* * • t •*• * UC-NRLF B 3 1M3 MM1 V" *>*«*«£ sg-( %:. >«i - •* -b'2 s k *4J& mm • ;w3 ;! ;X l^.*j a£ MS •*>', ar l*« ^ .-* «< * i$ - * Hf4*3 ai?^ I A 1 IRARY niic University of California. GIFT OF Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. Received October, i8q4. Accessions No. S*75^ho Class No. ROMANISM AT HOME. LETTERS TO TH E HON. ROGER B. T-ANST, CHIEF JUSTICE OF T*H E UNITED STATES, BY K 1 R W A N. SIXTH EDITION r. NEW YORK: HARPER instead of an altar blazing with candles and gilding, I saw a neat pulpit, with a large open Bible, and a minister of Grod reading and expounding it. Instead of persons KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 143 The transition. Nativity. Feast of the wise men. ^azirifif around with ^uide-books in their hands;, talking and criticizing, and smiling, I saw a devout people, with Bibles in their hands, turning up the text, and the passages read, and most devoutly singing God's praises, and joining in the prayers that were offered ! The sight and the scene were truly refreshing to a mind jaded, and a heart disgusted with all I had witnessed for the few previous weeks. The transition seemed like passing from Purgatory to Paradise. Here was worship in spirit and in truth, while the gorgeous and heartless ceremonies of splendid cathedrals were a mere acting, and by wretched actors, of truths and things which neither priests nor people understood. And this theatrical aspect of the Popish ritual is yet more apparent, if you pass from the Mass to the cere- monies of some of the high days of the Church. Sey- mour, in his Pilgrimage to Rome, has made this quite obvious as well as ludicrous. In St. Maria Maggiore, in Rome, they profess to have the cradle in which the Savior was laid at his birth, and at the feast of the Na- tivity they bring out that cradle, before the dawn of day, and, amid processions of priests, monks, nuns, pre- ceded by incense, accompanied by singers, and guard- ed by soldiers, it is placed' on the high altar for the view and worship of the faithful ! And, after all, the wonderful cradle is only a splinter of old wood, covered with silver, and in a case of glass, and said to be a part of the manger ! And the theatrical acting of the Nativity attracts its thousands ! The visit of the wise men of the East to the Savior is acted out in the Church of Andrea della Valle with great scenic effect. Mary, with her son on her knee, 144 kirwan's letters. The introduction. Palm trees. Judgment-hall. is seated on a throne — the Magi, transubstantiated into kings, dressed with crowns and purple, are introduced to her, and, after acting the parts assigned to them, re- tire. And as a reward for their labor and homage, she gives them some of the milk on which the Savior was nourished, and which they carry away as a precious relic ! The feast to commemorate the strewing of the path of the Savior with branches of trees is yearly celebrated with great pomp at St. Peter's. The Pope, magnifi- cently arrayed, is carried into the church on the shoul- ders of eight men, attended by his court. The priests bring him palm-trees, which he blesses and sprinkles with holy water. Then the cardinals, bishops, priests, and forei-gn ministers receive from his holiness a palm, some kissing his hand, and others his foot. Then the procession of palms commences, and the whole is ended by high mass ; after which, thirty years' indulgence is granted to all who witness the ceremony ! And from the beginning to the end of Holy Week, all the cere- monies, by day and by night, are nothing but repre- sentations, in a theatrical form, of the sufferings of our Lord, about whose true history the people know far less than do those of the history of England, who know nothing of it but what they learn from witnessing the actings of the historical dramas of Shakspeare ! If further evidence is necessary as to the theatrical character of the Romish worship, permit me to quote from Seymour his account of the ceremony of Holy "Week, which represents the judgment -hall of Pilate. " The G-ospel is read by three priests. One of them per- sonates the Evangelist who wrote the G-ospel ; and his KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 145 The acting. Choir. Tawdry shows. part is to read the narrative as detailed. A second per- sonates Pontius Pilate, the maid at the door, the priests, the Pharisees ; and his part is to read those sentences which were spoken by them. The third personates our Lord Jesus Christ ; and his part is to read the words which were uttered by him on the occasion. To give the greater effect to the whole, the choir is appointed to undertake those parts which were the words of the multitude. The different voices of the priests reading or intoning their different parts — Pilate speaking in one voice, Christ in another, while the choir, break- ino- forth, fill the whole of the vast church with? the shout, ' Crucify him ! Crucify him !' and again with the cry, ' Not this man, but Barabbas !' produce a most singular effect. Accustomed as we are to look upon the Holy Scriptures with reverence, and to read the narrative of our Lord's sufferings with a profound feel- ing of awe, it has something repulsive to our tastes, if not to our judgments, to find a theatrical character given to so holy an exercise." Upon this evidence, which might be multiplied to any extent, I rest, Sir, my position, that the ritual of Romanism, however splendid, and to some weak minds attractive, is not the worship of (rod ; that, at best, it is only a theatrical representation of the truths which it purports to exhibit. Every thing that enters into the public worship of Romanism is only a continuation of the tawdry shows gotten up in the Middle Ages to satisfy the longings of the religious nature of man, from whom a wicked priesthood had taken away the Light of Life. And how can we measure the wicked- ness of ecclesiastics who, even amid the light of our a 146 kirwan's letters. The poorest actors going. Scene at Bonville. advanced civilization, take away the Bible from the people, and seek to supply the vast void by theatrical forces like these ? And is it any wonder that, in Pa- pal countries, the few join the priest at the acting of the Mass on Sunday morning ? and that the priest joins the multitude to witness the acting of the farce in the theatre in the evening ? It is at least an evidence that, if nothing else is left to the people of Naples, they have left a little remaining taste, as, while the churches are deserted, the theatre is crowded. The least interest- ing actors that are seeking for precedence in the dra- matic world are lazy and lubberly priests, and they are the least worthy of patronage. On the 19th of June last, in company with others, I reached the little town of Bonville, within a few miles of Geneva, on my way to Chamouni. Crowds of peo- ple were in the streets, and branches of trees graced all the doors and windows. It was a fete day, but in honor of what saint I know not ; probably the " Very Rev. P. Pt. Kenrick, Y. G\," might inform us. I there witnessed a scene such as I had not seen before — quite theatrical in its way. At the ringing of a bell, a pro- cession was formed at the church of the village. It was headed by women in white robes ; these were followed by children bearing baskets of rose-leaves ; these by children bearing censers ; these by priests ; these by a ruby-faced bishop, fat and stall-fed as usual, bearing the host under a canopy ; and the bishop by a vast mul- titude of people. The day was very hot and very dusty. At certain signs, the whole mass of people knelt down, and rose up, and turned to the right and left. At the sound of a little whistle, the children scattered leaves KIRWAN r' S LETTERS. 147 Soldiers. Host saluted. Sabbath evening at Edinburgh. for the bishop to walk on, or incensed the priests. The soldiers were in the streets in great numbers and in full uniform. They saluted the Host with volleys of musketry on its approach ; and when the bishop stopped, as he did several times, and turned round the Host so as to face the soldiers, they all fell on their knees in an instant, save the officers, who leaned on their swords, with their faces to the earth. After parading the streets in this way for some time, the bishop and priests returned to the church, and the people and soldiers went to drink and to play. When the farce was end- ed, the town was a scene of revelry. And with such mountebank exhibitions as these, the Papal world is full ! And these exhibitions are what they call wor- ship ; and a firm belief in their efficacy is what priests call faith in God ! Now, Sir, that you may see, in contrast with all this, the true worship of God, go with me on the first Sab- bath evening I spent in Scotland to the Gaelic chapel in Edinburgh, which is situated almost under the shadow of the Castle. The house was crowded in all its parts. In the hymns of praise the immense con- gregation united. Every worshiper carried a Bible, and turned to the Scripture read, and to the text of the sermon. When prayer was made, every person rose and took a devotional attitude. Dr. Candlish was the eloquent preacher ; and for upward of an hour did the people hang with breathless attention upon his lips, while he expounded to them the faith of Abraham, and, with words that burned, exhorted them to the exercise of faith in God. And when the service was ended, the multitude quietly walked away, praying that the word 148 kirwan's letters. Which is divine worship. Priest and minister. of the Lord might dwell in them richly, and that they might he sanctified through the truth. Now, Sir, which looks most like the worship of God — this scene in the (xselic chapel, or the saying of mass hy a priest? Which looks most like Peter at the feast of Pentecost, or like Paul in the synagogues of the Jews — the Scotch minister preaching the Gospel, or the Italian priest saying mass ? Which of these teachers is best adapt- ed to our people and our institutions ? Which is most likely to foster those principles that never yield but to the right — that will live only for the true ? Sir, the one is a teacher of the truth, the other is an actor of the truth dramatized. Italy and Naples have only Popish actors — Scotland and England have religious teachers ; hence the difference between their people ! Mexico and Peru have had only religious actors for their people — New England has had* religious teach- ers ; hence the difference between them ! The priest seeks to bind you to the Pope ; the minister seeks to win you to God. The priest hides the Bible, and seeks to satisfy you with the mass and the other ceremonies of the Church ; the minister puts the Bible into your hands, and exhorts you to be satisfied with nothing less than a heart and life conformed to its teachings. The priest damns you unless you believe the Church, which means the Pope and his cardinals ; the minister tells you that " he that belie veth in the Son hath life," and exhorts you to believe in God — to fear him, and then to fear nothing else. Which are the men ordained of God, and best fitted to be the moral instructors of our great and growing country ? Need I answer these questions to satisfy a person of your sense and compre- KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 149 Romish Churches Sabbath theatres. hension ? Sir, (rod is not worshiped in the mass. Ro- mish churches are Sabbath-day theatres for the enact- ing of Popish dramas ; and Romish priests are nothing more or less than actors in sacred dramas, and most of them miserable hands even at that. Neither the plays nor their actors are the things for our people, unless the Bible, with its institutions, and the freedom which they secure, are a curse ; and unless submission to the priest and the Pope, and the slavery which they insure, are a blessing. From such play-actors and their plays may the good Lord deliver us. Could the proph- ets, apostles, martyrs, and saints, of all ages and climes, hear us, we would invoke the aid of them all to save our land from the curse of Romanism. "With great respect, yours. 150 kirwan's letters. Tested by its fruits. W here to be tested. LETTER XVII. Romanism tested by its Fimits in Rome. — No personal Liberty there — two Cases in Proof. — No security of Property — two flagrant Illustra- tions. — No Religion there — no Sabbath — no Bible — no Preaching- no worshiping Congregations — no serious Devotion there. — Is Popery the best form of Religion for our Country? My dear Sir, — If the work of framing a government for a people were committed to your hands, and if you were in doubt as to which form would best promote their highest and truest interests, what plan would you adopt to resolve your doubt? You would adopt the common sense one, of testing the various forms that presented themselves by the effects which they pro- dace, where fully established. This would be walking in the light of experience. The best fruits of Despot- ism you would seek in Russia and Austria — of a Lim- ited Monarchy, in England — and of a Constitutional Republicanism, in the United States. And as an hon- est man, you would decide in favor of that form which promoted, in the highest degree, the highest interests of the masses of the people. So in religious things. If desirous to know the influence of Episcopacy upon a people, you would go to England — or of Presbytery, you would go to Scotland — or of Independency, you would go to New England — or of Popery, you would go to Rome. As trees are known by their fruit, so are political and religious systems by their effects. By KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 151 The Holy City. Information sought No liberty. this test, to which none can object, will you permit me to try Romanism, that you and all men may see the multiplied blessings which we may anticipate from its full establishment in this land? But where shall we apply the test ? Where, but in Rome, the seat of the Pope — the centre of unity — the paradise of the priest — where the heresy of the Reformation has never ob- tained a permanent or impressive influence, and where, for fifty ages together, Romanism has had the molding of the people, without let or hinderance, in her hands. If Papal priests could have their wish and their way, they would, of course, model America after the pattern of Rome, which Cardinal Wiseman denominates the "Holy City." Now, Sir, I have been to the "Holy City" — I have seen its Pope, cardinals, and priests — I sought there information as to its civil, social, and re- ligious state — and from personal examination, and from testimony received from the most credible witnesses, both natives, and foreign residents, I am prepared to say that, from the extent of its population, there is not a worse governed, less religious, or more immoral people in Christendom. And, tried by its priests, where there are no obstacles to prevent its natural results, Roman- ism should be the abhorrence of all flesh. There is, Sir, no personal liberty in Rome. Since the return of the Pope from Naples to the Vatican, the reins of despotism have been tightened by a powerful hand. The patriots that could escape have fled ; and you find them in Grenoa, Turin, Geneva, France, and Britain — homeless, yet hopeful exiles — strong in faith that the sun of liberty will yet rise, even over Rome. The suspected are in prison ; and the prisons are crowd- 152 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. S ios. How they work. An instance. ed. Spies, by day and by night, surround those who show any lack of confidence in the priests. While I was there, the plan was completed of dividing the city into small sections of about twenty families each, and of placing a priest over each of these sections ; nomin- ally to look after their religious wants, but really to act as the spies of the • government ! And through the vigilance of these spies, and the information which they wrino- from wives and daughters, and servant-women at the confessional, the sigh breathed after liberty by the most obscure man in its most obscure and humble dwelling is reported "in a few hours to the head of the police ! And if a R,oman desires to visit other coun- tries, before he can get permission, he must first get a certificate from the magistrate of his district that he is a good citizen — then from the priest of his section, that he is a good Papist : with these he goes to the head of the police, and if there is no information lodged there against him, he receives a passport. Take one occurrence as an illustration. A young Roman, a few years since, went to Sardinia, where he married. Busi- ness failed him, and he returned to Rome to seek em- ployment, leaving his wife and children behind him. He entered the employment of a person who, in the Revolution, took part against the government. Within the present year, that man wished to return to his fam- ily, and with the certificate of the magistrate of his district, and of the priest of his section, he presented himself to the head of the police, who, I learned, is a priest. And simply because he was recorded as hav- ing been in the employment of an enemy of the old government, instead of getting his passport he was or- K I R W A N 'S LETTERS. 153 Tobacco monopoly. Peter Ercolo. dered to prison ; and where imprisoned none know but God and the priests ! Take another instance and illustration of the glorious liberty with which Romanism would bless us ! The government holds a monopoly in tobacco, and this mo- nopoly it farms out to the highest bidder. The more tobacco used, the greater the duties accruing, and the higher the Church can sell the monopoly. Of course, the more the Romans chew, smoke, and snuff of the vile weed, the greater will be the profits of the Church. Knowing this, and to curtail the revenues of the priests, those who bear no fervent love to them agreed to re- frain from its use, and to induce their friends to do the same. One evening Peter Ercolo met his friend Luigi G-euanini in a coffee-room, smoking a cigar, and per- suaded him to smoke no more. There were several by-standers ; soon Ercolo was arrested — was tried be- fore the Second Tribunal, and found guilty of the crime of persuading his friend to consume no more cigars ; and for this crime a respectable man, between thirty and forty years of age, was torn from his family, and sentenced for twenty years to the galleys ! And I read the sentence as placarded on the chief corners of the city of Rome, and as signed by Cardinal Antonelli ! Such, Sir, is the civil liberty enjoyed by the dwellers in the " Holy City," amid the relics of the martyrs, and under the direct government of the vicar of Jesus Christ, and the infallible head of the only true Church ! And this is the liberty with which Romish priests, were it in their power, would bless our country ! It is from those Roman tyrants that our priests get their author- ity — it is to them they yield their conscience, and swear G2 154 KIR WAN's LETTERS. Patriots questioned. Property insecure. An instance. perpetual allegiance. Are they the men for our people ? Ask the patriots in exile — ask the patriots rotting in the prisons of the " Holy City" — ask Ercolo, tugging at the galleys for persuading his friend to cast away the end of a wasted cigar, are the spies and tools of Italian priests the men for our country ? Nor, Sir, is there any security for property in Rome. It is constantly confiscated, on the merest pretexts, to the Church ; and when not confiscated, it is alienated to the " Holy See" in a great variety of ways. Two instances, in proof of this, were narrated to me there, and by a man of high position. A Roman of wealth married a lady of foreign birth, and by whom he had a large family of children. After a life of love and har- mony, he died, leaving his property to his widow and children, by a will duly authenticated. Although re- gardless of the priests in health, he sent for one when dying — who confessed him, and anointed him, and " fixed him off" for Purgatory or Paradise. A few days after his death, that priest swore before the tribunal having jurisdiction in such cases, that the dying man confessed to him a great sin, and to atone for which he wished his entire property, contrary to his will, to go to the Church. And, on the oath of that priest, the will of the deceased was set aside — his property was turned into the treasury of the Church, and his widow and children were turned out penniless on the world ! Thus nothing is necessary to deprive any family in Rome that has lost its head, of its property, but the oath of a priest ! And if you had seen them in crowds, as I have, you would conclude, as I have, that it would be an easy matter to get a priest in Rome that would KIRWAN I*S LETTERS. 155 The illecHl son. Shameless mother. No religion. swear any thing. Absolution from perjury that en- riches the Church is easily secured. The other instance is as follows. It would seem as if there is a law in Rome which gives all property to the Church which has no lawful heir. An old man, of large possessions, married a young and handsome lady, and died, leaving a son behind him, the heir of his possessions. Just on the eve of his majority, not many months ago, a suit was instituted to prevent his entering on his paternal possessions, on the ground of his illegitimacy. And the Church gained the suit — the mother of the boy testifying to her own shame, and confessing that the father of her child was a shaven- pated, crimson-capped cardinal ! " And this," said my informant, as we turned out of the Corso, " is the pal- ace in which the old man died, and of which his widow and repudiated child have just been deprived." And when men lose not their property by confiscation, or by the robbery of ecclesiastical courts, they are ground down into poverty by an enormous taxation for the support of a Church which only compensates them with swarms of monks and nuns, splendid churches, lying legends, gorgeous processions, French soldiers, and spies to dog them by day and by night. And are these priests the men for our country ? Ask that wid- ow and her orphans deprived of her property by the oath of a confessor — ask those groaning under the yoke of a government the most' detestable that the earth knows, wdiether these are the men for our country ! They will soon tell you. Nor, Sir, is there any religion in Home. I do not mean to say that, among its thousands of ecclesiastics, 156 kirwan's letters. No Sabbath. Monks at market. No Bible. there are none that love God, nor do I mean to say that the Lord has no chosen ones hidden amid the chaff and the trash that are every where visible there ; but I do mean to say, and to affirm as strongly as language can do it, that among the masses of the priests and people there is no fear of God, and no knowledge of the doctrines of our religion. And how could there be, in the absence of the means instituted by heaven to sus- tain and to extend religion among a people? There is no Sabbath in Rome. The only apparent difference there between the Sabbath and other days of the week is, that the shops are more gayly dressed — the markets are more full — and more people are engaged in buying and selling. On my way to St. Peter's from the Hotel d'Angleterre, I saw monks and priests in all the shops and markets, buying, as on oth- er days, and chattering like magpies. In Naples the shops are closed, and all business suspended on feast- days, but on the Sabbath all business is brisker than usual. Romanism knows no Sabbath. There is no Bible in Rome. I made many inquiries there for a Bible, but without success. The people have no Bible. They know nothing about it. An in- telligent man of fifty told me that he never saw one. Multitudes of the priests know nothing about it. And when asked why they have none for sale, the booksel- lers will tell you that it is prohibited. Captain Pack- enham, once a banker in the city, and a most respect- able gentleman and devout Christian, is now in banish- ment for circulating the Scriptures there during the short existence of the Republic. Much of true religion consists in knowing God and Jesus Christ ; and how KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 157 No preacbing. No congregations. Exceptic ns. can they be known by a people from whom the Bible is excluded ? There is no preaching in Rome. Now and then, a foreign priest or ecclesiastic visiting there, in search of a pallium, or of a cardinal's hat, may get up a brief course of lectures for the edification of the strangers win- tering there ; but these are usually vain and ambitious men, who seek in this way to gain favor at court, and to promote their self-interests. There is no preaching to the Italians ; and when there is an occasional ex- ception to the rule, it is not the Grospel that is preached : it is either a eulogy upon some Popish saint, or a ve- hement harangue against the Reformation and Protest- ants. Popery treats as a nullity the ascending com- mand of the Savior, " Gro ye into all the world and preach the Grospel to every creature." This one crime, Sir, is enough to subject it to the curse of "Anathema Maranatha." There are no worshiping congregations at Rome or- dinarily. Crowds attend the high ceremonies of " Holy Week ;" on great occasions, when there are gorgeous processions, at which the Pope and the military attend, multitudes are drawn together by curiosity ; but, on ordinary occasions, there are no congregations to wit- ness the ceremonies in the churches. In this I was greatly disappointed. The only exceptions I witnessed were at St. Carlo, in the Corso, and around the image of Mary, in St. Augustin, as already narrated. On Sab- bath day, and on every day of the week, I was at the great basilicas and churches, and very often myself and company were the whole congregation ! I witnessed the mass in St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Mag- 158 kirwan's letters. Last Sabbath morning. Scenes at St. Peter's. giore, performed by a bishop and many priests, when not a soul was present to form a congregation hut my own little company. My last Sabbath morning there was spent between the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's ; and while mass was going on at several altars in the church, it would be a liberal calculation to say that there was an average of five persons at each altar. This was in the morning ; the masses and vespers of the afternoon are literally deserted, unless where singing is expected. Indeed, where there is any religion at all among the people, it is usually of a vicarious character. The faithful leave the care of their souls to the priests ; as a man sometimes commits his business to an agent, with powers of attorney to act for him. And they think, and truly, that the masses offered at the altars will be as efficacious in their absence as if they were present. Hence there is often a crowd of priests en- gaged in a ceremony without a soul to witness it. And what struck me as more singular still, was to see priests in St. Peter's on Sabbath day entering the beautiful chapels during the ceremony of the mass at their al- tars with guide-books in their hands, and criticizing the works of art by which they are adorned ! Could they do so if they believed that a brother priest was creating Grod before them ? And I was amazed at the manner in which those who attended performed their devotions. Two girls will enter, and kneel together, and cross themselves ; and it is truly ludicrous to see them alternately pray- ing, and talking, and laughing. Persons upon their knees, and their lips moving very rapidly, repeating their prayers, have often eyed me from head to foot, KIRWAN 'S LETTERS. 159 Spanish officer. No religion. Solemn question. and gazed on me as I went around the church. Every- thing I saw among priests and people was chillingly heartless, save in an old Spanish officer, who daily vis- ited St. Peter's, dressed in half uniform, with his sword dangling behind him. I saw him a few times on his knees, and he seemed really to pray, and to heat his breast with his hand, as if he felt the weight of some awful sins pressing upon his soul. I felt an anxiety to say to him that the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. Now, Sir, in the absence of the Sabbath — in the ab- sence of the Bible — in the absence of the preaching of the G-ospel — in the absence of congregations even from the ceremonies with which the priests seek to fill up the void left by the prohibition of the Word of God, how could there be any religion in Rome ? God has de- vised means to ends ; and when the means are not used, the ends are not attained. Sir, there is no reli- gion in Rome. There is there blind superstition — there is Jesuit cunning — there is solemn pomp and ceremonial observances — btrt there is no religion. Nor is there, as a rule, in any country where Popery ob- tains among the masses. Is Popery, then, the form of religion best adapted to our country ? The foundations and bulwarks of our institutions, are the intelligence, the religion, the morals of our people ; can these remain to sustain and to de- fend our institutions if Popery becomes the religion of our people ? Let the past answer. With great respect, yours. 160 kirwan's letters. " ' ' — -- — i- . - - _»■_ . ... . ■.. .. I, ... — — 1 ■ ■ ■ - !! ■ P How could religion get into Rome. Idolatry, LETTER XVIII. Fruits of Romanism. — Idolatry in Rome. — A Prodigy. — Pictures of Mary — her Names and Worship. — Immorality of Rome. — Scene at Naples. — Key to priestly Profligacy. — Experience of Luther. — Mass for the Soul of Gregory XVI. — Vespers in the Sistine. — Cardinals — their Character. — Feelings of the Romans toward the Priests. — A Chat at Civita Vecchia. — Romanism detested at Rome. My dear Sir, — In my last letter I commenced the work of testing Romanism by its fruits at home, that you and all men might see whether its propagation should he encouraged among the nations and people yet beyond the circle of its influence. I have shown you that in Rome, where the system culminates, where it has every thing in its own hands, there is no personal liberty — no security of property — no religion. There is in Rome no Sabbath — no Bible — no preaching of the Grospel — no worshiping congregations — no serious de- votions ; and how can religion exist in the absence of these ? But I am not yet through with the fruits of Romanism at home. There are a few other statements I wish to place before you. There is, Sir, the most gross idolatry in Rome. On this point I need not dwell, after what I have said al- ready about the Bambino of Ara Coeli, the Virgin of St. Augustin's, and the relics which are to be found every where. You meet there, wherever you go. mi- raculous pictures, and wonder-working relics, and stat- ues that came down from heaven, and places rendered kirwan's letters. 161 Images worshiped. Snow in summer. Pictures of Mary. sacred by prodigies ; and before these pictures, relics, and images, you see poor people bowing down with as profound a homage as ever the Hindoos render to their idols. The priests may disguise or excuse this as they may; it is, after all, no less than idolatry. "You are here on holy ground," said our guide, when walking through and round the church of St. Maria Maggiore. "What makes it holy," I asked. "Because," said he, "G-od showed where the church should be built by covering its site two feet deep with snow in summer !" And this he said with a stolid gravity which would make it a sin to suspect him of quizzing. I turned to my " Guide of Rome" to see if there was any allusion to this prodigy, where, to my amazement, I read the following passage : " This church was built in the year 352, under the pontificate of St. Liberius, in conse- quence of a vision that he and John the Patrician had the same night, and which was confirmed the follow- ing morning, the 5th of August, by a miraculous fall of snow, which extended over the space which the church was to occupy : for this reason it was called St. Maria ad Mves." And you can scarcely turn a corner without meeting with a place which has some sacred and prodigious history like this. May not this be the reason why it is called the "Holy City." For similar reasons, Mecca and Medina are "holy cities." The pictures and statues that most abound, and to which most resort in prayer and prostration, are those of the Virgin Mary. Indeed, what the Prophet is to Mohammedanism, the Virgin is to Romanism. To her are given names which belong only to G-od. She is called "Mother of God" — "Advocate of Sinners" — 162 kirwan's letters. Names and honors. Lyons saved. Rome immoral. " Refuge of Sinners" — " Gate of Heaven" — ". Most Faithful"— "Most Merciful." And in the Psalter of David, as reformed by Bonaventura, we find this sen- tence : "Come unto Mary, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and she shall refresh your souls." Church- es are built to her honor — her shrines are crowded with devotees, and are hung with votive offerings. Her name is the first which the infant is taught to lisp, and the dying are directed to look to her for mercy. The soldier goes to battle under her banner, and the brigand plunders under her protection. In Italy and Spain, robbers wear a picture of Mary hung round their neck by a ribbon. If overtaken suddenly by death, they kiss the image, and die in peace. And while apostles, martyrs, saints, and relics are not forgotten, Mary is the divinity of Romanism. The city of Lyons erected a pillar to Mary for saving it from the cholera of 1832. When Pio Nino fled from Rome, he threat- ened the city with the vengeance of Mary : finding her rather tardy in her movements, he prayed France for aid, which, being more propitious than Mary, sent him forty thousand bayonets ! "Why, Sir, while Mary is in the mouth of every body, the common people do not know enough about Jesus Christ even to swear by him. Mary is to the Romans what Diana was to the Ephesians. Rome, as a city, is given to idolatry. Rome is, emphatically, an immoral city — probably the most so in Christendom ; and that notwithstand- ing it has an ecclesiastic of some kind for every thirty inhabitants ! There are some statements which I blush to make on this head, and which I only make out of an imperative sense of duty. I wish every American kirwan's letters. 163 Gambling priests. Theatre at Naples. A key. citizen to know the blessings to be expected from Ro- manism when the system is fully established and de- veloped among us. In the broad street opposite the post-office, in Na- ples, I saw a priest at ten o'clock in the morning at a gambling table ! The sight astounded me, as I then witnessed it for the first time ; but my guide soon put me to rest by stating that the priests were among the most expert and successful gamblers in the city ! The theatre of St. Carlo, in Naples, was opened on the king's birth-day. Without entering it, I went with my trav- eling friend and our valet to the porch, to see the Ne- apolitans in their gay attire, and to have a glimpse of the royal family. Of the men that went to the ballet, for such it was, the largest number were soldiers, the next largest were priests. There is no mistaking a priest in Italy. He is known by his regimentals ; and, if naked, his shaven crown would reveal him. I was again astonished ! Soon, however, familiarity dimin- ished my wonder ; and when, on a more full informa- tion, I saw that the only relation of the priest to re- ligion was that of a formal and official kind, like that of a magistrate to the laws, I also saw that there was nothing to bind him to a moral life, or to submission to the moral law, bevond that which binds a civil mnjr- istrate. This is the key to much of the priestly profli- gacy to be found in Papal countries. Boys are devoted to the priesthood from youth — they are brought up for it — the doctrine of moral fitness is unheard of. They enter it under but one restriction — not to marrv : but they may do any thing else. As some magistrates are excellent men, so are some priests ; but the priest 164 kirwan's letters. Luther's experience. Masses for the Pope. Why? can do with impunity any thing which a magistrate can. It was the experience of Luther, that the nearer he got to Rome, the more wicked were the priests and people. And writing from there a few days after he entered it, and while saying mass at its altars, he said, "It is incredible what sins and atrocities are commit- te4 here ; they must be seen and heard to be believed ; it is usual to say here, 'If there be a hell, Rome is built above it ;' it is an abyss from which all sins pro- ceed." And although centuries have passed away since the noble Saxon penned these lines, I am persuaded that they give, so far forth, a true picture of Rome at the present hour. You, Sir, will remember, that on the death of the late Pope Gregory, masses were ordered for the repose of his soul all over the Papal world. In many places, and, no doubt, in the cathedral of your city, these masses were celebrated with great pomp. The order- ing of these masses gave rise to many questions among Protestants ; I confess it staggered myself. The repose of the soul of the vicar of Jesus Christ ! of the holy Pope Gregory ! What should disturb the repose of his soul ? What did he do to disquiet his spirit after it shot the gulf which divides time from eternity ? "If you take five minutes' walk," said a friend of mine, long a resident of Rome, to me one day, "I will in- troduce you to two fine young girls, the daughters of the late Pope !" I then fully understood why masses were ordered for the repose of his soul ! Perhaps you may not know, Sir, that it is quite a common occur- rence for the Popes to leave behind them many "neph- KIR WAN 'S LETTERS. 165 Pope's children. Ceremony in the Sistine. Secretary of State. ews" and " nieces," the names by which their illegiti- mate offspring are designated. But so it is. Their progeny is not counted by units. And the example set by pontiffs, the cardinals, and priests, are not slow to copy. I went one day to the Sistine Chapel to vespers, when the Pope and nearly twenty cardinals were pres- ent. He who has once seen there the entrance of the cardinals, each with his servant untwisting his robe — their kneeling before the altar, and their servants ad- justing their robes -while kneeling — their bowing to the altar and to one another — their taking their seats with their servants at their feet, and assuming a most de- votional look — their leaving their seats to salute the Pope, with their scarlet robes trailing behind them, can never forget the sight ! 0, Sir, how every idea of the infallibility of these persons passes away, like the hoar frost before the sun, on witnessing the silly ceremonies they practice in the Sistine ! If you should see twenty children going through these ceremonies, you would conjecture that they were keeping holiday on the 1st of April. I sought to read the cardinals, and I think I did read some of them. "Who," said I, "is that youngish man, with that dark, penetrating, cold-look- ing eye?" "That," said my guide, "is the Cardinal Secretary of State." I need not name him here. He heads the horrible clique, in whose hands the present Pope is but a puppet, and will be probably his success- or. Now and then these men in scarlet turned up their eyes, and moved their lips quite fast, and put up their hands after the manner of little Samuel in the picture; but all was obviously to be seen of men. • " 166 kirwan's letters. Character of cardinals. Of the Pope. No confidence. "What," said I to a friend, who knows them well, "what is the moral character of these cardinals?" His reply astounded me. "It is to me amazing," said he, "that some of these men can keep up even the form of devotion in the presence of one another, when each knows that the other keeps three, four, or five mistresses. Some of them are the greatest debauchees in Rome ; they go, Sir, from the bed to the altar, and from the altar to the bed. I know what I say. I have mixed and mingled with these persons. I have heard wicked and loose young men talk in my day ; but the most loose and lewd conversation I ever heard in my life was from these men." "And is this the general character of priesthood here?" said I. "I am per- suaded it is," said he, " except the Pope, who is a pure- minded man, and who would do better, and make oth- ers do better, if he could." He then went on to state that the priests are the corrupters of the people, and mainly through the confessional and the women. ' ' No- ble Romans," said he, "have told me, with tears, that because of the lewdness of these priests, and their way of ferreting out every thing at the confessional, they have lost confidence in the virtue of their wives, their mothers, their sisters, and their daughters. Domestic love and confidence, as a rule, are unknown in Rome." So emphatic and terrific was the testimony of this person, that I went away, feeling that something had chafed his temper, and that he condemned all for the known vices of a few ; and it was not until I heard his testimony corroborated from all the sources at which I sought information that I could admit it to be true. Like sin and death, confession and seduction follow KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 167 Chat at Civita Vecchia. An excited Italian. each other in Rome. The crimes are there rife that brought from heaven a rain of fire on Sodom. While sitting in the veranda of the hotel in Civita Vecchia, waiting for the steamer from Naples to car- ry us to Genoa, I got into conversation with a most intelligent Italian, who spoke English with fluency. "Why," said I, "do you not drive out these French soldiers?" as a parcel of them marched along to the tap of a drum. He replied, " We are not strong enough to drive out the rascals. But if Louis Napoleon is not elected — if a true republic is set up in France, that will recall these men, then we will have freedom." "You have priests here, too," said I, as half a dozen of them were tripping along beneath us. "Plenty," said he, with excited emphasis, and gritting his teeth. " What good do they do you ?" I asked. " Much good," he re- plied, with a scornful toss of the head ; "they eat up a man's own property — they suck his own blood out of him — and they go with his own wife." And this, as far as I heard it, is the unbroken testimony of Italy as to the priest ; with one exception, and that was an American doing business in Rome, and he only as- serted that the above statements are too strong, and that things are better than they have been. "If we can only get these French away," said my friend in the veranda, "we will show you Americans what we will do." "And what will you do?" said I. He re- plied, in a most energetic under tone, "we will estab- lish an Italian republic, and the first thing we will do will be to kill off these d — d priests, for they are the enemies of the people, and the spies of despotism." The next revolution in Italy will be a terrible one for 168 KIR WAN's LETTERS. Terrible retribution. Morality of the people. the priests. The people have a terrible retribution in store for them, and they know it. And hence the tightening of the chains of despotism, from the lines of Sardinia down to the Straits of Messina, and the stealthy meetings between the Pope and his most faith- ful friend, the King of Naples, the most cold-hearted and villainous despot upon earth, for mutual support, when the sleeping fires burst forth. And burst forth they will. If the morals of the clergy in Rome are such as we have described, what must be the morals of the people ? Depraved and low, according to all testimony, to the last degree. As by common consent, the marriage vows are disregarded ; and while externally every thing seems moral and decent, yet underneath there ^s little else than rottenness and putrefaction. I repeat it, Sir, there is no morality in Rome. Instead of being a "holy city," it is a fermenting vat of corruption, and the priests supply the chief ingredients which produce the fermentation. A venerable professor of one of our American universities, with whom I traveled on the Mediterranean, stated that, but a few days previous to my meeting with him, a priest was taken up in Jordina, in Sicily, for having eight women in his harem, three of whom were married persons ! Of course, a state of morals like this among the priests, when connected with a grinding despotism, framed and executed mainly by them, must make them and their religion despicable in the eyes of the people. And they are so, as is obvious from the de- serted churches that you find every where, and from the unanimous expressions of their sentiments by the kirwan's letters. 169 # Romanism detested in Rome. A wonder. Who wants Rome's morals? people whenever they can whisper them. There is, Sir, not a spot on earth where Romanism is more de- tested than in Rome — there is not a spot on earth where the Pope and his priests are more supremely contemned. If the people of Rome could only have their way, the Pope would be -to-morrow in exile — his priests would be in the dungeons where patriots are now rotting ; and the fabled chair of St. Peter would be at the bottom of the muddy Tiber, or ascending to heaven in smoke. And it is one of the most unac- countable anomalies of the day to see men so despised at home so favorably regarded abroad — to see men who can only retain their places at home by the aid of Swiss and French soldiery, claiming a universal dominion over the people and nations of Christendom, and par- celing out kingdoms among their spies and tools for Papal purposes. Is it, Sir, desirable to have the morals of Rome trans- ferred to New York and Baltimore ? If not, is it de- sirable that the priests, and the system which produce these morals, should be patronized among us? I am far from saying — indeed, I do not believe — that Rom- ish priests in this country are as immoral as they are in Rome. I believe they are worse in Italy than in any other part of the world. But may it not be owing to the fact that the keen eye of Protestantism is upon them ? "What will be their morals, or ours, when they have all things to their mind ? The Chinese say they find here a fine market for their worst teas — the French for their poorest silks — and the English for their worst manufactures. When fashions are worn out in Europe, they are often in full credit here ! Must it be so with H , 170 kirwan's letters. m Americans putting on what Italians cast off. its religion also ? Is it to the credit of our country that she should be dressing herself up in the old, tawdry, moth-eaten garments of the old whore of Babylon, which even the down-trodden Italians are casting in- dignantly away? With great respect, yours. kirwan's letters. 171 Avignon. Its curiosities. Mine host LETTER XIX. Avignon. — Hotel de l'Europe — mine Host. — Captain Packenham. — Elasticity of Romanism — the Pope — Priests. — Despotism of Roman- ism.— Friends of the Pope. — Neapolitan Catechism. — Priests the Watchmen of Despotism — their horrid Use of the Confessional — it should be the Abhorrence of all Flesh. My dear Sir, — On Friday, the 23d of May, I was landed in Avignon, famous in history as the old seat of the Popedom during the split that rent the Papal Church in twain* Myself and friend put up at the Ho- tel de l'Europe, a most comfortahle and pleasant house. The attractions of this town to a traveler are the old Palace of the Popes, now a prison, with the old cathe- dral by its side, both built upon the top of a rock ; and the Museum, which is a curiosity in its way. On the side of the old palace is a tower upward of two hund- red feet high, the Tarpeian rock of Avignon, and from which multitudes have been cast down for summary death ! It is frightful to look at — it is frightful to think of the inhumanity that would cast even a dog down the dreadful steep! And after seeing its sights, and looking out from its towering cliff upon the winding Rhone that washes its base — the vine-clad hills every where visible — and upon the snowy mountains that prop the sky in the distant horizon, we returned to our hotel. Its keeper is a polite Frenchman, slender in person, with an intelligent eye, a thoughtful countenance, a pretty good knowledge of English, and quite chatty. 172 • kirwan's letters. Where do you go, Sir ? Adaptation. An exile. After a few minutes of general conversation, he asked, in a pleasant manner, " Where do you go, Sir?" " To Rome," I replied. "And be you a Catholique?" he asked. "0 no," I answered, "I am a Protestant;" and immediately added, "there are not many Catho- lics in America, save those who go there from Europe — the Catholic religion does not suit our institutions." "With that emphatic shrug of the shoulder peculiar to a Frenchman, and with a peculiar look and accent, which made me doubt whether he spoke in faith or in fun, he replied, "You do not understand in America the religion Catholique : it suits itself to all the insti- tutions in the world." This was certainly saying much for its gum-elastic properties, and it is true, with cer- tain restrictions. It makes perpetual war against the Bible and the simple institutions of the Grospel. With these exceptions, it literally becomes all things to all men, but with this one object steadily in view, that it may induce some to put on its yoke. But, because its devices are known, its power is broken. I met more than once in Sardinia and Switzerland the well-known Captain Packenham, to whom I had re- ceived an introduction from Sir Culling Eardley, a Brit- on by birth, a man of family and fortune, a philanthro- pist and Christian, and an exile from Rome and Tus- cany, where he resided many years, because of his dis- tributing in those places the Holy Scriptures in Italian ! But few men have had better opportunities of studying Popery at home, or of forming so true a judgment of its priests. And as we were walking together the streets of Lausanne, and as he was pouring forth the noble thoughts of his noble mind, and with all the ardor of K I R W A N 'S LETTERS. 173 Popery a police. Its elasticity. The Pope. a warm Christian heart, he uttered this memorable sentiment: "Popery, Sir, is the police of despotism, and its priests are its watchmen" Never was the sy&tem and its priests more truly, briefly, or eloquent- ly characterized. The sentence is worthy of a place among the proverbs of the wise and good ; and you will permit me, in the present letter, to state to you a few things to prove and to illustrate the truth of the saying of mine host at Avignon, and of the exile of Rome. The gum-elastic properties of Romanism are obvious every where. Look at it from whatever stand-point you may, and you can not fail to see them. See these prop- erties as manifested by the Pope ! He is now a tem- poral prince — now the vicar of Christ — now glittering from his throne — now washing pilgrims' feet — lauded in America as a liberal, in Austria as a despot — to-day he is a shepherd of the sheep, and to-morrow, like Peter, a fisherman ; " determined," in the language of an En- glish wit, "to live by hook and by crook." There is not a state of things existing, nor is there one likely to arise, save the spread of the true Gospel, and the put- ting up of free, civil, and religious institutions in Cen- tral and Southern Europe, to which he may not extend or contract himself. His gum-elastic properties are wonderful. Look at its priests. They will multiply idols to suit a Chinaman — they will worship the Great Spirit to suit the Indian — they will preach up greegrees and charms to gain the Hottentot. They will synchronize with any form of error to make friends for themselves, or adherents to their system, or to raise barriers against the progress of the truth. They will laud the despotism 174 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. P.astic priests. Who can know it? Despotism. of Tuscany — they will consecrate the trees of liberty in Paris — they will shout hosannas to democracy in New York, and to the most despicable despot that lives, the King of the Two Sicilies, at Naples. They will preach up liberty of conscience in Baltimore — no lib- erty of conscience in Rome ; the freedom of the press h ere — no freedom of the press in Naples. They will flout the British ministry for protecting British subjects from their wiles, and they will curse the King of Sar- dinia for permitting a Protestant Church to be erected in Turin ! Sir, it is my deliberate conviction, that if upon the face of the earth there is a class of men more destitute of principle than another, or less to be trusted than another, it is the priesthood of the Romish Church. They are a sacerdotal company, disconnected by the ordinary ties of humanity with their race, a close cor- poration, and with no principles but those which pro- mote their interest. " You do not understand in Amer- ica the religion Catholique," said my host in Avignon; and in the name of humanity, who can understand it ? And the despotism of Popery is equally obvious as is the elasticity of its principles. To prove this, I will not go back to the annals of the Dark Ages— to the claims of Hildebrand — to the wars waged concerning the right of investiture — to the terrible interdicts of the Yatican, nor to the despotic doctrines which form the chief material of the system. To prove true the sentiment uttered by my friend at Lausanne, I will call before you living witnesses, which you may cross- examine at your pleasure. A proverb is a short saying or a moral rule deduced from an extended experience, and whose truth all ex- KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 175 Men judged by their company. A catechism. perience unites to prove. Now, Sir, it has passed into a proverb, that "men are judged by the company they keep." Let us try the Pope by this rule. If sent out to select from all the crowned heads of Europe the ver- iest despots, who, Sir, would you select? If you have read Gladstone's letters, you would probably select the King of Naples first ; and in view of the recent atroci- ties in Hungary, you would select the Emperor of Aus- tria next. Now he of Naples is the bosom friend of Pio Nino, and is regarded by the father of the faithful as the most pious of all his children, while the sin of perjury lies heavy upon his soul, and the blood of his be- trayed and murdered subjects stains all his garments; and he of Austria, in whom centres all the despotism, superstition, and cruelty of the house of Hapsburg, is the chief prop of his chair ! "What the two great pil- lars, Jachin and Boaz, were to the temple of Solomon, these two despots are to the present Pope. And the greater the despot, the higher he stands in the affec- tions of the Holy Father. So far for the Pope. Now, Sir, for the priests. The following are extracts from a catechism, written by a bishop, and taught to all the children in all the schools in the Two Sicilies, as quoted from Gladstone's letters to the Earl of Aberdeen, to which I have just alluded. I would recommend the pamphlet to your serious perusal, and to that of all men. More horrible doctrines it is impossible to con- ceive of, or to pen ; and yet they are published under the vail of religion ! Religion, how often has thy purity been invoked to give sanction and currency to the "doctrines of devils," and to the cruel machinations of priests ! 176 kirwan's letters. Extracts. Liberals lost. People made for submission. " Q,. Are all liberals wicked in one and the same fashion ? "A. No; but, notwithstanding, they are traveling the same road, and, if they do not alter their course, they will arrive at the same goal." That is, all liberals in politics will be eternally lost ! There is, then, no hope for any of us in America ! " Q,. Can the people establish fundamental laws in a state ? "A. No; because a Constitution or fundamental laws are, of necessity, a limitation of sovereignty ; and this can never receive any measure or boundary except by its own act. " Q,. If the people, in electing a sovereign, impose upon him conditions or reservations, will not these form the Constitution and fundamental laws of the state ? "A. They will, provided the sovereign grant them freely ; otherwise they will not ; because the people, ivho are made for submission, and not for command, can not impose a law upon the sovereignty, which derives its power, not from them, but from God. " Q,. If a prince has sworn to observe a Constitution, is he bound to maintain it ? "A. He is, provided it does not overthrow the foun- dations of sovereignty ; and provided it is not opposed to the general interests of the state. When a sover- eign finds a fundamental law is seriously hurtful to his people, he is bound to cancel it, because the duty of the sovereign is the people's weal. An oath can not become an obligation to commit evil, and therefore can not bind a sovereign to do what is injurious to his sub- jects Besides, the Head of the Church has author- kirwan's letters. 177 Absolving power. Sovereign power. Careful teaching. ity from God to release consciences from oaths, when he judges that there is suitable cause for UP Here is the old power of absolving kings from their oaths, and turning them loose as blood-hounds among their people, revived ! " Q,. Whose business is it to decide when the Con- stitution impairs the right of sovereignty, and is ad- verse to the welfare of the people ? , " A. It is the business of the sovereign, because in him resides the high and paramount power established by Grod in the state with a view to its good order and felicity. " Q,. May there not be some danger that the sover- eign may violate the Constitution without just cause, under the illusion of error or the impulse of passion ? " A. Errors and passions are the maladies of the human race ; but the blessings of health ought not to be refused through the fear of sickness." This catechism, teaching such horrible doctrines, was written by a bishop, is circulated by bishops to all their priests, and by the priests is taught to all the peo- ple of Sicily ; its doctrines are more carefully taught to the young than are any articles of the Christian faith. "With these extracts before you, will you hesitate a mo- ment to believe that " Popery is the police of despot- ism ?" And with doctrines like these it supports des- potism in every country in Europe where it exists, and where the despots are Papists. And as it absolves a Papal king from his oath to his subjects, so it absolves Papal subjects from their allegiance to their Protest- ant king, when the good of the Church requires it. Are these catechism-makers the men for our country ? H2 • 178 kirwan's letters. Watchmen of despotism. Hard swimming. Base means. Should these spies of despotism receive any counte- nance from freemen ? But is it true that the " priests are the watchmen of despotism ?" Never was a more true sentiment ut- tered ; and never was the sentiment more true than at the present hour. ' The system is struggling for its very life — its foundations are giving way in all lands — the wa^s of public opinion are dashing against the super- structure, and its priests are putting forth every effort to save it and themselves, as they well know that when their ship sinks they will have hard swimming. Despotisms are always base, and will use any means to retain their power. They are public robbers ; and, like other robbers, have no conscience as to the means they use. They employ spies — use bribery — lay snares — get up plots — sow dissensions, and use all unright- eous means to find out and to kill off their enemies, and to consolidate their usurped power, and to put new rivets into the chains that bind people and nations to their thrones. And as the Papacy is the basest of des- potisms, it has the base pre-eminence of using the most base means to accomplish its purposes. Other despot- isms seek by spies to discover plots, and secret cabals, and overt acts ; but Popery has a plan by which not only to discover all these, with almost infallible cer- tainty, but also the very thoughts of men. And this it does through the infamous confessional — " the slaugh- ter-house of consciences" — an institution devised in hell, and set up on earth in the name of religion, that " the Man of Sin" may find out the secrets of all fam- ilies, and of all hearts, and for the purpose of wielding them all to the maintenance of his bad dominion. All KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 179 Confessions. Their effects in Naples, Rome. ■ ■ — ■ — ■— — are obliged to- confess on the pain of eternal death ; no confession avails if any sin or secret thought is kept back ; and these confessions, when necessary, are sent to head-quarters. In this way the court of Rome is invest- ed with a kind of omniscience, as through the priests, its spies, its watchmen, who have their confession-boxes every where, they find out the secrets of courts, cabi- nets, and families, and even the very thoughts of men's hearts. And what is the effect of all thft ? A true Papist is afraid to think, because his conscience drags him to the confessional ; and the priest who sits there, weaving webs to catch the unwary, as does a bottled spider to catch flies, will drag out his thoughts, and when these thoughts are drawn out, they are sent to head-quarters ! I know the theory is, that confessions made to a priest are buried in his bosom ; but has not " the Head of the Church authority from (rod to re- lease consciences from oaths when he judges that there is suitable cause for it?" And what cause can be more suitable than the good of the Church, and the safety of the chair of St. Peter ? And what, Sir, must be the natural effect of all this upon families ? Gro down to Naples and see ! Many is the Neapolitan husband, son, and brother, rotting in the prisons there on the information wrung from then- wives, mothers, and sisters by the " watchmen of des- potism" at the confessional. Go to Rome and see ! Many is the noble Roman in exile, or in chains in the dungeons of Rome, on the information wrung from the female members of their families at the confessional. If a wife or daughter goes to confession, the husband and father can intrust no secret to either, can not re- 180 kirwan's letters. Effects in the family. No fancy picture. pose any confidence in them. The sweets and the con- fidences of home are unknown — the sweet, confiding love of the family circle is broken up — not a word of freedom, or of dissatisfaction, or of complaint must be uttered — no suspected guest must be entertained — no private meetings must be held or alluded to, for all, all must be told at the confessional, sent up to the Vatican, and down to the police ! Even in the heart of a fond wife there*is no secret chamber which the priest, " the watchman of despotism," can not enter, and from which he may not bring forth its most secret and sacred de- posits. Thus the mother, daughters, and sisters are converted by the infernal confessional into spies upon the conduct of their husbands and brothers, and are taught to believe that they are at once serving Grod and the Church, and saving their own souls — yes, and even doing the greatest good to their husbands and brothers, when revealing their thoughts and their con- duct to these " watchmen of despotism." And is this, Sir, a fancy picture ? Go and spend a month in Naples, or in Rome, and seek information from those who are competent and not afraid to give it, and you will say that the picture is not one half to the life. And I only wonder that the husbands, sons, and brothers of wives, mothers, and sisters, that go to the knees of Papal priests to confess, do not rise as one man, and pile up the con- fession-boxes for a grand bonfire, and drive their rev- erend confessors and seducers to Purgatory for purifica- tion. Nor, Sir, are these pictures of these "watchmen of despotism" confined to Naples and Rome. Their char- acter in those lands of Papal darkness, where the very KIRWAN 'S LETTERS. 181 Priests every where the same. Espionage lisjht is darkness, is their universal character. Wher- ever the bishops or priests, the monks or the nuns of Romanism are found, they are only the spies, " the watchmen" of the driveling despot that lives in the Vatican, himself the victim of a clique of cardinal des- pots. Through their instrumentality the nations of the earth lie open to the eye of Rome ; and she is enabled to judge of the best means of keeping them in her pow- er, or of subduing them to her sceptre. Archbishops are the spies of the cardinals — bishops, of the arch- bishops — priests, of the bishops — and your poor Popish maid or coachman, the nurse of your children, or the waiter at your table, is the spy of the priest ! And this vast system of espionage and tyranny is mainly conducted through the infamous confessional ! Are these watchmen of despotism the men for our country ? I put this question to you, as its honored and honorable chief judicial officer, and upon whose ermine there is not a stain. With great respect, yours. 182 kirwan's letters. Priests unfrocked. Opposite opinions. LETTER XX. Character of Priests.— A Walk in Turin.— Bishops in England and America Spies of Rome.— Ecclesiastical Preferments the Rewards of Spies.— When Priests and Despots are in League, no Hope for the People. Examples of priestly Despotism.— Curse from the Altar. — Case of the Antrim Miller.— Priests the Curse of Ireland.— Can they be a blessing to America? My dear Sir, — As I have a little more to say on the subject, I return again to the " watchmen of despot- ism." These watchmen have been permitted to wear the garment and the crook of shepherds long enough ; it is time that their overcoats should be torn off, and that they should be revealed in their true livery. Perhaps in no part of the world are the priests of Romanism putting forth more strenuous efforts to pro- mote the interests of the despotism of Rome than in the "United States. And while lauding our institutions, and at times almost eloquent in favor of liberty of con- science, there is not a feeling of their hearts, nor a sym- pathy of their nature, which does not cluster around the man of the triple crown. As with one voice, did they not denounce the Roman Republic, and hurl their anathemas against its leaders, and preach up a " Peter pence" contribution for to sustain the priests carousing at G-aeta ? Did not bishops here, while playing into the hands of Whigs or Democrats to gain their ends, denounce the revolution in Hungary, rejoice over the bloody triumphs of the united forces of Russia and KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 183 Heart at Rome. A talk in Turin. Austria, and denounce the great Magyar even before he trod the soil, or breathed the air of our free coun- try ? How do you account, Sir, for this sympathy with tyranny abroad, and this eulogy of freedom at home ? Their heart is in Rome, and so is their allegiance. Priests are here " the watchmen of despotism," and are bound to Rome by every tie that can bind a slave to his master. And if it would only confirm the dominion of Pio Nono, and tend to suppress the Bible and the awful heresy of " private reasoning," there is not a priest in this Union who would not rejoice over the ruins of our Republic to-morrow. The man who be- lieves otherwise is almost fit to read without a smile, and with edification, " the History of the Holy House of Loretto, by the Very Rev. P. R. Kenrick, V. Gr." As I was one day viewing with a friend the city of Turin, admiring the beauty of the surrounding scenery — the Superga, the snowy Alps, the winding Po, and the beautiful Colline, sparkling with villas from bottom to top, " Where," said I, "is the new Protestant church to be erected ?" We were moving along at the moment a beautiful promenade, wide, and planted with trees, and destined at no distant day to be the finest street in that rapidly increasing city. " In this very street," was the reply. No finer or more prominent position could be selected. The question led to a most interesting conversation as to the progress of free institutions in that country, and as to the determination of the king, and nobles, and Parliament to secure freedom to all to worship God as they deem best. During the deeply- interesting and eloquent remarks of my friend, he gave utterance to this sentiment : " Our English and Amer- 184 kirwan's letters. Wiseman and Hughes. Britain. Who get palliuma. ican friends come to Italy to see us. We are glad to see them. We give them often in detail what is doing to promote right views and right institutions ; but they often, unwittingly, do us great injury. They go back and publish our statements to the world ; and the first we know of the matter is by hearing of a most urgent ap- peal from Wiseman of London, or Hughes of New York, for the withdrawal of all privileges from Protestants, so as to check all progress toward freedom in these countries. What we tell here in private is published abroad, and is sent back here by bishops and priests, as information to these priestly despots." What a fact in proof of the allegation that Popish priests are the spies of despotism ! You can not, Sir, close your eyes to the existing state of things in Britain. There is not an act of Parliament — from its inception to its passage or defeat — bearing in the most remote degree upon the education or moral instruction of the people, which is not known and canvassed at Rome, and on which the Papal party in the kingdom does not side with the Vati- can. And in our own happy country, the mitre and the pallium are usually rewards of merit bestowed by the Pope upon those priests who have best performed their duties as his pimps or watchmen. These ecclesi- astical baubles are not the rewards of piety, or talent, or of high virtue, but of subserviency to that politico- ecclesiastical power which claims to fetter the nations, and to think for the race, by the authority of Grod. And the winners of cardinals' caps are usually those most unscrupulous in principle, and most destitute of the cardinal virtues. " Popery is the police of despotism," said my friend KIRWAN 's LETTERS. 185 No hope. Terrible agency. The prop of despotism. at Lausanne. That it is the agency through which despots can "best govern their people, is most obvious. When the people are Papists, and the priests are in league with the state, what hope is there for the people ? If a man breathes at the confessional the aspirations of his soul after liberty, they are known to the police. Wives and sisters are made spies upon their husbands and brothers. Where can a spark of patriotism glow beyond the scrutiny of priestly eyes ? It prohibits the circulation of the Bible ; it forbids the religious tract ; it anathematizes all works which vindicate the natural rights of man ; it walls out all evangelical influences ; it withholds all religious rites, as in the case of the bishops of Sardinia, from those who oppose its policy ; it muzzles the press ; it stimulates the faithful by prom- ises of heaven, and terrifies the disobedient by the threats of sending them to hell, making them all to be- lieve that the keys of heaven and hell hang by her girdle. With an agency like this in his favor among a people, and that can do all this under the sanctions of religion, and as the vicegerents of heaven, what has any despot to fear? And hence the natural inclina- tions of despotism to Romanism ! Without Romanism and its priests, the government of Naples could not sur- vive a day, nor could that of Austria a week. Where the people are Papists, the priests are their real govern- ors, and it is the policy of rulers to court their influence. This explains some things very queer in the recent con- duct of the King of Prussia ; it explains the entire con- duct of that puppet, " the Nephew of his Uncle," as he is contemptuously called , who now rules in France ; it explains the unworthy conduct of some of our own i86 kirwan's letters. Priest's power. Despot and priest. Ordinary priests. farthing politicians, who flatter the priest to get the votes of the people he rides ! And until the power of the priest over the people is "broken — until thus the strong motive is removed from despots for protecting and paying the priest, I see no hope for the nations now bowed down under the double yoke of despotism and Romanism. As long as the vigilant police of Pop- ery can be sustained by a despot among a people that will submit to it, for the freedom of that people there is no earthly hope. To be free, the despot and the priest must go up into the air, or sink down into the pit together ! Hence, unless I greatly misinterpret the feelings of Papal Europe, and the signs of the times, the next war south, or even north oMhe Alps, will be a terrible one for the priests. " The watchmen of des- potism" will be the very first victims ; as far as they are concerned, it will be a war to the knife. They have sown the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. And it is astonishing to what a degree the ordinary priests partake of the spirit of the system, and act the despot within the bounds of their little parishes. Even in this free country, much of our emigrant population suffers under their despotism; and, although free to think and to act for themselves under our laws, they stand in terror of " the higher law" of the priest. I have known the life of a poor servant girl to be threat- ened by her own immediate relatives for becoming a Protestant, and since I commenced writing this letter, another has told me that her own mother threatened to shoot her dead because she has attached herself to a Methodist Church! So horrible is the system that, when it takes hold of an ignorant mind, it extinguishes kirwan's letters. 187 Priests promote violence. A widow. Common thing. even natural affection ! And, if not exhorters to these brutal exhibitions of superstitious passion, the priests are no check to them. In many portions of the world, they excite to them by exhortation and example. Not many months ago, a poor Irish widow, with eight or nine children, came to me to secure service for one of them. They all looked healthy, but not one of them knew a letter of the alphabet. " How came you," said I, "to bring up these children in such gross ignorance ?" Her reply astounded me. " I lived," said she, " in Ireland, between two small towns, in each of which was a good Protestant school, and I wanted to send my children to them, but the priest said if I did, that he would curse me from the altar ; and then no- body would speak to me ; and they might kill me and my children." And the least acquaintance with the cruel despotism of the priests in the south and west of Ireland, will satisfy any body that this is only a favor- able illustration of their general conduct. I have re- cently passed through the north, west, and eastern por- tions of that unhappy country, and I have learned things as to their conduct to then people which should brand them with the brand of infamy as indelibly as ever was Cain. "Why, Sir, it is no uncommon thing for these " sur- pliced ruffians," as they are called by the London Times, to go to a school collected by the philanthropy and supported by the charity of a few Protestant ladies, and to break it up by cowhiding all its pupils. This is a very common occurrence. The daughter of an old magistrate residing near Ballinrobe collected a school, in which they daily taught the children of the 188 kirwan's letters. A whipping scene. Crazed by a curse. Raving. poor. The priest entered it a few months ago, and asked if the children were taught to read with a view of reading the Bible. On being informed that they were, he whipped every child out of the house. The priest denounced from the altar a school under the care of the lady of the High Sheriff of Gralway, and whipped a respectable old man out of the chapel for permitting his children to go to it. These Bible haters are often seen flogging poor ignorant mothers in the streets and roads for permitting their children to go to other than a Papist school, and when no such school is within their reach ! One of these Irish priests residing at Ballahadireen, a few years since, had a quarrel with one of his poor parishioners ; in' this quarrel, the wife of the man sided with her husband, like a noble-minded and honest woman. Seeing her in church one day, the priest cursed her from the altar. Her reverence for the priest, and her superstitious faith in his ghostly, power, gave to the curse an awful effect. F*om that hour she has been a crazed maniac. She yet lives to testify to the power of the priestly curse over an ignorant people ; and as she meets her neighbors, she thus addresses them : "I have lost my soul ; when the priest cursed me, I felt my head open, and my soul flew away. I have been seeking it ever since, but have not been able to find it. 0, will you not help me to find my soul." To illustrate the priesVs curse, and to show you its terrific power over a Popish people, permit me to nar- rate a case. There lived in the glens of Antrim a plain country farmer, who, with a few acres of land, rented a mill. He was well versed in the Irish language, and KIRWAN i ' S LETTERS. 189 The Antrim miller. Bell, book, and candle. The effect. was employed as a reader to his neighbors of the Irish Bible. He was a Papist. The priest sought to dis- suade him from the blessed work, but he would not be dissuaded. He threatened him ; but he disregarded his threatenings. He then announced that, unless he desisted from reading to his poor neighbors the "Word of G-od, on a certain Sabbath he would curse him from the altar, with "bell, book, and candle." But the rav- ings of the priest were disregarded by the honest man, who had now learned to fear G-od, and to fear nothing else. On the eighteenth of August, 1844, the curse was pronounced by the Rev. Luke Walsh, priest of Culfeightrin, upon Charles M'Laughlin, and two others that he had associated with him, as follows: "My curse and Grod's curse on Charles McLaughlin, Hugh Shields, and John M'Cay, and on all who shall hold any communion with them, or eat at the same table, or work in the same field with them." Then the bell was rung, the book was closed, and the candles on the altar were extinguished. This completed the fearful curse. And thus these men, with their families, were excluded from the society, the business, the charities of the earth, and consigned to eternal perdition, for the sin of reading the Scriptures to their neighbors, and by a man professing to be a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ ! ! And what was the effect of this curse as to the chief offender, M'Laughlin ? No person dared bring corn to his mill ; he was shunned in the streets as if a leper ; none would buy of him, or sell to him ; his children were beaten in the streets; and on approaching a wagon in a market town to buy some meal for his 190 kirwan's letters. Fearful state. Father Walshes multiplied. family, the owner fled from his wagon and his meal, as if an escaped spirit from the pit were approaching him ! And, were it not for the protection of some Protestants in the place, he must have fled from the home of his ancestors, or have fallen beneath the blow of the murderer, who, in taking his life, would feel that he was serving Grod ; and that if he sinned, he could easily procure a pardon from Father Walsh. The priest was brought to trial for damages, and was sen- tenced to a fine of d£70, with costs ; and the above facts are taken from the report of the trial now before me. I believe this " surpliced ruffian," "Walsh, is yet alive ; I know M'Laughlin is, and that he is an hum- ble Christian, laboriously and successfully engaged in the prosecution of the work of missions among the Pa- pal Irish that are swarming in the Cowgate and around the Grass Market in Edinburgh. I had the pleasure of visiting one of his stations in that city, and found him surrounded with many, once Papists, but who were brought to the saving knowledge of Christ by the read- ing of the Bible. Now, Sir, conceive of three or four thousand of these Father Walshes scattered all over Ireland — the watchmen of despotism in every parish ; finding out family secrets at the confessional ; putting out every light that would expose their wickedness ; when neither coaxing nor threats will win men to their will, thus cursing them from the altar ; and then, if you can, conceive of the fact that eight out of every ten of all its inhabitants believe that these priests are the vicegerents of Grod ; that they do all they do by the authority of Heaven, and you will not wonder that Ireland is what it is, nor that its people, who are kirwan's letters. 191 Bad effects of priests. Their two masters. swarming upon our shores, are what they are. Their deep ignorance, their low vices, their unbridled pas- sions, their low civilization, their squalid poverty, are all, all the results of the despotism of priests, many of whom are the most ferocious, vicious, profane, and rol- licking wretches in the country. They care not for the government of the land ; strong in the superstitious reverence of the masses, they put it to defiance. They care not for the rights of landlords who are not sub- servient to them ; many of them have fallen at noon- day on their own estates, because of a hint from the altar in the way of a question like this: " Should such men live ?" They care not for the people, only so far as to keep the yoke of bondage on their neck. The people may do what else they desire if they will not send their children to Protestant schools, nor read the Bible, nor become Protestants. These men, who every where look as if they far preferred prescribing to prac- ticing penance, have but two masters, the Pope and their belly. To these they yield implicit obedience ; blessing all that promote, and cursing all that oppose these masters. 0, Sir, are these Father Walshes the men for America ? If we encourage these mission- aries of barbarism in our free land until they obtain the preponderance they desire, we will deserve to be treated as was Satan by St. Dunstan, who led him about by the nose with a red-hot pincers ; or to be ranked with the devout donkey of St. Anthony of Pad- ua, who, after three days' fasting, left his provender to worship the Host. "With great respect, yours. 192 kirwan's letters. Visit to Ballenglen school. LETTER XXI. Ballenglen.— An Incident.— Persecution of Converts.— Thrilling Fanat- icism at a Funeral.— The Way the Priests get Money.— An Incident. —Cursing from the Altar.— Hard Case of Donovan.— Doing Penance in Sheets.— Priests' Power giving Way.— Anecdote of a Girl.— The Milkman.— Taking the Bull by the Horns.— The Curse of Ireland. My dear Sir, — Even at the risk of taxing your pa- tience and that of my readers, I will again return to the conduct of Papal priests toward the Papal popula- tion of Ireland. I do so for various reasons : to excite a feeling of compassion in the bosom of all Americans toward its swarming emigrants weekly landed on our shores ; to expose the priests and their religion to the world ; to encourage Popish emigrants here to assert their independence, where there is no priestly power to strike them down ; and to place before you and all our people what blessings we may reasonably expect from the many priests sent from "the island of saints," trained and drilled in Maynooth to guard our institu- tions, to enlighten and Christianize us. In company with Dr. Edgar, and of Dr. Andrews, of Queen's College, Belfast, and of Mr. Allen, of Ballina, names not unknown in Ireland, or Britain, or America, I visited the Scotch Mission School in Ballenglen. It was deeply interesting to see there upward of a hund- red children, neatly dressed, under pious and compe- tent teachers, taught " to learn and to earn," and, with kirwan's letters. 193 The girl and priest. A mother. What can we do ? few exceptions, collected from the surrounding huts of the Papal peasantry. " Do you see that girl on the upper seat, about twenty-one or two years of age ?" said the noble Scotch lady at the head of the female department to me. I looked, and replied in the affirm- ative. " That girl," she continued, " has been here but a few weeks. She came here not knowing a letter, and scarcely any thing else. She is learning rapidly, and can now earn two or three shillings a week with her needle, and can do considerable for the support of her family. When going home from school yesterday, the priest met her at the road, and sought to horsewhip her for coming here, but she outran him. She told her grievance to her mother, who sided with the priest, and expressed her sorrow that he did not catch her ; and yet she returned here this morning, but without sleeping a wink, or eating a mouthful since she left here yesterday afternoon." Amazed at the statement, I asked if there was no redress against such priestly barbarity. " What can we do ?" was the reply. " We may indict them, but then nobody will peril their life by testifying against them ; nor can you get a jury, on which there is a single Catholic, to convict them. A priest not long ago was indicted for flogging a woman terribly, and yet, when called to witness against him, she testified that ' his reverence did not hurt her at all.' " And this is but an illustration of what is now of daily occurrence in almost every portion of Ireland. Until within a few years, it was at the risk of his life that any of the peasantry dared to leave the priest for the minister. The fury of the priest excited the people to fury, and the poor convert was every where I 194 kirwan's letters. A disgrace. Broken ties. A sister's love. an unsheltered, unpitied object of ahftse, contempt, and violence. Even the mother cast out the child from the sanctuary of her heart, and mourned over the con- version of her child to Grod as a deep, dark disgrace to her family. Hear a boy tell of the ties through which one must break when he deserts the religion of the priest : \ " O pity the state of a poor Irish youth, Whose heart has been touched with a love of the truth; By father and mother renounced and forgot, Should he dare to be that which the priest bids him not. Should he open the Book which to sinners was given, To try to make out the right way to heaven, The eyes will look cold that smiled on him before, And hearts that once loved him will love him no more." And within a few weeks the constabulary force of the diocese of Tuam, over which the vulgar and sav- age M'Hale presides, has been greatly increased, for the purpose of keeping the peace, which has been great- ly disturbed by attacks of the mob, stimulated by the priests, upon converts from Romanism. It is impossible to make Protestants in America, or even Papists who have been born here, to understand the deep degradation to which the priests have reduced the native Irish, or the extent to which they have steeped them in the most gross superstition. Ponder the followinof statements selected from a little nam- phlet, entitled " The Trials and Triumphs of Irish Mis- sions," by Dr. John Edgar. "At the burial of a convert, his sister hastily gath- ered in her apron their parents' bones, and buried them in another part of the church-yard, lest they should be polluted by the cursed remains of an impenitent heretic. " kirwan's letters. 195 Burial of a convert. The way to catch herring. " At the burial of a convert who died of hardships endured in shipwreck, his sisters created a great dis- turbance by their desperate efforts to have him buried as a Romanist ; and some idea may be formed of the excitement created among the Romish crowd, when one sister sung to the wild Irish cry, " ' O would that thy grave were made under the billow, And would that the wild shark himself were thy pillow, Than thus on the bed in thy senses to lie, And our Church and her priesthood so boldly defy !' " And the second sister, taking up the plaintive wail, sang, " ' O Donagh ! Donagh ! can it be, And hast thou left us so, The gem, the flower of all thy race, With heretics to go? We lay thee in thy father's grave, Beneath thy mother's head, No parson o'er thee e'er shall pray, No Bible e'er be read.' " In the native Irish grave -yards the latest-buried coffin is put under the others." This explains a clause in the above wail. " How very largely must a Romish priest draw on the superstition of his victim when he demands a fee for saying mass to drive away vermin, or for cutting the sign of the cross to cure a vicious mule. During the famine priests trafficked to an enormous extent on the gullibility of their people by blessing salt, for hire, as a cure for the disease of the potato. Half a dozen of crews are paying them at the same time for saying mass over their boats ; and for five or six pounds they make a bargain with the people alongshore to bring an abundance of herring or mackerel into the bay. 196 kirwan's letters. An awful oath. The effect An altar curse. " what would not Ireland be if the power of the priests was employed for good, as, alas, it is for ill ! A man-servant in a highly respectable family, being ap- parently near his death, sent for a priest, who refused to administer ' the last rites' until he would bind him- self by an oath, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Grhost, that he would never listen to the Bible again. He refused, and the priest left him. On this a fellow-servant rushed into the room, and so placed before him the horrors of damnation if he died without the rites of the Church, that he took the awful oath. Unexpectedly, he recovered, and he still lives, with the vow to resist all Scriptural instruction on his soul. When asked whether he did not know that the Bible was the word of Grod, he replied that he knew it well, but that he knew also that he would receive only the burial of a dog if he died without the blessing of the priest." And can we wonder at the ignorance, the supersti- tion, the poverty, the servility of the peasantry of Ire- land that are landed on our shores, when they and their fathers have been crushed for ages under a spiritual despotism like this ? I have given one instance in illustration of the priest- ly curse from the altar. I select another from the lit- tle pamphlet before me. A poor woman sent her chil- dren to a Protestant school, and, on the trial of the priest for cursing her, a witness thus testified under oath : " The priest put on a black dress ; the clerk quenched all the candles but one, and that one the priest put out, saying, ' So the light of heaven is quench- ed upon her soul.' He then shut the book and said, KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 19' The cursed woman. Father O'Brien. ' The gates of heaven are shut against her.' Her neigh- hors immediately withdrew all intercourse from her. Shop-keepers refused to sell her even a bit of bread. All her children but ohe were included in the curse ; her husband forsook her ; and, had she not been taken into the house of a kind Protestant, she must have per- ished when on the eve of giving birth to a child, which the priest had also cursed, for he cursed the fruit of her womb !" Now, Sir, with priests of this infernal character swarming in every part of Ireland, making here a " sick call" for a shilling — there " giving a communion" for two and sixpence — there saying mass for five shil- lings — there baptizing for sums varying from two to twenty shillings ; marrying sometimes for twenty shil- lings and sometimes for twenty pounds ; and every where carrying on a war to the knife against the Bible, and all its free, ennobling, and elevating influences, can you, can any man wonder that Ireland is so low in the scale of civilization — that its people are so poor, ignorant, and superstitious — that its sons and daughters in all the lands whither they wander are hewers of wood and drawers of water ? As illustrating the terrible tyranny of these " sur- pliced ruffians" as exercised in another way, permit me to state another case which occurred a few years since. A Rev. Mr. O'Brien, wishing to build a chapel in the parish of Clonakilty, drew up a subscription paper, and taxed his parishioners according to his estimate of their means. A baker by the name of Donovan was marked at sixteen shillings and threepence, which he paid. He was again taxed nine shillings, which he also paid, but 198 kirwan's letters. Poor Donovan. Priest inexorable. Penance in sheets. under protest, because of his poverty. Soon a third de- mand came for sixteen shillings more, which he refused to pay. On the next Sabbath, as he was going to mass, he was asked by the priest whether he would pay that sixteen shillings or not. He replied, " I am not able." The priest replied, " I will settle you." Terrified by the remark, Donovan sent sixteen shillings by his wife to the priest, who then refused to take less than two guineas. On the following Sunday he cursed him from the altar, and all those who refused or neglected to pay what they were taxed. Donovan went on the next holi- day to mass, where he was formally excommunicated, and all were cursed who would have any thing to do with him. So terrible was the dread of this curse, that he could not buy turf enough to heat his oven, nor could he sell any of his stock. Reduced to despair, he went in penance, in a white sheet, to the chapel, and asked pardon of the priest and of Ood. The priest took him to his house and demanded the two guineas, but the sheeted penitent told him he could not possibly make it up. The excommunication was continued ; the man was compelled to shut up shop, and was driven to beggary. These facts were brought out in a trial for damages before a jury in Cork, which fined the rev- erend rascal fifty pounds. This thing of doing penance, by going to chapel wrapped up in a white sheet, is quite a common affair in some parts of Ireland. Sometimes whole families are compelled to go thus dressed, to atone for the sins of one member ; and when the sin has any squinting toward Protestantism, the penance is increased by com- pelling them to go barefooted and bareheaded. A fam- kirwan's letters. 199 The mortified maid. Her temper. Living protests. ily in Mayo had thus to do penance for the sins of one of their number. To the family belonged a young woman, who, although advanced in years, had not quite surrendered all hopes of matrimony. Her natural hair, which was not so dark as it once was, she sought to conceal by raven locks, which gave her an appear- ance quite youthful. But on the fated Sabbath her borrowed locks had to be laid aside ; and she entered the church sheeted, barefooted, and, sad to narrate, bareheaded ! Her gray hair, and short and thin at that, revealed her years, and gave her hopes of matri- mony to the winds. She yet lives, but has never for- given the priest the double injury which he inflicted on her, to uncover her gray hairs and destroy her market. Although a good Papist, it is rumored that she raves at his reverence whenever she thinks of the exposure of her thin gray hairs on that penitential Sunday. I give you the story as I received it from a sympathizing acquaintance of the deeply-injured spinster. 0, Sir, there is not a poor, ignorant, half-clad Irish Papist, man or woman, that comes to these shores, that is not sent here by Providence to be a protest against Romanism, and a witness against its mercenary and ruffian priests, and to warn us as a nation against a system which only blights, to the extent of its influ- ence, all the interests of humanity. Nations recover from the wasting influences of war, famine, and pesti- lence ; but for the people who wear and will bear the yoke of Romanism, there is no recovery. But, Sir, it is pleasant to know that, even in Ire- land, the people are beginning to see, and rightly to estimate this horrible despotism, and to assert their 200 kirwan's letters. The wand broken. The Kerry girl. The milkman. rights, even amid the dangers that threatened them when cursed and excommunicated from the altar. The wand of the priest is broken ; and the peasant that once cowered before him as a chicken before a hawk, or as a lamb before a wolf, now dares to resist him to his face. The gentry that once feared him, because of his fear- ful power over their tenants, are beginning to treat him as he deserves. In spite of his altar curses, children are sent to school — in spite of his anathemas, the people by hundreds and thousands read the Bible and believe it, and are passing over to swell the ranks of Protestant- ism. Some amusing anecdotes are every where told in illustration of all this. " Do you pray to the Virgin Mary ?" said a priest to a bright-eyed Kerry girl, the daughter of one of his parishioners, that he met near a schoolhouse with a Bible in her hand. " No, your rever- ence ; and why should I ?" was the reply. " Because she knows all things, and will hear and answer your prayers," said the priest. Quick as a flash, the girl re- plied, " Now it is singular, your reverence, that if she knows all things, that she did not know where her Son was when he was missed from the company that was returning from Jerusalem to (xalilee ; and see, here is the place," handing him the Bible, and pointing him to the second chapter of Luke. And he rode away, no doubt cursing the Bible, the girl, and the school in his heart. An Irish milkman commenced reading the Bible ; his priest heard of it, and was soon at his house. " I am informed that you read the Bible, John," said he ; " is my information correct ?" " Sure it is thrue, plase your reverence ! and a fine book it is," said John. " But KIR WAN's LETTERS. 201 The colloquy. Milks his own cow. vou know it is very wrong to read the Scriptures, and that an ignorant man like you has no right to do so," said the priest. " But you must be afther provin' that same before I can consint to lave it off," said John. The colloquy then proceeded as follows : Priest. " That I will soon do ; I will prove it from the book itself." And, taking the Bible, he read this passage, from 1 Peter, ii., 2: "As new-born babes, de- sire the sincere milk of the "Word, that you may grow thereby." " Here you see," said he, " that you are wrong to read the Scriptures yourself; you are only a babe, and you are enjoined to desire the sincere milk of the Word ; one who really understands what the sin- cere milk is, must give it to you, and teach you." John. " Ah, but be aisy, your reverence, while I tell you. A little time ago I was took ill ; I got a man to milk my cows, and to attend on my business, and what do you think he did ? Why, instead of giving me the rale milk, he chated me by puttin' water in it ; and if you get my Bible, you may serve me that same. No, no, I will keep my cow, and milk it myself, when I can get the sincere milk, and not, as I should from you, mixed with water." Priest. "Well, John, I see that you are wiser than I thought you were ; and as you are not quite a babe, keep your Bible, but don't lend it, or read it to your neighbors." John. " Sure enough, your reverence, w r hile I have a cow, and can give a little milk to my poor neighbors who have none, I feel it my duty to do so, as a Chris- tian, and, saving your reverence, I will." What became of the milkman, the little pamphlet, 12 202 kirwan's letters. An incident. Harrowing at midnight. Clogher. " Ireland, its Curse and Cure," from which I quote the incident, does not state ; but it suggests that he was probably cursed with "bell, book, and candle," as was another man for the same offense, and upon whom it fell most heavily. He had a little field from which he made a living. It was plowed and sown ; but the curse of the priest would allow no person to hire him a horse to harrow it. And, at dead of night, he was compelled to yoke himself and wife to the harrow, and thus to cover his seed ! ! And with such priests of barbarism swarming in the island, and thus every where govern- ing and grinding the people, is it any wonder that the emigrants from Ireland are as ignorant and supersti- tious as we find them ? They deserve our pity and com- miseration ; and the scorn and contempt with which they are often visited, should be poured upon the re- lio-ion and its priests, which have been, and are, the chief causes of their degradation. To show you the manner in which the gentry, so many of whom have fallen victims to curses from the altar, begin to treat the priests, permit me to narrate a circumstance. There resides at Clogher a family by the name of Holmes. The present head of the family, a large proprietor and humane, was denounced, and, to save his life, he fled to Dublin. The outrage became known to a younger brother in the army, who was greatly excited by it. He hastened home from Lon- don, and, on the eve of a feast-day, called on the priest, and requested him to ask the people, after mass on the succeeding day, to remain behind in the chapel, as he had something to say to them, to which he assented. Suspecting something, however, the priest commenced kirwan's letters. 203 A young hero. A fine speech. Priest strnck dumb. mass earlier than usual — hastened through it — and when young Holmes came to chapel, the people were dismissed. He invited them back to the chapel, and sent for the priest ; but the messengers could not find him. " I will find him," said he; and left the chapel, but soon returned with his reverence. "With the priest by his side, he thus addressed the people from one of the steps of the altar. "My fathers have long resided in this place, and have they not always been the kind friends of your fathers ?" " Yes, yes, your honor," re- sounded from all parts of the chapel. " My brother has succeeded to the estates here, and has he not always been a kind landlord ?" The same reply echoed from every part of the house. "And now what is the re- ward for all his, and all our fathers' kindnesses, which you are about to give him ? There are those eating at your tables, sleeping in your beds, and sheltered in your houses, who are pledged to murder him ; and, to save his life, he has had to leave the home of his birth. He will return in a few days ; and I stand here before you, to warn you, that if my brother goes down to the grave a. murdered man, there is one man in this parish that will soon follow him, and that man is this priest, who has denounced him from this altar." He turned round and looked the priest full in the face, who cowered be- fore him. He left the chapel, the people making way for him, without insult or molestation. His brother returned in a few days to his family and to his home, where he resides at the present hour, as safe a man from assassination as there is in Ireland, as long as that priest and his brother live ! I was entertained at the hospitable house of Clogher, and stood on the altar step 204 kirwan's letters. Cure for curses. Cure for Ireland. on which that young Holmes stood, when, by his bold and manly bearing, he struck with a salutary terror the priest and his parishioners ! As a sense of guilt always renders men cowardly, denunciations of land- lords from the altar have greatly diminished since the hero of Clogher taught them how to put a stop to them. Romanism and its priests have been, and now are, the curse of Ireland ; and the only cure for Ireland lies in their removal. And can the curse of Ireland be a bless- ing to any land ? Can it be, Sir, a blessing to Amer- ica ? Are these Father Walshes and Father O'Briens, these reverend and right reverend altar-cursing " watch- men of despotism," the men to Christianize and civil- ize Americans — the men to teach our people the Gos- pel of Christ, and the true way to heaven ? From these ministers of barbarism and missionaries of darkness, may the Lord deliver us and our posterity ! With great respect, yours. kirwan's letters. 205 Generation of vipers. Priests get money. LETTER XXII. Deceivings of Priests. — Nunneries. — Taking the Vail. — Stories about Luther and Calvin. — Case of poor Bruley. — The Vaudois Monsters. — Bridge of Purgatory broken. — Father O'Flanagan. — Why these de- ceivings? — Priests deserve Purgatory. My dear Sir, — You can readily glean, from my pre- ceding letters, my estimate of the general character of Papal priests. "While there are exceptions to the rule, yet I believe, as a rule, that they are, like the Phari- sees of old, " a generation of vipers ;" that, as a class, they are dishonest traffickers in the souls of men. The trade of a priest, and especially when a priest becomes a bishop or an archbishop, is an exceedingly lucrative one. What may not a priest squeeze from a people whom he makes believe that he carries in his pocket the keys of heaven and hell, and that he can, at pleas- ure, admit them to the bliss of the one, or shut them up amid the eternal miseries of the other ? And hence it is that these men so easily draw gold from the cof- fers of the rich, and extract silver and coppers even from the rasrs of the most wretched beggars. What will not a man give to save his soul ? And all their worldly interests are involved in keeping up their de- lusions, and in keeping their people from contact with every thing that would in the least degree tend to dis- sipate them. And it is to their ways of blinding and deluding the people, so as to stimulate their faith, and 206 kirwan's letters. Ways of deluding. Nuns. Nunneries. Taking the vail, to protect their frauds and deceivings from exposure, that I ask your attention in the present letter. Is there a thing peculiar to Popery which is not intended to delude ? How much Popery makes of nuns and nunneries, to fire the imagination of young, romantic girls, and to in- duce them to seek seclusion from the world within monastic walls ! The abbess is a lady of rank, beauty, and exquisite taste ! The nuns are all damsels of beautifal face and form, the history of each marked by some romantic incidents which strongly excite our in- terest. And then the sacred inclosure is such a charm- ing spot in which to cultivate holiness, and where hap- piness is enjoyed by every inmate, but little below that of paradise itself ! And then the pomp, show, and cer- emony of " taking the vail" are so arranged as to exalt the heroism and piety of the maiden that takes it, and as, if possible, to induce other maidens to do likewise. How the true history of any existing nunnery would give all these delusions to the winds — would prove them to be the prisons of confiding girls — the houses of refuge for delinquent or disappointed lasses, or for daughters fleeing from domestic tyranny — and their parlors to be the lounging-places of immaculate priests ! And how a true narrative of those " taking the vail," would dissipate all romance concerning them ! Seymour, to whose " Pilgrimage" I have already al- luded, gives a very funny account of a " taking the vail," witnessed by him in Rome. It was in January. On approaching the monastery, the street, and vesti- bule, and church were strewed with flowers. The high altar was loaded with artificial flowers. The car- KIRWAN 's LETTERS. 207 Elegant dress. Jeweled servant. Clothes every thing dinal- vicar took his seat ; soon the Princess Borghese entered, leading a beautiful female, and presented her to the cardinal. Her beautiful chestnut-colored tresses fell like a vail around her ; her dress was white satin, richly damasked in gold ; on her head glittered a crown of diamonds ; her neck was covered with pre- cious stones, flashing through her ringlets ; her breast was gemmed with brilliants, set off by black velvet ; so that she sparkled and blazed in all the magnificence of the richest jewels in Rome ! All took her, of course, to be a youthful princess of vast wealth, renouncing the world for the cloister ! And yet this beautiful young woman was only a servant, and the daughter of a serv- ant, of the Borghese family ; that splendid hair was only a wig ; the jewelry belonged to her mistress, who took that occasion to display it ; and the sweet, lovely- looking girl in her dress, when divested of her robes, was a vulgar, clumsy, and unlettered old maid of forty ! And such are usually the nuns of Popery. And the whole scene was gotten up to gratify the vanity of the woman who wished to display her jewels, and to induce those not behind the curtain to believe that another rich heiress of a noble house had renounced the vanities of the world for the seclusion of a cloister ! And this is only a specimen of the way and manner in which priests delude the people every where ! Take away the clothes in which they dress their mummery, and it would be only revolting. G-o, Sir, on Christ- mas day, or any high day, into your cathedral, and, after blowing out all the^andles, and sending the boys with censers and incense to their seats, and taking off the robes of the priests, and putting to silence the pro 208 kirwan's letters. Barren foolery. A corpse dressed. Ridiculous stories. fessional singers, cause the priests to go through a high mass ! Why, Sir, you would laugh at the barren fool- ery ; and " the awful, mysterious, and holy ceremony of the mass" would appear to you just as attractive as did the withering old maid, who was made a nun, to Seymour, when divested of her robes, her crown, and her jewels. Romanism is a corpse, and its ceremonies and canonicals are dresses put on to hide its putres- cence, and to induce belief in the vulgar that it is a living body. Sure am I that if any sensible mother would find her children, at the close of a summer's day, going through the senseless rounds through which I have seen about twenty cardinals go, dressed in their scarlet skullcaps and robes, at vespers in the Sistine, she would be disposed to whip them and send them to bed. To deceive and delude their people it is that priests and monks have fabricated the most false and ridicu- lous stories about the great and good men that have led on the blessed Reformation, and that have achieved the civil and religious liberty which we enjoy. If they have made their own adherents demigods, they have made the reformers demons. "Who is ignorant of the Popish narratives of Luther's conferences with Satan — of the diabolical agencies which he wielded — and of his soul, on his death, flying away, leaving something like a smell of brimstone behind it ? The monkish legends of the days of Luther are as full of stories to prove his Satanism, as is the life of St. Patrick of ridiculous mir- acles to prove his sanctity. *And down to the present day an ignorant Papist will turn away horrified from the name of Luther, as it is said a demon will turn kirwan's letters. 209 Calvin. Poor Bruley. Mrs. Bruley. away from the sign of the cross, or from a sprinkling of holy salt or of water. And similar stories are fabricated and circulated about the scholar and logician of the Reformation, the great Calvin. Here is the substance of a comment on Exodus, vii., 11, taken from the Douay Bible, printed in 1635, as quoted entire by Capper. Calvin, by words and money, persuaded a man in Geneva, by the name of Bruley, to feign himself dead, in order that, by a kind of Popish exorcism or fraud, he might bring him to life. But, alas for poor Bruley ! when he feigned to be dead, he absolutely died, and by a direct visitation of Provi- dence ! And all Calvin's efforts could not restore breath to his body ! 0, if the reformer had only a toe-nail of St. Anthony, or an old tooth of St. Dominic, or some shreds from the garments, or some parings from the nails of some of the holy martyrs or virgins, poor Bru- ley might have lived again ! Grood Mrs. Bruley con- sented to the agreement ; but when she found that Calvin could not restore her husband, she was in a vi- olent passion, and called him a false apostle, and " a secret theefe, and a wicked murderer that had killed her husband," so that all Geneva knew, on the testi- mony of the hysterical Mrs. Bruley, that Calvin killed Bruley, but could not restore him to life ! And stories like these against the reformers, and the great and good men who have opposed Popery, are scarcely less nu- merous than are the miracles of Mary and Bambino. And all for the sake of prejudicing the vulgar mind against their character and writings. You, Sir, can not be ignorant of the history of the Yaudois or Waldensians, who kept the light of truth 210 kirwan's letters. Waldensians. Prince's visit. Horrible lie burning for so many ages in the valleys of Piedmont.' when it had gone out in nearly all the earth besides ! Their history is a thrilling one, and is full of blood — of blood shed by Romish priests, and by orders from the Vatican. And the question arises how or why the house of Savoy could turn its arms so long and so cru- elly against a people so loyal, so moral, and so unof- fending ? It was because of the horrid representations made by Popish priests to the court. On a certain oc- casion, a prince of Savoy determined on a journey among the valleys of this wonderful people, of whom the burning bush, as seen by Moses, was a fit emblem. Standing by the first Vaudois house to which he came, he saw a fine, healthy, well-formed boy, whose appear- ance excited his astonishment. He sent for the pa- rents, who, with their other children, came around him. His astonishment increased. He spoke with them, and found them intelligent, well informed, and loyal. " And are all your people formed like you ?" said the prince to the peasant. " Yes, all," was the reply. He made them open their mouths, that he might see their teeth, when there was an increase of his wonder. " How is this ?" said he, turning to his attendants ; ' ' we have been always informed by our priests that these people were monsters — that they had but one eye, which was in the middle of their foreheads — and that they had double rows of teeth ; and, instead of finding them the horrible creatures which we have been informed they were, we find them in form, and fash- ion, and mind like ourselves." Here, Sir, is the secret of the barbarity of the prin- ces of Savoy to the Waldensian people. That people KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 211 Priest's revenge. Harpies. Cry of blood. refused to bow their necks to the Papal yoke ; they would not surrender the Bible for the Missal ; with hearts as firm as the towering Alps, amid whose val- leys they reside, they resisted every effort to induce them to surrender their ancient faith ; and hence the baffled priests represented them as monsters — as the descendants, perhaps, of the Harpies, so intolerably dis- gusting, as sung by Virgil. Nor have I a doubt but that the princes who sent their armies into those peace- ful valleys, with orders to spare neither age nor sex, were deluded by wicked priests into the belief that they were seeking to extirpate a race of monsters from the earth, instead of slaughtering a race of Christians, as simple, as pious, as harmless, as steadfast, as heroic as any which the world has ever known. And as I recently wandered along the banks of the Po, whose waters were once crimsoned with the blood of slaugh- tered Waldensians, and rode along the valleys through which the minions of the Pope so often carried fire and sword, I almost imagined that I could hear the blood of the slain crying to Heaven, and saying, "Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ; Even those who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones. ♦Forget not — in thy book record their groans — Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold, Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled Mother with infant down the rocks." Nor, Sir, has this method of deluding the people been surrendered by the priests. It is practiced, where it can be, in all shapes and forms in our own day. M I was traveling up to our valleys in my char-a-banc," ^12 kirwan's letters. Pastor's ride. Priest's duty. Father confessors. . .4 said the interesting vaudois pastor of\Turin to me, " and took in a plain man that I overtook on the way. 1 soon found that he was a Papist. After some con- versation, he asked me where I was going ? I told him I was going on a visit to our people. He asked me if I was a AValdensian ; and on telling him that I was, he eyed me from head to foot with astonishment. Seeing no deadly weapons ahout me, and as I treated him* in the kindest manner, he became somewhat com- posed ; hut he finally left my carriage, preferring to walk rather than to continue in so doubtful, if not dan- gerous a position as that of riding with a leader among a people respecting whom the priests told him so many monstrous stories." Indeed, one of the chief duties of the priests is to sow jealousies and hatred among their people toward all who are not Papists. To what an awful extent this is carried in Ireland, where, until re- cently, the Papist regarded the Protestant as his deadly enemy ! See how Protestant ministers are denounced, and Protestant books forbidden, and Protestant schools abandoned — see how, even in our free and happy land, the priests teach their people to look upon every thing Protestant as white with leprosy. How soon do our Protestants see, in the altered demeanor of their serv- ants, the bad influences of those " father confessors," who go prowling after silly Irish men and women through the country, scaring them up to confess their sins, and to pay for the privilege ! Nor are even their own people exempt from the de- ceivings of the priests, who feel that they have a divine warrant to fleece their flocks as they can, and to par- don one another when they sin. I will not vouch for kirwan's letters. 213 The beer man. Bridge of Purgatory. A dinner party. the truth of the following story, but I will give it to you just as I received it from the lips of one of the most honored and eloquent ministers of Britain, whose name is known and revered on both sides of the At- lantic. He asserted its entire truth. There lived a poor man, in one of the cities of Britain, who made his support by selling beer. He was honest, and punctual in his payments, and won the entire confidence of the brewer. He died ; and, as the priest stated, his soul went to Pursmtorv. His widow carried on the busi- ness, and sent for one barrel of beer after another, un- til she was in debt to the brewer about one hundred pounds. The brewer, who was a Papist, went to make inquiry as to the cause of this large indebtedness. " And have you not heard of the terrible accident that has happened?" said the woman "What is it?" asked the brewer. " The bridge of Purgatory is broken," was the reply, "and it takes a deal df money to repair it; and Father O'Flanagan is very faithful in collecting money to repair it, bless his soul ; and when the bridge is finished, so that my poor husband can get across, then I will strive to pay you all." The brewer did not like to be thus swindled through the priest, and laid his plans to get his money. He made a large dinner party, to which he invited the bish- op, several priests, among whom was Father O'Flan- agan, and a few other friends. After the punch began to work a little, he rung a bell, which was the signal for the introduction of the widow from the beer-shop. " Have you heard, your reverence," said the brewer to the bishop, " of the awful accident that has occurred ?" "What is it?" said the bishop, with excited interest. 214 kirwan's letters. Father O'Flanagan. A check. Purgatory profitable. " Father O'Flanagan, will you tell the bishop about the breaking down of the bridge of Purgatory ?" said the brewer. Father O'Flanagan blushed, looked at the woman, and then into his tumbler of punch, and was silent. The fraud was revealed ; there was the poor woman to prove its truth ; and the brewer declared that unless the one hundred pounds were paid down, he would expose the whole affair. The bishop gave his check for the amount — the old beer- woman was glad — the party broke up ; and the breaking of the bridge of Purgatory cured the brewer of his Popery. 1 confess to you, Sir, that the story seemed to me incred- ible when I heard it, and I was for placing it on the same shelf with the monkish stories about Luther and Calvin ; but after seeing what I saw, and hearing what I heard in Naples, Rome, Sardinia, and Ireland — after a more extended acquaintance with the profligacy of priests, their want of principle, and their love of money, I see no reason, in the nature of things, to doubt the story of the Rev. Father O'Flanagan. Sure I am that the fiction of Purgatory is made to yield millions every year to the priests, and in ways no more justifiable than that adopted with the poor widow that sold beer. Such are the ways and the manner in which the priests of Romanism seek to deceive, to delude, and to prejudice the minds of their people ; and all for the base purpose of continuing their own bad dominion, and of preventing the people from coming to the knowl- edge of the truth. No Grospel truth is left unclouded — no good man is left unabused — no good book is left out of the Index — bonfires are made of Bibles — no seed that can bear the fruit of discord is left unsown — fables KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 215 Stop at nothing. Passing events. Man in the Almanac. are manufactured without end — miracles are made to order — history and philosophy are libeled — Bacon is made a dunce — Luther a devil — and Cranmer a knave, when required to keep the people in shackles, to oppose the influence of Protestantism, or to make people pass to heaven through the toll-gate of the priest. I have just charity enough for them to believe that they will stop at nothing that promotes their ends — that they will respect no law of religion, humanity, or propriety that will cross their path. This will seem to you, and to many of my readers, very uncharitable ; but I appeal to the history of Romanism in all lands for its correct- ness. I appeal to the events now transpiring in Naples, Rome, Florence, and Ireland, to sustain me. If you,. Sir, with your high reputation, should, on the perusal of these letters, openly declare yourself Protestant, they would serve you here, as they have done the Duke of Norfolk in England on his recent renunciation of Pop- ery. There is not a priest or a Protestant renegade that can scribble a line, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, that would not be out upon you ; and if they would not transfix you, as is the man in the Almanac, into whom the signs of the zodiac are pouring their arrows, it is because, like Achilles, you were baptized in the Styx. And why is it, Sir, that Papal priests resort to these frauds and deceivings ? Why is it they seek to prej- udice their people against all other people, and to sep- arate them from all the humanizing influences of relist ious and social intercourse ? Why is it they prevent their people from thinking — from examining for them- selves truths and topics which demand our belief? They know the feebleness of their position, and the 216 kirwan's letters. Priests deserve Purgatory. weakness of their cause ; and that, unless they hedge up their people on all sides, their craft is gone. I would not do these priests evil. "Were it in my power, I would convert them all. But if there is a class of persons living that deserve a good long residence in Purgatory, they are the men. And should they go there, and should the bridge break down, I would not give Father 0' Flanagan a penny to build it — at least for one year. With great respect, yours. kirwan's letters. 217 Spirit of Romanism. Unchanged. Can not change. LETTER XXIII. Rome Intolerant. — Persecutions sanctioned. — Bishops sworn to per secute — Deposed if they do not. — Wiseman's reply. — Proofs of In tolerance — Waldenses — Castelnau — Bezieres — Morland's Address — St. Bartholomew — Edict of Nantes revoked — Irish Massacre of 1641 — other Evidences. — Two. Skins. My dear Sir, — I desire in the present letter to ask your attention, and that of my readers, to the spirit which Romanism cherishes and manifests toward all who deny its claims and reject its dogmas. Unless 1 mistake the character of your mind, you will agree with me that it is only cruel in principle and in action. But you will meet me at the threshold with the state- ment that Romanism has greatly changed in these lat- ter days, both in its principles and conduct. If so, where is her infallibility ? If so, her main foundation is gone. No, Sir ; her infallibility places her beyond the reach of improvement, and stereotypes equally her truth and her falsehood, her divinity and her demonism. Nor will she thank you, or any body else, for excusing her on the ground of a change of principle, as such an excuse stultifies her boast, and subjects her pretensions to the ridicule of all men. I admit that in this, and many countries of Europe, she can not indulge her ferocious spirit, or even openly avow her principles ; but is forced quietness any evidence of a change of principle ? Do you not know that opinions are often K 218 KIRWAN 7 S LETTERS. The inquisitor's heart. Principles. Church sanction. cherished which can not be defended, and that a wick- ed spirit often rages the more intensely because it can not give vent to its fury ? I assure you that even among ourselves the heart of an inquisitor lies conceal- ed under the long coat of many an imported priest ; and that, should circumstances permit, we would have our Dominies and Torquemadas in New York as in Rome, in Baltimore as in Seville, and on the banks of the Ohio and Mississippi as on the banks of the Tagus or the Duero. Because burning stones are not shoot- ing upward from its summit, and rivers of burning lava are not flowing down its sides, we must not conclude that the internal fires of old Vesuvius are extinguished. The vengeful and persecuting spirit which Rome has exhibited is characteristic, and is founded on her prin- ciples. This spirit has received the sanction of Popes and councils, and is therefore among the things upon which the Church has pronounced its infallible decis- ions. If Pius IX. pronounces against persecution, what becomes of the infallibility of Lucius III., who issued a bull authorizing it and exhorting: to it ? If a coun- cil should now pronounce against persecution, what be- comes of the infallibility of the famous Lateran Coun- cil of 1215, or of the Council of Trent, or of the many other councils that sanctioned it ? Indeed, the priest that would assert that Romanism has changed her prin- ciples on the subject of persecution, would be sent by his bishop to Jericho until his beard or his brains grew. This spirit of persecution is taught in the Canon Law of the "Church, which is made up of the decrees of councils, the bulls and decretals of Popes, and the writings of the I&thers — a law under which every Pa- KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 219 Canon law. Bishop's oath. They keep it pist is placed, and which the officers of the Church are hound to administer. And this law, as you must know, is based on the assumption that the Pope's authority- extends over all nominal Christians, and that none of us, by any dissent, can place ourselves beyond his juris- diction, or beyond the reach of this law ! So that all of us who call ourselves Christians, and who submit not to the Pope, are to be dealt with as heretics, and in the way and fashion which this law prescribes ! And as bishops are the chief police-officers of the Pope for enforcing the Canon Law, and for inflicting its pains and penalties, before they receive the mitre or the pal- lium, made from the wool of holy sheep, they are obliged to swear as follows : " Heretics, schismatics, or rebels against our lord the Pope, or his successors, I will persecute and fight against to the utmost of my power." And lest an oath should be disregarded, it is provided, "that if a bishop shall have been negligent or remiss in purging his diocese of heretical pravity, as soon as this is made apparent by sure evidence, he shall be deposed from, his episcopal office, and in his place shall be substituted a fit person who will and can con- found the heretical pravity." The effects of this oath, and of this threat to keep up its remembrance, the world knows. Bishops have been the butchers of here- tics — that is, of Protestant Christians. To prove their fidelity to their oath, and to retain their mitre upon their brow, they have in cruelty out-Heroded Herod, and out-Neroed Nero. They have stained all their gar- ments in blood, and have pronounced the benedictions of Heaven upon men who have shed the blood of their fellow-men, and for no earthly reason but their rejec- 220 kirwan's letters. i Cardinal Wiseman. Veracity. How with our bishops. tion of the frivolous, and contemptible, and unreason- able dogmas of the priest. To this oath, taken by bishops when receiving their badges of office from their lord and master, some at- tention has been recently excited in England. Cardi- nal Wiseman has been catechized in reference to it ; and although the policy of bishops is to answer no ques- tions, yet he was so questioned as to compel a reply. And what, think you, was his reply ? He did not deny the taking of such an oath, for the oath itself could be produced ; but he asserted that, when administered to British bishops, the above clause was omitted ! The veracity of Nicholas of Westminster on this point has been called in question by some, but with that you and I have little to do. If the fact is as he states, it is a full admission that the clause is in the oath. And, if possible, I should like you to find out whether the grace extended to England by the Holy Apostolic See has also been extended to us in this heretical land ; wheth- er slippery John of New York, and the " Yery Rev. P. R. Kenrick, V. G-.," author of the wonderfully erudite book, " The Holy House of Loretto," were so kind to- ward us as to ask to have that clause omitted when they renounced their manhood, and sw T ore allegiance to the despotism of Rome. Is the oath upon their souls " to persecute and fight against us to the utmost of their power ?" I firmly believe it is. So that Rome persecutes on principle, and swears all her bishops " to persecute all heretics to the utmost of their power ;" and when she renounces the principles of persecution, she ceases to be an infallible Church. To sustain her character, she is bound to persecute KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 221 Fearful dilemma. Testimony. Waldcnses. whenever and wherever she can. To amend or reform her principles will be her death, and without benefit of clergy. How fearful the position in which her in- fallibility places her ; her only alternative is death or intolerance, and the dilemma of her bishops is perjury or persecution. Horrible system ! And what a mass of testimony does the history of the world furnish to prove her fidelity to her principles, and the sleepless perseverance of her bishops in " per- secuting and fighting against heretics, schismatics, and rebels against our lord the Pope !" She has set up a system of belief not merely differing from, but in oppo- sition to that of the Scriptures, and has imposed it on the world as of divine authority. While she has for- bidden the Bible to the people, she commands subjec- tion to her own system, which the vast majority of men can not comprehend. Without their consent, she has subjected to her authority all living within the shadow of her sceptre, and has subjected to^he sever- est penalties all who refuse her obedience. Romish persecution of those who could not receive as doctrines of Grod her awful assumptions and silly ceremonials, have been the most bloody and savage which the world has ever witnessed. Arid where, in proof of this, shall we commence our historic evidence ? Shall we begin with the Waldenses ? The history of this people lies before me. Cooped up in secluded valleys, at the foot of the Alps, they are supposed to be the descendants of Christians who sought refuge from the barbarian hordes that ravaged Italy during the decline of the Roman empire. They were a peo- ple simple, industrious, pious, scriptural in their faith 222 kirwan's letters. Bloodhounds. Castelnau. Bezieres sacked. and worship, and most unoffending in their conduct to all men. In two things they were as immovable as the Alps : they would not give up their Bibles, nor ac- knowledge the claims of the Pope. These were their only offenses, and for these they were declared heretics, and the bloodhounds of Rome, the bishops and inquis- itors, were let loose on them. Two vagabond and bru- tal monks were sent from Rome to see that justice was meted out to the heretics. They deposed the kind bishops of the district for permitting the heresy, and substituted wolves in their place. Castelnau, a man of cruel heart, was sent as legate. Raymond of Tou- louse was excommunicated because he refused to join in the bloody crusade, but was made finally to consent by the cruel treatment of the Pope and Castelnau. % About three hundred thousand men were let loose upon this people, to punish them for the sin of worshiping (rod as did their fathers and the apostles. The first outburst G£ their fury was on the town of Bezieres, con- taining about sixty thousand persons. The legate gave up the people to slaughter, and the town to pillage and flames. " But how," said an officer, " can we distin- guish the Catholic from the heretic ?" And what was the reply of the atrocious legate, Castelnau ? It is known, to the confusion of Rome, in all the earth : "Kill all; the Lord will know his own?'' And every being was slain, and the town was consumed by fire ! And this was only the beginning of sorrows. For nearly fifty years was this carnage continued. Battle followed battle — city was burned after city — valley was entered after valley, until the rugged yet fair her- itage of this pious and simple people was converted kirwan's letters. 223 A million slain. Morland. St. Bartholomew. into a howling wilderness — until a million of their number, under the sabre and tread of the minions of Popery, were made to bite the dust ! After reciting a list of barbarities, Morland, the high-minded envoy of Cromwell to Turin, thus addressed the Duke of Savoy : " What need I mention more, though I could reckon up very many cruelties of the same kind, if I were not astonished at the very thought of them. If all the ty- rants of all times and ages were alive again, they would be ashamed when they should find that they had con- trived nothing in comparison with these tilings that might be reputed barbarous and inhuman. Heaven itself seems astonished with the crimes of dying men, and the very earth to blush, being discolored with the gore-blood of so many innocent persons." And all the guilt of this enormous barbarity lies on the soul of the Papal Church. 0, Sir, if you have never read, do read the history of the Waldenses. It has more than the interest of fiction, and is a fearful argument against Popery. Shall we next consider the Massacre of St. Bartholo- mew, in France, and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes ? Every thing had been arranged by the per- fidious Catharine and her son Charles IX. for the slaugh- ter of the Huguenots. A royal marriage was arranged for the purpose of collecting in Paris the chief Prot- estant nobility of the kingdom. Coligny lay in his chamber, wounded by the hired assassin of the court ; Mauravel, surrounded bv his friends — the houses of the Protestants were all marked — the badges of the mur- derers were all arranged — the houses of Papists were supplied with torches — arms were supplied to the as- 224 kirwan's letters. The signal. Coligny. Paris a slaughterhouse. sassins, and at midnight the alarm-hell was rung from St. Germain. At the concerted signal, the Palais, the Tuileries, the hanks of the Seine, the public places, the streets, the large edifices, sacred and profane, hecame illuminated as if hy magic. In almost every window there was a Mazing torch. And this sudden Haze was to illumine the path of the murderers to the houses of their victims. The noble and wounded Coligny, and up to his death caressed and flattered hy the queen- mother and her son, was the first victim. He fell un- der the sabres and daggers of Besme, Petrucci, and Sarlabous. Tired of waiting the result, Henry of Gruise called from below, " Besme, have you done ?" " It is done," was the reply ; and then, taking the dead body, they threw it out of the window, that Henry might judge for himself. The shouts of the murderers urg- ing each other to blood, and the wailings of men, wom- en, and children, as they were falling beneath their blows, were heard in every street and lane of Paris. The bright sun of the 24th of August, 1572, revealed the city converted into a vast slaughter-house. The massacre continued seven days in Paris. From the capital it extended to the provinces ; nor for two months was the murderous sword returned to the scab- bard ; nor until, according to Sully, seventy thousand, or, according to Perefixe, one hundred thousand Prot- estants were slain. And how were the tidings of this bloody sacrifice to the Moloch of Popery, which spread consternation through the world, received at Rome ? With thanksgivings to Heaven, and with the roaring of cannon from its walls. A Te Deum was sung, at which the Pope and his court attended ; a medal was kirwan's letters. 225 Picture in the Vatican. Louis XIV. Cruelties. struck to commemorate the event ; and a picture of the massacre was added to the embellishments of the Vatican, to commemorate to all ages the triumph of the Church over her enemies ! Upon that picture, Sir, I have gazed with mine own eyes in the ante-room of the Sistine ; and if Rome has changed her principles on persecution, why permit that picture to perpetuate her shame ? The Massacre of St. Bartholomew was followed by fearful civil wars, in which it is supposed that one million of men were slain. These were brought to a close by the Edict of Nantes, published by Henry IV. in 1598, and which secured to the Protestants the free exercise of their religion. But Henry was murdered ; and his illustrious minister, Sully, was exchanged for the priest, Richelieu. The Jesuits got the ear of Louis XIV., and soon clouds of portentous aspect were seen rapidly collecting over the Huguenots. They were re- moved from office. Their churches were torn down. They were prevented from assembling for worship. Their children were torn from them at seven years of age by the priests, to be educated as Papists. These cruelties drove them to despair. They emigrated in great numbers. Soon they were prevented from leav- ing the country ; their ministers were executed ; boot- ed and spurred missionaries were every where among the people ; the sick, who recovered after refusing the sacraments of Romanism, if men, were sent to the galleys, and if women, to perpetual imprisonment and to penances ; and if they died without submission to the Church, their dead bodies were to be drawn on a hurdle* and cast upon a dung-heap ! These awful sc- K2 226 kirwan's letters. Huguenots scattered. Irish massacre. Lough Erne. verities soon reduced the Huguenots to the verge of total extinction ; and from beginning to end they were instigated, and in great part inflicted by Romish priests. In the funeral oration of Flechier for Le Tellier the Jesuit, he ascribes to him the high honor of being the author' of that " work of Grod," the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and of the bloody cruelties that fol- lowed ! Shall we next consider the Irish St. Bartholomew of 1641 ? The chapter is a bloody one. Fired by their priests, and by the Popish gentry whose property had been confiscated during preceding disturbances, a plan was concerted, to which the perfidious Charles was no stranger, to cut off the Protestants of the island. A chief actor in the bloody tragedy was Ever M'Mahon, Romish bishop of Down, who was true to his oath "to persecute and fight against heretics to the utmost of his power." Bad as was that of France, the Irish Bar- tholomew was worse. I shudder while I quote from histories before me some of the narratives connected with this tragedy. On the Sabbath before the com- mencement of the massacre, the priests gave the wafer to the people, and sent them out with an exhortation to kill the Protestants, and to seize their property, as a certain preservative against the pains of Purgatory ! A company of nearly one hundred, men, women, and chil- dren, were driven upon the ice on Lough Erne ; having pushed them as far as they could go in safety, they flung the infants, torn from their mothers' arms, toward the point where the ice was weakest, and, in seeking to rescue them, all perished save two. Women were stripped naked, and sent into the woods — 1» perish. kirwan's letters. 227 Various deaths. Sir W. Jones. Other testimony «_ . . — Many were sportfully drowned ; many hung ; many stabbed to death ; many boiled and roasted ; many were hewn to pieces ; many had their bellies ripped up, and their bowels torn out ; many were driven into houses, and were burned in them ; many were torn to pieces with dogs ; and in some cases, one end of the in- testines was tied to a tree, and the person was driven round the tree until his bowels were all torn out ! The account of the numbers who thus cruelly perished varies ; but some judicious historians say that it could not be less than 200,000. Of this awful massacre, Sir William Jones says, " If we look into the sufferings of the first Christians under the cruel tyranny of the heathen emperors, we shall not find any one kingdom, though of a far larger extent than Ireland, where more Christians suffered, or more unparalleled cruelties were acted within the space of the first two months after the breaking out of this rebellion." Eastern barbarians never inflicted upon the most base wretches such exe- crable cruelty. And all the blood there shed lies upon the soul, if soul it has, of the Papal Church. But, Sir, the time would fail me, as would your pa- tience and that of my readers, to give, in testimony, the persecutions of Italy, of Spain, of Poland, of Aus- tria, of Bavaria ; or, coming down to our own times, of Zillerthal, of Madeira ; or, coming down to our own day, of Florence, of Naples, of France, of Ireland. The prin- ciples of Popery are unchanged, and so is her conduct where she can wisely carry out her principles. Did she not put up the Inquisition as a slaughter-house for her- etics, and is not the Inquisition vindicated in a work dedicated to yourself, and does not the Papal Church 228 kirwan's letters. Auto da fe. No letting off. See ! See I now send the whole Protestant world to perdition ? And what better is this than making a great auto da fe — piling up the dry stubble as mountains, binding millions of Protestants upon the pile, and then com- manding the Grod of heaven to apply the torch, and consume them all ! Why, Sir, the cruelties of the French or of the Irish St. Bartholomew are mercy when compared to this ! It is the very sublime of the hor- rible ! I would not be guilty of the unfairness of making the children accountable for the sins of their fathers when they reject their principles and abandon their practices ; but when they hold their principles, and ex- cuse their practices, and walk in their footsteps where and when they can, then there is no letting of them off. The most barbarous cruelty on record is that per- petrated in the name of Grod, and under the sanction of religion. Has Home changed her principles ? She can not. Have bishops and priests changed theirs ? They dare not. See how, in Rome, Naples, Austria, they fetter the press. See how, in Ireland, they oppose the Bible and the education of the people. See how, in France, they sympathize with Louis Napoleon to shackle the press, to drive Protestants from all places of trust, and to monopolize the education of the people. See how, in Mexico and Cuba, they wall out all liberty of conscience, and prevent freedom of worship. With us, Sir, they are shy of avowing their principles. Here every thing is against them ; but where they have the power, they are as intolerant as was Hildebrand. These priests from Maynooth and St. Omer's carry, in the same bas: with then vestments, two skins, that of a lion and kirwan's letters. 229 Two skins. a fox. For the present, like slippery John, they wear that of the fox ; but when the fit time comes, it will be soon doffed for that of the lion. Are these priests the men for our country ? Should they be trusted ? With great respect, yours 230 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. Pupery has one object. Influence on Papal nation*. LETTER XXIV. Bad influence of Popery on the Nations.— Results from its Principles. — No exceptions. — Naples. — Rome. — Sardinia. — Female Degradation. — Ireland. — Protestant and Papal States compared. — Spain. — Colo- nies of Papal States.— Is Popery the best Religion for our Country ? —Protestantism has made the United States what they are. — What will they become if surrendered to the Jesuit and the Priest ? My dear Sir, — "Up to this point I have sought to place before you what I consider to be the true char- acter of the Romish Church, of its priests, its cere- monies, its impostures, and spirit. And my object in all this is avowed — to demonstrate to you, and to the entire American people, so far as I can arrest their attention, that nothing but evil — unmingled evil — can be expected from the spread of Popery in this land. "Whatever may be its guises, or promises, or honeyed words, it has but one object in view, and that is its own elevation, and at whatever expense. And wher- ever it has reached its desired elevation, it has shed the deadly shadow of the upas tree upon all the highest and dearest interests of humanity. And as confirma- tory of the statements already made, and of the just inferences from those statements, I wish, in the pres- ent letter, to ask your attention to the influence of Pop- ery on Papal nations. Unless I greatly mistake, you will find here an argument of overwhelming power for its rejection. kirwan's letters. 231 Bad on principle. All under the Pope. No exception. Its baleful national influence we might infer from its principles, and from their bearing upon individuals. It banishes the Bible from society. The Church does all the thinking ; the people have only to believe. It brands "private reasoning" as heresy, and, unless aban- doned, as a damning sin. (rod is the source of truth ; but he has committed it to his Church, and the Church has committed it to the priest, and the people must go to the priest for it, and unless they do, they are damned ! Thus it brings every person to the knee of the priest, to receive, as the truth of Heaven, whatever sense or nonsense he may utter in the name of the Church, without any right to question it, and without any means to authenticate it ! It subjects the people to the priest, the priest to the bishop, the bishop to the Pope, and it makes no matte^jRdiat may be the char- acter of the Pope — whether he be a tyrant, like Hilde- brand — a bloody wretch, like Julius — an infidel, like Leo — or the very pink of lechers and incarnate devils, with Borgia — he is the vicar of Jesus Christ, and the infallible head of the Church ! The course, from which it has never turned aside, save to recruit its strength, is to involve the people in darkness ; to create and to increase a superstitious reverence for the ghostly power of the Church ; to render the masses subservient to the priest ; and to bring all the powers of the individ- ual and of the state into obedience to the power which she claims to exercise by divine right. And as Popery rises to the heights of its aspirations, the people sink into darkness and degradation. If there is an excep- tion to this rule, where is it to be found ? Is it to be found in Naples ? Would that I could 232 kirwan's letters. Not Naples. Priests' paradise. The people. place before your mind the moral picture of Naples, as it now lies before my own. There Popery has all things to its mind. The king, the queen, the govern- ment, the people, the press, the army, the navy, all the appliances of education, are under its control. And never did you see a peacock flirting its gaudy feathers on a summer's day with more ostentatious pride than do the priests of Rome their regimentals along the sunny highways of Naples. Their very tread shows their consciousness of the firmness of the ground on which they stand, and their air testifies to their feeling of security. You meet them every where in numbers beyond number, fat, sleek, and well dressed, and testi- fying by their hearty laugh, their lordly port, their sat- isfied look, that they are at home. And if for priests there is an earthly pamdise, it is Naples. Rome is nothing to it in this respect. But when you turn to the people, alas ! what a sight ! Poverty, wretched- ness, rags, lazzaroni, beggars, soldiers, mountebanks, and donkeys, meet you every where. The masses of the people are ignorant, superstitious, and immoral be- yond your conception. And as you pass from the cities and large towns through the country, the most astound- ing evidences meet you every where, that you are among a semi-barbarous, superstitious, illiterate, and most degraded people. And the despotism of Russia, or of Turkey, is American liberty in comparison with the horrid despotism of Naples ! If Popery, as a sys- tem, is a blessing, as the " Very Rev. P. R. Kenrick, Y. G\," would have us believe, judging from Naples, it reserves its blessings for the priests, and showers its curses on the people. Popery, like the sun in mid- KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 233 Gifts of Popery. Not in Rome. Dreams dissipated heaven, lias all Naples to itself ; and intolerable des- potism, abject poverty, stupid ignorance, gross super- stition, and priestly arrogance, are the gifts and bless- ings which she confers on the people. Apply the rule where you may, and you will find that Popery and pov- erty, priests and beggars, always go together. Is the exception to be found in Rome, or the States of the Church ? Will you turn to my seventeenth and eighteenth letters, and read them again, with a view to answer this question ? We read here at home of " old Romans," " brave," " noble," " generous Ro- mans ;" our conceptions of them are large, generous, and manly. Their generals are Csesars ; their patriots are all Cincinnati ; their soldiers are all like those of the seventh legion ; and their women are all Cornelias or Julias. But on entering Rome, or in riding through the States of the Church, these dreams all vanish, not leaving a wreck behind. And you can scarcely imag- ine that the ignorant, servile, poverty-smitten, deceiv- ing, lying, superstitious people that you every where meet, can be the descendants of the men who planted the eagles of victory at the extremes of the world. In- deed, I felt like turning my valet out of my room when, on paying him his wages, he bowed his knee servilely before me, and impressed his kisses on my hand. Can this fawning dog, said I, be a descendant of the old Romans ? Next to the Neapolitans, the subjects of the Fope are the most degraded people in Europe ; and why the Neapolitans should have the pre-eminence in degradation, I know not, save on the principle that the filth and feculence of a mountain are usually washed to its base, whence they send up their putrid exhaia- 234 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. Fruits in Rome. In Sardinia. Army of women. tions. If the Popish system is a blessing, what pre- vents it from bearing the richest fruits in Italy ? And what are its fruits there at this hour ? Swarms of priests, monks, nuns, and beggars ; poverty, ignorance, superstition ; the press shackled ; no liberty, civil or religious ; no security of property ; no Bible ; no Sab- bath ; splendid churches converted into opera-houses, with no congregations ; and lying wonders without number or end. Is the exception to be found in Sardinia ? You feel, on entering Sardinia, that you are beyond the shadow of the sceptre of Pio Nono, from the improved condition of the people, and the evidences of growth which every where present themselves ; but yet you feel that you are in a Papal country, where Popery is the religion of the people, and where, save amid the valleys of Pied- mont, Popery has had for ages an open field. And yet the degradation of the masses is most striking. They are tunneling the Appenines for a rail- way from Turin to Genoa, and, in June last, I saw an army of women performing the work of horses, carrying on their backs, in baskets, the stones and clay from those tunnels, and depositing them in the valleys, over which they are raising embankments. I saw women carrying lime- stones from the quarries to the kilns in which they were burned ! This is a sample of the civilization which Popery has conferred on Sardinia. While there is an improvement upon Rome and Naples in this coun- try, yet the fruits of Romanism are mainly the same. Unless the present current of affairs is checked by Rome aDd Austria, wh « are exerting all their power to do it, ? better day j dawning upon the dominions of the KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 235 tlome of freemen. In Ireland. Its curse. house of Savoy. The exiles from Florence and Lower Italy, the persecuted for conscience sake, find refuge there. Because the liberty of thinking and of worship are secured there, Turin is rising like an American city. But the blessings it possesses beyond Rome or Naples it owes to the fact that its Popery is less intense. Is the exception to be found in Ireland — poor, de- graded, yet beautiful and noble Ireland ? There you find a warm-hearted, generous, imaginative, impulsive, and noble people, and, as the world knows, capable of the highest improvement, and what is their state ? Gro to their holy wells and holy places — to their fairs, their villages, their cabins, and what is their state ? Visit them wherever in other lands they congregate, as in the Cowgate at Edinburgh, and what is their state ? See them, as in their native dress they are landed on our shores, and follow them to their places of carousal, and what is their state ? The Papal population of Ire- land are greater Papists than the Pope himself, and are more under priestly influence than the people of Rome — far more — and what good has Popery done them or their island ? The curse of Ireland has been, and now is, its Popery. Its lands are fertile — its climate is genial — its people are industrious ; but the influence of the priest, like the breath of the sirocco, has blight- ed the land — has debased its people — has made thorn a by- word in all the lands of their dispersion. The battle between Popery and Protestantism, as to their doctrinal basis, has been often fought ; and, when fairly fought, has been always lost by the priest. Nor can it be otherwise. If the Bible is true, Popery is a false system — and, unless the senses of man arc made 236 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. Lying wonders. Systems compared. Their effects to deceive, it is a system of lying wonders. If there is any moral position on which the mind of this age is satisfied, it is that Popery is the mystery of iniquity. And now, for three hundred years, these two systems have existed side by side ; and, as if on trial before heaven and earth, they have each been exerting their influence for the purpose of manifesting their legiti- mate effects. And what, Sir, are the results ? What is the effect of each on human liberty. Compare Na- ples, Rome, and Austria, with England, Prussia, and these United States, and see ! "What, upon commerce ? Compare Spain, Portugal, and Austria, with Britain, and see ! What, upon intelligence ? Blot out the Pa- pal nations, and what is lost to the intelligent world ? A few stars only would be missed from the sky. Blot out the Protestant nations ; and the effect would be like the sun setting at noon-day. Even the "Yery Rev. P. R. Kenrick, V. G-.," author of the "Holy House of Loretto," would feel that the darkness was increasing around him. What are their effects upon thrift and industry ? Compare Ireland with Scotland, or Con- naught with Ulster, or Cork with Belfast, and see ! What, upon morals ? Compare Italy with Scotland, France with England, and see ! The facts in the case are very plain, and beyond mistake by an honest in- quirer. Protestantism educates the mind, frees the spirit, extends the circle of thought and action, expands the affections, stimulates to independence, puts the Bible into the hands of all men, and teaches them to fear God, and to fear none else. Hence its effects, ev- ery where visible, on the people and nations that em- brace it. On the other hand, Popery seals to man the KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 237 Back track. Beyond cure. Testimony. Book which the Lamb died to unseal, shackles the spir- it, forbids reasoning on religious truths, shuts up the affections to its own adherents, and seeks only the ex- tension of its power and the submission of the people. The high noon of its prosperity was the period known as the " Dark Ages ;" and it seeks now to put all things on the back track for those asres. It has no Sabbath — no Bible — no preaching — nothing, nothing to elevate — nothing but a silly round of ceremonies as unmean- ing as they are absurd. Hence, as Wylie says in his recent excellent work on the Papacy, "Wherever we meet Popery, there we meet moral degradation, mental imbecility, indolence, improvidence, rags, and beggary. No ameliorations of government — no genius or peculi- arities of race — no fertility of soil — no advantages of climate, seem able to withstand the baleful influence of this destructive superstition. It is the same amid the exhaustless resources of the New "World as amid the civilization and arts of the old — it is the same amid the grandeurs of Switzerland and the historic glories of Italy, as among the bogs of Connaught and the wilds of the Hebrides." And the testimony of Macau- lay, in his eloquent History of England, is to the same effect: "Throughout Christendom," he says, "what- ever advance has been made in knowledge, in freedom, in wealth, in the arts of life, has been made in spite of the Church of Rome, and has every where been in the inverse proportion to her power. The loveliest prov- inces in Europe have, under her rule, been sunk in poverty, in political servitude, and in intellectual tor- por ; while Protestant countries, once proverbial for their sterilitv and barbarism, have been turned, by skill and 238 KIRWAJf's LETTERS. Picture verified. A change. Spain. industry, into gardens, and can boast of a long list of heroes, statesmen, philosophers, and poets." Again, he says, " Whoever passes, in Germany, from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant principality — in Switzerland, from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant canton — in Ire- land, from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant county, finds that he passes from a lower to a higher grade of civilization." A few months ago I was enabled to verify this pic- ture of the eloquent and philosophic historian. I passed from Genoa to Turin, and from Turin to G-eneva through Chambery. About three or four miles from G-eneva, you pass through a gate, leaving Sardinia be- hind you. In five minutes you are persuaded, by the style of building, the appearance of thrift, the eviden- ces of taste, of wealth, of intelligence, by the altered appearance of the people, the tillage, the mode of dress, that you are in a Protestant country. After spending a few days in Geneva, I passed through Bonville and Sallanche to Chamouni. A few miles from Geneva, you pass through another gate, and enter the kingdom of Sardinia ; and the exchange of decent houses for huts — of neatly-dressed people for rags — of a self-sus- taining people for beggars — and the appearance of crosses, priests, and pictures of the Virgin, soon con- vince you that you are within the dominions of Popery. And so it is every where. But if you wish to see at a view the gigantic na- tional wreck which Popery can make, look at Spain. Washed by two seas, with splendid harbors — penetra- ted by noble rivers — with fertile plains extending from the Pyrenees to the Straits of Gibraltar — with a cli- kirwan's letters. 239 Its position. Its ruin. Popish colonies. mate proverbially genial, and a soil proverbially pro- ductive — with the key of the Mediterranean by her girdle, and thus with power to command the trade of* all Western Asia and Southern Europe, she holds a po- sition on Europe's map which should make her its great power. And she was so once. Under the Moorish kings, Spain was the garden of Europe. And why are lies harbors without ships — why her mines un- wrought — why her national poverty — why her feather- weight influence among the nations — why her little exports — her decaying cities — her internal feuds — why has she fallen from a position once so high to one now so low ? The history of the infernal Inquisition, of the bloody bigotry of her bishops and priests, and of the su- perstition of her kings and queens, will answer these questions. Popery has ruined Spain, and sown all its fields with salt. And the national ruin that Popery achieves at home, she propagates abroad. Where have Spain or Portugal planted a colony that has not manifested in its devel- opment the evils of Popery ? Not in Mexico — not in Brazil — not in Chili or Peru — not in India, nor on the islands of the Pacific. If you wish to see, and within the reach of your own eye, the different effect of the two systems upon national prosperity, compare Papal Mexico, with its genial climate, its rich lands, its mines of gold, with New England, with its sterile soil, its cold climate, and barren hills. Sir, the striking differ- ence, and under circumstances so favorable to Mexico, can only be charged to the difference in religion which has obtained among the people. And this parallelism holds equally true, whether applied to nations, states, 240 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. Is it the best form ? All become Papists. It debases. cantons, counties, cities, commerce, intelligence, mor- als, habits, or individuals. Now, Sir, in view of all this, whose substantial truth you, at least, will not question, permit me to urge upon you the inquiry, Is Popery the best form of religion for our country ? If it is the best form for one, it is the best for every citizen ; and would it be for the future glory and happiness of this country for us all to give in our allegiance to Pius IX. — to give up our Bibles — to give up preaching for the Mass — and Christ for Mary — and the only Mediator for an army of saints and nuns — and all our religious books for Butler's Lives of the Saints — and the history of Jesus for the devout perusal of the " Holy House of Loretto," by the "Very Rev. P. R. Kenrick, V. G\" — and for all of us to come to the conclusion that the claims of our long-coated priests are all right, and to submit to them ? I am sure that you, even you, to whom was dedicated a work containing a vindication of the infernal Inquisi- tion, would go against all this with a vengeance. You love your country, and its institutions, and its future glory too ardently to place it under the care of the Jesuit and the priest, and thus to make it a mere trib- utary to the rickety despotism of Rome, which is only kept in existence by French bayonets. But what would work evil to the mass can not be good for the individual ; and the question returns, Is Popery the best form of religion for the individual ? There is but one answer to the question ; it admits of but one. It is by debasing individuals it debases the masses, and lays its ax at the root of all national greatness. There is not a living person that is not the KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 241 Protestantism has made America. worse for being a Papist ;*nor can a man or woman embrace it without mental and moral injury. Protestantism, Sir, has made our land what it is. It originally colonized these states — it laid the mental and moral training of our people at the foundation of our institutions — it put up our school-houses and col- leges — it nerved the hearts of our sires to resist the encroachments of power — it fought and won the bat- tles of our independence — it has made us an enterpris- ing, law-abiding, and industrious people — it has found- ed our governments — framed our laws — given integrity to our judges — and has made this the home of the ex- ile from all lands. It has built our cities — whitened the ocean with our canvas, and has sent our ships to every bay, yes, to every creek of the ocean. It has extended loyalty, and thrift, and enterprise, and wealth, and security, and happiness from shore to shore — from the Atlantic to the Pacific, where the west is lost in the rising east. Nor can you or I indulge any vivid hopes for our country, save in its Christianized, that is to say, spiritually-Protestantized futurity. Let the Pope and the priest reign here as they do in Naples, Austria, and Rome, and then New York will be as Naples, and Baltimore as Rome, and our great and growing country like unto the empire of the house of Hapsburg, the Sleepy Hollow of the world ; and oui active, industrious, and thriving people, as lazy, as poor, as stupid, and as vicious as are our neighbors of Mexico, or as wicked and avaricious priests can make them. When the priest gains the ascendent here, the last rays of the sun of our glory are dying away on the summit of our Rocky Mountains. L 242 kirwan's letters. What to be done with Papists ? What, then, you will ask* is to be done with the Pa- pists and priests that are rained down upon us from the old nations of Europe ? This question I will an- swer in my next. With great respect, truly yours KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 243 Emigrants. Every where. More coming. LETTER XXV. Emigration — must increase — mostly Popish. — What to be done for them -Liberty — Conscience — American Spirit. — Tide stayed until now. — Right of all Men to the Bible — Wickedness of withholding it. — Differences between Protestantism and Popery. — Edinburgh Irish Missions. — Rev. Mr. King. — Character of Priests. — Pilgrim of Struel. — Treatment Priests deserve. My dear Sir, — There is, as all the world knows, a vast influx of emigrants from all the states of Europe to our shores. Upon' the wharves of all our great com- mercial cities you see the garb, and you hear the tongue peculiar to all the nations and people extending from the North Cape to the Island of Sicily, and from the Black Sea to the western shores- of Ireland. And yet they come. They are penetrating our interior — they are to be found in the city, in the town, on the prairie, in the woods, in the shop of the mechanic, breaking up a virgin soil into which a plowshare has never entered, and carrying with them their language, their customs, their morals, and their religion, to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and from both the oceans that now bound our great country. And there is a buzzing stir amid the old nations of Europe, like unto that which may be heard in a bee-hive previous to its swarming, which clearly indicates that what of emigration we yet have seen here is but as the few ripe grapes when compared with the overflowing vintage, or but as the little rise in 244 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. Tenants of Europe. A saying. Majority Papist* our great rivers, caused by a few summer showers, when compared with our spring freshets, caused by the dissolving of our snows upon our extended mountain ranges. The masses of Europe are tenants, and they are beginning to feel the oppression of their landlords, and that from it there is no way of escape save by rev- olution or by emigration ; and as the chances of revo- lution are at present against them, they prefer to emi- grate. " Our gentry," said a noble Scotch clergyman to me, " are beginning to think more of sheep than of men, and are sending off their tenants to make room for their sheep and black cattle. Our people must go to America." " You will not find a healthy person any where that is not thinking of going to America," said the guard of a stage-coach to me, as I was riding through Ireland. Soon we came to a stopping-place. A fine, rosy-cheeked girl, with health in all her move- ments, came with a message to the guard ; and de- termined to put his saying to the test, I said to her, "My fine girl, do you think of going to America?" " I am going next month, your honor," said she, her face radiant with smiles. The people of Europe are waking up to a sense of their wrongs ; and the more they manifest that they see and feel them, the more oppressive are their civil and ecclesiastical rulers ; so that, in the nature of things, great as the emigration now is here, it must be vastly- increased. And as the majority of emigrants for some years past have been Papists, so it must continue to be. The Papal nations are the poorest, the worst governed, and the most oppressed ; and the Papists of Protestant na- tions, as of Britain, Prussia, and some of the minor KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 245 What to be done. Liberty of conscience. Taint. states of Germany, are the least thrifty, and are those to whom a change of country would seem to offer the most inducements. So that for years to come there must be a vast yearly accession to our population of those educated under Popish institutions, and, of course, of Popish priests. And if Popery and its priests are what I have described them to be — if Popery in all lands, and to the extent to which it obtains, is a na- tional curse, the question with which I closed my last letter is a very grave one, " "What is to be done with these Papists and priests ?" Will you permit me to in- dicate what I consider the true answer to the question ? Not a feeling must be indulged or manifested other than that of permitting them to enjoy, to the utmost extent of our institutions, a free and full liberty of con- science. Ignorant, superstitious, and semi-civilized as they may be, when naturalized they are citizens. Our Constitution knows neither Jew nor Gentile, Papist nor Protestant. All good citizens it treats as does a kind father his children. Nor must we show any jeal- ousy of placing a fitting man in a place of trust or power simply because he is a Papist. I rejoice, Sir, that you, a nominal Papist, are at the head of the judi- ciary of this great country, and that you were placed there by a thorough Protestant, who hated the Pope far more, I fear, than he hated sin, because of the ad- vantage it gives us, if, for no other reason, of contrast- ing the two systems. Think you that a Protestant, if pure as Marshall, if learned as Blackstone, if eloquent as Webster, could be made chief justice of Cuba, or Mexico, or Naples, or even Belgium ? Would not the taint of Protestantism countervail all other qualifica- 246 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. Rights of conscience. Sacred domain. Power gone. tions, and tend rather to secure his expulsion than his elevation ? And then we must teach them the rights of con- science, and to respect those rights — that God is the only lord of conscience. It is hard to learn them this, when their very conscience has "been educated into the opposite belief, that the Church and the priest give laws to conscience, and that we are bound to persecute those who refuse compliance to those laws. It is a great lesson for us to teach, and for them to learn ; and when truly learned by them, the power of the priest is gone. If you, Sir, are conscientiously a Papist, I am conscientiously a Protestant, and to our God we are only accountable. "Within the domain of conscience no Pope, prelate, or priest has a right to place his foot ; and the intruder within that sacred inclosure should be as unceremoniously expelled as were apostate angels from heaven, who were driven pell-mell over its battle- ments, and cast down into everlasting chains and penal fire. The supremacy of conscience and the supremacy of the Pope are in the opposite scales ; as the one rises, the other sinks. The man who enthrones God in his conscience is lost to the priest. He has no longer any use for confessions, penances, or extreme unctions — for holy water or holy chrism. He is a subject of the perfect law of liberty. We must then teach them to assert their own rights of conscience, and to respect those of others. Then the priest will have lost all power to foment the people to such riots as have occurred in New York, St. Louis, and Milwaukie, and which have so clearly demonstrated that a change of country or climate does not soon change the nature of the hyena ' S LETTERS. 247 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. American spirit. Its p ower. Our way. We must also seek to imbue them with the true- spirit of our country. It is among the greatest of the many blessings of Heaven to our land that our present tide of emigration was held back until our people be- came sufficiently numerous, and our institutions suffi- ciently established, to be unaffected by it — until our people acquired a character of their own, and power to impress it upon those who seek here an asylum for themselves and their posterity. Had our present emi- gration taken place one hundred years ago, it would be substantially a transference here of Ireland and Germany, and of the other European nations, with their language, and religion, and social institutions. But now it affects us but little more than do the fresh waters of the Hudson, the Susquehanna, or the Missis- sippi, the salt water of the ocean. Indeed, as the At- lantic takes these and other rivers into its bosom, and assimilates all their turbid waters to itself, imparting to them all its color, and salting them with its salt, so may our country receive into her arms the multitudes fleeing to her for refuge from the despotisms of the old world, and mold them all into the American form. Nothing here lives by divine right, but the true. We permit men to swagger as they see fit, and to put forth what claims they please ; but the moment they attempt to enforce claims by divine right, they soon learn their latitude and longitude. When priests claim to think for us, we only think the harder. The more they seek to induce us to sing hosannas to the Pope, the louder we proclaim him to be the anti- Christ. The more they oppose the Bible, the more we print, circulate, and read it. And the more they circulate such books as " The 248 kirwan's letters. Privilege of laughing. Our peculiarity. Individualisms lost. Garden of the Soul," " Butler's Lives of the Saints," and " The Holy House of Loretto," by the erudite and philosophic P. R. Kenrick, Y.Gr., to revive the drooping faith of their flocks, the more we claim and exercise the privilege of laughing at them from one end of the land to the other. The fact is, that we, Sir, have a character peculiarly our own. Our fathers taught us to think for ourselves ; and this spirit is fostered by all our institutions. The prevalence of education makes the masses intelligent ; and before our general intelligence, and the Protestant atmosphere that covers the land, ignorance and cre- dulity are fast disappearing. Indeed, the tendency is less to faith than to infidelity. Nothing is now taken for granted, however. venerable for years, or however intrenched behind authority, without examination. Whether right or wrong, this is the American peculi- arity. And if we only rightly and truly impress it upon the emigrants swarming here from other lands, it will be the death of Popery. The Irish, English, French, Scotch, Germans, Italians, Hollanders come here, not to propagate then national characteristics, but, like different ingredients thrown together, each yielding, in a chemical process, their peculiarities, and all uniting to form a new substance. The British em- igrant gives up his queen — the French his king, presi- dent, prince-president, or consul — the German his king or emperor — and why should the Papist cling to the Pope ? Why should he fling from his body the chains of civil despotism, and hug the chains of spiritual des- potism, which are eating into his soul ? Why should he not seek a spiritual as well as civil emancipation ? He kirwan's letters. 249 Harmless thunder. Contagion. Our mill. is here beyond the reach of the arm of despotism ; and, imbibing the true American spirit, he should think, and read, and act for himself. The men that wear the fillets made from the wool of holy sheep, and their priests, may rage, but their rage, like the thunders that are sometimes heard in the distance of a fine morning, reminding us of the storms of the night, excites no ter- ror. When the bear is within bars, he may rage until he is willing to stop. And this American spirit is so contagious, that there are but few emigrants who are not in some measure affected by it. Even the priests feel it. However they may feel about it, they have to yield to it. " Why do you attend our worship and read our Bible ?" said I to a Papist, on my outward voyage, who was going home to Ireland on a visit. " 0, I have been some years in America," was his reply. He had caught the spirit of our country. And while the exceedingly illit- erate, and those advanced in life, who emigrate here, may, with few exceptions, retain their Popish preju- dices, and may be proof against the contagious spirit of our country, it will not be so with the young and intelligent, nor with their children. In the nature of things, it can not be so, as a rule. The son of an Irish- man will neither wear his father's breeches nor brogues, nor will he kneel to his priest. The son of an Irish- man, a Frenchman, or Italian is an American, and he will not be a Romanist. We have a mill, of which the common school is the nether, and the Bible and its institutions the upper stone ; into this mill let us cast the people of all countries and forms of religion that come here, and they will come out in the grist Amer. L2 250 kirwan's letters. Right to the Bible. Post-office. Why such war. *o icans and Protestants. And the highest wisdom of our country is to keep this mill in vigorous operation. We must also teach them that it is the inalienable right of every man to read the Bible. As prophets and apostles spoke "the words of this life" in the hearing of all that composed their audiences, and to the end that all should understand them, so their messages, when committed to writing and to the press, are for the pe- rusal of all, and that all may understand them. And what right has the priest to obtrude himself, and to take from you the Bible, or to compel you to receive its teachings only as he interprets them ? When a boy, and absent from home, had you not a right to take your father's letters from the post-office, and to read them, and to find out their meaning, without going to the priest ? And is not Grod the father of us all — and is not the Bible his paternal counsel to us — and what right has the priest to take it from us ? "What if some parts are omitted that he deems inspired, why not per- mit you to read the rest ? What if some passages are not translated to suit him ? these are but few in com- parison with those to which no objections are made There is no excuse that can be made for the opposition of the priest to the Bible. If I could not get a copy of the Bible without having annexed to it the history of " The Holy House of Loretto," I would take it ; if I could not get it save with the minor prophets omitted, I would yet take it. Protestant ministers are not afraid of their people reading the Douay Bible, and never burn it ; and why should Popish priests wage so deadly a war, not only against the Protestant Bible, but against the unrestricted circulation and reading kirwan's letters. 251 What we owe to the Bible. Right discussions. even of their own authorized versions ? Their wicked- ness in all this must be exposed — their object, which is to keep their people in ignorance of their horrible deceptions, must be every where proclaimed. We must not compel any to read the Word of Grod, but we must see to it that none are prevented from reading it. We owe, Sir, to a free, unrestricted use of the Bible all w r e are, and all for which we may reasonably hope. And Bible-hating, Bible-burning priests are the men who, more than all others, are placing the ax at the root of the tree of our liberty, under whose branches we now so quietly and securely repose. When the Word of Grod is read by all our people, the craft of the priest is over — to use a figure of Luther, a big hole is made in the head of his drum. And, like unto the " Holy House of Loretto," when deserted in Dalmatia, he may take up his line of march for Italy. We must also wake up the mind of our Papal pop- ulation to discussions upon the great topics on which Popery and Protestantism differ. There is a kind of controversy which is greatly to be deplored — there is another kind which is greatly to be desired, and which is absolutely necessary as long as error exists to oppose the truth. There was once a feeling that inveterate drunkards were beyond reclamation ; and there was a prevalent sentiment in the Protestant world that Pa- pists were beyond the influence of truth, and the hope of conversion ; but abundant facts prove both to be groundless. Many priests, and people in multitudes, have and are yearly deserting and denouncing Popery. I spent a part of tw r o Sabbath evenings in the Irish Mission Chapel in Edinburgh, in which the Rev. Mr 252 kirwan's letters. Irish missions. Edinburgh. People need light. M'Menomy, once a Papist, presides. It was crowded to an overflow with Protestants and Papists. Subjects were selected for discussion, and they were discussed freely on both sides. The Bible was the standard to which every thing was brought. I heard there shrewd Irish Papists, with remarkable dexterity, advocate the dogmas and customs of their Church ; and the good results could be seen in the benches crowded with con- verts from Romanism, and in the multitudes inquiring whether the religion of the priest was or was not the religion of the Bible. I attended another meeting, where, in a more quiet way, M'Laughlin, " the miller of the glens of Antrim," who was cursed from the al- tar, is doing also a noble work among the Papists of Edinburgh. They meet and discuss the claims and doctrines of the priest ; and the result could be seen in an upper room filled with plain, humble, but yet intel- ligent people, who were rescued from the wiles of "the man of sin," and who could give an intelligent reason for the hope that was in them. And it is in ways like these that priests, and the people by tens of thousands in Ireland, are passing over to the religion of the Bible. What the people need is light. Romanism has kept them in darkness, and has filled their minds with fa- bles, prejudices, and monstrous superstitions ; let the light of Heaven into these minds, and these fables, prejudices, and superstitions are seen in their true character, and are at once abandoned. Hence the awful dread of discussion — and of the Bible — and of good books — and even of common schools, by the priests, save where their own tools are the teachers. Nothing suffers by right discussion but error ; and, as in Ire- KIRWAN 'S LETTERS. 253 Rev. A. King. Father Ignatius. Character of priests. land, so here, all right means should be used to wake up the mind of our entire Papal population to an ex- amination of the claims and doctrines of their Church, to the despotism of the priest, and to their duty to as- sert their Christian liberty in a land of freedom. One man like the eloquent and warm-hearted King, of Dublin, whose name will not soon be forgotten among us, would be of incalculable benefit to all our great cities. Familiar with the controversy, courteous in his demeanor, brilliant in debate, ready at repartee, full to an overflow of Irish humor, and with a heart catholic in its instincts, and under the guidance of the law of love, he is the terror of the priest and a fa- vorite of the people. Copying the example of his mag- nificence of New York, Father Ignatius, a predesti- nated dolt, fled to Halifax before him ; and the right reverends and the honorables, who head the Papal gatherings at the Rotunda, decline his invitations to fair discussion. And thus the eyes of multitudes are opening to a perception of the errors of Romanism, and to the wickedness of its priests. And, above all, we must seek to place before the people the true character of their priests. "What, Sir, was their character before the Reformation? What was it at the time of the Reformation, as drawn by Pa- pal writers ? To the last degree wicked. And what is it now in Rome ? "Rome, in its priests and people, has not been, for a thousand years, such a sink of cor- ruption as it is at this hour," said a gentleman to me in Rome, who has resided there for years, and who has had every opportunity to know it well. And if such is the character of her priests at the very seat of her 254 kirwan's letters. Mercy unlimited. Pilgrim of Struel. A ghost. power and her infallibility, what must be their char- acter in her distant provinces ? Better, I think, than in Rome, but yet bad. While I am far from saying that no Popish priests are pious or sincere, and would not limit the mercy of God, who sends his rain upon the just and the unjust, I am yet free to say that they awfully impose upon their people, and for no object but gain. In addition to the testimony already adduced to sup- port this opinion, permit me to state another, as narra- ted at length in Hardy's little volume on the " Holy Wells of Ireland." A gentleman found a young man performing stations at the Well of Struel, near Down- patrick, and held with him the following conversa- tion: " What is your name ? " John L alley. " Where are you from ? " The county of Galway. " What induced you to come so far to do stations at this place ? " Last November, a spirit in the shape of a man ap- peared to me every night for three weeks, near the house in which I lived in the county of Gal way ; and one night I took courage and spoke to it, saying, ' In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, do me no harm, nor any one belonging to me, and tell me what it is that troubles you.' The spirit then replied, ' I am glad you spoke, for this is the last night I would have appeared to you. I have been dead these nine- teen years, and you were but three and a half old when I departed. Before my death I promised to do KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 255 Paddy Brady. The sand-pit. Purgatory. stations at Strael, but never performed my vow ; and because I did not do them, I can not rest.' " Did you inquire what was his name ? " Yes ; his name was Paddy Brady. " "Where did he say he lived when he promised to do the stations ? " In the neighborhood of Downpatrick, near Struel. " What was his calling when living ? " A carpenter. " Where did he say his spirit had been for the last nineteen years ? " For the first five years he was up to his neck in water, under a bridge in this county ; and for the last fourteen he has been in a sand-pit in the county Gral- way. " Are you certain that "no person ever attempted to impose upon you in this affair ? Were you ever in- clined to doubt about it ? " No, never ; for the night he was going away, he took hold of my hand, and left a black mark on it, and went off in a flash of light. " Have you been in a bad state of health lately ? " No. " Have you felt your head very uneasy or in pain ? " Never in my life. " Where do you believe the spirit is now ? " In Purgatory. " And was he in Purgatory at the time he was un- der the bridge and in the sand-pit ? " Yes. " Why did you not come sooner to do the sta- tions ? 256 ' KIR WAN's LETTERS. Father Coyne. Masses. Promising priest. " Because he told me that the proper time to do them would be from May to Midsummer. " Have you ever spoke to your parish priest respect- ins: this stransre affair ? " Yes, I have. " What did he advise you to do ? " He advised me to do the stations. " What is your parish priest's name ? " Coyne. * " Has the Bishop of Gralway ever heard of the mat- ter? " Mr. Coyne is the under-bishop of the diocese. " Were there any masses said for the soul of this man after he died ? " Yes ; his mother got two masses celebrated, for which she paid. " And could not the masses get him out of Purga- tory ? " The masses will hold good ; and if he had not promised to do the stations, they would have fully an- swered. " Have you seen the priest of this parish since you came ? " I have. " Have you told him all about the matter ? " Yes. " Did he say any thing against your doing these stations ? " Oh no. " Did he say he would write to your priest about you ? " Yes. " Has he done so ? KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 2f57 Stations performed fasting. Punishment prolonged. " Not yet. " Have you brought any letter from your parish priest to the priest of this parish ? " No. " How long have you been here ? " To-morrow will be the tenth day. " What time do you begin your stations ? " About six o'clock in the morning, and I do six sta- tions before I break my fast. I have not done until seven o'clock in the evening. & I see you are taking a smoke ; do you never take a drink of water through the day ? " No, neither bite or sup till the six stations are fin- ished. " Do you believe that you will get any benefit of your own soul in consequence of your doing these sta- tions for the spirit you supposed you have seen ? " Yes, I do ; for the spirit told me if I would do this for him, that he would do five hundred times as much for me when he would be happy. " If you had not engaged to do these, what do you think would have been the consequence ? " The spirit said that if I would not consent to do this for him now, he would have to remain in the sand- pit fifty-five years longer. " Could he get no one but you to do the stations for him ? " I was the person fixed on since I was three years and a half old. " Have you made any agreement to see the spirit when you go back ? " No ; for as soon as I am done he will be happy. 258 KIRWAN S LETTERS. Total darkness. Wretched state. Worse things, " Do you believe that he is now in pain ? " I bless my Lord that he is not now in pain, but he is in total darkness. " Do you think that the Lord Jesus Christ could have saved him without either masses or the stations ? " To this he made no reply, but, in a hesitating manner, expressed a persuasion that the masses and stations were really necessary. "Can you read ? "No. " How do you earn your bread ? " I am a brogue-maker. " Is your father or mother alive ? " My mother is alive. " Have you walked from the county of Gralway here ? " I have, barefoot. " How do you support yourself while here ? " I have no means of support but what I get from the poor family of this house ; they are very good to me. " "Will you go home as soon as you have done all the stations ? " I will not be able, my feet are so sore. " He then showed his feet ; they were very much bruised, and, when he pulled up his drawers, his knees were nearly in a state of complete ulceration." Here, Sir, is a picture of the degradation produced by Popery, and of the superstition encouraged by its priests at the present hour. And this is not an exception to their influence, but an illustration of it. And black and bad as it is, it is sense when compared with things and scenes of daily occurrence under the eye of the KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 259 Heathenism extended. Break the grasp. Pope himself. And if they do better in this country, it is owing, not to their principles, but to the civiliza- tion amid which they live. Romanism is heathenism extended, and its priests are no more Christian minis- ters than were the priests of Jupiter. So I believe, and believing, I so declare. And their influence, through all its extent, is only evil, as to the temporal, social, intellectual, spiritual, and eternal interests of men. Their grasp upon the mind and conscience of their dupes is like that of the priests of India upon the poor Hindoos, and is retained in the same way. To break that grasp, the true character of the priest must be un- folded ; and, when truly seen, the people will desert them, and leave them here and every where, as in Rome, to parade their vestments, and go through their senseless ceremonies, within the sacred inclosures of empty churches. Such, Sir, is my answer to the question, What is to be done to our Papists and priests ? We must give light to the people. But, from the Pope to the most illiter- ate Irish mass-monger, the priests are impostors, claim- ing a divine right to exercise their impositions, and to damn us all, unless we submit to them. Whatever they may receive at the hand of Grod, they deserve nothing at the hand of man but to be treated as im- postors. With great respect, truly yours. 260 kirwan's letters. Mortal sin. If Protestantism was so guilty. LETTER XXVI. Strictures on Popery ended. — Popery to be extirpated — its End hasten- ing. — Friends of Freedom Enemies of Popery. — Suspended Wrath. — Religion essential to national Greatness. — What true Religion is. — Nature of the Church of God — its Object and End. — Tendency to vi- carious Religion. — Great Curse of Christendom. My dear Sir, — I have concluded all that I originally intended to say to you on the subject of Romanism, and all that I now deem necessary to expose it, in its theory, its government, its practices, its frauds, its fruits, and its priests. Believing it, as I do, to be a system of huge iniquity, framed like that of Hindoo- ism, which in so many points it resembles, by the cun- ning of ages, and solely for the benefit of the priest, I have spoken plainly and honestly. While I know that, in the estimate of the priest, my sin is mortal, of so deep a dye as to defy the cleaning influence of holy water or holy oil, I yet believe that from you, and mul- titudes of others in this land, my statements will be candidly examined, and my motives duly appreciated. If statements such as I have made in these letters against Romanism could be made as truly against any one branch of the Protestant Church, they would be fatal to its existence. All the world would unite in hissing it to Purgatory. And, unless I read backward the indications of Providence, the time is not far distant when Popery will be thus treated by the nations and KIRWAN ' S LETTERS. 261 Extending its alliance. The worse the better. people which have been so long crushed beneath the weight of its intolerable exactions. In this opinion I am aware I differ from many Protestants, who look upon Popery as extending its alliance with the despot- isms of Europe for mutual support. But this only tends to hasten the event for which the earth is groaning;. The men are every where multiplying whose ardent souls are thirsting for freedom as does the hunted hart for the water-brooks ; and wherever found, whether in Rome, Naples, Tuscany, or Austria, the moment they see that the priest and the despot are united to crush them, they will fling to the winds the banner of revolt against both. Indeed, they are now doing so by tens of thousands. The tighter Popery now screws on her fetters, the better. The flesh will quiver where the pincers tear — the blood will follow where the knife is driven ; and the more the victims of its cruelty are mul- 7 v tiplied, the nearer the hour when the Lord will destroy it with the brightness of his coming. We never so feel like crushing a serpent as when it claims the right of casting its slimy folds around us, and of injecting its deadly poison into our veins. Over Romanism and its ministers the wrath of God and the wrath of man are alike suspended ; and their unblushing claims, their monstrous pretensions, their wicked deceptions, their alliance with despotisms, their readiness to use the powers of heaven or of hell, as may best suit their pur- pose, and without the least compunctions, are only hastening the hour when that suspended wrath shall fall upon them and grind them to powder. Indeed, it is among the darkest enigmas of Providence that they have been permitted to continue so long. 262 kirwan's letters. Things to be considered. True religion. Some religion. Will you permit me, Sir, in this concluding letter, to say to you, and to the thoughtful and educated minds of this land, a few things which I could not so well say any where else, and whose bearings you will readily see upon our individual, national, temporal, and eternal interests. I ask for them the considera- tion which then essential importance demands. For the sake of distinctness, and to prevent all confusion of thought, I will present what I have to say under a few heads. 1. I wish you well to consider the importance of true religion to national greatness. Although the Christian is the religion established in the minds of the American people, we have no religion established by law. And for this, our great peculiarity, the Chris- tian has far more reason of thankfulness than the in- fidel. It places the religion of God on a vantage ground among us, which it has nowhere else. "While, in the eye of our law, the Jew, the Christian, the Athe- ist, the Pagan, are on the same level as to all civil rights, we are not, therefore, an irreligious people, nor should our men of education and position therefore re- gard all forms of religion or irreligion with the same favor. Man is laid under a constitutional necessity to have a religion of some kind ; and if he does not em- brace the true, he will a false system. Some men may be Atheists, and assert that ours is a fatherless world — some may be infidels, and deny a divine revelation — but the masses of the people will be neither Atheists nor infidels ; unless instructed into a knowledge of the Christian religion, they will be the dupes of gloomy su- perstition or of burning fanaticism. The evidence of 'S LETTERS. 263 KIR WANS LETTERS Mere negations. Bulls of despots and priests. all history proves this statement true, as does also the present state o^the nations. Mere negations can not satisfy the religious longings of our nature ; and if we know not the true God, we will have many gods — if not the only Mediator, we will have many mediators — if not the way of true worship, we wiil have will wor- ship — if n ot the Bihle, we will believe in lying legends, old wives' fables, or any spiritual frauds which crafty and wicked priests may invent. And the influence of their religion upon individuals and nations must be known and read of all men, and has already been il- lustrated in these letters. These things being so, can you, Sir, can any man, be indifferent as to the form of religion which shall finally obtain among the masses of the people which shall crowd this great confederacy of states ? The re- ligion of this country will give form and direction to its destiny. The Bible is the Magna Charta of human liberty, and hence the bitter hatred of it by despot and priest. Alexander of Russia and the Popes of Rome have sent out their bulls to bellow every where against it. As the religion of the Bible obtains in this land, the passions of men will be subdued, their principles will be formed and strengthened, our laws will be just and humane, our people will be intelligent and indus- trious, the national mind will be stimulated, commerce and the arts will flourish, and God will make our offi- cers peace and our exactors righteousness. If forms of religion not sanctioned by the Bible obtain, the reverse of all this must be the result ; the chapters of our he- roic history will soon come to an end ; and however protracted may be those which shall record our decline 264 kirwan's letters. True and cheap way. What religion is. How it acts. and fall, decline and fall we must. If Romanism pre- vails here, nothing on earth can preverffc us from sink- ing as low as the Romans. By motives, Sir, like these, I would urge upon you, and upon all men of character, position, and influence in this land, to cast the entire weigkfc of their influence in favor of the ex- tension of the religion of the Bible among all our people. It is the true and the cheapest way, if not the only one, of perpetuating our institutions ; and to send them down, unimpaired, to bless our posterity, as they are blessing us. 2. I wish you and all men to form a definite idea of what true religion is. Because so often used as synony- mous with sect, or with an adjective designating some sect, untaught minds are very liable to mistake in ref- erence to it. We speak of the Papal, of the Protestant, of the Jewish religion — of the Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal religion ; and when many consider it at all, they consider it objectively, or in the light of sectarian controversy. Now true religion exists apart from all this, and is independent of all sects, parties, and controversies. It is a right disposition of mind and heart toward God, exercising' itself in all appropriate ivays. There never was, nor will there ever be but one true religion in the world. "Whether existing in the bosoms of angels or of men, it is the same in sub- stance. It is independent, as to its essence, of all priestly interferences, and of all social relations. It is not assent to certain theological opinions — nor is it zeal for certain peculiarities — nor is it a rigid adherence to ritual observances ; it is a right disposition toward Grod, manifesting itself in ways of beneficence toward man. KIR WAX'S LETT El: 265 Bible view. Romish view. Extent of fulsc views. Wherever that right disposition exists, and is truly manifested, there true religion exists. That right dis- position is of Grod ; and the person that possesses and manifests it, hy whatever name called, within what- ever temples he worships, is a child of Grod. And all church privileges and sacraments belong to such a man, by right of the new disposition wrought within him by the power of Grod. This, Sir, is the Bible and the Protestant view of true religion. Its seat is in the heart — its author is God — its end and life are to do good to men and to glorify Grod. I need not tell you how opposite is all this to the fundamental doctrines of Romanism, which resolves religion into submission to forms, sacraments, and ceremonies, and to the influence of priestly inter- ferences, and which persecutes and anathematizes none so severely as those who worship God in spirit and in truth, having no confidence in the flesh, and no faith in the priest. To what a fearful extent has this view of true re- ligion fallen out of the minds of men ! The heathen will return from the most exhausting pilgrimages, and from oft-repeated ablutions, to lie and steal, and to com- mit all sin with greediness. At the canonical hour the Arab will bow in prayer before Allah, and will then rush upon his victim and drive his spear through his heart. The Papist will rush from the Carnival to th ) austerities of Lent, and from the humiliations of I Friday to the frolics and festivities of Easter. The Spanish buccaneer will devoutly Kiss the picture of the Virgin which he carries in his bosom, and then, for the sake of a few dollars, plunge his stiletto into the bowels 266 kirwan's letters. Praying for a prize. Nature of the Church. of his victim. And the priest will go up the steps of Ara Coeli, praying the Virgin as devoutly to bless him with a prize ticket in the lottery, as to intercede with her Son to secure for him mercy. And even, Sir, in the Protestant world, the tendency of the human heart is too obviously manifested in the multitudes who re- solve true religion into a mere formalism. The forms and ceremonies of religion are but little worth when its power and truth are absent ; and when the form and ceremony not only take the place of, but array them- selves in hostility against its power and truth, they are only evil, and that continually. "Well will it be for the future of America if these truths are understood and carried out by its mind and its men. 3. I wish you to form a true and definite opinion as to the true nature of the Church of God. In the light of Scripture and reason, such an opinion is easily form- ed, although, amid the fogs of schoolmen, Papists, and High Churchmen of all kinds and creeds, to find the Church is as hopeless a task as to find the quadrature of the circle, or the inextinguishable lamp. A Christian Church is a company of believers in Christ met togeth- er for worship. The entire Church of G-od, in its visi- ble form, is composed of all who profess the true re- lioion, and their children — in its invisible form, of all who truly believe and manifest a right disposition of mind and heart toward G-od and man. As the grains of gold exist amid heaps of sand, so the true people of God are found amid those who make a profession of his name. It must be quite obvious that those who pro- fess the true religion are not separated from the visible Church by any peculiarity which they may adopt, not KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 267 Visible Church. Not confined. Schismatics. affecting the great principles of truth ; and that, though different branches of the visible Church may take unto themselves distinctive names descriptive of their pe- culiarities, they are not therefore separated from the great body of believers. As the various tribes of men, though called by different names, and speaking differ- ent languages, and possessing peculiar habits, belong to the human family, so the various denominations of men who profess the true religion, though differing in many things, form component parts of the visible Church. So that the true Church is not confined to the domains of Popery, Prelacy, or Presbytery ; it is composed of all who receive and practice the truth. Pascal and Fene- lon, though Papists — Rutherford, and Chalmers, and Wesley, and Robert Hall, and Leighton, and Wilber- force, and Grurney, though Protestants, differing on minor topics, all belonged to it ; and their true fame and name should be equally dear to the entire Church These views, which might be expanded into a volume, must be here compressed into a paragraph ; but I hold them as of vital importance to all the great interests of this land. The Papist confines the Church to those who submit to the claims of the Pope, and sends all others to perdition. The Prelatist of the Oxford stamp confines the Church to those who believe in the divin- ity of the order of diocesan bishops, and receive ordi- nances from them, and gives all others over to uncov- enanted mercies. "While yet others would confine the visible Church to those who enter it through the ordi- nance of baptism by immersion. In my view, Sir, these sentiments are all false and schismatical. And the mind and the men of this nation should rise in open 268 -KIR WAN'S LETTERS. A great principle. Object of the Church. Perverted. opposition to these schismatics, whether theyv hail from Home ,or from Oxford, and who are here seeking, for no good end, to sow the seeds of dissension among be- lievers in the Gospel. There is a great principle of Christian charity that underlies all sectarian differences, and which is of more importance than all of them to- gether ; and when that principle rises to its due im- portance, the priest, who never turns his back to the altar, or ascends the pulpit but to nourish his scalping- knife, will find that he is driving a poor business. The most simple and beautiful institution in the world is the Church of God ; to it God has committed the truth as contained in the Bible, and with the com- mand to make it known to all men ; and its great ob- ject and end are to bind men to God and to one an- other, by the diffusion of the truth, by inducing men to obey it, and by teaching all men, where they can not see alike, to exercise toward each other mutual chari- ty. It is deeply to be deplored that the Gospel, which is the perfect law of liberty, has too often been made a yoke of bondage ; that the Church, designed to be the joyous residence of all those made free by Christ, has been so often converted into a fortress of priestly intolerance. Judaizmg views of the Gospel, which confine its blessings to certain tribes — which give effi- cacy to ordinances only when administered by certain hands — low and narrow views of the Church, which confine its existence and privileges within certain lines, and which shut up all admission to it save by the doors opened and guarded by certain porters, have too often dashed the waters of life with a strong infusion of wormwood and gall. But this is all the bitter fruit of KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 269 Old leaven. Not fitted for us. Vicarious religion. Romanism ; and where these things exist in Protestant churches, they are simply proof that the old leaven has not been all cast out — that some of the bitter roots of the old tree remain. The priests, ministers, or people who cut off from the Church of Clod all but themselves, and who exclude from heaven all but those who enter by their gate, are those to whom the least tolerance should be shown. The man who truly repents of sin, and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, is adopted into the family of Grod ; and to expel such a man from the Church for refusing submission to our claims, is like a servant expelling a child from the house of his father for refusing to com- ply with his low whims. Such men may do for Italy or Oxford, but they should receive no countenance in the country of AYashington. 4. Permit me, Sir, in closing, to say a word on the tendency of human nature to a vicarious religion. Truth is revealed for the benefit of the individual mind — and true religion has to do with the individual heart, and its graces are to be manifested by the individuals who possess it. The object of the ministry is to preach the truth, and to exhort all men to believe and practice it. Neither the priest nor the minister can repent for others — nor believe for others — nor secure meetness for heaven for others. Nor can any man employ them his attorney to transact his individual business with the court of heaven for him. And yet to all this there is a tendency in human nature ; and upon this tend- ency Romanism has built up a vast Bystem of fraud and falsehood. " Why," said a friend of mine to a highly-cultivated man and eminent politician, who had 270 K I r w an's lette II s. A. question and answer. Religion a personal tiling been educated in the Romish faith, and yet held it in a waning regard, " why do Papists trust so much to their priests, and pay so little attention to what so vastly concerns their eternal welfare ?" His reply was characteristic. " We have," said he, " but little time to think about religion — and it is hard to know much about it — and we let the priest do the thing up for us, as he has nothing else to do — and then, when we come to die, we send for him to fix us up to meet (rod." Here is the whole matter revealed in a sentence. The priests transfer the merits of one man to another — they transfer the benefit of devotional exercises from one man to another — indeed, they are the hired proxies through whom the masses of the people seek to serve Grod. And they make the people believe that if they only cling to the Church of Rome, and 'leave all with them, all will be well. This, Sir, is what I mean by a vicarious religion, and through which Papal priests have ruined generations, and filled the world with the fame of their pious frauds. In the great work, Sir, of saving the soul, neither you nor I can do anything by proxy nor by a priestly attorney. "VVe sin for ourselves — none can sin for us ; and the soul that sinneth, it shall die. So w T e must repent and believe for ourselves — none can repent 01 believe for us ; and he that believe th in the Lord Je sus Christ shall be saved ; he that confesseth and for saketh his sin, shall find mercy, and none the less read ily if all the priests on earth were in Paradise or Pur gatory. KIR WAN'S LETTERS. 271 Blessings resulting from these views. Such, Sir, are my views, very briefly, but yet freely and frankly expressed to you on the importance of re- ligion to national greatness — on the nature of true re- liffion — on the nature of the Church of God — and on the tendency in human nature to a vicarious religion. I believe them .worthy of your attention, and of that of all the educated and influential minds of this land. If correct, all good men should unite in supporting and extending them. If adopted by all our people, they would extend the benign influence of true religion over them all — they would make all true believers in Christ to feel and act as brethren — they would destroy the trade of the priest, a result most devoutly to be de- sired — they would extinguish all sectarian jealousies, and induce all men to live unto Grod for themselves — they would make our land a mountain of holiness, and the dwelling-place of righteousness. They would prevent for evermore the transplanting here of the upas-tree of Popery, under whose baneful shade noth- iiiL r flourishes but despotism, superstition, priestly 'in- tolerance, ignorance, beggary, and moral and social corruption. My work. Sir, is done. My letters are ended. I <• ist them as bread upon the waters, with the hope that they may be found after many days. Should you bo induced by them to re-examine the system of Popery, and to reject it, and to sel yourself in ;i cordial oppo- sition T<> it. as have multitudes of the greatesi meu that have ever adorned our race, you would write your aarne high up on the pillars which support the temple of our 27:2 KIR WAN'S LETTERS. The great curse of Christendom. freedom, and you would do much to save our land, in all future time, from that mystery of iniquity which, viewed in whatever light, is at this moment the great curse of Christendom. With great respect, yours. 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