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Banks County Gazette. J"* VOL 2.—NO. 25. CATHOLICISM Exposed By One Who Has the Right. A Compilation in Part. BY THOMAS HAYDEN. I Catholicism the true faith and have the Popes of Rome, and are they now infallible in all matters of faith and morals ? The last Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church, which met at Rome a few years ago, declared that “the Popo was infallible in all principles of faith and morals.” Car dinal Manning, the ranking ecclesias tic of the British nation, recently wrote: “The church itself, by its marvelous propagation, its eminent sanctity, its inexhaustible fruitful ness in all good things, its catholic unity and invincible stability, is a vast and perpetual motive of credi bility, and an irrefragable witness of its own legation.” 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 hun dred 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, king doms and republics; that there is no other man on earth that can so bear himself;” and that “neither from Can terbury nor from Constantinople can such a voice go forth to which rulers and people listen.” It is claimed that the “Catholic Church has enlightened and purified the world,” that it has given us peace and purity of domes tic life; that it has destroyed idolatry; that it has produced the civilization of Christendom; that the Popes were the greatest statesmen and rulers;” that “celibacy is better than marri age,” and “that the reformations of the last 300 years have been destruc tive and calamitous.” It is contended that the marvelous growth or propagation of the church is evidence of its divine origin. It is known that very large bodies of men have frequently been wrong. Prog ress consists in finding new truths and getting rid of old errors. There is no nation in which a ma jority leads the way. Asa general thing the few have been the nearest right. There have been centuries when the 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 mar velous propagation of Mohatnmedon ism ? It is clear that Mohammedan ism arose out of the wreck of Catholi cism; Catholicism was expelled from its most glorious seats, from Pales tine, from Asia Minor and from Egypt. To-day the followers of Mo hammed out number the Roman Catholics. The Mohammedan now proves the divine mission of his Apostle by ap pealing to the 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 Cbr 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 ? In this country, within the memory of the writer, has arisen anew relig ion. It started in an intelligent com munity, amidst modern civilization. This new faith—founded on the gros sest absurdities, in spite of all opposi tion, began to grow and kept grow ing. 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 continued to grow. Its founder, as he declared, had frequent conversations with God, and received directions from that source. Hundreds of miracles were performed, multitudes upon the de sert were miraculously fed, the sick were cured, the dead were raised, and the Mormon Church continued to grow until flow tr.ere are several hun dred 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 gener ations, and upon these plates, in some unknown language, had been engrav ed this new revelation, and by the use of miraculous mirrors, this lan guage was translated. The plates were soon stolen or lost, but three men certified that they had beheld them. So Joe Smith and the testi mony of three men constituted the only evidence of the miraculous plates If there should bo Mormon bishops in all the countries of the world 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 mo that a religion that is authenticated by miracle is much easier to establish among an ignorant people than any other, and the 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 ono time, or during one phase of man’s development, almost every thing was miraculous. Then the domain of the miraculous grew less and less as his mind devel oped. 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 gen erations to arrive at this conclusion. Asa 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 is no evidence of its truth, because it has succeeded only with the supersti tious. It has been recruited from communities brutalized by other forms of superstition. To me, the success of Mohammed does not tend to show that he was right, for the reason that he triumphed over the ignorant, over the superstitions. 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 ci eed. Questions of fact cannot be settled simply by numbers. There was a time when the rota tion 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, pro tection and guidance of an Infinite Being, is not its failure far more won derful than its success? For many centuries it has preached and persecuted and the salvation of the world is yet remote. Are Catho lics better than protestants? Are they more honest, more just, more chari table ? 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 where lIOMER, BANKS COUNTY, GEORGIA. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28,1891. I else? Are Spain and Portugal the first nations of the world ? The cardinal asserts that the Cath olic Church is divine, “by its eminent sanctity and its inexhaustible fruit fulntss in all good things.” I willing ly admitt that there are millions of good Catholics, that is of good men and women who aro 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. Mar tyrdom does not prove the truth ot religion. The man who dies in flames, does not prove the truth of what ue 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 pre serve the happiness of the human race are good. All things that tend to the destruction of man’s well be ing, and tend to his unhappiness are bad. The Catholic Church teaches that intellectual liberty is dangerous, that it should not be allowed. I* taught, and still teaches that a cer tain belief is necessary to salvation. It lias always know that investigation, that inquiry might lead to doubt, tha doubt leads to heresy, and that heresy leads to hell. The Catholic Cunrch has something more important than the well being of man hero. It is necessary to believe the Catholic creed in order to ob tain salvation I quote from the creed: “Whosoever 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 ble and just. Creed is more impor tant 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 the 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 the atrocities of the inquisition, the rewards offered by the Roman Church for the capture and murder of honest men. Remem uer the Dominican order, the mem bers of which, upheld by the Pope, pursued the heretics like Sleuth hounds, through many centuries. The Catholic Church, “inexhausti ble in fruitfulnes in all good things,” not only imprisoned and branded and burned the 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. VVe re member the thousands in the dark ness of dungeons, the millions who perished by the sword, the vast mul titudes 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, during all the years of its power, the enemy of every science. It preferred magic to medicine, relics to remedies, priests to physicians. It opposed every dis covery calculated to improve the con dition 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 little for itself. Think, of a woman, the mother of a family, taken from her children and burned on account of her view xs to the three natures of Christ. Now about the “invincible stabili ty” of the Catholic Church. It was not inviucible in Luther’s time. It was not invincible in the low coun tries, in Scotland nor England. It does not triumph in Paris nor Berlin; neither does 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.” 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 sword of the church. In the name of religion it tried to conquer the infidel world. It drove out the Moors, simply be cause they were infidels. It leaped on the low countries for the destruc tion 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 intelli gence, the usefulness, the genius, the nobility and the wealth of a nation. In this period of degradation, the Catholic Church held “the whole na tion in its unity ” Every nation on earth has progress ed in the 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 Cath olic Church. A few years ago the cholera visited Madrid and other cities. Physicians were mobbed. Pro cessions of saints curried 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 part ners, reigned supremo. The church stood in the light and shed its shad ow on the ignorant and the prostrate. One scientist in control of Madrid could have prevented the plague. In such cases cleanliness is true Godli ness. Science is superior to super stition; drainage better than proces sions of devout Catholics; therapeutics bettor than theology-. In such eases goodness is not enough. Intelligence is necessary. Faith is not sufficient and creeds are helpless. It is admitted that the faith, wor ship, ceremonial, discipline and gov ernment 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 inves tigation, 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 horn and the Catholic Church has been weakened. The boa tof unity is the confession of tyranny. The fact that the Catholic Church is obedient to the Pope only shows its thorough organization, and not its divinity. How is it that a few en slave the many? How is it that the nobility- live on the labor of the peas- ants ? 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 de tail, terrorized, brutalized, robbed, conquered. [to be continued.] Ponder This. How much more of your product will the dollar of to-day buy than the dollar of twenty years ago? How much more of your debts, your taxes your officers’, salaries your interest, your mortgages or your doctor and lawyers fees will it pay? That is the way to look at the financial question. Look at the relation of what you have to sell, as producers, sustains to wliat ytm have to pay for the items which enter into your daily and yearly ex pense account. Have salaries de creased? Has interest been reduced? Are taxes lower? Have mortgages been curtailed? How does the price of land, of wheat and coin, of cotton, of everything you raise, compare with the value of the purchasing agent, money? Interest, taxes, mortgages, salaries and professional fees are as high as ever, while wheat, corn cot ton 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 draw ers 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 can buy 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 the most patient, long suffering set of souls on the face of the earth to sub mit 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 obliga tions of the abovo named cliaractes 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 ono that over shadows all others, and is the prob lem 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 agri cultural products is the reason of the prosperity of one class and the pov erty of the other.—Farmer’s Advo cate, Charleston, W. 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 abil ity, or the promises rerain 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 holy as you can," “Keep my command ments as well as you are able,” “I will do it if I think best.” Etery thing is present and absolute, not future or conditional. So with that wonderful argument, or rather question—for an argument implies a premise, 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?” Then follows the enumeration of the “all things.” Not merely is the justifica tion assured, but the very tempta tions, the tribulations, the peril, the sword are conquered and put within our grasp; and these once overcome, there is no limit to lhe power of the soul, to compass death, life, angels, principalities, powers, or any other creature, and make them subserve its advance in growth into the image of God. It is magnificent, and as we read, the very words seem to lift our souls into a purer air, and we can appreciate the feelings of the disci ples on the Mount of Transfiguration; but pretty soon some very mundane and material thing dissipates our vis ion, and we are apt to feel conquered rather than conquerors. Now what is the matter? Two things must he recognized as settled. The Bible statements are accurate; they mean just what they say. We must he content to take ono thing at a time. “All things” are made up of “single things.” We cannot pick ap ples by the bushel; we pick them one SINGLE CORY THREE CENTS. by one. The secret o' Napolean’s success was that he contrived to have a majority at one point, then having secured that, he carried the majority (o tho next point, and so on until the great armies often far outnumbering his own were conquered. What we need is to do the same thing in the, Christian warfare. As we go to our daily duty, whether at the office, in the school, or at home, we need to start out with the assurance that not single temptation, duty, or experi ence will meet us but that we may lay hold upon it and utilize it for aur own usefuluess, our own advance in Christian life. But we must take each one as it conies. Then whenf the day is over, we shall find that the “single things” have become the “all things,” and that all are ours.— Independent. Heath the (lure of Loneliness. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.” It would seem as if the very heart of God yearned for society. In perfect blessedness he had been all-sufficient for himself, but there was within him a love which could find no expres sion or satisfaction apart from beings on which it could rest. Love is al most inconceivable unless there bo objects on which to expend and for which to sacrifice itself. Did not this underlie that divine resolve, “Let us make man” ? There are many lonely people about the world who complain of desolate and solitary lives They account for their condition by supposing it due to tho failure of relatives through death or intervening distance; hut, indeed, it is rather attributable to tha fact that they have never fallen into the ground to die, that they have always consulted their own ease and wollheing, and have never learned that the cure of loneliness comes through the sowing of oneself in a grave of daily self-sacrifice. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die, and it will abide no longer alone.—Selected Tho Morning Star thus summarizes and pleads: “Here, then, is the saloon sanctioned by law, surrounded by a personally interested following, mounting up into the millions, ami backed by almost unlimited capital. It means to stay. It is organized for that purpose. Its object, open and avowed, is to silence or destroy all opposition. Its success means poor business, for it livps at the ex pense of all legitimate business; poor citizens, for is takes and gives noth ing of value in return; poor husbands and fathers, for it consumes, in its victims, the last elements of manli ness; mean and degraded homes, for nothing good, beautiful, or pure, can live where it flourishes. Christian citizens, what are you going to do about it? In a short time the town and ward primaries will meet, and the saloon will be there. Will you? The saloon will take special pains to get its votes into the ballot-box, and not one of them will be cast for a candidate known to he either opposed or indifferent to its interests! Will your vote be there just as certainly against the saloon? If you love your fehow-men, il you love your country, if you love your home and children, if you love God and seek first his kingdom and righteousness, yon will work, pray, and vote against the saloon.” Kroiiotny In Tttxiifi. A couple ol Detroit men on the Belle Isle Park ferryboat were descant ing upon political economy. “We’ve got too much taxes,” suid one. “Certainly we have,” assented tho other; "and now they're tulkiug about having an income tax.” “Is that so I" “Yes, it is." “Well, that ought to be a good thing, it seems to me. There’s so con founded much outgo tax fhut if they could work an income tax in some way it would be a good tiling for the tax payers." The boat bumped up against the dock at this point and the two econo mists walked ashore.—Detroit Free Prnss