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About The Columbia sentinel. (Harlem, Ga.) 1882-1924 | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1919)
Vol. 37 EDITORIALS AND 'SHORT COMMENTS ON THINGS IN GENERAL thos. e. Watson. A Catholic Cardinal's Belief in “Relics” In last week’s paper, there appeared a quota¬ tion from a published work of John Henry New¬ man who boxed the compass on religious creeds, until he finally became a Catholic. There being no station farther on, he stopped there. The Italian pope made a Cardinal out of John Henry; and, after this, he declared his firm belief in pictures that winked, statues that smiled, and “relics” which worked miracles. Would it interest you to learn more about these relics which work miracles? The subject is treated in many books, and the facts stated excite amazement. You will of course remember that Palestine was Roman province when the Jews caused Christ to be condemned and put to death: you will also remember that the Romans of the East were conquered by the Mohammedans, who held the country against the Crusaders of the Middle Ages, Now, as to the “relics:” they consist of almost everything connected with the birth, youth, minis try, and crucifixion of Jesus: also of skulls, bones Ac. of the Apostles, and of, innumerable “Saints.” First *f all, there is the Cross upon which Christ died: truly, it would .command reverence everywhere, for he met death in fighting wrong, and physicians say the symptoms indicate a broken heart. The Catholics believe that the mother of Con¬ Btantine the Great discovered this relic at Jerusa lein, about 330 years after the judicial murder of an innocent man. How did the lady know the Cross upon which Jesus hung? IVhere had it been kept for that length of time? Assuming that the three crosses had been preserved, what marks of identification distin guished one from' the others? Nobody knows: nobody ever did know. • The Romans had no motive for keeping. those . crosses, any more than they had for keeping cross ea used before and after. The “tradition” is, that the true Cross was found buried in the earth, but why was this one buried, and who was the custodian of the secret of Hie place? Nobody knows: nobody ever did know. The entire _Cross got to Constantinople, and then to Milan; but why did the Bishop of Con¬ stantinople surrender it to the Bishop of Milan? Nobody knows: nobody ever'did know. The Cross was burned by the Huns when they invaded Italy under Attila—in the 5th century— and thus it again disappeared from the world; but, nevertheless, portions of it made their way into nearly all the Catholic churches of Europe. Car dinal O’Connell has imported a piece of it to Bos ton, and, later on, nearly all Roman Churches in America will possess this mosb blessed relic. Yet Cardinal Newman published his belief that “at Rome there is the true cross .... and crucifixes have bowed the head to supplicants and Madonnas have bent their eyes upon assembled arowds.” Newman was a scholar, and to this sort 6f de¬ gradation his Catholic faith had lowered his mind! I find in the latest issue of the Catholic maga¬ zine “ The Annals'’’’ (published at Lackawanna. New York) the following letter sent to the priest editor by an American Catholic: “After appealing to our Lady, my friend re¬ ceived his commission, obtained France.” a furlough , and bin Not have to go to Do you catch the meaning of that? The writer was a lady who sent cash to the priests, with the understanding that the Virgin Mary—“our Lady”—would secure an officer’s com mission for a Catholic conscript (her son, proba bly,) and then obtain for him a furlough, so that he would not have to go to France and expose his life! She actually believes that the Virgin inter posed , . this officers ,,,,,,,, behalf, because she , prayed . in for, AND PAID TOR SUCH intercession! The priests take'her money and they publish her letter on page 22 of their April number! The Government jailed many a man subject to conscription when he pleaded conscientious ob jections to military service; but here we have a Catholic magazine declaring that the Virgin Mary was miraculously keeping a Catholic officer out of the War, because a superstitious woman paid money to a set of scoundrelly priests. „ No wonder , the Dark Ages dark: , , the , were pow cr of popery was supreme, and darkness was in evitab,e * An English scholar, like Cardinal Newman, could bring himself to believe that the cross was really discovered by the Empress Helen; that it got (CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO.) J ♦ (l \ 0 J / ■ % 1 ^ . Price $2.00 Per Year THE UNITED ST ATE S OF THE WORLD. WOODROW WILSON, FIRST PRESIDENT. It seems but yesterday when our Ambulatory Chief Magistrate stood on the piazza, at Shadow Lawn, and told mankind that the Great War in Europe was none of our business. But really it was quite awhile ago, since the address was delivered just before the November election of 1916. It seems but last week that the Peace-loving women, possessed of oratorical faculties, were touring the West, shreiking, “Vote for Wilson: he kept us out of war.” Some of these very women were lodged in jails, a few months afterwards, because they neglected to change cars when Wilson did. There still rings in my ears the dulcet tones of our Ambassador Gerard, as he stood up at the Berlin banquet, in January 1917, and suavely as sured Von Tirpitz, Falkenhayn, Ilindenberg, Jagow, and Bethman-IIolweg that our wandering President had sent an olive branch to tfe Kaiser, and that the relations between Kaiserism and our economically pacific government were never better. Gerard assured these German militarists that, so long as the Kaiser’s government was controlled by such men as they, no trouble could arise between America and Germany. Remember the date: it was January 27, 1917. Previously, our President had written many state-papers to the Kaiser, each more surpassingly excellent and edifying than the other. In one of these unrivalled state-papers, our President had notified the Kaiser that his imper¬ i ial government would be held to “strict accounta bilitv,” if any further damage was done to Ameri¬ can life or property. Japan served upon the Kaiser -a still more drastic notice, threatening to shoot two for every Jap filled by the Kaiser’s U-boats. The Japanese threat had the desired effect: why was it that ours did not? Possihly the reason was this: after our gov ernmont had published its threat and brought it home to the Kaiser, our Secretary of State, W. J. Bryan, visited the Austrian ambassador, Dr. Dumba, and told him that our threat was not meant to be taken seriously. ' According what Mr. Bryan to told Dr. Dum ha, our threat was meant “for home consumption."’ (In other words, our government merely THE VERY LATEST FROM EUROPE. Since Burleson the Great has allowed Clar Mackay to repossess his own cables, I am now hi communication with Paris, uncensored, unbot tied, unalloyed, and untrammelled. In other words, I have been un-Burlesonized, deloused, and made -fit to associate with. From Mr. Mackay’s cables, I learn that you may now expect peace to be made between Jan U ary and December of 1920. Also, that the embargo on cotton will be lift¬ ed, as soon as the British spinners force the South¬ ern growers to turn loose the present crop. Also, that our new loan of $50,000,000 to Italy . h connection . whatever with . Italy’s as return to thc , Peac0 Table * Also, that this sending of bombs through the mails became ridiculous when Governor Bilbo S ot one. Also, that Germany has at length discovered that President Wilson doesn’t intentionally mean what lie says when he says it. (The German mind is not the quickest in the world, but it generally arrives before the fair is over.) Also, that President Wilson is doing his best to convince the in-coining, impending, and much feared Republican Congress that he is the ideal Republican who should be its leader. Also, that “Colonel” House and Bernard Baruch are managing everything ^ in Paris, ; except L the financiftl end of which ig raan d j p Morgan, through his partners, Davison and Lamont Also, that the face of old Monsieur Clemen ceau looks like that of a man in the last stages of talked-to-death. , Also, that the bewitching smile of our Secre tary of the Navy, Josephine Daniels, has enrap tured John Bull; an<l that Mr. Bull desires to try the effect of this fascinating smile upon the Irish Sinn Feiners. Also, that we have no positive reports on the European effect of the smile of Secretary Baker* which is regrettable. We have already experienced the disastrous Harlem, Ga., Friday, May 9, 1919, meant to deceive our home folks.) Where was Mr. Bryan’s conscience enthroned when he signed his name officially to a public document, and then went to the parties threatened and informed them privately that his public official utterance was a falsehood? Mr. Bryan has never denied that he was guilty of this two-face conduct, but he excuses himself •by saying that he conferred with President Wil¬ son beforehand, and that Mr. Wilson became his accomplice in duplicity. Now, put the facts before your mind, as you would do in any other case, and then ask yourself whether Bryan and Wilson are not largely respon¬ sible for what happened afterwards. The President and the Premier publicly .tell .Germany and Austria to stop attacking American vessels: then the Premier, after consultation with the President, privately tell tire German and Aus¬ trian alliance to disregard the public threat. Where was the President’s conscience enthron¬ ed at that time? Tho private repudiation of the public state ment was naturally taken to mean that Germany could go ahead—and she went ahead; but she Z'shZr^ 1 a 0th T' OUt 'T ZT Viihh i0 the sinking ot the ! T Lusitania, when 119 non-com batant Americans lost their lives. (Early in 1915!) IV ho can measure the harm clone by the secret interview between Mr. Bryan and Dr. Dumba? Who can tell the extent of the evil wrought by the olive-branch speech of Ambassador Gerar, Japan did not have to send millions of men France —wliyf Because she had sternly given her warning to the Kaiser, and did not take it back. We gave our stern warning to Germany, and then privately took It back. Can you rid your mind of the idea that this two-face course on the part of our Government, had a deplorably misleading influence on the Ger¬ man militarists?' ‘ Bryan’s virtual cancellation of the warning note—backed as it was by President Wilson's ap¬ proval—was almost an invitation to a continuance of U-boat atrocities. It is the most astounding instance of duplicity developed by the Great War: the foxy Ferdinand (continued on pace three.) effects of Woodrow Wilson’s enchanting sifile; and it is but natural that we should mentally spec¬ ulate on what would have happened to mankind if Burleson had carried his smile to the Old World. As I have already intimated, the embargo on cotton may be lifted before the next crop is all sold at less than the cost of production, and peaee will bo made as soon as England gets our signed, sealed, and delivered bond to help her keep what¬ ever she has robbed other nations of, daring the last few centuries. Also, the peaceable negotiators of the Peace Treaty and of the League which is to prevent all future fights, are still scrapping, like a stacfy of* wild cats. After all, it is the old, old story of the cat fights which produce more cats. The effort of Mr. Wilson to supersede the Almighty and to repeal the laws of nature, have been slightly abortive, although he has used nine thousand million dollars of our money, to accom¬ plish this vainglorious purpose. Also, Mr. Hoover wants you to feel in your pockets for any little piece of money that previous “drives” may have failed to get, and he wants you to send it at once to Europe so that he can feed the Rooshians, the Prooshians, the Jugo-Slovaks, the Bolshevild, the Anarchists, the Nihilists, the Reds, the Yellows, the Browns and the Blacks. If you have got a spare dollar and do not in¬ vest it in Hoover, you are a traitor to your coun¬ try and you deserve the unmitigated contempt of all true charity-brokers. (Clarence Mackay promises me more news for next week. Burleson wouldn’t let me have any.) P. S. The President backed down to Italy, on the question of Fiume: after having knuckled to Japan, there was nothing else for him to do. He brought this humiliation on himself by rushing into print once too often. He must have fancied that he was dealing with the late lamented Democratic Congress. He ought now to answer his own “unanswera¬ ble” defense of the position he took when he drove the Italians away from the Peace Conference. Issued Weekly “About Roman Catholics ” Under the above heading a papist organiza¬ tion located in Augusta, Georgia, publishes the following: ‘“Get your information first hand. Upon request we will tell you their be¬ lief and position, their practices and ob¬ ligations, their rights and duties, as they bear on civic and social relations, public questions and good citizenship. “For information address “THE CATHOLIC LAYMAN’S AS¬ SOCIATION OF GEORGIA.” How can you “get your information first hand” from a layman, when a priest like Tobin publishes such inpudent falsehoods as ho paraded in The Evening Herald. Rock Hill, S. C., some weeks ago? I devoted considerable time to exposing .Father W. A. Tobin, and proved him to be a shameless liar. A man named Farrell is the head of the Lay¬ man bunch in Augusta, and I have seen many of the samples of “information first hand” that he sends out. Judging Farrell by these samples of informa lion, I should take him to be a beloved half brother to Father Tobin, Let me give you just one illustration of Far¬ rell's method: A 1™ in *a^h of “information at first hand” wrote to Farrell, asking how the Catholic .church regarded non-Catholic marriage. The affable Farrell answered, that all mar riages properly performed under civil, non-Cath () fi (! authority were considered by the Catholic <hurch as perfectly good, valid, binding, solemnly , sufficient &c. Farrell, like Father Tobin, presumed upon the ignorance of the person to whom he was writing. If Farrell is not a boob, lie knows that all mar riages of Christians were required to be solemnized by priests, until Luther and others started the Reformation. After Luther, Melancthon, Zuinglius, Forel and others revolted from Popery, the Roman church summoned the .Council of Trent, to settle the Catholic creed. ' — This Council cogitated, off and on, for eighteen years , and finally adopted the code of laws which now governs the Roman church. (This famous Council assembled in 1545 and adjourned in No additions have been made to this law, vs# eept that the mother of Mary has been declared to have been born without sin, that the Pope acting officially is infallible, and that the Papacy stands unalterably opposed to the modern progress of the human mind. The law of the Council of Trent denounces, as concubinous, any marriage not celebrated bj a priest. * (This does not apply to Jews, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Confucianists <&c., but applies to all persons professing the religion of Jesus Christ.) No Pope ever expressed this Catholic doctrine more obscenely and insultingly than did Pius IX. who was dethroned of his temporal kingdom in 1870. He preached and published, that Protestant marriage was nothing more than legalized living in adultery, “filthy concubinage.” If Farrell and his associate laymen were not so sure, of the ignorance and indifference of the average Protestant, he would not dare to mis¬ represent the law of his church on Protestant mar- » riage, for it is laid down in a book published in this country, so recently as 1903. The publishers are The Benziger Bros., of New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago: and the volume has the official sanc¬ tion of the Pope’s Censor of Books, and that of the lato Cardinal Farley. The title is “The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII.:” these homilies have for their subject, various matters of “faith and morals, and hence are infallible. On page 81, this Italian, who could not be in error, said: “We —that’s Leo—commend, Venera¬ ble Brothers, to your fidelity and piety those un¬ happy persons who, carried away by the heat of passion, and being utterly indifferent to their sal¬ vation, live wickedly together without the bond of lawful marriage;" and Lee urges these Venerable Brothers to use their utmost efforts to^irevail up¬ on these married people “to enter into lawful mar¬ riage according to the Catholic rite.” Can Farrell and his laymen associates furnish any “information at first hand” which overtops the Council of Trent, the official deliverances of Popes Pius I?, and Leo XIII.? The Venerable Brothers of America who were addressed in the Great Encyclicals were lusty bachelors, and they were no better in morals than (Continued on Page 3) No. 33.
