The American. (Omaha, Nebraska) 1891-1899, December 17, 1891, Page 2, Image 2

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    THE AMERICAN.
HIV. FAWCtTT ON MOMANISM.
Hv. lr, Fawcett.tn a awrh to ft
!s nf ili'tti'oin'i whit had Just 'f ft
cunaecrnted in the First M. K. church
In ('blongo, said:
8Utra In thu work of our dear Iord,
it gives mo pleasure to bo permitted to
present you with these dlplomaa, that
you urn to retain ss ofllolnl notice to
'nil peoples from tho church t( which
you are members of tlio estimate that
church place upon your iinli(lcnt!on,
spiritual, mental, and moral, for the
woik upon which you nro about to en
ter. Your first qtnilf lirutUin for suo
oiful work, among tlio poor, the
lowly, tlio alck ami tlio dying, to whom
your ohurch send you, la found In
your personal doep-soalod christian
experience, and In your thorough con
viction Unit you have been called to
tbla work which la to you something
far more than the work of the church.
Yen, to you It ih the work of Jesus for
tlio comfort and rest of suffering hu
manity. It ha boen bin tod that the
Methodist church, In thus sotting you
apart for thla special work, la follow
ing on in tlio footsteps In the ohurch of
Roma, Well, whatever may be the
likeness between tlio work upon which
you are now about to enter and aome
traits of the work of the maters of
the church of Rome (a very worthy
class) tlio only likcuoaa that can be
found, will be found in the character
of tlio work. Tlio Institution In whloh
for two or more yours you hare been
trained and from whloh you are now
graduating, bear no semblance, no,
not In the least degree to either A con
vfciftor ft nunnery. The instituting
from which you graduate, with that
honored lady of Methodlam at Its bead,
Mrs. Lucy Rider Meyer, Is open for the
Inapectlon of the publlo both night And
day, Prom Its kitchen to its garret
there la not ft department that Is closed
from the eye of the publlo, Your lect
ure room and the lectures you have
listened to during the years of your
matriculation have been open and free
to the publlo, and whoaoover desired
came end saw and heard,
I there ft convent or nunnery tinder
all the ohurch of Home of this charac
ter? Entering your work you Are not
called upou to clone the door of society
and Its privileges against yourselves;
you are not called upon to walk the
publlo streets with bowed head And
downcaat eye; you are not called upon
to spend your time In fasting And
readings of prayers, Your only tow
Is thst, for Jesus' sake, you will with
out earthly compensation spend your
time and life for the comfort of the
poor and sick and suffering, and At
any hour without question from
the church which now sends you forth
you Are At perfect liberty to sever your
connection from this work; And enter
upon Any work you may see proper,
Does the sliterhood of Rome know Any
such freedom as thla? The church
that now sends you forth does not
equip you with crosses and beads, with
crucifixes and pictures of the holy vlr
gin, nor with prayerbook and holy
water. Your only equipment, all that
Is found necessary for you, Is an earn
est heart-love for Jesus, the heart full
of sympathy for humanity, the holy
Scriptures, and your Intellectual quail-
AVfttlM asetprcsaml In thpse diplomas.
The cruoitlxps, the pictures, the beads
and crosses, the piayerbook and the
holy watrr are rqnlpmi'nts provided
by the church of Home, and It would
appear from very recent developments
that that church Is far more amicus
About the preservation of thine things
and her relation to them than she Is for
the education and comfort of humanity.
It appears that ft few days ago
the ion. Benjamin Itutterworth, a lead
ing edition of this country and a prom
inent olllctal of the Columbian Kx por
tion, stood before the "Standard Club"
and gave utleranoo to the following
words, speaking of beautiful sunny
Italy, that bo had recently visited, her
past, hor present, and her future:
"Italy is a land thirsting for knowledge,
and If I were the Autocrat of Italy I
would sell 10,000 picturoa of the
Madonna and 10,000 pictures of the
crucifixion, and with the proceeds I
would erect schools upon hor hill-tops
and provide teachers for the education
of her poople." This much an Ameri
can citizen dared to say, and because
of this saying we learn that the church
of Homo is "angry," that she Is very
"much offended." It Is said that by
those words Mr. Huttorworth has
"compromised tho interest of the
World's Fair," that he has "deliberately
offended 600,000 Romans In the city of
Chicago and 600,000,000 of Romans dis
tributed over the face of the whole
earth." Archbishop Fcohan Is reported
as saying, "It was sn Injudicious thing
for Mr. Butterworth to say' it was an
Insult to tho Cut li olio religion and must
be resented. Ih baa attacked the re
ligion of many nations and twiUlons
people, whose aaslstanco is absolutely
neoossary to the success of the World's
Fair. JIo has Insulted half a million of
Chicago's population and should resign
the place he oocupies."
Now, in the face of all those declara
tions, permit mo to say that I do not
think thore Is a man under the stars
and stripes who stand free from politi
cal or religious fear of the bludgeon of
the church of Rome, but I will say Mr,
Butterworth uttered just the right
words for a true American to niter,
and they might with propriety be
ottered Again and Agala, Let me ask
Bishop Fcohan how and in what way
Mr. Butterworth Insulted the ohurch of
Rome? He said not a word About
that church or Any other ohurch or
religion. Xfb simply said that if he had
the power be would dispose of those
thousand of Madonnas and pictures of
the oruxiflxion that are of no benefit
to either ohurch or state and that are
really today under the protection of the
government of Italy, and with the pro
ceeds be would build school houses
And eduoate the people who are so
longing for An education, Let me aak
Bishop Feehsn If In his thought those
pictures And crucifixes Are of more Im
portance to the church of Rome than
the intellectual up-building of the
people of Italy t And do these pictures
of the Virgin Mary and of tho cruci
fixion indeed really repreont the
religion of the Roman church ?
thought the church of Homo professed
to be A representative to the world of
New Testament Christianity, D'd Jesus
say to his Disciples "Go ye into tho
world and take a picture of my mother
And of my crucifixion and ! will m
with you Always?" Is there Any.
thing tn All the hUtory of the New
Testament church that so much as
hints that pictures and crucifixes are to
be the emblems of chrUtlan faith?
On that last night before his crucifixion
our Blessed Iord Instituted the last
supper and said to his dlsclplest "As
often as ye shall do this, do It In ro
mnmbranoe ol me," but ho never said
anything about beads, crosses or Au
donnas, Ah theso thing may be
necessary emblems of the church of
Rome, but New Testament Christianity
knows no need for them. If they do
indoed in any way represent Christian
ity, they aro as much and far more tho
property of the 1'roteatant faith of tho
world, than thoy are of tho church of
Rome, and Mr. Butter worth's words
from this standpoint should bo resented
by the Protestantism of tho world. It
may be possible that Me. Butterworth
is quite incompetent for the responsible
position he holds as an ofllcer of the
World's Fair and because of his in
competency, he should perhaps resign,
but this incompetency is not in any
way discovered or discoverable by his
speech before tho Standard club, and
tho American people should require
vastly more than the demand of the
Church of Rome before his resignation
bo accepted. Lr. Butterworth bas
compromised tho interests of the
World's Fair," has ho ? The Amorloan
people may well ask: "On what
Roman nation and what part of the
church of Homo, does the success of
the groat Columbian Exposition de
pend ?" In just so far. as its success
depends upon any Lloman nation, ot
eny part of the church of Rome, in just
so far is its success doubtful. And if
Its success did in any measure depend
upon the church of Rome, would Mr.
Butterworth'! words regarding Italy
be sufficient reason why he should re
sign bis position ? I have a picture in
my mind drawn from history, which I
consider appropriate in answering this
question. It was in the year 1218,
Philip was on the throne of France,
King John was on the throne of
England and Pope Innocont sat In
power at Rome. King John bad of
fended the pope by refusing to admit
to tho office of Archbishop of Canter
bury, Steven Langton whom the pope
bad recommended. Innocont, infallible
though be was, grew Angry, and
actually gave away ail thodominlons
of John to I'lilllp of Franco. To regain
bis posacasion John prostralod himself
before the pope and took the following
oath: 'I, John by the Grace- of Ood,
King of England and Lord of Ireland,
in order to expiate my sins, do of my
own free will and by the advice of my
barons give to the church of Rome, to
Pope Innocent and his successors, the
Kingdom of England, and all other
prerogatorlusof my crown, I will here
after bold them as the pope's vassal.
I will be faithful to God, to the ohurch
of Rome, to the pope, my master, and
to bis successors legitimately elected.
I promise to pay him a tribute of 1,000
marks yearly, to wit: 700 for the
kingdom of England, and S00 for the
kingdom of Ireland." This oath thus
given and Langlon installed. "
Pope Innocent broke bis contract
with Philip of France, and John sat
safe ofc bis throne. But the puslllan
mous conduct if King John dlagusted
the oopie uf England, and the outcome
was the conference at Runnyn.rde and
the signing of the famous deed of
Mugnu Chart a, by whloh at last the
power of the church of Rome was com
pletely destroyed under the British flag.
Now, let Mr. Butterworth, for no other
reason than because ot his speech
before the Stnudard club, resign his
position In answer to the demand of
Iiiahop Feuhan, who Is tho represent
ative of the pope of Rome in tho stale
of Illinois; or let Mr. Butterworth go
like King John and bow down at tho
foot of tho great bishop, and let him
vow never ic the future to speak of
madonnas or crucifixes but in the moat
reverential way, and let him thus obtain
forgiveness at the hands of Homo for
his past sins, for his dreadful insult,
and lot him gain promise otthe Roman
power that ho may retain his office
until the fair shll end. Yea, lot Mr.
Buttorworth do cither of these things,
do them, either for the satisfaction of
politicians or for tho comfort of the
church of Rome, and in my thinking it
will be discovered that there is Prot
estantism enough under the stars and
stripes to teach the pope and his
emissaries that they do not rule this
country. In my thinking, every true
christian, every wise man, every true
American, yes, and every lover of Italy,
may with the greatest propriety say
amen to Mr. Buttcrworths speech,
i
THE WAY TO GO
To Chicago, Poorla, St. Loul, Burling
ton, Lincoln, Kansas City, Atchison, St.
Joseph, Qulncy, Doudwood, Denver and
uneyonniT, aim an pomi oni, buuwj
and west, is by tho Burlington Iloulo. 1
Its trains aro comiHwod of magnificent
Pullman sleepers, elegant reclining
chair cars (scats froo) comfortable day
coaches, and famous Burlington Route
dining cars, and present unsurpassed
facilities for reaching any or all of the
alxvo mentioned cities.
Three trains dally for Chicago, two
for St. Joseph, Kansas City and St.
Louis; two for Denver; ono for Chey
enne; one for Dead wood, leuvo tho Union
Depot.
The "Vestibule Flyer," which leaves
Omaha at 4:30 P. M., dally, for Chicago,
is tho favorite train for the "Windy
City." Its convenient hours of depart-
ure anu arrival, mijierw equipment unii
closo connections with all express truing
for eastern cities, muko it by fur the
most desirable means of truvel between
Omaha and tho cost. -
City Ticket Office, 1223 Furnum st.
W. F. Vaill, Agent.
Knva ihn I'r.ilautnnt Arniirlnnnt 'Mlii
I 1 I. - 1 A Jt
-"V" ..............
Jauutte Cochrane, of Beaton, daughter
of a Protestant millionaire, was sont to
a Catholio school, Tho result is, she
came out a Catholic and she now takes
tho veil and her millions go Into the
church. Her father besought her with
tears to give up this foolish notion,
but she would not. Tha serpent had
Its colls about her and she whs charmed
by It. It was what he ought to huv
expected."
The Amehioak, of Onraha has headed
a list with a subscription of five dollars
for the benefit of Miss Connor, the
Indiana school teacher who kept the
old flag flying over her school bouse in
spite of the threats of disloyal "copper
heads'" Peru Gazotte.