OeacWWed



WHY YOU SHOULD

BE A CATHOUC

Dear Reader:

Represent yourself as unaf-

filiated with any church, but

disposed to listen to the Catholic

as well as the Protestant claims.

Follow the line of reasoning in

these pages.

4«— —
“Be sure you are right, then go

ahead,” is an excellent maxim to fol-

low. Because you were born of Pro-

testant parents would be a poor rea-

son for you to “go ahead” unless “you

were sure you were right.” There

would have been no Christianity had

the apostles, the first Christians, not

left the religion of their parents.

Ask converts the specific reasons

which led them to seek admission in-

to the Catholic Church, and their re-

plies will be various. All roads lead

to Rome.

One will tell you that he was a

patient in a Catholic hospital, and the



2 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC

kindness and charity of the sister

nurse, as well as the heavenly peace

he could read in her countenance,

spoke to him louder than words that

the religion which animated her must

be divine. Another : I attended a fun-

eral in a Catholic Church, and I was

so pleased with the consolatory doc-

trine preached (that the dead could

be assisted in prayer), that I was

prompted to study the religion in

which it was claimed I could help my
deceased parents. A traveller will
say he was moved to look into the

Catholic religion by the impression

that the universality of the Church

made on him—it being the only
Church which exists in all nations. A
college student’s reply would be : I re-

ceived my first impulse to study the

Catholic religion by learning that my

religious teachers were the very op-

posite in character of what Protestant

books led me to believe they were.

Many are led to the Church by read-

ing a plain exposition of Catholic be-

lief and practice in a Catholic book.

Many, too, are converted by books



WHY YOU SHOULD BH A CATHOLIC t

written against the Church: the ter-

rible accusations they contain against

clergy and religious, and the plain

misrepresentation of Catholic belief,

etc., have led thousands to discredit

the book and investigate for them-

selves, with the result that they em-

braced the Church which, like Christ,

is calumniated and persecuted.

The majority, particularly of the

learned class, including ministers of

every denomination, reach the Cath-

olic Church by sound philosophical

reasoning! and it is my purpose to

show you that a man earnest in his

investigation and logical in his rea-

soning must embrace the Catholic

religion if he be led by the kindly

light. I am going to argue from the

standpoint of an educated man, of the

man who is a little acquainted with

history. Let the reader assume the

attitude of one who is a member of no

church, but who is most anxious to

arrive at the truth, and the following

line of argument ought to bring con-

viction. .

1. Whereas, there are 70,000,000



4 WHY YOU SHOULD BB A CATHOLIC

Americans, who, like myself, belong

to no church, I know that religion is

as old as the world, that there was

never a nation without it, that the

very existence of God, which no sane

man dare doubt, makes religion im-

perative, since the creature was made

for the Creator. I know that the nat-

ural bent of man’s mind and the natu-

ral longing of his heart is towards

religion of some kind; that all these

70,000,000, including agnostic and in-

fidel, feel at times a void in their

hearts that nothing on earth can fill,

a frequent feeling of loneliness, of

unhappiness, which they try to rid

themselves of, or which they try to

relieve in some other manner than by

striving for union with God.

2. Then it occurs to me that the

Father, Who is in Heaven, would

want to be known alike and served

alike by His whole human family; if

so. He must make a revelation to man.

3. I feel prompted to read the

Bible, which I am told contains that

revelation, but I can gather no con-

nected religious system from it. I see



WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC S

that it was not written at one time

nor by one person; that St. Peter

tells us some of St. Paul’s letters are

difficult to understand, and that many

“wrest them to their own destruc-

tion.” I surely do not want to do

that; so I next

—

4. Investigate the claims of some

of the present-day religions, which

claim to follow that holy book. I can-

not help noticing the very large reli-

gious body called the Catholic Church,

but I have heard so much about that

Church’s superstitions and corrup-

tions, that I overlook it and begin

with Protestantism
;
but where should

I begin? and how discern the true

from the false? I am perplexed at

the sight of 400 sects, one affirming

what the other denies, one contradict-

ing, excommunicating and anathema-

tizing the other, yet, strange to say,

all basing their views on the Bible. In

fact, aside from their opposition to

the Catholic Church, this is the only

point they are united on. They all

say, “use your reason and search the

Scriptures to find out what to believe



6 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC

and to do to be saved.” This prin-

ciple strikes me to be very wrong,

even in the abstract, but more wrong

in the concrete, for it does not work

out well.

(a) Wrong in the abstract, for

how could all get their religion in that

way? In the first place there was no

New Testament to search until Chris-

tianity had existed half a century;

then there was no Bible in its present

form until four centuries had elapsed,

yet the whole western world was

Christian. Ten million who never

saw the Bible had given up their lives

for the Christian faith; it was the

golden age of Christ’s Church. Then

during the next thousand years the

Bible was not within reach of the

people, for the art of printing was not

invented until the year 1438. Even

today, in this enlightened twentieth

century, one-half the world’s people

cannot read, and more have not the

learning to get the faith from the

Scriptures on the principle of private

interpretation.

(b) Wrong in the concrete, for



WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC 7

the principle of each person “search-

ing the Scriptures,” when carried

out, makes Christianity a Babel of

confusion, and is the fruitful source

of what it tries to overcome, viz. : ag-

nosticism, infidelity and indifferent-

ism.

The agnostic prefers to doubt

God’s existence rather than to believe

Him to be the author of hundreds of

contradictory sects, wrangling with

each other and hating each other for

love of Him.

The infidel would rather believe

that God made no revelation at all

than to believe that the most opposite

doctrines can be supported by a di-

vinely inspired book.

The indifferentist believes that it

is just as good and just as safe not

to affiliate with any church as to join

one which requires the minimum of

belief and which may be the wrong

one, for the 400 conflicting sects can-

not all be right. When Christ said:

“Search the Scriptures,” He could

not have meant the New Testament,

for not a word of it was then written.



8 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC

Christ addressed those words to the

doctors of the Jewish law with a view

to refer them to those passages of the

Old Testament which testify to Him

as the promised Messiah.

I believed in the Bible as God’s re-

vealed word, I believed, too, in

“searching the Scriptures” if by the

phrase you mean “read the Scrip-

tures.” But I could not lead myself

to believe that God wanted me to get

my religion, a knowledge of His will,

by searching the Scriptures myself. I

had seen it a bad principle to go on;

for instance: Mr. A searches the
Scriptures prayerfully and discovers

that there are three Persons in God

;

Mr. B searches the Scriptures and

finds no such thing; he declares that

there is but one Person in God. Mr.

C, by searching the Scriptures, has

arrived at a firm belief in the divinity

of Christ. Mr. D accuses Mr. C of

blasphemy. He sees in Jesus of Naz-

areth the most perfect man that ever

lived, but no more than man. Mr. E

pronounces the Bible to be the word

of God from cover to cover, whereas



WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC •

Mr. F finds in it many fables and even

contradictions. Mr. G learns from

the Scriptures that baptism is abso-

lutely necessary for salvation, even

for infants, and Mr. H denies that it
is necessary for any one, that it is no

more than a mere ceremony. Mr. I

finds no stress laid on baptism itself,

but much stress on the manner of

baptizing, but Mr. J concludes that

immersion, whether forward or back-

ward, once or three times, or even

pouring or sprinkling, is a valid bap-

tism. Mr. K warns people to be care-
ful, for the Scriptures speak of a hell

or place of eternal punishment, and

Mr. L declares that there is no hell at

all, and that heaven is easily attain-

able. Mr. M finds that “faith alone”
is the all in all for salvation. Mr. N
says it matters little what you be-

lieve, only lead a moral life. Mr. 0

finds allusion to a millennium
;
Mr. P

laughs at him. Mr. Q finds a com-

mand for all to wash other people’s

feet, and Mr. R says St. Paul requires

you to “shake” if you desire salva-

ton, etc., etc. I could run through the



10 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC

alphabet in this way three or four

times.

Is it not plain that something is

wrong, either with the Bible or the

principle of private interpretation?

And it is just as evident that not the

Bible, but the principle is at fault.

5. I would stop my investigation,

but in my Bible reading, I ran across

many inspired passages which cer-

tainly imply that the truth can be

found. I read : “God wills all men to

come to the knowledge of the truth,”

therefore it must be possible to find

the truth. I read: “Without faith it

is impossible to please God,” and “he

that believeth not shall be con-

demned,” therefore there must be a

way of arriving at the truth with cer-

tainty. I read of a church which the

apostle declared to be “the pillar and

foundation of truth and of a church

which Christ promised to build on a

rock, which He promised “to be with

all days;” to which He promised to

send the Holy Ghost to safeguard its

stability in truth, which He com-

manded me to get my faith from : “If



WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC 11

he will not hear the Church, let him

be as the heathen and publican.” This

last text furnishes me with a better

means of arriving at the truth than

the principle, “search the Scriptures.”

The apostles were eminently fitted

to represent Christ in their teaching

;

they were instructed by Him for

three years, were protected by the

Holy Spirit and had a plain commis-

sion to establish Christ’s Church in

every land.

God’s works are perfect, hence I

would be positive, even apart from

Christ’s explicit promise, that the

Church would still be on earth, speak-

ing in God’s name and enjoying His

protection lest the gates of hell pre-

vail against it. I see the apostles ar-

ranging for the perpetuity of the

Church—they elect Matthias in
Judas’ place, ordain Titus, Timothy

and others bishops, declaring that

these, like themselves, were placed in

office by the “Holy Ghost to rule the

Church of God.”

I say my own reason would dictate

that the Church must still exist in its



12 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC

primitive purity of doctrine, for if

Christ be God, then His Church is

divine, and could not fall into error.

Christ calls the Church His body. He

is the head—^then Christ and the
Church, the head and body must fall

together. The apostle urged husbands

to love their wives as Christ loved

His Church and died for her. Christ’s

love for His Church would not be very

strong if He left her or allowed her

to leave Him. And Christ’s promises

are so explicit: “Upon this rock I

shall build my Church, and the gates

of hell shall not prevail against her

“Behold I am with you all days, even

to the end of the world “I shall ask

the Father, and He shall give you an-

other Paraclete, that He may abide

with you forever,—The Spirit of
Truth.’’

It is true, I had often heard that,

whereas the Catholic Church was

God’s Church for a few centuries, it

fell into error. Then Christ fell with

it, the head and the body ! then Christ

is not God, for He broke His solemn

promises; then the Holy Ghost was



WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC 13

not with the early Church. Whom will

you believe, Christ and your sound

reason, or fallible men who declare

that despite Christ’s promises the

Church deviated from the original

teaching of the apostles, became cor-

rupt, etc., etc? I examined the

charges of image-worship, Mariola-

try, selling licenses to sin, etc., im-

puted to Catholics and found them to

be gross calumnies made years ago by

the Church’s enemies and accepted by

the non-Catholic world as true with-

out proof. Catholics no more wor-

ship images than you worship the

pictures in your parlor. An indul-

gence is not a license to commit sin

nor even a pardon of sin, and if John

Tetzel sold them, he was not the

Catholic Church.

I am not surprised to see the

Church persecuted, calumniated, and

misrepresented, for Christ, her

Founder, declared that she would be:

“They have persecuted Me, and they

will persecute you too;’’ “Blessed are

you when they shall revile you and

persecute you and say all manner of



14 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC

evil tilings against you untruly,”

etc.; “if the world hates you, know

that it hated Me first.”

To be brief, I reason thus : Fallible

men say the Church fell into error;

infallible Christ says she never would,

and sound reason cannot conceive of

God’s work coming to naught.

If salvation depends upon believ-

ing truths, is it not absurd to suppose

that God would leave to each individ-

ual to determine what these truths

are?

In the kingdom of heaven there are

no sects, but perfect unity; in fact

the most perfect unity and harmony

exist in all God’s works, yet His king-

dom on earth, established by His own

blood, should be a “house divided

against itself.”

The apostles, at the council of Jeru-

salem, in the year 51, declared that

they believed in the “Holy Catholic

Church.”

St. Ignatius, disciple of one of the

apostles, and who was martyred

about the year 100, calls the Church

he belonged to the Catholic Church.



WHT YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC IS

In the year 325, when the whole

western world was Christian, the bis-

hops of the Church met in council at

Nice, and in explaining the Apostles'

Creed declared that they believed in

“One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic

Church.”

St. Augustine, at the beginning of

the fifth century, proved by an argu-

ment that could not be upset, an argu-

ment that converted Cardinal New-

man, that the Church known as the

“Catholic Church” was identical with

the Church of the Apostles’ time.

How could a church of recent ori-

gin bear testimony to the correctness

of revelation made nineteen hundred

years ago?

How could doubts, disputes, be set-

tled if there was no divinely constitu-

ted authority outside the Bible—for
people make the Bible mean any-

thing?

If the saints returned to earth,

where would they go to worship ? For

most of them lived before any of the

Protestant sects existed.

If the Catholic Church fell into



16 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC

error, how am I to be sure that any

of the reformed religions is correct,

and which?

Only an infallible authority could

show that one of the Protestant de-

nominations is correct, and none of

them claims such authority.

Was it not from the Catholic

Church that the nations first received

Christianity, as per Christ’s orders?

That Church today alone can be

God’s Church which is in all the na-

tions, for “God wants all men to come

to the knowledge of the truth which

though universal, is one; which is

1930 years old; whose bishops can

trace their succession by an unbroken

line back to the apostles.

These and many other irrefutable

arguments make it plain to me that

the Catholic Church is the true

Church or none is; if the Catholic

Church is not the true Church, then

the “gates of hell have prevailed

against the Church ;” then Christ has

not kept His most solemn promise;

then He is not God, and all forms of

Christianity are impositions.



WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC 17

AN HISTORICAL ARGUMENT

Revelation by Jesus Christ was

made nineteen hundred years ago.

The oldest Protestant church must ad-

mit that its memory can go back but

a few hundred years ; that it can tes-

tify only through the Catholic Church

or history, concerning what occurred

five hundred and six hundred years

ago, and especially concerning revela-

tion made nineteen hundred years

ago. Schlegel, an infidel philosopher,

who entered the Catholic Church, tells

us that he found the testimony of the

Catholic Church to be the greatest

historical authority on earth for the

events of the past. Now, reject this

greatest historical authority and what

evidence remains beyond it? No au-

thority outside that of this Church

can be any higher than human, and

it can be only borrowed authority.

No man living today heard the rev-

elation with his own ears
; no recently

founded church witnessed it; and no

historical evidence could be trust-

worthy enough in a matter of so great



18 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHODIC

importance other than the evidence of

the Church to which the revelation

was entrusted, which was an eye and

ear-witness
;
the Church which Christ

promised to be with, which the Holy

Ghost was promised to
;
on which He

actually descended on Pentecost;

which sat sovereign among the na-

tions continuously since Christ’s

time ; which in every century asserted

the doctrines of Christ in General

Councils; which, with the written

diary, is better able to tell us what it,

the same moral person, saw and heard

nineteen hundred years ago than an

old man is able to tell what he saw

and heard in childhood.

The witness of a Protestant church

can be only borrowed testimony, and

its statements can be accurate only in

so far as they agree with the

Church which was on the field before

it.

LACTANTIUS

(Fourth Century)

“The Catholic Church, therefore, is

the only one that retains the true



WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC 19

worship. This is the source of truth

;

this the dwelling place of faith; this

the temple of God; whosoever does

not enter this temple, or whosoever

departs from it, stands a stranger to

the hope of life and eternal salva-

tion.”

—

Divine Institutions, Book 4,

chapter 30.

EUSEBIUS

(Fourth Century)

“For the inventions of the enemies

soon disappeared, being refuted by

the truth itself
;
because while sect af-

ter sect appeared with their innova-

tions, the earlier ones always passed

away and splitting up into numerous

and manifold forms would go to ruin

in one way or another
;
the only true^

the glorious, the Catholic Church, on

the contrary, remaining ever firm and

ever the self same in all things, still

went on increasing and developing;

and showed forth in brilliant light

the venerableness and the purity of

its divine doctrine and mode of life.”
—Ecel. Hist., Book i, chapter 11.



20 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC

ST, ANTHANASIUS
(Fourth Century)

“But it will hardly be out of place

to investigate likewise the ancient

traditions, and the doctrine and faith

of the Catholic Church, which the

Lord communicated, the Apostles pro-

claimed, and the Fathers preserved;

for on this has the Church been

founded, and if one falls away from

this he can by no means be a Chris-

tian or even be called such any long-

er .”—First Letter to Serapion, n. 28.

ST. EPHRAEM
(Fourth Century)

“Blessed be the chosen one, who

has chosen the Catholic Church, that

holy lamb which the devouring world

has not consumed * * * Give heed,

therefore, to my instructions, as my

disciples, and depart not from the

Catholic faith, which I also, having

received in my boyhood, have pre-

served immovable ; neither turn aside

from it in any doubt.”—Book 2, Tes-
tament, pages 2U2-2US.



WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOUC tl

ST. JEROME
(Fourth Century)

“My resolution is, to read the an-

cients, to try everything, to hold fast

what is good and not to recede from

the faith of the Catholic Church.”

—

Letter 119, to Minervius, no. 11.

ST. AUGUSTINE

(Fifth Century)

“The agreement of peoples and of

nations keeps me ; an authority begun

with miracles, nourished with hope,

increased with charity, strengthened

by antiquity, keeps me
;
the succession

of priests from the very chair of

Peter the Apostle—unto whom the
Lord, after His resurrection, commit-

ted His sheep to be fed—down even to
the present pontificate keeps me

;

finally, the name itself of the Catho-

lic Church keeps me,—a name which,
in the midst of so many heresies, this

Church alone has, not without cause,

so held possession of, that, though all

heretics would fain have themselves

called Catholic, yet to the enquiry of

any stranger: Where is the assembly



22 WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHOLIC

of the Catholic Church held? no

heretic would dare to point out his

own basilica or house. These ties of

the Christian name, therefore, so

numerous, so powerful, and most

dear, justly keep a believing man in

the Catholic Church.”

ST. VINCENT OF LERIN

(Fifth Century)

“Again in the Catholic Church it-

self, very great care is to be taken

that we hold that which hath been

believed everywhere, always, and by

all men. For Catholic is truly and

properly that, as the very force and

meaning of the word declare, which

comprises all things in general, after

a universal manner ; and this is thus,

in fine, attained,—^if we follow uni-
versality, antiquity, consent."

REP. B. F. DIMMICK

(Methodist—Columbus, Ohio)

“For cenutries the Roman Church

was the only organized representation

of Christianity in the world.”



WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CATHODIC 28

REV. T. B. THOMPSON
( Congreg.—Chicago

)

“As an institution she is the most

splendid the world has ever seen.

Governments have arisen and gone to

the grave of the nations since her ad-

vent. Peoples of every tongue have

worshipped at her altars.”

DR. MARTINEAU

“It carries its supernatural char-

acter with it; it has brought its au-

thority down with it through time;

it is the living organism of the Holy

Spirit, the Pentecostal dispensation

among us still. And if you ask about

its evidence, it offers the spectacle of

itself.”



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