Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The American. (Omaha, Nebraska) 1891-1899 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1891)
THE AMERICAN. 1lU UtUWH I t liOVL Tim Vh jrrh if Room, In lis rcrlesl. lU-nl and rtHti-l rsH, l a system ?f tgimtlc fraud, l luoUtii and slavery. This I. Ihm-h lu dMlngttlhlijr char-j aeter (or llm past I veais. Tim i nionlron unit unwarrantable Asump t Ion of Urn right to dictate , and con trol the consclenee of mankind has iieen t hn I n Mm me it I employed ly lU hierarchy In perpetuate llm more than "Kgypllnn bondage," over tho minds f million of tho liiiniiin race, lis history, It lis seopo In civil nml tellglous matter h not toleration, nor Ireed-nn, nor epialily, but supremacy. All oilier interests iiiihI bo sub nidhiited tti hern. Nothing less will ntisfy her clalmr. When nml where -ho hiiH the power f asserting theeo ilrtini of supremacy olio train pIH on i. II other liuniiin rights, nml compels obedience to her stern mandates. This has been her history In tho past, (bir experience of her working anil aims nt tli present in identically tho shiiio. It U not possible that it could tui otherwise. Why? lleciiuso tho proud boast of Homo which Is over ihiuntingly emblazoned on her banners in ''Sompcrcadem," that Is, always tho samo, Ami wo know, too, that tho boast ami tho prido of her votaries is, "Roman Cut holies lirst, and Citizens nfter, If 3011 pleasn," In view of thoHo facts, It surely bo lollies n serious, nml nil-Important question with American citizens how I ng, nuil to what extent will thoy t derate such attempts at supremacy ? Remember that Is tho genius of Romad Urn; and sho U always tho name, as unchanged ns slio Is unchangablo' in her faith, her doctrine, her prnctlco, and, of course, her alms. "Will tho American people, then, passively sub mit to tho dictation, In civil ami re ligious 111 utters to n priest of Homo? Will they tamely surrender their birth right of freedom to liny occlos'nstlcal or political domirmtion P Will tho free genius of tho American people blindly, or unthinkingly nccept tho thraldom ( f an Italian bishop and his emissaries? Will tho loyalty to tho frco Institutions of our republic to secure which pa triots fought and bled bo now set aside n a thing of no value? Will the sncred am inestimable blessings of civil nml religious liberty bo sufl'ercd to bu usurped by onomles of both. , Hut, some will answer, theso aro not endangered. Aro they not? "Oh I fools and slow of heart" (0 reallzo that It Is whilst "men slept, tho enemy sowed tares." Ho, too, whilo wo aro sleeping, tho emissaries of Homo aro ever on tho alert, ever watchful, ever seeking In every form to control tho Institutions and government of our country, To do this thoy mil avail themselves of every posslblo means, especially of a class of politicians who nro over willing to Identify themselves with Homo, and who, like tho degenerated priests of Israel, clamor for "a llttlo olllce, that troy oat broad." Provided they bo come tho ready and willing tools of tho emissaries of tho Papacy, they nro so rewarded but at what a cost ? Humanism, wo sny, Is both a political and nn ecclesiastical system. It Is specially Important to remember this la a series of nrticlos wo shall trout of Its phase, Tim above Is simply an introduction, In the following w must substantiate th statement mln that Hi s system of gigantic fraud,' delusion, and slavery, This w will undertake to prove by an appeal t her own stsmbml of flth, and doctrine, and practice, ss taught and enforced by her bishop and priests, and be lieved In by the great bo.ly (if their coreligionists- and by tho dearest testi mony of scripture, history, and com mon sense, Hut Koine will sny,oh Roman Cathol icism I dilTercnt now In faith and practice to what It was in tho niedhwal ages. Why not "let tho past dead bury Its (lend " Is It different V Allow themselves, please, to spenk. Their church never changes. Is not this enough ? What ever in faith, In dogma, In practice, tho Church of Homo was In all ages In her history tho same sho Is today without change tho same sho will ever con tinue in her history. This Is hor own claim, wo cannot go beyond it. Protestants, as a rulo, aro culpably ignorant of tho tenets of Romanism. Few of them take tho trouble or inter est to Inform thomsolvos on its tendoncy or teaching. If thoy did they would at onco know that it could not essentially chango without destruc tion; and that honco It professes to bo unchangeable. Tho creed of Popo Pius IV, bearing date November, 1551, affirms that tho "church hath held her doctrines ns sho now holds them." Popo Gregory XVI, In l.is encyclical letter of August 15th, 18!12, says: "Ever bearing In mind that tho universal uhuroh suffors from every novelty, ns well ns tho admonition of tho Popo, Bt. Agatha, that from what has boon regularly defined, nothing can bo taken nwny, no Innova tion Introduced thero, no addition made, but that it must bo prosorvod untouched as to words and moaning Again ho declares, It Is no loss absurd than Injurious to hor (Church of Home) than anything by way of restoration, or regeneration, should bo forced upon her as necessary for hor soundness or Increase, as If sho could bo thought obnoxious to decay, to obscurities, or to nny other such Inoonvonlonoes." Please, boar in mind that those aro the words of Infallibility I Again, Mr. Charles Butter In his book of the Roman Catholic church, states, "It is, Indeed, most truo that tho Roman Catholics believe tho doctrines of their church to bo unchangeable, and that It is a tenet of tholr creod that what their faith ever has been such it now Is, and such It ever will bo. Now, ns Roman Catholics claim this immutability, can wo bo charged with iincharltablenoss In showing forth Its truo nature, tendency, design, faith, and practice as a system. Tho Protestant world has boon asleep for nearly tho past two hundred years regarding tho Papacy. Moanwhllo It has boon wakefully using every strnto gem, and strenuously employing overy nioans and agency not alone for Its preservation, but for Its extension. Recently in this city much has been said and written regarding tho beauty and purity, superior merit and sanctity of a life of enforced celibacy among the DrioHtbood. Before wo traoo tho origin, history, and pmctUsl result of untishirsl and noiljtlurl restraint m human nature, w wish distinctly td st Kt a tli si will mk no assertion reepl what ran lx substantiated by llm testimony of net of parliament, decree of llmlr own councils, the records of legislation, and iho con fessions of their own writers. As setting forth In general terms Iho pernicious fruits of celibacy read whal Iho Rev. Joseph lllanco White, who was a Hpnnlrfh priest of great colobrlcty, and of unquestionable veracity, says of tho character of ihe clorgy of his country? "My feelings aro painfully vehement when I dwell upon this subject. That neither tho freedom I havo enjoyed so many years, nor tho last rcposo of the victims, the remembrance of whom still wrings tears from my eyes, can alloy the bitter pangs of my youth; aro proofs that my views arlso from a real, painful, and protracted exporlonco. Devoted to tho ecclesiastical profession from tho ago of fifteen, when I received the minor ordors, I lived in constant friendship with the most distinguished youths, who, in my town wore pro- paring for tho priesthood. Men of tho first eminonco in tho churoh were tho old friends of my family, ray parents and my own spiritual directors. Thus I grow up, thus I contlnuod in man kind, till, at tho ago of five and thirty, religious oppression and that alono forced mo away from kindred and country. Tho Intimacy of friendship, tho undisguised converse of sacramental confession, opened to me the hearts of many, whoso exterior conduct might have deoelvod a common obsorver. Tho ooarso f ranknoss of associate dis soluteness loft indood no secrets among the spiritual slaves, who, unablo to separate tho laws of God from those of tholr tyrannical churoh, trampled both under foot in riotous despair. Such are the souroes of the knowledge I possess. God, sorrow, and remorse are my witnesses. A more blameless, ingenious, ro llglous sot of youths than that in tho enjoyment of whose friendship I passod tho best years of my Ufa, tho world cannot bonst of, eight of us, nearly all of tho same ago, lived in the olosost bond of affection, from sixteen till one and twenty; and four at least, con tinued in the s'umo Intimacy till about thirty-five. Of this knot of friends, not one was tainted by tho breath of gross vlco till tho church had doomed thorn to a llfo of celibacy, and turnod tho best affections of tholr hoart into crime It is tho very roflnomont of churob cruelty to say thoy woro froo whon they deprived thomsolvos of tholr natural rights. Loss, indued, would bo tho unfoullngnosi of a parent, who, watching a moment of genorous ex citement, would deprive a son of his blrth-rlght, and doom him by a vol untary act, to plno away through llfo In want and misery. A virtuous yotHh of one-and-twonty who Is mado to believe christian per fection inseparable from a llfo of col Ibacy, will easily overlook tho dangors which bosot that stato of lifo, Thoso who mado, and thoso who still support tho unnatural law, which turns tho mistaken piety of youth into a souroo of future vloo, ought to have loarnod mercf from their own nperlsne, but priest whohss waded ( most do) through llm niirr slough of a llf of Incessant temptation, fulling and rising, stumbling, struggling, and falling Again, without at one cttng off Catholicism with rhrlsllanlly, con t ct, generally, habits of mind not unlike thoso of the guards of oriental beauty. Their hearts havo been seared with envy. I cannot think of tho wanderings of tho friends of my youth without heart rending pain. One, now no more, whoso talents raised htm to 0110 of tho highest dignities of tho church of Spain wa9, for many years, a model of purity. Whon, by tho powerful Inlluonoo of his mind, and tho warmth of his devotion, this man had drawn many Into tho clerical and religious lifo, (my youngest sister among tho latter), ho sunk nt onco into tho grossest and most daring profligacy. I hoard him boast that the night beforo tho solemn procession of Corpus Christ!, where ho appeared nearly nt tho hoad of his chapter, ono of two children had been born which his two concubinos brought to light wlthm a fow days of each other. Tho intrigues of ambition soon shared his mind with tho pursuit of pleasure; and the fall of a Potentate, whom ho took the trouble to instruct in tho policy of Machlavol, involved him in danger and distress for a lime. Ho had risen again Into court Influence when death cut him off in tho flower of llfo. I had loved him when both our lives were pure. I had loved him when Catholicism had driven us both from the path of virtue; I still lovo, and will love his memory, am hope that God' morcy lias pardoned his lifo of sin, without imputing it to tho abettors of the barbarous laws which occasioned his spiritual ruin." Such, more or loss, hns boon tho fato of my early friends whoso minds and hearts wore much above tho oommoi. standard of tho Spanish clergy. What then need I say of tho vuliv crowd of priests, who, coming, ns tho Spanish phaso has it, from coarso swaddling clothos and raised by ordination to a rank of lifo for which they havo not boon prepared, mlnglo vlco and superstition, grossness of feeling, and prido of ofllco In tholr character ? I have known tho best among them; I havo hoard their confessions; I have hoard tho confessions of young persons of both sexes who fell under tho In fluence of their suggestions and example; and I do (ledum that nothing can bo inoro dangerous to youthful vlrtuo than their company. How many souls would bo saved from crime, but for tho vain display of pretended super ior vlrtuo which Homo demands of her clorgy I Taken from White's prac tical and internal ovldenco against Catholicism, pages 132-137, 8vo., 2nd. edition. London. 182(1. A Minis run. Goto Denver on tho Past Vostlbulod Kx press of tho Union 1'uelllo ami par tako of tho elegant meals served in the Pullman Dining Car running on this train, Through Pullman Palace Sleepers between Denver and Now Orleans via tho Union Paolllo only,