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of American government. The absolutist insists that each step in the departure of nations from the monarchical form is receding that far from the true point of national elevation; that it is an abandonment of legitimate authority; that it is passion, vertigo, delirium, madness, the excess of unlicensed and destructive revolution—a blind exercise of the mere physical power to do wrong, in violation of the divine law. With him, the fewer who direct the destiny of a nation and control its government, the better, because, by keeping the multitude in subjection, they hold them to the steady line of duty. Unlimited dominion on the part of the ruler, and passive obedience on the part of the people, are, with all the supporters of absolutism, the ne plus ultra of government. Of those who reason thus, there are two classes-the masters and the slaves. The latter are so disciplined into subjugation by the former, that they seem incapable of comprehending the nature and extent of their deg radation, and suppose themselves to be relieved from the galling of their chains, or to be compensated for its endurance, by the belief that their servitude is the highest and noblest exhibition of fidelity and duty. The former maintain their superiority with an entire disregard of the humiliation they create, and cling to their ideas of human and national advancement, in the face of the present condition of the world, as if they regarded ambition the highest motive of the mind, and its gratification the greatest of all human achievements. Socrates, probably, had both these classes in his mind when he said, "That every master should pray he may not meet with such a slave; and every such person, being unfit for liberty, should implore that he may meet with a merciful master.” If all the world were divided into these two classes, monarchy, secure of its place upon the papal and other thrones, would have an easy time of it, for there then would be only the oppressor and the oppressed"the oppressor who demands, and the oppressed who dare not resist."

Fortunately for us and the world, the framers of our institutions belonged to neither of these classes. By their training in the school of Protestantism they were endowed with the courage to defy both the authority and machina

tions of those who claimed the "divine right" to govern. Their careful study of the history of nations enabled them to comprehend fully the necessities of their condition. They had realized how abject mankind had become in those countries where Church and State were united, and, with this experience to guide them, signalized their efforts to frame a new government by dissolving this union, as an unnatural and corrupting one. Ecclesiastical tyranny and intolerance were finally expelled, and Protestantism reached a degree of development for which it had been struggling for more than two hundred years.

Thomas Jefferson took an early opportunity to congratulate the people of the United States upon their "having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered," and, under the sanction of his official position, declared that among the great principles which "guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation" were those which inculcated "the diffusion of information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason, freedom of religion, freedom of the press." And he addressed to us this admonition :

"The wisdom of our sages, and the blood of our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment: they should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touch-stone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error and alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety."

James Madison, when officially declaring the purposes. for which our government was formed, enumerated among them the duty "to avoid the slightest interference with the rights of conscience, or the functions of religion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction; to preserve, in their full energy, the other salutary provisions in behalf of private and personal rights, and of the freedom of the press."

These sentiments were not alone expressed by these great statesmen. Words of like import were uttered by many of their compatriots. They were but the echo of those existing in the minds of the people, and were embodied in our national Constitution, in these words:

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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Upon such foundations as this, the superstructure of our government now rests. So long as these principles shall be preserved, the Government will stand: whenever they shall be abandoned, it will fall. They must, therefore, be guarded with the same ceaseless care as that with which we guard our lives. For we have no more right to lose by neglect, than we have to strike down with the sword of rebellion, the civil and religious institutions of a free people.

CHAPTER III.

War against Protestantism.-Roman Catholic Literature and Intolerance.The Bible to be Closed.-The Spanish Inquisition Justified.-Freedom of Thought Denounced as Sin.-Tracts in Favor of the Pope's Infallibility, and Universal Supremacy in Faith and Morals.-Morals Involve Politics. "The Index Expurgatorius."-Condemnation and Punishment of Galileo.-Spanish Inquisition. -The Middle Ages Preferred to the Present Times.

THERE is nothing better understood than that the Roman Catholic Church requires all its members to believe that the Church was established at Rome by the apostle Peter, in obedience to the express command of Christ, who gave him primacy over the other apostles for that purpose; that it has possessed, from the beginning, an external organization composed of the pope and his army of official dependents, who derive, directly from God, the authority of its exclusive government, and that all who desire eternal salvation must become subject to this authority, because there is not, and can not be, any other true Church. From the very nature of things, a church asserting such exclusiveness must be aggressive. This all-absorbing organization can not be maintained in any other way. And that it is aggressive and uncompromising is shown by its whole history, and by repeated and emphatic avowals of its supporters; especially of those who share its authority and are tireless in their exertions to maintain it.

Having found Protestantism the most formidable opponent it ever encountered to its system of exclusiveness, it has contrived to keep alive in the minds of multitudes of its members a stubborn hostility to every advance among the nations, and every improvement in their condition, calculated to drive it from the field, of which, before Protestantism became its rival, it had the undisputed possession. Having regarded the world for many centuries as entirely subject to its dominion, and deriving therefrom a conviction

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of its supremacy over mankind, it has been unwilling to recognize Protestantism as an equal, entitled to be conciliated, but has habitually considered it as an enemy, to be exterminated and destroyed. No matter what concessions it has obtained, or to what extent it has enjoyed the advantages of Protestant protection and toleration, there has never been any abatement of its imperious demands, or any softening of its aggressive character. In the United States, where it has enjoyed every possible degree of security which the laws and public sentiment can confer, its hostility to Protestantism has never been so open, active, and violent as it is to-day. The tolerance of our institutions has had the effect of awakening energies which seem to have been only slumbering. It has been, manifestly, awaiting a more ef fective concentration of its strength, so that whensoever it shall strike its blows they may be more powerful and dangerous. A scrutinizing observer can not avoid the conviction that the moderation it has hitherto exhibited has been suggested by expediency and policy-not principle-and practiced, in order to gain, by degrees and unobserved, such a position that it may resume its accustomed attitude of defiance and intolerance, and assert for itself the "divine right" of sitting in judgment over our Constitution and laws.

It is worthy of frequent repetition, that there is no country in the world where the Roman Catholic Church and its hierarchy are better or more securely shielded, in all the just rights of religion, property, and person, than they are in the United States. They are nowhere deprived of any single religious or civil privilege which other churches and people enjoy. The Protestant communities in all the States have universally recognized them as entitled to the same protection they have secured to themselves. In this they have been consistent with the Protestantism they profess, which is not aggressive, but tolerant and charitable; not malignant, but conciliatory. And this liberality has been shown them, notwithstanding Roman Catholicism has, at the same time, in countries where it has had the power, not only denied to Protestantism any equality of privileges or protection with itself, but has subjected it to continual persecution and indignities. Yet, in the face of all this, these