132 A SINGULAR POPISH SUPERSTITION IN MEXICO.

same log, covered with silk and tinsels, all the ghostly credit of her intercession with God in bringing about good weather! Were it known that the priests only shrewdly fix on the exact time of intercession for the good weather, when it is just about to clear off, they would not procure any money.

"But in consideration of these weighty services of this Roman 'mother of God,' this 18-inch piece of timber, rendered, by her amazing act of condescension, in coming down into Mexico, and procuring good weather from heaven, the priests receive from the government no less than $6,000 at each half year's procession. For twice in the year does this mighty mistress of the Mexicans make a procession. And twice are her devout and very disinterested priests paid $6,000. This trick of the knavish priests of the Roman mother-these mountebank tricks, played off with this idol of 18 inches of timber, costs the government $12,000 annually. What a scientific and enlightened nation must these Mexicans be, under such amazingly pious and disinterested priests!!

"This procession, and this idol, the gentleman assured us, he saw with his own eyes. We can give references, if any one is disposed to question the fact, on account of the grossness of the imposture.

"The origin of this degrading imposture of priests and knaves, among the weak-minded and brutalized class of Mexicans, was thus told us by the same judicious and intelligent traveller.

"There is a singular plant, very common in Mexico, which grows with immense leaves, so much so that a full-grown leaf can with difficulty be carried by one person. In the centre of the plant is an upright and thick trunk. This trunk is cut off at a proper place, and the heart or sap thereof is scooped out; it being of a soft and spongy nature. This hollow place is soon filled with the rich juice of the plant. This is by fermentation, converted by the Mexicans into a delicious drink. These noble plants grow in great abundance, and are cultivated with care.

"An old man, remarkable for his devotion to popery, and subserviency to the priests, was, one day, while out among his plants, much alarmed at hearing a voice issuing from one of the trunks of the plants which he had hollowed out. The voice said distinctly'Take me home! take me home!'

"He could do no less than obey the holy mandate. As he

A SINGULAR POPISH SUPERSTITION IN MEXICO. 133

took up the plant, the priestly tradition adds, a voice again fell on his astounded ears- I am the virgin, the holy virgin, who controls the weather!"

"He took home this singular plant and its invisible inhabitant; and according to orders he carefully deposited it in the chest which stood in a corner of his cabin. Another plant, on another day, had also its responses; and that was also taken home; and also deposited. Tradition, of course, does not lay open the fraud of some concealed priest, or some ventriloquist. But we go on.

66

He was now told by the Virgin' to go and call the priest ;' for, in all popish lands, the priest is everything: he is the breath in the nostrils of all devoted superstitious pagans and Romanists: every trick and imposture ends in exalting the priest, and in fleecing a trodden-down people.

“Well, the priest when waited on, was perfectly astonished; he wondered at it, so did he, as if he really know nothing about it, at all. The invisible being in the plant even sent forth more words in his presence. It talked with amazing intelligence. This satisfied the holy man of course. He, and the old man forthwith examined the chest, for the first plant. And what was their holy and priestly amazement, when their delighted eyes saw, in place of the joints of the plants-an image, 18 inches-just 18 inches long ; and as black, and sooty, and ugly, as an Egyptian mummy; or as even Satan himself! Still, it was 'the Virgin.' And, as she must have fallen from heaven, and could not possibly have been put in there by any priest in the old man's absence-her blackness and ugliness began to lose first impressions. She seemed a black beauty! And the priest-oh! of course, he knew nothing about the manner in which this image came into the old man's chest ; not he. He was often about the cabin in the old man's absence. But of course he could not have put it there. It evidently came down from heaven: its blackness proved divine antiquity. olden times, a Diana and a Jove fell down from heaven among heathens. And why not the Virgin fall down from heaven among devout Mexicans and holy Roman priests! A chapel was reared on the spot, where she appeared and spoke to the old man and there the horde of priests minister to her.

Of

"This is the famous IDOL carried in solemn processions, twice in the year, from the chapel down into the city of Mexico, in order

1

134

TRAITS IN THE REFORMERS.

to procure favorable weather; and what is more important surely, to put twelve thousand dollars annually into the priest's pockets, from an intelligent, educated, and devout Roman catholic population! How much more easy, genteel, and priestlike, is it to make two such rich harvests annually, than to go about the beggarly custom of cultivating the soil, like other honest men! To be serious-can any person name or conceive any impostures in the whole history of man, equal in their stupendous and brutalizing effects, to the disgusting and atrocious impostures of popery, and its priesthood!!! O most mysterious Providence! How long will thy forbearance permit such stupendous knavery to be enacted in thy world, upon thy own rational creatures! How long will the earth be allowed to groan under the great catholic imposture, which sets at defiance every command of God, and every attribute of the Almighty!"

TRAITS IN THE REFORMERS.

THOSE eminent servants of Christ excelled in various talents both in the pulpit and in private. Knox came down like a thunderstorm; Calvin resembled a whole day's set rain. Beza was a shower of the softest dew. Old Latimer, in a coarse frieze gown, trudged a-foot, his testament hanging at one end of his leathern girdle, and his spectacles at the other, and without ceremony, iastructed the people in rustic style from a hollow tree; while the courtly Ridley, in satin and fur, taught the same principles in the cathedral of the metropolis. Cranmer, although a timorous man, ventured to give the most powerful and lascivious tyrant of his time a new-testament, with the label "whoremongers and adulterers God will judge;" while Knox, who said there was nothing in the pleasant face of a lady to affray him, assured the queen of Scots, that "if there were any spark of the spirit of God, yea, of honesty or wisdom in her, she would not be offended with his affirming in his sermons, that the diversions of her court were diabolical crimes, evidences of impiety or insanity." These men were not all accomplished scholars: but they all gave proof enough that they were honest, hearty, and disinterested in the cause of religion; and to those, and not to literary qualifications, all were indebted for popularity in the pulpit, and public confidence out of it.

A GRAVE JEST.

135

THE CONFESSIONAL.

A COVER FOR ALL CRIMES.

IN proof that the awful secrecy of the priest's closet supersedes and extinguishes all moral obligations, as well as every duty due from the subject to the state, one important and conclusive case occurs to us as singularly marked, being connected with the destiny of Henry IV., king of France.

A popish fanatic, named Barriere, had consulted his priest in confession, and also afterward a Dominican monk called Father Seraphim, on the lawfulness of killing Henry IV., expressing his fixed determination to murder that monarch. The priest considered this resolution most orthodox, and kept the secret. But the monk did not so view the affair; and having in vain used every persuasion possible to induce the assassin to renounce his detestable design, the Dominican anticipated the crime, and sent intelligence to the king's ministers. The papist would-be regicide was taken and put to death. Henry having been erroneously informed, that Barriere, instead of having simply consulted the monk, also communicated his plan to him in confession, when the Dominican was afterward presented to him, said: "Did not Barriere reveal his wicked design to you in confession ?" Not only should all the wretchedlyduped Roman catholics listen to the monk's reply, but all protestants should lay it to heart. Greatly agitated, the Dominican, Father Seraphim replied "Sire, do not imagine it—I would not have divulged it in that case for the world. I know of what vast consequence is the seal of the sacrament of confession for the glory of God, the good of the church, and the safety of individuals. Barriere only proposed to me his intention of murdering your majesty, and only by way of asking my opinion." This exposure of popery must satisfy all persons as to French secrecy.

A GRAVE JEST.-The Dublin (Roman Catholic) Review, and the Philadelphia R. C. Herald, of March 15, use the facetious phrase," The exemplary catholic priesthood of Ireland!" Verily this is carrying the grave jest too far. The Dublic Review, and the Herald, ought to have the bowels of mercy on their own countrymen of the Roman catholic priesthood!

136 PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND UNDER HENRY IV.

PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND DURING HENRY IV.'S REIGN.

HAT we may not lead the reader into confusion, or perplex his memory, we shall simply record at this time the persecutions of the Lollards of England, under the reign of Henry IV.

Richard II., of England, was a weak prince, and governed by favorites, many of whom were foreigners. He had disgusted the ancient nobility, who, by the nature of the feudal law,were impatient of control. He had given to some of these foreigners the wardships of the young nobility, and this was sufficient in itself to create a vast number of enemies. A restless nobility, endowed with greater powers than is consistent with the state of a free government, entered into cabals among themselves, and invited over from France, Henry, son of John of Gaunt, and made him an offer of the crown, upon condition he would redress those grievances they complained of. Richard was then in Ireland, but landing soon afterward, in Wales, he was taken prisoner and brought up to London.

A parliament met at Westminster, in which Richard signed a formal revocation of all pretensions to the crown; and Henry, duke of Lancaster, was crowned under the title of Henry IV. This happened in 1399, and the captive king was sent prisoner to the castle of Pomfret, in Yorkshire-that he was murdered in that castle can not be doubted, but the time is uncertain. The generality of our historians make him a prisoner above two years; but this is in our opinion improbable, for as Charles I. said: "There are but few steps between the prisons and the graves of princes."

Richard had always been much favored by the nobility of Yorkshire, and of the other northern counties, so that they did not approve of the revolution that had taken place, especially as Henry was of a sour, morose, and cruel disposition.

The crown sat tottering on his head, and many conspiracies were formed against his government. Some pretended that Rich1 ard was still alive, although nothing can be more certain than that