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A

SERMON

PREACHED IN THE CHURCH OF

THE THIRD RELIGIOUS SOCIETY IN DORCHESTER,

JULY 16 AND 30.

BY RICHARD PIKE,

MINISTER OF THE SOCIETY.

I3ul)Us!)cli lig aHequest.

BOSTON:

CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY,

111, Washington Street.

1854.



BOSTON:

PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON,

22, School Street.



The following Discourse was prepared without any view what-

ever to its publication. The local circumstances by which it was

occasioned, giving to it a local rather than a general interest, may

seem perhaps to be a reason why it should not have passed out of

the hands of the author. It has been given to the press, at the

solicitation of many who heard it, with the hope that it may be

some contribution to the cause which it is believed to advocate.





SERMON.

Jer. li. 51 : “We are confounded, because we have heard reproach:

SHAME HATH COVERED OUR FACES
;
FOR STRANGERS HAVE COME INTO THE

SANCTUARIES OF THE LORD’S HOUSE.”

The text undoubtedly expresses the feelings of many

persons with regard to the spread of Romanism in

this country. It cannot be disguised, that that reli-

gion is making great strides among us, and that it is

establishing itself all over the land
;
that its churches

are springing up in all our considerable towns and

cities, its ecclesiastics are multiplying, and its literary

and theological schools are increasing. Neither must

it be disguised, that, according to its own calculation,

the time is not far distant, when it will hold the

balance of power, to say the least, in the state. Here

we have presented to view an actual state of things,

and the apprehension of a state of things, which, as

Protestants, we cannot contemplate without concern.

It is not to be expected or to be desired that we should.

Indeed, as Protestants, we should he unworthy of our

history and our privileges, did we not look with some-



6

thing of a jealous and a suspicious eye upon what

Romanism has already accomplished, and what it is

steadily aiming at, and deliberately advancing towards,

in this western world. It becomes us here, in New

England at least, to be jealous of Romanism, and to

adopt all Christian measures in our power to protect

ourselves against its encroachments. We are Protest-

ants. Our institutions are Protestant institutions
;

Protestant in their spirit, in the enterprise of which

they are the efficient cause, in the quality and type

of character which they have served to develop and

form. Our schools are Protestant schools
;

our

churches are Protestant churches
;
our interests are

Protestant interests. Because they are, and have been

from the beginning, Protestant, they have made our

civilization what it is at this day. And we do not

need, we do not desire, any change in this respect.

Least of all do we wish to substitute Romanism for

our Protestantism, or give to it in any way the control

of our affairs
;
knowing what it is, what its spirit is,

what its history has been, what has been its influence

on individual and national character.

But the question for us to consider now is, not what

we need or what we desire. Romanism is here. It has

a legal and a permanently established existence in our

republic
;
and every year it is strengthening itself on

our shores, increasing in numerical force and in power

and influence. It is no inconsiderable element in our

civilization. It is the religion of no inconsiderable por-



7

tion of our population. Strangers, it is true, they are for

the most part, who confess to this religion,— strangers
who have come among us with the hope and expecta-

tion of improving their condition
;
who have sought

here, and have found, an asylum from the oppression

and the poverty whose burden was upon them in the

old world. But not alone for their own good, whether

in the enjoyment of rights denied to them in their

native land, or in the pursuits open to them, are they

here. We need them. Their labor has been, and

still is, an indispensable element in the material pros-

perity which distinguishes our times. In all depart-

ments of industry requiring merely physical strength,

they are found
;
and are doing the work which would

not be done without them. But, great as is the

advantage to us, greater is it to them of course, or

they would not be here. Not to serve us, not to

minister to our prosperity, not to contribute to our

comfort, but to benefit themselves, to better their

condition, did they leave the homes of their childhood,

and the graves of their fathers, to dwell among us.

However indispensable they may be to us in the

offices they fill and the labor they perform, and how-

ever great a calamity it would be to us if they should

at once be stricken out of existence, we are under no

special obligations to them,-— we ask no favors of
them. For every service they render us, we make

them ample return. For every benefit they confer

upon us, we confer upon them others quite as great,



8

to say the least. For every burden they lighten on

our shoulders, we lighten others upon their shoulders,

quite as heavy to bear. In this regard, the account

is squared between us and them.

But their religion, their church-system, Eomanism,

— we do not like that, and, as Protestants, we cannot
like it. We consider it dangerous to our republican

institutions, as well as inconsistent with them. But

what can we do ? They are here, and their religion

is here, and their ecclesiastics are here
;
and we can-

,

not help ourselves. They are here, are in our fami-

lies, in our places of business, sustaining towards us

relations of great intimacy and responsibleness
;
and

they have their religion here with them, upholding it

with their means, and faithfully and zealously adhe-

ring to it alike in good report and evil report
;
and

there is nothing that we can do or say which will

alienate them from it. But, notwithstanding all this,

we cannot, as ^Protestants, regard their religion with

favor
;
we cannot but feel that it will be an evil day

for our country, should that day ever come, when it

shall get the ascendency in it. No, we cannot regard

Eomanism with favor, and we should not disguise the

fact. We should not hesitate in the least to say that

we regard it a false and dangerous system of religion.

It cannot be denied, that it has proved a curse, and

not a blessing, wherever it has prevailed. In whatever

nation in Europe it has had full sway, with whatever

people it has had its most perfect work, the course of



9

history, so to speak, lias been backward rather than

forward. There has been stagnation rather than

vigor, degradation rather than elevation or advance-

ment; the sun of every such nation or people has

gone back many “ degrees on the dial-plate.” Such, at

least, would be the judgment and the calculation from

any Protestant point of observation.

The civilization of Pomanism, wherever it has pre-

vailed, has been radically defective, both in amount

and in quality, if we understand by civilization,

when applied to individuals, the development of the

whole man, head, heart, and hands
;
and, when applied

to a people, that form of government and that system

of laws which foster industry, and stimulate enter-

prise, and encourage learning, and promote virtue and

religion, thus producing a state of society in which

man finds a sphere of action and of interest and of

duty best adapted to his wants and his capabilities, as

an intellectual, social, and spiritual being. In this

regard, Pomanism must necessarily fall under the

condemnation of all Protestant Christendom. Judged

by its works, it must fall
;

it must be pronounced, not

only unworthy of confidence, but destitute of those

qualities of character which give to it any claim what-

ever on our respect. If, in any period of its history,

its course has been dilferent from this, it has only

been for a short time and for a particular purpose,

and only to a certain extent. If, as it is claimed,

during the thousand years of its undisputed sway

2



10

throughout Christendom, it “ emancipated the Euro-

pean serf in his body, it left him hound in his spirit.

In loosing him from the feudal chain, it fastened only

the deeper on his soul the ecclesiastical chain.” Whe-

ther the great power wielded by this system of religion

in any period of its history, or in any part of the

world, was of heaven or of earth, blight and barrenness

there have ever been under it. The great mass of the

people over whom it has been exercised have never

attained to any thing like a consciousness of mental

freedom, or acquired any thing like a generous use of

faculties God had given them. It is not to be denied

that its policy ever has been to keep its subjects in a

state of spiritual servitude, to interdict the spirit of

inquiry to them, and suppress all freedom of thought

among them; that its culture or training for the

human mind has been a system of enervating restraints

upon it, rather than the adaptation of means to its

condition to develop and strengthen its powers.

In addition to this, it is, and it ever has been, a

bigoted, a persecuting, and a superstitious religion.

There is no crime in the calendar of infamy of which

it has not been guilty. There is no sin against huma-

nity which it has not committed. There is no blas-

phemy against God which it has not sanctioned. It

is a power which has never scrupled to break its

faith solemnly plighted, whenever its interests seem to

require it; which has no conscience; which spurns

the control of public opinion
;
and which obtrudes



11

its head among the nations of Christendom, “ dripping

with the cruelties of millions of murders, and haggard

with the debaucheries of a thousand years ; always

ambitious, always sanguinary, and always false.” And

what, in this connection, is deserving of particular

notice, it is the boast of Romanism that it never

changes; that it is the same from age to age, and

from generation to generation. The same means it

employs, the same measures it adopts, to accomplish

its purposes good or bad in one age, it may employ

and adopt in another age, if the circumstances seem

to require or to justify it. As a church, it is one and

undivided. It has one supreme head, to whom all its

ecclesiastics of whatever order or degree, and in

whatever part of the world, are subordinate and

amenable
;
and his authority is infallible.

There is no view of Romanism, no side which it

can present to our contemplation, no single period of

its history, which, all things considered, will allow

us to desire its spread in this country, or to be indif-

ferent to it. Take it all in all,— in its history, in its
aims, in its discipline, in its enterprises of whatever

kind, and in its instrumentalities of whatever kind

;

as a church, as a system of religion,— it is a monstrous
agency of wrong and oppression, of spiritual tyranny

and social demoralization; as sure to prove itself

such in all future time, whenever it shall have the

opportunity, as it has proved itself such in all past

time, whenever it has had the power.

I



12

But this, it may be said, is all individual assertion,

mere declamation. It is just such assertion and de-

clamation, it may be answered, as history abundantly

sustains and confirms. It is assertion founded on the

facts of history. Thus has it been, without doubt or

contradiction, with Spain, that most Catholic nation

;

and with the Spaniards, that most Catholic people.

Thus has it been in Italy. Thus has it been in

Mexico. Thus has it been in the Catholic South

American States. Never did any nation so surrender

itself to Eomanism as the Spanish nation
;
and never

did the councils of Eomanism so prevail in the go-

vernment of any nation as they have in that. There,

for three hundred years, Eomanism has had every

thing its own way. There it established the Inquisi-

tion, and worked it without let or hindrance to the

full capacity of its power, to produce conversion to

its creed and conformity in faith, first upon the Jews,

then upon the Moors, then upon the suspected within

its own pale
;
and it accomplished what it undertook.

And what was the consequence'? That direful in-

strumentality, which it so unscrupulously used as the

embodiment of its true spirit, seemed to settle down

“ like an incubus upon the heart of the nation,

diffusing everywhere unknown fears and suspicions,

crushing all intellectual as well as moral freedom.”

It was an engine used “equally against books and

men
;

” against whatever, either in civil or religious

matters, fell under its suspicion. It put an end to



13

freedom of thought, to the spirit of inquiry, to the

love of philosophy and letters, which, for a succession

of generations, made Spain the foremost nation of Eu-

rope. The consequence of such a system of things

was just what it must ever he. “ The Spanish nation

became bigoted to the last degree
;
those that were

not so, became cringing and hypocritical. ‘ The iron

entered her soul.’ The once-enterprising and high-

spirited Spain retired within herself, and built up a

wall of separation from the whole European world.

The Eomish church was triumphant, but it was over

the Spanish nation. Spain stood beneath her eccle-

siastical masters
;

obedient, but bereft of courage,

capacity, and intelligence, to act her part in the Euro-

pean world,— ‘ a nation of heroes transformed into a
nation of hens

;

’ commerce and the arts decayed
;
the

State betrayed by her own princes and nobles
;
and

the Spanish hidalgo as much changed from the hidal-

goes that conquered Grenada, as the gospel of her

priesthood was changed for the gospel of Christ and

his apostles.”* Could we suppose that nation, “like

blind Samson, to awaken to the sense of its wrongs,

like him it would utter its natural wailings in strains

not unlike those which the great poet has put into

his mouth :—
‘ I, dark in light, exposed

To daily fraud, contempt, abuse, and wrong.

Within doors and without, still as a fool.

In power of others, never in my own

;

* North British Review.



14

Scarce half I seem to live, dead more than half.

O, dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon

;

Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse.

Without all hope of day.’
”

It is but too evident that Spain has fallen, inglo-

riously fallen. Once the proudest and the foremost
t

nation of Europe
;
now almost the least in considera-

tion, and almost the meanest of them all. Once

sovereign of Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands;

now they severally disdain her control. Once sove-

reign of the gold and silver countries of the western

world
;
now her sceptre over them is for ever broken.

“ Once sovereign of a chain of colonies unequalled in

the world, she has lost them all but Cuba and a few

others
;
and those even she holds by the precarious

tenure of American conscience.” “The precarious

tenure of American conscience.” The language is a

quotation.

And why has Spain thus fallen '? Mainly, because,

it may be answered, she has been in the power and

under the control of Eomanism for the last three hun-

dred years
;
of Romanism in its most perfect form or

development, that of Jesuitism
;
and without any hin- -

drance at all to its freest working. Here may cause

and effect be plainly seen and connectedly followed

out. Now, no Protestant nation desires or can afford

to have the history of the Spanish nation re-enacted

or reproduced upon itself There are too many pre-

cious interests of humanity at stake in every such

nation even to think of such a thing. No more can



15

a Protestant nation afford to have the history of Italy

re-enacted or reproduced upon itself, in which Po-

manism glories so much, on account of having “ de-

veloped there the fine arts, and the tastes which they

cultivate, and consecrated them to the holy interests

of worship
;

” forgetting all the time that she has done

nothing at all for the intellectual and moral develop-

ment of the Italian people, nor that of any other

Catholic nation
;

for the same causes produce essen-

tially the same effects the world over.

But it is not my purpose or my desire to discuss

Romanism
;
only to state in a general way— which is

all that can be done in a discourse like this— what
it is, what its spirit is, what its works are, and what

its policy has ever been. Of course there have been

and still are good men in that church, wise and Chris-

tian men
;
men who have been an honor to humanity,

and benefactors to the world. The names of Pascal,

Fenelon, Alfred the Great, Sir Thomas More, are

among the most honored names of Christendom
;
and

thus will they continue to be, so long as Christian

excellence and true worth shall be held in reverence.

And let us not forget in this connection, that Lord

Baltimore, the first proprietary of the Colony of Mary-

land, was a firm adherent to that church, to whom

“the honor belongs,” according to the historian Ban-

croft, “ of being the first in the history of the Chris-

tian world to seek for religious security and peace by

the practice of justice, and not by the exercise of



16

power
;

to plan the establishment of popular institu-

tions with the enjoyment of liberty of conscience; to

advance the career of civilization by recognizing the

rightful equality of all Christian sects.” He deserves

to be ranked among the most wise and benevolent

lawgivers of all ages. Neither let us forget Charles

Carroll, of Carrolton, whose name and whose fame

shall be as lasting as the nations whose liberties his

patriotic enthusiasm ventured so much to achieve.

These were all wise and good men
;
and their Chris-

tian excellences were wrought out and perfected under

the nurture of Romanism. Let Romanism have the

honor of their fair fame, and that of any others such

as they within her fold, to the full extent to which

she is entitled to it. There is an element of Chris-

tianity, without any doubt, in Romanism, bad as it is

as a system or a church
;
and this seems to have had

a more perfect work with them than it apparently has

with the great majority of the members of that com-

munion; certainly than it has with the great majority

of its ecclesiastics and devotees. These, as a class,

have earned for themselves, by their works, the repu-

tation of being a vicious and an unprincipled set of

men. It can scarcely be otherwise with them, in view

of what their intellectual and moral training is known

to be,— a training which abrogates conscience, per-
verts the judgment, and enthralls the will,— a train-
ing whose dictates are but too successful attempts

“ to make the worse appear the better reason.”



17

But notwithstanding Bomanism is what it is,— a
church or a system of religion so devoid, to our

Protestant judgment, of a Christian character or a

Christian spirit, albeit it may possess some element of

Christianity,— yet for the members of that com-
munion in this country, for those especially who

have been brought up within its fold and nurtured

upon its bosom, there is no other religion than this,

no other Christianity than this. As a general remark,

those who are born and bred Catholics cannot be

made Protestants. Kindness cannot draw them into

the Protestant communion, and persecution cannot

drive them into it. This or no religion for them;

and I have no hesitation in saying, this rather than no

religion for them and such as they, considering who

they are and what their training has been. For as

religion,—the best they know, and, as a general thing,
can comprehend,— it can and it does exercise a con-
trolling and a restraining influence over them. They

stand in awe before its dread authority. They can be

made to tremble in view of the power which they

have been taught to believe resides in it. They fear

its maledictions as the power of heaven and the curse

of God. Being what they are,— for the most part
an ignorant and superstitious people, unaccustomed to

the restraining and elevating influences of any thing

like a true moral culture,— they cannot understand
or appreciate the authority of a religion whose chief

instrumentalities are not force and fear.

3



18

These things being so, to full as great an extent as

I have represented them to be, the question arises,—
and it is one of great practical moment,— What is our
true attitude as Protestants, and as a people who have

an abiding interest in the Protestant institutions of

this country, with regard to Pomanism 1 Considering

that we are in the ascendency here, and have power

in our hands
;
considering, too, that the duty of self-

preservation is always paramount and binding, what

ought we to do or attempt to do with it 1 Shall we

undertake to drive it out as an unclean thing ] Shall

we resort to petty vexations and annoyances, with the

expectation that thus it may be made to seek safety

and quiet in flight 1 Either course would be most im-

politic, as it would be altogether unchristian. Either

course would be persecution, and persecution is never

a Christian course of procedure,— alas that it some-
times has been a Protestant one !— and persecution,
in any form whatever, is what no Christian or high-

minded people can ever engage in or countenance or

justify. Besides that it is wrong, it possesses a fearful

power of reaction.

I recently saw what purported to be— whether it
is so or not I do not know— the platform of an orga-
nization of recent origin in this country against the

Catholics. One of the statements of the purposes of

that organization was this: “War to the hilt upon

Pomanism.” How much, I am led to ask, does this

mean ? What is “ war to the hilt upon Pomanism ” ?



19

Is it war in every way and in any way, and by whatever

means ? Is it a war of extermination,— a war carried
on by firing houses and blowing up churches, or by

any such methods 1 If any such purpose as this is

entertained or contemplated, it cannot be too severely

denounced. The least that can be said with regard

to any such method of warfare is, that it is most

unwise. It is a kind of warfare in which two may

engage as well as one,— a warfare in which there
may be “ blows to take as well as blows to give.” It

would be arraying ourselves in hostile conflict against

a very considerable body of men in all our large towns

and cities,— and that a not very scrupulous one,—
and telling them what weapons they can most effect-

ually use. But, even if it were not the most unwise

course that could be taken, it is contrary to the spirit

and teachings of the New Testament.

I shared in the general indignation of this com-

munity at the wanton outrage on the Catholic church

in this village a short time since. That was a most

wanton and most unjustifiable, as well as a most

indiscreet, act. I feel it to be a reproach upon the

Protestantism of this village,— a reproach in which
we all share,— and which places us in a false and a
most unfortunate position with regard to Romanism.

Those ruins proclaim our shame
;
and we may not be

surprised— unless there is indemnification or the dis-
covery of the perpetrators of the foul deed— if they
should remain for a long time in their present state.



20

as a reproach upon us. Those ruins, I say, proclaim

our shame
;
for, whether the destruction of that church

was a Protestant act or not, it will pass for a Pro-

testant act, until it shall be fully proved to have been

otherwise. Guilty or not guilty, our Protestantism

must hear the opprobrium, so long as there is doubt

or uncertainty, however it might he under other cir-

cumstances,— our Protestantism, the Protestantism of
our village. Certainly that ruin is an unsightly object

now; and— supposing it should remain just as it is
for a year or any number of years, testifying to every

stranger and every passer-by against us and against

our Protestantism— certainly this is not to be desired.
Pomanism understands very well— as everybody
knows—how to turn such acts to good account in
subserving her interests

;
and she seems to take some

pride in preserving the memorials and witnesses of

the persecution under which she is suffering in this

country. It may be that she will take measures “ to

keep the ruins in good repair ” here, as she has done

elsewhere, for this very purpose. Why was the

wanton act committed 1 Why did such unwise coun-

sels prevail] What is gained by it, and what is

likely to be gained by it ] This disgrace to our vil-

lage, and reproach upon our religion.

Pomanism is surely and permanently established in

this country. It came here in a lawful manner, and

it remains here under the sanction and protection of

law. Thus far there is no accusation to be brought



21

against it. But, at the same time, as we do, and we

must as Protestants, consider it a false and vicious

system of religion or form of Christianity, whatever

we can lawfully do to stay its progress, or limit its

power as an element in our civilization,— that is,
whatever we can do in conformity with the spirit and

teachings of the New Testament to oppose it,— we
not only have a right to do, but it is our duty to do.

For example, it is our right and our duty— a right
never to be yielded up, and a duty never to be dis-

owned— to make just as much of our Protestantism
as we possibly can in opposition to it; to establish

our Protestant churches and schools wherever there

is an opening for them
;

to put the open Bible into

the hands of all who will receive it, or is willing to

read it
;

to send forth our missionaries all over the

land, with the messages of a free salvation to all who

will repent of their sins before God, and have faith in

the Lord Jesus Christ
;
a salvation which no church

or ecclesiastic can give or take away, but which is the

unpurchased gift of God to all men everywhere, who

will in humility and faith open their hearts to receive

it. This is a legitimate way, a Christian, an evangeli-

cal way of opposing Pomanism in this country
;
and

I believe an effectual way,— a way which will surely
result in no inconsiderable amount of good.

No. We will not take the ground that there is no

conflict between Protestantism and Pomanism in this

country, but the contrary ground; and we will not



22

say that there is not a warfare in which as Protest-

ants we cannot lawfully and rightfully engage with

Pomanism : on the contrary, we take the ground

that there is a warfare in which we must and should

be continually engaged with Pomanism. But what

are the weapons of our warfare ? What are the

weapons which it most becomes us, as Protestants,

to use ] I answer, they “ are not carnal, but spi-

ritual, and mighty through God to the pulling

down of strongholds
;

casting down imaginations,

and every high thing that exalteth itself against the

knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every

thought to the obedience of Christ.” These weapons

are,— the Word of God faithfully preached and lis-
tened to and studied

;
well-filled and well-sustained

churches
;

well-attended and well-instructed Sunday-

schools
;
a Christian zeal in disseminating the gospel;

a Christian concern for the salvation of souls, mani-

fested in efforts to gather into the fold of Christ the

outcast and neglected, of whatever name or condi-

tion
;

and, in addition to all this (or rather in

connection with all this), well-supported and well-

guarded public schools,— public schools in which
the Bible is daily read, and its holy lessons are daily

inculcated. Let us proclaim to the world, that we

are thus engaged in a warfare with Pomanism, and

that such are our weapons, and that with such wea-

pons we expect to fight a good fight. And let us

mean just what we say: let us faithfully and conscien-



23

tiously use the weapons thus providentially furnished

us,— weapons which we can use with so much
effectiveness, and which it so becomes us to use.

Indeed, if with such weapons we cannot stand before

Romanism, and protect ourselves and our institutions

against it, in its religious relations and bearings, we

ought to fall. One good primary school, accessible

to Catholic children, will do more towards under-

mining that religion, and weakening its power, and

destroying its influence, than burning all the churches

and convents in the land. The young of that church

in our schools get ideas, and breathe an atmosphere

there, which, as they grow up, often work wonderful

changes in their views and sentiments. This, Roman-

ism seems to be perfectly well aware of, as facts

signiflcantly show. And, if the power to do it but

resided in that church, there is no doubt but that our

public school system would be essentially modifled, if

not entirely done away ivith.

But there are other considerations connected with

this subject to which attention should be given. We

should not conceal the fact, that we cannot, as Pro-

testants, regard Romanism with any kind of favor.

We consider it an unchristian and unsanctifled sys-

tem. But besides what it is in its religious bearings

and aspects, it is “ a power which owns subjection to

a lawless foreign potentate.” As such we ought, it

seems to me, to be very careful how we admit it to

the ballot-box. In view of the fact that it owns such



24

allegiance, we have a right to say upon what condi-

tions it shall be here. Protestantism has priority of

possession in this country. Protestantism laid the

foundations of this republic, and shaped the institu-

tions of this land
;
and it belongs to Protestantism to

say upon what conditions so considerable a power as

that of Pomanism— a power which is subject to
foreign dictation, and which has under its keeping

and subject to its control the destinies of so many

thousands of human beings in this land— shall enjoy
the privileges which have here been wrought out at

so great a cost. If Protestantism should declare,

—

as she now has the numerical strength to do, if she

only had the moral courage,— that that which is
a foreign authority in this land, that which owns a

foreign allegiance and is subject to foreign control

(and that, too, in matters relating to its whole policy

in this country), shall remain as such, and be pro-

tected as such, but shall not be admitted to all the

rights and immunities of native-born citizenship,

—

would she he doing more than she has a perfect right

to do
;
more than self-protection would justify her

in doing ; more than the sacred interests committed

to her guardianship would require her to do 1 The

interests of education and religion and freedom,

—

how precious in themselves ! how jealously to be

watched over and protected ! If Protestantism

should say to Komanism, “You shall not be mo-

lested in the enjoyment of your religion here
;
you



25

shall not be disturbed in the possession of your

churches; you shall have all the rights and all the

protection w’hich any other foreign power is entitled

to in this land
;
but we cannot admit you to legislate

for us
;
we cannot trust you with our ballot-box,”—

would she be doing aught that she has not a right to

do '? would she be doing aught that it is not her duty

to do 1 I think not. And I cannot help thinking,

moreover, that, in view of all the interests involved,

Protestantism would be quite ready to take this stand,

were it not for the miserable considerations which

party politics are for ever springing upon the people

to mislead their consciences and warp their judg-

ments. It is evident enough to my mind, that the

ballot-box in this country needs such a “ fencing ” as

the communion-table in the Kirk of Scotland never

gets in high sacramental seasons. All persons should

be excluded from it who are the sworn and dutiful

subjects of a foreign sovereign, although it be claimed

that that sovereign is a spiritual one; since it is a fun-

damental principle of Romanism, that the authority

of the pope is supreme and universal.

Romanism is a good deal in the habit of complain-

ing, that her rights are not duly regarded in this

country, — especially her rights of conscience, and
that particularly in the use of the Bible in our

common schools. But, in this matter, Romanism

should be made to understand, that there are rights

of conscience on our side as well as on her side. Our

4



26

conscience demands that the Bible should be in our

schools,— should be there because it is the Word of
God, and because its lessons and its spirit are adapted

to the wants and the condition of the young. We

placed it there deliberately, under a sense of religious

obligation, and with the conviction, which experience

had rendered deep and strong, that thus we were

rendering the best service in our power, not only to

our children, but also to our civil and religious insti-

tutions. In view of these considerations, it certainly

savors not a little of arrogance for Bomanism to come

here, and demand, as she often has done, and still

persists in doing, that we should change our policy

in this regard,— conscientiously adopted, — out of
respect to her rights of conscience. Considering the

relative position, standing, and interests of the two

parties, this is certainly not a little arrogant on the

part of Komanism.

There are other acts and measures of Bomanism, of

which mention might be made, which are also quite

as obnoxious to this charge of arrogance. Where

her own interests or wishes are concerned, she has

very little regard to our Protestant feelings or wishes

or convenience. Whatever she can do lawfully, and

her interests can be subserved thereby,— and some-
times, it would seem, her caprice indulged,— she will
do, exhibiting the utmost indifference as to its effect

upon us, or whether it is likely to annoy us or not.

Our feelings, or our rights, she never seems to consi-



27

der, where she does not render herself amenable to

the law. Indeed, I have sometimes thought, that,

on the contrary, there was a wanton disposition on

her part to vex and annoy us, in whatever way and

to as great an extent as she could, and not render

herself obnoxious to the penalties of the law. In the

location of the church in this village, there certainly

seemed to be something of this disposition. Not that

we object to there being a church here : on the con-

trary, we desire that there should be one
;
we think

it important that there should be one : but we claim,

and justly and properly claim, that, in the location

of that church, our feelings as Protestants and as

citizens, as the descendants of a Protestant ancestry,

as men having rights and privileges and interests

here which Romanism never has had nor does not

now have, '— should have been consulted
;
and that

due regard should have been had to the proprieties

of good taste, and some interest should have been

shown in the adornment of our village. It is true,

in this instance, Romanism violated no law of the

Commonwealth
;
hut it cannot be denied, that she

violated some of the laws of good neighborhood.

She watched her opportunity, and, with something

of feline cunning, she took advantage of Protestant

unwariness, and with characteristic effrontery taunted

our regrets. It is true, she did no more than she

had a legal right to do
;
but if the exercise of that

right proved a general offence,— and that for obvious



28

reasons, not from prejudice, not from Protestant

antipathy, not from hostility to the thing undertaken,

but upon altogether other grounds,— then it cannot
be maintained that she acted wisely, or that she did

not wantonly defy feelings which it was her duty to

have conciliated. Upon the assumption that the

gross outrage upon that church was a Protestant act,

but probably not proceeding from religious feeling,—
Protestant, however, inasmuch as it was not Catholic,

— it cannot but he admitted that Pomanism has been
greatly sinned against in it. This should he admitted

and distinctly avowed
;
and the act itself should he

condemned. But, at the same time, here and in this

very matter, it must not he disguised that Pomanism

has been also sinning. She has not been courteous.

She has not had a proper regard to well-grounded

and in no way unreasonable Protestant feeling. She

has not seemed to care whether she became an an-

noyance or not, even in that in which there was a

Protestant disposition to gratify all her reasonable

wishes, and where she might, without detriment to

herself, have pursued a course which would not have

incurred disapprobation from any quarter. But does

such a course of procedure on the part of Pomanism,

even if it he her uniform policy, justify a lawless

and gross outrage upon her? The question is not

a debatable one. That act was persecution
;

and

persecution is never God’s way, but always the

devil’s way; and it never fails to recoil iii the end



29

on him who uses it, and overwhelm him with confu-

sion.

In conclusion, my hearers, allow me to remark,

that Protestantism in this country has great trusts

committed into its keeping. As Protestants we have

succeeded to a sacred inheritance,— an inheritance
upon which depends the permanence of our civil and

religious institutions, and in which are involved the

great interests of civilization in this country, — an
inheritance, too, which we are bound, by every consi-

deration of duty and of humanity, to transmit, in all

its strength and efficiency and beauty, to future

generations. Are we faithful to our great trusts 1

Are we making our Protestantism a sacred and a

glorious gift of God to ourselves and our children,—
not a license for scepticism or indifference in matters

of religion, but an incentive to fidelity, and to a truly

apostolic zeal in making the religion of Christ the

power of God unto salvation to our souls ] We are

inquiring, with not a little apparent solicitude, with

regard to what measures we shall adopt to stay the

progress of Romanism in this country, whose aspect

is becoming every year more and more threatening,

and whose arrogance more and more intolerable.

But what are we doing for our Protestantism ] is a

question which it becomes us all to entertain. What

are we making of that, and what is it to us How

are we treating our Protestantism How are we

using the privileges and opportunities which it has



30

conferred upon us ] These are
.

questions fraught

with deep significance at the present time. Poor

Protestants are we all, if our Protestantism amounts

to no more than dislike of Pomanism. Poor Pro-

testants are we all, if we are not also Christians
;

Christians in faith, and in spirit, and in conduct;

Christians who are obedient to the commandments,

and subject to the authority, of Christ
;
and if we

are not actuated by a Christian zeal in all the

measures in which we are interested, in which are

involved civil or religious considerations. May God

in his wisdom teach and direct us all, and have us

ever more under the guidance of his Holy Spirit

!

I