Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion

[Stone]

Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908


FIFTY-FIRST OBJECTION. ONE OUGHT NOT TO BE A BIGOT.

Answer. Certainly one ought not to be a bigot! Who says you should? Do those who rant most about bigotry really know what bigotry is? If so, it would be well to use the knowledge for their own improvement; for generally they are the most intensely bigoted bigots. They are so deeply immersed in their own little puddle of bigotry that they cannot see a whole ocean of fairness beyond them.

Bigotry is not religion, it is the abuse of it.

The defects of persons who are guilty of that abuse, generally from ignorance, ought not to be imputed to Religion.

Religion is abused, like every good thing in the world. We must reject the abuse, and retain the use. We must be pious, but we must not be bigots. God loves one, but He does not love the other. He desires to behold in our hearts devotion, that is, devotedness to His service, devotedness to the duties which He imposes, and love of His commandments; but He does not desire to see bigotry reigning in them, that is to say, those enthusiastic, those narrow-minded or superstitiously religious practices, which often replace the chief object by the accessories, and substitute the means for the end.

Nevertheless, these abuses of religion are not so universal or so heinous as they are generally said to be.

Generally speaking, they do not injure any one, and are only hurtful to those who commit them. Those who fall into these pitiable mistakes are unenlightened persons (usually women, for men are less liable to them), who surround and fatigue themselves with numerous external forms and practices of devotion, good in themselves, but carried to too great a length; who assume a certain strangeness of manner; who torment their consciences in the fear of doing wrong; and who become excited and angry, through misguided zeal, when it would be more prudent and wise to remain silent, etc.

This is bigotry. It is a great defect, but I should be glad to think there were no worse ones here on earth! Those who inveigh so loudly against bigotry, and are indignant at the absurdities it gives rise to, are too often persons who remind one of the criminal, who, sentenced to perpetual hard labor for a frightful murder he had committed, was indignant at having given him for his prison companion a thief!

They are often more worthy of censure than those whom they attack.

Their profligacy, bad conduct, neglect of the most sacred duties, religious ignorance, licentious conversation, evil example, etc., etc., are not these abuses? Are they not crimes?

Their whole life is an abuse; and the abuse of devotion is, I venture to say, the only one they never commit. Would it not be as well to exchange this one for the others, I ask?

Do not, then, be a bigot, but a Christian, and a good Christian. Love God, serve Him faithfully, observe all His commandments; fulfil all your duties, so as to be pleasing in the eyes of God, and listen with docility to the teaching of the ministers of Jesus Christ.

[Stone]

Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908



FIFTY-SECOND OBJECTION. A CHRISTIAN LIFE IS TOO TIRESOME. IT IS TOO MELANCHOLY. TO DEPRIVE ONESELF OF EVERY THING, BE AFRAID OF EVERY THING, WHAT A LIFE!

Answer. Too tiresome, eh? What do you know about a Christian life? Gently, gently, my good friend! Do not be frightened before you are hurt. A Christian life does not oblige you to "deprive yourself of every thing, and be afraid of every thing." You exaggerate the thing; if the Gospel is a yoke, our Lord Jesus Christ, who imposed it on us, declared Himself that "this yoke is sweet, and this burden light."

You know, I dare say, some pious Christians? Do they look so very depressed, so very gloomy or unhappy?

All those whom I know, on the contrary, have a peculiar expression of peacefulness and joy on their countenances; the very sight of them is pleasant.

I do not, indeed, deny, that to be a really good Christian, it is necessary to keep strict watch over oneself, and shun certain evil or dangerous pleasures. I do not deny that the struggle of the will against evil passions is often a difficult one.

But find, if you can, a condition without sacrifices or struggles! To learn your trade, to make your living, must you not give yourself trouble, and a great deal of trouble?

Do not even our amusements compel us to impose some sacrifices on ourselves?

And yet we require that the chief, the most important, the only needful thing, namely, the work of our eternal salvation, should cost nothing! It is impossible.

The world beholds Christians praying, doing penance, imposing restraints on themselves, giving of their means to the poor, stifling their passions, depriving themselves of sensual gratifications, and doing such and such things which make this life rigorous and disagreeable in their eyes.

But this is only the outer rind. Look within, and you will see a heart generous and full of joy, which renders easy, even agreeable, these sacrifices so difficult in appearance.

A good son, who deprives himself of something for his mother's sake, is he not happy in his self-imposed privations?

Christian piety changes into sweetness what is bitter in the practice of duty; like the vital forces of plant life which change into honey some of the bitter juices which they extract from the earth.

Try, and you will find it so. We must experience these things, words cannot make them understood by those who have not experience.

For this, you have but to carry back your thoughts to the days of your childhood. There are few men who have not felt the happiness of the love of God at the great and solemn moment of their first communion. You were happy then! and why? Because you were pure and innocent, more given to good things; in a word, because you were a Christian.

Be one again, and you will be happy again. The God of your childhood is not changed, as you, alas! are; He still loves you, and awaits the return of the prodigal son. Be not afraid of Him; He is the good Saviour, the refuge of repentant sinners. "Never," he has said to us, "will I reject him that cometh to me."

Take this gentle and light yoke of a Christian life, and you will find rest, peace of mind, true joy in this world, and after your death eternal joy in Paradise.

[Stone]

Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908


FIFTY-THIRD OBJECTION. I AM NOT WORTHY TO APPROACH THE SACRAMENTS: WE OUGHT NOT TO ABUSE HOLY THINGS.

Answer. True, indeed, you are not worthy, but will you become worthy by not approaching? No, we should not refuse the grace of the Sacraments, nor abuse it, but we should use it.

Next to sacrilege, the greatest insult we can offer to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is neglect of it.

There are two kinds of persons who should approach the Sacraments: the pious who desire to persevere in good; and the bad who desire to become good.

In abstaining from them, you fly from life. To heat water again, do you take it away from the fire? To cure a malady, do you leave off the remedy?

The Sacraments are like remedies to the sick. Approach them, then, not because you are worthy (no one is worthy of God), but to become less unworthy; not because you are strong, but to heal your weakness.

Go to Jesus Christ; without Him you cannot be saved. Go and seek Him where He is to be found; in confession, by which He purifies His temple of your heart; in the Holy Communion, where He enters in person into that dwelling which He has purified.

Do all that depends on yourself, and fear not. Only have a willing heart; you will always return better from it.

[Stone]

Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908


FIFTY-FOURTH OBJECTION. MY SINS ARE TOO GREAT; IT IS IMPOSSIBLE THAT GOD CAN PARDON ME!

Answer. Impossible? Poor soul, you know not the heart of Jesus Christ!

Have you committed more sins than Magdalen? Magdalen, a woman of notoriously bad life; Magdalen, a scandalous sinner; who was repulsed by all, as if her touch were contamination! Have you forgotten her history?

The good Jesus has been invited to dine with Simon the Pharisee. All are at table, reclining at it according to the custom of the Jews. A woman enters, she throws herself at the Saviour's feet, and without speaking, bathes them with her tears and covers them with kisses. The Pharisee recognizes her, it is the sinful Magdalen: "If this man were the Son of God," he thought within himself, "He would know that this woman is a sinner!" Jesus, knowing his thoughts, says to him: "Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee." "Master," answers the Pharisee, "say it." "A certain creditor had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which, therefore, of the two loveth him the most?" "He, without doubt," answers Simon, "to whom he forgave most." "Thou hast judged rightly," said Jesus Christ. And turning to the poor Magdalen, "Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she, with tears, hath washed my feet, and with her hair hath wiped them. Thou gavest me no kiss; but she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but she with ointment hath anointed my feet. Wherefore, I say to thee, many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less." And without heeding the murmurs of the Pharisee: "Woman," said He to Saint Magdalen, "go in peace and sin no more."

And after this you despair of the goodness of God? Oh! no; the heart of the Saviour is always the same. He expects you with a marvellous patience. Go and cast yourself at His feet, weeping for your sins. They are great, yes; but His goodness is yet greater! He has declared with His divine lips: "Him who cometh to me I will never reject."

Recall to Him the sufferings which He underwent for you. His manger at Bethlehem, His poverty, His agony, His Passion, His crown of thorns, His flagellation, His Cross, His death. Recall to Him His Mother, that gentle Mother whom He has given to you purposely to be your advocate, your refuge and hope.

Then, with repentance in your heart, go and seek the minister of pardon, the judge who dispenses mercy, the confessor. Entreat his indulgence and aid. He will give them to you, do not be afraid; for God desires that they should always be given to sinners. Then you will hear, amid your tears, those mighty words of eternal life, which restored Magdalen to life, and which, of Magdalen the sinner, has made the admirable Saint Mary Magdalen! "Thy sins are forgiven thee; go and sin no more."

[Stone]

Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908


FIFTY-FIFTH OBJECTION. YOUTH MUST PASS.*

Answer. Must pass in what? In follies? in sins? in losing one's soul, one's honor, one's health, one's money, with rakes? in doing what God forbids to do? A strange morality, certes! and I know not what passage in the Gospel it is taken from!

Yes, youth must pass, but it must pass, like the whole life, in the practice of virtue, the shunning of evil, and the performance of duty.

The only difference between youth and age is, that youth has more energy and strength, and can thus do good with more zeal, more ardor, and more devotion.

This is how youth should be spent, so as to be pleasing in the sight of God, and of man also; so as to be the preparation for a venerable old age, blessed of God; and to sow that harvest which the soul is to reap on the threshold of eternity, when its journey is at an end.

There is no more captivating sight in the world than a holy and spotless youth. Nothing can be more beautiful, or more touching, or more amiable, than a young man who is pure, modest, industrious, and faithful to all his duties.

Oh! if young Christians did but know what they are! for no earthly consideration would they forego their glory!

Once lost, it can never return. Repentance is beautiful, but it is not innocence.

If youth but knew! if age only could!

[Stone]

Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908


FIFTY-SIXTH OBJECTION. EXTREME UNCTION KILLS A SICK MAN. IT IS ENOUGH TO FRIGHTEN HIM TO DEATH. THE PRIEST SHOULD NEVER BE SENT FOR WHILE CONSCIOUSNESS REMAINS.

Answer. Do you wait till the last moment to call a doctor for a man seriously ill? Not at all; his life is at stake, and you fear to risk it; yet you do not fear to risk his eternal salvation.

That is it; the confessor must be sent for when the patient can no longer confess; the priest must be sent for when his presence is useless! There would be a course more simple yet: not to send for him at all, and to let people die like the dogs.

Is Jesus Christ, then, the God of the dead? Did He send His priests to comfort and help dead corpses?

It would be almost impossible to calculate the number of unfortunate souls which have been lost for ever through this fatal prejudice. It is in vain that each day gives it the lie, and shows the sick and dying, shedding tears of joy and consolation after having received the last Sacraments of the Church; it makes no impression, and whole families calling themselves Christians, seem to enter as it were into a common league against the priest, to hinder him from saving the soul of a father, a mother, a child, or friend, which is about to appear before its God!

When sent for too late to save the departing soul, the priest endeavors to make the relations and friends sensible of the wrong they have done: "Oh, no!" they exclaim, "he was such a good, virtuous man! She was such a worthy woman! He was so regular! She loved her children so much, and was such a good mother. We need have no fears." And perhaps ten or twenty years may have elapsed, during which the unfortunate deceased has lived in forgetfulness of Jesus Christ, and in the neglect of the essential duties of a Christian life!

Be very certain of this, the poor dying man is not afraid of the priest! The sight of a priest does not hasten his death! On the contrary, his visit consoles and strengthens him, relieves his mind, and sometimes even his physical condition. Numerous physicians have stated the equally touching and unexpected results produced by the fulfilment of religious duties among the sick.

A short time since I witnessed an example of this, which I shall never forget. I was sent for to attend a child whom the doctor had given up. The poor mother was prepared for the worst. I gave the poor little thing the last Christian Sacraments, I heard his confession, I gave him the Holy Viaticum as his first communion, or rather, as his last! He held his little hands joined together during this sad and pious ceremony. And when I asked him afterward, if he felt peaceful and happy, he made an effort to summon strength enough to smile, and reply: "Yes, father, very happy." I left him, never expecting to see him again.

The following morning the doctor was surprised to find him still alive. But his surprise increased on examining him more closely. He had no more fever; the symptoms of death had disappeared. He could not understand it.

Three days after, the little fellow, thus brought back to life, was playing with his brother.

Did Extreme Unction here frighten the patient, and cause his death?

Do not be afraid, then, of the priest. When you are seriously ill, send for him at once; and ask for the last consolations of religion. Hold yourself in readiness for whatever may happen, and make your peace with God.

To have had one's passport signed, does not oblige us to start on our journey.

[Stone]

Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908


FIFTY-SEVENTH OBJECTION. I WILL PRACTICE THE DUTIES OF RELIGION SOME DAY, WHEN I AM MORE AT LEISURE. I WILL GO TO CONFESSION BY-AND-BY, ON MY DEATHBED. CERTAINLY I WILL RECEIVE THE SACRAMENTS BEFORE I DIE.

Answer. On some future day, you say? Yes, certainly!

Yes, provided that future day is in store for you, and that you have the means of receiving the sacraments at the moment of your death, you mean; but this is certainly very doubtful.

How many have said as you do: "To-morrow, some future day," for whom there has been nothing in store but judgment and eternity!

How many have neglected to go to confession when it was quite in their power, who have been unable to do so when they fain would!

You will confess at your death? And suppose God were to decree your death before your confession?

"Oh, but," you reply, "God is merciful." True, indeed; and, therefore, He offers you today a pardon which you do not deserve.

But He who has promised pardon to the penitent sinner, has not promised to him the morrow.

On the contrary, He has warned him to be ever on the watch, because death will come upon him suddenly. Listen to our Master and Judge: "Watch ye, therefore. Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of Man will come, and He will reject the unfaithful servant. Then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (St. Matthew, chap. xxiv.)

What madness to risk your eternity on a perhaps!

A few years ago, a young inmate of the prison de la Roquette, in Paris, only seventeen years old, had refused to fulfil his Easter duties, in spite of the chaplain's exhortations. All the others had listened to the priest, this one was the only exception.

"At another time," he replied, "not now, next year; not this year!"

The day after his fruitless visit to the young man, the chaplain was passing along into the infirmary of the prison. On one of the doors he saw the number of the young prisoner. He entered, and found him on the bed, asleep and very pale. He called the sister who attended the infirmary, and asked what ailed the new patient. "Nothing serious," she replied; "he complained of headache, perhaps an attack of indigestion." They both re-entered the room; the sister went up to the young man, and spoke to him, but he did not reply. "This young man is not well, sister," said the priest, alarmed, "send for the doctor." In a few minutes the doctor appeared; the patient was found insensible. The doctor felt his pulse; lays his hand on his heart. "Ah! my God!" cried he, with an air of stupefaction.

"What is the matter?" demands the priest. Again the doctor examines the young man. "What is the matter?" he exclaims. "The matter is that the lad is dead!"

"Dead!" repeated the chaplain, uttering an exclamation of horror, "dead!"

And he regarded, with feelings of unspeakable horror, those half open lips which had so recently refused to receive God, saying, "At a future time — next year!"

In the adjacent room, another young prisoner of the same age was lying. The last sacraments had been administered to him a few days previously, and his death was momentarily expected: "Ah!" said he, when he saw the chaplain, "I am happy, my good father! I am hoping to see the merciful God soon, very soon, I hope." And when the chaplain told him that it was yet possible that he might recover. "Ah, do not say so," he said with a smile, "I would much rather die; I might fall again into sin and forget God, were I to be restored to health. I would rather die, so as to behold Paradise!"

That evening, the young man expired gently, mingling with his last sigh the sacred name of Jesus.

Examples of sudden death, entirely unforeseen, occur daily. A short time ago a poor workman, the father of a family, fell from a height of several feet on to the pavement of the rue Vaugirard in Paris; he was taken up quite dead, without having even uttered a cry! But he had listened to the Gospel warning, for he was in the habit of going to confession and receiving the Holy Communion every week.

If a like accident were to befall you this night, would you, do you think, be ready like him, to go into eternity?

More recently, a man was passing along a street in Paris. He tottered and fell. He was immediately surrounded by the passers-by, and carried into a neighboring shop. A doctor was sent for, who examined him, and pronounced that death had been instantaneous, taking place even before he had quite fallen to the ground. The unhappy man was not prepared for death.

After thinking of these and similar cases, can you count upon the morrow for insuring your salvation?

After that speak to me of deferring it till a future day! After that sleep tranquilly with such a thought as this: "I will certainly confess my sins at the hour of death!"

A poor apprentice had made his first communion a few months before the period I am going to speak of. He had made one resolution, but it was with seriousness and sincerity. "If ever I fall into mortal sin, I will go and confess it before going to sleep the same day."

This misfortune happened accordingly. It was one Saturday, and it chanced to be very bad weather, and the priest was at some little distance. He said at first, "I will go to confession in a few days." But the promise he had made internally returned to his mind, and something within him said, "Fulfill your promise; go to confession."

He hesitated, however. In the midst of the internal struggle going on in his mind, he knelt down and said an Ave Maria, to obtain the grace of knowing God's will. Prayer is the salvation of the soul.

He arose and set off to find the priest.

On his return, he met his god-mother, who inquired of him where he had been; with a joyful countenance he told her, and added that he should now sleep in peace, having been restored to favor with God. His mother was in the habit of letting him sleep a little longer on Sundays than on work-days.

According to custom, therefore, she went to awake him at seven o'clock, by knocking at the door of his little room, and calling to him.

A quarter of an hour later, Paul was still asleep. His mother called him again, and then, impatient at getting no reply, she entered his room: "Come, then, you lazy fellow! It is half-past seven — are you not ashamed?"

She approached her child, who did not stir, took his hand, which was quite cold. Affrighted, she looked at his face, and, uttering a fearful cry, fell to the ground senseless. The boy was dead, and already cold!!

Happy for him that he did not put off till a future time! not even till the morrow!!

May you who read this be as wise as he, and do as he did!

[Stone]

Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908


CONCLUSION.

You see, dear reader, all these answers are dictated by common sense, nothing more. No extraordinary ingenuity of mind, nor any subtle tricks of rhetoric are employed in them. By merely showing itself, truth is proved.

There exist, no doubt, in the world, many other prejudices against Religion. Errors, like follies, have no limit. Nevertheless, I hope I have collected in this small volume those objections which are most commonly raised.

The remaining ones, I can assure you, are no better founded than those I have noticed. Of whatever kind they may be, they are sophisms, that is to say, specious arguments, which have the appearance of reason and truth, but in reality are weak on one side or the other. There can be no reason opposed to the truth.

If any one of these objections is an obstacle in your path, go, I beg of you, to some good priest (they are not rare or difficult to find, God be thanked), and be assured beforehand of the cordial reception you will meet with from him. Lay open your difficulty to him with all candor; he will show you its easy solution.

Endeavor to become better instructed in all that regards religion; the more we know of it, the more we love it; the more we love it, the more we practice its precepts. Many men attack it because they do not know it. They represent religion to themselves as totally different to what it really is, and, therefore, they think they have very good reason to turn it into ridicule.

I fervently hope that my conversations with you may have been somewhat profitable to your soul. Read over and reflect on those points of our discussion which have chiefly arrested your mind.

May I have been happy enough to have increased in your heart the respect due to faith, the love of virtue, and the zeal for your own salvation! This has been my only aim in writing this little book! I shall then have been laboring for your happiness, and my little book will have been a good action.

I ask God for His blessing on it, on you, and on myself. With this, I take leave of you, my dear reader; to meet again, I hope, in Paradise!

FINIS.