Now, to convince the reader that Catholicism is as densely ignorant to-day as it ever was, we will bring her history up to date.
Pope Leo, in the good year of 1903, on his death bed, ordered this Carmelite veil brought from Mount Carmel, that he might have assistance from it in his dying hour, and declared that by the assistance of this mythical Scapular that when he died he would go straight to Heaven.
You can take the history of the Roman Catholic Church from the earliest days of its cussedness up to the present time, and you will find that the same heathenish superstition that surrounded it centuries ago still follows it to-day.
Is there any proof that the Virgin Mary appeared to Simon Stock and made to him the promise above related? No proof whatever, only the cungered up proof of the officials of Catholicism, and the Sabbatine Bull of Pope John has no more sense nor righteous meaning in it than the ghost dance of the American Indian.
The Scapular that we above refer to is not the only emblem of heathendom that Catholicism resorts to, but we have a number of others which the Protestant world knows but little about, and especially the Protestants in America, as the Catholic officials do not want "this Scapular business" talked about too much in this country, for fear that the Protestant world will give it the deserving ridicule that it should have. However, we have started out to show up the teachings of Catholicism as they actually exist, and the more light we turn upon this subject the more prominent her abominations will become, consequently we want to mention these other Scapulars.
The first that we will mention is, "The Trinity of White Linen with Red Cross;" the second is, "The Survite Scapular of Seven Dolors," which is of black woolen stuff; the third is, "The Immaculate Conception," which is of blue woolen cloth, and the fourth and last Scapular is one that was originated in 1846 by a Sister of Charity in Paris, France, who is said to have received a revelation from God Almighty, and this one is called "The Red Scapular of the Passion."
While American Catholics are a class far superior in intellect to the Catholics of other nations, they still tenaciously cling to the inert Scapular and believe in its efficacy and power; however, the Catholic Church is getting to have quite a number of these Scapulars, which is causing the intelligent Catholics to become a little doubtful as to which has the greatest "pulling power," and many of them, in order to make no mistake, wear all five of them in a bunch; thus they are assured that if one fails to get in its work another will come to the rescue, and should they fall off of a train moving 60 miles an hour, this little bunch of woolen goods will save them from a bruise, or should they drink a quart of the essence of strychnine they would be saved from instant death by one of these five Scapulars.
You ask a Catholic to explain the merits of the Scapular and all they can tell you is that if they die during the week that the Virgin Mary will then take them to heaven on the Saturday following, but if they happen to die on a Saturday, bear in mind that the Virgin Mary gives them a cold shoulder until the next Saturday. Now, this is the only explanation that you can get a Catholic to give you in regard to a Scapular.
Is it any wonder that the power to reason is shattered by these cungering devices of Catholicism, and do you wonder that the dense ignorance of Catholic nations are completely under the power of this angel of darkness?
Let us repeat, in conclusion of this chapter, that Romanism is the everlasting enemy of science and individual intellect, as she knows full well that when the broad, effulgent light of Protestantism dawns on the benighted minds of her followers that she at once loses her grasp upon her "hood-winked" dupes, as it is impossible for the teachings of Catholicism to exist side by side with the teachings of Protestantism, provided that those who believe in these Romish abominations care to look above the horizon of Romanism.