Franco; nor have we logoten the
[alion war on Ethiopia and where
same of the money that
manced 1. In these wars,
“the peace lover” could have sent
forth his dove and saved countless
men, women, and children from de
striction. Nor have we lorgotten the
Dark Ages and all their blondy Tas
tory. The following statement taken
trom the pen ol Die Jobin Lord may
refresh our memo ie!
came from
both ol
“Bur the Pope—-hic
on the throne ol the
the Clements, ready 10 pronounce
benedictions or hurl anathemas, to
which halt of Europe bows in {ear
or love.
“Whence this strange vitality?
What are the elements of a power
so endaring and so rresistibler What
has given wo 1t its greatness and ats
dignity? 1 confess 1 gaze upon it as
a peasant surveys a king, as a boy
contemplates a queen ol beauty,—as
something which may be talked
about. yer removed beyond our in-
fluence, and no more affected by our
priusc or censure than is a procession
of cardinals by the gaze of admiring
spectators in Saint Peter's Church.
Who can measure it, or analyze it, or
comprehend it: The weapons of rea-
son appear to fall impotent before
its haughty dogmatism. Genius can-
not reconcile its inconsistencies. Se-
renely it sits, unmoved amid all the
agceressions of Inunan thought and all
the triumphs of modern science. It
1s both lofty and degraded; simple,
yet worldly-wise; humble, vet scornful
and proud; washing beggars’ feet, yet
still sits secure
Gregories and
Imposing commands on he poten:
tates of earth, bemgnant, vet severe
on all who rebel; “here clothed in
rags, and there revelling in palaces:
supported by charities, yet feasting
the princes of the earth; assuming
the ttle of ‘servant of the servants
God.” ver arrogating the highest
seat among worldly dignitaries. Was
there ever such a conuwadiction’—
wlorv in debasement, and debaseient
mn alory, —type of the misery and
CTCALICSS ol man? Was there ever
rach a mystery, so accult are its arts,
so subtile Its policy, so plausible its
pretensions, so certain its shatts? How
imposing the words of paternal bene-
diction!
“And ver what crimes and abomi-
nations have not been committed in
the name of the Church: If we go
back and accept the history of the
darker ages, what wars has not this
Church encouraged. what discords has
she not incited, what Superstitions has
she not indorsed, what pride has she
not arogated, what cruehties has she
not milicted, what countries has
MY, TY tN
she not robbed, what hardships has
she not timposad, what deceptions hus
she not used, wha avenues ol thought
has she not guarded with a flaming
sword, what vuth has she not par
verted, what goodness has she not
mocked and persecuted? Ah, inwerro-
cate the Albigenses, the Waldenses,
the shades of Jerome ot Prague, of
Huss, of Ssvonarola, of Cranmaor, of
Coligny of Galileor mtenogate the
HE LTS ‘Wf he” Chirty Years” War, and
those who were slain by the dragon:
nades of Lous XIV, those who fell
by the hand of Alva and Charles TX:
oo to Smithhcld and Paris on Samu
Bartholomew; think of gunpowder
plots and mquisitions, and intrigues
and torwures, all vigorously carried on
under the doak of Religion—bar-
baritties worse than those of s savages,
mflicted at the command of the min-
isters of a gospel of love!
“As for the supreme rulers of this
contradictory Church, so benevolent
and vet so cruel, so enlightened and
ver so fanatical, so humble and yet
so proud.-——this institution of blended
piety and [raud, equally renowned
for saints, theologians, statesmen,
drivellers, and fanatics; the jov and
the reproach. the glory and the shame
of carth,—there never were greater
seniuses or greater fools: saints of
almost preternatural sanctity, like the
hist Leo and Gregory, or hounds like
Boniface VIII. or Alexander VIL: an
array of scholars and dunces, ascetics
and gluttons, men who adorned and
men who scandalized their lofty posi-
ron. Beacon Liahts of History,
vol. &, pt. I, pp. 98-102.
As “ahve: adv stated IT am a convert
from Catholicism to Protestantsm—
a Protestantism which stands for the
divine Word of God and all that it
represents. Unlike yourself, I was
nurtured in the relimon of my fore-
bears from birth. I naturally ac
cepted and believed what my church
caught through the study of the cate
chia, I was devout and sincere and
carried out to the 7th deoree the rites
of the Catholic Church. T was bap-
tized when a day old, received the
sterament of confirmation at a tender
ace, Tt natarally was a grea event in
my voung lile. The pride of my new
outfit coupled with mv fear of the
officiating bishop is all that 1 recall,
After receiving thos sacrament,
there was no inward peace or assur-
ance that 1 would be saved from the
abvss of the purgatorial fires which
became more incandescent as the
venial sins accumulated. Misgivings
tormented my young and impression-
able mind. The uncertaintes which
vo with the teachings of that church
prompted the ghostly fears which
kept me in a mental state of conflict.
[ could not reconcile the two
schools of thought T was exposed to
in my church, One class ob friars spe-
cialized im the fires of hell and pur-
aatory while the other class preached
on the love of God. My queries were:
Are there two sods: one who avenges,
and one who loves? Or is there just
one, with a dual personality? Why
was I oever horn: Why, afrer living
a short tme on dns earth, should 1
be consigned to an unquenchable
bre throughout rhe cveles of eternity,
or spend a period of time na burn-
ing vestibule that through my writh-
ing the justice ol God might be ap-
pe sed? These, and a score of other
uestions wen unanswered. Hence,
my mental conflict. Fad T known my
Bible, 1 would have been spared those
vars of mingled hope and abject
car.
[t was not the sophisin nor rhetoric
of any theologian, nor the striking
personality of a scholar which led me
10 forsake the religion of my fathers;
but 1t was the teaching of the inspired
Book of books, the Holy Bible. I
scarched its sacred pages for the doc-
trines I was taught and believed, but
to my consternation and great aston-
ishment they were not to he found.
I then resorted to the study of the
ecumenical councils and there, to my
profound regret, I found ther for
mation and inception. What made it
more appalling was that these dogmas
did not receive the imprimatur of
the church universal until centuries
after the apostles died.
While I desired to remain a Cath-
olic I had to be honest with myself
and my God. These findings changed
my whole view in the realm of re
ligrfous thinking. Naturally, when I
discovered that centuries of the Chris-
tian Ira passed before the leading
doctrines ol the Catholic Church
came into vogue, I was amazed and
bewildered, If my church dated
apostolic succession, she should have
apostolic doctrines.
I then wene to the infallible cuide,
he Holy Seriprares, for my standard
of relizious teachings and beliefs.
Here I found no uncertamtios and
no contradictions,
Therctore, I salute the Bible as the
instrument that God used mm mv con-
version, It has unfolded to me the
character of the pure and holy One,
and how [He related Himself to the
vated experiences of life. He has
left me an example that T should fol
low in Ils steps. A piece of statuary,
no matter how skilful the workman-
ship, cannot reveal the Christ. The
sible alone porways Him. This is the
Book to live by, 10 die by, and to be
saved by. T commend it to you and
to all other seekers of truth.
I5