Letter from Jesuit Bill Jackson’s Rebuttal in ( )

Following is a letter to Protestants from Mr. Arnold Damen (1815-1890), a Jesuit priest [back when a Catholic could count on Jesuitic orthodoxy]. It has the imprimatur [let it be printed, indicating it has nothing in it contrary to Roman Catholic teaching] of Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York.

My Dearly Beloved Christians, from these words of our Divine Savior, it has already been proved to you, that faith is necessary for salvation. And without faith there is no salvation. Without faith there is eternal damnation. Read your own Protestant Bible [St. Mark 16:16], and you will find it stronger there than in the Catholic Bible.

Now then, what kind of faith must a man have to be saved? Will any faith do? Why, if any faith will do, the devil himself will be saved, for the Bible says the devils believe and tremble.

It is, therefore, not a matter of indifference what religion a man professes. He must profess the right and true religion, and without that, there is no hope of salvation. For it stands to reason, my dear people, that if God reveals a thing or teaches a thing, He wants you to believe it. Not to believe is to insult God.

Doubting His word, or believing with doubt and hesitating, is an insult to God, because it is doubting His Sacred Word. We must, therefore, believe without doubting, without hesitating.

(Mr. Damen’s understanding of faith would be to believe in the dogmas of Rome. Christian faith is faith in a Person. John 3:16 does not promise eternal life to whosoever agrees with church dogma but everlasting like is for those who believe in God’s Son. This belief is not a head knowledge of facts, but a trust from the heart in Jesus Christ. It is from the heart that man believeth unto righteousness according to Romans 10:10).

I have said, outside of the Catholic Church there is no divine faith. Some of the Protestant friends will be shocked at this, to hear me say that outside of the Catholic Church there is no divine faith, and that without faith there is no salvation, but damnation. I will prove all I have said.

(But since their very definition of faith is unbiblical, it cannot be divine faith that comes from God.)

I have said that outside of the Catholic Church there can be no divine faith. What is divine faith? When we believe a thing upon the authority of God, and believe it without doubt, without hesitating. Now, all our separated brethren outside of the Catholic Church take the private interpretation of the Bible for their guide, but the private interpretation of the Bible can never give them divine faith.

(Faith [divine] cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Catholic Tradition is defined by esteemed Catholic theologian Ludwig Ott as a rule of faith. The 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia gives two instances of Roman Catholic Tradition - that Jesus was born on December 25 and that a holy lady named Veronica wiped the face of Jesus with a towel, on which was imprinted the true image [Latin vera icon] of Christ. Neither are true, nor do they pertain to salvation.)

Suppose for a moment, there is a Presbyterian, who reads his Bible. From the reading of his Bible he comes to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is God. Now, you know this is the most essential of all Christian doctrines, the foundation of all Christianity.

(Merely having a head knowledge of the Deity of Christ does not save, unless there be a response of faith in your heart to the Holy Spirit’s inner conviction of your sinfulness and need of salvation, and the provision of Jesus to meet that need. John 15:25, 16:8.)

From the reading of his Bible, he comes to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is God. And he is a sensible man, an intelligent man, and not a presumptuous man. And he says, "Here is my Unitarian neighbor, who is just as reasonable and intelligent as I am, as honest, as learned, and as prayerful as I am.

(Being reasonable, intelligent, honest, learned and prayerful are not prerequisites for Heaven. If he is a truly saved man, he will recognize the need of his Unitarian neighbor and witness to him.)

And from the reading of the Bible, his neighbor comes to the conclusion that Christ is not God at all. "Now," says (the Presbyterian), "to the best of my opinion and judgment, I am right and my Unitarian neighbor is wrong. But after all," says he, "I may be mistaken! Perhaps I have not the right meaning of the text, and if I am wrong, perhaps he is right after all. But, to the best of my opinion and judgment, I am right and he is wrong."

On what does he believe? On what authority? On his own opinion and judgment. And what is that? A human opinion, human testimony, and therefore, a human faith.

(Setting up a straw man and then demolishing him is a favorite tactic of apologists.)

He cannot say positively, "I am sure, positively sure, as sure as there is a God in heaven, that this is the meaning of the text."

(But he can say “I know whom (not what) I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.” The Roman Catholic, whose belief is in human dogma, can never have an absolute certainty of salvation.)

Therefore, he has no other authority but his own opinion and judgment, and what his preacher tells him. But the preacher is a smart man. There are many smart Unitarian preachers also, but that proves nothing. It is only human authority, and nothing else, and therefore, only human faith. What is human faith? Believing a thing upon the testimony of man. Divine faith is believing a thing on the testimony of God.

(Wrong. Divine faith is believing in a Person on the testimony of God. This is reliable. Peter [accused of being a pope] said “We have a more sure word of prophecy [2 Peter 1:19.]

The Catholic has divine faith, and why? Because the Catholic says, "I believe in such and such a thing." Why? "Because the Church teaches me so." And why do you believe the Church? "Because God has commanded me to believe the teaching of the Church. And God has threatened me with damnation, if I do not believe the Church. And we are taught by St. Peter, in his epistle, "No prophecy of Scripture is made by private interpretation ... for the unlearned and unstable wrest ... Scriptures ... to their own destruction."

(By private interpretation, God means any unauthorized interpretation. The Holy Spirit, not the Catholic church, is the authorized infallible interpreter (John 14:26).. Roman Catholic interpretations are without Divine authorization, and are thereby condemned by God.)

That is strong language, my dear people, but that is the language of St. Peter, the head of the Apostles. The unlearned and unstable wrest the Bible to their own damnation! And yet, the Bible is the book of God, the language of inspiration, when we have a true Bible, as we Catholics have, but you Protestants have not.

But, my dearly beloved Protestant friends, do not be offended at me for saying that. Your own most learned preachers and bishops tell you that. Some have written whole volumes in order to prove that the English translation, which you have, is a very faulty and false translation.

(This is an absurd conclusion. There may be unsaved Protestant theologians who discredit the King James Bible, but the saved, Bible believing Christian has a love for God’s Word.)

Now, therefore, I say that the true Bible is what the Catholics have, the Latin Vulgate. And the most learned among the Protestants themselves have agreed that the Latin Vulgate Bible, which the Catholic Church always makes use of, is the best in existence. And therefore, as you may have perceived, when I preach I give the text in Latin, because the Latin text of the Vulgate is the best extant.

(Besides the fact that modern Catholic Bibles have eclipsed the use of the Vulgate, we wonder who “the most learned among Protestants” are who prefer the Latin Vulgate Bible with its many errors. Instead of “repent” they use the term “do penance” and Genesis 3:15 has Satan bruising Mary’s heel.)

Now, they may say that Catholics acknowledge the Word of God, that it is the language of inspiration, and therefore, we are sure that we have the Word of God. But, my dear people, the very best thing may be abused, and therefore, our Divine Savior has given us a living teacher, to give us the true meaning of the Bible.

And He has provided a teacher with infallibility. And this was absolutely necessary, for without infallibility, we could never be sure of our faith. There must be an infallibility. And we see that in every well-ordered government, in every government, in England, in the United States, and in every country, empire and republic, there is a Constitution and a supreme law.

But you are not at liberty to explain the Constitution and supreme law as you think proper. For then, there would be no more law if every man were allowed to explain the law and Constitution as he should think proper.

Therefore, in all governments there is a supreme judge and supreme court, and to the supreme judge is referred all different understandings of the law and the Constitution. By the decisions of the supreme judge all have to abide, and if they did not abide by that decision, my dear people, there would be no law any more, but anarchy, disorder and confusion.

(The recent taking legislative powers to themselves by the U.S. Spireme Court, has caused anarchy, disorder and confusion. That is because of the fallibility of the jurors. The confusion that exists in Romanism today is a result of a supposedly infallible pope who has declined using what Catholics call “the charism of infallibility” to solve the multitudinous problems that face the church today, two of the most glaring being rampant feminism and the New Age movement.)

Again, suppose for a moment that the Blessed Savior has been less wise than human governments. That He had not provided for the understanding of His Constitution, and of His Law of the Church of God. If He had not, my dear people, it would never have stood as it has stood for the last eighteen hundred and fifty-four years. He has then established a Supreme Court, a Supreme Judge in the Church of the Living God.

(God did not authorize an oligarchy of unsaved men to “provide for the understanding of His Constitution.” He authorized the Holy Spirit to be His vicar (substitute) to convict he world, testify of the salvific work of Christ, and teach the truths He had given them (Jn 14:26; 15:26;16:8.

(To this, the Catholic will point to his claims of thousands of conflicting doctrinal teachings in Protestant groups. Of course there are unsaved Protestant churches that do not teach the truth, but there are also saved people who differ on peripheral issues.

(The Truth that comes via the Holy Spirit from God and His Word is infallibly true. However, it must be expressed to the world by finite creatures, none of whom has perfect truth. That is why God told believers to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come to the unity of the faith (Ephesians 4:4,13). Controversy, when entered into in a Christlike spirit, can be a growing factor in a Christian’s life. God did not save robots or perform a lobotomy on Christians, but we are thinking men and women who sincerely do our best to understand scripture, but still welcome those who disagree as fellow citizens in the kingdom of Heaven.)

It is admitted on all sides, by Protestants and Catholics alike, that Christ has established a Church.

(Not a visible Church that is discernable to man, but a Church that is the invisible Church comprising every born again Christian, fellowshiping in a multitude of local churches that do not, however, comprise the Church known only to God and generated directly by Him)

And strange to say, all our Protestant friends acknowledge, too, that he has established only one Church, only one Church.

For whenever Christ speaks of His Church, it is always in the singular.

(see note above. In the epistles, he vast majority of the time the word “churches” or “church” is used it is speaking of a local church.)

Bible readers, remember that. My Protestant friends, pay attention. He says, "Hear the Church," not hear the churches. "I have built My Church upon a rock," not My churches.

(He also said “the churches of Galatia” and had seven discernably different churches in Rev. [Apocalypse] 2,3. When he said “hear the church” it was relative to a local disciplinary problem that was solved by local Christians, not by a dispersed college of bishops.)

Whenever He speaks, whether in figures or parables of His Church, He always conveys to the mind a oneness, a union, a unity.

(That is because the Body of Christ, the Church has a basic unity in answer to Jesus’ prayer of John 17:21. Even the nineteen or more local churches mentioned in the Bible [Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, Thessalonica, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Jerusalem, Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, Athens and Berea] had different customs, problems, strengths and weaknesses.)

He speaks of His Church as a sheepfold, in which there is but one shepherd, that is the head of all.

(He is the Chief Shepherd - 1 Peter 5:4.)

And the sheep are made to follow his voice, "Other sheep I have who are not of this fold." One fold, you see. He speaks of His Church as of a kingdom, in which there is but one king to rule all.

(We do not dispute the oneness of the church, the Body of Christ, but strongly protest any identification of the Roman church as being that Body.)

And He speaks of His Church as a family in which there is but one father at the head. He speaks of His Church as a tree, and all the branches of that tree are connected with the trunk, and the trunk with the roots, and Christ is the root. The trunk is Peter and the Popes, the large branches are the bishops, the smaller branches the priests, and the fruit upon that tree are the faithful throughout the world. The branch, says He, that is cut off from that tree shall wither away, produce no fruit, and is only fit to be cast into the fire, that is, damnation.

(The vine of John 15 can be identified as the olive tree of Romans 11, where the original branches were Israelites and into which individual believers were grafted in. To make Christ the origin of the papacy, which only recently adopted a morality that seemed more moral, is a blasphemy against the spotless Lamb of God.)

This is plain speaking, my dear people, but there is no use in covering the truth. I want to speak the truth to you, as the Apostles preached it in their time: No salvation outside of the Church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

(That is true. Jesus is the only Way, and to be safe in the Ark of salvation is the only Redemption Ground provided.)

Now, which is that Church? There are now three hundred and fifty different Protestant churches in existence, and almost every year one or two more are added. Besides this number, there is the Catholic Church.

(This is a common argument that fails to understand the nature of the Church. It is not a discernable earthly organization, and its composition is known only to God. It is generated not by human sacrament but by supernatural regeneration. It is composed of every individual of every age who has, from the heart, believed unto righteousness.)

Now, which of all these various churches is the one true Church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for all claim to be the Church of Jesus?

But, my dear beloved people, it is evident no church can be the Church of Jesus except the one that was established by Jesus. And when did Jesus establish His Church? When? When He was here upon earth. And how long ago is it that Christ was upon earth? Y

ou know our Christian era dates from Him. He was born many centuries ago. That is an historical fact admitted by all. He lived on earth thirty-three years. That was about nineteen centuries before our time. That is the time Christ established His Church on earth. Any Church, that has not existed this long, is not the Church of Jesus Christ, but is the institution or invention of some man, but not of God, not of Christ.

(Every blood-bought saint of God, from New Testament times until the end of the world, is a member of the One True Church, the Body of Christ.)

Now, where is the Church and which is the Church that has existed this long? All history informs you, it is the Catholic Church. She, and she only, among all Christian denominations on the face of the earth, has existed so long.

(Godly history informs us that what we know now as the Roman Catholic church did not exist in the first century, but was a product of the marriage of Constantinism and a human organization that, contrary to Christ’s explicit order (Matthew 20:25,26) adopted the Jewish/Gentile (Roman) form of government, known as the Hierarchy rule by priests)

All history, bears testimony to this, not only Catholic history, but Pagan history, Jewish history and Protestant history, indirectly. The history of nations, of all people, bears testimony that the Catholic Church is the oldest and the first. It is the one established by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

(Historians can do something God cannot do; they can change history.)

If there be any Protestant preacher who can prove that the Catholic Church has come into existence since that time, let him come to see me, and I will give him a thousand dollars. My dear preachers, here is a chance of making money, a thousand dollars for you.

(I wish Mr. Damer were still alive!)

Not only all history, but all the monuments of antiquity bear testimony to this, and all the nations of the earth proclaim it. Call on one of your preachers and ask him which was the first church, the first Christian Church. Was it the Presbyterian, the Episcopalian, the Church of England, the Methodist, the Universalist or the Unitarian?

And they will answer you, it was the Catholic Church.

(That there are Protestant “clergy” that are ignorant of the true beginnings of Romanism may be true, but any Christian can see more paganism in sacraments that were enacted well after the first century.)

But, my dear friend, if you admit that the Catholic Church is the first and the oldest, the Church established by Christ, why are you not a Catholic? To this they answer that the Catholic Church has become corrupted, has fallen into error, and therefore, it was necessary to establish a new church. A new church, a new religion.

And to this we answer, if the Catholic Church had been once the true church, then she is still true, and shall be the true Church of God to the end of time, or Jesus Christ has deceived us.

(You have been deceived, it is true, but not by the spotless Lamb of God. Another satanic concept of Christ has come in, and by clever counterfeits has deceived you into believing that Romanism is the true church.

Hear me Jesus, hear what I say! I say, that if the Catholic Church now, in the nineteenth century, is not the true Church of God as she was 1854 years ago, then I say, Jesus, Thou hast deceived us and Thou art an impostor! And if I do not speak the truth, Jesus, strike me dead in this pulpit. Let me fall dead in this pulpit, for I do not want to be a preacher of a false religion!

(The Jesus of Catholicism will never admit to his deception until the day he is forced to his knees to worship the one true Saviour - the Christ of the Bible.)

I will prove what I have said. If the Catholic Church has been once the true Church of God, as admitted by all,

(What a quantum leap, unsupported by facts. There have always been Christians who preached that Romanism is, as John Knox famously said, “the kirk [church] of the devil,”)

then she is the true Church still, and shall be the true Church of God until the end of time. For Christ has promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. He says that He has built it upon a rock, and that the gates of hell shall never prevail against it.

Now, my dear people, if the Catholic Church has fallen into error, then the gates of hell have prevailed against her. And if the gates of hell have prevailed against her, then Christ has not kept his promise. Then He has deceived us, and if He has deceived us, then He is an impostor! If He be an impostor, then He is not God, and if He be not God, then all Christianity is a cheat and an imposition.

Again, in St. Matthew, 28:19-20. Our Divine Savior says to His Apostles: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. Lo," says He, "I, Jesus, The Son of the Living God, I, the Infinite Wisdom, the Eternal Truth, am with you all days, even until the end of the world."

Christ, then, solemnly swears that He shall be with His Church (not Roman Catholicism) all days to the end of time, to the consummation of the world. But Christ cannot remain with the Church that teaches error, or falsehood, or corruption. If, therefore, the Catholic Church has fallen into error and corruption, as our Protestant friends say she has, then Christ must have abandoned her.

(No, we say Roman Catholicism never had the Truth)

If so, He has broken His oath. If He has broken His oath He is a perjurer, and there is no Christianity at all. Again, our Divine Savior [St. John, 14th chapter] has promised that He would send to His Church the Spirit of Truth, to abide with her forever. If, then, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, teaches the Church all truth and teaches her all truth forever, then there never has been, and never can be, one single error in the Church of God. For where there is all truth, there is no error whatsoever.

Christ has solemnly promised that He will send to the Church the Spirit of Truth, who shall teach all truth forever. Therefore, there has never been a single error in the Church of God, or Christ has failed in His promises if there has.

(Was the trial of the corpse of Formosus not an error? Or the house arrest of Galileo? Or the failing to honor the safe conduct of Huss and burning him? Or the Inquisition?)

Again, Christ commands us to hear and believe the teachings of the Church in all things, at all times and in all places. He does not say hear the Church for a thousand years or for fifteen hundred years, but hear the Church, without any limitation, without any reservation, or any restriction of time whatever. That is, at all times, in all things until the end of time. And he that does not hear the Church let him be unto thee, says Christ, as a heathen and as a publican.

(The scripture he is referring to is Matthew 18:17, which dealt with a brother who trespassed against you [v. 15]). To try to expand it in this way is ludicrous.)

Therefore, Christ says that those who refuse to hear the Church must be looked upon as heathens, and what is a heathen? One that does not worship the true God. And a publican is a public sinner. This is strong language. Could Christ command me to believe the Church if the Church could have led me astray, or could lead me into error? If the teaching of the Church be corrupt, could He, the God of truth, command me without any restriction or limitation to hear and believe the teachings of the Church which He has established?

(This argument is taking for granted that the Church spoken of in Matthew’s Gospel is the Roman Catholic Church. Without presupposing that this true, we can more easily fit the Body of Christ, the Church known only to God, into Matthew 16:18 and the local church into Matthew 18:17.)

Again, Our Divine Savior commands me to hear and believe the teaching of the Church in the same manner as if He Himself were to speak to us. "He that heareth you, heareth Me," says He to the Apostles, "And he that despiseth you, despiseth Me." So when I believe what the Church teaches, I believe what God teaches.

(But if I believe what the false, counterfeit church teaches, I will be led into error.)

If I refuse what the Church teaches, I refuse what God teaches.

(But if I refuse what the counterfeit church teaches, I will be pleasing to God.)

So that Christ has made the Church the organ by which He speaks to man. He tells us positively that we must believe the teaching of the Church as if He Himself were to speak to us.

Therefore, says St. Paul, in his Epistle to Timothy, "The Church is the ground", that is, the strong foundation, "and the pillar of the truth." Take the ground or foundation of this edifice away, and it crumbles down. So with regard to these pillars, upon which the roof rests, take them away and the roof will fall in. So St. Paul says, "The Church is the ground and the pillar of truth," and the moment you take away the authority of the Church of God you induce all kinds of errors and blasphemous doctrines. Do we not see it?

(Paul does call the church the pillar and ground of the truth. This church was something in which Timothy could behave himself in, which does not give the sense it is a massive universal structure. Further, a pillar is something which holds the something high, and what better picture could be found that the local church which proclaims the truth of the Gospel, rather than the sacramental system of Rome.)

In the sixteenth century Protestantism did away with the authority of the Church and constituted every man his own judge of the Bible, and what was the consequence? Religion upon religion, church upon church, sprang into existence, and has never stopped springing up new churches, to this day. When I gave my Mission in Flint, Michigan, I invited, as I have done here, my Protestant friends to come and see me. A good and intelligent man came to me and said:

I will avail myself of this opportunity to converse with you."

"What Church do you belong to, my friend," said I.

"To the Church of the Twelve Apostles," said he.

"Ha! ha!" said I, "I belong to that Church too. But, tell me, my friend, where was your Church started?"

"In Terre Haute, Indiana," says he.

"Who started the Church, and who were the Twelve Apostles, my friend?" said I.

"They were twelve farmers," said he; "we all belonged to the same Church, the Presbyterian, but we quarreled with our preacher, separated from him, and started a Church of our own."

"And that," said I, "is the Twelve Apostles you belonged to, twelve farmers of Indiana! The Church came into existence about thirty years ago."

A few years ago, when I was in Terre Haute, I asked to be shown the Church of the Twelve Apostles. I was taken to a window and it was pointed out to me, "but it is not in existence any more," said my informant, "it is used as a wagonmaker's shop now."

Again, St. Paul, in his Epistles to the Galatians, says: "Though we Apostles, or even an angel from heaven were to come and preach to you a different Gospel from what we have preached, let him be anathema." That is the language of St. Paul, because, my dearly beloved people, religion must come from God, not from man. No man has a right to establish a religion. No man has a right to dictate to his fellow-man what he shall believe and what he shall do to save his soul. Religion must come from God, and any religion that is not established by God is a false religion, a human institution, and not an institution of God. And therefore did St. Paul say in his Epistles to the Galatians, "Though we Apostles or even an angel from heaven were to come and preach to you a new Gospel, a new religion, let them be anathema."

(That rather ludicrous story of the “Twelve Apostles” pervades the Catholic mentality simply because they fail to understand the invisibility of a church, generated by God and absolutely known only to God.)

You see, then, my dearly beloved people, from the text of the Scripture I have quoted that, if the Catholic Church has been once the true Church, then she is still the true Church.

(The [Roman] Catholic Church was never the true church.)

You have also seen from what I have said that the Catholic Church is the institution of God, and not of man, and this is a fact, a fact of history, and no fact of history so well supported, so well proved, as that the Catholic Church is the first, the Church established by Jesus Christ.

(We protest!!! This is not the case, and it is only “proved” by historians who have been fooled by Satan’s Masterful Counterfeit, the Roman Catholic Church.)

So, in like manner, it is an historical fact that all the Protestant churches are the institutions of man, every one of them. And I will give you their dates, and the names of their founders or institutors.

(It is true that in certain years, denominational structures have arisen in various places. But it is also true that over a millennium before the Reformation, there were Christian groups that stood against Roman Catholic errors.

(Notable among these were the Waldensians, the Valley Folk of Piedmont. Their statement of Faith, the Noble Lesson, is thoroughly evangelical and dates from about 1000 AD. Their sufferings under Rome were unmatched in any hagiography (study of saints). Their contribution to the Reformation was signal. Their love of the Truth was without peer.)

In the year 1520, 368 years ago, the first Protestant came into the world. Before that one, there was not a Protestant in the world, not one on the face of the whole earth. And that one, as all history tells us, was Martin Luther. He was a Catholic priest, who fell away from the Church through pride, and married a nun. He was excommunicated from the Church, cut off, banished, and made a new religion of his own.

Before Martin Luther there was not a Protestant in the world. He was the first to raise the standard of rebellion and revolt against the Church of God. He said to his disciples that they should take the Bible for their guide, and they did so. But they soon quarreled with him, Zuinglius (sic), and a number of others, and every one of them started a new religion of his own.

After the disciples of Martin Luther came John Calvin, who in Geneva established the Presbyterian religion, and hence, almost all of those religions go by the name of their founder.

I ask the Protestant, "Why are you a Lutheran, my friend?"

"Well," says he, "because I believe in the doctrine of good Martin Luther."

Hence, not of Christ, but of man, Martin Luther. And what kind of a man was he? A man who had broken the solemn oath he had made at the altar of God, at his ordination, ever to lead a pure, single, and virginal life. He broke that solemn oath, and married a Sister Catherine, who had also taken the same oath of chastity and virtue.

And this is the first founder of Protestantism in the world. The very name by which they are known tells you they came from Martin Luther.

So the Presbyterians are sometimes called Calvinists because they come from, or profess to believe in, John Calvin.

After them came Henry VIII. He was a Catholic, and defended the Catholic religion. He wrote a book against Martin Luther in defense of the Catholic doctrine. That book, I have seen in the library of the Vatican at Rome a few years ago. Henry VIII defended the religion, and for doing so was titled by the Pope, "Defender of the Faith." It came down with his successors and Queen Victoria inherits it today. He was married to Catherine of Aragon, but there was at his court a maid of honor to the Queen, named Ann Boleyn, who was a beautiful woman and captivating in appearance. Henry was determined to have her, but he was a married man. He sent a petition to the Pope asking to be allowed to marry her, and a foolish petition it was, for the Pope had no power to grant it. The Pope and all the bishops in the world cannot go against the will of God. Christ says: "If a man putteth away his wife and marrieth another, he commiteth adultery, and he that marrieth her who is put away committeth adultery also."

As the Pope would not grant the prayer of Henry's petition, he took Ann Boleyn, anyhow, and was excommunicated from the Church.

After a while there was another maid of honor, prettier than the first, more beautiful and charming in the eyes of Henry, and he said he must have her too. He took the third wife, and a fourth, fifth and sixth followed. Now this is the founder of the Anglican Church, the Church of England.

Our Episcopalian friends are making great efforts, nowadays, to call themselves Catholic, but they shall never come to it. They admit that the name Catholic is a glorious one and they would like to possess it. The Apostles said, "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church."

They never said, in the Anglican Church. The Anglicans deny their religion, for they say they believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church. Ask them, are they Catholics, and they say, "Yes, but not Roman Catholics. We are English Catholics." What is the meaning of the word Catholic? It comes from the Greek word Catholicus, universal, spread all over the earth, and everywhere the same. Now, first of all, the Anglican Church is not spread all over the earth. It only exists in a few countries, and chiefly only where the English language is spoken.

Secondly, they are not the same all over the earth, for there are now four different Anglican churches: The Low Church, the High Church, the Ritualist Church and the Puseyite Church. Catholic means more than this, not only (continued to spread all over the earth and everywhere the same, but it means, moreover, at all times the same, from Christ up to the present day. Now, then, they have not been in existence from the time of Christ. There never was an Episcopalian Church or an Anglican Church before Henry VIII. The Catholic Church had already existed fifteen hundred years before the Episcopal came into the world.

After Episcopalianism, different other churches sprang up.

Next came the Methodist, about one hundred and fifty years ago. It was started by John Wesley, who was at first a member of the Episcopalian Church. Subsequently, he joined the Moravian Brethren, but not liking them, he made a religion of his own, the Methodist Church.

After John Wesley several others sprang up, and finally, came the Campbellites, about sixty years ago. This Church was established by Alexander Campbell, a Scotchman.

Well, now, my dear beloved people, you may think that the act of the twelve apostles of Indiana was a ridiculous one, but they had as much right to establish a church as had Henry VIII, or Martin Luther, or John Calvin. They had no right at all, and neither had Henry VIII, nor the rest of them, no right whatsoever.

Christ had established His Church and given His solemn oath that His Church should stand to the end of time. He promised that He had built it upon rock, and that the gates of hell should never prevail against it. Hence, my dear people, all those different denominations of religion are the inventions of man. And I ask you, can man save the soul of his fellow-man by any institution he can make? Must not religion come from God?

And, therefore, my dearly beloved separated brethren, think over it seriously. You have a soul to be saved, and that soul must be saved or damned, either one or the other.

It will dwell with God in heaven or with the devil in hell. Therefore, seriously meditate upon it.

When I gave my Mission in Brooklyn several Protestants became Catholics. Among them there was a very highly educated and intelligent Virginian. He was a Presbyterian. After he had listened to my lecture he went to see his minister, and he asked him to be kind enough to explain a text of the Bible. The minister gave him the meaning.

"Well now," said the gentleman, "are you positive and sure that is the meaning of the text, for several other Protestants explain it differently?" "Why, my dear young man," says the preacher, "we never can be certain of our faith." "Well then," says the young man, "good-bye to you. If I cannot be sure of my faith in the Protestant Church, I will go where I can," and he became a Catholic.

We are sure of our faith in the Catholic Church, and if our faith is not true, Christ has deceived us. I would, therefore, beg you, my separated brethren, to procure yourselves Catholic books. You have read a great deal against the Catholic Church, now read something in favor of it. You can never pass an impartial sentence if you do not hear both sides of the question.

What would you think of a judge, before whom, a policeman would bring a poor offender. And who on the charge of the policeman, without hearing the prisoner, would order him to be hung? "Give me a hearing," says the poor man, "and I will prove my innocence. I am not guilty," says he. The policeman says he is guilty. "Well, hang him anyhow," says the judge. What would you say of that judge? Criminal judge, unfair man, you are guilty of the blood of the innocent! Would not you say that? Of course you would.

Well now, my dearly beloved Protestant friends, that is that is what you have been doing all along. You have been hearing one side of the question and condemning us Catholics, as a superstitious lot of people, poor ignorant people, idolatrous people, non-sensical people, going and telling their sins to the priest. And what, after all, is the priest more than any other man? My dear friends, have you examined the other side of the question?

No, you do not think it worth your while. But this is the way the Jews dealt with Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And this is the way the Pagans and Jews dealt with the Apostles, the ministers of the Church, and with the primitive Christians.

Allow me to tell you, my friends, that you have been treating us precisely in the same way the Jews and Pagans treated Jesus Christ and His Apostles. I have said this evening hard things, but if St. Paul were here tonight, in this pulpit, he would have said harder things still. I have said them, however, not through a spirit of unkindness, but through a spirit of love, and a spirit of charity, in the hope of opening your eyes that your souls may be saved. It is love for your salvation, my dearly beloved Protestant brethren, for which I would gladly give my heart's blood, my love for your salvation that has made me preach to you as I have done.

"Well," say my Protestant friends, "if a man thinks he is right would not he be right?" Let us suppose now a man in Ottawa, who wants to go to Chicago, but takes a car for New York. The conductor asks for his ticket, and he at once says, "You are in the wrong car, your ticket is for Chicago, but you are going to New York." "Well, what of that?" says the passenger, "I mean well." "Your meaning will not go well with you in the end," says the conductor, "for you will come out at New York instead of Chicago."

You say you mean well, my dear friends, but your meaning will not take you to heaven. You must do well also. "He that doeth the will of My Father," says Jesus, "he alone shall be saved." There are millions in hell who meant well.

You must do well, and be sure you are doing well, to be saved. I thank my separated brethren for their kindness in coming to these controversial lectures. I hope I have said nothing to offend them. Of course, it would be nonsense for me not to preach Catholic doctrines.

(We allowed Mr. Damer to give us this “history” lesson without interruptions so that you would get a feeling for the kind of arguments you may come up against.

(You will probably not make much impression if you discuss the relevancy of these points. Regarding false prophets, Jesus said you could know them by their fruits, not by their supposed roots. IF the Roman Catholic Church had been formed in 33 AD but exhibited the very essence of its being as fully rotten, we would have to conclude it to be satanic, not divine.

(There is no objective evidence of a Petrine papacy in the first century. There is no historic proof of Apostolic Succession. The combined acts of all the popes presents to us a scenario worse that a religious Peyton Place.

(The 138 years of “infallible” popes making just one dogmatic statement that is universally accepted as infallible makes a farce of the “teaching Church.”

(The scandals of Rome, from “gay” clergy to child molesters has loomed so noticeably on the horizon to make holiness a sign of the church would be comical, if it were not for the hundreds of youth whose lives have been impacted by lustful priests, some of whom thought chastity only meant not fooling around with women; or who prided themselves in foregoing marriage [celibacy] while they kept a “housekeeper” in bed.)

(On top of all this, they insist on a works/sacrament plan of salvation that will keep millions from enjoying the bliss of Heaven sacrificially purchased at Calvary.

(Yes, you decide. And once you recognize Rome for what she is, reach out in loving evangelism to your Catholic friend, who, bless his heart, is still trying to do his best to gain Heaven - an eternity already purchased for him.)