The Washington herald., 1914-01-09
The OPEN FORUM
Rx1LAMs QUOTATION.


Frascis as salss Rynn Gives tAs
Part Omitted in Resent Letter.
To the Editor: Ny attention has been
J called to q letter from Rev. DR.. AcKim,
| in The Open Forum" OF The Heruids
edition Of January .. reading a. follows;
II have received more than one letter
reproaching mo for saying that Roman
Catholics worship imagea Allow me
space to say that never have said 50.
The language objected to was . quotation
from an eminent Roman Catholic con-
trovsrsialist. Cardinal Nicholas Wissman,
famous n England In the last century.
In his lectures on The Principal Doctrines
and Practices OF the Catholic Church
1896, in tho edition Of 1883, page -. he Is
explaining how members Of his church
become Protestants. and says: The MS
tory in every case Is simply this: that the
individual by some chance or other hap
pened to become possessed Of the Bible:
that he perused this book. that he could
not find in I. Decentralization: that he
could not md In II auricular confession;
that he coulC not ind In 1t one word Of
purgatory; nothing In It Of worshipng
images The phase. then, Is not mine.
but Cardinal wiseman's, and ought not
TO be held responsible for II.
The object Of my letter Is simply to ex-
by Dr. McKim against US. even when he
Is quoting from the printed page. By
emitting. all of the opening portion
Of the paragraph from which he
quotes, and by prefacing his quotation
with an incorrect and misleading state
ment, the doctor does Cardinal Wiseman
and all Catholics. a grave injustice Per-
nit me to quote the paragraph from the
beginning. up to and including the por-
D r. t. %1rrz
II have tod you, that In perusing the
works of men who havs within these few
years become members OF the Catholic
Church-men Of talent and erudition-we
| shall hardly find two of them agree upon
| the grounds they record as having In
| duced them to embrace the Catholic re-
1 ligion. But you may also read similar
works on the other side, purporttng
(please note wei the cardinals use of
| the word 'purportingO to give the grounds
upon which individuals have abandoned
the Catholic Church, and become men,
bers of some Protestant communion. II
is. indeed. very seldom. that men Of any
considerable ability. or at all known to
the public To- their learning, have written
such treatises: but still, such as they are.
they have been. in general, widely dis
seminated. 1t has been thought useful
to throw them, In cheap form. among
the public. and particularly among tne
lower orders that they may see examples
OF conversion from the Catholic religion.
Now. / have read such Of these as have
fallen my way. and have noted that. in
stead of the rich variety of motives which
have brought learned men to the Catholic
Church, there is a sad meagerness Of rea-
scning In them: indeed, they all, without
exception, give me but one argument
The history in every case Is simply this.
that the Individuality some chance or
other, probably through the ministry Of
some pious person-became possessed Of
the word u God. of the Bible: that he
perused this book; that he could not find
in IL transubstantiation or auricular con-
fession, that he could not discover In 1t
one word OF purgatory. or of generating
images"
Has DR.. McKim played fair?
FRANCIS DE SALES RYAN,
Vice president. the Washington Truth
Society.
Up. SIN the third American edition
the cardinal has substituted the word
'svenerating'' for ''worshiping" He ex-
plains in an advertisement, dated 1875.
and printed in the front of the book, that
the lectures are in their original form.
with such trifing alterations and i'm
provements as would not essentially alter
their character" DR.. McKim's quotation
read "worshiping.D