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VOL 2.—NO. 25.HOMER, BANKS COUNTY, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1891.SINGLE COPY THREECATHOLICISMExposed By One Who Has theRight.A Compilation in Part.BY THOMAS HAYDEN.It Catholicism the true faith and have the Popes of Rome, and are they now infallible in ail matters of faith and morals ?The last Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church, which met at Homo a few years ago, declared that “the Popo was infallible in all principles of faith and morals.’1 Cardinal Manning, the ranking ecclesiaa tic of the British nation, recently wrote: “The church itself, by itsmarvelous propagation, its eminent sanctity, its inexhaustible fruitfulness in all good things, its catholic unity and invincible stability, is a vast and perpetual motive of credibility, and an irrefragable witness of its own legation/1 Some of the reas ons that he gives as supporting this proposition are “That the Catholic Church interpenetrates all the nations of the civilized world; it is the same in every place; that it is obedient to one head; that as many as seven hundred bishops have knelt before the Pope; that pilgrims from all nations have brought gifts to Rome; that men see the head of the church year by year speaking to the nations of the world, treating with empires, kingdoms and republics; that there is no other man on earth that can so bear himself;” and that “neither from Canterbury nor from Constantinople can such a voice go forth to which rulers and people listen/1 It is claimed that the “Catholic Church has enlightened and purified the world,” that it has given us peace and purity of domestic life; that it has destroyed idolatry; that it has produced the civilization of Christendom; that the Popes were the greatest statesmen and rulers;1* that “celibacy is better than marriage,” and “that the reformations of the last 300 years have been destructive and calamitous/’It is contended that the marvelous grow th or pr opagation of the church is evidence of its divine origin. It is known that very large bodies of men have frequently been wrong. Progress consists in finding new truths and getting rid of old errors.There is no nation in which a majority lends the wav. As a general thing the few have been the nearestright. There have been centuries whenthe light seemed to emanate from a handful of men, while the rest of the world was groveling in darkness. If the marvelous propagation of the Catholic Church proves its divine origin, what shall we say of the marvelous propagation of Mohammedon ism? It is clear that Mohammedanism arose out of the wreck of Catholicism; Catholicism was expelled from its most glorious seats, from Palestine, from Asia Minor and from Egypt. To-day tbe followers of Mo hammed out number the Roman Catholics.The Mohammedan now proves the divine mission of his Apostle by appealing to tbe marvelous propagation of the faith. If the argument is good for the Catholic it is equally good for the Moslem. Let us see if not better.According to Cardinal Manning the Catholic Church triumphed only over the religions established by wicked and ignorant men. But Mohammed triumphed over the true religion. This ignorant driver of camels; this poor, unknown, unlettered boy, drove the armies of the true cross before him as the winter's storm drives withered leaves. At his name priests, bishops and cardinals fled with white faces, Popes trembled, and the Chr s tian armies, fighting for the true faith, were conquered on hundreds of fields.If the success of a church proves its divinity, and after that another church arises and defeats the first, what does that prove ? Suppose the second church lives and flourishes in spite of the first, what does that prove?. ., CIn this country, within the memory of the writer, has arisen a new religion. It started in an intelligent community, amidst modern civilization. This new faith—founded on the grossest absurdities, in spite of all opposition, began to grow and kept growing. It was subjected to persecution, yet its strength increased. It was driven from state to state until it left civilization and landed cn the shores of the Great Salt Lake. It continuedto grow. Its founder, as he declared, had frequent conversations with God, and received directions from that source. Hundreds of miracles w ere performed, multitudes upon the desert were miraculously fed, the sick were cured, the dead w ere raised, and the Mormon Church continued to grow until flow trie re are several hundred thousand believers in the new faith.Do you think that men enough could join this church to prove the truth of its creed? Joe Smith said that he found certain golden plates that had been buried for many gencr ations, and upon these plates, in some unknown language, had been engraved this new revelation, and by the use of miraculous mirrors, this language was translated. The plates were soon stolen or lost, but three men certified that they had beheld them. So Joe Smith and the testimony of three men constituted the only evidence of tbe miraculousplates If there should be Mormon bishops in all the countries of the w'orlcl eighteen hundred years from now, do you think a cardinal of that faith could prove the truth of the golden plates simply by the fact that the faith had spread and the seven hundred bishops had knelt before the head of that church ?It seems to me that a religion that is authenticated by miracle is much easier to establish among an ignorant people than any other, and tbe more ignorant the people the easier such a religion could be established. The reason of this is plain. All ignorant tribes—all savage men—believe in the miraculous. In other words, that religion having most in common with the savage, having most that was satisfactory to his mind, or his lack of mind, would stand the best chance of success.No doubt at one time, or during:1 Oone phase of man's development, almost every thing was miraculous. Then the domain of the miraculous grew less and less as his mind developed. The rising and setting of the sun ceased to bo miraculous, but eclipses still remained among the miraculous until they were discovered to be periodical, like the rising and setting of the sun. It, no doubt, took many observations through many generations to arrive at this conclusion.As a rule, an individual is egotistic in the proportion that he is ignorant. The same is true of nations and races. To me the success of Mormonism in no evidence of its truth, because it has succeeded only witli the superstitious. It has been recruited from communities brutalized by other forms of superstition. To me, the success of Mohammed does not tend to show that be was right, for the reason that he triumphed over the ignorant, over the superstitious. The same is true of the Roman Catholic Church. It did not. it has not, it cannot triumph over the intellectual world. To count its many millions does not prove the truth of its cieed. Questions of fact cannot be settled simply by numbers.There was a time when tho rotation of the earth was not believed by the majority. Is the success of the Roman Catholic Church a marvel ? If this church is of divine origin; if it has been under the especial care, protection aud guidance of an Infinite Being, is not its failure far more wonderful than its success?For many centuries it lias preached and persecuted and the salvation of the world is yet remote. Are Catholics better than protestants? Are they more honest, more just, more charitable ? Are Catholic nations better than Protestants? Do the Catholic nations move in the van of progress?In their jurisdiction are life, liberty and property safer than any whereelse? Are Spain and Portugal the first nations of the world ? iThe cardinal asserts that the Catholic Church is divine, “by its eminent sanctity and its inexhaustible fruitfulness in all good things.” I willingly adraitt that there are millions of good Catholics, that is of good men and women who are Roman Catholics. Many thousands heroes have died in defence of the faith, and millions of Catholics have killed and been killed for the sake of their religion. Martyrdom does not prove the truth ot religion. Tho man who dies in flames, does not prove the truth of what lie believes, but his sincerity.Let us ascertain whether it has been “inexhaustibly fruitful in all good things,” and eminent for its sanctity.” Nothing is better than goodness. All things that tend to increase or preserve the happiness of the human race are good. All things that tend to tho destruction of man’s well being, and tend to his unhappiness are bad. The Catholic Church teaches that intellectual liberty is dangerous, that it should not be allowed. It taught, and still teaches that a certain belief is necessary to salvation. It has always know that investigation, that inquiry might lead to doubt, tha doubt leads to heresy, and that heresy leads to hell. 5Tho Catholic Cunrch has something more important than the well being of man hero. It is necessary to believe the Catholic creed in order to obtain salvation I quote from the creed: “Whosoover will be saved,before all things it is necessary that he hold to the Catholic faith/’ It i* not necessary, before all things, that he be good, honest, merciful, charita hie and just. Creed is more important than Conduct. The good man is kind, merciful charitable, forgiving, and just. A Church must be judged by the same standard. ' **Has the Roman Catholic Church been merciful ? Has it been “fruitful in all good things,” of justice, charity, and forgiveness? Can a good man, believing a good doctrine persecute for opinion’s sake? If the church imprisons a man for the expression of an honest opinion, is it not certain, either that the doctrine of the church is wrong, or that tho church is bad?If the history of the world proves anything, it proves that the Catholic Church was, for many centuries the most merciless institution that ever existed among men. I cannot believe that honest people were imprisoned, tortured and burned at the stake by a church that was “inexhaustibly fruitful in all good things.”Remember tbe atrocities of the inquisition, the rewards offered by the Roman Church for the capture and murder of honest men. Remem-oer the Dominican order, the members of which, upheld by the Pope, pursued the heretics like Sleuth hounds, through many centuries.The Catholic Church, “inexhaustible in fruitfulnes in all good things,” not onlv imprisoned and branded and burned tho living, but violated the dead. It robbed graves to cenvict Corpses of heresy, that it might take from widows their portions and from orphans their patrimony. We remember the thousands in the darkness of dungeons, the millions who perished by the sword, the vast multitudes destroyed by flames, those who were flayed alive, those who were blinded, those whose tongues were cut out, those into whose ears was poured molten lead, those whose eyes were deprived of their lids, those who were tortured and tormented in every way by which pain could be inflicted and human nature overcome.The Catholic Church w^as, duringall the years of its power, the enemy of every science. It preferred magic to medicine, relics to remedies, priests to physicians. It opposed every discovery calculated to improve the condition of mankind. It is impossible to forget the persecutions of the Albi* genses, the Waldenses, the Hussites, the Hugenots, and of every sect that had the courage to think just a littlefor itself. Think of a woman, the mother of a family, taken from herchildren and burned on account of her view as to tbe three natures ofChrist.Now about the “invincible stability” of the Catholic Church. It was not inviucible in Luther’s time. It was not invincible in the low countries, in Scotland nor England. It does not triumph in Paris nor Berlin; neither doee it triumph iu the United States. It has not within its fold the philosophers, the statesmen, and the thinkers, who are the leaders of the human race. It is claimed that Catholicism “int rpenetrates all the nations of the civilized world and that in some it holds the whole nation in its unity.” r'I suppose the Catholic Church is more powerful in Spain than in any other nation. The history of this country demonstrates the result of an acknowledgment by a people that a certain religion is too sacred to be examined. Spain used the sw'ord of the church. In the name of religion it tried to conquer the infidel world. It drove out the Moors, simply because they w ere infidels. It leaped on tbe low countries for the destruction of Protestantism, and established the inquisition within its borders. It imprisoned the honest, it burned the noble, and succeeded after many year* of devotion to the true faith, in destroying the industry, the intelligence, the usefulness, the genius, tbe nobility and the wealth of a nation. In this period of degradation, the Catholic Church held “the whole nation in its unity ”Every nation on earth has progressed in tho arts and sciences, and in all that tends to enrich and ennoble a nation in the precise proportion that she has lost faith in the Roman Catholic Church. A few years ago the cholera visited Madrid and other cities. Physicians were mobbed. Processions of saints carried the host through the streets for the purpose of staying the plague. The streets were not cleaned; the sewers were filled. Filth and Romanism, old partners, reigned supremo. The church stood in the light and shed its shadow on the ignorant and the prostrate.One scientist in control of Madrid could have prevented the plague. In such cases cleanliness is true Godliness. Science is superior to superstition; drainage better than processions of devout Catholics; therapeuticsbetter than theology. In such cases goodness is not enough. Intelligence is necessary. Faith is not sufficient and creeds are helpless.It is admitted that the faith, worship, ceremonial, discipline and government of the Catholic Church is substantially the same wherever it exists. This establishes the unity but not the divinity of the institution. The church that does not allow investigation, that teaches that all doubts are wicked, attains unity by tyranny. Wherever a man has had feedom, differences have appeared, heresies have taken root, and the divisions have become permanent, new sects have been born and the Catholic Church has been weakened. Tho boa t of unity is the confession of tyranny.The fact that the Catholic Churchis obedient to the Pope only shows its thorough organization, and not its divinity. How is it that a few enslave the many? IIow is it that the nobility live on the labor of the peasants ? The answer is in one word, Organization. The organized few triumph over the unorganized many. The few hold the sword and the purse. The unorganized are overcome in detail, terrorized, brutalized, robbed, conquered.[*ro be continued.]Ponder This.How much more of your productwill the dollar of to-day buy than thedollar of twenty years ago? Howmuch more of your debts, your taxesyour officers’, salaries your interest,your mortgages or your doctor andlawyers fees will it pay? That is theway to look at the financial question. Look at the relatiou of what you have to sell, as producers, sustains to whatyon have to pay for the items which enter into your daily and yearly ex-peuse account. Have salaries decreased? Has interest been reduced? Are taxes lower? Have mortgages been curtniled? How does the price of land, of wheat and com, of cotton, of everything you raise, compare with the value of the purchasiug agent, money? Interest, taxes, mortgages, salaries and professional fees are as high as ever, while wheat, corn cotton and all agricultural staples are from 100 to 200 per cent lower. How can you hope for prosperity while this condition prevails? Are you so blind that you can’t see that the holders of mortgages, the drawers of salaries and the receivers of taxes are the ones most benefited by the enhanced value of money and the reduced prices of everything it buys. The drawer of a $5,000 salary canbuy three times as much of your wheat as ho could when his salary was established, and hence, it follows that it will take three times as much of your wheat to pay your proportion of his salary. Is this equalization? It strikes us that we farmers are tue most patient, long suffering set ofsouls on the face of the earth to submit to this state of affairs a minute. Just think that the dollar you get for your products buys throe times as much of them as it ever did, but when you come to pay your obligations of the abovo named charaetes it does not go any further than it ever did. Think over this question and you must at once conclude that the money question is the one that over shadows all others, and is the problem thet must be solved and that speedily. To simplify the matter, you can state it thus as a matter of cause and effect: Because interest, taxes, etc., have not decreased in the same proportion as the value of agricultural products is the reason of the prosperity of one class and the poverty of the other.—Farmer’s Advo cate, Charleston, VV. Va.All Things.To the average man there is a something very faith-trying, indeed almost exaspering, in the sublime assertions of the Bible. There are no “ifs” in them. No hint is given of a possibility that the commands may prove too much for human ability, or the promises remin beyond the reach of human attainment. “Be ye holy.” “Keep my commandments.” “If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” There is no “Be holyas you can,” “Keep my commandmcnts as well as you are able,” “I will do it if I think best.” Everything is present and absolute, not future or conditional.So with that wonderful argument, or rather question—for an argument implies a promise, and who can lay down a premise that shall include God?—with which Paul commences that passage closing the eighth chap ter of Romans: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Thenfollows the enumeration of the “all things.” Not merely is the justification assured, but tho very temptations, the tribulations, the peril, the sword are conquered and put withinour grasp; and these once overcome, there is no limit to the power of the soul, to compass death, life, angels, principalities, powers, or any other creature, and make them subserve its advance in growth into tho image of God. It is magnificent, and as we read, the very words seem to lift our souls into a purer air, and w'e can appreciate the feelings of the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration;but pretty soon some very mundane and material thing dissipates our vision, and we are apt to feel conquered rather than conquerors.Now what is the matter? Twothings must be recognized as settled.The Bible statements are accurate;they mean just what they sav. Wemust be content to take one thing ata time. “All things” are made up of“single tilings.” We cannot pick apples by the bushel; we pick them oneby one. The secret G success w'as that he cont a majority at one point, secured that, lie carried to tho next point, and sc great armies often far c hi* own were conquerei need is to do the same Christian warfare. As n daily duty, w hether nt 1 (he school, or at home, start out with the assure n single temptation, dutv lin e will meet us but t lay hold upon it and \ aur own usefulness, our lt;in Christian life. But w each one as it comes, the day is over, we shall “single things” have bee things,” and that allIndependent.Death the Cure of“Except a corn of w the ground and die, it c It would seem as if the God yearned for society blessedness he had beei for himself, but there v a love which could fir sion or satisfaction apa on which it could rest, most inconceivable un objects on which to ex which to sacrifice this underlie that“Let us make man”?There arc many lone the world who compla and solitary lives TI their condition by suj to tho failure of rel death or intervening indeed, it is rather atti fact that they have liemthe ground to die, t always consulted their wellbeing, and have that the cure of lo through the sowing o grave of daily self-corn of wheat must ground and die, and it longer alone.—SelecteeTho Morning Star th and pleads: “Here, theisanctioned by law, surr personally interested mounting up into tho backed by almost until It means to stay. It for that purpose. Its and avowed, is to silenlt; all opposition. Its s poor business, for it livipense of all legitimatecitizens, for is takes auc ing of value in return; and fathers, for it com victims, the last elemc ness; mean and degrad nothing good, beautiful live where it flourish citizens, what are you about it? In a short ti and ward primaries w the saloon will be therlt; The saloon will take sp get its votes into the b; not one of them will candidate known to be lt;or indifferent to its in your vote be there jus against the saloon? If feliow-men, i( you love if you love your home if you love God and kingdom and righteousi wrork, pray, and vote saloon.”Economy In T*;iA couple of Detroit Belle Isle Park ferry I xx. ing upon political cconc “We’ve got too mu0C16.“Certainly we have, other; “and now they’r having an income tax.” “Is that ho/”“Yes, it iK.”“Well, that ought thing, it seems to me. founded much outgo t could work an Income t it would be a good thi payers.”The boat bumped i doek at this point and t mists walked ashore.
Newspaper Details
Homer Banks County Gazette
Homer, Georgia, US
Wed, Oct 28, 1891
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Pamala G.
GA, USA 04 Jul 2021
Other Publications Near Homer, Georgia
Homer Weekly Journal
Homer Farmers Journal
Homer Banks County Observer
Homer Banks County Journal
Homer Banks County Gazette
