CHAPTER XVI.

THE CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO.

CONDUCTED into this cell, in which from some unseen cause there was a

most offensive odour, I was shown in one corner a mattress that seemed

to have served as a bed for dogs.

"There," said my gaoler, "you can take your rest when you like. We

cannot leave you any light, for it is altogether prohibited in your

case. It is a new regulation, which is not in force with respect to

prisoners for political offences. We do not know, at present, on what

charge you are brought here."

So saying the gaoler retired, closing the first and second doors; and I

remained in darkness in the middle of my dirty cell, oppressed by the

heated unwholesome air which I could scarcely breathe. I was abandoned

by man, but my God was with me. Hence, though deprived of everything,

I felt I was not utterly forsaken. Fatigued and exhausted, I needed

repose; but without food, which for three days I had scarcely tasted,

I could not sleep. I passed the night in prayer to my God, and found

comfort in the remembrance of the sufferings my Saviour endured for our

sakes.

Sometimes my thoughts reverted to my Christian brethren, and

particularly to those who, as I well knew, continued to love me.

"Oh!" said I to myself, "if they could know of my imprisonment,

I am certain they would put up their most fervent prayers to the

Almighty: my dear friends in England--brethren of the Evangelical

Alliance--friends in France and in Geneva! God, thou wilt listen to

the supplications of thy children, and grant their prayers!"

The following day, by the little light which glimmered through a high

narrow window, I could better examine my habitation; and found the

bad smell proceeded from the pavement, the bed, and still more from

a wooden box, placed at the outside of the window, as if to obstruct

both the air and the light, and that contained a quantity of filth and

rubbish, which there were no means of removing; as it was fastened

down at the outside, and had on the inner side an iron grating, which,

together with the bars of my window prevented any access to it. My

inviting mattress was to serve the double purpose of bed and chair. The

walls, on which my eyes must necessarily rest as soon as I opened them,

were scrawled over with monstrous figures and dolorous inscriptions in

charcoal, by those who had been confined there. I thus learnt that this

cell had contained thieves, assassins, and amongst others the notorious

Abate Abbo, of whose horrible crimes and cruelties I have already made

mention.

At a certain hour of the day I was visited by the gaoler, who said to

me courteously:

"I am sorry you should be treated in this manner. I know who you are,

and I know what you are accused of; you have cause to rejoice in your

alleged offence, but at present it is expedient that you should resign

yourself to this hard treatment; perhaps I may be able in some measure

to soften the rigour of it. Suffer patiently, and put in practice what

you teach others."

"My kind friend," I replied, "you have a heart formed for compassion.

The exhortations and professions that I hear from your lips show me you

intend to do all you can to cheer my imprisonment; and even though you

should not be permitted to offer me any other charity, I shall always

be grateful for this--that I receive your sympathy. Oh! believe me it

will be requited to you by Him who has said through Jesus Christ,

'Whosoever shall give to drink a cup of cold water only, in the name

of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his

reward.'"[121]

"And where is it that Jesus Christ says these words?"

"In the Gospel written by St. Matthew."

"I would willingly read it, if I understood Latin."

"It is to be had in Italian--good Italian; I will tell you where you

can procure it, by asking for it in my name."

This man in a very short time became my friend. I can now speak of him

without fear of doing him any injury by my disclosures, because I have

heard that he has given up his employment, and is no longer in the

Roman States.

He was not the only gaoler, but he was one of the chief amongst them:

he was nevertheless always in fear of his subalterns, who watched him

very closely, and informed against him whenever they had any excuse for

so doing; insomuch that however cautious he might be, he was frequently

reproved by the superior, for being too indulgent.

These prisons were all filled with people thrown in for various

imputations, and consequently subject to various courts.

Eighteen different tribunals, some lay and some ecclesiastical, were

re-established in Rome, on the return of the priests; besides these

there were the Inquisition and the French court martial. The greater

part of the prisoners did not know under what judges they would come,

or what crime was to be imputed to them. Thus passed away six months,

and none of them yet knew by whom, or for what offence, they were going

to be tried. As to myself I was very soon told on whose accusation I

was placed there, without, however, being informed upon what charge.

Captain Gennari, who had the custody of those detained in the fort,

came after a few days to tell me that I was under the tribunal of

the Inquisition;--that the Commissary of the Holy Office, Father

Cipolletti, had sent for him, to tell him I was to be watched with the

utmost vigilance, and treated with the greatest rigour; without seeing

any one, or communicating with a single individual, either verbally

or in writing: in short, without light in the evening, or anything

whatever beyond what was absolutely necessary to prolong my existence.

This official communication was sufficient to prevent my flattering

myself that I should meet with gentle treatment, or even with common

humanity, unless I obtained some indulgence from the good nature of the

gaoler.

Captain Gennari, when he spoke to any one of his mode of acquitting

himself in his office, used to say--"I do my duty as a soldier, and if

my own father were imprisoned here, from whatever cause it might be,

I should not treat him any better than the rest." Nevertheless, this

impartial man knew how to relax his severity towards those who could

afford to be generous.

My imprisonment continued with unabated rigour, and all the consolation

I found was in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and the kindness of the

good gaoler. He redoubled his visits, and often came twice during the

day to condole with me.

"Tell me," said he, one day, "what I can do for you, to render your

confinement less irksome."

"You can do me one favour, which would be the greatest of all under

this heavy tribulation. You know my residence, where my wife now is;

go, and inquire for a book for me, the book that I constantly read,

and the not having it with me now is my greatest trouble--that is, my

Bible. In this way you may render me a double service. Tell that dear

creature, also, that I am in good health and perfect tranquillity of

mind."

"Yes," said he, "I can serve you so far, and I promise you I will."

On the morrow, he came back in high glee.

"Your wife and all the rest salute you, and she sends you the book."

"God be thanked!"

My good gaoler offered to take care of my Bible for me, and asked me

to make him acquainted with its contents. No one can imagine how I

enjoyed the first time I read it to him; and he continually contrived

opportunities for availing himself of my instructions. I spoke to him

one day of the gaoler at Philippi, and how he was called by God, and

taught by the holy apostles. Another time I read to him the parable of

the Prodigal Son which touched him so much, that he would read it again

himself.

"Oh, what a noble book is this Bible!" he exclaimed; "but do the

priests believe that it contains the word of God?"

"They say they believe it," I replied, "but their actions contradict

their assertion; in fact, they neither read it themselves nor let

others read it."

"I understand why--this book does not approve all that they say. If

we were to read it attentively, could we afterwards believe in their

childish stories?"

Whenever I expounded the Scriptures to him, he seemed as if he could

not look at the pure doctrines of Christianity, without confronting

them with the corrupt practices of popery.

One time he did not visit me as usual, but another came in his place.

"Is it true," said my new gaoler to me, "what they say of you, that

you are put into prison for reading the Bible? But how is that?--is it

prohibited? Is it not the book of God?"

"Yes, certainly it is the book of God; this the pope confesses;

nevertheless he does not wish it to be read, because he says that no

man but himself can understand what God says."

"Would God, then, have spoken not to be understood? Is it likely that

God would speak only to the pope, and a few others, like the kings of

the earth? I believe that God has spoken for all, and that what is

written, is written for all."

"My good friend, you show more intellect than the pope, and more good

sense than all his priests. Do not let them impose upon you. Read the

Bible, you will obtain one ... ask for it in my name, and it will be

given to you."

Three or four other gaolers came to me; all spoke, more or less, the

same language; these were all soldiers. Were they not more worthy than

cardinals? But of all these men the first was the one to whom I was

the most attached, and he, by the mercy of God, was the most attached

to me. I was his counsellor in his difficulties, his consolation in

his afflictions. I was, he said, a friend and a father to him: and he

was of great benefit to me, for he frequently was able to temper the

severity of my imprisonment.

"I know," said he one day, "why they do not wish you to hold any

communication with others. It is that you may not speak to them of

the Bible, of the Gospel, of Jesus Christ. I will not be the means,

however, of depriving those who would derive profit from it of this

opportunity. I will open the door that communicates with some other

cells, where several have already begged me to allow them to speak to

you; M. Gazola has often made the request. I know that you will always

do good, and never harm to any one; now I will willingly give you an

opportunity to do this good, and I trust that God will protect us both

from the power of our enemies."

"Oh! my dear friend," said I to him, "it is surely the Lord who has

inspired you; do not doubt that He will be with us, if we faithfully

serve Him."

After this time, the door of my prison was occasionally left

unfastened, so that I might communicate with those who were confined

in the same part with myself. Several that could not visit me in the

day-time came at night. I am sorry that I cannot at present enter

into more particular details, since, at the time I am writing, the

major part of my fellow-prisoners are still in confinement, and the

remainder are either in Rome or in the Papal states, and consequently

under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. I could otherwise relate

many things which our good brethren would be delighted to hear; I may

however make the general remark, that whenever I communicated with

my fellow-prisoners, our conversation invariably turned on religious

matters; it was a subject of rejoicing for us when our prison doors

were opened, which each day the gaoler was requested to do at as early

an hour as possible. I continued my lectures for the space of a month,

and during that time my Bible was in frequent circulation among them.

The treatment experienced in this prison is certainly not so bad, in

most cases, as it is in every other within the walls of Rome. The

Castle of St. Angelo is chiefly set apart for prisoners of distinction.

Cardinals and prelates who fall into disgrace with the pope are

confined in it. For this purpose there are a variety of apartments; in

one of them are shown the iron rings that had the honour of securing

the cord with which the celebrated Cardinals Caraffa, Coscia, and

others were hung. Pope Clement VII. was likewise a prisoner in this

fortress, at the time of its occupation by the Imperial forces, which

he himself had called into Rome. The records of this edifice, which, as

everybody knows, was originally the mausoleum of the Emperor Adrian,

would throw considerable light on the history of the papacy, and

unfold many of the evil deeds of the popes. It has been the scene of

the most unheard-of cruelties, as well as of the most shameless and

revolting obscenities. The well-known orgies of Pope Alexander VI.,

which were celebrated partly in the gardens of the Vatican, and partly

in the Castle of St. Angelo, have left a stain upon its walls that can

never be effaced. Like the Pope's bulls, it serves "_ad perpetuam rei

memoriam_."[122] In one of the halls are the notorious pictures by

Julio Romano, of which it would be difficult to decide whether the

artistical skill they display be more admirable, or the subjects they

represent more grossly indecent and detestable. Colonel Calandrelli,

one of the most valiant defenders of the republic, and a triumvirate,

after Mazzini--a gentleman equally learned in the history of his

country as he has shown himself brave in her service, has assured me

that he has a work ready for publication, in which the whole history of

this celebrated castle is unfolded from authentic documents.

My imprisonment was a source of much trouble and uneasiness to

the three cardinals whom the pope had commissioned to take the

reins of government. They frequently sent for Captain Gennari to

inquire concerning me, and to give fresh orders respecting my safe

incarceration. I remember on one occasion the good gaoler having kindly

opened for me the door of communication, hastily returned, and with

his hand made signs to me to re-enter my cell with all speed, that he

might again close the door. Another time, very early in the morning,

while I was yet lying on my before-described mattress, the outer door

was opened in a very unusual manner, and I heard the voice of Captain

Gennari, who loudly called out: "Here he is; come in, Sir, and certify

for yourself that Signor Achilli is here;" then opening the door of

my cell, he called to me by name, and on my replying to him, observed

to his companion, "You hear the voice of Signor Achilli, do you not?

Be assured the Cardinal's orders will be duly attended to." Then

putting his head into my cell, he whispered to me, "He comes from the

Cardinal-Vicar, with fresh orders as to your more close confinement."

After this my poor gaoler began to take fright, and durst no longer

allow me to have my door opened as usual: he assured me that he was

alarmed for me, as well as for himself; as the first thing that would

be done, in case his indulgence was discovered, would be his own

removal, and the appointment of another in his place, who would have

orders to treat me with greater severity. I afterwards learned that

a new prisoner, who had been placed in a cell near my own for some

misconduct two or three days before, had informed his father confessor

that he had seen me go out and converse with other prisoners; and

from what he heard, it appeared to him that I had preached Protestant

doctrines to them, and that they had become my followers. The confessor

told all this to the cardinals, but, fortunately for me, he had the

reputation of being so great a liar, that he obtained no credit with

them for his statement, however true it might be; so I heard no more of

it.

In the midst of these apprehensions, and with the possibility of

finding myself put into irons, my courage never gave way, neither did

my zeal diminish in the cause of my friends. I continued, as often as I

could, my accustomed discourses, as if I were at liberty, and in a land

of freedom. I took no precaution as to whom I addressed myself; my sole

care was to render my subject intelligible, and to impress on the mind

of my hearers a lasting idea of its importance: with the learned my

arguments were more scientific; with the uninstructed, more simple and

familiar.

In this way my mission continued to progress even within the walls of

a prison. The cardinals, in ordering my incarceration, imagined they

had put a stop to my operations, whereas they only accelerated them.

We laughed, inside the castle, at the wise precaution of sending me

where many of the bravest and the best of the Roman citizens were at

that time confined. The city itself was a desert in comparison with

the prisons, which were full to overflowing. Had I been allowed to

remain unmolested in my own house, I could not have obtained half the

success I met with among my fellow-prisoners. Unquestionably I suffered

very much in my confinement, separated from my dearest friends, and

tormented by the thought of the grief they must feel; but in the midst

of these sorrows, I derived consolation from the idea, that the grand

work on which I was engaged was, through the grace of God, and the

blessing of his Divine providence, steadily advancing. I rejoiced,

too, that it was carrying on in Rome, and at the very time, too, when,

through foreign compulsion, everything was returning to papacy, and to

Pio Nono; who had not only destroyed his own work of liberty, but even

the small remains of it that had existed under his predecessors.

At a period when the most horrible slavery was imposed on us through

the _generosity_ and _consistency_ of the French nation, I alone

remained free; I, the most hated of all, the most detested by the

pope and the cardinals, even more so than Mazzini himself, I had the

privilege granted me by the representatives of the two governments, to

make war against the pope and the papacy, with undiminished advantage

and success. And this was all they gained in shutting me up in the

fortress of St. Angelo.

Every time they renewed their persecution of me, I think my power

increased. I am not a man to be easily put down. In considering myself

as a servant of the Lord, I feel as a rock, on which the tempestuous

ocean spends its utmost fury in vain.

The severity of my imprisonment denied me the gratification of seeing

any of my friends who were at liberty, neither was it in the power

of my kind-hearted gaoler to be of service to me in the matter.

There were too many doors to pass through; each of them had its own

separate turnkey, and it was hopeless to think of conciliating them

all. The only person who had hitherto been allowed to visit me was

the English consul, Mr. Freeborn, who had, when I was first taken,

obtained permission to do so from the French general; but the cardinals

interfered afterwards, and gave orders that no permission should be

valid except what came from the Inquisition or the pope, so that an end

was soon put to his visits.

A deputation from the Evangelical Alliance, composed of my two good

friends, Mr. Tonna and M. Meyrueis, the one an English and the other a

French gentleman, who were sent to intercede in my behalf, were also,

on application to the cardinals, refused admittance. On referring their

petition to the pope they were again denied, and I found that I was

more rigorously treated after it; more closely confined to my cell, and

threatened with even greater severities.

Nevertheless, through the blessing of God, I never before enjoyed such

perfect tranquillity of mind; never in society had I been conscious of

more cheerfulness, and when I was drawn into conversation I inspired

others with the same feeling. I bade them trust in the providence of

God, who would restore to his people their rightful liberty. Hence

arose a long discussion on this divine attribute. I let every one

propose his objections, which it was a pleasure to me to answer.

Another time I was consoling one of my companions for the injustice

of the tribunal that judged him. "Oh, my friend," said I, "you look

for justice from men. Can you expect it from those who do not fear

God? Is not justice an attribute of the Deity? No man can be just who

departs from God. How then can justice be restored amongst us? Only by

regaining the knowledge and faith, the fear and love of God. And what

we say of justice may equally be said of truth. There can be no truth

among a people, where the pope is exalted into the place of God. From

the earliest times he has been a liar, and his lies obtain credence

even in other countries, because they emanate from Rome. If we, then,

no longer admit them, let us be the first to denounce that popery by

which Rome is oppressed and dishonoured."

These discussions could not fail to produce their effect; which was

gradually to withdraw those who listened to them from popery, and to

lead them unto God, through Christ. The blessing of God is with those

who honour Him, and I hope myself to reap the fruits of what I have

sown. I relate these things, not to take pride in them as my own work,

but as proceeding from the bounty of the Lord. I should not have come

to prison by my own choice, but for wise ends it was so decreed by

Divine providence.

Whoever views my imprisonment merely as the work of man, sees in it

only injustice and cruelty; but those who regard it as the permission

of God, discern in it abundant proofs of his wisdom and love. Many a

time have I blessed God for the favour He showed me in choosing me to

commence the great work which will be redemption to the Romans, and

regeneration to all nations. It has commenced, and is now in progress.

To carry it on, God has chosen persons who would not have been thought

of by us, any more than we should have thought of Galilean fishermen

becoming the apostles and promulgators of a doctrine which was to

influence the whole world.

The reformation of Rome is entrusted to Romans. On the reformation of

Rome depends that of Roman Catholicism. Those who would concur and

co-operate in this work must do it by succouring the Romans.

"Do you think," said one of my companions in prison, one day, "our

reform will go on? Will Rome ever be reformed? Will Italy ever become

protestant?"

"I believe," replied I, "that Rome will be reformed one day, like

London, Berlin, Edinburgh and Geneva."

The question whether Italy will ever become protestant was discussed

by me one evening, with the Abate Gioberti, at Paris, in December

1847. He referred me to some pages of his 'Modern Jesuit,' in which

it is maintained that Italy never will be protestant: I, on the other

hand, referred him to history, to the true history of our country,

which shows how great has been the tendency towards protestantism

in Italy, and what efforts have been made to promote it. I agreed

with the learned Abate that the title of Protestant, as expressive

of a division, or religious sect, should be avoided. The Italians,

and amongst them the Romans, profiting as they ought to do by three

centuries' experience of other nations who have abandoned popery,

could not properly denominate themselves anything but Christians.

Were they once to renounce the pope, none else could impose upon them

either doctrine, form, or name. The questions which to this time have

agitated protestantism, and which now divide England into various

parties--episcopalian and presbyterian--baptist, methodist, &c. &c.,

would never disturb the peace of Italy. On right principles the Italian

church would be organized with great simplicity, and every one left

at full liberty to worship God in the manner best suited to his own

spiritual views. What I now call the Italian church does not assume to

be a national church, with exclusively privileged forms of government;

no, it presents itself to Italy as its ancient church, in the unity

of faith and spirit; but in diversity of form, government, and modes

of worship. Being thus associated with all the Christian churches

throughout the world, it would have nothing exclusively Italian but the

language.

In these conversations with my friends, I had the satisfaction to

think that what was said to few would be repeated to many. What

I uttered within the walls of the castle, in a secret cell, was

quickly circulated throughout Rome, and spread abroad, making an

impression that could not be effaced. In this manner five months of my

imprisonment had already passed away, and I was yet left in ignorance

of the crime by which it had been incurred.

I had forwarded my protest to the French government, and the strongest

remonstrances had been sent to Paris by my dear brethren of the

Evangelical Alliance, yet there appeared to be no prospect of my

release; but I may say, with sincerity, that since I have consecrated

my life to the Christian ministry, so long as I am engaged in its

service I am satisfied. I was now in the full exercise of this ministry

during my imprisonment, and no one who has heard my narrative can doubt

the satisfaction it gave me. Thus far, therefore, I was contented with

my situation; and if I could have supposed that the Roman government

would not alter it, but that I might continue to pursue the same

course, I should in truth have besought both God and men to leave me in

it; because I might perhaps have been more useful, imprisoned in Rome,

than at full liberty elsewhere.

But the priests were tired of enduring my boldness and audacity. They

took it as an insult to them, that I continued in prison to repeat the

very same offences for which I had been incarcerated. All my friends

declared to me, that I must either be released and sent out of Rome, by

the contrivance of foreigners, or that I should be put out of the way

altogether, by the priests themselves.

Reflecting on this idea, I began to think whether it was the will of

God my life should be sacrificed; but a voice within seemed to tell

me--no. I had done too little, as yet, to see my work so soon crowned

with success.

It was the 24th of December--a solemn day in Rome, full of kindly

feelings as well as of superstitious observances. On this day good

wishes are exchanged and presents made amongst friends; favours are

granted, and the boon that should then be asked it would be deemed a

sin to deny. We prisoners wished happiness to those who opened our

doors, and they cheerfully returned our salutations. My good gaoler,

full of benevolence, came to me before I had risen.

"Good morning," said he, "and better luck; I bring you good news."

"What news?" said I.

"An order is come from the French general Baraguai d'Hilliers, to let

two gentlemen speak with you--undoubtedly two of your friends; and what

is still more satisfactory, it is with the consent of the cardinals."

"Do you know the names of these friends of mine?"

"Only one of them, 'Doctor Bambozzi and companion,' so it is written."

"My dear fellow, do you really believe these can be my friends? If they

were so, do you think the cardinals would let them speak to me? They

did not give this permission to those two who posted all the way from

England and France to obtain it. I do not know who Doctor Bambozzi is,

and I cannot imagine what he can want with me."

"But if they be not friends, what can they be?"

"Enemies, assuredly. No person sent by the cardinals can have any

occasion for an order from a French general."

"It may be a trick--one of those tricks so frequently played off in

priestly Rome. Baraguai d'Hilliers does not know the priests; they may

be plotting together something to compromise him."

This visit, announced with so much ceremony on Christmas eve, did not

take place till the last day of the year. The supposed friends were the

Fiscal Judge of the Inquisition, Monsignor Bambozzi, and his Secretary,

Avvocato de Dominicis.

Monsignor Bambozzi is one of the most courteous of men. Those who,

hearing of the Fiscal Judge of the Inquisition, might picture to

themselves an austere man, with a crafty sinister air, would find they

were quite mistaken in their idea. No, he is a very polite little man,

a sacristan priest, paying compliments to everybody, always smiling,

with his snuff-box in his hand ever ready to offer a pinch. The other

was a poor needy-looking personage, with nothing unfavourable in his

aspect, and evidently following his occupation to earn his bread.

I was first desired to give an exact description of myself. The prelate

then made a sign to the other to write, and began to dictate to him in

Latin.

"A certain man (homo quidam) appeared before me declaring himself to

be--What is your name?"

I told him my name, my age, &c. He went on:--

"Giacinto Achilli, son of ---- born at ---- aged ---- &c., dressed,"

(here followed the description of my dress from head to foot)--"confined

in this prison, &c.; being asked if he knows why he is detained in prison,

answers Answer this question.

"'It is what I wish to know. I have been six months confined here, and

have never yet been told, nor do I know the cause of my imprisonment.'

"Interrogated whether he knows under what tribunal he is now examined,

answers--

"'It is what I wish to know.'

"And being told that he is examined by the magistrates of the Holy

Roman Universal Apostolical Inquisition, answers--

"'I am glad of it. Speak frankly.'

"Admonished to tell the truth, and to recognise in this fact the

justice of God and not the vengeance of man, he replied to the first

part--

"'I promise to tell the truth:' on the second he was silent."

At this juncture, Monsignor Bambozzi drew out a quire of paper, covered

with writing, and began to read the first page; from which I perceived

it was the minute taken down the second day of my imprisonment, by a

judge of the cardinal-vicar's: consisting of a general interrogatory

on the whole of my life--that is to say, my education, my studies, my

public functions, my occupations, my journeys, and especially that to

the Ionian Islands, Malta, England, &c., till my return to Rome; what I

had done during the Roman Republic, and finishing with my imprisonment.

All this confronted anew with numerous questions, formed the subject of

my first interview with Monsignor Bambozzi and his companion.

In a moment the news resounded through St. Angelo, that the judges

of the Inquisition were come, with the special permission of the

French authorities, to take possession of me. The indignation this

intelligence excited was great; and was expressed in no very measured

terms, against both the priests and the French. I smiled amidst the

universal excitement; but I may safely say I was the only one who did

so.

Four days afterwards the judge and his companion were again announced;

and I had to submit to a fresh and very long interrogatory, carried on

like the former one in Latin.

First, as to why I had abandoned the Order of the Dominicans, from

which I had received, even up to the latest moment that I was connected

with it, the greatest proofs of esteem and good-will; insomuch, that

I had been promoted, whilst yet in my youth, to posts so high and

important that they were difficult to be obtained even by the aged.

Secondly, why I had afterwards abandoned the ministry of the Roman

Church, my theological functions, the mass, and other religious duties;

thus showing myself thankless and ungrateful for the education I had

received, and for the interest taken in me at Rome?

Thirdly, what complaint I had to make, if any, of the lenient

correction I received on my being summoned before the Inquisition in

1842, the sole object of which was to recall me to the right path?

Fourthly, and lastly, why I had left Rome, and quitted Italy

altogether, to take refuge in Protestant countries; thus making myself

a public subject of conversation, to the scandal of my best friends,

and the fearful injury of my own soul?

To these questions I calmly and briefly replied--

First, that with regard to leaving the Dominicans I had been induced to

do so from motives of conscience, though I still retained a grateful

remembrance of all the kindnesses I had received from them; and that

what I had done was with the full permission and licence of Pope

Gregory XVI.

Secondly, that it was equally from motives of conscience I had left the

ministry of the Roman Church.

Thirdly, that far from bringing any complaint against the Inquisition,

I had quietly resigned to it all the charges of the ministry,

testifying thereby to every one who might be willing to understand

me, that from that time I intended no longer to be connected with the

Church of Rome in any way whatsoever, regarding myself as subject to no

one, in matters of faith, save God alone.

Fourthly, that my leaving Rome, and Italy altogether, was the natural

result of the steps I had previously taken; that whether I went to

the English or Spanish dominions, or any other, could be a matter of

consequence to no one, provided I lived an upright life, wherever I

might be; and as I felt conscious that this had been the case hitherto,

I did not consider myself called upon to render an account of my

actions to any man.

I had reserved to myself a more lengthened and argumentative

conversation, when Monsignor Bambozzi should enter upon the question

of matters of faith; he not only, however, left that subject untouched

upon, but even turned it aside when I endeavoured to lead his attention

towards it: nay, he went so far as to order the gaoler to let me take

the air every day, for about a quarter of an hour, on the terrace of

the castle, saying that he was quite satisfied with me, and that we

were perfectly agreed. Yet how he could imagine we were so, when my

opinions had been diametrically opposed to his, and all my answers a

direct rebuff to his questions, I cannot understand. The fact is, that

the Inquisition has always been about as anxious after truth, for its

own sake, as Pontius Pilate was, in the presence of the Lord.

Both my judge and his companion, however, upon taking leave of me this

second time, shook hands with me, saying, that I should see them again

shortly.

Eight days elapsed, when I was once more asked for. "It is Bambozzi,"

cried my fellow-prisoners; and I went down stairs laughing, in the

expectation of seeing him again; but in his place I beheld a priest of

the Oratory, alone. He was full of compliments and civilities, on our

meeting; and I asked him at once his name, and the cause of his visit;

for as soon as he opened his mouth, I perceived by his accent that he

was not an Italian. He replied that he had come to see me purely out

of good-will; and showed me his name in the title-page of a book: "Dr.

Augustine Theiner, of Prussian Silesia, Professor of Ecclesiastical

History in the College of the Propaganda in Rome." He went on to say

that he was grieved to find me in such a situation, but that still all

might turn out for the best, if I would only be teachable towards God,

and the Holy Mother of the Roman Catholic church. This at once brought

us to the question, whether the Roman church alone had a right to be

called Catholic? I maintained that it was _a church_, but not _the

church_, and by logical consequence could not be called universal, for

the simple reason that Rome was not the whole world:--that the Pope

was Bishop of the Roman church alone, and not of the Catholic church;

the proof being that many hundreds of bishops exist in the church,

some dependent upon, and others independent of Rome; without reckoning

all those Christian churches which pride themselves on having no other

bishop than Him mentioned by Peter: "For ye were as sheep going astray,

but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."[123]

He asked me, smiling, what my church was? I told him it was that of

which St. Paul speaks:[124] "The general assembly and church of the

First-born which are written in heaven." To a few other questions I

replied to the same purport. He exhorted me to read his book, printed

by the Propaganda, in which he had shown me his name; and then took his

leave.

This book is a "History of the Reformation in Sweden," written,

it would appear, on purpose to blacken the fame of those staunch

Reformers, the good King Gustavus and the excellent Oloff Peterson;

and to have the opportunity of using every description of epithets,

the most offensive he could find, against Luther. It has had the

honour, as the author told me, of being translated into French by M.

de Montalembert, and into English by Dr. Newman, who is also become a

priest of the Oratory. A second and third visit from Dr. Theiner, who

came to me with other books of his own writing, which he earnestly

requested me to read, were occupied with continual questions on the

Roman church; he resting upon certain passages of the holy Fathers,

to prove that it is the Catholic church, and I upon passages from

the Fathers also, to show that what they called Catholic, was the

Roman church together with all others, those only excepted which

deviated from the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, and from the

faith of Christ,--the Roman Church being so different in our days,

and especially since the Council of Trent, from what it was in those

of the holy Fathers, that if they were now living they would be the

first to protest against it, and to separate from it; that before the

present Roman church could be called Christian, a reformation in it

was indispensable; the Jewish and the Pagan elements being so mixed

up with both its doctrines and worship, that there hardly remains in

it a shade of primitive Christianity: that let but the pope undertake

this reformation, we would be with him, otherwise we must remain

separated; nor should his threats terrify us, nor his Inquisition rob

the Christians of Italy of their faith or their union; that I had shown

an example to the brethren how to propagate in this country the pure

and simple doctrine of Christ; that the Bible, and the Bible alone,

was sufficient to destroy the whole edifice of the pope; and that on

the day when I saw reprinted in Rome the New Testament in Italian,

and moreover beheld the avidity with which the Romans received it, I

exclaimed, "The death-knell of the Papacy is sounded."

My heart almost leaped out of my breast with joy, at having been able,

in the prisons of the Roman Inquisition, to render this testimony to

the truth and to the religion of Jesus Christ.

"I am as happy as possible now," I said to several of those good

friends who were with me in prison, and who asked me every time they

saw me how I got on with the papal theologian. "I am only afraid that,

feeling how firm I am, Padre Theiner may discontinue his visits, and

tell the cardinals and the pope that every attempt to bring me back to

the Roman church is useless."

He had in fact, at his second visit, shown me a letter of the

Cardinal-Vicar, in which he appointed him, by the pope's desire, to

come to me under the guise of a visitor, to hold conferences with me,

and to discover some way of recovering me to the faith.

At the end of each visit, however, I had always requested him to report

faithfully everything I had said to him; adding that every day I felt

more and more firm and fixed in my purpose; and that if it should

please God that I should be released from prison, I should, with the

aid of His Holy Spirit, continue my mission with all the more vigour,

from perceiving by His having conferred on me the grace of being

allowed to suffer six months' incarceration for His name's sake, that

it could not be otherwise than acceptable in His sight.

At the same time, I bade him, and the pope and cardinals likewise, to

remember, that the persecution to which I had been subjected could not

be approved or justified even by Roman Catholics themselves; and that

if it had no other effect, it would at least have the most desirable

one of ultimately working the abolition of the Roman Inquisition, never

more to be restored.

Padre Theiner and I were, on this third visit, in the full fervour of

our controversial arguments, when the captain of the castle came to

inform me that two _chasseurs de Vincennes_ were arrived to take me

to the French Council of War, to give evidence in the trial of Signor

Cernuschi, Deputy of the people, under the Republic.

How I, separated as I was, and had been for six months, from the rest

of the world, by a decree emanating from the Inquisition, could be

summoned by a foreign authority to appear before a military tribunal,

was what I could not comprehend; and my theologian was still more

astonished at it than I was. The captain added that he had the

permission of the Cardinal-Vicar. "Let us go, in the name of the

Lord," was my thought.

Padre Theiner accompanied me to the carriage, I got in, and two

soldiers, armed with carbines, took their places by me, one on each

side. The tribunal was held at the Ecclesiastical Academy in the

Piazza Minerva, the great institution of the Dominicans, who were, as

I have already stated, the founders of the Inquisition; and I have

often reflected since upon the retributive justice of Providence, in

appointing that very place for the sitting of the tribunal which was to

break down the power of that villanous establishment, by setting one of

its victims free, to disclose its iniquities to the world.

The _Capitaine Rapporteur_ was alone; he put a few questions to me

concerning Cernuschi; and said certain things to me, which I forbear

to mention; as well as some other things of little import to any one

but myself; for fear of causing trouble to parties still remaining in

Rome, and consequently subjected to the treacheries and basenesses of

a government at this present moment one of the most tyrannical, and at

the same time the most degraded, in Europe. I was then remanded to the

castle.

The next day, the 19th of January, Dr. Theiner again called upon me,

and we recommenced our discussions with more animation than ever. Our

subject was the bishopric of St. Peter at Rome, and the privilege of

succession bequeathed by him to the pope; he intent on demonstrating,

I on confuting it. Our arguments lasted till nearly dark, and no doubt

would have lasted longer still, as we were neither of us inclined to

cut the matter short, had they not been suddenly interrupted by the

entrance of the gaoler, with the information that the two _chasseurs_

were come again to take me to the Military Commission.

I held out my hand to my disputant. "Farewell!" said I to him,

"farewell, Padre Theiner; offer my respects to the Cardinal-Vicar, and

thank him from me for your visits; I assure you they have given me real

pleasure. I hope we may both of us derive profit from them, and be

confirmed by them, more and more, in the word of God."

I again pressed his hand, and then got into the carriage, and seated

myself between the two soldiers.

This time my vehicle was an open one, and as it traversed the long way

from the Castle of St. Angelo to the Piazza della Minerva, I saw and

was seen by many persons. I was regarded with curiosity. It was, indeed

a singular spectacle to behold a prisoner of the Inquisition under the

guard of the French Republic.

I found the _Capitaine Rapporteur_ even more conciliatory in his

deportment towards me than he was before, and I felt persuaded that he

entertained a personal sympathy towards me. I will not, however, repeat

our conversation. I will only say that it cheered me greatly, and made

me feel so thoroughly as if I were my own master, that I determined to

try if it could really be the case.

I walked into an ante-chamber, where I saw several sets of military

garbs and accoutrements. In a moment I found myself in the uniform of

a French soldier. I proceeded towards the doors on the landing; they

were open; not a single individual anywhere to be seen, to oppose my

egress. It was half after five in the evening, consequently dusk. I did

what any one else, I suppose, in my situation would have done, and I

did it with a smile of confidence and joy. I descended into the Piazza

della Minerva, passed through the Strada Pie-di-Marmo, the Piazza

del Collegio Romano, and walked down the Corso, in my military garb.

Unrecognised, uninterrupted, I arrived at a place where I changed my

dress. Here I found money prepared for me; a passport and a carriage

with post-horses were soon ready, and at seven in the evening I beheld

myself beyond the walls of Rome!

I offered up my thanksgiving to the Lord, and implored his blessing

upon my country, my brethren, and the infant church, which will one

day shine forth in all the lustre of truth, so that it may again be

said of the Romans, that "their faith is spoken of throughout the whole

world."

In six hours after leaving Rome I arrived at Civita Vecchia, where I

rested till morning. I then delivered several letters, and afterwards

went on board a French steamer of war. The whole of that day I passed

in port, engaged, the greatest portion of it, in returning my grateful

thanks to my Almighty Father, and praying to Him to provide for me in

all respects. I likewise, finding I had an opportunity of getting it

posted, wrote a farewell letter to my brethren in Rome.

The next day we sailed for Toulon, whence I proceeded to Marseilles,

and thence to Lyons; where I stopped a day, to embrace my excellent

friend, Mr. Fisch, and other brethren, who felt as if they could not

bless and thank the Lord enough, for my unexpected liberation. In Paris

I was greeted with the same rejoicings. Oh, what enjoyments has the

Christian life, even in this world! In my own case all that I have

suffered now seems sweet and delightful to me. It is indeed to my body

like a dream; but to my spirit it is a precious and enduring reality.

Never, I hope, shall I forget the gratitude, which, under God, I owe

to the brethren of the Evangelical Alliance, who have indeed set an

example with regard to myself, of the most edifying Christian charity.

At Paris I laid aside my incognito, which in fact was of no use to me

after I embarked at Civita Vecchia; but the French government, through

whose assistance I had escaped, stipulated that I should not resume my

own name before I reached Paris. It was consequently my duty to obey.

Several among the old ministry assured me that they would have gladly

lent me their services, had they been in power; but as that was not the

case, they rejoiced in seeing it done by others: they seemed indeed to

be of opinion that the way in which my liberation had been effected,

was the only one that could have been adopted to avoid a dispute

with the Pontifical government; that, on the other hand, had I been

suffered to remain in prison, it would have been a lasting disgrace to

France, to have it said that the power of the Inquisition was restored

and upheld through her medium; they added that if assistance had not

been afforded me at an earlier period, it was only because it had been

given out that I was confined on account of moral delinquencies, and

not for my religious tenets.

"And I," said the ex-minister, "was one of the first to be misled

by these charges; but when they were all proved to be malignant

inventions, brought forward only to injure you, there was but one wish

on the subject, and that was to see you set at liberty."

Notwithstanding this flattering testimony of the ex-minister, I have

no doubt there were many, even among the French, who would much rather

I had remained in the power of the Inquisition; the Jesuit party

especially, among whom were several members of the National Assembly,

were loud in their outcries against me, and renewed in their journals

their old calumnies, which had so often been answered before, and to

which the act of the government itself, in liberating me, was more than

a sufficient reply.

I shall not here relate all the kindness and affection I experienced on

the part of my friends, on again seeing me among them. One of the first

visits I made was to our dear brother in the Lord, the Pastor Frederic

Monod, who retained me under his roof all the time I remained at Paris.

I had scarcely sent in my name, when the whole of his numerous family

came out to welcome me, and fervent were the praises and thanksgivings

that were offered up by them to the Giver of all good, who had

delivered me from the hand of my enemies, and from them that sought to

destroy my soul.

"Come," said my good friend, "let us go to my brother Adolph's; our

friends are met together there on your account; they have not yet heard

of your liberation, and are at this very time consulting together on

the best means to adopt, in order to influence the government in your

behalf."

We accordingly proceeded together to the house. Frederic entered first,

while I remained at the door. "Brethren," he exclaimed, "before you

proceed any further in your deliberations, you will rejoice to learn

what a signal favour it has pleased heaven to grant. Our brother

Achilli has, through the mercy of God, without any assistance of ours,

been released from his imprisonment. He is now in France; he has

arrived in Paris, and is actually at the door of this very house; he

is come to salute you, and to offer up conjointly with yourselves his

thanksgivings to the Lord."

At this moment I entered, and great was the joy with which I was

received by these dear brethren. After we had returned thanks for the

great mercies we had experienced, I, following the example of St.

Peter, "beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared

unto them how the Lord had brought _me_ out of the prison."

I had now only one thing wanting to complete my contentment, which

was the restoration to me of my dear partner, the sweet solace of my

troubles, and the sharer of my hopes. And this additional blessing was

soon granted to me. At the time of my leaving Rome, my wife was at

Florence; but as soon as she heard of my arrival at Paris, she set off

to rejoin me, under the protection of some friends.

About the middle of February we returned together, after a most

eventful year's absence, to England; where, ever since my arrival,

I have received the same, and even increased tokens of regard and

interest in my welfare, that I had done before, and of which I shall

always retain the most grateful remembrance. Nevertheless I view my

mission as inseparably connected with my native country; to resume my

labours there, sooner or later, in the establishment of a reformed

Italian Church, is the holy ambition of my heart, the unceasing object

of my prayers. Meanwhile I endeavour to preserve the germ of it alive,

by celebrating Divine worship, "pure and undefiled before God," and

imparting religious instruction on the Sabbath, and at fit seasons, to

as many of my unfortunate fellow-refugees, and others of my countrymen,

as show themselves desirous of it; trusting that "what is sown in tears

may be reaped in joy," and that the great "Lord of the harvest" may be

pleased to send His labourers therein, and to bless their efforts and

their hopes.

FOOTNOTES:

[121] Matt. x. 42.

[122] Every Papal bull commences with these words.

[123] I Pet. ii. 23.

[124] Heb. xii. 23.

APPENDIX.

LETTER

_To_ CARDINAL LAMBRUSCHINI, _Secretary of State_.--_Vide p. 41._

Corfù, Nov. 1842.

MOST REVEREND EMINENCE,--

I have reason to be grateful for the singular attention your Eminence

has manifested towards me, in so repeatedly recommending me to the

care of the Governor of the Ionian Isles, in Corfu. I am aware that

the Papal Consul, Signor Mosca, has done his utmost that I should be

again given up to the authority of the Inquisition; on the contrary,

however, I have, in consequence, been the more sedulously protected by

this respectable Government, which glories in granting an asylum to all

honest persons from the shores of Italy, particularly to such as come

from the Papal States. It was in this same country that the Neapolitan

emigrants, and among them the Papal Consul himself, were so cordially

received in the year 1821. An equally kind welcome was also extended to

the exiles from Modena and Romagna, in the year 1831, to many of whom

were granted public employment, and the rights of nationality.

I do not myself belong to that honourable body who, for the sake of

their country, have been exiled by their monarch. I am a voluntary

exile, in consequence of the priestly domination and despotism which

prevails to a greater extent than ever; and I have sought refuge among

strangers, hoping to pass the remainder of my life secure from the

outrageous oppression with which we were continually visited by our

wretched rulers, in consequence of their heart-corroding suspicions and

alarms. From the first moment that I landed among these noble-minded

Greeks, I found hospitality, personal security, liberty of conscience,

peace, and tranquillity. I chose this spot as being near to Italy,

and where kindred spirits lament over the present disastrous state

of affairs, and endeavour to preserve themselves and their children

from similar misfortunes. Above all, I came here because I felt a

presentiment that I shall be called upon to maintain the cause of the

Cross; and I am desirous, moreover, to be ready to defend myself from

those who, having before so unworthily attacked me, will doubtless

renew their molestations, unless I am present to refute their calumnies.

I need only refer to the late letters written to the Consul and others,

to my injury, the falsehood of which your Eminence well knows; not

to mention the numberless schemes put in practice to annoy me. But

are you not aware that it is in my power to cover my adversaries with

confusion, and render them infamous in the eyes of the whole world,

simply by narrating things as they really are? Yet, I shall rather

check this spirit of reaction, unless I am absolutely constrained to

allow it in my own vindication.

My sole desire is to possess and enjoy peace in my own mind; to have

my understanding enlightened; to feel the influence of goodness in my

own breast, and to be guided in all things by Him who alone is wisdom

and light, "the way, the truth, and the life." I declare to you, Signor

Cardinal,--I declare to all your brethren of the Sacred College, and

to the Pope himself, that from this very moment I intend no longer to

be conjoined with the sect of the so-called Roman Catholics, of which

the Pope is the head, Rome the seat, and the Canons the law. I renounce

all belief in Papistic doctrines, as being opposed to the Gospel,

the only light left us by Jesus Christ, the only volume of religious

truth, the single code of faith, the sole rule and guidance for our

moral conduct; as such, I desire in all things to be obedient to the

injunctions of that Holy Gospel, and to follow it in its original

purity, divested of all the corruptions introduced by the Church of

Rome, which subject the WORD to the domination of a _soi-disant_ Vicar

of Jesus Christ, a high priest intruded upon the Universal Church. Thus

I hope to return to the early faith established by Christ, promulgated

by His Apostles throughout the whole world, and professed by His true

disciples, our forefathers, to whom neither Pope nor Cardinals were

necessary, and who lived together in peace, as brethren; arrogating to

themselves no superiority over others, nor any right to command their

fellow-servants in the cause of religion, their only distinctions being

titles of affection and kindness; knowing that God, who contemneth the

proud, and severely rebuketh those who are clothed in purple and fine

linen, regardeth with favour the meek and lowly of heart, and him who

having two cloaks gives one to his neighbour who has none.

My religion, therefore, is no longer that which God has abandoned to

the false prophets; but that which He visibly protects upon earth;

that which He has himself brought forth out of the corruptions which

the followers of pomp and wealth have occasioned, to the destruction

of true morality, the profanation of what is holy, the falsifying of

the very truth itself. My religion is that which has been purged from

the Romish infection by men raised up for that purpose by the Almighty

himself; and to whom was also given the power and grace to rescue half

Europe from the abyss of papal contamination. And now is the time that

the people of every nation are called upon to join in this reform; and

I doubt not they will come from every quarter for that purpose, weary

of belonging to an abominable sect, which so greatly dishonours the

Gospel by the immoderate luxury of its court, and the ignorance and

vices of its entire priesthood.

I rejoice that finally, after so many trials and tribulations, the Lord

hath effectually called me to Him, through the truths of faith; and

as I owe Him thanks for all His dispensations, I am more particularly

called upon to bless His holy Name for having enabled me to turn this

last persecution of the Romish priesthood to such good account. Behold

me then always a true Roman with respect to my country, but no longer

so with regard to religion; a Christian, but no Papist. And as such,

in the path that opens before me, I trust I shall be enabled to lead

others also unto the truth.

I flatter myself that we may now enter into a sort of agreement with

each other. I, for my part, solemnly engage to relinquish every

privilege I have received at your hands, and expect that you, in

return, will give up all right to exercise authority over me. Let there

be a complete divorce, a wall of separation between us. I do not indeed

imagine that I shall be further molested, at any rate I shall be but

little disposed to put up with it. My intentions are nevertheless far

from hostile: now that we are divided, let there be that peace betwixt

us which, as long as we were united, never could exist.

Communicate the contents of this letter to the whole Congregation of

the Holy Office, to whom I am indebted for the first idea, not of

my reform itself, but of my declaration of it; as I am now to your

Eminence for this full and solemn protest.

P.S. Your Eminence must know, that among the events which took

place the day I left the Inquisition, one was the depriving me of a

valuable watch, by one of the Inquisitors in the name of the Holy

Congregation, for what reason I cannot tell. As the loss of it was

very disagreeable to me, I did not fail to make many urgent requests

to have it back again, but all in vain. Poor watch! as it had been my

constant companion for ten years, I suppose it was imagined it also had

imbibed a portion of heresy, and who knows what terrible sentence may

not hang over its head! I maintain, however, that my watch has always

been _true_ and _faithful_, and _regular_, and if it has no claim to

_infallibility_, it is solely because it has never belonged to the

Pope: it belongs to me, and I have no intention to resign it to others.

If, therefore, the Inquisition does not think proper to restore it to

me, I shall be under the necessity of making my complaint public; which

I shall assuredly do in the Maltese and London Journals.

I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

GIACINTO ACHILLI.

_To_ GREGORY XVI., _Bishop and Sovereign of Rome_, GIACINTO ACHILLI,

_Minister of the Italian Catholic Church_.--_Vide p. 42._

LETTER I.

HOWEVER known my sentiments may already be to you, from several

letters, which I have recently written to your two Cardinals, Polidori

and Lambruschini, I still regard it as desirable to make a more ample

declaration to yourself, so as to throw greater light on my faith, and

to leave no longer in doubt the form of religion which I follow and

profess.

Believe not, Holy Father, that I am urged to this step by any feeling

of resentment in consequence of the injuries done me in Rome by certain

of your ministers; or that I wish to avenge myself thus, for the

hundred days during which I was shut up, last year, in the Inquisition

without any just cause. May God pardon you your offences as entirely as

I pardon you that act, though it brought upon me heavy sufferings! I

have been enabled to derive benefit from it; and that which by you was

designed for my injury, the all-wise God has turned to my advantage. So

that now, on reckoning up my account, I find that my gain has been far

greater than my loss; that my sorrow has been turned into joy; that the

plot has turned against the plotters, to whom nothing has remained but

remorse for the attempt, and the shame of a miserable defeat.

Holy Father, if you really fear God, you know sufficiently that He is

not to be trifled with--we cannot lie to Him, nor purpose one thing and

say another. Allow me, then, now to summon you into His presence, to

discuss your faith and my own; for we are both equal before Him; the

Decalogue and the Gospel are equally imposed upon us both. Excepting

these, I know no other law to direct me in my belief and in my actions;

and I am convinced that there should be no other for any one who calls

himself a Christian.

Tell me, I pray you, whence you derive those of your dogmas which exist

not in the Gospel, and those numerous doctrines which are not to be

found in any book of the Scriptures? I am entitled to ask you; for,

after examining your lauded fountains of tradition, your theologians,

and the Fathers, so dishonestly edited,--I have found superabundant

fraud, both in interpretation, assertion, supposition, and inference;

for all seem to be concentrated in the object of making the Pope

universal sovereign; establishing him as head and lord of the entire

Church, with full and absolute power of loosing and binding--that is,

of destroying and building up,--declaring his Church, as a spiritual

kingdom, superior to every state, to every people, to every dynasty; so

that, according to this theory, the power of the pope is made to absorb

every other power; from that of God Himself, who alone, in other times,

judged men to life or to perdition, down to that of the lowest baron,

who can only have from the pope the legitimate power over his vassals.

Such fables might be told in the vaunted days of Gregory VII.; when

they were coined with the design of extending the papal mantle over

the whole world; subjecting to him, as far as possible, the kingdoms

of Europe and Asia. Such was the object of the Crusades. Such was the

object of the foundation of the numerous Orders,--enrolled, under

various devices, for the purposes of the popes, and sent to the most

remote countries, to preach, together with the Gospel, the primacy,

the sovereignty, the infallible, irresistible, fearful omnipotence

of the Most Holy Bishop of Rome; under pain, if they did not, of

being severely punished, and with the promise, if they did, of being

rewarded, after death, with the honours of the altar.

History, Holy Father, teaches us this, whenever we read it with the

necessary discernment. These Orders, however, increased, spread, and

were laden by Rome with privileges, exemptions, and even riches; for

the monks, yet more than the priests, played the papal game, and

related to the nations the holiness of the popes, how they were chosen

by the Holy Spirit, and how Christ and the Virgin conversed with them

familiarly. Happy, then, did those consider themselves, who could

obtain an _Agnus Dei_, or other favour; whilst for an indulgence,

silver and gold were spent without restraint. Hence the immense riches

which, from every quarter showered upon Rome, and rendered the popes

proud, their courts insolent, their city the most beautiful in the

world.

But times changed; that is to say, many well-informed persons amongst

the faithful, perceived the imposture of these sellers of Christ; and

first with words, afterwards by acts, revolted against the disorder

which not only blinded them with error, but despoiled and oppressed

them.

And now came the epoch of the Reformation--of that religious rising

which, excited by God, and guided by the Spirit of the Lord, succeeded

in enlightening and persuading half Europe to separate from the

theories of popery, without fear of offending religion,--nay, rendering

justice, by so doing, to that Gospel which the popes had adulterated,

which Rome had profaned, which had been made an instrument of extortion

and falsehood, by the aid of priests and monks. But this lesson,

honestly given to them by nations, was not enough to correct the popes;

even the half of their proselytes who remained to them, were sufficient

to maintain their courts in all their luxury; and one hope comforted

them, that by the use of skilful artifices, they might destroy the work

of Luther and of Henry VIII., as they had done that of many others.

Holy Father, how has this hope for three centuries failed your

predecessors! Nay, you yourself have had the grief of losing several

districts, in the north and in the south, which called themselves

yours, without any hope that they will ever return to you again.

If you wish to know the reason, I can tell it you. It is because our

times are no longer in accordance with the impostures that you sell by

your monks, who, full of ignorance, superstition, and knavery, still

hawk about the fables of Rome. The world will no longer listen to your

universal primacy, because every one knows that it does not extend

beyond the two millions and a half of people, which, by the deference

of the sovereigns of Europe, it is still permitted you to govern by

force of arms.

Your indulgences, your relics, are specifics which are gone out of use.

The excise upon sins, which you enforce once a-year, to be paid through

your privileged exactors, is, be assured, paid by the generality in

false money; inasmuch as now nearly every one comprehends that, however

great may be the authority you possess, that power assuredly is wanting

to you which belongs to God alone. Still it is to be bitterly lamented,

that a great part of Europe yet tolerates that trickery of yours--a

spectacle revolting to the good sense, not to say to the religion,

of mankind--that a priestly juggler should boast of being able to

transform, by virtue of certain words, a portion of bread and wine

into Deity. Too great, O Holy Father, too great is the abuse attempted

to be practised on your adherents; placing them in the very condition

of those who were once taught that gods might be born in a garden.

Why so far outrage your friends as to make them afterwards ashamed of

themselves, when they come to reflect upon the fraud? It makes them

hate and curse you when this happens. In these our days, when even

children are angry at being deceived, men have sufficient self-respect

rather to bear blows than to be treated with fraud and delusion.

And do you know what follows? The gravest of all evils--the total

loss of religion. Roman Catholics, if not quick in taking refuge in

some reform or other, become Atheists, the first moment that having

their eyes open, they perceive they have been drawn into such gross

errors. They feel an indignation which makes them discredit everything;

believing that there can be nothing good where so many evil things are

presented to them to swallow. Just as when in a most exquisite dish we

find foreign substances which offend our senses, we do not endeavour to

separate them, but rather reject the whole; so it happens to Papists,

when they perceive the falsity and fraud which lie hidden under the

Roman faith.

What now will you say, Holy Father, if I prove to you that by means

of popery men become more wicked, and are so speculatively? The power

that you claim of granting absolution of sins,--to whom does it secure

pardon? Who is there that, having fulfilled the condition you lay

down of confession, does not feel persuaded that he has settled his

accounts, to open them again with equal extravagance? Where are the

greatest numbers of robbers, traitors, adulterers, if not in the midst

of your Roman Catholics? And why? Because it costs them nothing but to

cast themselves at the feet of one of your plenipotentiaries, to cancel

every iniquity. If you have been at Naples, you know of whom it is that

the churches are full; who it is that beat their breasts before the

altar, who are those that weep all day at the confessionals! And such

as Naples is, such are all the other countries more or less papistical.

But there is still more to observe. Who are generally the most wicked

persons in every locality? (I speak only of Italy, indeed only of

Southern Italy--a country emphatically Roman Catholic.) Forgive me,

Holy Father; but it is a matter of fact,--priests and monks; whatever

iniquity, wickedness, and abomination has ever existed upon the earth,

you will find among them. Haughtiness, luxury, ambition, pride,--where

do they most abound? In your temples. There the excessive love of

money, falsehood, fraud, duplicity, cover themselves with a sacred

veil, and are almost in security from profane censures. And oh! how

great are the horrors of the cloisters (_sepulchra dealbata_), where

ignorance and superstition, laziness, indolence, calumny, quarrels,

immorality of every description, not only live, but reign. The most

abominable vices, long banished from all society, have there taken

refuge; and there will they continue miserably to dwell, until God,

outraged by them, shall rain down upon them the curse of Sodom and

Gomorrah.

Am I exaggerating? or do not you yourself, while reading this

paragraph, utter the sigh of sorrowing conviction? But who are to be

blamed for such evils? Mankind, you will tell me, evasively. But I

reply: Are not the immense mass of Protestants also a part of mankind?

and do not they live quite differently? Worshipping the same Deity,

followers of the same gospel, their temples are truly the house of

prayer; their Sundays the Lord's-day, their ministers patterns of

probity and morality. Can this be denied concerning the Protestant

clergy in general? But against the Roman Catholic clergy thousands of

accusations can be most justly made. Will you venture to deny it? You

must first hide the episcopal prisons of your State, and numerous

other places of punishment for ecclesiastics;--you must prevent the

world from knowing of the Ergastolo of Corneto, full to overflowing

with priests and monks, whom you send there yourself, when they become

intolerable to you. Find me anything like this in Germany or in

England--countries eminently Protestant. Can you deny, then, that your

popery renders men more wicked?

It follows, from what has been said, that such a religion is the pest

of society; insomuch as it conceals the truth, disfigures the gospel,

promotes error, favours ignorance and bigotry. Hence comes the ruin

of poor Italy, which, owing to this system of belief, is in many

parts desert, the country uncultivated, the commerce in a deplorable

condition. Italy, once the queen of the world, is now the servant and

slave of other nations. Kings consulting with their confessors how

best to oppress their people! Jesuits restored to the ascendant! Monks

continually enriching themselves! While all the rest of the world is

progressing, Italy alone is going back, on account of her popery, which

degrades, debases, and renders her contemptible in the sight of God and

man.

Holy Father, are you grieved by what I say? I rejoice not in your

grief, but in the hope that it may be for your benefit. It rests with

you, if you will, to change the system. Be not ashamed of having erred

till now. You will be _the man_ of the age; a man glorious in all

history: you will be the true apostle of Jesus Christ, if, renouncing

the vanity of your primacy, which can last to you but little longer,

you lay down the titles and the dignities which do not belong to you.

You, better than any other, can bring back to Italy the religion

of Christ in its purity; taking away all that has been maliciously

invented, to defraud the faithful for the profit of the clergy. The

imposture is now thoroughly seen into; there are no longer persons who

believe in Confession, in the Mass; in the sufferings of Purgatory, in

the patronage of Saints. Your indulgences have lost all their credit;

your excommunications are totally valueless: your bulls and canons only

raise a smile.

How is the world changed in regard to you! Once all Catholics, even

the least earnest, spoke of the pope with respect. Now even your own

court speaks ill of you. Accusations against yourself personally, which

circulate through the world, and state things in the highest degree

disgraceful, originate with Romans. You will call this the work of

Satan, but I must, with more suitable language, call it the hand of

God; that terrible hand which is preparing your punishment.

It will happen to you as it happened three centuries since, to Pope

Clement VII. Germany and England then separated from Rome under his

eyes: Poland and Spain are about to do the same under yours. Hasten,

Holy Father, to accept the call which Heaven makes to you. Despise not

the voice of God, as your ill-advised predecessors despised it. Your

measure is now full. In the first days of your pontificate you saw the

most violent revolution that ever happened in your States,--the sincere

expression of the opinion and wishes of every one. It was echoed and

applauded by all Italy. Italy wishes for you no longer; Italy no longer

believes, respects, or loves you. It was requisite, at that time, for

the Austrians to interfere. Will they do so again? Or, if they do, will

they be able to extinguish the flame?

Regard not who it is who gives you these suggestions. I am less hostile

to you than you imagine. Nay, I protest to you that I have no hostility

in my heart, except towards your doctrine and policy; I have none

towards yourself, whom I regard with religious affection, and for whom

I desire the holy light of God, to promote your repentance and that of

your brethren.

CORFU, January 15, 1843.

_To_ GREGORY XVI. _Bishop and Sovereign of Rome_, GIACINTO ACHILLI,

_Minister of the Italian Catholic Church_.

LETTER II.

IT is not party spirit--it is not a vain-glorious craving to contend

with you,--but the love of truth, the interests of religion, and the

charity of the gospel, which induce me to write to you again.

It has ever been the custom in the Church of Jesus Christ for the

elders to treat with the bishops, upon the most important matters.

Thus Jerome did with Damasus, and Bernard with Eugenius. I do not set

myself up as a judge. I only wish to be a truthful witness, in a cause

where there are a thousand accusers. The issue lies between you and

the Church--that is, between the Christian people and one Bishop of

Christendom. No question could be more important, from the subject

to which it relates, the parties who compose it, the period at which

it is raised. The subject is the faith of the gospel, the only law

given to Christians. The parties are a multitude against a few; a

people against individuals; the Christian Church against its pretended

lords. The period is the nineteenth century. The terms of the question:

whether the world at large should continue to believe in you, to obey

you, to follow you, wherever you are pleased to lead it. You support

the affirmative, which others deny. I will openly deliver my solemn

testimony.

The Christian world will no longer believe in you, because you have

deceived it, and because you continue in your intention of deceiving

it. It believed you as long as you announced the truths of religion,

as they are written in the book of the common faith. To you, as more

instructed than others, it allowed the faculty of explaining the

mysteries of charity, the symbols of the Divine Word. Your speech

ought to have been simple and pure; but you adulterated it with false

doctrines, with fallacious arguments, with meanings extorted from the

philosophy of the pagans,--you explained the gospel by the theories of

Plato and the sophistries of Aristotle. The world no longer knows what

to believe.

Your doctors exalted themselves above the apostles; they perverted

the holy expressions of those Epistles which men of God left for the

instruction of the faithful. A new Word prevailed above the old--an

earthly and human over the heavenly and Divine. The faith, the

patrimony of a free people, was made over to a caste which domineered

over them. The property of the simple was usurped by the cunning; the

inheritance of the poor of Jesus Christ was extorted from them by the

rich; who, clad in purple and gold, disdained the title of brethren and

friends--the only appellation of Christians--and chose instead to be

called fathers and lords. And the people were deceived by them.

Yes, the people; they who constitute the Church, were deceived by the

ministers of a religion which knows nothing but the people, which is

given to the people only--by which, whosoever aspires to be the first,

is condemned to be the last,--the people who, as St. Peter says:--

"Laying aside all malice, and all guile, and evil speaking; as new-born

babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, in order to grow thereby,

after having tasted that the Lord is gracious: to whom coming, as

to a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and

precious, they are built up as living stones, a spiritual house, an

holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God

by Jesus Christ ... a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy

nation, a peculiar people, which in time past were not a people, but

now are the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have

obtained mercy."

Yes, the people, deceived by you, have good reason no longer to believe

in you. You have deceived them with your doctrines--your own, not

those of the gospel; invented for your own profit alone; not for the

benefit of men's souls, to which you have even denied consolation,

when they could not give you silver and gold in payment for it. You

deceive them with your practices, when you, so avaricious, preach

disinterestedness; you, so impure, chastity; you, so vindictive,

forgiveness; you, so insubordinate, submission; you, so turbulent,

peace; you, so self-indulgent, temperance; you, so indolent, industry;

you, so immoral, holiness.

Thus to this day you have deceived the people; and they have ceased to

believe in you; perceiving that God did not dwell in you, that God no

longer spoke through your untruthful lips.

How, indeed, could they longer believe in you, when your words were in

open contradiction with the Word of God--your institutions with its

principles?

God pardons him that believes and repents--you declare none pardoned

but through outward works! God will be worshipped by believers in

spirit and in truth; He prohibits sculptures and images, in order that

no one may ever give worship and homage to another.

Oh, how many things have you taught, how many divers practices have you

adopted! How have you changed the temple of prayer, the mystic table of

the Lord's Supper, the simple hymn of the faithful, the pure preaching

of the Word!

Who ever saw in the ancient Churches--who could have anticipated in

the modern ones, the golden ornaments of your sacerdotal crowns and

vestments? so that, on solemn days, your whole person shines in the

temple like a sun; to which the dazzled eyes of a deluded multitude of

disciples are turned, substituting, alas! the senses for spirit, earth

for heaven, man for Deity.

Fatal illusion, which has caused such great evils throughout

Christendom! these appearances are supposed to be faith, and in these

religion is made to consist. Deny it if you can. What is, in fact,

the faith of the people, and what must it be from your practical

instruction? That, of course, which they see and hear with you. And

what else do they see and hear, but superstitions and errors? To whom

are the solemn days dedicated? To the saints. Concerning whom are the

most glowing orations made in the Churches? The saints. Who is over

the altars? A saint, at full length; with, or perhaps without, a small

crucifix, scarcely visible. Which way do the people turn on entering

the temple? To the spot where they see an image exciting to their

feelings. And what follows? They worship that image. And you priests,

spectators of that worship, are silent. You are consistent in being so,

for none but yourselves deserve to be blamed for this abuse,--you, who

place the image there--you, who relate its miracles, so as to enamour

the simple who trust you! You are silent also because it is your

interest to keep so. Oblations, gifts, offerings, follow the adoration.

But are not the people deluded? What matters it, if only the priesthood

be profited!

The people, however, will not believe themselves deluded, in doing

what they see you do. Who is there among you that does not adore the

saints, does not adore and kiss their relics? It is useless to urge the

distinction about sorts of worship, which you make in the schools. The

people know it not, because they have never been taught it. It is shut

up in your books, from whence it never comes out, except to be learnt

by those who have to support and defend it against every attack. In

short, it is the doctrine of controversy, not of practice.

If you regulated the practice by the doctrine, you would prohibit

kneeling before images and relics; but you are the first to kneel. You

would not permit the use of incense to relics and images, practised

from antiquity in honour of God alone; but it is you who offer incense

to them. You would not tolerate even the candles on the altar, to

inspire the people with a high idea of the majesty of God; but you

light them yourselves. You come upon us with the distinction of the

school, between the worship and the adoration of images.

Who are you who dare to distinguish, where the law precludes all

distinction? It is God who says in the Second Commandment, "Thou shalt

not make unto thyself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing

that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in

the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them,

nor serve them." But you have purposely taken this commandment out of

your Decalogue, dividing the last into two, in order to complete the

number ten.

Need I remind you of all the other inventions by which you have

deceived the people; making them believe that you have found them

in the Scriptures; and that they have, moreover, the suffrage of a

constant tradition within the Church? The people having now learnt

to read, take the Bible in their hands, and look for your doctrines

in it. Where, they ask, is the precept for auricular confession, of

which the Church of Rome makes an express command, and has declared

it a sacrament? Not a word of it can be found in the gospel, nor the

slightest allusion to it in the letters of the apostles. But perhaps

it was practised by some Christians in the early ages? For the first

four centuries of Christianity, it was not known even by name, and when

it began to spring up, it found more opponents than followers; no one

even venturing to reduce it into a precept. The people search the Bible

for the famous doctrine of purgatory; and how great their surprise to

find that our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought life and immortality to

light, with the double eternity of rewards and punishments, has never

mentioned purgatory, nor have His apostles.

You send them to read a sentence of the Book of the Maccabees, and wish

Judas Maccabeus to teach the Christian people what Jesus Christ did not

teach. But the people, who are not wanting in sense, ask their priests

what is the value of that Book of Maccabees? The priest, if he have any

conscience, is obliged to reply that it is one of the Apocryphal books;

it having never been received by the Hebrews, from whom we are bound

to receive faithfully the books of the Old Testament; it not being

written originally in their language; never being quoted, either by

Christ, or by His apostles; consequently, not received in the ancient

Catholic Church, and only inserted among the sacred books by the

Council of Trent; to whom it was an object to authenticate the doctrine

of purgatory. So much for the Scripture proof. Now, let us go to the

tradition of the ancient Catholic Church.

You will admit that, for two centuries, prayers for the dead, and

still more the doctrine of purgatory, never entered men's heads.

Tertullian, that imaginative mind, which saw so many other things

upside-down, was the first to recommend prayers for the dead; without,

however, mentioning purgatory. Towards the end of the fourth century,

Augustine, another African mind, spoke more decidedly both of prayers,

and of a sort of suffrages for the dead. However others choose to act,

shall we rely on the authority of his discoveries? Even the purgatory

of Augustine was not an existing fire, but one which is to be lighted

up at the final destruction, through which then, and not previously,

souls shall pass. This theory is of perhaps equal value with his theory

respecting the Antipodes, whose existence that learned man denied!

The case is similar with all the other dogmas which, since the time of

Gregory VII., have originated in the Church of Rome. Is the Christian

Church bound to receive the wicked inventions of Honorius III.,

proposed and sanctioned by him in the Lateran Council (1215)? Shall

she adhere to his famous dogma of transubstantiation, invented by the

heretic Eutychus, unknown in the first ages, and ably contradicted

by Pope Gelatius? (_De Duab. Christ. Natur._) Shall she abide by the

impious doctrine that the sacrifice of Christ, offered once for all, as

a full satisfaction, even to the end of the world, should be renewed

every day, by hundreds, by thousands, by hundreds of thousands of

priests, who say that they are authorized to offer it, both for the

living and the dead? Most enormous sacrilege, to which the whole Bible

is opposed, and which the Apostle Paul loudly condemns in his Epistles!

What elder, or bishop, in the first centuries, ever allowed himself

to celebrate your mass, or the sacrifice which you call unbloody; or

to make use of anything but the simple commemoration of the supper of

the Lord; very far removed from that idea with which you have clothed

it in the ages of error and ignorance? Is the sacrament which you now

celebrate the original august mystery of the Divine food, instituted

indeed in substances of bread and wine, but containing spiritually the

body and blood of Christ, which are communicated to His Church, that

is, to the multitude of believers, not materially and physically, as

you say, but in virtue of faith? Yes! if you will but celebrate it

with that simplicity with which it was celebrated by the first bishops

and elders of the Catholic Church, we will come willingly to receive

it at your hands. Celebrate it in all its extent, and the people will

approach the eucharistic table, to eat of the Divine bread, and to

drink of the Divine cup. But the people desire both the one and the

other, and cannot yet understand the reason for which you have taken

the cup from them.

Is it not the precept of Christ that every believer should drink of

that cup, as well as eat of that bread? Was not this the practice

of the primitive times of Christianity? The Greek Church has always

retained that practice, and the Reformation immediately resumed it.

The people have as good a right to the cup as have you priests;--even

better than you, since you cannot avail yourselves of it without the

Church properly so called. In taking it alone, you perform an act

contrary to His institution, which is to "communicate,"--that is, to

take it together, as the word itself teaches you. Yes! Only on this

condition will the people remain united to you, that you be faithful in

the exercise of the ministry, not altering the faith, not changing the

practice, not deceiving them in anything.

They are willing to confide in you as the appointed servants of the

Church, in the offices of religion. But instead of this you think

of nothing but to command. The yoke of Christ, which He made easy,

and His burden, which He made light, you have rendered so heavy and

insupportable that the people refuse to bear them. Something very

different from indulgences and benedictions is now needed to satisfy

the people. In the present day fables please none but children, and

lies are no longer tolerated by any. The Christian people desire from

us, the ministers of its Church, the Word of Life as announced by Jesus

Christ, as preached by the apostles, as written in the sacred books of

our faith.

If, instead of chaplets and _Agni Dei_, which are deceptions, you, the

bishop of Rome, were to give the Bible to the people, you would see

how readily they would follow you! But it must be the Bible translated

into their own language, so that they may comprehend it. Give them the

Bible! Bestow on them those sacred books which Moses and the Prophets,

the Evangelists and the Apostles wrote for the people, and not for the

priests only! Give the people that which is their own; they have a

right to it of which you cannot deprive them. It is the testament of

our God, who left His people the heirs of His holy Word; in reading

which, faith will be granted, and to the belief of which are attached

salvation and life.

Who gave you the power to deprive the people of their privilege and

highest benefit? Fear lest God end by avenging His oppressed ones, and

causing a curse to fall upon you.

You venture to excommunicate the people, if they read the Bibles

which a beneficent Christian society has taken pains to print in all

languages, on purpose that all nations may enjoy the benefit of reading

them. You condemn the charity and the religion of those good men,

who, in their zeal for souls, undertake this work with much expense

to themselves! O Pope Gregory, what manner of spirit are you of? As

one of the bishops of Christendom, you should have a care to feed your

flock; on what will you feed them if not on the pure and holy Word of

God? You ought, therefore, to be well disposed towards all who take

this Word from the holy originals in Hebrew, and Greek, and faithfully

translate it into the vulgar tongue, so as to enable you and other

bishops to administer it to your flocks. You ought yourself to accept

these sacred volumes from their hands, and, accompanying them with

the warmest expressions of paternal solicitude, recommend them to the

reading and the study of your children. What do I say? You ought, on

your own account, to print them, and not wait for others to supply

you with them. You would then see the faithful in your Church apply

themselves eagerly to that Divine book, and draw from it food and

nourishment. But, alas! you do just the opposite. You do not print it,

and you do not choose that others should print it. You never give it

to the people, and you do not wish that others should give it. I will

add what I hear is said,--you do not read it, and you do not wish that

others should read it. And for this you allege, as your sole reason,

the pretext that the people are not capable of understanding it. Sure

enough, they do not understand it in Latin; but they would understand

it in their own language. The Germans and the English, to whom their

own Churches impart it, understand it; why should it not be understood

by the French, the Italians, and the Spaniards?

You say, in your Encyclical of last March, that the Council of Trent,

in order to explain the Bible to the people, provides that in each

cathedral church a canon should be charged to deliver, every year,

certain lectures on the Scriptures. And think you this is enough? I

know of this provision, and I know, too, how it is practised. Would

that this were done in all the cathedrals, and that the number of

lectures amounted to twenty in a year! But, let me ask you, has every

village its cathedral and its theologians authorized to lecture on the

Scripture? Away with such excuses! why abuse the inexperienced with

illusive words, which only mock the people? The fact is, you do not

wish the Scriptures to be read at all, still less to be read aloud, by

any one who, having no interest in flattering you, would consult them

in order to investigate your doctrines. Those humble souls to whom the

Lord would reveal the knowledge which he denies to your theologians,

would find in them the falsity of your system; instead of believing

in you, they would begin to believe in Jesus Christ, who announces to

His people salvation by faith, and not by works; remission of sins to

sinners by grace, and not by penance; satisfaction by the merits of the

Redeemer, and not by those of good men; Jesus Christ the sole Mediator

with God, not the Virgin and the saints; Christ the Head and Chief of

the Church, not Peter nor you; Christ alone perfectly holy, Christ

alone infallible.

These, and other such things, the people would find in the Bible, if

they read it. And the consequence would be, that they, being the many,

finding themselves deceived by you, who are the few, would summon you

to judgment, for having too long kept them in error; to the serious

injury of religion, as well as to the danger of their own souls.

Think you that the antiquity of dates, the traditions of canons, or

the authority of the Fathers would then serve to defend your cause?

The people, with the Bible in their hands, after having confuted your

errors and those of your Councils and of your Fathers, all of whom

were uninspired men, were but too liable to err, as in fact they did

err--the people would pronounce such a sentence as would oblige you and

your theologians to return to the Bible, that is, to the true Catholic

Church of the first three centuries; reforming, by this means, what has

been added since, whether by the desire of novelty, or by the spirit of

ambition and interest.

Do you know what the people are? They are the Church of Jesus Christ.

We are the ministers, or servants, of this Church; and we therefore

depend upon the people. This truth, announced by Jesus Christ, and

openly taught by His Apostles, but which men have wilfully denied,

begins now to revive. The people, whom it has been attempted to deprive

of their privileges, now begin to reclaim them. The man who now reads

in his own language the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Paul, discovers

in them his own privileges; he reflects on the usurpation practised

upon him, and claims the rights to which he is entitled. The people,

as constituting the Church, to which the ministers are servants in

the dispensation of mysteries and in the office of preaching, will

then have the help of Christ, even to the end of the world. On this

People-Church the promises of the Redeemer descended, and we only

participate in them as part and ministers of the people.

Bishop of Rome! continue, if you will, as long as men will allow you,

to sit on the throne of the Cæsars, who are dead; but invade not that

of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns. He is the only Sovereign of the

People-Church, nor does He allow himself to be represented by others.

He governs it at all times by His own laws, nor does He suffer others

to usurp His rights, by substituting their laws for His.

And does it follow that He must be longer silent, because He has borne

with you in silence until now? It is now nearly the middle of the

nineteenth century. Do you not see the providence of God in operation

over all material and earthly things? When was there ever such progress

in enlightenment, such knowledge of the arts of industry? Remote

nations approach each other by the easiest means, connect themselves in

the most rapid manner, and form plans for a degree of union, of peace,

and of prosperity, such as has never before existed. Nations which

slept for ages, have woke up full of vigour and energy; their steps are

those of a giant; their look is that of the eagle; they measure the

earth, in its vastness, and overrun it in all its extent. The people of

our day differ widely from those of by-gone times; their wants are more

strongly felt, their language is more decided.

In former times, no Roman could have been found to speak to his pope

with frankness. You have now found one who spares you not; who dares

to present himself before you: not on his knees, to adore you, but

erect, to speak to you with freedom, and to tell you what he thinks.

And with him are thousands, nay millions, who partake his views. And

who is this man? An Italian, a minister of an Italian Church;--a Church

which assembles to pray to God in the Italian language, and to listen

to the reading of His holy Word. And in whose name does he minister? In

that of God. By whom chosen and received? By the people, who are the

Church; and previously by yourself, and by the Church of the priests;

if, indeed, that Church of yours be really a Church, consisting, as

it does, of priests only, without people. You are called the Latin

Church, but where is the Latin people? From the time that the language

of the priests has ceased to be the language of the people, priests and

people no longer form one Church; unless by the word Church you mean a

theatre, with a stage for the actors and a space for the spectators.

The country from the Alps to the sea is Italy; its inhabitants are

called by all the world, Italians; its language is Italian, and has

been so for four centuries. Where is there room for a Latin Church?

Such did exist before God extinguished it; but God has extinguished it,

and man cannot maintain it in existence.

Yes, Pope Gregory, Italians we are, and Christians we are resolved to

be. What shall be the name of our Church? Answer, or the people will

answer for you, "The Italian." The Italian Church we are, by the will

of God and in the name of Jesus Christ who presides over us. Will you

join us? You, too, are an Italian. You, too, are a Christian. Nay, you

are a minister and an elder, as St. Peter designated himself; and among

the elders we will recognise you as a bishop, whenever you will return

with us to the Christianity of primitive times; otherwise we must part.

Understand that in religion there is no compromise, and we are

persuaded that the religion of the first three centuries is alone the

pure and true Christianity. Can you deny this? You are a conscientious

man; do justice, then, to your country, since the providence of God

has made you pope, that is to say, Bishop of Rome, in the nineteenth

century. Blame us not, that in wishing to be Christians, we refuse

to be _Romanists_. Within the present century, heaven and earth will

contradict you; posterity will condemn you; and an Omnipotent God will

pass your sentence, dooming you to be the last of a series which has

existed long enough, by coming down to our own days.

JULY, 1844.

_Letter to_ PIUS IX. _Bishop and Sovereign of Rome_, GIACINTO ACHILLI,

_a Minister of the Italian Catholic Church_.

IT is not unknown to you that I addressed two letters to your exalted

predecessor, Gregory XVI., making a full retractation of the Romish

doctrines which I had professed, more or less, up to 1841, and

declaring to him my entire belief in Divine Scripture alone, to the

exclusion of everything else. In this faith I intend to live and die,

so help me God and His holy Word!