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Show METHODIST TRIBUTE. The Rflrv. James Benninger, a Methodist clergyman clergy-man of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., paid this tribute to the Catholic church in a recent sermon: "We have fumed and fussed and worked ourselves our-selves into a frenzy, while the Catholic church, without any effort on her part, has gone on in the even tenor of her way solving the problem to the satisfaction of her hierarchy. "How does she do it? How does she get men out of bed on Sunday morning at an early hour men who work late on Saturday night? How does she fill the streets on Sunday morning with worshipers wor-shipers when the Protestant world is fast asleep '. know some of the explanations that are offered, but they do not explain, any that we have heard and read only seem childish twaddle. One man will tell you that the Catholic church contains nobody but ignorant people. But is that true to the facts in the case? Do we not know of brilliant lawyers aud judges and professors and business men who are devout worshipers at her shrine? But if it were true that she only held ignorant people, would not the criticism pay her a high compliment? For every Protestant clergyman in Christendom knows that the hardest people to get along with are ignorant igno-rant people. A church that can gather and hold the ignorant rabble has a vitality very much to be desired. But the criticism is not true. ''Another man will tell you that the Catholic church scares people into her fold. How often have you heard that But that explanation is no better than the first. You can readily see how one generation gen-eration might be frightened into doing something, but who is willing to believe that twenty generations genera-tions can be Avorked upon in the same way? The scarecrow method is bound to play out with the. growing years. Xo. such explanations as Ave usually hear explain nothing. Her secret lies deeper. "The reason the Catholic church succeeds, in spite of our misgivings, is because she is true to the central fact of revelation. She makes the death of Jesus the center of her devotion, and around that point she organizes all of her activities. When you see a company of Catholic people Sunday morning on the way to church, you can be assured of this; They are not going for the sake of the fine music; they are not going to hear an eloquent dissertation on 'Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.' They are going to that place of worship to attend the mass. What is the celebration of the mass? It is what we call the celebration of the Lord's Supper. That fact is. kept prominently before the mind of every Catholic. Cath-olic. What is the first thing you see as you approach ap-proach a Catholic church? A cross. What is the first thing you see as you enter that church? A cross. What is the first thing you see a Catholic do as he seats himself in that church? Make the sign of the cross. hWat is the last thing held before be-fore the eyes of a dying Catholic? A eross.v He comes into th echurch in childhood imbued with the death of Jesus: he goes out of this world thinking think-ing of the death of Jesus." |