During the evenings of the late winter months a series of scenic
representations, twice in every week, was displayed in the school-room,
which is near the church; and the admission being free, they were
attended by large numbers of the poorer class, Roman Catholic and
Protestant. On these occasions the priest always attended, and explained
the subjects represented, which were uniformly taken from the Scripture.
And he lost no opportunity of inviting his audience to hear the same
subjects enforced in the church which thus interested them in the
school-room.
The following extracts from some of these tracts, which are all announced
upon a large printed placard in the window of the house where they are
sold, as having received
THE “APPROBATION OF HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL WISEMAN AND ALL THE CATHOLIC
BISHOPS,”
will justify, it is presumed, without a comment, the epithets here
applied to them, as describing their character and tendency. They are
either untrue, unfair, or ironical.
Extracts from a tract, entitled, “_Protestantism weighed in its own
Balance_, _and found wanting_. No. 1. _The Bible_, _and the Bible
only_.”
“It is worth observing that this rule of faith, as well in its short
and popular form, as also when more fully drawn out and explained, is
rather negative than positive. Those who use it are more careful to
say what they do _not_ than what they _do_. They insist upon ‘the
Bible _only_’ to the exclusion of everything else, but they are not
equally jealous about receiving the whole Bible, every part of it.
They say that nothing is to be required of any man that it should be
believed which is not to be found in the Bible, or at least may not
be proved thereby; but they do not with equal distinctness insist
upon the duty of believing everything which _is_ read in that sacred
book or _may be_ proved by it. This is no idle assertion, but is
plain matter of fact.”—P. 1.
“There are many texts even then which they do not really receive;
some which are to them as an unknown tongue, without any meaning at
all, and which they therefore make no use of whatever; others which
seem to be opposed to their own creed, and which they therefore try
to escape from and to explain away; lastly, there are others which
they even boldly contradict.”—P. 2.
“If God did not intend the Bible to be man’s only guide and teacher
in matters of religion, but appointed His Church for this very
purpose, that she should fulfil this office, and promised her His
guidance, so that she should never be deceived in proposing anything
to our belief that was not true and had not been revealed by Him,
then of course, not only is the Catholic Church right upon this
point, but also of necessity right upon every other point also.”—P.
6.
“The Protestant professes that the only sure way of knowing God’s
will is for every man to read the Holy Scriptures for himself. I
take up the Holy Scriptures, therefore, for this purpose, and I find
there that our Lord appointed, and the apostles practised, quite
another way of learning God’s will and the right road to heaven. I
find that our Lord sent, not a message, but messengers; not a book
for men to read, but apostles for men to obey; and in like manner I
find that the apostles do say not a word about the necessity of not
believing anything that is not written in a certain book, but on the
contrary, that they distinctly say, Believe all that you have been
taught, whether written or unwritten.”—P. 9.
“It is plain that our Lord did not use the words, ‘Search the
Scriptures,’ in the sense in which the Protestants use them. He did
not refer His hearers to the Scriptures in the same way that the
Protestant refers you. For if so, why did they need His further
teaching? He made the same use of the Scriptures as Catholics do in
speaking to Protestants at this day. The Catholic says to
Protestants, ‘Search the Scriptures,’ for these are they which
testify of the Church as well as of her Head. They expressly command
you to ‘hear the Church’ (St. Matt, xviii. 17).”—P. 11.
“A Catholic priest at the present day might follow the example of St.
Paul, and show that Jesus whom he preached was Christ; that the
Church which he preached to them was in very deed the society to
which such high and noble privileges were promised in Holy Scripture.
And every one who should give heed to his preaching in the same way
as the Bereans did, would not fail to meet with the same reward. He
also would ‘believe;’ believe not only the one doctrine which had
been thus proved to him from Holy Scripture, viz. that the Church was
the appointed teacher of mankind, but also every other doctrine which
the same teacher might propose to his belief, whether written in the
Holy Bible or not.”—P. 14.
Extract from another tract, entitled, “_The Church_, _the Guardian of
Scripture_, or, _How does the Bible come to us_?”
“People are apt to think of the Bible, as if it were a whole without
parts, indivisible, self-existent, in short, a kind of divinity; or,
at least, as if it had come down from heaven precisely such as we now
have it, ready bound to our hands, if not with the Bible Society’s
stamp upon it.”—P. 7.
Extract from another tract, entitled, “_The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin
Mary_, or, _The use of the Beads no vain Repetition_.”
“Perhaps you find something that shocks you in the fact of the ‘Hail
Mary’ being repeated so much oftener than the Lord’s Prayer; and it
may be that there is in this a fresh instance of that unhappy
creature-worship which disfigures every part of the Catholic
religion. Now do not suppose that the reason of this is, that we
consider prayers addressed to the Blessed Virgin better than prayers
addressed to God. We do certainly think her prayers for us are
better, and more likely to be heard and answered than our own;
because we know that she was ever perfectly free from all stain of
guilt, and is now nearest to God in glory; and we feel ourselves full
of the defilement of sin.”—P. 10.
“Christ has entered into His kingdom, and His saints are reigning
with Him. Which of them shall be nearest to Him in glory as once in
suffering, but her through whom He joined our human nature to Deity
itself? The anguish over, the grace and virtue crowned, the glory
never to pass away; surely, well may we again call the Queen of
Heaven, ‘Blessed among women!’ and more than ever trusting in the
power of her intercession, more than ever call on her, ‘Holy Mary,
mother of God! pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of
death.’”—P. 14.