which were unnatural and against the direct teachings of God, as we
find in _Gen. 21:18_ that our Creator said: "It is not good that man
should be alone, I will make a helpmate for him," but whenever I
would undertake to study and try to convince myself of the
erroneousness of the Catholic doctrines, her teachings would loom up
and blind my intelligent conception of things, as I had been taught
that I should not question a single mandate that the Pope of Rome
should see fit to promulgate, therefore I made up my mind that it was
a sin for me to use the intelligence that God had given me, and I
resolved to follow the Catholic doctrine, regardless of what it might
lead me to, consequently I closed my eyes to reason and common sense
and became a blind and superstitious follower of Rome.

When I came to America I beheld her great civilization and at once my
conception of intelligent action presented itself again, but I fought
hard to drive these feelings from my bosom, but the more I fought the
stronger I became convinced that I was wrong and that my early
training was wrong, and that the entire machinery and mechanism of
the Catholic Church was founded upon abominations and superstitions,
but the teachings of my mother would prevail and I would slink back
into the trenches of Catholicism, and there I remained until less
than a year ago, when I resolved to burst the bands of iniquity and
walk out upon the plains of Protestantism, regardless of the deep
feelings of respect that I had for my early training.

If God is an intelligent God, then we are expected to worship Him in
an intelligent manner, and if he is not an intelligent God, it is
impossible for Him to be a God, and if the Lord of Hosts is an
intelligent Creator and expects us, as His children, to worship Him
in an intelligent manner, the Catholic Church and all of her