,0 o OCT X ^. V 5 dogs, and sheep ; upon the clothes of the living and the coffins of the dead. It is supposed to bless every thing that it touches. The ignorant and superstitious are taught to believe that this water purifies the atmosphere, heals diseases) drives away evil thoughts, gives strength to resist temptation, expels Satan and wicked J 13 146 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. spirits from the house, and secures the presence of the Holy Ghost. In Rome, on a certain day, the horses and mules of the city and surrounding country are gayly decorated, and brought before the Church of St. Anthony, to be sprinkled with holy water by the priest. A small sum is paid to the priest for every animal that he sprinkles, and the people are made to believe that, unless their animals are thus sprinkled, they will die during the year, or meet with some accident or great calamity. In order to keep up the delusion, the pope annually sends his horses to be sprin- kled. Now, the common-sense spectator will natu- rally ask, Whence this silly and ridiculous cus- tom ? Where is the doctrine found that a little water sprinkled upon a beast will save his life and protect him from accident? Not in the Bible, certainly — not in the teachings of the primitive Christians. It is simply a heathen custom transferred from paganism to Romanism. Dr. Middleton, in his letter from Rome, says that " this ceremony is so notoriously and di- rectly transmitted to them from paganism, that their own writers make not the least scruple to own it. The Jesuit La Cerda, in his notes on a passage of Virgil where this practice is men- PAGANISM OF POPERY. 147 tioned, says, ' Hence was derived the custom of holy church to provide purifying or holy water at the entrance of their churches.' Aqua- minarium or amula, says the learned Montfau- con, was a vase of holy water, placed by the heathen at the entrance of their temples, to sprinkle themselves with. The same vessel was by the Greeks called perirantefion ; two of which, the one of gold, the other of silver, were given by Crcesus to the temple of Apollo at Delphi ; and the custom of sprinkling them- selves was so necessary a part of all their re- ligious offices, that the method of excommuni- cation seems to have been by prohibiting to offenders the approach and use of the holy water pot. The very composition of this holy water was the same also among the heathen as it is now among the Papists, being nothing more than a mixture of salt with common wa- ter ; and the form of the sprinkling brush, called by the ancients aspersorium or aspergillum, (which is much the same with what the priests now make use of,) may be seen in bass-reliefs or ancient coins, wherever the insignia or em- blems of the pagan priesthood are described, of which it is generally one." The custom of burning candles in the Ro- mish cathedrals and churches is also derived from the pagans. On great occasions, a large 148 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. number of candles or lamps are kept burning. Under the dome of St. Peter's Church, at Rome, one hundred and twelve are perpetually lighted. There is a festival called Candlemas, which is celebrated with great splendor in Rome, and derives its name from the fact that a large number of candles are used in the pro- cession, and are consecrated for the ensuing year. The festival is thus described : " Sitting in the chair of state, the pope is borne on the shoulders of eight men into St. Peter's, attend- ed by huge fans made of ostrich feathers, and by cardinals, bishops, prelates, and priests. When every thing is arranged for the senseless ceremony, candles are brought to him in im- mense numbers. They are incensed, sprinkled with holy water, and blessed. Then they are distributed. Each cardinal approaches, receives a candle, kisses the pope's hand, and retires. Each bishop approaches, receives a candle, kisses the pope's knee, and retires. Each in- ferior functionary on the occasion approaches, receives a candle, kisses the pope's foot, and retires. On a sudden, an immense number of candles are lighted, in the blaze of which the pope is carried round the church, and retires, granting an indulgence of thirty years to all the faithful present. This is Candlemas at Rome ; and if any one wishes an indulgence PAGANISM OF POPERY. 149 for all his sins during life, he has only to attend this festival three times, and he receives indul- gence for ninety years, beyond which he will not probably need it." Now, Herodotus mentions that the Egyptians instituted a great festival called " the lighting up of candles." One of the holy fathers thus condemns this heathen custom : " They light up candles to God, as if he lived in the dark ; but do they not deserve to rank as madmen who offer lamps to the Author and Giver' of light?" But whether the benighted pagans or these so called Christian priests are the greatest madmen, we leave you to judge. By some in the church, the pagan origin of this rite is admitted. Bishop England says that " lights are placed upon the altar from the usage of the most ancient times. It is an Eastern custom to express joy ; for, even in the light of the sun, the torches and candles were lighted to express this feeling ; and as our re- ligion is received from the East, most of our an- cient customs are of Eastern origin." Here is an express admission that the Romanists have copied the pagan mode of expressing joy. The Protestant is contented with the light of the sun and the light of God's truth, with- out resorting to the faint glimmerings of dimly- burning candles. It is enough for him that his 13* 150 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. great Master has said, "I am the light of the world." Under the splendors of that light he hopes to walk in the path of truth, and be con- ducted to the bright mansions in the skies. The burning of incense, so common in Cath- olic churches, is a pagan custom. During the ceremonies of worship, you will see a little boy, dressed in white, swinging a little vessel, from which the incense ascends, and soon fills the house. The priest will indeed tell you that this incense is the emblem of prayer ascending to God; but what auditor is rendered more de- votional by seeing this little boy swinging his censer, and by breathing and smelling the in- cense, which is often very far from being agreea- ble? Who, that desired real and delightful com- munion with God, would not be greatly annoyed by such an absurd practice ? And we would ask. Do we find this custom prevailing in the churches of the early Chris- tians ? Is there any mention made of it in the Gospels or the Epistles of the New Testament? Is it anywhere enjoined or alluded to by Christ ? We can find it nowhere but among the rites of pagan worship ; and here it is found in the same form in which it now prevails in the Ro- mish churches. Boys dressed in white, and with censers in their hands, appeared before the pagan altars, and offered incense to the gods. PAGANISM OF POPERY. 151 In fact, the most thorough pagan might enter a Romish church, and witness a very consider- able portion of the ceremonies and rites of wor- ship, without discovering that he was not in a pagan temple. When the priest, in his discourse, alludes to the virtues of St. Patrick and the Virgin Mary, instead of those of Jupiter^and Venus, the pagan listener might become some- what bewildered, and yet he might reasonably suppose that these were some new gods, of whom he had not before heard. On looking round upon the burning candles, and the altar, and the images, he might assure himself that he was indeed in a pagan temple. The prayers uttered in a tongue unknown to the people would also help the delusion. He might think that the supplication was addressed to Jupiter in Latin, because the priest supposed this god was ac- quainted with only this language. The portions of the discourse that heaped terrible anathemas upon all who did not con- form to the Romish form of worship, might seem to him very tolerable pagan bigotry, and as carrying out the spirit of Nero and Diocle- tian. Indeed, he might retire from the church comforted with a very considerable degree of pagan edification. The two systems correspond, also, in several other particulars. In both, pilgrimages to holy 152 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. places, and the infliction of bodily suffering, are regarded as in the highest degree meritorious. Both make use of gay costume, and a variety of showy dresses, to please the ignorant and deluded populace. Both have their holy wells and rivers, to which the devotees resort for spir- itual benefits. In this country, the Romanists are rather poor in holy wells, but they have an abundance of them in Ireland, which are minutely de- scribed by Christian travellers. There is one in the county Mayo which is dedicated to a fe- male saint, whose festival is held on the 10th of August. " It stands," says one, " in a se- cluded spot, and is surrounded by a very rough wall of stones, upon some of which are cut Popish hieroglyphics in the most primitive style of the art. I found old rags between the stones, in place of mortar; and in lifting up some stones, I found knots of thread under them ; and upon the branches of the little shrubbery by which it was surrounded, there were tied pieces of old cloth. These were left behind as mementoes of their visits by the poor devotees who go there to make their stations ; that is, to go round it upon their knees, praying to the saint of the well for her intercessions." " There is another, nearBallina, in Connaught, on the side of the public highway. It is sur- PAGANISM OF POPERY. 153 rounded with mud, which was so deep on the 15th of July as to prevent me from reaching its brink ; and through that mud all the devo- tees wade in making their stations. After making the required prayers around the well, they cross the road, and pass over a stone wall into a field, in which there is a rock. They walk round this rock praying, dropping, at each circuit, a little stone upon it. When the required circuits are all made, they return ta the well, and gaze into its shallow waters until they see the holy trout, whose appearance is an evidence that their prayers are answered." As the Hindoos, at the present day, gather around their holy founts and rivers, so do these Papists gather around their holy wells ; nor is it easy to decide which class manifest the most ignorance, superstition, and degradation. But I need not multiply evidences upon a point so clear as that of the resemblance be- tween Popery and paganism. It would be far more pleasant to trace the likeness of Popery to Christianity — to exhibit the members of this ancient system as possessing the spirit of Jesus, and as walking in the footsteps of the apostles and primitive disciples ; but we are bound to look at the system as it actually ex- ists, and if we find that it is little else than a baptized paganism, we are bound to deal with 154 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. it as such. We are under obligations to en- lighten, and to do all in our power to save, those who are blinded and held in bondage by this superstition. We would not denounce this class of our citizens. We would not harbor a prejudice against them. In making an ex- position of their principles, we are conscious of no other motive than a desire to promote the highest good of our Catholic population. But when this system of Romanism is presented to us, not only as a Christian system, but as the only pure and divinely authorized religion, and when efforts are made to break down our insti- tutions, that upon their ruins may be built the faith of Rome, we are bound to resist it. As Christians, as philanthropists, as patriots, we are under solemn obligations to do all in our power to expose the true character of this system, and warn the people against its pernicious influence. VII. PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. "AND I HEARD ANOTHER VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING, COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE, THAT YE BE NOT PARTAKERS OF HER SINS, AND THAT YE RECEIVE NOT OF HER PLAGUES. FOR HER SINS HAVE REACHED UNTO HEAVEN, AND GOD HATH REMEMBERED HER INIQUITIES." — Rev. XViii. 4,5. We enter now upon a dark and melancholy chapter in the history of the Romish apostasy. The shadows fall thick and fast around us as we leave the light of a pure gospel, and enter those regions black with the crimes of the Pa- pal church ; and bearing the marks of cruelties and atrocities, the mere recital of which sends a shudder through the whole frame. Of all the contrasts ever exhibited on the earth, that presented by the principles of Christianity on the one hand, and the persecutions of Rome on the other, is the greatest. Place side by side Jesus Christ and a Romish inquisitor, and you have the very extremes of benevolence and cru- elty, of holiness and iniquity, of heavenly mer- cy and fiendish barbarity. The one is all ten- (155) 156 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. derness and compassion, the other thirsts for the blood of the saints. The one is clothed with humility, his countenance radiant with celestial virtues ; the other is a monster in hu- man form, who delights in the tortures and ag- onies of his victims. The persecutions which have afflicted the Christian church may be assigned to three dis- tinct periods — the first extending from the time of our Savior to the reign of Constantine ; the second, from Constantine to the reformation un- der Luther ; and the third, from Luther to the present time. In the first ages of the church, although the disciples of our Lord were exposed to every species of insult and cruelty that their enemies could devise, yet they never manifested, in the slightest degree, the spirit of persecution. In imitation of their divine Master, when they were reviled, they reviled not again ; when they suffered, they threatened not. For curses they returned blessings ; and they prayed for those who despitefully used them and persecuted them. The early fathers imitated Christ and his apostles in this particular. Origen took the ground that Christians should not use the sword. Lactan- tius remarked that coercion and injury are un- necessary, for religion cannot be forced ; " nor can truth be joined with violence, or justice with cruelty. Keligion is to be defended, not by kill- PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 157 ing, but by dying ; not by inhumanity, but by patience." The same sentiments were advanced by Tertullian, Cyprian, Chrysostom, Augustine, and others. The Emperor Constantine, during the first part of his reign, manifested a liberal spirit towards those who differed from him, and respected the rights of conscience throughout the Roman empire. The imperial edict of Milan was the great charter of toleration, which secured the rights of religious liberty to all. But subsequently the mind of the emperor was poisoned, by the advice of bigoted and intoler- ant priests, and ere long the bright prospects of the church, faded away before the dark spirit of persecution. Heresy was soon regarded as one of the greatest crimes, and as requiring the in- terference of the secular power for its suppres- sion. At first, the penalty for heresy was ban- ishment, or the confiscation of the heretic's goods, or depriving him of the privileges of a citizen. Capital punishment was seldom in- flicted. This state of things continued till about the beginning of the ninth century, when a great change in connection with the eastern schism came over the church. The Latin and Greek churches were rent asunder, and for three hundred years various punishments were inflicted for heresy. " This period," says one, " was distinguished by superstition, ignorance, 14 158 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. revolution, and confusion. Egyptian darkness reigned, and triumphed over learning and mo- rality. The world sunk into a literary lethargy, and in the language of some historians, slept the sleep of orthodoxy. Learning, philosophy, and religion reposed in inactivity, or fled from the view amidst the wide and debasing dominion of ignorance, immorality, and superstition, which superseded the use of the inquisitor and crusader." With the revival of learning in the twelfth century, there appeared various denominations that were opposed to the bigotry, intoler- ance, and superstition of the Romish church. Among these, the most prominent were the Waldenses and Albigenses. These sects could not endure the usurpation of the Papacy, the luxury and corruption of the priesthood, the traffic in indulgences, and the fearful wars that had so long desolated the Christian world. They saw how utterly inconsistent these things were with the spirit and principles of the gos- pel, and how they tended to the destruction of all vital piety and true devotion. But this hostility soon produced a reaction, and aroused among the adherents of the Papa- cy a spirit of enmity towards the friends of true religion, that raged with intense fury. Popes, kings, councils, and the crusaders united PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 159 their forces to crush and exterminate these for- midable adversaries. Frederic, the Emperor of Germany, and Louis, King of France, were particularly zealous in enacting persecuting laws, heaping upon these faithful Christians the most opprobrious and insulting epithets, and seeking their destruction. Under the pre- tence of acting with divine authority, they con- demned these heretics to the flames, confiscated their property, and doomed their posterity to infamy. They required all- under their com- mand to use their utmost endeavors to extermi- nate heresy from their dominions. The popes united with these persecuting kings, and even vied with them in relentless cruelty. Urban II. in the year 1090, decided that if a zealous Romanist killed one of the excommunicated, he was not guilty of murder. Lucius III. hurled the most terrible anathemas against the Waldenses, and consigned over to the severest punishment any who should favor or protect those who rebelled against the Papal authority. Innocent IV. decreed that those who did not adopt the dogmas and supersti- tious rites of the church, should be burned alive. He even commanded that the house that sheltered an Albigensian should be demol- ished. To those crusaders who should make war upon this noble band of disciples, prom- 160 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. ises were made of a full pardon for sin, and the rewards of heaven. The provincial and national councils also added their zeal and decrees to swell the storm of persecution, and sweep from the earth those who could not be forced to bow to the man of sin. The most bloody were those that met at Toledo, Oxford, Avignon, Albi, and Tolosa. More than thirty Waldenses, who had immigrat- ed to England, were condemned by the Coun- cil of Oxford in 1160, and consigned over for punishment to the secular powers. Henry II. ordered that they should be publicly whipped, branded on the cheek with a red-hot iron, and driven half naked out of the city; while all persons were positively forbidden to afford them the least hospitality or consolation. Even the dictates of a common humanity were to be suppressed in reference to them. Consequent- ly, the winter being severe, they perished with hunger and cold. The Councils of Tours, Albi, Beziers, and To- losa issued various enactments of extermina- tion against the Albigenses and Waldenses. On the Sabbath, and on festival occasions, these devoted Christians were excommunicated, and in order to make a deep impression upon the minds of the people, the bells were tolled and the lights extinguished. All persons were PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 161 forbidden to trade with them, or to show them any sympathy or favor. Barons and magis- trates were required, under the penalty of for- feiting their estates, to exterminate from their dominions these foes of the Papacy. Each council surpassed those that preceded it in the severity and cruelty of its enactments. The fourth General Council of the Lateran, in 1245, thundered its anathemas against heretics of every class, and their protectors. It required that all kings and princes should prosecute the work of extermination with the most relentless vigor. Those who neglected this work, or showed any mercy, were liable to be excom- municated, and to have their subjects absolved from allegiance to them. The defenders of the Papacy have endeavored to ward off this charge of persecution by say- ing that the whole responsibility rested with the secular powers. But in these councils the laity never voted. The decrees are the work of the clergy alone. And it is a fact abundant- ly sustained by history, that princes and emper- ors were stimulated to the exercise of cruelty by the councils and the popes. They were threatened with the ruin of both their temporal and eternal interests, if they refused to obey. Among the numerous instances that we might cite, our limits will only allow us to k 14* 162 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. refer to the intense sufferings and heroic forti- tude of the Waldenses through so many ages, as affording melancholy evidence of the perse- cuting spirit of Romanism. This interesting people, as you well know, occupy the valleys of Piedmont, on the verge of Italy, and at the foot of the Alps. These valleys, lying im- bosomed in ranges of mountains that rise in solemn grandeur one above another, are sur- passingly wild and beautiful. The scenery presents, in striking contrast, the verdure and mildness of spring, and huge masses of ice, and mountains perpetually covered with snow. Many of the passes to these valleys are strong- ly fortified, not by forts and battlements erected by human hands, but by towering rocks, dense forests, and dangerous precipices. " It appears," says one, " as if the all-wise Creator had from the beginning designed that place as a cabinet wherein to put some inestimable jewel, or in which to reserve many thousand souls who should not bow the knee to Baal." In this secluded and beautiful spot, this peo- ple for ages have worshipped the God of their fathers, and protected their institutions and their faith against the repeated assaults of their adversaries. At times they have had to flee and seek shelter in Provence, in Dauphiny, and in the obscure recesses of the Pyrenees. Their PERSECUTING SPIRIT OP ROMANISM. 163 heresy consisted in rejecting the superstitions of Romanism, the doctrines of Papal infalli- bility, transubstantiation, purgatory, and indul- gences, and in clinging to the truths of the Holy Scriptures, and believing that salvation is to be alone obtained through the sufferings and mediation of Jesus Christ. With regard to their origin, a careful writer, the Rev. Dr. Baird, in his excellent History of the Waldenses, makes the following state- ments : " It is well known that centuries before the reformation by Luther, Zwingle, and Cal- vin, there was a considerable body of Chris- tians inhabiting the valleys which lie in the Alps, about midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Lake Leman, who did not symbolize with Rome. Through the region which they inhabited lay the great road by which the Ro- mans passed from Cisalpine to Transalpine Gaul. And it is natural to suppose that the early Christian missionaries, who carried the truth into the latter, passed through this country, and preached the blessed gospel to its inhabitants. It is even possible that the voice of Paul was heard in those deep valleys ; for if he ever made that journey into Spain, which he tells the breth- ren at Rome, in his epistle to the church of that city, that he purposed to make, he must have passed, it is believed, by that same way. How- 164 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. ever that may have been, it is certain that there was a great body of Christians in the north of Italy, even down to the eleventh cen- tury, who nobly maintained the truth, and did not bow their necks to Rome." Indeed, the Waldenses themselves date back their history to the earliest periods of the Chris- tian church. They entertain the opinion that the gospel was preached to their forefathers by missionaries from Rome and other cities of Italy, or that it was introduced by the early Christians, who escaped the persecutions of the Roman emperors, and fled from the plains be- low to these mountain retreats. Probably in both of these ways the truth was introduced. In a petition that was presented by the Wal- denses, in 1559, to Philibert Emanuel, Duke of Savoy and Prince of Piedmont, the following language is used : " We likewise beseech your royal highness to consider, that this religion which we profess is not only ours, nor hath it been invented by men of late years, as is false- ly reported, but it was the religion of our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, and other yet more ancient predecessors of ours, and of the blessed martyrs, confessors, prophets, and apostles ; and if any can prove the contrary, we are ready to subscribe and yield thereunto." Their historians also main- PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 165 tain that they have enjoyed Christian privileges and liberty of conscience from time immemorial. Nor were these claims called in question by any of the dukes of Savoy or their ministers. One distinguished Protestant writer remarks, concerning them, " As for the Waldenses, give me leave to call them the very seed of the primitive and pure Christian church, being* those who have been so upheld by the wonder- ful providence of God, that neither those num- berless storms and tempests whereby the whole Christian world hath been shaken, nor those horrible persecutions which have been so di- rectly raised against them, have been able to prevail upon them to yield a voluntary submis- sion to Roman tyranny and idolatry." It would be impossible, within the limits of a single discourse, to specify all the instances of severe persecution which this noble people have suffered. Up to about the beginning of the twelfth century, the "Waldenses were com- paratively unmolested in their mountain re- treats. The popes did not succeed in subduing the bishops in the north of Italy until the eleventh century, and had not time to look after these poor disciples of Christ who inhab- ited the valleys of the Alps. The success, how- ever, of Peter Waldo, the rich merchant of Lyons, in his reformatory measures, and in his 166 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. zealous labors to promote the interests of vital religion, excited the spirit of persecution which was first directed towards the Waldenses, who were in the western valleys, in Dauphiny and Provence. Peter Waldo, after his conversion, consecrated his wealth to the service of the Savior, and went from place to place preaching 'the truths of a pure and living faith. He had the Bible translated into the language of the people, and distributed a large number of cop- ies. His labors were blessed by the outpour- ing of the Spirit of God, and the conversion of many souls. Indeed, this missionary spirit was a promi- nent characteristic of the Waldenses from the earliest periods. During the dark ages, when the clouds of superstition, ignorance, and error hung over the nations of Europe, these faithful men sent forth their missionaries, who went, two by two, on foot, to their brethren scattered over France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Italy. Their meetings w T ere held in private houses, where the ordinances were administered, dea- cons ordained, and the faithful encouraged to endure their trials and persecution as good sol- diers of the cross. With the most noble self- denial, with a zeal equal to that of the apostles, with a holy ardor and devotion to Christ that no waters could quench or floods drown, they PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 167 strove to fulfil that last great command, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Besides these ministers, there were humble and pious pedlers, who travelled from village to village with their jewels and wares, for the ex- press purpose of distributing religious tracts and making known the glad tidings of salva- tion to the poor and destitute. After exhibiting some of their articles, if they were asked wheth- er they had others of more value, they would produce a religious book, or the word of God, and manifest more anxiety to have these treas- ures received than to effect a sale of their mer- chandise. Even the bitter enemies of the Waldenses bear witness to the excellence and purity of their characters. " These heretics," writes an inquisitor, " are known by their manners and conversation ; for they are orderly and modest in their behavior and deportment ; they avoid all appearance of pride in their dress ; they are chaste, temperate, and sober ; they seek not to amass riches ; they abstain from anger ; and even while at work, are either learning or teaching." A Romish prelate says of them, " Their heresy excepted, they generally live a purer life than other Christians. In their mor- als and lives they are perfect, irreprehensible, without reproach among men." 168 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. But such a people and such an organization were dangerous to the power of the pope, and to the doctrines and rites of the Papal system. Hence, by the highest authorities in the Romish church, they were denounced, excommunicated, and the work of persecuting them was com- menced. The Dukes of Savoy were enlisted in the bloody enterprise. At first, individuals were seized and cast into prison. Those who came down from the valleys to the plains on business, or for any purpose, were arrested and treated with cruelty. Inquisitors traversed the valleys and the recesses of the mountains, and arrested those whose religious fervor rendered them specially obnoxious to the Papal hie- rarchy. But these skirmishes soon resulted in open war. The dukes were required by the pope's legates to furnish the armies for the extermina- tion of this dangerous people. " The first notable onset," says one, " was made on Christmas, A. D. 1400, when an armed force of Roman Catholics from Susa invad- ed the valley of Pragela, then occupied wholly by the Waldenses, and fell unexpectedly upon the peaceable inhabitants. Many were slain on the spot. All that could fled to the Alber- gean, a high mountain which separates the val- ley of Pragela from that of St. Martin. Among PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM^ 169 the wretched beings who were seen clambering up the mountain side amid the deep snow, were mothers carrying their infant children in cradles on their backs, and leading those of greater age, who were able to walk. But when arrived at the summit, exhausted with fatigue, and having no means of creating a fire to re- lieve themselves from the piercing cold, most of them became quite benumbed during the night ; and when the morning came, it found not fewer than eighty infants dead in their cra- dles, and their mothers stretched by their side in a dying state ! This was among the first of Rome's efforts to convert these poor people by force to her faith." In the year 1487,* the regular crusades against the Waldenses commenced. An army of twenty-four thousand men was organized, and the country was attacked at different points at the same time. A large force was sent, against the valley of Angrogna, where many of the inhabitants were assembled. But the enemy were repulsed with great loss ; and the other expeditions were unsuccessful in subduing this brave people. Another crusade was made against them by Charles, Duke of Savoy, at the instigation of * See Dr. Baird's History of the Waldenses, pp. 343, 356. 15 170 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. the Archbishop of Turin and the inquisitors. This was entered upon and prosecuted with great barbarity. Many of the Waldenses were indiscriminately murdered, and others were thrown into prison, and into the dungeons of the Inquisition, where they were left to perish. Some were burned alive, and not a few suffered martyrdom with a heroism worthy of universal admiration. In 1560, another army was sent against this unoffending people. They humbly petitioned that they might remain unmolested; but their petition was disregarded. They were guilty of the crime of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own consciences. They would not believe in the mass, in purgatory, or in the infallibility of the pope. They would not pray to the saints, nor worship images, nor put con- fidence in the sham miracles of the Romish church. They were resolved to live according to the requirements of a pure gospel, to follow Christ through evil and through good report, to do right whatever might be the consequences. Hence they were dangerous men to the Papacy, and must be hunted down and shot like wild beasts. In the appalling circumstances in which they were again placed, they appointed a day of fasting and prayer. They then placed their PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 171 wives and children, the sick and aged, in the most secure recesses of the mountains, and went forth to meet the enemy. Again was the invading army repulsed, although the soldiers fought with desperation. Gradually, however, the territory of this brave and heroic people became more and more re- stricted. Their relentless foes pressed upon them from every quarter ; their villages were pillaged, their best citizens were seized and hurried away to prison, and every right and principle of humanity and justice was trampled in the dust. But in the year 1655, a most ter- rible storm of persecution burst upon this de- voted people. The emissaries of the pope hav- ing become enraged at their want of success in subduing these heretics, resolved that they would make a powerful effort to crush and de- stroy them. Accordingly an army was raised consisting of fifteen thousand Piedmontese, several regiments of French soldiers, a German corps, and twelve hundred Irishmen. This for- midable force entered the valleys, commanded by the Marquis of Pianessa. At a signal which was agreed upon, the soldiers rushed upon the "Waldenses, and scenes of cruelty fol- lowed too barbarous and horrible to be even recited. Dr. Baird sums up the wicked and bloody deeds in the following language : 172 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. " Houses and churches were- burned to the ground ; infants were remorselessly torn from their mothers, and dashed against the walls or the rocks, or had their brains dashed out against each other. The sick were either burned alive, cut in pieces, or thrown down the precipices. Mothers and daughters were violated in each other's presence, impaled, and either carried naked as ensigns upon pikes at the head of the regiments, or left upon poles by the roadside. Others had their arms and breasts cut off. Men, after being indecently and barbarously mutilat- ed, were cut up limb by limb, and had gunpow- der thrust into their mouths, and then were blown up. Some, both men and women, were buried alive ; some were dragged by the hair on the ground at the tail of a mule. Numbers were cast into a burning furnace. Young women fled from their pursuers, and leaped down precipices, and were killed, rather than submit to their brutal violence. That these things occurred, we have in proof the deposi» tions of more than one hundred and fifty wit- nesses, taken in the presence of notaries public, and of the consistories of the different localities." These awful barbarities produced an instan- taneous and immense sensation throughout Protestant Europe. Remonstrances came in from every quarter, and contributions were PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 173 made for the sufferers in England, Holland, Switzerland, and other Protestant countries. An envoy sent by Cromwell closed an address that he made to the Duke of Savoy, in the fol- lowing bold and earnest language : " In the mean time the angels are seized with horror ! Men are amazed ! Heaven itself is astonished with the cries of dying men ! The earth blush- es, being discolored with the blood of so many innocent persons. Do not thou, O most high God ! do not thou take that revenge which is due to such aggravated wickedness and horrible villany ? Let thy blood, O Christ, wash away the stain of this blood." Although large col- lections were taken up and sent to the relief of the sufferers who survived the carnage, yet mul- titudes continued to be in great distress for the want of the necessaries of life. Morland, in his work relative to the Waldenses, says, " To this very day they labor under heavy burdens, which are laid on their shoulders by those rigid taskmasters of the church of Rome. To this very day do the enemies of the truth plough and make furrows upon their backs, by robbing them of their goods and estates ; by banishing their ministers who were the shepherds of the flock, that the wolves may the better come in and devour them ; by ravishing their young women and maidens ; by murdering many in- 15* 174 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. nocent souls ; by cruel mockings and revilings ; by continued menaces of another massacre. What shall I say ? Those very valleys which they inhabit are no other than a prison or dun- geon, to which the port at La Tour serves as a door. To all this I must add. that, notwith- standing those large supplies which have been sent them from England and other foreign states, yet so great is the number of hungry creatures, and so grievous the oppressions of their Popish enemies, who lie in wait to bereave them of whatsoever is given them, and snatch at every morsel of meat that goes into their mouths, that verily they are ready to eat their flesh for the want of bread. The tongue of the suckling cleaves to the roof of its mouth ; and the young children ask bread, and no man gives it to them. The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets. Their miseries are more sad and grievous than words can ex- press. They are in a manner dying, whilst they yet live ; no grapes in their vineyards ; no cattle in their fields ; no herds in their stalls ; no corn in their garners; no meal in their bar- rel ; no oil in their cruse." But as though the cup of this people was not full, they were again smitten, in 1663, with the scourge of war, which lasted fourteen months. Although wasted, and torn, and bleed- PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 175 ing, from past conflicts, yet they were forced again to arouse themselves to the defence of their altars, their habitations, and their lives. As in past conflicts, the movements of the en- emy were marked with treachery, cruelty, and the most high-handed atrocities; while the Waldenses maintained their heroic fortitude and devotion to the religion of their fathers. It is difficult for us, protected as we are in all our rights and privileges, to realize the alarming excitement and terror in which this people con- stantly lived. Scarcely did they recover from the stunning effects of one war, before another, more terrible and bloody, burst upon them. Scarcely were their tears, over the fall of near friends, wiped away, before they were called to weep over other victims of the fury of their en- emies. Even during the seasons when the storms of war abated, they lived in constant fear of their enemies. If they cultivated their fields, they knew not but that they would be trampled beneath the feet of their persecutors. If they built houses, in all probability they would only be fuel for the incendiary. If they erected churches, they might soon be demol- ished. If they reared and educated their chil- dren, they might reach manhood only to be pierced through with the sword, or to linger out a miserable existence in the dungeon of an 176 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. Inquisition. They were literally strangers and pilgrims on the earth ; they had here no abiding city. Yet, through all their trials and agonies, we find them maintaining their faith, and trust- ing in their glorious Redeemer. They seek a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. They know that there remain- eth a rest for the people of God. Noble men ! Heroic Christians! Kings and princes, not of this earth, — for no thrones here are worthy of them, — but kings and princes unto God! mon- archs upon the thrones of an everlasting king- dom ! They have gone hence to join, the noble army of martyrs, the general assembly and church of the first born. To-day they swell the multitude of worshippers who bow before the Lamb, and sing the glories of redeeming, love. They have left their mountain home for the heights of the spiritualJerusalem, where no din of war or groans of the dying can reach their ears ; where no mansions are invaded, no temple falls, but where the broad shield of an almighty King is thrown over them. But the sufferings of this people ended not with the war of 1663. The storm of persecu- tion had lulled only to break out with still greater fury. After twenty years of oppression, the most horrible of the thirty-three wars, which they had endured on account of their religion, burst upon PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 177 them. Louis XIV., having crushed Protestant- ism in France, called upon the Duke of Savoy to imitate his example in reference to the Wal- denses. The duke at first declined the request ; but Louis threatened that, if he did not exter- minate the Waldenses, he would send his ar- mies against them, and annex the valleys to his own dominions. The duke became alarmed, and issued an edict calling upon the inhabit- ants to abandon their religion, break up their churches, send away their pastors, allow their children to be educated by Roman Catholics, and, in short, become Papists. But the com- mand being disobeyed, the forces were sent against them, and in the first two battles were repulsed with serious loss. On the third day, from some unaccountable cause, the Waldenses laid down their arms, and fourteen thousand of them were taken prisoners, and crowded into miserable dungeons. In a few months eleven thousand died from cold, hunger, and various privations. Two thousand children were car- ried away to be educated by Popish teachers. The valleys, and all the property of the unfor- tunate people, were given up to the Roman Catholics. Three thousand, who survived, were allowed to retire to the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, where they were kindly received by their brethren. 178 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. But we may be asked, Does not the spirit of persecution belong to the past ages of the Romish church, rather than to these modern times ? To this question I would reply by re- ferring to the recent treatment of the Madiai family by the Popish authorities, to the spirit manifested towards Protestants in France and Ireland, and to the language used in the Roman Catholic journals of America, in regard to the right of the Papal church to exterminate heresy. The truth is, that the persecution of opponents is an element inherent in the very system of Romanism. Their journals in this country have repeatedly avowed that no faith is to be kept with heretics, and that, had they the power to destroy religious liberty and Protestantism in America, they would instantly exert that power. One of their papers at the west does not hesitate to say "that the temporal punish- ment of heresy is a mere question of expediency ; that Protestants do not persecute us here, sim- ply because they have not the power ; and that where we abstain from persecuting them, they are well aware that it is merely because we can- not do so, or think that, by doing so, we should injure the cause that we wish to serve." A most daring outrage has recently taken place in Ireland, which is thus described in one of the religious papers in this city : — ■ PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 179 " A party of Protestants from Enniskillen, eight hundred in number, had chartered a rail- way train for an excursion to Derry ; but on their return, they encountered some heavy stones, which had been placed on the track, near an embankment, where it was expected that the cars would be thrown off, with the de- struction of an incalculable amount of life. One of the stones weighed over one thousand pounds, and must have required twenty men to have placed it there. The train was drawn by two engines, both of which were thrown off the track, and one engineer was killed; but, as the fastening of the trains to the engines was bro- ken, the cars were not thrown off, and no per- son in them was injured. Lord Enniskillen was on the engine, but he jumped off, and es- caped with some bruises. Several arrests of persons suspected of the crime have been made. The religion which could have prompted such an act must be the religion of the devil. It is evident that the catastrophe was expected by the editors of some of the Romish papers. A correspondent of one of them writes as follows, just previous to the occurrence : — " 'On to-morrow, (Friday,) there will be a great gathering of the Orangemen of the counties of Tyrone, Fermanagh, and Londonderry, or the city of Derry. The Londonderry and Enniskil- 180 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. len Raihvay has proved useful to the Orangemen in this part of Ulster to hold processions. How the gathering of to-morrow may come off, Heav- en alone can tell. The probabilities are, we shall have a similar scene as that which has taken place at Newtownlimavady. Should any thing happen in Derry to-morrow, I will send it to you in time for your Saturday's edition. The great danger to be apprehended from the government refusing to take vigorous steps to suppress these proceedings, is the revival of the old Ribbon system.' " After the accident, which providentially de- feated the intention of wholesale murder, (only two being killed, and one of these a Romanist engineer,) the people gathered about; but no one offered the least assistance, and some re- fused to bring water, or even a door on which to carry the wounded, after taking pay for doing it. It providentially happened, that the train was passing slowly at the time of the accident, and so kept from being thrown off the track. This resulted from one of the engines not being in working order, of which fact the engineer could give no account. " But one of the most remarkable things about it is, that some of the Romish papers in Ireland openly justify the outrage. To the Mercury belongs this consummation of infamy. PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF ROMANISM. 181 That paper doubts whether the attempt was so much to be reprehended, when the positions of the two parties are considered! That is, the deliberate murder of Protestants is not to be deprecated ! " If Rome has improved in regard to its perse- cuting spirit, we should be glad to be furnished with the evidence. 16 VIII. THE INQUISITION. "Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my SOUL, COME NOT THOU INTO THEIR SECRET; UNTO THEIR ASSEMBLY, MINE HONOR, BE NOT THOU UNITED."— Oen. xlix. 5,6. The most palpable contradiction of ideas that is conceivable to the human mind is ex- pressed in the phrase "the holy Inquisition." With as much propriety might one speak to us of a holy hell, or the immaculate purity of devils, as to talk about a holy Inquisition. Papal writers have been distinguished for their skill and daring in the perversion of language, but in this expression they reach the very highest point of perversion. They cannot go beyond this, themselves. " A holy prostitute," " a holy murderer," " the holy Judas Iscariot," these expressions are feeble compared with " the holy Inquisition." Bring together all the crimes in the catalogue of human wickedness, — fuse into one mass, treachery, hypocrisy, fraud, cruelty, and the greatest atrocities and vallanies of which this (182) THE INQUISITION. 183 earth has ever been the theatre, — and you may obtain a conception of the horrors of the Romish Inquisition. No one, with the least degree of sensibility, can read the history of this institu- tion without having his soul filled with the keenest indignation, and without feeling that even fallen human nature is disgraced by its atrocities. The founder of the Inquisition was one Dominic, although some historians are inclined to think that the benevolent idea was first suggested to the mind of Pope Innocent III. Either of these worthies might receive the honor without any violence being done to their dispositions and characters. Dominic was eminently qualified, by nature and experience, for his work. He was a man who rose above every feeling of compassion or pity, and who seems never to have had the slightest conception of what is called human- ity. His cruelty was of that cold, intense, im- pregnable sort, upon which no amount of suffer- ing or anguish could make any impression. His highest happiness consisted in witnessing the tortures, and listening to the groans of his victims. If he could have before him a heretic bleeding at every vein, with dislocated joints, and torn nerves, and lacerated limbs, he was in paradise. He completed his preparation for 184 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. the office of inquisitor, during the bloody wars that raged againgt the Albigenses. In the hottest of the battle, he might have been seen, with a crucifix in his hand, at the head of the soldiers, urging them on t to the slaughter of the Christians. He used the emblem of the Prince of Peace, as the means of firing the souls of men with the fiercest passions, and stimulating the barbarities of war. If there were any tendencies in his nature towards mercy, they were under such complete discipline that they never manifested them- selves. They were crushed in their incipient stages, if they ever existed, so that the man could prosecute his fiendish work with energies untrammelled by scruples of conscience, and with a vigor that was not weakened by a re- morse that would have affected ordinary minds. As a reward for his valuable services, this mis- creant was canonized, and is to this day wor- shipped as a saint in the Romish church. The Roman breviary praises " his merits and doc- trines, which enlightened the church ; his in- genuity and virtue, which overthrew the To- losan heretics ; and his many miracles, which extended even to the raising of the dead." His own letters and preaching bear witness to his atrocious cruelty. After receiving his appointment as inquisitor, he preached a ser- THE INQUISITION. 185 mon in the church of St. Prullian, before a vast crowd, in which he declared that " he was re- solved to defend with his utmost vigor the doc- trines of the faith, and that, if the spiritual and ecclesiastical arms were not sufficient for this end, he was determined to call in the secular arm, to excite and compel the Catholic princes to take arms against heretics, that the very mention of them might be utterly destroyed." Some of the princes and bishops, shrinking from this bloody work, Dominic, in order par- ticularly to exterminate the innocent Albi- genses, formed an order called the Militia of Christ, which was approved of by the pope, and protected by the Emperor Frederic II. Pope Innocent III. not living to complete the organization of the Inquisition, the work was prosecuted with great vigor by his successors, Honorius III. and Gregory IX. The latter, in the year 1229, called a council at Toulouse, which, among other enactments, ordained that appointed persons, lay and clerical, should search for heretics, and that no territorial lord should harbor any suspected person. At the same time it was required that all the inhab- itants of each district should be registered, and that every person arriving at a certain age, should take an oath of adhesion to the Catho- lic faith, and of renunciation of heresy. 16* 186 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. The tribunal of the Inquisition was first es- tablished at Toulouse, in 1233. Gradually in- creasing in power and cruelty, the institution was afterwards introduced into Spain, Portu- gal, and other Papal countries. The managers of these inquisitorial courts were selected chief- ly from the Dominicans and Franciscans, as these orders of monks were the most zealous advocates of Popish doctrines, and were well qualified, by their low origin and brutal nature, for their bloody work. From the pope they re- ceived unlimited powers to excommunicate or condemn to death any persons whom they sus- pected of heresy. They could also engage in crusades against heretics, and unite with sover- eigns in making war upon any who were ob- noxious to the Papal authorities. In 1244, Frederic II. greatly aided them by publishing two very cruel edicts. First, that all heretics who continued obstinate should be burned, and, second, that all heretics who re- pented should be imprisoned for life. Those persons were accounted guilty of her- esy who uttered or wrote any thing against the doctrines, traditions, or rites of the Romish church, or who spoke a word against the In- quisition. Also, if any one read a book that had been condemned by the Inquisition, or neglected mass, or allowed a year to pass with- THE INQUISITION. 187 out going to confession, or read the Holy Scrip- tures in the language of the common people, or listened to a sermon from a Waldensian, or any other heretic, or prayed with a heretic, or aided one in escaping from the horrors of the Inquisition, or refused to obey the commands that issued from these tribunals — he was pro- nounced guilty of heresy. Indeed, all Roman Catholics were com- manded to inform against their nearest and dearest friends, if they were but suspected of entertaining heretical opinions, under the pen- alty, if they refused, of excommunication. Should one, under an impulse of humanity, extend the least comfort or consolation to a suffering disciple of Jesus, whose conscience would not allow him to adopt the superstitions of the Romish church, he would at once be seized and punished by these merciless inquis- itors. Situated as we are, it is impossible for us to realize the intense solicitude and emotions of terror that must pervade a community in the midst of which is planted this infernal tribunal. Under its tyrannical sway, parents are re- quired to stifle all their natural affections and tender regard for their children, and become their accusers, if they discover in them any symptoms of a vital faith, or a disposition to 188 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. study and obey the word of God. Children must forget the reverence, gratitude, and love due to their parents, and, under the severest penalties, act as spies over their conduct, and report to these tormentors the least deviation from the despotic rules of the Papacy, and the slightest remark that indicated disrespect towards the Papal church, or disapproval of the horrors of the Inquisition. No one is permitted to visit his dearest relative or friend, who has been cast into one of its horrid dungeons. Though he may be convinced of the perfect innocence of that friend — though he may be prompted to afford him aid and comfort by the dictates of humanity and religion, as well as feelings of personal friendship — though he may know that in the arrest of his friend the prin- ciples of justice have been grossly outraged — yet it is at the peril of his own life that he ex- tends the least sympathy to the unfortunate victim. In the organization of this institution, the inquisitor general was at the head of the su- preme council, which exercised authority over all the inferior courts. His powers were im- mensely great. He appointed the inferior in- quisitors, who bore the title of most reverend, and were equal in rank to the bishops. In large districts, there were vicars, or commis- ■* THE INQUISITION. 189 sioners, who aided the general in his infamous work. The officer who brought the charges against the accused was called the promoter fiscal, who swore that he was not influenced by malice. Those who acted as secretaries of the tribunal were called notaries. It was their duty, not only to keep a record of the transac- tions of the court, but also to preserve an ac- count of the most minute circumstances in the trial, such as the appearance of the criminal, his readiness or hesitation in answering ques- tions, the changes in his countenance, manner, voice, &c. There were also treasurers, who took care of the property that was confiscated, and held it subject to the directions of the tribunal. It was common for persons to be seized and mur- dered, simply to gain possession of their prop- erty ; so that wealth was as dangerous an ele- ment as heresy. Such a tribunal, possessed of unlimited pow- ers, accountable only to the pontiff, who would wink at the most palpable wrongs in order to preserve its influence, prosecuting its nefarious work in secret, and managed by the vilest set of wretches that ever disgraced the world by their presence, must necessarily be an engine of terrible force and boundless cruelty. And we are free to say that we search the history 190 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. of the world in vain, to find an institution that can at all compare with this, for atrocity and merciless barbarity. Of all the tribunals that have ever raised their hideous forms upon pa- gan, Mahometan, or Christian soil, this is the most frightful and stupendous. Here malevo- lence and misanthropy have rioted without control. Here the most fiendish disposition has been satiated, by tortures and agonies the most intense ever endured by human beings. The ministers of this tribunal usually issued forth in the dead of night to execute their bar- barous purposes. Approaching the house of the alleged criminal, and knocking at the door, they made known, in a few words, their deadly mission. " The thunderbolt launched from the black and angry cloud," says one, " strikes not with such alarm as the sound of, Deliver your- self up a prisoner to the Inquisition! Aston- ished and trembling, the unwary citizen hears the dismal voice ; a thousand different affec- tions at once seize upon his panic-struck frame, and he remains perplexed and motionless. His life in danger — his deserted wife and orphan children — eternal infamy the only patrimony that now awaits his bereft family — are all ideas which rush upon his mind. He is at once agi- tated by an agony of dilemma and despair. The burning tear scarcely glistens on his livid THE INQUISITION. 191 cheek ; the accents of woe die on his lips ; and amidst the alarm and desolation of his family, and the confusion and pity of his neighbors, he is borne away to dungeons whose damp and bare walls can alone witness the anguish of his mind." Here, cut off from all intercourse with his friends ; without society or books ; without even a knowledge of the crime for which he has been arrested ; with no compan- ions but his own sad thoughts, and the dread of the tortures that are before him, he must linger on from day to day, and week to week, awaiting the issue of the terrible calamity that has befallen him. We do not wonder that many, under the influence of this protracted anguish, have had their spirits broken ; and that others, not governed by Christian princi- ple, or sustained by Christian fortitude, have terminated their sufferings by suicide. A learned Spaniard, who, in the reign of Charles V., was imprisoned under the suspicion of fa- voring Lutheranism, exclaimed, " O, my God ! were there no Scythians, or cannibals, or pagans still more savage, that thou hast permitted me to fall into the hands of these baptized fiends ? " After lingering in his gloomy and filthy dun- geon, which the persecutors never allowed to be cleaned, he died, under circumstances too painful to be narrated. Another learned and 192 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. devoted Christian, who was immured in the prison of Seville, often said that his condition was more dreadful than any kind of torture that he could be called to endure. When the poor victim was brought before the tribunal, he was subjected to a series of questions that required him to review nearly- all the events of his life. He was obliged to state his parentage, the names of his relatives, and whether any of them had ever been arrested by the inquisitors. He was asked what he supposed was the cause of his arrest, and was required to give an account of his opinions and thoughts, as well as of his actions. Sometimes the questions were put in tones of persuasion and apparent sympathy, in order to elicit a full and frank confession. If this failed, other modes were resorted to, which violated every principle of right or justice. Take, for instance, the following passage from the Directory of Nicholas Eymeric, who was inquisitor general of Arragon in 1536, and whose work was sanc- tioned by Gregory XIII. : — " When the prisoner has been impeached of the crime of heresy, but not convicted, and he obstinately persists in his denial, let the inquis- itor take the proceedings into his hands, or any other file of papers, and looking them over in his presence, let him feign to have discovered THE INQUISITION. 193 the offence fully established therein, and that he is desirous he should at once make his con- fession. The inquisitor shall then say to the prisoner, as if in astonishment, ' And is it pos- sible that you should still deny what I have here before my own eyes ? ' He shall then seem as if he read ; and to the end that the prisoner may know no better, he shall fold down the leaf, and, after reading some moments longer, he shall say to him, £ It is just as I have said ; why, therefore, do you deny it, when you see I know the whole matter ? ' When the- inquisitor has an opportunity, he shall manage so as to introduce to the conversation of the prisoner some one of his accomplices, or any other converted heretic, who shall feign that he still persists in his heresy, telling him that he had abjured for the sole purpose of escaping punishment by deceiving the inquisitors. Hav- ing thus gained his confidence, he shall go into his cell some day after dinner, and keeping up- the conversation till night, shall remain with him, under pretext of its being too late for him to return home. He shall then urge the prisoner to tell him all the particulars of his life, having first told him the whole of his own ; and, in the mean time, spies shall be kept at the dOor r as well as a notary, in order to certify what may be said within." m 17 194 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. In cases where the charge was of a grave or important character, if these means failed of extracting a confession, the torture was applied. The victim was taken to a room under ground, which no ray of light from the sun ever reached. Here, around a table, were seated the inquisitor, inspector, and secretary. In a corner of the room stood the executioner, clothed in black, and presenting a hideous and frightful appear- ance. While the prisoner was supposed to be terrified by the preparations that were being made for his torture, he was again urged to confess the whole truth. If he persisted in as- serting his innocence, however well grounded might be his declarations, he was given over to the executioner. After being stripped, without regard to sex or decency, the prisoner was clothed in a tight linen garment, leaving the arms bare. The procelses of the torture are thus described by an able and truthful writer : * — " The first process was that of the pulley. * The most reliable sources of information, in regard to the Inquisition are Limborch's Inquisition. Puigblanch's work, and the History of the Inquisition of Spain by Don Juan Antonio Llorente, formerly Secretary of the Inquisition, Chancellor of the University of Toledo, &c. For this and other extracts, I am indebted to a work issued by the London Tract Society, entitled " The Inquisition in Spain and other countries." THE INQUISITION. 195 By this the prisoner was hoisted to the roof of the hall, his hands bound behind him, and at- tached to the rope which elevated him, whilst a heavy weight, sometimes of a hundred pounds, was fastened to his feet. The simple elevation of a human body six or seven feet from the ground was dislocating ; but this torture could be severely increased. Sometimes, whilst in this position, stripes were applied to his back ; and sometimes, the rope being suddenly relaxed, the weight descended in an instant towards the ground, which, however, the body was not al- lowed to touch ; and by this violent jerk the limbs were disjointed with the most excruciat- ing agony. In the mean time, the secretary was precise in recording the whole process — the weights which were attached to the body, as well as how often, and during what length of time the culprit was suspended. " The next principal torture was that' of the rack. The victim was extended upon a wooden frame, having transverse portions, like a ladder, or sometimes only one cross piece, upon which his back might uneasily rest, with his feet usu- ally higher than his head. Small cords were then affixed to the fleshy parts of his body, namely, to the upper and lower arm, and to the thigh and calf of the leg, which, being tight- ened by the application of a bar, used after 196 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. the manner of a tourniquet, buried themselves in the soft and yielding integuments, cutting to the bone. A still more terrible torture be- longed to this ' wooden horse,' as it was some- times called. A thin wetted cloth was thrown over the mouth and nostrils of the sufferer, through which he could scarcely breathe ; then a stream of water, sometimes amounting to seven pints, was poured down his throat, pro- ducing the sensation of drowning or suffoca- tion. (During this time, the notary kept a min- ute of the whole process, down even to the quantity of water which was administered.) When this cloth, which had during this time penetrated considerably into the victim's body, was removed, it was usually covered with blood, and its withdrawal was a renewal of the agony of the previous process. " The third principal torture was that of the fire. The feet of the prisoner, already satu- rated with tallow or oil, were placed in a kind of stocks, and exposed to the heat of lighted charcoal — a process of roasting alive. This torture was, however, mainly confined to Italy, and was especially adapted to persons who were deformed, and to whom other modes of torture were not so easily applicable. "When his agony had reached its crisis, a moment's intermission was given by the interposition of a board ; the THE INQUISITION. 197 prisoner was then exhorted to confess ; but if he would not, or could not, the roasting went on. Heathenism might have exulted in so bar- barous a cruelty. " But though these were the principal tortures, the Inquisition could boast of many others. Sometimes a considerable amount of water was allowed to trickle, drop by drop, upon the cul- prit. Sometimes the body was enveloped in a linen garment, which was drawn as tight as possible, so as almost to squeeze the sufferer to death ; then, being suddenly relaxed, it produced by the change the severest anguish. Sometimes small cords were bound around the thumbs so tightly that the blood poured out from beneath the nails. Sometimes the body, placed against the wall, and adequately supported, was tightly compressed by small cords affixed to the wall ; then, the bench beneath the sufferer being re- moved, the body was left to hang by these cords alone. The reader can best conceive the suf- lering. Sometimes a small ladder, the trans- verse parts of which were made of sharpened wood, was placed against the shins of the vic- tim, and was then violently struck with a ham- mer. The torture of this infliction was incred- ible. Sometimes ropes were placed about the wrists of the accused, and were then drawn tight by being passed over the back of the torturer, 17* 198 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. who leaned forward with all his might till the flesh was severed. The last tortures were in- flicted on Orobio, a Spanish Jew, who related the facts to Limborch. " One of the Italian tortures consisted of two cubes of iron, concave on one side, which were bound forcibly on the heel, then screwed into the flesh. Another, called the canes, was com- posed of a hard piece of wood, placed between each finger ; the hand was then bound, and the fingers forced together. Nor need we omit an agonizing torture — the placing of a foot — sometimes a woman's foot — in a heated slipper. But Llorente relates a torment, ob- served in Madrid, in the year 1820, which per- haps surpasses all. We give it in his own words : — " ' The condemned is fastened in a groove, upon a table, on his back ; suspended above him is a pendulum, the edge of which is sharp, and it is so constructed as to become longer with every movement. The wretch sees this implement of destruction swinging to and fro above him, and every moment the keen edge approaching nearer and nearer; at length it cuts the skin of his nose, and gradually acts on until life is extinct.' " Does any perceptible vestige of the religion of love linger in such observances ? THE INQUISITION. 199 " On the subject of the torture Llorente says, — " { I shall not describe the different modes of torture employed by the Inquisition, as it has been already done by many historians. I shall only say that none of them can be accused of exaggeration. I have read many processes which have struck and pierced me with horror, and I could regard the inquisitors who had recourse to these methods in no other light than that of cold-blooded barbarians. Suffice it to add, that the council of the "supreme" has often been obliged to forbid the repetition of the torture in the same process ; but the in- quisitors, by an abominable sophism, have found means to render this prohibition almost useless, by giving the name of suspension to that cessation from torture which is imperiously demanded by the imminent danger to which the victim is exposed of dying in their hands.' " But some Romanists, while they admit that these atrocious cruelties have been practised, yet contend that they belong to a past age, and that the present generation are not responsible for them. Were such the fact, we would read- ily allow that the force of the argument, as bearing upon the present Papal church, would be greatly weakened. But it is not a fact. The Inquisition has been sustained whenever and 200 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. wherever the Papacy has dared to open its dun- geons, as we shall prove before we are through. Indeed, it has been in these modern times openly advocated by Popish writers. It is sus- pended, but not annihilated. Where is the de- cree or law from any pope or council, declaring the institution abolished? We can find de- crees enough that favor it, but none from any Popish ecclesiastical authority denouncing it. Among the fruits of this terrible tribunal, we cannot overlook the auto da fe, or act of faith, as the scene is called. When several of the victims of the Inquisition were to be executed, a day was fixed upon, usually the Sabbath, when it was publicly announced that there would be presented a view of the last judg- ment. In this horrible scene, we have exhib- ited every phase of wickedness and villany, the most heartless cruelty, combined with hypoc- risy, a mockery of mercy, and the most as- tounding blasphemy. When the inquisitors had prepared their vic- tims, they sent word to the magistrates that on the appointed day they would deliver the prisoners into their hands for execution. The magistrates, however reluctant to perform such a service, did not dare to refuse, as they would be themselves excommunicated, and exposed to the wrath of the ecclesiastical tormentors. In THE INQUISITION. 201 order to secure a large and approving audience, an indulgence of forty days was granted to those persons who should be present. That public order might be preserved, proclamation was made that during the day no person should carry firearms, or drive any vehicle through the streets. The prisoners were dressed in robes bearing various devices, which indicated the supposed degree of, their guilt. From the numerous accounts given of this barbarous ceremony, I would select the follow- ing description of the auto da ft which took place in Madrid, in 1680, at which Charles II. and his queen were present: — " At seven o'clock in the morning, the great bell of the cathedral began to toll, and the pro- cession moved forward. The way was cleared by soldiers of the holy tribunal. Next came surpliced priests, among whom the Dominican monks were honored with precedence, and bore the banner of the Inquisition, which in Spain is a green cross on a black ground. A hundred and twenty prisoners followed, some in person and others in effigy borne on tall poles, the least guilty having the honor of precedence. Of these victims, forty-eight were men, seventy- two were women — an appalling but significant distribution. The effigies were sometimes ac- companied by boxes containing the bones of 202 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. deceased heretics. Last in the procession of prisoners came twenty-one condemned to die, the greater part of whom were gagged lest they should utter words which might be dangerous to the ears of spectators. These victims, wear- ing the coroza and sanbenito, were each at- tended by two friars, torturing the miserable sufferer to the last by useless and rejected over- tures. The procession was wound up by the local magistracy, the officers of state, the chief bailiffs of the Madrid Inquisition, the familiars of the holy office, on horses superbly attired, the ecclesiastical ministers, the fiscal proctor of the tribunal of Toledo, bearing the standard of the faith, &c, and, last of all, the inquisitor general, ' seated on a superb bay horse, with purple saddle and housings, ornamented with ribbons and fringe of the same color, and at- tended by twelve servants in livery.' * * * Olmo tells us that 'this procession was per- formed in perfect silence.' " A stage had been erected in the large square, of temporary materials, and in the fol- lowing manner : At the back of the stage were three rows of galleries rising one above another, covered with drapery. " When the royal party had taken their seats, the prisoners were paraded before them. An oath was then administered to the king, that THE INQUISITION. 203 he 'Would defend the Catholic faith, ' which our holy mother the apostolic church of Rome holds and believes ; and that he would perse- cute, and command to be persecuted, all here- tics and apostates opposed to the same ; that he would give, and command to be given, to the holy office of the Inquisition, and also to the ministers thereof, all aid and protection, in order that heretics, disturbers of our Christian religion, might be seized and punished con- formably to the laws and holy canons, without any omission on the part of his majesty,' &c. " Mass was then said, and the oath was ad- ministered to the mayor of Madrid and to the people present; after which a sermon was preached by a Dominican qualifier. * * * " The sermon being ended, the trials and sen- tences were read, which occupied the multitude till four in the afternoon. Those who were condemned to die were, if ecclesiastics, stripped of their robes with great solemnity. The vic- tims were then delivered over to the magis- trates, with the hypocritical request as to each one, ' that they would treat him with much commiseration, and not break a bone of his body, or shed his blood.' But as the judge had been already made acquainted with the number of prisoners to be delivered over to him, every preparation had been made for this 204 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. consummation. The place of execution was an area suitably fitted up for the occasion, being a stone platform of sixty feet square, and seven feet in height. Some of those who were con- demned to be burned, anticipating the orders of the executioners, cast themselves into the fire. The rest were soon made to follow. The bodies of those on whom the sentence of stran- gulation before death had been carried out, were then thrown into the flames, together with the effigies or bones of such as had not fallen into the hands of their merciless tormentors." It seems to us, in this age of light and hu- manity, scarcely credible that such barbarous scenes could be enacted in any age of the world, and especially that they could be de- manded in the name of religion. Yet we find them sustained by the whole authority of the Papacy, and accompanied by a show of re- ligious fervor that we wonder does not draw down the vengeance of an insulted Deity. The pretence, that because the secular officers exe- cute the victims, therefore the members of the Romish church are guiltless, is the most stu- pendous piece of mockery that was ever ex- hibited on the face of the earth. But these awful scenes are not without some redeeming features. In the fortitude, patience, and faith of the heroic sufferers, we are furnished THE INQUISITION. 205 with new evidences of the energy and life-giving power of the doctrines of the gospel. We are taught that that system of religion must in- deed be from God, that can carry believers through such various and intense trials — that , can sustain them amid such manifestations of hypocrisy and insolence, as well as cruelty, and enable them, while the consuming flames are around them, to sing the praises of their Maker, to rejoice in God, and joy in the God of their salvation. Did our limits allow, we would speak of the individual instances of noble Christian heroism that lie scattered along the track of this in- fernal tribunal. But we hasten to notice the establishment of the Inquisition in Spain, which took place under the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Here new, and even more rigid prin- ciples were introduced into the institution. Llorente mentions them in his " History of the Inquisition," among which are the follow- ing:— The sixth article ordained that part of the penance of a reconciled heretic should consist in being deprived of all honorable employ- ments, and of the use of gold, silver, pearls, silks, and fine wool. The eleventh article decreed that a penitent who demanded absolution might receive it, but 18 206 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. at the same time he must be condemned to per- petual imprisonment. By the nineteenth article, if an accused man did not appear when he was summoned, he was denounced as a heretic. The other ar- ticles are equally atrocious. The persecutions in Spain raged with great violence against the Jews, who had acquired wealth and influence. They were charged with various crimes, of which they were never guilty ; and so great was the excitement against them, that the inquisitors declared that they must be banished from Spain, in order to save the Christian religion. Being greatly alarmed, they offered to the sovereigns thirty thousand pieces of silver, and promised to be obedient and faithful citizens. "These propositions," says one, "were con- veyed to Ferdinand and Isabella by Abarbanel, once a farmer of the royal revenue, who, hav- ing been allowed to reach the royal presence, in the Alhambra, kneeling at the royal feet, besought the sovereigns to recall the sentence which they had just pronounced, namely, that, after the next 31st of July, every person harbor- ing a Jew should incur the forfeiture of all his property, and be deprived of any office he might hold ; and that, during the interval, any Jew might sell his estates, subject to the con- THE INQUISITION. 207 dition that they were not to remove gold, sil- ver, money, or other prohibited articles. The entreaty was abject, the temptation great, when Torquemada burst into the apartment, and drawing forth a crucifix, held it up as he cried out, ' Judas sold his master for thirty pieces of silver; your highnesses would sell him anew for thirty thousand : behold him ! take him and sell him with all the haste you can ! ' He threw the crucifix on the table, and left the apartment. Abashed and confounded, the royal couple retraced their steps. Torquemada had gained the victory, and the edict was signed March 20, 1492. " Nothing could exceed the consternation of the Jews on the issuing of this proclamation. The time was too short,' the state of the market (now presenting advantageous offers on every hand) too unfavorable to allow of any fair measure of compensation for the property they were compelled to sacrifice. ' A house was exchanged for an ass; a vineyard for a small quantity of cloth or linen.' But in vain did Torquemada urge them to receive baptism. A few only listened to his exhortations. The rest, to the number of eight hundred thousand, quitted Spain ; some of them, in evasion of the edict, carrying their money concealed in their 208 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. saddles, or in their garments, whilst not a few of them swallowed their gold. " When the day named in the edict arrived, all the principal roads witnessed a melancholy spectacle in the crowds of sad and desolate exiles by which they were thronged. Men, women, children, on horses, or asses, or carts, thronged the highways, attended by a great multitude who performed the journey on foot. Few knew the direction which they ought to take. Their misery was aggravated, not re- lieved, by the songs and music with which their rabbis exhorted them to triumph over the calamities of the occasion. Vessels had been partially provided at the principal ports ; but the insufficient means of transport mocked their hopes. They were assailed on their road by multitudes of plunderers and debauchees, who, in some cases, even tore open their bodies in search of gold. Of those who reached their provided vessels many were sold into slavery, and many thrown into the sea. Pestilence in- vaded some of the over-crowded vessels ; ship- wreck and famine did their work on many more. Some, who managed to reach Ercilla, a Christian settlement in Africa, proceeded to Fez, to be plundered by robbers, and then re- turned to Ercilla, where their calamities induced THE INQUISITION. 209 them to accept an unwelcome baptism. Others, journeying towards Italy, took refuge in Naples, bringing with them a pestilential disorder, which spread among the inhabitants, and carried off twenty thousand in one year. Others again, with better success, made their way into Portu- gal, through which they were allowed a passage at the rate of a cruzade a head; while they were allowed, if they settled, to ply their skill as artisans in that kingdom." But we cannot follow out the history of this terrible tribunal in Spain. We see that it has left its blight upon all her institutions, and proved a curse from which the nation cannot for ages recover. It has darkened every hope, blighted every prospect, and spread in every direction despair, ruin, and death. The terrible enginery of the Inquisition was introduced by Spain into her South American colonies. It was established at Lima, and pro- duced there the same fearful results that were experienced elsewhere. Until quite recently persons might be seen bearing the marks of its tortures. " A Spaniard," says Tschude, "whose limbs were frightfully distorted, told me, in reply to my inquiries, that he had fallen into a machine which had thus mangled him. A few days before his death, however, he confided to me n 18* 210 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. that in his twenty-fourth year he had been brought before the tribunal of the holy Inquisi- tion, and that, by the most horrible tortures, he had been compelled to confess a crime of which he was not guilty. I still shudder, when I remember his crushed and twisted limbs, at the thought of the agonies which the unhappy wretch must have endured. " On one occasion its power met with an unexpected check. The viceroy, Castel Fuerte, was denounced to it by his confessor as a here- tic. He was summoned, accordingly, before the holy office, always eager to show its author- ity, even over the highest. He went, entered the hall of judgment, took out his watch, and said, ' Sefiores, I am ready to discuss this affair, but for one hour only ; if I am not back by that time, my officers have orders to level this build- ing with the ground.' And, indeed, at that very time his body guard, a company of in- fantry, with two pieces of artillery, had taken their station before the building. The inquisi- tors, aghast at this information, consulted to- gether dvJring a brief colloquy ; then, with offi- cious eagerness, complimented Castel Fuerte out of their establishment." In Portugal, the machinery of the Inquisi- tion was worked with appalling power, and with the most fatal results. Llorente, in speak- THE INQUISITION. 211 ing of the cruelty of Cardinal Tabera, who was the sixth inquisitor general in Portugal, says, — " The number of victims, calculated as it was for the time of Maurique, affords, for the seven years of Cardinal Tabera's ministry, seven thou- sand seven hundred and twenty individuals con- demned and punished ; eight hundred and forty were burned in prison ; four hundred and twenty in effigy ; the rest, in number five thousand four hundred and sixty, were subjected to different penances. I firmly believe that the number was much more considerable ; but, faithful to my system of impartiality, I have stated the most moderate calculation." After a revolution which shattered the iron framework of tyranny in the nation, the office of the Inquisition in Lisbon was abolished, and the prisons were thrown open for public inspec- tion. . They are thus graphically described : — " On the 8th of October, 1821, the palace of the holy office was opened to the people. The number which crowded to see it for the first four days rendered it extremely difficult, and even dangerous, to attempt an entrance. The edifice is extensive, and has the form of an oblong square, with a garden in the centre. It is three stories high, and has several vaulted galleries, along which are situated a number of dungeons of six, seven, eight, and nine feet 212 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. square. Those on the ground floor and on the first story, having no windows, are deprived of both air and light when the door is shut. The dungeons of the next story have a kind of breathing hole, in the form of a chimney, through which the sky may be seen. Those apartments were allotted to prisoners who, it was supposed, might be set at liberty. In the vaulted wall of each dungeon there is a hole of about an inch in diameter, which communi- cates with a secret corridor running along by each tier of dungeons. By this means the agents of the Inquisition could at any moment observe the conduct of the prisoners without being seen by them; and, when two persons were confined in the same dungeon, could hear their conversation. In these corridors were seats, so placed that a spy could observe what was passing in two dungeons by merely turn- ing his eyes from right to left, in order to look into either of the holes between which he might be stationed. Human skulls and other bones have been found in several of the dungeons. On the walls of these frightful holes are carved the names of some of the unfortunate victims buried in them, accompanied with lines, or notches, indicating the number of days of their captivity. One name had beside it the date 4 1809.' The doors of certain dungeons, which THE INQUISITION. 213 had not been used for some years, still remained shut, but the people forced them open. In nearly all of them human bones were found ; and among these melancholy remains, in a dungeon, were fragments of the garments and the girdle of a monk. In some of these dun- geons the chimney-shaped air hole was walled up, which is a certain sign of the murder of the prisoner. In such cases the unfortunate victim was compelled to go into the air hole, the lower extremity of which was immediately closed by masonry. Quicklime was afterwards thrown on him, which extinguished life and destroyed the body. In several of these dens of misery mattresses were found, some old, others almost new — a circumstance which proves, whatever may be said to the contrary, that the Inquisition in these latter times was something more than a scarecrow. The ground on which the palace of the Inquisition stands was covered with private houses before 1775 ; whence it is plain that the victims who have suffered here must all have been sacrificed within less than sixty years. Besides the dungeons which the people visited, there are subterraneous vaults which have not yet been opened." The modern Inquisition in Italy shows us how slightly the persecuting spirit of Roman- 214 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. ism has been affected by the light and progress of civilization. In the year 1825, under Pope Leo XII., the work of the inquisitors was re- commenced with new vigor. The prisons were somewhat improved in regard to air and light, but the spirit which caused the erection of them was as dark, cruel, and hateful as ever. From that period until the late revolution in Italy, scenes of horror transpired within the building, the details of which are known only to their infamous authors. In 1849, the Constituent Assembly deter- mined that the tribunal should be abolished, and the building appropriated to some military purpose. The prisons at that time contained but two persons, a bishop and a nun, the for- mer having been imprisoned there for twenty years. On examining the vaults, a great num- ber of human bones were found, mixed up with lime, and in a state of decay. Portions of human hair and of female dresses were also found, indicating acts of villany that one shud- ders to contemplate. Between the splendid apartment of the inquisitor and the hall of trial there was a deep opening, at the bottom of which human remains were found, and which evidently was once covered with a trap door. As the victims passed from the hall, their feet would touch the treacherous floor, and, while THE INQUISITION. 215 perhaps receiving words of sympathy and prom- ises of pardon, they would sink into the cav- ern, never again to see the light of day. As to the question whether the Inquisition exists at the present day, we have no means of forming a decided opinion. We are inclined, however, to believe that, should another revolu- tion take place in Italy, and the pope be again compelled to flee, there would be revelations of cruelty and suffering among the thousands of Italian patriots now in the prisons of the Papal States that would startle the civilized world. If, at the present time, a person who applies for a permit to visit a brother or a son in prison is liable to be himself banished from the country, can we suppose that there is any great lenity shown to the prisoner ? If there are thousands of patriots to-day suffering, in gloomy and filthy dungeons, all the horrors that the vic- tims of the Inquisition endured, what means have they of making known their agony to the world? What newspaper or telegraph can communicate to us the information ? And should the details be made known, how can friends afford relief while French and Swiss bayonets guard the despotism of Rome ? The truth is, that the spirit of deadly perse- cution is inherent in Romanism. It is one of its vital forces. It can only be destroyed 216 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. by the destruction of the system that it ani- mates. It is indeed a melancholy task to thus trace the career of this church by its tracks of blood, to gaze upon its unparalleled barbarities, to listen to the groans of its victims, to watch the course of that fiendish spirit that has so often put the torch to the fagots around the Christian martyr, and filled the earth with lamentation and tears. Our great wonder is, that religion itself has not been annihilated, and the earth shrouded in the darkness of universal scepti- cism. But we are met with the declaration that some Protestants have in times past employed the weapons of persecution. That they have been influenced by the spirit of the period in which they lived we are ready to allow. The dominant power of the Papal church, during those dark ages which acknowledged her almost boundless sway, lay too crushingly upon the universal conscience to allow it completely and at once to free itself. How nobly Protestant Christianity has struggled against the bigotry and intolerance which seemed for a time the inheritance of the whole human family, — how slowly but surely the liberty wherewith Christ doth make his children free has disinthralled the fettered conscience, the shackled soul, — we THE INQUISITION. 217 are willing for history to testify. Unlike our opponents, we have never claimed infallibility for our leaders. The stamp of human frailty and of their age was upon them ; although we believe they were generally in advance of their times, and their aspirations and their influence were for the future's good. We speak now of the acknowledged spiritual leaders ; not of such men as Henry VIIL, who used religion as a mere political engine, and who, while ab- juring Popery, still retained the Popish element of despotism, the Popish union of church and state, which has wrought such deadly harm to vital piety in the British dominions. The church of God seeks to free herself from the virus of the beast with which she has been inoculated ; and in proportion as she succeeds will her purity and vitality be made apparent. While Romanism prides itself upon its im- movability, its conservatism, progress is an inte- gral part of Protestantism ; and its onward march, however slow, is steady and direct. We have faith in the poetic utterance, — " Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again ; The eternal years of God are hers ; " and nowhere are her triumphs so freely invited as in this our beloved land. We feel strong here in our position, our 19 218 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. numerical strength, our ancestry, wealth, and power. But we have an insidious and mighty enemy to work against; and, while we would show that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual, we would guard against every encroachment upon our civil and reli- gious institutions. And among the means to be used for our protection, we would insist upon having the public establishments of the Roman Catholics open to the inspection of the community, just as Protestant institutions are. We would have a law passed requiring the foreman of the grand jury, or some other officer, to visit, at stated periods, the nunneries, con- vents, and all institutions of a similar charac- ter. Our own safety and the safety of our children demand such a measure. Here are young ladies of Protestant parentage enticed, under the plea of superior religious advantages, to enter these nunneries, from which they can never afterwards make their escape. They take the veil, which is literally a veil that is to hide from the public gaze every insult or act of vil- lany to which they are subject, and every suf- fering that they are called to endure. That these institutions are kept secret, and barred with iron against the public inspection for any good purpose, the past history of Romanism will not allow us to admit for a single moment. THE INQUISITION. 219 If they are the depositories of such eminent piety as the priests contend, why should the world lose the advantage of its salutary influ- ence ? If they are prisons in which the hopes and happiness of the young and confiding are buried, and in which deeds are performed that the American people would not tolerate within the limits of the republic, then the facts ought to be known. I sincerely hope that such a law will be passed, and that the Massachusetts legislature will be the first to set the example. IX. THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. "These words, which I command thee this day, shall be IN THY HEART ; AND THOU SHALT TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY UNTO THY CHILDREN, AND SHALT TALK OF THEM WHEN THOU SITTEST IN THY HOUSE, AND WHEN THOU WALKEST BY THE WAY, AND WHEN THOU LIEST DOWN, AND WHEN THOU RISEST UP."— Deut. VI. 6, 7. " The entrance of thy words giveth light ; it giveth understanding to the simple." — ps. cx1x. 130. The recent systematic and powerful efforts that have been made by Roman Catholics to divide the public school fund, and banish the Bible from our free schools, have aroused the American community to a sense of their just rights, and to the dangers which threaten our invaluable system of education. The hostility which has been and continues to be manifested, though aimed professedly against sectarianism, yet really exists against all education, that en- lightens and purifies the masses of the people. The cry which is raised about the Bible in pub- lic schools, about the rights of the Catholic population in regard to the school funds, is (220) THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 221 really the clamor of the Romish priesthood against the mental and moral light that is pouring forth from our schools, and threatening the existence of their system, that "loves dark- ness rather than light;" that can thrive only where ignorance, superstition, and bigotry pre- vail. Indeed, their journals speak out the sen- timents of Romanism upon this point as well as upon the Bible question. Listen to the fol- lowing from a Catholic journal that was pub- lished in St. Louis, Missouri : — " We think that the ' masses ' were never less happy, less respectable, and less respected, than they have been since the reformation, and par- ticularly within the last fifty or one hundred years — since Lord Brougham caught the ma- nia of teaching them to read, and communicat- ed the disease to a large proportion of the Eng- lish nation, of which, in spite of all our talk, we are too often the servile imitators. " We do not believe that the masses are one whit more happy, more respectable, or better in- formed, for knowing how to read. We unhes- itatingly declare that we regard the invention of printing as the reverse of a blessing, and our modern ideas of education as essentially erro- neous." — Shepherd of the Valley, Oct. 22, 1852. The Freeman's Journal, the organ of Arch- bishop Hughes, in New York, says,— 19* 222 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. " The withdrawal of Catholic children every ivhere from the godless schools should be the first step : it is lamentable that it has not long ago been taken. Next we must set to work, patiently, calmly, resolutely, perseveringly, to break off from our necks the yoke of state des- potism, put upon them by Jacobins in the shape of the school system in this and other states." The Catholic editor of the Chicago Tablet, in a lecture delivered at Joliet, Illinois, expressed the following opinion of common schools : — " The common schools of America are foun- tains of prostitution and crime, and all manner of indecencies and immoralities is practised in them : I know it to be so, because I was ed- ucated the first twenty years of my life in them." Here we have the sentiment which underlies the whole movement, that takes the different forms of hostility to the Bible, or a clamor about conscientious scruples or the rights of the Romanists to a portion of the school fund. The war is in fact waged against education as an enlightener of the public mind. But leaving the other questions, we are ready to meet the Romanists upon the simple issue of the right of the American people to retain the Bible in our public schools. And in the first place I would remark, that these schools were established by our forefathers THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 223 for the express purpose of giving to the young a religious, as well as a secular education. They recognized the principle that the Bible, being the word of God, should be taught to all man- kind. They regarded its principles and doc- trines as designed for the human mind, as clearly as that the light of heaven is designed for the eye, or the air which we breathe for the lungs. Accordingly, more than two centuries ago, the colony of Massachusetts Bay made provision by law for the establishment of schools based upon the religious element. The law was as follows: "It being one chief ob- ject of Satan to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times, keeping them in unknown tongues, so in these latter times, by persuading them from the use of tongues, that so at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be olouded and corrupted with false glosses of deceivers ; there- fore, to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeav- ors, it is ordered by this court, that, in every township containing fifty householders or more, one should forthwith be appointed to teach such children as should resort to him to read and write ; and that, in any township contain- ing one hundred householders, they should set 224 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. up a grammar school, to fit youth for the uni- versity." Such was the law passed by the early colo- nists, and it was, I believe, the first ever passed by any Christian state, conferring the benefits of education upon every citizen. And you will observe that it was expressly designed to pre- serve and to disseminate throughout the com- munity a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. In the laws subsequently passed in this State of Massachusetts, we find not only a recognition of the religious element in education, but it is set forth as a matter of primary importance. Our school laws contain the following enact- ment directly bearing upon this point : — * " It shall be the duty of the president, profess- ors, and tutors of the university at Cambridge, and of the several colleges, and of all precep- tors and teachers of academies, and all other instructors of youth, to exert their best endeav- ors to impress upon the minds of children and youth committed to their care and instruction, the principles of piety, justice, and a sacred re- gard to truth, love to their country, &c. * * * And it shall be the duty of such instructors to * As quoted by Dr. G. B. Cheever in his able and convincing work on " The Bible in our Public Schools ; " a work to which I am happy to acknowledge my indebtedness for several of the quo- tations and views presented in this and the following lecture. THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 225 endeavor to lead their pupils into a clear under- standing of the tendency of the above-men- tioned virtues, to preserve and perfect a repub- lican constitution, and secure the blessings of liberty, as well as to promote their future hap- piness." The same principles, substantially, entered into the laws which were passed in Connecti- cut, in regard to education, as early as the year 1656. It was enjoined upon all the officers of government to see to it that every child and ap- prentice " attain at least so much as to be able to read the Scriptures, and other good and prof- itable printed books in the English tongue ; and in some competent measure to understand the main grounds and principles of the Christian religion." And so thoroughly was this system carried out, that for a century and a half it was verv rare to find a native of that state who could not read the English language. In New York, also, and other states that adopted the free school system, the earliest ef- forts were characterized by an earnest desire to- promote, by means of education, the interests of morality and religion. General Clinton, inj recommending the establishment of common schools, said, " The advantage to morals, reli- gion, liberty, and good government, arising from the general diffusion of knowledge, being uni- 226 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. versally admitted, permit me to recommend this subject to your deliberate attention." But it is unnecessary for me to multiply wit- nesses on this point. It is clear from the his- tory of the free school system of America, that it had its origin in the desire to maintain the truths of the Bible in the hearts of all the peo- ple. The Bible, in fact, is its source. Had the Bible been proscribed in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, as it is in Italy, Spain, and Mexico, this glorious system of ed- ucation would never have had an existence. Its blessed results in promoting public order, general intelligence, and social happiness, and in maintaining our free and religious institu- tions, would never have been experienced. To remove, therefore, the Bible and its sacred prin- ciples from our system of education, would be to take from that system its life-giving power. It would be like removing the soul from the body. If it was essential to the highest good of the people, and the prosperity of the nation, to form at the outset this close alliance between religion and education, it is equally essential now to maintain it. For we are acting in this matter, not for the present generation alone, but for the millions of youth who are in the future to inhabit this continent. Should the enemies of the Bible once succeed in legislating it out THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 227 of our schools, it would be no easy task to re- store it. For the floods of infidelity and athe- ism in the land would rush in and widen the breach, and, by mingling with the Papal influ- ence, swell the tide of opposition, and give to it an 'almost resistless power. Indeed, already have infidels and atheists joined hands with the Romanists in this war against our system of education. Nor, in my view, can there be a more vital and solemn question presented to the American people, than that of maintaining the integrity and the religious character of our free school system. " It is a question," said the Hon. Mr. Webster, " which, in its decision, is to influence the happiness, the temporal and eternal welfare, of one hundred millions of hu- man beings, alive and to be born in this land. Its decision will give a hue to the apparent character of our institutions ; it will be a com- ment on their spirit to the whole Christian world. I insist that there is no charity, and can be no charity, in that system of instruction from which Christianity is excluded." * * One of our editors remarks " Among no people are the blessings of education more generally diffused, and among no people does there exist more wide-spread knowledge and intelli- gence, than among the people of the United States. This happy condition of affairs is the natural result of the common school system which has been established throughout our land. Wher- ever it has been introduced, it has raised up armies of intelligent 228 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. But we are met by the Romanist with the declaration, that the Bible is a sectarian book, and as such ought not to be read or studied in schools, where the children of different sects are gathered to receive secular instruction. Now, I contend that, of all the books in the world, freemen around it ; and it should be cherished as the safest and strongest bulwark which can be thrown up around the liberties of our beloved country. " From an interesting collection of educational statistics in the last number of Norton's Literary Gazette, we learn that there are now in the United States about sixty thousand common schools, which are supported at an annual expense of nearly six million dollars. Of this whole amount New York contributes more than one third, and Massachusetts more than one sixth. In the year 1853, there were in New York eleven thousand six hundred and eighty-four school districts, and instruction was afforded to six hundred and twenty-two thousand two hundred and sixty-eight scholars — the total amount expended being two million four hundred and sixty-nine thousand two hundred and forty-eight dollars. Massachusetts, for the same year, numbered four thou- sand one hundred and thirteen schools, and more than two hun- dred thousand scholars. Her aggregate expenditure for school purposes was one million seventy-two thousand three hundred and ten dollars. The old Bay State has a school fund of one mil- lion two hundred and twenty thousand two hundred and thirty- eight dollars. The city of Boston alone appropriates three hun- dred and thirty thousand dollars annually to public schools of various grades. In Pennsylvania, there are ten thousand schools, attended by four hundred and eighty thousand pupils. In 1853, the amount of school tax levied in the state, exclusive of Phila- delphia, city and county, was one million four hundred and thirty- two thousand six hundred and forty-one dollars. In Ohio, the school tax amounts to about one million two hundred thousand dollars. Wisconsin has a fund of one million dollars, and land which, when sold, will increase it to five millions. Texas has es- tablished a permanent school fund of two million dollars." THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 229 the Bible is the most free from the charge of sectarianism. What is this book but the mes- sage of God to man — the revelation of the di- vine will concerning man's duty and destiny ? What is it but a system of pure, momentous, and glorious truths, that brings before us the character and perfections of the Deity ; that points out the paths of virtue, honor, and hap- piness ; that throws open the gates of the heav- enly city, and reveals the joys and glories of an immortal state? And does not such a revela- tion concern one mind as well as another, one immortal being as well as another ? You might as well call the sun that shines upon us from the heavens a sectarian sun, or the stars sectarian stars, as to call this gift of the univer- sal Father a sectarian book. But what does the Romanist mean when he asks us to exclude the Bible from our free schools, on the ground of its sectarian char- acter ? Why, he can only mean that he is op- posed to this book because it favors Protestant- ism, and is hostile to Romanism. It is a book which is very dangerous to the power of the priesthood, and to the superstitions, rites, and exactions of the Romish church. It is so dan- gerous, that, in Italy and other countries where Popery is in the ascendency, a man must obtain a license in order to have the liberty of reading 20 230 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. the Bible. In the fourth rule of the Index of the Council of Trent, we read as follows : " Forasmuch as the reading of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue (that is, in the language understood by the people) has been productive of more evil than good, it is expedient that they be not translated in the vulgate, or read or possessed by any one without a written license from the inquisitor or the bishop of the diocese." In this country, men are licensed to sell ar- dent spirits and gunpowder, because these things are dangerous to life and property. But in Rome, a man must obtain a license to read the word of God, because this is dangerous to the state and church. If the Bible is generally read, there may be an explosion that will shat- ter to atoms the vast fabric of Romish super- stition and tyranny. The priesthood have had experience in the case of Luther and his Bible, w T hich has taught them the importance of keep- ing this book from the people. But with all their watchfulness, they do not always succeed. An instance is related of a pious Irishman, who was discovered by a priest reading the Scrip- tures in a cabin to some poor Roman Catholics, who were delighted with hearing the precious truths of God's word. " When the priest came in, he asked him, in a most dictatorial tone, THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 231 1 How dare you read the Scriptures to any of my flock ? ' ' Please your reverence,' said the man, with the readiness for which an Irishman is always distinguished, ' I have got a search warrant to do it.' < Produce it,' said the priest; ' 1 am sure that it cannot be from the bishop, or from his holiness the pope.' ' No] said the Scripture reader ; ' it is from God ; and here it is, in John v. 39 — Search the Scriptures.' " Now, in the very clamor that the Roman Catholics have raised in our country against having the Bible in the public schools, and in the arguments which they have used, they have virtually declared that the word of God is op- posed to their system of religion ; that Roman- ism cannot prosper where children are taught to read the Holy Scriptures. To meet this, however, the Papist is ready to change his ground, and say that it is not the Bible, but the Protestant version, that he ob- jects to. But it has been truly said *that " there is no such thing as a Protestant version ; there never has been ; it is a mere figment used to cover the attack against the word of God. There is a Romish version, but there is no Prot- estant version. There is an English version for all who read English. The work was be- * By Dr. Cjieever. 232 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. gun by Wickliffe, in the Romish church, before the art of printing ; it was renewed and contin- ued by Tyndale, Coverdale, Matthew, and others, in the same Romish church, before the public pro- testations against the errors of that church. It was printed, published, and circulated by the au- thority of a Romish king, Henry VIIL, with a license procured by Cranmer, and the vicar gen- eral, Cromwell, of the Romish church, permit- ting, in Cranmer's words, that it might be ' read of every person without dangers of any act, proclamation, or ordinance heretofore granted to the contrary, until such time that we, the bish- ops, shall set forth a better translation, which, I think, will not be till a day after doomsday.' This very translation, which, in the main, was that of Tyndale, was substantially taken as the basis of the translation issued under King James. It was in effect adopted by the forty- seven translators employed by him, so that our present incomparable English translation of the Scriptures cannot be called a Protestant trans- lation, but simply the English translation ; and of such perfect freedom from any thing secta- rian, as between Romanism and other sects, that the learned Dr. Alexander Geddes, an ec- clesiastic of the Romish church himself, called it ' of all versions, the most excellent for accu- racy, fidelity, and the strictest attention to the THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 233 letter of the text.' The learned Selden called our English translation ' the best version, in the world.' " But while our Bible is as correct a transla- tion from the original Hebrew and Greek as pious and learned men could make it, and as such deserves the title of the pure word of God, the Romanists have a version which, ac- cording to some of their most eminent writers, is fall of errors. The first act of corruption was the introduc- tion of the apocryphal books, which threw into the church a flood of errors. These books were rejected by the primitive church and early fa- thers ; and yet the Romanists tell us that they receive and interpret the Scriptures according to the unanimous consent of the holy fathers. The Council of Trent decreed that the Latin vulgate should be the only authority in the Ro- mish church. But what is the history of this version ? When it was prepared by Hierony- mus, it was shown by the scholars of that pe- riod to be exceedingly incorrect. After various changes, it was taken in hand by Sixtus V., who issued a new edition, which he commanded should be received as the only authorized version, and read throughout the Christian world. But subsequently Pope Clem- ent VIIL, as infallible as his predecessor, is- 20* 234 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. sued a bull stating that the edition of Sixtus V., called the reformed edition, contained two thousand dangerous errors. Only think of an infallible pope sending forth to the Christian world an infallible version of the Bible, in which another infallible pope discovers two thousand dangerous errors! But the edition of Clement VIII. is in turn subjected to an examination by Father Unga- relli, a man of learning, and an ardent Roman Catholic, whose fondness for study leads him to the research, and he discovers seven hundred and fifty capital errors in this version. And this is now the authorized edition in the Ro- mish church. It is quoted by their writers as scriptural authority, while it cannot in justice be called a Bible. It is, in a great measure, the word of popes and cardinals, rather than the word of God. So the Douay Bible is adapted to the errors and corruptions of the Papal church. But even this Bible, erroneous as it is, we do not find in general circulation among Roman Catholics. Who ever heard of the Romish priests exhorting the people to read a Bible of any kind ? Who ever undertook to show that the Roman Catholic church was, as a church, friendly to the Bible in any form ? On the contrary, we have seen that in Catholic coun- THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 235 tries a man must obtain a license before he can read a Bible. Yes, he must go to a fellow- mortal, to an inquisitor or a bishop, whose characters are certainly no better than they ought to be, and obtain permission to read the book, or the letter, which his heavenly Father has addressed to him ! He must obtain per- mission to learn from his God how to repent, and how to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved ! Was there ever a more insolent and outrageous act of despotism than this ? With as much propriety might I go to a fellow- mortal, and ask permission to breathe the air of heaven, or drink of the pure water that gushes from the mountain side, or use for a day the light of the sun, as to crave the liberty of reading the word of God. If there is a human right which is inalienable — which ought never to be brought into controversy — it is the right of every child of God to read, study, and search the Scriptures. But the Romish church has not been con- tented with simply the license system in this matter. It has gone farther, and displayed its opposition in more decisive acts. Councils and popes, almost without number, have positively prohibited the reading of the Scriptures by the common people. When the Waldenses pub- lished the first translation of the Bible into a ver- 236 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. nacular tongue, Pope Innocent III. issued a bull against them, ordering that all their books, most of which were Bibles, should be burned. Leo XII, Gregory XVL, Pius VL, VIL, VIIL, as well as the present pope, prohibit the reading of the Scriptures. Pius IX. has manifested a very intense hostility to Bible societies ; and we be- lieve that he fears them in the Roman States more than he fears the cholera. Of the two calamities he would prefer the latter, as the least dangerous to the interests of the holy and infallible church! In 1229, the Council of Tolosa waged war against the Bible, and forbade the laity possess- ing it in a language which they could under- stand. The Council of Bologna also con- demned the general reading of the Bible, as dangerous to the interests of the church. In 1842, the Bishop of Bruges, in Belgium, sent forth a circular letter, forbidding the circulation of the Bible in the language of the country, and among the poor people. A short time since, a number of Bibles that were sent to be gratuitously distributed at Cum- minsville, Ohio, were gathered into a pile in the road, and burned. The remains of some of them are now in the Bible House, New York. Now, this opposition, which has been raging in New York, Baltimore, and Cincinnati against THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 237 the Protestant version of the Bible in our free schools, is the old spirit of Romish hostility to the Bible as the word of God. And the Bible is assailed so as to strike, through this, the free school system. The Papists in the United States fear general education as much as they fear the Bible. They know that if the rising generation become enlightened, the days of their superstitions and mummeries are num- bered. They know that priestly arrogance and intolerance here will end ; that the people will prefer the light of divine truth to lighted can- dles ; will regard holy principles as of more value than holy water ; will seek the pardon of their sins from God rather than from the priest ; and will prefer the glories of Christ to the " glories of Mary." But supposing that this demand to exclude the Bible from the public schools is yielded to ; the question comes up, What shall be done with those books that contain extracts from the Bible, or passages that speak in commenda- tion of it ? Our best literature is so pervaded with Bible truth and quotations from the Scrip- tures, that it would be very difficult to compile a reading book, or one to furnish pieces for declamation, that would be unexceptionable to the Roman Catholic. If the writings of Mil- ton, Addison, Young, or those of our own 238 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. poets, historians, or orators, are resorted to for materials for reading books, it would be almost impossible not to violate the principle for which the Romanist contends. The work of expur- gation would have to be carried so far, that there would be comparatively little left worthy of the pupil's attention. Besides, after the Roman Catholic was satisfied, the atheist might present himself, and urge his objections to having the doctrine of God's existence taught in the schools. He might point out a para- graph on natural or revealed theology in one of the school books that offends his conscience; and, on the plea that he regularly pays his tax, and thus helps to support the school, he might say that it was unjust to have his child taught what he regards as a fundamental error. He contends that he sends his child to school to learn geography, arithmetic, and philosophy ; and for the teacher to give to his mind a reli- gious bias in favor of the existence of a God, is a direct infringement upon his religious lib- erty. The committee, therefore, to be consist- ent, must expunge from the books every allu- sion to the divine existence. There must be no prayer offered up in the school room, for this would be a most palpable acknowledgment of the being of a God. There must be nothing sung that has the remotest allusion to the THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 239 Deity. The mind of the child must be care- fully kept under the idea that the throne of heaven is vacant; that blind chance reigns throughout the universe ; that the sun rises and sets purely by accident; that there is no such thing as a divine moral government, or a future state of being, with its rewards and pun- ishments; and all this to meet the conscien- tious scruples of the tax-paying atheist! But we have still other classes of citizens to suit. In California there are several thousands of Chinese, many of whom own property and pay their taxes. One of them, we will sup- pose, sends his children to a public school ; and there, in the reading lesson, they are taught that Christ was superior to Confucius, and that men ought to worship God rather than idols. The children come home and do not manifest the usual reverence for the idols that are in the house. The parents become offended and ex- cited, and soon the whole Chinese population are making war against these sectarian schools. They claim that the school fund ought to be divided, that they may have such schools as exist in the Celestial Empire, and be no longer exposed to the religious sentiments of the American barbarians with whom they have taken up their abode. Now, what is to be done ? Who shall decide the question of the 240 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. character of these schools — the Chinese idol- ater, or the Deist, or the Roman Catholic, or the American Protestant. We say that the question must be left to the majority. We can see no other way of deciding it; and to yield to this clamor of the Romanists, who are in the minority, is a policy fraught with the greatest peril to all our institutions. Yet the school commissioners in New York — to their shame be it said — have set the example of following the dictation of the Romish priests in this matter. They have mutilated the school books, expunging passages that were offensive to the Pope of Rome and his adherents. On this point Dr. Cheever, of New York, says, — " To this day this disgrace stands perpetu- ated in the school books. The Romish edict has marked its way, as it generally does, so that there is no mistaking it. And it stands a palpable demonstration of the consequences to which this argument against the Bible, at the demand of the conscience of a single sect, must lead. The obliteration and mutilation of the school books is one legitimate result; and some of the noblest bursts of eloquence in the English tongue, and most exquisitely wrought compositions, — his- toric, poetic, and didactic, — must be cut away and cast out as sectarian, against which the suspicion of sectarianism was never before THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 241 breathed. Compositions of superior acknowl- edged excellence and immemorial use are to be charged as sectarian, in which no quality or aspect of sectarianism can be detected, because the imprimatur of a particular sect is with- held from them ! Because they are not secta- rian, because the historian was not a Romish historian, because the poet was not a Romish poet, coloring his descriptions with the colors that the church demands, — therefore they are to be marked and condemned as sectarian, and on that pretence excluded ! And in the gaps thus made, in the speech of Lord Chatham, for example, a blackened impression is stamped upon the page. Whole pages were thus de- faced ; at first, because this was a cheap mode of accomplishing the Romish expurgation, the remainder of the volumes being still readable. In other pages, couplets of straggling stars filled the omissions ; and in another edition the offen- sive stereotype plate, where it formed a whole page, was destroyed, and pages totally blank were left here and there through the volume. Such is the aspect of a portion of the school literature at this moment." Nor were we without serious apprehension,. at one time, that the enemies of the Bible in New York would succeed in banishing the sacred volume from the schools in that state. p 21 242 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. Under the shelter of the laws passed in 1842 and 1843, forbidding sectarian teaching and books, a strong effort was made to banish from the schools the Bible, as being a sectarian book. And even after an amendment made to the school law in 1844, "prohibiting the Board of Education from excluding the Holy Scriptures from any school," many of the ward officers still forbade the use of the Bible. The super- intendent declared that " many of the teachers were thus intimidated from an apprehension lest they should lose their places, which indeed was intimated in some cases and distinctly threatened in others. Valuable teachers, in several cases, for reading the Bible in their schools, have been actually either dismissed or compelled to resign." Now, upon what principle of justice or right such a course is pursued, we are totally unable to determine. Supposing we allow that the Roman Catholics are conscientiously opposed to the Bible ; are not the Protestants equally con- scientious in favor of it ? Have we not rights in this matter as well as the Roman Catholics ? Are the consciences of twenty millions of free American Protestants to be trampled in the dust, and entirely lost sight of, to gratify the consciences of a few millions of Romanists, the leaders of whom have declared themselves THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 243 the uncompromising foes of all our institutions, civil, educational, and religious? Shame upon the man who advances so treasonable a doc- trine ! We have indeed reached a sad period in our history, if the consciences of all the Protestants in our land are to be thus violated, and our free schools walled in against all reli- gious influences, and against every ray of the light of divine truth ! But the Romanists have a great deal to say about their rights in this matter. Let me ask, what right is invaded, by the American people believing and acting upon the principle that moral and religious instruction should accom- pany a system of general education? Are not these foreigners aware of the character of our schools and our institutions before they come to this country ? They are at liberty, if they choose, to establish Romish schools, and they have done so in various parts of the land. The atheist, too, can have his school, and the Chi- nese in California can do the same. But to ask that the Bible be banished from our schools, and our books expurgated of every passage that is offensive to Romish ears, is what no true American patriot or Christian will ever grant. Upon this subject, an antagonist of Bishop Hughes, in a controversy which was held sev- 244 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. eral years since, used the following just and strong language : — " The efforts of your priests and yourselves, gentlemen, to get possession of the money ap- propriated by the State of New York for the support of the common schools has a singular appearance. Bishop Hughes says, ' We come here denied of our rights.'' Pray, what are the rights here, of a priest who holds his commis- sion and his place by the will of a foreign hierarch, and upon condition of continued obe- dience? Such a man cannot, in the nature of the case, become an American. He may swear allegiance, and kiss the Bible and the cross ever so many times ; he is a foreigner still. He may have the privilege of staying here and being protected by our laws, but as to rights for inter- meddling with American affairs, he has none. The amount which Catholics pay towards the school money is exceedingly small; and all your contributions to the state in every way are greatly overbalanced by the donations made back to you by our various public institutions. You are almost all foreigners by birth here in your first generation ; you profess a religion subordinated to a foreign head — a religion against which our ancestors entered their sol- emn protest — a protest which their sons mean to sustain while they live, and hand down from THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 245 generation to generation, while the country en- dures. Your priests come here on a ' mission] as they profess ; and here, with some men of intelligence and worth, and an army who can neither read nor write, you clamor for your rights. With the enjoyment of all the privi- leges of American institutions, of liberty, reli- gion, and science, bestowed on your landing, you are still discontented. Pray, by what rule should your rights be determined ? Shall it be by the measure which would be meted out, under a reverse of circumstances, to a like com- pany of American Protestants in a Catholic country? You claim the right especially to interfere with the management of our public schools. Pray, had you any such right in the country of your birth, where your religion ad- justed rights and dealt them out? Before Americans intrust you with the management of their public schools, they would like to see the result of your labors in the same way in Catholic countries. Can you point us to some spot in Italy, Spain, or Austria, or any other country under the influence of the Catholic church, where the earliest care of Popery is to establish common schools, in which all the chil- dren shall be taught to read, and write, and cipher ? We should like to visit that Catholic country where, in every neighborhood, the dis- 21* 246 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. trict school house is the centre of interest, and to see the Catholic children, as, in neat attire, they assemble blithely in the morning. Is there any such spot in all the dominions of the pope? No ; common schools are the offspring of Prot- estantism. We can have them because we are not under the dominion of the pope. His let- ter proves conclusively that Roinanism is the enemy of common schools^ and of popular edu- cation in every form. Americans will not, if they are wise, put an institution which they love so much into the hands of its enemies. The glory of our system is universal educa- tion ; that of yours is universal ignorance. The meridian of Catholic ascendency was the mid- night of the world's history. While our chil- dren are taught the elements of all sorts of useful knowledge, and each, with a Bible in his hand, is instructed to read, and think, and act independently, our institutions will be safe ; but such a system will lay Popery in the dust, wherever it prevails. " The common people in all Catholic coun- tries are ignorant of the rudiments of educa- tion. Those who come here can, in general, only sign their names with a mark. The per- sons who can neither read nor write, whose numbers disfigure our census returns, are most of them Catholics. Under all these circum- THE BIBLE IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 247 stances, gentlemen, your claim that a part of our public school money should be put into the hands of Catholic priests to manage, strikes us as exhibiting a wonderful degree of assurance." Upon no principle of justice or right can the plea of the Romanist be maintained ; and for the American people to yield to this clamor, would be the most suicidal course that could be adopted. As Christians, we are bound to resist it. As philanthropists and patriots, we are bound to preserve the connection between religious and mental culture. X. THE BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. "Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read."— Is. xxxiv. 16. " Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep IT." — Luke xi. 28. We have already considered the principles upon which the free school system was estab- lished, and showed that the objections brought by the Romanist against the Bible as a sec- tarian book were entirely groundless, and grew out of a deep-seated hostility to the word of God. We showed the absurdities into which school commissioners and committees would be led, by once yielding to the arrogant claims of the Romish priesthood. In pursuing our argument, we would remark, in the next place, that, as believers in the Bible, we are under the most solemn obligations to communicate its truths to the rising genera- tion. We believe that " all Scripture is given by insoiration of God, and is profitable for doc- (248) BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 249 trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." It is as much my duty to extend as widely as possible a knowledge of the Scriptures, as it is to give bread to a starv- ing man, or throw a plank to one who is drown- ing. Being convinced by the authority of mir- acles, prophecy, and the internal evidences of the truth of the Scriptures, — being fully per- suaded by the social, civil, and spiritual ad- vantages that flow from the study of the Bible, that this volume is the word of God, — I am bound as a moral being, accountable to God for my influence, to do all in my power to make known its truths to every human being. I am bound to send it to the most distant continents and islands of the earth, that it may educate the ignorant, enlighten the superstitious, and fit man for duty in this life, and for happiness in the life to come. Much more am I bound to give it to the children in my own country, where every valuable institution depends for existence upon its circulation and influence. Between the Holy Scriptures as the supreme authority, and my conscience, I can allow nothing to enter. To me the Bible is the higher law, in church and state — in all the relations of life. From this position I will not be driven by all the hosts of Papists, with Pope Pius IX. at their head. 250 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. But the Romanist tells me, that he is as con- scientiously opposed to the Bible as I am in favor of it. His conscience prompts him to ex- clude from the child's mind the light of God's word, and introduce in its stead the mummeries and superstitions of Popery. I am, however, convinced that his conscience is not enlight- ened — that he has not been permitted to ex- ercise his reason and judgment in matters of religion — that he regards the traditions of men as of higher authority than the word of God. I cannot, therefore, admit such a conscience on an equality with one that has been enlightened by divine truth. If I do, then we must extend the principle still farther, and recognize the au- thority of the pagan's conscience, and even that of the most degraded, superstitious, and cruel heathen. Suppose that, in the flood of immigration that is pouring in upon our shores, there should come a company of Hindoos, bringing with them their habits, customs, and modes of wor- ship. Suppose that at stated periods an infant is cast into Boston Harbor, as a religious offer- ing to appease the wrath of an offended deity. If expostulated with, the Hindoos reply, that they are perfectly conscientious in this act. Their fathers, for ages, were in the habit of performing this religious rite, and from their BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 251 earliest infancy they were taught that it is a duty binding upon all Hindoo parents. But the Massachusetts legislature takes the matter in hand, and it is proposed that a law be passed forbidding the casting of infant children into Boston Harbor, under any circumstances what- ever. In the midst of the debate, there rises up in the House of Representatives a young and aspiring politician, who is anxious to secure Hindoo votes, and argues, First, that this is a land of perfect religious liberty, and hence all re- ligions should be tolerated and protected. Sec- ondly, these Hindoos are perfectly conscien- tious, and consider this rite as essential to their peace here and happiness hereafter. Thirdly, they have been naturalized, and pay their taxes, which, it is true, do not amount to a large sum; yet they ought not to be persecuted. Fourthly, their religion, in this age of toleration, ought to be respected on account of its antiquity, and the vast number of human minds over which it has held sway. Indeed, the young orator might become almost eloquent in his praises of the Ganges, of the sacred books of the Hin- doos, called the Vedas, which are written in the Sanscrit, or holy language, and of the noble self-denial of the people in swinging on hooks, and keeping their limbs in a certain position until they are rigid. Such a speech might be 252 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. very edifying to the Hindoo immigrants ; but whether it would convince the American peo- ple that the consciences of these idolaters should rank with those that are enlightened by divine truths, I leave you to judge. Yet why not respect a conscience that be- lieves in the holy water of the Ganges, as much as one that believes in holy wells, and in the holy water placed in church fonts ? Why not respect consciences that approve of having men crushed under the car of Juggernaut, as much as those that approve of having men crushed in the infernal machinery of a Spanish Inquisition ? The truth is, that the American people should never retreat one iota from the principle that it is their right and duty to circulate and teach the word of God. This right is not derived from any body or class of men — from any au- thority in church or state — but it comes di- rectly from the throne of the Eternal. As well might we exclude from our school rooms the light of the sun, and light them with Romish candles, or exclude the air of heaven, and com- pel the children to breathe a noxious gas, as deprive them of the celestial light and inesti- mable blessings of the Holy Scriptures. As an aid to the mental culture of the pupils, and to the discipline of the schools, the Bible BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 253 holds a most important rank. Its influence cannot but be salutary and reformatory upon the young minds that are collected together to receive instruction in the various branches of knowledge. Just imagine millions of children in the various parts of our land at the same moment under the persuasive, elevating, and enriching influence of divine truth. See the history, poetry, precepts, and eloquence of the sacred volume, mingling in with the principles of science, and throwing their hallowed influ- ence around the secular knowledge that is daily imparted. Follow these great principles as they mould and control the faculties in their progress towards maturity, and as they help to form the character and shape the destiny. Then think of these scriptural truths as travel- ling down through successive generations, and widening in their influence, until they reach hundreds of millions of American youth, pre- paring them to act well their part upon the great theatre of human life. On the other hand, imagine these schools with the Bible and all religious influences banished from them at the dictation of Romish priests. No word of inspiration is uttered in the hearing of these multitudes, who are so soon to enter upon the duties of life, and take charge of the vast in- terests of this free and Christian republic. No 22 254 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. prayer is offered up — no religious instruction is imparted — lest the awful crime should be com- mitted of teaching sectarianism ! The chills of a cold infidelity hang over the school. The teachers may be complete atheists, and yet be qualified for all the duties that devolve upon them. They may be believers in the Koran, or in the sacred books of the Chinese, or the Hin- doos, and yet be eligible to the important and responsible office of teaching the young. When such a day arrives, we may bid farewell to all that we hold dear as a nation. Consider, also, the importance of the Bible in our female schools. " It is ever to be re- membered," says one, " how large a proportion of the children attending our common schools are girls, and the teachers females, and how peculiarly appropriate and essential for them, both for instruction and government, the les- sons of the Sacred Scriptures. What agency is so powerful for training the sensibilities, re- fining the manners, purifying the heart, for di- recting and establishing the feelings, the senti- ments, the habits of thought, in that gentle and yet elevated and impressive character, which we wish to see possessed by every woman, and especially every mother of our republic? * * * The idea of educating the female mind of our country, in the proposed exclusion of the Bible, BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 255 and of all religious instruction, is really an in- sult to the common convictions of humanity in a Christian state. "Just think of the absurdity, the tyranny, of placing the children under such a regimen, because of the fear of the charge of sectarian- ism, that the teacher shall not dare to comment even on the simplest, sweetest, most compre- hensive sayings, invitations, parables, or actions of the Savior of the world. * * * Think of classes and teachers under this fear, lest some inquisitorial commissioner should enter, and mark this process of celestial light as en- dangering the entrance of sectarianism, and therefore not to be permitted, out of respect to the conscientious rights of those who require the exclusion of the Bible and of all religious instruction." The truth is, that, by yielding to this claim of the Romish priesthood, we create a despot- ism that acts with fearful power upon the mil- lions of Protestants in America, who consci- entiously believe that the word of God should be taught to their children. Here is a citizen who pays his tax for the support of the schools which were by our fathers founded upon the basis of Bible truth. As a Christian, he knows that the religious element ought to enter into a system of education that is to fit his child for 256 ROMANISM 1 1ST AMERICA. the duties of this life, and for the solemn reali- ties of the future world. He cannot consistently send his child to a school where the word of God is proscribed, and where all the books are expunged of every allusion to the sublime words of inspiration — the beautiful Pslams of David, the thrilling utterances of the prophets, the glorious truths upon which Jesus and his apostles delighted to dwell. The very fact that the Bible is excluded from the school room will exert an injurious influ- ence upon the mind of the child. He will natu- rally, sooner or later, ask, Why do I not meet the word of God in some of the paths of sci- ence and human learning ? Why do I not hear a prayer offered for the blessing of God upon the studies of the day ? Are the principles of science incompatible with the truths of re- ligion ? Is the school house beyond the domin- ions of the Almighty Father ? And, as he sees at stated periods a committee passing around the school room, and carefully examining the books in the desks of the pupils, and is in- formed that these grave and solemn-looking men are searching to satisfy themselves that there are no scriptural passages, or words of commendation of the Bible, in these books, what must be the child's impression of the character of the Bible ? Can he avoid the BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 257 conclusion that it must be a very dangerous book ? Can he avoid contracting a prejudice against it ? No Christian father would send his child to such a school. The necessity of providing religious instruc- tion is also specially apparent in those schools that are established by the state for the children of paupers and criminals, for the blind, and for the deaf and dumb. In the schools at South Boston and Deer Island, connected with the almshouses and other public institutions, there are many chil- dren, who, but for those schools, would never have known any thing of the Bible, or of Jesus Christ, or of the way of salvation. Their par- ents, being vicious, or addicted to crime, have left them exposed to every degrading and cor- rupting influence. In visiting those schools, it appeared to me that their great charm and beauty was the religious influence that was thrown over the pupils. It was a thrilling spectacle, to see these poor outcasts thus provided by the state with the bread of life, and trained up for usefulness and happiness. As an aid to discipline in these schools, the teachers find the Bible absolutely indispensable. Many of the children committed to their care, owing to past neglect and to the wicked habits q 22* 258 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. already contracted, would be beyond their con- trol, were they not allowed to make use of the moral and religious teachings of the Holy Scrip- tures. In the school for juvenile offenders which I once visited at South Boston, I found about sixty boys between ten and sixteen years of age, every one of whom had been arrested for some crime. They were all bright and intelli- gent looking lads, and appeared exceedingly well in their deportment and recitations. After the examination in their studies, the teacher asked me if I should like to hear them sing. Replying in the affirmative, the scholars at once rose, and with clear, vigorous voices, and in perfect harmony, chanted those beautiful words, " I will arise and go to my father, and say, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." On being invited, immedi- ately afterwards, to address them, I remarked upon the appropriateness of those precious words to their situation, and of the willingness of that Father, from whom they had wandered, to receive them back to his house, to embrace them as children, to call for the best robes to be put upon them, to rejoice over their repent- ance and return, and to exclaim with intense emotion, in relation to each of them, " This BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 259 my son was dead, and is alive #gain ; he was lost, and is found." While speaking, I observed that every eye was fixed upon me, and every heart seemed to throb its response to the sentiments I was uttering. Now, suppose that, just as I was closing, a Popish inquisitor, chairman of the school com- mittee, had entered, and, by authority of a law recently passed, should have positively forbid- den the singing of any more such chants — should have taken the Bible that was lying on the teacher's desk, and hurled it out of the win- dow — should have examined the books, and torn out the leaves that contained scriptural passages, or extracts from distinguished au- thors, and thus should have taken from these boys the only means that they enjoyed of ob- taining a knowledge of the precious principles of God's word, and of the terms of salvation. I say that the devil himself could not do a worse thing. For what hope of usefulness and happiness, for time or eternity, have these youth, except that which may be derived from the religious instruction gained at this in- stitution ? Yet this inquisitor would see them grow up in vice and crime, and prepare, in the cellars of Ann Street or Fort Hill, to become, when 260 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. they reach manhood, thieves, incendiaries, and assassins,* rather than see them gathered in this school, reading the Holy Scriptures, and * " The Rev. M. H. Seymour has recently brought before the public some statistical facts connected with the crime of murder, in several of the European kingdoms, well deserving the atten- tion of thoughtful men. From these facts, it would appear that the farther a nation departs from the religion of the Bible, the more numerous will be the transgressions of the divine command, ' Thou shalt do no murder.' " Our own land, with all her sins, is far less stained with the guilt of murder than countries where the Bible is not the book which guides the people. In such countries the number of mur- ders is fearfully larger than with us. And it is very remarkable, and ought to be pondered by our statesmen, that most murders abound in those nations where unmixed Popery prevails, and where priests, monks, and nuns abound in largest numbers, and no Bibles circulated among the people ! " The following is the result of Mr. Seymour's inquiries, and his information is derived from the most authentic sources. Di- viding the population by the number of murders annually, there will be in England, 4 murders to a million inhabitants. Ireland, 19 " " Belgium, 18 " " France, 31 " " Austria, 36 " " Bavaria, 30 " " Sardinia, 20 " " Lombardy, 45 " " Tuscany, 42 « " Sicily, 90 " " Papal States, 100 " " Naples, 200 " " "These are startling facts. And yet, with such facts as these and others before them, many an Englishman is still blind to the real character and tendency of Romanism," BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 261 chanting the words, " I will arise and go to my father." Indeed, the superintendents informed me, that the Roman Catholic priests complained bitterly that the paupers and criminals of their faith, old and young, in those institutions, had access to the Bible. Although the instructions that they there receive afford the only hope that they will ever be lifted from their state of deg- radation and pauperism, and saved from a ca- reer of the blackest crime, vet these cruel priests would take from them even this faint hope. Suppose, also, that the Bible is excluded from the school for the blind, which is supported by the state. Here are gathered, say one hun- dred blind children, who, day after day, read their lessons by tracing the raised letters with their fingers. They become acquainted with geography, philosophy, and portions of history, but, from the beginning to the end of the year, their fingers never light upon the word Bible. They never trace out the words, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved " — never read that sublime and stirring declaration, u Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the joys which are laid up for those that love God." 262 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. Would it not be the greatest cruelty to add to the darkness that surrounds this unfortunate class the deeper moral darkness produced by the exclusion of the word of God ? . Take, also, the institution for the deaf and dumb. Who, with one spark of humanity in his soul, with the smallest possible amount of interest in the spiritual welfare of others, would even advance the idea, that this class of persons should be deprived of religious instruc- tion ? To those who visit these institutions, one of the most interesting features in the ex- amination is the progress that the pupils make in a knowledge of the Scriptures, and their promptness in replying to questions of a re- ligious nature. " Who made the world ? " was the question once proposed to a little boy in the institution Without an instant's delay, the chalk had rap- idly traced the answer, — " In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." " Why did Jesus come into the world ? " was the next question proposed. With a smile of gratitude, the little fellow wrote in reply, — " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." The astonished visitor, desirous of testing BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 263 the religious nature of the pupil to the utmost, ventured at length to ask, " Why were you born deaf and dumb, when I can both hear and speak ? " With the sweetest and most touching expression of meek resignation on the face of the boy, the rapid chalk replied, " Even so, Father, for it seemeth good in thy sight." Now, shall the Bible be removed from such a school on the ground that it is a sectarian book ? Shall it be banished from such an in- stitution to meet the conscientious scruples of a class of men who owe allegiance to the Pope of Rome, and are engaged in burning Bibles in various parts of Christendom ? But, besides the right of the children to the word of God, I would contend, in the next place, that the very existence of our free gov- ernment and our national prosperity depend upon the influence and authority of the Bible in the community. What is it, I would ask, that distinguishes the American people from so many of the nations of the earth ? Whence our unexampled growth, our commercial enter- prise, our progress in the arts, in science, and in the general diffusion of knowledge ? Why are the people of all climes and languages at- tracted to our shores ? Why do hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics seek here com- forts and advantages such as cannot be obtained 264 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. in their own countries, where their system of religion has been for ages in the ascendency ? The answer is obvious. The light of God's holy word shines upon the nation. The Bible lies at the basis of our civil, educational, and religious institutions. Remove it, and you take away the corner stone of the republic, and leave the vast fabric to crumble, burying mil- lions of now free, happy, and prosperous cit- izens beneath the ruins. The words of the immortal Washington, in his Farewell Address, ought to be remembered by every true American : " Of all the disposi- tions and habits which lead to political pros- perity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to sub- vert these great pillars of human happiness, the purest props of the duties of men and cit- izens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 265 without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail, in exclusion of religious principle.' , Now, it is not necessary that infidel and athe- istical sentiments be actually taught to the pupils in order to destroy the national morality. Ac- cording to the views of the father of our country, the mere absence of religious principle will pro- duce this result. You have only to remove the Bible from our schools, and sever the connection between religious culture and secular education, and the work is done. Every blow that is aimed against the Bible is aimed against our national morality, against the vital forces of our nation- al existence and prosperity. A foreign enemy bombarding our cities, and landing their forces upon our shores, could not injure us so much as those who are making war upon the Bible, and laboring to prevent the religious culture of the rising generation. For we could lose a few cities, and even many thousand citizens, and yet maintain our national existence. We could be crippled, and yet maintain life and vigor in the heart of the republic. The fallen cities would soon rise again. The tide of business and prosperity, disturbed for the moment, would soon resume its wonted channel. But the Ro- 23 266 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. manist, in striking at the Bible, strikes at the very seat of our national life. The wounds he inflicts are mortal wounds. If the nation falls under the blows, it falls not soon to rise again. Its limbs are palsied ; its heart ceases to beat. The allusion in the extract from Washing- ton's Address to the importance of preserving the sanctity of oaths in our courts of justice, is deserving of special attention. The attain- ment of the ends of justice obviously depends upon, the truth of witnesses, and those who testify in our courts. If the sanctity of oaths is violated, and men are ready to commit per- jury, it is obvious that the rights of men and the interests of society cannot be protected. And as the state provides for the taking of oaths, it ought also to make provision for the study of the Holy Scriptures, that its truths may be understood, and that the nature and solemnity of an oath may be appreciated. Persons who are ignorant of the Bible, and entertain little or no reverence for the sacred volume, naturally regard an oath with very dif- ferent views and feelings from those who be- lieve in its principles, obey its precepts, and regard with holy awe its divine Author. While the latter would shrink with horror from the guilt of perjury, the former would be willing to swear falsely under the influence of a very BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 267 slight temptation. To escape a small fine, or to protect a friend, or to gratify their prejudices, they would perjure themselves before God and man. And the officers of our city government have informed me that no reliance can be placed upon the oaths, in our courts of justice, of those who are not allowed to possess and read the word of God. In instances where tbey have been arrested in the very act of unlawfully purchasing and drinking intoxicating liquors, they have stood before the judge with their hands upon the Bible, and sworn in direct op- position to the facts ill the case. And what reverence can they be expected to entertain for the Bible, when they see their priests, their spiritual guides, laboring to destroy it, and making it a crime to possess the sacred vol- ume ? If they are taught to believe that their piety and hopes of heaven increase with the increase of their contempt of the Scriptures, that it is a greater virtue to burn the Bible than to obey its commands, and that what Almighty God enjoins as a duty is a crime punishable, where the priests have the power, with imprison- ment and even death, how can you expect that they will have the least regard for the sanctity of an oath ? , It is clear, therefore, that if the authority of the Bible is destroyed, the ends of justice can- 268 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. not be secured. And in the Roman States, and other countries where the Bible is proscribed, the proceedings of the courts are a mere mock- ery. The attainment of justice is the very last thing to be looked for. We are however told that, even if the Bible is banished from the public schools, the chil- dren can be religiously instructed in the family, the Sabbath school, and the church. But every one knows that there are multitudes of children, even in our most highly-favored towns and cities, who never receive any religious instruc- tion at home, and who are not brought under the influence of our churches and Sabbath schools. At the lowest estimate, more than one half of our people are growing up with- out any religious restraints from the family, or the services of the sanctuary. The only knowledge that multitudes obtain of the exist- ence of a Bible is obtained in the -public school. While connected, some years ago, with a Sab- bath school in New York city, I found, in visit- ing the neighborhood for scholars, some boys twelve and fourteen years of age, of Catholic parents, who were as ignorant of the Bible, of the Savior, and of the doctrines of repentance and faith, as the heathen. Some had never heard of the Bible. They were growing up in ignorance, filth, and vice in its most degrading forms. BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 269 Now, how can this large class of ignorant children be reached with moral and religions instruction except through the public schools? In what other way can they obtain knowledge enough of Christianity to become the citizens of a free republic? We contend that, as a matter of protection and self-preservation, the government is bound to provide for the religious culture of the people. Not only the teachers of religion, but our most eminent jurists, statesmen, and patriots, all concur in the opinion, that such a nation as ours cannot exist without a moral and religious basis. Judge Story, in his work on the consti- tution, says, " The right of a society or govern- ment to interfere in matters of religion will hardly be contested by any persons who believe that piety, religion, and morality are intimately con- nected with the well-being of the state, and indis- pensable to the administration of civil justice. The promulgation of the great doctrines of re- ligion, the being, and attributes, and providence of one Almighty God ; the responsibility to him founded upon moral accountability ; a future state of rewards and punfthments ; the cultiva- tion of all the personal, social, and benevolent virtues, — these can never be a matter of indif- ference in any well-ordered community. It is, indeed, difficult to conceive how any civilized 23* 270 ROMANISM IN AMERICA. society can well exist without them. And, at all events, it is impossible for those who believe in the truth of Christianity as a divine revela- tion, to doubt that it is the special duty of gov- ernment to foster and encourage it among all the citizens and subjects. This is a point wholly distinct from that of the right of private judgment in matters of religion, and of the free- dom of public worship, according to the dic- tates of one's conscience." The Hon. Horace Mann says, " As educators, as friends and sustainers of the common school system, our great duty is to prepare these living and intelligent souls ; to awaken the faculty of thought in all the children of the common- wealth ; to impart to them the greatest prac- ticable amount of useful knowledge ; to culti- vate in them a sacred regard to truth ; * * * to train them up to the love of God and the love of man ; to make the perfect example of Jesus Christ lovely in their eyes, and to give to all so much religious instruction as is com- patible with the rights of others : and when the children arrive at years of maturity, to com- mend them to that inviolable prerogative of private judgment and of self-direction, which, in a Protestant and republican country, is the ac- knowledged birthright of every human being." Mr. Choate, in one of his orations, exclaimed, BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, CONTINUED. 271 " Banish the Bible from our public schools ? Never! so long as a piece of Plymouth Rock remains big enough to make a gun flint out of." We might quote the testimony of many others in favor of these same sentiments. In- deed, it is the universal opinion of all who are distinguished for their learning, wisdom, and patriotism, that the perpetuity of our institu- tions depends upon the moral and religious culture of the people. And, should the day ever arrive when the Bible is banished from our schools, no adequate expression could be made of the sadness of the hour. The tolling of all the bells in the nation, the clothing of all the school houses in black drapery, the streets filled with processions of mourners, would not express the calamity. The moral sun would be struck from our heavens, and the nation left in darkness. The stars of hope would one after another fade away. Without chart or compass, the great republic would launch forth upon an ocean of storms, where, amid the raging billows, shipwreck would be inevitable. .\ *e* C? -£