i 
 
 # LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, # 
 
 # # 
 
 f [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] 
 
 j ^/.jg)^/ 765" \ 
 
 ! UNITED STATES OP AMERICA ! 
 
•' 
 
F L A M B O : 
 
 A BRIEF TREATISE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Swswating ana ganpnras Cjjamter af $aro. 
 
 BY A PRESBYTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Biott&e of New-f 0tk 
 
 z 
 
 N E W - Y O R K ; 
 
 PUDNBY & RUSSELL, PRINTERS, 
 
 No 79 John-Street. 
 
 1855. 
 
s9^/66> 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1855, 
 
 BY PUDNEY & RUSSELL, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
 
 Southern District of Net?- York. 
 
 ^ *v-* 
 
 i 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Every book must necessarily have a name 
 and a preface : cl Flambo m shall therefore be 
 the name of this. 
 
 The book will explain itself; and as the 
 author has no apology to make for writing it, 
 there is no reason for his troubling the reader 
 with any further preface. 
 
FL AMBO. 
 
 That Popery is now making a most vigorous effort 
 towards establishment in this country, is a thing which 
 admits of no question. Not only is this apparent from 
 the effort itself, but it is also admitted, yea, with autho- 
 rity and frequency declared. 
 
 No cause for wonder it therefore is, that very con- 
 siderable opposition to this system has of late been 
 manifested among us. So long as this existed in such 
 obscure and harmless form, as till within a short time 
 has been the case in this country, persons were quite 
 willing to let it alone. But the accessions which the 
 astonishing emigration from different parts of Europe, 
 and especially from Ireland, has of late years made to 
 its ranks, have so far changed its position and carriage, 
 as to attract towards it very earnest and anxious atten- 
 tion. 
 
 The very possibility of this moral plague coming 
 hither to blight, with its pestilential breath, this fair 
 portion of God's creation, as it has elsewhere done, has 
 
6 
 
 stirred up in a large portion of our people an indigna- 
 tion and a settled opposition which it is most desirable 
 should be encouraged and strengthened to the effectual 
 preventing, in the good providence of God, so much 
 danger and evil. 
 
 As of some small assistance in this way is offered the 
 present treatise. It appeared to the author that some- 
 thing of the kind might be of advantage to stir up the 
 minds of our people by way of remembrance concern- 
 ing those things which Popery has effected, and must 
 ever effect wherever in power and perfection it exists. 
 
 What is intended, then, is to show the usurpation 
 and cruelty of Popery in past time, and by plain and 
 necessary inference to point out what it will and must 
 again be, should it attain to the same influence and 
 power. As, however, this work is designed for general 
 use, brevity will be especially kept in view ; and there- 
 fore, without going into a lengthened introductory his- 
 tory of the subject, I shall at once introduce it to the 
 reader, by reference to the third Council of Lateran, 
 1179. This Council, over which Alexander III. pre- 
 sided, in person, issued a terrible decree against the 
 people now commonly known as Albigenses. Not 
 only were they solemnly anathematized by the Coun- 
 cil, but all persons were forbidden, on "pain of excom- 
 munication, to receive them into their houses, to suffer 
 them in their territories, to bury them, or to sell any- 
 thing to them/' And it was ordained, that they who 
 should, under any pretence whatever, transgress this 
 decree, should have no offerings made for them after 
 their death, nor should they be buried among Christians. 
 
The fourth Lateral! Council, called by Innocent III., 
 and opened by him in a speech 1215, also decreed as 
 follows : Heretics, when convicted, to be delivered up 
 to the secular power. All Princes to swear to extirpate 
 the heretics in their dominions — Bishops commanded 
 to call in the secular power, to enable them to clear 
 their Dioceses of heretics, and to oblige them by the 
 censures of the Church so to do. 
 
 The Council of Constance, held in the first quarter 
 of the fifteenth century, perpetuated this doctrine in its 
 decree respecting the Emperor Sigismond, wherein was 
 threatened for certain offences the excommunication 
 of all kings, dukes, &c, and the depriving them of all 
 secular honour and dignity ; and also, in the Bull of 
 Pope Martin V., by which he confirmed and authorized 
 anew the Canon of the third Lateran Council, just now 
 referred to. 
 
 These few instances, selected at hazard, will suffice 
 abundantly to show the spirit then growing up and 
 establishing itself in that portion of the Church abiding 
 under the usurpation of the Roman Pontiff; and in 
 some illustrations w T hich will hereafter be adduced ? 
 will be shown how literally and how barbarously this 
 spirit was carried out and acted upon. 
 
 In the sixteenth century, occurred that great politi- 
 cal, as well as religious revolution, the Reformation ; 
 and the question may be asked, did not Rome, at this 
 time, undergo a change in spirit and in operation? 
 That she did not, her authorities and her practice suffi- 
 ciently prove. The Council of Trent, opened in 1545, 
 under the Pontificate of Paul III., marks an especial 
 
8 
 
 era in the history of Popery. It was this Council which 
 erected Popery into a definite and distinct system. 
 What had before been matter of opinion and suffer- 
 ance, allowing of dispute and rejection by any as cor- 
 ruption and heresy, was here authorized and set forth 
 as necessary to be believed by all, under pain of damna- 
 tion; and since that time, the system and doctrine 
 there defined and established, has been received and 
 held everywhere by Papists, and as they are infallible, 
 must, on their own admission, continue while the pa- 
 pacy itself shall continue, which, on their own hypothe- 
 sis, will be to the end of time. To this Council of 
 Trent, then, we may fairly apply to know what the 
 mind and spirit of Popery is ; and what it was then, we 
 have seen it is now and must ever be. 
 
 Now that this " power of the Church " over all tem- 
 poral rulers, and this authority to coerce by the secular 
 arm, was established and set forth by the Council of 
 Trent, is most plain from many of its canons and de- 
 crees ; but especially from session 25, chapter 20, on 
 Reformation, where it is thus decreed : " That secular 
 princes also be admonished of their duty; trusting that 
 they — as Catholics, whom God hath willed to be the 
 protectors of holy faith and Church — will not only 
 grant to the Church her own right be restored, but will 
 also recall all their own subjects to due reverence to- 
 wards the clergy, parish priests and the superior or- 
 ders." " It admonishes the Emperor, Kings, republics, 
 princes, and all, to respect whatsoever is of ecclesiasti- 
 cal right, and suffer not such to be injured by any 
 barons, nobles, governors, or other temporal lords, but 
 
9 
 
 punish those severely who obstruct her liberty, immu- 
 nity and jurisdiction." Also, in the Bull of Pius IV., 
 confirming the decrees of this Council, wherein he 
 commands " Patriarchs, Archbishops, &c, to observe 
 the said decrees, and cause them to be observed, by 
 means of censures and ecclesiastical penalties ;" " call- 
 ing in, also, if need be, the help of the secular arm." 
 
 Here we see that the same rule is maintained, of the 
 Church having power over all temporal authority, and 
 of its being under obligation to enforce, with its abil- 
 ity and punishments, the Church's laws and doctrine. 
 Space and time will not allow of this part of the sub- 
 ject being run out to any greater length, nor is it ne- 
 cessary ; the authority adduced is quite sufficient to 
 show that persecution is an established doctrine, and 
 necessary part of Popery. 
 
 In the next place it will be important to refer to 
 some of those historic facts which develop the prac- 
 tical working of this system ; and as this treatise had 
 its commencement from the third Council of Lateran, 
 we may just as well retain the same point of begin- 
 ning, in the further discussion of this subject. 
 
 At the period, then, of this Council, the Albigenses 
 were the great troublers of Popery. Who these people 
 were, or what their great offence, I shall not here stop 
 to inquire. Sufficient for my object it is that they were 
 accounted heretics, and by consequence they fell under 
 the ban of this Lateran Council, and its effects they 
 more or less felt during the latter part of the twelfth 
 century. But the attention of Alexander, and two or 
 three of the succeeding Popes, being more or less oc- 
 
10 
 
 cupied with the Saracens, and the arranging of various 
 political affairs, no very great demonstration was made 
 against them until the affair of Raymond VI., Count 
 of Toulouse, about 1214. 
 
 The Papal emissaries not being very successful in 
 converting these "obstinate heretics," and the Legate, 
 Castlenau, having been murdered, as was believed at 
 Rome, by the order, or at least encouragement, of 
 Raymond, the Pope grew furious, excommunicated the 
 Count, placed his kingdom under an interdict, and 
 gave away his dominions to whomsoever might seize 
 them. An immense army was immediately raised, and 
 utter annihilation threatened to Raymond, and the 
 heretical people he was accused of favoring. At the 
 head of this army, besides the secular leaders, of whom 
 Simon, Earl of Montfort, was chief, there were Milo, 
 Legate — two Archbishops, and several Bishops ; their 
 work was, to destroy the Albigenses, together with all 
 their friends and favorers, whether detected, or only 
 suspected ; their reward, the fullest indulgence ever 
 granted to eastern Crusader. 
 
 This formidable army, which has been by some wri- 
 ters estimated at half a million, set out under these cir- 
 cumstances on its mission to extirpate heresy, and 
 faithfully did it accomplish its object. The number of 
 persons which is said to have been slain during the 
 continuance of this crusade, it is as wonderful, as it is 
 melancholy, to contemplate. Whether this number 
 has been over-estimated, we have no positive grounds 
 now of either affirming or denying. But when we 
 remember that this was the largest army which had, 
 
11 
 
 at any one time, been assembled since the overthrow 
 of the Roman Empire, and that the men who compos- 
 ed it believed themselves to be engaged in a work of 
 the highest good to man, and the most acceptable to 
 God ; when we remember that, at the termination of 
 the campaign, scarce one-fourth of the landed proprie- 
 tors were in possession of their estates, and that towns 
 and villages/ by hundreds, had been despoiled of every 
 inhabitant ; that the most unrestrained brutality, and 
 the most wide-spread and exterminating massacre pre- 
 vailed, we will hardly be disposed to dispute even the 
 largest account given us of the numbers slain in that 
 dreadful war. 
 
 This Crusade, which carried out into practical ope- 
 ration the intent of the third Council of Lateran, illus- 
 trates the spirit and character of Popery in two or 
 three particulars, which it may be of use here to notice. 
 
 1. Its arrogant assumption of universal dominion, 
 both temporal and spiritual. On this assumption was 
 grounded the whole proceeding. The Pope took pos- 
 session of Raymond's kingdom just as a nobleman 
 would take possession of his castle, and gave it away 
 to any one who should seize it, with the same authori- 
 ty and good will with w T hich an honest man would 
 apportion among his children his estate. The papal 
 legate demanded the person of the Count, and after 
 requiring him to strip himself naked, caused him to be 
 led round the Church with a halter about his neck, and 
 to be most cruelly and degradingly scourged, with 
 rods, by priests and bishops. 
 
 2. Its cruelty. It would be a gross offence to civil- 
 
12 
 
 ized ears, to hear of all the barbarous treatment which 
 the poor Albigenses received at the hands of these In- 
 nocent warriors. On some occasions the slaughter 
 was indiscriminate, neither Catholic nor Heretic being 
 spared. At Beziers, after the assault of the city, the 
 knights paused at the open gates, to inquire of the 
 legate how they should distinguish Catholic from 
 Heretic, when he, quoting most likely the Pope's gos- 
 pel, replied — " Kill them all, the Lord will know those 
 who are his." This order was obeyed to the letter/ 
 Of a great multitude which had assembled, for protec- 
 tion, in one of the churches, not one escaped alive. In 
 another, the Church of the Magdalen, whither the 
 affrighted creatures had run for safety, there were 
 afterwards counted seven thousand dead bodies. Nor 
 did the carnage cease until the victims were no more. 
 And when all were slain, the monsters finished their 
 deeds of vengeance by setting fire to the city, leaving 
 only the blackened walls to mark its site. 
 
 And such was everywhere the progress of these In- 
 nocents. Thousands were, at one time, brought in a 
 body into a field, and deliberately hewn into pieces by 
 the soldiers, each vieing With another in cutting off the 
 heads, arms, and legs of their terrified victims. At 
 another, numbers were collected in barns, and being 
 fastened up, the straw was set on fire, and they all 
 burned to death. But worse than all was their abuse 
 and destruction of the women and children. These 
 which have so often obtained a noble deliverance even 
 from barbarian captors, received no favor from these 
 men, claiming above all others, the name of Christians. 
 
13 
 
 3. Its treachery. After all the punishment and de- 
 gradation heaped upon the unfortunate Raymond, In- 
 nocent's revenge was not yet satisfied. In a letter 
 which he wrote to one of his agents, he thus treacher- 
 ously counselled him — '' We advise you, w 7 ith the 
 Apostle Paul, to employ guile with regard to this 
 Count, for in this case it ought to he called prudence. 
 We must attack separately, those w T ho are separated 
 from unity. Leave, for a time, this Count of Tou- 
 louse, employing toward him a wise dissimulation, that 
 the other Heretics may be the more easily defeated, and 
 that afterwards vje may crush him when he shall be left 
 alone." 
 
 It w r as in the year 1215, and during these transac- 
 tions, that the fourth council of Lateran assembled, 
 where the same terrible decrees against Heretics were 
 again fulminated, and straightway put into execution. 
 While the Council was yet in session, Raymond ap- 
 peared in Rome, to ask the restitution of his domin- 
 ions, promising satisfaction, and even to join the army 
 of Innocent, against his own subjects. But in vain ; his 
 kingdom had been given to the infamous Earl of Mont- 
 fort, as a reward for his destruction of the Albigenses, 
 and would not be restored to him. At this Council 
 also was confirmed the sentence of suspension some- 
 time before passed against Stephen Langton, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, for his offence in favoring the 
 barons against their silly and treacherous monarch, 
 King John, and a letter at this time, written by Inno- 
 cent, does well attest the disposition of Popery to as- 
 sume complete temporal jurisdiction. " We will have 
 
14 
 
 you to know," he says, " that in the General Council, 
 we have excommunicated and anathematized, in the 
 name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost, in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and 
 Paul, and our own, the barons of England, with their 
 partisans and abettors, for persecuting John, the illus- 
 trious King of England, who has taken the cross, and 
 is a vassal of the Roman Church, and striving to de- 
 prive him of a kingdom that is known to belong to the 
 Roman Church." But the barons, more fortunate 
 than Raymond, were powerful enough to bid defiance 
 to the Pope and his anathema, and so went on to es- 
 tablish Magna Charta and secure their rights and lib- 
 erties. 
 
 All this time was proceeding the mad and ruinous 
 attempt to gain possession of the Holy Land, and in 
 the various issues growing out of this, was the Pope 
 more especially interested and engaged. Still the 
 papal opposers of Provence and Languedoc were not 
 overlooked, and ere the first quarter of the thirteenth 
 century had numbered its years with the past, these 
 persecuted people were either slain or driven from 
 their happy and prosperous country, a feeble band, to 
 dwell, in want and exile, with the wild beasts of the 
 mountains. But Popish vengeance is insatiable, and 
 must exact the last penny, and therefore was added 
 unto all these evils, that of the Inquisition, which, 
 about 1280, was set up in these parts, to discover and 
 root out all remains of the Albin-enses. 
 
 Although this persecution had well nigh swept away 
 these people, it had not been so successful in respect to 
 
15 
 
 their principles. The intelligence and refinement of 
 Southern France had begun to characterize, in great 
 degree, the most of Europe, and to be outraged and 
 insulted with the unfounded claims, and mountebank 
 superstitions, and fooleries of Popery. We will not 
 follow these things in their gradual progress and de- 
 velopment, seeing it is not so much our purpose to 
 give a connected historical account of them, as to call 
 attention to a few leading points, setting forth and es- 
 tablishing the cruel and destructive character of 
 Popery. It would indeed be an almost impossible 
 thing to present the w 7 liole testimony of history to this 
 fact. No work of the kind scarcely can be taken up, 
 whether written by friend or foe, but what this evi- 
 dence, more or less, appears. And from the period of 
 the Albigensian crusade onward, shall w r e find the con- 
 stant working of this spirit, either silently by the In- 
 quisition, or openly by excommunication, interdict, and. 
 arms, throughout the whole extent of Popedom. 
 
 Omitting, then, any particular account of the inter- 
 vening period, we will go on to the beginning of the 
 fifteenth century, and in the city of Constance, in Ger- 
 many, tarry a little to consider and estimate the things 
 that are doing around us. Here w T e find a Council 
 of the Church again assembled, and rather singular is 
 the leading matter of its deliberation. The chair of 
 St. Peter has of late been multiplied. Instead of one 
 Pope, w r e here have three! We will not, however, 
 wound the sensibility of our Popish friends, by curi- 
 ously inquiring which of these is the lawful successor 
 of St. Peter ; which is the true centre of unity, and 
 
16 
 
 infallible interpreter and guide of the Church, because, 
 in the first place, it does not belong to our subject, and 
 in the second, the Council will presently inform us 
 that none of the three were deserving of such title and 
 office, and that there being no longer any such thing, 
 the necessity of the case required that it should man- 
 ufacture one anew, which it accordingly does, out of a 
 certain Otho Colonna, and pleased with its ingenuity, 
 presents Martin V., for the greetings of the people, as 
 the true and lawful successor of St. Peter. It seemed 
 to sensible minds rather a curious affair, but was most 
 likely correct and proper. At all events, there was 
 decided evidence of a true succession in the matter of 
 treachery and cruelty, and doubtless, no one can seri- 
 ously reflect on the action of the Council in this par- 
 ticular, without being well satisfied that however the 
 case may be, as regards St. Peter, Martin V. was un- 
 questionably in direct and lawful succession from Inno- 
 cent III. 
 
 The cases of John Huss, Jerome of Prague, and 
 WicklifFe, are familiar, more or less, to every child, and 
 to this Council are they greatly indebted for their earth- 
 ly notoriety. A cloud of witnesses such as these fol- 
 lowed in succession the track of persecution and blood, as 
 through these dismal ages it pursued its unbroken course. 
 In manner more silent and obscure were their testimony, 
 their sufferings, and their deaths. These are their re- 
 presentatives before the world. These on the scroll of 
 history record, in characters of death, what the perfid- 
 ious and blood-thirsty system of Popery has caused the 
 multitudes of mankind to endure, who dared refuse 
 
17 
 
 submission to its arrogant and destructive rule. 
 They tell of the human hecatombs, which, year by 
 year, were offered to satisfy the dignified intolerance of 
 his Pontifical Majesty. 
 
 Huss and Jerome were both of the city of Prague, 
 in Bohemia ; and having imbibed the reforming sen- 
 timent, then extensively prevailing, they became, on 
 account of their great learning and extraordinary abili- 
 ties, more than usually prominent in the propagation 
 of this. Very soon were they, therefore, marked as 
 victims, at Rome, and the sword of vengeance un- 
 sheathed against them. By treachery and force, the 
 Council then sitting at Constance gain possession of 
 their persons, and after long imprisonment, harrassing, 
 and cruelty, they are at last, by authority of this, igno- 
 miniously burned to death at the stake. And quickly 
 do the whole body of their adherents experience like 
 treatment. " Here again, near tw y o centuries later, in the 
 beautiful and prosperous country of the Moldau, was 
 re-enacted those dreadful scenes, which had rendered 
 desolate and sad fair Provence and Languedoc. With 
 like fiendish spirit, the Popish desperadoes enter Bohe- 
 mia, shooting the reformed ministers in their pulpits, 
 and beating and mercilessly destroying all who w r ould 
 not instantly renounce their new doctrine, and return 
 to their former condition of slavery and superstition. 
 
 With the Bohemians, a leading offence was their de- 
 mand for the sacrament in both kinds, and horrible 
 even to mention, were the endeavors of these Popish 
 fiends to annul this feeling. It is related that, u In 
 some places they shut up the people in the church, and 
 
18 
 
 forced them to receive in one kind ; and if they would 
 not kneel before the host, they used to beat their legs 
 with clubs, till they fell down ; others they gagged, and 
 when they had propped their mouths wide open, they 
 thrust the host down their throats. Others were de- 
 tained in prisons and bonds so long, that they died, and 
 one was kept in a loathsome dugeon so long, that his 
 feet rotted off/' As with the Albigenses, they were 
 not only excommunicated, but every one was forbid- 
 den to entertain them, or furnish them with the least 
 assistance. Bands of soldiers hunted them up, and 
 cruelly dragged them from their houses and places of 
 retreat, driving them before them like cattle, in the 
 most cold and severe weather, to be cast into prisons 
 and places of the most vile and filthy nature, there to 
 starve and perish in filth and neglect. 
 
 Martin V., during the whole of his pontificate, did 
 chiefly instigate that bloody crusade against the Bohe- 
 mians, in which, under the renowned Ziska, they so re- 
 markably sustained themselves, and it was also under 
 letters authoritative from him, that that terrible scourge 
 of mankind, the Inquisition, was set up and established 
 in this country, by which long years of persecution and 
 suffering were appointed its inhabitants. 
 
 Such was the cruel policy which Popery, for ages, 
 pursued towards those she accounted heretics, and such 
 the unnatural manner in which she labored to bring 
 back those who had left her fold. 
 
 It may be worth while now to diverge a little, and 
 inquire what her conduct was towards those she ac- 
 counted iufidel, and what the means employed to con- 
 
19 
 
 vert them to the faith. And here again shall we dis- 
 cover the like treacherous and destructive policy. The 
 case of the Moors, in Spain, presents itself, and will 
 well enough serve to illustrate this part of our subject. 
 
 On the death of John II., King of Arragon, in 1479, 
 his son Ferdinand, surnamed the Catholic, and his con- 
 sort Isabella, became the monarchs of the whole of 
 Spain, with the exception of that southern portion, 
 called Granada, and which the Moors did then, and for 
 centuries had, possessed. 
 
 The forces of Ferdinand and Isabella having, how- 
 ever, in 1492, conquered the city of Granada, the 
 capital of this kingdom, the Moors were entirely sub- 
 dued, and an end put to their government in Spain. 
 But notwithstanding their government did thus cease, 
 they themselves were not expelled the country. On 
 the contrary, a large number of them remained, and 
 spreading over the Spanish kingdom, did, by a firm 
 adherence to their language, habits, and religion, con- 
 tinue a distinct people, while yet living in the midst of 
 the Spaniards, and constantly mingling in intimate in- 
 tercourse with them. On these people the Spanish 
 friars, for along time, exerted, in vain, their ingenuity 
 and their zeal. So obstinately did they persist in the 
 practice of their own religion, that few, if any, were 
 converted. 
 
 This state of things was highly unsatisfactory to 
 their "Catholic majesties/' and making up their minds 
 ' that they were, as Christians, bound either to have the 
 Moors converted, or else drive them out of their king- 
 dom, they did, accordingly, urge the bishops and clergy 
 
20 
 
 to find out some mode for converting these infidels. 
 And very soon were they able to gratify this desire of 
 Ferdinand and his queen. For Ximenes, the famous 
 warrior Archbishop of Toledo, having, by flattery and 
 bribes, persuaded some of the principal persons among 
 the Moors to forsake their religion and be baptized, 
 was able further, by the use of prisons and punishment, 
 to quiet objections and induce many others to follow 
 their example. However, the Moors were not gener- 
 ally satisfied with this mode of conversion, and were 
 finally, through mortification and anger, driven to op- 
 pose its progress by force of arms, and this the more 
 determinedly, because in the surrender of Granada, ex- 
 press stipulation had been made that there should be 
 no interference with their religion, so that the Moors 
 looked on this attempt to convert them as a violation 
 of this treaty. 
 
 Alas, the poor Mahomedans had but begun to ex- 
 perience Popish treachery ! For the Spanish authori- 
 ties paying no heed to the treaty, at once declared 
 them traitors, and so rendered their condition still 
 worse. As traitors they were subject to death, and 
 very soon were they informed that their only way of 
 escape from this was by turning Christian and being 
 baptized. These subdued and terrified people prefer- 
 ring their lives even at so dear a rate, many thousands 
 of them acquiesced, and were baptized, and the Arch- 
 bishop ordering all the books of the Alcoran to be 
 brought into the public square, had them burned. This 
 mode of converting infidels, though somewhat different 
 from that of Christ and His Apostles, was likely more 
 
21 
 
 effectual, since the Archbishop is said not to have left 
 a single person in the city of Granada willing to own 
 himself a Mahomedan. 
 
 Thus far, the conversion of the tMoors in the city, 
 and the success here, did presently move the authori- 
 ties to attempt the like benevolent act for those in the 
 country. Following then the track of the converting 
 army, we find the same bloody and destructive means 
 employed, as those used against the heretics of Prov- 
 ence and Bohemia. The country desolated, cities and 
 towns assaulted and burned, men, women and children 
 abandoned to the fury of the soldiery, insulted, tor- 
 mented, and put to death. It w T ill not be possible to 
 give any minute account of this crusade, suffice it then 
 to say that as it was begun, so was it continued. By 
 force and arms were the persecuted Mahomedans 
 obliged to abandon their own faith and profess them- 
 selves Christians. A number did, indeed, purchase the 
 liberty of withdrawing from the kingdom, but all 
 others unable to do this, were compelled to receive 
 baptism or death ; and so convincing and rapid was 
 this process, that it is affirmed two hundred thousand 
 men, women and children, were converted in the short 
 space of two months. The Inquisition being at the 
 same time established as a suitable auxiliary to this 
 mode of converting the Moors, or may be more par- 
 ticularly intended to keep them converted ; the object 
 of their Catholic majesties seemed accomplished, and 
 these converts are left to the care and tenderness of 
 the zealous Archbishop and his friars. 
 
 As an evidence of the compulsory character of these 
 
22 
 
 conversions, it may be observed that some quarter of 
 a century after their occurrence, the Emperor having 
 appointed a commission to examine the kingdom of 
 Granada, relative to certain abuses complained of, 
 commanded them also to inquire particularly into the 
 condition of the Moors ; and said commission on the 
 completion of its duty, made report to the Emperor 
 that the Moors were plainly still Mahomedans at heart, 
 no evidence appearing of there being an honest 
 Christian among them. 
 
 In such condition did these people remain — in heart 
 Mahomedans, but through fear acknowledging them- 
 selves Christians — until towards the year ] 570, when, 
 supposing themselves able to throw off the Spanish au- 
 thority, they again rebelled, but only to be again sub- 
 dued, and to be driven entirely out of Granada into 
 other parts of Spain. 
 
 Of the Moors of Arragon and Valencia the same 
 might be written. The settled policy of the Pope and 
 his obedient subjects in Spain, was to compel them to 
 become Christians, or, failing in this, to banish them 
 from the kingdom. To this end had Pope Clement 
 IV., in the latter part of the thirteenth century, written 
 a long letter to James, King of Arragon, and who had 
 also conquered Valencia, warning him of the danger 
 of suffering such " obstinate infidels" to remain within 
 his kingdom, and exhorting him to banish them all 
 without delay, which thing also the king, with the ec- 
 clesiastics and commons, would gladly enough have, 
 done, had not the vigorous opposition of the barons 
 prevented them. But afterwards Pope Clement VII., 
 
23 
 
 in that remarkable dispensation, whereby he freed the 
 Emperor Charles V. from the obligation of his coro- 
 nation oath, did move him to accomplish that, which 
 with James had not succeeded. The barons, appre- 
 ciating the value of the Moors to the kingdom, for the 
 same reason I suppose that Pharoah valued the pres- 
 ence of the Israelites in Egypt, and fearing the efforts 
 to have them banished might some time succeed, had 
 required the king, at his coronation, to take oath that 
 he would not, on any account, expel the Moors, nor 
 oblige them, contrary to their wishes, to be baptized. 
 This oath, however, proved but a poor surety to the 
 nobles, for in J 524 Pope Clement VII., by dispensa- 
 tion, released the Emperor from the obligations of this 
 oath, and thereby brought upon the Moors of Arragon 
 and Valencia, all the evils which had befallen those of 
 Granada. For immediately upon the Emperor being 
 thus released from his oath, he sent preachers every- 
 where among the Moors, obliging them by means of 
 the secular power, to attend church, and to hear these 
 preachers. After a short time they were called upon 
 to be baptized, and their refusal threatened with im- 
 mediate expulsion out of the kingdom, or else perpet- 
 ual slavery. In this act of Clement we discover the 
 disposition of the Popes to meddle in matters of tem- 
 poral government, and their utter disregard of all jus- 
 tice, morality, or law, when their own ends are to be 
 accomplished. 
 
 The future of these people was one of constant an- 
 noyance and persecution, until it being well ascertain- 
 ed that they could not be driven to abandon their re- 
 
24: 
 
 ligion, and that despite their acknowledging Christian- 
 ity, and being baptized, they were likely to remain 
 Mahomedans to the end of time, it was finally determi- 
 ned to expel them from Spain altogether It was in 
 1610, and during the reign of Philip IIL, that this in- 
 famous act was consummated. And thus w 7 ere the 
 remnant of the Moors — amounting now, after so many 
 long years of persecution and slaughter, from half a mil- 
 lion to a million — expelled the country of Spain, to 
 satisfy Popish exaction, and appease cruel, oppressive, 
 Popish vengance. 
 
 As it was with the Mahomedans in Spain, so was it 
 with them elsewhere, so was it also with the Jews, so 
 was it with all infidel people where Popery was domi- 
 nant, either they must own themselves Christians in 
 the ordinance of baptism, or submit to persecution 
 and bondage of the most cruel and degrading kind. 
 
 Thus far have we regarded Popery in its usurped, 
 arrogated form, for it was a thing not of regular and 
 authoritative institution, but gradually grew up, and 
 by reason of political might and manoeuvring, at last 
 gained the submission or sufferance of a large portion 
 of Christendom. Its origin might, perhaps, with fair- 
 ness, be referred to the time of Constantine. For 
 although this Emperor cannot be charged with origi- 
 nating what, in later tina^s, has been known as Popery ; 
 still the unnatural union «^.f Church and State, which 
 he did undoubtedly create, produced that extensive 
 stock of moral deformity from w T hich finally came this 
 of Popery, most hideous of them all. 
 
 Nor was it in silent acquiescence that these things 
 
25 
 
 did proceed. In the ages all along was the Church 
 raising continual protest against usurpations and abuses 
 within her borders. As with Israel of old, she had her 
 thousands who had " not bowed the knee to Baal/' 
 nor received as of the truth, those things through evil 
 influences brought in. Such, were some of those 
 whose history has just been sketched. And these pro- 
 testations had of a long time been growing more nu- 
 merous and more powerful, till at last they reached 
 their utmost point of endurance. No longer could, no 
 longer dare the faithful children of the Church suffer 
 in forbearance and inaction, allowing such corruption 
 and wickedness to arrogate to itself the name and 
 place of Christianity: Throughout France, and Eng- 
 land, and Germany, was heard the movement of indig- 
 nation and resolve. Ten thousand murmurs uniting 
 in one swell of bold rejection and defiance, rolled their 
 awful thunder to the walls of the Vatican, moving to 
 its foundation the ponderous fabric of supremacy, and 
 snapping in sunder as cords of vanity the galling chain 
 of infallibility, which so long had bound, in igno- 
 rance and sin, the millions of Europe. 
 
 This violent moral convulsion it was, which bringing 
 on the Reformation, obliged the chief actors in the 
 Popish drama to make some show of fulfilling that 
 promise, long and frequently made, to take measures 
 for the reforming of abuses and corruptions within the 
 Church. After various prolonged afld vexatious efforts 
 at accommodation, came the Council of Trent, under 
 Paul III., in 1545. As this Council was called by the 
 Pope, and so arranged as to be entirely under his in- 
 
 2 
 
26 
 
 fluence and control, the Protestants, remembering 
 Constance, and other like symptoms of popery in power, 
 very wisely declined attending, or having anything to 
 do with it. The Council, however, proceeded with its 
 business — and then and there it was that popery was 
 erected into a distinct and definite system and organi- 
 zation, as well by the declarations and doings of the 
 Council, as by the creed presently after set forth by 
 Pope Pius IV. This council is, by the Papists, recog- 
 nized as a general council, equal in respect and autho- 
 rity to that of Nice, and the other early general coun- 
 cils ; it was, moreover, the last council which they 
 themselves hold to have been general. To this coun- 
 cil, and the issues growing out of it, w T e may then 
 fairly refer for authority, and witness of those things 
 essentially popish. Having, however, already pro- 
 duced authoritative testimony in proof that this Council 
 sanctioned and encouraged persecution, I shall not 
 here trouble the reader with its repetition. 
 
 While yet the Council proceeded, this cruel and re- 
 prehensible practice continued w T ith unabated rigour 
 throughout all those unhappy countries, over which 
 the banner of Trent w r aved in strength and in triumph. 
 In fact, the French legates had no sooner gone to 
 Trent, there to confound the " heretics'' by a council, 
 than a French army was sent by the king on an expe- 
 dition to the Alps of Provence, to convince, by the 
 efficacy of sword and musket, the remnant of the Wal- 
 denses of their errors ; and now were these persecuted 
 people obliged to suffer all the cruelties which had 
 previously been inflicted on their ancestors. Nor 
 
were the VValdenses without companions in suffering 
 throughout the other parts of France. I have now 
 before me a long list of persons, in and about Paris, 
 who were accused, maimed, and burnt to death, for 
 such offences as, denial of the mass, refusing to bow 
 to idols, and reading of the Bible. Many, before being 
 burnt, had their tongues cut out ; one had his tongue 
 bored through, and with an iron w T ire tied fast to his 
 cheek, and then burnt ; others had their hands cut off, 
 their foreheads branded, their noses and hearts drawn 
 from their faces and bodies with pincers, and such 
 horrid inventions of cruelty and suffering inflicted, as, 
 we might suppose, would shock the ingenuity even of 
 devils. . 
 
 The French king, Henry II., in the year 1549? 
 made his first entry into Paris, arid being desirous to 
 express his great attachment to the Pope, and court of 
 Rome, published a severe edict against the new here- 
 tics, as he styled the Protestants, and very stoutly 
 affirmed his determination to persevere until they were 
 all banished out of his dominions, which resolution was 
 well enough pursued at the time ; but afterwards — 
 when this country had . been brought by royal mar- 
 riages, especially that of Philip II., with Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Henry II., of France, more powerfully 
 under popish influence — did it proceed with great and 
 terrible commotion and bloodshed, amid arms and in- 
 ternal war, until the accommodation, by which, condi- 
 tions of peace were concluded at Orleans, March 18th, 
 1563, shortly after which came to an end the long- 
 continued Council of Trent. Of course, the many acts 
 
28 
 
 of violence committed by the Protestants during this; 
 period of anarchy, cannot but be condemned. Yet, in 
 judging of these, we are to remember that these people, 
 having for a long season been pursued like wild beasts, 
 for no other offence than maintaining their privilege 
 to think and do after their own will in matters pertain- 
 ing to religion, were driven by distraction and frenzy 
 to the perpetration of things, to which neither their 
 purpose nor their inclination would have otherwise 
 disposed them. 
 
 In England, under Henry VIII. and Edward VI., 
 the power of the Pope was so effectually broken, as to 
 render his bulls and his interdicts not only harmless, 
 but contemptible. The accession, however, of Mary, in 
 1553, restored that power, and involved the kingdom 
 in all the sad conseqifbnces of popish misrule and intole- 
 rance. Mary, albeit she gave great assurance to the men 
 of Suffolk and Norfolk, by whom she was chiefly helped 
 to the throne, that there should be no change in reli- 
 gion, yet was no sooner in safe possession of it, than 
 she violated all these engagements, and made every 
 haste to establish the popish religion/ Although strongly 
 attached to this, it is not clear that the queen imbibed 
 so heartily, as is sometimes represented, its cruel and 
 persecuting spirit. Of little avail, however, is the 
 natural bent of the mind, when, in subjection to popery 
 and the queen's scruples, if such she had, were soon 
 removed by the influence of Bonner and Gardner, and 
 she herself set on such a course of persecution as 
 made her reign most of all remarkable for intolerance 
 and cruelty. 
 
29 
 
 The reader of history need not be told what manner 
 of men these two popish bishops were — nevertheless, it 
 may be of service to the less informed to notice more 
 particularly their cruel disposition and habits, that so 
 an estimate may be made of what kind of masters 
 these people would prove, should they here get the 
 upper hand. Bonner, then, who has justly acquired 
 the epithet of " bloody," was known to have had 
 prisons and dungeons in his own house ? of which two 
 are more particularly to be noticed. In one of these, 
 called his coal- house, he kept his prisoners, without 
 meat, and allowing them only an half-penny a day for 
 bread, and a farthing a day for drink. Adjoining this 
 coal-house was a close dungeon, where the poor pris- 
 oners were kept, with their hands and feet in the stocks, 
 by reason of which, enduring most cruel torment. In 
 this dungeon one Thomas Whittle, a minister of Essex, 
 endured such cruelty and suffering, that he yielded to 
 his jailor, the Bishop of London, and was set at liberty ; 
 but repenting immediately of what he had done, re- 
 quested his bill of recantation, and at once tore it into 
 pieces. The Bishop being informed of this, sent for 
 the unfortunate man, and with lion-like fury beset him, 
 tearing out his beard, and hair, and beating him in the 
 face most severely with his fists. 
 
 Another prison within his house was called Monday's- 
 hole, being within a court where the prebend's cham- 
 bers were, and formed of a vault under ground, with 
 an enclosed window. With many others confined in 
 this prison, was one Alice Binden, at first confined 
 with so much rigour that for nine weeks together she 
 
30 
 
 was obliged to lie on a little straw, between a pair of 
 stocks and a stone wall, with an allowance of three 
 farthings a day for bread and water, during which 
 time she was not allowed to change her apparel, and 
 became, of course, a most loathsome and disgusting 
 object. At the end of this time, her merciful keepers 
 took her from Monday Vhole, and burnt her at Smith- 
 field. Bonner had also another horrid prison under 
 his jurisdiction, called the Lollard's Tower, which was 
 situated within the Cathedral of St. Paul's, and had 
 been formerly used as a prison for those accused of 
 heresy. In this tower he obliged his prisoners to suffer 
 a double captivity, being confined in the stocks as well 
 as within the walls of the prison ; and so severe was 
 their treatment, that two and three have died together, 
 their bodies being, by order of the tyrannical bishop, 
 cast forth like dogs in the fields, not even a covering 
 of earth permitted them. A tradesman, by the name 
 of Thomkins, who was a prisoner of the Bishop's, at 
 Fulham, was one day sent for, and, being brought into 
 his parlor, was, in the presence of Drs. Harpsfield, Pen- 
 dleton and Chadsey, questioned concerning his religion. 
 Maintaining a firm defence of this, the inhuman Bon- 
 ner took him by the fingers, and drawing his hand over 
 a wax candle, burning by his side, held it there till the 
 veins shrunk and the sinews burst. Under direction of 
 the same bishop was Elizabeth Pepper, being one of 
 thirteen, burnt at Stratford Le Bow, though then near 
 her confinement. 
 
 And so might I go on enumerating at length, from 
 records by me., those that cruelly suffered by this man 
 
31 
 
 and his coadjutors during this persecuting reign. Men, 
 women and children, of all ages, ranks and conditions, 
 to the number of many hundreds, suffered all the se- 
 verity of torment and death, which mortals could 
 bring on one another, until, in the providence of God, 
 the kingdom was delivered, by the death of Mary, in 
 the year 1558, from popish tyranny, never more, it is to 
 be hoped, to come under the power or influence of this 
 inhuman and destructive system. 
 
 Now what has been shown respecting France and 
 England, might be shown also of all other countries 
 in which the Pope's authority prevailed. During the 
 long period of almost twenty years, through which the 
 Council of Trent managed to drag out a tedious ex- 
 istence, and while suffering and anxious millions were 
 looking to those of authority and influence in the 
 Church for some measure calculated to remove the 
 spiritual oppression under which they groaned, the 
 Pope and his dependents, who chiefly possessed this 
 authority and influence, were busied about none other 
 thing save that of preserving and perpetuating their 
 tyrannical and destructive policy, to their own sinful 
 indulgence and wicked gain, and the present bondage 
 and future misery of their fellow beings. Instead of 
 using this Council for purposes of good, they did but 
 make it a mere pretence ; and with that most prom- 
 inent and essential element of popery, persecution, 
 labored to compel men to quiet and obedience. The 
 memorable words of Charles V., (Emperor,) tells the 
 whole story respecting this Council Speaking in re- 
 ference to the abuses of popery, and more especially of 
 
32 
 
 the supremacy, he says :— " I thought that a general 
 council would have had courage enough to oppose 
 such ridiculous maxims and new-found doctrines, and 
 for this purpose I have been at so much trouble to 
 make one meet at Trent ; but, very contrary to my 
 thoughts and expectations, it's become the very slave 
 of the corrupted Church of Rome, nothing being there 
 proposed bijt by the Pope's order, and by the servile 
 mouths of his pensioners." 
 
 The wisdom of Rome is often applauded, and many, 
 who call themselves very good Protestants, seem to be 
 for ever drawing on this astonishing treasury of wis- 
 dom for their supplies, but I think it has yet to be de- 
 monstrated that popery is wise. Never, surely, was 
 there a nobler opportunity for the exercise of wisdom 
 than this Council of Trent presented. It was fully in 
 the power of the Pope to have there made such ar- 
 rangements, and manifested such disposition, as to have 
 gained back to a great extent his severe losses. But 
 his mad and reckless folly throughout the whole course 
 of this Council, developed so plainly and so fearfully 
 the true spirit of the Vatican, that recovery was vain ; 
 and the influence of the Council was only to give new 
 vigour to Protestantism. 
 
 It was in the year 1564, that Pope Pius IV. issued 
 his bull of confirmation, finally closing the Council, 
 and establishing its authority and decrees with all 
 those acknowledging his office and headship. Already 
 it has been shown that the principle of persecution was 
 vigorously pursued during the continuance of the 
 Council, and in its decrees and bull of confirmation put 
 
+ 
 33 
 
 forth and established as an essential element of popery. 
 In the further consideration of this subject, it will be 
 our purpose to show how tenaciously this has been at 
 all times since adhered to, and, whenever circumstances 
 allowed, resolutely put forth and acted upon. 
 
 Elizabeth having succeeded Mary on the throne of 
 England, and restored the Reformation, the impertinent 
 claims of the Bishop of Rome were, of course, denied, 
 and no place given for carrying out the persecuting 
 policy of popery, as it was in some other kingdoms. 
 But even here was it pursued to a great, and, some- 
 times, alarming extent. Pius IV., understanding the 
 power and influence of England, did, at first, endeavor 
 by policy to gain over the Queen, and, by consequence, 
 her possessions. Professing for her very great con- 
 cern and affection, and gently intimating the import- 
 ance a reconciliation with the Roman See would be, 
 both to the salvation of her soul and the dignity of her 
 royal person, he caused to be made known to her his 
 disposition to favor, in several important particulars, 
 the change made in religion since her accession, to 
 disannul the sentence against her mother's marriage, 
 &c, if she would but acknowledge his supremacy, 
 hoping, no doubt, as he justly might, that if only this 
 much could be secured, the rest would soon follow. 
 But Queen Elizabeth was full as cunning as Pius IV., 
 and very decidedly declined such proposition. Another 
 mode, and one more congenial with popery, was 
 adopted by Pius V., who succeeded the IV. of the same 
 name mentioned above. He at once thundered out a 
 bull of excommunication, absolved her subjects, de* 
 
 3* 
 
34 
 
 prived her of her crown, and, as it is by some affirmed, 
 conferred her dominions on Mary, Queen of Scots. 
 But, unfortunately for the Pope, Protestantism had 
 long since afflicted his whole herd of bulls with such 
 severe bronchial affection, that their bellowing was far 
 too indistinct and sickly to be heard across the British 
 channel. Still, although interdicts had lost their former 
 terrible character, this action was not altogether void 
 of effect. It gave to all the more decided and severe 
 Bomanists excuse for rebellion, and plotting against the 
 government, and destroying the lives of Protestants, by 
 every covert and available means in their power, and 
 very readily and heartily did numbers avail themselves 
 of it. 
 
 The bull of Pius V., excommunicating Elizabeth, 
 being in a private manner circulated in England, was 
 soon accompanied by exhibitions of disloyalty and re. 
 bellion. Two earls, those of Northumberland and 
 Westmoreland, headed a dangerous rebellion in the 
 north of England, with the avowed purpose of restoring 
 the " old religion" — that is, of placing the kingdom 
 again under the authority and control of the Pope, but 
 through the vigilance of the government it was sup- 
 pressed, before it had proceeded far towards the ac- 
 complishment of its object. Some other disturbances 
 there also were in the kingdom this year, growing out 
 of the same cause, but all w T ere, fortunately, put down 
 without their producing any serious evil. The year 
 following 1670, and the twelfth of Elizabeth's reign, 
 was one of great danger and trouble. Mary, Queen 
 of Scots, had been, since the death of Mary, of Eng- 
 
35 
 
 land, the hope of the Papists: and all the labor and in- 
 genuity of these tended to the dethroning of Elizabeth, 
 and the putting of Mary in her stead. Various circum- 
 stances had of late occurred to urge on to desperation 
 the leaders in this plot, and every effort was now made 
 to carry it into execution. In addition to this, the bull 
 of excommunication, before, in a more quiet kind of 
 way, circulated in the kingdom, was this year, through 
 the audacity of one Felton, publicly affixed to the 
 gates of the Bishop of London's palace, which bull did 
 absolve the English from their oath of allegiance to 
 Elizabeth, and charge them not to obey her, upon pain 
 of excommunication. Libellous and traitorous books 
 were also industriously spread over the kingdom, tend- 
 ing to mislead and alarm the nation, and thereby cause 
 defection and rebellion. But the year finally ended 
 without any of the Papists' schemes being accomplished. 
 In the next and following years — so long, indeed, as the 
 Queen of Scots survived — were the Papists carrying 
 on plots of this kind in her behalf, to the great dis- 
 quietude and injury of Elizabeth's government, and 
 finally, to Mary's own untimely and violent death. It 
 would extend this little work far beyond its designed 
 limits to notice, even in the most cursory manner, all 
 the lesser rebellions and disturbances which the Pa- 
 pists caused within the realms of Elizabeth, for the pur- 
 pose of dethroning her, and setting up the standard of 
 the Pope. Continually was some effort of the kind 
 making ; and sometimes so great and formidable it was, 
 that escape seemed almost impossible. Of this latter 
 kind was that of Philip II., of Spain. His terrible ar- 
 
36 
 
 mad a seemed destined to accomplish all that his ambi- 
 tious and cruel spirit desired and hoped for. But the 
 good providence of God arrested the evils of the greater, 
 as well as the lesser, attempts of these desperate and 
 unprincipled politico-religionists. 
 
 There is extant a letter, written by Tamburini, gen- 
 eral of the Jesuits, to Clement XL, in which is so well 
 summed up the different attempts of the Papists to 
 destroy Elizabeth and her government, that I will close 
 my account of the matter, as it relates to her, with a 
 quotation or two from it. The Jesuits being accused 
 of poisoning the cardinal De Tournon, at Macao, this, 
 with some other things, so enraged Clement, that he 
 caused Tamburini, and several of the order of Jesuits, 
 to be cited before the inquisition. The good fathers, 
 however, relying on the protection of some popish 
 princes, whom they had served, to the disadvantage of 
 " his Holiness," instead of going before the inquisition, 
 accompanied the Portuguese ambassador (then at va- 
 riance with the Pope) to Tivoli, and from thence the 
 General addressed to the Pope the letter mentioned 
 above. In this epistle, he first reminds Clement of the 
 object for which his society was instituted, namely, 
 " To maintain the Pope's grandeur and authority, 
 which was greatly attacked by the Lutherans and Cal- 
 vinists: it being the chief article of agreement or stipu- 
 lation made between Ignatius and the Pope, that the Je- 
 suits should signalize themselves in propagating through 
 the whole world — that the Pope of Rome is the sole mo- 
 narch upon earth — that he ought to be acknowledged by 
 kings and emperors as their lord and superior, even in 
 
37 
 
 temporal affairs — that to maintain and support his in- 
 fallibility they should use their utmost endeavours — and 
 that it should be their province to crush and under- 
 mine everything that did tend to the lessening of the 
 Pope's power." 
 
 He then goes on to enumerate various instances of 
 their zeal and labor in fulfillment of this agreement, 
 altogether too lengthy to insert here, farther than as 
 they relate to Elizabeth, which are in the manner fol- 
 lowing presented : — 
 
 " In the time of Pius V., we reduced an infinite num- 
 ber of heretics in England to the obedience of the 
 Church of Rome, and prevailed with the Earls of Cum- 
 berland and Westmoreland to take up arms against 
 Queen Elizabeth ;. and we absolved, by Papal autho- 
 rity, all her subjects from their oath of allegiance, and 
 declared her fallen from all the prerogatives and rights 
 of sovereignty, and all persons who should presume to 
 obey her were cursed for ever ; by this we persuaded 
 many to cast off the yoke of obedience, and distress 
 the Queen, in whose favor (because she was an here- 
 tic) we told them no compact could be made, much 
 less kept, without mortal sin in the performer, especially 
 upon the offer of any (though but seeming) advantage. 
 We fastened also a bull upon the gates of her own 
 palace, by which she was declared an adulterous bas- 
 tard, and all those who adhered to her were cast under 
 a bottomless interdict. But now it is high time to give 
 an account of the good services we did the Church in 
 Pope Gregory, the Xlllth's time, who, being resolved 
 to go more courageously to work about the conversion 
 
38 
 
 of Great Britain, after many secret consultations with 
 the General of our order, sent Jesuits to Spain, France 
 and Germany, to persuade all these princes to join 
 with him against England : and by our good manage- 
 ment a league was concluded, upon condition that 
 Pope Gregory himself should command the fleet, ac- 
 companied with the Kings of France and Spain ; but 
 whilst all things w r ere preparing with great haste, in 
 order to invade Brittany, the Pope fell dangerously 
 sick, and his death most unfortunately ensuing in a 
 very short time, hindered the Church of Eome from 
 executing the most glorious design that ever was pro- 
 jected against heresy. What might I not say of our 
 glorious achievements in England, carried on by Robert 
 Parsons, Edmund Campion, and James Garnet, during 
 the reigns of Urban the Seventh, Gregory the Four- 
 teenth, Innocent the Ninth, and Clement the Eighth ? 
 It is well known to all those who have any converse 
 with history, that we used all diligence and artifice to 
 bring about the ruin of Queen Elizabeth, on whose 
 adulterous birth the Reformation seemed to be founded ; 
 we therefore, stirred up and fomented five-and-twenty 
 rebellions in the kingdoms of England and Ireland 
 against her ; we endeavored thirteen times to poison 
 her ; and we attempted eight different times to assas- 
 sinate her." 
 
 I may as well add that the boldness of this letter, to- 
 gether with the arrival of a large body of horse, under 
 Count Taon, with the news that the Emperor Joseph 
 intended to stand by the Jesuits, led his Infallibility to 
 change his purpose very hastily, and to send messen- 
 
39 
 
 gers to conclude an agreement with the resolute Tarn- 
 bur ini, 
 
 Although the reign of Elizabeth had been full of 
 trouble and anxiety, because of popish plotting and re- 
 bellion, yet was that of her successor, James I., des- 
 tined to undergo a - more alarming experience in this 
 respect. James, being the son of Mary of Scotland, in 
 whose behalf the Papists had so zealously exerted 
 themselves, while by Elizabeth she had been imprisoned, 
 and finally put to death, it was expected at Rome that 
 when he came into possession of the kingdom, popery, 
 if not established in England, would- certainly have 
 very much favor shown it. But James did not prove 
 to be of this mind. Either he had himself no relish for 
 popery, or else had wisdom enough to perceive that the 
 anti-popish spirit of England, which had ever prevailed 
 there, was now too confident in its power, and too de- 
 cided in its will to allow of any temporizing of this 
 kind^ — for, so far from showing any favor to the Papists, 
 he rather made their condition worse. Disappointed, 
 therefore, in James, these people, or at least the more 
 zealous and devoted of them, seemed to grow desperate ; 
 and that which they could not possess and 'Control to 
 their own purpose and gain, they now devoted to de- 
 struction. To this end was devised the " Gunpowder 
 Plot/' whereby they intended, by introducing into a 
 cellar immediately beneath the Parliament House a 
 large quantity of gunpowder, to fire this at the moment 
 the King should be opening the session in his usual 
 speech, and so cut off at once from England her king, 
 nobles, commons — in short, her whole government and 
 
40 
 
 head. That human ingenuity and wickedness ever 
 originated a design so monstrous and infernal, is a re- 
 flection as humiliating to our nature as it is startling 
 to our fears ; but more humbling and more startling far 
 does it become, when we further reflect that it was re- 
 solved on and settled, concerning its execution, under 
 the sacred and awful testimony of the highest and 
 most responsible rite of the Christian Church ! A 
 band of men pledging themselves, in the dread partici- 
 pation of the holy communion of the body and blood of 
 Christ, to the destruction of the entire government, and 
 head of a numerous and powerful nation! King ? 
 nobles, commons — yea, the whole parliament, with all 
 its numerous company and attendants — to be sent into 
 eternity, violently and suddenly, with the most solemn 
 sanction of the pure, and beneficent, and merciful reli- 
 gion of our blessed Lord and Saviour ! What idea can, 
 what idea ought we, to form of a system which could 
 favor such a design, or nurture within it such mon- 
 sters ! Popery has, however, in the most clear and 
 undoubted manner, proved itself sufficient for any 
 crime ; and to win back the kingdom of Great Britain 
 would sanction any enormity, and bestow its blessing 
 on any scheme of treachery and murder which prom- 
 ised a well-grounded hope of success. 
 
 In all time since, has it been her fond hope and en- 
 deavor to repossess this valued kingdom ; and, though 
 continually foiled and disappointed in her schemes and 
 inventions, yet does she still seem hopeful and active 
 as ever, being even now as industriously at work to 
 accomplish this object as she has been at any previous 
 
41 
 
 time. God, in his mercy, having hitherto overruled 
 these attempts, and prevented a result so disastrous, it 
 is to be hoped that the nation will show herself worthy 
 of so great favor, and by zealous and persevering 
 effort and duty in the way of Christ and the Church, 
 evermore be delivered from the " Pope of Rome, and 
 all his detestable enormities." 
 
 The rest of Europe was not so fortunate as was 
 England. In no other kingdom had the Reformation 
 such entire success, as to possess the government, and 
 control the action, of those in authority ; consequently 
 popish designs had full success, and persecution was 
 unrestrained. 
 
 France, though containing a large, intelligent, and 
 influential Protestant population, was yet in subjection 
 to the Pope, and destined to experience the worst evils 
 of this tyrannical and degrading system. The Cardinal 
 of Lorraine had even left the Council of Trent full 
 of an impious plot, projected on a large scale, and 
 having for its object the utter annihilation of Protest- 
 antism. Although this plot did not, in its full purpose 
 and extent succeed, yet in some issues, either directly 
 or indirectly growing out of it, or abetted by it, were 
 the consequences most disastrous. Especially was this 
 the case in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, 1572, 
 when were barbarously put to death, in Paris, and 
 throughout France, during the space of about one 
 month, more than thirty thousand Protestants. Also 
 in the Netherlands, where the Duke of Alva, under the 
 authority and patronage of Philip II., of Spain, de- 
 stroyed the Protestants in the most cruel and relentless 
 
42 
 
 manner, having, in one year, put to death twelve thou- 
 sand. And likewise in Germany, Spain, Hungary, 
 Italy, and wherever popery was powerful so to do? 
 w T ere the governments continually importuned, and 
 driven on by flattery and rewards, or by threatenings 
 and interdicts, to destroy and root out the Protestants 
 and their cause. And if to these endeavors politically, 
 we add, what popery has endeavored, by means of that 
 satanic institution, the inquisition, to destroy Protest- 
 antism, we have placed before us a system of treachery 
 and cruelty more extended, and more barbarous and 
 destructive, than has at any time, or under any circum- 
 stances, afflicted mankind. And how well the popes 
 and cardinals loved this destruction of their fellow- 
 beings, is illustrated by the conduct of Gregory XIII., 
 after the bloody and sorrowful event of St. Bartholo- 
 mew. It was on the 6th of September, that the news 
 of this massacre arrived at Rome, when immediately 
 the cardinals being assembled, in consistory, and the 
 legate's letter read, they went in a procession to St. 
 Mark's Church, where they offered up their solemn 
 thanks to God for so great a blessing to the See of 
 Rome and the Catholic Church. On the following 
 Monday, the Pope and cardinals made another proces- 
 sion to the Minerva, where they had high mass, and 
 then the Pope granted a jubilee to all Christendom, one 
 of the reasons for which was, u that they should thank 
 God for the slaughter of the enemies of the Church, 
 lately executed in France ;" and soon after the cardinal, 
 Ursin, was sent into France to congratulate the king, 
 who also, in his journey through the country, greatly 
 
43 
 
 commended for their faith and zeal all those engaged 
 in the massacre. Immediately, also, were numbers of 
 those skilled in tapes try- work and painting, engaged to 
 portray this action in the best style of their art, and a 
 set of these hangings were put up in the Pope's chapel, 
 at Rome, where they remained until the close of the 
 following century, and, for aught I know, may remain 
 until this time. 
 
 In the brief account thus given of the working of 
 popery in the times more immediately succeeding the 
 Council of Trent, we find enough to convince us that 
 the decrees there made, respecting the persecution of 
 Protestants, were not intended to put forth an idle 
 theory or abstract sentiment, but a practical principle 
 — a resolution, looking forward to the most zealous and 
 effective duty and operation. They intended all that 
 they expressed, as from age to age, even down to our 
 own day, has been fully and fearfully verified. 
 
 In proof that this principle has followed down, and 
 been identified with popery, I might cite largely from 
 her svnodical canons and decrees, and the records of 
 her uniform endeavor and practice, through all time 
 succeeding =the assembly at Trent, but it is quite unne- 
 cessary. This Council, as we all very well know, is 
 now, as it has ever been, of the very highest authority, 
 with all those owning obedience to the Bishoo of Rome ; 
 and the doctrine and rules of discipline then and there 
 established and systematized, are those on which they 
 found their belief, and, as far as they have the power, 
 guide and control their actions and duty. 
 
 This brief outline of the principles and practices of 
 
44 
 
 popery, will suffice to suggest a few reflections in re- 
 gard to this same system, now actively at w T ork in our 
 midst. If we had nothing more than the antecedent 
 practices of popery, yet these being so unusual and so 
 outrageous, might well make us suspicious of having it 
 attain to influence and authority in this land. But 
 when these practices are based on canons and decrees 
 — yea, when its very creed requires every one of its 
 members to approve of these, and to adopt them, as 
 their example and guide — as it does, wherein it requires 
 that they " undoubtedly receive and profess all other 
 things delivered, defined, and declared by the holy 
 Council of Trent," and to " condemn, reject, and ana- 
 thematize all things contrary thereto" — we are com- 
 pelled, on the ground of self-preservation, not only to 
 regard the growth of such a power With suspicion, but 
 to use our best efforts towards breaking it down alto- 
 gether. Unless men have a mind to be brought into 
 the most absolute degradation — to be tyrannized over in 
 body, mind, and soul, they must, of very necessity, op- 
 pose the progress of popery. In this case, it is no 
 matter of religious intolerance. It is not whether a 
 religion — which we regard as ruinous to salvation — 
 may in this country exist, and freely make proselytes 
 to its doctrines. The fact is notorious, that so far as 
 mere religious belief is concerned, it may and does 
 exist among us, unmolested by anything save argument 
 and persuasion, even though regarded by numbers as 
 quite as absurd and dangerous to salvation as is Ro- 
 manism. Not, therefore, merely in a religious aspect 
 are we to regard opposition to this hated system. The 
 
45 
 
 question rather is, whether one of the most deceitful 
 and reckless, and blood-thirsty, and widely-extended 
 political tyrannies, which has ever troubled the world, 
 or cursed the family of man, shall be allowed, under 
 the pretence of religion, to have free course and set up 
 its power in this land, and trample under foot here, as 
 it has done everywhere else where it has become es- 
 tablished, every principle of right government, and 
 every doctrine of true religion, compelling all to bow 
 with ready obedience to its decrees, or else suffer the 
 most horrid cruelties, and the most ignominious death. 
 This distinction we have need to keep more in 
 mind. We constantly hear of the Papists being in^ 
 suited and persecuted in this free country, because of 
 their religion. They have themselves been very free 
 in making conspicuous this idea. But the thing is ab- 
 surd. Talk about persecuting the Papists ! As well 
 might we talk of persecuting the Camanches or the 
 Bedouins of the desert, because the military posts of 
 the country should avenge their outrages on the peace- 
 able inhabitants. Such illustration may, perhaps, be 
 accounted illiberal and disrespectful ; but my own 
 opinion is that, if any apology is called for, it ought to 
 be made in behalf of the Camanches and Bedouins — 
 for these, without pretending to be anything more than 
 robbers and cut-throats, have never been guilty of inhu- 
 manity equal to that of which popery stands convicted. 
 Regard some instances of this, as executed against 
 the French Protestants. These, having been quite 
 prosperous in the kingdom, did — because of their pros- 
 perity, and for fear a continued toleration of their re- 
 
46 
 
 ligion might injure the influence and authority of the 
 Papists — excite the jealousy of the latter, and set them 
 to work to discover some way of injuring the' condi- 
 tion of the Protestants, and making them odious to the 
 king and government. In this they too well suc- 
 ceeded, and were presently able to caiTy on a persecu- 
 tion against them, some account of which I shall place 
 before the reader, in a quotation from a work published 
 a short time after the occurrence of the events related. 
 " They rendered all arts and trades almost inacces* 
 sible to the Protestants, by the difficulties of arriving 
 to the mastership of them, and by the excessive ex- 
 penses they must be at to be admitted therein, w 7 hich 
 they could not be without a law-suit, under the weight 
 of which most commonly they sunk, as not being able 
 to hold out. They were made incapable of being 
 magistrates of towns or cities ; and they were so nar- 
 rowly looked after, that they were not suffered to be so 
 much as messengers, coachmen or wagoners, or any- 
 thing of that nature. Nay, they proceeded to that ex- 
 cess of cruelty, that they would not suffer any midwives 
 of the reformed religion to do their office, by which 
 unheard-of methods it is not to be expressed how many 
 particular persons and families were reduced to ruin 
 and misery ; and thus we see how severe the usages 
 shewed to the French Protestants were, before they 
 came to the utmost violence. But now they come to 
 open force to accomplish the ruin of the Protestants, 
 and dragooners must be the Sorbon doctors to confute 
 them of their errors. The manner of which was this : 
 in all the Protestant towns, cities and villages of France, 
 
m 
 
 the inhabitants were assembled together, and told that 
 it was the king's pleasure they should immediately 
 turn Catholics ; and that if they would not do it freely, 
 he would make J;hem do it by force. To which the 
 people answered, that they were ready to sacrifice their 
 lives and estates to the king, but their consciences 
 being God's, they could not in any manner dispose of 
 them. This being the general proposal and general 
 reply, presently the dragoons, that lay not far off, were 
 all sent for, and quartered in the reformers' houses at 
 discretion, with a strict charge that none should stir 
 out of their houses, nor conceal any of their goods or 
 effects, on great penalties. Then the first arguments 
 they used for the conversion of the souls committed to 
 their charge, were to consume all the provisions the 
 house afforded ; then to plunder what they could find 7 
 whether money, rings or jewels — and, in general,. what- 
 ever was of value. Afterwards they pillaged the 
 houses, and sold the goods before the owners' faces. 
 Lastly, they fell upon their persons, and there is no 
 wickedness or act of horror which they did not put in 
 practice to force them to change their religion. Amidst 
 a thousand hideous cries, and a thousand blasphemies, 
 they hung up women by the hair and feet on the roof 
 of the chamber or chimney-hooks, and smoakt them 
 with wisps of w T et hay, till they were no longer able to 
 bear it ; and when they had taken them down, if they 
 would not sign a recantation y they hung them up in the 
 same manner again. They threw them into great 
 fires, kindled on purpose, and never pulled them out till 
 they were half roasted: they tied ropes under their arms, 
 
AS 
 
 and plunged them up and down in wells, till they prom- 
 ised to change their religion. They tied their hands be- 
 hind them, and then with a funnel poured wine down 
 their throats so long, till, being deprived of their reason, 
 they consented to be Catholics. They stript women 
 naked, and after they had offered them a thousand in- 
 dignities, they stuck them with pins from the top to the 
 bottom : they cut them with pen-knives, and some*- 
 times with red hot pincers dragged them about the 
 room, fill they promised to turn. They kept others 
 from sleeping seven or eight days and nights together, 
 relieving one another to keep them waking. If they 
 found any sick, and that kept their beds, they had the 
 cruelty to beat twelve drums together about their ears, 
 without intercession, for whole weeks together. They 
 tied fathers and husbands to the bed-posts,, and ravished 
 their wives and daughters before their faces. They 
 plucked off the nails from the hands and toes of others : 
 they blew up men and women w T ith bellow T s, till they 
 were ready to burst. Pretending to shave men's 
 beards, and cut their hair, they flead off skin and hair 
 from both parts. Where they found wine and glasses in 
 good store, they broke their glasses at every health, and 
 then, having trod or broken the glass very small, caused 
 the obstinate heretic, as they called him, to dance upon 
 the broken glass till he was able to stand no longer — 
 then, stripping him, they rolled him from one end of 
 the room to the other upon sharp glass, till the skin 
 was stuck full of the little fragments, and then sent for 
 a surgeon to cut them out of his body." 
 
 Let any one reflect on such barbarity as this, and 
 
49 
 
 then say whether it is not too gross and outrageous to be 
 compared with the practices of any heathen nation or 
 barbarous tribe ? And what popery was then it is now, 
 and must ever be while it has continuance. Had it the 
 power, it would do precisely the same things in this 
 day and in this country. Its very frame-work and 
 constitution is such, that it must persecute, must break 
 down and destroy everything not in correspondence with 
 itself, and this in the most forcible and violent manner, 
 and by the most treacherous and cruel agencies. 
 
 When, therefore, we oppose popery, and interfere 
 with its quiet and onward progress, we are not to be 
 accused of intolerance and persecution. We do not 
 oppose and interfere with it, because we are unwilling 
 that others should equal, and even surpass ourselves 
 in their purposes and endeavors, but to prevent a 
 power from rising in our midst, which will beat us to 
 dust and ashes. No, it is a gross mistake to connect 
 opposition to popery with religious intolerance. It is 
 not at all the religious feature which causes opposition 
 to this, but the political, the temporal, the persecuting 
 and destructive spirit which pervades, actuates, and 
 engrosses the whole system. This feature it is which 
 alarms men, and arouses opposition. And it is this 
 consideration especially, which is influencing the move- 
 ment now making in this country. The grand pur- 
 pose of popery here in this country, is just the same 
 that it has been in all countries, and that is to pos- 
 sess its temporalities and to control its government. 
 The choicest locations, the most expensive and observ- 
 able buildings, and the most attractive and influential 
 
 3 
 
50 
 
 ^istitutions, are what they chiefly aim to secure. By 
 means of these they seek gradually and securely to 
 fasten upon the public feeling and sentiment the im- 
 press of their doctrine, and so eventually, by gover- 
 mental power, to establish their entire authority, and 
 compel the whole nation and country to receive their 
 system. And this is just what we do not choose to sit 
 still and allow. We understand perfectly what the con- 
 sequences would be should success in this ever attend 
 them, and therefore we labor to stir up ourselves and our 
 countrymen to opposition and resistance. We are not 
 at all prepared to submit to popish rule, nor to endure 
 the evils of popish teaching and discipline. We pre- 
 fer exercising that freedom of conscience with which 
 God from the beginning endowed his creatures, and 
 are fully persuaded, that in such exercise, we shall not 
 only pass much more comfortably through the trials 
 and sorrows of this world, but be a good deal more 
 likely to give a favorable account at the day of judg- 
 ment, than though we should put our conscience in 
 the keeping of the Pope, or any of his officious pander- 
 ing subalterns. 
 
 The subject does, however, present itself in another 
 view, and seems to demand some notice in this re- 
 spect. 
 
 The charge of persecution is retorted, and popery 
 does always, in great part, defend itself by instancing 
 the same as true also of Protestantism. And it is not 
 to be denied, that in countries, and among people of 
 this kind, persecution has greatly prevailed. But the 
 cases are widely different. A very great misappre- 
 
51 
 
 hension exists^ and has in former times existed in re» 
 gard to the relative positions of popery and Protes- 
 tantism, which is that) of considering them as two 
 positive religious systems, the one antagonistic to the 
 other. This error Bossuet adopted, and then, in his 
 book of " the Variations," endeavored to render Pro- 
 testantism discreditable and ridiculous by showing how 
 diversified it was, and uncertain in respect to religious 
 faith. And this effort of Bossuet was certainly very 
 successful in proposing a line of argument for Papists, 
 which to this day they have been bold to follow. It 
 has also had very considerable influence in propaga* 
 ting the same error among Protestants themselves. We 
 have to lament continually its bad effects upon this 
 latter class of persons. A remarkable instance of this 
 we find in the case of Mr. Macaulay, the historian. 
 Singularly enough he has fallen into this error of re- 
 garding Protestantism as an organized affirmative 
 system of religious doctrine, and in his critical essay 
 on Ranke's History of the Popes, brings together, and 
 under such form compares popery and Protestantism, 
 concluding vastly in favor of popery, and pronounc- 
 ing upon it a lofty and enthusiastic eulogium. But 
 Protestantism does not assume any such position or 
 character. It has never set up nor established a posi* 
 tive and definite creed, and government, and system of 
 religious faith, as has popery. Altogether different has 
 been its object and endeavour, namely, that of remov- 
 ing a gross tyranny and usurpation, and preserving 
 man in the free, rational, and responsible condition in 
 which his Creator placed him. Its one simple, direct* 
 
52 
 
 purpose and effort was, to deliver mankind from the 
 thraldom of popery, and leave them free to believe in 
 and worship God after the dictates of their own under- 
 standing and conscience, and according to their own 
 willing disposition and pleasure. 
 
 It will be of advantage for us to examine into this 
 matter a little more at length, and perhaps we can do 
 it in no more ready and useful manner, than by analyz- 
 ing to some extent the position of Mr. Macaulay, in his 
 critical dissertation before alluded to. 
 
 The first point then which this writer notices, and 
 on which he is particularly eloquent, is the antiquity 
 of popery. Now, in so far as it is ancient we have 
 nothing to oppose, but at the same time, we are bold 
 to claim for Protestantism an antiquity quite as great 
 as Mr. Macaulay, or any one else, dare claim for 
 popery. If, as these people seem to imagine, Protes- 
 tantism dated no farther back than the affair at Spire, 
 then indeed it would be but a very modern thing in 
 comparison with popery. But let any who so flatter 
 themselves, know, that in so doing they greatly shame 
 both their information and their judgment. Protes- 
 tantism is at least as old as popery, being in truth co- 
 existent with it, for no sooner did popery put forth its 
 pretensions, than protest wasmade against them. And 
 it is a curious fact of history, that Protestantism should 
 have had a marked existence in Eome before popery 
 was there set up and defended. 
 
 When John, Patriarch of Constantinople, in the sixth 
 century, attempted that daring outrage on the faith 
 and unity of the Church, the establishment of an Uni- 
 
53 
 
 versal Bishop, the then Bishop of Rome, Gregory the 
 Great, at once boldly denounced such pretensions as 
 something altogether unknown in Christendom, even 
 asserting such claim, by whomsoever made, as profane 
 and anti-Christian. Here then, was Protestantism 
 in vigorous exercise in the city of Rome, and if you 
 please, in the chair of St. Peter, while as yet popery had 
 not there asserted its authority, or put forth its claim. 
 That Gregory did honestly entertain the disposition 
 which he here so anxiously exhibited, may admit of 
 doubt. There are many reasons for believing, that had 
 a favorable opportunity presented, he would have been 
 quite as ready as was John to usurp the title of Univer- 
 sal Bishop. Still this does not interfere with the posi- 
 tion assumed. The fact that such claim was at that 
 time disallowed, and that even the Bishop of Rome 
 protested against it, is clear. 
 
 The aversion, however, which Gregory showed to- 
 wards the title of Universal Bishop did not long con- 
 tinue, even outwardly, in the line of his successors. 
 These bishops administering their office in the very 
 seat of the political power and influence of the em- 
 pire, were often able to favor the wishes and purposes 
 of those in cities and places removed from the capital, 
 and from approach to the Emperor ; and on this account 
 did often receive very flattering compliments, and not 
 unfrequently had bestowed upon them titles corres- 
 ponding in things spiritual, with those of the Emperor 
 in things political and temporal. Such flattery was 
 not without its bad effects, and more or less inclined 
 those on whom it was bestowed, to desire in reality 
 
54 
 
 what in empty expressions and gratulations was so 
 liberally proffered. 
 
 But as more and more the Bishops of Rome inclined 
 to take advantage of this respect, so often and so fool- 
 ishly showed them, and to claim the power as well as 
 the title of Universal Bishop, so, continually was there 
 found some one or more possessing faith and courage 
 sufficient to rise up and protest against the wicked 
 usurpation. Throughout the East we find this oppo- 
 sition to the encroachments of the Bishop of Rome in 
 continual operation, and no difficult matter would it 
 be to fill up a large space with instances going to 
 prove this. 
 
 In Africa we have an instance of the kind, in the 
 case of Victor, chosen Bishop of Carthage, about the 
 middle of the seventh century, who, when some of the 
 other African bishops had been addressing Theodore, 
 Bishop of Rome, in terms altogether unbecoming 
 and unauthorized, Victor immediately addressed him 
 in terms of equality, telling him plainly, that he had no 
 more authority as Bishop of Rome than he had as 
 Bishop of Carthage, or than as had any other Bishop. 
 Even in Italy was opposition of this kind continually 
 made. But the future of the Roman Empire seemed 
 gradually to open the way for the complete attainment 
 of that which the Bishops of her chief city had long 
 and ardently desired. At the death of Gregory III., 
 in the year 741, the political condition of the empire 
 was such as to put it into the power of Zachary, his 
 successor, to effectually prepare the way for carrying 
 out this bold design, and by the aid of the temporal 
 
55 
 
 power, of elevating the See of Rome to almost univer- 
 sal control in the kingdom of the Redeemer. Pepin, 
 the usurper of the throne of France, needed the sanc- 
 tion of religion, in order the more securely to establish 
 and perpetuate in the line of his own family his usur- 
 pation, and in Zachary, the usurper of Episcopal pre- 
 rogative and right, he found a fit instrument for his 
 purpose. Zachary, for the religious sanction he was 
 willing to give to the bold outrage of Pepin, obtained 
 such aid and protection from the Carlovingians as en- 
 abled him to emulate the example of Pepin, and by 
 similar usurpation to acquire a temporal throne and 
 kingdom. This union of temporal and spiritual 
 jurisdiction in the person of the Bishop of Rome, ef- 
 fected about the middle of the eighth century, by the 
 mutual combination of interests between the usurper 
 Pepin and the usurper Zachary, may be regarded as 
 the proper commencement and foundation of that odious 
 form of popery, which for so many ages succeeding, 
 exercised with terrible effect its destructive power and 
 tyrannizing authority, and even down to our own time, 
 still clings with fond delusion to the hope of one day 
 regaining its former condition. 
 
 But while popery was thus active in establishing its 
 ill-gotten authority, Protestantism was quite as active 
 in operating against it, and to such extent was this in- 
 fluence felt, that the immediate successor of Zachary, 
 Stephen II., was driven from his chair and his domi- 
 nions, fleeing like a " hireling'' and a coward from his 
 flock, into France, to seek for safety and protection 
 from Pepin, his partner in crime. 
 
56 
 
 The same feeling we find in operation under the 
 succeeding pontificate's, the Pope being continually 
 under the necessity of petitioning the Emperor; and 
 King of France, to sustain hi nyn his usurped authority 
 and dignity. Adrian, although he did very much to 
 strengthen and systematize popery, yet was he con- 
 stantly opposed by bishops, nobles, and people, some- 
 times even to the wresting from him of considerable por- 
 tions of what he claimed as his possessions. Leo III., 
 his successor, was disturbed by this opposing sentiment, 
 and on one occasion through a conspiracy excited by 
 his two nephews, was driven out of Rome, and sent 
 whining and snivelling to the Emperor Charlemagne, 
 as was Stephen to Pepin, and as in our own time, was 
 Pius IX., the present ward of Louis Napoleon, to the 
 Emperor of Austria. And in such wise it was with 
 these pretenders to sovereign authority in the 
 Church of God. During the remainder of this century, 
 more or less was their authority disregarded and denied, 
 and not unfrequently their persons scorned and abused. 
 All this, indeed, the Papists affirm to have been the 
 work of wicked men, the enemies of Christ and God, 
 and we may fairly allow that to some extent it was, 
 where there was so much wickedness on one side, no 
 wonder if there should be some also on the other. But 
 the grand cause of this opposition was, the prevailing 
 feeling of disregard and disallowance of the Pope's 
 claim to universal sovereignty. It never gained any 
 feeling of reverence and affection, because it never was 
 regarded as anything else than a usurpation, and was 
 only submitted to from interest, or from inability to 
 
57 
 
 resist its power, or escape its cruelty. The history of 
 the world gives no other instance of a tyranny so ge- 
 nerally and heartily hated, and so resolutely and vio- 
 lently opposed. 
 
 When we come to the tenth and following centuries, 
 this Protestant feeling developes itself with still greater 
 uneasiness and opposition. Whoever will read the 
 history of these times, will find more conspicuous than 
 anything else, the disquietude of the Roman see, and the 
 fierce and continual opposition made to the Pope's de- 
 cisions and authority. About this time also we find 
 another cause of complaint entering largely into the 
 opposition made to popery, which was the immoral 
 and profligate character of these bishops and their 
 courts. As more and more popery became establish- 
 ed and systematized, so of very necessity, because of 
 the worldly principles on which it was founded, did it 
 more and more become wordly and sensual. And so 
 sadly had this revealed itself, that at the close 
 of the tenth century, Satan, and Antichrist, were 
 terms applied without hesitation to the Roman Pontiff, 
 and Hell, and Babylon, names by which his court 
 was familiarly known. St. Bernard, who lived in the 
 twelfth century, and is highly esteemed among Papists, 
 with many others of the same class, in their sermons 
 and writings which have come down to us, furnish 
 mournful evidence of the great corruption of manners 
 at Rome, and throughout the whole extent of Papal 
 authority and influence. 
 
 These elements of discontent, which from the first 
 hour of Papal assumption, had existed, but by the 
 
 3* 
 
58 
 
 strong arm of the secular power had been kept en- 
 chained, were those same elements which, in the six- 
 teenth-century, under the name of Protestantism, con- 
 vulsed Europe, and gave to her enslaved and degraded 
 people, new thoughts, new hopes, new and holier aspira- 
 tions. For many ages past they had been rapidly extend- 
 ing themselves, and gathering strength for the victory. 
 "Wickliffe, in the fourteenth century, saw what " many 
 righteous men had desired to see, but had not seen." 
 He saw the rapidly increasing and strengthening 
 power of the Protestant element, and rightly conjec- 
 tured that the day was not far distant when no politi- 
 cal influence would remain, strong enough to prevent 
 this power from rising in its might and majesty to the 
 regeneration of Europe, and the opening unto men 
 everywhere, their just rights and immortal hopes. 
 
 When, therefore, at the Diet of Spire, in 1529, cer- 
 tain of the Princes and states of the German Empire 
 did protest against the tyrannical decree which the 
 Pope's commissioners attempted to force upon them, 
 they did not originate a new and unheard-of thing, but 
 only developed in more resolute and effective form 
 that same sentiment, which for ages and centuries had 
 been in the Church, the abiding and successful wit- 
 ness of the truth. In the Providence of God, the time 
 had come when that sentiment could be expressed and 
 maintained in defiance of Jesuitical blood-hounds, or 
 the swords and bayonets of Papal argument and con- 
 viction. So powerfully had this sentiment worn on 
 the popular mind, that bulls and edicts from Rome had 
 lost their effect, and kings and princes no longer court- 
 
59 
 
 ed the favor and alliance of the Pope, now that his 
 bugbear character was gone, and he could no longer 
 compel the people into subjection to tyrants by the 
 terror of his keys. So it was with Henry VIII., of 
 England. Had he lived at an earlier period, he had 
 not dared, with all his boldness and energy, to have 
 divorced Catharine, and to have married Anne, But 
 the prevalence and the power of Protestantism had 
 changed times and circumstances, and taking advan- 
 tage of this, Henry defied the Pope, and followed his 
 own will in the matter. He knew that Europe was so 
 thoroughly Protestantized, that the Pope was a loath- 
 ing and disgust to it, and that no neighboring power 
 strong enough to do him an injury, could be enlisted 
 against him, therefore it was that Henry dared act as 
 an independent sovereign, and pursue his own plea- 
 sure, if he chose, even to the doing of evil. 
 
 We therefore claim the same respect for Protes- 
 tantism on the ground of antiquity, which is or which 
 can be claimed for popery. The two were co-exis- 
 tent in the Church, have battled with each other dur- 
 ing all that lengthened period since the first ages of 
 Christianity, and we shall show before closing this 
 little treatise, that Protestantism has had completely 
 the victory. 
 
 Mr. Macaulay goes on with a long philosophical ar- 
 gument, respecting the advancement of the world in 
 knowledge and civilization, and the respective claims 
 which popery and Potestantism have on this account, 
 but we cannot here follow him farther than to notice 
 one or two points of some importance. He speaks of 
 
60 
 
 the " conquests" of Protestantism, and connects them 
 with "geographical lines" and " Catholic lands" in such 
 manner as plainly to show that he estimates them as 
 he does those of popery, that is, by the temporalities or 
 kingdoms it has subdued and holds. But this would 
 be very unfair, because Protestantism is not as popery 
 is, a temporal kingdom and government. It never was 
 its object nor its endeavor to form itself into an earthly 
 empire, and labor to oppose and conquer popery with 
 carnal weapons. It never has indeed formed itself into 
 any general confederacy, nor endeavored by combined 
 effort to accomplish a specific object. As has been 
 already stated, it has nothing of itself as pertaining to 
 faith and doctrine, affirmative or aggressive about it. 
 It is .rather an objective sentiment, a defensive princi- 
 ple, and would never have been called into existence 
 or operation but for the tyranny and usurpation of 
 popery. People were not disposed to be vilely tramp- 
 led under-foot, and to have their dearest rights taken 
 away from them without objection and resistance, and 
 consequently they refused submission, and claimed the 
 privilege of enjoying their own opinions and freedom 
 in those things affecting their own state and condition. 
 The purpose of Protestantism, was, therefore, not to ori- 
 ginate any new system of religious faith, but simply so 
 to disenthrall man, as that he might be free to order 
 his conscience and his religion according to his own 
 pleasure. It was not the faith of the Gospel, but it 
 was, so to speak, preparatory to the due promulgation 
 and exercise of that faith, and therefore affecting more 
 immediately man's natural state than his religious con* 
 
61 
 
 dition. It aimed at removing him from the compul- 
 sory condition as to his moral accountability which 
 popery imposed, and placing him in that free, rational, 
 and accountable condition in which he had been crea- 
 ted, and which, after the fall, his Maker chose he should 
 continue. There was here no intention to dictate re- 
 ligious belief of one kind, or of any kind, but only to 
 secure the privilege" of acting in this matter without 
 dictation and without compulsion. 
 
 Undoubtedly Protestantism did, as was natural, avail 
 itself of the benefit of those princes and governments, 
 which either embracing it or sypathizing with it, were 
 able and disposed to afford it their protection, and con- 
 sequently the appellation of Protestant countries and 
 Protestant governments was, in some instances, as that 
 of England, used. But this was a mere accident, and 
 entered but very slightly into what we may properly 
 term the "conquests" of Protestantism; andw r hen Mr. 
 Macaulay undertakes to estimate these by the Princes 
 and governments it held or controlled, he shows him- 
 self a very poor logician and a very unreliable histo- 
 rian. Behold in France the power and influence Pro- 
 testantism has wielded from the very beginning, albeit 
 the government was popish. The " conquests" it has 
 there achieved at different times, and in divers ways, 
 proves that Kings could not restrain it any more than 
 Popes, and that these are not to be measured by " geo- 
 graphical lines" and governments. 
 
 Protestantism being the development and the exer- 
 cise of a sentiment placed within man by God his Cre- 
 ator, being the apprehension of his condition as on 
 rational and accountable, and the conviction that he 
 
ought to use that reason and assume that accountabi- 
 lity, did readily gain sympathy, and was with eager- 
 ness welcomed and embraced by multitudes in every 
 country, and in every condition. Power could not re- 
 strain its influence, nor authority direct its goings. It 
 bounded rivers, it scaled mountains, it passed beyond 
 seas. It entered alike the lordly palace, and the hum- 
 ble hut of the peasant. It was in every place where 
 he created in the image of his God, moved and acted, 
 making its assaults ; and its "conquests" were the hearts 
 and minds of men convinced of the tyranny and de- 
 gradation to which they were reduced, and resolved 
 to break their fetters and enjoy their freedom and ex- 
 altation. And boldly and proudly we hail the glorious 
 issue. Let those who, like the writer referred to above, 
 cannot see " the proofs of the expansive power of Pro- 
 testantism/' answer the question, why popery does not 
 still rule with her iron sceptre of the middle ages ? In 
 his essay we are boastingly told, that the " Catholic 
 Church is still sending forth to the farthest ends of the 
 world missionaries, as zealous as those who landed in 
 Kent, with Augustin ; and still confronting hostile 
 kings with the same spirit with which she confronted 
 Attila." And her far-extending power and dominion 
 is with more than prophetic suggestion thus fearfully 
 sketched. " She may still exist in undiminished vigor 
 when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in the 
 midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken 
 arch of London bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's. " 
 All which may be very fine rhetoric, but very mean 
 logic, and most contemptible history. 
 
 Popery is, indeed, at this time, sending forth zealous 
 
63 
 
 missionaries, but to talk about her at this day " con- 
 fronting hostile kings," is sheer romance. It would be 
 a marvellous thing in the eyes of the men of this gene- 
 ration, to see the Bishop of Rome call a king to ac- 
 count as he has been wont to do in ages past. That 
 thing Protestantism has long since gloriously ignored, 
 and made it rather necessary for his universal Majesty 
 to choose a guardian, or more properly to submit to a 
 self-constituted one, who shall be able to protect the 
 "Catholic Church" from the "confronting," not of 
 " hostile kings," but of men created in the image of 
 God, and no longer disposed to submit their reason and 
 conscience to the caprice and tyranny of a self-consti- 
 tuted human authority, as just now happens to be 
 illustrated in the case of that dis-esteemed and disre- 
 garded man styling himself Pius IX., over whom Na- 
 poleon III. very considerately extends his guardian 
 care and protection. And it might be a very inter- 
 esting problem for Mr. Macaulay to work out, as to 
 what sort of figure Pius IX. would have made at "con- 
 fronting" his own indignant subjects, had not the offi- 
 ciousness of this republican tyrant placed between 
 them an invincible barrier of bayonets and cannon 
 balls, those accustomed and most potent controversial- 
 ists of the •' Catholic Church." 
 
 It is most of all surprising, how a man pretending 
 to be a writer of history, could send abroad such a fic- 
 tion with the impress of fact, as is this essay on Ranke's 
 History of the Popes. Ranke's smoothings, and apo- 
 logies for popery, are sad enough, but to have them 
 endorsed, and even others yet more monstrous and 
 
64 
 
 mischievous added, and this, too, by a member of the 
 Cabinet of Protestant England, is as inconsistent and 
 wicked as it is dishonorable and traitorous. 
 
 As regards that most fanciful and absurd picture of 
 sketching the ruins of St. Paul's, the present course of 
 things in the old world do indicate much more strik- 
 ingly the probability of the scene being transferred to 
 St. Peter's and the Vatican. Instead of popery in- 
 creasing and strengthening, it has been for some cen- 
 turies steadily waning, and is destined to experience 
 more and mo.re, decay and dissolution, as age after age 
 rolls on. A now shattered and despised remnant of 
 former glory and power, she will ere long be compelled 
 to experience the shame and misery of woes like unto 
 those pronounced of old upon the type of her iniquity, 
 
 and recorded in the fiftieth and fifty-first chapters of 
 
 • ■■■*■• 
 
 the Prophecies of Jeremiah. 
 
 I have above assumed to show that Protestantism 
 has had the victory over popery. This I do not pur- 
 pose to attempt in the way of laboured argument, but 
 rather by an appeal to plain facts, and common sense. 
 Having just referred to it, I had almost concluded 
 not to touch again on this point, but shall return to it, 
 to add briefly some further remarks. Let us then, in 
 few words, compare the condition of the world now 
 with what it was some centuries ago. Beginning, for 
 nstance, with the latter half of the eleventh century, 
 we find Rome and the Vatican the centre of influence 
 and power, both spiritual and political. Throughout 
 Europe especially, whatever was devised or carried into 
 effect, had a particular reference to the sentiments en- 
 
65 
 
 tertained respecting it at the popish court. Kings and 
 princes and nobles and kingdoms, were most anxious 
 and most assiduous in gaining the approval of this in 
 all their measures and undertakings, and not unfre- 
 quently submitted to the lowest humiliation, and even 
 degradation, in order to secure it ; as in the case of the 
 Emperor Henry, who in receiving his crown from 
 Benedict VIII., most disgracefully promised to this 
 Pope, and to his successors, fidelity in every thing; 
 or that of Frederic L, who still more disgrace- 
 fully consented to hold the stirrup for Adrian IV., 
 in order to gain from him the kiss of peace. Such 
 humiliating and degrading acts is the history of those 
 times full of; and that these were not merely matters 
 of taste, as with the old woman who kissed her cow, 
 but made compulsory by reason of the dread entertain- 
 ed for the power and influence of the Pope, we readily 
 see from instances of another kind. Take then the 
 case of Harold, the last of the Saxon Kings, whose 
 crown the Pope gave away to William of Normandy, 
 and by the superstition created against him, enabled 
 William to possess England, and also to bring the king- 
 dom more effectively under the Pope's authority. And 
 again, the matter of Philip Augustus, King of France, 
 who had divorced his wife Ingerburga, but was obliged 
 by Innocent III., under the terror of an interdict, to re- 
 call her and discharge Mary, whom he had wedded in 
 her stead. These instances, which might be collected 
 in any number from the records of those ages, show how 
 powerful the Pope then was, and what a mighty influ- 
 ence the system of popery at that time exercised. But 
 
66 
 
 what king or nation in this nineteenth century, would 
 do anything else than laugh at such pretence on the 
 part of Pius IX. ? And although Mr. Macaulay thinks 
 Protestantism has gained nothing of late, and that 
 Popery is just now as strong as it has been in times pre- 
 vious, yet I fancy he will find few to agree with him 
 in this sentiment. Even the acknowledgments of the 
 Papists themselves are against him. No, to say the 
 least, it is discreditable to the judgment and discrimi- 
 nation of any man to make such an assertion in the 
 face of the facts before us. To be sure popery does 
 keep possession of her chief u geographical limits,"but 
 who does not know her existence to be no more than 
 nominal ? Who that is possessed of common sense and 
 common information, does not see clearly as the light, 
 that her once strong arm is now palsied ? What power 
 in short, has popery now to command and to execute, 
 which in former ages she possessed ? What nation on 
 earth dare the Pope now put under an interdict ? And 
 where is the king, even petty and insignificant, that 
 he dare denounce, and order his subjects to disobey ? 
 Where are the questions of state, at this day, referred 
 to the Pope for his judgment and decision? Where, 
 in fact, is there anything of popery remaining save its 
 gigantic frame, looming up unsightly and horrid ? now 
 turning its pale and deathlike countenance imploringly 
 to the despot of Austria, and now to him of France, 
 bidding for its life, entreating, with u coward guilt/' for 
 some remedial aid to prolong an existence, waning 
 away under the curses of centuries past, and destined 
 to transmit a shameful memory, and a loathsome name 
 to centuries future. 
 
67 
 
 This illustration of the subject, from an examination 
 of the sentiments of Mr. Macaulay, although but briefly 
 pursued, has already extended too far, and must there- 
 fore be brought to a close. Sufficient, however, I think 
 has been said, to enable the reader to understand why 
 popery and Protestantism should be differently judged 
 as regards persecution. Not alone has persecution 
 been practised in connection with popery, it of neces- 
 sity becomes, and in the most decided manner is made 
 an essential part of this system. Popery aims at uni- 
 versal empire. It assumes to harmonize the different 
 sentiments, opinions, and feelings of mankind in re- 
 spect to religion. And in the prosecution of this ob- 
 ject it claims the aid and service of all temporal go- 
 vernments and authorities acknowledging its supre- 
 macy. It teaches positively, expressly, and unmis- 
 takeably, that civil government is bound to protect the 
 interests of the Church, and enforce by temporal pun- 
 ishment the discipline she inflicts. When therefore 
 popery persecutes, it does that which is a direct and 
 natural consequence of its teachings, and what is as 
 natural from the system as would be a return of the 
 same kind of grain as that which was sown in the 
 earth. 
 
 But Protestantism, as we have seen, does not pre- 
 sent any positive system of this kind, but is in itself a 
 thing defensive. What persecution therefore has ex- 
 isted in connection with this cannot be charged on 
 either its teaching or its influence, but rather on the 
 natural wickedness of man, and the prevalent and long 
 established practice of the nominally Christian world. 
 
68 
 
 It was a severe lesson which men had to learn after 
 they were freed from the control of popery, that per- 
 secution was contrary to the Gospel, and ought not 
 from any urgency to be resorted to. Ever since the 
 unnatural alliance of religion and government, had it 
 been more or less practised to the compelling of the 
 conscience, and especially after the Bishops of Rome 
 had consummated their design of tyrannizing over the 
 world was it called into requisition, and by long usage 
 so strongly impressed on the sense of mankind as right 
 and proper, that not readily did its unchrislian charac- 
 ter appear. We must not therefore be surprised to 
 see persecution long linger in societies and communi- 
 ties, Protestant and religious, but rather extend our 
 view and judge of the character of Protestantism by 
 the influence which in a long course it produced. And 
 this is in fact the true test of any system or any senti- 
 ment. Many times a thing appears excellent at first, 
 and, for a season, gives promise of good, but very soon 
 it degenerates and produces consequences dreadful and 
 fatal. While again another, though intermingled with 
 much that is undesirable and bad, does yet in a long 
 course produce so much that is excellent, as to prove 
 its proper and specific qualities to be good. It is 
 in this way we must judge of Protestantism as respects 
 persecution. Not according to what we see of it pre- 
 sently after its great triumph, but what, as it went on 
 to triumph and extend its influence, were in this par- 
 ticular its peculiarities and its effects. Let us then 
 here take our stand, and from what we see at this day 
 of its effects, judge whether its sanction and encourage- 
 
69 
 
 ment has been in the way of persecution. Let us look 
 abroad upon the world in this nineteenth century, and 
 see where mankind are free from religious intolerance, 
 and relieved from the fear of punishment, are at liberty 
 to exercise their religious opinions and privileges ac- 
 cording to their pleasure. Where else than in those 
 lands, and with those people, enjoying the influence 
 and effects of Protestantism, shall we find this ? And 
 just in proportion to the prevalence of the P otestant 
 sentiment is there this liberty and this religious toler- 
 ance. 
 
 Though immediately after its successful opposition 
 to popery in the sixteenth century, Protestantism did 
 still carry with it the odious practice of persecution, 
 yet did it progressively and effectually relieve itself 
 from this, and at the present time, it in no degree re- 
 mains. To this influence does the world, at this 
 day, owe all its deliverance from this cruel and unnatu- 
 ral practice. And so powerfully has this wrought to 
 the discarding of persecution, that even in Popish 
 countries its great benefit is felt. In truth, it is this 
 result of Protestantism that has, more than anything 
 else, reduced popery to its present weak and disabled 
 state. When popery was^ no longer able to compel 
 men, by civil penalties, to submit to its iniquitous doc- 
 trines and commands, it very soon lost its power over 
 them. Beings rational and immortal could not wil- 
 lingly be kept in blind subjection to such a silly, bur- 
 densome, and altogether profitless system, but gladly 
 turned to the way of escape opened to them. And we 
 this day are permitted to see the certain progress man- 
 
70 
 
 kind has made towards effectual deliverance. We see 
 it in European countries, and Popish lands, in the in- 
 dependent and manly spirit with which men dare 
 speak, and the movements they dare make towards the 
 restoration and maintenance of their religious rights 
 and privileges. But especially do we see it here in 
 our own land. The bold position assumed by Papists 
 in behalf of their individual rights, and the determined 
 spirit in which they maintain them, is remarkable evi- 
 dence of the increase and strength of the Protestant 
 element. Such could not have been the case in the 
 days of Papal power. The action of trustees and con- 
 gregations in connection with the Roman See, which 
 we have of late witnessed, would, informer times, have 
 brought upon them Papal inquisitors and Papal armies? 
 to torment, harass, and destroy them, until neither 
 their name nor remembrance remained. 
 
 In short, to Protestantism are we to attribute the 
 present freedom of the world from religious intolerance 
 and persecution. Wherever its influence has spread, 
 has persecution in a less or greater degree disappeared ; 
 and where this influence does effectually prevail, is it 
 altogether unknown. If, then, we would retain so ex- 
 cellent a privilege as that of enjoying freedom from in- 
 tolerance and persecution, let us carefully cherish this 
 sentiment, and never be found either afraid or ashamed 
 to confess ourselves Protestants, and as such to defend 
 with boldness our principles. Albeit popery may make 
 itself merry over the fact of Protestantism setting forth 
 no positive creed, nor definite religious system, yet has 
 it been compelled, with great mortification and loss, 
 
71 
 
 to own that Protestantism has both a positive charac 
 ter and a definite purpose, and most gladly would 
 popery draw off the attention of mankind from this 
 character and purpose, by bringing in false issues, and 
 by ridicule, destroying that which by reason and fair- 
 ness she cannot overthrow nor restrain in its onward 
 progress. 
 
 The subject thus imperfectly discussed is of great 
 importance to us of this day and this country. So sen- 
 sitive are we of anything that looks like religious intol- 
 erance, that there is some danger of popery gaining 
 an advantage over us on this account. We place 
 Papists on an equal footing with other religious socie- 
 ties and denominations, and seem quite willing to 
 accord to them every favor and opportunity for ad- 
 vancement and influence which, we accord to the 
 others. But in this we do greatly err. For no reli- 
 gious denomination among us makes any such arrogant 
 claims as does popery. No other creed among us 
 claims universal submission, and holds to the right and 
 authority to compel obedience by means of temporal 
 threatenings and punishments. In this respect popery 
 differs from all other religions among us, and this dif- 
 ference involves a principle so dangerous as to warrant 
 an exception in regard to the indifference or the en- 
 couragement manifested in behalf of different religions. 
 The elements of mischief which popery of very neces- 
 sity possesses, and of good will is ready at any oppor- 
 tunity to let loose upon us, are too fearful in their 
 nature to allow of indifference, and much less of en- 
 couragement. We are sacredly to remember, that 
 
72 
 
 every advance popery makes in our country is so mucn 
 against the safety and continuance of the civil and re* 
 ligious liberty we so much prize. And just so certain 
 as we permit this to go on and possess itself of influence 
 and power, just so certain may we be of experiencing 
 from it all the tyranny and persecution which its posi- 
 tion will enable it to exercise. 
 
 Let then Protestants of this country get rid of this 
 mistaken notion as speedily as possible, and instead of 
 reckoning Papists as one among many religious deno- 
 minations holding different views of Christian doctrine, 
 and zealous for its maintenance and extension, rather 
 look upon them as members of a great political despot- 
 ism, and using religion merely as an instrument to- 
 wards the accomplishment of their unrighteous pur- 
 poses. Whatever may be said to the contrary, it is 
 nevertheless a fact, clearly established, and plainly to 
 be apprehended by every reflecting person, that Papists 
 are, all of them, the subjects of a political tyrant, having 
 his residence in Rome, and whose especial end and 
 aim has been, and still is, to enslave and degrade man- 
 kind, and who in any favorable crisis for securing this 
 end, would just as certainly claim and receive the 
 homage and aid of these his subjects, above all other 
 allegiance or authority whatsoever, as that he now 
 claims and receives theii^ spiritual obedience. That 
 such a crisis will ever, in the future history of the 
 world arrive, may indeed be improbable, nay, from 
 present appearances, may be even regarded as impos- 
 sible. But still this is the working of the system, and 
 all it wants is the opportunity to carry this out to its 
 
73 
 
 full extent. Popery is just the same thing in spirit and 
 desire that it ever was, and this it will and must con- 
 tinue to be while it exists. Nothing but destruction 
 can change it. There is no reform about it, nor can 
 the world ever be safe from its diabolical arts and ma- 
 chinations, until it is entirely destroyed ; until Pope 
 and Vatican, and all are annihilated ; and the sooner 
 this is the case the sooner will one of the chief instru- 
 ments for evil in this world be removed, and mankind 
 be placed in a condition to act without restraint and 
 without fear, in those duties which, as rational and ac- 
 countable beings, their Creator has imposed upon 
 them. 
 
 It is therefore great folly and great wickedness for 
 people to allow this feeling about religious intolerance 
 to influence them, as it too often does, in a manner fa- 
 vorable to popery. I do not here mean, and must not 
 be understood as sanctioning any kind of religious re- 
 venge or persecution. No, let us in all conscience 
 refrain from this in every case. But there is a species 
 of encouragement given to popery in this country, no- 
 toriously too common, and which, although its true 
 bearing and effect may not presently appear, must 
 yet, if persisted in, sooner or later produce most disas- 
 trous issues. This is seen, for instance, in the readiness 
 with which a large portion of our Protestant population 
 attend popish services to hear the music, or to gratify 
 curiosity and vanity, and in the patronage they give to 
 popish concerts and the like, for their professed chari- 
 table purposes. Perhaps most who do such things re- 
 flect very little, if at all, on the consequences ; but 
 
 4 
 
74 
 
 others are not ignorant of the objections to be made 
 against these practices, yet contrive to quiet their ap- 
 prehensions by persuading themselves that it would 
 be uncharitable and bigoted to act otherwise. It has 
 ever been the policy of popery to adorn its system 
 with these outward attractions, and this policy has in 
 all time added most remarkably to her success. Such 
 is, in a marked degree, the case just now in this coun- 
 try. Multitudes who are ever speaking against Po- 
 pery, and deploring the evils which it threatens to our 
 land, are yet thoughtless and inconsistent enough to be 
 attracted to the mass-house, and the popish concert- 
 room, because of the fine entertainments there given 
 in the way of music, processions, &c, calculated to 
 feed the desire for show, novelty, and excitement, and 
 through the gratification of sense, to lead captive the 
 mind and spirit. In this way popery is now gaining 
 from the very persons who affect to dread and despise 
 it, a large revenue, and an extended influence, which 
 are in a ratio equal to their increase, to be exerted 
 against the dearest rights and privileges of the people 
 of this country. I repeat therefore, that it is the height 
 of folly and wickedness for people to allow themselves 
 to be thus tempted and deceived. 
 
 One reason alone there is, which ought to suffice 
 with honest minded people to keep them from the 
 mass-house, and that is, because it is the idol's temple. 
 That popery is idolatrous is, I believe, a conceded point 
 among all Protestant bodies. The Church of England 
 and the Protestant Episcopal Church of this country, 
 in the Homilies, and other authoritative writings, 
 
75 
 
 have, in the most decided manner, so pronounced. Let 
 then a regard for the second commandment influence 
 those Protestants who are tempted for any purpose, or 
 on any occasion, to be present at popish services, to 
 flee such temptation, and to deliver themselves as well 
 from temporal evil, as from the just vengeance of Al- 
 mighty God. Let a regard for what is valuable to 
 man on the earth, or in the heavens above, influence 
 Protestants of every class to refrain their feet from 
 going into the way of popish attractions and influ- 
 ences. 
 
 But there is another form under which this same 
 thing is manifested, which is that of a new species of 
 amusements lately introduced among us. No one can, 
 without serious alarm, reflect on the favor shown to 
 such institutions as the " Hippodrome," in this city, 
 and the " Tournaments" of the South. These and all 
 such things are no more nor less than the warts and 
 excrescences of popery. 
 
 They are the silly, degrading, and brutalizing 
 accompaniments of this system, and the very things 
 it has always been inventing and encouraging, to keep 
 mankind in a good humor with its tyranny, by thus 
 gratifying their sensuality, and so debasing and de- 
 stroying their nobler nature. The horrid cruelty, to 
 say no more, connected with horse-racing, bull-baiting, 
 and cock-fighting; or the insignificant foolery of knights 
 and castles, of fairies, and queens of beauty, have al- 
 ways existed, in proportion to the prevalence and ex- 
 tent of popery, and are now chiefly to be found in 
 those countries where this has of long time existed, 
 
76 
 
 and especially where it has eaten out the very vitals of 
 national vigor, manliness and prosperity, as Spain, Por- 
 tugal, Mexico, and such like countries. God preserve 
 us from chivalry as from popery. The two are intimate- 
 ly joined, and where is found the one, there will the 
 other also be nigh at hand discovered. Whoever there- 
 fore has a regard for the realities of life, and the re- 
 sponsibilities of rational and accountable man, beyond 
 the fancies and toyish amusements of childhood ; or 
 the vulgarity and sensual pursuits allotted to the brute 
 creation, will do well not to permit themselves to be 
 tempted within the influence of such amusements, nor 
 to allow their nobler nature to be enchained and de- 
 praved by such sights and practices. As the people of 
 this land profess to superior enlightenment and civili- 
 zation, so let them by neglect and discredit of those 
 products of an ignorant and debased age, prove their 
 profession just, and drive out from among us these im- 
 pertinent "runners" of his bankrupt "holiness." 
 
 But once more ; it is the proud boast of our country, 
 that the " perilous times" of seventy-six produced but 
 one Benedict Arnold. Would it could be said, that 
 our own less perilous times could make the same proud 
 boast. The traitorous part acted by many politicians 
 of this day in courting the popish vote, and thus sacri- 
 ficing to their ambition the safety and honor of their 
 country, most deservedly merits them the title of true 
 successors and representatives of the infamous Arnold. 
 Men who call themselves Protestants, and w T ho are 
 eager and proud to be numbered among those looking 
 upon popery as the worst political evil which could 
 
77 
 
 befall a nation, are yet base and unprincipled enough 
 to encourage and strengthen this, in a manner the 
 most dangerous to the liberties of the country, by giv- 
 ing their money to build churches and hospitals, and 
 purchase for them organs and furniture, for a ballot- 
 box consideration. O, shame on such perfidy ! Shame, 
 shame to the man who could so debase himself, and so 
 abuse the confidence and sympathy of those whom he 
 is willing, in a high sense, to call his friends ! This is 
 no doubt, the source of our great danger from popery. 
 The additions which it makes to its ranks from our Pro- 
 testant population, are not so much to be dreaded. 
 Ten and twenty fold are the losses on their side, and 
 these must more and more increase, if by no political 
 manoeuvring popery circumvent us. This popery un- 
 derstands, and this it is assiduously labouring to effect. 
 Our danger, therefore, lies more particularly in this 
 direction, and most decided and earnest ought every 
 man of us to be in laboring to prevent any advantage 
 of this kind. 
 
 These few instances will suggest others of like na- 
 ture, and may suffice to admonish us against the ruin- 
 ous practice of countenancing and encouraging popery. 
 
 If this corrupt and dangerous system will force itself 
 upon us, we are not to be accounted bigoted and uncha- 
 ritable for not stretching out our arms to receive it, 
 nor are we to be charged with intolerance and perse- 
 cution if we employ every argument and persuasion, 
 and use all means peaceable and moral, to keep people 
 from it, and if possible, to root it out altogether from 
 among us. 
 
78 
 
 Wonderful and mysterious is the history which po- 
 pery presents. Its gradual rise, its progressive increase, 
 its final establishment and power ; its whole course and 
 operation until this present hour, is of that remarkable 
 kind, which seems to indicate a thing controlled by 
 supernatural influences. We. may not indeed rashly 
 appropriate prophecy, nor presumptuously use it to 
 dignify and render alarming, sentiments and theories 
 devised by man's wisdom, But surely, the course and 
 character of this has been such, as in a most remark- 
 able manner, to point it out as the Antechrist of the 
 Scriptures. Without, however, here attempting to 
 maintain this point, we may safely affirm, that there is 
 quite enough of error and wrong-doing connected with 
 popery, to lead us to suspect and avoid it, lest we too 
 late be found to have been unmindful of instruction, 
 not discerning the " signs of the times/' Whatever 
 exceptions may be made to popery being called the 
 Antichrist, the startling fact must be admitted, that it 
 is not of Christ, nor of His Gospel. St. John, in his 
 day affirmed, that even then were there many anti- 
 christs, and popery, if it be not the antichrist, is yet 
 beyond question antichristian. Its very first tenden- 
 cies were in a strict sense worldly, and its more com- 
 plete form and development, showed it in close and lov- 
 ing alliance with the world. No temporal kingdom 
 ever surpassed papal Rome in the means and devices 
 for accumulating property, and amassing wealth, nor 
 was ever success from these greater. No court 
 of Europe was so wealthy, so magnificent, so proud, 
 and so voluptuous, as was this in the days of its power. 
 
79 
 
 No king nor cabinet were ever involved in so many 
 political quarrels, or parties in so many cruel and 
 bloody wars, or so largely the recipients of the spoils 
 of war, and the ill-gotten gain, of influence and might, 
 as were the Popes of Rome, and the Cardinal con- 
 claves. In all time, and under all circumstances, has 
 worldliness, in all its extent and evil, been the leading 
 characteristic of popery. In the pursuit of this has it 
 disregarded all that was moral, and set at defiance all 
 that was pure, peaceable, and merciful. Its multiplied 
 deities, its incessant pilgrimages, its unjust restraints 
 and prohibitions, its " holy wars/' its inquisitorial op- 
 pressions and punishments, how do they all rise up in 
 frightful magnitude to proclaim with loud voices and 
 thunderings the awful demolition of the pure and be- 
 neficent Gospel of the Son of God at the shrine of the 
 god of this world ! And may we not, without fear of 
 error, call such a system antichristian, and expect for 
 it the just and dreadful anger of an insulted God ! 
 
 What doom can await thee, O thou perverse gene- 
 ration ! Shall Israel suffer so dreadfully for the sin of 
 crucifying the Son of God, and shalt thou escape for 
 the more grievous sin of crucifying Him afresh ! Surely 
 it cannot be. Great as was the idolatry, and unbelief 
 and cruelty of Israel, thou, O Papal Rome, has fright- 
 fully exceeded them. Thy deities dost far outnumber 
 theirs, and thy elevation and worship of the Virgin 
 Mary, dost go a great way beyond the golden calf, and 
 the opposing worship of Bethel. Thy traditions, and thy 
 perversions of Scripture are more extended and more 
 disastrous, for they misled their own nation, but thou 
 
80 
 
 hast misled all nations ; thou hast obscured and per- 
 verted the knowledge that should cover the earth, and 
 the truth that should make free the kingdoms of the 
 world! Thou hast shed the blood, not of prophets 
 only, but hast mingled with it that of whole hecatombs 
 of disciples and confessors ! Alas, and shall not God 
 be avenged on such a nation as this ! shall the world 
 which Christ came to redeem, be kept back from that 
 redemption, and the blood not be required at thy hands, 
 who hast so daringly interposed and interrupted it ? 
 
 But we need not anticipate such judgment and re- 
 tribution. God disposeth His ways in wisdom, and 
 He will accomplish His work in righteousness. Let 
 us therefore faithfully fulfill all His commands, and 
 patiently await His deliverance and salvation. 
 
*** 
 

 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: Jan. 2006 
 
 PreservationTechnologies 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
 
 1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve 
 Cranberry Township, PA 1606& 
 (724)779-?11T