ows only blurred
and confused figures without symmetry or attraction or meaning, you from
within, are gazing with silent rapture on God's glorified saints, with
their outlines clearly defined on the windows, and all illuminated with
the sunlight of heaven. Your knowledge of the truth is not only complete
and harmonious, but it becomes fixed and steady. You exchange opinion for
certainty. You are no longer "tossed about by every wind of doctrine," but
you are firmly grounded on the rock of truth. Then you enjoy that profound
peace which springs from the conscious possession of the truth.

In coming to the Church, you are not entering a strange place, but you are
returning to your Father's home. The house and furniture may look odd to
you, but it is just the same as your forefathers left it three hundred
years ago. In coming back to the Church, you worship where your fathers
worshiped before you, you kneel before the altar at which they knelt, you
receive the Sacraments which they received, and respect the authority of
the clergy whom they venerated. You come back like the Prodigal Son to the
home of your father and mother. The garment of joy is placed upon you, the
banquet of love is set before you, and you receive the kiss of peace as a
pledge of your filiation and adoption. One hearty embrace of your tender
Mother will compensate you for all the sacrifices you may have made, and
you will exclaim with the penitent Augustine: "Too late have I known thee,
O Beauty, ever ancient and ever new, too late have I loved thee." Should
the perusal of this book bring one soul to the knowledge of the Church, my
labor will be amply rewarded.

Remember that nothing is so essential as the salvation of your immortal
soul, "for what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"(2) Let
not, therefore, the fear of offending friends and relatives, the
persecution of men, the loss of earthly possessions, nor any other
temporal calamity, deter you from investigating and embracing the true
religion. "For our present tribulation, which is momentary and light,
worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory."(3)

May God give you light to see the truth, and, having seen it, may He give
you courage and strength to follow it!

Chapter I.

THE BLESSED TRINITY, THE INCARNATION, ETC.

The Catholic Church