yr )TWSjtroT}6 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Shelf .yA-7- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. i ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. > BY REV. R. C. ARMSTRONG, B.D., A Member of the Northwest Texas Annual Conference, Author of ''''A Compendium of the Sabbath and Religious and Civil Liberty,^^ PRINTET> FOR THE AFTHOH. Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South, Barbee & Smith, Agents, Nashville, Tenn. 1894. N. o>- Congress \4 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894, By R. C. Armstrong, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. ->J\ ^( 'Kj PREFACE. "As from causes seemingly fortuitous," I find myself writing a preface to my third booklet. In neither instance was there a settled purpose, or even a thought of what was evolved from the initial design. The pages of this book are the outgrowth of a promise made to my colaborer, Eev. W. H. Terry, P. C, of South Temple, to preach a sermon upon CathoMcism, which is being firmly rooted in the prosperous little city of Temple, Tex. The efibrt to prepare the sermon resulted in the prepa- ration of two lectures, which w^ere delivered in Temple on the 29th and 30th of April, 1893. The requests that the lectures should be published in the Texas Christian Advocate were such as to induce the writer to prepare them for the press. The de- sign then was to publish the lectures in short articles without additional addenda^ but the interest grew in the public mind, and the subject in the mind of the writer, until the eighteenth number was reached. Then came many requests, both written and verbal, that these articles be put in book form. This de- sire, so earnestly expressed by friends at home and strangers abroad, has led to the publication of the book as it now is. Much matter will be found in the book which did not appear in the articles. This I hope will induce those w^ho read the articles to read the book also. I have given this history of the preparation of this work as a kind of apology for an apparent want of continuity and co- herency in the arrangement and presentation of the subject- matter. Had the author intended to write a book in the outset, the arrangement would have been diflerent. Eeference would have been had to logical efiect. The author cannot hope that these pages will escape just criticism when brought under the (3) BOMANI&M VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. crucial test of mature scholarship, but he fondly cherishes the hope that its defects will not so materially mar its worth as to render it unacceptable to any. Believing that Providence has led to the preparation of these pages, and praying that it may contribute to the interest of my feilow-citizens of America and that God's blessings may accelerate its mission, I send it forth. Let no one think for a moment that there lingers in the bosom of the author anything like malice, revenge, animosity, or the spirit of intolerance toward any of the children of God. Nay, rather, his hands and arms are outstretched to grasp and to clasp every true lover of the Lord Jesus. So where the language is found to be vigorous and nervous, conceive not that it is the index to an untoward passion, but the expression of an earnest nature opposing what is understood to be a great evil. The precedent was given in the teachings of the Master when heap- plied the epithets " fool," " hypocrite," etc. When we have to deal with grave evils, we cannot allow sentimentality, philan- thropy, or even the touch of infinite love so to blunt the edge of truth as to darken counsel, or fail to awaken in the reader a proper apprehension of the situation. So when the logic of facts forces us to the front of the battle, we must stand ready to fight or embrace, as duty may indicate. I wish here to acknowledge my indebtedness to Father Chiniquy, author of "Fifty Years in the Church of Eome" and " The Priest, Woman, and Confessional ; " and the Eev. 0. M. Owen, author of " The School Plot Unmasked ; " and also to Rev. L. L. Picket, author of " Danger Signals," for valuable informa- tion which has aided much in the preparation of this book. The Author. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page. Romanism Is TJnclianged — Protestantism — Romanism Has Made no Revision of Her Creed — Infallibility Considered. 9 CHAPTER II. Catholic Dogmas — Transubstantiation— Invocation of the Saints — Celibacy of the Priests and Nuns — Auricular Confession — The Church — ^Apostolic Succession — Intol- erance — Corruption — Avariciousness 12 CHAPTER III. Specious Pretensions to Charity — Works of Charity — Policy of the Catholic Church in America 43 CHAPTER lY. Roman Proselytism through Her Educational System — Enslaves the Intellect^Perfidy — Success — Education In- ferior 48 CHAPTER Y. This Government in Danger — Catholic Strategy — Perverts History — Persecutions 57 CHAPTER YI. Dangers That Threaten This Republic Continued — Threats • — Control Cities — ^Associated Press — Military Organiza- tions — Arming — American People Not Credulous — Satol- li, Bishop Odin — Catholic Schools and Colleges— Hil- derbrand 71 CHAPTER YII. The Lecture of Father O'Shannahan — Catholics Are the Same Now as Ever — Old Tricks Repeated — Roman Per- secution — Gaining Ground — Bishop Newton— Spanish Inquisition — The Mexican Inquisition — Catholic Intol- erance — Reviewer Reviewed — Po wderly 90 CHAPTER YIII. Our Greatest Dangers — Demagogy — Rum — Secular Press — Fraternity — Conclusion 112 (5) ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. CHAPTER I. Eomanism Is Unchanged — Protestantism — Romanism Has Made no Revision of Her Creed — Infallibility Considered. (Dan. vii. 15-28; 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.) 1. I COME to write of an institution that is hoary with the frost of the ages, foretold by the prophet Daniel as a temporal power and as a subverter of the truth and an enemy of God and man. I cannot ac- cord to the Roman Catholics the honor of being even a branch of the Church of God. They have not the credentials to validate such a claim. I have no war to wage upon individual Christians. There are doubtless many sincere persons among the Catholics, and maybe some true Christians, but my arguments shall be directed against an institution that has had organic form since the eighth century, and with a history that has crimsoned its pages as no other in- stitution has ever done. I dare assert that the Ro- man Catholic Church stands out in history unparal- leled for cunning, chicanery, perfidy, arrogance, intolerance, persecution, and bloodshed. Its history is unquestionably without a counterpart in all the di- abolical crimes known to men. If the Protestants are right, then the Catholics are wrong; for they are separated by the widest extremes. An impassable gulf is set between them. There can (7) 8 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. be no compromise, for they have but little in com- mon, as far removed from each other as the north and the south poles. 2. Protestantism. — The word "Protestant" means one who protests against the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Protestants have, from their rise to the present, contended for that freedom that guarantees both civil and religious lib- erty to all; this the Catholics have constantly op- posed. The important doctrine of justification by faith has from the beginning contradistinguished Protestants from Catholics, for Catholics have held strenuously to salvation through the Catholic Church only. Protestants have protested against the intolerance, superstition, and corruption of Catholicism as well as against their dogmas. Instead of surrendering any ground involved in the issue between the two, Prot- estants have advanced with the light of the ages, and now more than ever cling to that form of government that guarantees to all " the right to worship God ac- cording to the dictates of their own consciences." They have approached nearer the true ideal of per- fection in love, mercy, and liberty; while the Catho- lics remain as at first, with no modification of either doctrine or practice except as constrained by the civil law. 3. Romanism Has Made no Revision of Her Creed. — Her practice has been modified where and when con- strained by the civil law; otherwise she is to-day what she has always been. Some have been deceived by the specious pretensions of Catholicism, and they really think that slie has reformed, but such is im- ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. possible. Romanists cannot reform; their theory of in-f allibility forever precludes any change of doctrine, mode of government, or principle of action. They can surrender nothing; what they were at the Reforma- tion they are to-day. If they were to admit reforma- tion possible, then that would virtually destroy the very foundation of their Church, which is infallibil- ity. This dogma forces them, whether they will or not, to indorse or sanction all the horrible deeds committed by them during the Dark Ages, all the in- iquities of the popes, and the bloody deeds of the In- quisition. 4. Infallibility Considered. — We have called atten- tion to the fact that this dogma forever precludes any reformation and makes development impossible to them. But some may ask: "Do they claim to be in- fallible now?" I answer that the time was when they held that the dictum of the Church in its corporate body was infallible, and that all questions of doubtful character were to be referred to this arbiter for final adjudication. From such decision there was no high- er appeal. To appeal to God's Word for any decision above the Church was nothiug but heresy and con- tempt of the Church and a crime that should be atoned by the severest penance. But now, in addi- tion to the voice of the Church as expressed through her theologians, the Fathers, and the councils, they have the ipse dixit of his Holiness. On the 18th day of July, 1870, by the Vatican Council of 601 members, after some dissension and the withdrawal of quite a number of delegates, the dogma of pontifical infalli- bility was formulated, from which I now quote: "Therefore faithfully adhering to the traditions re- 10 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. ceived from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God our Saviour, the exultation of the Catholic religion ... we teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed that the Roman pon- tiff when he speaks ex cathedra — ^. e., when in the discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his extreme apostolic author- ity, he defines a doctrine regaTding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church — is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeem- er willed that his Church should be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or morals . . . and such definitions are irrefutable of themselves. But if any one presume to contradict this, our defini- tion, let him be anathema." Thus you see that instead of revocation, or even modification of dogmas that have brought to the In- quisition innocence and virtue and that have drenched the land in the blood of the best men and women, we have the strongest reaffirmation of arrogant claims. Infallibility! What does it mean? Not capable of erring; entirely exempt from liability to mistake. Who is this that makes himself equal to God? Pope Pius IX., with his five hundred and thirty-five bish- ops, gravely telling the people of this age that he, Pope Pius IX., is infallible, exempt from liability to mistake, equal to God; and we, as Protestants, are anathematized if we dare deny it! Yes, put under the ban of Eome — yea, of God — if we deny it. And being condemned, we would be executed if Eome had the power to do it. AVe look in vain along back the track of time to find this inf allibiltiy. Instead of this, we find bishops arrayed against bishops, popes against ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 11 popes, councils against councils: the one doing, the other undoing; the one sanctioning, and the other condemning; the one establishing, and the other pull- ing down. So this high claim, that is at once repug- nant to the intelligence of the average schoolboy, has no foundation in history nor in fact nor in the Word of God. It is an offense to reason, contradictory to experience, and an insult to God. They tell us that out of the Catholic Church there is no salvation; all others will be lost; they alone possess the keys to the kingdom. I shall examine their claims, as they have much to do with the con- clusions which we shall reach in this discussion, which are of vital interest to the Protestants of this land. CHAPTEE II. Catholic Dogmas— Transubstantiation — Invocation of the Saints — Celibacy of the Priests and Nuns — Auricular Confession — The Church — Apostolic Succession — Intolerance — Corruption — Avariciousness. 1. The Catholics adhere tenaciously to the doctrine of transubstantiation. This means that the bread and the wine are actually converted into the veritable body and blood of Christ. He who eats the bread really eats the body and blood of Christ. That the entire Christ is either in the bread or wine, so that it is not necessary to eat both the bread and to drink tlie wine, since the entire Christ is in tlie bread or tlie wine separately. Mark you, the bread and the wine are not symbols of his body and blood, but re- ally and substantially his identical body and blood. They say: ''Whosoever receiveth the body of Christ receive th Christ whole and entire; there is no receiv- ing him by parts." Hence they do not give the cup to the laity. The priests keep the wine for themselves. They have not the least scriptural authority for this dogma, nevertheless they claim to base it upon the texts: "This is my body" and "this is my blood." This they interpret literally. To interpret this liter- ally would be to involve us in difficulties that would be endless. This is figurative, just as hundreds of other passages are figurative; such as "I am the vine, ye are the branches," "Ye are the salt of the earth." If it were possible for the priests to convert a piece of bread into the body and blood of Christ — into the (12) KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 13 veritable Christ — then it follows that they are crea- tors, not of sprigs of grass or human beings even, but actually they can create gods many out of little wa- fers — a god to be worshiped and that is worshiped by every good Catholic. It is hard for us to realize that we have men in our midst who can make gods that are worthy to be adored. Yes, it is hard to believe that it is possible, here in this enlightened age, here in America, beneath the shadow of her hundreds of academies, colleges, and universities, that any man would have the audacity to claim the power to trans- form a piece of bread into a Christ to be worshiped by the people. But such is the case, and we are ac- cursed by his Holiness, the pope, if we dare express a doubt about this veritable humbug. We express our commiseration for the heathens that worship monkeys, cats, snakes, wood, stone, and such like, while here at our very doors are men and women who adore a piece of bread which they as good Catholics believe is the real Christ, made by the invested pow- er of the priest, and we look on and admire their de- votion, or encourage it by our silence, the secular press the meantime speaking out in commendatory terms of this sacrilege. I submit that the worship of Aaron's calf was not more idolatrous than this. Mr. Chiniquy, Avho was fifty years a Catholic and twenty-five years a priest, tells of the distress that befell Father Daule, of Canada, who one morning- after having consecrated the wafer — ^. e,, made a good god — was with closed eyes silently adoring it, when an impudent old rat crept quietly from his hiding place and stole the god from the altar. The old priest was filled with horror and dread at the sad re- 14 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. alization. Alas for such a god as can be stolen by rats! But this is Romanism, a compact that needs no reformation and that cannot be reformed. They get into this trouble by interpreting literally *' this is my body " and " this is my blood." This literal interpre- tation of the Scriptures often leads to the most fanat- ical ends. On the 20th of February, at New Haven, Conn., Avery Ferris, a young man, undertook to gouge out his right eye and then cut off his right hand because he thought that Matthew xviii. 8, 9 was to be understood literally. 2. The Catholics hold to the invocation of saints, particularly the worship of the Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord. They say that without her in- tercession there is no salvation. She and other saints are regarded as mediators. Nevertheless our Lord has said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." And again: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." ''He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." Note the Saviour says that if any would climb up any other way, the same is a thief and a robber. He alone is the Door. To seek to enter in through the priests, pope, or Mary is to play the part of a thief. John, being over- whelmed by the apocalyptic vision, would have fallen at the feet of the angel, who showed him such great wonders, and worshiped him. But John says: "He said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-serv- ant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God." God alone is to be adored; ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 15 and not bread, wine, Mary, or any other saint. Worse still, they worship the scapular, a piece of woolen cloth; relics — that is, the bones of saints and such things. The wrist bone of St. Anne, a joint of the finger of Thomas a Becket, a wisp of hair from the tail of Balaam's mule, the cross of the penitent thief, or the lantern of Judas Iscariot, Aaron's rod will do. It matters but little, just so it is a relic. It turns out that according to the reckoning of these people St. Matthew has eight arms, and St. John three. These wonderful people have the ark of the covenant that was in the wilderness, and the Saviour's teeth by the hundredweight. This is Catholicism as it was and as it is. No, I am told that such things are of the past. Nay, last year (1892), in the great city of New York, the newspapers reported multi- tudes worshiping the wrist bone of St. Anne. Broth- er Cavener, in a recent article in the Advocate, says that recently three boxes of the Saviour's teeth were sent from Rome to Mexico, weighing three hundred pounds; that each tooth was wrapped up separately and packed in a little box and sold at 50 cents each. 3. Among the most mischievous and baneful, self- imposed, and unscriptural dogmas of Rome, stands the celibacy of the priests and nuns. This is plainly at variance with the original design of God and his expressed will. Hear this utterance: "And the Lord said. It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helpmeet for him." Again we read in the Word: "Marriage is honorable in all." Let it be remembered that the apostles themselves were married. Even Peter, whom they claim as their first pope, was married, and also the ministers and saints 16 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. in the first centuries of the Christian Church. The celibacy of the priests and nuns is an unwarranted innovation upon society, fraught with the most dread- ful consequences. It is a reversal of the order of na- ture and in open opposition to God. Common sense, reason, logic, nature, experience, natural impulses, and revelation are against this practice. It is a sin against God, against society, and against humanity. The tendency is to deterioration. How can any practice that plainly contravenes God's word look to the sanctity and perfection of our nature? They tell us that they are holier than we. But alas! who can tell of the infamous sins committed in secret by these claimants to sanctity, which tend to the destruction of both soul and body? The eye of the reader glares and his heart sickens as he reads chapter after chap- ter of both sacred and profane history that describe, often in detail, some of the most revolting crimes traceable to celibacy. Be not deceived. God has not made any sect or class of men and women different from all others in the aptitudes of our nature. He who said that it is not good for man to be alone has given us a book, the Bible, which recognizes the marital relation, from Genesis to Revelation, without a squinting toward celibacy. Now as there are but two sources from which all things emanate, God and the devil, and as celibacy did not originate with God, it follows that it did originate with the devil. If it is of the devil, it can but be evil, and that continually. Did not the fiat go forth: ** Multiply, and replenish the earth?" Has not God enjoined the marital rela- tion? Hear the Word of God: "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 17 male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." The Catholics tell us that the bishops must not mar- ry, but God says: ''A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife; . . . one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity." Speaking of the deacons, the Lord says: ''Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses w^ell;" "even so must their wives be grave." But the Catholics tell us that the priests, who answer for the deacons, must not marry. The apostle describes the Catholics in the following language: "Now the Spirit speaketh ex- pressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; hav- ing their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbid- ding to marry." There it is from God in language that cannot be misunderstood. He says those w^ho forbid to marry — the Catholics — are seducing spirits, who teach the doctrines of devils. The second text that we placed at the beginning of these papers speaks of that man of sin "who opposeth and ex- alteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Mr. Lepro- hon, a prominent priest of Canada, said to Mr. Chiniquy, in a conversation between the two: "You are correct when you say that we do not find any di- rect proof in the Bible to enforce the vows of those 2 18 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. who desire to consecrate themselves to the service of the Church. But i£ we do not find the obligation of that vow in the Bible, we find it in the holy tradi- tions of the Church." Yes, if it is not in the Bible, it is in the traditions of men. The pope, the man of sin, takes the place of God, and commands and binds where God has given liberty. 4. As an adjunct to celibacy auricular confession takes it place in this the most perfect system for handicapping the will, subjugating virtue, and en- slaving the ignorant and enriching the surplice that has ever cursed this fair earth. What do we under- stand by the confessional? Let the Roman bishop, Calloner, answer: ** By confession we mean a full and sincere accusation made to God's minister of all mor- tal sins which, after a diligent examination of con- science, a person can call to his remembrance." Of course this, as the other dogmas we have been exam- ining, has no warrant in the Scriptures. It is the confession of a penitent to a priest of all the sins of every character that have been committed, with a view to having them absolved. If all the sins of the pen- itent are not confessed, then the priest cannot forgive any of his sins. A thorough probing and searching inquiry is resorted to by the priest to assist in a full statement. Nothing must be kept back. It is a dif- ficult task for a blushing girl or a timid matron to unveil her inmost soul, and reveal even every hidden thought to a man, and talk to him on subjects and in a manner that she would not dare to speak to her most intimate female friend about. But there is no re- lief for the fair penitent. The priest, like an unmer- ciful vulture that lacerates the trembling lamb with his EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 19 talons, continues to probe into the remotest corner of the delicate heart to find every thought, good or bad, every deed that has been committed, even the most secret. So the girl is forced to talk to a man about matters that she dare not mention to her moth- er; and married women in a way that outrages de- cency and outrivals heathenism. It is thus that these pirates of virtue, propriety, and delicacy carry on their revolting work at the expense of the shocked nerves of their fair penitents, and at the expense of deadened sensibility; for often the female penitent so far recoils from this inquisitorial tribunal as to stultify moral sensibility and suppress the truth, if not wholly disregard it. But Rome has fortified her- self for any and every emergency. The adroit priest knows how to mass his weapons and ply his engines until the walls of self-respect with which God has fortified his most estimable creature are broken down, and delicate subjects are made the theme of conver- sation. It requires a dreadful effort on the part of many, much agony of mind and deep distress of heart to so far suspend self-respect and override the barriers that modesty erects against the base assaults of the intruder, before the fair penitent can be in- duced to speak of indecent things that are unmen- tionable in public. But I am told that my picture is overdrawn. Nay, listen at the statement of Mr. Chiniquy, who was fif- ty years a Catholic and twenty-five years a priest, and who is undoubtedly a competent witness. He re- nounced Catholicism in April, 1858, and subsequently became a Presbyterian minister. He is a pious and learned man, and his testimony is conclusive, as he had 20 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, personal knowledge of the things of which he wrote. He tells us that not a few women will prevaricate through a lifetime rather than expose their secret thoughts and deeds to the view of their confessors. On page 22 of " The Priest, Woman, and Confession- al" he says: "More than once I have seen women fainting in the confessional box, who told me afterward that the necessity of speaking to an unmarried man on certain things, on which the most common laws of decency ought forever to seal their lips, had almost killed them. Not hundreds, but thousands of times I have heard from the lips of dying girls as well as of married women, the awful words: '* I am forever lost! All my past confessions and communications have been so many sacrileges. I have never dared to an- swer correctly the questions of my confessors; shame has sealed my lips and damned my soul! " Again he says: "I do here publicly challenge the whole E-oman Catholic priesthood to deny that the greater part of their female penitents remain a certain period of time — some longer, some shorter — under the most distressing state of mind." Again, ibid., page 26, he says: " It takes many years of the most ingenuous (I do not hesitate to call it diabolical) efforts on the part of priests to persuade their female penitents to speak on questions even pagan savages would blush to mention among themselves. . . . Not a single Catholic priest will dare to deny what I say on this matter." But alas! too many are led to speak freely and fully upon these subjects. Be it remembered that they must confess everything before they can be absolved by the priest, before he can pardon (?) their sins. Without this confession and absolution ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 21 they cannot take the sacrament; hence it follows that they cannot be saved Who would dare deny that the auricular confession has an evil tendency and is often attended with the most fatal consequences to all concerned? Has not Rome sounded the tocsin through her theologians to her priests? Has not she said that the confession is a snare to virtue, a danger to humanity? Then if Rome herself admits that the confessional is a temptation to evil, a snare to virtue, may we not si^eak boldly against it? Is it not a duty to warn men against that wdiich is a snare and a temptation? The statistics showing the preponder- ance of illegitimate births in Roman Catholic coun- tries over Protestant countries stand as a potent wit- ness against this nefarious practice and other adjuncts of this system. But here let us pause while we hear from some personal witness. A poor, fallen girl camo to confess to Mr. Ohiniquy. She said: ''Before I ■was seventeen years old, God knows that his angels were not more pure than I was." Then she alludes to a time when she made a confession to the chaplain of the nunnery, and to certain questions propounded by the chaplain, and proceeded to say: "This, the j&rst unchaste conversation of my life, plunged my thoughts into a sea of iniquity till then absolutely unknown to me; temptations of the most humiliating character assailed me for a w^eek, day and night; after which sins that I would blot out with my blood, if it were possible, overwhelmed my soul as with a deluge." Mark you, that this is the very tender care that Rome exercises over the tender ones committed to her protection and fostering care. But pursuing this subject, we will return to Mr. Chiniquy, who re- 22 ROMANISM VERSUS TROTESTANTISM, fers to a conversation which he had with Father Baillargeon, then Curate of Quebec and afterward Archbishop of Canada. He says: " I told him frank- ly that several old and young priests had already come to confess to me, and that with the exception of two they had told me that they could not put those questions and hear the ansv/ers they elicited without falling into the most damnable sins." Mr. Chiniquy received the following answer from Mr. Baillargeon : "Such cases of the destruction of female virtue by the questions of the confessors is an unavoidable evil. It cannot be helped, for such questions are ab- solutely necessary in the greater part of the cases with which we have to deal." (*'The Priest, Wom- an, and Confessional," p. 40. ) The poor girl whose sad testimony we have quoted above said on her dying bed: "I pity the poor priests the day that our fa- thers will know what becomes of the purity of their daughters in the hands of their confessors. Father would surely kill my last two confessors if he could know how they have destroyed his poor child." All this is upon the statement of Mr. Chiniquy, who heard these words spoken from the lips of this dy- ing girl. Before leaving this subject allow me to introduce the testimony of Mr. Chiniquy once more. On page 64 of "The Priest, "Woman, and Coufessional" he says: "I have heard the confes- sions of more than two hundred priests, and I say the truth as God knows it. I must declare that only twenty-one had not to weep over the secret or public sins committed through the irresistible corrupting influences of auricular confession. I am now more than seventy-seven years old, and in a short time I ROMANISM VERSUS RROTESTANTISM. 23 will be in my grave. I shall have to give an account of what I now say. Well, it is in the presence of my great Judge, with my tomb before my eyes, that I de- clare to the world that very few — yes, very few — priests escape from falling into the pit of the most horrible depravity the world has ever known through the con- fession of females." It is not because they are natu- rally worse than other men, but it is the result of the temptations with which they are brought in contact through the confessional. I am horrified at the con- templation of this direful subject. All this comes under the form and guise of Christianity. It has a taking element. It comes in splendor and in pomp. It comes v/ith the marks of the ages, with the ar- ray of sanctity, the semblance of beauty. Its splen- did ceremonies are tempting. It appears to have a captivating and frenzying effect ux)on those who are deceived by it. It is passing strange that despite all these abominations and outrageous indecencies and blighting corruptions of Catholicism, it is fostered and encouraged by the secular press of this country, and by people who claim to be members of some Protestant Church. 5. The Church, — They tell us that they are the true Church of Christ — the only Church — that all others are heretics, who deserve nothing but death. They claim to base their succession upon the apostle Peter. They hold that Matthew xvi. 18, 19 refers to Peter as the foundation of the Church. Let us examine the text: " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; . . . and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and 24 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." They contend that the Saviour referred to Peter when he said, " upon this rock I will build my Church," that the keys were delivered to Peter, and that he was the first pope, and that the popes have descended from him in a regular line of succes- sion down to the present pope, Leo XIII. We can imagine nothing more empty than this claim. In the first place, they have not agreed among themselves as to the meaning of the text. They say and unsay. One theory is that the 'Saviour referred to Peter's faith when he said, " Upon this rock I will build my church;" another is that he referred to Peter; and another is that he referred to himself. All these views have in turn been supjported by bishops, coun- cils, and popes. A little attention to the original can- not but convince us that rock stands for Christ. The text reads: "Thou art Petros, and u^jon this j^etra I will build my Church." Kock cannot refer to Petros (Peter), for its antecedent for Petros is masculine, while petra (rock) is feminine. The distinction has been marked by some, found in classic Greek, he- iviQQW petra (the massive, living rock) and Petros (a detached but large fragment). In this text they do not and cannot mean the same thing. Pock (Hebrew tsitr) is often figuratively used for God, as in Deuter- onomy xxxii. 4: "He is the Bock, his work is per- fect." Nothing is said of Peter that is not said of the other apostles. Authority to preach, to proclaim the terms of salvation, is referred to by the keys of the kingdom. All ministers are charged with this responsibility, and men are bound or loosened by the words that they proclaim. So we see two links fall ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 25 from this chain of succession. Again, it does not ap- pear that Peter was ever at Rome. This is an open question, that remains to be proved; and as the evi- dence is wanting to prove this assumption (for, in- deed, it is nothing more), it cannot be proved. So their high claim fails at another point. Moreover, if their claim was true as far as we have gone with this argument, still they could not get back to Peter with their chain of succession, for on several occasions there were two, and more than once three, contending popes, each claiming at the same time to be in the identical pontifical chair that Peter occupied. These disputes they could not settle among themselves, for each claimant had his supporters among the bishops and councils. So their high claim became a confu- sion of confusions, and left the question of succession like the confounding of tongues or languages at the tower of Babel. Alas for them, while the pope, the man of sin, exalts himself as the vicegerent of God and assumes the functions of God, the head of the Church, with power to absolve sins and to retain them, with power to save men in heaven or to send them to hell, they are confronted by the appalling records of their past history, which is shocking in the extreme! Some of the claimants for Peter's place were as corrupt characters as ever disgraced this earth. Some of them climbed to the pontifical chair through simony, intriguery, deception, and bloodshed. While they assumed the sanctimonious air of saints, their hands were reeking with the blood of their innocent victims. The names of these tyrants can be easily called. How vain the claim of these priests, bishops, and 26 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. popes: "I absolve your sins!" Sucli sacrilege! iSucli pretensions are befitting the Dark Ages, but should find no adherents in this enlightened age. It is monstrous! Christ was meek and lowly, and dis- claimed any authority over the civil government, but submitted to rulers and the existing civil government. He said: " My kingdom is not of this world." But these pretentious and dictatorial popes claim the right to govern the temporal affairs of men as well as to con- trol their spiritual destiny. When they have had the power, which they have ever sought to have, they have tyrannized over emperors, kings, and governors. Listen for a moment at the ostentatious claim as set up here in our own country by Cardinal Manning in one of his lectures. He speaks for the pope: **I acknowledge no civil power, am subject to no prince. I am more than this. I claim to be the supreme dic- tator of the conscience of men: of the peasant who tills his field and of the prince who sits upon his throne, of the household that lives in the shades of privacy and of the legislator that makes laws for the kingdom. I am the sole, last, supreme judge of all that is right or wrong." ( " Fifty years a Catholic," p. 372. ) Compare this high claim with the statement of Paul, who enjoins submission to civil authorities: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God." (Kom. xiii. 1, 2. ) Again he says: " Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates." The Bible teaches obedience to civil law, but Catholicism teaches obedience to the pope only. The Bible teaches, ''He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 27 shall be abased." How different the doctrines of Eome! Again we read: "And call no man your fa- ther upon earth; for one is your Father, which is in heaven." But the Pope claims to be above all law, civil and ecclesiastical. "I am the sole, last, and supreme judge of what is right or wrong." No appeal from this soveregn arbiter. This means death to all liber- ty, civil and religious. "I have the Urim and the Thummim; all is darkness and death besides me." Away with the audacious pretense, investing, asit does, all authority in one man! It is the most arrogant, subtile, and invidious ever conceived by man. It lies at the bottom of the most complete system for handicapping and enslaving men, souls and bodies, that could be devised. It is at once the most ingen- ious and complete system for the utter ruin of men and women, and the most dishonoring to God, of any- thing that has ever cursed this fair earth. And yet this enemy of all good — the traducer of purity, the foe of God and ally of hell — is fast taking this coun- try, as we shall prove before we are done with this subject. 6. This peculiar claim to apostolic succession leads to intolerance and bloodshed. I have put the verb in the present tense — leads to intolerance and bloodshed! I have neither the time nor the disposition to travel over the occult history of the past, and recite many of the heartrending scenes of agony and death in- flicted by Eome upon those who dared to differ from her in doctrine and practice. The shock to the refined sensibilities of this age would be too great a strain upon the nerves to dwell long on the subject, but I 28 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. must detain you for a brief review. It is claimed that the nerves of this great nation were shocked at the condign punishment — yea, the cruel torture — that fell upon the negro culprit who outraged innocence and transcended the utmost limit of diabolical deeds known to men. As to the method and extent of his punishment men may differ; but all are agreed that he should have suffered death. But when we travel back but comparatively a few years in the past, we see men and women, good men and pious women, suffering as horrible death by torture and otherwise, as did Henry Smith,* at the instance of sanctimoni- ous Bome, and that, too, for no other cause than that they differed from Rome in doctrine. Take the case of Priscillian, who suffered martyr- dom under Leo I. A.R 449-61; "They tore off his hair and skin of his skull; they burned him with hot irons on all parts of his body, and poured upon his w^ounds boiling oil and melted lead; and at last plunged into his entrails a rod heated in the fire. He expired after two hours of frightful suffering." What was his crime? Refusing to relinquish his convic- tions of faith and submit himself to the pontiff of Rome. But I am told that this is an antiquated transaction; that Rome has reformed. Pray tell me: When did she reform? and who has brought this reformation about? Do they not tell us that their Charch needs no reformation; that it has never gone astray; that it is and ever has been the true Church of Christ, and being such cannot possibly do wrong? Do they not tell us that the pope is infalli- ble, and consequently free from mistakes? Then, of * The negro who was tortured to death at Paris, Tex. EOMANISM VEESUS PROTESTANTISM. 29 course, all the crimes which the Church has perpe- trated in the past is sanctioned by them. Who ever heard of a pope, bishop, or priest acknowledging to an error, or admitting that the Church needed reforma- tion in any particular? On the contrary, they vehe- mently affirm continually that they cannot do wrong; that they have not done wrong; that all their past deeds are just and right. But let us come nearer our time: Pope Paul IV., who was pontiff from 1557 to 1559, says: " The Inqui- sition is the only means of destroying heresy, and the only fort of the apostolic see." And accordingly victims were sacrificed to gratify his malicious hate. They were put to the rack; the pulley was employed; a thin cloth was laid over the face and water dropped from a height into the mouth, so that the cloth grad- ually sunk down to the throat and produced the very agonies of suffocating death. Fire was applied, cords and screws; the tongues were pulled out, and all con- ceivable agonies were endured. Among the victims of cruel Rome is Huss, who died with a chain about his neck fastened to a stake, where he was burned on the 6th of July, 1415. He was murdered because he un- dertook to reform the Church, acting from the prompt- ings of conscience. It was on the 16th day of Octo- ber, 1555, that Hugh Latimer and Ridley perished at the stake, being burned with fire. Why did Rome put them to death? Because they held that the body and blood of Christ were not present in the bread and the wine of the sacrament. Time fails to tell of the death of Pascal and thousands of others, who were murdered for differing from Rome in doc- trine and in practice. Our cheeks burn with right- 30 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. eous indignation at the perfidy of the Jesuits and their allies as we recount the bloody massacre of St. Bartholomew's day. This was on the 24:th day of August, 1572. On this day from 20,000 to 100,000 defenseless and unoffending people were cruelly butch- ered by order of the so-called holy (?) Church of Rome. These were Huguenots — French Protestants. But still it is held that that age is past and the Catholic Church has reformed. Again I repeat that this Church cannot reform, for the reason that they would have to surrender their claim to infallibility. I defy any man to point out to me in any book, paper, magazine, tractate, or circular where Home has ex- punged a single doctrine, tenet, dogma, or changed a principle. In doctrine, in dogma, in principle — in a word, in everything that constitutes an organic body or compact — Rome is to-day what she has always been; the same now as when she executed Wicklif, Huss, Latimer, and Eidley; the same to-day as she was when she planned and executed the massacre of the Huguenots. The only thing that now saves the heads of the Protestants from the fatal guillotine, or their bodies from the stake, is the majesty of the civil law. He who flatters himself that Rome has learned a higher theology, a better morality, that she has ad- vanced to a purer type of Christianity, does not know Rome. If any who may doubt the conclusions this manner of reasoning has led us to will carefully study the history of the past and read the signs of the times, all skepticism will vanish and they will be forced to the foregoing conclusions. Rome re- formed? Imx)ossible! Let us see. In 1888 there ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 31 was a general assembly of all missionaries of all de- nominations in Mexico. It was then and there as- certained that over sixty Protestants had suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Catholics during a period of twenty-five years preceding that conference. You tell me that Eome has reformed? I ask again: When and where did she reform? and from what and to what did she reform? Let us see. Miss Blanche Gilbert, a missionary of the M. E. Church, South (our Church), stationed at El Paso, in her introduc- tory to "Danger Signals," a book written by L. L. Pickett, says: "The Virgin Mary is the real god of Mexico. It is claimed that she, being the mother of God and the source of his person, is superior to him, and that no favor can be obtained except through her." They not only worship Mary, but other saints are worshijoed in the United States as well as in Mexico. Eelics as well as saints are worshiped. Remember that it was but last year (1892), in the great city of New York, that the wrist bone of St. Annie (?) was adored by hundreds of Catholics. They hold to transubstantiation, purgatory, infalli- bility, the traditions of the Church, and the binding authority of superiors as they have always done. Moreover, they oppose the Bible now as ever. Lis- ten to this statemeDt from Mr. Chiniquy, who, of all others, as we have already seen, is a competent wit- ness, having been a Catholic fifty years and a priest twenty-five: '^Eome is the same to-day as she was when she burned John Huss and Wishart, and when she caused seventy thousand Protestants to be slaugh- tered in France, and one hundred thousand to be ex- terminated in Piedmont, Italy, On December 31, 32 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, 1869, I forced the Rt. Eev. Bisliop Foley, of Chicago, to swear before the civil court at Kankakee that the following sentence was an exact translation of the doctrine of the Church of Rome, as taught to-day in the Roman Catholic seminaries, colleges, and univer- sities, through the *Summa Theologica' of Thomas Aquinas, Volume IV., page 90. * Though heretics must not be tolerated because they deserve it, we must bear with them till, by a second admonition, they may be brought back to the faith of the Church. But those v/ho, after a second admonition, remain obstinate to their errors, must not only be excom- municated, but they must be delivered to the secular power to be exterminated.' It is on account of this law of the Church of Rome, which is to-day in full force, as it was promulgated from the first time, that not less than thirty public attempts have been made to kill me since my conversion." These attempts were made upon Mr. Chiniquy's life in Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Charlottetown, Halifax, and other places. He says that the first time he visited Que- bec, in the spring of 1859, fifty men were sent by Bishop Baillargeon to force him to swear that he would never preach the Bible, or that if he refused they would kill him. 7. Evidence of Catholic Intolerance Continued, — "Would you have further evidence of the vile propagandism of Rome to the subjugation of everything like liberty of conscience and personal rights? Then listen at this: In the Texas Christian Advocate of February 9 we find the following, taken from the Central Christian Ad- vocate: "Rev. Justas H. Nelson, our missionary in Para, Brazil, writes from St. Joseph's jail, in that ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 33 city, January 5, 1893, as follows: 'To-day completes my first month in jail of the four to which I was sentenced for calling the worship of the Virgin Mary idolatry.' " And yet we are told that Rome has re- formed! No, my readers, no! The question is: Has she one policy in Mexico and Brazil, and another in the United States? If so, why? The answer is easy : she adroitly changes her policy to suit the con- dition of things. It was possible for her to put some Protestants to death in Mexico during the past three decades; and it is possible for her to imprison Prot- estants in Brazil for inveighing against her dogmas. In the United States they have not yet the power to do these things. The opportunity is all that is need- ed; the will and decree exist. It is the same Church in Mexico, in Brazil, and in the United States; and, as to that, everywhere else. The same doctrines, principles, and polity exist, and the same spirit prompts. But still we are told that Rome has re- formed, that she is now tolerant, that she is in ac- cord with the liberties of this country, that her mem- bers are among our best and most loyal citizens. Again^ I ask, when did she reform? Where may I get the evidence of her reformation? While you peruse the histories of the past and examine the an- nals of the present, let me give you a few quotations from Catholic papers published in the United States during the last half of this century: "The Church is instituted, as every Catholic who understands his re- ligion believes, to guard and defend the right of God against any and every enemy at all times and at all places. She therefore does not and cannot accept, or in any degree favor, liberty in the Protestant 3 34 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. sense of liberty." {Catholic World, 1870.) "Prot- estantism has not, and never can have, any right where Catholicity has triumphed." {Catholic Review, June, 1865.) Hear this: "Religious liberty is mere- ly endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic Church." (Kt. Kev. O'Connor, Bishop of Pittsburg. ) The Et. Rev. Bishop Oliv Vanderveld, Bishop of Chicago, 111., wrote to Mr. Chiniquy, who was then a stanch Catholic priest, on the first day of December, 1850, the following: "the Protestants, always divided among themselves, will never form any strong party without the help of the united vote of our people; and that party alone which will ask and get our help, by yielding to our just demands, will rule this coun- try. Then in reality, though not in appearance, our holy Church will rule the United States, as she is called by our Saviour himself to rule the whole world." Let your mind rest upon these statements, while I call attention to the following prophecies and manifestoes relative to the great danger that this country is in. Gen. Lafayette is reported to have said: "If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, they will fall by the hand of the Catho- lic clergy." The following we quote from Catholic authorities found in "Fifty Years in the Catho- lic Church:" "Undoubtedly it is the intention of the pope to possess this country. In this inten- tion he is aided by the Jesuits and all the Catho- lic priests and prelates." {Brownson's Revieiv, May, 1864. ) " For our own part we take this opportunity to express our delight at the suppression of the Prot- estant Chapel at Rome. This may be thought in- BOMANISM VEESUS PROTESTANTISM. 35 tolerant, but ivhen ive ask, Did we propose to he tolerant of Protestantism, or favor the question that Protestant- ism ought to he tolerated? On the contrary, we hate Protestantism. We detest it with our whole heart and soul, aud we pray that our aversion for it may never decrease." {Pittshurg Catholic Visitor, July, 1848, official journal of the bishop.) I have Itali- cized the words, '' When did we propose to be tolerant of Protestantism, or favor the question that Protest- antism ought to be tolerated? " This is well put from a Catholic standpoint. As we repeat the question^ When did they ever propose to be tolerant of Prot- testantism ? the reverberation returns from sea to sea, from island to island, from continent to continent, When did they ever profess to be tolerant of Protest- antism? Let every reader treasure up these state- ments. They are of vital interest to the people of this country. Disguise this subject as you may, there is an insidious foe right here in our midst, and all over this fair land of ours, awaiting an oppor- tanity to deal death to all that is sacred to us — yea, to our lives also. Listen to another one of these statements, full of the virus of perdition, emanating from the bottom- less pit. It is from the Boston Pilot, an official jour- nal of another bishop: ''No good government can exist without religion, and there can be no religion without an inquisition, which is wisely designed for the protection and promotion of the true faith." Does this look like Rome has reformed; that she has modified her policy in fact; that she is less in- clined to persecute now than in the ages past? Once more, give heed to this sepulchral voice that speaks 36 BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. words which portend evil, premonitions of death. They are not the empty words of a blatant novice, but those of a subtle generalissimo, an expert ma- nipulator. *' See, sir, from this chamber I govern, not only to Paris, but to China; not only to China, but to all the world, without any one knowing how I do it." These are the words of Tambriorini, gen- eral of the Jesuits. Time and distance have modi- fied the dread of Catholicism. Men have ceased to look upon this institution in its true light. They have grown unmindful of the mighty prowess that has subdued kingdoms and conquered princes; they see Catholicism in a false light. If they could only see this subtle enemy of all righteousness under- mining the very ground upon which they stand with a feeling of security, as unsuspecting as that of the people of ancient Pompeii, until the mighty convul- sion had enveloped them, they would flee from the smoldering fires pent up in this dreadful volcano in time to escape the mighty catastrophe. 8. But let lis proceed to notice that corruption is the outgrowth of this heterogeneous conglomeratioyi of non- sense and profanity. (1) This is just what we would expect of a system of religion that has no higher foundation than that of man. We have already seen that the pope is the sole arbiter. All must obey his mandates. The Bible is secondary and must be in- -terpreted according to the standard that the Church has erected. That the reader may see that I am cor- rect in this statement, I will quote a paragraph from "Danger Signals," by Kev. L. L. Pickett, which he quotes from "Grounds of Catholic Doctrine," page 4. Eemembor that this is a Catholic production. " I also ROMANISM VEESUS PROTESTANTISM. 87 admit the Holy Scripture to the sense which our holy mother the Church has held and does hold; to which it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpreta- tion of the Scriptures; neither will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unan- imous consent of the fathers." Thus you see that no Catholic has a right to read the Scripture for himself. His interpretation of a text must be governed by the united consent of the Fathers. He cannot say, "I believe this or that because I see it so stated in the Bible;" but he must say, "The Church says this, therefore I believe it." Hence true manhood cannot rise up and assert itself, but is handicapped by tradi- tion. Under this system there can be no independ- ence, no liberty, either of thought or of action. Ev- ery one is tied down to this dictum — to demur is her- esy. In fact, the judgment of men becomes the rule of action rather than the statement of truth contained in the Word of God. Again, the danger of this hier- archy will be apparent when we consider the fact that every good Catholic is bound to implicitly obey all the commands of all superiors. Liguori, one of their theologians, says that whosoever obeys his superior for the love of God obeys God himself, and that there are more merits to obey one's own superior than God himself. Yes, their duped subjects are taught that it is better to obey one of their priests, bishops, or popes than to obey God. And, moreover, it matters not what a superior commands a mem- ber to do, however sinful the act may be per se, it is not sinful to the obedient Catholic. If an inferior should be commanded to commit murder, adultery, or tell a falsehood, it would be a virtuous act so far 38 BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. as the inferior is concerned. The reader can see, at once, how such a system may be abused, how it may be made to subserve the most diabolical ends. It has led, and does lead, to the most outrageous acts against God and humanity. It would take a miracle to prevent such an. end. (2) The concomitants and appendages o£ Catholicism are such that corruption must necessarily be the result. The celibacy of the priests and nuns is a constant snare and menace to virtue, connected as it is with auricular confession. The most horrible book that I ever read is Maria Monk's "Awful Disclosures," a book dictated by an escaped nun from a nunnery in Montreal. Mr, Chi- niquy says that he went to the hospital '* Dieu of Montreal " to be treated for some indisposition in the spring of 1847, and there met one of the superiors of the nunnery, whose family name was Urtubise, and had much talk with her. He asked her if she had known Maria Monk when she was in their house, and w^hat she thought of the book of "Awful Disclos- ures? " "I have known her well," she said. " She spent six months with us. I have read her book, which was given me that I might refute it. But aft- er reading it I refused to have anything to do with that deplorable exposure. There are truly some in- ventions and superstitions in that book. But there is sufficient amount of truth to cause all the nunner- ies to be pulled down by the people, if only half of them were known to the public! " ("Fifty years in the Catholic Church," p. 441.) Yes, if only half of the diabolical deeds that I read in that book be true — and I believe from the evidence before me that they are true — and the people could only know the KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 39 facts connected with these precincts of pollution, the cesspools of pandemonium, they would be immediate- ly leveled to the ground. We have already seen that the auricular confession is an ally of immorality. A more complete system for the downfall of virtue cannot be conceived, I dare say; born of the most fiendish purposes, or else speedily perverted to such an end. When we peruse the pages of history, we find them stained with the iniquitous lives of the popes, bishops, and priests and their subjects. The fact is, these men — the professed head of the Church on the earth — these men who say, "We are holier than thou," many of them were guilty of all manner of the darkest crimes. They were guilty of simony, in- triguery, craftiness, deception, avarice, maliciousness, dishonesty, falsehood, fornication, adultery, and in- directly of murder. It is not difficult to cite special cases, for there are many recorded on the pages of history. It also stands on the pages of history that many of the Catholic clergy were skeptical, un- chaste, and intemperate. Here in our midst you may find almost any day a holy father (?) in a sa- loon. They now often revel in beastly intoxication here in our own Southland. Some of the most re- volting orgies of which I have read have been de- scriptions of the bacchanalian feasts of the Catholic clergy on this side of the Atlantic during the pres- ent century. These are the men we are asked to respect and reverence as the accredited ministers of God. This is the system that the editors of secular papers, professed Protestants, f awningly indorse and encourage. They tell us of the devotion of these sons of Belial — their chivalry and philanthropic deeds. tempora ! mores ! 40 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 9. The avariciousness of the prelates stop not on this side of the tomb. They even speculate on the souls of the dead. The poor, deluded, but honest dupes frequently rob themselves to pay the priests to say mass to get the soul of some departed one out of purgatory. The price charged for the clever little job depends upon the purse of the devotee. From one to any number of dollars is charged and paid. This merchandise of souls brings into the coifers of the clergy quite a nice revenue. An amusing anecdote is told of a young Irishman whose father had died. He paid the priest a handsome sum to pray his father out of purgatory. The priest became dissatisfied with the amount paid, and came back for more money. The youngster asked the priest what progress he had made in getting his fa- ther out. The i^riest replied that he had succeeded in getting him all out but about midway his legs and his feet. " 0," said the young man, " my father was very active in life; and if he is that near out, he can jump out; so I'll pay no more." A wise conclu- sion that. Mr. Chiniquy gives a painful account of the avari- ciousness of Mr. Courtois, the parish priest of Mur- ray Bay, wdio was his mother's priest at the time of his father's death. The death of Charles Chiniquy, the father of L'Abbe Chiniquy, prostrated his wife with grief, so much so that she was unable to attend the funeral of her husband. A few days after this sad event, while the heart of this poor widow was bleeding with grief, her priest, Mr. Courtois, paid her a visit; not to soothe the grief -stricken heart, not to embalm the deep wounds of sad bereavement ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 41 with the ointment of sympathy, not to lift the burden from the soul oppressed with sorrow; but to sternly demand payment of the poor widow for the mass said for the soul of her deceased husband, Mrs. Chini- quy protested that she had nothing with which to pay the fee charged; that her husband left no money, but, on the contrary, he left debts to be liquidated. Said the priest: ''But, madam, the masses offered for the rest of your husband's soul must be paid." "After a long silence," says Mr. Ohiniquy, "my mother raised her eyes, reddened with tears, on the priest, and said: "Sir, you see that cow in the mead- ow, not far from our house ? Her milk and the but- ter made from it form the principal part of my chil- dren's food. I hope you will not take her away from us. If, however, such a sacrifice must be made to de- liver my poor husband's soul from purgatory, take her as payment for the masses to be offered to extin- guish those devouring flames.'" The poor, duped widow could not believe that this professed son of God had the hardihood to rob her of almost her only subsistence, but, alas! she did not correctly estimate the cupidity of her priest. Despite the protestations of the widow and her children as expressed by their tears and sobs, the heartless man drove the cow away to his own home. It is objected that this is but a single instance of such perfidy and cupidity. Nay, rather it is e plurihits iinum. The same author gives another instance in which Mr. le Cure, a rich curate, with several thousand dollars to his credit in the bank, exacted of one of his poor parishioners five dollars to sing high mass for his wife, who had just died and whom he believed to be in purgatory. The 42 BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, poor man insisted that lie was too poor to pay the five dollars. The curate replied: "If yon cannot P^-y? you cannot have any mass sung. You know it is the rule. It is not in my power to change it." This matter ended by this half-clad peasant giving the curate one of two pigs which had been giving him by a friend to make meat for his helpless children for the coming winter. The consideration was that the curate should say five low masses to rescue the soul of his deceased wife from purgatorial flames. The priest had the pig roasted for dinner the next day, when he made a joke of the transaction by jocosely saying that if he could not pray the soul of the man's wife out of purgatory he with his guests could eat his pig. There is no abatement of this monstrous practice. The priests practice the same tricks to-day, to extort from the pockets of the hardy sons of toil, that they practiced in the ages agone. Not long since a gentleman died in the city of Galveston. He was supposed to be quite wealthy. His wife was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Catholics made an abortive attempt to control the burial services of the deceased husband that they might profit materially. But for the timely interfer- ence of the Methodist pastor they would have suc- ceeded in consummating their fraud. The wonder is that in this intelligent age — in this age of science, literature, and cultivated religious thought — such an audacious humbug can find any credence whatever. But such is the folly of our race that many appear to enjoy humbuggery, themselves being the dupes. CHAPTER III. Specious Pretensions to Charity — Works of Charity — Pohcy of the Cathohc Church m America. EoME has ever been fruitful in resources. When necessary, she can aj)ply the torch or the guillotine, work a miracle, exhibit the wrist bone of St. Anne or the cranium of St. Paul. She becomes all things to all men that she may deceive many. So adroit is she, that you can only see a smooth surface when beneath are the shimmering fires of a dreadful conflagration. Of all the shrewd detectives and adroit schemers the world has ever produced, the Jesuits lead the van. More stealthy than the tread of the hoarfrost; more fascinating than the gentle zephyr that steals through your window at the hour of midnight, freighted with miasma that fastens upon the vitals; more terrific and devastating than the mighty sweep of the cy- clone; more withering and deathlike than the dread sirocco. Thus she becomes all things to all condi- tions in order to fasten her cords around the victim she means to destroy. When she assumes the phase of charity, mercy, and love, she rivals the deeds of the Good Samaritan. Yes, when anything is to be to her gain, she is ready to every good work. If dangers are to be braved — some deadly contagion to be confronted — Rome is on the ground to furnish her pro rata of daring spirits as martyrs to the cause of perishing humanity. And the world stands with bated breath before this tyrant, (43) 44 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, crimson witli the blood of the innocent, to admire the chivalry — aye, the philanthropy and parental affection — as seemeth manifest by this mother of har- lots and abominations. 1. Yes, I am cited to their work of charity, as though by this Rome can expiate the blood of murdered in- nocence and the besmirched characters that she has wrecked and destroyed along the track of time. Are you deceived by this pretended virtue? May not her true animus be seen and read in all this specious show of charity? Earth has never pro- duced an army so well regulated as the Boman hi- erarchy. No martial genius ever surpassed the skill of these tacticians. Their priests and Sisters of Charity face contagious diseases under the command of the powers that be. It is the policy of the Church, as the most effectual means of propagan- dism, to make this show of self-sacrifice and disre- gard of personal safety for the good of others. These priests and Sisters are under the necessity of administering to the sick and dying, just as soldiers are under the necessity of facing grape and canister on the battlefield. Military commanders, the bayo- net, and the court-martial are behind the soldiers, so that if principle and duty be not a sufficient in- centive, then the logic of duty is found in the stronger forces named. Behind the priests and the Sisters of the Bom an hierarchy are the Jesuits, ex- communication, and, as they believe, the damnation of the soul to all eternity. It is a part of their sys- tem to make this display of devotion and charity to the unfortunate of our race, to give them prestige, to gain and retain power. They deserve no credit ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 45 for their good works, for they are not voluntary, they are constrained, mere mechanical performances, a part of a well-regulated system of propagandism. They do not proceed from a love for the unfortu- nate, but they act as factors in an automatic ma- chine. These priests and Sisters are the working force of a most wonderful organism; which has with a ruthless hand deposed kings, ignored principalities, despised liberty, condemned the Bible; and held in contempt conscience, personal rights, and virtue. Through the kindness of the editor, I have before me a rare communication written for publication in the Advocate in reply to my articles in which the writer assumes that Mr. Chiniquy was not such a priest as administered to lepers, smallpox patients, etc. And then he proceeds to tell of the fidelity of a priest ho heard of in Houston, Tex., who attended the smallpox pesthouse. This is the old, old story that has been repeated until it is threadbare. I am sick and tired of this ruse. Only the duped will see devotion in these acts of charity. The wise will see the hand of craft, the glamour of perfidy. Let me say here that Mr. Chiniquy was one of the purest and best priests of which the Catholics could boast while he was among them. The writer referred to above thinks it is *4ow dovv^n to meddle with people confessing their sins," and then adds, "I notice in life those women who confess to the priests are faith- ful wives, their husbands have no cause for a di- vorce from them." The writer of these lines ap- pears to forget that the evil complained of, growing out of auricular confession, is a secret evil, which those who are blind like himself cannot see. There are 46 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. none so blind as those who will not see. Catholic husbands are as blind to the dangers of the confes- sional as are Catholic fathers. If they could only- see the danger as it is, this business would have to stop. 2. The policy of the Roman Church in America noiv claims our attention for a time. To deceive, delude, and destroy is her purpose. To this end she has planned well and executes faithfully. We have al- ready seen that she makes a show of charity when- ever it is possible for her to do so. When pos- sible they erect hospitals, and get charge of all oth- ers they possibly can. These are presided over by the Sisters of Charity with devotion and sancti- monious air. The question is not whether there are many honest, sincere, and even pious Catholics who go about their work with a devotion befitting a more intelligent apprehension of the truth — all this is granted — but the true animus is back of the guileless woman that serves in these infirmaries. The intent is found in the ordinaries, the priests, archbishops, primates, patriarchs, Jesuits, and popes. These plan, and the Sisters execute. They serve not only wath womanly skill, but no doubt often with afi'ection, smoothing down the rugged brow and brushing away the falling tear. They are ready with snow-white hands to pour oil on the mangled form of some unfortunate, wounded by accident or the butt of vengeance, or to cool the parched lips of the victim of some malignant fever. Thousands go into the hospitals for medical treatment and the attention of these experienced nurses. After a few weeks, or even days, of kind attention from these Sisters, a lasting ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 47 obligation is created that can hardly be canceled. However blunt the sense of gratitude, or strong the dislike and preconceived abhorrence of Catholicism may have been, such kind treatment cannot but have its effect. From henceforth the recipient of these fa- vors goes forth either a confirmed Catholic, a devo- tee of the pope, or else his opposition to Catholicism is neutralized. Now he has nothing but kind words for the Sisters of Charity and the good father priest, whose attentions were never ceasing throughout the period of his suffering. All the services and atten- tion rendered by these Sisters and priests are cred- ited to the Church, and the inference is that all this charity is the natural result of the great, gush- ing heart of love incorporate in the Catholic Church. Do you now see through this strategy? For such it is. CHAPTEE IV. Eoman Proselytism through Her Educational System — En- slaves the Intellect — Perfidy — Success — Education Inferior. 1. Besting your mind for the 'present on the fore- going statements^ attend while I p'-oceed to mention the second scheme for the subjugation of this government to the pope. Institutions of learning are conducted on the cheapest plans possible for the education of the youths of this land. It is a significant fact that Rome has ever opposed the education of the raasses. No well-informed man will assert to the contrary. I mean that it ever has been the policy of the Catholic Church to keep her subjects in ig- norance, this being most favorable to the propaga- gation and maintenance of her fallacies. Speak- ing of Papineau, Mr. Chiniquy says: ''But the echoes of Canada are still repeating the thundering words with which Papineau denounced the priests as the most deadly enemies of the education and liberty of Canada." He was one of the first men of Canada to see that there was no progress, no liberty possible for our beloved country so long as the priests would have the education of the people in their hands. Papineau was educated in part under the priests, and he knew well how they stultified the intellect; but despite this he rose to eminence and became the enemy of this system of ignorance. I repeat, it is the policy of the Catholic Church to keep her subjects ignorant of literature, science, and EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 49 the Bible. I shall not stop to quote authors or statistics to prove the statement. I take it that the proposition goes for the saying, and needs no proof, being axiomatic. This being true, how is it that the Catholics have adopted a system of education in the United States that looks to the education of the masses? The answer is significant. Rome is always on the ground and wide-awake. If she cannot stop the engine, she will board the train. The people of this country believe in the education of the masses, and steps have been taken by the national and State governments to provide free education, so that all the people may receive a liberal education. In ad- dition to this, we have private and denominational schools. If Home should ox)pose education here as she does in Catholic countries, she would be left behind in the race. But to hold her own — nay, to seize the helm and control this country — she suits her policy to the condition of things; so she has es- tablished her schools from the primary up to the university. In this country, as soon as a church is built and a congregation is organized that gives them sufficient strength, a convent is erected where educational advantages are offered at cheap rates. They have given out the impression that these schools afford superior advantage at less cost. We are told that "there is less exposure of girls to immoral taint; that they are more secure from temptation and evil influences within the walls of a convent than even in our denominational schools; that the Sisters are so kind, even siveet, to the girls; and then the cost is less." This is the speech that some Protest- ants make upon this subject. All this may appear 4 50 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. feasible, and much to the taste of tlie unmformed; but no well-posted Protestant can be deceived by such a pretense, no such guile can win the patronage of any truly informed man. He well knows the true intent. 2. It is a fact that Rome proposes to enslave the in- tellect, to handicap manhood, rather than develop the intellect and bring out the latent resources of the mind. She aims to destroy the independent action of the will, intellect, and conscience. Hence the ed- ucation she imparts rests upon a false foundation and is necessarily defective. The education that is received in a convent is manifestly superficial. It amounts to but little. They do not want to edu- cate the mind; they aim not to do so. Now and then some one of Rome's pupils has risen above the tide and confronted the current of an ignominious stagna- tion of death, only to be beaten back by the prowess of an inexorable tyrant. Such was the case w^ith Copernicus, Galileo, Bossuet, Pascal, and others. The first lesson is a lesson of obedience to superiors. The Church must interpret and think through her officers for her subjects. This obedience is not the ordinary obedience of an inferior to a superior, but the absolute surrender of the entire intellect to the dictation of the Catholic Church. Protestants tell us that they have a promise that their children shall not be tampered with in these schools; that their instructors are to be reticent about their faith and practice. Indeed! But what does the promise amount to, coming from those who are connected with such a system as this? Are not these same teachers under a solemn vow to advance Catholicism EOMANISM VERSUS rROTESTANTISM. 51 by every possible means — by perfidy, iiitriguery, de- ception, falsehood, and the Inquisition, if need be and the opportunity of doing so is given? Then what does that promise amount to? Listen to these state- ments of a man on the inside, who afterv/ard camo out on the outside. I mean Mr. Chiniquy. On pages 86, 87 of " Fifty Tears in the Catholic Church " he says: "Our first parents were not more cruelly deceived by the seductive words of the serpents than the Protestants are this day by the deceitful promises of the priests and nuns of Bome." The following is a part of a conversation between himself and the Bev. Mr. Leprohon, the superior of one of their insti- tutions of learning in Canada, concerning a young man who had matriculated in the institution. Mr. Leprohon said to Mr. Chioiquy: "Tou know some English, and this young man knows French enough to enable you to understand each other. Try to be- come his friend and bring him over to our holy re- ligion. His father is a most influential man in the United States, and this his only son is the heir of an immense fortune. Great results for the future of the Church in the neighboring republic might follow his conversion." Mr. Chiniquy replied: "Have you forgotten the promise you made to his father, never to say or do anything to shake or take away the religion of that young man?" Mr. Leprohon smiled at the simplicity of Mr. Chiniquy, and said: " When you have studied the- ology, you will know that Protestantism is no religion, but that it is the negation of religion. Protesting cannot be the basis of any doctrine. Thus, when I 52 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. promised Judge Pike that the religious convictions of his son should be respected, and that I would not do anything to change his faith, I did promise the easiest thing in the world, since I promised not to meddle with a thing which has no existence." Take another instance of their perfidy {ibid,, p. 785). This occurred in 1858, just before Mr. Chiniquy re- nounced Catholicism. The Catholics have a monastery, college, and uni- versity at St. Joseph, Ind., over which M. Saurin, Grand Yicar, presided, assisted by the Kev. M. Granger. Mr. Chiniquy says: "Though he," mean- ing Grand Vicar Saurin, '^promised to the numerous Protestant parents who intrusted their boys and girls to his care for their education never to interfere with their religion, he was, nevertheless, incessantly prose- lyting them. Several of his Protestant pupils were received into the Church of Rome, and renounced the religion of their fathers, in my presence, on the eve of Easter of that year." 3. Is not this enough? No, let us take one 7nore les- son in the occult Icthijrintlis of this monstrous system before ice leave this subject. It is from one of their standard authors — an expounder of moral princi- ples and ethics, as viewed from the Roman Catholic standpoint. Liguori, in his treatise on oaths, Ques- tion 4, asks if it is allowable to use ambiguity, or equivocal words, to deceive the judge when under oath, and No. 151 he answers: "It is certain, and the opinion of all theologians, that for good reasons one may be permitted to use equivocations and maintain them by oath; and by good reason we mean all that can do any good to tlie body or soul." This standard BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 53 of moral ethics is no higher than that of heathen philosophers, and is plainly at variance with that high standard of morality set forth in the Word of God. We are not to do evil that good may come of it. Speaking to this question, the apostle says: "And not ratlier (as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we' say), let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just." The apostle regarded this as a great evil, but Eome tells us, through her theologians, that it is all right to swear falsely if by so doing the interest of the Church of Eome can be advanced. "With such a theory of ethics, and such teachings in theology, who would d.are to trust the sacred interests of their children to these vultures of virtue? These priests and Sisters often find it to their purpose to use guile. They are artful, adroit, and cunning. What they cannot ac- complish by overtures they accomplish by subllet}^. They first seek by any possible means to gain the respect and confidence of tiieir unsuspecting stu- dents. Then they advance stealthily, step by step; from time to time they instill into the minds of their tractable victims their nefarious principles and per- nicious traditions. Finally all prejudice has sab- sided in the mind of the duped boy or girl, and then follows admiration of the devotion displayed by these pretentious examplars of piety, and a fancy for the splendid ceremonies performed. This renders direct approach to the coveted prize easy, and thus the work is accomplished — the boy or girl becomes a Catholic. In this way Rome carries on her prosely- ting work right here in our midst If a fly venture upon the web of a spider, of course it will become 54 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. entangled therein, and will be captured by tlie spider. Just so, if you put your child in this Catholic web, you may expect him to be captured by the Catholics and become one of them. But suppose that some of the girls and boys sent to these schools are not taken in the hidden meshes. If nothing more, they become partial to the Eoman Church. They think upon her ^ with pleasure, and stand ready to defend her against any attacks. They learn to admire what appears to them to be devotion and charity to mankind. 4. In this ivay Borne is making mmiij proselytes among Protestants. ' I sx)eak advisedly upon this ques- tion. I know of several girls who have attended Catholic convents in the bounds of my district. In some instances they have become Catholics, and in ether instances they have learned to love the Catho- lics and are ready to defend them when anything is said against them. If they get a girl into one of their schools, who shows herself to be fully estab- lished in the Protestant faith, so that they have no hoj)e of proselyting her, they prefer to get rid of her. In one instance in this district (the WacD District) a girl was matriculated who esteemed but lightly their superstitious worship, and to get rid of her they violated the terms of the contract that her fa- ther had made with them for board and tuition. But, after all, Protestants wdll continue to patronize Itoman institutions because, forsooth, they tell us that they are so cheap and the management is so good. Cheap? Alas! they are dear at any price; for they even pervert history, having false histories of their own, in order to impress their duped pupils in favor of themselves and airainst Protestants. ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 55 5. They never educate thoroughly^ except it he to ac- complish an end. Confidiiig American mothers who send their girls to these convents for good train- ing are either ignorant of the fact, or else ignore the fact, that their instructresses are in many if not most instances foreigners who are in fact igno- rant for the most part, and really care but little for anything except fidelity to Komanism. In the name of common sense, how can they be competent ex- amplars of etiquette and sobriety when their man- ner of life differs so materially from other women? How can they be the patrons of the Christianity of Protestants while they hold but little in common with Protestants? And yet we are told, and that too by Protestants, that these schools are cheap and their education superior! Go and say this to the Burmas of India, or the negroes of darkest Africa, but not to intelligent Americans. "Canada's chil- dred," says Mr. Ohiniquy, "will continue to flee from the country of their birth so long as the priest of Home holds the influence which is blasting every- thing that falls within his grasp on this continent as well as in Europe; and the United States will soon see their most sacred institutions fall one after another if Americans continue to send their sons and daughters to the Jesuit colleges and nunneries." I hold that it is a compromise of principle on the jiart of Protestants who send their children to these schools. It jeopardizes the present and eternal in- terests of the young. It sows the pernicious seed of sin that brings forth the harvest of death. It fosters here in our midst the greatest enemy to our liberties and our religion. Brought down to a final- analysis, 56 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. to patronize these schools is perfidy to Protestant faith and high treason to this government. It is bet- ter, infinitely better, that your son or daughter grow up without any education. Send them to the cornfields, to the cotton patch, to the spinning wheel, and to the washpot rather than to these institutions of moral and spiritual death! Yea, rather send them to Christ- less schools, where religion is not mentioned at all! Cheap? Alas! would you sell your daughter to be a slave? Yea, worse than a slave should she become the dupe of a corrupt priestcraft! Friend, I beg you in the name of Christ our Saviour, stop and think for the sake of liberty, for the sake of virtue, for the sake of yoar country — yea, for the sake of your own child — stop and consider what you are doing! Hear Mr. Chiniquy again: "While, as a priest, I rejoiced at the numerous conquests of my Church over her enemies, in all our colleges and nunneries, I objected to the breach of promise always connected with those conversions. I, however, then thought, as I think to-day, that a Protestant who takes his children to a Koman Catholic priest or a nun for their educa- tion had no religion." (" Fifty Years in the Catholic Church," p. 785.) CHAPTEE V. This Government in Danger — Catholic Strategy — Perverts His- tory — Persecutions. 1. Permit me to say that the danger to this govern- menty to the religious and civil liberty of this republic, is not imaginary. The Catholics have ah^eady taken, definitely and obstinately, a stand against our public school system. They talk very composedly of their share of the public school fund. This is quite signifi- cant. What right have they to talk of their share of the public school fund ? When and where did they get a share by legal process? It is their purpose to sup- plant our public schools with their parochial schools, and by so doing turn the tide of youth into Catholic channels. It is still fresh in the minds of the people of this country that, but yesterday, they had well- nigh accomplished their purpose in Boston. The people barely awoke from their sweet recumbrance in time to arrest this Hydra of the ages. They stood upon the margin of an awful vortex that w^as just ready to ingulf their educational interests. Rome has through the Jesuits controlled a large share of the public school fund appropriated to the Indian Territory to foster and build up her own institutions. The following from a communication in the Nashville Advocate of recent date, from Kev. J. S. Smith, wall throw much light upon this question. His figures are taken from the "Report of Indian Affairs of 1892," w^hich shows the appropriations from 1886 (57) 58 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. to 1893. "The appropriations for 1886 are as fol- lows: Catholics, $118,342; Presbyterians, $32,995; Congregationalists, $16,121; Friend (Quakers), $1,- 960. From year to year the Catholics get an in- crease.' In 1889 the Methodists (Northern) get a small sum, $2,725, and an increase of $15,000 is divided among the other seven denominations as 'hush money,' while the Catholics get $347,672, an increase of $125,000. There is a small increase from this time on, the Catliolics getting the most of it. The total donations for the eight years are as follows: Catholics; $2,366,416; Presbyterians, $315,080; Con- gregationalists, $208,819; Episcopalians, $107,146 ; Friends, $150,705; Mennonites, $25,840; Unitarians, $33,750; Lutherans, $53,460; Methodists (Northern), $33,245. The whole amount given to all, except Catholics, $927,847; or the Catholics received, above all others combined, $1,438,569. This manifest fa- voritism has at length alarmed the other denomina- tions, and the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congre- gationalists, and Methodists have resolved to receive no more, and demand that donations to the Catholics shall cease also. The Commissioner has had much trouble wdth the Catholics, incited to disobedience by the priests, and was forced to ask for troops to en- force the orders of his department. Of Mr. Morgan, the commissioner, a gentleman and Jaithful officer, one of these priests wnites: 'Consequently I do not see how consistent Catholics can so stultify them- selves as to cast their votes to continue Morgan's brutal, bigoted rule for four years more. If the rascals are not ignominiously turned out this fall, there will not be left an Indian child in a Catholic ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 59 school four years hence.' " A consummation devoutly to be wished. Brother Smith continues: " Thus does this apostate Church hiilly the political parties into granting whatever they demand. [Italics mine.] To manage this matter there is a Catholic Indian Bureau at Washington City that dictates the legislation of Congress and the appropriations for Indian schools. Of this policy Mr. Morgan says : ' When I entered upon my duties in the office I found this policy in active operation. From small beginnings it had in a short space of time grown to large proportions, and was rapidly increasing. The policy seemed to me to be an unwise one, partly because it was using public funds for sectarian purposes, which is certainly con- trary to the spirit of the Constitution.' Accordingly the Commissioner refused' to enter into further con- tracts with the Churches except to support the schools already in operation. For this reason a great war was raised against him by the Catholics, who de- manded his resignation. Why was this? Under the previous administration the increase to the Catholics had been from $25,000 to $125,000 a year, v/hile under the last administration it had been increased but $45,000 in three years, and finally decreased $25,000 the last year." All ye liberty-loving, take notice! " In this fight our Senator from Missouri took a hand, de- claring that the Jesuits had done more to civilize and Christianize the Indians than all the other Churches put together, and that the Indian children connected with these Catholic schools were far more profitably taught than in any other schools." Mr. Smith then l)roceeds to say that he has information from reliable sources that the opposite of these statements is true. 60 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. He furthermore says: "Catholic education out West is just like Catholic education in Mexico, where the poor, ignorant people are simply taught to be Eoman Catholics and obey the priests, and are loyal to the Church first and to the government second. Beyond all question the Southern Methodist Church, with- out governmental aid, has done more to elevate and educate the Indians than all the Jesuits with their nearly two and a half millions of the people's money." The importance of the facias contained in the above jus- tifies the length of the quotation. In this connection I will subjoin the following from my book on " The Sabbath and Eeligious and Civil Liberty," page 109: ^' The New York Freeman, the leading Eoman Catho- lic organ of this country, in its issue of March 29, 1890, advocates the extermination of Protestantism as soon as Eome has the power in America. The occasion of this furor was the appointment of Dr. Dorchester and General Morgan as commissioners. The CatJwlic Neivs of New York, March 5, says: ' Every Senator who voted for the confirmation must be watched. His future career in his State must not be advanced by Catholic votes which helped him to reach the position he so shamefully abused. Every one is now a marked man.'" 2. From all this it is plainly to he seen that Borne is getting fast hold upon the money , patronage, and political support of this government. The chains are fast being forged to bind us hand and foot. At this particular crisis, when everything is in a state of ferment, just now while confidence is shaken, polit- ical parties multiplying, partisanisni on the ram[)ago, anarchism almost defiant; while crimes are .unpun- BOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 61 ished, measurably through bribery, or, what is much the same, a legal (nay, an illegal) resort to the merest technicalities o£ law to pervert the ends of justice; and meanwhile mob violence and brute force are fast taking the place of legal punishment, the Catholics are improving the opportunity to rivet their chains upon us. Rome first objected to our public schools because the Bible was read in them; and then, when the Bible was eliminated, she criticised them because they are atheistical. She has already prohibited Catholics in parts of the United States patronizing the public schools under pain of excommunication. The following evidence will suffice: "The Arch- bishops of Quebec say: * Our Fifth Council forbid Catholic parents to patronize Protestant godless schools; it is commanded to refuse absolution to parents who, being warned, persist in exposing their children to this great danger.' " ( '^Danger Signals," p. 256. ) Eome has already pronounced the sentence of excommunication against her members who persist in patronizing public schools — such she denominates "Protestant godless schools." Moreover, Mr. Capel, a prelate belonging to the household of the pope, has boldly asserted that the time is not far distant when Eoman Catholics, at the order of the pope, will re- fuse to pay their school tax, and will send bullets to the breasts of the collectors rather than pay it. He 3ays: "The order can come any day from Eome. It w^ill come as quickly as the click of a trigger, and it will be obeyed, of course, as coming from God Al- mighty himself." Notwithstanding all this defiant talk, these daring innuendoes, the Protestant peo- ple are lying supinely — nay, worse than that, they are 62 ROMANISM YERSUS PROTESTANTISM. fostering the monster that is to sting them to death. Tliis we have seen is being done by the general gov- ernment, and it is also being done by individuals Avho patronize their schools under the vain delusion that they are saving money. Do you remember ^sop's fable of the snake the villager found on a frosty morning in the depth of winter in a semi- frozen state? In commiseration he took it into his own house and placed it before the fire. As soon as the reptile revived it spj-ang upon the wife and chil- dren of its benefactor and bit them; whereupon the man killed it with a vengeance. But alas! his wife and children were bitten. Just so the people of this country are fostering a Hydra that is stinging their wives and children to death, and whose mission is to destroy all that oppose her in working out the prob- lem of death of all that is good to which she is called by his Satanic majesty. 5. Not the least opportunity is overlooked or neglected hij the Catholics to accomplish their purpose. They de- scend to the minor details of plotting and schem- ing that they may subvert all things to their own advantage. The idea of justice never for once en- ters into their purpose. They are too successful in getting Protestant children into their schools, where they are inoculated with Catholic ideas and principles. They stop not at this, but they have issued their own histories, which they use in their schools. These histories falsify the facts of history. They know that true history reflects upon them as an organization — yea, that the bloody deeds com- mitted by the agencies of their Church and under its sanction and diction must ever serve as a bar to their ROMANISM VERSUS RROTESTANTISM. 63 future progress in this republic. This fact has prompted thera to resort to the disreputable expedi- ency of misrepresenting history. Yea, rather they have perpetrated downright falsehoods. The fol- lowing quotations from the " School Plot Unmasked " (pp. 63-72) will fully vindicate the above statements: a ppQf^ Townsend, in his reply to Judge Joseph D. Fallon, June 1, 1890, says: 'Or the zeal of the judge might lead him to offer for selection to the School Committee an exceedingly popular Eoman Catholic book, Bishop Gilmore's "Bible History," which has the unqualitied commendation of the pope, of Cardinal Manning, and of leading American papal Church dignitaries. In it are found these VN'ords: "Catholicity has appealed to reason; Protestantism, like Mohammedanism, to force and violence. In England and Scotland Protestantism was forced upon the people by fines, imprisonment, and death; in Germany and Prussia, Sweden and Denmark and Norway, the same. In America the Puritans acted in like manner." " ' Or the judge might offer for our consideration a a book written by Priest Baddeley, published in Boston, which Catholic children are obliged to com- mit to memory. Speaking of Martin Luther this book says: "What! can a man who was mad with lust, who lived in adultery, and caused others to do the same, who wrote most horrid blasphemy and cor- rupted the Bible, who was a notorious drunkard and companion of devils, who was as proud as Satan him- self, a preacher of sedition and murder — what! can this wretch be compared with Paul?" " 'After paving the way by various statements, the 64 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. book before us asks the following questions: "Must not, then, the Protestant Church, instead of leading- men to heaven, infallibly lead them to hell? An- swer: As none of the inhabitants of Jericho could escape the fire or sword but such as were within the house of Eahab, for whose protection a covenant was made, so none shall ever escape the eternal wrath of God who belong not to the [Roman Catholic] Church of God." " 'After depicting the sins of Protestants, the ques- tion is asked, " Can we ffnd no better kind of holiness among Catholics? Answ^er: 'Yes; the holiness of the Catholic religion is indeed very different from that of other religions, because the religions framed by men teach doctrines invented by Luther, Calvin, "Wesley, Whitefield, and other deluded and wicked men, whereas the Catholic Church teaches only that doctrine which Christ taught his apostles." " ' Such are the compliments paid by Eoman Catho- lic writers to the Protestant reformers of the w-orld, and such is the fairness of Koman Catholic w^riters in dealing with historic matters. " 'A book bearing the title, " Plain Talk about Prot- estantism of To-day," is another treatise that might be submitted by Judge Fallon to our Boston School Committee. It contains these statements: "Martin Luther died forlorn of God, blaspheming to the very end. His last word was an attestation of impatience. His eldest son, who had doubts both about the Reformation and the Reform, asked him for the last time whether he persevered in the doctrine he preached. ' Yes,' replied a gurgling sound from the old sinner's throat, and Luther was before his God! ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 65 . . . Calvin died of scariet fever, devoured by vermin, and eaten by an unclean, abscess. The stench thereof drove away every person. In great misery he gave up his rascally ghost, despairing of salva- tion, evoking the deviJs from the abyss, and uttering oaths most horrible and blasphemies most fright- ful." Of Fox's "Book of Martyrs" this same trea- tise says: ''These saints were nothing but a set of* deluded, rebellious, impious, and blasphemous wretches." (Comp. "Catechism of Perseverance," p. 327, etc.)'" As the reader may not have at hand the last words of Luther, I will subjoin them, that he may compare them with the perversion of facts as quoted above. He died February 18, 1545, aged sixty-two. " ' O my heavenly Father, my eternal and everlasting God; thou that revealest to me thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: I have preached him, and I have confessed him; I love him, and I worship him as my dearest Saviour and Redeemer — him whom the wicked per- secute, accuse, and blaspheme.' Eejpeating these words of the Psalmist: 'Into thy hands I commit my spirit,' he sweetly fell asleep in the arms of Jesus. Luther, illustrious name! is now no more; Let the true Church with streaming eyes deplore. A teaclier firm in faith — nay, rather say, A father from his children snatched away. Luther is gone, the pilot of our course ; O let the tearful muse his name rehearse, Let all the pious join with me to mourn, Orphans should thus bedev/ a father's urn. ("The Last Witnesses," p. 12.) Before we dismiss this subject let us take a glance 5 66 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, at Gazeau's "Modern History," wliich contains au- dacious misrepresentations of facts. "Dr. Harcourt, in his 'Conspiracy,' gives the fol- lowing as quotations from Gazeau: 'Ferdinand and Isabella, honored by the Holy See with the title of " Catholic sovereigns," resolved to prove themselves worthy of it by maintaining among their subjects the faith in all its purity. To this end they revived the ancient tribunal of the Inquisition. . . . Its chief aim was to detect every crime and delinquency in religious matters, especially among the converted Jews and Moors, many of whom' simply professed conversion, and were often secretly engaged in trea- sonable practices. If the accused was found guilty, and manifested some repentance, he was sentenced to make a public reparation, or act of faith, auto- da-fe, holding a lighted taper in his hand. If he per- sisted in his error, he was handed over to the secular arm, and lay judges pronounced sentence and ap- plied the laws of the State. The Spanish Inquisi- tion, like all human institutions, was not always restricted within just limits, and the head of the Church more than once interposed his authority; but if, later, other sovereigns made of this tribunal a political instrument, Ferdinand should not be cen- sured for confiding to it the mission of prosecuting infidels, who, by their sacrilegious profanations, were subjects of scandal to Catholics.' " (Page 42. ) "Of Luther we are told: 'Wicked men are always disposed to rebel against authority. The sale of in- dulgences and the word "reform " were simply made the pretext by the able but unprincipled Luther for the outburst of the storm that was to devastate Eu- ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 67 rope and break up the spiritual unity of Christen- dom.' " (Pages 62, 63.) "Concerning the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, Gazeau says: 'As to the solemn Te Deum sung at Rome by order of Pope Gregory XIII., it was done under the impression that the massacre was be- gun on the part of the Calvinists, that the king's party acted in self-defense, and that the affair grew out of an unsuccessful conspiracy against the French government and the Catholic Church. This Te Deum belonged to the same category as the one sung shortly before for the victory gained at Lepanto over the Turks.' " (Pages 106, 107. ) ''On the foregoing statements in reference to the Inquisition Dr. Harcourt comments: 'Now what are the facts of history concerning this Romish mode of discipline, the Inquisition? Loyola, so his ow^n dis- ciples boast, founded the Roman Inquisition, of which Leo XIII. is the living head. Under the rule of his predecessor, Pius V., in the sixteenth century, Rome rang with the cries of perishing martyrs, or caught their hymns of joy; and Loyola, had he lived, would have heard with exultation the groans and dy- ing plaints of the victims of the fearful institution he had founded. It was Rome that taught its lesson of cruelty; while England, Germany, and the North became comparatively humane, Spain, Italy, and the South w^ere filled with brigands, assassins, and in- quisitors. Pius V. declared that an obstinate heretic w^as worse than the most hardened criminal; that not one should be spared, and they should be swept from the face of the earth; and not a day passed from Rome but some one was hanged and quartered for 68 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. his Lutheran faith. Pius V. sanctioned and urged the assassination of Queen Elizabeth, and the assassins of the age turned naturally for comfort and guidance to Eome. And why should fchey not? for she taught them that in executing her will they were doing the will of the most high God. A universal horror filled the Northern capitals at the deeds that were done in Southern lands. The massacre of St. Bartholomew sprang naturally from the teachings and examples of Pius Y. and Loyola. Pius prompted and his suc- cessors applauded tlie fearful scene, which has left its lasting trace upon the history of that unhappy land. Gregory XIII. lent his infallible sanction to the dreadful deed, and all Rome rang ,with joy over a crime which humanity trembles to recall. The pope indeed only complained that not half enough Protes- tants had been massacred. The city of Rome was illuminated in honor of the deed, and a jubilee was proclaimed ! ' A medal in commemoration of the awful horror was struck by the pope." " The Inquisition lasted from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century; indeed, it still exists where Rome has the power ! Lorente, one of the last saretims of the Inquisition, gives a list of those who in Spain suffered death and other punishments from 1452 to 1811. He tells us that 31,788 were burned, 174,111 died in pris- on, and 287,522 suffered other punisliments. In 1209 Pope Innocent III. proclaimed a crusade against the Albigenses, which lasted for eighteen years. The terrible war of the Hussites lasted for over fifteen years; the persecution of the Huguenots from 1472 to 1598. John Huss was burned in Constance in 1415. Jerome of Prague met the same fate in 1616, EOMANISM VEBSUS PROTESTANTISM. 69 and Savanarola was burned in 1598. Michael Ser- vetus was burned in Geneva at the instigation of John Calvin because he denied the doctrine of the Trinity. At the massacre of St. Bartholomew, in 1572, about 30,000 Protestants were killed in Paris alone, and more than 100,000 in France!" " In the light of the foregoing and many more items concerning the multilation of historic facts by the * Mother of Harlots,' we may well inquire: Do we want Borne to teach the children history? Rome is coloring the dictionaries and encyclopedias, so that a searcher after truth needs to be constantly on his guard against deception. Note this from the Citizen: 'The Freemmi's Jomital (Bomanist) says: " The time was when complaint was common that in- justice was done to the Catholics in Webster's Dic- tionary. There is no room for such a thing in the new 'Webster's International Dictionary,' issued by G. & C. Merriam & Co., Springfield, Mass., because Vicar General Callaghan, of the diocese of Little Eock, has revised and edited everything appertain- ing to the Church." Well, we have no choice, as the same charge is brought against Worcester's.' " "The 'mother of harlots' is changing the names of rivers and mountains, giving them names to suit her fancy.' " These quotations are sufficient to show that Catho- lics have no regard for truth when it stands in their way, and that they are pursuing the old way which has ever marked the history of the past. What Protestant would have his child drink at such a pol- luted fountain of knowledge? The object of educa- tion is to learn facts and true principles. Infinitely 70 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. better is it that the mind be wholly uncultured, than that false conceits, principles, and ideas of past events be imbibed. The more one thinks upon this subject, the greater becomes the feeling of just in- dignation. Suppose that Protestants should be guilty of such perfidy? The Catholics would make the welkin ring until the four corners of the earth would reecho with such aspiration as to wake up the secular press. As it is, but little is said about it and less is done. So to-day many a silly Protestant par- ent is having his children take on this false teaching to the detriment of the child mentally as well as morally. CHAPTEE VL Dangers Tliat Threaten This Repubhc Continued — Threats — Control Cities — Associated Press — Mihtary Organizations — Arming — American People Not Credulous — Satolli, Bishop Odin — Catholic Schools and Colleges — Hilderbrand. 1. " CoMiMG events cast their shadows heforeJ^^ In- dications are such that a feeling has been created through- out the country that the Catholics at no distant day icill cause the Protestants of this country 710 little trouble. It really appears that they are rapidly consum- mating their plans for a strike against the liberties, if not the lives, of all who oppose them. I am not a pessimist, nor am I a sensationalist, but for twenty years I have been watching the trend of things with special reference to the Catholics, and have seen, as I believed, a cloud upon the horizon, larger than a man's hand, gathering from the four winds, from time to time. But yesterday the press began to call attention to this portentous cloud, which, with murky folds, is rapidly obscuring the political j&rmament. I will give the reader an extract from what purports to be an encyclical letter from the pope. Its genuineness is questioned by some. Of course I have no way of determining whether it is genuine or not. It, however, bears upon its face the marks of a pontifical document. If it is authen- tic, of course it was not intended by the Catholics to fall into the hands of Protestants. To be sure the Catholics disclaim its authenticity. It cannot be de- nied that the Catholics set up the claim set forth in (71) 72 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, the letter. A priest at West, in the bounds of my district, recently stated publicly that this country was discovered by a Catholic, and so by right of dis- covery belonged to the Catholics. This priest of- ficiates for a colony of Bohemians who are impatient of the enforcement of law.. The following extract I take from a correspondent to the New York Witness of July 19, 1892: "Last October, at a lecture in a Catholic church, I heard a Paulist father say that it was a Catholic who discovered America; that it is the Roman Catholics who sustain America; that it was the Roman Catholic Church that elevated women to the high position they now occupy — through the blessed Virgin Mary; . . . that in a short time she would rule the country that rightfully belonged to her. Then, and not until then, would it be Hlie land of the free and the home of the brave.'" All this sounds much like the language that I shall now quote. The paper bears date December 26, 1891, written from Rome, and addressed to the Catholics throughout the world, but having direct reference to America: "For the temporal reign of the future popes, in the land discovered by Christopher Colum- bus, known as the United States of America. This pontiff alone hath been constituted head over all na- tions and kingdoms and invested with power to de- stroy, to separate, to scatter, and subvert." Then is alleged the following: "This republic, having seized upon the lands discovered by Christopher Columbus, a Roman Catholic, and under authority and jurisdiction of the supreme head of the Church, . . . the United States is filled with obscure here- tics. The Catholics have been oppressed, . . . the ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 73 United States has been filled with books containing the most flagrant heresies, of which the Protestant version of the Bible is chief. And not content with adopting its false and impious doctrines, proselyting has been resorted to to turn the Catholics from the true Church. . . . Naturalization oaths have been demanded to subscribe to the United States Consti- tution, with nefarious laws and nefarious teachings, to renounce the true authority of the Roman pontiff; to acknowledge him to be head of both Church and State, whereby those who have persevered in the faith have been compelled to suffer spiritual afflic- tions. . . . AVith deep sorrow we are now con- strained to have recourse to the arm of justice, and obliged to action against a nation that has rejected the pope as head of all Church and State govern- ments. In virtue, therefore, . . . we do . . . declare that all heretics and encouragers of heresy, together with adherents, have incurred the sentence of excommunication, and they are hereby cut off from the body of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we pro- claim the people of the United States of America to have forfeited all right to rule said republic. . . . We likewise declare that all subjects to every rank and condition in the United States in any way what- ever may be absolved from all duty, fidelity, or obe- dience on or about the 5th day of September, 1893, when the Eoman Catholic Congress shall convene at Chicago, 111. ... It will be the duty of the faith- ful to exterminate all heretics found within the juris- diction of the United States of America." {Baptist Herald, February 2, 1893, copied from the Protestant American, ) If this be true, whatever it may imply, 74 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. though it be impossible for his highness to execute the full text of this edict, none would deny that it is the ominous index that points to the future with un- erring precision. We have startling facts before us, the truth of which admits of no doubt. Monsignor Satolli, the pope's legate, has recently come to America, and has settled at Washington City, under the shadow of the capitol of this country. He has planned for a magnificent residence. He is near at hand, to be in touch with the lawmakers of this country, and to lend hi§ influence in all matters that look to the enlargement and development of Catholic schemes. 2, Consider also that the Catholics have virtually con- trol of New York, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Paul, New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, Cincinnati, Albany, Troy, Milivaiikee, St. Louis, and San Francisco, And, more- over, that they are being yearly augmented by for- eign immigration by the multiplied thousands; that there is a Jesuit connected with the editorial staff of nearly all the leading journals of this repub- lic; and not the least, that they now have control of the Associated Press. Prof. L. T. Townsend, D.D., Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology in Boston University, and Professor of Christian Science, Life, and Literature in the Chautauqua School of Theology, not long since delivered a vigor- ous address before the Boston Methodist ministers' meeting on Jesuitical influences on the secular press. I shall make a few quotations from this timely ad- vertisement of the tricks of the Catholics. These quotations are taken from the Advance: ** What Prof. Townsend specially charges against the Boston dai- ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 75 lies he also shows to be true of other large papers of the country, and of the Associated Press, which sup- plies them with news; that there is not one but has one or more Roman Catholics in its editorial rooms, and that Protestant reporters on these papers know that if they present facts for publication detrimental to the papal Church, no matter how true or of how much public interest, these facts would never see the light." " Prof. Townsend charges that the aim and policy of the papal Church are to secure control of all the agencies that can most effectually aid the Church in securing its own aggrandizement and in overthrow- ing all religious, educational, and civil institutions that cannot be made to secure its own interests. To this end it has insinuated itself into the departments of the government, so much so that the anti-Catholic publications have been interfered with in the mails, and papal confessional boxes are being built on some of our men-of-war. The school, the army, the navy, the treasury, and the secular press are being reached after by them. In the latter department, their influ- ence is great beyond what many know. Eoman Catholics control the typesetters' union to such an extent that Prof. Townsend declares that the arch- bishop of the Boston diocese could, if he wished, paralyze in a day the mechanical work that is done for the journals of that city. They control the news companies so that they will not put on sale publica- tions that are detrimental to the Catholic interest, and lastly they dominate the news ag'encies to such an extent that no important item reflecting on the Roman Church is allowed to appear. ^For years,' said the speaker, *the Associated Press of Chicago 76 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. was controlled, directly or indirectly, by Alexander Sullivan, an Irish Catholic, under a cloud for the murder of a Chicago schoolteacher; by Patrick Egan, also an Irish Roman Catholic and a fugitive from justice; and Dorney, a Roman Catholic ecclesi- astic. This instance is perhaps especially flagrant, but is not an exceptional instance of the influences which have been potent in the Associated Press agencies.'" "Prof. Townsend enumerates a large number of special instances, v/hich he declares him- self able to multiply at great length, in illustra- tion of the thraldom of the Associated Press to Roman Catholic influences." The importance of this editorial will justify this, another extract, which is in keeping v/ith the trend of my argument: "Prof. Townsend's address builds up a very strong cumulative evidence in support of his charge of Roman influence upon the press. It furnishes ex- asperating evidence in one of its phases of the bold- ness, the effrontery, and the insidiousness of the Roman Catholic attack upon our principles of free- dom. It is a constant threat against our institu- tions that no one ought to ignore. Its dangers have been much lessened by the constant leaven of the spirit of liberty. And yet this very spirit of liberty is being clandestinely used by them to break down true liberty. It may be naturalized by giving such secret machinations the fullest publicity. But there ought, moreover, to be a steady effort to meet this insidious evil by building up a strong public senti- ment which shall be as potent for the freedom and fairness of the press as these influences have been for its perversion and enslavement." EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 77 3. With all these facts before us have we not proper cause for alarm? Will we continue to stand idly by and look indifferently on while this work of under- mining this government is surely progressing to an alarming extent? Is it not true that " coming events cast their shadows before? " Have we not seen these shadows? Can we not learn wisdom by the experi- ence of the past? Does not history teach us that Catholicism is the deadly enemy to all freedom? Does not history teach us that Catholicism is aggres- sive and must be guarded and restrained? Let it be remembered that the Catholics have always sought to rule w^herever it was possible for them to do so; that the popes have deposed kings, waged wars, made treaties, and have always assumed the right to gov- ern the entire world. Confronted as we are by such a threatening foe, is it not time for every man to stand as a sentinel at the post of duty, to resist and repel all these encroachments upon our sacred rights? The encyclical letter of the pope from which I have quoted, if it be true, is an insult to this republic; and should be stamped as treachery, revolutionary, san- guinary. It is worse than anarchy and treason. Re- member that the Catholics are bound to the pope by the strongest bands possible. There is no such obe- dience known to men as that of the Catholics to their priests, bishops, and popes. They are blinded by education, by their theology, by their superstition, by their religion. The issues of life and death are sup- posed by them to rest in the hands of their ministers. They know nothing but obedience. They are swayed by a blind zeal which inflames the passions and stul- tifies the sensibilities, which impels them to find a 78 EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. way to execute all the commands of tlieir superiors. This makes them the more dangerous. At a word of command they will ignore the authority of this gov- ernment. They are surely getting ready for some emergency. They have long contemplated the reign of the pope in this country. 4. To this end, and to others that look to the prevalen- cy of Catholicism, they have organized by the Jesuits a mimber of secret societies — to wit, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Irish-American Society, Knights of St. Patrick's Cadets, St. Patrick Mutual Alliance, Apos- tles of Liberty, Benevolent Sons of Emerald Isle, Knights of St. Peter, Knights of the Eed Branch, Knights of Columskill, and the Sacred Heart. Hear what Mr. Chiniquy has to say of these societies: "Al- most all these societies are military ones. They have their headquarters at San Francisco, but their rank and file are scattered all over the United States. They number 700,000 soldiers, who, under the name of United States Volunteer Militia, are officered by some of the most skillful generals and officers of this republic. Another fact to which the American Protestants do not pay sufficient attention is that the Jesuits have been shrewd enough to have a vast ma- jority of Roman Catholic generals and officers to command the army and man the navy of the United States. Home is in constant conspiracy against the rights and liberties of men all over the world, but she is particularly so in the United States. Long before I was ordained a priest I knew that my Church was an implacable enemy to this republic. My profess- ors of philosophy, history, and theology had been unanimous in telling me that the principles and laws ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. ' 79 of the Church of Borne were absolutely antagonistic to the laws and principles which are the foundation stones of the Constitution of the United States." Can any one doubt this ? How can they with the history of the past and the utterances of the Eoman Church before them? I have before me an item of news dated Milwaukee, Wis., May 28, taken from the Fort Worth Gazette in (I think) 1890: *'At a mass meeting of Catholics held last night a declaration of princi- ples was adopted which, after affirming the infalli- bility of the pope and acknowledging the dual duty of Catholics as members of the Church and as citizens, says: . . ." Then follows declarations about he- reditary rights, after which the following: "Further- more, we consider the maintenance of these rights absolutely dependent upon the education of children in our own schools. We demand this privilege, and shall, independent of other party political interests, join at the polls other cities who are of the same opin- ion concerning Church schools, so that in the strug- gle with our oppressors [Italics mine] we may be more sure of victory and maintain for our people Christian principles; it is resolved, therefore, that the German Catholic societies take an active part in the coming State campaign, and Avill organize for that purpose." A correspondent of the Neio York Weekly Witness of July 19, 1893, says: "A lady of my acquaintance, who is a general agent for a book publishing com- pany, and a lady of undoubted veracity, spent one week in Detroit this spring, and while there was invited by a Catholic young lady to go with her to her church. She did so, and said she was never so frightened in her life. It was a large church and 80 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. was literally packed, every bit of standing room even was occupied. The whole talk was the abuse of our government and the wrongs of Catholics, who were kept from office, and their rights, etc. She said the congregation was very quiet and listened eagerly to every word; but the rage depicted on their counte- nances was alarming, and the earnestness and incen- diary expressions of the speakers were still more bo. What does all this mean, if not trouble? " From the same paper I quote from anotlier correspondent the following: "I see in your columns of June 28 the question: 'Is there a Roman Catholic rebellion on foot? ' I would say that there is a possibility of such a move on their part, and I believe that they are se- cretly preparing their people for such an uprising by drilling them in the use of firearms. But they are too wise too kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, and they will hold on to politics, where they are gaining rapidly, till they are forced to do otherwise." Kev. J. 8. Smith, in the Nashville Advocate of recent date, says: " Even Catholic countries have had to ex- pel the Jesuits for political reasons, and we cannot expect that they will be less active in this land where they are untrammeled. If ice have trouble with them — and ive certainly ivill — [Italics mine] — it will be be- cause those who hope to profit by their votes will sell our liberties for the sake of office and rewarcL^^ 5. While upon this question I shall presume to give afeiv extracts from the *' Tennessee Methodist: " '' Wher- ever the public udder distends and the paps do hang, there you will find the Catholics on bended knees and protruded lips doing vigorous execution; but every ounce of nerve and brain and muscular force ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 81 thus gained are laid not on the altar of our great Americanism, but in the hand of wily Jesuits, the sworn enemies of America and the oath-bound ad- herents to a foreign prince who claims the right of supremacy over America and views our government as a usurper of the rights of Eome. Five of the re- cently elected United States Senators were Catholics, and they watch and lobby Congress as vigorously as do the great monopolies of the country. We are led to begin this article by finding in our mail a clipping from the Omaha Christian Advocate^ sent us by a friend out there, and which we publish elsewhere. The editor discusses the mysterious arming of the Komanists in this country, and quotes from other pa- pers the proof of this fact. The idea of one church in this republic, in a time of profound peace, having an army of 750,000 men, armed with Winchester rifles and whose vows to their head make them more pliant and loyal and submissive vassals of this pope than any army ever were to their general, is an out- rage and a menace which should be put down by the strong arm of the law. The article referred to says: * The action which furnishes the greatest conundrum on the part of Romanists is a secret arming with the most expensive and destructive weapons. The Ameri- can Order of Hibernians, and other kindred organi- zations, are said to have about three-quarters of a million men under arms. None but Catholics can become members of those orders. For what purpose is this drilling and arming with Winchester rifles? Within the last month Winchesters have been re- ceived at Catholic institutions in Nebraska.' The following (under date of February 13, 1893, from 6 82 EOMANISM VEKSUS PROTESTANTISM. Ellensburg, Wasli. ) appeared recently in the Spohane (Wash.) Baihj Review: *The Eoman Catholic priest received to-day a consignment of supposed books. The '' books " were shipped in obloiog boxes and were hauled to the church by a Eoman Catholic drayman. They were then stored in the basement of the church. Two little boys . . . were playing in the neigh- borhood of the church . . . and broke through a window in the cellar and discovered that the boxes contained Winchester rihes of the newest make. Upon leaving the church the boys were met by Eev. J. L. Hester, of the M. E. Church of this city, who asked them what they had been doing in the Catholic church. Their reply led to an investigation and reve- lation of these startling truths. The greatest excite- ment prevails in the city, and there is considerable talk of lynching the priest.' " 6. We closed the last ^paragraph ivith quotations from the *^ Tennessee Methodist'' We wish to add two oth- ers from the same paper. "The following is from the Tri-City Blade, of Rock Island, 111.: 'The priest of Bloomington, 111., has received a consignment of Winchester rifles, which were billed "ornamental trees." If our enemies who are taking so much pleasure in attempting to deny the genuineness of the encyclical published by us some time since, and also an article headed "A Pamphlet," will deny this, we shall take x^ai'ticular ]pains and great pleasure in proving the truth of the statement. The priests and bishops who received rifles some time ago did not deny our charges, nor dare they. They know that we possess conclusive proof of our assertions, and if necessary could use it, and thus make them falsifiers BOMANISM VEKSUS PROTESTANTISM. 83 and traitors. It is about time that we were awaking to a realization o£ the true state of affairs, and taking a voice, and if necessary a hand, in this question of secret armament' The loyal American of Minne- apolis has the following: 'Why are the Eomanists of the United States arming themselves? They now have a standing army of more than seven hundred thousand soldiers. This they dare not deny. A Eomish priest at Columbus, O., recently stated that the object of these armed bodies was to " march in defense of religion." Their churches, monasteries, and convents are the hiding places of thousands upon thousands of rifles of the latest styles. They are preparing for a conflict. Priests and prelates are constantly receiving rifles and other implements of war, disguised in various ways, and these are surrep- titiously conveyed to the sacred building and carefully hidden away for future use. In one instance guns have been shipped as cofiins;'in another they trav- eled under the guise of "mass wine." If the reader doubts this, let him write to the custom officials at Peoria, 111., and ask for a recent shipment of "mass wine" consigned to Bishop Spaulding, which proved to be Winchester rifles.' " A correspondent in the Neio York Witness of July 19, 1893, says that "it is known that arms have been brought to them at Flint, Saginaw, Port Huron, and many other places labeled fruit trees, books, wine, etc. Sometimes the arms are brought in coffins. Some of the boxes have been broken in unloading, thus revealing their contents. Some have been discovered by the church they were stored in being burned, A Catholic at Flint said that the people of his Church were to rise and kill the 84 EOMANISM VERSUS PEOTESTANTISM. Protestants. He said they would come in the night and it would be a hand to hand fight. Two or three women oi the same place have thrown out similar hints." Another correspondent in the same issue of this paper introduces testimony that shows that this arming has been going on for at least ten years. The question arises: Why does not the government investigate these statements and find out the truth con- cerning them? An echo answers: " Why? " It does appear that there is^ evidence enough to demand an investigation. But alas! an indescribable apathy overhangs this government. Inadvertently the mind sweeps back through the centuries to 352 and 340 B.C., when Philip of Macedon was planning the sub- jugation of Greece. The greatest orator of that age, Demosthenes, thundered his philippics in defense of Grecian liberty against the designs of Philip. But so great was the apathy of the people that they heeded not, and so suffered the consequences of their stupidity. A. V/. Hall sends out a book, " The School Plot Unmasked," in which ex-President Lin- coln is quoted as saying: *'I do not pretend to be a prophet, but though not a prophet I can see a very dark cloud on our horizon, and that cloud is coming from Rome. It is filled with tears of blood." 7. The American people are slow to believe that it is possible for Bome to accomplish her purpose of deso- lation and death in this land of chivalri/. But this is no guarantee that Rome will not undertake sooner or later to convert this country into a Catholic coun- try, although it may cost her the lives of thou- sands of her subjects. Many, very many of my countrymen will not accept as true statements such ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 85 as are given above. But here let me ask: Is this con- verting of church buildings and school buildings into arsenals unprecedented in the annals of the past? By no means. During the late revolution in Mexico, when she as a nation threw off the galling yoke of Catholic tyranny, it was found that Rome was armed and equipped with the appurtenances of war. As the revolutionists marched from town to town they were resisted by armed bodies of Catholics. This led to the discovery that the Catholic church houses, and school buildings had been made the receptacles of arms. This led to the confiscation of all the prop- erty of the Catholic Church by the general govern- ment; and to this day, while the Catholic Church is allowed to use the most of this property, it is owned by the government. So Kome had prepared for war in time of peace. If that was her policy in Mexico, may we not conclude that such is her policy in the United States? Is Rome divided? Is she one thing in Mexico and another in the United States? No, verily. She may shift her policy as times and circumstances may vary, but never her purposes or her principles. I dare assert that if Rome did arm her subjects in Mexico in time of peace she will do the same thing in the United States. The evidence before us is that she is now arming for the conflict contemi)lated in the future. I shall not enter into any speculation respecting the prophecies at this time. Whatever may be their true interpreta- tion, there can be no doubt that Daniel, as well as John, with prophetic vision penetrated the veil of thie future and viewed the m.ighty contest between God's true saints and the children of the mystic 86 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM, '* BABYLON THE GEEAT, THE MOTHEE OF HAELOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EAETH." Whether this contest be on the arena of moral and religious ethics, or a physical contest upon the gory field of battle, I shall not now undertake to say, but will say that I incline to the latter view. That in the end God's cause and his people shall conquer is fully declared in his Word. 8. What more can I say? What more need be said to soimd the tocsin? But I see some looking askance, ready to say that this' is all imagination, an illusion, or hallucination, or something of that sort; our in- stitutions are not imperiled. These Catholics are harmless people. They are inoffensive, quiet, gentle, good citizens — yes, very pious! No harm to anybody or anything! Did not the Legate, SatoUi, on the 5th of September, at the great conference salute the American people in the name of Pope Leo, and bid the Catholics of America to go forward, in one hand bearing the Book of Christian truth, and in the other the Constitution of the United States? Hear! "Papal delegate, Satolli, wrapping the purple folds of his robe of office tightly about him, and speaking w^ith a burning intensity of feeling that surprised and enraptured the great multitude of people listen- ing, delivered this message to-day in the Catholic Congress. The delegate, but a moment before, had been received with thunderous outburst of applause while mounting the platform with Archbishop Ire- land." Yes, indeed! And did not Judas betray his Lord with a kiss? Y/as not Csesar forced to exclaim in the hour of his peril : ''Et tu, Brute ? " Who did the applauding — the Catholics or the Protestants? Let ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 87 ■US consider the account of an ovation given Bishop Odin recently at San Antonio, Tex. I refer to a special in the daily Gazette of July 13: "This was the Catholic jubilee celebration in honor of the fifth anniversary of the arrival of the late Bishop Odin, and the fifth anniversary of the ordination of Bishop Dubois, second bishop at Galveston. A salute of fifty guns was fired [Italics mine], with a programme of exercises." How do these accounts sound to you? When did the people ever fire a salute in honor of a Protestant bishop? Are not these things but pre- monitions of startling events in the near future? But I am told that " Brutus is an honorable man " ( ?). Yes, I am again reminded that their schools are su- perior. And you intend to continue to patronize them. Can you do itwdth your eyes open? I ask in the name of reason, how can you ? Are you a Meth- odist, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and then patronize a Catholic school? I must say that you present to me an enigma that I shall not attempt to name lest I of- fend you. It is strange to me that any person who values the interest of his child, and pretends to be consistent with himself as a Protestant, can for one moment entertain the thought of patronizing these Catholic schools. I met a gentleman on the streets, not a great while ago, who told me that there were Methodists in this city — here under the shadow of one of the best female colleges in the South (the Waco Female College), under the shadow of the Baylor University (under the auspices of the Baptist Church), and under the shadow^ of first-class public schools, and under the shadow of a first-class private school — wdio are patronizing the Catholic convent 88 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. Speaking to this question, Mr. Chiniquy says of tliese Catholic schools: *' These colleges and nunneries are the high citadels from which the pope darts his surest missiles against the rights and liberties of nations. The colleges and nunneries are the arsenals where the most deadly weapons are, night and day, prepared to fight and destroy the soldiers of liberty all over the world. The colleges and nunneries of the priests are the secret places where the enemies of progress, equality, and liberty are holding their coun- cils and fomenting their great conspiracy, the object, of which is to enslave the world at the feet of the pope. The colleges and nunneries of Kome are the schools where the rising generation are taught that it is impiety to follow the dictates of their own con- science, hear the voice of their intelligence, read the Word of God, and worship their Creator according to the rules laid down in the gospel. It is in the col- leges and nunneries of Eome that men learn that they are created to obey the pope in all things, that the Bible must be burned, and that liberty must be destroyed at any cost all over the world." You who plead for these schools do not know what you are doing. You have mistaken your reckoning; you are deceived. You are accustomed to look upon the smooth surface of this mighty tide of ruin unmind- ful of the deep current beneath and the restrained force that is ready at the opportune time to leap forth into that impetuosity that will devastate every- thing before it. If it were only possible to make the people of this age and in tliis country realize that the Catholic CInirch is now what it has always been! If they could only be aroused to the fact that the same ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 89 principles and purposes obtain with Rome to-day tliat prompted Hildebrand, under the title of Gregory VII., to inaugurate a contest for universal supremacy which has never ceased! Many times have emperors and kings been made to realize the power of these haughty pontiffs. Let us cite an instance or two: During the eleventh century it had become the cus- tom for sovereigns who visited the pope to hold his stirrup when he mounted his horse. This token of submission was demanded by Adrian, the pope, be- fore he would consent to place the crown on the head of Barbarossa. "For two days Frederick resisted the demand, but at length reluctantly yielded. He held the stirrup as Adrain placed his foot in it, and then received the pontifical kiss of peace, and was crowned in due form." ("Lives of the Popes," Vol. II., p. 155.) In 1177 the fortunes of Frederick were so changed that he was forced to an interview with Pope Victor III., at Venice. " It is related that the emperor kissed the feet of the pontiff, and the pope placed his feet on the bold warrior's neck, apostro- phizing himself in the language of the Scripture, 'Thou shalt tread upon the adder and the lion!' v/hereupon the emperor indignantly replied, ^Not unto thee, but unto St. Peter be this honor!'" ("Lives of the Popes," Vol. VIL, p. 107.) But why cite instances, when every one who is at all familiar with history knows full well how the popes have ever usurped authority over princes, kings, governors, and emperors; that they have ever claimed since the days of Hildebrand that the pope is the supreme head of the State as well as the Church ? CHAPTEE VII. The Lecture of Father O'Shannahan— Catholics Are tlie Same Now as Ever — Old Tricks Repeated — Roman Persecution — Gaining Ground — Bishop Newton — Spanish Inquisition — The Mexican Inquisition — Catholic Intolerance — Reviewer Reviewed — Powderly. 1, Re VERTING to the fact that the Catholic Church has not changed, nor can it change, for the reason that they claim to he infallible, I v^ill invite the attention of the reader to the foUovv^ing, which I quote from the Laredo Daily News of July 19, 1893: "A great lecturer, Father O'Shannahan, delivered a lecture at Market Hall. His theme, the Church of which he is so great a representative, the Church and the Bi- ble." The lecturer began v/ith the following state- ment: " We shall try to give a clear idea of the meaning of that institution which we Roman Catho- lics call * the Church,' and then we shall explain what relation the Bible, or Word of God, bears to the Church." After postulating certain facts bearing upon the subject in hand, he proceeds to adroitly- state: ''Another kindred error which cannot take the place of a Church is ' private judgment,' which makes each one's reason the last test and standard of belief, and which makes every one his own pope." It will be seen that this is equivalent to saying that no indi- vidual has the right to read and interpret the Bible, but instead, the pope must interpret for his subjects. This is what has already been stated in this series of articles. We have also called attention to the fact that they claim to be the only Church, and that the (90) ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 91 pope is infallible, and his decisions are unerring and must be obeyed. Listen at this: "Again, we cannot admit as constituting a Church any assembly which acknowledges a crowned head or a court of arches or a majority in a synod or a conference of bishops or ministers as judge of last appeal, unless such person or court or majority claim, and prove the claim [Italics mine], that they are specially directed by God in their decision." Noiv there is no Church hut the Catholic Church which lays claim to such special assistance, and therefore to infallibility in the decisions of her council, presided over by her visible head, the poi:e." Here we have the latest evidence that Rome claims to-day what she has ever claimed: (1) that she is the only Church; (2) that she is infallible; (3) that the pope is the supreme arbiter, the holy (?) oracle, Heaven's vicegerent. Do not be in doubt, for Father O'Shannahan does not disguise his words at this point. Hear him: " To each of the apostles and their successors he gave sufficient and abundant powers to teach, to minister to, to govern the churches they should found; to Peter and to Peter's successors, and to them only, He gives the keys of the kingdom, the government of that earthly realm, the Church, which was to become the kingdom of heaven. To him alone He gives the universal power ( he puts the verb ^' gives " in the present tense) to bind and to loose, to pasture the flocks and the shepherds, to confirm and fortify all his brethren. If human language has any mean- ing, surely this means that Peter and his lawful suc- cessors are the divinely appointed heads of the Church. Undeniable facts and historic monuments, or rather I would say the whole uncontrovertible bis- 92 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. tory o£ the Church, tracing its authority from pontiff to pontiff, from Leo in our day in one continuous retro- cession up to the clays of Peter ( ?), is one great monu- ment bearing out the words of the master." (The Italics are mine.) Here we have the language of Father O'Shannahan, President of the Galveston Jesuit College, who, while on a visit to the Eight Eeverend Bishop Peter Verdaguer at Laredo, Tex., in the month of July, 1893, and at the bishop's re- quest, delivered at Market Hall on Sunday night, July 16, the lecture from wKich I am quoting. By refer- ence to a former chapter the reader will find this claim stated and refuted. My object for repeating this language here is to fix upon the mind of the reader the fact that Eome has never changed her teaching or her principles or purposes. In this lec- ture, the President of the Jesuit College at Gal- veston, speaks to the question of the Church and the Bible. Speaking of the Bible, he says: "Thus it is by the authority of the Catholic Church only [this is false] that we have a New Testament; and if we do not admit her authority to he infallihJe, we have no New Testament at all." After speaking of the igno- rance of the people and the differences of the opin- ions of men and the great need of a correct interpret- er, this Jesuit President says: "Such an organ [meaning oracle-infallible interpreter of the Bible] there must have been, indefectible and unchangeable, and ever si)eaking in the full consciousness of hers beiug the voice of God. There is nobody but the Catholic Church that lays claim to this infallible au- thority. She is the Church of the ages, the same yester- day and to-day aytd forever'' (Italics mine.) ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 93 2, I am much obliged to the learned President of the Jesuit College at Galveston for coming forward at this opportune time in this discussion, and for speakiyig so fully and frankly. The same Church to-day as yes- terday and forever. No mistake about this. She is just the same to-day, without the slightest mod- ification of her persecuting predilection, that she was when she drove the unoffending Moors from Spain. After every promise had been made to those v/lio chose to remain by the Catholics of leniency and fidelity, they, under the leadershijj of Ferdinand, af- flicted this unfortunate people with persecution and death. O yes, the Church of Rome is just the same to-day as she was when Philip II. established the In- quisition in the Netherlands, and sought to extermi- nate the Protestants. Egmont, Horn, and other prom- inent men were executed and horrible cruelties per- petrated. Yes, Father O'Shannahan, President of the Jesuit College at Galveston, is right when he tells us that the Church of Eome is the same to-day and forever, exactly the same to-day as when she planned and executed the assassination of President Lincoln. (If the reader desires to read the evidence of this, refer to " Fifty Years in the Church of Rome," pp. 711, 735, and "The School Plot Unmasked," pp. 99-101.) The Church of Rome never intends to change; she is just as full of perfidity to-day, as shown by her conduct in the case of Rev. C. F. Kolin, an ex- priest of the Roman Church, as in the days of Mary Queen of Scots. But what of Rev. O. F. Kolin? In the Cejitral Methodist of August 5, 1893, we are in- formed that Rev. C. F. Kolin became convinced that the Catholic Church was wrong, and accordingly 94 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. joined tlie Methodist Episcopal Clmrch, South. He was received into tlie Scotfc Street Church in Coving- ton, Ky. On the evening of May 25 Mr. Kolin de- livered a lecture against Romanism at Odd Fellows' Hall under the auspices of the "American Protective Association " of Covington. This excited the choler of the Catholics; they charged that Mr. Kolin was a libertine, and had seduced his own sister, and on this account had been suspended from the Eomish Church. These charges w^ere made through the Commonicealth of June 9. Subsequently a full state- ment of all the facts, from the highest authority, re- vealed the truth that the charge of heresy had been al- leged against Mr. Kolin; the specification was that he had defended John Hvss, the Protestant martyr. So Eome continues her old tricks of deceiving by falsehood, aspersing character, or taking life, as occa- sion may require and as she may have opportunity. 3. I call upon the reader to think carefidly about the fifth anniversary of the arrival of one Bishop of Rome and the fifth anniversary of the ordination of another being made the occasion of a grand ovation and fifty gims fired as a salute. Who ever heard of such a thing in this country before? But surely these are perilous times. Note names: O'Shannahan, Yer- daguer, etc. The names are foreign names, indica- ting to us that for the most part these are foreigners who are threatening the liberties of this country. The foreign Catholic element is fast taking this country. Statistics show that the Catholics in 1890 in the six New England States exceeded in the num- ber of her communicants all other denominations ta- ken together by many thousands, the Catholics num- ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 95 bering 1,005,120 and the Protestants 763,987. Bead what a correspondent of the Congregational says of the Catholics at the national capital: "Washington is the center of Roman Catholic power, prestige, and propagandism. This is not the result of immigra- tion; it is the product of natural growth and develop-- ment, whose early beginoings reach back to a period coetaneous with the laying of the foundations of the republic. But other circumstances than that of age have contributed to shed luster upon the Eoman Catholic Church in the District. The presence of the ablegate of the reigning pontiff; the frequent visits of the cardinal from the neighboring and an- cient see of Baltimore; the reside-nce of a diplomatic corps, many of whom are Catholics; the erection of a new university on a scale with which no other Catho- lic institution in this country is commensurate; the crush of visitors in Washington, many of whom are of the Catholic faith; and the appearance in the local pulpits and chancels of renowned prelates arouse and sustain an intense esprit de corp^. Well-filled churches, numerous parochial schools, and divers institutions of an educational, monastic, or charitable character greet one in the city and in its environments, and weekly religious newspapers bulletin the Church news and scoff at Protestantism." 4, I ivish to impress the mind of the reader with the fact that Rome is to-day, in all the elements of organ- ism., in everythijig which constitutes a corporate body, tvhat she has always been. I would ring the changes upon this fact because it is necessary for our self- protection. Touching the subject of Catholic in- tolerance and cruelty. Bishop Newton, in his work 96 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. on the *' Prophecies" (pp. 541, 542), in comment- ing on Kevelations xiii. 6, says: "So much for his blasphemies; nor are his exploits less extraordinary. * It was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them;' and who can make any com- pensation, or even form any conception of the num- ber of the pious Christians who have fallen a sacrifice to the bigotry and cruelty of Eonae ? Mede, comment- ing upon this text, hath observed, from good authori- ties, that in the war with the Albigenses and Walden- ses there perished of these poor creatures in France alone a million. From the first institution of the Jesuits to the year 1480 — that is, a little more than thirty years — 900,000 orthodox Christians were slain. In the Netherlands alone the Duke of Alva boasted that in a few years he had dispatched to the amount of 36,000 souls, and those all by the hand of the common executioner. In the space of scarce thirty years the Inquisition destroyed by various kinds of tortures 150,000 Christians. Sanders himself con- fesses that an innumerable multitude of Lollards and Sacramentarians were burned throughout all Europe, who yet he says were not put to death by the pope and bishops, but by the civil magistrates, which perfectly agrees with this prophecy, for of the secu- lar beast it is said that *he shall make war with the saints and overcome them.' . . . Let the Roman- ists boast that theirs is the catholic Church and uni- versal empire ; this is so far from being any evidence of the truth that it is the very brand infixed by the spirit of prophesy." 5. .7 here subjoin a description of the Spanish Inqui- sition taken from the ^^ School Plot Unmasked.'' The ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 97 picture was drawn by Col. Lehmanowsky, o£ Ka- poleon's army, who at the head of a troop of sol- diers proceeded to the Inquisition buildings, situated about five miles from the city of Madrid. Napoleon had previously issued orders for the suppression of inquisitions whenever possible. Putting the priests under guard and making prisoners of the soldiers of the Inquisition, the Colonel gives the following ac- count of what he saw and what was done: " We then proceeded to examine all the rooms of the stately edifice. We passed through room after room, found all perfectly in order, richly furnished, with altars and crucifixes and wax candles in abundance; but could discover no evidence of iniquity being prac- ticed there, nothing of those peculiar features which we expected to find in an Inquisition. We found splendid paintings, and a rich and extensive library. Here was beauty and splendor, and the most perfect order on which my eyes had ever rested. The archi- tecture, the proportions, were perfect. The floors of wood were scoured and highly polished. The marble floors were arranged with a strict regard to order. There was everything to please the eye and gratify a cultivated taste. Where, then, were those horrid hu strmnents of torture of which we had been told? and where were those dungeons in which human beings were said to be buried alive? We searched in vain. The holy fathers assured us that they had been be- lied; that we had seen all, and I was prepared to give up the search, convinced that this Inquisition was different from others of which I had heard. But Col. De Lile was nv>t so ready as myself to give up the search, and said to me: * Colonel, you are com- 7 98 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. mander to-day, and as you say, so must it be; but if you will be advised by me, let this marble floor be examined. Let water be brought and poured upon it, and we will watch and see if there is any place through which it passes more freely than oth- ers.' I replied to him, *Do as you please. Colonel,' and ordered water to be brought. The slabs of mar- ble were large and beautifully polished. When the water had been poured over the floor, much to the dissatisfaction of the inquisitors, a careful examina- tion was made of every seam in the floor, to see if the water passed through. Presently Col. De Lile exclaimed that he had found it. By the side of one of those marble slabs the water passed through fast, as though there was an opening, beneath. All hands were now at work for further discovery. Offi- cers with their swords, and soldiers with their bayo- nets, sought to clear out the seam and pry up the slab; others, with the butts of their muskets, struck the slab with all their might to break it, while the priests remonstrated against our desecrating their holy and beautiful house. While thus engaged, a soldier struck a spring, and the marble slab flew up. Then the faces of the inquisitors grew pale as Bel- shazzar when the handwriting appeared on the wall. They trembled all over. Beneath the marble slab, now partly up, there was a staircase. I stepped to the altar and took one of the candles, four feet in length, which was burning, that I might explore the - room below. As I was doing this I was arrested by one of the inquisitors, who laid his hand gently on my arm, and with a very demure look said: ' My son, you must not take those lights with your bloody ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 99 hands; they are holy.' 'Well/ I said, 'I will take a holy thing to shed light ou iniquity; I will bear the responsibility.' I proceeded down the staircase. As we reached the foot of the stairs we entered a large, square room, the hall of judgment. In the center of it was a terge block and a chain fastened to it. On this they had been accustomed to place the ac- cused, chained to his seat. On one side of the room was an elevated seat, the throne of judgment. This the inquisitor generally occupied, and on either side were seats less elevated for the holy fathers, when engaged in the solemn business of the holy In- quisition. From this room w^e proceeded to the right and obtained access to small cells, extending the entire length of the edifice. Here saddening sights pre- sented themselves. These cells were places of soli- tary confinement, where the wretched objects of in- quisitorial hate were confined year after year, till death released them from their sufferings, and there their bodies remained until they were entirely decayed, and their rooms had become fit for others to occupy. Flues or tubes, extending to the open air, carried off the effluvia. In these cells were found some who had paid the debt of nature; some of them had been dead apparently for a short time, while of others nothing remained but their bones, still chained to the floor of their dungeon. In other cells we found living suffer- ers of both sexes and of every age, from threescore years and ten down to fourteen or fifteen years, all naked as wdien born into the world, and all in chains. Here were old men and aged women who had been shut up for many years. Here, too, were the middle- aged and the young man, and the maiden of fourteen 100 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. years old. The soldiers imraediately went to work tp release these captives from their chains, and took from their knapsacks their overcoats and other cloth- ing, which they gave to cover their nakedness. They were exceedingly anxious to bring them to the light of day; but Col. Lile, aware of the danger, had food given them, and then brought them gradually to the light, as they were able to bear it. We then pro- ceeded to explore another room on the left. Here we found instruments of torture of every kind which the ingenuity of men or of devils could invent. The first was a machine by which the victim was confined; and then, beginning with the fingers, every joint in the hands, arms, and body were drawn or broken, one after another, until the victim died. The second was a box in which the head and neck of the victim were so closely confined by a screw that he could not move in any way. Over the box was a vessel of water from which one drop of water a second fell upon the head of the victim. Every successive drop falling upon precisely the same place soon suspended circulation, and put the sufferer in the most excruciating agony. The third was an infernal machine, laid liorizontally, to which the victim was bound. The machine was then placed between two beams, in which were scores of knives, so fixed that, by turning the machine with a crank, the flesh of the sufferer was torn from his limbs, all in small pieces. The fourth surpassed the others in fiendish ingenuity. Its exterior was a beautiful woman, or large doll, richly dressed, with arms extended, ready to embrace its victim. Around her feet a semicircle was drawn. The victim who passed over this fatal mark touched a spring, which ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 101 caused the diabolical engine to open; its arms clasped him, and a thousand knives cut him into as many pieces in the deadly embrace. Col. Lile said that the sight of these infernal engines of cruelty kindled the rage of the soldiers to fury. They declared that every inquisitor and soldier of the Inquisition should be put to torture. Their rage was ungovernable. Col. Lile did not oppose them. They might have turned their arms against him if he had attempted to arrest their work. They began with the holy fathers. The first they put to death in the machine for break- ing joints. The torture of the inquisitor put to death by the dropping of water on his head was most excruciating. The poor man cried out in agony to be taken from the fatal machine. The inquisitor- general was brought before the infernal machine called ' The Yirgin.' He begged to be excused. *No ! ' said they; *you have caused others to kiss her, and now you must do it.' They interlocked their bayo- nets so as to form large forks, and with these they pushed him over the deadly circle. The beautiful image instantly prepared for the embrace, clasped him in its arms, and he was cut into innumerable pieces. Col. Lile said he witnessed the torture of four of them; his heart sickened at the awful scene, and he left the soldiers to wreak their awful venge- ance on the last guilty inmates of that prison house of hell. In the meantime it was reported through Madrid that the prisons of the Inquisition were broken open, and the multitudes hastened to the fatal spot. And O what a meeting was there! It was like a resurrection! About a hundred, who had been buried for many years, were now restored to life. 102 KOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. There were fathers who had found their long-lost daughters; wives were restored to their husbands, sisters to their brothers, and parents to their chil- dren; and there were some who could recognize no friend among the multitude. The scene was such as no tongue could describe." By order of Col. Lile this Inquisition was blown up and destroyed. 6. Eev. O. M. Owen, in his *^ School Plot Tin- masked" (pp. 68-62), quotes Prof. L. T. Town- send as follows: '^The immense buildings of the In- quisition at Mexico City are central, and since their confiscation by the government have been converted into colleges of medicine. This Inquisition of Mex- ico was only one of scores in that country. There were inquisitorial buildings in all the large cities. The SL Domingo church and monastery at Oajaca, which covered, with its courts, thirteen acres, was another one of these places of judgment and death. In one of the rooms there you can se3 a wheel ten feet in diameter, on which the poor victims of the Inquisition were broken; in another is a huge grate or gridiron on which heretics were roasted, the fire being applied first to the feet and then to other parts of the body. After the passages of the laws of re- form and the confiscation of this property, there were taken from an immense wall tons of human bones. The deeds of that Inquisition, and of others in Mex- ico, are not surpassed by any acts of brutality perpe- trated by the most bloodthirsty savages this world has ever known. I spent hours at Pueblo in reading what is called the ^Blue Book,' descriptive of the Mexican Inquisition. The author is one of the best- known writers in Mexico. The manuscripts from ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 103 wTiicli the book was compiled were discovered after the reform laws were passed, in one of the churches where they had been concealed. Time would fail me to describe the horrible deeds there recorded. Listen to this one: A wealthy Jewish famil}^, Carajel by name, would not abandon the faith, of their fathers. Among the members of the family was a beautiful girl, eighteen years of age, who was ordered to be stripped of all her clothing, and stand during her examination naked before the Inquisition, consisting of eighteen or twenty men. After this brutal examination she was submitted to the strangling process of torture, and after breathing her last her body w^as burned on the plaza. The entire family were murdered and all their property confiscated to the Church. These were the times of Home's glory and power, when without fear or restraint she could show her bloody hand. When the Inquisition buildings in Mexico City were examined after the passage of the reform laws, some of the walls were discovered to be hollow. They were broken in and found to consist of apart- ments in which men, condemned by the Inquisition, were entombed w^hile alive. [Photographs were shown of the skeletons as they were found.] Several squares from the Inquisition buildings was the fa- mous Franciscan Monastery of Mexico City, This was bought by the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is now our missionary headquarters. Two or three years ago a change was made by our people in the front wall. While the workmen were removing a part of the wall, they broke into what is called a well, or closet, and found forty-seven skeletons. Let the liberals,' who fancy Eome has changed, and 104 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. would never attempt to carry out her threats in reference to the payment of school taxes, etc., re- member that all Rome's laws against heresy and statutes concerning persecution remain in her canon law to-day unabrogated, and as Rome, in its own estimation, is "unchangeable " and 'infallible," these decrees remain in full force. All Rome wants is the opportunity and the power, and she would exhibit the same murderous hate as in the darkest days of the Inquisition. At the beginning of the sixteenth century Rome boasted that not a jingle heretic could be found. Now Christendom contains millions of those whom the papacy calls heretics, and whom it would exterminate if it could. The hatred of Rome for heretics is the same to-day as when she dug up and burned Wyclif's bones, forty-one years after hisdeath." 7. The iynportance to us of this boast of Father O'Shannahan, that the Roman Church is ''the same yesterday and to-day and for ever, ^^ will justify the lengthy quotations given. The masses of the people should know what Rome has been in the past, and that she claims to be the same to-day. Let the world know that Rome has never changed; that she is not ashamed of her record — yea, rather that she glories in it — that she justifies all her bloody deeds of the past, and recounts them with pleasure. That we may not mistake the intent and spirit of Rome, but may apprehend the true animus of her subjects and be cognizant of her persecuting spirit, which would to-day wipe out every vestige of opposi- tion to her tenets, and fill this land witli horror and blood, I will give the reader the following para- graphs from the Fort Worth Gazette. But before do- ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 105 ing so, perhaps it is best to say that the "American Protective Association " is an organization to protect this republic from Catholic rule; to protect our lib- erties, our wives and children, our homes, our reli- gion, our all from ruin and death, as contemplated by the "MOTHER OF HAELOTS AKD ABOMI- NATIONS." Here are the paragraphs i ^^Kansas City, Mo., September 22, — The American Protective Association held a meeting to-night, and at its close, as its members were leaving the hall, they were attacked by a crowd of Catholics. Before the police could interfere several of each side were slightly injured. The police finally dispersed the crowd, making several arrests^ the crowd being about equally represented in' wagons that drove to the police station." {Fort Worth Gazette, September 29,1893.) ^'SL Paul, September 59.— Fears of a riot are enter- tained at the lecture of Evangelist Leyden at Market Hall to-night. Dr. Leyden is a former Catholic, of Boston, and is lecturing under the auspices of the American Protective Association, which has for its object the suppression of Catholic civil and temporal power. Dr. Leyden was recently placed in the field, and is to speak here three nights. The Catholics are intensely excited, and Father Heffron openly predicts a riot if Dr, Leyden persists in speaking in Market Hall. Up to noon all endeavors to persuade the ex- priest to select another lecturing place have failed, and it is understood that militia protection will be asked for. The Catholics openly avow their purpose not to let the lecture go on." {Fort Worth Gazette, September 29, 1893.) 106 ROMANISM VERSUS TROTESTANTISM. ''St Louis, Mo., October 27.— Ex-Priest Sattery to- night gave a lecture to men only at Central Turner Hall, on Tenth Street^ near Market. The place was crowded to suffocation, and several hundred were un- able to gain admission. They remained in the vicini- ty, patronizing to an almost -unlimited extent the near- by saloons. During the lecture the crowd was very boisterous, but made no threatening demonstrations. About 10 o'clock, at the conclusion of the lecture, Sattery, accompanied^ by his wife, who was waiting for him in the anteroom, started for the hotel, on Chestnut Street, near Sixth. The crowd followed, growing more and more boisterous every minnte. Fi- nally, surrounding the couple, the crowd almost with one voice yelled : ' Lynch him ! Teach him a lesson ! ' Eecruits joined the crowd every minute. As they pressed close, Sattery threw one arm around his wife, and, shaking his disengaged finger at the crowd, hurled defiance in their teeth. A score of policemen at this moment charged the crowd, but were unable to reach Sattery. Growing wilder every moment, the crowd repeated the yells of * Lynch him!' 'Cut his heart out ! ' ' Kill the fanatic! ' etc. Eeenforcements arrived from the police station, and the ofiicers were enabled to make their way to the side of the twain agpvinst whom the mob's cries were directed and at whom stones and other missiles now began to be thrown. The ofiicers finally succeeded in getting Sat- tery to the hotel. Just at the entrance the mob was now numbering upward of one thousand, who made a last desperate effort to wrench Sattery from the of- ficers, but with a deft movement the officers pushed him into the hostelry and closed the doors, leaving ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 107 the mob outside." {Fort Worth Gazette^ October 28, 1893.) 8. This effort on thepm^t of the Catholics to emharfree speech, mid to use mob violence to this end, is 7iothing less than we are to expect. It is in keeping with their reli- gion; it is a part of their system of propagandism; it is the same spirit of intolerance that established and maintained the Inquisition. A few years ago the Catholics would not have dared to do such a thing as the above mentioned in this country; now it is possi- ble for them to do this, not hesitating to use violence for argument. It appears that these public demon- strations of violence are prompted by the priests. In the second paragraph quoted, a priest, Father Heffron, *' publicly predicted a riot," which being in- terpreted means he instigated a riot — was the power behind the throne. What right have these Catholics to interfere with lecturers? Who ever heard of Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, or any other branch of the Protestant Church in all this land of ours interfering with any priest, preacher, or lecturer? It matters not if a minister does leave one Protestant Church and join another, or if he should join the Cath- olic Church. He is not denied the right of free speech. He may thunder his denunciations against the Church from whence he came, if he should so desire. No one cares how vociferous he becomes. But the Catholics undertake by the tongue of slander, by mob violence, and by all other means to suppress the voice of the expriests. If the Protestants should persecute an ex-Protestant preacher who might chance to join the Catholics, as the Catholics have persecuted the expriests, as we have seen, the very earth would be 108 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. made hideous with the cry of persecution. Every secular paper throughout the land would repeat the howl. But as the case now stands, the custom is to give such paragraphs to the public without comment or a word of adverse criticism. In the name of rea- son I ask: What does this mean? But stranger still, I find the following editorial in the Gazette of Octo- ber 3, 1893: ^^Not Americanism, — x\n association has been formed under the title of the ^American Protective Associa- tion,' with the avowed purpose of keeping believers in Roman Catholicism from holding office. It is needless to say that among the first declarations made by the framers of this government was that one de- claring in principle, if not in exact language, that no man's religious opinions should be in any sense a barrier. Certainly few men would exercise liberty of conscience when their peculiar beliefs debarred them from office holding, so widely the ambition of Ameri- can citizens. Such an organization is therefore in conflict with the spirit of our institutions and contra- ry to the principles of justice. While this is avowed- ly a Christian nation, religion is not fundamental in the government. The question that bears upon of- fice holding is one of fitness to discharge the duties of the office, and not one of sectarianism. If a Eoman Catholic can swear allegiance to the government, and faithfully discharge the duties of a citizen, to him every place in the government he honors should be open. Once in this land of freedom neither a Qua- ker nor a Baptist could dwell in certain communities. Once in Great Britain, where a Jew has since held and adorned the premiership, a Hebrew was forced ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 109 to skulk and hide, hardly being permitted to live even in an isolated quarter. Surely America is not ready to move backward four centuries, a retrogra- ding which the existence of this 'Association' hints at. The principles of this government are too firmly grounded to need protection from any source which ignores the right of an American citizen to worship God after the dictates of his own conscience, or that because of his religious preferences would exclude him from an avenue of laudable ambition." Who is the editor of the Gazette? A Protestant. This makes us pause for breath. What words can we employ to condemn an effusion so reprehensible? I claim that good American citizens have a right to organize for self-protection. This Association is not a filibustering arrangement. It is not a lawless body to visit condign punishment upon the Catholics. It is not to interfere with their religion proper, but merely to estop them in their onward sweep to secure the reins of this government and reduce us to slavery — yea, more, to subject us to the horrible Inquisition. How can we account for such editorials as the one under consideration? The editor of the Gazette is perhaps profoundly ignorant of the history of the Catholic Church, does not know that it is a hier- archy set for the overthrow of both civil and religious liberty; or it may be that the greed for gain has so infatuated him that he cannot discriminate be- tween truth and error; or it is possible that the stulti- fying effect of a puny sentimentalism has rendered him so reckless of the charge committed to him that he almost unconsciously plays the part of a whining sycophant. As an editor of one of the leading dailies 110 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. of tliis great State, whether conscious or unconscious of the fact, he is one of the custodians of the liberty of this country. I am ready to conclude that, what- ever may have prompted this most remarkable edito- rial, he has proven himself unworthy to sit upon the watchtower of liberty, and should at once be de- throned by the just verdict of outraged justice. To publish without a word of adverse criticism the three paragraphs quoted above, and then to slap the Amer- ican jpeople in the face with such an abracadabra as we are reviewing — such a play U]jon the rights of American citizens is high treason to his country. AVhat reward does he expect for his championship? Why, if all Protestants were as he, of his abnormal sentimentality, this fair land of ours would soon be- come the seat of a papal empire. In the name of the Pilgrim fathers, in the name of Washington, of Jefferson, and of all the patriots and statesmen of the long ago, and in the name of liberty and of religion I resent this affront and contempt of justice set forth in this editorial. To be silent under such innuendoes, and in the face of such unmitigated folly would be to cringe before imbecility and connive at cupidity. As an American citizen I claim the right to be heard in vindication of my country against all foes, no matter whether they be Catholic mobs or wolves in sheep's clothing — wearing the livery of Protestants and doing the work of the Catholics. .9. And now comes Mr. Poirderhj, iclio is a stanch Catholic, and who has served at the head of the ^'Knights of Labor,'' and says that all this furor, this anti-Catholic excitement, is like the false alar^n of an imaginary s^nallpox epidemic: ^'That there is an EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. Ill anti-Catholic crusade sweeping over the land is true, and, like all other crusades of its kind, it carries more malice than reason, more of bitterness than love of right, more ignorance than knowledge of religion, more belief of wild rumor than desire of truth, and, as a consequence, it will be dangerous while it lasts. It will have its time to run, and like the man wdio invited the smallpox because he thought he must have it, the scars will rest on those who recklessly wage the battle." {Fort Worth Ga- zette, December 3, 1893. ) Be it so. It is far better to use an ounce of prevent- ive than a pound of cure. There is no danger in vigilance; in fact, it is said, "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." There is no controverting the fact that we are confronted by an active and vigilant foe in the form and guise of Komanism. Soto be stupid and indifferent under the circumstances is to be crimi- nal. Nor can the smooth words of a devout Catholic, such as Mr. Powderly, charm us to rest. Such we are expecting from all such as he. Nor will we be driven from the field of devotion, and pledges of fealty to God's cause and to our land of liberty, by such edi- torials as the one animadverted upon in the preceding pages. CHAPTEE VIII. Our Greatest Dangers — Demagogy — Eum — Secular Press — Fra- ternity — Conclusion. 1. There is danger from a fawning spirit, and a mere sentimentality, that knoics no reason nor limit. A desire to please and a hope of gain — something, call it what you will — surely muzzle the secular press, while a spirit of indifference has laid hold of the re- ligious press of our c'ountry that is alarming. Now that there is a little waking up along the lines of our defense — some signs of life — a cry of persecution and intolerance has already been sounded, not by Catho- lics only, but by professed Protestants who are in position, such as officers and editors. We are not unmindful of these breakers. Some men will sacri- fice principle, the general good, and even self-respect itself, for money, and the power and the honor that office brings them. Alas! there are too many ready to kiss the feet of the pope to get the vote of the Catholics! We have already seen that the Catho- lics say that the political party which will grant them what they ask can gain their votes. I see the danger, and ardently wish that the eyes of the peo- ple may be opened so they too can see this great peril. In the following pages we submit some facts, and make some quotations, bearing upon this subject that are truly startling. The follow- ing quotation from the Gazette of December 10, 1893, is further evidence that the contest between the Protestants and Catholics is not imaginary: *' Now comes the ' Society of Liberty and Loyalty,' (112) ROMANISM YEESUS PEOTESTANTISM. 113 which will before spring have a membership of many thousands in this State alone. Its membership is confined almost wholly to Protestants. Men who ap- parently never took any interest in such affairs have soKcited the opportunity of enrolling their names. Both societies work in secret. One was founded to make war upon the other, its sole mission. There are speculations as to the outcome, and many men of broad views have expressed their fear that the two parties, or rather societies, may bring about a reli- gious conflict, when but little of real religion may be discovered in either. The fact that spies are kept in both camps, and that the members are bound to op- pose each other in every way, may, it is feared, lead to bloodshed." I think the statement that this or- ganization is composed chiefly of Protestants is false. It will not bear investigation. Why should Protes- tants war against Protestants for the sake of Catho- lics? That occasionally a Protestant can be found who is so blinded by self-interest as to defend Catho- lics is not a matter of surprise, but I cannot believe that there are many such. 2. Not the least factor in the politics of this country is the ivhisky element. That the traffic of whisky con- trols, to a great extent, the politics of this country goes for the saying. That the whisky venders, in- cluding wholesale and retail dealers, are mostly for- eigners none will deny. Moreover, that many of these are Catholics is also true. A coalescing of Home and rum would form a power most formidable to consider. The possibilities of such an alliance are fearful to contemplate. The feasibility of such a union is not impossible, nor do I believe improbable — 8 114 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. yea, it is the most natural thing to expect. Papal ingenuity, cunning, and perfidy is only limited by the illimitable. To-day she will condone; to-morrow, if to her interest, she will condemn. "What she sanc- tions to-day she condemns to-morrow if anything is to her gain. The saloon element is the most fickle, restless, and dangerous class of society. This ele- ment, composed of foreigners, anarchists, Catholics, and the baser sort of Americans, can be manipulated as mercenaries at no great pains and cost. 3. We are not at a loss in taking the consensus of the secular press.. Pick up a secular paper when you will, and you are likely to find a favorable mention of the Catholic Church, or of some priest or prelate. I have just read a paragraph in the Daily Gazette of the 15th of September relative to the opening of the " World's Parliament of Eeligions," and after giving the names of a number of heathens who were there representing their heathen gods — and these names one can scarcely spell or pronounce — then fol- lows this statement: "Just as the bell was tolling ten. Cardinal Gibbons pronounced the invocation." These frequent allusions to and favorable notices of the Catholics are enough to arouse suspicion, if noth- ing more. In the Dallas News of September 22 three mentions are made of the Church work of the Catho- lics, and the Daily Gazette, of Fort Worth, of the same date there are three. These things indicate to us the trend of things in this republic. Gradually we are brought to look upon Catholicism favorably — all apprehensions of dread and fear are passing from the public mind. How appropriate these lines apply to this question: ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 115 "Spen too oft, familiar with her face, We tirst endure, then pity, then embrace." It is a fact that we have become accustomed to Catholicism, and look upon it not as an enemy, but as a friend, as a factor of the commonwealth, not as an integral, assuming the prerogatives of suprem- acy, ecclesiastical, and political. Many of the lib- erty loving of this country appear to have forgotten what Catholicism is, if indeed they have ever known. To know Catholicism is to dread it. Never were Hamilcar and Hannibal more determined in their purpose to avenge the wrongs of Carthage, by vis- iting the sword and death upon pagan Eome, than are the Catholics to-day to subjugate these United States to the dictation of the pope. In all candor I would ask if the press, secular and religious, is favor- able to the' Catholics ? To this interrogation comes back a negative answer. But let us pause and ex- amine the facts in the case. It is a rare thing to read in a secular paper a thing that in the least antagonizes the Catholics; on the contrary, you see much that is favorable to them. Even this man Satolli, an Italian fresh from Italy, a foreigner, whose training, predilections, education, national affinity, and vested power all conspire to make him an enemy to our in- stitutions, is held up and eulogized by the secular press. The Gazette and the Dallas Neivs have never a word of warning to give their readers about the ag- gressions of the Catholics, and how they are threaten- ing the sacred interests of this country. The Voice, the organ of the Prohibition party, observes the same silence. While it does not approve, it does not con- demn. We can account for this in but three ways: 116 EOMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. The political parties which these papers represent are courting Catholic votes, or the fear of the loss of patronage, or the power of money is telling on these papers. Eev. O. M. Owen, in the " School Plot Un- masked," speaking to this question, uses this strong language: ''Many of the dailies and weeklies also are afraid of the Eomish boycott, or are bought up by the immense sum Pius X. left to be used in purchasing the American press, or by some other Eomish funds. What shall we say^ of the so-called Protestant papers that make light of the 'Danger Ahead?' Why do so many Protestants speak lightly of the things that threaten our liberties? It matters not to them that Eome has been riding on a triumph ever since the close of the war. It matters not to them that Eome is Eomanizing our free schools, Eomani- zing the text-books used therein, and in too many of our schools teaching Eoman catechisms on the sly. They care little for the fact that the papacy, which has cursed every land where she has gained su- premacy, is buying up the press and is muzzling the pulpit to the danger ahead; they blind themselves to the fact that Eome has the best-drilled army in the world; that her canon law teaches that to murder heretics is a virtue. When Protestants say there is no danger, they display either their ignorance, cow- ardice, or else their partiality to Eome. We are aware that Eome's adherents number only about 10,000,000 out of 60,000,000 population; but in a struggle for the complete control of the government, a union of Church and State, and the extermination of heretics, how many of the remaining 50,000,000 would side with Eome? How many, for money and EOMANISM VEESUS PROTESTANTISM. 117 political preferment, would go with her? The sa- loons are largely Romanist, and every saloon keeper has a great influence over his customers." Yes, and thousands can be hired to perform the part of merce- naries at a nominal sum. And, strange to say, the reli- gious press has but little to say on this important ques- tion. The Texas Advocate and the Tennessee Methodist have led the van so far as I know. As to the Nash- ville Christian Advocate, not one editorial has been giv- en its readers on the aggression of the Catholics, that I have seen. If this is not a vital question, one upon which there should be no mincing, then I confess that I am totally blind. Mr. Owen continues: "The most dangerous ruffians and criminal classes would be on her side. It would be a conflict not only with the drilled soldiery of the papacy, but with the znob who would, for gold, go with her. If Eome has a right to drill and arm herself, so have Protestants and infidels." The manifest indifference of this Government to all these warlike preparations of Eome — yea, the pandering to her to secure her votes — is alarming in the extreme. When we remember that both the Republican and the Democratic parties have changed the plank in their national platforms on the school question so as not to antagonize the Catholics; and that the Prohibition party did not so express themselves as to bar the Catholic vote; that it is said, before the society known as the " Knights of Labor" was organized that the Constitution and By- laws were sent to the pope for his approval, and when he had suggested certain changes he returned it through his secretary, with the statement that if the emendations were made the Romanists Wvould be al- 118 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. lowed to join it; and that Powderly is a Romanist, and a papal tool; that the leaders and instigators of many of the strikes are Eomanists " — we are amazed; but aft- er all the most surprising thing is President Cleve- land's attitude toward the Catholics. I quote the fol- lowing from the Protestant American, an anti-Catholic paper published at Sjpringfield, Mo. (September 1): ^'Bome, August 17, — The pope to-day gave an audi- ence to Eev. William Bartlett, of Baltimore, Exam- iner of Schools. His Holiness spoke affectionately of President Cleveland, whose letter, forwarded through Cardinal Gibbons to the pox)e, greatly impressed his . Holiness. We presume that most of our readers have seen President Cleveland's letter to the pope. But as there now has ceased to be any doubt as to its genuineness, we append it hereto: Executive Mansion, Washington, Aug. 13, 1893. To His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbonw. Your Eminence: Please permit me to transmit through jou to his Holiness, Leo XIII., my sincere congratulations on the occa- sion of his golden jubilee of his episcopate. Tlie pleasure at- tending this expression of my felicitations is much enhanced by the remembrance that his Holiness has always manifested a hvely interest in the prosperity of the United States and great admiration for our political institutions. I am glad to believe that these sentiments are tlie natural outgrowth of the holy fa- ther's solicitude for the welfare and hap})iness of the masses of humanity, and his especial sympathy for every effort made to dignify simple manhood and to promote the moral and social elevation of those who toil. The kindness with which his Ho- liness accef)ted a copy of the Constitution of the United States leads me to suggest that if it did not seem presumption it would please me exceedingly to place in his hands a book containing the official pax)ers and documents written by me during my previous term of office. Yours very sincerely, Grover Cleveland. ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 119 " It required no little evidence to convince us that the President of the United States, especially under existing circumstances, would be guilty of compro- mising himself and the people of this nation in this way. But such are the facts, and only confirm the more what we have so long said: that the power and influence of Rome in our national government is undermining us as a people, and it is only a matter of a few years when Rome will rule this country." I shall forbear to comment upon this extraordinary departure of President Cleveland. This kind of toadyism is obnoxious to every true Protestant Amer- ican, and deserves the severest rebuke. As for my- self I spurn it with contempt. But, after reading the following, we pause for breath: "Grover Cleve- land, July 11, 1892, at Gray Gables, Mass., said over his own signature : ' I know Cardinal Gibbons, and I know him to be a good citizen and first-rate Ameri- can, and that his kindness of heart and toleration are in striking contrast with the fierce, intolerant, and vicious malignity which disgrace some who claim to be Protestants.'" ("School Plot Unmasked," p. 17.) I am dumfounded at such expressions. Are we already sold into the hands of the Catholics by demagogues and fortune seekers? It begins to look that way. But before I pass from this to the close of {his treatise, allow me to subjoin the following, taken from the '^ School Plot Unmasked" (p. 124): "The Freeman^ s Journal and Catholic Register says: *The Irish flag (N. B.) never floated so proudly as it did on the New York City Hall, St. Patrick's Day, 1893, and an Irish-born Mayor, Thomas F. Gilroy, weariug a bunch of shamrock plucked from the spot iu Meath 120 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. where John Boyle O'Keilly was born, reviewed the largest procession the metropolis has known in years. It was headed by the Sixty-ninth Regiment, Gen. James Cavanangh in command, the same regiment having attended mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral in the morning.' " How does this sound for American liberty? Mr. Owen answers: "Romanism and true liberty cannot live on the same soil together; one or the other must die. The Old World has been trying for years to shake off Jesuitism, while the New World has been giving it a royal birth. Now we are reaping our reward. Shall we resist this despotic power? Shall v/e defend our institutions, the herit- age bequeathed to us by our fathers? Did those noble sires bleed in vain? Shall we leave this record behind us: that we were afraid to stand by our liber- ties?" 4, Call me a pessimist if you will — hut such I am not — / shall not forbear to lift up my voice and pen to arouse my countrymen to the great danger 1 fore^ see, I stand not alone in my view of this question, that sudden ruin is overhanging this government; abler pens than mine are at work to arouse the Prot- estants of this country. Rev. T. A. Boone, in the Soldier of July 15, closes an article on " Romanism Rampant " with these words: "Anti-Christ is in con- trol at the Federal capital, massing his forces for an active, early, and deadly assault upon Protestantism. But some simpleton will answer all these facts and utterances by the cry: ^O, he is a pessimist!' " Rev. O. M. Owen, in his "School Plot Unmasked," quotes Lord Macaulay as having said: "The crucial test for the American republic will come in the early ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 121 part of the twentieth century, and as the Huns swept down on Kome, so will great hordes sweep down on America, and the services of a second Na- poleon will be needed to stay the tide." That time has come. We need our second Napoleon. What have we to oppose all this? This is a vital question upon which hangs the future destiny of this repub- lic. Our greatest danger lies in our apathy. If the people could be made to realize the true situation, and would take immediate steps to prevent the awful impending catastrophe, then there would be no dan- ger. The Catholics are taking advantage of our in- difference, and while we are doing nothing to check and hold in check their advancements, they are daily growing stronger. Their plans are well laid, and are being executed with, all the devotion that has ever characterized them. 5. First of all there should he constant prayer to God to save this country from the rule of Home and rum, for it is the combined forces of the two that ive are to fear. 6. We need some good statesmanship to protect this country from the enemies of morality, religious and civil liberty. This government should adopt a strict immigration policy, that would prohibit any one from coming to this country whose political or reli- gious proclivities and principles are averse to our principles of Government, This of course would cut off all Catholic immigration; for we have seen that they are not in harmony with our government, nei- ther indeed can they be— they are its sworn enemies. But our chief executive will say that this is intoler- ance, that "Brutus is an honorable man." Ah me. 122 BOMANISM VEESUS PKOTESTANTISM. here's the rub! The vested rights of the people, reli- gious and civil liberty being sacrificed for political preferment, and for the lust of gain! It was Catholic oppression that drove the pilgrim fathers to this country. They came that they might exercise the liberties of freemen and enjoy liberty of conscience. Step by step we have advanced to our present attain- ment of liberty. We enjoy it to-day at the. price of self-sacrifice, ardent devotion, and the blood of our fathers. All of the chartered rights and appurte- nances of this liberty are challenged by hordes of Catholics, foreign born as well as American born, and unless there is a speedy estoppel to the aggres- sion and invasion of our sacred domain, the day is at hand when this fair land will be drenched in blood to preserve intact our sacred institutions, more dear to us than life itself. Let it be remembered that *' eter- nal vigilance is the price of liberty." Let the records the past serve us as promonitions of the future. Let us not grow unmindful of the struggles of the past in the European States. Let us not forget the death struggles of the Netherlands, the fate of the unof- fending Moors, the battlefields of England and of Scotland. Let us not forget the bloodletting of France, and the contests of Prussia and Sweden. Remember that Rome has old tricks, which she has been playing against the nations of earth time out of mind. Macaulay, in his " Essays " (p. 356), referring to the strategy of the Jesuits, says: "The game which the Jesuits were playing was no new game. A hundred years ago they had preached up political freedom just as they were now preaching up reli- gious freedom." I have given this quotation to show ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 123 that our foes are experienced ones, and that no op- portunity is lost by them of making an impression in their favor. If need be, they will preach religious lib- erty or personal freedom that something may be gained to them. Remember the exhortation of Mgr. Satolli at their conference on the 5th of September: " Let the Catholics go forward with the Constitution of the United States in one hand and the Christian Book in the other." But this is according to the di- rections laid down in " The Secret Instructions of the Jesuits," chapter iv. 1: "Let the members of our so- ciety direct princes and great men in such a manner that they may seem to have nothing else in view but the promotion of God's glory; . . . for their aim must not immediately, but by degrees and insensibly, be directed toward political and secular dominion." Is it not charity to Mr. Cleveland to allow that he had been inoculated with this sophistry before he was prepared to reflect upon the Protestants of America in deference to his foreign allies. How different his estimate of the Catholics from that of Southey, who is quoted by Macaulay as saying: ''They must persecute if they believe their own creed, for conscience sake; and if they do not be- lieve it, they must persecute for policy; for it is only by intolerance that so corrupt and injurious a system can be upheld." ("Essays," p. 124.) But in the face of history, all stained with the blood of innocent victims slain by this mother of harlots; de- spite their open opposition to our public school sys- tem ; despite their avowed purpose to rule the United States; and in spite of their arrogance, intolerance, and presumption; and in spite of the fact that they 124 ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. are arming and drilling soldiers, President Cleveland would dare to insult the American people by reflect- ing upon Protestants in favor o£ the pope and his esteemed friend, Cardinal Gibbons. 7. No Protestant — m fact^ no American citizen who values liberty, civil or religious — should in anyivise contribute the growth and advancement of the Catho- lies. And yet, in less than a mile from where I am now writing there are Protestant children sitting at the feet of priest-degraded women, learning the rudiments of death. But I am told with a kind of parasitic squint: ^'The convents are Superior schools, with cheaper rates, and no harm can come to my child." The above statement is untrue in every particular. I answer: How can you patronize a thing without encouraging it? Do you not pay your money to the Catholics when you patronize their schools? Then is not your money turned into Catholic chan- nels instead of Protestant channels? Does not that enable them to carry on their work as they could not without such patronage? Then are you not fostering and maintaining Catholicism — the confessional, mass, saint worship, indulgence, and all? Besides, you lend to them your influence when you patronize their schools. Then you endanger your child. The boy or girl brought continually in contact with these, the most dangerous people in this country, will be im- pregnated with their ideas and sentiments. AVhat child is not influenced by the teacher he loves? The time has come for every American citizen who stands for Protestanism to be true to himself, his children, and his country. To do this he cannot have any affiliation with Catholic institutions what- ROMANISM VERSUS PROTESTANTISM. 125 ever. I am not intolerant. I cherish in my heart the spirit of fraternity for all true Christians — my love leaps over denominational boundaries. I extend the right hand of Christian fellowship to all the chil- dren of my Heavenly Father. I would not impede the devotion of the least of his saints in the discharge of Christian duty. But to oppose Catholicism is a duty. It is different from everything else in the uni- verse; it is a hybrid institution, a pseudo religio-po- litico organization, set for the overthrow of all other organizations, both State and Church. The pope in my text is described as the man of sin, anti-Christ, assuming the prerogatives of God himself. This land is the home of the free and the land of the brave, the asylum for the oppressed, the land purchased by our forefathers with their blood, and bequeathed to us to hold as a heritage from God, an heirloom for coming generations. To us is commit- ted this great trust to preserve intact this glorious government, and to hand it down to the coming gen- erations aromatized with love — a great brotherhood of freemen, bound together in the sacred bonds of a glo- rious paternity. The ultimate aim of every Ameri- can citizen should be the ssstlietic beauty of a crys- tallized sentiment that puts God and the Bible in the foreground as the first, as the last, and as the only arbiter between man and man. With this ultimate design all differences can be adjusted, all classes can be controlled for the highest end, the grandest achievements. Then the desert will blossom as the valley, peace shall reign, and God be glorified. K-A / / ^ ^