Chapter III and VI.

All Children of Protestant Parents Are Declared Bastards by Catholicism

The Catholic Church declares that all of those who contract marriage otherwise than in the presence of a Catholic Priest, that such marriages are null and void.

Catholicism further declares that your darling child, which is the fruit of your marriage, is nothing more nor less than a common bastard.

How do you Protestants like to hear this? How do you feel when you know that this is the belief and opinion of all Catholic dignitaries, and this belief is taught to all the Catholic world by those who presume to dictate?

Your darling baby boy or girl is branded as an illegitimate offspring by Catholicism, simply because their parents were not united in wedlock by a Catholic Priest, who perhaps is as immoral as hell itself.

The reason why Catholicism so sternly demands that all should be married by the priestcraft is from a monetary standpoint, as the Catholic priest gets his fee, as he will not under any circumstances unite any one in wedlock without a fee, and I have known in many instances where the contracting parties were unable to pay a money fee, and the grasping priestcraft would refuse to unite them in marriage until they had given him some article of intrinsic value, and I have often seen jewelry, silver-mounted pipes, watches and many other things confiscated by the priestcraft before they would perform the ceremony.

It is strange to me, indeed, that America, which is and should be by every law of justice and right, a Protestant nation, is so unconcerned and so listless over the insults that Catholicism daily offers Protestantism, for if it is not a most damnable insult to stigmatize your offspring as bastards, then we are unable to discern and distinguish between a brazen insult and a flattering compliment.

Whenever America learns the actual and true meaning of Catholicism and her teachings, there will be an awakening among the Protestant world that will make the four corners of the government of the United States tremble with a righteous indignation.

Now, if the offspring of that dear old mother is a bastard, then she is nothing more nor less than a common whore, and you cannot arrive at any other rational conclusion. This is only reasoning from intelligent deductions; therefore, whenever Catholicism calls the children of Protestant parents bastards simply because these parents were not united in wedlock by a Catholic priest, they villify the sacred name of father and mother, and trail in the slime of disgrace the sweet memories of that sturdy old father and that angelic old Protestant mother.

I am at a loss to know and to understand how Protestantism can sit so unconcernedly by with folded hands and allow this vulturous foe of human rights and human privileges to brazenly rear its institutions in Protestant America, and teach such damnable doctrines about those who have made America all she ever was, and is, or ever will be.

A creed or doctrine that exists upon the dwarfed ambitions of its followers is undoubtedly an institution which exists upon the carrion of human miseries, and is a menace to a nation, which possesses the godly ambitions that permeate the minds of Protestantism.

We have in this country scores–yea, hundreds of Protestant fathers and mothers who allow their children to attend Catholic schools, when those who are teaching them in these Catholic institutions brazenly, flagrantly and openly declare that those children are the offspring of immorality, as they do not hesitate to say that all children are bastards whose parents were not married by the priestcraft; but still these Protestant parents allow their children to be taught by those who villify and defame their parents’ names.

This is one of the strangest things that has ever come under my observation in the United States, as the Protestant world in general knows that Catholicism teaches these things, and the Protestant world also knows that under no circumstances nor conditions would Catholicism allow their children to attend a Protestant college, but Protestant parents go right ahead and allow their children to be taught by a class of men and women who will boldly declare to these children that their own parents are immoral, and that the teachings of their youth were erroneous and would lead to everlasting damnation.

Is it not about time that the Protestant world was arousing themselves from this lethargetic sleep of unconcern, or do you propose to allow Catholicism to convince you, by her doctrines of degeneracy, that she is right, and that you acknowledge her as right by you sending your children to her institutions of learning?

Catholicism has always made her boast that if she can control the children until they are 7 to 10 years old, that they will control the government in the future, and it seems as though Protestant America is perfectly willing to risk the consequences, but let me sound a warning in your ears in this chapter, which may not arouse you from your national stupidity, but which, in after years, will rumble down the avenues of the future the truthfulness of this assertion that will make the Protestant world shudder. It is this: “Unless you guard the goddess of your American liberty with the patriotism of you Protestant manhood, it will not be long until you will find this government face to face with a problem more perplexing than the government of France is wrestling with to-day, on account of this Romish beast, whose jaws are dripping with the blood of doomed ambition.”

Catholicism is like a thief in the night, as she goes about her devastation of human rights with the tread of a thief and with the cunning of a bold deceiver, which she is, and this country must station trustworthy men upon the ramparts of this government to watch her progress and batter down her foundation of superstition and ignorance, or within the next fifty years America will find herself bound hand and foot by this Romish creed of abominations, which has caused every nation on the face of the earth that she has ever controlled to wither and decay under her touch, like the tender plant under the broiling rays of a tropical sun.

I have a right to sound this warning, as I know whereof I speak, as I have traveled this Romish road of despair for thirty years, and I know her cunning and dastardly deception so well that her history and her teachings are to me like the primer is to the school boy or girl.

The warnings that I now sound in the ears of Protestant America are not sounded by an alarmist, nor one who does not know whereof he speaks, but these warnings come from one whose back has been lashed for thirty long years with the whip of a Catholic tyrant, and I know the history of Catholicism from beginning to end, for if one cannot learn the history of an institution in thirty years’ devout study, then pray tell me of what use it is for man to apply himself to the study of anything?

I was once as devout a Catholic as I am to-day a Protestant, and I am only a Protestant to-day because I was forced to become such, after having the scales of Catholicism brushed from my eyes, which had been blinded by the superstition and fearful doctrines of this abominable creed.

Arouse, ye men and women of America, or else the time will come when you will not be permitted to make a protest; when your wives and mothers are declared whores by Catholicism, and your fathers and brothers are declared whore-mongers and your children bastards!

I have been a careful observer of events through my entire life, and I never was more thoroughly convinced than to-day that we stand near the threshold of Popish power in America, and I ask of the reader, and of the Protestant world at large, Are we about to realize the prediction made by the father of our country? Are we nearing the time when liberty shall be bound to the stake by Catholicism? Are we nearing the great Romish chasm that has swallowed up the hopes of many nations? Are we nearing the crater of a Roman volcano that pours out its desolation and devastation upon free men? Are we nearing the inky night of servitude, where no light is possible, but the dim and treacherous lamp of idolatrous Catholicism? Are we nearing the stretch of waste lands that contains no friendly oasis for him who seeks liberty? Are we building our own sepulchers to bury all the hopes of liberty cherished by our forefathers? Are we willingly carrying fuel for our own funeral pyres, there to be consumed by the greedy and relentless ghouls of Catholicism?

These are questions that demand an answer and demand an answer at once, as we are far along the road to the end of human rights in Protestant America, unless we call a halt and kindle anew the fires of patriotism that have so long been unnoticed by those who have been left in charge to guard our interests.

Catholicism is a vile deceiver and a rank hypocrite, therefore we must diligently watch her serpentine movements, for she will appear where you least expect her, as she wraps about her the American flag and other symbols of patriotism and goes about as a lamb in wolf’s clothing.

I have no reason for writing this book only a desire to help undo what I have already done in my fifty-six years of the past, and by writing this book I have cut every tie that binds me to those whom I have associated with since my childhood, therefore the reader must know that what I am doing is being done in the name of right, justice and the love I bear my fellowman and my adopted country, which is the “Garden of Eden” of all the universe.

“The fool doubts what a wise man tells him because the information is new.” You may doubt what I am telling you, but your doubt will cost you your liberty.

I have your cause at heart and I have no ambition to gratify, as I am an old man and have no other desire than to help those who need help, and I have come as a friend to talk to you around your firesides, with no mission but that of truth.

Many of us have never been told to our face that we were fools, but because no man has been frank enough to tell us the truth is no reason why we should not investigate what is told us, and which you have no right nor reason to doubt.

The mission of this book is to get you to think and to examine and pry into the past history of Catholicism, and when you have examined the pages of Catholic history and then scrutinize her present, you must know that her future promises no more than her past and present would indicate her future to hold.

This book is written from a Protestant standpoint, but by a man who was a Catholic fifty-six years before he ever became a Protestant, and we feel absolutely certain that the Catholic world will endeavor to throttle its circulation, but we have laid aside every vestige of fear from that standpoint and have made up our mind that we are no better than Martin Luther, and thousands of Protestants who were burned at the stake by Catholicism for proclaiming to the world the awful deeds of that awful creed.

We want you to consider this book as a friend, who has called at your fireside to tell you truths that you should know, and which, if you do not learn, will lower you and your posterity to the level of the commonest slave and place over the most brutal despots the world has ever known, and these despots are nothing more nor less than the Catholic Church.

This book comes from a man who does not court the friendship of any sect of class of men; therefore, it comes to you with intentions as pure as it is possible for a book to come from the hands of a poor mortal, who fears nothing but the wrath of a living God.

Catholicism is taught her cunning from her childhood, as she is taught to watch the ranks of Protestantism and whenever she finds a weak spot, she turns her forces upon this weakened line, and is further instructed never to weaken in her continual march of devastation.

Could the tears that have been shed on account of heartless Catholicism be gathered in one body, the mighty oceans of the earth would appear as silvery mountain brooks. Could the innocent blood of Protestants shed by the heartless hand of Catholicism be congealed, it would build a purple mountain that would cast a shadow the length and breadth of this land.

The nations of the earth have had wars from the creation of the world, but the myriads of those who have fallen in all the battles of the world would only be a small portion compared to the millions who have laid down their lives that greedy, abhorrent Catholicism might be appeased.

It is time for us as American freemen to become free men in every sense the word implies, and exercise both our franchise and our brains in relegating this “Scarlet-Robed Hag of Rome” to her original haunts.

Will you perform your American duty and band together and become a Protestant army and march out under the blood-stained banner of King Emanuel and help to make America the greatest Protestant nation the sun has ever shone upon?

Be men, and by your manhood you can, if you make the start now, lull into eternal sleep this Romish power which villifies your ambitions and brands your offspring with the stigma of disgrace.

Chapter IV. Tear from the Citadel of Reason the Power to Reason and You Make Slaves of Humanity.

The men and women of the world, who have caused nations to advance and prosper, have never been, nor never will be Catholics, unless she discards her present mode of procedure, and this she will never do. Whenever you tear the cloak of superstition and idolatry from the form of Catholicism, you have naught left but the skeleton of abominations.

The men of science and of reason, all over the world, boldly accuse the Roman Catholic Church of being the enemy of science, detesting it and desiring to spread the mantle of ignorance over all those whom she controls.

The Church seems not to understand that everything finds its source at the fountain of reason, as all things must originate from God, and most assuredly the Supreme Being is an intelligent, reasonable and rational God. The Catholic Church must resist, as a matter of life or death, the progress of modern civilization, or else go down in disgrace, for civilization and reason is a nightmare and an everlasting enemy to Catholicism, as “scientific thought” makes her doctrines and dogmas stand out as abominations.

If the world is to depend upon the Romish Church for her intellectuality, and for her philosophy, and for her scientific resources, she will always be groping her way in darkness, as the Popish church has never advanced one-hundredth part of an inch from the trenches of ancient ignorance and superstitions, nor has she in any material way been instrumental in advancing a single interest of the masses which elevates, as her every cry and her combined efforts have been to paralyze progress and scientific research, as she well knows that to have the searchlight of reason turned upon her mystified labyrinths of hoodooism, the world will behold the marks of ignorance, superstition and barbarism upon her degraded form.

Whenever an institution comes to believe that it is infallible and an impossibility to err, then she settles back into the ruts of tyranny, and whenever you find an individual or a body of individuals who believe whatever they do is right, no matter what it may be, you will find those who believe themselves ordained rulers of men, and whenever this happens, the individual who believes this becomes a tyrant, and tyranny belongs to the dark ages of heathendom, whence Roman Catholicism originated.

To demonstrate to the reader and give him or her some idea of the tyrannical rule of Romanism, we will take the history of Galileo, which every child, perhaps, is acquainted with.

Galileo declared that the sun did not move, and this declaration greatly insulted Pope Urban, who grew very angry, as this pope had taught that the sun did move and that the earth stood still.

The teachings of Galileo so angered the pope that he called together an inquisitorial board and had Galileo tried by this Romish tribunal, and Galileo was sentenced to imprisonment for what Catholicism termed a heretical doctrine.

Who was right–Catholicism or Galileo? Not a school boy or girl six years old in this land but what knows that Catholicism was wrong, as she usually is, but she would not have acknowledged her wrong had not the world-at-large been thoroughly convinced of her error, which would have brought her to the very feet of ridicule had she persisted in teaching the doctrine promulgated by Pope Urban that “the sun did move, and that the earth stood still.”

The Catholic Church is always desirous of evading questions which are susceptible to debate, and which, by mature thought and deliberation, can be analyzed, as she does not desire to come into contact with the brains of any nation, but is satisfied to prey upon the ignorant and superstitiously inclined, as those are her dupes and the ones from whom she derives her revenue, and “revenue” is one of the main perquisites of the Catholic Church, as this Romish institution is run for the sole purpose of making serfs of men and controlling the destiny of nations, so that the inhabitants may be forced to disgorge their sustenance in her lap of greed, and it matters not how low she brings her followers, nor what may be the hardships they have to endure, just so she accomplishes her diabolical end.

The reader may think it strange that a man who was born and raised a Catholic, and who for thirty years officiated in the capacity of a Catholic priest, could turn his back upon the creed of his forefathers and so vehemently endeavor to destroy every vestige of his childhood’s doctrines, but this is no more unreasonable than it was for Paul, in the twinkle of an eye, to turn from his wickedness and become one of the chosen Apostles of Christ.

Many years before I cut loose entirely from the Catholic Church my faith in her abominations was at times almost threadbare, and I have declared time and time again that never would I enter another Catholic Church in the capacity of a priest, but as often as I declared and made these resolves, just so often I broke them, as my early training and my superstitious fears would get the better of my convictions, and I would be whipped back into the trenches of superstition.

I have often tried within the past ten years to “nag” those officials who were above me into a paroxysm of fury and have them excommunicate me, as I tried to make myself believe that it would be better to have them throw me out of the church than to leave it on my own free will, but it appeared as though they discerned by intentions and they would not do as I desired, and at last I made up my mind that I would swing out upon my own account from the dark shadows of this superstitious belief, and every word of this book has been written without a single charge preferred against me by the Catholic Church, therefore the Catholic Church cannot declare that I was not in good standing as a priest at the time this book was compiled.

What I mean by “good standing” is that the robed monarchs who boldly claim the power to damn the soul by excommunication, have not as yet seen fit to eternally obliterate my prospects of ever entering the “New Jerusalem,” but as soon as this book is given to the reading public, then those who wield the axe will let it fall with all the diabolical vengeance of Roman hatred upon my head and declare the “pearly gates” have been forever closed upon my depraved soul; but what I most desire is to have the public understand that NOW, while I am writing this book, I am considered AND AM BY ALL THE RIGHTS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH A PRIEST AND ENJOY ALL THE PRIVILEGES OF CATHOLICITY AS SUCH.

Why I so earnestly desire to impress this upon the minds of the reader is that I know so well the trickery of those whom I write about and I know full well that the Catholic officials will at once endeavor to make the world believe that I am an outcast and in bad standing with the Catholic Church.

This book is being written in the year 1903, and I will make oath before any court of record on earth to the truthfulness of the statements herein set forth, and I will give ten thousand dollars to any charitable institution in America if any priest, bishop or archbishop on the face of the whole earth will make oath and prove before any lawful tribunal of America if one word of the foregoing is not true.

Furthermore, I will give up all of my earthly possessions, which amounts to several thousand dollars, if any priest, bishop or archbishop living upon the face of the earth can prove before any court of justice in America that I have not always endeavored to live an exemplary life and rigidly taught the doctrines of the Catholic faith, although at times my whole life rebelled at being compelled to do so, but my whole training and long association would invariably get the master of my reason and better judgment, and I would be forced by my superstitious training back into the mystified labyrinths of my childhood’s education.

I stood it until I became tortured day and night by the prod of reason, then I quietly left the church and bade farewell to the heathen Scapular and the ten thousand other trinkets of blind paganism, and resolved to break the chain of this “slave of the soul” and “tyrant of reason.”

In this chapter we want to give the reader some idea of the nonsensical and unreasonableness of the claims of Catholicism, so that you may more fully understand how disgusting it is for a man who endeavors to use his God-given abilities to submit to such abominations.

The Catholic Church depends more upon the saving power of the Scapular than it does upon the saving power of Jesus Christ. Now, this is a broad expression, but I know whereof I speak and I am prepared to back up the assertion with facts.

The Scapular is a veil or cape, which covers the shoulders. It was worn as such by Monks and Nuns, over their dress, but which is best known among Catholics as two little pieces of cloth worn out of devotion, under ordinary garments, and connected by a string which goes around the neck and hangs down, allowing this “trinket” to rest upon the breast.

Catholic children, from their infancy, are taught that this trinket is a preventative against accident and disease, and they actually believe it, and should they lose this “nothing” they at once become miserable and will undergo any hardship to possess another.

It was through the Carmelites (Monks) that this devotion began and I believe that the history that I will relate in regard to it is the first history ever repeated in this or any other country by an ex-priest that ever lived or died.

A man by the name of Simon Stock was elected to the generalship of the Carmelite Order, and this same Simon Stock was considered a Saint, and it is taught by Catholicism that the Virgin Mary appeared to Simon Stock in a vision and exhibited this Scapular and gave Stock to understand that it was to be worn by the Catholic world in the future as a preventative against accident, disease and sudden death.

There is another story which is told in regard to this Scapular, as follows: It is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to Simon Stock in a vision in behalf of the Carmelite Order, which at that time was in great trouble, and gave to Stock a Scapular, which she bore in her hand, in order that it could be worn, and which she guaranteed was an order direct from God Almighty that the Carmelite Order should wear this “trinket,” which would be a preventative from any evil overtaking any of those who did wear it, and further stating that all of those who wore this Scapular “shall never suffer eternal burning.”

It is further stated that Pope John XXII, in his famous Sabbatine Bull, declared that the Virgin Mary had appeared to him and informed him that all the members of the Carmelite Order who wore this Scapular should be gotten out of purgatory by her on the Saturday after their death, and this Pope winds up his declaration with the following sentence: “I accept, corroborate and confirm, in the name of Jesus Christ, for our Glorious Virgin Mary, who has granted this great privilege to those who wear the Scapular.”

This abomination is nothing more nor less than a “tale of fiction,” and promulgated by men who know that it is a positive lie, but they do it in order to mystify the ignorant and to compel them to remain in darkest ignorance.

Now, to convince the reader that Catholicism is as densely ignorant to-day as it ever was, we will bring her history up to date.

Pope Leo, in the good year of 1903, on his death bed, ordered this Carmelite veil brought from Mount Carmel, that he might have assistance from it in his dying hour, and declared that by the assistance of this mythical Scapular that when he died he would go straight to Heaven.

You can take the history of the Roman Catholic Church from the earliest days of its cussedness up to the present time, and you will find that the same heathenish superstition that surrounded it centuries ago still follows it to-day.

Is there any proof that the Virgin Mary appeared to Simon Stock and made to him the promise above related? No proof whatever, only the cungered up proof of the officials of Catholicism, and the Sabbatine Bull of Pope John has no more sense nor righteous meaning in it than the ghost dance of the American Indian.

The Scapular that we above refer to is not the only emblem of heathendom that Catholicism resorts to, but we have a number of others which the Protestant world knows but little about, and especially the Protestants in America, as the Catholic officials do not want “this Scapular business” talked about too much in this country, for fear that the Protestant world will give it the deserving ridicule that it should have. However, we have started out to show up the teachings of Catholicism as they actually exist, and the more light we turn upon this subject the more prominent her abominations will become, consequently we want to mention these other Scapulars.

The first that we will mention is, “The Trinity of White Linen with Red Cross;” the second is, “The Survite Scapular of Seven Dolors,” which is of black woolen stuff; the third is, “The Immaculate Conception,” which is of blue woolen cloth, and the fourth and last Scapular is one that was originated in 1846 by a Sister of Charity in Paris, France, who is said to have received a revelation from God Almighty, and this one is called “The Red Scapular of the Passion.”

While American Catholics are a class far superior in intellect to the Catholics of other nations, they still tenaciously cling to the inert Scapular and believe in its efficacy and power; however, the Catholic Church is getting to have quite a number of these Scapulars, which is causing the intelligent Catholics to become a little doubtful as to which has the greatest “pulling power,” and many of them, in order to make no mistake, wear all five of them in a bunch; thus they are assured that if one fails to get in its work another will come to the rescue, and should they fall off of a train moving 60 miles an hour, this little bunch of woolen goods will save them from a bruise, or should they drink a quart of the essence of strychnine they would be saved from instant death by one of these five Scapulars.

You ask a Catholic to explain the merits of the Scapular and all they can tell you is that if they die during the week that the Virgin Mary will then take them to heaven on the Saturday following, but if they happen to die on a Saturday, bear in mind that the Virgin Mary gives them a cold shoulder until the next Saturday. Now, this is the only explanation that you can get a Catholic to give you in regard to a Scapular.

Is it any wonder that the power to reason is shattered by these cungering devices of Catholicism, and do you wonder that the dense ignorance of Catholic nations are completely under the power of this angel of darkness?

Let us repeat, in conclusion of this chapter, that Romanism is the everlasting enemy of science and individual intellect, as she knows full well that when the broad, effulgent light of Protestantism dawns on the benighted minds of her followers that she at once loses her grasp upon her “hood-winked” dupes, as it is impossible for the teachings of Catholicism to exist side by side with the teachings of Protestantism, provided that those who believe in these Romish abominations care to look above the horizon of Romanism.