THE AMERICAN
TU SOW QUlSttOM,
Tht prrt Ml lltat on Tuetday,
Aug. 25, ittw )un( women wre
ewptd novice at th Content of
tht Third Order f St, KranHa, and
that torty-thrw others look the blaca
tell and entered li revocably upon their
Uvea a nun. Of emic It wm an
occasion of much triumph and hot a
Utile complacency on tho port of the
Roman Catholic hierarchy, under whose
auplces this consecration took plaee.
To us tho annoueemeiil c&ue Inex
prei'ible nd licit. The action seems
to u entirely removed from the, spirit
of Scriptures. We find nothing In the
examples of our Lord or his apontles,
or their teachings, to ootuiuond any
iiuoh course, Tho prayer of our Lord
was, "I prny not that thou shoulder
tako thorn out of tho world, but that
th'ttt shouldest keep them from tho
evil." It U not by shutting ourselves
out perpetually' from men that we are
able to tnlliicnco them for good. Tho
great moral power in the world Is the
power of Christian example, which is
largely lost when Christians shut thorn
selves out from tho world.
Thn vows which are token aro baHod
on a minooncoption of the will of God
and tho path of usefulness, By tho
vow of chastity, women shut them
selves out forever from tho most hon
orable o Hi co to which God nails women,
the high, hallowed, divine priesthood
of m iternity. There Is nothing in
which woman comes moro Into sympa
thy with tho divine, than In becoming
the parent of a human being, and
taking upon hersdlf the 'cure add
sacrifices which elevate, soften, rellne,
and purify her own nature, all of whloh
are expressed in tho single word
"mother."
This use of tho word 'chastity", is
an abuse of that h .norod name, and
an affront to every pure wife and mat
ron, Is It only the nuns who are
chaste? Is not a woman chasto who
jas led a life of married purity, whom
God has blessed with children, whom
she has trained for earth and for
heaven? Has not all history honored
as a miracle of ch,tHteness, Lucretia, a
wife and mother, who could not endure
even involuntary bodily contamination,
and died in an honorable and divine
agony of grief and shame?
In the vow of obedionoo, those mis
guided women put themselves abso
lutely under the control of their official
religious superiors, of men having all
the human characteristics of Imperfec
tion, Ignorance, prldo, lovo of suprem
acy and control, and earthly passion.
The vow has no limitation; it is abso
lute; there is nothing whloh the priest
can demand of tho nun that her vow
does not obllgo her to render. The
natural result of this jnlimlted author
ity on the one hand, and thU absolute
obedience on th other, are what might
bo expected of human nature. Hut
what they are Is largely, from the very
naturo of tho case, unknown; no sight,
no soun J, passes outside the convent
walls. It Is only now and then, as in
the case of the nun of II irbara of
Krakow, that a revelation is made of
cruelty and despotism such as startles
the civilized world.
The nuns who take these vows are
young, ignorant, enthusiastic. Tboir
rnlhuani kat ! itkitt4 ty ttrtj
form of appal, bf rmy addrrta to
the Imagination, hf tdctur of tht
tattiit, the rnlt J, and twlnrta of
a conventual life.
Not wldotn, It may m auptoMd, t
nun wakes up to Bad that ah ha bwn
profoundly In error, that she na bourn
niWled. that the life la one to which aha
it not railed; that within the convent
there Is the tame human nature, there
I tho lame heart hunger, as without.
lleraoul craves once moro the voices
of her parent, aha long for her home;
an innocent love, which she thought to
pleae God by suppressing, rles within
her soul. Add to thU the revelations
which come to her of the jealousies, of
tho heart burning, of the narrow am
bitions, of tho lovo for supremacy, of
the petty religious gossip, which ruaket
up the atmosphere of the nunnery.
Add ytt darker and more horrible pos
sibilities to which we will only In the
faintest way allude. Thb nun realises
that In taking her vow, she has made
a hideous mistake, has ruined her whole
lifo, has violated the human nature and
tho woman nature with which God
endowed her. Sho would give tho
whole world if tho vows might be
retracted and If tho convent doors
might be opened. But it Is impossible;
the doors opon but to admit.
Can anything bo conceived more
wretched than a lifo thus spent? AH
tho experience of tho Middle Ages
attests that there Is not on earth a
nearer approach to holl than a rellgiour
life out of which tho loy and hope and
I.. .1 - .1... -I
inspiration uavo ueyiuiuu.
Thn whole avsteni , of a oenventnaWr
and monastic life U foreign to tho
gonitis of a free oountry. There ought
not to be any Institution that U not
open to public Inspection; there ought
to be the opportunity for it to be asoer
ininaii nnaltlvnlv that no sano person Is
detained in any Institution contrary to
hi or lior own will, or after his own
desire to bo an Inmate has ceased.
There would bo much loss objection to
tho convent and the nunnery If they
were as opon to the Inspection of tho
publlo authorities as aro all Protestant
charitable Institutions.
Of course, the secular Journals have
nothing of criticism to offer upon tho
ceromony of which we have spoken.
Into tho reasons of thoir silence-we do
not Inquire. But It soems time that
some one uttered what must be in evory
heart In reading tho narrative of this
saoriflce, begotten of superstition and
mistaken religious lmpuIse.Tho Na
tional Baptist.
Are vou an Amorican? Then lot u
do your Job work.
After vou have read this paper give
It to a friend. Lot tho Interest spread.
FORM YOUR OWN OPINION
flirmllhitl in iruard tho rleliti of per
sonal security, personal liberty, private
property ami of religious profession
and worship." Kent's Commentaries,
Vol. 1, Pago 407.
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M03T UNSCRUPULOUS
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HAD HURL-ED AGAINST
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nose, to what end? That tho Roman church might dominate political
. . ., i . - 1 ...i I t. A ...111- l!t ... ... .
anairs; inai ine itoman priests ougut sumo noony n (miinuwiiuu,
, that the blaek-eoated and black-hearted Jesuits might real
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