BX > _vSCl^-^3 >^ i>>l)l . .. '»1)1 >>. v:2^~5~ ^:dj> -»::> .>:^ j> i>3 > D ^ > Library OF CONGRESS. # ^ - - — - I t FORCE OOLLECTION.] |) " # ^UNITED STATES OP>MERICA.| >>>3^J> ^^-:^>}j>. pyi>j£> 3 ^^ ::» 0^ > > ■^>^y '»>'i>j) ^yj y ^>r>f"- >> > ^5 P ; 5 - :» ) m\^y:'J3i ;3^:^m^ !^^ ^ J J» :> jy M>y .^^J>>> 'Mmk ^^j^ >) > J 3>~ L DR. BERG'S ANSWER TO THE LECTURE OF ARCHBISHOP HUGHES ON THE DECLINE OF PROTESTANTISM. LECTURE; SXUViiUED IN THB MUSICAL FUND HALL, ON TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 26, ]850, IN ANSWER TO ARCHBISHOP HU&HES ON THE DECLINE OF PROTESTANTISM; BY THE EEV. JOSEPH F/BERG, D.D., PASTOR OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH, RACE STREET. REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR FOR PUBLICATION. i PHILADELPHIA: T. B. PETERSON, No. 98 CHESTNUT STREET, ONE DOOR ABOVE THIRD. mSQt AND BAIKP, FBHTTEBS. '^ , r/ ,• A REPLY TO BISHOP HTTGHES. We are pleased to learn from the following correspondence, that the Rev. Dr. Berg has been solicited to answer the recent lecture of Bishop Hughes, on " the Decline of Protestantism," and will accede to the request at a very early day. From our talented townsman we shall expect a full and tri- umphant refutation of the fallacies, sophistries, and misrepresentations of the Eomish priest, Philadelphia, Nov. 18, 1850. Bev. J. F. Berg, D.D. — Dear Sir: — Believing that the public mind ought to be disabused of the erroneous impressions which the recent lecture of Bishop Hughes of New York is adapted to convey in relation to the alleged " Decline of Protestantism," and knowing that your reading has made you familiar with this whole subject, we would respectfully suggest the pro- priety of your giving a public lecture on this subject at the Chinese Museum, or some other suitable place, and hereby respectfully request you to take this subject into consideration. (Signed,) Rev. J. Lansing Burrows, " David Malin, " John B. Dales, " John Chambers, " J.T.Ward, " A. A. Willits, Peter A. Browne, Esq. Thomas Wattson, A. J. Dumont, Wilfred Hall, Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, D.D. " John Mc Dowell, D.D. " Charles D. Cooper, " John B. Hagany, " J. H. Kennard, Samuel Ash mead, Aaron A. Burtis, C. Collins, Jr. S. Sherrerd, And others. To Rev. J. Lansing Burrows, Rev. Drs. McDowell and Ely, and other clergymen, and Messrs. P. A. Browne, Thomas Wattson, and others : Bespected Friends — So soon as the requisite arrangements can be made by the committee of gentlemen who have interested themselves in the matter to which your note of the 18th inst. relates, it will afford me pleasure to avail myself of the opportunity to show cause why those who are not ashamed of their Protestant profession, may reasonably demur to the strange assumptions of the gentleman who styles himself " The Most Rev. John Hughes, D. D., Archbishop of New York." Meanwhile, with due appre- ciation of your kindness, I am, yours truly, J. F. BERG. PMada. 21si Nov, 1850. REV. DR. BERG'S ADDRESS. TREMENDOUS ATJDIENCE AT THE MUSICAL FUND HALL. One of the largest meetings that we ever saw in the Musical Fund Hall, was assembled there on Tuesday evening, November 26, notwith- standing the inclemency of the weather, on the occasion of the Address by the Rev. Joseph F. Bekg, Pastor of the German Reformed Church, in answer to the Lecture of Bishop Hughes, of New York. At an early hour the streets in the vicinity of the spacious and beautiful Hall were alive with ladies and gentlemen, wending their way to the Saloon. In a short time every place within the walls was occupied, and finally some of the audience found their way to the platform, and soon this place was filled ; thus presenting to the eye of the beholder a densely packed and tremendous meeting of ladies and gentlemen. The front portion of the platform was reserved for the Eev. Clergy, and there was a full repre- sentation from every Protestant denomination in Philadelphia. The Address, which we take pleasure in lay- ing before the public, was listened to with marked attention ; it was received with rounds of applause and other manifestations of appro- bation. The lecturer commenced at twenty-five minutes past seven o'clock, and concluded at ten minutes to nine ; the time occupied being just one hour and a quarter. So deeply interesting was the subject, that the entire audience became entranced with its beautiful pictures, so elo- quently drawn and touchingly delivered, and the minutes passed away so quickly that it really seemed but half the time had been occupied. The evening was one that will ever be re- verted to with pleasure and gratification by those who were lucky enough to get within the walls of the building; and in order that the entire community may read for themselves what the audience heard delivered, we beg leave to present the following address. Editors Philadelphia Daily Sim. ADDRESS OF THB REV. JOSEPH F. BERG, D.J)., la Answer to the Lecture of Archbishop Hughes on the Decline of Protestantism. I am not ashamed of the Protestant name ! I hold it to be associated with all that gives character to the most liberal and enlightened nations on the globe. I am not ashamed of the Protestant faith. It is not the vague, unmeaning thing which its enemies would make it. It is something positive. In proof of this we point to the two most powerful Christian nations on earth ! The kingdom of Great Britain, and the Eepublic of the United States of North America are Protestant, and they owe their greatness to this very cause. We claim as due to Protestantism, the most brilliant achieve- ments and embellishments of literature, and the most profound investigations and discoveries of science, and we declare openly that neither literature nor science can flourish in any land that is bereft of the fostering care of Protestant culture. We hold Protestantism to be essential moreover to the very existence of sound Christianity. — No form of religious faith or worship, which distinctly discards the Protestant element from creed or cultus, whilst it holds on to the Christian name, ever has been, ever can be, ought else than a caricature of the religion of Jesus Christ. Protestant- ism is as essential to civil Hberty and to religious free- dom, as the air we breathe to the maintenance of life. You can have no just government, no equitable laws, protecting the sacred rights of person and property, 6 DR. berg's reply to archbishop hughes securing to all honest and moral men^ liberty to wor- ship God as conscience bids them, without Protestantism. If the principles which belong to the great charter of human rights are losing favor with the masses of man- kind ; if the people of any nation under heaven are weary of the enjoyment of that liberty which secures to every man, the largest amount of personal comfort, wealth and happiness, compatible with the equal right 'of his neighbor to the same — if the inhabitants of any civilized country are longing for the chains of despotic authority — or reaching forth their hands that they may be manacled, or bowing their necks in voluntary servitude to the yoke of tyranny, then I will admit " Protestantism is declining ;" but, if throughout the wide earth, wherever men have heard of Jesus Christ, and seen the light of heaven beaming from the Sacred Scriptures, there is a struggling against the old fetters of feudal tyranny — a loud and earnest remonstrance against the extortions and exactions of an established hierarchy — if there is a heaving of the down-trodden millions, who may not enjoy the rich bequest of heaven, because the heel of oppression tramples upon and crushes them — then in all these symptoms of resistance to perfidy and despotism, you have tokens of the ani- mating power of Protestantism — a vitality which never can be exhausted or destroyed, for it is imperishable as its Divine Author. I am here this evening to respond to an invitation addressed to me in the name of some of the most ex- cellent and venerable men in this community, both ministers of Christ and private Christians ; and whilst I can say, with all sincerity, that I would most heartily have put my name to a similar application, had it been addressed to another, I deem it a high honor to be your servant on this occasion, and I thank them for the privilege. A man of Gath has come forth to scoiF at the tribes of our Protestant Israel. He comes not, it is true, like him of old, with a helmet of brass upon his head — and verily he does not need it — but equipped ON THE DECLINE OF PROTESTANTISM. 7 with the mitre of an Archbishop, and redolent of con- secrating oil, if not of the odor of sanctity. The tones of his voice sound like the echo of the ancient cham- pion of Philistia, who shouted, " I defy the armies of Israel this day !'' In reliance upon the promise of Him who has declared that the weakest in that day shall be as David, I hope I shall be enabled , to deal with this Goliath, argumentatively, as the stripling of old dealt with his prototype ; and I deem it altogether in accordance with the usages of honorable warfare, that he should lose his head by the edge of his own sword — in other words, to drop the metaphor, his lecture shall be the instrument of his own rebuke. This lecture is entitled " The decline of Protestantism and its cause." It purports to have been delivered in St. Patrick's Cathedral, on Sunday evening, Nov. 10th, 1850, by the Most Eeverend John Hughes, D. D., Archbishop of New York. Archbishop Hughes proclaims that Protestantism is declining, and that he finds the strongest authorities for this opinion among Protestants themselves, "who acknowledge, while they deplore and aim to arrest" this downward tendency. First, let us settle what we mean by Protestantism. Bishop Hughes is at a loss for a definition that will answer " the purposes of logi- cal or theological accuracy," though in its popular sense, he owns the term is clearly understood. This difficulty arises, in his mind, from the great diversity of the phases of Protestantism; there are so many Protestant sects, that a scientific man is puzzled to know what this thing you call Protestantism is. I propose to answer this question, first by asking another. What is Light ? Suppose this inquiry to be made by an un- fortunate man, who has lived all his life, like one pos- sessed, among the tombs, or who has, by a strange perversion of reason, or by the stress of circumstances and early prejudices, deliberately chosen a subterranean habitation. Pie is suddenly brought out into the sun- shine, and dazzled and blinded by the subtile agent 8 DR. BERG^S REPLY TO ARCHBISHOP HUGHES which brings tears into his eyes^ he asks with peevish impatience, " What is this thing you call light ?" He sees itj or blinks at it, as its rays fall upon the prism which hangs before his bleared eye-balls, and he cries out with indignant amazement : What a confusion of colors ! What a worse than confounded and confound- ing blending of tints and hues ! Here this thing you call LIGHT, looks blue — and here it is azure — and there it kindles into purple — now it glows in crimson, and then it is yellow, and anon it is green as the grass in the Emerald Isle ! What is this thing you call Light ? Away with the nondescript ! Give me my sub- terranean shade ! Now, what is Protestantism ? It is the light of God's truth ! The effulgence that kindles on the inner man, as the soul is baptised in the glow of revealed religion ! It is the religion of the Bible ! The form which it takes, or the hue which it assumes, .depends upon the structure, and the position and the capacity, and the conditions of the mind that receives it. It strikes this man's conscience end heart, and he is a Methodist — ^warm, and red, and glowing; it falls upon another, and he is a Presbyterian — true, regular blue ; it comes upon another like the light azure tint of water, and he is a Baptist ; and so through all the bright and ever-varying, yet all-glorious colors of the moral rainbow, it produces variety without the sacrifice of real unity. It is God's bow in the clouds that hang lowering over our land, the beacon of the covenant, promising that the flood of Popery shall never again deluge the earth, or steep it in blood and sorrow ! The blending of all the prismatic colors is seen in the bright, colorless light ; and the moral influ- ence of all the varieties of evangelical Christianity is perceptible in the general intelligence, happiness, and piety— shedding peace, and contentment, and glory, upon the land — divesting Protestantism of all sectarian hue, by making holy living the essence of the religion which it universally prescribes. These men who can- not tell what Protestantism is, are the same who love ON THE DECLINE OP PROTESTANTISM. 9 darkness rather than light — who hate the light, and will not come to it, lest their deeds be reproved ! The same who suppress and forbid the free circulation of the Scriptures, who burn the Bible, and curse, and anathematise all who read it without their perversions and without their permission ! But, " Protestantism began in the year 1517." Softly, most Reverend Sir ! The name was given a little later than 1517, but the object designated by the name is as old as the canon of the New Testament. Old things sometimes have new names bestowed on them, and hence Protestantism, though as ancient as the doctrine of the Apostles Paul and John, obtained a generic name, though for a specific purpose. I will not yield this question of antiquity. I will not concede that the Protestant faith is an invention of yesterday, or only a little more than three hundred years old. The champion of the Papacy asks. Where was your religion hefore Luther ? I answer, it was in the Bible ; in the same book in which your religion is also revealed, with this difference, that the system you uphold stands forth as a predicted apostacy, which the Lord abhors, and which he will destroy ! This answer will not do how- ever. We are told, this religion of yours, this Protestant- ism must have had some adherents, now where were they ? Who were they before the days of " Brother Martin Luther?" To this I answer, the armies despatched by the Popes of Rome, or at their instigation, made war upon certain Christians dwelling in the vallies and amid the mountain fastnesses of Piedmont, centuries before the birth of Luther, because these Christians protested against the very doctrines and usages of the Papacy against which we protest — protested against the Pope as the Anti-Christ— protested against the worship of images, and relics, and canonized saints — protested against purgatory and pilgrimages, and works of satis- faction and penance — protested against the mass and auricular confession — and all the distinctive charac- 1 10 DR. berg's reply TO ARCHBISHOP HUGHES teristics of the Papacy ! And because they were Pro- testants — because they bore this unwavering and con- sistent testimony against the abuses of Eome, from the very date of their publication, and on the other hand, had contended for centuries before, with all earnest- ness, for the positive truths of the gospel^ the legions of the kingdoms, that lent their power to the Papacy poured in upon them, devastating their country, and slaying men, women, and children, without pity for the grey hairs of age, or the tender helplessness of infancy; and for centuries did this ruthless wrath bear down upon them, until scores of thousands and hundreds of thousands were slain ; yet they were not exterminated ; and to this very day, in the same fastnesses, the candle of the Lord is shining, and witnesses, lineal descend- ants of the Waldensian Churches, still testify, amid poverty and scorn, with the ancient ardor of their fore- fathers, that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, and that his image worship, and saint worship, and man worship, are so much idolatry — that his purgatory, and penances, and masses, and auricular confession, are devices of Satan — a scandal to all good Christians, and an abomi- nation before God! Say you, "Protestantism began in the year 1517." Most Reverend Sir, you are a learned man, and you know better. You have heard of one John Huss, who suffered martyrdom in 1415, more than a hundred years before Luther stood forth as a Reformer. He perished in the flames as " a ring- leader of Heretics," because he preached the doctrines of the Waldenses, suffering a cruel death, despite of the safe conduct of the Emperor Sigismund, that mo- narch yielding reluctant obedience to the decree of your (Ecumenical Council of Constance, which pro- claimed and settled infallibly, that no faith is to be KEPT WITH HERETICS ! A dogma which still darkens the pages of your statute book with its infamy, and which, on your own principles, you never can repeal ! Time would fail to tell of Jerome, of Prague, of Gerson, of the Bohemian Brethren, of Savanarola, in Italy, of ON THE DECLINE OP PROTESTANTISM. 11 Wickliffe, and the Lollards in England, of the Culdees in Scotland, and a host 'of martyred " Reformers be- fore the Reformation." Enough. Protestantism begaii before 1517. It began when an inspired Apostle pro tested against the apostacy which he describes in his first epistle^ to Timothy, when he says : — " Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons; (departed spirits^ canonized saints and the like; ) speaking lies in hypo- crisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them, which believe and know the truth" — marks of apostacy which are found in no other religious system, calling itself Christian, save in the creed of the Church of Rome. Protestantism began in the year 66 after Christ, not in 1517. The Apostle Paul was the first Protestant. Martin Luther came after him to sweep away the rubbish of Papal abuses, and rescue the truth, (that candle which the Church of Rome had put under a bushel,) from the delusion and fables and silly traditions of the great anti-Christ. From that day to this, the great question has been, Bible or no Bible ! All the efforts of the Papacy have been concentrated on the one grand enterprise of sup- pressing the knowledge of the gospel, revealed in the Sacred Scriptures ! This brings us to the point in Bishop Hughes' lecture upon which he puts the greatest emphasis. It is this : — " That within fifty years from its origin, Protestantism should have conquered and taken possession of every inch of ground of which it is in possession at this day, so that an old man of 1567^ could see Protestantism triumphant in all the nations I have mentioned, and look back to the memory of boy- hood when he knew brother Martin Luther, &c." Now, I ask, is this really true ? Had Protestantism in that day possession of every inch of ground that it holds now? Are there not a few inches of Protestant 1!^ DR. berg's reply TO ARCHBISHOP HUGHES ground on this great American Continent, which have since that day been added to its domain ? Aye, a terri- tory equal to all that it ever won from Popery in its European strong holds ! Has it not conquered a few inches more in every quarter of the globe, Europe, Asia, Africa and America, by the labours of its pious, learned and self-denying missionaries ? Why, Most Reverend Sir, have you just started from a long sleep ? A sleep longer far than Eip Van Winkle's ? Or, are you dot- ing ? Or, have your new mitre and crozier made you delirious ? Or, what is the matter ? Had the Arch- bishop been less magnificent in his assertions, had he contented himself with saying that Protestantism has not extended its geographical limits on the continent of Europe^ I would have admitted the statement, for it is substantially correct ; but whilst I admit this fact, I shall take care to state the real causes which account for it. He says, " from Wirtemberg it spread through- out Northern Germany. It reached, in a different form, however, the Cantons of Switzerland. It penetrated the empire of France. It took possession of Prussia. It pervaded Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, En- gland and Scotland. It conquered them all. * * * The Irish nation stood together against it, and strug- gled with constancy, perseverance and determination. And although the battle has lasted for three hundred years, and although that down-trodden nation has suf- fered intensely for its adhesion to principle," (read Popery instead of principle, and it will be nearer the truth,) " still it did not give way to Protestantism." Now, be- cause the Protestant faith has not gained new territory in Europe, Archbishop Hughes thinks he may count with certainty upon its extinction in less than a cen- tury from the date of the publication of his recent lec- ture. He tells us, too, that it had peculiar advantages in England. It captured immense spoils from the Roman Church, which it superseded, and yet, though it still holds them, it has accomplished little or nothing compared with its means. Let us be candid. Pro- ON THE DECLINE OP PROTESTANTISM.' 13 testantism, we will acknowledge, has not done all that it ought, or all that it might have done. Why not? Let us own it ; Christians have not exhibited as much faith, and as much self-denial as their high profession demands; but this is not the only cause. Turn your eyes first to England. Let no man say that Protest- antism has failed there. No ! no ! the people of Great Britain, next to the citizens of our great Republic, are the most happy people on the face of the earth. The voice of that indignant nation, shouting in tones of mighty remonstrance against the stealthy and arrogant advances of the Papacy, is even now sounding over the broad Atlantic, and waking an echo in Protestant Ame- rica ! But why has not Protestantism gained even a stronger position in Britain ? It obtained immense re- sources in the forfeited revenues of the Papacy! Aye, and it took the curse that was upon that treasure, also ! God hates robbery for a burnt-offering. How had it been amassed ? By the most unblushing frauds ! By extortion, the most heartless ! By wringing from the hard hand of the honest labourer, his slender earnings, in exchange for holy beads and Agnus Deis and holy water, and all the apparatus of monkish superstition ! With importunity the most shameless, the mendicant priests of that Church, which avows its intention to convert the world, appealing now to the generosity, and then to the fears of its deluded votaries, crying give! give !! give !!! Give ! or the soul of the departed whom you love, cannot arise from its fiery bed in Purgatory ! Give ! or you cannot have our prayers or our masses ! No pence, no paternoster ! Give your money, or you perish ! — that Church, I say, has always been able to command resources for any exigency. It had them in abundance during the reign of Henry YIIL, and it lost them when that proud monarch quarrelled with the Pope. The King took the plunder from him, and esta- blished a Church of his own. As to religious principle, Henry YIIL had none, but it was well for England and the world, that the man to whom he gave his confi- 14 DR. berg's reply to archbishop hughes dence, the maligned Cranmer, revered and loved the Scriptures ; and a still greater blessing for England and for the cause of truth, from that age to the present day, was conferred by the short reign of that model of Chris- tian kings, the pious and devoted Edward YI. I am not an Episcopalian — I never expect to be one — but, from my heart I avow it, I honor the Protestant Epis- copal Church, not the Church of which Archbishop Laud is the type, but the Protestant Episcopal Church, as one of the noblest standard bearers of the Reforma- tion. The Church of England, with her noble army of martyr confessors — ^^vith her history, embalming the fragrant memories of a thousand master spirits of theo- logical science, with her strong " articles" of Protestant faith — has nothing to fear from the malice of open foes, or from the treachery of false children, who, like vipers, sting the bosom that has fostered them. She is Pro- testant to her heart's core, and her past history is the guerdon, that by God's grace, she will be Protestant to the end of time. Let her be agitated ! The agitation will only bring the scum to the surface, and if it over- flows, the sooner the refuse is cast into the cauldron of the Papacy and left to bubble there, the better for her purity and her strength. But I wish to the Church of England what I desire for the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and for the Evangelical Church of Prussia, for the Lutheran Church of Sweden, and for every branch of the Reformed Church throughout Europe, to all alike, a speedy divorce from all unnatural and un- scriptural alliances with the State. This has been a canker-worm at the root of them aE, The time has been when such a repudiation would have been neither prudent nor desirable, but it has gone by. God in His providence has permitted it, that His Church, the Pro- testant Church — in all her branches, might draw profit from the lessons of experience, and learn that the name of the God of Jacob is her best defence ! This entan- glement is like the weight of Saul's armour upon the limbs of David. She can walk better, and work better, ON THE DECLINE OP PROTESTANTISM. 16 and fight better without it. The simple sling of gospel truth in the heaven-directed hand of the shepherd boy — the type of the Christian pastor — and the smooth stones gathered from the bed of the river of life, are all the oflfensive weapons that we need to send the missive of death crashing through the brazen helmet into the very brain of Antichrist. There is a moral union of Church and State resulting from the predominance of the popular or national religion — framing the laws, moulding the institutions of every country, and diffus- ing its influence like leaven through all the ramifica- tions of society ; and this is the only legitimate union — this is all that Protestantism requires, and it should seek no other. But there is another cause of the so- called decline of Protestantism, and would to God this cause had never existed. I will select one country out of the states mentioned by Archbishop Hughes, as an example with the simple remark, that the same prin- ciple applies to every European country, in which there has been any retrogression of Protestantism within the last two hundred and fifty years or more, and to some also, in which the religion of the Bible has steadfastly maintained its position, despite of all adverse influence. He says, " Go to France * * Travellers tell us that the temples there represent but a mockery of a memory of a departed creed ; that they are chill and dark, &c ! " Say, ye slaughtered Huguenots ! Who quenched the fire that once burned upon your altars ? Who made your temples "chill?" Who drove your myriads of devout worshippers from their loved sanc- tuaries, and made them "dark?" Oh! Archbishop Hughes ! how dare you point to France ? Have you never heard of the night of St. Bartholomew, in the year 1572? Did you not know that there are descen- dants of Hugonots in America, to remind you of it ? Yes, he knew it well — but he speaks with the sheer recklessness of arrogance ! He points to France, whose population was formerly almost equally divided be- tween the Koman Catholic and the Protestant elements, 16 DR. berg's reply to archbishop hughes and tells you, those Protestant temples " are chill and dark ! " Think of thousands upon thousands of Protes- tants massacred in Paris alone ! Koused from their slumbers by the tolling of the tocsin, they are met in the streets by armed assassins, wearing the symbol of a white cross upon their shoulder ; unarmed and de- fenceless, suspecting no evil, they are lured like sheep to the shambles, and murdered by Popish ruffians. The tragedy was repeated in other cities, until France was dripping with Protestant blood. And when at last worn out by the perfidy and ruthless cruelty of their oppressors, who violated the most sacred treaties, rob- bing them of their dearest rights, so soon as their armies were disbanded, and their sword laid by in the scab- bard; when at last, after surrendering advantages gained in the open field, and time and again bowing in loyal submission to their King, and again and again seeing the most solemn stipulations violated, as though oaths and covenants were ordained to be broken; after wars carried on through successive generations, until they wejre reduced to a mere remnant, Louis set about the work of converting them to the Church of Rome. And who were the missionaries ? His brutal soldiery. He termed these expeditions " dragonades." The poor Hu- gonot had his choice between conformity to the creed and worship of Rome, or the prison and the gibbet. By these means, Louis boasted that he could succeed to admiration in taming the refractory. Thousands left their country, seeking an asylum in Holland, in the Palatinate, in England. I admit, Archbishop Hughes never said a word in all his life more strictly true, than when he told the wonder-stricken crowd in St. Patrick's Cathedral, that Protestantism had declined in France ! Now, in the brazen assurance with which he glories in its decline, he is entirely consistent. Is he not a son of an infallible church ? Is he not a most Reverend Archbishop ? And did not the Pope of Rome order a solemn Te Deum and a grand pontifical Mass in honor of the Bartholomew massacre, when the tidings came to ON THE DECLINE OF PROTESTANTISM. 17 the " Eternal city ? " Is not the medal still extant, which was cast in the Papal mint, bearing the bloody imprint, "Hugonotorum Stiages" the SlaiigJiter of the Hngonots? Rejoice, Archbishop ! If you can find pleasure in the thought that Protestantism has declined in France, re- joice ! But know thou, that for all these things, God will bring the accursed Papacy to judgment! This is a type of all the rest. In the Netherlands, in England, m Ireland, in Spain, aye even in Italy, Protestantism declined; in some instances, it was quenched, by the same infernal agencies. And now I ask, is it any won- der? Is not the marvel rather, that it exists at all? Is it not almost a miracle, that despite of all the hor- rible ordeals through which Protestantism has passed in successive ages, it still holds its own, and is as strong in Europe, in the aggregate, this day, as it was fifty years after the Reformation ? If it were not of God, it would long since have come to nought; but heaven- born as it is, it can never die ; it may decline, but it will revive ! It is like the bush that Moses beheld — it may burn, but it can never be consumed, for God is m it. Here I might pause and safely challenge a successful reply to my answer, but there are other statements and aspersions in the Archbishop's Lecture, which provoke comment and rebuke. He taunts Protestant Missions with want of success. He glorifies the success of simi- lar operations when conducted under the auspices of the Church of Rome. Hear him ! " We know that with- in our own memory, millions and millions of money from England and these United States, and hundreds, if not thousands of Missionaries have been sacrificed in the attempt to do something towards propagating Pro- testantism in the Pagan world ; and I say it boldly, without success." In boldness, the Archbishop is not deficient, especially when he thunders in St. Patrick's Cathedral. If his words were true as they are bold, they would indeed be terrible; but they are not. At this very hour there are not less than one hundred thousand converts from Paganism, in connection with 18 DR. berg's reply to archbishop hughes the various departments of Evangelical Christianity, scattered among the heathen nations of the globe. [The lecturer here appealed to the Rev. David Malin, Secre- tary of the American Board of Commissioners for For- eign Missions, w^ho stated that the number was two hun- dred and fifty thousand.'] And how many thousands more have passed, in humble hope of eternal life, to the presence of the Judge of all, after casting their idols to the moles and bats, and washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb, the great day only can reveal. But what is this, compared with the wonders which Catholicism has wrought ? Hear the Archbishop again. " How strangly, and yet how instructively, has God mani- fested the distinction between truth and error? For while Protestantism has converted none, Catholicism has converted all ! " This is his language. It is highly figurative, brilliantly hyperbolical ! Jesuit Missionaries visited China many years ago ; and who does not know that the Celestials, Emperor and all, are good Catholics, everyone of them, and have been for many ages ! Charles Y., in olden times, ordered the Moors to be driven in crowds to the rivers of Spain, and had them duly bap- tiased ; and who does not know that the Moors are all good Catholics to the present hour ! There is not a Turk, or a Turk's son, or a Mussulman in Asia and Africa, but has been converted ; for " Catholicism has converted all !" Not an Indian in America, Apache, Blackfoot, or Chero- kee, but is a good son of the Church; for "Catholicism has converted all ! " Oh ! rare Catholicism ! Oh 1 stupen- dous Archbishop ! How the faithful in New York must have wondered when they thought of the eagle eye and the trumpet voice of the eloquent Dr. Tyng, and learned that he was converted, and that the learned De Witt and his venerable colleagues, and the whole Protestant pulpit of that great city sparkling with intellect and genius, and all the inhabitants of New York, had been brought into the one fold; and that even the fearless champion of Protestantism, Dr. Brownley, had at last seen the error of his way, and was coming on his crutches, ON THE DECLINE OF PROTESTANTISM. 19 like old Captain Experience, in Bunyan's Holy War, to kiss the hand of their great Archbishop ! I know he does not mean to claim such triumphs for the Catholicism which he extols. Then let him refrain from these extra- vagant expressions in future. Let him not say "while Protestantism has not converted none — Catholicism has converted all!" But a truce to raillery. Catholicism may boast of its Pagan triumphs ! Protestants covet no conversions such as she accomplishes ! The claims of Protestant faith are not so easily satisfied. We do not substitute one set of images for another, or baptise Pagan deities and give them Christian names! Papal Rome occupied the ancient Pantheon, and suffered the Pagan Deities to remain enshrined in their vast temple. She was content to call the statue of Jupiter the image of St. Peter, and to deck the image of Venus wdth jewels and garlands consecrated to the Virgin Mary ; and why need the worshippers resent the innovation? Protes- tant Missionaries preach repentance toward God ! They denounce idolatry — either in praying to images or in praying before them ! They preach faith in Jesus. They insist upon a change of heart. They demand a holy life. This is what ^oe mean by conversion; and we admit, CatliolicisTn makes more converts in her way, than Protestantism ever has done in its way. The Archbishop sneers at its success in the Sandwich Islands ; but he forgets to remind us of the outrage upon Tahiti^ where a few years ago, French brandy and Popery were crowded upon the poor natives at the cannon's mouth, and at the point of the bayonet. I pass to another point. Archbishop Hughes com- mits the gross injustice of charging upon Protestantism the infidelity and the fanaticism of all who are not Ro- man Catholics in civilized countries. He charges all the forms of error which spring from the perversion and abuse of the right of private judgment upon the principle itself; and yet he indignantly repels the sug- gestion that forms of infidelity have been developed in in the bosom of the Church of Rome. He says^ the 20 DR. berg's reply to archbishop hughes Catholic Church possesses "no charm to prevent a man bent on error from indulging his propensities." I an- swer, neither does Protestantism. He rejoins, the Pro- testant jpreaclier may proclaim infidelity and he a Pro- testant stilly hut the Catholic priest " can never do so as a Catholic" Yes, but this a distinction very much like that made by the feudal Catholic Bishop in the good old times, who was both a temporal and spiritual prince, and who replied when rebuked for his profanity, that hie swore as a Baron and not as a Bishop. " But my Lord," rejoined his reprover, "I fear should the Baron be damned, the Bishop will not be far off!" I can see no advantage in this distinction between teaching infidelity as a man and teaching it as a Catholic, unless it be this, that he is compelled to keep up an appearance of conformity, but what is this worth if it be not real ? The sins of infidelity and rationalism are not legitimate results of the Protestant principle. They are abuses which Protestantism condemns, and which it never has originated. ' But there are " your Joe Smith a,nd the Mormons 1" Our Joe Smith? Why, Joe is cut off by the very terms of our rule — " the Bible, and the Bible only is the religion of Protestants !" He has new revelations and lots of traditions, almost as interesting as the sto- ries in Butler's Lives of the Saints. We cannot fellow- ship the Mormons ! " You have your Father Millers, also !" True there was a Father Miller some time ago, but I believe he is dead. Well, the poor man was mistaken, and he led others with him into delusion ! The naore is the pity ; but was it the Bible that deceived Father Miller, or was it his misapprehension of it? If the latter, do not blame our rule. If the former, you may safely de- nounce the right of the laity to read the Scriptures — in that case, it is a bad book, and you are right in con- demning it to the flames ! Father Miller was in error ; but then you know, most Reverend Sir, it is the lot of a favored few only to be infallible. ON THE DECLINE OP PROTESTANTISM. 21 Again the Archbishop is severe on the conventions of women, clamoring for their " Rights," and he charges Protestantism with all the extravagance of such " Con- gresses." Here, however, he leaves out of view the im- portant fact that the leaders in this threatened social revolution, do not stand upon the Protestant platform. They denounce the Bible as the greatest hindrance to their success. How then can Protestantism be condemn- ed for originating fanaticism, which it most earnestly disowns ? So far as real grievances exist in the social condition, or position of women, the clear exposition of the Scriptural principles which apply to her rela- tions in life, will secure all the rights which belong to her. Her experience, all the world over, has proved that she is safe from oppression only in Protestant countries, and safe only when protected by the ^gis of Protestant faith. The grand difficulty in the posi- tion of Bishop Hughes, is found in his perversion of the Protestant Rule of Faith. The favorite argument with all the advocates of Romanism is, that there can be no security for the soundness of faith in Protestant- ism, because it utterly rejects Church authority. It does not . Just as if Protestants believed, and taught that every man has a perfect moral right to think as he pleases in matters of religion ! This is an absurdity which is con- tradicted by the admitted truth, that God has prescribed the articles of religious belief in that Revelation, which we make the rule of our Faith. Our creeds and con- fessions and catechisms are so many traditionary forms, not presented as additional Rules of Faith, but offered as exponents of one and the same rule. They may differ, and they do differ on some points ; but in the main, in the leading articles of our common, undoubted Christian Faith, they are one. We take the ground and we avow the principle, that " God alone is Lord of the conscience" — that the Scriptures themselves demand an appeal to their own teachings " To the Law and to the Testimony ! If they speak not according to this rule, it is because there is no light in them !" " Search 22 DR. berg's reply to archbishop hughes the Scriptures." In other words, the Bible deals with every man as accountable to God, it treats him as a rational creature, capable of understanding the divine law, and demands of him the right exercise of all his faculties in forming his religious principles. He is to judge for himself, and he is to answer to God for his opinions. The Church of Rome on the other hand proposes that every man shall trust implicitly to her authority. You must believe this, because the Church teaches it. You must receive this doctrine and that usage, though they be not prescribed in the " charter" which God has given you, because the Church enjoins them ! Now, as Protestants, we utterly deny that God has delegated any such authority to any hierarchy under heaven ! As Protestants, we proclaim the great prin- ciple of liberty from the spiritual yoke of man's autho- rity ! We own none as head of the Church, save Him whom God has appointed, even the Lord Jesus Christ ! The whole argument of Bishop Hughes tends to the destruction of this liberty. He must have a Human Head to preside over the Church of his choice. A vi- sible Head, in a word, an infallible Pope ! And a more irrational and unphilosophical conclusion he could not reach. A more ridiculous pretension than this of pa- pal infallibility, never was invented to torment the credulity of man. This tendency to despotic authority is the very salient point of all the danger that is threat- ened to free institutions by the prevalence of Catholi- cism. It claims supremacy as a divine right. From its very nature it is not content, and never can be sa- tisfied with equal privileges. To be true to itself, it must rule, and rule with a rod of iron ! It can tole- rate no plea for the rights of conscience, except when through its own weakness, it is compelled to whisper out of the dust. When it can get no more, it will ac- cept toleration, and bide the time when it can issue its mandates with the voice of a merciless tyrant. Thus, Archbishop Hughes rails at the Established Church of England, as a " State slave !" The Church of Rome ON THE DECLINE OP PROTESTANTISM. 2S holds a different station. She is the '^ State Mistress P' She is the despot that sways the mind of the judge, and wields the hand of the magistrate, that compels the very monarch upon his throne to bow reverently before her claim of temporal supremacy. Thus one Pope compels an Emperor of Germany to stand bare- foot at his gates for three days, like the veriest culprit, before he can gain an audience, and another plants his foot upon the neck of a King, quoting the words of David, " thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder !" Hence have arisen all the scenes of cruelty and per- secution against Protestants, with which her annals are stained. I am aware of the plea which has been used in controversies upon this point, and I will notice it here, from a conviction that gross injustice has been done to the Protestant side, through a failure to ap- preciate the peculiar circumstances of the crisis. We are told that Protestants have persecuted those whose religious tenets differed from their own, and have persecuted them for conscience' sake. I ad- mit it. But who taught them to do it ? The Church of Rome ! What drove them to it ? What ! but the example of the Church of Rome! There is this difference, however, between us. We utterly renounce all right to persecute others for opinion's sake. The Church of Rome still claims it ! She still avows it ! And wherever she has the power, she enforces her claim. Look at her theological standards, and you find that at this very day she teaches her students of theology that " heretics are justly punished with death !" Witness the recent facts in Madeira. Hun- dreds of Portuguese have been banished from the Island, because they were Bible readers ! Hunted like wild beasts, they were driven to mountains and caves, their property was confiscated, and they were outlawed, for no other crime than preferring the truth of God to the fables of Rome ! In one point, the Church of Rome always has been consistent. She has always been a persecutor of Protestants when she has had the 24 DR. berg's reply to archbishop hughes power.* Now, let us suppose a case. Fifty years hence, in the progress of Catholicism anticipated by Arch- bishop Hughes, this country will have reached a crisis of no ordinary magnitude and moment. The Church of Rome will have gained, if he is correct, a vast amount of power, and will have amassed large resour- ces. She will perhaps be able to control our elections, to choose our President and the Governors of the dif- ferent States, and to secure a majority of the Senators and Representatives in our National and State Legisla- tures. She may, perhaps, not be able to number a majority of the people of the United States as actually in her communion, but she has more than the balance of power, and she will lend it to any political party that will subserve her interests. Then, in the natural course of events, she will begin to demand certain prerogatives, and to claim sundry concessions and spe- cial legislation, by way of acknowledgment. Peradven- ture, after having driven the Bible out of the public schools, she will find it desirable to expel it from all other public institutions; and having accomplished this, she will next assail the freedom of the Protestant pulpit. This lecturing on Romanism will never do. It is a bad thing, for it excites the people, and there- fore it must he put down. Yes, but there are some Pro- testants of that stern stuff that will not be put down, so long as they have eyes, wherewith to read, and hearts, wherewith to love, and a voice to give utterance to the doctrines of the Bible. What then? They are dis- turbers of the peace ; they incite to riot and disorder, . and the halter must tame them ! So be it. We will suppose that a few of the more pestilent of these Pro- testant prep^chers are put to death, and the wrong is to- lerated ; though many secretly resent it, they are afraid to speak out, and the powers that be have more halters. Next it will be found desirable to produce uniformity, and Protestantism will be proscribed. You must either go to mass and to confession, and send your wives and * The early history of Maryland has been cited as evidence to the contrary, but the case is not in point. ON THE DECLINE OP PROTESTANTISM. 25 daughters there, that bachelor priests may ransack their consciences, and propound inquiries before which modesty drops dead ! — you must either give up your Bibles or go to the stake. Some go to the stake. They are burned. And now the spirit of resistance bursts forth like a smothered flame, and the indignation of all liberal and patriotic men is excited to the utmost pitch. They throw off the yoke and the tyrant Church is in her turn proscribed. Her priests are driven out of the land, glad to escape with their lives. Now, this is properly no fancy sketch. I do not say, it is a thing which will be, but it is a thing which substan- tially has been, and it serves to show how Protestants have been implicated in persecuting the Eoman Catholic Church. Queen Elizabeth, of England, proscribed the Jesuits, and sent some of them to the gallows. Why ? Because they plotted against her crown and govern- ment, and sought to restore the Pope's supremacy. And with the fires of Smithfield, at which a E-idley and a Latimer had suffered martyrdom, still in the remem- brance of the living generation, with the reign of terror, the scenes of bloodshed and torture, signalizing the days of Bloody Queen Mary, greater leniency or less severity could hardly be expected. Archbishop Hughes avows that it is the intention of the Church of Rome to have this country. Well, all well informed persons knew that long ago. The Pope of Rome has set his heart upon it. He cannot do without it, for Popery is waning in Europe. Will he succeed? I believe not. If he does, Protestants will deserve to feel the lash, which his priests will apply with hearty good will. We are to be converted, forsooth ! Converted to what ? To idolatry — to man- worship, and image- worship, and daemon-worship ! Con- verted ! From what ? From Christianity to Popery 1 From the truth, as it is in Jesus, to the abominable fooleries of a system which is as insulting to God as it is degrading to man ! I can almost see the smile of honest pity which will kindle on the face of the Quaker, when Archbishop 26 DR. berg's reply to archbishop hughes Hughes draws near, rosary in hand, to convert him to the pious task of saying prayers by the help of a string of beads ! Will not his quiet answer be — " Friend John, I perceive that in all things thou art too superstitious !" And what will our Archbishop do with the Methodists, and the Presbyterians, and the Episcopalians, and the Baptists, and the Lutherans, and the German Re- formed, and Reformed Dutch, and with all the tribes of our Protestant Israel ! Let him remember that if the Church of Rome is adding to her communion, so are we, and in a larger ratio than she can equal by her importations from abroad. I tell you. Archbishop Hughes, you might as well try to pluck the rainbow from the clouds, as to destroy the power of the Pro- testant Church in America ! You may try to persuade the citizens of this great Republic, that the glimmer of your little taper is brighter than the light of the sun in the firmament, and if they will believe you, this land will belong to you, and the Pope and Satan, so long as its inhabitants prefer darkness to light ! I find no fault with Archbishop Hughes for making this avowal. The spirit of our free institutions gives to the Church of Rome and to all who prefer her com- munion, the right of worshipping in accordance with conscientious convictions, but it gives no more ; and when she assumes the air of a Queen and demands more than the position which belongs to her, she steps upon ground which will open a grave at her feet! There is a noble bird which soars high, and suffers little birds to sing. The serpent may bask in the sun- shine, and cast his scaly skin, and mark his pathway over the rock in glittering slime, and the noble eagle heeds him not ; but, when he climbs the cliflf on which she has built her nest, and rears his head to strike her eaglets, in that very instant her beak and talons are upon him, to tear him skin and scales, joint from joint, and hurl him bleeding and torn back to his slimy covert ! As Protestants, we are bound by the very principles ON THE DECLINE OF PROTESTANTISM. 27 of our profession, to accord to all, and to defend the right of all men to liberty of conscience, and to the free and open discussion of the principles of their reli- gion and of our own ; and as Protestants we claim the same privileges for ourselves. We demand no more, and we never will accept less ; and we say with all candor, that if any system of religion cannot endure the ordeal of searching investigation and scrutiny, it is because God never intended that it should flourish on soil consecrated to liberty. We are told by Archbishop Hughes, that " the first exigency of condition in Protestantism, was to pull DOWN. Its first mission was not to build up, but to pull down." Truly ! Under the Levitical law, when a house was hopelessly infected with the leprosy, the statute required that it should be pulled down. And the inspired Apostle has declared that the mission of Christianity is similar. " For," says he, " the weapons of our warfare are mighty, through God, to the pulling DOWN of strongholds !" We must pull down the rub- bish of the Papacy, before we can build up believers as living temples of the Holy Ghost. The Archbishop ridicules the positive and negative elements of Protestantism; it says "yes," and it says " no." Truly ! And what religion does not ? We say " yes" to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God — ^we say " no" to every tradition which is wholly of human invention. We will say as Pro- testants, in a word, now and forever, " No Popery !" Archbishop Hughes imagines, that because we avow, that we are Protestants, we thereby affirm " that Christ established a church for the purpose of propagating his doctrine, but that after fifteen hundred years, it had failed, and we had come to renew it." No, Most Reve- rend Sir ! That is a wrong inference. The Church of God, under the old covenant, was corrupted and led away into Babylonish captivity, but though it became as Sodom and Gomorrah, and was cast forth as an abominable branch, yet God preserved to limself a 28 DR. berg's replt to archbishop hughes remnant. And the same is true in the New Covenant. God never has left himself without witnesses. Elijah mourned that he alone was left of the Lord's prophets, but God told him he had reserved to himself more than seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal, or kissed his images. So in the darkest days of Papal supremacy, the Lord preserved a remnant, preserved it too, despite of all the power of Anti-christ, and of all his efforts to destroy it. The Church of God is not a failure, because for a season to prove her and instruct her, she is made to dwell in the wilderness ! When Archbishop Hughes ventures the tremendous assertion, that in the Church of Rome perfect unity of doctrine always has obtained, he says the boldest thing which he ever uttered in St. Patrick's Cathedral. I will read the extract, and it is the last which I shall notice. After stating that in all probability, not ten Protestants out of the whole number of fifty millions, " could be found to agree on all points, in substance and detail, in the principles and doctrines of Christian Revelation," he adds : " On the other hand, the Catholic Church numbers two hundred millions, scattered all over the globe, from the rising to the setting of the sun ; and I run no risk in stating^ that out of these two hundred millions, there could not be found ten, in whose inmost souls there exists the slightest deviation from the actual, and of course original doctrines of the Church, in regard to the Revelations of the Son of God !" This audacity is beyond any parallel, which can be run any where, out of the Church of Rome ! To all this I answer: Take any ten Evangelical Christians, out of as many Protestant denominations ; and in all the fun- damental articles of Christian faith, in all the points which involve the salvation of the soul, and in the great practical duties enjoined by the religion of Jesus Christ, they will speak with one heart and one voice. They will tell you, that faith in Christ and holy living as its fruit, are the only real evidences of a regenerate heart. Has the Church of Rome never deviated from the ori- ON THE DECLINE OP PROTESTANTISM. 29 ginal doctrines of the Church of Christ? The very question is an insult to the understanding of an intelligent Christian. I will vary the inquiry, and ask, Has the Church of Rome always been doctrinally con- sistent with herself? Then how is it, that to this very day, she cannot tell us where the infallibility of which she boasts, resides ? Is it in the Pope, or in the Coun- cils, or in the Pope and Councils together ? Settle the Italian and Gallic dispute on this point, which is rife at this very day ; for until you do. Archbishop, your boast- ing is too contemptible for sober argument. Remember the feud respecting the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary ; think of your Dominican and Franciscan broils — call to mind a few of the great schisms re- corded in the history of Papal Rome, in which rival Popes cursed and excommunicated each other, and before you step forth again to extol the unity of faith and practice, which you display as a mark of the true Church, remember this, that whenever you can find leisure for the task, there are many Protestants who will be ready to receive the proof by which you can reconcile your purgatory and your penances, and your indulgences, your mariolatry and your distinctions be- tween latreia and douleia, and your auricular confes- sion and your denial of the Scriptures to the laity, and your bead-praying, and your scapulars, and all your Roman notions, with the original revelations of the Son of God ! I have endeavoured to show cause why as Protest- ants we may demur to the extravagant assumptions, and the reckless aspersions of this man of Gath, and although he may fortify himself with a hundred pre- dictions, culled from the brilliant aphorisms of Ma- caulay, they will not help his cause. The defamer of Thomas Cranmer and of William Penn will hardly gain that credit as a prophet, which, as a historian, he has lost ! Here then I take leave of the Archbishop's lecture. Before I close, allow me a few words more. I am 30 DR. berg's reply to archbishop hughes, ready again to admit, that the present aspect of Pro- testantism is not all that can be desired. Protestant- ism has not yet fulfilled its mission, nor will its errand be accomplished until this globe shall be encircled with a broad belt of light and love. We make too little of the ideal Church, the Holy Catholic Church, comprising all the mystical members of the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we often make too much of our denominational peculiarities. Protestants ought to be more closely allied, and they will be. They ought to look more closely at points of agreement, and less at points of difference. The external pressure of infidelity and Popery may be one means of bringing them more closely together; but the principle of union must be in us, in order to lead to permanent and living results. The tribes of Israel are still in the wilderness, but there is a Canaan of promise before them, where there shall be one fold and one Shepherd forever. For every sen- tence I have uttered, for every statement I have made, whether of fact or doctrine, I desire to be held to the strictest account. I love the noble sentiment of the old Koman, " I dare not say aught that is false — and I am not afraid to say anything that is true!' If assailed with obloquy, I tell you beforehand, that can make no impression upon me. I am used to it. If I am met by argument, I am ready in any public way to defend the truth, whenever assailed by an enemy who has charac- ter and reputation ; but I will notice no other. And to all the approaches of the lordly assailants, who pro- claim the approaching downfall of our Protestant faith, and laugh to scorn the pure doctrines of the Sacred Scriptures, I would say in the words of the noble Beza, when the Reformed Church was threatened by the im- perious King of France, with a renewal of persecution — " Sire, the Church of Christ is an anvil, which has worn out many a hammer." FATHER CLEMENT rcj mmm nkimm ^mm.. BY THE AUTHOR OF « THE ABBEY OF INNISMOYLE," "PROFESSION IS NOT PRINCIPLE," &c. i 4 •♦» » i PHILADELPHIA: T. B. PETERSON, No. 98 CHESNUT STREET. 1848. Price 25 Cents. T. B. PETER SO*., No. 98 Chesnut Street, Philadelpliia, Has just Published, and for Sale, the following works, Which can be obtained of aU the Principal Booksellers and News Agents throughout the U. S., at PubUsher's Pnces, SYBIL LENNARD, a Record of Woman's Life. By MRS. GREY, author of " The Duke and the Cousin," " The Gambler's Wiie," etc. One volume, octavo, price 25 ents. THE DUKE AND THE COUSIN, by MRS. GREY, author of " Sybil Lennard," etc. One volume, octavo, price 25 cents. LIEBIG'S AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY ; or, Chemistry in its application to Agriculture and Physiology. By PROFESSOR LIEBIG. One volume, octavo, paper cover, price 2o cents. LIEBIG'S ANIMAL CHEMISTRY : or, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, in its application to Physiology and Pathology. By PROFESSOR JUSTUS LIEBIG. One volume, octavo, paper cover, price 2o cents. An edition of Professor Liebig's two works, Agricultural and Animal Chemistry, is also issued, neatly bound together, in one large volume, octavo, price 62^ cents. 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A ROMAN CATHOLIC STORY. By the author of " Abbey of Innismoyle," "The Dicision," "Pro- fession not Principle," etc. Paper cov^, price 25 cents. DE CORMENIN'S HISTORY OF THE POPES. By LOUIS MARIE DE CORMENIN. Translated from the French— and embellished with sixteen superbly colored engravings ot POPES, CARDINALS, &c. IN FULL COSTUME. Anv of the above works, neatly bound in Paper covers, can be sent by mail to any part of the United States at a trifling expense for Postage. Any of the above works will be sold to Booksellers, News Agents, and Pedlars at a very liberal discount. ADDR , ^ ^^ PETERSON, No. 98 Cliesiiiit Street, PHU-ADEUPHIA. ^ ^ f /1P>^ Price 12o Cents. DR. BERG'S ANSWER TO THE LECTURE OF ARCHBISHOP HUGHES ON THE DECHfJE OF PROTESTANTIS}!. ri LE^TUEE: .^ PELIVKRED IX THE MUSICAL FUND HALL On Tuesday Evening, iroveml)er 26, 1850. ly ANSWER TO BISHOP HUGHES ON THE DECLINE OF PROTESTANTISM. BY THE REV. JOSEPH F. BERG, D.D., PASTOR OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH, RACE STREET. revised:and corrected by the author for publication. PHILADELPHIA: T. B. PETERSON, No. 98 CHESTNUT STREET. ONE DOOR ABOVE THIRD. King & Baird, Frinten, Ko. 9 Sansom Street. (>i \ IfVINTER READING!— NOW IS THE TIME TO GET IT CHEAP !!! Books for Evcryhoily ; ai greaUy rctluccti^ rates. Published and for sale by T. B. PETERSON, No. 98 Chesnut Street, Philadelphia ANY FIVE OF ANY OF THE BOOKS MENTIONED below, Tvill be given to any one, or sent to anyone, to any vhro in tliis country, for One Dollar, or elercn of any of them will be given for Two Dollars, or seventeen for Three Dolliirs. ^o make out your lis^ts all over the city and country, and lay in a stock of reading for the approaching winter, and t .11 in person, or send on your orders at once for them. The price of any single one is 25 cents. The following are by ELLEN PICKERING : The Orphan Niece. Kate Walsingliara. Tlae Poor Cousin. •11k- Quiet Husband. 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Works by tnfesmost Popular Authors. The Orphan Child, by thVCountcss of Dlessington. Grace Dudley, or Arnold M Sjir:ttoga, by C. J. Peterson. Remarkable Apparitions and Ghost Stories, illustrated. Madison's Exposition of the Awful and Terrifying CcrL-mo- nies of Odd Fellowship. Full of plates. Liebig's celebrated work on Agricultural Chemistry. Animal Chemistry, by Professor Liebig, in one volume. Father Clement, by the author of " Abljey of Innismoyle." The Abbey of innismoyle, by the author of '■ DunaJlen." The Insnared, a Story of the Heart, by Charlotte Bury. Flirtation, or Real Scenes in Life, by Charlotte Bury. Narrative of the Iniquities and Barbarities practised at Rome in the Nineteenth Century, by Raffaelle Ciocci, formerly a Benedictine and Cistercian Monk. The Fortune Hunter, by Mrs. Anna Cora Mowatt. Abednego, the Money Lender, by 5Irs. Gore. Gliddon's Ancient Egypt, her Monuments, Hieroglyphics, &c. Full of illustrations. The True Art of Healing the Sick, by Dr. Ilollick. The Beautiful French Girl. A very good book. Any five of any of the above works at all will be given or sent to any one for one dollar, eleven for two dollars, or seven- teen for three dollars. The price of any of them singly is 2.5 cents. Persons in the country need only enclose one dollar or more in a letter, and say what ones they wish, and they w;ill be sent at once. Lever's Novels— the most Humorous in the World. CHARLES O'JI ALLEY, the Irish Dragoon. Complete in one volume of 32-1- pages. Price 50 cents. .TACK IlINTON, the Guardsman. Complete in one volume of 165 pages. Price 37 ^ cents. THE KNIGHT OF GWYNNE. A Tale of the time of the Union. Complete in one fine octavo volume of 226 pages, beautifully illustrated. Price 50 cents. Alexander Dumas' Works. The best in the World. DIANA OF MERIDOR ; the Lady of Monsoreau ; or, France in the Sixteenth Century. An Historical Romance. Com- plete in two large octavo volumes of 538 pages, with numer- ous illustrative engravings. Price One Dollar. THE REIGN OF TERROR; Genevieve, or, the Chevalier of the Maison Rouge. An Historical Romance of the French Revolution. Complete in one octavo volume of over 200 pages, with numerous engravings. Price for the entire work, 50 cts. ISABEL OF BAVARIA: or, the Chronicles of France for the Reign of Charles the Sixth. Complete in one fine octavo volume of 212 pages. Price 50 cents. EDMOND DANTES. Being a sequel to Dumas' celebrated novel of the Count of Monte Cristo. "With elegant illustra- tions. Complete in one volume of over 200 pages. Price 50 cts. Works by Various Good Authors. VALENTINE VOX, the A'entriloquist. The Life and Ad- ventures of Valentine Vox, the Ventriloquist, by Henry Cockton. author of "Sylvester Sound," etc. Complete in one volume of 317 pases. Price 50 cents. ARISTOCRACY: Or Life among the Upper Ten. A true novel, founded on the Fashionable Society of Philadelphia. By Joseph A. Nunes. of the Philadelphia Bar. Price 50 cents. 'SALATHIEL; OR, THE AVANDERING JEW. By Rev. George Croly. Price 50 cents. TEN THOUSAND A YEAR. By the author of a '-Diary of a London Physician." Complete in one volume of 432 patres. Price 50 cents. LLORENTE'S HISTORY OF THE INQLiTSITION IN SPAIN, complete in one octavo volume. Price 37^ cents. OUTLINES OF ANAT03IY AND PHYSIOLOGY, with a large dissected plate of the Human Figure, colored to life. By the celebrated Dr. HoUick. Price one dollar. THE LADIES' WORK TABLE BOOK. A work every lady in the land should possess. Price 60 cents. A WINTER GIFT FOR LADIES. With instructions in Knitting, Netting and Crochet Work. Price 12| cents. ODD FELLOWSHIP EXPOSED. With all the Signs, Grip.?, Pass-words, etc. Illustrated. Price 12^ cents. MORMONISM EXPOSED ; full of engravings. Price 12.1 eta SPECIAL NOTICE TO EVERYBODY. — Any person whatever in this country, wishing any of the above works published by T. B. Peterson, on remitting One Dollar or upwards, post pail, directed to the Publisher, No. 98 Chesnut street Philadelphia, shall have a di.scount of one-fifth made them from the retail prices of any works they may send for. This is a splendid offer, as the discount made to pui^hasers sending by mail, will pay the postage on the books to any place they rtay want them sent by return of mail. jB®' All orders thankfully received and filled with despatch, and sent by return of mail, or express, or stage, or in any other way the person ordering may direct. Booksellers, News Agents, Pedlars, and all others supplied with any of the above, at the lowest rates. Send, by all means, to the Cheap Book. Newspaper, and Magazine Establishment of T. B. PETERSON, No. 98 Cliesnut Street, Philadelphia. < ^ « » » T. B. PETERSON'S Cheap Magazine, Newspaper and Periodical Establishment, is at No. 98 CHESNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA, Where he continues to supply all orders from country agents and other persons, for Magazines in advance of all others, and at publisher's prices. Also, a large and extensive assortment of all the Magazines, Newspapers, and Cheap Publications of tte dav. at the lowest cash prices. He respectfully invites country merc}Mmts, agents, the trade, strangers in the city, and the public generally, to call and examine his extensive collection of publiij^ns, where they will be sure to find all the latest tvorl-^ published in this country or elsewhere. mS^ T. B. Peterson is also agent for, and receives subscriptions for the.4(fnowing Monthly Magazines and Weekly Newspapers, which will be served regularly to subscribers in any part of the pjty or districts, or mailed to subscribers to any place. Graham's ?Iagazine, $3 00 per annum. Peterson's Ladies' National Magazine, 2 00 " Godey's Lady's Book, 3 00 « Sartain's Union Magazine, 3 00 " Knickerbocker, 5 00 " Democratic Review, 3 00 " Littell's Living Age, weekly, 6 00 " Hunt's Merchant's Magazine, 5 00 " Eclectic Magazine, 6 00 per annum. Ladies' Garland, 1 00 " New York Whig Review, 5 00 " New York Police Gazette, 2 00 '« The Saturday Evening Post, 2 00 " M'Mackin's Model American Courier, 2 00 •' The Mammoth Saturday Gazette, 2 00 « The Dollar Newspaper, 1 00 " Anyper.son on subscribing to any of the above three dollar or higher priced Magazines or Reviews, shall receive one dollar's worth of any of the above advertised Books gratis, as a premium. The persons subscribing to select out of the whole list •which ones they would rather have. - Any two of the Three Dollar Magazines will be sent one year for Five Dollars. JS^ Agents, Pedlers, Canvassers, Booksellers, News Agents, &c., throughout the country, wh o wish to make money on a AA. V-- (a „'^ C C .€■ cc: c c c' -( 2(?C C5- y^^ c a: (€pcc C(c: ' ■ ^ ccc c3(jpK<: cc^ <,cc cxsrcc: CCCC« C cv^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Jan. 2006 PreservationTechnologies <^r c^cccc ^0C rc( :c