easily violate it. While he believes that there is an all-seeing
Providence, to whom alone he is accountable for his actions, he will be
cautious in committing offences; but once satisfy a man, that there
is, within his reach, a power which can pardon his sins, even those of
perjury; which can change abstract evil into good, and he will stop at
nothing. While the pardon of offences is a marketable article, it never
will want for a purchaser, so prone are we to the commission of crime.
Let man have an adviser, in whom he is taught to place unlimited
confidence, on whom he looks as the representative of his God on earth,
and he soon becomes his ready tool for good or for evil. Such precisely
is the position in which ninety-nine out of a hundred Roman Catholics
are placed. They are told by their priests, that, as members of society,
the first allegiance they owe is to the head of their church, the Pope
of Rome, and the next to the government, _de facto_, under which they
live; but these well-practised ecclesiastical impostors never forget to
add, that the first allegiance, being of a spiritual character, absorbs
and supersedes the latter; thus annulling, and rendering the oath of
allegiance, which they take to our government, something worse than even
mere mockery; and hence it is, that very few Catholics, particularly
the Irish, ever read the constitution of the United States, nor do they
require it to be read for them. They know not, they care not what it
is. It is enough for them to believe that the oath, which they take
to support it, is not obligatory. Of this they are assured by their
priests. Yet strange, these very priests tell them they commit mortal
sin by becoming Freemasons, or uniting themselves with that excellent
and benevolent association, the Odd Fellows. And why, reader, do they do
this? Why prevent them from uniting with Odd Fellows or Freemasons? Why
has the Pope recently cursed all Odd Fellows? Why has he sent a bull to
this country, cautioning Catholics against having any thing to do with
them? Why have the Romish priests, from one end of this country to the
other, echoed these curses? Did the Pope discover any bad thing in the
constitution or rules of action of Freemasons or Odd Fellows? Are these
institutions aiming at the overthrow of any fixed principles in morals,
_in_ religion, or in virtue? No such allegation is made. Why then do
Popes and priests forbid Roman Catholics from uniting with them? It
is expressly because the Pope knows nothing about those excellent
institutions. It is because he is aware he can make no use of them; but
let those societies beware, if they wish to keep their secrets. They
should not allow any man to join them until he first swears that he is
not a Roman Catholic; otherwise some Jesuits will get among them, and
the next packet will convey their doings to his royal holiness the Pope.
I cannot illustrate more clearly the value which foreign Roman priests
and their followers put upon an oath of allegiance to this government,
than by stating a conversation which occurred between myself and a
Jesuit, the Rev. Dr. De Barth, then vicar-general of the diocese of
Pennsylvania, and residing in Philadelphia. It took place some years
ago, and his opinion of the validity of an oath of allegiance to this
government, is the same now that is held by all Papists. I will give it
by way of question and answer, just as it occurred.
Question by Mr. De Barth. Do you intend becoming a citizen of the United
States?
Answer. I believe not, sir. I don't think I could conscientiously take
an oath of allegiance to this government, without violating that which I
have taken at my ordination.
Mr. De B. You are entirely mistaken. Any part of your oath of allegiance
to this country, which may be incompatible with your _first_ and
_greater_ allegiance to the head of your church, cannot be binding on
you.
Ans. I have doubts upon that subject.
Mr. De B. What! doubt your superior, sir? This looks badly. It threatens
heresy. Have you been conversing with any heretics of this country?
Declare your intentions, sir, to become a citizen. Take the oath; it is
necessary you should be empowered to hold real estate for the good of
_the church_. The church must have her property out of the hands of
trustees; in this country they are all heretics; we must get rid of them
in St. Mary's church.
This led me into an examination of the allegiance which I swore to the
Pope at my ordination. I found that I owed him none; that I was the dupe
of an early education; that I owed allegiance only to my God and
the country which protected my life, my liberty, and my freedom of
conscience; and without further conversation with this intriguing and
debauched Jesuit--as I subsequently found him--I became a citizen of the
United States as soon as possible; renouncing all allegiance, temporal
and spiritual, to his _holiness the Pope_; and firmly resolved to induce
all others, who, like myself, had been the dupes of Popish intrigue, to
cut loose from them. I determined to support no civil constitution
but that of the United States, and to have no one for my guidance in
spiritual matters but my own conscience and the word of God.
POPISH BISHOPS AND PRIESTS ABSOLVE ALLEGIANCE TO PROTESTANT GOVERNMENTS.
I am aware of the difficulty there is in persuading Protestant
Americans, that Roman Catholic bishops and priests teach their people
to believe, that they, the priests, possess the power of absolving them,
either from their oath of allegiance or any other crime. It is, however,
time to speak plainly to Americans. It is time to let them know that
there exists in the midst of them a body of people, amounting in number
to about two millions, who believe in this doctrine, so corrupt in
itself, and so well calculated to disturb the peace and harmony of
society. There is not a priest or bishop in the United States who dares
deny this; they act upon it every day. It is customary with the priests
to confess weekly, and to forgive each other's sins; and I am sorry to
say, from my knowledge of them, since my infancy to the present moment,
that there is not a more corrupt, licentious body of men in the world.
But I will not be judge, accuser, and witness, in this case. I know well
that Americans will take the _ipse dixit_ of no man. They are not in the
habit of lightly judging any individual or body of men, in any case.
I will, therefore, lay before them the Roman Catholic doctrine on the
subject of penance and confession, as taught by the council of Trent,
and now believed and practised by Roman Catholics in the United States.
I will only add, that I have taught these doctrines myself, when a
Roman Catholic priest, and while groping my way through the darkness of
Popery. There are many now living who heard and received them from me,
and to whom I have no apology to make for the errors into which I led
them, except that, like themselves, I was the dupe of early education.
The following are some of the canons of the council of Trent concerning
penance or confession.
"Whoever shall say, that those words of the Lord and Saviour: Receive
the Holy Ghost; _whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them,
and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained_; are not to be
understood of the power of remitting and retaining sins in the sacrament
of penance, as the Catholic church has always understood, from the
beginning; but shall falsely apply them against the institution of
this sacrament, to the authority of preaching the gospel; let him be
accursed!
"Whoever shall deny that sacramental confession has either been
instituted by divine command, or is necessary to salvation; or shall
say that the mode of secretly confessing to a priest alone, which
the Catholic church always has observed from the beginning, and still
observes, is foreign from the institution and command of Christ, and is
a human invention; let him be accursed!
"Whoever shall affirm, that in the sacrament of penance, it is not
necessary by divine command, for the remission of sins, to confess all
and every mortal sin, of which recollection may be had, with due and
diligent premeditation, including secret offences, and those which are
against the two last precepts of the decalogue, and the circumstances
which change the species of sin: but that this confession is useful only
for the instruction and consolation of the penitent, and was anciently
observed, only as a canonical satisfaction imposed upon him; or shall
say, that they who endeavor to confess all their sins, wish to leave
nothing for the divine mercy to pardon; or finally, that it is not
proper to confess venial sins; let him be accursed!
"Whoever shall say, that the confession of all sins, such as the
church observes, is impossible, and that it is a human tradition, to be
abolished by the pious; or that all and every one of Christ's faithful,
of both sexes, are not bound to observe it once in the year, according
to the constitution of the great Lateran council, and that for this
reason, Christ's faithful should be advised not to confess in the time
of Lent; let him be accursed!
"Whoever shall say, that the sacramental absolution of the priest is not
a judicial act, but a mere ministry to pronounce and declare, that sins
are remitted to the person making confession, provided that he only
believes that he is absolved, even though the priest should not absolve
seriously, but in joke; or shall say, that the confession of a penitent
is not requisite in order that the priest may absolve him; let him be
accursed!
"Whoever shall say, that priests who are living in mortal sin do not
possess the power of binding and loosing; or that the priests are not
the only ministers of absolution, but that it was said to all and every
one of Christ's faithful: Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be
bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall
be loosed also in heaven; and whose sins you shall forgive, they are
forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained: by virtue
of which words, any one may forgive sin; public sins, by reproof
only, if the offender shall acquiesce; and private sins, by voluntary
confession; let him be accursed!
"Whoever shall say, that bishops have not the right of reserving cases
to themselves, except such as relate to the external polity of the
church, and therefore that the reservation of cases does not hinder the
priest from truly absolving from reserved cases; let him be accursed!
"Whoever shall say, that the whole penalty, together with the guilt,
is always remitted by God, and that the satisfaction of penitents is
nothing else than the faith by which they apprehend that Christ has
satisfied for them; let him be accursed!
"Whoever shall say, that satisfaction is by no means made to God,
through Christ's merits, for sins as to their temporal penalty, by
punishments inflicted by him, and patiently borne, or enjoined by the
priests, though not undergone voluntarily, as fastings, prayers, alms,
or also other works of piety, and therefore that the best penance is
nothing more than a new life; let him be accursed!
"Whoever shall say, that the satisfactions by which penitents redeem
themselves from sin through Jesus Christ, are no part of the service of
God, but traditions of men, obscuring the doctrine concerning grace, and
the true worship of God, and the actual benefit of Christ's death; let
him be accursed!
"Whoever shall say, that the keys of the church were given only for
loosing, not also for binding, and that therefore the priests, when they
impose punishments upon those who confess, act against the design of
the keys, and contrary to the institution of Christ; and that it is a
fiction, that when by virtue of the keys the eternal penalty has been
removed, the temporal punishment may still often remain to be suffered;
let him tie accursed!"
I must be permitted here to remind Americans, that all Roman Catholics
are taught to believe, and distinctly to understand, that whatever they
confess to their priests, is not to be revealed; nor is the individual,
who confesses, permitted to reveal whatever the priest says or does
to him or her, except to another priest. For instance, should a priest
insult or attempt to seduce a woman, and succeed in doing so, she dare
not reveal it under pain of damnation, except to another priest in
confession, who is bound also to secrecy; and thus, priests, bishops,
popes, and all females of that denomination, may be guilty of
licentiousness,--the bare mention of which would pollute the pages of
this or any other work,--with impunity. The priests can first pardon
the woman, and then themselves, according to the doctrines of the
_infallible church_ of Rome. This is not all. It is not enough that the
sanction of the church should be given to these enormities; but priests
also claim the right of concealing, from the civil authorities, any
knowledge which they may have of crimes against the state as well as
the power of forgiving them. The following is the language of the church
upon that subject. Attend to it, fellow citizens, and tremble at
the dangers that threaten the destruction of your republic, from the
introduction of Popery among you.
"Although the life or salvation of a man, or the ruin of the state,
should depend upon it, what is discovered in confession cannot be
revealed. The secret of _the seal_--confession--is more binding than the
obligation of an oath." If a confessor is asked, what he knows of a fact
communicated to him, he must answer that he does not know it; and, if
necessary, confirm it by an oath; and "this is no perjury," says the
Popish church, "_because he knows it not as man, but as GOD_." There is
Popery for you, in its naked beauty! If a man wishes to murder, or to
rob you, he may go to his priest, apprize him of his intention, confess
to him that he will assuredly murder and rob you, or that he has done so
already, and yet this priest may be your next door neighbor, and he will
not make it known; and why, reader? Because he knows it _as God,_ and as
_God_ he tells the murderer to come to him and he will forgive him. It
is not at all impossible but the day may come when this country may be
at war with Europe. We can easily fancy the despots of Europe forming
another holy _alliance_, for the laudable purpose of suppressing
democracy. France, Austria, Spain, Italy, and a large portion of
Germany and Switzerland, together with the holy see, would necessarily
constitute that holy junto; and if so, and war were declared by them
against this country, what would be the consequence? Inevitable ruin;
certain defeat; not caused by foes abroad, but by foes within,
leagued by the most solemn ties, and bound by the most fearful oaths
to sacrifice our country, and all we value, for the advancement of the
Roman church.
That there is a foe in the midst of us, capable of doing so, no man
acquainted with the doctrines and statistics of the Roman Catholic
church in this country can deny.
It has now:--Dioceses, 21; apostolic vicarate, 1; number of bishops,
17; bishops elect, 8; priests, 634; churches, 611; other stations,
461; ecclesiastical seminaries, 19; clerical students, 261; literary
institutions for young men, 16; female academies, 48; elementary
schools, passim, throughout most of the dioceses; periodicals, 15;
population, 1,300,-000. Late accounts carry the population up to
2,000,000.
The increase of the Romish church, in this country, since 1836, amounts
to 12 bishops, 293 priests, 772 churches and other stations, 1,400,000
individuals, and other things in proportion.
Should the said church go on increasing for the next thirty years as she
has done for the last eight years, the Papists would be a majority of
the population of the United States, and the Pope our supreme temporal
ruler.
I have stated to you before what the doctrines of these two millions
are in relation to the power of the Pope; and I repeat it now, and most
solemnly assure you, that there is not a Roman Catholic in Europe or the
United States who does not believe that the Pope has as good a right to
govern this country as he has to govern Italy; and that he is, and of
right ought to be, our king. Pope Gregory VII. has declared, "that the
Pope alone ought to wear the tokens of imperial dignity, and that
all princes ought to kiss his feet." There is not a Roman Catholic
clergyman, whether bishop or priest, who does not believe that it is the
duty of our president, our governors, and magistrates, to do the same.
Bellarmine, one of the best authorities among Catholic writers, says,
"The supremacy of the Pope over all persons and things is the main
substance of Christianity." Mark that, fellow-citizens! That is the
belief of Bishop Hughes, of New York; that is the belief of Bishop
Fenwick, of Boston, and of every other Roman Catholic bishop in the
United States, as I will soon show.
Pope Boniface VIII. says, "It is necessary to salvation that all
Christians be subject to the Pope." Bzovius, an orthodox Roman Catholic
writer, whose authority no bishop or priest will venture to question,
says of the Pope--"He is judge in heaven, and in all earthly
jurisdiction supreme; he is the arbiter of the world." Moscovius,
another eminent Popish writer, informs us that "God's tribunal and
the Pope's tribunal are the same." Pope Paul IV., in one of his bulls,
published in the year 1557, declares, that "all Protestants, be they
kings or subjects, are cursed;" and this doctrine is an integral portion
of the law of the Roman Catholic church, as may be seen in the fifth
book of the decretals of the council of Trent. This is not all. We find
in the forty-third canon of the council of Lateran, that "all bishops
and priests are forbidden from taking any oath of allegiance," except to
the Pope.
We find in another part of the decrees of the council of Lateran, held
under Pope Innocent III., the following denunciation:--"All magistrates
who interpose against priests in any criminal case, whether it be for
murder or high treason, let him be excommunicated." Bear that in mind,
American Protestants! If a priest murder one of you, if he commit high
treason against your government, your magistrates dare not interfere,
under pain of being _damned_. So says the infallible Roman church; and
so will she act, should she ever acquire the power of doing so, in this
country.
It is said by Lessius, an eminent Jesuit writer, and professor of
divinity in the Roman Catholic college of Louvaine, who wrote about the
year 1620, and whose authority no Roman Catholic dare doubt, under pain
of eternal damnation, that "the Pope can annul and cancel every possible
obligation arising from an oath." This he taught to his students in the
college of Louvaine. This same doctrine has been taught in the college
of Maynooth, Ireland, where I was educated myself. It is taught there at
the present day. See the works of De La Hogue.
Judge you, Americans, what safety there is for your republic, while you
support and sustain among you a sect numbering two millions, who are
sworn to uphold such doctrines as the foregoing. The very domestics in
your houses are spies for the priests. Nothing transpires under your
own roofs which is not immediately known to the bishop or priest to whom
your servants confess. But you may say, "The confessor will not reveal
it." Here you are partly right, and partly, mistaken; and it is proper
to explain the course adopted by priests in such matters as confession.
If it be the _interest_ of the church, that what is confessed should be
made public, the priest tells the party to make it known to him, "_out
of the confessional_," and then he uses it to suit his own views;
perhaps for the destruction of the reputation, or fortune, of the very
man, or family, employing domestic. But it may be replied that
Roman Catholics are good-natured people; that they are generous and
industrious. Admitted: I will even go further; there is not a people in
the world moreso. Nature has done much for them, especially those of
them who are natives of Ireland; but the lack of a correct education has
corrupted their hearts and imbittered their feelings; they are not to
be trusted with the care or management of the animals of Protestant
families.
It is not generally known, nor perhaps suspected by Protestant parents,
who employ Roman Catholic domestics, in nursing and taking care of their
children, that these nurses are in the habit of taking their children
privately to the houses of the priests, and bishops, and there getting
them baptized according to the Roman Catholic ritual: I know this as
a fact, within my own knowledge. When I officiated as a Roman Catholic
priest, in Philadelphia, I baptized hundreds, I may say thousands of
Protestant children, without the knowledge or consent of their parents,
brought to me secretly by their Roman Catholic nurses; and I should have
continued to do so till this day, had not the Lord in his mercy,
been pleased to visit me, and show me the wiles, treachery, infamy,
corruption, and intrigue of the church, of which the circumstance of
birth and education caused me to be a member. It was usual with me in
Philadelphia, in St. Margaret church, of which I was pastor, to have
services every morning at seven o'clock; and often when I returned home,
between eight and eleven, have I found three, four, and sometimes six
and eight children, whose parents were Protestants, waiting for me, in
the arms of their Roman Catholic nurses to be baptized. This is a common
practice in every Protestant country, where there are Roman Catholic
priests; but as far as my experience goes, it prevails to a greater
extent in the United States than elsewhere; and 1 should not be in the
least surprised, if at this time, in the city of Boston, nearly all the
infants, nursed by Roman Catholic women, are baptized by their priests
and bishops. Roman Catholic women are unwilling to come in contact, even
with _heretic_ infants. They believe them _damned_, unless baptized by
a Romish priest. There is another fact, indirectly connected with
this subject, which is not generally known. It is believed by Roman
Catholics, that all mothers, after their confinement, are to be
_churched_ by some Romish priest or bishop. This _churching_ is
performed by the repetition of a few prayers, in Latin, a sprinkling
of holy water, and the woman who does not submit to this mummery,
is believed by any Roman Catholic nurse whom she may employ, to be
eternally _damned_, together with her child. They go so far as to
say, that the very ground upon which the unchurched mother walks is
_accursed_; that the very house in which she lives is _accursed_; and
that all she says and does is _accursed_.
So firmly have the Romish priests and bishops fastened this belief upon
the minds of their _dupes_, that at this moment in Ireland, and I may
venture to say in this city of Boston, no Catholic woman will leave
her bed after confinement, without being _churched, lest the ground_ on
which she walks may be accursed. Until this ceremony is performed, none
of her Catholic neighbors will hold any intercourse with her. How then
can Protestant mothers expect otherwise, than that Catholic nurses will
have _their_ children baptized by priests! or what security can they
have that they will not, under the direction of priests, try to turn the
minds of their children from the contemplation of truth, and pure gospel
light, to the foul sources of Popery and superstition! Look to this,
American mothers.
It may not be amiss in this connection, to lay before American
Protestants, the doctrine of the Romish church upon baptism; and, lest
I may be accused of setting down aught in malice, I shall do so in the
words of the council of Trent.
_Canons of the Council of Trent concerning Baptism._
"1. Whoever shall say that the baptism of John, had the same virtue as
the baptism of Christ; let him be accursed!
"2. Whoever shall say that true and natural water is not absolutely
necessary for baptism, and therefore wrests those words of our Lord
Jesus Christ, as though they had been a kind of metaphor: 'Except a man
be born of water, and the Holy Spirit;' let him be accursed!
"3. Whoever shall say that in the Roman church, which is the mother
and mistress of all churches, the doctrine concerning the sacrament of
baptism is not true; let him be accursed!