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 1767 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.' 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
THE CLAIMS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 AND 
 
 TESTED BY SCltlPTURE. 
 
 / 
 
 BY REV. STEPHEN £PCCKYNSKX* 
 
 Late Friost of the Eoxnan Catholic Church of Patersos, 
 
 £»ATE!?SO!V T , tf. J. 
 t. WARREN, PRiNTKit, VAN HOtJTEN-StREET. 
 
 1858* 
 
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ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The following brief ami unpretending treatise ia the work of aPd-* 
 rtsh gentleman, who for ten months has ministered as Priest to the' 
 Roman Catholio congregation of this city. He has been but little: 
 more than a year in this country. Bat soon after his arrival, he felt - 
 the influence of our free institutions ; and though sympathising with - 
 that portion of his people who were disposed to maintain the rights 
 of the churches against the usurpations of the Hierarchy, he became 
 deservedly the favorite of those who had been committed to hi3 care. 
 It ie known that the priesthood in Poland have but little regard rbr 
 the claim of the Pope to be Universal Bishop, and that to an extent 
 which is unknown amongst those in other lands, they assert the 
 rights of conscience. Mr. Spochynski, oncoming to America, w^s 
 not disposed to surrender this prerogative ; and on one occasion ven- 
 tured to attend a lecture delivered in the Cross-street Church of;; 
 this city, by the Rev. Mr. Welsh, an Evangelist of the Ameri- 
 can and Foreign Christian Union. On his return, he narrated to 
 his brethren, the Priests, the substance of the lecture, with which 
 he was much pleased. They hereupon remonstrated ; and upon 
 his persisting to maintain his right to hear and to think for him- 
 Reif, they proceeded to enter a complaint to Archbishop Hughes. 
 Mr. S. was, thereupon, invited to the Arch-episcopal Palace ; and 
 other means were resorted to in order to recover him from his error ; 
 but in vain. He maintained not only his right to think for himself, 
 but also thattheerr.org of the Papal church demanded of him as an. i 
 honest man the step which he had taken. Such language of eour^ 
 ©ould not be tolerated in the Romish communion, and consequently 
 he was ex-communicated. Previous to this, however, a large num- 
 ber of his people petitioned the Archbishop on his behalf; but their 
 warm attachment to Mr. S. seemed only to render a prompt sentence 
 of ex-oomrannication the more necessary. It was consequently, we 
 are informed, carried into effect. Mr. S. had of course expected all 
 this, and was fully prepared for it. Since his arrival in thia cotmtry 
 
he had been studying ortr language with great earnestness and asski- 
 tiity ; and in consequence of the misrepresentations of the priest- 
 hood concerning hiin, he addressed through the Paterson IntelU- 
 gencer several letters to his late flock. The first two of these are 
 subjoined in an appendix. They produced a great effect upon the 
 f>eop!e, who had been accustomed to regard him as their Intercessor 
 with God ; and being urged by thehi to prepare a summary of his 
 views on the leading points of difference between Popery and Prot- 
 estantism, he has prepared the work which is now presented to the 
 public. The foreign idiom may occasionally be detected in his lan- 
 guage, but we have thought best to suffer it to remain uncorrected^ 
 except ih cases where the sense was thereby rendered obscure. Of 
 the argument we need not speak — it will speak for itself. It is entire- 
 ly his own, and we do not apprehend that it will be very eoon an- 
 Bwercd. The priesthood, We presume,' will treat the book as they 
 have treated its author ; but the people will read it ; and we earn- 
 estly commend it to the careful perusal of our Roman Catholic breth* 
 ten throughout the land. 
 
 Circumstances which need not be here detailed having brought 
 Mr. Spoehynski into intimate connexion with ourselves, we take 
 great pleasure in thus introducing himself and his little work to the 
 public. ROBERT W. LANDIS, 
 
 Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church. 
 M. E. ELLISON, 
 Pastor of Cross-st. Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 
 PatebsoNj New Jersey, Nov* 80, 1858 6 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Infallibility Destroyed, and the Church of Rome 
 Overturned* 
 
 1. We believe there is a God possessed of all possi- 
 ble perfections ; who never makes that to be false which 
 is in itself true, or that to be true which is in itself false. 
 To deny this, would be blasphemy. 
 
 2. That he requires of his rational creatures nothing 
 that is impossible, but things rational and possible. To 
 deny this, would be to say, he is cruel and unjust, and 
 would be blasphemy. 
 
 3. Of those whom he has favored with a divine reve- 
 lation of his will, such as Jews and Christians, he re- 
 quires that they should be diligent to know it, according 
 to their several abilities. Thus acting, they are saved. 
 But to neglect this to please any man, or indulge their 
 own corrupt hearts, is at their own peril and self-con- 
 demnation. The gospel directs the heavy-laden and 
 self-despairing sinner to Christ, and directs us to look up 
 to the Father of mercies for the aid of the Holy Spirit, 
 to enable us to believe in Him with all our heart, which, 
 when done, the repenting sinner is instantly justified by 
 faith ; the curse, guilt and grief pass away ; and the 
 peace of God succeeds, and sweetly overflows and com- 
 forts the soul ! And the love of God being shed abroad 
 in his heart by the Holy Ghost, his joy is then unspeak- 
 able ! Such are born again, and their misery is turned 
 into felicity, which will never forsake them so long as 
 they walk obediently, even till they arrive in heaven. 
 
 4. Of all those to whom he has not vouchsafed an im . 
 mediate revelation of his will, he only requires diligent 
 attention to the abilities they have— to reason and con- 
 
^science, and the best light they can attain according to 
 their circumstances. Thus, they are in their degree 
 safe. To deny this, or any of these propositions, would 
 be to blaspheme, because it would be saying : God 
 requires impossibilities. 
 
 Thus every truly sincere follower of Christ, every 
 conscientious Christian, however he may happen to dif- 
 fer from another, must be saved. Thus, the nations of 
 the world also, it is evident, are through -mercy not ex- 
 cluded ; nay, are accepted. Acts 10. v. 35, " But in 
 every nation, he that feareth Him, and works righteous- 
 ness, is acceptable to him." Thus none in the world 
 can be lost or damned, but he who through wilful ne- 
 glect or wilful sin damns himself. 
 
 But the Church of Rome, choosing unhappily quite 
 another way than the gospel, fixes upon a strange guide 
 indeed, even infallibility, which she claims exclusively ; 
 and by which, with her other peculiar doctrines, such as 
 transubstantiation, &c. &c, she, through the weakness 
 of deluded Princes, by the Inquisition, that engine of 
 mischief to man, and by many other evil arts, has from 
 age to age filled the world with massacres, miseries, de- 
 struction and wo ! Oh ! what a fearful gospel is this 
 infallibility ! 
 
 Now, it is very manifest to the eye of sober reason, 
 that these her peculiar doctrines, the result of great tal- 
 ents, and of much labor and perseverance, were all fram- 
 ed to exalt and enrich the clergy, and bring the people, 
 from the prince to the peasant, all, into the most abject 
 submission to them. By infallibility, they persuaded them 
 ■" they alone had the true and safe church, out of which 
 all must be damned ; they alone had a right to interpret 
 Scripture and regulate the faith of all Christians." By 
 transubstantiation, they would show forth the power and 
 honor they had received from Christ, even to create 
 Christ himself on their altars, and in this, to be above 
 angels, and even the Virgin Mary; "for unto them 
 
' wtLS it not granted, but unto the hierarchy of the 
 Church," as says Gabriel Biel, in his 4th lesson on the 
 Canon of the Mass. And by the public worship given 
 to their host or wafer, even the same that is given to 
 God ! They confirmed this idea of their very wonder- 
 ful power. By penances, auricular confession, and 
 absolution, they came at the peopled secrets, even of 
 the most indelicate nature, with their circumstances, 
 which, by the decree of the Council of Trent, they were 
 obliged to confess ; and then they must submit to the 
 penances laid on them at the will of the clergy, else 
 they could have no absolution, and consequently no sal- 
 vation. By purgatory, indulgences and masses for the 
 dead, they would show their power with God m the 
 other world as well as in this, and thus make a 
 gain of the people in the other world also. By 
 holydays, which they themselves made, in flat opposi- 
 tion to God, who said, u six days shall thou labor and 
 do all thy work;" by forbiding the marriage of rela- 
 tives not forbidden in Scripture, and many other such 
 things, they raised themselves thus above the Scrip- 
 tures, and taught the people to come to them most sub- 
 missively, to ask leave'to do whatGod has never forbidden. 
 Yes, to be permitted to work on the holyday, or to eat 
 flesh in Lent, or be married to some relative, for which 
 they must by all means pay, and smartly too ? Never 
 was any people more injured. 
 
 St. Ptier was Chief Pastor — Supreme Head, and 
 should be obeyed. 
 
 For Jesus says : " Simon, I have prayed for thee, that 
 thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strength- 
 en thy brethren," lest any of them fall, shamefully fall, 
 like thee. Peter then being warned of his danger by 
 his Lord, should have prayed to him for divine aid, that 
 his faith might not fail. For when divine promises are 
 given to men, unless we inquire of the Lord to fulfil 
 them, they shall profit us nothing, (Ezek, 36, v. 87,') 
 
a 
 
 but rather increase our condemnation ! And when he 
 was restoring him to his forfeited office, he, in contrast 
 to the three times in which he had denied and dishonor- 
 ed hi ni, asks him three times, " Simon, lovest thou me ?*• 
 Peter, feeling this sharp though tender reproof, answer- 
 ed with grief, " Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love 
 thee." Then Christ says, Feed my sheep and my 
 lambs, i, e. my old and new followers, and no more by 
 such conduct dishearten or destroy them, but feed and 
 encourage them by thy example, doctrine, and even by 
 suffering death for my name. The keys (or commis- 
 sion) given to preach the gospel, and regulate Christ's 
 kingdom or Church according thereto, were given to all 
 the Apostles equally, (John 20, v. 21, 23.) As the 
 Father has sent me, I also send you, &c. Where then 
 in ail this is there any ground for supremacy ? The 
 Apostles saw none. 
 
 Christ would not allow of any headship among them, 
 but taught them that they were all equal. Be ye not cal- 
 led Rabbi, (master,) for one is your Master, even Christ, 
 and all ye are brethren. Thus, if St. Peter himself had 
 no infallibility nor supremacy, as is fully proved that 
 he had not, then, for the Pope to lay claim to it, is most 
 ridiculous, and is such an imposition as none but the 
 silliest dupe will countenance. St. Gregory the Great x 
 a Pope of Rome, (about the year 594,) in his letter to 
 John, Bishop of Constantinople, who first sought the 
 supremacy, and to be called Universal Bishop, says, it 
 is anti-Christian, blasphemous and diabolical for any 
 hishop to assume the title of Supreme Head, and heresy 
 and losing of the Faith. Thence it is pretty evident 
 that St. Peter had nothing to do with it. Yet in a few 
 years, (in 606,) his own successor, Boniface III, by the 
 aid of the Emperor Phocas, (being incensed against 
 Ciriacus, Bishop of Constantinople, who had assum- 
 ed the title Sovereign Pontificate, granted to the Ro- 
 man Bishop.) took this very title, which Gregory called 
 
9 
 
 execrable. Thus has a Pope of Rome, with great point 
 find accuracy, more than twelve hundred years ago* 
 marked the distinct character of the man of sin, the son 
 of perdition, as being a Christian Bishop with an army 
 of priests, taking to himself in his pride the title Uni- 
 versal or Sovereign Pontiff. Who can cjoqbt, therefore , 
 that he is the AntuChrist ? 
 
 CHAPTER II, 
 
 5»eter Is not the Rock, 
 
 Jesus asked his disciples : " Whom do men say that 
 the son of man is ?" But they said : " Some John the 
 Baptist, and other some Elias," &c. Jesus saith to 
 them, "But whom say ye that I am?" (Matt. 16, v* 
 15. And Simon Peter answered and said, " Thou art 
 the Christ, the son of the living God," (v. 16.) And 
 Jesus said unto him, " Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, 
 for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but 
 my Father, which is in Heaven, (v. 17.) And I say 
 &lso unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock 
 I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys 
 of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt 
 hind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever 
 thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 
 Its meaning is as follows: '* Blessed art thou, Simon, 
 for while mistaken men judge me to be only a prophet, 
 my Father has showed thee, that I am the Christ. 
 This is the only foundation, which has been from the 
 beginning of the world, and was thai of the prophets. 
 Eph. 2, vs. 20, "Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
 corner-stone ;" and Peter 2, v. 4, 6, " Unto whom 
 coming, as to a living stone;" v. 6, "behold I lay in. 
 
10 
 
 : Sion a chief corner-stone, and he that shall believe hi 
 him, shall not be confounded." " And on this very 
 foundation or rock, which thou hast now confessed, 
 
 '"" Thou art Christ, the son of the living God," will I 
 
 "build' my church, in which thou also, Peter, shall be 
 a principal builder and lively stone, as shall thy fel- 
 low apostles, and to thee with them. (John 20, v. Si, 
 " as the Father has sent me, I also send you." I give 
 the keys of true doctrine and discipline. Luke 11, v. 
 52. " Wo ! to you, lawyers, for you have taken away 
 the key of knowledge : you yourselves have not entered 
 in, and those that were entering in you have hindered,) 
 "and against this my church of holy,-persevenng, obedi- 
 ent believers in every age, shall the gates of hell never 
 
 ^prevail. ?: 
 
 Then we see: 1st. The rock to be Christ. 2d. His 
 church, true believers. 3d. Their security, his prom- 
 ise. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against them." 
 This-proof of Scripture is first from St. Peter himself. 
 1 Peter, 2 v. 6, 8. Behold*! lay in Sion a chief corner- 
 stone, (or rock, v. 8,) elect, precious : and he that be- 
 lieves on Him shall not be confounded." Here, as 
 above, we have : 1. The foundation, the rock, Christ. 
 2. His church, believers on Him, 3. The promise 
 they shall not be confounded.; or, "the gates of hell 
 shall not prevail against them." 
 
 2d. John 10, v. 27, 28. "My sheep hear my voice, 
 and I know them, and they follow me ; and I give un- 
 to them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, nei- 
 ther shall any pluck them out of my hands." Here 
 again, the foundation is Christ, and his voice or gospel. 
 2. His church ; they who hear and follow him. 3. 
 They shall never perish ; or " the gates of hell, -&c." 
 3d. Mat. 7, v. 24, 25. Therefore, whosoever hears 
 these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him 
 unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock ; 
 *and^the rain descended, and the floods came, and trfe 
 
11 
 
 winds blew, and beat upon a rock." Here we see, 
 1. Christ and his doctrine is the rock. 2. The church, 
 all obedient believers cleaving to him alone, like the 
 man's house built upon the bare rock. 3. The storms 
 and floods, i. e. " the gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against them ;" here is no mention of St. Peter, or of 
 any secondary rock. And St. Peter himself supports 
 it. 1 Peter 2, v. 6,8, "Behold, May inSion a chief 
 corner-stone" &c, and St. Paul says to the Cor. ch. 3, 
 v. 11, " For other foundation no man can lay, but that 
 which is laid : which is Christ Jesus. Thus, we must 
 be in agreement with St. Peter and Paul, and with 
 Christ our Lord, and the whole Scriptures, and say that 
 St. Peter was not the rock or foundation of the church, 
 but Jesus Christ. Therefore, to say that the Bishop 
 of Rome or any other, is t4ie foundation or rock and 
 head of Christ's church, is heresy and a losing of the 
 Faith. 
 
 Now, let us consider these arguments against the in- 
 fallibility of the church of Rome and the supremacy of 
 her Popes, and ask ourselves, is there a particle of truth 
 in these claims, so distracting to the world, and so destruc- 
 tive as they are to the souls and bodies of men ? And 
 as it most clearly is not of God, it must follow that ii is 
 of satanic origin, and of the very "spirit of proud anti- 
 christ," as says Gregory the Great. It is anti- christian? 
 blasphemous and diabolical. And thus the church of 
 Rome is overturned, and her claim to infallibility built 
 on a falsehood. 
 
12 
 CHAPTER III, 
 
 Purgatory a Figment. 
 
 No well informed Pope or Priest ever did or ever can 
 kelieve in Purgatory. 
 
 That there is no Purgatory, but that it is a mere in* 
 yention of the Romish church, to enrich the clergy and 
 to frighten the ignorant, and keep the people in subject 
 tion, appears evidently from the following reasons : 
 
 The thing is encumbered with so many and such in- 
 extricable difficulties and absurdities, that it must be 
 dismissed as contrary to all common sense. Although 
 the council of Trent, in the " Forma Fidei," and in the 
 "Decreium de Purgatorio," obliges her clergy to swear, 
 constantly to hold, and most diligently to teach, that there 
 is a purgatory, fyc," yet in the face of all this, many of 
 her most learned and eminent divines, have had the 
 candour and courage to leave it on record for posterity, 
 that no such thing can at all be proved. 
 
 Bishop Fisher says, in Confut. Luth. art. 18, "many 
 gre tempted novv-a-days not to rely much on indulgent 
 ces, for this consideration, that the use of them appears 
 to be new and very lately known among Christians. To 
 which I answer, it is not very certain who was the first 
 author of them ; the doctrine of purgatory was a long 
 time unknown, was rarehfif at all heard of among the 
 ancients, and to this day the Greeks believe it not, nor 
 was the belief of either purgatory or indulgences so 
 necessary in the primitive church as it now is ; so long 
 as men were unconcerned about purgatory, nobody in- 
 quired after indulgences." Thus we see, the bishop 
 confesses, " purgatory and indulgences were neither 
 known nor necessary in the primitive or pure church." 
 A notable confession this from a papal doctor/ " In- 
 dulgences are now, though not of old, necessary. " Ne- 
 cessary for what ? why, for enriching the clergy, to be 
 gure, that, these being sold, and masses said, money 
 
13 
 
 might thus be raised ; and so indulgences, and a pvt* 
 galory out of which tormented souls might be thus 
 released, are then luckily, or rather wickedly thought 
 on, as a fit expedient for this end ! But of indulgen- 
 ces more hereafter. 
 
 Otto Frising, an old historian ahd a Roman Catholic 
 Bishop, tells us, "the doctrine of purgatory was built 
 upon the credit of those fabulous dialogues attributed 
 to Gregory I, about the year 600. " And for the pray- 
 ers made to deliver souls from thence, we are told by 
 Roman authors, " that the first who caused them to 
 be appointed by the church of Rome, was Odillo, Ab- 
 bot of Clugny, in the year iOQQ." (Ranul, Higden> 
 Polychron, I. 6. c. 15, PetrusDamian, Vit.) 
 
 The ancient fathers knew nothing of purgatory. St 
 Augustine, it is true, once had some debates in Lis 
 mind about it, when he wrote his Questions, de octo dnh 
 citiis. But on maturer examination he says, "we read 
 of heaven and of hell, hut the third place we are utterly 
 ignorant of; yea, we fad it not in the Scriptures/ 1 "No? 
 will any thing help thee, but what is done while thou 
 art here. As the last day of man's life finds him, so 
 the last day of the world shall hold him." Gregory 
 Naz. says, in Encomio Csesaris, "That the souls of gcod 
 people, when they are freed from the body, do forth* 
 with enjoy an incredible pleasure, and joyfully fly unto 
 the Lord.' 5 St. Patrick writes, "Triasunt 1 alitacula 
 sub omnipotentis Dei nutu." 4< Three abodes there are 
 under the government of Almighty God ; the first is 
 heaven, second hell, third tin's world. In hell none are 
 good, in heaven none bad. The servants of God go to 
 God, and the servants of the devil to the devil." 
 
 And yet the priests now persuade the people that their 
 tnasses and prayers will avail in the other world ! And 
 is this, indeed, your judgment, O ye ancient godly men* 
 that there was not in your days any purgatory ? But 
 Were you now in the world ye might learn another lest 
 
H. 
 
 son ; ye might see thousands of masses, dec, &o., go- 
 ing forward, pretending to release poor souls out of it 7. 
 It is now that men are wise ! 
 
 " Ternpora mutantnr fit nos matamur in illia." 
 " God'a holy truth was loved and taught of old,-. 
 But times are changed — now He* are taught for gold." ' 
 
 The Holy Scriptures afford no room for purgatorv. 
 Christ our Lord says : " There are twelve hours in the 
 day, when men ought to work ; work while ye have 
 the day, for the night cometh when no man can work :" 
 when the night of death cometh, the die is cast forever ; 
 the destiny is fixed, never more to be revoked. St. Paul 
 tells us, "If our earthly Tabernacle were dissolved, 
 we have a house eternal in the heavens. " And again, 
 " when we are absent from the body, we are present 
 with the Lord." So, not in purgatory, unless it will be 
 affirmed, . the Lord is in purgatory. Now, God has* 
 promised, "full forgiveness to returning sinners, and 
 that their sins shall never be mentioned," Ezek. 18. 
 But did he afterwads punish them in purgatory, it 
 would be to deceive them. Therefore it must follow : 
 1. Either that God is not good, or these purgatory 
 preachers* to serve their own ends, have miserably 
 blasphemed him., 2. That Christ's satisfaction is not 
 complete, or these teachers are false : for that only is 
 perfect to which nothing needs be added. 3. That re- 
 mission of all sins is not altogether a free gift, as we, 
 in part at least, satisfy for them ourselves. 4. That 
 Christ is not our only Redeemer from all sins ; for by 
 penances, mortifications, indulgences, masses, or in,, 
 purgatory, we atone for some ourselves. 5. That jf f : 
 by some doings or sufferings of our own or of others, . 
 any sin can in any part be satisfied for, then an increase 
 of these must satisfy for more, and at length all might 
 he thus satisfied for. If so, the death of Christ was con- 
 sequently needless, as St. Paul argues, to the Galatians, . 
 ch. 4, " Christ has freed us from the servitude of tlit 
 la*o, u and in the verse 31, "So then, brethren, vm ar$\ 
 
15, 
 
 not- the children of the bond-woman, but of the fret : b$. ; 
 the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free. 19 Thus . 
 to assert any of these things is evidently blasphemous. 
 Therefore, to teach the doctrine of human merit, or of. 
 a purgatory in which we can atone for any sin, is in 
 effect to teach blasphemy t 
 
 Thus is it manifest, from reason, scripture, ancient 
 fathers, and from many eminent Papal writers, &c, 
 that there is no ground whatever for believing in the 
 existenoe of a purgatory. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Iildaigences. 
 
 The council of Trent teachers, " that after God has 
 justified the penitent sinner by his grace, and remitted 
 the guilt of eternal punishment, yet his sin is not so , 
 wholly blotted out but that there still remains the guilt 
 of temporal punishment due to Divine justice, which 
 d^bt the pardoned. sinner must discharge, either in this 
 life by penance, &c, or hereafter in purgatory, before 
 he can enter the " kingdom of heaven." And " the 
 Council farther teaches, that Christ has given to his 
 church the power of granting indulgences, which ex* 
 tend to this very debt or satisfaction, and by which she 
 can remit it wholly or in part in certain circumstances* 
 And that the use of them — of these celestial treasures, 
 is very salutary to the faithful, and must be retained in 
 the church." 
 
 This pretended guilt of temporal punishment, of which 
 the gospel teaches nothing, is the ingenious, impious, 
 and sole foundation of purgatory, indulgences, jubilees,., 
 prayers and masses for the dead, and of all the Babel 
 building of the church of Rome. Here are her celes- 
 
u 
 
 tiat treasures ! Thus she can contrive to plunder ths 
 foolish, by remitting part or the whole of this prepos- 
 terous and fraudulent debt, a debt founded wholly in 
 falsehood. When the publican, the adulteress that 
 great sinner, the thief on the cross, the prodigal, the 
 \ery murderers of Christ, Were forgiven, it was fully; no 
 debt of temporal guilt remained to them, nor was any 
 priestly penance imposed. But the Priests teach the 
 people, that the soul must suffer in proportion to its 
 debts. Suffer where ? Why in purgatory. " For 
 souls in purgatory, departed in Christ, but not fully 
 purged, the sacrifice of the altar is to be offered, to re- 
 lieve and release them." But the indulgence remits 
 the debt at once, as above. Then masses and indulgen- 
 ces alternately destroy each other: for if masses release 
 souls, what need is there of indulgences ? and if an in- 
 dulgence will do, what need of masses ? A^ain, ii 
 Christ be in the mass, as the Priests say, " in the mass 
 is soul, body, and divinity, 5 ' and that many masses are 
 offered to release a soul out of purgatory, yet, when 
 11 the pope's indulgence does it at once," then it will 
 conclusively follow that an indulgence is above all 
 these masses, and therefore superior to Christ, and the 
 Pope, who is sole author of the indulgence, must there- 
 fore be very far above Christ, and of course be the an- 
 ti-christ, the man of sin. But the indulgence may be 
 had for a few shillings, hence must it also follow that 
 these few shillings for which it can be had are better 
 than the mass sacrifice, i. e. than Christ, soul, body, 
 and divinity ! Solve this who can. So Christ, by this 
 papal doctrine, is made to be of less value than a few- 
 shillings ! Even Judas and the high priests did not 
 rate him at so low a price. See now what the pope's 
 doctrine leads to,— even td blasphemy and immediate 
 infidelity ! 
 
 If the pope's indulgences can thus release souls from 
 purgatory, why does he not at once release them all ? 
 
17 
 
 Our Lord asks the Pharisees, " if an ox, an ass, or 
 a sheep fall into a pit, which of you will not lift 
 it out ? And is not a man better than a sheep V* 
 But it seems the Pope is of another mind, and deems an 
 ass better than a man ; for he has less pity for men, 
 whom he leaves burning in purgatory, than they for an 
 ass or sheep, which they would not leave in the pit one 
 day. Now, to keep men in torment — to detain them 
 there till the money is paid for them, is it not to act 
 like Satan ? And why does not the Pope keep him. 
 self out of it ? for, the many masses offered for him af- 
 ter his death, which are never intended for those in 
 heaven or in hell, proclaim that he is himself gone to 
 the flames of purgatory ! And if he was grand treas- 
 urer of the church, how is it, that he could not find as 
 much spiritual treasure in it, even one indulgence, as 
 would keep himself from torment ? So, it is evident 
 that he knew his indulgences were mere deceptions ! 
 
 Nor was money alone in abundance thus obtained by 
 these indulgences, but also by them soldiers were pro. 
 cured to fight for the Popes. Gregory VIT., by his leg- 
 ate, grants to those who would fight against the Empe- 
 ror Henry IV., the full remission of all their sins. 
 Pope Victor III., granted the same to those who would 
 fight against the Saracens. And Alexander III., in the 
 twelfth century, grants the same, and " an eternal re- 
 ward to all who would fight against the Albigenses," 
 because they would rather obey Christ and his Gospel 
 than the Pope. Thus did Pope Calixtus II., anno 1122 ; 
 Eugenius in 1145 ) Clement III., in 1195, &c. 
 
 That indulgences and purgatory are but mere frauds, 
 is gathered even from papal doctors. Cardinal Cajetan 
 writes thus in 2d chapter of Indulgences : " If we 
 could have any certainty concerning the origin of m* 
 dulgences, it would help us much in the disquisition of 
 the truth of purgatory ; but we have not by writing any 
 authority either of the Holy Scriptures, or ancient doc r 
 
18 
 
 tors, Greek or Latin, whieh afford us the least knowl- 
 edge thereof." And Alphonsus de Castro writes : 
 "Many things are known to us, of which the ancients 
 were altogether ignorant, as purgatory, indulgences, ^*c." 
 The voice of inspiration is : "If we, or an angel from 
 heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that we 
 have preached, let him be accursed." " If any man shall 
 add to the words of this book, God shall add unto him 
 the plagues that are written in this book. And if any 
 shall take away from the words of the book of this 
 prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book 
 of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things 
 which are written in this book." Gal. 1, v. 8, Rev. 22, 
 18, 19. 
 
 We have just seen, by the confession of several 
 learned papal cardinals and doctors, that indulgences 
 were neither taught nor practised by Christ or his 
 apostles, nor in the primitive church, but are of modern 
 invention ! These, then, being held up as u replete 
 with grace and salvation," are therefore a new gospel, 
 a gospel which the apostles or ancients knew not. 
 Hence, instead of being the vehicles of all these bless- 
 ings, must they not, if the apostles spake truly, be the 
 very contrary, — be curses to all concerned in them ? 
 And is it not most strange that now, in the nineteenth 
 century, the same darkness should continue which pre- 
 vailed in the dark ages, and that men of sense and 
 learning should not be terrified at such divine denun- 
 ciations hanging over their heads, and cease from these 
 lamentable deceptions ! 
 
 If a doctrine be promulgated as from God, to the 
 children of men, and as replete with all these inestima- 
 ble blessings, graces, and certain salvation, and if yet 
 it be found that this doctrine or these directions so laid, 
 down did not in any wise proceed from God, must it 
 not then clearly follow, let the temporial gain made 
 thereby be ever so great, that the whole is from the 
 
19 
 
 grand enemy of God and man, the father of lies. It is 
 as well blasphemy against Christ as it is an imposture 
 on men to their utter ruin ? and those who are occupied 
 in promulgating such doctrines and practices, cannot 
 in this be the " ministers of Christ , nor be animated by 
 his spirit" but are the direct opposite ? This is grant- 
 ed by papal doctors themselves. "That Church" says 
 Dr. Manning : "That would teach any doctrine but that 
 taught by Christ and delivered by his apostles, icould not 
 be the chaste spouse of Christ, but an HARLOT, and 
 the school of SATAN." Short Method, p. 29, 59. 
 
 Hence it demonstrably follows, that this doctrine of 
 indulgences is from " the school of Satan" and that all 
 who propagate these impostures, are therefore by no 
 means the ministers of Christ. And therefore the pope 
 of Rome and his preachers should instantly repent, 
 make restitution, give back the people's money thus ob- 
 tained, and ask pardon of Christ for having taught such 
 delusive doctrines, and teach them no more. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Transubstantiation an Impossibility* 
 
 Our Lord and Redeemer, who cannot lie, said, " Ex- 
 cept ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his 
 blood, ye have no life in you." John 6, v. 53. And 
 at his last supper with his disciples : " Take, eat, this 
 is my body ;" surely all this must be no metaphor, but 
 reality. Hence, he must have converted the bread 
 really into his body, and the wine into his blood. And 
 Protestants themselves do confess, "they receive the 
 body and blood of Christ verily and indeed in the Lord's 
 supper." What, then, can be plainer that it is the 
 real body and blood of Christ which are meant ? 
 
20 
 
 Answer.-«-l k That the bread and wine did, in sdmB 
 tense, become his body, none of us deny ; but that it 
 became his natural body> as it involves aself-contradic* 
 tion, we all must deny, or give up Christianity as a 
 falsehood. When it is considered that the Scriptures, 
 as did also the ancient fathers, take the body of Christ 
 in five several senses, the difficulty at once ceases, name* 
 ly : 1. His natural body, born of his mother* 2. His 
 mystical body, or church* 3» His glorified and im- 
 passible body, 4. His sacramental or figurative body ; 
 and, 5. His celestial body. I say, this solves the diffi- 
 culty, and leads us to discover what that body was 
 which he gave to his disciples. 1. It could not have 
 been his natural body, for then it would follow that he 
 ate himself and drank himself, and that each of his dis- 
 ciples did so likewise, and yet that neither did so, for 
 he remained un-eaten ; and again, that his human body 
 was then made, and of course did never exist before ; 
 whereas it had existed for many years before : all 
 which involving many self-contradictions or falsehoods, 
 would subvert Christianity. 2. It was not his mystical 
 body, the church, (Eph> 1, v. 23,) for to eat his church 
 was impossible. 3. It was not his glorified body, for 
 this was also impossible, because his body then was not 
 spiritual and impossible, but had flesh and bones, which 
 our Lord and St. Paul affirm a spirit hath not, (Luke 
 24, v. 39.) 4. Nor was it that body that was eaten 
 only by the mind ; living bread which came down from 
 heaven, which is eaten by faith only ; and as it nour- 
 ishes the soul, could not consist of matter, as the fathers 
 say ; but, 5. It was his commemorative, sacramental^ 
 or figurative body, of which himself ate, and gave them. 
 This it must have been, since to suppose any of the 
 others would involve self-contradiction, and therefore 
 infidelity ! This solution is plain and easy ; and as it 
 involves no contradiction or opposition to reason and 
 Scripture, it must be true, and to this sense the best 
 
21 
 
 writers as well as all antiquity agree, as shall presently 
 appear. This they have done, or entangled themselves 
 in endless contradictions and become infidels ! 
 
 2. When our Lord called himself " a rock, a morn- 
 ing star, a door, a true vine, a shepherd," &c, though 
 he spake truly, yet it was not literally ; or when he 
 calls Herod a fox, John the Baptist Elias, the disciples 
 his mother, St. John her son, &c, it was not strictly so, 
 for he did not really convert the disciples into his moth- 
 er, nor his mother into St. John's mother, nor Herod in- 
 to a fox, &c. ; nor will it be said when he called the sa- 
 cramental cup the new testament, that he indeed convert- 
 ed it into a testament : if not, why is it insisted that he 
 converted the sacramental bread into his real natural 
 body ? seeing this sense, as it necessarily is subversive 
 of Christ's gospel and kingdom, is conclusively and 
 deeply anti-christian. 
 
 But as our Lord's blood was the seal of the new tes- 
 tament, and also of all the promises and benefits con- 
 tained in it, so was the wine a sign of his blood to be 
 shed ; and it was given as such to the disciples, and as 
 a seal of that covenant, afterwards confirmed by his 
 blood when it was really shed. But his own natural 
 blood was not then shed, unless it will be madly af- 
 firmed that it was shed before it was shed, or before he 
 had suffered. Hence his cup or wine being a sign 
 which represented the blood to be shed, got the name of 
 the thing it signified. Again, Christ gave his body to 
 his disciples as broken, but this being before hi6 death, 
 it was really whole and unbroken ; hence it was the 
 bread, not his natural body, which was broken, and giv- 
 en as a symbol of his body, which was to be broken. 
 So that it was broken bread which he really gave, and 
 not his natural body. But the bread was a sign of his 
 body, and therefore called his body, because it signi- 
 fied it. Hence these words must necessarily be taken 
 figuratively, and in the words ; "This cup is the new 
 
22 
 
 testament in my blood," there is a twofold figure. 1. 
 The cup is put for the wine contained therein. 2. That 
 which is contained in it is called the covenant, or testa- 
 ment, because it is the symbol or sign of it." Thus the 
 blood is called the new testament, as circumcision 
 is called the covenant, because it represents oris *.fig* 
 ure of that covenant. What can be more conclusive 
 than this 1 
 
 Dr. Aquinas, (on 1 Cor. 11. v. 24, 25,) saith : " by 
 that which is contained in this cup is made a commemo- 
 ration of the New Testament, which is confirmed by 
 Christ's blood." 
 
 Scotus, the subtile doctor, in Dist. 11. 9, 3, saith : 
 11 there is no place to be found in the Scripture that 
 may compel a man to believe the transubstantiation, had 
 not the church so determined it." 
 
 Cardinal Cajetan (in his notes on Aquinas) writes : 
 " The other point which the gospel has not expounded 
 expressly, that is, the conversion of bread into the body 
 of Christ, we have received from the church. That 
 conversion is not found explicitly in the gospel/' 
 
 Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, (Contr. Captiv. Babylon, 
 c. 10, n. 2,) openly declares, " that there is not one 
 word in the institution, from whence the true presence 
 of the flesh and blood of Christ, in our mass, can be 
 proved." 
 
 Vasquez, Ocham, Alphonsus de Castro, Erasmus, 
 Durand, Taperus, Gabriel Biel, Melchior Canus, Car- 
 dinal Contarenus, &c. &c, are of this judgment. 
 
 Our Lord says, John c. 6, v. 32, 33: "My father 
 gives you the true bread from heaven ; for the bread 
 of God is he which comes down from heaven, and gives 
 Life unto the world. 35. I am the bread of Life : he 
 that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that be- 
 lieves in me shall never thirst. 51. I am the living 
 bread which came down from heaven ; if any man eat 
 of this bread he shall live forever : and the bread that 
 
23 
 
 I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the Life 
 of the world. 52. The Jews, therefore, strove among 
 themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh 
 to eat ? 53. Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, 
 and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54. Who- 
 soever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, has 
 eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 
 55. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink 
 indeed. 56. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my 
 blood, dwelieth in me, and I in him. 62. What and if 
 ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up, where he was 
 before. 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh pro- 
 Jiteth nothing ; the words that I speak unto you, they 
 are Spirit, and they are Life," 
 
 From these words of our Lord we learn, that this 
 living bread (or meat, or eternal life, by a figure called 
 flesh and blood, because procured by his sacrifice on 
 the cross,) came down from heaven. But his natural 
 body was born on earth, and the sacrament was made 
 of earthly matter, therefore, ihvX living bread could not 
 be the sacrament ; and by \hdX flesh and blood or living 
 bread, was meant not the sacrament, but that grace 
 without which none can be saved. To come to Christ, 
 to believe on him, is to eat and drink him, or his flesh 
 and blood, and have our hunger and thirst appeased for- 
 ever ; but this is done by faith, by hearing, by the 
 mind, and not by the mouth of the body, as St. Austin 
 (Tract 25,) saith, " Quare paras denies et ventrem ? 
 crede, et manducaslis* Why dost thou prepare thy teeth 
 and thy belly ? believe, and thou hast eaten." There- 
 fore, it is not the material sacrament, thus received, 
 which is here meant, but it is that "inward and spiritu- 
 al grace which is a death unto sin, and a new birth unto 
 righteousness." " The flesh profiteth nothing to give 
 life, but it is the spirit that quickeneth : the words which 
 I have spoken to you are spirit and life" It is the Spir- 
 
24 
 
 it, given us because of the atoning sacrifiee, which 
 alone works in us faith to lay hold on the words 
 of promise, and imparteth unto us eternal life. If 
 Christ cannot dwell in us, except we receive or eat 
 him literally, it must follow, that to make us dwell in 
 him, he must also eat us literally. How absurd is this 
 doctrine! Hence it is plain, that in the sixth of John, 
 our Lord speaks not of eating the sacrament, but of a 
 spiritual manducation or eating only, that is of grace re- 
 ceived by faith. That this is so, is confessed by learned 
 Popes and others, and also by the ancient fathers* How 
 ignorant and foolish then are they who quote St. John 
 to prove the corporal presence in the eucharist. Now, 
 when the dogmas of the Papal church are found op- 
 posed, not only to the Protestant churches, but by con- 
 sequence to all antiquity, and to Christ and his apostles, 
 the conclusion is, that she must either abandon 
 this and all her strange doctrines, or sink like a mill- 
 stone in the flood. And also, the people must " come 
 out of her" quickly, and join themselves to Protestant 
 Churches, or make up their minds to sink with her eter- 
 nally. For the Lord has decreed it, " If the blind lead 
 the blind, they both shall fall into the ditch !" 
 
 As I am not conscious of any thing unkind or unfair 
 in what I have written, and as I only intended to de- 
 fend the holy and ancient religion of Christ, (but now 
 overturned and destroyed by the Roman Church,) and 
 also to do good to my fellow-men, if any man shall 
 give a. fair and kind answer to what I have written, and 
 show me TRUTIf—^show me that I am mistaken — J 
 hereby promise I shall be of his religion ; forjruth is 
 what I regard. 
 
 -a 
 
25 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Sacrifice of the Mass* 
 
 The Council of Trent says : " I profess that in the 
 mass there is offered to God a true, proper, and propi- 
 tiatory sacrifice for the living, and for the dead." 
 
 The utter impossibility of transubstantiation having 
 been demonstrated, this follows with it ; for, if there 
 was no proper change of bread into the human body of 
 Christ, there was no victim in that sacrament ; if not,, 
 that it ever was & propitiatory sacrifice was, and is, im- 
 possible ! 
 
 1. The apostles Peter and Paul tell us, that Christ 
 suffered once, and only once, upon the cross, for the sins 
 of mankind, Pet. 3, v. 18. Hence there could be no 
 real propitiation in the world, till that on the cross. 
 Should they then, or any other being, once prove there 
 was, it would contradict this Scripture record, and so 
 tear up the very foundations of Christianity ; because 
 the apostles would be found false witnesses, and if a 
 real sacrifice was made for sin before Christ's death, it 
 would render his death and merits needless ; and so the 
 foundations of our religion would be destroyed. But 
 the sacrament they call THE MASS, was before his 
 death ; hence, the mass sacrifice must be subversive of 
 Christianity, and therefore be most impious and anti- 
 christian. This one plain argument, even without more, 
 must with every impartial mind, overturn the sacrifice 
 of the mass, and pull down the whole edifice connected 
 with it. 
 
 2. If there was no real propitiatory sacrifice before 
 that on the cross, no sacrifice till then would be more 
 than typical; but the sacrament Christ gave, and which 
 Paptists call theirs* mass, was before his death, there- 
 fore that sacrament could be no more than figurative* 
 Hence, as no real propitiation was in that sacrament, 
 and as none can be better than the first, then it follows, 
 
26 
 
 that the sacrifice of the mass is an impossibility, and an 
 impiety, and to teach it is anti-christian. 
 
 3. " A real sacrifice cannot be without the death or 
 dissolution of the victim sacrificed." Sacrificium ver* 
 um el reale — Verum el realem occisionem exegit. Bel- 
 larmin de Missa, lib. 2, c. 27, But as Christ had not 
 died at the time of the first mass or sacrament, nor dies 
 in any mass, hence there can be no such sacrifice in any 
 mass. Therefore, any such sacrifice, being impossible, 
 is anti-christian. " But," says Dr. Challoner, " there 
 is in the mass a real destruction. " Of what ? Why, " of 
 the bread and wine, by consecration" What shameless 
 mockery, falsehood, and imposition are here ! Are 
 bread and wine a living victim, slain or destroyed in 
 this sacrament ? That any rational creature should 
 be duped by such palpable falsehoods is lamentable. 
 
 4. Did Christ offer himself once a real sacrifice in 
 his sacrament, or first mass, as they call it ? He did, 
 or he did not. If he did, when he offered himself af- 
 terwards on the cross, he must then have offered him- 
 self twice really ! or the mass sacrifice is false. But if 
 he did not offer himself in that first mass, why, then, 
 does the priest offer him in his mass ? He cannot an- 
 swer. Hence, such mass sacrifice is unwarranted, im- 
 pious, and anti-christian. 
 
 The apostle Paul says, Heb. 9, v. 22 : " Without 
 shedding of blood, or a bloody sacrifice, there is no ex- 
 piation, no remission of sins." The mass sacrifice is 
 unbloody, but applicatory only, hence not expiatory. 
 Again he affirms, v. 11, 12, 18 : "Every priest indeed 
 standeth daily ministering, and often offering the same 
 sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this 
 man Jesus offering one sacrifice for sins, for ever sitteth 
 on the right hand of God. Now where remission of sin 
 is, there is no more offering for sin." Hence, if the 
 apostle spake truly, there must be no more expiatory 
 offering forever. Either, then, the mass expiatory sac- 
 
27 
 
 rifice is unnecessary and must not be offered, or the 
 apostle spoke falsely. To offer it, therefore, is to de- 
 clare the apostle a liar, and the Scriptures also false, 
 and so to subvert Christianity. Hence, the mass sacri- 
 fice is plainly and unavoidably subversive of Christian- 
 ity, and is therefore necessarily a system of infidelity. 
 Besides this, the business of a real propitiatory sacri- 
 fice is not an application to men, but an oblation to God, 
 by the vicarious suffering and death of the victim to 
 atone for sin, that the guilt and punishment due to sin, 
 may be removed and cleansed away, as says Bellar- 
 mine. But the mass sacrifice can be neither expiatory 
 to God, for nothing is slain therein, nor applicatory to 
 men, for that is not the business of a proper expiatory 
 sacrifice. Hence, it is good for neither the one thing 
 nor the other. 
 
 But if there is a real proper sacrifice in the mass, 
 and the first mass was before Christ's death, then 
 Christ's blood was shed at the sacrament before it was 
 shed on the cross, and he was really dead in that 
 sacrament, while yet he was not dead, but was alive, 
 eating it with his apostles ! That is, he ate himself 
 and drank himself, and each of his apostles ate him 
 and then drank him ; and he offered himself in sacri- 
 fice, and so shed his blood and was dead, and then 
 walked out into the garden with his disciples, and sang 
 a hymn and prayed, and was apprehended, and con- 
 demned, and offered himself on the cross ; and there- 
 fore the sacrifice of the cross really took place at night, 
 before it took place the day after ! O, the fearful ab- 
 surdities of the mass ! O, ye " angelical divines," is this 
 your doctrine ? 
 
 To close — seeing it is plain : 1. As there never was 
 any propitiatory sacrifice for sin on the earth but ONE, 
 even Christ's death ONCE on the cross, and that the 
 sacrament he gave before it could not be propitiatory : 
 2. That he made no sacrificial oblation of himself at 
 
28 
 
 the time of that sacrament; consequently that the 
 mass sacrifice is impossible : and, 3. That no advocate, 
 however great his abilities, has been ever able to de- 
 fend it ; for, being itself an impossibility, to them it 
 was impossible, and therefore it has plunged them, 
 everyone, into the vortex of absurdity, nay, into the 
 ditch : should not every man, then, who cares for his 
 soul, as it must in the end ruin him, give it up at once? 
 
 When, at the day of my death, I look at Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, whom I am most certainly to meet ; at that 
 great white throne before which I and my fellow-men 
 must one day stand, to receive according to the deeds 
 done in the body ; at the books opened, and those deeds 
 brought forth to public view ; at the separation made 
 between the righteous and the wicked, and the awful 
 and irrevocable sentence that shall consign them to their 
 several destinies ; and at that fearful eternity that is to 
 follow : when I survey all these certainties, it is little 
 wonder, that all the powers of my soul should be alarmed 
 before that God who sees me every moment and marks 
 my every step. When I open my Bible, and see the 
 following and such like declarations authorized by my 
 great Judge, against false doctrines, idolatry, and wick, 
 edness : " Though we, or an angel from heaven, 
 preach any other gospel to you than that we have 
 preached unto you, let him be accursed. " Gal. 1, v. 
 8. " Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee, 
 and thou be found a liar. " Prov. 30, v. 6. "If any 
 man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto 
 him the plagues that are written in this book." Rev. 
 22, v. 18. "Thou shalt not suffer sin upon thy neigh- 
 bor : thou shalt in any wise reprove him." Lev. 19, v. 
 17. I say, when I behold all these warning truths now 
 proclaimed to me and my fellow mortals from that lofty 
 throne, where we shall most assuredly stand to receive 
 our final doom ; and when I consider that God knows 
 that we are acquainted with these and such like passa. 
 
2d 
 
 ges, and feel also that I am accountable for them, 
 what then is my duty ? Is it not to obey God, and let 
 the Romish Church condemn me ? Hence, my beloved 
 brethren, it is not from ill-nature, or to give pain to any 
 man, that I write, but it is that by fair and friendly ar- 
 gument, I may lead men out of error unto God, that 
 they may be saved ; and that my own soul perish not. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The "Worship of the Host Absurd and Idolatrous. 
 
 Since no christian can believe that God can lie, or 
 that Christ and his apostles were wrong, and as the dog* 
 ma, that Christ was corporeally in his sacrament, in- 
 volves instant self-contradiction, so no intelligent 
 pope, priest, or other person can believe that Christ was 
 ever contained in the eucharist. Because Christ could 
 not make his body to be in the sacrament and not in the 
 sacrament at the same moment. And it is most clear 
 from the gospel, that the term, body, was taken in sev- 
 eral senses, and that he did not say of the bread, this is 
 my human body, but left common sense todiscern which 
 it was he meant, then is it not most clear that his hu- 
 man body was never in the sacrament ? His apostles 
 worshipped himself, but did not worship the sacrament: 
 hence they did not believe he was there, and, being in- 
 spired, they were not mistaken ; and lastly, Christ gave 
 the sacrament to be eaten, not worshipped. Therefore, 
 he did not believe himself to be contained therein ; and 
 hence, as no man believes Christ was mistaken, or 
 wrong, so can no well informed man believe that Christ 
 was ever in any host, or that the worship of it is not 
 icrong. 
 
 That the host-worship is a novelty, not known till 
 
1216, is most plain, 1. Because that not till the year 
 1215, was transubstantiation, by the Council of Late- 
 ran, under Pope Innocent III., made an article of faith, 
 as Scotus, Tonstal, and others write ; so, before that, it 
 was not worshipped. 2. In the Roman canon law, we 
 find that it was Pope Honorius III., who the following 
 year ordered that the priests at a certain part of the 
 mass service should elevate the host, and cause the peo- 
 ple to prostrate themselves to worship it ; and also 
 about the year 1220, directed these words, " Hie Deum 
 adora," " worship God here," to be written on the tab- 
 ernacles in which the host was reserved for the sick. 
 
 The worship of the host was never taught by Christ 
 or his apostles — is of modern invention — is contrary to 
 our baptismal covenant, which binds us to his com- 
 mands and example, and is therefore utterly subversive 
 of the Christian religion, is condemned by the Scrip- 
 tures, and by all argument, as the most absurd doctrine, 
 and the most diabolical idolatry that ever appeared 
 among men ; and is, in fact, no less than an agreement 
 with Satan to secure the ruin of body and soul in hell, 
 (of those who persist in it,) through the endless duration 
 of eternity. Seeing, then, that these are facts and 
 charges which cannot be disproved, and that neither 
 can transubstantiation nor the sacrifice of the mass be 
 supported consistently, by any power whatever, with 
 truth and the religion of Christ, should they not all, in 
 the name of God, be even now given up and dismissed 
 forever by everybody who regards his soul ? 
 
 I shall bow my knees daily before God, that he may 
 graciously open the eyes of his precious yet abused off- 
 spring, and turn them from these pernicious delusions, 
 to the blessed, pure, and saving gospel of our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ, that we all may finally meet together with 
 joy, and not with grief, around his throne in glory, and 
 escape that eternal misery which is prepared for all 
 those who obey not the gospel — that precious gospel 
 
31 
 
 which Christ, our Great Judge, has given us, to be a 
 light unto our feet, and to lead us safely away from all 
 the foolish and dangerous inventions of fallible man, 
 into the peaceful paths of eternal life. Surely, you, 
 my brethren, should not, cannot be displeased with me, 
 for this my good will, and for labouring and studying 
 for this noble end ; and thus contending day and night 
 for the Faith of Jesus Christ, in order that this Old reli- 
 gion, which saves the soul from sin and wrath, and it 
 alone, may prevail amongst us. While I behold the 
 dishonor to God, and ruin to man, whichfalse doctrines 
 occasion, if I am led to speak strongly and even se- 
 verely against them, it is not to injure or give pain to 
 any man, but to clear my own conscience, to do my 
 duty, and save my fellow-men from them and their 
 consequences, even death eternal. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Half Communion. 
 
 The word of God thus reads : " And as they were 
 eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, 
 and gave to the disciples, a.nd said — Take, eat, this is 
 my body; and he took the cup, and gave thanks, and 
 gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it ; for this is 
 my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many 
 for the remission of sins. And they all drank of it" 
 Mat. 26, v. 26, 29. Mark 14, v. 23. Luke 22, v. 20. 
 1 Cor. 11, v. 23-25. " He took the cup when he had 
 supped, saying : This cup is the new testament in my 
 blood, this do in remembrance of me ; for as often as 
 ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show his 
 death till he come." 
 
 Here, it is fully evident, that our Lord, who is In. 
 
32 
 
 finite Wisdom, hath by precept and example, taught 
 &nd appointed loth the bttad and t&p in the eucharist, 
 not only before his death, but also after his ascension to 
 heaven. For, St. Paul (v. 23) was taught the same, 
 11 to show his death till he come. 3 ' And he (Paul) 
 taught all christians, in every place, to do so likewise. 
 1 Cor. L, v. 2 ; 11, v. 29, 2£. And although from the 
 beginning of the christian religion,, the use of both kinds 
 in the administration of the sacrament of the eucharist 
 has been common, yet the Council of Trent, wickedly 
 changed or condemnd it, saying in these words : " If 
 any one shall say, that all christians ought, by God's 
 command, or for the sake of salvation, receive the most 
 holy sacrament of the eucharist in both kinds, let him 
 be accursed ! Can. 1. 
 
 We shall now listen to the testimonies of the early 
 Fathers and others. Justin Martyr, anno 160 writes: 
 " On the day commonly called Sunday, assemblies of 
 citizens and countrymen are made, and the writings of 
 the apostles and prophets are read ; the minister makes 
 an exhortation after this, we all rise and pour out pray- 
 ers, and bread and wine are brought forth, and the min- 
 ister, to the utmost of his ability, sends forth prayers and 
 praises to God, and all the people unite and consent, 
 saying, Amen" Again : " They who are called dea- 
 cons among us, give to every one that is present, of the 
 consecrated bread and wine, even as Jesus commanded 
 them to do." Apol, 2* 
 
 St. Cyprian, anno 230, says : " How shall we fit 
 them for the cup of martyrdom, if, before it, we admit 
 them not, by right of communion, to drink of the Lord's 
 cup in the church ? Epist. 54, torn. i. 
 
 St. Ambrose — " It is an insult to the Lord to cele* 
 brate the sacrament otherwise than he did. For, he 
 cannot be devout who presumes to give it in any other 
 way than as it was given by its authors." In 1. Cor. 11, 
 
 Pope Gelasius, anno 492 — " W« find that some, haV- 
 
33 
 
 ing received a portion only of the holy body, do abstain 
 from the cup of the holy blood ; who doubtless should 
 receive the entire sacraments wholly, or should be driv- 
 en from them wholly; because the division of one and 
 the same mystery cannot be without very great sacri- 
 lege." Dist. 2, de consecrat. 
 
 Aquinas, anno 1260. — " Christ's body is not sacra- 
 mentaliy under the species of wine, nor his blood under 
 that of bread ; therefore, that Christ may be received 
 sacramentally, it is necessary to receive under both 
 kinds." Alexr. Halens. 
 
 Cassander saith: " Concerning the holy sacrament 
 of the eucharist, it is sufficiently known that the univer- 
 sal church to this very day, and even the Roman church, 
 for more than a thousand years after Christ, did give 
 both species of bread and wine to all the members of 
 Christ's church, which is manifest from innumerable 
 testimonies of ancient writers, both Greek and Latin ; 
 and they were induced to do so by the institution and 
 example of Christ, who gave this sacrament of his body 
 and blood to his disciples. Wherefore, it is not with- 
 out cause that the best and most learned Catholics do 
 most earnestly desire and contend that they may re- 
 ceive the sacrament of Christ's blood together with his 
 body, according to the ancient usage." Consult, 
 art. 22. 
 
 Archbishop Synge says : " I desire you to speak 
 plainly and to answer me this question : was it at any 
 time the practice of the universal churchy or of any par- 
 ticular church, for one thousand years and more after 
 Christ, that when Christians were assembled together 
 for the purpose of the celebration of the holy commun- 
 ion, the species of bread alone was given to the people, 
 or the cup withheld from the people ? And if not, by 
 what authority doth the church of Rome withhold the 
 cup from the people ?" 
 
 What can be more plain ? Here we have a mass of 
 
34 
 
 evidence from Scripture, antiquity, Papal divines, and; 
 even from the Councils themselves, that our Lord and 
 Saviour did indeed institute and administer the eugha- 
 rist in both kinds ; and that for many ages afterwards 
 the same was practised by all Christian churches, and, 
 that any attempt to separate the cup from the bread 
 was looked on as great impiety, superstition, and sa- 
 crilege, nay, a direct insult to Christ, its founder; so- 
 that this is not disputable, but a plain matter of fact-. 
 To look, then, for reasons and arguments to combat 
 such facts and justify the sacrilege of taking away the* 
 cup, is such infatuation as to confess.the sun shines, and, 
 then to try to prove it shines not ! 
 
 So, then, they confess : 1. " That our Lord gave botrr- 
 bread and cup, (and that after supper too,) and that this- 
 was the Christian usage for many ages," but now, " it 
 is an error dangerous to salvation !" and thus do they 
 at once condemn Christ and his Apostles! 2. They 
 have found, that this mode of it left by our Lord is lia- 
 ble to many scandals and dangers. 3; They have 
 made a discovery that escaped him and his apostles^ 
 namely : " that the whole Christ, body and blood, is in 
 either the bread or the cup, of course that one is 
 enough." (But it is proved that Christ was in neither.)- 
 4. They affirm the Holy Ghost taught them all this! 
 So, then, the Holy Ghost inspired them to charge Christ* 
 with error, and to subvert his sacred, institution ! Js 
 there a thinking and sensible Romanist on earth, that*, 
 on viewing all this, will not shudder and cry out, this 
 is nothing short of blasphemy inspired by the devil P 
 What! Councils to be infallibly inspired by God to 
 overthrow his own gospel and institutions, and to set up* 
 the opposite f Who that cares for his soul, or loves the* 
 Lord his Saviour, can for a moment listen to such hor- 
 rible impieties and anti-christian blasphemies! 
 
 When it is confessed that Christ, in his infinite wjs- 
 rfom and goodness, has instituted the eucharrst in both 
 
3S| 
 
 kinds, and after ascending to heaven, taught the same to 
 St. Paul, (1 Cor. 11, v. 23 ;) and when it is certain that 
 whosoever alters what our Lord thus appointed, is ac- 
 cursed of God, and that the system he substitutes is 
 accursed also, and must therefore prove a curse to any 
 who shall venture to follow it; who then that loves the 
 Lord, or has any regard for his own salvation, can ever 
 again use this corrupt invention, the half communion? 
 The Romish clergy knowing, as they must know, that 
 the; Lord never taught the host worship or half-com- 
 munion, and that therefore these dogmas are idolatrous 
 and accursed ; the only alternative that is left to them 
 is either to abandon such doctrines, or otherwise sink 
 into infidelity and eternal despair. 
 
 When therefore transubstantiation, the sacrifice of 
 the mass, the worship of the host or wafer, and half, 
 communion shall have been carefully examined by any 
 candid man, must he not be constrained to own that 
 they are such a compound of absurdity, blasphemy, 
 idolatry, — in a word, such a complete system of impie- 
 ty and religious deformity as the world never before 
 witnessed. 
 
 ^CHAPTER IX.. \ 
 
 Priestly Forgiveness «C Slns^ 
 
 If any could have had such a privilege, the apos? 
 ties, to whom was spoken these words: "Whose sins 
 ye remit, they are remitted," " what ye bind on earth/' 
 &c, &c. John 20, Matt. 16, IB, v. 18, must surely 
 have had it ; but if facts be the best expositors ~f words, 
 and the apostles were the best judges of their commis: 
 sion ? they had no such thing. I defy the^whole world t9 
 bring any solid prtof, that any apostle, or any of their dfa* 
 
ciples, ever assumed or exercised any authority whatev* 
 er to forgive, on any account, any man's sins commit- 
 ted against God, farther than, 1. To preach the Gos* 
 pel to them, and thus evince how they might obtain for- 
 giveness from God. Hear our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 his apostles Peter and Paul, and be convinced: "It 
 behoved Christ to sutFer and to rise from the dead the 
 third day, that repentence and Remission of sins 
 should be preached in his name among all nations. " 
 Luke 24, v. 47, 48. " And he commanded us," says 
 Peter, "to preach unto the people and through his 
 name, whosoever believes in him shall receive Remis- 
 sion of sjns." " Be it known unto to you," saith Pe- 
 ter, " that through this man (Christ) is preached unto 
 you the j or giveness of sins." Acts, c. 10, v. 42, 43 — 
 c. 13, v. 38» This is the only way to obtain real par- 
 don. 2d. To exclude evil doers from their society, or 
 to 1 admit them again when they deemed them penitent, 
 by forgiving, not there sins against God, but the cen- 
 sure of expulsion. See 1 Cor. v. 1, 5, and 2 Cor. c. 2, v. 
 T. Here the incestuous man is excluded and becoming 
 penitent after, the apostle advises the society or church 
 of the Corinthians " to forgive him" i. e., to admit him 
 again, and comfort him, saying, u he also for their 
 sakes forgave him, (this censure,) as did they." Or 3d, 
 " That men should forgive each other personal offenc- 
 es, one against another," Luke, 17, v. 3. Matt. c. 6, 
 v. 14; c. 18, v. 15. 
 
 Hence, human absolution for sins against God, with 
 its concomitants, auricular confession and penance, 
 are but mere human inventions — fables — dangerous de- 
 lusions. And the way of the Scripture of truth is the 
 alone sure way of obtaining this invaluable blessing. — 
 All who try it will so find it. 
 
 Priestly confessions and absolutions ! God only 
 knows what unnumbered mischiefsthey have entailed 
 Qa ; nva^kiad ! What sec-rets of men, women, families 
 
37 
 
 and nations, have been obtained in this way, and often 
 for purposes most sinister ! The dangers and evils at- 
 tendant on secret or auricular confessions, are abun- 
 dantly set forth and exposed by Nectarius and St. John 
 Chrysostom, in whose days this usage was first intro- 
 duced into, the Christian church. A certain lady, hav- 
 ing been seduced by her confessor, stung with remorse, 
 owned the fact, and openly confessed her adultery ! — 
 This scandal so roused Nectarius, then Bishop of Con- 
 stantinople, that he decreed, " There must be no more of 
 these private confessions ;" and St. Chrysostom, who 
 succeeded him, ratified it ; and in no less than thir- 
 teen places in his works, (as Bishop Burnet on article 
 25 testifies,) condemns the practice. "Hast thou sin- 
 ned V saith he, " thou needest no witness ; confess 
 thy sins to God, and he will forgive thee," (Examina- 
 tion, &c.) " Let examination of thine offences be made in 
 thought, lest this judgment be without a witness ; let God 
 only see thee making thy confession ; God, who casteth 
 not thy sins in thy face, but looseth them, &c. Horn, 
 de penit. et confess. Again, I say not, that thou 
 shouldst accuse thyself before man. But I say, obey 
 the prophet, saying, " Reveal thy way to the Lord ;" 
 confess thy sins, therefore, before God." Chrys. Ep, 
 ad Heb. horn, 31.) 
 
 And our Lord says, "Enter into thy closet, and 
 when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which 
 is in secret, to forgive thy trespasses,^ Matt. c. 6, v. 
 6—12. So did the Holy Ghost, by Da^ttL t each, " I 
 will confess my sins to the Lord/' &c.j8k Wmn 32, v. 5. 
 How wicked then were those who, opp^^BHiemselves 
 to God, made a law that confession must be made to 
 men ! 
 
 Will not common sense itself teach the vast indelica- 
 cy and impropriety of such intimate connexions as this 
 species of confession necessarily occasions, and its dan- 
 ger, not only to the people, but to the clergy also ? T 
 
ss 
 
 is dangerous to women, and to the young most especiaK 
 ly, who, on their knees, at the feet of perhaps some 
 young man of unbridled passions, must whisper to him, 
 and, " on pain of mortal sin and damnation" unfold to 
 him in secret all the sinful practices and desires, of even 
 an indelicate or immodest nature, with all their circum- 
 stances, into which temptation, in an unguarded hour, 
 perhaps, might have involved them. It also must be 
 dangerous to the clergy themselves, to deprive them of 
 chastity, humility, and a good conscience. Do not ma- 
 ny, by sad experience, feel the force of these observa- 
 tions ? So sensible was the great and pious John Wick- 
 liffe, a priest himself, of the numerous evils flowing 
 from it, both to clergy and people, that he ceased not 
 to inveigh against it continually. 
 
 From the facts and arguments now before us, is it not 
 most clear that neither Christ nor his apostles ever 
 taught this sort of confession and absolution, &c, and 
 that therefore they who teach it, or consent to it, do in 
 effect plainly accuse Christ of neglect, and insult him to 
 his face, as an imperfect or false teacher ! which, if 
 even the angels of heaven should do, they would be 
 cast down to hell. And again, as the aforesaid holy 
 bishops did in the fifth century forbid and reprobate all 
 such private confessions, &c, and as of course, it was 
 no sacrament in their day ; it must therefore be a false 
 doctrine now, opposed to Christ and his gospel, and must 
 necessarily prove a curse to such as follow it. Conse- 
 quently, aUffeho regard their salvation, and who would 
 not witlii^Hfesult their Saviour, should resolutely, 
 and in the^j Wpf God, renounce it forever ? 
 
 We may now see clearly, that all the priests and 
 their Pope are absolutely obliged to own their pardons 
 false ; assuredly false. Because, a pardon that differs 
 from a true pardon, is false. Christ's pardon is ever 
 the same ; it took the penitent thief to paradise, the third 
 leaven, and therefore takes all who obtain it to the 
 
39 
 
 same-, at death. Now, masses are never intended for 
 'souls in heaven, but " for those detained in purgatory." 
 But as masses are offered for the Pope when he dies, 
 and for all Roman Priests, so he and they at death must 
 have gone to purgatory, and not to heaven. Now, they 
 receive papal absolution or pardon duly administered 
 in life ; and whereas they went not to heaven at death 
 but to purgatory ; (as the one brings the soul to heav- 
 en and the other to purgatory,) these pardons differing 
 from each other, if Christ's pardon is true, the other must 
 be false. It follows, then, that the priests, by every 
 mass they say for their Pope or people, do, as with trum- 
 pet voice, declare, that they are in purgatory, and 
 therefore that the pardons or absolutions which they 
 have given them in life were absolutely fallacious ! ! ! 
 Resist this who can. 
 
 Again, since false pardons proclaim those to be 
 false prophets who give them, and therefore, opposers 
 of the gospel and of Christ, they of course are anti-christs; 
 most conclusive then is it, that the assumption of those 
 Priests and Popes of having power to dispense such ab- 
 solutions, &c, necessarily constitutes them false pro- 
 phets and anti-christs, and their chief the anti-christ 
 -and false prophet. And since he who needs most 
 -masses to rescue him from purgatory, must have been 
 the greatest sinner ; and as it is a fact.^that no man leaves 
 this world for whom so many masses are offered as for 
 the Pope ; therefore, their own doctrine makes the Pope 
 to be the greatest sinner thai tver left the world, accord- 
 ing to the judgment of his clergy who say all those mass- 
 es for him. But the greatest sinner must be the man 
 of sin ; hence his own doctrine concludes the Pope to 
 be the man of sin. Now, as the premises and conclu- 
 sions are inseparable, and the minor cannot be disputed, 
 these men must abandon their doctrines, or be content 
 to be regarded as the enemies of the truth ofOod, and 
 the destroyers of souls. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 To the Roman Catholic Congregation of 
 Paterson, New-Jersey. 
 
 My dear Brethren and Sisters in Jesus Christ : — 
 Your anxiety about the welfare of my soul, obliges me 
 to address you. Be not distressed about me, for I have 
 learned the right way; but rather be solicitous for your 
 own souls. God has chosen me to teach and proclaim 
 his truth ; and by his kind Providence has sent me into 
 this country to my dear countrymen, as to sheep without 
 a shepherd ; who may say that " no man careth for our 
 souls !" Probably no portion of the foreign population 
 has been more completely overlooked and uncared for 
 than the poor Polanders. And now not only Bishop 
 Hughes, your earthly Ruler, (who has tried to silence 
 me,) but no other power on earth shall hinder me from 
 doing what duty calls me to do. Let glory be giv- 
 en to Almighty God, who has bestowed civil and reli- 
 gious liberty on this part of the world ; and here no 
 priest and no despot has a right to interfere with con- 
 science. 
 
 Your priests endeavor to terrify you from reading the 
 holy scriptures, by threatening you with the flames of 
 hell. But believe them not. Our Heavenly Father 
 gave us the Holy Bible to read and study ; and sent his 
 beloved Son who has shed his blood for us all. Hell 
 is not for those who love and read the Bible, but it is 
 for your priests, who like the wicked spirits, have re- 
 volted against God, and rejected his holy doctrine ; and 
 •j^ake Jesus Christ a foolish man by saying that he gave 
 
41 
 
 us the Scriptures, but made them too obscure for us to 
 understand. And thus your priests make you to stum- 
 ble in darkness, by keeping you away from the word 
 of life. 
 
 Read the Holy Scriptures through and you will find 
 that Jesus Christ never constituted any man to be the 
 Head of his church. Look into Ephesians, chapter 1, 
 " Christ is the head of the church." So too in verses 
 22, 23, "And he (God) hath subjected all things under 
 his (Jesus') feet ; and hath made him head over all 
 things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of 
 him that filleth all in all." Consider what pride it is, 
 what idolatry it is, for any man to pretend to be the head 
 of this body of Christ, and so to assume to himself the 
 honor belonging to God. If now Jesus were on the 
 earth, not the Jews, but your priests, would cry out 
 11 crucify him ! crucify him !" 
 
 Your priests say to you "Don't believe the protes- 
 tants." And why? for Protestants believe and perform 
 the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and Papists,like their priests, 
 must reject that which Jesus Christ gave us to believe. 
 No, you must not believe the word that Jesus Christ 
 gave you, but you must believe the catechism which 
 your priests give you : and therefore you must believe 
 that Jesus Christ cannot save you, but that your priests 
 can ; and that they can by excommunication cast you 
 into hell fire ; and then when you entreat them and give 
 them money for masses, they can get you out again— 
 But my beloved brethren, where is the fire of hell ? — 
 Your priests cannot tell you, God knows, but the 
 priests do not know where it is ; and how then will they 
 get you out of it ; or know when you are in or out of 
 it. They talk of the 5th article of the creed, " He 
 descended into hell." But why don't they honestly 
 tell you that in this article hell means the grave, or 
 the place of the departed. Ah, the reason they don't 
 tell you is, because if you knew it you would not p ; *^ 
 
42 
 
 them money for their masses, and would not fear 
 their silly and childish excommunications. You give 
 them your money — your hard earnings — and ihty laugh 
 at your ignorance when you are gone from them. Be- 
 lieve me, for I -tell you the truth, my brethren. 
 
 I was obliged to be 6ilent as long as I was under the 
 tyrannic government of my own country ; but when I 
 arrived in this land of liberty, I could not be silent to 
 the priest, on the subject of their great injuries to our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. This made them angry ; and they 
 accused me to their Bishop, and to you. But you, my 
 dear brethren, who had witnessed my conduct, wrote a 
 good testimony about me to the Bishop ; and you have 
 been very much-grieved that he has rejected your re- 
 quest. I pray you, say how many of you ceased to go to 
 the church ; and condemned the priests in the severest 
 manner, since you were scandalized by them in the 
 church, when they endeavored to take away the rights 
 and liberties of the trustees of the church ? Did you 
 not cry out in the church when the eucharist was ex- 
 posed on the altar, « YOU ARE NOT PRIESTS, 
 BUT PHARISEES?" Then don't condemn me to- 
 gether with vour Pharisees, but be converted to the true 
 God. Don't bow before idols; but bow before your 
 Lord God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has given us 
 true directions how we must believe so as to save our 
 souls. 
 
 God bless you all ! 
 
 STEPHEN SPOCHYNSKI. 
 
 'Polish Pastor. 
 Paterson, New-Jersey, October 15, 1853. 
 
 \\^ 
 
48 
 
 To the Roman Catholic Congregation of 
 Paterson, N. J. 
 
 Beloved Friends, lb whom I wish salvation in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. In consequence of the cruel perse- 
 cutions which I have suffered, and the falsehoods which 
 have been told about me, because I dared 'to think for 
 myself in this blessed land of liberty, it was necessary 
 for me to address a letter to you a short time ago. 
 And I am glad to know that that letter was consider- 
 ed with deep earnestness by you. Remember, I was 
 one of your priests. You honored me, and I loved 
 you. And do you think I love you the less because I 
 set you the example of freedom from the slavish yoke 
 of Rome, and renounced my errors ? No, beloved 
 brethren; I was once bound ; but now, by the grace of 
 God, I am free, and I wish to see my dear people free 
 also. You know I have not gained anything in this 
 world, but have lost much by doing so. I could still 
 have lived by taking away from you, as the Priests do, 
 your hard earnings for saying masses, and doing all 
 those foolish rites of the Romish church, which do you 
 ho good, but put money into the pockets of your Priests. 
 But I scorn to do it, for God has shown me by his 
 blessed word the wickedness of all such practices. 
 
 I am glad, my beloved brethren, that you read my 
 letter with so much care ; and that you seelt to know 
 what true religion is, and what is false. Though these 
 enemies of Jesus Christ, the Priests, seek to make mer- 
 chandise of you, and by keeping away the truth from 
 you, to ruin your souls. I care not for their rage and 
 threats. My life is in the hands of God ; and my adopt- 
 ed country, this glorious land of liberty, grants to me 
 the freedom of speech. The truth is mighty, and it 
 cannot be put down in this land, by fines, and tortures, 
 and inquisitions, and gibbets. Have faith in God, and 
 your faith will save .you. 
 
44 
 
 And now consider, brethren, whom you ought to 
 obey? God or his enemies ? Are they not the ene- 
 mies of God, who say that the Holy Scriptures are not 
 for the people to read ? But I, who love you, and de- 
 sire your eternal happiness as I desire my own, say to 
 you, do not listen to them ; but listen to Jesus Christ 
 and his Apostles, and Prophets. Jesus says, " Search 
 the Scrtptures," John 6, 39. " Seek ye out of the Book 
 of the Lord and read," also says the Prophet Isaiah, 
 36, 16. So too, '• Blessed are they who hear the word 
 of God and keep it," Luke 11,28. " This Book of 
 the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou 
 shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest 
 observe and do according to all that is written therein," 
 Josh. 1, 8. Here is a command to the General of the 
 Jewish Army to read and meditate on the Holy Scrip- 
 tures. Again, " From a child thou hast known the 
 Scriptures." See here, in the apostles' days, a child is 
 approved and commended for being taught in the Scrip- 
 tures ; and now under the tuition of your priests, ma- 
 ny grow old without knowing anything about them.—- 
 Again says the Lord Jehovah—'* Ye shall not add unto 
 the word which I command you ; neither shall ye di- 
 minish aught from it, that ye may keep the command- 
 ments of the Lord your God, which I command you," 
 Deut. 4, 2. Again says Christ Jesus, " He that re- 
 jecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that 
 judgeth him ; the word that I have spoken the same 
 shall judge him in the last day," John 12, 18. Paul 
 also says, " God shall judge the secrets of men by Je. 
 sus Christ, according to my Gospel," Rom. 2, 16. — . 
 Thus you can clearly see that we are obliged to hear 
 and obey the words of Jesus Christ ; and that we are to 
 be judged by him according to the Gospel, and not ac- 
 cording to the words of his enemies, the Priests ; who, 
 choosing unhappily another way than the Gospel, wher, 
 
 3^ 
 
45 
 
 ever they have the power, fill the world with misery, 
 massacre and wo ! 
 
 By penances, and auricular confession, that engine 
 of so many mischiefs to man, they come at the people's 
 secrets, even of the most indelicate nature, and with all 
 their -circumstances ; and this not by thecommandment 
 of Gocl, but by the decree of the Council of Trent. The 
 poor deceived people are obliged to confess to the priests, 
 and then submit to the penances laid upon them at the 
 pleasure of the clergy, else they could receive no abso- 
 lution, and consequently no salvation. By their pre- 
 tended purgatory, their indulgences, and excommunica- 
 tions, and masses for the dead, they would show their 
 power with God in the other world, as well as in this, 
 and they make a gain of the people. By appointing 
 holy-days which God has not appointed, and forbidding 
 many things which are not forbidden in the Scripture, 
 they have elevated themselves above our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who is the Only Lawgiver of his Church ; 
 and they instruct the people to come to them most sub- 
 missively to ask for leave to do what God has never 
 forbidden — such as to w 7 ork on a holy-day, to eat flesh 
 in Lent, &c. 
 
 But besides all this, I need only refer you, my Irish 
 brethren, to the history of you own beloved native land. 
 You know that Ireland was sold to England in A. D. 
 1156 by Pope Adrian III. He issued a bull in which 
 he ordered Henry II. to invade Ireland ; whereupon 
 Henry began to bring that country under the oppressive 
 yoke of Rome. Thus w 7 as Ireland sold and her Inde- 
 pendence overthrown, under the claim of the Pope to 
 rule over all kingdoms, and people, and dispose of their 
 liberties at his pleasure. But Jesus said, " My king- 
 dom is not of this world," John 18, 36. In the days 
 of St. Patrick, who labored in Ireland, and died there in 
 A. D. 460, the Church of Rome did not even pretend to 
 have any such claim. And so late as A. D* 594> Gre* 
 
46 
 
 gory the Great, the Bishop of Rome, said that " the 
 claim to be a universal Bishop is anti-chrislian, bias*' 
 phemous, and diabolical" Where, then, did they ob- 
 tain the claim they now assert? There has been no 
 new revelation from God since that period ; and as the 
 claim could not have come from God, it has come 
 from the Devil. And yet, it is upon this diabolical 
 claim that poor Ireland is oppressed as she is; and thai 
 your priests now in this land of liberty attempt to tear 
 away your right to worship God according to the die-, 
 tates of his word. 
 
 And here I must say a word respecting Archbishop 
 Hughes. He claims, to be an Irishman, and yet no 
 man is more desirous of holding the free sons of Ireland, 
 who now. reside in this land of freedom, in the vilest ser- 
 vitude and chains than he. Not content with what they 
 bore in Ireland, he must even enslave their souls and 
 consciences here. You remember when. he appeared in 
 your church, as the ray of the sun after the darkness 
 of night, and ascended his tribunal at the altar, with his 
 back towards it, to reprove the congregation. He used 
 these portentous words ; " I know my Priests, but I 
 do not know the congregation. " Think of this, my 
 brethren! Jesus Christ says, " Tht good shepherd 
 knows his sheep, and they know him. ,y Of course, then, 
 Archbishop Hughes is not " a good shepherd, for he 
 knows not his sheep ;" and many of you know riot hirrr. 
 Again, he said, "The Priests are a part of my body ; 
 they are my hands," "&c. And, truly, they are his 
 hands, by which he takes up your money, and gathers 
 it under various pretexts. Jesus Christ says that the 
 11 good shepherd^ feeds his sheep," with the ditine word ; 
 but Mr. Hughes feeds them that are able to buy tickets 
 to be permitted to hear his voice. And this is the man 
 who wishes to abridge your freedom in this land of lib- 
 erty. My blood boils to think, that after escaping all 
 *,^Q kingly and priestly oppressions of European despots, 
 
41 
 
 this man should endeavor to hold us in the same vile ser- 
 vitude in the land of Washington. Well did your 
 fellow-catholics in Newark say, that such a Bishop a& 
 Mr. Hughes ought to be deposed from exercising any. 
 office over American citizens. No, brethren, remem-. 
 her that you are in a free land, and maintain your free-, 
 dom. 
 
 The Pope who gave Ireland to the tyrant Henry Iff 
 has also given America to his Priests. And will you, 
 my brothers, by yielding to their vile schemes, aid them 
 in their efforts to enslave this glorious land of freedom?' 
 Here they cannot now harm you. T-liere are no tor- 
 tures and inquisitions here. And you may safely laugh 
 their excommunications in the face. But by aiding 
 those men to enslave this land, you are aiding them to 
 regain their power over you and your children. Can 
 you, will you do this ? Merciful God ! will you, 0,< 
 brethren, aid them to do this?- They wish to do it, 
 and they will do it, so soon as they have the power. The 
 ". Hireling" who told you that he knew you not, but 
 only knew, his priests, will soon, however, make you 
 know him, if he once regains over you the power which 
 the priests. possess in Europe. I charge you, then, if 
 you love the sacred country of freedom — the country to , 
 wJiichyoii j fled when you lied from tyranny— the noble 
 country of your adoption, never yield your rights and 
 ike rights of your children, to ih$, corrupt /priesthood of 
 Rome. Maintain the rights which this country has 
 guarantied, to. you, and God will sustain you in main- 
 taining them, God hnot on the side of oppression, but 
 of freedom. I cannot express myself in your language 
 so fully ar*4 clearly as I; wish, for it is but a little while 
 since I reached these shores ; but, while I live, I will 
 sQund the note of warning in the ears of my brethren 
 v*ho,have escaped from foreign bondage, and whom 
 priestly despots would here again enslave* 
 
 (X Merciful Batl^r.! whQ hastJe4 : the3C^Bbeep of fV ~ 
 
fold from the land of despotism to this happy land — ihou 
 who hast said that there shall be one fold and one shep- 
 herd, look upon thy flock here, now tossed about by the 
 cunninar craftiness of wicked men who wish to make a 
 prey of them! O deliver them from their wiles ! Lead 
 them into that path marked out by our Great Shepherd, 
 Jesus Christ, and his Apostles, and let not their enemies 
 sever them from thee. 
 
 And you, my faithful brethren, who walk in the path 
 of Jesus Christ, pray for me to that God who has convert- 
 ed me to himself, that I may he aided in my efforts to 
 bring my brethren to the true faith of Jesus Christ. — 
 Amen, 
 
 STEPHEN SPOCHYNSKI, 
 
 Polish Pastor, 
 
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 Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
 (724)779-211* 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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