THE PAPAL GIFT OF ALL THE HEATHEN WORLD TO THE PORTUGUESE AND SPANIARDS.
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me a man
of strife, and a man of contention to the whole
earth.—_Jeremiah_ xv. 10.
Also in their skirts is found the blood of the souls of
the poor innocents.—_Jeremiah_ v. 16.
Columbus, while seeking for a western track to the East Indies, on
Friday, Oct. 12th, 1492, stumbled on a New World! The discoveries by
Prince Henry of Portugal, of Madeira, and of a considerable extent of
the African coast, had impressed him with a high idea of the importance
of what yet was to be discovered, and of the possibility of reaching
India by sea. This had led him to obtain a Bull from Pope Eugene
IV. granting to the crown of Portugal all the countries which the
Portuguese should discover from Cape Non to India. Columbus, having now
discovered America, although unknown to himself, supposing it still to
be some part of India, his monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, lost no
time in applying for a similar grant. Alexander VI., a Spaniard, was
equally generous with his predecessor, and accordingly divided the
world between the Spaniards and Portuguese! “The Pope,” says Robertson,
“as the vicar and representative of Jesus Christ, was supposed to have
a right of dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth. Alexander VI.,
a pontiff infamous for every crime which disgraces humanity, filled the
papal throne at that time. As he was born Ferdinand’s subject, and very
solicitous to procure the protection of Spain, in order to facilitate
the execution of his ambitious schemes in favour of his own family, he
was extremely willing to gratify the Spanish monarchs. By an act of
liberality, which cost him nothing, and that served to establish the
jurisdiction and fortunes of the papal see, he granted in full right
to Ferdinand and Isabella, all the countries inhabited by infidels
which they had discovered, or should discover; and in virtue of that
power which he derived from Jesus Christ, he conferred on the crown of
Castile vast regions, to the possession of which he himself was so far
from having any title, that he was unacquainted with their situation,
and ignorant even of their existence. As it was necessary to prevent
this grant from interfering with that formerly made to the crown of
Portugal, he appointed that a line, supposed to be drawn from pole to
pole, a hundred leagues to the westward of the Azores, should serve
as a limit between them; and, in the plenitude of his power, bestowed
all to the east of this imaginary line upon the Portuguese, and all to
the west of it, upon the Spaniards. Zeal for propagating the Christian
faith, was the consideration employed by Ferdinand in soliciting this
Bull, and is mentioned by Alexander as his chief motive for issuing
it.”
It is necessary, for the right understanding of this history, to pause
upon this remarkable fact, and to give it the consideration which
it demands. In this one passage lies the key to all the atrocities,
which from that hour to the present have been perpetrated on the
natives of every country making no profession of Christianity, which
those _making_ such a profession have been able to subdue. An Italian
priest,—as the unfortunate Inca, Atahualpa, afterwards observed with
indignant surprise, when told that the pope had given his empire to
the Spaniards,—here boldly presumes to give away God’s earth as if he
sate as God’s acknowledged vicegerent. Splitting this mighty planet
into two imaginary halves, he hands one to the Spanish and the other to
the Portuguese monarch, as he would hand the two halves of an orange
to a couple of boys. The presumption of the act is so outrageous, that
at this time of day, and forgetting for a moment all the consequences
which flowed from this deed, one is ready to burst into a hearty fit
of laughter, as at a solemn farce, irresistibly ludicrous from its
grave extravagance. But it was a farce which cost, and still costs the
miserable natives of unproselyted countries dear. It was considered no
farce—there was seen no burlesque in it at the time of its enactment.
Not only the kings of Spain and Portugal, but the kings and people of
all Europe bowed to this preposterous decision, and never dreamed for a
moment of calling in question its validity.
Edward IV. of England, on receiving a remonstrance from John II. of
Portugal on account of some English merchants attempting to trade
within the limits assigned to the Portuguese by the pope’s bull, so
far from calling in question the right thus derived by the Portuguese
from the pope, instantly ordered the merchants to withdraw from the
interdicted scene.
Here then, we have the root and ground of that grand delusion which
led the first discoverers of new lands, to imagine themselves entitled
to seize on them as their own, and to violate every sacred right of
humanity without the slightest perception of wrong, and even in many
instances, in the fond belief that they were extending the kingdom
of Christ. We have here the man of sin, the anti-Christ, so clearly
foretold by St. Paul,—“the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that
he as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is
God.... Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power, and signs and lying wonders; and _with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness_ in them that perish; because they received not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause
_God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a
lie_.”—_Second Epistle to the Thessalonians_, ii. 3, 4, 9, 10, 11.
Strange and abounding in most singular transactions as is the history
of the Papal church, there is not to be found in it one fact in which
the son of perdition, the proud anti-Christ, is more characteristically
shown than in this singular transaction. We have him here enacting
the God indeed! and giving away a world in a breath. Vast and mighty
nations, isles scattered through unknown oceans, continents stretching
through all climates, and millions on millions of human beings, who
never heard of his country or his religion, much less of his name,
are disposed of with all their fortunes; given up as so many cattle
to the sword or the yoke of the oppressor—the very ground given from
beneath their feet, and no place left them on God’s earth—no portion
in his heritage, in time or in eternity, unless they acknowledged the
mysterious dogmas and more mysterious power of this hoary and shaven
priest! Never was “the son of perdition” more glaringly revealed;
for perdition is the only word that can indicate that fulness of
misery, devastation, and destruction, which went forth with this
act, upon millions of innocent and unconscious souls. Never was “the
deceivableness of unrighteousness” so signally exemplified; for here
was all Europe,—monarchs, ministers,—whatever it possessed of wise,
or learned, powerful, or compassionate, all blinded with such “a strong
delusion,” that they could implicitly “believe a lie” of so monstrous
and flagrant a kind.
It is difficult for us now to conceive how so gross a delusion could
have wrapped in darkness all the intellect of the most active and
aspiring portion of the globe; but it is necessary that we should fix
this peculiar psychological phenomenon firmly and clearly in our minds,
for on it depends the explication of all that was done against humanity
during the reign of Papacy, and much that still continues to be done
to this very day by ourselves, even while we are believing ourselves
enfranchised from this “strong delusion,” and too much enlightened to
“believe a lie.”
We must bear in mind then, that this strange phenomenon was the effect
of nearly a thousand years’ labour of the son of perdition. For ages
upon ages, every craft, priestly and political; every form of regal
authority, of arms, and of superstition; every delusion of the senses,
and every species of play upon the affections, hopes and fears of men,
had been resorted to, and exerted, to rivet this “strong delusion” upon
the human soul, and to make it capable of “believing a lie.”
In the two preceding chapters, I have denied the possession of
Christianity to multitudes and nations who had assumed the name, with
a sternness and abruptness, which no doubt have startled many who have
now read them; but I call earnestly upon every reader, to attend to
what I am now endeavouring deeply to impress upon him; for, I must
repeat, that there is more of what concerns the progress of Christian
truth, and consequently, the happiness of the human race, dependent
on the thorough conception of the fact which I am going to state,
than probably any of us have been sufficiently sensible of, and which
we cannot once become really sensible of, without joining heart and
hand in the endeavour to free our own great country, and Christendom
in general, from the commission of cruelties and outrages that mock
our profession of Christ’s religion, and brand the national name with
disgrace.
There is no fact then, more clearly developed and established past
all controversy, in the history of the Papal church, than that from
its very commencement it set aside Christianity, and substituted in
the words of the apostle, “a strong delusion” and “the belief of a
lie.” The Bible—that treasury and depository of God’s truth—that
fountain of all pure and holy and kindly sentiments—that charter of
all human rights— that guardian of hope and herald of salvation,
was withdrawn from the public eye. It was denounced as the most
dangerous of two-edged instruments, and feared as the worst enemy of
the Papal system. Christianity was no longer taught, the Bible being
once disposed of; but an artful and deadly piece of machinery was put
in action, which bore its name. Instead of the pure and holy maxims
of the New Testament—its sublime truths full of temporal and eternal
freedom, its glorious knowledge, its animating tidings, its triumphant
faith—submission to popes, cardinals, friars, monks and priests, was
taught—a Confessional and a Purgatory took their place. Christianity
was no longer existent; but the very religion of Satan—the most
cunning invention, by which working on human cupidity and ambition,
he was enabled to achieve a temporary triumph over the Gospel. Never
was there a more subtle discovery than that of the Confessional and
the Purgatory. Once having established a belief in confession and
absolution, and who would not be religious at a cheap rate?—in the
Confessional—the especial closet of Satan, every crime and pollution
might be practised, and the guilty soul made to believe that its sin
was that moment again obliterated. Even if death surprised the sinner,
there was power of redemption from that convenient purgatory. Paid
prayers were substituted for genuine repentance—money became the
medium of salvation, and Beelzebub and Mammon sate and laughed together
at the credulity of mankind!
Thus, as I have stated, Christianity was no longer taught; but a
totally different system, usurping its name. Instead of simple
apostles, it produced showy popes and cardinals; instead of humble
preachers, proud temporal princes, and dignitaries as proud; instead
of the Bible, the mass-book and the legends of saints; instead of one
God and one Saviour Jesus Christ, the eyes of its votaries were turned
for help on virgins, saints, and anchorites—instead of the inward
life and purity of the gospel-faith, outward ceremonies, genuflexions,
and pageantry without end. Every man, however desperate his nature
or his deeds, knew that for a certain amount of coin, he could have
his soul white-washed; and, instead of a healthy and availing piety,
that spurious and diabolical devotion was generated, which is found
at the present day amongst the bandits of Italy and Spain—who one
moment plunge their stiletto or bury their bullet in the heart of the
unsuspecting traveller, and the next kneel at the shrine of the Virgin,
perform some slight penance, offer some slight gift to the church, and
are perfectly satisfied that they are in the way of salvation. It is
that spurious devotion, indeed, which marks every superstition—Hindoo,
Mahometan, or Fetish—wherever, indeed, mere outward penance, or the
offering of money, is substituted for genuine repentance and a new life.
Let any one, therefore, imagine the effect of this state of things
on Europe through seven or eight centuries. The light of the genuine
gospel withdrawn—all the purity of the moral law of Christ—all the
clear and convincing annunciations of the rights of man—all the
feelings of love and sympathy that glow alone in the gospel;—and
instead of these an empty show; legends and masses, miracle-plays and
holiday pageants; such doctrines of right and wrong, such maxims of
worldly policy preached as suited ambitious dignitaries or luxurious
friars—and it will account for that singular state of belief and
of conscience which existed at the time of the discovery of the new
countries of the East and West. It would have been impossible that
such ignorance, or such shocking perversion of reason and faith, could
have grown up and established themselves as the characteristics of the
public mind, had every man had the Bible in his hand to refer to, and
imbue himself daily with its luminous sense of justice, and its spirit
of humanity.
We shall presently see what effects it had produced on even the best
men of the 15th and 16th centuries; but what perhaps is not quite so
much suspected, we shall have to learn in the course of this volume
to what an extent the influence of this system still continues on the
_Protestant_ mind. So thoroughly had it debauched the public morality,
that it is to this source that we alone can come to explain the laxity
of opinion and the apathy of feeling that have ever since characterized
Europe in its dealings with the natives of all new countries. To this
day, we no more regard the clearest principles of the gospel in our
transactions with them, than if such principles did not exist. The
Right of Conquest, and such robber-phrases, have been, and even still
continue to be, “as smoothly trundled from our tongues,” as if we
could find them enjoined on our especial approbation in the Bible. But
genuine Christianity is at length powerfully awaking in the public
mind of England; and I trust that even the perusal of this volume will
strengthen our resolution to wash the still clinging stains of popery
out of our garments, and to determine to stand by the morality of the
Bible, and by that alone.
In closing this chapter, let me say that I should be very sorry to hurt
the feelings of any modern Catholic. The foregoing strictures have no
reference to them. However much or little of the ancient faith of the
Papal church any of them may retain, I believe that, as a body, they
are as sincere in their devotion as any other class of Christians; but
the ancient system, character, and practice of the Church of Rome, are
matters of all history, and too closely connected with the objects of
this work, and with the interests of millions, to be passed without,
what the author believes to be, a faithful exposition.