•:-:•:• c AND ITS ItEffiONIO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ■ i ¥ m THE POPES. Date Elect. or Consc. 41 67 79 91 100 109 119 128 138 142 157 168 177 190 Name of Pope. B. Petrus. St. Linus. St. Cletus. St. Clemens I. St. Evarlstus. St. Alexander. St. Sixtus. St. Telesphorus. St. Hyglnus. St. Pius. St. Anicetus. St. Soter. St. Eleutherus. Sft Victor I. Date Elect. or Consc. 202 218 222 230 235 236 251 253 254 257 259 269 275 283 Name of Pope. St. Zephyrinus. St. Calixtus I. St. Urbanus I. St. Pontianus. St. Anterus. St. Fabianus. St. Cornelius. St. Lucius. St. Stephanus I. St. Sixtus II. St. Dionysius. St. Felix I. St. Eutychianus. St. Caius. Date Elect. or Consc. 296 307 309 310 314 336 337 352 366 384 398 402 417 418 Name of Pope. St. yt. st. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. St. Marcelllnus Marcellus. Eusebius. Melchiades. Sylvester. Marcus. Julius I. Liberius. Damasus. Sirlcius. Anastasius I. Innocentius I. Zoismus. Boniiacius I. Ctdmntria ©ntoertftp mtljfCilpoflfttigork THE LIBRARIES s 9 l :; 1 :5 ;3 14 >9 !1 !5 57 S7 )1 )8 16 n u 13 34 51 35 71 76 76 76 77 SI 55 IS )4 34 33 )5 16 34 12 52 62 70 78 78 94 89 04 06 09 10 17 31 47 Name of Pope. Date Elect. or Consc , 422 432 440 461 468 483 492 496 498 514 523 526 530 532 Name of Pope. St. Codestinus I. St. Sixtus III. St. Leo I. St. Hilarus. St. Slmplicius. St. Felix III. St. Gelasius. St. Anastasius II. St. Symmachus. St. Hormisdas. St. Joannes I. St. Felix IV. Bonlfacius II. Joannes II. 55 Gelasius II. Calixtus II. Honorius II. Innocentius II. Coelestinus II. Lucius II. Eugenius III. Anastasius. Hadrianus IV. Alexander III. Lucius III. Urbanus III. Gregorius VIII. Clemens III. Coelestinus III. Innocentius III. Honorius III. Gregorius IX. Coelestinus IV. Innocentius IV. Alexander IV Urbanus IV. Clemens IV. Gregorius X. Innocentius V. Hadrianus V. Joannes XXI. Nicolaus III. Martinus IV. Honorius IV. Nicolaus IV. St. Coelestinus V Bonlfacius VIII. Benedictus XI. Clemens V. Joannes XXII. Benedictus XII. Clemens VI. Innocentius VI. Urbanus V. Gregorius XI. Urbanus VI. Clemens VII. Benedictus XIII. Bonifacius IX. Innocentius VII. Gregorius XII. Alexander V. Joannes XXIII. Martinus V. Eugenius IV. Nicolaus V. ICalixtus III. Date Elect. or Consc 1458 1404 1471 1484 1492 1503 lr,03 1513 1522 1523 1534 1550 1555 1555 1559 1565 1572 1585 1590 1590 1591 1592 1605 1605 1621 1623 1644 1655 1667 1670 1676 1689 1691 1700 1721 1724 1730 1740 1758 1769 1775 1800 1823 1829 1831 1846 1877 1903 1914 1922 Name of Pope. Pius II. Paulus II. Sixtus IV. Innocentius VIII. Alexander VI. Pius III. Julius II. Leo X. Hadrianus VI. Clemens VII. Paulus III. Julius III. Marcellus II. Paulus IV. Pius IV. St. Pius V. Gregorius XIII. Sixtus V. Urbanus VII. Gregorius XIV. Innocentius IX. Clemens VIII. Leo XL Paulus V. Gregorius XV. Urbanus VIII. Innocentius X. Alexander VII. Clemens IX. Clemens X. Innocentius XI. Alexander VIII. Innocentius XII. Clemens XL Innocentius XIII. Benedictus XIII. Clemens XII. Benedictus XIV. Clemens XIII. Clemens XIV. Pius VI. Pius VII. Leo XII. Pius VIII. Gregorius XVI. Pius IX. Leo XIII. Pius X. Benedictus XV. Pius XL (Born May 30, 1857,atDesio. Italy.) 93 DAMNATION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, et al. Brutum Fulmen: or the Bull of Pope Pius V. Concern- ing the Damnation, Excommunication, and Deposition of Queen Elizabeth, as also the Absolution of her Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance with a peremptory injunc- tion upon pain of Anathema, never to obey any of her Laws or Commands. By Thomas Lord Bishop of Lincoln. Whereunto is annexed the Bull of Pope Paul the Third containing the Damnation, Excommunication, etc., of Kino- Henry the Eighth. London, Printed by S. Roycroft for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in iSt. Paul's Church- yard, 1681. 4to, y 2 calf, margins trimmed from title and mounted. $20 - OU The Roman Catholic Church AND Its Relation to the Federal Government BY FRANCIS T. MORTON Member of the Massachusetts Bar jARTIetV6RITATI y 5 - * BOSTON RICHARD G. BADGER ■■ j lie (i(i''hira 'Pivss ' ' ' 1909 Copyright 1909 by Francis T. Morton All Rights Reserved The Gotham Press. Boston, U. S. A. 1 * I I I AUTHOR'S PREFACE THE object of this book is to give a brief history of the Roman Catholic Church, its claims, objects, and purposes in the past, as exemplified in the older countries where it has by reason of its practices held sway for centuries, and also to show, far as space and time admit, its position in the United States of America at the present time, where the oppor- tunities for its growth and expansion have never been equalled, by reason of absolute freedom of action and speech allowed its representatives, the ignorance of its votaries and the public as well, who know little of its methods practised for cen- turies in foreign countries; and the enormous influx of ignorant foreigners coming to our shores, many of whom are Catholics. The first part of this book is a comprehensive compilation of works entitled, " American Text-Book of Popery ; " " Mexico and the United States," by G. D. Abbot, LL.D. (G. P. Putnam & Son, New York), a book, as also Butler's " Mexico in Transition ' (Eaton & Mains, New York), that should be read by every one, Catholics and Protestants alike. " M. de Talleyrand's Famous Reply to Pope Pius VII ;" "Papal Aggression and Attack on France," by Robert Dell, whose writings have been mainly instrumental in giving to Americans a true history 3 4 Author's Preface and correct knowledge of the late conflict of the church with the French government. " Vati- canism," by Hon. Willian E. Gladstone; " The Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine, invaluable to all seekers of truth, and in reasoning unanswerable; and other well-known writers, to whom the reader will see I have been greatly, yes, well-nigh wholly indebted, and acknowledge my indebtedness and obligations in this manner rather than by detailed references. The second part contains more of my own reflections on the subjects discussed which I have endeavored to treat in a respectful manner, and with kindly regard for the religious education and feelings of those who find spiritual consolation in the teachings of their respective denominations. CONTENTS Author's Preface Brief Summary of Text-Book of Popery The Origin and Progress of the Popedom . A Small Portion of the Chronological Table of Popery The Pontifical Hierarchy The Papal Interdicts Jesuits' Oath of Secrecy Historical Notices of Jesuitism . Character and Proceedings of Jesuitism Jesuitism Incompatible with Constitutional Order and the Liberty of the Press . Dangers of Jesuitism Mexico and the United States Memoirs of Talleyrand A Brief Summary of M. De Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII Oath of a Jesuit Priest The Roman Priest's Oath The Papal Attack on France together with the Papal Aggression in France and its Significance for other Nations France and the Separation Law and the Pro- testing Brooklyn Catholics .... Misstatements and Unreliability of Writings Ascribed to the Apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, together with Review of ' Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine . Page 3 7 8 24 29 37 40 42 45 48 51 53 63 64 82 85 86 108 120 6 Contents Are the Claims and Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the Morals of the Jesuits adapted to the Citizens of our Federal Republic ? Also some Unreliable Christian Dogmas Teachings of tlie Roman Catholic Church A Reply to Cardinal Gibbons's " The Church and the Republic " Marriage and Divorce Practical Examples Conclusion Definition of Words and Terms Page 145 151 185 235 246 250 255 BRIEF SUMMARY OF TEXT-BOOK OF POPERY AS to the record and practices of popes, cardi- nals, bishops, and priests during the past fifteen centuries, among the interesting and instructive books treating of these is one published the last century, entitled, " The American Text-Book of Popery," being an authentic compend up to that time of the bulls, canons, and decretals of the Roman hierarchy.* It is regretted that only a limited space can here be given to a work of years, containing an enormous amount of valuable infor- mation on matters concerning the Roman Catholic Church. The first chapter opens with ' Predic- tions of the Anti-Christian Apostates," and treats of the worship of images, the supremacy of the pope, transubstantiation, penance and purgatory, celibacy, etc.; but as these subjects are taken up later on we proceed to the next chapter, on ' The Origin and Progress of the Popedom," from the first century to the Reformation, showing how, when, where, and by whom popes were made in the past, something of their lives, authority claimed and exercised, of which little is known by the majority of mankind, Protestants and Catholics alike, and especially the latter. ♦Published by Griffiths & Simon, 114 North Third Street, Phila- delphia; George G. Jones, Cincinnati; Robert Carter, New York, 1847. The Origin and Progress of the Popedom It must be recollected, as of the utmost moment in the controversy with papists, that none of the authors of the New Testament, neither Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, nor Peter himself, nor Paul, nor James, nor Jude, nor John, even in his prophecies adverting to the condition and state of Christians until " the holy city, New Jerusalem, shall come down from God out of heaven, and the tabernacle of God shall be with men " — not one of those inspired writers gives us the least intimation concerning the universal pontificate of Peter; his journeys and residence at Antioch and Rome; his bishopric at Antioch, and his episcopate at Rome during twenty-five years; which facts are utterly impossible accord- ing to Scriptural chronology; the acts of Peter at Rome; his pontifical throne; his contest with Simon Magus; his ap- pointment of a successor; and the place and time of his martyrdom. But if all those topics cannot be demonstrated the foundation of the papacy is destroyed . The first emission of all the legends respecting Peter's residence and bishopric at Rome was by Jerome, in his translation of the chronicles of Eusebius. In fact, nothing certain is known, or can yet be discovered, respecting the apostles and their immediate successors, except the narratives or intimations in the New Testament. In addition to that fact, which overthrows the usurped pontifical authority, not one expression or implication respect- ing transubstantiation, the sacrifice of the mass, the adora- tion of the host, communion in one kind, image worship, Mar- iolatry,the invocation of saints, auricular confession, papal in- dulgences, purgatory, the celibacy of priests, etc., or any other 8 Origin and Progress of Popedom 9 of the distinctive dogmas and rites of Romanism, can possibly be discovered. Century II. As the churches became severed from the apostolic era, they gradually receded from their predecessors in doctrinal purity, holiness of manners, simplicity of rites, strictness of discipline, and spiritual peace. They were mani- festly adulterated by impostors and false teachers; who, in the days of Ignatius, as is evident from the epistles which bear his name, strenuously endeavored to seduce the disciples from the doctrines and practice of the gospel. About the year 150 commenced that superstitious custom of keeping days and times, which afterwards was displayed in the forty days' fast, called Lent. The controversy respecting the period of celebrating the Lord's resurrection, whether on the fourteenth day of the moon, or on the ensuing Lord's day, agitated the churches throughout the Roman empire. That collision produced the first instance of that pontifical arrogance which in subsequent ages desolated the nations. Century III. It is demonstrable that the perversion of the Scriptures and the corruption of Christianity, by incor- porating heathenish principles and customs with it, fearfully advanced during the third century, notwithstanding all the storms of persecution with which the followers of the Lamb were scathed. In addition to the observance of the Lord's resurrection, the churches commemorated the nativity of Christ, Nice- phorus, Lib. 7, Cap. 6, and the descent of the Holy Ghost. Days were also dedicated to honor the martyrs. Tertullian, de Coron. Milit. To which was added the superstitious practice of kneeling or standing when engaged in public prayer at different seasons. Among other corruptions the following were then introduced : The sign of the cross on the forehead in baptism, with oil, milk, and honey. Water was often mixed with the sacramental wine. Bread from the Lord's table was also preserved, that it might be sent to sick 10 The Roman Catholic Church persons. The prelates were almost all employed in aggrand- izing their own superiority, and in disputing with each other respecting the objects of their inordinate ambition. Public repentance was abused, either by sinful relaxation or un- christian severity; and favors were granted to the guilty, upon the application of those Christians who were imprisoned and waiting for their martyrdom. That was the beginning of the system of Romish penance, satisfaction for sin, and in- dulgences. The monastic life was highly eulogized; and through the direful persecution of the Emperor Valerian, and the example of Paul the Hermit, the first monk, who fled from Alexandria about the year 260, and who continued in the desert until the general pacification achieved by Constantine, the state of celibacy was eulogized as almost equally accept- able to Jehovah as suffering and death for the sake of Christ. Although some offered petitions for the departed martyrs, that they might be received into heaven, from an obvious perversion of the vision, Rev. vi. 9-11, yet there was no intercession for the apostles, or the Virgin Mary, or the saints; and not an intimation can be found of any prayers to the dead. The grand defects of that period arose from the ambition, strife, frauds, and calumnies which existed among the pre- lates, and which gradually infected and debased the churches. Cyprian, Epist. 7 and 69. Eusebius, Hist., Lib. 6, 7, 8, Cap. 1. It must also be recorded, that the ministers used their ordi- nary dress, and that no one of the sacerdotal or pontifical vest- ments, copied from the priests of the heathen Pantheon, had then been introduced into the church. Euseb. Hist., Lib. 6, Cap. 19. The marriage of Christian preachers was also un- restricted. Two legends which were invented at that period lucidly develop the progressive departure from the gospel. One fabulous narrative comprised the doings of the seven Ephesian Origin and Progress of Popedom 11 sleepers; and the other is the history of the fictitious Ursula and her eleven thousand virgin companions whence the order of Ursuline nuns pretends to derive its origin. This review of the third century may properly be closed with the testimony of Hegesippus, as preserved by Eusebius, Hist., Lib 3. Cap. 32. " After the sacred band of the Apostles had ceased to live by different kinds of death, and their age had passed away, to whom it was granted by Christ that they should hear with their own ears his Divine wisdom, then the false and crafty conspiracy of impious error took its rise from the deceitfulness of those who labored to dissem- inate doctrines totally different from the gospel, and who afterwards, none of the apostles any longer surviving, dared barefacedly to oppose false and lying doctrines to the sincere word of truth " Century IV It is lamentable to add that the purity of truth was beclouded with an almost endless train of absurd superstitions, many of which were added from a desire to conciliate the pagans. Among the idolaters it had been a universal practice to form grand public processions and offer prayers to appease the wrath of their ideal gods. Those were partially adopted in a ritual of great pomp, and were most magnificently celebrated among the professors of Christianity. This was the commencement of that system of purgatory which in subsequent ages was instituted; and the addition of solemn rites attached to particular days increased the tend- ency to a departure from the faith of the saints. Hence arose the exhibition of those insincere practices which subsequently introduced the whole papal fabric, facilitated the progress of the monkish system, and forced celibacy and sanctioned the establishment of two maxims which subsequently unfolded all their iniquity. Towards the latter part of the fourth century the Christian Church was defiled with the general belief, adoption, and practice of those most abhorrent 12 The Roman Catholic Church positions, — "that falsehood is virtue, when by it the interests of the church can be promoted; and that errors in faith should be punished with torture and death." Theodosius summoned a council to meet at Constanti- nople, and among the other bishops who were directed to attend Gregory Nazianzen was invited. He refused, and in his reply to the emperor, after reciting his virtues, which he loved, and his authority, which he acknowledged, he stated that he could not conscientiously be present; for he would not voluntarily take a seat among chattering cranes and stupid geese; and that he had never seen or heard of any benefit having flowed from these councils, but rather that they were sources of division and contention. The history of nearly fifteen hundred years has fully corroborated the justice of his opinion. The seeds of papal supremacy then exhibited their fer- tility; for the magnificence, the wealth, the power, and the patronage of the Bishop of Rome had so enormously increased that the attainment of that station was the highest object of human ambition. To counteract that arrogance the Bishop of Constantinople was considered as his equal, and the strife proposed by their successors finally conducted the adherents of the two differing hierarchs into that separation which still exists between the Greek and Roman apostates. Both are equally ignorant and servile, and of course alike bigoted, even after the lapse of fourteen hundred years. The Council of Nice was convened in the year 325 ; and notwithstanding they opposed the grosser doctrinal perversion of the Scriptures, yet they ratified a number of customs which were opposed to the simplicity of the gospel. Several new festivals, the Epiphany, the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, and days of martyrs were celebrated. Relics, pilgrimages to Jerusalem, the lent fast, and monachism received additional honors. Thus human traditions gradually usurped the su- premacy over evangelical truth; and ecclesiastical dignity, Origin and Progress of Popedom 13 with opulence and worldly pomp, corrupted the minds and morals of all orders in the churches. But the writers of that period totally disagreed from the modern papists and the Council of Trent upon the canon, rites, discipline, and church government, although a large number of ceremonies was introduced from the Gentile idolatry. The elevation of the host was practiced, yet it was only for observation, and not to be adored. The first use of the word Mass appears in Ambrose, Epistol. 33. Private confession of sin and the confessor priest also were author ized. Socrates Hist., Lib. 5, Cap. 19. The following preludes of popery had become generally adopted, or were established ceremonial observances. From the pagans they borrowed wax tapers, burning by daylight and in the churches; the scattering of incense; distinction of meats; veneration of relics; and pilgrimages to certain sup- posed hallowed places. Invocation of saints was offered conditionally, " if they could hear and understand." The introduction and public use of images into the churches were commenced at the latter part of the fourth century; but that idolatry was strenuously opposed by Epi phanius. The monastic system was fearfully augmented during the fourth century, to the destruction of the national strength and prosperity. So numerous had friars and nuns become, that the|Emperor Valens, after denouncing them as " ignavce sectatores," imbodied a large army of monks, whom he col- lected~from EgyptJ'alone,^ expressly to withstand the irrup- tions of the Goths and Vandals. I|! In Egypt at that period was formed the order of nuns. During the anterior ages, the widows who had consecrated themselves to God for the service of His church, and the afflicted Christian disciples amid the scenes of persecution resided with their parents, and could always be released from 14 The Roman Catholic Church their vow, which was conditional, and temporary only in obligation. The collection of young females in convents, near the monasteries of men, was a contrivance of the Egyp- tian monks in their secluded abodes. Nun is an ancient Egyptian word, and aptly expresses the character. It means a woman abjectly submissive in body, soul, and spirit, to the will of her superior, — and thus completely unfolds, even in the term, the incurable corruption of conventual life. The loathsome wickedness which almost immediately attended that perversion of the law of nature and the claims of religion is described by the ancient writers in the most pungent language. In connection with that " mystery of iniquity " a celibate life was extravagantly eulogized, and especially for the offi- cers of the churches. Hence, about the year 390, Siricius, the Roman prelate, issued his mandate prohibiting bishops, presbyters, and deacons to marry. Epist. 1, ad. Himer., Tarracon., Canon 7, in which he declared that the marriage of ministers after their ordination is the same as the sin of adultery. His proof he pretended to derive from the words of Paul, Rom. viii. 8, " They who are in the flesh cannot please God." How profound must the universal ignorance have become, when the boasted arrogant chief of the Christian churches could thus pervert Scripture to sanction his corrup- tions. Great, widespread, and lasting contentions proceeded from that most ungodly display of the grand apostacy. Century V. During the next hundred years the progress of the " falling away," which the Apostle Paul describes, 2 Thess. ii. was rapid and continuous. Nevertheless, some degree of doctrinal purity was retained. The unadulterated canon of Scripture, with the distinguishing creed of the modern reformed churches, constituted the basis of their faith. The application of Augustine's canon determines that all the distinguishing articles of popery are the working of Satan. No sane person would think of exploring the sacred volume Origin and Progress of Popedom 15 to discover the worship of images or relics; mariolatry and marianity; the invocation of saints; purgatory; papal indul- gences; auricular confession ; transubstantiation ; the propi- tiatory sacrifice of the mass; the adoration of the host; pro- cessions, and the feast in honor of the sacrament; solitary masses; communion in one kind; the immaculate conception; and the universal pontificate in infallibility and jurisdiction. Spanheim, Introd. ad Hist. Novi Test., p. 465. That mighty and portentous evil, the celibacy of ecclesi- astics, had become very general; for that wicked council which assembled at Carthage decreed, " Episcopi, et pres- byteri, et diaconi, secundum propria statuta, ab uxoribus con- tineant"; which accursed doctrine, as the Roman pontiffs perceived that it intensely augmented their power, gradually metamorphosed the face of the moral world and of the Church of God. There was a vast increase of superstitions. Monachism was extended. Leo exchanged public for private confession. The litany, or the system of alternate responding in prayer by the minister and people, was first invented by Mamertus, about the year 466. To which may be subjoined a crowd of puerile ceremonies, official garments, the frequent eleva- tion of the cross, with other childish, impious rites; the pomp and negligence of the prelates; the violations of the canons and discipline; theatrical sports, heathenish spectacles, and other festivities ; and also against the multiplying superstitions respecting images, relics, pilgrimages, abstinence from food, and the monastic abuses. Spanheim, p. 472. During the fifth century the ecclesiastical orders became more distantly separated into patriarchs, primates or metro- politans, archbishops, archimandrines or abbots, arch- presbyters, archdeacons, and vicars, all of whom were sub- ject to the despotic usurpations of the synod, whose frequent unholy and anti-Christian decisions were enforced by the civil authority. 16 The Roman Catholic Church At the great Council of Chalcedon, which was convened by Marcian in the year 450, a decree was enacted which utterly subverts all the pretended claims of the Roman prelate to pontifical supremacy. The twenty-eighth canon of that assembly decided that the bishops of Rome and Constanti- nople possessed cequalia privilegia, equal privileges of honor and dignity; and to the Eastern prelate was assigned a much larger extent of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. To that century may also be attributed many of those legends and false miracles that afterwards formed the basis upon which was erected the whole system of Babylonish frauds, impostures, " signs, lying wonders, and strong de- lusion." Century VI. The superstitions which already have been enumerated became more diffused and uniformly practised as the religious gloom increased, and as the usurpations of the Roman prelate became confirmed by time. Nevertheless, upon all the principal themes of Christian theology, the churches in the sixth century remained ignorant of popery, as it was afterwards so direfully developed. But the corrupt ritual tended more and more to idolatry. Edifices were named after Mary, Anne, Peter, Paul, John, etc., and the temples which the pagans had devoted to the honor of Venus, Apollo, Mars, and their other gods and goddesses, were devoted to the saints. To the sixth century must be imputed some novelties, for it was a period fertile in folly. The character of the Lord's Supper became so obscured that it was generally deemed to be a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and upon that anti-Christian fiction was erected afterwards a very large proportion of the Romish heresies. Indulgences, in the popish acceptation of the term, seem to have' been first announced by Gregory I, who also enjoined the carrying about of the picture of the Virgin Mary at Origin and Progress of Popedom 17 processions, and the burning of candles and tapers in the daytime, before the idolatrous altars. In the year 529 arose the regular orders of monks, who ra- pidly filled all " the horns of the beast," and attained wealth, honors, and power not less immense than mischievous. To the Benedictine monasteries, which were the primitive con- federacies of European friars, were speedily appended female convents, not for instruction and temporary seclusion only, but for an unchanging abode. Girls fled from their parents at an early age, and women abandoned their husbands, pur- loined the domestic property, and transferred it to the nun- nery. Whence those monasteries soon were the curse of the nations. It is also evident that the privileges which were after- wards claimed under the generic term, pontifical rights, were not arrogated by the Roman prelate in the sixth century. At that period there is no vestige in authentic history of the papal annates; investiture of bishops; the oath of fidelity to the court of Rome ; popish legates and nuncios ; presidency in all councils; the pontifical infallibility; papal dispensa- tions; the treasury of indulgences; and the prerogative to beatify or canonize. At nearly the latter end of the sixth century, amid the unceasing strife which the prelates of Rome and Constanti- nople prolonged for the entire supremacy over all the nominal Christian disciples, John, the Patriarch of the East, claimed and assumed the title of Universal Bishop. Gregory of Rome denounced that measure as an intolerable usurpation. He expostulated with Mauritius, the emperor, for permit- ting John to assume that " insolent title," in the following language. " Where is that Antichrist," said Gregory, " who shall challenge to himself the title of universal bishop ? He is near and at the door. By this pride he shows that the times of Antichrist are approaching. I confidently assert that whosoever calls himself the universal bishop is the 18 The Roman Catholic Church forerunner of Antichrist." Notwithstanding this condemna- tion of the pontifical arrogance, through the atrocious murder of the Emperor Mauritius and his family by Phocas, which, if not primarily instigated by Gregory, was eulogized by him with the most extravagant panegyric, the way was opened for the complete triumph of the episcopal arrogance, and the permanent establishment of " the mystery of iniquity." Century VII, VIII. From the period when the ecclesi- astical supremacy was declared by the Constantinopolitan emperor to inhere in the Roman hierarch, and which usurpa- tion was tacitly or actually admitted by the barbarian kings, who had subdivided western Europe, the mental darkness and ecclesiastical vassalage increased with dreadful alacrity throughout nominal Christendom. The Emperor Leo III, in 726, promulgated a decree that the worship of images should be abrogated, and that they should not be tolerated in the churches. A widespread in- surrection, which was instigated chiefly by those two furious Roman pontiffs, Gregory II and Gregory III, ensued. Gregory II excommunicated Leo, who, in retaliation, de- stroyed all the images at Constantinople, and removed from ecclesiastical and civil offices the image worshippers. The title of universal bishop was obtained through the massacre of the Emperor Mauritius and his adherents. Image worship, with all the power and pomp which it added to the Roman pontificate, was the result of general rebellion, and the murder of two emperors, by the wife of the first and the mother of the second. The acquisition of the dominions in Italy, by which the pope became a temporal sovereign, was the result of Pepin's donation; who gave to Pope Zacharay the province of Lombardy, as a reward to the pontiff for assisting Pepin in dethroning Childeric, king of France, and destroying his family. Thus treason, slaughter, and the most unnatural domestic butchery were the grand principles upon which the popedom is founded. Origin and Progress of Popedom 19 Century IX, X. The period which elapsed from about the year 800 to 1000 is infamous in the annals of the popedom for the universal ignorance, impiety, and wickedness which characterize the ninth and tenth centuries. The principal peculiarities of the ninth and tenth centuries are discernible in the forgeries of the Decretal Epistles, which were pretended to have been delivered by the early pontiffs. To enhance the pope's temporal power a deed was framed, which it was said had been granted by Constantine in the fourth century, by which he had made a donation of Rome and a large part of Italy to Pope Sylvester and his successors, as their temporal inheritance. Baronius proved that the deed was forged several hundred years after the death of Constantine, by a monk called Balsamon, expressly to sustain inordinate usurpations of the Roman pontiff. The corporeal presence of Christ in the Eucharist was first announced about the beginning of the tenth century; and the mummery of naming bells with the same superstitious cere- monies that are used in the exorcism of mankind was also introduced, to which was added the feast of All Souls, or the day of general delivery of souls from the prison of purgatory. The popedom itself was filled with schisms and conten- tions during nearly one hundred and fifty years; at which time the profoundest ignorance begloomed the nations, and the most nefarious wickedness was unrestrained. Rome itself was exactly described by the Apostle John, Rev. xviii. 2, as " the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." That there was a terrifying increase of corruption during the ninth and tenth centuries, in doctrine, ceremonies, disci- pline, and morals, throughout all the papal dominions, is a fact which the Roman annalists admit; and its unspeakable inordinacy they describe in the most revolting style. Traditions most contradictory to the apostolic precepts 20 The Roman Catholic Church were promulgated and enjoined. The pope's universal su- premacy; image worship; false miraclei; the corporeal pres- ence of Christ in the Eucharist; the saving efficacy of the cross and relics ; invocation of saints ; worship of the Mother of God ; purgatory; masses for the dead ; the holiness of festivals; the merits of monachism; the necessity of celibacy; and the pro- hibition of marriage to the sixth degree of consanguinity, with newly arranged spiritual relationships; all of which were con- trived as so many methods to obtain money from the wretched creatures who were chained in their gloomy vassalage. The adoration of images and relics; the pretended discovery and translation of the bodies, or parts of them, which were re- ported to be the remains of prophets, apostles, evangelists, and martyrs, and festivals of all kinds continually recurring, constituted the grand external features of the debased nations who bowed to the pontifical scepter. The extreme iniquity which then was universal among all orders of the European people, from the pope and monarch down to the meanest vassal, the Capitularies, Lib. 1, the Acts of Councils, and all the chronicles of those centuries distinctly unfold. Even the temporal monarchs could not tolerate the enormous flagitiousness of the popes, cardinals, prelates, abbots, and monks, with nuns of every order. Hist. Imag., Cap. 8, Mezeroeus Hist., Sec. 9. Tom. 1, p. 651, thus forcibly writes: ' Divina ultione Normanos, gentem ad omnem barbariem ac soevitiam compositam, qui suis irrup- tionibus meritissima supplicia de corruptissimis nebulonibus sumerent." The profound ignorance of all orders of men was exactly parallel with their infamous turpitude. A priest or monk who could even read was a doctor; and a man who could write his name was a prodigy; but a person who could forge a manuscript of lying legends was a saint. Idolatry and superstition had almost attained their rank- est and most criminal monstrosity. They were exemplified Origin and Progress of Popedom 21 in the unceasing canonization of saints; the impiety attached to the system of discovering, inventing, and worshipping relics; the excessive veneration and confidence towards images, statues, and pictures; hagiolatry, or the worship and intercession of saints, to the total exclusion of all remem- brance of Jehovah and the gracious Redeemer; and espe- cially that mariolatry, which exalted the Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven, and made her the chief and generally the sole object of superstitious trust and idolatrous honor. Sigonius, An. 985, affirms, according to the legends, that in the wars with the Saracens the Apostles Peter and Paul were seen engaged in battle on the part of the nominal Christians. Wolfgang, Nicon, Simeon Metaphrastes, and the Byzantine historians unite in ascribing to the Virgin Mother of God the most horridly blasphemous eulogies, invocation, and worship, respecting her mercy, assistance, protection, health, salvation, and every other blessing. Greeks and Latins all agreed to ascribe to her the incommunicable attributes of the most high God, and the offices, merits, and work of Christ, the only Mediator. To Pope John XIII appertains the stigma of introducing the baptism of bells. The ordeals of fire and water originated in the same priestly frauds, and were submitted to through popular igno- rance. In every case, that scheme was made subservient to the increase of the power and wealth of the priesthood, and to gratify their revengeful malignity. The impure law of priestly celibacy was enforced by every possible delusion. Not only pontifical authority, but pre- tended supernatural attestations, were adduced to promote that stronghold of " the mystery of iniquity." The impious tenet of transubstantiation also was sanc- tioned by " signs." Monkish impostors attested upon " oath, by their vestments," that while the piece of the body of Christ was in the hand of the priest, they had watched the blood 22 The Roman Catholic Church flow from it in drops as out of the veins of a true human body; and that they had seen the bread changed into Christ himself, sitting in the form of a little boy upon the altar! Purgatory was likewise established by the promulgation of a mass of fictions not less absurd than impious and ruinous to the soul; and the anointing of the sick was advanced into the deceitful superstition of the extreme unction. The merits, power, and propitiation of the Virgin Mother of God, with the grace, mercy, and peace of Jehovah, bestowed through her alone, were universally conceded to equal those attributes in the Lord Jesus Christ. The virtue of his atone- ment was rejected for the expiatory sacrifice of the mass. The period which elapsed from the commencement of the tenth century, during nearly the ensuing five hundred years, has been emphatically and appropriately termed the mid- night of the world. The grateful remembrances of that doleful period are so few and so far between, that were it not for the instructive cautionary lessons which they teach, and the corroborative proofs of the prophetical Scriptures which they comprise, it would excite little regret if the whole mass of feudalism and imposture, ignorance and crime, priest- craft and monachism, usurpation and vassalage, tyranny and slaughter, anguish and diabolism, were expunged from the annals of mankind. From the year 1000 to the Reformation. It is un- necessary minutely to describe the events which transpired during the five hundred years immediately prior to the revo- lution which occurred throughout Europe in the sixteenth century. All the papal measures were merely contrivances to confirm their nefarious preeminence. The claims of Hildebrand to godlike power in heaven and upon earth; the establishment of the conclave of cardinals; the rigorous and efficient injunction of priestly celibacy; the enforcement of a belief in purgatory; the arrogance of the popes in demanding the power of investitures concerning Origin and Progress of Popedom 23 prelates; the publication of the canon law, with the de- cretals, and the boundless monkish forgeries and legends to ratify them; the feigned and counterfeit miracles which were constantly promulgated ; the authoritative demand for the plenary belief in transubstantiation ; the crusades; the increasing hordes of friars and nuns; the establishment and sale of indulgences, as a commutation for sin; the in- vention of seven sacraments; and, above all, the sanguin- ary, general, and incessant persecutions of the " witnesses who prophesied in sackcloth," and who protested " with a loud voice " against the indescribable abominations of " Babylon the great," — all those combined causes produced the full evolution and the long predominance of " the mystery of iniquity." Romish tyranny, and the pride, luxury, pomp, uncleanness, and impiety of the papal priests were consum- mated. " The Man of Sin and the Son of Perdition " was Lord upon earth. " The working of Satan w was unre- strained; and incarnate diabolism was so culminant that even many of the moral and thoughtful dwellers in the seat of the beast clamored loudly for a general and complete refor- mation. A Small Portion of the Chronological Table of Popery A.D. 65. Nero — First persecutions of Christians. 123. Alexander, Bishop of Rome, invented holy water. 135. Bishop Sextus introduced altars. 154. The title of pope first applied to ministers by Heginus. 159. Fonts in churches were first appointed by Pius. 169. Anicetus, of Rome, directed consecration of bishops and shaving heads of the priests. 275. The ninth persecution. 302. The tenth persecution. In Egypt alone 144,000 were put to death, and 700,000 banished. 316. Constantine first exercised the ecclesiastical and temporal power. 320. Wax candles and lamps were introduced and kept burning in the churches. 325. First general council of Nice, and the Nicene creed was adopted. 380. The application of the word Catholic was adopted. 394. The word mass was adopted. 429. Nestorioras denied the propriety of applying the title " Mother of God " to the Virgin Mary. 461. Paulinus of Nola invented the painting of stories of the Old Testament and of crosses on the walls of the churches. 494. Gelasius, the Roman prelate, claimed the pri- macy above all bishops. 24 Chronological Table of Popery 25 555. Pelagius poisoned Vigilius that he might be elected in his stead. 591. Gregory adopted the title of Servant to the Servants of God. 594. John, of Constantinople, again asserted his claim to the title of Universal Bishop. 606. Pope Boniface III obtained from the usurper Phocas the ecclesiastical supremacy and de- creed that the appellation of pope should ever after be restricted to the Roman pontiff. 704. Aripert, king of the Lombards, gave the Roman pontiff the Celtian Alps for an ecclesiastical patrimony, the first province over which popes exercised regular temporal sovereignty and which in 709 was exempted from imperial jurisdiction. 829. The Roman priests were now proverbially disorderly, proud, and unclean. 853. Cardinals were first known in Rome. 854. Popess Joan was head of the pontificate until her death in the midst of an idolatrous proces- sion going to the Lateran. 863. The Pope and Photius, Patriarch of Constanti- nople, excommunicated each other 881. Pope John was put to death for his intolerable wickedness. 896. Pope Boniface VI was expelled from his office before the end of the first month on account of his atrocious lewdness. 897. Pope Stephen was a more outrageous monster than Boniface. He was seized and strangled in prison. 925. Pope John began the custom of making boy prelates. He appointed a boy five years of age Prelate of Rheims. 26 The Roman Catholic Church 930. The two preceding popes were murdered by the harlot Marozia, daughter of Theodora, that she might place in the popedom John, her son, of whom Pope Jergius III was father. 964. Pope Leo was caught in adultery and slain upon the spot by the husband. 1045. Pope Benedict was banished from the popedom for his wickedness; Silvester III was also ex- pelled; Gregory VI was elected. They all resided in Rome until a council excluded them. Thus there were three popes living at the same time. 1064. Popes were elected by the cardinals. 1095. Beads to pray by were first invented. 1124. The Archbishop of Lyons was slain at Rome for censuring the beastly wickedness of the papal dignitaries. 1155. Arnold of Brescia, was burnt for exposing the turpitude of the Roman priests. 1211. The order of the Holy Trinity was founded. 1215. The Lateran Council was summoned to crush the Albigenses and to confirm transubstan- tiation. 1233. The inquisition was established. 1252. The Bible was divided into chapters. 1260. Nearly 100,000 of the Albigenses were massacred by the papists. 1275. The conclave of cardinals was established and the superstitious reverence to the name of Jesus was enacted. 1 295 . Boniface VIII, it was said , entered the pontificate like a fox, ruled like a wolf, and died like a dog. 1300. Pope Boniface styled himself " Universal Lord, both in all things temporal and spiritual." Chronological Table of Popery 27 1540. The order of Jesuits was founded by Ignatius. Loyola. 1545. The Council of Trent was opened December 13. The sessions continued at intervals for eiffh- teen years. 1549. The pope appoints as cardinal a boy whom he had employed as his money keeper. 1572. Gregory XIII. Massacre of St. Bartholomew (August 24), in which from 50,000 to 100,000 French Protestants (Huguenots) were butch- ered by order of Charles IX. The news ex- cites the most extravagant joy at Rome and a medal is struck commemorating the event. 1584. The Prince of Orange is murdered by Balthazar Gerard at the instigation of the Jesuits, who as- sure him of a happy immortality as his reward. 1589. Henry III, of France, is murdered by Jacques Clement, a tool of the Jesuits, August 1. 1603. The Jesuits who had been banished from France were permitted to return. 1604. The Jesuits are expelled from England. 1605. Pope Paul V, who was styled " Vice God upon Earth, Monarch of Christendom, and the supporter of Papal Omnipotence," on May 29 sanctions the doctrine of the Jesuit Suarez, that it is right to murder kings who oppose the pontifical power. 1622. Gregory XV canonizes Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, as a saint. 1644. Donna Olympia Maldachini, the pope's para- mour, governs church and state for ten years during the pontificate of Innocent X. 1686. An edict is published July 1 declaring every Huguenot minister, native or foreign, punish- able with death if found in France. 28 The Roman Catholic Church 1764. The Jesuits are expelled from Portugal, and the Society of Jesuits is suppressed in France by order of the king. 1767. Jesuits banished from Spain, and compelled to leave for Italy without an hour's delay. 1768. Jesuits driven from the two Sicilies. 1773. Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Order of Jesuits and dies a year after the date of the edict (July 31) with every evidence of having been poisoned. 1814. Pius VII restores the Order of the Jesuits by a pontifical edict. 1833. Gregory XVI issues an encyclical letter de- nouncing liberty of conscience and freedom of the press as pestilential errors. 1837. Upwards of 400 Protestants of Zillerthal, in the Tyrol, are banished because they refuse alle- giance to the Pope. 1844. The Pope issues a bull, May 8, against Bible Societies, and denounces them as " works of the devil." The Pontifical Hierarchy The primary hypothesis of popery is the supremacy of the Roman pontiff, which implies that all rules of faith and practice depend upon him as the infallible head and lord of the church. Hence it is proclaimed as a fundamental article of belief, that nothing must be believed or done unless the representative of the church commands it. From which principle, it is maintained, that human salvation depends upon the acknowledgment of the Roman pontiff as the supreme head of the church; that he is chief teacher; and that there is no other foundation of faith than his decree. " The Roman pontiff alone is called universal. He alone can ordain and depose bishops. It is lawful to him alone to enact laws as necessity demands. His name alone, as the only one in the world, should be recited in the church. No general synod should be called without his mandate. No chapter or book can be canonical without his authority. His decision can be judged and opposed by no man. All causes must be referred to the court of Rome, which never has erred, and never can err." The subjects of the pope are the common people, and those who belong to the ecclesiastical orders. The latter are a numerous army, who endeavor by various arts, strength, and stratagems to increase and amplify the dominion of their prince. Puffendorf, Hist. Univ., Cap. De Papa. That army is composed of the common priests, or of monks, whose generals reside at Rome, and who despatch their orders to all the ends of the earth, with a secrecy, swiftness, and success which are unparalleled in the history of mankind. Among these errors, which all directly promoted the ambi- tion, opulence, and pomp of the priesthood, the following may 29 30 The Roman Catholic Church be enumerated as the principal: remission of sins; auricular confession; satisfaction by works; judicial absolution from sin; a treasury of good works of supererogation; the increase of the sacraments; the intention of the priest to fulfil the requisitions made by the church; the communion in both kinds; novel degrees in consanguinity; priestly celibacy; extreme unction; and the canonization of saints. From which dogmas and practices flowed those strange " cere- monial antics," superfluous temples, altars, and festivals, which were indefinitely multiplied, that the myriads of indo- lent priests might have an income for their support. To all which may be added the prohibition of food, the anathemas, and multitudes of lying miracles, which were first invented and are still practised, solely to extract money from those persons of wealth who were imbued with deep superstition. All those crafty contrivances immediately strengthened the papal domination, and eventually removed from the earth both the jurisdiction and reign of Immanuel. II. The papacy is a monarchical government, both civil and ecclesiastical, founded upon the pretext of divine right and supported by the plea of religion. The history of Europe prior to the Reformation of the sixteenth century demonstrates that it is impossible for man- kind to enjoy peace as long as the pontifical power is tolerated. All the commotions and wars of Europe, from the seventh century to the sixteenth, were either directly instigated or in- directly encouraged by the Italian pontiffs. The power of Rome was first evolved amid public calamities; it was con- tinually strengthened by crime and treachery; and it was finally cemented by persecution and massacre. The Roman priests and friars have constantly interfered in all the civil affairs of nations; and when opposed in their unholy manoeuvres, they " have turned the world upside down " to avenge their falsely alleged injuries. All their eccle- siastical legions have been called into action. They have The Pontifical Hierarchy 31 embroiled the nations, threatened the civil authorities, and convulsed the whole order of society. For that unholy work the prelates have been endowed with large salaries, and every factitious appendage and honorable title have been contrived to give them influence. The papal ecclesiastics have been despatched into all countries, by every artifice to subjugate the people. Through fabulous pictures, vows of poverty, professions of self-denial, and " lying wonders," they robbed the people of every blessing, which appertains to human existence upon earth. The monasteries and female convents which they erected, and unto which they inveigled wealthy and thought- less youth, and in which " sepulchres of goodness and castles of misery " millions of persons have been incarcerated as if in a tomb while living — those edifices were the privi- leged haunts of indolence, sensuality, and the most flagrant and inordinate sins in all their incurable rottenness. Monks and friars and nuns, of every age and place and grade and order have always been the most ignorant, bigoted, corrupt, selfish, and revengeful transgressors. Their vows of union, secrecy, and servility have ever rendered them the most abject tools of the court of Rome, and the strongest pillars of the papal supremacy and infallibility. The power of the Roman pontiff is now, as it always has been, fearfully for- midable, on account of that tremendous jurisdiction which is thus exercised ; not so much because of their bold and des- perate seditions and rebellions, as of the impenetrable secrecy with which, through auricular confession, their diabolical enterprises are continued and accomplished. One of the popes used to boast that he had two hundred and eighty- eight thousand parishes and forty-four thousand monasteries under his supreme and authoritative control. Popish priests, whether established or tolerated in Protestant countries, their pretended oaths of homage and fealty are irreconcilable with their vows of canonical 32 The Roman Catholic Church obedience, and their professed subjection to the laws is nullified by their more solemn engagements to promote and maintain the privileges of their order and of the popedom. The authority of legislation and jurisdiction claimed by the pontiff of the anti-Christian apostacy is unlimited and supreme. " He not only pretends that the whole power and majesty of the church reside in his person, and are transmitted from him to the inferior bishops, but asserts the absolute infallibility of all decisions and decrees which he pronounces from his lordly tribunal." According to the genuine Romish faith, he is " the only visible source of the universal power which Christ has granted to the church. All bishops and subor- dinate officers derive from him alone their authority and juris- diction. He is not bound by any laws of the church nor decrees of councils. He is the supreme lawgiver of that sacred community, and his edicts and commands it is in the highest degree criminal to oppose or disobey." " Angels in heaven dare not aspire to the authority of the priesthood. The hierarchs, the priests of the church, create their Creator, and have power over the body of Christ. The priesthood walketh hand in hand with the Godhead, and priests are Gods, surpassing as much in dignity the royal office as the soul surpasseth the body. The power of priests is so great, and their excellency so noble, that heaven depends on them. Joshua stopped the sun, but priests stay Christ. The creature obeyed Joshua, but the creator obeys the priest. The cardinal points of popery are the supremacy and infallibility of the papal hierarchy. Bellarmin, " De Roman Pontiff," says that his discussion, " agitur de summa rei Christians, includes the sum of Christianity," so that the unlimited sway of the pope, according to him, is the essence of religion. The claim of infallibility is still more preposterous than that of universal supremacy; not only from the absurdity of supposing that two or more f allibles can make one infallible, The Pontifical Hierarchy 33 but also on account of the character of the parties who auda- ciously pretend to that divine prerogative. It is equally true that many of the popes were the most impious and nefarious sinners who ever disgraced the char- acter of humanity. Platina Vit. Pontif. declares that Bene- dict VIII, Sylvester III, and Gregory VI were " tria teter- rima monstra, three most filthy monsters." The same Popish biographer records that John VIII or IX, Benedict IV, John XVI, Stephen VI, Boniface VIII, obtained the popedom by treachery, craft, bribery, murder, and pretended witch- craft. Pope Alexander VI had two sons and a daughter, and her epitaph contained this phrase: ; ' Alexandri filia, sponsa, nurus; daughter, wife, and son's wife." Julius II, who suc- ceeded him, was a daring and notorious scorner, not only of religion, but of all decorum. He is infamous for his most inhuman and flagitious crimes. Leo X, through whose prodigality and voluptuousness the Reformation ostensibly commenced, publicly ridiculed Christianity as a fable, and died in the commission of the unnatural " abomination." Lev. viii. 22. Genebrard, Chronolog., Lib. 4, Sec. 10, narrates that fifty popes from John VIII, or Popess Joan, to Leo IX, during one hundred and fifty years, were " the most profligate and execrable villains who ever lived in the world." That decision is fully ratified even by Baronius. It is also indubitable, that more than one pope has tyr- annized at the same period. During the : ' Babylonish captivity," as the Italian papists satirically denounced the period of the pope's residence at Avignon, there were always two, and at the convocation of the Council of Constance, three popes, all of whom were condemned for their inordinate trans- gressions. That body, aided by the royal authorities, elected for pope, Martin V whose daring impiety, treachery, and wickedness, exceeded all the criminality of those even who were ejected for their insupportable turpitude. About the year 1159 Pope Alexander III contended against three 34 The Roman Catholic Church competitors; and before the close of that schism three more appeared whose title to the triple crown was equally valid ; so that for some years there were four, five, and six popes at the same period, all equally entitled to the popedom, and every one of them the practical illustration of a demon incarnate. In the year 975, and also in 1045, there were three popes striving for the triple crown and pontifical throne, so that the popish annalists called the papacy of that period " the triple- headed Cerberus! " Which of all those pretenders was the legitimate infallible ? They each contradicted and they each excommunicated all the others. Unless, therefore, flat con- tradictions are oracular identities, and infallible truth is the most perverse falsehood, those contradictions destroy all the impious claim to perfect exemption from error. To which must be subjoined the fact, that popes, upon an incalculable number of subjects of doctrine, discipline, ceremonies, and morals, have differed to the very extremities of the intellec- tual universe. Popes themselves have confessed their own liability to err. So did Alexander IV and Innocent IV and Clement VI and Urban V, and the annals of the papacy are replete with in- stances of the most absolute and direct contradictions be- tween the decisions of the pontiffs upon all questions of faith, ceremonies, discipline, and morals. Pope Adrian VI exhibits the most convincing demonstra- tion of the general proposition that the boasted infallibility is an imposture. Cardinal Pole, one of the papal legates to the Council of Trent, in a work published by order of Pope Pius IV, and Andrasus, who was a member of that assembly, in his Defens. Cone. Trident., Lib. 1, both have demonstrated that the Council of Trent was fallible. Stapfer de Papismo, Num. 341 . The pope with a council cannot be an infallible judge of articles of faith. The pope is fallible, and a council is fallible, but two The Pontifical Hierarchy 35 fallibles cannot make one infallible. Either, therefore, the pope must communicate his infallibility to the council, or the council must bestow theirs upon the pope, but as neither of them possess that attribute so neither of them can impart it. One of the most inexplicable of all the inquiries connected with this subject is this: how men so scandalously outrageous and vile as were a large majority of the popes, such prover- bially profligate, profane, impious, lewd murderers, that they have no counterpart in society except among the cardinals and the chief retainers of the apostacy, could have been sup- ported during so long a period. One solution only can be adduced — the universal degeneracy inclined all orders of the people " to embrace evil doctrines, and to engage in false worship " ; while the easy commutation for their transgres- sions by means of auricular confession, penance, and the tax for absolution united their energies to maintain a system, which indulged their vicious propensities to the widest range and quieted their consciences by the guarantee of pardon, security, and peace. A condensed summary of the principal objections against the Romish anti-Christian system will properly close this con- cise review. The papal hierarchy has no sanction or authority for its existence in the sacred oracles, except in the awful con- demnatory denunciations with which it is always delineated. It expunges the right of private examination and judgment on all literary, moral, and religious topics. It "prohibits liberty of mind, speech, writing, and printing; it debases the soul and character of man, and is the unceasing, implacable foe of education, science, improvement, and reason." An accurate idea may be formed of the immense sums of money which were constantly flowing towards Rome when we consider that there was a constant traffic in images, pur- gatory, relics, pilgrimages, indulgences, jubilees, canoniza- tions, miracles, masses, tithes, annats, Peter's pence, investi- tures, appeals, reservations, bulls, and expectatives, which 36 The Roman Catholic Church ever drained the impoverished people. The manufacture of a new saint costs one hundred thousand crowns. An arch- bishop's pall, a small white woolen rag not worth five cents, costs about fifty-five hundred dollars, but in the year 1250 the Archbishop of York paid one thousand pounds for the pall; which, reckoning the difference in the value of money, would amount to nearly five hundred thousand dollars. In reference to that foolery the poet Baptist Mantuan said: " Si quid Roma dabit, nugas dabit, accipit aurum, Verba dat: heu Romse nunc sola pecunia regnat." * The money thus drained from the various nations by the papal robbers, called priests and friars, amounted to almost double all the other national expenditures. The harvest at Rome was in exact proportion to the credulity, superstition, and wickedness of mankind. It is therefore easily under- stood how much those profitable delinquencies would be encouraged, and how eagerly such capital stock would be im- proved by those who traded in the popish merchandise of " the souls of men." *Rome gives trifles and words and receives gold. Money alone rules at Rome. The Papal Interdicts Of all the extraordinary and gratuitous injustice and cruelty with which the papacy is chargeable, probably the interdict is the most atrocious. England, during the time of King John, because he would not submit to the papal usurpations and plunders, was under the papal interdict during six years, and suffered indescribable anguish. After he had reluctantly submitted to the pope, he was poisoned by a monk who had been specially absolved by his abbot to perpetrate that regicide. Henry II, king of England, in consequence of his dispute with that Traitor Saint Thomas Becket, to save his people from an interdict, was obliged to ratify the most degrading conditions imposed by the pope's legate, and afterwards to walk barefooted above three miles in penance over sharp stones. He also received eighty strokes for a scourging from the hands of several priests and monks, before the tomb and image of the ecclesi- astical rebel, as an expiation for his atrocious sin in opposing the universal civil supremacy of the Roman pontiff and his hierarchy. Sleidan's Key to History, p. 289, Hist, of England, Henry II. One of the British earls had imprisoned a prelate. He was eventually surprised and captured. Pope Sylvester II ordered the earl to be tied to two wild horses, and his mangled corpse was afterwards exposed on the public road without sepulture. Innet's Origin es Anglicanse, Vol. 2. These facts are fully confirmed by the declaration of a famous popish author, Augustus Triumphus, who in his Pref. Sum. to John XXII used these words: " The pope's power is infinite; for great is the Lord, and great is his power, and of his greatness there is no end." The Romish parasite could not thus blasphemously have magnified the pontifical beneficence. 37 Priestly Celibacy Puffendorf, in his Introduction to the History of Europe, Cap. 12, sect. 32, illustrates the prohibition of marriage to priests in this forcible language. The ecclesiastics being freed from the care of wives and children, are more devoted to the interest of the papacy. By their celibacy they are not tempted to attach themselves to the sovereigns in whose dominions they reside; they have no excuse for appropriating any part of the ecclesiastical spoils for the subsistence of their families; and they are better quali- fied, and always ready to execute the orders of the pope, particularly against their own sovereigns, whose displeasure they dread not, when they can so easily remove from their jurisdiction. Thus having no care but for themselves and their order, the pope has taught them to abandon all the associations of life without feeling, and has released them from all secular power and jurisdiction, that he might more se- curely retain them as his own vassals." The law of priestly celibacy, we are assured by the Apostle Paul, 1 Tim. iv. 1-3, is " the doctrine of devils," which never was enforced until the hierarchy became too powerful to be resisted. That unholy machination, which has always and universally been the source of the most scandalous dis- orders and turpitude, has ever been held as the most inviol- able and essential part of the papal system. John Pye Smith thus writes: " The forced celibacy of the priesthood ' grows immediately out of ecclesiastical usurpa- tion. This, in combination with private confession, proves the occasion of criminalities which poison the very springs of domestic virtue, and which the degraded state of public morals in the countries where they prevail scarcely urges 38 Priestly Celibacy 39 to disguise.'" At the close of the Council of Trent a re- monstrance was presented to Pope Pius IV by the Roman priests of Germany, which was supported by the emperor and the Elector of Bavaria. ' But why is this anti-scrip- tural and iniquitous law permitted to pollute the papacy? Because it cuts off the priesthood from family attachments and patriotic connections; it more closely intwines their personal feelings with the interest of their order; it thus makes them an army of devoted janizaries of the pope; and power- fully attracts into the coffers of the church whatever property the individual priests may acquire. Can such a system fail to be the fruitful parent of all immorality ? " Reasons of the Protestant Religion. To establish and secure the ecclesiastical monarchy, Pope Gregory VII changed the ancient profession of canonical obedience into the form of an oath similar to that required by the emperor and other monarchs of their feudal vassals. It was imposed with dreadful imprecations annexed to it. Jesuit's Oath of Secrecy "I, A. B., now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the archangel, the blessed St. John Baptist, the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and the saints and sacred host of heaven, and to you my ghostly father, do declare from my heart, without mental reservation, that his holiness Pope Urban is Christ's vicar- general, and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by the virtue of the keys of binding and loosing given to his holiness by my Saviour Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths, and governments, all being illegal, without his sacred confirmation, and that they may safely be destroyed : therefore to the utmost of my power I shall and will defend this doctrine, and his holiness' rights and customs against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatsoever: especially against the now pretended authority and Church of England, and all adherents, in re- gard that they and she be usurpal and heretical, opposing the sacred mother church of Rome. I do renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince, or state, named Protestants, or obedience to any of their inferior magistrates or officers. I do further declare that the doctrine of the Church of England, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and of others of the name of Protestants, to be damnable, and they themselves are damned, and to be damned, that will not forsake the same. I do further de- clare, that I will help, assist, and advise all, or any of his holiness' agents in any place, wherever I shall be, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, or in any other territory or kingdom I shall come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical 40 Jesuits Oath of Secrecy 41 Protestants' doctrine, and to destroy all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise. I do further promise and de- clare, that notwithstanding I am dispensed with to assume any religion heretical for the propagation of the mother church's interest, to keep secret and private all her agent's counsels from time to time, as they intrust me, and not to divulge directly or indirectly, by word, writing, or circum- stance, whatsoever; but to execute all what shall be proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me by you my ghostly father, or by any of this sacred convent. All which I, A. B., do swear by the blessed Trinity, and blessed Sacrament, which I now am to receive, to perform, and on my part to keep inviolably. And do call all the heavenly and glori- ous host of heaven to witness these my real intentions, and to keep this my oath. In testimony hereof, I take this most holy and blessed sacrament of the Eucharist; and witness the same further with my hand and seal in the face of this holy convent." — Foxes and Firebrands. Usher. The antiquated form, which is of similar import, can be found in Baronius, who thus concludes his account of it. " Hactenus juramentum, etc. That is the oath which to that period all the prelates used to take." An. 723, and 1079. Lab. Concil. Tom. 10, p. 1504; and Tom. 11, p. 1565. Historical Notices of Jesuitism Jesuitism was legalized by the bull of Pope Paul III, 1540. Its inventor, Ignatius Loyola, triumphed over all the opposi- tion which was made to his scheme by adding a novel vow to those which were then professed by the monastic orders. To the three vows, " to maintain chastity, obedience, and poverty," Ignatius subjoined unqualified submission to the sovereign pontiff. Hence the government of the Jesuits is an absolute monarchy; for everything is decided by the sole decree of the general. Ignatius was the first and Lainez the second master of the order. The Jesuits speedily established themselves in Europe, Asia, and America; penetrated into all classes of society; wheedled the people by the exterior forms of devotion; and applied themselves above all things to cajole the great; by which they acquired vast power and ruled their masters. At a very early period after the establishment of the order the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of France proclaimed that " the society was dangerous to the Christian faith, dis- turbers of the peace, and more fitted to corrupt than to edify." The Jesuits were implicated in the assassination of Henry III, of France; planned the Spanish Armada; often con- trived the death of Elizabeth of England; invented the gunpowder plot; instigated the murder of Henry rV of France; impelled the revocation of the edict of Nantes; ruined James II; and were commingled with all the atroc- ities and miseries which desolated Europe during nearly two hundred years. So atrocious, extensive, and continual were their crimes that they were expelled, either partially or gen- erally, from all the different countries of Europe, at various intervals prior to the abolition of the order in 1773, thirty-nine 42 Historical Notices of Jesuitism 43 times, a fact unparalleled in the history of any other body of men ever known in the world. This is the seal of reprobation stamped upon Jesuitism. What crimes among governments have they not com- mitted ! what chicanery in courts and families! what knavery, despotism, and audacity in violating covenants, defying power, and falsifying truth and right! Ambiguous and eva- sive subtleties of language always permitted them to choose that which promoted their interests. The choice of means never embarrassed them. Everything was rectified by the doctrine of intention. In all places they would exclusively rule; and abettors of every species of despotism, in all times and situations, they loaded the nations with an insupportable yoke, and fettered them in the most galling chains. What other monastic order ever realized thirty-nine expul- sions, and yet by their artifice could procure the restoration of their craft? What other order of men ever saw their dogmas, thousands of the very vilest doctrines, condemned by courts of justice, and censured by universities and theo- logians ? W T hat other order ever was so implicated in crimes of treason and tragedies of blood, both public and private, and has continued during its whole existence, to live at war with all mankind ? The instructions of the Jesuits have been developed by Pascal; in the decrees of the Sorbonne; the censures of uni- versities; the denunciations of parliaments; and the papal condemnation. The number of authors approved by the Jesuits, who have written in direct opposition to all religion and morals, is three hundred and twenty-six — all which works are admitted as infallible authority on every casuistical question. Upon probable opinions, 50; philosophical sin, invincible ignorance, and an erroneous conscience, 33; simony, 14; blasphemy and sacrilege, 7; irreligion, 35; immodesty, 17; perjury and false witness, 28; prevarication of judges, 5; 44 The Roman Catholic Church theft, secret compensation, and concealment of property, 33 ; homicide, 36; treason, 68. Those three hundred and twenty- six most wicked and dangerous publications were condemned, at different periods, by forty universities; one hundred pre- lates; three provincial synods; seven, general assemblies; and forty-eight decrees, briefs, letters apostolic, and papal bulls from Rome. He who mentions an armed despotism against freedom, intelligence, and prosperity, names Jesuitism, which ever has been the inseparable companion of military force and abso- lute power. This is the doctrine of Jesuitism; and its most active and undisguised organ thus advised royalty in France and Spain: " Never embark upon the stormy sea of deliberative assem- blies; nor surrender your absolute character and authority." The Jesuits proscribe general instruction, because it is too favorable to the progress of intelligence among the people. They maintain that public tuition should be remitted en- tirely to the Romish clergy for boys and to nuns for girls. They affirm that the liberty of the press is Pandora's box, and the source of all evil. Popery, and especially Jesuitism, by the instrumentality of the priesthood, takes possession of all that constitutes human life. It lays its iron hand upon all civil relations. This is the inevitable result of the system which ever subsists in the court of Rome. Pope Pius VII, in a rescript addressed to his nuncio at Venice, asserted his pontifical right to depose sovereigns — " although it is not always convenient to exercise the juris- diction." The Jesuits are a body of men whose political principles are so dangerous that they have been excluded from almost every country in which they were residents; which act was full of sound policy and wise preservation. Character and Proceedings of Jesuitism As an absolute monarchy, Jesuitism surpasses in despotism every arbitrary tyrant, by the boundless power granted to the general, and from him to the superiors; by that obedience imposed upon the inferiors, which annihilates all their own will; by the doctrine of extravagant authority, which exceeds even the claims of Asiatic sovereignty ; by the support of associates taken from its bosom, a tribute raised from all kinds of credulity, fear, and ambition; and by its secret ramifications, which gives it eyes and ears and hands everywhere, all of which are occupied in penetrating and communicating to the chief, the secrets of states, families, and individuals, thus uniting them as in a common center. Hence was formed that Jesuitism which filled the world, which engrossed its concerns during two hundred years, and which again demands its former supremacy. Ignatius thus addressed the Vatican: " Light makes war upon you. We will carry intelligence to some, darken knowledge in others, and direct it in all." At Madrid, that knight errant of popery proclaimed: " The human mind is awakened. If its energy is not extinguished, all eyes will be opened ; and an alliance will be formed incompatible with the ancient subjection. Men will search for rights of which they are now ignorant; the throne will lose its lofty prejudices, and its power will vanish with its enchantments." Jesuitism knew that the empire of the world is not ob- tained at the foot of the altar; but that it is the reward of ob- stinate labor, and of time occupied in the severest exercises. The Jesuit regards the world as an arena, and himself as a competitor who must never desert the lists. Full of this ex- citement, Jesuitism leaves other monks to count beads, and 45 46 The Roman Catholic Church pray seven times daily. Its object is of a higher destiny, — to govern the world; to seize it at all points; and like a skilful general, it seeks and assigns employ to all its members. The weak are stationed around the altars, to attract by their sanc- timonious fervor; the learned fill the chairs of sacred and profane literature; the crafty attach themselves to those in exalted stations, that by their means they may obtain and direct power for their own advantage; and the strong go forth to proselyte. This was a vast and artful plan; and to fulfil it, a sagacity in the means of execution was demanded equal to that which presided at its formation. What government could suit and adapt itself to an order of things so boundless and lofty? An absolute monarchy. How is this monarchy conducted ? By the command of one over all; and in the obedience of all to that same one. Hence the tyranny of Jesuitism is the most complete of all those which despots ever tried; for the general of the Jesuits is the true Supreme; and all the Superiors, who are delegates of this outrageous power, like their master, are absolute. Under this double weight the subject must remain crushed. Jesuitism cannot dispense with skilful workmen, and excels in the choice of its agents. It possesses in the highest degree the quality of attraction, and of judgment in the dispositions of youth; so that they may be made desirous to unite with the order. Before its mansion is displayed a golden door; hence it is acceptable and sought after by the great, desired by the humble, dreaded by the weak, and sup- ported by the powerful. The Jesuit general is served by a zealous militia, an incal- culable number of devoted volunteers everywhere present. Thus information arrives by a thousand ways, and places the whole world under the watchful control of the chief. A sover- eign who wished to know all that was passing in other nations had only to use Jesuitical policy, and to apply to the general of the order. Character and Proceedings of Jesuitism 47 Jesuitism knew that concealed and innumerable ways, leading to a common center, are a powerful means of direc- tion and fear. Men dread to declare their opinions and to act concerning those whom they expect to meet at all times and in every situation. The spirit of domination is the soul of Jesuitism, which sways the temporal power by the spiritual authority. Intoler- ance, with the mixture of that control, has been the most prolific source of all those evils which ever have afflicted humanity. False notions and incorrect apprehensions en- gender collisions. In that deceitful art Jesuitism is Grand Master. It formerly kept a school for it, and from its books the order made a trade and merchandise — and they are now resuming their occupation with all their arsenal of reserva- tions, subtleties, and equivocations. Jesuitism Incompatible with Constitutional Order and the Liberty of the Press What is the liberty of the press ? A sentinel destined to warn us of all the movements made by the enemies of society, that we may be guarded against surprise. But how can this accord with Jesuitism? The liberty of the press is regular freedom, but Jesuitism is arbitrary despotism. That seeks the utmost publicity; this conceals itself in crooked and hidden paths. That is sincere; but Jesuitism is one entire mass of mental reservations, subterfuges, equivocations, and secret intentions contrary to open acts. That demands re- ligious liberty; but Jesuitism enacts Roman intolerance. That proposes the development of the human intellect; Jesuitism is its restraining tyrant. The liberty of the press displays those broad openings to industry, commerce, and the innumerable occupations which supply all the wants of society; Jesuitism is the art to create and prolong collisions. Therefore, constitutional order cannot exist, or Jesuitism must be extinct; they are totally incompatible with each other. Hatred of the liberty of the press is essential to Jesuit- ism; but as constitutional order is inseparable from the freedom of the press, it follows that Jesuitism is at per- manent and unchangeable hostility with both those essen- tials of national prosperity. One of the chiefs of a sound and correct philosophy pub- licly declared in France that affairs had attained such a crisis that " JESUITISM AND PUBLIC LIBERTY ARE IRRECONCILABLE; AND THAT THE REPUBLICS OF SOUTH AMERICA, IN ADOPTING POPERY AS THEIR ESTABLISHED RELIGION, WERE GUILTY OF national suicide." But expansive ideas germinate not 48 Jesuitism Incompatible with Liberty of Press 49 where Jesuitism sways; for its blasting breath dries up and withers everything it infects. Since the French Revolution in 1789, society, reclaiming its legitimate rights, separated the civil marriage from the religious ceremony. Before that period the priest com- bined a civil office with his ecclesiastical character. His register regulated the state of citizens. Thus by a strange confusion of ideas, and the consequence of this deplorable mixture of spiritual and temporal things, which has caused so much evil in the world, a religious act conferred civil rights, and a priest determined the condition of citizens. The Society of Jesuits was avowedly organized to counter- act the influence of resuscitated Christianity. They nearly superseded all the other orders, and now constitute the Roman pontiff's " body guard," expressly to defend the papal cor- ruptions, and by every possible means to exterminate all persons who will not submit to the Romish priesthood. The government of the order is the absolute despotism of an in- dividual, exercising his undisputed control over the destiny, persons, conduct, belief, words, thoughts, and purposes of every devotee belonging to that nefarious association. All their principles, rules, and acts are comprised in one vow, " at all times to go upon any service, and to execute every man- date " of the general of the order, promptly, and without hesitation; that is, " it is an oath of unqualified obedience to the pope." Their diabolical tenets, their anti-social intrigues, their intolerable corruptions, and the innumerable murders, and treasons, and wide spread desolations which they had perpetrated, coerced almost every government in Europe to banish them from their countries. Still they survived under the name of St. Sulpicius, Cordicoles, Freres de la Croix, and other titles. Pope Clement XIV, as he supposed, by his pontifical authority, suppressed them in 1773; for which act they poisoned their " Infallible Supreme." Notwithstand- ing the execrations of every Christian, the opposition of all 50 The Roman Catholic Church civilized nations, the denunciations and curses of popes and potentates, and their exterminating decrees and laws, that detestable society yet exists; and from documents discovered at Montrogue, one of their magnificent establishments near Paris, since the expulsion of Charles X from France, in 1830, it is ascertained that they then amounted to 22,787; of whom 11,010 were priests, which number has certainly increased; and that they then possessed sixty-one institutions for Novices, Jesuits of the first class; and 669 colleges for Scholars, Jesuits of the second class; and 176 seminaries for Coadjutors, Jesuits of the third class; and twenty-four houses for the Professed, the highest and finished class of the order, who alone are considered the perfectly accom- plished Jesuits. It is a very important consideration in connection with this topic, that the Jesuits enacted the following rule: " No volume shall be published by any of the members without the approbation of the superiors." Provincial Letters 5, 9. Whence it follows, that the whole order are responsible for every dogma contained in any works of the Jesuits, unless it has been expressly condemned. From which fact, as com- bined with the preceding testimonies, which are extracted from the works of the most renowned Jesuit authors, it is most manifest that modern popery is grossly immoral and inexpressibly corrupting; that it destroys all sense of recip- rocal obligation; that it injures civil society through all its ramifications; that it is totally incompatible with public order and all righteous government; that it is destructive of do- mestic confidence and national safety; and consequently that a system, the principal characteristic of which is this, — that it teaches and fosters every species of iniquity, and " trains up youth to villainy by rule," — ought not to be tolerated in any civilized nations, and much less among a people denominated and professing to be Christians. Danger of Jesuitism The popedom, it is now supposed, numbers one hundred and twenty millions of vassals, with four hundred thousand active priests, everywhere scattered, having but one chief, — for whom respect increases by distance. Irish and American priests are more obsequious to the Roman pontiff than the German or French ecclesiastics. He is the head of that im- mense family of traitorous spies and of that universally present ecclesiastical militia. He numbers more minions than any other sovereign. They have subjects only in their own territory; the pope claims them in all countries. They only command the exterior homage; the pope rules the in- terior and penetrates the heart, for conscience is the seat of his empire. If the whole world were papal he would control the world, being directly served by millions of priests devoted to the worship of him as supreme. That power, as it already in former ages in Europe has disturbed, would shake the universe. In Ireland, Holland, and the United States all Roman affairs are managed by vicars apostolic, as in countries regu- lated by missions. That system is highly approved at Rome, because it supplies the means of that court being everywhere sovereign. The priests of the United States, like those of Ireland, are extremely devoted to the pope. They are very rigorous in their exactions. In due time they will embarrass the government of the United States, as those of Ireland have disconcerted the British government, and as those of Holland have troubled their sovereign. In all the course of the Jesuits there is something so unmanageable that their proceedings should be terminated at once, by decided opposition. We may however rejoice that America advances toward Europe with the social contract, constitutional order, and the liberty of the press in her hand, inviting the old world to imitate her example and enjoy her privileges. 51 52 The Roman Catholic Church Nevertheless, human society is fearfully menaced by the atrocious revival of the order of Jesuits; and by the introduc- tion of its principles, which engender and promote every private and public collision and disorder. Away with Jesuitism. — De Pradt, " Jesuitisme Ancien el Moderne." Our country is in jeopardy. We have in our midst a dark, insidious, and treacherous enemy, who is endeavoring to ele- vate himself on the overthrow of our freedom and the exter- mination of Christianity. " Unless the people awake from their dreamy confidence and false charity, and rouse their energies to a universal and persevering opposition to that artful, insinuating, and dangerous traitor, the popish priest- hood, ere long we may realize the terrors, cruelties, tortures, and massacres which our ancestors endured. Therefore, blow the trumpet of alarm, cry mightily against the abomina- tions of the secret places ; and fervently pray that God would accomplish His promise, and 'consume the mystery of iniquity and the working of Satan, with the spirit of His mouth, and with the brightness of His coming.' " There are many interesting chapters, among others, ' ' Decrees and Canons of the Council of Trent," which should be read by every one inter- ested in the subject, and which time and space do not admit treating in this volume. However much one may regret the practices and livings of popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, vicegerents of God, and vicars of Christ, in the past centuries, it is right and proper the truth should be known, the bad as well as the good; and with knowledge ob- tained from the preceding papers we can the better follow the history and practices of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico, where the managers had full swing from the advent of Cortez, A.D. 1521 to 1870. MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES HP (HE book entitled " Mexico and the United States; Their Mutual Relations and Com- A mon Interests," by G. D. Abbot, LL. D., G. P. Putnam & Son, New York, is a most interesting work, and while published some years ago, 1869, since which time Mexico has shaken off the Roman Catholic yoke and under- gone many changes, this brief summary of a small portion only may enable the reader to notice that in Mexico, as in other countries, behind all its professions, ceremonies, dogmas, and creeds, the policy and practice of the church has been to get o-old from its votaries and keep them in mental and spiritual bondage. It is impossible to find language with which to fittingly characterize the cruelties practised by the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico from the beginning to the end of its des- potic power. It is atrocious, revolting, and shock- ing in every sense. In all the history of crime and its detection nothing more disreputable, dis- graceful, and atrocious has been recorded. It is abhorrent to the instincts of every true American, every lover of personal freedom and political liberty; and he may well look with concern at the growth and power in the United States of this same foreign organization, styled the papacy, with head- quarters at Rome, a pope of its own creation as a 53 54 The Roman Catholic Church figurehead to issue its mandates and decrees to the thousands of ignorant followers in our country, who, as in the past, send thousands of dollars to Rome every year, and are under the control of an army of bishops and priests, who fatten from fees for masses and indulgences, born of the soul-de- stroying confessional, and who are under oath to obey all orders from Rome even to the detriment of their native or adopted country. And this in the name of religion. Mr. Abbot says: " What Spain did on this continent can never be too often related — it ought never to be forgotten. The lands of the Indians were taken from them by apostolic authority. It was one unspeakable outrage, one unutterable ruin, without discrimination of age or sex. The simple, docile race of Mexicans was all but ex- terminated, every outrage under the garb of religion was tolerated. They who died not under the lash in a tropical sun died in the darkness of the mine. Millions, whole races and nations, were remorselessly cut off, and there was enacted one of the darkest, most deadly and demoniacal tragedies in the annals of time. In the name of religion the deed was done. Missionaries sent over by the king of Spain administered baptism and the sacra- ments, punishing apostates with the tortures of the inquisition. A single priest baptized thousands between the rising and setting sun. Any act of inhumanity or barbarism was sanctioned if done in the name of religion. Murder, perjury, and adultery were winked at if they were only de- fensores jidei. Mexico and the United States 55 The whole family of the priesthood, pope, cardinal, bishop, and priest, under the most solemn vows of celibacy, were quite exempt from discipline or censure, however numerous their sons and daughters. The priests were all " Fathers," and the pope the Holy Father. Pope Alexander VI, Roderic Borgia, of Valencia, Spain, had during his cardinalship four illegitimate children by his mistress Vanozia. His public policy and private life were equally strangers to morality and religion. No name in history is stigmatized with greater infamy. His court a school of licentious- ness and falsehood, where crime was reduced to a system, and oaths and compacts afforded no ob- ligation to security, and yet, this monster of vice, according to papal claims, was the legitimate successor of the apostles and the ' : Vicar of God ' upon earth, and addressed as " His Holiness." "There were good men in the pale of the church, as godly and noble souls as ever contended for truth and righteousness, but the whole spirit and life of the age were characterized by deeds of dark- ness, shame, and death. The whole administra- tion of justice was utterly corrupt and oppressive, a labyrinth of bribery, intrigue, and outrage. The natives had no voice in legislation or any function of government. Freedom was crushed with re- lentless severity. The sacraments of religion and the fears and hopes of immortality were made to yield a royal income to the king of Spain." Specimens of "Revenue Bulls": 1. "Bulls de Cruzada." The possessor of this bull was 56 The Roman Catholic Church absolved from all crimes except heresy. Exempt from rigorous fasts of the church. Two bulls at same price had double the virtue of one. 2. " Bulls de defunctos," the bull for the dead, was a passport for the soul from purgatory. 3. " Bulls for eating milk and eggs during lent." The clergy became the royal collecting agents of spiritual revenue, and the accumulation of their wealth was almost incredible, amounting to an aggregate of not less than one hundred million dollars. The religious establishments of the monks and nuns in the City of Mexico were said to be the owners of three fourths of the private houses in the capital, and proportionably of property in the different states of the republic. December 13, 1545. Two hundred and forty- seven bishops assembled in the city of Trent; of these 187 were Italians. The council was con- voked by a bull of Pope Paul III, to legislate for the whole human race to the end of time. Their claim was to make a faith, and " law " by a vote of the majority, viz. 124. Sixty foreign bishops and 180 Italians, in the year 1545, promulgated articles of faith and a code of laws as if they were the edicts of the Almighty, of everlasting obliga- tion, binding the countless thousands of millions of all successive generations. January 6, 1564, the pope's bull confirmed the decrees of the council, and the laws and duties of our race were settled. Such a tissue of absurdities never issued before from a human brain, and only an age of ignorance, superstition, and bigotry, Mexico and the United States 51 and a generation despoiled of all independence and manhood by years of despotism and oppression, would have tolerated it. The wonder is that indignant humanity did not rise in the majesty of truth and sweep to destruction the whole fabric and policy, with all its agents and abettors. The history of human oppression affords no encourage- ment that popes, emperors, bishops, or kings will voluntarihj yield one iota of their assumptions and claims. After running its course one thousand years in Europe, this system of civil and eccle- siastical despotism crossed the ocean to the new world, and now seeks to arrest the progress of liberty, civilization, and Christianity. Sehor Loredo says it costs $20,000,000 annually to maintain 3,223 ecclesiastics, the greatest portion of which is absorbed by the bishops. The church wields the power of wealth almost fabulous in amount, a large portion being in money. In the Cathedral of Mexico is a figure of the Virgin Mary dressed in the richest embroidered satin. She displays strings of the largest pearls hanging from 'her neck to below her knees. Around her brow is'clasped a crown of gold, inlaid with emeralds of enormous size. Her waist is bound with a zone of diamonds, from the center of which blaze numbers of enormous brilliants. The candelabras are of silver and gold, and from the platform before the altar'the;" Host," amid a blaze of priceless and innumerable jewels, is exhibited to the kneeling multitude. The whole is a mine of splendor. The Cathedral of Mexico was begun in 1573 and finished in 1667; cost about 58 The Roman Catholic Church $2,000,000. The altar, covered with a profusion of crosses and ornaments of pure gold, is sur- mounted by a small temple in which rests the figure of the " Virgin in Remedios," who enjoys the ex- clusive right to three 'petticoats, — one embroidered with pearls, another with emeralds, and a third with diamonds, the value of which is credibly stated at not less than $3,000,000. There are between sixty and eighty other churches in Mexico. The statues of saints which decorate the churches are arrayed in the most grotesque costumes. Crucifixes, painted in glaring red, to represent the hideous spectacle of a man flayed alive, and wearing starched shirts fringed with laces. The Spaniards perpetuate their traditions by robing Christ in crinoline and other most ridiculous attire. The pomp and pageantry of the ritual as it now exists is revolting in its disgusting mummeries and impostures. Fifty years ago in one of the churches in Mexico was an image of the most ghastly and horrid appearance intended to represent the Saviour. Its eyes were worked by wires, and the large, blood-shot balls were made to roll in the most frightful manner whenever it was thought necessary to inspire terror. " On a day of religious festival I have seen," says a traveler, " stuck upon the door of the church of San Francisco the following- ad- vertisement: ' His Holiness, the pope (and certain bishops which were named), have granted thirty- two thousand, three hundred years, ten days, and six hours of indulgence for the mass.' " The object of the particularity is, to secure the more Mexico and the United States 59 effectual belief in the imposture. Mr. Abbot closes this chapter by saying : I have no hesitation in saying that the priests in Mexico (1869) are the lowest order of pretended intellectual beings I ever saw, and the stories of their personal conduct will not bear repeating. The Mexican church always has been, and so long as it exists always will be, the great element of evil in Mexico, and there will be no peace, prosperity, or progress in the country until this church is overthrown and totally de- stroyed, root and branch. The idolatrous character of Mexican Catholicism is well known to all travelers. The worship of saints and madonnas so absorbs the devotion of the people that little time is left to think about God. Religious ceremonies are performed with the most lamentable indifference and want of decorum. It would require volumes to relate the Indian superstitions of an idolatrous character which exist to this day. One of the greatest evils is the exorbitant fee for the marriage cere- mony. The priests compel the poor to live without marriage, by demanding for nuptial benediction a sum that a mechanic can scarcely accumulate in fifty years. The consequences are as lamentable to public morality as to religion. The Roman Church, so called, is a system of unutterable igno- rance, superstition, and imposture, of intolerable despotism, of organized and systematic outrage of the rights of man, which has overshadowed the nations for centuries. The conflicts, revolutions, and civil wars for centuries have all had resistance to ecclesiastical tyranny at the bottom. The church party rest their pretensions and claims on the author- ity of church traditions, and decrees of the Council of Trent. The church says " civil government " is only the subordinate department of government, the people are subject to a higher sovereign than the state. When the real sovereign com- mands, it is our duty to resist the civil ruler and to overthrow, 60 The Roman Catholic Church if need be, the civil government. It belongs to the church to determine when resistance is proper and to prescribe its form and extent. The pope, therefore, is the universal sovereign, invested with all power over the whole earth. All political, ecclesias- tical, legislative, judicial, and executive powers are his prero- gatives. Privileges, dispensations, prohibitions, interdicts are his. He grants or forbids freedom of opinion, conscience, speech, and the press. He forgives or punishes; bishops and priests are of his creation. He binds and dissolves the mar- riage tie. The keys of heaven and hell are in his hands, and he opens and closes the gates at his will. Such is the reli- gious system, the very foundations of which are laid in des- potism of the most revolting forms, the fruits of which have been ignorance, superstition, degradation, and vice. In Mexico under Spanish rule not only three fifths of the cities were occupied with convents and churches, but there were convents which occupied a large part of the city, but the ecclesiastics, after making the vow of poverty, live a lie in the midst of abundance and comfort. In the late revolu- tions the Mexicans took over two hundred million dollars in gold, silver, and precious stones, which the Spaniards had accumulated in their churches. The clergy have very little education. Divinity is only a pretext and motive of action, with charity and humility as a screen to hide their lust for greed and power, and who make an infamous traffic of reli- gion. Nevertheless, there are some good priests whose conduct is irreproachable. The absurd, impotent, and im- pertinent attempt of the pope to impose on the people of our country the pretensions of a thousand years ago, and who promulgates as legislation binding on fifteen hundred millions of the human race the repudiated dogmas of a packed council of 247 men three centuries ago. But such is the case. Our people should know the past and present history of this organ- ization in its efforts for money and power. The two Mexico and the United States 61 mendicant orders, Dominican and Franciscan, instituted in A.D. 1212, and now in existence in our country, were engaged in the work of extirpating the enemies of the papal supremacy. Their influence was absolute in church and state, occupied the most prominent positions, political and diplomatic, and the most abject champions of the pretensions of the Roman pontiff. Kings, bishops, and the whole world trembled be- fore them, a towering system of corrupted Christianity, of intolerable despotism, of organized and systematic outrage of the rights of man. It is in vain to close our eyes against the secret designs and plottings of this so-called church. They can neither be cloaked nor concealed, and must be more com- pletely known that we may be on our guard. At this writing, 1909, in Mexico, there is com- plete separation of church and state, free exercise of religious services. The state gives no official recognition of any religious festivals save the Sabbath as a day of rest, and religious services to be held only within the place of worship. Under provisions of the constitution other laws of reform were also issued by the secretary of state, viz., the use of church bells is restricted to calling the people to religious work. Religious processions are forbidden in the streets. Clerical vestments are forbidden in the streets. Pulpit discourses advising disobedience to the law or injury to any one are strictly forbidden. The state does not recognize monastic orders nor permit their es- tablishment. The association of sisters of charity is suppressed in the republic. Jesuits are expelled, and may not return. Matrimony is a civil contract and to be duly registered. The religious service may be added. No one can sign away their liberty 62 The Roman Catholic Church by contract or religious vow. Cemeteries are under civil inspection and open for the burial of all classes and creeds. Education in the public schools is free and compulsory. As Mexico after suffering for three centuries under the Roman Catholic Church yoke found it necessary for self protection to issue the above laws of reform, it would seem advisable the governors of our states should send representatives to Mexico to ascertain what the church authorities did that made the enactment of such laws an imperative necessity; and if the in- formation prove of value, to further enquire why the opposite of such laws are virtually in force in our country, and whether the same are beneficial and for the best interests of the republic, that our people be more fully informed on these matters which it is likely they will soon be called upon to face, whether they will or no. Also whether idols of gold, silver, and copper should be melted down; that fasts, abstinence from meat, and auricular confession should be abolished; and that the government should decree, declaring all church laws, bulls, and rescripts from the court of Rome, or any other power claiming sovereignty, void in the United States, unless sanctioned and formally adopted by the government. And further, what, if anything, religion has to do with the above, and how far any religious or other association shall be allowed to meddle or interfere with the domestic laws of the state, or set itself up as an independent sovereign within its limits, across which limits the state has no jurisdiction and may not go. MEMOIRS OF TALLEYRAND CHARLES MAURICE TALLEYRAND DE PERIGORD, the accredited author of the annexed letter to Pope Pius VII, was born at Paris, March 7, 1754. De- scended from one of the most ancient families of France, and whose political career is unequaled in the annals of history. In his twenty-sixth year he was nominated agent general of the clergy, and in spite of royal opposition was Bishop of Autun at the age of thirty-four. Among the other cere- monies of the day of federation he administered to the representatives of the people a new oath of fidelity to the nation, the king, and the law. He also consecrated the constitutional bishops in the Church of Notre Dame, a step which brought forth a monition from the pope, complaining loudly against him as "an impious wretch who had im- posed his sacrilegious hands on intruding clergy- men," and declaring him excommunicated, unless he recanted his error within forty days. Upon this he resigned his bishopric and directed his whole attention to secular affairs. 63 A BRIEF SUMMARY OF M. DE TALLEY- RAND'S LETTER TO POPE PIUS VII MOST HOLY FATHER:— I have learnt that you have communicated my social manifesto to the consistory of cardinals, and that in consequence of the report of that monstrous Areopagus, and in accordance with the opinion of Cardinal Bernis, you have placed that work under ecclesiastical censure, besides excommunicating its author. It is perhaps neces- sary I should muster up all my courage not to be overcome by such dreadful news. . . . You cannot deny, Most Holy Father, that the church of Christ, whenever the priesthood could be benefited by it, has always set up the standard of rebellion, and having once roused up the passions of the ignorant they continued to keep alive the most scandalous dissensions among the people. If this church had laid aside the boasted morality it has placed in the mouth of the self-styled sacred priest, it would have saved to Europe oceans of blood, and if, on the contrary, the sublime and pure morality of Plato had been adopted in its stead, certainly mankind would not have looked for a legislator in a corner of Asia, and amidst an abject nation formerly detested by the whole world. To be candid, Most Holy Father, and frankly confess that whatever is good and sublime in the religion of 64 M . de Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII 65 your God was plundered from Plato's works, and the morality of the just man traced by the majestic pencil of this divine philosopher ought never to have been called the Christian, but the Platonic morality, and therefore that your title ought to be ' ; The Servant of God and the vicar of Plato." But what above all enraged the Romans and the philosophers of that time was the stupidity and impudence of catechumens who sought out in Judea this carpenter's son, and in their ravings made him Lord of heaven, of earth, and the entire universe. So barefaced was the knavery of these Christian priests that they hesitated not to make their pretended Saviour talk in the most pretentious manner, that thereby they might have at least an apology for the gratification of their own lust of power. What audacity, what impudence! Were I sure, Most Holy Father, that there is a supreme being to resent such abominations, I would call on his offended majesty to prepare his thunderbolts and to annihilate at one tremendous blow the whole brood of priests. It is a truth now well established by experience, that the only aim of the priests is to fatten on the superstition of the ignorant; and this is the reason why enlightened men have denounced the priesthood as a class always ready to avail themselves of the simplicity of their unlearned devotees, so that they may increase and preserve their tyrannical sway over the children of men. It was the priesthood that put its veto on the Pla- tonic morality, for the wily priests knew that the works of Plato would tend, not only to enlighten 66 The Roman Catholic Church men, but also to expose and confound imposters. Yet, however much they hated Plato's ethics, they did not reject them entirely, but were content, as it would still answer their perverse purposes, to sully them with the addition of ridiculous or monstrous Jewish institutions, to which were superadded a host of miracles. Ay, sound ones, too, Seen, heard, attested, everything, but true! "You yourself will not deny that the pretense to work miracles, which is an infraction of nature's laws, cannot be admitted by a discriminating mind. Miracles resolve themselves into the following questions: Whether it is more probable that the laws of nature, hitherto so immutably harmonious, should have undergone violation, or that a man should have told a lie. We have many instances of men telling lies, none of an infraction of nature's laws, those laws of whose government alone we have any knowledge or experience. Therefore, when delirious priests assume the possibility of miracles and maintain boldly and publicly their existence, they little think that they are actually insulting their chosen God, whom they thus treat as a magician or juggler. Should we then grant to your God the power of working miracles, it would be granting to Him a power contrary to His supposed essence, and to those laws of nature which He must have established. It would be making of Him a capricious and foolish being, unworthy of human reverence. If there were a God, what blasphemies, what profanations would not those M . de Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII C7 priests be guilty of, who, in order to enjoy an idle life, impose on simple and ignorant persons their absurd and ridiculous holy phantasmagoria (illu- sive images). "In speaking of religion I pointed out the neces- sity of a new translation of the gospels from the Syriac and Greek, as your predecessors have not only altered them, but villainously added or sup- pressed whole passages not in the original. I also affirmed that there can be but one religion. I spoke of God, of the great cause of all sensitive existences, of that God whom you knew not. For the God of the universe is not the God of popes and priests. The one they have invented is not made in the image and likeness of the God adored by virtuous and rational beings. I spoke of monuments in Asia which prove an antiquity of at least fifty thousand years. India, with a more dense population, claims a greater antiquity. China and Japan trace to fifty-four thousand years, which they prove by an unbroken series of records, so that one might suppose the venerable monu- ments proving this antiquity had been saved from the general wreck to point out in their mournful silence the prostration of reason and the decline of arts caused by the establishment of Christianity. In your ' sacred calendar ' you assume the fixed stars, the sun, moon, and earth were created simultaneously, about six thousand years ago. But if only six thousand years, where did God reside, and what was He doing throughout eternity ? Before the Diety said, ' Let there be light,' He 68 The Roman Catholic Church must have moved in darkness. How supremely ridiculous the idea of such a creation is, and without taking into consideration its gross ignorance of nature, how derogatory to the character of a supreme being. But supposing God had created the heavens for the earth and the earth for man, as you take it for granted, how could He make man in His own image and likeness ? Do you not say that God, being a spirit, has no body ? that He is an incomprehensible nonentity, of which we can form no idea. You pretend to believe the fixed stars so many spangles, stuck in the firmament as a mere decoration, the sun and moon two fiery orbs, to rule the day and night. But this opinion, which is as false as it is absurd, you received from Moses, an Egyptian priest of Hebrew origin, and as great an impostor as he was a bad astronomer. This Moses sought an asylum in Arabia Deserta, where he had command of six hundred thousand brigands, which procured him an opportunity of conversing with your God, the Great Jehovah. It was there that your incorporeal God appeared and signified His approbation of the robberies com- mitted in Egypt by the Israelites, and it was there that their honorable chief was rewarded for having converted to his use property not his own. It was not long before this swindling became known to twenty-three thousand of his comrades, who looked upon him as an impostor or a visionary. How- ever, he excited the rabble to fall upon these twenty- three thousand skeptics, who were sacrificed to his cruel fanaticism. The ridiculous doctrines of this M . de Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII 69 Hebrew chief will do for his descendants, but they are not adapted to the civilized nations of Europe which have long ago detected the fraud. It be- comes you to prevent the scandal which would naturally attach to a creed founded upon such monstrosities as the fable of the human race be- ginning in one man, and at a time when Asia, Africa, Europe, and even America had more inhabitants than they now have. At the time when Moses fixed upon for the creation of all things, the Hindoos had lived five thousand years in a state of high civilization, with a population of two hundred millions. It is then evident that among the many blunders made by Moses in Genesis, not the least was that of fixing the time of his creation of the world at an epoch when the earth not only did exist, but had an immense population and actually reckoned fifty thousand years of civilization, be- sides this pretending to look upon the Hebrews as the most ancient people on earth, forgetting, or rather feigning to forget, that they were a mere gang of slaves, who had originally escaped from Idumea during- the intestine dissensions which desolated that country. After having passed into Egypt they still preserved their primitive condition, and it was only after the lapse of many years and after having robbed their masters, they crossed the Red Sea in Ethiopian vessels, and having entered into Arabia Deserta, they gained the woods of Henon, where they maintained themselves during forty years, living by the robberies and plunders they committed at night on the people in the neighbor- 70 The Roman Catholic Church hood. The produce collected form these rob- beries Moses called ' manna from heaven.' It was here that Moses, having ascended Mount Sinai, gave them the law which became the basis of the Jewish religion, and which in time became the cornerstone of other religions. He knew how difficult it was to legislate for a herd of barbarians, and therefore made them believe that the law he gave them was the word of God. Having at last descended from the mountain he tried to extort worship from all the people to the tables he had there forged, but having met with opposition from the most sensible part of the people, who pro- nounced him an impostor, the ' meek ' Moses called to his assistance the ignorant fanaticism of the rest, and twenty-four thousand Jews were the first victims of this holy and divine religion. This wholesale butchery is the most atrocious ever recorded, and having been attested by thousands of the survivors, it is evidence enough that your great lawgiver was a bloody villain. The history of Noah's Ark and its cargo of animals is a fable, taught by Moses, by the priests of Osiris, who had many years before sold it to the Egyptians. This fable invented by the priests of that god was afterwards consecrated by them in their theology, but a chronology of events being the history of a people, and theology being a mere cheat to conceal the truth, I need not point out the difference between the historian of a nation and the mere theologian of a sect. These are some of the gross blunders committed by Moses when he tried to descant on M. de Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII 71 matters and things about which he knew nothing. Had he listened to the voice of truth he might have transmitted to us a history which would have done honor to his name and labors, but instead of this he told us a story about Methuselah (and it is more than doubtful if such a man ever existed), having lived nine hundred years, not wishing or not taking the trouble to attend to the divers modes of com- puting years among the Chaldeans. The ancients used the lunar year, and often reckoned their year by one, two, six, or more periodical revolutions of the moon. But the revolutions of the moon around the earth are made in about twenty-seven and a half days, which is not even so much as one of our months. So the life of Methuselah could not have been so long as Moses says. All these things go to show that Moses was grossly ignorant of the antiquity of the world, and that the Hebrews, whom he pronounced the most ancient, were, with respect to China and India, the newest and most modern. This barbarous and ungovernable peo- ple, whose vicious propensities run through the veins of their descendants, were shut up in one of the most barren corners of Asia, where they lived in obscurity under the first power that conde- scended to enslave them, and only because known in Europe by the religious fables upon which the founders of Christianity built up the edifice of their own system. Had the doctrines of Plato found an echo in Jesus, and had they been preached with perseverance to the slaves, it would have realized in this world all the fictitious happiness promised 72 The Roman Catholic Church in the imaginary heaven above, but his apostles made Christianity from the very beginning look, in the eyes of the well informed, as a schism de- rived from Judaism, which led to others no less natural. Some looked upon Christ as the Son of God, and as God Himself, but begotten of a virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost. Others, however, looked on him only as a man predestined by God to make His will known. These, although they denied his divinity, looked upon him as filled with the Holy Ghost. The scandal caused by so many contrary opinions on a subject which was of great importance should have remained undebated, drew to it the attention of the Roman senate, who saw only a band of adventurers in the Christian sect. Obliged to hide themselves to escape the penalties of the law, they sought an asylum among the intricate catacombs and quarries situated in the suburbs of Rome, where a thousand windings enabled them to frustrate every effort to discover them. "But it is by pursuing a system of imposition and wickedness that your predecessors and yourself have been able still to retain spiritual and temporal power with a portion of mankind. However, it is a great pity, so far as your nefarious scheme is concerned, that the apostles undertook to dispute about their Christ, for this, as we have seen, led to inquiries about his origin, which ended in show- ing that his disputed parentage was his principal claim to a distinction from the generality of mankind. M. de Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII 73 " No, it is not man's fault, but the malice and imposture of priests and kings, which have every- where destroyed truth. They alone have given currency to the most shameless falsehoods, and used every mean subterfuge to make the world believe that they were indispensable to its wel- fare. . . . Alas! Most Holy Father, such is the secret religion of priests, whose immoral ten- dency needs no comments. It is enough to state the fact to cause the blood to fly back to the heart of the most dissolute man, unless he be either a king or priest. . . . Cease to persecute your brethren of earth. But first, you must renounce that thirst for riches which devours you, and the ambition you have of governing the world, and rid yourself of that priestly leprosy which has so long hindered you from following the delightful paths of virtue. That the territory you now possess, and that Rome itself, over which you now rule, are pontifical appendages is owing to the criminal intrigues of Charlemagne. That blood-thirsty tiger was canonized by a pope and declared Em- peror of the West merely because he destroyed the liberties of Italy and gave the tenth of his plunder to the successors of Peter the fisherman. Bear in mind, then, that you are arrayed with the spoils of crime and violence, and that you cannot retain those states without becoming an accomplice in the guilt and crimes of your predecessors. Look at the scandalous actions of almost all the popes, from Peter the Jew until your own papacy. The first of this infamous catalogue were a set of quacks 74 The Roman Catholic Church and impostors who, perhaps ignorantly, immersed Plato's morality in Jewish filth. Being as servile as they were ignorant they preached poverty and selfish debasement. In order to obtain from servants the crumbs and bones from their master's tables, they claimed the power of working miracles, and to this stratagem they were indebted for many acts of charity. As soon as their proselytes had increased in number, and by a system of gentleness had gained admittance in some opulent houses, they immediately began to despise their benefactors, and as a recompense for having assuaged their hunger, they enticed their daughters into convents and made nuns and devotees of them all. As soon as it was ascertained that Christianity was favorable to despotism, and the enthralment of the people, kings and emperors embraced it most readily, and this was the cause, and the only cause, of your present pontifical power, — a power which you owe to the fanatical cut-throat Charlemagne, who first endowed your predecessors with temporal dominion and invested them with the government of Rome. Should we now look over the list of all the popes from Peter the fisherman to our own times, we would discover that the first half of them were beggars and impostors, who were only anxious to lead a life of idleness and pleasure under the mask of sanctity and assumed abnegation, whilst the other half were notorious intriguers, whose lives were spent in the perpetration of the most heinous crimes, and who were followed to their graves by the curses and imprecations of the whole M . de Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII 75 population. Truth bids me draw a line between these monsters and the wise and immortal Gan- ganelli. This amiable and worthy pontiff may be said to have been the first and the only one who ever permitted philosophy to enter into the Vatican. Ganganelli would often express to his most intimate friends the sorrow he felt in countenancing the imposition of these ignorant men who first pro- mulgated the Christian religion and deplored the horrible evils caused by the selfish policy of the popes. He grieved at the criminal traffic of the priesthood, at their disregard of truth and their efforts to impede the progress of knowledge, that they might thus keep mankind in the bondage of slavery. To foreign philosophy he would say, " No human being in Europe has either physically or morally suffered as I have. Confined by cruel and unnatural parents within the walls of a convent I was threatened with all the horrors of a dungeon if I did not clothe myself with the garments of re- ligion and hypocrisy. My amenity, docility, frank- ness, and my large fortune gave to the court of Rome the first intimation of my existence, but, above all, my disinterestedness procured me the good opinion of Cardinal Ostali, who during the vacancy in the pontifical chair obtained in the conclave a majority of votes in my favor, and I was invested with the purple robes and seated upon the throne as head of the church. The world knows how reluctantly I accepted the situation. I then resolved to over- throw Christianity, that is to-day idolatry, but watched by the sleepless eyes of a thousand 76 The Roman Catholic Church Arguses and always surrounded by the apostles of error, obliged to assume a contemptible authority, I really blush to appear in Rome, in Italy, or even before Europe. I feel ashamed of the homage paid to me as if I were a living idol, that public opinion looks upon me as the trustee and dispenser of heavenly gifts, the living oracle of a fabled God. But alas, I know that I am only a weak mortal with limited facilities, already weighed down by the infirmities inseparable from our peculiar organiza- tion. How can I pretend to foresee the future, to send some of my fellow creatures to heaven and consign others to the torments of hell ? How can I wish to be acknowledged as the representative of a divinity, when I know nothing of such a being, although lost in admiration at the magnificence of the universe and the existence of man, and yet, man's existence fails to prove the existence of a being still more wonderful. At all events, my friends, you are aware that a pope is the passive creature of the College of Cardinals, who create and annihilate Mm at pleasure. Though we are supposed to rule every- thing on earth, we are nevertheless kept in the most abject slavery by this dreaded and mysterious power [the Curia], whose revenge is sure to reach any pope who may have thoughtlessly wounded their pride or endangered their temporal welfare. In public the pope is the idol of the tumultuous rabble, but in the mysterious recesses of the Vati- can this very pope, who has in one hand the keys of heaven and in the other the thunderbolt of ex- communication, is a mere automaton, a passive M. de Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII 77 instrument in the hands of the cardinals forming the Sacred College. The state revenues and the money raised in Catholic countries by imposition, mendacity, and monopolies are divided among the cardinals, as plunder is divided among robbers, and only a small portion falls annually to the share of the pontiff, who has to provide for all the expenses of the court, and to pay that ready tool of tyranny, a soldier. "A pope, like every king, is a mere shadow, con- jured up by a powerful body of men. It is an ' idol ' they raise to frighten a credulous and ig- norant populace. And well do they succeed with their divine phantasmagoria, for it enables these designing impostors to oppress the people with the iron scepter of superstition. Such, my friends, are the effects of a system which was invented only to degrade mankind, and to retain the masses in the gross slumber of ignorance and error. " Here, Most Holy Father, you have the frank confession of your illustrious predecessor, Gangan- elli, without doubt the best pope that ever as- cended the throne of the Vatican. He was truly a disciple of Plato, and yet, as if to prove the non- existence of a God, or at least of His goodness, the world was bereaved of him by an unnatural and untimely death. What atrocity ! In the midst of a congress of philosophers, called around him from all parts of the world, and whilst engaged in the noble undertaking of restoring the golden age, he was bereaved of life, by a sacrilegious and parricidal hand. It was the cruel priests who de- 78 The Roman Catholic Church prived Europe and the whole human race of a friend and benefactor. But truth, impartial truth, discovered a crime which filled the world with consternation, and though his blood till now has called in vain for vengeance, yet the day of retribution will surely arrive. Ganganelli was desirous of abolishing the gross abuses of the Catholic Church by putting an end to monopolies and peculation, and above all of banishing from the Roman court those bestial vices which so long have held such a baneful ascendency there. It was his intention to remove from their pedestals the numerous images of gods, goddesses, angels, and saints, which only serve to nourish the idola- trous superstition of the weak and ignorant. He also wished to remove the established priesthood, whose places he proposed filling with educated and virtuous men who, having nothing to do with spec- ulative opinions, would devote all their energies to teaching and inculcating Plato's sublime morality in all its purity, and making good and honest citizens of the entire human family. But, alas! whilst engaged with his philosophic friends in devising means to bring about this important reform, a murderous priest, the basest of cardinals, contrived to have a subtle poison mixed with his food, and the last sigh of his pure and unsubdued heart was a sigh for the happiness and welfare of his fellowmen. He was the first and last pope who practised virtue and lost his life in defense of truth. He was the only one who carried with him to the tomb the regrets and blessings of honorable and M. de Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII 79 sensible hearts. Such a pope would not have acted towards me as you have, for he never had recourse to " excommunications," which were looked upon by him as mere scarecrows to frighten credulous men. And this naturally leads me to ask you, Most Holy Father, what you understood by the word " excommunication " and what are its effects ? But the most interesting part of the business is, that you invoke the devil before you can excom- municate a person, and as his sooty highness owes no allegiance to the court of Rome, you are obliged to assume his supposed manners by howling like a wild beast and making the most frightful gesticu- lations. But allow me to ask you, Where is your authority for all these antics? Who authorized you to curse the entire human family ? Who gave you leave to exercise the most intolerable despotism over the conscience, the opinions, and the thoughts of your fellowmen? You hesitate to answer. I will do so for you. Ignorant men! 'Who overlooked your conceits, pride, and arrogance ? Ignorant men! Who countenanced your impudent claims to the keys of Paradise ? Ignorant men! Who emboldened you to say that you had a separate place in heaven, and that none could go there without your leave or a passport from you? Ignorant men! Who gave you the privilege of calling yourself ambassador and vice-gerent of God? Ignorant men! Yes, Most Holy Father, ignorant and credulous men have made you what you are — a puppet in the sacred drama of re- ligion, to be scorned and avoided by the reflecting 80 The Roman Catholic Church portion of mankind. Had it not been for these ignorant men, you might have been either a gardener or vine dresser, in which capacity you would have deserved the esteem of your neighbors, whilst in your present avocation you are execrated by all who possess any claim to reason, philosophy, and honesty. I charge you, then, Most Holy Father, with being accessory to the oceans of blood which have been shed in the name of and for the extension of your cruel religion. I charge you with being a traitor to the people's rights. I charge you with an incorrigible love of power and anti- pathy to the prospects of future freedom. I charge you with affecting magnanimity and moder- ation in public, whilst you cling in secret to every vestige of power, and scruple not to promote it by treachery and violence. I charge you with having spared no pains, scrupled at no means, hesitated at no injustice, to destroy philosophy and common sense. Remember that the stern and inflexible eye of truth and reason is now on you, and that the foundations of your faith are crumbling. Be wise, then, and renounce your system of consum- mate hypocrisy, before the majority of your fellow- men shall have discovered the deception and retaliate on you and your fraternity with indis- criminate severity. Endeavor to lay aside pride, the insatiable desire of wealth, and the unbounded and extravagant assumption of power. My letter may appear unnecessarily harsh, but my motives are good, and as principles are of more importance than individuals, I have deemed it best to write M. de Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII 81 the truth, hoping and trusting it may not give offense." Talleyrand's letter to Pope Pius VII is educational from every standpoint, and should be sent in pamphlet form to the young men now coming to the front, whose intelligent'services to the nation are desired. OATH OF A JESUIT PRIEST* I, A. B., now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. John Baptist, the holy Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul, and the saints and sacred host of heaven, and to you my ghostly father, do declare from my heart, without mental reservation, that his holiness, Pope Urban,t is Christ's vicar general, and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to his holiness by my Saviour, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, common- wealths, and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation, and that they safely may be destroyed. Therefore, to the utmost of my power, I shall and will defend this doctrine, and his holi- ness' rights and customs, against all usurpers of the heretical (or Protestant) authority whatsoever, especially against the now pretended authority and Church of England, and all adherents, in regard that they and she be usurpatory and heretical, *The oaths of both bishops and priests here given are copied from an edition of this work published in 1854 by A. N. Sprague, No. 22 Beekman Street, New York, and the unprejudiced reader will not fail to observe how tenderly the opposing sects of Christians love one an- other, and with what familiarity and freedom such endearing epithets as " damned," " damnable," and " to be damned " are used by the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. fNow, 1909, it is Pope Pius X. 82 Oath of a Jesuit Priest 83 opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince, or stated, named Protestant, or obedience to any of their inferior magistrates or officers. I do further declare, that the doctrine of the Church of England, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and of others of the name of Protestants, to be damnable, and they themselves are damned, and to be damned, that will not for- sake the same. I do further declare that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of his holiness' agents in any place wherever I may be, in England or in any other territory or kingdom I shall come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical Protestants' doctrine, and to destroy all their pre- tended powers, regal or otherwise. I do further promise and declare that notwithstanding I am dispensed with to assume any religion heretical, for the propagating of the Mother Church's in- terests, to keep secret and private all her agents' counsels, from time to time, as they entrust me, and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing, or circumstances whatsoever, but to exe- cute all that shall be proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me, by you, my ghostly father, or any of this sacred convent. All which, I, A.B., do swear by the Blessed Trinity and blessed sacra- ments which I am now to receive, to perform and on my part to keep inviolable, and do call all the heavenly and glorious host of heaven to witness these my real intentions to keep this my oath. In testimony whereof, I take this most holy and 84 The Roman Catholic Church blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, and witness the same further with my hand and seal in the face of this holy convent, this day of — — Anno Domini. THE ROMAN PRIEST'S OATH I, A. B., do acknowledge the ecclesiastical power of his holiness and the Mother Church of Rome, as the chief head and matron above all pretended churches throughout the whole earth, and that my zeal shall be for St. Peter and his successors as the founder of the true and ancient Catholic faith, against all heretical kings, princes, states, or powers repugnant unto the same, and although I, A. B., may follow, in case of persecution or otherwise, to be heretically despised, yet in soul and conscience I shall hold, aid, and succor the Mother Church of Rome, as the true, ancient, and apostolic church. I, A. B., further declare not to act or control any matter or thing prejudicial unto her, in her sacred orders, doctrines, tenets, or commands, without leave of its supreme power or its authority under her appointed, or to be appointed, and being so permitted, then to act, and further her interests more than my own earthly good and pleasure, as she and her^ head, his holiness, and his successors have, or ought to have, the supremacy over all kings, princes, estates, or powers whatsoever, either to deprive them of their crowns, scepters, powers, privileges, realms, countries, or governments, or to set up others in lieu thereof, they dissenting from Mother Church and her commands. 85 THE PAPAL ATTACK ON FRANCE TO- GETHER WITH THE PAPAL AGGRES- SION IN FRANCE AND ITS SIGNIF- ICANCE FOR OTHER NATIONS A BRIEF compilation of two articles en- titled "The Papal Attack on France," Nineteenth Century Magazine, April, 1906, and " The Papal Aggression in France and its Significance for other Nations," Fort- nightly Review, October, 1906, by Robert Dell. First, "As to the Papal Attack on France " : " The French Church has been given by the re- public free religious liberty, an autonomy it has not enjoyed for centuries. The ancient cathedrals and churches which are by law public property are handed over for use, with all their contents, and the rest of the church property, permanently and free of charge to the Catholic Church. The pope reprobates and condemns this gift of spiritual freedom, the liberty offered the church, and rejects it with curses and anathemas, liberty to be enjoyed equally with other religious bodies; but that is just what he does not want and will not have. The pope claims the Roman Catholic Church has the right " to the sole and undivided allegiance of states no less than of individuals ; that it is the duty of every state to put that church in a position of privilege, and to submit to its right of dominion 86 The Papal Attack on France 87 over the civil power; that the pope has the right to depose civil rulers, and to absolve the peoples from their oath of fealty to the state; that the temporal authority must be subject to the spiritual power. ' We must obey God rather than man; ' that is, we must obey the pope, and not the law of the land. The pope has absolved us from our fealty to our country." (The attention of the citizens of other countries is called to the above claims, for the time may come when they shall have to face a similar position.) The papacy have nothing but pleas- ant things to say of the freedom they enjoy under English law, and of the equality and toleration that exists; but the " Encyclical Vehementer nos " condemns this system of toleration and equality, absolutely and unequivocally. Would there be any toleration or religious equality if the Catholic Church had retained her hold on England ? " We are Catholics first and Englishmen afterwards," says a lay official of a Catholic society at a Catholic banquet. The pope has declared the church " will never accept " a regime of religious tolera- tion and equality. "But Rome acquiesces in such a regime in America simply because she cannot help it, and is not yet strong enough to get anything better. The issue in France is whether the civil power is to submit to the domination of a theocracy. A body of citizens said, in the famous words of Louis Veuillot, ' : We demand from you the liberty which on your principles you are bound to give us, and which on our principles we shall deny to you when 88 The Roman Catholic Church we have the power." The French republic replied to such people, ' Liberty can safely be granted only when measures have been taken to make it impossible to use their liberty to destroy that of others," and every state must make the same answer to those who conspire against its autonomy or the freedom of their fellow citizens. And again, " We declare war upon progress, liberalism, and modern civilization. We have been ordered to do so by the representative of God on earth, rather than man." The French government re- plied, " that, as it happened to believe in progress, liberalism, and modern civilization, it was quite willing to fight for them," and proceeded to do so, whereupon the challengers raised a howl of " persecution," on the principle, " I may hit you, but if you hit back I am a martyr." For thirty years the French republic has had to fight in self defense, not against the church as a spiritual in- fluence, but as a 'political institution. French Catholics as a body are hostile to the republic. From 1871 to 1875 the Catholics had the whole control of France. That control they used to plot for the restoration of the monarchy. In 1877 they were driven from power by an outraged nation, never to return. Let us take the evidence on this point of one of the most distinguished French prelates, Mgr. Lacroix, Bishop of Tarentaise, who, in a recent pastoral, says, " Our mistake, our great mistake - — we must have the courage to admit it — has been our refusal from the very beginning of the republic to recognize that the will of the nation cannot be traversed (thwarted) with impunity. Our hesitations, our criticisms The Papal Attack on France 89 (often wholly unjust), our aspirations and dreams of the restoration of a regime in which, as it seemed to us, the lot of the church would be happier because she would be more protected. Finally our compromising alliances with the promoters of civil war, — all these have been disastrous to us, have covered us with unpopularity, have estranged us from the masses of people. A certain Pere Le Dore, superior of a religious order, on his return to Paris from a visit to Rome, said, " The Holy Father said he would order French Catholics to revolt against the law, if he could be quite sure they would all obey him." Dore further said, ' It is not enough to offer prayers, to make communions, to go on pilgrimages. What is wanted is blood; blood alone can appease the wrath of God; and when the pope asked me: " Well, Father, what do you propose to do ? " I replied, " Holy Father, I wish to give battle, to fight, to organize, and I shall not be satisfied until I have caused two or three dozen good nuns to be killed and massacred." The Osser- vatore Romano has declared this account of the audience with the pope to be fictitious; yet, in spite of this serious reflection on his veracity and the fact that he has been guilty of a public incitement to murder and armed rebellion, he remains the general superior of a religious order and has incurred no formal censure. This is no isolated case, nor is there any- thing new in all this. They were in possession of every public office, officials of every grade at their beck and call. " What blunders must they not have committed to have been driven from power, to a man, when they held every avenue to it," says Leon Chaine, a lay Catholic writer. What Englishmen must realize, is, that the clerical party in France, if they had the power, would repeat the massacre of St. Bartholomew to- morrow, without the slightest compunction. Can we wonder that anti-clerical feeling in France is what it is ? that to give liberty to these people is about as safe as to give it to mad 90 The Roman Catholic Church dogs? A system of autocracy and terrorism has crushed out initiative and extinguished healthy public opinion among Catholics. Few dare to speak, to whom, alone, Rome always gives unbounded license. In this crisis Rome has assumed all the power and with it goes all the responsibility. The Asso- ciations Cultuelles gives the laity a voice in the manage- ment of the church property and will be freely formed without authorization, and have privileges no other associations enjoy. There is not a vestige of excuse for the outcry against the law. Protestants would be far more injuriously affected than Catholics by any oppressive provisions. Again and again it has given these people a chance of settling down to be content with the same rights and liberties as their fellow- citizens; when suddenly, a plot for the destruction of the republic was discovered, engineered by organizations pledged to blind obedience to an executive seated in a foreign country, and chiefly composed of foreigners. Then the republic rose in its wrath, and deprived them of control over the edu- cation of the nation. The organizations loudly protested in the name of absolute liberty, they, the men who had preached day after day that it was a Christian duty to mas- sacre the Jews, who had demanded the suppression of all Masonic lodges, and called on the nation to bid all impious sects to vanish from the soil of France. Nothing could be more alien from the spirit of Christ than the lust of dominion. It was the same spirit that led a pope to offer public thanks for the massacre of St. Bartholomew,* and to order Vasari to paint the murder of Coligny on the walls of the Vatican among the triumphs of the church. No Christian sovereign of modern times has left a worse memory behind him than Ferdinand II of Naples, who received the pope when he fled to Naples, in 1848. He not only destroyed the constitution he had sworn to observe, but threw into a loathsome dungeon the liberal ministers who had trusted him. But in the eyes *Page 180, " The Map of Life " — Lecky. The Papal Attack on France 91 of the pope his services to the church far outweighed all defects, and the monument erected to this " most pious prince " may be seen in one of the chapels of St. Peter's. " The French republic is irrevocably fundamentally anti- clerical. It has been so for centuries, and it will always be so. The French republic must defend itself against rebellion, however specious its pretext, and it will certainly do so. It will be equally clear that that defense is not a religious perse- cution. France will be able to say to the pope, " You now know what we are fighting for; we are struggling for the preservation of liberty of thought. We are struggling to prevent the Catholic Church from tyrannizing over men's and women's consciences. We are struggling, not to attack your freedom of belief, but to make it finally impossible for you to impose your belief on others by constraint and force. In that struggle France will have the sympathy of the English race. Catholic England in the thirteenth century rose against the king, who submitted to the temporal claims of the papacy, and treated with contempt the condemnation of the Great Charter by Innocent the Third. Republican France in the twentieth century can hardly do less than follow so excellent an example. France desires peace. Should, however, war be declared by the pope on the republic, it will be fought to the finish, and there cannot be the smallest doubt as to the result. If compelled to vindicate her civil autonomy (right of self government) against Roman aggres- sion, her cause will be the cause of every free people. Second: The Papal Aggression in France and its Significance for other Nations. " In the year 1570, Pius V absolved English capitalists from their allegiance to Elizabeth and called upon them to revolt against their sovereign, and to betray their country to a 92 The Roman Catholic Church foreign enemy. In both cases, Spanish and Jesuit influences in the Vatican were in large measure responsible for the papal policy. " In the recent case the place of Philip was taken rather by theJGerman emperor than by Cardinal Viorsy Tuto, and Cardinal Merry del Val; and the late Father Martin played the sinister part of Robert Parsons. Whenever Spanish and Jesuit influences have been in the ascendant at Rome the Catholic Church has paid dearly for them. Not only in France where Catholics are placed, as were their English coreligionists in the sixteenth century, in the position of having to choose between their country and their church, will Catholicism reap the bitter harvest of the policy of Pius X; that policy must recoil on Catholics in every civilized country. None have more reason to resent it than those who, like the present writer, are Catholics, not by inheri- tance or early training or habit, but by their own deliberate choice, who have come into the church of their own free will, and by an act of private judgment, because they were convinced, after much hesitation and inquiry, of the justice of her claims. For what is our position ? We became Catholics for purely religious reasons; we accepted the papacy as a spiritual and moral, but in no sense as a political, authority; we made no profession of undivided allegiance to the pope; we gave no pledge to renounce our allegiance to the civil government and the laws of our country at the will and pleasure of an ecclesiastical authority; no such profession and no such pledge were demanded of The Papal Attack on France 93 us. We now find ourselves face to face with the claim of the pope that his authority is absolute and unlimited, that he can at will annul and set aside laws regularly made by the constituted law-making authority, and that, if he annuls them or sets them aside, we are bound to disobey them. Hitherto the desire to make proselytes would seem to have blunted the moral sense of those who are possessed by it. How else can we account for the remarkable difference between the plausible presentment of Catholic teaching and obligation that is dangled before the outside world in controversial lectures and publications, and that which the dominant ultramontane party imposes on those who are inside the church ? If any one thinks I am speak- ing too strongly let him study the utterances of French ultramontanes in the present crisis. He will find bishops declaring that the will of the pope is the will of God, absolutely, and with no restric- tion; he will find the authorized organs in the press of ultramontane opinion, the semi-official ex- ponents of the mind of the Vatican, declaring expli- citly that the pope has a divine and immutable right to ratify, or refuse to ratify, civil legislation (the deposing power applied to modern conditions) and — which is still more significant — he will find men of superior intelligence and ability, credited with modern and intellectual sympathies, accepting these principles as a matter of course; otherwise, how could such men as M. Brunetiere, Count d'Hansonville, and the Viscount de Vogue have stultified themselves as they have. 94 The Roman Catholic Church " Before the pope had spoken they declared that the policy which he has now adopted must inevi- tably be fatal to the church and to the religion of France; now they declare that any one who does not blindly follow that fatal policy is no true Catholic. Has the papal policy altered the facts, or do these gentlemen sincerely believe that an Italian pope who knows nothing of any country but his own, who has a narrow seminary training, who cannot even understand the French language, is infallibly certain to make a more accurate induction from facts with which he is imperfectly acquainted, than was made by the great majority of educated and intelligent Frenchmen, whether bishops, priests, or laymen, from a thorough knowledge of the facts ? " It is not yet a dogma, that election to the papacy miraculously invests the elect with knowledge or abilities that he did not possess before. ... If Catholics cannot, without incurring the reproach of heresy and disloyalty, venture to put before the pope the reasons why, in the highest interests of religion and with the most profound concern for the future of Catholicism, they deplore his political policy, and entreat him to abandon it, then, indeed, they are living under a despotism in comparison with which the Ottoman Empire is almost liberal. " In 1826 the Catholic bishops of Great Britain denied that the pope has ' any right, directly or indirectly, to any civil or temporal jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, within this realm,' declared that the allegiance of The Papal Attack on France 95 Catholics to the civil power is ' entire and undi- vided,' and affirmed that they held themselves ' bound in conscience to obey the civil government of this realm in all things of a temporal and civil nature, notwithstanding any dispensation or order to the contrary had, or to be had, from the pope or any authority of the Church of Rome,' the ' civil power of the state, and the spiritual authority of the Catholic Church being absolutely distinct, and being never intended by their Divine Author to in- terfere or clash with each other.' ' Had that declaration not been made, the Catholic Emancipa- tion Act would certainly not have been passed when it was.' Referring to the demonstration held in London between English Catholics and French clericals, the writer says : ' From the na- tional point of view the demonstration won't do much harm. The French people now know enough about England not to mistake a sectarian manifestation for an expression of English opinion. It will show the English people that the official representatives of Catholicism in England hold themselves bound to disobey ' the civil government of this realm,' and to revolt against the laws, if the pope orders them to do so. What is true of England is true in a greater or less degree of every country. Every government has now to take into account the fact that, for the present pope the claim of the deposing power is no mere shadowy theory, and the supremacy of the church over the state is an inviol- able principle to be enforced at all costs. There can only be one result of all this: wherever the 96 The Roman Catholic Church attempt at clerical aggrandizement is made it will be met, as in France, by organized anti-clericalism, and the result, as in France, will be the overthrow of the church, which will naturally and inevitably be identified with clericalism. . . . Although most of his self-appointed apologists are trying to obscure the issue, the pope makes no attempt to conceal the reasons for his decision, and states them in explicit language. He demands that ' the immutable rights of the Roman pontiff and of the bishops, and their authority over the necessary property of the church, particularly over the sacred edifices ' shall be established by the law. This demand is wholly incompatible with the separation of church and state. The principles underlying it are (1) that ecclesiastical property is the property of the pope, and subject to his sole will and disposition, and (<2), that the state is bound to maintain the Catholic Church in a position of privilege, and to secure the rights of the hierarchy by the secular arm, ' if,' says the pope later on in the encyclical, any state has separated from the church, while leaving to her the resource of the liberty common to all and the free disposal of the property, that state has, without doubt, and on more than one ground, acted un- justly. The pope is attacking the French republic, not in defense of religious liberty, but because the French republic has placed all religious bodies alike under a regime of religious liberty, equality, and toleration, and he accuses the authors of the Sepa- ration Law of wishing to make it ' a law, not of separation, but of oppression.' One of the cases The Papal Attack on France 97 in which it is easier to make the accusation than to prove it. English readers must imagine that the churches in France have hitherto been entirely in the hands of the ecclesiastical authorities, and that the state has incontinently seized upon them. Yet in the whole history of France the churches have never been the property of the bishops, still less of the pope, any more than they were in Eng- land or in any other Catholic country in the middle ages. . . . Why, then, has the pope refused the request of nearly two thirds of the French bishops to be allowed to form associations cultuelles on the Archbishop of Besancon's model? The only possible answer is that which has already been given : his refusal is not due to the provisions of the Separation Law. It is an application of rigid and absolute principles, and an attack on the autonomy of the state. . . . Rome will put up with religious equality and toleration in a Protestant country so long as she is not strong enough to claim anything more (as in Prussia), but in a Catholic country the pretence that she only wants the same rights as other people is discarded. . . . "At present the center, or clerical party, holds the balance of power in the German Reichstag; the members of that party consistently prefer clerical to national interests, and traffic their votes in return for such concessions as the relaxation in 1904 of the law expelling the Jesuits from Germany. The emperor, on his part, has been able to secure the passing of his naval program, aimed at this (Eng- land) country, and other measures which he con- 98 The Roman Catholic Church siders essential, only by buying the clerical vote. . . . The Jesuits have never allowed religious or moral considerations to interfere with their political schemes. When Clement XIV suppressed the Society of Jesus at the request of every Catholic state in Europe, it was under the protection of the Protestant king of Prussia and the schismatic Russian empress that the Jesuits defied the papal decree. A Jesuit father, in a sermon preached at Farm Street on September 9, openly threatened England and France with the divine vengeance in the form of a disastrous war, unless they submitted to the claims of the papacy. The execution of divine vengeance is not in the hands of the Society of Jesus now, any more than it was in the days of the Armada, and we have every reason to be grate- ful to the Jesuits for so openly showing their hand with that blundering diplomacy which has char- acterized them all through their history. " The action of the French bishops at their assembly last May, in making a stand against the powerful influences thus arrayed against them, was in the highest degree creditable alike to their wisdom and their courage, to their patriotism and their faith. They knew that the pope desired them to declare in favor of war between church and state; they were well aware that their advice had been asked only because the Vatican desired to throw on them the responsibility of its own policy; they declined to walk into the trap that had been laid for them, or to compromise the cause of religion in the interest of the enemies of the The Papal Attack on France 99 republic. The first of the questions which the Vatican called upon them to answer put them in a difficult position. They were asked whether the associations cultuettes, ' as the law establishes them,' could be reconciled with the rights of the church. Since the pope had already, in the en- cyclical Vehementer Nos, condemned those associa- tions without qualification, they could hardly answer this question in the affirmative, and with two exceptions they replied to it in the negative. The next question was whether the formation of associations cultuelles would be ' of greater prac- tical utility to the church ' than the omission to form them. To this question they replied in the affirmative by forty-eight votes against twenty-six, and subsequently recommended with unanimity the adoption of the constitutions and rules pro- posed by the Archbishop of Besancon. When it is remembered that the large majority of bishops are far from being republicans, that they had no longer anything to gain by conciliating the gov- ernment, and had everything to lose by offending the pope, it must be admitted that their decision carries enormous weight, and can be attributed to nothing but a sincere desire to serve the interests of religion and to save the French church. How their decision has been treated we all know. The pope has passed over those who are responsible for the government of the church in France, and who know better than any others what the real situation is, and has taken the advice of Germans, Spaniards, monks, and Jesuits concerned only for 100 The Roman Catholic Church the selfish interests of their particular orders, French royalists, and clericals with whom hatred of the republic is a far stronger motive than love of religion. And, with incredible meanness, the reply of the bishops to the first question put to them has been used in the encyclical Gravissimo Officii in such a way as to suggest to the reader that the bishops approved of and were responsible for the papal policy. It is true that the phrase in the encyclical, ' We see that we ought to con- firm fully by our apostolic authority the almost unanimous decision of your assembly,' need not necessarily refer to more than the pope's repudia- tion of the ' religious associations as the law estab- lishes them ' ; but, on the other hand, it would more naturally be taken as applying to the whole papal policy, as is proved by the fact that nearly the whole of the press, including the Catholic papers, did so understand it, and it was actually quoted by the Tablet and other Catholic organs as a proof that the French bishops agreed with the pope. But for the timely revelations of the Temps and the Steele, the truth would probably never have been known, and the French bishops would have been held responsible for the results of a policy which, in fact, they did their utmost to avert. " It was only to be expected that, at their second assembly in August, the bishops would be unable to come to any practical decision. With- out disobeying the pope, there was nothing that they could do. The pope has ordered them ' to organize religious worship,' but has forbidden The Papal Attack on France 101 them all legal means of organizing it. It is, of course, to be regretted that they have hesitated ' to serve Christ for fear of Peter ' ; that they have not had the courage to resist a policy which they know to be fatal to religion or, at least, to resign their sees rather than accept any responsibil- ity for it; that they have issued, or allowed to be issued in their name, a collective pastoral letter in which they stultify themselves and make statements which the whole world knows to be insincere and inconsistent with their former decision, and even with the public declarations of many among them. It is a miserable lachete; but when men in the position of M. Brunetiere have not the courage of their convictions, what can we expect of eccle- siastics who have been trained from the age of twelve to regard personal initiative as the greatest sin and abject submission as the highest virtue ? ' To those who know the appalling extent to which the church has lost its hold on the French people, who are aware that over large districts of France the practice of religion has almost entirely ceased, and that, where it continues, it is to a large extent merely an external form, the immediate future of French Catholicism seems dark indeed. I wish I could believe that any considerable body of French Catholics were prepared to save the religion of France even without the consent of the pope, but I cannot be so optimistic. It is most improbable that associations of Catholics will be formed in more than a very few places unless the pope relents." 102 The Roman Catholic Church These two articles, ; The Papal Attack on France," and " The Papal Aggression in France and its Significance for other Nations," by Robert Dell, are of great interest and signal importance to the present and coming generation both in our country and abroad as well. It is regretted time and space admit but a brief compilation of these papers. They should be published in full, and sent all over the country, to Catholics and Protestants alike. But for the revelations of the Temps and the Siecle newspapers, the truth would probably never have been known, and the French bishops held responsible for results of a policy they did their utmost to avert. Owing to mis- statements by interested and misguided individuals, the American public has been misinformed and intentionally misled, as a careful perusal of these papers clearly indicates. Mr. Dell is widely known both here and abroad as a gentleman of high character and standing, and the people of the United States are very fortunate in having the Catholic status in France presented in so plain, frank, and intelligent a manner. Few people know the subterranean, herculean efforts of the church to prevent facts given by Mr. Dell ever reaching the public through the press. They are too damaging; they don't fit in with the God- given power and authority claimed for a plain, un- pretentious gentleman in Rome, whom some people care to call a pope, and declare infallible, etc. These papers will aid our people in obtaining (what is so well known in France) a clearer knowl- The Papal Attack on France 103 edge of bishops and priests, and their real position in the nation. The author is under obligations for permission to again bring them to the attention of the people both! here and abroad, in England in particular. ; Why, then, has the pope refused the request of nearly two thirds of the French bishops to be allowed to form associations cultuelles on the Archbishop of Besancon's model ? His refusal is not due to the provisions of the Separation Law, but, as already stated, it is an application of rigid and absolute principles, and an attack on the autonomy of the state to which the " crazy doctrinaires and mountebank statesmen " referred to (who have not as yet disappeared as negligible quantities) most seriously object, in the name of the republic of France, and have enforced the objection in a manner not easily misunderstood by those having interests involved. " In France, the Catholics pleaded with Rome to be allowed to obey the civil laws of the government, but the pope refused his consent for reasons already stated, and few Catholics dare oppose this dictum. What reason have we to suppose he will not at- tempt the exercise of this same tyrannical authority, if ever the Catholic vote in this country should make it possible ? " The reader will see from the following news- paper clipping that the present issue is simply whether a foreign monarch shall reign over France equally with its republican government; also that the Encyclical Gravissimo of August 10, 1906, was 104 The Roman Catholic Church ' a deliberate and studied equivocation ' on the part of Rome." THE VIEW OF CARDINAL GIBBONS To the Editor of the Sun — Sir: Without being a Catholic, and at the same time being no enemy of that church, I am convinced by careful study of the separation of church and state in France from the beginning of the agitation that Cardinal Gibbons is mistaken in his theory, set forth in the Sun of December 14, that the French government is raging against religion. The new law doesn't touch dogma at all. The cardinal may naturally regard recognition of the supreme authority of the pope as religious dogma, but there are millions of devout and theologically orthodox people in France who do not so believe. They regard the present issue as simply whether a foreign monarch shall reign over France equally with its republican government. . . . Does Cardinal Gibbons imagine — does any sensible Catholic imagine — that the status quo resulting from Bonaparte's Concordat can ever be restored ? If papal armies could deluge France with blood and win victories, would that make Pius X a fount of living waters and animate the French people with love for the Roman Church ? C. New York, December 15. The dominant fact in the whole separation crisis was that the seventy-four French bishops, having met together in plenary assembly on May 30, June 1, 1906, decided by forty- eight votes against twenty-six, in secret ballot, that there was reason to seek for a modus vivendi which would allow of the formation of associations at once legal and canonical. Subse- quently, by fifty-six votes against eighteen, they accepted the scheme of Mgr. Fulbert-Petit, Archbishop of Besancon, which allowed submission to the law. It is well known that The Papal Attack on France 105 of this resolution Pope Pius X took no account whatever. M. Sabatier asserts squarely that the wording of the subse- quent Encyclical Gravissimo of August 10, 1906, was a de- liberate and studied equivocation. " It did not state the reverse of the truth, but it gave it to be understood. Indeed, all those who know the facts only through this document are persuaded that the French episcopate not merely submitted to the theoretical condemnation of the Law of Separation, which had already been pronounced by the pope, but begged for a final condemnation of it. This is precisely the reverse of the truth." The author considers that what he regards as the disingenuous and high handed attitude of the Vatican was a fact much more important than the passing of the Law of Separation. In the face of all this the following newspaper clipping shows how inaccurate some people are in their statements. The American people have had things put squarely before them, and, unfortunately, the ignorant masses don't know it. Baltimore, December 13. " The American public does not understand the present crisis in France," said Cardinal Gibbons, when asked this evening for his opinion on the French situation. He continued : "lam getting to be an old man, now, and I think I know my countrymen. They love fair play; they love liberty; they love to see humane dealings, man with man. And the late years have shown how cordially they hate injustice, tyranny, and inhumanity. And yet France has treated her noblest citizens with injustice and in- humanity, and America, which has sympathy for the op- pressed of all nations, has raised no protest, nor uttered a word of sympathy. " If I believe that my countrymen would knowingly see a great and beneficent organization unjustly deprived of its 106 The Roman Catholic Church property and the means of continued usefulness, would knowingly see tens of thousands of honest men and noble women robbed of their just income and means of support, would knowingly see hundreds of thousands and even several millions of people brutally wounded in what they hold dearest and most sacred, would knowingly see a majority in the chambers utterly disregard and trample upon the rights of the minority and the rights of millions of their countrymen, in the name of liberty, would knowingly see tens of thousands of men and women who happen to be priests and nuns turned out of their homes for no crime, but that of loving God and serving their neighbors — I say if my countrymen can see and recognize all this injustice and tyranny and cruelty, and refuse genuine sympathy to those who suffer by them because of their religious belief, then I will leave life without that faith in American love of justice and liberty and humanity which has been my comfort and support and hope during a long career. " But the American people have not had the things put squarely before them. Our own press has been to a consid- erable extent the reflection of the Parisian anti-clerical press. Americans have little conception of the French anti-clericals. They look upon the leaders of this party as enlightened states- men, seeking to preserve the republic from the attacks of an aggressive clergy. There have been honest and sincere lovers of republican government among anti-clericals, I admit. But the majority of them have far less love of the republic than they have hatred of religion. I am weighing my words and I ask, and I say with the most deliberate conviction that the leaders of the French government are actuated by nothing less than hatred of religion. We have no spirit akin to theirs in this country. We have here much indifference to religion, but we have no body of men, no great party that makes it a chief aim to weaken the power of religion and, if possible, utterly to destroy it out of the land. The Papal Attack on France 107 Paris, September 28. The Gaulois to-day prints an interview which its correspondent at Rome had with the pope yesterday on the church and state separation, during which the pontiff is quoted as saying: " It is not I who condemn the law, but Christ, of whom the pope is simply the vicar. The Saviour granted the church a constitution and a doctrine, against which no human law can prevail. The separation law is contrary to Catholic doctrines and opposed to divine rulings, is an unjust law, and, therefore, carries no obligations to obey." Suppose in future the pope declares a law of the United States to be unjust and carries no obli- gation to obey, is there any question that, like the bishops of France, the bishops of this country would obey the pope ? This attack on the autonomy of the state is well understood by those who have carefully followed the double dealing and hypocrisy of the managers (Curia) at Rome. And now that the duplicity of Rome is laid bare, and the incorrect and misleading statements of the protesting Catholics (received with great applause and enthusiasm) are exposed, it may not be improper for the " high authority ' who directed copy of the Resolutions, etc., to the pope, to be read in every Catholic church in New York, to inform his parishioners of the unfortunate mistake he made, before the majority of his fellow- men shall have discovered the deception, that truth is more to be prized than earthly power and public aggrandizement. FRANCE AND THE SEPARATION LAW AND THE PROTESTING BROOK- LYN CATHOLICS IT is said eighty-five per cent of the population of France are Roman Catholics. This comes through getting control of the women, of the female children when young, and instilling in their minds Roman Catholic dogmas to take pre- cedence of all other teachings. As they grow up, through the confessional and catechism they are absolutely under the control of the priests, and when mothers of families, they in turn are taught to insist on their children being brought up in the same faith. For centuries these people have been held in mental bondage, have attended worship in stately cathedrals, seen the burning candles, lis- tened to the inspiring music, enjoyed the odor of frankincense, admired the paintings and vestments, obeyed implicitly orders from their religious supe- riors, put their money in the box, with the assurance that their sins are forgiven and their future secured, made in the first place by ignorant and designing. Men in Rome, who for centuries have used the pope, a creature of their own making and a prisoner in the Vatican, to wring from the ignorant masses of this and other nations enormous sums of money under the cloak of religion. The history of 108 Protesting Brooklyn Catholics 109 the Roman Catholic organization, its methods and practices, are but little known and understood by the average American, but thoroughly understood in foreign countries, where for centuries liberty of thought and conscience have been smothered through priestly domination. The recent attempt by Spanish and Jesuit influences to embroil France in a civil war, and the powers behind the throne at Rome in their attempted defiance of the civil laws and government autonomy, have both most signally failed. The abolition of the Concordat and the separation of church and state have been accom- plished without any of the violent social upheavals which were predicted by the clericals. The pope would have done much better to have spared France his insults. Having raised himself above all laws, and his tyranny having become insupportable, the nation decreed that he no longer be allowed to assert his right to the sole allegiance of states and individuals. You now find yourselves face to face with the claim of a foreign potentate (of narrow seminary training, who knows little or nothing of any country but his own) that his authority is unlimited, that he can at will set aside laws regularly made by the con- stituted lawmaking authority, and that if he annuls them or sets them aside you are bound to disobey them ; that he has a divine and immutable right to ratify or refuse to ratify civil legislation; and that you are bound to disobey the civil government and revolt against the laws if the pope orders you to do so. 110 The Roman Catholic Church It is denied the pope or Church of Rome has any right, directly or indirectly, to any civil, spirit- ual, or temporal jurisdiction, power, pre-eminence, or authority in the United States. The public demonstration in England last year only goes to show " that official representatives of Catholicism in England hold themselves bound to disobey the civil government of that realm, and to revolt against the laws, if the pope orders them to do so. What is true of England is true in a greater or less degree of every country. The supremacy of the church over the state is an inviolable principle to be en- forced at all costs." It is not in defense of religious liberty the pope is attacking the French republic, but because the republic has placed all religious bodies alike under a regime of religious liberty, equality, and toleration, and this he calls the law of oppression. Rome puts up with religious equality and toleration in a Protestant country so long as she is not strong enough to claim and enforce anything more. In the final miserable attempt of the Vatican to throw on the French bishops the responsibility of its own policy, they (the bishops) declined to walk into the trap that had been laid for them, and but for the timely revelations of the Temps and the Siecle, the truth would probably never have been known, and the French bishops would have been held responsible for the results of a policy which, in fact, they did their utmost to avert. Let us turn for a moment to a New York news- paper account of eight thousand, more or less, protesting Catholics, who gathered in Brooklyn to Protesting Brooklyn Catholics 111 denounce the French republic, February 3, 1907. The first speaker said, " Poor old France, we come to chide you more in sorrow than in anger. . . . France, to-day, seems determined to hunt Christ out of the state altogether. It is to protest against this that we are here to-night." A more careful reading of the Encyclical Gravissimo, the " Asso- ciations Law " of 1901, and " Separation Law " of 1905 will enable the speaker to readily understand that France is not on any hunting expedition after Christ, but simply has served notice on Rome, who claims to represent some God, and whose edicts in the past have been law, that it will no longer, under religious or other pretext, suffer or allow any further meddling or interference in any manner with its people or government by any foreign power, ecclesiastical or otherwise. The next speaker is reported to have said: " The right of man to worship God as he pleases is dearer even than life itself. The action of the French govern- ment is an outrage against all humanity, by a set of men temporarily in power through the vagaries of politics. They assume to dictate on questions of conscience to their fellowmen. These puny, miserable, and sometimes diseased intellects have sought to select the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church to administer to human conscience in time of need. It was the great Justice Story who said that the rights of conscience are beyond the just reach of human power, that they were God- given. That is good American doctrine, whether you spring from Quaker, Pilgrim, Jew, or Gentile. 112 The Roman Catholic Church You must agree with us that the right of govern- ment to interfere between a man and his God is inhuman and impossible." It is to be regretted the speaker should see fit to use such language as the above, on a subject he plainly shows he has^something to learn, and in disrespect to members of the Chamber of Deputies, many of whom are Catholics. True, these "puny," " miserable," and sometimes ' diseased ' intel- lects have decided to no longer, as a matter of courtesy, submit to the Curia the names of bishops for appointment, but have decided that hereafter they will make their own selection of men whom they can trust, and who will not intrigue to overthrow a republican form of government, as in the past. The speaker says further, ' The rights of conscience are beyond the just reach of human power, that they were God-given," ' that it is good American doctrine," "that we must agree with him that the right of government to interfere between a man and his God is inhuman and im- possible." This is good American doctrine. Why, then, allow popes and priests to interfere with liberty of conscience and his God, if beyond the just reach of human power ? It is only after the intriguing and tyranny of some religious order be- comes insufferable that governments are some- times obliged to assert their authority, as was recently the case in France. You say, " The right of government to interfere between man and his God is inhuman and impossible." It makes all the difference who and what the God is, and what Protesting Brooklyn Catholics 113 use you are making of it, whether the government under which you live supports you in your con- tention, especially when your pope claims he is the only chief divine representative of the only God anybody has any right to worship, your religious superior, and under whose control you are, if you are a good Catholic; and when you stand on a public platform and undertake to defend the action of your religious superiors in their attempt to subvert the French government, to throttle public opinion for their own selfish deeds, a knowledge of the law and accuracy of statement is hoped for, especially from those occupying high official posi- tions when they descant on matters religious. But to return to the meeting of the protesting Catholics. The next speaker is reported to have said: We Americans feel that with the abolition of the Concor- dat a millstone has been taken from the necks of French Catho- lics [Applause.] But the separation law is not a separation law at all, but a carefully devised mockery [applause] not set up to create a free church, but to undermine, wreck, and sweep away the Catholic Church. [Applause and cries of " That's true! Right! "] It is a crazy, diabolical attempt to enslave the church instead of making it free. The law is aimed directly at all the works of mercy and education so beautiful in the Catholic Church of France. [Applause and cheering.] It is devised to destroy the fundamental institu- tions of the Catholic Church in a country where 90 per cent of the people are Catholics. The French government has entered into this controversy as lightly as Napoleon entered into the Franco-Prussian War, and, unless it retreats promptly, the result will be a disaster 114 The Roman Catholic Church to the republic more complete than that which attended the victory to the German arms. That great Brandenburger, Bismarck, flushed with his victory over France, endeavored to wreck the church in Germany, but even Bismarck had to pass on his way to a metaphorical Canossa. [Applause and cheers.] The present ruler of Germany told the people that he would not govern with the aid of the Center and appealed to the people. What was the result ? He will govern with the aid of the Centre or he will not govern at all. [Applause.] The church in France is fighting, not for an ancient privi- lege, but for the bare right to live. The French government is setting up a condition by which the Catholic bishop may not direct a pastor and a pastor may be tin-own out of his parish at the mere whim of a layman who may not even be a Catho- lic. Under the French separation law a band of free thinkers might oust the loyal Catholics from the Cathedral of Notre Dame and enthrone a light woman on its high altar. There is time yet to undo the great wrong and place the whole matter on a basis of justice and equality. I do not despair of France. If I did I should dread to think confidently of my own country. If this present crisis may lead the great French people to shake off their lethargy, to forget their divisions as Orleanists and Imperialists, or what not, and to remember that they are free men and Catholics, then the crazy doctrinaires and mountebank statesmen who have thrust themselves to the front at this time will disappear as negligible quantities. It may be that some strong stimulus, some outrageous provoca- tion, may be necessary before this awakening comes: but come it will. So to-night we say to the bishops and laity of France, " God be with you. Stand firm." [Applause.] " Separation Law a carefully devised mockery to wreck and sweep away the Catholic Church ? Protesting Brooklyn Catholics 115 A crazy, diabolical attempt to enslave the church, aimed directly at all works of mercy and education and devised to destroy the fundamental institutions of the church in France ? ' These incorrect, ill- advised declarations have already been met, and are unworthy of notice. The speaker then further said, " The present ruler of Germany will govern with the aid of the Center (Catholics), or he will not govern at all," meaning the Catholics vote as a unit in the Reichstag, and hold the balance of power. It is true they sold their votes to the emperor for money to build warships. These bribes consisted in bartering; for return of certain rights of which they had been deprived by Bismarck (the return of the Jesuits among others), in the interest of the German nation. The speaker further says: " The government is setting up a condition by which a Catholic bishop may not direct a pastor, and a pastor may be t irown out of his parish at the mere whim of a layman who may not even be a Catholic. Under the French Separation Law a band of free thinkers might oust the loyal Catholics from the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and enthrone a light woman on its altar." The gentleman is mistaken, and, says Mr. Dell, in his paper on " The Papal Aggression in France," : The above statements are typical of the largest class of mistakes about the Separation Law, and misunderstanding of the system of Associations Cultuelles; since the Associations Law of July 1, 1901, associations other than religious orders have required no author- ization from the state, or any public authority. 116 The Roman Catholic Church But before an association can acquire real prop- erty and a corporate personality it must make a declaration in a form provided by law, and if the authorities consider that its objects are illegal they must proceed in a court of law to obtain its sup- pression. The Separation Law but follows the general law of France in requiring the various religious bodies to form associations for the pur- pose of holding the ecclesiastical property. The Association Cultuclle is merely an association declaree, under the law of the July 1, 1901, which has for its sole object the practice of religion (V exercise d'un culture), formed by seven, fifteen, or twenty-five persons, according to the population of the commune. It must present its accounts to a general meeting of members once a year. They are given complete liberty to organize in accord- ance with the wishes of the members or with the principles and rules of the religious body to which they belong. It will be seen how entirely baseless are the statements which certain Catholic journals have made on this matter. The Separation Law applies to all religious bodies alike, and so it cannot " recognize " the authority of the bishops over Associations Cultuelles, but it allows the bishops to exercise as much authority as they please over the Catholic Associations Cultuelles, making constitutions and rules which will safeguard epis- copal authority, as is shown by the constitutions drawn up by the Archbishop of Besancon, and adopted by the French bishops at their assembly in May. The pope himself has described them Protesting Brooklyn Catholics 117 in his encyclical as " at once legal and canonical." The proposed constitutions of an Association Cultuelle formally subject the association to the authority of the pope and the bishop of the diocese, and require of all the members a formal profession of faith and submission to the authority of the pope and the church; that they will abstain from joining any secret society condemned by the Roman Church, and obey the laws as regards baptism, first communion, education of their children, marriage of themselves and children, and religious burial; that they will conform to the rules of the asso- ciation; and that they must be elected by the execu- tive committee on the nomination of two members. The parish priest is an ex-officio member. Any one who remains a month under ecclesiastical censure ceases to be a member of the association. This provision enables the bishop in practice to expel any member (subject to an appeal to Rome) and would make it impossible for the Association to be captured by heretics or schismatics, so an Associa- tion Cidtuelle is far more under the control of the bishop than is the Conseil de fabrique. It has been contended that the Separation Law encour- ages schism, and does not secure the cathedral and parish churches to the orthodox Catholics: those who make such assertions haven't taken the trouble to read the text of the law. Clauses IV, VIII, and XIII make it impossible for the cathedrals, churches, and other ecclesiastical property to be assigned to any but a Catholic Association Cul- tuelle, just as they require that the Protestant 118 The Roman Catholic Church temples and Jewish synagogues shall be assigned only to those associations which represent their present holders. An appeal to the Cotiseil d'Etat is only possible when the parish church is claimed by two or more associations formed for the practice of the same religion, and the question which the Conseil d Etat has to decide is one of fact precisely similar to that which the English law courts fre- quently have to decide in regard to property held in trust for religious purposes. The Conseil d Etat must assign the church and other property to that association which is proved to have com- plied with the " general rules of organization of the religion of which " the contending associations propose to insure the practice. One of the most important rules in the case of the Catholic Church is the necessity of being in communion with the bishop of the diocese, and that is the first con- sideration, as M. Brand has repeatedly stated, which the Conseil d'Etat will have to take into account in deciding between rival associations claiming to be Catholic. In other words, the association in communion with the bishop would always be able to secure the parish church even though the large majority of the Catholics in the parish, and the parish priest himself belonged to the Schismatic Association. The provisions of Clause VIII further secure that in the event of an association becoming Schismatic, the parish priest, or (if the parish priest himself were schis- matic) the bishop, could form an Orthodox Asso- ciation, and by an appeal to the Conseil d'Etat, Protesting Brooklyn Catholics 119 secure the parish church and its property. . . . Could anything be more just and equitable to the church than the above mentioned legislation? And yet the Protesting Catholics of Brooklyn con- sider this action of the French government " an outrage against all humanity by a set of men tem- porarily in power through the vagaries of politics." It looks more like an instance of ' ' the rulers of a religious organization coming in conflict with the laws of a sovereign state," in which conflict the state prevailed. " Having overthrown the powers of Rome in its attempt to subvert the government, France, after centuries of trial of parochial schools and doctrinal teachings and priestly domination, turns from the same with disgust, and takes the education of the children into her own hands, and gives all her citi- zens civil and religious liberty never before ac- corded. In the face of all this the Roman Catholic Church has so misrepresented the truth of the action of the French government that Americans do not realize that this means the total annihilation of popery in France; which fact, in this country, where the representatives are growing bolder and more aggressive, it is not desirable the people should know, nor should they see the real weakness of Rome, when the people of France speak." MISSTATEMENTS AND UNRELIABILITY OF WRITINGS ASCRIBED TO THE APOSTLES MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN, TOGETHER WITH RE- VIEW OF "AGE OF REASON," BY THOMAS PAINE THE cornerstone and structure of what is known as the Roman Catholic Church stands or falls first on the proof of truth and authenticity of writings in the New Testament ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and second, on the record and practices of popes, cardinals, bishops, and priests during the past fifteen centuries. The passages favoring the Episcopal or Gallican theory of the New Testa- ment are John xiv. 16 sq., xvi. 13-16, where Christ promises the Holy Ghost to his disciples that he may abide with them forever, bring to their remem- brance all that he had said to them, and guide them into the whole truth. John xx. 21, " As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you "; Matt, xviii. 18, " Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven," etc.; Matt, xxviii. 19-20, " Go, and discipline all the nations. . . and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." The passages favoring the papal theory are three: Matt. xvi. 18, 19 : " And I say also unto thee 120 Review of " Age of Reason ' 121 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 bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatso- ever thou shalt loose on earth shalt be loosed in heaven." Luke xxii. 31: " And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." John xxi. 15 : " So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these ? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs." Now as to the declared supremacy of Peter. It is not so much what is claimed in these verses. What concerns us is to know whether the truth is spoken. It is universally conceded by recognized historians that it cannot be proved from the New Testament, nor from history, that Peter was Bishop of Rome, or ever saw Rome, or that he was Paul's superior or appointed a successor and transferred to him his prerogatives. In the Right Hon. William E. Gladstone's "History of the Vatican Council," Harper Bros., New York, 1875, he says: " The New Testament shows no single example of an exercise of jurisdiction of Peter over the other apostles, but the very reverse. Paul and John were perfectly independent of him. Paul even openly administered a rebuke to him at Antioch. At the Council of Jerusalem James seems to have presided, and Peter, one of the leading speakers, protested against human bond- 122 The Roman Catholic Church age.* As to Matt, xvi, 'Thou art the rock,' and John xxi, ' Feed my flock,' could at best only prove papal absolution. The former treats of the inde- structibility of the church in its totality, not of any in- dividual congregation. But of the passage, Matt, xvi. which is more frequently quoted by popes and bishops and papists than any other passage in the Bible, there are no less than five different ancient patristic interpretations. The rock on which Christ built his church being referred to Christ by sixteen fathers (including Augustine); to the faith or confession of Peter by forty-four (including Ambrose, Hilary, Jerome, and Augustine again) to Peter 'professing the faith by seventeen; to all the Apostles, whom Peter represented, by eight; to all the faithful, who, believing in Christ as the son of God, are constituted the living stones of the church. In the same chapter it was the carnal Simon who presumed to direct his Lord from the path of suffering and drew on him the rebuke, ' Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art a stumbling block unto me, for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.' The Simon who proudly boasted of his unswerving fidelity to his Master, and yet a few hours afterwards denied him thrice before a servant woman." The authority con- veyed to the apostles was conferred on all alike. All were chosen the same way, equally empowered to preach. Peter was then in no way a leader, claimed or recognized, and there is no scriptural authority for his supremacy : Peter never wanted *Acts. xv. Comp. Gal. ii. Review of " Age of Reason " 123 it. It was Rome who wanted and claimed his primacy centuries after his death. He lived and died in the East, so says history. It may not be irrelevant here to inquire as to the history and authenticity of the writings of the apostles from whom the Roman Catholic Church claims its supremacy, both temporal and spiritual. There are many books treating of this subject, but none more interesting, fair, lucid, unprejudiced, than the " Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine, Luxembourg, 8th Pluvoise, Jan. 4, 27. O. S. 1794. Paine was one of the greatest minds of the eight- eenth century. In the closing remarks to his fellow citizens of the United States, he says, " The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall." Only a brief synopsis is here given as to the history of Jesus Christ in the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In speaking of the New Testament Mr. Paine says, The history of Jesus Christ is contained in the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The first question upon the books of the New Testament, as upon those of the Old, is, Are they genuine ? Were they written by the persons to whom they are ascribed ? For it is upon this ground only that the strange things related therein have been credited. Upon this point there is no direct proof for or against, and all that this state of a case proves is doubt- fulness, and doubtfulness is the opposite of belief. The state, therefore, that the books are in proves against themselves as far as this kind of proof can go. But exclusive of this, the presumption is that the books 124 The Roman Catholic Church called the Evangelists, and ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were not written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and that they are impositions. The disordered state of the history in those four books, the silence of one book upon matters related in the other, and the disagreement that is to be found among them, implies that they are the production of some unconnected individuals, many years after the things they pretend to relate, each of whom made his own legend; and not the writings of men living intimately together, as the men called the apostles are supposed to have done — in fine, that they have been manufactured, as the books of the Old Testament have been, by other persons than those whose names they bear. The story of the angel announcing what the church calls the immaculate conception is not so much as mentioned in the books ascribed to Mark and John; and is differently related in Matthew and Luke. The former says the angel appeared to Joseph; the latter says it was to Mary; but either Joseph or Mary was the worst evidence that could have been thought of, for it was others that should have testified for them, and not they for themselves. Were any girl that is now with child to say, and even to swear it, that she was gotten with child by a ghost, and that an angel told her so, would she be believed ? Certainly she would not. Why, then, are we to believe the same thing of another girl, whom we never saw, told by nobody knows who, nor when, nor where ? How strange and inconsistent it is, that the same circumstance that would weaken the belief even of a probable story should be given as a motive for believing this one, that has upon the face of it every token of absolute impossibility and imposture! The story of Herod destroying all the children under two years old belongs altogether to the book of Matthew; not one of the rest mentions anything about it. Had such a circumstance been true, the universality of it must have made it known to all the writers, and the thing would have been too Review of " Age of Reason " 125 striking to have been omitted by any. This writer tells us that Jesus escaped this slaughter because Joseph and Mary were warned by an angel to flee with him unto Egypt; but he forgot to make any provision for John, who was then under two years of age. John, however, who stayed behind, fared as well as Jesus, who fled; and, therefore, the story circum- stantially belies itself. Not any two of these writers agree in reciting, exactly in the same words, the written inscription, short as it is, which they tell us was put over Christ when he was crucified; and be- sides this, Mark says: He was crucified at the third hour (nine in the morning), and John says it was the sixth hour (twelve at noon).* The inscription is thus stated in these books : Matthew .... This is. Jesus, the king of the Jews. Mark The king of the Jews. Luke This is the king of the Jews. John Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. We may infer from these circumstances, trivial as they are, that those writers, whoever they were, and in whatever time they lived, were not present at the scene. The only one of the men called apostles who appears to have been near the spot was Peter, and when he was accused of being one of Jesus' followers, it is said (Matthew, chap. xxvi. ver. 74), ' Then he [Peter] began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man! ' ' yet we are now called upon to believe the same Peter, convicted, by their own account, of perjury. For what reason, or on what authority, shall we do this ? The accounts that are given of the circumstances that they tell us attended the crucifixion are differently related in these four books. The book ascribed to Matthew says, chap, xxvii. ver. 45, " Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all tlte *According to John, the sentence was not passed till about the sixth hour (noon), and, consequently, the execution could not be till the after- noon; but Mark says expressly, that he was crucified at the third hour (nine in the morning) , chap, xv, verse 25. John, chap, xix, verse 14. 126 The Roman Catholic Church land unto the ninth hour." Ver. 51, 52, 53, " And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many." Such is the account which this dashing writer of the book of Matthew gives, but in which he is not supported by the writers of the other books. The writer of the book ascribed to Mark, in detailing the circumstances of the crucifixion, makes no mention of any earthquake, nor of the rocks rending, nor of the graves open- ing, nor of the dead men walking out. The writer of the book of Luke is silent also upon the same points. And as to the writer of the book of John, though he details all the circum- stances of the crucifixion down to the burial of Christ, he says nothing about either the darkness — nor the veil of the temple — the earthquake — the rocks — the graves — nor the dead men. IK; Now, if it had been true that those things had happened, and if the writers of those books had lived at the time they did happen, and had been the persons they are said to be, namely, the four men called apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it was not possible for them, as true historians, even without the aid of inspiration, not to have recorded them. The things, supposing them to have been facts, were of too much notoriety not to have been known, and of too much importance not to have been told. All these supposed apostles must have been witnesses of the earthquake, if there had been any; for it was not possible for them to have been absent from it; the opening of the graves and the resurrection of the dead men, and their walking about the city, is of greater importance than the earthquake. An earthquake is always possible and natural, and proves nothing; but this opening of the graves is supernatural, and directly in point to their Review of " Age of Reason " 127 doctrine, their cause, and their apostleship. Had it been true, it would have filled up whole chapters of those books, and been the chosen theme and general chorus of all the writers ; but instead of this, little and trivial things, and mere prattling conversations of, he said this, and he said that, are often tediously detailed, while this, most important of all, had it been true, is passed off in a slovenly manner by a single dash of the pen, and that by one writer only, and not so much as hinted at by the rest. It is an easy thing to tell a lie, but it is difficult to support the lie after it is told. The writer of the book of Matthew should have told us who the saints were that came to life again, and went into the city, and what became of them afterward, and who it was that saw them — for he is not hardy enough to say he saw them himself. Strange, indeed, that an army of saints should return to life, and nobody know who they were, nor who it was that saw them, and that not a word more should be said upon the subject, nor these saints have anything to tell us! Had it been the prophets who (as we are told) had formerly proph- esied these things, they must have had a great deal to say. They could have told us everything and we should have had posthumous prophecies, with notes and commentaries upon the first, a little better at least than we have now. The tale of the resurrection follows that of the crucifixion, and in this as well as in that, the writers, whoever they were, disagree so much as to make it evident that none of them were there. The book of Matthew states that when Christ was put in the sepulchre, the Jews applied to Pilate for a watch or a guard to be placed over the sepulchre, to prevent the body being stolen by the disciples; and that, in consequence of this request, the sepulchre was made sure, sealing the stone that covered the mouth, and setting a watch. But the other books say nothing about this application, nor about the seal- 128 The Roman Catholic Church ing, nor the guard, nor the watch; and according to their accounts, there were none. Matthew, however, follows up this part of the story of the guard or the watch with a second part, that I shall notice in the conclusion, as it serves to detect the fallacy of these books. The book of Matthew continues its account, and says (chap, xxviii. ver. i), that at the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn, toward the first day of the week, came Mary Mag- dalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. Mark says it was sun-rising, and John says it was dark. Luke says it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, and other women, that came to the sep- ulchre; and John states that Mary Magdalene came alone. So well do they agree about their first evidence! they all, however, appear to have known most about Mary Magda- lene. The book of Matthew goes on to say (ver. 2), " And be- hold there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it." But the other books say nothing about any earthquake, nor about the angel rolling back the stone and sitting upon it, and, according to their account, there was no angel sitting there. Mark says the angel was within the sepulchre, sitting on the right side. Luke says there were two, and they were both standing up; and John says they were both sitting down, one at the head and the other at the feet. Matthew says that the angel that was sitting upon the stone on the outside of the sepulchre told the two Marys that Christ was risen, and that the women went away quickly. Mark says that the women, upon seeing the stone rolled away and wondering at it, went into the sepulchre and that it was the angel that was sitting within on the right side, that told them so. Luke says it was the two angels that were standing up; and John says it was Jesus Christ himself that told it Review of " Age of Reason " 129 to Mary Magdalene, and that she did not go into the sepulchre, but only stooped down and looked in. Now, if the writers of those four books had gone into a court of justice to prove an alibi (for it is of the nature of an alibi that is here attempted to be proved, namely, the absence of a dead body by supernatural means), and had they given their evidence in the same contradictory manner as it is here given, they would have been in danger of having their ears cropped for perjury, and would have justly deserved it. Yet this is the evidence, and these are the books that have been imposed upon the world, as being given by divine inspiration, and as the unchangeable word of God. The writer of the book of Matthew, after giving this account, relates a story that is not to be found in any of the other books, and which is the same I have just before alluded to. ' Now," says he (that is, after the conversation the women had with the angel sitting upon the stone), " behold some of the watch [meaning the watch that he had said had been placed over the sepulchre] came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done; and when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept; and if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money and did as they were taught; and this saying [that his disciples stole him away] is commonly reported among the Jews until this day." The expression, until this day, is an evidence that the book ascribed to Matthew was not written by Matthew, and that it has been manufactured lon£ after the times and things of which it pretends to treat; for the expression implies a great length of intervening time. It would be inconsistent in us to speak in this manner of anything happening in our own time. To give, therefore, intelligible meaning to the 130 The Roman Catholic Church expression, we must suppose a lapse of some generations at least, for this manner of speaking carries the mind back to ancient time. The absurdity also of the story is worth noticing; for it shows the writer of the book of Matthew to have been an ex- ceedingly weak and foolish man. He tells a story that con- tradicts itself in point of possibility; for though the guard, if there were any, might be made to say that the body was taken away while they were asleep, and to give that as a reason for their not having prevented it, that same sleep must also have prevented their knowing how and by whom it was done, and yet they are made to say, that it was the disciples who did it. Were a man to tender his evidence of something that he should say was done, and of the manner of doing it, and of the person who did it, while he was asleep, and could know nothing of the matter, such evidence could not be re- ceived; it will do well enough for Testament evidence, but not for anything where truth is concerned. I come now to that part of the evidence in those books, that respects the pretended appearance of Christ after this pretended resurrection. The writer of the book of Matthew relates, that the angel that was sitting on the stone at the mouth of the sepulchre, said to the two Marys, chap, xxviii. ver. 7, " Behold Christ has gone before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him; lo, I have told you." And the same writer at the next two verses (8, 9) makes Christ himself to speak to the same purpose to these women immediately after the angel had told it to them, and that they ran quickly to tell it to the disciples; and at the sixteenth verse it is said, " Tlien the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them; and when they saw him, they worshiped him." But the writer of the book of John tells us a story very different to this; for he says, chap. xx. ver. 19, " Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week [that is, Review of " Age of Reason " 131 the same day that Christ is said to have risen], when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst of them." According to Matthew the eleven were marching to Galilee to meet Jesus in a mountain, by his own appointment, at the very time when, according to John, they were assembled in another place, and that not by appointment, but in secret for fear of the Jews. The writer of the book of Luke contradicts that of Mat- thew more pointedly than John does; for he says expressly that the meeting was in Jerusalem the evening of the same day that he [Christ] rose, and that the eleven were there. See Luke, chap. xxiv. ver. 13, 33. Now, it is not possible, unless we admit these supposed disciples the right of wilful lying, that the writer of those books could be any of the eleven persons called disciples; for if, according to Matthew, the eleven went into Galilee to meet Jesus in a mountain by his own appointment, on the same day that he is said to have risen, Luke and John must have been two of that eleven; yet the writer of Luke says expressly, and John implies as much, that the meeting was that same day, in a house in Jerusalem; and, on the other hand, if, according to Luke and John, the eleven were as- sembled in a house in Jerusalem, Matthew must have been one of that eleven; yet Matthew says the meeting was in a mountain in Galilee, and consequently the evidence given in those books destroys each other. The writer of the book of Mark says nothing about any meeting in Galilee; but he says, chap. xvi. ver. 12, that Christ, after his resurrection, appeared in another form to two of them as they walked into the country, and that these two told it to the residue, who would not believe them. Luke also tells a story in which he keeps Christ employed the whole day of this pretended resurrection, until the evening, and which totally invalidates the account of going to the 132 The Roman Catholic Church mountain in Galilee. He says that two of them, without saying which two, went that same day to a village called Emmaus, threescore furlongs (seven miles and a half) from Jerusalem, and that Christ, in disguise, went with them, and stayed with them unto the evening, and supped with them, and then vanished out of their sight, and reappeared that same evening at the meeting of the eleven in Jerusalem. This is the contradictory manner in which the evidence of this pretended reappearance of Christ is stated; the only point in which the writers agree, is the skulking privacy of that reappearance; for whether it was in the recess of a mountain in Galilee, or a shut-up house in Jerusalem, it was still skulking. To what cause, then, are we to assign this skulking ? On the one hand, it is directly repugnant to the supposed or pretended end — that of convincing the world that Christ had risen; and on the other hand, to have asserted the publicity of it would have exposed the writers of those books to public detection, and, therefore, they have been under the necessity of making it a private affair. As to the account of Christ being seen by more than five hundred at once, it is Paul only who says it, and not the five hundred who say it for themselves. It is, therefore, the testimony of but one man, and that, too, of a man who did not, according to the same account, believe a word of the matter himself at the time it is said to have happened. His evidence, supposing him to have been the writer of the fif- teenth chapter of Corinthians, where this account is given, is like that of a man who comes into a court of justice to swear that what he had sworn before is false. A man may often see reason, and he has, too, always the right of changing his opinion; but this liberty does not extend to matters of fact. I now come to the last scene, that of the ascension into heaven. Here all fear of the Jews, and of everything else, must necessarily have been out of the question : it was that Review of " Age of Reason " 133 which, if true, was to seal the whole, and upon which the reality of the future mission of the disciples was to rest for proof. Words, whether declarations or promises, that passed in private, either in the recess of a mountain in Galilee or in a shut-up house in Jerusalem, even supposing them to have been spoken, could not be evidence in public; it was therefore necessary that this last scene should preclude the possibility of denial and dispute, and that it should be as public and as visible as the sun at noonday; at least it ought to have been as public as the crucifixion is reported to have been. But to come to the point. In the first place, the writer of the book of Matthew does not say a syllable about it; neither does the writer of the book of John. This being the case, it is not possible to suppose that those writers who effect to be even minute in other matters would have been silent upon this, had it been true. The writer of the book of Mark passes it off in a careless, slovenly manner, with a single dash of the pen, as if he was tired of romancing or ashamed of the story. So also does the writer of Luke. And even between these two, there is not an apparent agreement as to the place where his final parting is said to have been. The book of Mark, says that Christ appeared to the eleven as they sat at meat, alluding to the meeting of the eleven at Jerusalem; he then states the conversation that he says passed at that meeting; and immediately after says (as a school boy would finish a dull story), " So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God." But the writer of Luke says that the ascension was from Bethany; that he [Christ] led them out as far as Bethany, and was parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. So also was Mahomet; and as to Moses, the apostle Jude says, ver. 9, " that Michael and the devil disputed about his body:' While we believe such fables as these, or either of them, we believe unworthily of the Almighty. 134 The Roman Catholic Church I have now gone through the examination of the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ; and when it is considered that the whole space of time from the crucifixion to what is called the ascension is but a few days, apparently not more than three or four, and that all the circumstances are said to have happened nearly about the same spot, Jerusalem, it is, I believe, impossible to find in any story upon record so many and such glaring absurdities, contradictions, and false- hoods as are in those books. They are more numerous and striking than I had any expectation of finding when I began this examination, and far more so than I had any idea of when I wrote the former part of the Age of Reason. Though it is impossible, at this distance of time, to ascer- tain as a fact who were the writers of those four books (and where we doubt we do not believe), it is not difficult to ascer- tain negatively that they were not written by the persons to whom they are ascribed. The contradictions in those books demonstrate two things : First, that the writers could not have been eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses of the matters they relate, or they would have related them without those contradictions ; and, conse- quently, that the books have not been written by the persons called apostles, who are supposed to have been witnesses of this kind. Secondly, that the writers, whoever they were, have not acted in concerted imposition; but each writer separately and individually for himself, and without the knowledge of the other. The same evidence that applies to prove the one, applies equally to both cases ; that is, that the books were not written by the men called apostles, and also that they are not a con- certed imposition. As to inspiration, it is altogether out of the question; we may as well attempt to unite truth and falsehood as inspiration and contradiction. If four men are eye-witnesses and ear- witnesses to a scene Review of " Age of Reason " 135 they will, without any concert between them, agree as to time and place when and where that scene happened. Their individual knowledge of the thing, each one knowing it for himself, renders concert totally unnecessary; the one will not say it was in a mountain in the country, and the other at a house in town : the one will not say it was at sunrise, and the other that it was dark. For in whatever place it was, at whatever time it was, they know it equally alike. I am not one of those who are fond of believing there is much of that which is called wilful lying, or lying originally, except in the case of men setting up to be prophets, as in the Old Testament; for prophesying is lying professionally. In almost all other cases, it is not difficult to discover the prog- ress by which even simple supposition, with the aid of credu- lity, will, in time, grow into a lie, and at last be told as a fact; and whenever we can find a charitable reason for a thing of this kind, we ought not to indulge a severe one. The story of the appearance of Jesus Christ is told with that strange mixture of the natural and impossible that distinguishes legendary tale from fact. He is represented as suddenly coming in and going out when the doors were shut, and of vanishing out of sight and appearing again, as one would conceive of an unsubstantial vision; then again he is hungry, sits down to meat, and eats his supper. But as those who tell stories of this kind never provide for all the cases, so it is here; they have told us that when he arose he left his grave clothes behind him; but they have forgotten to provide other clothes for him to appear in afterward, or to tell us what he did with them when he ascended, — whether he stripped all off, or went up clothes and all. In the case of Elijah, they have been careful enough to make him throw down his mantle; how it happened not to be burned in the chariot of fire they also have not told us. But as imagination supplies all deficiencies of this kind, we may suppose, if we please, that it was made of salamander's wool. 136 The Roman Catholic Church Those who are not much acquainted with ecclesiastical history may suppose that the book called the New Testament has existed ever since the time of Jesus Christ, as they suppose that the books ascribed to Moses have existed ever since the times of Moses. But the fact is historically otherwise. There was no such book as the New Testament till more than three hundred years after the time that Christ is said to have lived. At what time the books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John began to appear is altogether a matter of uncertainty. There is not the least shadow of evidence of who the persons were that wrote them, nor at what time they were written; and they might as well have been called by the names of any of the other supposed apostles, as by the names they are now called. The originals are not in the possession of any Christian church existing, any more than the two tables of stone written on, they pretend, by the finger of God, upon Mount Sinai, and given to Moses, are in the possession of the Jews. And even if they were, there is no possibility of proving the handwriting in either case. At the time those books were written there was no printing, and consequently there could be no publication, otherwise than by written copies which any man might make or alter at pleasure, and call them originals. Can we suppose it is con- sistent with the wisdom of the Almighty to commit himself and his will to man upon such precarious means as these, or that it is consistent we should pin our faith upon such un- certainties ? We cannot make, nor alter, nor even imitate so much as one blade of grass that he has made, and yet we can make or alter words of God as easily as words of man. About three hundred and fifty years after the time that Christ is said to have lived, several writings of the kind I am speaking of were scattered in the hands of divers indi- viduals-; and as the church had begun to form itself into a hierarchy, or church government, with temporal powers, Review of " Age of Reason ' 137 it set itself about collecting them into a code, as we now see them, called The New Testament. They decided by vote, as I have before said in the former part of the Age of Reason, which of those writings, out of the collection they had made, should be the word of God, and which should not. The Rabbins of the Jews had decided, by vote, upon the books of the Bible before. As the object of the church, as is the case in all national establishments of churches, was power and revenue, and terror the means it used, it is consistent to suppose that the most miraculous and wonderful of the writings they had col- lected stood the best chance of being voted. And as to the authenticity of the books, the vote stands in the 'place of it, for it can be traced no higher. Disputes, however, ran high among the people then calling themselves Christians; not only as to points of doc- trine, but as to the authenticity of the books. In the contest between the persons called St. Augustine and Fauste, about the year 400, the latter says: " The books called the Evan- gelists have been composed long after the times of the apostles by some obscure men, who, fearing that the world would not give credit to their relation of matters of which they could not be informed, have published them under the names of the apostles, and which are so full of sottishness and discordant relations, that there is neither agreement nor connection between them." And in another place, addressing himself to the advocates of those books as being the word of God, he says, " It is thus that your predecessors have inserted in the scriptures of our Lord many things, which, though they carry his name, agree not with his doctrines. This is not surprising, since tliat ice have often proved that these things have not been written by himself, nor by his apostles, but that for the greater part they are founded upon tales, upon vague reports, and put together by I know not what, half-Jews, but with little agreement 138 The Roman Catholic Church between them, and which they have nevertheless published under the names of the apostles of our Lord, and have thus attributed to them their own errors and their lies." The reader will see by these extracts, that the authenticity of the books of the New Testament was denied, and the books treated as tales, forgeries, and lies, at the time they were voted to be the word of God. But the interest of the church, with the assistance of the fagot, bore down the oppo- sition, and at last suppressed all investigation. Miracles followed upon miracles, if we will believe them, and men were taught to say they believed whether they believed or not. But (by way of throwing in a thought) the French Revolution has excommunicated the church from the power of working miracles; she has not been able, with the assistance of all her saints, to work one miracle since the revolution began; and as she never stood in greater need than now, we may, without the aid of divination, conclude that all her former miracles were tricks and lies. When we consider the lapse of more than three hundred years intervening between the time that Christ is said to have lived and the time the New Testament was formed into a book, we must see, even without the assistance of historical evidence, the exceeding uncertainty there is of its authenticity. The authenticity of the book of Homer, so far as regards the authorship, is much better established than that of the New Testament, though Homer is a thousand years the more ancient. It is only an exceedingly good poet that could have written the book of Homer, and therefore few men only could have attempted it; and a man capable of doing it would not have thrown away his own fame by giving it to another. In like manner, there were but few that could have composed Euclid's Elements, because none but an exceedingly good geometrician could have been the author of that work. But with respect to the books of the New Testament, particularly such parts as tell us of the resurrection and Review of " Age of Reason " 139 ascension of Christ, any person who could tell a story of an ap- parition, or of a man's walking, could have made such books; for the story is most wretchedly told. The chance, therefore, of forgery in the Testament, is millions to one greater than in the case of Homer or Euclid. Of the numerous priests or parsons of the present day, bishops and all, every one of them can make a sermon, or translate a scrap of Latin, especially if it has been translated a thousand times before; but is there any among them that can write poetry like Homer or science like Euclid ? The sum total of a parson's learning, with very few exceptions, is a b, ab, and hie, hoec, hoc; and their knowl- edge of science is three times one is three; and this is more than sufficient to have enabled them, had they lived at the time, to have written all the books of the New Testament. As the opportunities of forgeries were greater, so also was the inducement. A man could gain no advantage by writing under the name of Homer or Euclid ; if he could write equal to them, it would be better that he wrote under his own name; if inferior, he could not succeed. Pride would prevent the former, and impossibility the latter. But with respect to such books as compose the New Testament, all the induce- ments were on the side of forgery. The best imagined history that could have been made, at the distance of two or three hundred years after the time, could not have passed for an original under the name of the real writer; the only chance of success lay in forgery, for the church wanted pretence for its new doctrine, and truth and talents were out of the question. It is not upon the epistles, but upon what is called the Gospel, contained in the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and upon the pretended prophecies, that the theory of the church calling itself the Christian church is founded. The epistles are dependent upon those, and must follow their fate; for if the story of Jesus Christ be fabulous, all reasoning founded upon it as a supposed truth must fall with it. 140 The Roman Catholic Church We know from history that one of the principal leaders of this church, Athanasius, lived at the time the New Testa- ment was formed;* and we know also, from the absurd jargon he left us under the name of a creed, the character of the men who formed the New Testament; and we know also from the same history that the authenticity of the books of which it is composed was denied at the time. It was upon the vote of such as Athanasius, that the Testament was decreed to be the word of God ; and nothing can present to us a more strange idea than that of decreeing the word of God by vote. Those who rest their faith upon such authority put man in the place of God, and have no foundation for future happiness; credulity, however, is not a crime, but it becomes criminal by resisting conviction. It is strangling in the womb of the conscience the efforts it makes to ascer- tain truth. We should never force belief upon ourselves in anything. The evidence produced to prove them forgeries is ex- tracted from the books themselves, and acts, like a two-edged sword, either way. If the evidence be denied, the authenti- city of the scriptures is denied with it; for it is scripture evi- dence; and if the evidence be admitted, the authenticity of the books is disproved. The contradictory impossibilities contained in the Old Testament and the New, put them in the case of a man who swears for and against. Either evidence convicts him of perjury, and equally destroys reputation. The very nature and design of religion, if I may so ex- press it, prove even to demonstration that it must be free from everything of mystery, and unencumbered with every- thing that is mysterious. Religion, considered as a duty, is incumbent upon every living soul alike, and, therefore, must be on a level with the understanding and comprehension of all. Man does not learn religion as he learns the secrets and mysteries ofa trade. He learns the theory of religion by *Athanasius died, according to the Church chronology, in the year 371. Review of " Age of Reason " 141 reflection. It arises out of the action of his own mind upon the things which he sees, or upon what he may happen to hear or to read, and the practice joins itself thereto. I totally disbelieve the Almighty ever did communicate anything to man, by any mode of speech, in any language, or by any kind of vision or appearance, or by any means which our senses are capable of receiving, otherwise than by the universal display of himself in the works of the creation, and by that repugnance we feel in ourselves to bad actions, and the disposition to do good ones. Nothing that is here said can apply, even with the most dis- tant disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous and an amiable man. The morality that he preached and practised was of the most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality liad been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, many years before, by the Quakers since, and by many good men in all ages, it 1ms not been exceeded by any. Jesus Christ wrote no account of himself, of his birth, parentage, or anything else; not a line of what is called the New Testament is of his own writing. The history of him is altogether the work of other people; and as to the account given of his resurrection and ascension, it was the necessary counterpart to the story of his birth. His historians having brought him into the world in a supernatural manner, were obliged to take him out again in the same manner, or the first part of the story must have fallen to the ground. How much or what parts of the books called the New Testament, were written by the persons whose names they bear, is what we can know nothing of; neither are we certain in what language they were originally written. The matters they now contain may be classed under two heads, — anecdote and epistolary correspondence. The four books already mentioned, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are altogether anecdotal. They relate 142 The Roman Catholic Church events after they had taken place. They tell what Jesus Christ did and said and what others did and said to him; and in several instances they relate the same event differ- ently. Revelation is necessarily out of the question with respect to those books; not only because of the disagreement of the writers, but because revelation cannot be applied to the relating of facts by the person who saw them done, nor to the relating or recording of any discourse or conversation by those who heard it. The book called the Acts of the Apostles (an anonymous work) belongs also to the anecdotal part. When the church mythologists established their system they collected all the writings they could find, and managed them as they pleased. It is a matter altogether of uncertainty to us whether such of the writings as now appear under the name of the Old and New Testament are in the same state in which those collectors say they found them, or whether they added, altered, abridged, or dressed them up. Be this as it may, they decided by vote which of the books out of the collection they had made should be the word of God, and which should not. They rejected several; they voted others to be doubtful, such as the books called the Apocrypha; and those books which had a majority of votes, were voted to be the word of God. Had they voted otherwise, all the people since calling themselves Christians had be- lieved otherwise, — for the belief of the one comes from the vote of the other. Who the people were that did all this we know nothing of; they called themselves by the general name of the church, and this is all we know of the matter. Putting them aside as a matter of distinct consideration, the outrage offered to the moral justice of God by supposing him to make the innocent suffer for the guilty, and also the loose morality and low contrivance of supposing him to change himself into the shape of a man, in order to make an excuse to himself for not executing his supposed sentence Review of " Age of Reason ' 143 upon Adam, — putting, I say, those things aside as matter of distinct consideration, it is certain that what is called the Christian system of faith, including in it the whimsical ac- count of the creation, the strange story of Eve, the snake, and the apple, the ambiguous idea of a man-god, the corporeal idea of the death of a god, the mythological idea of a family of gods, and the Christian system of arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three, are all irreconcilable, not only to the divine gift of reason that God hath given to man, but to the knowledge that man gains of the power and wisdom of God, by the aid of the sciences and by studying the struc- ture of the universe that God has made. It is not the antiquity of a tale that is any evidence of its truth ; on the contrary, it is a symptom of its being fabulous ; for the more ancient any history pretends to be, the more it has the resemblance of a fable. The origin of every nation is buried in fabulous tradition, and that of the Jews is as much to be suspected as any other. It is in vain to attempt to palliate or disguise this matter. The story, so far as relates to the supernatural part, ha? every mark of fraud and imposition stamped upon the face of it. Who were the authors of it is as impossible for us now to know, as it is for us to be assured that the books in which the account is related were written by the persons whose names they bear; the best surviving evidence we now have respecting this affair is the Jews. They are regularly de- scended from the people who lived in the times this resur- rection and ascension is said to have happened, and they say it is not true. It has long appeared to me a strange inconsistency to cite the Jews as a proof of the truth of the story. It is just the same as if a man were to say I will prove the truth of what I have told you by producing the people who say it is false. From the foregoing writings of Mr. Paine it would appear that the four apostles, Matthew, 144 The Roman Catholic Church Mark, Luke, and John could not have been eye and ear witnesses of matters they relate, or they would have related them without those contra- dictions; that the book ascribed to Matthew as the inspired word of God is not only unreliable, but full of misstatements and falsehoods, and the pretended authority given to Peter was the work of irresponsible and designing men. At all events, whoever the author of Matthew xvi. 18, 19, some sagacious gentlemen were shrewd enough to appropriate them for their own use and behoof, and made them a base of operations, with many and singular claims since added, to delude the masses, whom for centuries they have designedly kept in ignorance, and with indulgences, promises of pardon, and the auricular confession have been eminently successful in obtaining enormous sums of money, political power, and personal aggrandizement, and are very likely to continue to do so for some time to come. ARE THE CLAIMS AND TEACHINGS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE MORALS OF THE JESUITS ADAPTED TO THE CITIZENS OF OUR FEDERAL REPUBLIC ? ALSO SOME UNRELIABLE CHRIS- TIAN DOGMAS A FEW men some centuries ago came together and decided that certain manuscripts con- tained the inspired word of God, and there- after in due time these manuscripts were put together in book form, and this book was called the Holy Bible. From this book various religious or- ganizations now in existence found spiritual help and formulated their respective creeds, each claim- ing for its followers pardon of sins and promise of a safe passage to Paradise, if its teachings and in- structions were obeyed, none of which promises have been followed with flattering results as far as heard from. I venture to say there is no subject on which educated and ignorant men alike know so little of, and claim to know so much of, and will fight for, as the history and truth of what they con- sider their religion, the same being a belief in some creed. Early impressions on the sensorium are seldom changed, and the difficulty of eradicating opinions and habits formed in infancy aids the in- creasing evil. Hence, for centuries a small number of ignorant men have ruled a 'paying mass of igno- rant men and women. 145 146 The Roman Catholic Church The Christian dogma as stated by St. Paul, its first inventor, is as follows: " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." This may be expanded into the following propositions, as given by S. Laing, " Modern Science and Modern Thought " (Watts & Co., London): 1. That the Old Testament is miraculously inspired, and contains a literally true account of the creation of the world and of man. 2. That, in accordance with this account, the material universe, earth, sun, moon, and stars, and all living things on the earth and in the seas, were created in six days, after which God rested on the seventh day. 3. That the first man, Adam, was created in the image of God and after His own likeness, and placed, with the first woman, Eve, in the Garden of Eden, where they lived for a time in a state of innocence, and holding familiar converse with God. 4. That by an act of disobedience they fell from this high estate, were banished from the Garden, and sin and death were inflicted as a penalty on them and their descen- dants. 5. That after long ages, during which mankind remained under this curse, God sent His Son, who assumed human form, and by his sacrifice on the cross appeased God's anger, removed the curse, and destroyed the last enemy, death, giving a glorious resurrection and immortal life to those who believed on him. Since the foregoing creed was formulated it has attracted some of the ablest men of various nations and is claimed to have been helpful to mankind, but its continuance as a creed would seem to be Some Unreliable Christian Dogmas 147 inconsistent with facts adduced from modern science, which most clearly proves that the world was not made as described in Genesis, that animals were not created in one or two days and spread over the earth after having been shut up in the Ark forty days. That man is not descended from an Adam created in God's image, there being at the time claimed millions of people living in China, India, and other countries. That the accounts given of such important matters in writings pro- fessedly inspired are manifestly untrue. And when asked for proof of life everlasting, with saints and angels, the reply is, actual proof cannot be known until we are dead. That if facts contradict the inspired word of God, all the worse for facts. A Chinese gentleman, charged with putting broken glass bottles on top of his house and fences to keep off the evil spirits, when told it was ridiculous and absurd, and was asked to prove they kept them off, replied, "Prove it does not keep them off," and up to this time one claim has proved as difficult of demon- stration as the other. In one of the old Norse Sagas there is a saying of an aged warrior when asked what he thought of the new religion, replied, " I have heard a great deal of talk of the old Odin and of the new Christ, but whenever things have come to a real pinch I have always found that my surest trust was in my own right arm and good sword." For centuries the world has made no determined efforts to disprove priestly dogmas, but the right arm, the intelligence, the moral force of the twentieth century is gently running them off 148 The Roman Catholic Church the course. The wind that once filled the clerical sails is gone by, and they now have to take to the oars and pull for a harbor where the errors and superstitions of antiquity are no longer claimed to be the foundations of truth, justice, and mo- rality, and where any authority of what is called religion, which excludes examination, is destructive of all intelligence, and comprises an intolerable despotism over the consciences of men, is no longer sufferable or recognized. But in its place the religion of to-day, which looks for 'proofs of the immortality of the soul, that every man is respon- sible for deeds done in the body, that the divine law of compensation is ever present, and admits of no pretended power, authority, or intermediary between man and the All Wise Intelligence, whom no one can even comprehend, and that everything is governed by law. ' A religion which teaches that a loving father could not inflict punishment on millions of unoffending creatures for an act of disobedience on the part of a remote ancestor, and require the vicarious sacrifice of an only son as the condition of forgiving the offense and removing the curse, or that the existence of a personal God, the divinity of Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, and the reality of miracles are necessary truths beyond the scope of reason." It were wise that educated men only, learned in the sciences, and having nothing to do with speculative opinions, should fill the places now held by men of inferior ability, who would devote all their energies to teaching Plato's sublime mo- Some Unreliable Christian Dogmas 149 rality, and making good and honest citizens of the entire human family; that the obsequious adula- tion paid to and privileges enjoyed by the clergy be discouraged; that wisdom, instead of flowing robes and divinity school diplomas, be proof and criterion of fitness to hand down spiritual truths; that men of the highest intelligence be employed by the governments to critically and exhaustively examine as to the probable origin and truth of what is known as the Holy Bible, together with the past history and practices of the various sects; all of which will help clear the atmosphere of exploded doctrines, to discard false theories and beliefs, and give capacity to appropriate new truths when dis- covered and proved. With the people thus edu- cated, religion will cease as a merchantable com- modity, the avocation of the priest is gone, and, happily, other fields of usefulness opened for his delectation. History and science have put an end to belief in certain portions of the Bible as the inspired word of God, and proved beyond question that the authorship of the most important books, though ascribed to certain writers, is unknown, and is the work of unscrupulous and designing men. This applies no more to the claims of the Roman Catholic Church than to that of any other religious denomination, and claiming the right exercised by the followers of all sects, I frankly admit that, while a firm believer in an " All Wise Intelligence," I am unable to share with them a belief in their respective tenets. For the good and 150 The Roman Catholic Church true men and women of every denomination I have the utmost respect. The Roman Catholic Church is an ancient organization, is and has been in the past instrumental in doing a great amount of good in the world, and will continue to exist and do good until something better takes its place. For its leaders and representatives in the United States I have personally no animosity, but on the con- trary the most kindly regard. They are excellent gentlemen and mean to be good citizens, and while I may speak with warmth of the Roman Catholic " System," with whose historical pretensions and political aims I have no sympathy and cordially detest, my motives are good, and " as principles are of more importance than individuals, I have deemed it best to write the truth, hoping and trusting that it may not give offense." Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church As already stated, the basis of Roman Catholic belief was taken from Matt. xvi. 18, 19. " And I say also 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 bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." With these lines as a pivot, in due course of time a few men came together and formed an association called the Roman Catholic Church, increasing in number and power from century to century, the word Catholic being adopted A.D. 380. Assuming Matthew said these words were uttered by Jesus Christ to Peter, which is neither admitted nor believed, in view of the proven inaccuracy and unreliability of the writings ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the absurd claims that Christ knew anything of the All Wise Intelligence, called God, the Father, or that he, Christ, was the equal in all things with God Almighty, that he, Christ, knew anything about a place called heaven, and much less had any keys of that, or any other place, to bind and loose, that Peter was some kind of a rock on which to build a church (meaning, if anything, that the rock was not the person t but 151 152 The Roman Catholic Church the previous confession of Peter) ; that Peter transferred his authority to his successors, or that Christ gave authority to Peter to bind and loose anybody, and the monstrous claim that, " what- soever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," are no longer tenable, which latter for centuries has served to frighten the ignorant, unsuspecting masses and robbed them of their money and their heritage. With the dawn of the twentieth century this church no longer rests in fancied security that its dogmas and divine rights cannot be disproved because no one is now living who was present at times specified, or can set aside the word of God. These false claims, which for centuries frightened the masses intentionally kept in ignorance by the church, have no terrors for the world intelligence of to-day, which now demands proof and delivery of the goods, failing which to acknowledge defeat, and seek other avenues for idleness or usefulness. But do you think it can all be settled easily as that? Ah no. This organization is not afflicted with the disease of modesty. Its aim is national, to control nations as in the past. You think not ? Wait until you see the power it develops in our country in the next twenty-five years, unless mean- time the nation awakes from its deep sleep and recovers its own. It is the "System," the " Curia," at Rome, the veiled prophets behind the throne with whom the nation takes issue and has to deal; who are all powerful through their army of bishops Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 153 and priests, and who assert the present Pope is the vice gerent of God, with full authority from God to govern, handed down by Peter through his successors. Neither time nor space admits a history of popes. There have been in all ages and in all professions good and bad men. The same may be said of popes. The "American Text-Book of Popery, Chronological Table," page 115, gives among the many events cited the follow- ing, quoting authorities, which serves to throw some light on the lives and character of the gentle- men referred to, — successors of Peter and vice gerents of God, viz. " In A. D.606 Pope Boniface got from usurper Phocas (who had murdered Emperor Mauritius and all his family) ecclesiastical supremacy, and declared the appellation pope should ever after be restricted to the Roman pontiff. In 863 Nicholas I, the Pope, and Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, reciprocally excommunicated each other. In 881 Pope John was put to death for his intolerable wickedness. In 896 Pope Boniface VI was expelled from his high office before the end of the first month, on account of his atrocious lewdness. In 897 Pope Stephen, a more outrageous monster than Boni- face, was seized and strangled in prison. In 930 (John XII), the two preceding popes were murdered by the harlot Marozia, daughter of Theodora, that she might place in the popedom her son John, whose father was Pope Sergius III. In 964 Pope Leo was caught in adultery and slain upon the spot, by the husband. In 1045 Pope Benedict 154 The Roman Catholic Church was banished from the popedom for his wickedness. Sylvester III was expelled and Gregory VI elected. They all resided in Rome; thus three popes were living at the same time. In 1124 the Archbishop of Lyons was slain at Rome for censuring beastly wickedness of the papal dignitaries. In 1155 Arnold of Brescia was burnt for exposing the turpitude of the. Roman priests. In 1300 Pope Boniface styled himself " Universal Lord." In 1545 " The Council of Trent " opened December 13 the sessions continued at intervals for eighteen years. From the teachings then promulgated the Catholic world has since been held in mental and spiritual bondage. In 1540 order of Jesuits was founded. In 1605 Paul V, pope, May 29 was styled ' : Vice God upon earth, monarch of Chris- tendom, and the supporter of papal omnipotence/' In 1833 Gregory XVI denounces liberty of con- science and freedom of the press as pestilential errors. In 1844 the pope denounces Bible so- cieties as the work of the devil. In 1870 some cardinals and bishops came together in Rome and declared the pope infallible in faith and morals. A pope should be the wisest and holiest of men, of which it seems some of these popes were not. Referring to the dogmatic decrees of the Vatican Council, 1870, Chapter I, " of the institution of the apostolic primacy in the blessed Peter, we there- fore teach and declare, that according to the testi- mony of the gospel the primacy of jurisdiction over the universal church of God was immediately and directly promised and given to blessed Peter Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 155 the apostle by Christ the Lord. For it was to Simon alone, to whom he had already said, Thou shalt be called Cephas, that the Lord after the con- fession made by him, saying, ' Thou art the Christ the son of the living God ' addressed these solemn words : ' Blessed art thou, Simon Bar- Jona, be- cause flesh and blood have not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to 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 to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth it shall be bound also4n heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' " And it was upon Simon alone that Jesus after His resurrection bestowed the jurisdiction of chief pastor and ruler over all His fold in the words, " Feed my lambs; feed my sheep." At open variance with this clear doctrine of Holy Scripture, as it has been ever understood by the Catholic Church, are the perverse opinions of those who, while they distort the form of gov- ernment established by Christ the Lord in His church deny that Peter in his single person, pre- ferably to all the other apostles, was endowed by Christ with a true and proper primacy of juris- diction, or of those who assert that theT'same primacy was not bestowed immediately and di- rectly upon blessed Peter himself, but upon the church, and through the church on Peter as her minister. If any one, therefore, shall say that blessed Peter the apostle was not appointed the 156 The Roman Catholic Church prince of all apostles and the visible head of the whole church militant; or that the same directly and immediately received from the same our Lord Jesus Christ a primacy of honor only and not of true and proper jurisdiction, let him be anathema (cursed). And Chapter II, on the perpetuity of the primacy of blessed Peter in the Roman pontiffs, "Whence whosoever succeeds to Peter in this see, does by the institution of Christ himself obtain the primacy of Peter over the whole church. . . . Wherefore it has at all times been necessary that every particular church — that is to say, the faithful throughout the world — should agree with the Roman church on account of the greater authority of the princedom which this has received; that all being associated in the unity of that * see/ whence the rights of communion spread to all, might grow together as members of one head in the compact unity of the body. If, then, any should deny that it is by the institution of Christ the Lord, or by divine right, that blessed Peter should have a perpetual line of successors in the primacy over the universal church, or that the Roman pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy, let him be anathema ' (cursed). So, " any one who denies Peter was not prince of apostles, and that whosoever succeeds him obtains the primacy over the whole church, let him be cursed." And, that Jesus, after his resurrection bestowed the jurisdiction of chief and ruler over all his fold in the words, "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep. " What audacity, what 1 Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 157 impudence in face of the past history of popes and claimed successors of Peter, vice gerents of God. That because Christ said, " Feed my lambs, feed my sheep," he bestowed the jurisdiction of chief pastor and ruler over all his fold and then talks of a government established by Christ the Lord. What can you do with such pitiable claims, divine prerogatives ? But it is only the same old arrogant, presumptuous assumptions and declarations of a small body of ignorant men with whose successors you now have to deal. The same old scheme of claiming for the pope all power, the prophets be- hind the throne, the "Curia," moving him about the chessboard like a little pawn, whenever they saw fit, as is already set forth by Pope Ganganelli. This infamous crime, tricked out in the trappings of morality and disguised as religion, is no more than selfish greed, and it is imperative the people of our country should be educated as to the fraud and rapacity of this organization (the " system ' which wraps itself in impenetrable concealment), and have brought home to them the peril of the situation by which they are being reduced to a condition of serfdom. It only waits the hour to strike, when, with ignorant votes and safe vaults plethoric with gold, it demands supremacy, as always in the past. You think not ? Wait and see. Referring to the Council of Trent: No docu- ment concerning popery is of so much importance as the acts of the Council of Trent. Jan. 6, 1564, the Pope's Bull confirmed the Decrees of the 158 The Roman Catholic Church " Council of Trent," which has been in session eighteen years, and the laws and duties of our race were then settled. The following are the decrees as given by G. D. Abbot, in " Mexico and the United States. ' ' First, that Jesus Christ constituted Peter as the supreme head of the twelve apostles and his successors and vice gerents on earth, and that all the apostles were subject to him. Second, that the pope of Rome succeeds to all the titles and rights of Peter, who by Christ's appointment placed his seat at Rome and there remained until his death, and that all of Peter's rights have passed regularly down through the line of his successors to Paul III and Pius IX. Third, that the great- ness of the pope's priesthood begun in Melchizedek, was solemnized in Aaron, and was continued in Aaron's sons, was made perfect in Christ, and represented in Peter; was exalted in the pontifical, universal jurisdiction, and mani- fested in his successors. Fourth, that the pope is immaculate, infallible, and irresponsible to any earthly tribunal or power. He is judge of all, can be judged by none, kings, priests, nor people. He is f ree from all laws, so that he cannot incur any sentence or penalty for any crime. Fifth, the pope is by divine right invested with all the spiritual powers, and is the sovereign head, supreme judge in all things relating to reli- gion, faith, or discipline. He is all in all, and above all so that God and the pope, the vicar of God, are but one " con- sistory " (College of Cardinals at Rome). Wherefore the pope hath power to abrogate laws, to dispense all things in regard to marriage, usury, divorce, homicide, perjury. He hath all power on earth, purgatory, heaven, and hell, to bind, loose, command, permit, dispense, do, and undo. Therefore it is declared to stand upon necessity of salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff. Sixth, all temporal power is his; the dominion, jurisdiction, and Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 159 government of the whole earth is his by divine right. All rulers of the earth are his subjects, and must submit to him. Seventh, all the earth is the pope's diocese. Eighth, the pope is supreme over all ecclesiastical authority and councils of the Universal Church. He has absolute -power over them. Infallibility in the spiritual order and absolute sovereignty in the temporal are synonymous and convertible terms. Such are the assumptions and preposterous absurdities now made and maintained in the twentieth century in the name of religion. As Talleyrand remarked, ' I marvel that indignant humanity does not rise in the majesty of truth and sweep to destruction the whole fabric, with its agents and abettors." Dense ignorance of the nations, of its past history and present aims, alone prevents. The various changes in doctrines, ceremonies, discipline, and government were contrived to enhance power and wealth, and to tax their votaries under the name and forms of religion, until a large proportion of the national possessions of Europe were at the pope's disposal. Sacra- ments and indulgences are still among the chief emoluments of the Roman Catholic Church. When dogmas cannot be understood, educa- tion through the eye becomes necessary; when the eye is dazzled, the ear soothed, the emotions of the heart can be more readily stirred than by oratory; an appeal to the senses is always stronger. It is for this reason that priests take pains to make attractive places of worship. Hence, images and relics, paintings, candles, colored 160 The Roman Catholic Church globes, with lamp always burning, and from age to age have come theatrical pageantry of ceremonies, invocation of saints, purgatory (the gold mine of priests and monks), miracles, canonization of saints, vestments, friars and nuns, penance, abso- lution, and purchase of souls out of limbo, by in- dulgences, sacramental garments, masses for the dead, monarchism, private confession, sale of indulgences, invention of the seven sacraments, elevation of the cross, and other impious rites; transubstantiation, plenary indulgence for those who have received sacrament of penance and holy Eucharist, sacrifice of the mass, processions and feast in honor of the sacrament, with gorgeous, gold-embroidered robes of bishops and archbish- ops, the Immaculate Conception, the Mariolatry which exalts the Virgin Mary as queen of heaven, the sole object of superstitious trust and idola- trous honor; the ever-present boxes for money to build houses, churches, and support clericals in idleness; the Holy See, Holy Mother, Holy Ghost, holy water, Holy Mother Church, Holy Eucharist, holy chrism, holy orders, holy days, with the " Curia," cardinals, archbishops, prelates, bishops, priests, and monasteries, all the work and words of designing men at Rome. In A.D. 666 the idolatrous rites were commanded to be performed everywhere in the Latin language, which produced the obliteration of the scriptures, as the common people couldn't read and did not understand that language. Three hundred years ago the Latin race had the Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 161 wealth of the world in its possession, and the fairest and most fruitful realms of earth as its own to show what it could do for humanity, but it bowed to the papal supremacy. Behold Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, where a plethora of priests and ignorance of the masses abound. Witness the South Am- erican republics and Mexico, for centuries under the heel of Rome. France, where the women were first secured, and through them the family, after years of suffering and abject humiliation has shaken off the yoke. From 1871 to 1875 the Catholics had the whole control of France; that control they used to destroy the republic. " To give liberty to these people is about as safe as to give it to mad dogs." They were in possession of every public office, and were driven from power by an outraged nation. Again, in 1906, they were caught with Rome plotting against the nation, which has now taken the education of the children into its own hands and compelled obedience to the civil laws. In 1867 the clericals fled from Mexico, fearing vengeance of the government. They were not interfered with, but told that 'political Roman- ism was dead, and they must henceforth keep their hands off the nation's affairs, mind their religious work, and that alone, — as is fully set forth in " Butler's Transition of Mexico." Bismarck de- clared " the papacy has been a political power which, with the greatest audacity, has interfered with the affairs of this world." He directed the German ambassador at Rome to inform Cardinal Antonelli, that " unless the charge against Protest- antism was withdrawn he would not allow the 162 The Roman Catholic Church Prussian bishops on their return from the Council to resume their functions in Prussia." " If France complains of the Council Antonelli makes three bows, and all remains as before. If Prussia comes with her mustache and cavalry boots Rome under- stands that the word is quickly followed by the deed, and wisely yields." To-day the Catholics having traded their votes in the Reichstag to give the emperor money to build men of war, have got back all they lost through Bismarck, and are once more intrenched, and increasing in numbers and power, and all at the expense of the tax payers, who little understand the game of their superiors with the Roman " Curia," which latter, in the end, always come to the post smiling and victorious. Witness the plausible presentment of Catholic teaching and obligation dangled before the world, and that which the dominant (foreigner) party imposes on those inside the church. Apropos of this subject, Baroness von Zedtwitz, nee Miss Lena Caldwell, has published a book called, " The Double Doctrine of the Church of Rome," explaining her grounds for retiring from that communion after giving liberally from her large fortune to the church. Her sister, Countess de Merinville, it is said, gave three hundred thou- sand dollars to be used to found the Catholic Uni- versity at Washington, D. C. The following ex- tract is one newspaper's review of the book: Baroness von Zedtwitz explains in the preface to her book the reasons which she considers important enough to explain its existence. Owing to the extremely hostile attitude assumed Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 163 by the Roman Catholic Church in this country toward my decision, and its persistent efforts at first to belittle the sincerity of my renunciation of their system, I have found it necessary to resort to the only way of silencing the voices of those who persistently spread the report that I never com- pletely severed my connection with the Church of Rome. The Baroness explains the title by her theory of exoteric and esoteric Catholicism. Exoteric Catholicism is the reli- gion of the faithful members of the flock. Esoteric is the system by which the prelates and high clergy endeavor to advance the temporal interests of the Roman Catholic reli- gion. The author blames the members of the Society of Jesus for most of this activity. She writes : " It was not, as is popularly believed, to combat heresy that the Jesuits, as an order, came into being; it was to save the Roman Church from the abyss and ruin which threatened it. Both within and without the Roman Church, Luther and Calvin are known, not as heretics, but reformers; and the name Reformation can never be torn from that stupendous movement which freed thinking and believing minds from the servitude of Rome. " It is indeed to the influence of the Jesuits in the Roman Catholic Church that Baroness von Zedtwitz devotes most of her book. She finds them in part the moving spirit of esoteric Catholicism. She writes: " Jesuitism is but esoteric Catholicism made tangible. It is the heart and spirit of the whole system; and whether or not there have been popes and prelates who are covertly hostile to its necessary hegemony, they are aware that if Catholicism and papacy are to last Jesuitism is absolutely indispensable for their justification ; were it otherwise Rome, following the course she has always pursued in denouncing unsound doctrines of a theological nature, would have been forced to call upon the Jesuits in Vatican council to disown and repudiate the unsound moral teachings of a whole host 164 The Roman Catholic Church of Jesuit authors, or failing to obey this order banish the Jesuits from the church. Rome has never attempted either. The Jesuits are the bold cynics who meet with a sneer the faltering Christian doubtful of his power to reach salvation; they are the mockers of those seeking more light on intel- lectual doubts; they, the modern Pyrrhonists, emboldened by their Greek prototype, reply now to the seeker of truth as Pilate once replied to Christ, ' What is truth ?' The influence of the Roman Catholic Church's esoteric features on the public life of this country has been very per- nicious, according to the author. She attributes to it much of the recent scandal in business affairs. She writes: " The pursuit of money, therefore, is the chief method now used by Rome to regain her lost power, and she permeates the atmosphere wherein she thrives with this spirit of greed. " Free expression of thought in this country has now become obsolete; everywhere does Roman influence or pressure so coerce by bribery and threat the former liberty- loving citizen that even the sentiment of freedom has been in a measure displaced to make room for the love of power and wealth; these are motives which Rome can use and manipulate. Liberty in any form she is impotent to handle. " The morality of the clergy and the standard of veracity in the Roman Catholic Church are other points about which Baroness von Zedtwitz discourses in her book. She says : " It seems quite evident that the church has no intention of interpreting this law so strictly in its general application, since the vows of all cloisters and the special code governing regulars include, besides the vow of celibacy, the supple- mentary vow of chastity, which would naturally be wholly unnecessary did the already existing vow of celibacy suffi- ciently express the denial they volunteer to observe. " The disciplinary punishment applied to trespassers has regard, therefore, solely to the violation of the letter, and is broad and lax. On all points of conduct the clergy are Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 165 reprimanded in proportion to the scandal they cause and not for the act per se. " The standard of veracity in the Church of Rome differs seriously from that used by moralists in general. The prin- cipal and most influential guide upon questions of morals in the Roman Catholic Church is always lawful for a ' just cause.' An example of each kind will help to make the matter plainer. A man asked if a particular thing be true which he knows to be true, but does not wish to admit, may lawfully reply, ' I say, No,' meaning thereby only, ' I utter the word, No,' and not, ' I declare that the thing did not happen.' A witness, asked if a prisoner has committed a certain crime, is allowed to deny it if the act be one which he himself does not think criminal; and if the crime be a hidden one, so that no one knows the facts except the criminal and the witness, the latter is not only allowed, but bound, to say that the accused did ways lawful for ' a just cause.' " The book is dedicated to the ' Rev. C. L. G,' a mark of esteem and sympathy." The pursuit of money, therefore, is the chief method now used by Rome to regain her lost power. " Free expression of thought in this country has now become obsolete. Every- where does Roman influence or pressure so coerce by bribery and threat the former liberty-loving citizen, that even the sentiment of freedom has been in a measure displaced to make room for the love of power and wealth. These are motives which Rome can use and manipulate. Liberty in any form she is impotent to handle." As to Jesuits above referred to, see Butler's " Mexico in Transition," page 278. " For their crimes, intrigues, and conspiracies the Jesuits have been banished from various countries again and again." The last (then) report showed 2,377 166 The Roman Catholic Church members of this order, 1,130 in the United States and a large portion of the remainder in England. These are the gentlmen, polite, plausible, and trained, the spies, the vassals, the sworn minions of a foreign despot, who, having been expelled from Catholic countries again and again by popes, princes, and kings, both Catholic and Protestant, now swarm into England and America, and, under the protection which the influence of an open Bible gives to honest men, are proceeding to destroy the public schools, debauch the government, and work the mischief which has ever been their legitimate business. In August, 1873, the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico, the next day the newspaper, El Monitor Republicano, published an article bearing the title "Jesuits, farewell!" It contained a fearful arraignment of the miseries which this order of foreigners had inflicted upon Mexico when their baneful influence was intruded into her social and public life; how they had identified themselves remorselessly with the enemies of her freedom. Jesuits, farewell ! In this hour of your departure we have no sympathy or compassion for you. We reserve both for the people among whom you will now fix your homes, and with whose social, civil, and religious life you will endeavor to tamper, as you have tampered with ours, with similar results of misery and distress. And further on, Dr. Butler gives dates of expul- sion of Jesuits from the various countries of the world as follows : Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 1G7 For their crimes, intrigues, and conspiracies the Jesuits have been banished from various countries again and again, as will be seen by the following table, compiled from " A Short Sketch of the Jesuits," also from the " Encyclopedia of Chronology," by B. B. Woodward and William L. R. Cates, and from other trustworthy authorities. JESUITS EXPELLED FROM Saragossa La Palinterre Vienna Avignon 1555 1558 1566 1570 Antwerp, Portugal, etc. 1578 England .... 1579 England again . . 1581 England again . . 1584 England again . . 1586 Japan .... 1587 Hungary and Transyl- vania .... 1588 Bordeaux . . . 1589 The whole of France 1594 Holland .... 1596 Touron and Berne . 1597 England again . . 1602 England again . . 1604 Denmark, Venice, etc. 1606 Venice again . . . 1612 Amura, Japan . . 1613 Bohemia .... 1618 Moravia .... 1619 Naples and Netherlands 1622 China and India . . 1623 Turkey .... 1628 Abyssinia .... 1632 Malta 1634 Russia .... 1723 Savoy .... 1724 Paraguay . . . . 1733 Portugal . . Sept. 3, 1759 Prohibited in France 1762 France again . . 1764 Spain, colonies, and Sici- lies and Naples . 1767 Parma and Malta . 1768 All Christendom, by bull of Clement XrV, July 21, 1773 Russia .... 1776 France again . . . 1804 Canton Grisons . . 1804 Naples again . . 1810 France again . . 1816 Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Canton Soleure 1816 Belgium .... 1818 Brest (by the people) . 1819 Russia again . . 1820 Spain again . . . 1820 Rouen Cathedral (by the people) . . . 1825 Belgium schools . . 1826 1G8 The Roman Catholic Church France, 8 colleges closed, 1828 G't Britain and Ireland 1829 France again . . 1831 From entering Saxony 1 83 1 Portugal .... 1834 Spain again . . . 1835 Rheims (by the people) 1838 From entering Lucerne 1 84 2 Lucerne again . . 1845 France again . . 1845 Switzerland . . . 1847 Bavaria and Genoa . 1848 Papal States, by Pius IX, Sardinia, Vienna, Aus- Several Italian states 1859 Sicily again . . . 1860 Spain again . . . 1868 Guatemala . . . 1871 Switzerland . . . 1871 German empire . . 1872 Mexico (by the viceroy) 1853 Mexico (by Comonfort) 1856 Mexico (by Congress) 1873 New Granada since 1879 Venezuela . . . 1879 Argentine Republic Hungary . Brazil .... France again 1879 1879 1879 1880 tria .... 1848 Standing back in the shadow, the Jesuits work unseen day and night for their purposes. By the use of the confes- sional they can lay their hands on every secret of social and personal life in every family where they have a representative of their religion. As to politics and public men no power in this world is so debasing as that of Jesuitism. The laws of Mexico now sanction no monas- tery or nunnery , Sisters of Charity, or Jesuits within her bounds. From the above it would seem that Jesuitism and Romanism are inimical to liberty and a conspiracy against the state. Baroness von Zedtwitz further says, It is the heart and spirit of the whole system, that if Catholicism and papacy are to last Jesuitism is absolutely indispensable for their justification; otherwise Rome would have forced the Jesuits to repudiate the moral teaching of a host of Jesuit authors, failing which, to banish them from the church. Rome has done neither. Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 169 What have America and England done to prevent the growth and spread of the Jesuit Catholic system ? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Its power is felt in Congressional legislation at Washington and in the capitols of the various states. Germany has restored rights to the Jesuits. Mr. Redmond has introduced a bill in the House of Commons repealing the acts prohibiting residence, the acquisition of property, and holding high offices by the Jesuits and other monastic orders. Premier Asquith, it is said, spoke early in the debate and gave his cordial support to the object of the bill. One is here reminded of the old slavery days, when a few Southern gentlemen ruled our country for thirty years, and to whom the North truckled in order to have peace. Business men and politicians said : " We must not agitate the slavery question, it hurts our business, and we won't have it ! D — n the niggers, anyhow." The same is now said when this matter called religion is discussed. Has England forgotten the scourging of a former king through her streets by Roman Catholic bishops, and the recent plotting of Spanish and Jesuit managers at Rome for the attempted Catholic demonstration in the streets of London to destroy the friendly relations between France and England ? Has she forgotten a certain foreign monarch en rapport with Rome pulls the strings at will to weaken her ? And through the same subterranean channel enormous battleships are ordered by governments having no use for them, and thus compelling 170 The Roman Catholic Church England in self defense to overburden its people with additional taxes. This is well known and understood by the powers at Rome, who play nations against each other and trade for power and money, when both countries are too weak for resistance. How long is it to be before dear old England learns the lesson that the exactions of the " Curia " are the root of all evil; that no nation can exist half slave and half free; that a power outside her borders claims and now exer- cises authority over her citizens, is superior to all laws, acknowledges no superior authority; that history and science now show this pretended author- ity is a myth, maintained by an army of followers whose power, bread, and butter, depend on their obedience and civility to a few ignorant men in Rome, who use a man called the pope with which to frighten ignorant and superstitious people and get their money, and whose chief aim is to keep the people in mental subjection ? All the troubles of England with Ireland are born of this curse, but until England, like France, takes the educa- tion of children into its own hands, compels its children to attend public schools, abolishing reading of any Bible therein, abolishes parochial schools, and, as in Switzerland, compels attendance to the public schools, monasteries and nunneries, and serves notice on Rome, and its own bishops at home, that it will suffer no further meddling with its affairs, will its troubles cease. Impossible, you say! No, it is not impossible; but there will be no rest until these things are done, and it will come Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 171 only when the nation has suffered enough. When this system of ignorance, imposture, and intolerable despotism and hypocrisy is understood; when the creed or warrant by and through which its man- agers claim supreme spiritual and civil authority over all the earth shall be proved a show and play- thing, and the nations shall regard the pope and Roman " Curia " in any other light than a mis- chievous and hostile monarchical despot, assisting the enemies of law, with its followers living under a despotism, comparison with which the Ottoman or other empires are wellnigh liberal; until this obtains, the conflict will continue as for centuries in the past. The pope, a creature of the cardinals, is a prisoner in the Vatican, virtually has no power only through his followers, and lives, as it were, on sufferance. In 1870, on the withdrawal of the French army, by which and alone the papal gov- ernment existed, says Butler's " Mexico in Transi- tion," less than one hundred votes (49) were cast for its retention and fifty thousand for King Victor Emanuel. Count Biancini declared " the people of Rome would rather see their city perish in ashes than again be subject to papal domination." The religion of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with these intrigues. The God of the universe is not the God of popes and priests. In her self-sufficiency the church seeks to elevate herself above all responsi- bility to any other power, and claims immunity from secular jurisdiction, and the state, which immensely increases her power for doing mischief, makes no account to the nation of her vast accumu- lations, claims all immunities, and contributes 172 The Roman Catholic Church nothing to the public burdens. With this property the church has always fought against civil and religious liberty. She increases her monastic system, jealously secluded from government in- spection or influence of public opinion as to per- sonal property or rights and liberties of the thou- sands around whom she erected those massive walls. It is a truth well established by experience, that the only aim of the priest is to fatten on the superstition of the ignorant, and that is why en- lightened men have denounced the priesthood. The church has always sided with ignorance because she has always thrived on the profits of ignorance. The religious chains forged in early childhood never break, and it is now and has always been the policy of the ' system ' to secure the young girls and forge the chains before they are able to think for themselves, and once secured, their children are brought up in the faith and put their money in the boxes. In our country the church has always had a free hand : first, because our people were ignorant of its history and real intentions, and second, because interfering with one's religion is not popular. Now that its voters increase in number, would-be presidents, governors, and lesser officials become more obsequious to the managers of the " system " for its votes, which will always be secured by one of the two political parties for good and sufficient consideration, as repeatedly demonstrated in foreign countries. On account of the enormous number of foreigners now coming to our shores the " system " has grown bolder and Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 173 more arrogant in the exercise of the vast political power it has acquired, through the money and votes they bring, nor are the high church officials accused of living in poverty. In Equador, Butler says, in " Transition of Mexico," "the priests control the government, dictate all laws, and absolutely rule the country; the social and political condition presents a picture of the dark ages." But for Magna Charter, says Sir William Blackstone, the priests would have engulfed all the real estate of Eng- land. It took centuries to protect and perfect the nation against their rapacity and schemes to avoid the statutes. Says Lord Palmerston, : Where- ever the Romish priesthood have gained a pre- dominance, there the utmost amount of intolerance is invariably the practice." Says Lafayette, ' If ever the liberties of the United States are destroyed it will be by the Romish priests." Says the late Duke of Richmond, ' Rome has designs on the United States; were we to be swamped with immi- gration, the immigrants would become citizens, hold the balance of power between the political parties, would gain the majority when our institu- tions would be overthrown and the republic abolished," as has repeatedly been tried in France, by holy conspirators at Rome. A power which is sought as an ally and feared as an enemy may do things with impunity and very little censure. The managers of the " system " view with satisfaction the controlling factors soon to be in the hands of the priests. As an instance, the World's Work Magazine speaks of seventeen thousand (more or 174 The Roman Catholic Church less) of a certain race of workmen near Pittsburg, Penn., who don't even know the English language, but who are citizens, with twenty thousand children (more or less) attending parochial schools, and church property valued $750,000. Is there any question in your mind how these men will vote when ordered? See following account of two towns in state of Kansas. The towns are built around a church. The church at Munjon and the one at Catherinstadt cost from $20,000 to $40,000 each. Other great stone structures are the dwellings of priests and the schools for parish educational work. The priest rules the municipality and the county, for the voters of the Russian denomination are in the majority in at least two counties. In the late spring there is a march to the open lands and the blessing of the fields takes place. Other customs that seem strange in this land are followed. The priest is greeted with bared head by all when seen on the street. He wears his robes all the week. It is an odd sight to see the whiskered farmers and the priests riding in up to date motor cars. The stores and schools are all managed by the members of the sect and the tendency is toward yet greater clannish- ness as the property of the communities falls more into their hands. In some of the counties the politics is absolutely controlled by the Russian vote, and it is folly for the candi- date who is not favored by this people to aspire to office. Any question how these men will vote when ordered? Every state is honeycombed with this constantly increasing power, which is now collect- ing more money, building more palatial residences, more churches, monasteries, and nunneries (all Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 175 nurseries of Roman power) than ever before in the history of the church. In fact, there is no city or village of any size where this church does not push her benefices, indulgences, and collect her reve- nues. Who sends the sisters of charity on begging expeditions through our cities to call at private houses and get money from the servant girls (of the fold), the latter threatening to leave, and making trouble if the madam objects to their calling and interfering with her affairs! And here is where the long arm of the Octopus comes home to us all. Who sends the sisters to the grog shops for money the owners (in the fold) dare not refuse ? Who runs the churches, convents, monasteries, nunneries, and certain schools in the country? It's the " system," which is out for gold and poli- tical power. Come with me and see its enormous buildings and holdings in all the large cities, and at Washington, D. C, with value running into the millions; virtually the treasury and headquarters of what is known as the Apostolic Delegation, to all intents and purposes the American Vatican, overlapping the whole American hierarchy, whose canonical rights are little known even to the bishops themselves and over whose affairs the state exer- cises no control. It contributes nothing to the public burdens and claims all immunities. The only organization which does not hold her peace when the governors of the world command. But where does all this money come from? For" the most part from the ignorant masses all over^the country, the common people, and through the large 176 The Roman Catholic Church army who belong to the ecclesiastical orders, the common priests who collect it and whose generals reside in Washington and Rome. And what do the people get for it ? They get duped, and to express it in all kindness, they get promises of heaven and a pardon of sins, which can't be made good; promises made by deceitful and designing men for their own benefit, centuries ago; repeated, and handed down to this generation by ignorant, designing men at Rome, with the willing or un- willing assistance of the large army of bishops and priests in this country. You may remember that all cardinals and bishops derive their authority and jurisdiction from the pope, that is, from the " Curia," who tells them what they may do, and manages affairs in its own exclusive interests. The American high officials owe their positions to the " Curia," and must be respectful and obe- dient in order to hold them. They must of necessity support the pretensions of the Roman ' Curia ' or they would lose their commissions, and with that goes their authority and bank ac- count, both important factors. Up to this time the " Curia " have managed to keep all authority centered in foreign cardinals, and have for a long time kept the American bishops on tiptoe of expec- tation. They go to Rome every year, tell what they are doing over here, how the church is growing in power, of the brilliant future, what new clerical demands the country will stand and what it won't; to go slow in the assumption of authority, that there are thirteen million loyal Catholics who would Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 177 like to see the pope (but the pope is a prisoner in the Vatican, influential simply because of his power outside of Rome, not inside) , and as distance lends enchantment to his loyal subjects, they remain satisfied with the situation. But in spite of all this good news, the " Curia " failed to pro- duce the red hats until at length it has dawned on the bishops that aside from keeping American cardinals in the background, Rome wanted to see the color of their money. So, it is credibly stated, they sent over to Rome this or last year more money than any other country save one. But why should American bishops longer suffer such indig- nities ? It would seem they can do much better. Why not come together, and utterly repudiate, and throw overboard this Roman despotism, this ship waterlogged without charter or compass, to be avoided and abhorred by all nations, loaded to the gunwale with untruthfulness and hypocrisy, with an undeniable record of base practices, pretensions, dogmas, and creeds which should be no longer known of men, and for decency's sake alone, be buried in deepest oblivion. Why go longer to Rome ? You know the pope's claim to God-given powers is, to express it mildly, a fatal mistake. Why throw away your money to support foreign cardinals in idleness ? Why not stay at home with your money and elect your own pope and give him a salary large enough to enable him to live in a dignified and proper manner. Such a man should have the respect of the nation. But, first of all, divest yourselves of the idea that your church is 178 The Roman Catholic Church the " divinely appointed authority, to take prece- dence over all other churches." You probably know as much about God, the All Wise Intelligence, as anybody, and that, it would seem, is absolutely nothing, the hollow pretensions of any church to the contrary notwithstanding, or that you and your church are above the law, or have any religious rights others don't enjoy, or that particular atten- tion should be paid you on account of your avoca- tion or the clothes you wear. Lop off and bury as soon as may be those cruel and debasing in- ventions, ' penance," ' indulgences," " purga- tory," and the miserable, soul-destroying " confes- sional," holding in its toils the most confidential and sacred interests of its followers, especially those of the women and children. See " Council of Trent. V. Confession." The Universal Church has always understood that a full confession of sins was instituted by the Lord as a part of the sacrament of penance, and that it is necessary by divine appointment for all who sin after baptism, because our Lord Jesus Christ when he was about to ascend into heaven left his priests in his place as presidents and judges, to whom all mortal offenses into which the faithful might fall should be sub- mitted, that they might pronounce sentence of re- mission or retention of sins by the power of the keys. For this reason penitents are bound to rehearse in confession all mortal sins — even though they be of the most secret kind, etc. Of " penance " : v But the Lord specially instituted the sacrament of * penance ' when he breathed on Ins disciples, Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 179 ' Receive ye the Holy Ghost. ' " Of * ' indulgences ' ' : " Since the power of granting indulgences has been bestowed by Christ upon his church the holy council teaches that ' indulgences,' so salutary to Christian people, shall be retained by the church." Of " pur- gatory": "Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Spirit, hath taught there is a purgatory, that the souls detained there are assisted by the acceptable sacrifice of the ' mass,' this holy council commands it be everywhere taught and preached." Would it not be difficult to find else- where an equal number of words containing an equal number of deliberately planned, barefaced untruths? What blasphemy! "Necessary by divine appointment," " the Lord specially insti- tuted," ' the church instructed by the Holy Spirit." There is nothing of religion in such teachings, born in 1545 and practised to this day. Is not money received directly or indirectly under such false teachings robbery pure and simple? The " mass." Of all the artifices of cunning and venality to extort money from credulous weak- ness there is none so potential as a " mass " for the benefit of the souls in purgatory. A contract between the Almighty and His agent and vice gerent on earth (the pope) is established. The " Virgin Mary. ' The doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, in December, 1854, by Pope Pius IX, revived the shocking profanity of the rosary of the Blessed St. Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin. The pope's encyclical letter of December, 1864, says, " The Virgin Mary knows 180 The Roman Catholic Church nothing which she cannot obtain from the sove- reign master, sitting as a queen on the right hand of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ." "I salute thee! O great Mediatrix of peace between man and God. All the three divine persons concurred to crown thee at thy glorious ascension to the heavens, and then there was conferred on thee absolute power over all created in heaven and earth." And not satisfied with this insult to all who possess any claim to reason or honesty, this same Pope Pius IX sum- moned the church dignitaries to what is known as the Vatican Council, in 1870. Present 719; 541 of these belonged to Europe. July 18, 1870, the number was reduced to 535, when lo, after much bickering and discord, they decreed he was infal- lible in " faith and morals," and thus ended the greatest absurdity of modern times. This impo- tent and impertinent attempt to force upon our people the preposterous pretensions of the dark ages, the repudiated dogmas of a packed council of 247 gentlemen three centuries ago are not adapted to the civilized nations of the world, who lono> ago detected the fraud founded on such monstrosities, and no longer believed them indis- pensable to its welfare. The church now says: " Civil government is only the subordinate depart- ment of government. The people are subject to a higher law, to a higher sovereign than the state. It belongs, then, as representative of the highest authority on earth that it determine when resistance is proper, and to prescribe its form and extent." When this commands, it is our duty to obey. All Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 181 power inheres in the pope. Education must be moulded to his views. The judgments of Rome, even when not on faith and morals, claim acqui- escence and obedience under pain of sin and loss of the Catholic profession. " The opinion that ' liberty of conscience and of worship is the right of every man ' is not only an erroneous opinion, but very hurtful to the safety of the church," says the pope, December 8, 1864, in his encyclical letter. It is in vain to close our eyes against the secret designs and plottings of this system, the greatest financial trust that ever existed. A close corpora- tion, paying regular and large dividends to stock- holders who never paid a dollar for their holdings, and assume no responsibilities to state or nation. The struggle in our country is upon the assertion and denial, and the attempted enforcement and resistance of such claims as these. Such is this religious " system," the very foundations of which are laid in despotism of the most absolute and revolting; forms, the fruits of which for centuries have been ignorance, superstition, degradation, and vice, a " system ' which uses divinity as a screen to hide its lust for greed and power and makes an infamous traffic of religion. Its fangs are already fastened on our body politic and its votes given for a consideration. Witness the number of Catholics appointed in the departments at Washington, D. C, and abroad, during the past seven years; whose votes elected the last two presidents! The Catholics. Wlio in the past is said to hrave received four fifths of the money 182 The Roman Catholic Church appropriated for Indian schools? The Catholics. Who watch with argus eyes all attempted legisla- tion at Washington, and have their emissaries about the house and senate, and who largely control the press of the larger cities, whenever desired ? The Catholics. The Roman priests and friars have constantly interfered in all the civil affairs of nations. Their professed subjection to the laws is nullified by their more selfish engage- ments to promote the privilege of the popedom. Popery supersedes all rational inquiry, extirpates private judgment, admits neither doubt nor altera- tion. Whoever joins that church forfeits his moral and mental freedom; deny this if you will. The history of Europe prior to and since the refor- mation demonstrates that it is impossible for man- kind to enjoy peace as long as the pontifical power is tolerated. When the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States awake to the proven facts, viz., First, Romanism is a de- ception because it claims to have been built on St. Peter, in Rome, when there is not a scintilla of evidence he ever saw Rome. Second, Romanism is a proven fraud, because it pretends to have power which does not belong to it. Third, Romanism is a proven fraud because it claims to be in line with apostolic succession, when there have been at least thirty schisms in the church. Many popes have been ejected from office and all claiming St. Peter's chair at the same time, which fact alone destroys their impious infallibility and of the boasted succes- sion from Peter. Fourth, that the impious practice Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church 183 and double dealing of this church are no longer to be suffered and endured by the leading intelligent nations of the world who have now discovered its practices, and will surely overcome its pretensions, if only for self protection. Let the leaders of the church in this country not only realize but recognize this truth, and come out into the open, tell their parishioners the whole truth, of the despotism and depravity of Rome; that they will no longer wor- ship or be subject to any foreign pope or power; that many degrading and objectionable features of the service now ordered by^Rome are to be done away with; that you propose henceforth to worship God, the Divine Creator, and not a man. Then will you and your worship and in many respects beau- tiful service, have the respect of the world, the additional love and affection of your followers, and the friction and contention with the nation for power and personal aggrandizement be done away with. Then will the thousands of priests now writhing in mental and spiritual bondage, and only awaiting the signal, throng to your standard and hail you as their emancipators and spiritual de- liverers. Are you afraid to take the leap? Re- member, that the great law of compensation, as certain in its course as planets moving in space, is ever present, protects and provides for all workers in the cause of humanity ; that those are cheques God cashes at sight, and that truth in the end will prevail. Should the contest continue twenty-five or fifty years, you will, in spite of your apparently flourishing condition, be driven to the wall. For 184 The Roman Catholic Church the education of the twenty or more millions of children in our public schools is the death knell of Roman despotism in this country, and here with the emancipation of millions of Catholics it finds a grave. A REPLY TO CARDINAL GIBBONS'S "THE CHURCH AND THE REPUBLIC" AN article of great interest appeared in the March number, 1909, of the North Ameri- can Review, " The Church and the Re- public," written by Cardinal Gibbons, a gentleman holding a prominent position in the Roman Catholic Church, who has been instru- mental in many good works, and through a long life identified with the church, its teachings, and practices both here and abroad; with an intimate knowledge of both, a ready pen, power of analysis and capacity for special pleading, he stands easily the foremost and most prominent figure in our country now holding a commission from Rome, and as a defender of the teachings and practices of what is known as the Roman Catholic Church has no superior. With a wise, astute, comprehensive intellect, straightforward and fearless in expressing his highest sense of right and duty, with a kindly spirit for all humanity and a desire that the world should share with him the consolation of religious teachings enjoyed from early life to the now de- clining years, he, like most of us, holds tenaciously to early teachings until something else displaces them. For the gentleman personally I can have no ani- mosity, but on the contrary great respect and the most kindly feeling, and in replying to the various 185 186 The Roman Catholic Church matters mentioned in the article referred to, if the language used should be plain and outspoken, it will be to emulate him, if possible, in candor, to say that my reply is directed, rather to the organ- ization he represents, with no sinister object, realizing the difficulty of presenting this matter without seeming prejudice, and with a hope it may give no offense. Before touching upon the article in question, it may be of interest to first inquire as to the past history and present workings of what is called the Roman Catholic Church, of which little is known by the masses. In view of the growth of this organization in America in the past fifty years, its increasing political power, and recent demands for recognition, it may not be amiss to go back on the lines, to ascertain who and where the managers of this foreign organization are, who, through obedient American appointees dependent on them for their positions and salaries, claim to exercise authority over certain cities in our country and without attending responsibility. From the first announcement of a self-made pope — Boniface III, who obtained the supremacy from Phocas, A.D. 604, after the latter had murdered Emperor Mauritius and all his family — to this time, it is claimed its advocates have treated the world to one unbroken series of suppression, misrepresentation, and false statements as to its claimed rights and authority now maintained for the benefit of Rome and its army of followers, whose/power and position depends on their servility and obedience to orders " The Church and the Republic " 187 from Rome. The Curia, or sacred college at Rome, manages the church affairs in its own ex- clusive interest, which the ignorance of the people can neither abolish nor control. It claims, as recently demonstrated in France, and in every other country where it has dared to assert itself, to stand as an independent authority, above the nation, as a whole, and opposing the exercise of the vital powers on which national growth depends, superior to all laws and free from all constitutions. Its chief aim is and has been in the past to keep the people in mental subjection to a small body of self-appointed rulers who are above, and not subject to, public control. The common appella- tion pope has been restricted to the Roman pontiff since Boniface. As is doubtless known to most readers, popes make cardinals and cardinals make popes. The latter are used by the Curia, or sacred college, to frighten the ignorant and carry out their secret designs for power and gold. I have no desire to again go into the history of the lives of the various popes. The evidence con- tained in the preceding pages is quite sufficient for all practical purposes, but, as throwing some light on one of these personages, I quote a few sentences from tlie letter of the late Bishop M. D. Talleyrand to Pope Pius VII. " Should we now look over a list of all the popes from Peter, the fisherman, to our own times, we would discover that the first half of them were beggars and impostors, who were only anxious to lead a life of idleness and pleasure under the mask of sanctity and assumed abnegation, whilst the other half 188 The Roman Catholic Church were notorious intriguers, whose lives were spent in the per- petration of the most heinous crimes, and who were followed to their graves by the curses and imprecations of the whole population. Truth, however, bids me draw a line between these monsters and the wise and immortal Ganganelli, the first and only one who ever permitted philosophy to enter into the Vatican. He often expressed the sorrow he felt in countenancing the imposition of those ignorant men who first promulgated the Christian religion, deplored the horrible evils caused by the selfish policy of the popes, grieved at the criminal traffic of the priesthood, at their total disregard of truth, and their efforts to impede the progress of knowledge, that they might keep mankind in the eternal bondage of slavery. He would say, ' No human being in Europe has, either physically or morally, suffered as I have. Confined within the walls of a convent, I was threatened with all the horrors of a dungeon if I did not clothe myself with the garments of religion and hypocrisy, and did not abjure nature and my own species. My docility, frankness, and disinterestedness and large fortune procured me the good opinion of Cardinal Ostali, who obtained in the Conclave a majority of votes in my favor, and I was invested with the purple robes and seated upon the throne as head of the church. The world knows how reluctantly I accepted the situation. I then resolved to overthrow Christianity, that is to say, idolatry, but watched by the sleepless eyes of the thousand Arguses, and always surrounded by the apostles of error, I hoped the time might soon come to execute this important reform. Obliged to assume a contemptible authority, I really blush to appear in Rome, in Italy, or even in Europe. I feel no less shame at the incense which a crapulous superstition lays at my feet and at the homage paid to me as if I were a living idol. I feel that the public opinion looks upon me as the trustee and dispenser of heavenly gifts, the living oracle of a fabled God. But, alas! I know that I a The Church and the Republic " 189 am only a weak mortal with limited facilities of precarious existence. How, then, can I pretend to foresee the future, to send some of my fellow creatures to heaven, and others to hell ? How can I wish to be acknowledged as the representa- tive of divinity, when I know nothing of such a being, although lost in admiration at the magnificence of the universe and existence of man ? You are perfectly aware, my friends, that the pope is the passive creature of the College of Cardi- nals, who create and annihilate him at pleasure. Though we are supposed to rule everything on earth, we are, neverthe- less, kept in the most abject slavery by this dreaded and mys- terious power whose revenge is sure to reach any pope who may have thoughtlessly wounded its pride or endangered its temporal welfare. In public the pope is the idol of the tumultuous rabble, but in the mysterious recesses of the Vatican this very pope who has in one hand the keys of heaven and in the other the thunderbolt of excommunication is a mere automaton, a passive instrument in the hands of the cardinals forming the sacred college. The state revenues raised in Catholic countries by imposition, mendacity, and monopolies are divided among the cardinals, as plunder is divided among robbers; only a small share goes to the pope, who has to provide for all the expenses of the court, and that tool of tyranny, a soldier. A pope, like every king, is a mere shadow, conjured up by a powerful body of men. It is an idol they raise to frighten a credulous and ignorant populace, and well do they succeed in their divine phantasmagoria, for it enables these designing impostors to oppress the people with the iron scepter of superstition. Such, my friends, are the effects of a system which was invented only to degrade mankind and to retain the masses in the gross slumber of ignorance and error.' Whilst engaged in bringing about reforms, the basest of cardinals contrived to have a subtle poison mixed with his food. He died an unnatural death by a sacrilegious and parricidal hand. The day of retribu- tion will surely arrive." 190 The Roman Catholic Church Talleyrand says further, " Who gave you (pope) the privilege of calling yourself the vice gerent of God ? Ignorant and credulous men have made you what you are, a puppet in the sacred drama of religion, to be scorned and avoided by the reflecting portion of mankind, execrated by all who possess any claim to reason, honesty, and philosophy. Who suffered you to avail yourself of the credulity of the many and to deceive them with the most barefaced impudence ? I charge you with being a traitor to the people's rights, affecting magnanimity in public and clinging to every vestige of power." The pope is influential simply because of his power outside of Rome with the ignorant masses, whose money builds all the churches and cathe- drals and supports the army of bishops and priests, pope, and cardinals. But I forbear. The purpose of the foregoing is simply to once more get into the atmosphere of popes, to hold them up where one can get a good look at them and their lives, and learn of their pretended claims; who manages them, who dictates the encyclical letters, what small coterie of men in Rome, using this pope as a tool, issue orders to American subjects, through American bishops and priests, which are obeyed. To lay bare the facts to our people that the bishops and priests in our country holding commissions from Rome, on which their power and bank account depends, are the men who uphold this small coterie of pre- tenders in Rome, and are the real power, the workers, the money gatherers for the 'system." " The Church and the Republic" 191 The men who are going to influence voters now and in the future will sooner or later meddle with the affairs of our government, just as in Mexico, where after three centuries of untold suffering, they hold over four hundred million dollars' worth of property wrung from the poor. But to return to the article of Cardinal Gib- bons, " The Church and the Republic." However specious and unsupported his views may be, it would be a mistake to dismiss them with a smile. To escape Rome and priestly influence the Puritans came to New England, and on Plymouth Rock built an altar to liberty. It is humiliating beyond all language to observe that in the advance- ment of the American republic, founded to con- tradict the tyrannies and fanaticism of ages that are dead, stand the representatives of the pope, and that it holds within its borders leaders and representatives of the darkest religious fallacy of the past. I quote from the article in question. " Fifteen millions of Catholics live in our land with undisturbed belief in the perfect harmony existing between their religion and their duties as American citizens. It never occurs to their minds to question the truth of a belief which all their experience confirms. They prefer its form of government before any other and can with a clear conscience swear to uphold it." If loyal Catholics, how is this to be reconciled with the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has, again and again for centuries, down to the present day, officially denounced as wholly wrong and as things to be tolerated only 192 The Roman CatJwlic Church so long as they cannot be changed, the complete separation of church and state, full religious liberty, freedom of conscience, of speech, of the press, and that, moreover, it proclaims its teachings and principles to be unchangeable? And how many know anything of the real truth of the belief their experience confirms ? I quote, " They have a deep distrust and strong dislike of the intermeddling of the state with the concerns of religion, and such a restriction as the church was obliged to endure in France, binding the pope to choose Catholic bishops only from among the candidates presented to him by unbe- lieving government officials, seems to them — not fully appreciating the difficulties of the situation — a scandal and a shame." Perhaps the following may throw some light and serve to refresh the memory on this matter. From the publishers of all M. Sabatier's works, the Librairie Fischbacher, Paris, we now have a smaller but hardly less remarkable volume. It is a reply to the pro- nouncement by Cardinal Gibbons in January publicly criti- cising the new law in France, popularly known as the law separating church and state. According to the published report, his Eminence charged (1) that the chiefs of the present French government were inspired by hatred of religion; (2) that they had no regard for church property rights ; (3) that the new law entirely ignored the Roman Catholic Church's constitution and laws; (4) that if that church should accept the Separation Law, she must expect to disappear be- cause of the law's natural effect; (5) that if the separation of church and state in France were of no more significance than in America, there would not be such an uproar; finally (6) 1 The Church and the Republic " 193 that he had too much confidence in the French nation to believe that it would not rise against those government chiefs who were endeavoring to destroy religion. According to M. Sabatier, to prove the hatred of the government for religion there were only the words spoken by M. Viviani, a cabinet member; the immediate adverse comment on these words in France showed their extraordinary character. For, as the Jesuit Father Abt declares, those who would destroy all churches and all religion are only an infinitesimal minority in France. As to church property, M. Sabatier protests that not a single word in the Concordat (between France and the Vatican, in force for a century, but now abrogated) shows the salaries paid by the government to the clergy to have been a sort of compensation in return for property confiscated during the French Revolution. Moreover, the pope could have prevented the return of the property to the state by accepting the new law, as a majority of the bishops wished him to do. As to an American's pride in the separation of church and state here, one has but to read the pope's bull to see that he absolutely (" Vehementer," says M. Sabatier) condemns such separation. If the Holy See supports it in America, adds the critic, it means a forced and provisory toleration. Paris, September 28. The Gaulous to-day printed an interview which its correspondent at Rome had with the pope on the Church and State Separation Law, during which the pontiff is quoted as saying: ' It is not I who condemned the law, but Christ, of whom the pope is simply the vicar. The Saviour granted the church a constitution and a doctrine against which no human law can prevail. The Separation Law is contrary to Catholic doctrines and opposed to divine rulings, is an unjust law and therefore carries no obligations to obey it. "Here is the law of 1881 governing public assemblages. All the French people have observed this law until now the pope tells the clergy: 'You will not recognize this law. You will violate it immediately.' 194 The Roman Catholic Church "All who were inclined to obey the law will now disregard it and bow under Rome's order. Is not that a startling proof that aside from the regular authority of the country there is another power seeking to usurp the law? That is a condition that cannot endure." Exactly the same conflict occurred before the war when the old slave-owning aristocracy (which every one now acknowledges to have been wrong) was defending itself and the institution upon which its existence depended. The old slave-owning aristocrats believed that they were made of finer clay than the " poor whites," that their rule was peculiarly beneficent, that if anything should happen to depose them, the country would go to ruin and destruction. It was the old, old conviction, common to kings and oligarchies, that they were possessed of a divine right, a special and perpetual franchise from God. This flimsy pretext of divine prerogative and papal authority would long ago have failed of its mission, but for the many accessories, additions, and cunning devices, the " system " has resorted to in order to secure money and power. The declaration, "that the Saviour granted the church a constitution and doctrine against which no human law can prevail " has served its purpose in the past, but such hollow pretensions find no place with the intelligence of the twentieth century, especially when it seeks its use in violation of the law. France wants and gives religious equality. Rome demands religious ascendency, and allows neither toleration nor equality where it predom- " The Church and the Republic" 195 inates. France wants peace, with religious free- dom. Rome does not want it, orders the bishops to obey him, and refuses religious freedom accorded all denominations. In our country there is an in- creasing disposition on the part of foreigners to defy lawful authority. A very large proportion of ignorant Catholics, now here, or recently swarming to our shores, accept the " faith," without capacity for reasoning, and obey its commands without flinching. Under such conditions, and in view of the perfectly plain determination of Rome to assert authority and govern, our people may well say, what hope is there for the upbuilding of a great nation, with swarms of ignorant or other voters ready to do the bidding of a foreign effete mon- archy ? As shown by this newspaper clipping, a Catholic organization in our country, said to number six hun- dred thousand men, sends the following message of sympathy to Rome: New Haven, December 26. The Knights of Columbus, through Supreme Knight Edward L. Hearn, to-day sent a message to the pope at Rome assuring him of the sympathy of the knights in the trouble in France. The cablegram read as follows : Cardinal Merry Del Val, Vatican, Rome, Italy: The Knights of Columbus of America sympathize with his Holiness in his efforts to adjust the difficulties of the Church in France and assure him of filial and loyal devotion. Edward L. Hearn, Supreme Knight. 196 The Roman Catholic Church Are these a part of the " fifteen millions of Catholics you refer to, who live their lives in our land with undisturbed belief in the perfect harmony existing between their religion and their duties as American citizens," who now assure the pope " their filial and loyal devotion ' in his ordering bishops and priests not to obey the civil laws of France and which orders, from the pope, they, the bishops, obeyed? Are these, with yourself, the men (who obey the pope " in everything except what is sinful ") our government can rely upon when, with voting powers and political, authority largely in- creased, Rome sends orders to American bishops, as in France ? You must either obey or refuse, and if the latter, judging from the experience of others, you know certain as fate your head goes in the basket. These are no idle words, as conditions our government is to meet in the future will prove. In an article by " C," New York Sun, December 15, he says, " Cardinal Gibbons is mistaken in his theory that the French government is raging against religion. The new law doesn't touch dogma at all. The French regard the present issue as simply whether a foreign monarch shall reign over France equally with its republican government." The wording of the Encyclical Gravissimo, from Rome, August 10, 1906, was a deliberate and studied equi- vocation. It did not state the reverse of the truth, but gave it to be understood. In a nutshell, this was an attempt on the part of Rome, with certain co- conspirators in France, to break up and destroy the republican form of government, substituting a The Church and the Republic " 197 therefor a monarchy. The ' church ' has left no stone unturned to misrepresent to citizens of the United States the real condition of religious affairs in France. The reason why France named its Catholic bishops was because she caught certain men in authority engaged, red handed, in a conspiracy to overthrow the government. There- fore, those Catholics in our country ' who, not fully appreciating the difficulties of the situation," need no longer consider it a ' scandal and a shame ' that the French government should rise in its wrath and punish the offenders, assert its authority to make laws, and govern its people irrespective of the fulminations and edicts of a small band of Roman cardinals. As to any Catholic filling the chair of the President of the United States, it seems hardly logical that any candidate for that position be- lieves in and is loyal to a pope, who, as has re- cently been proved, claims to be above all laws, who refuses to recognize and obey the civil laws of governments, when able to assert itself, who believes in a pope who says that any legislation of governments ' k contrary to what are called Catholic doctrines, and which are opposed to divine rulings, carry no obligations to obey." A pope who ex- punges the right of private examination and judg- ment on all literary, moral, and religious topics, who prohibits liberty of mind, speech, and writing, who is, and always has been, the implacable foe of education, science, and reason, and who dares to reject the Declaration of Independence, affirming 198 The Roman Catholic Church the equality and rights of man, who says, " You must obey God rather than man," by which is meant, you are to accept our theory as God's command. Such a candidate would hardly be acceptable to the majority of our citizens, who recognize no such authority, divinely claimed or otherwise, ours being a government of laws. I quote, ( We may put aside, then, as an ab- surdity, the injurious supposition that the pope would never interfere in purely civil affairs. . . . So long as these liberties under which we have prospered are preserved in their fulness, there is, I assert, no danger of a collision between the state and the Catholic Church." A plain way of saying, when not ' preserved in their fulness ' collision comes. So now we should know where we are and what to expect. Angels of Grace defend us! In the whole history of the Roman Catholic Church has it done much else than secretly meddle and interfere with the civil affairs of governments, and been used for political ends? In our country it claims no desire to controvert civil authority, and for the simple reason, at this moment it can't do otherwise. The life of a nation, especially a republic, depends to a great degree on the intel- ligence of its citizens, who, in this year of our Lord, decline to be shackled or hampered by a body of foreign prelates. In many countries subject to control of Rome in the past, the days have arrived when what you term your "liberties" have not been preserved in their fulness, but quite the reverse, as is not unlikely to be the case in the future in other « The Church and the Republic " 199 countries when its citizens have suffered enough and become better informed of the secret history and practices of the " system " in its struggle for money and temporal power. What then! Why, then, according to the cardinal, the collision comes. Well, why not let it come, if it has to? The sooner the better. This matter of popery could have been settled better fifty years ago than now, and better now than in 1960. I quote: "But many Protestants say, 'We obey our conscience, you obey the pope.' 'Yes, we obey the pope, for our conscience tells us that we ought to obey the spiritual authority of the pope in everything except what is sinful; we believe in a religion of authority ', which our conscience tells us is our lawful guide and teacher in its own sphere ; that no human power should come between the human conscience and duty.' " As Baroness von Zedtwitz (nee Caldwell, a lady of highest character and standing, socially and intellectually) , who, with her sister, gave large sums of money to the church, and who now re- nounces and repudiates its twofold system, says, in a book entitled, ' The Double Doctrine of the Church of Rome," F. H. Re veil Company, Pub- lishers : " The church of Rome has never tolerated in- dividualism amongst its members. It at once affirms and denies the individual conscience inasmuch as that conscience must ever be sought in the dogmas and direction of the Institution, that reason and will are held by the church subject to her direction, not only is strict injunction of the scriptures, under 200 The Roman Catholic Church pain of eternal damnation, but the power of the citizen to use freely his rights in dealing with civic matters is curtailed by Rome when not used to promote directly or indirectly her interests." I quote, " We believe in a religion of Authority which our conscience tells us is our lawful guide and teacher in its own sphere." In this sphere is faith and morals. Faith is defined to be a general belief in what the church teaches, and what func- tions of life, I ask, don't fall within the domain of morals? The astute bishops know perfectly well that faith and morals carried everything worth having. The poison is concealed by the very per- fection of Jesuitical artifice. Conscience is de- fined as the action of consciousness whereby it recognizes the moral character of everything we say or do. As you believe in the authority and in- fallibility of the pope both in faith and morals, how then can your infallible pope do anything sinful for you to disobey, and if in Rome would you dare say to his face that you questioned his infallibility ? Or are you now talking to the masses and to the regret of the thinking portion of our country? Can you deny that absolute obedience is due the pope in faith and morals, at the peril of salvation ? You say, " Pope Leo XIII says the Almighty has appointed the charge of the human race between two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil, the one being set over divine, the other over human things. Each in its kind is supreme, neither obeys the other within the limits to which each is restricted by its constitution." Or, in other words, "the spiritual " The Church and the Republic " 201 power knows with divine certainty the limits of its own and the civil jurisdiction, and therefore in matters of religion and conscience is supreme" Any power that can fix the limits of its own and all other jurisdictions is supreme; and it would seem in the present instance, that power is the state, being the power responsible for the external order of the world, and alone competent to determine what is to take place within its limits. Pope Leo XIII may have been a cultivated gentleman, and may have said a great many things of interest. He was but a man, however, like the rest of us, and his putting words into the mouth of Almighty God, or claiming to be his agent, or to know anything of the Supreme Being, which was at one time con- sidered insulting to anybody of ordinary intelli- gence, is now simply ludicrous. The present attempt to establish ecclesiastical and civil limits on such pretended authority, or the declaration of any " firmly established Catholic teaching of dis- tinction between civil and ecclesiastical powers," that the church has divine authority; is supreme in the state within certain limits, where the state can't interfere. All these claims are not tenable, won't carry, and are outlawed. You say, "The church is bound to obey the state in all things that don't contravene the moral law." Meaning, the pope is to determine conditions of a state, and de- cides when the moral law is broken. Such claim is but a concealed conspiracy against the integrity and intelligence of the state. The statement, " That every national Protestant church is the 202 The Roman Catholic Church creature of the state, subject to it in doctrine, ritual, discipline, and government, which, with dissenting sects, with Protestantism, has always meant the subjection of the church to the state ' is hardly correct. No such condition as described exists, or ever did. Let us have this phase of the question made quite plain. You say, " We owe full allegiance to the civil authorities in matters which don't con- travene the moral law," and, per contra y when in the opinion of the pope (because he decides it, deny it as you may) the law is broken, then you no longer obey the civil laws. Whatever special plea is entered to befog the situation, it has been clearly and unquestionably proven, that in France, as in other countries in the past, the followers of the church have been called upon to renounce allegiance to the civil government and the laws of their country at the will and pleasure of an eccle- siastical authority (Rome), and not daring to do otherwise, they obeyed. The following news- paper clipping serves to prove the assertion, al- though sufficiently proved already, viz : Bordeaux, France, June 14, 1909. When Cardinal An- drieu appeared in court to-day to answer the summons of the judge charging him with having incited a breach of the laws by the allocution which he pronounced at the cathedral on the occasion of his enthronement, he was acclaimed by an im- mense crowd of Catholics. The cardinal told the judge that he came as an act of courtesy and not because he recognized the competence of the court. He said he had spoken as a bishop and that he «< The Church and the Republic " 203 was answerable only to his conscience, the pope, and God, and declared that he assumed full responsibility for his words. In this instance the gentleman in question may find the laws of France more potent than the laws of the pope, and in the end more profitable to obey the former. : The only just criticism of a judge's law must come from a court which knows the law and has jurisdiction to declare it. Dissent from his views based on individual opinion of what the law ought to be, whether it comes from executive or hoodlum, leads directly and by short steps to anarchy. The assertion of individual will against the settled law betrays, not only ignorance, but a deplorable incapacity to comprehend the fundamental prin- ciples of American government." The courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our form of government. Respect for the law is essen- tial for the permanence of our institutions, and respect for the law is largely conditioned upon respect for the courts. It is an offense against the republic to say anything which can weaken this respect save for the gravest reason and in the most carefully guarded manner. Our judges should be held in peculiar honor, and the duty of respectful and truthful criticism, which should be binding when we speak of anybody, should be especially binding when we speak of them. You say, " You can conceive a state passing laws that would violate your conscientious con- victions, and that you, as well as Protestants, would not prove false to your religious convictions." In 204 The Roman Catholic Church other words, and to fix this idea firmly in the minds of the people, when orders come from Rome that the legislation of Congress and the states of Am- erica is contrary to what the Roman Catholic Church calls its moral and divine teachings and God-given rights and supremacy, you would obey Rome and refuse to recognize the sovereignty of the state while enjoying its confidence and under whose aegis and protection you have lived, flour- ished, been allowed to build houses, churches, monasteries, convents, and other centers of strength for the upbuilding of your creed and financial power. In our country, until the present moment, we have not received an ultimatum from foreign prelates, or their agents and representatives, telling us what laws our citizens are to obey or disobey. This attempt to awe the state and control the people is not only resented and repudiated, but, as heretofore, they rest trustingly in the hope and belief that all violators of laws will be duly punished as in the past, irrespective of race or condition, and every good citizen in our state and country should take heed of this bold assumption, this threatened intrusion of foreign authority into our homes, and from this day determine to pass laws forbidding any such teachings or attempted authority to be exercised within its limits, and see that such laws when enacted are vigorously enforced. When once you have seen, as in Spain, Italy, France, Ireland, and other foreign countries, the power this organized body of bishops and priests exercises over the lives of the women, and so of the family, " The Church and the Republic r 205 you will never allow this institution to make you its slave, nor hold your children in mental bondage, nor permit any mitered head, in the grace of God, or divine right, to interpose his dark shadow be- tween you and your Maker. I quote, ' You say, if the state should forbid us Catholics to continue our parochial schools we should resist to the utter- most, for we hold that, while the state has the un- doubted right to compel her future citizens to re- ceive a certain degree of education, she has no right to deprive them of the daily religious influence which we deem necessary for their spiritual and eternal welfare, as well as for their proper training in the duties of citizenship. In any such essay by the state to establish Csesarism, Catholics would not think it necessary to await instructions from any source. We believe in the sacredness and suprem- acy of conscience. In a country wholly or pre- dominantly Catholic the most desirable relation is the friendly union and co-operation of church and state, neither power sacrificing its liberty and each acknowledging the other." As to sacredness of conscience and friendly union : To give a general idea of the character of the encyclical and syllabus issued by the pope December 8, 1864 (as given in Butler's " Mexico in Transition," page 197), and addressed to all bishops throughout all the world, we copy here, from an able summary which appeared at the time, some of its leading points, where the pope condemns in the most unequivocal manner the foundation principles upon which our govern- ment rests, and which Mexico and the South American states had imitated, and against which he calls up the millions of his followers in this land to unite for their overthrow : 206 The Roman Catholic Church 1. The Catholic Church ought freely to exercise until the end of time a " salutary force, not only with regard to each individual man, but with regard to nations, peoples, and their rulers." 2. The best condition of society is that in which the power of the laity is compelled to inflict the penalties of law upon violators of the Catholic religion. 3. The opinion that " liberty of conscience and of wor- ship is the right of every man," is not only " an erroneous opinion, very hurtful to the safety of the Catholic Church and of souls," but is also " delirium." 4. Liberty of speech and the press is " the liberty of perdition." 5. The judgments of the Holy See, even when they do not speak of points of faith and morals, claim acquiescence and obedience, under pain of sin and loss of the Catholic pro- fession. 6. It is false to say " that every man is free to embrace and profess the religion he shall believe true," or that those who " embrace and profess any religion may obtain eternal salvation." 7. The " church has the power of availing herself of force, or of direct or indirect temporal power." 8. In a legal conflict " between the ecclesiastical and civil powers " the ecclesiastical " ought to prevail." 9. It is a false and pernicious doctrine that " public schools should be open without distinction to all children of the people and free from all ecclesiastical authority." 10. It is false to say that the " principle of non-inter- vention must be proclaimed and observed." 11. It " is necessary in the 'present day that the Catholic religion shall be held as the only religion of the state, to the exclusion of all other modes of worship." " The Church and the Republic ' 207 Alas! "Friendly Union and sacredness of con- science ' have never found a resting place in the bosom of Rome, but this fact is constantly denied and in the face of unquestionable proof to the con- trary. As to " threatened resistance to the uttermost to any future laws forbidding continuance of paro- chial schools, and that the state can't deprive her citizens of religious influence we deem necessary for their proper training in the duties of citizen- ship." This open declaration of war against modern thought, science, and freedom of research by the " system " (Roman prelates) through their representatives here is but a step in the carefully arranged program of Rome and is well under- stood in America. To be brief and to the point American public schools are among the best in the world. Parochial schools are formed, chiefly, to implant doctrinal teachings firmly in the mind of the child at an early age, and to enable the priest to secure and hold that child under his control and later to get his church offer- ings. Without doctrinal teachings there would be no parochial schools. The people have borne with patience the assaults of Rome on our public schools, she calls them "Godless," and gives this as one of the reasons why parochial schools exist. Of course that furnishes one excuse for their ex- istence, and distract attention, but this is not the real one. Personally, I am opposed to teaching what is called religion in our public schools. It is no place for it. The public has no business to 208 The Roman Catholic Church impart religious instructions, besides it is uncon- stitutional and does not belong there. The schools must be absolutely independent of church control and secular in character. Remove this objection and you are one step nearer the settlement of this question. The Catholic Church knows its very life depends on getting control of children before they are old enough to know what they want, and instilling into their minds the catechism and doc- trinal teachings. Such teachings are seldom eradicated. With this come their ' offerings," which in this and other countries amount to millions annually, and without which offerings the whole structure crumbles to dust, and the avoca- tion of bishop and priest is gone. Religious pro- fessions and pretensions avail nothing. Under the wing of what is called religion, with all its claims of divine prerogative and right of spiritual teachings, the history of the church the world over proves that its professed teachings born of, and ordered by Rome, now, as ever in the past, are directly oppo- site to its practices; that it is out for money and power. Is it from results of doctrinal teachings and divine prerogatives, exercised for centuries in Spain, Italy, Mexico, and other countries, where a large portion of the inhabitants have been inten- tionally kept in ignorance, and can neither read nor write, that with such damaging testimony, and with such recommendations, you come into our state, and demand the establishment of parochial schools, and tell us what thechureh will and won't allow, and how far the state has any authority over a The Church and the Republic " 209 the morals and education of its citizens ? Have you forgotten that a state has all the powers of sovereignty in its internal affairs as well as its inter- national relations and is the sovereign personality in a state ? That neither the wisdom nor the moral propriety of its own acts or those who obey its orders and commands is questionable ? That it is the final interpreter of the principles of reason and morality for its subjects and is absolute, and if resisted may clear the state of their presence ? That sovereignty is the power without which a state cannot exist and is the test and criterion of its existence ? In other words, as before stated, the state, which is alone responsible for order in its borders, is alone competent to determine what is to take place within its limits, nor can it allow any outside authority, spiritual or otherwise, to inter- fere under any pretext whatsoever, or seek to de- termine as to the morals of its citizens, and every state must make the same answer to those who would conspire against it, and use their liberty to destroy that of others, and as faith and morals carry everything worth having in the individual sphere, this is the root of the whole matter. The state is a sovereign power superior to all religious associations. It cannot endure half slave and half free. It will become all one thing or the other, nor can either state or nation long endure, or re- main in power if it doesn't promptly resent insult to its laws. The real issue is whether mental slavery is right or wrong. The pope alone arro- gates to himself the right to speak to the state as 210 The Roman Catholic Church a spiritual superior, setting up a rival law against the state, in the state's own domain, and claiming title to coercive means of enforcement. He, a foreigner not responsible to the law (in his own opinion), is to decide when, in his opinion, the state has gone wrong, and what his followers may do. He is in the state but not of it; proclaims himself a foreign body in its composition, and is violent in his opposition to anything opposing clerical control of education. An absentee pope claiming authority over the morals of our people is an amusing spectacle. But his representatives in this country obey, and support him in this mon- strous declaration, or take the consequences, and he who rebels doesn't find his pathway strewn with violets nor honeysuckles. The voice of the state is hushed and awed into silence before this fearful priestly power now claiming authority throughout the country. Is the authority of the state to be supreme, or is it to allow a power to exist in its midst that it confessedly is obliged to obey, as in some foreign countries ? To have this claim conceded in any way, even by silence, is suicidal. The basis of the republic is the liberty of the individual citizen, and to the extent his rights are preserved. The personal protection of the citizen is the highest function of the government. When there comes a prophet among the people telling them their laws are of no avail, to the extent he is listened to and believed, when he says this, he breeds anarchy. Appended is a certain news- paper clipping bearing on this point, in which are (< The Church and the Republic " 211 remarks purporting to come from Rev. P. F. O'Hare, viz : By an attack on the public school system and declaring that the Roman Catholic Church alone can stamp out the danger of anarchy in this nation, the Rev. Father P. F. O'Hare, rector of St. Anthony's Church, in Greenpoint, startled his brother graduates of St. Mary's Seminary, in Baltimore, yesterday at their annual gathering in St. Joseph's Church, Brooklyn. " The school question is not settled yet," said Father O'Hare. " There is no compromise between truth and error. And we cannot, we will not, we dare not compromise with the principle which maintains that the state possesses an inherent right to the education of the child; that in edu- cation the part which deals with the most vital interest of the child, religion, is to be disregarded and eliminated from the schedule of studies." Every state has the sole and inherent right to the education of the child, and this open attack ad- dressed to graduates of St. Mary's Seminary against the sovereignty of the state is in violation of law. The following newspaper clipping contains remarks purporting to come from a bishop at Savannah. Taking for his subject the " Separation Law," which is now causing so much trouble between the Roman Catholics of France and the government of that country, a bishop at Savannah addressed the congregation at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist after vespers last night. He confined him- self almost wholly to a statement of facts, explaining, as he went along, what the law is and the results of its operations. Now, what are the facts ? The pope is the supreme head £12 The Roman Catholic Church of the Catholic Church, appointed by God. This may not please some good Protestant friends of ours, but it is eminently satisfactory to us. To us — as an article of our faith, to be believed as firmly as the divinity of Christ or the Trinity — he is the vicar on earth of our Divine Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. As such he governs all the flock of Christ every- where, — in France, in England, in the United States. In the just and absolutely necessary exercise of his office and bounden duty he has declared that certain acts of the French assembly are subversive of God's law and the divine consti- tution of the church. When a state legislature or the federal Congress attempt to enact a law which is directly opposed to divine law, no one is bound to obey. Furthermore, if the legislature of this sovereign state of Georgia passed a law forbidding Catholics to go to mass "on Sunday or forcing them under threat of punishment fcTadmit and fully recognize the validity of a marriage of persons divorced for some of the trivial causes prevailing, I, as bishop of this diocese, would unhesitatingly deem it my solemn duty to protest against such laws and tell my people it was their solemn duty to disobey them. This is plain enough. Let the state of Georgia beware how it enacts any laws which conflict with the " divine laws " of the Catholic Church. Newspaper clipping containing remarks pur- porting to come from Archbishop Farley : Archbishop Farley laid the cornerstone of the new Normal College and Novitiate of the Christian Brothers at Pocantico Hills yesterday afternoon. Archbishop Farley said: " The men sent from here will train your children to be good, God-fearing, honest citizens of this great country. Success is not the getting of millions, but in being the fearless, upright citizen who has God in his " The Church and the Republic" 213 heart. ... To the Christian brother in years to come will be given the credit for conquering the infamous and almost irreparable damage Horace Mann did forty years ago in banishing God from our schools. Is it for this, a representative of the pope, en- joying personal freedom and protection of our laws, assails the memory of a revered American citizen, foremost in the cause of education, in whose honor, and for whose great service to the state she erects monuments, and points with pride to faithful, un- selfish service for the uplifting of the human race ? Is it for this he is spoken of in such endearing terms, or is it because, with prophetic vision he saw the comino" influx of ignorance to our shores, and with words of mighty import sounded the death knell of parochial schools and priestly supremacy ? The following is another newspaper clipping. Beware Protestant Schools Archbishop Farley Warns the Daughters of the Faith Against Them. A meeting of the Daughters of the Faith, at which a number of prominent clergymen, a physician, a judge, a poet, and two hundred women were present, was held yesterday afternoon at the Catholic Club, 120 West Fifty-ninth Street. " I cannot," he said, " speak too strongly on the subject of the necessity of sending Catholic children to Catholic academies. There is, I regret to say, a constant and I fear growing tendency to violate this most binding duty. " Let no motive, social, financial, or political, lead you to fling your children into the jaws of infidelity and atheism. " Only a few weeks ago a mother came to me almost in despair, entreating that a mass be said for her daughter. She 214 The Roman Catholic Church had sent the girl to a woman's college — I will not mention its name, but it was an institution on the order of Vassar, Smith, and Bryn Mawr — and in six months her faith had been tampered with to such an extent that she refused to accompany her mother to confession on Holy Thursday. " Again I enjoin upon you, do not relax your vigilance in this direction." For the undignified slur to colleges ' on the order " of Vassar, Smith, and Bryn Mawr, no notice is necessary other than to observe the cunning de- vice to prevent Catholic parents sending their daughters to the above named and similar colleges, where they sometimes learn both sides of the ques- tion, and thereafter have no further use for the " confessional " — of which more will be said later on. The most dangerous ignorance is that variety which poses for knowledge. Who is this authority that constitutes itself the grand inquisitor of our public schools ? Are the school children subjects of the pope, or are they children of American citizens ? If the latter, what right has the pope to exercise any guardianship over them ? Is any other foreign country or professed authority allowed to openly attack our public institutions? If not, why not demand of our government the deportation of all such emissaries of the pope, with notice to the Italian government that the country wants no more of them ? You think this is taking strong ground ? Wait and see. I pray you there be no juggle of words. There is no middle ground. Behind all magazine and newspaper writings, underneath all church pretensions, stand the practices of this " The Church and the Republic" 215 great financial Octopus, the " system," born of the dark ages to fleece and keep the masses in mental subjection. Witness the following encyclical (letter) of Pope Pius X, carefully prepared by the " sacred college " and issued in his name. " The great potentate of the Roman Catholic Church has issued to his thousands of subjects a decree declaring that what he spells by the term modernism and what others spell by the terms of science and philosophy shall be excluded rigidly from the churches and the schools." Rome, Sept. 16, 1907. The Osservatore Romano, the organ of the Vatican, to-day issued an important encyclical of Pope Pius X, on " Modernism," which really is a comple- tion of his recent syllabus. The document sets forth that modernism is a serious danger to the church, refers in detail to the various features of modernism, condemns it as danger- ous in philosophy, faith, theology, history, criticism, and reforms, and arrives at the conclusion that modernism is a synthesis of all heresy, and must logically lead to atheism. The encyclical makes the following provisions: First, the teaching of philosophy, positive theology, etc., is to be carried on in the church schools and universities, but in a Catholic spirit. Second, modernists are to be removed from professorships and the direction of educational institutions. Third, the clergy and faithful are not to be allowed to read modernist publications. Fourth. A committee of censorship is to be established in every diocese to pass upon the publications which the clergy and faithful shall be permitted to read. Fifth. The encyclical of the late Pope Leo XIII, prohib- iting the clergy from assuming the direction of publications 216 The Roman Catholic Church without their bishops' permission, and providing for super- vision of the work of ecclesiastical writers, is confirmed. Sixth. Ecclesiastical congresses, except on rare occa- sions, are prohibited. Seventh. A council is to be constituted in every diocese to combat modern errors. How much longer will the state allow foreigners to dictate what its children shall read or be taught, or permit a censorship established in every diocese to pass upon all publications to be read by the " faithful " ? From newspaper clipping : After mentioning a remark of the cardinal's about the danger of his being killed by kindness, the speaker said that Cardinal Logue's strenuous activity of yesterday could " scarcely be bettered by the strenuous man in Washington." The speaker went on to some length in defending the course of his church in regard to parochial schools. ' There are those," he said, " who say that education should be divorced from sectarianism and even from religion ; or who say that the child's religious training should be along the lines of our common Christianity.' ' Leave the child to us,' they say, ' to educate him for this world alone, and give him the right to make his own choice in matters of religion later.' To this the church answers: ' I cannot be anything else than my Master made me — the last judge of what is right and what is not right in the consciences of mankind.' " We agree, the church cannot be anything else than its masters made it, nor is there anything like it in this vale of tears, but when it comes to " being the last judge of what is right and what is not right in the conscience of mankind," anybody who can swallow that can swallow anything. "The Church and the Republic" 217 As related of Modjeska, Although a genius, the actress was far from being destitute of common sense. She proved this on one occasion in a western city when she was invited to attend a mass meeting of Poles for the purpose of agitating for separate Polish schools, teachers, books, and so on. After everybody else on the platform had made an address advocating separate schools Mme. Modjeska arose and astounded the gathering by saying in substance: " Shame upon you for coming to this country for freedom and a chance to educate your children and then repudiating the language and customs of the country where you are free and encouraged! Send your children to American schools. Make them Americans. Naturalize yourselves. Try to be a -part and a good part of the place that has given you asylum. Keep up your own language in your homes and among your- selves and let your children have that too." The Polish school plan went up in smoke after Modjeska's speech. The French system of education, so far as the government schools are concerned, is based on the assumption that the child's liberty must be re- spected and its conscience must not be infringed; hence, no religious instruction, and, for that matter, no moral instruction, until the child can choose for himself his religion and philosophy. In Austria, since 1868, the supervision and direction of educa- tion have been taken from the authority of the church and restored to the hands of the state. The school is no longer confessional, for the reason that every school receiving public aid must be accessible to all children without distinction of sect. 218 The Roman Catholic Church The same is true of Mexico. In Spain the cabinet is discussing a law forbidding religious associations, with specified exceptions, to under- take teaching, which is now declared to be the function of the state. In Switzerland the public school system, says Everybody' s Magazine, is probably the best in the world. " Public school education is practically compulsory. You can send your child to a private school (in some cantons) if you insist upon doing so, but the face of the gov- ernment and the force of the public opinion are sternly against the practice. In the canton of Solothurn private schools are absolutely forbidden. In other cantons a private school pupil must secure a formal permit from local authorities, and in some cantons he must pay a charge to the public funds, the idea being that the public schools are good enough for all, that rich and poor are to meet there on even terms, that the public school is the nursery of democracy and patriotism, above all, that democracy is the life blood and strength and very soul of the republic, and without the republic Switzerland is nothing. Private schools for Swiss children are few in number and such as exist are under the strict supervision of the state. Educa- tion is a serious matter in Switzerland; there is no escape from it. A parent must send his children to school or go himself to jail. In other words, the people, and no pretended or other religious asso- ciation, decided as to the education of its children. Hence, the army examinations show only twenty- four in ten thousand unable to read, and these are " The Church and the Republic " 219 always the scattered dwellers on lonely mountain peaks. Witness the condition where the Catholic Church has held sway for centuries. Spanish Illiteracy Of the twenty million people inhabiting Spain, only about thirty -five per cent can read and write ; another two and one half per cent of the population can read without being able to write, but the remaining sixty-two and one half per cent are absolutely illiterate. In the south of Spain it is impossible to get a servant who can read and write, and many of the postmen are unable to tell to whom the letters they carry are addressed. They bring a bundle of letters to a house and the owner looks through them and takes those which are (or which he thinks are) addressed to him. Political feeling in Canada varies, according to the prov- inces one visits. The very mode of life and thought varies similarly. In Quebec, the population, being largely French, is out of sympathy with most of the other provinces. It is hard to realize that in this twentieth century, right here on the western continent, there is a province where the Catholic Church exerts a predominating force in state affairs more completely than in any other country, save possibly Spain.* Tithes are paid to the church, collected, in fact, by the civil authorities as regular taxes are, and if unpaid are a charge or lien against the land. Rev. Father Walsh is reported to have said : During the deliberations of the school department the Rev. Father Walsh will present a most interesting report of Catholic parochial school work accomplished during the past year. It will announce the successful operation of up- ward of seventy separate schools, with a total of about 50,000 *A tenth part of the province of land paid in money. 220 The Roman Catholic Church boys and girls and a teaching staff of nearly 1,000, and these figures will show the Boston archdiocese to rank third among the archdioceses of the United States in the matter of Catholic school attendance, being now surpassed only by New York and Chicago. The pupils in the Catholic schools of the state outside of the archdiocese number over 26,000, making a total of about 75,000 scholars in Catholic free schools in Massa- chusetts, and that number exceeds the entire public school enrollment of the states of New Hampshire, Vermont, or Rhode Island. The children in the Catholic schools in Boston equal about one fifth of the enrollment of the city public schools, and to educate these children it is said it would cost the city over $600,000. To provide schoolhouses for these pupils at the average rate which has prevailed for several years would cost over $4,500,000. To educate the pupils in Catholic schools of the arch- diocese would cost the cities and towns over $1,300,000 it is estimated, and in the state nearly $3,000,000 merely for running expenses alone. The church is pleased to call parochial schools free public schools, but this is misleading. They are private schools, and like all private schools are not supported by the state. When the time comes that they shall demand state money to support their parochial schools you will understand the im- portance of educating children who will vote for state sovereignty, and not in the interests of any church. But it is better done now, before the horse gets out of the stable. In ten years these children will be voters. Is there any question in your mind how they will vote? The church is educating young girls, and << The Church and the Republic " 221 sending them out West by the car load. When their children grow up, is there any question how they will vote ? The following clipping is from a French news- paper. The Catholics, it is true, are a minority; but they are a minority that is homogeneous, organized, and disciplined. They form a solid block in the midst of a heap of crumbling Protestant fragments. They are, it is true, the lowest ele- ment of the nation; but under universal suffrage the vote of a brute is worth that of a Newton. When there shall be an army of fifteen or twenty millions of Catholics, firmly united by a tyrannical faith, trained under the regime of the con- fessional, blindly committed to the will of their priests, and directed by the brains of a few high Jesuits, we shall see how much of a showing there will be for American liberty. From the Outlook Archbishop Elder, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati, has issued a letter to his ecclesiastical subor- dinates which was read in the churches under his jurisdiction the last Sunday in August. He regrets to say that there are " some fathers and mothers who . . . send their children to non-Catholic schools." He declares that it is " the doctrine of the church . . . that to attend a non-Catholic school con- stitutes usually a grave and permanent danger to the faith, and that therefore it is a mortal sin for any parents to send their children to such a school, except where there is no other suit- able school, and unless such precautions are taken as to make the danger remote." The decision as to whether parents shall send their children to non-Catholic schools or not is one which, he declares, rests not with the parents, but with the bishops. In order to avoid what he considers to be the " very grievous scandal " caused by the Catholic parent who sends 222 The Roman Catholic Church his child to a non-Catholic school where there is a Catholic one, he lays down eight rules. The last three rules do not bear directly upon the relation of Roman Catholics to the public schools, having to do with the observance of first communion. The first five rules, however, bear very directly upon the public school question. We here give these five rules in the language of the archbishop. We omit from the last rule, for the sake of space, certain explanatory sentences which are not essential. 1. In places where there is a Catholic school parents are obliged, under the plain of mortal sin, to send their children to it. This rule holds good, not only in the case of children who have not yet made their first communion, but also in case of those who have received it. Parents should send their children to the Catholic school so long as its standards and grades are as good as those of the non-Catholic school. And even if there is no school attached to the congregation of which parents are members, they would still be obliged to send their children to some other parochial school, or to a college or academy, if they can do so without great hardship either to themselves or to their children. 2. It is the province of the bishop to decide whether a parish should be exempted from having a parish school, and whether in case there be a Catholic school in the place, parents may send their children to a non-Catholic school. Each case must be submitted to us, except where there is a question of children living three or more miles distant from a Catholic school. Such children can hardly be compelled to attend the Catholic school. 3. As the obligation of sending a child to a Catholic school binds under the pain of mortal sin, it follows that the neglect to comply with it is a matter of accusation, when going to confession. We fail to see how fathers and mothers who omit to accuse themselves of this fault can believe that they are making an entire confession of their sins. The Church and the Republic " 223 4. Confessors are hereby forbidden to give absolution to parents who, without permission of the archbishop, send their children to non-Catholic schools, unless such a school, at the time to be fixed by the confessor, or at least agree, within two weeks from the day of confession, to refer the case to the archbishop, and abide by his decision. If they refuse to do either the one or the other, the confessor cannot give them absolution; and should he attempt to do so, such absolution would be null and void. 5. We strictly enjoin that Diocesan Statute No. 64 be adhered to: " We decree that those who are to be admitted to first holy communion shall have spent at least two years in Catholic schools. This rule is to be observed also by supe- riors of colleges and academies." ... No exception is to be made to it without our permission." How is this for boasted American freedom, and how much longer will the state allow anybody to tell children that it is a very grievous scandal to send them to our public schools, whether bishop, priest, or layman ? Church influence on popular education is the influence of the upas tree, it kills, it blights. The evil (parochial) is slowly eating its way into the heart of the state and nation. It says it is in favor of education, and wants to have its own way in this matter, as it had in France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, and South America. All education must be moulded to its views. The teaching of the children by the church is a direct interference with the liberty of the individual, in recognizing the pope as the supreme head. Such children can never become loyal to our government and its president, deny this as you may. The education of coming generations must not be left with the clergy, who 224 The Roman Catholic Church exercise great influence on the intellectual growth of the community and keep the people in a state of mental servitude, thereby endangering inde- pendence of thought, secured at so great a cost by the founders of the republic. Attendance at public schools, which shall be independent of church con- trol, should be compulsory and for all. Banish all parochial and other private schools as in Switzer- land. Children of rich and poor should sit on the same bench. In our schools the children are taught the duties of citizenship. They are taught to acknowledge no priestly authority is superior to the President of the United States. I regret to say the insolence and impertinent interference with and the characterizations of the bishops and priests of our schools is only equalled by their misrepresentations. Attacking these encourages the undermining of our government. It is now only a question whether you will raise these children to your level or allow the priests to drag you down to theirs. The pupils of the parochial schools call public schools " God- less " because our children are not taught that the pope is the vicegerent of God, must be worshipped as such, is infallible. This condition of affairs ex- erts a baneful influence throughout the state and entire country and weakens the power of the govern- ment both at home and abroad. A writer says, " The parochial schools are hot beds for the destruction of the mental freedom. Give the church the parochial school system, with political corruption in politics in the United States, degradation and ignorance is sure to follow." La- fayette, himself a Catholic, was not wholly blind " The Church and the Republic " 225 when he said, ' If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed they will fall by the hands of the Romish clergy." The recent demonstration in England shows the English people that the official representatives of Catholicism in England hold themselves bound to disobey " the civil govern- ment of this realm, and to revolt against the laws ' if the pope orders them to do so. What is true in England is true in a greater or less degree in every country. How much longer England will suffer those secret wire pullers behind the throne at Rome to imperil her national and financial existence with their plottings for power and money, time alone can tell. In : The Double Doctrine of the Church of Rome," Baroness von Zedtwitz says, ' Jesuitical casuistry is to-day, and has been since the Reforma- tion, the powerful intellectual bond which holds the organization (church) from disruption. Jesuit- ism is but esoteric (for the initiated), Catholicism made tangible. It is the heart and spirit of the whole system; and whether or not there have been and still be popes and prelates who are covertly hostile to its necessary hegemony, they are aware that if Catholicism and papacy are to last Jesuitism is absolutely indispensable for their justification. Otherwise Rome would have been forced to call upon the Jesuits in Vatican council to disown and repudiate the unsound moral teachings of a whole host of Jesuit authors, or failing to obey this order, banish the Jesuits from the church. Rome has never attempted either." The Jesuits seem to 226 The Roman Catholic Church have had hard lines, being driven from nearly every country on the face of the globe; but somehow they manage to get back again. See Butler's " Mexico in Transition," page 278. They are now going back to Germany. A bill was recently in- troduced in the House of Commons making it pos- sible for a Jesuit to be eligible to the highest govern- ment offices in the gift of the kingdom. Gentle reader, can't you see where the colored gentleman in that woodpile is located ? You can always put your finger on him, because he is always in the same place and in the same woodpile. Votes! The Jesuits play the fiddle, get paid for it, and also have the fun of seeing the others dance. " In August, 1873, the Jesuits were banished from Mexico and warned never to return. The latest report in 1873 then showed 2,377 members of this order, 1,130 being in the United States and a large portion of the remainder in England." It would seem these are the polite, plausible gentlemen whose acquaintance you are about to cultivate, whose schools, monas- teries, and convents you are to investigate and inquire as to the good health of their respective inmates. For some reason or other the Jesuits have been tried and found wanting. Some gov- ernments found they wanted too much. History says they wanted the earth, and that sometimes they got it, but subsequently had to decamp, move away. Baroness von Zedtwitz says further, " It was not to combat heresy that the Jesuits, as an order, came into being; it was to save the Roman Church from the abyss and ruin which threatened a The Church and the Republic" 227 it, that the comforting assurances of Filintius, Molina, and Lessius, that simony is not a crime ' if you direct your motive,' that homicide is fully justified ' when committed to avenge an affront,' have never yet been officially disowned by Rome." Navarrus, another casuist, enlarging upon the question of duelling discussed in the " Moral The- ology of Sanchez," has likewise never been con- demned for saying, " It is even preferable not to employ the means of duelling against an enemy, if you can kill him secretly; and in that way finish the affair, for by so doing you can at once avoid risking your own life in the combat, and besides the partici- pation of the sin which your enemy would commit in duelling" In other words, beware when ye tread the thorny road of opposition to the church, in this land of fancied intellectual freedom. Clipping from a Boston newspaper. Just as a detail from Benjamin Stone Post, G. A. R., of Dorchester, started to walk reverently with bowed heads down the center aisle of St. Mark's Catholic Church, Dorchester, to-day, escorting the body of Richard Fitzgerald, a comrade, the Rev. John A. Daly, pastor of the church, ordered the American flag removed from the casket. Furthermore, he would not allow the post to carry its stands of colors into the auditorium, and they were left in the vestry. The church was well filled with sorrowing friends, and the action of the clergyman created considerable astonishment, particularly among members of the Grand Army post. Some of them threatened to report the matter to Archbishop O'Connell. Subsequently, when Father Daly was asked by a reporter for the Boston Herald why he had taken such action, he re- plied : " It's the law of the Catholic Church." 228 The Roman Catholic Church "But has n't the American flag been taken into Catholic churches under similar circumstances before ? "he was asked. " All laymen don't know everything about church law, do they ? " he replied. " I live up to the law of the church. Those fellows made an awful lot of fuss about nothing." The body of Comrade Fitzgerald was escorted by the post from the home, 28 Brent Street, where the American flag, according to the custom of Grand Army posts, had been draped about the casket. When the cortege had arrived at St. Mark's Church, which was well filled at the time, the organist started a funeral march and the bearers began to walk down the center aisle with the casket. They had gone but a few feet when Father Daly, who was standing in the rear, ordered the flag removed. There was some talk between Commander David Gleason of the post, and the pastor, and the flag was removed as directed. Then the post was requested to leave its stands of colors in the vestry, which was also done. If, in paying the last token of respect to one of its brave defenders the citizens of our state, through its governor, permit the flag of our native country, covering the body of our comrade, and which he risked his life to defend and maintain, to be ig- nored and insulted by the representative of any foreign organization, religious or otherwise, and fail to compel such representative to make full and ample apology to the state for such insult, I have nothing to say, other than to recommend reading the history of the American Revolution, and if then you have no shame, pray leave the state. You don't belong here, nor need a patriot necessarily be con- sidered a bigot in thus resenting insult to the flag of his state and nation by any association, religious or otherwise. " The Church and the Republic " 229 The claims^of the pope and the freedom of the state are totally incompatible. With assurance born of coming voting power, with wealth obtained from masses, sale of indulgences, and church offer- ings, the Pope of Rome, who claims to be above, and not subject to, public control, now comes to our state, through his representatives, claiming divine authority, and with power of a sovereign, " the right to exercise supreme control over the morals of certain of our citizens; declares God Almighty appointed ecclesiastical and civil powers; that each in its kind is supreme, neither obeying the other within the limits it is restricted by its constitution." It is needless to say such claims as these are not adapted to the civilized nations of the world, and it only remains for the state to say that it (state) is a sovereign power, superior to all religious asso- ciations: that it is alone competent to determine what is to take place within its limits ; that its orders and commands are unquestionable; that it acknowl- edges no supreme ecclesiastical, separate sphere, constitution, authority, or power, it has to e bey within certain restricted limits, and denies same exists. That every means and measure will be used to prevent and stamp out all teachings against the sovereignty of the state and its public school system; that an attitude of contempt and defiance of the law is dangerous to its good name, that it breeds lawlessness, smacks of anarchy, is not American, and that all such are enemies to the state. The public school is the cornerstone of any government. It is the duty of the state to demand 230 The Roman Catholic Church the education of its future citizens, and to make good citizens of the republic. The citizens of to-day are the sovereigns of to-morrow. A small body of religious pretenders in a foreign country, through its appointed leaders in our country, now seeks to interfere with the domestic affairs of the state, attack our public schools, and proclaims they will " resist interference of parochial schools to the uttermost," that as Catholics and as citizens it is their duty to accept the civil law and submit to it up to the point where its application may not openly violate the rights of conscience and the rules of its religion." In reply the republic says the people may worship the Supreme Being in their own way, but they shall not be allowed to use their creed as a lever wherewith to destroy or dominate the republic. As to the latter, the following public announcement in our newspapers leaves no ques- tion of the openly declared purpose of the Roman hierarchy. The new York clergy are to attend the Congress of Mis- sionaries to be held at the Apostolic Mission House, Wash- ington, D. C, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It is expected there will be five hundred delegates, and the purpose of the gathering will be " to discover the best means of making America dominantly Catholic." This will be along the same line as the mission congress held at Chicago in the fall. Representatives will be present from the orders of Passionist, Dominican, Franciscan, Sulpician, Benedictine, Jesuit, and Paulist, together with parish priests from many sections. Cardinal Gibbons will preside at the sessions, and many prelates will attend. " The Church and the Republic' 231 Making America dominantly Catholic (from L. dominatus), having the power to rule over America. Do you fully realize the assumption, the audacity, of a small coterie of men in Rome who thus pro- claim their intention to attempt to dominate and control the government ? Is it not true they have priests in every town of any size in the country who through the confessional know everything they wish of the status of every family of their followers; that they have very quietly well nigh got control of the press of the country, with a spy system the best in the world; that they count upon the votes of ignorant men with which to make you their mental slave ? And do you know what that slavery is, or must you suffer, suffer, suffer ? Of what avail these words unless you Awake, and work with voice and pen to expose the practices of an organization which for centuries has under the garb of religion lived in luxury and kept the masses in ignorance. " Catholicism insinuates itself agreeably, wishing to appear only as a moral and religious discipline. It has but one object in America, the control of the republic. When thwarted, it complains of perse- cution. It makes no account to the state or nation of its vast accumulations, contributes nothing to the public burdens, and claims all immunities." Its monastic and convent system (which every state should abolish if it would live, as foreign countries have done and had to do for self-pro- tection alone) is secluded from governmental in- spection or the influence of public opinion as to the personelle, property, rights, and liberties of the 232 The Roman Catholic Church thousands around whom she erects those massive walls. These buildings, with images and all other implements to catch and hold its followers, are centers of power for the church, which uses its inmates to beg for gold and in all ways to do its bidding. Such institutions should be investigated by the state, to liberate some of the inmates who are afraid to speak against them, and want to get away (but argus eyes prevent their escape) to tell the sad story. The parochial schools, the hot beds for the destruction of mental freedom, upon which the future greatness of the nation depends, are one of the gravest dangers that can come to our country as the young men educated in those schools are soon to become voters, and are under the influ- ence of the priests, deny this as you may, who in turn are under orders from those in higher author- ity, whom they blindly follow. Nor will the nation knowingly permit any of its citizens to be kept in mental subjection in order to support and maintain a foreign hierarchy in idleness. Trained from boyhood to regard personal initiative as the greatest sin, and submission the highest virtue, the claims of these officials who charge the air with ecclesias- tical consequence are hollow in the extreme. Baroness von Zedtwitz, who speaks with unpre- judiced knowledge and authority, and who is not afraid of Rome, and to speak the truth, says in her book, " The Double Doctrine of Rome," printed by printers to the Apostolic See "Liguori says," page 41, '' The priest has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering sinners from hell, or making " The Church and the Republic " 233 them worthy of paradise, and of changing them from slaves of Satan into the children of God, and God himself, is obliged to abide by the judgment of his priests, and either not to pardon, or to pardon, according as they (the priests) refuse or give abso- lution, provided the penitent is capable of it." Is it for the best interest of the children and the nation that they should be made to believe such teachings as the above, that their religious superior is omnipotent and through the confessional, masses, and indulgences, be held in mental and spiritual subjection, with promises unfulfilled ? The apostolic vicar system established in our country, being everywhere sovereign, supplies the money of that court, enabling it to pursue a system of imposition with which to retain spiritual power with a portion of our citizens. An accomplice in the work of its predecessors to impede the progress of knowledge in order to keep mankind in the bondage of mental slavery. It is idle to deny that a grave crisis exists which is full of peril to our country. Rome is drawing its lines closer about the citadel of freedom, while the nation sleeps. Read Butler's " Mexico in Transition," Eaton and Mains, publishers. Read Fulton's " Washing- ton in the Lap of Rome," now difficult to find. Read"TheConfessional,1880,"byFatherChiniquy, Chicago, A. Craig & Co. Read " The Converted Catholic," published in New York, and numerous other books of similar tenor if you would know more of the purposes of the " system." The last great battle for human rights, greater and fiercer than the world has ever seen is yet to come. 234 The Roman Catholic Church America, and mental freedom on the one hand, intolerance and the traditional despotism of Rome, on the other. National education, or national ignorance. No careful observer of the times can fail to notice movements that foretell the coming conflict. The United States will not countenance rebellion whatever the pretext, nor permit any religious or other association to tyrannize over the consciences of its people by constraint and force. Of the result of this struggle there can be no ques- tion, and with the downfall of popery in our country comes the liberation of millions of people both here and in Europe now held in mental bondage, and for whom this country, through divine Providence and its own efforts, is to become a resting place for all nationalities to worship Almighty God whenever they please, as long as they don't use their religion to coerce others, or attempt to dominate and destroy the republic at the behest of any foreign or other tribunal; and when Knights of the Republic shall spring into exis- tence throughout the whole country, as they most certainly will, teaching patriotism and love of country, and extending the right hand of fellowship and good will to all nationalities, irrespective of race or creed, with " My country, first, last, and always ' inscribed on its banners, then will the nation come into its own, and the prayers and labors of the founders of our republic be fully answered and understood. MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE HAS not the day gone by when writings of the clergy made centuries ago to control women, and through them the human race, carry force with the enlightened in- telligence of the twentieth century, though still holding the ignorant masses in mental and spiritual bondage ? Indissoluble marriage is the offspring, doctrine, and practice of the Roman Catholic Church. This assumption of dominion over the conjugal relations of the human race and making marriage a sacrament (an invention of bishops centuries ago) was the work of a few men, the then managers of what is known as the church. This organization says, " Sacraments were insti- tuted by Jesus Christ, and if any one denies mar- riage is not one of the seven sacraments let him be accursed." Also, that Jesus said, : Whoso shall dismiss his wife and marry another com- mitteth adultery." It also represents Jesus Christ as " both God and man; also the Son of God, born of a virgin," to be sacrificed because Eve had eaten an apple, and the eating of that apple damns all mankind. These, and other similar stories, and it is presumed one is as true as the other, are here introduced only to show the devices of the church, through its managers at Rome, to secure absolute control and mastery over the lives of women by 235 236 The Roman Catholic Church and through certain ceremonies and biblical teach- ings. In the middle ages the clergy managed to wrest marriage from the civil power, and hence- forth secured control of the child when born, married, buried, and afterwards, as now, money to get her out of purgatory (the gold mine of priests), through which avarice in the last twelve hundred years the wealth, power, and authority of church functionaries over women has enormously in- creased. In other words, a woman couldn't enter life, live, nor depart without paying the clergy. The church soon recognized the power and authority it would derive over its votaries to decide as to mar- riage and deny the right of divorce. Too ignorant, or unable to resent, its followers soon became the victims of mental and spiritual slavery; hence the continued audacity of the clergy in claiming author- ity and holding tyrannical sway over its followers. For this unwarranted interference in the lives and homes of our people in the matter of mar- riage and divorce certain Episcopal Protestant clergymen now join hands with the Roman Catholics. Of these conspirators against mental and spiritual freedom the latter to a certain degree are the less responsible, as they are obliged to obey orders from Rome, from whence come their com- missions, or they lose their positions, authority, and emoluments; and so it must continue until the masses are educated, and have no further use of religious teachers who come in clerical garb, with divinity school diploma, and with sanctimonious Marriage and Divorce 237 air claim, as representatives of God, supervision over the lives and affections of men and women. Is not the allowing; such claims a constant menace to the state and nation ? And is it from personal experience that these clericals presume to contest the human rights of people as learned, and possibly more valuable as citizens to the community than themselves; or is it that they think their position impregnable behind certain quotations from the Bible, the inspired authorship and accuracy of statement of which are proven unworthy of serious consideration, much less belief, by scholars of scientific attainment, whose sole purpose is to en- lighten the world, irrespective of creeds and dog- mas. Is not their unbiased interpretation of the scriptures concerning marriage and divorce of equal value to those whose teachings and understanding are obscured with tradition and doc- trinal teachings, who believe in a religion of author- ity, who teach as they are commanded, are not allowed individual opinion, much less to express it, and who are well aware that the claim of indis- soluble marriage, and no divorce (the latter with specified conditions) is one of the citadels of the church, to be asserted and maintained at any and all hazards. Is it not passing strange that in this matter of marriage and divorce clericals should assume dominion over morality and deny the right of any one but themselves individual judgment and interpretation of the scriptures, and, as with Huxley, are we to consider Episcopal and Catholic Ecclesiasticism as " that vigorous and consistent 238 The Roman Catholic Church enemy of the highest intellectual, moral, and social life of mankind," or with Buckle, " that the people in Scotland were awed by a few noisy and ignorant preachers to whom they allowed a license, and yielded a submission disgraceful to the age and in- compatible with the commonest notions of liberty ?" Let us hope such may not be the case, and while believing that clerical selfishness, arrogance, and priestly oligarchy threaten American religious and civil liberty, and though differing with others in opinion, it would seem there is no good reason why discussion of the subject of marriage and divorce should not be had in a friendly manner, a kindly spirit, each with respectful regard and toleration for the opinion of those having other beliefs, and equally sincere in expression and conclusions. It is not to speak disrespectfully, or to find compla- cency in the struggle of the church for supremacy over the rest of the world, but when we read in " a catechism of Christian doctrine prepared by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, for the use of Catholics in the United States of America," that ' a Christian man and woman cannot be united in marriage in any other way than by the sacrament of matrimony, because Christ raised marriage to the dignity of a sacra- ment; that the bond of Christian marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power; and that the church forbids the marriage of Catholics with persons who have a different religion," we cannot but express surprise such claims should be made, in view of the fact that the statute laws of every Marriage and Divorce 239 state provide who may marry, and who may be divorced, and that clergymen have no authority to perform the marriage ceremony save under that given them by the law. Of what use to legislate, if a religious organiza- tion is allowed to invade the state, and in defiance of law attempt to prescribe the limits of its (state) juris- diction over the morals of its citizens ; and if right for one why may not every other religious organization exercise the same right ? No, the Roman Catholic Church is the only religious organization making such claims, and, as the state is the origin and source of all rights, is sovereign, the superior of every reli- gious or other organization ; its laws what it declares them to be, and it alone determines the moral propri- ety of human conduct. It would seem such claims of the church are not only untenable, but also unlaw- ful. Does not the exercise of power not conferred by law injure every man's liberty ? From expe- rience, has not divorce proved not only a conven- ience but a necessary remedy against tyranny of all kinds, and is not a bar to remarriage prejudicial to civilization ? Does not the prohibition against divorce except for adultery operate as a premium to commit the offense ? The claim that marriage is not a civil contract, that it is of divine origin, is de- creed by God, that commandments against divorce are divine, some people think is the sheerest non- sense and a priestly assumption. Were not mar- riages made and divorces obtained centuries before Christ or priests were born ? The marriage cere- mony was not solemnized in church as a religious 240 The Roman Catholic Church rite until A.D. 1198 (before then it was viewed as a civil contract) , and was not considered a sacrament until 1442. Cardinal Gibbons, who is always inter- esting, and for whom I have great respect, at Balti- more, Maryland, July 14, is reported to have said: " Mr. Justice Brown, while referring to myself in kind and courteous language takes exception to my views on divorce and remarriage, and says ' that Christ was an idealist, whose sentiments, while suitable to less favored times and circumstances are not adapted to this enlightened age.' In reply, there is no subject Christ teaches more fully and clearly than the question of marriage, which is the very foundation stone of our family and social life." This leads one to inquire how many founda- tion stones cardinals, bishops, priests, and nuns have ever laid, why forbidden to marry, and by what authority, and why our government should tolerate the exercise of authority over our citizens by any foreign power whether under the guise of religion or otherwise ? The cardinal further says : " In three of the gospels Christ proclaims the unity of marriage and permits separation of a married couple only in one case. I don't see why a law which has been enforced in every country where Christianity dominates should be considered ob- solete or impracticable in the United States." One reason is that some people think the fulness of time proves the books of the Old Testament to be impositions, and the glaring contradictions of the New Testament are sufficient to show the story of Jesus Christ and his many reputed sayings to be Marriage and Divorce 241 false and misleading; and has not the time arrived when the claim that churches (ministers) have the final and absolute truth about the Bible is to be repudiated, and the claimed divine rights over divorce and remarriage discredited and denounced ? Ever busy in strangling thought, has not the church throughout the centuries been an obstacle of progress ? Let us turn for a moment to an interesting paper by Cardinal Gibbons in the May number of the Century Magazine, and note his views, seriatim: " In reply, you speak of ' the all-seeing eye ' of God, and of rewards from God." As no one can even comprehend Almighty God, much less know any- thing about him, or have any authority to speak for him, is not such a religious pretension born of the dark ages, a habit of church dignitaries, and not in keeping with the enlightened intelligence of this century ? If not married, how can you know any- thing of the joys and sorrows of a married life, or of living with a woman whom you have helped to make a hell on earth ? If the latter, would not your religion, viz. that you should not be allowed to separate, or to remarry the one you really loved, be good for you, and wouldn't you then be a wiser man, with greater sympathy for all God's children, and less enthusi- astic for " church ' laws and requirements ? You say, ' ' For if the sanctity and indissolubility of marriage don't constitute a cardinal principle of Christianity I am at a loss to know what does." There are others who think it has as much to do with Christianity as with any other religion, viz. Nothing! You say, "By the law of God the bond 242 The Roman Catholic Church uniting husband and wife can only be dissolved by death; no earthly sword can sever the nuptial knot which the Lord has tied, for what God hath joined together let not man put asunder." Why this professed knowledge of God, and pretended authority to speak for him ? Was not the ecclesi- astical law referred to made by cardinals and bishops for their worldly and pecuniary benefit, and have they not well profited by it? Whom God joins no man can put asunder, but whom priests join God often puts asunder, which leads a doubt as to your credentials to act as the mouth- piece of God. You say, " The Evangelists 'pro- claim the indissolubility of marriage and forbid a wedded person to engage in second wedlock during the life of his spouse." As is well known, in the opinion of unprejudiced and careful readers of the Scriptures, the alleged writings of the four Evan- gelists, composed long after the times of the apostles, are incontestably proven to be the work of others than those to whom ascribed; unreliable, full of mistakes, the work of obscure and designing men. As such, little reliance can be placed on them. Besides, this age proclaims contrary to the Evan- gelists. The cardinal says further, " Our Saviour emphatically declares the nuptial bond is ratified by God himself; and hence that no man, nor any legislation framed by men, can validly dissolve the contract." That Christ or anybody else ever saw, had any talk with, knew anything about, or could even comprehend Almighty God, is — hardly satisfying to any man or woman who has care- Marriage and Divorce 243 fully read the Scriptures, and why the statement, " that our Saviour declares the nuptial bond is ratified by God himself," a catechism of Christian doctrine already referred to, says, page 9, ' the three divine persons (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) are equal in all things, are one and the same God, having one and the same divine nature and sub- stance." Since he is God where then to go for a rat- ifier other than to himself; and thus, to sink further into the mind of the child the fatal shaft that God Almighty ratifies the nuptial bond, and hence no leg- islation can dissolve it. Further on the catechism says, ' ' We cannot fully understand how the three divine persons are one and the same God, because this is a mystery, and that a mystery is a truth which we cannot fully understand." Thus are the minds of children at an early age impregnated with teach- ings calculated to hold them in spiritual bondage to their religious superiors. The Cardinal further says, " The Catholic Church, following the light of the gospel, forbids a divorced man to enter into second espousals during the life of his former partner." Was not " the light of the gospel " in this instance the edict of bishops and prelates who framed that writing, and through it sought to ob- tain further hold on mankind through woman, the church has ever planned and contrived to keep in mental and spiritual bondage? And further, the Cardinal says, " To Christian wives and mothers, you are especially indebted for your liberty to the popes, who rose up in the majesty of their spiritual power to vindicate the rights of injured wives 244 The Roman Catholic Church against the lustful tyranny of their husbands." Those who have read the lives of popes can hardly concur in this statement. Beginning with Pope Boniface III, A.D. 606, who obtained ecclesiastical supremacy through Phocas, who murdered the Emperor Mauritius and all his family, down to the eighteenth century, popes, with few exceptions, were a monumental success, but not in the direction above referred to, and the least said of them the better.* Further, the Cardinal says: " If ministers and magistrates would take the high stand of Catholic priests, refusing to marry any but those they know never to have been married before, the solution of the difficulty would be near at hand." As to the "high stand" referred to, Baroness Von Zedtwitz (nee Caldwell), already referred to, formerly a Catholic, says, in a book entitled " The Double Doctrine of the Church of Rome," ' with the exoteric (for the sheep) doctrines the church finds means to defend itself against attack, and retreats always behind the bulwarks of Christian ethics. It proclaims charity, sincerity, justice, altruism, professes from the pulpit the gospel of Jesus Christ, and thus deludes its adversaries who fall back disheartened, and abandon a systematic attack. It will scarcely be maintained by the most partisan Roman Catholic that the obligations placed on the priesthood are never violated. It would be preposterous to assume, even lacking positive proof to the contrary, which, however, is *See " American Text Book of Popery," p. 115. Griffith & Simon. Philadelphia. Robert Carter, New York, 1847. Marriage and Divorce 245 abundant, that all members of the Roman clergy and hierarchy lead that life of continency and purity which should be the underlying spirit of their celibate law. The church imposes on all its clergy alike, a law beyond the power of universal obser- vance unless accepted in its broadest interpretation, and has no intention of interpreting this law so strictly in its general application. Besides, the vow of celibacy is the vow of chastity. On all points of conduct the clergy are reprimanded in proportion to the scandal which they have caused and not at all for the act, per se. Because of her love of power the church applies all her administra- tive skill to conceal from the public the dire results of her inexorable policy in this respect." According to Celeot, "too great severity should not be applied to the clergy, as there never can be too many priests, as it promotes her earthly power through the power conferred on the priests at ordination." Let us hope the solution is near at hand, that. the church does not juggle with Christian doctrines as it suits its purpose, that ecclesiasticism in state matters always has not meant what it is, viz. tyranny. In spite of the Pope's Bull ' ' declaring all marriages without a Roman priest's celebration, null and void," the state still survives, and many of its inhabitants are happy and in the enjoyment of good health without the kindly offices of the clergy. Practical Examples In England, five years after the death of his wife, a gentleman wished to marry his deceased wife's sister, whom he had known from boyhood, and dearly loved. For many years the clericals have opposed the creation of any law making pos- sible such marriage; and on July 8, by a vote of two hundred and twenty-four to twenty-four the church council attended by bishops, clergy, and laymen of the Church of England declared, in spite of public opinion, " that marriage to a deceased wife's sister was contrary to the moral rules of the church and to the principles of the Scriptures, and that the use of the prayer-book in the service solemnizing such marriages was reprobated in the strongest terms." September 8, Rome says, " After Easter next, such marriages in Protestant churches, or registry offices will be for Catholics not only sinful, but invalid, and persons contracting them will have merely gone through an empty ceremony and are no more man and wife than ever before." What audacity! and how much longer will English free men and women suffer such in- dignities. An English newspaper says, " that as the result of fifteen years' experience as president of the British Divorce Court, Lord Gorell reported last May to the Lord Chancellor, that cheap and secret divorce is the crying social need of England. 246 Practical Examples 247 At present, divorce is a luxury so expensive in England that the poor cannot afford it." That such a state of things is not the millenial condition which so many reformers crack it up to be is evidently the conclusion to which long and close observation has brought this British judge. Can any decrees of church join or separate men and women who love each other, or can any civil law compel two people loving each other to ask per- mission of the state or church to love ? But why blame the clergy ? Is not their opinion of their su- periority but a reflection of your own ? Is it not you who have made them believe they are indeed the depositaries of spiritual truths, that their opinions and decisions are to be respected and heeded; until in time they properly begin to think so themselves? Before the civil war the clergy could honestly easily prove from the Bible that human slavery was right, and did so. After the war, they as honestly and easily proved it was wrong, and did so. Why blame them? They preach what they believe, what you want, and when you don't like what they say they have to move on. With the Catholics, and some Episco- palians, they take the food set before them, and murmur not; or at least not loud enough to be heard. But in countenancing the assumption of dominion over morality by a small body of clericals, are you not openly inviting mental and spiritual slavery, when you remember that the domain of morals carries ninety-five per cent of the acts of your daily life, that it is one of the strongest 248 The Roman Catholic Church citadels of the church, through which it has managed for centuries to hold the world in mental and spiritual bondage ? To set at rest all contention and avoid future conflict why shouldn't the state relieve the clergy of the function of performing marriages ? In Mexico, after centuries of experience with the Roman Catholic Church the government now compels couples to be married by an officer of the state authorized by law to perform such services. The priest's service, if employed, is illegal unless prece- ded by the civil service, all necessary papers being issued at cost. Would not such provision remove all interference or attempt to regulate or control marriage and divorce on the part of any religious organization? If matrimony is a civil contract, a mutual obligation between the parties as some people are inclined to believe, should it not be free, entering in, or withdrawing from it, as in the mak- ing of any other contract; and why should not the community agree and allow that, as is sometimes the case married people find they are the victims of an awful mistake they should rectify it soon as possible. What is to be thought of a Christianity that places a penalty on affection ? Do the defects of marriage lie in divorce, or the unhappy causes, that compel so many to seek it; and who, if not these women, have a right to our sympathy and assistance when the church frowns and friends are few ? ^ The following experience of a couple happily married may prove interesting as well as instructive. Practical Examples 249 " We told the minister to omit everything except the pledges to each other that we should be faithful, and cherish and love, in sickness or health, until death should us part. After the ceremony we went for a walk, and sat on the grass, and with God as a witness we made our oral marriage con- tract, which was the result of our observations. We agreed we must bear and forbear; that what- ever was right for one was right for the other; that we should have no companions that were not con- genial to both ; that if we quarrelled we must make up before going to sleep, no matter what the cost to our pride; that we should have absolutely no secrets from one another; that our liberties should be governed by no rules, but that we should observe wherein we had a tendency to criticise other married people and profit by our observations; that it was no sin to express our affection to each other, and that we should be jealous of an opportunity 01 reminding each other of this agreement in any of its details/* CONCLUSION IT now becomes the duty of our state to enact laws (for self-preservation alone) as to property or other qualification for its ignorant voters, as have other states and countries, or in a few years its government will be in other hands. Also, to consider the enactment of laws similar to the following, which some countries, ruled by Rome for centuries, but now free from its power, found necessary to enact for self-preservation, viz.: (1) The use of church bells is restricted to calling the people to religious work; (2) clerical vestments are forbidden in the streets; (3) religious proces- sions are strictly forbidden; (4) pulpit discourses advising disobedience to the laws are forbidden; (5) gifts of real estate to religious institutions are unlawful unless designed exclusively for the insti- tution; (6) abrogation of law permitting any re- ligious associations to acquire landed property; (7) the state does not recognize monastic orders nor permit their establishment. Monks shall be made to earn their own living. The association of sisters of charity is unlawful and should be sup- pressed in the republic, and Jesuits are expelled and may not return. (In Mexico it was found the ultimate object of sisterhoods was not religion, but, instead, the subjugation of the people to a foreign despotism that has its seat at Rome. Eleven 250 Conclusion 251 hundred and thirty Jesuits were expelled from Mexico in 1870, many^of whom^are in our country, of which the people of the United States should take due notice.) (8) Matrimony is a civil contract, and is to be duly registered: religious service may be added; (9) cemeteries are under civil inspection, and open for burial of all classes and creeds, (10) no one can sign away his liberty by contract or religious vow; (11) the aboli- tion of censorship of books; (12) education in the public schools is free and compulsory. The gov- ernment should decree, declaring all briefs, bulls, and rescripts from the court of Rome void in the United States, unless sanctioned by the government. No foreign power should be allowed to busy itself with the education of our children. Education in the public schools should be free and compulsory for all Parochial schools should be disbanded. No religious services in public schools should be allowed, and the schools should be absolutely free from Protestant or Roman Catholic influences; sisters of charity, or women representing any religious organization may not be allowed to enter public buildings or stand outside of any buildings for the purpose of collecting money from its followers, violation of such law when enacted to be punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both. The confessional, being the chief means by which the church holds the minds and actions of her devotees at her disposal, and the most per- fect scheme the ingenuity of man could devise for turning men and women into the degraded tools of a rapacious and designing power, and through 252 The Roman Catholic Church which the " system " is enabled to inform itself of whatever transpires in every household where its followers reside, or have business relations, make it the best spy system in the world. This con- stitutes one of the principal dangers that confront the liberty of the citizen, togetherwith " purgatory," the gold mine of priests, who, through the false claims that they can rescue souls from purgatory, and have the keys of heaven and hell, in return for such promises receive enormous sums of money from their superstitious and ignorant fol- lowers. These channels, and the sale of indul- gences, together with the large amounts of money collected by the sisters of charity, have brought into the coffers of the ' ' system ' ' such enormous amounts of money that its managers are daily be- coming more audacious in asserting the claims of what is called the church, and enables them to support an increasing army of priests and sisters of charity now seen on our streets engaged in their respective avocations. The above has nothing whatever to do with religion, but, on the contrary, is the work of men in the remote past scheming for money, power, and personal aggrandizement, which is handed down to this generation :• as a good paying business, and should be viewed from this standpoint only in determining what measures are to be taken for its suppression and oblitera- tion. The church now attempts through one of it dignitaries to read lectures to the state, which makes its own laws, talks of resisting the state if it interferes in what he is pleased to call its " God- Conclusion 253 given rights," and for the first time in the history of our country throws down this ultimatum, the first rebellious steps of a plan smouldering for years in the breast of Rome and now carried into execution by its representatives in this country. What is the new doctrine that these apostles are to preach to us ? This unholy alliance; for the purpose among other things of breaking down the public school system, the principles and policies of the state, the cherished ideals of a free people, which stand for American independence, and repudiation of imperialism and Roman despotism. In vain you cry for peace. It is idle to attempt evading the issue; silence means cowardice. What step will you require of the state to educate its women, whose withdrawal from the clergy to the extent men have now done, the " faith," would in a single decade find itself on its last legs marching rapidly down hill to its grave. Once let the nature of the confessional and the true history of convents and monasteries be known to the people of the United States and the righteous indignation of an outraged public would quickly blast this den of incipient sacerdotalism. If Rome's morale be higher than it was in the fourteenth century it is because her hand is forced by Protestantism. We not only want more plain talk and less fireworks, but action is now required. The same practices, the same money gatherers will go right on the same as before until, like Mexico and France, the people will rise up in their might and force this money getting organization to the wall, compel obedience to the 254 The Roman Catholic Church laws, take the education of the children into their own hands, and, as soon as may be, release the thousands of women now held in mental and spiritual bondage, on whose education and en- lightenment the nation now and in the future depends. The world awaits men and women who are not afraid to speak and defend the truth. To all such, my felicitations. Definition of Words and Terms Words in parenthesis by author: Absolution. A remission of sin to one who makes confession. A Deputy of Christ. (Claimed.) Apochryphal. Books whose authenticity as inspired writings are not admitted. Archbishop. A chief of bishops. Auricular confession. Told in the ear (a most detestable method to control ignorant men and women) . Bishop. A spiritual director in a diocese. Bulls. Orders from the pope. Canonical. (Obedience.) Submission to orders of the church. Canonization. Placing name of deceased person in catalog of saints. Cardinal. A superior prelate of the Sacred College, first known in Rome in 853. Catholic. Universal: word adopted in A.D. 380. Consistory. College of cardinals at Rome. Dispensations. Dispensing with a law of the church: as special permission to marry, etc. Ecclesiastical. Pertaining to the church. Encyclical. A circular letter of the pope to his followers. Extreme unction. Annointing in last hours (to wipe away sins) . Faith. Faith in Roman Catholic Church means assent to dogmas. Another definition is personal trust in Christ: Holy Apostolic See. A seat governed by an apostle (apostle means one who imitates the apostles by abstaining from marriage, wine, flesh). 255 %56 The Roman Catholic Church Holy Catholic Church. Religious term claimed exclusively by the Roman Church. „ , „ [ The seat of the Roman pontiff. Papal bee. ) Holy Ghost. The third person of the Trinity. Holy. Hallowed, sacred. Holy Water. Blessed by the priest for holy purposes. Indulgences. Remission of punishment to save sinners from purgatory. Interdict. To forbid by order a layman from attending divine service, etc. Masses. A sacrifice for pardon of all sins said in the Latin tongue, and low voice. Morals. Practice of the duties of life (ninety-five per cent of acts in daily life come under the head of morals). Pall. A scarf composed of white wool. Papist. A Roman Catholic. " Peter's Pence." Money taken to Rome every year to the pope from the faithful. (The second largest donation is said to come from the poor people of the United States.) Patriarch. A superior to the order of archbishop. Papal hierarchy. A body of clericals intrusted with church government at Rome. Penance. To suffer pain. All sins must be confessed se- cretly to the priest. Pope. Head of the Roman Catholic Church. Prelate. A clergyman of a superior order. Purgatory. A place of torment (claimed to exist after death) . Plenary Indulgence. Entire remission of sins. Priest. A minister. Roman Curia. An assembly of prelates at Rome. Roman Pontiff. The pope. Sacrament. A religious ordinance. Sacramental garments. Priestly garments, to give exterior pomp, and attract superstitious veneration. Definition of Words and Terms 257 Sacraments. Confirmation, penance, holy orders, holy euchar- ist, matrimony, extreme unction. Sovereign power. Supreme power. Sovereign state. A state which administers its own govern- ment, and is not subject to another power. Temporal power. Civil power, as opposed to ecclesiastical. Vatican. The residence of the pope. Vicar of Christ. The title was originally given by Henry VIII the better to regulate church affairs. Vicar of Christ. A deputy of Christ (claimed) . Vicar of God. A deputy of God (claimed) . Vicegerent of God. One exercising delegated authority (claimed) . BRITTLE DO NOT J COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY UBRARjES 0315023990 936.75 M846