of the Albigenses, a few instances of which I beg to lay before my
readers, as specimens of Popish charity and their mode of fulfilling
that holy commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." When
the Pope's army arrived at a place called Beziers, the citizens were,
of course, alarmed. The Pope's legate sent many messengers among them,
advising them to give up such heretics, with their wives and children,
as continued obstinate among them. They replied in the following
words--"_Rather than be base enough to do what is required of us, and
abandon our religious principles, we will eat our children first, and
our wives will die with us_." On receiving this answer, the Pope's army,
or rather incarnate devils, rushed upon them so suddenly, and in such
numbers, that they had to surrender, after little or no resistance.
There were many among them who were not heretics, but, seeing the
injustice done to their fellow-citizens, and knowing the purity of
their lives, united with them in resisting oppression. Some of the most
merciful of the Pope's army, entertaining scruples as to what should
be done to those who were not heretics and happened to fall into their
hands, deemed it a duty which they owed to _holy mother_, to consult the
Pope's legate upon this occasion; and what, Christian reader, think you
was the reply of this representative of the _Roman Catholic church?_
What was the answer of this imbodiment of Popery? It was what it would
be this day, under similar circumstances.--"Kill them all; the Lord will
know his own!" At this answer, the bells rung, by order of this legate.
and never ceased to toll, until fifteen thousand were butchered upon the
spot, according to the account given by the legate himself; although a
contemporary historian, named Bernard Itier, and much better authority
than this blood-thirsty legate, informs us that thirty-eight thousand
were slaughtered in cold blood.
During this time, Pope Innocent and the infallible church were not idle
in other parts of France. Wherever heresy existed, or heretical blood
was to be shed, there were to be found the representatives of the
holy church, until not a vestige of the Protestant doctrines of the
Albigenses was to be seen. Nearly all its ministers and its followers
suffered the most cruel deaths, and their church was drowned in the
blood of its defenders. But the man of sin being still apprehensive that
some vestige of Protestantism might remain, or that the life of some
unfortunate member of the Albigenses might have escaped, the Popish
murderers established, in those countries, that accursed tribunal, the
Inquisition; some of whose members appeared in the guise and occupation
of farmers, to act as spies among that class of people; others as
merchants, others as mechanics, &c. To these were added female Jesuits,
some of whom were shop-keepers, milliners, servant-maids, &c.; and,
suitably educated, whenever necessary, were ready to act their parts
well.
Thus no man was safe. No family, no lady, was safe. They dreaded
the very air they breathed. They knew not when the officers of the
inquisition would call them from their homes, their children,
their husbands, and their wives, to be cast into the dungeon of the
inquisition, without knowing their offence, or who accused them.
This was Popery in the twelfth century; this was Popery in the fourth
century; and this is Popery in the nineteenth century. Americans,
are-you aware that there are Jesuit nuns now in this country? Are you
aware of the reasons why they are so anxious to get Protestant rather
than Catholic scholars into their schools? The reason is this; they are
in this country spies upon your actions. Your thoughts, your designs,
your influence, the probable amount of your wealth, and your political
opinions, are known to your children. These Jesuit nuns worm themselves
into your confidence; the young hearts of their pupils are soon laid
bare to these artful hypocrites; and before you scarcely notice the
absence of your children, your domestic secrets are known to some Popish
agent, who makes such use of them as the holy church may direct. This is
done daily. I make this statement of my own knowledge, and I warn you,
if you value your domestic happiness, or the peace and harmony of your
children, never permit one of them, male or female, to enter a school
kept by nuns or Jesuits.
From these observations, the reader must have seen that Popery, in its
teachings and actions, is, and has been, the same always. What, then,
becomes of the assertions, so frequently made by Roman Catholic priests
and bishops, that the doctrines of the church, in relation to heretics,
have been relaxed? Certain it is, at all events, that there has been no
mitigation in the treatment of heretics down to the thirteenth century.
Let us come down a little farther, and see if any had taken place during
the thirteenth century. We discover none whatever.
It was during this century, that the "Greater Excommunication," as it
is called, was pronounced by the Pope, and the whole church, against all
who should interfere with the clergy in the exercise of their _temporal
or spiritual rights_. The curse was pronounced, by every parish priest,
throughout the Papal world, four times a year,---_Christmas, Easter,
Pentecost_, and _All-Hallows day_. The curse is in the following words,
and is now repeated on the same days, by the Pope and all the priests
and bishops of the Romish church, not publicly,--that they dare not
do,--but in private. "Let them be accursed, eating and drinking, walking
and sitting, speaking, and holding their peace, waking and sleeping,
rowing and riding, laughing and weeping, in house and in field, in water
and on land, in all places; cursed be their heads and their thoughts,
their eyes and their ears, their tongues and their lips, their teeth and
their throats, their shoulders and their breasts, their feet and their
legs their thighs and their inward parts; let them remain accursed,
from the sole of their foot to the crown of their heads; and just as
this candle (the curser has a lighted candle in his hand, which he
extinguishes) is deprived of us present light, so let them be deprived
of their souls in hell."
Such is the curse which the Pope pronounced against all heretics in the
thirteenth century! and however surprised you may be, a similar one is
pronounced once a year against all Protestants. There are many Americans
who cannot believe that such a curse as the above, has ever been
pronounced against a fellow-being. I have conversed with some
intelligent Protestants in this city, who doubted whether such an
anathema was ever uttered, and seemed struck with horror, as well as
surprise, when I informed them that it was pronounced against myself in
Philadelphia in presence of, at least, three thousand people. The reader
must know, by this, that I am a heretic, and look upon the introduction
of Popery into the United States, as the greatest evil which Providence
has permitted to fall upon us. Arise, fellow-citizens, in the fulness of
your power,--every Protestant in this country is a heretic, as well as
myself. We are all annually cursed and damned by a set of Popish agents,
bishops, and priests; men who, from my own personal acquaintance with
them, I know to be unworthy of your friendship or your support; who walk
your streets with apparent sanctimoniousness, but whose lives in private
are such as delicacy forbids me to mention.
These men, under pretence of being democrats are attacking your
liberties with the club of Hercules. They are acquiring gigantic force.
You have recently witnessed the truth of this assertion; they fancied
they had strength enough to cut you down as the legate of Pope Innocent
did the Albigenses in the twelfth century. They bid defiance to reason,
argument, and the lew of your land; and it grieves me to see every
thing yielding to their power, as chaff before the wind. But Providence
interposed, and these miserable dupes of Romish priests received a
check, which, if followed up, will have a salutary effect in future.
But, I pray you, be on your guard; watch the movements of Papists among
you: have no confidence in them; have as little as possible to do with
them. Trust them in nothing which may either directly or indirectly
involve their religion. I most solemnly appeal to our national and state
legislatures, to exclude them from every office of honor, profit, or
trust, while they have any connection whatever, _spiritual or temporal_,
with the Pope of Rome. Believe them not, when they tell you that their
allegiance to the Pope is only _spiritual_. I understand what they mean
by spiritual allegiance.
From what has been stated, it is clear that no modification had taken
place in Popish pretensions during the thirteenth century, neither had
the church relaxed one iota in her persecutions of heretics. On the
contrary, her cruelties increased-the declarations of Popish priests to
the contrary notwithstanding.
Let us now see what has been the conduct of the Popish church towards
heretics, from the latter end of the thirteenth century to the
conclusion of the fourteenth.
How was the illustrious John Wickliffe, professor of divinity in Oxford,
treated by the church of Rome, during the reign of Boniface IX. But let
us first see what the crimes of Wickliffe were, for which he had been so
severely punished by the _holy Roman church_. The illustrious and
good Wickliffe, the founder of the Reformation, whose very name every
Christian venerates, maintained, 1st, That the Scriptures contain all
truths necessary to salvation; 2d, That in the Scriptures only, is to be
found, a perfect rule of Christian practice; 3d, He denied the authority
of the Pope in temporal matters; 4th, He maintained that the Pope was
the Man of Sin, the _son of perdition_, to which St. Paul alluded,
"sitting as God in the temple of God." As soon as the opinions of
Wickliffe were ascertained, Gregory XL, the ruling Pope, addressed a
Bull to the primate of England, ordering him to have Wickliffe arrested
and imprisoned, until he received further instructions.
The popularity of Wickliffe was such, that this step was considered
dangerous; and we find that nothing further was done to this eminently
pious man, than banishing him from the university of Oxford into private
life, where he died in peace, and went to his grave with the blessings
of the good and the virtuous. But this did not satisfy the Pope, nor the
_infallible church_. O, no. The _holy mother_ never forgives a
heretic, dead or alive. As soon as Wickliffe departed this life, in
the sixty-first year of his age, the church and Papists exhibited the
wildest symptoms of joy. One of their writers, in giving an account of
his death, uses the following language: "On the day of St. Thomas, the
martyr, that limb of the devil, enemy of the church, deceiver of the
people, idol of heretics, mirror of hypocrites, author of schism, sower
of hatred, and inventor of lies, John Wickliffe, was, by the immediate
judgment of God, suddenly struck with a palsy, which seized all the
members of his body, when he was ready to vomit forth his blasphemies
against the blessed St. Thomas, in a sermon which he had prepared to
preach that day!"
But holy mother was not yet satisfied. She had not the felicity of
hanging Wickliffe; her ears were not delighted with his groans upon the
rack; she did not hear his flesh hissing amid the flames of the faggot,
nor his bones breaking upon the wheel; she must, however, have all the
revenge left to satiate her malice. Thirty years after the death of
Wickliffe, the _infallible_ council of Constance, at which the Pope
presided, passed an order that the body and bones of John Wickliffe,
if they might be known and discerned from the bodies of faithful
people--Papists--should be taken from the ground and thrown _far away
from the_ burial of any church, according to the canon laws and decrees.
This decree was not put in execution for thirteen years afterwards. His
grave was then opened and his body disinterred with great solemnity,
and in the presence of the Catholic bishop of Lincoln, it was publicly
burned, and the ashes thrown into a neighboring rivulet. But the
indignities offered to Wickliffe, while living, and after his death,
were not sufficient to appease the malice of Papists. Blood, and blood
alone, could satiate their thirst for revenge. His followers were hunted
up and mercilessly put to death. Among the first of his followers, who
suffered, was Lord Cobham, a nobleman, distinguished for his valor,
devotion to his country, and true piety. His character was without
blemish, and his morals and patriotism undoubted; but he was a heretic;
he was among the followers of Wickliffe; he believed in the Holy
Scriptures. This was crime enough, and for this he was _excommunicated_.
Cobham appealed to the Pope, but the appeal was refused: he was cited
again; he was offered absolution, if he would sue for it, and submit to
the Popish church. This he refused; the consequence was, he was thrown
into prison, from which he escaped and was not retaken for nearly four
years, he was, however, finally captured after a most heroic resistance.
He might have escaped again, being an overmatch for his captor, had not
a _pious Roman Catholic woman_, while he was nobly defending himself,
taken up a stool, and with a desperate blow, broken both his legs. In
this condition he was recommitted to prison until he was sentenced to
death _for his heresy_. The sentence was, "that he should be drawn from
his place of confinement through the city of London, to Temple Bar,
there to be hanged, and burned hanging." The historian Bale gives a most
affecting account of his execution.
"On the day appointed," says Bale, "he was brought out of the Tower with
his arms bound behind him, having a very cheerful countenance. Then he
was laid upon a hurdle as though he had been a most heinous traitor to
the crown, and so drawn forth into St. Giles's field, where they had set
up a new gallows. When he arrived at the place of execution, and taken
from the hurdle, he fell down devoutly on his knees, and prayed God
to forgive his enemies. Then he stood up and beheld the multitude,
exhorting them, in the most godly manner, to follow the laws of God,
written in the Scriptures, and to beware of such teachers as they see
contrary to Christ, in their conversation and living, with many other
special councils. Then was he hanged up there, by the middle, in chains
of iron, and so consumed alive in the fire, praising the name of the
Lord, so long as life lasted. In the end he commended his soul into the
hands of God, and so, most Christianly, departed home, his body being
resolved to ashes."
Thus was a nobleman, and a noble Christian, most barbarously put to
death for believing that the Bible contained God's truth; and therein
differing from the Roman church, which teaches that the traditions of
the fathers, and dreams of monks, are of equal authority.
Followers of Wickliffe,--and there are many of you in this country, who
are an honor to his name,--have you ever reflected that there are nearly
two millions of Papists in these United States, who entertain the same
belief that the murderers of Cobham did; who believe that you are all
_excommunicated_, as he was, and who, if they had the power, would
consign yourselves, your wives, and children, to the same fate? and who
are taught by their church, that, in so doing, they would be serving
God? Romish priests may deny this. They do well. Otherwise, an indignant
populace would tear them to pieces, or at least banish them from this
land of freedom.
But I tell the priest or bishop, who dares deny it, that they are
liars,--wilful and deliberate liars. I too have been a priest, and I
solemnly declare to the world, and to my fellow-citizens of the United
States in particular, _that to keep no faith with heretics, but to
destroy them, is one of the most solemn duties of a Catholic_; and I go
further, and state to you, that _if a bishop or priest denies this, upon
oath, you are not to believe him_; his church requires from him to keep
no faith with heretics, but to destroy and extirpate them. It allows him
also to deny, under oath, the existence of such an obligation.
Do you, followers of Wickliffe, require any proof of this? It is a
serious charge, and should not be lightly made. I therefore refer you to
the letters of Martin II., who was Pope in the-year 1417, and considered
one of the best Popes the Romish church ever had. This Pope, in one of
his letters to the Duke of Lithuania, makes use of the following strong
and emphatic language. "_Be assured, thou sinnest mortally, if thou keep
thy faith with heretics_." St. Thomas Aquinas teaches the same doctrine.
Innocent VIII., who was Pope in 1484, declares "that _all persons who
are bound by any con-tract whatever to heretics are at liberty to break
it, even though they had sworn an oath to fulfil_ it." You here see,
that I have done no injustice to Roman Catholics, in putting you on
your guard against them, and charging them with a willingness to destroy
yourselves, your wives and children, _as heretics_, had they power and
opportunity of doing so. I am supported by the authority of Pope Martin
V., and Pope Innocent VIII.; and though in your estimation, those
blood-thirsty vagabonds may give no weight to my testimony, still it
cannot fail to be highly satisfactory to Papists. Some of the Catholics
may tell you, that the followers of Wickliffe were a seditious people;
that they threatened to overthrow the civil institutions of the country;
that all law and order were set at defiance by them; and that this
was the cause of their persecution. This is false in fact--it is
historically false.
If the followers of Wickliffe, or Lollards, as they were called, were
disturbers of the peace; if their lives were seditious, disorderly, and
rebellious, why were they not indicted, under some statute of the realm,
made and provided to take cognizance of such crimes? Why were they
not even accused of such crimes? Was the meek, mild, and learned John
Wickliffe, accused or indicted for disturbing the peace? Was it for
disturbing the peace, that his venerable bones were disinterred thirty
years after being deposited in the cold grave? Was it for disturbing the
peace, and for riotous proceedings, his bones were subsequently burned,
and their ashes thrown into the next river? Was it for disturbing the
peace, the learned and brave Cobham was hung in iron chains, by the
middle.
No such accusation has ever been brought against these great and good
men, or against thousands who suffered with them. They were accused only
of _heresy_. Papists were their accusers; Papists were their judges; and
Papists were their executioners.
But the malice of those blood-thirsty Catholics was not even then
satiated. It is as fresh _now_, as it was then. Papists are not content,
that hundreds of years ago, Wickliffe and his followers should be
persecuted, and the greater portion of them massacred and burned. Their
memories, also, are objects of Popish hatred, even to this day on which
I write. They represent them as enemies of the human race. As despisers
of chastity and morality. You will probably see these charges advanced
against them in the Popish presses throughout the United States. But
recollect, Americans, that age does not improve the piety of Papists.
The older _holy mother_ gets, the harder becomes her heart, and the
more bitter her virulence. I might satisfy you, if necessary, on the
testimony of the most respectable Protestant writers, that there lived
not in the world, a people more simple, more pious, or virtuous than the
Waldenses, or Wickliffites. It may be said of them, with truth, "_qualis
pater tales filii_." But I will not refer to Protestant authority;
knavish, lying, Popish priests may question it! I refer you, for the
character of this persecuted people, to an early Popish historian,
Florimond--. History of Heresy, book vii. ch. 7.
"They"--the Waldenses--says this writer, "have nothing in their mouths
but Christ the Saviour--they know nothing else than Jesus Christ. These
people read the Bible continually, in such a manner that they know all
the books of it by heart." Horrid people these Wickliffites must be, to
read the Bible until they know it by heart! And as these Bible-reading
and Bible-loving people now constitute a vast majority of our citizens,
I call upon them to rise in the full force of their moral power, and
ward off from themselves and their children, the curse of Popery, or the
fate of Wickliffe and his followers will assuredly be theirs. Many of
you, Americans, are followers of Wickliffe. You believe as he believed!
You live as he lived! You love peace as he loved it. Do you wish to
continue as you are now? Or will you permit a flood of vile priests,
monks, and nuns, to overrun your country, and seduce your children from
the paths of virtue, in which your own example and the perusal of their
Bibles have taught them to walk?
I now call your attention to the belief and practice of the Romish
church in the fifteenth century, and you will find that heresy and
heretics were still persecuted by her. Witness the conduct of Pope
Innocent VIII. toward the Vaudois. He sent one of his Jesuit legates
amongst them, with instructions to prevail on Louis XII. to extirpate
them from his dominions, without even hearing any deputies which they
might send him. The answer of Louis did him much credit--"Though I were
at war with a Turk or the devil, I would hear what he had to say for
himself." They accordingly made their defence; and, upon this, the good
King Louis sent commissioners to examine the state of things among them.
The following was their report, as history informs us: "Having made a
strict inquiry into their mode of living, we cannot discover the least
shadow of the crimes imputed to them. On the contrary, it appears that
they piously observe the Sabbath, baptize their children after the
manner of the primitive church, and are thoroughly instructed in the
doctrine of the apostles' creed, and in the law of God." On hearing
this report, the king exclaimed, in a passion, addressing himself to the
Pope's legate--"By the holy mother of God, these heretics, whom you and
the Pope urge me to destroy, are better men than you or myself." He,
however, soon departed this life, and every man acquainted with history
knows what their sufferings were from the time of his death down to the
days of Cromwell, who, whatever his faults may have been, fired
with indignation at the barbarities committed by the Romish church,
interposed in behalf of those persecuted people, and called upon
Protestant princes and sovereigns to aid him in protecting them.
I will not burden the reader with a history of the sufferings of these
people. It is familiar even to our schoolboys. I must, however, repeat
the fact, that they were persecuted for no other reason than because
they believed the Bible contained all the truths necessary to salvation,
and because they did not believe in all the mummeries of Popery. Will
Catholic bishops and priests still continue to assert that their church
does not teach them to persecute heretics, and to hold no faith with
them? Will they continue to assert, that the Pope of Rome does not claim
temporal as well as spiritual jurisdiction over the kingdoms of the
earth? or if they do, are we compelled to listen to them?