The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-02-28


feihgent, thoughtful people which com,
90 hear, and which listen with breathles:
interest To what we have to say ifnpi,
chat after all the study the subject ha%
mad, but few are thoroughly Satisiicd witt
<hcir conclusions
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ASKED.
We begin our examination bv asking
our agnostic friends who boast of then
GntEammeled freedom of thought, What
say you, free thinkers" in reply to our
query, Where are the dead? Their an
swer is. 1--WE do not know We would
like to believe in future life, but we have
ne proof Oft. Lacking the evidences our
conclusion is that man dies as docs the
brute beast.
Heathenism gives two general ans
wers. O Prominent are those which
hold to Transmigration. These reply to
us, ~Our view is that when man dies, he
does not die. but merely changes his
form. His future estate will correspond
to his present living and give him either
\ higher or lower position. We believe
that we lived on earth before. perhaps rs
cats, dogs, mice, elephants. or what not,
and that if the present life has been wisely
sised, we may reappear as men of nobler
SAsents, as philosophers, etc.; but if, as
usual, life has been misspent. at death we
will be remanded to some lower form of
Aeing about us-an elephant, worm, or
:aphat not.
~ The other large class Of heather
heievein spirit world with happy hunt
ing grounds for the good and hell Of
different torments for the wicked. We
are told that when people seem to die
they really become more alive than ever
: and that the very minute they cross the
zauer Styx they go to the realms of either
the blessed or of the doomed. and that
there are steps or degrees of punishment
and reward
Catholic friends. give us, please. the
results Of your labors and studies. Our
sconclusion and teaching are that when
anyone dies, he goes to one of three
places: First the sanity. of whom we
claim there are but a few, go imme
tiiately to the presence of God, to heaven.
These sanity do not include our clergy,
nm VStClf Oul liOuCSV OaSuORos
and popes; for you will find that when
any of these dies, it is a rule of the
Church that masses be said for the repose
of his soul. We would not say masses
for any we believe to be irf heaven,
because there surely is repose for every
soul; neither would we say masses for
sthenf if we believed them to be in eterna!
aleL, for masses could not avail them
: there
1.-THE dead in general according to our
teaching, pass Immediately to Purgatory.
which is, as the name indicates. we be
Geve, a place of purgation from sins.
III You would know more particularly
Che Catholic teaching on this subject
we refer you to the writings Of one Of
our great theolosians, the noted poet
Dante, loyal Catholic, at one time an
abbot, and who died in a monastery with
I che full rights of the Church Dante's
poem, Inferno" graphically describes
She tortures of Purgatory. AS we under
stand the matter You can procure at
almost any library an illustrated copy of
this great Catholic poem. Dore. the
sartist was also prominent Catholic and
he portrayed Dante's poem wildly and
truthfuIly. The illustrations show the
sogments of Purgatory vividy-how the
.-3eznons chase some until they leap over
soreciplces into boiling water They pry
Others with fiery darts. Others are burned
with heads downward; Others with feet
downward in pits Some are bitten by
:sserpents Still others are frozen. etc"
class myself as Protestant without
thereby meaning any disrespect to any
BODY else ! assume that the majority of
nv audience are Protestants. l remind
you that many of us in times past have
beeninelined toboast alittle of Protestant
=" breadth of mind, }" intelligence, - ''edu-
cation" etc. May we not reasonably
expect from Protestants clear. logical,
satisfactory answer to our question?
But what do we find. dear friends?
The most absurd answer TO my question
that could be conccived-an answer
which is put to shame by the Catholics,
the heather and the agnostic. Is not
this marvellous: can this be? 1t is
written. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend.
IL The Calvinistic thought is that
Divine wisdom and power planned for
mankind in adyance-knew of the fall of
man in advance. and prepared therefore
by the creating of "A great place called
hell and the manning OF ii with fire
proof devils for the overthrowing of the
racial except the little flock the
elect Love and justice We're left out
of this calculation. 90 The Other
5prominent Protestant theory. the . Ar
sminian," held today probably by the
smsjority. insists that it is love and justice
shat created the world and arranged fol-
ssxar1pIt, and that wisdom and power
WAR not consulted; hence that God has
sgotten into difficulty, while cndeavorine
to d. lst..5,1' and lovingly by his creatures
The n ,tire difficulty, dear friends. is d.:
u our reasoning on the subject, we hav,