BR 1601 .A33 1834 An address to the public o] religious intolerance and ip Yr/0Ae.V-^re5An-V(7"vV\orv. RESS TO THE PUBLIC, Religious Intolerance and Persecution. No, S, uousque tandem nbutere patiuntia nostra,''' Millere ? III. The Church of England. Henry VIII. was the father of the Reformation in England. The atrocious wickedness of his career, the various changes of his re- ligion, and the changes which he enforced on his subjects by acts of a pliant, servile jjarlianient, are too well known to the merest sciolist in history, to require detail. The creed, or confession of faith, was new-modelled under Ed- ward, and finally and lastingly arranged by Queen Elizabeth. It is well known that Henry VIII. decreed burning against Ana- baptists for denying the eflicacy of infant baptism — and against those who denied the real presence, and decapitation against those who denied his supremacy.* I single out a few cases under these three reigns, to display the infuriate spirit that prevailed among the English reformers. And first, that of the interesting Anne Ascue, who for "dogmatizing on the real presence," was so violently racked, that according to the words of Hume, 'her body teas almost torn asunder;" and persisting in her religious opinions, ''she was condemned to be burned alive; and being so dislocated by the rack, that she coidd not stand, she teas car- ried to the stake in a chair. Together with her were conducted N. Belenien, a priest, J. Lassels, of the king's household, and J. Adams, a tatior, who had been condemned for the same crime to the same punishment!" Hume's England, Phil. Edition, Vol. II. p. 443. Here are four miserable victims offered up to the Moloch of Per- secution, by the ancestors of those men who have the shameless ef- frontery to cant, and whine, and turn up the whites 6f their eyes, deploring the wickedness of the blood-thirsty Roman Catholics for their persecutions; and thanking God that they are not like those cruel, idolatrous Papists; as if their ancestors were wholly guiltless of the hideous crime ! Let me add the burning of Jane Bocher, under Edward VI. at the instigation and by the importunity of Archbishop Cranmer, and the numberless hangings, drawings, and quarterings of priests, under Elizabeth. There were 223 Catholics executed for their religion in this reign. Would it not excite the most just indignation, were these atrocious crimes charged to the account of the Church of England of the pre- sent day ! But is not that precisely the shameful, unprincipled, and outrageous course pursued with the Roman Catholics? I cited the Rev. Dr. Miller to the public bar of this nation, to prove the truth of the following gross accusations, by any Roman * During the reign of this monster, there were eighty Roman Catholics executed for denying his supremacy; among the rest, the illustrious Chancellor More and the pious Bishop Fisher. Some doubts, expressed by Catharine Parr, one of his wives, brought her neck in danger; but by giving up her doitbts, and soothing the ruffian, she escaped, and survived him. « i 18 Catholic book of authority, as the doctrine of the Church of Rome, or part of the Roman Catholic system, or else to acknowledge him- self a calumniator. 1st. That the Pope can change the essential nature of moral good and evil. 2d. That he can maiie, by his fiat, sin to be holiness, and holiness sin. 3d. That he can dispense with all laws, human and divine. 4lh. That all kinds of deceptions, frauds, and lying, are justifiable when the glory of God and the good of the church require them. This was a fair challenge; and how has he met it? as a gentle- man, a clergyman, or a logician? Has he made the slightest attempt to prove his assertions? Has he referred to any Roman Catholic book of authority in support of them? No such thing. If he had, it would have been unsuccessful. He has merely reiterated his ca- lumnious charges, arid adds — "All this I have said, [his ipse dixit is doubtless sufficient] and on being called on to reviev? it, I am willing to say it again, Cthis is, to be sure, irrefragable proof,] because I am just as well persuaded that it is strictly correct, [this may suffice for him, but will not satisfy the public,] as I am that there were such men as Luther and Tetzel, or that Charles I. of England was brought to the block.'' To this the Doctor adds the worn-out, threadbare, and miserable slang of "the man of sin," and "son of perdition." He forgot, I presume, the of Babylon, who would have made a capital pendent to the " man of sin." He refers to Mosheim, Tillotson, &c., who make the same decla- rations. But does he pretend that this reference will satisfy the pub- lic? It is no time of day to take the ipse dixit of any man, how high or exalted soever, on a point of such importance, and on which such inveterate prejudices prevail. If Mosheim, or the others, have proved by proper authorities what they have asserted, then the Doc- tor's task is easy. He has only to copy their proofs, whatever they may be, and let the public judge of their validity. But if they, like him, have dealt in assertions without proof, he " takes nothing by his motion." Their mere assertion will not weigh a feather in the scale. He must, in that case, adduce his own proofs himself. Let it be remembered, that I confined my challenge to the four specific points above quoted. When he has proved them, or ac- knowledged that he can adduce no proof, then the remainder may be taken up; but not till then ; this is a sine qua non. I take the liberty, however, to add another challenge, and defy him to produce, in the wide range of European history, for a hundred years, or in the history of this country from its first settlement, a single, clear, applicable, well-attested fact, to warrant the odious and calumnious charges he has adduced ; and surely, even supposing for a moment, that in an- terior periods, those principles and practices which he alleges, had prevailed, one, two, or three centuries of innocence might be pleaded in bar of condemnation for ancestral iniquity. It is truly ludicrous for this reverend gentleman to complain of " the coarse invectives of the champion of Romanism." To have made this complaint after his coarse and outrageous attack, not merely on the Roman Catholics of this country, probably 500.000 in number, but upon the whole body, throughout the globe, com- prising 80,000,000 of people, as "foes of God and man," and as " requiring to be watched as highwaymen and assassins in the dark," requires a degree of mental delusion not often met with. It is pre- cisely as if a man who had assailed another with a mace, were to 19 exclaim against the injustice of being met in return with a hickory stick; for Dr. Miller's assault and my retort, bear about the same proportion to each other. When the Rev. Dr. Miller assailed the Roman Catholics as " foes of God and man," and as requiring "to be watched as highwaymen or assassins in the dark," he made no exception, no qualification. It was a sweeping denunciation, from which no individual of the great body could escape. He now comes forward with an epheme- ral newspaper qualification, which removes a portion of the venom of his original declaration; a qualification, which, from the nature of the vehicle in which it appears, will perish and be forgotten in a week, while the wholesale condemnation will survive the author, and probably produce deleterious consequences a century hence. He says — " I take for granted that every candid reader of the ' Introductory Essay' will un- derstand me as poiniing, in all the unfavorable representations which it makes, at the Roman Catholic system, or the Roman Catholic church, as a general body, and not to all its individual adherents." This may be now understood — but until now it was neither ex- pressed nor understood. There was, I repeat, no qualification, ex- ception, or limitation whatever, of the wholesale calumnious attack, of which, I trust, those who have any regard for the Doctor's charac- ter, will feel ashamed. "If," says the Rev. Dr. Miller, "the Romish church, for more than ten centu- ries, has been consigning millions [!.' !] of human beings to the most heartless and cruel butchery for daring to follow the dictates of conscience," &c. On what a large scale the Doctor calculates ! Millions ! millions 1 What an important and conclusive word is if, to build an argument on ! Let me in return ask, if this insinuation be, as it really is, a most extravagant and hyperbolical and Munchausen exaggeration, what becomes of the Doctor's if, and the superstructure resting on such a slender foundation 1 It is not improbable that the average annual number of persons punished with death by the Roman Catholics on account of their religion, from the first perpetration of the heinous crime, does not greatly, if at all, exceed the number shot down, and otherwise cruelly punished by fines, forfeitures, tortures by thumbikins, the carpenter's daughter, incarceration and exile, in one year, in Scotland, under the administration of Lord Lauderdale.* So much for the Reverend Doctor's millions ! ! ! In the course of my strictures on the atrocious spirit of persecu- tion, I adduced various instances of its exercise by different denomi- nations of Christians, and among the rest, as I was called upon by fairness and candor, I instanced cases in which it was perpetrated by Roman Catholics. Dr. Miller expresses his astonishment at this ingenuous avowal, and declares that — "No part of the Catholic Layman's angry paper has filled me with more surprise than the suicidal, but apparently inadvertent admissions of the spirit of the Church ofRome." Shall we ascribe to superannuation, or to the narrowness of mind that eternally accompanies a blind and bigoted devotion to party, whether in relation to politics or religion, that hallucination which regards this proceeding as " suicidal," or as the result of " inadvert- * See Laing's History of Scotland, passim. 20 ence?" It is far, very far indeed, from "suicidal," and equally re- mote from " inadvertence." It was the result of a conviction that " honesty is the best policy;" and that when I arraigned the persecu- ting spirit of Calvin, Knox, Henry VIII., Elizabeth and Lord Lauderdale, it was due to the honorable cause of truth, to acknowl- edge that Roman Catholics had perpetrated the odious crime.* Would to God that Dr. Miller and his friends were actuated by that spirit which he styles " suicidal;" and that they would honestly avow in their publications the horrible persecutions of the Anabap- tists and Roman Catholics in England, the bloodthirsty and murder- ous persecutions of the Cameronians in Scotland, the drownings of the Anabaptists in Switzerland, the infuriate persecutions of the Armini- ans ill Holland, and, in a word, the persecutions carried on by the re- formers, more especially the Calvinists, wherever they had power, even in this country. Then the force of truth would compel them to acknowledge that persecution is not the child of any one religion more than another; but is the besetting sin of bad men possessed of power, who, whether in politics or religion, are prone to oppress and crush their fellow men who differ from them in opinion. " Man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority ; JMost ignorant of wliat lie's most assur'd, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heav'n, As make e'en angels weep." One sermon, or essay, or pamphlet of this description, would do more service to society than a thoas?ind " introductory essays," or histories of Popery, or attacks on Quakerism. It would teach men the holy doctrine of mutual forgiveness, as they have been mutual of- fenders ; and would entitle the speaker or writer to the benediction pronounced by the founder of their religion on such conduct: — "Blessed are the peace-makers .- for they shall be called the children of God." If " the peace-makers" be deservedly styled "the children of God," are not the sowers of strife and discord and hatred, and all the other detestable passions of our nature, children of the devil? A CATHOLIC LAYMAN. Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 1834. * To my surprise, some Roman Catholics have been dissatisfied with my second number, on account of the " suicidal" statements, to use the language of Dr. Mil- ler, of Catholic persecutions which it contains. I am persuaded they take a very incorrect view of the subject. I believe th&t number to be one of the best of the series. A fair and candid admission of the errors of your own pariy, goes far to secure you credit in detailing the errors of your antagonists. So that even if I did not scorn the suppressio veri, as much as the suggestio falsi, mere policy would dic- tate the course pursued. But the reader may rest assured, that far higher motives have dictated the fair avowal of Roman Catholic persecutions. ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC. On Religious Intolerance and Persecution. No. 6. '• Live in peace; and the God of all peace shall be xmlh you." — 2 Cor. xiii. 11. IV. Calvinists. Having, as I hope, fully proved that the conduct of the early bap- tists, the rnethodists, and the Church of England protestants, ought to induce those of the present day to observe a profound and prudent silence with regard to any aberrations, real or supposed, of the an- cestors of the Roman Catholics, I proceed to perform the same ser- vice for the Calvinists and Lutherans, and shall commence with Cal- vin and John Knox. These reformers were men of extreme rigour and austerity — and in their horror of the Roman Catholic religion, regarded the re- tention by the Protestant Episcopal Church, of any of the forms or ceremonies, or the clerical dresses, of the former, as approaching to idolatry, and the whole service as " an ill-disguised mass." Both of them clearly and unequivocally advocated capital punishments for heresy. Their descendants, however, mirabile dictit, are the most violent and unappeasable enemies of the Roman Catholics, chiefly on account of the persecutions of the latter, regardless of the prin- ciples and practice of their own founders ! ! That Calvin was the instigator of the apprehension of Servetus, and that he was in favor of his being capitally punished, stands re- corded in his private letters to his friends. (1) While he (Serve- tus) was in prison, Calvin expressed a hope that he would. soon suffer his punishment, (2) which was death. He tells us, it is true, that he was opposed to the mode of punishment in his case. (3) But that does not affect the question in the least. Whether an unfortunate heretic, or schismatic, is simply hanged, roasted alive, or hanged, drawn, and quartered, m.akes some differ- ence as to the sufferings of the wretched victim; but none as to the execrable spirit of persecution. These facts ought forever to arrest the torrent of abuse lavished on the Roman Catholics for persecution ; for I repeat, and it can never be repeated too often, that if it were lawful, just, and proper, to put Servetus to death, because his religious opinions differed from those of the ruling powers of Geneva, which of course those powers re- 1. " He (Servetus) was cast into prison, wiience he escaped, I know not how ; and was wandering about Italy for about four months. At length, having, under evil auspices, come hither, he was arrested, at my instigation, by one of our syn- dics, and thrown into prison." — Calvin to Snlzerius. (7) 2. " The author of this blasphemy is held in prison by our magistrates, and soon, I hope, to suffer his punishment." — Calvin to the pastors of the church at Frank- fort. (8) 3. " To-morrow he will be taken to e.xecution. We have laboured to change THE KIND of DEATH. Why we failed of success, we shall defer till we see you." —Calvin to Farrell. (9) (7) " Re yero patefacta, in carcerem est conjectus. Unde, nescio quomodo, elap- sus, per Italiam erravit fere quatuor menses. Tandem hue, malis auspiciis, appul- sum, unus ex syndicis, me auctore, in carcerem ducijussit." — Calvini Epistolaeet Responsa, Hanovia; 1.597, p. 294. (8) " Auctor ipse lenetur in carcere, a magistrata nostro, etpropediem, ut spero, daturus est pimas." — Idem 290. (9) " Cras ad supplicium ducetur. Genus mortis conati sumus mutare, sed frus- tra. Cur nihil profecerimus, coram narrandum difFero." — Idem 304. E 22 garded as the only true religion, then was it lawful for Nero, Diode- sian, Trajan — the Duke of Alva — Henry VIII. — Queen Mary and Q,ueen Elizabeth, to persecute " to the death" dissenters from their forms of worship. All the leading reformers decidedly approved of the death of Ser- vetus. I annex in a note, the testimony on this subject of three conspi- cuous characters — Bucer, (4) Bullinger (5) and Melancthon. (6) I presume I have quoted enough of, and from, Calvin and other principal continental reformers, to show that they were decidedly in favour of capital punishments for religious opinions. I now proceed to take a cursory view of the doctrines of John Knox, which ought imperiously to impose silence on the Presbyte- rians on this revolting subject. He clearly and explicitly advocates capital punishment, not merely of" idolatrous Papists," but of those guilty of " blasphemy, and other crimes pertaining to the majesty of God," of which the chief magistrates or rulers were doubtless to be the judges. "The punishment of such crimes as idolatry, blasphemy, and others that touch the majesty of God, does not belong to the Kings and chief rulers only, but to the WHOLE body of the people, and every member of the same." — Appellation annexed to Knox's History of the Reformation, p. 22. " Ye are bound to remote from honor, and to punish wiih death, (if the crime so require,) such as deceive the people, or defraud them of that food of their souls, I mean God's lively word."' — Idem. p. 10. " /( is not only lawful to punish to the death, such as labor to subvert the true reli- gion ; but the magistrates and people are bound to do so, unless they will provoke the wrath of God against themselves." — Idem. p. 25. It appears by one of the above extracts, that there are three de- scriptions of persons who are authorized to punish " even unto the death," the crimes specified. 1. Kings and rulers of the people. 2. The whole body of the people. 3. Every member of the people, that is, by fair construction, that every member of the congregation had a right to punish idolatry, blasphemy, &c. with death. I most earnestly request all men of candor to weigh well the in- ferences fairly deducible from these positions of John Knox. " The whole body of the people," and "every member of the same," are aullior- ized " to punish with death idolatry and blasphemy, and other crimes that touch the majesty of God." According to this doctrine, not undu- ly strained beyond its fair import, the Charlestown mob, as a portion of "the whole people," were authorized to put to death as " idolaters and blasphemers," the superior of the Convent and all the Nuns therein. Hence, instead of censuring them for the destruction of the building, 4. " Of him, (Servetus) Bucer, that faithful^'minister of Christ, of holy memory, declared from the pulpit, though of a mild disposition, that he ought to be torn to pieces." — Calvin to Sulzerius. (10) 5. " In my opinion, the Geneva Senate has done right in capitally punishing a pertinacious blasphemer, not likely to leave off his blasphemies : and I am surprised that any person should censure this severity." — Bullinger to Calvin. (11) 6. "I affirm that your magistrates have acted justly in executhig a blasphemer duly convicted." — Melancthon to Calvin. (12) (10) "Is (Servetus) est de quo fidelis Christi minister, et sanctse memoriae, D. Bucer, cum alioqui mansueto esset ingenio, pro suggestu pronunciavit, dignura es- se, qui avulsis visceribus discerperetur." — Idem p. 293. (11) " Judico etiam senalum Genevensem recti fecisse, quodhominem pertinacem et blasphemias non omissurum,svstulit. Ac miratus sum, esse qui severitatem illam improbent." — Idem p. 400. (12) " Affirmo etiam vestros magistratus juste fecissc, quod hominem blasphcmum re ordine judicata, interfecerunt." — Idem, p. 341. 23 they are deserving of high commendation for their lenity in warning these idolatrous females to take to flight ! There is a large latitude of construction given as to what is blas- phemy, and the other crimes that " touch the majesty of God." And lei it be observed, that Protestant Episcopacy was regarded as hardly less abominable than "popery," and as "a subversion of the true religion;" as clearly appears from the tenor of the solemn league and covenant, which the Calvinists imposed on the English and Scotch in 1643. The subscribers " bound themselves to endeavour, with- out respect of persons, the extirpation of popery, prelacy, [that is, protestant episcopacy] superstition, heresy, schism and profane- ness." — Hume's Engl.ind, Phila. Ed. vol. III. 607 A Calvinistic convention, held contemporaneously in Scotland, "in the height of their zeal, ordered every one to sign this covenant, mh- der the penalty of confiscation; besides tohat farther punishment it should please the ensuing xiai-liament to inflict on the refusers, as ene- mies to God^ to the king, and the hingdom." — Idem p. 608. In 1645, the Long Parliament, in which the Presbyterians had then the ascendency, passed an ordinance, whereby " Any person using the book of Common Prayer, forfeited fur the first offence, five pounds; for the second, ten; and for the third, suffered imprison- ment." "All Common Prayer Books, in churches and chapels, were ordered to be brought to the Committee, within a month, under the forfeiture of forty shillings for each book." — Rushworth, vol. 6, p. 207. So much for Calvinistic toleration. With these damning facts, and those in the preceding pages before their faces, how dare the Rev. Professor of Theology or his friends, cry out aloud, and make the welkin ring with their awful denunciations of Roman Catholic in- tolerance and persecution? V. Lutherans. I now proceed to detail a few of the extravagant doctrines of Luther, the father of the reformation. By some of these doctrines, God is made the author of sin; man, in some cases, a slave of the devil; fre&-will, a horse, for the mastery of which, God and the devil are contending. When the devil gains the ascendency, the horse rides post haste to hell.* "If we punish thieves with the gallows, highwaymen by the sword, and heretics by fire, why should we not, with every kind of arms, attack those magistrates of perdition, those Cardinals, those Popes, and all that sink of Sodom, which without end corrupts the Church; and icash our hands in their blood, to rescue us and ours, as from a most dangerous conflagration." 1 " This is the highest degree of faith, to believe him [God] to be merciful who saves so few, and damns so many; to believe him just, who by his own will renders 1. " Si fures furca; si latrones gladio ; si Htereticos igne pleciimus, cur non magis hos Magistros perditionis, hos Cardinales, hos Papas, et totam istam Romanse So- domffi coUuviem, qusE Ecclesiam Dei sine fine corrumpit, omnibus armis impe- timus, et manus nostras in sanguine istorumlavamus, tanquam a communi et om- nium periculosissimo incendio uos nostrasque hberaturi." — Opera Lutheri Jena 1556, tom i. p. 71 b. * " Before commencing the perusal of these extracts, it is proper that the reader should be informed that the edition cited, was published at Jena, in 1556-7— that it is paged only on the right hruid, the left hand pages not being marked— and there- fore the reference 176, a. means the right hand page, and 176, b. the page on the reverse ; and so of all the others. Any person desirous of collating the translation with the original, may have access to the work itself at No. 116 Walnut street, at any time for three weeks to come, from 7 till 11, A. M., and from 3 to 6, P. M. As the subject and language are in some places mystified, and hardly intelligible, the translation cannot be literal; but if there be errors, it is believed they are few and unimportant. 24 us necessarily liable to damnation ; so that it would seem, according to Erasmus, that he delights in the torments of the miserable, and that he is more worthy of hatred than of love. If therefore I were able, by any means, to comprehend in what way God is merciful and just, who displays so much anger and injustice, it would not be the work of faith." 2. " But in relation to God, whether as respects things appertaining to salvation or damnation, man does not possess free will ; but is a captive, subject, and slave either oftlie will of God, or the will of the devil." 3. "Although God does not cause [make] sin, yet he does notecase to create [human] nature, vitiated by the abstraction of the spirit; as if a carpenter were to make statues out of rotten wood. Thus, God creating and forming them of such a nature, such as is their nature, such they become." 4. " Since, therefore, God does and moves all in all, he necessarily moves and acts in Satan and the impious. But he acts in them according to what they are, and to what he finds them ; that is, as they are themselves perverse and wicked, and are carried along by that impulse of divine omnipotence, they perform only perverse and wicked actions." 5. "But if you are pleased with God crowning the unworthy, you ought not to be displeased with him condemning those not deserving [of condemnation :] If he is there just, why not just here — there dispensing grace and mercy to the unworthy; here dispensnig wrath and severity to those not deserving of them — on both sides in excess, and unjust towards men, but just and true towards himself." 6. " By the light of grace it appears inexplicable, why God condemns him who can- not by his utmost efforts do other tlran sin and be culpable! Here the light of na- ture and the light of grace dictate that it is not ttie fault of unhappy man, but of an unjust God; nor can they judge othenoise of God, who gratuitously crowns an impious man destitute of merits ; and does not croicn, hut damns another man, perhaps less, or at all events not more impious." 7. "I was extremely desirous to understand Paul in his Epistle to the Romans ; but was hitherto deterred, not by any faint-heartedness, but by one single expression in the first Chapter, viz ; — therein is the righteousness of God revealed ; for 1 hated that word, tlie righteousness of God; because by the use and custom of all the learned, I had been taught to understand it of that formal and active righteousness, by which God is righteous, and punishes sinners and the unrighteous. Now, knowing myself, though I lived a monk of an irreproachable life, to be in the sight of God, a sinner, and of a most unquiet conscience, not having any hopes of appeasing him with my own satisfaction, / did not love, nay I hated this RIGHTEOUS God, who punishes sinners; and with vehement murmuring, if not with silent blasphemy, I was angry with God, and said, as if it were not enough for miserable sinners, who were lost to all eternity by original sin, to suffer all manner of calamity by the law of the decalogue, unless God by the Gospel, 2. " Hie est fidei summus gradus, credere ilium esse clementem, qui tampaucos salvat, tarn mullos damnat; credere jitstum, qui sua voluntate nos nccessario dam- nabililcs facit; ut videatur, refereule Erasmo, delectaki cruciatibcs misero- RUM, &, odio potius quam amore dignus. Si igitur possem 4illa ratione compre- hendere, quomodo is Deus sit misericors Sf Justus, qui tantam iram Sf iniquitatem ostendit, non esset opus fidei." — Idem, torn. iii. p. 176. h 3. " Casterum erga Deum, vel in rebus, quae pertinent ad salutem vel damnatio- nem, non habet liberum arbitrium, sed captivus, subjectus, & servus est vel volun- tatis Dei, vel voluntatis Satance." — p. 178. a 4. " Licet enim Deus peccatum non faciat, tamen naturam peccato, subtracto spiritu, vitiatam, non cessat formare & multiplicare; tanquam si faber ex ligno corrupto statuas faciat. Ita qualis est natura, tales fiunt homines, Deo creante & formante illos ex natura tali." — p. 20-5. a 5. " Quando ergo Deus omnia in omnibus movet & agit, necessario movetetiam & agit in Satana 8f impio. Agit autem in illis taliter, quales illi sunt, & quales invenit; hoc est, cum illi sint aversi & mali, & rapiantur motu illo divinse orani- potentise, non nisi aversa «& mala faciunt." — p. 205. h 6. " At si placet tibi Deus indignos coronans, non debet etiam displicere imme- ritos damnans. Si illic Justus est, cur non hie Justus erit? l\\\c gratiam &f mise- ricordiam spargit in indignos ; hie iram Sf severitatem spargit in immeritos, utro- biqucNiMius&iNiquusapud homines, sed Justus &veraxapudseipsum. "-p. 213. b 7. " In lumine gratia; est insolubile, quo modo Dens dainnet eum,qui non potest ullis suis viribus aliud facere, quam peccare & reus esse. Hie tam lumen naturae quam lumen gratiae dictant, culpam esse, non miseri hominis sed iniqui Dei- Nee enim aliud judicare possunt de Deo, qui hominem impium gratis sine meritis, coronat, Sf ahum non coronat, sed damnat, forte minus, vel saltern non magis im- pium." — p. 237. a 25 adds sorrow to sorrow, and even by the Gospel threatens us with his justice and anger. Thus did I rage with a fretted and disordered conscience." 7. "If God foresaw that Judas would be a traitor, Judas of necessity became a traitor. Neither was it in his power, uor tiie power of any other creature to do otherwise, or change his will." 8. " The iuimau will is placed in the middle just like a horse. If God sits on him, he wills and goes whither God wills — as the psalmist says: I am made a beast and always with thee. If Satan sits on him, he wills and goes whither Satan wills. Nor is it in his power to make enquiry of either rider — but the riders strive for the acquisition and possession of him." 9. Suppose the Lutherans of the pre.sent day were made answerable for all those extraordinary doctrines, and in spite of their repeated dis- claimers, that the charge were renewed from year to year, would not every fair and honorable man cry shame on those guilty of the un- worthy conduct? But I once more, and for the last time, ask is not this the odious course pursued towards the Roman Catholics ? Wonder is expressed at the outrageous proceedings at Charlestown. Thi«! is absurd. Such an outrage was the natural effect of a very adequate cause. When probably a dozen of the so-styled religious papers have been for years sedulously employed in exciting the hellish passions of our nature against the Roman Catholics, such a result was to be expected. Man is an inflammable animal. He is easily excited, especially to mischief. When once, by the instigation of those whom he regards as oracles, let loose from the bonds of religion and law, his fury is demoniac, and mocks at the dictates of reason and justice. History is full of examples of the tremendous results. And the outrage is indirectly recommended by the Westminster Confession of Faith, as declared in the exposition of that document by Fisher and Erskine, in which scripture is quoted to justify the destruction of Roman Catholic altars and images. If it was right and proper to destroy the Roman Catholic altars and their furniture in 1650, it is certainly equally right and proper to do so now; and the culprits, it thus appears, can appeal to high authority for their outrageous proceedings. 7. "Miro certo ardore captus 'ueram, cognoscendi Pauli, in Epistola ad Rom. Sed obstiterat hactenus, non frigidus circum praecordia sanguis, sed unicuni vocabulum, quod est, " Justicia Dei revelatur in illo." Oderam enim vocabuluni istud, " Justicia Dei ;" quod usu et consuetudine omnium doctorum, doctus eram philosophice intelligere de justicia (ut vocant) formali sen activa, qua Deus est Justus, et peccatores mjustosque punit. " Ego autem, qui me utcunque irreprehensibilis monachus vivebam, sentirem co- ram Deo esse peccatorem inquietissima; conscientiae, nee mea satistactione placatum considere possem. Non amabam, imo odiebam justum et punientem peccato- res Deum; tacit^que si non blasphemiS., certe ingenti murmuratione indignabar Deo, dicens, " Q,uasi vero non satis sit miseros peccatores et aeternaliter perditoa peccato origiuali, onini genere calamitatis oppresses esse per legem decalogi, nisi Deus per evangelium dolorera dolori adderet; et etiam per evangelium nobis justiciam et iram suam intentaret." Furebam ita saeva et perturbati conscien- tia." — Tom. 1. Prefat. sub fine. 8. " Si praescivit Deus, Judam fore proditorem, necessario Judas fiebat proditor ; nee erat in mauu Judse aut uUius creaturce, aiiter facere aut voluntatem mu- tare."— Tom. 3. p. 207.— b. 9. " Sic huniana voluntas in medio posita est, ceu jumentum; si insederit Deus, vult et vadit quo vult Deus, ut Psalmus dicit: ''Factus sum sicut jumentum, et ego semper tecum." Si insederit Satan, vult et vadit quo vult Satan ; nee est in ejus arbitrioad utrum sessorem currere,aut eum qucerere; sed ipsisessores certantobip- sum obtinendum et po.ssidendum." — p. 177. — b. 26 The quotation, it is true, refers to " altars and images ;" but when altars and images were destroyed, the convents, and churches, and cathedrals shared the same fate.* This has been styled the age of illumination, and "the march of mind" has been highly celebrated with " lo pseans." But with some persons, mind marches with leaden heels. The Rev. Dr. Miller, in his old age, instead of the divine employment of preaching " peace and good will to man on earth," devotes his time and his talents to the hideous purpose of holding his unoffending fellow-citizens not merely to the execration, but to the personal violence of the po- pulace; for if they be really "enemies of God and man," and re- quiring " to be watched as highwaymen and assassins," they ought to be exterminated. The Rev. Mr Brownlee and Dr. Cox write large volumes of abuse against the peaceable, and harmless, and exemplary Quakers, whom ihcy will not allow to be Christians, but who carry into operation the morality of the gospel as com- pletely as any other denomination of Christians that ever existed. And a steady warfare is carried on between the Presbyterians and Episcopalians, and between the various denominations of Presbyte- rians. To cap the climax of " the march of mind," the Earl of Winchelsea, in the English House of Lords, declaims most violently against the bill for removing the disabilities of the Jews, which he calls " offering an insult to the Almighty," and tfie bill is rejected in that house by a considerable majority! ! So much for the boasted 19th century. — ^»»>f ^ ^ g>4 ^ M ^., To guard against unmerited censure, it may be proper to state the object I had in view in the production of this pamphlet. I am not the assailant. I merely repel gross and outrageous assault. My object has been to prove that all, or nearly all, the denominations of Christians, have egregiously erred in their career, under the in- fluence of heat, passion, enthusiasm, inordinate and mistaken zeal, or arrogant reliance on their own opinions; that, of course, no one has a chartered privilege to assail or abuse another; that they ought to practice mutual forgiveness, and cultivate harmony with each other according to the sacred injunctions : — " Agree with thine adversary quickly." — Matt. 5. 25. " Have peace one with another." — Mark ix. 50. " If it be possible, as much as lieth in you Uve peaceably with all men." — Rom. xii. 18. " "Warrants to that purpose [destroying altars, &c.] were issued to the Earls of Arrane, Arguile, and Glancarne, the Lord James Stewart, &c; Whereupon follow- ed a pitiful devastation of churches and church buildings in all parts of the realm; no differenco made, but all religious edifices of what sort soever, were either terri- bly defaced, or utterly ruinated." — Heylin's history of the Presbyterians, p. 143. " Preachers frequently cried out, that the places where idols had been worshipped, ought by the law of God, to be destroyed — that the sparing of them was the re- serving of things execrable ; and that the commandment given to Israel for destroy- ing the places where the Canaanites did worship their false Gods, was a just war- rant to the people for doing the like. By which encouragements the n)adness of the people was transported beyond the bounds which they had at first prescribed unto it. In the beginning of the heats, they designed only the destruction of Re- ligious Houses, for fear the Monks and Friars might otherwise be restored in time to their former dwellings. Eut they proceeded to the demolishing of Cathedral Churches, and ended in the ruin of parochial also ; the chancels whereof were sure to be levelled in all places, though the isles and bodies of them might be spared in some." — Ibid. ^ 27 I now leave the case to the impartial judgment of an enlightened community, to decide between their Roman Catholic fellow- citizens, AND THE Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government, in the The- ological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey. We desire that they should judge us, as honour and justice demand, and as all other denominations are judged, not by the odious, partial, unjust, and en- venomed calumnies of our deadly and inveterate enemies; but by the principles taught in our pulpits, our catechisms, and our profes- sions of faith, — and by the uniform tenor of our lives, in all the so- cial relations, whether as citizens, as fathers, as husbands, as bro- thers, or as sons — in all of which important relations, we challenge comparison with the most self-justified, ultra-zealots among our viru- lent persecutors, who, in the plenitude of their sanctimonious pu- rity and holiness, pharisaically desire us "to stand off," as unfit " to touch the hem of their garments" — and presumptuously denounce us as on a par with " highwaymen and assassins," and as " enemies to God and Man."" " They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent —adders^ poison is wider their lips." — Psalms cxl. 3. A CATHOLIC LAYMAN, Philadelphia, Oct. 1, 1834. APPENDIX. In the year 1788, a committee of the English Catholics waited on Mr. Pitt, respecting their application for a repeal of the Penal Laws. He re- quested to be furnished with authentic evidence of the opinions of the Ro- man Catholic clergy and the Roman Catholic universities abroad, "on the existence and extent of the Pope's dispensing power." Three questions were accordingly framed, and sent to the Universities of Paris, Louvain, Alcala, Doway, Salamanca, and Valadolid, for their opinions. The questions proposed to them were : " 1. Has the Pope or Cardinals, or any body of men, or any individual of the Church of Rome, any civil authority, power, juris- diction, or pre-eminence whatsoever, within the realm of England] 2. Can the Pope or Cardinals, or any body of men, or any individual of the Church of Rome, absolve or dispense with His Majesty's subjects from their oaths of allegiance, upon any pretext whatsoever ? 3. If there is any principle in the tenets of the Catholic Faith, by which Catholics are justified in not keep- ing faith with heretics, or ether persons differing from them in religious opinions, in any transaction, either of a public or private nature!" The Universities answered unanimously: "1. That the Pope or Cardi- nals or any body of men, or any individual of the Church of Rome, has not any civil authority, power, jurisdiction, or pre-eminence whatsoever, within the realm of England. 2. That the Pope or Cardinals, or any body of men, or any individual of the Church of Rome, cannot absolve or dispense His Majesty's subjects from their oath of allegiance, upon any pretext whatso- ever. 3. That there is no principle in the tenets of the Catholic Faith, by which Catholics are justified in not keeping faith with heretics, or other per- sons differing from them in religious opinions, in any transactions either of a public or a private nature." As soon as the opinions of the foreign Univer- sities were received, they were transmitted to Mr. Pitt. 28 A few years since an exposition of the doctrine of the Roman Catholics, on all the points on which they were accused, was drawn up by the Bishops, the vicars apostolical, and their coadjutors in Great Britain. It extended to eleven articles, of which I annex the two most important, not having space for more. It was signed by the Roman Catholic nobility, and a large por- tion of the gentry, some of whose names are subjoined. " On keeping faith with Heretics. " Catholics are charged with holding the principle, that they are not bound to keep faith with Heretics. "As Catholics, we hold and we declare, that all Catholics are bound by the law of nature, and the law of revealed religion, to observe the duties of fidelity aud justice to all men, without any exception of persons, and with- out any distinction of nation or religion. " British Catholics have solemnly sworn, that " they reject and detest the unchristian and impious principle, that faith is not to be kept with heretics or infidels." " On the obligation qf an Oath, " Catholics are charged v/ith holding that they are not bound by any oath, and that the Pope can dispense them from all the oaths they may have taken. " We cannot sufficiently express our astonishment at such a charge. We hold that the obligation of an oath is most sacred : for by an oath man calls the Almighty searcher of hearts to witness the sincerity of his conviction of the truth of what he asserts ; and his fidelity in performing the engagement he makes. Hence, whosoever swears falsely, or violates the lawful engage- ment he has confirmed by an oath, not only offends against truth, or justice, but against religion. He is guilty of the enormous crime of perjury. " No power in any Pope, or council, or in any individual or body of men, invested with authority in the Catholic church, can make it lawful for a Catholic to confirm any falsehood by an oath ; or dispense with an oath, by which a Catholic has confirmed his duty of allegiance to his sovereign, or any obligation of duty or justice to a third person. He who takes an oath is bound to observe it, in the obvious meaning of the words, or in the known meaning of the person to whom it is sworn. "The Pope can never grant any dispensation to the injury of any third person, and can never allow any one to do what is unjust, or to say what he knows to be false, whatever advantage might be expected from it.''^ Norfolk, E. M. Surrey. Shrewsbury. Kinnaird. Stourton. Petre. Stafford. Clifford. Charles Stourton. H. V. Jerninghara. Hugh Chas. Clifford. E. M, Vavasour. Charles Langdale. Philip Stourton. Edward Petre. Charles Clifford. Wm. Gerard, Bart. H. J. Tichborne, Bart. G. Throckmorton, Bart. Michael Jones. Wm. Witham. Justin Fitzgerald. John Stanton. Joseph Ireland. Charle Courtenay. Robert Throckmorton. John Gage. Joseph Francis Tempest. Thomas Stapleton, Jun. Charles Butler. Charles Eystou. Wui. Blouiit. Edward Doughty. Ra Iph Riddell. Edw. W. Riddell. Thomas Riddell. Charles Conolly. Henry Robinson. Jun. Edward Blount, Bart. Henry Webl), Bart. Richard Bedingfeld, Bart. Edward Smythe, Bart. Clifford Constable, Bart. Francis Cholmeley. Henry Howard, of Corby. Philip HenryHoward. Charles Tempest. John Rosson. Michael Joseph Q,nin. George Meynell. W. K. Amherst. Charles Turvile. Jobn Wright. Charles Stonor, Lieut. Col. Wm. Constable Maxwell. Wiii. Plovydeii. George Silvertop. Heniy Englefield. Marlow Sidney. Peregrine E. Towneley. John Jones. William Jones. Richard Huddleston. Thomas Stapleton. Charles Gregory Fairfax. Robert Berkeley, Jun. John Clavering, of Callaly. Thomas Molyneux Seel. Thomas Fitzherbert. Robert Selby. Henry Arundell. Edward Blount. Date Due 'K ■-■ ■ • j-jf. f) BW2447 .P4A2 Address to the public on religious Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library