Are Protestants Christians? Fr. Muller’s Small Catechism on No Salvation Outside the Church
Fr. Michael Muller from his 1875 work “No Salvation Outside of the Roman Catholic Church.”
Q. Since the Roman Catholic Church alone is the true Church of Jesus Christ, can any one who dies outside of the Church be saved?
A. He cannot.
Q. Why not?
A. Because one who does not do the will of God cannot be saved.
Q. Is it, then, the will of God that all men should be Catholics?
A. Yes; because it is only in the Roman Catholic Church that they can learn the will of God; that is, the full doctrine of Jesus Christ, which alone can save them.
Q. Did Jesus Christ Himself assure us most solemnly, and in plain words, that no one can be saved out of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. He did, when He said to His Apostles: “Go and teach all nations, and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. He that believeth not all these things shall be condemned.”
Q. Did Jesus Christ assure us in other words of the damnation of those who die out of His Church?
A. He did in these words: “He who will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.” Matt, xviii. 17
Q. Can you give some further proofs to show that no one can be saved out of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. From these words of Jesus Christ: “Other sheep I have who are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall be one fold and one shepherd.” John x. 16.
Q. How can you show from these words of our Lord that all who wish to be saved must be Roman Catholics?
A. Because in this passage He plainly declares that all those of His sheep who are not of His fold (that is, of His Church) must, as a necessary condition of their salvation, be brought to that fold.
Q. What do the Fathers of the Church say about the salvation of those who die out of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. They all, without exception, pronounce them infallibly lost forever.
Q. What did St. Augustine and the other Bishops of Africa, at the Council of Zirta, A.D. 412, say about them?
A. “Whosoever,” they said, “is separated from the Catholic Church, however commendable in his own opinion his life may be, he shall, for the very reason that he is separated from the Union of Christ, not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John iii. 36.
Q. What does St. Cyprian tell us about the salvation of those who die out of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. He says that,”He who has not the Church for his mother cannot have God for his Father;” and with him the Fathers in general say, that “as all who were not in the ark of Noah perished in the waters of the deluge, so shall all perish who are out of the true Church.”
Q. Who are out of the pale of the Roman Catholic Church?
A. All unbaptized persons, unbelievers, apostates, excommunicated persons, and all heretics.
Q. How do we know that unbaptized persons are not saved?
A. Because Jesus Christ has said: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John iii. 5.
Q. How do we know that unbelievers are not saved?
A. Because it is said of them that they do not please God. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Q. How do we know that apostates are not saved?
A. Because to fall away from the faith is a great sin, which makes one lose the kingdom of heaven.
Q. How do we know that persons justly excommunicated, who are unwilling to do what is required of them before they are absolved, are not saved?
A. Because the sin of great scandal, for which they were as dead members expelled from the communion of the Church, excludes them from the kingdom of heaven.
Q. What is the meaning of the word heretic?
A. Heretic is a Greek word, and means simply a chooser.
Q. Who, then, is a heretic?
A. A baptized person who chooses among the doctrines proposed to him by the Roman Catholic Church, to accept such doctrines as please him, and to reject the rest.
Q. How do we know that heretics are not saved?
A. Because St. Paul the Apostle assures us that such a chooser or heretic is condemned. “A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid; knowing that he who is such an one is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment.” Tit. iii. 10, 11.
Q. Are there any other reasons to show that heretics, or Protestants who die out of the Roman Catholic Church, are not saved?
A. There are several. They cannot be saved, because
They have no divine faith.
They make a liar of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Ghost, and of the Apostles.
They have no faith in Christ.
They fell away from the true Church of Christ.
They are too proud to submit to the Pope, the Vicar of Christ.
They cannot perform any good works whereby they can obtain heaven.
They do not receive the Body and Blood of Christ.
They die in their sins.
They ridicule and blaspheme the Mother of God and His saints.
They slander the spouse of Jesus Christ–the Catholic Church.
Q. Why is it that Protestants have no divine faith?
A. Because they do not believe God in those whom He has appointed to teach.
Q. Who is the teacher among Protestants?
A. Every one is his own teacher, his own law-giver and judge in matters of religion.
Q. Was there ever a time when God left men to themselves, to fashion their own religion, to invent their own creed, and their own form of worship?
A. No; from the beginning of the world God established on earth a visible teaching authority, to which it was the bounden duty of every man to submit.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That Protestants, by refusing to submit to that divine teaching authority, cannot have divine faith.
Q. What is the act of faith of a Protestant?
A. O my God, I believe nothing except what my own private judgment tells me to believe; therefore I believe that I can interpret Thy written word–the Holy Scriptures –as I choose. I believe that the Pope is anti-Christ; that any man can be saved, provided he is an honest man; I believe that faith alone is sufficient for salvation; that good works, and works of penance, and the confession of sins are not necessary, etc.
Q. Is this an act of divine faith?
A. It is rather a great blasphemy against God; it is the language of Luther, who, according to his own avowal, learned it from the devil.
Q. But if a Protestant should say–“I have nothing to do with Luther, or Calvin, or Henry VIII., or John Knox; I go by the Bible” what would you answer him?
A. In that case you adopt and go by the principles and spirit of these men, and you change the written Word of God into the word of man.
Q. How so?
A. Because every Protestant interprets Holy Scripture in his own private manner, giving it that meaning which he chooses to give it, and thus, instead of believing the Word of God, he believes rather his own private interpretation of it, which is but the word of man.
Q. Now, what is man without divine faith?
A. Such a man is profane, and devoid of all religion; and for refusing all obedience to his Sovereign Lord, he will never enjoy His presence, or see clearly what he is not willing to believe humbly.
Q. How do Protestants make a liar of Jesus Christ?
A. Jesus Christ says: “Hear the Church.” “No;” says Luther and all Protestants, “do not hear the Church, protest against her with all your might.” Jesus Christ says: “If any one will not hear the Church, look upon him as a heathen and publican.” “No,” says Protestantism,” if any one does not hear the Church, look upon him as an apostle, as an ambassador of God.” Jesus Christ says: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church.” “No,” says Protestantism, “Tis false; the gates of hell have prevailed against the Church for a thousand years and more.” Jesus Christ has declared St. Peter, and every successor to-St. Peter–the Pope–to be his Vicar on earth. “No,” says Protestantism, “the Pope is anti-Christ.” Jesus Christ says: “My yoke is sweet, and my burden light.” Matt. xi. 30. “No,” said Luther and Calvin, “it is impossible to keep the commandments.” Jesus Christ says: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matt. xix. 17. “No,” said Luther and Calvin, “faith alone, without good works, is sufficient to enter into life everlasting.” Jesus Christ says: “Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.” Luke iii. 3. “No,” said Luther and Calvin, “fasting, and other works of penance, are not necessary in satisfaction for sin.” Jesus Christ says: “This is My Body.” “No,” said Calvin, “this is only the figure of Christ’s Body, it will become His Body as soon as you receive it.” Jesus Christ says: “I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery.” Matt. xix. 9. “No,” says Luther and all Protestants, to a married man, “you may put away your wife, get a divorce, and marry another.” Jesus Christ says to every man: “Thou shalt not steal.” “No,” says Luther to secular princes, “I give you the right to appropriate to yourselves the property of the Roman Catholic Church.”
Q. How do Protestants make a liar of the Holy Ghost?
A. The Holy Ghost says in Holy Scripture: “Man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred” (Eecles. ix. 1); “Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin “? (Prov. xx. 9); and “Work your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philip, ii. 12). “No,” said Luther and Calvin, “but whosoever believes in Jesus Christ, is in the state of grace.”
Q. How do Protestants make liars of the Apostles?
A. St. Paul says: “If I should have faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” 1 Cor. xiii. 2. “No,” said Luther and Calvin, “faith alone is sufficient to save us.” St. Peter says that in the Epistles of St. Paul there are many things “hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as also the other Scriptures, to their own perdition,” 2 Eph. iii. 16. “No,” said Luther and Calvin, “the Scriptures are very plain, and easy to be understood.” St. James says: “Is any sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray, over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord.” Ch. v. 14. “No,” said Luther and Calvin, “that is a vain and useless ceremony.”
Q. Now, do you think God the Father will admit into Heaven those who thus make liars of His Son Jesus Christ, of the Holy Ghost, and the Apostles?
A. No; He will let them have their portion with Lucifer in hell, who first rebelled against Christ, and who is the father of liars.
Q. Have Protestants any faith in Christ?
A. They never had.
Q. Why not?
A. Because there never lived such a Christ as they imagine and believe in.
Q. In what kind of a Christ do they believe?
A. In such a one of whom they can make a liar, with impunity, whose doctrine they can interpret as they please, and who does not care about what a man believes, provided he be an honest man before the public.
Q. Will such a faith in such a Christ save Protestants?
A. No sensible man will assert such an absurdity.
Q. What will Christ say to them on the Day of Judgment?
A. I know you not, because you never knew Me.
Q. Can a man be saved who has left the true Church of Christ–the Holy Catholic Church?
A. No; because the Church of Christ is the kingdom of God on earth, and he who leaves that kingdom shuts himself out from the kingdom of Christ in heaven.
Q. Have Protestants left the true Church of Christ?
A. They have, in their founders, who left the Catholic Church either through pride or through the passion of lust and covetousness.
Q. Who were the first Protestants?
A. 1. Martin Luther, a bad German priest, who left his convent, broke the solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which he had made to God, married a nun, and became the founder of the Lutherans.
Henry VIII, a bad Catholic king of England, who murdered his wives, and founded the Episcopalian or Anglican Church.
John Calvin, a wicked French Catholic, who was the founder of the Calvinists.
John Knox, a bad Scottish priest, who was the founder of the Presbyterians or Puritans.
Q. What great crime did these wicked men commit?
A. They rebelled against the Church of Jesus Christ, and caused a great number of their Catholic countrymen to follow their bad example.
Q. What will be the punishment of those who willfully rebel against the Holy Catholic Church?
A. Like Lucifer, and the other rebellious angels, they will be cast into the everlasting flames of hell.
Q. Who has assured us of this?
A. Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God.
Q. What are His words?
A. “He who will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.” Matt, xviii. 17.
Q. What does Jesus Christ tell us in these words?
A. He tells us plainly that he who is out of His Church, and does not obey her, is before Him as the heathen and publican.
Q. What follows from this?
A. It follows that, as the heathen is damned, so, also, all those will be damned who die out of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Q. Can a man be saved who is too proud to submit to the Head of the Church of Christ, and despises Jesus Christ in His representative–the Pope?
A. He cannot; because Jesus Christ says: “He who despiseth you (the Apostles and their successors) despiseth me.”
Q. Do Protestants despise Jesus Christ in the person of St. Peter and his successors?
A. They do; for Luther taught them that whoever does not oppose the authority of the Pope cannot be saved. 1 Vol. Germ. Edit., f. 353.
Q. Do you think Christ can admit into Heaven him by whom He is despised?
A. This is impossible, and of such a one is true what St. Paul says: “He that resisteth the power that is from God, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist purchase to themselves damnation.” Rom, xiii. 1, 2.
Q. Can any one enter into the Kingdom of Heaven without good works?
A. No.
Q. How do we know this?
A. Because on the last day of judgment Christ will say to the wicked: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. For I was hungry and you gave me not to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me not to drink.” Matt. xxv. 41, 42.
Q. Do not Protestants perform such good works?
A. Many of them do.
Q. Will they be saved on account of such good works?
A. By no means; because works, however good in themselves, performed outside of the church established by Jesus Christ, are not accompanied and vivified by divine faith, without which it is impossible to please God, and, therefore, they do not, they cannot merit the everlasting joys of Heaven. As faith without works is dead, so also works without faith are dead and cannot save the doer from damnation.
Q. What does Jesus Christ say of those who do not receive His Body and Blood?
A. Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood, you shall not have life in you. John vi. 54.
Q. Do Protestants receive the Body and Blood of our Lord?
A. No, because their ministers are not priests, and consequently have no power from Jesus Christ to say Mass, in which, by the words of consecration, bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That they will not enter into life everlasting, and deservedly so, because they abolished the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
Q. What was the consequence of the abolition of Mass?
A. By abolishing the Mass, they robbed God the Father of the infinite honor which Jesus Christ renders Him therein, and themselves of all the blessings which Jesus Christ bestows upon those who assist at this holy sacrifice with faith and devotion. “Wherefore the sin of the young men (the sons of Heli) was exceeding great before the Lord, because they withdrew men from the sacrifice of the Lord.” 1 Kings ii.
Q. Do you believe that God the Father will admit into heaven these robbers of His infinite honor?
A. By no means; because if those are damned who steal the temporal goods of their neighbor, how much more will those be damned who deprive God of His infinite honor and their fellow-men of the infinite spiritual blessings of the Mass.
Q. Can a man be saved who dies in the state of mortal sin?
A. He cannot; because God cannot unite Himself to a soul in heaven who, by mortal sin, is His enemy.
Q. Do Protestants commit other mortal sins besides those above mentioned?
A. Very many besides.
Q. How do you prove this?
A. If it is a mortal sin for a Roman Catholic willfully to doubt only one article of his faith, it is also, most assuredly, a mortal sin for Protestants willfully to deny not only one truth, but almost all the truths revealed by Jesus Christ.
Q. Do they die in the sins of apostasy, blasphemy, slander, etc.?
A. They do, because all die in mortal sin who, having grievously offended Almighty God, are not willing to confess their sins.
Q. How do we know this?
A. Because Jesus Christ assures us that those sins which are not forgiven by His apostles and their successors, by means of confession, will not be forgiven. “Whose sins you retain they are retained.” John xx. 22, 23.
Q. Are Protestants willing to confess their sins to a Catholic Bishop or priest, who alone has power from Christ to forgive sins?” Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them.”
A. No, for they generally have an utter aversion to confession, and therefore their sins will not be forgiven throughout all eternity.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That they die in their sins and are damned.
Q. If any one loves God, will he also love the Mother of God and all His Saints?
A. He will, undoubtedly.
Q. Do Protestants love the Mother of God and the Saints?
A. They do not, or they would not ridicule and blaspheme the Mother of God and the Saints.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That Protestants will never be admitted into the company of the Saints in heaven, whom they have ridiculed and blasphemed on earth.
Q. Would a great king of this world punish most severely one who slanders the queen?
A. He would.
Q. Is the Catholic Church the Spouse of Jesus Christ, the King of heaven and earth?
A. She is, and St. Paul assures us that “Jesus Christ loves His church, that He died for her in order that He might have a glorious church, having neither spot nor wrinkle, but holy and without blemish.” Eph. v. 25-27.
Q. Have Protestants ever ceased to slander her?
A. Never.
Q. How do they slander the Spouse of Jesus Christ?
A. The Protestant Episcopalian book of homilies, for instance, says: “Laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages and degrees of men, women, and children of entire Christendom had been drowned in abominable idolatry.”
Q. Is idolatry a grievous sin?
A. It is one of the most grievous sins that can be committed.
Q. Could Protestants ever prove that the Catholic Church, the Spouse of Christ, became guilty of this sin?
A. Never; on the contrary, all know that the Catholic Church has abolished idolatry and has always held it in abomination.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That Protestants commit the great sin of slander against the Spouse of Christ.
Q. Can they commit this great sin without accusing Jesus Christ at the same time of having abandoned that glorious Spouse, whom He loves so ardently?
A. They cannot.
Q. What follows from this?
A. That the vengeance of Jesus Christ shall sooner or later overtake Protestants for committing the sins of a horrid blasphemy and slander.
Q. But is it not a very uncharitable doctrine to say that none can be saved out of the Church?
A. On the contrary, it is a very great act of charity to assert this doctrine most emphatically.
Q. Why?
A. Because Jesus Christ Himself and His apostles have taught it in very plain language.
Q. Is it not great charity to warn one’s neighbor when he is in danger of falling into a deep abyss?
A. It is, indeed.
Q. Are not all those who are out of the Church in very great danger of falling into the abyss of hell?
A. They are.
Q. Is it not, then, great charity to warn them of this danger?
A. It would be as great a cruelty not to warn them.
