DIVINITY SCHOOL TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY CHRISTIANITY'SGREATEST PERIL CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL BY AUGUSTUS CONRAD EKHOLM BEACON PUBLISHING COMPANY ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. COPTRIGHTBD, T.CJI5 BT BEACON PUBLISHING CO. ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. PREFACE When a friend recently inquired ; ' ' What led up to the writing of this book?" I hardly knew how to answer his question. Upon reflection, however, I traced my in terest in the subject to a desire with which I became possessed a few years ago to ac quire a knowledge of some of the world's principal religions. It was not idle curiosity which prompted this desire, but rather a de termination to ascertain, so far as I could, the truth about those things in life which should interest us the most — the vital es sentials pertaining to the development of our spiritual being, and which are most closely related to our eternal welfare. With that object in view I began to seek an insight, so far as my opportunities would permit, of the truth concerning some of the world's great religions, including Christi anity, the blessed faith of my forefathers in which I had been brought up from child hood, and for which I had been taught to have the greatest love and veneration. I PREFACE read all the books I could secure on the early ancient religions, including the two great rivals of Christianity, Buddhism and Mo hammedanism. There is much to admire in the various religions of prominence, as well as those of obscurity, many of which have grown entirely extinct. In reviewing the history of many religions one finds much that savors of profound nobility and strongly indicates that the hand of Divinity has had something to do with their origin as well as development. It also becomes apparent that the most revolting corrup tions have sprung up and the grossest op pressions have been visited upon humanity on account of the depraved tendencies that have been permitted to dominate the lives of men. Some of the most corrupt condi tions ever inflicted upon society have been fostered by so-called religious institutions. Yet, in spite of glaring indications of cor ruptions in the early religions, it behooves one to be sparing in criticism while so much remains calling for condemnation in pres ent-day religions. Even our own so-called Christianity covers such a multitude of perversities that many of the disparaged PREFACE heathen religions make a favorable showing in comparison. When one considers the shortcomings, failures, and corruptions prevalent among the professed followers of the Christian faith there seems to be little cause for Christians to utter vigorous protests against the perversities of other religions so long as they are not protesting sufficiently against shameful practices and doctrines under the guise of Christianity that are daily disgracing and injuring the cause of Christ in the world. If any good is to result from this work I believe it must be in the measure in which I have succeeded in voicing the strong feel ings of protest which have deeply stirred my whole being against the encroachments and impositions that have been enacted and are still being enforced by unscrupulous men against the sacred ideals of Christi anity. These ideals, if true, must stand for the promotion, protection, and preserva tion of the rights and eternal welfare of humanity. Such ideals must work for the establishment and growth of just relations between men and different classes of so ciety — for the development of such equi- PREFACE table, sound, and happy conditions as God Himself has vouchsafed and made possible for the enjoyment of the human race. Such ideals, in the truest sense, may be said to be the very incarnation of that which the Divine would have the children of men cherish and aspire to attain. To remain true to the ideals of Christ it becomes necessary to protest against exist ing wrongs, to expose impositions and oppose oppressions which are being in flicted on humanity. One of the most po tent causes of the Reformation was the in fliction of base impositions and gross false hoods on a duped and deluded following of the Catholic Church. The same kind of im positions and the same kind of falsehoods are today practised and enforced upon the lives of countless men, women, and children, and undoubtedly will continue for ages to. come to be enforced upon the unfortunate offspring of the present generation, now under Vatican dominion. Great injustice and unspeakable persecutions are waged against a great many staunch and noble pa triots of truth and righteousness who are opposed to the doctrines and practices of PREFACE the Church of Rome and other corrupt in stitutions. It has been aptly said that the Reforma tion was a return to truth and reality in op position to falsehood and semblance. In the words of Carlyle, it was "A revolt against false sovereigns; the painful but indispensable first preparative for true sovereigns getting place among men!" While it is true that ever since the Refor mation true sovereigns have gradually be come more and more recognized and re spected among civilized men, it is also true that the world has been very slow in ac knowledging and obeying the type of such sovereigns as are most worthy to rule over the destinies of men. We are to-day confronted with the se rious problem not only of putting the right kind of officials into office as our transitory rulers, but we must face the even more se rious problem of defending, putting into practice, and developing those ideals which should always be the permanent sovereign rulers of our individual and national life. Desperate efforts are being made to-day by reactionary and baneful forces to have false PREFACE sovereigns take the place of our ideals of government, to encroach upon our personal liberties, and rule over our private rights. We are rapidly nearing a critical point in our national existence when we must arouse ourselves to overthrow the inimical influ ence of Romanism seeking to gain control over our political affairs and dominate our religious and intellectual liberties, or we must submit to the disastrous rule of such contemptible dominion. We must decide for ourselves whether we shall have for our ruler the blessed sovereign of truth, justice, and liberty, or the cursed despotism of falsehood and imposition which character izes the tyranny of papal authority. In the hope that the best interests of a true Christianity may be served this book is dedicated by the author to the cause of re ligious, political, and intellectual freedom. Augustus Conead Ekholm. 10 CONTENTS PART I The Rise and Fall of Nations. paoe Influences at Work in Egyptian History . . 15 Relation of Ancient Religions to Chris tianity 29 The Aryan Race 36 The Modern Situation 49 Rome's Growth in America 61 Baneful Influence of Romanism 78 Our Destiny 88 PART II Corruptions in Christianity. First Symptoms of Decay 95 The Crusades 120 The Inquisition 124 Christianity's Influence on Civilization . . . 147 American Countries under Roman Dominion 151 Failures in Christianity 165 PART III The Crusades of the Twentieth Century. Rome's Intention in America 177 Results of Roman Rule 194 PART IV Christian Responsibility. Protestant Principles 215 The Spirit of Martin Luther 237 PART V Why I am not a Roman Catholic 257 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL INFLUENCES AT WORK IN EGYP TIAN HISTORY. We may get an insight into a nation's existence by studying the ideals which have caused either its advancement or decline. As it is in a people's religion that the highest expression of their ideals exists it becomes necessary to make a careful study of the religions predominant in the beliefs of men of any particular age in order to understand that age correctly. A man 's re ligious conceptions are nothing more or less than the conceptions which he holds to wards the sublime Creator of his being. It is interesting and impressive to note that the earliest recorded expressions of men have come down to us as expressions of men's religious convictions. To understand how deeply the ancients were interested in religious subjects a study of the history of one of the most ancient of is CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL these nations is pertinent — a nation whose monuments, records, literature, and general advancement surpass in antiquity all of the older nations, and whose very antiquity is immortalized by its well-preserved mum mies and pyramids — a people whose grand ideals resulted in the establishment of the first national government of which there is any knowledge, and whose public institu tions were for ages the envy of other nations. Along the banks of the Nile we find a lofty-minded, stolid branch of the human race engaged in solving the problem of hu man progress, of contributing to the ad vancement of civilization, and furthering the interests of the kingdom of God on earth. We look at the physical aspect of the land of Egypt and we become amazed at its productiveness and eminent fitness for the development of a noble race of men. Its vast resources and the fertility of the land guarantee an ample sustenance for a numer ous population. Its advantages for easy and profitable intercourse with other nations are unsurpassed. It lies in the very route of trade between Europe and Asia, and be- 16 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS tween Africa and the other two continents. It is the gateway to Africa, and the fort which commands the way from Europe to the East Indies. In Egypt Nature herself does almost all the work of preparation. The munificent Nile swells and overflows at regular seasons with its limitless blessings for the enjoy ment of a dependent population. Man has but to gather a most prolific harvest. The fields are teeming with the golden grain; wheat, barley, maize, rice, and almost every known product for cultivation can here be raised under the most favorable circum stances. The natural advantages bestowed upon this favored land by the generous hand of Providence to some degree explain the an cient wealth and power of Egypt. For a period of from two to three thousand years, from the time at which the great pyramid was built to the time of the Persian inva sion, the population of Egypt and its ex tent of cultivated land far exceeded what they are in the present day. The great nat ural advantages which contributed to its former development are still there, and 2 17 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL offer even greater possibilities for achieve ment than were ever dreamed of by the an cients. What then is the cause of the cessa tion of progress in Egypt? What has brought about the evidences of decline and decay everywhere so apparent? A search after the true facts will reveal that the ruin of the Egyptian nation may be traced to the same cause which produces op pression, crime, and misery in all lands — ¦ the love for material gain, the cravings after plunder, the exploitation of the priv ileges of the multitude by the strong hand of the few; discrimination against the masses, resulting in overtaxation, oppres sion, and wretchedness. The welfare of the multitude has been ignored and sacrificed for the enrichment of the privileged classes. The suffering peasantry has been reduced and kept at the starving point, and no one has prospered but those in league with the governing powers. In locating the responsibility for the ob vious misrule, the cause of the decay and degeneration of a once virile, highly pros perous, and advanced nation, history re- 18 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS veals the fact that in the earliest stages of record in Egypt a monarchical form of government, with "the power behind the throne" vested in the priestly class, was dominant. There existed three classes of society — the ruling power, or priestly class ; the soldiers were the second, and the lower orders formed the third class. It is the ruling class and the lowest class that claim most attention, the former arousing the righteous indignation of all right-thinking people, and the latter winning commiser ation and sympathy. By the system of caste which prevailed a man's birth indi cated his station in life — there was no ad vancement, no hope for a deliverance. The injustices which grew up under the system and the cruel spirit which fostered it were two of the main causes of the decline of the nation. We are surprised and shocked to find the oppression which crushed the Egyptian na tion brought about by the very class from whom we expect guardianship instead of tyranny, and sympathy instead of oppres sion. Considering the unsurpassed natural advantages of this marvellous country, and 19 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL thinking of the high ideals of its early pa triots, one is grieved beyond expression to see the downward course which was brought about through the influence of a class of impostors who turned traitors to the best interests of the Egyptian people. In the earliest stages of which there is any record the Egyptians believed in a pure and highly idealistic religion. They took the glorious sun as the emblem for their enlightenment, and the provident Nile as the image for their worship of an all-wise Providence. However primitive their religion may have been, it had a pure, heaven-born origin. They worshipped a god whom they looked up to as the creator of all good and the de stroyer of all evil. They had the great, mysterious,wealth-producing Nile and their glorious sun, which spoke to them about the richness of god's blessings on earth, and exemplified the brightness of the hereafter. They also had their great desert, and the darkness of the night to convince them of the barrenness and destructiveness of evil. The god Osiris was their representative of all that is good, and Seth represented what ever was evil. These were the two invisible 30 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS powers in conflict in the battle of right and wrong, for the welfare or the destruction of the human soul. The sun was worshipped as the idealistic power combating darkness. Their Osiris was the hope of humanity in its struggles and sufferings. They looked to him to bring about the victory and for a just reward in the life that is to come, as well as a just punishment for the oppressors and evil-doers. In this: pure religion of the ancient there is strong evidence of Divine inspiration, and development through which power there was generated the marvellous force which explains the early advancement and glorious achievements of the ancient Egyp tians. All of the decay and downfall of the lofty institutions of the early days which contributed to the exaltation of the nation may be traced directly to the selfishness and corruption of the nation's leaders. It has justly been stated that "the love of money is the root of all evil. ' ' It was this desire for personal gain which primarily undermined the greatness of the institu tions of Egypt. The old Egyptian priest hood, having become corrupt, entered into 21 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST) PERIL a conspiracy to defraud the followers of the ancient faith and commercialize the pure religion of their fathers. They held a coun cil among themselves and outlined their programme of procedure, which embraced the development of superstition, heresy, and all manner of wrong notions in the minds of men. The innocent faith of the humble seekers after truth and justice and the approval of heaven became the subjects of their delusions, and a righteous people became the victims of their cupidity. In the excavated tombs dug out of mounds of antiquity there are incorrigible records exhibiting the devilish practices of a degraded priesthood. Every one who could pay for a sculptured record convey ing justification through the authority of the priest was saved. Every mummy thus characterized as justified was already an Osiris. It was the belief of the Egyptians that after, being justified by Osiris every one was called by the same name. What monstrous sacrilege! What heinous per fidy! What fiendish degradation! Such are the depths of defilement, such the ex tent of corruption, such the bottomless hell THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS of wickedness into which the human soul will sink, submitting to the forces of evil. Prayers and incantations which were in troduced as rituals and forms of worship ; the performance of mysterious ceremonies ; the institution of perverse practices for sacrifices — everything that the cunning and wickedness of a debased hierarchy could devise was designed to becloud the reason and pollute the faith of the people, causing doubt, superstition and fear to flourish in stead of dispelling these dangerous ele ments from the hearts of worshippers and imbuing them with the pure faith, courage, and strength needed for bearing their daily burdens and withstanding their daily trials. Even in the solemn process of embalming the dead the polluted fingers of avarice in truded their abominable practice. Accord ing to the size of the fee extorted from the mourners was happiness doped out for the departed by the sacrifice and through the generosity of their duped survivors. Un- f athomably wicked, you say. Yet this was the. established practice which grew up and flourished among the priesthood of the Egyptians. What is worse, is it not a prac- 23 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL tice which has been extended into other na tions and which has been imitated and car ried on within the institution of our own Christianity under slightly different forms and ceremonies? The evil design of this practice is carried on even to this day more extensively and effectively than a great many realize. Becoming possessed of the people's con fidence and realizing the credibility and changeableness of human emotions, leaders of men, through fanaticism or otherwise, have become the traducers of the most sa cred gift of God to human souls. Klnowing how human it is for man to lose sight of the value of good, under the cloak of their pre tended or misconceived sanctity and supe rior authority, such leaders, who have be come misled and corrupt, find ready victims in persons who, for the consideration de manded, readily give up in submission to escape the self-restraint from evil or the performance of active benevolence. As we study the history of the grand old race of the Egyptians one may discover not only the cause of the nation's advancement, but also get an insight into the cause for its 24 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS ruination, and see the effects of the in domitable good, as well as the destructive influences of evil. We may perceive the effi cacy of the high ideals which were instru mental in elevating the people's destiny, and also discern how the noble religion of the early stages developed into supersti tion, doubt, fanaticism, and all manner of evil practices. It makes the hearts of right- thinking people even in our own age boil with indignation against the traitors of God and the traducers of humanity who brought about the shame and downfall of a once liberty-loving and noble-minded race of men, who defrauded a people out of a pure and holy religion and gave them as a substitute the perversities of superstition, sorcery, and various forms of idolatry ; who were not satisfied with imposing penalties on the living, but who also exacted extor tions for the pretended welfare of the dead, enslaving the living as well as moulding the caste for the oppression of future genera tions, making victims of the lives of com ing generations as subjects of the same thraldom, and the bearers of the same op- 25 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL pressive yoke under which the living had been constantly groaning for a deliverance. 0, Egypt! how glorious and beautiful were the first stages of thy history, but how inexpressibly sad and tragic thy latter pe riod ! From a beginning resplendent with hope as the noonday sun thy ship of honor and majesty has sunk into the dark waves of ignominy and almost disappeared into the impenetrable gloom and blackness of the night! The richness and nobleness of its early spiritual life acted on the inward life of the nation as a stimulant and pro ductive force, fruitful of national great ness, like the great Nile adding to the supplies of its storehouses of material wealth; but, while the Nile continued in its material beneficence, the great spiritual cur rent which contributed the main strength and support of the nation was drained of its life-givmg power, its source of comfort, and its fountain of blessing, by the blighting forces of corruption and the sinister power of evil. Thus a poor, bereft, and bewildered humanity was left wandering in the great desert of despair, overburdened with op- THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS pression and weighed down with hopeless ness. The prospects for the liberation and ad vancement of the Egyptian people are any thing but encouraging so long as their des tiny is at the mercy of a power controlling a religion of superstition, fanaticism, and corrupting influences. It can only add to and intensify the evil influences brought into life by the wicked priesthood and po litical tyrants responsible for the corrup tion and destruction of the pure religion of the ancients. It was not the series of wars with the Pharaohs ; it was not the long and desolating struggles they had with the As syrians, or vexations brought on by any other invading powers ; it was not the want of physical resources or the absence of nat ural advantages — not any such causes pro duced the downfall of the Egyptians. It was the corruption from within which brought about that state of affairs. There can be no improvement in the condition of the people until a rejuvenating and elevat ing power shall be introduced into this land which will exert an influence directly op- 27 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL posite to the power which has caused the ruination and destruction of the people's true ideals of worship and correct living. Reviewing the history of the Egyptians one is forced to draw a heavy sigh of regret at conditions as they exist. May this long- suffering people be blessed with a speedy return of that spirit which was the cause of its ancient advancement ! May the day be not far off when the regenerating power of a pure religion shall dispel the delusion and plague of superstition and fanaticism which has now so long stood in the way of the true advancement of this people. God speed the day when such a religion of righteous prin ciples and holy inspiration may act as the healing balm to take out the poison which has permeated the moral and spiritual life of the nation : the poison of heresy, idolatry, and materialism, as ruinous and destruc tive to individual manhood and national growth^as to the physical life was the poi son of the asp which buried its death-pro ducing fangs into the arm of Cleopatra and caused the death of this famous Queen of the Egyptians. THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS RELATION OF ANCIENT RELIGIONS TO CHRISTIANITY To understand the forces of religion is to comprehend the mightiest power in the making of a nation 's history. These forces form as well as tear communities asunder. They have united as well as divided empires. In each nation as in each individual there are two distinct forces at work. Call them a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or by any other name you may choose, but be sure to cor rectly and clearly distinguish them as two entirely distinct forces which are directly antagonistic to each other. Through the operation of one of these forces and under the cloak of religion the most atrocious and barbarous acts have been perpetrated and proclaimed sanctified, and the most cruel and hideous customs have been nourished under the guise of its protection. Through the agency of the opposition force result the most admirable acts of heroism, self- renunciation, and devotion, producing re bellions against evil, and making martyrs out of its persecuted followers who, through its inspiration, have been instrumental in CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL advancing the cause of freedom, peace, and happiness of the human race. One of these forces is always the deadly foe to religion ; progress, science, and art, seeking the over throw and ruination of individuals and na tions. The other is a directly opposite power, working for the upbuilding of a pure religion and all of life's worth-while accom plishments, calling into existence and fos tering the developments of exalted nations. What must impress all students of relig ion is the fact that all primitive religions have exalted ideals and are imbued with noble purposes, though the conceptions of worship may be very crude and limited. In the darkest ages of darkest Africa is found the lowest type of humanity wor shipping a rain and a sun god, because to them, as it was to the Egyptians, the sun is the greatest wonder of Nature. It speaks to them of the power which is the cause of their being and the means of their sus tenance. Religions are subject to developments of imperfections and corruptions as well as to evolutions into higher manifestations of the truth and fuller realization in the hearts so THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS of men of the divine nature. Imperfec tions are constantly introduced by the ten dency of man to read wrong interpretations into religion, resulting from his childish admiration and fear of the miraculous and magical in nature ; his credibility and sus ceptibility to the influence of sorcery and belief in witchcraft, and a multitude of wrong notions forced upon him by his superiors in intellect and higher stations in life, who by their superiority frequently subjugate him to their power for selfish ends. Thus, through the deceitful prac tices of men and through the accumulated power of evil, we have the production of a debased mythology and idol worship suc ceeding the decay and corruption of the simple and pure primitive religion. A religion can grow and develop only ac cording to its inward strength to throw off superstition and external influences which are directed against it; when it is powerful enough to become the ruling force instead of being a passive and subjective element in the life of men ; when it is suf ficiently authoritative and effective to re form and elevate the manners and customs 31 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERLL of the times, instead of being weakened by them. In religion, like everything else, there is no such thing as inactivity. It must either advance in spite of all obstacles or it must submit to opposition and finally meet with extinction. A religion, to survive op position and become worthy of the distinc tion of being a universal religion, must be pure and strong enough to keep out all cor ruption, superior, liberal, and broad enough to adapt itself to the need of all classes and races of men; cosmopolitan enough to be able to assimilate and harmonize all stages and conditions of society. It must be repre sentative and emblematic of a central re deeming idea which shall strike a true note in every human heart not blinded to the appeals of truth and justice. It must bring a message of comfort, encouragement, and redeeming grace to satisfy the holiest as pirations of all men in all lands and at all times. There is only one religion which gloriously fulfils this requirement, and that is the blessed religion of our Lord and Sa viour Jesus Christ. Before considering the effects of the Christian religion upon the lives of indi- THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS viduals and nations it will be interesting to make a study of some of the developments in history which preceded this great world- religion. To do this it will be necessary to go back to an age and race of people which vies with the Egyptians! in pressing its claims for preeminence in ancient history. The history of India, the early Assyrians, the ancient Hebrews, and that of the Baby lonians, if we take the guidance of the He brew Scriptures, may claim an even greater antiquity than Egypt can boast of. Mesopotamia (the land of Shinar), ac cording to the Book of Genesis, was a plain discovered and settled by one of the earliest races of mankind. It was in this place that the building of Babel took place, the first great city after the Deluge, and there oc curred the confusion of tongues and the dis persion of races. According to this ver sion, this must have been the common habi tation, the central community for the primi tive races — at least, those figuring most prominently in the development of the world's civilization and its principal relig ions. In this garden spot of human infancy one 3 33 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PEREL finds the physical advantages that exist for the development of a great nation almost as auspicious, if not equally as favorable, as those that are known to exist in Egypt. In the rich valley of the Tigro-Euphrates basin there is a most inviting territory for the enjoyment of mankind. This region may be looked upon not only as a basin of fertility from a physical point of view, but from a political and religious point as well-. Here we locate the existence of great springs of eternal truths ; we discover the sources of great fountains of wisdom, feed ing the mental and spiritual lives of men and nations as their regenerative force of enlightenment enters into the currents of civilization for the advancement of future ages. Just as the two great majestic rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, gather up their swiftly-increasing and ever-changing con tents, starting from their origin in the bubbling springs of the highlands of Ar menia, and continuing to receive the accu mulated moisture from the contributing streams and mountain cascades along their path, at last uniting to empty their accu- 34 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS mulations into the bosom of the Persian Gulf, so did the great religions, emanating from Central and Southern Asia, trick ling down from the uplands of primitive in spiration, gather an ever-increasing vol ume along the course of time. Finally, like a thundering, roaring, seething, and im petuous Niagara, this great mixture of hu man emotions, superstitions, idolatries, per verse doctrines, and a great variety of more or less imperfect religions, came rushing down into the placid gulf of Hellenic civili zation. But a far deeper gulf, a more cleansing pool, and an infinitely greater transforming power was required to re ceive, assimilate, and regenerate this vast conglomeration of various forces which came down from the heights of antiquity. It required the unfathomable ocean of Divin ity as revealed by the immeasurable love of Jesus Christ to embrace these tremendous accumulations of the ancient races, and to cleanse and refine them under the purify ing influences of God's grace, merging them into one glorious, harmonious faith for the reformation and regeneration of all races of men. This great work of human re- 35 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL demption can be accomplished only through the transforming power of this wonderful religion which meets the spiritual wants of all men of all races, and of all times. THE ARYAN RACE. Among the races of men which have been by far the most influential in promoting the world's progress is to be found the Aryan race. Justice demands consideration of some of the most important developments of the ancient religions of that strong and solemn region of Western Asia so preg nant with illustrious thoughts and immortal ideals of mankind — the birthplace and for ages the home of the Aryan race. To locate one of their most primitive habita tions we must trace this wonderful race to the mystical land of India. In this sun- kissed and beneficent land grew the ances tral tree whose noble branches have grown and developed into the most enlightened civilization of all climes and of all lands. Tracing the family connection of these various branches by their similarity, one may observe in their forms of primitive 36 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS worship a common belief in their Maker. This similarity and common inheritance is revealed when a comparative study is made of the traditions, myths, and various faiths embodied in the ancient religions. As all religions are rooted in the past and have been fostered by their predeces sors, they exert an influence of inherited virtue which must be felt by each succes sive generation. Thus in studying the dif ferent religions of the early Aryan races and comparing their doctrines and modes of worship, and, particularly, observing the conception of relationship which ex isted between God and man, between the Divine and the human, we are forced to the conclusion, outside of the consideration of the universal aspiration and wants of hu man nature, that the religions presented for our study are products of each other, and that they all sprang from the same altar of family worship, the members of which have separated and gone out into different countries. We find the Indians, Persians, and Phrygians in the East, and, in the West, the Greeks, Romans, Germans, Norsemen, Slavs, and Celts. From a com- 37 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL parison of their mythology and from a careful review of their religions one is able to recognize convincing evidence that all of their religions are the common offspring of one primitive old Aryan religion. The members of the respective branches all worshipped the same highest-heaven god, with a tendency among most of them to look up to and call their supreme god "Father." The leading idea embodied in their myths and rites is everywhere the same, however different the peculiar char acter of the different religions may be from each other in the minor respects. Scholarly research leads to the belief that the different Semitic religions also de scend from a common parent, although it seems more difficult to determine the de gree of relationship between the different Semitic modes of worship. The Hindoos seem to be the most ancient, and as the march of progress of humanity has continued from East to West, India be ing the most eastern nation which has figured prominently in the world's civili zation, the history of this branch of the Aryan race seems to be worthy of especial 38 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS attention. The primitive Hindoo, about 3000 b.c, settled in the northwestern part of India, and later the race occupied all of the country north of the Vindhya range of mountains. The native dark races oc cupying the peninsula of India were soon subdued by the fair-skinned Ayrans, who eventually overspread the entire country. At first the Hindoos were active in intel lectual pursuits and enterprising along in dustrial lines. Gradually the march of progress began to slacken, until finally progress in India came to a standstill and reactionary forces set in. Why this marked change in the evolution of the race? We have here a repetition of the experience of the Egyptians. A once flourishing and happy nation is borne down in oppression by a similar system of castes, by similar perversions and corruptions of their once holy religion, by similar usurpa tions of government and tyrannical do minions over the weak by the strong; the corrupt priestly class stopping the wheels of progress and retarding the designs of the Almighty for the advancement of the children of men on earth. History truly 39 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL has repeated itself in the bitter experience of these two nations — all the more remark able on account of their remoteness of as sociation and the vast difference in their material development. The development of the unprogressive characteristic in a race once so energetic and ambitious has justly been partially at tributed to the intermixture of blood, cus toms, and ideas with the native tribes. The primary cause may be traced to the corruptions which crept into their ideals of worship. The degeneration of the race caused by the intermixture of blood became greatly extended by the existence of re ligious corruption. If the early Hindoos had maintained their racial dignity and lived up to their noble ideals, no deleteri ous mixtures of blood, ideas and traditions would have taken place to block the course of progress in India. The result of their experience should be a signal warning to other nations to guard against similar de velopments. Vigorous educational cam paigns to call attention to attending evils should be maintained and drastic legisla tion enforced to prevent the intermixture 40 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS of races and individuals not on a common level, or unsuitable for joining future gen erations in a common destiny. In the early Hellenic stage, as in the early Indian stage, is found the same sacred altar of family worship, estab lished in each man's home, and the head of the household officiating as the high priest. Along the banks of the Indus River is the noble Hindoo, following the same mode of living as his b.rethren in other countries — not laying out plans for a prison system of castes (which was a later development) ; not subjugating woman hood, but elevating her to a queenly realm ; not polluting the sanctity of morals, but building up a pure and holy family life. Such are the conditions of the early life in India, as well as other primitive Aryan races. The husband and wife were both "rulers of the house" and worshipped their gods together in family prayer. Their gods were noble gods — the God of Fire, the Sun, the Wind, the Friendly Day. The terrible blood-drinking deities of modern Hindooism were conspicuous by their absence in the early mythology. 41 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL In the Veda the hymns are addressed to the bright and friendly gods. The simple and trusting belief in immortality of the early Hindoos is also one of the charac teristics of their faith. The gods whom the Greeks worshipped were regarded as the guardians of mankind and the avengers of evil. To them belonged the power of re warding virtue and of punishing crime. They observed the minds and hearts of men, honored the upright, regarded the faithful, and heard the voice of supplica tion. All important public functions and private acts of life were introduced with religious ceremony. Here, too, is found the man of the house, the officiating priest, say ing his own sincere prayers, and making his own free-will offerings for himself and his family. Each important event in the life of the household, the birth of a new member or the taking away of a loved one, the betrothal or the marriage, each had a sacred religious rite to solemnize the cere mony. Communication with the deities by the Greeks was not confined to any class. With such freedom and purity of the faith of the 42 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS ancient Greeks it is no wonder they became the light of the civilized world and the standard-bearer of progress. But, like the experience of the early Egyptians and that of the Hindoo, deterioration set in after the high tide of their ancient glory had been reached through the influence of their pure primitive ideals. Here, too, a wicked priesthood arises to monopolize the priv ilege of dominating over the minds and hearts of men. By the pretension of in fallibility vested in the power of the oracles they issued an irrevocable decree declaring that only the priests became qualified to an swer the questions of those who would learn to know the mysteries of the future and of fate. This diabolical imposition brought other perverse practices in its wake. Some thing precious must be brought in recom pense for the revelation imparted. Treas ures of gold and silver, and sculpture and painting were cast in profusion into the divine thesaurus, until this receptacle for avarice became swollen with inestimable wealth. The house of Apollo became a sacred warehouse steeped in corruption, like the Vatican power in later time, for 43 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL the most iniquitous practice of the ages of infamous extortions. The pure faith of the ancient Greeks was transformed into superstition by the priestcraft at Delphi. From one of the most reliable authorities of recorded knowl edge we learn "the members who com prised the priestly college made it their business to know the actual state of affairs not only of Greece, but, so far as pos sible, of all surrounding nations. ' ' By such information the priests could know, and did know, beforehand the kind of inquiries which arose out of political and social con ditions of the country. When it came to the actual domain of prophecy and to matters of which priests could not know more than others, they had recourse to fraud. Thus was the credit of Apollo and his priests maintained against the hazard of contin- geny. "In spite of the satire and ridicule of the more enlightened, and the sharp darts levelled against them, the Delphic priesthood held its own for many centuries, and did not perceptibly wane in its influ ence over the public mind until after the es tablishment of the Roman empire." 44 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS As a result of the iniquitous practices which the Greek prophets forced on the people, the masses became submerged in delusions, doubt, and materialism, and their paths of aspiration and course of en deavor were diverted from their original ideals of purity and manhood into the de structive ways of materialism, sensualism, and total depravity. The more refined and elevating philosophies of the Stoics and those of the Academicians were rejected, and the perverse doctrines of atheism, sen sualism, and materialism were received with open arms. Corruption of the Roman priesthood is found no less base and degrading than that of the Greeks. The duties of many of the officials of religion were monstrous imposi tions. Men like Cicero and Caesar, we are told, as well as the leading men of all the learned classes, knew well enough that the whole business was a sham. The remark of Cato that he could not understand how two religious leaders of the day could ever look each other in the face without laugh ing was as appropriate as it was witty. The Brahman priests of India were no 45 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL less mercenary and heartless in their inter pretations of divine authority with which they cloaked their wicked practices. His torians relate how the priests incorporated in their sacred hymns as an inspiration from God many such despicable declara tions as the following: "Who gives wealth to the priests, he will conquer ; him the gods will protect." Like other Oriental races, the Hindoos had progressed from one stage of ascen dency to another, first developing from a strong, commanding tribe into a confedera tion of tribes, and finally into several well- organized nations, all bound together by the strong central control of kingly power. As in the case of Egyptian history, the priest hood grew in power and eventually out- rivalled all other forces of both spiritual and political control, until at last it became the supreme dominant power behind the throne, directing the affairs of the king dom, and organizing its authority into one of the most cruel and pernicious systems of caste that has ever existed. They monop olized all religious and political privileges, and used the strong instruments of their 46 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS power to crush out human liberties to sat isfy the cravings of greed and personal am bition. Society was divided into four dis tinct classes: (1) the priestly clase, for whose aggrandizement and selfish indul gences all other classes were permitted to exist; (2) the independent warrior class, who were released from manual toil to per mit of their whole time and life being given up for the defense of their superiors in authority and for holding the lower castes under subjection; (3) the husbandmen, or tillers of the soil, who were required to pro vide a sustenance for the upper classes, as well as their luxuries and the wealth for their enjoyment; (4) the servile class — the slave bands of black descent whose lives had been spared. The lot of this last class is said to have been more debasing and op pressive than that of brute animals, more intolerable because of the power of reason ing with which they were endowed to reflect upon the injustice of their condition. To add to their unspeakable debasement, the Brahman priests taught that their caste had come forth from the mouth of God, whom they claimed had divinely appointed 47 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL the priesthood from the beginning of time. They forced all under their dominion to rec ognize and obey the exalted edicts of their impositions, and denounced all other brother Aryan races who did not submit to their pretensions. All such Aryan races who refused to accept their caste system as of divine inspiration were stigmatized by them as lapsed tribes or outcasts. Among the list of such fallen races as they condemned were the Ionians or Greeks. The other Aryan races did not fall to the same low standards of perversions and debasement, for, if they had, what mortal can realize the downward course the destinies of nations would have taken? Viewing the condition of Indian civilization and making comparison with the conditions of other Aryan nations who became less corrupt in their practices is to understand what the system of caste has done for India under the tyrannical rule of the many impositions which have been forced on the people. Reviewing the various stages and mani festations of the ancient religions referred to in this chapter, we are forcibly impressed with the disastrous effects upon civilization 48 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS of corruptions which were permitted to grow and develop for the perversion and debasement of a nation's truest ideals. In the consideration of the various stages and manifestations in religion one must compare the nations which have been dom inated by the corrupt rule of Romanism with those nations which have adhered more to Protestant principles to realize the in imical influences of ecclesiastical tyranny of Vatican rule. THE MODERN SITUATION. What has happened in one age is sure to happen in subsequent ages under similar causes. This universe is operating under a sublime system of unchangeable law. In the degree that our generation is permit ting its best ideals to be ignored and de based, in that degree it is already doomed to destruction. History certainly repeats itself, so far as individuals and nations are concerned, in exacting penalties for all sin and crime, as well as meting out rewards for the fulfilment of just ideals. In what measure are the Christian na- 4 49 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL tions of the world to-day attempting to carry out such ideals ? We cannot look for much encouragement from the source of other nations in advancing the cause of progress until they have become inspired with the proper moral standards and the necessary redeeming faith for their devel opment. The Christian nations, therefore, are charged with an important obligation. Are they going to be weighed on the scales of the Almighty and be found wanting? They are now being put through the test. Will they succumb to inward corruption and the power of evil in the world and call down upon themselves the fate of being thrown out upon the scrap-heap of unworthiness and dishonor ; or will they arise in the in vulnerable strength of Christian manhood and fight the good fight of Christ, for God and humanity? Why have the fallen nations of the past perished? One answer will apply to all: Inward corruption, the usurpation of authority over the masses, a depraved de sire for material gratification, the de moralization of true religious ideals and substitution of hypocrisy, superstition, 50 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS heresy, and the subversion of the power of just government. These are the things that caused the downfall of the ancient nations and the Roman Empire. These are the things which will also be the cause of our own destruction if they are permitted to grow. How are we guarding against the encroachments and baneful effects of these inimical powers? It is all very well to say: The world is growing better; there is no danger of our nation going into decline. Let us most sin cerely and prayerfully hope so; but such talk will never do any good. The world surely is growing better, and will continue to grow better, even if you and I and the nation in which we live must perish on account of our wickedness. A wiser thing to do than merely resting in a state of overconfidence is to personally help to in crease the rate of speed at which progress is made by pitching in with all our strength in cooperating with all redeeming forces to work for hastening the time of the final victory over all evil. Overconfidence is often the forerunner of defeat. Delusions are very prone to spring up in the minds of 61 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL men to dim their vision of the things eter nal and to establish false ideals of success. The individual and the nation which rests self-satisfied on the record of past achieve ment and remains unapprehensive of pres ent and future dangers, is indeed in a most lamentable plight. The continents are strewn with the ruins of dead nations and civilizations. "History laughs at the optimistic illu sion that 'nothing can stand in the way of human progress.' It would be safer to assert that progress is always for a time only, and then succumbs to the inevitable decay. One by one the ancient peoples rose to wealth and civilization, extended their sway as far as geographical conditions would permit, and then began to decay within and crumble away without until the mausoleums of their kings were the haunts of jackals, and the descendants of their conquering warriors were abject peasants slaving for some alien lord. What guaran tee have we, then, that our modern civiliza tion with its pomp, will not be one with Nineveh and Tyre?" (Rauschenbusch, m THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS "Christianity and the Social Crisis," pp. 279-280.) If we sum up- the causes that led to the French Revolution we must be impressed with their similarity to the causes which produced the downfall of the ancient na tions. We have the same usurpation of power by the upper classes, the same cor rupted priesthood, the same debasements of religious ideals. Will anyone deny that these same conditions exist in an alarming measure even in our own day and genera tion among our Christian nations ? One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was the unequal and unjust distribution of wealth. Will anyone doubt the inequality and extreme injustice which prevail in the human administration of ma terial affairs to-day ? How are we confront ing the seriousness of this important ques tion ? A favored few in the Roman Empire gained immense wealth and for a time they succeeded in holding under their subjection a mass of slaves and free proletarians. The independent middle class disappeared. What sympathetic man to-day does not see the increasing tendency to industrial 63 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL slavery of the great masses ? What is hap pening to our middle class — the mainstay of the nation? Is it not being gradually forced back into serfdom? Huge combina tions concentrate organization so as to eliminate the need of brains except in their own highly centralized offices. In the olden times all roads led to Rome. In our modern times the currents of wealth all flow into the unclean pools of the Rockchilds, Rothe- fellers, Peer-more-gains, etc., except what unavoidably escapes through evaporation and is reluctantly distributed for the lubri cation of the creaking and groaning machinery of production. Our present cruel system has a tendency to make mere machines out of men. Where is this sinister tendency going to end? And these obvious miscarriages of justice in the material world are not the only causes for alarm that thinking men will discover as they view the prospect ahead. What is the attitude of the great masses themselves in responding to the call of civilization? When are they going to embrace and prac tice the great principles, of Christianity which alone can set them free? If they 64 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS were really active the unrest and unprin cipled rivalry between Christian nations would soon cease and brotherly love inspire the desires and dictates of the powers which at present dominate military and political organizations. What are they do ing to overcome their most disastrous enemies of intemperance, immorality, untruthfulness, and the various forms of vice which are at work creating frightful conditions of moral slavery more disas trous to their soul's welfare than could be the effects of any industrial and material slavery that might be inflicted from external conditions? In combating the forces of evil no half-way method will ever bring about victory. No toleration can be shown, No compromises made with vice; Unconditional surrender ! Nothing else will justice suffice. The causes of intemperance, Immorality, corruption, Degradation, all must be probed And expelled from man's dominion. Our sons and daughters to stay pure Need protection from defilement Of unclean surroundings and sins Forced on them by predicament. 55 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL Both public and private exploits Of iniquity must be squelched. No good can come from their designs; Only evils from them are belched. The harlot must give up her trade; The grogshops must close up for good, The gambling den must cease to be; All fruits of hell must be withstood. Sin is what causes hell on earth; Evils are products of men's vice. Subdue, root them up, one and all, And on earth, heaven will arise. After all is it not for such a heaven, free from sin and vice, that all pure hearts yearn like the destitute desert wanderer longs for a refreshing spring? While there may not be immediate hope for an early realization of this aspiration, all souls have an assur ance that the time will surely come when this storm-beridden life will be transformed into an eternal sphere where sin and vice shall be no more. To bring about such an universal condition of blessedness on earth may well be within the realm of possibility. Nay, it is an absolute certainty if it be the will of God, for with Him all things are possible. It must be clear to all of us that if such a condition is to become a reality it must come about through the instrumental- 56 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS ity of men. God's way of redeeming hu manity is by His Holy Spirit working in the hearts of men. There is no such thing as "collective bargaining" in the operation of man's salvation. Each soul must come into personal contact with the Saviour and be baptized with the heavenly immersion of God's love. Mohammed and his followers, in their eagerness to make hasty acquisi tion of numbers that they might place under their subjection, took over whole tribes of pagans and unbelievers through collective bargaining with the chiefs of the tribes, without consulting the individual souls of men. Not so with God. He re quires a personal conviction of man's sin fulness as He stands ready to sign the merciful pardon which will reconcile all repentant souls to His divine will. There are a great many perplexing prob lems which confront the Christian world to-day, questions which must be answered by the individual as well as those which must be answered by the nations. One very important question which at present looms up for the consideration of our own nation is the immigration problem — perhaps one 57 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL of the most serious and important prob lems of the day. So far we have been able in a more or less successful manner to handle this question. That many mistakes have been made wise men will admit. The question to consider now is, How may we overcome, as far as possible, our mistakes of the past, as well as pursue a more wise policy in the future? We have our own best interests to consider, as well as the interests of those who from foreign lands would come and share our national life with us. We must remember that they are also human, from whatever class of society they may spring, and it would indeed be very unchristianlike of any of us to seek to shut the door of opportunity on any human being who might be benefited throughout instru mentality and help. We should, first of all, lay all personal prejudice and selfishness to one side when we take up this question. If we follow the spirit of the Master we will succeed in solving the question correctly. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone." It is not for us to pronounce judgment against our fellow- men, or to condemn as unfit for sharetakers 58 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS in our privileges even the most lowly of those knocking for admission at our ports. We have, however, a very sacred duty to perform to safeguard the interests of all concerned. There are more than commer cial interests to consider. We have spirit ual interests to conserve, and a great moral responsibility hanging over us. Are we competent to do justice to ourselves and the vast influx of new blood which is con tinually swarming in upon the land? Are we able to make safe and useful citizens out of these raw recruits coming from all classes and conditions of men? Who should be trusted to stimulate and direct the cur rent of immigration into the country? Who are to be depended on as worthy teach ers and custodians of these immigrants after they arrive within our jurisdiction? These questions should not be answered by any of that motley crowd of men and women who rush on to Washington when an immigration bill comes up for considera tion in Congress or is presented to the President for his signature or veto. These questions must be answered by the Ameri can people themselves. They are the ones 59 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL who finally have to answer, even if they per mit the matter for the present to be handled by a few self-seeking and, in some cases, misguided interests. It is not a question of illiteracy or poverty or any of the other individual mis fortunes of mankind which is the most im portant for consideration in connection with this problem. Other matters being justly administered, these matters, grave as they may seem, should not prove insur mountable obstacles. The main question is, Who may be intrusted with directing the current of immigration into our country, and who are capable and trustworthy enough to develop the raw material into a useful citizenship after they have once found entrance? Should it be a powerful organized institution which tends to keep alive and active the despotic spirit of a degenerate and decadent Roman civiliza tion in which the Vatican power originated, or, should it be through the agency of that more progressive institution which laid the foundations of our democracy, and which has been the cause of its inspiration and development ? If we leave it to the former, 60 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS what results may we expect? Countries which have been dominated by Romanism, are examples of what may follow if our immigration problem is to be handled by the dominion which has moulded these nations ' destinies. Is our free public school system going to be robbed of one of the main objects of its existence, which is the development of a loyal and efficient citizen ship, by having taken from it this sacred responsibility (of more significance in the case of the immigrant population than the native-born) and putting it into the biased hand of a suspecting and presumptuous in stitution which seeks to increase and per petuate its existence through the propaga tion of superstitution, prejudice, and un sound religious and political ideals? ROME'S GROWTH IN AMERICA. Thebe is cause for serious reflection by patriotic citizens on the significance of the following statistical facts showing the rela tive increase in strength of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States from 1900 until 1914, as compared with thirty- 61 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL five of the leading Protestant churches in the United States for the same period of time: Roman Catholics — total membership in 1914. 13,794,637 Increase since 1900 5,621,686 Combined membership of 35 of the leading Protestant churches in 1914 22,775,470 Increase since 1900 5j282,845 Assuming that the same ratio of increase will continue for the next few decades, it does not take an expert mathematician to figure out the short time it will take the Roman Catholic Church to surpass the Protestant membership; nor does it take an extraordinarily perceptible mind to real ize the main source of increase which ac counts for the rapid growth in the former as compared with the seemingly slow growth of the latter faction of the Chris tian church. This remarkable difference in the increase of one faction as compared with the other elicits the question why the membership of the Roman Church has grown so much faster in proportion to the growth experienced by the Protestant churches. For the sake of brevity we will take the time now only to review the main causes of the growth of the Roman Church, THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS to ascertain the principal source of increase. This church safeguards its own perpetuity and development through inheritance in a way that is impossible by the Protestant churches, where a rational and self-asser tive membership is valued more highly than a mere following of individuals whose faith has been thrust upon them by inheritance. Yet this characteristic of retaining and developing a membership, so far as the mere matter of securing additional numbers goes, must be recognized as in favor of the Roman Church. Another advantage in acquiring a large following must be con ceded to this church in the manner in which those it is not able to claim by the law of inheritance are brought into its dominion. It is a peculiar manner in which most of the outside recruits are brought into the church. How does the Roman Church gain its ascendency of power and growth of follow ing from outside sources ? Is it by appealing to the adult mind of discrimination and clear discernment? Does she invite the noon day sun of intelligence and the standard of truthfulness and sincerity to illuminate the 63 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL doctrine she has to offer to the world? Does she court an open investigation of her inward workings, and does she permit a frank and honest statement of her funda mental principles ? Is she willing to expose the foundation on which most of her doc trines are based, and is she capable of giv ing a legitimate explanation to the world of her worthiness to exert the authority she claims, as well as to reconcile the facts of history exposing her influence as con trasted with the influence we have a right to expect should be brought about by true Christian principles ? No ! No ! Such would be a most suicidal policy for her to pursue. What intelligent person of mature wisdom and an awakened conscience and a sincere heart could ever be made to believe in her teachings and in stitutions? What soul who has ever con templated for himself his relationship with his great Maker, and who has sought to find out the sole power having jurisdiction over his eternal welfare, could ever dis cover such a dispensation in the Catholic Church as is claimed for it by its leaders ? 64 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS Alas! it is not to persons of seasoned intelligence, of inquiring minds, of search ing consciences, of questioning souls, that this church cares to propound its doctrines, but rather those in spiritual and intellec tual darkness would she select as the most likely soil for the propagation of her faith. Those who have been quarantined within the bondage of the church from infancy are natural victims of her subjection and the most loyal of her constituents. It has been the unvarying policy of this church to look to this source as the principal safeguard to perpetuate its continued existence. She is to-day more particular than ever in guard ing with a most jealous eye the subjects of her inheritance. She is also reaching out more strenuously than ever after the igno rant and most indefensible classes to in crease her numbers and power and, sad to relate, not for the social betterment or spiritual enlightenment of her communi cants. In our own country she has met with one great obstacle which has ever been a great hindrance and source of discomfort to her promoters, and that is the little red school- 5 65 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL house, which arouses her anger and im patience like the red flag of the toreador excites the frenzy of the bull in the arena. This benevolent institution, in which all Americans have been taught to believe, has ever been an eyesore to the leaders of papacy, who never lose an opportunity to stigmatize the public schools as godless in stitutions and as being unfit for the train ing of the young. The truth of the matter is that on account of the enlightening influence of our free public schools the Roman Church has found it far more difficult to secure a strong foot hold in this country than in other countries where less fortunate conditions exist. No wonder the zealous priesthood, realizing the opposition springing up from a liberal education against their vocations of graft and unholy dominion, are so outspoken in their bitterness as to vilify the free public schools as "nurseries of vice which should be suppressed to prevent the damnation of the country." There is, however, one great opportunity the church has been assiduously taking ad vantage of to offset the obvious drawbacks 66 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS with which she has had to contend in our democratic land, and that is the muster ing of the immigrant population into her strongholds. If she can contrive to hold on to a fair percentage of her natural in heritance and continue to augment her strength from the immigrant recruits as she has during recent times, she will indeed hold the key to the situation of controlling the destiny of our Republic within the near future. If you will tell me who is to have the lion's share of the immigrant popula tion in hand for guidance and development, I will tell you who is going to control the destiny of this nation a few score years hence. Who is at present the most alive to the situation of the immigrant problem, the Catholics or the Protestants? If you want to serve the best interests of your country, make it your business to find out what power it is that is fast gaining control over the secret force of this vast problem, and if you find that it is a power of evil which is gaining in ascendency, it becomes your solemn duty as an American citizen to do your utmost to oppose and overcome such 67 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL a power directed at our individual and national welfare. Some idea of the importance which Catho lic leaders place upon the immigration problem may be noted from the fact that this was one of the principal problems dis cussed at the recent great gathering of the American Catholic Missionary Congress in Boston. Bishop P. J. Muldoon, of Illinois, delivered one of the principal addresses of the gathering on the subject of "Immigra tion to, and Immigrants in, the United States." The Boston Evening Globe of October 21, 1913, in reporting his address, said: " Bishop Canevin claims that out of the 13,343,583 foreign born in the United States in 1910, 6,854,838, or 51 per cent., were Catholics. . . . This immigration is a mighty asset for the nation and for the church, if guided aright, but with tendencies, in many instances, that will render it the very worst element of our popu lation if not protected from the exploiter, the socialist, the proselytizer, and irreligious among our own nation alities. " The church must have her guiding and merciful hand upon the immigrant from the day of his arrival until he is placed in safe surroundings under the care of a priest of his own nationality, or be willing to face in the years to come an immense leakage. . . . " After receiving reports from the clergy engaged in the work at the port cities of the United States, and after interviewing many of the leaders of Catholic work among the different nationalities, I am forced to the 68 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS conclusion that under some Catholic auspices, guided by some permanent organization, and graced with the approval of the hierarchy of the United States, a ' bureau for obtaining information in regard to Catholic immi gration ' should be established and generously main tained." The immigration population is, in fact, the main asset of the Roman Church in the United States and the one dominant feature which is overwhelmingly responsible for the rapid growth of this church in this coun try. As the above figures indicate, over 51 per cent, of our entire foreign-born popu lation are Roman Catholics. It would be interesting to know what part of the re maining 49 per cent, belong to Protestant denominations. In the absence of any definite figures it is, however, safe to pre dict that but a very small proportion of this foreign population is numbered among the Protestant ranks. The important question with Rome is not, how to make good and useful American citizens out of the influx of immigrants, but how may the hand of papal dominion be securely fastened upon the lives of the ignorant and deluded foreigners, in order that the power of Romanism may be 69 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL strengthened and its material interests be safeguarded in consequence. And so this institution employs the services of the wary and wily priests to further its purpose to prevent as far as possible the spread of the influences of Protestant principles and growth of the ideals of democracy, and instead plant the seeds of superstition and sophistry calculated to uphold and develop the fruits of Romanism. Contact with the freedom and liberality of enlightened Protestants and true Ameri can ideals is most dangerous to the cause of Romanism, and therefore the zealous priesthood utilizes every means of segre gation of its victims from association with the only true and worthy class of American citizens. It has been truly said that "The only way known to Rome for keeping the faithful within the fold is to keep up the bars all around, and if necessary make them higher and tighter." The immigration problem is either going to be a source of renewed strength and energy to our national institutions, or a powerful contributory cause working for the downfall of our national ideals. It will 70 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS depend altogether upon which direction the pendulum will swing as to what element in society is to gain control of the situation. Is this most un-American institution we have, and, without doubt, the most ungodly, to be entrusted with the intellectual as well as spiritual training of our increasing im migrant population ? This is the institution that has the audacity to disparage and con demn our public schools, as well as having the astounding nerve to seek to lay the bur dens of taxation on an American public to support its own parochial schools and asy lums of mental restriction and spiritual decay. It would force us to contribute of our own means to support agencies work ing for the overthrow of those of our in dividual and national ideals which we hold most dear in order that it might add to its own aggrandizement and gratify its own unholy ambition. President Wilson, in a recent address before a body of 4000 newly-naturalized American citizens in Philadelphia, said: "You cannot dedicate yourself to America unless you become in every respect and with 71 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL every purpose of your will thorough Ameri cans." How manifestly true this expression of our honored President ! It is equally true that more than half of the responsibility to bring about such a dedication to our coun try lies not with the new recruits to our citizenship, but with we Americans who are charged with safeguarding the best inter ests of our native as well as naturalized citi zens. It would be the greatest folly to expect ignorant foreigners coming into this coun try to become thorough Americans unless they are given ample opportunities to learn and practise American principles typical of our best ideals. It is a very grave responsi bility which this nation owes to all those living under its dominion to inviolably up hold all of our distinctly American princi ples and institutions which make for in creased liberality and soundness in thought, education, and worship, all of which enter into the formation of the best type of American citizenship. Not until we see to it that our truest American principles of democracy are properly interpreted and impressed upon all of our inhabitants alike ; 72 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS not until our public school system is brought up to a most efficient standard and its in fluence is exerted over our foreign as well as native-born population ; not until politi cal and religious tyranny is expelled and foreign influences detrimental to our insti tutions are suppressed ; not until liberty of conscience, liberty of thought, liberty of press, and political purity are recognized and respected as the fundamental principles of our government and national life; not until all these things come about will this nation have fittingly discharged the solemn duty which rests upon it. If the dominion of Romanism is to be permitted to become the domineering power of our nation, what is to become of our American institutions which have developed whatever greatness that has so far been attained in our history as a nation? All true American institutions rest on liberal Protestant principles. Is it not a fact that cannot be honestly contradicted that all official representatives of the Catholic Church will bitterly condemn our free pub lic school system and insultingly declare the Protestant branch of the Christian Church 73 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL to be a radical and wrong departure from its conceded convictions of religion and gov ernment? Yet it is to the Protestant branch of the Christian Church that we are indebted for all of our best institutions and ideals of government and social life. The great question for the American people to decide is "Whom will ye choose as your rulers ? ' ' Whose ideals are typical of true liberty, free conscience, free speech, free worship, and the loftiest conceptions of all true principles of pure democracy? Certainly not the ideals encouraged and fostered by the Roman Catholic church. If the immigration problem is permitted to drift along as at present and the force of Romanism in other ways is permitted to grow unchecked the day for making a free choice may soon disappear from oppor tunity's horizon, and a different state of affairs, for a while at least, may be ushered in to rule the destiny of the nation. Judged merely from a standpoint of growth, without considering the motives and purposes, the ways and means of de velopment, the Roman Catholic church pre sents a very significant record in its phe- 74 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS nomenal increase of growth in this country. At the birth of our nation, in 1776, it has been estimated that there were only ap proximately 25,000 Catholics in this coun try, two-thirds of whom were in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and the remainderwidely scattered in the different States. At the same time there were about 2,000,000 non- Catholic white people, the Catholics consti tuting about one-tenth of one per cent, of the total white population. The latest statistics taken from the offi cial Catholic Directory gives a total of 16,309,310 Catholics in the United States. As the total population is about 98,000,000, one person out of every six in this country is a Catholic. Comparing the United States with Great Britain, we find that the former has three times as many Catholics in pro portion to its population as the latter, there being only 1,891,006 Catholics among 36,000,000, the total population of England and Wales, indicating that one person out of every eighteen is Catholic. It reflects credit on Protestant England that she has been able to keep the proportion of Catholic population so low in comparison with the 75 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL United States, which in its early days had about the smallest proportion of Catholic population of any of the Christian nations. The great growth of Romanism in the United States may be ascribed principally to our lax immigration laws and the per sistent efforts of the Papacy to encourage an influx of Catholics to this country from other countries where representations of numbers are deemed of less importance to the interests of Rome than their transfer ence to this country for the purpose of in creasing the strength of the institution in this, the most promising of all nations. When we consider that the Catholic Church at present boasts a membership approximating over 16,000,000, aggregat ing over 15^2 per cent, of the total popu lation, we must realize the remarkable growth in the increase of power of this in stitution. And the 15 per cent, representa tion of numbers have succeeded so well in fastening their influence over our national life that even a far greater proportion of control over the vital affairs of our nation has been gained, as may be seen from the 76 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS following statements of facts published in the "Knights of Luther Handbook": i " Thirty-one States now have Catholic Democratic cen tral committees. Twenty-two States have Catholic Re publican State committees. The National Democratic Committee is a Catholic body with a Catholic president and secretary. " A Catholic managed the national campaign which elected Wilson. " President Wilson's private secretary is a Catholic. " Over 70 per cent, of all appointments made by Presi dent Wilson are Catholics. " Ten States now have Catholic administrations. " Twenty thousand public schools have one-half Catho lic teachers. " Over 100,000 public schools have a large part Catho lic teachers. Three thousand public schools now con tribute a part or all of the school tax to Catholic churches and schools. " Six hundred public schools use Catholic readers and teach from the Roman Catholic catechism. " New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo and St. Louis now employ 75 per cent. Catholic teachers in their public schools. " In all the cities and towns of the United States of 10,000 or more inhabitants an average of 88 per cent, of the police force are Roman Catholics. "Roman Catholics are in the majority in the city councils of 15,000 cities and towns of the United States." Such startling facts as the above should indeed be sufficient evidence to set our true American patriots thinking. If the teach ings of Roman Catholicism are superior to our Protestant principles, the present state of affairs is indeed most gratifying, but 77 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL if they are of the reactionary and disas trous influence, which the author firmly be lieves they are, there is indeed great cause for alarm and it becomes incumbent upon every lover of American institutions, which have been founded on Protestant principles, to awake to a realization of the great menace which is threatening our national welfare. It becomes the sacred duty of every lover of American ideals to do his utmost to defend and protect these ideals against the power of the opposition seeking their overthrow.BANEFUL INFLUENCE OF ROMANISM. To say nothing of the perverse ecclesias tical doctrines and practices of Romanism, which alone condemn its influence most emphatically as a curse in all lands where its power is felt, let us consider its unfitness to dominate the educational and political affairs of our nation. The following quota tions from well-known writers ably expose some of the lamentable conditions which have been brought about by Romanism : 78 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS " Catholics are untrained in the way of freedom, life, growth, initiative, personality. These are not the words one hears in Catholic schools, or reads in Catholic books, or finds preached from Catholic pulpits; but only obe dience, authority, faith, dumb submission, blind accept ance, the sin of doubt, the pride of intellect. If anything can wake up the intelligence of some few of those who have allowed themselves to be deadened by a false idea of authority to a sense of essential dishonor of their pres ent condition it is the historic attitude of the Papacy toward liberty of conscience. If Popes through a long space of centuries have officially taught theft and blood shed, it should be in no state of uncritical and ox-like obedience that we receive their words to-day. " The wish and prayer of every lover of humanity should be that the Roman clergy be educated. They fancy that they are educated now. They imagine that their Beminary syllogisms are the last word of science and that the tide of human knowledge has not risen since Thomas of Aquin died. They abandon their reason that Rome may think for them. They inquire no further when an Italian congregation utters an oracle. They make their motions, crosses, and genuflections, and never ask what is the basis of that set of traditional ideas which they call their faith. They are men with minds, but minds in chains. When the day will come that they grasp the full understanding of their own personality, search manfully into their beliefs and official practices to see if any of them be lies, superstitions and brutali ties, read beyond the tawdry text-books of a dishonest curriculum into the vast province of modern research, and bring every Roman teaching to the test of reason, history and conscience; then will the central citadel of spiritual tyranny in this world be shaken. Then will the paganism and brutality which Rome has carried down from superstitions, and cruel ages, to hang as a millstone about the neck of our own, be broken forever. Then for many thousands will a weight be lifted from the conscience and a cloud from the mind, and life and personality will go forth freely into the ways of normal and orderly development ordained for them by God." (Letters to Pope Pius, pp. 43-44, 129-130.) 79 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL That even Catholic theologians have a poor opinion of the efficiency of their priests may be seen from their own official admis sions : " Among a hundred confessors hardly ten can be found capable of judging of theological opinions." (Quoted from original Italian works, 265. — " Roman Catholicism Analyzed.") The same inefficiency and inferiority may be noticed in the type of method and the class of men that are educating young men in Catholic colleges and seminaries. Papal requirements simply make it impossible for teachers trained under the standards of this church to be disciples of truth, or to acquire the faculty of intellectual honesty. The fact that these teachers must necessarily commit themselves to Aquinas and other church despots, so that they cannot fairly study other systems, but must restrict them selves solely to the narrow, ironclad boun daries laid down for them, makes them mere machines with deadened consciences and dwarfed intellects, totally unfit to be the leaders of young minds into the paths of love and truth. Arising from this unfor tunate condition of servitude there is an 80 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS inevitable intellectual immorality and a lamentable incompetence attached to the standards of Catholic education. There fore the Catholic universities and all their schools of learning rank infinitely below the Protestant institutions of learning. From the refreshing fountain of Prot estantism we receive constant contributions of intellectual and spiritual wealth, but from Catholic sources we get sterility, bigotry, superstition, and diverse per nicious doctrines. It has been truthfully said: "If occasionally a Catholic scholar shows himself to be in the front rank of critical research we may predict his deposition with the same certainty as we should calculate the next eclipse of the sun. There are Loisy, Turmel, Batiffol, Rose, Frocasine, and Genocchi in our own day to prove it. From our Catholic University at Washington, not one work of high critical value in twenty years. From our so celebrated American Jesuits, not one publication, even of the second rank of critical scholarship, in two hundred years ! We can hardly won der that a decline in writers and scholars has often been noted as coincident with the incoming of the Jesuits as teachers." Mohler says of them: " Dogmatic theology in their hands becomes lost in an empty skeleton of abstractions, while moral theology has suffered an especially harmful influence from them." 6 81 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL De Ranee, the founder of La Traffe, speaks still more severely. " The moral teaching of most Molinists is so corrupt, their principles are so opposed to the holiness of the Gospel, and to all the rules and counsels which Jesus has given in His own word, or through His saints, that nothing hurts me more than to see my name used to authorize views which from my heart I detest. " It appears, then, that the decrees of the Papacy and the methods of the Index, along with their success in bringing about a military uniformity of opinion, have been tragically efficient also in producing within the Catholic Church an organized intellectual tyranny, a universal mental dishonesty, and a woful educational sterility. The situation illustrates what I have already said, that the aim of an autocratic hierarchy is not to seek truth, but to preserve its own traditional ideas and prepossessions. Where in Pontifical documents con cerning study, or in Index-condemnation, can we find one word of exhortation to a candid search for Truth? Anathemas against research are common enough. Warnings not to depart from mediaeval scholastics and ancient fathers are never lacking. But the following of truth whithersoever it leads — nothing at all of this. Intellectual insincerity, and respect for the world's ear nest endeavor to grow in Truth I defy any one to discover in all the vast tomes of the Roman Bullarium and the Decreta of the Roman Congregations. But the contempt for the achievements of criticism and non-Thomistic philosophy, and bigoted scorn for every species of modernism, as though the greatest scholars of our time and many of the mightiest thinkers of all time were scoundrels and fools — this, one may find on nearly every page of Vatican literature. This, on the part of a Roman autocracy which has condemned the fundamental truth of modern astronomy as formal heresy, supported the insane revelations of Diana Vaughan, propagated spurious devotions and confirmed monstrous supersti tions, wears not the look of a divinely safeguarded de pository of the complete truth of God, but resembles rather a desperate conspiracy to check the diffusion of intelligence among men." (Letters to Pope Pius. p. 183.) v 82 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS The power of Romanism represents in deed the most gigantic conspiracy against the best interests of civilization that has ever been organized for the enslavement and oppression of humanity. This pre sumptuous survivor of mediaeval despotism has always maintained, and still has the audacity to maintain, that persons disagree ing with its pernicious doctrines deserve not merely to be excommunicated, but to be killed; that the power to murder heretics belongs both to the State and the Church ; that the Church has the power of putting to death even repentant heretics; that the Pope has the power to depose secular rulers who abandon Catholicism, and to absolve the subjects of such rulers from their alle giance. The above are some of the century-old established convictions of the Roman hier archy, and this is the power that is gaining such tremendous growth in its domineering influence over the affairs of democratic America. Any one who dares to oppose its diabolical principles immediately be comes subject to the persecution of slander, boycott, vilification, bodily assault, and even 83 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL murder. This is the power that is trying its utmost to strike down the institutions of a free press and which has succeeded so well in muzzling a vast majority of our newspapers, weekly and monthly periodi cals of to-day against publishing anything which might reflect discredit on this insti tution, however flagrant are the wrongs which it countenances and practises. This is the power that is stealthily weaving the net of despotism to fasten the destiny of our American institutions into the shackles of political union with the Italian Curia, and which would prevent science and scholar ship from taking any forward step without the censorship of the hoary reactionism of Vatican theology. Whence does this power draw its source of strength? Is it not from the lowest classes of society which it has succeeded in suppressing into the depths of ignorance, superstition, and bigotry? Hence its des perate efforts to control the immigrant population in our own land. It is an utter impossibility for Roman Catholicism to gain accessions among men of modern spirit and independent thought. Con- 84 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS stantly, the few men of this class connected with the church, her noblest sons and daughters, are deserting her for the purer ideals of simplicity, sincerity, and liberty, which have long been banished from the halls of Vatican rule, which established the temper of absolution and inaugurated the propaganda of death to all souls who will not submit to its fiendish tyranny. Can we wonder that the most worthy spirits of the church are constantly saying fare well to the church of their unfortunate in heritance, baptism, and priestly consecra tion to enter into the blessed paths of lib erty, of intellectual and spiritual enlighten ment, which enable them to renounce the erroneous Vatican teachings that the honest exercise of human reason is sin, and that the suppression of opposite doctrines by persecution and murder is a virtue? Though the power of the Papacy to shed blood has largely been done away with through Protestant remonstrance and oppo sition, its vice-like grip of tyranny over its remaining adherents is fastened over its subjects as securely as ever before. Its un paralleled despotism is still destined to rule 85 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL over millions for generations to come, and an untold number yet unborn are doomed to inherit the curse of this institution. The more enlightened minds of our own country, England and Germany no longer consider Roman Catholicism as a religious society, but regard it as an abominable political institution that has wrought wreck and ruin over past civilizations, and is to-day the deadliest menace that is combat ing the wholesome influence of a Christian civilization in all lands. Christ has long ago ceased to be represented by the confi dential trusted representatives of the Vati can hierarchy and their ' ' infallible ' ' Pontiff. All right-thinking patriots must dread and abhor this power and will have no patience or dealings with it. To-day, as never be fore, our American manhood is called upon to realize the solemn responsibility resting upon it to safeguard the political, intellec tual, and spiritual welfare of not only our own generation, but of generations to come. The enlightened nations of Europe are de cisively in opposition to Roman Catholi cism, as through bitter experience they have come to look upon this institution as the 86 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS irreconcilable foe of progress and civiliza tion. Shall we in America be less keen to the secret and undisguised evils of the Papacy and the despotism of Romanism as a menace to human liberty? Shall we re main silent and inactive and permit the power of a dead and decaying theocracy of mediaeval corruption to go on unhampered in its pernicious efforts to gain control of our destiny? Those who have studied the manifest evils of Mohammedanism, as well as the flagrant evils of Romanism, are unanimous in pronouncing the latter power as far more disastrous against the best interests of civilization than the power of Islam has ever been in its history. It is beyond con ception that our true Americans will give in to this power and sacrifice to its domin ion those priceless principles of liberty which have been gained after so many cen turies of heroic struggle and the shedding of so much innocent blood. Sooner will the blood of all true patriots be sacrificed again than our • distinctly American principles, which are dearer to every true American 87 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERDL than his life, than the emancipating ideals of American liberty and true democracy will be suffered to become extinguished. OUR DESTINY. In this as well as other perplexing prob lems which confront us to-day let us hope and pray for a true spirit of American man hood to come to the rescue of our sacred institutions. May we see the power of righteousness develop sufficient strength to turn the tide of opposition in favor of the Kingdom of God on earth, and may the strength and bloom of our national life be indefinitely prolonged for the blessing of mankind. It is our privilege to live on as a nation in perpetual youth, if we are will ing to reform our wrongs, if we will ear nestly and heroically endeavor to overcome our social evils and individual imperfec tions, and if we will prayerfully and faith fully try to cultivate the eternal virtues of the inward life. If we will but live up to our opportunity we will neither permit corrupting influences from within institutions with which we are 88 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS connected, nor the evil influences of the external world to keep us from making still higher attainments in elevating the stand ards of both our individual and national life. But if we fail to respond to the call of duty to stem the tide of oncoming disas ter; if we fail to draw our sword to slay the hydra-headed monster of evil which is besetting us on all sides, both as individuals and as a nation ; if our American manhood should grow blind to the causes which would seek to undermine and destroy our liberties, then the day of our reckoning is near at hand, when our nation's glory will be on the wane, to sink into the disgrace of an ignoble end, as have so many nations which have gone before us. May this day never come, but, instead, may all truth- and liberty-loving citizens do all they can to speed the day when all wrong shall be over come. Then we need have no fear for the destiny of our nation. If our statesmen will do their share in piloting the Ship of State into the safe and sane waters of demo cratic government ; if our prophets will per sist in calling upon the people to repent of their sins ; if our teachers and ministers 89 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL of the Gospel, and all servants of Christ, will seek to show humanity the path of truth and godliness which makes for right eousness ; if these things come about, then the cause of progress will leap forward to such glorious heights of achievement as men have never dared to dream of before. Then there will be no occasion for any future historian to record the downfall of the once glorious American Republic, known as the United States of America. Will some Gibbon of posterity, in record ing the history of our Western civilization, be compelled to write a chapter on the "De cline and Fall of the American Republic" and of the "Reign of Christianity" throughout the world ? If so, he will prob ably refer to our own time as the golden age when the opportunities for Christian service were greater and more auspicious than ever before, but a critical period when the spirit of devotion to pure ideals was at a low ebb and men remained indifferent to the advancement of God's Kingdom and permitted the power of the opposition gradually to bring about a state of decay corruption which ultimately resulted in 90 THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS total collapse of our democratic institution and Protestant Christian principles. Are we going to contribute to the possi bility of such a national ruin and universal disgrace by remaining indifferent and in active towards the solution of the problems which now confront us ; or are we going to press forward in the service of the Master for the reformation and enlightenment of humanity, and thus help to render impos sible anything but a glorious destiny for our beloved nation and the cause of Christ in the world? CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY FIRST SYMPTOMS OF DECAY. The same influences that caused the de cay of pagan Rome gradually crept into the institution of Romanism until it absorbed most of the corrupted forms of pagan cere monialism and many of its debased prac tices. Even Catholic authorities must admit that many of its customs have ema nated from paganism and not from primi tive Christianity. The Catholic Encyclo paedia (vol. ix, p. 307) , regarding the liturgy and ceremonials of the Church, says: " It must be said that an apostolic liturgy, in the sense of an arrangement of prayers and ceremonies like our present ritual of the mass, did not exist. . . . As for ceremonies, at first they were not elaborated as now." How, then, and when, were the innova tions and foreign ceremonials and practices introduced into the church? Lactantius, one of the Catholic fathers of the fourth century, throws considerable light on this question in his description of the gorgeous ceremonialism of the ancient pagan worship in the Roman Empire. Of the Romans he says: 95 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL " They are delighted, in fact, with gold and jewels and ivory. The beauty and brilliancy of these things dazzle their eyes, and they think there is no religion where these do not shine. And thus, under the pretence of worshipping the gods, avarice and desire are wor shipped. . . . The more ornamented are the temples and the more beautiful the images, so much the greater majesty are they believed to have; so entirely is their religion confined to that which the desire of men admires. " These are the religious institutions handed down to them by their ancestors, which they persist in maintain ing and. defending with the greatest obstinacy. Nor do they consider of what character they are; but they feel assured of their excellence and truth on this account, because the ancients have handed them down; and so great is the authority of antiquity that it is said to be a crime to inquire into it. And thus it is everywhere believed as ascertained truth." ("Divine Institutes," book II, chapter 7: " Ante-Nicene Fathers," vol. ii, p. 5.) The above picture of the worship of paganism is reflected in the ceremonial Roman Catholic worship to-day. Instead of remaining staunch witnesses of the primitive Christian truths and customs, the church leaders succumbed to the pressure of paganism and permitted worldly con siderations in place of spiritual truths to enter into and pervert their religious life and dominate the policies of the church. The result is that instead of a spiritual kingdom and a quiet inward life of unas suming, loyal, and simple worship, we have 96 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY a worldly hierarchy which has appropri ated many of the most gorgeous displays of paganism and invented improvements for the decking of images with jewels and gaudy array, augmenting the elaboration of ritual that appeals to the senses, and which, instead of drawing the soul into a closer relationship with God, actually magnifies the material and the earthly, placing a barrier that prevents the realiza tion by the individual of an ideal experience of divine worship. It is not necessary to indulge in imagi nary conclusions to explain the origin of the false forms of worship established in this church. Even many of our most cele* brated Catholic writers give us much en lightenment on the subject. Cardinal New man, who has been styled "the prince of Roman Catholic writers," says: " In the course of the fourth century two movements spread over the face of Christendom with a rapidity characteristic of the church, the one essetic, the other ritual or ceremonial. We are told in various ways by Eusebius that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen, transferred into it the out ward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own." ("Development of Christian Doctrine," p. 373.) 7 97 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST, PERIL Speaking of the images, the candles, the incense, holy water, festivals, sacerdotal vestments, etc., Cardinal Newman frankly stated that they "are all of pagan origin, sanctified by their adoption into the church." From such admissions we may trace the leaven of corruptions which have contaminated the Roman Church. Truth has been dethroned and replaced by false hood. Purity has become infected with corruption, and the worship of God has been destroyed and superseded by Mammon worship. As there is no mortal way of reviving and purifying an already dead body, so there was no way of resurrecting and sanctifying the corrupt ceremonialism and practices of pagan Romanism, and Roman Catholicism, in attempting to do so, has brought about her own decay. If Christianity does not stand for a per fect interpretation of truth and justice in the world, it represents one of the most monstrous failures of all time, and its an nounced purpose becomes worse than use less. An investigation of the true con ditions reveals the fact that it is not on account of any misinterpretation or wrong 98 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY construction of these principles by the Christian religion, but rather the failure on the part of humanity to accept these prin ciples and make a practical application of them in their daily life and conduct, that greater advancement has not been made in the progress of civilization since the advent of Christianity. The lofty purpose of this religion, if properly recognized by men and nations, at once becomes a most potent power for the advancement of civilization. Why, then, are the so-called Christian nations not any further advanced from the stages of paganism after so many centuries of subjugation to Christian influence? A careful study of the situation will soon re veal where the trouble lies. Not long after the great Christian machine for human re demption had started to regenerate the lives of men, something happened to inter fere with its action according to the de signs of the great Master Mechanic who had started it going. An entirely different cur rent coursed through its existence and organization than the life-giving power generated through the great dynamo of its divine Author and Founder. Some of the 99 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL main switches have been pulled, cutting off the live current from the great universal dynamo, and an entirely different current has been substituted. Historical facts jus tify the conclusion that the Christianity which goes under the name of Romanism at its source has been fused from the power house of iniquity and generated from the inspiration of Mammon worship. While this diagnosis seems applicable to the life of the Roman Church since its early history a few centuries after its birth, it does not apply in the same way to a great many individual souls who have cherished a longing for sincere and true worship, though beclouded by the many superstitions and erroneous forms of belief which have been manufactured for their delusion and enslavement. Going back to the early days of the in fantile stage of Christianity, there is a most wonderful development of the ideals of this pure religion in the face of bitter persecu tions and tremendous difficulties, through self-denials and loyalty of faith, until it grew from an insignificant beginning into a mighty power which finally overcame its 100 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY bitterest enemy and vanquished the domin ion of the Roman Empire. As the Romans had by the force of arms subdued and van quished the powers of ancient Greece, so Was Romanism and the Imperial dominion antagonistic to Christianity even more effectively conquered and more securely subdued, not by force of arms, but through the invincible power of Christian influence and its principles of righteousness. The irresistible force of Christian thought and living had wrought a peaceful revolution in the hearts of the legions constituting the population of the Roman Empire. The vast multitudes having been won over to the cause of Christianity, it became futile for the worldly rulers of the empire to longer withstand its claims for supremacy, and in the beginning of the fourth century the sagacious Constantine bowed to the inevi table and espoused its cause, whether by pure motives, or for political reasons (which perhaps for all time will remain a debatable question), yet it must be acknowl edged much of his action has resulted in the good of humanity. Evils also origi- 101 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL nated from his rule which are equally apparent. It makes our hearts rejoice to note the early stages of advancement of Christen dom which gradually elevated it into ascen dency in the minds and hearts of men, until it finally became the ruling power of the whole civilized world. It is also with the most intense regret that one is forced to take notice of some of the most lament able facts in history which bespeak the fail ures and corruptions which later entered into Christian institutions and demoralized the influence of Christian worship. After winning such glorious victories for the re demption of humanity through the faith fulness, zeal, self-sacrifice, heroism, and martyrdom of the early Christians during the first four or five hundred years of our era, it seems that the combination of in ward hypocrisy and corruption among the church leaders, and the overwhelming forces of darkness emanating from the un civilized hordes which swept down over southern Europe from the barbarians of the North, resulted in a period of gloom, despair, and depravity of mediaeval civiliza- 102 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY tion, which lasted for a period of a thousand years. Many of the so-called leaders of the true faith became traitors to the cause. From the cruelties and unprecedented tyrannies which were enacted under the power of church leaders for the suppression of the political and spiritual rights of men, according to the facts of history, we see the development of the severest abuses and grossest impositions, even more terrible and far-reaching than those brought about by the corrupt priesthoods of the ancient Egyptians, or the despoilers of the early Vedic faith of Oriental India. There was in Europe, under Christian influence, a repe tition of the bitter experiences of the Egyptians and Hindoos, as Christianity be came subject to the same corruptions and forms of evil which had produced such dis astrous results in ancient civilizations. The same demon of avarice and aspiration for personal gain and aggrandizement was at work undermining the foundations of Christianity, as had been the cause of the downfall of so many previous generations of progress. Selfishness, greed, unholy aspirations for 103 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL worldly dominion — these are the direct causes for the long and black night of the Dark Ages, and the corresponding gloom of the Middle Ages. When the leaders of men will sink so low in their depravity as to make divine presumptions and trade upon the attributes of the great Creator Himself, usurping the honor and glory which alone belong to Him, in order that material bene fits may be derived, and a monopoly of power be established for dominating the material and spiritual interests of men; when the great tempter has thus reduced the most influential among men as the ser vile instruments of his will, little advance in progress can be expected, but rather stagnation will take place and develop ments of a retrograding nature set in. This is brought about through the instrumen tality of self-seeking and unscrupulous in dividuals who have no regard for the rights of their fellow-men. That there should have been such fiendish traitors of God and humanity among the professed followers of that pure and glorious religion of Jesus Christ, the noblest religion the world has ever known, is one of the saddest and most 104 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY lamentable facts of which history bears record. It was through the influence brought about by the selfish pursuit of worldly power and glory that the so-called leaders of Christianity in the Dark and Middle Ages came near to extinguishing completely from the hearts of humanity the light of Chris tianity, which they succeeded in smothering into insignificance for a long period of a thousand years, until the rejuvenating power of the influence of the Reformation again made it shine for the enlightenment of the world. There is a strong disposition even in our day on the part of many to cover up the disgrace which was heaped upon Christianity while the diabolical trav esty was being enacted during the Dark and Middle Ages, but one cannot erase history nor conjure away the influence of past events by ignoring or attempting to hide them from the observation of succeeding generations. It is far more commendable to accept the facts of history as one finds them, and utilize them for our own good and for the good of our successors, by tak ing heed of the warnings which may be dis- 10s CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL closed, and profiting by the lessons re vealed. A study of the course of events reveals the sad reflection that just as Christianity had apparently attained a firm foothold in the world, and developed into a strong power for the extensive advancement of Christ's kingdom, all the forces of darkness seemed to combine their strength to over throw the principles of righteousness estab lished, and which had good prospects for even greater development. After the fall of pagan Romanism, after the horrors of the arena had been dispelled, after Chris tianity had emerged from under the clouds of gloom and tribulations which for several centuries had hovered over it, and after apparently all the causes which had brought about its early hardships, persecutions, and martyrdom — after all these things had finally disappeared, a brighter day may have been looked for. It would have been reasonable to suppose that after such dearly-bought victories as had been achieved, and after the attainment of re ligious liberty and an improved condition of political freedom by unprecedented sacri- 106 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY fices and heroism the good work accom plished could not have been undone through the wickedness of men. As frequently has been the case, the unexpected happened, and instead of the day of sunshine and en lightenment that was hoped for, there was a night of superstition, fanaticism, heresy, and the greatest array of evil impositions and oppressions ever visited upon a suffer ing humanity. What a terrible imputation, which is frequently made against the reign of Christianity and which all Christians have to face, is the fact that the first six hundred years in history after Christian dominion are known as the Dark Ages, most appro priately named, as in reality they were even more dense in their gloom, more obstructive to the light of civilization, than paganism had been in its most degraded form. Such are the reversals in the course of progress. Similar examples in the deterioration in the religions of ancient nations have been seen. Christianity was not to be exempt from the forces of corruption at work in the world, nor will she be exempt so long as evil has not been completely overthrown and made 107 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERDL to release all claims of dominion in the hearts of men. History reveals that from the fifth until the eleventh century so slow did the wheels of progress move, so barren of interest was the current of events, that there was noth ing of encouragement to relate. It may also be assumed that there was so much of a discouraging and distressing nature which actually took place that careful writers, wishing to spare succeeding generations from the shock of reading about the unsur passed terrors and wickedness of the times, have purposely failed to record many of the atrocities which took place for the awful contemplation of the men of more humane and enlightened ages. But what has been recorded relates a sad story of dishearten ing developments, expressive of the un speakable treachery, unparalleled selfish ness, and unequalled degradation which ex isted among the political and religious leaders who were directly responsible for the dark pages of history, as well as that list of innumerable crimes of their perpe tration of which history gives no record — 108 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY their secret malevolence and the undiscov ered sins of their commission. During the period of Roman rule there had been a prevalence of political oppres sion, and also a spirit of antagonism re sulted in different forms of persecutions against the Christians, although a marked tolerance for other religious beliefs was characteristic of the policy of the Roman emperors. The political oppressions and the intolerance of religious beliefs of the Dark Ages, except those swearing allegiance to the Church of Rome, are found the most tyrannical and stringent of any period in history, unless it is the period of the Mid dle Ages, which followed under the same dominion of power. From this time until the time of the Reformation there existed a conspiracy of kingly and papal powers banded together for the political and spirit ual oppression of a suffering humanity. The results of this dual dominion are too self-evident to all persons of enlightenment to require any elucidation here. With the existence of such wretched conditions as had been maintained for so many centuries it is not to be wondered at that the nations 109 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL of Europe had not attained to a higher stage of civilization than they had at the time of the discovery of the New World, and that America consequently had transplanted to its soil a great many of the evils which were the natural fruits of a debased civilization of the European nations. A mighty eruption took place in the form of a religious rebellion Which blazed forth in the Reformation in the early part of the fifteenth century — thanks to such noble spirits, such loyal worshippers of God and faithful friends of humanity as that grand old Christian hero who became the founder of Protestantism. It is to religious patriots like Martin Luther and such sterling Chris tian characters that the world owes so much for the effective work they did in shattering the terrors and scattering the darkness of the Middle Ages, and in giving a new start to the movement of progress and the ad vancement of the Kingdom of God on earth. As the discovery of America may be looked back to as the starting-point of civil ization in the New World, so the beginning of the Reformation may be regarded as the beginning of a far more important happen- no CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY ing, the world-wide emancipation of relig ious freedom. Ever since religious freedom and a true Christianity have been steadily gaining in ascendency, and as sure as there is a just God ruling over the universe, so certain is it that true liberty will eventually become the supreme victor over all manner of political and religious oppressions which are weighing down the fates of men. When universal justice has overthrown all un righteousness, then freedom will forever reign and eternal happiness will become a reality for the enjoyment of the human race. To whom are we to look as the leaders in the movements that will promote the cause of righteousness which shall eventually re sult in the realization to all of the rule of perfection? Is it not to all of that now numerous body of men and women who are the true followers of Jesus Christ? All agree that if laws of righteousness are car ried out, if universal justice is adminis tered, there can be no oppression ; if abso lute fairness prevails in the distribution of God 's blessing to men, there can be no want. We are equally unanimous in the belief that in CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL impure thoughts and wicked deeds and un just authority will breed wretchedness, dis crimination, and unspeakable degradation in the world. There can be no doubt, there fore, as to what stand should be taken and as to what cause should be espoused. No person of intelligence or right ideals can do anything but approve of the work of Chris tianity, and if such a person does his full duty he will enter the ranks of Christian standard-bearers and work with them with all his might for the betterment of the world's condition. What are the most grievous failures and most pronounced evidences of corruptions which have crept into Christianity? A study of the history of the Inquisitions in stituted by the Roman Church is advisable to any one interested in having this question answered correctly. "By their fruits ye shall know them." This is the standard which the great Master Himself laid down for the guidance of men in determining such questions. The fruits of an institution, whether it be a political, educational, or a religious institution, are the only safe standards by which such institutions can 119 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY be judged. One has but to view in an im partial and unbiased manner the spirit un derlying the different Inquisitions carried on by a so-called Christian Church to be come satisfied that it was not the spirit of God, but of Mammon, that animated the leaders responsible for the existence of these Inquisitions, as well as the numerous religious wars in history, and the terrible persecutions for religious beliefs, as well as political oppressions of the Middle Ages. The great temptations of the devil, with which Christ Himself was so sorely vexed, according to Scripture, and which He so victoriously withstood and completely van quished, proved too irresistible to some of His followers, who had gained high official standing in the church, and who, having be come intoxicated with the delusions of worldly ambition, succumbed to the allur ing promises of the tempter and thus be came servile instruments in his hands. Thus the leaders of the early church were ensnared with the devil's promise after tak ing Christ up "into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the king doms of the world, and the glory of them." 8 113 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL And he sajth unto them, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me;" and they became worship pers and servants of Mammon instead of worshippers and servants of Almighty God. This much must be admitted by all who conceive of God as the source of all right eousness and the personification of justice, that no connection can be claimed with Di vinity for anything that savors of unright eousness or which is productive of evil. Therefore, any person or organization that countenances or furthers the continuance of any forms of evil whatever, it is plain to be seen, does not receive inspiration for the action from a Divine source. Before the beginning of the Dark Ages some of the main switches connecting with the inspiring force of true Christianity were pulled, and the opposing forces of evil were injected into the instrumentality of church life. The power of evil, cloaked in the garment of Christianity, began to assert its dominion in the Christian world. It has manifested itself in announcing a doctrine of its own infallibility, making pretended claims of Divine relationship, when, as a 114 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY matter of fact, it had been the direct means of severing all associations of such rela tionship. The doctrine of papal infallibility, which has for ages been so brazenly preached by the leaders of the church, has been so utterly shattered by the facts of history condemn ing its truthfulness that it is most difficult to conceive how any person of enlighten ment can honestly believe or uphold such a preposterous imposition. As a refutation of this doctrine it is not necessary to review the practice of robbery and cold-blooded murder as advocated by the popes in their highest official capacity for five long cen turies, through the institution of the In quisition ; nor to the shameful persecutions of Galileo, whose sound astronomical dis covery was anathematized and denounced by the popes and church leaders for genera tions after the civilized world realized and accepted the truthfulness of his theory ; or to any of the ungodly practices of the church in past generations. There is far too much shameful proof in our own time coming from the institution of Romanism to convict it as the most arrogant and cor ns CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL rupt of impositions, rather than an institu tion of Divine connection, to require any further evidence to condemn the institution before the world for all time. But one can not lose sight of the emphasis which the church has always tried to place upon this pernicious doctrine to mislead humanity. In the language of Bishop Strossmayer, "History cannot be made over again. It is there and will remain to all eternity to pro test energetically against the dogma of papal infallibility." This dogma has a most despicable history from its very in ception. A manifestation of its perversity may be seen in the persecutions which were started under the sanction of the newly- made friend of the cause, Constantine, and under whose reign a series of bitter perse cutions were commenced by the church, and have been carried on up to our own time, which have been unprecedented in his tory for cruelty and inhumanitarian mo tives. The Donatists of the early fourth cen tury were the first to suffer persecutions at the hands of so-called Christians. On ac count of their religious convictions, and 116 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY their manliness to insist on their right to worship their God according to their faith, these Donatists were condemned to lose their goods. Who were the Donatists, to be dealt with thus severely? They were a powerful sect which formed itself in the Christian Church at the beginning of the fourth century. The main cause of offence to the Roman Church seems to have been that they, like the Novatians, could not agree to all the claims of superior authority which the head of the church even in those early days was expounding, in endeavoring to make himself universally recognized as the supreme religious ruler of nations. In spite of the bitter persecutions and tortures which the heartless hand of the mother church visited upon that courageous relig ious sect of Donatists, it took more than the cruelty which emanated from the Vatican to cause the total extinction of this liberty- loving band of religious followers, for it was not until the seventh century that they disappeared from history, along with the whole Christian Church of North Africa, being finally exterminated by the more dis- 117 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL astrous and effective invasions of the re morseless Saracens. The next class to come prominently into disfavor with the Roman Church were the Manichaeans, whom Theodosius, in 380, sentenced to death on account of their belief. He also confiscated all their prop erty. The Manichaeans were believers in a system of religion called Manichaeism which was at that time one of the three great religious systems which existed in western Asia and the south of Europe, the other two being Catholicism and Neo- Platonism, each one a potential world-wide religion, with universal tendencies. Mani chaeism was the latest of the three religions mentioned to come into existence. It proved, however, to be a more obdurate antagonist than Neo-Platonism for Catho licism to subdue. It maintained itself both in the East and in the West until far into the Middle Ages, in spite of the bitter perse cutions of its avowed enemy, Catholicism, which had the advantage of being backed by the power of the state and proved a for midable antagonist in the encounter. From the nature of the condemnation the latter 118 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY pronounced against the former two of the Lord's most sacred Commandments, ' ' Thou shalt not steal," and "Thou shalt not com mit murder, ' ' were most flagrantly violated by the leaders of a so-called Christian Church, which inspired the edicts legaliz ing the confiscation of the Manichaeans' property and justifying the crime of whole sale plunder, as well as the terrible crime of taking human life. Thus was the liberty of the Manichaeans interfered with, as they were trying to worship their God accord ing to their own convictions, in order that the avarice, intolerance, and Vengeance of Catholicism might be satisfied. Adam Smith in his book, "Wealth of Nations" (E. P. Dutton Company, p. 632), gives the following delineation of the con ditions of mediaeval Romanism, as well as a significant prophecy of the ultimate end of this institution. " In the state in which things were through the greater part of Europe during the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, and for some time both before and after that period, the constitution of the Church of Rome may be considered as the most formidable com bination that ever was formed against the authority and security of civil government, as well a3 against the liberty, reason, and happiness of mankind, which can flourish only where civil government is able to protect 119 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL them. In that constitution the grossest delusions of superstition were supported in such a manner by the private interests of so great a number of people as put them out of all danger from any assault of human reason; because, though human reason might perhaps have been able to unveil, even to the eyes of the com mon people, some of the delusions of superstition, it could never have dissolved the ties of private interest. Had this constitution been attacked by no other enemies but the feeble efforts of human reason, it must have endured forever. But that immense and well-built fabric, which all the wisdom and virtue of man could never have shaken, much less have overturned, was, by the natural course of things, first weakened, and after wards in part destroyed, and is now likely, in the course of a few centuries more, perhaps, to crumble into ruins altogether." THE CRUSADES. In making a review of some of the most conspicuous failures connected with the his tory of Christianity, we cannot fail to take notice of the crusades which were carried on by the followers of the Roman Church against the Saracens and the Turks for the avowed purpose of the recovery of the Holy Land during the eleventh and twelfth cen turies. Although it cannot be doubted that a great many, and perhaps the vast major ity, of the fanatical crusaders themselves were actuated by an emotional desire to acquire exclusive possession of the Holy Land, at the same time it becomes quite 120 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY evident that the leaders of church and state who inspired and dominated the movement of the crusades were imbued with only sordid ambition and a contemp tible aspiration for the extension of their worldly dominion. Realizing the strong de votion the humble worshippers, under their subjection, had for everything that was associated with the life of Christ, and the sacred regard which they had for the very ground which had been traversed by the Saviour, and especially the places of His birth and burial, these sentimental attrac tions! which they cherished were taken ad vantage of by the Pope and the political rulers of Europe, who evolved the scheme of using the Holy Land as the great magnet for drawing their fanatical and misguided fol lowers onward into the terrible conflicts of arms with the Saracens for the obvious pur pose of subduing their enemies and the acquisition of additional territory and material wealth, the acquisition of the Holy Land being merely a base pretension to arouse zeal and enthusiasm in the bosom of the crusaders, who had to do all the fight- 121 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL ing and sustain all the sufferings brought on by the undertaking. It is impossible to estimate the great loss of life and the untold sufferings forced upon the fanatical crusaders^ as a result of this iniquitous attempt to satisfy the greed for territory and worldly ambition of the spirit ual impostors and some of the rulers of European civilization of the age. There were eight of these crusades undertaken, all of which failed in their immediate ob jects, either in satisfying the childish de sires of the fanatical crusaders, or in grati fying the ambitious designs of their sinis ter leaders. In the first of these crusades, lasting from 1096 to 1099, at least 600,000 men, exclusive of women and priests, took part, and out of this immense host there remained only 1500 cavalry and 20,000 foot soldiers, with about an equal number of unarmed pilgrims and camp followers, to wards the end of this first attempt to in vade and conquer Asiatic countries by the Christian nations of Europe, so enormous had been the loss occasioned by the sword and climate, by famine and pestilence, de sertion and conquest. When we consider 122 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY that the other seven crusades which were undertaken were also carried out on a large scale and were most bitterly and vigorously prosecuted, we get a partial idea of what the poor fanatics and misguided followers of the Roman Church had to suffer, not for serving the cause of Christianity, but on account of being dominated by a power of perversity representing one of the vilest impositions of the ages. Though history reveals some good de velopments, resulting from the crusades, such as the fostering of a more intimate commercial acquaintance between Euro pean and Asiatic countries, the increased development of the trade and navigation of the Mediterranean, and of still greater im portance, the broadening of the horizon of men's thoughts, the credit for the benefits attained by humanity resulting from the crusades cannot be attributed to the fanati cism of the crusaders, or to any motives actuating their leaders, but the credit be longs only to that invisible power that makes all things work out for the welfare of humanity. 123 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL THE INQUISITION. Encoueagbd by the cooperation of the state, the leaders of the church became more and more energetic in their efforts to suppress and exterminate so-called here tics, which included all who were not directly associated by affiliation with the Catholic faith, who became subjects of persecutions and punishments far more severe and ter rible than had ever been visited upon the early Christians by a heartless Nero, or any of his class of Christian haters. All who were outside of affiliations with the Church of Rome and who would not take warning and submit to the exactions re quired, at once became subjects of inquisi tions, by papal authority. Here the fallacy of the doctrine of infallibility is exposed as the basest of impositions as it has been re vealed in no other way. No manifestation of divine justice could call for any perpe tration of any wrongs whatever, much less can it be associated with the unsurpassed cruelties which have emanated from the papal seat at Rome. It was the same emperor of Rome, Theo- dosius, who ordered the property of the 124 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY Manichaeans confiscated, and the followers of this faith put to death, who in his edict of 380 in favor of the faith of St. Peter and Pope Damasus of Rome, declared this the only true Catholic faith, and provided that the adherents of other creeds were to be reckoned as heretics and punished. A very intimate friendship must have existed and strong mutual interests must have been shared between the emperor and the Pope to warrant such drastic legislation. What ever the underlying motives animating such legislation, which resulted from the secret confabs of the imperial and papal powers, they certainly were not of the character which would be countenanced or approved by our Lord and Saviour. He who would not even permit a stone to be cast at the notorious harlot who had sunk so deep into the mire of degradation, it is needless to say, would not sanction the rule which con demned lofty-minded people to death be cause they refused to acknowledge as their spiritual leader a domineering Pope, but rather chose to worship their God accord ing to their own convictions. That the church had grown corrupt be- 125 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL fore the time of Theodosius is evident from the legislative action the Roman Emperor Valentian found necessary to pass as early as 370, which prohibited ecclesiastics and monks from frequenting houses of widows and single women, and prohibiting confes sors from securing any gift or legacy from their penitents and declaring all donations or bequests made in contravention of this law to be null and void. Such abuses must have become very notorious and of long standing to lead up to the necessity for such legislation, as in those days it took a longer time than in more modern times for legis lative machinery to get into operation for correcting existing abuses. Heaven knows that even in the present day the wheels of governmental regulation move remarkably slow in effecting needed reforms and correc tions of prevalent ills and evil practices existing in society. When St. Jerome, who acted as secretary to Pope St. Damasus, was obliged to con fess that "the clergy had by their conduct merited a law which placed them under re straints such as were not found necessary for mimes, charioteers, and comedians," 126 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY it is needless to submit any further proof of the corruptions among the prominent leaders of the church, even in those early days. Enough has been said of the early cor ruptions in Christianity to indicate the source of the corruptions which existed. Under the inspiration of the same source these corruptions went on developing through the centuries and continually be came more menacing and deleterious to the cause of progress, at last arriving at a stage when life and property were no longer safe unless to persons who threw them selves, out of fear from material injury and physical extinction, if from no other motive, into submission under the edicts of the papal dominion, which became no less remorseless in method than the heartless power of Islam in acquiring a following. Woe unto all who did not escape the rapa- ciousness of the ungodly censors who, masked under the cloak of religion, took it upon themselves to be dictators of men's opinions and make them subservient to the supremacy of Rome. Unspeakable suffer ing in this world, and everlasting punish- 127 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL ment in the next, was meted out to those who refused to acknowledge papal authority as the keystone of society and its infallible authority over men's souls and bodies, above all other authority, on earth or in heaven. That such a stage of wretchedness was actually attained becomes only too apparent by an examination of the edict passed by the Synod of Verona in 1184, empowering church officials "to cause all persons whom they may see fit, to be de clared heretics, as well as their shelterers, and ordering relapsed persons to be handed over to the secular arm for capital punish ment, and confiscating their property." The records of history show that this ruth less spirit of viciousness and unsurpassed cruelty had been steadily developing ever since the time of Constantine until it found its greatest growth at the time of the Span ish Inquisition — in the fifteenth century. Things had come to such a pass that there was a standing order direct from papal headquarters in Rome directed against all "who may be suspected of opposing or even disapproving of the high-handed tyranny of the church," "to catch and kill the little 128 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY foxes to whose tails were fastened fire brands to burn up the good corn of the faithful. ' ' The bishops and lay authorities were instructed to give all help to arouse new activity in the old system of persecut ing, robbing and murdering all opponents to the interests of the Papacy and its subjec tive priesthood. An examination of historical evidence re veals the baneful effects that the sinister authority at Rome has had on the world's progress and the unspeakable cruelties and unparalleled atrocities it has instigated, and forced into the world. We become horrified beyond expression to contemplate the extent of its devilish depredations. We find that in the days of the Inquisitions in all Catholic countries a great number of prisons had to be erected for the punish ment of the masses of unfortunates who were made subjects of persecutions, extor tions, and capital punishment, the Bastile of France being one of the many institu tions of incarceration erected for this pur pose. The Vatican responsibility for the hor rors of the Inquisition, which its wily repre- 9 129 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL sentatives have tried to disown, may be best judged from the edicts which from time to time have been announced and prosecuted under papal authority. The following evi dence bearing upon the subject is quoted from the book "Letters to His Holiness, Pope Pius X," pp. 18-23 : " Says the Fourth Ecumenical Council, after having pronounced anathema upon heretics : ' We prohibit, under pain of anathema, that any one retain or protect them in his house or territory; or have any business dealings with them. And if any one of them die in his sin, no prayers shall be offered for him, and Christian burial shall be denied him.' Pope Innocent III, in the same Council, legislates as follows: 'Let secular rulers be warned, and if necessary compelled by ecclesiastical cen sures to take a public oath, to do all in their power to exterminate from their territory all manner of heretics — universos hceretieos exterminare — who shall have been so designated by the church. This oath every man shall be obliged to take who enters upon any office of civil power, whether the office be for life or for a limited time. And if a secular ruler, after due warning by the Church, neglects to purge his territory from the filth of heresy ( 06 hwretioa fosditate ) , let him be excommunicated by the metropolitan archbishop and the bishops of the prov ince. If thereafter he fails to come to a better mind, let this within the space of one year be told to the Pope, to the end that the Supreme Pontiff may declare that ruler's subjects absolved from their allegiance, and his territory open to seizure by Catholics, who shall possess it absolutely (absque ulla contradictione) once they have destroyed the heresy there existing, and established it in purity of doctrine. This, however, must not interfere with the rights of the chief sovereign, provided he has placed no obstacle to the execution of our law. " Catholics who engage in a crusade for the extermina- 130 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY tion of heretics (ad hcereticorum extermiwium) shall be granted that indulgence and that holy privilege which are bestowed upon Crusaders to the Holy Land. " Heretics, along with those that shelter, defend and support them, we declare to be excommunicated. As soon as any one of such — this is our strict decree (fir miter statuentes) — becomes thus publicly excommuni cated, the penalty upon him, if within a year he neglect to repair his fault, is this: He is under infamy (in- famis) ; he cannot fill public office, or share in choosing public officials; he is not allowed to give testimony in a court of justice; he is incapable of making a will bequeathing property, or coming into possession of a bequest to himself; he cannot exact information upon any matter from others, but he must give information when asked by others. If he is a judge, his sentence is null, and no cases should be brought before him for trial. If he is a lawyer, no one is permitted to hire him (ejus patrocimum- nullatenus admittatur). If he is a notary, the public documents that he draws up are in valid, being vitiated in their source. Priests must re fuse the sacraments to such pestilential wretches (pesti- lentibus), deny them Christian burial, and scorn to take their alms and offerings. Should any priest act to the contrary, he is to be deprived of his office, and never restored to it without a special indult of the Apostolic See. " We will, decree, and strictly command, that in the execution of these laws, bishops be diligent and vigilant. If they are not so, canonical penalties await them. Should any bishop be negligent or lax in purging his diocese of the leaven of heretical wickedness, he shall be deposed from the episcopal office and another put in his place who is both able and willing to destroy heresy." Says your same predecessor, Innocent HI, in his Encyclical Vergentis in Senium : "In the territories subject to our temporal jurisdic tion, we decree that the possessions of heretics shall be confiscated. In other territories we decree that the self same thing be done by the secular powers and princes; 131 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL and if these secular powers and princes are negligent in this respect, it is our will and command that they be compelled to it by ecclesiastical censures, to be imposed without privilege of appeal. For if, according to civil law, the possessions of those capitally convicted of lege majeste are confiscated, so that nought is given to their children except life, and this out of mercy, with how much greater reason ought they to be cut off by ecclesi astical sentence from Christ, our head, and despoiled of all temporal goods, who err in faith and offend Jesus Christ the true Son of God; since it is far more heinous to injure eternal than earthly majesty. Neither is this law of ours to shrink from despoiling the orthodox children (of heretical parents) on any pretext of mercy whatsoever; for in many cases, some of them divinely sanctioned, the children must suffer temporarily for their father's fault; and, according to canon law, punishment at times is visited, not only upon the authors of crime, but upon their posterity." (This decree concerning the disinheriting even of Catholic children of heretical parents is embodied in the official canon law of the Roman Church.) Let us hear still again this Innocent in legislating for the universal Church in his capacity of supreme moral and doctrinal teacher. " We strictly forbid you lawyers and notaries from giving any assistance, counsel or favor to heretics, their supporters or defenders; from undertaking their defence in lawsuits or the defence of any litigants acting under their control; or from drawing up for them any public instrument or document. If you presume to act contrari wise to this regulation, we decree that you be removed from your calling and subjected to perpetual infamy." (From " Si adversus vos terra consurgeret.") Another Vicar of Jesus Christ, Gregory IX, lays down the law : CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY " If any of the aforesaid (heretics) refuse to perform condign penance after they have been apprehended, they are to be shut up in prison for life (in perpetuo carcere detrudantur." (From Gregory's "Siout in uno cor- pore.")' The same pope goes a step further: " Let all understand that they are absolved from alle giance to their civil ruler when he has fallen into manifest heresy, and from all service to any one, no matter how sacredly pledged and promised, if the one to whom the promise has been made has fallen into manifest heresy." Often quoted (e.g., by the Catholic priests Vacandard and Turmel, see Revue du Clerge Frangais, Jan. 15, 1907) are the horrible words of this same Gregory IX on the Church's attitude toward heresy: " It is not fitting that the Apostolic See should withhold its hand from bloodshed, lest it fail in its guardianship of the people of Israel." The authority of these citations no man, not even the most dexterous casuist of the school of Gury or Liguori, can impeach. They may be found grouped in convenient proximity, along with whole pages of simi lar legislation, in the classic guide book for Inquisitors, the Directorium Inquisitorium, of Nicholas Eymeric, the Dominican In quisitor-General of Aragon (1399), whose exhaustive treatise — exhaustive up to the 133 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL time of its composition — giyes us ample information on the anti-heretical decrees of papal Rome, and on the excellent manner in which the Pope's janissaries carried them into effect. Let me add here one or two lines from Corpus Juris, the official law book of the Papacy : " We decree that Jews and Saracens shall in every Christian Province wear a special garment which shall publicly mark them off from other people." (Decret Greg. lib. v. i-c-15.) " If a bishop or other cleric leaves among his heirs any relative who is a heretic, that bishop, even after his death, is to be excommunicated." (lb. lib. v. Tit vii. c-5, 6.) " If any one presumes to keep heretics in his house or lands, or to carry on business with them, he is to be excommunicated." (lb. c-8.) " The possessions of heretics are to be confiscated. In the Church's territory, are to go to the Church's treasury: in the territory of the empire, they are to go to the State treasury, even though the heretica have Catholic children." (lb. c-10.) The supreme text-book, standard in every Catholic theological school in the world, is the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquina s . In that work we read : "Respecting heretics, we have two observations to make: In the first place, they are guilty of a sin by which they deserve to be excluded, not only from the Church by excommunication, but from the world by death." 134 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY From the foregoing edicts we may form an idea of the attitude of the Papacy to ward any one of God's children who hap pened to be in disfavor with the Roman Church, which summarily pronounced any one disagreeing with its doctrines as a heretic. Thus any one attempting to con scientiously worship God and interpret the Lord's Gospel in a true Christian manner could not hold property ; that the property that such people owned was subject to con fiscation and seizure by the ' ' faithful ' ' ; that princes who were indulgent to them should be deposed ; that all heretics were stripped of all rights of property as well as citizen ship, unable to give testimony in court, de prived of the assistance of legal counsel, and unable to bequeath their savings to their own flesh and blood; that they were subject to be immured in horrible prisons for life, and that they were even subject to the awful penalties of burning at the stake and forfeiting their life in other excruciat ing ways. In the records of papal legis lation we find the following edicts emblaz oned on the pages of history : 135 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL A.D. 1157 — The Council of Rheims orders branding in the face for heretics. 1184 — Pope Lucius Ill's decree to the Council of Verona orders princes to enforce the full penalties against heretics, under penalty of excommunication, should they be remiss in enforcing them. 1197 — The burning of heretics first made positive law by Pedro II of Aragon. 1220 — Emperor Frederic II prescribes outlawry and confiscation against heretics. 1121-26 — Legates of Pope Honorius III go to enforce this law into the Italian cities which were disinclined to receive it. 1224 — Frederic II promulgates in Lombardy a law that heretics should be burned, or should, at least, have their tongues cut out. 1230 — Frederic II takes final step, in his famous Sicilian constitutions, of absolutely decreeing death by fire for heretics. Shortly afterward the Emperor applied this Sicilian law to the whole Empire. 1252 — Innocent V's bull., commanding, under threat of excommunication, that temporal rulers should enforce all penalties against heretics within five days from their con viction as such. 1254 — Innocent IV issues a bull., incorporating the most bloody laws of Emperor Frederic II. i In as much as this celebrated constitu tion of Innocent IV, the Ad extirpanda, as it is known, became classic in inquisitorial procedure, it will be useful to set forth its leading enactments. It is addressed to all the rulers of Italy, and provides : 1st, that any one may seize a heretic, and despoil him of his property ; 2nd, that every magis trate shall appoint an inquisitorial commis sion, whose salaries are to be paid by the 136 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY State ; 3rd, that no law may be passed in terfering with these Inquisitories ; 4th, that heretics who will not confess their heresy shall be tortured; 5th, that the houses of heretics shall be burned ; 6th, that the con fiscated property of heretics shall be thus divided : one-third to the inquisitors and the bishops, one-third to the city, and one-third to those who aided in the arrest and con viction. This, as we have noted, was made statute law, and Innocent gave particular instructions to the inquisitors to enforce it, as well as the anti-heretical laws of Frederic IT. i 1265 — Urban IV makes universal the excommunication of civil authorities who impede or delay the operation of the Inquisition. Magistrates who fail to execute the sentence of the Inquisition are not only excommunicated, but if their negligence continue for a year, they are to be themselves proceeded against for the capital crime of heresy? 1270 — Burning made the legal death-penalty for here tics in France. 1335 — Pope Benedict XII writes to Edward III of England, complaining of the fact that the "useful and holy Inquisition" was not yet established in the Eng lish realm, and urging the king to give the assistance of the secular-power to the bishop of Ossory, a Franciscan monster who had already caused some heretics to be burned. In 1401 England established burning as the penalty of heresy. "Armed with the amplest powers which the Papacy has ever delegated to its agents, the Dominicans and Franciscans swarmed over Europe, setting up the In- 137 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL quisition everywhere, and everywhere leaving in their track terror, pillage, perjury, delation, torture, woe and death. Over Europe did I say? Yes, and beyond Europe to the very frontiers of Christianity. For even on missionary outposts, where barbarians came together to learn the good tidings, the Inquisition was set up to teach them of Jesus, and of His first and greatest commandment, which is Love! Gregory XI appointed a Dominican Inquisitor for Russia and Armenia, Greece and Tartary; Nicholas IV allowed the Patriarch of Jerusalem to appoint Inquisitors from the mendicant friars; Gregory XI empowered the Franciscan provin cial in the Holy Land to act as Inquisitor-in-chief for Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Even in Abyssinia we find indications of the tribunal's existence and our own con tinent of America has known the shame and horror of it." ("From Letters to His Holiness Pope Pius X.") The entire history of Romanism is most horrifying. This iniquitous institution, in spite of its bloody record, reeking in crime and perfidy, has1 still the unparalleled audacity to parade as a divine institution. If the unsurpassed cruelties of the In quisitions and other atrocities connected with church history could be accounted for wholly on grounds of ignorance, supersti tion, and fanaticism, those to blame might be held less reprehensible for their acts. The deeds of a maniac committing an out rage beyond his own power of self-control to prevent would be less horrifying than simi lar acts premeditated and committed by persons in full possession of their reason 138 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY and self-control. The authentic records of history show that the underlying motive for the terrible persecutions about which we read, and for the horrible Inquisitions, was not in reality so much for the pretended aim of suppressing heresy, as the hope of a rich booty from confiscation. From a study of facts exposing the Spanish Inquisition we can come to no other conclusion than that it was conceived, nourished and actuated from the "Holy Office at Rome." From this office the Friar Philip de Barberi was sent in 1847 to make the proposition to Ferdinand of Spain which was to inaugu rate an inquisition in Spanish territory similar to ones which had previously been conducted in other Catholic countries through the chief authority of Catholicism. The king, at first hesitating, finally con sented to the plan; "led by his hunger for gold," which was also the dominating mo tive of those making the proposition, and thus was formed between the Church and State that iniquitous partnership which was to mark the blackest pages in history. The terrors and unequalled atrocities which re sulted from this diabolical conspiracy are 139 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL beyond the power of language to express. To the everlasting disgrace of the Cathohc church the institution of the inquisition was brought into life and maintained as long as outside influences permitted it to exist from the deliberate and intentional inspiring force emanating from its supreme ruler at the Vatican in Rome. Must this stupendous accomplishment for the sup pression of human liberty be taken as one of the notable manifestations we have of the "Infallibility" which it is claimed for it goes with the office? So great were the numbers who were daily burned during the Spanish Inquisi tion that it became necessary to erect a mammoth cremation place near the city of Seville. A huge square platform of stone was a grim altar on which the lives of a great number of victims almost daily ascended in clouds of smoke to heaven. During the first year of this Inquisition, we are told, that over 2000 were burned in one single archibishopric. Llorente gives as figures for Spain alone of those who were thus burned alive down to 1809, as 31,912 ; in effigy, 17,659, and those impris- 140 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY oned and deprived of their property, 291,450, a total of 341,021 in the small coun try of Spain to suffer such terrible martyr dom and unequalled cruelty at the hands of the sanctified leaders of a so-called Chris tian Church. History, while it has given us the above evidence, has not recorded that these leaders, or any of their successors have given expression to any feelings of re gret or compunction of conscience for the merciless acts of the past. The regret that has been expressed by such leaders and their followers has rather been not for the wrongs committed but that the leaders carrying on the works of the Inquisitions were not even more successful. Pope Pius IV, we are told, was "somewhat offended because Ferdinand and Isabella held back the papal share of the spoils ' ' of the Span ish Inquisition. He charged Ferdinand with violating their tacit agreement that the spoils were to be divided among the Holy Office, and the Crown, and their chief supporters with their lieutenants in the ungodly undertaking. The horrors of the terrible practices of the Inquisitions carried on by a professed 141 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL Christian church up until within less than a hundred years of our own age are too dread ful to permit of realization by succeeding generations, but the facts of history speak for themselves and cannot be contradicted. The last victims on record as being sacri ficed by the practice of the Inquisition were those of a Jew who was burned, and a Quaker schoolmaster who was hung in Spain in 1826. This, however, does not sig nify that the institution did not survive after that time. While rendered less harm ful through the spread of an advanced civ ilization and condemned by the force of public opinion engendering a universal dis approval of its practice, the serpent has been seen to arise, though stripped of its former destructiveness, hissing and snap ping at the outside world, into whose flesh he would like to bury his fangs of infection and death. The old spirit manifests itself in various ways of subdued and restricted expressions. It may be in the muzzling of the public press by refusing to reveal any which are detrimental to its purpose on pain of the withdrawal of advertising pa- 142 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY tronage, or falling off in the subscription list; it may be through the lack of support and opposition to those who aspire to polit ical office; or this spirit may be shown in opposition to any works or expression of ideals which may have a tendency to ex pose truths which do not reflect credit upon the institution which is harboring the growth of evils within her midst. The following account, taken from "Let ters to His Holiness Pope Pius X," of the atrocious practices of the Inquisition con veys a partial idea of the unparalleled cru elty and unsurpassed fiendishness hidden within the bosom of Roman Catholicism: " When the Inquisitors arrived in a parish, proclama tion was made of their presence and purpose. The faithful were commanded to denounce any one whom they even suspected of the slightest heresy. An indul gence of three years was bestowed upon informers, while those who withheld their information were visited with excommunication incurred ipso facto. A man thus delated, very often merely because of having let fall an incautious word, or just as often probably because of a private grudge, was at once arrested and flung into prison. The whole purpose of his trial was to extort a confession of heresy. When he appeared before his monkish judges, the very name of his accuser was con cealed from him, and if he persisted in denying his guilt, he was put to torture. Two complainants, and in many cases even one, were judged sufficient ground for inflic tion of torture even upon a man of hitherto unblemished reputation. 143 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL " This infamous feature of inquisitorial trial was due directly to Pope Innocent IV, as the priest Vacandard confesses. Not one, or at most one, of the barbarian nations of Europe made use of torture in legal processes. It was reserved for the earthly representative of Christ to sink to this, the lowest infamy ever reached by man. Frequently the first stage in procuring the confession required before sentence of conviction could be given consisted in sending the accused man to prison. At first he was thrust into the common dungeon and there trained spies and specialists in delation craftily beset him to beguile him into some direct or indirect acknowledg ment of guilt. Should this prove insufficient, he was immured in the durus career, the 'cruel prison,' a foul hole in which, half starved and bound with chains, he might be expected to come to a better mind. Or if the career and the durus career were judged too slow, or in the event had proved inefficacious, there was left the torture chamber of the holy monks. Into this room the victim-^^till legally an innocent man, be it remem bered, was brought, and put to one or all of the varie ties of anguish which the Inquisitors possessed abundant means of inflicting. The favorite arguments of this sort were three: greasing the victim's feet and thrusting them into the fire ; the triangular rack, which dislocated the body stretched upon it; and the hoisting of the man to the ceiling by a rope about his hands, which were tied behind his back, and then letting him fall suddenly within a few inches of the floor. " Let me interrupt this ghastly story to point out one of those loathsome exhibitions of casuistry with which Roman theology is diseased. The Inquisitors were for bidden to inflict torture more than once upon the same man for the extortion of confession. Did the Inquisitors quietly accept such a limitation of their august office, their ' Holy Office,' as their institution is canonically styled? Far from it. They were too clever in theology not to know how to keep and break a law at the same time. So they inflicted each species of torture once. Whosoever cannot see that this is torturing a man only once need but consult any seminarian fresh from his Roman text-books. Or they inflicted torture once for 144 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY each distinct complaint. Obviously the law of one tor ture is saved again. Finally, by the sublimest of all exercise of theological skill, they tortured their man on different days, not by way of adding a new torture, but only of continuing the old ! ' N on ad iterandum, sed ad continuandum,' Eymerich, the classic guide of In quisitors, puts it. " With this putrid casuistry before your eyes, we shall hardly be astonished to read that the Inquisitors, after having pronounced capital sentence of heresy upon a man, handed him over to the ' secular arm,' with the prayer that the civil authorities would not kill him; whereas, in point of fact, if they failed to kill him, they would be themselves excommunicated and put on trial for their own lives. Neither shall it be a surprise for us to learn that on papal authority the Inquisitors actually encouraged children to denounce the heretical tendencies of their fathers, and decided that children so acting should not be deprived, despite the law of Innocent III, of a share in their father's confiscated property. Says Innocent IV, cited by Vacandard in ' Revue du OlergS Frangais,' April 15, 1906, page 363 : ' We deem it right that orthodox children who reveal the secret heretical perfidy of their parents should not be subjected to loss of inheritance.5 " How many thousands of lives ended at the Inquisi tors' stake; how great a multitude languished in their dungeons; how large the number of dislocated, racked, and blistered bodies that were carried from their torture chambers; how vast the treasure of just possessions they confiscated and pillaged during the long interval between the beginning of the thirteenth and the middle of the eighteenth, we cannot accurately tell. " Is there any need of carrying this history of atrocity into further detail? Need I mention the Inquisitorial process against the dead, in which, upon posthumous accusations, the property of men who died in peace and, to all appearances, even in the bosom of the church, was confiscated and their bones dug up and burned? Need I mention specific instances to show that the papal in quisition debauched the innocence of confiscation, the morality of Europe for five hundred years teaching the 10 1*5 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL virtue of delation, and the godliness of murder? Need I show that, because of the Inquisition, the moral sense had been so perverted that butchery became a feature in holiday celebrations, and great lords and great ladies were invited to festivals of torture. An auto-da-fe, in which many were burned, was held under the Inquisitor- General of Spain, Sarmentio Valladores, in 1695, to celebrate the marriage of Charles II and Marie Louise of Bourbon. Likewise Elizabeth of Valois, daughter of the King of France, while still a mere girl, was present at the burning of several more, on the festival occasion of her espousal to Philip II in 1560." (Letters to His Holiness Pope Pius X.) As has already been stated, the cruelties of Nero and the terrors of the arena in the early Christian days pale into insignifi cance when compared with the unsurpassed fiendishness which later was manifested through the instrumentality of a so-called holy Christian organization. A knowledge of the fearful facts revealed by history con cerning the life of the Christian Church, which boasts of its ancient origin and su perior claims for recognition as the sole or gan of divine revelation and association, arouses grave doubts in the mind of the earnest investigator after truth as to the sincerity of its leaders, and their worthi ness to occupy the exalted stations which they pretend to have attained. 146 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY CHRISTIANITY'S INFLUENCE ON CIVILIZATION The foregoing statements have not been made for the purpose of inciting any ec clesiastical controversy or as an exposition of the fallacies of any particular institution of Christianity. They have been made out of a desire to be fair and just to all, nothing more and nothing less, in calling attention to the most conspicuous perversities and impositions which have arisen and black ened the pages of the Christian religion. Men of the world are asking the question why Christianity has not accomplished more than it really has in developing an ideal civilization, its original teachings be ing of such a holy and manifestly just na ture. In answering this question recogni tion is taken of the undeniable facts of his tory, which show up impositions and cor ruptions that have taken place, and help to explain the uphill work that the spirit of a true Christianity has had to experience, in overcoming the opposition, and in being prevented from a proper development, characteristic of its true mission. 147 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL In studying the development of civiliza tion in the lives of the world's most ad vanced nations since the advent of Christi anity in the world, one finds that it is only as the ideals of a true Christianity have been recognized and applied that any prog ress has been made in government or in the lives of individuals. It is also a conspicu ous fact, but nevertheless true, that ever since Christianity attained national recog nition and power in the world her greatest enemies have not come from the ranks of the pagans, or heathendom, or even from the unbelievers, but from among her pro fessed followers. Her troubles and cor ruptions have arisen from within. Her true progress has been hindered and set back by the work of the hypocrites, moral repro bates, and spiritual impostors who have declared themselves "leaders of the faith ; ' ' by the influence of wordly men who have disguised themselves in the saintly cloak of religion using the medium of their church connections for ungodly purposes. Her greatest disasters have been brought about through the attacks made upon her 148 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY by the canker-worm of inward corruption gnawing away at the vitals of her purity. The enemy which at first externally at tacked and molested Christianity was over come and was forced by defeat to seek cover, and has ever since been secretly at tacking the purposes which constitute the sole objects of Christian achievement. It may frequently be observed that those who are most bitterly opposed to the advance ment of progressive ideas feign approval of worthy causes, while they are secretly working with all their might and main to further the aims of causes directly opposite in their tendencies. So it is with the cor rupting influences of Roman Christianity. They use the good name of Christ's relig ion as a shield to cover up their operations. It is not the dangers arising from hea then countries and uncivilized nations that are menacing the welfare of humanity so much as the evil practices, the immoral habits, the vile customs, the unfair indus trial relations, the political corruptions, which are nourished and protected in their development and forced into the world through the influence of so-called Christian 149 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL nations. Catholics, especially, and also many Protestants, are to blame for their lukewarm attitude of indifference and dis regard toward the best interests of the race. Look at America, which is essentially a Christian nation, colonized and settled ex clusively by immigrants from the Christian nations of Europe, and yet what a deplor able lot of unchristian and ungodly prac tices have been introduced and developed ! No wonder the missionaries are oftentimes laughed at by some of the heathens who are enlightened enough to see the disparity existing between the teachings of Christi anity and the lives and conduct of some of its professed followers. The evil practices which are countenanced and promoted act as a denial to them of the claims advanced in favor of the acceptance of a superior re ligion, as they fail to see the nobility claimed for it exemplified in national life and individual conduct. To realize the influence of religious in stitutions and practices over the destinies of nations we have but to consider the his tory of our own American countries. The condition of civilization that existed in 150 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY America prior to its discovery, among the natives, was practically a uniform state of primitive savage life, with the possible ex ception of some parts of Mexico, and in South America, like Peru, for instance, which were found perhaps a little more ad vanced than natives in the other parts of America, where a universal condition of the lowest stages of savage life prevailed. The last two countries named, other things being equal, are the two countries naturally ex pected to be first to respond to the influences of a higher civilization. AMERICAN COUNTRIES UNDER ROMAN DOMINION. Developments in all the American coun tries after European colonization first took place may be regarded as being principally due to the religious influences which have been the inspiring force for shaping the course of progress in different sections of the country. Are we therefore not justified in the conclusion that those countries which have risen to the greatest development of an advanced civilization are the ones that have been under the influences of the noblest 151 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL ideals and purest forms of religious be lief and the truest practices? The coun tries that come under observation may be placed in two distinct classes — the one sec tion, which has been dominated by the Spanish dominion and the Roman Church, embracing nearly all of South and Central America and Mexico ; and the other section, which has been dominated by the English dominion in the early stages and a spirit of spiritual liberality and toleration for all religious beliefs, embracing the territory between the 31st and 50th degrees on the east coast of North America, and later ex tending westward to the Pacific coast. A comparison of the physical conditions of these two sections reveals the fact that they are almost identical in their natural ad vantages and in the native possibilities ex isting for the development of great nations. B: any notable advantage may be said to exist in favor of either section it would per haps have to be attributed to South Amer ica and the rich section covered by Mexico. We would therefore be justified in expect ing to find a greater development in these two countries, especially since both were 152 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY colonized and settled by Europeans more than a hundred years in advance, than the development we would look for in the coun tries of North America, which were first colonized by the English in 1620, more than a hundred years after iSouth America and Mexico were settled by the Spaniards. The following dates of American coloni zations give the Spanish settlements a con spicuous advantage by priority of time for fruitful developments in civilization : Brazil visited by the Portuguese in 1500, and probably colonized before 1505. Mexico was conquered by the Spanish in 1521. Peru was invaded by Pizarro in 1531 and conquered in a little more than a year. Buenos Ayres was founded by the Span iards in 1535. The first colonizations in North America : The Plymouth Colony in New England, 1620. William Penn Colony in Pennsylvania in 1682. Georgia settled by the English in 1733. From the dates of the above settlements it is evident that all principal parts of South 153 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL America and Mexico were under Spanish dominion for a century and longer before North America was colonized by the Eng hsh. In making a comparison of the two dis tinct sections and to avoid any inaccuracy in arriving at a just conclusion, let us con fine ourselves only to the records of his tory, first assuming that all readers are acquainted with the course of events which have taken place in these countries, as well as their present condition, and therefore a detailed account would be superfluous here. To sum up a review of the first three hundred years of Spanish dominion in America, and recognizing the religious in fluences as the inspiring force which shaped the course of events for this period, a study of what the reports of history say about the Spanish dominion and the mode of religious worship which it encouraged is pertinent. Bearing on this subject, one of the most re liable authorities says: " The aim of the Spanish government was that a pro vision as ample as possible was to be extracted from the toils and sufferings of the miserable Indians — first, to supply the wants of the royal treasury, and, next, to provide for and satisfy the cupidity of a school of do-noth ing public officers and priests. . . . The clergy, who 154 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY were numerous and rich, necessarily possessed great influence among a superstitious people. The memoir of Ullon, long buried amidst the Spanish archives with various other documents since the revolution, depicts acts of extortion, perfidy and cruelty, and oppressions practised upon the Indians, which have rarely been paralleled. Men rose to affluence in offices without sala ries, and the priests rivalled the laymen in the art of extracting money from those whom they ought to have protected. The unsurpassed system of oppression prac tised by the Spanish Government upon its subjects made it necessary to keep the people in profound ignorance and to cherish prejudices and superstitions. The importation of books, except books of Catholic devotion, was relig iously prohibited, and the more effectively to crush all mental activity, natives of the colonies could rarely obtain leave to go abroad, to seek in foreign countries what was denied them in their own. On the other hand, the priests sharing in the spoil filled the minds of the people with childish superstitions as a means of confirm ing their own power, and employed the terrors of relig ion to teach them patience under oppression." (Ency- clopsedia Brittanica.) In consideration of the above facts, can we wonder at the slow progress which was made in Spanish South America and Mex ico up to the time of the revolution? Such a tyrannical conspiracy existing between the governing power and the church would make it impossible for any progress to take place, but would rather result in extending and intensifying the liberty-crushing op pressions of that period. The same bane ful influences which existed in iSouth Amer ica were also exerted over the inhabitants J 55 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL of Mexico. Is it not the result of this in imical influence that has produced the crisis of rebellion and wretchedness which this country is now experiencing? Poor Mexico has indeed had her full share of troubles arising from political and religious oppres sions, and the consequential results of pov erty, ignorance, and superstition. The evils in the early stages of her his tory resulting from the Spanish political oppressions, and her rapacious, immoral, and intolerant clergy, have indeed been visited upon the third and fourth genera tions, and the present generation is now paying the great penalties which the re quirements of justice exact. The eyes of all nations are to-day centred on Mexico as the hotbed of revolution and political and religious oppression, which have made it one of the most distressed and debased of all nations. In Mexico the two extremes of society are as widely separated in the crea tion of the privileged classes and the pov erty-stricken classes on which they prey, as in any country in the world. There the Mexican, European, and American syndi cates of unsurpassed wealth are found 156 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY in exclusive possession of all the mineral wealth of the country and its natural re sources, and the privileged individual pro prietors possessed of immense tracts of land and boundless wealth, while the vast majority of the inhabitants are at the starv ing point and swarm the towns and villages almost naked for want of food and clothing, with thousands of the destitute falling vic tims to exposure and famine from time to time. All of the misery and corruption existing in Mexico, and which has existed there since the Spaniards claimed dominion, can be traced directly to the iniquities of the rul ing classes and the impositions of a false Christianity. Certainly the existing con dition cannot be laid on the present form of government, for the expressed principles of the Mexican Government are identical with those of the United States, the Con stitution of the former country being an almost literal copy of that of the latter. No American worthy of the name can be base enough to declare that these principles are productive of human oppressions, corrup tions, and rebellions. It is the perversion 157 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL of these principles that will bring such things about. The present democratic form of government in Mexico has been estab lished since 1824, and there has been ample time for the development of progress if the ideals expressed in its Constitution had been followed. The history of the Mexican course of events is a strong illustration of the fact that it takes more than a lofty Constitution of government to elevate a people's condition. Unless such a Consti tution is respected by the people's leaders, and the inhabitants are actuated by its lofty principles, the Constitution itself is a dead issue. It is only through the combined force of true leadership and the pure as piration and noble endeavors of those who are led that a nation can become great and arise to an exalted station among the other, nations of the world. The United States, though colonized a century later than Spanish America, has forged ahead in harmony with the tide of progress, spurred on by its superior moral, political, and religious ideals, and in a re markably short time eclipsed not only all the countries of the New World, but those 158 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY of the Old World as well, until it has been long recognized as leader of the world's most enlightened nations in advancing the cause of progress. The gold mines of North America did not compare with those of South America, and its territory, covered with almost impenetrable woods, was less easy of cultivation than the fertile lands of South America. But these physical disad vantages were more than offset by the su periority of the manhood and ideals of the settlers who took possession of North Amer ican territory, bringing with them intelli gence, habits of industry, and a profound love of political and religious liberty, and the resulting standards of a high morality. Armed with these gifts of the soul, they have converted the wilderness into a land "teeming with life and smiling with plenty." They have built up a social sys tem so preeminently calculated to promote the happiness and moral improvement of mankind, and developed the industrial pos sibilities of the nation, that it has truly be come "the envy" of other nations. Here we find a people, taken collectively, as well educated as, and with perhaps more intel- 159 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL ligence and manliness of character than any other nation in the world. The condi tions that exist could not have been brought about under influences like that of the Span ish dominion and the corrupt religious prac tices which it fostered. What has made this nation as great as it is, and prevented its present imperfec tions from becoming even greater than they are? To give an adequate answer to this question we would have to acknowledge that whatever greatness this the leading nation of the world has attained, has been brought about by the devotion of its people to the principles of liberty, justice, and truth, and its present imperfections, which are by no means of small proportion, as well as the failures and corruptions of all other na tions, can be overcome and destroyed only by this same devotion of humanity to the principles of righteousness exemplified by the life and teachings of the lowly Nazarene. If it had been subject to the same condi tions of development as North America, South America should to-day be far ahead 160 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY of North America in population, industry, material wealth, and in intellectual and so cial advancement. Instead, there is at pres ent in all the territory of South America, embracing an area larger than North Amer ica, a population of only 45,000,000, as against 120,000,000 north of the Rio Grande River. An even greater comparative dis crepancy in material and social progress may be noted. To what else but Spanish rule and Vatican dominion can we ascribe the poor showing revealed in iSouth Amer ican history? Bishop Homer C. Stuntz,of the Methodist Church, who has long been a resident of South America, in speaking of the popu lation of that country attributed the lack of progress and slow growth in population principally to Spanish misrule and relig ious intolerance. Speaking of the early days in South American history, he says : " Spain found eleven million Indians in the highlands which now constitute the States of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. By driving them to work in the mines in gangs, under unsupportable conditions, that number was reduced to less than three millions within two hundred years. No such deliberate and merciless slaughter of indigenous populations has ever before been known." 11 161 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL Dr. E. A. Ross, in his book, "South of Panama," says: " Religious intolerance has been, and remains, the most deadly enemy of South American progress. It strikes at the very heart of all religions and social de velopment. There can be no large gains in civic right eousness, in educational achievements, in social prog ress, until democracy, which is taught wherever the open Bible goes, and which is born at the altars of Protestant ism, becomes the common possession of all the millions of South America. This is the fundamental justification for missionary effort in that land. Without the Gospel and its message regarding the rights of the individual there can be no democracy, and without democracy there is no hope for the development of those resources which are sufficient to enrich the world." Dr. Ross, in the same book, says : "South America is the victim of a bad start. ' ' May Protestants see to it that North America may not become the victim of a "bad end" by permitting the same blighting force which has been a deadly curse to South America to become a dominating power in this land of liberty, which by virtue of its early Christian development and its mar vellous opportunities for the growth of true Christian institutions should always remain the "land of the free and the home of the brave." Wendell Phillips said : "The answer to the Shaster is India; the answer to Confucianism is China; the answer to the Koran is Tur key; the answer to the Bible is the Christian civilization of Protestant Europe and America." 162 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY He may as truthfully have added: The answer to Romanism is the Dark Ages in Europe, and in later times the Spanish do minions in America and the Philippines. What answer is the Protestant manhood of America to-day going to make to the per sistent warfare being waged by the perni cious powers of Romanism against the best interests of our beloved country? Are we going to follow the examples of the brave founders of our liberty and be courageous enough to defend and fight for the cause of our freedom, to insist upon our inalienable rights of free conscience, free speech, free press, and the right to worship according to the dictates of our conscience ? Are we going to uphold and improve our admirable free educational institutions and not permit them to become secret quarantine stations for the propagation of fanaticism, super stition, and all manner of pernicious doc trines and corrupt practices? Are we going to keep self-seeking church dominion out of our governmental affairs, and not permit the Ship of State to drift back over the rocks of despair and wretchedness of 163 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL the Middle Ages? Are we going to help to shatter that menacing cloud from Rome which our immortal Lincoln foresaw as a great threatening danger for the future welfare of our country? Is not this dark cloud continually growing darker and more ominous to the cause of progress in our own country? These are questions which every liberty-loving person should face squarely and honestly, and, once having faced them, to work zealously and hero ically for the maintenance and advance ment of those immortal principles which alone can bring about a true brotherhood of mankind on earth and reveal to us the great meaning of the Fatherhood of God. It be comes our plain duty, like David of olden times, to rise up in the strength of our man hood and with Divine help hurl the rock of destruction at our gigantic enemy. Let us join the army of the righteous and fight the good fight in behalf of true liberty, and thus become instrumental in perpetuating a more glorious destiny for our own and all coming generations. 164 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY FAILURES IN CHRISTIANITY While the corruptions and evil practices of the Roman Church have been the most destructive influences at work against the development of a true Christianity, it also becomes evident that the records of vari ous denominations represented in Protes tantism do not reveal tendencies which may be classed as universally exemplary. One of the most conspicuous failures of Prot estantism is the indisposition which has been shown by various denominations to discard some of their minor causes of dis pute and unite upon the more fundamental principles of their faith. We can readily understand why at first there should have been a variance of opinion and a develop ment of different forms of worship in the pioneer days. Biut these differences should gradually diminish as men are earnestly searching after the truth, and as they at tain to a fuller realization of its meaning the one-sided attitudes adopted as the dis tinguishing features and peculiarities of creeds should fade away. Recent develop ments show a marked change indicative of 165 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL progress towards the attainment of unity in thought and forms of worship, and it is to be most earnestly hoped that the day is not far distant when all denominations will realize their oneness of purpose and become broad and liberal enough in their views to discover the really great objects worthy of achievement, and banish all forms of bigotry, selfishness, and factionalism, as they learn to view the beauty of holiness from all sides and are led to enter into a fuller conception of the meaning of God liness. One of the strongest tests for proving the sincerity of a man's professed convictions is that he will sacrifice his life if necessary to demonstrate his loyalty to his faith. How many present-day Christians would lay down their lives, as did so many of the early Christians, rather than renounce some of the peculiar doctrines announced to con stitute the fundamental principles of the faith in which they professed to believe? There is a great deal of dead wood and moss which has become attached to different creeds which should be detached, cleared away and thrown into the scrap-heap of 166 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY oblivion in order that the beautiful plant of true worship may grow and develop free from the smothering external hindrances whichatpresent dim men's vision and deaden their spirituality. The discords from the great chorus of Protestantism may all be traced to their source in the bigotry, section alism, narrow-mindedness, and selfishness existing in different denominations. Instead of attuning themselves to the sanctified notes of spiritual purity emanating from the sub lime organ of the church of God, and plac ing themselves under the Divine guidance and direction of the world's greatest and only perfect director of religious music and spiritual harmony, the great Master Him self, men have followed the less qualified leaders and biased directors of religious movements. The earnest work of repre sentatives of different creeds, however, should not be decried, but rather is com mendable in so far as efforts are being made by men to live up to their truest convictions. Such efforts are sure to result in continual growth and spiritual development along the lines which lead to perfection. Generally speaking, what the Christian 167 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL Church needs to-day is to prune itself of the bad habits and practices of the past, get out of the ruts of deleterious conven tionalism, become free from all manner of worldliness, and get into more direct con tact with the real purposes and objects of Christianity as exemplified and taught by its great Founder. Rome's pretension of harmony and unity in her ranks is nothing but a delusion and a sham. The baseless claim that their same doctrine is taught in all parts of the world and in all ages of the world is unequivocally denied by historical facts. As a matter of fact, no other church in Christendom has varied so much in the doctrine it has taught at different times and in dif ferent places as the Church of Rome. Her faith has been subject to constant fluctua tions, variations, deflections, and additions. The Creed of Pius IV, a.d. 1564, added twelve new articles to the universal faith, including the doctrines of tradition, the seven sacraments, the mass, purgatory, in vocation and veneration of saints, image veneration, and indulgences. In 1854, an other addition of a new article of faith — 168 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin; and in 1870 the most sacrilegious and perverse of all Rome's doctrines, papal infallibility, was imposed upon the Church. Before concluding this chapter it may be well to take another retrospective view of the history of Christianity and note par ticularly the most conspicuous failures dis cernible, from which some lessons may be learned, and from which warnings may be taken. We have already observed how Chris tianity had no sooner become established as a leading power in the world than some of its most influential leaders committed the mistake of surrendering to the very enemy which had so effectively been overcome. Instead of permitting the Kingdom of God to grow and develop along the lines laid down by the Master, these fallen leaders deliberately set to work to build up a wordly kingdom by churchly influence according to the lines and perverse ideals already fur nished by the government of pagan Rome and the creed of pagan philosophers. Dur ing this period of transition this subtle power of evil was persistently at work and 169 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL gradually succeeded in reducing the es tablished Kingdom of God to a material and earthly empire. The most conspicuous evils connected with pagan idolatrous wor ship became gradually introduced into the different mysterious ceremonies and con founding forms of worship by various sac raments, penances, confessions, rites, and rituals, adopted to facilitate the creation of superstition and fanaticism calculated to facilitate the development of churchly dominion and the extraction of money and homage from the deluded communicants, in the interests of a privileged spiritual caste. From the development of such a state of religious tyranny and oppression as above stated, the struggle, as it deepened, grew into the ascendency of political tyranny and oppression as well. For a while the Christian bishop and the Roman governor appear as two rival authorities, striving for dominion over an earthly empire, each forgetting and completely ignoring the true spiritual conception of the Kingdom of God. In this contest the Roman Church finally succeeded in realizing for a while her aspiration to give expression to her 170 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY claim to universal dominion over most of the European nations, at least for a long period of many centuries, prostituting Christianity into a kingdom of materialism and perverting its original purposes, as the sole authority to interpret the Scriptures and regulate ecclesiastical dispensations was conferred on a privileged priestly class. In this strife for wordly position, wealth, and power, the leaders of society completely disregarded their most sacred obligations to God and humanity. Wordly men who found their way into the clergy fell readily for the temptation to favor any kind of superstition and heresy that tended to bring them profit and power. While some at first rebelled against the superior au thority the church fathers claimed a right to exercise over society, a great many sub mitted to their pretensions, and the masses were gradually led to the belief that the priests could serve God in their stead, and that there were mysteries in religion which priests understood, but which the laity need not know anything about and ought not to inquire into. Thus they were made to follow blindly the guidance of the priests 171 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL in religious matters. Historical records reveal how, under the pretext of propagat ing the faith, ambitious and wordly-minded rulers made use of the influence of the church as an instrument for securing the submission of the people to tyrannical op pression and for aiding their ambitious views, as shown in the references that have already been made in connection with the methods pursued under the Spanish do minion in America. Nothing has tended to more thoroughly corrupt Christianity than the introduction into it of superstition and heresies de veloped from the above-named sources. Thus1, a manufactured Christianity, de signed to replace and pervert the real pur pose of Christ's mission in the world, has been more inimical to the interests of hu manity even than the perverse religion of Islam, in that its sphere of influence has been in the more enlightened sections of the world, and therefore its results have been more disastrous to progress. It is by no means only in the history of Romanism that we read about reprehensible practices among professors of Christianity, 172 CORRUPTIONS IN CHRISTIANITY as in the early days of Protestantism his tory records many signs of intolerance, big otry and narrow-mindedness. But suc ceeding generations of Protestants have been liberal, honest, and manly enough to confess and, renounce errors of the past. Not so with Romanism, which is ever alert to cover up its shameful past, and always opposed to renounce and forsake its notori ously perverted doctrines and pernicious practices. The greatest work of Christian people to day is not in evangelizing heathendom, but in eradicating the cause for the evil influ ences which emanate from perverse teach ings and practices that have grown up and become a part of so-called Christian insti tutions. 173 THE CRUSADES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ROME'S INTENTION IN AMERICA The future is no less overcast with gloomy forebodings of evils to be visited upon mankind through the inspiration and instrumentality of Romanism than have been the times through which our per secuted forefathers had to pass. In addi tion to the spiritual curse it brings into the lives of those over whom it dominates, un told social and economic evils are visited upon mankind through its incessant politi cal activities. That it has arrived at a domi neering stage in our own politics, at least according to the opinions of its own fol lowers, may be judged by such confident claims as the following : " The Western Watchman boastfully says that any pub lic man who opposes the Roman Church commits political suicide. This boast is also a confession — a confession that the church controls the ballots cast by her partisans — controls them sufficiently to defeat those who incur her displeasure. That which makes her dangerous, that which gives her so often a controlling political influence, is not her numbers, but her solidarity, the subservience of a large proportion of her adherents to the direction of the priesthood. It is this mediaeval sacerdotalism that constitutes our peril. The Roman priest controls the political action of a large part of his flock. The Protestant minister neither wields nor seeks to wield 12 177 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL such control. And so it comes to pass that Roman minor ity often triumphs over the Protestant majority." (Ran dolph H. McKim, " Romanism in the Light of History," p. 19.) When will the Protestant clergy and lay men awaken to their responsibility to over come this inimical influence constantly ex erted against our public institutions? On the following page this same able defender of Protestant principles (Dr. McKim) elo quently states : " The great Protestant communions must realize the seriousness of the crisis that is upon us. They must make common cause against this insidious menace to our Constitution and to our liberties. They must come out into the open and stand together in solid phalanx against all these invasions of personal liberty; not in anger, not in bitterness, not with violence of speech or violence of action, but calmly, resolutely, with invin cible determination that the principles of our Consti tution shall be preserved inviolate and that our citizens shall enjoy absolute liberty of speech and action; shall be free to act, to vote, and to carry on their worldly affairs without any interference, directly or indirectly, from the priesthood. " My friends and brothers, this unity, this Protestant unity of action that I have alluded to, is coming. I hear the sounds of its advancing footsteps. I hear afar off the tramp as of a mighty army marching to the ' Battle Hymn of the Republic' It is an army of force. Its weapons are not carnal, but spiritual. By the force of reason, by the power of an enlightened public opinion, it will win its victories. Its voice will be the voice of many millions of Protestant citizens, the great majority of our people, and it will command respect, it will con strain to obedience." 178 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES This is a very hopeful and significant prophecy, but let no one be carried away with optimism and believe that these im portant victories will be won without op position. To meet this conquering army that our venerable Episcopal clergyman has referred to will be mustered and organized crusade after crusade of loyal and fanatical followers of Romanism under Vatican in spiration and generalship. The determined, zealous, bigoted, and frenzied forces of Roman Catholicism who have sworn allegi ance and obedience, not to the laws and Constitution of our land, but who have vowed eternal subjection and obedience to the papal power and who are required to absolutely oppose everything which does not happen to meet with the approval of this remorseless power, must be opposed. This is the power that has "ever been a foe to liberty, whether civil or ecclesias tical." This was the power that "pro nounced the Magna Charta, upon which Enghsh liberty is based, null and void, and excommunicated the barons who obtained it from the unwilling hands of King John." This is the power which would banish pri- 179 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL vate judgment, liberty of conscience, free press,f ree speech, and all sound intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth from the face of the earth. This is the power which teaches, and which will leave nothing un done to enforce its doctrine, that civil rulers are the dependents and vassals of the Pope, who has full power to depose monarchs, absolve subjects from their al legiance, hand over countries to invasion, and deprive princes and peoples of their properties. Dr. McKim says : "This is Rome's ideal of society! This is her model of civil order! It is true she does not now attempt to exercise this supreme and universal jurisdiction, but this is, as the Jesuit theologians explain, because it is not at present possible to exercise it. They still affirm the power of the church to inflict civil and cor poral punishment — yea, fines, fasts, imprisonment, and scourging. . . . " To lay whole nations under interdict, to deprive them of worship and sacraments, was not sufficient. Cities and states were outlawed or given up to plunder and slavery, as, for instance, Venice, by Clement V. Excommunication to the seventh generation, the razing of cities, and the transportation of their inhabitants — these are specimens of the exercise of this power by the Popes. Martin IV placed King Pedro of Arragon under interdict, promised indulgences for their sins to all who should fight against him, and finally declared his kingdom forfeited, and made it over, for a yearly tribute, to Charles of Valois. Gregory VII, the first to attempt dethroning kings and absolving subjects of their allegiance, declared, in the year 1080, as follows: 'We desire to show the world that we can give or take away 180 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES at our will kingdoms, duchies, earldoms, in a word the possessions of all men, for we can bind and loose.' And Gratian, the famous canonist, urges that Pope Urban II had declared any one who should kill an excommunicated person out of zeal to the church, is by no means a murderer. " The dark and terrible history of the Inquisition, with its cruel instruments of torture and death — the pulley, ' by which persons were hoisted up to the ceiling with a weight attached to the feet and then suddenly allowed to fall to the ground with a jerk which dislocated the joints;5 the rack, 'by which the frame was distorted and lacerated; ' the chafing dish, 'by which persons were stretched on the back, and a slow fire applied to the soles of the feet; ' and if these did not bring the heretic to recant, then the sword, the axe, and the fagot of the civil magistrate were ready to do the work. This, I say, may serve as another illustration of the way in which the Church of Rome has put her theory into practice. And it is the Inquisition which the papal organ at Rome described in 1855 as 'a sublime spectacle of social per fection ! ' " It is tolerably clear, in the light of these typical facts, in what sense the Church of Rome once stood ' be tween nation and nation, between the governor and the governed,' and how she once exercised, and would again exercise, if she could, the office of ' arbiter of right and wrong to the nation.' Nor is it at all difficult to under stand why her wrath should wax hot against Protestant ism for emancipating Christendom from this bondage to the papal throne. Interpreted by these historical facts, her reproach becomes the highest encomium. " If ' social perfection,' as Rome understands it, is exemplified in the Inquisition, then God be praised for the movement which helped to ' destroy ' that model of 'society! ' If the presence of 'the religious element' in society means — as for Rome it does mean — the dark shadow of the Papacy over every monarch's throne and every magistrate's seat, then should the nations of the earth rise up and call the Reformers blessed, if indeed they ' obliterated ' it. If to ' divorce society from God ' signifies, in Roman phrase, the same thing as to divorce it from the ecclesiastic who pretends to be the Vicar 181 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL of Christ, whom Bellarmine called ' the vice-God,' and whose pretensions establish in him so strong a resem blance to the ' man of sin,' ' the son of perdition,' of whom St. Paul prophesied, ' that he as God, sitting in the temple of God, would show himself that he is God' (II Thess. ii, 3, 4), then, I say, if the Reformers severed this unholy alliance they performed a work similar to that which the prophet Elijah performed when he emancipated the House of Israel from the service of the strange gods which Jezebel had set up ; and every Chris tian as well as every patriot should delight to do them honor for so great and holy a work." ("Romanism in the Light of History," pp. 211-214.) What has modern Romanism to say re garding the Inquisition? " The Catholic Encyclopaedia contends that persecution seemed right and was right in that age (the Dark Ages), when the standard of morals and purity was high! This is asserted gravely and not as a joke. In the same article ('Heresy') it is held that the cruelties of the Inquisi tion are not practised now because of the degenerate state of faith and morals which prevails, but that heresy is more malignant than treason, and that the cruelties of the Inquisition were not shocking to the people of that age. That is to say, the only way to prevent a return of the glories of the Inquisition is to remain in a low state of grace and morals, such as we now experi ence! If the religious life of mankind should ever improve until the awfulness of heresy is as fully real ized as it was by the Inquisitors, Rome's rebellious chil dren and stepchildren (Jews, etc.) will again be treated to the rack and the dungeon." ("Roman Catholicism Analyzed," p. 127.) The horrors of the Inquisition were not shocking to the fiendish powers of Roman ism of that age, "when the standards of morals and purity were high." But how 182 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES about the poor defenseless victims whom they tortured as human beings, that never had been tortured before ? Those standards of morals and purity must have been very high indeed if we are to conclude that these standards were modelled after the ex amples of the "infallible" succession of popes whose unspeakable corruptions have darkened the ages of Christendom. What is the record of these popes, whose coming St. Peter must have anticipated when he said: " For when they speak great swelling words of van ity, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption." (II Pet., ii, 18, 19.) Schaff 's ' ' Creeds of Christendom, ' ' vol. i, pp. 181, 182, has this to say: " Absolute power, especially of a spiritual kind, is invariably intoxicating and demoralizing to any mortal man who possesses it. . . . The reminiscence of the monstrous period when the Papacy was a football in the hands of bold and dissolute women (904-962), or when mere boys, like Benedict IX (1033), polluted the papal crown with the filth of unnatural vices, could not be quite forgotten. The scandal of the papal schism (1378-1409), when two and even three rival popes ex communicated and cursed each other, and laid all Western Christendom under the ban, excited the moral indignation of all good men in Christendom, and called forth, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, the 183 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL three councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basle, which loudly demanded a reformation of the church, in the head as well as in the members, and asserted the superiority of the council over the pope. "The Council of Constance (1414-1418), the most numerous ever seen in the West, deposed two popes, John XXIII (the infamous Balthasar Corsa, who had been recognized by the majority of the church), on the charge of a series of crimes (May 29, 1415), and Benedict XIII as a heretic who sinned against the unity of the church (July 26, 1417), and elected a new pope, Martin V (November 11, 1417), who had given his adhesion to the council though after his accession to power he found ways and means to defeat its real object; i.e., the refor mation of the church." And these were the good old times in which the standards of morals and purity are alleged to have been so high ! What a significant testimony of the inconsistency constantly practised by the upholders of Romanism is conveyed by a reflection over the pages of historical facts that cannot be denied! How any sane person who has studied the facts of history and who has tried to arrive at the truth in the matter can ever put forth any claim to a belief in the teachings and preposterous pretensions of Romanism is more than lies within the power of man to explain. The claims of papal infallibility, for instance, are so ut terly defenseless and brazenly fraudulent that it seems utterly incomprehensible. how 184 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES any intelligent person can be led into a sin cere acknowledgment and acceptance of such a diabolical imposition of authority. Of all notorious impositions enacted by any institution for the enslavement of mankind, what ungodly hierarchy on earth can even in a small way compare with the institution of Romanism for the gigantic frauds and stupendous wrongs which this inimical power has forced into the world? " The church practises so much fraud in her methods as to contaminate the membership generally. Rome boasts of her adaptability to all nations, peoples, tongues, and climes. The homoeopathic doses of Romanism which Gibbons and the Paulist Fathers have been adminis tering to the people of the United States of America have been so complacently swallowed by a majority of the people that one would think we might all wake up some fine morning to find ourselves gently resting in the arms of ' Holy Mother.' If these gentlemen had the authority permanently to adopt it the case might be different, but they cannot, and they might as well confess that what they do is simply provisional. " Duplicity is found all through the Roman Catholic system. In Protestant countries she makes boastful claims as to her love for education. In Catholic coun tries she neglects and opposes it. She cries aloud and looks innocent when accused of political intrigue, and yet it is a part of her very life. "The creed of Pius IV says plainly that there is no salvation outside of the Roman Catholic Church. Modern theologians and apologists lay down the gap and let a considerable number of outsiders into heaven. With one breath it is proclaimed from the housetops that Rome has been the liberator of the masses, and with the next she decries the liberty of conscience and freedom of thought which are indispensable to advancement. 185 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL She pretends that her people Bhould and do have the Bible, and yet she fails to put it in their reach until driven to it by Protestants. The priest makes the peni tent believe that he grants him absolution and that he can depend on it, but upon investigation it is admitted that there is no absolute certainty about it. Cardinal Gibbons says ('Faith of our Fathers,' p. 262): 'All admit that the condition of unbaptized infants is better than non-existence. There are some Catholic writers of distinction who even assert that unbaptized infants enjoy a ertain degree of natural beautitude.' The editor of Lignori, vol. ii, p. 470, in his dissertation concerning the ' Work of the Holy Infancy,' says : ' With their most pitiful cries; those unhappy ones, whose throats have become hoarse, whose tongues have stuck to the palate, for so much crying to their fathers insensible of their ill fortune.' " And so we may go on indefinitely and cite examples of inconsistency and duplicities to ensnare the unwary. Rome purposely refrains from encouraging the circulation of books which give expression to her fun damental principles. While she secretly preaches that civil matrimony is base con cubinage and commands that her followers must boycott and ruin all liberal and un biased mediums of the press, yet she dares not give open expression to these doctrines in civilized communities. Not any of her most pronounced fundamental doctrines will hold investigation on the records of history or through the light of an honest ex perience. The claims in favor of priestly 186 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES celibacy are annihilated by the almost uni versal corruption of the priesthood, and the harmful influence the unnatural restriction has had on society brought into contact with an immoral clergy. When the leaders of the faith themselves freely maintain that it is not necessary that a priest, or any of its prelates, including the pope, be moral in order that they should properly fulfil their mission and become a channel of grace, is it any wonder that so much corruption as actually prevails is to found in the institution? Can we expect anything else than to find this institution in opposition to virtually all the aggressive, purifying, and elevating institutions of so ciety? It is a notorious fact that lotteries and gambling are countenanced and encouraged by this Church when it serves her interests ; that her attitude towards the press is to have it muzzled on her own terms ; that she opposes all liberal, wholesome, patriotic, and untrammelled education ; that she aids charity and philanthropy only when she can aggrandize her own station thereby; that she refuses to cooperate with purifying 187 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL agencies of society for stamping out the so cial evil or overthrowing the liquor in-i terests. In short, what excuse can this in famous institution offer to civilized society for its existence ? I wish to quote further from the very excellent book, "Roman Catholicism An alyzed": " Rome should be very thankful to Protestantism, for it is only in Protestant countries that one may find a decent type of morals among Catholic people. No coun try on earth is able to endure Roman Catholic domina tion for any length of time without suffering tremen dous loss of virility, prestige, hopefulness, and faith in God. France is a dismal example of the blighting effects of Romanism. Italy, before Garibaldi's day, was liter ally devastated by malaria, vandalism, poverty, and im morality. She is now redeeming herself and becoming a free, strong nation, in proportion to her success in throwing off the yoke of papal tyranny. " Fortunately for England, Scotland, and Germany, they made their fight in time to prevent the complete undermining of faith and morals, together with conse quent decay and decrepitude. Argentina, Brazil, and Chile have begun in time to outwit their enemy. While these lines are being written Mexico is suffering internal discord and anarchy because she has not insisted on being free from Rome, in fact as well as in theory. The United States is in a state of lethargy as re gards politico-ecclesiastical Romanism. Thousands of her citizens refuse to believe that danger lurks in the near future. She will awake some day, but not until Romanism has fastened her fangs nearly to her vitals. Our greatest danger is from time-serving bosses and legis lators who would betray their country's religious liberty and public school system in order to perpetuate their own nefarious power and boodle. Such men are really, if not technically, guilty of treason." 188 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES This is no doubt one of the main issues which Protestantism must face and over come to prevent Romanism carrying out its design to make America Catholic. What is at present being done by Protestants to frustrate these designs ? We may know, in a measure at least, what is being done by the opposition by studying some of their public remarks and persistent activities, but what are we doing to prevent the de signs of the great foe of our enlightened civilization to accomplish its purpose? That our menacing enemy is growing in creasingly hopeful to accomplish this pur pose, and that the leaders of the church are busily engaged in stirring up enthusiasm among its bigoted followers, may be judged from such statements as the following by Archbishop Ireland: "Never, I believe, since the century began, the dawn of which was the glimmer from the Eastern Star, was there prepared for Catholics of any nation a work so noble in its nature and so pregnant with consequences as that which it is our mission to accomplish. The work is to make America Catholic. As we love America, as we love the church, it suffices to mention the work, and our cry shall be, ' God wills it,' and our hearts shall leap toward it with Crusader enthusiasm." That sounds indeed like a voice from the Dark Ages endeavoring to kindle into en- 189 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL thusiasm the unbridled frenzy of supersti tion, bigotry, and misplaced zeal of a mis led constituency in behalf of papal do minion. The Cathohc Missionary Union declares : " How near at hand do you think is the time when America will be dominantly Catholic? Things move on with rapid strides these days, and the recent creation of three American Cardinals has brought the church once more to the front. " We must labor to gain the confidence of the American people. This once gained, the Catholic Church, on her way to claim the American heart, may carry a thousand dogmas on her back." The World (Catholic) says : " There has never been a period in American history when the church opportunity has been so close to her. To a great extent the ancient antagonism has died. Protestantism is disintegrating before our eyes. The time is ripe to build a Catholic America, and strong men are now laying the foundation." Archbishop Quigley, addressing the Ger man Catholic Verein, says : " We have well-ordered and efficient organizations, all at the beck and call of the hierarchy and ready to do what the church authorities tell them to do. With these bodies of loyal Catholics ready to step in the breach at any time and present an unbroken front to the enemy, we may feel secure." The Syllabus of Pius IX says : " The State has not the right to leave every man free to profess and embrace whatever religion he shall deem true. 190 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES " The Church has the right to exercise her power :"without the permission or consent of the State. " The Church has the right of perpetuating the union pf Church and State. " The Church has the right to require that the Catholic Ireligion shall be the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all others. " The Church has the right to prevent the State from 'granting the public exercise of their own worship to persons immigrating into it. " The Church has the right of requiring the State not to permit free expression of opinion." The Catholic Sun says : " The Pope has given the order to make America Catholic. The first step in the making will be the elec- Ition of the American Catholics to the Papacy, the re moval of St. Peter's to Washington, Cardinal Gibbons is to be made President, and every non-Catholic will be driven out of the army and navy." ' There can be no other meaning to the universal slogan "Make America Catholic" than that it is a long-contemplated and most deliberate plan conceived at the Vatican, and which is being carried out most sys tematically with the cooperation of the en tire hierarchy and its subjects throughout the world. The following extract, taken from the Missionary Magazine (August, 1915), recites a good explanation of the ex traordinary efforts which are being made to Romanize America and the tense interest with which these persistent efforts are be- 191 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL ing watched by the old pontiff on the banks of the Tiber: "Looking from his watch-tower by the Vatican, he saw how the races of Southern Europe, one by one, were giving up allegiance to the Holy See. With their dimin ishing faith — so also diminishing his power. Something must be done to prop up his tottering throne. New nations and new people must be mustered in to take the place of those who had left, otherwise Roman faith and Roman power would soon be a negligible thing in this great progressive world of ours. So America became the land of promise — the country of all others wherein to retrieve a lost cause. America had youth and wealth, and promise. It is a world-power. Would it not be a glorious thing to see the church, which is falling else where, wax strong and great over there ? "So the watchword was created, and the message sent : ' Make America Catholic' Priests and bishops were to receive the secret password — and loyally work for its fulfilment — politicians were to be approached — new Car dinals were to be created; so that imposing dignity on the one side and servile expediency on the other might be made to hasten the result." Bishop M. F. Fallon, of London, Ont., one of the principal speakers at the recent American Catholic Missionary Congress in Boston, the largest gathering of Catholic Church prelates ever held in the United States, expressed himself before that gath ering as follows : " This Missionary Congress is a simple, natural conse quence of Catholic principles, and from these principles there follows the answer to the question, ' What does this movement mean ? ' It means that we propose to make this North American continent Catholic. . . . The practical oligation of cooperating in the work of making 193 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES this country Catholic rests with solemn force on every member of the visible body of the church. It binds the eminent Cardinals who stand at the head of the American hierarchy; it is an obligation upon every right reverend bishop who directs the destinies of a diocese and who is the bishop, not of the Catholics alone, but of non- Catholics also." Archbishop Bonzano, at this same gath ering referred to above, in encourage ment of the idea of the conquest of America by Catholics, said: "Young and vigorous, strong in the might of a great hope, full to the bursting of a wonderful charity, the church in America stands on the threshold of her greatest opportunity." A careful perusal of the foregoing sig nificant and arrogant statements from the representative leaders of Romanism must bring home to every Protestant the serious ness of our present situation. After reading such statements can any one doubt for a moment that the army of Romanism is al ready well on its way in its defiant march, ' ' On to Washington ! ' ' The Crusades of the Dark Ages had for -their objective point the Cradle of Bethle hem, held out as an alluring incentive to inspire the Crusaders forward to conquer the opposition in order that new territory 13 193 . CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL and additional power might be added to the papal dominion. And now it is the Cradle of American Liberty that has been desig nated as the objective point to draw the Crusaders for a similar purpose. Instead of attacking the strongholds of Islam and marching into the heart of the Orient to the sacred location designated by the iStar of Bethlehem, this time it has been decided by the papal power to direct the march against the strongholds of Protestantism into the coveted land of the Occident, where the glorious star of freedom and personal liberty and an advanced civilization is shedding its greatest brilliancy over the human race. RESULTS OF ROMAN RULE. If, successful in her attempts to gain control of our governmental affairs, what may we expect from the dominion of Ro manism? The author of "Roman Cathoh cism Analyzed," on page 168, has this to say in answer to my question, and who can deny the truthfulness of his assertion? _ " By suppressing freedom of thought, denying the right of private judgment, and by opposition to general education she has succeeded in reducing to a greater 194 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES or less degree of poverty every nation where she has full control. Instead of prosperous homes her reign produces imposing charitable institutions. In lands where she is most strongly entrenched, grand cathedrals look down upon the poverty and degradation of the people. According to their lights her sisters and nuns do the best they can to help humanity. It is a pity that they are often seriously handicapped by the very system of which they form a part. " Rome's assertion of her superiority to the Divine law in the matter of matrimony, where the Pope claims the power of granting dispensations, and her efforts at the artificial exaltation of celibacy, have not fostered virtue. On the contrary, her monasteries have often been noted for their rottenness. The celibacy of the priesthood does not work well in Catholic countries. I do not believe it works well in Protestant countries, although the standard of morals in the latter case is such that great abuses are evidently not so unblushing as in lands where public sentiment places no check upon the clergy. " By placing the simple, thoughtful worship of Christ with the so-called miracles of transubstantiation, heal ing, etc., Romanism has fettered the faith of her devotees and driven her thoughtful men into skepticism. " Inordinate ambition for power is so patent with regard to Rome that she is sooner or later found out everywhere." The following statistical facts taken from Randolph McKim 's "Romanism in the Light of History," pp. 230-233, express the strongest condemnation that any one could utter against the results of Romanism : " The ofhcial statistics of crime in Roman Catholio countries furnish a very simple and practical method of testing the truth of the assertion that Protestantism has been destructive of morality. " Let us compare Protestant England with the several Roman Catholic countries of Europe as to the crime of MUEDEB. 195 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL Roman Catholic: Ireland there are Belgium there are France there are Austria there are Bavaria there are Sardinia there are Lombardy there are Tuscany there are SicilyNaplee Papal States: Protestant: England there are there are there are 19 murders 18 murders 31 murders 36 murders 68 murders 20 murders 45 murders 56 murders 90 murders 174 murders 113 murders to every to every to every to every to every to every to every to every to .every to every to every million million million million million million million million millionmillion million inhabitants. inhabitants.inhabitants.inhabitants.inhabitants.inhabitants.inhabitants.inhabitants. inhabitants.inhabitants. inhabitants. there are 4 murders to every million inhabitants. " These statistics, with dates and explanations, may be seen at length in Seymour's ' Evenings with the Roman ists,' (pp. 13-30). " Let us take another field of inquiry and comparison; that, namely, which relates to vice and immorality. The proportion of illegitimate births is as follows: In Roman Catholic Paris, thirty-three per cent. In Roman Catholic Brussels, thirty-five per cent. In Roman Catholic Munich, forty-eight per cent. In Roman Catholic Vienna, fifty-one per cent. In Protestant London, four per cent. — Ibid., p. 38. Again : Protestant England. Per cent. Bristol and Clifton about 4 Bradford about 8 Birmingham about 6 Brighton about 7 Cheltenham about 7 Exeter about 8 Liverpool about 6 Manchester & Salford. .about 7 Plymouth about 5 Portsea about 5 ~63 Roman Catholic Austria. Per cent. Troppau about 26 Zara about 30 Innspruck about 22 Laibach about 38 Brunn about 42 Linz about 46 Prague about 47 Lemberg about 47 Klagenfurt about 56 Grata about 65 419 — Ibid., p. 39 196 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES Again: Protestant England. Roman Catholic Italy. Per Per cent. cent. Liverpool 6 Tutin 20 Bristol and Clifton 4 Milan 35 Plymouth 5 Venice 17 Brighton 7 Florence 20 Manchester 7 Naples 16 29 Again : 108 -Ibid., p. 41 In Roman Catholic Austria. In Protestant Prussia. , Per Per cent. cent. Vienna 51 Berlin IS Prague 47 Breslau 26 10 28 20 Linz 46 Cologne. . . . Milan 32 Konigsberg. Klagenfurt 56 Dantzig Gratz 65 Magdeburg 11 Lembach 47 Aix-la-Chapelle 4 Laibach 38 Stettin 13 Zara 30 Posen 16 Brunn 42 Potsdam 12 454 158 — Ibid., p. 46 The result in Soman Catholic Austria is 45 per cent. And in Protestant Prussia, 16 per cent. — Ibid., p. 47 " In the light of the above statistics, which are sub mitted without comment, the charge made by Roman Catholic polemics that Protestant principles are destruc tive of morality must be characterized as an instance either of the most unblushing effrontery or of the gross est ignorance. To these statistics of a generation ago, let me add some of recent date: " Meyer gives the percentage of illegitimate births in 197 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL Austria as 426 per 1000. The Vienna Year Book for 1905 gives 16,867 illegitimate to 38,849 legitimate births. ("Decay of the Church of Rome," p. 238.) " The morality of Italy has signally improved during these decades of defection from Romanism, and is high est in the non-Catholic provinces. . . . The propor tion of illegitimate births has fallen from 7.35 per cent. in 1881 to 6.02 per cent, in 1904. The Roman province is one of the worst in this regard, having a percentage of 20.3. The northern provinces are the best. There is still an extraordinary laxity amongst the Catholic popu lation, from the prelate to the peasant. ... A writer not hostile to Catholicism, in The Church Quarterly (October, 1902), tells that he heard an Italian prelate lamenting that a certain distinguished Cardinal had not received the tiara at the last conclave. When the writer protested to the Italian that the Cardinal was a man of 'conspicuous immorality' the prelate impatiently ex claimed: 'You Anglicans seem to think there is no virtue but chastity.' " (Ibid., p. 65.) RECENT STATISTICS IN GERMANY. " The Berlin correspondent of the Christian World, London, reports the result of recent exhaustive investi gations of the statistical department of the Prussian government dealing with the criminality of the popula tion of the kingdom. " That result seriously calls in question the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to be the most free of crime among its adherents, and gives this position without hesitation to the various denominations of Protestants. " Thus ' out of every 100,000 of population, 1094 per sons belonging to the Protestant Church were convicted of various crimes and offences, against 1443 Catholics. This is the average number spread over the entire kingdom.' " Again, ' in Silesia the proportion of Protestant crimi nals is 998, of Catholics 1841; Posen 972 Protestants against 1531 Catholics. In Schleswig-Holstein we have the almost incredible figures of 1025 Protestants against 2838 Catholics.' (Protestant Alliance Magazine, Lon don, March, 1914, pp. 46, 47.) " Meyer gives the percentage of illegitimate births in 198 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES Austria 426 per 1000. The Vienna Year Book for 1905 gives 16,867 illegitimate to 38,849 legitimate births. ( See ' The Decay of the Church of Rome,' by Joseph McCabe, p. 238.) " A similar condition exists in Hungary and Portugal." In our own country the statistics of crime reveal conditions highly unfavorable to Borne. All of our assassinated Presidents have been stricken down by the hand of Eoman Catholics, and a great many other prominent public servants have fallen mar tyrs on account of their opposition to the institutions of Eomanism. The greatest evils of these institutions are no doubt vis ited upon their own followers. "Who can estimate, for instance, the untold number of innocent children who die because of ignorance of motherhood and poverty con sequent upon ignorance. The Catholic Church stands for ignorance, and fears nothing more than publicity and a full revelation of the truth. Dr. Randolph McKim, in his address at the Union Protestant service at the Na tional Theatre in Washington, D. C, De cember 14, 1913, gave expression to the fol lowing indictment of the Eoman priest hood: 199 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL " Now, my friends, what are the facts that confront us in the United States to-day in reference to the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church? Let me recite some of the doings of the priesthood and the hierarchy, and especially of ' that insolent and aggressive faction,' as Cardinal Newman called the Jesuits: "They are using the ballot as a club to intimidate our politicians. " They are using the boycott to punish merchants or any other class of business men who offend them. " They have recently boycotted a great newspaper in this city, and, it is said, have brought its owner to his knees. " They interfere with our public libraries, and often successfully demand the exclusion of books which they choose to consider contrary to the interest of their church. " Though they wield almost despotic power over their people, yet Roman Catholic mobs have frequently attacked without rebuke Protestant lecturers who dare to speak out against Rome. (Such cases of mob violence have occurred within four months in Kentucky, in Ohio, in Iowa, and in Pennsylvania.) " They have in many States driven the Bible out of our public schools. " They are the open enemies of our American public schools, denouncing them as godless. " They profess never to grant a divorce, and yet in numerous cases they have declared lawful marriages null and void, and have separated husbands and wives, and parents and children. " Professing that they are the supreme guardians of the purity of the family, they corrupt its purity by granting dispensations for marriages between a man and his niece, an abominable union, regardel with abhor rence by the ancient Romans, pagans though they were. "Thus the Church of Rome is this day abridging the liberties of Americans in various ways and among many classes of our people. By the absolute control which she exercises over many thousands of her adherents, she is establishing a tyranny over increasing numbers of our citizens." 200 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES On the tendency of Eomanism to in fidelity, Professor George P. Fisher, D.D., of Yale, says : " The subjugation of the intelligence which the Roman Catholic system carries with it as an essential ingredient compels a mutiny which is very likely not to stop with the rejection of usurped authority. " Looking at the matter historically, we find that in the age prior to the Reformation unbelief was most rife in Italy, the ancient centre of the Roman Catholic hier archy. In recent times skepticism is nowhere more prevalent than among the higher cultivated classes in Catholic countries, where the doctrines of that religion have been perpetually taught, and where its ritual has been celebrated with most pomp." ( " Proceedings of the Evangelical Alliance," pp. 465-466, New York, 1873.) Father Crowley, in his book "Eomanism, a Menace to the Nation," pp. 201-203, has this to say on Eomanism: " I am convinced that the non-Catholic people are blind to their vital interests. On every side they are saying: ' Oh, the Roman Catholic Church is not as it was fifty years ago; it is more liberal.' But the Roman Catholic Church is ever and everywhere the same. As she was fifty years ago, so she is to-day, except she is play ing politics more astutely now than she was then. " I know by varied and bitter experiences the spirit of bigotry, bribery, hypocrisy, superstition, intrigue, perse cution, treason, and murder which actuates the Roman Catholic hierarchy; and I feel that an imperative duty calls me to resume my efforts to enlighten the Roman Catholic people everywhere as to the abominable priest craft which is being practised upon them. For them I have only the deepest sympathy. Born, reared, and trained in their faith, I know how naturally they are held in bondage and how easily they are deluded, de graded, and despoiled in the sacred name of religion. 201 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL And I also feel that it is my duty to awaken the non- Catholic people of all nations to a realization of the imminent dangers which confront them." Dr. Mangasarian says : " It is the verdict of history, where the priests are free the people are slaves! Where the priests are rich the people are poor ! Where the priests teach the people are ignorant! Where the priests prosper progress is paralyzed! Where the priests lead they lead to misery, poverty, superstition, persecution, ruin! " Lord Macaulay truthfully described the Vatican system when he said: " It is impossible to deny that the polity of the Church of Rome is the very masterpiece of human wisdom. In truth, nothing but such a polity could, against such assaults, have borne such doctrines. The experience of twelve hundred eventful years, the ingenuity and patient care of forty generations of statesmen, have improved the polity to such perfection that, among the contrivances that have been devised for deceiving and oppressing man kind, it occupies the highest place." In his book "Eomanism," Father Crow ley says : " Notwithstanding the wealth, political power, and the extraordinary increase claimed by the Roman Catholic Church, investigation will prove that she is losing ground everywhere as a religion; in fact, Romanism is not a religion; Romanism is, first and last, political. Accord ing to the most trustworthy statistics, eighty million followers have left the Roman Catholic Church during the past seventy-five years. The Roman Catholic hier archy has been exposed and dethroned by the despoiled Catholic people in Italy, France, and Portugal. It is being exposed and dethroned by the Catholic people in Spain, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Ireland, and other so-called Catholic countries, where it is trembling, totter ing, falling. TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES " Strange as it may seem to the casual observer, it is true, nevertheless, that in many Catholic countries the papal policy of power and pelf has been repudiated as a curse by the Catholic people and their representatives, while in non-Catholic countries the papal policy is em braced for the graft that is in it, by non-Catholic poli ticians elected to office by the credulous non-Catholic people, and this is especially true in the English- speaking countries — England, Canada, and the United States. These unscrupulous politicians, high and low, are only too willing to serve the Pope in his ungodly efforts to regain temporal power. " The political influence of the Papacy is making rapid progress in non-Catholic countries, owing solely to the apathy of the people and traitorous conduct of non- Catholic politicians, including Protestants and Prime Ministers, who, as a rule, are pledged to Rome by their corrupt political machines, in order to secure the sup posed ' Catholic vote,' which the Pope pretends to control, but which he does not." As conditions are at present it must be admitted that this vote is successfully cor ralled in the interests of the Papacy, al though there are many honest Catholics who are manly enough to exercise their inde pendent judgment in such matters. " For the purpose of inducing non-Catholics to court the support of the Roman Catholic clergy and accede to their demands," continues Father Crowley, " they are made to believe by the representations of crafty, cunning priests and prelates that the Pope controls the ' Catholic vote.' Previous to political elections both parties are promised the supposed ' Catholic vote.' " What is not accomplished by actual votes controlled is made up by bluffs of papal political manipulators. 203 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL Father Crowley says : "At the close of election the Pope is represented by his clerical as well as lay agents at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic parties, and even the very homes of the candidates. They are there to con gratulate the victor and assure him that his election is due to the ' Catholic vote,' and also to remind him that the Pope and his representatives are entitled to the greater share of the appointments to be made by him. This papal political trick — ' heads I win, tails you lose ' — is successfully played at elections in all non-Catholic countries." How well the trick worked during our last Presidential election may be judged by the following statement in the Knights of Luther text-book, p. 40 : " The President's private secretary is Catholic. A large majority of all appointments made by Wilson are Catholics." And President Wilson is not alone guilty of playing into the hands of papal dominion, Taft and Eoosevelt were likewise suscep tible in a marked degree to the same weak ness. Lord Beaconsfield's words of warning are significant : " We are sinking beneath a power before which the proudest conquerors have grown pale, and by which the nations most devoted to freedom have become enslaved — the power of a foreign priesthood." 204 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES William Ewart Gladstone uttered warn ing against the velvet paw and smooth exterior of a system which is dangerous to the foundation of civil order. . . . Never was there invented a greater conspiracy against liberty, virtue, and happiness of the people than that represented by Eoman ism. He said: " I am confident that if a system so radically bad is to be made or kept innocuous, the first condition for obtain ing such a result is that its movements should be care fully watched, and, above all, that the basis on which they work should be faithfully and unflinchingly exposed." " The time has come When men with hearts and brains Must rise and take the misdirected reins Of government, too long left in the hands Of aliens and of lackeys. He who stands And sees the mighty vehicle of state Hauled thro' the mire to some ignoble fate, And makes not bold protest as he can, Is no American." — Ella Wheeler Wilcox Father Crowley's statement that Eoman ism is not a religion, but that it is, first and last, political, is indeed a truthful defini tion of the papal institution. On page 208 of his book, from which I have already quoted, he charges this ruinous power with being responsible for the alliance between 205 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL the crooked politics and crooked business that has been responsible for nine-tenths of the corruption in American politics. Any one who reads his remarkable exposition of the iniquitous results of Eomanism can not help but feel that this courageous and eminently patriotic ex-priest knows what he is talking about. His caustic remarks should help many to get a truer conception, terrifying though it may be, of the monster political conspiracy against human liberty emanating from the Vatican power. To shatter this gigantic political conspiracy and render it harmless to the welfare of hu manity is the most tremendous task that the united forces of Protestantism are called upon to master. A great many blast ings of truth must be applied before even its surface evils can be effectively exposed and remedied. It will require the united effort of a purified Christianity to shake loose and destroy its foundations of corrup tion and overcome its widespread, baneful influence over the fates of men. This horrible system, which has been built up through all these long centuries upon 206 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES the vile principles of graft, deceit, and all manner of inward and external features of unspeakable corruption, which it fosters, is nevertheless doomed to a certain destiny of destruction, for it is contrary to the righteous laws of Providence that it should be otherwise. If the men of our own time and generation fail to respond to the call of sacred duty to do their part in suppress ing this menacing foe to progress and civ ilization they will merit not only the con tempt of future generations, but they will help to render it more difficult for posterity to uproot the evils of the system. Now is the time for action. May each lib erty-loving individual, may all friends of humanity, come forward to contribute of their means, energy, and cooperation for the overthrow of the blighting power of Eo manism over the lives of men, as well as all other curses which are threatening the wel fare of mankind. In this brief article it is impossible to go into detail regarding the many evils of Eomanism, but the writer sincerely hopes that enough has1 been said to stimulate interest among many to pur- 207 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL sue a study of this momentous question and verify, by observation and reading, the facts, which are worthy of most careful con sideration. It is against the power of an iniquitous popedom that we should wage relentless warfare. May we have the courage of our convictions and willingly respond to the present call of duty and thus glorify the name of Jesus Christ, whose work and mis sion have been so fraudulently interpreted and grossly misrepresented to the world by the papal hierarchy. During the beginning of the eighteenth century the following comparison is said to have been made between Christ and the Pope, and in lettered form posted on a column at the corner of the Orsini Palace in Eome: "Christ said: My kingdom is not of the world. The Pope conquers cities by force. Christ had a crown of thorns. The Pope wears a triple diadem. Christ washed the feet of His disciples, The Pope has his kissed by kings. Christ paid tribute. The Pope takes it. Christ fed the sheep. The Pope shears them for his own profit. Christ was poor. TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES The Pope wishes to be master of the world. Christ carried on His shoulder the cross. The Pope is carried on the shoulders of his servants in liveries of gold. Christ despised riches. The Pope has no other passion than for gold. Christ drove out the merchants from the temple. The Pope welcomes them. Christ preached peace. The Pope is the torch of war. Christ was meekness. The Pope is pride personified. Christ promulgated the laws that the Pope tramples under foot." The following terse remarks by J. A. Phillips in "Eoman Catholicism Ana lyzed," pp. 164-165, give a good exposi tion of the attitude of Eoman Catholics to ward those who- would endeavor to reform and purify their church: "Roman Catholics have two notably bad habits to which I call attention in this connection: one is to take a vow to condemn, reject, and anathematize everything which the church rejects and anathematizes, and this in the face of the fact that the average member is prohibited from hearing Protestant sermons or reading Protestant literature. The other bad habit is to abuse persistently any one who criticises the Roman Catholic theory of re ligion or morals. They do not hesitate to designate as ' liars ' and ' traducers ' those who dare to call in ques tion the correctness of the position of the church. " Protestants have, in many cases, erred in their judg ment of Romanism. The mistake that is made is to think that the evils which emanate from Rome are merely the abuses of a system which may yet be reformed. A few even hope that Romanism and Protestantism may one day be united in a vast effort to win the world to Christian- 14 209 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL ity. I venture the assertion that no true Catholic har bors such a vain hope. Since Rome has placed the cap stone of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary on her edifice of worship and that of Papal Infallibility on her system of teaching, no bridge can possibly be built to span the chasm between Romanism and Evangeli cal Christianity. Rome's hope in this enlightened age is, like the cuttle-fish, to muddy the waters. Few thinking people can swallow whole the philosophy of Roman Catholicism if they get a clear view of the system. " Genuine Christianity sweetens, enriches, and vitalizes every faculty of man. It is in harmony with every phase of legitimate thought and activity. ' Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning.' (James 1-17.)" The American people have been taught to associate the Free Public School System, Free Press, Free Speech, and Liberty of Conscience and Worship as veritable im personations of the gifts the Apostle meant when he wrote the verse quoted above from James i, 17. Are we to permit the powers of Eoman ism to take away from us these gifts which have come down to us from the "Father of lights?" They have been purchased by untold sacrifice and anguish and in answer to the fervent prayers of our fore fathers, who through bitterest persecutions and their life's blood paid so dearly for their attainment 210 TWENTIETH CENTURY CRUSADES Pf we permit these inestimable gifts to be taken away from us in this enlightened age, what excuse will we be able to give to the great "Father of lights," with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," for such abominable cowardice, such reprehensible indifference and inactiv ity, such loathsome disloyalty, as would per mit of the infliction of such a diabolical curse over the destiny of a once free and God-fearing nation? 211 CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY PEOTESTANT PEINCIPLES. The Eoman Catholic Church has for ages, as an institution, stood guilty before the world as a most deadly enemy of civil ization. What fair-minded individual who will look into the actual facts concerning this institution can help but frame an incon trovertible indictment against its dogmatic history, ideas of worship, and system of government? The findings of honest con viction against the Eoman hierarchy are incontestable. And such findings are as convincing in pronouncing a verdict against her present-day ministry as against the baleful, pernicious, and deadening activi ties of the past. They answer in the affirma tive the question ; — were she but able, would she, to-day, reimpose upon the sons of men the ancient threatenings and tyranny? It is not the purpose of this article to bur row any further into the horrible realities of Eomanism, as they have been referred to in the previous chapters sufficiently. I hope to pronounce an irrefragable judgment 215 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL against this ungodly institution. It is rather the purpose here to show the guilt which many Protestants are sharing to-day in furthering the evil influences of Eoman ism. This guilt may consist only in a non- protesting Protestantism, in a silent ac quiescence to conditions known to exist; or in an inexcusable ignorance of what is going on in the world harmful to the inter ests of a true Christianity; but, neverthe less, it is a most reprehensible guilt and one that can never escape condemnation at the righteous judgment-seat of Almighty God. One of the most terrible counts in the indictments against Eomanism to-day, in which Protestants must share responsibil ity, is the generally admitted lamentable condition to which the power of the Ameri can press has fallen, as indicated by such pronouncements as the following : " Rome has succeeded beautifully in the United States in requiring the newspapers and magazines absolutely to refrain from criticising Roman Catholicism, her priests, her doctrines, her methods, or her institutions. Practi cally every paper is thus controlled, with the exception of the church press and a few papers that make a specialty of exposing the Church of Rome." (From The Christian Work, June 12, 1915.) 216 CHRISTIAN RESP0NSD3HJTY A nice state of affairs, this, in Protestant United States of America! Contemplate what it means, all you whose duty it is to spread the gospel of truth and protest against whatever is a hindrance to the de velopment of progress. Why is it that such unbounded immunity should be granted to the power of Eomanism? Why so much toadying on the part of the press to the despotic desires of the Vatican? Is it pos sible that Protestants have nothing to say to influence a more liberal and patriotic pol icy of the press to-day in Protestant America; or is it possible that there are Protestants who are prominently connected with controlling interests of our leading publications who have not the backbone to stand up for Protestant principles and assert the rights of the freedom of the press, of the freedom of intellect, and the freedom of worship? God grant that we may have a sufficient number of blue- blooded Protestants to gain control over our American press to break the shackles of censorship which at present is suppress ing facts reflecting discredit and dishonor on Eomanism, this culpable despotism 217 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL which would forever muzzle the power of the press to expose its baneful influences against the best interests of civilization. It is generally admitted by the most pro found Christian scholars that the whole plan of salvation, according to the Eoman system, is contrary to Scripture and Chris tian morality. It is universally recognized by such scholars that the Eoman Church is and has been for ages ruled and perpetu ated in error, and that it exerts an influence calculated not to advance, but to retard, the fuller realization of the Kingdom of Christ on earth. Yet with all the knowledge we have of this reactionary and menacing power working against the best interests of Christianity, how little effort is put forth to-day to expose and oppose the powers of Eomanism ! Eomanism has indeed great cause to feel jubilant over the weak-kneed policy of a decrepit and unassertive Protestantism. So very little sign of the life and activity which characterized the early Protestants may be noticed that the leaders of Eoman Catholicism are perhaps quite justified in their observation that "Protestantism is 218 CHRISTIAN RESP0NSD3HJTY daily disintegrating" before their eyes and they glory in the thought that it will not be long before its influence will have gradually disappeared from the face of the earth. God forbid that such a disastrous catas trophe should ever befall humanity! It cannot be denied that most Christians of our day are extremely lax and sadly in different about upholding and defending true Christian principles and practices. A false idea of religious tolerance has sprung up until a great many in this age seem to be laboring under the delusion that, no matter how base the doctrines and practices that parade under the name of religion, they should never be interfered with in any way. Spurious teachings are boldly propounded and monstrous impositions are openly car ried on for the enslavement of human emo tions, belief, and service, and we hear no voices of protest from those whose duty it is to withstand the development of evil and promote the cause of righteousness in the world. Let some one infringe on material rights and impose on commercial privi leges, and at once men will take steps to get 219 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL out injunction proceedings against further infringements and to exact damages for past outrages. But when it comes to the more important matters governing the in ward life and the eternal kingdom seem ingly no notice is taken of the vast depre dations enacted for the suppression of moral and spiritual interests, and men are loath to raise their voices against the de velopments of manifest wrongs for fear their own material interests may suffer thereby. Witness the spectacle of a dor mant Protestantism paying no particular attention to a rapidly growing power threatening the extinction of our truest ideals and making no special efforts to com bat this menacing institution. The name and authority of Almighty God Himself is most brazenly blasphemed and His holy teachings and principles as laid down in the Scriptures are most shamefully misrepre sented and perverted and supplanted with a lot of manufactured tradition and sophis try reeking with superstition and corrup tion, and yet we hear very little outcry and see very little evidence of any opposition being waged against corrupt doctrines and CHRISTIAN RESP0NSD3DLITY ungodly practices being fostered into the world. By remaining indifferent and inactive to the supreme issue with which Eomanism is confronting the world to-day, in its effort to secure complete ecclesiastical, political, and temporal control over Christian civil ization, no one can escape the responsibil ity of becoming accomplices and actual abettors of sins and crimes that are con stantly being committed against God and humanity by the most subtle and sinister organization of all time. The institution of Eomanism in its exposed reality is dia metrically opposed to all true Christian ideals and directly threatens the ultimate extinction of all such ideals. These are the sacred ideals which all true Christians are under the most solemn obligations to up hold. These are the ideals which would cement all members of the human race into a holy alliance of mutual interests, into a united family in which all members have been designed by the Almighty to be of mutual help and mutual inspiration to each other — a family whose every individual member is most precious in the sight of 221 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL God — an exalted Brotherhood cooperating with the Divine Will to promote His King dom and the cause of Christ on earth. Carlyle says in his book, "Past and Present," page 143: " Our life is not a mutual helpfulness, but rather cloaked under due laws of war named fair competition, etc. It is a mutual hostility." This spirit of mutual hostility has per meated all of our social institutions to-day. One is forced to witness many signs of un principled rivalry and scrambling after increase of mere physical growth, while spiritual considerations are dwarfed and forced into the background. Alas! this spirit of mutual helpfulness among men and of cooperation with the Divine Will is noticeably lacking even among our most enlightened individuals and institutions of society ! Looking about and into the conditions of our various in stitutions which have become a part of our society, there is disclosed the existence of a great deal of friction and strife, a great deal of hair-splitting over subordinate doc trinal points, a great deal of attachment to sectional views and selfish aims, while the CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY more fundamental principles governing the most important considerations in life are ignored, neglected, and frequently lost sight of altogether. In observing the workings of even some of our best institutions in society one is appalled at the apparent vast amount of wasted energy spent on matters irrelevant to the cause of Christ, which should be converted into more productive channels for good, but which is instead fostering and de veloping false ideals. Some of these ideals may have had lofty and holy beginnings, like the ancient religions of the Egyptians and the Hindoos, but in course of time they have grown corrupt and become contami nated by earthly ambition and temporal desire. This is the condition of Eoman Catholicism to-day and has been for a great many generations. Many of our Protestant denominations stand sadly in need of a rebirth, and all of them would be greatly benefited by a spiritual upheaval which would lead to a shattering of wrong ideals, to a destruction of narrow-mindedness and factionalism, and which would result in a rededication 223 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL of the Christian Church to the principles which Christ Himself taught were of funda mental importance for the welfare of the human race. When this occurs there will be no cause for criticism by the outside world of the petty warfare and unbecoming disharmony now existing among different factions of the Christian Church. The Eoman Church has long relied upon this spirit of party strife to shatter the force of Protestant opposition to its own doc trines and practices. The following state ment in a prominent Catholic publication, The Holy Name Journal, June 13, 1915, ex presses the hopeful view of Catholicism in this respect: " Owing to the slow but steady collapse of Protes tantism, violent efforts have been made during the past few years to unite the sects in order to make a last stand. So far, however, all efforts have been in vain; each sect in turn has refused to relinquish its particular ' dogma.* " This criticism is perhaps more justifiable than a good many Protestant leaders are willing to admit. Rut why hang on so tenaciously to some of the antiquated doc trines of minor importance while paying so little attention to the supreme issues 224 CHRISTIAN RESP0NSD3ILITY involved in Christianity? There is indeed great need for the Protestant churches to forget their differences and unite more on the main issues which Christ would have us understand and practice. Such union of purpose and endeavor would forever shat ter the cherished hope of Eomanism to wit ness the collapse of Protestantism and have its influence disappear from the earth. Dr. W. W. Stryker was not far from making a conservative statement when he said: "One year of universal and absolute Chris tianity would transform every people under the heaven." Christ came to "proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." As His followers to-day it becomes our duty to proclaim His message of liberty, and this message surely embraces the doctrine of the freedom of conscience and the freedom of worship, the freedom of intellect and the freedom of democratic principles of government, the doctrine of free press, free speech, and the liberty of exercising these sacred privi leges without being subjected to boycott, persecution, and personal injuries of 15 225 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL various kinds now inflicted by the power of Eomanism. As Christians it becomes our duty to show the way of deliverance out of the prisons of sin and delusion into which humanity has fallen. The sins and delu sions of Catholicism are unquestionably the most perverse that are to-day weighing over the fates of civilized men. The Prot estant clergy, as well as the most enlight ened and conscientious among the laity, are to-day charged with the burden of this duty, to fearlessly and persistently expound the message of a true Christianity and to most zealously oppose the opposition. It is the duty of all Christians to stand up for the Scriptural rights and liberties of humanity in all lands and at all times. All Christians should show and demand respect for the great Scriptural truths on which Christianity is founded. It is only by steadfast allegiance to these truths and the noble service which they inspire that the complete emancipation of the human race can be brought about. According to the Scriptures, it is the God-given right of all .mortals to enjoy the following liber ties which are denied by the papal hierarchy CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY to its enslaved followers : the liberty to grow "from faith to faith" (Eom. i, 17; x, 17) ; the liberty to "walk in the light" of God's Word as it might be revealed from time to time (I John i, 7) ; the liberty to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (II Peter iii, 18) ; the liberty to "prove all things" and to hold fast only "that which is good" (I Thess. v, 21) ; the liberty to decide by the Scriptures whether what is taught is the truth or not (Acts xvii, 11) ; and the liberty to take the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith (II Tim. iii, 16, 17). On the way in which our Christian churches will meet their responsibility and look after the vital interests of the cause of Christ in the world will hinge the future Usefulness of our Christian institutions. If our churches are to retain a hold on the consciences and minds of men, they must convince them that they are honestly and manfully meeting the vital questions that confront them, without shirking responsi bility and without compromising with the enemy. Those churches that fail to be thus conscientious and responsive to the call of 227 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL duty must eventually meet with a well- merited lack of support and the disdain of thoughtful and earnest men. May our Christian churches to-day hear the voice crying in the wilderness and come to a sense of repentance of their sins and shortcomings ; may they rid themselves of inherited as well as self-cultivated evils; may they throw off their present indiffer ence and luke-warmness to the great needs of society; may they become emancipated from all things which stand in the way of a true revelation of God's love and mercy to men as Christ has revealed them, and as Christ would have us reveal them in our own day and generation ! Such a vision of Christianity would preclude any possibility of ecclesiastical interference and domina tion of either religious or civil liberty. The following statement appearing in the Watchman-Examiner, June 10, 1915, cites the attitude of Eomanism on the question of religious liberty: " Dr. 0. A. Brownson, a high American Roman Catho lic authority says: ' Protestantism of every form has not and never can have any right where Catholicity is tri umphant.' The Catholic policy is very frankly stated by M. Louis Venillot, a distinguished French Roman Catholic writer, highly esteemed at Rome, who says: CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY ' When there is a Protestant majority we claim religious liberty because such is their principle; but when we are in the majority we refuse it because that is ours.' " Could any plainer words be used to ex press the bitter opposition which the Eoman Church holds towards religious liberty? The power of Eomanism is no less remorse less and despotic in her political and tem poral ambitions than she is in her ecclesi astical domain. Ah, my friends and patriots, who are lovers of Protestant prin ciples and political and religious liberty, much yet remains to be done to complete the work of the Eeformation so nobly started by Martin Luther and his Christian compatriots ! It takes heroic souls to become real re formers. The path of the reformer is not strewn with roses. It requires staunch characters and frequently many sacrifices to uphold the cause of truth. As it has been in the past, so in our own day the path of reformation and regeneration must go through bitter opposition, ridicule, perse cution, scorn, and hatred. What happened to Christ when He was blazing the way to a higher conception of God; to His purer CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL and nobler standards of thought and con duct; to His indestructible ideals of truth and righteousness? He was condemned and persecuted on all sides by the corrupt priesthood, by the self-satisfied scribes and Pharisees, and by all worldly interests and followers of unrighteousness. So those are liable to have to suffer, in a measure at least, who in our own time strive to upset evil precedents and who would strike at the root of long-intrenched wrongs and perver sions which have fastened their grips of oppression and dominion over the destinies of men. Much as we abhor the open and undis guised forms of vice as practised, for in stance, by the harlot and the rum dispenser, we must have a far greater abhorrence for the contemptible practices of Eomanism and its baneful dominion over the lives of men. We must also have a very deep ab horrence and contempt for any one, know ing the facts, who still remains indifferent and inactive towards the results of this in stitution. For devout, well-meaning Catho lics, who, through ignorance and delusions remain submissive under the dominion of 230 CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY this church, no one can have anything but sympathy and even respect, but for the in iquitous system and the culpable leaders of a corrupt hierarchy one can entertain only feelings of antipathy, contempt, and rebellion. It becomes the plain duty of all true Christians to expose impositions, to overcome the power of evil in whatever form it becomes manifested. It is the opin ion of the writer that one of the strongest intrenchments of the power of evil at pres ent and as it has been for a long time, is the menacing dominion of centralized Vati can control, which all true patriots should combat and oppose. Eesponsibility rests very lightly on some people. It is readily shelved to one side and frequently ignored altogether by many when a crisis for action arises. Some of our most valuable — in fact, a great majority of our privileges in life have come to us by in heritance, and we are inclined to under value their importance to ourselves as well as to our fellow-men. How many of our young Americans to-day appreciate as they should the great liberties we are permitted to enjoy on account of the loyal and pa- 231 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL triotic efforts of our forefathers to insure better conditions for their children than they were themselves permitted to enjoy? So it becomes our duty, in turn, to better the conditions of our successors and to help to improve the conditions of our children and coming generations. One must be will ing and anxious to stand up for those prin ciples that have helped to make our nation great, and fight for the promotion of those ideals which alone can insure the perma nent welfare of a free and liberty-loving people. Thus help may come to advance the standards of civilization and bear aloft to higher conceptions and realization the truest aspirations of mankind. Thoughtful men cannot help but realize that there are great interests at work in opposition to the advancement of civiliza tion everywhere, and one of the most men acing of these evil powers is the institution of Eomanism, threatening not only the wel fare of our own generation, but endanger ing the vital interests of untold generations to come. A great national calamity is in deed pending over our destiny as a nation if this power shall persist and succeed in its 232 CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY efforts to control our governmental affairs, to dominate our educational systems, to dic tate the policy of our press, and to decide the attitude of our ecclesiastical institu tions. In proportion as Eome succeeds in carrying out these designs our citizens must suffer the inevitable disasters which follow in the trail of Eoman dominion. The great pity is that the followers of Eome are blind to the fact that they are serving an institution which is working against the best interests of all our citizens. We are preaching the very cause of the multitudes now loyal to Eomanism and who are arrayed in opposition to our truest ideals when we preach for political, intel lectual, and religious liberty. They are seeking to destroy the very principles which have made America great, and which alone will insure a perpetuation of our welfare as a nation and guarantee a further de velopment of progress. They are desper ately engaged in girding the tree of our national liberties to smother the very in spiration of our hopes and deaden the source from which all our greatness must grow and develop. It is our duty not only 233 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL to safeguard the welfare of the living gen eration, but to seek to conserve and pro mote the interests of coming generations as well. President Wilson, in his book ' ' The New Freedom, ' ' says : " I do not believe America is securely great because she has great men in her now. America is great in proportion as she can make sure of having great men in the next generation. She is rich in her unborn children; rich, that is to say, if those unborn children see the sun in a day of opportunity, see the sun when they are free to exercise their energies as they will. If they open their eyes in a land where there is no special privilege, then we shall come into a new era of American greatness and American liberty." Milton expressed his idea of greatness as follows : " He alone is worthy of the appellation who either does great things, or teaches how they may be done, or describes them with a suitable majesty when they have been done, but those only are great things which tend to render life more happy, which increase the innocent enjoyments and comforts of existence, or which pave the way to a state of future bliss more permanent and more pure." This is contrary to the results of Eoman ism, which, instead of tending to render the lives of men more happy, innocent, and com fortable, makes them more miserable, de praved, and oppressed. As for the future state, it has manufactured delusions and superstitions so as to prey on the emotions 234 CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY of its duped followers in order that the greatest amount of extortions might be made possible from the estates of the dead and the living by the impositions of indul gences, masses, and vain promises for the remission of sins which it never has the power to grant or bestow. In connection with Milton's definition of "greatness" it is interesting to take notice of this great seer's conception and inter pretation of the institution of Eomanism, which, from his works, it is clear that he regarded only as an antagonistic force for the development of true greatness. Though physically blind, he had a most keen insight and spiritual discernment of some of the most menacing dangers which threatened Christianity. In his "Paradise Lost" he refers to the fallacies and falsehood of the church as follows : " Then might ye see Cowls, hoods, and habits with their wearers tost And fluttered into rags; their reliques, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls, The sport of winds; all these upwhirled aloft Fly o'er the backside of the world far off, Into a limbo large and broad, since called The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown. Long after, now unpeopled, and untrod." 235 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL On another page of the same book in which "the Babylonian woe" is foreshad owed, the great poet thus graphically pictures the development of corruptions in Christianity: " Wolves shall succeed to teachers, grievous wolves, Who all the sacred mysteries of heaven To their own vile advantages shall turn Of lucre and ambition, and the truth With superstitions and traditions taint, Left only in those written records pure, Though not but by the Spirit understood. Then shall they Beek to avail themselves of names, Places, and titles, and with these to join Secular power, though feigning still to act By spiritual, to themselves appropriating The Spirit of God, promised alike and given To all believers; and from that pretense Spiritual laws by carnal powers shall force On every conscience." It is significant that the world 's prof ound- est thinkers and most fearless exponents of the truth have been unanimous in con demning the sophistries and corruptions of Eomanism. It has been said of Milton that the "Protestant fire" burned bright in him to the last, his latest original utterance being an anti-Eoman tractate, concluding the magnificent series of his varied and wonderful works with a "Dissuasive against Popery." 236 CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY THE SPIEIT OF MAETIN LUTHEE. It has been estimated that there are at present at least 1,500,000 children attending the parochial schools in the United States, and all of these children are therefore deprived of those opportunities for intel lectual enlightenment and spiritual deliver ance from superstition and perverse teachings peculiar to Eomanism, which should be theirs by inheritance, from the fact that they are brought up under the protection and watchful care of the Stars and Stripes. Yet there is permitted a most cruel institution of mediaeval despotism to dictate their intellectual and spiritual de velopment and let these children grow np with the curse of Eoman dominion resting over their destiny. Think of the lamentable condition of those poor children of an un told number of men who to-day are ex ploited for the aggrandizement and perpet uation of the Eoman Church, an institution which at bottom rests on a most corrupt foundation and at heart is infected with the deepest deception, and throughout its administration is tainted with the vilest perversity and grossest depravity. 237 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL Bnt some say, Why should we bother about the destiny of a Catholic progeny? Let the church fathers stand the blame for any wrongs they are committing, to enforce their rule over the lives of men. While there can be no doubt but that they will be held to a "strict accountability" for their sins, it is also certain that all who fail to do what they can to deliver their unfor tunate victims from the grasp of their un holy dominion will not escape the condem nation and punishment they deserve at the hands of an All-Just Providence. One of the most potent causes of the Eeformation was the infliction of base im positions and gross falsehoods on a duped following of the church. The same kind of impositions and the same kind of falsehoods are to-day enforced over the lives of count less men and their unfortunate offspring. The Eeformation was a return to truth and reality in opposition to falsehood and sem blance, as all kinds of improvement and genuine teachings are and have been. Car- lyle has characterized Protestantism as "a revolt against false sovereigns ; the painful but indispensable first preparative for true CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY sovereigns getting place among us! " He has also said that "a man protesting against error is on the way toward uniting himself with all men that believe in truth." We reverence Luther as a true hero and serpent queller because he protested against the manifest wrongs he saw were being perpetrated against humanity. We admire him for rebuking the contemptible indulgence vender, Tetzel, and because he exposed and defied the hierarchy of Eome and its despicable mockeries and imposi tions. He hurled remonstrance at the black monster of falsehood with all the vehe mence and power which his stalwart soul, his brilliant intellect, and his remarkable physical endurance could command. It is this same arch foe to human progress that we are called upon to battle in order that the time may be hastened when this gigantic and obdurate enemy shall lay prostrate on the earth, never to rise again to menace the human race. Luther's message, in which he believed with his whole judgment, with all the illu mination and discernment of his inward consciousness, was deposition and abolition 239 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL to all false popes and potentates, and a doc trine of emancipation and hope for all those he strove to deliver from the ensnaring delusions and oppressive slavery of this corrupt institution. Misery and mischief only will ever result from the dominion of spurious popes, and their adherents, having no private judgment, can exert no whole some influence over their environments. Why is there so much reverence for that man Luther? Because in his personality is seen a mighty man. Born of the most obscure of parents, as it has been said of him that in all the world it would perhaps be difficult to find a more entirely unimpor tant looking pair of people than the poor miner who was Luther's father, and the humble wife who was Luther's mother, yet in comparison with all the emperors and popes and potentates of his day how in finitely great above them all rises this great character of the Eeformation ! And this is the innocent and heroic character that Eomanism has, ever since his declaration against its power, been heaping with abuse, slander, and vilification. "An apostate friar, proud and corrupt, called Luther," 240 CHRISTIAN RESP0NSD3ILITY as he is styled in Catholic literature, has ever since been the most hated of men among the followers of Eomanism — hated and despised because he had the courage of his convictions and denied the authority and infallibility of the church, and refused to accept anything but the Holy Scriptures and his conscience for his guide. It be comes the source of great inspiration for all Christian patriots to study the life of this great man, of whom Carlyle said: "Whose light was to flame as the beacon over long centuries and epochs of the world. The whole world and its history was wait ing for this man." His humble origin and despised lineage remind us of the life of the great Master whose cause he championed so efficiently and valiantly. When a boy he was so poor that he had to go from house to house and beg, singing for alms and bread. Untold hardships and rigorous tribulations con fronted the path before him, but he went through it all triumphant. He suffered most bitter realities, and it was to be his task to "bring the whole world back to reality." It became his special privilege to throw the 241 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL flashlight of truth upon the long-lost-sight- of doctrine that man is saved by the infinite grace of God, and not by singing masses. The question that confronted Luther on his awakening to the truth is the same ques tion which confronts us to-day. On his first visit to Eome he was mortally shocked at the scene of false priests, clothed not in the beauty of holiness, but of far other vesture. He recognized the same false hoods and depravities in the priesthood of his time as are apparent in their institu tions of to-day, and he may have said, "What is it to Luther? A mean man, he; how shall he reform a world?" A humble, uninfluential, and solitary man, why should he take it upon himself to readjust the world ? Obviously it required quite greater men than he for such an undertaking! A less troublesome task for him would be to mind his own business and let others assume the responsibility to bring about needed reforms and abolish existing evils. That is the common attitude of the men of our own time and has been for ages past ; but, thank God, that was not the stand taken by Luther! He shirked no responsi- CHRISTIAN RESP0NSD3ILITY bility. Much as he loved privacy, a man of an humble, retiring, and peaceable dis position, he was not a coward who would be false to his convictions that he might pass on his little path in the most agreeable and comfortable way. He might have held his peace about the abuses of Eome, and "left providence and God on high to deal with them," like so many of our present-day Christians are doing. But he chose rather the path of duty and became the great stum bling-block to the Eoman hierarchy; he became the great submarine explosive that has wrought such havoc in the career of Eoman popery. Though this menacing power is still gy rating around in its disastrous orbit, its influence for evil has been vastly diminished and the grasp of its tyranny has been greatly relinquished as a result of the work and heroism of the "apostate friar" of Wittenberg. This was the pious priest who would not be found wanting at his post, but who had the courage to remonstrate against the evil practices of the times, who stepped forth against indulgences and declared aloud that they were a futility and sorrow- 243 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL ful mockery, that no man's sins could be pardoned by them. And this courageous step was the beginning of the great Eefor mation. His glorious message of Prot estantism has been steadily spreading from that day — the last day of October, 1517, the day of his first public challenge to Tetzel. Much to the bitter disappointment, chagrin, and loss to Eomanism, though through much argument, remonstrance, and severest opposition, this message has continued to spread with uninterrupted progress, ris ing ever higher, and reaching out ever wider for the emancipation and elevation of man kind. This was the message which had been smothered out of the life of Savona rola and Huss previous to the advent of Luther. Poor Huss came to that Constance Coun cil with the same promises of safe conduct which were later held out to Martin Luther, to lead him into a similar death-trap. No sooner had the treacherous Eoman hier archy succeeded in leading this earnest friend of humanity into a safe place where they could lay their hands upon him than he was instantly put into a stone dungeon 244 CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY "three feet wide, six feet high, seven feet long," and his true voice was forever smothered in the smoke and fire which the fiendish hierarchy had kindled about him and which consumed the earthly remains of this holy martyr for the cause of Chris tianity. It is to men like Huss and Martin Luther that subsequent generations owe so much for whatever progress has taken place in civilization. These men had the courage to stand solitary, friendless, but on God's truths, protesting against the combined forces of Eomanism, with its tiaras and triple-hats, with its inexhaustible treasu ries, thundering anathemas, persecution and murder against all opposition, but standing on the devil's lie, resting on corrupt foun dations, and therefore not able to uproot and subdue the work of the great heroes who have struggled for the cause of right eousness and truth in the world. It takes courageous souls to promote such a cause. It requires men like St. Paul, Huss, Luther, Knox, Cromwell, and Eoger Williams to hurl defiance at the enemy; yes, men like the poor miner, Hans Luther's son, who 245 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL could say: "Were there as many devils in Worms as there are roof tiles, I would go on," when he was called upon to face his false accusers and the wicked charges insti gated by the Eoman Pontiff. All true Christians to-day are proud of the great reformer and inexpressibly grate ful to him for the manly, brave, and God fearing way in which he conducted himself at that great trial of humanity. He did not desert the cause of humanity at that hour of its great trial, but he stood firm and battled victoriously to the end. What a sublime challenge that was in which he sum marized his great defense : ' ' Confute me by proofs of Scripture, or else by plain, just arguments : I cannot recant otherwise. For it is neither safe nor prudent to do aught against conscience!" By this supreme stand which he took for Christian princi ples the destiny of Europe and of the world was changed and transformed from "sink ing ever lower into falsehood, stagnant putrescence, loathsome, accursed death," and humanity was given a start for the at tainment of higher ideals and loftier real izations than had been dreamed of before. 246 CHRISTIAN RESP0NSD3HJTY Ever since the most enlightened world has renounced Popedom and declared it to be untrue ; has taken the stand that no mat ter how good it was in the infantile stages of Christianity, no matter how good it may be claimed to be now, the facts of history and enlightened reason condemn it as an institution unworthy of the belief of men, but rather worthy of their contempt, scorn, and opposition. All right-thinking men must recognize it as a thing fundamentally untrue, corrupt, and to be avoided. Away with it ! is the command of conscience. Popery may build new chapels, may enslave new subjects among the lowly and ignorant classes of society, but Popery can never come back into power among enlight ened men. Yet, while it is true that Popery, like its vanquished ally, paganism, must sooner or later relinquish its hold over the dominion of all classes of society, it still dominates to an alarming extent the destinies of men, and it is seemingly gain ing in strength in many places where its chances of success should he the least auspi cious. In Protestant countries this lament able condition of affairs can be attributed 247 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL only to an inert and inactive Christianity and a consequent lack of patriotism. Ignorance of actual conditions is perhaps one of the strongest reasons for the great gains that Eomanism has made in acquir ing ascendency in American political affairs, as well as its domineering policy regarding educational, ecclesiastical, and religious matters. It has succeeded in mak ing effective entangling alliances with men having political ambitions, and has lost no opportunity to conspire with any class of men to help them along in wicked pursuits, so long as any benefit might accrue to its own interests. It has succeeded so beauti fully to inveigle, threaten, browbeat, and force men into submission in working for its own advancement to-day that there are numberless men who are in mortal dread to say or do anything which might be con strued in opposition to this power. Even a great many of our Protestant Church leaders seem to be afraid to assert their stand and raise their voices in protest against the manifest outrages daily being perpetrated against American institutions. How can this nation ever justify itself 248 CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY before God and humanity so long as it does not take complete charge of seeing that the children of all its citizens are properly educated? Think of it, over one mijlion and a half of the children of this country are to-day incarcerated in parochial schools and deprived of the more wholesome and enlightening influences to which they are entitled and which they would receive if properly educated and trained in an effi cient system of our public schools. What would Martin Luther think of our present-day Protestantism in America which permits such a lamentable condition to exist ; which permits Eomanism to dom inate our political affairs, to control our press, to enforce a pernicious ecclesiastical tyranny over its following, and to oppress those who have the courage to raise a voice of protest against its ungodly influence on the institutions of our democratic land? It was to this land that our noble Puritan forefathers came to escape from the very evils which the powers of Eomanism are making desperate efforts to saddle on our citizens to-day. Shall we be cowards enough to submit to the efforts being made 249 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL to carry out the designs to make America Catholic, or shall we arise in the strength of our manhood and with the help of God oppose and defeat all attempts to frustrate the progress of His kingdom on earth ? Ac cording to the Pilot, Cardinal O'Connell's privately owned organ (November 1, 1913), Boston, the once famous Puritan city, is no longer "the city of the Puritans." That title "is rather an antiquated name for the very Catholic Boston." Commenting on this bold remark, the editor of the Protes tant Magazine says : "It will soon be 'Very Catholic America,' unless Protestants awake to their responsibility." Eoman Catholicism has left wreck and ruin in its wake in all the countries in the world wherever it has held sway. The United States of America will be no excep tion if we allow it to gain the strongholds it is seeking over our destiny. Shall we permit its grasping, blighting, tyrannical, gruesome, black hand of iron rule to close in upon our life as a nation for the suppres sion of progress and the destruction of our Protestant ideals? This is exactly what will happen if this power ever succeeds to 250 CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY effectively carry out its policies of relig ious intolerance, its opposition to the rights of private judgment and liberal education, its rejection of the liberty of conscience and independent worship, its muzzling of the press, its warfare against free speech, its corrupting influences in politics, its per sistence in defending and developing its perverse doctrines and ungodly practices, and its diabolical methods for slandering, boycotting, persecuting, and annihilating all opposition. Let all true Christians take the stand that Luther took in combating this arch enemy of humanity and Christianity's greatest peril in order that the cause of Christ may not suffer defeat in this world, but His mis sion may be brought into a more complete fulfilment for the blessing of mankind. A CALL TO DUTY. The following editorial from the Protes tant Magazine, January, 1914, is here given by permission of the publishers of this magazine: " There is a plain duty laid upon the Protestant churches of America in view of the aggressive deter mination of the Roman Catholic Church ' to make America Catholic' 251 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL "Every Protestant preacher ought to be able to read the signs of the times and to lift up his voice like a trumpet in warning and instruction. " Either America must be more decidedly Protestant or it will soon become a Catholic country. " It is not sufficient to admire the courage which Luther and his associates displayed in fighting the battles of the Reformation. It is time for American Protestants to display the same courage. " Other organizations may oppose the political mach inations of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, but it is the duty of the Christian Protestant Church to proclaim and prove to the world that the Church of Rome teaches a false gospel and that it has no legitimate right to be recognized as a branch of the Christian church. "Does that seem harsh and uncharitable? Under stand what it means. It does not mean that there are no Christians in the Church of Rome. There are doubt less many. But they are Christians in spite of the sys tem and not on account of it. Those heathens who live up to the light they have are accepted of God, but that does not prove that heathenism is Christianity. " The success of the Reformation was due to the fact that the reformers preached the truth of the Gospel as their protest against the errors of Rome. The power which attended the movement was the power of God manifested through the living Word, the sword of the Spirit. " Human philosophy and the higher criticism have robbed too many preachers of this power. Their messages are too tame to arouse the people, too weak to strengthen the people, and too vague to guide the people. There needs to be a decided change. " For nearly eight centuries there has been an uninter rupted line of interpretation of the Scriptures which has made it clear that the Pope of Rome is the man of sin, Antichrist; that the Church of Rome is the Baby lon of the prophecies ; and that Popery is the great apos tasy foretold by the Apostle Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians. The organization which fulfils these predictions cannot be any part of the Christian church. It is positively antichristian. " The people are being deceived by appearances. In the CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY papal system they see the outward signs and the forms of Christianity. They have not been sufficiently in structed in the teaching of the Word of God to know that Satan has stolen the livery of heaven and that he ' is transformed into an angel of light.' The true shep herds should recognize the wolf in sheep's clothing, and should shield the flock from him. The vigilant watchman should blow the trumpet and sound the alarm. " We call upon every Protestant minister of the Gos pel who reads these lines to consider his duty prayerfully and to awake to his responsibility. " We summon every Protestant layman to activity in the struggle against that system of priestcraft which, unchecked, will destroy both religious and civil liberty, substitute human inventions for the pure gospel of Christ, and make of America a Catholic nation. " Who will respond to the call of the hour and prove themselves to be men of opportunity? 'Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.' " 253 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC WHY I AM NOT A EOMAN CATHOLIC. Ie asked to explain my attitude toward Eoman Catholicism, I would submit the fol lowing reasons, among many other good ones which might be given, as to why I am not a Eoman Catholic. I am imbued with no spirit of bitterness or rancor in submit ting these reasons, and if any one can show me where I am wrong I am open to convic tion and ready to ask for forgiveness and to extend any reparation within my power to make restitution for any wrongs that I may have committed. While visiting the old church of St. Anne de Beaupres, at St. Anne's, Quebec, last fall, one of the priests there told me about a young man who, he said, had walked all the way from Baltimore, Md., although afflicted with some physical infirmity, to join in the pilgrimage services annually held at that historic church. Although I did not have much faith in the stories I was told about the wonderful cures supposed to have been made at this place, in spite of the tons of old crutches stacked up in the church, to- 17 257 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL gether with various other discarded arti ficial appliances claimed to have been left by the many thousands said to have been cured of their ailments, I still could not help but greatly admire the pluck and persist ence which this young man had put forth to gain his goal in order that he might par take of the blessing he expected to receive there. I said to myself : If I could but be lieve in the teachings of Eomanism and be convinced that the Eoman Pontiff is the supreme representative of God that he rep resents himself to be, I would be willing to also suffer considerable hardships and make many sacrifices in order to demon strate my faith. If the Pope at Eome, or any one of his representatives or followers, can show me why the doctrines and prac tices of Eoman Catholicism are worthy of acceptance as typical of divine principles, I would be willing to crawl on my hands and knees all the way to Eome, if such a thing were possible, to most humbly beg his Holi ness 's pardon and make the utmost atone ment for any wrong opinions I have enter tained and expressed concerning his papal highness and the institution of Eomanism. 258 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC The primary reason why I am not a Eoman Catholic is, thank God, that I was not born with an inherited ecclesiastical curse hanging over me like so many unfor tunates of Catholic parentage. I believe in the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, without the intervention of any human being, ceremony, or rite, and I re gard as impostors or fanatics all mortals who claim superior spiritual power to act as mediators of Divine grace. With the ancient fathers of the church I confidently believe that Christ's words, "Upon this rock I will build my church," referred directly to the faith which Peter had confessed in the divinity of Christ, and did not imply that Peter and the line of Popes which have been presumed to be his successors, of all men, were singled out as this "Eock." Before God all mortals are equally privileged, all may contribute to the upbuilding of His Kingdom, and all may enjoy an intimate, direct and personal Divine relationship. This view was advo cated by Pope Gregory the Great, who said : "I confidently say that whoever doth call himself universal bishop, or desires to have 259 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL himself so called, is the forerunner of anti- Christ, because he proudly doth set him self before the rest. ' ' Any mortal who lays claim to the possession of special Divine dispensations specifically denied to other mortals at once becomes the subject of righteous suspicion and distrust. I believe Popedom to be the most per verse usurpation of spiritual and political authority that has ever been instituted for the oppression of humanity. I believe the Eoman Catholic priesthood generally to be misguided, unscholarly, in many cases notoriously corrupt and de based, and in most cases a manifestly unfit body of men as leaders of society. I believe that the leaders of the Eoman Catholic Church are arrayed in spirit and purpose against a pure worship of Al mighty God and the best interests of civil ization. I do not believe in the implausible tra ditions and manufactured apostolic theories of the church upon which most of its doc trines are established. I do not believe that the right to interpret the Holy Scriptures belongs exclusively to 260 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC the Pope and his authorized representa tives. I do not believe in the efficacy of the Eoman Catholic sacraments and masses, but consider most of them as shrewdly de vised ceremonials for perpetuating the in stitution of Eomanism and facilitating the flow of revenue into the coffers of the church and a grasping priesthood. I do not believe that penances and indul gences or any of the papal dispensations will in any way meet with Divine recogni tion or in any particular materialize according to the claims of the Papacy. I do not believe in the existence of any intermediate state known as purgatory, that horrible institution forced on men's imaginations, which has been invented by the Catholic Church leaders to increase its hold of tyranny on a duped following, and which has for a great many centuries been an inexhaustible Klondike for the extrac tion of tribute from a misled constituency. I consider many of the doctrines officially claimed to be the fundamental teachings of the church to be the basest of impositions, as, for instance, the following statements in 261 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL the creed of the Eoman Church which it is maintained all Catholics are required to accept and embrace: " I undoubtedly receive and profess all other things which the sacred Canons and General Councils, and par ticularly the holy Council of Trent and the Ecumenical Vatican Council, have delivered, defined, and declared, and in particular about the supremacy and infallible teachings of the Roman Pontiff. And I condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto and all heresies which the church has condemned, rejected, and anathematized. I (Christian name) do at this present, freely profess, and sincerely hold this true Catholic Faith, out of which no one can be saved. " And I promise most constantly to retain and confess the same entire and unstained, with God's assistance, to the end of my life." I maintain that the foregoing doctrines are gross misrepresentations, and insist most positively that the Catholic Church leaders are base impostors when they claim the power or right of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion. I contend that this church, or any other church, is exceeding her province when she claims the power of availing herself of force, or any direct or indirect temporal power. I believe further that the ministers of the church and the Eoman Pontiff ought to be absolutely excluded from all charge and dominion of temporal affairs. WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC I believe in the abolition of ecclesiastical courts of the clergy for temporal causes, whether civil or criminal, even against the disapproval and opposition of the Holy See. I believe that our popular elementary schools, open to children of all classes, and all public institutions of learning, should be freed from all ecclesiastical authority, government, and interference, and should be fully subject to the civil and political power in conformity to the will of the rulers and the prevalent opinions of the age. I believe our American public school system as at present constituted to be the bulwark of the Eepublic; that it should be non-sec tarian in every sense of the word, and that no garbs or distinctive sectarian charac teristics should ever be tolerated therein. I am opposed to the granting of lands, money, or any other thing of value to any ecclesiastical institution whatsoever by the government of this nation or of the several States of the nation, and I am in favor of the taxation of all church property held in trust or used for speculative purposes. I am opposed to the election or appoint ment of any person to any office of public CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL trust within this government who owes alle giance to any foreign power, prince, or potentate, and and I am in favor of legis lation providing punishment for those who persecute or boycott on religious grounds. I am opposed to either the national or State governments giving, donating, or con tributing in any manner to the support of ecclesiastical institutions of any kind what ever. I am opposed to the maintenance within this Eepublic of any closed or clois tered institutions of any kind whatever, under a religious pretext, and especially am I opposed to these institutions being made semi-public while privately owned, by being used for the incarceration of orphans, in- corrigibles, indigents, or wards of the State. I maintain that no one should be sent to prison who has not been legally tried, con victed, and sentenced according to law. I insist that all prisons which are now being conducted under the name of the House of the Good Shepherd (or any other appella tion), where unfortunates are being con fined against their will and consent, who have been denied the right of a public and legal trial, and whose labor is utilized with- 364 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC out proper compensation — I insist most em phatically that such institutions are lawless, reprehensible, and godless, and as such should be driven out of existence in all lands wherever justice and righteousness prevail. I denounce the stupendous insult to civil ization which the Eoman Church most shamefully inflicts when she declares and characterizes all non-Catholic marriages as unholy and base concubinage, placing the stigma of illegitimacy on all children of such parentage whose marriage has not been solemnized by the Catholic Church. I maintain that the church has no right to condemn the principle that "every man is free to embrace and profess the religion he shall believe to be true, guided by the light of reason." I believe, further, that reason must be surrendered if one is to become or remain a loyal Catholic. I believe that so long as Eomanism offi cially, or secretly, uncompromisingly re jects liberty of conscience and worship, so long she will merit the condemnation of all civilized and enlightened men. I believe that the occasional pretensions of its church leaders in favor of intellectual CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL freedom are intentional misrepresentations for the purpose of currying favor with the modern age, so long as the church upholds such of its old doctrines as maintain that "Philosophy must not search into the high mysteries of God, but piously and humbly revere them," and such as declare: "Heartily to be deplored is that madness of human reason whereby men are giving themselves to novelties, and, against the apostolic warning, are seeking to know more than it behooves them to know, and are presump tuously imagining that truth is to be sought outside of the Catholic Church, in which it is found without even the slightest stain or error." I believe that, contrary to the declaration of this church, one is not guilty of a "blas phemous curiosity, ' ' and "not abandoned to pride, ' ' who sincerely applies himself to the study of the fundamental spiritual matters without submitting blindly to the fathers of the primitive and the mediaeval scholas tics. I hold that individual searching after truth in spiritual matters is even more creditable and important than critical re search in botany or any of the natural sciences, and that no Vatican authority has a right to claim that "this function is con trolled only by the church leaders" when the earnest inquiring soul is striving to 266 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC ascertain the truest ways of Divine fellow ship. No foreign power has a right to step in and interfere with a direct holy com munion of Divine worship of the individual soul. I fail to see any good ground for con demning, as the church fathers do, the honest efforts of scholars to study the early history of penance, or to inquire into the validity of papal claimsi to infallibility, or to express uncertainty that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was known to St. Paul or Justin Martyr. I believe that the mission of the Church of God is to pursue the sole Divine vocation of witnessing to things unseen, of repre senting to a bewildered world the traits and aspects of that Christ at whose feet alone men lay down their thrones, their liberties, their consciences, and their hearts. I be lieve that Eomanism is directly opposed to the fundamental teachings of Christianity. I believe that the perverse ambition of mediaeval world-dominion still haunts the heads of the Vatican Curia ; that even now the Popes "possess the look and gesture of sovereigns of heaven and earth ; ' ' and that 267 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL the vigilance of the modern world against a return of Vatican theocracy is based upon the soundest instinct of patriotism and the plainest lessons of history. The world has ample ground, indeed, for its distrust and dread of papal despotism, which for thou sand years suppressed the civilization of Europe. The Papacy of old has truly been said to be the Papacy of to-day in spirit and intent. If we yield ourselves up to it, what may we expect but to be visited any day with what France suffered under Boni face "VTII; Louis of Bavaria, under John XXII; England, under Innocent III; Ara gon, under Martin IV ; Naples, under Alex ander VI; Venice, under Julius H; Peru and Mexico, under Spanish rule! I believe unreservedly in the separation of Church and State, and that a religion which firmly holds that our Constitution is most fatally defective, since it is opposed to union of Church and State, and which demands a weakening of loyalty to country before it baptizes us unto salvation, is not only directly opposed to our most sacred political ideals and soundest religious prin ciples governing our own national welfare, WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC but that such a religion as Eomanism has to offer to the world is most detrimental to the cause of Christ in all lands. I believe it is an utter impossibility for one to be true to pure Christian truths and democratic principles of government and at the same time remain true to the doc trines of the Eoman Church. The princi ples of democracy in their highest develop ment must be in thorough harmony with the principles of a true Christianity. I believe that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which pro vides that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech or of the press," is in accordance with the emancipating spirit of Christianity to make men free. In contrast thereto the follow ing Eoman doctrine is both un-Christian and undemocratic: "It is quite unlawful to demand, to defend, or to grant uncondi tional freedom of thought, of speech, of writing, or of worship, as if these were so many rights given by nature to man ' ' (Ibid., p. 161). This is the official utterance of modern popes, and must be considered as the doctrine of the Eoman Church. 269 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL According to the following statement of Pope Leo XIII, the above amendment to our Constitution, as well as other articles in this Constitution, which guarantees equal rights to all of our citizens for the protec tion of life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap piness, and the privilege to worship accord ing to our own convictions, in so far as it clashes with the Eoman doctrines, is an un godly Constitution, tending to create a "godless state": " Justice therefore forbids the State to be godless, or to adopt a line of action which would end in godless- ness; namely, to treat the various religions (as they call them) alike, and to bestow upon them promiscuously equal rights and privileges. Since, then, the profession of one religion is necessary in the State, that religion must be professed which alone is true, and which can be recognized without difficulty, especially in Catholic States, because the marks of truth are, as it were, en graven upon it. This religion, therefore, the rulers of the State must preserve and protect, if they would pro vide — as they do — with prudence and usefulness for the good of the community." (Ibid., pp. 150-151.) Having paved the way for the adoption and establishment of such a monopoly in religion as above indicated, the Eoman Church constitutes itself a self-appointed judge to declare its own doctrines as being alone worthy of recognition as the only true religion and to condemn all other re- 270 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC ligions as falsehood and heresy. The fol lowing statements taken from an official manual of instruction used in Catholic schools, academies, colleges, and congrega tions indicate to what extremes the church will go, and permit its adherents to go, in promulgating doctrines which tend to strengthen the contention that this church alone is entitled to rule over the destinies of men: "115. In what order or respect is the State subordinate to the Church? "In the spiritual order and in all things referring to that order. "116. What right has the Pope in virtue of this supremacy? "The right to annul those laws or acts of government that would injure the salvation of souls or attack the natural rights of citi zens. "117. What more should the State do than respect the rights and the liberty of the Church? "The State should also aid, protect, and defend the Church. "119. What, then, is the principal obli gation of heads of States ? 271 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL "Their principal obligation is to practise the Catholic religion themselves, and, as they are in power, to protect and defend it. "120. Has the State the right and the duty to proscribe schism or heresy ? "Yes, it has the right and the duty to do so, both for the good of the nation and for that of the faithful themselves; for relig ious unity is the principal foundation of social unity. "122. May the State separate itself from the Church? "No, because it may not withdraw from the supreme rule of Christ. " — (" Manual of Christian Doctrine," by a seminary profes sor, Philadelphia, John Joseph MoVey, 1914, pp. 131-133.) According to the bold and arrogant teach ings of Eomanism, the Pope may annul any act of Congress which he regards, or feigns to regard, as injurious to the relig ion which he represents ; these same teach ings declare that it is the duty of the State to defend the Eoman Catholic Church and to oppose all other churches ; that it is the right and duty of the State to proscribe schism or heresy; that the State may not WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC separate itself from the Church, and that liberty of conscience, liberty of worship, liberty of speech, and liberty of the press should be condemned and suppressed in such a way as may best serve the contemp tible interests of the institution of Eoman ism. Everything must be sacrificed to safe guard and protect these interests. Arch bishop Bonzano, the apostolic delegate, is quoted as saying: "You should submit to the decisions of the church even at the cost of sacrificing political principles." In view of such corrupt teachings as cited above, how can any one reckon the Eoman Catholic organization as any real part of the church of Christ? When we face the facts we must characterize this institution as the rankest hypocrisy and the basest of perversities. I believe that such a religion as will seek temporal dominion and political control in stead of spiritual growth and intellectual enlightenment is akin to blasphemy and absolutely false. I believe that to submit to such a religion and to sacrifice our prin ciples of personal liberty, of freedom of conscience and worship, of free thought, 18 373 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL free schools, and free press, would be tanta mount to setting back the clock of time "by centuries." It has justly been said that there is not a single argument which the church has put forth in favor of govern mental appropriation for its schools and institutions, in favor of the union of Church and State, but what is contemptible; not one but degrades the essential spirituality of the religion of Christ. Yet the Papacy condemns uncompromisingly the principles of our most American institutions and the separation of Church and State, and per mits no Catholic to advocate them. I be lieve that the abolition of temporal power and political dominion by the church and an unwholesome ecclesiastical domination of educational affairs is absolutely neces sary for the spiritual interests of the church. What other than spiritual inter ests can ever justify the church's existence? I am unequivocally opposed to the prac tice of gambling, and consider that church institutions encouraging and fostering this vice are especially worthy of severe con demnation. Evidence that the Catholic Church openly favors this vice may be seen 274 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC at any Catholic church bazaar or fair, and in their accredited church literature, where we may read such statements as the fol lowing : "Lotteries per se are lawful, provided there be no fraud and the gain is not excessive. But when they are in favor of pious causes a larger gain than is just ia permitted."— (" Rom. Cath. Anal." p. 269.) Note the generous liberality extended in favor of "pious causes." What "pious causes" could ever be promoted by means of the iniquitous practice of gambling? Who can estimate the evils which have grown up from this vice? Behold the num berless wrecks of humanity now filling gamblers' graves who were first tempted into becoming gamblers at church bazaars. I do not believe in the unnatural doctrine of the celibacy of the priesthood, nor in the prison institutions of the cloister and parochial schools. The flagrant immorali ties and corrupt practices of high and low officials and communicants of the Eoman Church throughout its history reveal such utter depravities and debasements of morals as to prohibit a recital of the facts in decent print. Proof of this assertion may be verified by the many instances of 275 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL government interference against publishing copies of original works revealing obsceni ties and revolting corruptions which would expose many of the damnable doctrines and practices of the church leaders but which are too base to permit of publication. We may secure a partial idea of the vast im moralities and abuses of Eomanism from printed information escaping the censor ship of our postal regulations that has been written by worthy and competent men and women who have been eye-witnesses to the matters of which they speak, and therefore their testimony should be doubly impres sive. There is much modern testimony too revolting for publication which would relate a condition of the utmost depravity and corruption in the institution to-day, even excelling the extreme depravities of the Middle Ages. Father Crowley, who has been in a posi tion to form a most accurate opinion of the priesthood, says: "May Almighty God soon deliver the patient, honest, and loyal laity from the ministrations of corrupt priests ! It is a marvel that the lightnings of the wrath of God do not consume grafting, lecherous, drunken, and infidel priests." 276 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC The ordinary prescribed functions of the priesthood are in many respects revolt ing to an enlightened consciousness, and the unbridled excesses of selfish and sen sual indulgences to which many wearing the saintly cloth are addicted condemn the fruits of this institution as nothing else could. It has truly been said that confes sion to a priest and dependence on him for absolution is blasphemous. On the part of the Pope and his representatives it is nothing less than bartering away the office of Divine grace, which alone can be adminis tered by Divinity, and not a usurping hier archy of blasphemous mortals. The various masses, penances, indulgences, and sacra ments, when looked at through the light of history and a searching conscience, bear every evidence of being nothing but a most cunningly-devised system of ecclesiastical imposition for the subjection of humanity to uphold and perpetuate a most ungodly institution, with the centre of power and authority vested in the Papacy at Eome. The ancient hierarchies of Egyptian and Brahman priesthoods pale into insignifi cance by comparison, as their iniquities 277 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL have been infinitely surpassed and eclipsed by the Vatican power. The more one learns about the perversi ties of this institution, the more one is in clined to agree with the author of "Letters to His Holiness Pope Pius," in which he " The Papal See is the most exclusive despotism, the most absolute autocracy, the most humiliating tyranny, that still defies public opinion and outrages the con science of mankind. If any anger is ever justified, it is the anger of a free man upon whose neck presses the heel of a scoffing despotism. If ever we may give way to a bitter temper, it is when a foreign tyrant sends to our free shores the message in the name of Almighty God that we are slaves. If ever we may rightly speak in the heat of indignation it is when our self-respect is violated by a cabal of irresponsible Italians, who hate our institu tions, gird at our freedom, and scorn the courteous peti tions we address to them. . . . Every just considera tion, drawn either from common sense or political philosophy, leads to the conclusion that the papal ad ministration is anomalous, monstrous, intolerable. Neither does it bear the least resemblance to a govern ment founded on the Gospel, wherein we are bidden not to dominate, but to serve; not to impose ourselves upon others, but to consider others as equally deserving with ourselves. When we examine its practical operation we are forced to regard it as not only degrading in prin ciple, but as infamous in effect; we are constrained to adjudge it a mischief, an insult, and a menace to every independent state. To go no farther back than the pres ent and the immediately preceding pontificates, we must discover such instances of Rome's tyranny, outrage, and defiance of every idea which a free people cherishes, that we must protest against them, or else confess outright that we are either infants incapable of self-respect, or slaves who never possessed it. . . . What right has 278 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC a religion to fling into our faces a corpse out of the dead-house of theocratic feudalism, and say to us, Unless you hold to this form of a state I will not forgive your sins, permit you to look upon the Lord Jesus, or approach the infinite God! To such has the Papacy descended! It will let souls go whither they will before it surrenders its Church-and-State doctrine. It cares not if the world empties itself into hell, it will not surrender its Inquisi tion doctrine. It looks on unconcerned while its own Italy, in patriotic revolt against it, is flinging aside all religion; it will not surrender its temporal power doc trine. Yet the Papacy is true to Christ! The Papacy as the guide of the world's conscience and morality is infallible! True to Christ! To Christ, to whom souls were all, whose kingdom was of things unseen; whose whole gospel is fulfilled in the two words, Love and Ser vice ! Degraded, rather, must we say it is, until beneath its tiara and enfolded by its jewelled capes, apostasy, though by a perversion of spiritual intelligence it may be unconscious apostasy; degraded from a primitive pu rity and a high vocation, until its sad estate reminds us of another hierarchy and another pontificate to which and to whose lackeys and theologians were spoken the only indignant words that ever fell from the lips that uttered them: Jwhited sepulchres.'" And so one might go on indefinitely and give good reasons for condemning the in stitution of Eomanism. What adds horror to the situation is the fact that one can cherish nothing but a futile hope for a cessation of the secret and open attacks of this institution against the best interests of civilization. There is no disposition by the Eoman Pontiff or any of his exalted ecclesiastical family to thrust the knife into the cancer of Vatican impositions. There 279 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL is no willingness to deal honestly and fairly with humanity, either in political or spirit ual matters. There is no desire to put out the money-changers and purify the inner temples of worship, to reform and cleanse theological doctrines of their superstitions and debasements, and to make of the Holy See a spiritual shepherdship and to re nounce all temporal dominion and worldly ambition. There is no inclination to repent of the sins and apostasies to Christ which it has kept unconfessed for ages. There is no intention to surrender in any particular the grip of tyrannical rule and vicious des potism which this power has gained over the world, but, on the contrary, Eomanism is more determined than ever to vanquish the world into subjection for its own un godly purposes and unholy dominions. As a further summary of the reasons why I am not a Eoman Catholic the following statements recently made in court by a celebrated publishing company in defense of American principles voice my convic tions : "For more than a thousand years it has been the unvarying policy of the Roman Catholic Church to oppose free government and to keep the masses of the people 280 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC uneducated and in ignorance; that by a vast system of corruption, persecution, espionage, intimidation, boy cott, tyranny, and oftentimes even murder, this organiza tion has held sway, at one time or another, in every civilized country on earth." I believe that those who are at present in control of this church, as have been the popes and church leaders of the past, are bitterly opposed to the freedom of the press and to freedom of speech ; that they oppose and seek to destroy our public school sys tem ; that they are opposed to and seek to destroy all forms of religious worship other than those sanctioned by them, and that they declare and insist that the civil power of our government is subordinate and in ferior to the power of the Eoman Catholic Church, as manifested and ordained by its chief dignitary, the Pope, and that when questions of jurisdiction arise between our government and the authority of the Pope our government should yield the disputed point or proposition. I believe that the written Word of God, consisting of the Old and the New Testa ments, is of Divine inspiration; that the individual, in search after truth, is capable of interpreting that Word and to find in it 281 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL a sufficient rule of faith, apart from tra dition or supplementary creeds and for eign intercessors. I believe that the fundamental principle of Christianity is the forgiveness of sins through repentance and personal appeal for Divine mercy, and the justification by faith in the merits and atoning work of Christ, apart from any works of the flesh. The true head of the Christian Church is Christ. I can find no Scriptural authority for teaching that He has appointed any man to take His place as the visible head of His church. I believe that men should follow the teach ings of Jesus Christ and His Apostles in building their faith only on the revelation of truth contained in the Bible. ' ' Search the Scriptures," is Christ's own injunction, which Christians should obey. I denounce the doctrines and practices of Eomanism, which perverts and traduces the truths of the Scriptures by making tra dition the authoritative interpreter of the Bible, and which does away with the authoritative truths of Scripture by sup planting them with the sophistry of un- WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC stable tradition and perhaps the wilful mis representations of corrupt mortals. Eome stands guilty of committing a most stupen dous act of impiety against God, if we are to accept the Scriptures as His divinely- inspired word, when she declares the tra ditions of men to be of equal authority with the written Word of God, and she immeas urably adds to the sacrilege when she exalts tradition above the Word, by making that the rule of interpretation. I believe that one stands as little show of attaining the soul's salvation by resting one's faith on the unscriptural traditions supporting Eoman Catholicism as one is apt to be saved from physical death who treads upon the shoals of quicksand with out any means of redemption from certain destruction. As I cannot find confirmation in the Scriptures of any of the fundamental prac tices and doctrines of Eomanism claimed to be essential to salvation, I feel amply justified in proclaiming it an unchristian in stitution. The Bible is the sacred book on which the Christian religion is founded. Any religion, therefore, which does not con- CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL form to the teachings of the Bible is not the true religion of Christ. Can any one point to any Scriptural .authority to sub stantiate any of the following Eoman doc trines ? The doctrine of transubstantiation ; or of auricular confession ; or of purgatory ; or of worshipping images ; or the doctrine of the mass ; or the doctrine of the invoca tion of saints ; or the doctrine of the power of the priest to sit in the tribunal of pen ance and pronounce judicial absolution on the penitent; or of papal infallibility? I believe with St. Basil that " It is a most manifest fall from the faith to introduce anything that is not written in the Script ures;" that "To detract from Scripture or to add to the faith anything that is not there is most manifestly forbidden by the Apostles." And with St. Cyprian, who maintained that to find out what interpre tations are genuine we should not take the words of the popes at Eome, but search the Scriptures as the only trustworthy record of apostolic tradition. And St. Jerome says: "We accept those things that are written (in the Bible), we reject those things that are not written." 284 WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC The ancient fathers did not fear that the' people would discover contradictions be tween the Bible and their teaching. It has been nobly maintained in their defence that they never desired to teach anything that was not in the Bible. With St. Chrysostom I believe that "all things are plain and simple in Holy Scriptures : all things neces sary are evident" — the things which are necessary to salvation, the things which are necessary to guide one through this world to the better world beyond — these things are made so plain in the Scriptures that "He may run that readeth" "The wayfar ing man, though a fool, shall not err therein." I deny the right of Eomanism to the use of the much-misused name ' ' Holy Catholic Church," and I brand as false its use of the words "separatists" and "heretics" as applied by it to Protestants. On the con trary, I believe that the Pope and his ad herents deserve to have these names appro priately applied to themselves, as they are either most perverse innovators, or the most wretchedly deluded heretics, or both, who have departed from the primitive CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL Christian faith, who have corrupted the Christian creed. Protestants alone merit the distinction of remaining true to the only "Holy Catholic Church," of defending the basic Scriptural truths, and rejecting Eome's novelties and perversities. The Church of Eome adopted the basest of heresy and became the most despicable of heretics when she abandoned the Holy Scriptures as her guide and in place of the teachings of Christ taught for doctrines the commandments of men. A loyal adher ent to the "Holy Catholic Church" is one who is always ready to affirm and defend the truth, as well as to deny error and ex pose and combat evil. A true Protestant is one that represents Christ in this world to the best of his knowledge and ability, who constantly bears witness for Christ and His gospel of truth. When Christ stood before Pilate he said: "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. " If men are to become true fol lowers of Christ and His faithful disciples they will likewise "bear witness unto the truth. ' ' Being a true Christian implies not WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC only the responsibility to protest against all falsehood and cry out against all cor ruption. As daylight follows dawn, so should a revelation of the truth come from all who are inspired with just motives and who are actuated with pure desires. The spirit of Christianity is to build up the good and to expose and combat everything which injures the cause of truth in the world. The greatest heroes of the ages are men like Luther and Melanchthon, Cal vin and Beza, Cranmer and Eidley and Latimer — all that noble band of reformers in the sixteenth century who separated from the institution of Eomanism when she made the acknowledgment of her erroneous and strange doctrines a condition of mem bership. It took men of great courage and sterling Christian characters in those days to denounce and combat Eomanism, to obey God rather than men, to uphold Christ's truths rather than abandon these for the sake of union with a church which had de parted from the faith and required her members to acquiesce in her apostasy. I believe that instead of being a means of redemption the institution of Eomanism 287 CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL is one of the greatest hindrances in the world to-day that is preventing humanity from coming into a true relationship with Almighty God. Christ died for the re demption of humanity. The papal system has grown up and developed into a gigantic stumbling-block for the accomplishment of Christ's mission in the world. I believe that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not per ish, but have everlasting life ' ' ( John iii, 16 ) , and, "If we confess our sins, He is faith ful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John i, 9). God is not only willing but able to save to the uttermost, without the aid or instrumentality of the Pope. The Pope and his subordinates in authority are dia bolical and debased enough to damn to the lowest depths of wretchedness, so far as is in their power, all who oppose the institu tion of Eomanism and who dare to remain true to the pure ideals of Jesus Christ. I cannot believe in a church that would subject me to the bondage of a priesthood from whose lips alone I may receive absolu- WHY I AM NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC tion from my sins. I cannot believe that Christ has ordained that the priest should come between God and man and be the only bridge by which heaven may be reached. Instead of the despotic purgatorial system of redemption, I would rather hearken to the gloriously reassuring message, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Eather than to go into that soul-trap, the confes sional box, and ask the priest to give me rest, I would "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," and embrace the Biblical promise, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved. ' ' I would rather suffer all the injury which it is possible for Eomanism and all the combined forces of evil to inflict than to barter away the liberties of Christ's prin ciples and submit to the wretched bondage necessitated by the doctrines of the purga torial institution, that fearful prison, where the priest as the judge has the power to confine the faithful and to prolong or shorten the term of their sentence there according to the diligence, zeal, and liberal ity they and those interested in their eternal CHRISTIANITY'S GREATEST PERIL welfare display in complying with the des potic demands exacted by the priesthood through masses, alms, fasts, pilgrimages, penances, and the whole damnable string of grafting instrumentalities and conveni ences which they exploit for selfish ends. I would flee from such doctrines and teach ings of abject perversity as from hell fire and confidently trust in the blessed doctrine of atonement of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and rest my faith on the assurance of forgiveness and redemption in His blood, the promise of adoption into God's family, and of becoming a joint-heir with Christ Himself in His blessed Kingdom. The foregoing are some of the charges with which I would accuse and convict Eomanism as being Christianity's greatest peril. I believe it is the solemn duty of all true Christians to combat and overcome this menacing power in order that God's kingdom on earth may grow and develop into a glorious reality and that humanity may be delivered from the grim hand of despotism and oppression that has for cen turies and is now seeking to fasten its death- grip over the world's civilization. 290 INDEX Absolution, doctrine of, 284 Act of Congress, Pope may annul, 272 of impiety, Rome guilty or committing, 283 Acts, atrocious and barbarous, 29 Ad extirpanda, leading enactments of, 136 Advancement, cause of nation's, 24 of civilization, 16 of God's Kingdom, men indifferent to, 90 Africa, gateway to, 17 Ages, heroes of the, 287 Ailments, thousands said to have been cured of, 258 Alarm, great cause for, 78 Ambition, inordinate, for power, 195 America Catholic, designs to make, 250 American Cardinals, recent creation of three, 190 Catholic Missionary Congress, problems discussed, 68 citizenship, the best type of, 72 countries, developments in, due to religious in fluences, 151 one section dominated by Spanish dominion and Roman Church, 152 section dominated by English dominion, 152 under Roman Dominion, 151 institutions, outrages perpetrated against, 278 liberty, cradle of, 194 manhood, responsibility resting upon, 86 people, questions must be answered by, 59 politics, corruption in, 206 principles, statements made by publishing company, 280 public schools, open enemies of, 200 291 INDEX Antichrist, forerunner of, 260 Pope of Rome is, 252 Appollo, house of, steeped in corruption, 43 Apostle Paul, apostasy foretold by, 252 Appearances, people deceived by, 252 Aryan race, 36 races, religions of the early, 37 Asia, Europe and, 16 Assyrians, desolating struggles with, 27 Atheism, sensualism, and materialism, doctrines of, re ceived, 45 Atrocities not recorded, 108 Auricular confession, doctrine of, 284 Authority, diabolical imposition of, 185 spiritual and political, usurpation of, 260 Babylon of prophecies, church of Rome is, 252 Baneful effects of authority at Rome on world's progress, 129 Beginnings, lofty and holy, 223 Benevolence, active performance of, 24 Bible, the, driven from schools, 200 revelation of truth contained in, 282 sacred book on which religion is founded, 283 tradition the authoritative interpreter of, 282 Birth indicated station in life, 19 Births, illegitimate, percentage of, 197 " Blasphemous curiosity " not guilty of, 266 mortals, usurping hierarchy of, 277 Blasphemy, akin to, 273 Blessing, fountain of, 26 of mankind, complete fulfilment for, 251 Boycott, how employed, 200 Brotherhood, an exalted, 222 Calamity, a great national, 232 Call to duty, 251 292 INDEX Caste, system of, 19 Catholic Church, remarkable growth in increase of power, 76 curiosity, will soon become a, 252 Directory, statistics taken from, 75 education, incompetence attached to standards of, 81 population, proportion of in England, 75 progeny, destiny of, 238 universities rank below Prostestant institutions, 81 '"vote," the Pope controls, 203 Catholicism, sins and delusions of, 226 Catholics, devout, well-meaning, 230 25,000 in this country in 1776, 75 Censorship, break shackles of, 217 Ceremonies, mysterious, 23 Christ, true head of Christian Church, 282 and the Pope, comparison between, 208 Christ's religion, good name of used as shield, 149 Christendom, early stages of advancement of, 102 ruling power of civilized world, 102 Christian bishop and Roman governor, rival authorities, 170 Church, history concerning the life of, 146 rededication of, 223, 224 what it needs to-day, 168 dominion, first 600 years after, 107 institutions, corruptions which entered into, 102 future usefulness of, 227 nations charged with important obligation, 50 people to-day, greatest work of, 173 responsibility, 215 service, opportunities for, 90 standard-bearers, enter the ranks of, 112 world, problems which confront, 57 worship, influence of demoralized, 102 293 INDEX Christians, persecutions against, 109 plain duty of, 231 Christianity, early corruptions in, 127 development of corruptions in, 236 not exempt from forces of corruption, 107 foundations of, undetermined, 103 fundamental principle of, 282 inert and inactive, 248 infantile stage of, 100 influences at work against, 165 a manufactured, 172 multitudes won over to, 101 supreme issues involved in, 224, 225 a vision of, 228 one year of, 225 Christianity's greater enemies from among professed followers, 143 greatest peril, 290 influence on civilization, 147 Church bazaars, gamblers at, 275 fallacies and falsehood of, 235 of God, mission of, 267 sublime organ of, 167 leaders, function controlled only by, 266 hypocrisy and corruption among, 102 may the state separate itself from the, 272 property, in favor of taxation of, 263 of Rome, doctrines it has taught, 168 faith of, subject to fluctuation, 168 State should aid, protect and defend the, 271 State subordinate to, 271 and State, iniquitous partnership between, 139 opposed to union of, 268 the separation of, 268 ungodly practices of, 115 294 INDEX Circulation of books, Rome refrains from encouraging, 186 Civilization, advancement of, 16 interests at work in opposition to, 232 potent power for, 99 in America, condition of existing prior to discovery, 150-151 debased, natural fruits of, 110 insult to, 265 Civil matrimony is base concubinage, 186 power of gorvernment subordinate to power of Roman Church, 281 rulers, dependents and vassars of Pope, 180 Cloister, prison institutions of, 275 Comfort, source of, 26 Commandments of men, taught for doctrines, 286 Concubinage, unholy and base, 265 Conditions, ignorance of actual, 248 Confessional box, that " soul-trap," 289 Conscience, the command of, 247 Conspiracy of kingly and papal powers, 109 tyrannical, between governing power and church, 155 Constitution, a dead issue, 158 Contributions from Catholic sources, 81 from fountain of Protestantism, 81 Control, centralized Vatican, 231 Convictions, sincerity of man's, how proved, 166 Corruption, blighting forces of, 26 pronounced evidences of, 112 from within, state of affairs brought about by, 27 Corruptions, disastrous effects upon civilization, 48-49 Courage, time to display, 252 Course, diabolical infliction of, 211 Cowardice, abominable, 211 Cradle of Bethlehem, 193 295 INDEX " Creeds of Christendom," quotation from, 183 Crime, official statistics of, 195 Crusades, the, 120-122 against Saracens and Turks, 120 good developments from, 123 eight undertaken, 122 the first, loss occasioned by, 122 Curse, inherited ecclesiastical, 259 Customs, cruel and hideous, 29 Dark Ages, causes for black night of, 103-104 crusades of, 193 and Middle Ages, tragedy enacted during, 105 Dates of American colonizations, 153 Dead, embalming the, 23 Decay and degeneration, cause of, 18 first symptoms of, 95 Decisions of the Church, submit to the, 273 Decline of Egyptian nation, causes of, 19 Defilement, depths of, 22 Despotism, unparalleled, of Papacy; 85 and oppression, grim hand of, 290 Destinies of nations, influence of religious institutions and practices over, 150 Destiny of nation, no fear for, 89 Devil, temptati6ns of, proved irresistible, 113 Discovery of America, starting point of civilization in New World, 110 Disloyalty, loathsome, 211 Divine dispensations, possession of special, 260 Fellowship, truest ways of, 267 inspiration, 21 word of God is, 281 law, Rome's assertion of superiority to, 195 mercy, personal appeal for, 282 relationship, direct and personal, 259 296 INDEX Divinity, unfathomable ocean of, 35 Doctrine, corrupt, little evidence of opposition against, 220 Doctrines, pronounced fundamental, 186 Donatists, first to suffer, 116 who they were, 117 Downfall of ancient nations, causes of, 50-51 Dual dominion, results of, 109 East Indies, Europe to, 17 Ecclesiastical courts, abolition of, 263 imposition, cunningly devised system of, 277 institution, granting of land to, 263 Efficiency of priests, poor opinion of, 80 Efforts to Romanize America, explanation of, 191-192 Egypt, cessation of progress in, 18 land of, 16 population of, 17 Egyptian nation, oppression which crushed the, 19 ruin of, 18 people, interests of, 20 prospects for liberation and advancement of, 27 Egyptians, ancient, glorious achievements of, 21 grand old race of, 24 and Hindoos, repetition of experiences of, 103 Emancipation and hope, doctrine of, 240 Emotions, human, credibility and changeableness of, 24 Emperor and Pope, mutual interest between, 125 Errors of past renounced, 173 Establishment of first national government, 16 Europe and Asia, 16 to East Indies, 17 European nations, universal dominion over, 171 Evil design of practice, 24 destructive influence of, 25 escape self-restraint from, 24 297 INDEX powers, most menacing of, 232 practices, all manner of, 25 Seth represented, 20 sinister power of, 26 Evils of system, difficult for posterity to uproot, 207 Excavated tombs, 22 Exclusive despotism, Papal See is, 278 Failures in Christianity, 165 discernible, the most conspicuous, 169 Faith, justification by, 282 False gossip, church of Rome teaches, 252 ideals, fostering and development of, 223 forms of worship, origin of, 97 Family of God, promise of adoption into, 290 Fates of men, baneful influence over, 206 "Father of lights," gifts from, 210 Fatherhood of God, great meaning of, revealed, 164 Fee extorted from mourners, size of, 23 Ferdinand and Isabella charged with violating agree ment, 141 Fingers of avarice, polluted, 23 Forefathers, noble Puritan, 249 patriotic efforts of, 232 Foreign priesthood, the power of, 204 Free press, doctrine of, 225 and free speech, power which would banish, 180 speech, doctrine of, 225 Frederick II, anti-heretical laws of, 225 Freedom of conscience, doctrine of, 225 of worship, doctrine of, 225 Friction and strife, existence of, 222 Fundamental teachings of Christianity, Romanism op posed to, 267 Galileo, persecutions of, 115 Gambling, iniquitous practice of, 275 298 INDEX Garment of Christianity, power of evil cloaked in, 114 Gateway to Africa, 17 General advancement, 16 Generation, safeguard welfare of the living, 234 Generations, promote the interests of coming, 234 Germany, recent statistics in, 198, 199 God, lightning of wrath of, 276 and humanity, fiendish traitors of, 104 worship of, superseded by Mammon, 98 God's way of redeeming humanity, 57 Godliness, fuller conception of meaning of, 166 Good, representation of all that is, 20 Government, establishment of first national, 16 monarchical form of, in Egypt, 19 Greatness of institutions undermined, 21 Milton's definition of, 234 Greeks, a condemned race, 48 deterioration of, after high-tide of glory, 43 pure faith of, transforming by priestcraft, 44 Guidance of priests, laity made to follow, 171 Harmony and unity, Romes pretension of, 168 Heads of States, principal obligations of, 271 Hellenic stage, the early, 41 Heresy, development of, 22 idolatry, materialism, the poison of, 28 Heretics, efforts to suppress and exterminate, 124 Heroism, admirable acts of, 29 Hierarchy, leaders of a corrupt, 231 High ideals, efficiency of, 25 Hindoo race, degeneration of, caused by intermixture of blood, 40 Hindoos, records of, 38) History of Christianity, retrospective view of, 169 of Egypt, first stage of, 26 latter period, 26 299 INDEX of the Inquisitions, study of advisable, 112 of penance, efforts of scholars to study, 267 " Holy Catholic Church," much misused name, 285 Land, used as magnet for drawing on fanatical fol lowers, 121 Scriptures, right to interpret, 260 Human liberty, conspiracy against, 206 reason, madness of, 266 Humanity given start for attainment of high ideals, 246 numberless wrecks of, 275 Idealistic religion, Egyptians believed in, 20 Idolatry, various forms of, 25 Ignorance, Catholic Church stands for, 199 Illegitimacy, stigma of, 265 Immaculate Conception, doctrine of, 267 Immigrant population, efforts to control, 84 mustering of the, 67 Immigration population, main asset of Roman Church in United States, 69 problem-important to nation, 57i-59 Immoral clergy, society brought into contact with, 187 Immoralities, flagrant, 275 Impositions, basest of, 261 Impostors, class of, 2 Inactivity, no such thing in religion, 32 Incantations, prayers and, 23 Inconsistencies and duplicity, examples of, 186 India, mystical land of, 36 progress in, at a standstill, 39 Indifference and inactivity, reprehensible, 241 Individual, capable of interpreting word of God, 281 Individuals, self-seeking and unscrupulous, 104 Indomitable good, effects of the, 25 Infallibility, papal claims to, 267 300 INDEX Influence of Church, how made use of, 172 Reformation, rejuvenating power of, 105 Inquisition, the, 12 modern Romanism regarding, 182 horrors of, 182 horrors of terrible practices of, 141-146 Inquisitions, underlying motives for, 139 Inspiration, divine, 21 Institution, democratic, total collapse of, 91 ungodly 216 Institutions, cloistered, opposed to maintenance of, 264 Intellectual and spiritual growth, power which would banish, 180 Interests, best, of country, how served, 67, 68 Interference, instances of government, 276 Invasion, Persian, 17 Ireland, Archbishop, quotation from, 189 Islam, perverse religion of, 172 Italian Curia, political union with, 84 Italy, morality of, 198 Jesus Christ, immeasurable love of, 35 Judge, self-appointed, 270 Kingdom of God, advancement of, on earth, 110 "Knights of Luther Handbook," statements from, 77 Land of Egypt, 16 Leaders of society, unfit body of men as, 260 Legal trial, denied the right of, 264 Liberty of conscience, power which would banish, 180 Life-giving power, nation drained of, 26 Light of Christianity, almost extinguished, 105 Literal Protestant principles, all true American institu tions rest on, 73 Livery of heaven, satan has stolen, 253 Living, the penalties imposed on, 25 Lofty institutions, decay and downfall of, 21 301 INDEX Lotteries and gambling encouraged, 187 Lover of American ideals, sacred duty of, 78 Loyalty to country, demands a weakening of, 268 Luther, the spirit of, 237 stand taken by, 242 why we reverence, 239-241 "Make America Catholic" universal slogan, 191 Manichseans, in disfavor with Roman Church, 118 liberty of, interfered with, 119 who they were, 118 Mankind, truest aspirations of, 232 Mass, doctrine of, 284 Material gain, love for, IS McKim, Dr., quotation from, 178, 180-182 Mediaeval Romanism, conditions of, 119-120 Mesopotamia, 33 Mexican government, expressed principles of, 157 Mexico, baneful influences existing in, 155, 156 eyes of all nations centred on, 156 Misery and corruption in Mexico, to what traced, 157 Modern age, currying favor with, 266 Popes, official utterance of, 269 situation, the 49 Monasteries noted for rottenness, 195 Morals, corrupt wilful misrepresentations of, 283 depravities and debasements of, 275 Mortals, God-given rights of, 226-227 Multitude, welfare of, ignored, 18 Mummies and pyramids, 16 Munificent Nile, 17 Murder, the crime of, statistics concerning, 195-197 Mutual hostility, a spirit of, 222 Mythology, production of a debased, 31 Myths and rites, leading idea embodied in, 38 302 INDEX Nation, exaltation of, 21 glorious destiny for, 91 Nations, exalted, developments of, 30 Nations solemn duty, when discharged, 73 history, mightiest power in making of, 29 leaders, selfishness and corruption of, 21 Neo-Platonism, a world-wide religion, 118 Nile, banks of, 16 the munificent, 17 wealth-producing, 20 Non-Catholic whites, 2,000,000 in 1776, 75 North American territory, settlers who took possession of, 159 Obsoenities, works revealing, 276 Occident, coveted land of, 194 Organizations, well-ordered and efficient, 190 Osiris, The God, 20 hope of humanity, 21 Over-confidence the forerunner of defeat, 51 Pagan idolatrous worship, evils connected with, 170 Rome, decay of, influences that caused, 95 Paganism, Catholic customs emanated from, 95 vanquished ally of Popery, 247 Papacy, election of American Catholics to, 191 official law book of, 134 political influence of, 203 at Rome, power vested in, 277 vote corralled in interest of, 203 Papal despotism, distrust and dread of, 268 headquarters, standing order from, 128 infallibility, claims of, 184 doctrine of, 115, 284 protest against dogma of, 116 institution, truthful definition of, 205 legislation, records of, 135 803 INDEX political trick, 204 Taft and Roosevelt susceptible to, 204 worked during last presidential ellection, 204 requirements, 80 Rome, anti-heretical decrees of, 134 seat, cruelties which have emanated from, 124 tyranny, throwing off the yoke of, in Italy, 188 Parochial schools, number attending, 237 prison institutions of, 275 People's religion, 15 Persecuted followers, making martyrs of, 29 Persian invasion, 17 Personal liberty, sacrificing principles of, 273 Pharaohs, series of wars with, 27 Physical resources, not the want of, 27 Pilgrimage services, to join in, 257 " Pious causes " liberality extended in favor of, 275 Pius IX, syllabus of, 190 IV, creed of, 168 Plan conceived at Vatican, 191 Plunder, cravings after, 18 Political and religious leaders, degradation among, 108 Politico-ecclesiastical Romanism, United States in state of lethargy regarding, 188 Pope Gregory the Great, view advocated by, 259 Leo XIII, statement of, 270 Pius, letter to, 79 - what right has the, 271 Popedom, institution unworthy belief of men, 247 Popes, infallible succession of, 183 Population of Egypt, 17 Postal regulations, information escaping censorship of, 276 304 INDEX Power and pelf, papal policy of, 203 responsible for alliance between crooked politics and crooked business, 206 Practice, abominable, 23 evil design of, 24 Practices, perverse, 23 Prayers and incantations, 23 Present situation, seriousness of, 193 President Wilson's Philadelphia address, extract from, 71, 72 Presidents, assassinated, 199 Press, toadying on part of, 217 Pride, not abandoned to, 266 Priesthoood, dominant power behind throne, 46 Egyptians, 23 old Egyptian, 21 ordinary prescribed functions of, 277 practices of a degraded, 22 Roman Catholic, 260 universal corruption of, 187 Priestly celibacy, claims in favor of annihilated, 187 class dominant, 19 Priest, Brahman, of India, mercenary and heartless, 45, 46 Primitive races, central community for, 33 Principles of American institutions, Papacy condemns, 274 of Christianity only remedy for conditions, 54, 55 of liberty, justice, and truth, devotion of people to, 160 Private judgment, power which would banish, 180 Privileges of multitude, exploitation of, 18 Privileged, all mortals equally, 259 Problem of human progress, 16 Procedure, programme of, 22 305 INDEX Professors of Christianity, reprehensible practices among, 172 Progress and civilization, menacing foe to, 207 course of reversals in, 107 problem of human, 16 Prophecy, hopeful and significant, 179 Protestant churches of America, plain duty laid upon, 251 combined membership of 25 of leading, 62 ideals, destruction of, 250 a true, 286 Protestantism, characterized by Carlyle, 238 conspicuous failure of, 165 daily disintegrating, 219 decrepit and unassertive, 218 discords from chorus of, 167 the founder of, 110 glorious messages of, 244 steady collapse of, 224 Protestants and true Americans, contact with, danger ous to Romanism, 70 Public institutions, inimical influence exerted against, 178 schools, an eyesore to leaders of Papacy, 66 Pure worship of God, arrayed against, 260 Purgatory, doctrine of, 284 intermediate state known as, 261 Purified Christianity, united effort of, 206 Purity infected with corruption, 98 Races of men, reformation and regeneration of, 35 Recent developments show marked change, 165 Reformation, age prior to, 201 beginning of religious freedom, 110, 111 beginning of the great, 244 great character of, 240 potent cause of, 238 success of, 252 306 INDEX Reformers, noble band of, 287 Religion, commercialize the pure, 22 establishment of monopoly, 270 of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 32 only one, 32 pure and holy, 25 transforming power of, 36 a universal, requirements for, 32 Religious conception, 15 convictions, 15 grounds, boycotting on, 264 liberty, attitude of Romanism on, 228 tolerance, false idea of, 219 Remission of sin, vain promises for, 235 Representatives of different creeds, earnest work of, 167 Republic, bulwark of, 263 Responsibility, Luther shirked no, 242 Results of Roman rule, 194 Revenue, exhilarating flow of, 261 Roman Catholic Church, cause of growth of, 62-66 enemy of civilization, 215 increase in strength of, 61 membership of, 62 phenomenal growth of, 75, 76 unvarying policy of, 280 why I am not a, 257 worship, paganism reflected in, 96 writers, the price of, 97 Catholicism, abominable political institution, 86 analyzed, quotation from, 188 foe of progress and civilization, 86, 87 frenzied forces of, 179 magazines and papers refrain, from criticising, 216 my attitude toward, 257 nations of Europe opposed to, 86 307 INDEX Catholics, opposition of attitude toward reformers, 209 two bad habits of, 209 Church, corruptions which have contaminated, 98 the doctrine of, 269 ruled and perpetuated in error, 218 dominion, curse of, 237 disasters which follow in trail of, 233 Emperor Valentia, legislative action of, 126 emperors, policy of, 109 Empire, dominion of vanquished, 101 pagan worship in, 95 hierarchy, established convictions of, 83 findings against incontrovertible, 215 great stumbling block to, 243 power gaining tremendous growth, 83 power trying to strike down institutions of free press, 84 power weaving net of despotism, 84 priesthood, base and degrading, 45 Pontiff, charges instigated by, 246 Popery, havoc wrought in career of, 243 Romanism, abhorrence for practices of, 23 army of, 193 baneful influence of, 78 blighting power of, 207 bold teachings of, 272 cherished hope of, 225 conspiracy against liberty, virtue and happiness, 205 despotism of, a menace to human liberty, 87 disappointment, chagrin and loss to, 244 domineering stage of in politics, 177 effort to expose and oppose powers of, 218 France, example of blighting effects of, 188 fused from power house of iniquity, 100 308 INDEX generated from Mammon worship, 100 gigantic frauds and stupendous wrongs of, 185-186 good reasons for condemning, 279 growth of, in United States, to what ascribed, 76 horrible realities of, 215 immunity granted to, 217 iniquitous results of, 206 more disastrous to civilization than Mohammedan ism, 87 not a religion, 202 opposed to Christian ideals, 221 perverse teachings peculiar to, 237 protest against combined forces of, 245 represents gigantic conspiracy, 83 unfitness to dominate educational and political affairs of nation, 78 Romans, Lactantius's statement concerning, 95-96 Rome, growth in America, 61 Rome's intention in America, 177 Ruination of nation, cause for, 24-25 Sacraments and masses, efficacy of, 261 Sacred gift of God, traducers of, 24 obligations, completely disregarded, 171 Salvation, believe in doctrine of, 259 Saracens, invasions of, 118 Schism or hersey, right and duty to proscribe, 272 Scriptural truths, respect for, 226 Scripture, contrary to, 218 trustworthy record of apostolic tradition, 284 Selfish views, attachments to, 222 Seth, 20 Semitic modes of worship, 38 religions, 38 Sins, forgiveness of, 282 Social and economic evils, visited on mankind, 177 309 INDEX Society, divided into four distinct classes, 47 two extremes widely separated, 156 Source of strength of Roman hierarchy, from whence drawn, 84 South America, population of, 161 American history, early days of, 161 poor showing revealed in, 161 population, slow growth in, 161 progress, religious intolerance the enemy of, 162 Spanish dominion, first 300 years of, 154-155 Inquisition, members burned during, 140 Stars and Stripes, protection of, 237 St. Chrysostom, belief of, 285 Spiritual upheaval, benefitted by, 223 Stoics and Academicians, philosophies of, rejected, 45 Stories, not much faith in the, 257 Sun, greatest wonder of nature, 30 the, was worshipped, 21 Superstition, development of, 22 Synod of Verona, edict passed by, 128 System dangerous to civil order, warning against, 205 Temples of worship, no desire to purify, 280 Temporal desire, earthly ambition and, 223 power, abolition of, 274 Tetzel, first public challenge to, 244 Text-book, the supreme, 134 Theocratic feudalism, dead-house of, 279 Theories, manufactured apostolic, 260 Tigro-Euphrates basin, rich valley of, 34 Tribute, extraction of, 261 True brotherhood of mankind, how brought about, 164 Transsubstantiation, doctrine of, 284 Truth, flashlight of, 242 individual searching after, 266 replaced by falsehood, 98 310 INDEX Tyranny of Vatican rule, inimical influences of, 49 United States constitution, first amendment to, 269 long recognized as leader in cause of progress, 158-159 Unstable traditions, sophistry of, 282, 283 Untrammelled education opposed, 187 Vatican, centralized control of, 231 despotic desires of, 217 impositions, the cancer of, 279 responsibility for horrors, 129-133 system described, 202 theocracy, vigilance of modern world against return of, 268 Wasted energy, vast amount of, 223 Wealth, unequal and unjust distribution of, 53 Welfare of dead, extortions exacted for, 25 Whited sepulchres, 279 Worldly position, wealth and power, strife for, 171 Worship, forms of, 23 Wreck and ruin, 250 Wrong ideals, shattering of, 223 3 9002 05318 0916