Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today [1868]

[Stone]

XVI. Protestantism Is Disheartening.

— God is the Maker of both the heart of man and of the Catholic Church; and God has made the Catholic Church wonderfully adapted to all the needs and requirements of the human heart.*

Her doctrinal authority meets our wants for a belief, for without authority there is no faith. The ceremonies of her ritual satisfy our nature, composed as it is of body and soul, and needing to blend material elements to the purely spiritual acts of her adorations. Confession fills the want of penance and mercy — a want felt at the very bottom of the sinful soul. The invocation of saints, the prayers offered for the departed souls, foster the sentiment of eternal union of souls with God and of solidarity of men among themselves — and so on with all the dogmas, all the precepts, and all the practices of the Church.

Protestantism is cold, formal, naked, just like the walls of its temples, wherein only the absence of God is felt.

Oh, the poor soul, estranged or wilful, who, like the prodigal son in the Gospel, quits the father's home to wander over the distant and dismal lands of error! — once out of the bracing atmosphere wherein God had, in his mercy, placed her birth, she breathes only in a frozen blast, and finds naught but void and desolation.

As for him who becomes a Protestant, no hope of control when passion rages, yet great comfort at the moment he repents — no guide when doubt tosses him about, yet a more bountiful pardon after his fall, a more merciful confessor to console him, and to pardon him in the name and with the authority of God. Poor apostate! for him no more the beautiful ceremonies of the Church. The images of our Lord, of the Blessed Virgin, and of the saints, become emblems of idolatry! — no more crucifix, no more the sign of the cross: it is idolatry! — no more prayers; no more respect or love for the Mother of God: idolatry! — no more trusting the intercession of saints, patrons in heaven, advocates, protectors near God: idolatry!

And when the hour of death is drawing near — when the unfortunate man is left to himself, about standing before God covered with the sins of his whole life — no priest to administer the last sacraments of the Church, no priest to tell him with all the power of divine authority, "Poor sinner, take courage; thou canst die in peace, because Jesus has given me the power to forgive thee thy sins, and I pardon thee in his name."

Nor is this all. The apostate's body shall not be carried to the Church; it shall be carried straight on to an unblessed place of burial — unblessed, because such benedictions are only idolatry in the eyes of Protestants. Lastly, if his children have turned Protestants like their father, they are forbidden to pray for their father; for, Protestantism admits neither purgatory nor prayers for departed souls: it is all idolatry. No, that dreary worship will not allow a prayer for the poor dead, nor a compassionate visit to their last dwelling-place. Some impotent and unfelt tears when the last sod of earth falls on the coffin, and it is all over between them and ourselves!

As for myself, I must say, this one thought would be ample proof to convince me of the absolute falseness of Protestantism. The want of praying for those whom we have loved and lost, is so deep-felt, so peremptory, so natural to man's heart, that a religion denying its being met, and forbidding its being filled, is condemned in advance.

She only expressed a universal sentiment, that poor little girl of ten years old, when beside the dead body of her mother, she said to me with a wonderful determination: "When I am grown up, and will have become the mistress of my own actions, I'll be a Catholic: I do not wish to be of a creed which forbids me to love the Holy Virgin and to pray for my mother."

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* See "The Functions of the Subjective in Religion," by Very Rev. W. H. Anderdon, D.D., M.A., Oxon., in "The Catholic World," Nov., 1867, pp. 175, etc.

[Stone]

XVII. The Judgment of Death.

— It has been remarked that death is the echo of life. At the solemn approach of death sophisms lose their force, illusions melt away, and conscience asserts its rights. During the process entered by Protestants against the Church, let us appeal to the verdict of a supreme authority — the verdict of death.

There are Protestants who have become Catholics, and there are Catholics who have turned Protestants. Let us watch and see how they die.

At death's point, as well as during their lives, the numberless Protestants who have re-entered the pale of the Church were full of hope and in a most serene state of mind; not a word of regret from their lips, not the least remorse to ripple the tranquillity of their souls, not a doubt to give them the least anxiety. They believe, and love, and pray, and give up their souls to God, with thanks because he has received them in the Catholic Church! I defy all the Protestants in the world to quote one single instance in contradiction to this statement.

All those doctors, and ministers, and men highly educated and perfectly independent, who, raised in Protestantism, and knowing it to its very depth, have abandoned it to become Catholics — all, without a single exception, die, like the illustrious Count de Stolberg, the greatest among them, full of joy and love of God, blessing Him because He had led him to know His true Church, and beseeching his children to pray for the dead, and to persevere in the Catholic Church. After receiving the last sacraments in the most humble attitude, he died with these words on his lips: "Blessed be Jesus Christ!"

How different the death of apostates! Even when not lost to every sentiment of faith in God and in an immortal soul — even when not hardened into materialism and atheism — what anxiety, what pangs of conscience, what terrors toss them on the pillow of death! Then they remember that holy Church they have forsaken, and why they have forsaken it! The world, with all its endearments and charms, fades away from before their eyes aghast at the approaching sight of judgment and eternity! Yea; if the least belief in the Holy Scripture is still alive in their hearts, they remember Christ's words, "What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?"

The death-bed of the founders of Protestantism — all apostates, and, for the most, apostate priests — bears us out in our assertion, and with a terribly overwhelming evidence.

Luther despaired of the salvation of his soul. Shortly before his death, his concubine pointed to the brilliancy of the stars in the firmament.

"See, Martin, how beautiful that heaven is!"

"It does not shine in our behalf," replied the master, moodily.

"Is it because we have broken our vows?" resumed Kate, in dismay.

"May be," said Luther.

"If so, let us go back."

"Too late! The hearse is stuck in the mire," — and he would hear no more.

At Eisleben, on the day previous to that on which he was stricken with apoplexy, he remarked to his friends: "I have almost lost sight of the Christ, tossed as I am by these waves of despair which overwhelm me." And after a while, "I, who have imparted salvation to so many, cannot save myself."

Above I have quoted his blasphemous testament. He died forlorn of God — blaspheming to the very end. His last word was an attestation of impenitence. His eldest son, who had doubts both about the Reformation and the Reformer, asked him for a last time whether he persevered in the doctrine he preached. "Yes," replied a gurgling sound from the old sinner's throat — and Luther was before his God!*

Schusselburg, a Protestant, writes: "Calvin died of scarlet fever, devoured by vermin, and eaten up by an ulcerous abscess, the stench whereof drove away every person." — (*Theol. Calvin.* t. ii. p. 72.) In great misery he gave up his rascally ghost, despairing of salvation, evoking the devils from the abyss, and uttering oaths most horrible and blasphemies most frightful.

John Hazen, a disciple of Calvin and an eye-witness of his death, writes thus: "Calvin died in despair. He died a death hideous and revolting, such as God has threatened the impious and reprobate with." — (*De vita Calvini.*) And he adds, "I can vouch for the truth of what I say, because I have been an eye-witness."

Spalatin, Justus Jonas, Isinder, and a host of other friends of Luther, died either in despair or crazy.

Henry VIII died bewailing that he had lost heaven; and his worthy daughter Elizabeth breathed her last in deep desolation, stretched on the floor — not daring to lie in bed, because, at the first attack of her illness, she thought she saw her body all torn to pieces and palpitating in a caldron of fire.

Let, then, in the presence of such frightful deaths and of the thought of eternity, those of our unfortunate brethren who may be tempted to abandon their Church, remember that a day will come when they will also be summoned to appear before God! Let them think, in their sober senses, of death and of judgment and of hell, and I pledge my word they will not think of becoming Protestants.

In a place upon the borders of Northern Germany there formerly lived a priest who had become careless of all the duties of his state. Falling from excess into excess, he went so far as to deny his faith, and, fleeing his native place, he became a Protestant. Then he secured a place, and from a teacher of truth he became a teacher of false doctrines. Many years did the unfortunate man remain in that state of enmity with his God. On a certain occasion he was the guest of a famous preacher in a large city, who had gathered around his table many pastors of the neighborhood. Amid the enjoyments of the table, word was sent to the master that a poor man had fallen dangerously ill, and seemed to be in great need of spiritual assistance. The pastor, bound to entertain his guests, could not attend the call, and our apostate offered his services in his stead. The offer was accepted, and he went. He was led to a chamber where lay an old man at the point of death, and in utmost despair of his salvation. The parson read to him some passages from the Scriptures; but to all the dying man replied, "I am lost — no pardon for me — woe to me! I am damned!"

The visitor endeavored to comfort him and to inspire him with feelings of confidence.

"No use," replied the other, "no use; no one can give me help; the road to heaven is closed against me; my crime is too great; I am lost!"

"But, for the love of God, why so? What is it that weighs on your heart so heavily?"

The dying man replied only by words of despair. At last he gave in to the pastor's remonstrances, and said, "What renders my case hopeless is that I am an apostate priest, and then the crimes I have added to my apostasy, and my resisting so much to the graces of God, and to all the advances of the divine mercy, which I have repelled. . . . Alas! it is too great a sin for me to sue for pardon; I am lost; none can bring aid to me!"

The disclosure threw the visitor's soul into a cruel agony, as he recognized in the sick man his own fearful destiny. But his former faith worked again in his heart, as he thought of the divine and inamissible power given to the priest in the Sacrament of Order. Accordingly he addressed the wretched man with great feeling thus: "Dear brother, I can aid you, as sure as God exists; I can give you aid! . . . I, also, am a Catholic priest, believe me; but, alas! I am like yourself a renegade and excommunicated; but, with the priestly power I possess, I can open the gates of heaven to a dying man."

The wretched man felt as if an angel had come from heaven to give him hope and salvation. Overwhelmed by such a proof of the infinite mercy of his God, who, at the very last hour of his life, offered him pardon, and with pardon the renewal of all former favors, and an assurance of salvation, with sentiments of a most vivid sorrow and most sincere repentance, he made a confession of his sins, received absolution, and died in the peace of the Lord. Such a triumph of the divine love, that wishes the salvation of all men, and goes in quest of the worst sinners to their very last breath, made such an impression on him who had been chosen to achieve it, and his heart was at once so changed by the all-powerful grace of God, that he resolved to retrace his steps. Accordingly as he re-entered the hall where his clerical friends were still enjoying the feast, he addressed them thus: "Gentlemen, farewell! I am going back to the bosom of the Catholic Church, that I have so wantonly abandoned. I have just witnessed how horrible is the death of an apostate. I found myself to be a priest still, and I have been an instrument of mercy in the hands of God; and now that very infinite mercy calls me also to repentance, to reconciliation, and to salvation. Farewell!"

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* The last descendant of Luther died not long ago a fervent Catholic.

[Stone]

XVIII. Protestantism and Infidelity.


— The infidels and rationalists of our times greatly sympathize with Protestantism and the work of the Reformation; they look upon Luther and Calvin as their grandsires, and they have reason for it. Protestants who still remain Christians will deny it, yet it is a fact that the infidelity which rends modern society is the fatal but logical consequence of the religious rebellion of the sixteenth century.

The Protestant rejects, on the claim of private judgment, a part of the Christian truths which the Church teaches to the world by the authority of Christ. The infidel, in the name of the same freedom, goes farther and rejects all Christian truths.

The Protestant rejects the Church because he does not believe it to be of divine institution. The infidel rejects Christ because he does not believe him to be really God.

It is the same principle with both. It is the individual reason which takes the place of faith, that is, of the submission of the spirit to divine authority. The Protestant, whether he believes it or not, is an infidel in germ, and the infidel is a Protestant in full bloom.*

Infidelity exists in Protestantism as the oak exists in the acorn, as the consequence is in the premise. Down the road of negation the descent is very steep and slippery. If the freedom of judgment in a Lutheran, or his reason, or the view he takes, as you may be better pleased to call it, leads him to reject the authority of the Pope, Vicar of Jesus Christ, that same free judgment leads the Calvinist to reject the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist — a dogma, however, preserved by the Lutherans. According to the same principle, the Socinians, the ministers at Geneva, and a crowd of other ministers, following the footsteps of Voltaire and Rousseau, reject to-day the divinity of Jesus Christ, and therefore abjure Christianity and fall back into utter incredulity; and all in consequence of that freedom of conscience. But our German and French philosophers, rationalists and pantheists of all degrees, do not even stop at that — go farther, and deny the existence of a God Creator, and all by the privilege of free and private judgment.

Now, I say it again, and all Protestants must needs say it with me, this private judgment is Protestantism in its essential principle. Then Luther, the father of private judgment and of Protestantism, is the father of all infidelity, the father of all anti-Christian negation.†

Eugene Rendu, in his "Report on Public Instruction in Germany," writes: "I was in Jena two months before the opening of the Synod which was to assemble in Eisenach the pastors of the different States of Germany. Said I to a distinguished professor of divinity in the University of Jena, 'Will they discuss dogmatic questions and doctrines?' 'No,' he replied, 'only liturgy and simple questions of form will be deliberated. As for the rest, it is out of question for us to agree. When we meet on dogmatic field, pshaw! it is all over (pouf, tout disparaît!)'"

Eugene Sue, at the head of the anti-Christian league, among a thousand other things, has written the following, which I recommend to the careful consideration of all Catholics, and all the many Protestants who love truth. He writes: "Free men, radical men, and rationalists have probably been very indiscreet in attacking Protestantism — a sort of transitory religion, . . . a bridge, so to speak, over which we may reach a pure rationalism, at the same time allowing the false necessity of a worship, which the mass of the people will not as yet know how to do away with. . . . We, free-thinkers, well aware of dangers inherent to all religions, admit the necessity of a religion (transitory, it is true), for, we must say it, we need distinguish the possible from what is desirable. It must be acknowledged that there are several degrees in evil, and that the least thereof is preferable to the whole" — that is, this "whole evil" is Jesus Christ and his Church, religion, and the Catholics.

Then passing from theory to practice, Eugene Sue draws the impious rules of an association whose members shall not baptize their children, nor marry with religious rites, nor bring their dead to the Church; in one word, will altogether renounce any and every practice of religion.

Another man, Edgar Quinet, a great herald of Protestantism, and son-in-law of a parson, styles the Protestant sects the thousand gates open to get out of Christianity.

You will say, "Our Protestants generally speaking do not go so far as that." True: there are degrees in Protestantism, and absolute infidelity is only Protestantism in the highest degree.

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* Rev. Dr. Wharton, who died in 1832 (?), minister of a Protestant church at Elizabethtown, N. J., was born of an ancient Catholic family in Maryland related to the famous Carrolls, became a Jesuit, professed in that order, and in 1774 apostatized in Worcester, England. He married twice. "Poor old Dr. Wharton is continually tortured by his conscience. His cook at the parsonage house near Trenton, New Jersey, a good Irish Catholic, fell dangerously sick, and, as no priest could be procured, Wharton said to her: 'Although I am a parson, I am also a Catholic priest, and can give you absolution in your case.' She made her confession and he absolved her." Père Grivel, who wrote this letter May 30, 1832, had this account from Mr. Wharton's nephew, a good Catholic, and a magistrate in Washington. Shortly after, the unhappy man was summoned before the tribunal of God.

* In 1852 we remember a distinguished American reviewer to assert that he knew only two consistent Protestants, to wit: Dr. Parker and Father Lampson. Our Boston friends, who must well remember the eccentricities of the latter, will at once see the point.

† Such was the feeling of Henry IV. when he was a stanch Calvinist. As regards piety he found Turk and Protestant to be alike. Said he to the Marquise of Verneuil: "D—n me, were I not Huguenot, I'll turn Turk."

[Stone]

XIX. Protestantism and Revolution.


— All Protestantism is of itself revolutionist. I do not say "all Protestants," but "all Protestantism," for I know very well that man is not always so consistent as to make his actions harmonize with his belief. Often he is worth more for what he does than for what he thinks. As we unfortunately meet mad revolutionists among Catholics, so we do meet Protestants who are sincere lovers of order. But here we do not deal with Protestants, but with Protestantism, and I say it again — all Protestantism is revolutionist.

Whilst Catholicity is a submission of heart and mind to the authority of the Church, Protestantism is the negation of all authority in matters of religion.

Now, if we once admit the principle that man should not acknowledge any religious authority, is it not a simple, natural, and logical inference that he is no more bound to acknowledge a political or civil authority?

"Why should not those who have refused obedience to the Church, refuse also obedience to the State? Protestantism — that is, the rebellion against religious authority — contains in its bowels the seed of rebellion against all political authority.

"The history of Protestantism gives a most luminous proof of this truth. Wherever it was proclaimed, its first appeal to Christians to revolt against the Pope was immediately succeeded by an appeal to the nations to rebel against their sovereigns. The very tongues of the leaders of the Reformation, who uttered these atrocious blasphemies against the Head of the Church, belched forth afterward the bloodiest insults against the heads of the State. For such geniuses of disorder, whilst the Sovereign Pontiff was only a tyrant, princes were monsters, and the religious wars, which in those wretched days covered with blood the fields of Germany, England, and France, were not, after all, but wars of revolution.*

"Since then, Protestantism has ever sympathized with rebellions, and every rebellion has given to Protestantism its most unequivocal testimony of sympathy. Protestantism has ever been radically revolutionist, as every rebellion has essentially been Protestant.

"The spirit of rebellion, which, within a few years past, has convulsed certain Catholic countries, was begotten in the bosom of Protestant peoples. It is since the Reformation has failed to upset the altar, that thrones have been shaken to their foundation. The revolution of Catholic France was only a bloody repetition of the revolution of Protestant England. English Protestantism can alone claim the glory — a sad glory — of having introduced into Christian Europe the pagan fashion of assassinating kings juridically."†

Having this common origin, Protestantism and revolution meet together in one mass. Honest Protestants, it is true, repel such an union, which frightens them. Yet it is accomplished by a sort of fatality, such as influenced the principle of the Reformation, and the most outspoken organs of socialism proclaim it most loudly.

Quinet writes: "I address myself to all beliefs, to all religions, who have fought Rome: they all are, whether they will it or not, on our side; for, after all, their existence is as irreconcilable as ours with the rule of Rome."

Louis Blanc says: "Every religious Luther necessarily avers a Luther political."

Mazzini, Garibaldi, and those other adventurers, who some years ago held under an ignoble yoke the capital of the Christian world, found no better means to give root to, and make a social revolution thrive in Italy, than by introducing Protestantism. Thousands of falsified, spurious Bibles were distributed in Rome, and a project was on foot to give to Protestants the Church of the Pantheon, in the very heart of Rome. In 1850 Garibaldi said to the Protestant minister Pozzi, while entrusting the education of his son to him: "The Bible is the cannon that will open Italy to us."

However, the shameless publications of modern revolutionists are open to the inspection of Protestants as they are to us. Let them examine them. With a unanimous voice the revolutionists applaud Protestantism, the religious form of revolution.

It is a fact well worth the study of serious men; it is a fact undeniable and public. Such as are indifferent to the sacred interest of faith should feel some anxiety about the dangers which threaten the domestic hearth.

"Socialism is only a Protestantism against society, as Protestantism is socialism against the Church."‡

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* Letter to "Le National Belge," in November, 1856.

† Sermons preached at the Tuileries, before the Emperor, in 1857, by Fr. Ventura. 4th sermon.

‡ Aug. Nicolas' "Du Protestantisme et de toutes les Hérésies dans leur rapport avec le Socialisme." It is a remarkable work and it cannot be recommended highly enough to those who wish to probe deeply the questions and truths at which we...

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*(Other footnotes from the original page*

† Whilst we are translating this page, there is laid before us the account of sects existing this year, 1867, in London, and it sums to ninety-five, with an et cetera: among the rest that of "Countess of Huntington's Connection"!

* Our American readers are greatly mistaken, if they believe for one moment that the present wars in Italy are actually waged for the sake of liberty.

[Stone]

XX. Protestantism in Catholic Countries.*


— France is Catholic to the core. She has too much good sense and logic to be capable of any other religion. She may become infidel, but Protestant — never.

Whenever Protestantism met with encouragement in France, it was with the revolutionary party that had revolted against the lawful authority. If its standard ever covered Frenchmen, those Frenchmen were traitors who conspired with the foreigner and fomented civil war. If, outside of such followers, it ever rallied around its folds friends and supporters, it was because of its revolutionary idea, and such partisans do not add much to its glory.

There is nothing in Protestantism but what is repulsive to the French spirit. Protestantism contradicts itself and can stand no examination. It is stiff and unnatural: its formal authority only enacts the cold presumption of the Pharisee: it has no resources from which either reason, or the imagination, or the heart can draw.

On the other hand Protestantism does not feel at home in France. What the French love, Protestantism loathes; and what the latter loves, France does not love at all. It is in England, the genuine centre of Protestantism in the world, where its fondest hopes are cherished, and may be realized, that the propagandism of France is nurtured, fed chiefly by foreign aid, probably more political in its nature than religious.

France would never countenance king or queen that were not Catholics. Henry IV., a prince so beloved by the sires of the French people, was held aloof as long as he remained a Huguenot. Never did a Protestant male or female sit on the throne of France. An attempt of this kind was made within our memory,† but God, who holds France in his keeping, manifested his judgment with terrible and summary punishment.

France shall cease to be herself when she will cease to be The Oldest Daughter of the Church!

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**Conclusion.**

And now, farewell, my reader. My dear friend, pray for me, if this little work has done any good to you. Pray, also, for those who may read it.

I have addressed myself to your good sense, and to your loyalty, and I have hopes that I have made you lay your finger on the deep misery of what is called Protestantism!

Should you ever have any occasion to have a discussion with a Protestant, be cautious and charitable. Never allow yourself to be thrown out of the track of the straightforward path, clear and practical, of good sense. Enter not into fruitless questions, which are only fit, as Paul puts it, to trouble and estrange souls. Refer cavillers, quibblers, and inventors of new religions, to your parish priest.

As for yourselves, keep the faith: be docile and faithful children of the holy Catholic Church, which is the teacher of true piety, and the infallible depositary of Christian truths. Practise your faith with fervor and love: pray much and receive communion often: love with a deep-hearted love Jesus Christ your Saviour, the Blessed Virgin his Mother, the Pope the visible representative of your Redeemer. In a word, live so that you may, when the days of your pilgrimage on earth will be over, reach God and live with him forever!

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* This last article is headed, "Le Protestantisme n'est pas Français." What the learned author says about France can as properly be applied to Spain and Italy, and all Catholic countries.

† The author alludes to the Duke of Orleans, son of Louis Philippe — the renegade son of a perjured father.