BH 
 
 R.?. HORTON,M.A.,D.D. 
 
 AND 
 
 JOSEPH HOCKING 
 
 »/rAmMx»aa»»et'mui^n^'aMM :
 
 '<."/ if-^ P^0^ 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 SHALL ROME RECONQUER ENGLAND?
 
 First Edition 
 Reprinted . 
 Repiiiited . 
 Reprinted . 
 Reprinted . 
 
 September i, 1910 
 
 „ 10, 1910 
 
 30, 1910 
 
 October 25, 1910 
 
 November 30, iqio
 
 I*' 
 
 SHALL ROME 
 RECONQUER ENGLAND? 
 
 BY 
 
 R. F . MORTON, D.D. 
 
 AND 
 
 JOSEPH HOCKING 
 
 LONDON 
 
 NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCHES 
 
 F. B MEYER, MEMORIAL HALL, E.C.
 
 ,/ix. ;
 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 <n As will be seen from the title-page, this 
 w little book is the work of two authors. The 
 K contributions of each are indicated on the 
 S page of contents. Usually, especially when 
 "* dealing with a controversial subject, a dual 
 authorship presents great difficulties. In the 
 present case, however, those difficulties have 
 not existed, as there was practically no differ- 
 ence of opinion in relation to the main issues 
 ^ under discussion, until the last chapter was 
 reached. The author of that chapter there 
 o deals with the duty of Protestants, and 
 '^ specially mentions what he thinks should 
 be our attitude towards the King's Declara- 
 tion and the inspection of monastic institu- 
 tions. 'His opinions concerning these 
 questions are not altogether shared by his 
 ^rfellow-worker, who would rather urge the 
 3 following : — 
 
 First, that a strong Protestant declara-
 
 Foreword 
 
 tion on the part of the Sovereign is essential, 
 and that while no offensive terms should be 
 used, it is necessary, by legal enactments, to 
 secure the Protestant succession to the 
 throne. If the present safeguards, such as 
 the King's Declaration, the Bill of Rights, 
 and the Act of Settlement, were removed, 
 or so weakened that a Roman Catholic could 
 occupy the British throne, it would not only 
 mean that we might have a Sovereign who 
 would pay allegiance to a foreign power, 
 a power that has ever been an enemy to the 
 liberties of the people, but would probably 
 mean that our nation would be plunged into 
 all the horrors of a civil war. However, we 
 have been lately assured that the Protestant 
 succession is safely guarded, and so we pro- 
 foundly hope that while there has been much 
 apprehension on account of the action which 
 the Government has taken in relation to the 
 King's Declaration, it will never be possible 
 for a Papist, whether he be one in secret 
 like Charles II., or one openly avowed like 
 James II., will ever again sit on the British 
 throne. 
 
 With regard to the question of the in- 
 spection of monastic institutions, while both 
 
 vi
 
 Foreword 
 
 writers believe in the necessity for such in- 
 spection, their reasons for urging it are 
 different. The author of the chapter under 
 discussion urges that monastic institutions 
 should be inspected for their own sakes. His 
 co-worker would urge inspection not only for 
 their own sakes, but for the sake of the 
 community at large. At the present moment 
 there are, according to the best informa- 
 tion obtainable, more monastic institutions 
 in England than existed in the time of 
 Henry VHI. ; moreover, every convent and 
 monastery is practically a sealed house. One 
 European nation after another has expelled 
 them as homes of treason and as dangerous to 
 the well-being of the state. M. Yves Gu)'ot 
 says concerning them : " The religious con- 
 gregations are a STATE WITHIN A STATE. 
 But they are not merely that. They possess 
 a terrible solvent force, and, like the strong 
 vinegar that bursts granite rocks, are capal^le 
 of undermining the most solid edifice raised 
 by the most united people." 
 
 But more than this : these institutions 
 should be open to Government inspection for 
 the sake of the inmates. In this connection 
 
 it may not be amiss to quote the following : 
 
 vii
 
 Foreword 
 
 " Convents are sealed houses. In them are 
 thousands of our fellow-creatures. Most of 
 them enter in youth when their natures are 
 most susceptible to influence. They are 
 strictly guarded. Obedience is one of the 
 great laws of life. A ghastly curse rests 
 on those who dare to escape. They are 
 taught to destroy all human affection. Do 
 they wish to come into the world again? 
 iWe do not know, cannot know, except on 
 some rare occasion one happens to escape. 
 They are under the dominion of a confessor 
 whom to disobey is regarded as sin. ... I 
 make no charge of cruelty, immorality, or 
 crime. But I assert that anything can be 
 done, children can be born, and women can 
 die, thiere can be cruelty, crime, outrage, 
 and yet no one has the right to know any- 
 thing about it. 
 
 " And yet is it not a fact that besides 
 these, practically every public institution of 
 every sort — asylum, prison, reformatory — is 
 open to public inspection? Why is it that 
 Rome should so rule our land that convents, 
 monasteries, and the industrial institutions 
 associated with that Church should be 
 
 exempt? The public has a right to know 
 
 viii
 
 Foreword 
 
 that all is well within these prison houses, 
 especially in view of their history ancient 
 and modern." ' 
 
 Apart from these two questions, however, 
 the authors hold practically the same opinion 
 on the main issues with which this book 
 deals. Both have for many years been 
 interested in the subjects under discussion, 
 and have in one form and another placed 
 their views before the public. As a conse- 
 quence they have received no small amount 
 of abuse from the Romanist press, while 
 names of the most opprobrious nature have 
 been hurled at them. Of these they have 
 taken no notice, neither have they in any 
 fashion condescended to use the methods of 
 controversialists whose aim has apparently 
 been, not to arrive at truth, but to tarnish the 
 names of those who have not agreed with 
 them. 
 
 But they feel it wise and necessary to 
 reissue, in a more compact form, the facts 
 and arguments which lead them to offer an 
 unflinching resistance to the attempt which 
 
 ' From a paper on the "Alarming Developments of 
 Romanism," read at the National Free Church Council, 
 Swansea, March lo, 1909. 
 
 ix
 
 Foreword 
 
 Rome is making to recapture Britain. They 
 know that the success of that attempt would 
 be the ruin of our country ; they know that 
 such success is only possible if our people 
 lose their Bible and their contact with Christ. 
 Their contention^, therefore, is for a living 
 and working faith in the verities of the 
 Christian gospel and in the Person of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 August, 19 10.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. "AGE 
 
 I. WHY DID ENGLAND BECOME A PROTESTANT 
 
 NATION? BY J. H. . . .1 
 
 II. WHY ROM.VNISM RUINS A COUNTRY. BY R. F. H. 50 
 
 III. THE DETERMINATION OF ROME TO RECONQUER 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. BY J. H . . -72 
 
 IV. ROME'S PRO.SPECTS OF SUCCESS. BY J. H. 94 
 
 V. WHAT WOULD BE THE RESULT IF ROME WERE 
 
 TO CAPTURE ENGLAND? BY R. F. H. . Iig 
 
 VI. AN APPEAL TO F.-VCTS. BY J. H. . 144 
 
 VII. THE DUTY OF PROTESTANTS. BY R. F. H. . 168 
 
 XI
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 WHY DID ENGLAND BECOME A PROTESTANT 
 
 NATION ? 
 
 The question which is here set down is one 
 of supreme importance. It largely helps to 
 a correct understanding of the fundamental 
 differences which exist between Pro- 
 testantism and Romanism. For more than 
 three centuries England has been a Pro- 
 testant country. Up to the early part of 
 the si.xteenth century it was Romanist ; it 
 was largely ruled from Rome, it believed 
 in the doctrines of the Roman Church, and 
 it was obedient to Roman mandates. Up 
 to 1520 England was far more a Roman 
 Catholic country than Spain is to-day. And 
 yet within a few years from that date 
 England ceased to own her allegiance to 
 that Church, and she learned to scorn her 
 most cherished traditions. Institutions 
 hoary with age tottered to their very base ; 
 
 I B
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 that which had stood for centuries was swept 
 away as if by a whirlwind. The whole 
 nation was shaken to its very foundation, 
 a new atmosphere was breathed, and a new 
 spirit prevailed everywhere. 
 
 Such a change does not take place with- 
 out weighty and insistent reasons. A change 
 which finds its way into the very warp and 
 woof of a nation's life does not come be- 
 cause of some whims or fancies of a few 
 individuals. It has its cause in deep-seated 
 and sufficient forces, and it is in a correct 
 understanding of those forces that the rights 
 and wrongs of the whole question can be 
 largely settled. 
 
 In this chapter I propose to give a plain, 
 straightforward, although necessarily abbre- 
 viated and insufficient sketch of why 
 England claimed freedom from an authority 
 which had been exercised over her for many 
 hundreds of years, and became a Protestant 
 nation. 
 
 ■We must understand at the very outset 
 that at the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury the Roman Church practically ruled 
 England and a great part of Europe. The 
 great bulk of the people were illiterate, and 
 
 2
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 the Church was the repository of much of 
 the learning that existed. As a consequence, 
 the Church had obtained a power which we 
 to-day can barely comprehend. The clergy 
 were not amenable to the laws under which 
 la}Tnen lived. They governed the laity, but 
 the laity had no power over them. Their 
 power was felt in practically every phase 
 of life. The throne of a country was the 
 gift of the Church, and no king was law- 
 fully the sovereign of his land unless the 
 Church crowned him. The disposition of 
 property was also in the hands of the 
 Church, and if a man made a will, that will 
 was not valid if he died out of communion 
 with the Church. A priest was a sacred 
 person, and no matter what crime he com- 
 mitted, the ordinary laws of the land could 
 not touch him. Only the Church could deal 
 with him. On the other hand, the Church 
 courts claimed the right to deal with lay- 
 men, to reward or to punish, as the case 
 might be, in almost every relation of life. 
 
 As one historian says : " If an impatient 
 layman spoke a disrespectful word of the 
 clergy, he was cited before the bishop's com- 
 missary and fined. If he refused to pay, he 
 
 3
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 was excommunicated, and excommunication 
 was a poisonous disease. When a poor 
 wretch was under the ban of the Church, 
 no tradesman might sell him clothes or food 
 — no friend might relieve him — no human 
 voice might address him. under pain of the 
 same sentence ; if he died unreconciled he 
 died like a dog, without the Sacraments, and 
 was refused a Christian burial." 
 
 'When we reflect that the people believed, 
 and without a shadow of doubt, that the 
 priests possessed the keys of the future, that 
 they could provide a passport into heaven, 
 or condemn them to a ghastly material 
 hell, and when we realise their belief that 
 an excommunicated person went, without 
 doubt, to everlasting damnation, we can 
 understand something of their power. 
 
 We must understand also that the posses- 
 sion of such power on the part of the clergy 
 led to the possession of great wealth. Men, 
 in order to obtain the smile of God and an 
 entrance into heaven, made vast bequests 
 to the Church. Hallam the historian says : 
 " The Church failed not, above all, to in- 
 culcate upon the wealthy sinner, that no 
 atonement could be so acceptable to heaven 
 
 4
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 as liberal presents to its earthly delegates. 
 To die without allotting a portion of worldly 
 wealth to pious uses was accounted almost 
 like suicide, or a refusal of the last Sacra- 
 ments, and hence intestacy passed for a sort 
 of fraud upon the Church, which she 
 punished by taking the administration of 
 the deceased effects into her own hands." 
 Doubtless many of these gifts were 
 inspired by feelings of piety and devo- 
 tion, but in any case they went to enrich 
 the coffers of the Church, until it possessed, 
 not only an incalculable amount of money, 
 but also a great part of the land of the 
 nation . 
 
 Much of this land was held in association 
 with the abbeys and monasteries dotted over 
 the land. Sir Walter Scott's great novel 
 " The Monastery " gives some idea of the 
 position of these institutions. Their origin 
 is not difficult to trace. They were, in the 
 main, built in commemoration of some 
 persons who were believed to possess special 
 sanctity. Often these persons were believed 
 to have worked miracles during their lives, 
 and, as a consequence, relics — their house- 
 hold possessions, their clothes, their bones, 
 
 5
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 a lock of hair — were preserved. Persons 
 inspired by their lives desired to follow their 
 example, and, as a consequence, fraternities 
 arose. At the beginning they, were doubtless 
 places of self-sacrifice and prayer ; more- 
 over, the monks were at one time the 
 great friends of the poor and distressed. 
 Presently, however, corruption set in. 
 These abbeys and monasteries became the 
 owners of vast tracts of land : history proves 
 them to have become hotbeds of vice, of 
 drunkenness, and of self-indulgence of all 
 sorts, while their inmates became proud, 
 imperious, and corrupt. 
 
 In proof of this I cannot, perhaps, do 
 better than quote from the letters of 
 Erasmus, the great scholar and wit of the 
 sixteenth century. Moreover, in quoting 
 Erasmus I am quoting one who lived and 
 died a Roman Catholic, a friend of kings 
 and popes, and one who might have been 
 a Cardinal of the Church of Rome had he 
 so desired. Erasmus was also looked upon 
 by the Roman Church as the one man who, 
 by his great intellect and learning, could 
 stem tlie tide of the Reformation. 
 
 " Obedience," he says, " is so taught as to 
 
 6
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 hide that there is any obedience due to God. 
 Kings are to obey the Pope. Priests are 
 to obey their bishops. Monks are to obey 
 their abbots. ... It may happen, it often 
 does happen, that an abbot is a fool or a 
 drunkard. 'He issues an order to the 
 brotherhood in the name of holy obedience. 
 And what will such an order be? An order 
 to observe chastity? an order to be sober? 
 an order to tell no lies? Not one of these 
 things. It will be that a brother is not 
 to learn Greek ; he is not to instruct him- 
 self. He may be a sot. He may go with 
 prostitutes. He may be full of hatred and 
 malice. He may never look inside the 
 Scriptures. No matter. He has not broken 
 any oath. He is an excellent member of 
 the community. While if he disobeys such 
 a command as this from an insolent superior 
 there is the stake or dungeon for him 
 instantly." 
 
 Again, in his " Notes on the New Testa- 
 ment," tlie condition of the priesthood and 
 monastic houses is made apparent. He says, 
 in comment of Matt. xix. 12 : 
 
 " Men are threatened or tempted into 
 vows of celibacy. They can have licence 
 
 7
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 to go with harlots, but they must not marry 
 wives. They may keep concubines, and 
 remain priests. If they take wives, they are 
 thrown to the flames." 
 
 On Matt, xxiii. he says : 
 
 " You may find a bishop here and there 
 who teaches the gospel, though life and 
 teaching have small agreement. But what 
 shall we say of those who destroy the gospel 
 itself, make laws at their will, tyrannise over 
 the laity, and measure right and wrong with 
 rules constructed by themselves ? . . . 
 •What would Jerome say could he see the 
 Virgin's milk exhibited for money with as 
 much honour paid to it as to the conse- 
 crated body of Christ ; the miraculous oil ; 
 the portions of the true cross, enough if 
 they were collected to freight a large ship? 
 Here we have the hood of St. Francis, there 
 Our Lady's petticoat, or St. Anne's comb, 
 or St. Thomas of Canterbury's shoes ; not 
 presented as innocent aids to religion, but 
 as the substance of religion itself — and all 
 through the avarice of priests and the 
 hypocrisy of the monks, playing on the 
 credulity of the people. Even bishops play 
 their part in these fantastic shows, and 
 approve and dwell on them in their receipts." 
 
 8
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 One could quote many pages of similar 
 writings from the works of Erasmus, all 
 going to show the corrupt state of thef 
 Church all over Europe. 
 
 Dean Colet, again, was just as pronounced 
 as Erasmus. " Would that for once," said 
 Colet to the clergy, " you would remember 
 your name and profession, and take thought 
 for the reformation of the Church. Never 
 was it more necessary, and never did the 
 state of the Church need more vigorous en- 
 deavours. We are troubled with heretics, 
 but no heresy of theirs is so fatal to us and 
 to the people at large as the vicious and 
 depraved lives of the clergy. That is the 
 worst heresy of all." 
 
 Although many of the documents relating 
 to the condition of monasteries in England 
 were destroyed in the time of Mary, some 
 are still to be seen, and they reveal a state 
 of things which cannot be set forth in these 
 pages, so utterly revolting are they to the 
 most elementary sanctities of life. 
 
 Indeed, every responsible historian admits 
 that the condition of the Church at the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century was 
 not merely out of harmony with the 
 
 9
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 teaching of its Founder, but a menace to 
 the best life of the nations. In saying 
 this, however, it must not be sup- 
 posed that the clergy were all equally 
 bad. Many were, doubtless, good, pure 
 men, who did their duty faithfully according 
 to their lights ; but the condition of the 
 Church as a whole, as attested to by fnends 
 and foes of Romanism alike, called out for 
 very drastic and vital reforms. 
 
 Another force was also at work which 
 needs a passing word. What was called 
 the New Learning prepared the way for the 
 coming change. The discoveries of Coper- 
 nicus revealed to man many of the secrets 
 of the universe. The daring of the Portu- 
 guese mariners, the voyages of Columbus 
 and of Sebastian Cabot, had brought Europe 
 into contact with men of new faiths and 
 new races, and had quickened the slumber- 
 ing intelligence of the nations. Exiled 
 Greek scholars were welcomed into Italy, 
 and Florence became not only the home of 
 art but of an intellectual revival. Merchants 
 brought precious manuscripts thither, and 
 crowds of foreign students flocked over the 
 Alps to learn Greek. Indeed, Erasmus and 
 
 ID
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 Sir Thomas More and Colet were the 
 children of this New Learning, which they 
 popularised all over Christendom. More- 
 over, it was because Erasmus advocated in- 
 tellectual advance that he was maligned and 
 abused by monks and abbots and priests, 
 who were always enemies to the advance- 
 ment of light. Henry VIII., however, 
 favoured the New Learning ; he admired 
 the writings of Sir Thomas More, especially 
 his " Utopia " ; he made a personal friend 
 of Erasmus, and praised the preaching of 
 Colet. Thus, as Green the historian says, 
 " The awakening of rational Christianity, 
 whether in England or in the Teutonic 
 world at large, begins with the Elorentine 
 studies of John Colet." The writings of 
 these men made the people see that the 
 Church was not the only storehouse of truth, 
 and they prepared the minds of men every- 
 where for the reception of new ideas. 
 
 Moreover, we must not forget that 
 while what was called Lollardism was 
 seemingly dead, the life and work of 
 John Wycliffe were still bearing fruit. 
 Lollardism, as an " ism," was practically 
 unknown, but the truths which John 
 
 II
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Wycliffe taught were so many seeds 
 which had germinated in the hearts and 
 minds of many. Every ideal is an unborn 
 event, and John Wycliffe's ideals, although 
 not yet translated into realities, formed a 
 kind of intellectual and spiritual deposit in 
 the life of the people. They constituted a 
 force which prepared the way for the 
 Reformation. 
 
 Here, then, are certain broad facts which 
 we must bear in mind : The Church was 
 full of abuses, both in life and doctrine ; 
 the clergy were, in large numbers, corrupt ; 
 they abused their power, although many in 
 that fraternity longed for better things ; they 
 wielded tremendous power, and tried to 
 crush all desire for advancement. In spite 
 of this, opposing forces were at work. The 
 influence of Wycliffe was not dead ; and 
 through the influence of the New Learning, 
 Erasmus, Sir Thomas More, and others, the 
 intelligence of millions was being awakened. 
 Not that there seemed any great hope of 
 a reformation. In spite of Erasmus's 
 scathing exposures of the corrupt clergy, and 
 the terrible condition of the monasteries, and 
 even although the people groaned under the 
 
 12
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 burdens they bore, nothing was done. The 
 bishops and abbots maintained their haughty 
 pride, and the priests and monks continued 
 largely as they were. They had power, 
 spiritual and temporal ; they had wealth 
 untold ; they had laws to suit themselves ; 
 the word of the Popes was supreme, and 
 the Popes, for many years, had not en- 
 couraged reform, but had, by life and 
 example, fostered the corrupt condition of 
 the Church. As Erasmus says : " I saw 
 with my own eyes Pope Julian II. at 
 Bologna, and afterwards at Rome, marching 
 at the head of a triumphal procession, as 
 if he were Pompey or Caesar. St. Peter 
 subdued the world with faith, not with arms 
 or soldiers or military engines. St. Peter's 
 successors would win as many victories as 
 St. Peter if they had Peter's spirit." 
 
 Indeed, many, who longed and prayed for 
 the purification of the Church had no faith 
 that the purification would come. Erasmus 
 had poured forth his writings and had 
 altered nothing. Sir Thomas More and 
 Colet had produced but little apparent 
 effect. The Church was filled with the 
 world and the flesh and the devil, but no 
 
 13
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 one rose with sufficient might or power to 
 fight the enemy that had conquered. It was 
 not the enemy from without that the people 
 needed to fear ; it was the enemy which 
 nestled in the very bosom of the Church — 
 the enemy of mammonism, of corruption, of 
 superstition, of lies, of moral cowardice. The 
 common people were ignorant of the real 
 issues at stake, and they were the slaves 
 of the clergy ; the nobles, many of them, 
 railed at the clergy, but were powerless. The 
 scholars found that the evils of the time 
 could not be cast out by scholarship, and 
 yet they could think of nothing whereby the 
 sadly needed reforms could be brought 
 about. Erasmus himself did not seem to 
 have much hope of reform. 
 
 " The stupid monks," he writes, " say Mass 
 as a cobbler makes a shoe, they come to 
 the altar reeking from their filthy pleasures. 
 Confession with the monks is a cloak to 
 steal the people's money, to rob girls of 
 their virtue, and to commit other crimes too 
 horrible to name ! Yet these people are the 
 tyrants of Europe. The Pope himself is 
 afraid of them." 
 
 Again he writes concerning them : 
 
 14
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 " What fungus could be more stupid? Yet 
 these are the Atlases who uphold the 
 tottering Church I " 
 
 iWhen one realises that the Church owned 
 a third, a half, and sometimes two-thirds of 
 the land in almost every country in Europe, 
 and remembers the power which attaches 
 itself to such ownership, it plainly appears 
 that all probability of reform was very small. 
 The great bulk of the clergy was content 
 with things as they were, and while the 
 people were everywhere asking questions 
 no prospect of reform appeared. 
 
 The Reformation began in a most un- 
 expected way and in a most unexpected 
 place. No one would have dreamed that a 
 sleepy German village would become the 
 centre of a movement that was destined to 
 shake Europe to its foundations and alter 
 the history of tlie world. Yet so it was. 
 No one would have expected that an un- 
 known monk would become the centre of 
 this movement, but this was wliat came to 
 pass. 
 
 " The hour and the man I " 
 
 This phrase has become a commonplace 
 in our vocabulary, and it expresses correctly 
 
 IS
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 one of the most dramatic events in the 
 history of the world. 
 
 In the year 1517a new cathedral was 
 being built in Rome. Michael Angelo 
 had prepared the plans for this mighty 
 building, and Pope Leo X., whom Thomas 
 Carlyle called " an elegant Pagan," was de- 
 termined to complete what should be the 
 grandest structure ever erected by man. 
 The great difficulty with which the Pope was 
 met was want of money. Untold millions 
 were needed, and the Pope, a man who loved 
 luxury and had lavished the wealth of the 
 nation freely, found himself in a difficulty. 
 
 He determined to resort to the sale of 
 indulgences — pardons for sins. I have not 
 space to detail how this custom grew up 
 in the Church. Enough to say that by 
 various decrees, the Church claimed the 
 power, and Pope Leo decided to send out 
 through Christendom, by distinguished 
 persons, letters of indulgences, or pardons 
 which could be bought by the people. A 
 regular tariff was fixed. A pardon for 
 polygamy could be obtained for six ducats, 
 that for sacrilege and perjury, cost nine, 
 forgiveness for murder cost eight, while 
 
 16
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 absolution for sins of a less criminal nature 
 could be obtained for smaller sums. In past 
 years people had to make pilgrimages in 
 order to obtain pardons ; of course, they 
 had to pay as well, but they had to go to 
 some particular shrine. By Pope Leo's 
 scheme, however, these pardons were to be 
 hawked throughout the town and villages 
 of Christendom, as a pedlar hawked his 
 wares. 
 
 In the case of Saxony, in which province 
 •Wittenberg was situated, the Pope had 
 arranged with the Archbishop of Mayence 
 to share the proceeds of these sales of 
 pardons, and the business commenced. The 
 salesman appointed to Saxony was a certain 
 Dr. John Tetzel, a Dominican monk, who 
 was for a time eminently, successful, and 
 things went well. 
 
 These sales, moreover, were exceedingly 
 popular, and the coming of the salesman 
 to the town or village meant a general 
 holiday. Erom all we can gather, moreover, 
 Dr. Tctzcl entered each place in state. The 
 officials of the town went forth to meet him, 
 clad in their official robes, while Dr. Tetzel 
 was seated in a gaudy carriage drawn by a 
 
 17 c
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 fine pair of horses. As the carriage entered 
 the town, a person in authority said, in a 
 loud voice : 
 
 " The Grace of God and of the Holy 
 Eather is at your gates." 
 
 Presently the people entered the church, 
 a strong box to contain the money, was 
 placed near the altar, and Tetzel mounted 
 the pulpit and began to preach. 
 
 Reports of Tetzel's sermons are still ex- 
 tant, while the actual box in which the 
 people's money was put can be seen to-day 
 in the cathedral at Magdeberg. Of course, 
 the whole affair was a matter of money- 
 making. People were urged to gain forgive- 
 ness for their sins for trifling sums ; they 
 were besought to get their friends out of 
 purgatory in the same way. 
 
 " The moment the money touches the 
 bottom of that box," cried Tetzel, thumping 
 the great casket ostentatiously, " the soul 
 escapes purgatory and flies straight to 
 paradise 1 " 
 
 Acolytes went among the people and be- 
 sought them to buy the Pope's letters. If 
 any one expressed any doubts about the 
 validity of these letters, he was threatened 
 
 i8
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 with excommunication. And the people, 
 large numbers of them, bought the letters, 
 paid the money, and the Pope's coffers 
 filled. 
 
 Concerning the condition of the Church 
 which could carry, on such a business I 
 need say nothing. The thing commonly 
 obtained, and no voice was raised, or if 
 raised it was quickly stifled. In any case, 
 these salesmen of the Pope went from 
 town to town, and no effective protest was 
 heard, until Tctzel came to a village near 
 Wittenberg. 
 
 The hour for Reformation had come, but 
 where was the Man? For, as can be easily 
 seen, the man who could attack abuses which 
 were favoured by the Pope must brave the 
 mightiest power in the world. Moreover, 
 as all the world knows, those who in the 
 past, like John Huss of Bohemia and Jerome 
 of Prague, had dared to try and reform the 
 Church had been burned for their pains. 
 
 Erasmus declined to take any decisive 
 step. 
 
 " As for me," he wrote to Archbishop 
 Wareham, " I have no inclination to risk 
 my life for the truth. We have not all 
 
 "9
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 strength for martyrdom, and if trouble 
 comes I shall imitate St. Peter. Popes and 
 emperors must settle the creeds. If they 
 settle them well, so much the better; if 
 ill, I shall keep on the safe side." 
 
 Thus, much as the Reformation owed to 
 Erasmus, it was not brought about by him, 
 but by a man of a different order. ( 
 
 There is but little need to give a lengthy 
 sketch of Martin Luther here. 'His portrait 
 has been drawn many times by abler hands 
 than mine, and the story of his life has been 
 told by some of the most skilful writers. 
 And such a story 1 Perhaps among the 
 writings of our most vivid romancers there 
 is nothing to compare with the romance of 
 Luther's life. Certainly neither Sir Walter 
 Scott nor Alexandre Dumas has ever, even 
 in the highest flights of his imagination, 
 written anything so thrilling as the story of 
 the German miner's son. 
 
 Nearly four hundred years have passed 
 away since the chief events of his life took 
 place, but the character of the man is still 
 remembered. A plain man — rough perhaps, 
 as was natural, considering his origin — but 
 an honest man, a true man, a thorough man, 
 
 20
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 and as brave as a lion. As I study the 
 various literatures which I have happened 
 to read concerning him, I am impressed with 
 the simple-mindedness and strength of this 
 German peasant. His whole life had, up to 
 the time he came into prominence, been a 
 search for reality, for truth. His experi- 
 ences as a monk at Erfurt reveals this. No 
 one was more punctilious than he concerning 
 monkish practices ; he obeyed the dictates 
 of the Church with the minutest care, and 
 presently came to see how valueless they 
 were. He became a monk in order to find 
 peace with God and to save his soul. In 
 this he was disappointed. It was not until 
 he found a co^y of that old Latin Bible, 
 of which all the world knows, that he under- 
 stood the way of salvation. Having found 
 it, he held to the vital truths of the gospel 
 with great joy. lie had no thought of being 
 a reformer. He did not doubt the doctrines 
 of the Church, even although he found no 
 peace through them. When he went to 
 Rome it was as an humble believer, but 
 Rome shocked him, bewildered him. He 
 expected to find Rome the home of piety ; 
 he found it a cesspool of vice, a very temple 
 
 21
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 of paganism. " Let all who would lead the 
 holy life avoid Rome," he said. 
 
 He had not the brilliance of Erasmus, 
 but he was not an ignorant man. Rather 
 he was a learned man, and a thinker. His 
 disputations with Dr. Eck at Leipsic reveal 
 him, not only as a scholar, but as a close 
 reasoner, a keen debater. 'He saw into the 
 heart of a thing in a moment, and had a 
 gift for fastening upon essentials. He 
 scorned lies and subterfuges. Of course, 
 he was a child of his age ; he was super- 
 stitious ; he believed in witches, and 
 charms, and the personal appearance of 
 the devil. But there was nothing little 
 about Martin Luther. Rather he was a 
 great man, in the truest sense of the word. 
 Great, not so much because of his intel- 
 lectual superiority to other men, but great 
 because he was large of mind and heart 
 and purpose. Behind all he did was single- 
 mindedness and single-heartedness, and, 
 above all, he was a man of God. " What is 
 the life of Martin Luther, or of a hundred 
 Martin Luthers, compared with the truth of 
 God? " he cried. " Let God's truth prevail, 
 whatever becomes of individuals," 
 
 22
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 'He cared little about trifles, but laid hold 
 on essentials. Carlyle tells a story about 
 him which illustrates this. When the 
 Reformation became a power, some of the 
 preachers came to Luther, complaining that 
 certain of their brethren insisted on wearing 
 cassocks. They asked Luther to prohibit 
 this ** Popish practice." " What do cassocks 
 matter? " cried Luther ; " let them wear five 
 cassocks if they wish 1 " 
 
 A human, kindly man he was too. 
 " Never be hard to children," he used to 
 say. " Many a fine character has been 
 ruined by the stupid brutality of pedagogues. 
 Punish if you will, but be kind too, and let 
 the sugarplum go with the rod." Personally 
 I know of no letter written to a child superior 
 to that which Luther wrote to his little boy 
 Hans. 
 
 Moreover, he had a sense of humour. He 
 loved a quick repartee, a joke, a laugh, and 
 no one can read his Life without being struck 
 by this phase of his character. But beneath 
 it all he was a man of great purpose, of 
 a determined will, one who scorned mean- 
 ness and subterfuge and lies. A great, 
 rugged man, sometimes coarse, but ever 
 
 23
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 honest, a terrible fighter, and a true friend. 
 This, then, was the man who became the 
 central figure in the Reformation. 
 
 He had been appointed as professor in 
 the new University at Wittenberg, and a 
 preacher in one of the two churches which 
 remain in that town to-day. 
 
 Shortly after Tetzel had visited a village 
 near Wittenberg, a woman came to Luther 
 for confession. Luther told her that in 
 order for her sins to be forgiven she 
 must repent of them and she must have 
 faith in her Saviour. The woman said that 
 there was no need of this, and she told him 
 of the letter of pardon which she had bought 
 from Tetzel. 
 
 " Let me see it," said Luther. 
 
 The woman gave it to him. 
 
 "An emparchmented lie ! " exclaimed the 
 monk as he read. 
 
 This was the beginning of the whole 
 movement which was destined to shake the 
 world. 
 
 »He wrote to the Archbishop of Mayence, 
 protesting against what he declared to be 
 a blasphemy against God. 
 
 The Archbishop consigned the letter to 
 
 24
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 the rubbish -heap . Thereupon Luther nailed 
 his ninety-five theses against indulgences on 
 the door of the castle church at Wittenberg. 
 The door has since been burnt, but the father 
 of the present Emperor of Germany replaced 
 k a few years ago with a bronze door, on 
 which those theses are engraved. It is one 
 of the sights of Wittenberg to-day. 
 
 The nailing of those theses, or proposi- 
 tions, although they seem commonplace and 
 mild to-day, aroused Saxony ; the news of 
 the deed travelled around Germany, and for 
 the first time the name of Martin Luther 
 began to be known among the German 
 people. 
 
 Dr. Tetzel thundered back his reply, and 
 then Luther mounted the steps of the pulpit 
 of the church in the market-place in Witten- 
 berg and gave his answer to Tetzel. The 
 church and pulpit remain to-day pretty much 
 as they existed then. When, visiting Witten- 
 berg in 1908, I climbed the pulpit and 
 looked out on the great building, I was able 
 to people the pews and to hear the voice 
 that was soon ringing over all Germany. 
 
 This sermon of Luther's was followed by 
 argument, retort, and wordy warfare. But 
 
 25
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 this fact appears : Euther expressed what 
 the people felt, and thousands rejoiced that 
 a prophet had arisen in Germany. Not that 
 Luther had any idea of reforming the Church 
 as a whole. He never dreamed of the fires 
 he was kindling. He was only an unknown 
 monk, while the Pope was master of the 
 world. He only did what seemed right to 
 do, and, in spite of the warnings of fearful 
 ones he maintained his ground. These 
 pardons for sins were merely " emparch- 
 mented lies." They were not worth the 
 paper on which they were written ; they 
 were dragging souls deeper into hell instead 
 of saving them, and he could not be quiet. 
 
 When at length the news reached Rome 
 the Pope laughed. " 'Tis only a German 
 monk who has drunk too much beer," he 
 said. " When he gets sober, he'll alter his 
 story." But the Pope found out his 
 mistake. 
 
 Doubtless Luther would have been killed 
 but for two facts. First, the Elector 
 Frederick of Saxony was an honest man, who, 
 while adhering to the Church, saw the need 
 for Luther's work. Second, the revival of 
 learning had had its effect, and had pre- 
 
 26
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 pared the people's minds for the reception 
 of what L'uther taught. 
 
 The Pope told the Elector to do his duty 
 by Luther, but this wary Saxon had read 
 his propositions, and had also read the New 
 Testament. " There is a great deal in the 
 Bible about Christ, but very little about 
 Rome," he said. Presently he sent for 
 Erasmus and asked his opinion. The wit's 
 reply was characteristic. 
 
 " Luther has committed two sins," said 
 Erasmus. "He has touched the Pope's 
 crown and the monks' stomachs." Exactly I 
 
 But the war of words went on. The 
 printing press had recently become a power 
 in Europe, and the writings of both sides 
 were printed rapidly. 
 
 Naturally, Luther, in replying to Tetzel, 
 had been led to study various questions 
 which had never seriously troubled him 
 before, with the result that he found that 
 the whole Church was riddled with error, 
 and that it bore but little resemblance to 
 the teachings of its Founder. 
 
 It is impossible to follow the battle step 
 by step, but presently Luther was summoned 
 to Augsburg to answer the charges brought 
 
 27
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 against him. At length the Pope began to 
 see that the Reformation was not a matter 
 of beer, especially as the best life of 
 Germany sided with the Wittenberg monk. 
 
 I have often wished that some great 
 painter >vould take Luther's journey to 
 Augsburg as the subject for a painting. He 
 travelled the whole distance on foot, some- 
 where, I think, between two and three 
 hundred miles. You can fancy him clad in 
 his brown frock, his feet shod in sandals, 
 a staflf in his hand, while his great, rugged 
 face wore a look of resolve, if not defiance. 
 
 " Luther for ever I " cried the people as 
 he left the Elster Gate. 
 
 " No, my children," he answered, " Christ 
 for ever I " 
 
 Cardinal Cajetan was sent from Rome to 
 deal with Luther, and, as he said, he came 
 not to argue, but to command. 
 
 '' Revocaf was his command. 
 
 " Yes," replied Luther, " I will recant 
 everything I have written and said against 
 the Bible." 
 
 " The Pope is supreme," replied the 
 Cardinal. 
 
 " Not over the Scriptures," replied Luther. 
 
 28
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 Presently the Cardinal lost his temper. 
 
 " .What 1 " he cried. " Do you think that 
 the Pope cares for the opinion of a German 
 boor? The Pope's little finger is stronger 
 than all Germany. Do you expect your 
 princes to take up arms to defend you — you, 
 a wretched worm like you ? I tell you no I 
 and where will you be then?" 
 
 " Then as now — in the hands of Almighty 
 God," replied Martin. 
 
 As Cajetan is reported to have said, 
 " (What could you do with a man like 
 that?" 
 
 Still the warfare continued and the move- 
 ment spread. Argument followed argument, 
 disputation followed disputation, book fol- 
 lowed book. The question had assumed 
 larger proportions by this time. It was no 
 longer a question of indulgences, but the 
 truth of the Papacy itself. Not only were 
 indulgences a foul thing, dragging people 
 to ruin, but the whole Papal system, the 
 authority of the Pope, rested on lies, forged 
 decretals, spurious writings, and nowhere 
 had warrant in the Word of God. 
 
 After the Augsburg visit Luther had dug 
 deep into the whole question ; and he who at 
 
 29
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 the beginning only desired to deal with the 
 abuse called indulgences now saw that the 
 very foundations of the Papacy were a lie, 
 and that the system which was built upon it 
 rested upon falsehood. 
 
 At least, that was what he maintained, 
 what he proclaimed by tongue and by pen, 
 and the people believed him. 
 
 Of course, the bishops and the priests 
 were against him. The monks howled 
 against him from a thousand pulpits. 'He 
 was cursed by every curse known, and new 
 ones were invented. If masses could not get 
 souls out of purgatory, their trade was gone. 
 If Luther's doctrines were believed, their 
 power was gone, and they determined to 
 fight him to the death — but the people 
 believed him. 
 
 At length Luther was cursed from Rome, 
 and a Bull came condemning both him and 
 his works. This reached Wittenberg in 
 December, 1520, and then Luther caused 
 a placard to be nailed on the gates of the 
 University and on other public places, in- 
 viting the people to meet him at the eastern 
 gate of the town on the ninth day of the 
 month. 
 
 30
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 And the people came. A fire was lit, and 
 Luther threw the Pope's Bull into the fire. 
 " There," he said in effect, " that is what 
 I think of the Pope and his power." And 
 as the people heard they gave a great shout, 
 which not only swept across the plains of 
 Saxony, but echoed among the Swiss moun- 
 tains, among the mountains of Norway and 
 the Netherlands, and across the seas to 
 England. As Thomas Carlyle says, " it was 
 the shout of the awakening nations." 
 
 Then Luther returned to the monastery, 
 and went on with his work. 
 
 In I 52 I he was summoned to the Diet of 
 Worms, to answer for what he had been 
 saying and doing. Luther went. Many 
 tried to dissuade him, but he did not heed 
 them. " God hath need of me," he said, 
 "and I go." 
 
 'He travelled from Wittenberg to Worms, 
 some two hundred miles, in an ox-cart which 
 had been fitted up for his journey, and 
 during most of the way it was like the 
 triumphal march of a great king. 
 
 " Do not forsake us. Dr. Luther," was 
 the cry everywhere, and Luther's reply was 
 that, God helping him, he would not fail. 
 
 31
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 I will not attempt to describe that journey 
 here, especially as I have written of it at 
 length elsewhere.' Suffice to say that he 
 reached the city in spite of many entreaties to 
 turn back and in spite of plots to keep him 
 away. It was during this journey that he 
 uttered those historic words which have rung 
 down through the ages : " Wenn so vie I 
 Teufel zu Worms wdren, als Zeegal auf den 
 Ddchern noch wollt Ich hineln " — " Were 
 there as many devils in Worms as there are 
 tiles on the housetops, I would go." 
 
 'He was arraigned before the greatest 
 judgment-seat ever known in history up to 
 that time. Representatives from almost 
 every Court of Europe were there, and the 
 Emperor Charles V., who reigned over a 
 great part of the Continent, sat as chief 
 among the judges. 
 
 Before this mighty tribunal L'uther stood 
 alone. 
 
 The questions put before him were 
 two : First, were the pile of books before 
 him his production? Second, would he 
 recant what he had written ? 
 
 He acknowledged the authorship of the 
 ' " The Sword of the Lord." 
 32
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 books ; and with regard to the second ques- 
 tion, he was willing to recant anything that 
 was opposed to the -Word of God. He spoke 
 for hours, and the excitement was intense. 
 He proved that the Bible must be the final 
 authority, and not Councils, and there he 
 must leave the matter. 
 
 The Chancellor of Treves cried out : 
 
 " You have not answered the questions put 
 you. .You were not summoned hither to call 
 in question the decisions of Councils. You 
 are required to give a clear and precise 
 answer. iWill you or will you not retract? " 
 
 A great silence hung upon the assembly, 
 for, as it seemed to all, not only did Luther's 
 life hang upon a thread, but all that he had 
 been struggling for would stand or fall by 
 his reply. 
 
 " Since your Majesty demands a clear and 
 
 simple and precise answer," he said, " I will 
 
 give you one, and it is this : / cannot submit 
 
 'my faith to Pope or X^ouncils, because it is 
 
 as clear as the day that they have frequently 
 
 erred and contradicted each other . Unless 
 
 I am convinced, therefore, by tlie testimony 
 
 of Scripture, or by the clearest reasoning — 
 
 unless I am persuaded by means of the, 
 
 passages I have quoted, and unless they then 
 
 }3 D
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 render my conscience hound by the Word 
 of God, I cannot and I will not retract, for 
 it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against 
 his conscience.'" 
 
 His words fell like a shock upon the 
 assembly, and men looked at each other, 
 wondering what would happen next. And 
 Luther, realising the purport of what he had 
 said, uttered those memorable words : 
 
 *' Here I stand. I can do no other. 
 May God help me;. Amen ! " ^ 
 
 The Sage of Chelsea says this was the 
 greatest scene in modern history. To use 
 his exact words : " English puritanism, 
 England and its parliaments, Americas, and 
 the vast work of two centuries, the French 
 Revolution, Europe and its work everywhere 
 at present, — the germ of it all lay here 1 " 
 
 I need not follow the story farther. 
 Luther was conveyed to Wartburg Castle, 
 where he translated the Scriptures ; and 
 from that time the Reformation was an 
 established fact, as far as Germany was con- 
 cerned. The people embraced the doctrines 
 of Luther, and the Papal throne was denuded 
 of its power. 
 
 ' Dr. Lindsay, in his " History of the Reformation," does not 
 record this. He says that Li:ther's last words were, "Got kutn mir 
 zn hilf" (" God come to my help "). Vol. i. p. 291. 
 
 34
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 This is not the place to speak of the work 
 that others did in the Reformation on the 
 Continent. Luther was the centre of the 
 movement, aUhough it could never have 
 wrought the change it did but for men like 
 Melanchthon and Reuchlin and Zwingli. 
 They, in their way, were as important as he, 
 but in this sketch I have given the main 
 features of the great Spiritual Revolution 
 which took place between i 5 1 7 and i 5 2 1 . 
 
 At least the gist of the matter can be 
 stated in a few words, and perhaps I can 
 do no better here than to quote from James 
 Anthony Froude the historian. Referring to 
 Luther's answer before the Diet, he says : 
 
 ** There, as you understand, the heart of 
 the whole matter indeed rested. In those 
 words lay the whole meaning of the 
 Reformation. Were men to go on for ever 
 saying that this or that was true because the 
 Pope affirmed it ? or were the Pope's decrees 
 thenceforward to be tried like the words of 
 other men — by the ordinary laws of 
 evidence? " 
 
 The people demanded the right to think 
 for themselves, and the Pope's power was 
 broken for ever. 
 
 35
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Of course, the movement, which swept 
 over Germany like wildfire, also affected 
 other countries. It invaded Switzerland, 
 and largely conquered it. It marched to 
 Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, and became 
 triumphant. It entered the Netherlands, 
 and, in spite of the most terrible deeds ever 
 done, became the great power of Holland. 
 It came to England, and a new life began 
 to pulse in the veins of the nation. 
 
 I need scarcely say that the Reformation 
 had a different history in England from what 
 it had in Germany, but the final issues were 
 the same. 
 
 It is not my purpose here to discuss the 
 allegation that Protestantism in England won 
 simply because of the fact that the Pope 
 refused to listen to the appeals of j 
 
 Henry VIII., and condemned his unbridled 
 passions. I have no brief for Henry VIII., 
 neither do I deny that Henry's actions had 
 much political importance. But I do not 
 wish to deal with Protestantism as a political 
 matter, but as a great religious movement. 
 The truth is, no real Reformation took place 
 in the time of Henry VIII. Protestantism, 
 real Protestantism, did not become a vital 
 
 36 
 
 (
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 power in England until long after Henry 
 was buried with his fathers. Church laws 
 might be passed, but they did not touch the 
 heart of religion. Changes in laws do not 
 change the faith of a people. Moreover, 
 we must remember that Henry won for him- 
 self the title of " Defender of the Faith " 
 by opposing Luther and by seeking to refute 
 his doctrines. Henry was no friend of 
 Luther ; neither did the nation accept the 
 Protestant faith under him. The religion 
 that changes by Acts of Parliament is a very 
 poor thing ; and, beyond a general unsettle- 
 ment of beliefs in Henry's time, there was 
 no vital and general change of religion. 
 
 It is true the nation was under the ban of 
 Rome, as it continued to be during the short 
 reign of the boy Edward VI ., but the people 
 never accepted the Protestant faith with any- 
 thing like reality. This may be easily seen 
 when wc realise that on Edward's death and 
 on Mary's accession England was reconciled 
 to Rome. The clergy to a very large extent 
 vowed submission to the See of Rome, and 
 the curses of the Church were formally re- 
 voked. Indeed, the Italian legate declared 
 that people accepted reconciliation with 
 
 37
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Rome with tears of joy, and there was 
 general rejoicmg. 
 
 It must not be understood, however, that 
 there were not a large number who had 
 embraced the Protestant faith. Both among 
 the clergy and the laity there were a number 
 to whom the simple gospel of Christ had 
 become the great truth of life. The right 
 to read the Scriptures and the influence of 
 the movement on the Continent had had 
 their effect, so that while the nation had 
 in no real sense become Protestant during 
 the reign of Henry, VIII. and of 
 Edward VI., there were numbers of the 
 people to whom Protestantism was a vital 
 reality. 
 
 None felt this more keenly than Mary 
 and her advisers, and directly after recon- 
 ciliation with Rome persecutions com- 
 menced. Space will not permit me to deal 
 with them at length, yet they must be men- 
 tioned here, because it was largely through 
 them that England threw off the Papal yoke. 
 
 Immediately following the removal of the 
 Pope's curse, the clergy and the laity had 
 to be " individually reconciled." A day was 
 appointed when the clergy should appear 
 
 38
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 with their confession ; and when they had 
 made it, they had to exhort the laity to 
 accept the grace offered to them. To this 
 end a register was to be kept in every 
 diocese, where the names of all who sub- 
 mitted were registered. 
 
 Evidently Cardinal Pole imagined that 
 there might be many who would refuse to 
 submit, for he declared that " before 
 heretics were punished by death mild means 
 should first be tried with them." What these 
 " mild means " were history, has recorded. 
 Possibly two clergymen of eminent piety, 
 named Rogers and Hooper, were in his 
 mind at the time he expressed this 
 determination. Hooper was Bishop of 
 Gloucester. Both of these men were 
 thrown into prison, and it was with them 
 that the persecutions commenced. -When 
 they appeared before the court they were 
 told to make their submission, and, on 
 attempting to give reasons for not doing so, 
 were silenced, and told that they had twenty- 
 four hours in which to make up their minds. 
 
 As they left tlie church on their way to 
 prison, Hooper was heard to say, " Come, 
 brother Rogers, must we two take this matter 
 
 39
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 first in hand and fry, these faggots ? " 
 " Yea, sir, with God's grace," replied 
 Rogers. " Doubt not but that God will give 
 us strength," said Hooper. 
 
 The next morning they were remanded 
 again, and the " Queen's mercy " was offered 
 them if they would recant. They refused, 
 and were sentenced to die. Rogers re- 
 quested that he might be allowed to see his 
 wife. Stephen Gardiner, who stood high in 
 the Councils of her Majesty, refused with 
 a savage taunt. " Rogers," as the illustrious 
 Bradford said, " was to break the ice, and he 
 was led to the fire at Smithfield amid the 
 sneers of the Catholics, who believed, as 
 Cardinal Pole said, that " the Protestants 
 had no doctrine to stand the fire." It is 
 recorded of him that when on his way to the 
 stake, his wife and family, who had not been 
 allowed to see him in private, met him— r 
 there were nine children, one of them being 
 a babe at the breast — and they welcomed 
 him with cries of joy, " as though he were on 
 his way to a festival." At the last moment 
 he was offered pardon if he would recant, 
 but he refused. The fire was lighted, and 
 Sir Robert Rochester, who was at the stake 
 
 40
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 to report his behaviour, says that his suffer- 
 ings seemed but as nothing. He bathed his 
 hands in the flame as if it were cold water, 
 raised his eyes to heaven, and died. 
 
 Hooper suffered death at Gloucester. His 
 agonies were terrible, yet he remained stead- 
 fast. Hooper went to heaven in a chariot 
 of fire. 
 
 On the same day Rowland Taylor was 
 burnt on Aldham Common, in Suffolk. 
 Laurence Sandars had been burned the 
 day before at Coventry, kissing the stake 
 and crying, " Welcome the cross of Christ I 
 Welcome everlasting life I " 
 
 These were the firstfruits of the reconcilia- 
 tion of England with the " Holy Roman 
 See." 
 
 Presently it became rumoured that the 
 fond hopes of the Queen to give an heir to 
 the tnrone were a delusion, and then Mary, 
 hoping to obtain the favour of God by 
 stamping out heresy, took steps to commence 
 a thorough crusade against those who de- 
 clared that they could not beUeve that water 
 and flour could become God. Men and 
 women of all sorts and conditions were tried, 
 condemned, and burnt ; and as the people 
 
 41
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 witnessed the terrible scenes which took 
 place, they began to ask themselves whether 
 they who died so joyfully and so full of 
 faith could indeed be heretics, and whether 
 the Church in whose name they were roasted 
 to death could indeed express the mind of 
 Him who wept at the grave of Lazarus and 
 whose love led Him to die for the world. 
 
 Presently it was whispered abroad that 
 for every martyr burnt there were twenty 
 thousand who left the Roman Church and 
 embraced the Protestant faith. 
 
 " These Protestants might not know how 
 to govern wisely," says Green, " but they 
 knew how to die." 
 
 This was true, and the story of those who 
 suffered unnameable horrors, rather than be 
 untrue to the teaching of the Scriptures and 
 the promptings of God in their souls, is 
 among the most soul-moving and the most 
 pathetic in history. 
 
 England became a land of wailing. Men 
 and women went around with haunting fear 
 in their hearts lest any chance word they had 
 spoken should bring them before the judges. 
 A great black terror rested upon the nation. 
 No man was safe. If an evil-minded person 
 
 42
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 had a grudge against some one, he accused 
 that person of heresy, and thus wreaked his 
 vengeance. Thousands were afraid to utter 
 the most innocent thoughts for fear of being 
 suspected. 
 
 In spite of all this, however, the New 
 Testament was being read and discussed. 
 People met in secret and conversed on the 
 deep things of life ; and, in spite of the 
 almost daily burnings, what was called 
 heresy spread from town to town, from 
 village to village, and hamlet to hamlet. 
 The fires of persecution led the inhabitants 
 of our land from mere formal things to 
 realities. The seeds of liberty and truth 
 which had been sown years before had 
 sprung up, and instead of persecution 
 destroying the fruits it nourished them. 
 
 Mary might persist, as she and many 
 others did, in believing that it was for 
 the good of the Church to burn 
 those who could not believe in the 
 Mass, but what she called heresy spread 
 rapidly. " Bloody Bonner " might incite her 
 to deeds of the most terrible nature, but 
 he could not stamp out the truth. What 
 was true of Holland was also true of 
 
 43
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 England— edicts and bloodshed and the 
 flames of the faggots drove the people to 
 God. Thus the deeds which the Roman 
 Church blessed, and at which the children of 
 England have shuddered for three hundred 
 years, helped the nation to see that Rome 
 was the enemy of freedom, the power that 
 was as cruel as death. 
 
 Perhaps the event which helped on this 
 belief more than any other was the martyr- 
 dom of Ridley and Latimer, near Balliol 
 College, in Oxford. That these two old 
 men, known and loved everywhere for their 
 learning, their good works, and their piety, 
 should suffer the most cruel of deaths, under 
 the tyranny of the Roman Church, caused a 
 shudder of revolt throughout the land. 
 
 " The Church guilty of this," said the 
 people, " cannot be the Church of Jesus." 
 And in spite of edicts, in spite of fire and 
 torments, they read the New Testaments 
 which yet remained to them. 
 
 Thus it came to pass that the nation which 
 had accepted the Roman faith at the begin- 
 ning of Mary's reign was largely Protestant 
 when that reign drew to an end — Pro- 
 testant, not because of votes in Parliament, 
 
 44
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 but because it had been led to embrace Jesus 
 Christ as Saviour. 
 
 The death of Mary was the cause of 
 rejoicing from one end of the land to the 
 other, and Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen 
 amidst universal joy. The reign of 
 terrorism — the reign of the Pope — had come 
 to an end, and the dawn of a new day 
 appeared. Not that Elizabeth was a Pro- 
 testant, in the true sense of the word ; 
 neither did she love Protestants, but she was 
 not a bigot, like Mary ; neither would she 
 allow herself to be dictated to by Rome. 
 Moreover, she could not help seeing that 
 a large part of the nation had accepted 
 Protestantism, and she had to act accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 On the settlement of religious matters 
 under Elizabeth's reign there is little need 
 to enlarge. As all the world knows, it was 
 in the nature of a compromise. The Queen 
 was anxious to conciliate the Protestants on 
 the one hand and the Catholics on the other, 
 under a system that was to be called the 
 National Church, and to a certain extent she 
 succeeded. But compromises are dangerous 
 things, as subsequent history shows. Never- 
 
 45
 
 r 
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 theless, with the defeat of the Spanish 
 Armada the overthrow of the Papacy in 
 England for nearly a century was com- 
 plete. 
 
 Only a few words dealing with subsequent 
 history are needed. After Elizabeth came 
 James I., a man who, Macaulay says, " united 
 in his own character pedantry, buffoonery, 
 low curiosity, and the most contemptible per- 
 sonal cowardice — one of those kings whom 
 God seems to send for the purpose of hasten- 
 ing revolutions." But there is one thing for 
 which James's reign is noted. It gave us 
 our Bible, and that Bible became the one 
 book of the Puritans, and, under God, one 
 of the greatest factors in forming the nation's 
 life. 
 
 During the reign of Charles I ., under Arch- 
 bishop Laud, the chains of slavery were again 
 forged. The iniquitous " Star Chamber " 
 threatened the people's liberties, and the 
 days of Mary came back again in a milder 
 form. Then came the Commonwealth and 
 the Puritanism of Oliver Cromwell. It was 
 then that our country rose to the zenith of 
 its power ; but with the death of Cromwell 
 came two Catholic kings, during whose reign 
 
 46
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 the country began to drift back to its old 
 terrorism. Especially was this true during 
 the time of James II., when Britain was 
 a kind of paid vassal of Louis XIV. of 
 France. But this did not long continue. 
 The people who had inherited their Pro- 
 testant liberties, and determined to maintain 
 them, much as they hated revolt, at length 
 determined to be free from the dominion 
 of a king who was false to his Coronation 
 oaths and an enemy to the best life of the 
 nation. Thus it came about that, in spite of 
 the terrible failure of the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth's rebellion and the bloody deeds 
 which followed, William of Orange was 
 asked to become the king of these realms. 
 The story of his coming is well known. No 
 battle was fought, for James II. had escaped 
 like a thief in the night, and the Dutchman 
 became king almost without a word of 
 dissent. William promised to maintain the 
 Protestant Constitution of the land, and the 
 people rejoiced . The threatened Popery of the 
 last few years had made England determine 
 that never again should a Catholic king sit 
 on England's throne. The shadow of the 
 Papal power had rested on them for years, 
 
 47
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 and it was so terrible that the nation resolved 
 that never again v^^ould it have the reality. 
 
 Thus England became Protestant. It 
 threw off the Papal chains ; and from that 
 time up to the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury no one, in his wildest dreams, ever 
 imagined that the hand of Rome would ever 
 be laid in power on England again. 
 
 This is not the place to tell of the part 
 played by what is called Dissent in the Pro- 
 testantising of the country. It ought to be 
 told, for it was the life-blood of the move- 
 ment. All through the reign of the Stuarts 
 it was the rock against which the barque 
 of Rome dashed itself in vain ; and to this 
 day it is admitted that the Free Churches 
 are the great bulwark against the invasion 
 of Rome. 
 
 Neither is there any need to tell the story 
 of Scotland and her heroes. The memory 
 of John Knox, and the Covenanters who 
 signed the charter of liberty with their blood, 
 lives to-day in those domains north of the 
 Tweed. Their battle was the same as ours, 
 but fought in a different way ; and in no 
 part of these fair islands is the determination 
 never again to allow the yoke of Rome to 
 
 48
 
 Why England became Protestant 
 
 be placed upon the people as strong as in 
 that land where the Reformation was not 
 a compromise but a reality. 
 
 In this sketch I have tried to suggest the 
 great battle that was fought. It was no 
 light matter ; it went down to the very roots 
 of life. It was a battle for a free and open 
 Bible ; it was a battle for liberty — liberty 
 of mind and liberty of soul. That battle 
 was won by those who were willing to sacri- 
 fice their lives, but who would never sacrifice 
 liberty and truth ; and, because they won 
 the battle, much of the lies, the corruption, 
 the slavery against which they strove, have 
 been swept away from our island home. 
 
 Shall Rome ever come back to reign? 
 That is the question to be considered in 
 this volume. 
 
 49 B
 
 CHAPTER 11 
 
 WHY ROMANISM RUINS A COUNTRY 
 
 We have before us a curious problem. It 
 is not disputed that our Western civilisation 
 is the product of Christianity, and our 
 Western civilisation is the model and the 
 teacher of the world. Progress, in any 
 worthy sense of the word, is closely identified 
 with the Christian religion. 
 
 But the largest and oldest Church of 
 Christendom, the Papal Church, exercises on 
 every country in which it is predominant an 
 extraordinary blight. Once the Papal coun- 
 tries were in the van of Christendom ; now 
 they are in the rear. There is no longer a 
 first-class Power in Europe which renders 
 obedience to the Papacy. France, the eldest 
 daughter of the Church, has thrown off her 
 allegiance. Italy, as a kingdom, repudiates 
 the Papal authority, though as a country she 
 still harbours the Papal Court. 
 
 50
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 The only two countries in Europe which 
 have never broken away from the Papacy, 
 but have voluntarily submitted to the yoke, 
 are Spain and Belgium. Austria cannot be 
 included, for parts of that complex empire 
 have been in the past, and still are, the 
 theatre of vigorous Protestant movements. 
 Belgium is the brightest gem in the Papal 
 crown. It is prosperous commercially, and 
 it is devoutly Catholic, except so far as it 
 is infidel and socialistic. It is unfortunate 
 that this genuinely Catholic State should be 
 responsible for the Congo and for what is 
 rightly called " the greatest crime in 
 history." 
 
 Spain is the other Catholic Power in 
 Europe. Once she was the admitted leader 
 of Christendom, and the conqueror of the 
 New World. To-day, notwithstanding her 
 size, she hardly counts in the councils of 
 Europe, while Spanish America, the most 
 completely Catholic part of the world out- 
 side Europe, is incapable of political stability 
 or of moral progress. The contrast between 
 the northern part of that continent, which 
 was colonised by Puritan England, and the 
 southern part, which was conquered and 
 
 51
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 settled by Catholic Spain, is one of the most 
 striking object-lessons in the world, and 
 illustrates the paradox that while Christen- 
 dom is the leader of the world's progress, 
 within the borders of Christendom Catholi- 
 cism is retrogressive and retards. 
 
 Thus the broad fact, whatever may be the 
 explanation of it, is too plain to escape the 
 notice of any candid inquirer. There is in 
 Romanism some subtle and irresistible ten- 
 dency to retard, and even to ruin, every 
 country which it dominates. 
 
 iVVhat emphasises the paradox is that the 
 Roman Church always retains an extra- 
 ordinary hold over the people. It builds 
 and maintains great churches, colleges, 
 monasteries. It carries on its stately and 
 often beautiful ceremonial. Its altars are 
 thronged ; its adherents are taught and 
 shepherded and completely under control. 
 
 In this respect Romanism is like Moham- 
 medanism or Hinduism — it really grips 
 people and nations. The Roman Church 
 dominates Ireland and the Irish, as com- 
 pletely as Islam dominates Morocco. Ire- 
 land, with the exception of Ulster, is the 
 Island of the Saints, and exhibits more per- 
 
 52
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 fectly than any other part of Europe the 
 virtue and value of the Papal religion. There 
 the Catholic ideals are realised. There, 
 under our indulgent government, Catholi- 
 cism enjoys a liberty and a power such as 
 it enjoys nowhere else in the world. The 
 traveller in Ireland sees everywhere the fine 
 and costly churches and the comfortable 
 presbyteries rising among the hovels of the 
 people. Every hillside has its memorials of 
 saints. The priests control not only the wor- 
 ship but the life of the people. They have 
 it all their own way. If the Irish peasant 
 desires freedom, he emigrates to America. 
 I am told that not only peasants but even 
 priests frequently cross the Atlantic, not for 
 economic or worldly reasons at all, but to 
 escape from the rigid and perfected system 
 of the Roman obedience, which is, as 
 Catholics think, the supreme blessing, and, 
 as Protestants think, the most crushing bane, 
 of that lovely and melancholy land. 
 
 The ruinous effect of Romanism on a 
 country is plain. But when we come to 
 inquire the reason of it there is room for 
 much variety of opinion. I suggest four 
 things which, taken singly, might explain 
 
 53
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 the result, but, taken together, leave us with- 
 out astonishment, that where the Papacy 
 prevails nations wither and decay. 
 These four things are : 
 
 1. The sacerdotal system of Rome. 
 
 2. The intellectual bondage, and the con- 
 sequent growth of superstitionj which the 
 system demands. 
 
 3. The subtle effect of the system on the 
 teaching and practice of truth. 
 
 4. The position claimed by, and conceded 
 to, the Pope. 
 
 I will endeavour to show how any one of 
 these causes would account for the kind of 
 degeneration and retrogression which is 
 observable in Catholic communities. 
 
 I. The Sacerdotal System. — In the first 
 place, the Catholic priest is a celibate under 
 compulsion ; in the second place, he claims 
 to discharge functions which invest him with 
 a superhuman dignity and authority ; in the 
 third place, he exercises in the confessional 
 a power over his fellow-men by methods 
 which are equally demoralising to him and 
 to them. 
 
 Now, it may seem startling to connect 
 the decay of Catholic countries with the celi- 
 
 54 
 
 I
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 bacy of the priesthood. But here is a plain 
 fact : In our Dictionary of National Bio- 
 graphy, the larger Westminster Abbey, in 
 which are recorded the lives of all who have 
 served and made their country, the propor- 
 tion of the " sons of the manse " is almost 
 incredible. The clergy and ministers are 
 a small part of our population, but they con- 
 tribute, I think it is, more than a third 
 of the great men and women of our English 
 race. 
 
 The simple life, filled with spiritual ideals, 
 ordered and disciplined by the duties of the 
 pastor, the life of the rectory or of the manse, 
 is, speaking broadly, the best training we 
 have in England for boys and girls who are 
 to serve their country well. If our clergy 
 had been celibate for these four centuries 
 of the Reformation, England would have lost 
 at least a third of her greatest and noblest 
 sons. There would have been no Nelson ; 
 there would have been no Tennyson ; there 
 would have been no Matthew Arnold. The 
 Dictionary of National Biography would 
 shrink to two-lhirds of its present 
 dimensions. 
 
 The Dictionary of Spanish Biography, if 
 
 55
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 there is one, must be proportionately re- 
 duced. By the ceUbacy of the priesthood, 
 and by the conventual system, in which 
 Rome places the highest expression of her 
 religion, the best and noblest persons of the 
 community are sterilised ; they can give no 
 legitimate children to their country. A 
 Catholic community is thereby deprived of 
 one of the wholesomest, most intellectual, 
 and most strenuous elements of population. 
 And when this sterilising process is carried 
 on for some generations , the Roman Catholic 
 country falls far behind a country in which 
 thousands of vicarages and manses are train- 
 ing up children in the best of all discipline— 
 " plain living and high thinking." 
 
 But the Catholic priest is led co claim 
 a character and to exercise functions which 
 raise him out of the category of humanity. 
 At the altar he changes bread and wine into 
 the body and blood of Christ, and offers 
 them as the sacrifice for sin, the food of the 
 soul, God manifested in the flesh ; so that, 
 in the expressive language of St. Alfonso de 
 Liguori, the priest is the CREATOR OF HIS 
 Creator. Furthermore, he is taught to be- 
 believe that he can forgive or retain sins. 
 
 56
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 •He thus holds the keys of heaven for his 
 fellow-men, and can admit or exclude whom 
 he will. 
 
 Naturally, before one claiming such 
 powers those who believe in them bow 
 down prostrate and obedient. God Himself 
 could hardly do more than the priest pro- 
 fesses to do. And therefore the devout 
 Catholic submits to his priest as he would 
 to God. He believes what his priest tells 
 him, he does what his priest requires ; he 
 disposes of his property at the bidding of 
 the priests, so that in England before the 
 Reformation a third of the land had passed 
 into the hands of the priests. He cannot 
 call his soul his own — it is the priest's ; he 
 cannot come to God, or receive the grace 
 of God, but by the priest. Individuality, 
 independence, manliness declines. The 
 Catholic is held under the most subtle, the 
 most absolute domination of a fellow-mortal. 
 He is like one hypnotised. 
 
 If priests were the best and holiest of 
 men, this would still be injurious to char- 
 acter. We must learn by independence. To 
 possess our own souls, and to come straight 
 to God without any intermediary, is the con- 
 
 57
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 dition of moral and spiritual development. 
 A population, therefore, under the domina- 
 tion of the best priests in the world would 
 still be only children, utterly unable to make 
 real progress in moral life and in spiritual 
 knowledge. Such a population would 
 always be in swaddling-clothes, and would 
 fall behind the manly races which make 
 progressive countries. 
 
 But the priests are not, as a whole, the 
 best and holiest of men. A Frenchman, 
 who had been a priest, told me that 
 in France it is known that a third 
 of the priests are real believers, con- 
 scientious pastors, and morally good ; that 
 another third are sceptics, not believing the 
 rites or the doctrines of the Church to which 
 they are bound ; and another third are 
 immoral and often scandalous. 
 
 But good Catholics are equally subject 
 to the priest whether he be good, bad, or 
 unbelieving ; and a Catholic population is 
 under a domination which, at its best 
 dwarfing, not infrequently becomes vicious 
 and corrupting. 
 
 The corruption of the priesthood is in- 
 evitable iu the Catholic system. Priests, as 
 
 58
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 a rule, are only obtained by training boys 
 in the seminaries and committing them to 
 the vocation before they have a chance of 
 knowing whether they are called to it. 
 Many, therefore, must necessarily be uncon- 
 vinced and heartless in their work. But 
 priests who are to sit in the confessional 
 are subjected to such a training in the depths 
 and vagaries of iniquity that none but the 
 most exalted minds can come through un- 
 contaminated. 
 
 •When '* The Priest in Absolution," the 
 manual used by confessors, was brought by 
 Lord Redesdale to the attention of the House 
 of Lords, he declared that no one could read 
 it without injury to his moral nature. Every 
 priest who receives confessions must study 
 books of this kind. And the demoralisation 
 spreads through the mind of the priest and 
 the community to which he ministers. The 
 confessional alone, especially when we take 
 into account the demoralising effect of pur- 
 chasing absolution by money payments, is 
 quite enough to account for the decay of 
 Catholic countries. 
 
 The moral nature is easily benumbed or 
 perverted. To sin, to pay the penance, and 
 
 59
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 then to sin again, and to pass one's life in 
 that kind of traffic with evil, deadens the 
 moral sense. When God absolves, He 
 breaks the power of sin, and the p>enitent 
 in His confessional means by his penance 
 " heart sorrow and a clean life ensuing." 
 The priestly confessional hides this truth 
 from a Catholic population. 
 
 2. The Intellectual Bondage and the 
 Growth of Superstition. — A system like 
 Romanism depends entirely on the ignor- 
 ance and subjection of the people. Of 
 the 180,000,000 of Catholics, 120,000,000 
 are illiterate.' In thoroughly Catholic 
 countries like Spain and Portugal three- 
 fourths of the people cannot read. 
 
 If the people can read, they may read the 
 New Testament, or they may read the criti- 
 cisms of the Church which are made wher- 
 ever thought is free. Therefore Catholicism, 
 by choice, leaves the people in ignorance. 
 Furthermore, it denies the right of private 
 judgment. The recent treatment of the 
 Modernists in the Encyclical " Pascendi 
 Gregis " of 1907 illustrates the essential 
 principle of Rome. Modernists like George 
 
 ' See McCabe's " Decay of the Roman Church." 
 
 60
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 Tyrrell, pure seekers after truth, whose one 
 demand is that the Church, if she is to teach 
 truth, must be truthful, are ruthlessly ex-r 
 pelled from their posts as teachers. No 
 teacher is tolerated in any Roman school or 
 seminary who insists on seeking and uttering 
 the truth. He may only utter what the 
 Church says is truth. If the Church declares 
 the realism of the scholastics to be the 
 truth, the Catholic must believe it. Phil- 
 osophy must end with Thomas Aquinas. If 
 Catholicism could have had its wa,y, we 
 should still believe that the Ptolemaic system 
 of the heavens was correct, and that the sun 
 moves round the earth. 
 
 As the Church shuts her children off from 
 full inquiry and untrammelled knowledge 
 she fills their minds with superstitions — that 
 is to say, with fictions which she can control, 
 because they arc her own creation. For 
 example, she puts Mariolatry in the fore- 
 front because Mary is her own creation. The 
 fiction of her assumption to heaven, her 
 coronation by God and the Son, and, since 
 1854, of her immaculate conception, is so 
 entirely the creation of the Church, without 
 any authority in Scripture or in the earliest 
 
 61
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 writers of the Church, that every one who 
 worships Mary worships still more the Papal 
 Church which created Mary. 
 
 When we take the Lord's Supper we 
 depend on the New Testament as our 
 authority. But Catholicism is not content 
 with this. The Supper must be transformed 
 into a Catholic creation, totally disconnected 
 from the New Testament. Thus Cornelius 
 k Lapide says : " For as often as we eat 
 the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist, so often 
 do we in it really eat the flesh of the Blessed 
 Virgin. ... As then we daily hunger after 
 the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist, so too 
 we hunger for that same flesh of the Blessed 
 Virgin, that we may drink her virgin endow- 
 ments and ways, and incorporate them in 
 ourselves. And this do not only priests 
 and religious, but all Christians ; for the 
 Blessed Virgin feeds all with her own flesh 
 equally with the flesh of Christ in the 
 Eucharist " (on Ecclus. xxiv. 29). The 
 late Pope Leo XI IL, in his Encyclical of 
 September, 1891, stated : " As no man goeth 
 to the Father but by the Son, so scarce any 
 man goeth to Christ but by his Mother " 
 
 (•' Marian itry," Expository Times, xxi. 133). 
 
 62
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 This whole gigantic cult of Mary is imposed 
 on Catholics without any evidence by the 
 absolute command of the Church. The 
 object of it is to fetter the intelligence of 
 believers and to force them into dependence 
 on the authority which thus creates their 
 objects of worship. 
 
 The Papacy and Mariolatry are insepar- 
 able. But a population which directs its 
 devotion to the Blessed Virgin is brought 
 into a peculiar bondage. And as Peter 
 Rosegger says, one reason for the popu- 
 larity of the Mary cult is that, while 
 Christ is Judge as well as Saviour, 
 Mary is human and indulgent to human 
 infirmities. Mariolatry, therefore, brings 
 with it a demoralising subjection of 
 the mind and a weakening of the moral 
 fibre. Let the reader look at Peter 
 Roseggcr's account of Mary worship among 
 the pious Bavarian peasants in his book 
 " Mcin Himmclreich," and very little diffi- 
 culty will be found in seeing how the 
 whole superstition weakens and injures not 
 only the religious sense, but intellectual 
 integrity. 
 
 3. The Effect of the System on the 
 
 63
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Teaching and Practice of Truth. — The 
 Papal system was built up on the False 
 Decretals of Isidore — a collection of eccle- 
 siastical canons, purporting to come from 
 the earliest times, forged at the end of the 
 eighth century. " Upon these spurious De- 
 cretals," says Hallam (" Middle Ages," 
 vol. ii. p. 167), "was built the great 
 fabric of papal supremacy over the different 
 national Churches, a fabric which has stood 
 after its foundations crumbled beneath it ; 
 for no one has pretended to deny for the 
 last two centuries that the imposture is too 
 palpable for any but the most ignorant ages 
 to credit" {cf. Professor Bartoli, Expository 
 Times, xxii. 129). Whether this building on 
 forgeries has introduced the false element 
 into the Church of Rome cannot be decided. 
 Probably a more operative cause has been 
 the casuistry wTiich was demanded by the 
 work of the confessional. The priest might 
 declare, and even swear with an oath, that 
 he did not know what he had learned in 
 the confessional because he knew it ut Deus 
 (as God), but spoke among men ut hornet. 
 (as man). Thus, a priest was always at 
 liberty to tell a falsehood for this purpose. 
 
 64
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 Probably from this grew up the doctrine of 
 reserve, which Pascal so pitilessly exposed, 
 a doctrine which retains its place in all books 
 of moral theology written by Catholics. 
 There are, according to this teaching, 
 circumstances in which we are at liberty to 
 withhold the truth. And as William George 
 Ward, that most ardent and logical of 
 Catholic converts, put it : " Make yourself 
 clear that you are justified in deception and 
 then lie like a trooper." 
 
 It is impossible to estimate the de- 
 moralisation introduced into Catholic coun- 
 tries by this fatal doctrine. If there are 
 cases in which we are at liberty to lie, our 
 lips lie, and lose their virginal purity. When 
 once we have lied in a good cause we shall 
 have little difficulty in persuading ourselves 
 that whenever a lie would be useful the 
 cause is good. 
 
 Benjamin Jowett, on hearing tlie Catholic 
 plea that there were cases in which he must 
 lie, said : "If that be so, I should like to 
 think as little as possible of it beforehand, 
 and remember it as little as possible after." 
 
 But Catholic casuistry has thought as 
 much as possible of it beforehand, and has 
 
 65 F
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 thus stained the pure idea of truth, with this 
 disastrous consequence, that in Catholic 
 countries the standard of truth is different, 
 and as soon as people turn towards the 
 Roman Church, though they may have been 
 truthful as Ward, they quickly accept the 
 changed standard. And as truth-speaking 
 and trustworthiness are the very foundation 
 of character and of wellbeing in this world, 
 it is likely enough that this derogation from 
 the absoluteness of truth, demanded appa- 
 rently by the history and claims of the Papal 
 Church, largely explains the blight which 
 falls upon Catholic populations. 
 
 4. The Position Claimed by and Con- 
 ceded to the Pope —He is the Vicegerent 
 of God, and as such he is removed out of 
 the category of humanity. His place is not 
 at the altar, but on the aUar. His utter- 
 ances ex cathedra are regarded as the actual 
 decisions of God, infallible and final. 
 
 In the " Corpus Juris Canonici " he is 
 called " our Lord God the Pope." Cathohc 
 apologists in England assert that the title 
 is due to a slip of the pen ; the writer in- 
 tending to say " Our Lord the Pope " slipped 
 in the word " God." But the slip was quite 
 
 66
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 logical. And since 1870 and the declara- 
 tion of infallibility it must be fully admitted 
 that the Pope, speaking ex cathedra, is the 
 exact equivalent of God, and Catholics are 
 bound to pay him the same reverence as 
 they pay to God. 
 
 Here is a tract, " De la Devotion au 
 Pape," by Arsene Pierre Milet, dedicated to 
 Pius X., published by Paul Salmon, of 
 Tours, 1904. Quoting the words of 
 Mark xii. 30, " Thou shalt love God with 
 all thy mind, with all thy will, with all thy 
 heart, and with all thy strength," the writer 
 says : " Since the Pope represents God on 
 earth, we ought to love him, although in 
 a subordinate degree, as God Himself, our 
 Father who is in heaven, with all our mind, 
 and all our will, and all our heart, and all 
 our strength. For except the mystery of 
 the real Presence, nothing makes us feel 
 so well or touch so closely the presence of 
 God, as docs the sight or even tlie thought 
 of the Vicar of Christ. He is the Father 
 of all Humanity, the Father of the simple 
 faithful, as also of the priests and bishops 
 themselves. Although there is not an abso- 
 lute parity, yet in a certain sense we may 
 
 67
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 say that as the Tabernacle is the home of 
 Jesus the Victim so the Palace of the Vatican 
 at Rome is the home of Jesus the Teacher ; 
 that it is from this Palace, or rather 
 Sanctuary, that since His Ascension our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Word, speaks 
 to the world by the mouth of His Vicar, 
 whether he be called Peter, or Leo XHL, 
 or Pius X. . . . When we fall at the Pope's 
 feet to offer him the homage of our mind, 
 and to accept his teachings, it is in a certain 
 way Jesus Christ whom we adore in His 
 doctrinal Presence. Whence it follows by 
 rigorous consequence that it is as impossible 
 to be a good Christian without devotion to 
 the Pope as without devotion to the 
 Eucharist. If therefore we truly love the 
 Pope, nothing will be dearer to us than 
 the Pope's will ; and even when obedience 
 to the Pope means sacrifices we shall never 
 hesitate to follow any direction whatsoever 
 emanating from Rome. Every objection 
 will be silenced, every reasoning will go for 
 nothing, every hesitation will yield before 
 this unanswerable argument : ' God wills 
 and commands it because the Pope wills 
 and commands it.' Let us enter into the 
 
 68
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 joys of the Pope ; let us rejoice in his 
 success and glory in his triumphs, but let 
 us also share his anguish. . . . By the mere 
 fact that he is the Vicar of Christ and His 
 principal co -operant, he is an elect Victim 
 and is ex officio nailed to the Cross. Pope 
 and Victim are two inseparable qualities." 
 
 The tract ends with a quotation from 
 Mgr. Gay: "All the devotion to Jesus 
 as Priest, Shepherd, and Father that 
 enlightened faith can inspire is summed 
 up practically and effectively in devotion to 
 the Pope. If one is devout to the angels, 
 the Pope is the visible Angel of the whole 
 Church. If we are devout to the saints, 
 the Pope is on earth the source of sanctity 
 and is called his Holiness. If you should 
 have a devotion to the sacred Scriptures, 
 the Pope is the living and speaking Bible. 
 If it is a duty to be devout to the Sacra- 
 ments, is not the Pope the Sacrament of 
 Jesus by the mere fact that he is His 
 Vicar?" 
 
 But perhaps this Lamaism, as George 
 Tyrrell called it, is distasteful to, and re- 
 pudiated by, the Pope himself. On the 
 contrary, Cardinal Merry del Val writes to 
 
 69
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 the author expressing the Pope's satisfac- 
 tion with the tract as a work of intelligent 
 piety " worthy of a devout priest." 
 
 This is not the Romanism of the Middle 
 Ages, but the Romanism of the present Pope 
 in the twentieth century. 
 
 The deification of the Pope is authorised 
 by the Pope himself. The Pope's prede- 
 cessor as Pontifex Maximus, the Emperor 
 Vespasian, said grimly, as he died, in refer- 
 ence to the adulation which deified deceased 
 emperors : " Deas fio " — " I am becoming 
 a God." The Pope uses the same words 
 while he lives. 
 
 But this deification of a man involves 
 every country that accepts it in degradation 
 and ruin. It is " the falling away " foretold 
 in the beginning (2 Thess. ii. 3); "the 
 man of sin, the son of perdition revealed, 
 he that opposeth and exalteth himself against 
 all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; 
 so that he sitteth in the temple of God, 
 setting himself forth as God." 
 
 If a devout Catholic like George Tyrrell 
 protests against the blasphemy, he is ex- 
 communicated, and refused even Christian 
 burial. Rome crushes, not only freedom 
 
 70
 
 Why Romanism Ruins a Country 
 
 of thought, but any refusal to fall down 
 and worship the image which she has 
 set up. 
 
 Now, observe that all these things which 
 sufficiently explain the inevitable decay of 
 Catholic countries are no part of Chris- 
 tianity. They are the pagan excrescences 
 which have grown upon the living tree in 
 the course of ages, and are maintained only 
 by the corrupt and interested Government 
 of the Vatican. 
 
 Nothing in the words of our Lord or in 
 the writings of the Apostles authorises 
 priests, or Mariolatry, or the casuistry of 
 the Jesuits, or the claims of the Pope. The 
 Reformation recovered Christianity by re- 
 pudiating these and similar corruptions. 
 The vital and progressive powers of Chris- 
 tianity escaped from Rome and pushed out 
 to conquer and lead the world. Rome is 
 irreformable. Our hope as Christians and 
 as nations is to shake off the bondage of 
 her tyranny, her superstition, her duplicity, 
 and her blasphemy. 
 
 71
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE DETERMINATION OF ROME TO RE-r 
 CONQUER GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 That Rome should desire to recover the 
 power which she had, but lost, is natural. 
 No great hierarchy, like Rome, could sustain 
 such a defeat as she sustained in the six- 
 teenth century without desiring to make 
 good the defeat and recover her influence. 
 Thus, no sooner did the Reformation be- 
 come a power than a mighty endeavour was 
 made to destroy that power. The Society 
 of Jesus was formed, and became one of 
 the greatest fighting forces in the Church. 
 To tell the story of that Society, or place 
 on paper the schemes formed under its direc- 
 tion and inspired by its teaching, would need 
 many volumes. But this must be borne in 
 mind : The advancement of the Church of 
 Rome was always the object aimed at. 
 Thrones were attacked, kingdoms were 
 
 S2
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 shaken, wars were waged, always with this 
 one end in view. The individual counted 
 but little ; the Church was everything. In 
 Germany, in France, in Holland, in Eng-r 
 land — everywhere it was the same story. 
 The command of the " Vicegerent of Christ " 
 had gone forth, and heresy must be stamped 
 out. Mercy, pity, the commonest laws of 
 human kindness were forgotten ; and the 
 ghastliest deeds in history were done in the 
 name of Him who took little children in His 
 arms and blessed them. 
 
 Time after time the Church of Rome 
 sought to conquer England, without success ; 
 the bloody deeds of Mary, the perfidy of 
 the Stuarts failed, and Protestantism became 
 more firmly seated than ever in our island 
 homr^ . 
 
 About the middle of the last century, how- 
 ever, a new endeavour was commenced, to 
 do what past efforts had failed to do. Pope 
 Pius IX. sent Cardinal Wiseman and a 
 number of bishops to take ecclesiastical 
 possession of our country. 
 
 The reason for this is not far to seek. 
 The Pope and his advisers saw that power 
 was slipping from their grasp in nearly every 
 
 73
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 country in Europe. Even in Italy itself, 
 the home of the Vatican, both the liberty 
 and life of the Pope were in danger. In 
 1848 Pius IX. had to fly from his palace 
 like a thief in the night, and for nearly 
 two years he remained under the protec- 
 tion of a man whose name was a byword 
 in his own country. Italy was slipping from 
 his grasp ; and then, with an audacity which 
 one cannot help admiring, he determined on 
 the conquest of the nation which for cen- 
 turies had despised the pretensions of the 
 Papal See. If mighty England could be 
 won back, he could afi"ord to lose Italy ; 
 if the cofl"ers of Great Britain could be open 
 to him, it would more than atone for his 
 defeat in a land that his Church had im- 
 poverished. 
 
 So Cardinal Wiseman was sent to take 
 ecclesiastical possession of our land, who 
 issued a bombastic letter to that effect, which 
 letter Lord John Russell regarded as a piece 
 of impertinence. Of course, there was a 
 great deal of anger and resentment in Eng- 
 land ; but we had passed liberal laws, and 
 the Roman Church went on its way un- 
 molested. Undoubtedly, too, it made pro- 
 
 74
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 gress under Wiseman's guidance. He 
 gathered together the scattered members of 
 his flock and united them. Of the Cardinal's 
 aims and intentions there is no manner of 
 doubt. It was to reconquer England for 
 Rome. 
 
 What Wiseman commenced, Manning, an 
 eager convert to the Roman faith, continued. 
 Speaking to his clergy, he uttered words 
 the purport of which cannot be mistaken. 
 He said : " It is good for us, reverend 
 brothers, to be here in England. If ever 
 there was a country in which there is much 
 to do, and perhaps much to suffer, it is here. 
 I shall not say too much if I say that it is 
 for us to subjugate and sul^due, to conquer 
 and to rule, an imperial race. We have to 
 do with a will which reigns throughout the 
 world, as the will of Old Rome reigned once ; 
 and it is for us to bend or break that will, 
 which nations and kingdoms have found in- 
 vincible and inflexible. Were heresy con- 
 quered in England, it would be conquered 
 throughout the world. All its lines meet 
 here, and therefore in England the Church 
 of God must be gathered in all its strength. 
 , - . You have a great commission to fulfil, 
 
 7S
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 and great is the prize for which you strive. 
 Surely a soldier's life and a soldier's heart 
 would choose by intuition this field of Eng- 
 land for the warfare of the faith." 
 
 One is tempted to examine these well- 
 known words. iHis purpose is to conquer 
 England. Not that she may have a greater 
 liberty or a larger faith. The purpose is to 
 subjugate and to subdue, to conquer and to 
 rule. It is " to bend or break the will that 
 nations have found invincible and in-f 
 flexible." Surely it will be good for us all 
 if we try and understand the inwardness of 
 Manning's words. 
 
 •When Manning died Vaughan took up 
 his work. The great cathedral at West- 
 minster owes its existence largely to the pre- 
 late who never tired of urging his disciples 
 to spare no effort to win England, and who 
 apparently never gave up the hope that his 
 purpose would be accomplished. 
 
 It is an admitted fact that Rome has lost, 
 not only numbers, but power, in every 
 Catholic country on the Continent. France 
 has slipped from her grasp and become an 
 atheist country. Northern Italy has followed 
 in the train of F.rance. There, one hears 
 
 76
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 on every hand, the priest is despised, while 
 the claims of the Church are being laughed 
 at as idle tales. Spain, the most Catholic 
 country in Europe, does not count. 'Her 
 wealth and power are gone ; her people have 
 been crushed for centuries by the hands of 
 the priest. Portugal, as far as real power 
 is concerned, is a mere name on a map ; 
 but even here the Church has lost much of 
 her sway, while in Austria the people by the 
 thousand are turning their backs on Rome. 
 
 All this is freelv admitted, but to atone 
 for this is the fact that Rome has advanced 
 in England ; and the Papacy is straining 
 every nerve to make this Protestant land 
 of ours yield to tlie claims she asserts. 
 
 Moreover, one cannot but feel a certain 
 admiration for the votaries of Rome ; 
 neither can we help commending some of 
 the means she uses. If Rome cannot con- 
 quer in England, Rome is doomed 1 Joseph 
 McCabe says in his book on the decay of 
 the Roman Church— and surely if ever a man 
 was in a position to know, it is he — Rome is 
 losing ground everywhere. He asserts that 
 in about half a century she has lost 
 80,000,000 of adherents, that one by one 
 
 7;
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 the nations are casting her off as the arch^ 
 enemy of their welfare, that her distinctive 
 doctrines are regarded as old wives' fables. 
 Thus it is vital to her to gain power in 
 England. As Manning says : " Were heresy 
 conquered in England, it would be con- 
 quered everywhere. All its lines meet here, 
 and thus it is here in England that the 
 Church of God must be gathered in all her 
 strength." 
 
 But if it fails 1 If England spurns the 
 Roman claims as she spurned them three 
 centuries ago I 
 
 It is no wonder, then, that Rome bends 
 all her energies to establish herself in this 
 land of freedom. 
 
 That Rome's methods are specious and 
 often plausible we cannot deny. She does 
 not come to us as she came to Holland in 
 the days of William the Silent — with sword 
 and faggot. She comes with no curses, no 
 thunders of excommunication, no threats of 
 an eternal hell, as she did then. Rather 
 she flatters us. She tells us that as a nation 
 we have been champions of liberty, and that 
 we are the home of a free people. She 
 does not tell us that it is her purpose to 
 
 78
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 rob us of our freedom. She claims freedom 
 in order to advance Romanism in England, 
 but she does not tell us that if she had 
 the power, she would forbid any Protestant 
 worship in our land. She does not tell us 
 that as long as the Pope reigned in Rome 
 no one was allowed to conduct Protestant 
 worship within the walls of that ancient city. 
 If she told us of these things, which are 
 undoubtedly true, she would frustrate her 
 own purposes. 
 
 In this respect I cannot help being re- 
 minded of a conversation I once had with 
 a monsignor of the Popish Church in Rome, 
 who has since been made a bishop. I asked 
 him what the Church would do with me if 
 it had its ancient power, and I were to preach 
 Protestantism, which he regarded as heresy. 
 His reply was very clear, very definite. " .We 
 would quickly put a stop to your heresy, 
 young man," he said. 
 
 Exactly, but Rome does not proclaim 
 these things here in England. Slie wears 
 the velvet glove over the hand of steel, and 
 hopes that people who have short memories 
 in relation to the great facts of history will 
 not see the steel— but it is there. 
 
 79
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Thus the first endeavour of Rome is evi- 
 dently to remove the one-time fear and hatred 
 of the Papacy, because she knows that until 
 that is done her task is hopeless. It is true 
 that the people's eyes are from time to time 
 opened by such actions as those of the Arch- 
 bishop of Malta, who made it impossible 
 for the Rev. John McNeill to preach the 
 gospel in that island, and threatened 
 every Catholic with excommunication who 
 should take part in the building of a Protes- 
 tant church there, but these facts are being 
 glossed over, and Rome appears in England 
 with a smiling face. Nay more, she ap- 
 pears as the advocate of a broad charity, 
 and accuses of bigotry those who expose 
 her real nature. 
 
 Her organisations and plans are carefully 
 thought out, and have at their back millions 
 of workers and great wealth. Roughly 
 speaking, her means for conquering England 
 may be summed up as follows : 
 
 First, the Apostolate of Prayer. From 
 what I can gather millions are praying 
 daily for the conversion of England to the 
 Roman faith. When I was in Rome some 
 years ago, I saw, while visiting a Roman 
 
 80
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 Catholic church, a prayer, printed, and 
 placed on the doors of the church. It was 
 for the conversion of England. There were 
 English, Italian, and French copies of this 
 prayer, and a priest told me that it was 
 offered by millions of people all over 
 Europe. Whatever else may be the result of 
 this, it will at least tend to fan into a flame 
 the fervour of those who offer the prayer, 
 and incite them to deeds of service. 
 
 In addition to this their power in the Press 
 of England is very great. Some time ago 
 when reading a Paper at the Annual Meeting 
 of the Evangelical Free Church Council at 
 Swansea, I gave expression to the opinion 
 that, considering the numbers of Roman 
 Catholics in England, an inordinate amount 
 of space was given to their doings. For 
 this tlie Press severely took me to task, and 
 stated that my remarks were utterly without 
 foundation. I do not hint now, as I had 
 no thought of suggesting then, that there was 
 any collusion between the editors of our 
 great daily pajjers and the Roman Catholic 
 Church authorities. No such thought ever 
 entered my mind. Yet I did not speak 
 withou^ due care. For months in reading 
 
 8l O
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 the daily papers which came under my notice 
 this fact was pressed upon me. The space 
 given to Catholic doings was altogether out 
 of proportion to their numbers in this 
 country, while the news in nearly every case 
 represented Romanism in the most favour- 
 able light. Whether I was right or wrong 
 in this, it was and is my deliberate convic- 
 tion, and the conviction was forced upon 
 me by a careful observance of such daily 
 papers as I saw. Then this fact also shines 
 out : This Paper, for which I received many 
 hundreds of letters of thanks from all classes 
 and conditions of people, v/as described by 
 the most opprobrious epithets. One London 
 daily paper described it as an " orgie of 
 bigotry," while another pilloried me as 
 though I were a criminal. 
 
 Of course it is urged that a nev/spaper 
 naturally prints what will make good copy, 
 and doubtless there may be much truth in 
 this assertion. On the other hand, however, 
 one could not help being struck with the 
 nature of the articles which appeared de- 
 scriptive of the Eucharistic Conference in 
 London. Many of them were fulsomely 
 adulative. But as far as I can remember 
 
 82
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 not one article spoke of the bloody battles 
 which were fought in this and other lands 
 in order to break the power which that Con- 
 gress represented. The Mass stood for some 
 of the cruellest and blackest deeds in history, 
 and yet in this, a Protestant country, when 
 we were told that Christ, who had been 
 banished from the country for centuries, was 
 to be brought back to us by an Italian priest, 
 only one of our daily papers, as far as I 
 am aware, told its readers the truth concern- 
 ing these matters. On the other hand, there 
 were poetical word pictures about the mystic 
 lights on the faces of the priests, the tinkling 
 of bells, the swinging of censers, and the 
 solemn musical voices of the foreign priests. 
 Again I repeat, I do not hint or suggest— 
 I never have hinted or suggested— that there 
 is the slightest collusion between the editors 
 of our daily papers and the Roman Church ; 
 but I do not think that any sane person can 
 deny that the Roman Church, the great 
 enemy in every country where she has power 
 to the dissemination of light, uses the Press 
 as one of her means of propaganda. Indeed, 
 in the "Daily Mail Year Book" for 1909 
 it is suggested that Rome is a dominant 
 
 83
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 power in the British Press. Of course 
 I do not blame Rome for this — rather I 
 admire her astuteness in utiUsing what Pro- 
 testantism has made possible. Nevertheless, 
 many feel that there is much truth in a 
 letter which the Archdeacon of London (Dr. 
 Sinclair) wrote to the Churchman in August, 
 1896: "Never were the Roman Catholics 
 more active. . . . Their influence on the 
 London Press is immense ; it would be very 
 difficult, if not impossible, for anything to 
 be inserted in the London newspapers which 
 would damage or expose their policy.'' 
 
 I do not think, however, that this is alto- 
 gether true. The way that such a paper as 
 the Daily News dealt with the murder of 
 Ferrer shows that at least one newspaper 
 dares to speak the truth. On the other hand, 
 however, a publication which advertises itself 
 as the most widely circulated penny news- 
 paper in England described Ferrer's trial as 
 having been " conducted with perfect honour 
 and honesty " 1 
 
 Another means by which they seek to 
 reconquer England is through their nun- 
 neries and monasteries. It is a fact little 
 knovvii, but it is asserted by those who have 
 
 84
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 carefully investigated the matter, that there 
 is a larger number of religious houses in our 
 land to-day than existed immediately before 
 the time of the dissolution of monasteries. 
 It is impossible to tell the number of inmates 
 in these religious houses, simply because no 
 returns are made to any State authority of 
 whatever sort. The words of Sir Godfrey 
 Lushington, which he contributed to the 
 National Review in May, 1903, should be 
 carefully considered by all who have an 
 interest in our land. He says : 
 
 " In practice religious houses are shrouded 
 in secrecy. No one knows anything about 
 them. The Home Office docs not. Nor 
 does the Local Government Board. Nor 
 does Dublin Castle, nor does Somerset 
 House. The Census gives no statistics show- 
 ing the number of religious houses and their 
 locality, or the number of penitents, or 
 the number of inmates. Still less is there 
 any official knov/ledge of the rules with 
 regard cither to inmates or penitents. If, for 
 instance, we wanted such rules in the case 
 of the House of the Good Shepherd, we 
 should, I suppose, have to go for them to 
 Angers or to Rome." 
 
 8«;
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Practically no other country in Europe 
 admits these Orders without inspection and 
 the strictest regulations, while in countries 
 like Italy the State will have none of them. 
 But, driven from other nations, as the homes 
 of treason and danger and a menace to the 
 best life in the State, they have come to 
 England, they have bought some of our 
 fairest lands, and established themselves in 
 our midst. Certain it is that they have in- 
 creased enormously during the last few years, 
 as statistics show. In 185 1 there were 70 
 monasteries and nunneries, while in 1908 
 there were 1,131, and, according to report, 
 they are increasing month by month. 
 
 It must be remembered, moreover, that 
 these houses are not all of the contemplative 
 or " closed " nature. They are utilised as 
 a means of spreading the Roman faith. 
 Attached to many of them are schools to 
 which Protestant parents, attracted by the 
 smallness of the fees, and the promise of a 
 good French accent, send their children. By 
 this means they gain influence in Protestant 
 homes and win converts. 
 
 Closely allied to these are institutions for 
 training governesses, nurses, &c. By this 
 
 86
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 means Protestant homes are entered, and 
 in many cases perverts made. During the 
 last few years I have been told of cases 
 where Catholic young women, pretending to 
 be Protestants, have obtained situations in 
 Protestant homes as governesses and the 
 like, and have succeeded in instilling their 
 faith into the minds of their pupils. 
 
 Dr. Robertson of Venice gives the follow- 
 ing instance in his new work, " The Papal 
 Conquest." A lady in London, v/ho having 
 occasion to leave her children for a time, 
 engaged a governess who was strongly re- 
 commended as a good Protestant. When 
 she returned, she, according to her custom, 
 called her children to her before their retire- 
 ment to hear them say their prayers. They 
 at once crossed themselves, and began to 
 pray to the Madonna. On this she called 
 the governess to explain, who confessed that 
 she was a Roman Catholic, and held a dis- 
 pensation to pretend to be a Protestant. Of 
 course this " Protestant " governess was 
 quickly sent about her business. 
 
 Whether this goes on to a very large ex- 
 tent it is impossible to say, but in these days 
 of lax religious beliefs, and when people are 
 
 87
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 too " broad-minded," and '* charitable " to 
 care whether the instructors of their children 
 are Romanists or Protestants, it is un- 
 doubtedly a fact that governesses, com- 
 panions, and teachers trained in Catholic 
 institutions find their way into Protestant 
 homes, and pervert the minds of the 
 children. In short, the Church of Rome 
 is daily training and sending out a great 
 band of missioners whose work is to undo 
 the work of the Reformation, and to win 
 back England to Rome, 
 
 In addition to this, there can be no doubt 
 that Orders like that of the Jesuits exercise 
 a great influence. How much it is impos- 
 sible to say. Joseph McCabe says, in his 
 story of Ferrer, the Spanish martyr, which 
 has just been published, that the Jesuits 
 practically rule Spain. He asserts that they 
 have entered the very warp and woof of the 
 nation's life, with the result that the people 
 are cursed with a great curse. That the 
 Society of Jesus has influenced the life of 
 nations, and in many cases has dictated 
 their policy is a matter of history. It is also 
 a matter of history that nation after nation 
 has again and again expelled that Society 
 
 88
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 from its borders. Practically wherever the 
 Jesuits have gone they have gone to curse. 
 Their influence has been felt in the darkest 
 deeds of the world, and peoples have been 
 obliged, for the sake of their own wellbeing, 
 to drive them from their midst. That Society 
 is now working in England, and its power, 
 although secret, is undoubtedly great, not 
 only as an intellectual force of the Church, 
 but also as a political influence. 
 
 Doubtless, moreover, the Church of Rome 
 is seeking to advance her aims through the 
 English Parliament, and her power is felt 
 there. The consideration of one fact helps 
 us to realise that she has an influence in 
 Parliament altogether out of proportion to 
 her number in this land. At the most 
 generous estimate, statisticians show that 
 the Church of Rome does not number in 
 Great Britain more than from 1,500,000 
 to 1,800,000 persons, while of these only 
 200,000 arc English. On the other hand, 
 the Free Churches of England number at 
 least half of the church-going portion of the 
 population. Yet it is matter of public 
 notoriety that when Mr. Balfour's Govern- 
 ment passed the present education laws the 
 
 89
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Church of Rome was consulted, but no 
 Free Church leader of any sort was called 
 into consultation. Indeed, it was after 
 Cardinal Vaughan was asked to represent 
 the Catholics in connection with the Educa- 
 tion Act of 1902 that he was led to boast 
 that they had " dished the Nonconformists." 
 Few will dispute the fact that but for the 
 Roman Catholics and the so-called " English 
 Catholics" the education difficulty would long 
 since have been settled on an equitable basis. 
 Their power is felt, too, in election times. 
 Again and again it is urged among parlia- 
 mentary candidates that the " Catholic 
 vote " must be captured. In this respect 
 I cannot help again referring to the Paper I 
 read at the Free Church Council at Swansea. 
 I there stated that when Mr. Corbett's 
 Bill for the inspection of convents came 
 before Parliament a large number of Free 
 Church Members voted against it. The next 
 day a Free Church Member of Parliament 
 who has consistently voted for convent in- 
 spection explained why. He said that these 
 men were thinking of the next election, and 
 knew that if they voted for Mr. Corbett's 
 measure they would lose the Catholic vote. 
 
 90
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 I dare not let myself express my opinion 
 of these " descendants of the Puritans," who 
 in order to catch votes are said to have 
 refrained from voting for a necessary re- 
 form ; but I would suggest that the fact 
 indicates the power of the Romanists in the 
 country. Not only do they hold the balance 
 of power in the new Government in the 
 House oi; Commons, but they are often 
 supposed to control individual elections. 
 Personally I think we have too long 
 pandered to the " Catholic vote," and it 
 would be well for both parties to treat it 
 as a negligible quantity. It is never to be 
 depended on, and what is more, it will 
 always be a hindrance to necessary reform. 
 For here is the fact : the Catholic vote is 
 in the main ruled by the priest, and the 
 priest is ever and always a Romanist first 
 and an Englishman, if he is an Englishman, 
 afterwards. 
 
 A friend of mine, who is a large employer 
 of labour in Lancashire, asked one of his 
 men in the 1906 election whether he had 
 made up his mind which way he was going 
 to vote. " I don't know yet, sir," replied 
 the man ; " we shan't know till Sunday. 
 
 Father will tell us then " 1 
 
 91
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 If Free Churchmen or Protestants of any 
 sort will consent to go cap in hand to the 
 priest in order to obtain votes, and will 
 refrain from voting on the side of liberty 
 and humanity for fear of losing them, we 
 have indeed fallen upon evil times ! 
 
 In addition to all these forces and 
 organisations there is the large army of 
 priests, the numbers of which are daily 
 swelling in our midst. In 1908 there were 
 4,193, as compared with 958 in 185 1. 
 Of course these cannot all be required to 
 look after existing Romanists, and thus many 
 of them must be missioners whose business 
 is to try and make converts. On every hand, 
 too. Catholic churches are springing up, 
 Roman Catholics doubtless believing that 
 the money will have been well spent on 
 these buildings if eventually the coffers of 
 England are open to them. 
 
 Roughly speaking, then, this is the plan 
 of campaign, and these are the forces at 
 work. In the main, the great army is work- 
 ing quietly, secretly, subtly in our midst. 
 Its votaries and advocates are everywhere. 
 They seek admission into the homes of rich 
 and poor. They endeavour to explain away 
 
 92
 
 The Determination of Rome 
 
 the facts of history, and they appear before 
 us with smiling faces, as though nothing 
 but our good and happiness inspired their 
 labour. Doubtless there are devoted, 
 earnest, pure people among them ; doubt- 
 less, too, many of them, most of them, think 
 they are doing the will of God by seeking 
 to extend the distinctive doctrines of their 
 faith. 
 
 In setting down these facts it must not 
 be supposed that I object to their seeking 
 to pervert England. Believing as they do, 
 they can do no other. All the same, it is 
 surely right that we should understand what 
 is going on in our midst, and should re- 
 member, again quoting the words of Cardinal 
 Manning, that it is their aim " to subjugate, 
 and to subdue, to conquer and to rule an 
 imperial race ... to bend or to break the 
 will which nations and kingdoms have found 
 invincible and inflexible." 
 
 In other words, they are determined to 
 conquer England for Rome. 
 
 -w.-rV 
 
 93
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ROME'S PROSPECTS OF SUCCESS 
 
 In dealing with Rome's prospects of success 
 we are naturally led to consider two facts — 
 first, the strength of the invading army ; 
 and, second, the resisting power of the land 
 which is invaded. 
 
 Referring for a moment to the first, we 
 cannot deny that the invading army is, in 
 the main, eager, enthusiastic, determined. 
 This means a great deal. Whatever other 
 power the Roman Church has, it has the 
 power to inspire her followers with zeal. 
 Moreover, it is, outwardly, an united body. 
 The Roman system favours this. Like all 
 other systems which depend in the main on 
 superstition and emotionalism, it can com- 
 mand obedience from the unthinking and 
 the uneducated. Rome allows of no free- 
 dom of investigation and discussion on 
 
 94
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 religious matters. Her mandates are final 
 and authoritative. The Pope in his late 
 encyclical practically prohibits thought in 
 the domain of faith. The Church claims in- 
 fallibilit}^ the Pope claims infallibility ; there- 
 fore to doubt the Church's decrees is sin. 
 Provision is made for nearly every other con- 
 dition of life ; but doubt is a deadly monster 
 which must be destroyed. Of course this 
 has had the effect of driving enlightened 
 people from her. Out of the i8o millions 
 which compose her follov/ers 120 millions 
 are among the most illiterate. Educated 
 and advancing nations, such as France and 
 Italy, throw off her yoke. Vast numbers 
 who call themselves Catholics because they 
 were born in the faith shrug their shoulders 
 with a laugh of derision at the Church's 
 claims. Nevertheless, those who can place 
 themselves in the attitude of mind to accept 
 without reason, and to give a blind obedience 
 to authority without asking questions, 
 become a strong fighting force. A fanatical 
 force it may be, but still powerful. 
 
 "Theirs not to make reply, 
 Theirs not to reason why, 
 Theirs but to do and die." 
 
 95
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 I remember reading in a Catholic paper 
 some years ago a speech of a priest. He 
 was speaking about the difficulty which some 
 had about believing the story of the whale 
 swallowing Jonah. " Personally," he said, 
 " if the Church taught me that Jonah 
 swallowed the whale I should believe it, 
 because I should know that whatever the 
 Church taught was true." Also when visit- 
 ing Ireland some years ago a Jesuit priest, 
 the head of a college for training young 
 priests, said to me : " I believe that every- 
 thing the Church has done is right, and that 
 everything she will do will be right." 
 
 " What," I queried, " do you believe 
 that the ghastly terrors of the Spanish In- 
 quisition were right? Do you believe that 
 the bloody massacres in the Netherlands 
 were according to the mind and spirit of 
 Christ?" 
 
 " Most assuredly," was his reply. 
 
 Well, when a community can become 
 filled with a spirit like this, you are bound 
 to have an eager, aggressive army. And this 
 is the spirit of earnest Romanists. They 
 ask no questions ; they do not think their 
 own r.houghts on religion ; but they obey, 
 
 96
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 obey without question. The Church has 
 commanded, and they go forward un- 
 hesitatingly. 
 
 Now, earnestness, even in a wrong cause, 
 is bound to have effect. No enthusiastic, 
 earnest man pleads in vain. Man is largely 
 influenced by emotion, by sentiment, and 
 this fact is in favour of the Roman propa- 
 gandists. For the Romanists who desire to 
 convert England are in earnest. 
 
 On the other hand, we have to consider 
 the nature of the people they hope to con- 
 quer. We remember the dogged, insistent, 
 strong people who have made the British 
 nation such a power throughout the world. 
 Will England, the home of liberty, give up 
 her liberty? Will the people of England, who 
 for centuries have fought to the death for the 
 right to think on the great, deep questions of 
 life go back to the yoke of bondage? Will 
 England be ruled from Rome? 'Will Scot- 
 land forget the Covenanters who signed the 
 great Covenant with their own blood, barter 
 away the heritage which has made the land 
 great? Will Wales, who has lived on the 
 truth that " where the Spirit of the Lord 
 is there is liberty," and who has given the 
 
 97 H
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 noblest of her sons for the cause of freedom, 
 go back to the yoke of bondage? Will 
 Great Britain forget her history? forget the 
 struggles of her heroes who fought and died 
 that the shackles which Rome placed on the 
 hands, on the necks, on the souls of its 
 people might be broken? Shall the candle 
 which Ridley and Latimer lit outside Balliol 
 College be put out? Shall those glorious 
 truths which were given us by the Reforma- 
 tion be forgotten, while a numbing, para- 
 lysing superstition creeps along the nerves 
 of a great people ? 
 
 Directly these questions appeal to us 
 our natural answer is, " No, never 1 " And 
 more than this, so great is our hatred of 
 slavery, so sure are we of our own strength, 
 that we feel like laughing at the very sug- 
 gestion that there is any possibility of Rome 
 coming back. 
 
 But there is another side to this : 
 
 "Vice is a master of such dreadful mien 
 That to be hated needs but to be seen, 
 But seen too oft, familiar to the face, 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 
 
 This is true of any error, any superstition, 
 and Roman advocates doubtless remember 
 
 98
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 this in seeking to come back to our land. 
 And, more than this, they remember that 
 there is a tendency for every new generation 
 to forget the history of the past ; and even 
 if they do not forget that history, they know- 
 that the meaning of the struggles of those 
 long dead becomes more and more hard to 
 realise. 
 
 This being so, their difficulties are not so 
 great as at first appears. Coming as they do, 
 skilled by the training of long centuries, they 
 appeal to the young people of the land, in 
 whom their hope is centred. As I have before 
 said, the Church does not show the cloven 
 hoof as it has shown it in Spain in such 
 a case as that of Sefior Ferrer, and as it 
 has shown it in every country where it has 
 reigned supreme. Rather it is plausible, 
 smilin;:^, benign. " Look at us," say its 
 advocates. "We live in your midst; we 
 are your neighbours, your friends. Do we 
 bear any resemblance to the people described 
 in your Protestant histories ? Come to our 
 services, listen to our beautiful music, pay 
 heed to our teaching, and remember that 
 ours is the Church, the great historic Church, 
 which has continued the same right down 
 
 99
 
 Siiall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 through the ages. Remember, too, that we 
 are the Church, the only Church, that can 
 claim direct descent from the apostles. 
 Do not listen to what historians say 
 about us ; listen to what we say about 
 ourselves." 
 
 Besides, in a very real sense, Romanism 
 is a very easy religion. These are days of 
 religious unrest, days when men are con- 
 stantly testing the foundation of things. 
 Romanism says : " Come and rest. It is 
 not for you to fight these battles of faith 
 on the solitary battlefield of your own soul. 
 The Church has fought them for you. The 
 Church has found the truth. All you have 
 to do is to rest your head on her great 
 bosom and obey her." It is easy, too, in 
 other respects. It does not demand that 
 same stern purity and righteousness which 
 Protestantism demands. The priest to whom 
 the Catholic confesses has power, according 
 to their teaching, to absolve the sinner from 
 his sins, and thus the way of the sinner 
 becomes easy. 
 
 Of course, it does not bear five minutes' 
 critical thought ; but to a certain class of 
 mind it is easy and pleasant ; and thus, 
 
 100
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 among the uninstructed, they find an easy 
 prey. 
 
 ■What success have they already achieved ? 
 Judging from numbers, I should imagine 
 that up to the present their success has not 
 been great. Reliable report says that the 
 late Cardinal Vaughan caused a census to 
 be taken in London of faithful Catholics. 
 He did this in a very optimistic frame of 
 mind, intending to announce the figures 
 amidst a blare of trumpets. He was bitterly 
 disappointed, and the census figures were 
 never published. 
 
 Joseph McCabe, in his " Decay of the 
 Roman Church," says that the Church has 
 lost ground rather than gained it, that the 
 boasted converts are far more than out- 
 numbered by lapses, and that in spite of 
 the utmost efforts the Church can scarcely 
 be said to hold her own. 
 
 Still, the vast machinery which has been 
 set in motion cannot be without effect ; and 
 although the herculean struggles which have 
 been made have not as yet resulted in any 
 marked increase in their numbers, they have 
 had their influence in our land. 
 
 Broadly speaking, it seems to me that 
 
 lOI
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 the results of the movement inaugurated 
 more than half a century ago by Pope 
 Pius IX. may be seen in three facts, and it 
 is these facts which give Romanists hope that 
 they will again lay their hand in power on 
 the land we love. 
 
 The first is the change of atmosphere. 
 Time was when England, knowing from ex- 
 perience what Rome really meant, feared and 
 hated her. There was a feeling of antagonism 
 to Rome. There was no hatred of Roman^ 
 ists individually, but there was antagonism 
 to the system. The people knew that Rome 
 meant slavery of the mind, they knew that 
 it had been associated with every form of 
 oppression, they knew that Pius IX. refused 
 to allow the Authorised Version of our Bible 
 to be taken into Rome, they remembered the 
 history of their land, and, as a consequence, 
 any suggestion of Romanism was feared and 
 hated. 
 
 All that has been changed, and in many 
 respects the change is good. It is surely 
 a good sign when Christians of all sorts 
 can, although holding differences of opinion, 
 still dwell together in unity. " Let us respect 
 every man's faith " is the spirit of our age, 
 
 102
 
 Rome*s Prospects of Success 
 
 and it is a good spirit. Rome has made good 
 use of this changed tone and atmosphere. 
 She has glossed over the fact that had she 
 the power, she would allow none of these 
 things, that as the very essence of her 
 creed she must be intolerant because she 
 claims infallibility and absolute obedience. 
 Nevertheless, she has fostered the sentiment 
 of a broad liberalism as far as she is con- 
 cerned. In effect she has said : " You Pro- 
 testants, who boast of a large charity and 
 of an open mind, you cannot, according to 
 the very fundamentals of your creed, refuse 
 a large toleration to ours, the oldest faith 
 in Christendom." 
 
 And we have snapped at the bait she has 
 thrown to us. We live in an age when a 
 lack of charity towards those holding views 
 different from our own is something to be 
 despised ; and so when we have seen the 
 earnest, devoted work that many Catholic 
 priests and nuns are undoubtedly doing, we 
 have learned to forget that what Rome was 
 Rome is, and must always be, and have been 
 led to look upon their presence in our midst 
 with a kind of easy toleration. Nay, more, 
 so much docs this spirit prevail that if any 
 
 103
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 man dares to state what the very heart of 
 the Roman system means he is spoken of 
 as " narrow-minded," " bigoted," and the 
 hke. 
 
 No man beheves more in large-minded- 
 ness and toleration than I ; but toleration 
 with a Church which is essentially intolerant, 
 avowedly intolerant, which declares in a 
 thousand ways that if she had the power she 
 would crush and persecute to-day as she 
 did in the past, is a question to be care- 
 fully considered. If, for example, a body 
 sought to institute a system of slavery in 
 England such as was known in some of the 
 States of America before 1864, we should 
 not be tolerant with that body. We should 
 call toleration a crime. " Human liberty 
 is sacred, and must be maintained at all 
 cost," would be our cry. And we should 
 be right. Liberty lies at the very roots of 
 the best life of a people, and to tamper with 
 it would be to poison the very life-blood 
 of our land. Because of this we should 
 fight to our last breath to maintain the 
 watchword of our people. Britons slaves ! 
 Not while our strong right hand can keep 
 them free ! But— 
 
 104
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 "There is a bondage which is worse to bear 
 Than his who breathes by roof and floor and wall 
 Pent in — a tyrant's solitary thrall ; 
 'Tis his who walks about in the open air 
 One of a nation who henceforth must bear 
 Their fetters on their souls." 
 
 And yet the very genius of Rome is to 
 filch our liberty from us, a liberty far more 
 essential to manhood than liberty of the 
 body. If Rome had the power, she would 
 steal from us freedom of speech, freedom 
 of conscience, freedom of thought, freedom 
 of judgment in religious matters. 
 
 Says MacLaughlin, a Catholic writer, in a 
 book which has the recommendation of the 
 late Pope and the late Cardinal Manning : 
 
 '* The Catholic Church interdicts the right 
 of private judgment in matters of faith ; she 
 has ever interdicted it, and she will continue 
 to interdict it to the end of time. Free in- 
 quiry, individual preference, liberty of mind, 
 freedom of thought, private judgment in the 
 domain of faiili, are words which she has no 
 ears to hear . She will not, she cannot, listen 
 to them; t/iey would rend the rock on wliicli 
 she rests.'' 
 
 Here, then, is a system which seems to be 
 slowly creeping into our midst. Its motto 
 
 105
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 is Semper eadem — " Always the same." To 
 maintain its supremacy over the minds and 
 consciences of the nations it has deluged 
 Europe in blood ; it has claimed victims 
 by scores of thousands. It has frightened 
 ignorant nations into submission ; it has 
 cursed all who dare to deny what they know 
 to be lies, and its aim, and hope, and object 
 is " to subjugate and to subdue, to conquer 
 and to rule an imperial race " ; it is de- 
 termined " to bend or break the will that 
 kingdoms have found invincible and in- 
 flexible." In short, its purpose is to make us 
 a nation of intellectual slaves. 
 
 One day I was dining with a Catholic 
 doctor in Rome. I asked him if he had 
 seen the famous window painted by Burne 
 Jones in the American Episcopal Church in 
 that city. He replied that he was a Catholic. 
 I asked him what that had to do with it. 
 He replied : " You must understand that in 
 England and other Protestant countries 
 Catholics are allowed to enter a Protestant 
 Church, on corfdition that they will not 
 worship there, but in Catholic countries we 
 are not allowed to enter a Protestant Church 
 under any pretext whatever." He also told 
 
 io6
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 me of books he would like to read, but dared 
 not because the Church had placed them on 
 the Index. 
 
 Exactly. But if Rome gained the power 
 she desires in England, she would govern 
 our lives from every standpoint, she would 
 decide our education, our laws, our books, 
 our thoughts, and she would persecute those 
 who dared to disobey. All our old free 
 institutions would go, and we should become 
 another Spain. 
 
 Thus the question comes, Can we be 
 tolerant towards such a system? To this 
 I reply that we cannot be otherwise than 
 tolerant. As Protestants, we must give them 
 what they would refuse us. We must grant 
 them the same religious freedom we our- 
 selves demand. This lies at the very heart 
 of Protestantism. It is true the Roman 
 Church will not adopt this attitude towards 
 Protestants. In a pamphlet on " Liberty of 
 Conscience " Monsignor Croke Robinson 
 says : " If to-morrow the Si)anish Govern- 
 ment, as advised by the Catholic Church, 
 were to see that a greater evil would ensue 
 from granting Religious Liberty than from 
 refusing it, then it would have a perfect 
 
 107
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 right to refuse it. Of course the Protestant 
 press would teem with charges of Intoler- 
 ance, and we should reply, ' Toleration to 
 Protestants is intoleration to Catholics.' " In- 
 deed, even while I write, the attitude of the 
 Catholic Church in Spain is exactly what 
 Monsignor Robinson suggests it should be. 
 The Spanish Government is seeking to grant 
 slight concessions to Protestants, such as 
 allowing them to announce the times and 
 nature of their services, but against even this 
 the Vatican is protesting. Romanists claim 
 every liberty in Protestant countries, but they 
 anathematise Senor Canalejas for suggesting 
 even this tardy justice to Protestants. They 
 are straining every nerve to make the breath 
 of religious liberty impossible in Spain. And 
 what they are doing there they would do in 
 England if they had the power, and it would 
 be in accordance with the essentials of their 
 creed. Are we, then, to tolerate this in- 
 tolerant Church in our land? Yes, we must. 
 Our Protestantism demands that we should. 
 It demands that we must treat Roman 
 Catholics with kindness and justice. Never- 
 theless, we should be acting criminally if 
 we did not seek to make known what 
 
 loS
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 Romanism really means, and to bid our 
 fellow -coimtr>Tnen beware of a system 
 which, if it gained power, would filch from 
 us the charter of our liberty. 
 
 But some one will say : " What has it 
 to do with us ? If people are such fools as 
 to accept these worn-out fallacies, let them 
 do so. It is no affair of ours." Yes, but is 
 it not a truer, a nobler attitude to try and 
 show the real nature of the thing that seeks 
 to find its way into our national life ? 
 
 Be that as it may, this spirit of easy 
 toleration is abroad, and it is something 
 which augurs favourably for the hopes pf 
 the Romanists. 
 
 Then there is another thing. Our Estab- 
 lished Church can no longer be called a Pro- 
 testant Church. Indeed, it is a well-known 
 fact that a large number of its ministers 
 scorn and hate the word Protestant. What- 
 ever else it was before what is called the 
 Oxford Movement, it was a Protestant 
 Church ; to-day it can no longer be 
 called by that name. Nay, more, it has 
 moved Romeward by rapid steps. A few 
 years ago Mr. Walter \\'alsh startled the 
 nation by his " Secret History of the Oxford 
 
 log
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Movement." The book came as a bomb- 
 shell to many. It showed that our national 
 Church was riddled with Romanist societies. 
 It declared that thousands of Church of 
 England ministers, who had taken vows 
 to uphold the Protestant faith, and whilst 
 taking the pay of a Protestant people, 
 were seeking to unprotestantise the nation. 
 It revealed an amount of duplicity, of 
 shameful deceit, that startled thousands 
 of people ; and, what is more, it is Mr. 
 Walsh's boast that not one of his statements 
 has ever been denied. In spite of Mr. 
 Gladstone's Vatican Decrees, however, in 
 spite of Sir William Harcourt's noble de- 
 fence of Protestantism in the House of 
 Commons and in his letter to the Times, in 
 spite of Mr. Walsh's and hundreds of other 
 books, in spite of thousands of protests 
 coming from an aggrieved and indignant 
 community, the work goes on. More and 
 more among clergymen of the Church of 
 England the word Protestant is becoming 
 a stigma and a reproach, more and more 
 they are adopting Roman formulae, Roman 
 liturgy, Roman vestments, Roman doctrine. 
 Of course they have a perfect right to do 
 
 no
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 this if they wish, but they have no right 
 to do it while they are ministers of the 
 Established and Reformed Protestant 
 Church of England. 
 
 This, however, augurs favourably for the 
 success of the Roman Church, and the 
 leaders in that Church know it. Indeed, men 
 like Father Bernard Vaughan throw scorn 
 and ridicule upon these Romanisers in the 
 English Church, and taunt them with having 
 only a bastard Catholicism, and at the same 
 time he beseeches the people to come where 
 they can have the " real thing." Indeed, 
 from that standpoint the Roman Catholic 
 occupies the logical position. If you once 
 admit the sacerdotal claims of these so- 
 called English Catholics, there is no stopping 
 place between them and Rome. 
 
 This is seen by both Romanists and 
 earnest Evangelical clergymen. Father 
 Hugh Benson, when speaking of the 
 Romanising influence of such Church of 
 England institutions as the Community of 
 the Resurrection at Mirficld, said : " On 
 practically every point except the supremacy 
 of the Pope we believed the teaching of the 
 Catholic Church, taught most of its 
 
 III
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 doctrines, as thousands of Anglican clergy 
 are doing to-day, and it is this teaching that 
 is building the bridge over which Anglicans 
 will come over to the true fold." 
 
 The late Cardinal Vaughan also boasted 
 that the whole tone of the Church of 
 England was changed, and that in thousands 
 of cases their services were scarcely dis- 
 tinguishable from that of the Roman Church, 
 and that the Romanist movement was 
 spreading day by day. 
 
 Archdeacon Sinclair, too, testified the 
 same thing ten years ago, and, alas I he 
 has stronger reasons for doing so now. He 
 said : " Roman Catholics are influencing the 
 Church of England from within, many of our 
 clergy are in their service, and openly pray 
 for the Pope ; many others are in constant 
 communication with them, adopt their dress, 
 sustain themselves on their literature, are 
 inspired by their policy, and teach their doc- 
 trines." 
 
 But there is still another thing which gives 
 great hope to the Romanist, and that is the 
 apparent indifference of a large number of 
 Nonconformists. Personally, I have but 
 little doubt that the Free Churchmen of 
 
 112
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 England and Wales are as intellectually con- 
 vinced of their Protestantism as ever. As 
 far as I know there is not even a taint of 
 Romanism to be found in our Free Churches. 
 Some time ago I came across a book which 
 stated that a number of Free Church 
 ministers were in league with the Jesuits, 
 and acting according to their instigation. Of 
 course the assertion is too ridiculous to be 
 for a moment entertained. No man who 
 knows the inside of Free Church life would 
 ever have thought of saying such an absurd 
 thing. Among the twelve or fourteen 
 thousand Free Church ministers, to say noth- 
 ing of its army of lay preachers, I doubt 
 if you could find one with Romish ten- 
 dencies. Of course there may be such, 
 but they can find no home in our Free 
 Churches. I'he free air we breathe kills 
 the microbe of Romanism. 
 
 But having said that, there is another side 
 to the question. There is a lukewarmness, 
 an indifference which to earnest Protestants 
 is saddening. Nay, more, there is in some 
 quarters actual antagonism to those who take 
 a strong Protestant position. Personally, I 
 believe the antagonists are exceedingly few, 
 
 113 I
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 but they exist. And this not because they 
 have any predilection towards Rome, but 
 because they have imbibed the spirit of 
 easy toleration, which makes aggressive Pro- 
 testantism seem to them uncharitable. There 
 is a larger number, however — I hope it is not 
 very large — who are not inspired with that 
 passion for religious liberty which caused 
 our Free Churches to spring into being. 
 
 Some time ago a minister whose name is 
 known, and as far as I am aware respected, 
 throughout the Free Churches of England, 
 was invited by a number of leading ministers 
 to speak on Protestantism in one of the 
 fashionable towns of England. It was with 
 great difficulty that a church could be found 
 for him to speak in. The deacons and elders 
 of one church after another refused to open 
 their doors for an address on this question, 
 and finally the meeting was held in a com- 
 paratively unimportant building. 
 
 Such a fact as this will doubtless be read 
 with astonishment, although I do not believe 
 it is in the slightest degree representative 
 of the general feeling of the Free Churches. 
 
 Nevertheless it does suggest a state of 
 things that must give joy to Romanists. If 
 
 114
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 the Nonconformists of England have grown 
 cold on this question, then there is little 
 doubt that the Church of Rome has made 
 great headway. For if there is a class of 
 the community that ought to hate the Roman 
 system, it is the Nonconformists of England 
 and Wales. The priest is ever the deadly 
 enemy of the liberty-loving life of our Free 
 Churches, and woe be to us if ever the 
 Roman system holds sway in our land I 
 
 This coldness, if coldness there is — and I 
 am very loath to confess it— is largely because 
 of ignorance of the issues at stake. There 
 is an appalling amount of ignorance among 
 both old and young in our Free Churches, 
 not only concerning the essential principles 
 of Rome, but concerning the effect of Rome 
 wherever it has had dominion. Every 
 Roman Catholic child is well instructed in 
 the principles of his faith. I wonder whether 
 the same can be said with regard to the 
 young people in our Free Churches? In this 
 I am not sure that the ministers are free 
 from blame. Surely it is for us to teach our 
 people the principles and history of the faith 
 to which nationally and individually we owe 
 all that is best in our life. 
 
 115
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Another reason for the seeming indiffer- 
 ence of Nonconformists is the behef that 
 Protestantism is too strong in England for 
 Rome ever to come back. I think it was the 
 Times which stated during the Eucharistic 
 Congress in London that the Protestantism 
 of England was so strong that it could afford 
 to smile at all the endeavours v/hich Roman- 
 ists were making. That is the feeling of 
 a large number of Nonconformists, and it is 
 a feeling that the Roman Catholics are 
 taking full advantage of. 
 
 And now, as I look back over what I 
 have written, I ask again : What are the 
 prospects of Rome ever coming back to 
 England in power? There is much in their 
 favour. An easy, spurious toleration, which 
 is not always the result of a great charity, 
 but want of conviction, the Romanising ten- 
 dency in our Established Church, and a 
 lack of earnestness in many of our Free 
 Churches. These are facts to which we 
 cannot close our eyes. There is also the 
 fact that there is a great army determined 
 on conquest, and that great army is backed 
 by a mighty organisation. Perhaps, too, 
 there is another thing which will make 
 
 u6
 
 Rome's Prospects of Success 
 
 Rome's work easier, and that is the spirit 
 of Mammonism and materialism which has 
 gripped our land, and which may account 
 for the apparent indifference in our Free 
 Churches. 
 
 That on the one side. But there is an- 
 other side. Manning is reported to have 
 said on one occasion : " Cromwell is not 
 dead, he is only asleep, and he may awake at 
 any moment." Manning never uttered truer 
 words. Not only is Cromwell not dead, but 
 Protestantism is not dead. It may seem at 
 times to be slumbering, but its heart still 
 beats with great mighty throbs, which send 
 the lifeblood of liberty throughout the veins 
 of the nation. But it is time we were 
 aroused from our slumber. 
 
 This I have found in speaking up and 
 down this land : the people respond mightily 
 to the Protestant appeal. If there is indif- 
 ference, it is from want of knowledge, not 
 from want of life. What is needed is that 
 the great facts of liislory shall be made 
 known to them, tliat the real nature of Rome 
 shall be revealed to them, that the story of 
 our heroic fathers shall be told to tbcm, that 
 the great fundamental truths for which our 
 
 117
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Reformers fought and died shall be (pro- 
 claimed to them. Let the people know these 
 things and I have no fear, but if Rome finds 
 England ignorant concerning what is most 
 vital to her, it may be that she will find her 
 an easy prey. 
 
 ii8
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 WHAT WOULD BE THE RESULT IF ROME 
 WERE TO CAPTURE ENGLAND? 
 
 The result would be the destruction of 
 Protestant principles. All Romanists re- 
 nounce and detest these principles. While 
 Romanists are in a decisive minority they 
 only suffer themselves from the loss of these 
 principles. But when they are in a decisive 
 majority, they will — if they are candid they 
 confess that they will — ruthlessly stamp out 
 these principles in the whole country. It 
 cannot be too plainly asserted that Rome 
 claims the right of coercion. If, in Cardinal 
 Manning's phrase, this proud country should 
 bow her neck to the Papacy, liberty will 
 be crushed, the liberty of Protestants as 
 a matter of course, but also the liberty of 
 the Papists themselves. 
 
 The pretence of liberty made by the 
 Roman Church in England is only a show 
 
 119
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 for proselytising purposes ; when the end 
 is gained it will be thrown aside just as it is 
 in every completely Romanised country. 
 Every Romanist, every convert to Rome, 
 throws his whole weight into the scale, to 
 destroy Protestant principles, and that 
 master principle of all, liberty. 
 
 Strictly speaking, Protestantism was and 
 is simply the demand for liberty, liberty from 
 a galling, crushing, demoralising tyranny. 
 The right to seek truth, and to accept it ; the 
 right to exercise private judgment ; the right 
 to obey conscience ; the right to differ from 
 others on matters of religion ; the right to 
 approach God directly ; the right to worship 
 in the way which conscience directs ; the 
 right to read and study the Bible, and to 
 interpret it according to the plain rules of 
 philology, of general knowledge, of common 
 sense ; the right to live and to let live — these 
 rights, the elementary rights on which all 
 spiritual development depends, were forfeit 
 before the Reformation, and they are forfeit 
 again wherever Rome prevails. Liberty is 
 the first of Protestant principles — the hardest 
 to achieve, the easiest to lose. There are 
 base spirits which do not crave liberty ; 
 
 120
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 there are degraded nations which love to 
 be under a yoke. These desire nothing more 
 than to be governed and directed, to sur- 
 render their freedom of will, to believe what 
 is imposed on them, to do what they are 
 bidden. Rome is sure of her domination 
 over these base spirits ; there are enough 
 ignorant and degraded communities in the 
 world, there are enough poor and depen- 
 dent characters in every community, to 
 provide a following for the Pope. But 
 nations and men who have learnt the 
 supreme value of liberty will perish rather 
 than bend the neck. 
 
 If Rome should vanquish England, 
 England would pass out of the first rank 
 of nations, for they are the nations which 
 cherish liberty. Her mighty past would be 
 obliterated. The palm and the crown would 
 be transferred to younger and worthier 
 peoples. 
 
 The Roman system makes liberty impos- 
 sible . Here is the verdict of those devoted 
 men, all Catholics, who are struggling to 
 recover the lost liberty in the Roman 
 Church : " Through a scries of causes into 
 which we need not here enter, Catholics 
 
 lai
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 seem to have lost every elementary sense of 
 responsibility and personal dignity. Instead 
 of being met with a service of reasonable 
 and therefore discerning obedience, the acts 
 of their supreme rulers are received with the 
 unconscious acquiescence of irresponsible 
 beings. This reacts unfavourably on the 
 exercise of authority itself, which loses sight 
 of its proper limits and its true functions, 
 and transforms itself into an absolutism in- 
 consistent with that reasonable spiritual 
 government instituted by Christ, in whom 
 we have passed from servitude to free- 
 dom." ' 
 
 They are Catholics and not ignorant 
 Protestants, who describe the Curia— tha.t is, 
 the supreme authority of the Roman Church, 
 which wields the terrific engine of the Papal 
 infallibility— in these words : " We are weary 
 of seeing the Church reduced, for all 
 practical purposes, to a bureaucracy jealous 
 of its surviving scraps of political power, and 
 hungering to get back all it once had, to a 
 group of idle men who, having dedicated 
 themselves to a priestly and apostolic call- 
 ing, and having afterwards attained the 
 
 » " The Programme of Modernism," p. 9. 
 122
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 highest ecclesiastical grade, enjoy the most 
 fabulously wealthy benefices as absentee in- 
 cumbents. We are weary of seeing her 
 reduced to a sterilised force which, notwith- 
 standing an apparent grandeur that wins the 
 facile and unintelligent adulation of the 
 multitude, acts as a brake on social pro- 
 gress ; to an institution which squanders its 
 vital energy in idly dreaming of what it used 
 to be in ages gone by." ' 
 
 This is the picture of the governing 
 authority to which Catholics bow down in 
 servile obedience. This is the authority 
 which they reverence as God, and obey with 
 an ardour and unrestraint which is only 
 found in the basest kind of earthly tyrannies. 
 They worship the Government which 
 denies them their liberty. They embrace 
 their bondage. Intellectually and spiritually 
 they become a negligible quantity in the 
 life of nations. Their influence is only that 
 which is in harmony with the Autliority 
 they have deified, the influence of money, 
 of intrigue, of suppressing truth, and malign- 
 ing, where they cannot destroy, all who lift 
 
 ■ "The Programme of Modernism," p. 151. 
 
 123
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 up their voices against the corrupt tyranny 
 which is to them a rehgion. 
 
 But it may be said, " Surely the brave 
 words just quoted from Catholics show that 
 liberty is not dead in the Roman Church. 
 The number, and activity, and courage of the 
 Modernists are an evidence of life, and a 
 promise of freedom? " No, the Papal Ency- 
 clical of 1907 forbids that line of defence. 
 It tramples down, insults, excommunicates 
 these writers and teachers, for even breath- 
 ing a word about liberty. It would be well 
 for Protestants to read this infallible utter- 
 ance " of our most holy Lord, Pius X., by 
 Divine Providence Pope, on the doctrines of 
 the Modernists." This is infallibility in 
 being and in action, and we cannot note 
 too carefully what it means. 
 
 The noble truth-seeking of men like 
 George Tyrrell is treated by this authority 
 as pride : " Venerable brethren, it will be 
 your first duty to resist such victims of 
 pride, to employ them only in the lowest 
 and obscurest offices. The higher they try 
 to rise, the lower let them be placed, so 
 that the lowliness of their position may 
 limit their power of causing damage. 
 
 124
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 Examine most carefully your young clerics 
 by yourselves and by the directors of your 
 seminaries, and when you find the spirit of 
 pride amongst them reject them without 
 compunction from the priesthood. Would 
 to God that this had always been done with 
 the vigilance and constancy which were 
 required." 
 
 Thus in future there cannot be a priest 
 who inquires, who seeks truth. Every priest 
 must be an obedient, unquestioning jani- 
 zary of the Curia. Any who hold office as 
 directors and professors of seminaries, if 
 they are " tainted with Modernism," are 
 ruthlessly expelled. And the same policy 
 is to be adopted towards those who openly 
 or secretly lend countenance to Modernism, 
 either by extolling the Modernists and 
 excusing their culpable conduct, or by 
 carping at scholasticism and the Fathers and 
 the magisterium of the Church, or by refus- 
 ing obedience to ecclesiastical authority in 
 any of its depositaries. C 
 
 This is the proper method of despotism. 
 Liberty is not only curtailed, but crushed. 
 
 The Infallible Authority, not content with 
 eliminating thought from its seminaries, rc- 
 
 125
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 vives its old warfare against books : " In 
 all cases it will be obligatory on Catholic 
 booksellers not to put on sale books con- 
 demned by the bishop." 
 
 As if this were not enough, even meet- 
 ings of priests are forbidden, lest they should 
 provoke one another to thought and criti- 
 cism of the authorities : " In the future 
 bishops shall not permit congresses of 
 priests, except on very rare occasions. 
 When they do permit them it shall only be 
 on condition that matters appertaining to the 
 bishops or the Apostolic See be not treated 
 in them, and that no resolutions or petitions 
 be allowed that would imply a usurpation 
 of sacred authority, and that absolutely 
 nothing be said in them which savours of 
 Modernism, Presbyterianism, or Laicism." 
 
 This is Rome, the Rome of to-day. This 
 is the way in which it meets the faintest 
 attempt on the part of her scholars, teachers, 
 or priests to exercise the elementary rights 
 of the intellect or of the conscience. We 
 have to be thankful that in England at 
 present the Roman Church has only the 
 power which a free country allows. But it 
 is our duty to remember that if she had 
 
 126
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 the power she demands, she would exer- 
 cise her tyrannical coercion, not over the 
 priests alone, but over kings and govern- 
 ments, and, of course, over the individual 
 layman. She claims the right not only to 
 censure, to excommunicate, to bully, but 
 actually to kill all who resist her authority. 
 Individual Romanists, in England at least, 
 may have no inclination to assert that right. 
 But they all support, as the supreme autho- 
 rity in religion, a power which claims the 
 right, has exercised it, and will exercise it 
 again, whenever it may be thought expedient 
 in the interests of the Church. Every one 
 should read Dr. Wright's pamphlet on " The 
 Persecution of Heretics," containing extracts 
 from the Professor of the Decretals in 
 the Gregorian University of Rome, Patir 
 Marianus de Luca. There is no denying that 
 this is the real doctrine of the Roman 
 Church. And there is not the slightest 
 hesitation on the part of the Professor in 
 claiming for the Church the right to kill 
 us if we do not submit. Let me quote a 
 single passage. The assumption is made 
 that the Church, as a perfect polity, 
 possesses the rights which are conceded to 
 
 127
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 a secular Government : " I said the Church 
 is a perfect society, and that we assume is 
 proved. Then the right of the sword is a 
 necessary and effective means to the attain- 
 ment of its end, if obstinate rebels against 
 the Church and disturbers of ecclesiastical 
 peace and unity, and especially stubborn 
 heretics and heresiarchs, cannot be pre- 
 vented by any other penalty from continuing 
 to disturb the order of the Church and from 
 stirring up others, who are always ready to 
 do wrong, and especially to sin against the 
 Church. In actual fact the Church at first 
 dealt more leniently with heretics by ex- 
 communicating them, confiscating their pro- 
 perty, till at last she was compelled to 
 inflict the supreme penalty. . . . The 
 Church tried every means. First excom- 
 munication alone, then a pecuniary fine was 
 added, then exile ; finally she was com- 
 pelled TO fall back upon death. . . . 
 The only remedy is to send them soon 
 to their own place." 
 
 Catholics in a Protestant country try to 
 laugh this kind of teaching out of court. 
 But they cannot show that it is not the 
 teaching of the Church. They dare not 
 
 12S
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 repudiate it, under pain of ecclesiastical 
 censure. Rome claims the right, and the 
 Curia has the will, to exterminate all who 
 will not believe in her and submit to her. 
 
 But while liberty is the first, and, indeed, 
 the all-inclusive system which must go, 
 if ever Rome triumphs in England, there is 
 another principle, more positive, which is the 
 life-blood of Protestantism and the object 
 of Rome's oft-repeated anathema. From a 
 Christian point of view, we not only de- 
 mand liberty, but in a more specific sense 
 " the liberty with which Christ has made 
 us free." 
 
 The greatest treasure of this country, and 
 the secret of her greatness, is the open Bible. 
 And the chief reason why the Bible is such 
 a treasure is that it leads those who study 
 and believe it to a personal religion based 
 on a direct relation with God. Where the 
 Bible is universally accepted and rever- 
 enced a religion of this kind renews itself 
 in the hearts and lives of men, of women, 
 of children. Luther designated this experi- 
 ence as justification by faith, which he held 
 to be the articulus stantls aut cadentis 
 ecclesice. In more general terms we may 
 
 129 K
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 describe it as a direct and conscious rela- 
 tion of the soul with God, in which the soul 
 knows that it is passed from death unto life, 
 and rejoices in the consciousness of pardon, 
 reconciliation, and peace. This leads to a 
 victory over sin, an indwelling of the Spirit, 
 and a growth in the grace and knowledge 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. On this ex- 
 perience of God and salvation the Church 
 rests. The Church as a company of the 
 redeemed, in whom the Redeemer dwells, 
 becomes the redeeming force in society — as 
 He put it, the community which is the salt 
 of the earth and the light of the world. 
 
 Strange to say, this spiritual reality, which 
 it seems to be the main object of the New 
 Testament to portray, is not only unknown 
 to the Roman theology, but is discredited 
 and anathematised by the Roman Church. 
 The only regeneration known to Rome is 
 the sacramental regeneration of baptism, an 
 opus operatum which may be, and often is, 
 devoid of moral and spiritual result. The 
 faith in Christ crucified as the cause of the 
 new birth, and as the guarantee of a present 
 salvation, holds no place in the Roman 
 system, which demands instead of it obedi- 
 
 130
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 ence to the Church and faith in the amalgam 
 of doctrine and tradition, religion and super- 
 stition which the Church enjoins. Faith 
 as understood by St. Paul is completely 
 extruded by faith as a forced assent to a 
 series of dogmas and to a coercive 
 authority. 
 
 The assurance of salvation, which to us 
 has become the dearest possession, and the 
 surest guarantee of spiritual progress, is by 
 Rome treated as presumption or delusion. 
 She requires her children to trust her for 
 salvation, not Christ. She treats the inward 
 witness of the Spirit — " the Spirit itself 
 bcareth witness with our spirit, that we are 
 the children of God " — as a mere emotion. 
 
 All that wc, with the New Testament in 
 our hands, have come to know as the dis- 
 tinctively Christian experience is denied and 
 brushed aside. In its place comes a religion 
 of abject dependence on the priest, external 
 sacraments, prescribed rites, which cannot 
 bring any assured peace, because they do not 
 allow the devotee ever to be assured of his 
 salvation. The Catholic can never say, with 
 Paul, " For me to live is Christ and to die 
 is gain.'' 
 
 131
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Manning left the English Church and 
 threw his whole heart into the Church of 
 his adoption. 'He was a great power at 
 the Vatican Council of 1870, and did more, 
 perhaps, than any single person to carry the 
 terrific dogma of Papal Infallibility. On the 
 death of the Pope, when he was frustrated in 
 his desire to succeed to the Papal chair, he 
 returned to England to be a great and noble 
 worker for the people. No Catholic in recent 
 years came so near to winning the heart of 
 England. His ascetic life and ascetic face, 
 the poverty in which he died, the innumer- 
 able converts whom he received into " the 
 Church," raised him to an altitude which 
 might be called sanctity. Certainly he died 
 in the odour of sanctity. It is not rash, 
 therefore, to assume that whatever comfort 
 and assurance of salvation Catholicism can 
 give Manning had. Such hope and blessing 
 as the system offers must have come to this 
 protagonist, who had sacrificed everything 
 for the Church, and lived in absolute con- 
 formity to the Church's ideal and the 
 Church's demands. I remember reading at 
 the time of his death, in 1895, a remarkable 
 utterance that he was reported to have made. 
 
 132
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 On his deathbed, we were told, he earnestly 
 besought those around him to pray that he 
 might get into— heaven ? no, but purgatory.' 
 Purgatory seemed the one desirable doom that 
 he might pray for. According to the teaching 
 of the Church, which he well knew, the pains 
 of purgatory are as great as those of hell, the 
 only difference being that they purge and 
 purify. The process of purgatory may last 
 for thousands of years, so that an indulgence 
 granted by the Pope to shorten the term by 
 a century or two is a boon which the Catholic 
 will do anything to gain. Cardinal Man- 
 ning's prayer was that he might go into this 
 age-long torture in the hope of finally issuing 
 forth ready for heaven. 
 
 What an incalculable distance, ethical and 
 religious, is this from the New Testament 
 and the joyful confidence of Paul, with 
 " Christ in liim the hope of glory," " For 
 me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 
 
 The Roman Church still maintains the 
 New Testament to be inspired and authorita- 
 tive, as the Encyclical " Pasccndi Gregis " 
 
 ' This fact I have every reason to credit, because 
 it was stated in my " England's Danger," p. 139, and 
 was not, as far as I know, dispnted by the Cathohc 
 critics, who assailed my words as bitterly twelve years 
 ago as they do now.
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 vehemently maintains. But the tradition has 
 so overlaid it, so subtly changed and trans- 
 formed it — and according to Rome it is tradi- 
 tion, or the voice of the teaching Church, 
 which alone interprets the Scriptures— that in 
 practice the New Testament has no authority 
 whatever. If you bring the faith and prac- 
 tice of Rome into a candid comparison with 
 the faith and practice of the New Testament 
 — i.e., with the faith and practice of Christ 
 and His apostles — you find that the difference 
 amounts to a positive contrast. Almost all 
 the Jewish and pagan ideas which the New 
 Testament repudiated have crept back again. 
 The practices which form now the very bone 
 and sinew of Catholicism are not found in 
 the New Testament at all. For example, 
 the key to the whole Roman system is the 
 supremacy and autocracy of the Pope. But 
 Bishop Strossmayer's great protest at the 
 Vatican Council has never been answered : 
 " Reading," he said, " the sacred books with 
 that attention with which the Lord has made 
 me capable, I do not find one single chapter 
 or one little verse in which Jesus Christ gives 
 to St. Peter the mastery over the Apostles, 
 his fellow-workers. If Simon, son of Jonas, 
 
 134
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 had been what we believe his Holiness 
 Pius IX. to be to-day, it is wonderful that 
 He had not said to him, ' When I have 
 ascended to My Father, you shall obey 
 Simon Peter as you obey Me. I establish 
 him My Vicar upon earth.' " 
 
 This is only one instance, though it is a 
 crucial instance. The legend which raised 
 Mary from the tomb to crown her as the 
 Queen of heaven, and make her the inter- 
 cessor with her Son for sinners, culminat- 
 ing in Pius IX. 's dogma of 1854, which 
 declared that she was, like her Son, con- 
 ceived without sin, has not a shred of 
 evidence, not even a remote suggestion of 
 probability, in the New Testament. The 
 whole secular process which substituted the 
 saints for the deities of Polytheism, and made 
 their tombs and relics objects of veneration, 
 is absolutely o[)posed to every book, chapter, 
 and verse of the New Testament, in which 
 the God and !• ather of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 is the sole object of worship, and He is 
 immediately accessible to us all by faith in 
 Christ Jesus, and by the gift of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 The Mass, which is the central act of 
 
 135
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Catholic worship, is totally distinct from the 
 Supper of the New Testament writings. 
 This was a meal ; that is a sacrificial offer- 
 ing. This was solemnised without any 
 priestly operator ; that depends entirely on 
 the miraculous power of the priest to change 
 the bread into flesh and the wine into blood. 
 This was a sacrament of mutual love and 
 service, in which the body of Christ was 
 formed by the love which serves one 
 another ; that is an offering made for the 
 people, in which the cup is never given to the 
 laity, but reserved entirely for the priests. 
 
 If a Catholic took a New Testament to 
 Mass instead of the Mass Book, if his mind 
 paid any attention to the words of the Lord 
 and the teaching of the apostles, he would 
 be entirely bewildered, and would either 
 declare the Mass a blasphemous invention 
 or throw away the New Testament as a 
 heretical book. No earthly ingenuity can 
 reconcile the two. 
 
 And so it is with the whole circle of 
 Catholic devotions and practices. The con- 
 fessional, the pilgrimages, the cult of the 
 Sacred Heart, the endless repetitions of 
 Paternosters — the very prayer which our 
 
 136
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 Lord gave His disciples to supersede the vain 
 repetition of a prayer — the intermixture of 
 Ave Marias with the Paternosters, the bow- 
 ing before images, the use of candles as an 
 act of worship, the prayers and Masses to 
 get souls out of purgatory— you look in vain 
 for the sanction of these things in the words 
 of our Lord and His apostles. 
 
 Thus Catholicism represents a traditional 
 growth, a system, which in its government, 
 its theology, its moral teaching, its worship, 
 its ideals, its practice, its priesthood, its 
 method of work, its influence in the world, 
 affords an almost incredible contrast to the 
 book which yet, by a strange inconsistency, 
 it still calls inspired and authoritative. 
 
 It is this fact which obliges the Roman 
 Church to keep the Bible out of the hands 
 of the people. It can only allow the laity the 
 Bible in the Mass Book, the Bible under the 
 strict control and interpretation of the priest- 
 hood. But a Bible so chopped up, and 
 manipulated, and made to say what it never 
 meant loses all interest and power, so that 
 Catholics have no desire to use the book 
 as their guide and teacher, their law-book, 
 and instrument of devotion. 
 
 137
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Peter Rosegger has told us in " Mein 
 Himmelreich " the amazing discovery he 
 made of Jesus Christ, wlien in a three weeks' 
 illness he read the Gospels through and 
 through. He found Jesus, as the Church 
 had never presented Him. With the dis- 
 covery of the living Lord, the supersti- 
 tions and usurped authority of the Roman 
 Church fell away. The Roman Church can 
 no more stand with a free and general use 
 of the Bible among the laity than the moths 
 can proceed with their work of demolition 
 in the wardrobe if the air and sunlight are 
 freely admitted. In self-preservation Rome 
 withholds the Bible. The domination of 
 Rome in England, therefore, would involve 
 negatively the loss of liberty, and positively 
 the loss of the religion of the New Testa- 
 ment. What that would mean for England 
 every one can see who begins to reckon up 
 how all our liberties, political and religious, 
 all our progress, all our philanthropies, are 
 bound up with the gospel of grace as it 
 is found in the New Testament. John 
 Bunyan, John Wesley, John Howard, Wil- 
 berforce, Livingstone, Bright, the great 
 Englishmen who have made our country 
 
 138
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 what it is, are almost without exception the 
 product of that personal, spiritual, and 
 scriptural religion which Rome would 
 sweep away in the interests of her usurped 
 authority. 
 
 Rome would, if she once gained the 
 power, coerce us into obedience, and that 
 obedience would mean the loss of our 
 Saviour as the immediate redeemer from 
 sin, as the guide and companion of our life, 
 as the hope of glory in the hour of death and 
 in the day of judgment. The system which 
 she would enforce in place of this free and 
 ever-living gospel, taught by the Lord and 
 His apostles in the New Testament, is a 
 corrupt and obscurantist religion, only 
 nominally Christian, the main object of 
 which is to bring the individual soul into 
 subjection to a human priest, and the world 
 as a whole under the domination of an auto- 
 crat who claims to be God upon earth. 
 
 Political ruin and spiritual death are the 
 doom which awaits the triumph of Rome in 
 England. Is there any fear of this result? 
 Certainly there is. The system is so 
 specious, so skilful in hiding its real nature, 
 and in using its pieties and saints as the lever 
 
 139
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 to bring the mind into subjection ; it is so 
 completely free from moral scruple in its 
 designs ; it has such boundless wealth at its 
 disposal, and such skill in capturing the 
 nobility, the landlords, the leaders of society ; 
 it grips the Press with so firm a hand, and 
 has so many ways of assassinating incon- 
 venient critics, that it is blind presumption 
 to rest at ease in the assurance that England 
 is necessarily and finally Protestant. 
 
 The price of liberty is eternal vigilance ; 
 the price of keeping the gospel is to live 
 it. And some are so busy with other things, 
 and many are so cold and dead in their 
 spiritual life, that Rome has stolen many 
 marches upon us, and holds a power in 
 England to-day such as she has never done 
 before since the Reformation. 
 
 You may be sure that she will not relax 
 her efforts, for her one hope of survival is 
 in the English-speaking race. We have 
 sprung to the head of the world's progress 
 by escaping her bondage. Now, as her 
 power decays in the countries which she has 
 ruined, she must spare no effort, no sacri- 
 fice, to recapture England. The stream of 
 converts who, blinded and deluded, are 
 
 140
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 lured into her fold give her high hopes of 
 success. 
 
 It is quite certain that if England knew, 
 if we understood the nature of the Curia 
 which governs the Church, if we understood 
 the working of Romanism in Spain, Belgium, 
 South America, we should be perfectly 
 secure. But the bulk of our people do not 
 know. The Roman Church, adapted for 
 England and skilfully presented to us by 
 our own apostate sons, is plausible and 
 attractive. Its claim to be the Church 
 sounds wonderfully serene and reassuring ; 
 its promise to relieve us of all the strife 
 of thought and the search for truth appeals 
 to agnostics and roues and sentimentalists. 
 Our people do not know, and now that Rome 
 grips our Press it is increasingly difficult 
 to enlighten them. We have no guarantee 
 against the decadence into which nations, 
 like men, are apt to fall.- Rome profits by 
 the decadence of some nations, as she pro- 
 duces the decadence of others. 
 
 And yet in my heart I do not believe 
 Rome will capture England. I am per- 
 suaded that this country is not " Mary's 
 dower," as Catholics call it, ])ut Christ's. 
 
 »4i
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 I take a broader view, and see how surely 
 and inevitably the Roman system is hasten- 
 ing to its ruin. In the fine image of the 
 Rev. A. Faulkes : » 
 
 " The Papacy is, and will be for long, 
 a force in politics. It can command votes, 
 it can effect combinations ; it impresses the 
 imagination, it bulks large before the world. 
 But it is a declining power. The stars in 
 their courses fight against it ; the forces 
 which are making history are on the other 
 side. Silently and ceaselessly they work. 
 Like a majestic iceberg, detached from some 
 arctic continent, it moves southward from 
 the polar ocean, a fragment of a dead world. 
 Ghostlike, a peril to mariners, it towers over 
 the waters that wash its base ; its peaks 
 glitter in the sunlight ; its cliffs reflect the 
 blue of sky and sea. And all the while the 
 process of undermining is going on ; the 
 frozen mass encounters kindlier currents ; 
 the temperature rises ; a little sooner, a 
 little later maybe, there can be but one 
 end." 
 
 I cannot seriously believe that this effete 
 
 ' Article on " Modernism " in Hibberl Journal^ 
 October, 1909. 
 
 J 42
 
 What would be the Result 
 
 and tyrannical power, decaying in the eyes 
 of the world, will ever conquer the land 
 I love. England's great traditions are of 
 Liberty and Religion. 
 
 " It is not to be thought of that the flood 
 
 Of British freedom, which, to the open sea 
 Of the world's praise, from dark antiquity 
 
 Hath flowed, * with pomp of waters, unwithstood,' 
 
 Roused though it be full often to a mood 
 Which spurns the check of salutary bands — 
 That this most famous stream, in bogs and sands 
 
 Should perish ; and to evil and to good 
 Be lost for ever. In our halls is hung 
 
 Armoury of the invincible knights of old ; 
 
 We must be free or die who speak the tongue, 
 
 That Shakespere spoke, the faith and morals hold 
 That Milton held. In everything we are sprung 
 
 Of earth's first blood, have titles manifold." 
 
 143
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 AN APPEAL TO FACTS 
 
 In the previous chapter a picture is drawn 
 of what the results would be if Rome were 
 to capture England. No careful and candid 
 reader can deny that, according to the prin- 
 ciples laid down, those results would be 
 calamitous — terrible. Our liberty would be 
 destroyed — liberty intellectual, political, 
 moral, spiritual. That is the truth that stares 
 us in the face as we read the chapter. And 
 when liberty is gone manhood is gone, 
 strength is gone, enterprise is gone. A 
 nation enslaved is a nation dead. Rome 
 destroys liberty, therefore Rome kills. 
 
 But some one will perhaps say : " This 
 is the reasoning of one who loves Protes- 
 tantism and does not love Popery, and be- 
 cause of it he sees through the eyes of a 
 Protestant, and draws his conclusions 
 accordingly. Are we sure that Romanism 
 
 144
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 means this to any land where that Church 
 obtains power? And if it does mean such 
 terrible results, why?" 
 
 The true way to answer such a question 
 is to appeal to facts, and there is one fact 
 that stands out very boldly which should be 
 urged upon all true patriots. It is hinted 
 at in the second chapter of this volume, 
 but it should be burnt into the heart and 
 conscience of every politician, every man of 
 commerce — indeed, of every dweller on these 
 isles. It is this : Wherever Protestantism 
 has become a vital principle in the life of 
 a nation, that nation has sprung into power 
 intellectually, commercially, morally, spiritu- 
 ally. On the other hand, into every country 
 which did not lay hold of the great Refor- 
 mation truths, and where Romanism has 
 reigned supreme, torpor, weakness, and 
 decay have come. This is no mere state- 
 ment of one who sees through the eyes of 
 a partisan ; it is a great fact which faces 
 any thoughtful observer. Every nation 
 which has remained under the subjection of 
 Rome, every nation which has taken her 
 orders from the Vatican, has become de^ 
 cadent. Every Protestant country, on the 
 
 145 L
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 other hand, has grown from strength to 
 strength. 
 
 This is surely a fact which should be 
 examined and pressed home, for in spite 
 of our vaunted education, it is but little 
 realised. " I don't care a fig what kind of 
 religion the people believe in," said a com- 
 mercial man to me once ; " religion does 
 not affect business." The man was blind 
 to the truth, or he would not have made 
 such a foolish statement. Religion goes 
 down to the roots of life. Religion affects 
 every phase of our manifold life. 
 
 Let us begin with the consideration of our 
 own land. Naturally, we are proud of it. 
 To-day I was looking at a large globe on 
 which was traced the map of the world. It 
 took me some little time to find the British 
 Isles, so small a space do they occupy. And 
 yet these little isles control at least a fourth 
 of the whole world. Our commerce has 
 practically gone to every land, our ships sail 
 on every sea, our language is more and more 
 prevailing, our power is felt everywhere. It 
 seemed, as I looked at the map, absurd that 
 our little islands should dominate such a 
 large portion of the world. But when did 
 
 146
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 this mighty power begin to be? Any his- 
 torian will tell you. Up to the time of 
 Henry VIII. we were practically a stagnant 
 nation, and counted but little in the councils 
 of the world. Our population had grown 
 but little in a thousand years. The people 
 were, in the main, boorish and unlettered. 
 We were ruled by priests, we were governed 
 from Rome. But the life-blood of God's 
 truth, which began to be known in the time 
 of WyclifTe, began more and more to fill the 
 veins of the nation at the Reformation ; and 
 when, towards the end of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, we threw off the yoke of Rome we 
 sprung into power. No sooner was the great 
 Armada destroyed than we breathed a new 
 atmosphere, and marched onward to a 
 greater and still greater life. 
 
 It is true there was a check to that onward 
 march towards the close of the seventeenth 
 century. But why? England was governed 
 by Charles II. and James II., who tried to 
 drag the country back to Rome. It was then 
 that wc practically became a vassal State, 
 governed, in the main, by Louis XIV^ ; it 
 was then that our liberties were slipping from 
 us. The seven bishops who stood for frce- 
 
 147
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 dom were imprisoned in the Tower of 
 London, Claverhouse did his bloody deeds in 
 Scotland, while a reign of terror under Judge 
 Jeffreys blackened the life of the South 
 of England. But no sooner did William of 
 Orange, pledged to maintain our Protestant 
 liberties, become our king than our upward 
 march was resumed. 
 
 While England was under Rome, she was 
 little and unknown in the great life of the 
 world ; but when she had cast off Rome, 
 her greatness commenced. 
 
 But there is another fact we must con- 
 sider. What is the one part of our British 
 Isles that cannot record progress, but rather 
 tells of depopulation, discontent, decay? 
 Ireland. Yet why should it be so? The 
 Irish are naturally a kind, sunny-hearted, 
 witty people. They live in a beautiful, fertile 
 country. Why, then, should Ireland alone 
 tell of depopulation, chronic poverty, ignor- 
 ance, and want of progress? Why should 
 Ireland be the open sore of British politics? 
 In Michael McCarthy's book " Priests and 
 People in Ireland " we learn the reason. 
 Here was an educated Roman Catholic, here 
 was a man who loved his country who ex- 
 
 148
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 plained the reason. All through the book 
 he shows that Rome, that priestcraft, para- 
 lysed the nerves and dried up the lifeblood 
 of the people. 
 
 For we have to remember that not all 
 Ireland is poverty-stricken or unprogressive. 
 It is only in the Catholic South of Ireland 
 where this obtains, for in the Protestant 
 North of Ireland, where the people scorn 
 the claims of Rome, you have progress, 
 education, and prosperity. 
 
 More than three hundred years ago the 
 
 great power of Europe was Spain. She was 
 
 the great colonising nation of the world. She 
 
 had grasped the riches of the New World. 
 
 Iler Emperor reigned over a great part of 
 
 Europe. She was the Roman Empire of 
 
 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. When 
 
 Luther began his work, his great enemy, 
 
 next to Rome itself, v/as Spain. Charles V. 
 
 was his chief judge at the Diet of Worms. 
 
 Spain was then, as she is to-day, the most 
 
 Catholic nation in Europe. It was Spain 
 
 who delighted in crushing out Protestant 
 
 heresy. Ferdinand and Isabella loved to 
 
 hear heretics of every sort, Jew, Moslem, 
 
 and doubting Catholic, shrieking in agony. 
 
 149
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 It was Philip II. who sought by his 
 Invincible Armada to drive Protestantism out 
 of England. It was largely through Spain's 
 influence that England became a great 
 charnel-house during the reign of Mary. 
 Spain, I say, was and is largely Roman 
 Catholic. She held fast to the superstitions 
 of Rome, she abhorred every form of 
 religious liberty, she shut her eyes to the 
 light of God, she obeyed the Church. 
 
 Well, what has been the result? Year 
 by year, decade by decade, century by cen- 
 tury Spain has decayed. She would not 
 have the truth that belonged to her peace, 
 and lo her house is left unto her desolate. 
 There is nothing in the whole of Europe to- 
 day sadder than the condition of Spain. 
 She is on the verge of bankruptcy. Pier 
 people are ignorant, corruption oozes from 
 every pore of that once great people. Cities 
 which were once great and mighty have 
 bticome squalid villages. Cordova, which in 
 the time of Ferdinand had hundreds of 
 thousands of people, is now practically de- 
 populated. Instead of being a great city 
 having more than half a million population, 
 she has only 55,000 people, of whom 600 
 
 150
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 are priests, and she is on the verge of bank- 
 ruptcy. 
 
 But Spain is Catholic. Some years ago 
 a calculation was made as to the value of 
 the wax and incense burned in the Spanish 
 churches in the course of a year. It reached 
 the sum of £1,500,000, or very little less 
 than is spent in education I As a conse- 
 quence while priests abound, many of v/hom 
 live in luxury, the schoolmaster has to be 
 content with £20 a year. Education laws 
 are not enforced by a corrupt Government. 
 Commerce is practically at a standstill, while 
 justice is a far-off dream. And more, there 
 is no candid student of Spain but will 
 admit that, lying at the very heart of Spain, 
 causing all her ignorance, her decay, her 
 ruin, arc a corrupt priesthood, a corrupt 
 Church I Let such a Reformation come to 
 Spain as came to Germany in the third 
 decade of the sixteenth century, and Spain 
 would be born anew. 
 
 If one wishes proof of this, he can do 
 no better than read Joseph McCabe's little 
 book on the " Martyrdom of Ferrer." It 
 is written in a careful, impartial spirit ; it is 
 written by a man who knows the Roman 
 
 151
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Church thoroughly and was for years a 
 priest within her borders, and it shows with 
 merciless logic the effect of the Roman 
 Church in Spain. It is decadent, nay, 
 almost a ruined nation, and the Roman 
 Church lies at the heart of its ruin. 
 
 Then consider Italy, the home of the 
 Vatican. Up to the middle of the last 
 century Italy was under the dominion of 
 the Papacy, and up to that time Italy was 
 weak, disorganised, invertebrate. It was 
 divided into a number of little kingdoms, 
 which were the prey of the invader. Rome 
 was the centre of one of these kingdoms, 
 over which the Pope ruled, and Rome was 
 one of the most corrupt States in Europe. 
 Patriots and poets dreamed of a noble Italy, 
 a freer Italy, an united Italy. Their great 
 enemy was the Church. The Pope would 
 hav^ none of Mazzini's cry of a Free Church 
 in a Free State. Then at last the dreams of 
 the patriots and the poets took practical 
 shape. Garibaldi made his appeal to young 
 Italy, and Italy became free, Italy became 
 united. For years liberty-loving Italians 
 fought for the freedom of their land, their 
 great enemy being the Papacy. Until 1870 
 
 152
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 the Pope kept them out of Rome by the 
 aid of French soldiers. Then, owing to the 
 war between Germany and France, those 
 soldiers were withdrawn, and the whole of 
 Italy became free. Italy threw off the 
 Papacy, Italy determined to live her own 
 life. The Pope raved, and the Church 
 poured forth its curses, but the people held 
 to their freedom. With what result? Italy 
 has been reborn. No sooner did the country 
 free herself from the Vatican than a new and 
 better era commenced. 
 
 I need not tell the story of Holland, and 
 Norway, and Denmark, and Sweden. All 
 the world knows that as soon as they threw 
 off the yoke of Rome, and became Pro- 
 testant, they immediately sprang into pro- 
 minence in the councils of Europe, and that 
 in spite of great difficulties they have main- 
 tained their place among the progressive 
 peoples, and have been among the healthiest 
 forces in our modern civilisation. 
 
 I imagine that many who read this have 
 been to Switzerland, but I wonder whether 
 they have considered why some parts of 
 Switzerland are so much more clean, and 
 prosperous, and godly than others. Those 
 
 •53
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 who know this httle country thoroughly, and 
 who have studied its Hfe carefully, tell us 
 that one could almost draw a line without the 
 aid of a map where the Protestant cantons 
 end and where the Roman Catholic cantons 
 begin. In the former you have cleanliness, 
 contentment, prosperity, and godliness, while 
 in the latter you have dirt, squalor, and 
 poverty. 
 
 And this on a small scale suggests the 
 relative conditions of North and South 
 America. As all the world knows, the North 
 of America was in the main colonised by 
 England, a Protestant country, while the 
 South was colonised by Spain. All the 
 world knows too how great the North of 
 America has become, so great that every 
 visitor is amazed at her mighty cities, her 
 vast industries, her almost countless in- 
 habitants. But the progress of the North 
 has not extended to the South, There you 
 have corruption of the worst nature ; you 
 have instability of government ; you have 
 an ignorant, stagnant, oppressed, degraded 
 population. Repeatedly in talking with 
 those who have travelled and lived in those 
 southern republics I have heard the same 
 
 154
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 story : the priest, the Church is the enemy 
 of the people. 
 
 I need not dwell on the condition of 
 Portugal, and Poland, and similar countries, 
 neither need I dwell on the contrast between 
 Germany and Austria, for the description 
 I have given of other countries applies to 
 them. Protestantism, the breath of liberty, 
 means intellectual, commercial, moral, and 
 spiritual advancement, while Romanism 
 means decay and death. 
 
 The only country dominated by Catholic 
 influence, and which yet is materially pros- 
 perous and progressive, is Belgium, but even 
 there you have a life altogether inferior to 
 that of Holland ; neither can we forget that 
 under the late King and Government of 
 Belgium the great crime of the Congo has 
 been committed. And this also we must 
 remember. While every Protestant Church 
 condemned the Congo atrocities, and exerted 
 its influence on behalf of those who were 
 so devilishly treated, tlie Roman Catholic 
 Church as a Churcli was silent, shamefully 
 silent, criminally silent. 
 
 What inference, then, are we to draw from 
 these things? In the previous chapter it is 
 
 155
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 urged that if Rome succeeded in conquering 
 England, it would mean the destruction of 
 Protestant principles, the principles of intel- 
 lectual and political and spiritual liberty. 
 And, furthermore, it would mean, as a 
 natural result of this, the decay and ruin of 
 our land. 
 
 This is not mere supposition. It is not 
 a flight of the imagination. The facts of 
 history support it up to the very hilt. Let 
 Rome conquer our country and we may write 
 Ichabod upon nearly all that is best in our 
 national life. 
 
 In a report of a speech, under the 
 auspices of " The Ransom Guild for the 
 Conversion of England," by Mr. G. E. 
 Anstruther, the Secretary of the Guild, and 
 reported in the Catholic Times, February 17, 
 1905, I find the following sentence : " Pro- 
 testantism against rationalism is powerless, 
 Catholicism against rationalism is all- 
 powerful." This statement was followed by 
 loud cheers on the part of the audience. 
 I rubbed my eyes as I read it. It evidently 
 appealed to this Roman Catholic audience ; 
 but how far is it true? Again one has to 
 appeal to facts. How far is Romanism 
 
 156
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 powerful against rationalism? If history is 
 not a figment of the imagination, and if the 
 facts of life are not utterly worthless, they 
 prove that Rome is one of the great causes 
 of rationalism, in so far as rationalism 
 means agnosticism and atheism. 
 
 Consider, for example, the case of France. 
 Time was when France was regarded as 
 among the most faithful and dutiful 
 daughters of the Church of Rome. Pro- 
 testantism was driven from France by fire and 
 sword. The Huguenots were not allowed 
 to live there in the time of Louis XIV. The 
 King's favourite mistress, Madame de Main- 
 tenon, under the influence of a Jesuit priest, 
 persuaded the King to destroy the Edict of 
 Nantes, and thereby made it impossible for 
 a Protestant to live in that country. If any 
 one wishes a popular, and at the same time 
 a faithful, picture of this epoch, let him read 
 " The Refugees," by Sir A, Conan Doyle, 
 who was himself educated a Romanist. He 
 enforces what every historian teaches, that 
 to all intents and purposes Protestantism 
 was destroyed by persecution. From that 
 time Romanism reigned supreme. With 
 what result? France is an atheist nation. 
 
 IS7
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 " Romanism all powerful against rational- 
 ism " 1 France teaches that Rome has 
 driven the nation to atheism. Out of a 
 population of less than 40,000,000 more 
 than 30,000,000 are professed atheists. 
 Indeed, during the last few years France has 
 by Act of Parliament thrown off the last 
 vestige of Roman power. 
 
 Belgium, although in a less degree, tells 
 the same story, while Italy, the home of 
 the Vatican, has not only robbed the Church 
 of almost every shred of her former power, 
 but she is ceasing to be a believing people. 
 
 It has been said again and again that 
 the most Catholic nation in Europe to-day 
 is Spain, and it is the most moribund, the 
 most degraded, with the exceptions, perhaps, 
 of Turkey and Russia. But what effect has 
 the Roman Church had on Spain? In the 
 main the effect may be seen in two ways. 
 A part of the people are believing, they obey 
 the Church, they are the slaves of the priest, 
 and they are the most backward of the 
 civilised peoples of the world. These are 
 the faithful of Spain. They are not tinged 
 with heresy, they obey the mandates of the 
 Church without question, and as a conse- 
 
 158
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 quence the hand of death is upon them. 
 But there is another class in Spain which 
 is rapidly increasing. In this class are the 
 rationalists, the anti-clericals of Spain. Mr. 
 Isaacson, in his " Rome in Many Lands," 
 quotes an orthodox Spanish paper, entitled 
 El Cor res Espahol. This paper states that 
 only 1,500,000 men and 3,500,000 women 
 obey the clergy of Spain. The population 
 of Spain is about 18,000,000, and the re- 
 maining adult portion of the population is 
 in the main rationalist, although many of 
 them outwardly conform to the Churches. 
 What and who has made them anti-clericals, 
 and often unbelievers ? The Church which 
 has oppressed them. 
 
 It is true that vast numbers of them dare 
 not avow their atheism, because the Church 
 controls by its wealth and its influence prac- 
 tically all the public nfficcs of Spain, but 
 the atheism exists. Mr. McCabe says that 
 of forty books that the educated Catholic 
 reads to-day thirty-flve of them arc 
 rationalistic. 
 
 Rome has killed, and is killing, faith by 
 urging the nations to believe what the first 
 gleam of intelligence shows them to be mere 
 
 159
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 idle tales and childish superstition. How 
 can the intelligent Spaniard believe in a 
 religion which offers pardons of sins for sale, 
 even as they were offered by Tetzel in the 
 time of Luther? How can he regard Chris- 
 tianity as a religion of purity when the 
 Church of the nation which represents that 
 religion is corrupt to the core? How can 
 the Catholic Church hold men to faith when 
 it is for ever struggling to keep the people 
 in darkness? The Census of 1903 in Spain 
 returned 1 1,945,971 as entirely illiterate out 
 of a population of 17,667,256. 
 
 Why did the Church use its influence to 
 murder Ferrer? Was it for any crime he 
 committed? Was it because he was cruel 
 or base? Did he hate his country? The 
 sum and substance of his crime, as all the 
 world knows, was that he hated the darkness 
 in which the Church caused the poor 
 Spaniards to live, and that he sought by 
 his schools to let the light of knowledge 
 and truth shine into their lives. 
 
 What wonder that the people are learn- 
 ing to hate the Church ? What wonder, too, 
 that they, believing that the Church is the 
 representative of religion, have turned their
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 backs upon faith, and have become 
 rationalists, agnostics, atheists? 
 
 This, then, is another result of Rome. 
 Those who obey its priests become intel- 
 lectual slaves, while others, abhorring that 
 slavery, drift into godlessness and atheism. 
 This is the story of Roman Catholic coun- 
 tries, writ large on the pages of their 
 history. 
 
 There is another fact also to be borne in 
 mind. If a tree is known by its fruits, what 
 are we to say of the moral results of 
 Romanism? It is a well-known fact, as it 
 was stated in many English newspapers some 
 years ago, that although Romanists form 
 only about one in sixteen of the population 
 in Great Britain, they form one in four of 
 the criminal classes of our land.' It is, 
 moreover, a well-known fact that Roman 
 Catholic countries stand on a far lower 
 plane of morality than Protestant countries. 
 Wherever Roman Catholicism holds undis- 
 puted sway there is corruption in the State 
 and a low standard of morality among the 
 people. And what is our of the causes of 
 this? In this connection I cannot, perhaps, 
 
 ' The Tnhlct, February 12, 1898. 
 
 161 M
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 do better than quote from Mr. McCabe's 
 " Martyrdom of Ferrer," to which I have 
 referred. He says : 
 
 ** I need not linger over the morality of 
 the Spanish clergy. As an ex-priest, I have 
 always refused to create prejudice against 
 my late co-religionists by discussing this side 
 of their affairs. . . . There is immorality 
 enough even among priests in this country. 
 Sordid cases came to my personal know- 
 ledge. In Belgium the condition — a condi- 
 tion that any candid person will expect from 
 an enforced celibacy and good living — is far 
 worse. In Spain and the South of Italy 
 it is flagrant, nor is it confined to the lower 
 clergy and the monks. A writer in the 
 Church Quarterly (October, 1902) relates 
 how an Italian prelate calmly discussed with 
 him the fact, which he neither resented nor 
 denied, that one of the candidates for the 
 papal throne, one of the most distinguished 
 cardinals in the Church, was a man of ' con- 
 spicuous immorality.' The cardinal in ques- 
 tion, whose life was described to me in 
 Rome, kept a mistress in a villa not many 
 miles from the Vatican. . . . From time im- 
 memorial in the Latin countries the clergy 
 
 162
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 have withheld their strictures on the conduct 
 of their followers, and the greatest laxity pre- 
 vails. ... It is a foolish superstition, en- 
 couraged by Catholics, that the laxity of the 
 Latin races is a matter of temperature. The 
 Northern races were just as bad before the 
 Reformation. The notorious laxity is due 
 solely to the fact that an immoral clergy 
 never dared to press on the people their 
 theoretic gospel of chastity." 
 
 •What would be the result if Rome were 
 to capture England ? Surely the facts ad- 
 duced bear out the picture drawn in the 
 previous chapter. It is not a matter of 
 theory, it is a matter of fact, as the story of 
 the nations testifies. 
 
 For it must be admitted that in the final 
 analysis religion is the great working force 
 of life. No people, no nation can long live 
 without a religion. It is deep-seated in the 
 very life of man. And more, in a deep, 
 vital sense, a people, a nation, is governed 
 by its religion. Unconsciously the thoughts, 
 the ideals, the aspirations ot nny community 
 are coloured, shaped, and moulded by the 
 prevailing religion. A false conception of 
 God, a false conception of man's relations
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 to God means a false life, a false character. 
 A true religion means true men, an uplifted 
 community. A religion impregnated with 
 lies is bound to produce disastrous results. 
 Only the truth finally uplifts life. If the 
 Church of Rome has through the ages up- 
 lifted men, it is because of the eternal truth 
 which is embedded in it. If the Church has 
 done harm, it is because of the lies which 
 fester at its heart. No lie can produce good, 
 only the truth can do that, and perhaps one 
 of the great reasons that the Church of Rome 
 has produced such fearful results in every 
 land where she has reigned supreme is 
 because a lie nestles in its very heart. 
 
 There are two terms v/hich are often con- 
 fused, " the Papacy," and " the Roman 
 Catholic Church." In a sense they are one, 
 in another sense they are two. The Roman 
 Church is the visible, organised body seen 
 throughout Christendom. The Papacy is the 
 force which governs and controls the Church. 
 It is centred in the Vatican ; it claims to be 
 the Word of God, life of God. Every Roman 
 Church in every land obeys the Papacy. It 
 is from the Vatican it receives its orders, it 
 is to the Vatican that it looks for guidance. 
 
 164
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 The dictum of the Papacy is final, because 
 it lies at the heart of the whole organisation. 
 
 And here is the fact. At the very heart 
 of the Papacy is a forgery, a lie. It depends 
 upon that forgery, that lie. The Clementine 
 homilies, and the Isidorial decretals, on 
 which for centuries the Papacy rested for 
 its authority, have been proved to be mere 
 fabrication, and every scholar and historian 
 regards them as forgeries, having no founda- 
 tion in truth. 
 
 In confirmation of this statement, I cannot 
 do better than refer my readers to Hallam's 
 " Middle Ages," especially as Hallam is uni- 
 versally accepted as one of the most careful 
 and impartial of our historians. In this work, 
 vol. ii. chap. vii. part i., the historian deals 
 extensively with the question of Papal 
 Supremacy, and he tells us that there 
 appeared at the end of the eighth century, 
 under the name of one Isidore, an unknown 
 person, a collection of ecclesiastical canons, 
 now commonly denominated the False De- 
 cretals. These purported to be decrees of 
 the early Bishops of Rome, and which went 
 to establish an appellant jurisdiction of the 
 Roman See in all causes. The writer
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 suggests that these decretals were probably 
 forged by some bishop in jealousy or resent- 
 ment. Be that as it may, these forgeries 
 were accepted by a so-called infallible 
 Church, and not only accepted, but acted 
 upon. Hallam says, vol. ii. p. 167 : " Upon 
 these spurious decretals was built the great 
 fabric of Papal supremacy over the different 
 national Churches ; a fabric which has stood 
 after its foundations crumbled beneath it, 
 for no one has pretended to deny for the 
 last two centuries that the imposture is too 
 palpable for any but the most ignorant ages 
 to credit.'' 
 
 Thus the boasted authority of the Papacy 
 has no other support than a forgery. A 
 lie lies at the very heart of the system, and 
 what is more, educated Catholics know that 
 it lies there. From this lie can be traced 
 many others. When one great falsehood 
 nestles at the heart of a religion, it becomes 
 the father of other lies, until the religion is 
 poisoned. 
 
 " No lie is of the truth," no lie can pro- 
 duce good, no lie can help a people. 
 
 To say that the Roman Catholic religion 
 does not contain much that is true would 
 
 166
 
 An Appeal to Facts 
 
 be false. It has much that is common to 
 our common Christianity. It is this which 
 has kept it alive. It is this which has 
 nurtured its saints and inspired its noblest 
 workers. In order to rid the system of lies 
 reformers have struggled and died, but the" 
 lies live on, and thus in many things the 
 system has ceased even to resemble the 
 gospel of the Founder of Christianity. 
 
 The work of the Reformation was to purge 
 the lies from the truth. Protestantism exists 
 that the truth as it is revealed in the gospel 
 may be given to the world. " The message 
 of our Lord to men was, ' Ye shall know the 
 truth and the truth shall set you free.' " 
 
 167
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE DUTY OF PROTESTANTS 
 
 When we turn from a study of Romanism 
 and contemplate the bare possibility of 
 England relapsing into the bondage and 
 darkness which any candid study reveals, 
 we are tempted in indignation and appre- 
 hension to use any and every means to resist 
 the encroachments of the dreaded power. 
 And especially the examination of the tor- 
 tuous and unscrupulous means which Rome 
 employs to achieve her ends tempts us to 
 borrow her methods to resist her advance. 
 But to repel force with force, injustice with 
 injustice, cruelty with cruelty, cunning with 
 cunning, persecution with persecution, is for 
 Englishmen impossible. Our whole genius 
 as a nation arises from the repudiation of 
 these very methods. There would be no 
 gain at all, as experience has abundantly 
 shown, in vanquishing Rome by Roman 
 
 i68
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 methods, for those Roman methods are 
 above all what we most wish to vanquish. 
 It is the fatal, the corrupting notion that 
 force can ever produce religion, the illusion 
 that persecution of error ever furthers truth, 
 the pitilessness of a triumphant dogmatism, 
 the subtle and tortuous ways of religious 
 propagandism, which we desire to banish 
 from our national life and from our national 
 religion. 
 
 Thus our modes of opposing Rome are 
 necessarily limited by the very principle 
 which leads us to oppose her. If we could 
 grasp and use the arm of the State to crush 
 her, we should deliberately abstain from that 
 advantage. If we could save perverts from 
 going into her fold by judicious adaptations 
 of truth, the careful concealment of facts 
 which might be an ofTcncc, we could not 
 employ that bad instrument to achieve the 
 good end. The methods of Rome achieve 
 a momentary success, only to produce a 
 fierce reaction and miserable failure. Signor 
 Bartoli has told us how he was led to leave 
 the Jesuits and the Roman Church. What 
 opened his eyes was the discoveiy that the 
 strong argument on which he had been 
 
 i6g
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 taught to rely in his defence of the Roman 
 position was a forgery! 
 
 One day in 1896, fresh from his studies, 
 and a newly-made Doctor of Theology, he 
 was induced to attempt a reply to an 
 Anglican argument for the validity of the 
 Anglican Church and Orders. He felt that 
 his task was easy ; he quoted a famous pas- 
 sage from Cyprian's De Unitate Ecclesice, 
 which demonstrated the claims of the 
 Papacy from the Father of the third 
 century. When this work was done, he 
 happened to be in Germany, and showed it 
 to a German Jesuit, who said to him : " Is it 
 possible that you do not know that this 
 passage is an interpolation? " The shock to 
 this truth-seeking mind was terrific. He had 
 actually been led to build the supreme dogma 
 of Roman authority, not on the third-cen- 
 tury Father, who, indeed, distinctly repu- 
 diated that authority, but on a forged 
 interpolation, inserted into the treatise by 
 that authority itself in order to prove its 
 claims by that characteristic way. 
 
 Dr. Bartoli began to inquire. He found 
 that the whole system of the Papacy and 
 the method of its defence were typified by 
 this experience. 
 
 170
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 He has left the Church of Rome and is 
 becoming a leader in the Protestant Church 
 of Italy. Rome's inveterate trust in for- 
 geries, duplicities, and hoodwinkings is 
 ultimately her betrayal. It is in this way 
 that she produces Protestantism ever afresh. 
 If she got rid of all Protestants to-day, she 
 would have another batch on her hands to- 
 morrow ; truth-loving souls in her owti fold 
 would come out, choked by the stifling 
 atmosphere of fraud and violence, deter- 
 mined to breathe the fresh air. 
 
 The methods of Rome must, therefore, 
 be repudiated, deliberately and consistently 
 repudiated. Intrigue, backstair workings, 
 trimming, hiding inconvenient facts, giving 
 a false emphasis to convenient facts, the 
 employment of the civil Government to pro- 
 mote the interests of a religious belief, the 
 unjust disqualification or persecution of 
 religious opponents, the use of positions of 
 trust to insinuate a proselytising agent sur- 
 reptitiously — all these approved methods of 
 the Roman propaganda are for us out of 
 court. We cannot fight Rome with her own 
 weapons. We can only use the weapons of 
 truth ; we cannot even in our warfare in- 
 
 171
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 fringe the principles of liberty and of even- 
 handed justness. 
 
 Directly men turn their eyes Romeward 
 they begin the practice of deceit. Newman, 
 even in 1833, could write to a friend: " I 
 expect to be called a Papist when my 
 opinions are known ; but, please God, I shall 
 lead persons on a little way, while they fancy 
 they are only taking the mean, and denounce 
 me as the extreme." ' " Since I have been 
 at home," writes Hurrell Froude, " I have 
 been doing what I can to proselytise in an 
 underhand way." 2 Guile, deception, under- 
 hand ways, are precisely what we as Pro- 
 testants cannot use. We turn to the light, 
 we stand for truth. Better Rome should win 
 the day than that we should resist her by 
 lying. Better the liberties of England 
 should be lost than that the sovereignty of 
 justice, toleration, and love should be im- 
 paired. 
 
 Then are our weapons against Rome weak 
 and few? No; they are mighty before 
 God to the casting down of strongholds 
 ( 2 Cor. X. 4). They are not " of the flesh," 
 
 * Newman's "Letters," vol. i. p. 490, 
 ' Ffoudc's " Remains," vol. i. p. 322. 
 
 172
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 it is true, but if we will only trust to them, 
 they are sure to succeed. Truth, liberty, 
 justice, the living faith in the living God, 
 the firm grasp of Christ as our Saviour, and 
 the reception of the Holy Spirit as our 
 Teacher, Comforter, Guide — can these 
 simple spiritual weapons prevail? Are we 
 safe in renouncing all carnal weapons and 
 casting ourselves wholly on truth and on 
 God? Assuredly, 
 
 It may be said to be the function of Pro- 
 testantism to-day to demonstrate the validity 
 of these spiritual weapons, and to repudiate 
 the errors which our Protestant fathers have 
 made in resorting to weapons of another 
 character. Frequently the charge is brought 
 up against us that Calvin procured the death 
 of Servetus. How docs he differ from the 
 Pope in this method of persecution? Our 
 reply is unhesitating. He did not procure tlie 
 death ; but if he had done so, we must have 
 repudiated him.' The whole difference lies in 
 this, that Rome, in the destruction of heretics, 
 acts in conformity with lier principles, prin- 
 ciples which she still holds and defends. 
 Calvin, so far as he was responsible fortlieexe- 
 
 ' See "Treatise on the Secret Providence of God," 
 pp. 128, 129. "Calvin's Works," vol. viii. p. 646.
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 cution of Servetus, exhibits the survival of the 
 bad Roman doctrine, as is not astonishing in 
 one who was trained in the Roman Church ; 
 and it is with difficulty that we throw off the 
 under-garments of early training even when 
 our outer garments are changed. But Pro- 
 testantism, as it has come to realise its own 
 principles, unhesitatingly condemns Calvin. 
 The difference is vital : Rome can only cease 
 to persecute by surrendering her fundamental 
 principles ; Protestantism must surrender its 
 fundamental principles in order to persecute. 
 
 But in what sense are we to use truth as 
 our weapon against Rome ? In this sense : 
 We must acquaint our people with the for- 
 gotten facts of the Roman Church, and with 
 the unknown underlying principles which are 
 so skilfully concealed in the modern propa- 
 ganda as it is carried on in England. 
 Further, we must support the Modernists in 
 their claim to let in the light of science 
 and criticism, to search the assumptions and 
 dogmas of the Church. 
 
 And in this God-given task we must set 
 truth in the forefront and follow it as a 
 guide. 
 
 I. The truth must be lold about Rome. 
 We may acknowledge with sorrow and 
 
 174
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 shame that Protestant controversialists have 
 often been led into extravagance and 
 violence. But is that a reason for not tell- 
 ing the truth about Rome? Surely not. We 
 want our wisest, best instructed, and most 
 charitable minds to place before the Church 
 and the country the exact truth. We know 
 only too well what the Catholic Truth Society 
 says ; its subtle way of representing 
 Rome as if it were Protestant, in order to 
 commend it to Protestants. It publishes a 
 tract, " What do Roman Catholics Believe? " 
 And the answer to the question is a summary 
 of the things which Catholics believe in 
 common with Protestants. It leaves the 
 careless reader to conclude that the belief 
 of Catholics is the same as that of Pro- 
 testants. Truth has to answer the question : 
 " \\'hat else do Catholics believe?"' For 
 the whole difference is made by the super- 
 added beliefs— the I^clicf in tradition which 
 neutralises the Bible, in tlic Pope and the 
 priest who intervene in the soul's ai)proacli 
 to God, in the Mariolatry and saint- 
 worship whirh reduces the meaning and 
 value of the soul's direct relation with Christ. 
 Truth means in this connection the whole 
 
 175
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 truth and nothing but the truth. It is our 
 duty to inform ourselves and our fellow- 
 countrymen of this whole truth concerning 
 Rome. 
 
 The truth can be found ; it is open to 
 us. What Rome teaches in the Encyclicals 
 of her infallible Popes can be known, just 
 as what she teaches in the writings of her 
 authorised doctors is open to the student. 
 William George Ward, in his infatuated love 
 of the Papacy, wished that he might have 
 Bulls and Encyclicals of the infallible Pope 
 laid on his breakfast-table every morning 
 with the Times. The Church is an E celesta 
 Oocens — that is, she is a living voice, pro- 
 fessedly teaching the truth of God. She 
 told the world in 1854 that the Virgin was 
 conceived without sin. She told it again in 
 1870 that the Pope is infallible. She has 
 recently, in the Encyclical " Pascendi 
 Grcgis," told us how she meets the search 
 for truth, how she deals with Catholics who 
 surrender themselves to that search. 
 
 All this should be known in England. If, 
 in the full light of what Romanism is, and 
 what it teaches, and how it works, England 
 submits to Rome, well and good. Who shall 
 
 176
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 complain? But the truth about Rome must 
 be stated and known. The perversions and 
 concealments of the Jesuitical proselytisers 
 must be exposed. In this way truth will 
 make us free. I know, for instance, that 
 if my countrymen knew as much of Rome as 
 I do, they would not dream of going over 
 to her, and of restoring our common country 
 to her tender mercies. 
 
 We must take pains to bring out the exact 
 teaching and tendency of Roman Catholi- 
 cism. \Vc must, if I may be allowed the 
 term, rub it in. People are slow to grasp 
 it ; they cannot believe that men bearing 
 the name of Christian can possibly believe 
 what Catholics believe, or act as Catholics 
 act. We must insist on it, until the country 
 really grasps the inwardness and the out- 
 wardness of the Roman creed. It has only 
 to be known, in a free and truth-loving com- 
 munity, to be rejected with the same 
 vehemence now as it was in the sixteenth 
 century. Rome is not better, but worse, than 
 she was in 1525. At the time of the 
 Reformation the Jesuits were yet in the 
 womb of time ; now they are the strongest, 
 the dominant force, in the Roman Church. 
 
 177 :5i
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Jesuit morality, Jesuit teaching, Jesuit wire- 
 pulling are Roman Catholicism. And for 
 Englishmen to understand the Jesuits is to 
 repudiate them. The spirit of England is 
 as far removed from the spirit of the Jesuits 
 as human nature can be divided part from 
 part. Everything that Englishmen love and 
 believe in, the Jesuits repudiate. Everything 
 that Englishmen hate and loathe the Jesuits 
 believe and practise. 
 
 For example, there has not in recent years 
 been a more unanimous opinion in England 
 than the condemnation of King Leopold of 
 Belgium. He was a man whose private life 
 was the scandal of Europe ; he was respon- 
 sible for that hideous regime on the Congo 
 which England rightly described as the 
 greatest crime in history. Sir Arthur Conan 
 Doyle, a convert from Romanism, roused the 
 whole country to the horror of that iniquity. 
 It is safe to say that there is not a genuine 
 Englishman breathing who does not con- 
 demn Leopold and feel that a faith in future 
 punishment is demanded by the necessity-^ 
 if there is any moral order at all in the 
 universe— for such a life of lust and greed 
 and cruelty to suffer in a future world the 
 
 178
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 penalty which it has eluded here. That is 
 the sentiment of England, the sentiment of 
 morality, the sentiment of a pure and un^ 
 sophisticated human nature. 
 
 Now, how does the Jesuit, and the Church 
 led by the Jesuit, regard the same pheno- 
 menon ? Here is the newspaper account of 
 the sermon preached by the most prominent 
 Catholic preacher on the Sunday evening 
 after Leopold's death : " Preaching last 
 evening at St. Mary's, E., Father Bernard 
 Vaughan said that while drawing a veil over 
 the private life of the late King Leopold, 
 they might look with admiration upon much 
 that he had done publicly for the lasting 
 good of his people. Belgium was an object- 
 lesson to Europe. He was glad that the 
 late King had in the hour of his extremity 
 expressed his sincere sorrow for the bad 
 example he had given his subjects, and he 
 died publicly confessing his belief in the 
 Catholic Church." That is Catholicism all 
 over. Belief in the Catholic Church covers 
 all sins. No immorality, cruelty, brutality 
 matters in the least as long as men believe 
 in that Church, that mother of sins. 
 
 You draw a veil over the private life. 
 
 179
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 It is an irrelevant detail that the man re- 
 pudiated his wife and his children, and took 
 to himself another woman, to whom he left 
 his bloodstained millions. It is not worth 
 mentioning that the man ruined more 
 innocent girls than any man ever did since 
 the worst of the Roman Emperors. The 
 whole horror of that Congo regime, the 
 millions of lives sacrificed to the man's 
 greed, under the hypocritical pretence of 
 civilising and protecting the helpless natives, 
 is quietly passed over. In the Jesuit breast 
 it excites no condemnation, no censure. The 
 simple narrative of what was done by 
 Leopold is so blood-curdling that even 
 strong men have nearly swooned in the vain 
 attempt to read it through. But the Jesuit 
 passes it with placid acquiescence. Leopold 
 died publicly professing his belief in the 
 Catholic Church. That is enough. There is 
 nothing in Leopold's life inconsistent with 
 that belief, nothing in the Catholic system 
 which could restrain a man from such a life. 
 All this he could be and do, and be a good 
 Catholic. There is no crime or vice which 
 is not tolerated as long as the authority of 
 the Church is admitted. If Leopold had 
 
 1 80
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 been a model of virtue and had become a 
 Protestant, the Jesuit would have been 
 roused to fury and indignation ; no language 
 would have been strong enough to denounce 
 him, no lies would have been wrong which 
 could misrepresent and calumniate him. But 
 he might be the worst man that ever 
 breathed and yet be a good Catholic. The 
 ruined girls and the tortured and massacred 
 natives of the Congo rise up to meet him in 
 Sheol : " Art thou also become weak as 
 we ? Art thou become like unto us ? " If 
 there is a hell, we know that this man is 
 there. We are even forced to believe in hell, 
 that our instinct of retributive justice may be 
 satisfied. But meanwhile, " the Church " 
 —how could it be the Church of the Bible 
 or the Church of Christ? — speaks smooth 
 things. " He died publicly professing his 
 belief in tlic Catholic Church." That is 
 all that is wanted — not righteousness or 
 goodness ; not mercy or purity. No, the 
 grossest impurity, the most unscrupulous 
 avarice, the cruellest treatment of wife and 
 family, do not count. Belief in tlie Catholic 
 Church, and that alone, is needed. 
 
 Nothing more morally corrupting than 
 
 i8l
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 this can be conceived. A religion which 
 makes behef in itself the one thing needful, 
 and allows that belief to be, not the motive 
 to goodness, but the substitute for it, is a 
 curse to mankind. This is the religion of 
 the Jesuits. The whole soul and conscience 
 of this country are against it. Our duty is 
 to show what this religion is, and the fruit 
 it bears, that the country may judge. 
 
 2. Hardly less vital is it to vindicate the 
 truth of science and of criticism. Here we 
 join hands with the Modernists. We do 
 not believe that their conclusions are correct. 
 We claim the same right to judge theii 
 opinions that we do to judge the opinions 
 of our own scholars. We no more accept 
 Loisy and Tyrrell than we do Cheyne and 
 Troelsch. But we are sure that the only 
 guarantee for truth and progress is that men 
 should be at liberty to inquire, and to state 
 their conclusions freely as Loisy and Tyrrell 
 have done. If ecclesiastical censure, ex- 
 communication, and practical ruin are to fall 
 on every one who dares to think and to 
 utter the truth that is in him, we relapse 
 into the darkness of the Middle Ages. It 
 is quite certain — and the fact should be 
 
 182
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 brought home to England — that if the 
 Church secured the authority she is claiming, 
 if she controlled the education of the 
 country, as she seeks to do, the same mental 
 blight would fall on England that has gone 
 near to destroy the Latin countries. Every 
 Protestant who goes over to Rome promotes 
 that appalling result. Even if he retains his 
 own freedom, and dares to speak, as Tyrrell 
 did ; even if he criticises Rome as Lord 
 Acton did — no Protestant controversialist 
 ever passed such appalling judgments on 
 Rome as Acton the historian and the 
 Catholic did — and in some way vindicates 
 his own conscience by such freedom of utter- 
 ance, yet he throws his weight into the scale 
 against truth and freedom, he helps to lead 
 in the subjugators of his country. 
 
 Is there a sight in the world more pitiable 
 than that of those noblemen and commoners 
 of prominence who, in order as they think to 
 save their own little souls, do what they can 
 to bring our country under the yoke? They 
 would destroy the liberties, the hard-won 
 liberties, of England, and bring back the 
 Papal tyranny, in the face of the witness of 
 history and the actual facts of the Catholic 
 
 183
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 world, in their craven desire for personal 
 ease and deliverance from the burden of 
 truth. Under the Roman domination science 
 cannot flourish, criticism becomes a blunt 
 and futile weapon. Galileo will always be 
 forced to his humiliating repudiation. An 
 Encyclical " Pascendi Gregis " will always 
 be hurled at those who dare to think and 
 to express their thoughts. We must induce 
 men to realise the intellectual death which 
 the Church brought upon Europe in the 
 Middle Ages, the intellectual torpor which 
 she brings to-day wherever she is not 
 corrected by an overwhelming Protestant 
 majority ; we must burn into the brain of 
 England the one fact that 120,000,000 out 
 of the 180,000,000 Catholics in this world 
 are illiterate. We must teach the young 
 to see how civilisations decay where the 
 rights of science and criticism are denied. 
 The facts are so patent, the Church is so 
 unchangeable, the actual leaders of Catho- 
 licism are so obscurantist, that the task 
 is not impossible, difficult though it con- 
 fessedly is. 
 
 3. Truth is the first weapon in the war- 
 fare of Protestantism. One of the liberating 
 
 184
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 spirits of the nineteenth century in England 
 was Matthew Arnold, and a verse of his 
 might well be inscribed on our banners ; for 
 it tells the secret of our English life and 
 training, and affords the guarantee for that 
 renewed warfare against Rome which v/e 
 thought had been accomplished by our 
 fathers in the sixteenth century : 
 
 " For rigorous teachers trained my youth, 
 And fed its lamp, and trimmed its fire ; 
 Showed me the high white star of truth, 
 There bade me gaze, and there aspire." 
 
 We cannot lay too much stress on this. 
 If Romanism is Christianity, if this system 
 is the intention of Christ, if this practical 
 repudiation of the New Testament, the 
 teaching of our Lord and of His Apostles, 
 has any justification, in theoretic truth or 
 in practical rcsuUs, let us be eager to accept 
 it. Let us have an open mind. The Bible 
 is before us, history is before us, the work 
 of Catholicism is before us. We have no 
 interest to misrepresent the doctrine or the 
 practice of the Roman Church. If we are 
 misinformed, we are ready to retract ; if we 
 are ignorant, we want to know. But if the 
 
 185
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 infallible Pope said at the Vatican Council 
 that he " wished of course that Catholicism 
 should have the benefit of toleration in 
 England and Russia, but the principle must 
 be repudiated by a Church holding the 
 doctrine of exclusive salvation,'' ' we ought 
 to know; England ought to know it. The 
 Roman Church is in favour of intolerance. 
 
 For my own part, I take my stand wholly 
 on what Rome herself teaches and does. 
 I lay no stress on her abuses or her failures. 
 All Churches have their faults. But it is 
 her avowed doctrine, her closely organised 
 system, and her admitted mode of working 
 it, facts, indisputable facts, which are suffi- 
 cient, if known, to save England from 
 yielding to her blandishments. 
 
 No instructed Catholic can deny ( i ) that 
 his Church repudiates the principle of tolera- 
 tion ; ( 2 ) that his Church places the Pope 
 in a posilion which requires the absolute 
 and unqualified surrender of the mind and 
 even of the conscience to his authority ; 
 (3) that St. Alfonso de Liguori, a Doctor 
 of the Church, whose writings were declared 
 by the Pope to be free from error, taught 
 
 ' Acton, " History of Freedom," p, 520. 
 186
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 that the priest is the creator of his Creator, 
 and that the soul can get to heaven by Mary 
 more readily than it can by Christ. » 
 
 If the Pope could publicly deny these 
 things, if Catholics were entitled to 
 deny them, it would be quite different. 
 They do not ; they cannot. Their only 
 weapon of evasion is to leave these things 
 in silence and to fix on some trifling error 
 of language or quotation, and to suggest 
 that one who states these facts is untrust- 
 worthy. 
 
 It is the Catholic method of controversy, 
 
 * See " Glories of Mary," p. 248. " O immaculate 
 and entirely pure Virj^in Mary, Mother of God, Queen 
 of the universe . . . through thee we have been recon- 
 ciled with our God." " Thou art the consolation of 
 the world . . . the salvation of the whole world . . . 
 O immaculate Virgin, we are under thy protection, and 
 therefore we have recourse to thee alone ; and we 
 beseech thee to prevent thy beloved Son, who is 
 irritated by our sin, from abandoning us to the power 
 of the devil." Or again, on pp. 251,252: "O Mary, 
 thou art omnipotent to save sinners , . . We are all 
 God's debtors, but He is a debtor to thee." If any 
 Catholic in authority would or could lepudiate the 
 appalling extravagances of vSt. Alfonso de Lignori, we 
 should have hope of reformation. But no, every good 
 Catholic is absolutely bound to the teaching of this 
 Doctor and canonised saint of the Church. 
 
 187
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 which, when it is understood, is the most 
 damning evidence against rhe Roman 
 Church. She knows that what she calls 
 " truth " is no longer true to the enlightened 
 mind, and must be repudiated by all who 
 love truth for truth's sake. She is engaged 
 in an endless effort to divert men's minds 
 from the subject of truth and to force them 
 into submission to authority. But just in 
 proportion as we see the " high white star 
 of truth " we repudiate that Church which 
 has dimmed it, and, so far as possible, 
 hidden it. 
 
 But while this is the general principle 
 of our resistance to Rome, a demand for 
 truth and a belief in truth, practical ques- 
 tions emerge : Ought we to maintain the 
 Oath which the Sovereign is bound to take 
 at the Coronation? Ought we to insist on 
 the inspection of convents ? Ought we to 
 allow public money to go to the maintenance 
 of Catholic schools? 
 
 When Protestants are called to action to- 
 day it is on these issues that the appeal 
 turns ; and we cannot be too careful in dis- 
 criminating. It injures our cause if in the 
 defence of it we are tempted to advocate 
 
 j8S
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 anything which violates our own principles 
 of liberty and justice. 
 
 There is the question of the Coronation 
 Oath. It was once a vital matter to exclude 
 a Catholic king. Charles II. and James II. 
 were our last Catholic kings. The one re- 
 duced the moral tone of this country to the 
 lowest point it has ever reached ; the other 
 brought our liberties and our Constitution 
 to the verge of ruin, and we were saved only 
 by the glorious revolution of 1688. When 
 the last Catholic king was driven with 
 ignominy from our shores, and the " Pre- 
 tenders " were finally vanquished at Preston 
 Pans and Culloden, this country registered 
 its silent vow : " Never again I " And no 
 Catholic, oath or not, could ever sit on the 
 English throne. He would be so entirely 
 out of harmony with the country that the 
 Throne, which maintains its position and 
 authority solely by the goodwill of the 
 people, would be overthrown. If the King 
 became a Catholic, the heart of his people 
 would necessarily turn from him. It is by 
 a far surer and more radical method that 
 the King is kept Protestant than by the Oath. 
 For, indeed, the Oath is no hindrance to a 
 
 189
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 Catholic, as the later Stuarts showed. If 
 the sovereign were a Catholic, he would get 
 a dispensation from the Pope to take the 
 Oath, which repudiates Catholicism. The 
 Oath, therefore, is no security, and little is 
 gained by preserving an antiquated and 
 unreal safeguard. Or if, while the estab- 
 lishment of a Church continues in this 
 country, it is necessary to secure by a formal 
 enactment that the sovereign is a Pro- 
 testant, the Oath can, at any rate, be modi- 
 fied in its terms, so that the language which 
 is unnecessarily offensive may not wound 
 the Catholic subjects of the Crown. If the 
 Oath itself is an antiquated and useless 
 defence, still more is the language in which 
 it is couched an unnecessary and mis- 
 chievous irritation. 
 
 To countervail Romanism the best, and 
 only, method is to give Roman Catholics 
 absolute equality with Protestants, to remove 
 all disabilities, and apply the uniform prin- 
 ciples of liberty and justice. The country 
 quickly finds that Catholics disqualify them- 
 selves for the higher and the more im- 
 portant posts. If we ever had one Catholic 
 Chancellor, there would be little fear of 
 
 190
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 having another. The Catholic training and 
 the Catholic principles, the complete sub- 
 jection of the Catholic mind to priest and 
 Pope, make it impossible for a Catholic to 
 hold the highest place in the judiciary of 
 a free people. He would bring the whole 
 system of law into suspicion. No judge can 
 be impartial whose conscience and intellect 
 are in the keeping of an alien authority. 
 
 The security for Protestantism in the high 
 offices of the State is intrinsic rather than 
 statutory. Wc can, if our principles are 
 right, fearlessly trust that security. We 
 have only to remember that every genuine 
 Catholic firmly believes that the government 
 of the land ought to suppress heresy, and 
 that the canon law overrides civil law, to 
 see that " good Catholics " cannot be trusted 
 in the high places of the State. 
 
 Of course if the country became Catholic, 
 the King, the Lord Chancellor, and the 
 judges might safely be Catholic, as they are 
 in Spain or Belgium ; but that is a situa- 
 tion which need not be discussed, for 
 England would have ceased to be England. 
 
 The inspection of convents is quite dif- 
 ferent. There is no injustice, and no 
 
 191
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 unworthy interference with liberty, if the 
 country demands the inspection of these, as 
 of other institutions. The demand of the 
 Roman Church for exemption from the con- 
 trol and securities which a wise Government 
 offers may be granted as a favour, but 
 cannot be conceded as a right. 
 
 If laundries and industrial schools are in- 
 spected, in order to avoid the abuses and 
 cruelties which easily spring up in such 
 institutions, there is no reason why these 
 institutions should not be inspected when 
 they are connected with convents. And, 
 with the enormous increase of convents in 
 this country, especially when many of them 
 are those French communities which fled 
 from their own country in order to elude the 
 salutary inspection of the Government, it 
 would be wise and perfectly just to insist 
 on such inspections here. But it is to be 
 remembered that the inspection is entirely 
 in the interests of the institutions them- 
 selves ; and if they decline the guarantee 
 which such inspection gives, they must take 
 the consequences. Give them time, and con- 
 ventual institutions always perish by their 
 
 own intrinsic corruptions , An unnatural and 
 
 192
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 demoralising system brings its own Nemesis. 
 Catholic countries, like Italy and France, are 
 always driven, in the long run, to suppress 
 the convents as a national danger. But a 
 free people under Protestant rule can afford 
 to let them alone until their inevitable day of 
 doom comes. If Catholics choose to enter 
 into that useless and futile life which has 
 been sufficiently revealed to the world by 
 the writings of Joseph McCabe, or by the 
 narrative of Miss Moult, who escaped from 
 the convent at Bergholt, they should be 
 allowed to do so. After all, it is fortunate 
 in a way that Catholicism borrowed the 
 monastic ideal from Buddhism ; it is one 
 of the main reasons of its sterilisation and 
 ultimate ruin. 
 
 Before Erotestantism became a living 
 power, Catholic countries were bound to 
 suppress monasteries and convents in order 
 to escape a threatened death ; but when the 
 world is practically Protestant, and the life 
 of the country is secured by the principles 
 of liberty and truth, it need not interfere 
 with those deluded people who, in ignorance 
 of the redemptive work of Christian faith, 
 seek a refuge from the world in the cloister. 
 
 IQ3 o
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 We should, therefore, probably be wise if 
 we limited our demand for convent inspec- 
 tion to the perfectly reasonable requirement 
 that industrial and educational institutions 
 must submit to inspection, whether they be 
 in connection with convents or not. 
 
 The question of Catholic education raises 
 a more difficult and complicated problem. 
 There is no doubt that if the Catholics be- 
 come a powerful body, and threaten in any 
 way to master the community, we must 
 defend ourselves from the influence of the 
 priests in the schools. The ruin of Ireland 
 has been justly traced by Mr. Hugh O'Don- 
 aell to the priestly domination of the Irish 
 schools. And Father Crowley's book, " The 
 Parochial School a Curse to the Church, a 
 Menace to the Nation," shows how mis- 
 chievous the Catholic schools are even in 
 America. No free country could maintain 
 its freedom, or even its intelligence, if the 
 schools and universities were left in the 
 hands of Rome. Probably nine out of ten 
 Englishmen are aware of this ; and the 
 country would be justified in insisting on 
 secular education if there were even a fear 
 of priestly domination in the schools. 
 
 194
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 But it may be fairly urged that the 
 Catholics are a very small section of our 
 EngHsh people. Of the 2,000,000 Catholics 
 in this country, 1,800,000 are Irish or 
 foreigners ; only 200,000 are genuinely 
 English. These Catholics, like the Jews, 
 pay rates. Considering the necessity of 
 Catholic education for the support of 
 Catholicism, a great and generous country 
 may justly consent to the principle that 
 Catholics may pay their rates to the Catholic 
 "Schools. The more complete we can make 
 our system of public schools, with the 
 common religious teaching and atmosphere 
 which meet the needs of all Protestants, the 
 more safely we may grant to sections, like 
 Catholics and Jews, schools of their own. 
 Inevitably the public schools will draw away 
 from, and supersede, the sectarian institu-r 
 tions. Enlightened Catholics will, in their 
 children's interest, prefer the public schools, 
 as they do in America. We need not there-r 
 fore make the education question the first 
 line of our defence against Rome. Leave 
 Rome to educate her own children, and you 
 only hasten her decay. ^History, science, 
 literature, taught with a Roman bias, put 
 
 19s
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 the children and the youths at a hopeless 
 disadvantage in competition with the 
 scholars of free and enlightened schools. 
 Light is the great boon ; Rome perishes 
 because she loves darkness rather than 
 light. -^ 
 
 iWhat, then, is the method for resisting 
 Rome, beyond the bold statement of the 
 facts, and speaking the truth in the love of 
 it?j If we are not to depend on the methods 
 which savour of political disqualification or 
 political repression, if we are to give the 
 Catholics advantages and liberty such as 
 they would never dream of giving to us when 
 they have the power, on what can we rely 
 in the struggle for freedom from the Roman 
 domination ? 
 
 On what did our fathers rely when they 
 were called upon to oppose Rome with her 
 as yet unbroken prestige and power? For 
 a thousand years she had ruled with all the 
 appearance of Heaven-given authority ; her 
 organisation, absolute and crushing, was 
 ubiquitous ; she had kings and governments 
 as her obedient tools ; she had prisons and 
 thumbscrews, racks and faggots at her dis- 
 posal. But our fathers overthrew her by the 
 
 196
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 simple power of the gospel of Christ, by 
 the truth as it is in Jesus, by the co-operation 
 of the Holy Spirit. The weapons of our 
 warfare are spiritual and mighty to the 
 pulling down of strongholds. Rome pro- 
 fesses to laugh them to scorn, but she 
 knows they are irresistible. To-day, of 
 the 500,000,000 of Christendom, only 
 180,000,000 are in the Roman obedience; 
 and the vast majority of these are illiterate. 
 The truth has won, and is winning. Surely, 
 if slowly, by the laws of God which are 
 always operant, Catholicism is breaking up, 
 and Christianity is coming. Truth, light, 
 liberty, these are the solvents of that dark 
 and hoary system. 
 
 But our surest way of taking our part in 
 the victory of light is to enter into the living 
 experience of the gospel of our L'ord Jesus 
 Christ. Directly we come to Him, and are 
 pardoned and reconciled to God by His 
 work, we receive the Holy Spirit, witnessing" 
 with our spirit that we are the children of 
 God. .We stand fast in the liberty with 
 which Christ has made us free. Straight- 
 way the Bible becomes to us a light and a 
 power. We have within reach our Authority 
 
 197
 
 Shall Rome Reconquer England 
 
 and our Criterium. The spiritual life which 
 comes to us in this faith and experience 
 enables us to resist the Roman error and 
 despotism with the power of God. The Re- 
 formers were irresistible by virtue of this 
 power ; we by the same means can be 
 irresistible too. 
 
 We must grasp our real weapons ; we 
 must occupy our proper strategic positions. 
 God is with us, Christ is our captain, within 
 us works the Holy Spirit, that brought 
 cosmos out of chaos and light out of dark- 
 ness. No one who has once looked into the 
 law of liberty, and understood the forces 
 which came in Jesus Christ to redeem and 
 regenerate mankind, can have any doubt 
 that the gospel is the power of God unto 
 salvation. And with this certainty our way 
 becomes plain, and all doubt and misgiving 
 vanish. It is the gospel which shatters the 
 Roman system as it shattered the heathenism 
 of which the Roman Church is so close an 
 imitation. The tradition perishes before an 
 open Bible. The Virgin and the saints 
 recede before the living Christ. Priests and 
 Popes are superseded by the Church, which 
 is itself a kingdom of priests. 
 
 198
 
 The Duty of Protestants 
 
 Finally, let us not be dismayed because 
 Rome, perishing all over the world, finds a 
 temporary shelter and an apparent success 
 in these Protestant countries, where her 
 methods and principles are unknown. If 
 England in her mighty youth was able to 
 resist and to repudiate the Pope, we may 
 be sure that in her maturity she will jiot 
 succumb. If the cycles of the past should 
 be repeated, if another Bloody Mary should 
 seize the throne, and light the fires of Smith- 
 field, the spirit of England would find an- 
 other Elizabeth, another Cromwell. What 
 we have been we yet shall be. If our 
 fathers rejected Rome on account of its 
 practical corruption and oppression, we are 
 not likely to submit to it when we under- 
 stand how those corruptions and oppres- 
 sions are inherent in the system, when we 
 behold with open and purged eyes the theo- 
 retical errors and the dogmatic fictions which 
 lead inevitably to these practical results. 
 
 199
 
 Ube Orcsbam press, 
 
 UNWIN BROTHERS LIMlTEIi 
 WOKINli AND LONDON
 
 OTHER BOOKS 3Y THE SAME AUTHORS 
 ON THIS SUBJECT. 
 
 DR. R. F. HORTON: 
 
 England's Danger 
 My Belief 
 
 MR. JOSEPH HOCKING: 
 
 Historical Novels bearing on the struggles of Religious Libsrtv, 
 The Sword of the Lord 
 Lest we Forget 
 A Flame of Fire 
 Follow the Gleam 
 The Coming of the King 
 The Chariots of the Lord 
 
 Novels dealing with Present-day Aspects of the Question. 
 The Scarlet W^oman 
 The Purple Robe 
 The "Woman of Babylon 
 The Soul of Dominic Wildthorne 
 
 SPECIAL: 
 
 Alarming Developments of Romanism 
 
 Paper read at National Council, Swansea. Published by 
 National Free Church Council. One Penny. 
 
 SPECIAL PENNY PAMPHLETS BY 
 DR. HORTON. 
 
 Is it Worth "While going to Church ? 
 
 An ii[j-lo-(latc answer to an up-to-da'.c (jucstion. 
 
 God is Love 
 
 A striking and thought-inspiring sermon. 
 
 The Opportunity of the Free Churches 
 
 A complete survey of the present position and possibilities- 
 of the ]"ree Churches. 
 
 Haeckel Answered : 
 
 Being an Address on Professor Haeckel and Sir Olivet 
 Lodge. 
 
 ONB PENNY EACH. 
 
 NATIONAT, COUNCIL OF EVANGELICAr. FREE 
 CHURCHES, Memorial Hall, E.G.
 
 Popular DeYOtional Books by Dr. Horton. 
 
 A Devotional Coiiiinentary on St. Matthew^ 
 
 Price 3/6 net. 
 
 A Commentary on entirely new lines. Has proved the book /a» 
 
 excellence for local preachers and others. 
 
 The Open Secret ^"« */- *^*- 
 
 This book is one of the series " Little Books on the Devout Life." 
 It has proved very popular. 
 
 Does the Cross Save ? -P'^'^ i/- ««'• 
 
 An inspiring defence of the Doctrine of the Atonement. 
 
 The Law of Spiritual Power -^'^^ i/- ««'• 
 
 A work which carries with it a devotional aroma and a spiritual 
 blessing. 
 
 Reunion of English Christendom 
 
 The Rationale of Nonconformity. Price 2/- net. 
 
 A book no Free Churchman should miss reading. 
 
 •'BOOKS OF THE INNER LIFE" SERIES 
 
 Edited by R. F. Horton, M.A., D.D. 
 
 A series of uniform volumes written or prepared by some of the 
 leading Free Churchmen and forming a complete Library of 
 Devotion. Size of volume, small crown 8vo, ^\ by 4f. 
 Handsome red cloth, full gilt back and side, price 2/6 net. 
 
 1 The Holy Spirit 
 
 By W. L. Walker. 
 
 2 Private Prayers and Devotions 
 
 By T. E. Roberts, ^LA., B.D. 
 
 3 Aaron's Breastplate and other Addresses 
 
 By J. Rendel Harris, M.A., D.Litt. 
 
 4 Themes for Hours of Meditation 
 
 By W. L. Waikinso.x, D.D. 
 
 5 The Galilean Philosophy 
 
 By George Wade Robinson. 
 
 NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EVANGELICAL FREE 
 CHURCHES, Memorial Hall, E.C.
 
 Eras of Christianity. 
 
 Edited by C. Silvester Horne, M.A., M.P. 
 
 A series embracing the complete history of the Free Churches in 
 Britain. Size, extra foolscap 8vo (7 by 4J), with frontispiece, 
 bound in red cloth, uniform throughout, gilt back and side, 
 price 1/- net each. 
 
 1 Our Lollard Ancestors 
 
 By W. H. Summers. 
 
 2 The Story of the Anabaptists 
 
 By E. C. Pike, B.A. 
 
 3 Baptist and Congregational Pioneers 
 
 By J. H. Shakespeare, M.A. 
 
 4 Nonconformity in Wales 
 
 By H. Elvet Lewis, M.A. 
 
 5 The Rise of the Quakers 
 
 By T. Edmund Harvey, M.A., M.P. 
 
 6 Commonweahh England 
 
 hy John Brown, D.D., of Bedford 
 
 7 From the Restoration to the Revolution 
 
 By John Brown, D.l)., of Bedford 
 
 8 Scotland's Struggle for Religious Liberty 
 
 By VV. Gkinton Berry, M.A. 
 
 10 Modern Developments in Methodism 
 By William Redfern 
 
 U Nonconformity in the I9th Century 
 
 hy C. Silvester Horne, M.A., M.P. 
 
 12 Foreign Missions 
 
 By G. CuRRiE Martin, M.A., B.D. 
 
 national council of EVAXCF.LICAL FREE 
 churches, Memorial Hall, E.C.
 
 Little Books on the Devout Life. 
 
 Volumes by representative writers of the Free Churches, forming a. 
 complete Library of Devotion. Size, 7 by 4J. Dainty red 
 cloth, gilt back and side. Price 1/6 each. 
 
 1 The Possibilities of Obscure Lives 
 
 By Alfred Rowland, B.A., LL.B., D.D. 
 
 2 Lessons from the Cross 
 
 By Charles Brown. 
 
 3 The Life of the Christian 
 
 By G. Campbell Morgan, D.D. 
 
 4 As a King Ready to the Battle 
 
 By W. J. Townsend, D.D. 
 
 6 The Sours Wrestle with Doubt 
 
 By F. B. Meyer, B.A. 
 
 7 The Whole Armour of God 
 
 By George S. Barrett, D.D. 
 
 9 The Devotional Use of the Holy Scriptures: 
 By J. Monro Gibson, M.A,, D.D. 
 
 10 The Guiding Hand of God 
 
 By J. Rendel Harris, M.A., D.Litt. 
 
 U The Open Secret 
 
 By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. 
 
 Special volume ... ... 2/6 net. 
 
 Leather edition 4/- net. 
 
 Cheap edition 1/- net. 
 
 12 From Natural to Spiritual 
 
 By J. B. Meharry, D.D. 
 
 13 A Chain of Graces 
 
 By George Hanson, M.A., D.D. 
 
 national council of evangelical free 
 
 CHURCHES, Memorial Hall, E.C.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 lAR 1 9 1954 
 
 I 
 
 a L9-25m-9,'47(A5618)444 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOi^xVIA 
 
 AT 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 LIBKARY
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 632 775 3
 
 "Tl. ^