ceremony or
abominable idolatry, whilst their own worship is a false
worship, which is an abomination in the sight of God.
Protestants transgress the fourth commandment, by refus
ing obedience to the lawful ecclesiastical superiors. They
transgress the fifth commandment, by refusing to make use
of the means of grace, — the sacraments, — to obtain God's
grace, and preserve themselves in his holy friendship.
They transgress the sixth and the ninth commandment,
which forbid adultery, and even the desire to commit it.
Jesus Christ says : " I say to you, that whosoever shall
put away his wife, and shall marry another, committeth
adultery j and he that shall marry her that is put away,
committeth adultery." (Matt, xix, 9.) " No," says Protes
tantism to a married man, "you may put away your wife,
get a divorce, and marry another."
God says to every man : u Thou shalt not steal."
li No," said Luther to secular princes, " I give you the
right to appropriate to yourselves the property of the
Roman Catholic Church." And the princes, from that day
to this, have been only too happy to profit by this pleasing
advice.
Jesus Christ says : " Hear the Church." "No," says
Protestantism, " do not hear the Church j protest against
her with all your might." Jesus Christ says : " If any
one will not hear the Church; look upon him as a heathen
276 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
and publican." "No," says Protestantism, "if any one
does not hear the Church, look upon him as an apostle,
as an ambassador of God." Jesus Christ says : " The
gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church."
"No," says 'Protestantism, "'tis false; the gates of hell
have prevailed against the Church for a thousand years
and more." Jesus Christ has declared St. Peter, and
every successor to St. Peter, — the pope, — to be his Vicar
on earth. " No," says Protestantism, " the pope is Anti
christ." Jesus Christ says: "My yoke is sweet, and
my burden is light." (Matt, xi, 30.) " No," said Luther
and Calvin, " it is impossible to keep the command
ments." Jesus Christ says : " If thou wilt enter into
life, keep the commandments." (Matt, xix, 17.) "No,"
said Luther and Calvin, "faith alone, without good works,
is sufficient to enter into life everlasting." Jesus Christ
says: "Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise
perish." (Luke iii, 3.) " No," says Protestantism, " fast
ing and other works of penance are not necessary, in
satisfaction for sin." Jesus Christ says : " This is my
body." " No," said Calvin, " this is only the figure of
Christ's body j it will become his body as soon as you
receive it."
The Holy Ghost says in holy Scripture : " Man knoweth
not whether he be worthy of love or hatred." (Eccl. ix, I.)
" Who can say, My heart is clean, I am pure from sin ?"
(Prov. xx, 9) ; and, " Work out your salvation with fear
and trembling." (Phil, ii, 12.) "No," said Luther and
Calvin, " but whosoever believes in Jesus Christ is in the
state of grace."
St. Paul says : " If I should have faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."
THE APOSTLES7 CREED. 277
(1 Cor. xiii, 2.) "No," said Luther and Calvin, "faith
alone is sufficient to save us."
St. Peter says that in the Epistles of St. Paul there are
many things " hard to be understood, which the unlearned
and unstable wrest, as also the other Scriptures, to their
own perdition." (2Epist. iii, 16.) "No," says Protestantism,
" the Scriptures are very plain, and easy to be understood."
St. James says : "Is any man sick among you ? Let
him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray
over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the
Lord." (Chap, v, 14.) "No," says Protestantism, "this
is a vain and useless ceremony."
Protestants being thus impious enough to make liars of
Jesus Christ, of the Holy Ghost, and of the apostles, need
we wonder if they continually slander Catholics, telling and
believing worse absurdities about them than the heathens
did ? What is more absurd than to preach that Catholics
worship stocks and stones for gods j set up pictures of Jesus
Christ, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and other saints, to pray
to them, and put their confidence in them ; that they adore
a god of bread and wine ; that their sins are forgiven by the
priest, without repentance and amendment of life j that the
pope or any other person can give leave to commit sin, or
that for a sum of money the forgiveness of sins can be
obtained ? To these and similar absurdities and slanders,
we simply answer : " Cursed is he who believes in such
absurdities and falsehoods, with which Protestants im
piously charge the children of the Catholic Church. All
those grievous transgressions are another source of their
reprobation."
But there are other reasons still, why Protestants cannot
be saved. Jesus Christ says : " Except you eat the flesh
278 THE NINTH AETICLE OF
of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have
life in you." (John vi, 54.) Now, Protestants do not
receive the body and blood of our Lord, because their
ministers are not priests, and consequently have no power
from Jesus Christ to say Mass, in which, by the words of
consecration, bread and wine are changed into the body
and blood of Christ. It follows, then, clearly that they will
not enter into life everlasting, and deservedly so, because
they abolished the holy sacrifice of the Mass ; and by abolish
ing that great sacrifice they robbed God the Father of the
infinite honor which Jesus Christ renders him therein, and
themselves of all the blessings which Jesus Christ bestows
upon those who assist at this holy sacrifice with faith and
devotion : " Wherefore the sin of the young men (the sons
of Heli) was exceeding great before the Lord, because
they withdrew men from the sacrifice of the Lord."
(1 Kings ii, 17.) Now, God the Father cannot admit into
heaven these robbers of his infinite honor ; because, if those
are damned who steal the temporal goods of their neighbor,
how much more will those be damned who deprive God
of his infinite honor, and their fellow-men of the infinite
spiritual blessings of the Mass !
Again, no man is saved who dies in the state of mortal
sin, because God cannot unite himself to a soul in heaven
who by mortal sin is his enemy. But Protestants are
enemies of God, committing, as they do, Other mortal sins
besides those already mentioned ; for, if it is a mortal sin for
a Roman Catholic wilfully to doubt only one article of his
faith, it is also, most assuredly, a mortal sin for Protestants
wilfully to deny not only one truth, but almost all the
truths revealed by Jesus Christ. On account of the sins
of apostasy, blasphemy, slander, etc., they remain enemies
CREED. 279
of God, as long as they do not repent, and receive absolu
tion of these sins. Jesus Christ assures us that those sins
which are not forgiven by the absolution of his apostles
or their successors, will not be forgiven : u Whose sins
you retain, they are retained.'7 (John xx, 22, 23.) But
Protestants are unwilling to confess their sins to a Cath
olic bishop or a priest, who alone has power from Christ
to forgive sins : " Whose sins you shall forgive, they
are forgiven them." They generally have an utter aver
sion to confession ; they die in their sins, and are lost ;
for sins, unrepented and unatoned for, stand through all
eternity.
Again., no grown person can enter the kingdom of
heaven without good works. • On the great day of judg
ment Jesus Christ will say to the wicked : " Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. For I was hungry,
and you gave me not to eat ; I was thirsty, and you gave
me not to drink," etc. (Matt, xxv, 41, 42.) It is true that
many regular, naturally good Protestants practise good
works, make long prayers, fast, give alms, and perform
other works of natural virtue, all of which are, indeed,
laudable actions. But all these works are destitute of
one essential thing, viz., docility to faith, without which
there is neither merit nor recompense. For merely
natural virtues there are natural rewards. But works, to
be meritorious of heaven, must be performed in the state of
grace ; they must proceed from, and be vivified by, divine
faith, to deserve an eternal reward ; for then it is that they
proceed, as it were, from God himself, and from his divine
Spirit, who lives in us, and urges us on to the performance
of good works.
Hence, as faith without works is dead, so also works
280 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
without faith are dead, and cannot save the doer from
destruction. Splendid, but barren works ! apparently de
licious fruit, but rotten within ! In vain, then, shall they
glory in these works. The Gospel will always tell them that
he u who does not believe, is already judged." (John iii, 18.)
The apostle will ever declare to them that ii without faith it
is impossible to please God." (Heb. xi, 6.) Jesus Christ
himself will ever command us to look upon u him as the
heathen and the publican, who will not hear the Church "
(Matt, xviii, 17), though otherwise he should be as severe
in his life as an anchoret, as enlightened in his under
standing as an angel. " In the Catholic Church," says
St. Augustine, " there are both good and bad. But they
who are separated from her, as long as they remain in
their opinion against her, cannot be good ; for, although
a kind of laudable conversation seems to show forth some
of them as good, the separation itself makes them bad, the
Lord saying : ( He who is not with me is against me ; and
he who gathereth not with me, scattereth.7 " (Ep. ccviii,
n. 6, col. 1177.) What, then, will be the astonishment,
sorrow, and despair of those who, void of faith, and sepa
rated from the Church, will one day present themselves
before God, and, imagining to have heaped up treasures of
merits, will appear in his sight with their hands empty ?
In the history of the foundation of the Society of Jesus,
in the Kingdom of Naples, is related the following story
of a noble youth of Scotland, named William Ephinstone :
He was a relative of the Scottish king. Born a heretic,
he followed the false sect to which he belonged ; but en
lightened by divine grace, which showed him his errors,
he went to France, where, with the assistance of a good
Jesuit Father, 'who was also a Scotchman, he at length
281
saw the truth, abjured heresy, and became a Catholic.
He went afterward to Rome, joined the Society of Jesus,
in which he died a happy death. When at Rome, a friend
of his found him one day very much afflicted, and weep-
-ing. He asked him the cause, and the young man answered
' that in the night his mother had appeared to him, and said :
"My son, it is well for thee that thou hast entered the true
Church; I am already lost, because I died in heresy.7'
(St. Liguori, " Glories of Mary.'7)
We read, in the Life of St. Rose of Viterbo, that she
was inflamed with great zeal for the salvation of souls.
She felt a most tender compassion for those who were
living in heresy. In order to convince a certain lady, who
was a heretic, that she could not be saved in her sect, and
that it was necessary for salvation to die a true member
of the Catholic Church, she made a large fire, threw her
self into it, and remained in it for three hours, without
being hurt. This lady, together with many others, on
witnessing the miracle, abjured their heresy, and became
Catholics.
When the Emperor Valens ordered that St. Basil the
Great should go into banishment, God, in the high court
of heaven, passed, at the same time, sentence against the
emperor's only son, named Valentinian Galatus, a child
then about six years old. That very night the royal
infant was seized with a violent fever, from which the
physicians were unable to give him the least relief; and
the Empress Dominica told the emperor that this calamity
was a just punishment of heaven for his banishing the
bishop, on which account she had been disquieted by
terrible dreams. Thereupon Valens sent for the saint,
who was about to go into* exile. No sooner had the holy
282 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
bishop entered the palace, than the fever of the child
began to abate. St. Basil assured the parents of the
absolute recovery of their son, on condition that they
would order him to be instructed in the Catholic faith.
The emperor accepted the condition, St. Basil prayed,
and the young prince was cured. But Valens, unfaithful
to his promise, afterward allowed an Arian bishop to bap
tize the child. The young prince immediately relapsed
and died. (Butler's " Lives of the Saints," June 14th.)
By this miraculous cure of the child, God made manifest
the truth of our religion ; and by the sudden death of the
child, which followed upon the heretical baptism, God
showed in what abomination he holds those who profess
heresy.
But is it not a very uncharitable doctrine to say that
out of the Church there is no salvation ? If we desire
that all those who are not members of the Catholic Church
should cease to deceive themselves as to the true char
acter of their belief, and propose to them considerations
which may contribute to that result, it is certainly not
from enmity to their persons, nor indifference to their
welfare. As long as they remain victims of a delusion
as gross as that which makes the Jew still cling to his
abolished synagogue, and which only a miracle of grace
can dispel, they will probably resent the counsels of their
truest friends : but why do they take us for enemies ?
"The Christian," as Tertullian said, "is the enemy of no
one," not even of his persecutors. He hates heresy because
God hates it, but he has only compassion for those who
are caught in its snare. Whether he exhorts or reproves
them, he displays not malice, but charity. He knows that
rjthey are, of all men, the most helpless j and when his voice
CREED. 283
of warning is most vehement, he is only doing what the
Church has done from the beginning. His voice is but
the echo of hers. We are told that, before the Council
of Nice, she had already condemned thirty-eight different
heresies j and in every case she pronounced anathema
upon those who held them. And she was as truly the
mouthpiece of God in her judicial as in her teaching office.
The Church is, indeed, uncompromising in matters of
truth. Truth is the honor of the Church. The Church
is the most honorable of all societies. She is the highest
standard of honor, because she judges all things in the
light of God, who is the source of all honor. A man who
has no love for the truth, a man who tells a wilful lie or
takes a false oath, is considered dishonored. No one
cares for him ; and it would be unreasonable to accuse one
of intolerance or bigotry because he refuses to associate
with a man who has no love for the truth. It would be
just as unreasonable to accuse the Catholic Church of
intolerance, or bigotry, or want of charity, because she
excludes from her society, and pronounces anathema
upon, those who have no regard for the truth, and remain
wilfully out of her communion.
If the Church believed that men could be saved in any
religion whatever, or without any at all, it would be unchari
table in her to announce to the world that out of her there
is no salvation. But, as she knows and maintains that there
is but one faith, as there is but one God and Lord of all,
and that she is in possession of that one faith, and that
without that faith it is impossible to please God and be
saved, it would be very uncharitable in her, and in all her
children, to hide Christ's doctrine from the world. To
warn our neighbor when he is in imminent danger of falling
284 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
into a deep abyss, is considered an act of great charity.
It is a greater act of charity to warn non-Catholics of the
certain danger in which they are of falling into the abyss
of hell, since Jesus Christ, and the apostles themselves,
and all their successors, have always most emphatically
asserted that out of the Church there is no salvation.
Here it may be asked : Are all those who are out of
the Church equally guilty in the sight of God? We
answer : No j some are more guilty than others. It cannot
be considered the personal fault, however great and
terrible the misfortune, of any individual of the children
of Adam that our first parents sinned. So it is not the
fault of those who were born and educated in any of the
errors or negations of Protestantism, in its hundred various
forms. Involuntary error is a misfortune to be pitied, a
calamity to be deplored.' Only when entered into, or
persisted in, against light and knowledge, can it be
considered a sin, or other than a sin of ignorance.
There are persons who sometimes commit actions which,
in themselves, are very wrong, but are not punishable in
the sight of God, because they do not proceed from
wilful malice, as those who commit them are not aware in
the least that by such actions God is offended. So there
maybe persons who live in infidelity or heresy without being
in the least aware of it. Now such inculpable ignorance
will, of course, not save them j but, if they fear God, and
live up to their conscience, God, in his infinite mercy,
will furnish them with the necessary means of salvation,
even so as to send, if needed, an angel to instruct them
in the Catholic faith, rather than let them perish through
inculpable ignorance.
But there are others who are guilty in the sight of
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 285
God. They are those who know the Catholic Church to be
the only true Church, but do not embrace her faith, as
also those who could know her, if they would candidly
search, but who, through indifference, and other culpable
motives, neglect to do so.
19. Would it be right to say that one who was not
received into the Church before his death is damned ?
No; because, in his last hour, such a one may receive
the grace to die united to the Catholic Church.
It is not our business to say whether this or that one
who was not received into the Church before his death is
damned. What we condemn is the Protestant and the hea
then system of religion, because they are utterly false j but
we do not condemn any person — God alone is the judge of
all. It is quite certain, however, that, if any of those who
are not received into the Church before their death, enter
heaven, — a lot which we earnestly desire and beg God to
grant them, — they can only do so after undergoing a
radical and fundamental change before death launches
them into eternity. This is quite certain, for the reason,
among others, that they are not one ; and nothing is more
indisputably certain than this, that there can be no
division in heaven : a God is not the God of dissension,"
says St. Paul, " but of peace." He has never suffered
the least interruption of union, even in the Church Militant
no earth ; most assuredly he will not tolerate it in the
Church Triumphant. God most certainly will remain
what he is. Non-Catholics, therefore, in order to enter
heaven, must cease to be what they are, and become
something which now they are not.
God, in his infinite mercy, may enlighten, at the hour of
death, one who is not yet a Catholic, so that he may know
286 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
and believe the necessary truths of salvation, be truly
sorry for his sins, and die in such disposition of soul as is
necessary to be saved. Such a one, by an extraordinary
grace of God, ceases to be what he was ; he dies -united,
at least, to the soul of the Church, as theologians call it.
With regard to Catholics, the case is quite different.
No change need come upon them, except that which is
implied in passing from the state of grace to the state
of glory.
They will be one there, as they have been one here.
For them the miracle of supernatural unity is already
worked. That mark of God's hand is already upon them.
That sign of God's election is already graven upon their
foreheads. Faith, indeed, will be replaced by sight, but
this will be no real change, because what they see in the
next world will be what they have believed in this. The
same sacramental King (to borrow an expression of
Father Faber), whom here they have worshipped upon the
altar, will there be their everlasting portion. The same
gracious Madonna who has so often consoled them in the
trials of this life, will introduce her own children to the
glories of the next. They will not, in that hour, have to
" buy oil " for their lamps, for they are already kindled
at the lamp of the sanctuary. No wedding-robe will have
to be provided for them, for they received it long ago at
the baptismal font, and have washed away its stains in
the tribunal of penance. The faces of the saints and
angels will not be strange to them, for have they not
been familiar with them from infancy as friends, com
panions, and benefactors ? And being thus, even in this
world, of the household of faith, and the family of God,
not only no shadow of change need pass upon them, but
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 287
to vary in one iota from what they now believe and prac
tise, would simply cut them off from the communion of
saints, and be the most overwhelming disaster which
could befall them.
We have seen that there is no salvation possible out of
the Roman Catholic Church. It is therefore very impious
for one to think and to say that " every religion is good."
To say every religion is good, is as much as to ><*ay : The
dg'vil is as good as God. Hell is as good as heaven.
Falsehood is as good as truth. Sin is as good as virtue.
It is impious to say, "I respect every religion.'7 This is
as much as to say : I respect the devil as much as God,
vice as much as virtue, falsehood as much as truth, dis
honesty as much as honesty, hell as much as heaven. It
is impious to say, " It matters very little what a man
believes, provided he be an honest man. Let such a one
be asked whether or not he believes that his honesty and
justice are as great as the honesty and justice of the Scribes
and Pharisees. These were constant in prayer, they paid
tithes according to the law, gave great alms, fasted twice
in every week, and compassed sea and land to make a
convert, and bring him to the knowledge of the true God.
Now, what did Jesus Christ say of this justice of the
Pharisees? u Unless," he says, a your justice shall exceed
that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven." (Matt, v, 20.) The righteousness
of the Pharisees, then, must have been very defective in the
sight of God. It was, indeed, nothing but outward show
and ostentation. They did good only to be praised and
admired by men j but, within, their souls were full of im
purity and malice. They were lewd hypocrites, who
concealed great vices under the beautiful appearance of
288 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
love for God, charity to the poor, and severity to them
selves. Their devotion consisted in exterior acts, and
they despised all who did not live as they did ; they were
strict in the religious observances of human traditions, but
scrupled not to violate the commandments of God. No
wonder, then, that this Pharisaic honesty and justice were
condemned by our Lord. To those, therefore, who say,
"It matters little what a man believes, provided he be
honest," we answer : " Your outward honesty, like that of
the Pharisees, may be sufficient to keep you out of prison,
but not out of hell. It should be remembered that there
is a dishonesty to God, to one's own soul and conscience,
as well as to one's neighbor/7
You say, it is enough to be an honest man. What do
you mean by an honest man ? The term, honest man, is
rather a little too general. Go, for instance, to that
young man whose shameful secret sins are written on his
hollow cheeks, in his dull, lack-lustre eye : ask him if one
can be an honest man who gratifies all his brutal, shameful
passions. What will be his answer ? u WThy," he will
say, " these natural follies and weaknesses do not hinder
a man from being honest. To tell the truth, for instance,
I am somewhat inclined that way myself, and yet I would
like to see the man that would doubt my honesty."
Go to that covetous shopkeeper, who sells his goods as
if they were of the finest quality j go to that tradesman,
that mason, that bricklayer, or carpenter, who does not
work even half as diligently when he is paid by the day
as when he is paid by the job ; go to these men that have
grown rich by fraudulent speculation, by cheating the
public or government ; go to the employers that cheat the
servant and the poor laborer : ask them if what they do,
THE APOSTLES* CREED. 289
prevents them from being honest people, and they will
answer you coldly that they are merely tricks of trade,
shrewdness in business ; that they do not by any means
hinder one from being an honest man.
Go, ask that habitual drunkard, ask that man who has
grown rich by selling liquor to drunkards : ask them
whether these sins do not hinder them from being honest,
and they will tell you, "By no means. They are honest
men, very honest men."
Go, ask that man or that woman who sins against the
most sacred laws of nature 5 go, ask that doctor who mur
ders the poor helpless babe before it can see the blessed
light of day : ask them if those who are guilty of such
foul deeds are honest gentlemen, and they will tell you,
with the utmost assurance, that such trifles do not hinder
one from being a gentleman — from being a respectable
lady !
True faith requires obedience, humility, and childlike
simplicity j it excludes pride, self-will, clinging to our own
ideas, and that unwillingness to obey which hurled the angels
from heaven, and cast our first parents out of paradise.
Faith is a duty which God requires of us, a,nd unless we fulfil
this duty sincerely, we can never enter the kingdom of heaven.
One may say : " To submit to the yoke of faith is to submit
to a spiritual and moral tyranny ; it is to lose one's liberty."
There is liberty, and there is license. To be the slave of
vile passions, and seek to satisfy them always, and at any
cost, is not true liberty. Surely God is free. But God can
not sin. It is, therefore, no mark of liberty to be under
the power of sin ; on the contrary, it is the very brand of
slavery. The power of sin implies the possibility of
becoming a slave of sin and the devil. Those, then, who
200 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
are greatly under the power of sin, and so go to hell, cannot
truly be called free men. They are blinded and brutalized
by satisfying the promptings of their brute nature, and
thus renounce their glorious freedom, to sell it for a bestial
gratification. He only is truly free who wills and does
what God wishes him to do for his everlasting happiness.
Now, as we have seen, God wishes that all should be saved
in the Koman Catholic Church. Those, therefore, who
believe and do what the Church teaches^ do not lose
their liberty 5 on the contrary, they enjoy true liberty,
and make the proper use of it. Hence, the greater oar
power of will is, and the less difficulty we experience in
following the teaching of the Church, the greater is our
liberty. Accordingly, Catholics, who live up to the teach
ing of the Church, enjoy greater liberty, and peace, and
happiness, than Protestants and unbelievers, because they
are the children of the light of truth, that leads them to
heaven ; whilst those who live out of the Church are the
children of the darkness of error, which leads them,
finally, into the abyss of hell.
If no one, then, can be saved except in the Roman
Catholic Church, all those who are out of it are bound to
become members of the Church. This is what common-
sense tells every non- Catholic. In worldly affairs, Protes
tants never presume to act without good advice. They
never compromise their pecuniary interests or their lives,
by becoming their own private interpreters and practition
ers of law or medicine. Both the legal and the medical
books are before them, written by modern authors, in clear
and explicit language, but they have too much practical
common-sense to attempt their interpretation. They
prefer always to employ expert lawyers and physicians,
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 291
and accept their interpretations, and act according to their
advice. Now, every non-Catholic believes that every
practical member of the Catholic Church will be saved.
Hence, when there is question about eternal salvation and
eternal damnation, a sensible man will take the surest
way to heaven. It was this that decided Henry IV of
France to abjure his errors. A historian relates that
this king, having called before him a conference of the
doctors of either Church, and seeing that the Protestant
ministers agreed, with one accord, that salvation was
attainable in the Catholic religion, immediately addressed
a Protestant minister in the following manner: "Now,
sir, is it true that people can be saved in the Catholic
religion ? " u Most assuredly it is, sire, provided they
live up to it." "If that be so/7 said the monarch,
u prudence demands that I should be of the Catholic
religion, not of yours, seeing that in the Catholic Church
I may be saved, as even you admit ; whereas, if I remain
in yours, Catholics maintain that I cannot be saved.
Both prudence and good sense tell me that I should
follow the surest way, and so I propose doing." Some
days after, the king made his abjuration at St. Denis.
(Guillois, ii, 67.)
Christ assures us that the way to everlasting life is
narrow, and trodden by few. The Catholic religion is
that narrow road to heaven. Protestantism, on the con
trary, is that broad way to perdition trodden by so many.
He who is content to follow the crowd, condemns him
self by taking the broad way. A man says : "I would
like to believe, but I cannot." You say you " cannot
believe." But what have you done, what means have you
employed, in order to acquire the gift of faith ? If you
292 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
have neglected the means, you show clearly that you do
not desire the end.
God bestowed great praise upon his servant Job. Ho
said of him that "he was a simple and upright man,
fearing God and avoiding evil." (Job. i, 8.) There is
nothing that renders a soul more acceptable to God than
simplicity and sincerity of heart in seeking him. There is?
on the other hand, nothing more detestable to him than a
double-minded man, who does not walk sincerely with his
God : " Woe to them that are of a double heart, . . . and to
the sinner that goeth on the earth two ways." (Ecclus. ii,
14.) Such a man should not expect that the Lord will
enlighten and direct him. Our Saviour assures us that
his heavenly Father makes himself known to the little
ones, that is, to those who have recourse to him with a
simple and sincere heart.
This sincerity and uprightness of heart with God are
especially necessary for him who is in search of the true
.religion. We see around us numberless jarring sects, con
tradicting one another j we see the one condemning what
the other approves, and approving what others condemn ;
we see some embracing certain divine truths, and others
rejecting those truths with horror, as the doctrine of devils.
Now common-sense tells every one that both parties can
not be right ; that the true religion cannot be on either
side. Among such confusion of opinions, the mind is
naturally at a loss how to discover that one true Church
in whose bosom the truth is to be found.
In the search after truth, one must find immense dif
ficulties. There is prejudice. It is the effect of early
training, of life-long teaching, of reading, and of living in
the world. It is the result of almost imperceptible im-
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 293
prfessions, and yet its force, as an obstacle, is such as in
many cases to defy human efforts to remove it. It is like
the snow which begins to fall, as the darkness sets in, on
roof and road, in little flakes that come down silently all
the night, and in the morning the branches bend, and the
doors are blocked, and the traffic on road and rail is
brought to a standstill.
There, again, is the favor of friends, the fear of what the
world will say, worldly interest, and the like. All these
will be set to work by the enemy of souls to blind the
understanding, that it may not see the truth and to avert
the will from embracing it. Nothing but a particular
grace from heaven can enlighten the mind to perceive the
light of truth through such clouds of darkness, and to
strengthen the will with courage to embrace it, in spite of
all these difficulties. It is, without doubt, the will of God,
that u all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge
of the truth " (1 Tim. ii, 4) ; but it is also the will of God
that, in order to come to this knowledge, men must seek it
with a sincere and upright heart, and this sincerity of heart
must show itself in their earnest desire to know the truth :
11 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for
they shall be filled." Hence they must labor diligently to
find out the truth, using every means in their power for
that purpose. Negligence of inquiry, and the evidences of
our faith, are great, and therefore the ignorance of many
must needs be highly sinful. Man's understanding was
given to him, to enable him to embrace holy and salutary
truths. Negligence in this is worthy of damnation j and
as everything tends easily to its natural end, so our
natural, intellectual virtue is nearer finding God than
it is finding his contrary, for God is always ready to aid
294 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
those who seek him with a good and honest heart : and
thus we find that to Cornelius, a Pagan, yet living relig
iously, and fearing God, St. Peter was sent to convert him
and all his family. God, says St. Thomas Aquinas, will
send an angel to a man ignorant of the Christian law, but
living up to his conscience, to instruct him in the Christian
religion, rather then let him perish through inculpable
ignorance.
There are laws to regulate man's will and affections, and
so there are also laws to fix limits to his understanding —
to determine what he should believe, and what he should
not believe ; and therefore ignorance is damnable, for men
ought to believe what they do not ; and they ought curi
ously to inquire what are these laws. Whereas, the
multitude run, with all their strength, to sin and death as
their end, and it is not strange that they should find it.
The first and great cause of all these errors is negligence
of inquiry ; and the second is, aversion to believe what;
ought to be believed of God, and a hatred for the things
that would enlighten and convert the soul. If men will
not heed either holy words or miracles, it is not strange
that they remain in error. They must study religion,
with a sincere desire to find out the truth. If they wish
to find out the truth, they must not appeal to the enemies
of truth. They must consult those who are well instructed
in their religion, and who practise it. They must consult
the priest. He will explain to them the true doctrine of
the Catholic Church. Moreover, sincerity of heart must
show itself in a firm resolution to embrace the truth
whenever it shall be found, and whatever it may cost the
seeker. He must prefer it before every worldly consider
ation, and be ready to forfeit everything in this life : the
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 295
affections of his friends, a comfortable home, temporal
goods, and prospects in business, rather than deprive his
soul of so great a treasure.
The New York Freeman's Journal, Sept. 2d, 1854,
contains the following notice on the late General Thomas
F. Carpenter. The words of this notice are written by
ex-Governor Laurence. The general, when about to
become a Catholic, made known his intention to a friend.
The friend, of course, was surprised. He instanced the
fearful results consequent upon a proceeding so unpopu
lar, the loss of professional practice, the alienation of
friends, the scoffs of the crowd, etc. "All such blessings,"
replied General Carpenter, " I can dispense with, all
such insults I can despise, but I cannot afford to lose my
immortal soul." The general spoke thus, because he
knew, and firmly believed, what Jesus Christ has solemnly
declared, to wit : " He who loveth father or mother more
than me, is not worthy of me j and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me, is not worthy of me " (Matt, x,
37) ; and as to the loss of temporal gain, he has answered :
" What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world,
and suffer the loss of his soul? " (Mark viii; 36.)
But would it not be enough for such a one to be a Cath
olic in heart only, without professing his religion publicly ?
No j for Jesus Christ has solemnly declared that " he
who shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him the
Son of man shall be ashamed when he shall come in his
majesty, and that of his Father, and of the holy angels."
(Luke ix, 26.)
But might not such a one safely put off being received
into the Church till the hour of death ?
This would be to abuse the mercy of God, and, in pun-
296 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
ishment for this sin, to lose the light and grace ot faith,
and die a reprobate. In order to obtain heaven, we must
be ready to sacrifice all, even our lives : u Fear ye not
them/7 says Christ, u that kill the body, and are not able
to kill the soul ; but rather fear him that can destrdy
both soul and body in hell." (Matt, x, 28.)
How often do we meet with men who tell us that they
would gladly become Catholics, but it is too hard to live
up to the laws and maxims of the Church ! They know
very well that, if they become Catholics, they must lead
honest and sober lives, they must be pure, they must
respect the holy sacrament of marriage, they must check
their sinful passions; and this they are unwilling to do:
" Men love darkness rather than light," says Jesus Christ,
"because their deeds are evil." Remember the well-
known proverb : u There are none so deaf as those that
will not hear."
They are kept back from embracing the faith, because
they know that the truths of our religion are at war with
their sinful inclinations. It is not surprising that these
inclinations should revolt against immolation. The pru
dence of the flesh understands and feels that it loses all,
if the truths of faith are listened to and taken for the
rule of conduct ; that it must renounce the unlawful enjf>y-
ments of life, must die to the world and to itself, and bear
the mortification of Jesus Christ in its body.
At the mere thought of this crucifixion of the flesh and
its concupiscence, imposed on every one who would belong
to the Saviour, the whole animal man is troubled. Self-
love suggests a thousand reasons to delay at least the sacri
fices that affright them. The prudence of the flesh, having
the ascendency, obscures the most simple truths, attracts and
CREED. 297
flatters the powers of the soul ; and when, afterward," faith
endeavors to interpose its authority, it finds the under
standing prejudiced, the will overcome or weakened, the
heart all earthly-minded ; and hard, indeed, is it for faith to
reduce the soul to its dominion. Those who listen to the
prudence of the flesh will never become Catholics.
Finally, those who seek the truth must show their
sincerity of heart in fervently and frequently praying to
God that they may find the truth, and the right way that
leads to it. Faith is not a mere natural gift ; it is not
an acquired virtue or habit j it is something altogether
supernatural. The right use of the natural faculties can,
indeed, prepare one to receive faith ; but true faith, — that
is, to believe, with an unwavering conviction, in the
existence of all those things which God has made known, —
is a supernatural gift, — a gift which no one can have of
himself; it is the free gift of God : " For by grace you are
saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the
gift of God." (Eph. ii, 8.) God is so great and good, that
we cannot merit and possess this good by anything we may
do. Now, it is by the gift of faith that we have in some
measure a glimpse of all that God is, and that consequently
we attach ourselves to this supreme good, and behold !
we are saved. We can say with David, in the trtiest sense,
that in enlightening us the Lord saves us : " The Lord
is my light, and my salvation." (Ps. xxvi, 1.) Hence it
is evident that this gift is a free gift of God, without the
least merit on our part. When this light or grace shines
upon the understanding, it enlightens the understanding;
so as to render it most certain of the truths which are
proposed to it. But this mere knowledge of the truth is
not as yet the full gift of faith. St. Paul says (Rom. i, 2)
298 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
that the heathens knew God, but they would not obey him,
and consequently their knowledge did not save them. You
may convince a man that the Catholic Church is the true
Church, but he will not, on that account, become a Catholic.
Our Saviour himself was known by many, and yet he
was followed only by few. Faith, then, is something more
than knowledge. Knowledge is the submission of the un
derstanding to truth ; but faith implies also the submission
of the will to the truth. It is for this reason that the light
or grace of faith must also move the will, because a good
will also belongs to faith, since no one can believe unless
he is willing to believe. It is for this reason that faith
is also rewarded by God, and infidelity punished : (t He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be condemned." (Mark xvi, 16.)
God will never refuse to bestow this gift of faith upo^n
those who seek the truth with a sincere heart, use their
best endeavors to find it, and sincerely pray for it with
confidence and perseverance. Witness Clovis, the heathen
King of the Franks. When he, together with his whole
army, was in the greatest danger of being defeated by
the Alemanni, he prayed as follows :
u Jesus Christ, thou of whom Clotilde (the king's
Christian wife) has often told me that thou art the Son of
the living God, and that thou givest aid to the hard-pressed,
and victory to those who trust in thee ! I humbly crave thy
powerful assistance. If thou grantest me the victory over
my enemies I will believe in thee, and be baptized in thy
name ; for I have called upon my gods in vain. They must
be impotent, as they cannot help those who serve them.
Now I invoke thee, desiring to believe in thee ; do, then,
deliver me from the hands of my adversaries ! "
CREED. 299
No sooner had he uttered this prayer than the Alemanni
were panic-stricken, took to flight, and soon after, seeing
their king slain, sued for peace. Thereupon Clovis blended
both nations, the Franks and the Alemanni, together,
returned home, and became a Christian.
Witness F. Thayer, an Anglican minister. When as
yet in great doubt and uncertainty about the truth of his
religion, he began to pray as follows :
" God of all goodness, almighty and eternal Father of
mercies, and Saviour of mankind ! I implore thee, by thy
sovereign goodness, to enlighten my mind, and to touch
my heart, that, by means of true faith, hope, and charity,
I may live and die in the true religion of Jesus Christ.
I confidently believe that, as there is but one God, there
can be but one faith, one religion, one only path to salva
tion ; and that every other path opposed thereto can lead
but to perdition. This path, 0 my God ! I anxiously seek
after, that I may follow it, and be saved. Therefore I
protest, before thy divine majesty, and I swear by all thy
divine attributes, that I will follow the religion which thou
shalt reveal to me as the true one, and will abandon, at
whatever cost, that wherein I shall have discovered errors
and falsehood. I confess that I do not deserve this favor
for the greatness of my sins, for which I am truly peni
tent, seeing they offend a God who is so good, so holy,
and so worthy of love ; but what I deserve not, I hope to
obtain from thine infinite mercy ; and I beseech thee to
grant it unto me through the merits of that precious blood
which was shed for us sinners by thine only Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, who livetli and reigneth, etc. Ame^n."
God was not slow to hear so sincere and fervent a
prayer, and Thayer became a Catholic. Let any one who
300 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
is as yet groping in the darkness of infidelity and error,
pray in the same manner, and the God of all light and
truth will bestow upon him the gift of faith in a high
degree. It is human to fall into error, devilish to' remain
in it, and angelical to rise from it, by embracing the truth
which leads to God, by whom it has been revealed and is
preserved in his Church.
20. Will all Catholics be saved?
No : those Catholics only will be saved who believe and
practise what the Church teaches.
We teach, indeed, and we firmly believe, that there is
no salvation out of the Catholic Church ; yet we do not
teach that all who are members of the Catholic Church
will be saved. Certainly in our cities and large towns,
nay, even in small villages of our great country, may be
found many so-called liberal or nominal Catholics, who are
no credit to their religion, to their spiritual mother, the
Church. Subjected as they were, in the land of their
birth, to the restraints imposed by Protestant or quasi-
Protestant governments, they feel, on coming here, that
they are loosed from all restraint ; and forgetting the
obedience that they owe to their pastors, to the prelates
whom the Holy Ghost has placed over them, they become
insubordinate, and live more like non-Catholics than
Catholics. The children of these are, to a great exteht?
shamefully neglected, and suffered to grow up without
sufficient moral and religious instruction, and to become
the recruits of our vicious population. This is certainly to
be deplored, but can easily be explained without prejudice
to the truth and holiness of the Catholic religion, by ad
verting to the condition to which those individuals were
reduced before coming to this country $ to their disap-
THE APOSTLES7 CREED. 301
pointments in a strange land ; to their exposure to new
and unlooked-for temptations'; to the fact that they were
by no means the best of Catholics, even in their native
countries ; to their poverty, destitution, ignorance, insuffi
cient culture, and a certain natural shiftlessness and reck
lessness, as well as to the great lack of Catholic schools,
churches, and fervent priests. As low and degraded as
this class of the Catholic population may be, they are
not so low as the' corresponding class of non -Catholics
in every nation j at the worst, there is always some germ
that, with proper care, may be nursed into life, that may
blossom and bear fruit. Their mother, the Church,
n^ver ceases to warn them to repent, and be cleansed
from their sins by the sacrament of penance. If they
do not heed the voice of their mother, but continue to live
in sin to the end of their lives, their condemnation will be
greater than that of those who were born to an inheri
tance of error, and whose minds have never been pene
trated by the light of truth : " That servant," says Jesus
Christ, "who knew the will of his Lord, and did not
according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
But he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes,
shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever
much is given, of him much shall be required j and to
whom they have committed much, of him they will demand
the more." (Luke xii, 47, 48.) " Woe to thee, Corozain,
woe to thee, Bethsaida j for if in Tyre and Sidon had been
wrought the mighty works that have been wrought in
you, they would have done penance long ago, sitting in
sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for
Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you j and thou,
Capharnaum, which art exalted unto heaven, thou shalt
302 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
be thrust down to hell." (Luke x, 13-15.) To know,
then, and to believe the Catholic doctrine, — the will of God,
— is one thing, and to live up to it is another. Hence, " Not
the hearers of the law are just before God, but the' doers
of the law shall be justified." (Rom. ii, 13.) Holy Scrip
ture compares the true faith, sometimes to a buckler, and
sometimes to a sword. The buckler protects him only
who covers himself with it j and a sword, to be useful to
repel an enemy, must be drawn from the scabbard. So
it is not mere faith, but its practice, which constitutes its
merit, and strength, and reward. The Gospel brought light
and death: light to those who practise it, and death to
those who neglect its practice. " From the days of John
the Baptist until now," says our Lord, " the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away."
(Matt, xi, 12.) The difference between the practical and
the lukewarm Christian is simply this : the latter regards
faith as a matter of fact, but without its consequences,
or practical part. He remembers, it is true, from time
to time, the great truths of religion : death, judgment,
heaven and hell ; but he remembers these and other truths,
and his duties, only in a superficial manner j he never
reflects seriously on them, and for this reason he is never
touched by them. No wonder if he continues to walk on
the broad road to hell, and is lost. But the practical
Christian always tries to walk on the narrow road to
heaven. He constantly meditates upon the sacred truths
of his religion. Everywhere he carries with him their
wholesome impression. The truths of faith animate him
in all the details of life. He has for his principle of action
the Holy Ghost. — the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It is no more
he who lives j it is Jesus Christ who lives in him. Accord-
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 303
ingly, he judges of the things of this world in the know
ledge which Jesus Christ has given us in their regard ;
that is, he judges of them even as Jesus Christ himself
judges of them. Hence it is that he fears only that which
faith teaches him to fear. He desires only those things
which faith tells him to wish for j he hopes only for that
which faith teaches him to hope for. He loves, or he
hates, or he despises, all that faith teaches him to love, or
to hate, or to despise. What does he say of the riches of
this world ? He says, with Jesus Christ : " Blessed are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven "
(Matt, v, 3) ; and, " Woe to you that are rich, for you
have your consolation." (Luke vi, 24.)
What does he say of the honors of this world ? He
says, with Jesus Christ : " Woe to you when men shall
bless you." (Luke vi, 26.)
What does he say of the wisdom of this world ? He
says, with St. Paul : " The wisdom of this world is foolish
ness with God." (1 Cor. iii, 19.) And with Jesus Christ,
he says : " Unless you become as little children, you
shall not enter the kingdom of heaven."
What judgment does he pass upon the pleasures of this
world ? He says, with Jesus Christ : " Woe to you that
now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep." (Luke vi, 25.)
" Watch ye, therefore, because you know not at what
hour the Lord will come." (Matt, xxiv, 42.)
What judgment does he pass upon old age ? With the
Holy Ghost, he says : " Venerable old age is not that of
long time, nor counted by the number of years, but a
spotless life is old age." (Wisd. iv, 8.)
What does he say of the trials, persecutions, and injus
tices of this world ? He says, with Jesus Christ : " Blessed
304 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
shall ye be when men shall hate you, and when they shall
separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your
name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Be glad in
that day and rejoice, for behold your reward is great in
. heaven." (Luke vi, 22.)
He watches and prays. He watches over his soul, that
no sinful thought may enter there j and should it enter
unawares, he casts it out instantly. He watches over his
heart, that no sinful affection may possess it. He watches
over his eyes, that they may not gaze on any pictures,
books or other objects, that could soil the purity of his
soul. He watches over his ears, that they may not
listen to any immodest words, or words of double meaning.
He watches over his tongue, and remembers that his
tongue has been sanctified in holy communion, by touching
the virginal flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. He watches
over his whole body ; for he knows that the body of the
good Christian is the temple of the Holy Ghost, conse
crated in baptism, and that he who desecrates a holy
temple is accursed of God. He is watchful day and
night, and avoids the occasions of sin, — those persons and
places which might be to him an occasion of sin.
He also prays often to Jesus. He knows that Jesus is
a jealous God, who commands us to call upon him, espe
cially in the hour of temptation, and to receive him often
in holy communion. He prays to Mary, the mother of
faith, the lovely standard-bearer of all the elect. The
very name of Mary is sweet balm to him, which heals and
fortifies the soul. The very thought of Mary's purity is
a check upon his passions — a fragrant rose that puts to
flight the foul spirit of uncleanness.
Thus he thinks, judges, and acts according to the truths
CREED. 305
of the Gospel, or the principles of Jesus Christ ; and it is
thus that he lives by faith, as St. Paul says. Faith is the
life of the just man. It is the life of his intellect, by the
truths which enlighten him ; it is the life of his heart, by
the sentiments of justice and holiness which it imparts ;
it is the life of his works, which it renders meritorious for
all eternity ; and this happy life is obtained and enjoyed
in the Church Militant of Christ alone — in the One Holy
Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, "which Christ so
took unto himself, as to make it a partaker of his own
divinity. He, therefore, who confesses in God this holy
Church is so united to Christ, as to be translated into the
whole glory of his divinity — the body being united to its
head; the Bride (Church) to her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ."
(St. Peter Chrysologus, Serm. 57, 58 and 60.
21. What do we believe when we say, I believe the holy
Catholic Church?
We believe : 1 , that the holy Catholic Church alone is the
true Church of Christ; 2, that she is infallible in her
teaching, and endless in her duration ; 3, that out of the
Catholic Church there is no salvation.
It is now nearly nineteen centuries since the Roman
Catholic Church was established by Christ. Ever since
that time she has been like a " city set upon a hill, which
cannot be hid." She can be seen by all. She can be
known to all by the marks of unity, holiness, Catholicity
and Apostolicity, which are indelibly stamped upon her.
She is " one body," living under one Head ; she is " one
sheepfold under one Shepherd ;" she is a kingdom under one
King j she is an ark or ship commanded by one Captain ;
she is built on an immovable rock, which is Peter : she
is possessed of the rights of Jesus Christ} she is the
306 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
infallible teacher of the doctrines of Jesus Christ j she
exercises the authority of Jesus Christ; she is the
faithful guardian of the spiritual treasures of Jesus
Christ ; she lives by the life and spirit of Jesus Christ ;
she is guided and protected by Jesus Christ ; she speaks,
she gives orders and commands, she makes concessions,
prohibitions, and definitions, she looses and binds, in the
name of Jesus Christ.
The Church is the salt of the earth, which preserves
the world from corruption 5 she is the guide of men, to
prevent them from falling into the pitfalls of Satan ; she
is the light of the world, to reveal to mankind the false
maxims which are gnawing at their lives, and the falla-
ices which are undermining their happiness j she is the
remedy for all ills, and the fountain of all blessings ; she
can never give up the work for which Jesus Christ has
established her ; she has Christ's promises : " I will give
you the spirit of faith;" "I will be with you always j "
" The gates of hell shall not prevail against thee ;" " What
soever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven ; " " He that heareth you heareth me ; " " If any
man will not hear the Church, let him be as the pagan
and a publican ; " " The Church is the pillar and founda
tion of the truth."
From the time of the apostles the true followers of
Christ have been called Catholics. The meaning of this
appellation has always been that they belonged to the
One Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church. The
term "Catholic'7 has always distinguished them from
every heretical sect. They were known by this term in
every part of the world. Within the few last years, how-
THE APOSTLES7 CREED. 307
ever, certain persons have arisen who are not satisfied
with the name of Catholic. Hence they call themselves
" Liberal Catholics." If asked in what they differ from
Catholics, they answer : " Our motto is : Catholic with
the pope, but liberal with the government."
Liberal Catholics falsely assert "that it is a mistake to
protect and foster religion ; because religion," they say?
u will flourish much better if left alone ; that the world has
entered a new phase, and has begun to run a new course,
and consequently the Church should accommodate herself
to the spirit of the age ; that religion has nothing to do with
politics ; that it has to do only with the private lives of
men ; that religion must keep inside the Church — that it
is meant for Sundays alone ; that we must be generous
in our religious feelings toward non-Catholics; that a
Catechism, therefore, in which every truth taught by the
Church is set forth in its full bearing, is not fit to be put
in the hands of our children, because it is calculated to
repel the children of non-Catholics, and alienate their
feelings, and to make religious fanatics of our good chil
dren," and the like. A Liberal Catholic, therefore, is a
compound of true and false principles. He has two
consciences : one for his public, and another for his private
life. The motto, "Catholic with the pope, but liberal
with the government," has for its basis the infidel doctrine
of the separation of the Church from the State j of the
spiritual from the temporal, — a doctrine condemned by
Pius IX, in the fifty-fifth proposition of the Syllabus.
This doctrine tends to put the State aboVe the Church, as
if the State were the omnipotent ruler of all things, the
teacher of truth, the fountain of right, the source of law,
and the interpreter of faith. In the eightieth proposition
308 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
of the Syllabus, all the false principles of Liberalism, of
progress, and of modern civilization, are declared to be
irreconcilable with the Catholic faith.
On the 18th of June, 1871, Pope Pius IX, in replying
to a French deputation headed by the Bishop of Nevers,
spoke as follows : " My children, my words must express
to you what I have in my heart. That which afflicts
your country, and prevents it from meriting the blessings
of God, is the mixture of principles : I will speak out,
and not hold my peace. That which I fear is not the
Commune of Paris, those miserable men, those real demons
of hell, roaming upon the face of the earth — no, not the
Commune of Paris ; that which I fear is Liberal Catholi
cism. ... I have said so more than forty times, and I repeat
it to you now, through the love that I bear you. The real
scourge of France is Liberal Catholicism, which endeavors
to unite two principles, as repugnant to each other as fire
and water. My children, I conjure you to abstain from
those doctrines which are destroying you. ... If this
error be not stopped, it will lead to the ruin of religion
and of France." In a brief, dated July 9, 1871, to Mgr.
Segur, the Holy Father says : " It is not only the infidel
sects who are conspiring against the Church and society
that the Holy See has often reproved, but also those men
who, granting that they act in good faith, and with upright
intentions, yet err in caressing liberal doctrines.77 On
July 28, 1873, his Holiness thus expressed himself: " The
members of the Catholic Society of Quimper certainly
run no risk of being turned away from their obedience to
the Apostolic See by the writings and efforts of the
declared enemies of the Church; but they may glide
down the incline of those so-called liberal opinions which
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 309
have been adopted by many Catholics, otherwise honest
and pious, who, by the influence of their religious char
acter, may easily exercise a powerful ascendency over
men, and lead them to very pernicious opinions. Tell,
therefore, the members of the Catholic Society that, on
the numerous occasions on which we have censured those
who hold liberal opinions, we did not mean those who
hate the Church, whom it would have been useless to
reprove, but those whom we have just described. Those
men preserve and foster the hidden poison of liberal
principles, which they sucked as the milk of their edu
cation, pretending that those principles are not infected
with malice, and cannot interfere with religion j so they
instil this poison into men's minds, and propagate the
germs of those perturbations by which the world has for
a long time been vexed."
A Liberal Catholic, then, is no true Catholic. The
*vord Catholic is no vain and empty word. To be a true
Catholic means to hold most firmly all those truths which
Christ and his apostles have taught, which the Catholic
Church has always proclaimed, which the saints have
professed, which the popes and councils have defined,
and which the Fathers and Doctors of the Church have
defended. He who denies but one of those truths, or
hesitates to receive one of them, is not a Catholic. He
claims to exercise the right of private judgment in regard
to the doctrine of Christ, and therefore he is a heretic.
The true Catholic knows and believes that there can be
no compromise between God and the devil, between truth
and error, between orthodox faith and heresy. St.
Stephen, the first martyr, was no compromiser. When
accused of being a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, he,
310 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
in his turn, accused his enemies of being the murderers
of Christ. All the holy martyrs of the Church were no
compromisers. Being charged by the heathens with the
folly of worshipping and following a crucified God, they, in
their turn, charged the heathens with the impiety of wor
shipping creatures, and following the devil. Why is our
Holy Father, Pope Pius IX, a prisoner ? It is because he
is not, and cannot be, a compromiser. Why are, at this
time, so many bishops and priests exiled or in prison ? It
is because they are no compromisers. Why is the Catholic
Church persecuted in Germany and other parts of the
world ? It is because God, by means of persecution,
purifies his Church from liberal or compromising Catholics.
And as there are so many liberal Catholics in this country,
persecution must come to separate them from the Church.
The good Catholic knows and understands that the
Catholic Church never has required, nor will require, a
particular form of civil government ; for she has lived with
the Venetian aristocracy, with the Swiss democracy, with
the mixed aristocracy and democracy of Genoa, with
the British and the United States constitutions, and
with many absolute monarchies. But he knows, at the
same time, that no form of government, no times and cir
cumstances, can change the doctrine and constitution of
the Church, because they are divine, immutable, and
everlasting. The good Catholic, therefore, is always in
readiness to obey, in all things, the true Spouse of Christ
our Lord, the holy Roman Catholic Church. The well-
instructed Catholic knows that between Jesus Christ and
his Spouse, the Church, there is but one and the same
Spirit, who governs and directs us all to our salvation, —
that same Spirit and Lord who one day gave the law on
THE APOSTLES' CREED.
311
Mount Sinai, and who now rules and governs the holy
Church. This firm adhesion to every truth of the Church
distinguishes the true Catholic from the Liberal Catholic, as
well as from all Protestants, from all schismatics, from all
heretics. When Protestants abandoned the Church, the
guardian of divine truth, they gave themselves up to hun
dreds of errors. Good Catholics, on the contrary, keep
ing, as they do, in the footsteps of the Church, and humbly
submitting to all her doctrines, retain within themselves
the principle of truth and of divine certainty. They feel
assured that what the Church orders, is ordered by Jesus
Christ 5 and that what the Church forbids, is also forbidden
by Jesus Christ.
The principle of heresy is the principle of rebellion
against the Church, and against every lawful authority on
earth, The principle of the Church, on the contrary, is
to be submissive to every lawful authority. The essential
principle of politics and of life is ardently to love the
Church, profoundly to revere the Church, unhesitatingly to
submit to the Church, and to be most closely united with
the Church. Our Lord asks of us no other submission ; he
requires of us no other faith than that which the Church
teaches. His will and his truth are made known in the
Church. As he and his Father are one, so also he and
his Church are one. No one can, in truth, call God his
Father, who does not look upon the Church as his mother.
In the Church alone there are certainty and security
against error. Around this Rock we beho'ld nothing but
raging tempests, nothing but disastrous shipwrecks, in
difference to religion, negation of all worship, the abomi
nation of atheism and immorality, derision of holy things,
a fanatic pietism, a delirious religiousness, rationalism, or
312 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
the denial of all revelation and of everything supernatural.
Every non-Catholic who earnestly seeks to learn what he
is to believe, every one who yearns to obtain certainty in
religious matters, must sooner or later turn to the, Church
as the only source of certainty, the only guardian of th<3
true religion, the only fountain of true peace and happiness
in life and in death.
There are many noble-hearted souls created by God for
a high purpose — to shine amid the angels throughout all
eternity. Their sensibilities are so keen, that they seem
born only to suffer and weep. Their path to heaven is,
indeed, a path of thorns. Their griefs and yearnings are
such that but few can understand them. God help these
noble souls if they are deprived of the strength and con
solations of the Catholic Church ! Out of the Church
they must bear their anguish alone. In the hour of happi
ness they were told that religion would console them in the-
hour of sorrow. And now the hour of sorrow has come
"Whither shall they turn for strength and consolation1?
To books — to the Bible ? Books are cold and wearisome ;
their words are dead. Oh ! how they envy the penitent
Magdalen, who could sit at the feet of Jesus, and hear from
his blessed lips the sweet words of pardon and peace!
They turn to God in prayer, but God answers them not by
the Urim and Thummim ; and, in their doubt and loneli
ness, they envy even the Jews of old. In vain do they listen
to the voice of God, because God has appointed a voice
to speak and answer in his name ; but that voice is only
within the shepherd's fold, the Roman Catholic Church j
and they are kept without the fold by cruel enemies,
where the voice of the shepherd cannot reach them.
How different it is with the faithful Catholic soul ! Try
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 313
to call to mind some virtuous friend of yours 5 try to imagine
one who is learned and pious, devoting his whole life, not
to the care of a family, but solely to the service of God ;
imagine such a one ever ready to aid you in your neces
sities, spiritual and even temporal, ever wise in giving
counsel, gentle in reproving, clear in teaching, and power
ful in word and deed 5 imagine that such a one were your
friend, — your intimate friend, — how great would be your
happiness !
Imagine, moreover, that this kind, trustworthy friend
is appointed by God himself to be your constant guide
and director ; imagine him bound by the most sacred
oath never to reveal, even by word or look, any
secret you may confide to him • imagine, moreover, that
this friend has received from God the power to forgive
every sin that you confess to him with true contrition, —
imagine all this, and you will have what every Catholic
has in the priest of his Church. The priest, invested as
he is by the Church with her divine powers, stands con
spicuous in the midst of his people. He has, however,
not Deceived his extraordinary powers for himself, he haa
received them for the benefit of the people ; he is to live,
not for himself, no, he is to live for the people ; he is the
companion of their hardships 5 he is the soother of their
afflictions, the guardian of their interests ; he is the
trustee of their hearts, the sentinel of their death-beds.
Hence the good Catholic is accustomed, even from his
childhood, to communicate to his confessor every trial and
temptation that disturbs his peace of heart. He goes to
his confessor for consolation in the hour of darkness and
sorrow ; he asks his advice when in doubt ; he consults
him in every important undertaking. Our Lord Jesus
314 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
Christ promised his beloved disciples that, though he would
quit the earth, yet he would not leave them i/m orphans" — he
would send them the Spirit of Truth to be their comforter.
Now this divine promise was ratified, and even in1 a great
measure fulfilled, when? on Easter-Sunday night, Jesus
appeared to his apostles, and gave them the Holy Ghost,
saying : " Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins
you forgive, they are forgiven them ; and whosesoever sins
you retain, they are retained." At that solemn moment
Jesus constituted his priests fathers of the faithful, from
whom they were to receive the spirit of grace and consola
tion, even to the end of time.
The same divine hand which poured such wonderful
affection into the heart of the mother, fills the heart of the
good priest with divine charity, and teaches him to adapt
his treatment to the spiritual wants of his penitent. The
priest feels for his penitent as an earthly father feels for
his child ; and as a spiritual father, he judges and decides
according as he thinks it is best for the eternal welfare of
the penitent.
To the faithful Catholic soul, the portals of the Cath
olic Church, his most tender mother, stand ever open.
Hither she may come as to a healing fountain, whose
waters ever flow. Here she may lave her burning brow j
here she may drink of the cooling stream, and allay the
feverish anguish of her soul. Here Jesus himself, the
dearest of friends, speaks to her by the mouth of him to
whom he has given the Holy Ghost, — the spirit of con
solation.
Mrs. Moore, a very intelligent lady of Edinton, North
Carolina, and a convert to our holy faith, said to her
Protestant children on her death-bed : " 0 my children !
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 315
there is such hope, such comfort in our holy religion !
When I was so near death, and believed I should never
see you again, my soul was filled with anguish. When
I thought I was so soon to meet my God, I feared ; but
when I had made my confession to his own commissioned
minister, and received absolution in the name of the Holy
Trinity, death was divested of every sting. Each day I
thank God more and more that he has given me grace to
break the ties that kept me from the Church. I have
never looked back with regret, and, in fact, I wonder why
I could ever have been anything but a Catholic."
Go to the sick-bed j draw near the bedside of that poor
wretch whom every one has forsaken ; ask him who is the
consoling angel that pours upon his weary heart the balm
of hope and consolation, and he will tell you it is the
Roman Catholic priest. About twenty years ago, when
the French troops were encamped around Gallipolis, the
cholera burst suddenly ^upon them. They were unpre
pared for that terrible visitor. Father Gloriot, S. J., was
alone in an army of ten thousand men. " I was obliged,"
says he, " to hear their confessions on my knees, and
stooping by their couches. Indeed, I learned then that,
to save souls for Jesus Christ, it is necessary to undergo,
with him, the double agony of mind and body. Yet my
greatest trial was my loneliness. I was alone ; I had not
had the consolation of confession for six weeks past j
everybody died around me, and, should I be taken sick,
there was none to assist me in my dying hour. But God,
in his mercy, preserved me, that I might attend to the
wants of souls so well prepared. The trials were certainly
great, but great were also the consolations. Whenever I
entered those places of desolation, I was hailed from all
316 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
parts — ( Chaplain, here ! come here to me ! Make haste
to reconcile me to God ! I have only a few moments to
live !? Some would press my hand to their hearts, and
say, with grateful feelings : i How lucky for us that you
are here ! Were you not with us, who would console us
in our last moments V '
Enter the dark and mouldy dungeon where the unhappy
prisoner pines away in weary captivity ; ask him who it
is that lightens his chains, and makes his prison walls look
less dreary, and he will tell you it is the priest of the
Catholic Church.
Go upon the scaffold where the wretched criminal is
about to expiate his crime. Who is it that stands at his
side, and strips death of its terrors ? It is again the
priest. With one hand the priest shows the dying man the
cross, the hope of the repentant sinner, and with the other
he points to heaven, that blessed home where the weary
find rest.
In 1851, a murder was committed near Paris, in France.
A captain, of the carabineers, an excellent officer, beloved
by all, going, as usual, the rounds of the stables, had
reprimanded one of the troopers whose conduct had riot
been very regular. The latter made no reply, but turned
away with apparently a calm countenance, and went up to
the mess-room. There he loaded one of his horse-pistols,
and, going back to the stable, approached his captain, and,
with a deadly aim, discharged the arm against the loins of
the officer.
The unfortunate man fell, weltering in blood. They
took him up, carried him to his room, and the sur
geons pronounced the wound mortal. In fact, the poor
captain breathed his last a few hours after, in the arms
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 317
of his old mother, in the midst of horrible sufferings,
endured heroically, and with sentiments of faith and charity
truly admirable. He had made his confession with great
piety, had received the blessed sacrament, and in imitation
of his divine Master praying on the cross for his crucifiers,
had pardoned his murderer, and begged for his pardon
with the most touching and pressing appeal.
The murderer had been arrested on the spot, and trans
ferred to the prison in Paris. There he was abandoned
by all, except by the priest. Two or three days after the
deed had been committed, the priest went to see the
trooper for the first time, in the cell of the military prison.
He encouraged him to hope in the mercy of God, and to
prepare himself for a good confession, and to accept death
in expiation for his crime. The poor criminal was touched
by the words of the priest, and said : "I have been the
victim of a moment of fury and insanity. It was a punish
ment from God, whom I had abandoned. Had I always
prayed as I do now, I should not have come to this pass.
My father said to me often : * Fear God, and pray to him j
he alone is good, all the rest are nothing !' But it is so hard
to do so at the regiment ; we are always surrounded by
young men who say nothing but what is bad." When he
heard that he was sentenced to death, he exclaimed :
" The sentence is just ; to appeal would be going against
the goodness of God. They would show me a mercy that
I do not wish for, because the punishment must be under
gone. I must atone for what I have done. My hopes are
no longer here below j I have only God now to look to.
He is now everything to me ; in him alone do I trust j I
feel quite calm : I feel no rebellion in my heart j I am
perfectly resigned to the will of God."
318 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
Now, what brought about that calmness, that happiness,
in this poor prisoner ? It was his sincere confession, which
the priest was kind enough to hear j it was holy com
munion, which the priest brought to him several times ;
in a word, it was the charity of the priest, who often went
to see him in his prison, in order to console him, and to
inspire him with great confidence in the mercy of God.
During the three hours and a half of the drive to the
place of execution, he never lost his calmness j God was
with him in the person of the priest, who accompanied him
to the Savory Plains, where he was to be shot. What a
touching spectacle, to behold, on a wagon, a tall man,
the culprit, followed by the priest of God ; to see how the
priest was even paler than the culprit ; and to see them
walking side by side, you would think that lie was the one
to be shot !
The expression of the culprit's countenance was great
calmness and resignation ; his eyes betrayed at once sor
row and hope. He seemed to pray with fervor. There
was no sadness in his looks ; there could even be seen the
reflection of a certain inward joy. He listened, with love
and deep attention, to the words addressed to him by the
minister of Jesus Christ. When the priest said to him,
" Our Lord is between us two ; my poor child, we are
always well when the good Saviour is with us," he
replied : " Oh, yes, my heart is perfectly h^ppy ! I did
not think I should tell you, but I feel as if I was g<iing to
a wedding. God has permitted all this for my good, to
save mv soul. I feel so much consoled, thinking that my
poor captain died a good Christian ! I am going to see
him : he is praying for me now. My God has saved me j
I feel that he will have mercy on me. He ascended
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 319
Calvary; carrying his cross; I accompany him. I shall
not resist whatever they wish to do with me — tie me, or
bandage my eyes. Ah ! the poor soldiers are lost because
they do not listen to you priests. Without you, without
religion, the whole world would be lost !"
When they drove by the barracks, where he had com
mitted the murder, he offered a prayer for his captain.
" I can't conceive how I could have done it ! I had no ill-
will against him ! Could the commission of a sin save me
from being shot, I would not do it : I think so now. I
have nothing to keep me here ; I am going to see God !"
When they had arrived at the place of execution, the
priest and the culprit alighted. An officer read the sen
tence. The culprit replied : " I acknowledge the justice
of my punishment, I am sorry for what I have done, I
beg of God to pardon me j I love him with all my heart ! "
Then he knelt j the priest gave him the crucifix to kiss,
for the last time. u My father," he said, with feeeling
expression, — " my father, I place my soul within vour
hands ; I unite my death with that of my Saviour, Jesus.
Farewell ! farewell ! " The priest embraced him once
more. Then, with his arms extended in the form of a
cross, the culprit inclined his head, and awaited his death.
The priest retired to pray at some distance. One minute
after, human justice had been satisfied, and the soul of the
unfortunate soldier, purified and transformed by religion,
had fled to the bosom of Him who pardons all to those who
repent. The priest resumed his place by him, and, with
tears in his eyes, prayed, on his knees, for the departed
soul of the unfortunate carabineer.
Go where you will, through all the miseries of this life,
and you will find that everywhere the consoling angel of
320 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
God, the father of the poor and friendless, is the priest of
the Catholic Church. He labors day and night, without
boasting, without praise, and often without any other
reward, in this life, than contempt and ingratitude., If a
dangerous disease breaks out in the parish, the priest does
not abandon the post of danger. The Catholic priest is no
coward, the Catholic priest is no hireling. Devbted and
fearless, he remains to encourage his flock, to give them
the last sacraments, and, if need be, even to die with
them.
A poor man is dying in his wretched hovel. In the
midst of the winter's night the priest hears a knock at his
door ; he is told that one of his flock requires his assist
ance. The bleak winter wind howls around him, the
chilling rain beats pitilessly in his face, yet he hurries on ;
there is a soul to save, there is a soul to aid in its fearful
death-struggle: that makes him forget everything else.
At last he enters the house of death j he enters the sick
man's room, though he knows that the very air of that
room is loaded with pestilence. He receives the last
whisper of the dying man j he breathes into his ear the
sweet words of pardon and of psace. He bends oVer the
sick man's infected body, and breathes the tainted breath
from his impoisoned lips. The priest is willing to risk his
own life, provided he can save the soul of his fellow-man.
During the Crimean War, the cholera raged in the
division of Herbillon. The soldiers became restless j
they looked gloomy, and spoke despondingly, because the
victims were many, and it was not the kind of death a
soldier likes. What troubled the soldiers most, was the
prevailing thought that the plague was communicated by
contact : and there was great dejection in camp. u What
CREED. 321
shall we do. Monsieur PAbbe VJ said the general to Father
Parabere. " Those boys look as if they were frightened."
" Oh, it is necessary to let that fear know that it has to
attack Frenchmen and Christians ! Leave it to me, general."
And the dauntless priest walked straight to the very quar
ters where the pest raged most furiously. A poor soldier was
in the last convulsions, and in the throes of his agony.
The heroic priest had still time left to console and to
absolve him, and then he closed his eyes. Then he called
all the comrades of the dead man around his couch, and
endeavored to persuade them that the scourge was not con
tagious j but as some of them shook their heads, he added,
il You will not believe me to-day, you shall to-morrow."
And just think of it, the brave priest lies down on the
same couch with the man dead of cholera, and prepares
himself to pass the night with that novel bedfellow !
Many hours passed away, and Pere Parabere, who certainly
had worked enough during the day to need rest, did not
quit his post until he was called to prepare another man
for death. On the morrow, the whole camp had heard of
it, and the soldiers, recovering from their fear, said to one
another, " There's a man who has no fear ! n
It is only a few years ago that a young Irish priest, then
in the first year of his mission in this country, received
what to him was literally the death-summons. He was
lying ill in bed when the "sick-call" reached his house,
the pastor of the district being absent. The poor young
priest did not hesitate a moment : no matter what the con
sequence to himself might be, the Catholic should not be
without the consolations of religion. To the dismay of
those who knew of his intention, and who remonstrated in
vain against what to them appeared to be an act of madness,
322 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
he started on his journey, a distance of thirty-six miles,
which he accomplished on foot, in the midst of incessant
rain. Ah ! who can tell how often he paused involuntarily
on that terrible march, or how he reeled and staggered as
he approached its termination ? Scarcely had he reached
the sick man's bed, and performed the functions of the
ministry, when he was conscious of his own approaching
death 5 and there being no brother priest to minister to
him in his last hour, he administered the viaticum to him
self, and instantly sank on the floor, a corpse.
How often does not the priest risk his health, his honor,
his life, and even his immortal soul, in order to help a
poor dying sinner ! How often is not the priest found on
the battle-field, whilst the bullets are whistling, and the
shells are shrieking around him ! How often is he not
found on his knees beside the dying soldier, hearing his last
confession, and whispering into his ear the sweet words of
pardon and peace ! How often must not the priest visit
the plague-stricken in the hospitals,' and in the wretched
hovels of the poor ! How often must he not remain, eVen
for hours, in a close room, beside those infected with the
most loathsome diseases ! When all else, when friends
and relatives, when the nearest and dearest have aban
doned the poor dying wretch, then it is that only the
priest of God can be found to assist him in his last and
fearful struggle.
Whilst St. Charles Borromeo was Bishop of Milan, there
broke out a fierce plague in that city. The priests of the
city generously offered their services. They entered the
houses of the plague-stricken, they heard their confessions,
and administered to them the last sacraments. Neither
the loathsome disease, nor the fear of certain death, could
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 323
appall them, and they all soon fell victims to their zeal.
Death swept them away, but their places were filled by
other generous priests, who hastened from the neighboring
towns, and, in a short time, one thousand eight hundred
priests fell victims to their charity.
And not in Italy alone, in every clime beneath the
sun, the Catholic priest has proved the earnestness of
his charity, by the generous sacrifice of his life. I need
only mention the sufferings and heroism of the Catholic
priests of Ireland, during the long and bloody persecutions
that have afflicted that ill-fated country. The Catholic
priests of Ireland were outlawed ; they were commanded
to quit the country j the^ were hunted down like wolves.
But, for all that, they did not abandon their poor
suffering children. They laid aside their rich vest
ments, they laid aside their priestly dress, and disguised
themselves in the poorest and most humble attire. Their
churches were burned down and desecrated ; but then
the cabins of their persecuted countrymen were opened
to them. And the Catholic priest shared in the poverty
and the sorrows of his poor children. He followed
them into the forest j he descended with them into
the caves. Often in some lonely hut, in the midst of a
dreary bog, or amid the wild fastnesses of the rugged
mountains, the priest could be found kneeling at the bed
side of a poor dying father or mother, whilst pale and
starving children were weeping around. There you
could find the Catholic priest hearing the last confession
of that poor soul, aiding her in her death-struggle, and
reciting the touching prayers of the Church, by the dim
flickering of a poor rushlight. The Catholic priest did
not abandon his poor, persecuted flock, even though he
324 THE NINTH ARTICLE OP
knew that a price was set on his head, though he knew
that spies and informers were in search of him, though
he knew that well-trained blood-hounds were sent out to
track him. The Catholic priest did not forsake his
children, though he knew that if he were taken the rack
and the gibbet awaited him. He suffered not only poverty
and sorrows with his poor flock, but he often underwent
the most cruel death ; for, whenever a priest was found in
the country, the tender mercy of the tyrant had decreed
that he was to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
Would to God I could take you to the Martyr's Room
in Paris, where priests, loving their God and their neigh
bors, are incessantly preparing themselves to go to preach
the Gospel, suffer and die for the faith, among the Pagans !
Would to God you could see there that sacred army,
filled with generous soldiers of Jesus Christ, who aspire to
the pacific conquest of infidel realms ; who burn with the
hopes of shedding their blood on the battle-fields of faith,
sacrifice, and martyrdom ; who very often attain, after a
life of labors, toils, and torments, the ensanguined crown,
which has been the goal of their life-long aspirations ! t
When they have attained it, when their heads have fallen
under a Pagan's sword, their vestments, their hallowed
bones, the instruments of their martyrdom, are reverently
gathered by the Christians of the lands where they have
been martyred, and sent to Paris ; and the hall where all
these precious relics are gathered is called the Martyr's
Room. The sight alone of this sanctuary, fresh with the
blood of those lovers of Jesus Christ, is the most eloquent ot
sermons on the priest's charity toward the people. Bones
and skeletons, and skulls of martyred priests, enclosed in
glass cases j instruments of martyrdom j paintings repre-
THE APOSTLES' CREED. 325
senting insufferable torments 5 iron chains which tortured
the limbs of the confessors of faith ; ropes which strangled
them ; crucifixes crimsoned with the blood of those who
impressed on them their last kiss of love ; garments, en
sanguined linen : — oh ! what a sight ! Great God, what a
lesson !
Here a huge cangue, which rested for six long months
on the shoulders of Bishop Borie j there a mat clogged
with the blood of John Baptist Cornay, who upon it was
beheaded and quartered, like the animal that is butchered.
Near by, a painting describing the horrible torment of
the blessed Marchant, whom the executioners chopped all
alive, from head to foot, until he died of suffering and
exhaustion ; everywhere, in every corner, the image of the
good priest dying for the love of God and of his brethren,
and of the fiend in human shape crucifying, with an in
defatigable hatred, our Lord Jesus Christ in the person of
his priests.
If you wish to know what the Catholic priest has done,
go ask the winds, that have heard his sighs and his
prayers ; ask the earth, that has drunk in his tears and
his blood ; go ask the ocean, that has witnessed his death-
struggle, whilst speeding on an errand of mercy ! Go to
the dreary shores of the icy North, go to the burning sands
of the distant South, and the bleached and scattered bones
of the Catholic priest will tell you how earnestly he has
labored for the welfare of his fellow-men.
If the many happy souls that have died in the arms,
died with the blessing, of the priest, could appear before
you at this moment, they would describe to you, in glow
ing language, the great benefits they have derived from
the Catholic priest. They would say to you : " We were
326 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF
weak and helpless, but the consoling words of the priest
gave us strength. We trembled at the thought of God's
judgments, but the blessing and absolution of the priest
gave us a supernatural courage. We were tormented by
the assaults of the devil, but the power of the priest put
the Evil One to flight. We were heart-broken at the
thought of bidding a long farewell to wife and children,
to the nearest and dearest, but the priest turned our
weeping eyes toward a happier home, where there is no
parting, -no weeping, no mourning, any more ! And even
when our soul had left the body, when our friends were
shedding fruitless tears over the cold corpse, even then the
priest of God still followed us with his prayers ; he com
mended us to the mercy of God ; he called upon the angels
and saints to come to our aid, to present us before the throne
of God. Ah ! now we understand, indeed, that whose
soever sins the priest forgives on earth, they are truly for
given them in heaven."
The priest has enemies. He knows it, but he does not
complain. The world, too, hated and persecuted his
divine Master. But the priest opens his lips only to pray
for them; he raises his hand only to bless them. He
remembers the words of Jesus : u I say to you, love
your enemies, do good to those that hate you, bless those
that curse you, and pray for those that persecute and calum
niate you;" and, like his divine Master, the priest says :
" Father, forgive them."
During the French Revolution, a wicked monster who
had often dyed his hands in the blood of priests, fell dan
gerously ill. He had sworn that no priest should ever
set his foot in his house, and that, if any dared to enter,
he should never leave it alive. A priest heard of his illness j
CREED. 327
lie heard, too, of the impious vow he had made. But he
heeded it not. The good shepherd must be ready to lay
down his life for his sheep. As soon as this wicked monster
saw the priest standing before him, he flew into a rage :
tl What ! " cried he, a a priest in my house ! Bring me
my pistols." Then the dying ruffian raised his brawny arm,
and shook it threateningly at the priest. " See !" he cried,
with a horrible oath, " this arm has murdered twelve of
such as you."
" Not so, my good friend," answerd the priest, calmly,
"you murdered only eleven. The twelfth now stands
before you." Then baring his breast, he said : tl See here,
on my breast, the marks of your fury ! See here the scars
that your hand has made ! God has preserved my life,
that I might save your soul." With these words the priest
threw his arms around the neck of the dying murderer,
and, with tears in his eyes, conjured him, by the precious
blood of Jesus Christ, to have pity on his poor soul, and
make his peace with God.
Such is the Catholic priest. I tell the truth when I say
that he is indeed an angel of God, with the heart of a man j
and this angel of the Lord is found in the Roman Catholic
Church alone.
0 glorious Church of Rome ! whence Peter will forever
strengthen his brethren ! In thee there is neither Greek,
nor Barbarian, nor Scythian, nor Jew, nor Gentile ; in thy
bosom all are as one people. Thou art the mighty tree
which has been planted by the hand of Jesus Christ.
Every branch which is separated from that tree fades,
withers, dies, and is thrown into the fire. Thou art a most
tender mother. Whence is it that thy divine authority
should give such vain offence to so many unnatural chil-
328 THE NINTH ARTICLE OF THE APOSTLES7 CREED.
dren, make them rise up against thee, and see in tliee but
a stepmother ? Thou art the great city of refuge. In
thee alone are found true comfort, strength, and peace of
heart. Out of thee there is nothing but anguish and
black despair.
In this Church, where dwells the hidden God of love,
The good, and pure, and true die never;
On high they reign with God forever !
God speed the day when all division in religion shall
end ! God speed the hour when all men shall be united in
this one, true, enduring fold ; when the sceptre of the
Roman Catholic Church shall be extended benignly over
an obedient and rejoicing world ; and when all, upon be
ing asked, " What do we believe when we say, I believe
the holy Catholic Church?" will unanimously answer :
" We believe that the holy Catholic Church alone is the
true Church of Christ ; that she is infallible in her teaching,
and endless in her duration j and that out of the Catholic
Church there is no salvation " 1
CHAPTER VII.
A WORD TO EVERY CATHOLIC.
HOLT Scripture tells us that, when the holy man Tobias
considered the great benefits which God had bestowed
upon his family through the angel Raphael, he was seized
with fear j he was at a loss how to express his gratitude j
he and his family fell prostrate upon their faces for three
hours, thanking and blessing the Lord. He called his
son Tobias, and said to him : " What can we give to this
holy man that is come with thee ? " And the young
Tobias said to his father: "Father, what wages shall we
give him, or what can be worthy of his benefits ? He
conducted me, and brought 'me safe again ; he received
the money of Gabelus, he caused me to have my wife,
and he chased from her the evil spirit ; he gave joy to her
parents, myself he delivered from being devoured by the
fish j thee also he hath made to see the light of heaven, and
we are filled with all good things through him. What
can we give him sufficient for these things ? But I
beseech thee, my father, to desire him that he would
vouchsafe to accept of half of all the things that have
been brought." (Tobias, xii.) It is thus that this holy
family showed themselves thankful to God and his holy
angel for the divine blessings.
Now you have seen that the priest is, for you, the true
angel of God j you have seen that his dignity is far more
330 A WORD TO EVERY CATHOLIC.
sublime than that of the angel Kaphael ; you have seen
tha-t the priest's powers far surpass those of all the angels
of heaven ; that his offices are of greater importance to
you than those of the angels : that the benefits which
God bestows upon you, through the hands of the priest,
far surpass those which he bsstows through his holy
angels ; you have seen that the Catholic priest lives not;
for himself, but exclusively for you j that he is invested
with the most extraordinary powers, not for his benefit,
but for yours ; in a word, you have seen that God has
given you, in the priest, all the goods and blessings of
heaven and earth. What fitting thanks can you, then,
offer to the Almighty ? Ah ! if the Lord had only once
shown you but one single mark of affection, even then
you would be under infinite obligations to him, and he
would deserve an infinite thanksgiving from you; inas
much as that affection is the gift and favor of an infinite
God. But since you daily receive, through the priest,
blessings of God, infinite in number and greatness, what
should then be your thanksgivings to God and his angel,
the priest ? With Tobias you should say : " What shall
we give to this holy man ? What can be worthy of his
benefits?'-' Were you, in imitation of Tobias, to offer
to God and his priest one-half of all your goods, it would
be a poor return for the divine blessings. Believe me,
you will never be able, in this world, fully to understand
what God has given to you in the priest, and what you
should be to the priest ; you will understand it only in the
world to come. But let me beseech you to believe, at
least, what you cannot understand. And if you live up
to this belief, you will listen to our Lord when he speaks
of the priest, and says : " He that receiveth you receiveth
A WORD TO EVERY CATHDLIC. 331
me ; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."
(Matt, x, 41.) Our divine Saviour spoke these words to
his apostles, and to all his priests in general, to encourage
them in establishing on earth his kingdom, the Catholic
Church. You know very well that, in order to establish,
and keep established, the holy Church, the priests have to
announce the Gospel truths ; they have to administer the
sacraments. But this is not enough : they have also to
build churches, or keep the old ones, and everything that
belongs to them, in good condition and repair j they have
to erect and to support Catholic schools, hospitals, and
orphan asylums. They are the ministers of God, and, as
such, they are charged with the honor of his worship, and
the care of his sacred temples. They are, moreover, the
almoners of the poor, and the fathers of the needy.
How, think you, can poor priests meet all the expenses
that they must necessarily incur in the exercise of the
sacred ministry 1 Only put yourselves a day or two in
the place of your priests ; take care of all the poor of
the place ; assist all the needy that come to your door, or
that modestly hide their poverty from every one but the
priest of God. Try to support Catholic schools, colleges,
hospitals, orphan asylums. Build new churches, or keep
old ones in good condition. Do all this, and more, and you
will find out what the difficulties and crosses, the troubles
and hardships, of the priests are in this country. You
will find out that it requires heroic virtue, angelic
patience, and superhuman courage in the priests, to
comply with their duties toward God and men.
Jesus Christ knew full well all the difficulties which his
poor priests had to encounter. But he encourages them ;
he says to them : " He that receiveth you receiveth me j and
332 A WORD TO EVERY CATHOLIC.
he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that
receiveth a prophet n (a priest) " shall receive the reward
of a prophet " (of a priest). Jesus Christ made the salva
tion of the people dependent on the priest, and he made,
also, the priest dependent on the people for his support, and
other expenses which he has to incur in the exercise of
the sacred ministry. It is by this mutual dependence
that our divine Saviour keeps the priests united with the
people. The devil, the cursed spirit of discord, has often
tried to break up this sacred union between Catholic
nations and their clergy. He has succeeded in many
countries by means of Protestant governments, but he
never could succeed in one country, — in the country of
the glorious St. Patrick, in Ireland. There the govern
ment of England offered, some years ago, to support the
Catholic clergy. Had this offer been accepted, the Cath
olic priests of Ireland would have become dependent on
the English government ; and that close union and warm
love, that deep-rooted respect and esteem, which, for so
many centuries, have existed between the Irish Catholics
and their priests, would soon have fallen a prey to the
devilish trick of the government. But, thanks be to God,
and to the foresight and wisdom of the Irish clergy ! the
devil and his colleague, the English government, met, in
this instance, as in many others, with a cold reception —
with a flat refusal.
Jesus Christ has given to his priests ever so many
reasons to keep up mutual love between themselves and
the people. Priests, no doubt, will do all in their power
to establish and to preserve this love. But Jesus Christ
wishes also that the people should preserve this mutual
love between themselves and the clergy. To obtain this
A WORD TO EVERT CATHOLIC. 33,3
object, they are commanded to support and assist the
clergy • but in order to make them observe this command
ment joyfully, Jesus Christ holds out to the people a most
powerful inducement. He says to every Catholic : "If
you receive my priest, you receive me j and by receiving
me, you receive my heavenly Father." In other words,
Jesus Christ says that, by supporting and assisting the
priests, you support and assist your divine Saviour himself,
who looks upon all the difficulties of his priests as his own,
because they are his representatives on earth.
Moreover, in order to make Catholics cling to their
priests, and keep them closely united with them, Jesus
Christ promises them an immense reward. He says : " He
that receiveth a prophet " (a priest) " shall receive the
reward of a prophet.'7 Our divine Saviour has attached
great blessings to the charity which is shown to the least
of his brethren on earth : "Amen I say to you, as long as
you did it to one of these, my least brethren, you did it to
me.'7 (Matt, xxv, 40.) By saying, " To the least of these,
my brethren,77 Jesus Christ gives us to understand that
there is another class of his brethren who are great in his
sight, and whom he loves most tenderly. Now, if God
bestows such great blessings upon those who are charitable
to the least of the brethren of Jesus Christ, how much more
abundantly will he not bestow his blessings upon those who
are charitable to his great friends ! The Holy Ghost calls
our particular attention to this great truth when he says, in-
holy Scripture : " If thou do good, know to whom thou
doest it, and there shall be much thanks for thy good
deeds. Do good to the just, and thou shalt find great
recompense ; and if not of him, assuredly of the Lord.7'
(Ecclus. xii, 1, 2.) To the just, especially to those who
334 A WORD TO EVERY CATHOLIC.
are eminently just, may be applied what the angel of
the Lord said of John the Baptist, namely, that " he was
great before God." (Luke i, 15.) The reason of this is,
because Jesus Christ lives in the just by his grace : "I
live, now not I," says St. Paul, " but Christ liveth in me."
(Gal. ii, 20.) Hence, whatever is given to a just man, is
given to Christ himself in a more special manner. To
show this in reality, Christ has often appsaredin the form
and clothing of a poor man, and as such begged and
received alms. This happened to John the Deacon, as is
related in his life by St. Gregory. The same saint relates
also (Horn. 39, in Evang.) that Jesus Christ, in the form
of a leper, appeared to a certain charitable monk, named
Marty rius, who carried him on his shoulders. The same
happened to St. Christopher, and also to St. Martin, Bishop
of Tours. When St. Martin was still a s6ldier, and
receiving instruction for admission into the Catholic Church,
he gave one-half of his mantle to a poor man j the follow
ing night Jesus Christ appeared to him, wearing this
mantle, and said to the angels who surrounded him :
" Behold ! this is Martin who gave me this mantle !"
Once St. Catharine of Sienna gave to a poor beggar
the silver cross she wore, having nothing else about her
to give. During the night Christ appeared to her, and
said that, on the day of judgment, he would show that
cross to the whole world in proof of her charity. God,
then, rewards liberally those who are charitable to the
least of his brethren ; but he rewards far more liberally all
those who are charitable to his friends, — to the just : " He
that receiveth a just man," says Jesus Christ, u in the
name of a just man (that is, because he is a just man, a
friend of God), shall receive the reward of a just man.'7
A WORD TO EVERY CATHOLIC. 335
But what will be the reward of all those who liberally
and joyfully support and aid the priests, — the ministers arid
true representatives of God, — through whose ministry men
are made just and holy ? To understand this, I must make
here a very important remark, to which I call your special
attention, namely : that there are degrees in this well-do
ing. The more just a man is, both for himself and others 5
the more souls he leads to justice, to holiness of life, the
greater will be his reward, and consequently the greater,
also, will be the reward of him who assists such a just man :
" They that instruct many to justice, shall shine as stars
for all eternity.'7 (Dan. xii, 3.) To whom can these words
of holy Scripture be applied more truly than to fervent
pastors of souls and missionary priests ? They devote
their whole life to the salvation of souls. Now, there is '
nothing more pleasing in the sight of God than laboring
for the salvation of souls : " We cannot offer any sacrifice
to God," says St. Gregory, " which is equal to that of the
zeal for the salvation of souls." " This zeal and labor
for the salvation of men," says St. John Chrysostom, " is
of so great a merit before God, that to give up all our
goods to the poor, or to spend our whole life in the exercise
of all sorts of austerities, cannot equal the merit of this
labor. This merit of laboring in the vineyard of the Lord
is something far greater than the working of miracles. To
be employed in this blessed labor is even more pleasing
to the Divine Majesty than to suffer martydom." If, then,
in the opinion of the Fathers of the Church, and of all the
saints, there can be no greater honor and no greater merit
than that of working for the salvation of souls, we must
also say that there can be no work of corporal mercy more
honorable and more meritorious than that of giving chari-
336 A WORD TO EVERY CATHOLIC.
table aid to the pastors of souls, to missionary priests, and
to persons consecrated to God. To such as give this aid
may be applied the words of the prophet : " They shall
shine as stars for all eternity." " The charity which you
bestow," says Aristotle (Ethic., lib. i, c. 3), "will be so
much the more divine, the more it tends to the common
welfare." But what kind of charity is tending more to the
common welfare than that which is bestowed upon such
apostolic laborers as spend their life exclusively in labor
ing for the salvation of souls ? Now this charity is divine
in a most eminent degree, and consequently it makes all
those divine who bestow it. They shall, without doubt,
shine as the stars, nay, even as the sun, throughout all
eternity : " Then the just shall shine as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father " (Matt, xiii, 43) j and this glory
and happiness of theirs in heaven will be in proportion to
the zeal and fervor with which they have continued to
furnish charitable aid to Jesus Christ in the persons of the
ministers of the holy Catholic Church : " He that receiveth
a prophet, shall have the reward of a prophet." He
who receives a prophet, says our Lord, that is, he who
gives charitable aid to a priest, will receive the reward of
a priest. The reason of this is, because, by his charitable
aid, he contributes toward the spreading of the Gospel j
and therefore, as he thus shares in the labor and in the
merits of the Gospel, he must also share in the reward
promised to the true minister of God. Should you aid a
man in performing sinful actions, you would become ac
cessory to his sins. So, in like manner, by assisting the
priests of God in performing good works for the salvation
and sanctification of souls, you share in all their good works
— in their merits and in their rewards. " A willow-tree,"
A WORD TO EVERT CATHOLIC. 337
says St. Gregory, " bears no fruit j but supporting, as it
does, the vine together with its grapes, it makes these its
own, by sustaining what is not its own." (Horn. 20, in
Evang.) In like manner, he who supports the priest makes
his own all those good works which are performed by the
priest j that is to say, he preaches through the priest, he
hears confessions through him, he converts sinners through
him, he consoles the sick through him, he encourages the
desperate through him, he confirms the just in their good
resolutions through him ; in a word, he sanctifies the
world through the priest, and is, through him, the cause
that the most precious blood of Jesus Christ is not shed in
vain ; and he gladdens, through him, the angels and saints
in heaven, and especially the Sacred Hearts of Jesus Christ
and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
On this account, St. Ignatius, in his Epistle to the
Smyrnians, rightly concludes, from the above sentence of
Christ on the last day, that he who honors a prisoner of
Christ will receive the reward of the martyrs j because
by honoring such a prisoner, he encourages him to suffei
martyrdom. For this reason, many Christians formerly
merited the grace of martyrdom, because they encouraged,
fed, served, and buried the martyrs. In like manner, we
lawfully infer, from the above sentence of Christ, that
those who receive and aid the priests of the Church, the
pastors of souls, will receive the reward of pastors of souls,
on condition, however, that the assistance which they give
is offered with a cheerful heart. When God, in his bounty,
vouchsafes to call you to cooperate in any of his works,
he does not employ soldiers, or taxgatherers, or con
stables, to collect the impost — he accepts from you only
a voluntary assistance. The Master of the universe
338 A WORD TO EVERY CATHOLIC.
repudiates constraint, for lie is the God of free souls ; he
does not consent to receive anything which is not spon
taneous, and offered with a cheerful heart. •
To conclude. The Catholic priest is the priest of the
Lord of heaven and earth : it is impossible for you to
conceive a higher dignity. The Catholic priest is the
plenipotentiary of God : it is impossible for you to conceive
a greater power. The Catholic priest is the minister of
God : it is impossible for you to conceive an office more
sublime and more important. The Catholic priest is the
representative of God : it is impossible for you to conceive
a higher commission. The Catholic priest is the vicegerent
of God : it is impossible for you to conceive a higher
merit. The Catholic priest is the treasurer of God : it is
impossible for you to conceive a greater benefactor of man
kind, a man worthier of your love and veneration, of your
charity and liberality.
May you, therefore, always receive the priest as the
Galatians received St. Paul the Apostle : " You despised
me not," writes this great apostle to the Galatians, " you did
not reject me, but you received me as an angel of God,
even as Christ Jesus. I bear you witness that, if it could be
done, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and
would have given them to me." (Gal. iv? 14, 15.)
THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The First Enemy: Heathenism ....-«- 1
CHAPTER n.
The Second Enemy: Heresy ..».'...- 12
CHAPTER TTT,
The Third Enemy: Freemasonry -••---. 16
§ 1. The Object of Freemasonry- ...«.» 16
§ 2. Lies of Freemasons .....•••22
§ 3. Ceremonies of one of the Degrees of Masonry - 33
§ 4. Another Specimen of Masonic Oath - • • - 65
§ 5. How the Oath is administered ------ 68
§ 6. The Obligations of the Masonic Oath ----- 68
§ 7. Address to the People of the State of New York 101
§ 8. Resolutions passed by the Antimasonic Convention - - 115
^ 9. Proceedings of the Adjourned Convention of Seceding
Masons ---------- 117
§ 10. The Prolific Mother of Freemasons: Protestantism - - 122
§ 11. The Masonic Hammer ....... 129
§ 12. Two Classes of Masons -.---. - - 136
§ 13. Success of the Masonic Hammer • • • 140
§ 14. Secret Societies excommunicated by the Church - • - 163
§ 15. The Church cannot be destroyed • • 168
§ 16. The Church cannot be, destroyed. (Continued.) • • •_ 183
CHAPTER IV.
How the Persecutors of the Church die k - - - • • 195
CHAPTER I.
THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH.
J. THE FIRST ENEMY OF THE CHURCH : HEATHENISM.
THE story is told of a Western-bound train, flying along
with lightning speed : the time was shortly after sunset.
Suddenly a crash was heard : the train stopped. u What
is the matter?" the passengers asked one another. A
huge owl, dazzled by the glare, had struck against the
reflector in front of the engine, shivered the glass, and
tried to extinguish the light, and a great bull had set its
head against the engine, to stop the train. The lamp
was rekindled, the engine sped on, but the stupid owl and
the obstinate bull were cast aside, dead, and left to rot,
and be devoured by wild beasts. An Irishman, on seeing
them, exclaimed: UI admire your courage, but condemn
your judgment."
This train may be likened to the holy Catholic Church,
speeding on, on her heaven-sent mission, to lead men to
heaven by the light of her holy doctrine. The foolish
owl, the enemy of light and the friend of darkness, repre
sents Lucifer, who, as the foe of God, and of the light of
God's holy religion, has always been endeavoring to
extinguish the light of the true religion. The bull re
presents the kings and emperors, the heretics and members
of secret societies, whom Lucifer uses to stop? if possible,
y THE FIRST ENEMY OF THE CHUECH !
the progress of the ^Catholic Church, the bearer of the
light of faith. Although it is hard, in a certain sense, not
to admire the courage of Lucifer's agents, yet we .cannot
but condemn their judgment, their folly and wickedness,
in opposing the work of God, and bringing down upo^i
themselves the everlasting curse of the Almighty.
Satan has, indeed, been engaged, from the beginning of
the world, in doing all in his power to entice men away
from God, and to be himself worshipped, instead of the
Creator. The introduction, establishment, persistence,
and power of the various cruel, revolting superstitions of
the ancient heathen world, or of pagan nations in modern
times, are nothing but the work of the deVil. They reveal
a more than human power. God permitted Satan to
operate upon man's morbid nature, as a deserved punish
ment upon the Gentiles for their hatred of truth, and their
apostasy from the primitive religion of the holy patriarchs
and prophets. Men, left to themselves, to human nature
alone, however low they might be prone to descend, never
could descend so low as to worship wood and stone, four-
footed beasts, and creeping things. To do this needs
Satanic delusion.
Our Divine Saviour, Jesus Christ, came to break the
power of the devil over mankind 5 he came to banish
idolatry, the worship of the devil, from among men, and
lead them back to the worship and service of his heavenly
Father by his holy example and divine doctrine. But no
sooner had he begun to teach men his saving doctrine,
than Satan opposed him. Satan is called, in Holy Scrip
ture, the father of lies. From the beginning of the world
he has tried to misrepresent every religious truth. He
practised this black art in paradise j and so unhappily
HEATHENISM. 3
successful was he in it, that ever since he has practised it,
in order to propagate error and vice among men. When
our Saviour began to preach his holy religion, Satan
practised his black art, even in the presence of Christ
himself. By malicious men, the ministers of Satan, Christ
was contradicted and misrepresented in his doctrine ; for,
instead of being believed, he was held up to the people as
a blasphemer, for teaching that he was the Son of God, as
the impious Caiphas declared him to be, saying, " He hath
blasphemed ; he is guilty of death." (Matt, xxvi, 65.)
He was misrepresented in his reputation, for he was noble,
of royal lineage, and yet was despised. " Is not this the
carpenter's son?" (Matt, xiii, 55.) He is wisdom itself,
and was represented as an ignorant man : u How doth this
man know letters, having never learned ? " (John vii, 17.)
He was* represented as a false prophet: u And they blind
folded him, and smote his face . . . saying : Prophesy
who is this that struck thee?" (Luke xxii, 64.) He
was represented as a madman : " He is mad, why hear
you him 1 " (John x, 20.) He was represented as a wine-
bibber, a glutton, and a friend of sinners : u Behold a man
that is a glutton and a drinker of wine, a friend of publi
cans and sinners." (Luke vii, 34.) He was represented
as a sorcerer : " By the prince of the devils he casteth out
devils." (Matt, ix, 34.) He was represented as a heretic
and possessed person : " Do we not say well of thee, that
thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? " (John viii, 48.)
In a word, Jesus was represented to the people as so bad
and notorious a man, that no trial was deemed necessary
to condemn him, as the Jews said to Pilate : "If he were
not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to
thee." (John xviii, 30.) If ever infamous calumny was
4 THE FIRST ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
earned to excess, it was undoubtedly in the case of our
Saviour, " who knew not sin," who had never uttered a
deceitful word, who " did all things well," and who " passed
his life in doing good, and healing all kinds of infirmities."
The reason why those malicious men misrepresented Christ
to the multitude, reporting light to be darkness, and God
to be the devil, was, that thus they might frighten the
people from embracing the truth and following the Son of
God. Christ permitted Satan's ministers to calumniate
him in the worst manner, and to condemn him to the in
famous death of the cross. They saw him die upon the
cross ; they saw him buried, and thought that his doctrine
would soon be forgotten. Their, malice seemed to have
triumphed over Christ : and a triumph indeed there was —
but not for them — for Christ and his Church.
When winter buries nature in its icy tomb, it seems to
celebrate a triumph over the beauty of nature. But,
whilst nature sleeps in that tomb the silent, dreary sleep
of death, gentle spring watches, and waits, and weeps, till
at last a glad smile shines through her tears j and soon her
tears are dried, for the grave is burst asunder, and nature
rises and lives again, strong, and bright, arid beautiful.
Thus, too, did the holy Church, the Spouse of Christ,
kneel beside the tomb of her heavenly Bridegroom. Bear
ing on her brow his royal seal, and in her hands his gifts
of power, she watched beside his grave, and prayed, and
wept. But soon her tears were dried, for Jesus rose, and
lived again, strong, and bright, and beautiful, and her
heart was filled with joy, and she was endowed anew with
treasures of immortal life. Our Divine Saviour said, un
less the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
shall remain alone, it shall bear no fruit j but, if it die,
HEATHENISM. 5
then it shall bear fruit a hundred-fold. Such, he seems to
say, is the brief history of my life on earth ; such is the
history of my Spouse, — my holy Church. Such, too, is
the history of my faithful followers, in every age and in
every clime. Always slandered, hated, persecuted, yet
always victorious; always dying, yet ever living; cruci
fied, buried in the grave, yet rising gloriously ; triumphing
over death and hell, and bearing fruit a hundred-fold unto
life everlasting. I was hated, persecuted, and put to
death, because I taught truth, and public and private
morality. My Church teaches the same. But Satan con
stantly tempts the wicked to rebel against the truth, and
therefore is she assailed, in every age, by the enemies of
truth. Knowing this, I have declared that the lot of my
followers in this world would for ever be one of persecu
tion ; that wicked men would rise up in every age, thinking
that to persecute and oppress God's people was to do God's
work.
" Beware of men. For they will deliver you up in
councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues.
And you shall be brought before governors and before
kings, for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the
Gentiles. The brother shall deliver up the brother to
death, and the father the son ; and the children shall rise
up against their parents, and shall put them to death, and
you shall be hated by all men, for my name's sake ; but he
that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved."
(Matt, x, 17-22.) "If you had been of the world, the
world would love its own ; but because you are not of the
world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember iny
word that I said to you : The servant is not greater than
his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also
6 THE FIRST ENEMY OF THE CHURCH :
persecute you." (John xv, 19, 20.) "Yea, the hour
cometh that, whosoever killeth you, will think that he
doth a service to God." (John xvi, 2.) " And I say to you:
Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that
have no more that they can do. But fear ye him who,
after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea,
I say to you, fear him." (Luke xii, 4, 5.)
This prediction of our Lord has always come, and always
will come, true. But, as Christ predicted the persecutions
of his followers, so also did he foretell that they would
conquer, as he conquered. The life of Christ was a
transition from the deepest suffering to the loftiest triumph
and glory. The Church, whose life is that of Christ,
passes constantly from suffering to glory, and from glory
back again to suffering, until at last her final triumph
will come, when suffering shall be no more. Persecutions,
therefore, though they must come, must end, and end in
the triumph of the Church.
No sooner had the apostles begun to announce the
Gospel, than they met with the same treatment which
their Divine Master had received. The people were
stirred up against St. Stephen by misrepresentation, be
cause they were told that " he had spoken blasphemous
words against Moses and against God." (Acts vi, 11.) They
were also stirred up against St. Paul, because they were told
that he was " a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition
amongst all the Jews throughout the world." (Acts xxiv, 5.)
Neither did those calumnies, those wicked misrepresenta
tions, stop here. Jesus Christ said : " The disciple is not
above the master ; if they have called the master of the
house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of
the household ? " (Matt, x, 24.)
HEATHENISM. 7
In these words our Lord not only foretold what was to
happea to his followers then present, but also to the
faithful who were to come after them, and to his Church iu
future ages ; so that, though they should be ever so just
to God and their neighbor, upright in their ways, and
live in the fear of God and the observance of his laws,
yet must they be reviled and hated by the world, made
a byword to the people, have the repute of seducers,
and be a scandal to all nations. Has not this come true
in all ages? See what was the state of Christians in the
primitive times. Their lives were holy and pure, and
yet it is almost impossible to believe in what contempt
they were held. Tertullian tells us that, so malicious
were the slanders scattered abroad concerning the
manner of their worship, — their whole religion being
described not only to be mere folly and foppery, but also
to be grounded on most hellish principles, and full of
impieties, — the heathens believed a man could not make
profession of Christianity without being tainted with
all sorts of crimes, without being an enemy to princes,
to the laws, to good manners, and to nature itself. Thus
the Christian religion was made wholly infamous amongst
the heathens, was condemned and detested by the
greater part, and most bloody persecutions were raised
against the Christians, whilst they were guilty of no other
crime than that of adhering to the truth. And those
calumnies, those false accusations, were invented to cry
down the Christian religion. Hence Tertullian was driven
to write his " Apology," wherein he showed to the world
that Christianity was nothing like what the heathens
imagined it to be ; that idolatry, superstition, impiety,
cruelty, treachery, conspiracy, arid all other crimes against
8 THE FIEST ENEMY OF THE CHURCH.
nature and grace, were condemned and reprobated by
their doctrine. He showed that these crimes were only
the malicious inventions and reports of the heathen
priests, who, being unable to withstand the force of
the Christian religion, had no other way to preserve them
selves in repute, and keep the people in their error, than
by a hideous mask, an abominable scheme of religion,
which holding forth to the world, they cried out : u This
is the religion of Christians 5 these are their principles j
behold their ignorance, their stupidity, their profaneness ;
behold their insolence, their villanies, — a people insuffer
able in a commonwealth, enemies to their country and
their prince ! 7? Thus, representing the Christian religion
as utterly monstrous, they brought odium upon as many
as owned the Christian name, and condemned them for
follies and crimes that existed nowhere, except in their
wicked imagination. Edicts breathing destruction against
the Christians, and those who believed in their doctrine,
were published, Christians were seized, executioners were
fatigued with the work of death, and the most barbarous
tortures were devised, to banish Christianity from the
face of the earth. Torments, which only hell could have
inspired, were employed to strike terror into the hearts of
the Christians. They were nailed to the cross, they were
thrown to wild beasts, they were besmeared with pitch,
tied to stakes, and then set on fire, to light up the streets
of pagan Rome. But their courage rose with their suffer
ings. With a holy enthusiasm they showed themselves
before the tyrants, and boldly confessed the name of Je'sus ;
mothers caught up their little babes from the cradle, and,
)earing them in their arms before the heathen judgos,
they cried aloud, u We are Christians, we will die for
HEATHENISM. 9
Christ." The bridegroom and the bride put on their
festal robes, and hastened together to the scene of death.
United in heart, united in faith, they wished to be united
also in death, and to enter together to the marriage feast
of the Lamb.
Manly warriors cast aside their arms, and gave their
lives for Christ. Tender, noble virgins hastened joyfully
to die for their bridegroom, Jesus. So great was the havoc
wrought by these early persecutions among the children
of the Church, that her martyrs alone amount to thirty
thousand for every day in the year, — martyrs whose blood,
as a holy pontiff remarks, was like the chosen seed,
which perishes only to produce fruits a hundred-fold.
The Church was crushed. Her tyrant oppressors re
joiced that she was annihilated. But the virgin was not
dead, she was only sleeping. The grain of wheat was cast
into the ground ; it was dead, apparently, but it soon took
root, rose again, fresh and vigorous, and brought forth fruit
a hundred-fold. The blood of the martyrs became the
seed of new Christians ; the pagan tyrant cut down a
single blade of wheat, and a hundred others sprung up in
its stead ; and where Christianity seemed utterly destroyed,
there it soon celebrated a glorious triumph.
The Catholic Church arose from the grave 5 she came
forth from the catacombs, strong and beautiful as ever,
wearing on her brow the diadem of a spiritual empire,
that shall never fail till the very elements dissolve and
disappear. She spoke, and at her heavenly voice the
Jew laid aside his national pride, and embraced the Gen
tile as a brother, lie gave up his fond hope of an earthly
Messiah and an earthly kingdom, and bent the knee before
that very Jesus whom he had crucified. The Greek
10 THE FIRST ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
abandoned his halls, his academies, and his worldly wis
dom, to become the disciple of the fishermen of Galilee, and
to learn from them how to be "a fool" for Christ's sake.
The Roman turned his back upon the Capitol, and received,
with the docility of 11 child, the doctrine of humility and
peace to all men. The heathen rejected his false gods, —
the gods he had inherited from his forefathers, that allowed
him to gratify every selfish desire of his heart j he em
braced the religion of the cross, — the religion of purity, of
self-denial, of unbounded charity. The cross, the sym
bol of Christ's kingdom, soon rose triumphantly over the
cities of Antioch and Alexandria. The cross towered
above Athens, the proud seat of worldly wisdom. The
cross shone brightly over sensual Corinth j and the prince
of the apostles bore the cross to Rome, and planted it
beside the throne of the Caesars. Proud Rome, so long
drunk with the blood of the martyrs, at length bowed her
haughty neck to the sweet yoke of Jesus, and the Roman
Csesars laid down their glittering crown and sceptre, as
an humble offering, at the foot of the cross.
Christianity spread with all the swiftness of divine
truth. It soon passed beyond the uttermost ends of the
far-extended Roman empire, so that Tertullian could say,
with truth, that nearly all the nations of the then known
world were united in one religion, — the religion of the
cross.
Constantine the Great fought, before the walls of Rome,
the battle which was to decide for ever the fate of pagan
ism. Constantine knew that his enemy, Maxentius, was far
superior in numbers, and he felt that no graven image of
stone or wood could help him in his hour of need. He,
therefore, turned his heart to the living and mighty God.
HEATHENISM. 11
He called upon the God of the Christians, of whose
charity and goodness he had heard so much ; and God
rewarded his confidence, and granted his prayer. A
blazing cross appeared in the heavens, surrounded by
the inscription, En touto nika : tl In this sign thou shalt
conquer." Constantine obeyed the voice of God. He
struck off the Roman eagle, and raised, in its stead, the
holy cross. As the morning sun arose, its rays fell upon
the golden eagle, the symbol of pagan Rome, but, opposed
to it, glittered, for the first time, the cross, — the standard
of victory ; and before that day's sun had set, paganism
was vanquished, Christianity triumphant, and Constan
tine bore the blazing cross, in triumph, through the open
gates of Rome, to plant it upon the Capitol of the Csesars.
Thus the Roman persecutions ended in the crushing of
the blind owl and bull, — the pagan power, — and the sup
planting of it by a Christian empire.
CHAPTER II.
II. THE SECOND ENEMY OF THE CHURCH : HERESY.
ONE enemy is overcome, but the Church is doomed
still to suffer, still to triumph. She has escaped from
open enemies ; she must now suffer from false friends, —
from apostate Catholics. Arius denied the divinity of
Christ ; Macedonius, the divinity of the Holy Ghost j
Nestorius refused to the Blessed Virgin the title of the
Mother of God ; Pelagius denied the necessity of divine
grace : heretic after heretic came to strike a deadly blow
at the Church. They often succeeded in gaining the
favor of monarchs, under whose protection they most
barbarously persecuted the faithful. They took up the
calumnies which had been invented by the heathens.
No one ever left the Church without trying to make her
infamous, and blacken her with such crimes as were best
calculated to make her hateful to all. To justify their
apostasy from the faith, and gain to themselves the
character of orthodox Christians, apostates have invariably
painted the Church in all possible antichristian colors,
and represented her as evil as wickedness could desire to
make her.
St. Augustine tells us that the Manichees and Donatists
did all in their power to raise prejudices in the minds of
the people against the Roman Catholic Church. They
THE SECOND ENEMY OF THE CHURCH : HERESY. 13
told men that the teaching of the Church was unsound
and profane doctrine, that it was full of wicked principles
and human inventions, instead of divine faith : and all
these calumnies were spread abroad among the people, in
order that they might not think of going to the Church to
learn the truth, or even suspect her to be the Church of
Christ. " The chief reason," says St. Augustine, a why
I continued to live so long in the errors of the Manichees,
and impugned the Catholic Church with so much violence,
was, because I thought that all I had heard against the
Church was true. But when I found out that it was all
false, I made known this falsehood to the world, in order
to undeceive others who were caught in the same snare.
I mingled joys and blushes, and was ashamed that I had
now for so many years been barking and railing, not
against the Catholic faith, but only against the fictions of
my carnal conceits. For, so rash and impious was I, that
those things which I might first have learned from Cath
olics by inquiry, I charged upon them by accusation. I
was readier to impose falsehood than to be informed of
the truth." This he did, deluded and deceived by the
Manichees. Alas! this has not been the case of St.
Augustine alone, but of almost as many as have given ear
to the deserters of this Church j nay, it is at this very
day the case of infinite numbers of Protestants and infidels,
who, following St. Augustine in his errors, do not inquire
how this thing is believed or understood by the Church,
but insultingly oppose all, as if understood as they imagine.
They make no difference between that which the Catholic
Church teaches, and what they think she teaches. Thus
they believe her guilty of as many absurdities, follies, and
impieties, as the heathens did of old.
14 THE SECOND ENEMY OF THE CHUECH :
But, as the Almighty rules and shapes every seeming
disaster to the good of his Church, every heresy broached
by the pride or infidelity of men brought out defenders
of the truth. Against Arianism God raised up Athanasius
. and St. Hilary of Poictiers ; to oppose the Nestorians, came
St. Cyril ; St. Augustine beat down the Pelagians. In the
noble works which the fathers of the early centuries of
Christianity wrote to defend the doctrines of the Church
against their assailants, they unanimously lay down this
clear principle, that " such doctrine is truly Catholic as has
been believed in all places, at all times, and by all the
faithful." By this test of universality, antiquity, and
consent, the Church tries, especially in her general coun
cils, all questions concerning faith and morals, condemns
and rejects all variations from this belief, and thus always
triumphs over heresy and infidelity. The popes convoked
several general councils : at Nice, 325, at Ephesus, 431,
and at other place and times, wherein the doctrines of
the Arians, Nestorians, and other heretics, were solemnly
condemned and rejected. Each sucessive heresy lasted
only for a time. The Nestorians, the Eutychians, and
others, have long since been forgotten. Their creeds were
the work of man, and as such they were mortal. Tho truth
of the Catholic Church triumphed over them all.
Like the vast and universal arch of heaven, the Church
over-canopies alike all Christian climes and ages j and, like
that arch, she is one, unbroken, wheresoever she appears.
Sectarian systems are the dark and shifting vapors that
obscure the surface of the heavens ; and their ever-vary
ing masses are drifted into numberless fantistic forms by
every passing gale, "by every wind of doctrine," as St.
Paul expresses it. Cloud of heresy after c'oud of heresy
HERESY. 15
has fallen in rain, or disappeared in the boundless fields
of ether, — u they were and are not," — whilst other vapors
occupy their place as fleeting and as unsubstantial f but
the arch still stands, for the sacred word of everlasting truth
is pledged for its perpetual stability.
Yes, the Church still stands. She speeds on, on her
heaven-sent mission, conquering and to conquer. Having
triumphed over two great enemies, heathenism and heresy,
she has now to win another triumph, — the triumph over
secret societies.
CHAPTER III.
III. THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHUECH I FEEEMASONEY.
§ 1. — The Object of Freemasonry.
THE state of irreligion and infidelity in which the
greater part of mankind are plunged at the present day,
is but the work of Satan.. How could men, without Satanic
delusion, be impious enough to make liars of Jesus Christ,
of the Holy Ghost, of the apostles ; to blaspheme the
Mother of God, and God's saints •, to slander the Spouse
of Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic Church, in every
possible manner j nay, even to deny the existence of
Almighty God? They could not fall so low, without
diabolical influence. And the great bull which Satan has
raised to destroy, if possible, the Catholic Church, and to
introduce heathenism again in her stead, is Freemasonry.
In the year 1440, the Gnostic sects, the Manicheans,
the Cabalists, and the Brethren of John, united and formed
the present Order of Freemasonry. They bound them
selves to wage war against the Church of Christ, which
was making such extraordinary progress, and to maintain
and restore heathenism. The Freemasons maintain that
the ancient heathen church, with its symbols and mys
teries, is the primitive church of mankind ; that the
Mosaic religion, the religion of Jehovah, was (inly a local
and national modification of this heathen church ; and,
consequently, that Christ is only a rebel against the true
Church of God,
THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I FREEMASONRY. 17
The most hidden, the fundamental, secret of the ancient
heathen church was the utter denial of the existence of
God and of the spirit-world, and the assertion of the
grossest materialism j so that man, being the most cunning
f of creatures, should rule the animals, that the most cun
ning man should rule his fellow-men, and, by religious
superstitions, and knavery, and force, should at last
become the God of his fellow-men. The object of
Freemasonry, then, is to restore the ancient Church of
heathenism j to elevate heathenism to a universal politico-
religious power, and to require and establish a com
munity of goods.
To attain this object, society must be remodelled j that
is, be broken to pieces, and then put together again,
according to Masonic ideas and principles. Hence the
entire symbolism of Freemasonry is taken from architec
ture. To destroy an old building properly, you tear down
one piece after the other. In like manner, the new build
ing is erected piece by piece. This is precisely the
manner of acting of our modern Freemasons.
The Grand Master has the hammer 9 in order to pre
pare the rising generation slowly by laws which exclude
religion from, schools, or demand compulsory education,
forcing the children to go to these schools, under pretence
of the evils of ignorance, but, in reality, to bring them up
without religion ; to destroy the family, by making them
simply the children and slaves of the State, to be taken
from their parents, fed, clothed, schooled, and utterly
possessed by the State. They, therefore, condemn Catholic
and religious schools, tax church property, schools, asy
lums, hospitals, and similar institutions, thus trying to
undermine gradually and to destroy every vestige of
18 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
Christianity, and to erect, in its stead, a universal politico-
religious heathen church, possessing a complete commun
ity of goods. Hence the Grand Master has also the sword.
When all things are ripe, war must be declared 'against
the Catholic Church. Therefore, Freemasons keep secret
the object and true history of their order, until they are
strong enough to be sure of success, Then will they
throw off the mask, and creep forth from the slime and
darkness. Indeed their leaders have declared their inten
tion often enough already, on the eve of revolutions which
they thought would succeed in bringing about the object
of their desires, and their final triumph in the world.
Hence the Warden, called Brother Truth, of the Knights
Adepts of the Eagle or Sun, says to the candidate :
u If you ask me what are the requisite qualities that
a Mason must be possessed of, to come to the centre of
truth, I answer you, that you must crush the head of the
serpent of ignorance. You must shake off the yoke of
infant prejudice concerning the mysteries of the reigning
religion, which worship has been imaginary, and only
founded on the spirit of pride, which envies to command,
and be distinguished, and to be at the head of the vulgar ;
in affecting an exterior purity, which characterizes a
false piety, joined to a desire of acquiring that which is
not its own, and is always the subject of this exterior
pride, and the unalterable source of many disorders ; which,
being joined to gluttonness, is the daughter of hypocrisy,
and employs every matter to satisfy carnal desires, and
raises to these predominant passions altars, upo'n which
she maintains, without ceasing, the light of iniquity, and
sacrifices continually offerings of luxury, voluptuousness,
hatred, envy, and perjury. Behold, my dear brother,
FKEEMASONRY. 19
what you must fight against and destroy, before you can
come to the knowledge of the true good and sovereign
happiness ! Behold this monster which you must conquer,
— a serpent which we detest as an idol, that is adored by
the idiot and vulgar, under the name of Religion. Here
the Christian beholds Christ rejected, himself charged
with the basest crimes, condemned as an idiot, his wor
ship imaginary, his religion founded on the spirit of pride,
the daughter of hypocrisy, a serpent, a monster, an idol,
detested by Masonry." (From li Light on Masonry,"
published by David Bernard, 1829.)
" There is," says Pius VII, " no necessity for conjec
tures, nor even for argument, to arrive at the judgment
which we have enunciated (against secret societies). Their
printed books, which describe the observances practised
at the meetings of their higher grades ; their catechisms,
their statutes, and the other authentic documents of a
very grave character j the testimony of their own mem-
bers, who have left the society and revealed to the magis
trates all their errors and frauds, — all these prove that
the Carbonari (which term comprises all the secret
societies) have for their principal end to bring about an
indifference in matters of religion, and to induce every one
to exercise a license in framing for himself a religion by
his own genius, and consisting of his own opinions — the
most pernicious error which it is possible to conceive — to
profane and pollute the passion of Jesus Christ by certain
wicked ceremonies of their own ; to cast contempt on the
sacraments of the Church and the mysteries of the Catholic
religion, by substituting for them (most horrible sacrilege ! )
other new ones, invented by themselves ; and to overturn
this Apostolic See, against which; because of the primacy
20 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
which, as St. Augustine says, it has always possessed,
they entertain a peculiar hatred, and contrive the most
baneful and pernicious plots.
" Nor are the moral precepts taught by the Society of
the Carbonari (as shown by the same documents) less
nefarious, although they vaunt themselves, with a most
confident air, that they exact from their followers the
practice of charity, and of every kind of virtue, and a care
ful abstinence from every species of vice. That society,
then, impudently encourages lustful pleasures, and teaches
that it is lawful to kill those who have violated the secret
o^th which we have mentioned above. And, although
Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, commanded that Chris
tians should be subject, for God's sake, to every man,
whether to the king, as supreme, or to rulers, as appointed
by him, etc. ; and although the Apostle Paul enjoins that
( every soul should be subject to the higher powers/ etc.,
yet that society teaches that it is right to excite seditions,
and thus to hurl from power kings and all other rulers,
whom they dare, over and over again, to call by the insult
ing name of tyrants. ...
"It must not be imagined that all these evils, and many
others also, which we have not mentioned, are falsely and
calumniously attributed to these clandestine sects. The
books which their members have dared to write about
religion and about the State, show us that they spurn the
authority of religion and of political rulers ; that they
blaspheme majesty ; that they are never tired of calling
Christ ' a scandal J or a ' folly ;' nay, they not unfre-
quently assert that there is no God, and that the soul of
a man dies, and comes to nothing with his body. Their
documents and statutes, in which they explain their pur-
FREEMASONRY. 21
poses and give minutes of their meetings for consultation,
clearly prove all that we have mentioned of their endeavors
to overturn legitimate rulers and entirely destroy the
Church, and avow that all such attempts which have
occurred in the world have proceeded from them. More
over, from these sources it is proved, beyond doubt, that
all the clandestine sects, although they differ in name, are
yet intimately connected in the bond of their most impious
counsels." (" Ecdesiam a Jesu Christo" September 13,
1821.)
What Pius VII has said of secret societies, is confirmed
by Pius IX in his Allocution, addressed to the Cardinals
of the Holy Roman Church, March 12, 1877. He says:
tl The seventh year is already upon us since the in
vaders of our civil principality, riding roughshod over
every right, human and divine, breaking faith in solemn
compacts, and taking advantage of the misfortunes of an
illustrious Catholic nation, by violence and force of arms
occupied the provinces still remaining in our power, tak
ing possession of this Holy City, and, by this act of
sovereign iniquity, overwhelming the entire Church with
grief and mourning. The false and worthless promises
which, in those woful days, they made to foreign govern
ments concerning our dearest interests, by declaring that
they desired to pay homage and honor to the freedom
of the Church, and that they intended that the power of
the Roman Pontiff should remain free and unabridged. —
these promises did not succeed in beguiling us into vain
hopes, and did not prevent us, from that very moment,
from fully realizing all the tribulations and afflictions that
awaited us under their dominion. On the contrary, fully
aware of the impious designs entertained by men who are
22 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
leagued together by a fondness for modern innovations,
and by a criminal oath, we at once openly proclaimed that
this sacrilegious invasion was not intended so much to
oppress our civil principality as it was to undermine, all
the more readily, through the oppression of our temporal
power, all the institutions of the Church, to overthrow the
authority of the Holy See, and to utterly destroy the
power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, which, all unworthy
as we are, we exercise here on earth. "
§ 2. — Lies of Freemasons.
In order to conceal the real object of the order, not
only from the profane world, but also from eleven out of
twelve Freemasons, — for it takes a great deal of wicked
ness and hardness of heart in a man not to be shocked at
such declarations as the one quoted above, — they tell the
following lies :
First. Freemasonry does not meddle in politics or re
ligion : it is a purely benevolent society.
Second. Freemasonry is strictly loyal, and obeys the
laws of the State.
This is proved. :
1. By the statutes of the order.
2. By the number of kings and princes who deem it
an honor to be members and protectors of the order.
3. The accusations against Masonry are false and
unfounded.
These are all infamous lies. As to the statutes of the
order, it is true that the Freemasons have statutes for
kings and princes, as well as for the lower grades and the
outer world, — statutes which are all very innocent and
beautiful j but it is also true that they have statutes of
FREEMASONRY. 23
another kind for the confidential brethren. In fact every
member is bound by a terrible oath, and under penalty
of death, not to reveal to outsiders, or to the government,
the real object and the real plans of the order. Did you
ever hear of a society of burglars that would disclose to
the authorities the real object and the real plans of their
society ?
Freemasons declare that their " public statutes are the
only ones,'7 and to these statutes the significant words are
added : " You must carefully observe all these obligations,
as well as those that shall be taught you in a manner that
cannot be described." (Eckert, p. 20, " Mystcrien Gesell-
schaften der Heidenkirche. ") It is, moreover, a notorious
fact that, in every degree of Freemasonry, a new oath is
required ; in nearly every degree a new object of Free
masonry is taught, and the object and obligation of the
preceding grade are declared to be but a pious fraud.
The order existed for centuries before, its pretended
object was made public. It was only at Wilhelmsbad that
the object of the order was declared to be, " benevolence,
in a Masonic sense." The object of Freemasonry is to
benefit mankind j therefore, whatever furthers the inter
ests of Freemasonry, furthers the interests of mankind.
"The object of Freemasonry is to heal all the evils in
society that flow from differences of nationality, differences
in the stations of life, and differences in religion. Nature
has made us all beings of one species, citizens of one
world, owners of one earth, and children of one mother,
and in this alone consider all our greatness." ("Wiener
Journal MSS. fur Brtider" Eckert, 21.)
" Freemasonry also acts the part of a friend, and strives,
with restless energy, to procure the welfare of a worthy
24 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHTOCH :
brother 5 and, if unable to help him herself, she uses all
the resources of her eloquence to induce the great and
pnwerful to promote the temporal welfare of her friends j
that is, to procure them lucrative offices in the govern
ment." (Eckert, 23.)
At first sight such principles seem to be true, and the
people in general will accept them. Experience teaches
that the public will accept, without question, almost any
maxim or problem, provided it be formulated in such a
manner as to convey some specific meaning that does not
demand reflection or complex examination. For the same
reason no small portion of the public will reject anything
that at first sight seems to exceed the measure of their
understanding. Knaves and charlatans, knowing this,
impose on the public, by flattering their intelligence, that
they may accomplish their own ambitious and selfish ends.
In this way it is that, by the Masonic teaching, a multi
tude of pernicious maxims have come into vogue, as well
in reference to religion, society, and politics, as also to the
object of Freemasonry. Their plea, that they want all
men to be virtuous, a to have faith in God, hope and
charity," and that they insist on the necessity "of temper
ance, fortitude," etc., will not serve. These virtues, in
Freemasonic theology, are all natural virtues, which reason
and Christian faith alike declare to be insufficient, without
the supernatural virtues, to work out the salvration of men's
souls, or to keep civil society in proper order. Free
masonry substitutes the natural virtue of philanthropy for
that of Christian charity. Consequently, it is opposed to
Christianity. It is always really, even if not positively,
hostile to the Church. It ignores her existence, and that
of revelation. It is also opposed to the law of nature, for
FREEMASONRY. 25
it substitutes a factitious fraternity for real brotherhood.
Thus, according to the Freemasonic code, a Freemason is
nearer to another Freemason than to his own wife or
child. This is contrary to nature.
What virtue can we expect in a man, or in a body of
men, without religion? Such men are, indeed, the slaves
of the most shameful passions. What virtue can those
have who believe that whatever they desire is lawful ; who
designate the most shameful crimes by the name of innocent
pleasures ? What virtue can those have who know no
other law than their passions j who believe that truth and
falsehood, vice and virtue, are all the same ? They may,
indeed, practise some natural virtues, but these virtues
are, in general, only exterior. They are practised merely
out of human respect : they do not come from the heart.
But the seat of true virtue is in the heart, and not in
the exterior : he that acts merely to please man, and not
to please God, has no real virtue.
What confidence can be placed in a man, or in a body
of men, who have no religion, and, consequently, no know
ledge of their duties? What confidence can we place in
men who never feel themselves bound by any obligation
of conscience, who have no higher motives to direct them
than their self-love, their own interests ? The pagan
Eoman, though enlightened only by reason, had yet virtue
enough to say, " I live, not for myself, but for the republic ;"
but the infidel's motto is : "I live only for myself; I care
for no one but myself." How can such a man reconcile
tl poverty and wealth," " labor and ease," u sickness and
health," " adversity and prosperity," " rich and poor,"
"obedience and authority," "liberty and law," etc., etc.!
All these are enigmas to him, or, if he affects to under
26 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
stand them at all, he thinks they arise from bad management
or bad government. He will be a tyrant or a slave, a
glutton or a miser, a fanatic or a libertine, a thief or a
highway robber, as circumstances may influence him. Can
we think that the common a fall-back'7 on the principle of
self-interest, well or ill understood, will ever restrain such
a one from doing any act of impulse or indulgence, provided
he thinks it can be safely done ? He will look on life as
a game of address or force, in which the best man is he
who carries off the prize.
He will look upon power as belonging, of right, to the
strongest ; the weak, or those who differ from him in
opinion, he will treat with contempt and cruelty, and wW
think that they have no rights which he is bound t
respect. In power, such a man will be arbitrary and cruel 5
out of power, he will be faithless, hypocritical, and sub
servient. Trust him with authority, he will abuse it j
trust him with money, he will steal it ; trust him with your
confidence, and he will betray it. Such a man, pagan and
unprincipled as he is, may, nevertheless, affect, when it
suits his purpose, great religious zeal and purity. He will
talk of philanthropy and the humanities, have great com
passion, perhaps, fora dray-horse, and give the cold
shoulder to the houseless pauper or orphan.
The heart of such a man is cold, insincere, destitute of
every tender chord for a tender vibration, of every particle
of right or just feeling or principle that can be touched j
on the contrary, it is roused to rage, revenge, and false
hood, if interfered with. How is such a heart to be touched
or moved, or placed under such influences as could move
it f Indeed, it would require a miracle. Nay, even a
miracle would fail to make a salutary impression upon
FREEMASONRY. 27
such a heart. A French infidel declared that, should he
be told that the most remarkable miracle was occurring
close by his house, he would not move a step out of his way
to see it. Pride never surrenders 5 it prefers rather to
take an illogical position, than to bow even to the authority
of reason. Furious, beside itself, and absurd, it revolts
against evidence. To all reasoning, to undeniable evi
dence, the infidel, — the man without religion, — opposes
his own will : " Such is my determination." It is sweet to
him to be stronger, single-handed, than common-sense,
stronger than miracles, stronger even than God, who mani
fests himself by them.
Such a man may be called civilized, but he is only an
accomplished barbarian. His head and hands are in
structed; his heart, and low passions, and appetites, are
unbridled and untamed.
Collot d'Herbois, a Freemason, played the most execra
ble part during the French Revolution. Having become
a representative of the people under the Reign of Terror,
he had the Lyonnese massacred in hundreds. The very
accomplices of his crimes regarded him as a man so
dangerous, that they thought it expedient to exclude him
from society, by banishing him to the deserts of Guiana.
Transported to that tropical country, he looked upon
himself as the most miserable of men. " I am punished,"
would he sometimes exclaim : " the abandonment in which
I find myself is a hell." Being attacked by a malignant
fever, he was to be taken to Cayenne. The negroes,
charged with this commission, threw him on the public
road, with his face turned to the scorching sun. They
said, in their own language : " We will not carry that
murderer of religion and of men." " What is the matter
28 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
with you ? " asked the doctor, Guysonf, when he arrived
"I have a burning fever and perspiration." "I believe
it: you are sweating crime." He called on God and the
Blessed Virgin to assist him. A soldier, to whom he had
preached irreligion, asked him why he invoked God and
the Bles&ed Virgin, — he who mocked them some months
before. "Ah! my friend/' said he, "my mouth then
belied my heart." He then cried out : " 0 my God, my
God ! can I yet hope for pardon ? Send me a consoler, send
me a priest, to turn mine eyes away from the furnace that
consumes me. My God, give me peace ! " The spectacle
of his last moments was so frightful, that no one could
remain near him. Whilst they were seeking a priest he
expired, on the 7th of June, 1796, his eyes half open,
his hands clenched, his mouth full of blood and froth. His
burial was so neglected, that the negro gravediggers only
half covered him, and his body became the food for swine
and birds of prey. (Debussi, Nouveau Mois de Marie, 251.)
Almost every word of the Masonic sect is a sophistical,
double-tongued falsehood. The words of Holy Scripture
apply to them : " Wo to them that are of a double heart,
and to the wicked lips and to the hands that do evil, and
to the sinner that goeth on the earth two ways. " (Ecclus.
ii, 14.) " The words of their mouth are iniquity and guile."
(Ps. xxxv, 4.) " Wo to the sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, a wicked seed : they have forsaken the
Lord. . . . They increase transgression. The whole head
is sick. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the
head, there is no soundness therein." (Isa. i, 4-6.) The
real secret and true business of the Order is never discussed
in the r.egular lodges, but in the private club-room, from
which even the kings and princes who are said to be
FREEMASONRY. 29
members and protectors of Freemasonry, are excluded :
only the confidential and trustworthy brethren are ad
mitted, and of what is discussed here, nothing is written.
Those kings and princes receive, indeed, high-sounding
titles, and whenever they visit the lodges, they hear only
what pleases and flatters them.
The secret writings of Freemasonry speak with the
utmost contempt and sarcasm of these " titles and honors."
" The Fundamental Constitution of Freemasonry," p. 300,
says : u If men of high rank wish to enter the society, they
must be received with the utmost respect, for such persons
often become good builders, who will not use strangers
when they can have true Masons. They also make the best
officials of the lodge, and the lodges may choose one of them
as Noble Grand Master. These brethren are likewise
subject to the rules and obligations, except such as belong
immediately to the working Masons" The meaning of
these words is plain enough. The Carbonari and the
Illuminati also made use of nobles and princes to be their
protectors and their tools.
The Freemasons say that they are strictly loyal, and
obey the laws of the State. This, again, is false. All power
is from God. Now God has established in the world only
two societies, which are independent and supreme, — the
civil and the ecclesiastical ; in other words, the Church
and the State. We say that these two societies are inde
pendent and supreme in their separate spheres, the natural,
of course, being subservient to the supernatural ; therefore
all other societies that claim for themselves an independent
existence — which are not subject, directly or indirectly,
to either of these powers established by God, or which
deny their authority or evade their control, must be? in
30 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH :
their nature, anomalous, unnatural, opposed to the order of
God's providence, unauthorized, and wrong. All societies
existing independently of the Church and the State, the
workings of which are not subject to the supervision and
control of the Church or the State, are secret societies,
and are condemned by the Catholic Church.
The wisdom of the Church is easily seen in this de
cision, which, at first sight, may appear harsh. For, in
the bosom of civil society, it cannot be good to have bodies
regularly and independently organized, and exercising
legislative, judicial, coercive, and executive power over
themselves and others. Such bodies are supreme and
independent societies, not in connection with, or in sub
ordination, but in opposition, to both the authority of the
State in the natural, and the authority of the Church in
the supernatural, order.
It is easy to see from this hovr monstrous is the assump
tion of these societies, and how dangerous they may become
to the State, and to society in general. In their origin,
means, and end, they are opposed to the two great author
ities constituted by God. The very fact of their inde
pendence proves this opposition, for, were they not opposed,
they would be subservient.
In Prussia, the Masons have a secret priesthood, in direct
violation of the Prussian laws. In Saxony, the laws forbid
the existence of any political society or assembly, except
under the surveillance of the police, as also any connection
with foreign political societies. To escape the law,
Freemasons pretend that their order meddles neither in
religion nor in politics, and yet it has brought about the
so-called "Reformation," and the fall of Napoleon, and
other m6narchs, in our own time. They receive monarchs
FREEMASONRY. 31
and princes as the instruments of their diabolical purpose.
Hence Leo XII says: " Those sects must be repressed.
For the cause of religion is, especially in these times, so
bound up with the stability of society, that in no way
can the one be sundered from the other. For all that
belong to those secret societies, dearly beloved Catholic
princes and sons in Jesus Christ, are the enemies, not
less of your authority, than of religion also. They are
making an attack upon both ; they are plotting to over
turn both from their foundations, and, if they prove able,
they will, for a certainty, not permit either any religion or
any royal power to exist. So great is the cunning and
astuteness of these men, that, when they appear most bent
on extending your power, then they are most busy in
contriving its total overthrow. They give you very
many reasons to persuade those who have in their hands
the administration of affairs, that our power and that of
the bishops should be curtailed and weakened j and that
many of the rights which belong to this See, and those
which belong to the bishops who participate in our cares,
should be transferred to those secular rulers. This they
do, not only from that most bitter hatred which they bear
to all religion, but also from a cunning scheme, hoping
that the peoples who are subject to your authority, when
they see those restraints abolished, which were imposed
by Christ and by the Church which he established, will
be the more easily induced, with such an example before
their eyes, to change, or even destroy, the form of political
government." (Quo Gravior, March 13, 1826.)
The Freemasons, in any one country, also say that they
have no connection with the Freemasons of other lands.
This assertion is another lie.
32 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH :
The unity of Freemasonry all over the world is a
notorious fact, which is everywhere the great boast of Free
masonry. " The Grand Lodge of Saxony is (1859) only a
provincial lodge of Germany, and is subject ' to the
Grand Master of Germany, who resides at Berlin. The
Masonic lodge of Saxony has its representatives in the
Berlin lodge, and corresponds with nearly all the grand
lodges of Europe and America" (Eckert, 28), and even
has lately (1859) placed itself under the protection of the
Prince Regent of Prussia !
This same loyalty of Freemasonry is shown every
where. On the 14th of January, 1739, Freemasonry
was excommunicated by a Papal Bull, and in Austria
and Bavaria the order was suppressed. The members,
however, submitted neither to the decrees of the Church,
nor to those of the State. u The History of Freemasonry,'7
by Lawrie, published by the order and authority of the
Grand Lodge of Scotland, says :
11 Several respectable Masons in Germany, though
staunch friends of the Romish Church, were highly
displeased at this condemnation of the order, and resolved
to save it from entire destruction. They therefore founded
a society having the same object and the same principles
as Freemasonry. The members were called Mopse (young
bulldogs), as they regarded the bulldog as an emblem of
fidelity and brotherly love." *
To hide, however, the mysteries of Freemasonry from
those of the new society who were not Masons, they
left out of their ritual all words, signs, and ceremonies
* In reality, by the bulldog, these blasphemous men wished to repre
sent our Holy Father, the Pope ; and in mockery of the pope, they used
to perform a ceremony too filthy to be here described.
FREEMASONRY. 33
of Freemasonry. Moreover, to avoid the persecution of
the Roman Catholic Church, they modified all those parts
of the institute which might scandalize the narrow-minded
and superstitious. The members, therefore, instead of
taking an oath, bound themselves, by their word of honor,
that they would never divulge anything of the mysteries
and ceremonies of the order.
Women were also admitted, and were permitted to fill
every office, except that of Grand Master. The society
was protected by some of the most respectable men in
Germany. The most prominent state officials, and even
royal princes, were members. The admission of Protest
ants or heretics to the lodges in Catholic countries gave
great offence to the Roman Catholics. The Mopse, there
fore, resolved to initiate no one into their mysteries who
was not a professed staunch friend of the Church. " This,
however, was a mere blind to deceive His Holiness, for they
received into their order, without the least scruple, men of
every land and every religion." (Eckert, 36.)
Freemasonry, like Proteus in the fable, knows how to
multiply, ad infinitum, its transformations and its names.
Yesterday it called itself " Les Solidaires," or " Morality,
independent of religion," or "Freedom of thought ;" to
day it takes the title of an " Educational League ;" to
morrow it will find some other name by which to deceive
the simple.
§ 3. — Ceremonies of one of the Degrees of Masonry,
In September, 1826, an awful act of violence was com
mitted upon the person of Capt. William Morgan. He
was seized by ruffian hands, taken against his will, in the
village of Batavia, N. Y., and carried from thence to Fort
34 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
Niagara. The cause assigned for his abduction and mur
der is, that he was a Freemason, and as such had disclosed
the secrets of Masonry. The persons concerned in the
acts of violence were Freemasons, and for such acts
there is no other assignable reason than that he had pub
lished the secrets of Masonry : the conclusion is, that for
Buch publication he has suffered death.*
This outrage created a great excitement in the Union,
especially in the State of New York. It opened the
eyes of many honest Freemasons, who left the order.
Antimasonic Conventions of Seceding Freemasons were
held at Le Roy, and other places, on February 19th and
20th, March 6th and 7th, July 4th and 5th, 1828. Ad
dresses were delivered on the antiquity of the Masonic in
stitution, showing that it was not ancient ; on the morality
of the institution, showing that it did not promote
morality ; on the benevolence of the institution, showimr
that it was not benevolent ; on the ceremonies of th^
institution, showing that they were not only degrading fr
human nature, but blasphemous ; on the principles of
the institution, showing that they were opposed to Chris
tianity. A book, u Light on Masonry" (588 pages),
was published by David Bernard, of Warsaw, in 1829, to
inform the public of the diabolical workings of Free
masonry. From this book I have taken the ceremonies
of one of the degrees of Masonry, the Masonic oath, its
obligations, and some of the addresses which were made
with the view of having the order banished from the
United States : —
* Speech of the Hon. John Cleary, in the Senate of the State of New-
York, March 25, 182d
FREEMASONRY. 35
THE KEY OF MASONRY.
PHILOSOPHICAL LODGE.
KNIGHTS ADEPTS OF THE EAGLE OR SUN.
This council must be illuminated by one single light,
and is enlightened by one divine light. Because there is
one single light that shines among men, who have the
happiness of going from the darkness of ignorance and of
the vulgar prejudices, to follow the only light that leads
to the celestial truth. The light that is in our lodge is
composed of a glass globe filled with water, and a light
placed behind it, and therefore renders the light more
clear. The glass of reflection, the globe, when it is lighted,
is placed in the South.
Robe and Sceptre. — The Grand Master, or Thrice Puis
sant, is named FATHER ADAM, who is placed in the east,
vested in a robe of pale yellow, like the morning. He
has his hat on, and in his right hand a sceptre, on the top
of which is a globe of gold ; the handle or extremity of
the sceptre is gilt. The reason that Father Adam carries
the globe above the sceptre in this council is, because he
was constituted " Sovereign Master of the world" and
created " Sovereign Father of all men.^ He carries a
SUN, suspended by a chain of gold around his neck, and
on the reverse of this jewel of gold is a globe. When this
degree is given, no jewel or apron is worn.
There is only one Warden, who sits opposite Father
Adam in the west, and is called Brother Truth. He is en
titled to the same ornaments as Father Adam ; and the
order that belongs to. this degree is a broad white
36 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH :
ribbon, worn as a collar, with an eye of gold embroidered
thereon, above the gold chain and jewel of the sun. The
number of other officers is seven, and are called by the
name of the cherubims, as follows ; ZAPHRIEL, ZABRIEL,
CAMIEL, URIEL, MICHAEL, ZAPHAEL and GABRIEL.
These ought to be decorated in the same manner as the
Thrice Puissant Father Adam. If there are more than
that number of the Knights of the Sun they go by the
name of SYLPHS, and are the preparers of the council, and
assistants in all the ceremonies or operations of the lodge.
They are entitled to the same jewel, but have a ribbon of
fiery color tied to the third buttonhole of their coats.
To open the Grand Council. — Father Adam says,
lt Brother Truth, what time is it on Earth ? " Brother
Truth : u Mighty Father, it is midnight among the profane
or cowans, but the sun is in its meridian in this lodge."
Father Adam : " My dear children, profit by the favor of
this austere luminary, at present showing its light to us,
which will conduct us in the path of virtue, and to follow
that law which is eternally to be engraved on our hearts,
and the only law by which we cannot fail to come to the
knowledge of pure truth" He then makes a sign, by
putting his right hand on his left breast, on which all
the brethren put up the first finger of the right hand
above their heads, the other fingers clenched, showing
by that that there is but one God, who is the beginning
of all truth. Then Father Adam says, " This lodge
is opened. "
Form of Reception. — After the council is opened, the
candidate is introduced into an antechamber, where are a
number of Sylphs, each with a bellows, blowing a large
pot of fire, which the candidate sees, but they take no
FREEMASONRY. 37
notice of him; after he is left in this situation two or
three minutes, the most ancient of the Sylphs goes to the
candidate, and covers his face with black crape. He
must be without a sword, and is told that he must find
the door of the sanctuary, and, when found, to knock on
it six times with an open hand. After he finds the door,
and knocks, Brother Truth goes to the door, and having
opened it a little, asks the candidate the following ques
tions, which he answers by the help of the Sylphs : —
Q. "What do you desire!" A. "I desire to go out
of darkness to see the true light, and to know the true
light in all its purity." Q. " What do you desire more ? "
A. " To divest myself of original sin, and destroy the
juvenile prejudices of error, which all men are liable to,
namely : the desires of all worldly attachment and pride. ?)
'On which Brother Truth comes to Father Adam and re
lates what the candidate has told him, when Father Adam
gives orders to introduce the candidate to the true happi
ness. Then Brother Truth opens the door, and takes
the candidate by the hand, and conducts him to the mid
dle of the lodge or sanctuary, which is also covered by a
black cloth, when Father Adam addresses him thus :
" My son, seeing by your labor in the royal art you are
now come to the desire of knowledge of the pure and holy
truth, we shall lay it open to you without any disguise
or covering. But, before we do this, consult your heart,
and see in this moment if you feel yourself disposed to
obey her (namely, Truth) in all things which she com
mands. If you are disposed, I am sure she is ready in
your heart, and you must feel an emotion that was un
known to you before. This being the case, you must
hope that she will not be long to manifest herself to you.
38 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH.
/ /
But have a care not to defile the sanctuary by a spirit of
curiosity, and take care not to increase the number of
the vulgar and profane, that have for so long a time ill-
treated her, until Truth was obliged to depart the earth,
and now can hardly trace any of her footsteps. But she
always appears in her greatest glory, without disguise, to
the true, good and honest Freemasons ; that is to say, to
the zealous extirpators of superstition and lies." [By
a careful perusal of this degree it will be seen that by
" superstition and lies" is meant the true religion, — Ed.~\
"I hope, my dear brother, you will be one of her intimate
favorites. The proofs that you have given assure me of
everything I have to expect of your zeal, for, as nothing
now can be more a secret among us, I shall order Brother
Truth that he will instruct you what you are to do, in
order to come to true happiness." After this discourse of
Father Adam, the candidate is unveiled, and shown the
form of the lodge or council, without explaining any part
thereof. Brother Truth then proceeds thus : " My dear
brother, by mouth, holy Truth speaketh to you ; but,
before. she can manifest herself to you, she requires of
you proofs in which she is satisfied in your entrance in
the Masonic Order. She has appeared to you in many
things, which you could not have apprehended or compre
hended without her assistance ; but now you have the
happiness to arrive at the brilliant day, nothing can be
a secret to you. Learn, then, the moral use that is
made of the three first parts of the furniture, which you
knew after you were received an Entered Apprentice
Mason, viz. : Bible, Compass, and Square. By the
Bible, you are to understand that it is the only law you
ought to follow. It is that which Adam received at his
FREEMASONRY. 39
creation, and which the Almighty engraved in his
heart. This law is called natural law, and shows posi
tively that there is but one G-od, and to adore only him
without any subdivision or interpolation. The Compass
gives you the faculty of judging for yourself, that what
ever God has created is well, and he is the sovereign
author of everything. Existing in himself, nothing is
either good or evil, because we understand, by this ex
pression, an action done which is excellent in itself, is
relative, and submits to the human understanding, judg
ment to know the value and price of such action, and
that God, with whom everything is possible, communi
cates nothing of his will but such as his great goodness
pleases 5 and everything in the universe is governed as
he has decreed it with justice, being able to compare it
with the attributes of the Divinity. I equally say, that in
himself there is no evil, because he has made every thing
with exactness, and that everything exists according to
his will; consequently, as it ought to be. The distance
between good and evil, with the Divinity, cannot be
more justly and clearly compared than by a circle
formed with a compass : from the points being reunited
there is formed an entire circumference ; and when any
point in particular equally approaches or equally separates
from its point, it is only a faint resemblance of the
distance between good and evil, which we compare by
the points of a compass forming a circle, ivhich circle, when
completed, is God !
" Square. — By the Square we discover that God who
has made everything equal, in the same manner as you are
not able to dig a body in a quarry complete or perfect ; thus
the wish of the Eternal, in creating the world by a liberal
40 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
act of his own, well foresaw every matter that could
possibly happen in consequence thereof 5 that is to say,
that everything- therein contained at the same time of
the creation was good.
" Level. — You have also seen a level, a plumb, and a
rough stone. By the level you are to learn to be
upright and sincere, and not to suffer yourself to be drawn
away by the multitude of the blind and ignorant people /
to be always firm and steady, to sustain the right of the
natural law, and the pure and real knowledge of that
truth which it teacheth.
" Perpendicular and rough stone. — By these you ought
to understand that the perpendicular man, made polished
~by reason ; and put censure away by the excellence of
our Master.
" Trestle-board. — You have seen the trestle-board, to
draw plans on. This represents the man whose whole
occupation is the art of thinking, and employs his reason
to that which is just and reasonable.
" Cubic-stone. — You have seen the cubic-stone, the moral
of which, and the sense you ought to draw from it, is
to rule your actions that they might be equally brought
to the sovereign good.
" Pillars. — The two pillars teacheth you that all Masons
ought to attach themselves firmly to become an ornament
to the order, as well as to its support — as the pillars of
Hercules formerly determined the end of the ancient
world.
li Bid&ing star. — You have seen the blazing star, the
moral sense of which is, a true Mason perfecting himself in
the way of truth, that he may become like a blazing
star; which shineth equally during the thickest darkness,
FEEEMASONRY. 41
and it is useful to those that it shineth upon, and who are
ready and desirous of profiting by its light.
" The first instructions have conducted you to the know
ledge of Hiram Abiff, and the inquiries that were made in
finding him out. You have been informed of the words,
signs, and tokens which were substituted to those we
feared would have been surprised, but of which they
afterwards learnt that the treacherous villains had not
been able to receive any knowledge of; and this ought to
be an example and salutary advice to you, to be always
on your guard, and well persuaded that it is difficult to
escape the snares that ignorance, joined to conceited
opinion, lays every day against us, and thereby to over
come us ; and the most virtuous men are liable to fall,
because their candor renders them unsuspecting ; but,
in this case, you ought to be firm, as our Respectable
Father Hiram, who chose rather to be massacred than to
give up what he had obtained.
" This will teach you that, as soon as truth shall be fixed
in your heart, you ought never to consider the resolu
tion you should take, you must live and die to sustain
tlie light, by which we acquire the sovereign good j we
must never expose ourselves to the conversation of
cowans, and must be circumspect, even with those with
whom we are the most intimate, and not to deliver up
ourselves to any, excepting those whose character and
behavior have proved them brothers, who are worthy to
come and appear in the sacred sanctuary, where holy
Truth delivers her oracles.
" You have passed the Secret and Perfect Master; you
have been decorated with an ivory key, a symbol of
your distinction ; you have received the pronunciation.
42 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
of the ineffable name of the Great Architect of the uni
verse, and have been placed at the first balustrade of the
sanctuary ; you have had rank among the Levites, after
you knew the word Zizon, which signifies a ' balus
trade of the Levites/ where all those are placed as well
as yourself, to expect the knowledge of the most sublime
mysteries.
" Coffin and Rope. — In the degree of Perfect Master,
they have shown you a grave, a coffin, and a withe-
rope, to raise and deposit the body in a sepulchre, made
in the form of a pyramid, in the top of which was a
triangle, within which was the sacred name of the
ETERNAL, and on the pavement were the two columns
of Jachin and Boaz, laid across.
" Ivory Key. — By the ivory key you are to under
stand that you cannot open your heart with safety, but at
proper times. By the corpse and grave is represented the
state of man, before he had known the happiness of our
Order !
" Rope. — The rope to which the coffin is tied, in order
to raise it, is the symbol of raising a unit, as you have
been raised from the grave of ignorance to the celestial
place where Truth resides.
"Pyramid. — The pyramid represents the true Mason,
who raises himself by degrees, till he reaches heaven, to adore
the sacred and unalterable name of the Eternal Supreme.
" INTIMATE SECRETARY. — This new degree leads you
near to Solomon and honor, and after you redoubled your
zeal, you gained new honors and favors, having nearly
lost your life by curiosity ; which attachment to Masonry
gave you the good qualities of your heart, and which found
you grace, and led you to the l Intendant of the Build-
FREEMASONRY. 43
ings,' and where you saw a blazing star, a large candle
stick, with seven branches, with altars, vases, and purifi
cation, and a great brazen sea.
" Blazing Star. — By the expression of purification,
you are to understand that you are to be cleansed from
impiety and prejudice, before you can acquire more of
the sublime knowledge in passing the other degree, to be
able to support the brilliant light of reason, enlightened
by truth, of which the blazing star is the figure.
" Candlestick and Seven Brandies. — By the candlestick
with seven branches, you are to remember the mys
terious number of the seven Masters who were named to
succeed one ; and from that time it was resolved that
seven Knights of Masonry, united together, were able to
initiate into Masonry, and show them the seven gifts of the
Eternal, which we shall give you a perfect knowledge of,
when you have been purified in the brazen sea.
"Brazen Sea. — You have passed from the f Secret'
and l Perfect Master ' to the ' Intimate Secretary/
1 Provost and Judge/ and 'Intendant of the Buildings.'
In these degrees they have showed you an ebony box,
a key suspended, a balance, and an inflamed urn.
"Ebony Box. — The ebony box shows you with what
scrupulous attention you are to keep the secrets that have
been confided to you, and which you are to reserve in
the closet of your heart, of which the box is an emblem.
And were you to reflect on the black color of said box,
it would teach you to cover your secrets with a thick
veil, in such a manner that the profane cowans cannot
possibly have any knowledge thereof.
"Key. — The key demonstrates that you have already
obtained a key to our knowledge, and part of our mys-
44: THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
teries ; and if you behave with equity, fervor, and zeal, tc
your brothers, you will arrive shortly to the knowledge and
meaning of our society , and this indicates the reason of
the balance.
" Inflamed Urn. — By the inflamed urn you are to under-
derstand that, as far as you come to the knowledge of the
royal and^ sublime art, you must, by your behavior,
leave behind you, in the minds of your brethren and the
vulgar, a high idea of your virtue, equal to the perfume
of the burning urn.
" Two Kings. — In the degree of Intimate Secretary,
you have seen and heard two kings, who were entering
into their new alliance and reciprocal promise, and of the
perfection of their grand enterprise. They spoke of the
death of Hiram Abiif, our Excellent Master. You saw
guards and man's overseer, and very near of being put
to death for his curiosity of peeping. You also heard
of the prospect of a plan called the vault, to deposit the
precious treasure of Masonry, when the time should be
fulfilled, and you afterwards became a brother. The con
versation of the two kings is the figure and report that
our laws must hold with the natural law, which forms a
perfect agreement with the conveniences, and promises
to those who shall have the happiness to be connected to
you in the same manner and perfect alliance, they will
afterwards come to the centre of true knowledge.
" Tears. — The tears and regret of the two kings are the
emblem of the regret you ought to have, when you per
ceive a brother depart from the road of virtue.
" The Man Peeping. — By the man you saw peeping, arid
who was discovered, and seized, and conducted to death,
is an emblem of those who come to be initiated into our
FREEMASONRY. 45
sacred mysteries through a motive of curiosity ; and, if so
indiscreet as to divulge their obligations, WE ARE BOUND TO
CAUSE THEIR DEATH, AND TAKE VENGEANCE ON THE TREA
SON, BY THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TRACTOR ! * Let US
pray the Eternal to preserve our order from such an evil
you have hereof seen an example in that degree to which
you came, by your zeal, fervor, and constancy. In that
degree you have remarked that, from all the favorites that
were at that time in the apartment of Solomon, only nine
were elected to avenge the death of Hiram Abiff; this
makes good that a great many are often called, but few
chosen. To explain this enigma : — a great many of the
profane have the happiness to divest themselves of that
name, to see and obtain the entrance in our sanctuary,
but very few are constant, zealous, and fervent to merit
the happiness of coming to the height and knowledge of
the sublime truth.
"Requisitions to make a good Mason. — If you ask me what
are the requisite qualities that a Mason must be possessed
of, to come to the centre of truth, I answer you that you
must crush the head of the serpent of ignorance. You
must shake off tlie yoke of infant prejudice, concerning the
mysteries of the reigning religion, which worship has been
imaginary, and only founded on the spirit of pride, ivhich
envies to command and be distinguished, and to be at the
head of the vulgar, in affecting an exterior purity, which
characterizes a false piety, joined to a desire of acquiring
* Since the immolation of William Morgan, and the publication of his
"Illustrations," Masons have boastingly said, "If the penalty of our laws
is death, no one is bound to ii.fltct it." But Masonry says, "We are bound
to take vengeance on the treason, by the destruction of the traitor;" "We are
bound to cause his death ! "
4G THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
that which is not its own, and is always the subject of this
exterior pride, and unalterable source of many disorders,
which, being joined to gluttonness, is the daughter ,of hypo
crisy, and employs every matter to satisfy carnal desires, and
raises to these predominant passions altars, upon which she
maintains, without ceasing, the light of iniquity, and
sacrifices continually offerings to luxury, voluptuousness,
hatred, envy, and perjury. Sehold, my dear brother, what
you miest fight against and destroy, before you can come to
the knowledge of the true good and sovereign happiness !
Sehold this monster ivhich you must conquer — a serpent
which WE detest as an idol that is adored by the idiot
and vulgar, under the name of RELIGION ! ! ! ?' [Here,
indeed, the principles of Masonry are taught with all
plainness; and if the reader has heretofore been blind
to the nature and tendency of the institution, methinks
he can see them now ! Here the Christian beholds his
blessed Christ rejected — himself charged with the basest
crimes — condemned as an idiot — his worship imaginary
— his religion founded on the spirit of pride, the daughter
of hypocrisy — a serpent, a monster, an idol detested by
Masonry ! — Editor."]
u Solomon, King Hiram, and St. John the Baptist. — In
the degrees of ' Elected of Fifteen, Illustrious Knights?
Grand Master Architects, and the Royal Arch/ * you have
seen many things which are 6nly a repetition of what you
have already examined. You will always find in those
degrees initial letters, enclosed in different triangles, or
Deltas. You have also seen the planet Mercury, the
chamber called GABAON, or the THIRD HEAVEN ; the
winding staircase — the ark of alliance — the tomb of
* KuightB of the Ninth Arch.
FREEMASONRY. 47
Hiram Abiff, facing the ark and the urn — the precious
treasure found by the assiduous travellers — the three
zealous brethren Masons — the punishment of the haughty
Master Mason, in being buried under the ancient ruins of
Enoch — and finally you have seen the figures of Solomon,
and Hiram, king of Tyre, and St. John the Baptist.
" 3 I. I. Jt — By the 3 1. 1. I. you know the three sacred
names of the Eternal, and Mount Gabaon (Third Heaven),
which you came to by seven degrees, which compose
the winding staircase.
"The seven stars represent the seven principal and differ
ent degrees to which you must come, to attain the height of
glory represented by the mount, where they formerly
sacrificed to the Most High ! When you arrive to that,
you are to subdue yourself in your passions, in not doing
anything that is not prescribed in our laws.
" By the planet Mercury, you are taught continually to
mistrust, shun, and run away from those who, by a false
practice, maintain commerce with people of a vicious life,
who seem to despise the most sacred mysteries ; that is,
to depart from those who, by the vulgar fear, or have
a bad understanding, and are ready to deny the solemn
obligations that they have contracted among us. When
you come to the foot of our arch, you are to apprehend
that you come to the SANCTUM SANCTORUM. You are
not to return, but rather to persist in sustaining the glory
of our order, and the truth of our laws, principles, and
mysteries, in like manner as our Respectable Father,
Hiram Abiff, who deserved to have been buried there for
his constancy and fidelity. We have also another ex
ample in the firmness of GALAAD, the son of SOPHONIA,
chief of the Levites, under Surnam, the High Priest, as
48 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
mentioned in the history of perfection. Learn in this
moment, my dear brother, what you are to understand by
the figures of Solomon, Hiram, King of Tyre, and St.
John the Baptist. The two first exert you, by t'heir zeal
in the royal art, to follow the sublime road of which
Solomon was the institutor, and Hiram of Tyre, the
supporter, — a title legitimately due to that king, who
not only protected the order, but contributed with all his
might to the construction of the temple (furnishing stone
from Tyre, and the cedars of Lebanus), which Solomon
built to the honor of the Almighty.
u The third, or Si. John the Baptist, teaches you to
preach marvellous of this order, which is as much as to
say, you are to make secret missions among men^ which
you believe to be in a state of entering the road of truth,
that they may be able one day to see her virtues and visage
uncovered,
" Hiram Abiff was the symbol of truth on earth. Jubelum
Akirop was accused by the serpent of ignorance, which
to this day raises altars in the hearts of the profane and
fearful. This profaneness, backened by a fanatic zeal,
becomes an instrument to the religious reign, which struck
the first stroke in the heart of our dear Father, Hiram
Abiff; which is as much as to say, undermined the foun
dation of the celestial temple which the Eternal himself
had ordered to be raised to the sublime truth and his
glory. ^
" The first stage of the world has been witness to what
I have advanced. The simple, natural law rendered to
our first fathers the most uninterrupted happiness ; they
were in those times more virtuous, but soon as the
"monster of pride'7 started up in the air, and disclosed
FREEMASONRY. 49
herself to those unhappy mortals, she promised to them
every seat of happiness, and seduced them by her soft and
bewitching speeches, viz. : that * they must render to
the Eternal Creator of all things an adoration with more
testimony and more extensive than they had hitherto
done/ etc. This HYDRA, with an 'hundred heads,' at
that time misled, and continues to this day to mislead men,
who are so weak as to submit to her empire j and k will
subsist until the moment that the true elected shall appear,
and destroy her entirely.
" The degree of ' Sublime Elected ' that you have passed,
gives you the knowledge of those things which conducts
you to the true and solid good. The grand
circle represents the immensity of the Eternal
Supreme, who has neither beginning nor end.
The triangle, or Delta, is the mysterious figure
of the Eternal. The three letters which you
see signify as follows : — G, at the top of the
triangle, i the grand cause of the Masons;7 the
S, at the left hand, the ' submission to the same order : '
and the U, at the right hand, the ( union that ought to reign
among the brethren ; 7 which altogether make but one body,
or equal figure, in all its parts. This is the triangle called
' equilateral.' The great letter Gr, placed in the centre
of the triangle, signifies * Great Architect of the universe/
who is God ; and in this ineffable name are found all the
divine attributes. This letter being placed in the centre
of the triangle, is for us to understand that every true
Mason must have it profoundly in his heart.
" There is another triangle, on which is en
graved S, B, and N, of which you have had an
explanation in a preceding degree. This triangle
'S N
50 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHUECH :
designs the connection of the brethren in virtue. The
solemn promise they have made to love each other, to help,
to succor, and keep inviolably secret their mysteries of the
perfection proposed, in all their enterprises. It is said in
that degree, that ' you have entered the Third Heaven; '
that means you have entered the place where pure truth
resides, since she abandoned the earth to monsters who
persecuted her.
" The end of the degree of Perfection is a preparation to
come more clearly to the knowledge of true happiness,
in becoming a true Mason, enlightened by the celestial
luminary of truth, in renouncing, voluntarily, all adora
tions but those that are made to one G-od, the Creator
of heaven and earth, great, good, and merciful.
" The Knights of the East, the Princes of Jerusalem, and
Knights of the East and West, are known to us, in our
days, to be Masonry renewed, and all of them lead us to
the same end of the celestial truth, which is to say,
finished. , *
" The Knights of the ' White and Black Eagle/ and the
6 Sublime Princes of the Eoyal Secret/ and t Grand
Commander/ are the chiefs of the great enterprise of the
order in general." — (End of Brother Truth's harangue.)
Father Adam then says to the candidate : " My dear son,
what you have heard from the mouth of Truth is an
abridgment of all the consequences of all the degrees
you have gone through, in order to come to the know
ledge of the hbly truth, contracted in your last engage
ments. Do you persist in your demand of coming to the
hbly brother, and is that what you desire, with a clear
heart ? — answer me." The candidate answers, " I persist.*?
Then Father Adam says : " Brother Truth, as the truth
FREEMASONRY. 51
persists, approach with him to the sanctuary, in order
that he may take a solemn obligation to follow our laws,
principles, and morals, and to attach himself to us for
ever." Then the candidate falls on his knees, and Father
Adam takes his hands between his own, and the candi
date repeats the following obligation three times :
Obligation. "I promise in the face of God, and
between the hands of my Sovereign, and in presence
of all the brethren now present, never to take arms
against my king, directly or indirectly, in any conspiracy
against him. I promise never to reveal any of the
degrees of the Knight of the Sun, which is now on the
point of being intrusted to me, to any person or persons
whatsoever, without being duly qualified to receive the
same ; and never to give my consent to any one to be
admitted into our mysteries, only after the most scrupulous
circumspection, and full knowledge of his life and con
versation ; and who has given at all times full proof of his
zeal and fervent attachment for the order, and a submission
at all times to the tribunal of the Sovereign Princes of
the Royal Secret. I promise never to confer the degree
of the Knights of the Sun, without having a permission
in writing from the Grand Council of Princes of the Royal
Secret, or from the Grand Inspector, or his deputy, known
by their titles and authority. I promise also, and swear,
that I will not assist any, through my means, to form or
raise a lodge of the Sublime Orders, in this island (or in
America, as the case may be), ( without proper authority.
I promise and swear to redouble my zeal for all my
brethren, Knights, and Princes, that are present 01
absent, and if I fail in this my obligation, I consent foi
all my brethren, when they are convinced of my infidelity.
52 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
to seize me, and thrust my tongue through with a red
hot iron ; to pluck out both my eyes, and to deprive me
of smelling and hearing 5 to cut off both of my hands,
and expose me in that condition in the field, to be
devoured by the voracious animals j and if none can be
found, I wish -the lightning of heaven might execute on
me the same vengeance. O God! maintain me in right
and equity. Amen. Amen. Amen."
After the obligation is three times repeated, Father
Adam raises the candidate, and gives him one kiss on
his forehead, being the seat of the soul. He then decor
ates him with the collar and jewel of the order, and
gives him the following sign, token, and word : * * * *
After these are given, the candidate goes round, and
gives them to every one, which brings him back to
Father Adam. He then sits down with the rest of the
brethren, and then Brother Truth gives the following
explanation of the Philosophical Lodge :
Sun. — The sun represents the unity of the Eternal
Supreme, the only grand work of philosophy.
3 S. S. S.— The 3 S. S. S. signifies the Stiletto, Sidech,
Solo, or the residence of the Sovereign Master of all things.
Three Candlesticks. — The three candlesticks show us
the three degrees of fire.
Four Triangles. — The four triangles represent the
four elements.
Seven Planets. — The seven planets design the seven
colors that appear in their original state, from whence we
have so many different artificial ones.
Seven Cherubims. — The seVen cherubims represent the
seven metals, viz. : gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin,
and quicksilver.
FREEMASONRY. 53
Conception in the Moon. — The conception, or woman
rising in the moon, demonstrates the purity that matter
subsists of, in order to remain in its pure state, unmixed
with any other body, from which must come a new
king, and a revolution or fulness of time, filled with glory,
whose name is ALBRA-EST.
Holy Spirit. — The Holy Spirit, under the symbol of a
dove, is the image of the Universal Spirit, that gives
light to all in the three states of nature 5 and on the
" animal" " vegetable" " and il mineral"
Entrance of the Temple. — The entrance of the temple is
represented to you by a body, because the grand work of
nature is complete as gold, portable and fixed.
Globe. — The globe represents the matter in the prijenal
state ; that is to say, complete.
Caduceus. — The caduceus represents the double mercury
that you must extract from the matter ; that is to say, the
mercury fixed, and from thence is extracted gold and
silver.
Stibium. — The word stibium signifies the antimony from
whence, by the philosophical fire, is taken an alkali which
we empty in our grand work. — (End of the philosophical
explanation.) Then Father Adam explains the
MORAL LODGE.
Sun. — The sun represents the divinity of the Eternal j
for, as there is but one sun to light and invigorate the
earth, so there is but one Q-od, to whom we outfit to pay
our greatest adoration.
3. S. S. S.— The 3 S. S. S. teach you that science,
adorned with wisdom, creates a holy man.
Three Candlesticks. — The three candlesticks are the
54 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
image of the life of man, considered in youth, manhood^
and old age, and happy are those that have been enlight
ened in these ages by the light of truth.
Four Triangles. — The four triangles show us the four
principal duties that create our tranquil life, viz. : 'Frater
nal love among men in general, and particularly among
brethren, and in the same degree with us. 2dly. In not
having anything but for the use and advantage of a
brother. 3dly. Doubting of every matter that cannot
be demonstrated to you clearly, by which an attempt
might be insinuated as mysterious in matters of religion,
and hereby lead you away from the holy truth. 4thly.
Never do anything to another that you would not have
done unto you. The last precept, well understood, and fol
lowed on all occasions, is the true happiness of philosophy.
Seven Planets. — The seven planets represent the seven
principal passions of man.
Seven Clierubims. — The seven cherubims are the images
of the delights of the life, namely, by seeing, hearing,
tasting, smelling, feeling, tranquillity, and health.
Conception. — The conception in the moon shows the
purity of matter, and that nothing can be impure to the
eyes of the Supreme.
Holy Spirit. — The Spirit is the figure of our soul,
which is only the breath of the Eternal, and which cannot
be soiled by the works of the body.
Temple. — The temple represents our body, which we
are obliged to preserve by our natural feelings.
Figure of a Man. — The figure is in the entrance of the
temple, which bears a lamb in his arms, and teaches us to
be attentive to our wants, as a shepherd takes care of
his sheep j to be charitable, and never to let slip the
FREEMASONRY. 55
present opportunity of doing good, to labor honestly, and to
live in this day as if it were our last.
Columns of Jachin and Boaz. — The columns of J. and
B. are the symbols of the strength of our souls, in bearing
equally misfortunes as well as success in life. - -
Seven Steps of the Temple. — The seven steps of the
temple are the figures of the seven degrees which we
must pass before we arrive to the knowledge of the true
God.
Globe. — The globe represents the world which we in
habit.
Lux ex Tenebrls. — The device of Lux ex tenebris
teacheth that/ when man is enlightened by reason, he is
able to penetrate the darkness and obscurity which igno
rance and superstition spread abroad.
Miver. — The river across the globe represents the
utility of the passions, that are as necessary to man, in
the course of his life, as water is requisite to the earth,
in order to replenish the plants thereof.
Cross Surrounded. — The cross surrounded by two ser
pents signifies that we must watch the vulgar prejudices,
to be very prudent in giving any of our knowledge and
secrets in matters, especially in religion. — (End of the
moral explanation.)
PHYSICAL EXPLANATION. (In Lecture.)
Lecture.
Q. Are you a Knight of the Sun ? A. I have mounted
the seven principal steps of Masonry j I have penetrated
into the bowels of the earth, and among the dncient ruins
of Enoch, found the most grand and precious treasure of
the Masons. I have seen, contemplated, and admired
56 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
the great, mysterious, and formidable name, engraved on
the triangle ; I have broken the pillar of beauty, and
thrown down the two columns that supported it. Q. Pray
tell me what is that mysterious and formidable name ? A.
I cannot unfold the sacred characters in this manner, but
substitute in its place the grand word of nirP« Q- What
do you understand by throwing down the columns that
sustained the pillar of beauty? A. Two reasons: — 1st.
When the temple was destroyed by Nabuzaradan, general
of the army of Nebuchadnezzar, I was one that helped
to defend the Delta, on which was engraved the ineffable
name ; and I broke down the columns of beauty, in order
that it should not be profaned by the infidels. 2d. As
I have deserved, by my travel and labor, the beauty of
the great " ADONAI" (Lord), the mysteries of Masonry, in
passing the seven principal degrees. Q. What signifies
the seven planets ? A. The lights of the celestial globe,
and also their influence, by which every matter exists on
the surface of the earth or globe. Q. From what is the
terrestrial globe formed ? A. From the matter which is
formed by the concord of the four elements, designed by
the four triangles, that are in regard to them, as the
four greater planets. Q. What are the names of the
seven planets ? A. Sun, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Venus,
Mercury, and Saturn. Q. Which are the four elements ?
A. Air, fire, earth, and water. Q. What influence have
the seven planets on the four elements ? A. Three gen
eral matters, of which all bodies are composed : life,
spirit, and body, otherwise, salt, sulphur, and mercury.
Q. What is life, or salt ? A. The life given by the Eternal
Supreme, or the planets, the agents of nature. Q. What
is the spirit, or sulphur ? A. A fired matter, subject to
FKEEMASONRY. 57
several productions. Q. What is the body, or mercury ?
A. Matter conducted or refined to its form by the union
of salt and sulphur, or the agreement of the three
governors of nature. Q. What are those three governors
of nature ? A. Animal, vegetable, and mineral. Q.
What is animal? A. We understand, in this life, all that
is divine and amiable. Q. Which of the elements serve
for his productions? A. All the four are necessary,
among which, nevertheless, air and fire are predominant,
and it is those that render the animal the perfection of
the three governments, which man is elevated to by
one-fourth of the breath of the Divine Spirit, when he
receives his soul. Q. What is the vegetable ? A. All
that seems attached to the earth reigns on the surface.
Q. Of what is it composed? A. Of a generative firer
formed into a body, whilst it remains in the earth, and i&
purified by its moisture, and becomes vegetable, and
receives life by air and water • whereby the four elements,
though different, cooperate jointly and separately. Q.
What is the mineral ? A. All that is generated and
secreted in the earth. Q. What do we understand by this
name ? A. That which we call metals, and demi-metals,
and minerals. Q. What is it that composes the minerals ?
A. The air penetrating, by the celestial influence, into
the earth, meets with a body which by its softness fixes,
congeals, and renders the mineral matter more or less per
fect. Q. Which are the perfect metals ? A. Gold
and silver. Q. Which are the imperfect metals ? A.
Brass, lead, tin, iron, and quicksilver. Q. How come we
by the knowledge of these things ? A. By frequent obser
vations, and the experiments made in natural philosophy,
which have decided to a certainty that nature gives a
58 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
perfection to all things, if she has time to complete her
operations. Q. Can art bring metal to perfection so fully
as nature ? A. Yes ; but in order to this, you must have
an exact knowledge of nature. Q. What will assist you
to bring forth this knowledge ? A. A matter brought to
perfection ; this has been sought for under the name of the
philosopher's stone. Q. What does the globe represent ?
A. An information of philosophers, for the benefit of the
art in this work. Q. What signifies the words, "Lux ex
tenebris " ? A. That is the depth of darkness you ought
to retire from, in order to gain the true light. Q. What
signifies the cross on the globe ? A. The cross is the
emblem of the true elected. Q. What represent the
three candlesticks I A. The three degrees of five, which
the artist must have knowledge to give, in order to
procure the matters from which it proceeds. Q. What
signifies the word Stibium f A. It signifies antimony,
or the first matter of all things. Q. What signifies the
seven degrees ? A. The different effectual degrees of
Masonry which you must pass to come to the Sublime
Degree of Knights of the Sun. Q. What signifies the
diverse attributes in those degrees ?
A. 1st. The Bible, or God's law, which we ought to
follow.
2d. The Compass teaches us to do nothing unjust.
3d. The Square conducts us equal to the same end.
4th. The Level demonstrates to us all that is just and
equitable.
5th. The Perpendicular, to be upright and subdue the
vail of prejudice.
6th. The Trestle-board is the image of our reason, where
the functions are combined to effect, compare, and think.
FREEMASONRY. 59
7th. The Rough Stone is the resemblance of our vices,
which we ought to reform.
8th. The Cubic Stone is our passion, that we ought to sur
mount.
9th. The Columns signify strength in all things.
10th. The Blazing Star teaches that our hearts ought
to be as a clear sun among those that are troubled with the
things of this life.
1 1 th. The Key teaches to have a watchful eje over those
who are contrary to reason.
12th. The Box teaches to keep our secrets inviolably.
13th. The Urn teaches us that we ought to be as delicious
perfumes.
14th. The Brazen Sea that we ought to purify ourselves,
and destroy vice.
15th. The Circles on the Triangles demonstrate the
immensity of the divinity, under the symbol of truth.
16th. The Poniard teacheth the step of the elected,
many are called, but few are chosen, to the sublime
knowledge of pure truth.
17th. The word Albra-est signifies a king full of glory,
and without blot.
18th. The word Adonai signifies Sovereign Creator of
all things.
19th. The Seven Clierubims are the symbols of the
delights of life, kn,own by seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling,
smelling, tranquillity, and thought.
Q. What represents the sun f A. It is an emblem of
Divinity, which we ought to regard as the image of God,
This immense body represents the infinity of God's won
derful will, as the only source of light and good. The
heat of the sun produces the rule of the seasons, recruits
60 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
nature, takes darkness from the winter, in order that the
deliciousness of spring might succeed. — (End of the
Physical Lecture,)
GENERAL LECTURE IN THIS DEGREE.
Q. From whence came you? A. From the centre of the
earth. Q. How have you come from thence ? A. By
reflection, and the study of nature. Q. Who has taught
you this ? A; Men in general who are blind, and lead others
in their blindness. Q. What do you understand by this
blindness ? A. I do not understand it to be privy to their
mysteries 5 but I understand under the name of blindness,
those who cease to be ardent, after they have been privy
to the light of the spirit of reason. Q. WTho are those ?
A. Those who, through the prejudices of superstition and
fanaticism, render their services to ignorance. Q. What
do you understand by fanaticism ? A. The seal of all
particular sects, which are spread over the earth, who com
mit crimes, by making offerings to fraud and falsehood.
Q. And do you desire to rise from this darkness? A. My
desire is to come to the celestial truth, and to travel by the
light of the sun. Q. What represents that body ? A. It
is a figure of an only God, to whom we ought to pay oui
adoration. The sun being the emblem of God, we ought to
regard it as the image of the Divinity, for that immense body
represents wonderfully the infinity of God. He invigorates
and produces the season, and replenishes nature, by taking
the horrors from winter, and produces the delights of spring.
Q. What does the triangle, with the sun in the centre,
represent ? A, It represents the immensity of the Supreme.
Q. What signifies the three S. S. S. f A. Sanctitas, Sci-
entia, and Syrentia, which signify the science accompanied
FREEMASONRY. 61
with wisdom, which make men holy. Q. What signifies
the three candlesticks ? A. It represents the courses
of life, considered in youth, manhood, and old age. Q.
Has it any other meaning ? A. Yes, the triple light
that shines among us, in order to take men out of dark
ness and ignorance into which they are plunged, and to
bring them to virtue, truth, and happiness, a symbol of our
perfection. Q. What signifies the four triangles that are
in the great circles ? A. They are the emblems of the
four principal views of the life of tranquillity, etc. : 1st.
Fraternal love to all mankind in general, more particu
larly for our brethren, who are more attached to us, and
who, with honor, have seen the wretchedness of the
vulgar. 2d. To be cautious among us of things, and not
to demonstrate them clearly to any who are not proper to
receive them ; and to be likewise cautious in giving credit
to any matter, however artfully it may be disguised, with
out self-conviction in the heart. 3d. To cast from us every
matter which we perceive we may ever repent of doing,
taking care of this moral precept, " To do to every one of
your fellow-creatures no more than you would choose to
be done to." 4th. We ought always to confide in our
Creator's bounty, and to pray without ceasing that all our
necessities might be relieved, as it seems best to him for
our advantage 5 to wait for his blessings patiently in this
life j to be persuaded of his sublime decrees, that what
ever might fall contrary to our wishes will be attended with
good consequences ; to take his chastisements patiently,
and be assured that the end of everything has been done
by him for the best, and will certainly lead us to eternal
happiness hereafter. Q. Teach us the signification of
the seven planets which are enclosed in a triangle, that
62 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
forms the rays of the exterior circles, and enclosed in the
grand triangle. A. The seven planets, according to
philosophy, represent the seven principal passions of the
life of man j those passions are very useful, when they
are used in moderation, for which the Almighty gave them
to us, but grow fatal and destroy the body when let loose :
and therefore it is our particular duty to subdue them.
Q. Explain the seven passions to us I A. 1st. The propa
gation of species. 2d. Ambition of acquiring riches.
3d. Ambition to acquire glory in the arts and sciences
among men in general. 4th. Superiority in civil life. 5th.
Joys and pleasures of society. 6th. Amusements and
gayeties of life. 7th. RELIGION. *
Q. Which is the greatest sin of all that man can commit,
and render him odious to God and man ? A. Suicide
and Homicide. Q. What signifies the seven cherubims,
whose names are written in the circle, called the " First
Heaven " ? A. They represent the corporeal delights of
this life, which the Eternal gave to man, when he created
him, and are, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling,
tranquillity, and thought. Q. What signifies the figure
in the moon, which we regard as the figure or image ot
conception! A. The purity of nature, which procures
the holiness of the body ; and that there is nothing im
perfect in the eyes of the Supreme. Q. What signifies the
figure of the columns? A. They are the emblem of our
souls, which is the breath of life, proceeding from the
All Puissant, which ought not to be soiled by the works of
the body, but to be firm as columns. Q. What does
the figure in the porch, which carries a lamb in his
arms, represent ? A. The porch, ornamented with the
*Mind this.
FREEMASONRY. 63
columns of Jachin and Boaz, and surmounted with the
grand I, represents our body, over which we ought to
have a particular care, in watching our conversation,
and also to watch our needs, as the shepherd his flock.
Q. What signifies the two letters I and B, at the porch?
A. They signify our entrance in the Order of Masonry j
also the firmness of the soul, which we ought to possess from
the hour of our initiation ; these we ought to merit, before
we can come to the sublime degrees of knowing holy
truth, and we ought to preserve them, and be firm in
whatever situation we may be in, not knowing whether it
may return to our good or evil in the passage of this life.
Q. What signifies the large I in the triangle, on the
crown of the portico ? A. That large I, being the
initial of the mysterious name of the Great Architect of
the Universe, whose greatness we should always have irs
our minds, and that our labors ought to be employed to
please him ; which we should always have in our view,
as the sure and only source of our actions. Q. What
signifies the seven steps that lead to the entry of the
porch ? A. They mark the seven degrees in Masonry,
which are the principal, which we ought to arrive to, in
order to come to the knowledge of holy truth. Q. What
does the terrestrial globe represent ? A. The world which
we inhabit, and wherein Masonry is its principal ornament.
Q. What is the explanation of the great word, "Adonai?"
A. It is the word which God gave to Adam, for him to pray
by ; a word which our common father never pronounced
without trembling. Q. What signifies Lux ex tenebris ?
A. A man made clear by the light of reason, penetrating
this obscurity of ignorance and superstition. Q. What
signifies the river across the globe ? A. It represents the
64: THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHUECH :
utility of our passions, which are necessary to man in
the course of his life, as water is necessary to render
the earth fertile, as the sun draws up the water which,
being purified, falls on the earth, and gives verdure.
Q. What signifies the cross, surrounded by two serpents,
on the top of the globe ? A. It represents to us not to
repeat tlie vulgar prejudices; to be prudent, and to know the
bottom of the heart. In matters of religion to be alivays pre
pared ; not to be of the sentiments tvith sots, idiots, and the
lovers of the mysteries of religion / to avoid such, and not
in the least to hold any conversation with them. Q. What
signifies the book, with the word Bible written in it ?
A. As the Bible is differently interpreted by the different
sects, who divide the different parts of the earth : thus
the true sons of light, or children of truth, ought to doubt
of everything at present, as mysteries or metaphysics.
Thus all the decisions of theology and philosophy teach
not to admit that which is not demonstrated as dearly as
that 2 and 2 are equal to 4 ; and, on the whole, to adore
God, and him only; to love him better than yourself;
and always to have a confidence on the bounties and
promises of our Creator. Amen. Amen. Amen.
To close the Council — Q. (By Father Adam.) " Brother
Truth, what progress have men made on earth, to come
to true happiness ? " A. (By Brother Truth.) " Men have
always fallen on the vulgar prejudices, which are nothing
but falsehood ; very few have struggled, and less have
knocked at the door of this holy place, to attain the
full light of real truth, which all ought to acquire/7
Then says Father Adam : i i My dear children, depart and
go among men, endeavor to inspire them with the desire
of knowing holy truth, the pure source of all perfection."
FREEMASONRY. 65
Father Adam then puts his right hand on his left breast,
when all the brethren raise the first finger of the right
hand, and the Council of the Knights of the Sun is
closed by seven knocks.
$ 4. — Another Specimen of Masonic Oath.
The first Masonic law, as found on page 20 of the
" Illustrations of Masonry," by Wm. Morgan, is as follows:
" Furthermore, I do promise and swear that I will not write,
print, stamp, stain, hew, cut, carve, indent, paint, or en
grave it (the secrets of Masonry), to anything movable
or immovable, under the whole canopy of heaven,
whereby or whereon the least letter, etc., may become
legible or intelligible to myself, or any person in the known
world, whereby the secrets of Masonry may become unlaw
fully obtained through my unworthiness j binding myself
under no less penalty than to have my throat cut across,
my tongue torn out ~by the roots, and my body buried in the
rough sands of the sea, at loiv watermark, where the tide
ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours." One would
suppose, if true, this was & powerful law ; I should wish for
no greater punishment than the penalty of this law to
be inflicted on me. The next Masonic law I shall cite
may be found at page 45 of the same work : — " Further
more, do I promise and swear that I will support the
constitution of the Grand Lodge of the United States,
and the Grand Lodge of this State, under which this
lodge is held, and conform to all the by-laivs, rules, and
regulations of this or any other lodge of which I may at
any time hereafter become a member, as far as in my
power. Futhermore, do I promise and swear THAT i WILL
OBEY ALL" (no exceptions) "REGULAR SIGNS AJSD SUMMONS
66 THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
GIVEN, HANDED, SENT OR THROWN to me by tlie liand of
a brother Felloiv- Craft Mason, or from the body of a just
and lawfully constituted lodge of such, binding myself under
no less penalty than to have my left breast torn open, and
my heart and vitals taken from thence, and thrown over
my left shoulder, and carried into the valley of Jehosaphat,
there to become a prey to wild beasts of the field, and vultures
of the air, if ever I should prove wilfully guilty, etc."
Stronger still, page 62, same work, Obligation of a Master
Mason: — "Furthermore, do I promise and swear that I
will support the constitution of the Grand Lodge of the
State of , under which this lodge is held, and con
form to all the by-laws, rules, and regulations, of this or
any other lodge of which I may hereafter become a member.
Furthermore, do I promise and swear that I will OBEY
ALL REGULAR SIGNS, SUMMONS, OR TOKENS, GIVEN, HANDED?
SENT, OR THROWN to me, from the hand of a brother Master
Mason, or from the body of a just and laiv fully constituted
lodge of such. Furthermore, do I promise and swear that I
will go on a Master Mason's errand, ivhenever required,
even should 1 have to go barefoot and bareheaded, binding
myself under no less penalty than to have my body severed
in the midst, and divided to the north and south, my bowels
burnt to ashes in the centre, and the ashes scattered before
the four winds of heaven, that there might not tlw least
track or trace of remembrance remain among men or
Masons of so vile and perjured a wretch as I should be,
were I ever to prove wilfully guilty y* etc. Stronger and
stronger ; and thus they continue to increase in all impor-
ant parts, up to the degree of Knights of the Holy and
Thrice Illustrious Order of the Cross, the members of
which take upon themselves the following obligation :
FREEMASONRY. 67
" You further swear that, should you know another to
violate any essential point of this obligation, you will use
your most decided endeavors, by the blessing of God, to
bring such persons to the strictest and most condign punish
ment, agreeably to the rules and usages of our ancient
fraternity j and this by pointing' him out to the world as an
unworthy vagabond j by opposing his interest, by derang
ing his business, by transferring . his character after, him
wherever he may go, and by exposing him to the contempt
of the whole fraternity and the world, but of our illustrious
order, more especially, during his whole natural life : noth
ing herein going to prevent yourself, or any other, when
elected to the 'dignity of Thrice Illustrious, from retaining
the ritual of the order, if prudence and caution appear to
be the governing principle in so retaining it, such dignity
authorizing the elected to be governed by no rule but the
dictates of his own judgment, in regard to what will best
conduce to the interest of the order 5 but that he be
responsible for the character of those whom he may induct,
and for the concealment of the said ritual.
" Should any Thrice Illustrious Knight or acting officer
of any council which may have them in hand, ever require
your aid in any emergency, in defence of the recovery of
his said charge, you swear cheerfully to exercise all assist
ance in his favor, which the nature of the time and place
will admit, even to the sacrifice of life, liberty, and property.
To all and every part thereof we then bind you, and by
ancient usage you bind yourself, under the no less infamous
penalty than dying the death of a traitor, by having a
spear, or other sharp instrument, like as our divine Master,
thrust in your left side, bearing testimony, even in death,
of the power and justice of the mark of the holy cross.77
68 THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
§ 5. — How the Oath is Administered.
" The candidate presents himself blindfolded and naked,
with a cable-tow about his neck, without any previous
knowledge of what he is to do, or what is to be .required
of him, and in this helpless condition the dreadful oath
is administered and taken. If the candidate should
falter or hesitate, the ruffians on each side of him, holding
the cable-tow which is about his neck, can in a moment
tighten the cord, and extinguish him and his complaints.
And how many noble spirits, preferring death to degrada
tion, have been thus dispatched, the world can never
know ! " — (From the speech of the Honorable John Cleary,
in the Senate of the State of New York; March 25th,
1828.)
$ 6. — The Obligations of the Masonic Oath.
"That masterpiece of men, the declaration of the
American Independence, declares that man possesses
certain inestimable rights, such as life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. The laws of our country guarantee
to us the privilege of following such pursuits as we please,
in safety, and declare it a misdemeanor for any number
of men to conspire to destroy the lawful pursuits of any
person. Slander is punishable by heavy fines. Morality,
religion, and the best interests of society, forbid us to
destroy the reputation of any person whatever. But has
it come to this, that a set of men are combined to bring
to strict and condign punishment citizens of a free
republic, for no offence against the law of the land, for
no offence of the law of God, for no offence against
the equal rights of mankind ? What offence is recognizable
by this band, worse than a banditti, who attack not
FREEMASONRY. 69
only the property, but the reputation of a man ? It is the
heinous offence of telling the world, here are a horde
of villains, self-created, bound together by oaths to
protect each other, ' right or wrong/ and that an honest
man who disbelieves in their infernal principles, must be
branded with infamy. Is it lawful to punish i strictly,
and with condign punishment/ a man who has violated
no law ? And how punish ? ' By pointing him out to the
world as an unworthy and vicious vagabond.' We can
here exclaim, with emphasis, 'Tell it not in Gath —
publish it not in the streets of Askelon ? — that in this land
of liberty, where we are daily boasting of our superior
advantages of equal rights, we are fostering in our bosom
a set of men possessing the spirit of demons, who are
sworn to make a vagabond of a man who does not
subscribe to their hellish tenets. No matter how fair a
character he may have sustained, no matter if the ' frost
of seventy winters 7 has whitened his head in the cause
of his Redeemer, no matter if his whole life has been one
continued act of benevolence and good will to mankind,
still he must be pointed out to the world, by the fingers
of scorn, as an i unworthy and vicious vagabond.7 Again,
1 ~by opposing his interest.7 Not satisfied with destroying
his reputation, they must even oppose his interest in society.
I had ever supposed that any individual had an undoubted
right to advance his political or worldly interest by
all lawful means. Has he talent and honesty sufficient, he
may aim at filling any office under the government under
which he lives.
" But this blood-stained few say that, if he has violated
any essential part of our law, we will not allow him the
privilege of gaining any interest whatever with his fellow
70 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
citizens ; however capable he may be, he shall gain no
influence in society, but shall be forced to submit to become
an outcast of society ; and, to carry this into full effect,
the most palpable falsehoods are circulated. This has
been verified for some time past ; but of this more anon.
Again, i ~by destroying Ms business.' Not satisfied in
destroying his reputation, the brightest jewel in his
possession, not satisfied with opposing his best interest
in the world; but should he, after this, be pursuing some
lawful vocation — perhaps the only support for himself
and family — they swear to derange even this, and turn
him out upon the world as a vagabond, both in property
and reputation. Freedom and equality indeed ! Boast
no more of our wholesome laws, and of the equality
of our government ; boast no more of the 4 land of the
brave, and the home of the free/ where every citizen can
pursue his vocation in peace, if the combination is yet in
the bosom of our country, pretending to be the most honor
able and respected part of the community, and sworn to take
the bread from the mouth of honest industry, and to turn
a man destitute and dependent upon the cold charity of
the world. Should he be found in the street, sustaining
the 'peltings of the pitiless storm/ and asking the
charities of the world, which are given to the meanest
vagabond, for some scanty provision, even the ' crumbs
which fall from the rich man's table/ to support for a
short time a destitute but unfortunate family, — they are
sworn to represent him in such a view that even this
scanty provision cannot be given him. What awful crime
has he been guilty of, that the common acts of charity
cannot be administered to him ? None ; no offence against
the laws of his country whatever, has he been guilty
FREEMASONRY. 71
of; but, on the contrary, he has ever sustained a good
character; but he supposed, and riglitly too, that the
obligations imposed upon him in the lodges, chapters, etc.,
were at variance with the best interests of society,
and he boldly steps forward, and, fearless of consequences,
tells the world what are truly the Masonic principles. For
this he must be deprived of every privilege of citizen
ship, made an outcast from society, and his business:
destroyed, while many a dishonest man, guilty of crimes
which, if strictly punished, would gain him a residence
at state prison, is applauded and held out to the world
as deserving their patronage ; and too often do they
receive the patronage and good wishes of the community,
through the influence of this dark, mysterious, midnight,
and hellish banditti. l 0 shame ! where is thy blush V
" But still farther — l ~by transferring his character J [that
is, the character which they give him] * after him wher
ever he may go.J The unhappy sufferer, satisfied that
Masonic vengeance will destroy every „ hope of gaining a
subsistence for himself and those dependent upon him,
unless he becomes dishonest, seeks some distant part of
the community, and there hopes to avoid the fiend-like
malice of the brotherhood, and pursue his avocation in
peace ; but alas ! even this consolation is not left him. They
swear 'to transfer his character after him, wherever he
may go.7 Not satisfied with traducing his character, de
stroying his business, and opposing his interest in the
immediate vicinity where he has ever supported the
character of an honest and respectable citizen, but he
must be utterly destroyed. With malice well becoming
the infernal spirits, they pursue their Masonic victim
to the ' uttermost parts of the earth/ and destroy every
72 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
vestige of hope. To carry this into full and complete
effect, the council which receive him require him to give
his name, the names of his parents, the place where he
was born, where he was educated — in fact, a. descrip
tion of every circumstance of his life, by which he may
be traced through the world, is registered in their bloody
annals. No hope is left the unhappy fugitive, even in
flight ! He must be pursued, and ruined in reputation,
and become a vagabond and an outcast of society, and a
mark put upon him as indelible as that put upon Cain
by the hand of Omnipotence, through the influence of
an ancient and honorable society. Finally, 'by exposing
him to the contempt of the whole fraternity and the tvorld,
'but of our illustrious [illustrious indeed !] order, more
especially, during his whole natural life.7 If he has com
mitted an error, and becomes convinced of it (no matter
if he repent of his frailties in sincerity), no pardon
can be granted him ; he must be held out to the scorn
and contempt of the ' whole world, during the whole
of his natural life.' No consolation or inducement of
reform can be found ; no mitigation of Masonic vengeance
can be realized, neither in flight or repentance.
Conduct worthy, indeed, of a society styling themselves
' ancient, honorable, and the handmaid of religion.'
" This most corrupt institution is kept up and continued
by the worst of men. And from such continuance what
is to be expected ? Surely, if there be any antidote, it
must be poison ; if any remedy, it must be death.
" For the violation of the Masonic oath the most dread
ful punishment is invoked 5 and every subsequent degree
not only imposes new and additional obligations, but
is a repetition of all the preceding ones. Hence it is
FKEEMASONRY. 73
that the compunctious visitings of conscience, if any, are
stifled by the vile oath of profanity taken by every member
of the order: they cannot repent, because they dare not
confess. Whatever crimes are perpetrated, the conclu
sion is, and must be, by the perpetrators, that they had
be'tter go on than go back. Thus poor nature is per
verted, and left without the power of repentance, or'
hope of redemption." — (Speech of the Hon. J. Cleary, in
the Senate of New York State, March 25, 1828.)
ORATION OF HERBERT A. READ, ESQ.
Pronounced at Le Roy, July 4, 1828, to an assembly of nearly one thou
sand persons.
"We are assembled for no ordinary purpose, and to
celebrate no common event in the history of the world.
The object is no less than to destroy an institution which
has secretly fastened itself upon the republic j whose
principles are at variance with the first and unalienable
rights of man ; an institution which, under the garb of
morality, teaches and encourages the grossest immoralities j
an institution professing to be the handmaid of religion,
whose ceremonies are blasphemies and impiety, and which
has been emphatically the school of infidelity j an institu
tion professing to teach its members subjection to the
laws of our country, but which has set at defiance the
laws both of God and of man — destroyed the sanctity of
domestic life — torn asunder the tender ties of humanity —
in a word, sacrilegiously trampled upon the dearest rights
of American freemen, and, to conceal its own impious
principles and blasphemous ceremonies, has stained its
kingly robes with the blood of a free citizen.
" Such, fellow citizens, is the object of our meeting.
74 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
The event we celebrate is the birthday of a nation — the
first dawn of the polar star which shall guide all nations
to the harbor of pure and legitimate freedom — the redemp
tion of a patriotic people from bondage : an event
unparalleled in the history of the world. To contemplate
the conduct of a brave and magnanimous people, who, at
a time when monarchy and despotism were the only
governments in existence, and the strong arm of power was
exerted against them, in defiance of all th» powers of
kings and emperors, threw off all allegiance to tyrants,
declaring that they were, and of right ought to be, free
and independent, and sealed the declaration with their
blood, and thus, upon the firm and immutable basis f
equal rights, established a free government : — we are
assembled to contemplate this stupendous work, and lay the
foundation for the entire overthrow of the Masonic institu
tion. Heretofore the object has been merely to celebrate
it as a day in which our fathers emancipated themselves
from foreign power ; but we this day have the twofold
purpose of reverting back to that period, and to overthrow
all internal enemies, that we may in very deed be dis
enthralled and redeemed from all things which impede the
grand and triumphant march of liberty. Who, among
us, whose heart beats not high at such prospects ? Who
that has witnessed the surrounding gloom which has
overspread this Western section, but now rejoices at the
dispelling of the clouds, and the bright prospect before us ?
As freemen, jealous of your liberties, rejoice in the antici
pation of that day when the institution which has proudly
bid defiance to the public opinion— which has exulted
in its own damning deeds, and insulted the majesty of
the laws? shall be swept from our land, and leave not a
FREEMASONRY. 75
wreck behind. The book of her mysteries will be opened
— her hidden abominations exposed — her profane altars
will be overthrown — her noisy revels will no longer
greet our ears — her covers will be opened to the gaze of
the uninitiated : for her iniquities have called for retribu
tive justice. The voice has not been in vain. Freemen
have asserted their dear-bought rights, and Masonry van
ished like mist before the sun.
" A brief history of the eventful period we new
celebrate, and of the characters' engaged in our revolu
tionary struggles, may not be unnecessary to nerve our
arms in defence of those principles which our fathers so
manfully established by their sufferings and privations.
They were men stamped with the principles of liberty by
the God of nature. Driven from their homes and their
land of nativity by those who should have been their
protectors, after suffering from the hardships of a long
tempestuous voyage, they established themselves in this
Western World for the enjoyment of civil and religious
liberty, the natural birthright of man. Many were the
sufferings and great the privations they were destined to
experience 5 but men who, for the enjoyment of rational
liberty, had deserted their former residence, and broken
asunder the endearing ties of relationship, were not to
be driven from their purpose, nor baffled in their attempts
by such trials. They saw, in prospective, the blessings
which their labors would purchase, if not for them, for
future generations. This supported them in all their
trials, and stimulated to greater exertions. Their labors
were crowned With supcess. A new world sprang into
existence, and that liberty they had so ardently toiled
for, richly compensated them for their suffering. Such
76 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
characters as the settlers of North America are worthy
our highest admiration. Amidst the hardships and suffer
ings of that period, they were not unmindful of their
descendants, and the future inhabitants of the New World.
While struggling against the rigor of a new climate,
engaged in repelling the attacks of their savage enemies,
they laid a broad and deep foundation for the future
civil and religious liberty of this Western continent.
But soon the colonies had new difficulties to encounter.
After the savage fires were extinguished, and the
war-whoop had ceased to arouse them, and after subduing
the wilderness, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce
steadily advanced. The colonies were in an unparalleled
state of improvement, and exhibited a determination
of actual independence. The suspicion and jealousy of
the mother country was aroused, and such acts were
enacted as tended to paralyze the efforts of this enter
prising country j burdens were imposed, tyrannical laws
enforced, and a course was pursued by the mother-
country which had a direct tendency to bring the
colonies into actual dependence upon, and subjection to,
her authority. But that spirit which had subdued the
wilderness, repelled the savage foe, which had in fact
suffered all the difficulties of the new settlement for the
enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, was not to be
crushed, even in infancy, without an effort for preser
vation. Although not all the actual settlers of this New
World, yet the sufferings of their fathers were fresh in
their memory, and they exhibited a determination
not to disgrace their noble sires. Long they suffered
from the oppression heaped upon them, before even a
murmur of complaint was heard. Encouraged by such
FREEMASONRY. 77
compliance, new acts of oppression were enacted, and the
old ones enforced with new rigor. Yet still such was the
deference they paid to England, instead of repelling it
with force, and asserting their rights at the mouth of the
cannon, a remonstrance against those acts, and a petition
for redress of grievance} were the only measures pursued
by the colonies.
11 Supposing this deference to be servile submission — that
in their destitute situation, without arms, without an army,
or a revenue to raise or support one, they were incapable
of resisting their superior force j without the least re
gard for the welfare of their lawful subjects, the mother-
country persevered in her course, and attempted to sub
ject the colonies, at all hazards, and make them subser
vient to her interest alone. In this they reckoned without
their host. The spirit of liberty had not forsaken the West
ern World. Although they were willing to be dutiful
subjects, they were unwilling to be slaves. The toils,
sufferings, privations, and conflicts, which they had already
encountered and overcome, were not forgotten ; neither
were they to be in vain. After remonstrance and petition
had failed, then was aroused the spirit of their sires ; then
were they willing to hazard their all in defence of that
freedom which they had so anxiously sought. On the
memorable 4th of July, 1776, appealing to the Author of
their existence and the God of armies for the rectitude of
their conduct, they declared themselves free and indepen
dent, pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred
honor, to support that declaration. What an eventful
period was that when men, bearing the impress of the
heavenly gift of liberty, threw off all allegiance to the
mother-country, declaring the most powerful nation in
78 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
the world in war, enemies ; in peace, friends. The his
tory is too well known to require from me a minute
detail.
" A colony destitute of every means to carry on a warfare,
without an army, arms, or ammunition, yet trusting to the
righteousness of her cause, unfurls the banners of freedom,
and invites her votaries to rally round her standard arid
be free, or sacrifice their lives in the conflict. The call
was not in vain : the angel of liberty had not taken his
flight from the world. The patriotic sons of America
hear the call, and leave all other concerns, and fly to the
battle-field. The conflict for independence was long and
arduous j but liberty, civil and religious, was the reward
of their labors. The proud empire who refused to hear
the remonstrance of her children, was compelled to ac
knowledge them of age, and capable of governing them
selves. The conflict over, and the din of battle no more
heard within our borders, with rapid strides America
emerged from her former obscurity, and took her stand
among the nations of the earth. Although scattering
clouds at times obscured the political horizon, they were
soon dispelled, and liberty, with its cheering rays, dis
pensed its blessings upon this patriotic people. The arts
and sciences dispensed their rich blessings. Manufactures
were encouraged, the fruits of the soil amply repaid the
husbandman for his labors, and every sea was soon visited
with the banner of the United States. Her settlements
were extended, and the wilderness budded and blos
somed like the rose ; our country grew in strength, and
foretold her future greatness. England, retaining her former
jealousy — justly fearing she might diminish the lustre of
her crown — saw the example she already set to other
FREEMASONRY. / tf
nations to throw off allegiance to sovereigns and be froe —
basely insulted our flag, and infringed upon the dearest
rights of Americans. The impressment of American sea
men into the service of a foreign power was, and justly
too, considered a sufficient cause to again appeal to arms
for the protection of her privileges. The din of battle
again resounded through our land. The horrors of war
were again experienced; but the proud monarch was
again compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of Ameri
can arms, and to respect the American flag. The honor
of America was advanced by this appeal to arms, and the
just rights of the United States were recognized. Our
star-spangled banner was wraved in triumph, and all nations
of the world compelled to respect it. Peace was again
restored, and the visible prosperity of the republic ad
vanced with increased rapidity.
u While the patriots of the revolution and the sages of
America were resting in security, proud of the trium
phant march of free principles and equal rights, supposing
the free institutions of America were fixed upon those
inimitable principles which the revolution of empires could
never effect, a secret society was slowly, but with a steady
and determined step, possessing itself with all the power
and danger of monarchs. Although proverbially jealous
of their liberty, and ever watchful of open enemies and
foreign powers, still they suffered a secret combination to
increase in strength, numbers, and power, until it had
become the most powerful combination in the world.
Secret societies of different kinds have at various periods
attempted to arise, but the powerful voice of public
opinion has stopped their progress on the very threshold
of their existence. A society composed of the veterans
80 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH :
of the Revolution, whose professed object was to con
tinue those offices of kindness which had been so often
administered in their struggle for independence, and keep
in remembrance those trying scenes, created such jeal
ousy, and called forth the energies of the sages to such
an extent, that the society soon dwindled away. Although
public opinion was so strong as to stop the progress of
such a society, composed of members who had been tried
in the hour of adversity, and had not been found wanting —
men of sterling integrity, and unyielding patriotism, yet
the Masonic institution has so artfully concealed its real
principles, that it has extended itself over the Union,
increased its members to an alarming number, accumulated
funds to an enormous amount, possessing means to learn its
enemies, and power to punish them. Although the produc
tion of a foreign power, and deriving its authority from
foreign lords, still the American republic has suffered it to
increase to its present gigantic size, until they openly
boast of possessing sufficient power of choosing the
officers and directing the government of the United States.
So powerful does this society consider itself, that its mem
bers unblushingly tell the citizens of America : * You have
a secret society existing among you, whose power and influ
ence is so great that the government itself cannot put it
down ; nay, the world in arms cannot suppress it.' This
is no picture of fancy ; neither are the shades too highly
colored. It is their own insulting language to freemen,
openly declared and published to the world. To show dis
tinctly what they conceive to be the power and influence of
their society, permit me to extract from a public address
delivered by one of their devoted subjects, on one of
their festive days. After describing its pretended origin,
FREEMASONRY. 81
and its vast increase of number, he exclaims : f What is
Masonry now ? It is powerful ! It comprises men of
rank, wealth, office, and talent, in power and out of power,
and that in almost every place where power is of any impor
tance, and it comprises among the other class of comunm-
ity to the lowest, in large numbers, and capable of being
directed by the efforts of others, so as to have the force
of concert throughout the civilized world. They are dis
tributed, too, with the means of knowing each other, and
the means of keeping secret, and the means of cooperat
ing — in the desk, in the legislative hall, on the bench, in
every gathering of men of business, in every party of
pleasure, in every enterprise of government, in every
domestic circle, in peace and in war, among its enemies
and friends, in one place as well as another. So powerful,
indeed, is it at this time, that it fears nothing from vio
lence, either public or private, for it has every means to
learn it in season, to counteract, defeat, and punish it.
The power of the Pope has been sometimes friendly, and
sometimes hostile. Suppose now, the opposition of either
should arouse Masons to redress its grievances. The
Jesuits, with their cunning, might call on the holy brother
hood, and the holy brotherhood on the holy alliance, and
they might all come, too, and in vain. For it is too late
to talk of the propriety of continuing or suppressing
Masonry, after the time to do so has gone by ; so, good
or bad, the world must take it as it is. Think of it,
laugh at it, hate it, or despise it, still it is not only what
I told you, but it will continue to be — and the world iu
arms cannot stop it — a powerful institution. ? *
* Oration of Brainard, before Union Lodge, New London, Connecticut,
June 24, 1825.
THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
"Such, fellow citizens, is the description of the influence
and power of the Masonic institution by one of its orators,
and published to a public of freemen. An institution
whose members have been supported and protected by
the laws of this republic, until it assumes its present
enormous power, and now bids defiance to the government
which has fostered them in its bosom, and attempted to
give the deadly sting. Shall it be said that in a free
government, which professes to distribute justice equally
upon all, whether high or low, rich or poor, we have an
institution which, in the language of a bravado, boasts
that its strength is so great that even the government
itself is unable to put it down ; that it is too late to talk
of the propriety of continuing or suppressing Masonry^; so,
good or bad, the world must take it as it is ? Yes, fellow
citizens, we have an institution within our borders, and
in the midst of us, composed of citizens of a free govern
ment, which proudly boasts that the Jesuits, with all their
cunning, the Pope, the combined force of European mon-
archs, all concentrated — nay, the world in arms, cannot
stop its progress • that it will continue to be what it
now is : a powerful institution.
tl Freemen of America ! have you been faithful guardi
ans of your liberties, to permit this institution to assume
such powers ? Are you now faithful sentinels, and will you
allow this society to make farther progress ? This boast of
theirs was not an idle tale, told to amuse a few fanatical
hearers, but was a true and faithful portrait of the power
Masons actually believed their institution to possess.
This declaration was made and published to the world in
1825, when it was unknown their force would require
concentration to possess the force of concert throughout
FREEMASONRY. 83
the civilized world to their proud institution. The dis
astrous events of September, 1826, show conclusively this
was not the fancy of one wild-brained member, but the
opinion of the whole Masonic body. They learned its
enemy, and exercised the power to counteract, defeat,
and punish it. The magazine of Niagara tells the tale of
their punishment; but may heaven avert the disastrous
event of their counteracting all its enemies. A brief his
tory of this institution, together with its professed objects,
and a delineation of its true principles, may not at this
time be unappropriate. To deceive its votaries, and allure
the unsuspecting into its snares, this institution attempts
to trace its origin to the earliest period of existence ; that
it was the gift of God to man ; that its regular organiza
tion was executed by men inspired of heaven to amelio
rate the condition of man, and smooth his path through
his probationary j existence. Some assert it to be the
handmaid of religion, given as an assistant to point man
to his duty here, and a sure way of gaining admittance to
the abode of happiness, or, Masonically speaking, to the
Grand Lodge above. They have heaped a mountain of
pretensions upon it, and offer no proofs to support their
assertions but Masonic traditions, which are too absurd
to be listened to in moments of reflection. Nay, so absurd
are many of their traditional histories, that the greatest
devotee* to Masonry has been compelled, in his public
addresses, to pronounce them as absurd, contradictory,
and ridiculous ; so much so, that the candidate can, from
that Holy Book upon which she requires her members
to swear allegiance, prove them to be deceptions of the
basest kind. As well, says he, might we believe that
*See Dalcha's Oration, p, 43, Sovereign Inspector-General.
8-t THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
tlie sun travels round the earth, instead of the earth round
the sun, as to believe in all the incongruities which
are taught in the lodges [symbolic degrees]. Yet so
successfully has she trumpeted forth her own praise, so
completely has she shrouded herself in mystery, that a
majority of her subjects have been last to ascertain her
real origin ; and for that very reason suppose she must be
ancient, and have claimed as her supporters the kings of
Israel, the prophets, saints, and apostles, for no other
possible reason than Masonry has so instructed them.
Masonry, it is true, is ancient, as the laying of brick and
stone to form a habitation for man j but the supporters of
speculative Freemasonry despise so humble an origin
for their mistress, and assert the word from which their
institution derives its name, means those initiated into
the sacred mysteries.* The true history of Masonry is
this : A society of honest mechanics was formed, with
established rules to govern themselves in contracting for
work, and also for governing their apprentices and jour
neymen, or fellow-crafts. Every symbol and article of
clothing of the present day show this conclusively.
Whence do they derive the origin of their apron, trowels,
plumb-lines, gavel, etc., if not from operative masons?
What do thousands of their members know of the techni
cal terms of this laboring class of men, such as the entab
lature, the plinth, the die, and surbase ? In the mouth
of operative masons they have an important meaning j
but in the mouth of a member of speculative Freemasonry;
who is initiated into the sacred mystery, they mean
nothing.
"In the years 1716 and 1717 an attempt was success
* Smith, p, 35. " Hale's Speculative Masourj," p. 15.
FREEMASONRY. 85
fully made to convert this system into speculative Free
masonry j and when, at length, many of different trades
were admitted, they raised it above its vulgar origin, and
attempted to load it with pretensions of honor and anti
quity ; the records and constitution were committed to the
flames, that they might not give a lie to their assertions.
Three degrees only were then invented, and these were, ia
1720, passed into the different nations having communica
tion with Great Britain. At this time her historians are
capable of giving the name of the Grand Master, the date of
the warrant, to a year, and the place where it was sent. Do
they give the dates of warrants, or the operation of this
society, previous to this 1 They are as silent as the grave
from the days of King Solomon down to 1717. Could
they not have given the history, with the same accuracy,
previous ? The first introduction of Masonry into America
was by a warrant granted by the Right Honorable and
Most Worshipful Anthony Lord Viscount Montague, Grand
Master, etc., dated April 30, 1733; and the first lodge
ever held in America was in Boston, July, 1733. This
lodge granted ten warrants for other lodges in different
parts of the colonies. Although Masonic history was care
ful to give the days in which the lodges met in after
years, yet her historians give no account of her progress
for a number of years. In 1755 a grant was given by
another individual to hold a lodge in the same place of
the former 5 so much was the society in its infancy at this
time that no established rule or organization was formed,
and an infringement was here made upon their established
customs. The next meeting of the society which they
give an account of, was in December, 17G9, when,
the historian asserts, was celebrated the festival of the
86 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
evangelist, in due form. A period of thirty-six years has
elapsed since the formation in America of the society
claiming relationship with the apostles, ere they thought
of commemorating the birthday of their Christian patron.
This is the first celebration of that day, within my know
ledge, on record. Little or no mention is made of the
progress of light, until 1777, when a new lodge was
formed. In so little repute was the society held in that day,
that it fell into disrepute : once, no less than three regu
lar formations are mentioned. But in 1783 a< committee
was appointed to draft resolutions explanatory of the
power and authority of the Grand Lodge. Thus we find
five thousand seven hundred and thirty-three years after
its pretended existence, a society claiming Solomon, king
of Israel, for their Grand Master, and under whose patron
age a regular organization was formed, — a society which
they pretend has continued the same in every age j
whose regular or constitutional powers were not defined :
its powers were now established, and Masonry slowly
extended itself.
" Until the nineteenth century Masonry made but little
progress in America ; but then is recorded its rapid spread
over the United States. Not a village could make its
appearance in the wilderness but some Mason would
establish a lodge, to give himself and brethren an undue
advantage over the common citizens. Although the
Masonic historians, with minuteness, relate the particulars
of the formation of the first lodge in America, giving the
date of the first warrant, and the name of the individual
granting the same, with all his Masonic and civil titles, ho
gives the name of no one who stands as godfather to a
chapter. No warrant was ever granted by any power to
FREEMASONRY. 87
hold a chapter in America. The Masonic history of this
degree in this country is very short. It commences by
saying, ' Previous to 1797 no Grand Chapter of Royal
Arch Masons was ever organized in America : previously
a competent number of companions, under the sanction
of a Master's warrant, exercised the right of Royal Arch
Masons.'
"It cannot be unknown to the public that a Master's
warrant cannot authorize work (as Masons say) beyond
three degrees. Yet a number of men, under the sanction
of such a warrant, exercise the authority of conferring
four more degrees than their warrant authorizes. Can
it be possible that degrees founded in the days of Solomon,
which in its tradition traces events which occurred at the
building of the temple, which contains important secrets
hid from the world for the period of seven hundred years,
had no regular form of government, no proper manner of
conferring its favors ? The whole truth is, these degrees
are an innovation on what Masons call ancient Freemasonry.
Its introduction called forth animadversions from the warm
est supporter of Masonry. The first formation, I believe,
was of Horodim Chapter, in 1787. Mr. Preston, in his
first editions, makes no mention of any degrees above the
Master, but in his later he mentions the formation of this
chapter, and expresses fears for the consequences of f some
modern innovations in Masonry. Hutchinson's t Spirit of
Freemasonry/ published in 1794, treats of three degrees
only ; l Ahimon Rezon/ published in London, 1764, treats of
three degrees ; l Jachin and Boaz/ published in 1770, gives
a true history of all Masonry then in existence, but is silent
concerning any degrees above the Master's. The book of
4 Constitutions of Massachusetts/ edition of 1792, which
88 THE THIRD EJSTEMY OP THE CHURCH:
professes to give a complete history of Freemasonry, both
in England and Massachusetts, makes no mention of any
degree in either country above the lodge of Master
Masons ; Laurie's history of Freemasonry gives no degree
above the Master's, but says in the constitution of the
Grand Lodge of Scotland that all ancient St. John Masonry
is contained within the three degrees ; Smith's i Use and
Abuse of Masonry ' declares the same thing j the union of
the Grand Lodge of England with the dissenters, ratified
in London, 1803, declares all ancient Freemasonry con
tained within the lodges, of Master Masons ; the * Free
mason's Library,7 written since, declares there are but four
degrees of Masonry. Mr. Cole, the writer, says : i This
opinion accords not only with the sentiments of the oldest
but best-informed Masons with whom I have conversed,
but is agreeable to written and printed documents in my
possession. The following degrees, which have been manu
factured within a few years past, are merely elucidatory of
the second, third, and fourth degrees.' He then' enumer
ates all the degrees conferred by a chapter.
" At the time these authors wrote, Masonry was so much
in its infancy, the most unblushing writers on Masonry
dare not claim the degrees conferred in a chapter as
belonging to Freemasonry ; but as they had deceived the
world in the origin of the three degrees, their writers soon
had the effrontery to claim the highest degrees as ancient.
We soon found them enumerating the degrees of Masonry
as high as thirty-three, and in 1816 they have increased
as high as forty-three, and at this dav^ they attempt to
claim ninety-six regular degrees of Masonry, and all of
them founded in the .days of Solomon j and some of them go
back to the antediluvian days; without finding any mention
FREEMASONRY. 89
of them until 1786, or acknowledged as belonging to their
system until 1797. The truth is, too many of what they
call the vulgar, and European princes, and American
aristocrats, could not meet upon a level with the vulgar
crowd j and in later days the managers have found it to
increase the Masonic funds, and, consequently, their own
interest. Such, fellow citizens, is the brief but correct
history of Freemasonry.
11 If this society has been presumptuous in claiming for
herself antiquity, no less effrontery has she exhibited in
her professed objects and avowed privileges. Her mem
bers state that the principles of speculative Freemasonry
have the same co-eternal and unshaken foundation ; con
tain and inculcate the same truth, and propose the same
ultimate end, as the doctrines of Christianity, taught by
Divine revelation. 'The pious will embrace it as an
auxiliary to human happiness, and a guide to a blessed
immortality.7 l Here [that is, in speculative Freemasonry]
1 we view the coincidence of principle and design between
the Christian scheme and speculative Freemasonry, with
that pleasing admiration which satisfies inquiry, and clearly
proves our system based on the rock of eternal ages.'
' Here [in a lodge room] we are taught all the combined
and unspeakable excellencies of the Omnipotent Creator ;
to adore that Divinity whose goodness and mercy are so
astonishingly displayed in the salvation of man.' i No
moral character is regarded by the Divine Being with
greater complaisance than a Mason.7 i Masonry preaches
the eternal world manifested in the flesh.' 'Masonry
embraces the subject-matter of Divine economy/ ' Ma
sonry presents to the mind the co-equal and co-eternal
existence of the adorable Trinity.' Such are the princi-
90 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
pies and avowed objects of Freemasonry. It is by such
palpable falsehoods and great pretensions she has allured
thousands into her deceitful snare. If such are, indeed, its
principles, who would not be a Mason ? Who would not
belong to a society whose members are regarded by the
Divine Being with the greatest complacency ? It is with
such pretensions as these she has deceived the public, and
been permitted to extend her dominions. So powerful
have been her bonds, and such influence has she exerted,
that few in any former period of her existence have dared
to deny her authority, or lay naked her hidden enormities.
An opposition to Masonry by any number of her members
would have proved their inevitable ruin. She arrogated
to herself the privilege of publishing her enemies to the
world as unworthy and vicious vagabonds ; of deranging
their business ; and her influence has been so great, that
she has been able to do it effectually. Some few have
attempted to divulge her true character — to disrobe the
harlot, and expose her native ugliness to the common
gaze ; but dearly have they paid for their temerity. But
the strong bonds which bound them to this moloch are
broken. Men, trusting to the free institutions of their
country for support, have dared to brave Masonic ven
geance, and expose the secret enormities of this dark con
spiracy against the liberties of man. She has filled the
measure of her iniquities ; her crimes are of a scarlet
dye ; they have roused insulted freemen to investigate her
principles j she must pass the ordeal of public opinion.
If her principles are compatible with our free institutions,
she can still exist j but should she prove to be a hypocrite,
a base dissembler — if in her secret places she generates
the principles of discord, sanctions the crimes of her
FREEMASONRY. 91
votaries, exercises an undue influence in the councils of
the nation, she must fall, and receive the contempt of an
insulted and much-abused public.
11 That Freemasonry inculcates such principles as have
been quoted, the most credulous cannot but believe, should
they investigate one single moment. The same authors
who so shamefully say she l is in body and substance the
whole duty of man as a moral being, and its precepts equally
sacred and equally precious with Christianity,' * that it
inculcates the deep mysteries of the Divine Word, in whom
all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily,' say, i the wan
dering Arab, the civilized Chinese, and the native Ameri
can, the rigid observer of the Mosaic law, the followers of
Mahomet, and professors of Christianity, are all connected
by the mystic union in one indissoluble band of affection.7
How absurd that the Jew should meet in good fellowship
with a society which teaches that in Christ the fulness of
the Godhead dwelt bodily ; that the wandering Arab should
unite with men in precepts equally sacred and precious
with Christianity j and how delighted must the native of the
forest be with all these heavenly principles taught in the
Holy Bible, which has been to him a sealed book, whose
pages of inspiration he never understood, and in whose
precepts he never was instructed. Masonry becomes all
things to all men, says a late author. c This is her true
character of the harlot : she loves everybody dearly, and
him with whom she cohabits, supremely j she also reveres
the Bible in America, the Koran in Turkey, and the
Shaster in India, as equally worthy of acceptation, and
revealing the whole duty of man : she possesses the re
markable quality of being the same thing and its opposite to
any extent required.' Instead of hearing within the lodge
92 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH :
the warning voice and the duty of man explained, often
are heard the noisy bacchanalian revels, occasioned by too
frequent calls from labor to refreshment. The true
principles of Freemasonry are not found in her Monitor,
neither are they published by her orators. These are
prepared for the public, who are never admitted behind the
scenes to view the actors in their common apparel. They
consist solely in her senseless ceremonies and unhallowed
obligation. To these, then, we appeal. Secret societies
of any description should awaken the suspicion of freemen
living under a government whose acts are open to the
scrutiny of all its subjects ; no society, however limited it
may be, should be suffered to be regularly organized with
regular and stated meetings, whose objects are unknown.
Such societies are not the product of republican soil. They
are the legitimate offsprings of tyranny. The former reign
of darkness and despotism were effected by means of secret
societies. To secret societies can be distinctly traced the
conspiracies which have convulsed Europe. When a society
becomes so regularly organized as to defy the scrutiny of
government, the public should demand an investigation
of its principles. The Masonic society has become regu
larly organized, possessing one grand governing power
which extends over the whole United States, with stated
periods of meetings j has elected its officers, who hold them
for seven years; and its real object is unknown to the
public. It is also divided into smaller governments,
whose authority extends over every part of the State in
which the same is held, and again subdivided into lesser,
or auxiliary societies, who exercise authority over its own
immediate members, but all subject to the controlling power
of the general grand society. Thus there is one grand
FREEMASONRY. 93
connecting link existing from a simple lodge to a Grand
Chapter, Encampment and Consistory, all pursuing one
grand object, and that object unknown to all but those
initiated into their sublime mysteries. The members of
this society are found in every important station in the
Union : in the legislative hall, on the bench, in all the
executive departments ; in fact, distributing among and
commingling with us in all the scenes of life, and all of
them, in their own language, i capable of being directed
by the efforts of others.' With such an organization, its
officers regularly chosen, from the i Most Puissant Sover
eign Inspector General/ ( Deputy Sovereign of Sovereigns/
down to the simple 'Worshipful Master and Wardens/
they possess to an alarming degree the power to destroy
any government, however pure or well fortified. Although
a small minority, yet with such a powerful combination,
such facilities to concert its plans of operation, no power
could stop the progress of such a conspiracy. In their
own language, the * Jesuits, with all their cunning, might
call on the Holy Brotherhood, and the Holy Brotherhood
on the Holy Alliance, and they all might come too, and in
vain, for the world in arms cannot stop it.'
"Such is the power of the Masonic institution, unassist
ed by other means than the regular distribution of power.
But the danger increases tenfold when, in addition to
her secret meetings, she binds her members to silence,
under no less penalty than an ignominious and inhuman
death, to forever conceal her dark conspiracies from the
world. She possesses a mystic language by which she can
communicate all her wants, and make known her objects,
unknown to, and unperceived by, those unacquainted with
her mysteries. Whence the necessity of an unknown
94 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
language in a government providing for all the honest
wants of its subjects ? Knaves and villains only need a
mystic language. Honest men need them not. But
Masonry possesses them, and it is one of her grand prin
ciples and most powerful engines to carry into effect her
secret and unwarrantable acts, She also requires her
subjects to swear they will obey all regular signs or sum
mons, given, handed, sent, or thrown them by the hand
of a brother, or from the body of a lodge or chapter, and
conform to all her rules and regulations, Should she re
quire her summons sent, she binds her members to perform
this duty, should they in its performance have to do it
bareheaded, barefooted, and on frosty ground. Thus dis
tributed, and possessing such powers, no government can
be safe, should they arise and unite their strength to
overthrow it. Should her plans be concerted, and require
the aid of her subjects, they must obey all her summons,
no matter what may be its import, and arouse the ener
gies of the brethren to bring them to the field of battle,
or act as occasion might require. They are sworn to
sound the alarm, to notify all, should they do it barefoot
and on frosty ground. Provision is made in their code
for the most extreme case that can possibly arise. So
distributed are her members that her whole force can re
ceive the summons, and concentrate before the government
can receive the alarm. But to cap the climax of Masonic
government, she requires her subjects to solemnly swear to
conceal the secrets of a companion, murder and treason
not excepted. What facilities are here offered to the
ambitious! What safeguard can avert the impending
tempest? Without the least danger, a member of this
infernal institution can propose to citizens of this free
FREEMASONRY. 95
government schemes of treason, should he do it with a
charge of secrecy 5 for, however disposed to support our
free institution, his hearers must remain forever silent,
their lips must be forever hermetically sealed. No punish
ment can be awarded to so daring villains, should they
confide the secrets only to worthy companions. No
government was ever formed so powerful and well organ
ized for plans of operation. Possessing such means, well
may she bid defiance to the i world in arms !'
" In this society can be distinctly traced the spirit of the
Illuminati, and from her were lighted those firebrands
of discord which ravaged France in her revolution, and
extinguished all rational liberty. What security can
we possibly possess in our government with such a
society ? Should she be suffered to increase in the same
ratio for a few more years that she has for the last ten
or fifteen, from her dark caverns and midnight conclaves
would issue some despotic and ambitious Caesar, \vlio, with
widespread desolation, would destroy the labor of our
fathers ; and our country, instead of the land of liberty
and happiness, would become the oppressed land of
Masonic tyranny. If such are not her objects, why does
she guard herself with such impenetrable barriers ? Does
the benign Gospel, whose handmaid she styles herself, re
quire such secrecy and such impious oaths ? Does the
dispensation of charity require such regulations ? Does
the propagation of morality require such aid ? No j the
only reason for her shrouding herself in such impenetrable
darkness and mystery is, because her i deeds are evil,
therefore she chooses darkness rather than light.' The
only safety wey can possess consists in the patriotism of
her leading members, and this has been the great bulwark
96 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH :
of her defence. But has she not ambitious aspirants
registered in the archives of her lodge I Have we not
seen the man who has been elected to the second office in
the gift of a free people, attempt the overthrow of our
government ? What security, then, is this ? In some
desperate moment, smarting under wounded defeat, some
powerful and ambitious man may survey the materials,
and concentrate the force of the institution, to obtain the
object of his ambition. It is too powerful an engine to
be left in the hands of any man or set of men j and our
own safety, our allegiance to our common country, the ex
perience of past ages, all unite in one loud appeal to the
freemen of America for the total annihilation of speculative
Freemasonry. Should our country, however, escape the
alarming danger of overthrow from this society, she in
culcates those of a lesser grade, which effectually infringe
upon our dearest rights as citizens of the elective franchise.
By requiring her members to swear, as she does in
some chapters, to l vote for a companion before any other
of equal qualifications/ to require, under the sanction of a
barbarous oath, to always ' support his political preferment
in opposition to any other/ she places her own chosen
children in every station of our government ; and they,
after obtaining complete control of the executive, legis
lative, and judicial departments, must and will dispense
their patronage upon the members of the institution,
which forms a complete Masonic government, — a gov
ernment within a government. T.his secret influence
exercised in our elections is a source of great corrup
tion, and attended with great danger to the government
itself. The firm support, the main pillar of a republi
can government, is the free choice of its rulers given to
FREEMASONRY. 97
the electors. But if our rulers are to be made in a lodge-
room, and all the brotherhood bound on oath to support
such candidates, then indeed is the choice taken from the
people, and eventually the overthrow of the free institu
tions will be the inevitable consequence. When her obli
gations require her subjects to assist each other so far as
to extricate them from any difficulty, whether ' right or *
wrong/ then are the fountains of justice polluted, and the
crime becomes sullied by Masonic influence. We have
no security for the faithful administration of justice, while
such obligations are administered and adhered to. A felon
may be arraigned for an offence against the laws of his
country : should he belong to this society, no punishment
can be awarded him adequate to his crime. Such has been
the influence of Masonry, that few jurors have been em
panelled without finding at least one Mason upon it.
No matter if a Masonic juror has taken an oath a i true
verdict to find, according to evidence/ he has taken a
Masonic obligation, paramount to his civil one, and of much
more horrid import, to shield the culprit, whether right or
wrong; but, should this fail him, he gives the grand hailing
sign to the executive, and the sword of justice is averted.
Neither have we any security for the impartial administra
tion of justice between man and man. A Masonic juror is
bound to aid a brother, whether right or wrong, and
the sanctity of a witness's oath to tell the ' truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth,7 is lost in his pre
vious oath to conceal the secrets of a companion, i mur
der and treason not cxcepted.1 Such obligations have a
direct tendency to promote crimes of the deepest dye. It
emboldens the criminal to commit greater crimes by the
facilities afforded him in this oath of secrecy. Few per-
98 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
sons individually commit crimes of great magnitude, and
fear of exposure in ordinary cases would ..deter him from
communicating his designs ; but in his present case he
runs no risk. Should he require an accomplice, 'he finds
a Master Mason, he confides his intended crime to him,
with perfect knowledge he is bound by an oath to conceal
the same, should it be less than murder and treason. Should
it exceed these, he seeks a companion Royal Arch Mason.
He communicates his intended purpose to him, requires
his aid ; perhaps he finds a companion who will not stoop
to commit such acts ; he readily answers, Do as you
choose, but rcollect you are bound to keep the secrets of
a companion, ' murder and treason not excepted.7 It
necessarily familiarizes the young novitiate with the
relation of the most horrid crimes, and however honest he
may be when first caught in her snares, from the recital
of actual crimes, he is impressed with a belief that his
oath of secrecy forbids his communicating the same. It
emboldens him to commit crimes. Is it uncharitable to
suppose that many of the corruptions which have been
committed by our lawgivers have been done by the mem
bers of this society, under the sanction of Masonic obliga
tions ? The same facilities are offered for her subjects to
effect their purposes in the legislative hall as in the com
mission of crime ; and there are but too many who are
ready to accept of the inducements she holds forth. In
ordinary cases, the offer or acceptance of a bribe would be
attended with the fear of detection ; but in this case there
is none, unless some members should consider their obliga
tion to their country paramount to all others. An account
of this kind is now registered on the journals of Congress,
when a bribe was offered a member to assist in some
FREEMASONRY. 99
moneyed concerns. This bribe was offered under the sanc
tion of Masonry. The words were as follows : — * I give
it you as a man and a Mason, and hope you belong to that
society.7 If one case can be found where the exposition
was made because the person was not a Mason, or consid
ered his duty to his country of more consequence than
that to Masonry, have we not reason to fear that too many
of the mysterious acts of our lawgivers spring from the
same corrupt source ? Too much facility is offered for
bribery and corruption in so important a branch of oui
government. Fellow citizens ! these are the true princi
ples of Masonry, disrobed of all her pretensions. Is not a
society, bound by such ties, and possessing such power,
which has exercised such influence, of great danger to our
republican institutions ? Are you not bound by your love
of country, and by the blood of martyrs who fell in our
glorious revolution, to take decided measures to stop the
progress, and entirely overthrow the society of speculative
Freemasonry ? Should you need other facts to stimulate
you to such a glorious act, review the bloody scenes of
September, 1826. If you are deaf to the voice of reason,
let those transactions, added to the conduct of this society
since that period, arouse you to exterminate this hydra-
headed monster. You have seen the crime of kidnapping,
arson, and murder, committed by members of this society,
and under such circumstances as leave no doubt they
were the legitimate productions of their laws. You have
seen the public press, the palladium of liberty, silent as
the grave on these important subjects. You have seen
those guilty of such acts screened from punishment through
Masonic influence. You have seen your fellow citizens
who attempted to investigate this transaction, and raised
100 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
their voice against them, visited with vindictive and male
volent persecution by this society. All this you have seen ;
and are you not prepared to act on such an occasion ? A
fearful gloom has indeed been spread around, but the pros
pects are brightened. Freemen have aroused to assert
their rights. They have indeed boasted that the govern
ment, the world in arms, is unable to suppress Masonry.
This may be so ; but public opinion, stronger than the
government itself, is able to accomplish this glorious work.
We wish not to array the world in arms against them. It
must be a bloodless victory. Their principles are now
divulged. This day commences a revelation of all their
unhallowed orgies. Men, trusting to the protection of an
intelligent community, have commenced, and will disclose,
the utmost secrets of that blood-stained institution. To
secure victory, it is necessary that these revelations be
promulgated to the uttermost bounds of our country. A
knowledge of the facts is all that is requisite to assert the
rights of freemen.
" Finally, fellow citizens, in view of all that you have
seen, in view of the scenes of violence and iniquity, and
of the lawless usurpation of your rights, which have passed
before your eyes, or come to your knowledge, act as free
men ; fulfil your duties as the possessors of this soil, which
was once drenched with the blood of your patriotic
sires. Look upon the remnant of this invincible band now
before you, whose hands, once nerved with almost super
human strength, are now trembling with age 5 whose
heads, now whitened with years, yet blooming with honors,
are fit objects of your veneration. Look upon them, and
read in their wrinkled brows, as well as in the history of
their bravery, the monition to act as becomes their off-
FREEMASONRY. 101
spring ; to conduct in such a manner that, ere their bones
are laid by the side of their compatriots, they may
behold the joyful earnest of their country's greatness.
Reflect that not their eyes alone, but those who have gone
before them, are upon you. Go to your homes j behold
the companions of your bosoms, and the offspring of
your affections, and remember that they, too, are involved
in the welfare of our land j and let a father's care and a
husband's love inspire your devotion to your country's
cause. Thus let us reflect, thus let us act ; and heaven
will bless our endeavors, shall crown our land with bless
ing, and earth shall know no nobler clime than ours."
§ 7. — Address to the People of the State of Neiv York.
u Fellow citizens : The institution of speculative Free
masonry has existed in these United States ever since the
formation of our government. Assuming to be the patron
of science, the protector of morality, and the handmaid
of religion, it has been suffered to exist without question
or suspicion. Its votaries have ever been enthusiastic
and extravagant in praise of its character, principles, and
tendency. It is, in their own language, a system not only
beautiful, but divine — whose principles are the purest
morality ; whose objects are to inculcate universal benevo
lence and good-will among the brethren j and whose
operations have been an extended system of holy and
healing charity. It is calculated, they say; to enlighten
the ignorant, to reform the bad, to protect the weak,
and to relieve the necessitous. We have seen many good
men, venerable sages, worthy patriots, and pious divines,
belonging to this institution, and have suffered ourselves
to be lulled into security by the impression that such men
102 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHUECH :
could not lend their countenance to a.n association whose
principles were dangerous to society, government, or
religion. Their principles have thus been taken upon
trust, and the institution has been suffered to exist in a
community prone to suspect that, where all is hot open,
all is not honest. It is, perhaps, a singular fact, that in
a free government like ours, a government of opinion,
operating upon a people jealous of their rights, and pecu
liarly suspicious and jealous of any secret influence, and
of anything that could bear the semblance of an insidious
encroachment upon their liberties, — such an institution
should have been permitted to grow and increase in
strength, without subjecting itself to those investigations
which the nature and spirit of our government are so
well calculated to encourage. Other secret societies have,
after a brief existence, been frowned into oblivion, as
dangerous to a free government. It is owing, doubtless,
to the circumstances above set forth, and to the fact that
many whom we esteem as our fathers, brothers, and connec
tions, are members of this institution, that speculative Free
masonry has not shared the fate of other secret societies,
Some weight, too, may be attached to the fact that most
men of influence and political eminence, those who are
wont to take the lead in affairs that concern the govern
ment, have themselves been high officials in the institu
tion, and of course interested in its support. But, whatever
the cause may have been, it is certain that Freemasonry
has been suffered to exist, and to extend itself in this
free government, and that without question or inquiry.
Addressing itself to the cupidity, the ambition, the vanity,
or the curiosity of individuals, it has gone on increasing
like the fame of the classic poet, until it has become wide-
FREEMASONRY. 103
spread in its influence, extended in its operations, and,
in its multiplied mystic ramifications, it has become
interwoven with the very frame and fabric of society,
and secretly connected with all our institutions. A cool
observer cannot but look back with astonishment, and
see how secretly and covertly, and at the same time how
rapidly, it has spread itself through this Union — how
speciously it has insinuated and connected itself with
almost every interest, either of a private or public nature.
In the foundation of every public building we have beheld
the interference of these mystic artisans with their symbolic
insignia; in every public procession we have seen their
flaunting banners, their muslin robes, and mimic crowns.
In the executive of the State we have beheld a man
holding the highest office in the order bound to his
brethren by secret ties, of whose nature, strength, and char
acter, we knew nothing. We have seen our legislature
controlled by majorities bound to the fraternity by the
same ties. The ermine of justice we have seen worn by
men whose brows were decorated with the gilded mitre
of the order in their midnight and secret meetings. We
have seen others of this mystic tie empanelled as jurors
to hold the balance of justice between a brother and a
stranger to the order, and that brother capable of com
municating with such, his judges, by a mystic and sym
bolic language unintelligible to his adversary. We cannot
now but be astonished that so much should have passed,
and that no danger should have been apprehended. Per
haps it may have occasionally occurred to some minds
more than ordinarily watchful, that some designing men
may have made use of the order as a ladder to their ambi
tion ; that more than an ordinary share of official patronage
104 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
was distributed among the brethren ; that the even balance
of justice may, in some instances, have been made to
incline its scale in favor of a brother ; that her descending
sword may have been averted from the head of a guilty
member by the broad shield of the order. But these
suspicions, if any such have been entertained, were partial ;
and the institution has felt itself so strong, that it has
been supposed that it might safely set at defiance every
effort to pull it down.
" The year 1826, however, introduced a new era in the
history of Masonry and of our country. From that year to
the present time enough has transpired to show, in a broad
and fearful light, the danger of secret institutions. That
citizen who will close his eyes to this light is criminally
negligent to his own rights, and the safety of this govern
ment. The order has been bold enough to assume to itself
powers which belong only to the government of the land j
and in the exercise of these assumed powers has violated
the liberty of one citizen, and taken the life of another,
for an alleged breach of obligations which our laws do
not recognize.
"In September, 1826, Capt. William Morgan, a citizen
of this State, was seized under feigned process of the
law, in the daytime, in the village of Batavia, and forci
bly carried to Canandaigua, in another county. Captain
Morgan was engaged in the publication of a book which
purported to reveal the secrets of Freemasonry. This
contemplated publication excited the alarm of the frater
nity, and numbers of its members were heard to say that
it should be suppressed at all events. It is known that
meetings of delegates from the different lodges in the
western counties were held to devise means for most
FREEMASONRY. 105
effectually preventing the publication. It is known that
the matter was a subject of anxious discussion in many
and distant lodges. It is known that the zealous members of
the fraternity were angry, excited, and alarmed, and occa
sionally individuals threw out dark and desperate threats.
It is known that an incendiary attempt was made to
fire the office of Col. Miller, the publisher of the book ;
that this attempt was plotted by Masons, and attempted
to be carried into execution by Masons. The gang
who seized Morgan at Batavia were Masons. They
took him to Canandaigua ; after a mock trial he was
discharged, but was immediately arrested and com
mitted to prison on a stale or fictitious demand. The
next night, in the absence of the jailer, he was released
from prison by the pretended friendship of a false and
hollow-hearted brother Mason. Upon leaving the prison
door, he was again seized in the streets of Canandaigua,
and, notwithstanding his cries of murder, he was thrust
with ruffian violence into a carriage prepared for that
purpose. At Batavia he had been torn from his home —
from his amiable wife and infant children. At Canan
daigua he 'had been falsely beguiled from the safe custody
of the law, and was forcibly carried by relays of horses,
through a thickly-populated country, in the space of
little more than twenty-four hours, to the distance of one
hundred and fifteen miles, and secured as a prisoner in
the magazine of Fort Niagara. This outrage necessarily
required many agents j and, to the shame of our country,
enough Masons were found, and of these, too, many who
were bound by their official oaths to protect the liberty
of the citizen, and prevent the violation of the laws,
who readily lent their personal assistance, and the aid of
106 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
their carriages and horses, in the transportation of this
hapless man to the place of his confinement and subse
quent death.
" This was not their only outrage. About the same time
Col. David C. Miller was also seized in Batavia, under like
color of legal process, and taken to Le Roy. He was also
seized by Masons, and accompanied to Le Roy by a
ferocious band of Masons, armed with clubs. He was
discharged from the process und-er which he was arrested,
and with lawless violence they attempted to seize him
again ; but, to the praise of the citizens of Le Roy, and to
some who were members of the Masonic fraternity, too,
be it spoken, he was rescued, and suffered to return to
Batavia. The avowed intention of Col. Miller's seizure
was to take him where Mofgan was j and where that was
may be best gathered from the impious declaration of one
of the conspirators, James Ganson, for several years a
member of our legislature, that l he ^vas put where lie
would stay put until God should call for him.7
" These acts of outrage and violence at length became
the subject of inquiry, and excited the honest indigna
tion of a community always alive to the rights of the
citizen, and the violation of the laws. Committees of
investigation were appointed in, the different counties
which were the scenes of this violence, with instructions
to do everything in their power to ferret out this crime,
and trace it to the perpetrators. It was, however,
perpetrated under the cover of so much secrecy, that it
was long before even the course which had been taken
with Morgan could be traced. Certainly the committees
did not commence their investigations under the im
pressions that they should find the fraternity implicated
FKEEMASONRY. 107
in the transaction. They were slow to believe, as the
public have generally and very properly been slow
to believe, that a society which embraces among its
members so many worthy and pious men, could have
ever connived at so foul a crime. It was considered
as a blot upon the escutcheon of Masonry, and Masons
were publicly called upon to assist in the investigation
of this transaction, for the honor of the order, and to
wipe out the stain. The committees soon discovered, with
no little surprise, that they could expect no assistance
from members of the fraternity. On the contrary, every
obstacle and impediment was thrown in the way. They
found the fraternity in a hostile attitude. They found
that they were made the objects of ridicule, threats, and
detraction j that their motives were impugned, and their
characters vilified. Defeat, disgrace, and ruin, were con
fidently predicted to them; and certainly no means were
spared to give to these predictions the character of pro
phecy. These acts of violence were made a jest of — the
excited feeling of the public was ridiculed — their honest
indignation was defied. The courts have been appealed
to for justice ; but in very few instances has justice
been visited upon the heads of the offenders. The
Masonic oath was soon found to be a shackle upon the
officers and ministers of the law : the lips of witnesses
were sealed by a mysterious and invisible influence, or
opened only in the utterance of falsehoods. Jurors were
influenced in their verdicts by an obligation more power
ful than their oaths as jurors. Many of the chief offenders
fled the country ; and the crime yet remains, in a great
measure, unpunished, and the violated laws unavenged.
When it was found that the laws were too weak to
108 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHl'RCH :
vindicate their offended majesty, the committees appealed
to the legislature of this State to institute an inquiry
into these outrages. Here, too, it was found that the
obligations which bound members to the fraternity were
stronger than their oaths to support the constitution and
the laws ; and here, too, they were baffled, and left to
seek such redress as a few men could obtain against the
united influence, wealth, and the determined and perse
vering hostility of a powerful combination.
" When it came to be ascertained that great numbers
of the fraternity had been long engaged in devising
means for suppressing Morgan's book j when it became
known that the subject was a matter of discussion in
many different and distant lodges ; when it was also
known that many individuals, all members of the fra
ternity, and some high in civil office, were implicated as
accomplices in the actual outrages j when the course
pursued by members of the fraternity generally, in
relation to the investigation, was marked, all cool,
thinking people began to look farther for the origin of
the crime, and felt fully justified in identifying the Masonic
institution with these outrages, and holding that respon
sible for it.
" The matter began to assume a new complexion ; the
dangers of secret societies began to flash across the minds
of the reflecting ; here was a bloody text, which afforded
matter for fearful comment. The conviction became
general that the safety of government and religion, the
rights of the citizen, and the impartial administration of
justice, required that this institution should be banished
from our soil. The freedom and boldness with which the
principles and tendency of the Masonic institution began
FREEMASONRY. 109
now to be discussed, encouraged many honest and con
scientious members of the fraternity, who had heretofore
been shackled by fear, to renounce their connection with
the society, and to disclose the nature of these secret
obligations which bound them together. Taking upon
themselves those horrid obligations, as they do, ignorant
of their nature and import, there rests no obligation upon
them, either legal, moral, or honorable, to consider them
of any binding force. On the contrary, the duty which
they owe to society and their country as citizens, the
duty which they owe to God and his Church, loudly call
upon them to divulge the principles of an institution so
hostile to government and religion. This class of men
are entitled to the gratitude of the public for their dis
closures, and have deserved, and should receive, the coun
tenance and support of every patriotic citizen, to sustain
them against every attempt to injure them, or defame
their characters. These obligations have been published
to the world, and furnished farther and weighty evidence
of the dangers of the Masonic institution ; with the sub
stantial truth of these obligations, and that they are such
as are actually taken, we have every reason to be satisfied j
and it encourages us in the pledge which we have
mutually given to each other, and to the world : that we
will use our best endeavors to banish this relic of barbarism
from our land. It is upon the subject of the dangers of
the Masonic institution, fellow citizens, that we desire to
address you ; and we are anxious that you should give the
subject that consideration which its importance demands.
This is not an ordinary topic. It is not a question
whether this or that man shall be president or governor j
it is not a question whetho^ thi« or that line of measures
110 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHUECH I
shall be pursued, but it is a question of immeasurably
greater importance, — a question whether the rights of
the citizen shall be held sacred — whether the laws shall
be impartially administered — whether religion shall be
duly reverenced.
" It may be safely said that secret societies, in their best
shape, are useless in a free government j calculated to
excite jealousies and suspicions in the breasts of the un
initiated, which may lay the foundation of dissensions and
ill-will. If their objects are honest and praiseworthy,
there is no need of secrecy : honesty needs no cloak,
and deeds of charity seek not the cover of darkness.
Secrecy and concealment ever afford grounds of suspicion.
If, however, Masonry is only what it has ever been
professed to be, perhaps it might be safely left to the
amusement of full-grown children ; perhaps they might
be safely left to the enjoyment of their mock dignities,
their muslin robes, their pasteboard crowns, and their
gilded mitres j but when the obligations which bind
them t to vote for a brother before any other person of equal
qualifications7 — to always support his 6 military fame and
political preferment, in opposition to another ' — to aid and
assist a brother in difficulty, so far as to extricate from
the same, 'whether he be right or wrong' — to keep his
secrets, in all cases, inviolably, ' murder and treason not
excepted,7 and these under no less penalties than a torturing
and ignominious death, — then it becomes a question of
serious import whether such an institution can be tolerated
in our free government. By the force of these obliga
tions a member can claim the vote of a brother for any
elective office, in derogation of that equality guaranteed
to us by our constitution ; and the brethren thus elected,
FEEEMASONEY. Ill
gradually obtaining the control of the executive, legis
lative, and judicial departments of the government, can
and must dispense their patronage, in strict consonance
with the obligations of this mysterious fraternal tie, so
that soon the government, in all its branches, must be
controlled by the members of the order. What guarantee
is there for the impartial discharge of official duties,
when the officer is shackled by such obligations ? What
hold have we upon the conscience, the integrity, or justice,
of such a man ? Is it his oath to support the constitution
of this State and the United States ? Is it his oath to
faithfully discharge the duties of the office which he fills ?
He has taken a previous oath, of more horrid import, and
of paramount obligation, to which all other oaths, all
other ties, all other duties, must yield. He is not a
free man. He stands shackled and bound by invisible
and mysterious chains. He cannot do his duty to his
country if he would — he has a duty to perform to the fra
ternity, under the severest penalties of Masonic vengeance.
What guarantee have we for the impartial administration
of justice ? A felon communicates the mystic sign to a
brother on the grand inquest — the juror's oath to screen
no man, from fear, favor, or affection, must yield to the
obligation to extricate a brother, 'whether he be right or
wrong.7 If he escapes not here, there is the same facility
of communication with the jurors who are to try him —
and strange would it be if some of the brethren who
have found means to insinuate themselves into every
station, should not be found upon the panel, and in a
panel where one stout and persevering negative prevents
his conviction — or the judge who tries him may receive
the 'grand hailing signj and the purity of the ermine
112 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
may be sullied by the contamination of Masonic iniquity.
If all this is not sufficient, the mystic signal may avail
with the executive, and the avenging sword of the law
rnay be turned aside from the execution of justice. Where
is the security for justice between man and man ? Can a
Masonic judge or Masonic jurors hold the scales even
between adverse parties, when one can appeal for assist
ance through the medium of mysterious signals ? This
is not all. Witnesses who solemnly appeal to God to
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, in what they shall be called upon to relate, may
be bound under obligations more awful, and under penalties
more severe, not to disclose the secrets of a brother. No !
though it extend to the murder of a fellow-being, or to
treason to the State. Is there, then, fellow citizens, any
safety in trusting those persons who have taken such
obligations, and believe in their binding sanction, with
any office in our government? Is there any safety in
committing our lives, our liberty, our property, or
our reputation, to them, as judges or jurors ? Is any
confidence to be placed in witnesses who have bound
themselves under such awful obligations to keep the secrets
of a brother? These obligations strike at the very
existence of our government— at the very foundation of
our rights — and at the impartial administration of our
laws.
" This institution threatens not only danger to govern
ment and the cause of justice, but strikes at the basis
of all morality and religion. The obligation not to
disclose the secrets of a brother, even in cases of murder
and treason, has a tendency to invite the confidence of
a brother Mason. Under the sanction of this oath, a
FREEMASONRY. 113
bold, bad man will not fear to disclose the history of his
crimes to the ears of the virtuous, to the ears of even
a minister of the holy gospel, and, secure against de
tection, make an impudent boast of his iniquities. This
will make virtuous men familiar with the detail of crimes,
and confidants in criminal secrets : and vice is of a
character so contagious, that one cannot even listen
to its history, or be familiar with its secrets, with
out some danger of contamination ; and that nice, delicate,
moral sense, which characterizes a virtuous man, must be
gradually effaced, and his principles of virtue must be,
in a great measure, rendered unsettled. Is Freemasonry
the handmaid of religion, — that institution in whose rites
and ceremonies the most touching portions of that Holy
Book, which holds out to us the promise of eternal life,
are introduced in solemn mockery, and represented in
the shape of a miserable theatrical, farce where a weak,
sinful mortal undertakes to personify the Almighty God ;
where the name of our Blessed Saviour, and the Holy
Trinity, are introduced in a vain and irreverent manner ;
where the belief of the immortality of the soul is
pledged in a libation from the skull of a Masonic traitor j
where the life eternal in the heavens is represented
only as one great lodge, and the Almighty is blasphe
mously typified as Grand Master thereof? Is such an
institution the handmaid of religion ? We think we are
safe in saying that the frequent use of profane oaths,
the irreverent familiarity with religious forms and sacred
things, the blasphemous mockery of the name of the
Triune God, in the recesses of the lodge-room, are more
dangerous to the cause of the benign religion of Jesus than
open and avowed infidelity. It is to b*» feared that
114 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
substitute and rely on the religion of Masonry, instead
of the religion of Him who died to atone for our sins ; or
if not, they come to the belief that all religion is only
the farce which their impious ceremonies represent it
to be. It is time these delusions were dispelled. ' Masonry
now stands before us in its naked deformity, stripped of its
tinsel ornaments and solemn mummery. It behoves us to
take warning from the past, and receive instruction
from the school of experience. We see in these dis
closures the same principles which deluged France in
blood, and were the cause of the dark crimes which
stained that distracted country during the period of
her sanguinary revolution. We see the same principles
which governed Illuminism in the last century, and
lighted her path in that foul plot which would have
substituted anarchy for government and civil rule, and
Atheism for the religion of the cross. It is from the
bosom of Freemasonry that this dark conspiracy origi
nated. To the bosom of Freemasonry every revolu
tion and conspiracy which has agitated Europe for the
last fifty years, may be distinctly traced, and the secret
workings of this all-pervading order can be clearly
seen. The governments of the world are beginning to
be awake to the danger. Russia has suppresssed the
order in her own dominions j Spain has suppressed it j
and our sister republic of Mexico is exerting herself
to crush one of its hydra heads. Shall we alone look
tamely on, and use no endeavors to check the spread
of its contaminating principles ? You ask how it is to
be suppressed in this free government ? They confi
dently boast that it is not in the power of man to suppress
it — that even this government itself, with all its power,
FREEMASONRY. 115
cannot do it. This may be true. But there is a power
in this free land superior even to our government, and
which guides, controls, and directs it $ and that power
is public opinion. The laws we have found too weak.
Government may be too weak ; but there is a moral force
in public opinion which must, in this free country, crush
everything, however powerful, which is arrayed against
it. This opinion speaks in our public meetings — it speaks
from the sacred desk — it speaks through the organ of the
press — it speaks through the ballot-boxes, when Masons
appeal to you in this manner for support and countenance.
This power, fellow citizens, you have under your control.
It is the only legitimate and proper force that can be put
in operation in this emergency, and in this country. This
is a power for you to wield — and in its exercise remember
the warning voice of the father of his country, to ' beware
of all secret societies.' r>
§ 8. — Resolutions passed by the Anti-Masonic Convention
of March 6th and 7th, 1828.
1. Resolved, That it is a peculiar feature of our free government
that all measures should be open and amenable to public opinion,
and that the existence of any society in this country whose objects,
principles, and measures, are secret and concealed, is not merely use
less, but hostile, to the spirit of our free institutions.
2. Resolved, That the bare existence of secret societies in these United
States, justifies fears, jealousies, and suspicions, as to their objects, in
the breasts of the uninitiated, which have a tendency to distract
society, and sow ill-will and dissensions in community.
3. Resolved, That the disclosures which have been made of the
principles and obligations of speculative Freemasonry prove it to be
an institution of dangerous tendency — liable to be used by the am
bitious and designing as an engine for exalting unworthy men, and
effecting improper measures — placing the citizen in a situation in
which his duty to his country must, in ma.ny instances, conflict with
his obligations to the fraternity— and weakening the sanctions of
116 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
morality and religion by the multiplication of profane oaths, and an
irreverent familiarity with religious forms and sacred things.
4. Resolved, That we discover, in the ceremonies and obligations of
the higher degrees of Masonry, principles which deluged France in
blood, and which tend directly to the subversion of all religion and
government.
5. Resolved, That the obligation in one of the degrees of Freemasonry
to protect a brother, " right or wrong," and to preserve his secret invio
late, even in cases of murder and treason, has a tendency to unnerve
the arm of justice, and to afford protection to the vicious and profli
gate from the punishment due to their crimes.
6. Resolved, That the tendency of such obligations is to weaken the
sanction of virtue in the minds of the recipients, by making bad men
bold and unblushing to trust the history of their crimes to the ears
of a brother, and thus making them familiar with iniquity, to the
destruction of all correct moral principles.
7. Resolved, That we view the impious personification of the Deity, and
the irreverent introduction of the name of our blessed Saviour and
the Holy Trinity in Masonic meetings and ceremonies, with mingled
pain and abhorrence; and that we regard the unhallowed substitution
of the profane orgies of Freemasonry for the Christian religion, as
fraught with more danger to the peace of society and the truths of
revelation, than open Deism, or avowed infidelity.
8. Resolved, That the outrages upon the liberty of one citizen, and
upon the liberty and life of another, committed by Masons in these
western counties, afford horrible proof of the sanguinary nature of
Masonic oaths.
9. Resolved, That the widespread conspiracy of numerous Masons to
plot these outrages — their attempts to stifle investigation after they
had been committed — and to screen the actual offenders from the
justice due to their crimes — sufficiently identify the institution with
these enormities, and justify us in holding it and its supporters
responsible for the same.
10. Resolved, That an institution whose rites are impious— whose
obligations are blasphemous— and, if observed in the spirit of their
horrid import, must necessarily lead to perjury and murder — an insti
tution in one instance, at least, stained with the blood of one of its
members, by a crime which has in an unequivocal manner received
the sanction of the order, is unworthy to exist in a free government-
and that we pledge ourselves to each other and to the world that we
will use all lawful and constitutional means to banish entirely from
our country that bloody relic . of barbarism.
11. Resolved, That those Masons who have disclosed the horrid obli-
FREEMASONRY. 117
gations which bind the fraternity together, deserve the warmest grati
tude of their fellow citizens, and that we will do everything in our
power to sustain them against those persecutions which the nature of
those obligations, and the vindictive character of the institution, teach
us to fear will be their lot.
12. Resolved, That this convention are satisfied, from the evidence
adduced before them, of the substantial truths of the Masonic obligcu
tions recently published — and that the same be published to the world in
connection with the proceedings of this convention.
13. Resolved, That we regard the public press as the sentinel of free
dom, and cannot but lament its entire subjugation, throughout tho
Union, to the control of Freemasonry.
14. Resolved, That we earnestly recommend to the citizens of the
several counties of this State to procure the establishment of free
presses, whose editors will fearlessly vindicate the rights of its citi
zens and laws of the land.
15. Resolved, That a State Convention, to be composed of delegates
from the several counties of the State of New York, equal to double the
number of their representatives in the Assembly, be called to meet at the
village of Utica, on the fourth day of August next, to take measures for
the destruction of the Masonic institution; for sustaining the liberty
of the press, and asserting the supremacy of the laws; for protecting the
rights and privileges of the citizens against the vindictive persecutions
of members of the Masonic society; and to take into consideration such
other business as the said convention shall deem expedient, in further
ance of such objects — and that it be and is hereby recommended to the
different counties in this State to send delegates to the same.
§ 9. — Proceedings of the Adjourned Convention of Seced
ing Masons j held at Le Roy, July 4, 1828.
At an adjourned meeting of the convention of Seced
ing Masons, held at Le Roy, July 4, 1828, Solomon
Southwick, President, and David Bernard, Clerk.
On motion, it was resolved that the committee appointed
to draft a declaration of independence from the Masonic
institution be requested to report. A. P. Hascall, from
the said committee, then reported the declaration.
On motion, it was unanimously resolved that the
declaration be adopted and signed.
118 THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
DECLARATION.
When men attempt to dissolve a system which has
influenced and governed a part of community, and by its
pretensions to antiquity, usefulness, and virtue, would
demand the respect of all, it is proper to submit to the
consideration of a candid and impartial world, the causes
which impel them to such a course. We, seceders from
the Masonic institution, availing ourselves of our natural
and unalienable rights, and the privileges guaranteed to us
by our constitution, freely to discuss the principles of our
government and laws, and to expose whatever may
endanger the one, or impede the due administration of the
other, do offer the following reasons for endeavoring to
abolish the order of Freemasonry, and destroy its influence
in our government :
In all arbitrary governments free inquiry has been
restricted as fatal to the principles upon which they were
based. In all ages of the world tyrants have found it
necessary to shackle the minds of their subjects, to enable
them to control their actions ; for experience ever taught
that the free mind ever exerts a moral power that resists
all attempts to enslave it. However forms of government
heretofore have varied, the right to act and speak with
out a controlling power has never been permitted. Our
ancestors, who imbibed principles of civil and religious
liberty, fled to America to escape persecution ; and when
Britain attempted to encroach upon the free exercise of
those principles, our fathers hesitated not to dissolve their
oaths of allegiance to the mother-country, and declare
themselves free and independent ; and exulting millions
of freemen yet bless their memories for the deed. A new
theory of government was reduced to practice in the
FREEMASONRY. 119
formation of the American republic. It involved in its
structure principles of equal rights and equal privileges,
and was based on the eternal foundation of public good. It
protects the weak, restrains the powerful, and extends its
honors and emoluments to the meritorious of every con
dition. It should have been the pride of every citizen to
preserve this noble structure in all its beautiful symmetry
and proportions. But the principle of self-aggrandize
ment, the desire to control the destinies of others, and
luxuriate in their spoils, unhappily still inhabits the
human breast. Many attempts have already been made
to impair the freedom of our institutions, and subvert our
government ; but they have been met by the irresistible
power of public opinion and indignation, and crushed. In
the meantime the Masonic society has been silently growing
among us, whose principles and operations are calculated
to subvert and destroy the great and important principles
of the commonwealth. Before and during the revolution
ary struggle, Masonry was but little known and practised
in this country. It was lost amid the changes and con
fusion of the conflicting nations, and was reserved for a
time of profound peace, to wind and insinuate itself into
every department of government, and influence the result
of almost every proceeding. Like many other attempts
to overturn government, and destroy the liberties of the
people, it iias chosen a time when the suspicions of men
were asleep, and, with a noiseless tread, in the darkness and
silence of the night, has increased its strength and ex
tended its power. Not yet content with its original powers
and influence, it has of late received the aid of foreign
and more arbitrary systems. With this accumulation of
strength, it arrived at that formidable crisis when it bid
120 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
tipen defiance to the laws of our country, in the abdtiction
and murder of an unoffending citizen of the republic. So
wicked was this transaction, so extensive its preparation,
and so openly justified, that it aroused the energies of an
insulted people, whose exertions have opened the hidden
recesses of this abode of darkness and mystery, and man
kind may now view its power, its wickedness, and folly.
That it is opposed to the genius and dresign of this
government, the spirit and precepts of our holy religion,
and the welfare of society generally, will appear from the
following considerations :
It exercises jurisdiction over the persons and lives of
citizens of the republic.
It arrogates to itself the right of punishing its members
for offences unknown to the laws of this or any other
nation. ^
It requires the concealment of crime, and protects the
guilty from punishment.
It encourages the commission of crime, by affording to
the guilty facilities of escape.
It affords opportunities for the corrupt and designing
to form plans against the government, arid the lives and
characters of individuals.
It assumes titles and dignities incompatible with a
republican form of government, and enjoins an obedience
to them derogatory to republican principles.
It destroys all principles of equality, by bestowing
favors on its own members to the exclusion of others
equally meritorious and deserving.
It creates odious aristocracies, by its obligations to
supp6rt the interests of its members, in preference to
others of equal qualifications.
FREE1V1ASONRY.
121
It blasphemes the name, and attempts a personification
of the Great Jehovah.
It prostitutes the Sacred Scriptures to unholy purposes,
to subserve its own secular and trilling concerns.
It weakens the sanctions of morality and religion,
by the multiplication of profane oaths, and an immoral
familiarity with religious forms and ceremonies.
It discovers in its ceremonies an unholy commingling
of divine truth with impious human inventions.
It destroys a veneration for religion and religious
ordinances, by the profane use of religious forms.
It substitutes the self-righteousness and ceremonies
/ j s
of Masonry for the vital religion and ordinances of the
Gospel.
It promotes habits of idleness and intemperance, by its
members neglecting their business to attend its meetings
and drink its libations.
It accumulates funds at the expense of indigent per
sons, and to the distress of their families, too often to be
dissipated in rioting and pleasure and its senseless cere
monies and exhibitions.
It contracts the sympathies of the human heart for
all the unfortunate, by confining its charities to its own
members j and promotes the interests of a few, at the ex
pense of the many.
An institution, thus fraught with so many and great
evils, is dangerous to our government and the safety of
our citizens, and is unfit to exist among a free people.
We, therefore, believing it a duty we owe to God, our
country, and to posterity, resolve to expose its mystery,
wickedness, and tendency, to piiblic view ; and we exhdrt
all citizens who have a love of country, and a veneration
1 42 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
for its laws, a spirit of our holy religion,, and a regard for
the welfare of mankind, to aid us in the cause which we
have espoused ; and appealing to Almighty God for the
rectitude of our motives, we solemnly absolve ourselves
from all allegiance to the M'asonic institution, and declare
ourselves free and independent : and in support of these
resolutions, Our government and laws, and the safety of*
individuals, against the usurpations" of all secret societies
and open force, and against the -*l vengeance " o*f the
Masonic institution, " with a firm reliance on the protec- '
tion of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to -each
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred hdnor." . '••"
This Declaration of Independence from the Masonic
Institution, adopted at Le Roy, July .4, 1828, is. signed by
one hundred and three ex-Masons.
<§> 10. — The Prolific Mother of Freemasons : Protestantism.
It was o'nly at the pe'riod of the Protestant Reforma-
tion that Freemasonry completed its present compact
and well-united organization. Up to this period there
had been evil in the world, and even in the Church, for
she could not altogether exclude a false brethren," but
thus far good had visibly overmastered evil. There had
been a kingdom of Christ, and a teacher who could neither
deceive nor be deceived j an authority in the world,- but
not of the world, which it was impossible to elude, cajole,
terrify, or silence. God owed this to Christians, -and he
gave it. The Church was that gift. In giving her, he
gave all he could. And she did, by the might of his as
sistance, what he appointed her to do. fivcn the worst
men, if they revolted for a moment against her, because
FREEMASONRY.
123
they wanted to commit sins which she would not tolerate,
presently perceived their guilt, and did penance. The
spirit of faith was upon them. Human nature was the
same as now, and liable to the same infirmities ; but there
was a light in its darkness, and a remedy, swift and
powerful, for all its errors. It could not .go far wrong.
-The gift of faith brought in its train every other. But
thousands of Catholics in Germany, Denmark, Holland,
England, Scotland, and other parts of Europe, through
• their .own fault, were now to lose faith, and the darkness
of Egypt was- to rest up^n them.
^There is no such proof of the immense and Egyptian
stupidity of the modern world as its attitude toward the
Church. Except her Divine Founder, it has neVer known,
and neVer can know, such a benefactor. And upon none
fof the nations of the earth did the Church lavish her gifts
with more prodigality than upon our European forefathers
' None had more reason to venerate her with eternal grati
tude. It was she who made them manly and free. Rude
as they once, had been, they became able, tinder her guid
ance, to conceive and execute works in every province of
the land, of which the matchless beauty was unsurpassed
by anything which human genius had ever imagined.
She could not change, and did not pretend to change, the
imm&table conditions of human existence, nor t^ll her
children, with lying flattery, that suffering could be ban
ished from the earth 5 but while she proclaimed the
divine Ordinance, that there should always be rich and
poor, she inspired the one with supernatural patience, and
the. other with supernatural charity. And both loved her
for the virtues which she taught them. If she eVer spoke
in anger, it was against the unjust and the oppressor. It
124 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHUftCH :
was Only tyrants who feared and hated her, because she
was always in their way. If they asked the people, too
wise for many generations to heed the treacherous invita
tion, to rebel against her mild authority, it was tfnly that
they might substitute for it their own vulgar despotism,
as they are doing with so much success in the present day.
Yet she was ever the guardian of temporal thrones, and
kings reigned in peace, because religion was the nurse of
loyalty. Her bishops were the first schoolmasters, her
monasteries the asylums of letters and philosophy 5 and
the sure and unbroken progress of intellectual culture had
been going on within her bosom for a series of ages, until
all the vital and productive energies of human culture
were here united and mingled. She had the monopoly of
learning ; and as to personal and individual liberty, the
Catholic Church was the special representative of pro
gress. What more was it possible to do for Eiirope *?
Yet she did more. She made Europe, during long ages,
one family in Jesus Christ, one fold under one shepherd ;
and though she could not make all Europeans saints, and
did not expect to do so, she could rescue the worst of
them from the grasp of demons, and send those who had
been criminals, into the presence of their Judge, in the robe
of penitents. Nothing -like her has been seen in the
world j and for all who have lived by her law, 6ven the
world, with all its sadness, has been a foretaste of paradise.
Under such circumstances it was difficult for Freemasonry
to find many followers, and to become a strong body. But
it was soon to celebrate the birthday of its prolific
mother, — Protestantism. With Egyptian blindness, and
more than Egyptian ingratitude, thousands of European
Catholics cast out their gracious Mother, the Catholic
FKEEMASONET.
125
Church, to whom they owe all that they are and have ;
and having lost the remembrance of all her care for them
during a thousand years, substituted for her Protestantism.
Since that time, when a formidable prophetic lt seal " was
opened, the world has advanced more rapidly than ever in
the way of evil. It then discovered, for the first time,
with much jubilation, that it was able to teach itself!
" Will nobbdy teach us ? " the Pagan world had cried, in
its despair. " We defy anybody to teach us," the Protestant
world shouted, in its delirium. This was evidently pro
gress. The earlier delusion of the world had been that
nobody could find out truth, for want of teachers j but
now it is persuaded that anybody can do so, if they teach
their teachers j and also, that it does not much matter
whether they find it out or not. The only intelligible
message of Protestantism of our day is : " Believe what
you like, provided you do not believe as your fathers did."
The prophets whom Plato expected have come, but so has
the Protestant Reformation. More tt plebeian " than any
gross philosophy dreamed of by Cicero, it exhorted the
world to despise, not the Platonic and Socratic familia —
it might please itself about that — but the very oracles
which Plato and Aristotle vainly invoked, and which, if
they had heard, they and all their followers would have
obeyed with both an intellectual and a spiritual rapture.
For fifteen centuries all that was purest, noblest, and most
gifted in the human race did obey them, with much ad
vantage to themselves and to society in general. But the
great apostasy was now at hand. There was to be a
second temptation, and a second fall. Once more man was
to be told to get wisdom for himself, in defiance of 'his
Maker ; and when it was added, " Thou shalt not surely
die," he believed it.
126 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
The new device was not yet ten years old when its
framers were already asking one another, in great surprise,
" What has becdme of religion and morals V As one
Christian truth after another faded out of sight, and even
those who still believed something were not sure what
/ / ' J.
their belief precisely was, fierce tc sects of perdition," each
with its own Gospel, began to swarm over Europe, whence
they passed over into America and other countries of the
world. Obedience was dead, for there was nothing to
obey ; and for the abolished Christian code was substituted
one devilish precept, the right of revblt ! From the
spiritual it was quickly imported into the political sphere,
with results of which we are all witnesses. A new " seal "
was opened, and disorder and anarchy came forth — the
wide avenue to infidelity was opened.
The individual reason, taking as it does the place of
faith, the Protestant, whether he believes it or not, is an
infidel in germ, and the infidel is a Protestant in full
bloom. In other words, infidelity is nothing but Protes
tantism in the highest degree. Hence it is that Edgar
Qui'het, a great herald of Protestantism, is right in styling
the Protestant sects the thousand gates open to get out of
Christianity. No wonder, then, that thousands of Pro
testants have ended, and continue to end, in framing
their own formula of faith thus : "I believe in nothing."
It was all that Freemasonry could desire. Protestant
ism, tending in the same direction as Freemasonry, natu
rally became the beloved twin-sister of the latter, and as
a prolific mother of rebel children, furnished the sect with
thousands of members. Protestantism and Freemasonry,
with so much apparent zeal for the honor and purity of
the Church, united in declaiming against the degeneracy
FREEMASONRY. 127
of the clergy. They exaggerated the personal faults of
the priests and religious, but especially of the bishops and
popes. They spoke of " reform" of faith and morals, in
the head as well as in the members of the Church. It
was the most tender and vital point of attack, and unhap
pily these accusations were eagerly caught up, and echoed
from mouth to mouth. As soon as these cunning agents
of Satan found that they had acquired a moral influence
over the people, they extended their attack from the clergy
themselves to their possessions. They offered the rich
Church-property as a bait to the greed of the nobles and
petty princes, and inspired the lower classes with a passion
for revolt against Church and State.
Europe was soon flooded with pamphlets and emissaries
preaching, as they declared', the pure Gospel, preaching,
first, a church poor, that is, deprived of all property, and
consequently unable to assist the poor, unable to aid the
sick, the wiftow and the orphan, unable to assist the poor
student to prosecute his studies — to aid the missionary in
the conversion of the heathen, and, finally, making the
cleYgy dependent on the State for support, thus converting
them, as far as possible, into subservient hirelings of the
State ; and, second, a church humble, that is, subject in
everything to the control of the State.
Sknvly but surely Freemasonry succeeded in spreading
all over the civilized world what it called the charitable
humanitarian principle of Toleration, — the refined and
enlightened principle of Liberalism; and, at the same time,
in glaring contradiction to its principle of toleration,
Freemasonry inspired the people with a supreme con-
te'mpt and intense hatred for what it was pleased to call
narrow-minded, bigoted dogmatism, well knowing that
12S THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
ro cluircli can exist, or can even be imagined, which has
not clearly defined principles and dogmas. To bring
about this contempt and hatred for the dogmas of the
Church, they ridiculed the doctrines of our holy faith, and
asserted that they were childish superstitions, upheld only
by blind fanaticism.
In the year 1717, when the Freemasons thought that
they were strong enough, and that Europe was ripe, they
opened their lodges to the Jews, Turks, and heathens. It
was then that not only the good, innocent brethren of the
lower grades, but also the uninitiated, or, as they resp^ct-
fully call it, the " profane world," received a countless
number of pamphlets, wherein Christ, our dear Lord, was
represented as a deceiver or as a myth ; his Church as the
enemy of progress and enlightenment, and ancient heathen
ism as the perfection of everything that was good and n6ble.
Poets, painters, and sculptors departed from the Christian
ideal in art, and sighed after, and sought to introduce, the
gods and goddesses of heathenism. This was the so-called
" Renaissance," that is, the re-blooming of heathenism.
During the French Revolution the Freemasons tried to
introduce heathenism practically into the world. From
France it was to be spread throughout the civilized world.
As this was as yet only a trial, they carefully avoided the
name of the ancient heathen church. The worship of
Busiris they called the worship of the Supreme Being
(TEtre Supreme); and the worship of Isis, that is, the
worship of a prostitute upon the altar of God, — a worship
to be sanctioned and to be enforced by all the authority
of the state ministers, generals, and the assembly, — this
worship they called the worship of " reason." Hundreds of
innocent victims fell to their fury.
FREEMASONRY. 129
Prudhomme has left a nominal list of men who were be
headed, viz.: 1,278 noblemen; 750 ladies; 1,467 wives of
artisans; 350 religious; 1,135 priests; 13,633 other men
— a total of 18,61 3. There were, in addition, 3,400 women
who died from premature confinement, arising from ill-usage
and terror, and 348 who were murdered while pregnant.
There were also 15,000 Vendean women killed, 22,000
children, and 90,000 men. Besides these, there were
32,000 victims slaughtered by Carrier, at Nantes; 31,000
at Lyons ; and many thousands more at Versailles, Avignon,
Toulon, Marseilles, and elsewhere. There were 540 public
prosecutors who had the power, of themselves to pass
sentence of death. There were instituted no less than
50,000 revolutionary tribunals, which cost the country
591,000,000 francs a year. All these tribunals and
prosecutors vied with one another in bloody activity. This
was Masonic fraternity and loyalty.
This trial, however, began too soon in France. The
French are naturally impulsive. The order was not as yet
strong enough in the rest of Europe ; nay, even the good,
innocent brethren, out of France, stood aghast at the
shocking crimes of the French Masons, and refused to
cooperate with them ; and as the whole world was to be
reduced to one universal kingdom, France had to lay
aside for a while the Sword, and betake herself to the
Hammer.
<§, 11. — The Masonic Hammer.
Freemasonry, aided and paid by the State, now took
possession of the high-schools and universities. There
the professors, agents of Freemasonry, boldly taught,
without stint and hindrance, that Christianity was but a
130 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHUECH :
/ f
childish superstition j and they inoculated with these
abominable doctrines those who were to be the future
government officers, generals, professors, and even mem
bers of the clergy. The schoolmasters, in their turn,
taught these infamous sophistries in the lower schools,
and even in the seminaries. In countries where they
cannot suppress the clergy, they endeavor to diminish the
influence of the clergy, by confiscating all their property
and revenues ; by reducing their numbers, and the niim-
bers of their students j by breaking up religious houses,
and expelling the religious orders; by seizing on all the
channels of education, the institutions of charity, the
administration of relief for the poor, the ceremony of
marriage, chaplaincies of regiments and prisons j by
heaping calumnies upon all the ecclesiastics, and by
inducing priests to become patriotic^ or lovers of their
country, in a false sense, so that, in losing the spirit of their
vocation, they more easily fall into the snares of their
society. To entrap Catholics more easily, they establish
certain benevolent societies, whose chief leaders are con
sidered practical Catholics, but who, are in reality, decoys
to draw innocent Catholics into the Masonic snares, under
the specious pretext of good. Freemasonry introduces,
also, means of corruption, and increases the incitements
to it, in theatres, ballets, and novels, so as to plunge per-
sons into shameful vices, and thus deter them from the
reception of the sacraments. " Wo, wo to thee, saith
the Lord, that thou didst also build thee a common stew,
and madest thee a brothel house in every street. At
every head of the way thou hast set up a sign of thy
prostitution, and hast made thyself abominable, and
hast multiplied fornications." (Ezech. 16, 2S--5.) The
FREEMASONRY. 131
next step is to take the education of the children and
youths from the clergy, and to instil into them the princi
ples of infidelity, in State or public schools. And what
are children without religion ? Are they not the greatest
misfortune and the greatest curse that can come to their
parents ? History informs us that Dion the philosopher
gave a sharp reproof to Dionysius the Tyrant, on account
of his cruelty. Dionysius felt highly offended, and
resolved to avenge himself on Dion ; so he took the son of
Dion prisoner — not, indeed, for the purpose of killing
him, but of Diving him up into the hands of an irreligious
teacher. After the young man had been long enough
under this teacher to learn from him everything that was
bad and impious, Dionysius sent him back to his father.
Now, what object had the tyrant in acting thus f He
foresaw that this corrupted son, by his impious conduct
during his whole lifetime, would cause his father constant
grief and sorrow, so much so that he would be for him a
life-long affliction and curse. This, the Tyrant thought,
was the longest and the greatest revenge he could take
on Dion for having censured his conduct.
Indeed, there is no father, there is no mother, who is
not thoroughly convinced of the truth, that a child without
religion is the greatest affliction that can befall parents.
This truth needs no illustration. It is this affliction, this
curse, that is to come upon Catholic parents by godless
education. Again, Freemasonry uses infidel journalism to
circulate its doctrines among the people, — doctrines calcu
lated to sap alike the altar and the throne j to caVry on a
war of extermination against every holy principle, against
the welfare and the very existence of society j to spread
among the people the worst of religions — the no-religion,
132 THE THIRD ENEMY OP THE CHURCH:
the religion which pleases most hardened adulterers and
criminals, the religion of irrational animals j a religion of
licentiousness, cruelty, and vice 5 the substitution of the
reign of the passions for the calm and elevating influences
of reason and religion; to bring about a generation with
out belief in God and immortality, free from all regard for
the invisible, — a generation that looks upon this life as
their 6nly life, this earth as their only home, and the
promotion of their earthly interests and enjoyments as
their only end ; a generation that looks updn religion,
marriage, upon family and private property, as the great
est enemies to worldly happiness j a generation that suV
stitutes science of this world for religion, a community of
goods for private property, a community of wives for the
private family f in other words, a generation that substi
tutes the devil for God, hell for heaven, sin and vice for
virtue and holiness of life. Thus the fatal miasma, fiVat-
ing in the whole literary atmosphere, is drawn in with
every breath, corrupting the very life-blood of religion in
the mind and soul, and leaving " the slime of the serpent "
over every reader. Indeed, bad newspapers are now
among the greatest evils of the world. But it is the fit
ting chastisement of apostate nations that they should be
governed by newspapers, instead of by the prophets and
the saints. They are the only teachers that such nations
deserve. In pagan times the Sophists had been the
" Church of the Devil ; " in the revived paganism of our
own age, it is the infidel journalists who supply their place.
Sensual and impudent, judging all things, and, by pre
ference, those of which they know least, sc6ffers to whom
modesty and reverence are unknown, and filled with the
spirit of delusion, they call evil good, and good evil, tell
FREEMASONRY. 133
the truth only by accident, and lie with such deter
mination, that all who love God and their country may
almost wish, in the words of Sir Walter Scott, "that the
scoundrels might be squeezed to death in their own presses."
What Egyptian of all the host who were drowned in the
Red Sea could hope to surpass, in sensuality and irreligion,
the writers of so many newspapers of the day ? If
Pharao were among us now, as indeed he is, only more
like the unclean swine than ever, he would not want coun
sellors after his own heart. Egyptian or Israelite, it is all
the same to such papers as are quite ready to abuse the
Moses of the Catholic Church, if Phdrao will pay. Happy
readers, who have exchanged the " mental darkness " of
Pius IX for the electric illumination of infidel newspapers !
No doubt, when the sort of prophets who write in such papers
are up to their necks in the Red Sea, their old delusion
will be so strong upon them that they will still be mutter
ing, to their last gasp, though we shall not be there to hear
it, the same Egyptian shibboleths : " Spiritual tyranny,"
" Md'ntal darkness," " No Popery," " Down with the
Church," and "Liberty of the Press!"
Freemasonry also employs the skill of the engraver to
caricature the institutions and officers of the Christian
religion ; and others, to exhibit the grossest forms of vice,
and the most distressing scenes of crime and suffering.
The illustrated press has become to us what the amphi
theatre was to the Romans, when men were slain, women
were outraged, and Christians given to the lions, to please
a degenerate populace.
Who were the leaders in the work of destruction and
wholesale butchery in the Reign of Terror I The nurs
lings of lyceums, in which the chaotic principles of the
" philosophers " were proclaimed as oracles of truth.
134 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHUIiCH :
Who are those turbulent revolutionists who always long
to erect the guillotine ? And who are those secret con
spirators, and their myrmidon partisans, who have sworn
to unify Italy, or lay it in ruins ? Men who were taught to
scout the idea of a God, and rail at religion j to consider
Christianity as a thing of the past ; men who revel in wild
chimeras by night, and seek to realize their mad dreams
by day.
Freemasonry again uses men of scientific pursuits, to
make the worse appear the better cause. The chemist
has never found in his crucible that intangible something
which men call spirit ; so, in the name of science, he pro
nounces it a myth. The anatomist has dissected the
human frame j but, failing to meet the immaterial sul>-
stance, — the soul, — he denies its existence. The physicist
has weighed the conflicting theories of his predecessors in
the scale of criticism, and finally decides that bodies are
nothing more than the accidental assemblage of atoms, and
rejects the very idea of a Creator. The geologist, after
investigating the secrets of the earth, triumphantly tells us
that he has accumulated an overwhelming mass of facts
to refute the Biblical cosmogony, and thus subvert the
authority of the inspired record. The astronomer flatters
himself that he has discovered natural and necessary laws,
which do away with the necessity of admitting that a
divine hand once launched the bodies into space, and still
guides them in their courses. The ethnographer has
studied the peculiarities of the races, he has met with
widely different conformations, and believes himself suffi
ciently authorized to deny the unity of the human family.
They conclude that nothing exists but matter, that God
is a myth, and the soul " the dream of a dream."
FREEMASONRY. 135
Such diabolical doctrines are also uttered in public
meetings. Feuerbach, for instance, addressed workingmen
thus : '• Let man alone be our Superior, our Father, our
Judge, our Saviour, our fatherland, the end of all our
being, and of all our powers. Do you wish to secure a
durable peace for civil society ? ^ell, then, labor, first of
all, at the simplification of humanity, which can never be
accomplished without first getting rid of Christianity."
Marr, the head of an infidel club, reported : u Soon I
shall have made all my hearers the personal enemies of
God." Baker spoke thus : " Religion shall not dnly be
banished from education, it must also totally be banished
from the human mind. Our party does not care for fre^e-
dom of conscience; what it wants, and is determined to
have, is the necessity of believing nothing. To attain our
end, we must entirely overturn all the elements of existing
society, in order to establish our own principles.77
" An honest man,77 says Quinet, " can be his own God.77
Terminier exclaims : u Spinosa is great, because he does
not fear to make himself the rival of Jesus Christ. The
Nazarite proclaimed a man-God j but the Dutchman pro
claimed a God-world.77
Matter teaches that, to reestablish Order, " we must
ihstitute the community of land, the community of pro
perty, the community of women. The more man frees
himself from all that stuff which the vulgar call religion,
the more does he honor and become like the Supreme
Being.77 The blasphemies of other infidels are too numer
ous and too infamous to be mentioned.
In Germany, they have rejected Christian marriage,
and established civil marriage in its stead. In Denmark,
they have declared Christian baptism to be unnecessary.
136 THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
In other countries they have abolished the oath ; the most
talented Protestant ministers, e. #., Uhlrich Strauss, have
preached against prayer and good works. In Berlin,
the Rome of Freemasonry, u priests" have been *'coii-
secrated" for the secret mysteries of heathenism.
§ 12. — Two Classes of Masons.
Those who profess the Masonic principles, "Atheism, or,
at best, Deism, in religion j anarchy in politics ; Materialism
and Rationalism in philosophy ; and hatred of J^sus
Christ in all things," are divided into two classes : 1.
Those few who know what they are, and what they import,
and who see the end to which they are impelled by malice.
2. That legion, who do not keep any end in view, and
are ignorant of what the principles import, but who have
allowed themselves to be fascinated by the other class,
and have adopted the principles without examination, and
then defend them through prejudice. Or, perhaps, they
have thought one part of those principles good, and then
illogically accepted them alL They assort, for the civil
authority, the right to regulate all masters relating to
religion.
Some of these seduced and deluded people wish to
modernize the institutions of Jeisus Christ, or to ad^pt
them to the exigencies of the time, but yet shrink from
opposing the work of God's infinite wisdom. To this
class our holy Father, Pope Pius IX, alluded, when he said,
in one of his allocutions : " There are some who rule the
destinies of nations, and who, through jealousy of the
influence exercised by the Church upon the peoples,
desire to subject her to their good pleasure, by changing
the divine constitution to suit modern views, and to
FREEMASONRY. 137
render this Institution, which has come from God, and is
immutable in its principles, entirely human."
Others renounce violence, and wish to carry out their
principles only by means of " right " and law. They
, discover a right for spoliating the clergy ; a right for sup
pressing monasteries j a right for separating from the
Church of Rome ; a right for reducing the influence and
diminishing the property of landlords ; a right for intro
ducing legal concubinage (civil marriage) ; a right to take
all education out of the hands of the Church, etc. They
have a number of misty expressions to denote their policy.
They are cursed by the Lord : il Wo to you that call
evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light,
and light for darkness. . . . Wo to you that justify the
wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just
from him. Therefore, as the tongue of the fire devoureth
the stubble, and the heat of the flame consumeth it : so
shall their root be as ashes, and their bud shall go up as
dust." (Isa. v, 22-24.) " Wo to them that make wicked
laws : and when they write, they write injustice." (Isa.
x, 1.) "Wo to him that buildeth up his house in injus
tice." (Jer. xxii, 13.)
There . are others (the Moderates, or Conservative
party) who differ from their opponents only in pace, not
in principles. They shrink from moving of their own
accord. They desire to conciliate all parties, and are,
therefore, sure to serve the cause of the worst party.
Although the majority in each class may be led by the
nose, yet these poor ignorant and silly creatures, must be
remmded that they are without excuse. For the Church
has, without ceasing, proclaimed the true doctrines, and
pointed out the sophisms in the principles of their seducers.
138 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
There are others, of whom our holy Father, Pius IX5
in his Encyclical Letter, of Nov. 21, 1873, speaks as fol
lows :
/ ' '
" Some of you may perhaps be surprised, Venerable
Brethren, that the war which is carried on at this time
'* f *
against the Catholic Church extends so far and wide.
But whoever is acquainted with the character, aims and
purposes of the sects — be they Freemasons, or by whatever
name they are known — and compares them with the
character and extent of the strife, which, throughout
nearly the whole world, is waged against the Church, can
not hesitate to assign the cause of our present calamities
to the craft and conspiracy of the same sects. From them
is made up the synagogue of Satan, which is marshalling
its forces, and preparing to engage, hand to hand, against
the Church of Christ. From their first beginnings they
have been denounced to the kings and to the nations by
our predecessors, who have watched over Israel j again
and again have they condemned them, nor have we our
selves failed in this our duty. Would that the supreme
pastors of the Church had been more firmly believed by
those who could have warded off so terrible a plague !
But the sect, winding along by crooked ways, never ceas
ing its task, beguiling many with its cunning craft, is now
bursting forth from its hiding-places, and boasting itself
to be all-powerful. These sinful associations, having
greatly increased the number of their adherents, fancy
that they have now attained their ends, and all but reached
the goal set before them. Succeeding in this object, after
which they have so long hankered — the possession of the
chief power in many places — they are now boldly using
the strength and power they have acquired, that the Church
FREEMASONRY. 139
/ / /
of God may be reduced to the most grinding slavery ; that
it may be uptorn from its foundations, and defaced in the
divine marks with which it shines conspicuous j in a word,
that, shaken, shattered, and overthrown by many blows, it
may, if possible, be utterly bh/tted out from the world. " — •
(From the New York Freeman's Journal.)
To this class belong, 1, those Freemasons who recog
nize a Supreme Being, but do not recognize Jesus Christ,
and his mission. 2. Those who not only refuse to recog
nize Jesus Christ, but also get rid of the Supreme Being,
by substituting something else. They are called Pantheists.
3. Those who push equality and fraternity to their
logical conclusions, and thus annihilate all authority,
human and divine. They are the Socialists. 4. Those
who wait in taverns for the moment when they may
spring upon the rich, and glut their passion for rapine.
Others sigh, at universities, for the time when they
may help to inaugurate a new era, by establishing
the above-mentioned principles of infidelity. Others who
are profound thinkers and deep intriguers, have got into
the various public offices, and, as permanent secretaries
or head clerks, influence ministers, or prepare to hand
to young and ardent government officials bills embody
ing the step toward their revolutionary views which it is
judged advisable, at the time, to get enacted ; who falsify
returns, and even dispatches ; or who write articles for
the newspapers, with the same object steadily in view.
Others again are gentlemen and ladies of fashion, who
move in gilded salmons, playing their parts by dropping
innuendoes ; by hinting aw^y an honest man's character j
by drawing ministers with the cords of love 5 by gam
bling with rising young men, in order to assist them with
140 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
money ; by ferreting out some shameful crime, so as to
enslave the titled or official criminal, and so forth. These
have learned how to use their instruments : the vanity,
pride, jealousy, folly, ambition, rapacity, and carnal psls-
sions of others.
Again, there are others, who deny all that is not sense
nd matter. They get wholly rid of the Supreme Being,
and of the soul, and of all religion ; but yet they are
content, contemptuously, to let others enjoy their own
opinions. They are the Positivists.
Others again add to positivism a furious, maniacal
hatred of Christianity.
All these classes of men aim at the destruction of
Christianity. When Napoleon I was in Italy, the com
mands, directions, and letters which he received from the
government in France, were filled with burning incentives
to destroy the pope, the Catholic Church, and all religion.
When the Revolution had gained head in Rome (1849),
the massacres of San Callisto occurred, and the orgies of
the Capitol, and the sacking of churches, and the obscene
profanations of the sacred vessels ; and blasphemies against
Christ were publicly uttered. Such deeds revealed the
character of Masonic principles, and filled Europe with
horror. (See u Popular Errors," by Lord Montagu.)
§ 13. — Success of the Masonic Hammer.
Whenever the servants of Satan wish to provoke the
servants of God to revolt, they know how to do it. " Is
it true," said Nabuchodonosor, " 0 Sidrach, Misach, and
Abdenago ! " who were the disloyal subjects of his day,
11 that you do not worship my gods, nor adore the golden
statue that I had set up V "Quite true," they replied j
FREEMASONRY. 141
and then he cast them into the fiery furnace, with much
da'mage to those who laid hold of them, but none at all to
themselves.
" Obe'y the emperor/' said the Roman prefects to the
primitive Christians, u and sacrifice to the national gods."
" We cannot do it," was their tranquil answer, as the per
secutor already knew it would be.
The persecution in Germany, Italy, and other parts of
the world, has not even the merit of a novelty. It pro
poses to convict Catholics of disloyalty, and in order to do
it, is obliged to imitate the legislation of the Babylonian
king, — to invent laws which their framers know that
Catholics cannot obey. It could never be proved that a
good Catholic could not be a good citizen. Nobody ever
dreamed that Christian devotion was opposed to civic virtue.
Facts have always been all the other way. It would be
monstrous to contend, in the face of all history, that the
Catholic Church had ever lent her aid to tumult and
sedition. She has suffered wrongs, but never inflicted
them. Her children have been taught to say to certain
rulers, u It is against our conscience," and then to accept
the penalty, — a prison or death. It was always safe to
persecute them, for they were sure not to resist. If they
refused to obey Caesar, they were quite willing that he
should take their lives. Such rebels could hardly be
considered dangerous to the State. It is not they who
have ever brought kingdoms to ruin. How should they ?
They never conspire ; their only weapon is prayer, and
their only armor, patience. Even in pagan times, when
C&sar was the avowed enemy of God, and to obey him
would have been an act of apostasy, the Christian apolo
gists, like St. Justin, St. Quadratus, and many more,
are
142 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
always replied to their heathen accusers, fi Christians
the most faithful subjects of the emperor, as long as the
laws do not oppress our conscience. Our only crime is that
we believe in Jesus Christ. If you kill us for that, kill."
There is, and can be, no opposition between the spiritual
and temporal powers, except when the " God-State " deifies
itself, and pretends to control the human conscience. No
law has any force against the law of God. "It is neither
the antiquity nor the dignity of legislators," said Ter-
tullian, "which makes their laws worthy of respect; but
only justice. We have a right to resist a law, when it is
unjust." Catholics have not forfeited that law, and neVer
will. If they had not acted upon it in every age, eVen at
the sacrifice of life, the whole world would at this hour
have been pagan, and the kingdom of Christ would have
ceased to exist.
The enemies of our religion know this. Hence they
make unjust laws, by which religion is made treason, and
then punished with the penalties of treason. At this mo'-
ment hundreds of priests are thrown into prison, because
they will not acknowledge the supremacy of the State in
matters of faith. Since the earliest days of the persecu
tion of the Church, it has ever been so. The Christians,
under NeVo and other pagan emperors, suffered tdrtures
and death, and the confiscation of their goods and lands,
simply from their inability to conform to the State religion.
One grain of incense thrown on the pagan altars would
have saved them j but they preferred death to denial of
their Lord. The cry of "treason" was raised then as
now, and men's eyes were blinded with the like ftirious
bitterness and passions, till wrong appeared right, and
cruelty was justified by supposed patriotic necessity.
FREEMASONRY. 143
There is, indeed, no persecution so dreadful as legal per
secution. Popular violence is soon Over, and often easily
avoided or overcome ; but legal cruelty acquires a certain
respectability in the eyes of the majority, wears to many
the appearance of justice, and places the recalcitrants in
the dangerous position of rebels and traitors.
In Italy, as Pius IX says, in his Allocution of March
12, 1877, " the work of demolition and of general destruc
tion of everything connected with the structure and order
of the Church is almost consummated, if not to the extent of
the desires and hatred of the persecutors, it is at least so
far as concerns the sad heap of ruins they have succeeded,
up to this time, in piling up. It is only necessary to
glance at the laws and decrees promulgated since the
commencement of the new administration, up to the
present day, to realize fully what they have wrested
from us, piece by piece, little by little ; how, day after
day, and one after another, they took the means and
resources we so much needed for the proper guidance and
direction of the Catholic Church. Thus it is that the
iniquitous suppression of religious orders has unfortunately
deprived us of valiant and useful auxiliaries, whose work
is absolutely necessary for the transaction of the affairs of
ecclesiastical congregations, and for the performance of
so many of the diities of our ministry. This iniquitous
suppression has at the same time destroyed, here in this
Holy City, many asylums in which were domiciled the
religious of foreign nations^ who were wont to repair to
this metropolis, at stated periods, to revive their minds, and
to render an account of their stewardship. And it has
gone so far as to tear up even the very root of healthful
and saving plants which bore fruits of benediction and peace
144 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
to the farthermost ends of the earth. This same faltal
suppression which has struck these colleges, established
in Koine for holy missions, for the training of worthy
laborers, willing fearlessly to bear the light of the Gospel
even into the most remote and barbarous regions, has
unfortunately, by this very act, deprived so m&ny people
of most salutary succors of piety and charity, to the great
detriment of human welfare and civilization, both of which
spring from the holiness, the teachings, and the virtues
of our religion. But these laws, already so cruel in
themselves, and so diametrically opposed to the interests,
not only of religion, but also of human society, have been
still more aggravated by the addition, which the ministers
of the government have made, of new laws which forbid,
under the severest penalties, the living in common and
under the same roof of religious families, the admission
of novices, all religious professions among the regulars
of either sex. So soon as religious orders were dispersed,
the work and project of destruction was directed toward
the secular clergy j and then was enacted the law by
which we, and the pastors of the Italian people, were to
see, with the deepest sorrow, young seminarians, the hope
of the Church, wickedly torn from the sanctuary, and
forced, at the very age when they should most solemnly
consecrate themselves to God, to don the shoulder-knot of
the secular militia, and to lead a life utterly at variance
with their education, and the spirit of their vocations.
" Nor is this all ; other unjust laws have been enacted, by
which the entire patrimony which the Church held by the
most sacred, inviolable, and ancient rights, has been in a
great measure taken from her, to substitute in its place,
and only in part, some paltry revenues, which are entirely
FREEMASONRY.
145
at the meYcy of the uncertain vicissitudes of the times, and
of the good-will and pleasure of the public power. We
have, likewise, been compelled to deplore the occupation,
and the transformation to profane usages, after the lawful
possessors, without any distinction, had been driven forth,
of a large number of buildings erected by the piety of the ±
faithful, often at very great sacrifices, and which were
worthy of the days of Christian Rome, and which offered
a peaceful asylum to virgins consecrated to God, and to the
families of the regulars.
" They have also removed from our control, and from the
care of the holy ministry, many pious works and institu
tions consecrated to charity and to the exercise of benevo^
lence, many of which, devoted to the alleviation of poverty
and other miseries, had been established by the Sover
eign Pontiffs themselves, our predecessors, and through
the pious liberality of foreign nations j and if a few of these
works of public charity still exist under the vigilance of
the Church, we are assured that a law that will not long
be delayed, will either take them from us, or abolish them
altogether. This is at least what is clearly and unmistak
ably announced by public documents.*
"During the last ten years," says Signor Merzario, when speaking of
the "Clerical Abuses " Bill of the Italian government, "the Pope has
been deprived of the temporal power which was for a thousand years
in the possession of the papacy; and a numerous cohort of cardinals,
prelates, and ecclesiastics, were on a sudden deprived of all authority
and name. In this last decade of years, very many bishops, chapters
and court dignitaries found their means sensibly diminished, and
several of them were reduced to a necessitous life. In the last decade,
more than four thousand monastic houses were suppressed, in which
were more than fifty thousand persons, between friars and nuns, the
greater part of whom were forced to abandon their ancient homes, to
break inveterate customs, and to wander hither and thither, in search
146 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
11 We have, moreover, and we refer to it with the deep
est anguish, seen public and private instruction, in
letters and arts, wrenched from the authority and dhVc-
tion of the Church; and the mission of teaching confided
to men whose faith was not aboVe suspicion, or to avowed
enemies of the Church, who have not shrunk from public
professions of atheism. But these traitorous children of
the Church were not satisfied with having seized, invaded
or destroyed so many institutions of such vast importance.
They must needs throw still more obstacles in. the way of
the free exercise of the spiritual mission of the ministers
of the sanctuary. They have accomplished this criminal
object through the law recently passed by the Chamber of
Deputies, under the name of the ' Law on Clerical Abuses,7
by virtue of which they impute as a crime and misde
meanor to bishops as well as priests, and they visit, with
severe penalties, such acts as authors of the said law
comprise under the insidious name of perturbation of
conscience, which they call piiblic, or of perturbation of the
peace of families. By virtue of this law, also, all words
or writings whatsoever, by which ministers of religion
may consider it incumbent upcfn them, by reason of their
charge, to point out and disapprove of laws, decrees, or
Other acts of civil authority, as contrary either to the laws
of religion, or to the laws of God and of his Church, will
of a roof to cover them ; while some, who were aged and infirm, were
compelled by the slenderness of their pension to hold out their hands
for alms. And lastly, in this decade, more than eight hundred millions
of capital, in landed and chattel property, possessed by secular and
regular clergy, were taken by the State, and went to benefit other cor
porations or private persons ; and many sources of income were cut
short, or taken away from the remaining clergy, who were burdened,
morecrver, with severe taxes.
FREEMASOXRY. 147
be equally subject to punishment, as well as the work
of those who may have published or distributed these said
writings, regardless of the rank of the ecclesiastical
authority, or the source from which it emanates. Once
this law is passed and promulgated, a lay tribunal will be
permitted to define whether, in the administration of the
sacraments ana in the preaching of the word of God? tho
priest has disturbed, and how he has disturbed, the public
conscience and the peace of families ; and the condition
of the bishop and priest will be such that their voices can
be restricted and silenced, equally with that of the Vicar
of Jesus Christ, who, although declared in his person,
through political reasons, exempt from all penalties, is
none the less supposed to be punished in the person of
those who may have been accomplices in his fault. This is,
in fact, what a minister of the kirigdom, in the Chamber
of Deputies, did not hesitate to declare openly, when,
speaking of us, he freely avowed that it was neither new
nor, obsolete in the laws, nor contrary to the rules, the
science, or the practice of criminal law, to punish the
accomplices in a crime, when the chief author could not
be reached. Whence it becomes clear that, in the inten
tion of those who govern, it is against our person also that
the force of this law is directed; so that, when our words
or acts shall come in contact with this law, the bishops or
priests who may have repeated our words or executed
our orders, must suffer the penalty of this pretended
crime, of which we, as chief author, will be condemned
to bear the inculpation of the offence.
" This, then, Venerable Brethren, is how not only so
many asylums and institutions which ages have built up,
which revolutions have not been able to destroy, and which
14S THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
are so necessary to the administration of the Church, have
been destroyed amongst us, by the violence and spirit of
destruction of our enemies ; but how, too, they have suc
ceeded, by the most criminal means, in making it impossible
for the Church to perform that sublime mission of teach
ing and watching over the salvation of the souls she
received from her Divine Founder, by decreeing the most
severe penalties whereby to close the mouths of her minis
ters, who, in teaching the people to observe all that Je^sus
Christ has ordained, and in assisting, in season and out of
season, in reminding, supplicating, and reproving in all
patience and wisdom, are simply doing what they are
commanded to do by divine and ecclesiastical authority.
For now we pass over in silence other dark machinations
on the part of the assailants of the Church, from which,
as we know, some of the public ministers themselves
withheld neither their counsels nor their encouragement, —
machinations which tend to prepare for the Church days
of tribulation still more severe, or to create occasions of
schisms on the occasion when the election of a new Pt>n-
tiff will take place, or to impair the exercise of spiritual
authority by the bishops directing the churches of Italy "
(Freeman1 s Journal, April 7, 1377.)
To sum-up of the grievances of the Holy Father in his
Allocation : " Those who pretend that the pope is free at
Rome, and proclaim his pretended liberty, have wrested
from him all the means of governing the Universal Church.
They have driven away from the central houses of the
great orders at Rome the men who are the assessors of
the administrative departments of Catholicity; they have
taken possession of the institutions which Christian peoples
and their princes, and, above all, the Sovereign Pontiff,
FREEMASONRY.
149
have founded at Rome, to be for the whole universe
sources of charity, learning, and apostolic labor; they
have taken from the Head of the Church the Roman uni
versities, and forbidden him to open others j they have
laid the axe to the door of the priesthood, by compelling
the Levites to military service ; and now, by a new law,
they have struck a blow at this priesthood, in its Head, by
placing a guard at the gate of the Vatican to prevent
the word of Peter from coming forth and reaching the
children whom God has given him in all lands. It
is, therefore, an infamous and most execrable hypo
crisy on the part of the infidel Italian government to
proclaim to the world that the Holy Father is perfectly
free.
u How can the personal freedom of the pope be said to
be guaranteed, when the agents of his will are imprisoned ?
The pope himself may rest tranquilly in the Vatican;
but, if the emissaries of his authority are subjected to
penalty, the exercise of that authority is made penal. It
is the pope who is morally the victim ; his agents only
suffer materially. Who does not see that the punishment
of speech is equivalent to the imposition of silence, and
that silence, in the Supreme Pastor of the Church, is the
complete abdication of his office 1 "
In Switzerland, the Catholic Churches and schools are
closed, the pastors of the flock exiled, the flock scattered,
or left to the tender mercies of apostate priests.
" In Prussia, the six following bishops have been deposed
by the government :— the Archbishops of Gnesen-Posen
and Cologne, the Prince-Bishop of Breslau, the Bishops
of Paderborn and Minister, and the Auxiliary Bishop of
Posen. The proceedings against the Bishop of Lirnburg
150 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
/ /
and Bishop Namzanowski are still going on. The Sees
of Treves and Fulda are vacant by death.
*l About six hundred members of different orders and
congregations have had to leave the diocese of Cologne,
amongst whom are one hundred and twenty priests, who
had been active in the cure of souls.
u The following houses have been dissolved : the Car
thusians in Hayn, near Rath ; the Franciscans in Aix-la-
Chapelle, Hardenburg and Diisseldorf; the Dominicans
in Diisseldorf; the Jesuits in Aix-la-Chapelle, Bonn,
Essen, and Cologne ; the Lazarists in Cologne, Neuss, Miin
stereifel, Malmedy, Bedburg ; the Trappists in Mariawald ,
the Redemptorists in Aix-la-Chapelle ; the Congregation
of the Holy Ghost in Marienthal j the Christian Brothers
in Burtscheid j the Poor Brothers of St. Francis in Co
logne j the Alexian Brothers in Aix-la-Chapelle. Besides
these, the following have been expelled : the Benedictine
Nuns in Bonn and Viersen ; the poor Clares in Deren-
dorf; the Carmelite Nuns in Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne
and Neuss ; Sisters of Notre Dame in Essen ; the Ursu-
lines in Hersel, Cologne, and Diisseldorf j the Sisters of
the Poor Child Jesus from fifteen houses ; the Sisters of
Charles Borromeo, from the Orphanage in Cologne j the
Sifters of Christian Charity in Crefeld, Solingen, Steele,
and Viersen j the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Rath j
the Sisters of St. Francis in Villich ; of St. Salvator in
Miihlheim, on the Rhein ; and of St. Vincent in Norf, near
Neuss. In the archdiocese of Cologne there are ninety
four parishes without a pastor, sixty-one without a citrate.
"In the diocese of Paderborn ninety priests have died
since the May Laws, and there are none to supply their
place.
FREEMASONRY. 151
"Iu the diocese of Minister sixty parishes are with
out a priest.
"In the diocese of Treves at this time, about one hundred
and fifty parishes are without any priest, and the number
of the faithful thus deprived of the consolation of the
sacred rites, even at the terrible moment of death, amounts
to about 1 50,000.
"In the diocese of Limburg, seventeen parishes — in that
of Hildesheim, eleven (with 6,640 souls) — in that of Breslau,
sixty-four — in the Prussian part of the archdiocese of
Ohnutz, nineteen — and in Sigmaringen, eleven parishes are
without priests.
"About the same proportion is vacant in the diocese of
Fulda. Osnabriick, Ermland, Gnesen-Posen, and Culm."
(London Tablet, April 21. 1877.)
" The list of priests (over one hundred), and others in the
diocese of Treves who have recently suffered persecution,
naturally calls for some remark. The number of these
persons is so large, and the severity of their punishment
is so great in proportion to the pettiness of their offences,
_that we cannot but see in the proceedings a resolute de
termination on the part of the government to cripple in
every way the action of the Catholic Church. But that
which fills us with astonishment is not merely that clergy
men and others are fined, imprisoned, banished, their goods
seized, their fifrniture sold by public auction, the salary
owing to them sequestered, and their hearts broken and
lives cut short by worry and imprisonment, but that the
courts of Europe, Catholic as well as Protestant, look on
with perfect indifference, and offer not, by means of their
ambassadors, one word of remonstrance. If the case
were reversed, nay, if Catholics in any country of Europe
152 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
persecuted Protestants with one-tenth of the bitter injustice
now exercised in Germany, there would arise one uni
versal cry of indignation from cabinets, the press, public
meetings, and every other organ by which public opinion
is expressed. Not only were the Falck Laws in them
selves odious and intolerable, but the execution of them is
carried out with systematic cruelty. It is enough that a
priest should offend the magistrates or the i Old Catholics ; '
that he should express his mind in a sermon on the legis
lation of the day ; that he should allow another priest or
curate to say Mass, if he happens to be out of favor with
the authorities ; or that a layman should cry * hurrah ! J
when his pastor is liberated from prison, or should write
an article in a newspaper which the officials of Prince
Bismarck consider adverse to his policy, — it is enough
that these trivial transgressions be committed, to expose
the offender to being torn from his home, his family, his
profession, and immured in some damp and windy hole,
where his soul bites the dust, and his body pines and
withers away with disease. Should this state of things
continue some years more, it is evident that the Catholic
religion will be wellnigh extirpated from the Empire of
Germany. One bishop's see after another will become
vacant, and one parish after another be deprived of its
pastor; young men will not devote themselves to the
priesthood under the tyrannical conditions imposed by the
present goVernment ; secularism will pervert many
Catholics, and seduce them from their allegiance to the
Church, by specious promises of promotion and rewards
of employment in the civil and military administration j
colleges, schools, and universities will be more and more
infested by infidel professors j and the vast successes of
FREEMASONRY. 153
German arms and imperial sway will, like the triumphs
and splendor of Queen Elizabeth's reign, cooperate
powerfully in accomplishing the work of apostasy. A
spurious form of Catholicism is at hand, to second the
policy of the government, and to preach the popular
doctrine of submission, even in ecclesiastical matters, to
the will of the State. The heir- apparent to the throne is
said to be animated by the free-thinking principles which
marked the character of Frederic the Great j and this
may, or may not, dispose him to modify the policy of
persecution which his father has sanctioned. But, though
invested with the imperial purple, he will probably have
no more real power in the State than a constitutional king j
for the government of Germany, though more monarchi
cal than that of England, is nevertheless parliamentarian,
and the majority of the electors must prevail in every
vital question. The example held out by Germany is,
without any doubt, encouraging to the cabinet of Victor
Emmanuel in its war against religion, and Germany and
Italy mutually support each other, in fierce opposition to
the Holy See. If we were in Berlin, instead of in London,
we should not dare to write as we are now writing, for,
within a few hours after the publication of our article, we
should certainly be arrested. Bra,ve hearts there are among
the Catholics of Prussia, but bravery itself is often cowed
by the hopelessness of resistance to a well-organized and
gigantic power. The ruthless conquerors of humiliated
Fiance will brook no opposition to their iniquitous laws.
Whatever sympathy they and the rest of Europe have
shown of late with the cause of oppressed Christians, has
been displayed, not toward the Catholics, who constitute
fourteen millions of the subjects of the emperor, but
154: THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHUKCHI
toward the schismatical Greeks, under the rule of Turkey
Bat, though these^ are subjected, no doubt, to occasional
outbreaks, and violence of a severe character, we may
safely affirm that they enjoy much more freedom than the
Catholics of Germany, in the exercise of their religion.
" The assault made on the Catholic religion in the T£U-
ton provinces is the more deadly in consequence of .the
highly intellectual character of the German people. It
springs from a deeper design, and a more set purpose. It
is aided from without by a liberal press, and by number
less publications issuing from learned, thoughtful, and,
unfortunately, free- thinking minds. Nowhere has infidelity
cast deeper roots than in German soil, and this makes the
compulsory attendance of Catholic students for the priest
hood at the public universities the more dangerous to their
faith and morals. There was nothing like this in the Eliza
bethan persecution. Schism and heresy of various kinds
spread wide, Presbyterianism and Puritanism were creep
ing in; but, on the whole, men had but exchanged a higher
religion for a lower, and did not yet dream of casting it
off altogether. The case is very different now in Germany j
for, whatever hold Lutheranism may still have on the
population, and whatever ground the * Old Catholics ? may
gain, it is infidelity which mocks at both, that is really
advancing and sapping the foundations of all belief in
revelation and the supernatural. Nor can this influence
be wholly excluded from the Catholic body, considering
how many Catholics are in the service of the government,
and compelled to assist in the execution of its laws,"
(London Tablet, April 14, 1877.)
Now, if God and his Church are despised, his laws
will be hated and violated j man will see only his own
FREEMASONRY. 155
interests ; his neighbor's property will only whet his
appetite; his neighbor's life will only be a secondary
consideration : he would, according to his creed, be a fool
not to shed blood when his interest requires it ; his
fellow- men become imbued with his principles ; anarchy
succeeds subordination j vice takes the place of virtue ;
what was sacred is profaned ; what was honorable becomes
disgraceful j might becomes right ; treaties are waste
paper; honor is an empty name; the most sacred obliga
tions dwindle down into mere optional practices ; youth
despises age ; wisdom is folly ; subjection to authority
is laughed at as a foolish dream ; the moral code itself
soon becomes little more than the bugbear of the weak-
minded ; crowns are trampled .under foot; thrones are
overturned, nations steeped in blood, and republics swept
from the face of the earth.
Witness the downfall of so many empires, kingdoms,
dynasties, and republics, of the past. Witness the great
confusion in the governments of the nresent. Witness
the nameless abominations of the Communists, Fourierites,
and other such vile and degraded Masonic brotherhoods
and sisterhoods ; the cold-blooded mu'rders and frightful
suicides that fill so mariy domestic hearths with grief and
shame ; the scarcely-concealed corruption of public men
in national, state, and municipal positions, with whom
rascality seems to be the rule, and honesty the exception,
so that the way of the transgressor has ceased to be u hard,"
and rascality rides rampant over the land, from the halls
of legislature to the lowest department of public service ;
the adroit peculation and wilful embezzlement of the
public money ; those monopolizing speculations and volun
tary insolvencies so ruinous to the community at large 5
156 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
and, above all, those shocking atrocities so common in
private life, and, sad to confess, especially so in thia
country j the legal dissolution of the matrimonial tie, and
the wanton tampering with life in its very bud. Yes, it is
the sect without religion that makes war on God and his
Christ, and says, with Lucifer, " Nan scrviam" — "I will
i ot serve thee." This daring rebel against God and hia
law wishes to have the innocent children of the Christian
family, to teach them its false maxims ; promises them, as
Satan did the Saviour, riches, and honors, and power, if
they will but fall down and worship it. It is blind, and
attempts to lead ; it is ignorant, and offers to teach and
direct men. It will not receive the law, but claims the
right to give it. It arrogates the " higher law," and
u would be as God." How incomprehensibly strange it
is that there are so many men in our day who give ear
to this tempter, instead of saying, " Get thee behind
me, Satan/' and, " Thou art a liar and a cheat from the
beginning ! "
As no one can attain to life everlasting without knowing
and living up to the true religion, it is evident that man
kind can have no worse an enemy than Freemasonry,
because it constantly does its utmost to destroy the
Catholic faith by means of the hammer, when it cannot
use the sword.
This infamous plan of the hammer has, indeed, suc
ceeded so well, that, at the present day, not only the
educated classes, not only the painters, and poets, and
artists, not only the members of the press, but even the
dry-goods clerk, the barber, the simple mechanic, — all
classes, from the highest to the lowest, seem to vie with
one another in sneering at and ridiculing the doctrines
FEEEMASONRY. 157
of our holy faith. By the plan of the hammer these
sophists have succeeded in obscuring and confusing, in
the minds of the people, all ideas of virtue and vice, <A
right and wrong — all ideas of duty, religion, and morals.
Treason is called patriotism j for instance, in Rome, treason
to the Pope. The loyal and faithful man is looked upon
as a traitor to his country ; firmness in the cause of truth
or virtue is called obstinacy ; and strength of soul, a
refractory blindness. The bases of morality are sapped
in the name of liberty ; the discipline of the Church, when
not branded as " mummery," is held up as hostile to per
sonal freedom j and her dogmas are treated as opinions
which may be received or rejected with like indiffer
ence. By honeyed words, a studied candor, a dazzle of
erudition, they have spread their ll gossamer nets of seduc
tion " over the world. Their number is legion in every
country.
"Aks!" exclaims our Holy Father, Pius IX, "the
times through which we are passing, most beloved sons,
are sad, evil and fatal times j whichever way we turn our
eyes, we can find consolation nowhere except in God, and
we may justly say to him : Non est alms qui pugnet pro
noils, nisi tu Deus noster. Now, to ascertain how deplor
able the present times really are, it is only necessary to
cast one's eyes upon this centre of Catholicity, this ancient
Rome, of which we may now again repeat : Vice tuce
lugent ! The streets of Rome weep because they are
encumbered with numerous temples dedicated to false
hood and error. They weep because along their walls
may be daily seen the open doors of schools which fiercely
attack the religion of Jesus Christ, and where everything
is taught that is contrary to Catholic faith. They weep
158 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
because they daily witness the increasing multiplication
of certain infernal houses which blight the mind, corrode
the hearts, and corrupt the souls of young people, and of
all the imprudent people who frequent them ; and we can
say, with too much truth, that certain persons who .forrnerlj
nutriebantur in croceis, now amplcxati sunt stercora.
" But what fills the measure of our grief is that such a
system of corruption is not only tolerated, but, what is
worse yet, sustained, protected and encouraged by the
power of those who govern, to such an extent that the
ministers of God can now hardly raise up their voices in
condemnation of this plenitude of sin.
'• I say that we are now hardly allowed to raise our voices,
because, for the last few days, laws have been in contem
plation for silencing them, and we are threatened with the
most grave penalties, to make us keep our mouths closed.
All this not only excites bold spirits, and makes the impious
more impudent, but it affrights the weak and pusillani
mous, who, in this case, become proud and haughty, and,
like the former, they also cry out, ' Non serviam.' The
impious cry out to threaten, the others to court the favor
of the persecutors, and to cooperate with them, in the pitiful
hope of avoiding trouble and of living in peace, without
eVer reflecting that a peace thus acquired is full of bitter
ness and anguish."
; And here I ask, what is easier, from this state of irre-
ligion and infidelity, than the passage to idolatry ?
This assertion may seem incredible to some at this day,
and may be esteemed an absurdity j but idolatry is ex
pressly mentioned in the Apocalypse as existing in the
time of Antichrist. And, indeed, our surprise will much
abate if we take into consideration the temper and dis-
FKEEMASONRY. 159
position of the present times. When men divest them
selves, as they seem to do at present, of all fear of the
Supreme Being, of all respect of their Creator and Lord ;
when they surrender themselves to the gratification of
sensuality ; when they give full freedom to the human
passions, and direct their whole study to the pursuits of a
corrupt world, with a total forgetfulness of a future state j
when they give children a godless education, and have no
longer any religion to teach them, may we not say that the
transition to idolatry is easy ? When all the steps lead
ing up to a certain point are taken, what wonder if we
arrive at that point ? Such was the gradual degeneracy
of mankind in the early ages^of the world that brought on
the abominable practices of idol- worship.
" When senators in open market buy
The seats that they, defiling, occupy ;
When legislators sell for bonds their votes,
And Christian statesmen pocket leprous notes ;
When brutal ignorance is armed with power,
And corporations do the poor devour ;
When even the pulpit unto party lends
Its aid, for selfish- and unholy ends ;
The courts of jiistice are by scoundrels feed,
The press sows broadcast error's poisoned seed ;
When liixury and corruption, hand in hand,
Killing the cities, plunder all the land ;
When fortunes are by reckless gambling made,
And swindling bankers ply a thrifty trade ;
And banks for savings break, and rob the poor,
Who deemed their (bttle pittances secure ;
When cashiers plunder banks, and trustees steal
The funds they hold, and the poor commonweal
Is plucked and plundered by its officers
Of city, state and nation, and the curs
Bark a.t the heels of honesty and worth,
And every day sees some new monstrous birth
160 THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
Of fraud ingenious and escroquerie,
Of monstrous and unnatural villany ;
When lying no more any one disgraces,
Not even those who hold the highest places,
But has become a national disease,
And perjuries are thick as leaves on trees ;
When railroad stocks are fraudulently watered,'
And private servants on the treasury quartered ;
The country pays for private carriages,
And foots the bills for female vanities ;
When murderers multiply and go acquit,
Are pardoned, if for party uses fit;
When the while the widow wants relief.
The fatherless is wronged by naked greed ;
Devotion sleeps in cinders of contempt.
When the land leprous with these sins you see,
Rival of Sodom and Nineveh,
Then rend your garments, and like Jonah cry,
' Repent ye of your sins !' The end is nigh."
Of course it will be said that we have the happiness of
living in the most enlightened of all ages j our knowledge
is more perfect, our ideas more developed and refined,
the human faculties improved, and better cultivated than
they were ever before ; in fine, that the present race of
mankind may be reckoned a society of philosophers, when
compared to the generations that have gone before. How
is it possible, then, that such stupiaity can seize upcm the
human mind as to sink it into idolatry ?
This kind of reasoning is more specious than solid.
For, allowing the present times to surpass the past in
refinement and knowledge, it must be said that they are
proportionately more vicious. Refinement of reason has
contributed, as every one knows, to refine upon the means
of gratifying the human passions.
Besides, however enlightened the mind may be sup
posed to be, if the heart is corrupt, the excesses into which
a man will run are exemplified by daily experience.
FREEMASONRY. 161
Many years ago a Prussian statesman, who was surprised
that the so-called Reformation had killed Christianity in
his own land, exclaimed, " We are ripe for the coming of
Antichrist." He saw that religion was dead. At the
present day we are told that not one in thirty of the whole
population of Berlin ever enters a church at all. They
live as if there had been no revelation in the past, and
woull be no judgment in the future. For them Christi
anity no longer exists, except as an enemy to be hated.
They hate it as the demons do. The only Christian doc
trine which they would gladly believe to be true is the
eternity of punishment — provided they could be quite sure
that it was prepared only for Christians. They are no
longer disciples of SS. Peter and Paul, but of Hegel and
Strauss, as the latter are of Porphyry and Celsus. Less
religious than the p^gan emperor, Alexander Severus,
who at all events had a domestic oratory, in which he
placed the image of Christ, together with those of Virgil,
Cicero, and Achilles, they have neither temple, nor priest,
nor liturgy. They have forgotten how to pray. A
pupil of Schleiermacher said, not long ago, "The Holy
Trinity has emigrated from Germany." More impious
than either Epicurus or Iscariot, the Lord of infinite
majesty was to this cultured beast only the subject of a
blasphemous jest. And his words were received with a
shout of laughter by a group of infidel Germans who stood
aroi/nd him.
Assuredly if the philosopher is not governed by the
power of religion, his conduct will be absurd and even des
picable to the most ignorant individual of the lowest rank.
Socrates, Cicero, Seneca, and other philosophers of pagan
times, are said to have been acquainted with the knowledge
102 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
of one Supreme God j bat they had not courage to profess
his worship, and in their public conduct basely sacrificed
to stocks and stones, with the vulgar. When men have
banished from their hearts the sense of religion, and de
spise the rights of justice, (and is this not the case with
numbers ?) will many of them scruple to offer incense to
a statue, if by so d6ing they serve their ambition, their
interest, or whatever may be their fa'vorite passion I
Where is the cause for surprise, then, if infidelity and
irreligion be succeeded by idolatry ? That pride alone,
when inflamed with a constant flow of prosperity, may raise
a man to the extravagant presumption of claiming for
himself divine honors, we see in the example of Alexander
the Great, and of several emperors of Babylon and ancient
Home. From suggestions of that same principle of pride,
it will happen that Antichrist, elevated by a continued
course of victories and conquests, will set himself up for
a god. And as at that time the propagation of infidelity,
irreligion, and immorality will have become universal,
this defection from faith, disregard for its teachers, lice'n-
tiousness in opinions, depravity in morals, will so far
deaden all influence of religion, and cause such degeneracy
in mankind, that many will be base enough even to espouse
idolatry, to yield to the absurd impiety of worshipping
Antichrist as their Lord and God — some out of fear for
what they may lose, others to gain what they covet. Then
will it become evident that, as our Saviour had St. John
the Baptist as liis forerunner, to prepare the hearts of men
by penance for his reception, so Antichrist had the
Freemasons as his forerunners, to prepare the hearts of
their followers by pride, arrogance, want of submission to
Christ's Vicar, irreligion; infidelity, and immorality, to
FREEMASOXEY.
163
follow and worship him, the son of perdition, as their
sovereign Lord and God.
During that dreadful time, the sun will rise only on
ruined and desecrated altars, the priest banished, the lights
quenched : it will be a time of calamity, of darkness and
sorrow, for the Catholic Church.
' / i/
The description in the Apocalypse of the time of And
christ paints it in colors leaving no room for doubt that it
will be the most turbulent, the most calamitous, and the
most persecuting of all periods. How alarming and how
terrible those extraordinary and unnatural signs in the
sun, moon, and stars, the earthquakes, the endrmous swell
ing and roaring of the sea, the bloody wars and battles !
Our Saviour in the Gospel, and St. John in the Apocalyse,
give us to understand the impression these calamities will
make on mankind, by saying that " men will sink away
for fear, and call upon the mountains to fall upon them
and cover them." How dreadful will be the destruction
made by the army of Antichrist ! How cruel and bloody
his persecution ! " Wo to the earth, because the devil is
come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that
he hath but a short time." (Apoc. xii, 12.)
§ 1 4. — Secret Societies Excommunicated ~by the Church.
Our Lord Jesus Christ gave to his Church the authority
to separate rebellious children from her communion, and
deprive them of the rights acquired by baptism. Those
thus cut off from the body of Christ, and cast out of his
Church, are cut off and cast out by God himself. The
Catholic Church has repeatedly excommunicated all secret
societies, and, according to her declaration, all societies are
secret which plot, openly or secretly, against the Church
164 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
or State, no matter whether they exact from their mem
bers an oath of secrecy or not. (Aug. 15, 1846.) Pope
Clement IX has pronounced the sentence of excommuni
cation (Encycl., In Eminenti) against u every one of the
faithful, of whatever state, rank, condition in life, order,
dignity, or eminence, whether lay or clerical, etc., who
shall dare, under any pretext or color, to enter any of the
secret societies, whether called Freemasons or by any other
name, or dare to propagate them, or show favor to them, or
to receive or harbor them in his own house, or elsewhere,
to subscribe to them, or attend any of their meetings, or
to give them help or counsel, whether open or secret,
whether directly or indirectly." Pope Benedict XIV
(Encycl., Provideas) approved, renewed and confirmed the
decree of Pope Clement, and again pronounced the penalty
of excommunication against any one who should infringe
it. Pope Pius VII renewed the same constitutions, add
ing a prohibition against reading or keeping, whether in
manuscript or in print, any documents or statutes of a
secret society or clandestine sect, whether Carbonari or
otherwise called, and against reading anything written in
their defence. (Encycl., Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo.) Pope
Leo XII, in the apostolic letter (Quo graviora mala)
rehearsed and confirmed the foregoing decrees, placing
under major excommunication all who join any secret
society, and those who refrain from denouncing their ac
complices, He at the same time declared, in the words
of the third canon of the Third Council of Lateran, that
no one is bound by that wicked oath, because it is not an
oath, but an act of perjury, when a man swears to do any
thing against the Church of Christ.
In his Encyclical letter of Nov. 1st, 1873, addressed
FREEMASONRY. 165
to the bishops of the Catholic world, Pope Pius IX says
that the Pontifical Constitutions fulminated against perverse
societies not only included Masonic lodges established
in Europe, but also those in America, and in all other
countries of the world : " But that, in a matter of such
grave importance, there may be no doubt nor means of
being deceived, we take this opportunity to declare anew
and to affirm that all Masonic societies, whether in Brazil
or elsewhere — and in which a large number of persons
who are deceived themselves or who deceive others, hold
that they have no other aim than social usefulness, progress,
and mutual beneficence — are included, and proscribed by
apostolic constitutions and condemnations, in such a man
ner that all who have, unfortunately, placed their names
upon the roll-books of these societies, are ipso facto subject
to the major excommunication reserved to the Sovereign
Pontiff. We, likewise, most earnestly desire, Venerable
Brethren, that the faithful be notified by you, or by your
cobperators, to guard against this fatal pestilence, so that
every means in your power may be brought to bear to
alienate them from it." (Brief of 29th April, 1876, on
Secret Societies in Brazil.) Every one, therefore, who joins
a se'cret society, no matter what name it bears, in any
country whatsoever, ceases, ipso facto, to be a member of
the Church.
At one time excommunication had its terrors, greater
than the terrors of death ; and the culprit on whom the
sentence had been passed was regarded with horror and
detestation from one end of Europe to the other* But, in
our wicked age, some temporal misfortune may cause
horror and fright, while spiritual censures are regarded
as naught. " What," it is said, u is the good of excommuni-
166 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
cation, if the secret societies flourish in spite of it f Has
it any effect at all ?" It is true we do not always see that
excommunicated persons are visited by temporal punish
ments. The effect of excommunication is not to induce
sickness or other temporal misfortunes, but to declare them
heathens and publicans. Such they will be in the sight of
God forever, if they do not repent and are not reconciled
with the Church. History, however, relates that God has
often sent earthly evils upon those who were excommuni
cated. To find glaring histories of temporal punishments
inflicted on the excommunicated, we need not go back to
the times of Frederick Barbarossa. Napoleon I made light
of Pius VII and his bull of excommunication. Yet it be
came so fixed in his mind, although he tried to hide his
anxiety, that he could find no repose, day or night. He
then ordered one of his ministers to prepare a return of all
the excommunications which had been pronounced from the
earliest days against monarchs. Deceived by the appar
ent indifference of the emperor, the minister cast the
matter aside. Napoleon urged it, and the return was
finally presented to him by M. de Champagny. There
were eighty -five cases in the list ; the first in the list
having been that of an excommunication pronounced by
St. Athanasius against the governor of Libya, in 398.
The last excommunication, which was on June 10th, 1809,
had been, by courtesy, omitted. Of these eighty-five,
every one had visibly taken effect in one way or the other.
Napoleon, however, did not repent. Cardinal Pacca relates,
in his Memoires, that Napoleon exclaimed that an excom
munication could not make the muskets drop from the
hands of his soldiers. Within three years he went to
Kiissia, and frost, such as had not been known before, did
FREEMASONRY.
167
make the muskets drop from the hands of his soldiers, as
a Protestant historian, such as Alison, in a well-known
/ / y '
and striking passage, did not fail to note. His whole army
was destroyed, and his downfall began. It is either
foolish or impious to say : u What harm to enroll one's
name in a secret society ? This society is but a bene
ficial society."
" Be assured," says Leo XII, "that no one can join any
of those societies, without becoming guilty of a most
grievous crime. Therefore, all ye beloved children who
profess the Catholic faith, shut your ears to the words of
those who, in order to persuade you to assent to join the
lower grades of their societies, affirm most emphatically
that in those grades nothing is permitted which is contrary
to reason or to religion j and further, that nothing is seen
or heard which is not holy, and right, and pure. Yet that
wicked oath which we have already mentioned, and which
has to be taken, even in the lowest grade, is enough in
itself to make you see that it is criminal to join even the
lowest grades, or to remain if you have joined. Moreover,
altho'ugh the weightier and more criminal matters are not
usually committed to those who have not attained to the
higher grades, yet it is very plain that the power and
audacity of these mischievous societies are increased in
proportion to the members and the unanimity of those who
have inscribed their names. Therefore, those who have
not passed the lower grades, must be held guilty of the
crimes committed by any in the higher grades. The sen
tence of the apostle, therefore, falls on them : ' Those who
do such things are worthy of death j and not only those
who do them, but those also who consent to those who do
them.'" (Rom. I. Quo graviora, March 13, 1826.) He
168 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
who Enters a secret society becomes a slave-mason, for he
renounces God and heaven ; he resigns his independence,
his will, his very life, into the hands of an unknown
master; he has to swear that he will obey the orders
which he receives, even to the murder of his dearest
friend or nearest relative. By joining a secret society,
he becomes guilty of an intention to carry out a wicked
ness of the greatest enormity : that of helping to destroy
religion and lawful secular authority ; he becomes a real
Antichrist, a soldier of Satan's army, whose punishment
will also be his for all eternity.
" Since these things are so," says our Holy Father,
Pius IX, " do you, Venerable Brothers, do your best to
strengthen the faithful committed to your care against the
snares and canker of these sects, and to save from destruc
tion those who have unfortunately joined them. Do you
especially disprove and show up the errors of those who,
from bad faith or through deceit, do not shrink from
asserting that these secret assemblies have for their only
object social progress and advantage, and the practice
of mutual benevolence. Explain to them, and fix deeply
in their minds, the Pontifical decrees on this matter, and
show that they refer not only to the Masonic societies in
Europe, but to those that exist in America and throughout
the countries of the world." (Encyc. Letter, Nov. 21, 1873.)
<§, 15. — The Church cannot be Destroyed.
Man cannot abolish the Church, do what he will, because
Gpd will not permit him to do so. Even in those days of
Antichrist, of which the shadow seems already to darken
wide prbvinces of the earth, there will be a lt remnant,"
like the seven thousand of Israel, who did not bow the knee
FREEMASONRY. 169
to Baal, for whom Christ's Vicar will be still the centre of
unity, and the pastor both of sheep and lambs. They
will shine with great lustre, and bear away the palm of
victory, by their constancy in maintaining the cause of
God at the expense of their lives, and by their fortitude
in not yielding to promises, threats, or torments. And
thus the fruit of their perseverance will be to see
their victory completed, and the cause of religion fully
vindicated by the just judgments of God upon the im
pious, when he will annihilate before their eyes that
satanic man, Antichrist, with his associates, extirpate
idolatry from the earth, and restore peace to the Church,
so that it shall shine with greater lustre than in all
preceding ages.
But we have not come to Antichrist as yet, although, as
St. John said, in his day, " Even now there are many
Antichrists," forerunners of that monster, in whose brief
reign Freemasonry will fancy that it has triumphed at last.
Meanwhile it is doing its diabolical work in the darkness
of night, with constantly increasing success, and in this
country on as large a scale, though not so visible as yet, as
in any other. But Almighty God is not frightened by
their work, nor is his Church. He will continue to do in
the future what he has done in the past -j and as he is
stronger than all possible Caesars and Grand Masters, Pagan
or Lutheran, they are sure to get the worst of it in the
long run. Meanwhile we say, " We admire your courage,
but we condemn your judgment."
The enemies of the Catholic Church have always proved
false prophets. They have asserted, again and again, that
the inventions of modern times would weaken her hold
upon the world : and these very inventions serve only to
170 THE THIRD ENEMY OP THE CHURCH I
elucidate the truth that is in her, and to increase and to
strengthen her power.
"The printing press," they said, "will surely weaken
her authority." But the printing press, on the contrary,
has become one of her most powerful auxiliaries in spread
ing and defending the truth. Millions of printed pages
nourish the devotion of her children, and make known to her
enemies her merits and her beauties, until her most bitter
revilers acknowledge their errors, and return to her bosom
rejoicing.
" Steam," they cried, u will so change society, that the
old decrepit Church of Rome, that great obstacle on the
railroad of materialism, will certainly be run over, and cast
aside as a worn-out and useless wreck." But, lo ! this very
power of steam is subservient to the Church. This very
power of steam enables hundreds and thousands of zealous
missionaries to carry the light of faith to every part of the
world ; and this same power bears the pious pilgrim to the
feet of St. Peter even from the uttermost ends of the earth.
" The telegraph," said our enemies, " will give so rapid
an impulse to the development of civilization, that the
slow, ancient ways of the Catholic Church will be derided
and rejected." But here again the inventions of man
become the willing handmaids of the Church. The grace
of God so overrules the inventions of man, and the powers
of nature, that even the terrible lightning becomes the
vivid messenger which flashes the blessing of Christ's Vicar
unto all lands. During the Council in Rome, the telegraph
made known to all parts .of the world the day and the hour
of the vast assemblage of prelates at St. Peter's. Thousands
of devout worshippers in every part of the globe could
thus turn to the altar of God in Rome the very moment
FREEMASONRY. 171
that those in its immediate presence were kneeling before
it 5 they could join them in the same prayers, in the same
anthems. It was as if the whole world had been suddenly
transformed into a vast basilica. The strains of penitence,
the hymns of joy, seemed borne on the wings of the wind
across oceans, over mountains, to the most distant nations
of the earth, to the far-off isles of the sea, as though they
reverberated along the endless corridors, the spreading
arches of one vast glorious temple.
Almighty God incessantly watches over the welfare of
his Church. As a good general, after the battle is begun,
observes from a rising ground the state of the combat, in
order to send reinforcements where they are most needed j
so also Jesus Christ, who is the leader of the Christian
army, beholds, from the heavens ab6ve, the state of his
Church in the different combats which she has to sustain,
and, according to her necessities, he sends, from time to
rime, new reinforcements of holy bishops, priests, doctors,
founders of religious orders, to defend and edify her, to
supply her wants, and enable her to triumph over her
enemies. As God, in the fourth century, sent SS. Athan-
asius and Hilary of Poictiers to oppose the Arians, St.
Cyril to fight the Nestorians, and St. Augustine to beat
down the Pelagians 5 so, also, later on, when the world had
become Christian, when Catholics had grown rich and for
gotten the poverty of Christ, God sent St. Francis of Assisi
and his order to teach the love of Christian poverty to
voluptuous Catholics ; St. Dominic and his legion of monks
to combat the Albigenses, and instruct ignorant Christians ;
St. Ignatius and his admirable Society to oppose Protes
tantism j St. Alphonsus and his congregation of priests to
fight Infidelity, Jansenism, Gallicanism, and Rigorism.
172 THE THIRD ENEMY OP THE CHDKCH :
Holy missionaries of those religious orders were detailed in
every direction, and the loss which the Church had suffered
by apostasy was soon amply compensated for by the con
version of innumerable heathens in other countries of the
world, as in Japan, China, North and South America.
God also raised up St. Vincent de Paul to succor the
poor and afflicted, especially by means of the Sisters of
Charity 5 De La Salle to educate poor boys j Nano Nagle
to educate poor girls ; and when the fierce Revolution
had swept away all vestiges of the Catholic schools of
France, the venerated Madame Barat established, for the
education of the rich and poor, the Society of the Sacred
Heart. The same Providence that gave these illustrious
personages to the Church, raised up, in our days, Catherine
McAuley, just before the awful times of cholera and famine,
to found the Order of Mercy, for the special relief of the
poor. These, and many other brotherhoods and sisterhoods,
God called into existence, to counteract godless education,
and instil the spirit of religion into the hearts of youth.
What a glorious Church is ours ! What arm but that
of God could establish and sustain her in spite of so many
trials ? What power but his could make her at once ever
suffering, yet ever triumphant f She alone has overcome
and outlived all her enemies ; her present condition is even
more glorious than ever it was before. One in her faith,
morality and government ; holy in her Divine Founder,
doctrine, and means of grace 5 apostolical in her orders,
mission and teachings ; Catholic in all times, places, and
truths, she occupies such an exalted position on earth, that
she is at once an object of terror to those who hate Jesus
Christ, and the joy and glory of her millions of children.
Her Sovereign Pontiff is the father of more than two
FREEMASONRY. 173
hundred millions of persons. To all ends of the earth he
sends forth bishops, and their labors are crowned with
success. To-day, like Peter, the Pontiff is in prison : to
morrow, like the same apostle, liberated by an angel, he
preaches the faith, through some newly-appointed bishop,
to the negro of Africa, or to the red Indian of America.
To-day England plots his ruin : to-morrow he plants
twelve new churches, with twelve bishops and a cardinal,
in the very heart of the country which sought his destruc
tion. To-day he is told that he is a prince without power :
to-morrow he will not permit the faith and morals of his
sons to be corrupted by Gallicanism, Socialism, Liberalism,
Atheism, Infidelity, and Godless Education ; he convokes
the Vatican Council, which rejects and condemns the
impious doctrines and principles of the age.
Yes, Infidelity may rage like a tempest around God's
Church ; Heresy may clamor for persecuting laws j Social
ism may labor to sap her foundations j emperors and
kings may imprison and kill her pastors and children :
all is in vain. Let these enemies of God and the Church
unfold their banners of Infidelity, Socialism, Free or
Modern Thought, Scepticism, Communism, No God, No
Christ, No Pope, No Church, and a thousand others ;
let them grind their teeth, let them froth and foam at the
mouth, let them tremble with rage, let them shake their
heads with an air of majesty, as if they would say to the
Church, " We bury you to-morrow, we write your epitaph
and chant your De Profundis; our league is mighty, our
forces are multitudinous, our weapons are powerful, our
bravery is desperate."
The Catholic Church calmly answers : " I know you hate
me because I am the palladium of truth, and of public and
174 THE THIED ENEMY OF THE CHUECH :
private morality ; I am the root and bond of charity and
faith; I love justice and hate iniquity. But it is for this
very reason that I will remain forever; for, truth and jus
tice being, in the end, always victorious, I will not. cease
to bless and to triumph. All the works of the earth
have perished, time has obliterated them. But I remain,
because Christ remains ; and I will endure until I pass
from my earthly exile to my country in heaven.
" Human theories and systems have flitted across my path
like birds of night, but they have vanished 5 numberless
sects have, like so many waves, dashed themselves to froth
against me, this rock, or, recoiling, have been lost in the
vast ocean of forgetfulness. Kingdoms and empires that
once existed in inimitable worldly grandeur are no more ;
dynasties have died out, and have been replaced by others.
Thrones and sceptres and crowns have withstood me ;
but, immutable, like God, who laid my foundation, I am
the firm, unshaken centre round which the weal and woe
of nations move : weal, if they adhere to it j woe, if they
separate from it. If the world takes from me the cross of
gold, I will bless the world with one of wood.
"Tear down my Banner of the Cross if you can ! Touch
a single fold of it if you dare ! Sound your battle-cry,
rally your hosts, marshal your ranks ! Storm these lofty
summits ! They never yet have been surrendered. The flag
that waves above them has never trailed in defeat, and the
hearts that guard that flag have never flinched before
the foe, and the bravery that shoots through every film
of these hearts has never faltered. On with the conflict !
Let it rage ! Our line of battle reaches back to Calvary.
That line has never been broken by wildest onset. These
soldiers have never fled. We are the sons of veterans
FREEMASONRY. 175
who have marched through a campaign of eighteen hundred
years — marched and never halted — marched and always
triumphed. We belong to the old Imperial Guard of
Faith. We never yet have met a Waterloo.
" I am a queen, but a warrior-queen. You will never
find me on a throne here below. Banner in hand, I am
ever in the midst of battle. I have never granted a day
of truce to my enemies. War against all who war against
God, war against all who war against Christ, war against
all who war against man, war against all who war against
truth, — this is my destiny.
" Peace here below, I have never known. Rest here
below, I have never found. I am always on the march,
my banner ever unfurled, my war-cry ever sounding.
"Therefore, in the storm and shock of my battle of
to-day with my enemies, my soldier children fear not.
Around my old chieftain they rally. What, though some
may desert and leave the lines ! The lines close up
again, and the deserters are not missed. What, though
a Judas Iscariot may betray ! A brave Matthias takes
his place. What, though a few of craven spirit may flee !
The ranks they left are filled by brave men and true.
"From the hill of Calvary to the hill of the Vatican,
from Peter before the Council to Pius before the Sardinian,
my history has been one long, uninterrupted battle ; and
my battle, one long and glorious triumph.
" I was so often destroyed in the opinion of my enemies,
but I do not stay destroyed. No. After every seeming
destruction I renew my imperishable youth, I rise to pur
sue my career of conquest over error and prejudice and
sin. I may bend awhile to the fierce storm of hate and
bigotry that beats upon my head; but again I lift my go'd-
176 THE THIRD ENEMY OP THE CHURCH I
like brow to shine anew amid the dazzling splendors of
the eternal sun of justice. I may be fettered at times like
a bird in the snare of a fowler, but, by the strength of
Christ that is in me, I burst their bonds asunder, and
then, like an angel of peace, I plume my wings afresh,
and soar aloft, filling the air with divine exultant melody.
The very chains that my enemies forge to bind me, I
transform by the grace of God into new and blooming
garlands of victory.
" I am the immortal Spouse of Christ j I am his ever-
glorious body. My cause is the cause of Jesus Christ,
and the cause of Christ triumphed in spite of Pontius
Pilate ; the cause of Saints Peter and Paul triumphed in
spite of Nero j the cause of the first thirty-three martyred
popes triumphed in spite of the ten persecutions of the
Roman emperors j the cause of Saints Athanasius and
Liberius triumphed in spite of Constans and Julian ; the
cause of St. Gregory VII and of Adrian IV triumphed in
spite of Henry and Frederick ; the cause of Saints Anselm
and Thomas of Canterbury triumphed in spite of their
Norman and Plantagenet oppressors ; the cause of Pius VII
triumphed in spite of the great Napoleon ; and the cause
of Pius IX will assuredly triumph in spite of Victor
Emmanuel and Bismarck, and all the grand masters of
Freemasonry.
" The world around him is convulsed, the foundations
of society are tottering, the very pillars of the earth seem
about to give way, the storm of revolution is roaring
around him, the dark, dreary night of worse than heathen
ignorance and immorality is setting upon the hoary earth;
but my venerable Pontiff towers sublime, like the last
mountain in the deluge, majestic in his elevation, majestic
FREEMASONRY. 177
in his solitude. He towers aloft, unchangeable while all
around him changes — magnificent while all around him is
in ruins ; he towers on high the last remnant of earth's
beauty, the last refuge of truth and justice upon earth, the
last resting-place of heaven's holy light.
" Ah, yes ! it is one of my distinctive characteristics, that
I triumph in the midst of persecution, gain new life when
trodden under foot, prosper when despised, conquer when
overcome, recommend my claims to the intelligent when
abused, and rise victorious when my cause seems lost.
The very persecution which I suffer, and am daily en
during, only extends my kingdom more and more j the
faithful, persecuted in one city, fly elsewhere, bearing
with them the treasure of faith, and communicating it to
those among whom they settle, as the seeds of fertility
are frequently borne on the wings of the tempest to the
remote desert, which would otherwise be cursed with
perpetual barrenness. The persecution of my children in
Ireland, for example, ' has turned the desert into fruitful-
ness/ in America, in Australia, in England 5 and the gray
mouldering ruins of the fanes on the hills of Ireland are
compensated for by the cathedral churches in America.
Even at the present day, the persecution of my pastors and
children is bringing about better, more vigorous Catholic
life. Lax and worldly Catholics tainted with the leprosy
of Liberalism, but comprehending at length that Caesar,
backed by the cohorts of an impure and unbelieving gener
ation, now claims to reign in the place of God, and to
subject both souls and bodies to his arbitrary will ; and per
ceiving that, if he could succeed, there would be an end of
both religion and liberty, begin to smite their breasts
with tardy repentance. On all sides they are rising from
178 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
slumber and lethargy into an active and practical relig
ious life. Even Piedmont, the home of that unfortunate
prince, Victor Emmanuel, who commits sacrilege at one
moment, and trembles at his own crime the next, is thus
described by an angry correspondent of the Cologne 'Gazette:
(l Piedmont, once so Liberal, is now almost entirely in the
hands of the clerical party." " In Turin itself," he adds,
" nothing is to be seen but long processions of people,
who go bareheaded from one Church to another, with
prayer-books and Rosaries in their hands, muttering aves
and paternosters. Their cry is, ' From the snares of
the devil, good Lord, deliver us ;* and their fervent devo
tion, in which not only the simple people, but noble ladies
and men of the higher classes, and even professors of
the universities take part, is chiefly a reaction against
the doctrines of certain schools which deny the existence
of the soul, of conscience, and of God himself. They
perceive that in Italy, as in Germany, in Switzerland,
as in Brazil and Mexico, Liberalism is only an infernal
compact between unbelief and tyranny ; by the terms of
which the impious consent to forfeit their own liberty, on
condition that Csesar will help them to destroy the liberty
of Christians."
But the unbelieving world is not destined to triumph
yet. It must wait for that till Antichrist comes, and then
it will wish, too late, that it had not produced him. Mean
while, the Church is on the eve of another of those vic
tories, of which she has gained so many. Our generation
will yet learn that it cannot do without her. God is leav
ing it to itself for a time, with only force enough to produce
Bismarcks, and Cavours, and Garibaldis, — characteristic,
fungus-growths of the Freemasonry of our century, — in
FREEMASONRY. 179
order that the lesson may be decisive. Her yoke, it begins
to suspect, is lighter than theirs ; her mild rebuke more
tolerable than their brutal violence ; her justice more like
the justice of God j her rule more conducive to human
dignity, and more watchful of human liberty. "She
reigned " in other ages " by the love of the people ; " and
when they awake from the fatal delusions of Freemasonry
and its twin-sisters, Protestantism and Liberalism, she will
do so again. How soon the new era will begin, depends,
not upon her enemies, who can only do what God allows
them to do, and who, in persecuting her children, are only
hastening the moment of her triumph, but upon Catholics
themselves. As they increase in virtue, she will increase
in power. That is the use which God makes of the per
secutor. When he has done, not his own work, as he
stupidly supposes, but God's, he will be broken and cast
aside, like the owl and the bull in our story ; or like a worn-
out tool, of which the blade has lost its edge, and the
handle is only a faggot of firewood. There is no lasting
victory but for the Church, because she is the only power
on earth which is eternally allied with heaven — the only
combatant to whom God has given the uncancelled prom
ise : " No weapon that is formed against thee shall pros
per ; and every tongue that resisteth thee in judgment, thou
shalt condemn." Thus far God has kept his promise to
her. In spite of all that men or demons could do against
her — and they have done their utmost j in spite of the
apostasy of princes, and the malice of statesmen; in
spite of the treason of kings, who have ceased, to their
own shame and confusion, to be " her nursing fathers ; "
in spite of false brethren, revived Paganism, and rekindled
persecution, her children are far more numerous at this
180 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
hour, her vitality more robust, her authority more uncon-
tested, and her unity more marvellous, in a world where
all else is disorder and confusion, than at any other period
of her existence. That is the visible result of her present
trial. And even in the peculiar trials of our own age, in
which, for the first time, there is not a single Catholic
government, and the Church is without a political ally
in the whole world, nobody doubts, not even her enemies,
that the result will be exactly the same in the future as
it has been in the past.
The present trials of the Church, it is true, are quite
peculiar ; they widely differ from those of former times.
"Indeed," writes Pius IX to the Archbishop of Rouen,
" in reviewing the history of the Church, she often ap
pears staggering under the blow of heresies and schisms ;
often afflicted and oppressed by the pride, the ambition,
and the power of men. Never, at least since the early
ages, has she been seen harassed, from one end of the
world to the other, by a persecution which, commenced
for the destruction of the Christian religion, formed in
the same spirit, and more or less violently prosecuted
according to tfce character and situation of the different
nations, has been everywhere waged with the same
system, and been sustained and propagated by the same
means. We have also seen, in ancient persecutions,
which, by the way, were neither general nor organized
for the entire annihilation of all religion, how Divine
Providence sometimes counteracts them by the arm of
some mighty one, and sometimes by the deeds of some
holy personage, who, fortified and enlightened with power
from on high, have withstood the audacity of the wicked,
and have not only arrested their progress, but have also
FREEMASONRY. 181
baffled their aims and objects. In our day, on the con
trary, it does not appear that any man has been found
who, like those of old, bears in himself the manifest sign
of authority against this universal, most fatal, and truly
Satanic conjuration. Moreover, death "and the hatred of
men have removed a large number of illustrious defenders
of the Church from the field. The leaders of the people,
nearly all of whom have been deceived by their own
wickedness, or by the wickedness of others, have so
far alienated themselves from the Church, that she has
no longer any hope of human aid. But, as the Church
cannot perish, and as she is destined to triumph over the
g;ates of hell, until the consummation of the world, it is
evident from this that God has reserved the victory for
himself, and it is a much surer victory than if it de
pended on human arms : it is a victory that will be fully
commensurate with the majesty and might of the
Conqueror.
" To conclude, Venerable Brethren, since we have fallen
on times not only of suffering, but of meriting much, let
us take especial care, as good soldiers of Christ, not to
despair, as in the midst of the storm we have a sure hope
of future calm, and a glorious peace for the Church ; and,
trusting in the assistance of God, let us cheer ourselves,
our toiling clergy, and our people with the noble words
of St. Chrysostom : ' Many waves and storms threaten us,
but we are not afraid of being overwhelmed, for we stand
upon the rock. Though the sea rage, it cannot melt the
rock ; though the waves arise, yet they cannot sink the
bark of Jesus. There is nothing mightier than the
Church. The Church is stronger than heaven itself.
" Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall
182 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH I
not pass away." What words are these ? " Thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it." If you do not believe
in words, believe in deeds. How many tyrants have
tried to oppress the Church ? How many gridirons, how
many furnaces, how many wild beasts, how many swords,
have been prepared against her ? How much have they
accomplished ? Nothing ! Where are her foes ? They
are forgotten. Where is the Church ? She shines more
brightly than the sun. Her foes have perished ; her
children are immortal. If, when there were few Chris
tians, they were not overcome, how, when the whole'
world is full of holy religion, will you be able to over
come them ? " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
my words shall not pass away." ;
" Disturbed, therefore, by no danger and no fear, let
us continue steadfast in prayer, and with one mind let us
endeavor to appease the anger of heaven, provoked, by
the sins of men, so that, at last, in his mercy the Almighty
may arise and command the winds that they be still."
(Encyc. Letter, Nov. 21, 1873. Taken from N. Y. Free
man's Journal.)
u The sinner," says the royal Prophet, " shall watch
the just man, and shall gnash upon him with his teeth.
But the Lord shall laugh at him, for he foresee th that his
day shall come. The Lord knoweth the days of the
undefiled, and their inheritance shall be forever. They
shall not be confounded in the evil time. The salvation
of the just is from the Lord, and he is their protector in
the time of trouble. He will help them and deliver them j
he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them,
because they have hoped in him." (Ps. xxxvi.)
FREEMASONRY. 183
§ 16. — The Church cannot be Destroyed. — (Continued.)
One event that will take place before the end of the
world, as a prelude to the last days of the human race on
earth, is the appearance of that extraordinary person,
Antichrist. St. Paul the Apostle admonishing the Thes-
salonians not to give way to terrors, as if the last day was
at hand, assures them that the last day would not come
"till there came a revolt, first, and the man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth, and is lifted
up above all that is called God, showing himself as if he
were God." (2 Thess. ii, 3, 4.) By "the man of sin,
the son of perdition," all Christian antiquity and the
subsequent ages have ever understood that superlatively
wicked man, Antichrist.
But when is Antichrist to come ? God has appointed
the time for the arrival of the son of perdition. But " no
man can tell the moment," says St. Hildegarde, "when
Antichrist shall make himself manifest to the world ; the
angels even know it not. But this manifestation will be,
as it were, a parody of the Incarnation of the Divine
Word. Christ came neither at the beginning nor at
the end of time. He came toward evening, at least
when the heat of the day was declining. What happened
then ? He opened the marrow of the law, and gave vent
to the great floods of virtue. He restored to the world
holy virginity in his own person, that the divine germ,
impregnated by the Spirit, might take root in the hearts
of men. The homicide (Antichrist) also will come sud
denly • he will come at the hour of sunset, at the time
when night succeeds day."
If we consider the general decay of religion which now
184 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
prevails ; if we see how little the practice of morality is
attended to, how little even religion is thought of, we
cannot help thinking that mankind has already made
gigantic progress toward that apostasy, as St. Paul calls
it, or toward that general defection from the faith and
that degeneracy of morals, which will take place before
Antichrist, the great minister of Satan, appears. How
swift, indeed, must be the decline of true faith, while free-
thinking, religious indifferentism, infidelity, and godless
education of the young, grow at such a pace ; while every
one seems to accept as a fixed principle to believe nothing
more than his reason comprehends, or what coincides with
his own private humor ! What practice of morality can
be expected from people who are immersed in worldly
pleasures, or in pursuits of private interests, in the grati
fication of their shameful passion of lust ; who never
spend a thought about eternity, or scarce ever address
their God and Creator in a short prayer ?
When a tide of irreligion and infidelity has broken in,
and is seen to swell in volume day by day, what wonder
if the period approach when God will bring all to the test,
and try them as metal in the fiery furnace, in order to
discriminate between the good and the bad, and to
separate the sound from the unsound grain? Hence
St. Hildegarde exclaims : " 0 ye faithful ! listen to this
testimony, and preserve it in your memory as a safeguard,
so that terror may not find you unprovided, nor the man
of sin, taking you at unawares, drag you to perdition.
Arm yourselves with the weapon of faith, and prepare
yourselves for a fierce battle. Keep close to the Divine
Word, and follow His steps who appeared on this earth, not
with the pomp of gorgeous ostentation, but in the most
FREEMASONRY. 185
• -
profound humility." ( u Sci mas Domini : " " Know the
ways of God.")
The unparalleled success which will attend the arms of
Antichrist, the greatness of his power, and the extent of
his dominion, beyond everything that the world has ever
seen before, will strike with amazement the whole human
race. "And all the earth was in admiration after the
beast j and they adored the beast, saying : Who is like to
the beast ? and who shall be able to fight with him ! " (Apoc.
xiii, 4.) Thinking himself all-powerful, Antichrist will
acknowledge no superior in heaven or on earth. With this
conviction, he will proceed to the temple of God which
he will enter, and there, extolling his own supreme author
ity, his dominion, his unlimited power over everything,
proclaim himself God, and ordain divine homage and
worship to be paid to his person.
This we learn from St. Paul, who says that " the man of
sin, the son of perdition, is lifted up above all that is
called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the
temple of God, showing himself as if he were God"
(2 Thess. ii, 3, 4). He will forbid any other deity to be
acknowledged but himself, and prohibits all worship of the
Supreme Being, all exercise of the Christian religion,
and particularly the h61y sacrifice of the Mass, because
in it Christ is personally present and adored as God. All
this has been foretold by the prophet Daniel. (Chap, viii,
11 j xii, 11.) The holy sacrifice of the Mass will not be
offered up publicly for three years and a half, and the
abomination unto desolation is set up ; that is, the abomin
able worship of a man is set up in the place of that of God.
(Matt, xxiv, 15, 16) A most cruel persecution will be
raised by Antichrist, to force the worship of his pretended
186 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH:
divinity upon the world. Henoch and Elias, and other
holy men, will appear and admonish the people not to
believe in Antichrist, and that his reign is to last but for
three years and a half.
On finding that many refuse to pay him divine honor.
Antichrist will first try to win them over by persuasive
methods. For that purpose he will avail himself of the
power which the dragon (Lucifer) gave him of working
false miracles. By the help of the devil, then, Antichrist
will perform many prodigies and give extraordinary signs,
" whose coming," says St. Paul, " is according to the work
of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders." (2
Thess. ii, 9.) In the " Revelations " of St. Hildegarde, we
read that the "magical art of Antichrist will simulate
the most wonderful signs : he will disturb the air ; he will
produce thunder and tempests, horrid hail and lightning ;
move mountains, dry up rivers, and clothe with fresh ver
dure the barren trees of the forest. By his deeds he will
exercise influence over all the elements, over dry land and
water; but he will put forth his infernal power chiefly
over men. He will seem to restore health, and take it
away ; he will drive away demons, and restore life to the
dead. How shall this be ! By sending some possessed
soul into the corpse, there to remain a short time ; but
these sorts of resurrections will be but of a short dura
tion." ( " Sci vias Domini : " i Know the ways of God.")
Dazzled and bewildered by such wonders, many will
begin to waver in their faith, and will be seduced to wor-
O ' ,
ship this mock god : " There shall arise false Christs, and
false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch as to deceive, if possible, even the elect." (Matt,
xxiv, 24.) But Christ, who is never wanting to his
FREEMASONRY. 187
Church, will interpose his power to baffle that of the devil
and Antichrist. He will invest many of the Christian
preachers, particularly Henoch and Elias, with extra
ordinary miraculous powers. As Moses and Aaron were
sent by the Almighty to contend with Pharaoh and his
magicians, and to rescue the Israelites from slavery, so
will Elias and Henoch be the two chief messengers whom
Christ will employ to oppose his enemy, Antichrist, and to
preserve his elect from falling into his snares.
And as the magicians of Egypt, with all their demonia
cal charms and incantations, were vanquished by the signal
superiority of the miracles of Moses and Aaron, so will
the prodigies of Antichrist be eclipsed and confounded by
the far greater number and splendor of the miracles of
Elias and Henoch : " These my two witnesses shall pro
phesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in
sackcloth. If any man will hurt them, fire shall come out
of their mouths, and shall devour their enemies. And if
any man will hurt them, in this manner must he be slain.
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the
days of their prophecy ; and they have power over waters
to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with all
plagues as often as they will." (Apoc. xi, 3, 5, 6.) \Vhen
the powers of the Almighty and of Satan come in collision,
the power of Satan must certainly disappear. Hence
those only will be deluded who wilfully shut their eyes
to the clear light of evidence ; and so we are informed
by St. Paul in his epistle to the Thessalonians : " Whose
(Antichrist's) coming is according to the working of Satan
in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and in all seduc
tion of iniquity to them that perish : because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
188 THE THIRD ENEMY OP THE CHURCH!
Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to
believe lying : that all may be judged who have not
believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity.7'
(2 Thess. ii, 9-11.)
Antichrist, seeing all his wonderful operations baffled
by the shining evidence of Henoch's and Elias's miracles,
and perceiving that multitudes of Christians refuse to
acknowledge his godhead, swells with anger ; and being
actuated by Satan, who possesses him, he arrogantly boasts
of his preeminence over all other men that have ever ex
isted, of the greatness of his empire, of the number of his
armies, of his command over all the beings and works of
nature, and he even presumes to extol his own power above
that of the Almighty. (Apoc. xiii, 5 ; 2 Thess. ii, 2—4.)
Daniel says : " He shall think himself able to change
times and laws " (vii, 25). He will imagine himself power
ful enough to change the course of times and seasons of
the year : as, night into day, winter into summer.
Not having been able to gain many Christians, he now,
in rage, flies in the face of heaven ; he blasphemes God,
revolts against him, blasphemes his name and religion,
heaven, the angels, and saints. He will deny that the Son
of God became man ; he will deny all the truths of
religion : " He shall speak words against the Most High
One." (Dan. vii, 25.) His power will extend over every
nation and people of the globe : a And power was given
him over every tribe and people, and tongue and nation."
(Apoc. xiii, 7.) Already monarch of a great part of the
kingdoms of the earth, he will subdue the rest, and tyran
nize over all mankind, and persecute religion in every
corner of the earth. Then such a general apostasy of
mankind will take place, that, except the elect, all the rest
FREEMASONRY. 189
•will yield to the tyranny of Antichrist, and adore him as
God : " Jt was given unto him to make war with the
saints, and to overcome them. And all that dwell upon
the earth adored him, whose names are not written in the
book of life of the Lamb." (Apoc. xiii, 7, 8.)
Antichrist will now have also an associate of the same
stamp as himself, who will be his principal minister and
chief aid in his future proceedings. (See Apoc. xiii, 1 1—
18.) Finding himself so powerful by Satan's aid, and
seconded by so able a minister, his false prophet, as St
John calls him ; while, on the other hand, he sees the
converted Jews and other Christians refusing him divine
homage, and so fortified by the exhortations and miracles
of their teachers, that all his pretended wonders can make
no impression upon them, he resolves to compel them by
force into compliance, to show no mercy to the refractory,
but to destroy them, and utterly wipe out the Christian
name. So, by his immense army, he carries destruction
through every nation that refuses to worship him as God.
Almighty God having prepared his servants for the
combat, permits Antichrist to carry on the most bloody
war that ever took place since the existence of the world,
in which will be slain the third part of men. (Apoc. ix,
15.) This war will last three years and a half. The
persecution will prevail over the whole world. For it
shall be permitted to Antichrist and his agents to tread
under foot the holy city, the whole body of Christians, for
three years and a half. This space of time Christ has set
apart to purify his Church, and try the patience and faith
of his servants. (Apoc. xiii, 9, 10.)
The general calamity of the times will be such, that,
while Antichrist spreads abroad a flood of desolation and
190 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!
slaughter by his army, and thus becomes the instrument
of punishment to the wicked, he will exercise at the same
time a most bloody persecution against the servants of
God. Hell and earth combine ; the devil, Antichrist, and
the false prophet, confederate together to extirpate Christi
anity. They set all engines at work, to abolish all worship
of God, and to establish idolatry. The barbarous tortures
employed in the primitive persecutions are to be revived,
and new ones, yet more cruel, invented. The racks, grid
irons, fire, and other instruments of torment, will be
reproduced, and the Christians dragged before the statue
of Antichrist, to refuse to adore which is certain death.
(Apoc. xiii, 15.) Antichrist, being now in his full career
of power, will crush the saints of God. (Dan. vii, 25.) In
this connection, read how Antioehus Epiphanes treated
the Jews (2 Mach. v, 6), and a faint idea will be furnished
of the cruelties of Antichrist.
But on account of the weakness of human nature, these
times of disastrous and most deplorable tribulation will be
shortened : they will last only for three years and a half,
out of regard for the faithful servants of God. (Matt, xxiv,
21, 22.) The Lord will also send St. Michael the Arch
angel to fight the powers of hell, and assist the faithful.
(Dan. xii, 1.) He will give to his servants extraordinary
graces, to enable them to stand their trials; he will
encourage them by the constant preaching of his holy
ministers, who will perform great miracles, and convert
many to the Lord.
The Church, therefore, at this period, though in appear
ance so much oppressed, will shine more^ gloriously than
in any former age, by the number of Christian champions,
who will not fear to make open profession of their faith ;
FREEMASONRY. 191
who, by their invincible fortitude, will baffle all the arts
and defy the torments of Antichrist, and who will soar in
triumph to heaven, bearing the crown of martyrdom. Anti
christ, having borne down all opposition, is now at the
summit of his power; he is the greatest monarch the
world ever saw, being conqueror of the whole earth. He
has compelled a great part of mankind to adore him as
God; and of those who refused to pay him divine honor,
he has sacrificed an immense number to his rage and
jealousy.
Some of the Christians, however, will not fail to admon
ish Antichrist of his impending fate. Enraged at hearing
from the expiring Christians the supreme decree which
dooms him, with all his followers, to be destroyed by Jesus
Christ and his celestial army, he resolves to make war
against God himself. (Apoc. xvi, 13, 14.) He invites all
kings and potentates to engage in this war against God.
As Satan in the beginning made war against God, so now
he urges Antichrist and his associates to do the same.
Intoxicated with pride and power, and stimulated by Satan,
he pursues his resolution to suffer no rival, but to contend
for superiority with the Sovereign of Heaven. Contemning
what he had heard from the Christians, that all power
shall be wrested from him by Christ, and he himself be laid
in the dust, he proposes to cope with Christ and all his
heavenly attendants, by a proportionable army, assembled
from the whole earth by the three evil spirits that had
been sent for the purpose, to engage all potentates in this
war with heaven.
But, unhappy being ! the time which God has fixed to his
dominion is drawing to a close. The three years and a half
are expiring. The Lord is about to execute judgment up^n
192 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHUECH :
the numberless nations gathered together. And when he
shall come down to execute his judgments upon these
armies, the sun and moon shall be darkened, and the stars
shall withdraw their shining, and He will pass over Jeru
salem with a dreadful noise that will strike them with
terror and dread. (Isa. xxxiv, 1—4 ; Apoc. vi, 12-14.)
The enemies of God will try to hide themselves, and say
to the mountains and rocks : Fall upon us, and hide us from
the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne. (Apoc. xv,
15, 16 5 xix, 11—21.) At the terrible appearance of Christ
descending through the skies with his army, his enemies
are struck with consternation j and by his order Antichrist
is seized and made captive, and with him the great im
postor, the false prophet. Christ, with the sole breath
of his mouth, hurls down Antichrist alive into hell-fire.
(2 Thess. ii, 8.) Immediately after, the whole army is
slaughtered. (Zach. xix, 1-7 j Isa. xiv, 3, 7, 19.) And
those who have escaped yet, but who have been guilty of
idolatry, will be overtaken in the same way by the wrath
of God. (Apoc. xiv, 10, 11 ; Jer. xxv, 15? 30-33.) Thus
all abetters of Antichrist will be slain all over the world.
(Jer. Ixvi, 24.)
From such a victory over its enemies, rises then the
completest triumph of the Christian religion. " Then,'7
says St. Hildegarde, " will the spouse of Christ (the Church)
arise strong and powerful with wonderful beauty, and her
magnificence will shine with a cloudless brightness. All
will acknowledge that the Lord alone is great, his name
shall be made known by all creatures, and he will reign
forever."
Long ages ago the fountains of the great deep burst
forth, and the floodgates of heaven were opened. The
FREEMASONRY. 193
great deluge of seething waters swept over the earth. Noe,
and those with him in the ark, were saved. Look forth
upon the surging waste of waters. You see the ark
moving majestically amid the howling storm. She calmly
steers her way to Ararat, — a the mountain of rest," — amid
the wails of the drowning, and the dash of the angry billows.
Around her float the wrecks of earthly grandeur, and the
bodies of those who laughed at the warning voice of Noe,
and refused to enter the ark. In all ages, but especially
at the present day, the fountains of the great abyss have
burst forth. The poisoned fountains of infidelity, im
morality, and religious indifference, have burst forth and
flooded the whole earth. Amidst the storms of persecution
the holy Church, the ark of the living Grod, steers its
way calmly, through the wrecks of empires, through the
remnants of false philosophies, amid the bodies of detached
sects, and the dead souls of those who (t worship, and bear
the mark of, the beast, "^-the Church steers on majestically
toward the mountain of rest, on whose summits glitter the
jasper walls of the heavenly city.
O holy Church ! like some, fair beacon beaming
Amid earth's dark and dreary night !
The weary wand'rer sees thy beauty gleaming,
And blesses thy pure, hallowed light.
Thy light shines thro' the gathering darkness far,
Far fairer than the softly-glowing morning-star.
The stream of time, beside the strong Rock flowing,
Whereon God's Church unchanging stands,
Bears on gay crowds, with youth and beauty glowing, ' „
With rose-crowned uinecups in their hands:
They laugh to scorn the changeless Church on high —
Anon the ringing Iau0h grows still, the sad winds sigh !
The stream flows on ; upon its waves advancing,
Gleam armies, led by tyrants fell ;
1 94 THE THIRD ENEMY OF THE CHURCH : FREEMASONRY.
With, bugle blast and neighing war-steeds prancing,
They shout as from the depths of hell:
" Down with the rock-built, changeless Church on high !"
The maddening shout is hushed, the blood-stained waves flo\r by.
The stream flows on — proud, high-walled cities crumble, •
The fanes of worship false lie low,
Bright palaces and thrones unstable tumble —
O'er all time's weltering waters flow:
The rock-built Church still changeless stands on high,
While all things round it change, and swiftly fade and die.
Within this rock-built Church that wavers never,
The throne is set of truth and right ;
Here reigns the Shepherd-King, a Father ever
To him who seeks and loves the light.
This priestly King shall rule till doom's dread day,
Then yield the keys to Him who gave this wondrous sway.
CHAPTER IV.
HOW THE PERSECUTORS OF THE CHURCH DIE.
IT may seem to some a useless task to speak here of the
miserable end which generally overtakes the persecutors
of the Church. Those who are guilty of persecuting
Christ in his members, or by trying to destroy his religion,
are, as a rule, deaf to all warnings. " Children of darkness, "
as St. Peter would say, " they are the blind and the lead
ers of the blind. " " We should abandon them to them
selves," says our Holy Father, Pius IX. " Preach not to
those who will not hear you." It is, indeed, not easy to
teach the world, it has so little discernment, and its memory
is so feeble. Like the foolish Egyptians of old, it neither
understands its present calamities, nor remembers those
which are past. " Whilst they were yet mourning," we
are told, " and lamenting at the graves of the dead, they
took up another foolish device, and pursued them as fugi
tives whom they had pressed to be gone. " (Wisd. xix,
3.) It was impossible to do anything for such people,
exce[ t to make an end of them. They were simply not
to be taught. Nothing remained for them but the Red Sea,
" They lost the remembrance of those things which had
happened, that their punishment might fill up what was
wanting to their torments. " It was not a cheerful destiny,
but, as Egypt was incorrigible, it could expect no other.
The world has had many lessons since then, but has always
made, and continues to make, little use of them !
196 HOW THE PERSECUTORS
Egypt is a type of the world, as Israel was of the Church.
It was not till darkness covered the whole earth, and
the veil of the temple was rent in twain, that even the
spectators on Mount Calvary began to suspect that -some
thing unusual had happend. Lifeless nature groaned,
but not they. They chattered and wagged their heads at
the foot of the cross, just as if they had been infidels of
the nineteenth century ; and though they were frightened
for a moment, they soon forgot their alarm, and most of
them lived in the future exactly as they had lived in the
past. Even the most extraordinary miracles had not much
instruction for them.
When the deicidal city of Jerusalem had perpetrated
that unheard-of crime, and had dyed her streets with the
blood of a God, the measure of her iniquity was full.
The iron legions of the Romans stood at her gates. Signs
and wonders appeared in the heavens and on the earth,
which foreboded the utter destruction of that murderous
city. During the feast of the tabernacles, amid the
music, the singing, and the rejoicing of the countless mul
titudes that had flocked to Jerusalem, there suddenly
appeared a strange being, who, as if touched by the hand
of God, began to cry aloud in a clear and solemn voice :
" Wo to the temple ! wo to Jerusalem ! " A voice from
the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four
winds of heaven, crying, "Wo, wo to Jerusalem !" For
four long years he continued this warning cry., Day and
night, through the bustling and through the silent streets,
rang his startling, warning cry, " Wo to Jerusalem ! "
He was seized, he was commanded to be silent, he was
scourged till his ribs were laid bare, but n9t a tear did he
shed, not a moan did he utter j his only answer was the
OP THE CHURCH DIE. 197
same mournful, unearthly cry, "Wo, wo to Jerusalem!"
The weaker his body became, the stronger grew his voice.
Finally, on the eve of the destruction of that impenitent
city, his fruitless mission ended — he was struck by an
arrow and fell dead ! (Josephus, an eye-witness, " Bell.
Jud.,"lib. vii, c. 12.)
This warning voice, nay, even war, famine, death, the
destruction of the temple and of the city of Jerusalem, the
impossibility of rebuilding it, the scattering of the Jewish
nation over the whole world, have had very little instruc
tion for that people. Egypt and Jerusalem are types of
the world. The Roman empire, " drunk with the blood of
the saints," was broken in pieces, as Daniel foretold, and
the fishermen sat in the place of Csesar 5 but even then the
world learned less from the marvellous change than might
have been expected.
The present state of things affords a festive commentary
on " the wisdom of the world." This wise world does not
understand that a master it must have, whether it likes it
or not, and that, if it will not have God, it must have Satan.
Unless it call the Church to its aid, — which alone can
teach it how to overcome tyrants, — in a few years it will
have no more liberty than there is in a Prussian barrack,
which Freemasonry thinks is still more than it ought to
have. Poor world ! if it go on as it is doing now, with
no better teachers than those of the lodges, in a little while
its only choice will lie between absolutism and communism :
only the Church can save it, as she has saved it a hundred
times before j but the world is bent on " filling up what is
wanting to its torments." Not till the last prophetic seal
is opened, when " every mountain and the islands shall be
out of their places," and other catastrophes, quite new to
198 HOW THE PERSECUTORS
the most diligent student of geology, shall disturb the
earth, will the world begin to learn anything, and then it
will be too late. There will be no hope at all for the world
before that day, and then there will be less than ever.
Perhaps this is why even He who desired to save it, said :
"I pray not for the world."
But if we cannot teach the world, let us teach our
Catholics. Whatever is calculated to confirm them in their
holy faith, and prevent them from becoming familiar with
infidels and Protestant sedupers, must be considered a most
wholesome lesson. The miserable end of the persecutors of
the faith, the awful judgment with which God was pleased
to visit them, are certainly calculated to confirm Catholics
in the truth, and to make them turn a deaf ear upon all
those who impiously deny it ; they are calculated to show
most plainly how all the " foolish devices " of the impious
lead fatally to the Red Sea and final discomfiture of the
Egyptian host of infidels.
Nero was the first chief persecutor of the Christian re
ligion; and of this wretched emperor we read that, after
the many acts of injustice and cruelty which he perpetrated
against his subjects, and especially against the Christians,
he found himself one night unexpectedly abandoned by his
guards. Seeing his ruin imminent, he fled from his palace,
and knocked at the doors of several of his friends, but was
refused admittance by all; whereupon, with four of his
freedmen, he left the city in search of a hiding-place.
The companions of his flight were obliged to conceal
themselves and the emperor in a sand-pit. Meanwhile,
the Senate proclaimed Galba emperor, declared Nero an
enemy to the State, and condemned him to be dragged to
the place of execution, and scourged to death. Nero,
OF THE CHURCH DIE. 199
having been informed of this decree, was seized with
despair, and stabbed himself with a poniard in the throat.
Immediately after this a centurion arrived, who, wishing
to preserve his life till he should be publicly executed,
offered him assistance, which the emperor rejected, ex
claiming, " It is now too late : " with which words he
miserably expired.
Julian, surnamed the Apostate, having undertaken to
destroy utterly the Church of Jesus Christ, declared him
self Christ's enemy, and a worshipper of the gods. Bat
after he had reigned nearly two years, he had an engage
ment with the Persians, A. D. 3G3, and in the heat of the
battle he saw some Persians flying • he raised his arms
and his voice to encourage his soldiers in the pursuit,
when a stray arrow passed through his ribs, and penetrated
his liver. In endeavoring to pluck out the fatal weapon,
he lacerated his hands, and, his strength, failing him, he
fell from his horse. He was removed to a neighboring
hut, and received surgical assistance, which apparently
restored him. He again mounted his horse, with the
intention of heading his troops, but his strength completely
failed him, and he expired that night. Theodoret and
Zozimen relate that, when he received his death-wound,
he filled his hand with the blood which flowed from his
side, and dashing it into the air, exclaimed : (t Thou hast
conquered, 0 Galilean ! " Cardinal Orsi adds that, accord
ing to the Alexandrine Chronicles, and a revelation attri- (
buted to St. Basil, the knight who wounded the apostate
was the martyr, St. Mercurius, who suffered in Cappadocia
during the persecution of Dacius.
Diocletian has the infamous celebrity of having sacri
ficed to his cruelty a greater number of martyrs than any
200 HOW THE PERSECUTORS
other tyrant. After having held the reins of the empire
for twenty years, he was obliged to abdicate by his son-
in-law, Galerius, who, being supported by the army,
boldly told him that, if he would not voluntarily resign, he
should forcibly compel him. The wretched Diocletian
had no alternative j and finding himself, in his old age,
abandoned and despised by all, he became so weary of
life, that he used to throw himself upon the ground, and
writhe in the most fearful contortions. He at length
became so overpowered with melancholy, that he deter
mined to accelerate his death ; to which effect he deprived
himself of food and sleep, and thus terminated his wicked
and miserable existence.
Maximian had been the associate of Diocletian in the
government of the empire, and in the cruelties practised
against the Christians 5 he was also, in the miserable death
which he brought upon himself, another example of an
avenging Providence. His cruelty was so atrocious, that
even at his banquets he caused men to be devoured by a
ferocious bear. As his abdication of the empire was in
some measure compulsory, he was constantly engaged in
schemes for its recovery. He had married his daughter
to Constantine the Great ; and as he was jealous of his
son-in-law, he determined on his assassination. Confiding
in the assistance of his daughter, he one night obtained
admission to Constantine's bed-chamber, with the inten
tion of despatching him while asleep. The daughter, who
loved her husband more than her father, brought him to a
chamber where another slept, whom he treacherously mur
dered. Departing from the chamber of death, Avhere he
believed his rival lay slain, he met Constantine, who, aware
of his intention, and having witnessed the bloody deed so
OP THE CHURCH DIE. 201
recently perpetrated, resolutely desired the tyrant to choose
the manner of his death. He selected strangulation, and
thus miserably terminated his infamous life.
Maximinus, in the cruelties which he directed against
the Christians, did not fall short of the two preceding
tyrants. Overthrown by Licinius, he fled to Tarsus, where,
closely besieged, he abandoned all hopes of escape. Having
prepared what he called a final banquet, he gorged himself
with food and wine to such a degree, that the poison which
he subsequently swallowed did not immediately affect his
life, but reduced him to such a miserable state, that he lay
for four days in most dreadful agony, unable to take any
food, but swallowing handfuls of earth, in a state of frenzy.
Feeling, while yet alive, a foretaste of the torments of
hell, and stung by unutterable agony, he dashed his head
against the wall with such violence, that his eyes burst
from their sockets, — an appropriate punishment for him
who had caused the eyes of so many holy martyrs to be
torn out. Then did he feel what an awful account would
be demanded of him for his unholy war against religion.
The violence of the poison consumed his flesh to such a
degree, that he could scarcely be recognized. In the
midst of his agony, he called on death to free him from
his torture ; and thus did his wrretched soul leave his miser
able body, according to the wo pronounced by the
prophet Zacharias : "And this shall be the plague
wherewith the Lord will strike all the people that have
fought against Jerusalem : their flesh shall consume away,
while they stand upon their feet ; and their eyes shall
consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall con
sume away in their mouths.'7 (Zach. xiv, 12.)
Valens was not an idolater, but attached to the Arian
202 HOW THE PERSECUTORS
heresy ; he was the sworn enemy of the Catholic Church.
The Catholics had suffered so much from the Arians, that
they sent a deputation of eighty ecclesiastics to wait upon
the emperor, in order to submit their grievances to him.
The impious tyrant treated the embassy with the utmost
contumely, and gave secret orders that they should be put
to death. The prefect caused them to embark in a vessel j
the sailors belonging to the vessel had directions to
abandon it, and set it on fire, and, in this horrible manner,
most probably suggested by Valens, the holy ecclesiastics
rendered up their lives. There were very few cities that
did not groan beneath the effects of his cruelty. On his
arrival at Antioch, he put many Catholics to the torture j
many he caused to be drowned, and the number sent into
exile for the faith was almost incalculable. He, moreover,
published an edict, commanding all the monks to be
forcibly enlisted, and he intrusted the execution of the
decree to Lucius, the false Bishop of Alexandria. This
man proceeded, at the head of three thousand soldiers, to
the deserts of Nitria, where he slew many of the holy her
mits, and banished many more to the swamps of Egypt.
But, in the year 378, the avenging justice of heaven
overtook Valens j for, while the Goths were preparing an
assault upon Constantinople, he was accosted by a holy
monk named Isaac, who thus addressed him : u Whither
dost thou hasten, 0 Emperor? Thou art doing battle
against the Lord, but he shall discomfit thee. Thou shalt
fail in the struggle, and never more return ! " Valens
replied in a rage: "I shall return,, and make thee pay
with thy life the penalty of thy rashness." The monk
was accordingly imprisoned, but his prophecy was fulfilled.
Valeus was overthrown, and; flying from the field, was
OF THE CHURCH DIE. 203
struck by an arrow ; he was brought into a neighboring
cottage, and shortly afterward a troop of the enemy's
cavalry arrived, who, finding the door shut, and not
knowing who was inside, set fire to the hut. The
unhappy emperor perished in the flames, in the fiftieth
year of his age.
Anastasius, who was a violent persecutor of the Catholics,
held the empire for twenty-seven years ; he was elevated
to the throne from a private life, much against the will of
that most zealous prelate, Euphemius, Patriarch of Con
stantinople, who, knowing his enmity to the Catholic faith,
opposed his election till he had sworn to observe the
Council of Chalcedon. But Anastasius did in nowise
observe his oath ; on the contrary, he persecuted the
Catholics the more, as if in revenge for having been
obliged to take it. He was, however, soon overtaken by
the divine vengeance, of which St. Elias, Patriarch of Jeru
salem, had a wonderful revelation. In the year 518, this
holy bishop, being then ninety years of age, was in com
pany with St. Sabba, a monk, in the vicinity of Jerusalem 5
when the hour of refection came, the patriarch refused
to partake of food, and told his companion that at that
instant the tyrant had expired. On that very evening a
thunder-storm visited the palace, and the emperor,
frightened by the thunder-bolts, but more alarmed by
remorse for his frequent persecutions, fled from, room to
room, and at length took shelter in an apartment from
which he was not seen to issue. His courtiers, on enter
ing, found him dead j whether struck by lightning, or by
agony of remorse, it cannot be doubted that he justly fell
a victim to divine vengeance.
From the imperial persecutors of the faithj let us pass
204 HOW THE PERSECUTORS
to the heresiarchs, whose hostility inflicted even greater
injury upon the Church ; specious sophisms and false teach
ing being more dangerous to the cause of truth than tho
rack or the stake.
Arius, a Christian, was born in Africa. Upon his
arrival in Alexandria he joined the schism of Meletius,
which he afterward abandoned, was ordained a priest?
and appointed to the care of a parish. Upon the death of
the patriarch Achilla, Arius entertained the ambitious hope
of being appointed his successor j finding, however, that
St. Alexander was preferred to him, he censured, first,
the conduct, and, afterward, the faith, of the saint. He
accused him of falsely teaching that the Divine Word was
the Son of God, begotten from eternity, and coequal and
consubstantial with the Father. Arius, on the contrary
blasphemously taught that God created the Word after the
manner of his other creations ; and that, in consequence
of his superior holiness, he was honored with the title of
the Word and Son of God. St. Alexander frequently
admonished him, but in vain ; he was then obliged to
assemble a synod, which condemned the errors of the
heretic, who was compelled to leave the city and retire to
Palestine, where, by deceit, he succeeded in gaining the
favor of some bishops.
In disseminating his errors, he caused a great commo
tion through the East ; and the Emperor Constantine, in
the hope of at once extinguishing the heresy, conceived
the idea of having a council assembled at Nice, where
three hundred and eighteen bishops formally condemned
the doctrines of the heresiarch, and declared that Jesus
Christ was the true and eternal Son of God, and consub-
atantial with the Father. As Arius refused to yield
OF THE CHURCH DIE. 205
obedience to the council, he was banished by Constantino
to Illyricum j his followers, nevertheless, succeeded in
persuading the emperor that he conformed to the doctrine
taught by the council, and he himself swore that he
would never depart from it. It was therefore agreed
that he should be admitted to the communion of the
faithful ; but, while he was being led for this purpose to
the church, at Constantinople, in triumphant procession,
amid the plaudits of his disciples, having arrived at the
great square of the city, he was overtaken by divine
vengeance. Suddenly seized with violent contortions of
his bowels, he asked if there were a private place con
venient whither he could retire ; he was accompanied to
a place behind the square by a domestic, who waited at
the door. The wretched heresiarch, on entering the
apartment, burst asunder internally, and his bowels came
forth, followed by an immense flow of blood : thus, like
another Judas, he rendered up his miserable soul. After
considerable delay, some of his friends entered and found
him lying dead. Thus ended the triumph of Arius.
Nestorius followed Arius in his persecution of the
Church, by the teaching of another impious doctrine.
In the year 427, or the following, he was raised to the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, and showed, at first, much
zeal against the heretics, especially the Arians. He had
brought with him from Antioch a priest, named Anastasius,
whom he one day directed to state in his sermon that the
Blessed Virgin should not be called the Mother of God,
but only the Mother of Christ. The people, greatly
scandalized, called on the patriarch to punish the rash
ness of this priest ; but Nestorius, on the following day,
ascended the pulpit, and defended the proposition of
206 HOW THE PERSECUTORS
Anastasius, openly declaring that Christ was not God, and
that therefore his mother could not be called Mother of
God. In another sermon he said: "If any one shall
dare to call the Virgin Mother of God, let him be ana
thema." He denied the hypostatic union of the Divine
Word with the human nature in Christ, and said that the
Word was united to Christ merely by grace, as it is
united to the saints, but in a more excellent manner. He
declared that the Word dwelt in the humanity of Christ,
as in a temple ; and thence concluded that this humanity
should be honored, as we honor the purple of a king, or
the throne whereon he sits ; but he always denied that the
Son of God was made man and died for our salvation.
Some Archimandrite monks, who refused to adopt his
errors, he imprisoned, and caused to be most cruelly
scourged. Finally, after a lengthened discussion in the
Council of Chalcedon, composed of one hundred and eighty-
eight bishops, the doctrine of Nestorius was condemned,
and he himself deposed from the patriarchate, and ex-
communiacted. It was then defined that the union of the
Word with the humanity of Christ was, not a simple moral
union, but a hypostatic union 5 since, in Jesus Christ, the
sole person of the Word upholds both the divine and
human nature, both of which subsist in the person of the
Word. Hence, in Christ there are not two persons, but
one person, who is at the same time true God and true
man. The people, who waited all day with great anxiety
to learn the decision of the council, no sooner heard it
announced, than they returned thanks to God, with every
manifestation of joy ; they attended the bishops to their
dwellings with lighted torches, and ladies preceded the pro
cession, carrying thuribles of incense through the streets,
OF THE CHURCH DIE. 207
which were brilliantly illuminated. Nestorius was banished
by the Emperor Theodosius, and died miserably, in exile.
Some say that, in a fit of despair, he dashed out his
brains ; others that he died of a cancer in his mouth, the
worms proceeding from which devoured his tongue, which
had pronounced so many blasphemies against God and
his h'oly Mother.
Manes, chief of the Manicheans, also met with a miser
able death, in the following manner : The son of Sapor,
King of Persia, was sick almost to death, and being de
spaired of by the physicians, his father was inconsolable.
Manes rashly offered to cure him, on condition that he
would embrace his doctrine. The prince was accordingly
intrusted to his care, but died on the same day j where
upon the king was so enraged, that he immediately con
demned Manes to die. He was accordingly imprisoned,
but contrived to kill the guards, and fled into Mesopota
mia, where, having made a long stay, he flattered himself
that the anger of the king had died away, and returned
into Persia. Sapor, however, was no sooner made aware
of his return than he ordered him to be seized, and flayed
alive with sharp-pointed reeds ; his skin was inflated and
exposed to public view, and was seen one hundred years
after by St. Epiphanius, who records the fact.
John Wickliffe deserves the first place amongst the
heretics nearer our own time. He was born in England,
and, being disappointed in his hopes of succeeding to the
Bishopric of Winchester, he became obstinate in publicly
avowing those errors which he had been, for some time
previous, employed in disseminating. In the year 1385,
as he was preparing a sermon for the feast of St, Thomas
a Becket — not in praise, but in censure of the saint — he
208 HOW THE PERSECUTORS
was struck by the Lord with a horrible paralysis, which
deformed, in a frightful manner, that blasphemous mouth
with which he had uttered so many impieties. After this
attack he never spoke again, and, as Walsingham informs
us, died in despair.
John of Ley den was the first of the Anabaptists. Hav
ing driven the bishop from the city of Minister, he so far
imposed upon his followers as to induce them to crown
him king, declaring that he had been chosen by God to
the regal -dignity. He approved of polygamy, and believed
nothing of the mystery of the Eucharist. He selected
from amongst his followers twelve disciples, whom he sent
to preach his errors; but they were almost all arrested,
and, together with their master, condemned to death.
But it pleased God to manifest the extraordinary treas
ures of his mercy toward John of Leyden, who, in death,
showed a sincere sorrow for his sins, and displayed won
derful patience under the dreadful tortures which he had
to endure. He uttered no word of complaint, but continu
ally exclaimed that it was a just punishment for his sins,
and he ceased not to implore the mercy of God. But the
Divine displeasure was manifested in the persons of his
followers, who obstinately died in their sins.
John Huss was a professor in the University of Prague,
and had the misfortune to read the works of Wickliffe,
to embrace his errors, and to write a compendium of them,
which he afterward taught. Having been summoned to
the Council of Constance, to account therefor, he obtained
a safe-conduct from the Emperor Sigismund j but, on his
arrival at Constance, the archbishop forbade him to cele
brate Mass, at which he was so alarmed, that he endeav
ored to make his escape in the dress of a peasant, concealed
OF THE CHURCH DIE. 209
in a cart of hay. Being discovered, he was arrested and
imprisoned. He now presented the safe-conduct, but this
document contained a clause, that it was not intended to
protect him from the consequences of being found guilty
of errors of faith. He was exhorted by the council to
retract, but he replied that he could not in conscience do
so ; and he was accordingly conducted to the public
square, and burned alive.
Luther closed his career by a death corresponding to his
intemperate and immoral life. He had been a professed
religious of the Order of St. Augustine ; but, throwing off
the cowl, he married the abbess of a certain nunnery,
and finally, in the year 1564, having supped sumptuously,
as was his custom, he was attacked suddenly in the night
by mortal pains, and died as he had lived, amid feasting
and iniquity.
CEcolampadius, who had been a monk of the Order of St,
Bridget, and was afterward the companion and disciple
of Zwinglius, died in the forty-ninth year of his age, one
month after the death of his master. Varillas records
the opinion of many writers, that he frequently attempted
his own life, and finally succeeded in putting an end to
his existence by poison. Cardinal Gotti adds that,
according to others, this wretched apostate, when about
to expire, exclaimed, " Alas ! I shall soon be in hell."
Calvin labored much for the extension of the kingdom
of Lucifer, and was the occasion of spiritual ruin to a
vast number of souls. He died at Geneva, A. D. 1564,
in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Theodore Beza says
that he died most placidly ; but Bolsec, who wrote his
Life, and others quoted by Noel Alexander, as well as
Cardinal Gotti, state that he expired calling upon the
210 HOW THE PERSECUTORS
devils, cursing his life, his studies, and his writings, and
sending forth an intolerable stench from his ulcers.
When Henry VIII was fifty-seven years of age, death
put an end to his crimes. To establish the sacrilegious
doctrine of his primacy over the English Church, he had
put to death two cardinals, three archbishops, eighteen
bishops and archdeacons, five hundred priests, sixty supe
riors of religious houses, fifty canons, twenty-nine peers,
three hundred and sixty-six knights, and an immense
number both of the gentry and people. At the approach
of death, a deep-rooted sadness and remorse seized him:
all his crimes, sacrileges, and scandals, stared him in the
face. Ulcers in one of his legs, together with fever, now
plainly told him that his end was nigh. As all dreaded
his anger, no one had courage to tell him that his only
chance of salvation was to repent of his evil deeds, to
repair the scandals he had given, and humbly to return to
the Church which he had abandoned. In his last will
he ordered that his son should never resign the primacy of
the English Church j so that he was unchanged even in
death. He called for something to drink, and having
tasted it, he said in a loud voice, " So this is the end of
it, and all is lost for me, " and immediately expired.
"It is hard," said Luther, "to expect that the head of
a sect will forsake the doctrines, he has taught other-*,
and be converted." ("History of Heresies," by St. Alph.
Liguori.)
It is thus that God, in former days, punished, in a visi
ble manner, the persecutors of his holy name, of his holy
religion ; it is thus that he punished all the heresiarchs,
the sowers of false doctrines, the evil seed of infidelity and
indifference to all religion. These punishments show what
OF THE CHURCH DIE. 211
a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of God, and how-
fruitless and horrible it is to oppose and combat his holy
name and religion. " Wo to him that gainsayeth his
Maker." (Isa. xlv, 9.) The Lord has counted the days
of the infidel, and of all his enemies. They are tossed
about like the waves of the sea, but they will all break
against the solid rock upon which Christ has built his
Church. The Lord will not fail to punish all our modern
heathens and infidels.
" Wo to them who believe not God ! Wo to them
that have forsaken the right ways ! What will they do
when the Lord shall begin to examine?" (Ecclus. ii, 16,
17.) u Wo to you, ungodly men, who have forsaken the
law of the most high Lord ! If you be born, you shall be
born in malediction : and if you die, in malediction shall
be your position. The ungodly shall pass from maledic
tion to destruction ; the name of the ungodly shall be blotted
out." (Ecclus. xli, 11-14.)
" Ah ! " exclaims holy David, " envy not the man who
prospereth in his way ; the man who doth unjust things.
For evildoers shall be cut off. Yet a while, and the
wicked shall not be ; and thou shalt seek his place, and
shalt not find it. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken
to pieces. The enemies of the Lord, presently after
they shall be honored and exalted, shall come to nothing,
and vanish like smoke. The unjust shall be destroyed ;
the remnants of the wicked shall perish." (Ps. xxxvi.)
" 0 that they would be wise, and would understand that
there is none that can deliver out of the hand of the Lord."
(Deut. xxxii, 39.) Witness the proud and infidel King
Kabuchodonosor, of Babylon. One day he was walking in
the palace of Babylon. He said : u Is not this the great
•212 HOW THE PERSECUTORS
Babylon, which I have built to be the seat of the kingdom,
by the strength of my power, and in the glory of my
excellence ? And while the word was yet in the king's
mouth, a voice came down from heaven: To thee, O
King Nabuchodonosor ! it is said, Thy kingdom shall
pass from thee. Arid they shall cast thee out from among
men, and thy dwelling shall be with cattle and wild
beasts j thou shalt eat grass like an ox, and seven times
shall pass over thee till thou know that the Most High
ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomso
ever he will. The same hour the word was fulfilled upon
Nabuchodonosor, and he was driven away from among
men, and did eat grass like an ox, and his body was
wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs grew like the
feathers of eagles, and his nails like bird's claws. * Now,
at the end of the days I, Nabuchodonosor, lifted up my
eyes to heaven, and my sense was restored to me, and I
blessed the Most High j and I praised and glorified him
that livcth forever, for his power is an everlasting power,
and his kingdom is to all generations. And all the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing before
him : for he doeth according to his will, as well with the
powers of heaven, as among the inhabitants of the earth,
and there is none that can resist his hand, and say
to him : Why hast thou done it ? At the same time
my sense returned to me, and I came to the honor and
glory of my kingdom, and my shape returned to me ;
and my nobles and my magistrates sought for me j and
I was restored to my kingdom, and greater majesty was
added to me. Therefore I, Nabuchodonosor, do now
praise, and magnify, and glorify the King of heaven j
because all his works are true, and his ways judgments:
OF THE CHURCH DIE. 213
and them that walk in pride, he is able to abase. "
(Daniel iv, 27-34.)
Let the infidel remember this example ; let him remem
ber that the hour will come when he shall open his eyes,
when he shall see the wisdom of those that believed j when
he shall also see, to his confusion, his own madness in dis
believing. May God grant him the grace which he granted
to Nabuchodonosor, namely, to acknowledge and to repent
of his folly when it is not yet too late ! Let him constantly
pray for this grace, by saying, " Hallowed be thy name."
MULLER, MICHAEL.
The Church and her
enemies.
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