creeds? It is not particular, when it has not the power to enforce obedience, as to the variations of rituals, or even doctrines, provided submission is made to the Popethe essential point in the systemeven undisguised heathenism being to a great extent tolerated under such circumstances. Convince Romanists, beyond all question, of most of their doctrines and practices having no foundation in Scripture, tradition, or authentic history, but absolutely contrary thereto; that would not alter their belief in them. A large part of them seem impervious to the least suspicion of error in them, having been brought up to believe that it is a deadly sin to call in question or doubt them, or even put themselves in the way of hearing either done; and not that they lack the capacity to entertain or understand what is said in regard to them. They will answer that they "believe what the Church believes, because she is infallible," without being able to give an intelligible definition to the words used, and ignoring what may be said of the claim of infallibility. This is only the old Pagan reason expressed by Cicero :-"I must believe the religion of our ancestors without any proof;" and which Romanists would hold if their Church laid no claim to infallibility, and could not even tell how it originated, or how it came into possession of the doctrines or observances which it teaches. But the idea of infallibility gives a peculiar form to the natural sentiment, and a peculiar strength to it; not because it was ever demonstrated to Romanists in the dark ages, when the people were not in a position to judge of proof, or to Romanists to-day, whether ignorant or otherwise, but because it has been persistently and on all occasions asserted by those in possession of the religion, and submitted to as a natural and inherent part of it, without question. And no matter how much it has departed from the word of God, or from tradition or history, or how much it has in positive opposition to them, or how much it has varied ever since, or how much it has added up till to-day, including the immaculate conception and the ever-virginity of Mary, and the infallibility of the Pope, Romanists assert that, "Everything the Church believes she has received direct from the Apostles, having the unanimous consent of the fathers to support it; and that she has never varied in any of her teaching!" Christianity originated when civilization was at its height, and differed from Paganism in that it was based on historical facts. Its real doctrines and precepts have come down to us in the form of history, although now nearly overlaid by the traditions, superstitions and impostures of Rome. Romanists are indeed in possession of the Western division of the Church, in an historical sense, while the Eastern division, differing from the other in many points of government and discipline, doctrine and ritual, denies the validity of its baptism, and treats it with scorn generally. Paganism having nothing positive to appeal to as to its origin, found in that circumstance an element of strength, for it could neither be attacked nor defended on that ground, but rested upon the natural feeling of man in all ages, that of " venerating the religion of its ancestors."* *This is the ground on which Protestantism itself really rests-the religion of its ancestors; these ancestors being Christ and his Apostles. Without a revelation, human nature can fall back on nothing but what Cicero says, as we have seen:" Since the ancients approached nearest to the gods, that religion which the gods handed down to them is a tradition most worthy of memorial." Romanists lay great stress on their be. "that of their ancestors," lief being without asking themselves how far back these ancestors run. Such a doctrine would have prevented these ancestors It made a strong and a long fight | against Christianity, and to a great extent ultimately smothered it. Like a woman marrying, it lost its name and personal identity, but transmitted to posterity a numerous and vigorous progeny. It gave to the Romanists the form of their churches, and many of their temples, altars and idols; their government and organization; their pontiff, priests and vestals; and a multitude of their peculiarities, such as canonizations or demigodism, saints' days and festivals, incense, lustrations and holy water, votive offerings, pontifical dispensations, consecration of sacred places, winking, nodding, sweating and bleeding images, relics, vestments, etc.; all of which have been palmed off upon the world as Christianity! It invented its confessional 1,250 years after the introduction of Christianity, for, as Dean Stanley, in his Lectures on the Eastern Church, says :-"The priestly expression of absolution, which in the Western Church was in the same thirteenth century changed into the positive form 'I absolve thee,' in the Eastern Church is still, as it always was, 'May the Lord absolve thee.'"* embracing Christianity, in whatever form it was presented to them; and as an argument, would have applied to any superstition or idolatry that ever existed in the world. Two systems of Paganism in competition would resemble two persons contesting the possession of property without title-deeds. Of course, each could claim and maintain what it was in possession of, for the reason that possession gives a title when no one can show a better. And so it would happen that the one system of Paganism could not injure the other, so far as the origin of each was concerned. Romanism, however, is in possession on two titles, that of Occupancy, as the successor of both Paganism and Christianity, and a formidably specious one in the shape of Christian muniments, that make it a difficult matter to reduce by any ordinary form of procedure. The better way, as I have said at page 55, is for the world, as representing the Crown, to call on Romanists to "prove their pedigree," and produce the charter by which they hold, to see Let any disinterested and candid person carefully, or even superficially, study the New Testament and Romanism, not altogether as it exists, in some churches, in the midst. of Protestants, but as it is found in the books, hearts and practices of its priests and people all over the world, and he cannot but conclude that that religion is not Christianity. It will naturally enough call itself by that name, for such, at least, it has inherited; and it will as naturally fall back on its historical records and associations, in the manner of all institutions known among men, however unworthy it is of them, and however much it may have departed from its letter and spirit, and substituted others for them, to give support to its existence, and the tremendous powers it lays claim to. No religion was ever introduced that gave a priesthood more plausible pretexts to exercise dominion over its followers, or more powerful machinery to oppress them, illustrating the saying that what is the best becomes the worst when prostituted to the basest of purposes. been said that Romanism could not have spread so far, or lasted so long, had it not some deep foundation in whether they have performed its conditions, or have corresponded otherwise with the description of the parties therein described. In a mere historical sense, as representing possession-if that amounts to anything, as distinguished from the spirit, doctrines, and practices of the Christian religion-the Easterns can always be played off against the Romans, putting the latter on the defensive, to prove that they are what they claim to be. It has *New York Edition of 1862, p. 126.—In this work we find the following remarks: "No theory of the Christian Church can be complete which does not take some account of their [the Eastern Churches'] existence," in which are "to be found nearly a third part of Christendom -one hundred millions of souls professing the Christian faith" (p. 89).—“The field of Eastern Christendom is a comparatively untrodden field" (p. 88).—" The centralization of the West, as displayed in the Papacy, is unknown in the East" (p. 128). human nature. The same question could be started with regard to the corrupt Eastern Churches, and the origin, development and continuance of all the human religions that have existed, and especially the Paganism which Christianity encountered in Asia, Africa and Europe. And yet we find that these maintained themselves for centuries after Christianity made its appearance. If such could exist for so many ages when undisturbed, and for so long after being attacked by Christianity, what difficulty can there be in believing that Romanism-a mixture of degraded Christianity and. almost everything that could be added to it can maintain and extend itself, when it rests upon an infinitely better foundation than the old Paganism, and is so much better but tressed than any human religion known? The existence, perpetuation, and increase of Romanism among the same races that followed the old Paganism, and that possessed the nature, wants and necessities of men of to-day, need therefore cause no comment, surprise or wonder. And thus it happens that Christianity (in other instances besides Romanism), after being so thoroughly degraded as to become a religion of nature, or of this world," will perpetuate itself, with some Christian doctrines and observances, while two threads of it hang together, where it has thoroughly obtained a footing, and is dominated by a priesthood, and is allowed to exist in peace, owing to the personal, social and political necessity of man having a religion of some kind, and the difficulty attending the introduction of a new one, of divine origin or purely human in its nature. 66 66 sor's additions, as history records, and daily experience testifies. Having become fairly established, there would be little chance, in the face of its organization and the common belief in its claims, of any one calling it in question, unless in secret, without the objection being instantly suppressed. It is too serious a matter to interfere, in any age, with any of the established beliefs of society that have no reference to religion, for any one to have thought of attacking a creed like that of Rome, based on the infallibility of the Church, at the head of which was our sovereign lord the Pope," who was lord paramount of this world, to whom kings were subject, who possessed the keys of heaven and hell, and could bless or curse men or nations at pleasure, giving dispensations and indulgences for sins still to be committed, and making that sin which was no sin, and that not sin which was sin. The Church was the heir of old Rome, as regards its government, language and literature, its laws, sciences, and arts. Its priests were the sole depositories of education and knowledge, civilization and government, the owners of vast wealth wrung from the community, and the dispensers of charity, in an ignorant society, dominated by the barbarian chiefs that overran the Western Empire. They were also the instruments of the amalgamation of races and the abolition of serfship, to whom the people looked for their religion and assistance in the direction of their temporal matters, and of whom they were proud, although treated in the matter of religion (conducted in a language unknown to them) as cattle are foddered. And it is a question whether what they did were merits, or merely, or for the most part, to maintain their dominion over their followers. We must not forget that Romanism has been the gradual growth of ages, each generation, as it were, having contributed, and is still con- This is the power with which tributing, to its development; each Protestants are called upon to disgeneration accepting its predeces-pute for the religious empire of the tle more than in name, find what is necessary to serve the purposes of a religion in their belief, and ignorance of everything different from it, and a determination to learn nothing else; for their belief is most sincere, and they cannot bring their minds to entertain the question whether their priests, "who never deceived them," can be in error, and far less impostors. The sincere Romanist, realizing the certainties of life and death, and the idea of a future state, with its rewards and punishments, believes and does what the priest tells him to do. What he wants is a certainty, which the priest readily enough assures him of; and he accepts the pardon of his sins in this world, which the priest as readily gives him, for to wait till forgiven by God, in this world or the next, is not what his knowledge or fears call for. The confession of sins at death, with a desire to atone for them and lead a better life, made to some one present on that awful occasion, are feelings natural to man, which Romanists have cunningly abused, as they have perverted most of the other religious instincts. Not content with death-bed scenes, they will confess and pardon votaries proceeding on short trips, such as to bathe in the sea, with the same object, giving them amulets to carry on their persons as sovereign as world. They meet an opponent in possession of a faith "from time immemorial, and universal in its domain," with a people, or a large part of it, devotedly attached to it; which all history and the very nature of man prove to be the most difficult of labours to change by aggression from without, even when it lays claim to no positive authority for its origin and truth. They must also meet an organization which has been truly called "the very masterpiece of human wisdom," the principal end of which is to maintain its dominion over its subjects; and which utilizes every class and kind of sentiment to be found within its communion, forming them into societies for that purpose; all-lay as well as clerical-being inspired by the same motive, and acting as one body to accomplish the common end; the most ignorant of its members being the most devoted to its interests. If Christianity itself, with its divine influences and miraculous accompaniments, did not succeed till after many centuries in ridding part of the world of heathenism, which, in a sense, rested on nothing, and, as it were, had nothing to support it, how can Protestantism expect, by ordinary means, to succeed with what is, for the most part, Christian in name only, in possession of the history and associations of Christianity, running back so long, with its many plausible argu-surances of certainty and safety. ments to support it, as being the only Christianity, and all others claiming it to be but "doctrines of hell;" both of which its votaries generally absolutely believe in, notwithstanding it being proved, or offered to be proved, from the Scriptures, tradition and history, that Protestantism-a protest against the errors of Rome is the Christianity of Christ and his Apostles, and that Romanism itself is a "doctrine of hell"? Nor will a surgeon approach Romanists, in serious cases, till after they have seen their priest, or rather the priest them, when they become the most satisfactory subjects to operate on. Nominal Romanists, whatever they may ultimately become, will, as members of their respective communities or nationalities, defend their Church, as they would any other institution that is theirs, not merely because it is "the religion of Romanists, with the exception of their fathers," but from motives of many of the men, who are such lit-pure party-spirit, as is common with human nature. But the sincere Ro- | tion-every one receiving what was manists stake everything upon their submission to their Church; so that, to disturb them in their belief is like rending their heart-strings, to say nothing of the incapacity of many, if not most, of them to acquire a new religion. Even Samuel Johnson used to say that many an Englishman would become a religious man, if he only knew how to go about it. Sincere Romanists, however, are seldom such by reflection and knowledge, like Protestants; but by having been the subjects of the ghostly influences of the priest and Church before their earliest recollections, and which they have hardly ever been without. As regards the priests, many of them are doubtless sincere, particularly the less intellectual or more ignorant ones, however questionable they may privately consider some of the doctrines and practices of their Church, or how they originated, or some of their own actions in life, or the means they resort to to support the interest and dignity of the Church, and everything connected with it. The whole matter concerns the questions, what we are, where we come from, and whither we go, about which no one personally knows anything, but must naturally look somewhere outside of himself for information. Everything Romanists have, they have inherited, and been most rigorously brought up to. It is a possession received from a high antiquity, to be believed in, maintained, and transmitted unimpaired to the end of time. It must be upheld against every opponent, as everything that is pure and holy, angelic and august, surrounded with its halo of hoary antiquity, and the grandeur of mighty Rome; and everything derogatory to it must be refuted, denied, or got rid of in some way. All this having been bandied about and dinned into the ears of priests from generation to genera asserted, or none disputing it, and all outside more or less believing and practising it-must necessarily have become the belief to a greater or less extent among the priests; at least that, as a matter of fact, whether always completely believed in or not, it was the religion that all should obey and venerate. Many of them, however, from the Pope downwards, have been actual, if not professed, infidels and atheists, looking upon everything they taught and defended, as to them, so many fortunate and profitable fables. It is a great stretch on the charity and credence of those outside of their fold to believe that many of them can be altogether sincere in what they profess and teach.* Romanists, before they began the * Many things will occur to the reader. under this head. For example, a convert leaves a large amount by will for masses for his soul, and a high dignitary calls upon the widow for a further large sum, giving as his reason that the legacy had got him only so far out of purgatory. This happened to my own knowledge in a Protestant community, but I pass over the particulars for an obvious reason. Priests can go a great length in a matter like this, or in anything tyrannical, or even odious; for the devotees will turn to their Church, however hardly used, as they cannot change their religion as they do their garments. And no one knows that like the priests. In communities entirely Romanist, the poorest and most ignorant devotees are better than dogs; indeed, as many, on frequently treated, in many respects, little getting possession of dogs, treat them roughly to test their dog-like quality of submission, so do priests sometimes appear to test, in a somewhat similar way, the obedience of their people. The genius of their religion makes it a moral necessity to exact absolute submission to them as representing it. When a contractor engages labourers on an extensive scale, and especially when at a distance from powerful local authority, he will sometimes "keep a priest; and frequently will "his reverence "be seen coming tearing" down the road, with a whip in hand. And that man would be "torn from limb to limb" who would dare to lay his hand upon him, or treat him disrespectfully. |