The Reason for This Book
SOME TIME after GOD was pleased to open my eyes to the truth, I had occasion to read the two pastoral letters that his Excellency, Dr. Modrego, Archbishop of Barcelona, used to sound a warning over the alarming progress of Evangelical Christianity in the region of Catalonia.
The first of these letters was written when I was still a priest in the Diocese of Barbastro. I must admit that, if it had reached my hands then, I would have applauded most enthusiastically the forceful arguments with which the learned Archbishop lashed out and demolished the foolish claims of Protestantism. That is the way I would have thought in my ignorance.
But now I knew Evangelical Christianity personally. I had attended many meetings in which I could satisfy myself of the sincere piety of the faithful. I had studied the Holy Scriptures and various works of religious controversy. Eager in my desire to prove what was true, I had made me a list of quotations from the Church Fathers that showed the departure of Catholicism from the early Christian faith.
So the flat authoritarian pronouncement of the Archbishop, that formerly would have filled me with pleasure and enthusiasm, now saddened me. I thought of the thousands of priests and faithful Catholics who would be led to believe such arguments without question, partly through ignorance and partly because of the weight of ecclesiastical authority.
There was little that I could do, since at the time I was a humble worker in a factory and entirely without funds. My Evangelical brethren had provided me with plenty of spiritual instruction - but no money.
Still, the distress of my spirit and the enthusiasm of my first love for the Gospel (which I pray GOD may never decrease) led me to a bold decision - to write a letter to the Archbishop himself. If he were a sincere Christian, he could not remain indifferent to the clear teachings of the New Testament and the unanswerable quotations from so many Church Fathers that proved the doctrinal deviation of Roman Catholicism. So I wrote the letter, which I wanted to have the satisfaction of taking personally to the Bishop's palace in Barcelona.
The Archbishop has not condescended to answer this letter, but many friends have asked me for a copy of it. As I was writing it over and over I felt impelled to enlarge it into a more comprehensive booklet. May GOD use these pages as an instrument to lead many souls to the knowledge of the truth that is in JESUS, in whose merits and through whose name I ask it of our Father who is in Heaven.