"At first the female may be a little timid, &c. She may object, &c. But
the priest, representing God's angel in this office, gently soothes the
mind and quiets the fears of his future spouse by saying to her, He who
will _come upon thee_ is not man, but is the holy one of God, and this
union is pleasing to him;----."
(At this point Anthony Comstock must have blushed and raised an
objection, as the nun was doing, for the remainder of the sentence is
stricken out.)
But the text continues--"It will be holy and blessed; therefore I say
unto thee, as the angel said unto Mary, Fear not."
After this, the woman, being convinced by the language of heaven's
messenger that all is right, gives the priest complete assurance of her
willingness to submit by saying, as Mary said to the angel, "Be it done
unto me according to thy word."
Then Dr. Fulton so frankly indicates what takes place in that private
room, and upon that consecrated bed, that I really am curious to know
what it was that made Comstock blush, a few lines above those which thus
tell of the soliciting priest, the yielding nun, and the ready bed.
Now, if you will compare one case with another, from the time of the
early Fathers down to the present day, you will detect a similarity that
is appalling.
The testimony of Edward Gibbon, the skeptical historian, exactly accords
with that of Saint Cyprian, Chrysostom, Jerome and Bernard.
The memorable investigation which Duke Leopold of Tuscany caused to be
made of the cloistered convents of Italy revealed identically the same
cess-pools of vice that came to light in England when Henry VII.
uncovered the monasteries.
All the literature of the Renaissance, after men's minds and pens freed
themselves from the ignoble fear of popery, bear witness to the same
universal everlasting truth--_Men and women were made for each other,
and no so-called religion can annul the laws of Nature_.
* * * * * * *
When a "religion" sets up the claim that it can pardon sins, educate the
children to believe it, _destroys those who deny it_, and fixes a scale
of money-payments for the pardon of sins, what sort of fruit is that
kind of tree likely to bear?
If penance and payment rids me of sin, my conscience, like an unused
muscle, becomes enfeebled, and my proneness to sin is encouraged.
Pope Leo X. was the Vicar of Christ who ordered lists of sin to be drawn
up, with the price of the pardon opposite each sin.
(See History of Auricular Confession, by Count C. P. De Lasteyrie, Vol.
II., p. 132.)
I will quote only a few of these tariff rates established by this
Infallible Pope.
For allowing a ship to sail to convey merchandise to infidels, 100 d.
For the absolution of any one practising usury, 7 d.
For concubinage, 7 d.
For intimacy with a woman _in a church_, 6 d.
For pardon of him who has violated a virgin, 6 d.
For one who has committed incest, 5 d.
(The d. stands for the coin known as the ducat.)
Can you imagine anything more conducive to immorality, than a
"religion," sanctified by the name of Christ, which teaches that its
priests can forgive sins, and which publishes a list of market prices
for such forgiveness? Do you marvel that Roman Catholic countries are
the immoral countries? Do you wonder at the mania for vice and crime
among the lower Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese?
When a man could ravish a virgin for six ducats, what girl had any
safety except in the fear that libertines might have of her father or
her brother, or her sweetheart?
What sort of hell would we have in America if popery gained the upper
hand, _and the negro bucks were taught that they could buy pardons for
violating white women_?
God Almighty! It makes one sick to think that even now they are
admitting young black men to the priesthood.
What will _they do_, inside the cloistered convents?
No scream from within can be heard outside. Those dead walls tell no
tales. The Law dares not scrutinize the interiors where the negro
priests can penetrate; and we have no legal process to wring the dread
Secret out of the nun's cell!
The Pope's Empire has been erected inside our Republic; and those who
represent our State, and our Law, are afraid of the Italian Pope and the
laws of the Italian church!
* * * * * * *
When the Commissioners sent by King Henry VII. visited the monasteries,
the guilt of the inmates was so overwhelmingly evident that hardly any
attempt at denial was made. The Confession of the Prior and Benedictines
of St. Andrew's in Northampton is yet of record, and it is a fair
example. They confessed that they "had lived in idleness, gluttony, and
sensuality, for which the Pit of Hell was ready to swallow them up."
(Burnett, Book III., p. 227.)
Among the false "relics" that were found and which had long been used to
swindle ignorant believers out of their money, were a Wing of the Angel
that had brought to England the Spear which pierced Christ's side; some
of the coals that had roasted the Most Blessed Saint Anthony; numerous
pieces of "the true Cross;" a small bottle filled with Christ's blood; a
Crucifix which would sometimes bow its head, sometimes roll its eyes and
sometimes move its lips.
(All this fraudulent rubbish was seized, taken to London, and publicly
destroyed.)