children are beyond your control; go to bed like cattle, without ever
bending a knee in prayer; and if they go to 'meeting,' as it is properly
called, it is only to mock the 'old fool' who holds forth to them."

"There is some truth in what he says," added the sheriff, looking at the
squire.

"Agree among yourselves first," said the Irish peasant, "before you
commence to convert Catholics. Convert the rowdies that crowd your
village and city tavern bar rooms before you extend your zeal to those
who are in no need of it, or on whom it will be all spent in vain. Agree
about the meaning of one single text in your Bible before you hand it to
us for our study."

"We all agree it's the word of God."

"Well, the word of God cannot contradict itself, and yet the religious
system of each of you contradicts that of his neighbor. One man says
Christ is God; another denies this; and both quote Scripture in proof.
This man says bishops are necessary and divinely appointed; the next man
denies this totally. The Quaker denies what the disciple of Calvin or
Knox believes, while the Universalist ignores what the latter professes;
and now the Mormons, spiritual rappers, and Transcendentalists explode
the Bible altogether. The Catholic church, with those countless millions
of her children that constitute her body, has been reading the Bible and
studying it these nineteen hundred years, and never yet, with all her
learning, could find two opposite meanings to one single text; never
once contradicted herself."

"You don't say the Catholics are allowed the use of the Bible, do you?