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Las diagrammas suivants illustrant la mtthoda. f errata d to It la pal u re, pon d n 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 32X I ► I i TWJK1.%'K ->^K.VI^ i i ''♦MAN rjiTH(1|jr pvjm. ^\f W- -Ufe AVTQ»iimii.fP' m THE ' f W X't^T-'tx^r ^>FFER, I. .A ■♦%" ' '■'!»■'.• ,'*'-■.«*• IX « It A.* **,>' ? MONK m tm ■ JAJHlgR AS MTLFiAKV It OF St Fa.^N€lH, ;- \-. :j^-' ■ ' ' -■.,:., '^U^IOJ- 1^. j -*^ : ^ ' , fi^ , il T. Wi'' i P : * " ~" • ■ •^-- ; -'--.■■ -.J::,^! , - -_i;.^r,i-;. -"■■^^■^=^ =4' ^ jj k ,,-^,v»~, ^*S'^N^4"N* if-'-'' ^If rfl' Oi ^S^ ^yi-<^<-^'^' u * T'VS^Kr.VE YEA.HS A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, on, THE AUTOUIOORAl'lIT OF TUE REV. V. p. MAYERIIOFFER, M. A., LATE MILITARY CHAPLAIN TO THE AUSTRIAN ARMY, AND GRAND CHAPLAIN OF THE ORDERS OF FREEMASONS AND ORANGEMEN, IN CANADA, B. N. A., CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF IIIS CAREER AS ; ILITARY CHAPLAIN, MONK OF THE ORDER OF ST. FRA.CIS, AND CLERGYMAN OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN VAUGHAN, MARKHAM AND WHITBY, C. W. v>v/X.'»>rV.^ y 'V^-* TORONTO : RO^VSELL 1 ELLI?, riUNlERS, KINO STREET. 1861. if* i . / , it i-- . * J i - • ' ! ( J' ? '» ) * 'V*- # r^■;^< ££i'23IS^ "-^^ \ > ..J i I ss^- ^ I CONTENTS. I , *4 i \ CHAPTER I. My parentage, education, and apprenticeship, in the town of Papa —111 treatment by my fellow apprentices — I attempt to enlist — Am imprisoned amongst the common felons — Released by my uncle- Flight to Baja — Employed by a baker — Meet one of my former tutors , — Am reinstated in tho schools — Visit my mother — Unkind reception — Description of the city of Tata — Attempt to enter the order of St. Francis — Am sent to Bilts — Nearly terrified to death at Nemea Mile- tich Description of the Slavonites. CHAPTER II. Battle of Moh&ts — Finish my Theological studies — Am ordained by the Archbishop of Coloca, and the Bishop of Alba Julia — Description of the seven orders conferred on the Priests of the Church of Rome — Appointed curate to my uncle in the city of Neoplnnta — Preach and sing mass before my mother at Tata — Transferred to the curacy of Priglavitza Szentivanj' — An immoral rector, ond unjust sentence — A woman given 100 lashes — A murderer protected from justice by the Church of Rome — Procure a Latin Bible — First dawn of light — Ap- pointed military chaplain at Peterwardein, and finally regimental chaplain to the 60th, commanded by Ignatz Count Gyulay— Journey to Austrian Poland — Intemperate and filthy habits of the Poles — War between France and Russia — March with the French army to Russia — Retreat from Moscow — Mediation of the Austrian Emperor refused by Napoleon — Alliance between Austria, Russia, and Prussia — March tirough Silesia to Bohemia — Stockings nine feet long — A watchmaker puts oat his apprentice's eyes — Battle of Jena — Retreat from Dre-den — Taken prisoner by the French — Singular dream of Napoleon — The nnn's prophecy to Josephine — Napoleon's visit to her, and her predic- tion to him — Defeat of Wandam at Culm by Prince Schwartzenberg. CHAPTER III. March towards France — Birthplace of Prince Albert — Relics of Luther at Eisleben — Fall sick — Arrival at Mayence — Meet a fellow- countryman — Battle of Leipzig — Defeat of Napoleon at Frankfort by Wreden — Napoleon escapes disguised as a waggoner — Pestilence in Mayence — Escape to Oppenheim — Secreted in the belfry of a church — Departure of the French — The Maire dies of fright — Am elected Maire of Oppenheim — Arrival of the Russians — Go to Manheim — Rejoin my regiment — Enthusiastic reception — Handsome conduct of the Austrian GoYemment — March to Paris — Napoleon arms 100,000 citizens — Cap CONTENTS. ture of Paris by the allies — Roge of Napoleon — General Bubna chal- lenges him — Abdication of Napoleon — Louis XVIII. takes possession of the throne — March to Italy — Turin — A pleasant aclrenture — Kind- ness of Colonel Csamotxajr — Enter Switierland — Norbertine monks of Mount 8t. Bernard — Description of Switxerland — Quartered at Ber- gamo—Napoleon lands at Cannes — Treachery of Ney — March to Bologna — Body of St. Catherine prefterved from decay for 340 years — Imola — Piacenia — Pavia — Description of a splendid monastery of Carthusian monks — Sacrilege of Napoleon — Altnr of sea-horse teeth — Cathedral at Milan — March towards Paris — Capture of a French fort — Dogs blowing the bellows — Waterloo — Koyiew of 60,000 men be- fore the allied sovereigns — Peace proclaimed — Visit the old rector a€ Oppenheim — Return to my regiment at Molsheim. CHAPTER IV. * '" "*' ' Resign my chaplaincy — Appointed to the parish of Klingenmunster — Duke of Wellington — Write to bishop of Philadelpha — Sail from Amsterdam — Vicar General DeBarth — Jesuits — Their possessions at Canewago — Fathers Britt and Lekue — Invitation to join the society of Jesus — Infamous character of Lekue — Rings and Hydrophobia — Su- perstitious merchant — Seduction of a young Irish lady — Agnus Dei — DeBarth — His character — A middle aged woman, and Susan — DeBarth and Lekue delude the people out of $6,000 — Attempts to get rid of me — Forbidden to preach — Disturbance in the Church — Mr. Ruber — An intercepted letter — A plot brought to light — Churchwardens called in — Lekue very angry — Lekue's attempt to poison me — Remove to Mr. Shorb's — DeBurth cheats an old lady out of $600— Go to the parson- age — Interview with DeBarth — Jesuitical duplicity — I become angry— Threaten to break DcBarth's hend — Perform my duties as usual — In- terview with the three priests — Refusal of testimonials — Mr. Huber and I leave the Church of Rome — Open a drug store — Bishop of Maryland approves of DeBtirth's conduct — I marry — Attempts of the priests to get me back — Interfere with my wife — Study the Scriptures — Join German Reformed Church — Begin English — Become acquainted with Episcopal clergymen at Buffalo — Write to Bishop of Quebec-^ Examined at Toronto — Received into the Church of England — Ap- pointed to Vaughan and Markham — Rebellion in 1837 — Gotlieb Eck- hardt — Locked out of my church — Go to Toronto — Consult the Attorney General — Break open the Church — Threatened to be shot — Church nailed up — Orangemen from Brown's corners drive away the rebel guard, and open the Church — Law suit — Imperfect title — Lose the Church — Build one in Vaughan — Two more in Markham— Declining health — Superannuation — Remove to Toronto — Go to Perrytown — Build another church — Generous conduct of the congregation — Dan- gerous illness— Forbidden to preach— Retire to Whitby— Editor's note. *.t' ■ I i,{' .^4 ' ^ i, ' ; ». » CONTENTS. PART II. ^ I OHAPTIB I. Neglect of the Bible— FranciscAD order in Austrin — Begging Friari — Vow of Porerty— How kept— Chastity— Pnul HI— The chest in the wall — St. Petronella — PricHt at Bologna — Five young ladies — Obe- dience — The Jesuits — 10(»,000 Orangemen — Suppression of Jesuits by Emperor Joseph— Count Kaunitx and " the prater" — A rich lady — An honest Jesuit — An empty coffin — A regiment of Cuirassiers — Priest of Oshawa. CUAPTBR II. Faith The church — Traditionr — Relics — Iniquity established by law — Head of the church — First Pope^Desecration of the Subbath. ,, . CHAPTIR III. :f. Scotus — Bellarmine — Cardinal Cajetan — Fisher — Justin Martyr — Irenseus — Tertullian — Origen — Cyprian — Agustine — Pope Qelasius — Erasmus — Lateran Council. CHAPTKR IV. Sale of Masses — Douay Catechism — Hungarian Catechism — Council of Trent — Adventure in Whitby — Sacrifice of Christ — High and low mass — St. Bernard — Vestments— When worn — Processsiou at Milan — IMrections fbr mass. CHAPTER V. Last mention of Mary — Rheimish doctors — St. Anne — Doctors of the Sorbonne — St. Anselm — Garden of the soul — Dr. Challoner — "Ave Maris Stella" McCuIloch St. Bridget — Crasset's miracle — A man three days under water — Prayers to the virgin, 80,000,000 per diem from Great Britain — MisapplioaUon of title of saint — Distribution of saints — A black virgin and child. CHAPTER VI. Sf Celibacy not of God — St Paul — Marriage no hinderance to minis- terial duty — St. Peter a married man — Early fathers of the church married men. CHAPTER vu. Decree of the Council of Trent — Sin against the Holy Ghost — Scrip- ture authorities — A cardinal's joke — Archdeacon of Toronto — Cere- mony at St. Michael's — Translation of souls in Dublin — Black velvet and crabs — Tract circulated in Tuscany — Apochryphal books — Ques- tions for the Priest. CHAPTER VIII. Romish Catechism — Satisfaction of divine justice— Merits of saints —Bull of Urban VIII— Its effects— Dupin— Tax of apostolic chancery — WesseluB— A man flogged in the confessional at Thomhill— Popery «< Semper eadem." CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. Arrogance of the church — Substitation of the Breviary — Constantine the Great — Introduction of heathen rites — Suppression of the Bible — WyclifTe— Lather— Bull of Leo X— Opening of St. Michael's, Toronto — <7oiincil of Trent— An Irish gentleman. CHAPTBR X. Use of the word church — A visible church — Immaculate concep- tion — Disputes — Oreek church — Unity — Church of England — Infalli- bility of the Pope — Bishop Hay — Jesuits and Jansenists — Sanctity — Profligate priests — Coveteous bishop and cardinals — History of the Popes — Dr. Claget — Apostolicity — Primitive churches. »r-t CHAPTCR XI. Penance — Duty of confession — Venial and mortal sins — Lifting a finger — Scripture authorities. ,. ^,.u: CHAPTER XII. A Tf ritten law — False arguments — The patriarchs — Meaning of tra- ditions, and their origin and design. CHAPTER XIII. Worship of saints in the Church of Rome — Voluntary humility — St. Thomas a'Becket — His shrine — Death and funeral of the Virdn Mary —Her assumption — The Virgin and St. Dominic — Alanus Redivivus— Hautin angelus custcs — Insults to the memory of Mary. CHAPTER XIV. Romulus — Popes enriching the calendar — False translation of St. James — Canonization cf Andrew Avelino. CHAPTER XV. Doctrines of Luther — Antichrist — Luther on Galatians- tions of God — My troubles in the monastery — Peace of mind. -False no- CHAPTER XVI. —XJTVIf aii ■ Wi Doctrine of the Council of Trent — Catechism — The dying christian — Power of Satan— The church of Rome a destroyer of souls — Destruction of the man of sin — Glory of the true church. APPENDIX. Brief memoir of the author's last days — Correspondence — Account 1 1 the author's funeral, &c. , :-t . , : 1 ' a- • V * t p INDEX. PART I. Chapter I. — My Parentage, Education, &c., " II. — Battle of Mohats, - " III. — March towards France, IV. — Resign my Chaplaincy, (( 13 35 51 75 PART II. Chapter I.— Corruptions of the Church of Rome, - 105 " II. — Doctrinal Errors of the Church of Rome, 125 " III. — Transubstantiation, - - - . 137 " IV. — Doctrine of the Mass, - - . 145 " V. — Idolatrous Worship of Saints, - - 169 *' VI. — Concerning the Celibacy of the Priests, 176 " VII. — Purgatory a Mere Human Invention, - 186 " VIII. — Fallacious Doctrine of Indulgences, - 209 ♦« IX — The Bible DigRESPECTBD by Papists, - 220 «' X. — The True Church, its Signs and Marks, - 234 " XI. — Auricular Confession, ... 259 " XII. — Uncertainty of Romish Traditions, - - 275 " XIII. — Worship of Saints in the Church of Rome, 285 " XIV. — Beatification of Romish Saints, - - 298 " XV. — Justification by Faith, ... 304 " XVI. — The Sacrament of Extreme Unction, - 816 Appendix, - . - . . . 325 PREFACE. In presenting the following work to the reading public^ I feel that there is but little occasion for any lengthened preface, the object of which is in general two-fold, viz. : Explanatory of the nature, and recommendatory of the contents, of the work itself, and of the object of the writer, in bringing it before the public eye. When I undertook the task of editing this work, I felt as though a sacred charge was committed to my care — sacred for two reasons, first, because to my care was intrusted the interpretation of the thoughts and wishes of the departed, and secondly, because upon the attractive style in which it was written depended the chances of its profits conducing to the comfort of an aged widow, the widow of a brother in two senses of the word, a brother Freemason, and a brother Orangeman. From these causes two great difficulties arose, which had to be overcome ; to preserve, as far as possible, the spirit and style of the author, and at the same time to clothe his ideas in language intelligible and agreeable to the public. . _ v» . - , */ i? Numerous volumes upon the same subject have already appeared, and in eloquence of language, and brilliancy 10 PREFACE. 1^ It of ideas, this work cannot be expected to compete with them ; but there are at least two claims to be urged in its favour, truth and novelty. Almost every work that has been published by a reformed priest, has shewn the condition of Popery in Ireland alone, and therefore Romanists could justly urge that these errors are to be attributed to the intemperate nature of the Celtic blood, and do not exist in the old Catholic countries of Europe. But these are not the ideas emanating from an ignorant Maynooth priest ; this exposure comes from a country undisturbed by Protestant or Orange associations — from a country that has for centuries quietly reposed in the arms of " The Holy Mother Church," from a person who, until he became disgusted with the corruptions of his own church, neither knew of nor desired another. — He was, moreover, a man of the world, one who, to use the language of a French writer, had studied the book of the world as unfolded to his gaze in the Roman Catholic countries of Europe, and of whose pages he says, — " J'en ai feuillete un assez grand nombre, que j'ai trouve 6galement mauvaises." Particular, minute, and lengthened disquisitions on the errors, both theoretical and practical, of the Roman Church are here given, together with many interesting anecdotes that have not previously met the public eye. Mr. Mayerhoffer was a close observer, possessed a tenacious memory, and had opportunities, during his career as military chaplain, of recording many anecdotes PREFACE. 11 concerning the times of Napoleon " le Grand," which have never yet appeared in history. To Canadians this work will be doubly interesting, from the fact that the author lived and moved amongst them, and that all who knew him, knew also his christian simplicity, veneration for the truth, and strong attach- ment to his Church and Queen. To Americans it will not be less attractive, as several years of his life were passed in the United States, where, it appears, that whether as a priest of the Roman Church, or minister of the Reformed German Brothers, he was alike loved and respected by his flock. I feel, however, that I should not be doing justice to the object of the author, did I not also appeal to another class of my brethren in the human family ; I mean those who as yet remain in the communion of the Church of Rome. To my Roman Catholic brethren I would say that this work has been neither written nor published with the idea of giving them, whether clergy or laity, offence. It is the language of one who knew them, loved them, and prayed for them as individuals, although he could not shut his eyes to the errors of their doctrine and practice. To them I would say, that the author's earnest desire was, that they should think for themselves, that they should assert that right which God has given to every rational being, to try every doctrine by the unerring 12 PREFACE. standard of Scripture, (whether that standard comes in the form of the Douay or Protestant Bible,) and if they find such a doctrine to be in accordance with " the law and the testimony," to receive it — if not, to reject it as the doctrines of the Scribes and Pharisees, who made the word of God of none effect through their tradition. If the perusal of these pages leads one single indivi- dual to search the Scriptures, and to renounce all human teaching, but such as is in accordance with the written •word of God, the object of the author will have been fully accomplished, and I shall feel acquitted of the sacred trust committed to my care, for " he which con- verteth the sinner from the error of his wav, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." G. Y. S. t4j!*r fr^ y\j.i u*?u-;»i-M, '• •^^' .' 'vi^.. • •.':- 1 <' '-'^ , » .. '.f 'l-.tli" • i «_'«'..'•'. '^tli,'! '•." ■ ' -r '• r 'f 1 ;-■• .»»- .♦ ■•'■■• ■^ ' • .i'-'-'Vu iV ■'«■-* is- .'-, 'I •-- :J&S»;'iff V- AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. CHAPTER I. I was born in the royal and imperial city of Raab, in the county of the same name, near the centre of the kingdom of Hungary, on the 22nd day of January, 1784. My parents, who were both members of the Church of Rome, were named Michael and Catharina Luble. And now, the greatest wish of my father's heart being granted, namely, the birth of a son, he determined to give a great dinner to his fellow-citizens ; his wealth, and position as senator of the city of Raab, (a dignity which he bore for over thirty-two years,) being such as to warrant the proceeding. Previous to this, however, I was baptized, in fact on the day follow- ing my birth, by the Rev. S. Petery, curuce of the place, in the ancient cathedral of the city ; and as I was born on the day dedicated to St. Vincent, the martyr, it wa« resolved to call me Vincentius Ferrerius. My father, being desirous that I should excel in all classic and scientific pursuits, sent me at the early age 14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP THE of five years, to the normal school, where I remained for two years, during which time I made such rapid progress, that at seven years old I was able to matricu- late at the gymnasium. In addition to my public educa- tion, my father procured me a private tutor, under whose superintendence I made such extraordinary advance- ment, that in my thirteenth year I had mastered the Latin language, and gone through the highest course of rhetoric and elocution that the gymnasium afforded. Being still so young, I was advised by the professors to repeat the course of rhetoric in Coloca, under ihe Piaristic Monks of tlic order of St. John Colosancius, and as my father had died the preceding year, and two of my tutors, " Kolonitz '' and "Sebedith," had entered as candidates for the ministry in the archiepiscopal see of Coloca, my mother was persuaded to entrust me lo their care. After the completion of a higher course of rhetoric, I returned home to visit my mother. She was glad to see her eldest son, and took the opportunity of conversing with me upon my future prospects. After informing me that my father, although at one time rich, had, through misfortunes of late years, left us comparatively poor, she expressed the wish that I should at once resign my literary pursuits, and devote my energies to the acquire- ment of some trade or profession. In every way that she could think of did bhe try to persuade me to adopt ! this course, pointing out that I, as the eldest of seven children, should endeavour to do something to enrich the family, and to promote the education of my brothers and .sisters. This, as may be supposed, was not at all to my \ taste, as I inspired to the ministry, for which office I REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER. M. A. 15 r f 3 I ffiehed immediately to prepare. I bad no choice, how- ever. My mother, being a woman of very firm and decided character, proposed that I should immediately enter the grocery business in the suburbs of the town, with a merchant named Rudifers, his daughter, however, being married lately to his own book-keeper, Mr. Gers- teker ; it was, upon consideration, not thought an advi- sable plan, as Mr. Rudifers would naturally prefer advancing his own son-in-law in the business, to a stranger. I was therefore sent to a merchant named Manninger, who lived in the town of Papa, but only remained with him one year, as my mother wished to send me farther from home. She took me to the capital of Hungary, the city of Pesth, and gave me in charge to Mr. Joseph Dietle, an old bachelor, who kept a gro- cer's shop in Watsner street, known by the sign of the *' Black Dog." Here she left me for four years, in order that I might finish my apprenticeship, during the whole of which time I never saw her, nor even received a letter from her. When the years of my apprenticeship were ended I began to be very discontented, for I was ill treated by my master and bullied by the journeymen clerks in the shop, and I had no relation or friend in the city to whom I could apply for consolation or assistance. I therefore took courage and spoke to my master on the subject, telling my misery and asking some relief from the treatment to which I was subjected ; so far from being sympathised with, I was rudely repulsed and ordered to await my mother's arrival. Seeing no help against this tyrannical conduct, and being small of stature, I resolved to enlist as a soldier in Prince Esterhazy's Regiment, at that time quartered in Pesth, and for that 16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE purpose proceeded to the barracks ; but the Providence of the Almighty altered my hasty steps, for the drum- major, to whom I intended to apply, being absent, I cooled down and returned to the store. My feelings of resentment being once roused did not so easily subside; I became restless, quarrelsome, and grumbled daily more and more at the treatment to which I was subjected, until at last my master ordered me to the municipal guard-house, to which place I was conducted by a police officer. In this situation I remained a whole week with- out knowing the nature of the accusation against me, or any one appearing to trouble themselves about me. I therefore began to object to such treatment, and inti- mated to the sergeant in charge, that if there was no accusation against me, my detention was illegal, and that I should go out, whereupon the sergeant took me and confined me in the cells amongst the highway rob- beus, murderers, and common felons of all descriptions. When, however, I saw the dismal place that I was in, and heard the liarsh irratinc of the bolt as the lock was turned upon me, my courage failed, and I burst into tears. The criminals, seeing a stranger, gathered round me, laughing at my sobs, and shaking their heavy chains, stating that they were also perfectly innocent, and that I had no occasion to complain, seeing I was not loaded with such marks of distinction as they wore. Happily, this only lasted for two days, as my mother sent my uncle to pay me a visit. When he found the store, as described by my mother, and did not find me, he strictly demanded of my master where I was, who stated that as I began to be unruly he had thought fit to correct me hj imprisoning me in the municipal guard-house, I hay- RBV. V. P. MAYBRHOFFER, M. A. 17 ing declared my resolution to leave his employment, unless I was informed under what circumstances I was bound to follow my profession, now that I was out of my apprenticeship. Upon hearing this my uncle hastened to the guard-house, where, to his astonishment, the ser- geant brought him to a heavy iron door which he opened, and called me by name. I immediately appeared, and as I did so, my uncle called out, "is it possible that I *• should find you in such a degraded condition ? — the ** bones of your father are turning in the grave on your "account." Hearing this I wept bitterly, and told my uncle my whole story, revealing every thing, and stating the treatment I had received, to which he made no reply, but went instantly to the mayor of the city, who gave immediate orders for my discharge, at the same time expressing his astonishment and indignation at the ille- gal proceedings that had been taken against me. My uncle lost no time in returning with the order for my liberation from the den of thieves and murderers into which I had been cast, and then told me that be wished me to prepare to return at once to his own home, near Baja, a town about 150 miles north of Pesth. Once again free, I hastened to my master's to pack up my clothes and join my uncle at the boat in which we were to sail. My master refused to give me my clothes, and I was accordingly obliged to start in the working clothes in which I had been arrested. My uncle having made me the present of a little money, I went in haste to procure some refreshments before starting, the prison fare being little more than sufficient to prevent absolute starvation. Although I made all the haste I could, what was my horror, upon arriving at the wharf, to find the 1* 18 ADTOBIOQRAPHY OF THE li boat gone and my uncle also. Thus was I again left friendless and almost penniless, in the city of Pcsth. — For two long weary days I hid myself in the city, fearful at every moment of being discovered by my cruel master, and compelled to return to his service ; but the Almighty, who had other things in stare for me, extended his pro- tecting care over mo, and on the third day, hearing of another boat that was ready to start for Baja, I offered my services as an oarsman and was accepted. And thus I arrived at Baja, with only six-pence in my pocket, and unable to tell where to go or how to find my uncle. It was the 8th of September, 1803, and bands of merry students were hastening home for the vintage. Bunches of magnificent grapes were offered for sale in all direc- tions, so I wandered into the market and having bought some, and some fresh baker's bread, I sat down on a bench near the post-office and made a hearty dinner. — Now my last penny was gone, and unable to find my uncle, I concluded to go and seek employment. I went to several groceries and offered my services for little or nothing, but in vain — I was a stranger, had no recom- mendations, and they either doubted the truth of my story, or where afraid to employ me. I wandered once more towards the market square, where I sat down to rest. In a little while I saw two men in the dress of master bakers, conversing together. I waited until they parted, and then followed the one who went in an east- erly direction. I saluted him, and asked him whether he was in need of an apprentice ; he looked at me, put different questions to me, and at last advised me to go home with him. After conversing for a short time with his wife he came to the ooncloBion to try me. I stayed ;i KEV. V. P. MAYKRHOFFEK, M. A. 11^ to of th id with him for five weeks, and he appeared perfectly con- tented with me. Oiic lay ho went to a grain merchant's in the city, to buy some grain for the mill. It happened the evening before, that a young man belonging to this merchant's establishment, had given me great offence. — I was sitting outside the door of the house, simply to pass away the time, when this young man kept passing and re-passing in front of me, and each time that he did BO, stopped to look at me ; as he never spoke I began to feel very angry, and was on the point of asking him what he wanted, when he went away. When my master applied for the wheat, this young man, who proved to be the grain merchant's son, asked him what kind of an apprentice he had ; my master replied that I was a stranger who had come to Baja in distress, and had applied to him for work. As soon as he heard my name, he said that he knew me and my family very well, that I was formerly a school-fellow of his, and spoke highly of my talents and ability as a student. My master came home very much pleased, and after telling me that he had found a school-fellow of mine named Michilbeck, expressed a desire that I would instruct his two sons — who went to the prepara- tory school for the gymnasium — in classics and general literature, in consideration of which service he offered to shorten my apprenticeship to the term of a year and a half; so that, instead of being treated as I was by my former master, I was at once installed into a place of confidence, and made master of my master's children — a very different lot .to the usual one of apprentices. Yet an all-wise Providence saw fit to order my steps differently, to lead me by a path that I then knew not ^0 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE of. My master's youngest child being taken sick, I was ordered to go to the druggist's with a prescription ; as I passed down the street I saw a clergyman whom I thought I knew. I watched him entering a dyer's shop, and then made all haste to the druggist's, where I left the prescription — finding it would not be ready for half an hour— and ran back to the dyer's; upon enquiring for the clergyman, I was told that he had left, but ascertained his name, (Jacob Rain,) and that he was the curate of the town. In the evening I requested and obtained leave from my master to go out for half an hour. I went at once to the parsonage, where I met in the entry the Abb^ Bernysliovitch, the rector of the town, who was very much surprised at being addressed in Latin, by a baker's apprentice ; he, however, directed me where to find his curate, Mr. Rain. Guided by the sound of a flute which I heard in the distance, I knocked at the door from whence the sound proceeded, and was admitted by Mr. Rain himself. Although he had been one of my preceptors at Coloca, he did not recognise me, but seemed equally astonished at my speaking the Latin language so fluently. I soon explained to him whom I was, and the train of circumstances that had brought me to my present condition. Hearing that I ' still had the same earnest desire for the ministry, Mr. Rain kindly exerted himself to procure my return to the schools, which he at last effected, and I was received -in the kindest manner at Coloca, from whence I had now been absent nearly five years. When I arrived I en- tered the Piaristic Gymnasium, where I found the ' Director Rttkotzy, who recognised me immediately, and .^ aaked me why I, who was so promising a scholar, had J y. REV. V. r. MAYEllUOFFER, M. A. 21 nd ad given up my education. After giving him a history of my adventures, and repeating the rhetoric, in order that I might shew I had forgotten nothing, I was appointed to an excellent situation in the seminary of the clergy, where the candidates are instructed in theology previous to ordination. Amongst these was a young man of the name of Tzatmary, whose father was Inspector of the University buildings at Pesth. As soon as I had com- pleted my scholastic year, this young clergyman gave me letters of introduction to his father, recommending him to employ me in the capacity of private tutor to his younger brothers, a situation that would give me free board and lodging as well as a sufficient salary for the purchase of clothes and other necessaries. Before I went there I took the opportunity afforded me, through the kindness of a captain on the Danube, who also knew my mother well, of sending her my trunk containing my books and clothes, informing her also that I would soon follow my effects, and pay her a visit after six years' absence. The captain, of course, arrived before me, as I travelled on foot a distance of nearly 200 miles, in order that I might find my way back as soon as the vacation was over, to enter the University of the city of Pesth. This being my first visit to my native place, after an absence of so many years, I turned aside into the cemetery to visit my poor father's grave, and after a short meditation upon the past with its changes and sorrows, I hurried on to the suburbs of the city to visit an old and very intimate friend of our family, Mr. Saxinger, at his house (he kept a large hotel) I changed my travel-stained garments, and then proceeded to enter the fortifications and find my mother's resi- 22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE W I dence. I had proceeded as far as the market-place and the old Jesuit's college, when I met Mr. Hegedus, the . mayor of the city, whom I saluted in passing ; he stop- ped and gazed earnestly after me, as if he was not quite certain who I was. When I arrived at the street in which my mother resided, I enquired from a passer-by if she was still there, and receiving an answer in the affirmative, I was about to open the gate and enter, when I was met by my mother, who roughly asked me what I wanted to do at home, as she neither wished nor ex- pected my presence. I reflected for an instant calmly on my mother's unkind reception, and then told her that I never saw such hard-heartedness in a mother, and that when she had not seen her son for six years, the least she could do would be to receive him courteously. So far, however, from relenting, she threatened to send me into the garrison and compel me to join the army, add- ing, that she had already spoken to the kind burgo- master, Hegediis, upon the subject. This speech en- lightened me as to the reason of his inspecting me so curiously when I met him in the market-place. Having my testimonials and certificates with me from the schools, I was under no apprehension, as by the laws of Hungary no man could compel me to be a soldier against my inclination. The next day Mr. Shopf, a notary public, came to the house and addressed me in the most rude manner ; I soon stopped his mouth by showing him the door, and advising him to retire immediately, if he did not wish to experience, in his old age, the fresh young arm of a decided supporter of his rights. My mother, hearing the altercation, carae in and tried to pacify him, and REV. V. P. MAYBRHOFFER, M. A. 23 7 to Id fi i] then sent him away from the house, perceiving that I was determined, whatever abuse or unkindness I might receive from her unresented, to allow of no impertinence or interference from others. As soon as he was gone, I turned to my mother, who indeed deserved it, and told her that I could never have dreamed of such a recep- tion, but that she need not be afraid — I had no intention of troubling her with my presence having means of my own, and that I would look out for myself — that her conduct, ever since she sent me to the grocery at Pesth, had been unnatural and heartless in the extreme. She appeared to be somewhat touched at this, and asked me what I intended to do ? "Mother,"' I said, "you well know that from my earliest youth I have aspired to the priesthood, and I shall, with God's help, obtain my wish." She replied with scorn, " If you ever become a priest I shall be the Pope." After this she treated me a little better, but not with either civility or affection. During my stay in Raab I went regularly to the seminary, and amused my- self with the candidates for holy orders, many of whom had been my schoolfellows at the gymnasium. I only remained two weeks at home, and left my mo- ther with a firm determination never to return except in the garments of a priest. I had an uncle, Mr. Graner, who was an architect in the employ of Prince Esterhazy, and resolved to pay him a visit before the end of the vacation. Accordingly, when I left ray mother, I pro- ceeded to his residence in the city of Tata, one of the most picturesque towns in Hungary. It is built upon a red marble rock, and the taste and magnificence of its noble owner. Prince Esterhazy, are every where conspic- t I ! i 24 AUTOBIOGRAPfly OF THE uous. The church, a stately edifice, is built entirely of red marble, exquisitely polished, which has, as you may suppose, a most novel and splendid effect. The great glory of the town is the palace, situated in the midst of a beautiful garden consisting of many acres and abound- ing in springs of water, which, after being employed to furnish water for the fountains and lakes in the garden, are used for machinery in the town ; one spring alone is so powerful that it drives twenty-five flour-mills, each with at least four or five run of stones ; at last the waters are conveyed into a small lake furnished with locks, and 80 constructed that it can be emptied at pleasure. This is done every three years, and the magnificent fish, with which the lake abounds, are sent, packed in ice, to Vi- enna, together with innumerable cray-fish, or rock crabs. Hundreds of waggon loads of these fish and crabs are sent in all directions from Vienna, and are eagerly bought up by the Austrians. It would be almost impossible to describe the varied beauties of these exquisitely laid out pleasure grounds ; at every step the delighted beholder meets with new objects to excite his admiration — whether one visits the aviaries, baths, artificial ruins, or the noble collection of botanical curiosities, the lakes and ponds teeming with wild fowl and rare acquatic birds, or the petrifying springs with their attendant wonders, all alike bespeak the splendour and wealth of their princely owner. In the city, there is a china manufactory of that beautiful kind called " Majolic," which is exported to all parts of the Austrian empire, and sells for a very high price. — The surrounding country abounds in magnificent vine- yards, amongst which the prince possesses a cellar in RBV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 25 ^ried ids; inew the of ith dng leak In liful of Ine- ii which is a cask of enormous magnitude, filled with wine fifty years old ; this cask is capable of containing 1,000 barrels. The cellar is hollowed out in the side of a mountain, and on the top of this huge cask there is a ball-room in which two hundred couples can dance at the same time without being incommoded. As the vintage was close at hand, I remained a month with my uncle, and never did I spend a happier time. My uncle was a good hearted man, and treated me as though I was his own child, which made the change to me most delightful, when compared with my mother's unnatural conduct. — We spent a glorious vintage, and at the end of October, I bade adieu to my good uncle and returned to Pesth. But I was not destined for the schools ; a circumstance happened which entirely changed the plan of my future life. During the time that I lived with the baker at Baja, I went regularly every Sunday to the church of the Convent of St. Francis ; here I became acquainted with Father Sentzy, to whom I disclosed my desire of becoming a candidate for the order. He told me that if I was able to pay for my first dress, he thought there was a chance of my reception. I answered that if I could not be received without pay I would not enter. The province of the order, named the Province of St. John Capistrane, had different convents, all under the jurisdiction of the Provincial or Grand Master, who resided in the city of Buda, which is separated from Pesth by the Danube. The Provincial (whose name was Jacossitch) had a secretary of the name of Weimar, who had been guardian of the convent, in Baja, when I was living there with the baker. This Mr. Weimar I knew well by sight, and had reason to believe that my name 2 i ;l 26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE had oftened been mentioned to him as being desirous of reception, by Father Sentzy. When I returned to Pesth, being too early for the schools, I took a fancy to cross the floating bridge that leads from Pesth to Buda ; here I accidentally met the Provincial, attended by his secre- tary, Weimar, and recognizing him at once, I addressed him by name. He was astonished, stopped and asked me how I knew him, and after an explanation de- manded why I did not come forward as a candi- date. I told him that I was, as yet, unable to pay for the dress. Meanwhile, the Provincial seeing his secretary conversing with me, turned back, and after ascertaining the subject of our discourse, asked me in the most friendly manner, whether I was still desirous of entering the order. Upon ray answering in the affirm- ative, he told me to come the next day to the Convent at Buda. I accordingly went there, passed a very cred- itable examination, and received my credentials to enter the Novitiate at Bats, a Convent 150 miles north of the city of Pesth. The following day I bade farewell to all my friends, and commenced my long weary journey on foot. The weather was cold, dark, and stormy ; but I had to brave the inclemency of the season as well as I could, being too poor to travel otherwise than as a pedestrian. 1 arrived safely at Baja, and from thence, in a tremen- dous snow storm, proceeded to a tavern where some teams from the hill country were stopping ; there \ made a bargain with a Slavonite from Nemes Militich, to convey me to Bdts, for the sum of seven florins. The next evening, between the hours of seven and eight, we arrived at Nemes Militich, the residence of my teamster. REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 27 The night was very dark and cloudy, and when the horses stopped, which they did of their own accord, I looked anxiously around for a house. None was in sight, and I was beginning to feel somewhat surprised, when I saw a young lad emerge from a sort of cavern in the ground, bearing a lantern ; the teamster made signs to me to follow him, which I prepared to do in fear and trembling. I could not speak a word of their language in the first place, and had moreover been warned by some Germans, before I started, not to go with such a teamster, lest he might rob and murder me on the road. Having, however, no alternative, I prayed to God to protect me, and followed my guide, who preceded me with his lantern, into a kind of subterraneous cave like a cellar. The first thing that I noticed was a row of twelve cradles, each cradle containing a fine baby : there were a great many people in the cave, which was very large, — I counted nearly 130. Ignorant of the habits of these people, I saw no chance of escape, and being unable either to speak their language, or understand a word they said, I was in no very enviable position. I came to no other conclusion than that I was brought into a cave of robbers, but I somewhat grew easier in my mind when I reflected that I had nothing worth taking but my clothes, and so, trusting in the provz'lence of God, I made up my mind to be as comfortable as possible. I could not help being struck with the size of these men, all over six feet high and stout in proportion. la a short time the person who had brought me there entered, and as he soon found a boy amongst them who could speak the Hungarian language, I was able to converse through the means of an interpreter. I had hardly been 28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE ' :i I I a quarter of an hour in the room, when a young, fresh looking girl, of about eighteen, entered, bearing a small tub of warm water. She immediately knelt down, with- out saying a word, took of my boots and stockings, and commenced washing my feet. When she had dried them she gave me a pair of slippers and went out, carrying off my boots and stockings with her. Here my anxiety grew worse, as I thought they intended to kill, and, per- haps, afterwards devour me. So foolishly ignorant was I, at that time, of the manners and habits of a race who even constituted a part of the vast Austrian empire in which I had been born and brought up, and that not 300 miles distant. In a very short time a table was laid out on which was spread a plentiful repast, and when I saw and smelt the delicious fricassee, sausages, and wine, my hunger got the mastery of my fears, and I determined if this was to be my last feed it should be a good one. — As soon as the supper was removed, a council was called, and I was strictly examined, through the interpreter, as to the cause and object of my journey. I replied that I was a candidate for the order of St. Francis, and was proceeding to Bats to enter upon my novitiate. The next question that was put to me was, whether I under- stood Latin ? and upon my replying in the affirmative, the driver, who had brought me, (and who, it appeared, was chief of the family and tribe,) made some sign to one of the company who retired, and shortly afterwards brought in a mahogany box about two feet square : a silver key being presented to me I was requested to open the box. At this I became exceedingly terrified, and trembled so violently that I could not open it. Here, thought I, are contained the implements of my death. ■f\" REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 29 '** and when I found that I could not insert the key, I re- quested the interpreter to open it for me, which he at once did, and there ^vas presented to mo a parchment written in Latin, which declared the whole trihe to be nobles, a title they had acquired by rescuing King Fer- dinand from the hands of the Turks who were pursuing him, and as I read and explained to them the contents, I saw the tears rolling down their weather beaten cheeks, on hearing of the bravery of their ancestors. Hereupon I began to feel courage, seeing that I was in the hands - of a noble-hearted race of men. As soon as they under- stood that I was intending to devote myself to the min- istry of the gospel, they treated me with the most marked kindness and respect ; thus ridiculing myself for my foolish fears the evening passed pleasantly away, and I retired, at a tolerably early hour, to enjoy a safe and comfortable night's repose. Next morning, the conveyance that had brought me there, was prepared, and, accompanied by the chief, I started for Bdts. It was late in the evening when we arrived ; we drove straight to the Convent, and, upon my ringing the bell, a window was opened, and I was asked "Who was there ?" I answered, "A candidate." " What name ?" " Mayerh offer." The Superior of the Convent had already received a letter from the Provin- cial apprising h'm of my coming, so the door was imme- diately opened and I was admitted. As soon as I entered I told them that I had a teamster with me who would require a night's lodging. He was then invited in, and as soon as the horses were cared for .we were called to refreshment, or as they call it in the Convent, collation. The Superior, himself, a Slavonite by birth, 2* 4 ^ 30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE named Lanosenrih, came down and amused himself by conversing with my teamster, and, after a place was as- signed to us for repose, we parted for the night. The following morning, my driver having received the pay for his conveyance, took his departure. As soon as he was gone my dress was prepared, and I was received into my novitiate with the usual ceremonies. The crown of my head was shaved, my habit put on. and my office assigned me. As nothing of any groat interest occurred during my novitiate, I shall not record it, and as soon as it was over, as I was little more than nineteen, I was sent to Massica, the metropolis of Slavonia, to study philosophy, until I arrived at the age of twenty-one, before which time none can take the vows and obligations of the order. When I attained that age I was received into the fraternity as a brother. Before I proceed farther with my own individual his- tory, it will be as well to say something concerning these singular people, the Slavonites, or Slavonians, as they are sometimes called in English. The United Kingdom of Slavonia and Croatia, which they inhabit, borders upon European Turkey, and is under the government of Austria. Their form of government is patriarchal ; the whole nation is divided into tribes, each of which is under the control of a chief, regularly elected by the people ; to this chief they pay the most implicit obedi- ence, and he retains his office for life, unless they can prove some crime against him, or substantiate a charge of bribery in the adniinistration of justice. Each tribe has a certain tract of land which all its members unite in cultivating, and at the end of the year the produce is v 1 REV. V. P. MAYEllIIOFFER, M. A. 31 le IS le I • equally divided. Their principal crops are oats, pota- toes, and fruit of all descriptions, (the cultivation of wheat was, in my time, out of the question.) Such mag- nificent crops of fruit do they produce, that at any time from 500 to 1,000 bushels of dried fruit can be found in the possession of a single tribe, besides an enormous quantity of green fruit which they store up through the winter. They also raise a vast number of horses and goats ; from the milk of the latter they make a very rich kind of cheese. The whole country is divided into military districts, ruled over by regularly appointed oflS- cers, and every male child that is born is looked upon as a soldier. The duty of these regiments is to guard the frontiers from invasion, and to arrest all deserters or refugees from the interior of the empire. Each regi- ment serves for one month, regularly armed and equipped ; they are expert riflemen, and in case of war turn out voluntarily, and even upon one day's notice a force of from 40,000 to 60,000 men can be raised. — For these services to the government they are entirely exempt from taxation. Their food is pork, goat's flesh, cheese, and vegetable*', and their drink a spirit which each community or tribe distils for its own use ; this spirit is called "Slivoritz," and is made from plums, yet they observe the greatest sobriety ; for during the two years that I was in Slavonia, I never saw a drunken man or heard of any one being so. There is no jail, court-house, judge, or lawyer in the whole kingdom — nor did I ever hear of a murder, or execution taking place among them. Their religion is either the Roman or Greek church, and in case of any dispute the clergy- man is appointed arbitrator, and his decision is final, the 32 AUTOBIOORAPJIY OF THE rest of the tribe compelling the parties ut variance to abide by it, and to be reconciled at once. As they all labour together for the common good, the cliicf appoints certain holidays, on which occasions the Avomen prepare a feast, which is carried in baskets to some place in the woods, where a throne is erected for tlie chief. On the appointed day they all march out in procession, walking two and two, according to seniority, and preceded by a musician playing the bagpipes. They then form a cir- cle, placing the musician in the centre, and at a signal from the chief, commence the dance. If any member of another tribe wishes to join the feast, he has first to ob- tain the consent of the chief, without which he is not admitted. If the stranger should then wish to make acquaintance with any of the females of the tribe, he has again to ask permission of the chief, upon which he kisses the chief's hand, and enters the circle of dancers. Should the stranger, however, desire a separate dance with the lady, he takes her by the hand and presents her to the chief, asking liberty for a private dance, upon obtaining which they both kiss the chief's hand, and on the conclusion of their dance, kiss the chief's hand again, and thank him for the privilege. When a man wishes to marry, he sends the lady of his choice a pair of col- oured cordovan boots, blue, green, or red, with a ring inside them ; if the lady accepts the boots it is a sign of her acceptance of the young man as her future husband — if she returns them it is a refusal. The whole tribe come to the wedding, which is performed in their church by the priest. The affection the bride entertains for her boots is singular, as she keeps them all her life with the greatest care, and takes them to the grave with her. REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 83 The females all wear sandals in common, which they make themselves, &s well as their own linen ; twice a year they K ^ ve reed fairs, at which none but females are present. Tneir dresses in general are homespun, and always neat and clean ; they invariably carry a spindle with them, and spin the finest linen thread as they walk ; their petticoats, and the men's summer trowsers, are made of this linen and always beautifully embroidered. In the early spring they come down into Hungary, with heavily laden waggons drawn by many horses. These waggons contain the year's produce of green and dried fruits, beautifully packed in straw ; these they sell for large prices, and buying flour in exchange,. return to their own land. In their churches the epistle and gos- pel are sung by the priest in their own dialect ; they pay high respect to their clergy upon every occasion, so much so, that if a priest is seen coming down the road the men leave their work in the fields, and hastening to the road side, kneel down and ask his blessing. Physi- cally speaking, they are a very fine race of people, none of the men being under six feet two inches in height. Perhaps one reason of this is the long time the children are allowed to suck — even up to seven years of age — their families are in consequence smaller than in other nations. I have myself repeatedly seen children, upon their return from school, standing by their mothers in the public roads using their milk. AUTOBIOaRAPHY OF REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFBR. 35 ,*■... .•; '.if;.,. * * 1 fi » . J . ..'y'-'- CHAPTER II. I must now return to my monastic life. I completed, in Massica, my philosophical studies, and "was sent in the course of a year to Mohdts, thence to Foldvar, and at last to Baja. Mohats is a celebrated place in the his- tory of Hungary, for there the last of the race of their King Lagos perished ; on his retreat after a battle with the Turks, he sank with his horse in a marsh, and was choked. A small, but very handsome chapel, has been erected near the spot, containing a picture of the battle, where the melancholy fate of the prince is depicted in lively colours. In this battle nine of the Esterhazy's lost their lives. The country around Mohats, as was the case in many parts of Hungary, abounds with moor- land, on which numbers of water-fowl, and other game, breed, and afford the amusements of the chase to the nobility, who are alone privileged to hunt. In Baja I finished my theological studies, and was prepared for ordination. Seven orders are conferred on the priest- hood by the Roman Church, beside the Tonsure, which is the first of all. In this ceremony the Bishop cuts some hair from the top of the candidate's head with a pair of scissors, instructing him at the same time, that as this hair is of no value, so should the candidate for holy orders throw behind him all worldly honours, and es- teem them as nothing, in comparison with the call to the ministry of Christ. Then follow the four little orders of Acolyte, Ostiary, Exorcist, and Lectionary. These 1 il t j I i 36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE were all conferred upon me by the Archbishop of Coloca, Count Kollonitz de KoUegrad. After the reception of these four orders, the candidate has still the liberty, if he so wishes, of leaving the clerical order and returning to the world, but if once he is ordained sub-deacon he is bound to the ministry for life. Then follows the order of JDeacon, and last the Priest's ; these are called the higher orders, and were conferred upon me by the Right Beverend Father Milassin, Bishop of Alba Julia, at a town in his diocese, called Elbstzdlas, in the parish of the Cistercian order of Canons ; these three last orders I received on three consecutive days, by obtaining a dis- pensation of one year, as I had only arrived at the age of twenty three. Having now attained my heart's desire, the priest- hood, I wrote to my mother requesting her to allow me to sing my first mass in her presence, but she would not believe me, and refused to receive me if I came to her. I therefore wrote to her again, informing her, that if she wished she might come to Buda and convince her- self of the reality of my ordination. This she also refused to do. I therefore concluded to go to the Con- vent, in the city of Buda, and perform my first mass there. I had to pass on my way through Pesth, where I sought out my old master, the grocer. I found him still alive and in the office of his old store in Watsner street ; he was very much astonished at seeing his old apprentice as a priest, and thought it & great honour to be allowed to join with Mr. Gebhardt, a wholesale mer- chant of Buda, in defraying the expenses of my Primice. , , It will, perhaps, be interesting to the reader to have some account of the ceremony of ordination in the REV. V. P. MAYERHOFPER, M. A. 37 Church of Rome. The lower orders up to that of sub- deacon, are not of much solemnity, although essential before advancement to the higher. In the order of sub -deacon the candidate appears with the Manipule in the left hand, and the Dalmatic on half the left shoulder. After certain prayers the bishop puts the Mauipule on the left arm, between the elbow and the hand, and clothes him with the Dalmatic, putting it over the can- didate's head, and this ceremony concludes the Bishop's first day's mass. The next day the candidate for the reception of the deacon's order appears with the Manipule on the left hand, and with the Stole from the right shoulder to the left knee, and the Dalmatic on the right shoulder, which, after certain prayers, the bishop puts over the candi- date's head : this ceremony finishes the deacon's order. I received these last orders in company with twelve other candidates, sor\e of whom received only one, and some both orders ; but on the next day I was the only one who was promoted to the priesthood. The bishop was assisted by several other priests in the ceremony of my ordination. My head was first anointed, and then my hands, in a semi-circular form, from the thumb of the right hand to the first finger of the left, and from the thumb of the left to the first finger of the right, the hands being held out close together in a horizontal posi- tion, with the palms turned upwards ; the bishop then breathes upon the candidate's head three times in the form of a cross, saying, "Receive the Holy Ghost, whose sins thou forgivest, shall be forgiven, and whose sins thou retainest, they shall be retained." With this cere- mony the priesthood is conferred : the assisting priests 3 8fr AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP THE ' ! II It ; ! then wipe off the spots of oil from the head and hands with loose cotton and soft bread, and throw it into the reservoir behind the high altar. I sang my first high mass on the seventh of February, 1807, in the city of Buda, after which I returned to Baja, to complete my theological studiep The following sum- mer the provincial, Sneider, arrived, and as he passed through the city of Neoplanta, was enquired of by the rector, the Rev. Abbe Thueguth, (who was a relation of mine,) whether I was ordained or not, and having ascer- tained that I was, he requested the provincial to send me to his mission as a curate. As soon as the brethren of the convent had paid their homage to the provincial, he requested a private interview with me, when he in- formed me that my uncle, the rector of Neoplanta, wished for me as his curate, and bade me prepare to go there immediately. I did so, and arrived in a few days at my first curacy, the city of Neoplanta, a place with ^5,000 inhabitants, all members of the Roman Church, of the Hungarian, German, and Slavonic races. My uncle kept three curates, Mr. Sziitch for the Hungarians, Mr. Grabantitch for the Slavonians, whilst the German " part of the population was my peculiar care ; but as Mr. Szutch was obliged also to attend the grammar school, I bad generally to officiate for the Hungarians also. • After remaining here six months, I requested, and obtained, leave to visit my mother in the city of Tata, where she was staying with my uncle Graner. My mo- ther received me very coolly and sneeringly, as if she doubted whether I were really ordained or not. I had not been long there before I went to the parish church, where the Capuchin Friars, to whom it belonged, and to s* REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 89 whom I was well known, invited me to preach and sing high mass on the following Sunday. This was exactly what I wanted, and going home I prepared a sermon on the prodigal son, which affected my mother so much that she sobbed and cried during the greater part of the ser- vice. After the sermon I sung high mass, and was then invited to dine with the brethren in the convent. My uncle wishing me to postpone the invitation to another day, I did so, and drove home with him. I now took the opportunity of asking my mother whether she be- lieved I was a priest or not ; she replied that she sup- posed she most, as I should not have been allowed to officiate, unless I had power to do so. In a few weeks, I bade my mother farewell, and re- turned to the city of Coloca, in the arch-diocese, where the General Vicar told me I had been transferred during my absence to the village of Priglavitza Szentivany. — My new rector's name was Miller, and although sixty- five years of age, led a most dissolute life, keeping a mistress in the rectory, whom he himself delivered, and after killing ^er child, buried it in his garden. By some means or other suspicions were excited, and his parish- ioners discovered the body three weeks after the murder ; the woman was arrested and committed to jail, whilst the rector was removed by the archbishop and sent to the place of penance, where he remained a whole year, feast- ing instead of fasting, for he was rich. The female was brought to trial, and related all that she knew about the affair. She stated that when the child was born, she fainted, and that upon her recovery she asked the rector for her child, when he told her that he had provided for it; she understood that he had given it out to nurse, and If 3 I i H '1 il! ?>: i I i i . 40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE made no more enquiries. As a punishment she was^ given one hundred lashes, and then discharged. A war- rant was immediately issued for the rector as a murderer, but the archbishop protected him, asserting that the church alone had power to punish a priest, the war- rant could not therefore be executed, and at the end of a year the priest was quietly sent to another parish in Kajos. This transaction alone will shows the respect paid by the Roman priesthood to their vows of chastity. This, and such like conduct of the clergy in general^ made me abhor myself, and what I heard in the confes- sional from other clergymen, grieved my heart sincerely ; and as neither I, nor any other clergyman, ever used a Bible in our private devotions, but depended upon the breviary alone, I procured a Latin Bible from the vestry of the monastery, (which Bible I still possess,) from which I earnestly sought to discover God's will towards man. I saw daily, that the most shameful and heinous crimes were perpetrated for the sake of celibacy. I often med- itated on the subject what to do to come out safely from amongst those wretched sinful men, and I often prayed to receive light from the Holy Spirit, and to find a way of escape fjrom the midst of these meretricious abomina- tions. In 1810, a communication was made by the govern- ment to the effect, that if any clergyman desired to become a military chaplain, he should apply for it, send- ing in his name and residence. With the consent of my superior, I was permitted to accept an appointment as garrison chaplain at the bulwark of Peterwardein. Be- fore, however, I went to the place of my destination, I went to see my mother for the last time. She was very » w gj u > . mt nv* B . 'r^K*mie mui.-jMiiittiumtm REV. V. P. JIAYERHOFFER, M. A. 41 ern- to md- my t as Be- ,1 ery much surprised at seeing me in my new dress, as a mili- tary chaplain, and when I informed her of my new ap- pointment, lamented it, fearing that I should he killed. After a few days visit, I returned to my situation, where I remained until 1812, when war being declared between France and Austria, Marshal Hiller, the gen- eral commanding the Fort of Peterwardein. received an order to attend a council of war at Vienna. Before he went, he asked me if he could do any thing for me ; I thanked him for his kindness, and requested him to speak to the Military Bishop of St. Petion, the Right Rev. Father Bauer, in order that I might be appointed chap- lain to a regiment : he made a memorandum of it and departed. Little did I expect that he would interest himself in my behalf — T thought that he would soon for- get his promise in the hurry of military business ; but not three weeks had elapsed before I received a letter from the Bishop of St. Petion, expressing his satisfaction with the communication of Baron Hiller, and informing me that I was appointed chaplain to the 60th Hungarian Regiment, commanded by Ignatz Count Gyulay. My joy was now complete, for I thought that in th6 course of my travels through various countries, I should find some means of changing my religion, without the danger of losing my life. Time will show how this change was brought about. Although I had received the appointment as regimental chaplain from the higher powers, yet the superior of Hungary, who had received orders to inform me officially of it, delayed doing so immediately, because he could not find a priest willing to take my place as garrison chaplain. I therefore took the Bishop's letter, and went to Buda, to ascertain the 3* I •* . !:i i i\ i i< 1) ' I 42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE reason of the delay, and, upon ascertaining it, pleaded, my right to the appointment, which they could not deny me. I did not return to Peterwardein, hut sent the keys of my rooms, together with a power of attorney to the venerable Abbe Thueguth at Neoplanta, requesting him to sell all my effects, and send the proceeds of the sale to my mother for her sole use and benefit. As soon as my credentials as military chaplain were prepared, I travelled, post haste, from station to station through Hungary, and the Dukedom of Gallicia, to Lemberg, the capital of Austria Poland, where I met the regiment to which I was appointed. Lemberg is a very large place, containing at that time a population of 30,000 Jews alone. The Poles are addicted to the habit of drinking ardent spirits to excess, and are perfect slaves to the Jews, to whom they mortgage all their effects, and even their produce in the fields. They are clothed for the most part in sheep skins, and allow their pigs and poultry to sleep in the house with them. They shave their heads, wear long beards, and are filthy in the extreme, being covered with vermin, a species of which, called the " chosh louse," inhabits their sheep- skin garments, and can never be got rid of ; the whole regiment, from the colonel to the lowest private, was covered with these horrible animals. I was received with the greatest courtesy and respect by my colonel, and entered immediately upon the discharge of my spir- itual duties. We remained in Lemberg until the war broke out between Napoleon and Alexander, the Em- peror of Russia. The French Emperor having lately married the Princess Louisa of Austria, was given 40,- 000 auxiliary troops, amongst which our regiment was 1 REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 43 incladed, so that we had to march with the French army. The Russians, however, knowing that we were compelled to bear arms against them, always evaded us if they could, and if they took any Austrian prisoners they were immediately released and allowed to return to their re- spective corps. The French carried their victorious arms through Smolentz to Borodino, winning many bat- tles ; but being overtaken by the coming winter, which set in with unusual severity, they strained every nerve to arrive at Moscow, where they intended to go into winter quarters. Herein they were greatly deceived, for the Russians, by the advice of Prince Kutusow, the Prime Minister, set fire to their ancient capital, and the snow storms and inclemency of the weather made the whole French army retreat, as they had made no provision for camping out during the winter, having depended upon Moscow for their winter quarters. ' . v The dreadful narrative of that retreat has become a matter of history, and its particulars are too well known to render a recapitulation of them necessary ; sufiice it to say that we bore a share in their sufferings, although from better management, we did not suffer nearly so much as the French. All discipline and subordination appeared to be at an end in the French army. When they arrived at Smolentz, they broke into the commis- sariat, and destroyed more provisions than they used, starting the casks in the wine cellars, and tramping the liquor on the cellar floors, and on their road from Mos- cow burning every house and village through which they passed. Upwards of 700,000 men left Smolentz, for Moscow, and only about 70,000 returned. Those who did not fall by the sword, perished through cold and i ! I I I. 44 AUTOBIOORAPHY OF THE hunger ; thousands of them unable to wade through the snow, tired and hungry, sat down and slept to wake no more on earth. The cavalry suffered the most severely, being inactive they froze to death on their horses, and arrived at their destination sitting upright on their horses, but stone dead. As the infantry froze whilst sitting on the ground, the snow fell on them and covered them, making the whole line of march present a similar appearance to the fields of Canada, in winter, with their snow covered stumps. Thus did God's heavy hand punish the pride and inso- lence of Napoleon ; the decree had gone forth "hitherto shalt thou go, and no farther," and the torrent that had deluged Europe with blood, was scattered and dispersed by the storms of the north, never to recover its ancient prestige. Marshal Prince Schwartzenberg, the commander-in- chief of the Austrian auxiliaries, brought us with all possible care back to Poland ; the King of Prussia, with all his troops, left Napoleon and retired to Prussian Po- land, and Napoleon hastened to Paris to publish lying bulletins to deceive the nation and raise a fresh army. In vain did the Emperor of Austria attempt to mediate between his son-in-law and the other powers, he was treated with scorn and insolence by the haughty con- queror, and therefore joined with Russia and Prussia to preserve the peace of Europe, and put down its disturber by force of arms. Maximilian, King of Bavaria, having been compelled by the French Emperor to form an alli- ance with him, the Emperor of Austria sent Marshal Hiller with 40,000 men to protect him, and to induce him to join the allies, which he immediately did, and REV. V. P. MAYBRHOFFER, M. A. 45 sent General Wreden with an army to attack the French. The armies of Austria, under command of Prince Schwartzenherg, were ordered to assemble in Bohemia ; we therefore leffe Poland and entered Silesia, by Jab- lunka, the metropolis, and here, to our astonishment, all the vermin which had infested us ever since we arrived at Lemberg, left us. There is here a monastery belonging to the Capuchin Friars, in the chapel of which I saw a crucifix with the following quaint inscription, " Adoro Christum, sed non istum, sed per istum, adoro Christum." "I adore Christ, but not this, but through this I adore Christ." Silesia is a country little known to fame, and can boast of few curiosities ; one thing, however, I saw that was curious. The inhabitants wear stockings at least three yards long, sewed together in wrinkles, until they reach the proper length ; when the sole is worn out the wrin- kles are opened, and a new sole formed, by which means a pair of stockings lasts almost a lifetime. From hence we marched to Brunn,the capital of Moravia, a beautiful city, with a magnificent cathedral, in the steeple of which is a clock built by a watchmaker's apprentice ; his master being envious of his superior skill, had both his eyes put out, and on the entrance of the belfry there is a picture of the blind apprentice and his cruel master. From thence we went on to Bohemia, a country of singular customs and great renown, and is greatly cele- brated for the manufacture of woollen cloth and beauti- fully coloured glass ornaments. We proceeded to the camps at Jung Buntzlau and Hinerewasser, where we remained until the war actually broke out. Napoleon being enraged with the King of Prussia, on account of J I 46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE his desertion, attacked him at Jena with the remnant of his guard, and defeated him. We immediately received orders to march into Saxony and occupy Dresden, which we did, and had already possession of the market place, when Napoleon hearing of our proceedings, came sud- denly from Jena with his victorious troops, and drove us out of the town, which he took into his own hands. We retreated upon Dippoldiswalde, where we were harrassed by continual showers of rain, so that our soldiers could not use their firearms. Napoleon, with his usual bold- ness and sagacity, took advantage of the unfavourable weather, and attacking us in the night captured five regi- ments, when, unfortunately, I was taken also and marched once more to Dresden. I found all the churches filled . with prisoners, and the officers of the different corps confined in the school-houses. I was taken prisoner whilst assisting the wounded, and as soon as I was brought 'before Napoleon, and he heard that I was chaplain to the 60th regiment, and had been taken prisoner whilst attending to the afflicted, he declared that it was unfair that I should be a prisoner of war, and sent me to the town in care of a gendarme, with orders to procure for me from Marshal Bertie a safe return back to my own regiment. We entered the town, and had reached the street where St. Anne's church and school-house stood, when we were met by General Tentzel, the military gov- ernor of the city, pro. tem., but instead of shewing us where Marshal Bertie's quarters were, he turned to me and asked whom I was. On being informed he said, " that makes no difference — it is quite as fair you should be a prisoner of war as any other officer;'' so he took me away from my conductor and led me to the school- i REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFBR, M. A. 47 house, where I found about 100 Austrian officers who had been taken prisoners the same night that I was. — In the evening our guards brought us in bundles of straw to sleep upon ; our situation was any thing but pleasant, and we were glad when the hours of darkness were past. The next morning, as I was standing outside the school door, the school-master, who lived above with his mother, perceived me and made signs to me to come up to him. When he found out that I was a clergyman, he insisted upon my remaining with him, and provided me with a comfortable bed and good food. On the follow- ing day when the school-master went to the market to buy provisions, he heard a strange story concerning a dream Napoleon had had the night before ; this dream he had communicated to hid generals at breakfast, and requested them to explain it to him, the generals all de- clined to do so, but advised him to send for his mame- luke, who rescued him from his difficulties in Egypt. — Napoleon sent for him, and when he heard the dream he advised the Emperor to make peace immediately. Napoleon, however, called him a fool, telling him to con- sider how many prisoners had been made, and that the enemy were retreating, adding, that he would not follow such advice, but insisted on continuiug the war. The dream was as follows : ' - v - . -^a- " I have had," said he, " many dreams in my life, but such a singular and foolish one I never had at any time ; I found three chests, which being opened, one was filled with blood, the other with water, and in the third there was nothing." The mameluke made his explp nation thus : — " The chest of blood denotes that a sufficient quantity ) r I 4d AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE of blood has been shed ; the chest filled with water repre- sents the tears of the parents and widows for those that have been sacrificed by your Majesty, and the last chest, the empty one, is the most critical for your Majesty, for from low estate you have been exalted to the Imperial throne, and I greatly fear that you will be again reduced to nothing." This explanation caused great laughter, and the mameluke was ordered out of the Emperor's presence. This happened on the 26th of August, 1813, and the following March Napoleon was compelled to sign his abdication, and was taken as a prisoner to the island of Elba by Lord Wellington's troops. This dream the schoolmaster told to me and his mother, as soon as he re- turned from the market, and I have recorded it in his words. It will not be out of place also to record an incident in Josephine's life, which I have never met with in any history. Whilst she was in the school of the Sisters of Charity, the sister, in whose particular care she was placed, was accustomed, during the hours of recreation, to play and joke with her other pupils, whilst with Jo- sephine she was always reserved and serious. This con- duct grieved Josephine, who naturally imagined that she had in some way oflfended her ; she therefore took the opportunity one day, when alone with the nun, to en- quire what was her reason for being so distant and con- strained with her. The nun stated at once her reasons, saying, " I see in you a person of great consequence, for you are destined one day to become an empress." — This assertion she did not make with levity, or in jest, but with the greatest deference and respect, and added, ** when you have arrived at the highest point of fame, you will be suddenly cast down." REV. V. P. MAYEHHOFFER, M. A. 49 After her marriage with Napoleon, Josephine reported this circumstance to him, and when, in the course of his oampaign, he arrived at the place where the nun dwelt, he recollected the prophecy, and related the circumstance to his favourite marshal, Berthier, whom he ordered to dis- guise in his uniform and go to the nunnery, and if he could find the nun, to pretend that he was the emperor, and request her to predict his future destiny. He found the nun alive, but very old and quite blind, living in retirement in a secluded cell. When the nuna announced to her that the Emperor Napoleon had come to visit her, she refused for a long time to receive him, but finally consented. As soon as the disguised marshal entered and stated his wishes, she told him that he ought to be ashamed of himself for coming to deceive a person of her age and character ; for that although he wore Napoleon's dress she well kn }w that he was not the emperor, and heaping him with reproaches, ordered him out of her presence. When the marshal reported the manner of his reception to Napoleon, he determined to go himself, and, .after a long apology for the deceit he had practised, at length prevailed on her to tell his fortune, which she did in these words : " Napoleon, thou didst undertake great things — thou shalt accomplish but little, and shall die without glory.'' This all came to pass when we see him taken to St. Helena. . , After the victorious battle of Dresden, Napoleon sent General Wandam with 40,000 men, to pursue the Aus- trians on their retreat as far as Prague, in Bohemia, promising him a marshal's staff and great rewards if the expedition was successful. The French took the northern road from Dresden, and the Austrians the southern; 4 \ 50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE f:? both roads are close together, but on account of a dense fog, neither army was aware of the proximity of the other. A priest of the country having ascertained the position of both armies, came to the Austrian camp and told Prince Schwartzenberg, that if he would halt for one day, and the fog continued, he could attack the French army in the rear, and gain an easy victory. — General Wandam, not finding the Austrians, was think- ing more of his marshal's staff than a battle, advanced as far as Culm, where he halted. The Austrians having arrived in the rear of the French camp under cover of night, attacked with the dawn the French army, and being all asleep in their tents, many were slaughtered in their beds, and a complete victory, with very little loss to the Austrians, was the result ; Wandam was taken prisoner in his bed, and the Russians gave him his mar- shal's staff by transporting him to Siberia. The bar- barity of Wandam was so great, that Napoleon told him if he had another general like him he should be obliged to hang one of them. Whilst I was in Dresden, I had liberty, upon parole, to attend the churches. I therefore paid my respects to the vicar general of his Majesty, King Frederick of Saxony, who received me kindly, and allowed me to per- form my religious duties. Although this country is the native land of the great reformer, Martin Luther, yet the king was a Roman Catholic, having abjured the Protes- tant faith in hopes of persuading Napoleon to give him the crown of Poland, a position which he, however, never obtained. He built a splendid church in Dresden dedi- cated to St. Stephen, the protomartyr, on whose altar I read and sang high mass. REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 51 CHAPTER III. Orders now arrived that the whole of the prisoners should march towards France, and I and my fellow pris- oners in Dresden had to accompany them. We received the kindest treatment on our march from the command- ing officer, who was a French captain of marines. As we marched through Saxony the Protestant clergy came to me, and made my acquaintance, expressing great sur- prise *hat a born Hungarian should speak such good Germr- ^hey moreover offered to assist me in escaping, and tt i *rn me safely to the Austrian frontier. I did not choose to trust them, imagining that they only sought to betray me. "We marched through the beautiful city of Gotha, the biitli-place of his Royal Highness Prince Albert, and the neatness and high cultivation of the surrounding country exceeds description. In Gotha there is a mag- nificent cemetery with innumerable monuments and mausoleums of great splendour, which is a favourite re- treat for the citizens, being adorned with flowers of every description, planted in memory of the dear departed. — From hence we marched to Erfurt, and then to Eisleben, the birth-place of Martin Luther, where I was shewn his former study, and sat for some time in his arm chair, meditating upon the eventful life of the great champion of Protestantism. We then were marched to Emerich- shafen, where we were lodged in a large palace, the property of the Duke of Darmstadt, and being wearied I 1 52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE M I i 1 ! Mi out with the incessant marching, I fell sick, but was not allowed to rest, for with the next morning's light we were marched on to Frankfort sur Maine. When we arrived I was billeted with a butcher, who treated me with every kindness, and procured me some medicine. I was still very weak, 'though something better for the prescription ; yet, although hardly able to walk, we were marched on to Mayence, a safe cage for us all. As soon as I arrived I went to Bishop Oolmar, the Roman Cath- olic bishop of the city, and begged him to use his influ- ence to obtain me permission to remain, which he pro- cured from Marshal Kellerman, the residing governor of the fort. I bade farewell to the officers, my fellow pris- oners, and retired to my lodgings to nurse my shattered constitution. It was about the middle of October, 1813, when I arrived at Mayence, and, whilst prisoner in the city, had full liberty to perform my religious ceremonies in the churches ; but every fifth day I had to appear before the officer of the Regii, from whom I received the sum of a dollar for every day to buy provisions and other neces- saries. The church which I generally attended was that of St. Quentin, which was the nearest to my lodgings. I had not been there long before I discovered a country- man of mine, a cabinet-maker named Hecht, who resided on Stone street ; he had no children, and having been well acquainted with all my family, invited me to take up my abode with him, which I did, and was very com- fortable. It was whilst I was here that the dreadful battle of Leipzig was fought on the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th of October ; on the fifth day Napoleon was obliged to re- REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 53 treat. It was the greatest blessing that the cold nights preserved the dead bodies from putrefaction, for they laid in heaps of thirty and forty deep. One hundred and fifty thousand men were sacrificed on this memorable field of battle to Napoleon's ambition ; a hundred thou- sand Frenchman, and fifty thousand of the allies. The retreat from Leipzig was shocking, pursued in the rear by the allies, they were met near Hanau by General Wreden, with 40,000 Bavarian troops, all perfectly fresh and ready for action. Wreden with his troops had been quartered in Frankfurt, but he iring of the approach of Napoleon with his immense army, he retreated, not being aware of the wretched condition in which they were. — When Napoleon arrived at Frankfurt, he was so much enraged with the citizens for supplying the Bavarian troops, that he ordered them to pay a fine of 7,000,000 francs — one fourth to be paid immediately. The citizens in distress, sent a courier after general Wreden, inform- ing him of the shattered condition of the French army, and requesting him to return and give them battle. Hearing this, Wreden at once returned, and routed them so completely that Napoleon had to escape for his life. He met a farmer with whom he exchanged clothes, and purchasing his waggon and oxen, drove to Mayence, whence, after refitting, he hastened to Paris, with his deceitful tongue to cajole the people out of new con- scripts and fresh munitions of war, for the loss he had sustained in this campaign was tremendous. The French i«rmy arrived in Mayence whilst I was there, in such a shattered condition, that I could not see one single regi- ment in order ; they entered at the Rhine gate, and marched straight through the city, and the gate that 4* *•., 54 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE ! ^i ! t i leads to France, without a single halt. Marshal Keller- man, who had an interview with Napoleon, seeing that all was lost, and fearing lest the allies might enter the town in pursuit of the French, sent officers after the fly- ing troops, with orders to bring them in at any price. On Christmas eve the allies came before the city and drove the custom-house officers from their posts. Mr. Hecht informed me of the defeat of the French, and, daily, for more than a week, vessels kept coming down the river, laden with the sick and wounded. Those who died on their passage were thrown overboard into the Rhine, and when the water washed their bodies to the shore, a rope was fastened round their necks, and they were dragged into the middle of the stream and sunk. It could not be otherwise in such circumstances, but that disease should break out and add the horrors of pesti- lence to those of war. There died daily in the city from 150 to 200 soldiers, and from twenty-five to thirty-five civilians. The whole city seemed one large hospital, all the houses were full, and many hundreds of the sick and wounded had to lie on the hard pavements until death put an end to their sufferings. A panic seized the people, and none could be found to dig the graves, al- though as much as twenty dollars a grave was offered. Nearly all the clergy died, and the bishop received my visit with fear and trembling as I assisted in visiting and attending to the sick. -<< •_ . -^ On the first of January, 1814, I laid down in the afternoon, after my dinner, to take a nap, and it seemed to me as if some one came into my room, and called to me, telling me that now was the time to leave the city, and go into the country. This was done three times; at REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 55 last I arose and went down stairs, wbere I found Mr» Hecht and his wife sitting in the kitchen talking together* I asked them whether they or any other person had been up to my room to see me ; they replied that no one had been near my room, or even up stairs. Upon this I retired to my room, and without saying a word to any one, took up my cloak, and went out never to return. I remembered the rector of the town, who lived close to the fort, and intended to seek him out and prevail upon him to give me a hiding place until the French retreated. I went towards the Rhine river gate : I had three gates to pass before I was clear, each guarded by a French sentry — when I came to the first I found three farmers just before me who were chatting and laughing, telling the sentry he would not have to stand there long on guard, as the allies would shortly be here and take pos- session of the fort and town ; they were speaking in Ger- man which the Frenchman could not understand. I walked boldly on, no one questioned me, and in a few minutes found myself clear of the fortifications, walking down the shores of the Rhine. In a short time T saw a small cabriolet with a black horse, driven by a boy, com- ing down the road after me, and as soon as it overtook me, I seized the bridle and stopped it. The boy enquired Avhat I wanted, upon which I asked him where he was going ; he said, to Oppenheim, which he told me was eight German — twenty-four English miles distant. — It was now growing dusk, being about four o'clock ; I asked him if he would take me with him, and on my telling him I was a clergyman, he willingly agreed, saying he should be very glad, as I might be of assistance to their minister, who was very old. We met many French 56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP THE ! f ' soldiers on the road, who said: "qui vive," the boy always answered "bon ami," and we were allowed to pass unmolested. I was still alarmed lest we should be stopped at the last post, and our passports demanded, which of course I had not got. I asked the driver what he would say when he came to the barrier ; he said that he would tell them that he was taking a young clergy- man to assist the aged pastor of the town. This excuse proved to be sufficient, and at 8 o'clock we arrived in Oppenheim. The boy stopped at his master's house, which was an inn, and requested me to wait for him until he had delivered the message for which he had been sent to Mayence. I sat down upon a bench and waited until he came and conducted me safely to the minister's house. The town was swarming with French soldiery ; 1 was told there were 50,000 there, and that they were resolved to risk an engagement before they should be driven from the place. The minister's name was Miller ; he lived in a parsonage which had formerly been a Franciscan monastery. On arriving there the boy rang the bell, and a window was immediately opened above the entry and enquiry made who was there. The boy answered that it was a brother clergy- man who wished to see his reverence. The door was immediately opened by a spring from above, and I en- tered ; all that I had in my'pocket was about six-pence sterling, which I gave to my conductor. I left all my clothes and eflfects behind me, not knowing when I left whether I should not be recaptured and brought back to Mayence, but Providence, who seemed to have ordered me to escape, assisted me in a wonderful manner, and I knew my countryman would keep every thing safe for REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 57 me until I had an opportunity of reclaiming them. As soon as the boy left, I locked the door, and seeing a light before me I followed it until I came to a staircase, at the top of which stood the aged minister (he was nearly eighty years of age) in company with his old faithful house-keeper ; I saluted him in Latin, and requested the favour of a private interview, upon which he requested me to follow him into his study. I then revealed to him my name and commission also, informing him of my escape from Mayence by the help of a teamster in the employ of one of the tavern-keepers of the town, and ended by requesting him to assist me in returning to my regiment. He seemed much astonished that the boy should have brought me there, as he had twenty-seven French oflScers quartered in the parsonage who had only '^one out for a walk after supper. He then ordered me refreshment, and stated his willingness to be of service to me, if I would accept of it in the only way he could manage. I told him that I should be only too glad to accept any asylum he could oflfer. After I had refreshed myself, he took a paper lamp and bade me follow him to the garret of the church, from whence we came to the belfry : when there he showed me the ladder up to the cupola, saying, " there are hidden some of my feather-beds, and there you must take your night's rest." This was my sleeping room from the 1st to the 5th of January. By day he gave me a sign to come down by blowing a miller's whistle, and as no one could enter the parsonage, except by ringing the bell, when he opened the window to see who was there — if it was one of the military he whistled, which was a sign for me to retreat to my hiding place. The place where I had my bed- r 58 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF TUB I ,t ■ i room was 500 feet above the surface of the earth, and all my companions were bats and owls. In this refuge I was kindly fed by the good old priest, aiid my courage supported by his sympathy and conversation. In the day time I often looked through the window-blinds in the belfry, and saw the whole country full of French soldiers. It was evidently the design of my Heavenly Father that I should escape from Mayence when I did, for the very next day (as I was afterwards informed) they came to search for me to convey me to the interior of France; but they were too late — the bird had es- caped from the cage. Whilst I was in this retreat, the rector one day informed me that the maire of the town was very sick, and that he greatly feared that, if a battle was fought, he would not survive the shock. Marshal Marmont was the gen- ' oral in command, and he gave orders to the citizens to remove to Mayence, as he intended to give battle to the allies in Oppenheim. When the rector informed me of this, I told him that it was merely a scheme to extort money ; so by my advice they gave Marmont 400 Napo- leons d'or, and every citizen who had two cows gave one to the army ; upon receiving this plunder, he altered his intention, and left Oppenheim with all his troops. This happened on the fifth day of January, and at 3 o'clock, p. m., the French evacuated the place, retiring to the bulwark of Mayence. Whilst I waited in anxiety this afternoon, in my ele- vated abode, I heard a terrible noise of fifes and drums in the town, which foreboded some very unusual occur- rence. I tried to look out, but the atmosphere was so thick, and evening was coming on, and I could not dis- •*',"«-*-' O-Sf-'s.-v-- REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 59 cern the cause ; so I waited in great alarm until 4 o'clock, wten the rector came and called for me, stating that the French had ascertained that I was there, and he was ordered to deliver me up immediately. I answered him plainly that I would defend myself to the last drop of my blood, before I would come down. Seeing my deter- mination he^ laughed heartily, took off his black velvet cap, and said, "come down, the devil take the French ; as soon as the general had the cash, they left for May- ence." .. The same evening, the Smolentz Dragoons came in without resistance, and the arrival of the Russian troops alarmed the maire so much that he expired. The rector then stated to the council that he had saved an Austrian military chaplain, who spoke many languages ; and that he considered I was a very proper person to be elected temporary maire of the town. So I had no choice but to go and preside in the court house, attend to all the civil business, and to look after all military affairs. 1 remained in this office until the Russian General Benni- gron arrived, with all his staff. I then told the council that I must leave them and return to my regiment. They thanked me very cordially for my services, gave me a coach with four horses, and twenty Napoleons d'or, and conveyed me to the ferry opposite Manheim, where I found our pontoniers, to whom I had formerly acted as garrison chaplain at Peterwardein. Lieutenant Siessel was here, in command of the pontoniers. I entered the ferry inn, and send- ing the conveyance back with my best thanks to the rector and council of Oppenheim, astonished Lieutenant Siessel by my appearance. When I had related to him n I 1 1 i 60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE the "mode of my escape, I requested him to be kind enough to have me conveyed across the Rhine to Man- heim. He called the pontoniers together, saying to them, " Here is our good old chaplain, Mr. Mayerhoffer> will you undertake to ferry him over the ice ?" They all agreed ; and as soon as I had some refreshment, took me over in a small skiiT : we had to break the ice before us all the way, and were an hour and a half in crossing, the river being here nearly three miles wide. When I arrived in Manhcim, I found that Captain Dbller, of my old regiment, was the governor of the city. I intro- duced myself to him, and he gave me a ticket for a very nice lodging at Mr. Shoemaker's Manheim Water Dis- tillery. Here I remained for a fortnight. Manheim is decidedly superior to most of the German towns in architecture, and also in the way in which it is laid out, being regularly built in squares or blocks of an equal size. It is in the dominions of the Grand Duke of Baden. I saw there a splendid ''Basilic," or church, dedicated to St. Stephen, one of the seven dea- cons of the primitive church, and protomartyr for the faith of Christ ; here I sang high mass before my departure. Being anxious to rejoin my regiment, which was then in France, I hastened through Carlsruhe, the residence of the Grand Duke, to Freyburg, where there is a beautiful spire, built in imitation of that in Stras- bourg ; from thence to Alskirchen, and on to Basel, in Switzerland, and finally to Montbrillard, the first place in France. From this place I travelled to Chalons sur Saone, and when on this side of Sens, I met some offi- cers whom I recognised as belonging to my own regi- ment. Words cannot describe my joy at perceiving REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 61 •1 them, and I believe they were equally glad. I eagerly- enquired the news of the regiment, and also where the colonel was : they showed me a barn in the fields near a turnpike, close to which the regiment was encamped, and conducted me there at once. As soon as the soldiers saw me, they cheered lustily, ** Vivat the chaplain of the 60th !" When the colonel and officers heard the noise, they came out from the barn, and all welcomed me heartily. They all made me recount my adventures to them, and were astonished at the boldness and good fortune I had in my escape from the French. The next morning we had to defile before the General Ignatz Count Gyulay, at the village of Serieten, who recognised me amongst the troops, and called me from his window to come up. I had, of course, to. repeat to him my adventures, and had the honour of lunching with him. He told me how sorry both he and all his officers were at my disappear- ance : knowing my boldness, and how rashly I often exposed myself under fire, in attending upon the wounded and dying, they thought my zeal had caused my death. To me the joy they so plainly felt upon my return amply atoned for my sufferings, and infused new life into my breast. My effects had already been disposed of by auction, as they imagined me dead, but the general told me that every thing would be returned ; in the meantime he provided me with new clothes, and assigned a waggon and two grey horses for my especial use on the march. He also advised me to apply to the home government, stating the losses I had suffered, and through his influ- ence (which was great) I received, from the treasury of the empire, a remuneration in full for all my lost effects* 5 62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE I marched on with the army, in hot pursuit of the French, and so closely did we follow them, that at one place they left their ammunition waggons and pontoons in the road to the number of twenty-five, saving only the horses ; we fired the whole train ; and the crash of the exploding ammunition waggons terrified the peasantry for miles around. The poor French inhabitants left their homes, and sought shelter in caves in the moun- tains, and in the forests, with their wives and families, leaving their villages desolate and empty. They hid all their provisions and furniture underground, but the sol- diers soon found them, and robbed them of every thing that was useful to them. These things pierced my heart and excited in me the liveliest aversion to the horrors of war. It is not for a Christian, far less for a clergyman, to view the deplorable ruin committed upon nations. Wars may well be called a scourge upon the earth for transgression, to bring the nations to deep humility and repentance, for their manifold sins of omission and com- mission; the just with the unjust suffering alike the most dreadful calamities. We continued marching in mass after the French army, until we arrived at Paris, which was about the middle of March. Ni^oleon, ever since he left Mayence, had been collecting an army of sixty thousand men, which he had assembled at Fontainbleau. He sent orders to Marshal Oudinot to hasten by forced marches from Italy to his assistance. As soon as the Allied Sovereigns, the Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the King of Prussia, arrived before Paris, they sent General Bubna with a flag of truce to summon the city to surrender in six hours, or expect no mercy. Napo- REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 63 com- j the i'ench the yence, men, sent arches Allied and sent city Napo- leon, before he left Paris, had armed 100,000 citizens, ordering them to defend the city for only 48 hours, and he would come with the army and raise the siege. Oudinot hastened, according to command, from Italy, and attacked furiously the newly arriving troops ; but the Parisians, tired of their hopeless defence, sent out in five hours time the golden keys of the city, on a crimson velvet cushion, and delivered the city up to the allies, who immediately marched 150,000 men into Paris to defend the citizens ; the rest remained to meet Marshal Oudinot. General Bubna was sent to Fontainbleau, with the abdication for Napoleon to sign. When the Emperor received him, and heard that Paris was in the hands of the allies, he was greatly enraged, and spoke in such terms of the Emperor of Austria, his father-in-law, that Bubna, as a loyal subject, could not hear them in silence ; but drew his sword, and challenged Napoleon to his face, demanding satisfaction for the language he had used concerning the conduct of his monarch. When he saw the determined spirit of Bubna, he apologised for his violence and endeavoured to soothe him. He then went out to his generals and held a short council, asking them whether they were willing to go and rescue Paris from the allies ; but they, hearing that the city had already surrendered, refused to be led to battle. Finding him- self deserted by his army, he returned to Bubna, and at once signed his abdication, and surrendered himself pri- soner of war. The second battalion of my regiment was ordered to escort him to the sea-shore, where he was given up to the British for transportation to the island of Elba. 64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE I» ; I I Immediately upon his departure, the Allied Sovereigns sent with haste to England for Louis XVIII., the legiti- mate monarch, one of the Bourbons ; we remained until he arrived and took possession of the throne of his ances- tors. The allied troops then evacuated Paris, demand- ing nothing except rations for the soldiers, and allowing no plunder to be taken from the wretched inhabitants. I remained in Paris during the Easter solemnities, and performed the long, tedious services of Holy Week to the general satisfaction of the Parisian clergy. The first week that we were in Paris, our colonel. Baron Trenck, was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General ; he was a descendant of the famous Baron Trenck, the Prussian prisoner. As soon as we left France, we were ordered to march through Savoy and Piedmont to Turin, the capital of the kingdom of Sardinia, to wait upon Victor Emanuel, the legitimate heir to the throne. Turin is, perhaps, the most splendid capital in all the Italian states, and is the residence of the Sardinian kings. The footpaths* are covered in with brick arches, so that foot passengers have shelter at all times from the sun and rain ; there is also a road, three miles long, arched over the whole way, which leads to a chapel dedicated to the Virgin ; it con- tains a picture of her, said to have been painted by St. Luke, the Evangelist. The number of people who visit this is very great, and as they all make offerings of some kind or other, it is a great source of revenue to the priests. In this city a singular and pleasant adventure hap- pened to me. I had an only brother who was a soldier in the light cavalry, the Frimont Hussars. This being REV. V. P. MAYERHOF¥ER, M. A. 65 .russian known to the general commanding the district, Count Gyulay, he sent for me, and told me that if I could find my brother, and his conduct had ^een such, whilst a pri- vate, as to be an honour to myself and the regiment, our new colonel, Csarnotzay, would give him his commis- sion as ensign in the 60th. One day, whilst I was walk- ing in the city, I met two officers of the Frimont Hussars. I asked them if they could give me any information regarding my brother, whom, I was informed, was in their regiment. They gave me a good report of him, telling me that he had been promoted to the rank of sergeant, and was at present quartered about nine miles from Turin. I returned to the colonel and told him that I had found my brother, and he gave me instant leave of absence to go and bring him to the city. I went imme- diately to Chivasso, where I heard he was, and requested to see the colonel of the regiment, Baron Lederer. The Baron received me with all due courtesy, and after hearing my story, willingly signed a certificate of my brother's good conduct whilst in the regiment. I hurried back to Turin with my brother, but found that during my absence the regiment had marched to Carmagnola, where I did not arrive until evening ; I immediately in- troduced my brother to the colonel, and presented his certificate of good conduct. That very evening he was presented with his commission, and the next day, when wo arrived at Alessandria, he was gazetted as ensign in the 60th. This tribute of respect from my superior officers affected me deeply, for in no more pleasing and delicate manner could the general and colonel have shewn their esteem for my poor services. The next day our marching was at an end, for we remained in Aless- 6* ^ ir 66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE andria until King Victor Emmanuel was firmly settled on his throne. From hence we received orders to march to Bergamo, in Lombardy, where we remained five months ; the great prevalence of goitre, owing to the quantity of lime in the water, gives the inhabitants a most singular appearance, nearly all of them, both male and female, being disfigured with from one, to as many as five, of these unsightly swellings. On our march to Bergamo we passed through Chamberry, and part of Switzerland. We entered Switzerland by Mount St. Bernard, where I visited the celebrated convent of the Norbertine Monks. It would be superfluous to give a description of this con- vent, whose dogs alone, by their sagacity in rescuing unfortunate travellers among the mountain snows, have given it a world wide celebrity ; Napoleon himself admired and highly esteemed these monks. The Norbertine order is very singular in some respects — no man can be admit- ted amongst them, unless he is of lofty stature, and the most perfect symmetry of form. I saw them afterwards at another convent in Switzerland ; the superior was over fifteen years of age, he had with him fifteen priests, and even to my military eyes the sight of such men was astonishing. I never in any picked regiment saw such splendidly made men. They all dress in white silk, in summer, and in winter in fine woollen cloth of the same colour ; even their hats and shoes are made of the same inaterials. Their outer garment, from the neck to the feiet, is fastened with light rosy coloured buttons, ths 1)utton holes stitched with red. They wear a red surcingle of watered silk around the waist. Their chief employ- ment is teaching, for which purpose they have several schools, all in a flourishing condition, and well attended. >^_ REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 6T We crossed the Alps on the 27th July, after a continuous ascent of three days. The view from the summit of the pass was magnificent in the extreme. The Italian valleys lay spread like a panorama at our feet, clothed in the luxuriant verdure of an Italian early summer; whilst amid the mountains, the green vales studded with innu- merable villages, formed a pleasing contrast to the snow-clad heights, and darkly frowning precipices. The hills beneath the mountains were rich with fruit trees of all descriptions — there, the apple, pear, peach, almond, apricot, and a species of chesnut called Maroni, flourish, which the Swiss convey upon mules into the lower countries, and obtain a ready sale. The mountains also afford a livelihood to many old women, who gather the medicinal and aromatic herbs and roots, with which they abound, and sell them to the chemists in the towns. From their cheeses also the inhabitants derive great profit. From Switzerland we passed into Austrian Lombardy. The general and his staff being quartered at Bergamo, which was our head-quarters also. It was expected that after the abdication of Napoleon, and the entire dispersion of his armies, Europe would once more be at peace ; but the allied powers had miscalculated the indomitable boldness and energy of their foe. Scarcely a year had the sword been sheathed when the war drums beat again through Italy; Napoleon left his prison of Elba, and landed at Cannes, with a mere hand- ful of men. Although there was a sufficient force at Cannes to have made the whole of the ex-emperor's party prisoners, yet such was the charm in the appear- ance of that warrior, who had so ofteu led the French armies to victory, that with one impulse soldiers and ,1 §8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE i I m u commanders cried, " vive PEmpereur," and swore fidelity to his standard. Marshal Ney, unable to resist his affection for his old general, forgot the oath he had taken to Louis XVIII., and thus committed that error whi«)h he afterwards expiated with his blood. With a speed unsurpassed in history, he was almost at the gates of Paris, before the king and court heard of his escape. The Bourbons fled once again, and the army every where received him with open arms. To levy an enormous army was to his vast powers but the work of a short time. And he hastened on through Belgium, to the fatal field of Waterloo. We left Bergamo, and hastened through Treviglio, Crema, Cremona, and Oastel di Donne, (here there are erected seven triumphal arches, in commemoration of the marriage of the Emperor Joseph with Isabella, and that of the Duke of Parma with Amelia, daughter of Marie Therese,) to Sabbionetta, and finally Mantua. Here there was exhibited to me a piece of white satin, on which there was said to be three drops of our Saviour's blood. From Mantua we hurried to Guastalla, Regiosa, and Modena, at which latter place we defiled in presence of the Archduke of Modena, nephew of Francis I. At Bologna I saw a most singular thing — the body of Catherine, a nun of the order of St. Clara, which had been preserved for 340 years uncorrupted. She was embalmed^in an arm-chair in a sitting posture, and all her limbs were perfectly flexible, for I helped to raise her myself ; I could discover no deception of wires or wax-work ; it is apparently her natural body — the teeth all sound, and firmly fixed in the gums. There are a greet quantity of magnificient dresses appropriated to REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 69 her use, and she is attired in a diflferent one every month. I need not inform the reader that this preservation is regarded as miraculous, and the cunning priests derive great benefit from the imposition. The city possesses a splendid botanical garden, and a university. There is also a colossal statue of Neptune, surrounded by water deities, which forms a magnificent fountain, the water emerging from the mouths of the statues, and falling into a vast basin beneath. "VVe left Bologna the day after we arrived there, and marched to Imola, the residence and birth place of Pius VII., who was detained prisoner* in Paris by Napoleon, and liberated when the Allies entered, by Francis of Austria. This pope caused the separation of Maria Louise from'licr husband, when he was sent to Elba, by declaring that he had never ratified the marriage, nor consented to Josephine's divorce. From Imola we marched to Reggio, and Parma, a strongly fortified place, surrounded by dangerous marshes. Thence to Piacenza, and Belgiojoso. This later place contains a royal palace, with a magnificient garden full of antique statues. From hence we went to Pavia, where I visited the far-famed university. About a mile from Pavia there is a splendid monastery, belonging to the Carthusian ttionks, (an order since abolished,) which almost surpasses description. The outside of the church is surrounded with statues of alabaster representing the sages and heroes of antiquity. At the entrance of the church there is depicted in bass relief, cut in alabaster, the life of St. John the Baptist, from his birth to his execution, on the left hand ; and on the right, the life of St. Ambrose, in the same style, from his cradle to his elevation to the ''i \ i i '' I t f 70 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE Archbishopric of Milan. The church contains eighteen altars, each with a bronze cornice. It abounds with magnificent paintings by the old masters, but one of more modern date attracted my especial attention — Mary at the feet of Jesus — but so vivid and natural that I could imagine them in conversation. Martha, her sister, standing by, and evidently intent upon receiving the Saviour with becoming hospitality, and He, striving to impress upon her that " Mary had chosen that good part, which should not be taken away from her." The convent contains twenty-six cells for the brethren of the order, each cell is lil$e a house in itself, containing an oratory, workshop, and bedroom ; the only bed allowed the monks Avas a coffin, to remind them of their final sleep in death. Each cell had also a ^mall garden attached to it, and a well of water. As no one was received amongst them who was not an ingenious work- man or artist, they supported themselves entirely by their own labour. The roof of the church was originally of lead, and cost a million of dollars, but Napoleon had it taken down and cast into bullets for his army ; at that time the church was roofed with shingles. The whole of the interior of the church is covered with Mosaic pave- ment, inlaid to represent flowers, birds, and animals in their natural colours. There is also an altar, (perhaps the greatest cariosity in the church,) built entirely of the teeth of the sea-horse, on which the whole book of Genesis is engraved, or carved; it is all of a snowy whiteness, and exceedingly beautiful. On this altar I read mass twice. There is also a monument of the purest alabaster, to the memory of John Galateus, first Duke of Milan, the founder of this church, as well as II I REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFBR, M. A. 71 the splendid Cathedral of St. Charles Borromeus, at Milan.- For the use of these two churches he left $70,000,000, the interest of which sum was to be applied for 300 years to complete the Chartreuse at Pavia, and for 500 years for the Duomo at Milan. The Chartreuse was finished, but the Duomo was not. Napoleon finished it by robbing it of the roof for his own use. AVhen the allied potentates came to the city, they gave $50,000 to roof it, and so it stands to this day. From Pavia, we went to Binasco, where we were sta- tioned for five weeks. During our stay here, I took the opportunity of going to Milan, where I remained a whole week, visiting every day the Cathedral of St. Charles Borromeus, whose tomb is in the church also. Here I read mass, although against the wishes of the Ambrosian clergy. This is the largest church I ever saw, being capable of accommodating 20,000 people ; it contains three pulpits, in which sermons are preached at the same time, without the voice of one preacher interfer- ing in the least with the others. The whole church, both outside and inside, is made of polished white marble, imported from South America. There are as many white marble turrets as there are days in the year, and upon each turret a statue of the saint of the day. Milan is the seat of an archbishop, who invited me to dine with his canons, for reasons which will be related hereafter. I now returned to Binasco, and orders soon came for us to march to the north, which we did, through Sesto Calende, crossed the Ticino, to Vogogna, and thence to Domo D'Ossola. We then crossed the Simplon into Switzerland. Here, at Briga, I saw for the first time a young Swiss Jesuit, whom I accompanied to his monaa- : V ■f I ! I 72 AUTOBIOaRAPIIY OF THE ifc It tery, where there were fifteen other Jesuits : they informed me that his holiness Pius VII. had reinstated them again. From Briga we marched through Evia, Thonon, and Corsi, to Geneva ; from thence wc crossed into France. Near Sex the French had erected a fort, on the top of a very high hill of the form of a sugar- loaf. From this fort they commanded the high road, and especially a part of it where Napoleon had erected a beautiful fountain. I saw fifteen of our soldiers killed by the fire from the fort, who had imprudently attempted to drink at the fountain. Our troops attacked the fort in the night, and took it at the point of the bayonet, capturing 500 French soldiers, and spiking all the guns. Our route was now through Orgelet, -to Bourg en Bresse, and from thence to Macon. I visited, whilst at Bourg en Bresse a very handsome Gothic church, con- taining superb monuments to the memory of the found- ers ; the handsomest one was that of Margaret, daughter of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria. Whilst at Tou- mons, I was much amused at the sight of two dogs employed in working the bellows in a blacksmith's shop — they took regular turns of four hours each. We were then ordered on to Strasbourg, and from thence to Chalons sur Saone. It was on our march through Switzerland that we received intelligence Avhich gave us great delight : I mean the glorious victory at Waterloo. We did not stay very long at Chalons sur Saone, being ordered on to Sency and Tournay ; from hence we were marched to St. Albin Villefranche, where we remained encamped, awaiting the arrival of the Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prus- sia. As soon as they arrived, the whole army, number- REV. V. P. MAYERIIOFFER, M. A. 73 ing 60,000 men, was reviewed, and on the fifth of Octo- ber there was a sham-fight, which was, from the number and discipline of the troops, a magnificent affair. The day after this review, we marched to Dijon, where we remained until peace was concluded. France was co'n- pelled to pay seventy million francs for the expenses of the war, an army of 50,000 men remaining in France until the required sum was paid; my regiment was amongst the number that remained ; we were quartered, at first, at Molsheim, about twenty miles from Strasbourg. Whilst I was in France I received, in addition to my salary from the Emperor of Austria, as military chaplain, the sum of six francs per diem from the French govern- ment. From Molsheim we returned to Chalons sur Saone, then to Colmar and Dambach. Whilst in Dambach, I requested leave of absence, in order that I might go to Mayence, to get the property I had left when I escaped the previous year. On my way I passed through Oppen- heim, where I stayed one day, which I spent with my old friend the rector, who assisted my escape from cap- tivity. The next day I arrived at Mayence, and found all my effects safe and untouched in the hands of my friend the cabinet maker ; he was delighted to see me, and never tired of listening to my adventures, although I think he was a little hurt at my want of confidence in him. As soon as I returned to Strasbourg, I went to the Vicar-General, and made application for a parish in the newly acquired dominions of the Emperor of Aus- tria, being heartily tired of a military life. The Vicar- General kindly promised me all his interest to procure me my wishes, and I returned to my regiment at Molsheim. 6 .»'^ J; • Jr' p..,rv,» .» •» I- ,t- • I ti .t fH:-»r-\^.}' 1- u t!i' ui- , ' JHi. «> >; *.<,''.*<. ' . ,,;?-'*(.■' ,ir ■'■^^ T?^a^ ts. -^y/,. -(. J'i'" U- V ai-; ^,5^ ;'^J":AT **l -. > » - ^•t, 1-i .(."..'>% v,i •»i^i .v» .*i- 'U >f'\f.-;tr/ ^5 •?^; AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. V. P. MAYERHOFPER. 75 • .rV CHAPTER IV. As soon as I arrived at Molsheim, I sent in my resig- nation as military chaplain, which was accepted, and bidding farewell to the regiment, hastened to more peaceful scenes in KlingenmUnster. I received my credentials from the Vicar-General on the 26th of Feb- ruary, 1816. I ought to have mentioned that before I left France, I paid a visit, and had the honour of being presented, to the greatest warrior of the age, who gave Napoleon his death-blow at Waterloo ; and thus saved Europe from another effusion of blood, and treasure — I mean the Duke of Wellington. Perhaps, at this time any eulogy on his grace may seem misplaced ; historians seem to have so often attributed his success to accident rather than talent ; but I speak of him as tve, the eye-witnesses of, and actors in, those scenes, considered him, — as suffering Europe regarded him, — the means under the God of Battles, of restoring peace to the world, and prosperity to Europe. After a residence of three years in KlingenmUnster, I wrote to the Bishop of Philadelphia, in North America, requesting an appointment in his diocese. As soon as I received a favourable answer, I resigned my parish and went to Amsterdam, from whence I took my passage for America. This was about the time of Easter, 1819. We had a very long passage of eleven weeks, and did not arrive I i 1 i ms j ll \\ \ ■ 1 :j \ i i ■ t ' 1 ,1:: , 1 iU ! ' t S^i r«i ■' \ \ I : I 76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE until the 6th of August. My first duty was to find out the Vicar-General, Mr. DeBarth, who governed the diocese, the bishop having died since I received his letter. DeBarth was an immigrant from Alsace, a monk cf the order of St. Augustine, of a vicious and detestable character. He was absent from home, but was informed by letter of my arrival, and wrote immediately, bidding me await his return where I was. I therefore occupied my time with Mr. Roland, a Jesuit priest, minister to the German congregation at the Church of the Holy Trinity. This young man came out to America as a schoolmaster, but being unable to make a living he joined the Jesuits, who procured his ordination to the priesthood, al though he stammered so much that he was totally unfit for the pulpit ; for this defect he was no favourite amongst his parishoneis. And as I remained there nearly four weeks awaiting the arrival of the Vicar- General, I used to preach to them every Sunday, by which means I won their afi"ections so far, that they unanimously resolved to request Mr. DeBarth to remove Mr. Roland to the country, and leave me in his place at Trinity Church. In the Church of Rome, however, the people have no choice in these matters ; and as I had stated that I was no Jesuit, and that no earthly considera- tion should ever make me enter their order, there was not the slightest chance of my appointment to that church. I was not sorry for this, as I had determined that I would leave the church, before I would enter any other order than the Franciscan, to which I belonged. Indeed I found after long trial, that no one can officiate as a priest in America, except he join the Jesuits, so that all the officiating clergymen belong to that order. REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFEK, M. A. 77 After the expiration of three weeks DeBarth arrived from Canewago, when I hastened to present him with my letters and recommendations from bishops and arch- bishops ; he read them carefully, and then told me that he should appoint me to the mission in Canewago, Adams County, near Hanover, which was the post town, and about two miles from the church. Here the Jesuits possessed COO acres of land, which, although it was obtained by extortion from the people, was an absolute property belonging to them. The members of the con- gregation, who were mostly farmers, had to till this land, of which, in the year I arrived, 1819, 100 acres was in wheat. The parsonage was attached to the church like a monastery. Here resided two priests, Mr. Britt, an old man from Germany, and Lekue, a younger person, but a Jesuit also, who had been formerly a French soldier, but had deserted and ran away to America. Dear reader, you may imagine how I felt in the midst of these infamous scoundrels ; I wac sent there, no doubt, in the hopes of soon being persuaded to become a Jesuit, but what I saw had just the contrary effect ; I was becoming gradually more determined to leave not only the Jesuits, but the church that could tolerate such a priesthood. I remained here from September, 1819, to March, 1820, as the German clergyman, most of the congrega- tion belonging to that nation. During this time I was a great favourite with my parishioners, who were, I belieye, really delighted to hear the liberal doctrines that I preached. After I had been here a month I received a letter from Mr. KoUman, superior of the Jesuits at Georgetown, on the Potomac, Virginia, where candidates 6* ( 'S! II 11 t > Si 1 •I t! 78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE for the order keep their novitiate, in which he told me that they had an apartment ready for me, and earnestly begged me to come. To this invitation I made no reply, DeBarth, who had been received into their order on hi& first arrival, came three times from Philadelphia, and each time tried all his persuasive powers to induce me to join them ; but I only listened to him with my ears, my heart and inclination were proof against his allurements. After a residence at Canewago of six months, I had collected enough evidence to convince me of the true character of these rascally priests ; I had seen thousands of bad priests in my life, and had heard the disgusting details of their confessions, but the like of these Jesuits I never saw before. Mr. Britt, I shall pass by, for he was over eighty years of age, and even if he had the will, could not effect much harm ; but his colleague, Lekue, the French run-away, deserves a more particular des- cription. He was about twenty-eight years of age, and was secretary and treasurer of the Jesuit property at Canewago. He was none of l^e holy men of Israel, but a suitable instrument to carry out their nefarious design. He sold small gold rings, which he told the people were so highly sanctified., that whosoever wore one could not be bitten by a mad dog. He sold one to a merchant in Abbotstown, from whom I gathered the information. This person had such a high opinion of the ring, that, when I visited him, he told rae with great sorrow, that he had had the misfortune to break his ring, and did not know what to do : I told him that a silver- smith would soon repair the damage, "but," said he, "will the blessing remain ?" I saw that the man had very little knowledge of Christ, since he could place REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 19 such confidence in a gold ring ; but when I tried to con- vince him of his superstition, he got oflfended with me, so I left him, warning him not to put his hand near a mad dog, or it woijid most certainly bite him. Lekue also sold rosaries and relics, or bones of saints, which, for aught I know, were the bones of pigs or dogs, for I am certain that they possessed no relics there. He also sold immitation lambs, whoso bellies were, he said, stuffed with the bones and relics of saints. There was a young Irish lady there, with whom he was on terms of intimacy which ill accorded with his vows of celibacy. This lady received, as the price of her virtue, a lamb which he called ''Agnus Dei," "the lamb of God." She being desirous to see the contents of it, ripped it open, and found it stuffed with dirty rags, and other rub- bish — a most appropriate symbol of himself and his order. He tried hard to persuade this person to take the veil, but she escaped his net, and married a tavern keeper, (who by the way was old enough to have been her grand-father,) in Little York, Pennsylvania, and thus escaped the snare. Lekue had learnt well the arts of plunder and extor- tion, so common amongst the Romisn priests. Seeing that I was universally called to the sick, he advised me to take care that no one who was possessed of property should die, without leaving a legacy for the poor Jes- uits, showing me, at the same time, fifty silver dollars which he had only lately received from a person who had died in the parish. DeBarth was another sample of wickedness and extortion, but being older and higher in the order, his robberies were on a larger scale. * - ' ' To give some description of this rascally Jesuit — ^be i ^ J! -I 1 iai Bl I i' I ti 80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP THE never came to Canewago but the day before a middle aged woman made her appearance there also ; at firsu I thought nothing bad of her, but the second time, having occasion to leave my room in the night, and going down stairs very quietly, not wishing to disturb the household, as I passed the kitchen, I saw Susan, the servant girl, and the strange woman, sitting on a sofa with the Vicar- General between them. I am sure it was not holiness or chastity that induced him to take the liberties I saw him take. When I returned up stairs to my room, the kitchen was empty, and the Vicar's door, which was open as I came down, was closed, and the female ?-:^^'vant's room dark and empty. Oh, hellish invention of celibacy, when from the high- est arch-bishop, nay, even the Pope himself, there is not a single priest who is not, or has not been, a fornicator or adulterer. I speak advisedly in this case, as I have heard the confessions of thousands of priests, and found it to be the case. Oh, damnablo celibacy, where a cler- gyman being nothing but a niitural man, must become a hypocrite, and through subtlety and cunaing delude the people into believing that he is almost like a God. These Jesuits, seeing that it was in vain to try to make me join their society, determined to get rid of me, but they feared the people, who s'r^oerely loved, and were most cordially attached to me ; but their plan, which was diabolical and deceitful, was providentially revealed to me. Lekue, knowing that I was not to be bought over, made no attempt to do so, although he had the money in his hands, being treasurer to the Jesuits. In fact, through means of this money he made a perfect tool of DeBarth, who was completely under the control %^ .^ti«ainW..l,-iTtit.£*> x *^i. mi . ' * n m=»** EEV. V. P. MAYERHOFFEB, M. A. H of thi'3 French Priest. He procured for the use of De- Barth J5,000, stating that this money was to be sent to Europe to provide the congregation with a large religi- ous library, and especially a great many testaments. The money certainly went to Europe, but it went to Rome, to bribe the cardiaals to give the vacant bishopric of Pennsylvania to DeBi;rth, He did not get the ap- pointment, as he was hated by the American clergy in general ; the people were also told that the vessel in which the books came out had been lost at sea, and therefore their money wsg all gone. One great cause of dislike to me, as far as Lekue was concerned, was my popularity. There were not three French families in all the congregation, and Lekue could not preach intelligibly in either German or English, therefore all the labour devolved on me, and he was, as it were, laid on the shelf, and the sick people would have no one else to minister to them. I was appointed to preach two Sundays in German, and the third in English. Lekue preached in English every third Sunday at Cane- Wago, and I had to go to a church about six miles north- east, and the following Sunday to Pigeon Hill, about eight miles west. . This Pigeon Hill property was possessed by a Mr. Brandt and his wife, who were an old couple, without children. DeBarth had contrived to get this extensive property mu ^e over to the Jesuits after their death, al- though the Brandts had some very poor relations who where thus deprived of what was their legal right, ano- ther execrable example of their rapacious dealings. Lekue being thus in full power took it into his head to forbid my preaching to the people, and I being only m AUTOBIOaRAPHY OF THE a servant of the Jesuits had to obey him. When this had gone on for three Sundays, some of the heads of the congregation came to my room, and enquired the reason ; they had supposed I was sick. I told them that Mr. Lekue forbade me every Saturday to preach on the fol- lowing Sunday, and that I had therefore to submit. — They said if this continued there would be a row in the church. I earnestly requested them not to think of such a proceeding, or to let any consideration induce them to interrupt the service of the Almighty. But my persuasions were in vain, for the next Sunday, when they saw Lekue go up into the pulpit, some of them stood up openly in the church, and said, " Brethren, if we are to come to church o.ily to see instances of spite in our clergy, we had better go to the tavern," where- upon about fifty went out with a great noise. This affair gave a good opportunity to Lekue, who accused me at once of having counselled the people to act thus. I was, of course, perfectly innocent, and, in fact, did not know what had happened until I was spoken to about it by Mr. Britt, to whom I gave a satisfactory account of my behaviour ; he laid the blame on DeBarth, whom he said was highly culpable in appointing me to the mission. Lekue then wrote a letter to Philadelphia, accusing me of I know not what, for I never was able to discover what was the nature of his accusation. He also ordere tions as before, without the least molestation, expecting daily to be called upon to defend myself from the charges alleged against me. At length I resolved to visit the Vicar-General again ; as soon as I entered his room he told me to take a seat and excuse him for a few moments, as he was engaged elsewhere for a time ; he soon, however, returned, bring- ing with him Lekue and Mr. Britt> These three fine companions stood before me as I was sitting, not a word was spoken on either side ; the priests looked from one to the other, and the lips of the Vicar-General quiyere4 as if he had the ague. At last I rose from my chair, and approaching them, said : ^* Gentlemen, what do you want ?'' At that the Vicar-General opened his mouth, and said, in an exceedingly mild manner : *^ Mr. Mayerhofier, I have investigated the complaint against you, and find you guilty, and I therefore forbid you Pennsylvania.'" " Yes, Mr. Barth," I said, "The Jesuits would be glad if they could make themselves masters of all the property in the United States ; but I tell you, you are watched too closely to get it." .t ...., i, He said, he meant not the state, but the churches in it. I answered : " If all the churches in Pennsylvania have the same religion that you exhibit, it is a damnable church and doctrine in all its branches. As I served your church publicly here, give me testimonials." f1 92 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE He said he could not give me a good testimonial. " Then give it me bad," I replied, " according to your conscience.'' •••--• ^ He refused, however, to do that. Had he given me a bad one, I should have brought an action at once for defamation of character, but as I could get neither good nor bad, I took my hat, and turning to old Mr, Britt, said : " Mr. Britt, you have one leg in the grave already, the other will soon slip into it ; are you not ashamed to stand in the presence of this abominable Vicar-General and hear the unjust condemnation of an innocent man ?" Then I turned to Lekue and said : " Should I fall into the mire up to my neck, I should not consider you worthy to cleanse me, you, rascally French vagabond ;'* and now you three infamous scoundrels, "farewell to you and your church for ever," and this was the end of my Romanism for ever, on the 20th of March, 1820. I now left Canewago and went down to Little York, wh^re Mr. Huber was, and told him what I had done ; he requested me to remain with him, until he could see the Vicar-General, and plead my case. As soon as the Jesuits heard I was in Little York, the Vicar-General came there, as he was on his way to Philadelphia, and reprimanded Mr. Huber for giving me shelter ; Mr. Huber told him that he should continue to do so until something was proved against me. The villain told him that the nature of my offence was known only to God and himself. • • ' ^- . ^^ v i n Mr. Huber then left the church also, and we opened a drug store in partnership. ^- ' ' ** ■ • "^ '^ « ' As I had studied medicine for some time, I managed to pick up a living as a doctor ; and now, as I saw that REV. v. P. MATERHOFFER, M. A. 93 I should never return to the priesthood, I resolved to get married. •' ' Having made the acquaintance of my present wife, in Little York, we were married by the Rev. Mr. Miller, of the Moravian Brethren. As soon as DeBarth heard of this, he declared openly from the pulpit, that the reason why he had put me away was, because he could foresee that I should be a second Martin Luther in America. Before, however, I went so far as to take a wife, I wrote a letter, complaining of the unjust way in which I was treated, to Mr. Marshall, the Archbishop of Maryland, but found in him a bird of the same flock ; he said that DeBarth had done quite right in putting me away ; that I was still a priest, and should go and support myself in some other place. The Irish priest who succeeded Mr. Huber, and even the malicious villain DeBarth, had the impudence to call on me after my marriage, the former to trouble my wife by stating to her the damnation she had incurred by marrying a priest ; and the latter to entice me to return and do penance ; I asked him what he wished me to do as penance ; he said, to kneel before the people during service, in order to shew my contrition and humility ; and then he would reinstate me in my old position. I answered, that if he had got into bad odour with the congregation, he ought to clear his own character ; I was not going to do penance in order to justify him in the eyea of the congregation. Then I asked him what should be done with my wife ? he replied,/' she shall be sent to the convent at Emissburg." I told him " I took a wife for myself, not to supply the Jesuits at Emissburg,** and thus j?e parted for ever. ^ f 94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE For the next two years I occupied myself in diligently studying the Bible, in order that I might decide to which church I would belong. I finally determined to join the German Reformed Church in Pennsylvania, and with them I remained four years. From thence I went to Buffalo, where I had to preach to four congregations, amongst these one on the Lime« stone Ridges, in Canada. Here I began to study the English language, of which up to that period I did not know a single word. In the year 1 829, I became acquainted with the Rev. Mr. Sorrel, the Episcopalian clergyman in Buffalo. I became so much delighted with their doctrines and form, of government, the orders of bishops, priests, and deacons, seeming to me more in accordance with the Apostolic rules, that I wrote to the Bishop of Quebec, requesting admission into the Church of England. As my English was imperfect I wrote in Latin, and upon receiving a favourable answer, came to Little York, (now Toronto,) and passed an examination before the Bishop at the residence of Sir Jchn Colborne, lieutenant-gover- nor. I was received into the Church of England in June, 1829, and sent at once as a missionary to the township of Vaughan and Markham, where there were many German settlers. I performed the church service in English and German every Sunday. His Lordship the Bishop of Quebec, a man of exemplary simplicity and piety, providing me with German prayer books, from England. These townships I served for twenty years. From 1829 to 1837 every thing went on peaceably and harmoniously ; I performed service alternately in Mark- id REV. V. P. MAYERH OFFER, M. A. 95 ham and Yaughan. There was a church in each town- ship, hut the buildings were miserable, and the deeds were not made out in favour of the Church of England, but conditionally to the Lutheran Church. For these eight years every thing went on smoothly, but I found that even among protestants and professing Christians, there were many whose hearts were far from God ; and at length, under the influence of Gotlieb Eckardt, their sin reached its height by breaking out into open rebel- lion against the church and state. This Gotlieb Eckardt in conjunction with the arch-rebel W. L. McKenzie, knew well my loyalty and my influence with the people, and therefore tried every way to hinder and persecute me. - . r, •'•.'., , As I generally kept the feast days of the church as sacred as Sundays, I had announced that I would have service on Ascension day. At 11 a. m. I went to the Church, with a large congregation, to perform the German service ; all was orderly, but there were three rebels in the church at the time, and their pockets were filled with instruments for making a disturbance in the church. I, as usual, announced that the church would be opened for the English service at 2 p.m., and went home to refresh myself. A ^ . t; v ' ! As soon as I left the church these three rebels locked the door and fastened it so as I could not open it from the outside. When I arrived at two o'clock I found about forty people coming to the church, but we could not get in. I opened one of the windows and entering that way unbolted the door, which being made of two halves, rendered the lock in the centre useless, and the doors stood open. As, however, some of the congrega- ■Wi I i 96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP THE tion thought that this might involve us in trouble, I refastened the door, and we returned home. The next Sunday I went to Toronto, and assisted in the service there. As soon as the Bishop saw me he enquired the cause of my absence from my own church ; I told him, and he sent mc to the attorney-general, Mr. Uagermaui who told me to break the locks and enter the church. This I did four times, but at last they built a shanty close to the church doors, and placed a rebel named Young there with a loaded musket, who had orders to shoot me if I went near the doors. In these circumstances I returned to the city and told the Bishop that if there was no way of procuring peace and quiet- ness I would leave the church in Markham. They after- wards took down the old double-winged door and laid it up in the chancel, and put up one of solid two-inch double plank, which they drove full of nails. This was just before they marched on Toronto. After they were defeated by Sir Francis Bond Head, and scattered and dispersed, some returned to their homes ; then the Orange Boys, who were the only faithful and courageous body, out of many who were half inclined, but lacked the courage and the organisation necessary for taking a bold stand, came in a body to Markham, and standing before the parsonage house, gave three cheers for " old Tory Mayerhoffer ;" their officers then entered the house, and whilst I was conversing with them, a party of the privates went to the church, drove away the rebel guard, tore the roof oflf the shanty, and broke open the door of the church, taking the new door entirely off its hinges. They then sent word in to their captain. '* I was totally ignorant of what had happened, until REV. V. P. MAYERIIOFFEU, M. A. 97 the captain told me to follow him — we took a lantern, and they conducted me up the church as far as the com- munion rails, where they told me that if any of the rebels gave me further molestation I was to send word to Brown's Corners, on the 4th concession of Markham, and they would come and hang the offender on the first tree. This frightened them, and they had no more resort to violence, but entered an action against me. As the property was held in trust for the Lutheran body, and none of the trustees were present, they lost the first trial. Then their lawyer, Mr. Small, came out amongst the people, and by dint of threats and promises, succeeded in getting two of the trustees on the side of Gotlieb Eckardt, but the third, Mr. John Henry Pingle, could not be persuaded to sign the paper. ' Having now a majority of the trustees against me, the Court of Queen's Bench ordered me to surrender the church, which I at once did in obedience to the laws of my country. The title was given from a formerly exist- ing Lutheran congregation to three trustees, to provide the congregation with a Lutheran clergyman ; they had one, but he was too old to perform his duties, and they could get no other but from the United States. So they made application for a clergyman of the Church of Eng- land who should be able to perform the service in German and English, and if that clergyman held the chuach ten years, they agreed to give the property to the Church of England for ever. I preached in it nine i/tart and nine monthi, and they gsia^d the church, the time was not expired — they had throe months in their favour — and the original title could n^ be upset. They acted in the same way on the 4th concession of 8 •^! 98 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE i ! ! :l Markham at ^liultz's Church, and on the 3rd concession of Vaughan. In this calamity I preached in schools and private houses, so as to keep the members of the congre- gation together. At length, by going around amongst the parishioners, I succeeded in raising enough money to erect the Church of St. Stephen in Vaughan. I after- wards was enabled, in the same manner, to erect two churches in Markham, which stand yet. These labours were almost too great for my declining years, but God supported and assisted me, and I received kind and use- ful assistance from the Lord Bishop of Toronto, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the Christian Knowledge Society. I often, in my advancing years, had reason to despair, but my trust was in the Lord, and I was not left by Him^ who is the giver of all perfect good things. I lived and saw these churches consecrated for divine service by the present Bishop, set apart for our beautiful Liturgy for ages and generations yet unborn. In the Church of St. Stephen, on the 3rd concession of Vaughan, and in the church of St. Philip, in the 5th concession of Markham, God enabled me to preach many useful sermons, and I trust to teach some poor souls the- only way of salvation ; but I never preached in the Church at Markham Village, excepting once, and that after my superannuation, which I received on the 1st of January, 1850. ^ _ ... After I bade farewell to the congregations, I removed with my remaining family to Toronto, and assisted my b|rother clergymen both there and in the country. In the year, 1853, I obtained another permanent sit- uation throQsh the influence of the Rev. Jonathan Short,, REV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER, M. A. 99 •at- of Port Hope. This was a congregation at Perrytown, about ten miles from Port Hope ; I obtained approba- tion and a license from the Bichop of Toronto, and soon raised a numerous and respectable congregation, so much 80 that Mr. John McMurtry, a liberal minded and faith- ful member of the church, raised a subscription and built me another church about five miles from the first. In these churches I preached on alternate Sundays. I was now in my 70th year, but I had so far gained the affection of the people, that they agreed to raise £100, by subscription, for my next year's services, in addition to the £73 I received annually from the S'lper- annuation fund. For forty-nine years, in spite of my great exertions, I had never had a day's ill health ; but now the hand of the Almighty visited me, and I was taken dangerously ill. For three weeks I was deprived of the power of speech, and had it not been for the un- ceasing care and attention of my beloved wife, I do not think that I should have ever arisen from my sick bed. At length, through her care and that of my good parish- ioners, I rallied a little, but my medical advisers told me that I must give up preaching, or I should soon be a dead man. I therefore wrote to the Bishop of Toronto, resigning my parish into his hands, 'and requesting him, if possible, to appoint a successor, as I thought it hari to loose the ground, upon which I trusted so much for time, and for eternity, had been built* Accidentally, there arrived at Perrytown, a young clergyman named Lewis, with an aged paralytic father, mother, and seven children, who took charge of the con- gregation, and I left them sorrowing, and returned to Whitby. . ,, 100 EDITORS REMARKS, AG. [This concludes from his own pen, the biography of the Rev. V. P. Mayerhoffer, but many anecdotes of his life will be found in the subsequent chapters, containing the history of his reformation. In the appendix will be found a brief account of his last illness and peaceful death, collected from those who were eye-witnesses of the closing scene.] ^ .J'^i': ; y^-'^y; :t''t I !5 t- * • -^ ; \*... >. J >" i Vv '. «' St^i f ;H ii'-^lwH* *'«'i» - -k;* Ai'i t»i.!J fHt-*^ lis "♦. ^»««-' V •i<'^r>s4. [| imAi •--'l^ iifjjt hii^ nsiSik -i-wv-ij-jj^Hai pE^^i ff^ i. ^J^ tiii^.tP^'"^' ■ t J ^kS-^ i'«j'^4t -fX*' >jr^ p»*i ^ ■*^^iiiiJ ^ .."»j V^ « ,Tj^un!S>$i} V '■'^.wiWm 'Z.fi :?y^-'f!.'J4t? w.'&t*^- phy of of his aining (fill be ^aceful of the IMi- COITFESSIONS or A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, OB, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THK REV. V. p. MAYERHOFFER, M. A., WITH AN ACCOUNT OF HIS CONVERSION, "R AND SELECTIONS TBOM HIS OOREESPONDEISrCE. Heb. xi. 4. ■i'-i EXAMINATION AND REFUTATION : 'i » >' « . ':,■( OF THB .>,■-. . DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. I • I I CHAPTER I. .;. i'u How ardently I longed to come out from amidst the superstitions and iniquities of the Romish priesthood, I can hardly find words to express. Had I been actuated by pride or vanity, in no religious body could such pas- sions have been more gratified than in the Roman church. Here, the priest stands in the place of the Bible, nay, almost in the place of God. ..AT Having been brought up in the strictest tenets of the Roman church, I had never heard of the Bible as a guide for one's conduct through life, neither my father or mother, or any of the people we visited, possessed a Bible, and even in the monastery there was only one, which was simply used to read the lessons for the day — it always remained in the choir, and I never heard our superiors advise a candidate to read it or make its pre- cepts the rule of their lives. No priest in the Roman church cares for the Bible as an instructor or guide ; true, he reads certain portions which are contained in the bre- 106 CORRUPTIONS OF THE i^ viary, but this he does merely as a form, and although this practice is strictly inculcated, yet it is never seri- ously commended, but merely looked upon as a pastime — a species of religious reading for amusement. As soon as a candidate finishes his novitiate, which lasts for a year, if he has attained the age of twenty-one, he is brought before the high altar, and there, in the presence of the whole brotherhood, reads over his vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the commands of his superiors. With this form alone, and sometimes if the candidate is wealthy, the addition of a sura of money paid into the funds of the order, they fill up the convents, ivhich multiply in an astonishing manner. There were four provinces of the Franciscan order in the kingdom of Hungary, which extended over the whole Austrian empire ; their names were Mariani, Salvato- riani, Ladislaiani, and Capistrani. Each of these is gov- erned by a pro dncial, and possesses, in various parts of the empire, from twenty-five to thirty convents. The Capistrani, as I have mentioned before, was the order to which I belonged. This order generally prepares men for the military chaplaincies, its founder, St. John Capis- tranus, having been a highly respected military chaplain. My belonging to this order was probably one great rea- son of my being appointed military chaplain to Count Ignatz Gyulay, Ban of Crotia. ^ • *-• ' ^^'^- -^i^* '* No such orders of priesthood are mentioned in God's word, but Rome finds them essential as safeguards for the preservation of her power. •«-'^-' , All these orders take the same vow of poverty, and yet they are possessed of the greatest wealth and luxury in the world. Well do they understand the art of extort- Japis- >Iain. rea- )ount for and [ury Itort- CHURCH OF ROME. 107 ing from the liberal and blindly generous Roman Catho- lics any thing they have need of, and make them feel obliged at the risk of their salvation to give them riches, either in life, or by their last will and testament, to ben- efit the order. No one, indeed, can imagine the enor^ mous amount of property and riches that is engrossed by religious orders in the Roman Catholic countries of Europe. In addition to this, the government allows them, at certain times, to send out swarms of mendicant friars, who collect, as alms, vast quantities of bread, wine, wool, flax, meat, eggs, and all the produce of the country. In old convents you can find selected assortments of all these articles, and especially of wines, some of which are hundreds of years old and of splendid quality, such aa none of the wealthiest English nobles can produce. — Where are seen in all this their vows and professions of poverty ? Their second vow is chastity. In order to blind the eyes of the people, they introduced celibacy, and under this cloak, for a long time, perpetrated the most incred- ible wickedness ; the present age has brought a great deal of this to light, but much remains too shameful tOr be mentioned to any moral ear. If this sink of iniquity could be properly opened it would terrify the whola< world, and be sufficient to cause the entire abolition of the Romish priesthood. Practical experience gives m^ the liberty of speaking boldly, and I assert that from the highest prelate to the lowest priest, there is not one who keeps this vow of chastity. I had the opportunity, of listening to the confession of thousands of priests, and never found one wJiQ was not » fornicator or adulterer. 108 CORRUPTIONS OF THE i Can it be otherwise wben the head of the church gives free permission for concubinage instead of matrimony ? Pope Paul III., in the third year of his pontificate, granted a bull for the licensing of houses of ill fame in the states of the church, and granted an indulgence for breaches of chastity, provided the man paid a certain fine to the Pope, and the woman a yearly sum for her license, and entered her name in the public register of the city of Rome. In the days of this abominable Pope there were 45,000 women of this character in Rome. Each house of ill fame had an iron chest fixed in the wall, and the delegates of the Holy See went round weekly to col- lect the money and divide it into three parts — one for the woman, the other for house rent, and the third part for the church, applicable to the redemption of Christian prisoners in the hands of the Turks and infidels. This was all done by the order of the head of the church, and what then could be expected from the priesthood ? Oh ! shameful fruits of celibacy, of which the Christian church knew nothing until the ninth cen- tury, for all priests up to that time, who wished to be " married, experienced no opposition. Did not our Re- deemer select for his apostles, as priests of the Most High God, married men ? and was not, according to the Roman calendar itself, St. Peter a married man? and' do they not worship as a saint his daughter, Petron- «lla? They may say that after Peter, or any other apostle^ entered the church he had to leave his wife and children. ** Marriage is honourable in all," " What God hath' joined together let not man put asunder ;" and should the Divine Law-giver abolish his own law ? ^ CHURCH OF ROME. 109 Should the case of Pope Paul III. be doubted by any Roman layman, I can produce some niore recent exam- plea of celibacy. ' When we entered with the army into the city of Bo- logna, in 1814, on the market square, where the fountain is erected, there is a colossal statue of Neptune. Whilst I was looking at this a priest came up, and introducing himself to me, requested me to accompany him to his lodgings ; I did so, and found that he, as a priest of the church, had five handsome young women living with him. He offered me any one of them I liked, and gave me the privilege of coming as often as I chose, if I would only bring the oflficers of my regiment, from whom he would exact money enough, and in this manner do numbers of the Italian priests make their living. The seduction of married ladies, by their confessors, is an every day oc- currence, and the priest serves in the household as a cavalier, or " cicisbeo,*' more than as a religious in- structor. The last vow is obedience, and this not to God or His law, but to the Pope, his bishops, and their ecclesiastical superiors in all parts of the world. The most perfect samples of this vow are the Jesuits, for they acknowledge no other superior than their Greneral, whose orders they implicitly obey ; although in their external government they mention the name of the Pope, they yield him in reality no obedience. The present Pope^ Pio None, expelled these fine birds five times from Rome, but found that in order to effectu- ally carry out his own wickedness, he could not do with- out them, therefore he always re-established them ; and now he sends them by herds into the United States and li 110 CORRUPTIONS OF THE Canada, in the hopes that when he is driven out (as he assuredly would be now, but for the French and Austrian "bayonets,) by his own subjects, they will have prepared him a new Rome on this side of the Atlantic ; but I can assure these emissaries of Satan that there are in Canada alone more than 100,000 Loyal Orangemen, besides Christian protestants of every denomination, who never did, and never will bow down the knee to Baal. When the Jesuit priests and their bishop came over only lately from Rome to California, they gambled and played cards to such an extent that the captain of the ship had to interfere and burn their cards. " God forgive them, they know not what they do," but answer perfectly well as blind leaders of the blind. It will not be amiss in this place to relate what hap- pened to these Jesuits under the emperor Joseph in Vi- enna, and their subsequent expulsion from the whole Austrian empire. By reading this you will at once see "what they were then, and such are they even now, if they had the opportunity of carrying out their designs. It will be as well, perhaps, to give a slight sketch of their history up to that period. The society of Jesus, as is well known, was commenced by Loyola, and built up hy his successors, and from its very commencement waa subject to no foreign authority, for although the Jesuita rendered outward homage to the Pope, hy kissing his toe, they never really obeyed any one but their own gen- eral. Their aim was their own aggrandizement ; and under pretext of extirpating heretics, and converting the heathen, they were established in 1540, by Paul III. — So rapidly did they increase that under Julius III. they had acquired a spiritual power equal to the Pope himself. m 1 CHURCH OF ROME. Ill hi» the ^hey could accommodate themselves to any profession or mode of life amongst heretics and infidels, so as to be enabled, when occasion offered, to organize and establish churches entirely independent, as far as government was ; 120 CORRUPTIONS OF THE i (e- priest of the order, who, for a certain crime, was impris- oned there for a few days. Joseph then enquired his name, but could get no satisfactory answer. He there- fore ordered him to be brought out, and demanded his name, and as soon as he had ascertained that he was the brother of the waiting lady, he said to him, " How did you come up here, since you were dead and buried yes- terday ?" The poor prisoner knowing nothing of what had hap- pened, and not recognizing his Majesty in the obscurity of the place, denied most emphatically his death and bu- rial. Joseph, without saying a word to the superior, ordered the colonel of cuirassiers to send for some stout men of his regiment, whom he ordered to carry the feeble prisoner down to his own carriage, in which he had him driven to the palace, to be placed under the care of his own physician, and his sister, the lady in waiting. This being done, he commanded the colonel to count the num- ber of the Jesuits, and send up the same number of troopers from below ; then ordering the holy fathers to range themselves in line, he stationed a soldier behind each priest : " Draw your swords," said his Majesty, " each of you follow the priest before you to his cell ; allow them to touch nothing but their walking-stick, hat, and prayer book — then lead them down to the convent door, and if they attempt to disobey these orders, cut them down immediately." •.!; r Then his Majesty and his suite went down also to the convent door, turned the Jesuits out, and placed a guard of cuirassiers around the premises. Before the emperor left, he descended to the vaults of the church, and there, CHURCH OF ROME. 121 ^ in the presence of the whole suite, caused the coffin, which had heen brought there the preceding day, to be broken open. It contained nothing but stones and sand, which evidently showed that it was the intention of the Jesuits to have murdered the poor priest, and interred him in the empty coflSn. After causing all the entrances of the convent to be closed up, his Majesty returned to the palace, and that very evening couriers were dispatched to every place in the empire where there was a Jesuit convent, all of which were abolished, and their property confiscated to the state ; and this was the end of the Jesuits' monarchy in the whole German empire, under the emperor Joseph. From this anecdote you will perceive how terrible it is for an inferior priest to fall into the hands of his remorseless superiors ; for although these have first been inferior clergymen themselves, yet as soon as they are raised to greater power, their nature becomes like flint, and they know no mercy towards their inferiors. How then would they act towards protestants if their former powers were once restored ? Are these the followers of Him ^ho was meek and lowly in heart, whose vicars they call themselves on earth? God forbid! ,. r .,,.;*/vr..^ I cannot leave this subject, the Jesuits, without men- tioning the great pains they are at to bring back any priest who has left their fold, rightly judging that such are the most dangerous enemies they possess. By the grace of God abiding with me, and strengthening me, I have been now thirty-six years separated from their idol- atrous church, but even to this day they use every endea- vour to seduce me into a recantation, and I am constantly troubled by their emissaries. 10 IN II ■ t h'- 122 CORRUPTIONS OF THE iafi ••• ■-■ The priest of Oshawa met me, accidentally, on tbc road between Whitby and Brooklin, and urged me so much ' to enter his buggy, that I at last consented. He asked xne what I was doing in these parts, and upon my reply- ing that I lived in the village, he said, "then you live in my parish," "God forbid,'' said I, "that I should belong, or wish to belong, to your parish church." He then proceeded to ask me how many children I had ? " I told him that God had blessed me with nine, to bring up to His glory," and then added, "how many have you? — I can bring mine publicly before the whole world, and they will be respected for my sake ; but can you bring your's before the world and allow them to call you father ? Ko, sir." He then added, "If you are taken ill, I hope you will send for me." T asked him "why ?" He said, "to confess and get absolution." I answered, " it is vanity to think of such a thing ; if I have offended you personally, it is my duty to ask your forgiveness, but as I never have, I do not see why I should send for you ; you know well that neither you nor I ever had really power to forgive sins ; you ought to think as I do, and go to Jesus Christ alone, who has power on ea^h to forgive sins." He replied, that I ought not to say so, for once I thought differently ; I replied, " once I thought so, for I had been taught so to believe, but when I be- came enlightened by the spirit of God, and the study of His Holy Word, I saw my errors and was content hum- bly to believe with the protestant church, that Christ can alone forgive my sins." I must confess that the poor man was not quite sober when I met him, and as we had by this time arrived in the village, I jumped out of bis buggy, and we parted. 1 i: .;r'^r*f*; -- CHURCH OF ROME. 123 Do not imagine, dear reader, that I wish to detract from the honour of the priesthood of the church of Rome, for they possess no honour, but merely to show you what really goes on under their assumed sanctity. If these holy men pretend to keep clear from females, which I deny, I could mention other crimes, if it would not offend modest ears to mention such things ; the like is applica- ble to them that was laid to the charge of the ancient Romans by St. Paul, in the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans. And now I must impress upon my protestant readers to take these declarations of mine as they really are, the truth, for I have known many professing protestanta tell me that they cannot believe these things, for it is impossible they could continue in any church ; yet such do I affirm, from my own experience, to be the every day transactions amongst that wicked and idolatrous priesthood ! -v I.: i r :i! {>sr *->¥r<\ >:.<5 % r. Y* T; ^*' ''•■ r •if^*t vA DOCTRINAL BRRORB OV THE CHURCH OF ROMK. 125 ;*' ■ .f .t>. « CHAPTER II. ,-Vi!.^-4 .r I shall now enter upon the doctrinal errors of that anti-christian church, and especially upon their catechism, which they substitute for the Bible, and by which they keep their flock in blindness and superstition, teaching the children the corrupted and damnable way of Chris- tianity, falsely so called. We will first take the subject of faith. ' Q. "What is a christian's belief?" ' A. " It is to hold true all those things which God re- vealed, and whatsoever the church commands to be be- lieved, whether those dogmas are written or not." This answer begins clearly, and correctly enough, but if the people are forbidden to read the Bible, how can they know what God has revealed ? and this renders the second part of the definition necessary, viz., "the autho- rity of the church." But what is the church ? In aii^ unlimited sense, the popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, and we may add the oecumenical councils. But even these have been so deformed by the depravity of those who filled the papal chairs, that we find council contra- dicting council. Pope against Pope — ^nay, even three Popes at the same time, each one chosen and consecrated as the infallible head of the church; thus was that church afflicted, torn to pieces, and distressed. As it were, robbed out of the hand of God, and guided accord- ing to the tenets of fallible men, of whom the Scripture emphatically declares, " all men are liars," God alone remains the infallible truth. 126 li^- DOCTRINAL KRRORS OF '"Z^f.r This doctrine can only bo taught in its absolute purity by the Bible, which is the revealed will of God, in the Old as well as the New Testament, left to us as an uner- ring guide, to guide us unto all truth. Against a church which teaches this doctrine only, no Satanic power can ever prevail As soon as the Church of Rome declared their head, the successor of St. Peter, infallible, they were necessarily obliged to have recourse to a more pol- luted and destructive doctrine — that of traditions — which after a time became to be received as the truth, people being afraid to disbelieve that which the Popes and bishops commanded ; thus '^ as their reason subju- gated to a blind faith in their Fjpiritual leaders, and at length these old established fables became, through lapse of time, received and believed, as the doctrines of the Church of Christ ; but lies they are, and lies they will remain, unaltered to the end of time. God alone has the words of eternal life. Where then can we fly but to Christ alone, the author and the finisher of our faith ? The traditions of the Church of Rome soon accumu- lated, and, in course of time, to that extent, that there was not a Pope but left some novelty, or added some- thing to these traditions as a proof of his infallibility, expecting thereby to immortalise his name, so that the faith of the Church of Rome became a complete mysti- cism, one Pope enacting, and another expunging, the same thing ; and what wonder, when they had left the pure standard of faith God gave them, to a reprobate mind) to the wickedness of their own imaginations. — Then when they gained the supreme temporal, as well as spiritual power, they enforced their wicked lies by fire, 'faggot, and excommunication, introducing their i THE CHURCH OF ROME. 12T diabolical Inquisition, and destroying all those who dared to contradict a single word of their blasphemous fables. The whole system of religion turned into a disgraceful speculation, so that Popes, bishops, and priests sold for money pardons for sins, not only past, but projected in the future. They made the church a Pantheon of innumerable demi-gods, introducing the worships of the Virgin Mary, Hyperduliae, saints and relics ; they carried the venera- tion of Dulise so far that every country, city, village, trade, profession, and even sickness or afilcj;ion had its guardian angel, or powerful saint to invoke in time of need. The minds of the clergy, as w«ll as the bishops and Popes, with princes and potentates of every rank, were set upon the discovery of relics, on which they spent coffers of money in enshrining in silver, and ornament- ing with jewels and gold, i^ 7 ^ .f- .« . ... St. Augustine, bishop of Constance, left an excellent remark upon this disgraceful system of worship. Stating that " even in his time there was almost divine worship paid to persons, most of whom had never existed, or if ever they did, their souls had been condemned to the flames of hell fire for ever." Oh, idolatry! thou natural relic of a corrupted heart, how successful hast thou been in creeping into a church which at its origin was divine, catholic, and apostolic, but now is mixed up with heathenism, superstition, and infidelity. The divine doctrines, taught by our Lord to his be- beloved disciples, became so much adulterated, that the whole system of religion was upset, the apochryphal books were regarded as authority on matters of faith, whereas in the early church they were never so received. 128 DOCTRINAL ERRORS OP an au- Where in the whole of God's revealed word can thority be found for transubstantiation, purgatory, high or low mass, indulgences, or auricular confession ; the absence of this authority alone must prove the Church of Rome in error ; and until those false doctrines be eradicated, I can conscientiously recommend no one to enter her communion. I, who served for twelve years as a priest, esteemed and respected, who can shew if necessary the highest recommendations from archbishops and bishops under whom I served ; if I have to give just and faithful advice to every one who reads this book as regards the selection of a christian church, must beg my readers to consider that it will be of little avail for persons to belong to any church unless they belong to the Saviour, and are united to him as members of His body ; to belong to Christ it is necessary to accept of salvation as the gift of free grace alone, to the entire exclusion of our own self-righteousness, as well as the merits of any saint or angel. To belong to Christ, it is also necessary to be born again by the influence of the Holy Spirit — to become a new creature, and to live a new life : that is, a life of submission and obedience to the will of God. ^" - " ^ ' '* '-^^ •^^' ^'-^'^'^'^'^ ^^• To such submission to the will of God, and His righteousness, our catholic and apostolic church of England presents no hindrance, nothing to prevent any individual from living by faith alone in Christ as his Saviour and intercessor, and from practising all the duties of a holy life. I know not indeed a true protes- tant faith in which a christian would be authoritatively prevented from living the life of a christian. But it is otherwise in the Church of Rome. The errors'which au- the live a ice to His ;h of It any ]s hia jl the •otes- fively it is rhich THE CHURCH OF ROME. 129 she teaches by authority strike at the root of the true faith and of a holy life. It is impossible for a member of this church to profess the faith of the gospel in its divine simplicity and purity without incurring the pun- ishment of heresy. Yet, to profess the faith of Christ is really as binding upon a true christian as to believe in Him, for we find in Romans x. 10, " As with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Now, sup- pose a member of the Church of Rome does confess Christ, and says he trusts in him alone, without looking to his own works ; that he neither has now, nor ever had, any merit of his own to plead in the sight of God, and that all the merits of the saints in heaven could not serve the purpose of his salvation ; he would be in dan- ger, if within the reach of the Inquisition, of being burnt alive for heresy. Thus the very first principle of the christian life meets with positive, powerful oppo- sition in the Church of Rome, and the confession of the truth, which is the first duty of one who believes it, is authoritatively interdicted. Should a man set his heart to worship God alone through one mediator, he would meet with a thousand obstacles in the Church of Rome. The priests would be incessantly thrusting themselves be- tween him and the object of his worship, and diverting his mind from every devout contemplation. Should he express gratitude to God for the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit, the priest would command him to think of the virtues of his holy water. Should he confide in tho intercession of Christ in heaven as sufficient to maintain his cause, the priest would command him, under pain of ans^thema, to apply to the Virgin Mary, and fifty other ■;* .).; ^.:fy-{ ■" ^, \^«\\^ u- w It ; 1 I 130 DOCTRINAL ERRORS OF mediators, before be should dare to approach the Saviour. Should he express bumble confidence in approaching the throne of Divine mercy with confession of his sins, and the hope of forgiveness, the priest would tell him that he must confess bis sins to him, and look for absolution from him. Should he endeavour to regulate his life according to the precepts of the divine law, bis ghostly father would enjoin upon him pilgrimages, fasting upon certain days of the week or year, not because it is com- manded in the word of God, but to divert bis mind from the divine commandments. And if he should think of worshipping God in spirit and in truth, bis mind would be distracted by the exhibition of the images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and other saints being presented as helps to his devotion, though he knew them to be no better than vain idols. "' i - ■< . '.^ The sum of the matter is this : the Church of Rome establishes iniquity by law. She makes it imperative upon her members to believe errors, and to practise idolatry. To obey her is to disobey God. Protestant churches condemn such blasphemous tenets and idola- trous practices. They make it imperative upon no man to believe error, and to practise idolatry, or to worship a creature, but recommend the word of God to all. In them, therefore, men may serve their Maker ; in the Church of Rome they cannot. I shall be told here that papists disavow idolatry, and curse all idol worshippers, but they cannot deny this fact, that they pay divine honours to the consecrated Host, which every man who trusts his senses knows to be nothing but a bit of paste. I must therefore say, if this be not idolatry there never was such a thing in the world, and the words " idol- worshippers " have no meaning. THE CHURCH OF ROME. 131 Yiour. ag the S) and n that )lution lis life ;hostly ; upon s com- d from link of would Christ, ited as ) he no p man prship 1. In bn the e that It is the general belief of the members of the Church of Rome, that Jesus Christ did constitute St. Peter as head • of the Apostles, and visible head of His church upon earth. Now this is merely a tradition compiled by the priests, for no bishop or father of the early church can prove that he has received such a revelation, and as we have no authentic revelation later than that of St. John the Divine, we cannot be reasonably expected to believe any thing later than that date, which may appear in the form of a revelation to any other divine or father of the Church. Moreover, it is not true that the fathers of the church in every age have asserted this. The thing was quite unknown in the earliest and purest ages of the church, and papists themselves might know, if they were allowed strictly to enquire into its authenticity, that this doctrine of St. Peter being the head of the church is nothing but a barefaced forgery and impudent lie. I admit that ever since the bishops of Rome have pretended to be St. Peter's successors, they have always claimed supreme authority, but that is more authority than Peter ever possessed. And, as for his being bishop of Rome, that I confidently dent/y and I defy the whole Church of Rome to prove it from authentic history. Nay, I defy them to prove who were the first, second, and third bishops of that See. Supposing it is admitted that Peter was the first, there is no telling who succeeded him ; there is a blank in the Pope's genealogy which all the world cannot fill up. .^. , . y^^ff u, , The apostles and bishops of Antioch, Rome, and Con- stantinople, were so much occupied for the first three centuries, in preaching Christ crucified, that they had no leisure to dream of supremacy : after which tii^cie, by 182 DOCTRINAL ERRORS OP little and little, they grew ambitiotts, and now and then one of the bishops affect priority ; so that about the end of the next three hundred years they began to desire primacy, but not supremacy. John, bishop of Constan- tinople, first called himself Universal Bishop in A. D., 585 ; Gregory, the Great, bishop of Rome, the first of that name, reproved him in these remarkable words : "I do confidently affirm, that whosoever calls himself Uni- versal Bishop, or desires so to be called, is the forerun- ner of antichrist in his pride," all this while there was not one thought of a Pope, head, or successor of St. Peter in the church. Now, my dear Roman Catholic brethren, I will tell you when the first Pope ever resided in Rome, and in what manner he obtained the title of Universal Bishop, or head of the church. Mauritius, emperor of Constan- tinople, had a servant named Phocas, who slew his mas- ter, and murdered his mistress and all the family, in a most cruel manner, and then proclaimed himself Empe- ror of the West. At this time Bonifacius, bishop of Rome, commonly called Bonifacius III., obtained from this murderer the title of Universal Bishop ; wherefore you see that the supremacy of Home was first established by a traitor and murderer, A. D., 607. This Phocas perished miserably in 612, being assassinated by the soldiers of his own guard. Thus you see that sit aentuHes elapsed before the bishop of Rome rose to thfe title of Universal Bishop. Now, I ask you, where was the chair, the head and su- premacy of Peter all this while, and who was the man who so much as imagined that the bishop of Rome was the successor of Peter, and as such the visible head of THE CHURCH OF ROME. 133 then J end lesire istan- L. D., rst of Is : "I fUni- rerun- re was of St. rill tell and in Jishop, )nstan- is mas- y, ina Empe- iliop of from irefore lished 'hocas ly the ^re the Jishop. Lnd 8U- le was lead of the church upon earth ? It was not until after the light of knowledge had heen almost extinguished in Europe, when artful priests could teach the people almost any thing they pleased, without fear of contradiction or dis- covery, that they began to collect and teach, as infallible truths, the traditions, opinions, and even conjectures of their predecessors, whom they dignified with the titles of saints and fathers. It was not, in short, until they found the people in a state of sottish ignorance, and prepared to believe any thing, that they dared to forward the claim of the bishop of Rome to be the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ, and visible head of the church. Having laid their foundation on St. Peter, they went on to subdue nations, tongues, and countries, and the Popes arrogated to themselves authority over all the world, and all heaven, and even all hell. Come, my dear Romish brethren, and pray that God may give you grace to belong to that church which is founded on the rock of ages — the Lord Jesus Christ — that is the only pure immutable church to which to he- long. Let your priests say, I know nothing ; don't believe them — though they show themselves in their sanctified robes, and declare themselves infallible, and threaten you with damnation if you doubt their words — heed them not — come to Christ alone by faith, His blood can wash away your sins, and quench the fires of purga- tory, (did such a place exist,) aye, and of hell also. If Popery were Christianity, I should rejoice in its propagation ; if the priests were employed in showing men the way of salvation by free grace, through the righteousness of a crucified Saviour ; if they were labour- ing to instruct and edify those who believe in him ; if 11 li m 134 DOCTRINAL ERRORS OF they were themselves examples of being dead to the things of this world and alive to those of another ; if they were, in short, like the Apostles of Christ, whose successors they profess to be, I would not have left them, neither should I contemplate any danger to society from the increase of their number; but I, and every true christian, who is acquainted with the subject, know the reverse of all this to be the case. Popery is not Chris- tianity, but a counterfeit of it ; it is antichrist, that is against Christianity. The priests are not employed in preaching salvation by free grace, but by the merits of man's own works ; they are not labouring to instruct the people, but to keep them in ignorance, and instead of being like the Apostles, dead to this world, their princi- pal eflforts are directed to the things of this world, how they may extort money from their deluded adherents, and how they may promote the reign of ignorance and error. The propagation of this religion, therefore, and the multiplication of its priests, are evils as much to be dreaded as the introduction of plague into the country. They are the pests of human society, and wherever they shall obtain footing, farewell to all social and domestic comfort. '],,.;„. , "■'-,. , j,^ . ■.' r._, i 1.^. ■■■.,. :,a.^ l.v.»W.v, Btit you will ask, how can we prevent the increase of popery, in no way better than by promoting the know- ledge of true Christianity among the people, and forbear- ing to give, aqy countenance or encouragement to popish worship or ceremonies. Some will perhaps be surprised at tnj saying that I wish for the promotion of christian knowledge among tlie people of a christian country ; but their surprise will cease when they enquire into the rea^ state of the peopile in general with regard to christian • lit ■u ti THE CHURCH OF ROME. 135 » the r; if rhose ;hem, from true w the chris- hat is ^ed in •its of ct the / jad of >rinci- [, how rents, . e and ), and to he , mtry. , • they nestic ase of cnow- rhear- opish >rised istian ' ; but e real istian.. nil- uv* knowledge. Th«y WO not all christians who call them- selves such — they are only such by name, and these, I fear, are in the greatest danger of taking up with a coun- terfeit of Christianity. , . _ * Popery is exactly such a religion as people of this de- scription are prepared to embrace — not being contented with the spiritual religion of true protestants, they wish to gratify their senses by the gorgeous ceremonies and external beauties of the Romish Liturgy — their religion not being of the heart, they wish to please God, their own hearts, and the world at the same time, and these are the exact benefits that the church of Rome holds out to them. When I was appointed to the living of Klingenmlin- ster, in Landau, in Bavaria, I found it was the custom every Sunday afternoon, as soon as vespers were over, for all the congregation to adjourn to the taverns and spend the Sunday evening in drinking, swearing, gam- bling, and every species of sin ; and moreover that a separate license was given to the tavern-keepers for the Sunday, as their ordinary license did not allow such proceedings. I preached against this wickedness, and stated to my parishioners that if they did not leave off this wicked practice, I would refuse those who continued therein admission to the Easter communion. This had the desired effect, but the tavern-keepers brought an ac- tion against me, and I was summoned before the grand commissary, Mr. Peterson. When I was informed why I was brought there, I told him that I was not aware that there was a law in existence to allow f /il that good might come, as I had been informed that the money paid for these Sunday licenses was used for the support of the 136 DOCTRINAL EKROBS, &0. poor who swarm throughout the country. I fought my battle manfully, and silenced Mr. Peterson and the tav- ern-keepers so effectually, that I was not once molested during my four years' stay in Klingenmiinster. When I came to America many inhabitants of the Rhine Palatinate came to Buffalo, and New York, and brought this abominable fashion with them. And do the priests interfere with this ? No ; they never open their mouths; indeed in Europe I have often known the priest in the taverns after service playing cards with his parishioners. God be thanked, such profanation is not allowed in protestant Canada I , .., , , .. '^'l-:r1f:'j;i„ V*^ i ■ » ' iS,, f>\r5 '7'^s>,J^U ''-iK-'ir •j^ ■>^ !Sr\ii. •JT^'il'- «M?- ,<*' ^ \A tj; tTit, ■ *- •7.' W n,,^ -ifKJ ,.j..;l '^?('> '.: iA\ tin • r'Of ;^ll^ t •if. ;^Jt^ -•: . J i. -■'?•>■?' I .tir ^-'i:'^'^ikf^f*i><;^ '.i-Mriv m'J-\ ,.: -■ Holy councils can tell lies with as little scruple as any one else- — witness the Council of Trent, when speaking of this doctrine of transubstantiation, says, it has always been believed in the Church of O-od. Now the fact is, it was never believed in the Church of God, and I shall prove that it was not always believed in the Church of Rome. The Bible contains the whole belief of the Church of God, and as we do not find the doctrine of transubstan. tiation inculcated there, we may satisfy ourselves by giving the assertion of the holy fathers a plain denial. Some of the greatest writers and divines of the Romish Church, admit that this doctrine cannot be proved from the Bible. Scotus, himself a great oracle and scholar, is represented by Belarmine and others to have publicly stated, that 'Hhis doctrine cannot be proved." The Cardinal of Cambray says plainly, " that the doctrine of the substance of bread and wine remaining after conse- 140 TRAN3UBSTANTIATI0N. i I •cration, is more easy and free from absurdity, more rational, and noways repugnant to the authority of scrip- ture;" nay, he says expressly, "that, for the doctrine ■of transubstantiaton, there is no authority in scripture," Cardinal Cajetan confesses that " the gospel nowhere ex- presses that the bread is changed into the body of CJhrist, or the wine into the blood of of Christ." Fisher, bishop of Rochester, who is ranked by the church of Rome as one of her saints and martyrs, candidly admits that " there is not one word in scripture from whence the true presence of the flesh and blood of Christ in the mass can be proved." I could bring forward many of their divines, who honestly confess that transubstantiation was not derived from the Bible, but from some other revelation, which they suppose the church had impudence euough to enforce upon her believers. I admit no authority in religion, but that of the word of God, but I admit the authority of certain ancient writers as to the matter of fact, whether such a doctrine was held by them, or generally believed in their time. .. I will begin with Justin Martyr, who expressly says, that our blood and flesh are nourished by the conversion of that food which we receive in the Eucharist. It was therefore far from his thoughts to represent them as the real flesh and blood of our Saviour, since no man could say those were converted into the nourishment of our bodies, but of our souls. Next I propose Irenseus, who speaking of this sacra- ment, says : " The bread which is from the earth, receiv- ing the divine invocatioii, is now no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two things ; the TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 141 ono earthly, the other heavenly." He says, it is no longer common bread, because it is set apart for a heavenly use, but the expression implies that it is still bread, and nothing else. When, therefore, thebrctvd that is broken, and the cup of wine that is blessed receives the word of God, it becomes the holy Eucharist of the body and blood of Christ, yet it remains plain bread and wine, and has the same effect upon our bodies, which those sub- stances have when eaten and drank upon other occasions. Next Tertullian says : " The bread which our Saviour took and distributed to his disciples, He made His own body, saying, this is My body, that is to say, this is the image and figure of My body." This is the very thing for which we contend, and which clearly proves that the Christian writers of the early church, had no idea of transubstantiation. Here Tertullian plainly intimates that our senses are to be credited even in a sacrament, therefore he knew nothing of transubstantiation. Next I adduce Origen, who in his commentary on Matthew xv., speaking of the sacrament, says: "The food which is sanctified by the word of God, and by prayer, as to that of it which is material goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught. It is not the matter of the bread and wine, but the words spoken over it, which profiteth him that eateth or drinketh the Lord worthily." And this, he says, was spoken concerning typical and symbolical body and blood. It is evident that Origen meant no more than eating figuratively, but his successors perverted his words, and spoke of literally eating the Lord, which paved the way for transubstantiation. b,.j ^-vrrlR That the bread, and the wine in the cnp, merely 142 TRANSU1I8TAKTIAT10N. I 1 I 1 I represented the body and blood of Christ, was evidently the doctrine of Cyprian, and the christians in his time. He wrote against those who in his time gave only the wafer, and not the wine, in the communion ; and his argument was mainly this, that the blood of Christ with which we are redeemed and quickened, must be given in wine, which represents the blood of Christ. =^ *» .* I suppose there are few of the fathers held in higher esteem in the Church of Rome than Augustine, who lived in the fourth century ; he was undoubtedly a man of singular attainments, and spoke on many important sub- jects more like a protestant than a papist. Popery, indeed, scarcely appeared in a visible- form until some ages after his time, for though many errors had already crept into the church, it would be easy to shew that Augustine's doctrine was more that of a protestant than like that of the Council of Trent. "With regard to the Eucharist, his sentiments were evidently those of the Reformation. " Our Lord," says he, " did not doubt to say, this is My body, when he gave the sign of His body." He commanded and delivered to the disciples the figure of His body." 4.:.r...i..-; .i ^h- -• J '■, ^'.'^ ^-^s .- :^..-m ^ Augustine was never accused of heresy, as Cardinal Perron says Origen was, but he talks as like one as Origen himself. Speaking of the offence which some disciples took at the saying of our Lord, " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood," he brings in our Lord as saying these words to them. " Ye must understand spiritually what I have said unto you, ye are not to eat this body which ye see, or to drink that blood which shall be shed by those who shall crucify me. I have commanded a certain sacrament to you, TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 143 t X. which, being spiritually understood, will give you life." I do not pledge myself for the accuracy of the saint's exposition of our Lord's words as regards a sacrament ; but his language is certainly not that of a man who believes in transubstantiation. By this it appears that Augustine held views, concerning the Lord's Supper, very like those held by most protestant churches at this day. - ' ■ -— ■ .... ■ -.^'.ri'vi ,-^<.-= ■»* It is true that in the 5th century there were some heretics who held views something like transubtantiation, but then the high authorities of the church condemned them, and even the Pope of that day was against them. Thus Pope Gelasius writes against the Eutychians: " Surely the sacraments which we receive of the body and blood of Christ, arc a divine thing, so that by them we are made partakers of divine nature ; and yet, it changeth not the substance of bread and wine, and certainly the image and resemblance of Christ's body and blood are celebrated in the action of the mysteries. '' Here is the infallible authority of a Pope against tran- substantiation. . These extracts will, I hope, be considered enough to shew that transubstantiation was not always the doctrine of the Church of Rome ; it was never believed before the 18th century, and was first enforced as an article of faith by the Latcrn Council under Pope Innocent III. Erasmus, who lived and died in the communion of the Church of Rome, than whom no man was better read in the ancient fathers, confesses that ^^ it was late before the churcli defined transubstantiation, which was un- known to the primitive fathers both by name and belief." Whereby I conclude that the Council of Trent was ^ t n 144 TRANSUBSTANTIATION. guilty of a barefaced falsehood in asserting that '^ tran-' substantiation was always believed in the church." It is in fact a mere mushroom novelty of the dark ages, which would have never taken root, or grown to maturity, ' but in the rank and filthy soil on which the light of truth was not permitted to shine. The article against transubstantiation pronounces it to be an idolatrous doctrine, and so our statute anc ecclesiastical law declare it to be. It is the language of a protestant country, but some liberal and charitable minds object to this language, because they say it hurts the moral feelings of the Romanists. Must we sacrifice our principles to feeling, our faith to charity, our protes- tant character to liberality ? Do we find in popish writers, or even in the Pope of the present day, any such tenderness for protestants ? especially for protestants of the Church of England ? Is it not our duty to enlighten - these poor deluded, blindfolded people, and shew them^ the way to light and truth ? '^\ '<^U lt» i)f)l'rhr^»' • ■:»'] .Kl-W I \ ,-? DOCTRINE OF THE MASS. CHAPTER IV. 145 V -1 In the sacrifice of the mass consists the principal part of the public worship of the Church of Rome. It is their daily and continual offering, and perhaps the most im- portant part of their whole jeligion. They tell us that it is of the greatest profit and advantage to every person, and I am certain that it is so to their priests, for by this alone many of them make their living, by making mer- chandise of the holy sacrament, and by selling the blood of Christ at a dearer rate than Judas did. The saying of musses keeps more priests for the Church of Rome, than any Prince in Christendom can maintain soldiers ; and it has raised more money by them than the richest bank, or exchequer, was ever owner of. It is indeed the truest patrimony of the Church of Rome, and has enriched it more than any thing else. It was that which founded the greatest monasteries, and the richest abbeys, and had well nigh brought all the estates of Great Britain and Ireland into that church, had not the Statute of Mortmain put a check to it. The donation of Constantine, were it ever so true, and the grants of Charles and Pepin, were they ever so large, and the gifts of all their benefactors put together, are infinitely outdone by it. The gain of it has been so great, that one cannot, but on that very account, a little suspect its godliness. Before entering into a discussion upon the subject of the mass, it will be right to shew what Romanists con- 12 146 DOCTRINE OF THE MASS. h: aider the mass to be. According to the way in which I was instructed in the catechism, it is thus defined : " The mass is the unbloody sacrifice, the memorial of the bloody sacrifice which Christ performed on the cross." In the Douay Catechism it luns thus, in the form of question and answer : Q. "Is the eucharist a sacrament only'; ' A. "No; it is also a sacrifice." Q. "What is acacrificc? A. "It is a supremo act of rdigioii, ilv.o to Almighty God." r- - ■,: ■.■■ . Q. "How is it pcrfoimcd? ... ■. ■ ; -* A. "By offerings mailo to Him in testimony of I)cing the Sovereign Lord of all things." — - .7..;, ■. Q. " In what did the sacrifice of Lhe old law consist ? A. " Chiefly in bloody sacrifices of beasts, whicli the priests offered in the Temple, as figures of Christ's sacri- fice on the cross, which was then to come." Q. " In what consists the sacrifice of the new law ?" A. " In the voluntary and bloody ol)lation which Christ made to his eternal Father, by dying upon the cross for our redemption." j ,n.;u: - .-^ ^Miij r^^r^i^j Q. " Have we novf any sacrifice iii the new law ?*f) 'r A. " Yes, by the standing memorial and continuance of it in the blessed eucharist." .. r > '\.o n.-f rt,.,.'. .jit Q, " Why do you say that the eucharist Is the stand- ing memorial of Christ's sacrifice on the cross ?" A. " Because Christ at His last supper commanded that it should be offered as a remembrance of His pas- sion to the end of the world, and this is what is performed in the sacrifice of the mass." Q, " Who said the first mass ?" . ' •ihf u * n DOCTRINE OP THE MASS. 147 led " A. " Jesus Christ.*' " • ; ':' Q. « When did he say it ?" A. " At His last supper, when he instituted the holy «ucharist." Q. " To whom is the sacriiicc of the mass offered ?" A. "To God only." Q. " Is it not sometimes olTercd to tlic saints ?" A. " No. Masses are sometimes said in honour and memory of saints, in thanksgiving to God for the bene- fits he has been pleased to bestow upon tlicm, and that they, joining their prayers to ours, may intercede for us in heaven, whose memory we celebrate here on earth." Q. " What benefits receive we by this sacrifice ?'* A. " It is a daily application of the merits of Christ for the relief of our necessities, by laying before the Eternal Father the value of His Son's bitter passion." Q. " What are the benefits the living receive by it ?" A. " They are many : 1st. It 'applies the merits of our Saviour's passion for the remission of our sins. — 2nd. It procures new graces and blessings for us by vir- tue of the said passion. 3rd. It is tlie most acceptable offering we can make to Almighty God ia tlianksgiving for all His benefits." ^ '-^^ ^ r^r^t-^^ir Q. "Does it avail the faithful departed?" A. " It is not to be doubted ; for by this wholesome sacrifice which is offered for them, they are treated with more mercy than their sins deserve." Q. " Is it not a prejudice to the faithful that the mass is said in an unknown tongue ?" . A. " No ; for the mass contains orly these prayers which the priest alone is commanded to say as the medi- ator between God and 7ti8 people.** ;>.»^.*,-*. w. 148 DOCTRINE OF THE MASS. From this long extract the reader will be able to per- ceive what are the most modified views which papists entertain in regard to this great act of worship. But the catechism that is used in the Hungarian king- dom, more explicitly declares the mass to be a sacrifice of propitiation. Q. " What is the catholic doctrine as to the mass ?" * A. "That in the mass there is offered unto God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead." Q. " What do you mean by the mass ?" A. "The consecration and oblation of the body and blood of Christ under the sacramental veils, or appear- ances of bread and wine." Q. " What do you mean by a propitiatory sacrifice ?" ^ A. "A sacrifice for obtaining mercy, or by which God is moved to mercy.'' - < , I believe no real sacrifice ever made on earth con- tained so many things as are here ascribed to the mass — not even the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. This certainly was not an unbloody, or incruental sacrifice, as the priests teach the mass to be ; and I would question very much the propriety of calling the sacrifice of Christ, eucharistical. If the mass then have two ingredients, which the sacrifice of Christ had not, it is absurd to call it the very same sacrifice. The sacrifice of Christ was undoubtedly propitiatory, and the principal error of the Church of Home on this subject, consists in ascribing the same character to the mass. But, that none of my Roman Catholic readers may have it in their power to evade the question, or to deny that their church ho' h this doctrine on account of any DOCTRINE OF THE MAS5. 149 9" 9" 4 i» ■H omisaion on my side, (who for twelve years was a priest of their church,) I shall now cite the highest authority known in the popish church, viz., the Council of Trent, which council may justly be said to have greater autho- rity than the Bible itself, for it not only decrees many things contrary to the Bible, but actually has added to the number of the canonical books, the apocryphal, whose authors never dreamed that they wrote under inspira- tion. "- ' ,v•^^.-v;.^-^-- ^.:-'i_f..,^ :>,. * ^ This holy Council of Trent has decreed thus : ^ " If any shall say, that in the sacrifice of the mass a true sacrifice is not offered to God, let him be accursed. " If any shall say in those words ('Do this in remem- brance of me,') Christ did not institute his Apostles to be priests, or that he did not ordain that they or any other priests should offer his body and blood, let him be ac- cursed. " If any shall say the sacrifice of the mass is only of praise and thanksgiving, or a bare commemoration of the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross, and not a propiti- atory sacrifice, or that it profits the priest alone because he is paid for it, or ought not to be offered for the quick and dead for sins, for punishments and satisfaction, and other necessities, let him be accursed." ^ "*^ "^^v-- This is the doctrine which the Church of Rome has distinctly laid down. Every popish priest takes a sol- emn oath to abide by it and all that the Council of Trent ■^has decreed ; and hereby we see that a solemn curse is pronounced against all who say that the mass cannot be a propitiatory sacrifice, and that it ought not to be offered for the quick and dead, for sins, punishments, and satis- factions. I consider myself as standing under the curse _ 1o# _. ..__ __ ,_,, ^y. M 150 DOCTRINB OF THE MASS. of this most holy, infalliljle church ; but I advocate the truth of Got'1 I I i : 154 DOOTRINE OF THE MASS. from God, to teach tho doctrino of the mass.' He knew that the doctrino of Christ crucified was tho most scan- dalous thing in Christianity, that it was " to the Jews a frtnmhling hlock, and to tho Greeks foolishness," but instead of keeping it hack on that account ho declared that lie would know nothing else — he would make it the sum and substance of all his discourses to botli Jews and Gentiles. So he did, and had tho mass been a part of Christianity, the more it was contemned by the world, the more ho would havo maintained it. It is said, indeed, that somo Jesuits in China, and other heathen countries, conceal those parts of Christianity that are likely to be ofFcusivc to those whom they wish to convert, but the apostolic character wa'3 not formed upon the model of Jesuitism. It follows, therefore, inevitably, that as tho Apostles and Evangelists did not say any thing about the idola- trous mass, they could never have received such a doc- trine from Christ, and therefore that this doctrine is a mere human and impious, or rather, diabolical inven- tion. _ To describe tho difference between high cud low mass, my protests nt brethren must be informed that the former is sung, and the latter merely read : both forms are like a theatrical ceremony, more for amusement than edification. If the priest is a good singer, it is a better show, and affords him better pay. For the first six months after my ordination I had to sing mass 4aily, and money was paid into the church only to hear my good singing. "Where the reading of the mass only brought in two shillings and sixpence, the r/Iijipng brought in five shillings, and the performer ir wt :li paid DOCTRINE OF THB MASS. loh daily. In Italy if a priest wishes to make money, be can do so easily for a month together, for in the large cities, whore there are from fifteen to twenty church- es, he may hcgin at 5 o'clock in the morning, and easily, hy going from one church to another, sing three or four masses before twelve o'clock, and .13 soon as he has finished the mass the priest in the sacristy is ready to give him the money for his performances. The papist is hound to believe that there is no greater dlgiuty under heaven,, than that of God's priests, who arc consccratod to deliver the holy sacrament to tlicm, and lliat they are mediators between God and man ; their business being t<^ pray, and intercede in behalf of the people. And lastly, in respect of the power given unlo them to for- give sins in the siicraracnt of penance, and to consecrate the body and blood of Cliilst in the holy cucharist^ According to St. Bernard, *' there is not so excellent and honourable a power as the priest's, to which nothing can bo compared in heaven, and in earth." Higli dignity, indeed, they appear to be all in all, and Christ the giver is as nothing in comparison to them. If such is their power, I do not see what occasion Christ had to- come, since every priest, by reading mass, can perfornt a propitiatory sacrifice. There is so much absurdity and impurity in the doe- trine and practice of the Church of Rome on the two preceding points of transubstantiation and the mass, that nothing more than a small portion of common sense,, and a knowledge of the Bible, arc necessary to convince any one, who turns his attention to it, that the whole system is antichristian, and little better than heathenism. Now, I wish my protestant brethren to understand some 166 DOCTRINE OF THE MASS. of the sights by vrhich Romanists are instructed and entertained at mass. First, the vestments, or robes with which the priests are adorned, while saying mass, and to every robe, or part of dress there is a peculiar meaning ; but very few indeed of the laity understand this, nor is there ever any pains taken to teach them. :i^ These robes are of five different colours, white, red, green, purple, and black ; and these colours are used on the following occasions : white is used on all the feasts of our blessed Lord, the Virgin Mary, bishops, con- fessors, abbots, virgins, and holy women, not martyrs ; on the feasts of the dedication of churches ; on all Sundays, from Easter to Pentecost, exclusive of Trinity Sunday, until the Octave of Corpus Christi. Bed is used on the vigil of Pentecost and during the Octave, Trinity Sunday excepted ; on the feasts of the holy cross, apostles and martyrs, and the Octave masses of the Holy Ghost. Green is used on all Sundays from Trinity Sunday until Advent, and on the Sunday after the Octave of the Epiphany, when mass is said on Sundays of Septu- agesima, till Thursday in Holy week, and during Advent. Purple is used on all Sundays in Advent, and on all Sundays from Septuagesima till Palm Sunday. * Black is used on Good Friday, All Souls day, and while mass is said for the dead. f Besides these vestments the priest uses the amice, the alb, the girdle, the manipule, the stole, and the chasuble. In some churches all these vestments are numerous, and exceedingly splendid. Whilst in the city of Milan, in Lombardy, I saw, on the celebration DOCTRINE OF THE MASS. 157 of " the wafer-god's feast," two thousand priests come out with the archbishop from the cathedral of St, Charles Borromoo, all magnificently attired in gold and silver lace ; richly dressed enough for the human eye, but very little, even nothing, for the heart, which God requires to possess. Let it be remembered that the consecrated wafer is the real Christ of the Church of Rome — this is their God and Saviour, and the object of their worship. But they have never yet found out a way to preserve this "wafer-god" from corruption. In summer these wafers will corrupt, and breed worms in a few days ; and in order to prevent this, they consecrate once a week during that season, but only once a fortnight in winter.. After the Host has begun to corrupt, even after it has begun to breed worms, the priest must eat it, if his stomach will let him. If not, they have to carry it behind the high altar, and throw it into a hole left for the purpose, called "the Piscina." If any requisite is wanting, it is no sacrament, for example, if it be celebrated out of the holy ground, or upon an altar not consecrated or not covered with three napkins ; if there be no wax candles ; if it be not cele- brated between daybreak and noon ; if the celebrator have not said mattins or lauds, or if he omit any sacer- dotal vestments, or these have not been consecrated by a bishop ; if there be no clerk present to serve, or one who ought not to serve — a woman for example ; if there be no chalice, the cup of which is not of gold, silver, or pewter ; if the vestments be not clean linen, adorned with silk in the middle ; if the priest celebrate with his 13 168 DOCTRINE OF THE MASS. h ^ fl ii head covered, and if there be no missal preseftt, though ^ he have it by heart. If the p.'iest vomit the eucharist, and the species appear entir*j, it must be licked up most reverently ; if the species do not appear entire, the vomit must be burned, and the ashes thrown upon holy ground. It will be expected that I should conclude in a more elegant manner, a subject with which I have wearied my readers so long, but as transubstantiation and the mass " are an abomination throughout, I shall leave the above disgusting directions without comment, to have their own effect upon the reader's mind ; and it will be well for ■ him if nothing but his mind be affected by them. . , .''^ V •"> ■■'i.i:h . » ^ -f^'' > ^- . ,♦, ?'./ f , .?.v:4- •« ,i t^ii t-i-'-f < "': *;;*•>■' cr,'^ ■f > 'r-l ■A.,,.: - '- ::r: n;*-*'^* . -t,; ■- -jj K • ... •< '- - ■ t : ..* V ' *■ s -' t ' ;• IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. 159 A! ■;■'..' .-« » CHAPTER V. It is the first principle of Christianity that there is but one living and true God, and that He alone is the proper object of religious worship. The language of Jehovah, the God of Israel, to His people is, " I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have none other Gods but me." Di- vine worship therefore oflfered to any other, is a direct rebellion against Him. It is marked by the prophet Jeremiah, vii. 18, xliv. 17, 19, as one of the grossest instances of the idolatry of the children of Israel, that, in imitation of their heathen neighbours, they worshipped this is actually the title which is given by the Church of Rome to one of her idols, the Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. There can be no doubt that the mother of the Lord, according to the flesh, was blessed among women. From all that is recorded of her blessedness, however, it is a matter of some surprise that she makes no greater figure in evangelical history, being the mother of Jesus ; and even when she is brought into view, it seems intended rather to repress than cherish any idea of her being preferred to any other follower of Christ, We have reason to wonder that so little men- tion is made of her ; but the Spirit of God no doubt fore- seeing that she would become an object of idolatrous worship, so ordered it, that nothing should be done to her, or said of her, that could give the smallest counte- nance to such impiety. 160 IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. I 1 I I i The last mention made of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is in Acts i. 14 ; for although she was full of all divine wisdom, and opened unto the Evangelists divers of Christ's actions and speeches, whereof she had know- ledge, yet for that she was a woman, and the humblest creature living, and the pattern of all order and obedi- ence, it pleased not God that there should be any further note of her life, actions, or death in the Scriptures. She lived the rest of her time with Christians, and especially with John the Apostle, to whom our Lord recommended her, who provided for all her necessaries, her spouse Jo- seph having died before. The common opinion is that she lived sixty-three years in all. * < In the Church of Rome was laid the foundation of the idolatrous worship of the Virgin Mary, a poor mortal 1 "I creature, wno oweu iier uwu oaivaitiuu vmuxsiy tu ixco grace, like any other sinner. Does she not herself, in her song of thanksgiving, say, "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." The inventive fancy of some of the early fathers discovered that all the Apostles were assembled in a miraculous manner, to witness the death of Mury, excepting Thomas, who, it seems, had a prac- tice of being out of the way. Mary having been buried, rose again the third day, and was taken up into heaven, from which it is supposed that she was raised to an equal glory with Christ, and therefore that she is to be worshipped. This, at least, is the practical inference that has been drawn from this doctrine for many hundred years. The Rheimish doctors proceed as follows to condemn and censure protestants who will not worship this idol that the Church of Rome has set up. "But neither the holy fathers, nor the church tra- IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. 161 dition and testimony, do bear any sway now a-days with the Protestants, who have abolished this the greatest feast of her assumption, who, of reason should at least celebrate it as the day of her death, as they do of other saints. For, though they believe not that her body was taken up into heaven, yet they will not deny that she is dead, and her soul in glory ; neither can they require the authority of scripture for that, any more than they do for the death of Peter, Paul, John, and others, which be not mentioned in the scriptures, and yet are celebrated by protestants." ••' ' • ; ^ ^ r'.-r? •.:. If this doctrine of the popish fathers, who gave to their votaries in the world a strong recommendation of the Virgin Mary as an object of worship, as the hope of the guilty, the refuge of the afflicted, and a powerful intercessor with the Son for obtaining every blessing, were not shocking on account of its impiety, it would be amusing to observe the shifts to which the reverend fathers are reduced in order to support the credit of their idol. They admit that it pleased not God to give any further account of the history of Mary than what we have here recorded ; but it has pleased them to relate what God did not think proper to make known, and for what they have related they have no authority whatsoever, but the ravings of the distempered imagina- tions of idle monks, who amused themselves in their solitude by composing such wild reveries, and imposing them upon the world as revelations from heaven. These reveries are however received by the papists as the dictates of an infallible church, and the Virgin Mary is worshipped with greater devotion than God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Mariolatry is easily proved 13* 162 IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OP SAINTS. If t ill' :i by looking into the prayers contained in any one of their books of devotion. As a species of introduction to this subject of the idolatry of the Church of Rome, I will give you a short history of St. Anne, in the words of their own writers ; and if it is too like what heathen authors have written concerning their gods and godesses, I can only say, I cannot help it ; they have chosen such idols for themselves, and such is the account which their authors give of them. They say, then, *' that the dignity of St. Anne, having entered by the conception and nativity of the Virgin, into the economy of the incarnation, and into the state of hypostatical union ; she was by this her daughter exalted into such a dazzling throne of glory, that there is only above it, the Trinity of uncreated persons, the humanity of Jesus Christ, and the holiness of her daughter, the Mother of God. Therefore in our wants and necessities we must address ourselves by St. Anne to the Virgin, by the Virgin to Jesus Christ, and by Jesus Christ to the Father, who can refuse nothing to His Son, no more than he can to His mother, or she to her's, who is St. Anne." ■-^''•- - - The materials by which the Church of Rome is con- victed of all the wickedness, which I shall lay to her charge, are so abundant, that there is no room for imagination or invention. If I am so fortunate as to possess the faculty of exploring the writings of the Romish saints and fathers in order t^ exhibit the true character of popery, they should at least give me credit for patience ; for the quantity of blasphemous and impure matter will be found extraordinary. I have now laid before my readers a particular account of two of Rome's female idols, namely, the K i. IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. 163 Virgin Mary, upon the authority of the learned doctors of Rheims, and the mother of Mary from a work approved by the doctors of the Sorbonne at Paris ; but lest it should be pleaded that these authorities are obso- lete, and that catholics now a-days entertain more rational views, I shall give the doctrine of the Church of Rome, as held in the present day. According to the school books, which have the sanction and recommendation of all the prelates in Canada, as well as in the United States, and all the popish countries of Europe, it is inculcated that, " Next to God and the most adorable humanity of His Son Jesus Christ, we must chiefly honour and love, by reason of that most sublime and excellent dignity, the mother of God, which raises her above all creatures that God ever created." What blas- phemy ! to give a creature the name of deity, for God existed without her, but she had need of God as a saviour ; so she cannot be called the mother of God ; for as God, He had no need of a mother, but slie, as well as all sinners, had need of a saviour. She was only the mother of the human body of Jesus Christ, who, in a spiritual way, took from heaven with Him His divinity, uniting it with humanity at His incarnation, that hereby as man dying, as God enlivening, He might save those who receive, and believe in Him as their Saviour, ',.f ^^^-^ '.i-ii^n^i^f:] i.''■^.L ■imkt.-;-: fit jfl-tT-l " If the winds of temptation be raised against you," is the counsel of St. Bernard, " if you run upon the rocks of adversity, lift your eyes towards that star, and invoke the blessed Virgin. In dangers, in extremities, in doubt- ful affairs, think upon the blessed Virgin, let her not depart from your mouth, or from your heart, and that 164 IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. I lU you may obtain the assistance of her intercession be sure to follow her example. Remember the excellent advice of St. Anselm, who presumed to say, ^Hhat as he unavoid- ably perishes who has no affection to the blessed Virgin Mary, and who forsakes her, so it is impossible he should perish who has recourse to her, and whom she regards with the eye of mercy." If that is true, the Bible is one great falsehood ! For there is no name given either in heaven or on earth, by which we can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ, who promises to save to the utter- most them that come unto God by Him. To trust in God for salvation, and for every spiritual blessing, is one of the highest acts of religious worship. He positively challenges this for Himself, and pronounces a curse upon the human being that trusts in any other. <^ Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm," Jerem. xvii. 5. But the Romish priest advises his people to trust in a woman as a sure refuge in a dying hour. , No matter though that idol be the mother of JesuS according to the flesh, to worship her is no better than to worship the devil ; for to worship any creature what- soever is to obey the devil, who is the inventor and patron of creature worship. If the papists are disposed to defend this doctrine of Mariolatry, I will give them the benefit of laying down broadly and plainly the opinion of all true protestants, which is this : they believe that to worship, in a religious sense, the highest creature that God ever made, is no better than to worship the devil himself. The following short prayer is extracted from a prayer book entitled " The Garden of the Soul," compiled by i IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. 165 Dr. Challoner, bishop and apostolic nunctio in Eng- lanci. -». . _• . i, .^, ;- ,', i> -•„ . i .'■ _-r " Holy Mary, succour the miserable ; help the faint- hearted, comfort the afflicted, pray for the people, inter- cede for the clergy, make supplication for the devout female sex, let all be sensible of thy help, who celebrate thy holy commemoration. Grant, we beseech Thee, oh Lord God, that we Thy servants may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body, and by the glorious intercession of blessed Mary ever Virgin, may be delivered from present sorrows, and come to eternal joy, through our Lord Jesus Christ." , ,. Though the latter part of the above prayer professes to be addressed to God, and though Mary stands only as an intercessor, yet the first part is a direct prayer to her, and she is solicited to grant such things, as God alone can grant. It is He alone who can hear the prayers of the afflicted throughout ^.he world, and grant relief and comfort. ^ See in the same book the hymn to Mary, " Ave, Maris Stella:" '■ Exert thy mother's care, And thus thy children own. To Him convey our prayer, Who chose to be thy Son. Oh, pure, oh spotless maid, Whose meekness all excelled ; Oh make us chaste, and mild, And all our passions quell. Preserve our lives unstained. And guard us in our way, Until we come to thee, To joys that ne'er decay. Hail thou resplendent star, Which shineth o'er the main : Blest mother of God, And ever Virgin queen. Hail happy gate of bliss, Greeted by Gabriel's tongue. Negotiate our peace. And cancel Eva's wrong. Loosen the sinner's bands, All evil drive away ; Bring light unto the blind, And for all graces pray ; In this hymn Mary is plainly invoked as the Saviour of sinners. To ** Negotiate our peace, and cancel Eva's wrong," is nothing less than to make reconciliation \ w 166 IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OP SAINTS. m\ with God, and do away the eflfects of the fall of our first parents. She is also entreated to do the work of the Holy Ghost, that is, to " loosen the bands of sinners," and "give light to the blind." She appears to be able to quell all the corrupt passions of the human breast, and to impart mildness and purity. Every christian knows this is the work of God alone, but the poor deluded papists ask this of a fellow creature, by the advice of their priests ; and misled, they must at last be destroyed, and perish. I could bring forward many other prayers of later dates, but as they contain nothing but abomin- able blasphemies, I withhold them, for they fill my heart with grief and sorrow for my brethren, left in wilful blindness and ignorance. In any book of Romish devo- tions, you can find the litany to the blessed Virgin, com- monly c&lled the litany of Loretto, read it, and ?.t e^ch line meditate upon the corruptions of the Church of Rome. " If popish tales be true," says McCulloch, page 338, " the Romish church is under very great obligations to pay this homage, and a great deal more to the Virgin Mary, for there is scarcely any favour that she has with- held from her devout worshippers. She has delivered them from sickness, restored their eyesight, preserved them from dangers, saved them from the gallows, and even raised them from the dead ; and what must tend peculiarly to the consolation of the papist, she is not at all squeamish as to the choice of her votaries ; for she loves sinners, let them be ever so wicked, with the tender- ness and compassion of a mother. Hear only what the Holy Virgin said when she appeared to St. Bridget, " Know thou, my dearest child, that there is no man in IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. 167 ;he |et, in the world so lewd, and accursed of God, that he is entirely forsaken of Him while he lives ; no sinner so desperate but he may return, and find mercy with Him, provided he has recourse to Mary." In McCulloch's writings, page 341, you will find an extraordinary tale, or rather lie, (which I never heard nor read, although I am a Hungarian, and brought up in the Romish super- stition,) compiled by the knavery of the Jesuits. That a certain wicked villain of Tcmeswar, in the Banat, fell into the Danube, and remained under tvater for th'ee days ; in ordinary cases he would have been drowned, but the blessed Virgin came down into the deep to him, and addressed him as follows: "Thou well deservest, bad rascal, to lose thy life, and be condemned for ever for thy sins, but because thou art a servant of the Virgin Mary, thou shalt be delivered from this danger, that thou mayest go and be confessed." Oh, hellish invention of popish priests ! But never- theless up he came from the water, and made the above declaration to the priest Palbert himself, and priest Orasset relates that this story was dedicated to the Pope, and was accepted by him as the truth, that hereby ^e lie might be made worthy of all credit. It is needless to say that all the Jesuitical tales and miracles of the present day are but such fables as these. - - - ^ —- ? * If it were true that the prayers to the Virgin and other saints were merely requests for their prayers for us, as one christian friend may desire the prayers of another, it would still be requisite that we should have an expla- nation of the mode in which a person in this world can communicate with persons in the other. Christians on earth can express their wishes to one another by word 1(58 IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. % I 'il! or writing, and thereby enjoy the benefit of each other's prayers. But how can a papist make a saint in heaven acquainted with his necessities, and ask his prayers ? A glorified saint is but a finite being, he cannot be in more than one place at the same time, any more than a sinner on earth can be. How then can he attend to the prayers that are addressed to him from all parts of the world ? The papists boast that there arc six millions of their communion in Britain, Ireland, and Canada, and suppos ing each to say his prayer once a day to the Virgin, with five " Ave Marias " at different times, she would be re- quired to pay daily attention to thirty millions of prayers from Great Britain, Ireland, and Canada alone, to say nothing of the countless millions from Spain, Portugal Italy, Germany, and the other popish countries, that must be offered up daily. To put religion out of the question, common sense assures us, that it is impossible for anything short of Omniscience, and Omnipotence, to do what Mary, or any other saint, is asserted to be able to do. If papists would have us give them the credit of being endowed with common sense, they will never again say a prayer to a- creature, not even so much as to say "Holy Mary, pray for us." .:, When the devil tempts you by a lying priest, remember how our Lord repelled Satan, saying, "though shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." When, through mistake, the apostle John fell down before an angel to worship him, the heavenly mes- senger, instantly rejected his homage, and said, " See thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant," &c.. Rev. xix. 10. -^■-^'^^^ -■ -- ''« ■■ If the fact of being a fellow servant was an argument h? IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. 160 in the mouth of an angel that he should not bo worahip- ped, how much more forcibly would it be in the mouth of those who are fellow creatures, and fellow servants ? This is the condition of all saints in heaven, who are merely fellow servants, and fellow creatures with the saints on earth, that is, with all christians ; for to apply the title of saint to some christians, and not to others, is a popish error, and one that has been retained too long in some protestant churches. The sinner who believed in Jesus Christ yesterday, for the first time, and received a new heart, is as really a saint as Paul, or Peter, or even tho Virgin Mary. He is washed, and sanctified, that is, made a ft-iu^;, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit oi our God, 1 Cor. vi. 11. In the primitive church the words christian and saint were synonymous ; and, to use the words of an acute writer, " it was not till after the churches began to depart from the faith and practice of the apostles and evangelists, that to make amends they knighted these servants of God, by calling them * saints,' by way of eminence and distinction, and even went so far as canonization." -.^i^' -<^ » -^ - I am aware that the passages of scripture to which I have referred, will be of no weight with my popish brethren, because they do not submit to the authority of the Bible alone, but I am sure my protestant readers will be convinced by such authority that I do the Church of Rome no injustice, when I charge her with both idolatry and absurdity. For what can be more absurd than fellow creatures and fellow servants worshipping one another ? What can be more impious, as well as absurd, than praying to follow creatures, and requesting them to intercede, and mediate with God for us, when 14 1^ i I I 170 IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OP SAINTS. we are assured by the word of God, "that there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus ? What can be more impious than to cuU on the name of a mere creature to save us, when we are assured that, besides Jesus Christ, there is no other name by which we can be saved ? I have shown that the Virgin Mary is regarded by the papists as the principal means of intercourse with God ; but there are innumerable others whom they regard as objects of worship, to whom they address their prayers, and who are supposed to have such inter- est at the court of heaven, that they can obtain whatever their votaries ask of them. Thus is the Church of Kome proved to be that Antichrit:^ that should arise in the latter days, that should "depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." In short, popish devotion consi^As, as is apparent from their liturgies, in little else than calling upon the Virgin Mary and other saints, that is in invoking and praying to mere creatures, which is downright idolatry. Those who call upon the Virgin Mary must believe in her, and unless they can shew from the word of God some authority for believing in a mere creature, they must stand in the awful predicament of those wha believe a lie, and who receive not the truth that they may be saved. Christians, whose religion is derived from the word of God, believe that the departed saints are at rest with their Saviour in heaven, and that they have done with worldly cares. They believe that Christ himself has all power in heaven and on earth ; that He alone is en- trusted with the management of lL.a church, and that I I 1 IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. 171 He takes particular care of the happiness of each indi- vidual. But the poor slaves of Rome cannot look so high for protection and comfort. They are taught to look to some fellow creature or saint, or to a company of saints, whose souls are supposed to be ready to go about any business which their worshippers require in heaven ; and their bodies, or relics, and bones, nay even their very clothes, or the thongs which have tied their shoes, can affect wonderful cures. But as no one saint, except the Virgin Mary, can do every thing, and be in all places at the same time, the Church of Rome has made a very convenient distribu- tion, and as distinct a division of labour among the saints in heaven, as any manufacturer on earth can make among his artificers. By this imaginary dis- tribution they first divide their saints into countries. St, James is appointed to take care of Spain, St. Sebastian has charge of Portugal, St. Denis of France, St. Mark of the Venetians, St. Nicholas of the Musco- vites, ^t. Ambrose of Milan, The Three Kings, or Magi, of the Electorate of Cologne, St. Barbara of Germany, St. Stephen of Hungary, and before the Reformation, St. George of England, St. Andrew of Scotland, and St. Patrick of Ireland. . /. . .. -, Next, they subdivide the employment of the saints in these, and other countries, giving them charge of the different trades, and professions of the people. St. Nicholas and St. Christopher have th - oversight of the seamen, St. Catharine is over the scholars, St. Augus- tine takes care of the divines, St. Luke of the painters, St. Eustachius of the hunters, St. Crispin of the shoe- makers, St. Magdalene and St. Afra have the charge of m ! I !i| ,1 I i 172 IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. those unhappy women who have fallen from the paths of virtue. Some are even put to the most vile and degrading services : for instance, St. Anthony has the charge of the swine, St. Pelagius of the cows, St. Eulogius the horses, St. Vandeline and St. Gallas take care of the sheep and geese. What mean ideas the poor deluded papists must have of heaven, when they can suppose the saints would leave it for such degrading employments. This the Roman priests call a discreet variety, honour- able to the church, and advantageous to her poor members. Thus one prays to St. Peter for the gift of submission, to Stc Agnes for continency, to our Lady and St. Anne, for wealth, to St. Margaret for child-bearing, to St. Apollonia against the toothache, to St. Liberius against the stone and gravel, to St. Rochas against the plague, to St. Petronella against the ague, and to every saint for the help that is in his way. Bachelors must not go to St. Peter, because he was a married man, nor married men to St. John, because he was a bachelor, but let every one go to a saint of his own sort, a widoT to a widow saint, a soldier to a mili- tary saint, for it is the humour of the Romish saints to favour their own companions. Can this be called a christian religion, founded by the all-wise Saviour Jesus Christ ? God forbid ! I know it is alleged by the priests that God grants the petitions that are addressed to the saints, which he also makes known unto them in consideration of the singular merits of the saints, but this only leads to other fatal errors, it is putting the merits of mere creatures in place of Christ's righteous- ness, when, in point of fact, there is not one particle of %i IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. 173 merit to be found among all the saints in heaven. How stands the Bible herein, whc* it teaches iis, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but accor- ding to His mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. What the Roman Church calls "a discreet variety/ " in her objects of worship, can produce nothing but confu- sion and distraction in the minds of those who know what real worship is. It is the glory of the christian religion, as opposed to all idolatry, that it teaches the worship of one living and true God, and that it makes known to fallen man the way of access to him by ONE mediator, who has made atonement for the sins of the people, who is worthy to stand between an oflfended God, and his offending creatures, to make intercession for them, and to bring them into a blessed state of reconciliation with their creator. Those who believe in Christ, that is, those who are really Christians, are brought into a state of peace, and reconciliation with God. They trust in God and hope in Him ; they are instructed in every thing by prayers and supplications to make their requests known unto God ; their confidence is that of children in a father whom they love, and know loves them. To send them to a creature for help, be that creature ever so exalted, would be to seduce them from their allegiance to their God and Father ; a crime that can find a parallel only in the successful attempt of the devil against our first parents, and a crime in which the Church of Rome has been deplorably successful to the ruin of millions of immortal souls. Popish worship is not the affectionate approach of a a child to a gracious Father, but the sullen averted look 14* Illlll iu I3J0LATR0US WORSHIP OF GAINTS. im m m < of a slave, who dare not approach his master, but through the medium of some fellow creature, who stands higher in favour than himself, and whose good word will, he thinks, promote his interests with his master. I need' not tell those who understand the Bible, that this is not the worship of the true God at all. To say that God is too great to admit of a direct, approach in the name of Christ, and that He is accessibltj through the medium of mere crea^ares, is a false representation of Him, and to worship the true God under a false character, is as really idolatry as the worship of a> false Q-od. Thus again is popery proved to be idolatry, and the Antichrist that should come into the world. In the city where I was reared and educated, th<5 Car- melite friars had a dark chapel, in which service could only be performed by candle light, even on the brightest day. In this was a figure of the Virgin Mary, beauti- fully cut out of wood, and adorned with gold and silver, representing her as a black woman, with a black baby in her arms. Although I believe there are just as many good protestantsamongst the coloured people as amongst the white, yet, I should like to know whether Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Himself, as her child, was white or black, or whether they only represent her as such to allure the coloured people to enter their religion, as they can find amongst the papists a white Mary and a black Mary, and a white and a black Jesus. What stupendous blasphemy ! It is only by the word of truth, and the armour of righteousness, on the right hand, and, on the left, that christians can eflfectually oppose the progress of popery, and such opposition, by the blessing of God, will be ultimately successful, even if popery should gain IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF SAINTS. 175 ascendency for a time. But hear, oh heaven, and all the people on earth, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto's blasphemy,* where he, in an address to his clergy lately, says, that '^ Mary offered for oursinSy her only Son, the light of the world, to he made our priest, and victim on the croasJ*' * This iras the late Bishop, Dr. Charbonnell- ' -•■ ■ -'r v_ ■-^ « V. '-.}• '1 [1; «. ->J » ■ vt ." ^ i m ''ti?-V^ < - / "■ M,*^. ( :" ^..r m: T- if- 'T : tk^'''-\ .<.■ :-*.- i- 1T6 CONCERNING THE CELIBACY : 'i 1 ',: i i ■ 1 ii 1 ,i \ , 1 I i CHAPTER VI. I am now about to enter upon a subject, on wbich I cannot look without some degree of anxiety, and even dismay, as it will be scarcely possible to do justice to it without exciting in the minds of my Roman Catholic readers, feelings of abhorence and disgust. I mean the constrained celibacy of the Romish priests. God created man, and declared while he was yet in a state of innocence, "it is not good for man to be alone, T will make him a help meet for him." Marriage was therefore instituted in Paradise, before sin entered into the world, and must therefore be cf nsidered as entirely consistent with the most perfect devotion to the service of God. After sin entered into the world, neither man nor woman were capable of serving Him at all till renewed by faith in the promised Saviour, and sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit ; but being thus renewed, they were as capable of serving Him while living together as man and wife, as if they had been separated, and a great deal more so. This union we find approved and blessed by God from the very beginning, and how indeed could it be otherwise, seeing it was appointed by Himself, for the preservation of the human species. Christ Himself honoured this union, by sanctioning the marriage feast with His presence, and performing there his first miracle, which he would not have done if it was unlawful or unholy. The inspired Apostle Paul asserts its lawfulness in the plainest terms, by saying that ;•** OF THE PRIESTS. 177 each man ought to have his wife, and every woman to have her husband ; and the laws of Christ laying down the duties of man and wife, imply its lawfulness. The Church of Rome, I know, does not deny the law- fulness of marriage in general, for I, as a priest therein, married some hundred couples, but only forbids it to the priests. Now who are those priests on whose behalf such a distinction is made ? If they are men, it is lawful for every man to have his own wife ; and if they are not men, let them say so, that the world may know in what light to regard them. ^ I feel like ore treading on polluted ground, whose senses are assailed by offensive, and even criminal objects> and fetid effluvia, and therefore shall try to get over it as quickly as possible, and to expose the doctrine of the Church of Rome, upon this subject, its errors and wickedness. Q. Does the Church of Rome oblige all those who wish to enter holy orders, to dedicate themselves to the service of God in perpetual chastity and celibacy ? A. This she requires from them in the strictest man- ner, so as to decree the severest penalties against those who violate this law, having sometimes ordered them to be deposed, sometimes excommunicated, sometimes im- prisoned in monasteries to spend their whole lives in repentance. " ' ' ^ ' And the Council of Trent pronounces an anathema upon any one who would declare that such a marriage would be lawful in the sight of God. Q. Why do they prohibit so strictly the marriage of their clorgy ? A. Because a life of purity and chastity is more i I i f I 178 CONCERNING THE CELIBACY excellent, more perfect, and more acceptable to God than the married state. They allude to the words of St. Paul, in the seventh chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians ; and this doctrine is founded upon a most unwarrantable assump- tion, for where do they find that marriage is opposed to purity and chastity ? Certainly not in the word of God, for there it is divinely ordained as the means of promot- ing and maintaining them. But what has this to do with the celibacy of the priests as a distinct order ? Paul was not addressing clergymen, but^ the church of God ■which was at Corinth. And the whole chapter seems to be an answer to a letter requesting his advice on the subject of marriage. Now if the Apostle had meant what the Church of Rome at present would have him to mean, it would not be a prohibition of the clergy from marrying, for he asserts the right of himself to take a wife if he chooses, and the practice of other Apostles who had wives, in the* ninth chapter, fifth verse, but it would be a prohibition of all christians from marrying, which would be contrary to the general sense of the Bible, and the avowed purpose . of God in regard to mankind. The orders of the Church of Rome are a libel upon the virtuous husbands and wives of the world ; and the fact of their stating celibacy to be more pleasing to God than marriage, shows that the minds and consciences of the Romish priests are de- filed by their own impure imaginations, and wicked practices, that they regard that union which God has ordained as less holy than the restrictions which they affect to impose upon themselves ; for it is well known that there is more affectation than reality in their profes- OF THE PRIESTS. 179 sed abhorrence of impurity, and admiration of chastity. In all the proofs that they bring forward in favour of celibacy, they must admit that neither Christ, nor his Apostles, had any hand in this iniquitous law. For what can they cite against the words of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus, respecting the qualification of a bishop or deacon : " That he must be the husband of one wife, having faithful children." He knew that most of those for whom he wrote had not the Bible, and that they would take his word for what was contained in it as a rule to imitate. Now, the fact is, that the Apostle's answer to the letter which the christians had sent to him from Corinth, was not meant as a general dissuasive from marriage ; it does not contain the slightest hint that celibacy was more pleasing to God than matrimony, bul merely suggests some prudential considerations suited to the times and circumstances in which they were placed, and the suffer- ings which he foresaw they would be called upon to endure. He advised such as could conveniently remain single to do so, rather than to involve themselves in the additional cares of a family ; but at the same time he left it to every individual to judge for himself whether marrying or remaining single would be most conducive to his own comfort and purity ; and if he found the former to be so, his advice was, by all means let him marry — ^in doing so he sinneth not, which would not be true were marriage less pleasing to God than celibacy. No man with a pure mind would ever consider honoura- ble marriage as a state of impurity. If all the crimes which this law of celibacy has produced, could be laid open to the world, every decent man would have reason 4 180 CONCERNING THE CELIBACY i ''I'i'i I to execrate the Romish priesthood, and blush for the enormous transgressions committed under the veil of celi- bacy. The Church of Rome alleges that the duties of the pastors of the Church of Christ, make the married state incompatible with their vocation, for they are chosen by Jesus Christ and separated from the rest of mankind for the service of the gospel of God, that they may go and bring forth fruit in the conversion of souls to God — that their fruit may remain — and therefore they say it is in- compatible with the cares of a wife and family to dis- charge this duty properly. There is not one thing men- tioned as the duty of a faithful minister, at least not one that his Master imposes upon him, in which so far from being hindered, he would not be assisted by an aflfec- tionate christian wife. He who is single must have some worldly care, were it only the cooking of his dinner, the making of his bed, and the washing and mending of Us linen ; but he who has a wife can confide all these, and the care of his children also, and fifty other things to her, and she will see all things in order, so as to leave her husband absolutely without carefulness about this world and all things in it, and leave him, if he be so dis- posed, to devote himself entirely to the spiritual duties of his office. Popish priests cannot be judges of this question, for they must say they know nothing at all about the matter ; but the spirit of God, through the inspired Apostles, has decided it — not by prohibiting ministers of the, gospel from marrying, but by describing the character their wives ought to sustain, which clearly inculcates that it is lawful and not unprofitable for them to marry. I y OF THE PRIESTS. 181 'or the of celi- of the d state ►sen by ind for go and I— that it is in- to dis- g men- fiot one ir from n aflfec- ^e some ler, the of Us se, and ings to leave ut this so dis- duties on, for Qatter ; les, has gospel ' their at it is The fathers of the Church of Rome, and even the pr6- sentlbishops, mast admit that in the Apostle's time married men wore received into the priesthood, and thjt the Apostles made no law against it. Then what is the use of all their reasoning and false arguments in favour of clerical celibacy, which they affect to find in the New Testament ? This is one of their usual ways by which they notoriously abuse and pervert the Word of God, and by this means, when the Romish Church cannot altogether keep the Bible out of the hands of her people, she succeeds in making it void, and rendering it of no effect. The way in which the Romish Church gets over the fact that married men were admitted into the primitive church, is that she says there was need in those days from the scarcity of believers. But could not our S iviour have found twelve married men in all Judea, cmaiified for the apostleship ? We know that Peter was iRnarried man, for one of Christ's first miracles was to cure his wife's mother of a fever. — Matt. viii. 14. That others of the Apostles, and especially those called our Lord's brethren, were married men is certain from 1 Cor. ix. 5. Philip, one of the seven deacons, afterwards called an Evangelist, had a family of daughters, — Acts xxi. 9, — and he did not call them nieces, as our priests do their spurious offspring, and sometimes their young mistresses. They will falsely say that after Peter began his apostleship he did not cohabit with his wife. If so he began his ministerial career with a breach of faith, and that too under the eye of his Divine Master, which cannot be supposed without the greatest impiety. We find amongst the saints venerated by the Church of 15 > IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A 1.0 I.I Ui Ui2 12.2 ^ U^ 12.0 i m L25 1.4 IlllJi^ « 6" — ► Photographic Sciences Cbrporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSEO (716) 873-4503 .0 182 CONCERNING THE CELIBACY Rome, St. Petronella, who was Peter's daughter, born many years after her father was called to the apostle- ship, and if they try to deny this, it is certain that Paul mentions to the Corinthians, that Cephas had with him his wife, as well as other Apostles. To Christ had all power been given in heaven and on earth, and He could have converted, and qualified all the unmarried men in the Roman empire to be Evange- lists had He seen fit, or had it been unlawful to employ married men in the work of the gospel ; wherefore, if it was lawful then, it is lawful stiUy for there has been no later authority that could lawfully set aside His appointment. The doctors of the popish church appear to pay very great respect to marriage, although they maintain it to be a state not good enough for their priests. The holy church, they say, is so far from condemning wedlock, that she has honoured it much more than protestanti accounting it a holy sacrament. And they translate t 32nd verse of the 5th chapter of Ephesians, " This is a great sacrament." Now there is here no doubt a great affectation of res- pect for marriage, orj rather for the ceremony by which the marriage contract is formed, which may properly enough be called a sacrament ; for the true meaning of the word is an oath, or sacred pledge ; but in the com- monly received, or ecclesiastical meaning, of the word sacrament, marriage is no more than any other action of a man's life, and it is rather an absurd way of honoi^uring an institution to call it what it is not. But as it may be worth while to shew that the earliest practices and records of the church, after the closing of h it OF THE PRIESTS. 183 i the canon of scripture, are in opposition to the assertions of the Romish prelates, I shall present my readers with several instances of most distinguished bishops and fathers, who were in the married state. St. Chry- sostom, shewing at large the expediency of marriage, intimates that several learned clergymen were married. To mention a few celebrated ones will be sufficient for the present purpose. The father of St. Gregory, bishop of Nazianzen, in Cap- padocia, who was bishop of the same sec, was married at the time of his episcopacy. This saint tells us that his mother Nona was not only no impediment, but of great service to her husband in his ministry. St. Gregory Nyeson, brother of iSt. "Rnflil the great, who lived in the 4th century, was married to Theosebia, and never forsook her. St. Basil's father, a bishop, and even a saint in the Romish Church, was married to ^milia, and had by her ten children, nine of whom sur- vived him, and were all eminent for virtue. It was then stated, of those who were married, and lived in the world, that they were not inferior in purity to those who served God in virginity. And this was so throughout the christian world, at least till the beginning of the seventh century, notwithstanding the almost incessant endeavours of the Popes and philosophical doctors to prevent the marriage of the clergy. The law of celibacy was finally enforced by Pope Innocent II., A. D. 1138 ; at the same time, those priests who were compelled by the law of the Pope to leave their wives, were permitted to keep concubines. The obsequious divine Oampeggio held, that priests were more criminal in marrying than in keeping many harlots. By all this If 184 CONCERNING THE CELIBACY i h ii I 't the practical libidinousness of the unmarried clergy was, and is, in every Boman Catholic country, enormous. A remonstrance was sent to the Pope by Ferdinand, Emperor of Germany, and Albert, Duke of Bavaria, to the effect that he ought to give permission to the clergy to marry, for they stated, which is true at the present day, that out of fifty priests hardly one could be found who was not a fornicator or adulterer ; and even Cardinal Panormitan expressed himself thus far, that it would conduce to the salvation of souls, to permit the clergy to marry ; but Cardinal Simonetta dissuaded the Pope, for it was the general fear that this might endanger the stability of the papal throne. Under the Popedom of Gregory the seventh the most part of the clergy, under the name of chastity, commit- ted every where with impunity, fornication, incest, and adultery. And of the law of celibacy in his time, it was related, that this law was by no means displeasiiy^ to the clergy, because, instead of adhering to one wif^P they could engage as many harlots as they wanted. If these were the effects so early, what must have been the case during the following dark ages of papacy, among the thousands of so-called religious houses, but which were in fact nothing but houses of the most infamous character. In these were enacted such scenes that Cardinal Dumiano published a book complaining of them, which he entitled Q-omorrah, because the wickedness performed in them reminded him of the five cities, which God destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven. I need not here discuss the lawfulness of breaking the monastic vow, as it is merely an invention of the cor- rupted ages of popery, the Bible teaching nothing about OF THE PRIESTS. 185 monastical houses ; and have no hesitation in saying, that so far as it is a vow of chastity, it would, in the case of most persons, stand more chance of being obeyed in the marriage state than in a state of celibacy. -4 *.- • ^f^. tl-4'i •*t ^*j-i t?"t-*h; ji^i-f/i* i^'^M' *v». \.S • t - < ».», <"r i(,titi'.- I -♦ ^ '.•*r. i'-t, •i4. > '"^'j '*;'•-•.» /"■ • t -!>*.- «M X : X Zj, * It «v »-•"%>*- ,'i^i '« tin ■4t-,SiJ 'a ; • *.' -; i .J4-- -.f >■ >i (,< i .li/ > ii' , < i i #•*'. ■« 'liiK ■fi « »1 •»S I I ti' 11 ,t^V«^ 15* 186 PURGATORY A MERE II IM I 6 i » CHArTER VII. Q. " What is purgatory ?" A. " It is the place where the souls of the deceased suffer for the venial sins they have committed in this world, till they have given satisfaction to the divine justice, that so a passage might be opened for them into - the eternal country into which no defiled thing can enter." Though these learned doctors do not pretend to say what sort of pains they are which are suffered in pur- gatory, yet the catechism ordered to be taught by the Council of Trent, says their pains are caused by fire ; some even go so far as to say with Thomas Aquinas, it is not only a common fire, but that it is the very same fire that torments the damned in hell. ^^ To quote the highest authority of the Romish faith, the Council of Trent, in the 25th session. Declaration 3rd and 4th, 1563, under Pius IV., decrees concerning purgatory as follows : " As the Catholic Church instruc- ted by the Holy Spirit, from the sacred writings and the ancient traditions of the father, hath taught in the sacred councils, and lastly in the (Ecumenical Synod that there is a purgatory, and that the souls therein are relieved by the suffrages of the faithful, but more espe- cially by the acceptible sacrifice of the altar. The Holy Synod instructs the bishops, that they should pay attention that the sound doctrine concerning purga- tory, as delivered by the holy fathers and the sacred HUMAN INVENTION. 187 councils, be, by the faithful in the church, believed, held, taught, and every where diligently preached. But that among uninformed people, the more difficult and subtle questions which tend not to edification, and from which there is in general no increase of piety, be excluded from all popular addresses. Also, that they do not allow doubtful matters, or such as labour under the appearance of falsity, to be talked of and discussed ; but that they prohibit those things which have reference only to a certain curiosity, or superstition : or which savour of filthy lucre, as scandals, and causes of offence to the faithful. But let the bishops take care that suffrages of the faithful who are alive, namely, the sacrifices of the mass, orations, acts of charity, and other pious deeds, which it has been the custom for the faithful to perform, on behalf of the other faithful who are dead, should be pio'usly and devoutly performed according to the instructions of the church ; and that Jj^ose religious services, which may be owing on the behalf of such, to the legacies of the testators, or on any other account, be by the priests, ministers of the church, and others whose duty it is to perform these matters, not slightly, but diligently, and accurately discharged." ' These holy fathers want to prove the existence of pur- gatory, first by Matthew xii. 32. There is a sin that will not be forgiven in this world, or in the world to come ; from which they argue that there must be some sins which shall be forgiven in the world to come, and as'there is no forgiveness in heaven, or hell, it must be in purgatory. Great men, we see, can draw great con- clusions from very slight premises. Men of ordinary 4 188 PURGATORY A MERE ii minds would never have made out from the declarations that there is one sin which shall not be forgiven in this world, or in the next ; that there are many sins which shall be forgiven in the world to come, and that there is a place for the purpose which belongs neither to this world nor to the next, but which hangs between the two, like Mahomet's coffin, between earth and heaven. Our Lord's words evidently mean no more than that for the sin in question, there was no forgiveness either here or hereafter. The words, as recorded by Mark, are, "He that shall blaspheme the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness,'' chap. iii. 29. According to St.Luke, xii. 10., it is simply he " shall not be forgiven." What stronger expressions could be used than, "shall not," "shall never be forgiven." But this has no connexion with the subject of purgatory, unless it be taken as a general declaration that sins which are not forgiven in this world, shall not be forgiven at all, and then it overthrows the doctrine of purgatory altogether. tA Jews expected a great change when the Messiah should come, but He tells them, that the sin against the Holy Ghost should not be forgiven under the future any more than under the present administration of His kingdom, which* is indeed as much as to say, it shall not be for- given for ever. Further, they argue that since there is one sin, of which it is declared, it shall not be forgiven in the world to come, therefore some sins shall be forgiven in the future world. . Sins which are forgiven are not punished, and sins which are punished, are not forgiven ; therefore, there is no need of purgatory, and it is utterly foreign to the doctrine of the remission of sins in the world to come, to conclude that there is a HUMAN INVENTION. 189 »» place where all sins, even the least, must be atoned for by suffering, and that so rigidly, that the sufferers can- not escape thence, till they have, either by themselves or their friends, paid to the uttermost farthing. The next scriptural authority that the Romish divines bring forward in support of their purgatory, is 1 Cor., iii. 15, " Saved so as by fire." Let any reasonable man examine the entire passage and he will see that it does not contain the most distant allusion to a middle state between this world and the next ; besides, it is not said a man Suall be saved hy fire, but so as by fire. The Apos- tle was speaking of metals — fire is the instrument by which these are tried and purified from things of a gross and nerishable nature. Now if anv christian were to lose sight of the foundation of his hope, he would suffer loss of all his labour, and as by fire the dross is separ- ated from the gold, he would be separated and saved from liis errors and corruptions ; wherefore it is very ^dent that this has nothing to do with purgatory. It is very evident that the churches which wtre planted by the Apostles knew nothing of a purgatc?'' , for the A.postles did not teach that doctrine, and it was never brought into the church by divine authority ; but about the endof the sixth century. Pope Gregory, called the Great, began to give countenance to it, and then it came to have a place among other relics of ancient hea- thenism, which were first connived at, and then estab- lished, as profitable additions to the religion of Christ. By these means was purgatory first established in the Roman Church about the sixth, seventh, and eighth cen- turies ; but for some ages it seems not to have come into general belief as an article of faith, for even in the 12th vaOae iiiierebC is rather to be freed from terrors after death, which serve only to enrich the priests, and keep the laity all their lives in fear and subjection, I hope to be able to prove that these are only imaginary flames, invented for gain, established upon false s^rounds, and kept up IJy craftiness to delude the people, in which many of the priests no more believe than did that great Cardinal, who being minded one day to puzzle his chaplain, pro- posed this question to him: " How many masses does it require to bring a soul out of purgatory ?" To which the Cardinal, when he found his chaplain could not answer, did pleasantly supply the answer him- self, by saying — ^' It will just require as many masses to bring a soul out of purgatory as it takes snow-balls to heat an oven." Purgatory connects itself very materially with the cor- rupt state of the Church of Rome, both in doctrine and HUMAN INVENTION. 191 # soul »J practice. I have often had occasion to remark that a belief in all the dogmas of popery, and the practice of all its ceremonies, is perfectly consistent with a life of wickedness. It is not necessary that a member of the Church of Rome should be renewed in the spirit of his mind ; if he was only favoured by the priest with the sprinkling of holy water at baptism, this makes him a new creature — this makes him a member of Christ's church, and he cannot be deprived of this connexion with the Saviour, unless ho becomes a heretic — that is a pro- testant — or be excommunicated. His sins are all wiped away, as far as regards the guilt and liability to eternal punishment, as soon as he confesses and receives absolu- tion from the priest. There remains amongst papists the same degree of knowledge of natural religion, as exists amongst hea- thens, or rather so much traditional knowledge of the character of God, as to assure them that persons dying iif unrepented sin cannot enter heaven without undergo- ing a purification, and this suggested to them the neces- sity of a purgatory. Real Christianity requires no middle state between this world and the next, to purge men from the pollution of sin. "Through Jesus Christ alone is preached fogiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, which they could not be by the law of Moses." Acts xiii. 88. " Those who are so justified are also sanc- tified — that is, made holy. The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth us from all sin. If we con- fess to God our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive UB our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity," 1 John, i. 9. Such passages of Scripture prove plainly that the ■r 192 PURGATORY A MERE blood of Christ is not only sufficient as an atonement for sin, but it is sufficient to cleanse our souls from every pollu- tion. If the greatest sinner that ever trod the earth were to believe in Christ to-day, and die to-morrow, the right- eousness of Christ, in which he believed, would present him without spot, that is, perfectly justified and sancti- fied in the presence of God the Judge of all, and this is an evidence to himself as well as to others — that he is a pardoned sinner, and that like the penitent thief, though he dies, he shall be with Christ in Paradise without any other purifying process than that which he has under- gone, the blood of Christ applied for his sanctification ; his body shall return to dust, and his soul to God who gave it, redeemed it, and sanctified it. These are truths which support the mind of a chris- tian in view of death, judgment, and eternity. He knows that to depart from this world is to be with Christ. If it were otherwise it would be impossible to meet death with composure, excepting it were in a state of insensi- bility. How can a man resign himself to death without the most fearful apprehensions, if he believes that there is a debt standing against him in the court of eternal justice — a debt for which he must make satisfaction, by suffering torments in his own person, for a period much longer than his whole life in this world ? and yet this is what every papist is taught to believe in regard to him- self, unless he shall die a martyr. It is true that the dying sinner, if he be rich, may bequeath his wealth to the church, but by so doing, whilst he leaves his family in poverty, he may obtain no real satisfaction as to his future state. His ghostly guides are wretched comforters, for with all their impu- IIUiMAN INVENTION. 193 (lencc, they do not absolutely assert, that so imich money will actually deliver a soul from purgatory; for all which the sinner knows, or the priest can tell, the abridgment may not be more than one year out of a thousand. Those who arc rich may buy some mitigation of their torments, but those who have nothing to pay, must suffer in their own persons all the torments of the purgatorial fire, until they have made full satisfaction to divine justice. It is true they may comfort themselves in some degree^ with the belief that their surviving friends will pay money to have masses said for them, but when they reflect how poor they arc, and what a monstrous debt stands against them, I am sure uo poor sinner can derive any comfort from purgatory. By this arrangement the poor who have no friends are left in a very awkward predicament, for the church cannot take any particular notice of them, because there is nobody who pays for them. They are, it is true, prayed for in the lump, in a general commemoration for all the faithful departed, in every mass, but I believe that the intentions of the priests in saying these masses arc directed to the souls of those for whom they have been best paid, the poor of this world being regarded by mercenary priests as of but little worth. Oh, awful delusion, that men with the light of the gospel shining in their eyes, should persuade themselves that the God of heaven would actually sell to them for money, release from some necessary purgation, or merited punishment. Amongst other doctrines equally profitable to themselves, they teach that the souls even of those who obey them implicitly, must go to a place of torment . for a time, to be purified before they enter on the reward , of their implicit faith and obedience ; but that they, bj 16 I'i !i , ti I 194 PURGATORY A MERE performing certain mystical ceremonies, or incantations, •which they call mass, can shorten this period of torture, or release the soul from it altogether ; and that they are •warranted, nay, even commanded, by God to extort money for these masses, which money they are allowed to appropriate for their own use. And now I appeal to my popish brethren, who have any common sense, to tell me if ever they met with any thing that bears fraud and imposture, so legibly written on the face of it, as this does. And yet where can I look for deliverance for my fel- low countrymen from the tricks that are every day in the year practised upon them, here, and in every country •where popery has obtained a footing, and for the sake of which they are studiously kept in the profoundest igno- rance. No doubt they will be indignant at my honestly telling them, which I do, that they are, both priests and people, sunk in the greatest ignorance. This doctrine appears admirably calculated to enrich the dealers in these masses, which arc understood to have such efficacy in procuring relief for the souls in purgatory, as it gives the priests ready access to the purses of rich •widows, and others, whose deceased relations gave no satisfactory evidence in their lives of being fit for the kingdom of heaven. Th3 more wicked they have been, the better for the church arid the priests, (provided they left plenty of money behind them,) as more masses are necessary for their relief, and the prices of the masses must bear pro- portion to the wealth they left, in whose behalf those masses are to be said. In countries where popery is the established religion, especially where no other Is suffered I HUMAN INVENTION. 195 to be professed, it is easy for the priests to extort what •they please from the rich dupes of their gloomy super- stition. If a priest or a nun has only dreamed that such a one's father or mother is suffering dreadful torments in purgatory, it is enough to command a thousand masses, or a thousand guineas to pay for them, if the relations of the deceased be able to pay so much; if not, the priests will take what they can get for the present, and after- wards try some other artifice to obtain a further sum ; for I know from experience, that there is no trick, how- ever absurd, to which the priests will not have recourse to deceive the people, and swindle them out of their money. I cannot refrain in this place from mentioning a curious scene of which I was myself an eye-witness, in the city of Toronto. The Roman Catholic Archdeacon, Mr. Hay, died, and was brought by the clergy from the bishop's palace to the church, in order that they might sing a requiem over his corpse. Being brought before the high altar, the coffin was opened, and the body placed in a sitting posture, surrounded with about fifty lighted wax tapers ; after he had been well fumigated with incense, and plentifully sprinkled with holy water, he was taken down from his exalted position where he had been exhibited, and the body, which was coinpletely stiff, was, with some degree of force, pushed back again into the coffin, which was then closed, and carried down by the priests into the vault where it was interred. . A few days before he died, I was coming home late from a masonic lodge, when I met two brethren, a doctor and . brother at the corner of Mr. Strange's house, on n 196 PURGATORY A MERE 'I M Church Street ; as they were both masons I stopped them, ^and asked them what they were doing out so late ; the doctor putting the same question to me in retort, I said, " I can give a good account concerning where I was, and I think you ought both to have been there also." The doctor excused himself by saying they were on a charit- able errand, as they were going to visit the sick Arch- deacon Hay. I said, " I wish to God I could procure admittance to him." The doctor said, "If you promise me not to speak to him about religion, I will introduce you." But I answered, "Never was religion more wanted for the Archdeacon than at present." The doctor replied, "If that is the case I shall not let you go in to him." The faith of the Archdeacon must have been very shaky, if he could not stand the conversation of a brother clergyman. I have travelled through many countries, but such a theatrical performance over a dead body I never witnessed in my life, though twelve years a Roman Catholic priest. I hope tbey prayed him out of purgatory. A gentleman, who was formerly a Romish priest, but now a clergyman of the Church of England, has left on record a remarkable incident that happened to a highly respectable lady of his acquaintance, while on a visit to the city of Dublin. She was taken by a Roman Catholic gentleman to a popish chapel, on an occasion when a number of souls were to be translated out of purgatory. The chapel was very brilliantly lighted, the priest seated on an eminence with a table before him, and as the relations of the deceased passed before him, they each presented him with an elegant, and well filled, purse. A large audience HUMAN INVENTION. 197 was waiting in expectation of the performance. Having received his wages, the priest commenced operations with great zeal, and soon intimated that the souls were trans- lated and would speedily make their appearance. Im- mediately a part of the floor opened, and there issued forth from it living creatures, as black as jet. When the little creatures began to move about, the lights were extinguished as if by magic, so that the deception should not be discovered. The lady had eyed the representa- tions of the souls very narrowly, and observing that there was one of them within reach, she, with a degree of courage that would not have been exerted by every one in her situation, as soon as the lights were extinguished, seized the moving animal, put it in her pocket, and took it home, where she shewed it to the gentleman who had taken her to the chapel ; it turned out to be a crabf dressed in black velvet. I need scarcely add that the lady was induced by the entreaties of the gentleman, to destroy the creature, and keep the secret, at least in Ireland, if she valued her own life. The above history is such an absurd, ridiculous, and childish piece of impo- sition, that hardly any sensible person would believe it ; but from the credibility, and high position of the person who 4old it to the clergyman, he had no doubt of its truth, and as such recorded it. Such a trick could only be practised in a country like Ireland, where popery is pre- 'dominant, and where the people are not allowed to think for themselves, but are ordered implicitly to believe what their priests tell them, under peril of excommunication, and a foretaste of purgatory even in this life. ^- The continual saying of masses is little more than a repetition of the words, "Hoc est corpus meum, &c." 16* I i 198 PURGATORY A MERE which, though they be a translation of the words Christ used in instituting the ordinance of the last supper, are thus prostituted to an idolatrous and super- stitious use, and hereby not better than a mere heathen- ish incantation, and the priests who can deliberately impose upon the credulity of all ranks, by making them believe that by such means they can do good to the souls of those who are dead, must be regarded as the most depraved agents of the prince of darkness. Behold this specimen of a tract circulated in the nineteenth century, in the dukedom of Tuscany, without let or hindrance : " The relation made by our Lord Jesus Christ to the sisters Elizabeth Martha, and Bridget, who were desi- rous to know some particulars concerning his passion. He appeared to them after they had finished their prayers and said — " My sisters, know ye first, that I had eleven blows in the face with the palm of the hand, three blows with the fist on my mouth : when I was taken in the garden, and on my way to Annas, I fell seven times, and was dragged along the ground one hundred and five times ; I had one hundred and eight blows on my back, and thirty-two strokes on my legs ; I was lifted up by the beard, and by the hair of my head, thirty-two times ; I had one mortal blow. At the pillar I had six thousand, six hundred and sixty lashes ; I emitted from my mouth one hundred «nd ty,'enty-six sighs ; I was lacerated in binding thirty-tiiree times ; I had a huBdred punctures in my head. On the eross I had three mortal wounds — they spit in my face thirty-two times ; they inflicted on me one thousand wounds. The soldiers who took me HUMAN INVENTION. 199 were three hundred and three ; they who carried me bound were three. I shed thirty-eight thousand, five hundred and fourteen drops of blood. Those who shall say seven Paters and Aves, every day, for twenty-three years and twelve days, which finishes the number of the drops of my blood, I will reward with five graces in fa- vour of their souls. First, I will grant them plenary indulgence and remission of all their sins. Secondly, the pains of purgatory shall not touch them. Thirdly, if they die before the time above stated, I will do as if it was finished. Fourthly, I will do to every one of them as if he were a martyr, and had shed his blood for the faith ; and fifthly, T will come from heaven to earth in the hour of his death to have his soul in my arms, and all of his house and his relations to the fourth degree ; and, if they be in purgatory, I will carry them thence to enjoy the country of eternal life." * * Can there be a more abominable lie under the name of religion, fabricated? or a more shameful Jesuitical imposture spread amongst a sensitive and feeling people ? and such tracts are at present licensed in Italy. Wkat will become of these false leaders who will neither enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, and even with all manner of deception try to mislead those who wish to go there? .;.,,..: A-i^t- -..j n ^'l2^r*-iu y^^^ ji^^ I have now laid before my readers the principal au- thorities on which the papists profess to found the doctrine of purgatory, and I have shewn that no such doctrine is contained in the Word of God. There is not a passage in the Bible that contains the slightest word that can give countenance to the doctrine of an intermediate state be- tween this world and the next; but the whole Bible 200 PURGATORY A MERE !t i ] teaches, that the state in which death finds a man shall be his state for ever. The washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, must take place in this life, if it takes place at all ; and he who is not renewed in the spirit of his mind before death, cannot be renewed afterwards. It is life eternal to know the true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent ; but such knowledge must be imparted in the present life, else it cannot be imparted. " There is no work, or device, or knowledge, or wisdom, in the grave." Had there been such a state as purgatory, it would surely have been mentioned in Scripture, and we can scarcely imagine an occasion more proper for the mention of it, than the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Lazarus died, and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. He was neither an Apostle, a martyr, or a saint in Popish estimation. There is no evidence of his haying punished himself, by stripes, or voluntary austeri- ties of any kind. It is not said that he had made satis- faction to divine justice for any, even the least of his sins, but being a vessel of mercy, washed, justified, and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God, he had no need of any purgation, accordingly he was not sent by any such circuitous road, but was instantly on his death received into heaven. £yery real christian is justified by the same righteous- ness, and sanctified by the same influence, and has no more occasion to pass through purgatory than Lazarus had. >> The rich man also died, and was buried ; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments. There is no mention of a middle state, in which Le might be purified, HUMAN INVENTION. 201 and made meet for heaven. And yet, if there was such a place as purgatory, no good reason can be given why this man should not have had the benefit of it, that is the favour of being punished, and purged there, without going to hell at all. He was not a heretic, or an excommunicated person. He was a son of Abraham, and this constituted him a member of the visible church, as much as baptism can declare one to be a christian, nor is there any thing worse said of him, than may be truly said of many baptized persons, in the Church of Rome, and the reformed churches ; why, then, should he not have the same benefit of purgatory ? Because there is no such place ; because there are no means provided in heaven, or earth, or hell, or any other place, for purifying the soul of one that dies in unrepented sin. Supposing the rich man's soul to have been in purgatory, and Abraham to have been like the I >pe, or even an inferior priest, he would have said, '* I will send notice to thy five brethren on earth, who inherit thy wealth, that they may order so many thousand masses to be said for thy relief, and pay the priests handsomely, and thy soul shall soon be with me." It is wrong to speak with levity on a subject of such awful importance, but seriously this is in the true spirit of popery. Our Saviour, however, teaches by the language which he ascribes to Abraham, that there was a great gulf between the place of happiness, and the place of punishment, so that it was impossible to pass from the one to the other ; there are therefore many absurdities, as well as much impiety, connected with the doctrine of purgatory. The last resource in proof of purgatory, is the 2nd of Maccabees xii.39, but this is no authority, for these books 202 PURGATORY A MERE are not canonical, that is, not divinely inspired. The Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God, never received them into the canon. And Pope Gregory openly declared that the Maccabees were books read only for edification. The famous Melito, Bishop of Sar- dis, a man of great talent, piety, and judgment, actually took a journey to the Eastern Churches, where the Apostles principally preached, to find out the true canon of Scripture, and returned with the very same canon that protestants now have, for the Apocryphal books were not numbered in it. Whatever books the Jews admitted into the Old Testament canon, those only does the protestant church receive. And more- over, the Council of Laodicea, A.D., 764, and that of Carthage ratified by the Popes of Rome, held the same catalogue of canonical books that we do, leaving out the Apochrypha altogether. So the book of Maccabees cannot be any argument in support of purgatory. But further, your own catechism, my Roman Catholic readers, and one of your greatest champions, bishop Challoner, destroy purgatory altogether. It teaches that the Holy Ghost dwells and abides in the souls of the just, and declares that " nothing can be wanting to that soul, that is so happy as to possess the Holy Ghost, because it possesses the very fountain itself of all possible good, and that whoever does not possess this Holy Spirit does not belong to Christ, but is possessed by Satan, and belongs to him." For if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is nOne of His ; so the just man, possessing the Holy Ghost, wants nothing, for eurely no one could for a moment entertain the idea of the Holy Ghost being sent to purgatory ; and the sin- h i:' HUMAN INVENTION. 203 ner is possessed by the devil, and is his. Therefore purgatory from your own doctrines is of no use, and falls to rise no more. Support it further if you can. As soon as a mortal dies, is not his destiny fixed ? And if so, how can it be altered ? And if not, of what use can any thing be to him after death ? If Christ by once oflfering himself, has made full propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and doth perfectly purify all those who rightly believe in Him, and tiiat in this life only, there can be no place of purification hereafter, and therefore there is no purgatory. And all this is most true, for John the Apostle says, 1 John i. 7, " The blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God, cleanseth from all sin," V. 9, '' He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, for He is the pro- pitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. ' ' Heb.ix. 12, " Christ by His own blood entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us;" v. 26, "Nor yet that ho should oflfer himself often;" v. 27, "But now once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.'' Chap. x. 10, "We are sanc- tified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all;" v. 11, " And every high priest standeth daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifice, which can never take away sins ;" v. 12, " But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down at the right hand of God ;" v. 14, " For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Seeing, then, that Christ has fully atoned for us by His own blood, and doth perfectly purify every true believer, there cannot be a purgatory. To 204 PURGATORY A MERE H f \\ ^ say that ye offer liim unbloodily, again ruins the cause of the mass, " for ■without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." — Heb. x. 22. But ye shed no blood in the mass, therefore there is in it no propitiation, no remission of sin, and so your mass is but a dangerous deception. <• Again, all] persons die in either a justified or con- demned state ; " if justified, they have peace with God," — Rom. V. 1. And therefore they are not tormented after death ; but if condemned, then they are damned for ever. So the justified go immediately to happiness and rest, and the condemned enter instantly upon eter- nal torments,2and where is purgatory needed? Are we, then, to believe that God's own justification of penitent and believing sinners, is not sufficient to save them from future torment ? but that the priest's pardon is also requisite, that is to say, that except they submit to such penance as the priest may impose, and pay money for masses, they shall, though pardoned by God Himself, be tormented in purgatory ? What a blas- phemous doctrine ! What a grasp after undue power, over a fatally credulous people ! ; ,. '■ But I ask, where did Christ say He would forgive mortal or great sins, and would punish the small or venial sins in purgatory ? For it has been already proved that after death none can atone for his sins: therefore, to puff up human merit, by the institution of a purgatory, is to assert that Christ taught what he did not teach, and consequently to teach blasphemy. ■ The bull of Pope Pius IV., dated Rome, November, 1564, orders this new article to be received upon oath ' by the catholic priests, as a part of the true faith. " I 1''. HITMAN INVENTION. 205 "I constantly hold tliat there is a purgatory, and that tho souls detained therein are assisted by the suffrages of the faithful." Now is it not evident that thus to swear, and to teach the doctrine of purgatory, is to swear that the Apostles, the ancient fathers, and many of your most eminent clergy, who denied purgatory, were all liars, and that the scripture, which teaches no such doctrine, is therefove false. Alas ! what a doctrine to receive, and be sworn to teach I To say souls in purgatory arc relieved by Christ's blood applied by masses, is to con- tradict Christ Himself, who said, " if wc die in our sins wo cannot be saved." John viii. 21. But who are those that go to purgatory ? None who are in mortal sin, but such alone as are in a state of grace and reconciliation with God — true believers ! So ye teach. Now if none that are in mortal sin go to it — and ye all confess that few are free from mortal sin — on this ground few go to it at all, and the rest must be damned. But did you never say masses for those who lived unholy lives and died in mortal sin ? If ye do, and it is well known that you do, then you offer Christ for those in hell. By such conduct, besides the absurdity, and even according to your own belief, impiety of it towards God, do ye not strongly encourage wickedness, and help your people into Satan's dark abode ? All those who speak highly of the death-bed repent- ances of those who have lived in iniquity, are friends of the devil, and help to uphold his kingdom in this world, because they encourage other sinners in the opinion, that though they go on in their sins, as these did, they still may have a good repentance at last, aud die happy after all. This is most false and dangerous reasoning. Thus 17 11 ^ ;1 .1 ■ ?■, I: 206 PUROATOUY A MERE would you Romanists try to persuade mc that God will have the clergy well paid, or poor souls must burn in purgatory, and that a mass will sooner "hasten them out of it, than God's clemency and compassion ; truly a wor- thy and pious doctrine ! Christ and His Apostles tell us the contrary to all this. They affirm there is no condemnation to God's children — to true believers. — Rom. viii. 1. Their sins, small and great, who turn to God, shall never be mentioned. — Ezek. xxxviii. 16. Christ alone, by His blood shed, by His word preached and believed, and by His spirit puri- fying the hearts of His people by faith, saves them in this life alone from all their sins, and thus fits them for glory and honour in heaven. This is the doctrine of truth, and therefore there is no ground for purgatory. — And if there be no such thing as purgatory — if it falls to the ground — then all things connected with it must fall also — offerings, prayers for the dead, indulgences and masses, and the whole pack of human inventions, which were pretended to be useful to rescue souls out of it, together with all such ruinous follies, must come down — the mighty stroke of divine truth is mortal, and thus this market is entirely spoiled, and this source of impi- ous gain dried up at once, at least among all persons of sound judgment. The practice of the poor ignorant pa- gans, who send money with their dead to pay their passage to another world, (which money the Brahmins or priests appropriate to their own upo,) is nothing compared to the Roman purgatory. Now suppose some of you poor deluded Romanists would take courage to ask your priests as follows : — , "Reverend sir, you have come to celebrate mass for ^ HUMAN INVENTION. 207 my departed friend, in order to take him out of purga- tory : before you begin ^lo so kindag to infoi-m mc, 1st. Arc you sure that there is a purgatory, and where is it, and how do you know it, and what are your proofs for it ? 2nd. Do you know that my friend is certainly there now, and how do you know this ? 3rd. If anointed persons are thereby finally purified, as you tell me, what then has brought them there ? 4th. If ho be indeed in it, are you sure that masses, indulgences, off*erings, &c., will release him from it ? — has God, who fixed his doom irrevocably, commanded him to be thus released ? — where is your proof ? 5th. Are you as a sinful man qualified to say these masses ? — how are you certain that you are a priest in- deed, as it depends on the qualification and intention of him who ordained you ? — and how could you know the intention of another, without which you yourself publicly declare all performances null and void ? 6th. How are you sure that Christ is really in the mass, seeing there are such a multitude of cases in which you say the consecration fails, and then you confess Christ is not there, but bread and wine only ? 7th. Now would you for any consideration worship bread and wine, and yet it may be this bread and wine are still in the mass, and not Christ ? How then should we worship it ? ^ 8th. If it be idolatry and wickedness to worship bread and wine in the place of Christ, as you tell us it is, how can you certainly preserve us and yourself from this wickedness and destruction if we shall worship at your mass ? 208 PURGATORY A MERE HUMAN INVENTION. ii '^ i 9th. Has Christ commanded the sacrament of the supper to be worshipped, and was that given by His own hands worshipped ; if not, is yours superior to His, and is it His will that I should worship it ? 10th. Did Christ or His Apostles ever celebrate or command such a service to take souls out of purgatory ? Before I permit any mass to be performed or cele- brated, or dare be present at it, or worship it, you will have the goodness to answer every one of these ten ques- tions ; but I fear they are not to be answered, and until they are, I should, were I now to worship the host, become an idolater and heathen. - Were you priests sure your people would thus boldly interrogate you, would any of you venture to come to them with your masses to take souls out of purgatory ? And if no mass were permitted till these questions were fairly answered, a mass more, I am ready to think, would never be said, and so would purgatory and popery, as regards all those things wherein it differs from Christi- anity, quickly expire, never more to revive, and all further contention on these subjects would be at an end for ever ! ... 1 i ! ^t .^! I 'N^V/V*V^« ,.ri\\ ,i :■ M .' 1 t > ' I I'.f 1 — "^ -■ 1 i '. ' • (: % ' '-**;* < <• > '•'<<.>.• , ■^'v,' 'iUV. ,• ■ i (■ 1 ,» '\ * ! .. :'*■ i : H - ■ FALLACIOUS DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. 209 CHAPTER VIII. The first question in the Romish catechism concerning indulgences is — Q. " What does faith teach, concerning indulgences ? A. " That the church has received from Jesus Christ the power of granting them, and that the use of them is very salutary to Christians." . Q. " Why are they salutary ? A. "Because they are established to moderate the rigours of the temporal punishment due to sin." Q. " Is it necessary to know precisely how this rigour is moderated ? . - A. "No; it is sufficient to believe that the good mother, the church, gives nothing to her children, but what really serves to relieve them in this world and the next." '• Q. " Is it the intention of the church to free us by indulgences from obligation to God ? A. " No ; the mind of the church is, on the contrary, to grant indulgences only to those who attend to the duty of satisfying, on their part, divine justice." Q. " Of what use are indulgences ? A. " They are of much use in every way, since we have always reason to believe that we are very far from having satisfied our obligations." Q. " What follows from hence ? i^.< A. " That we should be our own enemies if we had no recourse to the graces and indulgences of the church." 17* ^M 210 FALLACIOUS DOCTRINE I ri it : 'III Q. " What then, in a word, is the intention'of the church in the dispensation of indulgences ? A. " It is to assist well meaning Christians to clear themselves in regard to God, and make up their infir- mity." Q. " What does the church intend by that ? A. " To excite more and more in the heart, piety and love to God, conformably to the word of our Lord, ' he to whom much is forgiven ought also to love much.' " Q. " What is the best dispositon to obtain indul- gences? . ' A. " Doing in the best manner we can what is pre- scribed to obtain them, and waiting the effect of them from the mercy of God, who alone knows the secrets of the heart." Q. " On what are indulgences founded ? A. "On the satisfaction of Jesus Christ and the saints." Q. " Why do you add the satisfaction of the saints, to that of Jesus Christ ? A. " Because of the goodness of God, who is willing on behalf of His most pious servants to forgive others ?" Q. "Why besides? '. • • .: - / A. " Because the satisfaction of the saints is united to that of Jesus Christ, whence it derives all its value." Q. " Who has the right to give indulgences ? A. " The Pope, in the whole church, and the bishops in their dioceses, with the limitations appointed by the church." From this document I am enabled to take higher ground. I maintain now, not only that the Pope, and the church of which he is the head, grant indulgence to OF INDULGENCES. 211 to commit sin, but that they actually command it. They make it the duty of a papist to commit sin. This heavy charge rests on the answer to the fourth question above stated. The mind of the church is, to grant indulgence only to those who attend to the duty on their part, of satisfying divine justice. Perhaps some protestant read- ers will not see at first sight the enormous wickedness of this ; but I appeal to every serious and enlightened christian, whether he can imagine greater wickedness than an attempt to do what God has declared it is impos- sible a creature can do, and what He has declared to be already perfectly accomplished — not by a mere creature, but by His own Son. The revelation of divine mercy by Jesus Christ, and the command to believe in Him, is virtually a command to cease from every attempt to sat- isfy divine justice for ourselves, or to make our peace with God. But the Church of Rome sets its miserable votaries to a work — which it is not only impossible for them to do, but the very attempt to do which is an act of rebellion against God — to satisfy divine justice ! The man who attempts to do this, or who thinks he can do it, must have as low ideas of the Divine Being as the man who sees and worships God in a stock or stone, or any other work of his hands. Hence the con- nexion of this doctrine of indulgences, with the worship of saints and images, and the uniting the merits of the saints with that of the Saviour, show that the poor pa^ pist looks upon God as such as himself. Christ has sat- isfied divine justice by the sacrifice of Himself, once for all ; and every man that believes in Him is interested in that sacrifice. The justice of God is satisfied in regard to him — the anger of God is turned away from him — he J ih • :. 212 FALLACIOUS DOCTRINE I' ff.^ \% it needs no other sacrifice or satisfaction. Instead of at- tempting to satisfy divine justice by his own penances, or the divine law by his own doings, he is taught from a principle of love and gratitude as a saved sinner, to live a life of humility and obedience to his Heavenly Father. This is the true catholic, a member of the church uni- versal, which unites earth to heaven. But the papist is taught by his church to satisfy di- vine justice for himself, and if he cannot entirely succeed in doing so, he obtains the graces and indulgence of his church, and the merits of the saints to help him, and if all should be too little, he has a body of reserve in the merits of Christ, to which, however, he will not likely apply if he can do better ; but this subject is too serious for ridicule — it is altogether delusion and imposture, and its eflfect is ruin to the souls of men. He that rejects the sacrifice of Christ, or places reliance in any creature, refuses the only remedy which divine mercy has provi- ded for the salvation of our fallen race, and by disbe- lieving the divine testimony concerning the Saviour, he is guilty of the dreadful wickedness of calling the God of truth a liar. Many protestants, I am afraid, are guilty of the same thing ; but it is the nature of popery to make men do so, and the Romish Church authorita- tively, not only indulges, but commands, the commission of sins. One of the great uses made of these indulgences in the Romish Church, is to encourage her deluded vota- ries in the murder and persecution of all those who are stigmatized by the appellation of heretics. See in the canon of their church, the declaration of Pope Urban VIII., Feb. 10th, 1643. In a bull sent to the Irish pa- pists, he says : OF INDULGENCES. 213 '' Having taken into consideration the great zeal of the Irish people towards propagating the catholic faith, which kingdom, for their singular fervency in the wor- ship of God, he calls the 'Land of Saints,' and having certain notice that, in imitation of their worthy and godly ancestors, they endeavoured by force of arms to deliver their enthralled nation from the oppression of heretics, and to extirpate those workers of iniquity who had in- fected the mass of catholic purity with the pestiferous leaven of their heretical contagion ; by virtue of his power of binding and loosing, which God had conferred upon him, to all and every, the aforesaid christians in the Kingdom of Ireland, so long as they should militate against the said heretics or other enemies of the catholic faith, he did grant a full and plenary indulgence and absolute remission of all their sins,*' (perfect blasphemy ) '* desiring all of them to be partakers of this precious trea- sure. Dated from the Vatican, Rome, May 2oth, 1643, and in the twentieth year of his pontificate." Under this pleasing indulgence the papists of Ireland murdered and persecuted many thousand of their pro- testant brethren. After reading this, will any one assert that by an indulgence is not meant the forgiveness of sins, and that it was the practice of the Pope to give permission to commit sin ? If any one asserts this they must admit that it is no sin to murder protestants. — Bupin, a papist of great learning, mentions that indul- gences began in the 12th century, and when writing of the 15th century, in which he lived, informs us, in a few words, that indulgences were more plentiful than ever, and had become a kind of traffic. This is as much as could be expected from a papist, but it shows that the* 'I , f •i> i: 214 FALLACIOUS DOCTRINE wickedness of the church had by this time risen to a ^reat height. It will amuse my readers to see the na- ture of this traffic, and the prices that were paid for indulgences to commit certain sins. A book was published in Rome, 1514, called The Tax of Apostolic Qhancery, in which the price of indulgences was fixed. I do not wish to pollute my pages with many extracts, but will mention two or three things to show my readers in what estimation popery held the commission of certain crimes. For a layman to murder a layman, the sum of seven shillings and six pence was exacted. For such as murdered father or mother, wife, brother or sister, ten shillings and six pence was asked. For laying violent hands on a clergyman, so it be not the effusion of blood, ten and six pence. Thus it seems that to strike a priest, though it did not break his skin, was as great a crime as to kill one's own parent. For a priest to marry was a sin for which no sum could atone, but for a priest to keep a concubine, was only ten and six pence. For license to eat meat in Lent, ten and six pence. For a Queen to adopt a child, .£300. This book has been often printed both in popish and protestant countries, and the protestant princes inserted it amongst their reasons for rejecting the Council of Trent. When papists saw what use the protestants made of it they put it in the list of prohibited books on pretence of its being corrupted by the protestants, but the many editions which have been published in popish countries, and which papists did not, and could not deny, (although they might disown it now) more than sufficiently justify the reproaches of the protestants, and would cover Rome -with confusion, were she capable of shame. And this is a Christian church ! God keep us all from it. OF INDULGENCES. 215 Dreadfully corrupt as the Church of Rome was about the time of the Reformation, there were still some honest men in her communion, who saw and deplored her cor- ruptions, and did not, like modern papists, gloss them over, and, by sheer impudence, deny their existence. — Wesselus, a man highly esteemed in the Church of Rome, says: "No Pope can grant indulgences, even for an hour, and it is ridiculous to suppose that for doing the same thing an indulgence can be granted — sometimes for seven years — sometimes for seven hundred, or seven thousand, and sometimes for ever, by a plenary indul- gence. There is not the least foundation in scripture for any distinction between remitting the fault and the punishment upon which the doctrine of indulgences is founded. Covetousness was the cause of their first intro- duction, and though the Pope once swore to the French ambassador, that he did not know the corrupt practices of the sellers of indulgences, yet when he once knew it, he permitted them, and they became more extensive.— Though they applied a great part of the money of indul- gences towards decorating the house of God, they suffered their poor to grow up and perish in ignorance. The God of Heaven does not dwell in temples made with hands, for His glory fills the heavens. Cunningham, a great divine, states on this point, namely, "the papacy." " I believe it is not in the power of the devil to invent such another system of popery in deluding the people, and opposition to the religion of Christ ; for this was a mighty effort of Satan to deprive the world of the benefit of Christ's incarnation and death, and to keep the human race in bondage." I write this because I wish well to the papists, and because I wish ! ;-V 216 FALLACIOUS DOCTRINE ,t II : 1 nothing less than their present and eternal happiness, and to deliver them from the bondage of error, and the dominion of their false leaders, and that the priests themselves might be delivered from their bondage to the prince of darkness. Persecution is not the way to accomplish this. If there be one thing in popery more detestable than ano- ther, it is this persecuting spirit. It has always perse- cuted when it had the power, and made it a meritorious act to extirpate heretics. I consider every species of civil disqualification, on religious grounds, persecution ; and persecution is disgraceful to those who inflict, and honourable to those who suffer it. It throws around them the charm and glory of a relationship to the Apos- tles and Prophets, and to men of whom the world was not worthy. Popery is surely not worthy of such honour — I would never persecute a papist. Nobody should hinder them from continuing papists if they pleased, and I, for my part, have always tried to do them good as charity required. • - ** '^ ^ ^ • /^^ -'' Let the papists of the whole world come forward and tell us what is their own belief regardless of any other au- thority. Let them confess that the Church of Rome has become very corrupt both in doctrine and practice, as is become evident from the most authentic account, but that they are not answerable for her corruptions ; let them re- nounce all that is really corrupt in the system, and be determined to think and act for themselves — even ac- cording to what they find in the Douay Bible — let the Romanists do this, and I shall not judge them by the errors I find clearly established against the Church of Rome, but by their own profession and practice. Then OF INDULGENCES. 217 If my dear Roman Catholic brethren, I will not call you papists, or even Roman Catholics, but will give you any name you choose as dissenters from the Church of Rome. If, however, you will still cling to Rome as your dear mother and only true church, and assert that she never was, and never can be wrong, then I think, with my brethren, that I am entitled to tear the veil from the bloated face of the "Mother of Harlots," and to show her to the world as she is ; and those who maintain her as holy, innocent, and infallible, have no right to com- plain, if I accuse them of consenting to all her abomina- tions. Modern papists, at least in England and America, find themselves in an untenable position — the atmosphere in which they move is too bright for the works of darkness. They cannot prescribe to their penitents such a number of stripes, although the priests (as I saw in Pennsylva- nia) keep a raw hide in the confessional; and even at Thornhill, — (Listen, ye free born Upper Canadians,) — a raw hide was used upon a member of their church, named Evans, who came to confess, (this man was my sawyer and I had the story from his own mouth,) and when he had received several strokes he boldly said to the priest, " If you give me one more stroke, I will re- taliate." This struck the priest so much that he desisted. They cannot, now-a-days', order their fine ladies, or even poor old women, to go nine times around the church or chapel on their bare knees upon the gravel or stones ; they cannot send their secret agents in the dead of the night to tear away some member of a family under sus- picion of heresy, and place him in the Inquisition never more to be heard of or seen, until he appeared to grace 18 218 FALLACIOUS DOCTRINE i [i 'l il i< hm tt. Ill I ,1^' the procession of an ''Auto da fe," — I say they cannot do these things in Canada, or in any land where floats the British flag. They are therefore obliged to assume the appearance of humanity, moderation, and common sense ; but while they maintain that they belong to the Church of Rome, and that that church is unchanged and unchangeable, " semper eadera," I do them no in- justice when I say that they would be what papists formerly were, if they had the power. Some protestants have an idea that popery in the pre- sent day is not so bad as it formerly was, and this they consider a charitable and liberal view of the subject ; but papists themselves do not receive this as a conces- sion in their favour, or thank those that make it. They would gladly have us believe that it was always as harm- less as it now appears, and for this purpose they deny that it was, what history represents it to have been. — They deny facts, as clearly established by their own his- torians, as any fact of history can be, with the most unblushing efirontery, and afiect to wonder that we will not take their own word in opposition to all other evi- dence. Besides this, the present state of popish coun- tries, the gross ignorance of the people, and the way in which their minds are enslaved, is a strong proof of the truth of the history of past ages. The Pope is still looked upon as their God up6n earth — his authority is still supreme on matters of religion and morality, and as if the law of God was not sufficiently strict — as if men were not wicked enough by the violation of its precepts — ^he can actually create sins, and then forgive them. He makes that sinfnl which was not so, and then grants pardon by indulgences for money. For instance, he can r ^ OF INDULQENCES. 219 grant permission to marry within the forbidden degrees, and it is difficult to say what he cannot do ; he lias pro- hibited the formation of societies for circulating the Bible ; he has restored in some parts the Inquisition and the order of the Jesuits, and has, in short, done every thing in his power to bring Europe again in sub- jection to his dark dominion. I ask any man of know- ledge and common sense, if a man were, in a popish country, to speak as freely against the errors of popery as against the Reformation and heretics in general, would it not be at the risk of his own life ? I challenge popery to show that any of my objections are grounded on false statements. It certainly is in vain for papists to disclaim any of the odious tenets which are ascribed to them — it is in vain that they appeal to the professions of faith and canons of the councils ; all this is esteemed as lit- tle or nothing worth, while they avow and adhere to a system, the iniquity of which is known to the whole world. V- . . : • , .^ . , :■'.- ! . ■¥ ■I. ii . -f/fj. !*-^ • Ji ''t'-'-ilK »•'.( ■-ii"u ■ ■ r," I i , .-t •"i- ■^v' f i. :\iifi ime then, as indeed it is now, to keep the sacred word thus locked up from the gaze of the multitude, and for several centuries there was no at- tempt made by the church to give a version of it in the vulgar tongue of any nation ; thus practically the church was guilty of withholding the Bible from the people. There were, however, some individuals whose names ought to be held in everlasting remembrance, who hav- ing derived a knowledge of salvation from the study of the Latin Bible, desired to communicate the contents of the blessed book to their countrymen in their own language. Among these, John Wycliffe, of Lutterworth, in Leices- tershire, holds a distinguished place. Wycliffe found in the Bible a purer Christianity than that which he saw every wh 3re professed, and he could not rest until he 226 THE BIBLE DISRESPECTED had given his countrymen a version of the word of God in the vulgar tongue ; and vrhat was the consequence ? — The Church of Rome took the alarm, — of all the dread- ful things in this world, the Bible was most to be dreaded. When Wycliffe published his translation. Pope Gre- gory sent a bull to the University of Oxford, A. D,, 1378, in which the translator, who was a professor of divinity in the University, was described as " run into a kind of detestable wickedness, not only for openly pub- lishing, but also vomiting out the filthy dongeon of his breast, divers professions, false and erroneous conclu- sions, and wicked and damnable heresies." The object of this bull was to excite a persecution against Wycliffe for having translated the Bible, for by so doing, as Erasmus says of Luther, " he touched the Pope on the crown, and the monks on the belly." But the Duke of Lancaster, to his everlasting honour, protected the re- former, and he was unscathed during his life ; but forty- four years after his death, the petty malice of his perse- cutors dug up his bones, burnt them to ashes, '^nd cast them into the river " Swift," whence, like his doctrines, they were conveyed by the ocean and the winds of hea- ven over the whole earth. l , rst.v ]. yjUu tr ? When Luther commenced the translation of the " Vul- gate'' into German, Leo X. issued a bull against him couched in the most violent terms, and after having called upon the Lord to rise up, and upon the Apostles Peter and Paul to rise up against the foxes which have arisen, seeking to destroy Christ's vineyard, lest heretics should further increase, and these foxes gather strength against us, he adds, " Finally, let the whole universal church of God's saints and doctors rise up, whose true BY PAPISTS. 227 expounding of Holy Scriptures being rejected, certain persons, (whose hearts the father of lies hath blinded), as the manner of heretics is, do expound the scriptures otherwise than the Holy Ghost doth require, following only their own sense of ambition and vain glory, yea, rather do wrest and adulterate the scriptures," This bull condemned all persons who did not surrender Lu- ther's books, and it was the forerunner of one of the most bloody persecutions that ever fell upon the earth. Time would fail me to record the histories of all those who were then slain for the word of God and for the tes- timony of Jesus. In popish estimation, these must have been happy times, when the priests held the key of knowledge in their own hands, and when no one without their permission durst look into the word of God ; when there was but little danger of the people falling into heresy, and the priests ^did, and taught, what they pleased, and this would probably have been the case to this day, had not such men as Wycliffe and Luther, by translating the Bible into the language of the common people, generously put it in their power to hold the key themselves, that they might search the scriptures, and test every doctrine by the unerring word of truth. Pa- pists search the scriptures, and find, or rather profess to find there, Peter and his successors in the primacy, the real presence in the mass of Christ's divinity and hu- manity, the priest's power to forgive sins, justification by good works, virginity preferable to matrimony, breaches of the vow of continency damnable, voluntary poverty, penance, alms, and good deeds meritorious, pur- gatory, and divers rewards in heaven according to divers merits ; lest such should be proved to be unfounded lies. 228 THE BIBLE DISBESPECTED ■i: the papists set aside the divine command to search the scriptures. Taking the JActs of ^the Apostles xvii. 11, as their ground, the papists try to make a successful attack upon the reading of the scriptures. They say that heretics use this place to prove that the hearers must use the Bihle to prove whether their teacher's doctrine he true, and so reject what they find not in the scriptures, as though here the sheep were made judges of their pastors, the people of their priests, and men and women of all sorts, judges even of St. Paul's doctrine itself, which were the most foolish teaching in the world. It may appear to popish priests a very foolish thing that the people should judge of their doctrine, and try it by the standard of scripture, but the inspired writer of the Acts has on record an honourable testimony in behalf of the Bereans, that they did the very thing which popish priests would reckon so foolish and disorderly. And however much these teachers dread the practice of trying their doctrine by the Bible, I can imagine nothing more delightful to a teacher of the truth, than to know that his hearers can, and do, make it their business to examine and prove, all that he inculcates, by that unerring standard. Faithful ministers have nothing of their own to inculcate ; their business is to publish the very truth which they find in the Bible, and nothing else ; no tra- ditions and innovations, and should they at any time mistake the meaning of a passage, which may happen with persons who lay no claim to infallibility, instead of being offended, they would be much indebted to any one of their flock who might set them right. Popish priests look upon the people as the dust beneath their feet, to -.*,-M-.ft..>„^^»- 'f BY PAPISTS. 229 irch the as their ck upon heretics use the be true, ures, as pastors, n of all f, which It may that the ; by the he Acts of the popish And f trying ig more ovr that examine merring leir own ry truth no tra- ny time happen stead of my one I priests feet, to whom no degree of respect or consideration is due ; but the evangelical pastor of a christian congregation looks on his people as his brethren, and his equals, who, through having the word of God in their hands, and daily access to the throne of grace by prayer for the understanding of it, may by divine blessing come to such a knowledge of its contents, as to be able in some cases to instruct their teachers, especially such of them as are young and have recently entered upon the work of their ministry. This is however incomprehensible to the papist — with him the priest is every thing, and the people nothing. The priest may utter from the pulpit the grossest non- sense, and the people dare not judge of it, or call in question the truth of what they hear, and they labour to impress upon their congregations that they are as much inferior to the priests as the sheep are to the shepherd. Papists will boast that such a church cost £15,000 or £20,000, but I much question whether they ever spent as many hundred pence in distributing the scriptures. The circulation of the Bible has of late years, among all denominations of protestants, engaged a great deal of attention. Since the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the subject has become popular^ christians of all ranks have been aroused from their lethargy, and have begun to wonder at the supineness of their forefathers and of themselves, with regard to an object, concerning which the heart of every true christian ought to be feelingly alive. If the Bible be the word of God addressed to sinners for the purpose of shewing them the way of salvation, every christian, who reflects on the subject, must have felt ashamed that he has done 80 little to promote the circulation and distribution of 19 1 I ;•: I II! Kik, -\ t- 280 THE BIBLE DISRESPECTED the divine word throughout the world. When the sub- ject was brought directly before the eyes of the christian population all seemed to be impressed by a sense of its importance, and the voluntary contribution of thousands of pounds shewed that the impression had not been made in vain. But how did the popish part of the population feel on this occasion ? It has been proved, that accord- ing to the ancient doctrine of that church, it was not proper or safe to allow the universal circulation, and in- discriminate reading of the word of God ; it has been shewn that the Council of Trent solemnly declared, that it was manifest by experience, that this did more harm than good ; how then could the popish priest, who had sworn to adhere to all the canons of that council, fall in with public opinion, and consent to the free circulation of the scriptures among the people. I know that the preaching of the gospel, and the declaration of divine truth by the living voice, is an ordi- nance of God, and an ordinance that He has been pleased to honour in a special manner, by the conversion of sin- ners ; but it is only when preachers publish the doctrine contained in the written word that such a blessed effect follows. I might defy the world to produce a credible instance of conversion to God by any other sort of preaching than that of the truth contained in the scrip- tures. Whether Christ commanded his word to be written or not, is of no consequence to us, seeing the Apostles, guided by the Holy Spirit, wrote it. Their writing Was according to the will of God, for He promised to send His spirit to guide the Apostles into all truth. Seeing then that the spirit led aifid directed the Apostles to the measure of writing the New Testa- •: I '^W iWfMtMMWt I •«MiMtHM|nMiMHMa«MI BY PAPISTS. 231 the sub- hristian e of its ousands m made pulation accord- was not and in- as been 'ed, that re harm yho had 1, fall in eolation M- md the an ordi- pleased L of sin- loctrine )d effect jredible sort of e scrip- to be ing the Their for He es into irected Testa- ment, it follows that this was a part of the work Christ had appointed them to perform. '4'- Popish writers always proceed upon the presumption, that their priests are successors of the Apostles, and that of course they have equal authority to decide, either individually or collectively, upon matters of faith. If they could prove this the question would be at rest ; if they could prove themselves gifted with the same mirac- ulous and supernatural endowments, we would regard them as successors of the Apostles, and infallible teach- ers of Christianity, but until they prove this by some sensible sign, we must be excused when we regard them as of no authority whatever in matters of religion ; nay, we must look upon them as impostors and deceivers, who are employed as agents of the prince of darkness, to accomplish the everlasting perdition of those who confide in them. i The truth is, the Apostles never had any successors, and if they had we should look in vain for them among such characters as the Romish priests. Christ gave to His early church Apostles, that is, men divinely inspired for the extraordinary work to which they were calted, as witnesses of Him, of His acts, and doctrines : but for the permanent edification of His church, and for preach- ing the Gospel in after ages, He instituted pastors and teachers, men whose business it is, not to publish any new doctrine, but merely to preach and make known what was already known and published in the scrip- tures. I might illustrate this subject at great length, but I believe it is sufficiently intelligible to my protestant readers, for the popish reader's mind is pre-occupied by the idea that the Bible is not a rule of faith any 282 THE BIBLE DISRESPECTED further than it has the consent of the priests, who set up their authority as equal, and even superior to it. And as the priests regard the Bible as little worth, it is no wonder that the laymen regard it as of but small value. I remember a well educated Irish gentleman who boarded with me for about two years, a man supe- rior in intelligence and learning to any I had then met, with whom I had many arguments, and endeavoured to shew him the innumerable falsehoods, and absurdities, which the Church of Rome teaches as the true faith. He possessed a Douay Bible, and one day, when I was requesting him to read it, and pressed him very hard upon the neglect of his duty as a Christian, he broke into a great rage, and with much blasphemous language said, that the greatest curse that ever was given to the world, was the Bible ; from that moment I left him never to converse about religion with him again. And yet this poor man, with his ignorant cursing ^tongue, was strict member of the Roman Catholic Church in a i ! Toronto, and merely spoke as he had been taught by his priests. , -".^, *.,,,. ,. ,.„ ^.-.i ,,'._,: ^.^j./: ^^-^-li'/*": v'.t:>.> j^'ai- Now, the Bible stands by divine appointment as a witness for God between the people, and those who profess to teach them. " To the law, and to the tes- timony, if they preach not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." — Isa. viii. 20. This was the rule God gave to His people, by which they might try all who professed to have even the gift of prophesy. By this rule did the people of Berea try even the preaching of the Apostles, and they are praised by the inspired penman for what they did. By this rule therefore every man is authorised, nay, he is BY PAPISTS. 233 commanded, to try the doctrine of any church, or of any individual, who may address him on subjects of divine revelation. " To the law and to the testimony." Does this doctrine agree with the Word of God ? Is it according to the testimony of " the faithful witness ?" This is precisely the position in which the Church of Rome is placed ; she is brought to the bar of public opinion. The Bible is the witness by whose testimony she must stand or fall, but she will not suffer the witness to speak, except through the medium of herself. She will not allow the words of the witness to have any meaning, but what she chooses to give them ; she is therefore, without any evidence, convicted ; she has departed from the doctrines of the Bible, and set up her own authority in opposition to the authority of God. -.- ■ - , r ■, : - ..•...'. ■ . '.■'Vi'i ■ ■' I t» .'Wj as a • -Vl >•-■'•■ v/*v>' \y^. ' >>^»_*-^* ( ,V'i' "? f r. ^ 1. - ' i.' tr . '>■ » , .CM. -^*i •■•- * 4v-.-. h. 19* 234 THE TRUE CHURCH, CHAPTER X. -\ i The members of the Church of Rome by an indefinite use of the word church, bewilder themselves. They hold it as a universal principle that the Church of Christ is a visible organised body, and that it must be under a visible head, such as the Pope. Nothing can be more unlike the pattern exhibited in the New Testa- ment. When the Apostles speak of the Church of Christ in the singular number, they mean the whole company of believers, gathered together as one body in Christ, who is their only Head, Lord, and Lawgiver. In this sense I admit that there can be only one true Church ; but then it is not a church exclusively on earth, the greater part of it is in heaven. When the word church is used in reference to the associations of christians in this world, so far from its being true that there can be only one true church on earth, there may be a great many — all true churches in a certain sense, and all living by faith in their divine Head, as separate members, but all belonging to the general body, and united to Him *' of whom the whole ftimily, in Heaven, and in earth is named." Thus we read in the New Testament of the first church in Jerusalem, of the first church in Antioch, of the seven churches in Asia, of the churches in Galatia, of which the number is not mentioned. It never occurred to the divinely inspired writers, when speaking of organised bodies of christians, that there was only one true church in the world. This folly was reserved for the Pope of Rome and his ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. 235 blinded adherents in later times, and it is worthy of remark that the Apostle Paul, when addressing the christians in Rome, does not call them a church ; ad- dressing those at Corinth, once and again, he speaks to them in their collective capacity, as a church, *' The Church of God which is at Corinth." In like manner several other churches are addressed, but his Epistle to the Romans is addressed : "To all that be at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints," — chap. i. 7, — as if they had been so many converted individuals ; and then from the xvi. chapter we are led to infer that there were at least three churches in that city. In verse 35, speaking of Priscilla and Aquila, it is said there was a church in their house. In the 14th verse salutations are sent to Asyncritus and others and the brethren who are with them ; in the 15th verse Philologus, and two or three more are mentioned, and the saints that are with them. These small bodies of christians, meeting in different places, probably compelled to meet in private houses, not being allowed greater publicity, would no doubt have a bond of union amongst themselves, so as to acknowledge and have fellowship one with another, as they had opportunity : but it is .a fact that they are no where in scripture called the Church of Rome. Yet, without the shadow of a mention in the New Testament, a monster has arisen under this title, boasting itself to be the only church on earth, and the mother and mistress of all churches. If I could only make the papist understand what a visibly organised church is, he would see that it does not necessarily follow from the circumstance of one church being in the right, that another must be wrong. I: i n '''s 'JTl 236 THE TRUE CHURCH, Every church is in the right that holds the faith once delivered to the saints, and every church is wrong that corrupts and denies the faith, of which the Church of Rome is notoriously, and ahove all others, guilty, and has been so for the last fifteen hundred years. As for differences in government, discipline, and forms of wor- ship amongst protestant churches, though it would be foolish to say that all are alike agreable to the word of God, yet the difference between the most opposite extremes is not equal in importance to many doctrinal differences in the Church of Rome. Though there is much to be deplored in the divisions which exist among protcstants, yet their very separation into different com- munions is a proof of their honesty and sincerity ; but the pretended union of doctrine in the Church of Rome proves her insincerity and falsehood. Protestants are so ingenuous and so candid that they cannot pretend to be of one mind, when they are not ; hence their separation into different communities, each holding what they understand, and believe to be the truth, agreeing in general in the fundamental truths by which sinners may be saved, and therefore acknow- ledged by one another as true churches, differing only in regard to government and modes of worship, which do not affect the vital truths of Christianity so much as to justify the members of one communion in withholding the appellation of christian from another. The Dominicans, Franciscans, Jansenists, and Jesuits, and many others, were as directly opposed to one another, as any protestant sects possibly can be, not on matters of form, and discipline merely, but upon the most funda- mental points of doctrine, yet the holy and infallible ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. 23T head of catholic purity acknowledges them all as branches of his family, and bestows upon them many extensive privileges. The Franciscans stoutly main- i tained that the holy Virgin was born immaculate, while the Dominicans assert that she came into the world under original sin, though its effects were soon removed. Thus these two great parties were not agreed about the original character of the object of their worship, and by their quarrel the peace of Europe was disturbed for many ages. In later years the Jesuits and the Dominicans bad a furious contest on the subject of fate and free will, the latter contending as stoutly, and at as great length, for the doctrine of God's eternal, unalterable decrees, and the absence of moral ability on the part of man as the rankest predestinarian, at whose heresy the papists in general affect to sneer. - .\i , Other subjects of dispute were, the extent of the jurisdiction and power of the Pope, the Jesuits maintain- ing his infallibility, the others opposing it ; the prerog- atives of the church, the natural powers of man, and God's eternal decrees, the nature, efficacy, and necessity of Divine grace, the doctrines of morality, and rules of practice. So much for the unity of the holy, and infallible church. Different sects within its bosom teach the most opposite doctrines, and hate one another with a perfect hatred. Nothing can exceed the abhorrence with which the Jesuits speak of Jansenists to this very day. The Latin clergy are not permitted to celebrate mass in the Ambrosian churches ; this causes disorders in the church, whereby they are no better than the greatest heretics. So much for popish unity. r! i 288 THE TRUB CHURCH, And yet, with all this disagreement, the Romanists will say, that their church is the only true church, and attempt to prove it by her marks, namely, unity, sanctity, and apostolicity. I intend to take each of these marks or characteristics separately and shew that the Church of Rome possesses none of them. First, they say that union is one of the principal signs of a true church, namely, that all members ack- nowledge the same head, the Pope. ^ ^ Now, on this point alone, there is more union amongst protestants than in the one Church of Rome. Protes- tants of every name, with one voice, acknowledge Jesus Christ alone as the head of their church, and they acknowledge His authority alone in spiritual matters, that is, they will submit their consciences to no other. Even such national churches as the Church of Eng- land, who acknowledge a head on earth, limit this head- ship to what is called the State Ecclesiastical ; in this sense the King is head and defender of the Church of England. He presides over its temporal affairs, but in matters purely spiritual an episcopalian will maintain the exclusive headship of Christ, as firmly as any other protestant sect. The Church of Rome claims to have a spiritual head on earth whom she believes infallible, and her members submit their consciences in spiritual matters to his supreme authority. Now it is very sur- prising that papists are not, and never were, agreed as to who this head is, and therefore they are destitute of this first mark of a true church, unity. One party says the Pope alone is the head, another makes a general council supreme, and a third says, it is neither one nor the other, but both united. All parties are shy in giv- U ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. 239 i 1 giv- ing an explicit opinion on the subject. But I ask whether the doctrinal decision of a general council with the Pope at its head, is secure from error ; most cer- tainly not — experience has long since proved it to he otherwise. In respect of national constitution, the Church of Rome proves herself to be earthly by her con- stant attempts to support herself by figures of earthly things, but the legs of such lame figures are never equal, and deductions of this kind from things worldly to things spiritual and heavenly, are seldom better than parables in the mouths of fools. So far as concerns who the in- fallible head of the church is, the greatest divines let us know the / cannot tell ; for all papists never agreed even concernki hi^ Pope's infallibility. Bishop Hay tells us honest. \ «hat the church has never decided who her infallible head is. He says it is not a question in which faith is concerned, and that therefore one may believe according as the reasons on each side preponderate. Then the Church of Rome is of all churches in the world, the farthest from unity, seeing she is not agreed as to who is her infallible head, and this renders her agreement or disagreement, about other matters, of no importance. I believe myself that the bulk of the pa- pists consider the Pope the infallible head, for they can never surely know whether or not his doctrinal decisions are received by the great bulk of the catholic bishops, and therefore they have only the Pope to look to. Now, union of itself is no mark of a true church, for many confederacies of wicked men are very firmly united ; as for instance, the Ribbon men of Ireland seem to have but one heart and soul, in carrying on their work of massacre and plunder. But I admit that a church desti- 240 THE TRUE CHURCH, hVi f it tute of union, is not a true church, at least not a church in Christianity, and this applies to the Church of Rome above all other churches, for she is not united in the ac- knowledgment of one head, and as for her members, they are no more united in sentiment and affection, than any other portion of the human race. A degree of union pervades all protestant churches, I mean union in the acknowledgment of divine truth and the observance of divine ordinances. In the New Testament we read of many churches, and there was throughout them all but one Lord, one faith, one baptism ; and this is the case with most protestant churches at this day — I should say with all, who have any right to the name of protestant, and this union appears not only in their public creeds and formularies, but in the union of many thousands of individuals to Jesus Christ, and to one another, as mem- bers of His body, by faith in the gospel which is preached among them. Perhaps this cannot be creditably affirmed of all the members of any protestant church, but among all churches the Lord knoweth them that are His, who are thus united to Himself and to one another, and it is only union in this sense that is of any permanent value. If I shall be asked why protestant churches are not all of one communion, as the primitive churches were, I answer, without hesitation, because they are none of them perfect, because there is a fault pervading all. I am not, like the papists, obliged to defend my church as infallible at all hazards. It is one privilege arising out of the Reformation, that no man is obliged to approve of all things, even in the Reformation itself, but every man is at liberty to express his mind, and to point out errors and mistakes in his own brethren without giving just ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. 241 cause of offence. I believe that the principle reason why protestants are not all of one communion, is because they have not followed out strictly their fundamental princi- ple, "the Bible alone as the religion of protestants;" when they all do this, they will be all of one commu- nion, as christians were at first, without the necessity of being all of one mind about every thing, or all observing precisely the same things, any more than the Primitive Christians did. The best way to attain union on these points is to let the comparative unimportance of mere matters of discipline be admitted on all hands, then peo- ple will cease to dispute about them, and so these contro- versies will cease for ever. But without being all of one communion, it is never- theless true, that protestants are more united in their confession as christians, than papists are ; in other words, there is more variety and contradiction in the doctrines maintained by the different orders in the Church of Rome, than there is amongst all the protestant sects. For the truth of this assertion I have only to refer to the furious contests between the Dominicans and Fran- ciscans, and the Jesuits and Jansenists. I rather think that religious protestants are more united in belief than they know themselves to be, and the fact leads me to conclude that if serious christians of all denominations were to meet on the neutral ground of the Bible alone, they wonld find that there was scarcely any difference of sentiment among them. The second mark which they claim for their church is 88.nctity ; and to prove this to be a distinguishing mark of a true church, they quote the words of Paul the Apos- tle to the Ephesians : " Christ loved the church, and 20 242 THE TRUE CHURCH, : ill k ll-v t! gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." — Chap, v., 25. 27. If Roman Catholics could prove these words to apply to their own church, the controversy would at once be over ; but they cannot so much as show that she is the church here described — they never knew or heard of any other true church — they have their minds, as I had, entirely preoccupied with the one idea, the churchy that is, a worldly visible society, owing spiritual subjection to their Lord, the Pope of Rome. Higher than this their mind cannot rise — ^beyond this it cannot expand, and it is just as impervious to spiritual illumination on the subject, as the eye-balls of the blind are to the light of the sun. — So he, whose mind is preoccupied by the popish idea of the church, cannot comprehend* what is^ meant by the Apostle in the passage above quoted. This church con- sists of all redeemed among men, of every kindred, nation, and language, and all who have died in the faith of Christ, who are described as the spirits of just men made perfect, and of all who are now living in the same faith, and are followers of them, who, through faith and pa- tience, inherit ^the fpromises. This church is holy. — Every such church is,*or ought to^be,lholy, not merely as respects the belief of sound doctrine, though I hold this to be indispensable, but also in the religious and moral character^of its members. Without this a church may have a creed as orthodox as the twelve Apostles could make it, and yet be no better than the synagogue of Satan. What is true of individuals is also, true of commurities. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, ^4 cleanse [e might ing spot 2T. If ipply to be over ; church ly other entirely at is, a to their ir mind it is just bject, as a sun. — L idea of by the [•ch con- , nation, faith of n made e faith, and pa- holy. — merely I hold us and church postles agogue true of Christ, ITS SiaNS AND MARKS. 243 I :;-. he is none of His, and this, as I shall show, cits off the Church of Borne from all pretensions to be a church, much more from being the only true Church of Christ. The Romanists defend the sanctity of their church by her immutability ; if our church was once holy, namely, in the Apostolic ages, it is holy still, because the church never changes her doctrine, nor suflfers any person in her communion to change or question any part of it. — Hence the adorable mysteries of the Trinity, the Incar- nation, &c., as taught by Christ and His Apostles, arc now as firmly believed by every real catholic throughout the world as when they were defined by the first four councils. As the Church of Rome is incessantly boasting of her holiness, I shall endeavour to humble her a little for her own benefit. At the time of the Reformation and for ages before, the corruption of the Church of Rome was so'' great, and so universal, that every persouj who had the least regard for decency, was perfectly disgusted with her. The writers of those days have left on record the most ample testimony to this effect. And that also, not merely writers of the reformed churches, but men of great note who lived and died in the Church of Rome, have left their testimony against her monstrous and abominable wickedness. I could fill volumes with ex- tracts on this subject, from the writings of men high in rank and oflBce in the church, which would overwhelm our modern papists with confusion, if they were not hardened beyond all feeling of shame. If it be asked why I bring forward the guilt of past ages, as though I meant to make the children responsible for the sins of the parents, I answer, because they maintain that 244 THE TRUE CHURCH, their church never was at any time other than a holy church, and hecause, if it be admitted that she does not now exhibit features of such horrid wickedness, and bloodthirsty cruelty, it is because the light of the Refor- mation has shamed her out of much, which she formerly practised without a blush, and, I might add, because her character at the time of the Keformation was such, as to justify every man in separating from a body with which . he could not continue to be united, without being pollu- ted, and hazarding the salvation of his soul. Let us hear the complaints of St. Bernard, one of the saints and divines of the Romish Church, who says, " That wicked persons, in those days, did so much abound in in all professions of men, that scarce one among a thousand was to be found, who did sincerely live accor- ding to their profession, and if their was any one who was honest, chaste, and frugal, and did not follow this lewd kind of life, he was made a laughing stock to others, and was presently called either a singular madman, or else a hypocrite." Archdeacon Nicholas Clemangis, represents the clergy of his time, as the dregs and offscourings of mankind, and as persons who abandoned themselves to the most loathsome vices. And from personal experience I know the Roman priesthood to be every where profligate and licentious. There are few bishops who are not covetous, they take by violence other men's goods, and waste the revenues of the church upon flatterers, stage-players, harlots, and such like persons, making provision for the wickedness of men, rather than the necessities of nature. Such, at the time of the Reformation, was the complaint against the Bishops of the Roman Church ; and supposing this ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. 245 representation to be exaggerated, it shews enough to justify me, as it did Luther, in abandoning the commu- nion of a church, so universal in vice, and abominable filthiness, that it was scarcely possible to avoid pollu- tion whilst remaining in it. The cardinals were still worse than the bishops. The whole world complained of their pride and luxury. And can any man think that this complaint was not just, when one considers the vast revenues spent upon their lusts, for one of them often usurped from twenty, to four or five hundred benifices, and even selected the richest ones. I shall now go to the highest in the church, the Pope, and describe the holiness of many who assumed the name of holiness itself. The Church of Rome professes to be distinguished by fruits of holiness, namely, by the number of holy per- sons which she pretends to have produced, and therefore concludes that she is the only true church. Though we were to grant these premises, the conclusion does not necessarily follow : for though she could prove that she has produced ever so many millions of saints in former ages, she is not producing them now, and therefore she has lost this mark of a true church. There were no doubt many holy persons in the seven churches, but when those churches embraced error in doctrine, and suflfered immorality in practice among their members, the Apostle John was divinely instructed to warn them, that, unless they repented, they would be tast off. When this judgment came upon them, they were no longer true churches. They might continue to exist for ages under the name of Christians, but when Christ had removed the candlestick, and withdrawn His 20* 246 THE TRUE CHURCH, I spirit from them, they were no better than th^ dead skeleton of a once living body. That this is the j resent state of the Church of Rome, may be inferred from her own account of herself. She does not know, at least cannot be certain, that she has a single saint in her communion, for no man or woman can be admitted into the rank of saints, until a hundred years after death, and it will depend upon the Pope of that period, whether any of her present members are canon- ized. This law is one of the wisest and most politic things the Church of Rome ever invented, for she knows well, that if she were to call the best of her members saints while alive, the world would laugh at her and them. But the Church of Rome has been notoriously unholy for many hundred years. She is not the mere skeleton of a once living body, not a collection of dry inoifensive bones, she is a putrid carcase, pre- senting to the moral sense all that is loathsome and abominable. ; *. -. All the authors who wrote previous to, about the period of, and even after, the Reformation, agree in telling us that all ranks and degrees in the church were corrupt beyond expression, from the lowest curate to the highest cardinal. It remains now to shew what sort of men the Popes were, and as these claimed to be the head and centre of all power spiritual and temporal, they had usually concentrated in their own persons the vices of the inferior clergy. Papists have a saying among themselves, that Greg<#y the Great, was the last of the good, and first of the bad Popes, by which they acknowledge that they have not had a good Pope for twelve hundred years, which I sup- ITS SiaNS AND MARKS. 247 pre- and pose is the truth. We need not look back to the dark ages, in which their own historians tell us they were monsters, and prodigies. Let us rather see what was their character about the time of the Reformation, when it might have been expected that a regard for their own interest, would have induced them to assume, at least the appearance of virtue. After the death of Innocent VIII., Lionel Bishop of Concordia, in a speech to the cardinals, pressed them with the strongest arguments to choose a good man, whose life was without scandal. (A.D. 1492.) What was the effect? Alexander the VI. was chosen, — a man, if he may be so called, who was the reproach of human nature ; who, b afore he was elected, was a prodigy of lust and vices, and continued to be so to the last, when, by the just judgment of God, he was poisoned by mistake, through drinking that cup himself which he had prepared to dispatch others. Paul III. lived not long enough to let the world know what he would prove, for he died within twenty- six days after his election. Julius II., who succeeded him, was guilty of crimes so notorious, as to be a scandal to the whole church. He filled Italy with rapine, war, and blood, to which he was so addicted, that contrary to the laws of nations, he or- dered the ambassador of the Duke of Savoy to be tor- tured, because he persuaded him to peace. So monstrous were his acts that Richerius says, " he must be wholly made of steel, who can read them without horror." Pope Leo X., in whose time the Reformation began, was a civil, debonnair, gentleman, but so little concerned for religion, that he cared not to know what it meant. — When he admitted discourses of that nature, it was for It 248 THE TRUE CHURCH, the sake of diversion, and to make himself sport. He considered that his soul did not live longer than his body, and therefore gave himself up to sensual gratification, and it was but reasonable to suppose that he who ima- gined he should die like a beast, should live like an epicure. • ' • .... Clement VII., as he obtained the Popedom by simony, so he administered it by like evil arts. His prime vir- tue was dissimulation, and he made no scruple of break- ing his oaths and covenants as often as he made them. Paul III., and Julius III., followed next. Their char- acters, as given by many of the Romish historians, are 60 foul and loathsome, that if I had the face to write them, no modest man could read them without blushing. Such was the wickedness of the holy church in the head and all its members, that the world itself, depraved as it is, could bear it no longer, but cried for deliverance. The Court of Rome was beset with complaints and re- monstrances from the Emperor and other sovereign princes, in which they demanded the correction of those abuses, which they and their subjects declared to be in- tolerable. In short, they called for reformation, which the Pope was unwilling to grant, but durst not peremp- torily refuse, lest the nations and their princes should reform themselves, as some of them had already done. — His holiness promised, and shuffled, and temporized for many years, but at last consented to the calling of a council at Trent, the professed object of which was to satisfy those who demanded reformation ; but which in- stead of reforming abuses, rather confirmed them, and establisLed by law many errors which had been only tacitly admitted before. ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. 249 Before the Pope would consent to call such a council, he tried many expedients to silence the universal clamour that was raised against the corruptions of the church. — Once and again, the Popes made a feint of seriously set- ting about a reformation, and Paul III. even went so far as to appoint four cardinals, and five other prelates, to draw up a catalogue of grievances and abuses which needed reformation, to make the world believe that he was going to reform. These prelates drew up a paper under the title of "Ad- vice given to Pope Paul III. by four cardinals and five prelates, in order to procure an amendment of the state of the church." Amongst the names subscribed to this document we find Cardinal John Peter Coraffa, after- wards Pope Paul IV., and Reginald Pole, Cardinal of England, men who were not likely to give an exagger- ated representation of the evil state of their own church. ' The notorious character of the corruption, and worse than heathen abomination, prevailing throughout the whole church, left to the world by Dr. Claget, is enough to make any man who has the slightest respect for his character, renounce the communion and even name of a church which pollutes the earth more than the cities did, which God destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven. The principal abuses which were here brought before his holiness, were the selling and bartering the souls of men for a living, by the priests. " Another abuse," say the advisers, " of the most grievous nature, is the collation of ecclesiastical benefices, especially with the cure of souls, and above all of bishoprics, the manner having been, that good provision is made for those having the i I 250 THE TRUE CHURCH, i benefices, but for the flock of Christ and the church, none at all.'' There was another abuse, the changing benefices upon contracts, in which no regard was had to any thing but gain ; and so on throughout the whole paper, the Church of Borne stands confessed, the antichrist, that makes merchandise of men's souls, for that which so many of her own dignitaries, including one who was afterwards Pope, have so solemnly declared to be true, may be con- sidered as virtually the admission of the church herself. By this document alone the Reformation is fully vindi- cated, and I am surprised that it has not been oftener published and more generally known, since, as a defence of the Eeformation, it renders any other publication un- necessary. I request the reader again to remember that all my proofs of the wickedness of the Roman Catholic Church, are taken from writers high in the authority of that very church. Out of the mouth of her own children she stands condemned, and surely those children knew her well. Protestant writers cannot say a word on this sub- ject without being accused of misrepresenting and cal- umniating the Church of Romp. Now is it likely that the first Reformers should charge the church wrongfully ? No man can be a misrepresenter but through ignorance or design ; as for ignorance, is it a probable thing that Wycliffe, Luther, Cranmer, Latimer, and other Reform- ers, who all, as well as I, had been papists formerly, should be ignorant of what was thought and practised in the Church of Rome ; therefore if papists are pre- sumed to understand their own religion, it is impossible that the Reformers could have misrepresented the church ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. 251 rm- led Jre- )le through ignorance. Nor is it prohable that they should misrepresent popery through interest ; for if they were conscious that popery was not so bad as they represented it to be, why should they set up for reformers ? Do those who assert them to have misrepresented popery, know what they suffered for their opinions ? The loss of their lives, estates, and liberty, all the vengeance of a blind and enraged bigotry — all this they underwent with the greatest constancy and christian patience. Is it likely that they would suffer all this merely for the sake of telling lies and raising a scandalous report of the Church of Rome ? Does not this prove that the first re- formers were honest men, suffering like the Apostles, merely for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ ? And from this we can demonstrate that the Church of Rome does not possess those fruits of holiness of which they boast, and, therefore, that she does not possess this mark of a true church. When the Apostles of Christ preached the Gospel, God was pleased to confirm their testimony by signs, and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit ; but when the truth was once confirmed and received by the churches, it was left to make its way by its own evidence, and the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit, which Christ promised should remain with His disciples for ever, and to suppose that miracles were still necessary, is to say that the truth of the Gospel is not suflSciently confirmed. What is it that papists pro- pose to establish by their miracles ? Is it that Jesus is the Christ ? This was the design of the miracles wrought by the Apostles, and having this established, we have no more to ask for. Nothing remains but to P | > l!U » i".JH P ni 1 .| Hiii !J i i iit^ W iii 262 THE TRUE CHURCH, receive their testimony, and obey "what they com- manded. This renders further miraculous interference unneces- sary; and, as God does nothing in vain, miracles of course ceased when the canon of divine revelation was closed, and persons who understood and believe, will no more look for new miracles, than for a new revelation. The only object the papists have injiarratiixg so many miracles said to have been wrought by their saints, is to prove that their church is holy, but all these are not divine attestations of the sanctity of their church, and therefore we cannot ascribe to her this mark of a true church. The papists next proceed to found the doctrine of their church being the only true church, on her apos- tolicity. My readers will perhaps not understand the meaning of this word, and I question very much if they will find it in any English dictionary ; it is however so nearly allied to apostolical, that it either does, or ought to mean, that the church which pretends to this charac- ter should be in every respect such a church, as the Apostles planted in Jerusalem, and other places. Jeru- salem, we all know, was the Mother Church. In her was fulfilled the ancient prophecy, " The law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusa- lem." Let us see what manner of Church this was, and then enquire, whether the Church of Rome is like it. It consisted of a hundred and twenty men and women, including the Apostles. These were all genuine disci- ples of Christ, at least so far as we know, and I think this is clearly implied by the inspired writer. — Acts i. 14, They all continued with one accord in prayer and ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. 253 supplication, and we can easily judge, considering the well known temper of the unbeliever of that day, what discord one such character would ha\e made among them, for there was no such thing then as paying decent respect to christian worship, as a compliment to public opinion, a thing too often done by unbelievers of the present day. On the day of Pentecost — that is, about ten days after our Lord's ascension — the Holy Ghost came upon the disciples, as is described in the second chapter of Acts, when by the preaching of the Apostles, and especially of Peter, the small original church received an increase of three thousand members. Some of these no donbt were of the number of the betrayers and murderers of Jesus. They had joined with the rest of their countrymen in that horrid impre- cation, "His blood be on us and on our children." "Away with Him, crucify him." And that hlood did come upon them, in a way they had never thought of or expected ; it came upon them for the salvation of their souls. For such was the generosity and cle- mancy of the divine Saviour, that He instructed His Apostles to begin their ministry at Jerusalem, that His very murderers might be the first to hear of His exalta- tion as a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins. Accordingly on that great festival, when many thousands were assembled at a place of public resort, the Apostles began to preach. The people were astonished and greatly affected, and three thousand were pricked to the heart : they were deeply convinced of theur guilt in general and of their great crime in particular, and saw themselves worthy of everlasting perdition. But when Peter told them of the 21 I •!< 1 If V i n Am \ i l! ^'% 254 THE TRUE CKURCH» mercy of God, as displayed in the gift of that very Saviour whom they had crucified, and called them to he haptised in the name of Christ, for the remission of sins, they helieved the glad tidings — they gladly re- ceived the word, were haptized, and added to the church, and they adorned their new connexion hy a new character. The multitude of them that helieved were of one heart, and one soul, and great grace was upon them all. Many more than these may have heen pricked to the heart, and filled with remorse and con- fusion, who yet refused the preferred salvation, and would go away contradicting and blaspheming, as was the case with the great body of the nation, though the Gospel was preached to them also ; but the church in Jerusalem seems to have been one great company of saved sinners, whose chief concern was to live to the glory of their Saviour. This was the parent stock, and the first branches possessed the same character. These were the churches in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, who not only endured the fire of persecution, but when they obtained rest, (after the conversion of Paul,) which is perhaps more trying to the faith of christians than adversity, it is testified of them that they were edified, and walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. — Acts iii. 31. Throughout the remainder of the New Testament, we find the churches uniformly described as consisting of those who were separated from the world in their spirit, and their con- duct, and holy conversation. The distinction betw« en the Jews and Gentiles was never more forcibly drawn by the prophet, in the time of Israel's greatest prosperity) • ITS SIONS AND MABKS. 255 than that between christians, and men of the world, is marked in all the Apostolic writings. " We are of God's little children," says St. John ; which is undeniably true, from its having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and it is repeated, with what will be still more offensive to the carnally minded professor of nominal Christianity, " We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.'' — 1 John, v. 19, — that is, the whole human race who had not em- braced the Gospel of Christ, were lying in wickedness, or in obedience to the wicked one, namely, the devil. Therefore it was only those who were of God, and who were distinguished from the world, that composed the Apostolic churches. It is a fact that false brethren did occasionally creep in unawares — that hypocrites, for wicked and selfish purposes, found admittance into the churches, but the guilt of this rested with themselves. The churches were not to blame, unless they consented to, or connived at, their continuing in the church fellow- ship, after their hypocrisy was detected. I find that these Apostolic churches had bishops and pastors set over them, for their spiritual instruction and edification, and deacons to minister to the wants of the poor, out of the church's bounty. We have the quali- fication of these bishops and deacons particularly des- cribed ; for the divine wisdom foresaw, that according as their character might be, such would hie the character of the churches over which they were placed. Let us see, then, what sort of persons these bishops were to be. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach ; not given to wine, no striker, 266 THE TRUE CHURCH, it not given to filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous ; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity, (for if he know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God ?) not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them that are without, lest he fall into reproach, and the snare of the devil. — 1 Tim. iii. 27. The character and qualification of deacons is described in the same chapter, with equal minuteness, and in language so plain as not to be mistaken. Now, there can be no doubt that when the Apostles superintended the churches, the character of the bishops, deacons, and also the whole body of christians would be such as above described, I enter not at all into the enquiry of what was the form of church government. This, though by no means a matter of indifference, I hold to be of very inferior importance. The point which I wish to establish, is, that the Apos- tolic churches, were composed of men and women who professed the faith of Christ, and proved the genuiness of their faith by holiness of life ; and that as members of Christ's body, they held fellowship one with another, under the pastoral oversight of men of like character with themselves, but distinguished by a greater degree of gifts and graces suitable to the importance and responsibility of their office. It was not a very difficult matter, and required no complicated machinery, to govern churches which were of one heart and soul, walking in the fear of God, and comfort of the Holy Ghost. Yet even for such, government was necessary, and this was ordained. Pastors were appointed to rule ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. 257 and to teach in the fear of God, and the people were re- quired to submit to them that had the rule over them. But while the Apostles' doctrine was held fast, and their authority alone regarded as the rule of faith, the people would fall as naturally into the right form of church government as the battalions of a well-disciplined army would fall into order at the sound of the trumpet. The law was not made for righteous men, as the Apostle tells us, but for the lawless and disobedient. — 1 Tim. i. 9. So modern systems of church government, I fear, call them by what name you will, were not made for such churches as the Apostle planted, but for carnal and worldly-minded men, that they might be made the sub- jects of a kind of christian restraint, though not con- verted to Christ and separated from the world. I am quite aware that great corruptions in doctrine and practice appeared in some of the Apostolic churches, especially in that of Corinth, and in those of Galatia, and in some of the seven churches of Asia. From this circumstance, the Head of the Church took occa- sion to instruct His people how they should conduct themselves when such corruptions arose. They were commanded to keep themselves pure, and to put away from among them every member who had departed from the faith, or from holy practice. Knowing that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, they were instruc- ted to purge the old leaven, that is, to separate what- ever had a tendency to withdraw their minds from the spiritual simplicity of Christ's gospel, or their practice from conformity with His law. The fact of corruption appearing in a ohurch, did not necessarily condemn that 21* r r i \ if! : til ! 258 THE TRUE CHURCH, ITS SIGNS AND MARKS. church, unless it suffered those corruptions to remain uncorrected. The members were commanded to withdraw from every brother who walked disorderly, and who refused to be reclaimed, which necessarily implies the duty of withdrawing from any number of brethren, even from a whole church when found disorderly and irreclaimable ; so that the Reformers were guilty of no schism, but were only obeying a divine command, when they sepa- rated from the Church of Rome. It is time now to apply these evidently scriptural principles to the Church of Rome. She boasts, above all others, of being the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, that is, if these words have any meaning, such a church as the Apostles planted and watered by their personal ministry. Are her members, then, in general such as were the members of the churches in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, walking in the fear of God ? I suspect that if the best of them were tried by this rule, they would be found deplorably deficient. And as for thousands of them in Ireland, and not a few nearer home, they seem to live in the fear of nothing but the priest, and the gallows. Nay, the greater proportion of those who appear in our criminal calendar are papists, and this proves her to be the reverse of an Apostolic church. . u; AURICULAR CONFESSION. 25d CHAPTER XI. Rome's mystery of iniquity appears in nothing more palpably than in what she calls ** Auricular Confession." By means of this she has access to the heart of every sinner in her communion, maintains an absolute autho- rity over his conscience, and directs his conduct as she pleases. And this prerogative does not belong to the church alone, considered in her collective capacity, nor to the Pope alone, as head of the church ; it belongs in common to every priest who considers himself divinely appointed to receive the confessions of sinners, and au- thorised to grant them absolution. The subject is intimately connected with that of pen- ance. I shall, therefore, give the doctrine concerning both, as laid down by the Council of Trent, Sess. iv., Canon 1. " Let him be accursed who ^hall affirm that penance is not truly and properly a sacrament, insti- tuted and appointed in the universal church by our Saviour Himself, for the reconciling those christians who have fallen into sin after baptism, to the Divine Ma- jesty." They teach further that this sacrament consists of two parts, the matter and the form. The matter of the sacrament is the act of the penitent, namely, contri- tion, confession, and satisfaction; the form of it is the act of the priest in the words "Absolvo te, &c.," — that therefore it is the duty of every man, who has fallen after baptism as aforesaid, to confess his sins at least once a year to a priest. That this confession is to be , i ''i : r :■ li li h '}• ,\ 260 AURICULAR CONFESSION. secret, for public confession, is neither commanded nor expedient — that this confession of mortal sins, even of thought, must extend to all the circumstances under which they were committed, and even to the most secret sins against the 9th and 10th commandments, that is the tenth, according to our division, for the Church of Rome divides it into two, having left out the second, which, however, her members can find in the Douay Bible, if they were permitted to read it. And lastly, that the penitent thus doing, the absolution hereupon pronounced is not conditional, or declarative only, but absolute and judicial, — that is, that the priest on receiving confes- sion, as above described, pronounces a full and ever- lasting pardon of all the sins so confessed, a pardon which the sinner may take and plead at the day of judgment, against all charges that may be brought against him on account of the sins which he has then confessed. Before proceeding to expose the wickedness of the doctrines above taught, I shall give a detail of what papists avow, as well as what they disavow, on the subject of confession. The papist, truly represented, believes it damnable in any religion to make Gods of men. However, he firmly believes that when Christ, speaking to His Apostles, said, — John xx. 22 — " Re- ceive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained ;" He gave them and their successors, the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church, authority to absolve any penitent sinner from his sins, and consti- tuted them dispensers of the mercy of Christ. The priest undoubtedly believes that whosoever comes to AURICULAR CONFESSION. 261 him, making a sincere and humble confession of his sins, with a true repentance, and firm purpose of amend- ment, and a hearty resolution of turning from his evil ways, may receive absolution by the authority given him from heaven ; and doubts not but that God rati- fies the sentence pronounced in that tribunal, loosing whatever is thus loosefl by them on earth. And that whosoever comes without a due preparation, and rej 3n- tance from the bottom of his heart, and real intention of forsaking his sins, receives no benefit by the absolu- tion, but adds sin to sin, by a high contempt of God's mercy, and abuse of the sacrament. From the above authorities it appears that the Church of Rome makes it the indispensable duty of every member of her communion^ to confess their sins, aj; least once a-year. Now, if this were literally obeyed, I venture to aflfirm that every member of the church would require to have a priest to himself, and that the whole year would be occupied by that priest in hearing the confession of a single individual. There is not one hour of man's life, in which he does not commit sin in thought, word, and deed, every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man ,is evil, and only evil continually. He who alone knows the human heart, has declared this to be its character. What then must we think of a religion which teaches, that a person may in the course of a few minutes, confess to a priest all the sins which he has committed in the course of a whole year ? The thing is as impossible as to recall, and relate, all the thoughts which have passed through his mind in the same period — it is as impossible as to recall in an hour, and preserve in a bottle, all the air ?;« 262 AURICULAR CONFESSION. hi' 1 ('i H 1 K it^ 11^' IB , 11 il that has passed through his lungs in breathing during twelve months. Yet, according to the doctrine of the Church of Rome, it is necessary for every man and woman to effect this impossibility. I know that the Roman divines make an exception of sins which they call venial, and require only that a man confess the mortal sins ho may have committed in the course of a year. But this is a distinction of their own making, and involves an error, the most pernicious and fatal that ever was invented by the father of lies. Sin, in every form and every degree, is the object of divine abhorrence. The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of men, without exception. Men, thinking only of what aifects their comfort and security in this world, look upon some sins as great, and others but little harm. Murder, stealing, forgery, &c., are great sins because they are hurtful to fiociely, but swearing, pride, and false worship, are little thought of, because they do us little harm. This is not the rule whereby the Almighty judges. It is the aliena- tion of the heart of man from himself, that constitutes the guilt of the sinner in his sight, and this alienation appears to Him in the most secret thoughts and most trivial actions of the sinner, as really as in those actions which are most condemned by his fellow men. If the popish doctors were to sit down and make a list of those sins which were venial, I am verily persuaded that they woijld place that of our first parents in eating the forbidden fruit, at the top of the list. I defy them to find in the whole catalogue of human transgressions from the creation of the world, one considered in itself more venial than this. What harm could there be in AURICULAR CONFESSION. 2^8 eating the fruit of one tree more than another V It is the cavil of infidels to this d&j, and upon the supposition of venial sins, it is impossible to make a satisfactory reply. But in point of fact wo know that this sin brought death into the world, and all our woe ; by this single offence of one man, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Sin consists in disobedience to our Creator and Lawgiver, and whether this disobedience appears in things which they call little or great, it indi- cates a state of mind at enmity with God, which desorve& all the punishment He has threatened against trans- gressors. What an enemy to the souls of men therefore must the Church of Rome be, when she teaches that there are some sins so venial, — that is, so trifling, that it is not worth while to confess them, that God will not mark or remember them, so as to exact punishment for them. This however is so interwoven with popery as to consti- to an essential part of the system, and if there was nothing else objectionable in it, this alone would exhibit it to the world as a religion not of God, but a mystery of iniquity, emanating from the prince of darkness. The revelation of divine mercy by the gospel of Christ proceeds upon the assumption that all men are utterly lost and undone, on account of sin. Christ came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; He laid down His life as a ransom for many, and in the history of this wonderful transaction we find not the smallest hint that any sin was so venial, as not to require expiation. It was to put away sin and make reconciliation for iniquity, * that the Saviour of the world laid down His life ; it waa sin without distinction of great or small, venial or mor- 264 AURICULAR CONFESSION. '« 111 tal, that rendered this infinite sacrifice necessary, in order that they might be saved. Those who are saved by grace cannot possibly look upon any sin as venial ; they will in secret confess every sin to God of which they are conscious, encouraged to do so by His own word — " If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive US our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." But popery carnalises every thing — it reduces this sub- lime view of the christian's hope and privilege, to the mere annual form of confessing to a fellow creature, and receiving his absolution ; and as this fellow creature cannot hear the thousandth part of the confessing sin- ner's transgressions, but only a few of his enormous crimes, eating meat on a Friday, or in Lent, the peni- tent is taught to believe that his other sins are merely nominal, or no sins at all. Thus the priests prophesy lies, and the people love to hear them, and thousands annually go down to the grave with a lie in their mouth. Such is the current language of a.ll their catechisms and books of devotion, which any one may see. All their pardons are given to a hearty repentance and good resolution. If it were the resolution and repentance which springs from faith in Christ, I would have no ob- jection to connecting it with a promise of pardon ; but such repentance is inseparably connected with actually forsak- ing sin — not with a mere resolution to forsake it. The hearty repentance of the papist is that into which he >vorks himself by fasting and flagellation, and while suf- fering, or expecting to suffer such things, it is very natural to resolve to forsake sin, and even to make a firm resolution to forsake it for some time. N'^w, when a man comes to the priest, and makes such AURICULAR CONFESSION. 265 a profession, the priest must grant him absolution, and declare him reconciled to God, having all his sins for- given ; though both priest and penitent be unpersuaded of the change in the character of the latter, and though both expect that he will immediately return to all man- ner of wickedness, trusting to the efficacy of a new con- fession and a new absolution, and after all this it is the ordinary practice of the priests, when they meet together in private, to inform one another of what they have heard in the confessional, and how dexterously they have behaved on such occasions. This I can assert, because I was often present at such conferences, where the conversation was so indecent that even an honest pagan would have blushed. So I would advise ladies and gentlemen to beware of frequenting the confessional, or at least to make choice of a discreet person, • The mischievous effects of auricular confession in debauching the minds of young persons, especially females, are perhaps greater than those who have not had actual experience in the confessional, can imagine. In the discovery of mortal sins, the father confessor does very much help the penitent, for he sometimes, out of pure zeal, but more commonly out of curiosity, asks them many questions to know if they remember all their sins, or not ; by those and the like questions, the confessors generally do more harm than good, especially to igno- rant persons and ycung women. For, when they come to that tribunal with a sincere heart, to receive advice and instruction, they go home with light and know- ledge, and an idea of sins unknown to them before. I have heard a soldier, cursing the confessors, say : — " If I continue in the King's service twenty years, I 22 266 AURICULAR CONFESSION. ' 1 ■ ■wm ■'w won't go to confess, for it is easier and cheaper to lift up my finger and be absolved by our chaplain, than go to a friar, who does nothing but rail and grumble at my con- fession, and yet I must give him money for masses, or he will not absolve me." To understand this lifting of a finger, I must tell you, that it is the custom in the Spanish army, in the field, or the day before an engagement, for the chaplain to go through all the companies, to ask the officers if they have a mind to confess, and if any one has any thing to say he whispers in the chaplain's ear and receives abso- lution ; as for the privates, the confessor cries out, " He that has a sin let him lift up one finger," and he then gives a general absolution to all at once. All the great and habitual sinners go to deaf confes- sors, ^ho give them a certificate to testify that such a one has fulfilled the commands of the church ; for every one is obliged to produce a certificate of confession to the minister of his parish at Easter, or else be exposed in the church for neglect ; so that h is a hi?.rd thing for an old sinner to get absolution, and a certificate from covetous confessors, without a great deal of money be- ing necessary to obtain it. These deaf confessors are obliged to give two thirds of their profit money to the community in the convent, and sometimes after the Easter confessions, they give the prior as much as six hundred pistoles a-piece. Thus you see that notwith- standing the solemnity and importance of auricular con- fession in the Church of Rome, it is sometimes reduced to a mere farce. After I had finished the Easter confession, I had to go from house to house to collect the certificates, in or- AURICULAR CONFESSION. 267 der to ascertain if all had done their duty to the church, and generally I received a quantity of eggs, bacon, nu^ other things, as pay for my services. Children from seven to fourteen have to confess in private, and at the latter age they receive the communion in public for the first time. It is now time that I should think of drawing the sub- ject of auricular confession to a close, but it would not be fair to do so without examining what the Church of Rome brings forward as scriptural authority for the prac- tice. The first argument they use is the words of ^he Saviour to His Apostles, " Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained/' From this they argue that Christ gave the Apostles, and their successors, the bishops and priests of the Roman Catholic Church, authority to ab- solve any penitent sinner from his sins. I request now ray reader to open the Bible, and read the passage in its connexion, and he will find that there is not a word con- cerning confession in it. The remitting and retaining sins are here connected with the gift of the Holy Ghost, under whose divine influence the Apostles, as ambassa- dors of Christ, were authorised to proclaim the forgive- ness and remission of sins to all who should receive the testimony concerning Christ, and in the same authorita- tive manner to declare the perdition of those who receive not their testimony. The sins of the former were re- mitted, and those of the latter retained, according to their inspired declaration, and thus what they bound on earth was bound in heaven, and what they loosed on earth was loosed in heaven. But the question here re- curs : what is there in this to do with auricular confes- sion ? and the answer must be, NotJiing at all. ".tiW III 268 AURICULAR CONFESSION. ■ h: llj! I 'I Let US then enquire how the Romish Church wrests these words of our Lord into an argument for auricular confession. Q. " What is sacramental confession ? A. ** It is laying open the state of our souls to a priest, by humbly accusing ourselves to him of all our sins, in order to obtain the grace of absolution." Q. " Is this confession necessary for obtaining abso- lution ? A. '* It is ordained by Jesus Christ as a condition absolutely necessary for this purpose, insomuch that without it the grace of the sacramental penance, by which our sins are pardoned, and we restored to the friendship of God, will not be bestowed upon us." Q. " How does this necessity appear from scripture ? A. '* It is included in the very power which Jesus Christ gave to the pastors of the Church, of binding and loosing, remitting and retaining sins;" for by giving them this power He instituted them judges of our souls in His stead, the ministers of reconciliation between GcA and the sinner, consequently it is His will that they should exercise this power with justice and discretion, according to the merits of the case, and the disposition of the penitent. For we cannot suppose He intended that they should exercise it at random — it would be im- piety to suppose that— besides, as this tribunal is not a tribunal of strict vindictive justice, for punishing the offender to the extent of what he deserves, seeing noth- ing else than hell fire is the proper punishment of mortal sin, but it is a tribunal of mercy, where, by the sentence of absolution, the sinner is delivered from the guilt of his sins, and from the eternal punishment due J AURICULAR CONFESSION. 269 to them, a ad this eternal punishment is exchanged for a temporal one, which is through the merits of Christ applied to our souls in this sacrament, and contributes to satisfy divine justice, and is most wholesome and salutary to the penitent. It is doubtless the will of God that the priest, when he exercis'^s the power of binding and loos- ing, and lays his penance on the penitent, should do it with a just proportion to his guilt and disposition. Now it is self evident that the priest can neither act with jus- tice and prudence in forgiving and retaining sins, nor observe the just proportion in imposing the proper pun- ishment suitable to the guilt and disposition of the sinner, unless he knows the real state of his soul, both as to his guilt and disposition, and as none can possibly discover this to him than the sinner himself; hence, it manifestly follows, thdt the very power of loosing or binding, of forgiving and retaining sins, given by Jesus Christ to the priests of the Roman Church, necessarily includes a strict obligation on sinners to lay open the state of their souls by an humble confession of all their sins to a priest in order to receive the effect of that power, and to be absolved from their sins by him." Perhaps the reader will expect an apology for such an enormous amount of nonsense in one quotation, but I have done it for a double purpose, to show the manner in which popish writers overwhelm with words, a subject that cannot be. ' to be openly exposed, and the circui- tous process by wi.'^h they prove the duty of the auricu- lar confession of sins to a priest. The argument is simply this. The priest cannot remit sins till he knows them ; he cannot know them b?^t by the confession of the sinner, crgo^ it is the duty of every man to confess his ■ --a»i 270 AURICULAR CONFESSION. l->' r 1 w sins to a priest. Thus the very imperfection and ignor- ance of the priest is given as a reason for trusting in him. I wish all who go to confess their sins to a priest, had but the sense which a heathen king displayed in addres- sing the wise men of his court, which by a little accom- modation may be applied to the case in point ; Daniel ii. 9. — "Tell me my sins, and then I shall know that you can grant me absolution." The Roman divines next bring forward, as a proof of the duty of confession, the words of St. James, " Confess your sins one to another." They say, here we see the express terms, confessing our sins to man, laid down as a condition of salvation. — They certainly find a little difficulty in the words " one to another,'' which they attempt to remove, but in real- ity only smother, with a great heap of words, according to their usual practice. So far as the words of the Apos- tle go, they make it as much the duty of the priest to confess to the people, as the people to the priests. The Apostles' doctrine is that when Christ died on the cross, God was in Him reconciling the world to Himself, that is, taking away the ground of difference which was between Him and the human race ; not im- puting to them their trespasses, but imputing them to Christ, who voluntarily took them upon Himself, that He might make atonement for them. Thus it is said, " He bore our sins in His own body on the cross." '' For God had made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in Him." It was thus that God had reconciled us to Himself, and we are said to be reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Now, says the Aj^ostle, He had given to us the word of reconciliation. This was not to affect the recon- AURICULAR CONFESSION. 271 •i 1 ■^ ciliation, for Christ himself had effected it. It was not even to apply the tneans of reconciliation, for it is th© Holy Ghost alone that can apply the benefits of Christ's death to the souls of men. The Apostles received a commission from Christ Himself to preach His Gospel to all the world. Thus they became his ambassadors, and as such they beseeched men in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God, that is, to believe in Christ, and acquiesce in the plan of salvation, which is called, sub- mitting to the righteousness of God. The Apostles never professed, like these arrogant priests, to put them- selves forward as Christ's substitutes, they did not even call themselves ministers of reconciliation, which is an expression of precisely the same import as the modern phrase, "preachers of the Gospel." They were indeed ambassadors of Christ. They received their commis- sion directly from Himself; they were endowed with extraordinary and miraculous powers for the exercise of their functions, and so guided by the Holy Spirit in all their ministrations, as to declare the mind of their Master with infallible certainty. In these respects they had no successors, nor is there need of any, for they are to us in their writings, ay much ambassadors of Christ, as they were to those who were subjects of their personal preaching. By their words they are still beseeching men, in the name of Christ, to be reconciled to God. Let no one imagine by these remarks that I mean to undervalue a standing ministry in the Churches of Chriet, I know this to be as really of divine appointment as the apostolic office itself. I know that he who gave Apostles and Prophets, gave also pastors and teachers, for the edifying and building up of the church ; but the latter have ■-•^ )! ■ ■- V: t-i , • 1 i 'I' III i 272 AURICULAR CONFESSION. no right to put themselves in the place of the former, much less to exalt themselves ahove them, as the popish priest does, if? hen he requires persons to confess their 6ins, and gives himself out as the minister of reconcilia- tion, as one who is able to grant pardon of sin hy means of his sacraments, and to restore sinners to the favour of their offended Creator. . - The subject of satisfaction for sin is connected with that of confession : indeed the one is incomplete without the other. For let the sinner make ever so good a con- fession, let him even have received full absolution, it is necessary that he perform his penance, that is, make satisfaction to divine justice for his sins, in his own person. That I may do the Church of Rome all manner of justice, I shall as usual lay down the doctrine in the very words of their own standard authors. The papist believes very injuriously of Christ's passion, being pursuaded that his sufferings and death were not sufficient satisfaction ^or our sins; but that it is necessary for every one to make satisfaction for himself. And for this end, after he has been to confession, the priest enjoins a penance, by the performance of which he is to make satisfaction for his offences, and thus confid- ing in his own penitential works, he utterly dispenses with Christ's passion, and though he professes himself a christian, and calls Christ his Saviour, yet by trusting in his own works, he proves himself to esteem him no higher than his crucifix, a mere brass or wooden Saviour. To satisfy divine justice for the sins of men. nothing less could be accepted than the suffering of one who had AURICULAR CONFESSION. 278 no sin. Thus the perfect holiness of Jesus Christ is declared to have been essentially necessary, in order to His making reconciliation for the sins of the people. Had He had any sin of His own, all that he suffered would have been due to divine justice on His own account, and He could not have effected the reconcilia- tion of Himself, much less that of others. Such a High Priest became us, (as was necessary for us), who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens ; who needeth not daily as those high priests, (under the law), to offer up sacrifice, first, for his own sins, and then for the people. Heb. viii, 26. He offered sacrifice for the sins of the people, when He offered himself, but in order to His doing this acceptably and availably, it was necessary that He should have no sin of his own. His sacrifice satisfied divine justice because it was a sacrifice without spot, and was presented by Him, who though He was a son, yet learned obedi- ence by the things which He suffered : and also being made perfect, became the author of eternal salvation to all them who obey Him. Heb. v. 8, 9. Now the satisfaction of divine justice, which Christ made by His sufferings and death, is declared to be so absolutely perfect and complete as to effect the full and everlasting reconciliation of all who believe in Him. By Him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. Acts xiii. 3, 9. According to the tenor of the New Testament, the Almighty declares, concerning all who are interested in it, "their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Heb. viii. 12. Those who by nature were far from God, both in state and character, are 274 AURICULAR ONFBSSION. '.' •', . 1 ■ I 1 "■ ; ■ ' •i '■ '1 i/' made niffh by the blood of Christ. Eph. ii. 13. Now £uch 16 the high privilege of those who are recon- ciled to God by Jesus Christ, that nothing shall be marked against them. ^^ There is therefore no condem- nation to them who are in Christ Jesus." Rom. viii. 1. Their sins are blotted out absolutely, and for ever, so far as regards punishment in any sense of the word, and it would not be consistent with justice to exact the smallest degree of punishmetit, in ani/ sense of the word, seeing Jesus Christ has made full satisfaction when He gave His life as a ransom for them. No man who under- stands the nature and design of Christ's atonement, could imagine for an instant that God still requires something in the way of suffering from sinners them- selves in order to satisfy his justice. The idea is absolutely heathenish, it has its origin in false notions of the character of God, such as prevail among all heathens, and those who change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image of corruptible man. This notion however is so interwoven with popery in her confession, and satisfaction to divine justice by stripes or money, that without it the Church of Kome would be as destitute as the poor idolater Micah, who exclaimed, " ye have taken away my gods, and what have I more?" Now the sufferings of Christ have relation only to thoso individuals who believe in Him, and lay hold by faith on his atonement for sin; the wicked suffer the punishment of their sins, but never to the extent of satisfying divine justice, therefore their sufferings continue for ever. '■•A UNCERTAINTY OP ROMISH TRADITIONS. 275 ".'JJ CHAPTER XII. • The popish rule of faith is not merely the written Tord, the Bible, but the unwritten word also, in other words, the scripture and tradition, and these as delivered and explained by the church. This implies that we have an interpreter to explain it, and to decide all doubtful points. There is here as usual an artifice by which the unwary may be deceived. The popish divines profess to take as the rule of faith, the whole word of God, by which they intimate that protcstants do not do so, admitting also that protestants receive this tradition as authoritative, but refuse to submit to it in matters of faith. ,„ - Now I say, that protestants receive the whole word of God, without omitting a single syllable or letter of it, and that the foisting in of tradition as part of that word is unwarranted by scripturn, and as such opposed by protestants. To the whole word of God we implicitly submit, but this does not imply a submission to the im- mense heap of rubbish under the naii>e of trudition. Further, they say all written laws depend upon an unwritten law for their force and authority, and ne- cessarily imply the existence of this unwiitten law. The christian will enquire, what has tradition to do with the written word of God, or with true religion, which only must, and can, have recourse to the law and to the testimony. In the first place, I would ask the Romish authorities ^^^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) fe // /. A <^ I/.. 1.0 I.I lti|Z8 |2.5 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" ► m V] W %^^J > '/ / ^ Photographic Sdejnces Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0 (716) 872-4503 ■^ ^A. 276 VANITY AND UNCERTAINTY ^ - I. '■■■ whether the law of the ten commandments, which was writ- ten by the finger of God upon the tables of stone, on Mount Sinai, necessarily supposed the existence of another law, prior to it, but unwritten, and upon which this written law of the ten commandments depended for its force and authority ? Consistently they will answer in the aflSr- mative. They must therefore maintain, that there was another law antecedent, and superior, to the command- ments, but they would greatly oblige me, if they would tell me what that law was. I suppose they will refer me to the patriarchs who lived before and after the flood, and will tell me that these patriarchs lived under an unwritten or common law ; but this will not serve their purpose, unless they can shew that this was some- thing different and superior to the law of Moses, and that the law of Moses derived its authority therefrom. I know they can shew no such thing, and that what they assert is the mere imagination of a carnal mind. On this subject, however, I must dwell for a short time, because one great argument which papists use in support of tradition, is connected with the history of the patriarchs. They tell us that the faithful had nothing but tradition to guide them for above 2000 years, that is from Adam to Moses. Therefore why should we not take the benefit of tradition from the birth of Christ to our own time, which is a much shorter period ? I answer that the argument is founded on a falsehood, for it is not true that all, or any of the patriarchs, had to depend upon mero tradition, in the sense in which papists use the word. The patriarchs were honoured with direct communications from God, and what He revealed to them they communicated to their families. This there- I f OF ROMISH TKArHTIONS. 277 fore was not human tradition, but divina revelation as much as the written word of God, and it served all the purposes of divine revelation until the law and the tes- timony were written. Supposing the moral law, and the promise of a Saviour to come of the seed of the woman, had been matters of mere tradition, they passed through so few hands that they might have been preserved until thf time of Moses without any great mixture of error; for Methuselah was contemporary with Isaac. So that the whole narrative of the creation, the fall, and the promise of a Redeemer, came down to the family of Jacob through only four hands, whereas no apostolic tradition can have come down to us without having passed through ten times as many generations. But I do not admit that the family of Jacob received the knowledge of the will of God by such tradition, even through hands so few, and so clean ; God revealed His gospel to Enoch, to Noah, to Abraham, and to Jacob himself, who were all inspired men as much as any of the Apostles or Prophets were, and their living voice supplied the place of a written word, until Israel went down to Egypt, and even after this for nearly a century they enjoyed the ministry of Joseph, who was endowed with the spirit of prophesy. If the children of Israel had at any time nothing but tradition to depend upon, it must have been during the short period that elapsed between the death of Joseph and the call of Moses, when no doubt they were reduced to great misery, as well as ignorance, yet we do not know for a fact that ihej had no prophet among them even then. Indeed there is rather reason to think that Moses' own parents had a divine intimation, at the time 23 ''-"-^.'M 278 VANITY AND UNCERTAINTY i1 of his birth, which led them to the means by which his life was so miraculously preserved. Be this as it may, I hope it will appear from the above, that there is nothing in the history of the patriarchs who lived before the word of God was committed to writing, that can give the smallest countenance to the doctrine, that the word which has been written by inspired men, must depend for its efficacy and meaning upon the unwritten tra- ditions, which have come to us through many ages of gross darkness, and hands polluted by every crime. It is plainly evident to every reader of common intelligence that there is nothing in tlic history of the patriarchs, or in the state of religion in their time, that gives the slightest countenance to that sort of tradition on which the faith of the Church of Rome is chiefly founded. The Church of Rome teaches her children to rest their eternal interests upon tradition, as well as upon the written word of God, that is upon a report of what was spoken eighteen hundred years ago, and has been transmitted by word of mouth through all the dark ages. I am verily persuaded that no Romish priest would risk a shilling of his worldly property on any thing which depended upon such evidence. They urge further : Does not the Apostle Paul com- mand christians to obey traditions as well as the written word of God ? Does he not say to the Thessalonian converts, " Stand fast, therefore, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle, II. Thes. ii., 15." And again, in the third chapter of the same epistle, 5, 6, does he not command them to withdraw from every brother that walketh dis- orderly and not after the tradition which he hath OF ROMISH TRADITIONS. 279 received of us ? This is all true, and readilv admitted. If the papists could tell us with certainty what those traditions were, and whot it was that the Apostle told the people by word of mouth, I would without hesitation receive it as the word of God. Having a living and divine oracle in the persons of the Apostles, who spoke by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, christians could in those davs have recourse to them for instruction and advice in every emergency. We come to a better understanding of the subject by attending to the meaning of the word " tradition," the translation of the original Greek word " Tra/aaSocrt?." Tradition is not a word of native English growth, but, like many others, has been transplanted from the Latin, and its meaning according to Dr. Johnson is, " something delivered by word of mouth, without written memorial, or any thing delivered orally from age to age." And we have still higher authority in the Apostle Paul's own words, "stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught by word, and our epistle." The pre- cepts or instructions therefore to which he referred, had been communicated both orally and in writing, or might have been communicated either way. Now this brings us to the point that when the Apostle Paul exhorted the believers of Thessalonica to hold fast "the traditions," ra? TrapaSoo-et?, he meant the things which he had written in former epistles. He refers in the first place to what he had taught them by word, namely, by the gospel of the grace of God, how that Christ had died for our sins according to the scriptures, and the history of His life and resurrection ; this is called " the word," "the things reported unto you," and " a faith- ■'^w 280 VANITY AND UNCERTAINTY ful saying," expressions of nearly the same import as the word used hy the Apostle which is translated '* tra- dition," when stripped of the dress in which papists have disguised it. The same words " rammand articular church, but to every coiifi;regation that may unhappily possess an immoral or offending member. They are commanded to take certain steps to recover such a one from his errors, and if they cannot prevail upon him, and he will not hear them, they are told to consider such a one as a heathen man, and a publican ; which implies no more tlian being excluded from tlic fellow- ship and society of christians, of which benefits ho had shown himself unworthy. Any person who will rend the passage carefully will find that it contains no more than I have here stated ; and yet these words of our Lord are repeated by every popish writer, to prove the supreme authority of the Church of Rome, and upon all who will not obey her she fulminates her anathemas. The Romish Church and her priests are not only pro- pounders, but even explainers, of both the written and unwritten word, and neither scripture nor tradition is to be considered as a rule of faith, otherwise than pro- pounded and explained by them. T? -s power of explain- ing sets every thing aright, for let the articles of tradition be ever so contradictory, the explanation of a priest can reconcile them to one another so completely, that he will if necessary swear that they are the very same, just as a certain imperial juggler can convert the December of one year into the June of another, when such convej^- sion is necessary to serve his purpose. They couple with these arguments in favour of the authority of tradition, the promise of Christ to be with His Church to the end of the world, and the promise of the Spirit to lead them into all truth. These promises they consider^as belonging exclusively to the Church of Rome, and as infallibly securing the priests, the success- 284 UNCEHTAINTY OF ROMISH TRADITIONS. 1 ( I ors of the Apostles, from ever falling into error. But this is again begging the question, and an impudent assumption of that very thing which is denied, namely, that the Church of Rome is the Church of Christ, the Church of the promises. Christ promised to be with 111% Church to the end of the world, that is with those who are separated from the world, which lieth in wickedness, and arc devoted in heart and life to the service of God ; Christ promised to be with such, to bless them ; but it is explicitly declared that ^Uhe face of God is against them that do evil.'' He must thereupon be against the Church of Rome, who has sold herself to do wickedly, above all churches that ever pretended to bear the name of christian. \ • ■f, :* M ■ ) J : -.: :] ' . \^ t.i,- ^ 1 * , :■, H * • i-t. WORSHIP OF SAINTS IN THE CHURCH OF ROME. 285 CHAPTER XIII. A man who worships the one true God in spirit and in truth, needs no other object of worship. The perfec- tions of the divine nature, as revealed in scripture, pre- sent enough matter for the devout contemplation, and grateful adoration of the soul of man, throughout all time and eternity. The mind that is truly engaged in tho worship of God, has no room for the adoration of any creature, however exalted, and regards angels, and spirits of the faithful departed, but as fellow servants and fel- low worshippers of Ilim, who is God over all, blessed for ever. God was pleased to make Himself known to our first parents in the character of the just God and the Saviour, and it became their duty to impart this knowledge to their children. But succeeding generations did not like to retain God in their knowledge in those characters by which He was pleased to make himself known ; for which cause He gave them over to a reprobate mind. They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorrupt- ible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." Rom. i., 2, 3. The same thing happened again after the ascension of Christ and the promulgation of the gospel by His Apostles. Men, called christians, not liking to retain God in their knowledge in those chai- 286 WORSHIP OF SAINTS IN i V ; il ucters in which the gospel prcserfis Ilini, fell into the same errors ; they were given over to the same reprobate mind, and they soon came to pay their devotions to things as low as fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Their voluntary humility led them first indeed to wor- ship angels, from these they descended to dead men and women, and then to their rotten bones, relics of their garments, and to objects still more vile and loathsome. In the defence of their idolatrous worship of saints, papists show more ingenuity than in their defence of the seclusion of the Bible from the laity ; and are ex- tremely indignant at the charge of idolatry preferred against them by protestants. I affirm that the Virgin Mary is as really an object of worship in the Church of Rome, as Diana was at Ephesus, or Venus at Paphos, or any other god or god- dess in any heathen nation in the world. But this they most emphatically deny ; and yet the thing is known to be true by every person acquainted with popish worship, or who has read their books of devotion. No one, say they, is ignorant that the heathens worshipped Diana and Venus with divine honours as deities, but to affirm that the same adoration is paid to the blessed Virgin Mary, is to affirm what is utterly false. They even favour us with heavy curses against any goddess worshipper, that believes the blessed Virgin to be more than a creature, that worships her, or puts his trust in her more than in God, and that believes her to be above her Son, or that she can in any thing command Him. 2 Look only, my dear reader, at the devilish subtlety of these popish doctors, when they say, that it is not damnable to trust in the Virgin Mary, but it is only TIIK CUURCH OF HOME. 287 (lamnablc to trust in lier more than (Joil. They do not call it a (laninable doctrine to believe her equal with her Son, but only to say she is superior to lliin, and can in any thing connnand Him. Is not this direct idolatry, to trust in any creature whatsoever, or to associate any creature with the Su- preme Being in religious worship. We cannot even read their prayers and hymns to the Virgin and other saints, without being disgusted with the gropsness of their idolatry. That there is but one Mediator for sinners, is as pro- minent a truth of divine revelation, as that there is one God. When the Romish Priests transfer the title from the Son of God, to a mere creature, who was honoured by being Ilis mother according to the flesh, they are guilty of robbing Christ of His glory and giving it to a mere creature, who in this connexion must bo an idol. I know it will be replied, " that to honour the mother, is not to rob the son," and I know also that this is a mere popish quibble ; for Jesus never commanded, o^' even encouraged His disciples to give more honour to His mother, than to any other woman who did the will of His Father. Papists do not offer sacrifice to the saints, in order to exculpate themselves from the charge of idolatry. But there are other acts of worship, as direct as that of sacrifice ; and besides these, it is well known that they erect in their churches altars, and present votive offerings to the saints, which is little better than offering sacrifices to them. Such, for in- stance we read, was the worship paid to St. Thomas a Becket, at Canterbury, that Mr. Hume tells us: "The devotion towards him from the papists, had quite effaced ' i 1 j II '1 i! i li i i! l| 1 B ! 1 K 1 m m\ >1 Ml If y, 288 WORSHIP OF SAINTS IN in that place the adoration of the Deity, nay even that of the Virgin Mary; for at God's altar I find only offered, three pounds two shillings and six pence, in one year ; at the Virgin's altar, sixty-three pounds five shillings and sixpence; at St. Thomas' eight hundred and thirty-two pounds twelve shillings and three pence. The year following the proportion was still greater, there was not a penny offered at God's altar, the Virgin gained only four pounds one shilling and eight pence ; but St. Thomas had for his share nine hundred and ffty-four pounds six shillings and three pence.'' I believe a pound at that time was equal to three times its present value, viz., sixty shillings, and about ten times its present eflSciency, so that at that time a sum equal to .£9000 of our present money, was devoted in one year to a single idol, in our blessed England, by the papists. If we speak to papists concerning the religious wor- ship of the Virgin, they are not ashamed to avow that they mean it in a religious sense. They explain the term devotion to mean a strong affection, ardent love, "and who" (say they) "can help feeling both love and " affection towards the spotless woman, the immaculate "virgin, in whose womb the Divinity itself chose to " dwell, when He took upon Himself our nature, in order "to redeem us from sin and death?" It is one of the most favourite devices of popery, to place some important gospel truths, in contact with the most pernicious errors, and to make those truths a cloak for the errors which she means to establish. Here the incarnation and the redemption are distinctly recognised ; and thus the dupes of Romish superstition THE CHURCH OF ROME. 289 iren that nd only J, in one nds five hundred 3e pence, greater, le Virgin it pence ; Ired and " T ree times ibout ten ime a sum levoted in fid, by the ;ious wor- tvow that tplain the lent love, love and imaculate chose to (, in order )opery, to with the Ihs a. cloak distinctly iperstition are made to believe that their church holds the doctrines of the Bible. But the incarnation of Christ, and the redemption eflfected by Him, are brought into view, not for the purpose of honouring Christy but for the purpose of honouring the Virgin Mart/, by exciting love and affection for her. This withdraws the mind from the Saviour as effectually as though wc were to put some- thing else in His place. Whilst we give the mother of Jesus all the honour that is justly due to her, we are sure that she is no more entitled to devotion in a reli- gious sense, than any reptile that creeps upon the earth. And no man will deny this who believes these words of the God of Israel : I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt worship only me. The belief in the immaculate conception of the Virgin, which has now become a matter of faith in the Church of Rome, was first propounded by the Jesuits. This doctrine is not only absurd but impious in the eyes of all true christians, who know that none of Adam's race can be admitted into heaven but those who acknowledge and declare, that they owe their salvation to Him that loved them, and washed them from their sins in His own bleed. ' The following amusing and interesting account of the Virgin Mary's death and burial, was written by the Bishop of Palbart, 1471, and was dedicated by him to Pope Sixtus IV. It is as firmly believed in the Church of Rome, as the account given in the Scriptures of the death and burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. " The blessed Virgin lived upon earth after her Son's ascension, until she was fifty-eight years old, some say sixty-three, ?nd others even more. At last she prayed 24 h IT • 1 h i' 1 I '''11 i m 290 WORSHIP OF SAINTS IN very earnestly to her Son, that she might be delivered from her earthly pilgrimage, and gathered unto Him ; who thereupon sent an angel to her, promising that within three days He would take her to Himself. Together with this news, the angel delivered unto her a branch of palm, which he had brought from Paradise, and told her that she must have it carried before her bier to the place of interment ; he gave her also a suit of mourning, which her Son had sent her. She demanded two things of this angel ; first, that she might be buried by all the Apostles; and secondly, that when her soul departed from the body it might meet with none of the devils or malign spirits. Upon which last demand the angel said unto her, * Madam ! why are you afraid to meet the devil whose head you bruised ? However, what you ask you shall have. You shall meet with no devils, and the noble Apostles shall inter you.' The Virgin, full of joy at this good news, assembled all the virgins and saints together and gave them to understand that her death was at hand, comforting them thereupon. At the same time St. John the Apostle was preaching at Ephesus^ and in the middle of his sermon there came a clap of thunder, and a white cloud, that whisked him through the air, and set him down at the door of the Virgin Mary's house, where being entered, he and the Virgin embraced each other, with abundance of tears, and Mary recommended her burial to his care. At which words the good Apostle threw himself down upon the earth, and with a great deal of passion cried out and said, 'Alas I my God ! my God 1 why dost thou lay this sore affliction upon us, to take away the holy mistress of our religion, the mirror of sanctity and our only consolation V As he THE CHUKCH OF ROME. 291 was thus lamenting, the blessed Virgin showed him the shining palm and mourning suit, which her Son had sent her, and ordered him to take the greatest care that this branch was carried before her bier. St. John promised, and desiring with all his heart the presence of the other Apostles, immediately all of them, who were scattered in all the corners of the earth, were carried through the air on white clouds, and set down before the house, where entering in, they were marvclously astonished at meeting St. John." But, as I am tired of copying such diffuse nonsense, I shall give the sequel in my own way, which may be in the proportion of a word for a line. The Apostles said their Ave Marias, and became composed. Their homage and adoration to the Virgin being rendered, Christ Himself appeared, accompanied by the nine orders of angels, and after they had sung hymns, the Virgin gave up the ghost with the words of the xl. Psalm, " Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me.*' The funeral was conducted by the Apostles, John going before carrying the palm. The Jews thought this a good time to rid themselves of the Apostles at once, aud accordingly gathered together with the high priest at their head, who, on putting forth his hands to lay hold on the bier, found both his arms fall off by the elbow ; on which he made a lamentable howling. Peter told him honestly that there was no way to save himself but by kissing the bier, and pro- fessing the christian faith, which he accordingly did, and his arms were immediately fastened on again. The body was consigned to the tomb, but after three days angels came and took it up to heaven. -* —-'"■ i^ --'- ■-^»>' *'■ The Church of Rome, solemnly believing all this non- w 292 WORSHIP OF SAINTS IN !t« flUI iV' 1) .J 11 K I flense, annually celebrates the assumption of Mary bj a great festival. The above pairticulars are related by Palbart with such an air of gravity, that there is no doubt he firmly believed them ; and he was an author of such note in his day, as to be often quoted by the Jesuit father, Crasset, in his book of " True Devotion to the Virgin," printed in 1679. The story of the assumption of the blessed Virgin is related in different ways, by dif- ferent authors, and these accounts are not very consistent with one another, which is of no great importance, seeing that the whole is a fable, and could never have gained credence in the world, except by forgery and imposition, for men of understanding in the Romish Church admit that the history of the Assumption is entirely spurious. During the dark ages, however, it served the purpose of promoting the adoration of the great idol which the Church of Rome had set up. This idol is reported to have done more miracles since her death, than Christ and His Apostles ever did, and these miracles are re- corded to induce men to worship her. This is idolatry in an enlightened state of society, for there is light enough in the world at present to convince men of the folly of worshipping creatures like them- selves. In the state of darkness which prevailed in Eu- rope, from the fourth to the fifteenth century, it was found convenient to have carnal objects of worship. Men given up to vile afiection, as all are who resist the truth, must have objects of worship corresponding with the sts^te of their own minds. Thus the gods of the heathens were monsters of impurity, and their worship consisted in unbounded licentiousness ; popery has improved the appearanccy hut not the realiti/. _^; . , ... . ...» THE CHURCH OF ROME. 293 J by a ied by is no thor of I Jesuit to the imption by dif- Qsistent , seeing gained )Osition, ki admit purious. purpose ^bicb the orted to Christ are re- J iety, for convince e them- d in Eu- as found Men le truth, ith the eathens ionsisted loved the The Church of Rome holds up her great idol, the im- maculate Virgin, as a pattern of purity, and therefore she claims the privilege of not being compared with the votaries of impure deities, but she does not deny that the Virgin is a person still under the influence of human passions ; she represents her as possessing an extraordi- nary degree of ambition and self love, for almost all her miracles are wrought for the purpose of advancing her own glory, and inducing men to worship her. If any one can persuade himself that the Virgin Mary possesses the power which the papists ascribe to her, she is just such a godess as he wishes to have. He will flatter her and offer her abundance of incense in the hope of obtain- ing her favour, and the advancement of his wishes. All modern papists will disavow, on behalf of the Virgin, the grosser impurities of the heathen deities to which I have alluded, but some of their writers, five hundred years ago, were not so scrupulous on this point. If I were to pub- lish the familiarities said to have existed between her and St. Dominic, and other great saints, I should not be able to show my face in the company of virtuous per- sons. I shall not even refer to any English book in which these things are recorded, lest the world should enquire after it, and some profligate bookseller reprint it. But the learned will bear me witness that I am not writiag without authority, or bringing a false accusation against the Church of Rome, when I refer them to Alanus Redivivus, p. 2, c. 3 and 4 ; Hautin Angelus Custos, c. 4., No. 3, and Cesarius, b. 7, c. 13. The state of morals among papists must have been depraved be- yond expression, when such stories were currently reported and believed of the principle object of their 24* 294 WORSHIP OP SAINTS IN [> in worship, and her most favoured worshippers. In fact, it appears from unquestionable authority, that the devout worshippers of the Virgin looked upon her as too kind and tender a mother to be offended with them on account of any vice, in which they might choose to indulge them- selves, provided that they were punctual in saying their aves and counting their beads. ■ . The popish priests will urge the worship of saints from the English prayer book ; but the Church of England is able to defend herself, since she does no such thing. — The words of the prayer book bear upon their very front that they are an address to the everlasting God, and to none else. The papists quote a passage to prove that the Church of England prays to saints and angels, and there is not a syllable in the passage itself that can pos- sibly be construed to imply any such thing. This piece of impudence agrees well with the assertion that the Apostles practised and taught the worship of the Virgin Mary. Again, the Roman Catholics will say that their church approves and recommends the veneration of the saints and the honouring of their relics, but she does not con- sider this an essential part of religion or Christianity ; neither does she encourage the superstitious acts and im- positions which we as protestants say she does. It is a very poor defence, were it even true, to say that she does not make it a law, but only approves and recom- mends the veneration of the saints and honouring of their relics, that is to say the worshipping of both, for this is the practical effect upon her members of this re- commendation ; for I apprehend that approving and recommending creature worship, is enough to convict a THE CHURCH OF ROME. 295 \ fact) devout lO kind kccount 5 them- ig tbeir its from England hing. — ry front , and to ove that rels, and can pos- liis piece that the e Virgin ir church ie saints not con- [stianity ; and im- It is a that she Id recom- )uring of I both, for this re- jing and convict a church of idolatry, whether such a worship be established by law or not. I have already shown that if creature worship be ad- mitted at all, it is no matter what be the rank of the creature, it may be the Virgin Mary, or the fragment of her handkerchief — the worship of either is the same crime — idolatry ; and seeing that the popish priests declare they do not regard the Virgin as an object of devotion in a religious sense, whilst the fact is so evident to all, that papists address their prayers directly to her, it is needless for me to spend any more time in proving the Church of Rome to be guilty of both falsehood and idolatry. It is perhaps necessary to remind the reader, that nothing which I have here advanced is meant to der- ogate from the respect di 3 to the memory of Mary, the mother of Jesus. My remarks refer only to the idol to whom the papists have impiously given her name, though the popish priests will say that I apply them to the Vir- gin herself, and say that it is impossible not to be struck with horror and disgust at the irreligious and obscene manner in which I speak of the Holy Mother of God, that admirable pattern of innocence and sanctity, who was saluted by an angel of God as full of grace ; were I (they will say) to advance but a tithe of this filthy abuse against the Queen, who, from her high station, is an object of respect and reverence, I should soon feel the weight of the laws upon my grey head ; but because the Roman Church venerates, with pious devotion, the virtues and graces of the " queen of heaven," the mother of that God who came down from heaven, and died to redeem me and all the world, I have the audacity to in- 296 WORSHIP OF SAINTS IN : dulge in a strain of inyective and sarcasm against the character of the blessed Virgin. If such is said, I declare it to be a downright falsification of my words. — My invectives and sarcasm are not against her; but against the absurd, impious, and idolatrous repre- sentation which the papists make of her. It would be an insult to the greatest lady in England to call her Queen of England, when England has her own Queen Victoria. And as there is no Queen of Heaven that we know of, it is a gross insult to the Virgin Mary to give her that title, for there can be no greater mockery and insult than to give her those honours, which do not belong to her. The devotion of papists to her proceeds partly from the idea that she had no inconsiderable share in the work of our redemption ; but I answer that she had no more share in the redemption of man than any other daughter of Adam. And supposing her to be one of the redeemed, she must desire, like all that blessed company, that the glory of her salvation, together with that of all the redeemed, should be ascribed to the Saviour, and to Him alone. Besides I am not the inventor of the stories concern- ing her, to which I have alluded; these stories are related by grave doctors of the Romish Church, and I have referred to them, not for the purpose of abusing her memory, but to vindicate it, and condemn those who have so prostituted her name to the vile purposes of avarice and lust. 1 do not say, that she is the patron of lewdness, but that great authors have represented her as such when she accepted and was gratified by the devotions of lewd persons, and promised them favour and protection so long as they paid her duo respect. I TUB OHURCU OF ROME. 297 There can be no doubt but that Bishop Milner, whose learning was equal to any Jesuit of the age, must be perfectly familiar with the books to which I have re- ferred. Such is the Church of Rome, and I am perfectly will- ing that the morals of her members should be compared with those of protestants all the world over, and I am sure that the advantage will be found on the side of those who renounce all creature worship, who acknow- ledge only one God, and one Mediator between God and man. , . . . .. . .1 i)« >-»*»v •■I*. i. >: *< r.'.t n- ■•I'^j^^^'U? i; i m ii*>ifr i-u 'H i^'i^}''if .u-yi^'f .*.*i A .^^ 1 ?Ul ,i|i.1lfj-::^' ■-\_/- \ /*■»_/" X / vy * rf "v-^-* '.W V>/1, • ; iif»t,| u '» ,»*: .' -JlV'i>.i»:'! • '•''*i- ''^U feiii **Ar. H Au'^ ru i-» iu» fst. ■tm* ^1 'rrvi ^i:rvi7-r=,s iliiXJ ,•?'..■? '^nm ijf.^i. 'M\ *4 *^llfUt! .a > >u w dU i*trj U:.;V- .1 1^ ^m ;a'-j>;.iTj«;s i^iyi tiJ^.^ ,h*s7hlf feietKo jj&aa ^^^n^Uimxij! *>■»•; r^^f^tw . . r." A 4 N -s^oHT 298 BEATIFICATION OP -f, ■» t:i r.. ft ' CHAPTER XIV. ! ' t ' ' ' ■ ' "Beatification," according to the dictionary, is an acknowledgment made by the Pope that the person beatified is in heaven, and therefore may be reverenced ; but it is not a concession of the honours due to saints, which are conferred by canonization. From this de- finition of the word it appears that the Pope professes to have the faculty of knowing who are in heaven, and who are notj which must excite a great deal of astonish- ment, unless the papists will assert that their Popes are always men as directly inspired by the Holy Ghost as the Prophets and Apostles of old. It appears then that every saint in heaven may be reverenced as blessed, that is, honoured with an inferior degree of reverence or worship, but that to those whom the Pope has canonized, a higher degree of worship is due. It is not then a matter of mere choice, but of obligation, and the bounden duty of every good papist to worship the idol which the Pope has set up ; that is, the saints to whom he has given places of distinction in heaven. So the Virgin Mary is held up as an object of religious worship, as one who is able to bestow the greatest temporal blessings, such as the cure of diseases which are past all human skill, and the Pope furnishes suitable prayers for the use of the devout worshippers, on whom she has not bestowed sufiicient ability to make prayers for them- selves. Those who have marked the similarity that exists ROMISH SAINTS. 290 between popery and heathenism, have been struck with the resemblance between popish canonization, and heathen deification. The ancient priests, in order to sustain the credit of their system, found it necessary to pursuade the people, that certain characters, many of whom however were the most ambitious and sensual of mankind, were honoured by the especial favour of heaven, were deep in its mysteries, and even worthy of being placed among the gods themselves. In conse- quence of this their deification took place with all the pomp and circumstance so well calculated to impose upon an ignorant and idolatrous people. In order how- ever to this, some miraculous intimation of the favour and will of heaven as to the individual in question was required to bo duly attested, as necessary to the cere- mony. Thus in the case of Romulus, the founder of the city of Rome, one Julius Proculus took a solemn oath that Romulus had appeared to him, and ordered him to inform the Senate of his having been called up to the assembly of the gods, under the name of Quirinus. — Plu- tarch L. II. p. 124. At the deification of the Caesars, some of whom were little less than monsters, the proof of divinity was an eagle flying out of the funeral pile towards heaven, which was supposed to carry the soul of the deceased : this was also required to be duly attest- ed. The papist, in imitation of his heathen original, considers it necessary to canonize or beatify certain members of his communion, some of whom have, like their heathen prototypes, been of infamous and scandal- ous lives. In order to establish the divinity of these they also introduce the machinery of miracles, although with some diflference as to the mode of operation. In I I i t'lU 11 I 800 BBATIFICATION OF thiB case the miracles are alleged to have been performed by the persons themselves, and there is as little difficulty in procuring the necessary attestations in modern as in ancient Rome. The creation of saints has in conse- quence become almost as common as that of cardinals ; there having rarely been a Pope who did not enrich the calendar with some fresh specimens. Benedict XIII. canonized eight in one summer, and his successor Clement XII. four more. Innocent the XIII. who suc- ceeded him, beatified Andrew Conti, a member of his own family. The present Pope has canonized five saints, all of whose banners are at this moment hanging in one of the chapels of St. Peter. The Church of Rome considers this rite as so essential a part of her religion that she has even perverted the sacred Scrip- tures, for the purpose of giving sanction to the practice : having translated the passage in St. James, v. 11, not as it ought to be according to the grammatical sense of the word *^ fuiKapi^ofUv,'' "Behold we count them happy to endure," but, "Behold how we beatify those who have suffered with constancy." This translation of the word " /LMwco/Dt'^o/tAci/," is totally unwarranted by any olassical authority. In the works of Anacreon we find an ode addressed to a grasshopper, or cicala, commenc- ing with " fjuucapi^fUif n - J ..-r . i^' 'r; .- t . j . ■ '■ • .': ^ ' -■'. ■. 'I'' '-'■■'■'' r -il^pt -'■ vi-t .'" -^r-^ UwJ.'i^, '■ ;•- 1 ' . •» "it .■•M] 1 \ 'i II i ■1 J % 804 JUSTIFICATION V •*'.!' 1 , •> ■5 - -.• i .:%.■'■ CHAPTER XV. '- " When the magnanimous fathers of the Reformation separated from the Church of Rome, one object which en- gaged their attention was to justify their schism. For this purpose every expedient was adopted, and among the catholic doctrines which they vilified and misrepresented was that which teaches the utilty and necessity of good works. The piety of the Reformers urged them to retire as far as possible from the corruptions of Babylon, so with one consent they magnanimously abolished the obliga- tion of good works." Those who are not acquainted with the writings of the Romanists, cannot have an idea of the barefaced impudence with which they can assert a falsehood, even knowing it to be such. For all the world knows that the complaint of the Reformers against the Church of Rome was, not her teaching the utility, and necessity of good works ; but, because by her in- famous traffic in indulgences, she encouraged all manner of evil work. This is asserted by her own historians, and is a fact as universally known as the Reformation itself, so that the writer of the above paragraph could not but know it ; and if his zeal for good works, has not led him to curse and to swear on their behalf, it has led him to tell a lie knowing it to be such, for their sake. It is indeed admitted that Luther taught the very same doctrine that protestants teach, and that is nothing different from what the Prophets and Apostles, nay even BY FAITH. 305 Christ Himself taught before them. That justification before God is by faith, through the righteousness of Christ, without regard to the works of the law. Of this Luther had such a strong perception that he called it "the article of a standing, or falling church," and in this he judged rightly, for this doctrine is such a con- necting link in the system, that the church, or the individual, who retains a firm hold of it commands the whole chain of christian principles ; whereas he who lets go of this link, abandons the whole system of Christianity, and embraces a totally different and opposite religion. It was by this doctrine that the Apostles turned the heathen "from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God," and went on preaching it with such success that the kingdom of Satan in this world had like to have been overthrown, and the kingdom of Christ established on its ruins. In order to prevent thia catastrophe the prince of darkness began to insinuate into the minds of the converts of Paul, that their own obedience to the works of the law must have some share in the work of their salvation. This subtle poison of the serpent soon pervaded all the churches of Galatia, insomuch that the Apostle was led to doubt whether they were really christians or not. He was afraid that he had bestowed upon them all his labour in vain, be- cause they sougl^t justification by the works of the law, by being circumcised, and obeying the law of Moses. He assured them that if they sought salvation thia way, Christ could profit them nothing. That if righteousness came by the law, Christ had died in vain ; there was no need of such a sacrifice, if men could obtain salvation by their own obedience. 2* -' ' '" f 306 JUSTIFICATION I ii This was the great Antichrist that appeared in the world, while some of the Apostles were yet alive. This formed the great barrier to the progress of the Apostles in their preaching of the truth as it is in Jesus ; and in the days that followed the evil grew stronger, for tho error was interwoven with the natural pride of the human heart, and found an advocate in the bosom of every unrenewed man. In process of time this error was embodied into a system. It supplanted Christianity over a great part of the world, and took the name of that which it had sup- planted ; and thus was imposed upon the world a system of superstition, self-righteousness, and idolatry, having for its head a monster who called himself the Vicar of Christ, and proposed to rule in the name of Christ, but •whose whole administration was directed to strengthen the powers of darkness and the influence of the prince of darkness over the souls of men. Thus popery had is origin in the self-righteous bias of the human heart, in a disposition to submit to any thing rather than to the humbling, self-denying truth, that we must be justified before God, if justified at all, upon the footing of what Christ has done for us, not what we can do for ourselves, and that for this we must be indebted to sovereign mercy. Disliking this method of salvation, the emissaries of the wicked one invented that system of rites and ceremonies which constitutes what we call popery. Their penances and pilgrimages, their masses, and their merits of saints ; their holy spittle, and their holy water, their beads, and their crucifixes, and the whole host of their superstitious obvervances, and idolatrous practices, were all invented for the purpose of being put in the place of Christ's BY FAITH. 307 righteousness, and that by them a sinner might merit justification for himself, and appear before God in a righteousness of his own. Let the reader observe this is not merely the popery of the dark ages ; it is pub- licly maintained at this very day by papists all over the world. Now, when the mind of Luther began to be opened to see the errors of popery, he was directed, by divine in- fluence I have no doubt, to fix his eye particularly upon this grand fundamental truth, which had long been denied by the Church of Rome, but which he found plainly taught in the New Testament, " That a man is justified hii faith, without the deeds of the law.'' Ho was not the first who had discovered this truth, after it had been buried for ages under the rubbish of popery, for Wycliffe and Huss had taught it before him, and there were a few in the darkest ages who knew and lived by it. But he was honoured with divine grace to apprehend it more clearly, teach it more successfully, and enforce it with a more powerful eloquence than had fallen to the lot of any man, for at least a thousand years. Of this his commentary on the epistle to the Galatians is a standing evidence. Well do I remember the eff'ect which the following passages produced on my mind at one period of my life. I declare this to be a fundamental doctrine of the Reformation, and as such I give it a prominent place in my book. " For if righteousness come by the law, says Paul to the Gala- tians II., 21, then Christ is dead in vain. These words ought to be diligently weighed and considered thus : Is it true that Christ suffered death or not ? Again, did He sufier in vain or not ? Here we are constrained to I 308 JUSTIFICATION li ' answer, unless we be stark mad, that He suffered not in vain, but for us ; If then He suffered not in vain, it foUoweth then the necessity that righteousness cometh not by the law." Then adverting to some evasions of the papists, by which they attempt to establish their own merits, he proceeds : " Is this horrible blasphemy to be suffered or dissembled, that the Divine Majesty not sparing His own Son, but delivering Him up to death for us all, should not do all these things seriously and in good earnest, but as it were in sport ? Before I would admit such a blasphemy, I would not only that the holiness of the papists, and merit mongers, but also of all the saints, and even of the holy angels, should be thrown into the bottom of hell, and condemned with the devil. Mine eyes shall see nothing else but the inestimable prize, my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; He ought to be Buch a treasure to me that all other things should be but dirt in comparison to Him. He ought to be such light to me, that when I have apprehended Him by faith, I should not know whether there be any law, any sin, any righteousness, or any unrighteousness in the world ; for what are all things which are in heaven or earth in comparison to the Son of God, Christ Jesus my Lord Saviour, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." ^^ This thundering and lightening from heaven against the unrighteousness of the law, and men's owi^ righteous- ness should make us to abhor it ; and here with this thunderclap falleth down all the orders of monks and friars, with all such superstitious religion ; for who will not detest his vows, his cowls, his shaven crown, all men's traditions, yea, the very law of Moses also, if he BY FAITH. 309 hear that for these things he rejecteth the grace of God, and maketh the death of Christ unprofitable ; the world hearing this, doth not believe that it is true ; it thinketh that such horrible wickedness cannot enter into man's heart, that he should reject the grace of God, and esteem the death of Christ as a thing of nought. And yet this sin commonly reignoth, for whosoever seeketh righteousness without Christ, either by works, merits, satis- factions or afflictions, or by law, rejecteth the grace of God and despiseth the death of Christ, whatever he professes with his mouth to the contrary. " Do we then nothing ? do we work nothing for the obtaining of this righteousness ? I answer, nothing at all. For this is perfect righteousness, to do nothing, to hear nothing, to know nothing, of the law or of works, but to know and believe this only ; that Christ is gone to the Father, and is not now seen, that He sitteth at the right hand of the Father, not as a judge, but made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifica- tion, and redemption; briefly. He is our High Priest, entreating for us, and reigning, over us and in us, by His grace. ^ ' " When I have this glorious righteousness dwelling in my heart, I came forth as it were unto another kingdom and I do good works how and T^hensover occasion is offered. If I am a minister of the word, I preach Christ crucified, I comfort the broken hearted, I administer the sacraments. If I be a householder, I govern my house and family and bring up my children in the knowledge and fear of God. If I be a magistrate, I execute the duties of my office, as a charge that is given me from above. If I be a servant, I do my master's business I '1 1 I'' m ! I! 310 JUSTIFICATION faithfully. This I say to the end that no man should think I reject or forbid good works, as the papists do most falsely slander me ; they know nothing but the righteousness of the law, and yet they will judge of that doctrine which is far above the law, of which it is impos- sible that a carnal man should be able to judge ; there- fore they must needs be oflfended, for they can see no higher than the law.*' The Popish doctrine of justification by works never produced a truly holy man, I mean a man devoted in heart and life to the service of God, and making His service and glory paramount to every selfish considera- tion. This is one of the glories of the Reformation, that it has put it in the power of every man, and it wishes every man to scrutinize its doctrines, and to reject such as are not agreeable to the word of God. Had I remained under the power of the Pope, I should not have been at liberty to scrutinize any doctrine, or to believe or reject anything but such as it might please the holy father to allow me to. His children are slaves, but those of the Reformation are free men. The Church of England is not called after any reformer, and it is unjust to call British Protestants the disciples of any. Yet in point of justification by faith, they entirely agree with Luther, according to the xi. article. Of the justification of man: " We are account- ed righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings : wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely expressed in the homily of justification." And one would think that to all who BY FAITH. 311 understand the terms, it must be comfortable to know, that our hope of salvation rests not upon the sand, but upon that divine foundation of righteousness that cannot be shaken. The Koman Church may sneer at this, but they will find, when alas too late, that it is the only sure anchor of hope for a perishing sinner. ' The papists teach that although our blessed Redeemer i ed for us. He left the way to happiness narrow and rugged, therefore notwithstanding what Christ has done, we must satisfy divine justice and merit eternal life for ourselves. But where has Christ said that the way to happiness is straight and rugged ? He has indeed said, " straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there be that find it." But this strait- ness and narrowness arise not from the incapacity of the way, as if there was not room enough for all who should ever enter, but from the circumstance of few walking in it, the path is narrow. It is wide enough for all who shall ever go into it ; if the whole world were to enter, it would be wide enough for them all. " I am the door," says Christ, to all who hear his word, "by me if any man enter in he shall be saved." Which implies that if all men should enter in, they would be saved. But Christ has not said a word of His ways being rugged, on the contrary. He describes them as smooth and pleasant, as rest to the labouring and heavy laden. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. The plain English of this is, that the life of a real chris- tian is not a miserable one, like the papist's, but it is wholesome and very full of comfort. Papists, rejecting the righteousness of Christ, and trusting in their own I \ i i 312 JUSTIFICATION penances, cannot properly obtain comfort. For let them torment themselves even to death, they can never be sure that they have done enough to satisfy divine jiistice ; nay, they may starve, and yet not be sure but that they will be tormented in purgatory for a thousand years. This is popery, but this, like every other doctrine of the Roman Church, is directly opposed to the word of God. Here we are assured that the way of transgressors is hard, this is truly the rugged and thorny path which papists falsely represent Christ to have left to his people, for His commandments are not grie.ous. If therefore the doctrine of the Church of Englp,nd makes the way to happiness so easy and commodious, it is not by abolishing the obligation of good works, but by becoming interested in Christ by faith, and being renew- ed after the image of Christ into the love and practice of good works. This takes place in the experience of every man who truly believes the gospel. He enters upon a way of holiness, and he finds it inexpressibly a more pleasant way than the way of sin had been. God- liness had the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. He is an enemy of true religion who represents it as a gloomy thing. ■.■ i • .* , .;.^ L know that many are the afilictions of the righteous, but I know also that many are the horrors of the wicked, and while the afflictions of the former are counter- balanced by joy unspeakable in possession and prospect, the horrors of the latter are augmented by a certain looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. If the former are poor in this world, they are rich in faith, and heirs of a kingdom ; while the latter can derive no betiefit from the wealth of this world, seeing they are BY FAITH. poor towards God. The righteous have more joy even in their afflictions, than the ungodly in their mirth, and there is a remorse and horror that the ungodly suffer in their hours of sadness, from which the christian is delivered by that gospel which brought peace to his conscience, and in the belief of which he continues to enjoy the peace of God which passeth all understanding. One thing is certain, that persons who had been in tho most miserable state imaginable, as soon as they have received the gospel, as preached by the Apostles, were filled with joy and comfort. — See Acts, ii. 42. They never had done good works until then, and they never knew till then what true happiness was. But there is no gospel, no good news for sinners in the Church of Rome. Popery is a system of bondage and terror, it affords no. real peace to the conscience. It effects no change from sin to holiness in the heart. It furnishes neither means nor proper motives for the performance of good works, and while it sets men to work to satisfy divine justice for themselves, it makes them look upon God as unmerciful, and therefore as their enemy. In this state they must necessarily be alienated from God in their minds, ?nd such as are pleasing to Him, cannot be pleasing to them. This accounts for the language of the papists, who represent the way of holiness as so rugged and thorny, that few would choose to walk in it. The language of Christ in his gospel is, " come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."--Matt. xi. 28. This is not the rest of idle- ness, but the far more comfortable rest of useful and honourable activity in the service of God. Doing these things which he has commanded, believing that our 26 f :i' n 814 JUSTIFICATION doing so is accepted and pleasing to Him, because our persons are accepted and our sins pardoned through the righteousness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This doctrine effectually teaches us to deny all ungodli- ness and wordly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world. But the belief of the slave who looks upon God as unreconciled, and as in- flicting the punishment of his sins upon his own person for the satisfaction of divine justice, produces that aliena- tion of the mind from God, and that blindness of heart which can bring forth none but wicked works. While I was in the monastery, I was often troubled by a most unquiet conscience. I perceived myself a sinner before God. I saw that I could do noth- ing to appease Him, and I hated the idea of a just God who punishes sinners. I took my stolen Bible and read secretly in the epistle to the Romans a passage which puzzled me very much, " therein is the righteous- ness of God revealed.** My heart almost rose against God, and I said in secret, with great indignation, was it not enough that (wretched man that I am, already cursed with the stain of original sin) I should be op- pressed with every species of misery through the con- demning power of the commandment, but even through the gospel God should threaten me with His anger and justice, thereby adding affliction to affliction ? Thus I raged ?rith my troubled conscience ; but at length, while I was meditating day and night upon these words, I found what follows, that ** the just shall live by faith,*' my eyes were opened, and I found that it pleased God to have pity on me, and to shew me that the right- eousness of God, which is mentioned in the epistle, to be i JIY FAITH. 315 revealed from faith to faith, relates to the method in which God in his mercy justifies a sinner through faith, according to His words, *' the just shall live by faith." Now the expression, " the rightdusness of God," became as sweet to my mind as it had been hateful before, and this very passage proved to me the entrance into Paradise ; and so it will bo to every one who reads the epistles to the Komans and Galatians, with earnest prayer to God for instruction and light. ^ t w ..-.+ i^mi ,V i ■t* • ♦-!. • « mr ■'■''', .)« Jf 'rifl.-- -?r*i :4:v.K.£;^: ■t>i-t> i ). 1f^ m c*^irjT -■ C'-i ■^ ,» > - ' -^>*' A. ^^ It is ; and has all the three necessary things for that purpose." % ;. ^ ^ - : : .. ? ' ^ ; 26* . ^ : i i i' i I ■ :.i 818 THE SACRAMENT OF Q. "What is the outward visible sign used in extreme unction? " ' ' ' ' ^ " • '' ■ A. " It is the anointing the different organs of our senses with holy oil, blessed in a particular manner by the bishop for this purpose, accompanied by prayer." Q. " What is the inward grace this brings to the soul? A. " Both the sanctifying grace of God, by which any stain of sin that may be in the soul is washed away, and forgiven, and also the actual grace by which the soul is fortified and strengthened to resist all the assaults of the devil in her last moments. It also sometimes brings health to the body, when Almighty God sees that it be expedient for the good of the soul." — - ■■■■■M'- % >i/i *'^ Q. "How is this outward action a sign of inward grace ? ^^ - -■ - --■■ ■ -> ■ ; - :^'.-' ■: .-.■; .- ■' -..v A. " The oil with which the sick person is anointed, represents the grace of God which is poured down into the soul ; and the prayer used, at the time of anointing, expressing the remission of sins thereby granted to the sick person, is this. * By this holy unction, and His own pious mercy, may the Almighty God forgive thee what- ever sins thou hast committed by the light,' when the eyes are anointed, * by the hearing,' when the ears are anointed, and so of the other senses." • . u --^iv^- tvui^ ^: Q. " Where is this sacrament laid down in the Holy Scriptures? ' v'i.j. .:';■•' T^y^hi f:^i:'■». ;^-j '^.^ ,^,{ivi_d-uu A. " It is explained at large in all its parts, and com- manded to be used by the Holy Apostle St. James, in these clear and express terms: ^ Is any one sick among you ? let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name EXTREME UNCTION. 319 of the Lord.* See here the outward action, anointing with oil, accompanied by prayer, the inward grace imme- diately follows ; * and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and if he be in sins they shall be forgiven Him.' — V. 14. Our Lord^ shall raise him up above his own strength, fortifying his soul with his assisting grace, and if he be in sins they shall be forgiven him hy the sanc- tifying grace of God, which will wash and purify his soul from all remaining stains of sin, so that he may ap- pear with joy before the Lord.'' I do not speak like the papists of a dying christian, as the Council of Trent has decreed about the state of a dying christian, I do not profess, as these do, to speak from experience on this subject ; but I know from Holy Scripture, that Christ does not leave His people in their last moments to fight with the devil in their own strength, or in the strength of consecrated oil applied to different parts of their bodies by a mere creature like themselves. Those who believe in Christ, those who are really chris- tians, are kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation. Their whole christian life is a state of warfare against sin and Satan, and the present evil world, and although the contest does not finally termi- nate until death, there is no scriptural reason to warrant the conclusion that it is necessarily, av even usually more severe at the approach of death. It will not be denied that many christians have been filled with dismay when they contemplated the near approach of the last enemy, but it is certain that others have waited his approach with the most perfect composure, and even with a degree of triumph which appeared strange to persons in good health. In the amount of peace and 320 THE SACRAMENT OV comfort which Christ is pleased to impart to His people in the hour of death, there is no doubt but that He who knoweth all things is guided by His own good pleasure ; but one thing is certain, they shall be all conquerors, and more than conquerors, through Him that loved them, and shall be enabled to say, ** though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they com- fort me." ,- When a christian comes to die he is not entering upon a scene entirely unknown to him ; from the hour of his first believing he became dead to the world, and the things of the world. It became part of his daily exer- cise to realize by familiar contemplation, his transition from this world to the next ; and his every day reflections, so far as he is enabled to live up to his new character and stata, are reflections suitable to the last hour of his life. Committing the keeping of his soul to his Creator in well-doing every day, he fears not that he will be left alone to fi^^t with his enemy the devil when he comes to his last day, and when that day does arrive he feels not the want of any new process or preparation to pass upon his soul or body to prepare him for death. He stands complete in his Saviour's righteousness, and knowing in whom he has believed, he commits his soul to Him, in the sure and certain hope of being found with Him in peace, when He shall appear to judge the world in righteousness. -^ 'f-i/i But the popish doctrine represents a dying christian in a state quite new and unprovided for, as if it had been unexpected. The Council of Trent speaks of the power- ful protection of the sacrament of extreme unction, as EXTREME UNCTION. 821 people e who isurc ; lerors, them, gh the 1: for f com- 5 upon of his ad the f exer- nsition y day to his to the of his irs not ny the at day cess or repare viour's 'ed, he 1 hope ippear ristian dbeen )ower- Lon, as necessary to fortify the latter end of our life, and it is to be used ODly when that period is understood to have arrived. Christ appointed no means for fortifying the soul at the end of life, because He requires His people to consider every day as if it were their last ; but the Church of Rome has a sacrament intended for the dying only, and which she applies for the salvation of persons, many of whom never thought of salvation before, who were living in sin, and who hope to be saved from its punishment by the virtue of this sacrament, which, like all the rest, is sold to them for money. In this article alone, although there was nothing else against her, the Church of Rome appears in a character so diabolical as to point her out as the very Antichrist, the blasphe- mer of God, and destroyer of the souls of men. Christ gives His people the most ample assurance of His presence and support in the most critical circum- stances, which must necessarily include the incidents of our last moments, *'Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am thy God ; I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." — Isa. xli. 10, xliii. 2. Thus He assures His people that in every trying hour He will be with them, so that no plague ^all befall them, or evil come nigh them. Christ took our nature that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their 822 THE SACRAMENT OF I ■ '■ '■ If 1 lifetime subject to bondage. — Heb. ii. 14, 15. The christian believing this can say, " death, where ia thy sting ? grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." — 1 Cor. xv., 55, 5Q, 57. Such are the views of death which a christian learns to enter- tain according to the word of God, and every example which the Bible furnishes of the last hours of holy men <5orresponds with this representation. But the Church of Rome represents the last hours of her christians as invariably a period of the most dreadful alarm, and of the most severe conflict with the devil. When his strength is gone, and when just dying, the poor papist has to encounter all the craft and power of hell, raised to the highest degree of excitement ; he must, in short, enter the lists with Satan as if he were his equal in strength, and he is not taught to seek assistance from any higher power than from a fellow creature, with a phial of con- secrated oil, which he believes to be sufficient to frighten the devil away from him. Every child who understands the term, must see that the religion which teaches this is not Christianity, but a mere absurd modification of heathenism. r-f^.' ■-'>-, .-,: .'-■ -yv;-- nri.: ii:!8ii*cit-?-'>^ . Ar According to popish doctrine, when a christian comes to die, it is still doubtful whether the devil shall have him or not; whether he shall go to heaven or hell must depend upon his being able to fight manfully against the devil, and that, too, when he is in the agonies of death ; and this ability to fight manfully is made to depend upon the intention of the bishop who consecrated the oil, and of the priest who applies it, and having gone EXTREME UNCTION. 323 round this circle, we arrive at the point to which every popish ceremony tends, namely, that the salvation of the papist depends entirely on his priest. All that Christ did and suffered for the salvation of sinners, goes for nothing with the papist, unless his priest be allowed to have the honour of making it available. Thus, extreme unction is not a vain ceremony or a mere absurdity, which when it has excited a sufficient degree of ridicule, may be left to the peaceable enjoy- ment of those who are in love with it ; it is in itself a real Antichrist ; it occupies the place of Christ in the ministrations of popish priests, and in the thoughts of dying papists. Christ Himself, is the only real ground of hope in the hour of death. He is as accessible at the last moment of the eleventh hour, as he is on the first minute of the first hour, and it is the duty of every christian who may be called to attend the dying bed of a sinner to tell him of Christ, as the Almighty and the only Saviour, who is able to save to the uttermost, all that come to God by Him ; and this truth brought to the ears may be so impressed upon his heart by the Holy Ghost as to effect his conversion. I do not say it shall be so, for in general men are left to die as they have lived, but I say it may be so, because Christ has no^i instructed His servants to prescribe limits to His mercy towards sinners in this life. But the popish doc- trine leaves this entirely out of the view of the dying sinner, substituting the priest w'th his holy oil, and the anointing of all the FiCmbers of his body by which he may have committed sin, or the organs by which sin may have found its way into the heart. Here Christ is not thought of at all, the priest and the oil are the Saviour ''■ I 824 THE SACRAMENT OF EXTREME UNCTION. in which he confides ; ho ventures his eternity upon a deception, goes down to the grave with a lie in his right hand, and while he perishes, the guilt of his murder lies at the door of the church that deceived and ruined him. ^ Heal christains will be apt to despond at the prospect of a struggle with such an adversary as this gigantic monster of Rome, and to fear lest the Church of Christ should perish in the conflict ; and indeed she would, if He were not in the midst of her, and if His almighty power were not pledged for her preservation : but God is the refuge and strength of His people — He will pre- serve them — He will scatter His enemies like chaff be- fore the wind — He will consume the man of sin with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy hira with the bright- ness of His coming — He will establish His reign over the whole earth, and bring forth His church as the morn- ing, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. Even so, come Lord Jesus. — Amen. 'it:ui •i-^i (•• BRIEF MEMOIR • ( OP THE LAST DAYS OP THE REV.VINCEKT PHILIP MAYERH OFFER. \f>--:i ■'. It has ever been the proud boast of the Church of Rome that no one who has been a member of her communion during life, ever wished in their last mo- ments to die otherwise than such. In order to give at least one authentic instance to the contrary, it has been deemed expedient to procure from eye-witnesses some particulars relative to the closing hours of Mr. Mayer- hoffer's existence ; and these, so far from justifying the Romanists in their assertions, only prove them guilty of one more falsehood, in addition to the many already proved against them in the preceding pages. ' ' ' '^^ In reading the life of a Christian, our interest natu- rally increases as that period draws nigh when the con- nexion between soul and body is about to cease, and the efficacy of that faith which has supported the believer through all the storms and trials of life, as well as in its deceitful calms, is about to undergo its final trial in the 27 826 BRIEF MEMOIR OF dark valley of the shadow of death. At such seasons the most decisive testimony is borne to the excellency of the religion of Christ, and the sustaining power of faith in Him ; and knowing that to each one of us the day must come when the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, shall be darkened, and that we must each feel the loosening of "the silver cord," and the breaking of " the golden bowl," ere " the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it," the last struggle between time and eternity, and the flood of light or darkness enveloping the soul, what sub- ject can come nearer home to us, or afford us a more instructive and important lesson than the death-bed of the Christian ? That the last hours of Mr. May erh offer were of such a character as to warrant the belief that his Master did not leave him to struggle alone with the enemy of souls in his dying moments ; but that his death was the tran- quil departure of one who knew in whom he had be- lieved, will go farther in proving the correctness of his views as regards the doctrines of the Church of Rome, and more especially the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, than all the authorities he could have brought to bear upon the subject, were he yet alive. In the year 1854 (as he states in his autobiography) he was compelled to resign his congregation at Perry- town, owing to a dangerous illness, after which he never recovered his former health. From that time up to the period of his last illness, he lead a comparatively retired life, now and then preaching and performing the service of. the Church of England, when his health would permit *>(!} tv' \^hi •"•<* REV. V. P. MAYERIIOFFER. 827 him, and circumstances required him to assist his brother clergymen. ....'. During this time he used frequently to visit Toronto, in order to meet his brother Masons at the sitting of the Grand Lodge, and still retained his office as Grand Chaplain of the Orangemen. About six months before his death he complained of great weakness, and signified to his family and friends, " that his time for this world was not long, but that he was happy in the thought, and was prepared to meet death, and give an account of his stewardship before the throne of grace." Early in September, 1858, his debility increased so much as to confine him altogether to his bed, from which he never rose alive. lie appeared to suffer no bodily pain, and was in full possession of all his mental facul- ties. Many of his friends used to visit him, Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, and to all he professed his full confidence in the doctrines that for the last forty years of his life he had zealously inculcated. His great delight was in heaving the scriptures read to him, and in calmly awaiting his Master's call. Some weeks before his death, he desired the presence of some of his Masonic brethren, with whom he quietly arranged his funeral ceremonies, stating " that he was not ashamed to be called a mason, and the great wish of his heart was to be buried as such." He also particu- larly requested his brother Orangemen to attend his funeral. Having no personal property to dispose of, he said that he trusted in God to provide for his widow and children. About a fortnight before his death, when his strong 828 I BRIEF MEMOIR, AC constitution was evidently fast giving way, he called his family to his bed-side, and earnestly, with his rapidly failing voice, besought them to " hold fast the faith,'' and "meet him in the kingdom of our Lord." To his youngest son (the eldest son being absent at the time of his death,) he said, "never forsake the Protestant faith, and be a good Orangeman, in deed as well as in profes- sion, and die as such." After this he spoke but little, apparently suffering no pain, but dying of mere old age. On the night of the 14th January, 1859, it became evident that the closing scene was at hand, and this old labourer in the Lord's vineyard was to be gathered to his rest. Such of his intimate friends as were near were immediately sent for, amongst others Mr. Felitz, and Mr. Clarke, the master of the Composite Lodge of Freemasons at Whitby. Though speechless, he was ap- parently conscious that they were around him, and the expression of his countenance was that of perfect peace. Sorrowfully, yet with full confidence and resignation, these faithful friends watched beside him through the silent hours of the night, and when the sun arose, he had no need thereof — " For the Lord God giveth them light ; and they shall reign for ever and ever." — Rer. xxii. 5. • ■■ • •■ ' . ..' "''■ ■ ..-.'* • - " '■ ' ,-■•■' ■"'' '■("■< ■}. fil j-'ii ft * ■ '■■ . . • . •-iff-V : .J :;;-',ti;l _'ii^ '',4- 1 ^' ; 1 '. . - •■ ■ -MS*.'" ■ ;.— '-t"i: ■ ■«,'; - f ;. ....'■ '■■.— - 'i ^'lUi-P^ i' .''.':■. -]/.- 1 1 • COKRESPONDENCE. The following letters and certificates were found amongst Mr. Mayerlioffer's private papers, and as they refer to events in his life, will be interesting to the reader. The originals, which are in the possession of Mrs. Mayerhoffer, are written in various languages — some in the Magyar and Slavonic dialects, some in French, and the rest in German and Latin. In the translations which are here given, I have been much as- sisted by the highly talented Professors of Toronto University, especially the Rev. Dr. McCaul, and Pro- fessors Cherriman and Hirschfelder. Indeed, without their kind assistance, some of the most interesting certi- ficates would have been presented to the public in an imperfect condition. ' CERTIFICATE. On the 2nd of August, 1813, it happened that many soldiers of the allies were taken prisoners by the enemy, and among many other officers, Vincent Philip Mayer- hoffer, Field Chaplain of the Imperial Infantry Regi- ment No. 60, of the line, commanded by Count Von Gyulay, met with the same fate, from which it was im- possible to escape. The extraordinary compassionate conduct of the latter on the occasion was seen with ad- miration by the whole corps of officers there, for while 27* 330 CORRESPONDENCE. more than a thousand soldiers were imprisoned in the Church of the Cross, and tormented by hunger and thirst, not only did he cheer them by his exhortations, encouraging them to be true to the oath they had taken to their emperor ; but himself, like a servant, clad with an apron, cooked in the school of the church the meat which had been given to them raw, and without material or means for preparing, and the whole day he was con- tinually carrying to them water, both to bathe their travel-worn feet, and to wash the wounds they had re- ceived for the good of their fatherland. By this admi- rable behaviour towards the unfortunates, he excited their wonder, and earned their extreme gratitude, so much so, that a testimonial was presented to him by more than thirty officers, Austrian, Russian and Prus- sian, as well as even the Saxon officers, who had been witnesses of his tenderness. As, however, on account of his hasty and unexpected ransom, he was compelled to leave this behind him in Mayence, he has requested me to furnish it to him anew. I have hereby certified this with my hand and seal. :: ^, . ;vv Aiquebelle in France, (Signed) - 'r * - ■ '^ - FOSSIMOV, ^' ' ' r ' Lieut. WallacJcs ^ lllyrian Corps, ^*^,, The Rev. Mr. Mayerhoffer does not mention the receipt of this certificate, but the event to which it refers will be found in page 46. \.^.K % :■ '•'H ^ ■ ''"r w CORRBSPONDENOE. 331 Letter from Count Gyulay to Mr, Mayerhoffer on the occasion of hia brother's promotion. Translated from the original in the possession of the author's widow. i> Aqram, 24th August, 1814. Honourable Sir, Field Chaplain. It affords me much pleasure to have been able to assist your brother, of whose good character I have been in- formed, in his promotion to the rank of an officer. The certificate which you have mentioned in your letter from Cheraseo, dated 1st January, 1814, has not yet come to hand. As soon as you obtain it be so kind as to send it, together with the memorial ; I shall then not hesitate to occompany it in such a manner as you have indeed deserved. You may rest assured of my highest esteem. ^ Your obedient, IQNATZ GYULAY. ».- :»? ^. ' «, ,' ' '. > , ' • f ' , .■\; »/!> i|>- ■'v' i ■■,: "; ■■" ^ .. "■ ■ t ! .^ Copy Q. 1812.] \^ .: . [No. 1. The War-Councillor of the Imperial Court by the re- script, L. M. E. 891, has insisted on calling to remem- brance, that already in August of last year the high satisfaction of his Majesty with the good conduct of Field Chaplain Mayerhoffer was made known, and that in the interim the merits of the above named have remained the same, and the special distinction of the Cross of Honour to him cannot be interfered with. 382 CORRESPONDBNOE. This shall be a reply to the regiment to the commu- nication of the 6th January, of this year, for the satis- faction of the above-named Field Chaplain. Milan, March 22nd, 1815. In the name of the Commander, ' ; .-:• ' .. '■ - >• .. ■■- ;' -NOVAK, ProDS ; et Exp., March 25th, 1815, , h. m. e. ; MERVILLE, H., M. E. .. V. ■, c ; ■■ ,.;.," Vidi: Bergamo, March 26th, 1815, . ^.V'^ / ' ^ > --i' POLSCISZ, ^ ■ - ^ •■ ,^_7 ' '^ ■'r'^'",' ^AKf'- ".' (\y V':-- G. M. * /. 1 ...v;.^-;.' ^4*;}th=;^>v ^:^ '..■-■ ,. - ' ■-_.'?■'■ . ^ ■ . /:■ " ', ' v"».-.'; .:» :k':i-xS.>-A v^>. ' i--; ■" "- i ■•- ■"■ -^ ■■ ' I' , , / . ■ ' "■ ■ • ' 'J .v^-JJ^;-;^ i^'^' \^ L. -' 1 - irv-:;'- — *- - [No. 2.] At the request of the Rev. Vincent Philip Mayerhoflfer, Minister of Klingenmunster, Canton Bergzaben, in the diocese of Strasburg, District R. Z., it is certified by this Episcopal Deanery, that during his ministerial appoint- ment in this Canton and Deanery, he has always been an assiduous labourer in his office, and has always strictly conformed to the rules and laws of the church, shewing himself zealous for the welfare of religion, and in regard to his conduct, religious, political, and moral, has won for himself the love and regard of his fellow clergymen. Given at Plaitzweiller, June 24th, 1817. X?^i (Signed) PREYTAG, Miniittr. CORRESPONDENCE. 333 A MINISTRO PROVINCIALI PROVINCICB CAPISTRANCB. ;■; i.i-7. M MuUum Venerando Patri Vincentio PhiUppo Mayer- hoffer, Infanterii Regiminis^ Count Ignatii No. 60. Capellano Castrensi. Ord. Minor, Provincice Capis- , tranae. ^ , n VuKOVARiNi, 10th July, 1816. •? a molsheim, In Alsatia Inferiorb. : My most Reverend and much esteemed Father, Mili- tary Chaplain, — \ praise those great and distinguished services, which up to this time, in the most puhlic manner, you have most commendably and zealously performed, as a true son of the Holy St. Francis, and of the Province of Capistranus, for the glory of God, and the honour of the province, which indeed ought to be the nearest to you in affection. On account of these things you have communicated to me, that you have received a temporal reward, namely, a parish, for the better enabling you to support your old mother. On account of this presentation your father- ship seeks^to be dismissed from the order, which dismis- sal does not lie in my power, but in that of a higher court. For it is lawful for no one but the supreme head of the church, to wit, the Roman Pontiff, to dismiss consecrated persons from their order, and to absolve them from the vows which they have sworn to the Most High. He is accustomed, sometimes, from most weighty, just, and well founded reasons (but very seldom, and 384 C0RRE6P0NDEN0E. only when the things requested, and the reasons adduced, have a tendency to promote the truth,) to grant a dis- pensation from those solemn vows. But your much venerated fathership has no well grounded reasons which you can conscientiously allege, why you should receive a dispensation from your vows, oitlcave the order ; be- cause, as an adult, arrived at the years of discretion, and having sufficiently approved of the Seraphic Religion, spontaneously, and with full observation and deliberation you swore those solemn vows to the Most High. From which vows you can have no well founded reasons for wishing to be absolved, (unless you wish to be rebellious and perjured before God Himself,) still less to be dis- missed from the order and the province, as must be evi- dent to your fathership, and without these reasons it is impossible to obtain a dispensation. For very many sons of the Holy St. Francis govern their parishes most zealously, and that in all parts of the world, so that as consecrated persons they may break bread to the little ones of their flock ; nor did any one of them ever seek to be dismissed from the order, still less, to the perdition of his own soul, to be secularised. ' Therefore let your fathership accept the parish that is offered to you, and zealously govern it as a consecrated son of the province of Capistranus, that it may afford a comfortable sustenance to your aged mother, and that you may be able (if after death you desire the suffrages of the province) to succour as far as you can your ma.- ternal province of Capistranus, which educated your fathership and brought you to this condition. However, that you may be able, with a clear conscience, to accept the parish which is offered to you, and to remain therein, CORRESPONDENCE. 385 'mi. I, on behalf of the province, give my full consent, and having prayed that you may enjoy all prosperity, im- parting the Seraphic benediction, r ^' .yv*. r « ;^ Remain, with due respect, ^ ^t^ ^^* - - ' Your Most Rev'd Fathership's ' ^" f Humble Servant, F. JOANNES BALATONICK,' ^ Provincial Minister . *^* It ijppears from the above letter, which is referred to in the credentials mentioned on page 75, that the Rev'd Father was even at that time desirous of leaving the priesthood, which indeed seems to have been the pre- vailing wish of his heart during the final years of his continuance in the Romish Church. '^- ?/ -m. 1 1 MR. RUBER'S SUSPENSION. .i«(f<>. .... •, > *;y;-*i '^M % ^^ ■iT^A \-.'' ., = sV-".''. ■;■*■-■ A tTue copy from the original. t , t 'V- Ego infra Scriptus, Vicarius generalis et administra- tor Bioecesis Philadelphiensis, Sede vacante, notum tibi his proesentibus litteris facio, quod k Die qu^ illoe eadem litteroe tibi tradituroe Sunt revoco omnes facultates quas tibi concessi et etiam facultatem celebrendi missam intra istius Dioecesis Fines. ;.„. i^i ,,.,.^... . . ;.ix. LUDOVICUS BARTH, #g fiSii'l?^*! ij'jnrw Vic, CftmP^ * Datum, Philadelphia, die 20 aprilis, 1820. ^k#4 ,^-tva* 886 CORRESPONDENCE. I, the undersigned, Vicar general and administrator of the Diocese of Philadelphia, the see heing vacant, make known to you by these present letters, that from the day in which these letters shall be delivered to you, I recall all the powers which I have given to you, and also the power of celebrating mass in the boundaries of this diocese. Given at Philadelphia, on the 20th day of April, 1820. LUDOVIC US EARTH, Vic. Gen.- I have given this letter both in Latin and English, in order that those of my readers who are classical scholars may have some idea of the style in which the learned Jesuits are accustomed to express themselves. . '.i Copy of the intercepted letter from DeBarth to Lekue. Translated from the original, in the possession of the author's widow. .:^r. ,'.,;., ^ , . Philadelphia, March 1st, 1820. * ' ' ' f • - Most Reverend Father. ' '" *"• ^ ^^^^"^'J *^'^^ It would be desirable that some final decision should be arrived at concerning this Mr. Mayerhoffer, as re- gards his wishing to make a retreat at Baltimore. I could have wished that your reverence had not written to the Rev'd Father Superior, to dissuade him from re- H CORRESPONDENCE. 337 ceiving this Mr. Mayerhoffer at the College to make a retreat there. I must tell you that I expect no change ; I have even said to Mr. Mayerhoffer that I supposed he demanded a retreat only to visit the towns : he said that it was not so, but merely for recovery and reformation. I have written to the Archbishop to request that Mr. Mayerhoffer should be summoned to his seminary on the 10th of January. God gran* that he may correct him. If I were to suspend this Mr. Mayerhoffer at present, the people would say it was done out of revenge, because he says every thing bad of me. If your Reverence could tell me exactly what his abuse refers to, I could possibly justify myself. You also say he conducts himself like a sailor (comme un matelot.) He ought to have received my letter last Monday, or even on the Saturday before. I refuse him Lebanon, and he is interdicted "ipso facto'' if he leaves Canewago to go to Lebanon, but he may quit the diocese as soon as he likes — the sooner the better, *Me petit vaurien." I do not think it is yet time to suspend Mr. Mayer- hoffer ; he will fall into the ditch that he is digging for others. The aforesaid "inter nos." Monseigneur the Archbishop, or Mr. Leonere, will write to you to let you know their plans as concerning the retreat of Mr. Manbrevier. If Mr. Mayerhoffer goes to Lebanon you will at least be disembarrassed of him, but I should be much more disturbed if he was alone in a congregation, for then the poor sheep would indeed be slaughtered. I think that if Mr. Seringer, and Mr. Shorb, of Long- town, would speak to old Henry Frankand and to young Shorb, these latter would return from their madness. I 28 :! 338 COBRESPONDBNCK. find myself between two evils, Rev. Father, and one must tolerate the least. You see that if I was to sus- pend him at present, he would erect an altar in the vacant lots at Littletown, and continue the same sacrileges, and thus do more harm in the congregation, .- . ;- ' Yours in J. C, v ■. .-.^^..c. LUDOVICUS DbBARTH, '' ■ ' '■'"'■■■ '- Vicar General. I . ■*■ %. ■ .■•■'.' i -ri , . ■■; l; ; «4 1. :ViJir il-^-j.r. i ■■ 1^ .r^-uiuM j*b: .:-iv- ■>*> V ''it- ; fi I -. IM ") •' - 'I / V 1 ' ;■ t" _ r. •Aa i •;■'• |-" vY*-"? at ' f ■•» V i ' : ■*■ c- . .-\-'V,'-V.--^''^/*^ *-'*!- V, ,, .^;» ^ •'•«,■ /- ? T '^(-^i-; 1 .*••/,.,, v^ ■ ;r .» I * ' ." ; i f * ; ^^.v^'-iV? '-■■>", fit •:* ^— ■' ' ■' g 4/£y< )s-v *,*:?• -. ' / ---i ;., . ;-■ n *?'^ v'liKi ■ I. '•■•' ... ' *<* tt i<-\ .-». I'lrr FUNERAL t^-t^ . .. OF THE EEV. V. P. MAYERHOFFER If an outward show of worldly respect to the deceased's memory can be any source of consolation to his surviving relatives, those of Mr. Mayerhoffer have received all that can reasonably be expected. It having been Mr. Mayerhoffer's dying request that he should be buried with Masonic honours, members of the craft from To- ronto, Bowmanville, Markham, and the country round, attended in large numbers, as did also a very large and respectable body of Orangemen. The following was the order of the funeral procession : .- i ; Band with muffled drums; ^ - ^^, '>'*"^^^ Tyler with drawn sword ; Stewards with blue rods and white tops ; Entered apprentices ; Fellow Crafts; Master Masons ; Royal Arch Masons; The Holy writings on a cushion covered with black cloth carried by Dr. Lowe ; Stewards; Clergy; •^%r.v 840 FUNERAL. The -with the insignia Pall Bearers. Pall Bearers. Body ■ J- , J*' placed thereon. Pall Bearers. Pall Bearers. «r *- 1 Chief Mourners. The Orangemen, two and two ; *"..,. Citizens in carriages and on foot. '^ *' 'f The appearance of the members of the Masonic fra- ternity, who were dressed according to their different de- grees, and carried branches of evergreen in their hands, was very imposing. The Orangemen, who outnumbered the Masons nearly two to one, simply wore crape twined with an Orange ribbon on the arm. After the conclu- sion of the service at the Episcopal Church, which was performed by the Rev. Mr. Pentland, the body was borne to the grave, and encircled by the Masons, who performed the last ceremonies due to a departed brother Mason, Mr. A. BeGrassi reading the beautiful funeral exhortation in a clear and impressive manner ; and thus the mortal remains of the Rev. Vincent Philip Mayer- hoffer were consigned to the tomb. >.. .' -^ ■ ";»-•» •• i:v, ■vj' ■''.■■l~f- •v.rr <■+'• • tS" ^' reon. / -i n tiic fra- rent de- * hands, imbered J twined I conclu- lich was dy was ns, who )rother funeral ,nd thus Mayer- ERRATA. Page 30, line 12; for "Massica," read Nassica. Page 35, line 2; for "Massica," read Nassica. Page 46, lines 23 and 28 ; for "Bertie," read Berthier. Page 61, line 14 ; for " Serieten," read Seritien. Page 66, line 21 ; for "fifteen," read sixty. Page 72, line 19 ; for " Toumons," read Tournous. Page 111, line 8 ; for " Monastery," read Monarchy. Page 126, line 10 ; for "became," read began.