05-10-2026, 07:55 AM
Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908
TWENTY-FOURTH OBJECTION. FOR MY PART, I WANT THE PURE GOSPEL — PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY.
Answer. And I, too, I wish that, and no other; and I possess it, if I am a good Catholic; and you, too, may possess it on the same conditions.
If you are a good Catholic, you practice the Gospel maxims in all their purity; you have the same Christianity, the same articles of belief, the same religion as the early Christians.
Time has only modified Christianity in some of its external forms; the substance is the same, absolutely the same from the time of its birth.
These modifications, or developments, which cause unreflecting people to believe that present Christianity is different from primitive Christianity, are a part of the very nature of things, and are visible in all the works of God.
For instance, is man a different being from himself at the ages of one year, ten years, thirty years? No; evidently it is the same individual, developing gradually, and acquiring the perfection of his being.
So it is with the works of God in the supernatural order.
The Catholic Church, in the time of the apostles, was in its germ; all her resources, her power, and vitality were not yet thoroughly manifested; but they existed, ready to be developed in ages to come.
The more we study Christian antiquity, the more do we recognize the truth of the above assertion. And it is this conscientious study which has been the means of bringing back to the Catholic religion a vast number of learned men, either Protestants or unbelievers, who found in the monuments of the first three centuries of the Church the striking vestiges, and the very principle of all our Catholic institutions; among others, the spiritual supremacy of the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter; his doctrinal authority, as well as that of the bishops, the apostles' successors; the pomp of divine worship; the sacrifice of the Mass, with all the ceremonies that we observe this day, and of which the greater part may be traced to the actual time of the apostles; the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God; the invocation of the saints, veneration shown to their relics and images; the seven sacraments, among them, auricular confession, etc., etc., etc.
In the catacombs of Rome, particularly in that of St. Agnes, which dates from the middle of the second century, there have been recently discovered whole chapels containing several altars in which the relics of martyrs reposed, with paintings, images of the Blessed Virgin, a pontifical chair, vessels for holy water, confessionals, etc.
The credulity of the world is then greatly imposed on, when it is asserted that true Christianity, that of the early ages, is to be found anywhere but in the belief, and practice of, the Catholic religion.
In all times, Christian and Catholic were synonymous words, and good Catholics of the present day only differ from those of the first centuries by their exterior costume; in faith, in heart, in the good works they perform, they are the same.
All heresies have had the same pretensions as the would-be reformers of society and religion in our days. They repeat what their ancestors, Luther and Calvin, said three and a half centuries ago: "We come to reform Christianity, by bringing it back to its primitive purity. You, the Catholic Church, and you Catholic priests, understand nothing of all this; you have corrupted the truth, the religion, the doctrine of Jesus Christ. We alone possess these things, and bring them before the world! Let all listen to us; then human miseries will be at an end; a new era is about to begin!!" . . .
Let us let them talk, and not believe the first word of what they say.
TWENTY-FOURTH OBJECTION. FOR MY PART, I WANT THE PURE GOSPEL — PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY.
Answer. And I, too, I wish that, and no other; and I possess it, if I am a good Catholic; and you, too, may possess it on the same conditions.
If you are a good Catholic, you practice the Gospel maxims in all their purity; you have the same Christianity, the same articles of belief, the same religion as the early Christians.
Time has only modified Christianity in some of its external forms; the substance is the same, absolutely the same from the time of its birth.
These modifications, or developments, which cause unreflecting people to believe that present Christianity is different from primitive Christianity, are a part of the very nature of things, and are visible in all the works of God.
For instance, is man a different being from himself at the ages of one year, ten years, thirty years? No; evidently it is the same individual, developing gradually, and acquiring the perfection of his being.
So it is with the works of God in the supernatural order.
The Catholic Church, in the time of the apostles, was in its germ; all her resources, her power, and vitality were not yet thoroughly manifested; but they existed, ready to be developed in ages to come.
The more we study Christian antiquity, the more do we recognize the truth of the above assertion. And it is this conscientious study which has been the means of bringing back to the Catholic religion a vast number of learned men, either Protestants or unbelievers, who found in the monuments of the first three centuries of the Church the striking vestiges, and the very principle of all our Catholic institutions; among others, the spiritual supremacy of the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter; his doctrinal authority, as well as that of the bishops, the apostles' successors; the pomp of divine worship; the sacrifice of the Mass, with all the ceremonies that we observe this day, and of which the greater part may be traced to the actual time of the apostles; the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God; the invocation of the saints, veneration shown to their relics and images; the seven sacraments, among them, auricular confession, etc., etc., etc.
In the catacombs of Rome, particularly in that of St. Agnes, which dates from the middle of the second century, there have been recently discovered whole chapels containing several altars in which the relics of martyrs reposed, with paintings, images of the Blessed Virgin, a pontifical chair, vessels for holy water, confessionals, etc.
The credulity of the world is then greatly imposed on, when it is asserted that true Christianity, that of the early ages, is to be found anywhere but in the belief, and practice of, the Catholic religion.
In all times, Christian and Catholic were synonymous words, and good Catholics of the present day only differ from those of the first centuries by their exterior costume; in faith, in heart, in the good works they perform, they are the same.
All heresies have had the same pretensions as the would-be reformers of society and religion in our days. They repeat what their ancestors, Luther and Calvin, said three and a half centuries ago: "We come to reform Christianity, by bringing it back to its primitive purity. You, the Catholic Church, and you Catholic priests, understand nothing of all this; you have corrupted the truth, the religion, the doctrine of Jesus Christ. We alone possess these things, and bring them before the world! Let all listen to us; then human miseries will be at an end; a new era is about to begin!!" . . .
Let us let them talk, and not believe the first word of what they say.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre