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 1 2 3 
 
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 6 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ADDRESSED IN 
 
 A SERIES OF lETTEllS 
 
 TO THE PROFESSORS OF THE 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC FAITH, 
 
 ' '^'' 
 
 BY 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 
 M 
 
 ' Comb now, and i,et us reason togetheb." — Isaiah. 
 
 ■'■'/V:v'v;,: '■■;,:. QUEBEC: '' '' 
 
 PRINTED BY R. MIDDLETON, ST. PETER STREET. 
 
 -:..■;--::■ 1854. ^' ': ::• 
 
 •*- 
 
 I II 
 
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 V £af. A- 
 
 
 
 
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 I '« 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 , 
 
 These Letters were originally published, as 
 , many are aware, in the columns of the " Que- 
 bec Gazette." Their writer believed that a 
 grave necessity existed for their appearance in 
 the first instance; and now, in deference to the 
 judgment of many of his friends, embodies them 
 in the connected form of the pamphlet ; that by 
 possibility, a more patient and serious attention 
 may be given to the subjects on which they 
 treat. 
 
 " Peace on earth ; and good will to man ; " 
 are the precious boon of the Gospel of Christ ; 
 but the writer of these Letters is widely mis- 
 taken if Romanism does not exert on it a coun- 
 teracting influence of fearful power and effect.- 
 If wrong in this conviction, the advocates of 
 that system can shew him his error; but if 
 right, it is their imperative duty to abandon a 
 profession which must sooner or later bring 
 down upon them heaven's weightiest indigna- 
 
 tion. 
 
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 ,K'.'J:t 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ii 
 
 ADDRESSED 
 
 TO THE PROFESSORS 
 
 OF TUB 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC FAITH. 
 
 v '-. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 
 Necessity for caution — Expostulattis a Protestant — Protestants not 
 Slaves — Protestantism liberty — Romanists have more liberty un- 
 der Protestant Governments than under their own — Men respon- 
 sible for their own acts — Gavazzi's language not foul — Gavazzi 
 more influence in Rome than the Pope — The Pope and his Hierar- 
 oiiy should give up political intermeddling. 
 
 To the Editor of the Quebec Gazette. 
 
 t > 
 
 Sir, — With your permission, I would address some 
 frank and friendly observations to my fellow -citizens of 
 the Roman Catholic faith. 
 
 ' ' ** I speak u to wise men : judge ye what I say."— St. Tavu 
 
 The events of the last few weeks have produced an 
 excitement that may possibly lead to very undesirable 
 consequences, if, in addition to their natural influence, 
 misrepresentatiuns are industriously circulated and un- 
 reflectingly received. Of this, allow me to suggest the 
 propriety of all due caution. Let nothing be believed 
 — much less acted upon — but after mature consideration. 
 A wrong step may induce scenes which every man of 
 any sensibility would most deeply deplore. 
 
6 
 
 OnSKRVATTONS ADDtlESfllD 
 
 As a Protestani — which I profess to be — T do not 
 address you bccnusc I believe that any circumstance by 
 which Protestants in thi« province could be affected are 
 such as to compel a servile su))mi8sion to their Ivomna 
 Catholic fellow-countrymen ; nor even to constrain them 
 for a moment to pau.vc in asserting ant' maintaining their 
 rights. 1^0 axssert them ihei/ will, nomatlcr when, inhere, 
 or how J and to maintain them the// are prepared, be 
 the cost what it may. British Protestants will never 
 make slaves ; nor tamely submit to be made such. 
 This I write calmly and considerately, and could I 
 believe Protestants otherwise minded, I would dcppiao 
 and renounce alike them and their principles. 
 
 While I wish every Roman Catholic to receive this, I 
 feel authorized to demand its admission by referring to 
 our antecedents, even from the timo that we were com- 
 pelled to assume the distinctive appellationof Protestant 
 to the present. Protestantism is but another nftine for 
 Liberty. Liberty to all who are capable of enjoying 
 its blessings, and using them without detriment to hin 
 neighbour, of whatever rank or profession ; and any 
 instance in which this principle has been imperfectly 
 exemplified, we do not hesitate to say, it has been no 
 less a compromise of its character than it may have been 
 injurious to those on whom the failure has fallen. 
 
 Our position is high and impregnable, as, pointing to 
 the civilized world, we ask — Have not Roman Catholics 
 infinitely better treatment from Protestants in countries 
 where they predominate, than Protestants have from 
 Roman Catholics where they rule ? yea, have not Roman 
 Catholics better institutions, greater freedom of action, 
 rnd vastly more comfort and security under Protestant 
 Governments than under their own, not excepting that 
 of the Pope ? This, I aver to be a fair appeal, and in- 
 asmuch as the obvious difference arises from the legiti- 
 mate influence of the principles which we severally 
 avow, is it not a reason why Catholics should fully and 
 confidently co-operate with Protestants in working out 
 what is so divine, because so fair and equitable; aud at 
 once to silence every unprincipled scribbler, who, for 
 nefarious purpo^ 3S, endeavours through the public prints 
 
 
TO ROMAN CATnOLIOS. 
 
 to arouse within your breasts jealousies and dcatlly ani- 
 mosities towards your Protcitant fellow-citizens? 
 
 I will not for a moiiient ^ay that no instance of injus- 
 tice has ever been perpetrated by Protestant individuals 
 or governments on l^omanists. I believe there have 
 been many, liut I will say, and defy successful contra- 
 diction, that all such have been in direct opposition to 
 true and legitimate Protestantism — which inculcates the 
 doing to others as we would the// should do unto us — 
 and the better understanding of which is working a firmer 
 basis for all objects of truth and liberty. This we write 
 of the Protestant world generally, but what may we not 
 say of Quebec and Montreal? Have Romanists been 
 treated by their Protestant neighbours otherwise than 
 kindly and respectfully ? Certainly not ; and give to 
 Protestants the rights they freely concede to you, and 
 such will continue to be their treatment of you. 
 
 You objected to the coming of Gjavazzi to lecture in 
 Quebec and Montreal ; and because he did come, you 
 raised a riot — at once disgracehd and deadly. Did Pro- 
 testants thus treat Dr. Brownson ? Does not their con- 
 duct contrast most honorably for themselves and Protes- 
 tantism, when viewed by the side of yours ? We are 
 compelled to cast the odium of the riot upon you, be- 
 cause we hold that everi/ man is morallj/ responsible for 
 whatever evils are perpetrated lohich he had the power 
 to prevent. You, especially aided as you ought to have 
 been by your clergy, could have prevented the whole, 
 but you did not ; which, taken together with the fact 
 that no becoming denunciations have yet com 2 from your 
 press, your priests, or your laity, forces u. to lay the 
 whole at your doors.* The time has come, be assured of 
 it, when on all matters affecting our individual or public 
 interests, a larger amount of independence of thought 
 and action is imperative upon Roman Catholics as well 
 as Protestants ; and that our conduct should be regulated 
 more by a sense 0/ personal responsibilitji/ both to God 
 and man than it has been heretofore. The doing wrong 
 
 * How forcible ia this conclusion especially when viewed in the 
 light of more recent doings. 
 
 
 ii 
 
 II 
 
 i:*, 
 
8 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 at ^he bidding of another — bo be priest or peasant — is 
 no exculpation before any tribunal, whether it be human 
 or divine. 
 
 You say it was an insult to you as Eoman Catholics, 
 that Gavazzi was brought into Quebec and Montreal to 
 lecture. But why? Because, you add — "his language 
 was foul and untrue. ' We positively deny that his lan- 
 guage was foul. This is a slander on the man and on us 
 his hearers, which we have a right to complain of. Pro- 
 testants, generally, have too much self-respect to coun- 
 tenance foul and improper language in public lecturers 
 whom they patronize. This slander you have raised for 
 an unworthy object, and we advise you, for your own 
 sakes, to abandon it. You say further that bis state- 
 ments were untrue. Prove them so. We have an inte- 
 rest, as well as you, in th's truth or falsehood of such 
 statements. For our sakes, as well as for your own, set 
 about a refutation of his lectures at once. That your 
 writers in the papers which your clergy control, are en- 
 deavouring to do so in a way quite their own, we are 
 aware, but then you know full well that such a style of 
 argument and defamation is far more likely to damn the 
 writer and his cause, than the object he professedly aims 
 at. 
 
 Is it untrue that until lately Gavazzi was a Eoman 
 Catholic monk? Is it untrue that one of his principal 
 reasons for renouncing Romanism was its unrelenting 
 and incurable tyranny? Is it untrue that his country- 
 men hail him as a patriot and a friend, whom, in despite 
 of Pope, Cardinal, Bishop or Priest, they would now re- 
 ceive with open arms ? 
 
 Which, let me ask you, would be the safest, TaqX to say 
 the most influential, man in Rome — the Pope or Ga- 
 vazzi — if foreign bayonets were x'cmoved? What, we 
 demand, must any thoughtful and reflecting man think 
 of a policy which has reduced a country to such a con- 
 dition *hat its ecclesiastical head has to be protected 
 against its own people by French soldiers? The con- 
 clusion is inevitable, the whole policy is radically and 
 fearfully wrong, and every Romanist should feel a per- 
 sonal interest not to palliate or cover it, but to change 
 
TO ROMAN OATHOUOS. 
 
 9 
 
 or destroy it. Let your Pope and his hierarchy give up 
 their political intermeddling, and all idea of secular|rule — 
 a thing they have never done right — and, attending 
 exclusively to their proper and only duties, — the govern- 
 ment of their church and the salvation of sinners — they 
 will earn to themselves a better influence over their own 
 people, and a higher status in the estimation of those 
 who dissent from them in name and faith. 
 
 Purposing to resume my pen soon on this deeply inte- 
 resting subject, let me hope that in a spirit of candour 
 you will consider what is now before you, as, be assured, 
 your real welfare is the sincere desire of 
 
 , Quebec, 5th July, 1853. 
 
 EXPOSTULxVTUS. 
 
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10 
 
 OBSffRVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
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 w'VfJV V-f ■,:*,.-} Jl^^tifi ^y:f' ■■■) 'VM- 
 
 ^.,.,,,„,v;z..,, LETTER II. -'^d: .nV, ;,,.;'■..;..-•• 
 
 An important reason for writing — Romanists shoulu j eciprocate — 
 Greater independence of thought and action called for — Priest's 
 conduct in France, tfeo. — Qavazzi should have been heard by 
 both Romanists and Protestants — Extracts from the Moniteur — 
 Lower Canada members in priestly dread — Romanists, profes- 
 sions confronted by their fears. 
 
 
 v.rf'i j^rv - L 
 
 '{ - "I speak as to wise men ; judge ye what I say." — St. Paul. 
 
 As intimated in the closing remarks of my previous com- 
 munication, I resume my pen and subject. Mutual inte- 
 rests in this the country of our adoption, is one of my 
 principal reasons for doing so. The prosperity of our 
 common country is an object of common concern, and 
 should be mutually, intelligently, vigorously, and if pos- 
 sible, harmoniously prosecuted. 
 
 But is this at all likely to be the case if you demand 
 every liberty you believe to be yours, but pertinaciously 
 refuse to Protestants what they as truly believe to be 
 theirs ? Impossible I What if in addition to Protes- 
 tants bringing in a Gavazzi to lecture in return for your 
 having brought in a Brownson, they should resolve upon 
 having a religious procession on a Sabbath day through 
 this city ; that with banners flying and a large concourse 
 of people they perambulated the streets just as you 
 were going to your places of worship ; and, much to 
 your annoyance and interruption, ringing every bell on 
 their churches, and sometimes so astounding you with 
 their noise as to prevent you from prosecuting your 
 worship as you were wont to do ? What, I ask, would 
 you say and do under such circumstances ? W'hy, 
 judging from the past, you would resolve, if peaceable 
 means would not do — should you even have patience 
 enough to resort to them — to take the law into your own 
 hands, and riotously accomplish your object. And yet 
 for years Protestants have suffered from your annual 
 procession ; thronging up their principal thoroughfares, 
 and otherwise interrupting them in the peaceful and 
 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 11 
 
 conscientious observance of the Lord's Day. This they 
 have forbearingly endured, not from a tame spirit of 
 submission, but that of a desire to live peareably with 
 you as much as possible. I now refer to it to shew you 
 how different the spirit animating a Protestant commu- 
 nity from that which animates a Boman Catholic. 
 Which looks the most Christian ? >' 'v«/^ o^^: • :.../> 
 
 I have said that the time has come, be assured of it, 
 when on all matters affecting our individual or public 
 interests, a larger amount of independence of thought 
 and action is imperative upon Roman Catholics as well 
 as Protestants ; and that our conduct should be regu- 
 lated more by a sense of 'personal responsabilitj/ to 
 God and man^ than it has been heretofore. I say so 
 still ; and no man that has any apprehension of that 
 movement of progress which characterizes the present 
 day, but will perceive that he who does not freely exer* 
 else his mind and conscience on his own account, will 
 be left behind in the march, wrapt up in his nutshell ot 
 bigotry and superstition. 
 
 The world is starting up, and opening wide its eyes 
 to every thing that either promotes or retards its pro- 
 gress in liberty and general improvement. Clearly is 
 it perceiving that the policy which your church pursues 
 is a barrier which must be dealt with. Well does it 
 know that the ruler who now has his heel on the 
 neck of France, never could have achieved such an 
 object but for your priesthood. Amazed has it stood to 
 see a class of men one day amongst the most active in 
 rearing and blessing trees of liberty, and on the next 
 assisting to tear them down ; and to fasten a yoke on a 
 chivalrous and noble nation which now makes her a pro^ 
 verb and a bye-word to all the world. Was it for 
 France's good that your priesthood enabled Napoleon, 
 the tyrant and dissembler," to extinguish her last spark of 
 
 *Ifc ia yerj p'obable that since the above was writ<,eii, a diflFereijt 
 opinion bas been formed by many of tbis remarkable man : — Ono 
 much more flatccriug to himseliliaad bis iiienosj. But it is clear that 
 he has entered upon another line of policy; your priesthood are 
 not now about him as formerly; while he has actually broken 
 with some of them. He will yet teach your hicaichy a lessoii 
 after the example of his uncle, or I am much mistaken. 
 
12 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADBBESBID 
 
 il 
 
 liberty, by prosoribing her press, and with it any thing 
 approaching to freedom of speeck or debate ? Surely 
 France neither demanded nor deserved such a service at 
 their hands. Poor France ! thou wilt rise again, but not 
 by thy priesthood. j 
 
 Look at Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. What 
 policy has conducted these nations to their present state 
 of abjectness and poverty ? The very same which would 
 soon sway the councils of this fair province, but for 
 that independence of thought and action of Protes- 
 tants, — which you will not understand, but at the 
 nod of a deeply interested fraternity, rise furiously to 
 smother and destroy. Why have Protestants desired 
 to hear Gavazzi ? for reasons which you ought still more 
 deeply to feel and resolutely to act under. He come.:} 
 from a country which the policy of your clergy has crushed 
 into the dust. Noble Italy I once the brightest star of 
 the whole earth ! what art thou now ? This Gavazzi 
 ought to have been permitted to tell to every Roman 
 Catholic and Protestant in this whole province. This, 
 every Home Cotholic priest or peasant ought to have 
 been prepared to controvert or to receive. What made 
 him what he is ? He stands above suspicion — a man 
 of honour :— a man of truth. Craven spirits may try to 
 write him down — they might as well try to stop the tide. 
 The condition of his country — and what has reduced it 
 to that condition — and the brave and fearless spirit which 
 he and others have displayed to rescue it, have taken 
 hold of the pul)lic mind, so that you cannot destroy his 
 influence, nor divert that stream of sympathy which sets 
 in upon him and the object which he advocates with so 
 much mind and heart. 
 
 We all — Protestant and Romanist — have a large inter- 
 est in the subject. The policy under which the Continent 
 of Europe groans is spreading here. Do you doubt it ? 
 Then look at the accessions which your Church is making 
 in property and power. Look at the subserviency of 
 your representatives in Parliament to priestly rule and 
 domination. From various sources has it come to the 
 ears of him who now addresses you — and to many 
 others — that your representatives, when conversing with 
 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 13 
 
 their Protestant fellow-members on the acts of incorpora- 
 tion for which your clergy are so intent, have said — "we 
 believe as you do on these subjects, but it would not do 
 for us to say so. " An extract from the 3Iomteur, because 
 of its bearing on these remarks, is worth my transcribing 
 and your reading : — "We must call the attention of our 
 readers to the fact that Mr. Brown, on the day of proro- 
 gation of Parliament, has given notice that he would 
 introduce, at the next session, a bill to abolish tithes and 
 compulsory taxes for ecclesiastical objects in this Pro- 
 vince. Mr. Brown, as an enlightened man, understands 
 the incalculable harm done to religion by a system of 
 coercive laws, instead of the voluntary system, which 
 alone produces conviction and good will. Mr. Brown 
 wants, with civil liberty, also the liberty of conscience, 
 which is the highest degree of civilization. And this is 
 the reason why he is called fanatic, as if the fanatics were 
 not our legislators of Lower Canada, who are constantly 
 wishing to lay a sacrilegious hand upon the liberty of con- 
 science. Mr. Brown has been the most devoted advocate 
 of the censitairea of Lower Canada, when he urged the 
 abolition of the Seigniorial Tenure at any cost. Our 
 members did not support him. They want only to main- 
 tain and even multiply abuses. Hahitans of Lower 
 Canada, know your friends ! Jf your delegates have not 
 the courage to uphold your interests, address yourselves 
 to members from Upper Canada." 
 
 But why should inhabitants in Lower Canada be com- 
 pelled to apply to members from Upper Canada to do 
 them justice ? This is a question which should be duly 
 weighed. Is it because members from Lower Canada 
 have not the intelligence to know what would be for our 
 good ? No ; hut because the clerical lasso is round 
 their necks, and being afraid of political strangling, 
 they hnio and act with all becoming sub servienci/. Let 
 the line of policy which controls so large a portion of 
 our legislation ; which rouses an imbruted mob to stop 
 freedom of speech, and to shed innocent blood ; which 
 chokes an honest and ardent expression of abhorrence 
 at such rioting ; which sows among you the seeds of 
 distrust towards Protestants, simply because they are 
 
 '!» 
 
14 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 such ; and which Atifle* liberty of conscience — designnted 
 by the Mouiteur, and justly, ** the highest Oegree of 
 civilization,'^ — be allowed to continue unchecked ; then 
 shall we' be written down, for penury and abjectness, with 
 Spain or Portugal, Naples or Ttorac. 
 
 What under the heavens can be the reason — if it be a 
 good one — that the policy of your clergy should be so 
 marked by secrecy and separation? Monasteries must be 
 built, and nunneries m ultiplied and endowed, and all placed 
 under a regime of secrecy and mystery. Schools are erect ed 
 for children of all sects and parties; and all sects and par- 
 ties meet but Roman Catholic children. These must be by 
 themselves, whatever the trouble or cost. The peace of 
 society, the interest of the young, and the mutual good 
 understanding of the old must be sacrificed to this policy. 
 We are told, the Church, i, e., the Roman Catholic 
 Church, is immutable and canuot fail or fall ; and yet, 
 if but a puff of wind blows, a hue and a cry is raised, as 
 if heaven and earth were broken in pieces and flying 
 away like the commingling parts of Nebuchadnezzar's 
 great and terrible image. Rise, my fellow -citizens, and 
 act as if you really believed your church and principles 
 to be what you say they are ; that you can trust them 
 to any ordeal, and follow them to any conclusion. When 
 Protestants build schools, or originate schemes to improve 
 the mind, the heart, or the circumstances of each other, 
 they gladly open the way for all who wish to avail them- 
 selves of such an opportunity — Roman Catholic or Pro- 
 testant ; but if the policy of your clergy is applied, and 
 isoon it is, all this is stopped, at least so far as free action 
 of truth upon the mind and heart is concerned. You 
 may say it is to guard your people from the influence of 
 error ; but a thinking world is saying — and with good 
 reason — it is because your clergy are afraid of the 
 truth* 
 
 Hoping to address you soon again, I remain your 
 well-wisher, 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS;,^,^ 
 Quebec, 11th July, 1853. 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 15 
 
 .0 '■ 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Priests' policy to be dreaded — Priests can go wrong — The Church 
 of Rome, claiming to be the first Church, excites surprise or con- 
 tempt — True principles of judging — Extract from Macauley — 
 State of Ireland consi*. jred — Illustrations of its popibh Christi- 
 anity. 
 
 " I speak as to wise men ; judge ye what I say. — St. Paul. 
 
 Inhabiting as we do a country rich in natural resources, 
 and thus opening up to the active and enterprizing, 
 native or emigrant, a means of comfort, if not of wealth, 
 it is of the utmost importance that we benefit by the 
 experience of the olden world, and guard against the 
 introduction of those influences which have been its 
 bane and curse. Many things will naturally suggest 
 themselves to an intelligent mind, which should not be 
 permitted to obtain a footing in our midst ; or, if having 
 done so, should be rooted out as quickly as possible. 
 
 A monster evil is the policy of your clergy. Do not 
 start at this assertion. You may be told that to entertain 
 such a thought is heresy, blasphemy, and I know not 
 what. This is child's play — or worse. What ! are the 
 clergy the only men in the world whose conduct and 
 policy are not to be reviewed ? Certainly not. That 
 they can go wrong, and do wrong, all history demon- 
 strates. Who headed the Jewish populace against the 
 Saviour? The priests of the nation. Who led the 
 way in obtaining against the Lord of Life the sentence 
 of death ? The very High Priest of Judah. Who have 
 headed and led the people from time to time in error 
 and schism ? Clerical portions of the church to whom 
 they were wont to look for instruction and example. 
 Have we not, then, a good and sufficient reason to think 
 and act for ourselves? W^e have. And we may be 
 assured that He who gave to man a mind to perceive, 
 and a will to determine, requires him — with such aids as 
 he supplies — to use his understanding, and act, not as a 
 tool at others* bidding, whether he sees or approves the 
 
 !ii 
 
16 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSKD 
 
 reason or not, but as an independent moral agent, who 
 is personally responsible for the right or the wrong of 
 his conduct. 
 
 The history of a long past shews that there is some- 
 thing wrong — tremendously wrong — in the policy of your 
 clergy. You are told that you are the church — the Jirst 
 church — the only true church — and a great deal more 
 that is calculated to excite a smile of surprise if not of 
 contempt : — a smile in which many of your own intelli- 
 gent members are heartily joining. Suppose we were 
 to admit these assumptions, would we not be justified 
 in looking for proof? Not proofs which no man can 
 understand, but that which commends itself to the judg- 
 ment of the most simple. The church of Christ was 
 appointed for certain great ends of mercy and holiness: — 
 has your church produced these ? The principles of 
 philosophy propounded by the great Bacon lead us to say 
 ^-no fact, 7iO theory. Any theory that cannot be sus- 
 tained by consistent facts, we are authorized to repudiate. 
 A greater than Bacon has said — " By their fruits ye shall 
 know them." He asks — *' Do men gather grapes of 
 thorns, or figs of thistles ? Even so every good tree 
 bringeth forth good fruit." — (Jesus Christ.) 
 
 By these principles we may be safely guided, and 
 therefore we ask, where are the fruits following the 
 labours and policy of your clergy which should compel 
 conviction in the justness of their doings and the wisdom 
 of their speculations ? 
 
 Are Roman Catholic countries — Copecially where the 
 rule of your clergy is allowed its full effect — marked by 
 the blessings of heaven so as at least to distinguish 
 them from other, and particularly Protestant, coun- 
 tries — where nestles, in the estimation of your priest- 
 hood, the worst of all heresies ? ** Righteousness," we 
 are told, ** exalteth a nation." "Godliness is profitable 
 for all things ; having the promise of the life that now 
 is, and of that which is to come." Therefore, if the 
 claims of your church are worth listening to, she must 
 show that Roman Catholicism has exalted, and still does 
 exalt, every people under its influence. But is this 
 borne out by facts in any country on this broad earth ? 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 17 
 
 Is it true of any Roman Catholic community inhabit- 
 ing it ? You know well it is not. Here, then, the high- 
 sounding pretensions of your clergy fall to the ground, 
 and you are furnished with a good and sufficient reason 
 for thinking and acting for yourselves in despite of any- 
 thing they may say to the contrary. I have digressed 
 a little from my main object, to induce that independence 
 of thought in you which we are all called to exercise. 
 Now let us look at a few facts. 
 
 I cite an extract from the eloquent and liberal Macau- 
 lay to begin with. In his History of England, he writes 
 as follows: — " P>om the time when the barbarians over- 
 ran the Western Empire, to the time of the revival of 
 letters, the influence of the Church of Rome had been 
 generally favourable to science, to civilization, and to 
 good government. But during the last two centuries, 
 to stunt the growth of the human mind has been the 
 chief object. Throughout Christendom, whatever ad- 
 vance has been made in knowledge, in freedom, in 
 wealth, and in the arts of life, has been made in spite 
 of her, and has everywhere been in inverse proportion to 
 her power. The loveliest and most fertile provinces of 
 Europe have, under her rule, been sunk in poverty, in 
 political servitude, and in intellectual torpor, while 
 Protestant countries, once proverbial for sterility and 
 barbarism, have been turned by skill and industry into 
 gardens, and can boast of a long list of heroes and 
 statesmen, philosophers and poets. Whoever, knowing 
 what Italy and Scotland naturally are, and what, four 
 hundred years ago, they actually were, shall now com- 
 pare the country round Rome with the country round 
 Edinburgh, will be able to form some judgment as to 
 the tendency of papal domination. The descent of 
 Spain, once the first among monarchies, to the lowest 
 depths of degradation, the elevation of Holland, in spite 
 of many natural disadvantages, to a position such as no 
 commonwealth so small has ever reached, teach the 
 same lesson. Whoever passes in Germany from a Ro- 
 man Catholic to a Protestant principality, in Switzer- 
 land from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant canton, in 
 Ireland from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant coun- 
 
18 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 ty, finds that he has passed from a lower to a higher 
 grade of ci\ilizatioii. On the other side of the Atlan- 
 tic the same law prevails. The Protestimts of the 
 United States have left far hehind them the Roman 
 Catholics of Mexico, Peru, and IJrazil. The Homan 
 Catholics of Lower Canada remain inert, while the 
 whole continent round them is in a ferment with Protest- 
 ant activity and enterprise. The French have doubtless 
 shewn m energy and an intelligence which, even when 
 misdirected, have justly entitled them to be called a 
 j^reat people. But this apparent exception, when ex- 
 amined, will be found to confirm the rule; for in no 
 country that is called Roman Catholic, has the Roman 
 Catholic Church, during several generations, possessed 
 so little authority as in France." 
 
 This character we fear is not likely to continue to 
 France, so long at least as its present Emperor with his 
 Jesuit supporters rule her. Where now are her men 
 of science and of literature ? Her soldiers of chivalric 
 valour, and her senators of fearless independence ? 
 They either speak from the dust or are aliens in a strange 
 land. Macaulay's picture is a true one, and suggests 
 many and forcible topics for reflection. But does it 
 agree with the pretensions of your clergy ? The prin- 
 ciples of judgment laid down by Bacon, and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, forbid the supposition. Think of this, my 
 fellow citizens, and let it compel you to turn round and 
 teach them a lesson or two, seeing they have taught you 
 so many false and foolish ones. 
 
 Another reason why Roman Catholic as well as Pro- 
 testant should at once cut off the stream of priestly 
 influence which is making itself so felt in this Province 
 — the lower part especially — is to be seen in the past 
 and present of Ireland. See a whole people flying from 
 proverty and wretchedness. Was there ever such a 
 sight before of any other people, or in any other age ? 
 How is it explained ? Listening to your clergy and 
 their minions, we are told — It is all British misrule I 
 It is Saxon injustice I Many have heard these state- 
 ments so frequently and so confidently made, as at 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 19 
 
 length to believe them ; and hence, have turned upon 
 Britain a ficrco and reproachful look. But admitting 
 that there has been misrule in reference to Ireland — 
 does not the same aj^ply as forcibly to Scotland ? And 
 if to Ireland ought we to look for any exception to the 
 rule of penury and suffering in any portion of it ? 
 "Why is the North — Protestant Ulster — an exception ; 
 a striking and remarkable exception ? I shall point 
 this out shortly. In the meantime, let me ask. Have 
 Roman Catholics suffered from British misrule, as it is 
 called, as the primitive Christians suffered from the 
 persecuting tyranny of the pagan Romans ? Did the 
 ministers of that age suggest, and the Christians of that 
 day carry out the suggestion by which the land was 
 filled v^ith blood and crime ? Then you saw the fruits 
 of the religion of Jesus in love and peace and long- 
 suffering : do you see it in their boastful successors ? 
 Then by charity, and meekness, and Christ-like sim- 
 plicity, they commended religion to a pagan world, 
 and daily gained converts to the true faith from the 
 midst of their persecutors ; but if Christianity had no 
 better illustration of its nature than is given by a 
 Cullen, a McHale, a Laffan, a Cahill, a Timlin, and a 
 host of others of similiar stamp, the world would flee to 
 infidelity — the natural transition from the hideous dis- 
 tortions of a Christianity which such intolerant men are 
 supplying. On the state of Ireland, let me detain your 
 attention a little. Here was a fair field as any under 
 the sun for the operation of your clergy. A fertile, 
 beautiful country. A people whose strong aflfections 
 and natural capabilities shew them, when under proper 
 training, equal to any positon. Her statesmen, her 
 orators, her lawyers, her generals, and her soldiers, 
 have demonstrated this over and over again. But what 
 has your church made her ? You will probably turn 
 on me and ask — what could she have done in opposition 
 to the tyranny and misrule of England ? Tyranny and 
 misrule of Enland ! Did England prevent her from 
 teaching her doctrines — enforcing her discipline, or 
 otherwise ruling her people as she saw fit ? Did Eng- 
 land in anywise prevent the full application of the 
 
20 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDQEBSED 
 
 principles of Christ, through the instrumentality of 
 his church, on a willing and obedient people? Cer- 
 tainly not. Then were we to admit all you say, we 
 remember that seasons of tribulation are frequently 
 most healthful to a church, which, even as an individual 
 might say — *' It is good for me that 1 have been 
 afflicted , that I might learn thy statutes." St. Paul 
 says — " We glory in tribulation also ; for tribulation 
 worketh patence ; and patience, experience ; and experi- 
 ence, hope ; and hope makcth not ashamed, because the 
 love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
 Ghost given unto us." 
 
 Were we therefore to concede all you say about 
 English misrule, &c., yet is not your Church open to the 
 charge of failure — tvhich in this case is imposition ? 
 Instead of raising Ireland under the influence of a 
 Gospel of peace — of love to God and man — render- 
 ing her a praise in the earth, as a united, contented and 
 prosperous people — she has sunk her in ignorence, crime, 
 and wretchedness; so that her very name is a bye- 
 word and a reproach. 
 
 Statistical proof of all this shall be given in my next. 
 
 1 » 
 
 Quebec, 15th July, 1853. ; 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS, 
 
 tiik L 
 
 •-«i - 
 
 ■('..■ 
 
 ;; M, 
 
 v/t, 
 
 \-f.- 
 
 I , 
 
 i ■ 
 
 II 
 
1 
 
 •IX) ROMAN OATIIOLICtf. 
 
 21 
 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 1 
 
 PrioBtly tyranny the ruin of Ireland — Irinh pnpiHts feel in America 
 timt tlu'y Imvo cscnpod — Spociniena <»f tyniiuiy and exaction — 
 
 ' Sympathy for tho Popo, not for tho P<K)r — Hiniihu' illurttrations 
 CI liuartloHHUUHB in Canada — Thi« hoartlossncas a principal cautto 
 of tho groat uhangcs iu tho pooplo iu Ireland. 
 
 ** I ipcak M to wise men ; Judge ye what I lay.— Bt. Paul. 
 
 In closing my last communication, I promised statistical 
 evidence to prove that the misrule and tyranny which 
 has depressed and ruined Ireland, was that of your 
 clergy, rather than of the British Government. I believe 
 its policy towards Ireland has been many times seriously 
 wrong ; yet I am constrained to add — wrong, with the 
 sincerest intentions of benefitting a restless and unhappy 
 people. Wrong, from an erring and mistaken judgment 
 — not an unjust and evil one. V 
 
 A slight attention to facts, with freedom from that 
 prejudice which beclouds the understanding, is all that 
 is necessary to lead to the conclusion that the monster 
 evil of Ireland is the conduct of itc Eomish clergy : — a 
 clergy proverbial for its exhorbitant and unfeeling exac- 
 tions — its fierce and relentless domination — and its illi- 
 beral and persecuting spirit. All this must be admitted, 
 or facts, numerous and telling as the lights of heaven, 
 must be cast aside as meaning nothing. 
 
 Who does not know that one of the impelling motives 
 which is inducing so many thousands of your people to 
 leave the land of their birth and the home of their 
 fathers, to seek a refuge in a foreign land, is that of 
 getting loose from the grasp of their priesthood ? Stri- 
 kingly was this exhibited by the poor fellow who, indi- 
 ting a letter from New York to the relations he had left 
 behind him, screwed up his courage to have written — . 
 ** And say that the priests cannot lord it over us here 
 as they did in ould Ireland .'" Again — " Sir," ex- 
 claimed an Irish labourer on the banks of the Delaware, 
 to the priest who had insolently refused to take five 
 
22 
 
 OB8BKVATION8 ADDUUSBED 
 
 1:1 
 
 t 
 I 
 
 doUors for some rite — " Sir, do you think it is in Ire- 
 land you have me ?'* And how, but as supporting my 
 assertion, shall we view the fact that not Ies8 than two 
 millions have severed themselves from communion with 
 your church in the United States within the last twenty- 
 tive years. •• 
 
 Thousands are doing so now in Ireland — and their 
 number is almost daily increasing — who rejoice in the 
 opportunity and advantages of reading the Word of 
 God. But a few months ago, they, in common with 
 many others, when so unfortunate as to incur the dis- 
 pleasure of their priest, trembled in apprehension of his 
 horsewhip, (an instrument of salvation which our Lord 
 and his apostles have neglected to specify) — his altar 
 denunciations — or the application of that miraculous 
 power by which at any ^ime he could turn them into 
 turhey cochs ! - 
 
 '' When a chapel is to be repaired " — so wrote an 
 eye-witness of the scene he describes, when on a tour 
 through Ireland in 1834 — " the gates are often shut on 
 the Sunday morning, with sentinels stationed at them, 
 and none allowed to enter who did not pay : the priest 
 himself perhapc superintending the scene with cudgel 
 in hand, and freely using it against such as would 
 pass without contributing y >,_ 
 
 *' During the late famine," writes an eloquent and 
 warm-hearted Irishman, " when the Hindoos of Calcutta 
 and the Copts of Alexandria were sending relief to Ire- 
 land — its own priests, in many cases, not only left the 
 people to perish, but robbed them of the alms bestowed 
 by heathen and Mahommedan charity. One priest 
 made large sums of money by selling holy salt to cure 
 the potato disease, and many gave their last sixpence 
 to purchase this specific ; others sold relief tickets with 
 which they were entrusted for gratuitous distribution : 
 while several gave them to the people on condition that 
 the first relief procured should be brought to them, as 
 payment of arrear dues ! Of some it was reported that 
 they never gave a satisfactory account of the relief which 
 was entrusted to their care ; and such currency did 
 th^se rumours obtain, that tho^e w^q had entrusted 
 
 
 tl 
 
 01 
 
 tl 
 
 3* ^.^♦WTt.f >^> ^jT-Z-LiJ-k J % 
 
 I a.jf-,t^fim- ^t.rjL% »f 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 28 
 
 
 them therewith, soon thought it better to commit it to 
 other hands." 
 
 " And Dr. McHale himself, while appealing through 
 the papers to public sympathy on behalf of the starving 
 masses arocmd him, vms convicted by the relieving offi- 
 cer as a defaulter in the payment of his poor rates /" 
 — Ireland's Miseries, Dr. l)ill. - • . 
 
 Who can read the following incident, and not feel at 
 once astonished at the heartlessness it exhibits ; as of 
 the truth of my strong assertions against your clergy ? 
 ** In the neighbourhood of Westport dwelt a poor man 
 who supported a family on five acres of land. When 
 the potato failed in 1847, his all was destroyed, save a 
 small patch of oats, which amounted, when reaped, to 
 sixty sheaves. The priest came round for his hart, 
 (the name of a kind of clerical foraginr effort). The 
 wretched man pointed imploringly to his wife and family. 
 You say, surely the priest gave him something; at least, 
 it is impossible he could have asked hira for anything ; 
 ?■ d for the sake of humanity, one would so believe. 
 But deaf to every entreaty, dead to every feeling, he 
 commanded his servant to count into his cart twenty 
 sheaves of the sixty, and then marched off with his 
 booty ! T' The author of the foregoing narrative states 
 that when in Connaught in the winter of 1848, he was 
 as much struck with the fulness of the priests* haggards 
 as with the emptiness of the people's. And adds fur- 
 ther — ''The present wonderful openings in Connaught, 
 (i. e. for evangelical efforts), were in some measure 
 caused by such circumstances." — Dr. Dill. 
 
 During the time of Ireland's famine and suffering, 
 the Pope was thrown into difficulties by the efforts of 
 his people to break their yoke, and thus free themselves 
 from his tyranny ; then, with wonderful alacrity, the 
 priesthood applied themselves throughout Ireland, and 
 from a generous and fiimishing pjople raised him thou- 
 sands of pounds ! Did they ever so bestir themselves 
 for their own poor ? Again : — Hundreds were raised 
 weekly or monthly for purposes of agitation, in which 
 efforts the priests were principal agents, and when in an 
 install w(3 or tv/o, a voice was raised to appropriate a 
 
 ,' T 
 
24: 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 f 
 
 portion of it for the poor, it was met by such a storm of 
 hisses and other marks of disapprobation, as would have 
 led one to imagine the proposition to have been to send 
 the whole lo the Turks. 
 
 And are there not circumstances in this our own 
 country so similar in nature, as so invest those in Ireland 
 with a more than ordinary interest to us? Let me 
 relate a fact or two, and then judge for yourselves. 
 
 In a city in this Lower Province, (there are but two 
 in it, and it is not to Montreal that I allude), a number 
 of kind-hearted citizens got up a bazaar. They worked 
 hard, and were liberally assisted by others who highly 
 approved of their object, viz.: — that of assisting the 
 poor to provide for the coming winter. The bazaar 
 realized somewhere (so Roman Catholics themselves 
 stated) about ^900. The poor were on tip -toe ex- 
 pectation, and the humane rejoiced with them, believing 
 that many comforts would be supplied to them by the 
 judicious application of such a sum of money. A check 
 however was given to hope by the intimation that the 
 money would not be appropriated until after Christmas. 
 
 " Well, that will soon be here, and with it our season- 
 able and long-expected relief" But, lo! Christmas 
 came — " a,nd then the charity was dispensed" — not so 
 fast, my friend — and then the charity was dispensed, 
 truly — but not to the poor. It was ascertained — doubt- 
 less by the clergy, {^Christ -like men!) that it would be 
 much better to give the proceeds to the church rather 
 than to the poor — and it was so ! ! ! * ' ;', ■ 
 
 M ! 
 
 * The accouat as given above was received from Roman Catho- 
 lics, who professed great indignation at so heartless a distribution 
 of the charity. Since it appeared in print, a counter statement 
 has been supplied by a person over the signature of " Observer " ; 
 who says that the proceeds of the bazaar amounted to only £550. 
 Two hundred of which were given to the Nuns outside St. John's 
 Gate ; (doubtless to aid in the erection of their huge building,) 
 and two hundred were given to the St. Vincent de Paul Society : 
 fifty to thepabcor for the poor, and one hundred remained in hands. 
 The reader may receive which statement he pleases, they both rest on 
 Roman Cathohc tectimony ; but he must bear in mind that while the 
 latter one is given to wipe off odium from the Church, the former was 
 given as the result of a bitter disappointment. The retention in bands 
 
 
TO ROMAN CA'l-HOLICS. 
 
 25 
 
 :.) 
 
 Now, how long my fellow- citizens, would you be, do 
 you think, through the instrumentality of a '* brutal and 
 bellowing mob,*' in battering Protestant's heads with 
 sticks and axe-handles, ere you could succeed in in- 
 ducing them to believe such to be an illustration of the 
 religion of Jesus Christ ? How long would it take such 
 an agency, in pelting stones through church windows, 
 and psalm books at a speaker's head, before you could 
 drive an intelligent community into the belief that a 
 clergy who could perpetrate such actions formed any 
 part of the first church, or the true church, of the Sa- 
 viour of the world ? Shall I answer for you ? Not 
 while grass grows or water runs. No, never I Nor 
 would you yourselves be long held by such a faith, if 
 you were as well instructed in the Word of God, and as 
 independent in the exercise of your reason, as the glory 
 of your Creator and the interest of your souls for time 
 and eternity demand that you should. " ' ' ' * 
 
 Do your poor, who call so frequently at our doors f( i. 
 alms, belie your clergy or do they not, when, in reply to 
 the question we sometimes put to them — ** Why do you 
 not apply to your own clergy, inasmuch as your church 
 is so wealthy ?" — they say, " Oh I Sir, its little good we 
 get by applying to them." 
 
 Another case which came to Protestant ears, illus- 
 trating the tender-heartedness of your clergy, and shew- 
 ing how much reason we have for paying particular 
 attention to the state of things in Ireland, is as follows. 
 [The incident I am about to relate happened in the 
 same city in which the bazaar was held, 180 miles below 
 Montreal.] A gentleman felt that his end was *l^«wing 
 nigh, and although during life he declared that he was 
 poor and had nothing, yet astonishing to say on his death- 
 bed he finds himself possessed of one thousand pounds I 
 Under the influence of a natural and very becoming 
 ifFection, he purposes leaving it to two near and worthy 
 relatives. The church (which in such instances always 
 means the clergy), being apprized of his intention, at 
 
 of one hundred pounds after a hard winter is not the least curious 
 item iu it. ,• , , , . ,,. 
 
 i| 
 
 I'l 
 
26 
 
 OBSBRVATIOKS ADDBK9SCD 
 
 \i 
 
 h: 
 
 1.1 
 
 '! 
 
 once brought iti artillery to bear upon his fears ; and 
 hence, instead of the thousand pounds going to where 
 God and humanity directed, they were spirited away, 
 mirahile dictu I to lay beside the proceeds of the bazaar. 
 Can you — any of you — ^justify such an act, especially 
 when considering that, next to the watching of death- 
 beds, and ao getting money, one of the greatest troubles 
 your clergy have is that of finding safe and profitable, 
 investments for what they already have ? Cau you, with 
 these facts before you, find fault with an intelligent 
 public for believing that your clergy are an ecclesiastical 
 maelstrom, which would suck down the gold of Califor- 
 nia and Australia, and yet not even then say enough ? 
 
 Under circumstances of almost unexampled suffering, 
 the starving poor of Ireland found out their real friends. 
 They judged rightly that a friend and a Christian is not 
 he who says, be ye clothed or fed, and not only gives 
 nothing for such objects, but appropriates to himself 
 what was given ',/ others to that end ; but he who acts 
 as he speaks, and a. listers to want wherever he sees it, 
 of whatever creed, country, or colour. 
 
 It was thus they became accessible to Protestant 
 teachers. It was thus they became willing to have that 
 Word read to them which reveals in God, a Father ; and 
 in Christ the one Mediator between God and man. Thus 
 they drank from the pure fountain of God^s own revela- 
 tion the water of eternal life ; and realized a religion 
 which unites in love the heart to God, and to every crea- 
 ture of God's hand, for God's sake. For this they are 
 defamed ; and the senseless cry raised, that they have 
 been bought from their faith by soup : — that they have 
 sold their religion for a mess of pottage : and I know 
 not what. And, shame on you, you have, many of you, 
 joined in the cry. Is it, I ask, characteristic of an 
 Irishman to deal thus false with his faith ? is his cha- 
 racter a fickle one ? No, it is not. Whatever his faults 
 may be, (and they are sufHciently 'numerous) he his not 
 that of inconstancy. His affections are not only strong 
 but they are abiding; and never would it have bee?^ 
 written, or told, that thousands upon thousands of Irish- 
 men had abandoned the faith of their fathers, if good 
 and sufficient reasons had not been given them. 
 
 ■ 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 27 
 
 
 )t 
 
 The strain of my remarks has carried me beyond my 
 •tatistics ; but they will be forthcoming. In the mean- 
 time, allow me to assure you, that Protestants wish you 
 no harm : treat them as they have treated you, and they 
 will readily open to you every means of improvement 
 and comfort which they themselves enjoy. A common 
 interest for time and eternity should bind us together, if 
 not absolutely in one faith and in one church, yet in an 
 honest and honourable rivalry ; that under the influence of 
 m common eiFort our country might rise, smiling with the 
 blessings of peace and prosperity. 
 
 ■..:,;; Yours sincerely, '^^i;;,,''' ],,,,,,^ 
 
 f^ism\ li ' ' - EXPOSTULATUS. 
 
 ^Quebec, 20th July, 1853. ^1 /^y^; 
 
 ■ -. :. t t 
 
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 'U'it ■■•^Vi.- 
 
 ^rvi/icro *3rt. 
 
 ; -; 
 
 ■A- "v^ 
 
i 28 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADI)BE3SED 
 
 0! 
 
 Hi 
 
 . '^' 
 
 LiJjTT-EIvi v. »S;;j ; -a'^l^vif *,.'•..! 
 
 Statistical information — Ulster an exception — Means of elevating 
 a people — The Church should supply thera — Dr. Dill's book- 
 Specimens of ignorance — Superstition — Of crime — Comparison 
 instituted. 
 
 " I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say."— St. Paul. 
 
 I now call your attention to the evidence which eta- 
 tistics, recently constructed, give of Ireland's degrada- 
 tion and distress, and that by its Romish priesthood. 
 
 I say Ireland's degradation and distress — but I must 
 except Ulster, in which is found a larger proportion of 
 Protestants than in any other county. Ulster, although 
 the majority of its inhabitants are Popish, and although 
 it <;annot for a moment be compared for beauty and na- 
 tural advantages with the other counties of Ireland ; yet 
 it has nobly and successfully struggled under Protestant 
 intelligence and energy against many disadvantages, and 
 now furnishes to the world a striking evidence of the 
 relative influences of Protestantism and Popery in ele- 
 vating or depressing a people. ^^^ • 
 
 Another premisory observation I will make, and it is 
 as follows : — The two great means of elevating a people — 
 whether that elevation be social, political, commercial, or 
 religious — are knowledge and virtue ; while those which 
 degrade are ignorance and vice. Knowledge marks the 
 difference between civilized and savage life ; and virtue 
 distinguishes between the orderly and the lawless ; the 
 real Christian and the hypocritical pretender; the saint 
 and the devil. 
 
 The church of Jesus Christ is charged with diffusing 
 knowledge of the highest character and of generating 
 virtue of the purest stamp; if, then, it is to be seen that 
 your clergy have failed in producing in Ireland either 
 one or other of these, we are forced to the conclusion 
 that your church does not, cannot promote them ; or 
 that your priesthood there have altogether failed in car- 
 rying out its objects. 
 
will 
 
 TO nOMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 29 
 
 nt 
 
 'g 
 
 ler 
 
 )n 
 
 lor 
 
 The information which I am now about to lay before 
 you is derived from an exceedingly well-written book, 
 recently published and entitled — ** The Mi/slerif solved; 
 or, Ireland' & 3It'series: The grand cause and cure. — 
 B// the Rev. Marcus Dill, A.M., M.D.^ Misiionary 
 Agent to the Irish Preshi/terian Church.^* 
 
 I earnestly recommend its careful perusal to all to 
 whom the condition of Ireland possesses any interest ; 
 and who wish a condensed but graphic view of Romanism 
 as taught in Maynooth College, enforced by her priest- 
 hood, and exemplified in the prostration of a country 
 and people susceptible of the highest improvement and 
 noblest associations. isj.fi.ffW /ti^h t* 
 
 In referring to the amount of knowledge possessed by 
 the Irish people, Dr. Dill quotes from the census of 
 1841, and says: — "63 per cent of the population of 
 Ireland could neither read nor write; while only 2G 
 per cent could both read and write. Thus our educa- 
 tional statistics, at the very first glance, bring out the 
 astounding fact, that eleven years ago three-fourths of 
 the people were devoid of the simplest rudiments of 
 knowledge." tn.^^ >. t^aI* .? yr^^r 
 
 !v*' There are still," (notwithstanding the efforts of the 
 National Board to effect improvement in this respect,) 
 *' whole disf 'icts into which scarce a book or a newspa- 
 per penetrates, and where you will find professional 
 scribes who are employed by the people to write their 
 letters for them to America." 
 
 ** Their moral and religious ignorance," writes Dr. 
 Dill, ** is still more deplorable. It is quite notorious 
 that thousands in Ireland never saw a Bible ; never 
 Jieard of the Trinity ; know nothing -of the Saviour, but 
 the name; and are so ignorant of the nature of vice and 
 crime, as to be restrained from them chiefly through 
 fear of the prison. To the question, ' Who made you ?^ 
 how often have our missionaries received the answer, 
 ' It was 'my mother, sir.* To the question, ^ Are you a 
 sinner P you will often get the reply, * No, indeed^ sir*! 
 And in reply to the question, * Who is the Holy Ghost P 
 have been told by several that they never heard of a 
 Holy Ghost! And should you express surprise at any 
 
 lii! 
 
 ill 
 
f 
 
 I 
 
 
 |l l> 
 
 30 
 
 OBSBRVATTONS ADDRE8SSD 
 
 of these answers, yon. are often silenced by the touching 
 reply, ' God help me, I never got the learning ! God 
 help them, indeed I And these are not savage heathen 
 in the jungle, but our own Christian fellow-countrymen 
 — of whom, even while we write, some are passing to the 
 judgment throne!" 
 
 ** Hence their amazing superstition. You will see 
 charms called * gospels,* and 'scapulars' tied round their 
 necks, and fixed in their cabin roofs, to keep away devils 
 and fairies ! If their cow takes ill, it is *fairi/ shot;' if 
 their churn will not yield the butter, it is ^blinked)* 
 indeed, they seem as if they thought evil spirits had a 
 peculiar fancy for a dairy, and had little else to do than 
 play pranks with the milk and butter. Their supersti- 
 tious minds have covered the land with holy wells, trees, 
 lakes and mountains, each having its patron saint — rival- 
 ling the ancient Greeks in their poetic creations of naiads, 
 nerieds, fauns, and hamadryads. You will sometimes 
 see them, as they pass a holy well, take off their hats and 
 begin to mutter as if addressing some spirit who resided 
 in its waters. 
 
 *'If we next turn to that fourth part who can read 
 nnd write, vsrhile very many are most highly educated, 
 the attainments of the majority are, we fear, but slender. 
 In 6 counties and 74 towns, with populations varying 
 from 2,500 to 12,400 each, there was not in 1849 a single 
 bookshop ; and in the entire island there was, in propor- 
 tion to the population, only one for every 9 which then 
 existed in Scotland ! " > r #u n i^^a^ ^ f w j 
 
 The moral condition of Ireland under the training of 
 an active and thoroughly supplied priesthood is inferred 
 from the fact, that for the last 8 or 10 years, the average 
 amount of troops stationed there is 25,000, which, with 
 a constabulary force of 13,000, makes an army of 38,000! 
 And yet these cannot keep the peace, there being more 
 rioting and blood -shedding there than in any other por- 
 tion of the British dominions. What a matter for 
 thought, seeing it is the most popish portion of the Em- 
 pire of our Queen ! 
 
 ** There are in Ireland 155 jails and bridewells; near 
 700 law courts, from assizes to petty sessions; and 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 31 
 
 or- 
 for 
 Im- 
 
 lear 
 md 
 
 10,000 persona ministering to justice, from the judge to 
 the bailiff." "In fact, our chief public buildings, in 
 addition to poor-houses, arc jails and court-houses ; and 
 our most flourishing business is that of lawyers and soli- 
 citors." 
 
 " In Great Britain, with thrice the population of Ire- 
 land, and this consisting largely of the depraved manu- 
 facturing classes, there were in l8o(>, only 31,281 com- 
 mittals, wliile there were in Ireland, in the same year, 
 83,32(5, or upwards of 3 to 1 ! Yet this gives no accu- 
 rate idea of the proportions of actual crime in these two 
 countri 2s ; for conspiracy against the laws is in many 
 parts of Ireland so perfect, that even assassinations talce 
 plac^e in open da\), within view of the people; and not 
 only do they not info-rm, but so screen toe assassin 
 
 THAT HI often ELUDES THE UT.MOST VIGILANCE OF THE 
 
 police! ! !" 
 
 '* The same conspiracy against law and justice appears 
 in our very courts ; scenes of perjury the most revolting 
 are common on the witness table ; and in party cases, 
 the frequent expression, even of jurors, before entering 
 the box at all, is, that they will ^cat their hoots^ with 
 hunger before they find against the prisoner!" And are 
 we not fact travelling to the same beatiful climax of vir- 
 tuous and scriptural sensibility to the sacredness of an 
 oath? Is this the legitimate fruit — I apprehend it is — 
 of the doctrine of your church, that no faith is to be kept 
 with heretics ? If so, let me tell you, it is one of those 
 'causes which will bring upon us, as it has already upon 
 the popish countries of Europe, the withering, blighting 
 anger of a just and righteous God. " 2^o do justice and 
 Judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrijice" 
 Solomon. " Thou shalt destroy them who speak leaS' 
 ing ; the Lord will abhor the man of blood and deceit,*' 
 — David. 
 
 The relative condition of Ulster is seen as follows : — 
 ^*By the census of 1841, the proportions of the popula- 
 tion in each province who could neither read nor write, 
 were — Ulster, 33 per cent; Leinster, 38; Munster, 52; 
 Connaught, 64." *' Though a large number of the youth 
 of Ulster are educated in the Scotch Universities, yet. 
 
 iii 
 
a2 
 
 OBSERVATIONS iDDRESSIirD 
 
 ^l' 
 
 II i 
 
 i 
 
 iii] 
 
 .-I ( 
 
 fl 
 
 during the session of 1840, the students attending the 
 Belfast Queen's College amounted-to 11)2 ; while, in that 
 of Cork, there were ll/>; in that of Gahvay, GS ; of this 
 latter number, some of the most eminent were natives of 
 Ulster." 
 
 "Of the 25,000 troops stationed in Ireland, scarcely 
 3,000 are found in Ulster, and, except in its southern 
 counties, even these are wholly unnecessary. Not a 
 soldier is stationed between Belfast and Dcrry, a distance 
 of 7U miles, embracing two most populous counties and 
 various large towns." 
 
 " Out of 33,32(3 committals in 1850, the number in 
 Ulster was 5,2(jO, not one-sixth part. Yet, considering 
 how many crimes escape detection in the south, from 
 the prevailing conspiracy against the laws, and how few 
 in the north, from the opposite cause, even this is too 
 large a figure to represent the proportion of actual 
 crime.** "The character of crime shews a still more 
 emarkable difference. At almost every northern 
 assizes, the first sentence of the judge's opening address 
 is cne of congratulation on the peace of the cc iintry and 
 the lightness of their calendar. Comparatively few are 
 transported from Ulster ; and capital crime occurs there 
 so rarely, that of 23 executions which took place in the 
 years 181-9 and *50, only two occurred in Ulster." 
 
 " The number of Protestants to Roman Catholics in 
 the several provinces is as follows : — 'Ulster, 11 to 10 ; 
 Leinster, as 2 to 11 ; Munster, as 1 to 20 ; und in Con- 
 naught, as 1 to 23. — [Census Returns for 1831.] A 
 careful consultation of the authorities will shew that just 
 in proportion as Protestantism is founi^ in each county, 
 is there knowledge, virtue and prosperity ; while on the 
 opposite principle of calculation is to be found ignorance 
 crime and poverty. Take one ir stance — in 1818— there 
 were, in round numbers, 3 persons seeking relief out of 
 every 100 in Ulster ; 14 in Munster ; and 19 in Con- 
 naught. Further, we find that in the 4 Roman Catholic 
 Unions of Kanturk, Listowel, Castlebar and Ballinrobe, 
 there were, in 1848, twelve times as many paupers re- 
 lieved, in proportion to the population, as in the 4 Pro- 
 testant Unions of Larne, Kilkeel, Colergine and Newton 
 Limavady. 
 
 ^ 
 
OTO ROMAS CATHOLICi. 
 
 33 
 
 ; in 
 
 0; 
 n— 
 
 A 
 
 ust 
 
 ty, 
 
 he 
 
 ce 
 
 re 
 
 of 
 
 n- 
 
 lic 
 
 e, 
 e- 
 
 0- 
 
 on 
 
 " It is nctorious that during the Iftte famine, even in 
 Ireland's most Protestant parts, the immense proportion 
 of the relievinfjf were Protestants, and of the reiiered 
 Roman Catholics." To any one who has paid attention 
 to the famine and pestilence of Ireland, it is well known 
 they were more severely felt in the south and west, the 
 most fertile but most popish parts of Ireland ; while in 
 the north, the least fertile b'lt most Protestant, they 
 were known the least. The assistance there was com- 
 paratively small, while much was contributed by its 
 inhabitants to help their more wretched southern coun- 
 trymen. On this subject, Dr. Dill writes as follows :— - 
 ** Those scenes of horror which were so common in the 
 south were scarcely known in the north of Ireland ; and 
 many of those who did perish there were natives of 
 Connaught and Leinster who poured into Ulster in quest 
 of food. Of the £10,000,000 of relief sent to Ireland 
 at that period by public and private charity, scarce 
 £1,000,000 is supposed to have reached ULster ; while 
 that province actually contributed large sums for the 
 relief of the south and west, and has ever sinte paid the 
 rate-in -aid tax to the same end." While Ireland has 
 lost one-fifth of its inhabitants, Munster almost one- 
 fourth and Connaught nearly one-third, Ulster has not 
 lost one-sixth ! How do you account for this, if, as 
 your clergy tell you, Romanism is the true church of 
 God, while Protestantism is a most damning heresy ? 
 Surely this shews a singular method of blessing the true 
 church, and of damning the false one ! Oh ! when will 
 you open your eyes to the evils of a policy which hea- 
 ven is scorching with judgment, and earth is loathing 
 with disgust ! f^'^'''^ i*.»Sii" .•■•iv .:i' 
 
 But morft of this in my next, tijoc^* ^'^ ^:^. '' ^;>! 
 . . :; ;/^?<« N>V? Your earnest well-wisher. ;; 
 
 /'li. 
 
 -»^.'>,+ 
 
 ifij 
 
 ':u!>i. 
 
 Quebec, 23rd July, 1853. 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 
 .-•i* 
 
 *"' f •.!,,■« 4 •»,' ij;,' 
 
 IJ 2. 
 
 ;ir^;,. :*^5/ii-«f 
 
 / 
 
 .1'^ ^' 
 
 i«; 
 
 
 
 \i^x> 
 
 ■ I 
 
 >l 
 
u 
 
 0U8BRVATI0KI ADDEESaED 
 
 i'l 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 "i *i i\ * 
 
 f/ «'.;;; •■^. i 
 
 \* » >'' 
 
 ».* 
 
 iji 
 
 
 i;if 
 
 To doubt our faith excites us — The Romanist's claim of infallibil* 
 ity unsuataiood — Priests can curse — The only ctirso dreaded— 
 Protcstunts driven to protect themselves — Further stutistica— 
 Further proof tliut wliilo Protestantism elevates, Romanism dc- 
 preHscs — Iielands Patriots— A aoblo band — Ireland's poverty 
 and helplessness. uur f>; tnw t^'] 
 
 , I ) , ' *• Am I therefore become your enemy, because 
 I tell you the truth" f— St. 1'aul. 
 
 It is unhappily the case that few things excite iis moi e 
 unpleasantly than a hint that our faith may possibly bo 
 >vrong. Here, men very generally, even as your pope, 
 claim infallibility. We are willing to admit we may be 
 wrong upon temporal matters, and will even thank those 
 who, in a proper manner, shew us a real or supposed 
 error ; but upon the subject of religion — no interference 
 is the cry. You may believe me to be wrong as Satan 
 could wish me, but yon must assume that I am right as 
 St. Peter or St. Paul could have made me ; or, ten to 
 one, in a burst of anger, I will denounce you as an intol- 
 lerant bigot, or a meddling fool. 
 
 Those educated in your school will not even stop at this, 
 for they not only get highly incensed if any one should 
 dare to question the truthfulness of their faith ; but they 
 (their infallibly fallible clergy at least) assume the right 
 to try all by the standards of their orthodoxy, and when 
 a difference is ascertained — as though authorised of 
 heaven and not to be obstructed by earth — to treat them 
 to a disquisition after the order of St. Dominic — which 
 by the way is about as gracious and tender as the 
 treatment of a kitten to a mouse that has unfortunately 
 fallen into Miss Pussy's hands ; tiie winding up being, 
 to hand to the tender mercies of the devil, the body and 
 aoul of the miserable dissidents. 
 
 You claim to be infaiilibly right, without (allow me to 
 say for your good and not for anger, and which I shall, 
 if I mistake not, fully prove ere I am done,) a frac- 
 tion of reliahle evidence ; and that we Protestants are 
 
TO nOMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 36 
 
 wrong, hecause, fonooth, your chrgy tell you bo ! 
 Yes, that you arc right, divinely right, and that wc are 
 wrong — infernally so. Such being your convictions, we 
 might well ask — where is this to be seen? l)oe8 any- 
 thing like an intellectual, moral, social, political or com- 
 mercial inferiority of Protestants to Papists tell you so ? 
 Is it to be witnesred in our condition as individuals ; or 
 in our aggregations as comnumitics or nations ? Go 
 through the States and compare them with Mexico; through 
 England and Scotland, and compare them with Ireland ; 
 or through Italy —not excepting Rome itself — and com- 
 pare it with I'rocestant Holland, and then say, if any- 
 thing approaching to such a supposition presents itself. 
 If, then, as by effects the true character of causes may 
 be ascertained — which all sane-minded persons will 
 admit — hive we not here as in the light of a sunbeam a 
 refutation of what your clergy say of the dreadful nature 
 of Protestantism ; and, by natural inference, all they 
 pronounce of the divine character and importance of the 
 system they teach, and which you so unreflectingly be- 
 lieve and follow ? Don't start at this, and feel as if you 
 were drinking in soul-destroying heresy. Your clergy 
 have held you by the nose with thoughts of this kind 
 long enough. They, for their own sakes, fulminate ana- 
 themas against those who are determined to be inde- 
 pendent and think for themselves- -a course^ he it 
 known, wh :h our Creator in his oici'. Word invites ut 
 to pursue, promising wisdom to direct and assist us^ 
 if we ask it aright at his hand 
 
 Few things excite your clergy and set them into a 
 cursing strain sooner than the inculcation of a conduct 
 so manly and so christian — so becoming the glory of God 
 and the proper character and accountibiiity of us his 
 creatures ; and I doubt not but that this my humble but 
 well meant effort will bring down upon my head their 
 weightiest curse. Of this, so far as I am concerned, I 
 would rather rejoice than otherwise ; inasmuch as you 
 may thus have an opportunity of witnessing its futility. 
 Let them, if they choose, heap on me every curse that 
 their Sacred College ever invented, or tl^at a Maynooth 
 priest — and they are adepts in this way — ever uttered. 
 
 I 
 
 i :'| 
 
 1 I 
 
3G 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 
 save one, and I doubt not but, enjoying as hitherto, the 
 divine blessing, I shall move on in my ordinary duties 
 and interests. The one to which I except is that which 
 swings the cudgel, flings the stone, or fires the assassin's 
 bullet from behind the hedge. Froi ^nore than mere 
 personal reasons, I would deprecate this very effective 
 mode of cursing, which your clergy ha\e long and oft 
 employed. I do so because of the tremendous spirit of 
 retaliatioa it would arouse. JPor be it known to all 
 whom it ,nay concern, that throughout this whole province 
 isthe spirit of a Protestant and outraged people moved. 
 Resolved they are that the scene? of the (jth and 9th of 
 June, nor anything like them, shall he re-enacted with 
 impunity. Knowing now that neither Municipal, nor 
 Legal, nor EXECUTIVE authority can be trusted for 
 that protection which, as peaceable citizens, they have a 
 right to expect, they purpose doing what, according to 
 the laws of nature, thty are driven to — to proiect them- 
 selves ; and much am T mistaken if those who have 
 educated you in the principles — and stimulated you lo 
 the practice — of robbing your Protestant reighbours 
 of their heaven-invested '.Hght, would not, in such a 
 case be visited with a terrible retribution. Let them 
 look back at the retributive visitations of St Bartholo- 
 mew's Jay doings in the French revolution of 1789, and 
 remember a lesson which they never should forget even 
 to the end of time. On the right or the wrong of this i 
 offer no opinion, but merely say. that as I think I have 
 good reason for the statements I have made, it becomes 
 those in authority to vigorously employ means to prevent 
 SUCH a fearful visitation. This they will not do by pan- 
 dering to the base passions of a rabble, which they do 
 when they tell the respectable meaibers of the commu- 
 nity that they cannot protect them in the us^; of a British 
 righl; ; nor by assuring us that it is not at all likely that 
 those who so seriously and flagrantly outrage peace and 
 justice can be convicted for their offence, and then em- 
 ulcy DO means to render it otherwise ; nor by screening 
 a public officer who stands charged by an insulted and 
 injured people of the grossest dereliction of duty, if not 
 of actual collusion with the Chalmers* Church rioters ; 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS, 
 
 87 
 
 3nt 
 m- 
 do 
 
 lU- 
 
 ish 
 lat 
 nd 
 n- 
 
 Ind 
 
 lOt 
 
 rs; 
 
 but by adopting the maxim of the wise heathen — *^ fiat 
 juititia mat caelum " — they at once employ whatever 
 means may be necessary thereto. 
 
 But let us now return to the subject of my former 
 letter. The statistics which I then laid before you — 
 and others which I shall shortly produce — are designed 
 to shew that the policy which your clergy pursued, and 
 the influence which they have exerted in Ireland, have 
 been Ireland's ruin ; widely different, therefore, from 
 what should have been expected as the result of an 
 influence fully applied from the true church of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 A proper application of the principles of the church 
 of God — I repeat — leads to knowledge and vitue; and 
 had the inhabitants of Ireland been thus raised, they 
 would, from the wonderous susceptibilities of their country 
 —in soil, in climate, and po?'tion, in the powers which 
 nature^has given them of mii^d and body — have taken 
 rank in influence and importance, with the first people 
 of the earth. 13ut for knowledge, your clergy have 
 sown ignorance; for virtue, they have planted vice; 
 and Ireland now reaps the fruit in bitter sorrow and 
 desolation. And shall your priesthood reap no 
 
 BHAME? ,^.a 
 
 ■^ 'he effects of your priests' policy in Ireland are best 
 seen by comparisons drawn between its less and more 
 popish parts : between Ulster, where there is more of 
 Protestantism, and Jjeinster, Munster, and Connaught, 
 where they are almost all papists. This course I have 
 , pursued, and shall continue a little further. 
 
 Dr. Dill writes a? follows ; — " If you look to Ulster's 
 condition prior to the famine, you find it has long been 
 the home of comfort and industry, and the head-quarters 
 of our commerce and manuiactures. Of Ihe ^2,591 
 persons employed in our factories in 1746; nearly four- 
 flftho belonged to the northern province, the proportions 
 being — Ulster, 17,340; Leinsters 3,735; Munster, 
 1,555; and in Connaught not a single one. To give 
 one example of the relative progress of our northern 
 and southern towns. In 1789, Belfast was an unimpor- 
 tant place, with a wretched harbour, and the revenue of 
 
 i 
 
38 
 
 OfiSERVATTONS ADDRESS lED 
 
 ft 
 
 \t 
 
 «f its port was £1,500.000 sterling, In 1838, it con- 
 tained 50 factory steam engines ; in 1846, its mills for 
 snining yarn alone amounted to 25, one of the principal 
 employing 800 hands ; in 184G, the Tidal Harbour 
 Commissioners pronounced itthe first town in Ireland for 
 enteprise and commercial prosperity ; and in 1850, its 
 port revenues had increased to £21/,000,00. On the 
 other hand, Kilkenny was an important city whea 
 Belfast was only a village ; it once had several 
 factories, 11 water wheels, and such a carpet manufac- 
 tory that Kidderminster prayed for repeal of the Union. 
 In 1824, Mr. Inglis saw one man in the principal 
 factory, which once employed 200 ; and he adds that of 
 the 11 water wheels, one was going, not for the purpose 
 of driv'ing the machiaer;^ but to prevent it from 
 rotting. 
 
 On the subject of *' British mis7*ule" or indifference 
 to Ireland's interests, the following remarks of Dr. Dill 
 are very pertinent : — ** The truth is, Ireland has been 
 the object of the most painstaking legislation, and 
 whatever have been the sins of our rulers, it would be 
 downright wrong to deny this. More time is each 
 session spen.. on Irish affairs than on all our colonial 
 affuirs together ; and more of the public treasure haa 
 been lavished on Ireland than on any other portion of 
 the empire. Since 1800, 33 Committees of Parliament, 
 and 21 Government Commissions, have been appointed 
 to enquire into the cause of our miseries and the 
 best means of removal ; and during the same period we 
 have received £26,00.0,000 sterling in mere grants and 
 advances. £1,000,000 has been given to construct har- 
 bours for our commerce ; £8,500,000 to encourage our 
 own manufactures ; £8,000,000 to save our people from 
 the grave of famine : while our canals, railways, agricul- 
 ture and fisheries, have all been nursed at the public 
 expense. Nay, even our charitable institutions are lar- 
 gely supported by parliamentary grants. Yet, while not 
 a tithe of this kindness has been shown either to Ulster 
 or Scotland, the southern demagogue has for years harp- 
 ed upon British neglect." -.<•.-> -. 
 
 - «v r» 
 
 'i.i^,i ,■ 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS . 
 
 39 i 
 
 of 
 tnt, 
 ted 
 the 
 
 om 
 ul- 
 )lic 
 ir- 
 
 lOt 
 
 Iter 
 
 ** Where, then, can you find such political gnevances 
 as can at all account for our miseries ; or how explain 
 that our least favored province is the most prosperous, 
 and its people the most loyal, though at least as able to 
 detect, and ready to resist, oppression as any of their 
 countrymen ? Does it not demonstrate how little our 
 disease is connected with politics at all ; that we have for 
 years been growing worse, while our legislation has con- 
 fessedly been growing better; until now the country is 
 at the point of dissolution, when, according to our poli- 
 tical empirics, she should at least have been convales ■ 
 cent? Alas! if legislation could have blessed us, we 
 should now have been the han jiest of nations, for on no 
 country's behalf have more statutes been framed — and 
 the people are beginning to perceive this. They have 
 seen how their patriots have been strangely hushed in 
 the hour of our deepest distress. ( What a fact !) 
 ** ichen,if British misrule is its cause, their voice should 
 have been louder than ever." And they are beginning 
 to see that other motives may influence an agitator 
 besides those of pure-minded patriotism ; that, after all, 
 Parliament can do little for a country if it will do nothing 
 for itself; and that in order to prOvSp'irity, Ireland needs 
 something far different from what agitation can extort, 
 or legislation concede." 
 
 Another of the many evidences of the debasing ten- 
 dency of the religion which your clergy teach, is seen in 
 the swarms of beggars which infest all Roman Catholic 
 countries. True religion teaches and blends self-reliance 
 with dependence upon the divine blessing ; and he is 
 fah« !': bis principles, who professing the true faith, con- 
 sen'', v^ c'i a beggar but under the pressure of circum- 
 stance V iilch he cannot surmount. Throughout Roman 
 Catholic countri^r. you are forced toa difFen.nt conclusion ; 
 and Ireland has participated in this as it has in other 
 characteristics of the Romisli faith. ** Indeed, begging, 
 writes our author. Dr. Dill, ruins the national trade, and 
 never was a race more fertile in expedients to awaken 
 liberality and impose on simplicity. They have been 
 k? ' vn to make ulcers in their legs with bluestone ; and 
 yot.,' vould think those naked children who pursue the 
 
 lin 
 
 !■ . 
 1 
 
 11 
 
! 
 
 ill 
 
 iif 
 
 ;;■! Itl 
 
 I!*' 
 
 i 
 
 40 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 r 
 
 coaches along the roads had the most unquenchable 
 thirst for learning, for the half-penny is always to huy a 
 hooh. Yes, though the sixth of Ireland's population ^s 
 in the Poor-house, this has scarce perceptibly diminished 
 the number of strolling beggars. By the highways, you 
 see them posted like sentinels ; as you pass through a 
 town, they follow you, involring the saints blessings on 
 your departed parents' souls. If you enter a shop, they 
 instantly surround the door ; and, even late at night, 
 you'll hear their monotonous call rising in the stillness 
 of the half- deserted streets " 
 
 " And these are thy trophies, ! Rome — the proof 
 of thy divinity — the priests of thy celestial sway !" Yes, 
 they are, truly so. Buch mendicity is not a necessary 
 and inseparable ingredient of the Irish character. The 
 Irish are as susceptible of the delicacies of honourable 
 sentiments as any other people, and better training sel- 
 dom fails to show it. * Irish Protestants" — writes Dr. 
 Dill, and we believe hi. 'we have often known to be 
 half-starved in their dv/ehiing before they would divulge 
 their wants." And he further adds with great truthful- 
 ness — '*It is the necessary point of a system which, by 
 degrading the whole soul, begets of necessity the spirit 
 of a beggar ; which by placing such stress on the merit 
 of alms-giving, holds out a premium to begging ; and 
 which by its various mendicant orders, invests the trade 
 with not only the garb of respectability, but the sanction 
 of religion. Hence what popish country does not swarm 
 with beggars ? " j i^.^, ^ 
 
 The complete absence of self-reliance and becoming 
 energy to which the people of Ireland have been con- 
 ducted by their religious training is graphically stated 
 in the following manner. " If they want their rivers 
 deepened, their harbours improved, their very land 
 drained, they look elsewhere for assistance. Hospitals 
 are established — they look to parliament to support 
 them ; trade is decaying — they look to parliament to 
 relieve them ; the potato fails — they look to parliament 
 tc feed them ; they want a Galway Packet Station, and 
 they look first to England, then to America. Nay, 
 they cannot even get up a rebellion without seeking 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 41 
 
 tion 
 irm 
 
 ing 
 
 foreign aid ; in 1798, Wolfe Tone presents himself be- 
 fore the rrench Directory ; in 1818, Smith O'Brien 
 waits on Lamartine. And thus our poor country lies a 
 paralytic on the world's highway, crying to all nations to 
 come and help her along ? " • 
 
 That this would not be the case if she were under 
 Protestant training, is demonstrated by the comparatively 
 Protestant and thriving Ulster — and the prosperity and 
 vastly extended influence of England and Scotland — 
 the latter of which not being for a moment to be com- 
 pared in natural resources with the Roman Catholic parts 
 of Ireland. And this state of things cannot be set 
 down to any want of Roman Catholic influence, accord- 
 ing even to the wishes of their own priesthood — read the 
 following from the pen of the late Dr. Doyle, one of its 
 most popular bishcps : — " When it ])leased God to 
 have an Island of Saints uj)on earth, he prepared Ire- 
 land from a- far for this high destiny. The Irish 
 are, (so thought and wrote Dr. Doyle) morallij speak" 
 ing, not only religious like other nations, hut entirely 
 devoted to religion V^ 
 
 If, therefore, Ireland is marked by ignorance instead of 
 knowledge ; — if by vice instead of virtue; — if by judg- 
 ments instead of blessings; it is not because the Irish 
 are not religious like other nations — but because the 
 religion she has, and has had for centuries — is not the 
 religion which elevates and blesses ; therefore it is not 
 the religion of a gracious Saviour and of a blessing 
 heaven. 
 
 My desire is that you, my fellow citizens, would duly 
 weigh these telling fact3 and act accordingly. 
 
 Yours very truly, ' . ' 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 Quebec, 23th July, 1853. 
 
 P. tt. 
 
 a 
 
 -Since my reference to the case of the person 
 who, ere he died, wished to leave what hv^ possessed to 
 two nephews for whom he felt it a duty to provide, I 
 have learnt that I overstated the sum — that it was *owe 
 
 *The correction has been introduced into the lettsr where first 
 alluded to. 
 
 i 1. 
 
 ^illi 
 
flf^ 
 
 ir 
 
 I'M 
 
 i; 
 
 42 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 thousand pounds and not two as I supposed. Wishing 
 to be perfectly accurate ^n all I advance, I shall ever feel 
 obliged for any corrections properly supplied. 
 
 Still, as it appears that this amount was not wrested from 
 the relations but at a comparatively'short period before the 
 death of the uncle, i would like to know whether or not 
 the dying man was then in circumstances to sign a codi- 
 cil to his will ? and if not — as it does not seem likely 
 that he was — was there no one of sufficient independence 
 of mind found to stand up for the rights of the orphans 
 against the giant spoliator?* Does not this — and num- 
 berless cases continually occurring — show a dire neces- 
 •ity for some legislation that might protect a people 
 from the fleecings of such graceless shepherds ? Such 
 conduct by other men would drive them from reputable 
 society as swindlers, if not into the consequences of a 
 criminal prosecution ; but here, I venture to say, that 
 if Mr. George Brown, (your own members dare not 
 attempt it,) were to introduce a bill for any such object, 
 you would — you who are the simple but principal suf- 
 ferers — at the interested representations of your clergy, 
 cry out persecution, and threaten to stone him for his 
 pains ! 
 
 *Thi3, I am happy to learn, was effected. The spoliator was 
 met and reluctantly compelled to modify his measures which, 
 while they secured something for the relatives, removed notliing 
 of the reflection hanging over his character. 
 
 ^H'''»-'-' -■ 
 
 ■:. f T.'f 
 
 ..'■i: 
 
 .-.!■_ ;'i.vj.;, <■',;,'' , 
 
 ■J ^'-■>■^ ■■' 7':u ,('■ 
 
 . >i*S*l i * ?»^ / -ii ,.il-.'.i. 
 
 :^^ \rv '..■}'. I' I 
 
 -.r- i . •■■ i . . 
 
 f.v-r'9 
 
 .H? 
 
 r^'i ':;^;i i'A n 
 
 »\.c 
 
 A-u;:.-V,:.. •;,J^ :i;;;fvf v.,.-[ .... t',r.rr,' .f;.-iL ,^ / - r' 
 
 > fi -/ 
 
 .. f 
 
 ^'•w :K !: 
 
 '> Ti jH- ;y0 
 
 -I ■■;'<■•■ I'M"' ^: ':*;■'-. 
 
 if'^ 
 
 ,y^- >.7-. , 
 
 '"■••■J -yrr'i 
 
 iv;- V''i:i'i ■ i-^f:'-» ♦:4i«'to'>s:m'Vi'.,;,,. ^^i."" ik 
 
TO ROMAN 01TH0LIC8. 
 
 43 
 
 hing 
 
 
 :'i •.'■''u'Ti*..' 
 
 ;■>; ,,''■ '! ■;>,? 
 
 J^/ :tr^ 
 
 
 
 
 v.-': 
 
 '■'[h ■c;v^vy'KJ' ; 
 
 -W:;^'i:- 
 
 •iJ-W'^/- 
 
 
 il'U^itt 
 
 ■•,;.; 'ii-.V,;. > 
 
 
 ■,.-', '>^ 
 
 1 {; > J, ,4.;- 
 
 li 
 
 '/■ 
 
 ';i*i(ri'. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 ^ * , 
 
 :\U( • ^^ ■ 
 
 *" I t 
 
 W*--^ i ' i ■ i 
 
 ; , 'ii- >:vj -'.,; 
 
 
 
 , ■;■ '', * V'':' ', 
 
 .1 ' 
 
 The sentence ngainst popish policy written — Effects visible — The 
 present a utilitarian age — Argument of succesaionists exposed — 
 rusoyism a kindred subject — Further quotation from Dr. Dill. 
 
 
 •♦ Yea, and Vfhy even of yourselves judge ye not 
 , , , Mvhat is right?"— Jksus Cukibt. 
 
 Having dwelt so fully upon Ireland, and shewn that 
 while rich in natural resources her people are suffering, 
 and have been for years, from poverty ; that while amply 
 supplied with an active Roman Catholic clergy, she has 
 nevertheless been characterized by ignorance, lawless- 
 ness, and crime; we might well pause and demand a 
 verdict upon tacts so clear and indubitable. This, how- 
 ever, has been given by a discerning and deeply inte- 
 rested people ; as, along the wall, and over against your 
 priesthood is seen written with a finger which all eyes 
 note, and with an effect which many hearts are feeling — 
 Mene, Mrne, Tekel : which is, being interpreted — "God 
 hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it ; thou art 
 weighed in the balances and found wanting." 
 
 Never was the world in such a condition as now to 
 form a correct judgment upon the policy and pretensions 
 of the clergy of your church. Wide spread are its influ- 
 ences upon nations in both hemispheres, while in a simi- 
 lar way are the effects of Protestantism visible. The 
 world is looking upon the difference observable between 
 Great Britain and the continent of Europe , the United 
 Stat esand Mexico ; and if we cannot look to such a dis- 
 tance, we may observe the contrast that exists between 
 Upper and Lower Canada — a difference which every un- 
 prejudiced mind will say would be vastly greater but for 
 the protestant intelligence and enterprise which is found 
 amongst us. Dealing as I am in great and intensely 
 important truths, I must be excused if I make statements 
 which may grate upon ^ our feelings. This is my neces- 
 sity ; not my desire. — - ^ -" - v - 
 
44 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 :l! 
 
 II 
 
 k 
 
 The spirit of the present day will as sure'y work the 
 overthrow of that policy which your clergy pursue as the 
 rising of the sun will dissipate the darkness of the night, 
 or the mists of the morning. This is a utilitarian age. 
 To every propounder of a new tiieory, as to every de- 
 fender of an old one, the demand is, '* Cut bono — what 
 good will it do?" "What profit has it yielded?" &c., 
 (fee. And before this common sense enquiry, and the 
 searching and determined spirit with which it is put, 
 your clergy will have to abandon their plan of action, 
 and return to the guileless simplicity and telling useful- 
 ness of Christianity's primitive days, or submit to be left 
 all alone in their glory : — A solitary monument of im- 
 practicable obstinacy — if nothing worse befal them. 
 
 The profession of being the Jirst church, I pronounce 
 to be a vain and miserable cant ; and I pledge myself 
 to prove it such, if a kind providence only continues to 
 me my present me'"?ies. jMy course opens before me, 
 and while I pretend to no ability beyond what hundreds, 
 if not thousands, around me posses, X will, or I am much 
 mistaken, place such facts before you as shall satisfy you 
 that Protestants are not wrong in believing that your 
 church needs a complete and thorough reform. 
 
 On the profession which I have pronounced so dis- 
 tinctly and strongly, I will even now offer a passing 
 remark, illustrative of my views upon a subject to 
 which your priesthood — and you as taught by them — 
 appeal with such wonderful assurance. , 
 
 How long would a grave common sense body of gen- 
 tlemen, listen to the demand for the exclusive right of 
 ship-building by persons whose only claim to such a pri- 
 vilege was founded upon what they declared to be fact — 
 viz, that they had descended in a direct line from Noah's 
 foreman who built the ark ? Would they be five mi- 
 nutes in relieving themselves from the presence of these 
 Chinese exclusionists, especially, when they recollected 
 that large numbers of vessels of all kinds, and of excel- 
 lent quality, were built by persons who eschewed any 
 connexion with them ; while the ships which they 
 launched were crazy, unseaworthy things ? I apprehend 
 that as they dismissed them from their presence they 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 45 
 
 ah's 
 mi- 
 
 hese 
 
 cted 
 
 cel- 
 
 aiiy 
 
 they 
 
 liend 
 they 
 
 would take the opportunity of saying; — ''Gentlemen, if 
 Noah's foreman was a practical man, and understood his 
 business — as we doubt not but he did — you have won- 
 derfully degenerated from him in both character and 
 ability ; and if any importance is to be attached to the 
 line of descent on which you lay such stress — but upon 
 which we entertain serious doubts — we cannot but think 
 that, like a ship in a fog, you have lost your reckoning." 
 Take another illustration. Here is a company of nota- 
 bles, who, being perfectly satisfied in their own mind (?) 
 that as physicians they are in a direct line from iEscu- 
 lapius, the founder of the healing art ; and, therefore, 
 beside themselves, no other person shall be permitted 
 to prescribe a draught, apply a lancet, or stick a plaster. 
 To this effect they demand a law and its constant and 
 rigorous application. What sensible man but would 
 rise, if not in a burst of indignation, at least in a roar 
 of laughter, that such folly could be played off in the 
 nineteenth century, and in a free country; especially 
 when it is well known that every poor wite who fell into 
 the hands of these mandarins were either bled or phy- 
 sicked to death ? 
 
 I am aware that your clergy are not the only persons 
 who will feel scandalized by these illustrations. There 
 are others to whom the point of my instrument will be 
 equally disagreeable : and I cannot refuse to gratify the 
 very natural desire of knowing to whom I refer. 
 
 Were I attempting a learned analysis of their creed 
 and character, I would begin by saying that they are of 
 the Genus Romanum, and 8peciks Puseyanum. But 
 as I wish to be simple, assured that I shall be fully 
 understood, and perhaps better, by this mode, I 
 observe that they are called Puseyites. They have 
 nearl} all of Romanism but the Tonsure ; and scarcely 
 anything of Protestantism remaining but the E-mo-lu- 
 
 MENTS. 0»*«Kl'£?"'^'Hf'1'^^ W:5, :^' • ;iinr O;^: 
 
 Having been smitten with the appearence and flavour 
 of a, certain wine which your clergy have long been 
 famed for manufacturing — see Rev 18, 3, — they have 
 sipped and sipped at it, until at length they are actually 
 drunk. Since then they are sometimes seen cutting such 
 
 Mt 
 
 ;^;i 
 
 
4G 
 
 OBHEKVATIOKS ADDRBSSBO 
 
 il 
 
 i 
 
 
 I i= 
 
 'lis 
 
 antics before high heaven as make angels weep — devils 
 laugh — hearthcn stare — and Christians sigh, and say — 
 *' Lord, what is man I" Then, again — as drunken men 
 are wout to do — they talk the sheerest nonsense — affect- 
 ing the while to look wondrously wise and even Oracu- 
 lar. Iluge deliverances are then made of " Apostoli- 
 cal SucciissioN ;" Baptism iL Regeneratio ;" " Visiijlb 
 Ukity;" " Episcopal OruinaT(on and Authority" — 
 as hy themselves understood and expounded ; and with 
 even increased impressiveness, the high crime and mis-- 
 demeanor of "ENcouuAaiNG unauthorized Tbacueus." 
 Listening to these sagacious and stand-off-looking gent^, 
 you would scarcely fail to receive the impresasion 
 (that is, of course, if you believed in their teaching,) 
 that the Saviour and Ilis Apostles committed a serious 
 fault in saying so much about matters on which they say 
 so little, and of scarcely, if at all, alluding to what is to 
 them the beginning and end of Christian doctrine. 
 
 They sometirucs say much also about an old decrepid 
 relative whom they denominate *Uheir erring sister of 
 Rome ;" and when it is not sickening, it is really amusing^ 
 to see how they kiss and hug thp ancient body, who in 
 return chuckles with supreme delight over the fondness 
 of her younger relative. Each is anticipating great 
 things from this mutual reconciliation; (they having 
 lived for a considerable time, until a few years age, in a state 
 of estrangement,) and, doubtless, unless they meet with 
 a mishap— and some gravely predict such a thing — simi- 
 lar to that which sometimes befalls the unfortunate 
 aeronaut when his frail balloon bursts, they will yet 
 ascend to " the sides of the the north, and exalt their 
 thrones above the stars.'' It is true the attempt is 
 extremely hazardous — and a remarkable personage once 
 lost his all in attempting it; but these loving friends 
 have, with a towering ambition, a large amount of dar- 
 ing, so that they will not be easily intimidated from 
 attempting an object so near to their heart. 
 
 This letter I will now bring to a close by another tell- 
 ing extract from our elequent friend, Dr. D\ll. 
 
 "We charge on Popery mainly Ireland's political evils. 
 First, but for it those grievances which exivst amongst us 
 
 i!H/ 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 47 
 
 would either have been mitigUed or long since removed. 
 There is a moral state which invites misrule, and another 
 which makes it impossible. Demosthenes keenly knew 
 this when he told the Athenians that even were Philip 
 dead, their conduct would soon raise up another Philip. 
 It has been the experience of all ages, that rulers will 
 enslave if the people will let them ; and that the only 
 effectual breast work against the encroachments of the 
 one, is the elevation of the other. It is only below a 
 certain moral level that a nation can be trampled on, 
 and the moment it gets above this it flings off the oppres- 
 sor. Popish lands are the home of despotism^ and 
 Protestant lands the sanctuary of freedom. Hence, 
 America, Scotland, and England, have thrown off the 
 tyrant's yoke. If, then, Ireland is in bondage, as some 
 maintain, it must be because she lacks those qualities 
 which would have secured liberty for her just as certainly 
 as for them ; and hence those priests who loudly com- 
 plain of her thraldom, are themselves convicted as indi- 
 rectly the cause ; for had any other nation than England 
 been placed by her side, would not the result have been 
 the same ? The same, did I say ? — Let the present state 
 of Europe answer the question. It was in li]ngland's 
 power to oppress Ireland to any extent for aught such a 
 priest-ridden nation could have hindered her. Thus it 
 follows, that the political blessings Ireland enjoys, have 
 sprung from England^ s Protestantism, while such poli- 
 tical wrongs as she suffers are indirectly owing to her 
 own Popery, Nay, in truth, the worst grievances she 
 has ever endured, are directhj chargeable upon Rome. 
 "Were not those " disabilities," for instance, of which 
 Roman Catholics have loudly complained, a great p rt 
 of their own procuring ? Did not Rome convince our 
 fathers, by too many unmistakeable proofs, that they 
 must either bind her, or submit themselves to be bound ? 
 And when they saw that she never got her hands loose 
 but the first use she made of her liberty was to spring on 
 themselves^ what else could they do but bind her again?" 
 "So much for our political grievances. We next as- 
 sert that Popery robs of their benign influence most of 
 our political hhssings. Instance its influence on our 
 laws. A highly virtuous state of society makes some- 
 
 Hi 
 
 (1 i 
 
4:8 
 
 ODSBRVATIONS ADDUESflnn 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
 i 
 
 t •/ 
 
 what tolerable the worst laws, while a vicious state ren- 
 der.* mischievous the best ; the one turns the evil into 
 good, and the other the good into evil." 
 
 "In Ulster, the poor-law works so well, that several 
 ptor-houscs are almost self-supporting; while in Munster 
 ■everal unions are bankrupts, and the very guardian's 
 board-rooms are the scenes of party violence." In con- 
 firmation of such statements, we might add here several 
 accounts of priests lecturing, cursing, and rioting, at the 
 recent elections in Ireland, but we forbear for the pre- 
 sent. We cannot, however, now take leave of Ireland, 
 and of our author, from whom we have so largely quoted 
 — who with the warm heart and the eloquent pen of the 
 Irishman, unites the mind of the intelligent Christian, 
 without placing before you a peroration in which, with 
 his own characteristic eloquence and force, he compels a 
 response at once deep and full. 
 
 " Here, then, we have a monument of Rome's destroy- 
 ing power mournfully instructive — a country at once a 
 garden and a grave ; indented by harbours without a 
 sail, pervaded by rivers whose banks are still ; with 
 above the finest clime unavailed of, beneath the richest 
 mines unwrought, around the most fertile soil untilled, 
 and inhabited by a race, which in natural parts have few 
 superiors amongst the sons of men. Well, let the 
 extent of the ruin at least serve to convince us of the 
 malignity of the cause. And when we behold Ireland 
 teeming with natural stores, yet starving ; covered with 
 improvement societies, yet a desert ; and receiving mil- 
 lions of aid, yet a beggar. When we see Scotchmen in 
 our banks, and Irishmen in their prisons ; foreign ships 
 doing our trade and our countrymen not the crews but 
 the cargoes ; when in short, we look upon every jail and 
 poorhouse, soldier and policeman. Oh I let it give fresh 
 zeal to our evangelistic efforts, and fervour to our 
 prayers on behalf of a land on which God has permitted 
 Rome to do her worst, — as if He thereby designed it to 
 be a special warning to all nations to beware of her 
 blasting power." 
 
 Be assured of it, my fellow-citizens, that you have 
 enemies to your peace and prosperity, more to be feared 
 than your Protestant neighbours. EXP )STULATUS. 
 
' ilf. 
 
 TO llOMAN CATlFOIilOSk 
 
 49 
 
 
 > 
 
 LKTTKR VI I L 
 
 Facts hlicw Unit popery in a ruiiiows Rystcni, but fMvpiettsAvIlI not 
 look lit tlioin — ^'l lic'ir comlu'jt (lill'ci (ait from those whom St, 
 I'aul eulo^^izes — Testa cxi»t, m<>u shouhl oxiimiiio tbem — God 
 
 ? requires this— 'I'opery proved to be tho untugottiBUi of Chrittt- 
 
 iunity. 'V,-; '.:■',»,•;,"■ f.-f -in :.<■.' iTi*,- •:•■■ "'. ■.•,•'■ V'V'il 
 
 i'.c • / s '^ • '• V ^ •, • • ** Come nmv, and M US rcBflon together, 
 
 saith the Lord." — Ihaiaii. 
 
 ',•■•-;*.''./.'•■. .? f 
 
 That " facts are stubbonv thinf^s," and never can be 
 made to bend to the subtleties of" argument, or the de- 
 nunciations of power, all admit*: and hence we are 
 naturally anxious to se*'ure, in support of any favourite 
 position, such an array of them as may neither be mis- 
 understood nor proved inconclusive ; assured then that 
 all who desire the triumph of truth and justice vill at 
 once submit. •' • ^ • 
 
 We seldom feel disposed to continue reasoning with 
 those who pertinaciously refuse their tes* mony, being 
 well convinced that such are governed, not by their in- 
 tellect, but by their prejudices. 
 
 The facts I have adduced from the condition of Ire*- 
 land, as being the fruit ot your priests' policy ought, 
 most unquestionably, to break the spell of priestly influ- 
 ence under which you live ; or, at least, so to arouse 
 you as to lead to the resolution that you will fully and 
 independently investigate the whole subject. Seek the 
 truth — it can never mislead ; for, said our Saviour to 
 the Jews, *^ the truth shall fjtake you free?'' Believe 
 that you are not any longer children, but should have a 
 reason for all that is required of you. Great allowances, 
 I am aware, should be made for your unwillingness to 
 receive anything which may be to the prejudice of your 
 church ; for, from the earliest dawn of your reason, you 
 are held, by the most fearful apprehensions, from enter- 
 taining a thought that might shake your faith in her 
 character or mission. The effort of a consistent Papist 
 is not to examine with manly and Christian independence 
 
r 
 
 AG 
 
 OnSERVATIOKa ADDRE3SPI/ 
 
 the various reasons of hi& hiih ; but to b^w with impli- 
 cit dofercnce to the dogmas of his chm'ch, liowevcr i\n- 
 sustainrd by Scripture or repugnant to reason. This 
 babyish submission is neither to your interest nor to 
 your honour. God does not require it; and man should 
 not exact it. 
 
 The testimony of the Holy Spirit to the course we 
 urge you to pursue is seen in the following : — *' These 
 were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that 
 they received the word with all readiness of mind, and 
 searched the Scriptures daibj whether those things were 
 so. Therefore many of them believed ; also of honour- 
 able women which were Greeks, and of men, no'i a lew." 
 
 You will not fail to perceive, I trujt, that the com- 
 mendation bestowed on these persons was, for searching 
 the Holy Scriptures, in order to ascertain the truth or 
 falsehood of what Paul and Silas preached to them : 
 teachers whom you will scarcely say were at all inferior 
 in authority and character to any your church has ever 
 produced. 
 
 We claim for religion the same common sense and 
 judicious treatment which is given to any other science. 
 It, as they, has its great and elemental principles ; and 
 may well, therefore, claim the same practical use 
 of them in every process of judgment we may le led to 
 pursue. If so, then every proposition must be cast aside 
 which impinges or contravenes them ; and we should 
 ever be ready in all frankness and honesty to apply them 
 for safety and guidance, — Do any object to this ? Then 
 it is because they are alarmed for their syscem. With 
 them their syste.n is everything ; and truth nothing but 
 as it may minister to their ido!. Of course such can- 
 not be considered honest men. ,* ,: 
 
 One of the great principles of the Christian faith is — 
 that God, who credited all things, now rules all things 
 by His omnipotent power — His unerring wisdom — and 
 His infinite goodness. Another is — that whatever He 
 does, 01 has directed to be done, is worthy of Him — 
 wl'^^'^r in its nature, in its operation, or in its results. 
 Evident as these propositions are to every thoughtful 
 mind, so should there be a readiness to apply them to 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 n 
 
 evry system that assumes to be a religion from God to 
 man. And whatever that system be whirh will not bear 
 such a test ; however venerable for age or imposing for 
 power ; it should be cast aside as a worthless, ufFensive 
 thing: — yea, an imposition. 
 
 But is this a rule of action which has our approval ? 
 Then how shall we pronounce on the Popery of Ireland ? 
 Will any man say, that is not lost to all sense of pro- 
 priety, that in nature, in operation, and in results, he 
 sees a God of purity, truth and love, in it ? Impossi- 
 ble ! The intelligent mind shrinks from such an attempt 
 and would rather flee into deism than be compelled to 
 reconcile such contradictions. And what shall we say 
 of the Popery of Italy ? Italy ! where for centuries 
 your Pope has reigned with absolute power. Where no 
 " British misrule" could interfere with his plans and 
 operations. Surely here at least, the Papist will point 
 with exulting boast ! Surely here will be seen in rich 
 abundance evidences of the divine character of his reli- 
 gion ! 
 
 Well, to Italy we cast our eyes — and what salutes 
 them? A Paradise ? A people raised high in the scale 
 of intelligence, and richly blessed with such fruit as a 
 religion worthy of God would be supposed to confer? A 
 nation so impressed with gratitude to the ministers of a 
 religion so divine, that because of the benefits they have 
 been instrumental in imparting, they hang round them 
 as children round a wise and loving pa:ent ? No : but 
 the very reverse of all thi"^ is to be witnessed ! 
 
 We see Italy crushed, and that by the very power 
 which if Popery were Christianity, would have raised it. 
 We hear its piteous groans under oppression most afflic- 
 tive, and that at the hand of professed ministers of a 
 God of love. We hear her stifled but heart-rending- 
 cries for help — and th;it help to be deliverance from the 
 merciless fangs of rc^puted servants and followers of a 
 merciful Saviour — who left a throne of glory to come to 
 earth and "bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim 
 liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to 
 them that are bound." To invite to himself, for the 
 
 !|:f' 
 
62 
 
 OTJSKRVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 '3 
 
 I-' 
 
 bestowal of peace and consolation, the weary and heavy 
 laden of the children of men. 
 
 And you would have a discerning world to believe that 
 THIS ropfiUY- -which blights the fairest field — which 
 crushes the noblest spirit — which dethrones the highest 
 reason — and which denies the least concession — is Chris- 
 tianity ! and that without it there can be no Salva- 
 tion I ! What a demand I To grant which I must be- 
 lieve that that gospel which proclaims "glory to God in 
 the highest and on earth peace and good will to man," 
 is nevertheless God's greatest dishonour and man's 
 greatest curse ! That that which j)rofessedly is heaven's 
 great remedy for man's many woes, is notwithstanding 
 that by which his woes are increased an hundredfold, so 
 that under them there are those who prefer strangling 
 to life ! -No, no ; you must make no such demand on 
 us; for no one can for a moment concede to it to whom 
 the honour of God is of greater interest than the main- 
 tenance of a mere human arrangement. The glory of 
 God, be assured of it, is a worthier object to consult 
 than the importance of all the Popes who have ever sat 
 in St. Peter's (?) Chair ; or of all the Cardinals who 
 with longing eyes, have ever revolved around it 
 
 Here with perfect confidence, I might leave you, if 
 truth, illustratea by the most telling facts, were allowed 
 i' o full sway over your mind, satisfied that with one voice 
 you would demand a thorough reform of your clergy and 
 the entire abandonment of a policy which has led to 
 such tremendous consequences. But I am far from being 
 satisfied that you are prepared for such an action, and 
 because I earnestly desire to promote it, I will descend 
 to a searching examination of some of the particulars of 
 which your priests' creed is composed. 
 
 That my object and plans may be the more readily and 
 fully apprehended, I will propose them in the subjoined 
 syllogistic forms. 
 
 1. — ^Christianity is the first religion. But Popery is not 
 Christianity : — therefore, Popery is not the first reli- 
 gion. 
 2. — Christianity constitutes the true church of Christ. 
 
TO KOMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 53 
 
 -r But Popery is not Christianity : — therefore Popery 
 
 does not constitute the true church of Jesus Christ. 
 3. — ChrivStianity, where a reasonable opportunity exists 
 
 of learning its truths, is the only means of salvation. 
 
 But popery, not being Christianity, cannot therefore 
 , be a means of salvation to any one wh^ has the means 
 
 of knowing better. 
 
 I hold that all men are bound to use every means 
 which God has placed within their reach to ascertain 
 His will, and then to obey it r and he wlio does not do 
 so, perils his everlasting salvation. The Bible is one of 
 those means, and no man should allow another to pre- 
 vent him from reading it: for in doing so he leans upon 
 man and not upon God, and the denunciation to all such 
 is — " Cursed is man that trusteth in man ; or that 
 maketli flesh his arm." Long have your priests stood 
 in the way of your employing this right ; but now, 
 (ihould you permit them to do so any longer, seeing as 
 you may do — yea, are bound to do — the consequences 
 of their policy, your c">ndemnation will be the greater, 
 " If the blind lead the blind," said Christ, '' both shall 
 fall into the ditch." But what solace then would it be 
 to you to know that you had not onl;y fallen into the 
 ditch but yo'ir leaders also ; and that botlT were rolling 
 there together ? j')etter for both to keep out of it. 
 
 I do not, as will be seen, indiscriminately condemn 
 protestant, papist, or heathen. God, who kn- ws what 
 means each individual has of knowing his duty, will 
 make that knowledge the rule of his jr ^ ^ment in the 
 last day. But this 1 will aver, thatwheic those means 
 exist, much more so where they abound, by which an 
 accuri^'je and intelligent judgment of the will of bod to 
 man, and of the opposition which popery maintains to 
 that knowledge and performance — that then wilfully to 
 follow it is to turn our back on every possible hope of 
 salvation and to seal our ruin for ever. 
 
 I ask no man's reception of my statements unless I 
 prove them. Then, and in the name of God, I shall 
 demand that they be received. - - -■' 
 
 I will not apologize for now placing my observations 
 before you in a more theological cast than they have 
 
 I'h:. 
 
 Jj 
 
64: 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSBD 
 
 li 
 
 a 
 
 been wont to assume. I will not, because, while popery 
 is as much a political as an ecclesiahtical system ; and 
 while it would imbue with its spirit our municipal, legis- 
 lative, judicial, and governmental plans and operations, 
 ac much as its own church arrangements — yet, its spirit- 
 ual power is the root of its vast influence, and it, there- 
 fore, must be broken if its means of injuring is really 
 destroyed. 
 
 Here, then, is my \vork before me — to prove that po- 
 pery is not Christianity. Here, then, as your interests 
 are great, should your attention be great also. I com- 
 mence by denying popery to be Christianity, because 
 that in one instance it teaches less than Christianity / 
 — in another mope ; — in a third, its teachings are di- 
 rectly OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH AND REPUttNANT TO THE 
 
 SPIRIT OF Christiinity ; — and lastly — because, that in 
 
 alii its ERRORS COMPLETELY NEUTRALIZE THR SAVING IN- 
 FLUENCE OF WHATEVE I OF TRUTH IT 1 OSSESSES. 
 
 To prove any one of these particulars would be suffi- 
 cient for my object ; but to demonstrate them all must 
 certainly redeem my pledge. 
 
 I begin with proving that Popery teaches what is 
 directly opposed to the truth and repugnant to the 
 SPIRIT of Christianity. It does so by teaching persecu- 
 tion. Every priest of the popish faith swears *' to hold 
 and teach all that the sxcred canons have delivered, 
 defined and declared"^ ; and every bishop swears, on 
 being installed into that office, that *' Heretics, schis- 
 matics, and rebels to our said Jord'^ (the Pope) ** or 
 his aforesaid successors,! loill ic my power, persecute 
 and oppose,''^ 
 
 The Council of Trent, following tip the spirit of seve- 
 ral of the preceding councils, decreed ^'the extermina' 
 lion of heretics bij the sword, the fire, the rope, and all 
 other means, when it can re done vith safety ;" i. 
 e. when it can be done without endangering the interests 
 of the church — the church of the Pope. Sometimes 
 your clergy prove themselves painfully fallible in deter- 
 mining this point, and as in the Gavazzi riots, it 
 turns out that they have counselled the act of persecut- 
 ing without a due regard to consequences. Then in 
 
 m 
 
TO rOMAN CATIIOLICfl. 
 
 r>5 
 
 sullen mortification tliey mutter a few words of censure, 
 ' well understood in import by their Protestant opponents 
 as by their Popish adherents. 
 
 There have been times, however, when their plans 
 , were more judiciously matured, and more successfully 
 carried out ; insomuch so that some have computed that 
 from the year 1518 to that of 1548, fifteen millions of 
 Protestants perished ^y tho inquisition I "This," as one 
 observes, "may be overcharged; but certainly the num- 
 ber of them in those thirty years, as well as since, is 
 almost incredible," 
 
 The Jesuits have denied that persecution has been 
 practised by the Romish Church — but why? because 
 the murdering of Protestants is to them a meretorious 
 act ! The Rhemish translators of the New Testament, 
 in their note on Ilev. xvii. G, say: — "Drunken with the 
 blood of the saints, Protestants foolishly expound it of 
 Rome, for that there thej/ put heretics to death, and 
 allow of their punishment in other countries: hut 
 THEIR hlood is not called the hlood of saints, no more 
 than the hlood of thieves, men-killers and other male- 
 factors ; for the shedding of which, by order of justice, 
 no commonwealth shall answer." Again, that authority 
 for Popish doctrine, in a note ,oii Matt. xiii. 29, 30, 
 says : " TJie good must tolerate the evil lohen it is so 
 strong that it cannot he red/essed loithout danger and 
 disturhance to the whole church, and commit the 
 matter to God'^s judgment in the latter day. Otherwise 
 where ill men, he fhej/ herktics or other malefactors, 
 ma^ he punished or suppressed without disturhance 
 and hazard of the good they may and ought, hi/ puhlic 
 authorityy either spiritual, or temporal, to he chastised 
 CR executed." 
 
 More of this in my next. 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 
 Quebec, 11th August, 1853. 
 
 ..I '■! 
 
5« 
 
 OBsrnvATiows addhessed 
 
 -T ., 
 
 '('. 
 
 
 'I 
 
 i 
 
 i; 
 
 I 
 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Eloquent testimony — One instance of infallibility in the Church 
 of Rome which no Protestmit will question — Rome denounces 
 religious liberty — What is heresy? — Who are heretics? — The 
 doom of heretics — How Christian 1 — Reply to O'G. 
 
 ,: " Ood is love."— St. Jony, ' ' 
 
 *' If any man liave not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his."— St. Paui . 
 
 In order to prove to you that the religion which your 
 priests inculcate is not the religion which our Lord and 
 Saviour came from heaven to originate ; or which his 
 Apostles labored to teach and propagate — and even died 
 to authe'iticate — I have called your attention to per- 
 SEcufi JN, This, as I have shewn you, they inculcate as 
 a duty to God and His church ; and only to be suspended 
 when, by following it, there may be a ** danger of di's- 
 turlnng the whole church^'; other wise, hep.etics as other 
 
 MALEFACTORS, may *'be PUMSHCD or EXliCUTED." A 
 
 writer of considerable note observes, this "occasioned 
 the papal wars in Italy, fomented and perpetuated by 
 the pretended successors of the Prince of Peace. The 
 civil v/ars in France, which lasted a whole century, and 
 which are so ably recorded by Davila. The continental 
 wars of Germany, Prance and Flanders, as recorded by 
 DeThou. The massacre of St. Bartholomew, in Paris 
 and the provinces, for which the Pope of that dai/ so- 
 lemnh/ returned public thanks to Almighti/ God in the 
 cathedral of St. Peter. The Sicilian vespers. The 
 cruelties of the Duke of Alva, and of the Jesuits, in the 
 Low Countries. The horrors which followed the revo- 
 cation of the Edict of Nantz, by that splendid scourge 
 of Europe, Louis XIV. The abominable cruelties of 
 the Inquisition of Spain, Portugal, and elsewhere, from 
 the earliest period of its establishment. The martyr- 
 doms of England, in the reign of Philip and Mary. 
 The appalling conspiracy of tlie 5th November, and the 
 other sanguinary plots of the reigns of Elizabeth and 
 James I. The atrocious and extensive massacre of the 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 57 
 
 Ihe 
 Ihe 
 
 Protestants of Ireland, in the reign of Charles I., as 
 recorded by Sir John 'J'emple ; and the Irish rebellion, 
 in 1798, whose main object was the extinction of Pro- 
 testantism," (and which has been the design of every 
 rebellion since, however they have been covered over 
 with other and less repulsive professions) ** and which 
 was fomented and conducted by the Romish priests, as 
 authenticated by Sir Richard Musgrave." 
 ,. Amongst the pretensions of your church is that of In- 
 fallibilicy, and I know not any feature of her character, 
 or article of her creed, that would go further to sustain 
 this assumption, than her principles of persecution ; for 
 that she is unchanged, (and I fear unchangeable) her 
 recent doings in Madeira, Prance, Spain, Portugal, and 
 Italy, abundantly testify. 
 
 Many simple Protestants have entertained a different 
 opinion, and have thought her so improved that they 
 would now usher her into all the honourable and friendly 
 relations of society, But they exalt her charrster at the 
 expense of her creed. iVnd that this is vain and a thing 
 which your press and priesthood disclaim, is easily 
 shewn L'Univers, in Prance, and the Tablet and 
 Rambler, in Ireland, supply an ample correction to all 
 such fond illusions in the following characteristic 
 manner : — 
 
 *' Religious liberty, in the sense of a liberty possessed 
 by every man to choose his own religion, is one of the 
 most wicked delusions ever foisted upon this age by the 
 father of all deceit. The very name of liberty, — except 
 in the sense of permission to do certain definite acts, — 
 ought to be banished from the domain of religion. 
 
 * * * It is neither more nor less than falsehood. 
 No man has a right to choose his religion. Xone but an 
 atheist can uphold the principles of religious liberty. 
 
 * * * Shall I therefore fall in v/ith this abominaljle 
 delusion ? Shall I foster that damr»able doctrine, that 
 Socinianism, and Calvinism, and Anglicism, and Judaism, 
 are not every one of them mortal sins, like murder and 
 adultery ? JShaU I Jio/d out Jiopes to m\j errincj Pro- 
 testant brother, that I loill not meddle with his creed, 
 if he will not meddle loith mine ? Shall I tew,jjt 
 
 ,:' ■'r\- 
 
 i; " 
 
 (li; 
 
 !<! ! 
 
 If I 
 
 ;ii. J- 
 
 c 
 
 ,2 
 
 fl-'l 
 
58 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSRD 
 
 
 him to forget that he has no more right to his reli- 
 gious VIEWS THAN IlK HAS TO MY rURSK, MY HOUSB, OR MY 
 LIFE DLOOD ? No ; CATHOLICISM IS THE MOST INTOLERANT 
 
 OF cREKDs. We might as rationally maintain that a sane 
 man had no right to believe that two and two make four 
 as this theory of religious liberty. Its impiety is only 
 equalled by its absurdity." L"^ Vnivers, the organ of the 
 ultramontane or ruling popish power now in France, has 
 expressed its great regret that Luther and his coadjutors 
 were not brought to the stake ; as by this (so he thinks) 
 great evil would have been prevented. He farther in- 
 timates that a return (by the Church) to such an effec- 
 tual method of silencing heresy is more than probable, 
 and certainly to be desired. ' *** 
 
 And that, my fellow-protestants, even as you may 
 know that such sentiments are not confined to Europe, 
 I subjoin the following extract from a Roman Catholic 
 paper, which I doubt not has a large circulation in the 
 Western States of the neighbouring republic. It is called 
 The Shepjyard of the Valleij : — 
 
 " If the Catholics ever gain, which they surely will do 
 though at a distant day, an immense numerical majority, 
 
 RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THIS COUNTRY IS AT AN END. So 
 
 say our enemies. So we believe." ****## 
 
 ** The church, we admit, is intolerant ; that is, she 
 does everything in her power to check, as effectually as 
 circumstances will admit, the progress of crime and 
 error. Her intolerance follows necessarily from her 
 claim to infallibility; she alone has the right to be into- 
 lerant. Heresj' she inserts in her catalogue of mortal 
 sins ; she endures when and lohere she must ; bat she 
 hates it, and directs all her energy to effect its destruc- 
 tion.^* 
 
 All this is sufTiciently significant, especially as it is 
 seen streaming down in bloody and ferocious purpose 
 from the Popes, the Councils, the Cardinals, the Bishops, 
 the Priests, and the Press, of your church, to the present 
 day. And is not that Protestant, let me ask, a fool, who 
 — blind to his own interests and to those of his children 
 —does not ponder these facts and act accordingly ? 
 
TO ROMAN OATHOLIOS. 
 
 59 
 
 But what is Heresy ? What ia it to be a Heretic ? 
 Is that heresy which, rejecting the Holy Scriptures, 
 believes iu the Toni-l'oolcries of a Smith, a Southcott, a 
 BeataaCiara, or ofacertainliishopof Holy Coat notoriety? 
 If so, Protestants arc not heretics, for they receive nr 
 such nonsense. Is that heresy, which, leavinjr the 
 highway of common sense and Bible instruction, turns 
 aside to receive such absurd juggleries as moving and 
 winking images — weeping Madonnas — liquified blood — 
 miraculous medals — wonder-working old coats or old 
 bones, &c., (fee, ? Then, I assure you, Protestants are not 
 heretics ; for with much and becoming contempt, they 
 cast all such things aside as playthings for fools ; or in- 
 struments for knaves. 
 
 What, then, is that which constitutes a heretic ? I 
 answer : — If I do not believe the Pope to be the visible 
 head of the church of Christ — I am a heretic. He may 
 bean Arian, like Pope Liberius; a pagan, like Pope 
 Marcellinus ; a Pelagian, like Pope Clement XI. ; an 
 infidel like Leo, X, or a monster in human form as were 
 John XII and Alexander; yet, if I believe not that each 
 one of such children of the devil may nevertheless be 
 verily and truly **C'wj^ Lord God the Pope*^ — *' The 
 Vicar of Christ upon eartK^ — possessing all power in 
 heaven, and earth, and hell, so far as man's salvation or 
 damnation are concerned — I am a heretic! ♦; 
 
 If I do not belive that the church of Rome is the 
 mother and mistress of all churches ; yea, the only true 
 church of Christ upon earth, and in which only is salva- 
 tion ; — although, in order to be satisfied on this point, I 
 look at her through the mirror of evangelical truth, and 
 see not one original feature of the church of Christ and 
 his apostles — I am a heretic ! 
 
 If I believe not that that priest ; — he may be an incar- 
 nation of the father of lies, and in works a very devil : — 
 
 he may curse like a : horsewhip and denounce like a 
 
 ; drink and get drunk like a ; yea, be a Judas. 
 
 for covetousness, or a Nero for cruelty; — yet, being 
 duly (?) ordained to the office of a priest in the true (?) 
 and only apostolical (?) church — if I believe not that he 
 
60 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDUESBED 
 
 },. 
 
 can, even as Christ when upon enrth, forgive sins; open 
 or shut heaven to n sinner's admission; &c., &.c , — I am a 
 
 HERETIC. 
 
 If, after looking over the doctrines which direct the 
 confessional, as taught by Liguori (now a Saint,) Dens, 
 De Laliogue, Bailly, Cabassutius, (fee, cfec. ; and in ad- 
 dition to my conviction of the absence of any Scripture 
 authorising such a rite at all, I take especial exception 
 to such filthy and abominable questions as are put to that 
 matronly mother, to that virtuous wife, and to that 
 blushing virgin ; and which they must answer or be re- 
 fused absolution — which in your creed is equivalent to 
 being consigned to a hopeless perdition ; — questions 
 which not only no husband would entertain and no pa- 
 rent propose — but which every chaste and honourable 
 mind would spurn with irrepressible indignation ; if I 
 say, I object to the whole system, as in my soul I believe 
 it to be much more calculated to promote vice than to 
 correct it — I am a heuetio ! >!l .■»;,•' 
 
 If I do not believe, not only that God made man, but 
 also that fearful absurdity — surpassing far anything that 
 has ever characterized the most revolting forms of hea- 
 thenism — viz., that a man may make his God 1 and 
 then worship and eat him ! ! ! I am a heretic. 
 
 I may have the logical acumen of a Locke ; the poe- 
 tical genius of a Milton ; the giant mind of a Newton ; 
 the philanthrpy of a Howard ; the reverence of a Bo}'le ; 
 the zeal of a Petc^r ; the faithfuhiess of a Paul; or the 
 catholicity of a John ; but if I have not, and will not re- 
 ceive, the infallibly absurd dogmas which your priests 
 have appended to simple Christianity — I am a heuetic I 
 
 And what, as such, may I expect — especially were I 
 living in the palmy days of popery, as for the return of 
 which your clergy sigh and pray with so much feeling ? 
 Why, to be taken to the office of the holy (?) Inquisitor 
 •= — to the Inquisition. And, if not moved from my 
 steadfastness ; if my purpose continues firm, then will 
 follow an application of the wheel, the pulley, the hot 
 pincers, or one or other of those forms of torture which 
 none but a devil's head could invent, or a devil's heart 
 
TO IIOMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 CI 
 
 inflict. If afrer all this, I survive, and my faith fails not 
 then I am taken out tha : my body may be given to the 
 flames, and my soul to the — Devil. 
 
 i\nd do any ask. Who inflicts all this? I answer: 
 the Inquisitor and his familiars. lie is an ordained 
 minister of the only church which Jesus Christ is said to 
 have upon earth ; and they are his servants. For the 
 office he sustains, and the service he renders the true (?) 
 church, he must possess certain qualifications ; the prin- 
 cipal of which are — a quenchless zeal for hf r interests — 
 an inflexibility of purpose which nothing may turn — and 
 a heart so callous, that if his dearest friend, or his nearest 
 relative were bi ought to him he would subject him, or 
 her, to the whole process ; and although every bone 
 cracked on the wheel, and every muscle quivered under 
 the pincers, and every pulse throbbed with agony, and 
 every cry uttered were enough to pierce an adamant 
 — they must not pierce his heart, nor move his spirit, 
 nor alter his purpose, Lor stay his hand. The wretch 
 before him is a heretic, and refuses to worship the idol 
 of his church — therefore, suffer he must and shall ; 
 and U7iless he recant, nic shall die. 
 
 Now, my Roman Catholic reader, will you shew me 
 where I may see anything of Christ or Christianity in 
 all this? You look, and look in vain, and say you can- 
 not. I believe you. It were absurd indeed to imagine 
 a resemblance here with him who on the cross prayed 
 for his murderers ; or with the system which teaches as 
 follows : — "And the servant of the Lord must not strive ; 
 hut be GENTLE unto all man, apt to teach, patient, in 
 MEEKNESS INSTRUCTING those that oppose themselves ; if 
 God peradventure will give them repentance to the 
 acknowledging of the truth.^^—^^T. Paul. But more of 
 this bye and bye. 
 
 I now turn from my course of remark for the present 
 in order to attend to a Mr. O'G., who has honoured Ex- 
 postulatus with his strictures. 
 
 O'G. complains that Ex. has not told you to which of 
 the TOO and odd sects into which Protestantism has split 
 itself, he belongs. But would this be material ? Would 
 it affect his argument in the least? I apprehend not. — 
 
r>2 
 
 0BHERVATI0N8 ADDRESSED 
 
 ;. f 
 
 i ■; 
 
 Suppose he were to say of O'G. that he has not told 
 him to whicli of* the 7()i) and odd — or 7000, for ought 
 we can say to the contrary — sects into which Popery 
 has split itself, he belongs ; and that in order to help 
 to the settling of this point, he were to enumerate an 
 fellows : — Does he belong to the Cerinthian, the Arian, 
 the Aerian, the Aetian, the Ammoninn, the Armenian, 
 the Docetoc, the Kbionite, the lOutychian, the (Tinostic, 
 the Nestorian, the Nicolatain, or the (Jrecian, &c., &c., 
 &c.? I apprehend, with no inconsiderable stare at his 
 imagined folly, he would ask — " What do you mean, 
 sir ? These sects, you ought to know, never did belong 
 to the Roman Catholic Church." Not quite so clear, 
 Mr. O'G., on that point ; nevertheless, let me say, I 
 mean they are just as much parts of your church as 
 the greater proportion of the 700 and odd sects you 
 refer to are of Protestantism. 
 
 Having missed O'G.'s sect in my first enumeration, 
 I would attempt a second. Does O'G. belong to the 
 Augustines, or the Alumbrados; the Capuchins or tho 
 Carmelites ; the Barnabites or tlie Benedictines ; the 
 Dominicans or the Franciscans ; the Jansenists or the 
 Jesuits ; the monks of LaTrappe or the Theatines ; tho 
 Fr^res Chretien or the Congregation of the Good Heart ; 
 <f?c.. <fec., cfec ? O'G.'s wonderment, J dare say, by 
 this time has reached its climax, and without allowing 
 me to proceed further with my list of sects into which 
 Popery has split itself, he exclaims, nay, almost vocife- 
 rates — "what do you mean, I again ask, — do you not 
 know that these are but branches of one and the same 
 tree, of which the Pope is the root ?" Yes, Mr. O'G,. 
 I knew that before you said so ; therefore, my answer is 
 — 21ie Protestant sect to which Ex. belongs is one of 
 the many branches of the true church of which Jesus 
 Christ is the root ^ or, to change the fgure one of the 
 members af that body of lohicli — not the Pope — but 
 the Son of God is the livinr head. I have dwelt the 
 more upon this portion of O'G.'s letter, not because of 
 its intrinsic importance, but because I know it is one on 
 which many of your church dwell with much satisfac- 
 tion to themselves, and no small amusement to their 
 
TO nOMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 r,3 
 
 discerning opponents. They will now apprehend the 
 
 value of such an argument against Protestantlsnrand 
 
 demean themselves accordingly. 
 
 (.)'(<.'8 knowledge of Luther wants improving. Ife 
 
 evidently knows too little of that extraordinary mati. 
 
 Let me advise him to read with some care D'Aubigne's 
 History of the Ueformation ; it will amply repay the lai)our. 
 0'(t. writes as though he disapproved of persecution. 
 Let him beware, for thus he rcHects upon his church. 
 Such reflections might lead to serious consequences, in 
 the shape of penance ; and I should be sorry were he 
 to get into trouble through breaking a lance with Ex- 
 postulatus. 
 
 Cases of persecution arc carefully noted and supplied. 
 I have no disposition to deny them. T can assure O'Q. 
 it has given Protestants very considerable trouble to 
 purge away that popish leaven which so fully tainted the 
 feelings and biassed the judgment of those who had, 
 either directly or indirectly, received their education at 
 Rome. Nor was the difficulty lessened by the very 
 examples which O'G.'s church set th m, in whichever 
 part of the globe they turned their eyes. They think 
 they have now, however, nearly, if not altogether, suc- 
 ceeded ; so that papists have an equal amount of liberty 
 with themselves in every Protestant country they are 
 f( ind inhabiting, and that, too, while everything like a 
 reciprocity in liberty is pertinaciously denied to them in 
 all popish countries where they reside. What a con- 
 trast do Popish and Protestant countries supply in this 
 respect ! Papists are tolerated hij Protestants, even 
 while thej/ inform them that they are hoping yet to 
 destroy every vestige of that lihertj ivhich Protestants 
 have been taught to value even dearer than life! What 
 
 A FACT ! 
 
 **Z7e mahes the whole Catholic community responsi- 
 hie for the improjjer conduct of a few hot-headed, 
 bigoted young men and gamins "* If I do not make the 
 
 * Recent events have fully shewn that ''hotheaded, bigoted 
 young men and gamins," were not the only persons on whom the 
 charge of the Chalmer's Church riot rests. 
 
r 
 
 64 
 
 OBSERVATIONS APORESSBD 
 
 whole Catholic community responsible, I cmi assure O'G. 
 that I will not except those whom he would gladly 
 shield. As this subject will come up for a more full and 
 formal discussion in my general remarks, I will not now 
 anticipate what I shall then give him an opportunity of 
 considering. But I will even now say this much, that 
 such attempts as those he makes ^o throw the whole 
 blame of the riot upon a 'few hot-headed, bigoted young 
 men and gaQniriB," is a miserable shuffle with which no 
 intelligent mind will be deceived. And just so much 
 will I say of the admonitory dissuasions delivered on the 
 5th of June, and the charge of disobedience uttered on 
 the 12th, according to O'G.'s account. Protestants know 
 as well as O'd. can know, that the svstem which could 
 constrain the chaunting of a Te Deum in St, Peter's in 
 Pome, and Pope Gregory XIII, to make a solemn pro- 
 cession to the church oil" San Luigi — by which to cele- 
 brate the massacre of thousands in France on St Bar- 
 tholomew's festival, would have effectually prevented 
 the shedding of tears if the *'hot-headed. bigoted young 
 man and gamins,'* who attacked Gavazzi and his Pro- 
 testant hearers on the Gth of June last, had succeeded 
 in murdering every soul ot them. 
 
 A *' calumnious^' untruth which the lecturer is said to 
 have uttered is — '' that thf Catholic Church forbade 
 the reading of the Bible.'" Does O'G. know what he 
 means by the Catholic Church ? Could it be possible 
 he was then thinking of the Protestant Church ? If not, 
 does he know what his Church is doing in this respect ? 
 Or is there not a Jesuitical quibble in all this? I believe 
 there is. The Catholic Church does not formally forbid 
 the Bible only in the vulgar tongue. If people read 
 English, they may have the Bible in Latin — that is, 
 with the license of their confessor. But that there is, 
 in this sense in which the community would understand 
 the expression, a liberty for whosoever chooses to read 
 the Bible in the language which he understands, we 
 most emphatically deny. A fact which O'G. must 
 kno'>v, and therefore convicts himself in a want of honesty 
 in conducting the defence of his churoh. 
 
 I will place 'liis beyond a question by the following 
 
TO R^MAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 6$ 
 
 quotation from a hi;j(h authority : — '*To show you that 
 this book was a ^icaled book before the licformation, 
 whatever Homan Catholics or their abettors may say, T 
 achl, that in 1227, the Council of Toulouse prohibited the 
 rending of the Scriptures wholly to the laity. In 1270, 
 James I., king. of Arragon, passed a law, that whosoever 
 possessed any book of the Bible in the vulgar tongue, 
 and did not bring it to the bishop to be burned, should 
 be considered suspected of heresy. In 1400, Pope 
 Alexander II [. condemned till translations into the vul- 
 gar tong:7e. In 1413, Gerson, one of the best of the ' 
 lioman Catholic bishops at the Council of Constance, 
 complained that the practice of reading the Scriptures in 
 the vulgar tongue was still permitted. In 1711, Clemont 
 XI. issued, a bull declaring it to be heresy for any one 
 to hav" the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, or to attempt 
 to read them at all, and insists on the civil power help- 
 ing the spiritual to put a stop to it. Pius IX. addres- 
 sed an Encyclical letter to all the Roman Catholic 
 Bishops of Christendom, in the year 184G. This docu- 
 ment was read in every llomau Catholic Church through- 
 out the world ;" (perhaps O'G. was not at church that 
 Sabbath : still it is wonderful that he did not hear of it 
 somehow or other,) ''and is received by every Roman Ca- 
 tholic priest and prelate in Christendom.." The subjectof 
 which letter was a denunciation of all — especially the 
 agents of Protestant Bible Societies — who circulated the 
 Scriptures "in the vulgar tongue." **Here," says our 
 author, " is the secret of Romish superstion : many Pro- 
 testants make erroneous charges against Roman Catholics 
 and the Church ot Rome when they say that the church 
 prohibits the possession of the Bible — this is not the case- 
 In the present day, the Church of Rome does not prohibit 
 the perusal of the Bible — she merely prohibits the 
 'reading of the Bible in the vulgar tongue. This is 
 all." But is not this equivalent to forbidding it altoge- 
 ther, if we can only have it in a different language from 
 our own ? 
 
 Other portions of O, Gs. letter are left out inasmuch as tbey 
 are not of sufficient iniportance to the gonei-ai reader. 
 
 :POSTULATUS. 
 
 i:.Hi 
 
 i;" 
 
 .ti' 
 
66 
 
 OliSERVATIOKS ADDUESSED 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Popery authorises persecution — Quotations from Edgar's Varia- 
 tions of Popery — Porsecution of the Albigeusos — Dominic faiHug 
 to change by preaching resorts to severe measures — Storming of 
 Beziers — Luvour — The Iu({uisition. ,. . 
 
 " Cod is love.' —St. Jonif. 
 *• If any man have not the spirit of Clirist, he is none of his." — .St. Paul. 
 
 That tersecution, even to the employment of the 
 severest tortures and death, is authorized by your church 
 for the suppression of what she designates heresy, is 
 attested by innumerable facts. But that the doctrine, 
 so diabolical in origin and character, may be seen in all 
 its horribleness, I will supply a iew instances which can 
 never be forgotten, and which should never cease to 
 exert a practical influence upon all people, so long as 
 your church continues to be what she is, and what she 
 professes to be, and that without a pang of sorrow or a 
 blush of shame. 
 
 The case I now supply is her crusade against the 
 Albigenses, and is from that admirable work of Dr. 
 Edgar, entitled — *^ The Variations of Popery." 
 *' The variations of popery I" you exclaim. " Why \ 
 thought popery was alwai/s the same I" All very 
 natural for i/ou to think so, who have not been allowed 
 to think but as your priests have dictated. But read 
 the work for yourselves, and I am much mistaken if you 
 do not conclude with Protestants, that as the winds of 
 heaven so has popery varied in he^ creed ; while absur- 
 dities, which all reflecting minds would be ashamed of, 
 have been nestled in her bosom or patronized by her 
 smile. 
 
 It may be proper to state for your information, ere we 
 begin the Dr.'s relation, that his authorities are Roman 
 Catholic, which he has been at considerable pains to 
 collect, and to which he refers as he proceeds : — 
 
 " Pope Innocent I.," he writes, " sent a missionary 
 expedition against the Albigenses. His Holiness, for 
 
 1 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 G7 
 
 ( 
 
 this purpose, commissioned Rainer, Grey, Arnold, Guido 
 Osina, Castelnau, Rodolf, and Dominic. These in exe- 
 cution of their mission, preached popery and wrought 
 miracles. Dominic, in particular, though distinguished 
 for cruelty, excelled in the manu hcture of ' lying 
 wonders.' But the miracles and sermons, or rather the 
 imposition and balderdash, of these apostles of supersti- 
 tion and barbarity, excited only the derision and scorn 
 of these * sons of heresy and error.' * The obdurate peo- 
 ple says Benedict, 'shewed no desire of conversion ; but, 
 on the contrary, treated their instructors with contempt 
 and reproach.' 'An infinity number,' says Nanges, 
 'obstinately adhered to their error.* According to 
 Mariana, ' the Albigenses increased every day, and, in 
 their stupidity, rejoiced in their own blindness,' The 
 gospel of Castelnau, Rainer, and Arnold, Velly grants, 
 met with no attention ; and therefore, according to 
 Giannou's admission, made no impression." 
 
 " His infallibility, Pope Innocent the Third, finding 
 the inefficiency of the gospel as preached by Dominic, 
 proclaimed by his bulls, a crusade against the Albigen- 
 ses. Supported by divine aid, hi^j holiness, in the name 
 of the Lord of Hosts, granted all who should march 
 against the Albigensian pestilence, the 2)ardon of sin, 
 the glorjj of 'niartrijdom, and the possession of heaven. 
 The pontiff, by special favour and indulgence, gave the 
 hero of the holy cross, if he fell in battle, an immediate 
 passport hy a short wajj to heaven without ever touch- 
 ing purgatory. These rewards assembled half a million 
 of Hoi.Y Warrioks composed of bishops, soldiers, canons, 
 and people from Italy, France, and Germany, ready to 
 riot in blood for the honour of God, and the extinction 
 of heresy." 
 
 " This army was led by the Earl of Montfort, whom 
 ambition and hypocrisy marked for the hero of a holy 
 war. The Archbishop of Narbonne, at an early period, 
 painted Montfort's ambition, stratagems, malice, vio- 
 lence, and duplicity. But the contemporary historians 
 ascribed his exploits to zeal and piety ; while llaymond. 
 Count of Thoulouse, who was Montfort's rival and pro- 
 tector of the Albigenses, was, on the contrary character- 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 n. 
 
G8 
 
 OBSERVATrON8 ADDRESSED 
 
 !;■ 
 
 1 ' 
 
 ized as a rncmbor of the devil, the son of perdition, the 
 eldest born of Satan, the enemy of tlie cross, the 
 defender of heresy, and tlie oppressor of Catholicism." 
 
 '* This holy war, during its campaipjn, exhibited a 
 great diversity of buttles a)id sieges. 'J'he storming of 
 Beziers and Lavour will supply a specimen of the spirit 
 and achievements of the crusailing army." 
 
 "The (Jty of Beziers was taken by storm in 1209, 
 and the citizens put to the sword without distinction of 
 condition, age, sex, or even religion. When the 
 Crusaders were so mixed that they could not be discrim- 
 inated, Arnold, the papal missionary, commanded the 
 soldiery to kill all and God would know his own. 
 Seven hundered w^re slain in the church. Daniel 
 rericons the killed at thirty thousand. Mezeray and Velly 
 as well as some of the original historians, estimate the 
 number who v/ere massacred at sixty thousand. The 
 blood of the human victims, who fled to the churches 
 for safety and were murdered by the Holy Warriors, 
 drenched the altars, and flowed in crimson torrents 
 through the streets." 
 
 *' Lavour was taken by storm in 1210. Aimeric, the 
 governor, was hanged on a gibbev", and C^irarda, his lady, 
 was thrown into a well aiid overwhelmed with stones. 
 Eighty gentlemen, who had been made prisoners, were 
 slaughtered like sheep in cold blood. AH the citizens 
 were mingled without discrimination in promiscuous 
 carnage. Four hundered were burned alive, to the 
 extreme delight of the Crusaders. One shudders, says 
 Velly, in his hisior//- of these transactions^ while he 
 relates such horrors " 
 
 " Languedoc, a country flourishing and cultivated, 
 was wasted by these desolators. Its plains became a 
 desert ; while its cities were burned and its inhabitants 
 swept away with fire and sword. An hundered thousand 
 Albigenses fell, it is said in one day ; and their bodies 
 were heaped together and burned. Detachments of 
 soldiery were, for three months, despatched in every 
 direction to demolish houses, destroy vineyards, and 
 ruin the hoj.es of the husbandman. The females were 
 defiled. The march of the Holy Warriors -was marked 
 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 r,o 
 
 by the flames of burning houses, the screams of violated 
 women, and the groans of the murderd men. (See 
 Lruvs 3,130. Daniel 3,511. Velly 4, 121.) The 
 war, with all its sanguinary accompaniments, hjsted 
 twenty years, and the Albigenses, during this time, 
 were not the only sufferers. Three hundered thousand 
 crusaders fell on the plains of Languedoc, and fattened 
 the soil with their blood." 
 
 " All this barbarity was perpetrated in the name cf 
 religion. The carnage was celebrated as the triumph of 
 the church, the honour of the papacy, and the glory of 
 Catholicism. The Pope proclaimed the Holy War in 
 the name oi the Lord. The army of the cross exulted 
 in the massacre of L.ivour, and the clergy sung a hymn 
 to the Creator for the glorious victory. (Le clerge 
 chantait avec beaucoup de devol ion I'hymn Veni 
 Creator. Velly 3, 453, 121. Alex. 20, 307. Mariana 
 2, G87, Benedict 2, 139.) The assassins thanked the 
 God of Mercy for the work of destruction and blood- 
 shed. The soldiery, in the morning, attended high 
 mass, and then proceeded, during the day, to waste the 
 country and murder its population. The assassination 
 of sixty thousand citizens of Beziers was accounted, 
 says Mariana, ' the visible judgment of heaven.'' Ac- 
 cording to Benedict, * the heresy of Alhigensianism, 
 drew down the wrath of God on the countrij of 
 Languedoc. 
 
 " The Crusaders were accompanied with another 
 engine of horror and inhumanity. This was no less 
 than the Infernal Inquisition. The inventor of the 
 inquisition, according to Benedict, was Dominie, who 
 was also the first Inquisitor General. This historian, 
 indeed, seems doubtful whether the benevolent Christian 
 idea suggested itself first to Dominic or to Innocent, to 
 the saint or to the Pontiff. But Dominic first mention- 
 ed it to Arnold. The saint also established, as agents 
 of this tribunal, a confraternity of knights whom he 
 called the Militia op Jksls. {II 7ior,ima les Freres de 
 la Milice de Jesus. Benedict 2, 139.) These demons 
 of destruction, these fiends of blood, the blasphemer 
 had the effrontery to represent as the warriors of the 
 
 
 
 .&■: 
 
70 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 '1 if 
 
 "f- 
 
 I !| 
 
 Captain of Salvation. Gregory the Ninth, in more 
 approj)riate language, style«i them the knights of the 
 MiFirriA OF Dominic. Those in Italy, were called the 
 Knights of the Inquisition, and in Spain, the Familiars 
 of the Holy Office." 
 
 ** Benedict is quite out of temper with some historians 
 who would rob Dominic of the glory of being the first 
 Inquisitor, and who bestowed the honour on Rodolf, 
 Castelnau, and Arnold. The invention of the Holy 
 Office, and the title of Inquisitor-General, in this author's 
 opinion, crowns his hero with immortal renown. The 
 historian of Waldensinianism, therefore, has eternalized 
 his patron's name, by combining it with an institution 
 erected for human destruction, associated with scenes of 
 blood, and calculated to awaken horror in every mind 
 which retains a single sentiment of humanity." 
 
 ** Dominic, it must be granted, was well qua'/fied for 
 his office. He possessed all that impregnable cruelty, 
 which enabled his mind to soar above every feeling of com- 
 passion, and to extract pleasure from scenes of torture and 
 misery. The torments of men, or, at least, of heretics, 
 were his enjoyment. The saints, in satanic and unsated 
 malignity, enjoyed the spectacle of his victim's bleeding 
 veins, dislocated joints, torn nerves, and lacerated limbs, 
 quivering and convulsed with agony. 
 
 ** Proofs of his inhumanity appeared, in many instan- 
 ces, in the holy war and in the holy office. During the 
 crusade against the Albigenses, though a pretended 
 missionary, he encouraged the holy warriors of the cross 
 in the work of massacre and murder." 
 
 " Such was the man or minister, who, to the present 
 day, is a full-length saint in the Roman Calendar. The 
 miscreant is an object of worship in the Popish commu- 
 nion. The Roman breviary lauds his merits and doc- 
 trines which enlightened the church, his ingenuity and 
 virtue which overthrew the Tolosan heretics, many mir- 
 acles which extended even to the raising of the dead. 
 The Roman missal, having eulogized his merits, prays 
 for temporal aid through his intercession. The holy 
 infallible church, in this manner, prefers adoration to 
 the canonized Dominic, who was first Inquisitor-general, 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 71 
 
 and one of the greatest ruffians that ever disgraced 
 humanity." 
 
 " The holy office admitted of all kinds of evidence. 
 Suspicion alone would subject its object to a long course 
 of imprisonment in a dungeon, far from all intercourse 
 with friends or ^society. A malefactor or a child was 
 allowed to be a witness. A son might depose against a 
 father, or a wife against her husband. The accuser and 
 the accusation were equally unknown to the accused, 
 who was urged by the most treacherous means to discover 
 on him elf. His feelings, in the mean time, were hor- 
 rified by a vast apparatus of crosses, imprecations, exor- 
 cisms, conjurations and flaming piles of wood, ready to 
 consume the guilty." 
 
 "The rack, in defect of evidence, was applied. 
 The accused, whether man or woman, was, in defiance 
 of all decency, stripped naked. The arms to which a 
 small hard cord wds fastended, were turned behind the 
 back. The cord by the action of a pulley, raised the 
 fiufferer off his feet and held him suspended in the air. 
 The victim of barbarity was, several times, let fall, and 
 raised witb a jerk, which dislocated all the joints of his 
 arms ; whilst the cord, by which he was suspended, entered 
 the flesh and lacerated the tortured nerves. Heavy 
 weights were frequently, in this case, appended to the 
 feet, and when the prisoner was raised from the earth 
 by the arras, strained the whole frame, and caused a 
 general luxation of the shattered system. The cord 
 was sometimes twisted round the naked arm and legs, 
 till it penetrated to the bone through the ruptured flesh 
 and bleeding veins. — (Limborch, 4: : 29.) 
 
 "The application of the rack, without evidence, 
 caused many to be tortured who never committed the 
 sin of heresy. A young lady who was incarcerated in 
 the dungeon of the inquisition, at the same time with 
 the celebrated Boliorquia, will supply an instance of 
 this kind. This victim of inquisitorial brutality, not- 
 withstanding her admitted attachment to Romanism, 
 endured the rack till all the members of her body were 
 rent asunder by the infernal machinery of the holy 
 office. An interval of some days succeeded, till she 
 
72 
 
 OBsnilVATlON>J ADDIlKSriEO 
 
 1 It' 
 
 ^A 
 
 V n 
 
 
 began, notwithstnndinpr sucli inhumanity, to recover. 
 She was then taken back to the irifiction of simiUir 
 barbarity. Small cords were twisted round her naked 
 arms, legs, and thighs, till they cut through the flesh to 
 the bone ; and blood, in copious torrents, streamed from 
 the lacerated veins. Eight days after, she died of her 
 wounds, and was translated from the dungeons of the 
 inquisition to the glory of heaven." ' , ' ' ^ 
 
 ** The celebrated Orobio endured the rack for the sin 
 of Judaism. His description of the transaction is fright- 
 ful. The place of execution was a subterranean vault 
 lighted with a dim lamp. His hands and feet were 
 bound round with cords, which were drawn by an engine 
 made for the purpose, till they divided the flesh to the 
 excoriated bone. His hands and feet swelled, and blood 
 burst, in copious. efl^usion, from his nails as well as from 
 his wounded limbs. He was then set at liberty, and left 
 Spain, the scene of persecution and misery." — (^Morei, 
 6 : 1—Limborch, 323.) 
 
 " The convicted were sentenced to an Act op Faith. 
 The ecclesiastical authority transferred the condemned 
 to the secular arm, and the clergy in the mean time, in 
 mockery of mercy, supplicated the magistracy in a hypo- 
 critical prayer, to shew compassion to the intended vic- 
 tim of barbarity. But the magistracy, who, through pity 
 should have deferred the execution, would, by the re- 
 lentless clergy, have been compelled by excommunica- 
 tion to proceed in the work of death. The heretic, 
 dressed in a yellow coat variegated with pictures of dogs, 
 serpents, flames, and devils, was then led to the place 
 of execution, tied to the stake, and committed, amid the 
 joyful acclamations of the populace, to the flames. Such 
 has been the death of myriads. Torquemada, on being 
 made Inquisitor- general, burned alive, to signalize his 
 promotion to the h<>ly office, no less than two thousand 
 of those sons of heresy. {On le faisait puhliquement 
 hrulervive. Mcfianay 4, 362. 3l)5. JJellon. c. 28. 
 Moreri, 5. 130.)" 
 
 Could we believe that your church — even as Protes- 
 tantism — blushed and sighed over acts of persecution 
 done in her name, we would gladly consign all such 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. » 
 
 73 
 
 in 
 
 lent 
 
 28. 
 
 narratives to the shades of oblivion. But when we "earn 
 that she plans and prays for the times when, by a repe- 
 tition of these very acts, if needs be, she may purge 
 away the heresy of Protestantism ; and when we remem- 
 ber that to this the canons of her councils — the vows of 
 her hierarchy — and the spirit of her institutions — bind 
 her, we are constrained to speak out ; and, by holding 
 up the light of Holy Scripture, to shew that the assump- 
 tion of doing this in the name of Jesus Christ and his 
 Church is an unauthorized and fearful profanation. 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 
 ••-•I I 
 
 es" 
 ion 
 ich 
 
74 
 
 OBSSRVATIOKS ADDIlESBEn 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 ■if 
 
 ■>. 'A 
 
 SI 
 Si Tj 
 
 ■' I* 
 
 li 
 
 
 •» ', A- 
 
 St. Bartliolomcw Massacro — Blood "wufl spilt in torronts — No pity 
 for ago, Bex, or condition — Num})ers thrown into the Seine — A 
 cauBo of joy and exaltation at lionie. 
 
 " In this the children of nod arc manifest, and tlio children 
 of the devil ; wltosocvcr ilocth not rlKhtcousncHa i» not of (jiod, 
 neither he that loveth not hia brother."— St, John. 
 
 The narrative I now am about to lay before you, I have 
 previously adverted to : — It is the massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew. It is called such because on the eve of that 
 day — the 24th August, 1572, and at the signal of the 
 tolling of the alarm-bell of the church of St. Germain, a 
 work of death commenced, which, as previously arranged, 
 spread over the whole of France and was continued for 
 the space of thirty days, during which time it is com- 
 puted that not less than thirty thousand (some say seventy- 
 five thousand) human being — created by *he power — 
 
 ji redeemed by the blood — and fostered by li care of Je- 
 hovah Jesus — were hunted to death like wild and ferocious 
 ; beasts of prey, for the simple and wonderful crime of 
 
 ', acting under what they conceived an imperative duty — 
 
 \]{ viz., — that of worshipjnng God accord ing to tlielr 
 prayerful and conscic7Uiouh conviction of the import 
 of God's Holy Word! Does the savage African or the 
 cannibal Feegean ask who perpetrated such a deed of 
 blood and infamy? Alas I my lloman Catholic fellow- 
 citizens, can we answer such a question truthfully without 
 a blush of shame for the profession of that religion which 
 we regard as an emanation from a God of love? Impos- 
 sible ! and yet your church instigated it — your church 
 rejoiced over its achievement — and, receiving her own 
 testimony, would do it again. 
 
 The sketch I transcribe is supplied by that eloquent 
 j I; and popular minister of Christ, Dr. Cumming, well 
 
 j known to Cardinal Wiseman and many others of your 
 
 III high authorities. 
 
 li: "At length Charles IX., casting his half-closed eyes 
 
 t.i 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 75 
 
 on the flaor, gave the fatal order for the murder of his 
 subjects. The alarm-bell of St. Germain was instantly 
 rung, and in a moment the Palais, the Tuileries, the 
 banks of the river, the public places, the churches and 
 edifices of Paris were brilliantly illuminated. Guided 
 by these terrible lights, which enveloped the capital as 
 in a circle of fire, they distinguished the dwellings of 
 heretics by the fresh made marks. 'Open h\j command 
 of t/ie King,' was the order given by the murderers. 
 Some hastened to obey, and their lives were extinguished 
 with the lights which they brought to see who called 
 them ; others, opening their windows to discover who 
 knocked at so unseasonable an hour, fell, struck by 
 twenty balls at once ; another, burying himself in the 
 bed-clothes, would perhaps pretend to be fast asleep ; 
 his door was shattered in pieces, and two or three assas- 
 sins, separating from the rest, ran and slaughtered him 
 in his bed. Sometimes they left the house unstained 
 with blood ; but dragging the victim from his couch into 
 the street, they gave him up to the weapons of the po- 
 pulace. As the spoils of the doomed were to belong to 
 those who should despatch them, a thousand blades were 
 raised at once over the unfortunate wretch, whose death, 
 swift as lightning, left no time for pain. Happy they 
 who were thus surprised in the first sleep ; their suffer- 
 ings were brief; but when the hands of the murderers 
 became wearied with slaughter, the agony of the suf- 
 ferer was prolonged for hours." 
 
 "While blood was thus spilt in torrents before the 
 eyes of the Queen-mother, the bell of the Palais rang ; 
 and the general massacre began. At this signal Taven- 
 nes and the Duke of Nevers drew their swords, crying, 
 'kill! kill!' The night-guards, the citizens, among 
 whom arms had been distributed, the whole tribe of 
 murderers, sallied forth from their lurking places, repeat- 
 ing, ' kill ! kill ! ' The shrill sound of the bells, the clat- 
 ter of arms, the vagabond tramp of the assassins, the 
 flickering glare of torches, mingled with shouts, which 
 the night-echo rendered still more horrible. The mas- 
 sacre then became general : there was no pity for sex, 
 age, or condition ; no blood came amiss provided that it 
 
7G 
 
 OBSEnVATIONS ADDTIERSED 
 
 fy 
 
 circulated in heretic veins ; and these were the si<?ns by 
 which heretics were distinguished : — Whoever slnits iiis 
 door at the approach of a i armed band, is a heretic; 
 wlioever refuses to answer, or begs his life, is a heretic ; 
 whoever has not a white badge on his arm, is a heretic ; 
 whoever does not come when the murderer calls, is a 
 heretic. The assassins had no need to speak ; here were 
 no judges ; all were executioners ; but, if words did now 
 and then drop frcm their lips, it was to complain to one 
 another of their fatigue, or to insult the sulferers; nay, it 
 was often an infernal laugh that greeted his last sigh." 
 
 "Pursued on all sides by those insidious flames with 
 which the capital was lighted up, driven like a flock of 
 sheep, tracked like deer, in vain did the Protestants en- 
 deavour to flee from fate. If they would have sought 
 refuge in the Catholic churches, armed men guarded the 
 doors of the sanctuary; if they approached the Louvre, 
 the Swiss awaited them with presented muskets ; if they 
 burst open the prison doors, to conceal themselves among 
 the malefactors whom the justice of men had condemned, 
 the jailers denounced or drove them out by main force. 
 If they attempted to gain the banks of the river, the im- 
 plements of destruction were quite ready ; boat-hooks 
 to catch them in their flight and to knock them on the 
 head, poles to thrust them into the water. If they took 
 shelter in the dark, they fell into the snares of an assas- 
 sin lurking for human prey ; if they sought the light, 
 the light was as deadly as the darkness ; death was every- 
 where, in their beds, on their housetops, within, without, 
 in the public places, and in the very waters of the river." 
 
 "They were flung alive into the Seine, and dragged 
 out to be plunged in again , if the unfortunate creatures, 
 struggling against the current, contrived to reach the 
 shore, invisible hands, armed with sharp spikes, thrust 
 them into the stream, which drove some upon the sand 
 of an islet facing the Louvre, and carried others towards 
 Chaillot, Autevil, St. Cloud, and the adjacent parts, to 
 which the carcasses carried terror and infection. The 
 grave-diggers were too few in number, or worked to 
 death. The Prevot des Marchand and Echevins were 
 obliged to double their wages to induce them to go to 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 77 
 
 St 
 
 distant places to bury the corpses of heretics ; a column 
 of them started, carryiiipf alotif^ with them all the ordi- 
 nary implements of their calling, and it was several days 
 before they returned to I'aris. it is calculated that in 
 this interval about eleven hundred persons were interred. 
 The l)oatmen distinguished themselves in this abomina- 
 ble night ; standing up in their light barks, they cleft the 
 water with the rapidity of lightning, striking the heads 
 that rose above the surface, separating the hands clasped 
 in the last prayer, and lifting up bodies by the garments 
 and dropping them back into the abyss, till they were 
 sure that the victim was sulTocated." 
 
 " Suspended, not interrupted, the carnage recommen- 
 ced at eight in the morning, but with colder and more 
 ingenious cruelty than before ; if the victims were mul- 
 tiplied, so were the executioners. Darkness no longer 
 shaded the abode of the lieretic from the eye of suspicion; 
 there was now no inacessihle retreat, and places were 
 ransacked to which the light of day never penetrated. 
 How many of the Protestants now regretted that darkness, 
 and deplored the return of that light which they had so 
 earnestly solicited of God in their prayers ! The sun, it 
 is true, beamed upon the vengeance of some of those who 
 sold their lives dearly, and stained the thresholds of 
 houses with the blood of the victors. Almost all ex- 
 pired with folded hands and face turned towards the 
 palace of the sovereign." 
 
 " Sucli were tho last scenes of the ever-memorable 
 drama of St. Bartholomew. A month after St. Germain 
 bell had given the signal, all the dead bodies were not 
 buried. Some were yet floating on the Seine, to which 
 fishermen resorted for the purpose of picking them up 
 and selling them to any who chose to buy them. For a 
 long time there was an auction of corpses on both banks 
 of the river, which was publicly cried and at which the 
 lots were adjuged to the highest bidder, some buyers 
 burying their purchases by night in sequestered spots ; 
 others burned those whom they loved while living, and 
 collected their ashes in urns which afterwards constituted 
 ornaments of their habitations. For above a year people 
 durst not pass at night along the banks of the river ; some 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
78 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 i 
 
 4 ■ 
 
 i 1! 
 
 if 
 
 said that they had seen the earth quake there, others 
 had beheld spectres gliding along the water ; fishermen 
 had asserted that invisible hands loosed, after dark, the 
 boats moored to the shore, and propelled them towards 
 the islet in the Seine, which sent forth moans like those 
 of human voices. In some old historians we read that 
 young females, murdered on St. Bartholomew's day, 
 wandered about after dusk in Paris, covered with long 
 veil? which they lifted when they perceived the mur- 
 derer, showing him the wound still fresh, calling him by 
 his name. The grave De Thou has not disdained to 
 collect some of these popular traditions." 
 
 " There is no reason to doubt that the Pope was privy 
 to the intended massacre. Cardinal Alexandrin, nephew 
 of the late Pope, had made no secret of expecting intel- 
 ligence of a great victory gained over the heretics, and 
 exclaimed, when it arrived, * The King of France has 
 kept his word I ' — ' Good news ! Good news ! ' cried 
 Gregory XIII., who had been crowned about two months 
 before the catastrophe, 'all the Lutherans are massacred 
 except the Vcndomets, whom the King has pardoned 
 for his sister' s sake.* That termhe applied contemptu- 
 ously to the three princes of the house of Bourbon-Ven- 
 dome ,the King of Navarre and the Princes of Cond6 and 
 Conti. At night the guns of the Castle of St. Angelo 
 were fired, and bonfires blazed in every street in Rome. 
 The Pope ordered a jubilee and a solemn procession^ 
 ihJhich he accompanied himself, to thank god for this 
 GLORIOUS SUCCESS ! ! ! He sent a Nuncio extraordinary 
 to France to congratulate the King on having so easily 
 caught all the heretics in the same net. Medals, which 
 I have seen, were struck at Home, in approbation of the 
 massacre, and to perpetuate the memory of the happy 
 event : on one side was the portrait of the Pope ; on the 
 reverse the destroying Angel, holding a cross in one 
 hand, and in the other a sword, with which he is slaugh- 
 tering the Frenchmen called Protestants , and having 
 this legend, HuooNOTORUftf Straoes — the slaughter of 
 the Huguenots. la short, no demonstration of this great 
 triumph of the church of Rome, of the Church Militant, 
 over her ennemies, was omitted : and that Buou Cora- 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 70 
 
 pagno might keep his work incessantly before his eyes, 
 he had a large picture < I'the massacre painted and hung 
 up in the Vatican. A scroll at the top of it contained 
 these words: Pontifex colini nfx^em probat — 'T/ie 
 Pontijf approves the murder of Coligni ! " ^To this 
 day,* says Brisard, whose work on the massacre appeared 
 in 1780, * the French who visit Italy behold, not with- 
 out indignation, this picture, which, though half effaced, 
 still portrays but too faithfully our calamities and the 
 excesses ""Rome.'^' 
 
 ** Th .rdinal Loraine was at Rome when the news 
 of the massacre of 8t. Bartholomew arrived there. He 
 was so transported with joy at the succciis ot' a plan 
 which he justly considered as in part his work, that he 
 gave a thousand gold crowns to the gentleman sent by 
 his brother, the duke of Aumale, with the welcome in- 
 telligence. At his instigation, the Pope and the Car- 
 dinals ordered a general jubilee and public processions. 
 He went in procession himself to the church of St. Louis, 
 the patron saint of France, were they attended, with all 
 the nobility of Rome. The Cardinal officiated in full pomp 
 and splendour. On the front of the church was a long 
 inscription, purporting that * the Cardinal of Loraine, in 
 the name of the Most Christian King, Charles IX., as 
 returning thanks to Go^l, and congratulating our holy 
 Father the Pope Gregory XIII., and the sacred college 
 of Cardinals, on the astonishing and incredible success 
 which had attended the counsels given by the Holy See, 
 the success which it had met, and the prayers which his 
 Holiness had never ceased to offer for the last twelve 
 years." 
 
 These instances of what Propery can do in the way of 
 persecution shall suffice for the present. They are not 
 the only ones that could be given and which exhibit 
 atrocity on a large scale. We have others we could 
 supply equally conclusive in their testimony of the prac- 
 tical nature of the doctrine I am discussing. The doings 
 of the infernal Inquisition alone, would fill volumes. I 
 do not, I repeat the assurance, dwell on these topics, so 
 harrowing to every sensibility of a humane mind, because 
 I have any satisfaction in taunting you with what your 
 
80 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSEI> 
 
 f 
 
 Church has done in days of darkness and sorrow ; no, it 
 is thus only we may arouse a shimbering people so to act, 
 as to put it beyond a possibility that they can be repeat- 
 ed. With protestants you ought to unite to tell your 
 clergy you will not submit to have such doctrines palmed 
 off in the name of religion ; and that they must either 
 abandon such horrible dogmas or you will-abandon them. 
 
 Be assured of it, my fellow-citizens, if your Church 
 was pruned down to the dimensions, or raised up to the 
 level, of a Church of Christ, it would be quite as much 
 to your advantage as to any Protestant in the land. 
 The test of Scripture to the doctrine of persecution in 
 my next. 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 
 Quecbe, 1st Sept., 1853. 
 
 m 
 
TO ROMAN CATUOLICS. 
 
 81 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Further proof that the ohxirch of Rome enjoins persecution — Tho 
 Pope's oath and bull — Oath of Bishops — Inquisitors — Priests 
 una llibbonmcn — Scrij)turcs by which she upholds persecution. 
 
 •• For this is the message that yc heard from the beginning 
 that we should love one another. Not as C'ain, who was of 
 tl»at wicked one, and slew his brother." — tir. JoiiN. 
 
 I NOW call your attention to the scriptural evidence T am 
 about to supply, that the doctrine o\' persecution, as held 
 and practised by your church, destroys her claini to being 
 a Christian church ; and certainly that of being the first 
 and only church. -My proof is from the Holy Scrip- 
 tures. You talk of tradition, and the authority of your 
 church, as matters of equal obligation ; but all reflect- 
 ing minds will admit that this, in the widest sense, can 
 only be demanded when they do not contravene what 
 all regard as the Word of God. 
 
 God can never contradict himself. A truth which, 
 while you admit, you must sustain by refusing suhmi. • 
 sion to any dictum that would lead to such a conclusion. 
 The Scriptures 1 am about to cite as the ground of 
 appeal, must be received, unless they are shewn to bo 
 incorrectly quoted or mistranslated If, on either of 
 these grounds, you can offer an objection, I am bound 
 to attend to you ; if not, your duty is plain as the sua 
 in the firmament. The principle I am now propound- 
 ing is of inconceivable import!! nee ; for, if I take the 
 word of man in preference to ;'ic word of God, J am 
 an Idoiator beyond the possii>ility of a question. " ITU 
 servants ye are to ulwni ye yield yourselves servants 
 to obey.'''* Thus spake the Holy Ghost l)y 6i. Paul. If 
 I receive the word of God and obey it, / am God's ser- 
 vant ; but if I turn from the word of God and receive 
 and obey that of man, 1 am that man's servant ; and 
 thus, in a matter of religion, ihat man, and not \\i: who 
 created me, is my God. I will believe that these plain, 
 but infinitely momentous principles, commend taemselves 
 
 1) 2. 
 
82 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 f; 
 
 
 ll 
 
 9i ' '-i j' 
 
 il| 
 
 1 1 
 
 I 
 
 to your judgment, and will therefore be permitted their 
 proper influence upon your conduct in treating the sub- 
 ject I am ?ibout to discuss. 
 
 1 will first re-state the doctrine as held by your church, 
 and as well supply some of their principal arguments : — 
 
 The Poi'e's Oath. — By the Councils of Basil, Con- 
 stance, &c., " all popes must be obliged to sxoear, that 
 they will uphold and enforce the faith maintained in 
 General Councils, to the least tittle, even to the shedding 
 of their blood." Further, ' that he shall depose, and 
 deprive sovereign princes of their dominions, their 
 dignity and honours, for certain misdemeanors." Con. 
 Cons. Sess. 12, 17, 37, 30. Basil, Sess. 34, 37, 40, 46. 
 Pisa, Sess. 14. Lyons, tom. ii. Binii. p. 646. 
 
 Bull op Gregory VIII. — *' On the part of the omni- 
 potent God, I forbid Henry the IV to govern the king- 
 doms of Italy and Germany : I absolve his sabjects from 
 all oaths which they ha\^e taken, or may take to him; 
 and I excommuniate every one who shall serve him as 
 king." Greg., lib. 5 epist. 24. 
 
 I^ope's Bull in Ccena Domini, to be studied by the 
 clergy, published in the churches once a year, at least, 
 and carefully taught the people, per art. 27, 28, — the 
 excommunication. '*We excommuniate and anathe- 
 matize, in the name of Almighty God, Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost, and by the authority of his blessed i\pos- 
 tles, Peter and Paul, and by our own, all VTickliffites, 
 Hussites, L'Ttherans, Calvinists, Huguenots, Anabaptists, 
 and all other heretics, by whatsoever name they are call- 
 ed and of whatsoever sect they may be ; and also all 
 schis:T]atics, and those who withdraw themselves, or 
 recede obstinately from the obedience of the bishop of 
 Rome ; as also their adherents, receivers, favourers, and 
 generally any defenders of them : together with all who 
 without the authority of the Apostolic See shall know- 
 ingly read, keep or print any of their books which treat 
 on religion, or by or for any cause whatever, publicly or 
 privately, on any pretence whatever shall defend them." 
 
 The Oath of Bishops to the Pope conc^jides with 
 these words : — '^ Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our 
 said Lord the Pope, and his successors aforesaid, I will. 
 
TO ROMAN CATUOLIOS. 
 
 8S 
 
 to the utmost of my power, persecute and destroy ^ 
 ** And if any bishop be negligent in purging his diocese 
 of heretical jivavity, he, by canon 3 of 4th Lateran 
 Council, must be deprived of his episcopal dignity." 
 
 ** The punishment to be inflicted on heretics must be 
 excommunication, confiscation of goods, imprisonment, 
 exile, or death^ as the case may be." Cone. Benii. 
 tom. 8. 
 
 "All Inquisitors of lierttieal pravity appointed by 
 the Pope, all archbishops and bishops, in their respec- 
 tive provinces and dioceses, with their officials, must 
 search for and appreliendherctics, — the civil magistrates 
 must assist them, under severe penalties, in inquiring 
 after, taking, and spoiling tbem,by sending soldiers with 
 them; they can compel the whole neighbourhood to 
 swear. They must inform the bishops and inquistors of 
 any heretics they may know of, or of any who may favour 
 them." Benii, tom. ii., p, 608-619. Constit. Innoc. 
 IV., c. 30. 
 
 The Councils of Lateran and Constance have declared. ** 
 " that whosoever appreliends heretics^ which all are at 
 liberty to do, has power to take from them all their 
 goods, and freely to enjoy them." 
 
 The Puiests' Oath is — ** I firmly receive and profess 
 all things which the sacred canons and general councils, 
 that of Trent especially, have delivered, defined, and 
 declared ; and all things contrary thereto, and all heresies 
 whatever that the church has condemned, rejected, and 
 anathematized, I likewise condemn, reject, and 
 anathematize. All this I promise, vow and swear; so 
 help me God," &c. Bui. Pius IV., Sup. Juram, Form. 
 Fid. 
 
 Another class of agents sworn to carry out thie designs 
 of your church, and of whose existence you are aware, 
 are caller* Rihhonnien. These have rendered much 
 service in this way in poor distracted Ireland. Mr, 
 Plunket's speech, Nov. 1822, and another of Chief Justice 
 Bushe, at the Wicklow assizes, substantially agreeing 
 thereto, has this remarkable passage : — " The objects 
 and oath of the Ribbomnen are, as it is unquestionably 
 proved,thc subversion of the constitution, the separation 
 
S4 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 I 
 
 B 
 
 of Ireland from Great Britain, the extirpation of all 
 the Protestant inhabitants out of the countrijf and to 
 establish the Roman Catholic religion in their stead." 
 
 Here we have before us doctrine ; while the crusade 
 against the Albigenses, the masacre of St Bartholomew, 
 &c., &c., &c., are the comments. Let us now look al 
 the authority your church pleadvS for all this. 
 
 Authority for acts of this kind ought to be so clear as 
 that he who runneth may read. There must be nothing 
 dark or ambiguous about it. No class of persons with 
 but the most ordinary feeliiigs of humanity but would 
 regard a necessity to treat their fellow -creatures in such 
 a way as a dire necessity ; and would gladly embracj any 
 interpretation of statute or command, that would justify 
 a mitigation of such rigors as should be all but as painful 
 to those who inflict them as those on whom they are 
 inflicted. , 
 
 Again, no person that has taken the least pains to 
 acquaint himself with the nature of his being, and the 
 light in which his Creator and Redeemer regards it, but 
 will readily perceive it is a probationary one, on which 
 hangs much that affects the glory ©f God ; and all that is 
 involved to man in the rising to everlasting life, or of the 
 sinking to everlasting death. He who takes away man's 
 liberty, or any of those bless^ing by which the ends of his 
 probationary existence are to be promoted, seriously 
 interferes with the designs of God, as with the interests 
 of his fellow ; and ought to feel assured that he has a 
 good and sufficient reason for so doing : — One that will 
 meet the demands of the judge of quick and dead in the 
 great day. But he who takes away life — cuts off in that 
 instance a soul for heaven or hell, and has boldly inter- 
 fered with the order of God ; and let me ask you — let me 
 ask your priests who have taken such awful vows upon 
 them — let me ask every reflecting mind who entertains 
 the sliglitest idea of the amazing interest which a great 
 and gracious God has taken in the present and eternal 
 welfare of man — should he not be prepared with 
 good and sufficient reasons to meet the inquisition for 
 blood which the righteous God will yet institute ? I 
 say — you say — every reasonable being must say — 
 
 au 
 
TO ROMAN CATUOLICS. 
 
 85 
 
 yes. Traditionary legend will not suffice ; human autho- 
 rity will not avail ; nought then will do but the clear 
 and unniistakeable statute law of heaven. And woe be 
 to the Pope — the Bishop— the Priest — the liibhonmaii 
 — or any other ma.n under the heavens, who, when he 
 appears before an impartial God in judgment cannot by 
 an appeal to God's own word, justify the act l)y which he 
 imbued his hands in a brother's blood, and sent a soul 
 unbidden, and possibly unprepared, into the presence of 
 its ]\Iaker. 
 
 Your priesthood refer to the Old Testament for autho- 
 rity, and use the following language — **' Christian people, 
 Bishops especiallt/, should have great zeal against 
 heretics, and hate them; and he thus zealous against 
 all false prophets and heretics of whatsoevr name, after 
 the example of holi/ Elias, that, in zealf killed four 
 hundred and fftij false prophets." — {Notes on the 
 Rhemish Test. Rev, 11; 6. IJO.) Again — ** As the fact 
 of Elias was not reprehended j neither is the Church nor 
 Christian Princes blamed bij God for putting heretics 
 to death,''' — (Note on Lvhe 11 : 55.) 
 
 Under the influence of all that solemnity of mind which 
 so important a subject as that of taking human life, and 
 especially doing it under the sanction of religion is calcu- 
 lated to inspire, let me ask whether this language looks 
 more like the imperative reason fordoing a painful thing; 
 or the eagerly sought excuse for doing a desired thing? 
 A Church of God I of a God of mercy and lovf; I thus 
 wire-drawing Scripture to authorize blood-shedding and 
 murder — what an anomaly ! what a blasphemy I! 
 
 In order to make the cases parallel, you must shew 
 that, as was Elias, so are your priests zjalous, not only 
 for the interests of their Church, but also for the Lord of 
 hosts. That as was Elia-^, governed by the authority of 
 Jehovah for what he did, so are they. That as he 
 authenticated his mission, not by juggleries which no 
 honest mind would resort to, but by miracles which 
 multitudes could test by the use of their senses, so have 
 they theirs. 
 
 Further, that as Elias was armed with unquestionable 
 anthorily, and thus became the avenger of Jehovah's 
 
8G 
 
 OBBERTATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 ,: t 
 
 insulted honour on idolatrous priests — "who under the 
 prestipfe of an infamous woman, seduced Israel from the 
 worship and service of the true God, — so have your 
 priests been armed to avenge the honour of God on an 
 idolatrous race of protestant heretics. I challenge any 
 priest or layman in your whole Church to come forward 
 and attempt it, I pledge myself to meet him and before 
 i ' an intellent people to prove that if there is any — the 
 least — application of such a case to Gospel times, it 
 belongs to protestants rather than to papists to make use 
 of it. Here, then, we have a fair field, and I ask no 
 favour other than an impartial jury. 
 
 The other portions of holy scripture which your clergy 
 torture to their purpos, i. e., such as have come under 
 my notice, (and if there be any others, and they are ma- 
 terial in sustaining the doctrine now under discussion, I 
 shall feel obliged by having my attention drawn to them), 
 are Matt. 3 : 10. ** And now also the axe is laid unto 
 the root of the tree ; there/ore every tree which hringeth 
 not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the 
 freP And the parable of the tares among the wheat, 
 given by St. Matthew 13: 24. 30 & 38. 43. The com- 
 ment on these passsages, although previously given, I 
 will supply again for the purpose of a fuller consideration. 
 " The good must tolerate the evil, when it is so strong 
 that it cannot be redreshzd without danger or distur- 
 bance of the whole Church; otherwise, where evil men, 
 be they heiiktics orof/ierMALEFACTona, may be punished 
 and suppressed without hazard of the good they may 
 and onght by jmblic authority, either spiritual or tem- 
 poral, be chastised or executed.** 
 
 The most superficial reader of the Bible will at once 
 perceive that the first of these passages is a solemn and 
 prophetic announcement of the judgement which then 
 impended over the Jewish people, and, therefore, has 
 about as much to do with the invasion of Turkey by 
 the Autocrat of Russia as that of the life and liberties 
 of Protestants by your Pope and his minions. 
 
 Let me suggest the propriety of reading the passage 
 carefully over. In it we have the following particu- 
 lars : — 
 
m 
 
 TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 87 
 
 1. A field' — which means the world. 
 
 2. Wheat and tares — which mean the childern of 
 the kingdom of God and the childern of the wicked 
 one. These explanations were given by the Savour to 
 his Disciples as the reader vrill see. 
 
 3. A discovery of the tares in the field, followed by an 
 enquiry on the part of the servants of the householder aa 
 to whether or not they should go and gather them up. 
 
 4. A refusal on the part of the householder to allow such 
 a gathering — and that refusal founded on two reasons ; 
 first lest they should root up the wheat with the tares ; 
 — and secondly, the purpose of the Lord to do that 
 himself, by other agents and at another and more sui- 
 table time. His words are — " Let both groio together 
 until the harvest ;" which says Christ, " is the end of 
 the world ;" " and in the time of harvest I will say to 
 the reapers*^ — ** the reapers are the angels^'' — ^^ gather 
 ye together first the tares, and hind them in bundles to 
 burn them ; but gather the ivheat into my barn^ 
 
 Is the authority seen here which your church pleads 
 for to destroy Protestant heretics ? No man in his 
 senses can say it is ; and, therefore, he who pleads such 
 a passage for such an act, only shows how hard he is 
 driven to sustain a bad cause. A church, professing 
 allegiance to the Saviour of the world, not onlyjustifijing 
 but reviving a spirit of persecution, is a contradiction 
 whichfullyexplainsthereasonwhyyour priests refuse you 
 theliberty of reading freely the word of God, which por- 
 trays a true church as it defines a real minister of the 
 Gospel. Your duty to God and yourselves is to possess 
 and read the Bible, that by a prayerful judgment you 
 may discern between truth and falsehood. 
 
 Quebec September 8th, 1835. 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 
§8 
 
 OliSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 ! *%■. 
 
 LETTRE XIII. 
 
 
 m 
 
 O'ConTioH's opinion "of tho RlicmiBli notcn — They contain tlio 
 jiuthoiiBed cxjMJHition of the dootrinew of popery — I'ope Oan* 
 gjiuelli — Dr. Maimiug verBus popery — The Bible disupioves of 
 perHccutiuD. 
 
 *' Christian people, bishops especially, should have great 
 zeal against herelicH, and hiile them." — UiiiMi.-'ii Motkm. 
 
 " S\ hosocver hatolh his brother is a niurdoror."— Tiia 
 Holy Uiiowt uy rtr. John. 
 
 I HAVE quoted for your information certain portions 
 of the lihcmish notes on tho New Testpmcnt. That 
 you may be aware of the high authority, of these notes, 
 I inform you that they were subscribed by Dr. Troy, 
 Dr. Murray, recently . rchibishop of Dublin, by i>r. 
 Keilly, then Primate of Ireland, and by all the Irish 
 Koman Catholic prelates end chief clergy generally, 
 and printed in l8iG by U. Coyne, Dublin. '* In this 
 work," (the notes) said the chief divines of Ilheims and 
 Douay, " in its first editions, cai> nothing be found but 
 what is agreeable to the doctrine and piety of the 
 Catholic church." And hence, ** all the faithful" (all 
 true iiomanists) " must look on the doctrines of those 
 notes, and of their approved pastors, as the voice of 
 God himself. 
 
 U'Connell on one occasion spoke of them in the fol- 
 lowing strain : — " The Khemish notes, teaching as they 
 do. ' hatred to and the murder of Protestants, and 
 not to keep faith loith them,^ are abominable, murde- 
 rous, and damnable ; that if he thought it essential to 
 the Catholic faith to believe such doctrine, he would 
 not remain one hour ; that he o^'^ed it, therefore, to his 
 religion, his country, and his feelings, to utterly de- 
 nounce the dainnahle doctrines contained* in the notes 
 of the Bhemish Testament ; that they should be expli- 
 citly and authentically denounced, otherwise the con- 
 stitution would never open its gates to them ; he moved, 
 therefore, for a committee to prepare this denunciation, 
 in order to be transmitted to every member of both 
 
TO r.OMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 89 
 
 Houses of Parliament, to all the dignitaries of the Ksta- 
 blishcJ Church, and to the n>eud>ers of the ( 'hurch of 
 Scotland and Synod of lister." Thus ^mk<: O'Connell 
 in a full Catholic Jloard on Dec. 4r, 1817. Hugh 
 O'Connor, Ks(|., iu the Chair. The proposition went 
 no farther. J low could it? It was directly against 
 the doctrine and practice of his church. Under these 
 circumstances, he ought to have left and denounced his 
 church ; but no — there he stood, and there continued — 
 as they noAv do — the Rhemish notes I 
 
 It is difficult to account for such a move in O'Connell, 
 especially as it was not carried out. Some may say it 
 was policy, &c. ; hut I am prepared to believe that it 
 was language prompted by a gush of humane feeling, 
 warm from his heart. O'Connell had a heart as will as 
 a head ; and had it not been for an impracticable priest- 
 hood, by whom he suffered himself to be controlled, it 
 is more than probable that Ireland would be a different 
 Ireland than she is this day seen to be. 
 
 Having given you a few samples from the Notes, and 
 having shown you their authority, and as well O'Connell's 
 deliberate and honest opinion of their character, I now 
 call your attention to a few Scriptures, in order to shew 
 that the doctrine of persecuting a fellow-creature at all, 
 much less of persecuting him to death, for his religious 
 sentiments, is opposed to the letter and spirit of the New 
 Testament. I have already gi en you several reasons 
 why we should mcpllcitlji '< eive the testimony of 
 Scripture ; I will add anotiier om authorities you will 
 not gainsay. 
 
 **The Gospels," saith Pope Gangan^lli vol. 1, Ze#. 
 40, "contain the religion of Christ, and are so plain, 
 that the meanest capacity can comprehend them." Hr. 
 IVlanning, (another of your divines) in his Moral '/nter- 
 tainments, says — "The answer of Christ to the young 
 man, who wished to know from him the way of salvation, 
 saying, *How readest thou?' teach( lii us, that J" we will 
 be rightly instructed in the ways )f salvation, we must 
 go to the dlvhieli/ inr.jy.'red writings. The Gospel is 
 that which we must foil )w ; by it we must be judged, 
 and by it stand or fall i ihat day ; and happy is he that 
 
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 'f 
 
 ^ 
 
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90 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 shall be found able to meet that awful question of the 
 great Judge, 'How readest thou ?' " Again from Dr. 
 Manning — see "Short Method with Protestants,'* p 2D, 
 <fec. : — "The Church of Christ can only be that which 
 believes wholly and entirely the doctrine that was taught 
 by Christ, and delivered by his apostles. That church 
 that would teach any one point of doctrine contrary to 
 the revealed word of God, and therefore her est/, would 
 not be the chaste spouse of Christ, but an harlot, and the 
 School of Satan, and the gates of hell would prevail 
 against her.'' 
 
 Now, my Roman Catholic readers, is there not a case 
 before you of vast interest ? If your church teaches a 
 doctrine contrary to the revealed word of God, she is 
 guilty of heresy — is not a chaste spouse of Christ — is an 
 harlot — of the School of Satan — and the gates of hell 
 have prevailed against her ; — and one of her own Drs. 
 in divinity says so ! Therefore, read and judge. 
 
 I have shewn you that she teaches persecution : yea, 
 that she has practised it. I have provedthat the Scriptures 
 she cites in support of that doctrine yield her no such 
 support ; I will now proceed to supply a few other Scrip- 
 tures (many are not necessary) by which her professions 
 and proceedings in the subject under discussion are seen 
 to ! e opposed to the letter and repugnant to the spirit 
 of the religion of Christ. 
 
 Bat what am I about to do ? To prove from the word 
 of God that persecution is unscriptural ! and that ren- 
 dered necessary by the professi jns and practices of those 
 who claim to be the only church of Jesus Christ upon 
 earth — and that in the nineteenth century ! ! Then let 
 no man tell us of the absurdities of Mormonism — of the 
 juggleries of Hindooism — of the heartlessness of paganism 
 — of the horribleness of Thuggism ; here is a subject out- 
 reachin?T them all : a Christian (?) church claiming au- 
 thority from the Bible to practise acts of cruelty, patent 
 to themselves, by which human liberty and life may be 
 taken away for the high crime and misdemeanour of 
 refusing to worship God otherwise than they believe the 
 Bible to direct and warrant ! 1 1 
 
 To prove from the Bible, is now my duty, that a 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 91 
 
 Dominic, a Caraffa, a Torquernada, a Hildebrand, a Bon- 
 ner, and a host of modern worthies of similar stamp, 
 have no license for destroying the life, and therefore 
 the power of usefulness, of a Howard, a Fry, a Wilber- 
 force, a Clarkson, a Buxton, a Chalmers, a Wesley, a 
 Fletcher, a Simeon &c., &c., &c., even though they 
 could not and therefore w^uld not profess to, believe 
 that a few words, uttered by a fellow-sinner over a piece 
 of bread turned it at once into all that is human and 
 divine of Jehovah Jesus ! And who renders such a 
 duty necessary ? Blush you must, ray fellow-citizens, 
 as you know it to be the preposterous pretensions of your 
 clergy. The next duty it may be necessary for some 
 one to discharge will be to prove that Nebuchadnezzar 
 had no proper authority for treating the three Hebrews 
 as he did ; or that Herod was certainly worse than a 
 T'jrk in commanding innocent babes to be murdered by 
 soldiers, in the hope of destroying the life of the infant 
 Saviour. 
 
 My first Scripture is one of those on which your priests 
 rely for the power I am combatting. The words of Christ 
 are — '* Let both," the tares and the wheat, "grow toge- 
 ther until the harvest," which is the end of the world, 
 ** and I will say to the reapers," his angels, "gather ye 
 together first the tares," the children of the wicked one, 
 *' and bind them in bundles to burn them; but the wheat 
 into my barn." 
 
 All such acts as that of separating the children of the 
 kingdom — that is, of proceeding forcibly against any one 
 because of his religious character — is here forbidden. 
 It is God's work, and He will do it at His own time, and 
 
 in His own 
 
 way. 
 
 (( 
 
 Vengeance is mine j I will 
 
 repay ^ saith the Lord.^^ This is a fortunate circum- 
 stance for your clergy, as I shall now show you. 'i^ii 
 Christ says the tares are the children of the wicked 
 one. But who are the children of the wicked one ? 
 We find that out as follows. He once said to the Jews 
 — " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your 
 father ye will do. He was a murderer from the begin- 
 ning," &c. Who is a murderer ? Hear St. John— 
 " Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." But 
 
92 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 8 'ia 
 
 n 
 
 B 4 
 
 I 
 
 S; 
 
 H 
 
 ■ii 
 
 your church commands that Christian people should hate 
 heretics — i. e. those who refuse to adopt her code of 
 faith and practice ; therefore your church inculcates 
 what St. John calls murder. Further — a murderei is 
 one who takes the life of his fellow creature unauthorized 
 by their common Maker. But God dogs not authorize 
 the taking of life of one who will not be of our creed ; 
 therefore, he who takes life because of such a reason, is 
 a murderer. 
 
 Who then are the tares ? you can say. What a future 
 is thus seen to be before your priesthood ! and what an 
 interest they have in sustaining my interpretion. That 
 thay may repent of their wickedness and find mercy, is 
 the sincere wish of him who now writes these strict iires. 
 
 We have in the 10th chap, of St. Luke's Gospel a 
 parable called the good Samaritan. It was given by 
 our Lord to correct an erroneous idea among 
 the Jews ; viz., that they were only bound in offices 
 of love to those of their own nation and church. (A 
 circumstance worthy of your full attention.) By this 
 parable we are shown that instead of destroying life 
 because a fellow creature does not believe as we do, and 
 is not associated by the same ecclesiastical tics, we 
 should, when called upon, exert ourselves to render 
 serv ice and save life. It is a practial illustration of the 
 second great commandment — of loving our neighbour 
 as ourselves. And that those even are our neighbours, and 
 as such have claims upon our love, who are neither of our 
 church or nation. Does this look like killing a man for 
 his religion ? 
 
 Having settled the sense, on the authority of Christ, 
 in which we are to interpret the term neighbour, wj 
 have opened up to us all those prohibitions of evil and 
 hate, which are so plentifully strewed throughout the 
 sacred volume — and which are so completely set. at 
 nought by your doctrines of persecution and murder. 
 Their letter and spirit are a forcible protest a jainst every 
 such dogma. 
 
 In St. Luke, the 9th chap., beginning at the 54:th 
 verse, we have another case remarkably to the point. 
 ** And it came to pass when the time was come that he 
 should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 m 
 
 Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face ; and 
 they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, 
 to make reaJy for him. And they did not receive him 
 because his face was as though he would go to Jeru- 
 salem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, 
 they said — Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to 
 come down from heaven, and consume them, even as 
 Elias did ? But he turned and rebuked them, and 
 said, ye know not lohat manner of spirit ye are of. 
 For the son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, 
 hut to save them.'^ Now, very candid reader, are not 
 your Popes, your Cardinals, your Bishops, your Priests, 
 your Press, your Ribbonmen, and all who imbibe the 
 horrid, and I will add, unscripural doctrine of your 
 church to persecute their fellow creatures, rebuked here 
 also? >'*:'"■>."■; tKr V •':,., -. * ''\'l^^ ''-'< "■-i.'iw ,i^ .'if.i'j£v» 
 
 Can there be two opinionsasto theresult to these jTrace- 
 less Samaritans, if, instead of its having been the Savour 
 they treated thus, it had been your Pope ? Imagine 
 to yourself that successor (?) of St. Peter — Hildebrand 
 — the person, and that he possessed the power prayed 
 for by the apostles — would that Samaritan village have 
 continued as Christ left it ? No : but as a heap of ruins 
 would it have testified to the terribleness of the power it 
 had provoked as to the greatness of the sin it had com- 
 mitted. And yet with such contrasts before us, we are 
 to believe that your Popes are Christ's vicars upon earth I 
 
 While these and such like scriptures, and they 
 abound in the New Testement, disprove the right of 
 any to persecute another, they are especially pointed to 
 those who have assumed the sacred office of the Chris- 
 tian ministry. These, especially, are called to possess 
 and exemplify the spirit of Christ as a mark of true 
 discipleship. " Let this mind be in you which was 
 also in Christ Jesus." To this end St. Paul exhorts 
 Christians to " consider him that endured such contra- . 
 diction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied 
 and faint in your mind." While he assures us that ' 
 '•the servant of the Lord must not strive ; but be gentle 
 unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness intruc- 
 ting those that oppose themselves ; if God paradventure 
 will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the 
 
94 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 truth.'' If the Ohristian minister is bound to teach these 
 truths, is he not even more so bound to exemplify them 
 in practice ? ,i ^i^nuy 
 
 In order to feel the force of these scriptures the more 
 perfectly, look at them as beautifully agreeing with the 
 Angel's announcement of a new born Saviour — "Qlory 
 to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will 
 towards men." And then imagine you see Christ along 
 with Charless the IX, of France, arranging for the mas- 
 sacre of St. Bartholomew — with the L)uke of Montfort 
 or Alva in the scenes of bloodshed and murder which 
 they perpetrated — or with Saint (?) Pominic in origina- 
 ting, or Caraffa, afterwards a Pope, in reviving the In- 
 quisition. Imagine, if you can, Jesus the Saviour of 
 the world, standing by while on' or other of the instru- 
 ments of torture are applied by which to induce a poor 
 wretch to confess his heretical opinions ; or, to convert 
 him from the error of his ways, and what a sensation of 
 horror takes possession of your mind. What I Christ 
 thus associated ! Never — never ! We can think of him 
 as living to teach, and dying to save, a world of sinners ; 
 — yea, of hearing him on his very cross praying for his 
 murderers, without a thought that detracts from his 
 heavenly nature ; — but to think of him as joining in the 
 persecuting acts of your church, is enough to horrify 
 any mind. Does it not that of my reader ? 
 
 The verdict of an intelligent world has gone out against 
 your church, and just aa a sense of morality and religion, 
 infused by a proper knowledge of scripture, extends 
 itself throughout the human family, so will that verdict 
 swell in volume and power to overwhelm the graceless 
 beings who could preach and practice persecution as a 
 duty inculcated by a God of love. Long after the fulfil- 
 ment of those dark andTearful utterances of the prophetic 
 spirit — which as a judgment hangs portentously over 
 your church — the mystic Babylon — shall the generations 
 of men wonder that human beings, in the garb and office 
 of christian priests, could teach, and those in the attitude 
 of Christian believers, could imagine, that torturing and 
 murder formed any part of the religion of Jesus Christ. 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 Quebec, 15th Sept., 1853. 
 
TO KOMAN CATHOLICS. 
 
 - ■< 
 
 95 
 
 t; 
 
 *">' ^- 1, 
 
 lETTER XIV. 
 
 'M. ( 
 
 Popery proved not to bo the Church — A Church of Christ — Refer- 
 ence to the past shews her condition to be one of peril — Tlio suf- 
 ferings of Ireland admonitory — The great influence which 
 popery exerts on a population of Papists and Protestants fraught 
 with evils. 
 
 ■", " Thou Shalt not kill." — Jehotah. 
 
 ,f'v ■ ■■:.": frr,,;',,;/,: .,;■'■ >•■ - 
 
 Having shewn you that the doctrine of persecution even 
 unto death is held and practised by your church ; and 
 that such a doctrine is anti -scriptural as it is inhuman ; 
 I claim to have established my assertion — That she is 
 not a Christian Church: therefore, neither the first 
 Church, nor the only Church, of Christ upon earth. 
 
 It is thus seen that she teaches less than Christianity ; 
 for while it commands us to love our enemies, she incul- 
 cates hatred to, and the destruction of, persons however 
 eminent for mental or moral worth, if they will not 
 profess her dogmas. 
 
 That she teaches more than Christianity ; inasmuch 
 as she enjoins that ** Christian poeple, bishops especially, 
 should have great zeal against heretics, and hate them." 
 
 That she teaches that which is contrary co the letter, 
 and repugnant to the spirit, of Christianity ; for she in- 
 cites to war, to bloodshedding, and murder, in dissemi- 
 nating and maintaining her creed ; whereas the gospel 
 proclaims not only glory to God in the highest ; but also 
 peace and good will to maWj and uiuAt._/.y.\ 
 
 That the truth she holds is neutralized in its influence 
 for good by the glaring errors with which it is adulte- 
 rated ; amongst which is the fearful one adverted to. 
 
 Here, then, my four propositions are seen to be prov- 
 ed ; and here is matter for your most serious considera- 
 tion. My appeal has been to the Holy Scriptures ; and 
 they should be regarded as the proper authority. 
 Much is said by your teachers against the exercise of 
 private judgment ; — and there are times when even your 
 own authorities recognize it, and appeal to it. Justin 
 
96 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDl{ES8i3D 
 
 fi 
 
 
 'M' 
 
 t*^ 
 
 I 
 
 J if i 
 
 !:}'■■ 
 
 
 Martyr says (thus supporting its exercise): — '* It is the 
 voice of reason and ever attended to by men truly pious 
 and worthy of the name of phik)sopher8, that truth alone 
 is the thing to be had in the highest honour, and to hold 
 the first place in the aifections, and the ancients to be 
 followed not one step liajrther than they are followers of 
 truth." Tertullian's rule is, *' Tame.i in eadem fide 
 con spir antes non minus apostoUcce deputantMr pro con' 
 sanguinitate doctrince.'^ That a church is to be ac- 
 counted aposotlic if it hold consanguinity of doctrine 
 with the apostles. But above all these fathers is St. 
 Paul, who by the Holy Spirit says : ** But though we 
 or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto 
 you than that which we have preached, let him be ac- 
 cursed." With whom we have your modern divine and 
 champion, whose words I will again quote : ** The 
 Church of Christ can only be that which believes wholli/ 
 and entirely the doctrine that was taitght by Christ and 
 delivered by his apostles. That church that would teach 
 any one point of doctrine contrary to the revealed Word 
 of God, and therefore heresy, would not be the chaste 
 spouse of Christ, but an harlot, and of the School of 
 Satan, and the gates of hell would prevail against her." 
 
 Can any thing be more pointed than this ? Is my ar- 
 gument admitted which fastens persecution upon your 
 church, and that such is anti -scriptural ; then it is esta- 
 blished that she preaches another Gospel than St. Paul 
 preached and should be accursed. Teaching, I say, as 
 we see that she does, *' doctrine contrary to the revealed 
 word of God, and therefore heresy she is not (so writes 
 your own Dr. Manning) the chaste spouse of Christ ; 
 but an- harlot and of the School of Satan, and the 
 gates of hell have prevailed against her. 
 
 1 am fully sensible that this must be to you a humiliat- 
 ing conclusion ; but inasmuch as it is a just one, you 
 are bound to receive it. Your allegiance is due to the 
 truth of God rather than to a system of man, however 
 specious or imposing. He who gave you an intellect 
 will never allow you to abandon it to the control of a 
 fellow-sinner. He demands that you employ it in ex- 
 amining what He says ; and in performing what ITe 
 
,T0 ROMAN CATHOUCa, 
 
 OT 
 
 commands. Vm resolved, therefore, to look the truth 
 full in the face ; and say to your priesthood, that unless 
 they abandon tlieir cruel dogmas of intolerance and per- 
 seeution you raust abandon them, lest you be partakers 
 not only of their sins but also of their punishments. 
 
 It surely must be within the apprehension of a child, 
 that God, a righteous governor of the world, must look 
 with indignation and wrath upon those who, usurping 
 His right, presume to take the life of a fellow-creature 
 without the clear and unequivocal direction of him who 
 alone is the author and disposer of their being. But 
 that millions of lives should be thus taken ; and that in 
 the sacred name of religion — thus combining blasphemy 
 most horrible with persecution most cruel — must lead to 
 the conclusion that surely some intimations of the mind of 
 Jehovah are to be gathered from his dealings with our 
 world. And do not the pages of history supply them ? 
 Have there been no retributive acts of Providence bj 
 which a church drunk with the blood of the saints has 
 been visited and admonished ? 
 
 There have been many, and the wonder is that they 
 have not been both by that church and the world, more 
 particularly marked and attended to. What shall we 
 say of the French revolution of the last century ? Turn 
 to the pages of France's history which narrates the doings 
 of St. Earthclomew's massacre, — note the particular 
 classes of her people who firamed and carried out those 
 bloody acts ; and then ponder her revolutionary scenes, 
 and as you see that on th^ priests and the aristocracy of 
 that nation, the slumbering but fearful judgments of 
 heaven burst with overwhelming power, you will be 
 apprised of tl^iis fact. How signally has God avenged 
 on that restless people, in the many battle fields of 
 Europe, as also in her own cities and towns, the blood of 
 her brethren slain for their faith in Christ. And is France 
 alone in the admonitory lessons which this subject 
 teaches ? No ; for from Italy — from Austria— from 
 Spain and from Portugal — is a voice heard peeling and 
 reverberating with impressive import. On either one of 
 these cases we might Unger and point to the doings of the 
 Avenger pf blood, whohathsaid—** Whoso sheddeth man** 
 
08 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDHESSET) 
 
 m 
 
 blood, by man shall his blood he shed ; for in the image 
 of God made he man." And again — '< Veigeauce in 
 mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord." 
 
 But stand and look over the past and present of poor 
 distracted Ireland ; and let me — fixing your attention 
 simply on the famine and pestilence of the last few years 
 — ask you from whence came they — from God or from 
 man ? Truly, you say they were God*s visitations. And 
 was it not remarkable, that although a world, moved in 
 sympathy for her sufferings, tried to relieve and save her 
 — it tried to relieve and to save in vain ? God had risen 
 in judgment, and from that purpose he was not to be 
 diverted ; neither was his victim to be delivered out of 
 his hands. On Ireland generally — do but upon Popish 
 Ireland especially — rested the rod of his indignation ; 
 and millions groaned and died under its pressure. Why 
 was this? Do you ask ? I ansiver • — that as under the 
 fair name of religion your people were taught to shed the 
 blood of their Protestant fellew countrymen ; and as the 
 torrents which flowed from time to time abundrntly tes- 
 tified how apt they were at receiving such lessons ; — so 
 the God of that religion thus prostituted, and of those 
 creatures thus butchered and slain — arose to avenge his 
 own insulted honour and the cry of ^lood from and on 
 a land saturated by its myriad victims. 
 
 Protestants, to a certain extent, shared in those suffer- 
 ings, because they had — contrary to the principles of 
 that Bible which is the depository of their faith — at 
 various times enacted similar scenes ; but inasmuch, as 
 while Protestantism repudiates all such acts, and blushes 
 over the instances in which they were perpetrated in her 
 name ; and Popery not only perpetrated them in accor- 
 dance with her principles, and therefore has shewn no 
 contrition before heaven for such outrages, but would 
 even again repeat them — so has the Almighty borne tes- 
 timony on her especially, and in the presence of the 
 world, of the hatefulness of such doctrines and such prac- 
 tices. Be assured of it, my fellow citizens, that God 
 aever would second the efforts of an arbitrary and unjust 
 government, as your priests have long told you that of 
 Great Britain has been to Ireland, with famine and pes- 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOIJCH. 
 
 09 
 
 tilence, particulary «uch as have visited her: — no, ho 
 ha» poured them out for other and graver reasons and 
 our duty is instead of liiStening to the declamations of de- 
 magogues whose object it is to mislead — to attend to the 
 voice of God, and to abandon all such conduct as is sure 
 to provoke sooner or later his vengeful ire. 
 
 But the subject of intolerance and persecution has 
 other ways of manifestmg itself, which must ever be 
 opposed to the prosperity, and destructive to the peace, 
 of a nation or a people. I allude now to the spirit of 
 division it fosters and maintains between Romanists and 
 Protestants. Why is it that we see ranged in opposing 
 forces Romanists and Protestants in all countries where 
 they both are found ? Is there not a reason that they 
 should be as much one in all political and municipal 
 arrangements and projects as any other classes of people ? 
 The line that marks the division of Romanist and Pro- 
 testant in England, in Ireland, in the United States and 
 in this province of Canada, is not more distinct than are 
 the evils which arise from it. Should such distinctions 
 exist ? Is there an absolute necessity for them ? Is 
 prosperity one thing to a Protestant and necessarily an- 
 other to a Romanist ? Are we not alike men — subjects 
 of the same moral government — animated alike by hope 
 and fear — susceptible alike of blessing and cursing, of 
 affluence and poverty, of joy and sorrow — and to be 
 ultimately elevated to the bliss of heaven, or depressed 
 to the miseries of hell ? Does not a Common Father 
 bless us — Has not a Common Saviour redeemed us — and 
 is not a Common Spirit moving us to love God and one 
 another? If then, in all things essential to our interests 
 for time and eternity, we are one ; is there not an impor- 
 tant — a pressing — reason, why we should resolutely put 
 out of the way the causes of our separation and distance ; 
 and cease at once to perpetuate measures which create 
 a gulph between us ? Unquestionably there is. Do 
 you ask me what should be done under these circum- 
 stances ? I will reply, hoping for your candid and serious 
 attention. 
 
 "5 To begin, I am assured nothing ever can be done 
 until you throw off that unnatural, and as unscriptural. 
 
100 
 
 ODBERVATIONfl ADDUE88BD 
 
 >!; 
 
 m 
 
 i; 
 
 Is • 
 
 yoke you have allowed your priesthood to impose upon 
 you. With the spirit of persecution they inculcuto 
 towards Protestants ao heretics, you must cast down that 
 spirit of intolerance they exercise over you as their serfs ; 
 and while you regard a minister of religion as one who is 
 to assist you in your way to heav^en ; be assured you dis- 
 charge no less a duty to (lod than to yourselves, when 
 you determine they shall no longer be lords over you to 
 dictate either the terms of your faith or the courae of 
 your conduct. ^ ' tdht-iti ^^ h,. tn]4,. , ..i.^ 
 
 The lust of power has long characterised your clergy, 
 and always threatened, when it could not destroy, those 
 liberties of laymen which have stood in its way. The 
 great principles advocated to carry out their ends are— • 
 that the Pope is the head of the church upon earth. As 
 the spirit is superior to the body, so is the spiritual over 
 the temporal ; therefore, as the Pope is the head of the 
 spiritual, he must be of the temporal ; consequently, all 
 kings and emperors, and powers of whatever grade, 
 are bound duly to recognize and honour this priestly su- 
 premacy and act in deference to his will. V S^rxa 
 
 These pretensions have oft shook the kingdoms of 
 Europe and filled their cities and fields with blood : while 
 they explain the never ceasing political intermeddling of 
 bishop, priest, and Jesuit, in every country and in 
 every court. Protestants are painfully conscious of all 
 this. They know that Rome is the centre and that all 
 allegiance in Romanism flows to the throne of the Vati- 
 can, and to be wielded by a hand that is as likely to he 
 raised against, as for, the interests of the people by whom 
 it is bestowed. In proof of this amongst many things 
 they see that money can be raised for professed objects of 
 charity and yet be appropriated to buildings for the in*, 
 carceration of nuns, &c., &c., while the poor arecompell* 
 ed to wander in unrelieved suffering from door to door;. 
 They see that the death-beds of the rich can be haunted 
 by priest and Jesuit, plying arguments of impositioH 
 and falsehood in order to lay hold of the property to he 
 left ; while desolate relations — sometimes widows and 
 orphans- are consigned to neglect and comparative, if 
 not to total, destitution. They see that elections can be 
 
 
TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. > 
 
 101 
 
 watched, and that in order to gain his end the priest can 
 threaten damnafon in all its horrors to the elector who 
 dares to be independejit ; or, if another mode of tactics 
 is prefered, he can " tell the Jihkojt — wlio will tell the 
 Pope — wlu) in turn will tell Jesus Christ T' — and thus 
 if a man would be unshackled in his course and act as a 
 free man, he must do so in the face of considerations of 
 overwhelming power to a superstitious mind. 
 
 Thus Protestants look on, and while they note this 
 gigantic priestly influence — never tiring — but always 
 ■working for dominion, power, and wealth, regardless alike 
 of its own people as of Protestants when they stand in 
 the way of il» object — they are constrained in self- 
 defence to circumvent, and if possible to destroy it ; 
 heartily desiring at the same time, that lloman Catholics 
 would see as they do, that a mutual interest should 
 league them in mutual oi)position ; for beyond a ques- 
 tion, that power which would crush a Protestant would 
 also alike depress the Papist layman. 
 
 Let me ask you in order to make this plain to your 
 minds, — would our condition in Canada be bettered if it 
 were changed for that of priest-ridden Spain — Naples — 
 Austria, or even Rome ? Would not a thrill of horror 
 come over you if .he regimf^ of Rome were now to 
 supplant that of Canada? And how long, think f/ou, 
 icould you be in reaching that condition if your clergy 
 were permitted to accomplish all thei/ desire ? 
 
 Think of France. How ardent was our hope that 
 when the throne of Louis Philippe wfs overthrown a 
 liberal and equitable constitution w ,/uld have been 
 framed, and thus a great and enterprising people, blessed 
 with freedom of action, might act as a regenerating 
 agent on the down-trodden nations of the continent. 
 P)Ut our hope was as the morning cloud, it soon vanished. 
 The ever wakeful power of your priesthood was soon 
 seen linked with that of a perjured usurper ; and she 
 who rose in her might and threw off the incubus of a 
 Louis Philippe, was next seen curbed and reined in the 
 land of the dual power of the Jesuit and the renegade, 
 annihilating the very liberty her own revolutioi* had 
 evoked. Is it, in view of these things, too much for 
 
J 02 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 Protestant'3 to ask you to break this yoke from off your 
 necks, and join with them in originating and carrying 
 out such measures as shall elevate our common country ? 
 That the name of Protestants and Papists should be 
 merged in the cr mmon one of Christian ; and those of 
 Frenchman, Irishman, and Englishman, in the more 
 natural one of Canadian; while the noble ambition of 
 improving our country by developing its almost il- 
 limitable resources, should be fostered and breathed by 
 us all ? Let me hope you will ponder these queries. 
 
 I have other facts to lay before you, which develop 
 yet more fearfully the unnatural power of your priest- 
 hood. To them I ask your candid attention, as to a 
 matter of supreme importance. If in any instance you 
 discover I step aside from what you consider the strict 
 line of truth, give me your correction, and you shall 
 quickly receive my acknowledgment. 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS, 
 . Quebec, Sept. 22, 1853. 
 
 i 
 
 ** 
 
 m- 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ADDBE8SEO 
 
 TO MY FELLOW CITIZENS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PUOTESTAIT FAITH. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 We are sometimes justified in stepping over the bounds set up bj 
 a well regulated society — When — Popery has revived — Under 
 •what circumstances — Our conduct as Protestants reprehensible 
 — That of our Legielators higlily so. 
 
 " Is there not a cause?"— David. 
 
 Having addressed a series of observations to my Roman 
 Catholic fellow citizens, J[ now presume to offer a few 
 to you. May I not hope that the importance of my 
 subject, and I think I should add, the sincerity of my 
 purpose, will secure for them your candid and serious 
 attention ? 
 
 There are times when we feel justified in stepping 
 pver the restrictions of well-regulated society, and freely 
 to animadvert upon the doings, or not doings, of a neigh- 
 bourhood or community. If, for instance, we are threa- 
 tened with any of those evils, such as plague, or famine, 
 or war, we do not ask our neighbour's permission to re- 
 mark upon that in his conduct which may promote or 
 aggravate the one or the other ; neither will w^e be 
 deterred from our strictures because we may possibly 
 offend him. The fact that the consequences of his 
 conduct extend beyond himself, and affect the peace, 
 :^nd probably the lives, of others, shews that every mem- 
 ber of society, while he shares the benefits of such an 
 
104 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 association, must submit to the interference of those 
 rules which are necessary not only for the individual 
 himself, but especially for the general good of the 
 whole. 
 
 This principle explains not less my motive in address- 
 ing, as I have done my Roman Catholic fellow citizens, 
 than of my now addressing you ; for threatened as I 
 conceive the Christian world to be, with an inundation 
 of Popery, which in itself, of evi! both to Papist and 
 Protestant, may be called Legion, all diffidence, and 
 especially that refined sensibility which some so well 
 afl'ect, I conceive to be out of place ; and the honest 
 and outspoken spirit of John BuUism to be the need of 
 the day. 
 
 It is now about fifteen years since an obvious resusci- 
 tation of Popery commenced. For many years previ- 
 ously it was barely on the defensive, while dislocation 
 and decay marked its downward tendency. The versa- 
 tile mind of France had leaped from its superstitious 
 mummeries to a natural transition — the infidelity of 
 Voltaire and his coajdutors. Spain began to shew a 
 spirit of restlessness under priestly intolerance, that 
 encouraged the hope that she would after all rise above 
 the consequences of her intended invasion of England 
 by her Invincible Armada. An invasion got up at the 
 instance of Rome and freighted witli the blessing of 
 the Pope and it, huge prepation of instruments of torture, 
 by which at once to crush the Protestantism and liber- 
 ties of England. But God then smote her in his wrath ; 
 since when she has crawled in abjectness and sorrow ; 
 buffeted by reverses out of which neither the Pope's 
 patronage nor emissaries have ever been able to extricate 
 her. An Esparterro arose in her midst, and although 
 a Catholic, he employed his authority to check the power 
 of Rome, and Spain bejfan to breathe and to exhibit 
 signs of returning prosperity. But soon agdfin the clouds 
 gathered in her sky; her noble -spirited regent was 
 dismissed from office ; priestly authority gained the 
 ascendant ; and there, as everywhere else, the descent 
 of the nation was as marked and complete. There 
 again is Rome triumphant, and there again and to all 
 
TO PROTESTANTS. 
 
 105 
 
 is witnessed in the prostration and mendicity of a once 
 valorous and wealthy people, that the blessing of Rome 
 is the bitter curse of a people, however great — of a 
 country, however fertile. 
 
 Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Belgium, were rest- 
 less under a sway they felt to be oppressive, and gave 
 unmistakeable indications that at least they would 
 restrict its power. For a time hope gleamed through 
 • the dark and troubled sky ; but the clouds, for the 
 presenty have closed again, and a darkness yet more 
 dense stretches along the horizon as far as the eye can 
 Teach. Whether this will be once more pierced by 
 heavenly light before, or not until, the judicial coming 
 of the Son of Man (by many thought to be near), to 
 judge " the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 
 with whom the kings of the earth have committed for- 
 nication" — ** for strong is the Lord God who judgeth 
 her" ; — must be left for God himself to declare. 
 
 Since 1838-40, the tide in favour of Popery, in the 
 acquisition of temporal power generally, has seemed to 
 turn ; for although in some portions of the river the 
 stream was still seen runing down, in others — especially 
 the Anglican Church of Great Britiain — it was observed 
 to rise. The encouragement which our National Church 
 supplied was a soothing balm, a cheering cordial, to the 
 Popish spirit, chafed and fretted on the Continent ; and 
 to the professing Protestant National Church of Br:*ian 
 belongs the honour (!) of having succoured Popery in 
 its hour of trial — in its time of need. Thus sustained, 
 it kept up courage amid many reverses, until a 
 reaction on the Continent enabled it to re -adjust its 
 position ; to re -construct its appliances ; and then to de- 
 vise and carry out measures alike for the consolidation 
 of its power and for the extension of its influence. 
 
 America generally, and Canada especially, is comprehe- 
 nded within these arrangements. Hence, sincethen, we 
 havebecome flooded with ecclesiastics (many of them for- 
 eigners, as better versed in the intrigues of their system,) 
 regular and secular ; with Jesuits, monks, friars, and 
 nuns, of various orders and colours, — Buildings have 
 been, or are being, reared in great numbers and of vast 
 
 I'! 
 
106 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 dimer,sions: while our legislative halls have been beset, 
 and most successfully, for acts of incorporation, and 
 other immunities, by whifh a religious, with a money 
 and a political power, might be generated and wielded. 
 
 Do 1 say wielded ? Yes : and that by an authority 
 whose centre is Rome and whose interests are mainly 
 foreign. Already is that power in full blast ; and in no 
 country are the lines of telegraphic communication more 
 perfect than those mediums of information and command 
 which issue to and from Rome to every part of the 
 Romish world ; and to Canada as a part of it. 
 
 The questions which should be deeply pondered by 
 the Protestant population of this whole province are : 
 shall we lie still and quietly submit, until so completely 
 within the folds of the huge constrictor we can do little 
 more than mourn over our utter ruin?^ Or, shall we 
 rise as a people, and put forth such vigorous and well 
 sustained efforts as shall convince an Antonelli, or a 
 Koothan, that while Romanists shall have e^ery privi- , 
 lege which they can enjoy without destroying the peace 
 and liberty of our country, they shall never be permit- 
 ted to wield an instrumentality which, when perfected, 
 it u their avowed intention of emploijing to annihilate 
 the religious liberties of their countrymen ? 
 
 To such an extent does vhe divine ruler of the world 
 permit man to frame his own destiny, that if man will . 
 extinguish his light, he will allow him to sit down ia 
 darkness ; that if he will tamely submit to, much less 
 insanely aid in building up a power that will crush him, 
 God will allow him to become its slave. Therefore, if 
 W3 submit to the extinction of our light, or to the growth f 
 of a destructive power in our midst — much less aid in *^ 
 effecting the one or the other, — we need expect no mi- 
 raculous interposition from God to save us from the ' 
 ignorance and vassalage of a Spain oi* an Italy. 
 
 These remarks I intend to apply to several important i. 
 points of our conduct as professors of the Protestant 
 ftiith and as members of the body politic. 
 
 How few of us, comparatively speaking, who treat 
 Protestantism, either in defending its interests or in 
 promoting its objects, as though we believed it to be 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
TO rnOTKSTAKTS . 
 
 107 
 
 the religion of the Holy Bible ? Will our conduct at 
 all compare witli our Kom&n Catholic fellow citizens, 
 whom we belive to'be the votaries of an erroneous faith ? 
 How small the proportion of professing Protestants who 
 have taken the trouble to understand the reasons of their 
 faithy or are prepared to defend it from the attacks of 
 llomanists, who have so generally assumed the aggres- 
 sive? Romanism is treated by its followers as though 
 they had an indubitable evidence (which we feel assured 
 they cannot have) that it is of God ; while Protes- 
 tantism is held as though it were a mere human arrange- 
 ment, and to which we were under no special obligations. 
 
 Can such a state of things operate otherwise than dis- 
 astrously ? Assuredly not. And itis a most ridiculous 
 fancy of the soft and easy going, who constitute a large 
 class of our community, that the encroachments of 
 Popery are to be withstood, and restrained in their pre- 
 sent dimensions by the course of indiftcrcntism which 
 they pursue. To every student of history, it is as plain 
 as the sun at noon -day, that there is a vigorous employ- 
 ment of the very measures which, in so many parts of 
 Germany obliterated all traces of the Reformation. 
 With large, bold, and specious plans of political intrigue, 
 by which every pulse is felt, every nerve is stretched, 
 every agent is watched, and every advantage dashed at 
 with a promptness and a daring that often astonishes, 
 there are vast schemes for educating the young arranged 
 and in operation ; if that can be called education, the 
 Alpha and Omega of which comprehends the teaching of 
 Romish dogmas, of legends of imaginary saints, and 
 of superstitious veneration for ceremonies and ceremo- 
 j- al operators. 
 
 ^ Protestant politicans are ensnared by the former, and 
 Protestant children by the latter, on whom a moulding 
 process Is carried on until the success of Rome is de- 
 demonstrated by results that sometimes even surprise 
 and bewilder the beholder. 
 
 That this power is vastly increasing in Lower Canada 
 is obvious and no less the reasons of it. Can it be oth- 
 erwise when Protestant parents patronize their educa- 
 tional establishments, even though aware that here, as 
 
108 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDREBSITtf 
 
 in Europe, many of the young have been perverted, and 
 others are being so, through t}\is vepy instrumentality ? 
 Should it surprise us when we see how many Protestants 
 can, for the sake of a reprehensible desire of exemption 
 from effort, and a little inconvenience, virtually abnegate 
 their political rights and responsibilities ? 
 
 Then see how ready our political aspirants, and mem- 
 bers of the legishiture, are to sell their influence to 
 Boraanisra on terms to the one, for ends many times 
 questionable, and if benefits, of but transient or limited 
 good ; but to the oth<sr for advantages lasting as time, 
 and with a power of augmentation with every revolving 
 year. 
 
 The last session of our legislature told much to this 
 effect. Those acts of incorporation, so confidently asked, — 
 and, generally, so obsequiously granted, have declared 
 how little our Protestant Legislature of Upper Canada 
 cared for the condition of Lower Canada, if they could 
 but obtain Lower Canada Romish influence for their 
 purposes. The best interests of the country were either 
 shamefully misunderstood or scandalously trifled with. 
 
 We may be told that these acts of incorporation were 
 for charitable purposes, and for limited amounts. But 
 we ask would any such means be withheld from any pur- 
 pose of Rome if so needed and demanded ? Is there not 
 here a veritable unity in the institutions of the papacy, 
 so that while they are nominally separate and distinct, 
 they are virtually and in reality one ? 
 
 Again — the amounts are limited ; but who shall see 
 that they are not exceeded ? Will our obsequious legis- 
 lators see to it ? Will the holders of the corporation 
 acts confess against themselves ? No more than they 
 will be restricted by the letter of the^e acts from exceed- 
 ing tiie amounts specified. It is all a farce, and our 
 legislators knew it, or they were unfit for their offio : 
 or knowing it, they, for unworthy considerations, failed 
 to apply that knowledge, but binding burdens upon the 
 country which it must either crouch under all its days, 
 or throw off by a revolution which may waste and scathe 
 the whole province. 
 
 We tell our Romanist, as we do our Protestant, 
 
TO PROTESTANTB. 
 
 109 
 
 fellow citizens, that to cover the land with ecclesiastical 
 institutions, and to swarm the country with men and 
 women, who, instead of earning their subsistence by 
 their own honest industry, suck it through the supersti- 
 tions apprehensi'^ns of their more worthy — but more 
 simple — fellow creatures, is neither for the glory of God, 
 the advancement of true religion, nor the prosperity of 
 a country. 
 
 On Protestants, as possessing not only ample means 
 of information on these points, but also, the fullest liber- 
 ty for investigation and of independent judgment and 
 action, rests the responsibility of treating them with the 
 earnestness and intelligence they demand, assured that 
 the condition of Europe is abundantly sufficient for 
 iuvStruction and warning against the gigantic, but ruinous 
 policy of the hierarchy of Rome. 
 
 One word more ere I conclude, and that is : remem- 
 ber that Protestantism is not simply separation from 
 Kome. Romanists and Protestants have alike fallen 
 into error here. Protestantism is not merely a repudi- 
 ation of the peculiar dogmas and despotism of Rome, 
 but also, the cardinal doctrines of justification by faith 
 alone, and the regeneration of our nature by the Holy 
 Spirit through the same prayerful faith : with which is 
 associated the catholic and cordial recognition of all 
 those evangelical bodies of Christians who although dif- 
 fering in comparatively minor points of faith and prac- 
 tice, nevertheless thus hold "the head even Christ ; from 
 whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compact- 
 ed by that which every joint supplieth, according to the 
 effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh 
 increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. 
 
 Therefore, prizing the name, and I trust much more 
 the spirit and reality of Protestantism, let us hold and 
 exemplify its divine principles, assured that the naDie is 
 a misnomer — an unprincipled assumption — when the 
 spirit is gone, and that to retain it then would be to hold 
 us up for the pity, if not the contempt, of every judici- 
 ous and right-minded Christian. 
 
 Further, this will enable us to disabuse the minds of 
 Papists of the supposition, that all are Protestants who 
 
110 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED 
 
 are not of them — and that we are accountable for the 
 vagaries and absurdities of a Mormon any more than 
 we are for those of a Mussulman. Luther and Zuingle, 
 although differing on various points of church order, 
 and even of faith, nevertheless sympathized as Protes- 
 tants and Christians, while they both joined to denounce 
 and put down the ravings and madness of the Anabap- 
 tists. 
 
 "Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, 
 and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and 
 walk therein." 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 
 Quebec, 29th Sept., 1853. 
 
 sHs 
 
 ■•■ "l 
 
 iA-^' -H^'* 
 
 ''\.'t>ix ft 
 
 ,.;.i-;vttsyx^ ;.:';'; -u^.: 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 CONCLUDING REPLIES TO CORRESPONDENTS O'G AND 
 
 OBSERVER. 
 
 To the Editor of the Quebec Gazette. 
 
 Sir, — Another favour from O'G. is acknowledged, aud its con- 
 tents dul}r marked. I take this early opportunity uf intimating 
 that if this his last correctly indicates the modus operandi in 
 which he proposes conducting a controversy on the relative merits 
 of Popery and Protestantism, Expostulatus at least will leave him 
 alone in his glory. Such twaddle I have neither time nor incli- 
 nation to attend to. 
 
 " / opened the book of hittory and found Proieataniiam cradled 
 in lust and pride," Wonderful 1 1 opened the book of history 
 and found Moses cradled in an ark of bulrushes and on the brink 
 of the !N'ile ; ergo, Moses was an alligator 1 1 
 
 ** /traced its adolescence through murder and rapine" What a 
 march of intellect 1 I traced the adolescence of Christianity 
 through the conduct of a Hildebrand and an Alexander: ergo^ 
 Christianity is a systen of murder and rapine. 
 
 " I saw it in rampant manliood, tyrannical, intolerant, unjust." 
 I saw the infallible head of the Romish church in rampant man- 
 hood seize hold of an aged and Icained man : I saw it condemn 
 his system of astronomy ae fearful heresy ; and imprison him in 
 a dungeon, until, forswearing his conscience, he called that wrong 
 which from mathematical demonstration he believed to be right. 
 Yes, Mr. Editor, O'Q-. and your humble correspondent have, seen 
 many strange things in the pages of history ; but as some have 
 said in reference to Galileo's conclusions, so say I of Protestantism, 
 having studied the matter for myself I have failed to discover 
 the ground for such imputations as have been thrown upon it. 
 
 *• In my first letter, J quoted from history the acts of its found' 
 et' s — / proved that while it was yet youny it murdered, butchered, 
 robbed" — Awful indeed I Suppose, Mr. Editor, I were to quote 
 from history the conduct of Peter in swearing and denying his 
 Lord aud Master, Christ Jesus ; his act of dissimulation, in conse- 
 quence of which St. Paul "withstood him to the face, because he 
 was to be blamed," and therefore I arrive at the conclusion, that 
 Christianity while yet young, lied, deceived, cursed, and swore ; 
 and that every pope who has sat in St. Peter's chair or worn the 
 fisherman's ring, was a lying swearing impostor, and should have 
 been confronted and condemned as such uy every man of truth 
 and sincerity — what could O'G. say to me on his own principle of 
 reasoning } 
 
112 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 " Ex. has no disposition to deny the cases of persecution quoted" 
 — certainly not ; uo more than he can forbear Buying that he finds 
 it hard to believe that O'G. knowB what he is writing about. 
 
 " ' Jle assured O'G, it had taken Protestants very considerable 
 trouble to purge away that Popish leaven which so fully tainted 
 the feelings and biassed the iuagment of those who either directly 
 or indirectly received their education frmn Rome." Does O'G deny 
 this ? No, but he does that which is more congenial to his taste 
 — and for which he is acaniring for himself a name — he gives us 
 one of his characteristic nourishes ; and thus at a stroke disposes 
 of his opponent and his argument. 
 
 Yes, the kind, the consistent, lo'^ical Ex., is obliged to admit that^* 
 — what ? That a horse-chestnut is a chestnut-horse ? — Oh 1 no ; 
 this would require the lexical powers of an O'G. to demonstrate ; 
 — but " that Protestant feeling was • tainted in feeling and biassed 
 in judgment at its commencement ! Wltat a proof of its divine 
 origin /" Equally so of the divine origin of O O.'s logic. Whate- 
 ly — hide thy minished head ; nor dare again to write on logic y^- 
 while O'G. lives. •/ ^ 
 
 O'G. would show us that his knowledge of ** Saint Luther " ie 
 very considerable ; this he does by supplying some very select and 
 tasty quotations from his (?) works. But who is " Saint Luther ?" 
 Protestants not having assumed the power of canonizing their 
 worthies must acknowledge their indebtedness to O'G.'s. church for 
 this honour. Still, I think, many will rather demur at this act of 
 Baiutship ; for while they know that Luther had his infirmities, 
 and considering the age in which he lived, and the school where 
 he received his education, they might have been many more with- 
 out surprising us — ^yet the respect they entertain for his eminent 
 qualities of mind and heart, and as well for the services he has 
 rendered to the cause of truth, they will never be satisfied to have 
 his name placed in a calendar where that of a Dominic and a Li- 
 gouvi figures. 
 
 The labour which O'G. employs to prove that I was wrong in 
 my estimate of his knowledge of Luther serves to deepen my 
 impression on this point. I still think it very much needs impro- 
 ving. 1 will explain as follows : — Suppose that I professed to 
 have quite a knowledge of Pio Nono, and that yet all I wrote and 
 spoke of him was on the ludicrous figure he cut whan escaping 
 from Rome on a late and memorable occasion. I described to a 
 tittle the particulars of his disguise; — the coat — the cap — the 
 boots, Ac, Ac, which he then wore as he stole away from his 
 loving and obedient subjects. I even narrated with remarkable 
 precision the edifying discourse he held with the coachman, as, 
 habited like a servant, he rode by his side and away from the 
 throne of the Caesars — the chair of St. Peter — and the honours of 
 the Vatican. To all which I gave chapter and verse — tome and 
 edition, in a string of references as long as O'G's. arm. What 
 would all this amount to ? I can imagine a candid looker on 
 saying to me — Mr. Ex. your knowledge of Pio Nono **needs impro- 
 ving,'* If you really wish to know all about that remarkable 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 113 
 
 ted" 
 qcIb 
 
 able 
 nted 
 ^ctly 
 Icny 
 uste 
 !B us 
 uBea 
 
 har 
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 •ate ; 
 issed 
 \vin9 
 aate- 
 iogic 
 
 "if 
 
 land 
 ler?" 
 their 
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 here 
 v^ith- 
 nent 
 i has 
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 % Li- 
 
 igin 
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 Lable 
 I, as, 
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 ipro- 
 cable 
 
 personage that may be known, dont stoop to such sources of infor- 
 mation, which, to say the least of thcin, a.'e exceedingly ques- 
 tionable. Works hold by adversaries skilled in the art of erasure 
 and interpolntion, and well known to have followed it when it was 
 considered desirable to damage a character or otherwise to reach 
 an end ; but procure a copy of his works, which with an honest 
 impartiality has exhibited his excellencies with his infirmities ; 
 then you can weigh the one with the other and jud^e accordingly. 
 To this candid monitor I turn over my opponent O'O. I hope this 
 sage counsel will do him good. 
 
 One other particular only will I notice in O'G's. second commu- 
 nication ; it is as follows : — 
 
 " For the information of Ex." (why has he so soon dropped the 
 term of Rev.? Was he afiaid of censure from his clergy?) " / 
 wish to tell him that I havf several copies of the Bible in JUnglith^ 
 and that in a future letter I shall give him a list of the different 
 editions of the sacred book which have been published by Catholic 
 authority during the last tvjenty years" O'G. might save himself 
 that trouble. I could learn very much on that subject bv consult- 
 ing my files of the British and Foreign Bible Society s reports. 
 That Catholic Society has done wonders in this respect withm the 
 last twenty years. 1 dare sav, however, that O'G. means his own 
 church, which he ridiculously calls Catholic 1 How strangely 
 words come to be used 1 
 
 It would be "information to Ex," and to mam^ others, if O'G. 
 would say whether or not he got his several Bibles in English 
 from those piles of them which at different times have been burn- 
 ed in the yard of the St, Patrick's church in this city ? for if so, I 
 would advise him to find out the owners and return them to them. 
 It would be much more gratifying to Ex. and to the Protestant 
 comnmuity, if, instead of the list O'G. purposes supplying, he 
 could assure them that the church of Rome was about to take off 
 the restrictions she has so long imposed upon her people, and to 
 permit them fully and freely to read those Scriptures, which, ac- 
 corning to St. Paul, are able to make us wise unto salvation. 
 
 The Edit(»r of the Journal de Quebec has published a list of 
 editions of the Bible in the vulgar tongue before the days of Lu- 
 ther ; — will he tell his readers how many of these editions are not 
 inserted in the index as prohibited by the scored congregation ? 
 
 To conclude — I am engaged in proving that the church of O'G. 
 is not a Christian church — and therefore, not either the first church 
 or the only church of Christ : if he can disprove my arguments 
 from the canons and acts of his church and the Holy Scriptures, 
 he will have my attention ; but if his productions are to be of the 
 stamp of the one I am now answering, he must excuse me if I 
 leave him to those who may have more time and taste for such 
 labours than I can command or employ. 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 Quebec, 6th Septenber, 1853. 
 
lU 
 
 ArPRMDIX. 
 
 To the Editor of the Qucl)ec Oacette. 
 
 Sir, — Having •' had tho temerity" ( how fearful !) " to refer" 
 to the bazaar held by, " the oummittco uf the St. Patrick's Ladioa' 
 Charitable Society " last autum in this city, and throu^rh wbioh 
 net having caused a statement of tho sum realized, and tlio mode 
 of its appropriation, to bo laid before the public, I venture to say, 
 Mr. £ditor, that in the event of the statement being as well recived 
 as " Observer " must naturally desire, that 1 am entitled to a vote 
 of thanks for thus bcin^ instrumental in removing an amount of 
 odium from the executive of that church, which no duly sensitivo 
 body of Christians would willingly submit to. 
 
 7 here is a difference between " Observer " and myself in the 
 Bum which the bazaar netted. He says, " with regard to tho sum 
 I find there is only a difference of a handful of hunderds — the 
 netproceeda of the bazaar being £65U 1 
 
 To which discrepancy I remark, that tho sum of £900 wai 
 
 will content myself by adding, they were amongst the most 
 active in getting up the bazaar, as they were in selling on the 
 days of public admission. 
 
 The sttotement made of the distribution of its proceeds 
 " Observer " designates " upon authority that cannot be shaken," 
 to be " ft cool, bitter, unmitigated slander." Then, for his comfort, 
 if BO it can minister, I tell him that " coul, bitter, unmitigated slan- 
 der " come originally from the members of his own church. This 
 fact, ere this, I d>^,re say, the priest has obtained through the 
 confessional. It is characteristic of an Irishman, that when 
 excited he speaks out without duly weighing consequences. 
 This may account for the free and indignant manner in which 
 some of them spoke of the mode in which the bazaar proceeds 
 were appropriated. Since then, howevt3r, they have been brought 
 down under duo ecclesiastical infliction, and probably will now 
 be quiet. 
 
 Admitting, I repeat the expression, that the statement which 
 " Observer " has given U8 is as well received as he could desire, 
 there is one thing which an impartial community will learn, viz — 
 to receive with great caution what the members of the St. Patrick's 
 Church affirm, either in their jubilant feelings of achievement, or 
 in their indignant ones of 'Usappointment. 
 
 Another thing which "Observer " must allow us to take into ac- 
 count while weighing his statement, versus the complaining ones of 
 his church, is : — A Romanist is not likely to speak against hia 
 churcli, and in violation of all his superstitious veneration for its 
 power and authority, without some strong and exciting reason ; 
 whereas another may feel it a duty — ^yea, leap at it as a privilege — 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 116 
 
 to defend her from tho damaging reflectioDs of a ProteBtant oven 
 although in his oonscionco ho knows hor to ho wrong. 
 
 •' Ohserver " may toll ns that I insult, two hundered milliom, of 
 Oatholica" hy such an asBortiuD ; Imt if tho truth— tho uttoraLoo 
 of which is rendered uccceMsary in tho oauso uf righteousness — 
 implies such an insult — so bo it. 
 
 That "tho end justifies tho means " has long boon a popular 
 doctrine of Observer's church ; and that I do not misrepresent 
 him in this case I will cite for him — no, for the public,— (he, 
 doi'btlcss, knows them sufficiently well himself) — a few examples. 
 
 " Notwitlistandiug, indeed, although it is not lawful to lie, or to 
 feign what is not, however it is lawful to dissemblo what is or to 
 cover the truth with wonJH, or other ambiguous and doubtful 
 sigus, for a jusi caxuo and when there is not a neeenaity of con- 
 feuainff." 'ha*, Coram. 6 Thom. Kon. dis. 16. dub. 2. n. q. Laym. 
 
 T 
 
 1. 2. t 1. c. 11. " (Vol. 2, B. 3. eh. 8. p. 116 of Saint Liguori. 
 
 Then the members of " Observer's" Church inay dissemble what 
 is, or cover the truth with words, or other ambiguous and doubtful 
 signs for just cause, (W^ho shall judge in the justness of the oaudo 
 if not the priesthood H And wluit sort of a judgment is likely to 
 be rendered when money is concerned ?) Therefore, may we not 
 suppose that the two hundred pounds, said to be "given to tho 
 Sisters of Charity for tho maintenance of Irish Orphan Children," 
 were rather for the building of their great house; and may not 
 the supposition throw considerable light upon the indignation felt 
 and expressed by members of that church when such an arrange- 
 ment was announced and defended by their pastor? Observer 
 will scarcely prevent such an impression from getting abroud.. 
 
 That the instance of authorized equivocation (alias lying) given 
 above, is not the only one that may be supplied, I will be at 
 the ti'ouble of transcribing another extract or two from the works 
 of the very popular saint already mentioned ; on which I doubt 
 not a thinking public will reflect with no measured surprise. 
 
 ** When you are not asked concerning the faith, not only is it 
 unlawful, but it is often more conducive to the glory of God and 
 tho utility of your neighbour, to cover the faith than to confess 
 it ; for example, if concealed among heretics you may accomplish 
 a greater amount of good ; or, if from the confession of the faith 
 more of evil would ioUow — for example, disturbance, death, irri- 
 tation of a tyrant, danger of defection, if you should be tortured ; 
 whence it is often hazardous to offer one's self uncalled for. S.Th. 
 Sane. Laym. c. 1 1. n. 2." (Vol. 12, eh. 3, p. 117.) 
 
 What a pity tho apostles ar 1 other martyrs had not studied in 
 the school of this saint ; for then, possibly, they might have prac- 
 tised concealment of their faith, and thus have saved themselves 
 from a violent death 
 
 Further — " These thiagg being settled, it is a certain and a com- 
 mon opinion among divines, that for o, just cause it is lawful to use 
 equivocation in the modes propounded, and to confirm it (equivo- 
 cation) WITH AN OATH 1 Lcss. 1, 2. c. 41, n. 47. Card. diss. 19, n, 
 86. Salm. tr, 17. de Juram, cap. 2, n. 116, ex, 5, Hieron, 2. 22. 
 g. 2. (Vol. 2, B. 4, treat 2, p 316.) 
 
116 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Noi^ with these doctrines before us ; and as well the following 
 considerations : — 
 
 1 . A number of the members of the St. Patrick's Church ex- 
 pressed strong and ajgry dissent from the appropriations of the 
 Dazaar made last winter. 
 
 2. Such sentimentb, if widely circulated and believed, would 
 do serious damage to their church ; 
 
 " A just cause," in the estimation of any Romanist, would be 
 even by means of equivocation with an oath, to free his church 
 from such an imputation; therefore Observer must understand 
 tibat his statement will be received with much hesitancy and doubt. 
 
 Then, again, many ^lU feel not a little surprise at reading that 
 £200 was placed in the hands of the " Society of St Vincent de 
 Paul" for distrubution, when they know there i . in the church-.— 
 with its pnstor at its head — a " Ladies' Charitable Society." Nor 
 less, that notwithstanding the great numbers of poor from that 
 congregation, who almost daily, especially in winter— call at our 
 doors for charity, there could be et in hands, ut almost the end of 
 a year, one humdbed pounds I l^ruly, these are marvellous disclo- 
 sures I 
 
 To other portions of Observer's letter I will now briefly allude. 
 
 He is indignant that I should "impute to two hundred snLLiONA 
 of Catholics that their religion forms * no portion' of the church of 
 God, but its fearful antagonism." But let me ask him, is his opi- 
 nion less strong and decided on Protestantism ? Does he or does 
 he not believe with his church that^ Protestantism is u dts^xcUy^ 
 damning, heresy. ^"i 
 
 In his indignant remarks he proceeds, saying : " who seems to 
 believe that the Catholic clergy 'ipere merely exhibited in their pro- 
 p^ colours' when described by Gavazzi as the •Soul of Satan,'" 
 Ac To this I reply by asking Observer : Is he prepared to deny 
 that his clergy are pledged by solemn oath to persecute and des- 
 troy — roiu'der — heretics, i. e., Protestants? Will he repudiate 
 the records of history, which identify his church with thebut- 
 v,heries of St Bartholomew in France — of the Albigenses in Pied- 
 mont—the Irish massacre of 1641, &q., <kc., and especially those of 
 the infernal tribunal of the holy (?) Inquisition ? Can he dcLounce 
 L'Uhivers, which the other day told France "that another Bartho- 
 lomew masacre had become necessary ? " If not, and he well knows 
 that be dares not, then I aver, without any hesitation or circum- 
 locution, that no expression that I have yet seen ascribed to Gavazzi 
 reaches the dark enormity of his theme. So long as Observer's 
 clergy teach, and when they can, practice their hon-id tenets of 
 persecution, so long must they expect to be exhibited in no very 
 flattering colours. 
 
 To relieve Observer in his supposition that I deal in assumed 
 facts, I inform him that he can find hir extract from my letter in 
 its origiiial place in pp. 162 and 3 of the work from which I so 
 largely quoted. It is entitled — " The Mystery solved ; or Ireland's 
 Miseries : the grand cause and cure. By the Rev. Edward Marcus 
 Dill, A. M., Missionary Agent to the Irish Presbyterian Church." 
 
mmtmi 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 117 
 
 Thus he will see my authority is not a tourist writing for minis- 
 terial honours, but an Irishman, born, and rearec' and living in the 
 country where his book was published, and remains, I have reason 
 for believing, to this day unanswered. Dr. Forbes' opinion will 
 weigh but as a feather against his ; and especially against the moral 
 and social condition of a people degraded by a priesthood whose 
 influence would have been widely diflferent if their religion and 
 example had been Christian. Is it not a little amusing that I have 
 heard Irishmen referring to my letters, and noticing particularly 
 tlte paragraph to which Observer takes exception, and have said 
 that such scenes as those of selling holy salt to cure potato blight 
 they themselves have witnessed ? 
 
 The learned, but Unitarian, Dr. Chann*- ^, might very possibly 
 have written some highly flattering things of Catholics, while re- 
 viewing such a life as that of Feuelon ; so might he, while review- 
 ing those of a Pascal^ a Galileo, and others whom I might men- 
 tion ; but it would spoil all he wrote for Observer's purpose if he 
 had only added what these good and learned men (exceptions to 
 the multitude) suffered from their powerful and bigoted co-religi- 
 onists for maintaining the very excellencies of character he so ar- 
 dently admires. 
 
 EXPOSTULATUS. 
 
 Quebec, 24th Sept., 1868. 
 
 * ...I i< 
 
 I