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CHRISTIAN
PERSECUTIONS

BEING A

HISTORICAL EXPOSITION

OF THE

Principal Catholic Events

From the Christian Era to the Present Time.

Written from (in Unprejudiced Standpoint.

ASA H. CRAIG,X^o,oETHsB»^

THIRD EDITION.

THE M. H. WILTZIUS CO.,

MILWAUKEE.
1904.

Nihil Obstat

Simon Lebl, D.D.,

Censor Libroram

^tnpcinxaiuv,

►J< Fredericus Xaverius,

Archiepiscopus Milwauchiensis

40AN STACK

Entered according to an Act of Congress in the year 1899, hy

ASA H. CRAIG.

In the Office of tlie Librarian of Congress, at Washington. D. C.

1903.

/ 1^^

THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY

AND THB

(iu^rthrouj of Jntokr^anc^, ligotr^i) and Jignopn^e

THIS VOLUME

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.

722

The following Authors have been consulted, upon which
the historic facts in this volume are based. For these favors
I most cheerfully extend my thanks.

Rollins' Ancient History. Two volumes.
Meyers' Ancient History.
Myers' Mediaeval and Modern History.
Russell's Modern Europe. Two volumes.
Ridpath's History of the World.
Guizot's History of France.

Parsons' Studies in Church History. Five volumes.
Brueck's History of the Catholic Church. Two volumes.
Deharbe's History of Religion.
Library of Controversy. Four volumes.
Cardinal Gibbons' Faith of Our Fathers.
m The Jesuits, by Paul F^val.

Miss Kirkland's History of France.

Martin Luther, by Jacobs.

Encyclopedia Britannica.

Macaulay's History of England.

Alzog's Universal Church History. Three volumes.

A. H. Craig.

CONTENTS.

Page
PREFACE 9

CHAPTER I. My Confession 15

II. Early Heresies 23

III. Persbcution 31

IV. Retrospect 36

V. The Tyrant Nero 42

VI. Early Christian Martyrs 57

The Conversion of Constantine 67

Julian, The Apostate 72

VII. The Crusades 76

VIII. The Crusades— Continued 89

The Second Crusade 93

The Third Crusade 95

The Fourth Crusade 98

The Children's Crusade 98

IX. The Reformation 104

X. Origin of the Reformation 113

XI. Martin Luther 119

XII. Martin Luther — Continued 137

XIII. John Calvin and Ulric Zwingli 150

Ulric Zwingli 152

John Calvin 162

XIV. Summary of the Reformation 168

XV. The Thirty Years' War 172

XVI. The Huguenots 181

XVII. The Spanish Inquisition 199

XVIII. The French Revolution 220

XIX. Napoleon Bonaparte 234

XX. Napoleon Bonaparte— Continued , 244

XXI, Origin of the English Church 254

CHAPTER XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.
XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

Contents.

Page

Heirs of Henry VIII 262

Edward VI 262

Queen Mary 267

Heirs of Henry VIII— Continued 285

Queen Elizabeth...; 285

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots 293

Irish Persecution 306

Irish Persecution — Continued 324

Cromwell in Ireland 324

William of Orange 329

Origin of the Greek Church 338

The Bible 354

The Temporal Powers of the Popes 371

The Temporal Powers of the Popes— Con-
tinued 385

Infallibility of the Popes 398

The Virgin Mary 412

Sisters of Charity 430

The Jesuits 448

Confession 462

The Sacrifice of the Mass 485

PREFACE.

N presentiog chis volume to the public the author has but
one Idea to adrance and but one object to attain, and
that, to destroy intolerance, bigotry and ignorance.

By Intoleration'we mean, not a prohibition of rights
and opinions, but the religious inconsistency and prejudice that
exists in the political and social life of individuals. It is the in-
toleration of the mind, the heart, the conscience.

By Bigotry, — 'that obstinate and unreasoning condition in which
an individual views his own belief and opinions, and opposes with
narrow-minded intolerance the beliefs of others. It is a ihated
opposition, without reason or commion sense.

By Ignorance, — ^that pitiable condition whidh listens to fanati-
cism, believes assertions, and analyzes nothing. It is the father of
intoleratlon, bigotry, and srui>erstition. It Is the foundation of
religious persecution, of idolatry, and of heresy. It breeds con-
fusion, oppression, and persecution.

From the first establishment of Christianity to the present
day it has been one constant struggle against unbelief, against
opposition, and against persecution. In the past there is a wonder-
ful history of the sufferings, the trials, and the steadfastness of
those who have been faithful to God, to Christ, and to his Holy
Word. To write these histories is beyond the power of man.
Hundreds of volumes have been issued and yet we have recorded
only a part of the great work of Christianity, and the awful afflic-
tions it has borne. But not once in all those two thousand years
has the faith in Christ been lost or broken. While it has ap-
parently met reverses, yet not once was there a defeat. These

(2) 9

10 Preface.

reverses were only God's means of purifying the Church, of win-
nowing the chaff from the wheat, of casting out the dross, the
millstones, and all the acoumulations of unworthiness.

Before the Reformation it was idolatrous persecution of Chris-
tianity. Since that event it has been Christian against Christian,
with the Pope and the Church of Rome as the great central figure,
against which arose this opposition. The Whole force of the
Reformation was to crush the power of the Catholic Church and
its great head, the Pope. In return, the Church has sought to main-
tain its supremacy, to extend its influence, and to establish its
worship in all the nations of the earth. The warfare between
these contending forces has been one of bitter hatred, and a
history of deadly persecution.

In this short volume it is impossible to give more than a
general exposition of events; but I trust a sufficient explanation
is herein given to demonstrate the fact that virtue is not recorded,
alone, on one side and persecution on the other, but that the
fanatic zeal of all classes of men was just as intolerant, just as unrea-
sonable, and just as unchristian on one side as on the other.

As we read history from an unprejudiced standpoint, we find
that were we to recite the events which have transpired since the
days of Martin Luther and John Calvin, and place this narrative
before a Protesiant jury, the members of which had never read
history, not one could distinguish those perpetrated by the Catholics
from those committed by the Protestants; and should selections be
made by this imaginary jury, it is the author's opinion that, as
prejudice lies with the jury against the Catholics, they would
select the Reform atrocities as instituted by the Church of Rome.

But we must bear in mind that the oonditions that existed in
those days were far different from those that exist at the present
time. Then religion was the great central thought of action.
If you were a Protestant it was heresy to be a Catholic, and if
you were a Catholic it was heresy to be a Protestant; and as heresy

Preface. 11

was a sin against the law, then by law it must be punished.
Christians were ignorant of the divine teachings of Christ, who
taught love, charity, and obedience. They were raised under the
discipline of force, and force must be the means of converting men
to the true worship of G-od. If men failed to observe the law of
religion then there must be ajpplied the force of what we now call
oppression and persecution, and when it was a bold declai"a;tion
of heresy we find that it was regarded as a higher crime than
treason. Men then looked upon treason as a crime against the
State, but heresy as treason against God and his Holy Word, and
as God was the greatest of all authority, so must heresy be the
greart:est of all crimes. If we examine this question under the
conditions then existing, we find a standard far different from
the standard of to-day.

It is here we make the great mistake in our understanding. We
try to believe that, because things existed then, they may exist
now, when in reality it is an impossibility. Times change, govern-
ments change, educations change, and when we arrive at a new
period we must throw off the old coat of the past and assume the
new realities of the present. But, my friends, there are some who
do not seem to know that we are living in the nineteenth century.
They imagine that it is still the reign of John Calvin, Henry VIII,
Elizabeth, Oliver Cromwell, William of Orange, or even the Spanish
Inquisition! They do not realize that we have outgaown those old
feudal tyrannies, and in the smallness of their vision see the future
only as it is reflected by the past.

If you analyze the past, do so with all the surroundings that
then occurred ; and when you analyze the present, do so
with wha;t exists now, and not with what belongs to the
recollections of a dead and historic past. If you cannot believe
as a Catholic, then believe as your own conscience shall dictate,
but remember that wherever you go, or whatever you do, your aim
should be to drop those old prejudices and those old persecutions.

12 Preface.

In this enlightened age we cannot afford to question a man
because of his religion, or because of the religion of his ancestors,
but to recognize him for Ms worth to government, to education, to
society, and to Christianity. The only difference that exists between
our religious denominations, outside of religious belief, is prejudice
— not a prejudice that exists by the acts of to-day, but from condi-
tions which existed ages ago. It is a prejudice more in the line of
superstition than of any reality. It is a prejudice handed down
from parent to child and from preacher to preacher. As the people
have been taught to be prejudiced, and appear to ignore present con-
ditions, we feel more like pitying their mental condition rather than
censuring what to them seems a reality.

As individuals, we are prone to listen to what we hear or read,
rather than ask ourselves: Is this true? Can these things exist?
Is this judgment based upon present conditions, or is it based
upon what once existed? If we depend wholly upon what fanatics
explain, then we remain in the same intolerant condition as they,
but if we depend upon what really exists, wtiat we see, what is in
accordance with reason, then we outgrow prejudice and inconsist-
ency, and meet all forms of Christianity upon the same level of
equal rights and justice.

Again I say, this volume is not written in the interest of any
creed,, but in the interest of facts as they have existed, and as they
exist to-day. It is written to dispel these three enemies of Chris-
tianity— Intoleration, Bigotry, and Ignorance, and while I am not a
member of any churcih, and have never received the blessings of
baptism, yet I will do all within my power to hasiten the day when
perseoution shall cease, and the grand trutlhs of God will be known
to all men. Therefore I will say to my Protestant friends, study
these questions from a real desire for knowledge, cast off your preju-
dices, and be guided by what is in existence to-day. If you do this,
when you analyze the foundation of religion, and of faith, you can
clasp the hand of your Catholic friend, and see in him, as he sees
in you, the desires of a true Christian.

Preface. 13

I may not succeed in convincing you that these conditions, as
herein described, do actually exist, yet I trust you will not cast this
book aside as unworthy a careful study. If I have made a single
statement which seems to you as inconsistent, as a fallacy, or as a
misstatement, it is my earnest desire that you look to the historic
facts concerning it. While I believe the records of history will sus-
tain my position, yet it is your duty to convince yourself, as 1 have
done. I do not ask that you shall become a Catholic, or a Protestant,
but that you shall seek the truth, and in seeking, you will not for-
get the duties of a true Christian.

^ ^ /V • lohc^^

Mukwonago, Wis.,
December 25, 1898.

CHAPTER T.

MY CONFESSION.

AS I review the pages of this book I cannot understand
how I could have conceived the idea of writing this
short history of some of the trials and persecutions of the
Catholic Church. I know of no reason why this subject
should have suggested itself to me. Up to this time I had not
discussed it with individuals, as I felt there was a history I
did not care to disclose. I frankly admit I carried a prejudice,
not from anything I had ever seen, but from the teachings of
those who professed to have made it a study. I had never
stopped to consider whether bare assertions were facts or not.
I had 'had no inclination to investigate, and while I paid very
little attention to the wild expressions of intoleration, yet it
unconsciously left an impression that somewhere in the misty
past the Catholic Church was not what it ought to have been.
And why should I not feel this impression? I took no
Cafholic literature; I asked no Catholic advice; and what I
learned was from a source calculated to prejudice and not
to enlighten me on the facts. The teaching was one-sided
in all its details, without contradiction, and as I now find it,
without confirmation. It was largely the invention of imag-
ination, and I dare say many of those teachers honestly believed
in their own statements. But if they will do as I have done,
reject the writings of extremists, they will find a condition and
causes different from what they now see.

16 Christian Persecutions.

So I say to my readers and to the world, drop assertions
made to foment feeling, or analyze them on the basis of your
own investigation. Do not let others assume that they know
the history of the past, the present, and the future. Accept
the present as you see it, analyze the past as it existed, and
you need have no care for the future.

But I will return to the causes which led me to think,
to read, and to write: The thought came to me one night
when, during one of my wakeful hours, I lay thinking of
almost everything conceivable. I thought of life, of death, of
immortality, and of God. In these thoughts I asked myself,
What is God? What is the Church of Christ? Who are the
true teachers of the Bible and of God? Here we have a
legion of churches — are they all the true expositors of im-
mortality? When did they come into existence? Are not
churches and creeds made by men? What was the Reforma-
tion? How did the Reformation affect the Catholic Church?
What is the Catholic Church anyway? What is its mission?
Is it a church of persecution, and of intolerance? What was
it in the early years of Christianity? What was it in the
Dark Ages? In the sixteenth century? In the days of
Napoleon Bonaparte? What is it to-day? These thoughts
led me to think of investigation, of reading, and of inquiry.

In the study of history, did I consider the story of the his-
torian infallible? Are not historians liable to err? Is it not a
common error of mankind to believe what we read or hear
when we are in a condition to become favorably prejudiced?
Are we not full of prejudices? Do we not transmit these prin-
ciples to our children? When we listen to the minister in the

My Confession. 17

pulpit preaching on Catholic infidelity to mankind, are we
not listening to a prejudiced illustration of his thoughts and
his story? Did he interpret the causes in the true Hght of
Christianity? Or was it to build up his own faith at the
expense of others? Is it a part of his stock in trade, and
must he advertise his goods by crying down the goods of
his neighbor? Is there any selfish interest in his mode of
operation? Is your Catholic neighbor any different from any
other neighbor? Is he different in the next town, in the next
State? Is he different anywhere on God's earth? If he is
proven by companionship as a true friend, an obliging neigh-
bor, and a patriotic citizen, has he not then been misrepre-
sented?

While I know that some of my dearest friends are Catho-
lics, and I know and feel their love and devotion, am I not
prejudiced when I think evil of those who are abroad? Is
this a just judgment? Have I a right to be prejudiced be-
cause of the teachings of others? Am I to be unreasonable
and inconsistent when my surroundings prove the opposite?
Is history true? Isn't it true that two men, or twenty men,
may write history and fail to agree except in the bare fact
of an incident? Are not facts and causes two distinct ele-
ments in the exposition of history? If history is written by
a fanatic, are not his causes based upon fanaticism? If written
by a faction, is it not in the interest of that faction? Does
it not make a vast difference how we view a subject, how our
feelings run in the controversy? If we look through a red
glass is not tlie vision red? If through any other color, or
controlled by any faction or prejudice, is not the result exactly
in line with the cause of inspiration?

18 Christian Persecutions.

Have I a right to listen to others and not ask myself
through what glass is the speaker looking? Then, in sum-
ming up all those prejudices, am I not unjust in harboring
thoughts of unworthiness? And now, to speak in plain lan-
guage, are not the Protestant Churches arrayed against the
Catholic wholly on the hnes of prejudice? And is it not
fair for me to suppose that this opposition is due, in some
small degree at least, to a stock in trade?

Isn't preaching a profession, and do not all men apply
their abilities in the advancement of themselves in their pro-
fessions? How many ministers look for a call except to bet-
ter their condition? Is preaching, as now conducted, for
humanity or for self?

These are dreadful questions to ask, but is there not some
truth in them? Then, as we view this whole line of opposi-
tion, of prejudice to the Catholic Church, is it not persecu-
tion? Not such persecution as in the days of Nero, or of
the sophistry of Voltaire, of Paine, or of Ingersoll, but of
that of one form of Christianity against another? In this
respect, is not this Church persecuted by all the other
Churches?

As these thoughts came to me I resolved to read, not
through the eyes of others, but through my own eyes. I
purchased books and literature. I called up the history of
encyclopedias. I borrowed books, and in my research I
resolved to take facts, and, as far as possible, to reject the
prejudices of others, I laid aside the most enthused Catho-
lic writers as having their glasses too highly colored. I
sought for causes, because I wanted to satisfy myself, to
satisfy my own mind, and not the mind of others.

My Confession. 19

I read Robert G. Ingersoll in order to gather the sub-
stance of his teachings. I took ancient history; the history of
the Apostles; the Dark Ages; the life of Martin Luther; the
history of France; the history of the Huguenots; tJlie history of
England; the history of Henry the VIII; the history of the
Catholic Church; the life of Pope Leo XIII, and many mag-
azines and papers. Some books I threw away and would not
read. They were too full of malignant vituperation to be of
any service to me. These books only served to more con-
clusively impress me with my convictions that I had been
looking through colored glasses.

Once I might have believed these assertions, but now I
had gone beyond this field of extravagance. I could see the
venom, the sting, the old animosity, and the old prejudice.
I had no time to read such trash, and I threw them away as
not suited to my purpose. They only confirmed my first sus-
picion of stock in trade; now, however, they were shop-worn,
dirty, out of style, and not worth an examination. The world
was grov/ing to a more intelligent, more reasonable, and
more tolerant condition. The old superstitions, vagaries, and
prejudices must bid good-bye to the new lessons of true
inspiration, true benevolence, and true Christianity.

We are not what we were centuries ago, or even in the
past generation. The days of bodily persecution are over,
and soton tihe days of bigotry will follow the long line of
jealousies, misrepresentations and abuse. We are entering
a field of intelligence where we are having a broader thought,
a grander elevation of faith, and a nobler manhood.
The day of estabiishing new creeds and new isms will now

20 Christian Persecutions.

close, and the grand thought of Refonners will be, not how
much can be torn down, but how much can be built up,
how nuich can be united, how we can better work together,
and how cement the religious desires of all men.

The evil of the world is united and travels the same broad
road to destruction. Sometimes it seems to me as though it
was growing stronger and stronger each year, while Chris-
tianity has been quarrelling over who shall save the wicked,
relieve distress, and preach the true doctrine of repentance.
But as years go by there will be a gradual strengthening of
the bonds of union in the great cause of Christ and the gospel
of truth. It is even whispered now that the Episcopal Church
of England is leaning to its old rival, the Church of Rome,
and it is not impossible that the powerful Greek Church of
Russia may yet return to its first love. And so we may say
of every new creed and ism, tiliere is a change of sentiment
going on contmually. Although almost imperceptible at times,
yet it is approaching the time when we are coming nearer
and nearer to a perfect union, when the hatred and animosi-
ties shall cease, and when the dread suspicion of intolerance
shall be no more. -

As I now stand I see the Catholic Church as I never saw
it before. I see that in all its trials and persecutions it comes
out stronger and stronger in its discipline, and stronger in its
bond of union.

I read Martin Luther and see that if the Church had
adopted his ninety-five theses, then John Calvin, Ulrich
Zwingli, and other reformers would have demanded a recog-
nition of their ideas, and there would have been no Church,

My Confession. 21

only a confusion of individual ideas and individual theology.
Had the Church yielded to Henry the VHI, there would
have been a compromise in crime, and by its permission of
sin it would have gone down in disgrace and ruin. Individ-
uals may err, sin, and fall, but because of this we have no
right to condemn others, or to condemn the church that seeks
to build them up, to sustain them in their weakness, and to
bring them to repentance.

In all the trials which have existed, and all the persecu-
tions that have been hurled against the Catholic Church, not
one has struck a fatal blow. While the Church may have
staggered in its adversity, yet in the dawn of its recovery,
the sun of Christianity has shone brighter, its rays have been
purer, and its influence more lasting.

And now, if by these efforts I may be the means of
eliminating some of the old prejudices which still cradle their
thoughts in the minds of men, then good will result to all.

We ought to be broad enough to throw aside the incon-
sistencies of to-day and accept the results as they are, and
not what may have been told us in ages past. It matters
not what may have been the objects and desires of the
Churches hundreds of years ago. Those conditions cannot
exist at tihe present. What may have been required then is
not required now. The world was not broad then — it was
narrow and contracted; but we are now grown beyond tliie
ignorance of petty jealousies, and. ought to know and feel
that prejudice and bigotry must sooner or later be consigned
to the past. With freedom of speech, of press, and of religion,
there is no longer an excuse for misrepresentation, intoler-
ance, and persecution.

22 Christian Persecutions.

With this statement of the condition of what has been
and what ought to be, and my carefully-arranged narrative of
the facts of history drawn upon the basis of honest inquiry,
and not from the side of a partisan or fanatic, I most ear-
nestly dedicate this book. May its pages be the means of
producing thought, independent of what others may say, or
have said. May we all think, and feel, and talk from the
standpoint of to-day, and may its influence assist in elevat-
ing mankind, uniting the influences of good, and thus advanc-
ing the cause of true Christianity.

CHAPTER II.

EARLY HERESIES.

|\ yi ARTYRDOM is the fiery ordeal throiig-h which the
* '^ * power of God in Christianity is gloriously made mani-
fest. It is proof of the wondrous stability of the Church, the
undying, the imperishable and immortal faith that is the base
of its foundation. It is not the passion of blind fanaticism,
or heretical fidelity to imagination, but is the genuine testi-
mony of the glorification of the Christian Church, It is
God's testimony to the world that even persecution and death
cannot raise a barrier against His Holy Word. It is an evi-
dence of the all-consoling truth that the gates of hell shall
never prevail against it.

While the Roman emperors sought to destroy the Chris-
tian religion by the sword and persecution, the sophists and
philosophers, its enemies, sought by arguments to confute
the teachings of Christ, just as the unbelievers of the present
day seek to play upon the passions of men and proclaim that
religion is the result of imagination, and cannot be, and yet
no persecution of fire or sword, no power of sophistry and
cunning, could prevail against the everlasting truth.

The literary talents of eminent pagans were employed
to prejudice the world against Christianity, They were to
testify against the divinity of Christ, against his power of
salvation and against the resurrection. They were to repre-
sent him as a man incapable of divine power, incapable of

24 Christian Persecutions.

performing miracles and incapable of being the Son of God.

Of the production of these eminent writers, three were
so cunningly devised that many were persuaded against the
faith, and the spread of Christianity seemed at a standstill,
but from the slow power of recovery there arose a more
perfect union between God and man. The power of dis-
cernment between sophistry and truth grew plainer and plainer
until the foundation of the Church was made to endure
forever.

The first great work against Christ was by the philosopher
Celsus, who, in the year 150, wrote a tirade of malignant
abuse, not in the language of base antagonism, but in that
of subtle craftiness. He represented as having discov-
ered the foundation of Christ's authority and his power of
performing miracles. It was represented as an educational
treatise based upon a careful study and analysis of the con-
ditions, and while to Christians it was an exposition of mali-
cious calumnies, yet the frankness of rebutting testimony
had more the appearance of truth than a wilful design against
our Blessed Savior.

This was, perhaps, the most logical interpretation ever
prepared by pagan opposition. It was eloquent in appeal,
manly in demonstration and dangerously subtle in its dis-
cussion. Christ was represented as a skillful conjurer, a
powerful magician, a wily exponent of heresies, and of sus-
picious origin. He described his manner of travels and teach-
ings as beneath the dignity of a Divinity; He went about
with a miserable company of poverty-stricken publicans and
fishermen, performing, by the art of witchcraft, fictitious mir-
acles, and finally dying by the hand of the executioner.

Early Heresies. 25

He logically demonstrated the impossibility of a Divine
being coming from poverty and associating himself with the
vilest element of society. He described the followers of
Christ as a class of people living upon the excitement of the
day, without moral principles, a class of heretics, dregs of
society, and proselytes made in the most shameless manner.
That Christ worked upon the ignorance and superstitions,
and being associated with poverty and wretchedness, his
followers must be composed of criminals and vicious people
He discussed the absurdity of the declaration that Christ's
religion would be known of all nations of the earth, and in
God's own time would subdue paganism and establish this
new creed.

This author, in his book, "The Word of Truth," asserts
that the moral law of Christians is neither holy nor new, con-
sisting of fables and absurdities, opposing every rational prin-
ciple, and calculated to captivate simple and stupid people.
The object of the book was to generate prejudice and destroy
conversions, which were rapidly swelling the ranks of the
Qiristians.

While it represented Christ as of suspicious origin, yet
it portrayed him as being possessed of a mythical god, who
had fallen into disfavor, and now sought to direct his powers
of craft and to assist him in the development of startling
revelations. 'From this source his followers were deceived
as to his origin, his power and his divine attributes.

And while it seems a sacrilege to associate Christ with
the sophistry of pagan invention, yet in the persecution of
Christian faith we find the logic of enemies as powerful as

(3)

26 Christian Persecutions.

bodily crucifixion. The persecution of Nero destroyed the
body, while the log"ic of Celsus poisoned tihe mind with the
seeds of prejudice, irreverence, and idolatry. While one
wrought physical pain, the other destroyed Christian influence,
the hope of salvation and the soul of man.

Failing to accomplish the destruction of faith by the logic
of argument and absurdities, another writer, Lucian, appears
some years later and adopts a new line of defense. He is
witty and sarcastic, and where the old calumnies and mis-
representations fail to impress he creates attention by ridicule
and witty utterances. He describes the Qiristians as harm-
less and good-hearted blockheads, ready to become the vic-
tim of every charlatan; that their enthusiasm was due to a
simpleness of mind; born without reason and fit subjects for
impostors and false demonstration. This frivolous scoffer
makes levity of their martyrdom, ascribing the cause to blind
fanaticism, but in his recognition of their love for one an-
other he unintentionally contributes to- the beautiful testi-
mony of the virtue of Christianity and the abiding faith of
its followers. Where argument could not prevail ridicule
found lodgment, and Lucian deterred many from embracing
Christianity.

The attempt to destroy the teachings of Christ by vin-
dictive and malicious declarations having failed, and the
crafty cunning of wit and sarcasm having lost its power, ai
new plan is presented by the enemies of Christ. They see
the nakedness of the religion of mystical gods, therefore it is
proposed to reorganize the pagan faith by making it purer and
more acceptable to the people, and all the philosophers were

Early Heresies. , 27

again called to publish a system more in harmony with the
advancement of Christianity. It must be something new,
pleasant and enticing. The old objections must be stricken
out, the number of gods diminished and some form of a
Christ instituted to represent more than the Christians' Christ.

Comparison was now the question under discussion, and
in this comparison superiority for the pagan was always ren-
dered. As an illustration, we find one character in particular
who is set up as a demig'od, who was born in a miraculous
manner, who passed his youth in holy retirement, preached
a sublime doctrine, worked miracles and ended his life in
a mysterious manner.

Also, we find the philosopher Pythagoras as idolized and
invested with all the attributes of a divine being. He was
described as a supernatural hero, who appeared on earth in
human form, who prophesied coming events, wrought mir-
acles and founded common justice to all men. Pythagoras
was proclaimed greater than Christ, and Christians were ex-
horted to follow him. It was pointed out that he possessed
everything possible with Christ, that he was superior in birth,
in the following of men, and in his departure from earth.

Had Christ contained the divinity of Pythagoras he would
have saved himself from crucifixion. The one fell a victim
of execution; the other, by his own miraculous power, as-
cended to heaven. Thus failed all the skillful contrivances to
deceive the people in the worship of the true God. Their
crafty plays upon the imagination and their artful and in-
genious testimony of falsehood was of no avail. The Church
of God was founded upon the rock of Peter, and all sophistry

28 Christian Persecutions.

of pagan philosophy and all the persecution of Roman tyrants
could not prevail against it.

The first system of religion, or rather doctrine, outside of
pagan mythology and its reorganization, which seriously
threatened the existence of the Church, was the heresy of
Gnosis, one of the so-called philosophers in the first ages of
Christianity. This self-ordained philosopher evolved a new
doctrine which he termed a true philosophical interpretation
of the Christian religion. He claimed a deeper wisdom than
all the disciples of Christ, and strove to explain the existence
of God and his creations, to explain Christ and his mission,
to demonstrate the difference between mind and matter, and
lastly, to explain the soul and its relation to God.

These were great questions, but in his broad assurances
and boldness of declaration he won admiration, then expres-
sions of belief, in his great exposition of infinite knowledge.
This Gnostic doctrine combined Oriental theoloigy and Greek
philosophy with the doctrine of Christianity. They held that
all natures, intelligible, intellectual, and material, are derived
from Deity by successive emanations, which they call Eons,
or divine spirits. They represent the Supreme Being as
Bythos, who stands at the head of all creation in a world of
spirits. With him it is either a principle of good or evil.
Fitim Bythos emanates the world of spirits, called Eons, who
assist in governing the universe. The god, Demiurgus, is
the author of the body and Bythos the producer of the soul.
As the<soul is of divine origin and the body of earthy matter,
the uniting of tw^o opposite elements is unnatural, and a union
of contradictory elements is the source of evil. The Eon,

Early Heresies. 29

Christ, was sent to communicate with the souls of men and
inform them of a higher Hfe, and to seek to overcome the
evils of body, and be prepared to rise in its line of pro'gression.

Much of this part of the belief is a doctrine of to-day,
where the soul is a progressive spirit going on and on in a
successive series of improvement until it reaches its future
perfection.

According to Gnostics this Eon, Christ, united with the
man, Jesus, where he could better communicate with the
souls of men and teach them the path to the highest plane
of spirit life. They teach that not all Eons are capable of
even spirit life, but as they represent all life they remain as a
germ in all matter which, under proper conditions, is brought
into real existence. As the egg requires heat to produce
life, so in all matter the germ of production is ever ready for
future existence.

The Gnostics divide men into three classes: The Spir-
itual, Physical and Material. The Spiritual are those capable
of sustaining the greatest knowledge, the Physical pertains
alone to faith, and the Material, which, under the present
Eon, must fall into space and wait for another creation.

To divide these classes into doctrines of faith, the Spiritual
are the real Gnostics, the highest order of worldly spiritual
attainment; the Physical is the Catholic, and founded on faith;
while the Material is the unprepared Spirit, or Pagan.

They also divide their doctrine into two other divisions —
one, the esoteric, or secret; the other, exoteric, or public.
These are taken from Pagan mysteries and described some-
what in mythological language. The secret, is the con-

30 Christian Persecutions.

science, the soul speaking to the body, the motive power of
tlie brain, the spirit Eon. The public, is the declaration of
the body, the call for life, the mind speaking to matter, the
worldly thought.

The Gnostics claim this heresy was taught by Christ and
his Apostles, and to sustain their doctrine they destroyed por-
tions of the Holy Bible and rebuilt it to meet their wants.
While Gnosticism claims to be the real Cliristianity^ yet it
is in utter contradiction to it. It is a positive negation, for
its teachings are simply a system of progressions from the
germ to the highest plane of spirit life. Besides this, they
teach that the highest Eons control the Mind, Reason, Power,
Truth, and Life; that they are continually speaking to the souls
of men, warning, entreating, consoling and instructing.

Thus we find that the enemies of Christ's Church are
continually, even to the present day, devising creeds and isms
to defeat the real truth of God. Satan is ever ready to tear
down, and even under the cloak of religion, seeks to build
up a new church and a new dogma of worship. It is a con-
tinual warring upon the real faitli of Christ and tihe martyr-
dom of the Holy Catholic Church.

From the birth of Christiaimity to the present time there
has been a constant resistance, constant sacrifice, .and con-
stant application to faith. Men have laid down their lives to
sustain it, and the Church has continually fought to main-
tain it, and both have been constant martyrs, and will be,
from the days of their existence to the end of time.

CHAPTER III.

PERSECUTION.

IN a review of the persecution of the Catholic Church we
^ are indebted to history for the facts concerning- it, and,
although, in this volume, it is impossible to give a minute
description of the long line of persecutions, yet we can give
some of the prominent features, leaving the reader to ponder
in his mind what must have been the awful situation during
the first establishment of the Church, and during many peri-
ods of agony in the history of our Christian Era.

Our established period of time dates with the birth of
Christ, and is the beginning of the Christian era. Previous
to this time religion was divided into two principal classes —
the Pagan mythology, and the old Jewish worship. The
Jews had been God's chosen people, but in their rejection of
Christ a new religion was ordained, a new Church estab-
lished, and a new doctrine of faith was preached to the people.

Christ came into the world to set an example, to teach
repentance, to practice humility, to destroy idolatry, and to
bear persecution. He found the world without faith in God,
hope in immortality, or charity to mankind. It was a strange
combination of intelligence, ignorance, superstition, and bar-
barism. The people were intelligent in the pursuits' of life,
but ignorant in the knowledge of Divinity. They were super-
stitious in all the movements of nature, and brutal and bar-
baric to those who opposed them.

32 Christian Persecutions.

They regarded Christ as a man, and God as the mani-
festation of many gods. They worshiped a deity, but believed
the spirit of that deity hved in their idols, and was capable
of exercising pleasure, wrath, or punishment. They loved
their gods with the devotion of blind fanaticism, and when
the new light of Christianity blazed forth in the glory of
Christ, they were jealous lest they should lose their gods,
and the power they supposed watched over them would be
removed forever.

It was this fear that first raised their enmity against
Christianity, and as they saw its zeal and influence, they
sought to crush it out, first by a series of slow persecutions,
tihen by confiscation and pillage, then by fire, death and cruci-
fixion. Those persecutions were most terrible to contemplate.
In the confiscation of property they destroyed their churches,
deprived them of the liberty of worship, burned the emblems
of Christ and his crucifixion, and publicly denounced them
as heretics, offenders of the gods, and declared their religion
as dangerous to government, dangerous to the people, and
should be suppressed.

The weak often yielded to these persecutions and re-
nounced Christ, but the faithful stood firm and unmoved,
permitting the confiscation of their homes without murmur or
complaint, viewing the destruction of their churches with
calmness, and even smiling as they lay down their lives for
the cauSe of Christianity. Beyond these mortal trials came
the visions of reward, the triumph of truth, and the estab-
lishment of the rock of salvation. Although they could not
realize how the hand of God was purifying his church by

Persecution. 33

winnowing, through affliction and distress, the weak and wa-
vering, yet they felt that the love of faith was a blessing far
greater than the pain of persecution.

From our knowledge of to-day we see that these ene-
mies of Christ's Church were but instruments in God's hand
to establish a permanent religion, a permanent gospel of
Christ's love and devotion, a permanent instrument for re-
ceiving God's word, and' a permanent faith for the deliver-
ance of man from the pagan ^^forld. We now see the neces-
sity of persecution, confiscation, slavery, and even the call
to die a martyr's death. It was to convince the world
that the faith of Christianity was stronger than all the tor-
ments devised by man. It was to establish a true religion and
implant Christ's salvation in the hearts of all mankind.

The pagan world was made to feel that in this new Chris-
tianity there was something greater and grander than the
worship of idols. It was made to see that there was a reality
in religion, a reality in the profession of this faith, when men
would suffer the pain of persecution, of confiscation, of fire,
of mutilation of body, and of death.

These pagans could not understand how Christians could
suffer and not forsake the cross of their faith. It was a new
order of things to them. While life to this people was the
greatest of all desires, and for which they would sacrifice
all pleasure, all possessions and all their gods, yet here was
an abiding faith against which all the persecutions of hell
could not prevail. The martyr's blood was but the cement-
ing of faith eternal. Like Christ, they gave their lives that
the foundation of faith and redemption might be established
forever.

34 Christian Persecutions.

To do this required God's persecution through the hands
of his enemies, that the whole world might see the glories
of His Church established by His only begotten Son, and to
endure forever. These measures may seem harsh and tmnat-
ural, but we know that it is only by trouble and mis-
fortune that we find our real friends, and see the departure of
those who smile only when Hfe's success is with us. So,
too, is it true in the proof of faith. The love of God in our
hecu-ts is manifest wdien we enter the field of persecution. If
it is there it is proved beyond question, and at the same time,
if there is a lack of faith, that, too, is an open proof. God
weighed His disciples, and in weighing through the persecu-
tions of the body found the dividing line between the weak
and the strong.

In persecution, not only were there simple Christians who
fell by the wayside, but even priests and bishops renounced
their faith and returned to the Pagan gods, and even gave
sacrifices to them; but be it to the great glory of the earnest-
ness of early Christianity, few renounced their faith, thus
leaving a purified church, without spot or blemish. Like a
cleansing fire it cast out the dross, leaving only the rock of
endurance. It had cast out the impure elements, which would
antagonize the true spirit of Christianity and become danger-
ous in the examples to be placed before the world.

Upon a small monument over the grave of the author's
*?nly sister is inscribed the following epitaph:

Hard at times seem the ways of G-od,

When He takes to Himself -wliat He has given;
When we lay our idols under the sod.

Leaving naught but a thought of heaven.

Persecution. 35

Yes, hard at times seem the ways of God when we meet
afifliction, when our loved ones die, when our supposed friends
drop behind us, when we are vilHfied, persecuted with false-
hood, and unjustly judged. But in all this persecution, let
us remember that, like the radiant light cast by the crucifixion
of Christ and his Apostle Peter, and by the establishment of
His Church upon the rock of immortality, the faith in God
can never fall. Remember that, although we may become
martyrs to worldly persecution, yet the everlasting lines of
the poet can never die.

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise ag'ain.
The eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes with pain.
And dies among his worshipers."

CHAPTER IV.

RETROSPECT.

FEW, excepting those who have made a study of the
origin and progress of the Catholic religion, realize the
terrible persecution which the Christians suffered in the early
days of the Church. When we contemplate the deep intensity
and the wicked determination of the enemies of Christianity
to crush it out of existence and destroy the religion of Christ,
we can only wonder how one single soul could withstand
the awful cruelty, the awful test of faith which the pagan
world, without mercy or compassion, forced Christians to
bear. Frenzied with madness at their inability to compel
them to renounce their Savior, they decreed the direst punish-
ment which blood-thirsty monarchs could invent. Not con-
tent with the co'nfiscation of property and imprisonment,
these martyrs to Christ's Church were tortured beyond
description. No pen can picture the awful cruelties which
were imposed upon them. Taken from dark prisons reeking
with vilest filth almost to suffocation, with stones for pillows,
threatened with starvation, without water to quench their
burning thirst, scourged with whips unitil the body dropped
from exhaustion, tortured with fire, with rack, with all the
devilish ingenuity which a monarch could devise, and then,
in contrast to this wretched and all-consuming pain, offered
freedom of life, the sweets of plenty, the promotion of place,
the society of equals, and all the favors of life, and beauty,

Retrospect. 37

and indulg"ence. With woe, misery .and death on one side,
and apparent happiness and plenty on the other, is it not,
indeed, a miracle that one follower of Christ could still be
found? Although the Christians suffered the tortures of a
thousand deaths, and knew the unspeakable agony they must
endure, yet without a word of malice or reproach, without
complaint they would turn away from the proflfered feast of
plenty and face the hideous penalties of persecution, suflfering
themselves to be devoured by beasts, torn limb from. limb by
racing horses, burned at the stake by a slow fire and enduring
the horrors of a lingering death, to be crucified head down-
ward or racked with the awful devices for torment and pain.

Who can say that this sustaining faith is not a miracle
of God? Christ suffered the indignities of persecution and
died as an emblem of true faith, as a martyr to the establish-
ment of His Church, and as an example that the eternal
fruits of devotion can never die. He set the example of per-
secution, of humility, of devotion to God's love, and in the
bitterness of pain and death, he exemplified the great prin-
ciple of forbearance. "Father, forgive, they know not what
they do.'' He asked of his followers niothing he would not
do himself. He asked them to be faithful even unto the
end, to yield not to temptation, but remain an example of
Christian faith; that it is not of earth we live, but in the
expectation and promise of eternal life.

The idolatrous world was in a desperate condition, arnd it
required desperate measures to redeem it. The influence of the
mythical gods had permeated every crack and crevice of the
social and moral structure of man. God was an outcast among

38 Christian Persecutions.

the people He had loved. He had once deluged the world
that those who loved Him not might be removed from the
face of the earth. He had saved His chosen people at various
times, and He had promised them a Messiah, but when Christ
came they received him not, and to prove to the idolatrous
world that Christ was indeed sent by God, that he should
establish a new Church, that redemption through the blood
of Christ shall be the necessity for future generations, he
allowed this persecution to prove to the world that the
Christian's faith was stronger than persecution, stronger than
life, and stronger than the temptations of Satan.

To punish his enemies without furnishing proof of devo-
tion was to inflict a chastisement without giving the evidence
of a better life. He must first establish his Church and in the
devotion of its followers prove its divinity, prove its power of
endurance, its love to mankind, its forgiveness of evil, and its
absolution of sin.

Rome had quenched the fire of truth, and debauchery
of mind and body was the ruling passion of her people. They
reveled in the vices of corruption, drank the wine of passion,
and worshiped the idols of mythical gods. They erected
statues to Venus, the god of beauty; to Vulcan, the god of
fire; to ^olus, the god of wind; ,to Juno, the queen of all
the gods; to Mars and Neptune, and Minerva and Fortuna.
They erected altars to all the gods and burned incense to their
glory, and offered sacrifices to appease their wrath. If any dis-
aster overtook them they flew to their gods and ofifered up
petitions of grief. They consulted them in every transaction
of life. They bowed before them and supplicated for divine

Retrospect. 39

aid. They were schooled in idolatry, and were lost beyond
exhortation. They had no faith beyond the faith that their
myriads of gods could control destiny.

Had Christ come in all the pomp and ceremony of a
royal king-, had he been clothed in purple robes of greatness,
the Jews might have received him as th'e promised Messiah,
but to be born in a mang^er, to come as a lowly child, to be
great only in his love for all mankind, was humiliating to
their proud spirits. They had pictured him as a being full of
the power of vengeance who would destroy their enemies, a
leader of conquests, and a king of kings. They had suffered
trials and tribulations in the expectation of a strong deliver-
ance, but when Christ appeared as a man without fame or
fortune, without the evidence of royal nobility, and without
the apparent power of a conquering hero, they rebelled and
sought to persecute. They refused his doctrine of faith, of
forbearance, and of love. They denied his divinity, and with
the pagan world sought to nullify his mission, destroy his
teachings, as well as his plan of salvation.

In view of this reception, it became imperative to establish
a new church, a new gospel of repentance, and a new foun-
dation from which the teachings of Christ might be pro-
claimed to the whole world. On this foundation he author-
ized his disciples to go into the world and preach repentance.
Thus was established the Church of Christ. He had no
creed but the Word of God. He was sent to preach repent-
ance, to teach compassion, to love thy neighbor as thyself,
to bear no vengeance or malice, to teach purity of mind and

40 Christian Persecutions.

body, to bear persecution, and through the fullness of love
redeem man from the depths of sin which then prevailed.

It was the commencement of a new life of atonement, and
though it was his wish to avoid draining the cup of bitter-
ness, yet as it was his father's will, he would give up his
life for the redemption of man. He came in lowly birth to
teach the people that in the sight of God no favor attaches
to either position or wealth, no inequality exists but such as
is caused by the blight of sin, that there are no ties but the ties
of faith, no hope but the hope of immortaHty, and no resur-
rection but by the power of Christ. He died, but through his
death there arose the bright sun of understandinig. Its rays
tell upon the hearts of ignorance and superstition. The eyes
of mankind were opened to the beauties of Christianity, They
saw the wonderful exposition of faith, love and devotion.
They saw the God of the Universe, in all the glory of his
greatness, pleading through Christ, our Redeemer, for the
salvation of all men. It was a new revelation of the existence
of eternal life. The old theory of Mythology was being ex-
posed by the existence, or presence, of the Son of God. An
idolatrous world was for the first time listening to the teach-
ings of repentance, of true worship, of Christianity. It was
indeed a revelation^ — a mysterious future laid open by expla-
nation, by instruction, and by admonition. It was no longer
the speculation of philosophy, but the reality of presence, of
seeing, and hearing. Christ taught, and his words fell upon
the soil of willing hearts, and the thoughts grew and spread
as a great tree, sending forth its beauties of expression, its
light of redemption, and its glorious salvation.

Retrospect. 41

But it has been a constant battle of persecution from the
time Christ came into this life until the present day. At times
it has been a persecution by fire and sword, of life and death,
and of confiscation and ruin. At others it has been a persecu-
tion of liberty, of equal rights, and of despotic oppression.
Governments have raised the strong arm of power against it.
Catholics have been denied place and preferment. They have
been driven from commonwealths, branded as heretics, ostra-
cised from society, and publicly outraged because of their
religion. Philosophers of Reason have denied their worship,
ridiculed their observances, denounced their institutions as
relics of barbarism, their faith as ignorance, and their cross
as the fanatic's emblem of misguided hope. All these, and
more, has the Catholic Church suffered at the hands of per-
sons of supposed enlightenment.

The Pope has been stripped of his temporal powers. Tlie
land of his nativity has been absorbed by the power of the
State, and while the head of the Church stands to-day as the
greatest diplomat of all Europe or America, yet in the rights
' of nations the Vatican is shorn of its power to govern, except
as it touches the heart, the mind, and the conscience. The
Pope is the great exponent of peace, friendship, and good
will to all nations. His blessings are spread over all land.s,
over all nations, and into all hearts. His labors are for the
development of Christianjity, for the betterment of mankind,
and for the advancement of peace, harmony, and prosperity.

(4)

CHAPTER V.

THE TYRANT NERO.

IN the establishment of Christianity the people of Rome
were not particularly interested. They heard of the declara-
tions of this new worship, but as its followers appeared to
be harmless, and in no way dangerous to government, they
were not molested, but considered an inoffensive Jewish sect.
They even appeared willing to recognize Christ as some form
of a divine being.

So far did this sentiment gain ascendency among the
people that the Emperor Tiberius, at one time, contemplated
placing Christ among the Roman gods, but the crucifixion of
our Savior in a remote province of his empire caused him
to forget his purpose, and even to forget the nature of Chris-
tian teachings.

This condition of toleration was of short duration, for soon
the blind fury of an excited and superstitious heathenish pop-
ulation burst forth in the awful scenes of persecution, and
continued for the first three hundred years after the birth of
Christianity. This persecution became so great that it seemed
as though not one follower of Christ could survive the power
of tyrants and continue the work designed by God in the
conversion of a heathen world.

The commencement of these studied persecutions was
under the Emperor Nero in the tenth year of his reign, or
about the year of our Lord 04. The first five years of his

The Tykant Nero. 43

reign he ruled with moderation and equity. During this time
he was under the influence of the renowned philosopher and
moraUst Seneca, but becoming flushed with the pride of being
the emperor of the_great Roman empire, he broke away from
the teachings and guidance of his teacher and entered upon a
career filled with the most horrible crimes and the most de-
basing luxuries which could be devised. His crimes were of
almost incredible enormity, and his selfish passions were be-
yond description.

The dagger and the poison were the studied means of
revenge, and also of deliberate murder. The use of poison
was a regular profession, which was employed by the pagan
to remove those who had incurred his hatred, or who pos-
sessed wealth which he sought to obtain.

So rapidly grew Nero's evil tendencies that in the year
04, or the tenth year of his government, he determined to
gratify his desires by seeing a city burn, and according to
historic records he ordered the burning of Rome, which laid
in ashes more than one half of that renowned city. It is said
that, after ordering this conflagration, he retired to the roof
of his palace to enjoy the spectacle and to amuse himself
by playing upon his violin and singing the "Sack of Troy,"
a poem which he had composed for the occasion.

It was soon rumored that Nero had produced the destruc-
tion of Rome, and the people were loud in their declared
vengeance against this inhuman treatment. Tl^ey were about
to rise in revolt and to demand that Nero should be burned
as a just punishment for his awful crime, when he cunningly
raised the crv that he had discovered the power of the Chris-

44 Christian Persecutions.

tians. They were in league with the gods of destruction,
and had now fulfilled the prophecy of their Lord. He accused
them of conspiring to destroy the city, and as proof of this
consummation of their prophecies he read to the people that
the Christian doctrine taught of the second coming of Christ,
and the destruction of the world by fire. As Rome was the
center of the world, the power, and the glory of the people,
it was but natural that they would strike their first blow at
the head, the center, and from this engulf the whole world,
destroying all the people except those who followed Christ.

Nero was alarmed at his own deeds of violence. He had
aroused his people and now he must circumvent their fury.
Flaming announcements were posted everywhere. "The
Christians burned Rome." "The Christians must be de-
stroyed." "The Christians have defiled our gods." "The
gods must be avenged." Thus he sowed the seeds of sus-
picion and of vengeance, and transferred the guilt of Nero to
the followers of Christ,

These accusations took root and spread with the rapidity
of an all-devouring vengeance. The people read these head-
lines, and they believed the Christians guilty of the destruc-
tion of Rome, of the practice of a shameful worship, and
the desecration of their gods. They became willing tools
in the hands of this treacherous monarch, and they would now
scourge, kill, burn, or destroy this hated sect of Christian
followers. They believed the doctrine of the world's destruc-
tion had begun in the burning of Rome.

Nero had allayed suspicion, and now he must destroy the
enemies of Pagan idolatry. The Christians had declared

The Tyrant Nero. 45

against their gods, and because of their heresy they must
be executed. They saw that the influence of Christ was work-
ing in the hearts of their people, and they cried aloud to
their gods to sweep them from the face of the earth, Nero
was being besieged from every direction to destroy this sect
of infidelity, to avenge Rome, and to defend their gods.

He had succeeded in his designs; suspicion was allayed,
and now all Pagan Rome looked to the Christians as the
source of their misfortunes. The conversions to Christ were
daily growing faster and faster, and louder and louder clam-
ored the people against them. It was now the annihilation
of Christian worship and not the execution of a supposed
justice. God was being glorified and His faith was spreading
in every direction. The Pagan gods were being insulted,
and the Pagan gods must be preserved.

Under the reign of this greatest of persecutors the Chris-
tians were universally assailed, their possessions confiscated,
their freedom of worship denied, and their bodies persecuted.
Thousands were sacrificed, and yet the faith grew faster and
faster. Slaves, citizens, and even the Senate, were secretly
recognizing the divinity of Christ. Nero, seeing that Chris-
tianity was not awed by his threats of direful vengeance, re-
solved to make them a spectacle of public exhibition in the
arenas where combats between wild beasts and bulls made
glad the brutal nature of his people.

He would gladden their hearts with an exhibition never
before attempted by man. It should be on a magnificent scale,
grand and inspiring. Notices were published and criers sent
in every direction announcing that Nero had decided to pub-

46 Christian Persecutions.

licly execute the hated Christians. Tihey were again informed
of the evil influences of these followers of Christ. All their
misfortunes were but the visitation of wrath from their myth-
ical gods for tolerating even the presence of the Christian
people.

They were denounced as blasphemers against their gods;
as developing a system of witchcraft by which they could
destroy every city on earth; that they hated men, poisoned
springs and showered curses on Rome and all the temples in
which their gods were honored. Christ was crucified, but he
promised when Rome was destroyed by fire, he would come
again and give Christians dominion over the world.

People were now aroused in tiheir consternation at such
wonderful power. They believed in its possibiHty. Their
superstitions knew no bounds. They could now understand
why Rome was destroyed. Away with the traitors, the de-
stroyers of peace, the murderers of children. They secretly
meet to practice their shameless ceremonies. They are oath-
bound to intrigue against Nero, against our gods, and in
their witchcraft they are dangerous and must be ^executed,
otherwise we shall become their victims and their slaves.
Arouse, Romans! and crush out this sect of infidelity and
purge Rome of its curse.

The people were wild with excitement. Great multitudes
gathered to demand an execution of justice. The fiery zeal
of paganism grew fiercer and fiercer. To the lions with the
Christians! To the lions! was the loud cry of the populace.
Flaming announcements of the decision of Nero were posted
everywhere. Floats of every description were carried to in-

The Tyrant Nero. 47

flame the passions, bands of little children were escorted
through the streets crying for justice. The gods were taken
from the temples and exhibited to the people. Rome was
mad with intoxication; business was suspended; slaves were
given a day's freedom; feasts were prepared everywhere, wine
was served to everyone, and all the ogres of hell were loosed
to push the power of frenzy.

The plans of Nero were fruiting to a thousandfold. All
Rome clamored to witness the execution of the Christians.
There was no place to meet this wonderful demonstration.
It was the largest that the city had ever seen. Build a new
amphitheater was the command of Nero. Thousands of
workmen were employed and in an incredibly short space
of time a vast structure was erected. Its dimensions were
beyond the thought of possibility. Its grandeur served to
magnify the greatness of Nero. Gods were erected at the
entrances to bless the work of Csesar. Rome should be
exalted and its destruction avenged. Persecution was to de-
stroy the last vestige of witchcraft. Heresy would be over-
thrown and Rome would be free.

The day of execution arrived. The week of revelry had
destroyed manhood. The wild mobs grew wilder in excite-
ment. The fever of wine surged in their veins. The mad
tumult of uncontrolled fury was raging. To the lions with
the Christians, again resounded from a hundred thousand
throats. The vast amphitheater was filled to its utmost. The
great work of execution was to begin. Lions, tigers, leopards,
and wild dogs were caged, ready for the human feast. The
shrill notes of the trumpet sounded, and all eyes were turned

48 Christian Persecutions.

to the arena. A side door opened and a thousand Christians
entered, each carrying the cross of crucifixion. Although pale
in the anticipation of death, yet they stood firm and unmoved.
They knelt upon the sands of the arena in silent embrace.
They kissed the cross of their faith with feverish passion.
They raised their eyes to heaven in mute supplication and
awaited their doom.

There was a deep roar of the lions as they bounded into
the arena, but not a muscle quivered in the condemned Chris-
tians. They were lost in their supplications to God. They had
raised themselves above the body and were in communion
with Christ. They had weighed the load of persecution, but
naught could shake their faith. They chose death to a life of
idolatry. The die was cast, and all the pagan world could
not prevail.

The lions leaped for their prey. Heads were crushed, limbs
torn from the body, entrails scattered over the sands of the
arena, and the fumes of blood penetrated to every part of the
amphitheater. Out with all the wild- beasts, came the order of
Nero. The cages of tigers, leopards and wild dogs were loos-
ened, and the mob howled in its delight. Pandemonium in
all its hideous realm now reigned supreme. Men, like in-
carnate devils, raved in mad deHrium. The roar of wild
beasts added to the crazed and awful scene. Five hundred
Christians had now perished. The wild beasts were being
sated with blood. The lions crept back to their dens. The
tigers had lost their fierceness. The leopards and dogs lay
down to rest, and yet hundreds of Christians remained un-
harmed. The infuriated multitude, not yet satisfied, cried,

The Tyeant Nero. 49

Crucify them! Crucify them! The patience of the Christians
only increased the anger of the populace. They would die,
but they would not repent. They would honor Christ, but
they would not honor Caesar. Csesar was god, and Csesar
must be worshiped.

Slaves were ordered to dig holes and make crosses. Offi-
cers were sent out to arrest the Apostle Peter and other fol-
lowers. Feasts were again prepared and more wine served to
the populace. Holidays were extended. The anticipated en-
joyment of seeing the Christians flee like wild rabbits from
the lions and tigers was a disappointment. They were robbed
of half their anticipated pleasure. Their non-resistance and
lack of terror incensed them beyond expression. A madness
seized the persecutors. Mobs wrested Christians from the
hands of officers and tore them to pieces. Women were
dragged by the hair until death came to their rescue. Chil-
dren were dashed against stones. There was no pity. The
rushing, howling mob came bellowing with rage. Their brute
natures arose in their insane desire for vengeance.

Tlie prisons were overflowing with thousands. New vic-
tims were gathered from every direction and the air seemed
filled with blood, crime and madness. It was the outbreak
of hell in all its ghastly fierceness, and yet the true Christian
remained calm and unmoved. The Romans had never before
beheld such stolid indiflference. They believed they were
possessed of devils and must be exterminated. The safety of
the city required it. Csesar and their gods had demanded it.
The work of building the crosses was finished. That
vast arena was a sea of crosses. They were planted as a field

50 Christian Persecutions.

of corn. Every foot of space was used for crucifixion. The
work being finished, the multitude was called to witness the
execution. Again was that amphitheater filled to overflow-
ing, and again was the populace wild with frenzied joy. The
Christians were marched in a body before the seat of Nero,
who, in a loud voice, proclaimed himself the Emperor of all
Rome, and the divine power of the gods. He asked them to
renounce their faith in Christ and return to the religion of the
gods. Thou hast seen the vengeance of my people. Thou
knowest my power. The lions tore your brethren and drank
their blood. I will crucify thee as the Jews crucified your
Christ. Choose ye the two paths — life or death.

Behold! My voice shall proclaim thy freedom if you but
denounce your faith. Listen! Tlie people want vengeance.
They want not one victim, but hundreds, thousands. They
are met to see thy crucifixion. They believe you are the
enemies of Rome, of Caesar. They believe you look upon
our gods as not gods; that you practice witchcraft, harbor
devils, commune with evil spirits, breed disaster, and above
all, that you burned Rome. Hear ye, O Christians! Again
does Nero stoop to ofifer you life and happiness. What say
you?

A hush fell upon that vast assembly. A tall young man
stepped from the throng of Christians, and raising his arm,
pointed to heaven, calmly answered: Csesar, thou hast mis-
judged us. No man can bring aught against us. Our belief
is one of brotherly love, the care for the sick, the lame, the
blind, and the friendless. Our lives are one devotion to truth,
to God, to Christ. Though you slay us, yet will we not be

The Tyrant Nero. 51

avenged. Our mission is one of love, and peace, and good-
will to all mankind. Our faith is in the promise of God, that
he who endureth to the end shall be saved. The sin you see
in us is the faith we have in our blessed Savior. It is founded
upon the i-ock of Peter and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against us.

Ye persecute. Why? forsooth, because we are Christians.
Ye may throw us to the wild beasts, yet ye cannot break
our faith. Ye may crucify us, tear us limb from limb, yet the
spirit of Christianity can never die. Rome may thirst for
our blood, yet the eternal city shall be saved. Nero shall
die, but Christ shall live. We ask not for life; we give it,
as Qirist gave his, for the salvation of men. The example
of our faith will live in the hearts of those who come after
us. Each groan in the agony of our death will be answered
by a thousand supplications for mercy. We go that Rome
may live.

The God of the universe has said that our persecution
shall not stay the tide of faith, but that it shall increase
a thousandfold. With this assurance we are glad to
die; glad to lay down our lives on tlie same crucifix as He
who set the example before us. Oh! Nero, your persecutions
are but agencies to spread the truth of God. We bear you
no maHce, but in the language of Christ we cry: "Father,
forgive them; they know not what they do." Rome to-day
thirsts for our blood. Rome to-morrow will bend in suppli-
cation to the will of God. Blow ye your trumpets; we are
ready.

The hush of suspense was broken by. Crucify them! Cru-
cify them!

52 Christian PERSEcuTioisrs.

Nero's face was purple with excitement. He stamped
his feet wath rage. Never before had men dared to address
him thus. His revenge could be only the consummation of
his plans. Theirs was a victory in submission. No power
could break their faith. Threats, prisons, beasts and cruci-
fixion could not prevail. He was powerless to accomplish
more than death. A thousand slaves made haste to execute
the order of Nero. Without hesitation they extended their
arms for crucifixion. There was no struggle for life, no
cry for mercy, no demonstration of terror. With a smile of
faith they submitted to the terrible pain and closed their eyes
in submission to the will of God.

The crucifixion was a scene of blood without excitement.
The satisfaction to the multitude grew less and less until
they began to question each other, "What manner of men
are these"? "These men cannot be guilty of crime." "They
show no malice." "What is their faith"? "What is the secret
of their submission"? "What is their power of control, their
endurance"? "Is their Christ a Divinity"? Thus had com-
menced the thought of investigation. The leavening power of
crucifixion was at work, and the multitude of Rome was fast
leaning to confession.

Nero was being defeated, but he swore that every hated
Christian should die. Once more he sought to rid Rome
of the Christian faith. They had said they would die for
Rome and they shall die. Not a child shall remain to breed
this accursed creed. My power shall be obeyed. Is Christ
greater than our gods? No! Then down with this witch-
craft, and crush out forever the heresy that is dividing Rome.

The Tyrant Nero. 53

Nero g-ave notice that in two weeks he would prepare a
great surprise for his people — a new pleasure of such magni-
tude that the scenes in the amphitheater would be as noth-
ing. He would astonish them with a new spectacle of Chris-
tian persecution. The royal gardens would be opened to the
grand spectacle. It would be a night exhibition. Great curi-
osity prevailed among the people. What new thing is it
that Caesar has done? Caesar is grand and powerful, and
Caesar cannot disappoint.

The gates were opened and down the long garden of
beautiful flowers, and shrubs, and trees, and running brooks
the crowd surged, and great was their amazement. The en-
tire landscape was dotted with pillars highly decorated with
gorgeous flowers, with ivy, myrtle and cHnging vines. To
these pillars, almost hidden by the wreaths of ivy, were
chained the condemned Christians. So great were their num-
bers that it seemed as though a whole nation was imprisoned.
Beneath the outward covering were concealed quantities of
pitch and oil and wood.

The people were promised a new spectacle of persecution,
but the preparation of these thousands of pillars with human
beings produced consternation and astonishment. Hate
turned to pity, and pity to fear. There was no cry of death.
The multitude were glutted with blood. Rome was now dead
to persecution. This last act of Nero was to be the overthrow
of pagan strength. Christianity must soon prevail.

Darkness came, and the weird surroundings were broken
only by the murmur of Christian prayer. The dread suspi-
cion of an awful woe filled the multitude with fear. The

54 Christian Persecutions.

trumpets sounded, and in the twinkling of an eye each pillar
was streaming with fire. Darkness was turned to a iliving
flame. The flowers, the myrtle and the ivy were withered
with heat, showing the awful agony of dying Christians.

Nero's gods were now avenged, but his victory was the
downfall of pagan Rome. The populace were smitten with
remorse, pity and compassion. The attempt to please the
people produced a reaction of conscience, and the awful sin
committed in the name of law was finding its torment in the
remorseful features of the pagan throng as they beheld the
blackened faces and the charred bodies of the willing vic-
tims of persecution. The veil of truth was rising, and the
prophecy of the Apostle Peter, that he would redeem Rome
and make it the city of God, was yielding to the triumphs
of faith and devotion.

The Christians' faithfulness and devotion to divine love
was winning the people from evil to good. While Nero was
an enemy of Christ's people, yet in the hands of God his
relentless persecutions were the means of pagan overthrow
and the firm establishment of the Church of Christ. By per-
secution he opened the eyes of the blind, and they saw the
Christians' faith. They saw that it was stronger than death,
and that it would live beyond Nero's power.

Open rebellion threatened to overthrow his power of per-
secution. The people were -murmuring against him, but he
kept them in subjection by despotism. It was now, not
a persecution of Christians, but a persecution of those who
opposed him. Secret conspiracies were formed among the
nobles to relieve the State of this monster, but plot after plot

The Tyrant Nero, 55

was discovered and again and again "the city was filled with
funerals." Even his old teacher Seneca, w'hom he had loved
in the days of his youth, fell a victim to the tyrant's rage.

Nero, becoming alarmed at these plots of the nobility, de-
cided to make a tour of the East, and there plunged deeper
and deeper into every shame, sensuality, and crime. He had
become the disgrace of the nation, and his wild and uncon-
trolled passions could no longer be endured. The Senate
arose as one man and condemned him to a disgraceful death
by scourging, but to avoid which he instructed a slave how
to give him a fatal thrust, and thus perished the most terrible
and blood-thirsty tyrant that ever lived. His last words were,
"What a loss my death will be to art."

The announcement of the death of Nero was the an-
nouncement of the victory of Christians over persecution. The
thousands who had perished were now glorified by the mul-
titude, who eagerly listened to the teachings of the followers
of Christ. Hundreds were being baptised, and the faith was
being fruited a thousandfold. The redemption of Rome from
Pagan idolatry seemed to be almost accomplished, but alas!
the calm which followed was broken by other persecutions
which ravished the world for three hundred years. Even the
Jews were persecuted, murdered, and crucified. At Jerusalem,
in 79, Titus destroyed the Temple, robbed the city, murdered
a million of its people, and scattered the remnants of the
Jewish nation to all parts of the earth.

Thus have wc recorded some of the early trials and perse-
cutions of early Christianity. While we cannot comprehend
the magnitude of these awful slaughters, yet we must believe

56 Christian Persecutions.

that no will, or force of individual character, could have with-
stood the torments and death Avhich these martyred followers
of Christ sustained in their faith. To believe that God did
not help his suffering children in the agonies they endured,
is to believe that there is no reward for those who ever re-
main faitliful. There can be no other explanation than that
the Spirit of Christ comforted the heart, consoled them in
their afBictions and sustained them in their deaths.

History also informs us that the Apostles, Peter and Paul,
received the martyr's crown during this period of persecution,
and that Peter, who was regarded as the greatest leader of
the Christians, was crucified head downwards.

CHAPTER VI.

EARLY CHRISTIAN MARTYRS.

AFTER the death of Nero the terrible persecution ceased
for a short period, but again broke forth in all its wildest
terror, and for nearly three hundred years the Church of
Christ was almost one constant record of the martyrdom
of the followers of the Faith of God. So unrelenting and
determined was this pagan conflict, that had Christianity been
the work of man, it must have succumbed to the blind fury of
its enemies, but as it was the teachings of Christ, through
his saints and apostles, and upheld and sustained by the
power of God, it but more firmly rooted itself into the real
religion of men, and spread with a grander vigor, and a more
perfect faith in the undying love for the light and blessings of
the sanctified cnicifixion.

When we consider that the emperors of Rome were the
absolute rulers of the world, that they were armed with the
deadly power of extermination, and that Christianity was
feeble and in its first existence, how is it possible to account
for its growth, and the unflinching readiness of its followers
to submit to persecution and death, except that the divine
power of God gave them strength and encouragement?

But in all these adversities the Church has been miracu-
lously preserved in this unequal contest. The persecution of
Nero came like a terrible storm-cloud, breaking with all
the force of malignant fury, and driving its darts of hate

(5) ' 57

58 Christian Persecutions.

deep into the body, the mind, the very soul of Christian faith.
But not once, only, was this tempest of annihilation ihurled
against the Church of God, but at two, three, and even ten
important periods do we record the same awful details) of
murder and persecution during the first three centuries of its
existence, and yet, througb these seeming impossibilities,
these renewed violences, these repeated scenes of rack, tor-
ture, and death, the cause of Christianity grew, its adherents
became more passionately faithful, more determined to resist
this Pagan infidelity, and more enduring also became their
hope of future reward.

The second great persecution was by Domitian, the third
by Trajan, the fourth by Hadrian, the fifth by Marcus Aure-
lius, the sixth by Septimius Severus, the seventh by Maxi-
niinus, the eighth by Decius, the ninth by Valerian, and the
tenth by Diocletian. In each of these periods the Christians
were subjected to every device known to torture and death.

While all emperors did not persecute, yet these ten periods
were 'terrible to contemplate. The heathen populace were
superstitious and ignorant, and when their priests declaired
that their misfortunes were the visitations of wrath from
their mythical gods because of the heresy of the Christians,
they were willing tools in demanding that Christ's people
should be rejected from all office, from all favors, and from
all society; that they were without religious rights, fit only
to become outcasts, or must be mercilessly exterminated.
When once an edict for persecution was published, it always
remained the law. Some emperors did not enforce these
cruel edicts, but they always remained ready to fan the flame
into a confiaerration and thus start another awful horror.

Early Christian Martyrs. 59

For three hundred years the whole Pagan force of the
great Roman empire was directed against the suppression of
Christianity; three hundred years dyed with the blood of a
countless multitude of martyrs; three hundred years of mur-
ders, persecutions, and unrelenting desecration against the
worship of God; and three hundred years of glorious vic-
tory— not a victory of Pagan bloodshed and oppression, but
the victory of the Word of God in its sustaining influence to
hold and maintain the true light, and to spread its faith
through all the countries of earth. These persecutions not
only failed to destroy Christianity, but instead, it seemed to
increase in intensity, to become more expansive; its votaries
praised God with more fervency, and feared less the awful
fate decreed by the tyrants for the hated Christian.

Rome, the capital of the heathen world, and the center
of all the abominations of idolatry, was more than any other
place the great slaughterhouse for the children of Christ.
As it was the center of Christianity, so was it the center of
persecution. It was here that the great Pagan stream of
persecution spread with an angry deluge over the whole earth.
It was here that the deadly strife between Paganism and
Christianity was waged with its terrible tide of extermina-
tion. Rome was mistress of the world, and her idolatrous
glory had cemented the entire heathen worships, and now in
her pride she would trample beneath her feet the unyielding,
the uncomplaining, and the ever-faithful Christian.

The modesty and purity of the Christian life only s€rved
to arouse a depraved populace. They were wedded to the
corrupting influences of immoraHty; their lives were pregnant

60 Christian Persecutions.

with actions of a corrupt society, of idolatry, and of dis-
honor. With these attributes of corruption and sinful degra-
dation, they hated the presence of purity, of simplicity, and
the divine truths of immortality.

If Christianity was the true religion of God, then this
countless cruel, inhuman, and depraved multitude must be
lost in the judgment of the Great Hereafter, Such things
.could not be. Rome was the power of the earth, and in its
might must be the power of infinity. The Roman emperors
had decreed against the faith in Christ, and from this decree
there could be no appeal, no thought of mistaken authority,
and no deviation from its declared purpose.

In the writings of ancient historiographers, who were
witnesses of these terrible persecutions of the Christians, we
find the same spirit of uncomplaining endurance, the same
faith, the same meekness and forgiveness, and the same
undying love for God and His Holy Word.

In quoting from these testimonials we find a hne of evi-
dence so perfect that no one can doubt that these martyrs
even gloried in the cross they were destined to carry in the
great unfolding of God's Christianity.

"Who would not admire the constancy of purpose, the
perseverance, the divine love of those who, when scourged
till their veins were laid open, were enabled by their faith and
courage to utter neither sigh nor complaint, whilst the very
spectators, full of compassion, sorrowed for them? The fire
they endured seemed to them cool, because their soul's eyes
were opened to behold both the eternal fire which they thus
shunned, and the glory and blessedness in store for those who
continued to the end in the faith."

Early Christian Martyrs. 61

Eusebius, who was an eye witness, says that he saw them
"confess the Son of God with joyful courage, heard them-
selves sentenced to die with smiles, and some to their very
last breath sang psalms and hymns of praise."

Other testimony declares that "those who embrace Chris-
tianity know what is in store for them, and rejoice more
when they are condemned to death than when they are par-
doned."

"Thanks be to God! thanks be to God!" was often heard
by the holy confessors on hearing their sentence of death.

So great was their desire to prove toi the world their
love for Christ, that to die for Him and the Church was their
highest wish.

"When Pope St. Sixtus was led out to martyrdom,
Lawrence, archdeacon of the Roman Church, followed him,
weeping and saying: 'Father, whither goest thou without thy
son? Holy bishop, whither without thy deacon'? Nothing
could console this loving servant of Christ but the assurance
given him by the aged pontiff that he, too, should follow
within three days, and after yet greater suffering; and with
what heroic courage he fought his battle, we all know."

"Whilst Leonidas, father to the young Origen, lay bound
in prison for Christ's sake, the boy's desire for a martyr's death
became so uncontrollable, that his mother could scarcely
hinder him by her entreaties from delivering himself up to
the heathen judge. She was even forced to hide his clothes
to prevent him from leaving the house."

"With what ardor, too, did St. Ignatius, the aged bishop of
Antioch, long for the privilege of martyrdom. His one fear.

62 Christian Persecutions.

when condemned by the Emperor Trajan to be cast to wild
beasts in Rome, was lest the fervent prayers of the faithful
should obtain his release. T beseech you,' he wrote during
his journey to the Christians at Rome, 'that you show not an
unseasonable good-will towards me. Suffer me to be the
food of beasts, for I am the wheat of Christ, and being ground
by their teeth, shall be found God's pure bread. Pray to
Christ for me, that by these instruments I may become a
sacrifice to God. I long earnestly for the beasts that await
me. I desire to find them fierce, and would provoke them
to devour me quickly, so that that should not befall me which
has befallen others, of whom the beasts were afraid, and left
them untouched. Forgive me. I know what is for my good;
now do I begin to be Christ's disciple. Come fire; come cross;
come beasts without number; let my bones be crushed and
my whole body rent; let all the torments of the devil be let
loose upon me, so that only 1 become a partaker of Jesus
Christ. Better it is for me that I should die for Jesus, than
rule over the whole earth.' On reaching Rome, he heard,
as a messenger from Heaven, the command given that he
should be cast immediately to the beasts. As he had desired,
the lions threw themselves with such fury upon him that but
a few bones of his body were left remaining."

Christians of every rank, age, and sex were animated
with the same heroic purpose. Those whom imperial favor
had raised to the highest honors, old men bowed down with
years, delicate women and feeble children, all went forth with
unflinching joy to deaths the most painful and terrible.

Sebastine was captain of the imperial body-guard, and a
favorite of the emperor. Maurice was leader of the Theban

Early Christian Martyrs. 68

leg-ion. Others, such as Peter, Dorothaeus, and Gorgonius,
were chamberlains of the emperors, beloved by their masters,
residing amid all the luxuries of a court, and loaded with
marks of imperial favor. But one and all proved themselves
true disciples of Jesus Christ, and amidst every torture re-
mained constant until death to their divine Lord.

Simeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, and a kinsman ol our Lord,
was one hundred and twenty years of age when he suffered
martyrdom by crucifixion. By the same death the aged Theo-
dulus, who had seen his descendants to the third generation,
attained the crown of glory.

And how many glorious examples arc furnished us by
the weaker sex! Over and over again were the words of
Lactantius proved true: "Not powerful men only, but chil-
dren and women, have triumphed in silence over their tor-
tures; even fire itself had no power to make them utter a cry."

Blandina, who won her victory at Lyons, was a virgin so
weak and tender by nature, that the faithful feared not a little
for her constancy. But from morning to evening she endured
every kind of torment. Her executioners, wearied out, were
forced to acknowledge themselves vanquished, and marvelled
that tortures, each one of which would have seemed suf-
ficient to cause death, should not be able to quell her courage.
The words, "I am a Christian" ever gave fresh strength to
the blessed martyr. She was at last thrown before a wild
bull, who tossed her with his horns, gored her, and trampled
her to death.

Agnes, a child of thirteen, crowned 'her pure and innocent
life with a martyr's death. The only daughter of rich and

64 Christian Persecutions.

noble parents, she had early consecrated herself to be the
bride of her Savior. To remain true to this heavenly Bride-
groom she feared not the revenge of her disappointed suitors.
When accused of being a Christian, she boldly avowed her
faith, and denounced fearlessly the folly of idolatry. She re-
mained unmoved at the sig-lit of the burning pile and the hor-
rible instmments of torture. She heard her sentence to
death with joy, went gladly to the place of execution, and
received her deathblow wdth unflinching courage.

The young Soteris, also a inember of a noble Roman fam-
ily, was beheaded at the same time. To break her resolution
the judge had ordered that she should be struck on the face,
and she immediately unveiled herself to receive the blows.
She endured them calmly and tearlessly, and remained equally
steadfast under all the tortures which followed.

Who can read, without wonder, of the high courage of
Eulalia, a girl twelve years old, who suffered a glorious
martyrdom at Merida, in Spain? Her parents had sent her
ifito the country that she might be safe from the fury of the
Emperor Maximian; but she could not withstand the ardent
longing which possessed her to suffer and die for Christ.
She returned to Merida during the night, went boldly before
the judge and proclaimed herself a Christian. Wishing to
spare her youth, he tried in vain by gentle means to induce
her not to sacrifice herself. Eulalia, to show her contempt
for idols, pushed an image from the altar, and trampled it
under foot. The executioners fell upon her in anger, tore
her sides with iron claws, and burned her wounds with
torches. Quietly, without a sigh or tear, &he endured her
martyrdom, till she bowed her head and died.

Early Christian Martyrs. 65

These are but a few of the countless numibers who suf-
fered persecution and death in those three hundred years of
awful Christian endurance. Victims innumerable fell before
the imperial edicts in every corner of the huge Roman empire.
Not a place existed in the East or West where Christians
were not delivered to their mortal enemies. -A war of exter-
mination was waged against them, and the same hideous
cruelties were practiced in all parts of the empire. There
was no security against the rage either of emperor or popu-
lace. Christianity was a plague-spot upon their idolatrous
worship and Christians must suffer the penalty of death.

But the last of these great persecutions, that which took
place under Diocletian, exceeded all the others in violence and
duration. It seemed as though hell itself had come to earth
for one final assault. The whole force of Pagan machinery
was arrayed against even the name of Christianity. The
decree of Diocletian was to destroy, as the fire burns the
grass, every form of Christian life, of name, and of worship.
So extensive were his plans and so determined was he to
crush the spreading of God's Holy Word, that he believed
his triumph was already secured, and to celebrate his victory
over Christianity he constructed triumphal pillars, and arrogant
inscriptions. He erected marble columns to celebrate "the
destruction of the name of Christians," and the "universal
extirpation of the superstition of Ohrist," and even struck
off medals bearing the inscription, "After the extermination of
the Christian name."

His was a raging tempest of fire, sword, and crucifixion.
From sunrise to sundown the whole earth was bathed in the

66 Christian Persecutions.

blood of martyrs. It was the pent-up rage of an idolatrous
power, seeking to destroy Ohristianity and to blot out forever
the Word of God. Others had failed in their blasphemous
efforts, but Diocletian had vowed that this extermination
should destroy every root, branch and seed of this accursed
creed. The gods had long been desecrated by these heretics
of Christ, and now they should be avenged. His sword of
destruction was sent into every land, and none were spared
from his awful executions.

The old, young, innocent, and strong, fell like leaves in an
autumn blast, but the swifter the destruction the faster arose
the new converts to Christ. Not only did they fill his whole
kingdom, his cities, islands, fortresses, camps, palaces, cor-
porations, senates, and courts of justice, but they spread the
lig'ht of God among the unknown people of distant and bar-
barous provinces. They established their Christian influence
among the Moors, the Germans, Gauls, Spaniards, Scythians,
Sarmatians, Dacians, Armedians, Egyptians, Medes, and the
inaccessible tribes of Britain. In every place in which man
dwelt the faith in Christ ever grew as a strong tree spreads
its branches in a protecting influence against the hellish
fury of a Pagan world.

"The signs and wonders wrought by the confessors of
Christ, and, above all, the joyful calmness with which they
encountered torture and death in their most terrible forms,
brought to the heathen the conviction that the God of the
Christians could alone be the true God. Not seldom it hap-
pened that whilst the most fearful martyrdoms were going
on, voices were heard to cry from among the heathen spec-

The Conversion of Constantine. 67

tators, 'We are Christians also; kill us with them.' Thus
the blood of tlie martyrs was indeed the fruitful seed from
which Christians were brought forth in ever-increasing num-
bers."

To estimate the millions of martvrs who fell duriner these
three hundred years of Pagan butchery is an impossibility.
In Rome alone, these ancient historians declare, not less than
2,500,000 suffered death in all the varied forms of persecu-
tion. Whcje cities of Christians were mowed down with this
pestilential fire of idolatrous oppression. But strong as was
the arm of despotism, yet stronger still was the blessed light
of the Spirit of God as he directed his children, and raised
up from the Pagan world new multitudes to proclaim Qiris-
tianity as the one true religion of men. Well did Tertullian
exclaim to the heathens: "Afflict us, tomient us, crush us — •
in proportion as we are mowed down we increase; the blood
of the martyrs is the seed of new Christians."

THE CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE.

Up to the time of Constantine the Great the life of the
Christian had been one of deepest persecution. During these
three hundred years the strength of Christianity had proved
its divine origin. No creed of man, or power of human
strength, could have withstood the constant martyrdom that
was continually following these patient followers of Christ.
Although Constantine was raised a Pagan, yet he was not
hard in heart, nor oppressive in his edicts. From his father
he had inherited toleration and compassion. His nature re-

'xy

68 Christian Persecutions.

volted at the awful deeds of the bloody tyrant Diocletian, who
had so recently ravished the Christian world.

The government of Constantine was only a portion of the
Western division of the Roman empire, and comprised Spain,
Gaul, and Britain. The rest of this great empire was gov-
erned by the cruel and licentious rulers, Maxentius, Licinius,
and Maximin Daia, who were agreed in the persecution of
Christians. Constantine being considered weak-minded in
bis oppression, and too tolerant in allowing Christian free-
dom, was declared incompetent to rule for the benefit of
Pagan Rome, and Maxentius decided 'he would overthrow
his power and establish a true Roman emperor.

These plans being communicated to Constantine, he 'de-
cided to cross the Alps, enter Italy, and push his way vic-
toriously to the veiy walls of Rome. "The world's fate was
here to be decided. Constantine feared the superior strength
of the enemy. In his trouble he remembered the undis-
turbed prosperity enjoyed by liis father, who had always
been the friend of the Christians, while so many emperors
hostile to them had died miserable deaths; and in fervent
prayer he turned himself to the Christian's God. The result
justified his confidence, and in answer to his prayer, Jie and
all ihis host beheld in the sky a shining cross, with the words,
*In this sign shalt thou conquer.' He caused a standard to
/f ^,be made after the pattern of this cross and borne before him
into battle."

Confident of divine aid, Constantine aAvaited the enemy's
attack. The superstitious Maxentius had caused the Sibylline
books to be consulted, and the answer had been, "The foe

The Conversion of Constantine. 69

of Rome shall perish miserably." Thus blinded he crossed
the Tiber and risked a decisive battle. After a severe struggle
his army fled in wild disorder. Thousands perished in the
waters of the Tiber, among them Maxentius himself, who
sprang fully armed into the river and sank in the mud.

Constantine entered the city victoriously, amid the re-
joicings of the people. Upon the triumphal arch which the
senate and people erected to him, and which is still standing
among the ruins of ancient Rome, this great victory is as-
cribed to the "decree of God." Constantine, moreover, caused
his own statue to be set up, holding in his hand the cross,
with the inscription, "Through this saving sign have I freed
your city from the tyrant's yoke, and have restored the Roman
people to their ancient splendor and high estate."

Constantine now established the free worship of the Chris-
tian religion, and in his loyalty to his new faith, he built
splendid churches, showed great] honor and respect to the
priests, and in all things pertaining to the Church he con-
sidered the Pope the true head and authority. From this
time on Constantine believed he was chosen of God to be
the instrument for aiding the Church in extending to man
the knowledge of the true faith and worship of God.

With this faith he immediately began to make laws favor-
able to the Christians. He assured them that worship should
be free and unrestrained, and he ordered a restoration of
all landed estates that had been confiscated during their
persecutions. In his Christian laws he severely decreed
against immorality, and to check the practice of child-murder
so common among Pagans, the Emperorl provided out of

70 Christian Persecutions.

the state treasury, or from his private purse, the means by
which needy parents could support their children.

He soug^ht, also., in many ways to ameliorate the wretched
condition of the slaves. Thenceforward any Christian could
free his slave in church in the presence of a priest, without
the ancient formalities, and to impart tO' Ihim at the same
time all the rights of a Roman citizen. Bounds were set to
the hitherto unlimited powers of the master. Slaves were
to be reg'arded as men, and whoever, therefore, killed a slave
was to be dealt with as a murderer. In order to sanctify
the Lord's Day, public business and servile work was for-
bidden on it, both to Christians and heathens.

While Constantine was extending the cause of Chris-
tianity over his dominions, his brother-in-law, Licinius, had
assumed, in the East, an increasing hostility to Constantine
and his Christianity, and resolved, in the year 323, to wage
a decisive battle to determine \vhich religion would prevail —
Paganism or Christianity. Accordingly he published a
solemn proclamation declaring that this battle would de-
termine the true God of worship. Constantine assembled his
*roops beneath the standard of the cross, and with the words
"God the Savior," for his battle cry, he threw himself upon
the enemy near Adrlanople and defeated him with great loss.
His victory over Licinius was complete, and he was now the
sole ruler of the empire.

The East received his Christian influence, and what he
had accomplished in the West 'he now brought forth with re-
newed splendor in the East. Ruined and wasted churches
soon rose in greater beauty and splendor. At Rome, Nico-

The Conversion of Constantine. 71

media, Antioch, Tyre, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem he built
new churches and endowed them with rich gifts of money
and landed wealth. But his greatest care was in his new
capital of Byzantium, or, as it was now called, Constantinople,
in honor of his name. In the most splendid apartment of the
imperial palace he placed a golden cross adorned with pre-
cious stones.

He converted the heathen temples into Christian churches,
and built new ones of astonishing size and beauty. In every
way 'he sought to make manifest his love and veneration for
the Christian religion. He provided for the splendor of all
pertaining to the divine offices, and caused numerous copies
of the sacred books to be made.

That the priests might be able to devote themselves
without interruption to the duties of their office he secured
to them ample revenues and freed them from civil burdens.
Many churches received rich endowments, and every citizen
was free, if he chose, to bequeath his property to the Church
by will. He surrounded himself with learned bishops that
he might receive instruction and conduct his authority in a
true Christian spirit. He regarded the Pope as the head of
the Church and continually expressed his devotion to the
Holy Catholic Church.

By these examples of Constantine thousands of heathens
were converted to Christianity. The false gods were aban-
doned and their temples deserted. It was not a reign of per-
secution, but a reign of noble deeds, of charity, and filial
devotion to the teachings of Christ. By these demonstrations
of love and the spreading of comforts and blessings, he con-

72 Christian Persecutions.

quered heathenism, and in a short time the Christian religion
, was permanently established in the Roman empire.

■ y JULIAN, THE APOSTATE.

/ Roman idolatry was not destined to die without one last

f > desperate struggle. Hardly twenty-five years had passed after

<r Jf ythQ death of Constantine, when we find the djnng embers of

-^-^ A'^Paganism revived by the official authority of Julian, the

^ '^ Apostate. This emperor was a nephew of Constantine, and

^ y^ v'was reared a Christian, but in his youth he was secretly taught

/"/ ^ in classic literature the pagan worship. He secretly read the

/K writings of Celsus, Lucian, Pyttiagoras, and many other
pagan writers. His love for paganism increased, and while
ha carefully disguised his true sentiments, and even assumed
the bearing of a zealous Christian, yet he secretly dreamed
of re-establishing the worship of the mythical gods.

Julian, on assuming the office of emperor, threw off his
mask of Christian falsehood and openly espoused the pagan
cause. The empire was alarmed at this revelation of a new
pagan force. It had come to them like a thunderbolt from
a clear sky. Julian had been Christian in all the demonstra-
tions of life, and now to denounce its teachings, to deny
Christ, to deny the divinity of God, caused consternation
among the populace. He was about to strike the Christian
world with the cherished dream of his youth.

It was no longer necessary to cover his wicked purposes.
He would exclude the Christians, which he now called Gali-
leeans, from office of public trust. He would compel them
to rebuild the pagan temples that had been destroyed, and

Julian, the Apostate. 73

again honor pagan priests. The idols of worship were re-
stored and Christians compelled to salute them in the pagan
form of worship, and to bow down to them. He also sought
to sow the seeds of discord among the followers of Christ, by -^

bringing up ancient controversies and seeking to expose the ■•^<^-
clergy to the mistrust of the people. ^^ *(

He deprived the clergy of revenues granted by previous <^
emperors. He composed a book on what he called the scien- '-'^
tific exposition of Christian faith, ridiculing Christ after the
manner of Lucian and Cclsus, and finally he commanded the tv..-' _.t»*'
Jews to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem in order to nullify " "^
the prophecy of Christ. In this last order he signally failed. ■'
Twice the work on the temple was suspended by divine inter-
position and the work had to be abandoned. Julian was ex-
ceedingly moved by an unknown fear in his second attempt
to rebuild the temple, and without further demonstration
abandoned the project.

If we follow this apostate we find him seeking every i*^1 j.

means to elevate the cause of paganism. He described the y^ ■;
Christian religion as a combination of human inventions, the ^^ "
authors being the worst elements of Judaism and Heathenism. •^
He denied the divinity of Christ and ridiculed baptism and
penance. He assailed the power of the Holy Ghost and the
union of the most Holy Trinity. He attacked the Old Testa-
ment as invented history, without divine authority, and in his
desperation to advance paganism he declared that the whole
glory of the Roman empire was the result of the worship of
the gods, and whatever misfortune had befallen them was
the result of neglect by the introduction of Christianity.

(6)

74 Christian Persecutions.

He appealed to the pagans to become more zealous, more
earnest in their supplications, more devout in their lives, and
to rally to the rescue of Rome. The people were exhorted
against the dangers of Christianity, and its followers were
represented as ignorant, incapable ol study, intolerant, her-
etical, fanatical, when compared with pagan philosophers,
authors, historians and the extensive knowledge of the many.
If Christ had been more than a good, just, upright man, would
not our learned men have known it? If 'he had come to
instruct men would he not have commenced at the highest?
If he had been the real Christ, would his own people, the
Jews, have crucified him? Away with such chafif. The people
have been misled, imposed upon, and deceived throug<h the
power of mind over mind, jugglery over appearances, and
witchcraft over the power for good.

In order to cement his statements of ignorance and vile
deminciations against Christ, he extended greater privileges
to pagan priests; gave them greater solemnity in the cere-
monial of worship; prepared more magnificent raiment; in-
stituted song service; a similarity of Christian preaching; or-
ganized a system of rules of order for the conduct of priests
in the homes of the people; adopted a discipline of penance
and excommunication. He also conceived the idea of work-
ing upon the feeling-s of the peopl? *by building benevolent
institutions; asylums for the old and young; institutions of
leajrning, and institutions for the afflicted. In his institutions
of learning he placed pagan philosophy and pagan literature,
and by every means sought to m'ake proselytes to paganism.
But l"e it said to the great credit of Christianity, that while it

Julian, the Apostate. ' 75

did not materially injure the Church, yet it did not materially
advance paganism.

Julian, seeing his ill-success against the Christians, was
excited with great wrath, which carried him to the stage
of madness. He planned new modes of persecution, and a
most disastrous result would have occurred over his bitter-
ness and disappointment, but for his death, which took place
in 3G3, less than two years after ascending the throne. Thus
died one of the most dangerous men to the cause of Chris-
tianity. To obtain his position he covered his shameless head
with the cloak of devout Christianity, and practiced the faith,
only to become an apostate of deadly hate and most cruel
persecution. When dying he exclaimed: "O Galileean, thou
hast conquered"! This persecution is recorded as: "It was
but a little cloud that passed away."

After the death of Julian paganism rapidly declined.
Sophists sought to stay the tide of degeneration, but to no
avail. The power of paganism was broken, the glory of God
was made manifest, and the Church firmly established, as
was decreed by Christ and his apostles.

CHAPTER YII.

THE CRUSADES.

"\ X T'HILE a short description of these important periods in
' ' the world's history may not be closely identified with
the object of this publication, yet there is so much of Christian
ardor, and Christian love and veneration for the Holy City,
and the land where Jesus dwelt, that to record the events of
Christian persecution during the early centuries, and not pre-
pare a chapter on these remarkable Crusades, would drop a
link in the wonderful chain of evidence that the Spirit of Christ
has ever followed and sustained his people in their afflictions.
We often hear public speakers, or writers, mentioTii the
Crusades, but few of us realize their meaning. We do not com-
prehend the extent to which great military expeditions were
undertaken by the Christian nations of Europe, who organized
vast armies for the purpose of rescuing from the hands of the
Mohammedans the holy places of Palestine. To some these
expeditions may appear as the result of fanaticism rather
than the furthering of a noble and glorious purpose. But
discuss it as we may, the fact remains that the Christians
were in earnest; they exhibited the same desire to serve God,
to protect the sacred lands of our Savior, as did the followers
of Christ who remained true to His teachings under the perse-
cutions of Nero, or Diocletian. If it was fanaticism to protect
the grave of Jesus, then it is fanaticism to remember Him by
the countless means of adoration.'''

The Crusades. 77

So great Avas their devotion to the Savior of the world,
that even the thought that the land of His birth and cruci-
fixion was in the hands of infidels was distressing to them.
The greater their love for Jesus, the greater their veneration
for the Holy City. Bethlehem, Judea, Jerusalem, and Cal-
vary, were sacred to the memory of Christ and must be pre-
served from the hands of those who could not appreciate the
holy memories, or who, from wanton cruelty, would desecrate
and destroy every object of veneration.

The Crusades are usually divided into four dififerent im-
portant periods, although others were instituted, but not with
the same heroic purpose and the same sacrifice of life. These
"Minor Crusades," while they were organized with the same
enthusiasm, yet the results were unimportant, and unless we
itemize history, they are not usually enumerated.

To thorougfhly understand the objects of those military
achievements we must go back to the year 6.38, when the
Arabian Moslems had seized Jerusalem and the Holy Land,
and although it was in the hands of the infidels, yet the
Christians were given all their rights of worship, and even the
sacred places of veneration were protected from the hand of
destruction, not because of their love for Christ, but for love
of revenue, each 'pilgrim Christian being taxed in some man-
ner for the privilege of visiting and worshiping at these holy
shrines. No pilgrim was allowed to enter the most sacred
places without he paid the tribute of a piece of gold.

For over four hundred years the land of our Savior was
held as a ransom for the Christian world. The Moslems were
awake to the necessity of carefully protecting every renownec?

78 Christian Persecutions.

spot or place, every scene or relic, for by these holy
remembrances they gathered the tributes which were imposed
upon Christians, and which were joyfully paid, so eager were
they to see and be where Christ had been. As these great
interests were cared for by apparently loving hands, the pil-
grims were satisfied, not caring who controlled the govern-
ment, as long as all the liberties of worship were accorded
them. But when the land fell into the hands of the Turks,
then followed a line of persecution, misery, sacrilege, and
destruction.

The Turks disregairded the revenue clause of their prede-
cessors, and in brutal insolence trampled upon every Chris-
tian right. To them there were no Christian rights. Jerusa-
lem was the property of the Turks, and every sacred spot, and
even the Mount of Calvary, and the grave of Jesus, was theirs.
By the right of force they could defile these sacred places and
trample upon Christian worship with all the coarse indiffer-
ence of a savage nation. They never knew Christ, and in
their ignorance could not reverence his name, nor could they
tolerate any reHgion that opposed theirs.

Christians were regarded as slaves, and the pilgrims were
insulted, persecuted, robbed, and even denied admission to
the Holy City. Thousands being thus refused, died within
sight of the great objects of their pilgrimage. Although denied
the blessed privilege of walking where once our Savior trod,
or worshiping at the shrine for which the heart had so long
yearned, yet they sang songs of praise for being permitted to
see, even if they could not kneel, at the tomb of Jesus. With
these songs as the last utterance of a sacrificed life they lay
down and died.

The Crusades. 79

The conditions, now, of the Christians, were most pitiable
indeed. Not only were they denied the privilege of pilgrim-
age, but they were dragged to tortures most terrible, and
forced to deny their faith. But be it said to their great glory,
few yielded to the cruelty of their oppressors. Here, again, we
find the same determined faith that has ever characterized the
Christian in the field of persecution. So devoted were they to
their religion that "to die was gain," and now to surrender
their faith for exemption from bodily pain ^vas impossible,
and as such, could not be considered.

The churches of Jerusalem were either destroyed, or, to
grieve the spirits of the devout Christians, they were turned
into stables. Even the magnificent church of the Resurrection
was destroyed and all the objects of veneration cast into the
fire. Once when the Christians were at divine service, a mob
of unbelievers rushed into the sanctuary, sprang upon the
altar, flung down the chalice, and catching the patri-
arch by the hair and beard dragged him to the ground and
in other ways persecuted him and his followers.

It was this condition which existed when Peter the Hermit
made his pilgrimage in 1093 to the Holy Sepulcher. The
sacrilege of the infidels, the desolation of the holy places, the
piteous distress of the Christians, filled his heart with com-
passion and his eyes with tears. His sorrow over these
scenes of idolatrous desecration awoke in him a deep desire
to rescue these places of Christian veneration from the hands
of the Turks. Christ's people were being ground beneath the
yoke of oppression, and they must be free. Accordingly he
determined to devote himself to the great task of redemption,

80 Christian Persecutions.

and after fervently praying for the preservation of his people
and the tomb of his Redeemer, he hastened homewards,
where, on his arrival, he communicated to Pope Urban II the
wretched and deplorable situation of the Christians, and ex-
plained to him the condition of the holy relics. He earnestly
pleaded for assistance in the great undertaking which he had
planned.

The Pope received Peter with favor, and heard with deep
sympathy the persecutions ol his followers in Jerusalem, and
with deepest love for Christian humanity he authorized Peter
to make known everywhere the oppression that existed, and
the necessity of a strong invasion by Western Christians to
drive the enemies of Christ from these sacred lands and to
restore the worship of God where, of all places, it should
remain pure and undefiled. The Pope alsO' declared that he
would call together the influential and pious princes, bishops,
and laymen of the West and urge them to organize a mighty
army to give battle to this powerful foe that was now destroy-
ing Christianity and threatening with destruction the entire
sacred institutions of the Holy Land.

Peter, filled with patriotic and pious longings, zealously
described to the people of France and Italy the impending
fate of Jerusalem. He was stopped neither by fatigue nor
difficulties, but huiried from city to city, from hamlet to ham-
let, addressing the multitudes in the churches, the streets, or
in the open fields, describing the conditions of their brethren,
and the unholy hordes that were now devastating the land of
Jesus. The crowds were fired with sympathy, or indignation,
as he recited the sufferings at the hands of the infidels, or

The Crusades. 81

pictured the profanation of the holy places by the presence
and insults of those Turkish barbarians. Not since the days
of Christ and his Apostles were the people so enthused as
they were now over the words of Peter. With one accord they
arose to offer their fortunes and their lives. It was one grand
demonstration of filial devotion to the cause of Christianity.

In November, 1095, Pope Urban summoned a great coun-
cil at Clearmont, in France, where there gathered together
fourteen archbishops, three hundred bishops, four hundred
abbots, and thousands of knights, princes, and laymen.
Amidst profound silence Peter pictured, in glowing words,
to the listening crowd the misery and suflferings of the Eastern
Christians, and the profanation of the grave of Jesus. He
declared that no man could describe the awful persecution
which was at that moment being waged against their Chris-
tian brethren. No eye remained dry; all present wept and
sighed. The fervent appeal of Peter had stirred the soul's
longing, to not only liberate their brethren but to rescue the jA"^"
Holy Land from the hand of the desecrator. (y^'*^"

The Holy Father, being deeply moved, then addressed Ills , r, "^ '
hearers: "Beloved brethren, the Land of Promise, the cradle
of the Savior, the land in which was consummated the work of
our salvation, is in the power of an impious people, dogs have
entered the sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies is defiled. The
faithful lie slain in the churches, and neither age nor sex is
spared. The blood of the saints is poured out like water, and
there are none there to bury their bodies. Who can hear this
with dry eyes? Better for us that we had never been born
than that we should see the ruin of our people and of the

82 Christian Persecutions.

Holy City, and yet sit still and let the enemy work his pleas-
ure. Arm yourselves with the zeal of God, beloved brothers;
gird on your swords, and show yourselves sons of the Mighty
One. Better it is to die in battle thaiu to see the sufferings
of our people and of the saints. Go forth, and God will be
with you. Turn those weapons with which you now so wick-
edly make war on one another and spill the blood of your
brethren, against the enemy of the Christian' faith and name.
God wills it! Trusting in His mercy, and in the power of the
holy Apostles Peter and Paul, we remit to all the faithful who
shall assume arms in a spirit of true piety, and who take on
them the labors of this pilgrimage, all the penances laid upon
them for their sins; and whoever shall die on this journey will,
if truly penitent, receive without doubt remission of all their
sins, and enter into Hfe everlasting. None shall venture to
molest the goods or the families of the absent pilgrims ; we
place them and theirs under the protection of the Holy
Church."

So great was the earnest enthusiasm for the relief of dis-
tressed Christians and the restoration of the land of Jesus
from the hands of infidels that the entire multitude cried:
"God wills it! God wills it!'' "Be these words," the Pope
replied, "your battle-cry in every danger; be the Cross your
sign of strength and of humility, and the gracious Mother of
God your patroness."

With wild scenes of joy at the prospect of an universal
uprising against the Turkish enemy the council dispersed,
each eager to spread the news and urge their friends to join
the great army of Crusaders. The inspiration that had seized

The Crusades. 83

the members of this council spread with Hghtning rapidity,
and soon the whole country was aflame to that cry of freedom.
Their brethren in Jerusalem were being cruelly persecuted
and the sacred land of our Lord was made desolate by the
hands of a barbarous horde. Down with the tyrants! Down
with usurpers of Christian rights ! was rung from one end of the
country to the other. France and Italy had never before
beheld such loyalty to the cause of Christian humanity. Towns
and villages became the camping grounds of a mighty army.
Everywhere men were arming themselves, fired with the zeal
of vengeance. Counts left their castles, princes their pos-
sessions, the peasant his plow, and the monk his cell. Even
women and children became imbued with the inspiration of
action and clamored for the right to assist in this great un-
dertaking.

Murderers and robbers came forth from their hiding-
places, and in atonement for their sins, offered to join the holy
war. The same universal spirit seemed to pervade the entire
people. Strife, feud, and oppression everywhere ceased, national
difficulties were wiped away, and all longed for the hour when
they should start. So great was the desire of the people to
avenge the wrongs at Jerusalem that many beseeched Peter to
lead them at once against the enemy, and before the regular
organized Crusade began its march 80,000 enthusiastic and
impatient Christians started by an overland route through
Germany and Hungary to Constantinople. Thousands fell in
battle with the natives of the countries through which they
passed, and thousands more perished miserably (vith hunger'
and exposure. Those who crossed the Bosporus were at-

84 Christian Persecutions.

tocked by the Turks, Avho were informed of their coming, and
Were mercilessly slaughtered.

Thus perished the vanguard of this wonderful demon-
stration for the liberation of the Holy Land. Few of this first
great army of Christians lived to relate the suffering, the
pious longing to serve the followers of Christ, or to see, or
feel, the first elements of success. Theirs was the beginning,
and in this consolation they laid down their lives, knowing
that their misfortunes would pave the way for the success of
those who were to follow.

Meanwhile the great armies of the West were being trained
and disciplhied, and none but those who were earnest cham-
pions of the holy cause were accepted. No curser, blas-
phemer, nor even a mischief-making person was taken. God-
frey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine, and Tancred, "the mirror
of knighthood," were among the most noted leaders of the
different divisions of the army. The camp of Godfrey was a
model of perfection. Strict religious exercises were observed,
and no man was requested to remain who did not feel that
he was called by Heaven to answer the prayers of Jerusalem.
Morning and evening all joined in prayer to God, and psalms
and hymns in praise to Christ, His Blessed Mbther, the
Saints, and all the heavenly throng. Besides these devotional
duties they would unite in the wild spirit of chivalry, and the
camps would resound from one end to the other with patriotic
and warlike songs. No army was ever established with such
true devotion, such heartfelt sympathy, and such fervent zeal.
Each sought to outvie the other in marks of obedience, and
discipline, and the whole was a grand consummation of pious
love and reverence.

The Crusades. 85

The expedition numbered about 700,000 men, of whom
fully 100,000 were mailed knights. They traversed Europe
by different routes and re-a'ssembled at Constantinople. After
crossing the Bosporus, the first brilliant achievement of the
Christians was a great victory before the walls of Nicaea, the
Turkish capital, in Bithynia. The Mahometan hosts fouglit
with desperation. Tlie assaults of the Christians were as a
mighty hurricane as they threw themselves against the walls
and defenses. On to Jerusalem! was the battle-cry, and again
and again did they attack "the fortifications until the walls
yielded and the enemy were driven from the city.

Having captured this stronghold of Mahomet they set out
across Asia Minor for Syria. Fearful sufferings followed
their pathway through that immense uninhabitable waste. The
line of their dreary march between Nicaea and Antioch was
whitened with the bones of nearly one-half of their numbers.
But so great was their faith in God that no complaints escaped
their lips and no disloyalty was made manifest. From the
beginning they had consecrated their lives, and in this conse-
cration they would live or die.

At Antioch the Crusaders saw a fortress so strong that
but for their confidence in God they could never have suc-
ceeded in its capture. But to them there was no defeat. "God
wills it! God wills it!" ever sounded in their ears, and in the
inspiration of an assured victory they rushed to the assault.
When we understand that the city was encircled with an im-
mense wall more than fourteen feet in thickness and was com-
manded with four hundred and fifty high towers, and defended
with a powerful army, we can imagine something of the super-

86 Christian Persecutions.

human strength, courage and valor it required to capture it.
Yet to this Christian army there could be no defeat. With
the thought of soon seeing the, olessed land of Jesus they
mounted those powerful walls, threw d'owii their enemies, and
in triumph entered the city.

We now come to the approach of the long-desired city of
Jerusalem. It was June, 1099, when the Crusaders neared the
goal of their ambitions. All night long they pushed forward
without rest, so eager were they to see the Holy City by the
light of the risiwg sun. The weary were assisted by those who
were strong, and all vied with each other in the manifestations
of courage and endurance. When at last the City of Jerusalem
burst upon their view, a perfect delirium of joy seized them.
The horsemen dismounted, and fell upon their knees and
kissed the earth, shedding tears of joy. They embraced one
another, and cried like children. The pent-up enthusiasm now
found vent in these unbounded manifestations of gladness.
Had heaven descended with all its glorious brightness, the
vision could not have been more inspiring than this vision of
the Holy City. They had conquered the wilderness, the
armies of oppression, and now, in the faith of God, they would
soon expel the defiling hordes of infidelity.

As they passed on they took off their shoes, and marched
with uncovered heads and bare feet, singing the words of the
prophet: "Jerusalem, lift up thine eyes, and behold the libera-
tor, who comes to break thy chains." The magnificent army of
700,000 men was now reduced to a mere pittance of its orig-
inal numbers. They could scarcely number 20,000 foot and
X,500 horse, and before them was the strongly fortified city of

The Crusades. 87

Jerusalem with an army of 40,000 well-armed men. The Cru-
saders were almost worn out with fatigue and exposure, and
yet, with this unequal contest before them,, they would not
even hesitate, nor seek to regain their strength, but with the
impetuous longing to rescue their brethren and to know and
feel that the land of their Savior was once more free, they
rushed into the mad conflict. They believed that God had
guided them through these long difficulties, and that now, as
they approached the City of God, He would not desert them.
With this faith and confidence, the champions of the Cross
could not be discouraged, nor could they be defeated.

On the sixth day after their arrival they attacked the outer
defenses with such courage and valor that the enemy became
alarmed and retired within the inner walls, which had the
appearance of being impregnable. Where, in all that treeless
waste, could they fincl material from which they could con-
struct battering-rams? Without these necessary implements
of warfare, how could they ever break into the city of Jerusa-
lem? They had captured the outer defenses, but the strength
of a wondrous construction faced them, and meant apparent
defeat. Parties were dispatched to scour the country and
find, if possible, some substance which could be used with
sufficient force to break the gates that separated them from
the city.

Was it God's providence that led them to a valley near
Bethlehem, where huge trunks of trees lay buried beneath the
earth? Great was the rejoicing when the glad tidings were
brought of this rich discovery. All vied with each other in
the work of excavation and in the construction of huge bat-
tering-rams and other engines of attack. ,

88 Christian Persecutions.

The Christian camp, in the meanwhile, was suffering much
from the great scarcity of water. The sun's heat, was almost
unbearable, and the infidels had destroyed all the springs and
other means of obtaining water. The animals were dying of
thirst, and noxious vapors poisoned the air. The only water
supply was six miles distant, and each time these vaHant fol-
lowers of Christ sought to renew their supply they must fight
their way through the enemy's outlying bands. To these
sufferings we must add that of starvation, for nowhere could
there be new supplies outside the gates of Jerusalem.

During this distressing period the joyful news reached
them that a Genoese fleet had just landed at Joppa, bringing
provisions, tools, and skilled workmen. Again did these
valiant Crusaders see the hand of Providence. Without this
needed assistance {hey must have perished outside the gates
of Jerusalem. Now they could be relieved of their pressing
necessities, and with the skill of their new friends they could
proceed to a systematic mode of attack.

CHArXER YIII.

THE CRUSADES— Continued.

/^~\ N the morning of July 8 the whole host left the camp,
^-^ and, preceded by priests in white vestments, bearing
crosses, banner, and relics, they marched barefooted to the
Holy City, invoking with prayers and psalms the help of
God and the saints. Mass was said within sight of Calvary,
and on the Mount of Olives the Flemish priest, Arnulf, and
Peter of Amiens, so powerfully addressed the army that all,
leaders and followers alike, grasped each others' hands, and
swore to stand by one another truly till death.

After a few feints, the real siege began on the 14th of
July. In all the camp there was not one who was not inspired
with martial ardor; the sick, old men and boys, even the very
women, took up arms. With bold hearts they drew their
besieging engines to the walls. Showers of arrows were
poured on them by the enemy, and huge stones, beams,
torches, and burning pitch flung down upon them. But the
Crusaders stood firm, till night put an end to the struggle.
Day had scarcely begun to dawn when each was again at his
post. The battle raged as fiercely as before, and Avith un-
flagging energy. But the storm lasted many hours, and the
victory was not yet gained.- The strength of the Christians
flagged, when suddenly, just at the hour our Lord died upon
the cross, a knight with a shining shield appeared upon the
side of the Mount of Olives, and signed to them to continue

(7) 89

90 Christian Persecutions.

the strugg-le. 'Do you see the heavenly sigri^? Godfrey
exclaimed with joy. The Christians again took courage,
shouting loudly, 'God helps us! God wills it!' They pushed
forward with renewed vigor, broke through the outer wall,
and flung the drawbridges from Godfrey's tower across to
the inner wall. Led by Godfrey, they rushed bold as lions on
the unbelievers, drove them from the walls and towers, and
opened the gates. In poured the whole Christian host, and a
desperate battle ensued within the city."

A terrible slaughter of the infidels now took place. For
seven days the carnage went on. Blood flowed in streams,
and the unbelievers lay slain by thousands in the houses,
streets, and public places. So great was this vengeance that
scarcely any of the Moslem faith were left alive. The Chris-
tians "had accomplished the great work of their mission.
Jerusalem had surrendered, and the Holy Land was once
more in the hands of those who loved God.

After the city had been duly secured and sentinels placed
in all the towers, the blood-stained victors laid aside their
arms, changed their garments, and then barefooted, many of
them on their knees, went humbly and with tears of thanks-
giving, to visit those sacred spots which our Lord had hal-
lowed by His presence. "It was a most fair sight,'' ^vrites
William, Archbishop of Tyre, "to see with what fervent devo-
tion the people trod the holy places, and with what spiritual
joy and exultation they kissed the spots where our Lord had
suffered. All wept and sighed, not from sorrow and anguish,
but from the ardor of piety and the abundance of interior joy.
Some confessed their sins to God, vowing never to return to

The Crusades. 91

them; others gave all they had to the poor, because they
counted that God had g-iven them the highest riches in allow-
ing them to see that day.''

Great was the rejoicing of the delivered Christians. Their
gratitude knew no bounds. They had endured the persecution
of the infidels, and now they were free. They kissed their
deliverers and offered them all their possessions. In their
frenzied joy fliey prayed to God with all the fervency of a
devout spirit. Feasts were instituted in perpetual memory of
the wonderful deliverances which had been secured. The
bishops and priests offered the holy sacrifice in the churches,
prayed for the people, and returned thanks for the miracles
which had been shown unto them.

In the establishment of government all with one voice
voted in favor of Godfrey, the most valiant and devoted of the
Crusader knights. The prince refused the title and vestments
of royalty, declaring that he would never wear a crown of
gold in the city where his Lord and Master, the king of kings,
had worn a crown of thorns, and the only title he would accept
was that of "Guardian of the Holy Sepulcher."

Hardly had Godfrey converted chaos into order, when he
ascertained that the Sultan of Egypt was fast approaching
with an army of 300,000 men to save the sinking power of
Islam from destruction. Against this mighty host Godfrey
had scarcely 20,000 to oppose them. This unequal contest
must decide the fate of Jerusalem. Godfrey called his fol-
lowers together and eloquently pictured their desperate con-
dition, and the sad fate of defeat. They had overcome every
obstacle in their march of progress; they had delivered their

92 Christian Persecutions.

brethren from the hands of infidels, and had rescued the tomb
of their Savior from the hand of destruction. God had given
them strength to subdue their enemies, and now, in the final
struggle, the same God would watch over them and give
victory to their arms. His eloquence moved his followers to
the same eagerness to fight that always animated them. Thrice
welcomed was this new opportunity to prove their loyalty
and devotion. They had seen the fall of the Moslem power
in Jerusalem, and they had worshiped at the grave of Jesus,
and now in the fullness of a glorious thanksgiving they
eagerly besought Godfrey to lead them to battle.

Trusting in God's protection Godfrey faced his army
towards the advancing foe, and with the Cross borne before
them as an emblem of faith in Divine assistance they went to
meet the enemy. Near Ascalon they encountered the camp
of this great Egyptian army. Immediately all fell upon their
knees and earnestly besought help from above. The mag-
nificent army of the Sultan was before them. They had come
to avenge the death of the followers of Islam, to annihilate
Christianity, and to capture Jerusalem. Others than these
Crusaders, who were filled with the conscious power of God,
would have feared in this unequal battle, but to Godfrey and
his heroic band there could be only victory, even if the whole
Islam force of idolatrous worshipers were before them. These
Christians knew no fear, and, inspired from on high for the
conflict, they would break all opposition, destroy the power
of armies, and drive into exile those who denied Christ and
would defile his Holy Land.

The battle was fought. Godfrey and his troops were vie-

The Crusades. 93

torious. They defeated the Moslems with great slaughter,
and seized their camp. Thus defeated, the Sultan retreated to
his own lands, leaving the Christians with a glorious victory
and complete dominion in Palestine. Thus ended the first
great Crusade against the infidels of the East for the restora-
tion of the land of Jerusalem.

THE SECOND CRUSADE.

The Second Crusade occurred during the years 1147 to
1149. In the year 114G, the city of Edessa, the greatest defense
to Jerusalem on the side towards Mesopotamia, was taken by
the Turks, and the entire population was murdered or sold
into slavery. It is estimated that the Mussulmans slew
30,000 of the inhabitants and carried 1G,000 into slavery.
This disaster threw the entire West into a state of greatest
alarm, lest the little' Christian state, which was established at
such cost of tears and suffering, should again be overwhelmed
with infidelity, and all the holy places become a desolation.

Pope Eugenius III commissioned St. Bernard, an eloquent
monk, to preach a new Crusade in France and Germany. The
scenes that marked the opening of the First Crusade were
now repeated in all the countries of the West. St. Bernard
was the second Peter the Hermit, and wherever he went
great multitudes gathered to listen to his burning appeals. He
went everywhere exhorting the Christians to arise in defense
of the birthplace of their religion. Edessa had been captured
and its people slain, and now in the flush of victory they
would march upon Jerusalem, and naught could stay the
desecration that would soon follow.

94 Christian Persecutions.

St. Bernard was spreading the holy enthusiasm, and the
contagion seized not only barons, knights, and the common
people, which classes composed the armies of the First Cru-
sade, but kings and emperors were now infected with the
sacred frenzy. Jerusalem was in danger and the fever of
excitement was wild to defeat the Turkish enemy. Louis VII
of France, and Conrad III, emperor of Germany, were fore-
most in the establishment of powerful armies. Louis was led
to this undertaking as a penance — ^remorse of conscience —
for having perpetrated an act of great cruelty upon his revolting
subjects, which act was the burning of thirteen hundred peo-
ple in a church, whither they had fled for refuge. To atone
for this sin he would personally lead an army to the reUef of
Jerusalem, and if in this act ol Christian piety he sliould lose
his life, or suffer the distress of privations, then, in a measure,
he might free his conscience from its deep remorse.

The success of this magnificent army of Crusaders was
turned to a disastrous defeat when they crossed to Asia Minor,
and be it said to the eternal shame of the Greeks, their em-
peror, Manuel, through the jealousy of the Western successes,
and enthusiasm, caused the Crusading army to be misled
through waste and trackless regions, where, through hunger
and exposure, and the swords of the Turks, a great part
perished, so that it was with a small remnant of their followers
that the princes reached the end of their journey.

Thus was rendered futile, through treacherous jealousy,
the Second Crusade against the barbarous hordes, who were
becoming stronger and stronger, and were even threatening
Constantinople. In later years, as though it were a judgment

The Crusades. 95

sent against the Greek emperors, Constantinople was captured
by the infidels. Had the Second Crusade met with its antici-
pated success, by the defeat of these gathering hordes of Mos-
lems, the future history of the Christian Greeks might have
been different and their beloved cit}^ would not have fallen
into the hands of their enemies. But judgment or no judg-
ment, the great struggle of 1453, when the Turks succeeded
in obtaining the mastery over a large portion of the Eastern
Empire, was due to their own local quarrels and the blind
jealousy of their Western neighbors.

THE THIRD CRUSADE.

The Third Crusade occurred in 1189 to 1192, and was in-
stituted because of the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, the
Sultan of Egypt. It was now scarcely ninety years since these
holy lands had been rescued from the hands of the infidels,
but from a lack of union between the Eastern and Western
divisions of Christianity, the Moslems had gathered courage^
and strength and were now the masters of the Holy City. On
the bloody field of Hittin they destroyed the Christian army,
imprisoned the King of Jerusalem and forced his capital to
surrender. Thus did the Holy City, for which hundreds of
thousands of Christians had joyfully surrendered the pleasures
of earth, and through the terrible march of destitution, of holy
sacrifice, had given their lives and shed their blood, now again
fall into the hands of the infidels. The holy places were being
desecrated, and the Cross, the Christian's sign of faith and ^ >*^"
endurance, was scorned, insulted, and trampled under foot, i---*^ j^,...

96 Christian Persecutions.

This condition of things was most heart-rending to the
devout Christians of. the West, and although there was no
Peter or St. Bernard to stir the multitudes with the pictured
scenes of persecution and desolation, yet they were ever
ready to respond to the call of loyalty to the holy land of Jesus.

Three great sovereigns united in this third defense, or
rather protection, of the lands of Palestine. Frederick Bar-
barossa of Germany, Philip Augustus of France, and Richard
I of England, assumed the Cross, and each at the head of a
large army, set out for the recovery of the Holy City and the
land of Christian veneration.

Tlie English king, Richard, afterwards given the title of
the "Lion-hearted," in memory of his noble and heroic ex-
ploits in Palestine, became the central figure among the
Christian knights of this Crusade. Besides his deeds of valor,
and his ardent desire to redeem the land of Christ from its
enemies, he was equally zealous in his determination at home
to raise money to defray the necessary expenses of his cam-
paign. He imposed enormous taxes on all classes, sold
offices, positions, and royal lands, and when questioned re-
garding his means of raising money, repHed, "I would sell the
city of London, if I could find a purchaser"!

The German army, under Frederick, while crossing to
Asia Minor, met with an awful defeat. The hardships had
decimated their ranks, and, unable to withstand the fierce
assaults of the Turks, the Christians were completely routed.
The emperor was drowned while crossing a swollen stream,
and the survivors of the army, disheartened by the loss of
their leader, returned to Germany.

The Crusades. 97

The English and French sovereigns were more success-
ful than the emperor of Germany. They first met the enemy
beneajth the walls of Acre, where the most desperate and long-
est siege ever held in Asia, occurred. It is estimated that
over 600,000 were engaged in the investment of the place, but
at last the Crusaders forced the place to surrender. During
this siege, the renowned Saladin, the chief of the Moham-
medans, fought with wonderful heroism to render relief to his
garrison, but again and again he was repulsed, until, subdued
by the force of Christian strength, he ceased to attack.

During Richard's march through Palestine this Turkish
chief was his most obstinate as well as his most chivalrous
enemy. Once, when Saladin ascertained that Richard was
sick with a fever, and knowing that he must be poorly sup-
plied with delicacies, he sent him a gift of the choicest fruits
of the land. And again, when Richard's horse had been killed
in battle, he caused a magnificent Arabian steed to be led to
the camp of the Christians as a present for his rival.

For two years Richard and Saladin were in almost daily
combat for the possession of the tomb of Christ. These two
generals could neither conquer nor be conquered, and finally
Richard concluded a treaty of peace for three years and eight
months with Saladin. This treaty gave to the Christians,
during the period of time mentioned, free access to the holy
places; they were also to remain in undisturbed possession of
the coast from Jaffa to Tyre. Thus closed the last of the Cru-
sades which were directed wholly to the recovery of Palestine
from the hands of the infidels. The others which followed
either did not accomplish the objects sought, or they were

98 Christian Persecutions.

diverted from their purpose by different conditions which
arose, chief among which was the ambition of selfish rulers.

THE FOURTH CRUSADE (1202-1204).

This Crusade relates more especially to the trouble exist-
ing between the Eastern and Western divisions of the Chris-
tian Church. The Eastern, or Greek division, had become
overbearing and demonstrative against the Roman Church,
and in their hostility demanded the right to dictate the powers
of the Popes, the proper form of worship, and the designation
of objects of veneration. In this Crusade the Western Chris-
tians, instead of reaching Jerusalem, captured Constantinople,
overthrew a usurper who had seized the Byzantine throne, and
restored Alexius as the rightful claimant.

Scarcely was Alexius seated on the throne, before another
revolt broke out, and he met his death. The Crusaders were
now determined to seize the capital and place a Western
prince on the throne of Constahtine. The struggle was des-
perate, but finally Constantinople was the second time taken
by storm, and sacked, and Baldwin, Count of Flanders, was
crowned Emperor of the East.

This new control of the Eastern Empire lasted but little
more than half a century, when the Greeks, in 12G1, succeeded
in regaining the throne, which was held by them until Con-
stantinople was captured by the Turks in 1453.

THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE (1212).

To complete this chapter without giving the children of
that period their just due would be a gross injustice to them.

The Crusades. 99

Strange as it may seem to us, it is nevertheless true that the
religious fervor became so inspiring that nearly 100,000 chil-
dren were seized with the belief that for them was reserved
the task to finally restore the Holy Land to the Christian faith.
The leader of this movement was a French peasant lad named
Stephen, who became convinced that he was divinely inspired,
and in his zeal to follow Christ and fuUfil his holy mission he
went about preaching. The children became wild with excite-
ment. The eloquent appeals of Stephen again threw the
country into that wondrous desire to rescue the tomb of
Jesus from the hands of the infidels. Crowds gathered every-
where. Children who had known nothing of the hardships of
life could not be restrained. "Even bolts and bars could not
hold them.'' It was the grandest outpouring of Christian faith
that the \vorld has ever seen. While the people of mature
years were intensely interested, yet to the children must be
given the credit for this wonderful movement.

Two different opinions were raised as to the inspiration
of this Crusade. Some believe that the Holy Spirit had taken
possession of the children, and in their confidence cited these
words of Scripture: "A child shall lead them." "Out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained praise." In
opposition to this belief others were confident that it was the
work of the Devil. But at least this result was obtained:
The people were aroused to the rapid encroachment of the
Turk upon the Eastern countries, and if not resisted he
would overrun Europe, root out the Christian worship of the
West, and thus again place Europe in the hands of the infidels.
Even the Pope exclaimed: "These children reproach us with

100 Christian Persecutions.

having fallen asleep, whilst they were flying to the assistance
of the Holy Land."

We will but briefly follow this heroic army of innocent
children. At Marseilles there congregated about 30,000
French, many of whom actually set sail, but being betrayed
were sold to the Mohammedans at Alexandria, and other
slave markets, and none ever returned. The 50,000 German
children crossed the Alps and marched down the shores of
Italy, looking for transportation through the Mediterranean.
Some thousands of these little crusaders sailed away into
oblivion, and no word ever came back from them. After
severe hardships the remainder of this pious band of Christian
children returned to their native homes.

The Minor Crusades are known as the Fiifth, Sixth,
Seventh, and Eighth. The Sixth Crusade was so fortunate
as to secure from the Saracens Ihe restoration of Jerusalem,
together with several other cities of Palestine, which occurred
in 1229. The Eighth Crusade was instituted in 1270-1272,
because of the misfortunes of Palestine, and again was Chris-
tian blood spilled to rescue these sacred places which were
early remembrances of Christ. In this Crusade the Christians
captured Nazareth, and compelled the Sultan of Turkey to
sign a treaty of peace favorable to them.

We now close this history of the Holy Crusades which for
more than two centuries and a half had been an almost con-
stant battle for the preservation of Jerusalem from the hands
of the infidels. According to historians the upholding of the
Christian faith cost Christianity the awful sacrifice of from
2,000,000 to 6,000,000 human beings. Besides the misery and

The Crusades. 101

untold sufferings, there was a waste of treasure which can
never be computed.

But we must not look upon these wars as a waste of
treasure and useless sacrifice of life. Had religious zeal never
culminated in united action, had the Christians of Western
Europe never attacked the Turks in their own country, then
the advancing hordes of infidelity would have swept Europe
as an all-consuming fire, destroying intelligence, overthrowing
society, and crushing the spirit of Christianity. While it was
a sacrifice almost beyond the conception of mind, yet on the
counter page we see the beneficent results, we trace the
Sftability of Christian worship, the renewed power of the
Church, the intellectual development of Europe, and the
instituting of that great outburst of mental activity known as
the "Revival of Learning."

For centuries Europe had slumbered in its mental decay,
but now the mind had been called into action, a wondrous
system of chivalry had been established, and the whole of
Europe had teen aroused to deeper thoughts of life and action.
This broadened intelligence was the great incentive to dis-
covery and exploration. It caused Marco Polo and Sir John
Mandeville to explore the most remote countries of Asia, and
by it Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Magellan were also in-
spired to adventure and voyages of discovery. Not only was
the mind awakened to the study of art and science, to develop
learning, and to extend Christianity, but it had stimulated
trade and commerce. The wants of the Crusaders had thrown
into the laps of Venice, Pisa, and Genoa the great wealth
which they had obtained. The Mediterranean was whitened

102 Christian Persecutions.

with the sails of their transport ships, which were constantly
winding their ways between the various ports of Europe and
the coast of Syria. Inventions were being devised and the
march of progress and improvement was stamped upon every
thought and motion of the Western people of this revived
continent.

Thus do we trace the present enlightenment of Europe,
and that of our own country, to these Christian Crusades. It
seems as though God, in his infinite wisdom, had planned this
inspiring zeal to rescue the tomb of Jesus from the hands of
the infidels, and in doing so, had held in check the Moslem
hordes, had developed the pride, the power, and the ingenuity
of Christian mankind, and had been the means of this won-
derful "Revival of Learning,'' the advancemelnt of prosperity
and the grand achievements of success.

Had there been no Crusades, the world's history would be
far different from what it now is. By simply reading these
historic events as they then occurred, we may not observe, we
may not understand, the wisdom of Providence in these re-
markable attempts to wrest from the hands of the Infidels
those holy places, but for all that, these timely attacks of the
Western Christians held in check the Turkish power, which
was gradually encroaching upon the dominions of Christianity.
This power would, by a succession of triumphs, have overrun
Europe, and where now stands the Cross of Christ, there
would have appeared the Crescent of Mohammed.

No prince, emperor. Pope, or Christian could have been
aroused against the dangers lurking in the wake of this foe,
so stealthily did he gather his forces on the Eastern frontiers

The Crusades. 103

of these Christian nations. The march of IMohammedanism
was slow but sure, and but for the rehgious zeal that sw'ept the
Crusaders into the land of the Infidels, and there battled with
them in their own defenses, no power of man could have
checked the future desolation that would have marked the
path of the Turks, as in their onward march, bent upon con-
quest, they would have engulfed all Europe.

Constantinople was at one time the seat of the great
Roman Empire. It was here that Constantine, the Pagan
emperor of Rome, was converted to Christianity, and gave to
the world the boon of a free worship of God. It was from
here that the gospel of Christ spread with such wonderful
rapidity, and here also it was that science, art, and learning
flourished in its grandest perfection. But alas! the followers
of Constantine, in after years, became overbearing in their
greatness, and because of their inability to domineer the Pope
of Rome they severed themselves from the Church. Over-
confident of their own strength, they dissipated their forces
on the sands of disunion, and as a result, in 1453, Constan-
tinople was captured by the Turkish hordes and the great
Church of St. Sophia became the property of the Moslems,
and the Cross, which for centuries had surmounted its dome,
was replaced by the Crescent, which remains to this day.

Thus we find that the present grandeur of Europe is due,
in a large measure, to the unquenchable religious zeal that,
during the period of the Crusades, held in check the Turkish
power, which, even then, was a menace to these Western
countries.

CHAPTER IX.

THE REFORMATION.

FROM the Protestant standpoint the Reformation is re-
garded as the foundation of religious freedom, the
overthrow of Catholic supremacy, and the establishment of
new doctrines of worship. While, in a large measure, this
may be true, yet from the light of history we conclude these
things: There being but one religion, there could be no
demand for freedom until new dogmas were invented and
new desires created. The world practically knew but two
ideas of worship, that of Christianity and that of pagan idol-
atry. Of idolatry, we find the Old Pagan Mythology and the
lollowcrs of Mohammed. As the great countries of India,
China, and Japan were not in close connection with Europe,
the people were not acquainted with their modes of worship
and l^new nothing of them. The Turk Mahomet was the
only factor in Europe which in any way conflicted with the
Christiam Church. The Reformation instituted new creeds,
translated the Bible into new understandings, and inaugurated
conflicts of worship, thereby creating a demand that had not
existed before. Martin Luther had declared his theology, his
version of the Scriptures, and his doctrine of worship as the
only true faith, the only true Gospel of Christ, and the only
means of salvation,

Otlier Reformers were not content to give' Luther a
monopoly of this new innovation, but would enter the field

104

The Reformation. 105

in competition, and from these divisions arose the cry of
freedom of worship. Catholics prescribed laws against heresy,
and in many instances executed them. But the Catholics were
not alone in meting out punishment. Even John Calvin, the
next greatest to Luther in the cause of Reformation, had the
Spanish physician, Michael Servetus, on the 27th of October,
1553, burned as a heretic. And to justify himself, he wrote a
treatise explaining Servetus' dangerous doctrine, his blaspliemy
against holy worship, and the awful example of an ungodly
man. In this treatise, or explanation, Calvin invents many
excuses for this desperate means of ridding the country of the
man. It was not because he was immoral in character, but
spiritually immoral, depraved in the sight of God, dangerous
to the faithful, a stumbling-block to the wavering, a reproach,
an infidel, a heretic and by the laws of empire must be burned.
Other renowned reformers of this age advocated the exe-
cution of heretics. Even Melanchthon, who took the leader-
ship after the death of Luther, wrote to John Calvin praising
him for the execution of Servetus, and endorsed its justice.
But we are not competent, at this time in the nineteenth cen-
tury, owing to our education of obedience, to rightfully judge
the people of the sixteenth century. At that time heresy was
considered a more grievous crime than high treason itself.
The people of that era were taught to believe it a crime, while
we are taught to observe tolerance, to call it a privilege, a uni-
versal right, a question you cannot question, a foundation of
liberty, and the inalienable right of man. We accord to every
man the right to say what he chooses in the defamation of
Christ, to villify God's Holy Word, to write and talk Atheism,

18)

106 Christian Persecutions.

to denounce the Church, >the Bible as only the invention of
man, to say, do, act and scoff at worship. All these and
more, are the boasted rights we accord man, in our freedom of
speech, thought, deed, and action. The o'nly restraint we have
placed upon him is that he shall not disturb others while en-
gaged in devotion. It is not a restraint from the blasphemy
of God, but from interfering with the individual right which
each man has of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
With these privileges we have no right to charge, crime to a
church, nor to a law that lays down a penalty for the abuse
of all that is holy, sg,cred, and pure. In their rigid punishment
of heresy they may have gone too far, but in our liberalism
may we not have gone to the other extreme? They called it
a crime to deny God; we laugh and jest at the blasphemies of
His Holy Name. They taught reverence, obedience, and
justification; we teach the right of man to reverence nothing,
to obey nothing, and to worship nothimg. They taught
restraint; we are bound by none on earth, or heaven, or hell.
The whole realm of infinity is ours to revile, to curse, to
damn. Such is the boasted privilege of our vested rights in
the great kingdom of freedom. Glorious freedom! Freedom
of here'sy, of license, of power to defy, to scorn and scofY,
to persecute and crucify, and to breathe the words of slander,
jest, and falsehood. Shame to denounce one extreme and
allow the opposite. If, in their zeal for the welfare of the
future existence of man, they were too severe, have we not,
m return, desecrated the sacred worship ol God beyond tlie
hope of redemptibn, of salvation, and of eternal life? May
not our freedom of desecration bring upon us the damning

The Reformation. 107

words when in the day of judgment we are commanded to
depart from Me, for I know you not?

In the establishment of the Lutheran worship im Germany,
the reformers were constantly working upon the feelings and
prejudices of the German princes. To be free from the Church
of Rome was to have greater temporal power, more direct
access to the public treasury, and less restraint. As this
country was divided into many small kingdoms, it became the
great object of Luther to draw them into a closer alliance,
thus strengthening, not only their powers of possession, but
congregating a greater religious force by which the doctrine
of Luther will be more firmly established, the laws of the
Catholic Church abolished, and the destruction of the
monasteries made complete.

As the people under the princes were easily weaned from
their forms of worship, by the example of the lords and
nobles, it is not surprising to find the doctrine so universally
accepted. Where the people were slow to become reconciled
to this change force was introduced and they were compelled
to obey the mandates of those in authority. In order to have
unity of action in the explanation of their belief, and to prevent
any new reforms, a system of visitation was established, by
which commissioners would give instruction to the ministers
and prescribe rules of government. In 1527 Melanchthon, the
chief lieutenant of Luther, published his little book of "Visita-
tion for the Preservation of Unity in Doctrine and Worship."
This gave to the clergy a condensed form of Luther's doctrine
of worship. It gave instruction how to proceed, what to im-
press more forcibly, and how to explain it. Two years later

108 Christian Persecutions.

Luther issued his large and small Catechisms. Thus the faith
was established by a direct line of instruction. In 1542 con-
sistories were established and a system inaugurated by which
superintendents were appointed to carefully watch over the
future exposition of this new declaration of Reformation. A
rigid discipline was instituted, and the clergy commanded to
observe the rules of faith, and preach only the doctrine as
formulated by Luther and his co-laborers.

To further enhance the prejudices against the Pope, Luther
wrote "The Papacy at Rome an Institution of the Devil.''
In this work he used his greatest powers of expression. His
language was often coarse and almost vulgar. He upbraided
him with curses, and assailed him as a vile and impious
wretch. He denounced him as a creature of the devil, a false
prophet, a power of crime, a despot under the cloak of relig-
ion, a stench to humanity, and for the benefit of the true
worship of God, should be denied sovereignty, despoiled of
his possessions, and be an exile on the face of the earth. Con-
sidering these denunciations, is it any wonder that prejudices
grew rapidly, and that the Pope should seek to destroy his
poisonous influence by the power of conflict? And yet Luther
was never arrested for the violation of Church or State laws!
His body was never assailed, and his safe-conduct agreed to
when he went to the great Diets for examination.

To follow closely the rise of this Reformation we must
note some historical facts in relation to France, Italy, Spain,
and Germany. Charles I, of Spain, who afterwards became
Emperor Charles V, was the son of Pliilip the Handsome,
Archduke of Austria, and Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and

The Reformation. 109

Isabella of Spain. This marriage conferred upon him "the
converging point and heir of four great royal lines, which had
become united by a series of happy matrimonial alliances."
This alliance included the houses of Castile, Aragon, Austria,
and Burgimdy. To this was added, by the vote of the Elect-
ors of Germany, the sovereignty of the Holy Roman Empire,

Charles now having great combined strength, resolved to
consecrate his life to the restoration of the Pope's power over
all Christendom, and to destroy, not only the movement of
the Reformation, but the seeds that had been sown. It now
seemed to the world as if the fortunes of the Reformation,
this religious revolt, were lost. He placed himself at the head
of the Catholic party and was about to "employ the strength
and resources of his empire in repressing the heresy of
reform," when outside complications arose and he was obliged
to cease active demonstrations. These complications consisted
of the attitudes of Francis I, of France, and of Solyman, the
Magnificent, Sultan of Turkey. These two monarchies were
the most powerful dominions then in Europe. For some
reason, whenever Charles threatened a crusade against the
German heretics, these forces, sometimes acting in concert,
would arise against him and the crusade would be abandoned.

Four wars were waged against Charles, with disastrous
results to his kingdom and the Church of Rome. In the first
war Francis was defeated, but gathering strength by uniting
with the German Lutherans, he captured Rome, sacked the
city, and committed outrages only equaled by the terrible
days of the Goth and Vandal. It was a great victory for the
followers of Luther. They had retaliated for the excommuni-

110 Christian Persecutions.

cations and the edicts of the Pope. The ban was broken by
victory, the Pope's power destroyed by conquest, ruin, and
desolation. As the Imperial army was composed mostly of
Lutherans, the cry was, Down with the Pope! Down with
Catholic power! Down with the forces of Satan! Down for-
ever the curse of empires, of kingfdoms, and principalities!
Luther was avenged, and gloried that the Reformation was
made stronger, more enduring, and more perfect in the sight
of God.

In the third war Francis shocked all Christendom by
forming an alliance with the Turkish Sultan, who, with his
powerful fleets, ravaged the coasts of Italy, captured cities,
destroyed churches, burned monasteries and persecuted
Catholic Christians. In this war we find Turkish barbarity
trying to outdo its previous records of pillage, rapine, and
murder.

In the fourth war the rival forces gain nothing, and the
provinces are restored to the same possessors as before the
first war.

The result of these wars was disastrous to nearly all of
Europe. The strife between the followers of the Reformation
and the Catholic Church was bitter in the extreme, and
beyond the possibility of peace. They became possessed of a
hatred so deep-seated that, in principle, can never die.
Friends becanse enemies, and this enmity, in the struggle for
conquest, grew stronger and stronger. The Turks were ter-
rible in their ravages of Hungary, in the capture of Rhodes,
and in the pillage of the Mediterranean shores. Thousands
of Cathohcs were captured and chained to the oars of Turkish

The Reformation, 111

galleys, where they suffered the cruelties of untold persecu-
tion. They were slaves of a barbarous race, a race without
pity or compassion, a race devoid of Christian manhood and
tolerance, a race of despotic power, of unbroken cruelty, of
oppression, brutality, plunder, and crime.

History informs us that Charles made a desperate fight
with the Turks at Barbarossa, Tunis, defeating them and
setting free 20,000 Christian captives. For this brilliant
achievement all of Europe was wild with applause. The
Turks had become a menacing power to Christianity. Their
captives were made slaves, or butchered in relentless persecu-
tion. It was not warfare in the light of civilization, but scenes
of excessive cruelty, scenes of extermination, of prostitution
and slavery.

How little we, of the nineteenth century, realize the awful
persecution of our ancient Christian fathers! How little we
reverence those faithful men and women who, in the earnest
faith of a tme heart, surrendered life rather than suiTcnder
the conscience of their souls! What, then, can we say of those
who, in the full manhood of strength and power, in possession
of all that constitutes happiness, love, and affection, of their
own free will and accord, without provocation or excuse, and
of deliberate purpose, assail the vows of their worship, the
vows of constancy, the pledge of fidelity, the true cross of
Christ? If they will perjure their souls with the awful declara-
tion of apostate denial, what right have we to recognize them
in any form of truth, virtue or responsibihty? Is it no sin to
obligate one's self in the profession of faith, discipline, and
obedience, and then intentionally, wilfully, and maliciously

112 Christian Persecutions.

defame that faith, that discipHne, that obedience? Are you to
be raised to the subHme height of heroism, because you slan-
der the hand that kissed and blessed you? What form of
ingratitude is baser or more ignoble, than to spurn the love
and affection, the trust and confidence, of one who seeks only
for your benefit, who labors only for your reward, only for
the advancement of your pleasure and happiness?

If a man enter your house and ask for bread, and you greet
him with true Samaritan affection, what manner of reptile
must he be to accept your alms and then curse the hand that
gives it? What indignation must rise to your thoughts as you
think of his depraved nature, the lost manhood, and the
accursed Satan that must control his being? You lose your
respect for the unfortunate poor because of this blot on
humanity, this blot on God's handiwork, this barbarous and
ungrateful creature, this contemptible relic of a falsehood. to
life, a falsehood to nature, and a falsehood to charity. Words
cannot express your righteous indignation that there can
exist a wretch so vile, so mean, so low, so contemptible in the
measure of decency, so abhorring to all the blessings of virtue,
of truth, and of human sacrifice. And yet the world is full
of this saddest of all sad pictures, of a broken faith, unrequited
love, and cowardly desecration of God's command to give
charity to the poor, benevolence to the afflicted, and brotherly
love to all.

CHAPTER X.

ORIGIN OF THE REFORMATION.

J\ yi ANY books have been published in explanation of the
^ ' ^ cause and effects of the Reformation, but these books
widely differ in regard to its true origin, the true causes, and
the true effect upon mankind and his civilization. The unob-
servant reader becomes confused at the contradictions, the
lack of harmony, and the apparent desire to suppress facts.
Read from the life of Martin Luther, and these authors are
prejudiced almost wholly in the line of exultation over his
achievements, his great power of denunciation of all things
Catholic, and the establishment of a new doctrine of worship.
To accept the belief, or statement, of these authors is incon-
sistent with good judgment. Tliese versions are highly col-
ored in order to give honor, force, and prestige to the hero
they describe. While Luther was powerftil in his denuncia-
tion of the Pope, and in establishing a new creed, yet others
were equally earnest, and labored to place themselves at the
head of bands of reformers and secure a portion of the
notoriety.

The introduction and spread of Protestantism is not based
upon the same foundation. It differs materially in the differ-
ent countries where established. The cause in one country
may be wholly different than in another; in fact, there are
almost as many different causes as different governments
that embraced it.

114 Christian Persecutions.

In^Eu^and it was wliolly based upon the selfish desires of
the King, Henry VIII. He had become enamored with Anne
Boleyn, the beautiful maid of honor in the Queen's household,
and he conceived the plan of putting" away his own wife, and
by consent of the Pope, marry Anne. To this end he asked
for a divorce, but was refused, the Church laws being against
it. Enraged by the refusal to encompass his ends he rebelled
against the Church of Rome, made new appointments of arch-
bishops, established a court within the church and obtained
his divorce. Being excommunicated, he declared his people
no longer under the religious control of the Pope, and thus
established a new church, the Church of England.

In Germany it was an attempt of Martin Luther to engraft
his theology upon the Catholic Church, and failing, appealed
to the people to renounce their allegiance to the old doctrine
and become confessors of the new.

In France it was John Calvin and the Huguenots, while
in Switzerland it was Zwinglianism. In Holland the Puritans,
while Anabaptists were in Sweden, Germany and England.

It was a rivalry among restless and unrestrained agitators.
The Christian world was being shaken by the fiery zeal of
these would-be reformers. The atmosphere was charged with
the spirit of change, and the people were willing listeners to
the exhortations, the new worship of God, and the new plans
of salvation. Princes were appealed to to drop the allegiance
to the Church and place the revenues at their own disposal.
Jealous monarchs desired more territory and seized the Papal
States, confiscated revenues, levied tribute and destroyed the
peace of nations. Wars became unrestrained. Pillage, devas-

Origin of the Reformation. 115

tation, ruin, and bloodshed were almost everywhere. Men
fought for conquest, for religion, for church and for the gospel
of faith. It was a series of uncontrolled passion for and
against. They followed their leaders in blind fanaticism.
Down with the Pope and his influence! Down with the
Church of Rome, the monasteries, and all institutions of
Catholic learning!

Conventions were called to smooth the ways for peace, but
of no avail. The reformers were growing louder and louder,
and their declarations bolder and bolder. It was a whirlwind
sweeping the fields of religious revolt. The fire was being
fed by new exhortations, new appeals to throw off the bonds
of Popedom, and new manifestations of zeal in the cause of
this new Reformation. It was a religious reign of terror.
Like France in the days of Robespierre, it was a howling,
bellowing mob of religious revolt, of persecution of people,
property, and government.

History informs us that in the establishment of Prot-
estantism in Germany it was one long line of wars, conflicts,
and desolation. In two years (1524-1525) the "Peasants' War"
in Germany was one of the most destructive of that period.
It caused the sacrifice of over one hundred thousand lives,
while castles, monasteries, churches, chapels, were sacked and
burned. Men, women, and children were denied decent pro-
tection. Religious excitement was fanatic madness, influenced
by incendiary exhortations. The reformers were falling in
disfavor and disrepute, and although it was not wholly a
religious war, yet it is charged that the whole cause of foment
was due to their teachings and their influence in howling

116 Christian Persecutions.

against the Catholic Church. But be it as it may, the follow-
ers of the Roman Church were special marks for hatred,
malice, and persecution. They fought to defend their homes,
their honor, and their religion. It was a war against tolera-
tion, against religious freedom, and against the worship of
God, except under the dictatio'U of fanatical leaders.

This war was not closed until a large part of Germany
was made desolate by fire and sword. It was the old barbaric
frenzy of extermination. No quarter, no toleration, no Catho-
lic worship. It was the compulsion of Reformation to have
no faith but their faith, no church but their church, no wor-
ship but their worship. This exacting creed could see only
the proposed salvation of their own exposition. They were
right, and all who opposed them, or would not accept theii'
doctrine, were wrong and must be corrected by the force
of power.

While Luther was dealing out his Reformation to the peo-
ple of Germany, other reformers were at work in France and
Switzerland. In France it was John Calvin, while in Switzer-
land it was Ulric Zwingli. These two factions of the Prot-
estants were assailing the Pope and the Roman Church, but
at the same time John Ualvin was denouncing Zwingli as an
impostor and a mercenary heretic. This new conflict became
a menace to the cause of Reformation and came near pro-
ducing a rebellion in their own ranks.

We may, therefore, charge that the Reformation was
originated by the inventive resources of Martin Luther and
his allies; Henry VIII, and his licentious conduct; Ulric
Zwingli in Switzerland, John Calvin in France and Switzer-

Origin of the Reformation. 117

land, and numerous allies who sought excitement in pro-
claiming opposition to the Church of Rome. Most of these
reformers were apostate priests, and having been in influence
among the people, could easily command a following.

These men were those most prominent in the establish-
ment of religious revolt, which to-day has been divided and ^
subdivided, until the various creeds number hundreds of dif- /
fcrcnt denominations, while the Catholic Church remains the
same in principles of worship, stronger in the power of adher-
ence, of discipline, and of religious tolerance. Its influence
is felt over the entire civilized world. Its missions of worship
exist among all races of men, and its Christian influence is
advancing civilization, and with civilization we have a uni-
versal worship of Christ, the improvement of mankind, and
the establishment of trade, commerce, and industry.

Christianity not only teaches the blessings of religion, but
it educates the mind, develops the intelligence, and raises man
above the sphere of indifference, above lawless ignorance, and
above the base and brutal instincts of society. It is the great
central power of progress, or promotion, in the achievements
of thought and purpose. It seeks to build character, to
improve ambition, and to teach the soul the true mission
of life.

History informs us that from the date of Martin Luther's
first public declaration of Reformation, one hundred and
thirty years of terrible bloodshed and carnage ensued before
peace was again resumed. Not that it was one hundred and
thirty years of constant war, but a constant agitation, turmoil,
and periodic rebellions, and in the close of the war between

118 Christian Persecutions,

Protestants and Catholics we find thirty years of the most
stupendous desolation of life and property that the world
ever saw.

Almost exactly one hundred years from the time Martin
Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door of the court
church at Wittenberg, the "Thirty Years' War" was begun.
It was the last great religious conflict between these two
forces. The Catholics no longer sought to sustain their
religion by force of arms, but by the power of wisdom, of
constant vigilance, and the close application of its influence,
it would conquer the world to an acknowledgment of its
universal faith among all men.

How wonderful have been its achievements when to-day
we see this Church established in almost every city and hamlet
in the civilized world! It is no longer a cry to arms, but an
appeal to human nature. It is a diffusion of the Gospel of
St. Peter in all the commercial interests of life. It is the
acknowledgment of universal toleration, universal peace and
good-will, and universal Christianity in the hearts of the
people. It is no longer the jealousies of kings, princes and
potentates. It is the worship of God, the advancement of
love and kindness, and the establishment of the teachings of
Christ in all the nations of the earth.

CHAPTER XI.

MARTIN LUTHER.

ARTIN LUTHER was born at Eisleben, Saxony,
November 10, 1483, and died in 15-tG. At a very
young age he developed a remarkable genius for thought,
study and advancement in discussion. His parents were poor,
but determined to educate Martin in the profession of law,
but in this they were not successful. His early Cliristian
training was far more impressive than cjuestions of law, and
he became a conscientious and devout Catholic. He studied
for the ministry, and in 1507 was ordained to the priesthood.

Soon after being ordained he was passing through a forest
in company with a friend, when a terrible storm burst upon
them. His friend was killed by lightning, and as the fearful
bolts rent tree after tree he became stricken with an exceed-
ing great fear, and cried aloud: "Help me, dear St. Anna!
I will become a monk." True to this solemn vow he imme-
diately made arrangements to enter a monastery, and soon
bade adieu to his friends and took upon himself the monastic
vows that would forever pledge his faith, his works, and his
life to the cause of Christ and His Church.

Luther's life was one of strict observance of every vow and
requirement of his religious order. He rigidly demanded of
others the same principles he confessed, the same sacred
worship, and the same love of humanity. In the monasteries
he was loved for his filial duty to his superiors, his ardent
worship of Christ, and his purity of life.

119

120 Christian Persecutions.

His zeal for the Church was unbounded, and when sent
as a messenger to Rome, he traveled on foot from monastery
to monaster}^, across the Alps, his love of worship growing
stronger and stronger as he beheld the faithful administration
of love, kindness, and relief. At Florence he was delighted
with the management of the hospitals by Christian women,
and when for the first time he beheld Rome in all its grandeur
and magnificence, he was inspired with so deep a veneration
for that Sacred City that he fell upon his knees, and with
uplifted hands exclaimed: "Hail, Holy Rome! Oh, Rome!
Rome! The city of Christ, the city of St. Peter, and the city
of consecrated worship. How I love thee."

His admiration of Rome was increased as he visited its
historic monuments of greatness, its Colosseum, gardens,
aqueduct, ancient feats of engineering, its statues, and, above
all, the ecclesiastical buildings and the massive and imposing
structure of St. Peter's. For hours he viewed these structures
with admiration, and blessed God for the privilege of behold-
ing their splendor.

But not from the pleasure of viewing these holy buildings
did he derive his greatest satisfaction. He longed to stand
in the influence of Holy Authority and receive the spiritual
blessings which would gladden his pious longings. He would
make a full confession of all his sins, and in his toilsome
ascent of Pilate's stairway he would continue his praises to
God for the divine privilege of these favors in the Holy City
of Rome.

Luther returned to Germany with the highest aspirations
of Christian duties. He had become a devout admirer and

Martin Luther. 121

champion of the Pope. He had seen him and met him in
the purity of Christian faith. He had loved him from afar,
but now he was thrice loved and revered as he thought of
the Apostle Peter, of Christ, and of God. Luther's heart was
filled with true devotion to his Church, his religion, and his
vows. If he had loved his religion before, he now promised
to consecrate anew his life to the advancement of Christianity.
He had received new encouragements, new visions of eternal
life, and new veneration for the great head of the Catholic
Church.

His conduct at Rome won for him the esteem of the Pope
and those in high authority. His earnest Christian worship,
and fidelity to the cause of Christ, were everywhere regarded
as the offerings of a pure heart. He came to Rome for instruc-
tion, and returned filled with wisdom and truth. He came in
the expectation of a spiritual blessing and received it, and
went away in the full resolution of a dutiful son. He felt
more fully than ever the sanctity of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
and returned with a gracious vow of perpetual purity. He
knelt at the altar of St. Peter, and arose with the bright
visions of eternal peace.

The rapid promotion of Luther soon found him installed
as a professor of theology in the University of Wittenberg,
where he explained the Scriptures with great power of reason.
He became not only a follower, but a powerful leader. His
power of language and expression entranced his hearers, and
he became known throughout all Germany as one of the most
able and learned priests. He taught purity of thought, deed,
and action, and although priest might sin, yet he would not

(0)

122 Christian Persecutions.

condemn. His compassion was great, and forgiveness the
divine instruction of God.

Once when informed of the disgrace of a monk he said:
"That offenses come I know is necessary; the wonder is that
man rises and stands. Peter fell that he might know himself
to be a man. To-day the cedars of Lebanon, which touch the
heavens with their heads, are falling. Even an angel (a won-
der surpassing all wonders) fell in Heaven, and Adam in
Paradise. What wonder, then, if a reed be moved by the
wind, and the smoking flax be cjuenched!''

Here we have an example of Luther's compassion for his
fellow man. He seeks to mitigate the cause by the wonder
that man, under the temptations of life, can stand at all. He
realized the power of sin, the power of passion over wisdom,
the body over mind. He knew that even an angel in Heaven
could fall, that the Apostle Peter had even denied Christ,
and for man, or priest, to be perfect and free from sin, was
to claim divine origin. P>ut, while it was not impossible to
fall, yet he believed with Christian strength the d'esire for sin
could b'e controlled and tlic mind, the thougli't, the soul, would
rise above the body and temptation would fall harmless at
his feet.

Again, we find him in the character of giving advice, and
in a letter to Michael Dressel he explains as follows: "You
are seeking peace, but in the reverse order; for you are seek-
ing it as the world, and not as Christ gives. Do you not
know, good father, that God is wonderful in His people, just
because He has placed His peace in the midst of no peace.
Peace, therefore, is not to be found with the man whom no

Martin Luther. 123

one disturbs, for this is the peace of the world, but with Him
whom all men and all things disturb, and who, nevertheless,
calmly and joyfully bears all things. With Israel, you are
saying: Peace, peace; and there is no peace. Say, rather,
with Christ: Cross, cross; and there is no cross. For the
cross ceases to be a cross as soon as you can joyfully exclaim:
Blessed Cross, among all trees there is none like thee."

Such teaching is indeed grand, sublime. A cross is no
cross when it becomes the desire of the soul. In the perse-
cution of Christians the cross of crucifixion was nothing less
than the cross of eternal life. In the great Roman amphithe-
aters the cross the Christians bore was the forerunner of the
establishment of Christ's Church, the foundation of Chris-
tianity, and its advancement to all nations. It was the giving
of life that the Blessed Word of God might live forever.

Luther realized that the greatest obstacle to the advance-
ment of Christianity was the old Atheistic philosophy. He
saw that many were prone to believe that the best religion
was that which was easiest to perform, that they were disin-
clined to believe where it exercised restraint, penance, and
confession, and when this old pagan philosophy was placed
before them they chose to follow it, as it was the broad road
to a free imagination, with no remorse, no contrition of spirit,
and no punishment of the self-will of man. Luther saw the
sadness of this condition, and in his review of Aristotle, indig-
nantly exclaimed: "If Aristotle had not been of the flesh, I
should not hesitate in saying that he was of the devil.'' He
had no patience with this impious desecration of God's Holy
Name by denying the divinity of Christ and the salvation
of man.

124 Christian Persecutions.

Luther had now arrived at the age of understanding. He
had visited Rome, received the blessing of the Pope, declared
anew his allegiance to the Catholic Church, and in his deep
devotion had praised God for these unbounded blessings. He
had returned to Germany filled with the deepest reverence,
and yet he became the most violent opponent that Rome ever
saw. Reared in the lap of pure worship, raised to manhood
under the most powerful ties of brotherhood, and blessed in
the sweet communion of love, he 3'et renounced his Christian
vows, the Church of his devout worship, and the power of
Christ in Rome.

Henry VHI denounced the Pope and estabHshed the
Church of England, because he could not be permitted to
follow his licentious nature by breaking marriage vows.
Napoleon imprisoned and persecuted Popes to extort privi-
leges by which he could become the head of both Church and
State. Voltaire, Rousseau, and Aristotle persecuted Qiris-
tianity, not by deeds of violence, but by the sophistry of logic.
They drew pictures of infidelity, and in the imagination of
their inventive genius they declared there was no God, no
Divine inspiration, no salvation, no soul.

But what can we say of Martin Luther? Was he evil in
mind and licentious in nature? No! No priest was ever
purer in heart than was he. Was he won by the teachings of
philosophy? His answer to Aristotle is evidence of his abhor-
rence of all sophistry and all inventions of reason. Was he
like Napoleon, arbitrary and despotic? No, his nature was
one of forgiveness, compassion, and love. Then why, may we
ask, did this worthy, pious monk renounce his Church, his

Martin Luther. 125

fellowship, his vows? To answer this, we might ask in return,
why does sin exist? Why was man made to break the cove-
nants of God? Why did persecution follow Christ, even after
his death? These are things that are beyond the comprehen-
sion of man. We are created, we live, we love, we die. The
inspiration of God may brighten our souls to-day, but to-mor-
row the black clouds of idolatry may shroud our being in
mystery.

History informs us that it was not the intention of Luther
to renounce the Church, but to ingraft his logic into it. He
had become a great teacher, and in many respects a philoso-
pher— not a philosopher in the denunciation of Christ, but
in the exposition of Christianity. He believed he had formu-
lated a new system for the general interpretation of Christian
worship, and in his ninety-five theses he would revolutionize
the whole Catholic dogma. These arguments, which were
advanced by Luther to sustain his views of worship, were in
many cases directly opposite to the tenets of the Catholic
Church, and immediately the priest, the monk, the professor,
the philosopher came into open warfare with the Church
at Rome.

Luther's denunciation of the Catholic religion caused a
sensation, and spread consternation and dismay. Was it pos-
sible for this learned professor to openly disavow the princi-
ples upon which the Church rested, and which he had repeat-
edly vowed in the most solemn manner to sustain and defend?
Is it any wonder that in fourteen days this startling intelli-
gence was heralded over all Germany, and in two months
that nearly the whole of Europe should read of Luther's

126 Christian Persecutions.

Reformation? These ninety-five theses, the product of
Luther's reasoning, were printed everywhere. Tlie audacity
of this great philosopher to openly antagonize the Pope, to
set up a new doctrine of worship, to proclaim his tenets to
the world, was indeed a remarkable transformation.

The whole life of Luther was one of startling events. His
actions were the outcome of impulse rather than modest sub-
mission. His determination to enter the monastery was sud-
den and unlooked-for. His vow to St. Anna, in the midst of
a terrible storm, was but the impetuous demonstration of his
being. His position in the University of Wittenberg was an
unlooked-for promotion in his line of aspirations. His ninety-
five arguments against the Church of Rome were the results
of the teacher and not of the priest and scholar. He was
called to teach theology, and he would invent that which
would please him most. He had reasoned and he must sow
his thoughts. He saw defects and must wipe out the whole
structure. He believed mankind was blind, and he would
open their eyes. In his mind's eyes he saw food for imagina-
tion, for conception, for invention. The world was wicked,
and he would destroy its evil. It was lost in worship, and he
would lead in reformation.

While Luther's remarkable utterances were read, discussed
and denounced by many priests, monks, and professors, yet
the Pope was slow to condemn, Leo X was free to grant the
widest discussion possible. He was liberal-minded in his
views of worship, and granted to all the right to think and
act. Secretly he was amused at the controversy between what
he called monastic wrangling. "Brother Martin has a very

Martin Luther. 127

fine head, and when he has recovered from the effect of too
much drink the illusion will be dispelled." He could not
believe so ardent a Catholic, and one so bound by devotion,
by i^ledges of faith, by monastic vows, could mean antagonism
against the Church.

On being mildly rebuked by Leo X for the public expres-
sion of his new theology, Luther writes, explaining that, as
professor of the University of Wittenberg, it became his duty
to teach theology, and in doing so he had exercised only the
right conferred upon him. He assured the Pope that there
was nothing dangerous in his line of teachings. It was only
the dissemination of benefits to the Church, the people, and
the cause of Christianity. In closing, he says: "Quicken,
kill, call, recall, approve, reprove, as you please. I will
acknowledge your voice as that of Christ, presiding and
speaking in you."

Again we see the impulsiveness of Luther's nature. If he
had offended, he w^ould submit to whatever chastisement the
Pope might inflict. He believed in the Pope, and yet he
wrote against him. He believed that he represented Christ,
yet he would reason against it. He believed that the authority
of the Pope must be recognized, yet he taught disobedience.
He believed that the decisions of the Pope were just, yet he
taught that Christians should be bound by their conscience.
With him the Church was right if we believed in its teachings,
but wrong if we saw its defects. He desired to be in com-
munion with Rome, yet he persisted in uttering his own
theology.

When Luther was called for trial we find this remarkable

128 Christian Persecutions.

presentation of his position: "I, Brother Martin Luther, the
Au^stinian, protest that I revere and follow the Holy Roman
Church in all my words and deeds, present, past, and future.
If anything otherwise has been said I wish it unsaid. I protest
that I am not conscious of having said anything contrary to
Holy Scripture, the Church Fathers, the papal decrees, or
right reason, but that all that I have said seems to me to-day
to be sound, true, and Catholic. Nevertheless, as I am not
infallible, I have submitted myself, and now submit myself
to the judgment and determination of the lawful holy Church,
and to all of better mind. Besides, I offer either here or else-
where to present publicly a reason for my statements. But
if this is not agreeable to Your Reverence, I am ready either
to respond in writing to the objections urged and to hear the
judgment and decision of the doctors of the renowned Im-
periial Uniiversities of Basel, Freiburg, Louvain; or, if they be
not enough, of Paris also, the parent of studies, and from
antiquity ever the most Christian University, and that in
which theology has been particularly cultivated."

This statement of Luther is given as evidence that he
believed in the Church of Rome, the Pope and his decrees, but
at the same time appeared unconscious of having written
aught that was antagonistic to them. He was confronted with
forty-one errors, and asked to recant. These errors were
statements made in his theses, and antagonized the laws of
the Catholic Church. Luther respomded with gross insults to
the Pope and in his address, "To the Emperor and the Nobility
of the German Nation, on the Improvement of Christian
Morals," formally severed himself from the Church by reject-

Martin Luther. 129

ing the hierarchy, denying the priesthood, calling upon the
temporal powers to rise up against the Pope, deprive him
of all government, abolish the taxes for his support, abrogate
all issues of censures, permit the clergy to marry, discard
masses for the dead, discard requirements for fasting, absti-
nence from flesh on Friday, and other important tenets of the
Catholic Church. This address was published throughout all
Germany, and the financial advantages to be gained by the
Princes and Nobility won many ardent supporters for a com-
plete severance of the power of Rome.

The entire continent was now deeply involved in the dis-
cussion of this great controversy. Would the Pope excom-
municate Luther for his bold attack on the entire system and
body of the Roman Catholic Church? Was Luther a heretic,
and was he advocating a doctrine that would destroy the
Church? These were questions of such vast importance that
the world waited with feverish anxiety for the outcome of
this deadly feud.

On the 15th of July, 1520, the Pope issued a bull com-
manding Luther, on the penalty of excommunication, to
renounce, within sixty days, his ninety-five theses, and other
offensive language he had hurled against the Pope and the
Church. Failing to meet the demand, he was formally excom-
municated, and in February, 1521, the Pope commanded the
Emperor and Princes of the German Empire to enforce the
law against heretics who had been excluded from the com-
munion of the Church by excommunication. The adherents
of Luther, with the noted Elector Frederic, asked for further
examination, and, by consent, Luther appeared at "The Diet

130 Christian Persecutions.

of Worms," but, as before, refused to renounce even one state-
ment previously made. "I neither believe the Pope nor the
ecumenical councils alone, since it is quite certain and mani-
fest that they have frequently erred and contradicted them-
selves. My conscience is captive to God's Word. I neither
can nor will recall anything. God help me! Amen."

Thus the last effort to counsel with Luther proved fruit-
less, and a hopeless separation ensued. Luther returned to
Wittenberg, where, in the presence of the students, he burned
the bull, and thus declared himself forever free from the Pope,
the Church, the priesthood, and the vows of faithful adherence
to the Roman Catholic Church. On the 26th of May he was
placed under the ban of the empire, and all persons, universi-
ties, and states were prohibited from affirming, defending,
preaching, or in any way, publicly or privately, expressly or
silently, favoring the doctrine of Luther, under pain of excom-
munication; and wherever his writings are found they shall
be publicly burned and denounced as heresies, and, as far as
possible, the teachings of apostasy shall be driven from the
folds of the Church.

Luther, in a spirit of retaliation, replies as follows: "Where
art thou, most excellent Emperor Charles? and, where are
you, ye Christian kings and princes? Can you, who have
made oath to Christ in baptism, endure these Tartarean
declarations of Antichrist? Where are you, ye bishops, ye
doctors, ye confessors of Christ's name? In the presence of
these horrible portents of the Papists, can you keep silent?
Thee, Leo X, and you, ye cardinals of Rome, I address and
to your face I freely say: If this bull has gone forth in your

Martin Luther. 131

name, and with your knowledge, and you acknowledge it, I
will use my authority, by which, in baptism, by the mercy of
God, I became a son of God, and co-heir with Christ, and
was placed upon a firm rock, which dreads neither the gates
of hell, nor heaven, nor earth. I exhort and admonish you in
the Lord, to repent, and to make an end to these diabolical
blasphemies, and that too, speedily. Unless this be done,
know that I, with all that worship Christ, will regard your See
possessed of Satan, and the accursed abode of Antichrist,
whom we not only cannot obey, but detest and execrate, as
the chief enemy of Christ. For this declaration we are ready,
not only to bear with joy your foolish censures, but even not
to ask you to absolve us or account us of your memberage;
we offer ourselves for death, that you may satisfy your bloody
tyranny. But, if the spirit of Christ and the power of our
faith avails, should you persevere in your fury after this has
been written, we condemn you and, together with the bull and
all its decretals, deliver you to Satan, for the destruction of
your flesh, that your spirit may be delivered to the day of
the Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, whom
you persecute. Amen."

We almost hold our breath at the awful denunciations of
the apostate monk. He almost assumes the position of divine
authority when he declares that "I am a son of God, and
co-heir with Christ, and was placed upon a firm rock, which
dreads neither the gates of hell, nor heaven, nor earth.'' And
further, "Unless this be done, know that I, with all that wor-
ship, will regard your See possessed of Satan, and the ac-
cursed abode of Antichrist, whom we not only cannot obey,
but detest and execrate, as the chief enemy of Christ.''

132 Christian Persecutions.

We now see the man in the fullness of a dictator. If he
could not place his philosophy as the truths of the Church
he would call down the wrath of Heaven to punish those who
would not believe. The great Church of Christ had erred.
It had blasphemed against Luther. The co-heir with Christ
had been excommunicated, and now the wrath of injured
innocence must descend in flames of living fire. The Pope
must be possessed of Satan and the accursed abode of Anti-
christ. The vials of wrath must be poured on the heads of

■^ those who could not believe as he believed. He must be con-
sidered infallible. He- was professor of theology at the Uni-
versity of Wittenberg, and had studied the Scriptures with a
deep understanding. It was not what the Apostle Peter had
bequeathed to the Church, but what Martin Luther had con-
cluded should be in. He was to be the authority, the law,
the gospel.

Luther's terrible denunciation of the Catholic Church
brought dangers to his person by infuriated men, and to
avoid the penalty of imprisonment by disobedience to the
St^te authority he was forced into retirement, and for a year
was not known to the outside world. During this period he

\ translated the Bible into German, fitting it, as has been
charged, to suit his own system of belief. When conscience
reproached him he laid its torments to the persecutions of the
Devil. He was an incessant worker in his vineyard of reform.
Now placed upon the defensive by being excommunicated, he
opened his rapid-fire guns in almost ceaseless roar. So great
was his productive ability that in five months he had written
seven different publications of considerable length, all teem-

Martin Luther. 133

ing.with denunciations against the Pope and a defense of his
ninety-five theses, or arguments, against the Church.

It was this wonderful abiHty to constantly place before
the German people something new, or demonstrative, that
gained their admiration and confidence. They were consider-
ing this ability as a gift from God, and their belief became
stronger and stronger as he became more bold and defiant.
Luther knew his powers of exhortation, and everywhere
sought to convince the people that his belief, his theology, was
the word of God. So strong were his utterances in publica-
tions and in speech that his word was being accepted as the
true gospel of worship.

Again does it become necessary to quote his astounding
utterances against the Church. On December 10, 1520, he
posted the following declaration on the bulletin board of the
University of Wittenberg:

"All friends of evangelical truth are invited to assemble
about nine o'clock at the Church of the Holy Cross beyond
the city wall. There, according to ancient apostolic usage,
the godless books of the Papal constitutions and Scholastic
Theology will be burned, inasmuch as the presumption of the
enemies of the Gospel has advanced to such a degree that
they have cast the godly, evangelical books of Luther into the
fire. Let all earnest students, therefore, appear at the spec-
tacle; for it is now time when Antichrist must be exposed.''

At the appointed hour hundreds of students gathered at
the appointed place with great expectancy. With intense
excitement they saw Luther build a pyre upon which he
placed the books of canonical law which came in conflict with

134 Christian Persecutions.

his theology, and as the fire seized these sacred laws he hurled
into the flames, with great violence, the bull of the Pope,
exclaiming: "Because thou dost trouble the Holy One of the
Lord, may eternal fire consume thee!" Before the books were
consumed Luther withdrew, leaving the students to continue
in the entire destruction. Left to their own diversion they
represented the affair as one of levity, singing funeral hymns,
marching in mock procession, preaching farewell sermons;
and to continue the orgies of persecution, they prepared a
wagon, with floats, marching through the streets of the city
and crying that Papal authority was forever burned and
destroyed. To continue the excitement they gathered other
books of the Church, and with renewed processions continued
the work of desecration. All day long the rabble gloried in
their wild, reckless demonstrations of mockery. They drank
to the health of Luther, and cried against the decrees of the
Pope. They cheered for one and groaned for the other. They
praised God for His expositions of truth through Luther, and
spat at the Pope as though he were in communion with Satan.
So strong were their demonstrations that Luther, the next
day, censured them to some extent for their levity. The
solemnity of the occasion was broken by these brutal attacks,
and while it did not materially affect the motives of Luther,
yet to many reasoning minds it was cruel and unjust, and had
more the appearance of studied revenge than the progress of
Reformation.

On the following day Luther issued the following edict:
"If, with your whole heart, you do not separate from the
dominion of the Pope, you cannot be saved. In this wicked

Martin Luther. 135

world I would rather endure all perils than, by silence, burden
my conscience with the account I must render to God."

Knowing- that a terrible storm was in the atmosphere, and
fearing its consequences, he again writes to the Pope: "If
Christ loves you He will compel you to recall that declaration,
since in the" bull everything is condemned that you have here-
tofore taught concerning the mercy of God. This is no time
for fear, but for raising- the alarm, when our Lord Jesus
Christ is condemned, dishonored and blasphemed. I exhort
you, therefore, to humble your pride with as much urgency
as you exhort me to humility; for you have too much humility
as I have too much pride. But it is a serious matter to see
Christ suffering. If heretofore we had to keep silent and be
humbled, now, when throughout the world our Savior is made
sport of, shall we, I ask, not contend for Him? Shall, we not,
for His sake, offer our necks? My Father, the danger is
greater than many believe. Here the Gospel begins to have
its application: 'Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him
will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven;
but whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny
before My Father which is in heaven.' "

In another letter we find his remorse of conscience ever
troubling him in his dreams: "Last night I had a dream con-
cerning you. I thought you were leaving me, and that I was
most bitterly weeping; but I was pacified when you said
that you would return."

It is not ■ necessary to explain the ficklemindedness of
Luther. His letters and violent declarations are in complete
opposition. To-day he declares the Church is the foundation

136 Christian Persecutions.

of Antichrist, and to-morrow appeals to the Pope to come to
the rescue of our Lord Jesus Christ. His mind was in one
constant state of fear. In his passionate appeals to the people
he goes to the extreme limit of persecution, and in the reaction
he sues for mercy, comfort, and consolation. Had these
waverings of his own faith been known to his followers, the
Reformation of Martin Luther might have never been. But
in the magnetism of his unexplained nature he swayed multi-
tudes, molded opinion, installed a new theology, and brought
into existence the foundation of all future Protestant religions.

CHAPTER XII.

MARTIN LUTHER— Continued.

\ X TE will not continue with a minute discussion of Luther's
' ^ course, or the action of others. He was almost con-
stantly engaged in writing books and pamphlets sustaining
his position and denouncing the Pope. The Edict of Worms
had condemned him as an outlaw in the eyes of the CathoHc
Church, and demanded punishment, but, having the powerful
aid of several princes and bishops, he was not arrested and
brought to justice. The German people were so astounded
at the boldness of his accusations and his continuous words
of defense, that they were unwilling to denounce him as a
heretic, or to think of him otherwise than as one commissioned
from God.

To break monastic vows was regarded as a great wrong
against the Church, against obedience, and against honor.
But Luther determined to free the minds of others, if not his
own, by a publication reflecting upon these vows as unholy,
unchristian, and as conflicting with the fulfillment of the
duties he owed to God. In his pamphlet, "Monastic Vows,"
he most determinedly points out the errors of a monk's life,
the inconsistent requirements of duty, and the ungodly perse-
cution of the rights of man, claiming that man falsified him-
self when he vowed himself to celibacy, to confession, to
penance, and to the holy requirements of his faith. He called
upon all monks to renounce their obligations and their alle-

(10) 137

138 Christian Persecutions.

giance to Rome. Some obeyed this call and were married,
while others refused to become apostates, and remained true
to the worship of God under the protection of the Catholic
Church.

Luther, himself, followed the course which he had urged
others to take, and in the year 1525, at the age of forty-two
years, and in defiance of his priestly and monastic vows, mar-
ried a Cistercian nun, named Catherine von Bora. This act
startled and surprised Luther's friends, and even Erasmus,
one of the greatest admirers of his opposition to the Roman
Church, scofifingly writes: "This undertaking of Luther's
appears to many a tragedy, but he himself must hold it for a
comedy, as everything ends with a marriage."

Luther went so far in his opposition to the celibacy of the
clergy, and to monastic vows, as to declare that such religious
vows were against the teachings of Christ; that they were
tyrannical, contrary to nature, and blasphemies against the
laws of God. He held, therefore, that the law of clerical
celibacy should be abolished; that monastic vows should not
only be annulled, but made severely punishable, and all
monasteries leveled to the ground.

Besides his violent opposition to monastic institutions,
he just as violently opposed the time-honored sacrifice of the
Mass, and wantonly set aside every feature of Catholic ven-
eration, or invocation, thus forbidding the honoring of saints,
a reverence for pictures, relics, images, or any representation
that carries to the mind of the true Catholic the remembrance
of the original.

'Luther was often asked by what right he had exalted

Martin Luther. 139

himself over ; pes, bishops, councils, doctors, and fathers,
and set himself nj; as a reformer? If he had received a com-
mission from God, why not prove it by the manifestation of
miracles, or by signs and wonders, as apostles and prophets,
had done before him? While he did not respond to these
questions, yet he commanded that others who were preach-
ing a different reform theology from his must prove that they
were commissioned by some miraculous power of God, or
be condemned for heresy.

Luther's controversial power consisted more in his bold-
ness of declaration than soundness of argument in his defense.
As he was eloquent in making his assertions and positive in
every statement uttered, he easily gave his opinions the force
of absolute facts. He would not admit the possibility of being
wrong, and as he placed his hand upon the Bible, he declared
that this book was his guide, and from it he drew his wisdom
and his exposition of faith. For him there was no require-
ment of miracles, signs or wonders. The power of under-
standing and the comprehension of the Word of God were
all-sufficient.

The boldness of his assertions gave to him the seeming
appearance of being in the right, and when it was shown
that his teachings were purely arbitrary and in direct opposi-
tion to councils and fathers, he would respond that councils
and fathers were of the earth earthy, but that his teachings
were from the Word of God, the Holy Scripture, the Un-
deniable Truth. If he were questioned as to his right
understanding of the Divine Word, and told that his inter-
pretation of it was against reason, he was ready to reply that

140 Christian Persecutions.

it was the Devil that misled the Romish priests in measuring
the Word of God by reason, and that reason, was a beast
whom the Christian was, on the contrary, bound to denounce
•and destroy. Reason, he said, was the Atheistic doctrine of
denial of Divine Authority. It was the Devil clothed in
sophistry, and he who listens to it may depart from the true
light of God.

If, however, the words in question were so clearly ex-
pressed that he could not deny that his own doctrine did
not agree with them, he would appeal from the text to Christ,
and say, that as he had the Lord and Master of the Scripture
on his side he did not need to inquire into every passage by
itself; or else, to sustain his doctrine, he would change the
passage so as to conform to his teachings. Thus, for instance,
in Romans iii, 28, he allowed himself to interpolate the word
"alone" into the text, in order to support his doctrine that
faith "alone" sufficed for justification. When this error was
objected to he replied: Should any Papist be wishing to get
rid of that word "alone" tell him at once that Doctor Martin
Luther will have it there, and he says, "a Papist is just the
same thing as an ass." ,

Thus we find that Luther, in the translation of his Bible
did, in numerous places, change the real meaning so as to
conform to his ideas of teaching. In his theology he believed
that the exposition of Divine Truth should convey such and
such impressions, and in his exalted wisdom it was eminently
proper to either drop out or interpolate words, according as
it seemed to accord with his understanding.

In a letter to his father we find that Luther desires to

Martin Luther. 141

explain how and why he has broken faith, and writes: "I
send this book, therefore, to you, in order that you may see
by what signs and power Christ now has freed me from my
monastic vow, and given me such hberty that, although I
have been made the servant of all, yet I am subject to no
one but to Him alone. For He is my immediate Bishop,
Abbot, Prior, Lord, Father, and Master. None other do
I know.''

In one of his exhortations we find Luther entreating his
brethren to give up the services of Mass. "Dear sirs, abandon
the Mass. Your way of celebrating it is not right, and you
are sinning and provoking God's wrath." It was not until
152-i that the people of Wittenberg were induced to give up
the long-established services of Mass. It was a great struggle
of conscience, but the logic of this man prevailed, and he won
control, and the cherished form of worship was abandoned.

Among the most fiery and vehement opposers of Luther
and his doctrine, was Flenry VIII, King of England, who
afterwards became the Pope's bitterest foe. Henry, in writ-
ing to the Pope, declares that Luther must be punished for
disobedience, heresy, and the desecration of God's Holy
Church, Measures must be taken to terminate the propaga-
tion oT Lutheranism, which poisoned the mind and meant
spiritual death. That Luther was possessed of the Devil, and
his teachings were more pernicious than were all the Turks,
Saracens, and unbelievers combined. By his urgent appeals
to stamp out the heresy, and punish the offender, Henry was
given the title of "Defender of the Faith."

The spread of Luther's Reformation was not exactly in

142 Christian Persecutions.

the line of his expectation and wishes. Other reformers
appeared upon the field, and, in pointing out the errors of
Luther, sought to establish a religion of their own. Promi-
nent among these new prophets were Zwickau, John Calvin,
and Zwingli. Zwickau declared that all knowledge should be
founded upon and confined to the Bible, schools should be
abolished, and all study restricted to the teachings of Christ.
In Switzerland there arose a new order called Zwinglians,
who differed with Luther on many points of doctrine, and
became powerful in many localities. Then we find that John
Calvin, a Frenchman by birth, who was forced to leave
France, established another powerful branch of opposition to
Martin Luther at Geneva. Then followed subdivision after
subdivision, until the number of denominations and churches
\ became greater and greater, and even to this day are being
remodeled, revamped, and placed on new foundations of faith.
A new feature now arises upon the horizon of the fame of
Luther and his co-laborers in the field of reformation. The
peasant people were everywhere being aroused against popes,
princes, nobility, wealth, religion, and all society. They were
having too much agitation,, too much controversy, too much
religion. Luther had broken the restraint placed upon them
by the Catholic Church, and the wild terrors of war were soon
raging. This war is known in history as "The Peasants'
War.'' The peasants were aroused to madness by the oppres-
sion of their feudal lords, and through the religious excite-
ment that filled the air, they saw their wrongs multiplied, their
oppression intensified and their way made clear to open revolt.
They saw Luther denounce the Pope, denounce the Church,

Martin Luther. 143

and denounce their mode of worship. They saw and felt these
influences and having broken their allegiance to the Church
of Rome, were beyond restraint. Their ravages were most
terrible and destructive. They reviled the priests, sacked and
burned castles and monasteries, destroyed images of Christ
and the Virgin Mary, jeered at the worship of God, com-
mitted desperate crimes against women and children, and in
the mad frenzy of uncontrolled rage they equaled the Reign
of Terror in the days of Robespierre. For nearly a year this
desperate carnage of death, fire, and destruction, swept the
provinces of Germany. During this period of Reformation
nearly one hundred thousand lives had been sacrificed, a
large part of Southerfi Germany made desolate, and the
peasants distracted in religion, faith, and truth. They had
been conquered, but were embittered against God and man.
The quiet of previous years had been turned into anarchy,
bloodshed, and ruin. The gospel of Christ was reviled, hated,
and trampled upon, and although Luther professed horror
at the terrible strife, yet many of his religious co-partners were
leaders in this great insurrection. History asserts that this ^
war was instituted for the purpose of destroying the Church of
Rome, persecuting Catholics, and establishing a reform gov-
ernment in both Church and State, and in this charge Martin
Luther is held responsible just in proportion as his influence
stirred the people from a peaceful submission to becoming the
outlawed rebels of the empire. '

After this rebellion another attempt was made by the
Church of Rome to pacify the provinces of Germany and
establish mutual relations between them and the Pope. The

144 Christian Persecutions.

Second Diet of Spires was called to discuss the matter, and
to seek an understanding, if possible. This body issued an
order to all Catholics, and to all the people, not to promote
the spread of these new doctrines until there had been a thor-
ough examination of the various forms and principles of wor-
ship and a decision made in regard to them. But the revolt
of seven of the German princes and a large number of cities
in the empire was the final downfall of the direct influence of
the Roman Church in these provinces. Those in opposition
to the edict of the Second Diet of Spires issued a formal
protest against the action of the Diet, and because of this
protest, the reformers were called from this time on by the
name of Protestants.

The great revolt against the Church of Rome seemed to
have almost circled the world. Nearly all of Europe, except
Spain and Italy, had denounced the Catholic Church, and
even in these countries it was strongly assailed with these
new dogmas of Reformation, and but for causes arising which
checked the advance of Protestantism, the revolt from Rome
would have become universal, and the old ecclesiastical empire
would have been broken up. But this was not to be the
destiny of the Church. Its mission on earth had not been
filled, and again it seems as though God stayed the hand of
Reformation and turned the tide of revolt from a triumphant
victory to one of dissensions and counter-reform. These
causes may be considered as: Divisions among the Protest-
ants, Catholic counter-reform, and the rise of the Order of the
Jesuits. The divisions among the Protestants have already
been mentioned. The Catholic Counter-Reform was the

Martin Luther. • 145

active working of Catholics in places where the Protestants
were being broken up by rival sects, and their faith in Refor-
mation shaken. Such Protestants were urged to return to
the original Church of their faith, with assurances that the
Church of Rome was meeting the wants of the people by
establishing new features of government between the Church
and the State. Also, that the doctrines of its faith were so
clearly expressed that all could understand. These assur-
ances won many who were really at sea as regards their
religious worship. They desired some excuse for returning.
As the Reformers themselves were seeking to undermine
each other, it was easy to resist their influence and return
to the Catholic faith.

The Order of Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, was a most
powerful agent in assisting in the re-establishment of the
authority of the Pope. The founder of this society was St.
Ignatius Loyola, a native of Spain, who conceived the idea
of organizing a society for the purpose of defending the Cath-
olic Church in all the kingdoms of Europe, where Protestant
influence had become a powerful factor, and threatened to
overthrow, not only the religious creed, but its power of
State government. This Society of Jesus established branch
societies everywhere, and by its powerful influence, energy,
and devotion, it quietly and secretly counteracted the zeal and
activity of the reformers. They soon became thoroughly
organized, and not a movement of Protestant opposition was
made, but the whole line of Catholic sentinels was posted and
efforts made to defeat them. They became thoroughly dis-
ciplined in their mission, were ever watchful, and a constant

146 Christian Persecutions.

and uncompromising foe to the enemies of the Church. Not
only were they sentinels and watchdogs of Europe, but they
organized a system of missions in other countries. They
saw the necessity of constant work at home and abroad, and in
their zeal and fidelity to their Christian worship, they spread
Christianity in all the countries of India, Japan, the islands
of the oceans, and finally traversed the great continent of
America. To these earnest patriots of CathoHc faitli may be
traced much of the reaction which soon followed to the great
benefit of the present Roman Catholic Church.

At the time of the organization of the Jesuits, Protestant
influence was dominant in the countries of Germany, Den-
mark, Norway, Sweden, England, Scotland, and large por-
tions of Switzerland and the Netherlands, while the Church
of Rome held only the countries of France, Spain, Italy, and
Ireland. The dissensions of the now numerous sects of
Protestants, the Catholic Counter-Reform, the Order of
Jesuits, and the enforcement of the laws against heresy, com-
bined to hold the countries of France, Spain, Italy and Ire-
land, while in all the other countries of the world it com-
menced a new organization, stronger, more perfect in dis-
cipline, more faithful in precepts, and more enduring. It had
been a great lesson to the Church, and henceforth it would
work, not by the power of princes and nobles, but by the
Word of God, the power of Christ, and the purity of the
Virgin Mary. It was a lesson dearly bought, but one made
necessary to purify the Church, to expand the gospel, and to
teach Christian worship beyond the confines of Europe. God
had commanded that His Word should be preached in all the

Martin Luther. 147

countries of the earth. The Church had established itself in
Europe. It had become powerful in the government of king-
doms, empires, and principalities, and in its magnificent
greatness had left the great pagan world to its own idolatry.
The lessons of self-denial must be taught anew; the Cruci-
fixion of Christ must become nearer and dearer; the virtue of
true worship must be better appreciated; the zeal, fidelity, and
endurance of true loyalty must be tested, and a new light in
the service of God must brig-hten the earth. Tliese were
lessons that must be observed in the great expansion of
Truth. They were the lessons of Christ as he taught the
multitudes in his earthly life. They were the lessons taught
by the Apostle Peter in the great persecution of Rome, and
they are the lessons of to-dav, which only grow brighter
and brighter as Christian enlightenment encircles the globe.

Among the most worthy Jesuits who taught Christianity
in foreign lands was the distinguished Francis Xavier, known
as the Apostle of the Indies. His labors in India, Japan,
and other, countries of the East, were marked by the wonder-
ful success of his missions. His earnest work developed a
Christian influence that can never die. He established the
Gospel of worship wdiere the light of Christianity was never
seen before. The name of Francis Xavier has ever been
revered for his patient endurance, his earnest and never-
complaining labor, and his faithful observance of Christian
duties. He became known throughout India as a man of
truth and love, a man of sympathy and tenderness, a man
of holy purity, a man whose life was devoted to the Christian
advancement of his fellow creatures.

-A

148 Ohkistian Persecutions.

Francis Xavier was not alone in the work of spreading
the gospel of Christ. Volumes could be written of the cheerful
sacrifice of life and the unstinted application of ability of hun-
dreds of holy men, who have braved the dangers of exploration
and the dangers of savage warfare. In the early days of
America they taught the savage tribes of New England, of
the Great Mississippi Valley, on the Pacific Coast, and in the

\ home of the Montezumas. In history these names are credited
with opening the way of civilization, of preparing the gates
of immigration, and soothing the hatred of Indian discontent.
Among these men we find the ever-to-be-remembered names
of Fathers Hennepin, La Salle, Johet, and Marquette. These
men were missionaries and explorers of the Northern Lakes,
and the Mississippi Valley. They founded many missions
among the Indians and opened trade for the benefit of the
world.

But we will return to the Church of Rome. This separa-
tion, this Reformation, was a tearing down of the relations
between Church and State. It was a transfer of the making of
ecclesiastical laws to the States themselves, and in the re-
cstablishment of true worship the Church sought only to
spiritually improve the mind, to teach obedience to God's
Laws, and sustain purity, truth, and devotion. The loss of
temporal power in no wise crushed the power and glory of

"^ the Church, which is coeval with the beginning of Christian-
ity, and will be sustained until the end of time.

The greatest compliment which has ever been bestowed
upon the Church was by Macaulav, the great English his-
torian, when, in discussing the loss of temporal power, he

Martin Luther. 149

says: "ThePapacy still remains, not a mere antique, but
full of life and youthful vigor. The Pope is to-day the
supreme Head of a Church that was great and respected
before Saxon had set foot on Britain, before the Frank had "^
passed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished in
Antioch, when idols were still worshiped in the temple of
Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigor when
some traveler from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast
solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to
sketch the ruins of St. Paul's."

What a tribute to the glory and endurance of the Church y

of St. Peter. He sees its existence when empires and nations
have passed away; when the workshop of life is lost in unbro-
ken silence; when the marts of commerce and trade are stilled
in the wilderness of desolation; when art and science are for-
gotten; when a vast solitude sweeps the proud shores of Old
England; when the grand stmcture of St. Paul shall have
mouldered into ruins; and even then she will exist in un-
diminished wisdom and vigor, until man has gone to his long
sleep, and time shall be no more.

CHAPTER XIII.

JOHN CALVIN. ULRIC ZWINGLI.

OUTSIDE of Martin Luther and Henry VIH, John Cal-
vin was the most noted character in the days of the
Reformation. The nature of John Calvin was aristocratic,
rather than democratic. He taught reform in laws as well as
religion, but in practice governed with absolute despotism.
He was dictatorial, demanding the observance of his views,
and harsh in the denimciation of opposition. He obstinately
adhered to his own opinions, but did not hesitate to modify
them if by so doing he could gain advantage. He introduced
the gospel of his faith by despotism, not by conversion. To
disobey meant punishment. Civil officers were instructed to
suppress every Catholjc manifestation, and to destroy every
"unnecessary" practice of faith. He was violently opposed
to the observance of abstinence from eating meat on Friday,
and appointed detectives to go among the people and report
their observation. A peasant who did not eat meat on Friday
was arrested for the violation of law and cast into prison.
The views of Calvin towards Catholics was one of malicious
hatred. He declared that all Catholic kings, princes, rulers,
and those engaged in government and teaching were the
enemies of God, and should be removed. Like Luther, he
could see only his own theolog}'-, and while Luther denounced
him as a heretic, yet Calvin pitied him for his ignorance.
His language was often abusive, and he was filled with deep

.150

John Calvin. Ulric ZwincxLi. 151

contempt, with harshness, and bitterness. He was an im-
placable enemy of the Catholic Church and constantly sought
to denounce the Pope. In France he was driven from place
to place because of his insolence to Church authority, and
his rabid utterances finally compelled him to leave his native
State to avoid arrest and punishment.

John Calvin was born in Noyon, France, July 10, 1509,
He became an early advocate of Reformation, and was so
intemperate in his assaults against Catholics that he was
obliged to leave the country. In 1535 he went to Switzerland,
where he prepared a new code of worship. Like Martin
Luther, he had been a priest and studied theology, and in the
zeal for furthering his own philosophy he founded the Cal-
vinistic doctrine of faith. At Ferrara he taught the Duchess
Renata, who became an ardent advocate of Calvin and ren-
dered much assistance in the spreading of his teachings.

Before continuing with the history of John Calvin, we will
return to the political and religious history of Switzerland at
the time he first appears upon the stage of action. Switzer-
land was being aroused by other would-be reformers and
Calvin found a fertile soil in which to sow his seeds of refor-
mation. Previous to the appearance of John Calvin and
Ulric Zwingli the people of Switzerland were strongly Cath-
olic, but by the exhortations of Zwingli this new sect, called
Zwinglianism, had obtained a foothold in several cantons
and was made the law of these commonwealths. The pro-
posed creed was new to the people, somewliat novel in its
departure, and pleasing in its promises of universal faith.
It declared the Catholic religion an unnecessary burden, and

152 Christian Persecutions.

a power over civil authority which should be abolished. The
followers of Zwingli were shrewd in their management, and
sought to please through the advancement of that most likely
to give satisfaction. It could picture defects and at the same
time show by exhortation that the "true gospel" ^vas the
gospel of Reformation.

ULRIC ZWINGLI.

In 1518 the story of Martin Luther's open hostility to the
Catholic Church by attaching his famous ninety-five theses
to the church door of Wittenberg, reached Switzerland, and
Zwingli, who had been studying theology, immediately saw
an opportunity to attract attention by advocating a special
reform of his invention. He was ambitious, active, and ener-
getic in his proposed line of action. He saw his opportunity
and deliberately^ prepared his translation of faith and advo-
cated the establishment of a new creed. Being a man ot
wonderful power of expression, in both written and spoken
language, he deftly prepared a doctrine of worship after the
general principles of Martin Luther, but dififering in some
minor matters.

Having prepared his innovations, he proceeded to intro-
duce them in the great church of Zurich, where he had al-
ready become famous for his great learning and abiHty. This
new reformation, coming from the source it did, was received
with marked attention, and although the people were some-
what skeptical as to Zwingli being a proper person to present
a new religion, on account of the character of his private
life, yet they listened with interest, and when, in 1519, Bern-

Ulric Zwingli. 153

hardin Sampson appeared and publicly preached indulgences,
he attacked the Franciscan priest with all the power of his
eloquence, denouncing the practice as beneath Church rights
and its relation to humanity. He denounced the doctrine as
unchristian and unholy. His powerful protests were received
with favor among the authorities, and in 1520 the Great Coun-
cil of Zurich became so enamored with his doctrine that they
issued a decree demanding that all the priests of the canton
should preach only such doctrine as they could prove by the
Bible. Zwingli had said the principal tenets of the Catholic
Church were not founded on the Bible, and now, to be safe
in their instructions, the authorities demanded an exposition
of faith only in accordance with what could be proved by the
Holy Scriptures. They were not positive that Zwingli was
correct and the Catholic religion wrong, but if they were
confined to the Word of God there could be no mistake. They
believed in the exhortation of this reformer, but would leave
themselves on a sure footing by demanding a proof through
the words of the Bible.

Bishop Constance sought to oppose this heresy, but was
met with determined resistance, and his efforts were in vain.
The doctrine was something new and unique, and being freed
from moneyed exactions the people were attracted by its
seeming popularity, and preferred its easy disposition of
Church regulations. It demanded less Church restrictions and
more freedom of action. It was to be more the government
of each individual than the obedience to a powerful head.
It was strict in the observance of the Sabbath, but not in the

exactions of the Church. It placed the code of government
(11)

154 Christian Persecutions.

as a law of each community, and when this was fulfilled there
was no other obligation to meet.

In 1522, Zwingli, who had disgraced his private life,
demanded that the bishop and those in authority should per-
mit the clergy to marry. He saw that his teachings of morals
were not in accordance with his known conduct, and to cover
his sins he demanded the right of marriage for the priests.

On January 23, 1523, Pope Adrian VI wrote a very kind
and affectionate letter to Zwingli admonishing him of his
evil conduct, and earnestly beseeched him to renounce his
public utterances, and become an honest, upright, and obe-
dient priest. He pointed out the errors of his ways, his life
of moral dissipation, and his disobedience of God's laws and
the principles of the Church. The letter was one of advice
and entreaty. The Pope was considerate in his denunciation
of wrong, his explanation of errors, and his appeal to Chris-
tian virtue. He understood the fiery nature of this priest
reformer and sought to subdue his ambition by a personal
appeal to his manhood, his vows, and his duty to the Church
and obedience to those who were in authority. But alas! the
kindness of the Pope was bestowed upon a stubborn and
unappreciative mind.

The letter was received with ill-favor. Zwingli exhibited
extreme folly in denouncing the entreaty in harsh and abusive
language. The Pope had sought, through the mildest means
possible, to convince him of his unjust denunciation, and as
man should treat man, he was entitled decent respect.
Instead of creating thought and consideration, tue disobedient
priest was more determined than ever to denounce the Pope

Ulric Zwinglt. 155

and expand his own theology. His theories of religion must
not be questioned, even by the Church, against which he
threw his venomous declarations. It was no longer. Am I
right? but. How can I overthrow the power of the Pope and
establish my creed?

On January 29, 1523, a conference was held in Zurich to
consider the differences existing between the Pope and
Zwingli, which now had become a positive open revolt. This
conference must decide between these contending forces. At
this meeting Zwingli presented his sixty-five theses in defense
of his position and demanded a careful analysis of them.
These theses were so complicated the conference was unable
to thoroughly understand them, and while he was convicted
of error in openly opposing, or rebelling against the Pope,
yet the conference did not declare him wrong in his declara-
tions of a proposed reformation.

A second conference was called in October following,
and although the friends of the Church worked hard to sub-
due the advancement of Zwinglianism, yet this second council
would not condemn. As a result of this decision the reformer
became bolder in the denunciation of the Pope's authority,
and more aggressive in the dissemination of his new doctrine.
He advised his clerical adherents to disregard the established
law of the Church in regard to celibacy and become married
men, and he, himself, married Anna Reinhard, a widow, with
whom he had for years been in sinful intercourse.

The decision i the second conference was a great victory
for Zwingli. j.T.e had openly defied the Pope of Rome. He
had controlled the two councils, established a line of ♦lew

156 Christian Persecutions.

ideas of worship, created religious power for himself, enthused
his followers, and to further his own selfish desires had dis-
obeyed the laws of the Church and was now a married priest.
Zwingli was now outside the Church. He had declared
against every distinct feature of worship. He had denounced
the observance of Friday, the benefits of confession, the
practice of penance, the veneration of the Virgin Mary and,
above all, the power of the Pope as the head of all the
Churches of the Catholic faith. He would destroy the form
of prayer, the blessing, the Holy Mass, the clerical raiment,
the emblems of Christ and his crucifixion, the altar and
incense, the celibacy of priests, the monasteries, and in strong
terms denounced the Jesuits as an order of no Christian
value, which should no longer be an incubus upon the body
of the Church.

It may seem strange that the authorities of Zurich should
tolerate the professions of Zwingli against the Church, but
when we consider that there were large possessions of
Church lands, vast numbers of gold and silver vessels, and
other valuable property, it is easy to see that through the
mercenary motive of confiscation the commonwealth could
retain those lands, and all other property, and thus obtain
greater revenues for the benefit of the ofifice holders, or
those having charge of the government of the State. It was
the same then as now. Money was the price of faith, the
motive-power of the worship of God, and the instrument by
which men weigh their honor, their happiness, and their im-
mortal life. Revenues for benefits to the individual only, not
revenue for the building of churches, chapels, and missions

Ulrio Zwinqli. 157

of God, but revenue for selfishness, for power, and for the
splendor of court. It was this plea of Zwingli that won the
council of Zurich. By the overthrow of the Church, and
confiscation of its property, there would be an increase of
revenue, and at the same time an individual worship not under
control of a higher authority. These individual favors won
for this new apostle of reform the protection he desired, and
the religious power he sought to confer upon himself.

The protestation made by the Bishop of Constance was
not heeded, and no attention was paid to the assembly that
met at Lucerne to denounce the action of the council of
Zurich in confiscating Church property and allowing the
spread of the reform heresy. By the influence of Zwingli the
council issued a decree of religious persecution, by which the
people were forbidden to recognize the Catholic worship in
any of its forms. Not only had they confiscated the property
of the Church but they would confiscate the conscience of
their people. They would destroy their established modes of
worship, the principles of their faith, and seek to establish a
new decree.

In 1525 this council forbade the sacrifice of the Mass, and
ordered a destruction of all the Church emblems of worship.
The altars, pictures, raiments, crucifixes, images, music, and
other church property of this description was ordered
destroyed, and in place Zwingli introduced his version of the
Lord's Supper as a chief discipline of worship. The obser-
vances of this new creed were cold and formal. There were
no requirements of self-sacrifice or humiHation. Penance
and confession wei:e unnecessary humiliation and repentance.

158 Christian Persecutions.

and would be discarded. Observe the moral law and you have
observed the laws of the new church. It was the worship
of God according- to the dictates of conscience. You obey the
edict of the commonwealth and you have fulfilled the require-
ments of your confession, your faith and your obligations to
God and man.

So strong was the requirement that all should serve God
in the participation of the Lord's Supper, that a severe penalty,
or punishment, was meted out to all who refused to surrender
their form of worship and acctpt the new. So imperative be-
came the law or mandate that, in 1529, attendance at Mass
was forbidden in Zurich and adjoining cantons. The people
refused to surrender this great privilege of worship, and a
constant persecution was enforced to deprive them of it. On
absolutely refusing, they were imprisoned, fined, scourged,
and in many ways were made to suffer the penalty of dis-
obedience. In many instances it was but a repetition of the
old barbaric line of treatment. Csesar was right and Caesar
must be obeyed. Zwingli was the gospel of salvation, and by
it all men must be saved.

Zwingli was made master of the religious' situation, and,
like Martin Luther, sought to uphold Christian discipline by
a formula of how to worship, what to denounce in the Church
of Rome and in whonj was delegated power to maintain this
new religion. In his sixty-five theses he pictured the faults of
the Pope and his Church, the inconsistency of its require-
ments, and the "true gospel'' as discovered by his study of
philosophy and theology.

At Basle the same spirit of intolerance found free expres-

Ulric Zwingli. 159

sion, although at first it was opposed by the authorities, but
in 1527 ZwingHanism overcame all opposition, and, as in
Zurich, its Great Council excluded Catholics from member-
ship, broke in their churches, destroyed their evidences of
worship, and forced the people to become followers of their
faith. It was the work of a religious despot. It was tolera-
tion only as it obeyed their mandates. The new gospel of
Christ should be applied to all men without regard to favor,
feeling, or conscience. It had denied the Pope and his
Church, and in this denial all must unite in praising God for
its overthrow.

This heresy was preached at various other places and was
victorious over the established Church of Rome. In Berne
the Great Council gave resistance, but in so feeble a manner
that the followers of Zwingli became doubly aggressive and
demanded the adoption of their reform. In 1528 a religious
conference was called to decide what should be done with
this heresy. By the action of several apostate priests the new
religion was adopted, and immediately there was begun a
persecution against the rights of Catholics to worship accord-
ing to their faith. The whole canton of Berne was declared
in favor of Zwingli, and toleration was no longer acknowl-
edged by that government.

The defeat of the Pope and the Church was a sad thing
for them. They were robbed of that God-given right to wor-
ship according to the dictates of conscience. But here no
conscience was allowed. It was an imperative mandate. The
new religion was to be enforced without regard to its origin,
the character of the founder, or the divine authority of its

160 , Christian Persecutions.

establishment. The philosophy of Zwingli must be enforced,
the Pope denied, and the Church of Rome scandahzed, villi-
fied, condemned, and made to suffer the most degrading per-
secutions that force could invent. Not only were their
churches desecrated by the hand of the vandal, but all forms
of Christ's crucifixion, his Blessed Mother, the holy vessels,
the remembrances of the Apostle Peter, and all features that
gladden the heart of the true Catholic were spit upon, trampled
upon, destroyed or confiscated in the mad desire to rid the
canton of all things that represented the faith of the Church
of Rome. Not content with the destruction of church em-
bellishments and the sanctity of the altar, they would, in many
instances, burn the churches, imprison the priests and terror-
ize the people. Fathers and mothers were threatened with
imprisonment, their property confiscated, their lands deeded
to new adherents, and in many instances publicly scourged for
failing to comply with the new force. Where they were stub-
born and refused to comply with the demand, their children
were taken from them and placed under influences which
would mold the new belief as the true religion into their hearts
and minds.

While the people were not massacred, as in the days of
Nero, or the French Reign of Terror, yet the methods were
almost as brutal in their compulsion, in their despotic denun-
ciation of free worship, and in their encroachment upon
every right of the people. It was the re-habilitation of every
feature of the persecution of early Christianity except the
penalty of death. Its encroachments upon other cantons
caused a furious war to ensue. It was a war resulting from

Ulric Zwingli. 161

the fiery exhortations of Zwingli to prostitute the whole Cath-
olic Church in Switzerland. Not content with his reformation
in the cantons where he had obtained authority, he must
dominate over all the Churches, and wipe out what he called
a stench upon the religion of the world.

The war raged with the desperation of uncontrolled fury.
On the one side was the aggression of this new religious force.
It was wild with fanatic persecution. It had become a relig-
ious craze in which all men were wrong except themselves.
They were the true apostles of faith, and the great salvation
of God must be accepted by force, if not by willingness of
heart. There could be no question, no remonstrance, no devia-
tion from the law laid down. By Zwingli they had found the
right and all men must be saved whether they wanted to be
or not. On the other side were the devout Catholics, earnest
in their faith, true to the teachings of their Church and deter-
mined in the defense of their rights. They had borne this
persecution until its hardships were beyond endurance. They
had suffered the destruction of their churches, their altars,
pictures and relics. They had seen the images of Christ and
the Blessed Virgin Mary torn down and blasphemed against.
They had seen all that was most near and dear to the Catholic
heart ruthlessly destroyed, or defiled, by the hand of the
religious assassin, and now they were ready to lay down their
lives rather than longer submit to the desecration of their
family worship. It had reached the last point of endurance,
the die was cast, the further encroachment of religious intoler-
ance must cease, or they die in battle as martyrs to their con-
victions of right.

162 Christian Persecutions.

In this struggle the cause of Zwingli was unsuccessful in
forcing his faith beyond the provinces he then controlled.
Zwingli, himself, was slaiii,.and in the peace which followed
there was greater moderation in the enforcement of hateful
forms of worship. The battle of Cappel, on October 11, 1531,
will ever be remembered by Catholics as a grand victory over
the encroachments of this new Protestant Reformation. It
was instituted by the ambition of a restless and impetuous
apostate priest — a priest of low moral character, who, to cover
his sins, sought to invent excuses, by parading as a great
humanitarian. He would excite the ambition of others to
villify the Catholic Church, to destroy the power of the Bope,
and to make himself powerful in the establishment of a pro-
posed reform. His death was the downfall of oppression and
further persecution by his followers.

JOHN CALVIN.

After the battle of Cappel the Canton of Berne sought to
influence the city of Geneva to adopt this new faith, not so
much from a religious standpoint as from a political one.
These provinces were allied politically and now Berne sought
to make closer the relations by adopting the same religion.
The Council of Geneva finally yielded to the entreaties of
Berne and the Catholic religion was formally renounced and
Zwinglianism was declared the religion of this rich and power-
ful city. The Council now permitted a desecration of all Cath-
olic Churches, and, as in the other cantons, all articles of
faith and worship were destroyed, and the people forced to
bow to the jiand of the vandal. It was but a repetition of

John Calvin. 168

what has been described in Zurich, Berne, and other CathoHc
places. The emblems of faith, such as altars, relics, paintings,
sculptured images, holy vessels, and all articles of Christian
worth were destroyed, and the power of the Council made
supreme. It was a declaration of intolerance, or persecution,
and to protest was imprisonment, punishment, confiscation
and ruin. Ministers were accompanied by armed troops to
forcibly take possession of churches, rid them of emblems, and
force the people to attend worship against the dictates of their
own conscience. Every opposition made by the people and
priests was suppressed by the power of the troops. To refuse
to obey was to sleep in a dungeon, to suffer the spoliation of
property, to be exiled from family and friends, and to bear the
indignities of a cruel persecution.

We may sometimes think ill of those honest people who
submitted to the destruction of their religion and mode of
worship, but when we consider their position, their long con-
tinuance in obedience, and their lack of education, we cannot
blame them too severely, for who of you, dear readers, could
stand this force of law and government? Consider, then, these
persecutions, and see an armed force enter your church,
destroy your emblems of worship, cast you into prison for
disobedience, threaten the removal of your children, the con-
fiscation of your property, and at the same time know their
ability and disposition to carry out their edicts, and you would
not be human if you did not protect your home, your family,
and yourself. It is but human nature to defend loved ones,
home, and its sacred influences. Few could resist the demands
of this force, and no one should be condemned for seeking

164 Christian Persecutions.

his personal protection. It was not the same condition that
surrounded the Christians at the time of Nero. Then the
Church was seeking- its foundation, its basis of endurance, and
its rock of salvation. It was the establishment of Christ's
Church by the Apostle Peter. It was a time when to falter
meant everlasting defeat. It meant that the pagan world was
lost to human agency. It must be the sacrifice of hberty, of
all things earthly, and of life. It was to prove that the crucifix
was stronger in God's hands than was persecution in the
hands of murderers and assassins. It was the order of God
that men should lay down their lives that Christ might be
glorified. It was to prove to the pagan rulers that Christ
could not be dethroned, nor faith in him shaken by crucifixion.
At the time of John Calvin and Ulric Zwingli it was not a
question of Christ, but how best to serve him. These reform-
ers had no fight with the Catholic Church as to the divinity of
Christ, or the future existence of man. It was the faith, the
creed, the church. It was whether the Pope should be at the
head of all Christendom, or whether the worship of God
should be at the will of any one who should choose a new
theology. They preached salvation through Christ crucified,
and through their version of a "true gospel" and a true relig-
ion, while the people protesting against the forms of reforma-
tion were submissive, because they were still allowed to wor-
ship their Savior and venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary, Had
they been compelled to worship idolatry these reformers could
never have gained control over them. The people were made
to believe that the Church of Rome had degenerated from the
true religion, and being powerful in exhortation, they obtained
ready concessions, from many of their followers.

John Calvin. 165

One of the effects of this new innovation was to destroy
discipline, destroy the observance of religious government, the
true character of faith, and the careful consideration of sin.
It had destroyed Penance and Confession, and in its place
had grown up the weeds of a licentious disposition. Nature
had not been curbed and the evil influences of a lustful nature
were destroying the groundwork of purity, the reverence of
truth, and the protecting influence of the teachings of the
Church. These elements of man's nature being freed from the
restraint of the Church, grew stronger and stronger, and more
dangerous to the morals of the people, until it became the
ruling passion of society. The leaders sought in vain to stay
the tide of immorality, but were powerless to check its way.
Catholic restraint was gone, and with its absence the vile
passions of men became uncontrollable, dangerous to govern-
ment and dangerous to the welfare of society, of religion,
and of order.

At this critical point of the Reformation of Ulric Zwingli,
John Calvin entered Geneva with his doctrine of worship, his
new power of expression, and his new version of the Gospel
of Repentance. The people became interested in this new
leader, were easily seduced from following Zwingli, and ac-
cepted the faith as now laid down by John Calvin.

Soon after the arrival of Calvin in Geneva he married the
widow of an Anabaptist of Strasburg. In 1541 he was given
almost absolute control over the ecclesiastical government.
His worship was cold and formal, consisting in special prayers,
psalm-singinjj, catechetical instructions and sermons. All
ornaments, raiments, images, or pictures were removed from

166 Christian Persecutions.

the church. The finery of dress was considered sinful, and
mirth must be subdued, as this was one of the great agencies
of the devil.

Calvin saw the benefits of confession and desired to intro-
duce it into his service, but owing to the Zwinglian influence
he adopted open confession during church services. This con-
fession was only the admission that the individual had received
Christ in his heart, and desired to stand upon the faith of this
new creed. It was not the admission of any particular sin, but
a declaration of repentance, and the desire that God will
forgive.

For the maintenance of moral discipline, a church tribunal
was established to keep watch over individuals, or famihes,
and ascertain if they were proper in conduct, and were regular
attendants at church worship. This tribunal was composed of
preachers and laymen, and was allowed to encroach upon the
sacred rights of the home. They were allowed to listen at the
keyhole, to enter as spies, or in any way whatever to obtain
the secrets of the household. It was a most infamous inquisi-
torial machine. They had not only the right to enter the
house at any hour, but were empowered to question the in-
dividuals, ask for evidence, and'if in their judgment they were
guilty of misconduct, to declare a punishment. The most
stringent measures were adopted to enforce the rules of the
Church and the ordinances of the city. Some of the most
innocent pleasures were denied, as the somber faces of the
leaders could scarcely permit anything that would provoke
mirth or jollification. Even family festivals were forbidden,
and to dance was an abomination unto the Lord.

John Calvin. 167

The old residents were iinwilHng to submit to these re-
strictions upon their innocent pleasures. They were not raised
with apparent sadness and sorrow in their faces. Theirs had
been a life of pleasant recollections, and pleasant expectations
for the future, and now to wrinkle the forehead in deep medita-
tion, and to frown and scowl at every feature of worldly pleas-
ure, was too much for their forbearance, but to rebel meant
punishment, and in many instances execution. Civil officers
received strict orders to suppress every Catholic demonstra-
tion. If a Catholic refused to obey the mandates of this new
religious law he was punished according to the enormity of the
proclaimed sin. If he refused to eat meat on Friday it meant
imprisonment until his public confession declared this sacri-
fice as an unworthy observance, and should be abolished. The
authority of Calvin was most despotic, and his inhuman sever-
ity in the enforcement of his religious laws was degrading,
offensive, and intolerant. His abuse of all things Catholic
was but the natural overflow of his unconcealed hatred. He
was devoid of conscience in the execution of penalties, and
for Catholic human life there was no justice, shame, or re-
morse. To be a Catholic was to be an enemy of God, and as
God was the great central figure of worship, there must be no
opposition to his appointed time, place, and manner.

It is from John Calvin, we find, that the strict and extreme-
ly orthodox Covenanters of Scotland, and the Puritans of New
England descend. These people have ever been the closest
disciples of a stern and unforgiving religion. They seem to
inherit the enmity of all things Catholic, and are opposed, in
a great measure, to all things not strictly in conformity with
their belief of life and its eternity.

CHAPTER XIV.

SUMMARY OF THE REFORMATION.

IN the preceding chapter we have given a short account of
* the Lutheran Reformation, its causes, results, and effects.
The history of A/fartin Luther is one of remarkable record.
He was brilliant in thought and ingenuity, powerful in presen-
tation, and cool and adroit in plans and execution. Few men
have lived who could mold public sentiment with such power
of fascination. Like Napoleon Bonaparte, he was the master
of all situations and at all times. His power of eloquence was
equaled only by the mesmeric influence of his presence. These
powers won for him admiration of character, fervent devotion
to principle, and profound veneration for his understanding.
The early purity of his life, and his love and obedience to the
Pope, stands in strong contrast to his future hate, malice, and
persecution.

In the study of theology his mind conspired at conclusions,
wrought out new inventions ol ideas, and arranged them for
the benefits of adoption. At fii3t these thoughts were in wild
expansion, but by the force of concentration he evolved a new
line of religious control, a new system of worship, and a new
doctrine of Divinity. Alone and unaided he stood before the
Christian world defiant and aggressive. His friends were
dumbfounded at his audacity, and the Pope laughed at his
earnestness. As he had no enemies, there were none to revile,
or to secretly seek to overthrow. His ninety-five theses were

168

Summary of the Reformation, 169

circulated as a startling- announcement of something, they
knew not what. It was like a flash of lightning from a clear
sky. They came unannounced and in their startling assertions
were like the weird whisperings of a mighty storm. The
Christian world was amazed, stupefied in astonishment, over-
whelmed in consternation, and yet Martin Luther stood like a
great gaunt specter rising higher and higher in the sublimity
of his awful daring. And there on the brink of a fearful
precipice he stood waiting the result of his proposed Refor-
mation.

Gradually he surrounded himself with a powerful force of
friends and allies. The Pope grew serious and asked for an
explanation of his remarkable conduct. Luther fell upon his
knees and begged the Church to accept his doctrine, his
theology, his invention. He would revolutionize all forms of
worship. He would point out the straight and narrow way.
He would lead a true repentance. He would be the mortal
Messiah of the Church, the representative of Christ, and the
true apostle of wors'hip. All these he would bestow upon
Christianity if the Church would but fall down and worship
him. He appealed to the princes to overthrow the power of
the Pope, to appropriate the revenues to their own use; to
become independent, and more powerful in government. The
Diets, when convened, condemned him as a heretic, but no
one sought to enforce the edict. The Pope was finally obliged
to excommunicate him, although he left the door open for
confession. They believed the passion of Luther would pass
away and he would yet return to his mother's love. But the
fiery zeal of uncontrolled force drove him further and further

(12)

170 Christian Persecutions.

from the hearthstone of afifection, from the power that endowed
him with learning, the power that bestowed upon him position
and fame, that ripened his manhood into the conscious power
of strength, abihty, and character. From this love, this afifec-
tion, this endowment, he turned with all the malignant desire
of a depraved nature, and all because his theology, his philos-
ophy was .not adopted as the foundation of the future Church
of Rome.

From this revolt of Martin Luther originated the long line
of Protestant doctrines of worship. When once a people are
divided in opinions there will arise a Babel of voices clamoring
for this or that, for consideration, for expansion, for rejection,
for issues of every character which the ingenuity of man can
invent. So frail is man in his own power of understanding,
that any creed, no matter how ridiculous, how ungodly in
character, or how foreign to the light of reason, if presented
with eloquence and apparent faith, will find its followers, and
in proportion to the energy used to advance this thought or
theory, so will this new doctrine extian.'l multiply, and become
the lav,' of men, states, and nations.

It is Satan's scheme to first create dircrrd, then division,
then anarchy, then ruin. It is only by strength that progress,
enlightenment, and Christianity moves this world of motion.
Destroy strenglh and you destroy the whole fabric of purpose,
of light, of endurance, and power. God ordained that law,
order, and obedience must be the groundwork of happiness.
Without law there can be no security of life, no guarantee of
purpose, and no protection of rig*hts. Without order we have
chaos and ruin. Without obedience it is one realm of mutiny.

Summary of the Reformation. 171

a storm-tossed ship without rudder or compass, a mob with-
out leadership, an army without a general, and honesty with-
out truth.

The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ, and
the Apostle Peter was its first visible head, and in these 2,000
years it has remained steadfast in its promotion of truth and
Christianity. Nations have lived and died, and yet in all the
varied changes of institutions, in all the expansion and contrac--
tion of governments, we find this Churcli at the beginning and
at the end. It is the Alpha and Omega, the first to preach
the gospel of Christ, the first to lay down their lives in sus-
taining the true faith of God. And while they suffered death
by ghastly brutal means, by fire and sword, by crucifixion, yet
in all its persecution it grew brighter and brighter, its influence
spread farther and farther, until the whole world seemed to
yield to Christian power.

Such is the history of the Catholic Church, and while
paganism sought to persecute it out of existence, yet in the
hands of God this persecution was but the means of perfecting
its strength, its power, and its glory. And while Martin
Luther sought to tear down its foundation of principles and
build upon its fallen structure the story of Reformation, yet
it passes through these years of assault, freed from the dross
of indulgence, of conspiracy, and of jealous power. Not once
in its long line of triumphs and adversity has the Church been
made weaker in its defense, less devout in its teachings, or less
dim in its splendor, but ever rises, purer in purpose, more
stable in discipline, and more grand in the development of
Christian love and forbearance.

CHAPTER XV.

THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR.

A S has been mentioned in a preceding chapter, this "Thirty
-** Years' War" was the last great combat between Prot-
estants and Cathohcs in Europe. It was the most disastrous
conflict since the beginning of the Christian Era. History
informs us that its effect upon Germany alone was beyond
calculation, that it is impossible to give expression to its
wretchedness, its devastation of cities, homes, and country.
In 1618, the date of the commencement of this struggle, Ger-
many had a population of 30,000,000; at its close, in 1648, it
numbered less than 12,000,000. No one can comprehend this
terrible destruction of life and property. Many of the most
flourishing cities were almost completely destroyed, and com-
merce, trade and industries ruined. The magnificent city of
Berlin was reduced to a few hundred destitute and starving
people. The duchy of Wiirtemberg could scarcely number
50,000 individuals, where before there flourished more than
half a million. The ruins of the homes of peasants were on
every hand — on all sides was despair and desolation. The
country was literally a blackened waste of war's destruction.
No enterprise, no trade, no commerce, nothing of the arts,
sciences, or learning. Education was entirely neglected, ex-
cept the education for war. Children were born and grew to
manhood with the cry of Reformation on their lips,- with
the denunciation of all things Catholic in their hearts, and

The Thirty Years' War. 173

with war as the only aim of Hfe. It was the most barbaric age
of German existence. Moral law was lost in the forgetful-
ness of duty to mankind. Vice, nourished by the impure at-
mosphere of constant camp life, had full sway; licentiousness
ruled supreme. Cities that erstwhile had spread renown with
their paintings and sculptures, now lay in ruins and neglect.
"In character, in intelligence, and in morality, the German
people were set back two hundred years."

The followers of Martin Luther may . declare that this
awful calamity was the work of Catholics and of CathoHc
inception, but in this they are much mistaken. It was a con-
flict almost directly traceable to Protestant revolt from the
Roman Church, and we find that the spirit of conquest and
political aspirations entered largely into it. But construe
it as we may, it was the termination of the great religious re-
volt, or Reformation, begun by Martin Luther, Ulric Zwingli,
and John Calvin. While they may rejoice in the overthrow
of Papal authority, yet their victory was gained only by an
enormous sacrifice of blood and treasure. The desolation of
the German empire; the 18,000,000 people lost in the conflict;
the destruction of commerce; the decline of architecture, of
learning and of science; the loss of character; the political dis-
union; the vice, misery, and degradation incident to a war of
this nature: all these must be added to the price of their
victory.

In 1608 the Protestants of Germany formed the Evan-
geHcal Union for the purpose of encroaching upon Catholic
religious sovereignty, by extending their form of worship.
In order to defend themselves against this encroachment the

I'^-l Christian Persecutions.

Catholics, the following year, org-anized a confederation
known as the Holy League. These two organizations at-
tinies became desperately hostile, and all Germany was being
rapidly prepared for the fierce religious war that soon fol-
lowed.

The first cry of war was in Bohemia, where the Protest-
ants rose m revolt against their Catholic king, Ferdinand.
Having overthrown Ferdinand, they elected Frederick V, of
the Palatinate, son-in-law of James I of England. The new
Protestant king immediately expelled the Jesuits, commanded
obedience to his decree of worship, and established the religion
of Martin Luther throughout the province. The Bohemian
king,- Ferdinand, again obtained control of imperial affairs,
however, and his followers elected him emperor and rallied
to his support. As the Catholics were highly incensed at the
Protestant king, Frederick, for his unjust conduct against the
Jesuits, and the enforcement of his creed among the people,
they made a desperate effort to regain their religious rights,
and in this effort Ferdinand was successful. The revolt was
quelled, the leaders of the insurrection executed, and the
reformation in Bohemia came to an ignominious end.

The success of Ferdinand created consternation among
the Protestant German princes, and they appealed to the
king of Denmark, Christian IV, to come to their assistance.
The king, being supported by England and Holland, wilHngly
entered the contest in behalf of the German Protestants, who
were greatly encouraged by this new alliance. On the side
of the Catholics were two noted leaders — ^Tilly, who com-
manded the Holy League, and Wallenstein, who commanded
the Imperial army.

The Thirty Years' War. 175

The struggle that followed was desperate in the extreme.
The Protestants fought to overthrow the Church of Rome,
and the Catholics to regain their confiscated property —
churches, monasteries, and other ecclesiastical lands. On the
one side it was to conquer Romanism and extend the Refor-
mation; while on the other, it was to regain possession of
what was lost. In this war Christian was defeated and, in
1G29, sued for peace and retired from the struggle. In this
peace the Edict of Restitution restored to the Catholics of
North Germany all the property confiscated by the Protest-
ants, in violation of the terms agreed to at Augsburg in 1555.

In this connection it may be well to mention the nature of
this Augsburg treaty. It was a convention of the princes of
the German states whereby it was agreed that every prince
should decide the faith he and his people should follow, tak-
ing his choice between the Catholic and Protestant religions,
and when he had chosen his religion, that religion must re-
main inviolate. As will be seen, the people were not consid-
ered at all. If a prince decided to become a Protestant, his
subjects must become followers of the same faith, whether so
inclined or not. It was toleration to princes, but intoleration
to the people. As the people were originally Catholic, it be-
came a religious burden and a persecution. But, according
to this agreement, each prince should have complete religious
control, and no force should be resorted to, to add to or take
from. It was an agreement binding each party to observe the
religious rights of others.

It was the violation of this treaty that was largely respon-
sible for the declaration of war. The Protestants had con-

176 Christian Persecutions.

fiscated valuable property which, in the Peace of Liibeck,
restored to the Catholics, throug-h the Edict of Restitution,
two archbishoprics, twelve bishopries, many monasteries with
their valuable possessions, chapels, churches, and other ecclesi-
astical property.

In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, resolved to
throw his influence towards the German forces, and strive to
regain what Protestantism had lost. Accordingly, at the
head of 16,000 Swedes, he entered Northern Germany, but
the dispirited Germans were slow to renew the conflict,
and Tilly captured and burned the city of Alagdeburg, and
slew 30,000 of the inhabitants. The Protestant princes imme
diately upon this united their forces with the king of Sweden
and, in 1631, at the celebrated battle of Leipsic, defeated Tilly
with great loss. Later Tilly was again defeated and fatally
wounded, thus giving Gustavus a decided victory,

Wallenstein was now called to head the armies of the
Holy League, and, through his great popularity, was soon
in command of 40,000 determined men who, in 1632, attacked
the Swedes on the field of Lutzen, in Saxony, and gave them
battle. This conflict was one of the most stubborn and des-
perate battles fought in the entire period of wars. The Swedes
were victorious, but Gustavus was killed. Notwithstanding
the Swedish king and commander was killed, the Swedes
would not withdraw from the conflict, but continued to fight
for the cause of Protestant Germany for several years there-
after.

And so the terrible desolation of war went on. Those
who were engaged in the first years of the war, had now

The Thirty Years' War. 177

passed away, and new leaders, with new ideas of conquest,
filled the ranks of those engaged in this greatest of religious
struggles. It was not until 1643 that the first whisperings of
peace were heard. The country was ruined, the cities depop-
ulated, and yet with all this bloodshed, rapine, murder, and
desolation, no one desired peace unless on terms advantageous
to his side. Peace would be gladly welcomed, but it must be
a Protestant or a Catholic peace. The division of territory
must be made in such a manner as to be satisfactory to
Sweden, Germany, France, and the Roman States. For five
years there was constant discussion and negotiation, until at
last the celebrated treaty of Westphalia was established and
agreed to by the different European powers.

The chief articles agreed to were divided into two divi-
sions— territorial boundaries, and religious control. In the
division of territory the Holy Roman empire was shorn of
some of its possessions. Switzerland was declared no longer
a subject of Rome, although in reality it had been independent
for a long time. The United Netherlands was also declared
independent, while France gathered in the cities of Metz, Toul,
Verdun, and a large portion of Alsace and Lorraine. Sweden
was given a long strip on the Baltic Sea from Northern Ger-
many, and in Germany many changes were made in favor of
the various princes.

In the matter of religion, the Catholics, Lutherans, and
Calvinists were placed on the same footing. The Protestants
were to retain all the Church property in their possession in
1624, and every prince was to dictate the religion of his people,
and given the power to banish all who refused to acknowledge

178 Christian Persecutions.

the established creed, but such persons were to be allowea
three years in which to emigrate. It was rchgious toleration
for three years, but after that all failing to comply with the
requirements must be expelled.

Thus closed the most costly war in blood and treasure
the world has ever seen. The strength of Germany had
waned; it had become weak and dispirited. Her people had
lost almost every sentiment of pride and hope. Her desola-
tion was complete. Her population was decimated to less
than one-half, her industries were ruined, her arts lost in the
turmoil of war, and her advancement in Christianity almost
entirely checked by the results of this most cruel and inhuman
war.

But at last we reach the end of the persecution. The
Peace of Westphalia marks the end of the religious wars oc-
casioned by the Reformation. A century and a third had
almost passed since the first declaration of religious reform
had been spoken. Martin Luther and John Calvin had long
snice gone to their final rest.

The seeds of the Reformation had established the two
great religious creeds, Lutheranism and Calvinism, but we
can never compute the cost of their establishment. To locate
the followers of these two creeds by nationality, we might
include Germany, Norway and Sweden, Denmark, the Neth-
erlands, and Switzerland, in the list of those most interested in
the religion of Martin Luther, while the followers of John
Calvin were the Huguenots of France, the Covenanters of
Scotland, the Puritans of England, and the Pilgrim Fathers
of the new world.

The Thirty Years' War. 179

At this period history closes the general religious wars,
although many minor conflicts and persecutions have pre-
vailed. The treaty of Westphalia is a prominent monument
in the dividing line of two great periods of history. It marks
the religious end of the Reformation and the beginning of
the troubles of political revolution. Henceforth nations will
not make religion a basis of war and desolation. It will be
wars of government, and not of creed; conquest for the sake
of territory, and not the form of worship. It will be a scramble
for place and preferment. The gospel of Christ will be
preached for the repentance of men, and not for their persecu-
tion and crucifixion. And as we draw nearer and. nearer to
the close of the nineteenth century, we more fully appreciate
the blessings of toleration, the true influences of Christianity,
the true spirit of devotion, discipline and harmony. It is
new no longer a conquest by force. The true faith of the
Apostle Peter control^ the mind, the heart, and conscience
of men. It is no longer fire and sword, but the teachings
of Christ, who, in the agonies of death, would forgive his
enemies and in this forgiveness ask his Father in Heaven
to also forgive "for they know not what they do."

The advancement of the Catholic Church is fast outstrip-
ping the Protestant faith. Its gospel has been translated and
preached in every country of the earth. Its missions of peace
have penetrated the dark interior of Asia and Africa. It is
foremost in all the countries of South America, Mexico, and
Central America. Its magnificent institutions are seen every-
where in the United States and Canada. It is no longer per-
secuted in England, Ireland, Germany, and Russia. The

180 Christian Persecutions.

great Church of England is becoming friendly, and many be-
lieve in reuniting. The Greek Church of Russia is already
considering a means of uniting these two great forces in one.
harmonious whole. The enemies of Rome no longer pro-
claim the Church as dangerous to civilization, to progress, and
to education. The Pope to-day stands as the greatest arbiter
of peace in the whole realm of diplomacy. He knows that
war and religion do not go hand in hand, that national con-
flicts destroy the fruits of Christianity, divide nations, breed
Atheism, and foster disobedience to God and His divine
teachings. '

CHAPTER XVI.

THE HUGUENOTS.

"\7[ WITHOUT studying the history of France during the
' ' period known as the Huguenot wars (1562-1G29), we
get a very wrong opinion of the two opposing forces — the
Huguenots and the CathoHcs. From the radical standpoint of
Protestant authority we find that the aggressors are the Cath-
olics, and that the persecution of the Huguenots was the result
of this aggression. As all wars are a series of persecutions,
from one side or another, so we find in the history of 1562 to
1G29 a succession of conflicts, in which each side is at times
successful and again is defeated. As defeat in those days
meant persecution, we are assured that when the Protestant
Huguenots were victorious it meant the persecution of Cath-
olics, and when it was a Catholic victory, it meant the persecu-
tion of Protestants.

But when we study unbiased and unprejudiced history, we
find in every feature of reformation a desire to extend, or force
the Calvinistic doctrine into every society, every interest, and
every government. It becomes a restless fire of encroachment
— a desire to teach all men the same theology as discovered
or conceived by them, and if people failed to receive it, to force
a conflict and compel its observance. The Reformer's ex-
hortation knew no bounds or limits. Its field of action was
as broad as is the society of .men. It begins by the study of
philosophy, and ends only when it has conquered all, or is

181

182 Christian Persecutions.

forced to retreat by a victorious opposition. Its faith is the
all-absorbing thought of action, and how to force its universal
adoption is the study of its followers. Thus we find in the
history of these French wars of religious persecutions, that
Protestant enthusiasm is always the one to foment conflict,
to beget hatred, and to inaugurate deep and terrible struggles,
as the result of advancing new forms of worship, new duties
to observe, and new principles of salvation.

Reformation means revolution. It may be a revolution
through expressions of argument, or through the force ol
arms. It is opposition, and in opposition we have conflict;
therefore, by a logical conclusion, we must recognize the fact
that there can be no opposition, or persecution, until there
is an aggression, and the parties have earned its opposition.
The Huguenots were a sect largely instituted by the creed
formulated by John Calvin. He organized this force in
France, and by his earnest appeals to throw off the Catholic
authority he became an opposition, an object of contention
and the foundation for conflict.

Before Martin Luther declared his ninety-five theses as
the true theolog}^ of the Holy Scriptures, there were men
in the University of Paris, and elsewhere in France, who
were advocating a change in the established worship, much
on the same basis as that advocated by Luther, and when
the German movement became known, the land of France
was soon filled with heretics, who were loudly demanding
the overthrow of Catholic religious ideas and the establish-
ment of their own.

In no other country was the prospect for the spread of

The Huguenots. 183

Protestantism so good as in France. In a large measure, it
became a political as well as a religious movement. Three
things had hitherto influenced the religious feelings of the
French people: the ancient Albigensian religion that opposed
the Roman Church in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the
Lutheran movement of Germany, and the Huguenot, or John
Calvin's theology, that was now agitating France. But now
a fourth influence comes into the actual conflict and is
responsible for the long-continued struggle and its terrible
persecutions. This new force was the adoption of this religious
movement by many of the nobles and secular chiefs for the
purpose of temporal power. These chiefs could see that in
the rapid growth of church opposition there might be an
opportunity of overthrowing the government of France and
establishing independent kingdoms. In this new combina-
tion we find Prince Anthony of Bourbon, king of Navarre,
and Prince Louis of Conde, who were powerful in protect-
ing the Huguenots from the laws that were decreed against
heretics. It now became a conflict between contending royal
forces, and not a direct religious revolt. These Bourbon
princej were next in line as heirs to the throne of France,
and encouraged the Huguenots to form a conspiracy, seize
the person of the king, and place the reins of government into
their uands, but in this they were defeated, as the plot was
discovered and the leader, La Renaudie, was captured and
put to death, while the real conspirator, Prince Conde, escaped
conviction.

From this time on a .terrible conflict was waged — defensory
on one side and exterminatory on the other. In 1560 an edict

184 Christian Persecutions.

was issued, giving the right to bishops to inquire into heresy
and if they found rebellious or tumultuous assemblies of
Huguenots who, in their opinion, were creating a disturbance
against the Church, they could use their secular power and
demand immediate dispersion of the gathering, never to meet
again. What is known in history as the "massacre of Vassy"
was the result of the enforcement of this authority, and is
related as follows: The Duke of Guise, one of the strongest
adherents of the king and the Roman Church, while passing
through the country with a body of armed attendants, came
to a place called Vassy, where they found a company of
Huguenots assembled in a barn for worship. The Duke in-
quired the objects of this assemblage, and being answered
somewhat evasively, became insulting, and in his anger he
attempted to exercise his authority and demanded that the
assembly should disperse, which, not being complied with,
he ordered his attendants to make an attack, which resulted
in the killing of forty and the wounding of many more.

The Huguenots now rose throughout all France in open
revolt. They were led by Admiral Coligny and the Prince of
Conde and the civil wars that followed displayed a ferocity
of disposition that was more befitting pagans than Christians.
It was a series of assassinations, massacres and butcheries.
It was not a Christianized conflict of forces, but the lamentable
disposition of barbaric revenge. Families were murdered in
cold blood, villages were sacked and burned, cities were
captured, and multitudes slain. It was a war of extermination,
and not conquest. Men acted like wild beasts, and could not be
sated with blood. The insane passion of destruction, ruin and

The Huguenots. 185

bloodshed marked the career of these contending forces. To
be a Huguenot, was to be an outlaw against the nation. To
be a Catholic, was to be a foe to toleration and Christianity.
It was a deadly hatred in which there was no conquest except
the conquest of death, no forgiveness, no compromise, no
yielding to the dictates of reason. It was the outpouring of
hell's revolution. Christ and Christianity were lost in this
whirlpool of fiendish desperation. The Church of God was
trampled beneath the feet of bloodthirsty vandals.

It should be borne in mind, however, that not all this ter-
rible carnage was the result of religious contention, but was
instigated by the political ambitions of men. The Huguenots
were used as a cat's-paw to stir up insurrections, to incite
religious animosities, to precipitate civil war, and to be the
means of placing the arch leaders in power. These ambitious
princes cared nothing for religion. In heart they were neither
Catholic nor Protestant. They cared nothing for the dis-
tinction of creed. They professed the Huguenot faith in
order to use them in the overthrow of the government and
in establishing their own power. They sought the blackest
warfare to intensify the undying hatred of those who suf-
fered from the persecutions of others.

As we follow this terrible period of successive wars, we
find that sieges, battles, and truces follow each other in
rapid rotation, while conspiracies, treacheries, plots, and as-
sassinations form one long line of deeds disgraceful to Chris-
tian civilization. Well may it be called the period of treach-
eries. No house was free from the dreadful expectation of
losing a member by the knife of the murderer. If he Avas a

(13)

186 Christian Persecutions.

Protestant, he feared the treachery of some CathoHc; and it
he was a Catholic, he feared the pledged secrecy of the Hugue-
not to strike some fatal blow. It was a time of constant alarm,
constant sacrifice of life, constant traitorous condition of
society.

The Catholics were defied from every direction, villified,
and slandered for things they never did. The great massacre
on St. Bartholomew's Day, August 24, 1572, was not the work
of the Catholic Church. It was the planned revenge of
Catherine de Medici, to prevent the Bourbon family from
ascending the throne. Catherine was the mother of the then
king of France, Charles IX, and history informs us that no
woman ever lived who was guilty of so much crime, treachery,
and bloodshed as Catherine de Medici. Her ambition knew
no bounds, and nothing stood in her way or prevented her
from achieving her ends. Life was nothing to her in the ac-
complishment of her purposes. But for her, the world would
never have felt the disgrace of this most terrible deed of
bloody assassination — the massacre of the Huguenots on St.
Bartholomew's Day. It was this woman's treachery that
caused the fatal order to be signed for that awful butchery.
It was she who planned the execution of the plot, and who
obtained the order from Charles IX. This horrible crime will
ever remain a black stain upon the fair fame of the sunny
kingdom of France.

In order that the readers of this narration of history may
understand the real motives which led to this disastrous result,
we will explain its origin: After a succession of wars ending
in 1570, a treaty of peace, called, "The Treaty of St. Germain,"

The Huguenots. 187

was agreed upon, which was very favorable to the Huguenots,
giving them several towns to hold as pledges of safety, with
the privilege of fortifying and giving protection to the Prot-
estants. Amon^ these towns was La Rochelle, the stronghold
of this reform faith, which, in later years, became the seat
of the last great religious wars of France. To cement this
treaty, the Princess Marguerite, the sister of Charles IX, was
to wed the young king of Navarre, Henry of Bourbon. This
proposed alliance united the two contending forces of nobility
and, in sentiment, the opposing religious creeds. Great re-
joicing was made manifest over all France. Catholics and
Protestants were equally joyful over the prospective settle-
ment of civil strife. Even the chiefs of both lines of nobility
crowded to Paris to attend the wedding, which took place
August 18, 1572. Among the Protestant nobles who came
was Admiral Coligny, who immediately sought the presence
of Charles IX, and, being of strong and impressive demeanor,
won favors from the king that were distasteful to the queen-
mother, Catherine de Medici, who resolved to render these
favors fruitless by procuring the assassination of the admiral.
The plot was unsuccessful, and Coligny was only slightly
wounded. The object of Coligny was to influence the king
against Catherine, his mother, and the Guises, who Were
sworn enemies of his.

The Huguenots immediately rallied to the support of their
wounded chieftain and were loud in threats of revenge. Cath-
erine was filled with great fear. Her attempted assassination
had proved a failure, and she was in constant alarm, owing
to her fear of being arrested or denounced by her son

188 Christian Persecutions.

for this baseless treachery. To place herself in a favorable
position she immediately submitted to the king the supposed
evidence of a Huguenot plot to take the life of the king and
place Henry of Bourbon on the throne. She even repre-
sented that this plot contemplated the assassination of the
whole royal family and all the leaders of the Catholic party.
She pleaded with her son to save his household, his kingdom,
and his Church. She declared there was only one way that
this could be done. As the whole Huguenot faith was allied
against him, it was too late to arrest, but that he could execute
to her an order of defense which could, if necessary, be secretly
put into effect. At first the king refused to sign this order,
but upon further entreaty he was overcome by his mother
and signed the decree for the arrest or assassination of every
Huguenot in Paris at such time as Catherine deemed it best
for the safety of the royal family. On signing this decree the
king said: "I agree to the scheme, providing not one Hugue-
not be left alive in France to reproach me with the deed."

Catherine was successftil in making effective her plans of
revenge. She held the decree ordering, at her will, the arrest
or assassination of every Huguenot in France. The schemes
of Admiral Coligny would be frustrated by his death. There
would be no arrests. It would be a carefully-laid plan of
awful murders, conspiracies, or assassinations. Not one
enemy of Catherine should escape. The hated nobles, princes,
and laymen should feel the full force of a woman's persecu-
tion. The royal family of Huguenots should die. Not one
should remain alive to foment discord, to preach reform,
or denounce the plots of Catherine. Now a state of uncon-

The Huguenots. 189

trolled hatred, passion and power should prevail. She would
plan for extermination, not victory; it should, however, be
the silent treachery of confidence, not an honorable conflict.
It should be in the midday of night, not in open battle. It
should be when men slept and dreamed of peace and security.
It should be announced by a preconcerted signal — the tolling
of a bell.

It was midnight of St. Bartholomew's Day when this
woman gave the signal. Her army of followers were posted
everywhere. The bell tolled and the massacre began. The
first victim to fall was Admiral Coligny. After the assassin
had finished his work the body was dragged to a window and
thrown to the street below in order that the Duke of Guise
might see that his enemy was indeed dead. To describe this
scene of butchery would be to repeat the scenes of Nero's
persecutions. Without thought or warning these bloodthirsty
allies of Catherine, a woman, a mother, stealthily entered the
houses of their victims, and with cool calculations of premedi-
tated murder, executed her awful orders. The number of vic-
tims is variously estimated from 10,000 to 25,000 in all France,
and from 3,000 to 8,000 in Paris alone.

History written with religious bias docs not fully explain
the cause of this awful tragedy. It is loud in the denunciation
of Catholic conspiracy, when Catholics, like the Huguenots,
were in reality used to further the designs of those in power,
or those seeking power. To prove this, we find that the whole
civilized world, both Catholics and Protestants, loudly con-
demned this wholesale slaughter. The originators of the
scheme were denounced as the greatest living enemies of all

190 Christian Persecutions.

Christianity, and that no honorable Christian could, for a
moment, countenance it. Pope Gregory XIII was informed
tliat it was a Huguenot conspiracy to destroy the royal family,
and on the report that the conspirators had failed, he held a
feast of thanksgiving for their deliverance, but when he ascer-
tained the true situation he mourned over the occurrence and
repeatedly expressed his abhorrence at the cowardly acts of
those who planned the deed.

This black page in French history only served to arouse
the Huguenots to a more determined defense of their proposed
system of reform. They believed their conflicts were wholly
due to religious questions: that they were being persecuted
because they were not Catholics; that it was purely a religious
war. They little understood the deep current that controlled
the stream of conflict, and from these misunderstandings they
became more bitter than ever, more determined to denounce
the Church of Rome, and more determined to advance their
doctrine of worship.

We now come to a peculiar combination of events in the
history of the French government. Charles IX soon died
and Henry III succeeded him, and for fifteen years of his
reign there was a constant state of turmoil and war. The
king became jealous of the popularity of the Duke of Guise
and caused him to be assassinated. In revenge for this treach-
ery, a Dominican monk stabbed the king with a dagger, and
thus ended the House of Valois-Orleans. Henry of Bourbon,
king of Navarre, now came to the throne as Henry IV, and
what the conspirator — Catherine — had sought to prevent,
was now an accomplished fact. Henry was the first of the

The Huguenots. 191

Bourbons, and being a Protestant, and leader of the Hugue-
nots, was not well received by the Catholics. The majority
of the nation were Roman Catholics, and it is hard to con-
ceive how a Protestant prince and the leader of the hated
Huguenots could govern to the entire satisfaction of his
people.

Peace was of short duration and civil war again com-
menced its awful deeds of violence. The Catholics declared
that Cardinal Bourbon, an uncle of Henry, was by right the
possessor of the throne, and sought to establish his claims.
Philip n of Spain assisted the Catholics, and Elizabeth of
England aided the Huguenots. After four years of strife
Henry was constrained by a powerful influence to renounce
the Huguenot faith and adopt that of the Roman Catholic
Church. Henry was personally liked by the Catholic chiefs,
and to stand in great favor with them, was to become a Cath-
olic and thus stop these disastrous wars. He considered not
only the policy so far as he himself was concerned, but it
would remove all obstacles to a speedy peace. The country
was tired of war and bloodshed, and to do this would stop the
plans to place Cardinal Bourbon on the throne, and in due
regard to peace and Christianity it became his duty to declare
in favor of the Catholics.

As soon as Henry became the acknowledged and undis-
puted king of France, he commenced to build up its wasted
energies and to restore its lost fortunes. In 1598, April 15th,
he issued the celebrated Edict of Nantes, which gave to the
Huguenots religious freedom and opened to them the avenues
of employment and the right to hold office. He also gave

192 Christian Persecutions.

them a large number of fortified towns in which they could
have refuge, and defense, among which was the previously
mentioned city of La Rochelle. France now entered upon a
period of wonderful prosperity. Trade, commerce, and indus-
tries thrived on every hand. Religious toleration was hailed
with joy by both Catholics and Protestants. The Huguenots
were no longer clamoring for the overthrow of Catholic
rights. They were content to spread their faith by the natural
process — the expansion of ideas. It was a season of peace,
and though there slumbered a latent hatred to all things Cath-
olic, yet glad at the beautiful brightness of a new sunrise,
they curbed their passions and prejudices, and lived content in
the assurances that a terrible storm had ended and a glorious
day was dawned.

For twelve years the beautiful winged emblem of peace
had floated over the empire of France, when suddenly the
clear sky was rent by the bolt of assassination. A fanatic by
the name of Ravaillac, who regarded Henry IV as an enemy
of the Catfiolic Church, planned an assassination by which
the king met his death. This was a sad blow to the peace
and prosperity of France, for with the death of Henry the
Huguenots lost a true friend, although he had renounced
their faith. With Henry it was toleration, and peace, and
good will to all. He worked for harmony, and in a large
measure had been successful. He was loved by Catholics,
revered by the Huguenots, and in the administration of affairs
was just to all.

Louis XIII, his son, succeeded him, but being a child of
nine vears, the government was administered by Mary de

The Huguenots. 193

Medici, his mother, until Louis attained his majority, where-
upon he chose Cardinal Richelieu for his prime minister.
Richelieu was one of the most remarkable characters of the
seventeenth century. From the moment he was chosen by
Louis he became the virtual ruler of France, and history
informs us that for twenty years he was the great dictator
of the destinies, not only of France, but in a large measure,
of all Europe. Richelieu's policy was to place the King of
France in absolute authority of all the people of his govern-
ment regardless of toleration; and, secondly, to make the
power of his sovereign the supreme power of Europe.

To obtain supreme control over the people of France,
Richelieu must first subdue the political power of the Hugue-
nots, who were strongly aided by their royal princes and
nobles; and to control the destinies of Europe, he must break
down the power of both lines of the House of Hapsburg. As
the House of Hapsburg meant Austria and Spain, Richelieu
must bend his energies to crush both countries. As the
Huguenots were dissatisfied with their condition under Rich-
elieu they determined to form an independent commonwealth
on the southwestern coast of France, with La Rochelle as its
capital. Accordingly, in 1G27, they formed an alliance with
England, and an English fleet and army were sent to institute
and protect this new Republic. Richelieu now determined to
crush forever the nobility of the Huguenots, and personally
led an army to the siege of La Rochelle, which stubbornly
resisted his repeated attacks for more than a year, but was
finally overpowered and, in 1628, surrendered to French au-
thority. Richelieu was so determined in his conquest that he

104 Christian Persecutions.

ordered the fortifications of La Rochelle to "be razed to the
ground, in such wise that the plow may plow through the
soil as though tilled land."

The Huguenots maintained a desperate resistance for a
few months longer, but were finally reduced to submission.
The political power of the French Protestants was now com-
pletely broken. The Huguenot chiefs were divested of author-
ity, and the first great move of Richelieu had been performed.
France was now in complete subjection to the royal power
of Louis, King of France. A treaty oi peace was negotiated,
called the Edict of Grace, which accorded to all the freedom
of worship. While the Huguenots had lost their power of
government and were stripped of all sovereignty, yet Car-
dinal RicheHeu, in the wisdom of toleration, refused no man
the right to worship and to proclaim his belief to the world.

Many historians declare that the years of strife and blood-
shed cover the years of the persecution of religious worship;
this charge, however, by the recorded actions of Richelieu in
his Edict of Grace, must be denied. It was not a persecution
of faith, but the subjection of rebellious Huguenot chiefs who,
under the cloak of a Protestant faith, sought to dismember
France, and, unable to control the government, would set up
an independent republic of their own. While religious fanat-
icism swayed the multitude, and wars of unrelenting hate
had desolated France for more than two generations, and
though she lost through massacres, assassinations, and wars
more than a million lives, yet the real issue was not religion,
but war for place, preferment, and power. The nobility were
divided and to foment strife the innocent Catholics and Prot-
estants were arrayed against each other in deadly combat.

The Huguenots. 195

Let us again return to Richelieu and mark a curious
feature: The Thirty Years' War of Germany was in its wildest
rage, and Richelieu, who had just crushed PVench Protestant-
ism in France, now gives aid to the Protestant princes of
(icrmany. The solution of this mystery is that the success of
the German princes means a division of Germany and the
humiliation of Austria, one branch of the House of Hapsburg.
l^ichelieu did not live to see the closing of the Thirty Years'
War or the humiliation of Austria and Spain, but the foreign
policy of the great minister was carried out by others, and
both branches of the House of Hapsburg were dethroned, and
the second great object of Richelieu was accomplished.

Thus closed the religious-political wars of France. To
the people it had been a fighting for faith and the overthrow
of those contending against them, while with the leaders it
was the procurement of individual power. The loss to France
was most terrible, and its effect demoralizing. The loss of
life could be measured by numbers, but the loss of confidence
was beyond computation. Industries were ruined, trade sup-
pressed, and commerce gone. The people were slow to re-
cover their enthusiasm, even of worship. The spirit of prog-
ress was dead, and they stood as dazed at the awful wreck
that was around them.

While we view with horror the massacre of St. Bartholo-
mew's Day, yet we find on the counter page of history a start-
ling array of carnage, vandalism and bloodshed. We find
that the history of France is filled with the most atrocious
deeds of violence which the "faithful" allowed themselves to
commit on the "Papists" and their "idolatrous worship." To

196 Christian Persecutions.

quote from history, we find that "during a period of forty
years over five thousand priests and members of reHgious
orders suffered martyrdom. The inhuman atrocities of which
these Protestants were guilty had not even the excuse of being
the effect of sudden excitement; they were performed at the
instigation and with the approbation of Calvinistic preachers
and synods. The principal scene of devastation was Southern
France. Many churches were torn down; the Catholic priests
were ill-treated and driven away; pictures, relics, and in some
places — as at Nismes (1561), where Viret had stirred up the
passions of the populace — even the Sacred Hosts were given
to the flames. Similar outbursts of wild fanaticism took place
at Paris (December, 1561), where the Huguenots took the
church of Medardus by storm, ill-treated the Catholics, and
trampled under foot the consecrated Hosts. Matters were even
worse yet in the little kingdom of Berne. Here the regent
was Johanna d'Albret, wife of Anthony of Bourbon, who in
1563 had become a Calvinist. She deposed the Catholics from
their dignities, expelled the priests, and replaced them by
preachers; while, at the instance of the latter, she forbade the
exercise of Catholic worship. Those of the inhabitants who
resisted this command were severely punished, and the priests
who refused to apostatize were cruelly murdered.

"In Montpellier the Huguenots destroyed forty-six
churches; in Orleans, nineteen; in the kingdom of Berne, Col-
igny had three hundred churches demolished. In Uzes, Nis-
mes, Viviers, and Mende, five hundred churches were torn
down. The magnificent cathedral at Beziers was transformed
into a stable. About one hundred and fifty cathedrals and

The Huguenots. 197

abbeys were ruined with the brutality of vandaHsm, the 'idola-
trous pictures' burnt, the sacred vessel desecrated. At Nismes
the Huguenots murdered eighty Catholics of good standing,
and cast their bodies into the 'bloody Springs.' In Sully,
Coligny had thirty-five priests made away with and their
bodies thrown into the Loir. In Pithiviers he had all the
priests hanged. When Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Mont-
gomery, had freed Berne, in 1569, from French troops, he
caused three thousand Catholics of every age, sex, and con-
dition to be hewn down, the churches to be laid in ashes, etc.
The Calvinist synod of Lescar demanded that everyone should
be forced to attend the Calvinistic sermons. Can we wonder
that by such conduct on the part of the Huguenots and their
leaders, the French Catholics, who constituted the immense
majority, were driven beyond all bounds?"

Such is the record of history. It was not a one-sided per-
secution. The Protestants were taught that the Pope and his
Church were robbers of personal liberty and of personal wor-
ship; that they were conspirators; instruments in the hands
of the Church to destroy all reformation or opposition; that
their worship was the institution of the devil and ought to be
destroyed; that their images and pictures were defamatory of
God's holy command; that the image of the Blessed Holy
Virgin was an insult to Christianity. All these and more were
the teachings of the Reformation. They believed they had
received divine inspiration through Calvin and Martin Luther.
They were the elect and God's chosen people, and that it was
His command to compel the spreading of this "true gospel*'
of worship.

198 Christian Persecutions.

We might continue and write a volume in narration of the
events which interested France through her cruel wars, extend-
ing over a period of sixty-six years — 1562 to 1628 — but enough
has been said to give an idea of the cause and effect of this
awful devastation of life and property, and the persecution of
Christianity. It explains the motive power of conflict and con-
quest. It explains that no war would ever have been waged
had it not been for the division of royal power and its jealous
ambitions. While the rank and file fought for the principles of
faith, yet we are not oblivious to the fact that these people were
misled by the powers that were above them. In almost every
event of any particular note, we can trace the selfish motive
of some designing person. At the Massacre of Vassy, a
renowned record of history, we find the cause to be the over-
bearing command of the Duke of Guise, who provoked a
quarrel and then made an assault, while the tragedy of St.
Bartholomew's Day was the conspiracy of royal scheming.
So we may trace the animus of these terrible persecutions to
some cause not directly religious, but in general foreign to
any doctrine of worship.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE SPANISH INQUISITION.

F)ROBABLY there is no institution, or name, or feature of
* Catholic origin, or anything representing Cathohc au-
thority, that is so httle understood and so loudlv and violently
condemned by Protestants, as the Spanish Inquisition. So
strong has become the prejudice against this institution that
its name has become the synonym for all that indicates intol-
eration, persecution, misery, inhumanity, and the most excni-
ciating cruelty,.

Every Protestant has been taught the awful horrors
recorded as having been committed by this institution, and
he was also instructed by the same teachers that the penalties
prescribed and exacted were authorized by the Catholic
Church. Thus did the Spanish Inquisition become associated -
with or at least a part of the history of this Cluirch. It seems
as though Protestant historians took delight in holding up this
institution as authorized by Catholic authority, and asserting
that if the Catholic religion should again obtain dominion
over the earth, the same results would inevitably follow.

As a proof that this is the feeling among Protestants I may
cite my own state of mind before I determined to investigate
the matter for my own edification and satisfaction. While I
do not claim to be highly educated, nor can I be charged
with a low order of ignorance, yet I must say that in my varied
researches in history, in my official duties, my extensive read-

199

200 Christian Persecutions.

ings, I failed to find that any particular or special Protestant
history of this institution existed, except that oft-repeated
story that it was a tribunal of torture established by Catholic
authority, and that the less we investig-ated it the more char-
itable we could be in covering up this black page in the his-
tory of the Church. I believed from what I had learned that
it was a chapter so vile, so terribly inhuman, and so wretched
in all its details of cruelty, that it would be far better to forget
than to investigate.

In my youth I had been taught the awful tortures inflicted
by this Inquisition. My nursery-books were sure to contain
some harrowing tale of martyred individuals, such as pictures
of men hanging by their thumbs; machines for twisting and
crushing the feet and dislocating of joints; pouring boiling
oil, or pitch, into the boots of the victims; cutting oflf hands,
feet, ears, nose, tongue; skinning alive; roasting, and burning;
strangling, suffocating, and other forms of cruelty. One pic-
ture in particular, which has ever haunted me, was that of a
man condemned to death by quartering. This process con-
sisted in harnessing four horses to his arms and legs and
forcing them to draw in opposite directions until the limbs
were torn from the body.

So vivid are these pictures and their descriptions in my
imagination that to forget them, and the source from which
they emanated, would be an impossibility. To-day the same
teachings are almost constantly kept before the children and,
like myself, they grow, to maturity with the same prejudice,
distrust, and ignorance of the real facts. But children cannot
be blamed for harboring this feeling of horror, not even when

The Spanish Inquisition. 201

they become men. They have had no other instruction, no
other form of Hterature, and no means of obtaining knowledge
different from this. Even Cathohcs remain silent, and bear
this perversion of facts and their mental agony without re-
sentment. They make no voluntary denial of these charges,
and, as a natural consequence, Protestants believe that the
statements are true and cannot be denied.

After I had prepared a goodly portion of the manuscript
for this work I explained its object to a particular friend of
mine, and I was astonished to find that his belief was that
since 1500 persecution had been practiced on one side only.
He believed that the history of the Catholic Church was a
history of crime, bloodshed, and persecution, and that Protest-
antism was the meek, suffering lamb, rescued by divine power
from the wickedness and corruption of the old Roman Church.
"Well," said he, "there is one chapter in the history of that
rehgion you will have to omit, and that is the Spanish In-
quisition."

And so it is. Men of intelligence, men of great learning,
and great ability to comprehend, are actually ignorant of what
the Spanish Inquisition was, what power controlled it, and
how it came into existence. Like my friend, they have read
only books which were published more for the sake of wreak-
ing fanatical revenge than for furthering the cause of unpreju-
diced education. They had become possessed of an idea, and
there that idea remained. They did not care to investigate, as
they were afraid they would unearth some new terrors, and
seemed content to remain in silence and ignorance.

Now, before I enter into a discussion of this Inquisition

(14.)

202 Christian Persecutions.

let me state to my readers that if they will study history other
than that written by men whose minds are warped by fanati-
cism, or by those who can see no good in the Catholic Church,
they will find what I have found — a new view of this institu-
tion. While it is not my intention to excuse the excesses of
this tribunal, or to deny any of the awful deeds of cruelty and
torture perpetrated by it, yet it is my desire to show to you
that crime was never sanctioned by the Church, that bloodshed
and persecution form no part of her creed, and that in the
Spanish cruelties the acts were those of the State and not of
the Church.

To say that the Spanish Inquisition did not practice un-
merciful cruelties upon certain classes of her people, or that it
did not prosecute its work with a determined effort to destroy
all opposition is to deny the facts of history. We all know that
this institution did exist, that it was powerful in its influence,
that it was instituted under a law of the kingdom, and that
through the enforcement of the law, it became the sole crea-
ture of the State, Right here let me make this statement, and
I ask you to note the difference: This tribunal was organized
by the State for the purpose of detecting and punishing crime,
and was not an institution established by the Church. While
the Kingdom of Spain was a subdivision, or, in other words,
a province under the general government of the Church, yet
the king was the niling sovereign, who directed the making
of the laws of his own government. As those laws were inde-
pendent of ecclesiastical authority, they cannot be charged
against the Church. Although the king was supposed to obey
the laws of the Church regarding the matter of faith and doc-
trine, yet in the g-overnment of his people he was supreme.

The Spanish Inquisition. 203

But you will say, was not Spain Catholic, and as such was
not the Church responsible for allowing these wrongs? In
the punishment of heresy, did they not follow the direction of
Catholic authority? True, Spain was Catholic, and the Span-
ish Inquisition was a Catholic institution of that State, just as
any law was a Catholic law. But because of this, are you to
charge all the crimes of a people to the Church because those
people belonged to that Church? If a Catholic, to-day,
should commit a crime, must we charge the Church with the
deed? If children are disobedient, are we to hold their par-
ents accountable for the sin?

Now, before you can convict the Church of these Spanish
inhumanities, you must show some proof that the Pope, or
Councils, sanctioned such decrees of punishment, and that
you cannot do. Not only did the head of the Church entreat
for moderation, but he threatened excommunication, and the
infliction of direst punishment. The Inquisitors, however, had
obtained the power and would wield it to suit their own
notions of justice.

In the establishment of this institution, or tribunal, Ferdi-
nand and Isabella set before Pope Sextus IV that it was
necessary for the preservation of order in their kingdom to
organize an Inquisition, and under this entreaty the Pope
sanctioned it, believing that it was nothing more than a Star-
Chamber Tribunal for the examination of those charged with
some crime. The year following its introduction, 1481, the
Jews complained to the Pope of its severity, and the same
Pontiff issued a Bull against the Inquisitors, and as the his-
torian Prescott informs us, "he rebuked their intemperate zeal,

204 Christian Persecutions.

and even threatened them with deprivation." He wrote to
Ferdinand and Isabella that "Mercy towards the guilty was
more pleasing to God than the severity which they were
using."

When the Pope ascertained that his commands were being
disobeyed, he encouraged the sufferers to flee to Rome, where
in two years he received and gave protection to four hundred
and fifty refugees from Spain. But I hear some one exclaim,
why did the Pope allow this wrong? If he sanctioned its
adoptioiu, why did he not set his authority against it in such
a manner as to force its discontinuance? But we must re-
member that conditions then were far different from condi-
tions now. The whole country was on the verge of a great
religious revolt, and heresy was the greatest crime known.
In less than half a century Germany, England, Switzerland,
Norway, Holland, and other countries set up Protestant gov-
ernments. Even France had been in the throes of civil strife,
while Spain stood alone against the assaults of the Reformers.
She saw the rising tide of Protestantism and sought to pre-
vent its spread in her territory, and in establishing the Inquisi-
tion she did .that which, in her judgment, would discourage
this religion, and suppress that of the Jews and Turks. The
laws of Spain denounced heresy as the greatest crime of the
kingdom, and in its suppression she did what England has
done in Ireland in persecuting the Catholics for three hundred
years — sought self-preservation. As the ferocity of the Span-
ish Inquisition lasted only about fifteen years, although the
tribunal, in various modified forms, existed many years longer,
the balance-sheet of atrocities, wlien compared with Ireland
alone, is decidedly in favor of Catholicism.

The Spanish Inquisition. 205

But heresy was not the only object against which the In-
quisition exerted its fury. While it was organized for the
ostensible purpose of preventing the spread of rehgious oppo-
sition, it in reality soon became the cloak which covered the
oppression of the royal Court of Spain. As it was established
by King Ferdinand it was held more for the purpose of pro-
moting earthly affairs, than from motives of religious zeal.
Or, as we find the fact in history, Ferdinand used its machin-
^ery, not to preserve Catholic faith, but to uphold and sustain
his power in the kingdom.

The Moors and Jews were looked upon more as the ene-
mies of the throne than as the enemies of the Church, and the
despotic power of the Inquisitors was directed against those
who were suspected of being against the Spanish government.

The authorities in those days knew no way of extorting
confessions except by bodily pain. We of this enlightened
age place our victims in the sweat-box — the Star-Chamber of
the police force — and there ply the mind with agonizing ques-
tions until, through sheer exhaustion, the accused yields the
truth. It may require days of this mental persecution before
his physical body succumbs to the strain and he is forced to
confess, or, if he is obstinate and refuses to answer the ques-
tions asked him, he is punished bodily for contempt of court.
He may not have his body disfigured, for our laws prevent,
but rest assured the members of this Star Chamber will inflict
correctives that will induce the victim to prefer the sweat-box
rather than suffer these bodily discomforts.

But you say, this is all right; the culprit has committed a
crime, and we have a right to extort a confession. Had you

206 Chkistian Persecutions.

lived in the days of the Reformation, or any period of our
world's existence up to the nineteenth century, you would also
have believed in bodily pain for the extortion of confession.
Possibly you may remember something of our own history,
when the Puritans of New England, the most religious Prot-
estant denomination in existence, and who fled from persecu-
tion for the God-given privilege of worshiping according to
the dictates of conscience — perliaps you may remember that
these persecuted Puritans, the followers of John Calvin, meted
out the same punishment for heresy that was inflicted upon
them and from which they fled. Read your school history
and you will find:

Question — What was the cause and result of the Salem
witchcraft?

Answer — A superstition prevailed that persons were sub-
ject to the control of invisible evil spirits, and it is the ac-
cepted opinion that 200 persons were accused, 150 imprisoned,
28 condemned, 19 hanged, and one pressed to death.

What a record for these Christian Puritans on the item of
superstition alone! There was not a particle of foundation
for it except that evolved by the -imagination of the ignorant.

But again we find : "The Quakers were whipped, branded,
had their ears cut off, their tongues bored with hot irons, and
were banished under pain of death in case of their return, and
actually executed on the gallows."

Turn to your history again and ask the question, "Who
was Roger Williams"? "A Puritan, who, for his liberal reli-
gious opinions, was banished from Massachusetts. When he
escaped from the hands of the Puritans he fled to Rhode

The Spanish Inquisition. 207

Island and took refuge among the Indians. Canonicus, the
Narragansett Chief, gave him land to found a settlement,
which he gratefully named Providence."

Now, while we are discussing New England times, let us
inquire who was Lord Baltimore, and how does he figure in
American history?

"Lord Baltimore was a Catholic, who, to secure for his
Churchmen a refuge from the persecutions which they were
suffering in England, came to America and secured a grant of
land covering considerable territory in Maryland. The Vir-
ginia colonies, under Clayborne, started a rebellion and drove
Lord Baltimore, then governor of Maryland, out of the colony.
The Protestants, having obtained a majority in the Assembly,
excluded Catholics from their rights, assailed their religion,
and even declared them outside the protection of the law.
Civil war ensued. At one time two governments were sus-
tained— one Protestant and the other Catholic. In 1691, Lord
Baltimore was entirely deprived of his rights as proprietor,
and Maryland became a royal province. In 1715, the fourth
Lord Baltimore recovered the government, and religious
toleration was again restored."

"To whom does the honor of having first established
religious freedom in America belong"?

"To the Roman Catholics of Maryland."

Thus we find, even in free America, that persecution be-
cause of religious beHef was carried on with much severity;
and further, that the Protestants of our own country are
indebted to the Catholics for setting the example of free wor-
ship.

208 Christian Persecutions.

Suppose I should tell you that, during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth of England, the most revengeful of all the Prot-
estant sovereigns, the Covenanters of Scotland were hunted
like wild rabbits through forest and morass, and through
mountain and valley, and shot upon sight, would you believe
me? Hardly, unless you have studied the history of Scotland.
Then you will find that the CathoHcs were not the only ones
persecuted because of religion. Yet you charge the Church
of Rome with the horrible executions of the Spanish govern-
ment.

I must call your attention in this connection to an incident
that happened in Philadelphia in 1844:

"In the religious riots of Philadelphia in 1844, several
Catholic churches were burned down in the name of Protest-
antism, and houses were sacked. I was informed by an eye-
witness that owners of houses were obliged to mark on their
doors these words, 'This house belongs to Protestants,' in
order to save their property from the infuriated incendiaries.
For these acts I never heard of any retaliation on the part of
Catholics, and I hope I never shall, no matter how formidable
may be their numbers, and tempting the provocation."

Tlie above i-s by Cardinal Gibbons in "The Faith of Our
Fathers."

Again, in the same volume we find a truth expressed that it
is well for all of us to consider and to ask ourselves, why is it?

"In spite of the boasted toleration of our times, it cannot
be denied that there still lurks a spirit of inquisition, which
does not, indeed, vent itself in physical violence, but is, never-
theless, most galling to its victims. How many persons have

The Spanish Inquisition. 209

I met in the course of my ministry, who were ostracised by
their kindred and friends, driven from home, nay, disinherited
by their parents, for the sole crime of carrying out the very
shibboleth of Protestantism — the exercise of private judgment,
and of obeying the dictates of their conscience, by embracing
the Catholic faith ! Is not this the most exquisite torture that
can be inflicted on refined natures?

"Ah! there is an imprisonment more lonely than the dun-
geon; it is the imprisonment of our most cherished thoughts
in our own hearts, without a member of the family with whom
to communicate.

"There is a sword more keen than the executioner's knife;
it is the envenomed tongue of obloquy and abuse.' There is a
banishment less tolerable than exile from one's country; it
is the excommunication from tlie paternal roof, and from the
affections of those we love."

Thus we find that, through a prejudiced line of teaching,
we are taught to see the faults of Catholics more fully than
those of the Protestants, and possibly we may find that the
one is exaggerated, while the other is suppressed.

But let us return to the Spanish Inquisition. Like our
own sweat-box, those who were suspected of crime were given
into the hands of the Inquisitors, who sought to force them
to divulge their connection therewith. If the victim refused
to disclose his knowledge of the crime, deed, or plot, he was
subjected to cruel tortures of the body. The infliction of pen-
alties was measured according to the enormity of the crime
committed and the supposed value of the information to be
gained. When persons were condemned to death, such means

210 Christian Persecutions.

were used as, in the judgment of the Inquisitors, was most
fitting for the crime alleged against them.

Even to-day there are people who would have the mur-
derer condemned to the same death as that sufifered by his
victim, the execution to take place on the spot where the deed
was committed. While many of our people to-day deny the
justice of taking a life for a life, yet then it was far dififerent.
They were educated to severity and to meet death by burn-
ing") by torture, or by any other prescribed mode that was in
accordance with the law of the government under which they
lived. This right was not questioned in those times. It was
expected by every one, and as such must be endured. If an
individual preached religious opposition, he was denounced as
a heretic, and as this was declared to be the greatest crime
before God and man, he must abide by the law of the com-
monwealth.

Had this persecution for heresy been confined to Catholics,
we might have some excuse to complain, but when we find
that Protestants practiced it to a far greater extent, then but
little should have been said except to condemn the whole.
To condemn one side and ignore the other, is not just his-
tory, and it is here I make my complaint. I was brought up
in ignorance regarding this question, and' all Protestant chil-
dren to-day are being educated to harbor exactly the same
old intolerance and to believe the same old inconsistent, hid-
den, and distorted facts of history, when the facts of history
show that Catholics were persecuted one hundred times to
the Protestants once.

This being the case, why not teach our children regard-

The Spanish Inquisition. 211

ing- it? Why lay this foundation of prejudice, and allow them
to grow to manhood with hatred in their hearts? If you are
Christian, why not teach the truth? If you find in the con-
duct of your ancestors a crime against a fellow man, con-
demn it. When you find that John Calvin authorized the
burning- of Michael Servetus because he was a heretic, teach
it to your children and condemn it. When you find in the
history of Ireland hundreds of years of Protestant persecu-
tion, condemn it. When you find the bloody massacres of
Oliver Cromwell and William of Orange, because of loyalty
to Catholic faith, do not cover it up, but show to the world
what Protestants were doing. When you read of the persecu-
tions of Henry VIII, Edward VI, or Elizabeth, do not seek
to believe them right because they were perpetrated by Prot-
estant monarchs. When you teach of the Reformation, do
not fail to mention the desolation of Germany, of Switzer-
land, of France, and of Holland. Do not fail to mention the
hundreds of thousands of lives that were lost in battle, and
as you do this, compare this wholesale persecution of Protest-
ants against Catholics to the Spanish Inquisition, the only
instance in the history of the Catholic Church where sanc-
tion was ever given by which crime was perpetrated, and
this was done through a misconception of its power and mean-
ing, and by the head authority of the Church was condemned
within one year, and to prevent the bligthting influence of an
apparent Church wrong the Pope even excommunicated In-
quisitors and demanded that the Inquisition should be abol-
ished.

And yet this Inquisition was not against Protestants alone.

212 ChristiaNjJPPersecutions.

but against the Moors and Israelites, who were not only op-
posed to the Catholic religion, but were seeking to restore their
lost power by the overthrow of Ferdinand and the enthrone-
ment of the king of Barbary, or the Grand Turk.

The. great suspicion of Ferdinand was, what plot was being
laid and what torture would disclose it. Had there been only
heresy to deal with there would have been no Inquisitors
to extort confession through torture. Ferdinand and Isabella
were the sole authors of this institution, and the stability of
the throne depended upon it. As proof of this condition we
find the following historical facts:

"It was, therefore, rather a royal and political than an
ecclesiastical institution. The king nominated the Inquisitors,
who were equally composed of lay and clerical officials. He
dismissed them at will. From the King, and not from the
Pope, they derived their jurisdiction, and into the King's
coffers, and not into the Pope's, went all the emoluments
accruing from fines and confiscations. In a word, the au-
thority of the Inquisition began and ended with the crown."

But why do we so severely condemn this Spanish Inquisi-
tion for a persecution of the Mioors and Jews, when we find
that even Martin Luther recommended a merciless doctrine
against the Israelites? While he did not advocate a studied
means of bodily torture, yet he declared that their synagogues
ought to be destroyed, their houses pulled down, their prayer-
books, and even the books of the Old Testament, to be taken
from them. Their rabbis ought to be forbidden to tpach,
and be compelled to gain their livelihood by hard labor. When
you teach of these Catholic Spanish horrors, why not teach

The Spanish Inquisition. 213

at the same time what other religious denominations were
doing? Therefore, if we condemn Spanish persecution, why
not condemn Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulric Zwingli,
Henry VIII, Elizabeth, Oliver Cromwell, WilHam of Orange,
and the entire galaxy of Reformers of that period?

"It should be borne in mind that Henry VIII, and his suc-
cessors for many generations, inflicted fines, imprisonment,
and death to thousands of their subjects for denying the spirit-
ual supremacy of the temporal sovereign. This galling Inquisi-
tion lasted for nearly three hundred years, and the severity of
its decrees scarcely finds a parallel in the Spanish Inquisition.
Prescott avows that the administration of Elizabeth was 'not
a whit less despotic, and scarcely less sanguinary than that
of Isabella.' The clergy of Ireland, under Cromwell, were
ordered, under pain of death, to quit their country, and the-
ological students were obliged to pursue their studies in for-
eign seminaries. Any priest who dared to return to his native
country forfeited his life. Whoever harbored a priest suffered
death, and they who knew his hiding-place, and did not reveal
it to the Inquisitors, had both ears cut off."

Besides this, we find that Protestants are worshiping at
this very moment in churches wrested from Catholics in the
countries of England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, and Ger-
many, and though of no consequence at this late day to
mention these confiscated altars of worship, why conceal
the truth? Why place all the odium of religious persecution
and Spanish Inquisitions on the Church of Rome, when we
have a field far broader which marks the religious despotism
of the Protestants and their allies?

214 Christian Persecutions.

In the Cosmopolitan of February, 1895, we find a very
interesting article by Julian Hawthorn, extracts of which are
given below:

"Mediaeval torture was not, indeed, applied exclusively
in the interests of religion; the Council of Ten and the Spanish
Inquisition were organized to maintain worldly no less than
heavenly order."

"Torture was the fashionable and final theological argu-
ment, and was inflicted asi opportunity served, by heretics as
well as upon them. No sect, party, or community had the
monopoly of it; it was a generally recognized and accepted
form of persuasion or chastisement; and the constancy with
which its victims endured torment was only a degree less sur-
prising than the resolution with which its agents applied it.

"From one point of view, torture was a natural out-
growth of the lawless and savage condition of Europe and
Asia during the early centuries after Christ. By way of main-
taining some sort of social order, secret organizations were
formed, which ruled by the terror of mystery quite as much
as by their actual physical strength. Their influence was,
upon the whole, beneficial; they were, in some respects, an-
alogous to the famous vigilance committees which were a fea-
ture of our early Californian life. Their corruption, decay,
and extinction were the consequence of the improvement of
the social conditions which they had come into existence
to control.

"These societies arrogated the right not only to inflict
death, but to practice torture with a view to eliciting con-
fession," ; 1 ,;

The Spanish Inquisition. 215

"During the struggle between Spain and the United
Netherlands, torture was employed by both parties indiffer-
ently, and became very violent. The Dutchmen once tied
a number of prisoners together in pairs, and confined them in
a large room. No food was given them, and in the course
of a few days they were mad with hunger. At length they
began to devour each other. They were kept in that room
until the last man was dead. Terrible as was the Spanish In-
quisition, this affair goes far to even matters between them
and the Netherlanders. Another device of the latter w^as to
strip their victim, and drag him backw^ards and forwards on
a rope stretched taut, until he was sawn asunder."

"The heart sickens as one reads these awful pages and
calls up the spectacles which they portray. It seems to be
the story of a world wholly monstrous and diabolical. And
yet, all this while innocent children were being born, and
young men and maidens w-ere loving and mating, and good
and happy lives were lived, and Bacon and Shakespeare wrote
immortal works. It was substantially the same beautiful, vari-
ous, kindly world that we now live in. Nevertheless, it is
hard to avoid the notion that the powers of darkness were
permitted in those ages to walk the earth more boldly and
openly than to-day, and to seize their prey with less cere-
mony and subterfuge than at present. It was one of the
long series of experiences through which mankind must needs
pass before it can attain that state w4iich is secure from the
shadow of the pit.

"The story of torture is not told in vain; it has a lesson.
It is evident that those \vho inflicted it justified their act to

216 Christian Persecutions.

their own minds by arg-uments based upon the integrity and
prosperity of the State and upon interpretations of holy writ.
ReHg-ious orthodoxy in those days was essential to social
order. Heretics were inevitably rebels against human as well
as divine laws. Restraint and penalties were indispensable,
if the community was to be preserved. On the other hand,
it is doubtful whether death, or even torture, would have
been inflicted on theological grounds alone. Certainly, the
Roman Inquisition, which was purely a religious institution,
never inflicted death ; whereas, that of Spain, which was mainly
political, was steeped in blood from the outset. Tenderness
for the souls of the erring may have been genuine, but it
would not have found such extreme expression had not secu-
lar conditions been involved with it. Be that as it may, the
excuse and the precedent were Scriptural, based, it is true,
upon a complete perversion of the true spirit of Scripture,
but we may reasonably hold the perversion to have been an
honest one.

"And in those days the 'higher criticism' had not yet
been evolved, and men believed the Bible with an intense, if
superstitious, faith. They read in the Bible that God pun-
ished sin: that, if it were persisted in. He punished it after
the death of the body with an eternity of torments, compared
with which the worst that man could inflict were as nothing.
This served as their precedent. Their excuse was yet more
plausible. Evil in man was caused by the machinations of
the devil — by the suggestion and persuasion of his angels.
The Inquisition, by torturing the body, aimed to cast out
these devils. This accomplished, the soul would be saved from

The Spanish Inquisition. 217

the everlasting torments of hell. Temporal pain was the
severe yet merciful means of guarding against the pains to
tvhich there was no end,

"This was the theory of mediaeval torture — of salvation
by the rack — and it explains much that would be else inex-
plicable. It was founded upon a hideous mistake, and could
not outlast the development of reason. And yet this very
calamity, was the means of awakening the spiritual conscience
of mankind, and preparing the way for the great enlighten-
ment to follow. Our feet, and those of our posterity, would
not stand so firmly were not the rack and the pyre among
the elements of our history."

We might even go further in the mysteries of the Spanish
Inquisition by asserting, from competent authority, that a
greater motive than piety, or security of kingdom, influenced
the Kings; that it was the acquisition of property by confisca-
tion from those who were victims to its persecution, and yet
we are continually reminded of this terrible enactment of
Catholic indignities, and that the Church urged its followers
to strike deeper and longer against its enemies and thus
destroy the heresy that was overrunning Europe. But if this
is so, what can you say of this fact of history? "After the
convening of the Council of Trent, Bartholomew Caranza,
Archbishop of Toledo, was arrested by the Inquisition on a
charge of heresy, and his release from prison could not be
obtained either by the interposition of Pius IV, or the remon-
strance of the Council."

Is not this an evidence of the power of the Spanish Tri-
bunal? And is it not an evidence that even ecclesiastical dig-

(15)

218 Christian Persecutions.

nitaries were not exempt from its authority? If the Pope
and the Council could not effect the deliverance of one of the
highest archbishops in the kingdom, how could they control
its administration in the execution of its victims, when the
whole process of law was a secret institution?

Now, the fact is, my friends, that this Inquisition acted
independently of the Holy See, and that not even the Catholic
hierarchy could command obedience, or control. Having been
instituted for pohtical purposes no power but that of the King
could cause its arrest. In Naples and Milan, which then be-
longed to Spain, the Pope succeeded in preventing the gov-
ernment from establishing its Inquisitions. And, again, we
find that the number of victims has been greatly exaggerated.
In the fifteen yeai-s of its most terrible reign no more than
two thousand were put to death in all Spain.

While it is not my motive to speak lightly of this page of
tragedies, or to excuse by any means the awful wrongs com-
mitted, yet I would have you look at the whole situation, the
condition of the people of those times, their education and be-
liefs, the instability of government, the plots, murders, and
political corruption. I ask you to examine the persecu-
tions of Protestants as well as of Catholics, and as you
view the whole history of cruelties, see them from the stand-
point of then and not from the conditions of the present. Do
not for a moment believe that Catholic Inquisitions of nearly
four hundred years ago are Catholic institutions of to-day,
unless you also believe that the Protestant persecutions of
the same period are still being practiced. One is just as
sensible as the other, and to teach your children the prejudice

The Spanish Inquisition. 219

which follows one, and not the truth of the other, is unjust and
unchristianlike.

We have no right to build up one cause by tearing down
another. The days of bodily persecution are gone, never to
return. The whole world has arrived at a state of existence
where we are commanded to judge men by what they do,
and not by what they have done. Laws against heresy have
been abolished, and in its place we have the freedom of con-
secrated riglits. The spirit of God moves through the teach-
ings of His children, and not by the blind fury of force. While
we all preach charity and forbearance, yet let us practice it,
let us prove to our children its meaning, let us speak the
truth, write the truth, and teach the truth. If we find a mote
in our brother's eye, first let us cast the beam out of our
own, for with a dimmed vision you have no right to render
judgment against another. What has been is not what is,
or what will be. We live, not in the past, but in the present.
The laws of 1492 are not the laws of 1899. The kingdom of
Ferdinand is not the land of Columbia, and education as
imparted then, is not the education now. Then why, I ask,
have you not dropped your mental persecutions, your incon-
sistency, your prejudices, and your intolerance? Why seek
to promote what does not and cannot exist? Why not unite
with Cardinal Gibbons and all say:

"I heartily pray that religious intolerance may never take
root in our favored land. May the only King to force our
conscience be the King of kings; may the only prison erected
among us for the sin of unbelief or misbelief be the prison
of a troubled conscience; and may our only motive for em-
bracing truth be, not the fear of man, but the love of truth
and of God."

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

T N relating; the events of the French Revolution, it is not the
' intention to dwell largely on the condition of France po-
litically, or to enter minutely into the causes which led to this
terrible conflict, but of the general conditions, the persecu-
tions, the dethronement of reason, the desecration of God's
Holy Word, the baptism of blood, triumphant guilt, and the
wild excesses of the Commune.

The revolution was a revolt against royal despotism and
privileged wealth. The lands, business, institutions, and
wealth were in the hands of the nobility, while the common
people were oppressed, robbed of the fruits of their labor, and
treated as serfs, instead of equals. At first but the murmurings
of discontent were heard, but as excitement grew the most
horrible conditions came into existence — mobs rose in vio-
lence, became frenzied in their mad career, and committed the
most atrocious crimes in the name of "Liberty, Equality, Fra-
ternity," the motto of the Revolution.

The principal causes which led to this uprising may be
enumerated as follows: The abuses and extravagances of the
Bourt)on monarch; the unjust privileges enjoyed by the no-
bility; the accumulation of wealth by the clergy; the revolu-.
tionary character of French philosophy; the influence of the
late American Revolution; the impetuous and revolutionary
character of the French people and the wretched condition of

220

The French Revolution. 221

the common masses: all conspired to turn reason into mad-
ness, consistency into inconsistency, moderation into violence,
honor into disihonor, and law and order into the wild and
uncontrollable fury for pillage, confiscation and murder. The
"Reign of Terror" is a black page in the history of France —
a page that relates a fiendish persecution, only equaled by
the cruelty of the pagan, Nero. Down with royalty! Down
with the nobility! Down with the clergy! was the loud cry
of the infuriated mobs. Reason had changed to madness.
Justice was dethroned, blood had been shed and the wild and
terrible cry of vengeance was resounded from throat to throat.
■'To the lions with the Christians!" was the cry of the pagan
populace. "To the guillotine!" was the cry of the infuriated
mobs of the Commune.

At the commencement of the French Revolution we find
Louis XVI, a Bourbon monarch, king of France. We find
him a weak-minded, vacillating sovereign; inclined to fairness
and justice, but surrounded with a nobility that worked upon
his weakness, obtained concessions and through their selfish
designs instituted a condition of discontent that led to disas-
trous results, not only for the throne, but for the cause of
Christianity. This nobility, numbering 80,000 families, was
what remained of the once powerful feudal aristocracy of the
Middle Ages. The common people numbered 25,000,000, and
were subjected to the payment of heavy taxes for the support
of these classes. The nobility, however, were not taxed for the
support of the government and were accorded many privileges
at the expense of the lower classes. The peasants were rudely
trampled upon by the infliction of intolerable wrongs. They

222 Christian Persecutions.

were forbidden to fence their fields for the protection of their
crops, because it might interfere with the lord's convenience in
the hunt. They were even forbidden to cultivate their fields at
certain seasons of the xear, for fear such cultivation might dis-
turb the young pheasants and other game. They were made
to feel that they were inferior, and must bow to the demands of
their superiors.

With the existence of such conditions, is it any wonder
they were highly incensed against the nobility, against wealth,
and against the inequality of society?

Also, we find the same old pagan philosophy, simply
smoothed over to suit existing conditions. Tliere was in it the
same old opposition to Qiristianity, faith and devotion.
Rousseau, Voltaire and Tliomas Paine were the great philoso-
phers of the age. Their godless and atheistic writings were
scattered broadcast, and sowed the seeds of discontent, of
revolution, and of apostasy. They denounced the nobility as
the great source of evil to mankind. They denounced the
Church as a plague-spot upon the civil liberties of the people.
They denied God from the standpoint of reason. They wrote,
talked and pleaded for revolution, for equality, for justice, for
individual rights. They harangued the masses, and held up
to them the freedom of America and demanded a war for lib-
erty, equal taxation, and a government freed from tyrants,
kings, an'd nobility. They declared that all men are created
equal and titles should be abolished. They cited the privi-
leges of the few and the sufferances of the many. They ap-
pealed to the passions and prejudices of the people. They
drew pictures of American independence and American free-

The French Revolution. 223

dom. Discontent was thus produced, passions were aroused,
and disrespect for authority made manifest. By preying upon
the ignorance of the people they instituted a civil rebellion
that knew no bounds for the infliction of vengeance, blood-
shed, confiscation and persecution.

The commencement of this terrible struggle was in 1789,
when the National Assembly was organized to direct the af-
fairs of the nation. This Assembly immediately became vio-
lent in its opposition to the throne and the Catholic Church,
and seized the property of the clergy, the accumulation of cen-
turies. All religious orders were suppressed, and solemn
monastic vows interdicted. It prohibited ecclesiastical dress,
legalized divorces, recognized the persecution of Catholic
priests, stripped churches of their emblems of worsihip, and,
to wipe out every feature of Christianity, the Gregorian cal-
endar was abolished, because it was the established time of the
Catholic Church. A new mode of reckoning time was intro-
duced. Each month was divided into three periods of ten
days called "decades," the tenth day being set aside as a day
of rest and recreation. The names of the months were changed
to correspond to some special character. The days were also
re-named and each day divided into ten parts. A new system
of weights and measures was conceived and all institutions and
customs that possibly could be, were abolished. Tlieir hatred
was so intense that all institutions of government, of worship
or adoption, that were establisihed by kings and aristocrats,
must be abolished.

The design of the philosophers Avas to unchristianize
France, to destroy every evidence of God, of worship, and of

224 Christian Persecutions.

the Church. They declared "that the world can never be
happy until it has denied the existence of God," and to show
in what manner they proposed to attain their ends they passed
res'olutions which declared that their avowed object should be,
"never to rest until they had strangled the last king with the
bowels of the last priesf"

Their animosity was so great that the Assembly legislated
specially against priests and all who were in harmony with
them. At first the sentence was banishment, but afterwards
changed to a decree of death, and the terrible Danton under-
took its execution.

The rage of Danton and his followers was one of the most
heartless in the long line of cruelties. His first bloody deed
in Paris was the murder of three hundred priests, an arch-
bishop and two bishops. When the signal for massacre was
given in the Abbey of St. Germain, and some drew back,
shuddering, one of the hired assassins called out: "What!
Are you afraid of blood? You must get used to it."

The cruelties into which savage men were led -by priest-
hatred are indescribable. Among the priests murdered at
Rlieims, was the holy and venerable Alexandre, dean of the
cathedral. He was burned alive over a slow fire; his torments
were thus prolonged for over an hour. He was compelled,
before his own execution, to Avitness that of his dear friend,
the Abbe Romain, who was most cruelly tortured and burned
before him. While Alexandre was being roasted alive his tor-
mentors would, from time to time, withdraw him from the
fire, that they might gloat over the spectacle of his sufiferings.
To augment the distress, they forced his own nephew to carry

The French Revolution. 225

the wood and place it on the fire. Among the priests mur-
dered at Lyons was the Abbe Regni, a man respected by all
for his great virtue and charity. The furious mob hacked his
fingers from his hands, tore out his entrails, and then cut ofif
his head, and finished by offering his mangled limbs to the
passers-by for relics. Such barbarities were only called "spill-
ing the blood of a few traitors."

To illustrate the insane desire for revenge and the uncon-
trolled rage against those who had accumulated wealth, we
find the Convention passed the following decree: "The city
of Lyons is opposed to the Revolution, the city of Lyons
shall be destroyed; every house occupied by a rich man shall
be demolished; only the dwellings of the poor shall remain,
with edifices especially devoted to industry, and monuments
consecrated to humanity and public education." Thousands
of men were employed to pull down the city, while tlie frenzied
mobs constantly howled, Down with aristocracy! Down
with the Church! Down with inequality! The Convention
also decreed that a commemorative monument — to serve as a
warning — should be established on the ruins of Lyons, with
this inscription: "Lyons opposed liberty! Lyons is no
more!"

The madness of the people knew no bounds. To obliter-
ate all evidence of Christianity, the Commune closed the
Churches of Paris and confiscated their treasures, their altars,
and shrines. Even the bells were melted and cast into cannon. »
The images of Christ and the Virgin Mary were torn down,
defaced, trampled upon and blasphemed against. The busts
of Marat and other revolutionists were erected in the place of

226 Christian Persecutions.

these beloved "representatives of Christian love and faith. As
the emancipation of the world was to be wroug^ht through the
guillotine instead of the cross, that instrument to'ok the place
of the crucifix and was called the Holy Guillotine. All th-e
emblems of Christian worship were destroyed. Even the
graves of the dead were desecrated by the hands of the rabble,
and over the gates of the cemeteries were inscribed the words:
"Death is an eternal sleep."

The religious madness of the people culminated in the
worship of the Goddess of Reason. Churches everywhere
were converted into temples of this new worship. The Sab-
bath day having been abolished, the tenth day was set aside
for the services of Reason.

"On the 10th of November, 1793, the church of Notre
Dame, in Paris, was made the scene of a most frightful dese-
cration. A woman of ill-fame, with a skyblue mantle flung
around her, and a Phrygian cap on her head, representing the
Goddess of Reason, was conducted on a triumphal car into
this venerable sanctuary, and there, surrounded by the fol-
lowers of the new faith, enthroned on the high altar, with a
crucifix beneath her feet; lewd songs then resounded in her
praise, and wild dances and hideous excesses, defiled the holy
place, and crowned the homage thus rendered to the new
divinity. The prophecy of Beauregard was thus fulfilled to
the very letter. This frightful impiety was enacted not only
iin Paris, but also in many other French cities, and with it was
often combined a hideous mockery of holy things. In one
place five hundred prostitutes appeared, clothed in sacerdotal
vestments. In another an ass, decked with a mitre and cope,

The French Revolution. 227

was made to draw along a cart filled with gold and silver
altar vessels. Not only did men, in devilish rage, trample the
crucifix under foot, but they also stole consecrated hosts, and,
to the eternal shame of the ungrateful human race, flung
them to unclean beasts to be devoured. If any one should
speak a respectful word with regard to Christianity, or be
surprised with a crucifix, rosary, picture of a saint, or other
Christian emblem, death was the punishment for such an
ofifense. It was only at their utmost peril that those faithful
priests who courageously refused tO' forsake their flocks,
administered the sacrament to the dying. And that such
priests might not escape detection of the spies who constantly
watched them, they were not allowed, under pain of death,
to assume any sort of disguise. Nuns were starved, ill-treated,
and led in crowds to execution; whilst public prostitutes were
supported at the expense of tlie State,"

Such were the wild excesses of the Commune that to defy
religion, to defy the truths of Christ, and to disgrace the
Temples of God, they would lend their mockery in a pretended
worship of vice, and in the elevation of disgraced humanity
they would compare the purity of divine inspiration with a
debase'd and lustful shame. It was not that a debased nature
was preferred to a life of purity, but in the desecration of
God's Holy Altar no contempt could be stronger, nor no
mockery greater, than to bow in pretended adoration tO' a
soiled and debased woman. No insult could be stronger to
the divine purity of Christianity than this act of eternal shame.
Churches could be demolished, crosses hewn down and cast
into the fire, sacred vestments trampled under foot, emblems

228 Christian Persecutions.

of veneration desecrated by the hand of the vandal, but to
convert the House of God into the excesses of degradation, to
supplant the altar of Christ with the representation of crime,
and to convert the forms of Christianity into the beastly
triumphs of an idolatrous worship, was the greatest of all dis-
graced ignominy, and as we follow these awful desecrators of
God's Holy Worship, we find them meeting the judgment of
an outraged Deity. As they meted out murder and desecra-
tion, so were their crimes avenged by the visitation of a just
punishment.

In the worship of Reason the orators of the day gloried in
the achievements of the Revolution, and in the height of
exhortation, blessed the hour when the people were no longer
oppressed by the kings of earth nor by a king in heaven.

,'With the disappearance of religion there came, as a
plague-spot upon the social life of France, a season of vice,
sin, and degradation. The brutal nature of man was loosed
in all its wildest terror. The corrupting influence of sin and
shame was destroying the moral atmosphere of the social life
of family, state, and nation. It was no longer held' in
obedience to the teachings of honor, truth, and fidelity. It
had been loosed to the lowest infamy of hell's debasing shrine.
It was bathed in the blood of the noblest lives of Christian
faith, and it was wallowing in the mire of a depraved lust, an
unforgiven mockery, and a defiled and condemned nature.

It became a wild scene of idolatrous worship. No God,
no Bible, no Christ, no Virgin Mary/* The Goddess of Rea-
son was the philosophy of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Thomas
Paine. It became the condition of the present, but no future;

The French Revolution. 229

mind but no soul; nature but no God. The cry of the Com-
mune was to dethrone the King- of Heaven as well as the kings
of earth. One of the most dangerous leaders of the Commune
was Hebert, who would overthrow all forms of religion, all
forms of past government, and establish society upon the
foundation of Communism and Atheism. To this Robespierre,
the great leader of the revolution, objected. He wished to
sweep away Christianity as a superstition, but he would stop
at Deism. He did not believe a government could be estab-
lished on Atheism. There must be some Supreme Being for
the people to worship. It was, and always had been popular,
and must be continued. He said: "If God does not exist
it would behoove man to invent him." Accordingly, this
blood-thirsty revolutionist presented the following resolution,
which was adopted by the Convention: "The French people
acknowledge the existence of the Supreme Being and the
immortality of the soul." The temples that had been con-
verted to the worship of the Goddess of Reason were now
consecrated to the worship of the Supreme Being.

Strange as it may seem, yet at the very time when Robes-
pierre was offering resolutions recognizing the existence of
a Supreme Being and establishing the new worship, he was
desolating France with murders and massacres of such ter-
rible atrocity that the world had never seen its equal except
in the most frightful days of Rome. The terrorisfti of the man
was beyond conception. With self-organized power, his will
became the ruling force of destiny. Lives to him were as
nothing, so great was the execution of men, women and chil-
dren. He was devoid of heart, soul, or conscience. The blind

230 Christian Persecutions.

fanaticism of ancient savag-ery controlled his power of reason.
In the name of liberty he committed crimes unspeakable. He
murdered thousands of human beings, blasphemed against
God, and persecuted Christianity, and all in the name of the
Republic of France.

Persons opposed, or even suspected of opposition, were
crowded to the guillotine in almost countless numbers. The
prisons contained two hundred thousand persons suspected
of sympathy against the reign of crime and destruction. By
the swift process of the Revolutionary Tribunal justice became
a mockery, a slave to passion, and a cloak to cover the sanc-
tion of crime. So swift was judgment pronounced that not
one, but ten, fifty, were dragged before the tribunal at once,
and, without trial, except the accusation of their enemies,
they were pronounced guilty and huiTied to execution.

The scenes around the guillotine were indescribable and
be)^ond the power of expression. People were devodd of pity,
shame or conscience. They screamed with delight at the
awful spectacle of bloodshed and death. They built benches
around the guillotines to better witness the executions of the
condemned. Special sewers were constructed to carry away
the blood of the victims, and yet, in the frenzy of this Reign
of Terror, women, whose natures abhor the scenes of strife,
gloried in the awful butchery of human life. They forgot
their womanhood, and in the cry for retribution they urged
the executioner to more swiftly wield his knife of death.

While this was the condition in Paris, yet, even worse,
was the destruction of life in the cities of Toulon, Marseilles,
Nantes, and Bordeaux, where the slow process of the guillo-

The French Revolution. 231

tine was superseded by a swifter mode of execution. Indi-
viduals were bound tog-ether and thrown into the water; boats
were crowded with victims and then scuttled; long- columns
of condemned were mowed down with musket and cannon;
rooms were filled with victims and then suffocated. By these
various m'ethods over fifteen thousand victims were massa-
cred in a single month, and during the three months, of Robes-
pierre's wildest terror over thirty thousand were victims of
this awful persecution.

Terrible and inhuman as was this execution, still the
blackest deed of horror is yet to be told — a deed that stands
without a parallel in all the annals of despotic crimes; a deed
that blots the name of France, of liberty and fame; a deed
so vile that hell itself revolts against its shame. This deed was
the execution of three hundred innocent children, orphans of
those who had suffered death by execution. In one night
these children were gathered on the banks of the Loire and
cast into the river, the mob crying: They are eggs of the
reptile! Down with the brats, and they will never rise up to
oppress us!

The heart grows sick at the awful dispensation of crime
from the mobs of infuriated men. Wild beasts kill to sate
their thirst; men kill to gloat over the victory of oppression,
and the wild frenzy of uncontrolled reason. They become
madmen, despots, tyrants, and in their persecutions they lose
their manhood, their honor and their God. They become
slaves to passion, slaves to ambition, and slaves to eternal
destruction.

When we understand that forty-four thousand guillotines

232 Christian Persecutions.

were erected in France we may have some conception of the
magnitude of the slaughter, and all the awful results in this
Reign of Terror. Often a word, a tear, a look was enough
to proclaim sympathy and send the unfortunate victim to his
execution.

At La Vendee, a district in the west of France, where
piety and love for Christian worship was strongest in the
hearts of the people, they suffered the greatest indignities,
cruelties, and murders. Its inhabitants had taken up arms in
defense of their rights, and had gained some brilliant vic-
tories. These disasters of the Republicans only infuriated
their wild rage. New forces were gathered against the Chris-
tians and with fire and sword they marched through this
province, destroying farms, burning villages, and murdering
every man, woman, and child who might fall in their way.
Age nor sex had any immunity from these devils who
traversed the country destroying every form of Christianity
that might arise before them. Armed m'obs, with the guillo-
tine in tlieir train, traversed every direction, and when cap-
tures were made they were dragged to the wagon of death,
there beheaded and the bodies left by the roadside.

Terror, like a pestilence, was each day spreading farther
and farther, demanding fresh victims to sate the thirst of
these destroying angels. A black cloud of despotism and
incarnate madness was brooding over France. Her victims
were counted, not by hundreds, but by hundreds of thousands.
The soil was drenched with the blood of innocence, and the
whole fabric of social life was steeped in shame.

But as all things come to an end, so, too, did the black

The French Revolution. 233

days of France. The butcheries of Robespierre and his crea-
tures had sated the thirst for human blood. The strain was
too great for human endurance. The conscience of man,
which had been covered by an insane desire for vengeance,
was asserting itself. Reaction was made manifest everywhere.
Further crimes were considere^d unnecessary, and they began
to turn with horror and pity from the blood-stained guillotine.
Robespierre was being denounced as a tyrant. His terrible
executions were coming home to demand the penalty of his
despotism. Once more did the hatred of revolution break
forth in all its ghastly form. Robespierre, himself, was the
victim. Finding that his power was broken and that an out-
raged nature had demanded his execution, he sought to end
his life by his own hand. The shot only shattered his jaw-
bone, and before he could again seek destruction he was seized
by the mob, dragged through the streets, and at the house
where he lived they halted for execution. A troop of women
had gathered, who sang songs of levity, executed dances, and
as his head fell, the whole crowd clapped tliei'r hands and
shouted applause, and uttered curses on his memory.

The waters of the bloody deluge began to subside, the
greatest tyrant in all France had met the fate of his thousands
of victims. The insane madness was over, and France had
awakened from the ghastly dream of the Reign of Terror.

^''' Ns!^ OF QETHS^^^

CHAPTER XIX.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

ONE of the greatest generals the world ever produced
was Napoleon Bonaparte — not great in deeds of charity
and Christian forbearance, but great in the deeds of heroic
valor. His whole life was one of restless ambition. Born
under the influence of military laws, cradled in national strife,
and raised to manhood at the beginning of the most terrible
revolution the world ever saw, is it any wonder war and con-
quest was the field of his ambition?

His great strength lay in his power of perception, his swift-
ness of action, his courage, and his discipline. His presence
commanded enthusiasm, confidence, and inspiration. By intui-
tion he saw the conditions, and with the boldness of assured
confidence he struck his fatal blows. He knew his own
strength and he knew the weakness of his enemy. He planned
only to conquer. Retreat to liim was impossible and could
not be considered. The map of the world lay at his feet and he
played his armies in the great chess game of nations. In the
gamie of checkers we crown our kings, but in his game of
nations he uncrowned them. Naught stood in the way of
his ambition. Even Church laws must bend lo his will. Two
Popes were imprisoned for refusing to obey his requirements.
Laws, rules, and edicts of the Church were changed at his
command. He would conquer Europe. He would bend the
I.nee of the proud Briton, but alas! he met his Waterloo.

234

Napoleon Bonaparte. 235

The star of destiny had set. The sun of his ambition was
shrouded in darkness, and he died an exile, the victim of his
own aspirations.

His first appearance in the Hght of a powerful character
was after the execution of Robespierre, July 28, 1794. The
persecution against Catholics was somewhat abated. The gov-
ernment and people were tired of bloodshed. The Jacobin
clubs were closed, and this most infamous society which,
during the Reign of Terror, directed the mobs and rabbles,
was forced to yield to the dictates of reason. The deputies
who had been compelled to leave during this stormy period
were invited to return and resume their seats in the Conven-
tion. The Catholic Church was not recognized, or considered,
in the reestablishment of government power, but a proper
form of worship was established by special order, and religious
fpeedom again prevailed.

The Terrorists were highly incensed at the adoption of
any form of worship, declared open hostilities against the Oon-
vention and demanded that this new law should be repealed.
The Convention was awed at the boldness of these victims of
apostate philosophy, and when on October 5, 1795, they gath-
ered a mob of forty thousand men and demanded a renuncia-
tion of all Christianity on the penalty of death, they appealed
to Napoleon to defend the new government. Here we find the
marvelous execution of this great genius. Given command,
he quickly forms into line a small army of m^en, and as the
mob advance he met them with a storm of grapeshot, amd
before they could reform for a new attack, he had charged
with all the impetuousness of his determined nature and sent

236 Christian Persecutions.

them back in wild disorder. This decisive blow won for him
the confidence of the new government, and France, at last,
had found a man capable of controlling and directihg its tfe-
menidous emergies^

The Reign of Terror had left chaos, confusion, riiin, and
bioodshed. It had destroyed life, confiscated property, and
cast a blackened cloud upon Christianity. In the name of
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," it had condemned monarchies,
denied the worship of God, strangled liberty of conscience,
destroyed nobility, confiscated the wealth of the rich and exe-
cuted thousands in the mad frenzy of rage. France was the
victim of uncontrolled passion, infuriated mobs, and Atheistic
philosophy. It was one boundless field of despotism. A tear,
a sigh, w^as evidence of distmst, persecution, and execution.
While iNapoleon was closer to the leaders of the great revolu-
tion than the world knows, yet in the support of government
he was faithful and true. He sought position through his
sublime efforts. The mob of Terrorists was but the beginning
of his great career. He was not tyrannical, but stern and
Unyielding. If men or nations differed with him, he demanded
a surrender.

A few weeks after Napoleon had, defended the Convention
and won his first great achievemenit, the Convention
adjourned, having established the new government, laws, and
constitution. There were three departments, similar to all
republican governments of to-day, only the executive depart-
ment was vested in a Board of Directors. Up to this time the
Republic had been on the defensive. The Board of Directors,
under the great pleas of humanitv, decided to fulfill its early

Napoleon Bonaparte. 287

promise to aid all nations to rise against despotism, destroy/;
royalty, abolish class privilege, and become free and inde-
pendent. The prospects of the new nation were so grand in
perception, so equal in society, and so national in government,
they proposed to share with all governments in tlie great
philosophy of the brotherhood of man. She would make all
Europe like herself. Her communicative genius extended to
other empires, and with the recent independence of America,
the doctrine of self-government received favor and spread
rapidly among the people of Europe.

A prominent writer says: "Easily seduced herself, she
easily seduces others." But for the prospect of freedom, social
and political equality, which ever stirs the souls of men, Napo-
leon would have opposition stronger and more fierce. The
French armies were everywhere received and welcomed more
as a friend than a foe. He was a foe to monarchies, but not
a foe to man. He sought to give freedom and self-govern-
ment to all people. Thus was France enabled to establish
commonwealths and surround herself with powerful allies.
She conquered Europe, not by her victories, but by her prom-
ises. Victor Hugo says: "An invasion of armies may be
resisted, but an invasion of ideas cannot be resisted."

The ideas of Napoleon w^ere in advance of public senti-
ment. The times were not ripe for republican institutions.
The people had been taught that kings held a divine right
over nations. They felt the injustice of despotism, but were
not competent to grasp the meaning of independence. They
would follow blindly the philosophy of justice to all, but could
not institute its enforcement. They were born under control

238 Christian Persecutions.

and knew nothmg of political opposition. Kings must exist
in the future, for they had existed in the past. And thus the
republics established by Napoleon were short-lived. The
people could not appreciate its meaning, and when the influ-
ence of this master mechanic was directed in other channels,
the powers of royalty gained ascendency and the fruits of
conquest were lost. No, not lost, for in the reestablishment
of monarchies a broader government was instituted, more in
harmony with the rights of man.

We will not enumerate the victories of Napoleon in Italy,
in Austria, or Egypt. Repubhcs were formied in Italy, and
Austria ceded her Belgian provinces. The "Battle of the
Pyramids" opened a victory to all Egypt. In 1799 he led
his army to attack the Turks in Syria, but at Acre was
defeated by an English army and returned to Egypt. His
plans were now changed. Instead of a conquest of Persia,
India, and all Southern Asia, he turned his eyes towards
home. His army was worn and thinned in ranks. He was
bitterly disappointed, and while he had conquered Egypt, yet
he had lost the great ambition sought. He had not conquered
Syria, and, like Alexander, stood at the foot of the Himalayas.

We will now return to the affairs in France. Napoleon had
been sent to Egypt by the Directory, more for fear of his
presence in France, than for the victories he won. They knew
his power among the people and secretly invested him with
.command for foreign conquests, believing that discretion was
the better part of valor. While Napoleon was winning vic-
tories in Egypt the armies of the Republic were victorious
at home. In the year 1798 the French set up three new

Napoleon Bonaparte. 239

republics by conquest in Italy. These were the Tiberine,
Helvetic, and Parthenopaean. The Tiberine, or Roman Re-
public, was established by the capture of Rome; the Hel-
vetic, by an invasion of Switzerland, and the Parthenopaean
was the capture of the little kingdom of Naples.

In the capture of Rome a cruel plot was invented, which
incited an insurrection against the Papal government. A
street mob, which had been purposely stimulated to deeds of
violence, attacked a French division, and General Dupliot
was killed. Troops were immediately ordered to invade
Rome, capture the Pope and proclaim the Roman Republic.
On the 15th of February, 1798, the Tiberine Republic was
declared and the Pope was divested of all authority and car-
ried away a prisoner. He was taken to Siena, thence to Flor-
ence, and thence to Valence, where, in the agony of a broken
heart, he died August 29, 1799.

Probably no act of this new republic was less justifiable,
less honorable, less Christian, than the capture of the Pope
and holding him a prisoner until death. It was the intrigue of
the old doctrine — no God, no Christ, no Resurrection. The
sophistry of Voltaire, the worsihip of Reason, still worked in
the minds of the people, and this new pjersecution was but
another attempt to overthrow the Church of Christ and
establish religious anarchy, chaos, and confusion.

The Pope scarcely murmured against the demands of his
enemies. Like the Apostle Peter, he patiently submitted to
persecution, believing that in God's own time wrongs would
be righted, religious worship established, and the Church
made stronsfdr and more endurinsf. He bowed his head in

240 Christian Persecutions.

meekness, and in silent supplication prayed to the God of his
Fathers to protect his people, protect his Church, and protect
the Great Gospel of Truth. He died August 29, 1799, a
martyr to the ambition of France. But in his death grew a
remonstrance of injustice, a feeling of loving pity, and a
strong desire to establish the right. Like the persecutions of
Roman Christians, these acts were but the workings of God's
methods to clear away the sopihistry of Reason, establish
Divine wQirship, and plant Christianity in the minds of all men.

In this act of persecution the French Republic lost the
respect of the nations of Europe. They denounced it as one
of cruelty, oppression, and despotism. They sought to com-
fort the Pope in words of consolation. They grieved to see
the head of the Church ruthlessly torn from his place of
worship, disarmed of authority, condemned to exile, and
bowed down in grief and agony. While France may luave
looked upon the event as of human benefit, yet the whole
world stood aghast at this cniel demonstration of power.
What was lost in the victory of French armies was gained in
the great triumph of filial love and affection. The martyrdom
of the Pope broke the ice of indifference among the people of
those nations who were lukewarm in worsihip, and in the future
restoration the ties of love became stronger and the power of
Truth more brilliant and everlasting.

On the 1st of December, following the death of the Pope,
thirty-five cardinals met in convention, or conclave, at Venice,
and proceeded to elect a new head of the Catholic Church.
On May 14, 1800, Barnabas Chiaramonti was elected Pope
with the title of Pius VII. Under the patronage of the allied
powers of Europe he was returned to Rome.

Napoleon Bonaparte. 241

The persecution of the Pope by the French RepubHc
seems to have been followed with a series of disasters. The
destruction of the French fleet by Nelson, the coalition of the
leading powers of Europe against France, the disasters in
Italy, seem to represent a judgment against the persecution
of worship. While many of us may not view these defeats
as a judgment sent by God, yet the connection is so close,
and the effect so just, that we can see the inevitable result of
tyranny, ambition, and persecution.

Early in 1799, war began in almost every part of Europe
at the same time. The French were everywhere defeated in
Italy and driven from their former fields of successes. It was
only by the greatest efforts that the French Generals held the
allied forces from entering on the soil of France. Victories
were lost, the Republics of Tiberine and Parthenopaean were
abolished, and in France the Directory was unpopular and the
Republic on the verge of another revolution. The Jacobin
clubs were again being organized. Confusion prevailed every-
where. Divisions were being instituted, and grave appre-
hension was felt throughout the Republic. The Directory were
charged with exiling Napoleon by sending him to Egypt, and
desperation reigned supreme.

The news of this desperate condition of the French people
reached Napoleon soon after he returned to Egypt from his
disastrous defeat in Syria. With his usual display of quick-
ness of action, he formed a bold resolve. He would return
to France, assume command of the armies, and commence
a new deal. Placing his army under the command of Kleber.
he disclosed his designs to his trusted officer in these signifi

242 " Christian Persecutions.

cant words: "The reign of the lawyers is over." How pro-
phetic were his words! Subsequent events are only read to
see the forethought and ambition of Napoleon. He returned
to France and was welcomed by the wildest enthusiasm.
Thousands of people paraded the streets shouting the name of
Napoleon. They instinctively felt that this military chieftain
could restore the fortunes of France, establish harmony, and
restore peace and prosperity. Processions of immense mag-
nitude were seen everywhere. Floats declaring Napoleon
Dictator were cheered by the populace. Fireworks were given
in honor of his return, and one unbounded demonstration of
joy was the reception of France, not in Paris alone, but in
every city and 'hamlet of the land.

Napoleon was immediately appointed to the command of
all the armies of France. The government of France was
vested in a Board of Directors and two legislative bodies:
The Council of Five Hundred and the Council of the Ancients
— the latter embracing two hundred and fifty persons, of
whom no one could be under fifty years of age. Having
planned the overthrow of this form of government, Napoleon
appeared before the Council of Five Hundred and boldly
made known his plans. The Council was at first thunder-
struck, dismayed, and astonished at the cool demands of
Napoleon. Recovering from the shock of surprise, they
denounced him as a traitor, a public enemy, and a conspirator
against the Republic. Napoleon did not stop to war with
words, but withdrew from the chamber and sent in a file of
grenadiers, who in a few minutes cleared the hall without
firing a single shot.

Napoleon Bonaparte. 243

Those of the Council of Five Hundred who were favorable
to Napoleon were now brought together by his brother
Lucien, who was president of the Council. These, in connec-
tion with the Council of Ancients, which was on his side, voted
to abolish the Directory and establish an executive power
of three persons, elected for ten years, and called Consuls.
Napoleon was given the first or supreme power, under the
titlCj^of First Consul. There was also established a Tribunate,
a Council of State, a Legislative Chamber, and a Senate.
These gave to the people the appearance of a representative
government, a new Republic, but in fact was the centering of
all power in the hands of Napoleon. He was now in pos-
session of absolute control. He was commander of all the
armies, the head of legislative power, and in the eyes of the
French people was a king of kings. His brilliant achieve-
ments in the overthrow of the Reign of Terror, his conquests
in Ifaly and Egypt, had dazzled their eyes, and when this new
constitution was referred to them for endorsement the vote
stood three millions against fifteen hundred.

CHAPTER. XX.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE— Continued.

IV TAPOLEON was now the Cromwell of France. He had
A ^ overthrown the first French Republic. He stood as the
First Consul, Dictator, Despot, and while it had closed forever
the French Revolution and had established freedom of worship,
yet the ambition of this Autocrat was to come in conflict with
the Church of Rome. He was to demand the amendment of
Church edicts, laws, rules, and regulations, because they were
not in harmony with his views, plans, or relations. If the
French Republic had persecuted the head of the Church while
Napoleon was in Egypt, he, on his return, had not only per-
secuted the new Pope, but had sought to extort from him
changes in Church authority that were not in the interest of
Christian discipline. Not content with absolute dictation over
the physical conditions of France, he sought to dictate its
spiritual wants. He would stand at the head of both Church
and State. The new government was really a veiled military
despotism. Its name was Republican, but in fact there was
no absolute government except a military despotism.

Napoleon was disappointed in not securing the recogni-
tion of his government by Austria and England. These two
countries regarded him as an upstart, a fortunate usurper, an
arbitrary egotist, and in no way worthy of recognition. They
believed that the throne of France belonged, by virtue of

Napoleon Bonaparte. 245

divine right, to the royal family of Boufbons. But NapoleOn
determined to teach these countries the necessity of recogniz-
ing him as the head of a great nation. He mustered his
armies and planned to attack Austria by a double blow. One
army, under Moreau, was sent to invade Germany, and the
other, under his own command, crossed the Alps, and in the
spring of 1800 gained his memorable victory upon the
renowned field of Marengo. In this battle the Austrians were
completely overwhelmed, and for a second time Italy lay at
the feet of Napoleon. On the very day of the battle of
Marengo, Kleber was assassinated, and the Frencth army in
Egypt soon surrendered to the English. But these reverses
were soon balanced by fresh victories in Europe. MoreaU
won a decisive victory over the Austrians at Hohenlinden.
and Emperor Francis II was forced to sue for peace, which
was signed Febntary, 1801. The emperor also recognized
the Batavian, Helvetian, Liguridn, and Cisalpine Republics.
In March, 1802, the English govefnment was willing to rec-
ognize the sovereignty of Napoleon and sign articles of peace,
whidi was done, and for some time it retrained unbfoken.

Having accomplished his desire to compel the Austrians
and English to acknowledge his government, he now turned
his attention to the improvement and reform of the internal
affairs of France. Tliat he was powerful in the establishment
of industries, of afohitectufe, of engineeting, was evidenced by
the wonderful prosperity which followed. His great military
road over the Alps surpasses in bold constrtlctiire the most
difficult feats of ancient Roman engineering. His far-readhing
mind saw that the strength of government was not alone in

246 Christian Persecutions.

arms, but in education, commerce, arts and sciences, and all
that advances the pride and prosperity of a nation. These he
established with lavish outlay of public funds. Institutions of
learning, museums, libraries, theaters, public works, were
established on so grand a scale that the pride of the French
people became a new institution of purpose. They were
proud of their Napoleon, proud of their abilities, proud of
their achievements. The great chieftain had won the hearts
of his people in war and in peace. Not only had he expanded
their abilities in all the pursuits of life, but he opened the
churches, reestablished the Christian Sunday, and priests who
had refused to take the oath of allegiance to the "Constitution
of the year III" (1795) were released from prison, where they
had been subjected to cruel tyranny for years. Tlie Roman
Catholic religion was declared to be the religion of the French
people, and the clergy were provided with government annu-
ities for tlieir Christian service. .The public credit was
strengthened and general confidence among the people was
established.

In order to promote a competition in all the pursuits of
life, he established a system of Merits by which honor was
conferred upon those who won in these distinctive features of
competition. None were excluded. The lowly in birth stood
upon the same platform as those of royal blood. It was the
development of character and worth he sought to reward.
This system was called the Legion of Honor, and was the
great incentive power of action. This was the first time the
people of France had been given an opportunity of developing
their abilities in the equal contest of competition. Previous to

Napoleon Bonaparte.- 247

the Reign of Terror there had been no avenue by which the
common people could receive praise, honor, or merit. It was
an incentive to higher purposes, higher aspirations, and
higher plans of life. It became popular in every rank of labor,
in the study of art, of language, and in the inventive genius
of the people. "In the army it was the stimulus for better
discipline, better thoughts of patriotism, and better courage
in the defense of right, truth, and justice. It was everywhere
accepted as one of the marvelous developments of Napoleon.

Popular as was the Order of Merit, yet the adoption of
the celebrated "Code Napoleon" was the crowning glory of
his internal achievements. This code guaranteed to every
person equal rights, under the law, in the pursuits of happi-
ness and in the protection of property. It was enacted in
1803 and 1804. It destroyed every principle of inequality, of
iniquitous, oppressive customs, of all the rules, regulations
and laws that were inherited from the feudal ages. It gave
to the peasant the same rights as to the noble, and is to-day
the foundation of law in France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy,
Holland and Belgium. It is said of Napoleon, had he done
nothing else save to give this code to Europe, he would have
conferred an inestimable benefit upon mankind. When it is
known that there existed in France nearly three hundred
different systems of laws, it is easy to understand that the
adoption of the "Code Napoleon'' was a grand step in the
harmony of law and order.

Napoleon now held the most prominent and proudest
position of any man in the world. The greatness of his mili-
tary genius was rung from nation to nation and from conti-

248 Christian Persecutions.

iieiit to continent. Europe was bewildered by his brilliant
niilitary successes, and in the excellency of his government
they saw the splendor of his power of execution. Although
al'bitfary in the execution of laws, yet the hearts of his coun-
trymen swelled with pride and adoration. He had won their
love and affection, and in their abiding confidence his will was
their will and his power was their power. Had he been less
ambitioits he might have made France the grandest and most
powerful nation on earth. Not content with the development
of internal energy, he sought to extend his power of empire,
until all Europe was obhged to band themselves together
for mutual protection, not so much against France, as against
her aggressive ruler.

In 1802 the people of France were so eager to reward
Napoleon for his great services, and for the purpose of con-
tiiluing his magnificent schemes of government in an un-
broken succession, voted him Consul for life, with the power
to name his successor. Thus was he nearing the goal of his
ambition — an empire, with absolute control, and Napoleon
Bonaparte its emperor.

In 1804 the enemies of Napoleon sought to conspire
against his life, and in their extended activity the people
resolved to increase his power, and make more stable the
government he had founded. They would change their repub-
lic to an empire, and crown Napoleon as its first emperor.
Accordingly, a decree was submitted to the people, and by an
almost unanimous vote it was approved and ratified.

Let us now return to the relations existing between Napo-
leon and the Catholic Church. On becoming First Consul

Napoleon Bonaparte. 249

he opened negotiations with Pope Pius VII for the purpose
of establishing a new agreement between his government and
the Church. The demands of Napoleon were so immoderate
that it was with great difficulty they reached an understanding.
On July 15, 1801, a new Concordat was accepted, by which
the Church made great concessions to the French govern-
ment. In this new agreement Napoleon guarantees public
worship, if in the judgment of the government the public
safety is not endangered. In article eleven he denies a return
of confiscated property, leaving the possessor in undisturbed
possession. This was a hard blow to the Church. Having
been stripped of all property, they were now denied a right
of recfovery. They were poor, needy, and dependent. Yet the
French government would neither restore their estates, nor
endow their seminaries or institutions of learning. Also,
Napoleon demanded the right to nominate the bishops, thus
dispossessing the Church of its right to govern itself. But
the Pope was overjoyed at the restoration of religious wor-
sihip, even if it were conducted under the supervision and con-
trol of the police. The Catholic Religion was made the wor-
ship of the French people, and although the Pope had sur-
rendered much of Church authority, yet he was happy
in the freedom which had been so long denied.

Not content with concessions wrung from the Pope, Napo-
leon, some months later, annexed to these agreements seventy-
seven "Organic Articles" which cancelled several important
provisions of the Concordat, and restored Gallicanism to its
ancient state, which restricted the Papal authority in France,
making it dependent more upon the will of the government.

(17)

250 Christian Persecutions.

The Church authorities protested by every means possible
against these articles, but no attention whatever was paid to
their entreaties. Napoleon was deaf to all protestations. It
was his idea of ecclesiastical duty, and his idea must prevail.
Being at the head of the French nation all things, Church and
State, must submit to his dictation.

On May 8, ISOtt, Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor. An
invitation was sent to Pius VII to come to Paris and crown
him under the usual forms and ceremonies. Many cardinals
and Church officials tried to dissuade the Pope from accept-
ing the invitation. The course pursued by Napoleon in regard
to arbitrary authority against the Church gave the feeling that
the Pope should have nothing to do with the formal dedication
of the state to the authority of the new emperor. But, as the
Pope always considered the best interest of his people, he
overlooked his disappointment and set out for Paris in
response to the wishes of Napoleon, where, on the 2d of
December, the coronation took place. Here was performed
a ceremony that was peculiar and significant. The Pope,
after performing the necessary rites, declined to place the
crown, whereupon Napoleon took the emblem of authority
and set it on his own head.

From this time forward the relations of Napoleon to the
Holy See became less and less mutual. And while the em-
peror sougiht to benefit the Church in various ways, yet in
return for his favors he sought complete dominion over her.
It was his will that the Pope should be under his supervision,
or control, and when he requested him to regard the emperor's
enemies as foes to himself, he had gone to the extreme limit
of sacrifice.

Napoleon Bonaparte. 251

Napoleon also asked the Pope to grant several other
requests, among which are the following:

He would have him acknowledge his brother Joseph as
King of Naples.

Recognize Talleyrand as Prince of Benevento,

Bernadotte as Prince of Ponte Corvo.

Break the marriage between his brother Jerome and Miss
Patterson.

Closing his harbors to the enemies of the emperor.

These requests the Pope positively refused, and in per-
secution of these denials, General Miollis entered Rome
February 2, 1808, where the Pope was subjected to gross out-
rages, and his cardinals banished. On May 17, 1809, an
imperial edict was published, announcing that the remainder
of the States of the Church would no longer he under Papal
authority, but annexed to the French Empire.

This wholesale confiscation of Church authority was
replied to by a bull of excommunication, and a special pro-
test against the unwarranted attack against the Pope. For
this execution of duty the Pope was taken prisoner by General
Radet, and, in company with his Secretary of State, Cardinal
Pacca, was taken to Grenoble. Tlie Car^dinal was imprisoned
in the fortress of Fenestrella, while the Pope was taken to
Savona.

Napoleon now determined upon a new plan to extort from
the Pope a consent to his wishes. He ordered the cardinals
to come to Paris. Through their influence he hoped to change
the mind of the Pope, but in this he was disappointed. The
Pope remained firm in his defense of Church government.

252 Christian Persecutions.

NapoleoH; through the Ecclesiastical Commission, convoked a
National Council at Paris, and a lengthy debate ensued. The
Council demanded the liberation of the Pope, sent an address
to the emperor, and declared itself incompetent to decide on
the main question brought before it. Napoleon imprisoned
the most courageous bishops, and by extortions obtained a
portion of the concessions desired, although up to this time
he had not obtained what he sought.

' A deputation was now sent to Savona to confer with the
Pope and obtain his consent. Being thus besieged and de-
serted by his counsellors, and desiring to prevent greater dis-
aster to the Church, he reluctantly granted further conces-
sions, but positively refused to grant the full wishes of the
emperor. The Pope was now taken sick, and although he
was not expected to live, and had even taken the last sacra-
ment, yet he was compelled to continue his journey, arriving
at Fontainebleau, June 20, 1812.

After the memorable defeat of Napoleon by the Russians,
in the winter of 1812-1813, he again extorted from the Pope
new articles of concessions, but upon further consideration the
Pope recalled his new agreements and insisted that these
articles could not become a part of a new Concordat and
law of the empire. The victories of the allied forces of Europe
over Napoleon prevented any further contests between the
em.peror and the Church. The Pope was set at liberty in
March, 1814, and on May 24 made his triumphal entry into

Rome.

Thus was the Church once more freed from the tyrannical
dictation of the renowned emperor. He had defeated the

Napoleon Bonaparte. 253

armies of Europe, and in return had been defeated, captured,
and exiled, and in his long sohtude upon the island of St.
Helena he had ample time to reflect upon the atrocity of the
crimes he had committed against the Pope and his authority,
and how in the fullness of Divine promises the Church was
made stronger and more enduring.

Thus died one of the greatest military geniuses the world
ever saw. But alas! his treatment of Christianity was cruel
and inhuman. He thought not of the future or the here-
after. He thought not of the soul or of immortality. He
Uiought not of Christ or His Church. He played liis soul
in the great maelstrom of conflict, and soug'ht wisdom only
in his own strength. He came a conquering hero, but died
alone and friendless. He built up edifices of man, but tore
down the temples of God. He established the principles of
liberty, but demanded absolute sovereignty. He was just,
yet he was unjust. He was honorable, yet he was dishonor-
able. He was loyal, and yet he was disloyal. He professed a
faith in Christ, and yet he denied His holy servants. He was
the friend of France, yet he was her worst enemy. He died,
yet he still lives. He lives in the successes of his energies,
in the estabHshment of government, in the industries of his
creation, and in the memory of his countrymen. Peace be
to his ashes. May his wisdom be perpetuated, and may his
follies and crimes be forgotten.

CHAPTER XXI.

ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH.

THE origin of the Church of England is known to all
students of history, and may be summarized as follows:

1. Henry VHI, of Eng-land, desired to obtain a divorce
from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and thus be free to marry
Anne Boleyn, a beautiful and vivacious maid of honor in the
queen's household.

2. The king petitioned Pope Clement VH to grant a sus-
pension of Church authority and allow the divorce and second
marriage.

3. The Pope refused to grant the request.

4. Henry, being highly indignant at the Pope's refusal to
violate the sacred tenets of marriage vows, declared himself
Supreme Head of the English Catholics and compelled the
clergy to recognize him as such.

5. Thomas Cranmer was promoted to the office of Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, who, being a servile follower of the
king, pronounced the marriage W*th Catherine invalid, and the
one the king had already secretW contracted with Anne
Boleyn to be lawful.

6. On March 23, 1534, the Pope cancelled this decision,
which brought a complete rupture between the Pope and
Henry.

7. The same year the Pope excommunicated Henry and
relieved his subjects from their allegiance to him.

Origin of the English Church. 255

8. Persecution of Catholics by Henry and the estabUsh-
ment of the EngHsh Church.

At the time of the beginning of this chapter the people of
England were devout Catholics. So earnest was Henry VHI
in his zeal that Leo X, in 1521, rewarded him witli the title
of "Defender of the Faith." At this time Martin Luther, an
apostate monk, attempted to spread his new religion by scat-
tering broadcast among the people his articles of faith and rea-
sons for denouncing the Catholic Church, Henry was highly
indignant at his audacity, and wrote articles strongly denounc-
ing Luther for his reHgious opposition. For his earnest labors
in condemning Martin Luther he was rewarded by this special
title, but strange to say, this most zealous of Christians after-
wards became the bitterest enemy of the Catholic Church.
From our standpoint of to-day it is hard to see how an car-
nest Christian can forsake his Church and become its enemy,
but when we consider the make-up of the man, his willful
and impetuous disposition, and his selfish propensities, we
need not wonder at his traitorous conduct.

The reasons for this sudden denunciation of faith was not
one of conscience, but one of a licentious and political nature.
Henry's marriage with Catherine had been prompted by policy
and not by love. Five children had been born, but all had
died except a daughter named Mary, who was in delicate
health and might not reach womanhood, thus cutting off any
direct heirship to his throne. Considering this question, and
having become infatuated with the beauty and brilliancy of
Anne Boleyn, he determined to secure a divorce from Cath-
erine and take Anne as wife. Knowing that divorces were

256 Christian Persecutions.

not permitted by the Catholic Church, he sought to evade
the marriag-e law on the grounds of illegality, and petitioned
the Pope to annul it. This the Pope refused to do, and by
the advice of Thomas Cromwell, a servile follower of the king,
Henry decided to appoint Cranmer, a Oamibridge doctor,
who supported him by publishing articles in favor of the
divorce, to the high position of Archbishop of Canterbury.
This new bishop immediately established a court, tried the
case, and, of course, decided that the first marriage was not
lawful because Catherine was the widow of his brother. The
bishop also decided that the king's marriage with Anne
Boleyn, though secret, was legal and in harmony with the
Church.

The Pope immediately excommunicated Henry, who de-
termined on revenge and called Parliamient, who, not daring
to thwart the wishes of the king, passed the Act of Supremacy,
which conferred upon Henry the absolute control of the vari-
ous departments of the Church in England. By tliis act
he was to be recognized as the Supreme Plead, given control
of its offices and revenues. In order to completely establish
himself as the Supreme Head, an act was passed making a
denial of this title as high treason. Henry was now given,
not only the control of the Church, but the power to condemn
to death anyone who might deny his right. This was indeed
a most lamentable position for the Catholics to occupy. To
protest against the law was treason and to respect it was
against their teachings of faith, but we must not censure these
people too severely for yielding to the terrible declaration of
the law. They were allowed to worship, but it must be in
accordance with law.

Origin of the English Church. 257

By the enactment of this statute the Church was com-
pletely severed from the Roman See. Catholics were, under
penalty of death, obliged to worship under the new dispensa-
tion, which became the Established Church of England. Thus
we have a condensed history of how and why this church came
into existence, and we will now briefly recite some of the
persecutions which followed.

King Henry had now established a little Popedom of his
own invention, without divine authority, and in hostile oppK>si-
tion to all laws, edicts, and commands of the Catholic Church.
He had declared himself greater than the Pope, and under the
laws passed by his dictation he was dictator of how people
should worship, what should be their belief, and what should
be condemned. Among the doctrines he condemned were
holy pilgrimages, belief in purgatory, representations of Christ
and the Holy Virgin, historic relics, convents, monasteries,
penance, and all forms of Pope authority. In the suppression
of monasteries and convents it was a complete confiscation of
all property, and if there was even murmuring art his unjust and
high-handed acts, they were convicted of treason and executed.
Tlie executioner's ax was constantly wet with the blood of all
those who opposed his authority, or in any way incurred his
displeasure. He required the head of every family, and teach-
ers of schools, to teach the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Command-
ments, and the new creed. But, strange to say, Henry com-
manded, under penalty of death, an observance of the main
tenets of the Catholic dogma, which were: Transubstantia-
tion, Communion, Celibacy of the clergy, Vows, Mass for the
dead, and auricular confession. By sustaining these articles

258 Christian Persecutions.

-k

of faith many Catholics were made contented, not knowing
nor reahzing the conflict between Henry and the Church of
Rome.

In the confiscation of. property nearly one-fifth of the lands
of the kingdom belonged to the Church, which was turned to
the control of the king, who disposed of it to the greatest
advantage to himself. He founded schools and colleges; es-
tablished incomes for the support of churches and bishoprics;
made donations to ofificers and favorites, but the greater por-
tion was distributed among those whose influence was neces-
sary to sustain him in his new position. By this wholesale
disposition of property vast estates were established which
created a powerful English aristocracy, which to-day is in
existence and can be traced to this origin. Thus was the
English Church and its most devoted followers financially
rewarded by the self-appointed Supreme Head. To call this
new Creed Protestant would be an injustice to the orthodox
belief, and to call it Catholic would be an insult to the Church
of Rome, who denied the illegal marriage, who refused to
violate the laws of marriage, and who excommunicated their
Supreme Head for this violation.

The extent of confiscation may be realized when history
informs us that, altogether, there were 90 colleges, 110 hos-
pitals, 2,374 chantries and chapels, 645 monasteries, and 540
convents broken up and the property given to advance the
cause of the new Church and the popularity of Henry him-
self. The establishment of lands for the benefit of churches
was a move to place the new church upon a solid financial
foundation, for in all ages, money, lands, wealth, is a great

Origin of the English Church. 259

physician in easing the consciences of men. Henry was the
physician and the confiscated property the prescription that
gave life, strength and ambition to the Church of England.

If this, only, had been the record of Henry VIH we might
view his acts as those of ambition, but his apostasy, denuncia-
tion, confiscation, and bribery, pale beneath the malignant
persecution of Catholics. Nero was always a pagan and knew
nothing of Christianity, but Henry was raised a Catholic, wor-
shiped a Catholic, defended the faith as a Catholic, but to
gratify his lust, his power, and his ambition, he became one
of the greatest apostates the world ever saw. His only excuse
was his passions. He had no cause to denounce, no religion
to disagree with, and no philosophy to advance. His denun-
ciations were the most corrupt, vicious, immoral, and depraved
that have been recorded in the pages of English history. When
we speak of the atrocious crimes which he committed against
his subjects we shudder at his wickedness. The illustrious Sir
Thomas More, the venerable Bishop Fisher, and others,
became victims of execution. Also, we find recorded that
he ordered the execution of two queens, two cardinals,
two archbishops, eighteen bishops, thirteen abbots, five hun-
dred priors and monks, thirty-eight doctors of divinity and
laws, one hundred and twenty-four commoners, sixty-four
gentlemen, twelve dukes and earls, and one hundred and ten
ladies of rank, and all because their conscience would not allow
them to denounce their worship and become apostates to the
Catholic Church. They refused to recognize the king as the
Supreme Head of the Church, and lay down their lives as a
sacrifice to their fidelity to truth, honor, and Christian faith.

260 Christian Persecutions,

Besides this, we find in his own household a history as
•monstrous as the history of his Christian apostasy. To expose
his private Hfe is to write a disgraceful page in the history
of the kings of England. After disposing of Catherine of
Aragon by a forced divorce, he marries the beautiful and ac-
complished Anne Boleyn, but tiring of her, he issues a charge
of unworthiness and she is executed by his own order. The
next day after the execution of Anne he married Jane Sey-
mour, who died the following year. His fourth wife was Anne
of Cleves, who was cast aside on the grounds of a previous
betrothal, and Catherine Howard became the next victim to
his shameful lust and cruelty. Like Anne Boleyn, she was
executed at his command, and gave room for his sixth wife,
Catherine Parr, who was a discreet woman, and by tact and
wisdom managed to retain his respect arid survived his death.

This tyrant died in 1547, in the thirty-eighth year of his
reign. And now, as we look back to his history and see the
inconsistency of his request to Pope Clement VH, and the
villainy of outraged decency, criminal responsibility, and the
desecration of God's holy command, we can have only loath-
ing and disgust for his memory. He lived a life of depravity
and disgrace; a life of murderous sin; a life of blasphemous
shame; a Hfe devoid of every Christian principle, every Chris-
tian form of reverence, and every Christian virtue. And yet
society glories in his existence, and glories in its long line of
ancestry. He established a nobility on the ruins of confisca-
tion, rapine and murder. He executed queens, nobles, and
illustrious men. He desecrated churches, schools, colleges,
and burned their sacred vestments. He bribed ministers of the

Origin of the English Church. 261

gospel, prostituted Parliament, established his own courts,
villified God and served Satan in all the wickedness of thought,
deed, and action.

Few men in the world's history can carry the record of
Henry VIII. His triumphs through disgrace is a long line of
wicked villainy, and without one act to commend, he stands a
monument to himself, a mass of sickening sensuality, of honest
loathing, and of beastly triumph.

CHAPTER XXII.

HEIRS OF HENRY VIII.

EDWARD VI.

LADY JANE GREY.

QUEEN MARY.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.
JAMES I.

I N the complication of Henry VHFs many marriages and
^ divorces, the question of succession to the throne of Eng-
land became one of a peculiar controversy, therefore Parlia-
ment passed a decree conferring upon Henry the right to
determine by will this line of succession, w'hich was declared
as follows:

He directed the right of the crown to fall first upon his
only son, Edward, by Jane Seymour. If Edward should die
without issue, then it would fall to Mary, daughter of Cather-
ine of Aragon, and with Mary dying without children, then
the crown would fall upon Elizabeth, daughter of Anne
Boleyn. Strange as it may seem, yet each of these lines of
succession occupied the throne and died without leaving de-
scendants.

EDWARD VI.

Henry VIII died in 1547, and Edwatd, then a child of only
nine years, was declared by the provisions of the will the suc-
cessor to Henry as the rightful heir to the throne. But as the

262

Heirs op Henry VIII. 263

child was not of sufficient age the government was vested
in a board of regents, composed of both Protestants and
CathoHcs. In this selection the will was disregarded, and
selections were maide by Parliiament as, in their judgment,
would best fill the requirements for the harmiony of the people.

In this board of regents the Protestants usurped authority
and conducted the government in the interest of their party.
They overruled the advice and religious desires of the Cath-
olic minority, and sought by every means in their power to
teach Protestantism wherever possible. The young king was
carefully instructed in the doctrine of the Reformers, and
changes were made in the creed and service of the new Church
of England.

In order that there might be a systematic service in the
teachings of this form of worsliip, Archbishop Cranmer pre-
pared the Catechism of the English Book of Common Prayer,
and the first copy was issued in 1549. In the preparation of
this Prayer-Book the Archbishop called together a commis-
sion of bishops and learned theologians, and in using the mis-
sals and breviaries of the Catholic Church, to some extent
quieted the convictions and sentiments of the Catholic people.
While it was designed to cunningly deceive and to cover up
the real principles and tenets of this new faith, yet to the ardent
Catholic there was plainly written the full object desired, and
a determined resistance was made manifest. This book was
a translation oi the old Latin service books witih changes suffi-
cient to conform to the new doctrine, and is the same that is
in use to-day by the Anglican Church.

In 1552, forty-two Articles of Religion were published for

264 Christian Persecutions.

a full o-overnment of faith and its proper observance. These
articles were finally reduced to thirty-nine, and remain to the
present time as a compendious creed of the Church of Eng-
land. To enforce an observance of these sweeping changes
all teachers and clergymen were compelled to subscribe to
these articles and publicly proclaim this new faith. A refusal
to submit to these royal edicts was met with severe punish-
ment and penalties of imprisoinment. In thfe enactment of
"Acts for the Uniformity of Sei-vice," a stringent law was
posted and a long line of punishments declared.

In the adoption of the new articles of worship a royal
decree was instituted by which the Churches were despoiled
of their emblems of faith. All pictures, images, and crucifixes
were removed, and the use of tapers, incense, and holy water
forbidden. The veneration of the Virgin Mary, and the invo-
cation of the saints were prohibited, while Purgatory was
denounced as a superstition, and prayers for the dead inter-
dicted. Besides these denials of faith, the established usage of
celibacy of the priests was annulled, the real or bodily presence
of Christ in the bread and wine of the sacrament denied, and
that the service of the Church should no longer be said in
Latin, but in the language of the people.

Many persons were imprisoned for a disobedience or re-
fusal to conform to this new worship. While a persecution to
death was not a penalty for infidelity to law, yet in two in-
stances, at least, "heretics and contumners of the Book of
Common Prayer" were burned. Still, it can be said of the
government of Edward VI that persecutions were at a stand-
still, as only those who most desperately declared against this
new innovation were punished.

Heirs of Henry VIII. 265

Probably no quieter or more determined resistance against
the adoption of the faith of the Church of England could be
found than was exhibited by Mary, daughter of Catherine of
Aragon. Repeated attempts were made to entreat her to
adopt the religion of her fartilier, Henry VIII, and her half
brother, Edward, now on th? throne. She was warned that
the toleration of Mass even in her own private chapel could
not be endured. For two years Emperor Charks V labored
in vain to prevent this individual persecution, even declaring
he would wage war against England. Still the almost inces-
sant torment of threats and appeals went on.

The Protestant Party saw the failing health of Edward,
and in a very short time, according to the will of Henry, Mary
must become the reigning queen. To pass from a Protestant
to a Catholic government, was debated with great alarm.
Many intrigues and plots were devised to circumvent this
more than possibility. Edward was anxious to continue his
father's religion, and with his own hand drew a proposed law
which was to regulate the succession to his throne. After
preparing this proposition, he summoned his judges with the
attorney and solicitor-general, and laid the matter before them.
They hesitated to acknowledge his right to declare succession,
but the king commanded them to prepare an act for Parlia-
ment. The Duke of Northumberland became angry and pas-
sionately declared he would not submit to this usurping of
authority. Even Cranmer was at first opposed, but the young
king became so earnest in his declarations to maintain his
father's religion that he prevailed. The act was prepared, and
all the members of the council gave it their approval, and the
great seal was placed upon it.

(18)

266 Christian Persecutions.

Again were attempts made to induce Mary to give up her
determination to remain faithful to the Cathohc Church. The
young king bewailed himself over the obstinacy of his sister
and that of allowing Mass in any part of his kingdom, but
Mary remained constant and determined in her resolution.
She said: "If the chaplain cannot say Mass, I shall not hear
it, but the new service shall not be established in my house.
Ii it is introduced there by force I shall leave the place."

Mary continued to receive her priests, and without ques-
tion in the private sanctity of her own chapel she continued
to hear Mass, angl to nourish in her heart an enduring love
for the Catholic faith. While Mary was never seeking to
induce others to accept her religion, yet others were con-
stantly seeking to impress upon her that there was a duty
she owed England and her father, to follow in the adopted
church of her government. To this she would never consent.
Her love was her duty, and her future power should be to
sustain it.

On the Gth of July, 1553, at the age of fifteen and one-half
years, the king of England, Edward VI, died. A question
now arose which was most interesting to all the people of
England. Would the reigning sovereign be a Protestant, or
would it revert to the control of the Catholics? If, according
to the act of Parliament under Henry VIII, the will of Henry
is recognized, then Mary has the right of succession, but if
under the sovereign law of Edward, then, Lady Jane Grey
would become queen and the Protestant Party would prevail.
But in this the Protestants were doomed to disappointment,
as the following chapter will explain:

Heirs of Henry VIII. 267

QUEEN MARY.

We now open a new history in the great reformation of
England. Henry VIII had established an independent reHg-
ion. He had severed his government, both spiritual and tem-
poral, from the Church of Rome, and in the establishment of
the Church of England he had destroyed the last existing tie
between him and the Pope. He had been excommunicated
and in return had renounced forever his allegiance to the Holy
See. Edward had died, and in the line of his own succession
Mary was the rightful heir and must be crowned Queen of
England. The attempt of the Duke of Northumberland and
others, to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, met with dis-
favor from Protestants and Catholics alike, and in the reac-
tion disaster overtook the leaders of the movement, and being
convicted of treason were executed.

For the benefit of history it is l)ut proper to state that Lady
Jane Grey belonged to the royal family of Henry VHI, and is
explained as follows:

Henry VH, King of England, had three children, Henry
VIII, Margaret, and Mary. To Henry VHI belonged Ed-
ward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth; to Margaret, Mary Stuart,
by James V of Scotland ; and to Mary, Lady Jane Grey, by the
Duke of Suffolk.

It is, therefore, easy to see that through the illegal mar-
riages of Henry VHI, that both lines of his sisters, Margaret
and Mary, might legally succeed to the throne.

After the death of Edward the conspiracy of the Duke of
Northumberland was put into immediate efifect. He appeared
before Lady Jane Grey and informed her of his plans and

268 Christian Persecutions.

expectations. He said: "Lady Jane Grey, the King, your
cousin and our sovereign lord, has surrendered his soul to
God, but before his death, and in order to preserve his king-
dom from the infection of Popery, he resolved to set aside
his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, declared illegitimate by an act
of Parliament, and he has commanded us to proclaim your
Grace as queen and sovereign to succeed him." At this
moment the Lords and Council knelt before her and swore
fidelity to the cause of Lady Jane. So impressed and startled
was she by this revelation that she fell to the floor, but on
being restored to consciousness she raised her head with mod-
est confidence and said: "If the right is mine, I hope that God
will give me strength to bear the scepter for his glory and the
happiness of the people of England."

She was immediately conducted to the Tower, the place
where sovereigns usually reside before their coronation. Criers
were sent through the streets prodaimingthe death of Edward.
They also proclaimed the act of Parliament making the suc-
cession of Mary and Elizabeth illegal and that of Lady Jane
Grey the rightful claimant to the throne, and as such she was
now in waiting to be crowned queen. No enthusiasm was
made manifest by these declarations. The people did not wish
to change the line of succession as adopted, and they whis-
pered among themselves that Mary was the rightful heir.

In the country the people became intensely interested, and
being largely Catholic in sentiment were determined to pro-
tect Mary in her demand to the Council for recognition of
her rights. Mary had promised to change none of the laws
instituted by Edward, therefore many Protestants were earnest

Heirs of Henry VIII. 269

in their declarations of fealty. The Earl of Pembroke declared
that, "If reasons do not suffice, this sword shall make Mary
queen, or I shall die in her cause." Even the Duke of Suf-
folk joined in his profession of loyalty to Mary and basely
deserted his own daughter.

The streets of London were again listening, but this time
to the declarations of those who stood by Mary and loudly
applauded her rights to the throne. At St. Paul's Cross,
where a week before Bishop Ridley preached in favor of
Protestant succession they now cheered the apparent triumphs
of the Catholics. Mary was everywhere declared the sover-
eign queen of England, and no force could change the verdict.

Lady Jane was arrested on the charge of treason by the
usurping of power, having been queen ten days, and was im-
prisoned. Tlie Duke of Northumberland, Sir John Gates, and
Sir Thomas Palmer, the leaders of this high-treason, were
arrested, tried, and executed. Queen Mary was repeatedly
urged to rid herself of Lady Jane, but declined, as she pitied
the little usurper, declaring that she was more the tool of
others than an instrument in herself.

The Catholic Party was now triumphant. Mary was an
earnest Christian, and sought to establish worship in 'all the
realm. She had forgotten her promise not to undo the laws
of Edward, but in her Catholic zeal she could see only the
establishment of her faith and worship. The Emperor Charles
V was her constant adviser, and recommended prudence,
leniency, and a toleration of worship. Severity was set
aside as not a wise policy in the administration of religious
affairs. The Emperor counseled moderation, and besought

270 Christian Persecutions.

Mary to be slow in demanding radical changes in the wor-
ship of the people. But the fervent convictions of Mary could
not be stifled. She said: "God protected me in all my mis-
fortunes, it is in Him that I confide. I will not testify my
gratitude slowly and in secret, but at once and openly."

Parliament voted that the nation should return to its obedi-
ence to the Papal See, and in testimony of their sincerity they
fell upon their knees to receive the hands of the legate sent
from Rome. They asked for absolution from the sin of heresy
and schism, and in the gratitude of their sincerity they repealed
all the acts of Henry and Edward relating to the new worship
that had been established. Parliament was now declared
Catholic, and there was great rejoicing in Rome. The per-
secutions of the English Church were at an end. Mass was
established in all the churches in London, the people were
loud in their declarations of loyalty, and even Princess Eliza-
beth could not withstand the current of restoration of all
things Catholic, and in humility, and in obedience to her con-
science, renounced the practice of Protestant worship and
returned to the Cathohc faith. She accompanied her sister to
Mass, and even established a chapel in her private residence.
Was this act of Elizabeth one of deceit, or was it from the
sincerity of the heart?

Scarcely a month had elapsed after the meeting of Parlia-
ment before the religious structure of Henry and Edward had
fallen to pieces, and although they refused to restore the con-
fiscated Church lands, which were now in the hands of the
lords and commoners, yet they were anxious and willing to
imdo everything not in conflict with the restoration of these

Heirs of Henry VIII. 271

vast estates, Mary, to prove her loyalty to the Church of
Rome, restored a great part of the property still in the posses-
sion of the crown, and refounded many of the ruined monas-
teries, abbeys, schools and institutions of learning-.

Parliament set aside the Prayer Book; abolished the
Church service in the language of the people, and returned
to the established usage. The marriage of priests was pro-
hibited; connnunion discontinued, and where bishops had mar-
ried, or still remained in favor of the Reform doctrine, they
were deprived of their sees. The marriage of Henry VHI
with Catherine of Aragon was declared the only legal mar-
riage, thus establishing ,by an act of Parliament that Mary
was the only lawful and legal heir to the throne.

The queen retained the title of the Head of the Church,
not so much for its honor and power, as for continuing the
people in the belief that it was not too severely Catholic.
Where priests refused to give up their Protestant faith and
who refused to say Mass they were replaced. A mild enforce-
ment of the laws against heresy was being executed, and the
prisons were being filled with those who were refractory. It
was the beginning of a new religious storm. Mary had been
raised under the influences of persecution, and her thoughts
of heresy were black and bitter. To deny the religion of
Christ was to her a treason more dangerous than any national
crime.

And now, from the standpoint of to-day, let tis for a mo-
ment consider the question of heresy as seen and believed
by the people of those times. In their religious fervor Cath-
olics and Protestants, alike, regarded heresy as a greater

272 Christian Persecutions.

crime than' treason. They were educated in the behef that it
was an unpardonable sin, a dangerous crime against Christ,
against the Church, and against the government, and must
be suppressed. They were taught that there could be no
toleration, no compromise, and no pardon except pardon by
a full and public acknowledgment of the sin and error. Not
only did these people regard the laws against heresy as neces-
sary for the promotion of Christianity, but they regarded it
as an absolute duty to suppress it, and any neglect by those
in authority was to imperil their hope of heaven and of salva-
tion. They honestly believed their own souls were in danger
of God's wrath, and to countenance an outspoken heretic was
not only to endanger the souls of other men, but in their
belief they must be held responsible for allowing this mon-
strous treason.

In believing this is it any wonder that Edward sought to
establish and to continue his father's creed, and is it any won-
der that Mary should with equal zeal seek to subdue the heresy
that was dividing the Church of Rome? As sovereign, it
became her duty under the law to force its execution, and
while she did not exhibit the spirit of revenge, yet in her intol-
eration she became earnest almost to fanaticism, and in her
persecutions against Protestants she did what she believed
was her duty to do.

Again, let us cover these wild scenes of intoleration with
the cloak of ignorance, superstition, and zealous duty. They
were ignorant of any means of stamping out the teachings of
Atheism, or the open revolt against their Christianity, except
by force. The human heart had not been nourished in the

Heirs of Henry VIII. 273

cradle of compassion, pity, and benevolence. Theirs was the
education of wars and conquests. Christ's love and com-
passion was seen only as all men were forced to bow down and
worship Him. It had been the continuation of the ages of
strength. Nations were sustained only by the power of the
sword, and in the warfare of men it was the establishment of
religion that enthused them to action. The world was a
vast field of intoleration and persecution. The followers of
Mahomet sought to crush out Ohristianiity and in return
Christianity sought to establish its teachings of Qrrist and its
mode of worship in all the countries of the earth. They had
not arisen to the plane of the education of to-day. To them
it was God's displeasure antl the abandonment of their soul's
salvation, and in believing this they could not consistently do
anything less than to labor against heresy by the persecution
of force. To them the ax, the sword, and the flame, were the
weapons of a wrathful Heaven to exterminate, and to remove
from God's earth the poisonous sting and venom of an un-
holy, vicious, and treasonable heresy.

A new measure of uneasiness was being fomented in all
England. Mary had decided to marry Philip, Prince of Spain,
and son of Charles V. Protestations against this alliance were
being circulated, and even Parliament had sent an address
to the queen to abandon this proposed marriage, and to choose
her husband from her own realm. These protests only aroused
her obstinacy, and throwing herself upon her knees before the
altar, '-ailed God to witness her pHghted troth to Philip.

Conspirators were secretly ^.ieking to overthrow the queen.
France was jealous of this alliance, and urged a revolution to

274 Christian Persecutions.

stay its consummation. Some wished to enthrone Ehzabeth,
while others were desirous of releasing Lady Jane Grey and
again proclaiming her Queen of England. An armed opposi-
tion was raised to prevent the landing of Philip. Sir Peter
Carew had rebelled in Devonshire, and Sir Thomas Wyat, a
Catholic, was raising a rebellion in Kent. Wyat had conceived
a most violent horror of Spain, and was supporting the
Princess Elizabeth. He was the boldest conspirator in all the
insurrection. He defeated the Duke of Norfolk at Rochester
and then moved upon the defenses of the City of London,
but here he failed to produce the uprising he anticipated. He
was defeated, captured, and sent to the Tower. The courage
of Mary was ceaseless and undaunted. She declared she
would never yield to a traitor like Wyat, and would die in the
cause she had espoused. The leniency of her previous con-
duct was changed to an unrelenting punishment. Wyat and
many of his followers were executed. Mary was now deter-
mined to rid herself of the possibility of the power of Lady
Jane Grey, and consequently, on the 12th of February, 1554,
she was executed.

"She died in the faith which she had believed from child-
hood, serene and grave," without a complaint or tear, simply
avowing to the few spectators of her execution that she de-
served death for having consented, although with regret, to
serve as an instrument to the ambition of others. She im-
plored the mercy of God and delivered herself up into the
hands of the executioner, moving all hearts by her constancy
and meekness."

So srreat was the excitement that even Elizabeth was ar-

Heirs of Henry VIII. 275

rested and imprisoned in the Tower, but by licr earnest declara-
tion of innocence she was removed to Woodstock, where she
remained closely watched by the officers of Mary. Execution
followed execution until it seemed as though all were 'engaged
in this revolt. But not alone was it confined to the Protest-
ants. The name Spaniard was hated almost to desperation by
the people of England, and even Catholics protested and
arose in revolt against the union of English blood with Spain.
It was not a revolt against Mary because she was a Catholic,
but because of the horror of Spanish affiliation. And in re-
turn these executions by Mary were not because they were
Protestants but because they were in rebellion. In this we
have no right to accuse Mary of any* fanatic religious zeal,
but only the right of government to subdue an insurrection.
In this neither Protestants nor Catholics have any right to
complain. It was but the chances of war. Tliey cast their lot
against Spain, and in the conflict theirs was the destiny of
defceat.

On the 28th of July, 155-1, Mary was united in marriage to
Philip. Parliament was suspicious of Spanish influence and
took precautions against it. Cardinal Pole was sent by the
Pope to efTect a full reconciliation between the people of Eng-
land and the Church of Rome, By a petition of Parliament
Pole pronounced this reconciliation by absolution, and the
works of Henry VIII and Edward VI were declared void, and
the efforts of Mary to return to the Catholic faith were accom-
plished.

The year 1555 was one of extreme intolerance in the pun-
ishment of heresy. Prisons were filled with the accused, and a

276 Christian Persecutions.

court commissioned to try heretics was formed. Condemna-
tions and executions were increasing every day. Rogers,
Hooper, and Ferrar were executed, and the fanaticism of
Mary and Philip urged a more rapid enforcement of the laws.
Cardinal Pole sought in vain to induce Mary to listen to mod-
eration. She had endured 'plots, conspiracies, and persecu-
tions, and now in the zeal of religious fury she would burn
and execute those who oppose her. The conscience of Mary
was pledged to restore England to the Roman Catholic faith,
and she would do it, by force, if not otherwise. The strength
of the two religions was about equal, and the task she had
undertaken grew greater and greater. Ridley, Latimer, and
Cranmer were convicted for heresy. Cranmer was called to
Rome, while Ridley and Latimer, on October IG, 1555, were
burned near Baliol College, where stands a monument which
commemor'ates their execution. These eminent prelates were
fastened back to back, and as the flames encircled them,
Latimer, with superhuman strength, cried aloud: "Be of good
comfort. Master Ridley, and play the man, and we shall this
day light such a candle by God's grace in England as I trust
shall never be put out."

Cranmer did not appear in Rome, but efforts were made
to induce him to recant, and in a measure these efforts were
succesisful. By these shameful acts of recantation he believed
he was purchasing liberty. He had condemned his religion,
signed in rapid succession six abjurations, and in the expecta-
tion of liberty was coolly informed that his repentance only
absolved him from punishment in eternal life, but not the
punishment that had been imposed upon him, and upon the

Heirs of Henry VIII. 277

21st of March following he was condemned to die. Cranmer
now greatly regretted his recantation, for he had not re-
deemed his life from the penalty of death, but had instead
perjured his word, his honor, and his soul.

As an example of his deep humility, and in punishment of
liis false denunciation of his faith,' he thrust the hand that had
signed his abjuration into the raging flames as he approached
the stake and cried : "This hand hath offended." He protest-
ed against his infidelity to the Reform faith and died a wiUing
victim of heresy and persecution. The last courage of Cran-
mer won for him the forgiveness of his followers for the vacil-
lations and inconsistencies of his life.

In quoting from Guizot's history, one of the most uncom-
promising Protestant historians, and an escaped Huguenot
from Paris, we find that:

"Eighty-four persons perished that year by the flames, nor
did the living only suflfcr condemnaltion ; the bones of Martin
Eucer, who had died in England, whither he had been sum-
moned by Cranmer during the reign of Edward VI, were dis-
interred and publicly burned. The body of the wife of Pierce,
the martyr, suffered the same outrage; her grave was first
desecrated, and she was afterwards buried in a dunghill. The
reign of Mary lasted only five years; but in this short space of
time two hundred and eighty-eight persons were legally con-
demned to execution on account of religion, and it would be
impossible to enumerate the obscurer martyrs who died of
hunger or sufifering in the prisons. Most of the victims be-
longed to the middle class and to the people; it was here that
was manifested the most faithful attachment to the doctrines

278 Christian Persecutions.

of the Reformation. The great, enriched by the spohation and
g-overnmental reform of Henry VIII, cared only to retain
their possessions. The poor defended in their way their pre-
cious faith by dying for it. Secret discontent was great even
among the Roman Catholic population; the Spaniards were
detested; crimes increased. Notwithstanding the stern repres-
sion which they had undergone in the time of Henry VIII —
seventy-two thousand murderers, thieves or vagabonds had,
it is said, perished upon the gallows during his long reign —
the executioners of Queen Alary had also much to do. Re-
peatedly men of good family, who had degraded themselves
to the condition of highwaymen, were detected and seized.
Certain parts of the king'dom remained in a state of dull dis-
content; it was amid this general uneasiness that Philip, who
had become king of Spain in 1550, upon the abdication of
the Emperor Charles V, at length succeeded in involving his
wife and England in his quarrels with France."

The w^ar with France was unpopular. For once the people
of England were opposed to a new conflict. In the struggle
they lost every foot of ground they possessed in France. Calais
was captured after .being in their possession for two hundred
and eleven years. This loss was bitterly painful to the queen
and her people. During this struggle Mary was taken ill, and,
on the 17th of November, 155S, at the age of forty-three, she
died. She sighed so bitterly at the last that the ladies asked
her if she were sufifering, commiserating her for the absence
of King Philip. "Not that only," she said, "but when I am
dead and opened you sHiall find Calais lying in my heart."

"The following morning, at nearlv the same hour, Cardinal

Heirs of Henry VIII. 279

Pole died at Lambeth. The two pillars of the Catholic
Church in England fell at the same time. Pole had hoped to
insure triumph of his cause by gentleness and justice; Mary
had supported it by steel and fire. Both were equally sincere
and conscientious. Mary was of a religious mind; her char-
acter, naturally stern and determined, had been embittered
by injusitice and suffering; but she w^as upright and honest,
avoiding the subterfuges and deceits which Queen Elizabeth
too often practiced. She was animated by a fervent faith,
which she deemed was her right and duty to impose by force
upon all her subjects. The sufferings of heretics excited little
compassion in her breast; she was hardened against them, but
in her private life, and towards her servants, she was kind and
generous, capable of affection and of devotion. She blindly
loved her husband, who neglected and despised her on account
oi her age, and the few charms which nature had bestowed
upon her. Mary, however, was learned; she spoke pure
Latin, she had studied Greek, and spoke French, Spanish and
Italian with case. She was a good musician, and danced
gracefully. Her household was a model of order and regu-
larity. The queen set an example of piety and virtue. The
memory of these good qualities and misfortunes pales in the
presence of a supreme fault: a terrible stain remains imprinted
upon the brow of the unfortunate queen by her fanaticism and
her conscientious cruelty. She persecuted piously; she burnt
sincerely; her acts, more than her character, merit the odious
name which history has given her. On examining her life
closely, one is tempted to pity 'Bloody Mary.' "

The object in quoting from Guizot, the most radical Prot-

280 Christian Persecutions.

estant historian known, is to place before the readers of this
pubHcation the very extreme of charges made ag-ainst Queen
Mary. While it has been the aim of the author to put aside
prejudiced ideas, bigoted statements, and misrepresented his-
tory, yet in this case, as Protestan'ts ded'are the reign of M'ary
to be one of terrible bloodshed and persecution, to give their
strongest statements and then ask them to compare the acts
of Miary with those of her sister Elizabeth.

As previously stated, Mary's reign was not a long period o.'
sovereignty, nor did she come into possession of the crown
in a peaceable manner. A conspiracy was conceived by the
Protestant party in order to prevent the government from
passing into Mary's hands because she was a Catholic, and
in this opposition Lady Jane Grey was formally announced by
the conspirators to be the successor to Edward VI, and was
crowned Queen of England, thus attempting to deprive Mary
of her rightful inheritance.

To punish this act of treason many important personages
were executed, not as is usually charged, because they were
Protestants, but because they sought to usurp a power not
lawfully theirs. Here is a marked injustice, and I must ask,
why is it that Protestants are continually referring to Mary
as the terrible reign of Protestant persecution, when for three
hundred years the Catholics of Britain and Ireland were sub-
jected to almost every indignity which tyrannical power could
devise? Read the history of Ireland from the establishment
of the Church of England, in 1534, to the time of the Catholic
emancipation in 1829, when on April 13th, a bill became a
law whereby Catholics were eligible to all offices, civil, munic-

Heirs of Henry VIII. 281

ipal, and military, except the office of Reg^ent, of Lord Chan-
cellor, of Viceroy ol Ireland, and the Royal Commissioner of
the General Assembly of Scotland. Read the chapter, "Irish
Persecution," found elsewhere in this book. Read the follow-
ing history of Elizabeth, and then if you can draw a compari-
son by which Mary is a blacker demon than those who have
for so many- years darkened the pages of English histor)^ you
can do that which has never yet been done.

The fact is, there is not, nor can there be, any reasonable
comparison. Mary occupied the throne during a stormy per-
iod of revolt, while Elizabeth persecuted because all opposition
to the Church of England must be subdued by the power of
force. Her hands were steeped in the blood of Catholics,
Puritans, and Anabaptists. To be a Catholic was to be an
enemy to the government, to the Church, and to Elizabeth,
and as such must be denied the freedom of worship, or if in-
fluential, expelled from tlir country, or condemned for heresy
and executed.

Why have these cruelties, these persecutions, these intol-
erations, been hidden in tlie background, or glossed over with
the brush of injustice, while the literature of the whole Prot-
estant world is filled with the acts of "Bloody Mary"? Is it
because persecution becomes an act of justice when Catholics
are the victims? Or is it because Catholics, from hundreds of
years of tyranny, have become insensible to torture? Is it be-
cause one form of Christianity seeks to build itself upon the
fallen fortunes of another?

If we weigh in the scales of impartial justice the reigns of
these two sisters, what do we find? What is this comparison?

282 Christian Persecutions.

If Mary was unyielding and exacting in her demands for the
re-establishment of the Cathohc Church, what can you say of
Elizabeth, who knew no toleration, no purity of life, and no
compassion? For a moment let us draw a few of the many
worthy comparisons :

Mary reigned only five years and four months, while Eliza-
beth's reign was forty-four years and four months, a period al-
most nine times longer than her elder sister. The victims of
Catholic persecution under Elizabeth outnumber those of
Mary in proportion as was the time she wielded the power of
sovereign greater than that of her sister. Therefore, when we
lay at the feet of Mary the record of one suffering Protestant,
we must lay at the feet of Elizabeth nine suffering Catholics.

The historian, Hallam, asserts that "the rack seldom stood
idle in the Tower for all the latter part of Elizabeth's reign."

The most unpardonable act of Mary's life, in the judgment
of her critics, was the execution of Lady Jane Grey, and yet
this lady, at the time of her execution, declared that she de-
served death for being the tool of a conspiracy where she
usurped the throne of England, which she occupied for nine
days. While the execution of Lady Jane has been much de-
plored, yet it was but the execution of law against treason.

In contrast, we find that Elizabeth put to death her cousin,
Mary, Queen of Scots, after a long imprisonment, on a charge
of aspiring to the English throne, and yet this charge was
not sustained. Thus we find that the execution of Lady Jane
Grey was the result of treason, while Elizabeth's execution of
Mary, Queen of Scots, was a cold-blooded murder of a de-
fenseless woman who fled to her for protection.

Heies of Henry VIII. 283

Mary's zeal was exercised in behalf of the religion of her
forefathers, which had been the recognized and loved form of
worship for more than one thousand years. Elizabeth's zeal
was employed in extending the new creed, introduced by her
faither in a moment of passion, and modified by him. Tlie one
had been in existence from the date of England's conversion
to Christianity a thousand years previous, and had ever been
cherished in the hearts of the people. The other was the re-
sult of a sinful intercourse and the refusal of the Pope of Rome
to sanction the crime.

While Mary sought to restore the time-honored faith and
worship of the Catholic Church, Elizabeth, with a most vio-
lent and unrelenting rigor, declared that no Catholic worship
should be tolerated.

Tlie elder sister was propagating what she believed was
the true and infallible doctrine of Christ, but the younger sister
was propagating her own religion, and that of her father. The
one had been tried since the days of the Apostle Peter, the
other was that which Henry VHI had instituted when he re-
belled from the Church of Rome.

While Mary had no private or personal motives in op-
pressing Protestants, Elizabeth's hostility to the Catholic
Church was intensified, if not instigated, by her hatred of the
Pope, who had declared her illegitimate. Her legitimacv be-
fore the world depended on the success of the new religion,
which had legalized her father's divorce from Catherine.

Hence, as Macaulay says:. ','Mary was sincere in her re-'
ligion ; Elizabeth was not. Having no scruple about conform-
ing to the Roman Church when conformity was necessary to

284 Christian Persecutions.

her own safety, retaining to the last moment of her life a fond-
ness for much of the doctrine and much of the ceremonial of
that Church, she yet subjected that Church to a persecution
even more odious than the persecution with which her sister
had harassed the Protestants. Mary did nothing for her re-
ligion which she was not prepared to sufifer for. She had held
it firmly under persecution. She fully believed it to be es-
sential to salvation. Elizabeth, in opinion, was but little more
than half a Protestant. She had professed, when it suited her,
to be wholly Catholic."

Thus we find, as w^e understand the controlling motives of
Mary and Elizabeth, that their actions are based upon diflfer-
ent principles of justice, and in the rendering of judgment on
them, we must decide, that if you condemn the five years of
Mary's reign you must also condemn the forty-four years of
Elizabeth's persecutions.

CHAPTER XXIII.

HEIRS OF HENRY VHI— Continued.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

O Y the death of Queen Mary, the crown, by virtue of the
^ succession granted to Henry VHI, fell to Elizabeth, the
daughter of Anne Boleyn. Her professions of faith under the
reign of Mary were more of hypocrisy than ardent truth, as
her future acts will prove. In her pretense of renouncing the
Reform worship of her father she acted from policy. Her
social relations with her sister Mary were cold and indiflferent.
While Mary was a Catholic almost to fanaticism, and would
yield to no opposition to establish her faith, yet Elizabeth was
cunning, artful, and designing. Not naturally hard in heart
and determined in persecution, but as history informs us :

"Along with her good and queenly qualities and accom-
plishments, Elizabeth had many unamiable traits and unwom-
anly ways. She was capricious, treacherous, unscrupulous,
ungrateful, and cruel. She seemed almost devoid of a moral
or religious sense. Deception and falsehood were her usual
weapons in diplomacy."

"In the profusion and recklessness of her lies," declares
Green, "Ehzabeth stood without a peer in all Christendom,"

Besides the practice of deceit and hypocrisy, her moral life
was notoriously corrupt. She toyed with the Lords and
nobles as the cat plays with its mouse. Her fascinating

285

286 Christian Persecutions.

charms surrounded her with the corruption of court and the
scandal of the nation. Her designs were to institute favor,
excite passion, and to hold in her power the nobility of the
kingdom. In contrast to Mary, she was as black is to white.
The religious, moral and conscientious character of Mary is in
marked contrast with the disgraceful, corrupt and insincere
motives of Elizabeth. In the pursuit of pleasure, ambition, or
power, she was active and determined. She was quick to de-
vise ways and means to accomplish her purposes, and although
Protestant in faith, yet in the dissembling character of her
nature, it is a question if she even thought of God in her heart.

Her title to the crown was denied by every true Catholic
in England, because she was the child of Anne Boleyn, that
marriage which the Pope had forbidden under pain of the
anatliemas of the Church. Therefore she had little to expect
from the CathoHcs, and very naturally looked to the Protest-
ant Party for sympathy and loyalty. With this questioii raised
against her lawful heirship, it is easily seen that her prejudices
must largely work in favor of the Reform Church, and al-
though Catholics were in hopes she would continue the work
of Mary, yet they were disappointed, when, like Mary, who
undid the work of Henry VIII and Edward VI, she undid the
work of Mary. It was a game of tit for tat. Mary had re-
stored the Catholic worship, and now Elizabeth would over-
throw it and restore the Church of England.

Elizabeth was strong in character, courageous, and deter-
mined. She possessed admirable judgment, was far-seeing,
and in politics sustained a wonderful tact. By these qualities
her government became one of the strongest, and most il-

Heirs of Henry VIII. 287

lustrious in the history of England's sovereigns. She raised
the nation from a position of insignificance to one of the most
active among the States of Europe. One of the secrets of her
strength was by her selection of strong, earnest men for her
advisers. She gathered around her Council board the wisest
and most eminent men of her empire. In the selection of Sir
William Cecil (Lord Burleigh) she found a man of extensive
knowledge, a man of great sagacity, and of ceaseless industry.
To him, more than to any other person, is largely due the
success of her administration. This man stood at the head of
the Queen's Council for more than forty years.

The first act of Elizabeth was to dissolve the two religious
houses established by Alary, and to elect a new Parliament, by
which two new Acts were established — the Act of Supremacy,
and the Act of Uniformity — which relaid the foundation of
the Anglican Church. By this Act of Supremacy all the
clergy, and every person holding office, were required to take
an oath of allegiance declaring the Queen to be the supreme
authority in all things spiritual as well as temporal, and at the
same time renouncing the authority or jurisdiction of any for-
eign prince or prelate. For refusing to take this oath many
Catholics were persecuted, imprisoned, and even suffered
death. While Elizabeth did not resort to the conscientious
persecution of Mary, yet her reign is filled with the history of
crime and bloodshed.

The Act of Uniformity forbade clergymen from using any
but the Anglican liturgy. It also required every person to at-
tend the Established Church on Sundays and other holy days.
For a violation of this act, each absence recorded a fine of one

288 Christian Persecutions.

shilling. The persecution which arose under this law caused
many Catholics to seek freedom of worship in other countries.
The Catholics were not alone in their disobedience of this Act.
There were Protestant Non-Conformists, called Puritans, and
Separaitisits. These organizations were stronger in the re-
forms of the Church and believed that the Anglican was only
half -reformed. The Puritans were more the followers of John
Calvin and his doctrine, while the Separatists were even more
rigid in discipline than the Puritans. They flung away every
semblance of Roman worship, and severed all connections
with the Established Church. Under this Act they were per-
secuted and forced to leave England. Many went to Holland,
where, in after years, they became the Pilgrim Fathers of the
New World.

The forms of persecution were small and inconsiderate in
many instances, but annoying and aggravating. Spies were
sent to question into the private life of Catholics, and those not
in proclaimed sympathy with the movements of Elizabeth. It
was a low, disgusting scrutiny of the private lives of the peo-
ple. No one was secure in his home conversation, or his pri-
vate worship. A secret system of detective work was going
on everywhere, and while its results were not often a sacrifice
of life, yet in its persecution the people were harassed in mind
and conscience, not knowing what charge might arise and the
verdict of imprisonment would be their lot.

As an instance of this determined persecution we find re-
corded that, as early as in 1561, Sir Edward Waldegrave and
his wife were sent to the Tower for having received and enter-
tained a Catholic priest at their home. A Puritan was

Heirs of Henry VIII. 289

scourged for having said in his private family that lie would
never recognize the Church of England. This evidence was
obtained by listening at the keyhole. A petition signed by
bishops imploring Elizabeth to follow the example of her sis-
ter Mary was received with indignation and the petitioners
sent to prison. Offers of position and rich estates were made
to those imprisoned bishops, and many were thus converted
to the Reform faith. Bonner refused to yield and died in
prison. The monasteries that were restored by Mary were
now closed and their valuable possessions again confiscated.
The whole effort of Elizabeth was to restore the work of
Cranmer and Edward VI. Elizabeth was losing the quiet
insincere life of her past retirement, and was yielding to the
demands and public opinions of the Protestant Party.

Political motives were now being considered by EHzabcth.
France and Spain were united by the marriage of Philip II to
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry H. Scotland was in a ferment
of religious revolution, and their young queen, Mary Stuart,
was an ardent Catholic. From the standpoint of the illegality
of Henry VHFs marriage with Anne Boleyn, Mary Stuart,
being the daughter of James V of Scotland, by right of
birth, according to all Catholics, who denied the validity of
the marriage of Anne Boleyn with Henrv VIII, was the next
in direct succession to the crown of England, after Mary
Tudor. Politically, the three countries — France, Spain, and
Scotland — were to form an alliance and overthrow Elizabeth
and her English government, and in the overthrow Mary
Stuart would become heir to the throne. So strong became
the apparent motives of this alliance that Elizabeth declared

290 Christian Persecutions.

she would take a liusband, and as she describes: "I will take
a husband who shall cause the head of the King of France to
ache; he does not know what a rebuff I intend to give him."

Advances were immediately made to the Earl of Arran,
the heir-presumptive to the throne of Scotland after the Stu-
arts. The Earl had become an ardent Protestant and this
union would strengthen the bonds of government, but Eliza-
beth was too fickle in mind to form either a political or matri-
monial alliance, and although repeatedly solicited by Parlia-
ment to take a husband, yet she could never settle her mind
on which would be the 'most available in all the long line of
royal candidates.

As she was handsome, brilliant in diplomacy, and witty and
fascinating in court, she was greatly admired, and her strengtli
of will and purpose did much to hold the confidence of Europe
and the love and esteem of her people. In matters of religion
she was extremely Protestant, and her persecutions of Catho-
lics were cruel and inhuman. Her greatest fear was, that in
the succession to the throne of England, the government
might again fall into the hands of her religious enemies. She
feared Mary Stuart, because she was a Catholic, and because
she was next in the line of succession. The twenty years' im-
prisonment was not that Mary had committed a crime, but
that she might, through her Catholic influence, establish a
revolt against the PrdtestJant Reformation, overthrow the
religious government of England and Scotland and restore
the Catholic faith. It was this, fear that sustained Elizabeth
in her persecutions, and made her despotic and tyrannical.
So great was her fear that her suspicions often governed her

Heirs of Henry VIII. 291

inconsistencies, and in a number of instances she caused to be
executed some of her most trusted advisers.

She reahzed that her birth was not a clear title to the
throne of England; that from a point of morality it was base
and ignoble, while from the law of the Catholic Church it
was declared illegal and void. Twice did the Pope issue an
edict of excommunication and declared her subjects no longer
legally bound to her will. Knowing these conditions we can-
not wonder at her deep solicitude for her own safety, as well
as that of her chosen religion.

In a short review we have this history of England as it
afifectcd the Catholic and Protestant religions of that empire:

1st. Henry VHI, from motives of revenge, and to estab-
lish the legitimacy of his own licentious passions, overthrew
the Catholic Church, and in the strength of might established
a new line of nobility and a new doctrine of worship. He
confiscated the property of the Church, robbed monasteries,
and denied the free worship of Goil.

2d. Edward VI, the son of Jane Seymour, continued the
persecution, established a ritual creed in the faith of his father,
and commanded a religious observance of it. He also estab-
lished the English Book of Common Prayer, and the forty-two
articles of faith tlFat became the standard of doctrine of the
English Church. Edward died at the age of fifteen and one
half years.

3d. Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, the only
lawful marriage of Henry VIII. She became known in Prot-
estant history as "Bloody Mary." Being an ardent Catholic,
she overturned the religious governments of Henry and Ed-

292 Christian Persecutions.

ward, re-established tlie monasteries, restored estates, ana
throug-h a series of zealous determinations, built up the Cath-
olic faith. Under her reign the whole structure of faith was
Catholic. Even Parliament was anxious to vote that the na-
tion should return to the obedience of the Papal See, and in
their anxiety to seek absolution fell upon their knees in the
presence of the legate of the Pope. M'ary's was a reign of an
established Catholic power.

4th. Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, was the next in
succession, and from the Catholic law could not be a lawful
child of marriage. Under this reign Elizabeth exercised a
more bitter and inconsistent persecution than we find in Mary,
but being Protestant her efforts were directed against the
Catholic Church and those in opposition to her. By her the
English Church was firmly established, never again to be
overthrown. While Protestant teachings exclaim with horror
over the persecutions of Mary, yet in her sister, Elizabeth, we
find the same fanatic zeal to overturn and persecute the fol-
lowers of Mary and her established religion.

5th. By a conspiracy of Protestant followers and to prevent
Catholic Mary from taking the throne. Lady Jane Grey was
announced the lawful sovereign of England, and for nine days
sire was declared by the insurrection Queen of England, but
the line of succession as established by Henry VIII could not
be broken and she was arrested as a usurper, tried for treason
and in after years was executed.

6th. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots was, from the declaration
of Catholic authority, the lawful heir to the throne of England,
but as she was Catholic, under the trumped-up charge of being

Heirs of Henry VIII. 293

accessory to the murder of her husband, was forced to abdi-
cate in favor of her infant son, James VI, of Scotland. Mary
fled to England and asked for protection of her cousin Eliza-
beth, who fearing- her legal line of ancestry and her Catih'oHc
following, cast her into prison, where she remained for twenty
years and was then executed.

7th. We now arrive at the sovereign reign of King James
I, known in history as James VI of Scotland, son of Mary
Stuart.

MARY STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTS.

Much of the history of Queen Elizabeth's reign is so closely
connected with Mary Stuart, that to write one is to write both,
and by the Catholic legality of birth Mary stood as a rival to
the throne of England.

Scotland was virtually in the hands of the Protestant Re-
formers, known as the followers of John Calvin, or Presbyteri-
ans, and while Mary sought to sustain her Catholic faith, yet
the Protestant doctrine was growing stronger and stronger,
and in force was the controlling religion of the kingdom.

The Scottish Queen married Lord Darnley, an ardent
Catholic, against the loud protestations of the Protestant
preachers and other reformers. Mary was earnestly peti-
tioned to renounce everything Catholic and unite herself with
the Protestant faith. Plot after plot was instituted to over-
throw this new Catholic influence, and as Darnley was weak
in affection, vulgar, unmannerly, dissolute and violent at
times, he soon lost the love and esteem of Mary, and in its
place grew aversion and contempt. Darnley realized that his.

294 Christian Persecutions.

uncouth brutality had deeply wounded the sensitive nature of
his wife and sought, during his drunken revelries, to devise
means of allaying the scorn of the court for his unmannerly
.conduct. He knew his disgrace and must seek some means
cf redeeming his faults. To do this there must be some ex-
cuse invented, some attack to produce a suspicion, a court talk
that Darnley had grievances, that he was wronged, that there
were excuses, and after all the pure, sweet Mary may not be
exactly what she seemed. In this study D'amley seized upon
one Rizzio, an Italian musician, and court favorite. The Ital-
ian was handsome, graceful, and a musician. Darnley grew
jeatous of hfs accomplishments and even basely taunted his
wife of infidelity. The proud spirit of Mary turned away in
disgust from these low insinuations of her depraved husband.
She had borne his vulgar, drunken orgies with loathing and
shame, but now a reflection was cast upon her honor, and slie
felt it too humiliating to even respond to these heart thrusts of
a wicked and sensuous husband.

Darnley communicated his pretended grievances to his
friends, and a bold scheme of assassmaition was declared as
tlie only means of ridding the court of his presence. " Rizzio
was indeed a court favorite, and being an Italian, willing hands
were waiting to avenge the honor of one who had no honor.
At the head of this conspiracy sitood Lord Ruthven and Lord
Morton, chancellor of the kingdom. Besides this conspiracy,
there was another motive that induced these prominent Lords
to plot against the life of Rizzio and the character of Mary.
They sought to recall the Earl of Murray and other exiled
Lords, and by threats of persecution their plot would be suc-
cessful.

Heirs of Henry VIII. 295

The time selected for this assassination was while the
Queen and her ladies were at supper and Rizzio was in the
room. Darnley would have his wife see the consummation
of this plotted villainy, and thus produce fear and consterna-
tion, Darnley entered the dining-room, followed by Ruthven
and others. Ruthven ordered Rizzio to leave the apartment,
and an angry altercation followed in which Mary defended
Rizzio in this unjust demand. Darnley seized the hands of his
wife, and in the melee the table was overturned and Rizzio
stabbed with a dagger. Morton guarded the doors of the
palace with a troop of armed men, thus cutting off any assist-
ance which might come to the support of the Queen.

If we follow this conspiracy, we will find that the Earl of
Bothwell and Lord Huntley came to the assistance of Mary
with an armed force of eighteen thousand men, and that Mor-
ton and Ruthven fled. Soon after this event Mary gave birth
to a son, who was to become James VI of Scotland, and James
I of England. The coldness between Mary and Darnley in-
creased. The brutality of Darnley might be overlooked, but
being an accomplice in crime and the defamer of his wife's
character, was too black to be trusted, or to be forgiven. But
the end was soon to come. The house in which Darnley was
spending the night was blown up and he was killed. Sus-
picion immediately rested upon Bothwell, and he was arrested,
tried for murder, but acquitted. Bothwell was known to be
desperately enamored with Mary, and court talk assumed
phases not complimentary to him or to her. So great was his
infatuation that Mary's personal friends warned her against
him, and even- wrote to her saying: "Bothwell will kill you;
retire before he comes within this place."

296 Christian Persecutions.

Bothwell had sought powerful alHes among the members
of ParHament, and at a banquet of all the principal members,
protested his innocence of the murder of Darnley, and then
announced his intention of marrying Mary. Whether from
fear or otherwise, Bothwell obtained their signatures recom-
mending this union, and they also undertook to use their in-
fluence in his behalf. It had been Bothwell's scheme to force
a union with Mary, and to accomplish this he had obtained a
separation from his wife. Darnley was dead, and current
opinion was that he was the means of his death.

Four days from the time Bothwell secured the signatures
of the principal members of Parliament he intercepted Mary
while she was returning from Stirling, and with his powerful
escort forced her to accompany him to Dunbar Castle, where
he held her captive for five days. At the moment of her cap-
ture Bothwell exclaimed that he would marry the Queen,
"who would or who would not; yea, whether she would herself
or not." His determination was now fixed. He had sur-
mounted the difificulties that lay between them, and now she
was his prisoner. What promise he received from her was
never revealed, but upon her release she appeared before the
sessions court, and there declared before the chancellor that
notwithstanding the outrages which he had made her suffer,
she was disposed to pardon him and to raise him to still
greater honors, and in this unexplained mysterious influence
Bothwell had obtained control over Mary's mind and on the
15th of May they were united in marriage. Thus had the
murderer obtained the object of his crime.

Open revolt was now precipitated and Bothwell was pub-

Heirs of Henry VIII. 297

licly declared the murderer of Darnley. So strong was this
declaration of murder that the Lords demanded an abdication
of the throne in favor of the little prince. At first Mary re-
fused to sign, but when Lord Lindsay grasped her arm and
cried: "Sign, if you do not wish to die as your husband's
murderer," she took the pen and without looking at the paper
signed the document, and on the 20th of June tlie little prince
was crowned James VI, and on the 22d of August the Earl of
Murray was elected regent. These acts of Mary have been
used as weapons of calumnies against her character as a true,
virtuous, and honorable woman. If we consider from one
point alone, there may be reasons for suspicion, but when we
know the historic facts of Darnley's dissolute and villainous
diaracter; when we know that Bothwell, by force or other-
wise, compelled this marriage, we can only pity Mary Stuart
for submitting to this unholy union. Mary was Queen only
in name. Her kingdom was in Protestant revolt. Parlia-
ment and the nobility were against her. Every force was
brought to induce her to renounce her religion and accept the
Presbyterian faith. Tlie demand of Lord Lindsay to abdicate
was the demand of power against the weak. The threat hor-
rified Mary, and without even looking at the document she
signed it. But why was this demand made? Why were
threats made to imperil her life? Why was this reaction when
Parliament, as individual members, had signed a request for
this union? There can be but one answer. By her abdication
the child prince became king of Scotland, and a Protestant
Regent is appointed to reign instead. To cover these acts of
treachery there must be some further persecution to continue

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298 Christian Persecutions.

this semblance of crime. Mary had abdicated, Lord Murray
was elected regent, and the whole political system was in the
hands of the Reformers. Efforts must be made to hold the
people in excitement and to disgr>ace the sovereign power, and
under the crime of Bothwell they would continue the persecu-
tion of Mary.

In December Mary Stuart was arrested for the .murder of
Darnley and cast into prison, but escaped and raised a body
of troops, declared her abdication void because of force and
threats and proceeded to regain her throne by force. She was
defeated and escaped into England, where sihe sought the
mercy of Elizabeth and beseeched her to assist in restoring her
throne. Agents of Elizabeth everywhere demanded that Mary
should be held in prison and not allowed to foment new trou-
bles. Sir Henry Morris wrote from Paris: "Her Majesty now
holds the wolf that would destroy her. It is said that there is
a conspiracy between the King of France, the King of Spain,
and the Pope to ruin her Majesty, and to put the Queen of
Scotland in her place." Elizabeth began to believe in the
crime of Mary, and if the crime is proven she must suffer the
penalty. But the die was cast. With Mary restored to the
throne of Scotland, Elizabeth would always be in danger.
Mary in prison was a greater security to the aspirations of
Elizabeth than Mary at will. Repeatedly she had requested
Mary to relinquish the crown and live a peaceful life as a re-
tired subject, but in vain. She positively declined, and de-
clared she would rather suffer death than surrender her claims.

Plots and counterplots were being formed. Spanish armies
had made designs upon invasion, and the people were becom-

Heirs of Henry VIII. 299

ing alarmed and suspicious of different Lords and nobles.
The Duke of Norfolk, the staunch defender of Elizabeth, was
declared in treason and conspiracy, and was executed. Tlie
Earl of Northumberland was also condemned to death and all
Protestant England was crying for the execution of Mary
Stuart as the only means of preserving the peace of the coun-
try. Mary was a Catholic, and while she lived there would be
only dissension, insurrection, and bloodshed. The bishops ad-
vised her execution, as she was the "origin and source of all
evil."

Tlie massacre of the Protestant Pluguenots in France on
St. Bartholomew's Day only incensed the English Reformers
to a greater excitement, and greater demands upon Elizabeth
to continue her persecutions against Mary and all opposition.
New attempts were made to rescue her, but she was removed
from prison to prison, and each day more closely confined, and
each day treated with less respect and consideration. Her ap-
peals to her son, now king of Scotland, received but little at-
tention. Mary saw her days were numbered and in the
sincerity of her Catholic faith she exclaimed: "There are two
things, sir, whicli you cannot take from me — the royal blood
that gives me fhe right to the succession, and the aittachment
that unites me to the faith of my ancestors." Amid all the
stormy periods of her life she had been a devout Catholic,
and in the purification of imprisonment and long suffering
she was to die a Catholic, and in her death we see her rival,
Elizabeth, responsible for the odious stain of execution.

Mary Stuart was tried for conspiracy against Elizabeth, or,
in other words, treason against the throne of England. On

300 Christian Persecutions.

the 14th of October, 1586, she was confronted with commis-
sioners and judges, who were surrounded with assistants, ta-
bles, and documents, but to Mary there was granted nothing,
yet for two days she held in check the ablest lawyers of Eng-
land, but without friends, or testimony, and with perjured
witnesses, who gave their evidence in secret, there was no
chance to escape. The verdict for years had been established
by her enemies, and now, through the formality of law, it
would be executed. As a condemned criminal, Mary Stuart,
Queen of Scots, was now deprived of all the honor due her
station, and in defense of her royal dignity she exclaimed: "I
am an anointed Queen. In spite of the Queen of England,
her Council, and her heretical Judges, I will die a Queen."

Numerous attempts were made to stay the sentence, but
of no avail. Her own son, James VI, was solicited to inter-
cede, but his coldness Avas a scandal unto himself. He ap-
peared to have no feeling, no pity, and no honorable manhood.
Sir Robert Melville accompanied an ambassy sent to labor
with Elizabeth, and in his conversation asked: "Why does the
Queen of Scots seem so dangerous to you?" Elizabeth re-
sponded: "Because she is a Papist, and they say she shall suc-
ceed to my throne."

The hour of execution was near at hand. The Earl of
Shrewsbury had arrived, and as the sentence was being read,
Mary made the sign of the cross and quietly said, that after
twenty years of imprisonment she did not expect this from her
cousin Elizabeth, but — and she placed her hand upon a Bible
near her, and swore that she never contemplated harm to Eliz-
abeth. Tlie Earl of Kent brutally responded that, as it was

Heirs of Henry VIII. 301

a Pope's Bible, her oath was of no value. With flashing eyes
Mary said: "It is a Catholic testament, and, therefore, my
Lord, as I believe it to be the true version, my oath is the
more to be relied upon." "Your death will be the life of our
religion," said Kent, "as, contrariwise, your life would have
been its death."

The condemned Queen spent the night in the company of
her servants and in prayer. She bade them farewell, and as
the sheriff arrived she arose from her devotions, took the
crucifix from the altar and without faltering> followed the
officer from the room. At the door she found her faithful
servanit, Melville, who fell upon his knees weeping and sob-
bing. "Cease to lament, good Melville," said the Queen, "for
thou sh'alt now see a final period to Mary Stuart's troubles;
the world, my servant, is all but vanity, and subject to more
sorrow than an ocean of tears can wash away. But I pray thee,
take this message when thou gocst, that I die true to my re-
ligion, to Scotland, and to France. Commend me to my son,
and tell him that I have done nothing to prejudice the king-
dom of Scotland."

She asked that her servants might accompany her to her
execution, but the overbearing Kent refused. "I know my
cousin Elizabeth would not have denied me so small a matter,
that my women might be present even for honor of woman-
hood," she said. At the last moment she cried: "I am fixed
in the ancient religion, and, by God's grace, I will shed my
blood for it." She prayed for the Church, her son, and Eliza-
beth,and as she kissed the crucifix the Earl of Kent exclaimed:
"Madam, you would better put such Poperish trumpery out of

302 Christian Persecutions.

your hand and carry Christ in your heart." In reply Mary
modestly said: "I can hardly bear this emblem in my hand
without at the same time bearing Him in my heart." The ax .
fell, and her spirit took its flight to her God. Thus closed the
life of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. Her chief persecution in
life was because she was a Catholic, and even in death the un-
relenting and unforgiving persecution followed her. As her
bleeding head was raised from the block these words were
uttered: "God save Queen Elizabeth." "Thus perish all her
enemies." Fitting words to express the cruelty, the crimes,
and the persecutions of her enemies. She had lived a life of
fidelity to Christ, to humanity, and to Christian faith. The
twenty years' imprisonment only served to establish her re-
ligion more firmly in her mind and conscience. She realized
the source of her troubles, and in the fervency of Christian for-
titude she forgave her enemies, knowing that it was the perse-
cution of Christ's love she bore in her heart.

Again, let us refer to the hypocrisy and deceit of Elizabeth.
She had given the order for the execution of Mary Stuart, and
yet she feigned great anger and compassion when informed
of her death. She ordered the arresit of several ministers and
caused their disgrace. Davidson was sent to the Tower,
where he remained until his death, a victim of deceit. His
fortune was confiscated to pay the fine imposed upon him.
Even Burleigh was accused of conspiring against Mary, the
whole being an assumed pretense of placing the crime from
ofi her own shoulders.

King James was also deeply incensed, and swore he would
move heaven and earth for vengeance, but when Elizabeth

Heirs of Henry VIII. 303

added to his pension, and the throne of England came so
much nearer in the Hne of succession, he forgot his mother
and his wrath. His consolation was individual benefits and
aspirations. The words of Mary were now answered: "Coult/
an only son forget his mother,"

Let us return for a moment to the closing scenes of Eliza'
beth. She had rendered assistance to the Huguenots of
France, and the Protestant rebellion of the Netherlands. The
Spanish invasion had been defeated by the destruction of her
"Invincible Armada." Her vessels had traversed the globe,
made important expeditions to the New World, and for a gen-
eration acted more the part of piracies than those of a peaceful
trade. The crippling of the naval pnDwer of Spain left England
mistress of the seas. New life was infused in her daring ex-
ploits. The old Norse blood burned with feverish impatience
for adventure and glory.

It was a reign of universal triumphs. She had overcoine
her enemies, thwarted plots for her destruction, combined the
cunning of policy with her apparent ardent love for her people.
She had governed England despotically, but with such skill-
fulness that she was enabled to turn the dangerous corners
when necessity required it, but always the patron and pro-
tector of the Protestant Reformation, But, as brilliant as were
her achievements, yet her glory was tarnished and sullied by
feminine follies and evil passions, while obstinately refusing to
accept the duities and legitimate happiness of a woman's life.
Brave, proud, far-sighted, and persevering, she displayed
much intellectual ability, and certain fine moral qualities, but
rarely or never the tender and modest virtues which inspire

304 Christian Persecutions.

and retain private affection. And yet for many years she was
able to inspire sentiments of another nature. When she died,
the evils and dangers inherent in absolute power had done
their work; the English nation was beginning to grow weary
of the rule of its great Queen, and to dream of political and re-
ligious liberties which had no place in the mind or in the heart
of Elizaibeth Tudor.

The closing days of EHzabeth's reign were, to her person-
ally, dark and gloomy. As she looked back over her long
life of public ambitions, cares, and responsibilities, she saw the
gaunt specter of persecutions rise up before her. She saw
the patient, uncomplaining Mary Stuart, her own cousm, con-
fined for twenty years in a prison. She saw her headless form
wildly beseeching for mercy, and then praying for the forgive-
ness of those who were persecuting her. She saw the Earl
of Essex, her chief favorite, sent to the block, and in her secret
grief she saw her pride only the stepping stone to the misery
of others. She saw her shameful life at court without even the
semiblance of reward. She saw her past, only as an empty vis-
ion, a barren oak, and a soul without reward. And while she
had been the instrument of national success, yet there were no
heart pleasures to gladden her declining years.

In the loneliness of family ties she was a fit subject for pity
and compassion. Her persecutions were not from a love o^
faith and devotion, but from the determination to raise her
name from the ignomy of a denied birth. She knew that her
father and mother were denied by the Church of Rome, and
she would raise her voice and hand against it. She was one of
the bitterest enemies of the Church and ever sought to over

Heirs of Henry VIII. 805

throw it. Slie lived in the rigor of intoleration, and ended her
days with the burden of a secret grief.

She died March 2Ith, 1G03, in the seventieth year of her
age, and the forty-fifth year of her reign. With her ended the
Tudor hue of EngHsh sovereigns.

CHAPTER XXIV.

miSH PERSECUTION.

/^F all the different races of men none have endured the
^-^ hardships of persecution, the domineering influences of
oppression, and the absolute tyranny of government so
meekly as have the Irish people of Ireland. So great has been
this disfranchisement, this disregard of human rights, that
Irish oppression has for centuries been synonymous with all
that represented injustice, intolerance, and religious and gov-
ernmental abuse. No nation in all Christendom has the
record of so much meek submission to injustice, has shown
so much forbearance, and has borne so much uncomplaining
misery, humiliation, and degradation. As we read their his-
tory in the light of our present civilization we can only won-
der how these people could have maintained their individual-
ity, their national character, and their firm adherence to
Christianity. But if we go back to the remote records we
shall find what some of the causes are which govern this pas-
sive and apparent indifference to trials and persecutions.

The first important date in the history of Ireland is 432,
when St. Patrick came as an apostle of Christianity to teach
the people the true worship of God. At that time the religion
of the people was Pagan to an extreme — not of the same
mythical character as that practiced by the Roman Emperors,
but one based more upon the legerdemain of magicians and
those educated to perform apparent miracles through the

306

Irish Persecution. 307

witchcraft then in vogue. These teachers were divided into
three classes and governed the affairs of rehgion and morahty
with absolute authority. They also formulated the basis of
the law, and exercised its judicial functions. These teachers
were classified as: the bards, the vates, and Druids proper, or
priests. They were not a hereditary caste, by which power,
position, or influence could be transmitted, but their system
partook of the nature of a competition in which all could
enter. As these positions ensured privileges, such as exemp-
tion from taxation and from service in the army, they were
eagerly sought by the youth of the country. The exactions
of learning, however, were so great that only the few suc-
ceeded in acquiring the necessary knowledge. To become
perfect and properly qualified to become a teacher a course
of training was indispensable, which often required twenty
years. All instruction was imparted orally, although they
had a written language. So great was their memory that
when once a subject was mastered it was never forgotten.
They entered into the minutest details, and sought to explain
the phenomena of nature, the existence of life, and the power
of mind over matter. Their favorite studies were astrology,
geography, physical science, and natural theology. Besides
these, they were wonderfully developed in botany, astronomy,
medicine, and letters. In mechanics, and skill of construc-
tion, they were superior to any people existing at that time.
The megalithic remains of that era even now testify to their
ability as workers of beautiful designs in stone and other
material. Examples of their stone-work are found in various
parts of France and Briton, furnishing us evidence that these

308 Christian Persecutions.

people once flourished in the greater part of Southeastern
Europe. Stone circles in their buildings were emblems of a
Supreme Being, and the serpent that of the Divine Son.

Their belief was a peculiar combination of Paganism and
Christianity. In Christianity they believed in a Supreme
Being and in the immortality of the soul. The people believed
that their priests were in league with the demons of paganism,
and were able by this agency to do g-ood to their friends and
mischief to their enemies. Tlie priests were held in awe and
veneration, for whomsoever should offend one of these pious
representatives of God, might be punished as the offended
one willed. In sorcery they were adepts, having been edu-
cated to practice this art, and while to the people their accom-
plishments seemed to be the mysterious workings of a super-
natural power, yet to themselves it was only the power of
study and practice. These professed jugglers may be classed
with the eminent magicians of our day. They practiced
charms to an almost miraculous degree. The most noted
and most powerful charm was a snake's egg which was sup-
posed to be produced in a mysterious manner. With this
charm the belief of the mind became an almost possessed
reality. By its influence they supposed they could see beyond
the confines of their own presence, and by mesmerism, the
power of mind over mind, they could read the thoughts of
others. While- there was nothing peculiarly, mysterious or
supernatural in their science of investigating the power of
mind, or the power of deception, yet these gifts, the result of
studied education, produced a strong belief in the super-
stitions of the age.

Irish Persecution. 309

Their philosophy was identical with that of Pythagoras,
the great central figure of the Eastern Gnostic religion, and
the question arises, was this Pythagorian exposition of Chris-
tianity taught to the Druids by some means not recorded in
history? or was it invented by them and taught to the Eastern
Gnostics? But be that as it may, these two systems of wor-
ship were opposed to Christianity, and from their similarity
must, have originated from the same source. Besides this, the
Druids believed in the transmigration of souls; that the soul,
if not fully prepared to become a perfect spirit, must continue
its mission on earth through other bodies and other forms of
earthly experience, until at last it was prepared by its line of
progression to come into the realm of eternal rest. Their
greatest veneration was for the forest, God's deep solitude,
where, with all the solemnity of their weird incantations, they
practiced their rites — merely studied deception — and, under
the protecting obscurity of the forest gloom, their acts seemed
to the multitude like the workings of a supernatural power.
During the seasons of presentation they were clad in white,
wearing gold ornaments, and, with other features of awe-in-
spiring import, they sustained their mysterious superstitions
which so largely controlled their people. They also believed
that the higher the form of sacrifice the greater the atonement
of sin, and in proportion to thoir ability to render sacrifices so
would they be forgiven and rise in the scale of the soul's pro-
gression. So zealous did they often become that they even
sacrificed human life in oflfering up their devotions to Deity.

When speaking of the Druids in the continuation of this
discussion, for brevity's sake, we refer to them as represent-

310 Christian Persecutions.

ing the whole people, and not as merely designating the indi-
vidual priests that controlled them. We have given this de-
scriptive history of them for the purpose of explaining the real
ancestry of the Irish race, which ance'stry, in point of intelli-
gence, in skill, in enterprise, in honesty of purpose, and, above
all, in absolute submission to the conditions under which they
existed, was superior to any other nation of Europe. While
the religion of the Irish ancestry was a species of Pagan
idolatry, yet they can point with pride to the wonderful devel-
opment of the mind in all the phases of learning, of industry,
and attainments. We can see that this early submission to an
established order of things was the groundwork of their future
resistance of persecution and oppression. With the Druids it
was absolute submission to law, faith, and morality, and when
converted to Christianity, they still retained this wonderful
characteristic, as is shown by their resistance against religious
oppression, which marks the life of the Irish nation. Other
nations have yielded to the demands of intolerance, of reforma-
tion, and of persecution, but these people have never yielded
their submission beyond, perhaps, an outward semblance of
obedience. In their hearts they worshiped according to the
dictates of conscience. While it is true in many cases, to
avoid the cruelties of unjust intolerance, they denied their
faith, sanctioned the oppression, and even assisted in the
establishment of an opposition, yet at the same time they
prayed in their hearts for forgiv^eness in thus practicing false-
hood and deceit. And to-day, as we see the Irish people of
the whole world, we find that where they have recovered from
the cruelties of tyranny, where they have had opportunities

Irish Persecution. 311

of developmeinit, the same wonderful expansion of intellect
has taken place that characterized the ancient Dniids. While
for centuries this intelligence lay dormant in the prison of
debasement, yet as soon as the cloud of oppression has passed,
we see the germ of past brilliancy spring to the surface, dis-
playing, in all its splendor, the strength of character main-
tairned in all the fields of life. It is a proverbial saying that
quick inspirations of thought and action to-day are more spon-
taneous among the Irish than any other race. In them in-
tellectuality lies latent, because of centuries of forced silence
and forced persecution, but when once given the stimulus of
schooling, the inherent principles of these slumbering Druids
come to the surface and speak volumes for the real worth
wITich lies at the base of the Irish nation.

In the conversion of Ireland to Christianity St. Patrick met
with serious difficulties in explaining to the people the error
of their worship, and in directing them into the light of the
true faith. With unremitting zeal he traversed the country
from one end to the other, establishing monasteries and in-
augurating monastic life, and providing for the education of
an able and efficient clergy. In the furtherance of this cause
he won the confidence and assistance of the noblest families,
and through his system of education was enabled to meet the
Druids on an equal basis in the exposition of his doctrine of
divine worship. His converts were made neither by force nor
persecution, but by the promotion of knowledge, of argument,
and illustrations. As the Druidical religion lacked charity
and love, St. Patrick taught the wisdom of God through these
cardinal virtues.

P THE*

312 Christian Persecutions.

St. Patrick lived to a great age, and although he encoun-
lered many hardships, yet he never allowed himself the pleas-
ure of visiting his native country. He liad chosen this mission
because of his great desire to disclose the truths of God to
these people, and he remained faithful to his religious duty
until the end. He saw their aptness to comprehend the power
of Christianity, and their ability to spread the ligtht to other
lands. In this he was not disappointed. His institutions of
learning became the promoters of religious science, which was
to bless and enlighten many nations who were at that time in
the darkness of paganism.

As a tribute to St. Patrick we find the following historic
record:

"Muchtertach, the chief king, who reigned from 513 to
533, openly professed Christianity, and multitudes of men of
all classes and of every age forsook the world to follow Christ.
The face of the whole island was changed. A nation which
but a few short years before had been shrouded in the darkness
of paganism was suddenly illuminated by the pure rays of
divine truth. Erin became the island of saints, the home and
refuge of learning and of holiness, and the nursery from
whence missionaries went forth to carry the light of faith to
the nations of the European continent. Her children pre-
served the faith of Christ as pure and entire as it came from
the lips of her apostle; heresy and schism were unknown to
them, and loyalty to the successor of St. Peter was one of
their most distinctive characteristics."

Such historic facts must stir the pride of every true Cath-
olic, for nowhere in the history of Christianity has the faith

Irish Persecution. 313

spread with such perfect peace and understanding as in Ire-
land. There were no discussions, no persecution, no blood-
shed. The pure spirit of St. Patrick seemed to inspire all, from
hamlet to city, and from palace to cottage, until the gospel
had spread from one end of th^ island to the other. It was
the grandest conversion in all Christendom. It was the con-
version of a whole nation, which to this day has maintained
an abiding faith in the Church of Rome.

Well may the Irish race venerate St. Patrick, for of all
Saints wlio have labored in the cause of Christianity none can
excel his record in the conversion of a whole nation, and in
the establishment of a system of learning by which agency
tlie benign influence of the gospel was spread to other coun-
tries. While St. Patrick did not accomplish this wonderful
achievement single-handed, yet he laid the foundation upon
which, in later years, was built the grand structure of Chris-
tianity, and into which was gathered the harvest of converted
souls.

As it is not our purpose to give the political history of
Ireland, we will only sketch some of the principal events while
hurrying forward to the time of the religious persecutions of
Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth, James I, the fanatic
Cromwell, and those of recent origin.

About the beginning of the ninth century the Northmen,
or Norsemen, who were the inhabitants of Denmark, Norway,
and Sweden, for the first time in history made their appear-
ance along the coasts of the British Isles, Germany, and Gaul.
They came in the character of Danish pirates, and every sum-
mer these dreaded sea-rovers made swift descent upon the

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314 Christian Persecutions.

exposed shores of these countries and plundered the people,
burned the hamlets, and where resistance was offered, the in-
habitants were murdered; after which pillaging they would
return to their own lands to spend the winter and return again
the next season. Becoming emboldened by their successes,
these corsairs established settlements alotig the shores and
took possession of strips of territory. These invasions were
also directed against Ireland with considerable energy, but
from a religious standpoint they were not particularly severe,
their object being merely conquest for pillage and plunder.

The Norman conquest of England, while it changed the
line of English sovereigns, did not materially change the
government of Ireland. The true Christian religion was main-
tained in its original purity without deviation. Iw some par-
ticulars certain observances were not in exact harmony with
the established practice of Rome, but having been instructed
under, or through, the influence of their beloved St. Patrick,
no inducement could be brought to bear to permit or to effect
a change.

Tlie history of Ireland furnishes us a list of one hundred
and seventy-eight kings who ruled over her, and of this num-
ber seventy-one were killed in battle and sixty were murdered.
This gives us some idea of the contention which has ever been
a handicap to the progress and enterprise of this nation. After
Henry II had ascended the throne of England in 1154, he
engaged in a war of conquest of Ireland, and divided the
lands, in vast tracts, principally among his favorites. The
chiefs recognizing these gifts, but still holding possession sim-
ilar to the system of landlord estates which have so seriously
crippled this country.

Irish Persecution. 315

It was not until the reign of Henry VIII, that the regular
religious persecution began. Under this monarch the Irish
people were persecuted much as were the Catholics in Eng-
land, although not with the same individual supervision. The
Irish Parliament was selected from those who recognized the
authority of Henry, and in the selection of officers Catholics
were denied appointment, unless they would renounce their
religion and swear allegiance to the king and the Church of
England. After the death of Henry VIII, Edward VI sought
to continue the same form of intolerance as was practiced by
his father, but on the introduction of the English Reform
Worship the Irish steadfastly refused to recognize it as a
religion, and when compelled to take part in the services they
did so from motives of policy and not from the promptings
of an honest conscience. The religion was ever hateful to
them, and in its observance the act was but the act of a
machine moved by the force of power to obedience, and when
performed, was looked upon merely as a species of labor that
must be repeated only when there was a demand from the
master. The Irish were condemned to obey a hateful religious
worship so long that they educated themselves to a practice
of policy to cover their real feelings, thus protecting them-
selves from the violence of oppression.

Under Queen Mary the Irish heart bounded with freedom
and joy, because she released the people from the religious
oppression of Henry and Edward. Tliey could now enjoy the
full faith of their ancestors. Protestantism became nearly ex-
tinct in Ireland, for all those who had worn the cloak of policy
immediately embraced the opportunity to publicly praise God

316 Christian Persecutions.

from the bottom of their hearts. But this happy condition
was ended by the death of Mary and the crowning of Ehza-
beth as Queen of England. With EHzabeth it was a precon-
ceived plan to undo all that Mary bad done, and to renew
the persecution. A systematic series of atrocious oppressions
was now inaugurated. The failure of Henry and Edward to
produce religious reform, and the quick response to the ap-
peals of Mary, embittered Elizabeth against the Irish, and she
determined to Protestantize the whole island. Insurrections
frequently followed Elizabeth's commands, as the people
would not obey them, but they were finally subdued and the
religion of England was declared to be the only faith that
could exist. The clergy and people were punished for heresy.
Their refusal to submit to this wicked persecution caused
them to be placed on the rack, to be condemned to the scaf-
fold, their property confiscated, and their civil qualifications
denied. But with all the determination manifested by Elizabeth
to root out the Irish love for the Church of Rome, yet at her
death, history informs us, "not even sixty of the natives had
become Protestants.'' Her efforts in this direction only tended
to more strongly cement their faith in the teachings of St.
Patrick, which had now become so interwoven into their very
constitution that it could never be expelled. Among those
wtho suffered martyrdom were these three important per-
sonages in Ireland's religious history: Dermot O'Hurley,
Archbishop of Cashel; Patrick O'Healy, Bishop of Mayo, and
Richard Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh.

But hard as was the condition of the Irish people under
Elizabeth, vet harder still were the decrees of James I, who,

Irish Persecution. 317

when he ascended the throne, ordered the Cathohc priests to
leave the country under pain of death. In his amnesty act
he granted pardon and benefits to all except "Papists and as-
sassins/' and the Catholic religious service was forbidden even
in private. In the act of pardon, issued by the king. Catholics
were regarded as no better than assassins. To more fully
accompHsh his purpose. Catholic property was confiscated and
the individuals colonized, and the direst threats issued to com-
pel obedience. With all these efforts, however, their religion
could not be suppressed.

Under the reign of Charles I these unrighteous persecu-
tions still continued until the people arose as- one man for
"God, king, and fatherland." Charles had failed to keep his
pledge, and now, driven to desperation by continued persecu-
tion, they rose in defense of their rights.

Early in the year 1G42 the national convention at Kilkenny
declared war for the protection of the Irish reHgion, for t!he
independence of the Irish Parliament, and for the upholding
of the king's pledge to comfer the fifty-one graces that were
granted in 1028 and suppressed by the Earl of Stafford, Vice-
roy of Ireland. In this conflict the Irish were apparently suc-
cessful, and the king was about to grant concessions v^hen
the English and Scotch Parliaments denied making peace
with Catholics, except upcm positive submission. The king
soon became unpopular throughout England, civil war en-
sued, and he became a prisoner in the hands of the English
and Scotch rebels.

In order to follow the fortunes of Ireland with a small
degree of historic knowledge, we must notice the condition of

318 Christian Persecutions.

the English governniient under Charles I. Charles ascended
the throne with the declared thought that kings rule by divine
right. He was forced, however, to sign a "Petition of Rights"
granting a species of constitutional protection to the people.
Parliament to him was only an instrument of use, and when
not necessary in his personal service, may be suppressed.
From 1629 to IGIO, eleven years, he ruled without convening
this branch of government, thus changing it to an absolute
monarchy. To sustain himself in his tyranny and usurpation
of public rights, he surrounded himself with servile followers
a'nd unscrupulous agents who devised means which apparently
sustained him in his self-ordained authority. He was again
declared the supreme head of the English Church, with abso-
lute power to dictate the appointments of those who directed
the affairs of religion. To give his civil proceedings the
semblance of lawfulness, he established certain courts, invest-
ing them with seeming authority, and demanded the executioin
of his edicts. These courts were known as the "Council of the
North," the "Star Chamber," and the "High Commission
Court." As all these courts were the instruments of the king's
pleasure, and as they sat without jury, it is easily seen why
the courts of the land sanctioned his high treasoin towards
the rights of the people.

Tlie Council of the North was a tribunal established by
Henry VHI, for the enforcement of the king's despotism in
the turbulent northern counties of England. The Star Cham-
ber Court dealt chiefly with criminal cases against the govern-
ment, such as riots, libels, and conspiracy. Being a secret
court, individuals could be tried on the smallest pretext as

Irish Persecution. 319

conspirators, or libelers of the government, or king, and con-
demned. The High Commission Court dealt with the enforce-
ment of the acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, and was the
source of extreme persecution of Cathohcs. This court was
estabhshed by Ehzabeth during her malignant persecution,
and was composed of forty-four commissioners, who, as those
in all other courts, were tools of the king in enforcing and
sustaining his power. The arbitrary and despotic character of
the government of Charles in the enforcement of civil and
religious laws, and the helpless condition in which the people
were placed by the subserviency of the courts to his will,
caused thousands to seek America for that freedom and secur-
ity which was denied them at home.

England was ready to rise in rebellion, when the Presby-
terians of Scotland, who were being forced to use the English
liturgy, resisted and openly revolted. This resistance spread
to all classes. Tlie nobles, the peasants, and nearly all the
people of Scotland made a solemn covenant to resist to the
very last every attempt to make innovations in their religion.
By this act they became known as Covenanters. Tliis oc-
curred in 1638. The king, seeing the danger of a universal
rebellion, sought to subdue these riotous Scotchmen by force,
but his oppression load gone so far that tliey crossed the bor-
der and demanded a recognition of rights. In this emergency
the king convened Parliament, which immediately took steps
to correct some of the abuses. Stafford and Laud, the most
prominent instruments of the king's tyranny, were executed;
and the three iniquitous -courts abolished, and some resem-
blance of justice was being meted out when Charles sought

320 Christian Persecutions.

to seize five of the most prominent members of the House of
Commons on a charge of treason, the object being to intimi-
date the House and force it to recognize his absolute author-
ity. But this was the one fatal step of the king. All London
arose in defense of the rights of Parliament. Charles fled, and
civil war was soon raging. The country was now divided into
two great contending forces — those who rallied to the stand-
ard of the king, and those who sought for freedom from op-
pression. For six years England now suffered the terrible
experiences of fraternal strife. As space will' not permit us to
describe this conflict, we will simply mention that it is at this
time that the world first hears of Oliver Cromwell, his suc-
cesses in battle, his defeat of the king's armies, the execution
of Charles, and the establishment of the Commonwealth of
England.

Early in the campaigns of this rebellion, Oliver Cromwell
became known as a zealous, or fanatic, Presbyterian, and in
his regiment, the "Ironsides," every man was an ardent de-
fender of his Puritanic faith. The ability of this man to organ-
ize and to administer discipline was so great that he soon
rose to be the commanding officer of the rebellion. His army
of 20,000 enthusiastic Puritans was a marvel of power and
obedience. In the battle of Naseby, Cromwell defeated the
Royalists with great loss, and the cause of the king was irre-
trievably lost. Charles escaped into Scotland, but was sur-
rendered to Parliament. We now find Cromwell transformed
from the dictator of battles to the dictator of laws. Parliament
desired to restore Charles to the throne, but Cromwell decided
otherwise. He ordered an officer by the name of Pride to be

Irish Persecution. 321

stationed at the door of the hall, to arrest every member
obnoxious to the army and thus prevent an act of restoration.
In the execution of this high-handed usurpation of authority,
one hundred and forty members were arrested, leaving only
those who were Independents (Presbyterians) to sustain this
act of military despotism. This act of Cromwell's is known
in history as "Pride's Purge." The Commons being "purged,"
they set about an immediate trial of Charles for treason. A
High Court of Justice, consisting of one hundred and fifty
members, was organized and Charles was condemned to be
executed "as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and enemy of his
country."

A few weeks after the execution of Charles the House of
Commons voted to abolish the monarcliy and the House of
Lords, and to establish a republic under the name of "The
Commonwealth." In this new government the executive
authority consisted of a Coimcil of State, composed of forty-
one members, with Cromwell as the real directing influence.

The Connnonwcalth thus instituted by the endiusiasm of
religious and political power, was being surrounded with new
dangers. Europe was alarmed at the execution of Charles,
and Russia, France, and Holland refused to recognize its
power. The Scots were now repenting for having surrendered
their native sovereign, and to remove this stain of disloyalty,
publicly proclaimed his son their king with the title of Charles
the Second. Tlie Irish also declared for the Prince, while the
Dutch were preparing to render assistance. In England the
Royalists were conspiring to unite all the forces and crush the
new Republic.

322 Christian Persecutions.

In the war with the Irish Cromwell was made Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, and to explain and describe this awful
butchery we will record from a page of history:

"With his Ironsides he made quick and terrible work of
the conquest of the island. Having taken by storm the town
of Drogheda, he massacred the entire garrison, consisting of
three thousand men. About a thousand who had sought asy-
lum in a church Were butchered there without mercy. The
capture of other towns was accompanied by massacres little
less terrible. The conqueror's march through the island was
the devastating march of an Attila or a Zenghis Khan.''

The following is his own account of the manner in which
he dealt with the captured garrisoos:

"When they submitted, their officers were knocked on the
head, and every tenth man of the soldiers killed, and the rest
shipped to Barbadoes (to be sold into slavery)."

This butchery was the most heartless, inhuman, and un-
christian in the whole annals of wars and persecution. A
strong, invincible force was marching against the weak, and
when the weaker surrendered none of the honors of warfare
were granted, but instead the mad rage of infuriated demons
was given full sway. In Cromwell's heartless disposition of
prisoners the spirit of ancient savagery is strikingly exempli-
fied, yet, forsooth, history informs us that his army of 20,000
men were "all honest, fervent. God-fearing, psalm-singing
Puritans. When not fighting, they studied the Bible, prayed
and sang hymns. Since Godfrey led his crusaders to the Holy
Sepulcher, the world had not beheld another such an army
of religious enthusiasts. From Cromwell down to the lowest

Irish Persecution. 323

soldier of the 'New Model' every man felt called of the Lord
to strike down all forms of tyranny in Church and State."

In 1653 Cromwell was made "Lord Protector of the Com-
monwealth," and although he liad previously assumed abso-
lute control, yet not until now had it been conferred upon him
by legal authority. His administration was despotic and ty-
rannical. Royalists and Roman Catholics were treated with
rigor and shamefully persecuted. The press was placed under
his absolute censorship, and nothing was published unless it
met his approval. He kept a strong army in Scotland, while
the Irish Royalists were repressed with remorseless severity.
Thousands were massacred and tens of thousands were trans-
ported to the West Indies, to be sold as slaves.

By this almost ceaseless work of wickedness, however,
Cromwell undermined his constitution, and on September 3d,
1G58, he died, leaving his son Richard to be his successor.
Richard was weak and exactly the opposite of his father, and
after ruling a few months resigned the Protectorate. In the
restoration of the monarchy, Charles II was called from Hol-
land to resume the afifairs of government as left by his father,
Charles I.

CHAPTER XXV.

IRISH PERSECUTION— Continued.
CROMWELL IN IRELAND.

T^HE history of Oliver Cromwell is one of the most in-
■* human and bloodthirsty in the records of the Protestant
Reformatioii. Few men, in the history of the world, have a
record so tyrannically black; yet by some this man is lauded,
and the tributes of a hero, a man of true character, and a man
of Christian virtues bestowed upon him. To read his life,
serves to inspire pity for the historian who attempts to justify
his acts under the plea of war, insurrection, or the establish-
ment of a religious creed. His wihole military life was filled
with the ambition to stand at the head of the English govern^
ment, and to dictate its laws and the enforcement of them.
To create popularity, fear, or notoriety, he sought those fields
best adapted to promote them. In religion, he raised the
banner of Puritanism, and assembled an army of fanatics,
which was ever ready to wage war against those who would
not accept his belief. Plis was a crusade against religion,
against the Church of Rome, and against the Catholics of
Ireland. Ostensibly, it is true, his conquests were for the
avowed purpose of subjugating a rebellious province, but his
persecutions were waged for the purpose of reaping glory and
furthering his own ambitions.

Had Cromwell been raised outside of the influences of

324

Irish Persecution. 325

Christianity, had he been a barbarian or a sea-roving pirate
on a mission of plunder, pillage, and ruin, there might have
been some excuses for the awful murders which he committed
in the name of law and religion. He conquered Ireland, not
to subdue an insurrection, but to supplant the lawful sovereign,
to destroy the Catholic Church, and, to establish the Puritan
doctrine, which he championed as the only true light for the
W'Orship of men. When we consider that this apostle of per-
secution was denominated a devout and God-fearing man,
that he organized an army of praying Puritans, that he went
to battle with the sword in one hand and the Bible in the
other, that he praised God for the favors of liberty, of enlight-
enment, arid of being the instrument under God for advancing
Christianity, we are astounded to find that with all these
attributes of apparent manhood the history of his Christian
forbearance shows him to have been devoid of the first senti-
ment of humanity, of compassion, or of divine virtue. For
him to be tolerated as a Christian, is an insult to Christ and
his martyred crucifixion; it is an insult even to the principle
of Reformation; an insult to fanaticism, and the worst forms
of a crazed religious persecution. If it had been fanaticism,
we might have ascribed his atrocities to a deluded motive, a
disordered brain, or a condition beyond the control of reason,
but when we find him boasting of his cruelties, his slaughters,
and his murders, we must honor the fanatic for his motive,
and canaiot designate Cromwell more fittingly than as being
a Christian-demon, a man-devil, a soul filled with hatred, with
hypocrisy, and with blasphemy of God.

By act of Parliament, Cromwell was appointed to the office

326 Christian Persecutions.

of Lord-Lientenant of Ireland, and with affected surprise at
such a nomination, and after much apparent hesitation, ac-
cepted the command; in reaHty, however, it was his ambition
to continue his career as a blazing wonder, a great chieftain,
and a leader of the empire. Secretly there was a higher mo-
tive than conquest, or subjugation. He must first surround
himself with victory over all opposition to Church and royalty.
He must crush Ireland, because Ireland was Catholic. He
must make his name illustrious by sword and persecution, by
fear, by iriitoleration, and by what he called the awful retribu-
tion of God. Then, when he had reached the apex of dele-
gated power, he would seize the reins of government and
become the Dictator of England — the goal of his ambition.

Immediately on entering Ireland, August 15, 1G49, he
commenced the subjugation of the country. Previous to his
arrival his forces had defeated Ormond near Dublin, with a
loss of all his baggage, tents, and supplies. Cromwell's forces
also captured two thousand five hundred prisoners, and killed
four thousand royal troops. This defeat had much to do with
the personal success of Cromwell, who, on his arrival, attacked
Drogheda with a terrible assault, and put to the sword every
form of opposition. "Priests, monks, citizens, and soldiers"
were massacred in a fanatical and frenzied rage. This reign
of terror lasted two days, and all those who escaped the first
day were hunted out and butchered the second, and history
informs us, "one person alone escaping, to carry the mourn-
ful tidings to Ormond."

The fate of Drogheda was the fate of every city and tOAvn
that did not surrender at the first summons of the Puritan

Irish Persecution. 327

tyrant, who, to cover his bloodthirsty tyranny, praised God for
his successes, and with the Bible in one hand, wrote with the
other an order to let no Catholic escape. His chief motive
was to strike terror into the minds of the inhabitants and the
garrisons. At Wexford the garrison made a slight resistance
and then surrendered, but this resistance, though small, cost
them their lives. On the least pretext, especially when there
was opposition, he would give an order to nuirder innocent
men, women, and children, and spare none; in fact, to anni-
hilate everything.

To fittingly illustrate Cromwell's infamy and his outrage of
every Christian virtue, we cannot do better than give his own
staitement when questioned as to the disposition of his pris-
oners: "When they submitted, their ofificcrs were knocked on
the head, and every tenth man of the soldiers killed, and the
rest shipped to Barbadoes."

We find that in this manner twenty thousand were sent to
the West Indies and sold as slaves, and many thousands more,
chiefly women, were sent to the American colonies.

To describe the real condition of the Catholics in Ireland
after their subjugation, we will quote from Alzf>g, the great
German Church Historian, page 253, vol. iii:

"Those who were not sent abroad were shut up in the
western province of Connaught. Preparatioms for the settle-
ment of Connaught by the Catholics were completed by the
year 1G53, and, by an act of the English Parliament, all who
were found after the date of May 1, 1G54, on the eastern side
of the Shannon, were liable to the penalty of death. British
settlements, extending to the distance of several miles, were

328 Christian Persecutions.

planted along the seacoast and the western bank of the Shan-
non, and composed of men long trained to military service.
Judging by human standards, the Catholic religion was as
good as extinct in Ireland. This barbarous proscription was
applied to all the land-owmers of the island who could not
prove that during the whole time of the civil war they had
shown a 'constant good affection to the cause of the parlia-
ment.' It must also be borne in mind that Connaught had
been made desolate by the civil wars, and that those of the
nobility who could trace their ancestry back to the dim mists
where history begins, and who had been accustomed to move
about in noble palaces and enjoy all the luxuries of life, could
not find a dwelling place fit for a human being to abide in.
Famine supervened to add to the misery of war and persecu-
tion, and historian's, Protestant and Catholic alike, agree in
stating that no pen can adequately portray the hardships and
sufferings which this poor but gallant people underwent for
religion's sake. Of a hierarchy of twenty-six prelates, three
only were permitted to remain; and of the priests, those who
were not martyred were condemned to go into exile, only
twenty-eight days being given them to quit the kingdom.''

Thus Cromwell, the zealous follower of John Calvin, and
the most wonderful figure in the history of England, came
like a storm cloud upon the field ol revolution, won his vic-
tories through the force of a perfect discipline ; "purged" the
House ol Commons of all offensive members; overthrew the
monarchy; abolished the House of Lords; establisihed The
Commonwealth; and in the furtherance of his despotic power,
accepted from the hands of his own servants the Protectorship

Irish Persecution. 329

of his own Commonwealth. Besides this, he blackened his
name by his butcheries of Irish subjects, and ruled his sub-
jects, in constant fear and consternation, with savage despot-
ism. His was a career of mad fanaticism. He knew no tolera-
tion, no justice to opposition, and no mercy to those who did
not follow his Puritanic faith. His soul was filled, not with
charity and forgiveness, but with malice, hatred, and persecu-
tion. He pretended to be a Christian, and prayed God to
direct his footsteps. In his insane vengeance, however, he
murdered with a remorseless conscience, and his record of
barbarous cruelties, his persecutions and maseacres, his con-
fiscation of property and ruin of cities, proves him one of the
greatest tyrants the world ever saw, and well worthy of this
epitaph :

Here lies Oliver Cromwell, the cruel tyrant, the pitiless
murderer, the zealous Christian Reformer, and the man
"called of the Lord" to destroy heresy, to destroy the Catholic
Church, to destroy unchristian influence, and in its place to
establish the true Puritan worship, and to force Christianity
in his own narrow limits of persecution, bloodshed, and rurn.
He came as one of the greatest soldiers of England, over-
threw all forms of government, but in the height of his
achievements died a traitor to justice, a despot to freedom,
and a dishonor to Christianity.

WILLIAM OF ORANGE.

By the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II the
Catholics were relieved of the terrible persecution under
Cromwell. The regicides retained the lands they had stolen,

(22)

330 Christian Persecutions.

but the Catholic owners were reimbursed with a very small
proportion of their just dues. Charles was willing to grant
concessions, but he was opposed by the Protestant party and
denounced for the thought of toleration. A short interval of
peace was established under Lord Berkeley, and on the acces-
sion of James II to the throne, in 1GS5, the Catholics of Ireland
were granted full freedom of worship, and a perfect equality
under the law in all their civil and political rights and
privileges.

James II publicly declared himself a Catholic. He set
about restoring- the Catholic worship in all its past fervor.
These acts produced the most violent protestations from the
Protestant party. They declared they would submit to no
change, and denounced James as a despotic tyrant. Before
he had been king three months the Duke of Monmouth, an
illegitimate son of Charles II, who had been in exile in the
Netherlands, now came forth at the head of a small army, and
with the promise of thousands who would flock to his stand-
ard, invaded England, but was defeased by the royal troops.
All who were connected with this rebellion were sentenced to
death on the charge of treason. The number condemned to
death was 320 persons, and those who were exiled numbered
841. The court over which Chief Justice Jeffries presided was
called the "Bloody Assizes." Without doubt the trial of these
rebels was a mockery upon justice, but when we consider that
James II was lau^ully enthroned, and that the revolt was
premeditatedly engaged in for a usurpation of power, we can-
not conscientiously agree with certain Protestant historians
that it was a persecution against Protestants, but rather it
was a meting out of punighment for committing treason.

Irish Persecution. 331

It was James' right, as sovereign king of England, to pro-
claim himself a Catholic, if he chose to do so, and to seek to
restore the Catholic faith, just the same as previous Protestant
kings had overthrown the Catholic and established the Prot-
estant reHgion. For over one hundred and fifty years it had
been a see-saw conflict between Catholics and Protestants in
the religious government of England. Each party, on its
accession to power, immediately sought to establish their form
of worship, and to compel its observance by force of law.
With James the Catholic end of the plank was now up, and as
had been previously done, he followed the course of the
victors.

The Protestant party was now looking for an opportunity
to overthrow James, and secretly conferred with the Prince
of Orange, son-in-law of James, the chief magistrate of the
United Provinces of Holland, and one of the most powerful
Protestant Reformers of Europe, urging him to come to the
rescue of Protestantism in England. As his wife, Mary, was a
legal heir to the throne, they should come with force, and,
inaugurating a new rebellion at home, overthrow James and
restore the Protestant faith. The bait was accepted, and a
Dutch fleet set sail for England, where he successfully organ-
ized a revolt so great that the king and queen fled to France,
leaving the Prince of Orange in full possession of the govern-
ment.

The first act of the Prince of Orange was to call a con-
vention for the purpose of establishing the permanent settle-
ment of the crown. This Convention conferred the royal
authority upon William and Mary as joint sovereigns. The

332 Christian Persecutions.

Convention also established certain Declarations of Rights
by which the liberties of the people should be g-naraiitccd, and
Parliament should become the governing power. With a
pledged acknowledgment of these rights, William and Mary
were crowned King and Queen of England.

In the establishment of the Declaration of Rights, or as
framed into law, the Bill of Rights forever settled the question
in England of the sovereign rights of kings. It "transferred
sovereignty from the king to the House of Commons," and
the power of kings should be to execute the laws of Parlia-
ment, and not to create them. But let us examine the new-
Bill of Rights, which was to grant liberties to the people. It
declared that all persons holding communion with the Church
of Rome should be "forever incapable to possess, inherit, or
enjoy the crown and government of the realm.'' This decla!ra-
tion has not been annulled, and remains in force to the present
day. But what of the justice of a law which grants boasted
liberties and aimis to more firmly cement union, which forever
bars one class because of its religion? Is it not persecution
most unchristianlike?

James now crossed over to Ireland and placed himself at
tlie head of the Irish people, who had remained loyal to him.
The Prince of Orange became enraged at this treasonable
conduct (it was treason now on the other side), and went to
give him battle. William was successful in his invasion of
Ireland, and in the decisive battle of Boyne he gained a com-
plete victory over James and his allied forces. But woe to
the day when the Irish people enraged the great Christian
apostle, William of Orange. Cromwell did all he could to

Irish Persecution. 333

humiliate, debase, and to completely subjugate these people.
He sought to destroy their religion by force and through
persecution; to intimidate, punish, disgrace, and even exact
the penalty of death in order to destroy their faith in the
Church of Rome. But of no avail. Like the ancient Chris-
tians of Rome, they meekly submitted to the awful cruelties
of Cromwell's oppression and despotic tyranny. Though he
persecuted the flesh with all the rigor of law, and assailed the
heart, the mind, the reason, yet he could not obliterate from
the conscience of the true Catholic of Ireland that simple and
ever-enduring faith which he held for Christ in the adopted
worship of their reHgion.

No people, since the idolatrous times of Pagan persecu-
tion, were more fiercely followed by the demon of oppression
than were the Irish under Cromwell, yet the history of William
of Orange abounds with deeds more foul if possible than were
ever committed by previous tyrants. Through force he had
usurped the throne of England, and through force he would
reduce Ireland from the enjoyment of the religion of James II
to the worse than religious slavery of Cromwell. He inaugu-
rated a new form of persecution, which may be understood in
some small degree when we recite some of the means he used
to extort a confession of faith for the Protestant party. Will-
iam promised freedom of conscience and worship, but at the
same time so surrounded these privileges as to humiliate the
conscience in its unseen persecution. While there was an
apparent outward appearance of toleration, yet the restrictions
were so inhuman in the declaration of justice as to rob the
Catholic worship of half its pleasure, its beauties of concep-

334 Christian Persecutions.

tion, and its power to carry to the heart the subHme teachings
of Jhe Great Master.

To follow the persecutions of William, and Queen Anne,
who came after him, would require a volume of description.
We will, therefore, give only the particulars and allow the
reader to draw his own conclusions.

To reduce to slavery and poverty, their property was con-
fiscated and given to those who sought favors at the hands
of the sovereigns. These estates became the property of
Protestant landlords, and although the laws were supposed to
protect even the lowest individuals in their individual rights,
yet these poor Irish peasants, robbed of their inheritance,
were now subjected to insults, abuse, indecency, and all the
petty annoyances which overbearing lords could inflict. They
had no regard for condition or feeHngs, and while laws were
made to protect them from this barbarous and inhuman treat-
ment, yet they were never enforced and there was no redress.
The courts were a mockery and controlled by the nobility,
and justice was as fleeting as were the mythical gods of old.
If an Irish peasant attempted to bring a charge of abuse he
was turned aside in the great court ol justice and made to feel
his humbleness, his degradation, and his slavery.

To crush the spirit of faith the Catholic bishops were ban-
ished from the island, and the priests who were allowed to
remain were required to take an oath of abjuration against the
Stuarts, have their names recorded, and furnish two securities
of £50 each as a guarantee of loyalty. They were prohibited
from performing church duties in any other parish, nor could
they leave the country. They were prisoners under a money

Irish Persecution. 335

forfeit. No divine service could be held outside the church
under pain of banishment, and in church services there could
be no ecclesiastical raiment, no use of bells, no cross to desig-
nate a place of worship, no images or crucifixes, no emblems
of veneration, and those who sought holy pilgrimages wc^e
punished with the lash. Officers could question Catholics as
to where they attended Mass, who had said it, and who else
was present. If these questions did not satisfy the officer he
could impose a penalty — a fine of £20.

The education of their children was difficult, as the estab-
lishment of private schools was prohibited. Catholic teachers
were banished, and their return subjected them to the penalty
of death. To secure the banishment of all these teachers, the
government paid £5 per head to transport them to the West
Indies. Catholics were even denied the right to educate their
children on the continent, and if there was a suspicion that ^
child was not at home a magistrate could demand that it be
brought forward, under a severe penalty for disobe'dience. To
send a child to the continent to be brought up in the Catholic
faith meant the disqualification from civil rights, while parents
were positively forbidden to teach their children the faith of
their religion, yet the government established Protestant
schools for proselyting them, and compelled their attendance.
In order to completely fill the measure of persecution, all
Catholic orphans were given in charge of Protestant guardians.

But although persecution is bad enough, what can be said
of rewarding apostasy? Priests were ofifered £20, then £30,
and then i40 annuities to renounce their churciies and preach
the Protestant faith. If the eldest son of a Catholic turned

336 Christian Persecutions.

Protestant, he became possessed of the whole property of the
parents. Should others accept the Reform worship, the Chan-
cellor of Ireland would determine his inheritance. A woman
who would denounce the Church might separate herself from
her husband, and for a priest to marrj^ a Catholic and a
Protestant was to incur the penalty of death. To further
crush the Church of Rome, Catholics were excluded from all
the offices of State, the army, the navy, were not permitted
to serve as magistrates or hold any office or emolument what-
soever, and in 1703 they were excluded from both Houses of
Parliament. They were also forbidden to purchase landed
property, and leases were of short duration. In the exaction
of leases the tenant was obliged to give two-thirds. A Cath-
olic could not become a lawyer, or juryman, and in carrying
on a trade they were subjected to inconveniences and restric-
tions.

The Protestant clergy took possession of the rich Catholic
benefices, and in one hundred and ninety-eight instances next
a single Protestant dwelt in the parish, and yet the Catholics
were o^^erburdened with taxation for the support of the
bishops, pastors, and the Anglican Church. To help support
a religious organization in which they had no interest, was a
double persecution. Many pastors had no congregation, but
used the money wrung from their parishioners to travel and
live sumptuously, while the Catholic priests had to depend
wholly upon the free contributions from a poor and oppressed
following to keep them from hunger and starvation.

These are only a few of the many cruel indignities heaped
upon the despoiled and oppressed people of Ireland, and all

Irish Persecution, 337

because of their loyalty to the Cathohc faith. In the entire
history of civihzed nations no such monstrous tyranny was
ever practiced upon an innocent people. It was not the
carrying into elifect of law and order, but fanatical persecu-
tion and intolerance, born of hatred to Catholicism, with a
determination to overthrow the Pope of Rome.

English statesmen have gradually come to see how fruit-
less have been the attempts to subdue the Catholic faith
among these people by arbitrary laws. Justice, however, to
Irish Catholics has been slow and long drawn. The cruel
intoleration has gradually been mitigated, nevertheless, until
at last many important measures bearing upon the freedom
of worship and the rights of citizens have been enacted.

But in all these periods of persecution the faith which had
been tailght by St. Patrick remained firm and unshaken, and
in the whole religious world no people have a record of such
unfaltering devotion to divine worship as have the people
of Ireland.

CHAPTER XXVI.

ORIGIN OF THE GREEK CHURCH.

npHE origin of this Church, where estabhshed, and its man-
■*■ nor of worship, is not generally understood. Originally
it was a part of the Catholic Church, and, in fact, the most
earnest in the advancement of science and learning, and in
the spread of Christianity, but in the early days of its existence
it became estranged because of its inability to force a recogni-
tion of certain forms of faith which were opposed by the
Church of Rome. Being at the time the most influential, and,
in fact, the most powcriul branch of Christianity, the Church
dignitaries believed they had the right to dictate what should
and what should not be the proper form of worship. These
disputed forms of worship or veneration, related more partic-
ularly to the use of images, pictures and relics representing
Christ, the Virgin Mary and die Saints. This branch of the
Catholic Church had conceived the idea that the use of these
representatives of divine personality was of an idolatrous na-
ture, a return to pagan principles, and must be suppressed.
They had become imbued with the thouglit that images were
Pagan idols; that. they represented Pagan idolatry, instead of
a veneration for the author of Divine light and intelligence.
They demanded of the Church of Rome the abolition of all
their church emblems, of faith and of worship. They also
demanded that Constantinople, now the head of the empire,
should also be the head of the Church. The East had been

Origin of the Greek Church. 339

the great source of light in the advancement of the cause of
Christianity and by right of this God-given advantage it should
also be the head of all religious inspiration.

To explain the condition of the empire, we must go back
to the days of Constantine the Great, who, in the year 300,
became the sole ruler of the Roman world. (In a preceding
chapter we give the history of Constantine, and his conversion
to the Christian faith.) After Constantine became converted
to Christianity, his most important act was to remove the
capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium, which,, in later
years, was called Constantinoplo, in honor of his name, Con-
stantine. The objects of removal were twofold: Constantine
was ungratefully received and treated by the people of Rome,
because of his conversion to Christianity. They were loud in
their disapproval of his abandonment of the worship of their
old and established mythical deities. They declared his re-
ligion the outcome of heresy, a declaration of dishonor, ancl
an impious desecration of their gods. So loud were their
complaints that Constantine decided to move his throne to
Byzantium, and thus punish the Romans for their intolerance.
Another reason was one of general commercial interest.
Through the Eastern conquests the most valuable portions of
the Roman Empire lay more to the East than to the West.
It became the center of population, wealth, brilliancy and
power. Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor had been the source of
ancient civilization from which Rome was proud to trace her
origin. West of Rome were the rude and barbarous prov-
inces of Gaul, Britain and Spain. It is, therefore, not strange
that Constantine should seek to place the capital of his empire
nearer the center of population, wealth and culture.

340 Christian Persecutions.

And again, it is not strange that the Eastern emperors
should seek to draw the center of Christianity towards them-
selves with the idea that, thus separated, a coldness would arise
between the real Church and the ambition of the Eastern di-
vision. Having, in a measure, alienated themselves from
Rome they, in after years, and centuries, became emboldened
by the advancement of the philosophy of the reformers and
demanded changes in their forms of worship.

The Greek emperors were proud and ambitious. They ig-
nored the authority of the Pope, and to more firmly place their
power upon the Church, they would assemble bishops to de-
cide doctrinal matters, and whoever should differ from them
in opinion would be banished from the empire, accused of in-
fidelity, held up in disgrace, and, if defiant in regard to sus-
taining the true faith, would be tortured, or put to death. The
whole Eastern division of Christianity now became a source of
persecution to the Roman Church.

About 730 there arose a new emperor — Leo, the Isaurian —
who placed himself at the head of a new heresy of his own in-
vention, and sought to force the Church, her bishops and the
Pope to recognize his new lines of worship. He accused the
Church with unfaithfulness to God and to Christ. He de-
nounced the bishops and Pope with the practice of idolatrous
worship, because they honored the images of Christ and the
Saints. Gregory HI solemnly denied that the Church had
ever practiced, or sanctioned idolatry, and explained that the
reverence paid their images was not bestowed upon those in-
animate forms, but to the Saintly Beings which they repre-
sented. Gregory also explained that all pictures, images, rel-

Origin of the Greek Church. 341

ics and crosses were but symbols of veneration, and not of
worship, and as the eyes of CathoHcs rested upon them, their
thoughts and their souls went out to commune with Christ and
his divine inspirations. Unlike the worship of the ignorant
pagan these images of reverence onl-y served to cause us to
think, to speak and to worship the true and living God. As
the picture, or emblem of Christ sought to impress the mind
with holy wisdom, so, too, did tJhc cross seek to lead the way
to faith and immortality.

And yet this earnest protestation of Gregory only served
to enrage the emperor Leo, and in revenge for his audacity
in questioning his self-appointed power, he issued an edict de-
claring that all pictures of saints, images of Christ, statues and
crucifixes should be torn from Churches and private houses
and destroyed. In obedience to this command, this unholy
order, churches were desecrated and all the emblems of faith
were publicly burned. Even the valuable libraries of the
Church were destroyed and the great crucifix erected to com-
memorate a brilliant victory, was hewn to pieces and cast into
the fire. Walls that were decorated with the paintings of his-
toric figures were ruthlessly demolished, and even the teachers
of science were called upon to denounce this Christian wor-
ship, or become the victims of rage and persecution.

From 741 to 775 this reign of cruelty was increased a
thousandfold. The new emperor, son of Leo, continued to
persecute the faithful Christians who held to the veneration of
these emblems of Christ and his worship. In their martyrdom
they suffered the terrible pain of having their eyes put out,
their faces disfigured, their bodies mutilated, and their flesh

342 Christian Persecutions.

scourged with the most fiendish and atrocious cruelties.
Thousands were cast into prison, where, in want and pitiful
neglect, they died victims to the baseness of tyrannical power.
But these persecutions did not appease his wrath. With the
full force of a most damnable vengeance, he smote the monks
as being the boldest defenders of them all. No insult, no
torture that could be invented was spared in this hellish work.
In his mad rage he commanded that they be burned, as Nero
burned the Christians at Rome. Their beards were filled with
pitch and set on fire, their clothes were saturated with oil, their
naked bodies were rolled in the glowing embers of a prepared
fire, the flesh was seared with red-hot irons, and in wanton
abandon, bent upon destruction, he burned convents, tore
down churches, destroyed holy vessels, broke the wooden
figures and crosses over the heads of his victims, and in the
heat of liis unanswerable butchery he dug up the bodies of the
Saints and burned them with fire.

That this monstrous desecration of human rights, and the
blasphemous insults to Christ and to the Church might have
the seal of authority stamped upon it, he called a council, com-
posed of three hundred and thirty-eight Eastern bishops, wlio,
in their servile, fawning, cringing obedience, sanctioned his
villainy, and in confirmation of the law against image venera-
tion, declared: "That as God had formally sent His apostles
to annihilate idolatry. He had now raised up the Greek em-
perors and filled them with His, wisdom, that by their means
we might be instructed, and the devil's invention (the honor-
ing of images) rooted out."

Reader, can you believe that such an awful, blasphemous,

Origin of the Greek Church. 343

and unholy condition could have existed in the confines of
Christendom? Does it seem possible that in the cruelty of am-
bition, or despotism, or under the cover of religious zeal, that
such intoleration could have become the authorized law of an
empire? And is it any wonder that, with this most inhuman
persecution, there must come a time when true Christians
would no longer stand the oppression, and in defense of their
very existence, throw these murderers and defamers beyond
the realm of the Roman Church? But with humble charity and
forgiveness, let us try to remember that these monstrous em-
perors were not Christians, but heretics, sent by the devil to
create dissensions, foment quarrels, and to divide the King-
dom of Christ. Let us try to believe that this coming dis-
imion, instigated by the Church of the East, hastened its com-
ing decay and its confiscation of territory by the onward
march of the hordes of Mahometan followers; that it lost its
wonderful wisdom, its wealth, its society, and its grandeur of
power, by this infidelity to the cause of Christ, and its perse-
cution of the Church of Rome.

If there was ever a judgment sent by God to avenge his
people, this judgment was sent to strike the greatness of this
Eastern empire. From these persecutions began the dry rot
of dissolution. The Church of Rome sought to re-establish
the past union, to hold out the olive-branch of peace and char-
ity, and to check the downward tendency of a degenerate wor-
ship. But it was of no avail. The Greek emper6rs were
proud, haughty, and fiercely opposed to the authority of the
Pope of Rome.

After the death of Leo and his son, Leo IV, a better feel-

344 Christian Persecutions.

ing prevailed, persecution having been abolished by the Em-
press Irene. In 787 Pope Adrian I called a council at Nicea,
to determine the will of the Church in the honoring of images
in the house of God. In this council three hundred and sev-
enty-seven bishops were present, and after a due consideration
of the teachings of Holy Scripture, those assembled fathers de-
clared as follows :

"That, besides representations of the Holy Cross, holy
images are fitly to be placed in churches, on sacred vessels, on
vestments, walls and tablets, in houses and by the wayside —
such images, to wit, as those of our Lord, of the Immaculate
Mother of God, of the holy Angels, and of the saints. The
more men contemplate such images, the more will they be
put in mind of the originals, and stirred up to imitate their
examples, and to ofTer them their salutations and homage,
though not that worship, properly so called, which belongs
to God alone. It is lawful that images as well as the Holy
Cross, the book of the Gospels, and other holy things, should
be honored with incense and lights, according to the ancient
pious usage; for honor paid to an image passes on to its orig-
inal, and who&o venerates the image venerates him whom it
represents."

The Catholics were overjoyed at this restoration of peace.
Soon, however, they were filled with consternation at a new
outbreak of persecution.

In 814 Leo, the Armenian, was loud in his denunciation,
and heaped the most disgraceful indignities upon Catholic
subjects that could be devised. Coming from tihe ranks of the
soldier, this emperor was rough and almost uncivilized, des-

Origin of the Greek Church. 345

potic in the exercise of power and full of the feelings of au-
thority and the enforcement of laws of fanatic inspiration.

Following this Armenian emperor, came Michael Palseolo-
gus, and his son, Theophilus, who were both brutal and in-
human.

It was not until 842 that toleration was again declared,
when the Empress Theodora was placed in control of the gov-
ernment. A .synod was called in Constantinople in commem-
oration of the restoration of the images, a special feast was in-
stituted, and great joy again prevailed; and yet, notwithstand-
ing the persecution of one part of tlie empire by the other,
there had been no general breach between the Eastern and
Western Churches, but this almost unbearable condition could
not exist much longer, as the Church of Rome had gone be-
yond the extreme limit of toleration. To break with the East-
ern Church was a great cross, and the Pope hesitated long be-
fore executing the decree that would excommunicate this
rich and powerful division of the Catholic Church. But still
the storm of conflict rolled louder and louder, with no prom-
ises of a better and more perfect understanding.

In 857, Barolas, uncle of the emperor, and who wielded al-
most absolute power, caused to be banished from his see the
aged and rightful patriarch of Constantinople, Ignatius, and
in his place substituted the learned, but wicked Photius. This
new authority commanded the bishops to conform to his de-
cree, and those failing to comply were deposed, imprisoned, or
exiled. Photius tried by every means possible to force Igna-
tius to abdicate. He was ill-treated, persecuted, and cast into
prison. When, however, the great Pope Nicholas I learned

(23)

346 Christian Persecutions.

the true facts concerning his imprisonment, and the efforts
made to have him deposed, he summoned, at Rome, in SG4, a
synod for the discussion of and action upon these conditions.
This council deposed Photius and all the bishops he had con-
secrated. This usurper immediately threw off his garb of
concealment, and in summoning the bishops of his own party,
declared the Roman Churdi was advocating heresy, and in his
inconsiderate rage proclaimed the Holy Father anathematized.
Thus matters went on until the year 8G9, when the Eighth
CEcumcnical Council met at Constantinople and excommuni-
cated Photius and re-established Ignatius.

A new feature of dissension soon originated over the prov-
ince of Bulgaria and threatened a new conflict. Ignatius had
declared the Bulgarian Church under his dominion, while the
emperor of Constantinople demanded that he should resign
his pretensions. Pope John VIII sought to induce Ignatius
to resign his jurisdiction and prevent the coming conflict.
Before any definite action had been taken Ignatius died, but in
the meantime the hypocritical Photius had sought by all
means possible to gain the favor of the court and the clergy.
He obtained control of authority, called a new synod, and, by
a misrepresentation, succeeded in instituting changes in the
religion, and condemnation of the Eighth CEcumenical Coun-
cil. Pope John VIII, having ascertained these high-handed
falsifications and condemnations, immediately excommuni-
cated Photius, and all the legates were banished to a monas-
tery.

No great dissensions hereafter occurred between the Apos-
tolic See and the Greek Church until 1043, when the Greek

- Origin of the Greek Church. 347

Church, under the haughty and ignorant Michael Cerularius,
reproached the Western division of the Church for the crime
of using unleavened bread at the Lord's Supper. He also re-
proached the Latins for fasting on Saturdays, for the drinking
of blood, and the eating of things strangled, and the omission
of the Alleluia (Praise ye Jehovah) during the Lenten feast.
Efforts were made to prevent an open rupture, but Cerularius
positively refused to receive the legates sent by the Pope, and
broke off all communication with them. He even forbade
them to say Mass.

"On the IGth of July, 1054, the legates appeared at the
Church of St. Sophia, at the beginning of divine service, and
declared solemnly that all their endeavors to re-establish peace
and union had been defeated by Cerularius. They then laid
the bull of excommunication on the high altar and left the
church, shaking, as they did so, the dust from off their feet,
and exclaiming in the deepest grief, 'God sees it; He will
judge.' Thus was the unhappy schism between the East and
West accomplished."

"In following tbe liistory of the schismatic Greek Church
up to the present time, it must be admitted in its praise that
the Mahometan powers have never succeeded in accomplish-
ing its complete destruction. Numbers of its members have
withstood the temptation of avoiding great hardships by em-
bracing Islamism and b<ive remained true to the Christian
faith. But like a branch torn from its parent stem, it is void of
life-giving sap, and incapable of bearing further fruit. In it
we cannot see even a trace of that ardent zeal for the spread of
God's kingdom, of that ever fresh faith and life of willing de-

348 Christian Persecutions.

votion, which in the Roman Cathohc Church is ever giving
proof of the abiding operation of the Holy Ghost. Where, in
the Eastern Church, do we find those zealous missioners, those
men mighty in word and deed, of whom so many have arisen
in the West, such, for instance, as St. Bernard, St. Dominic,
St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius Loyola, and St. Francis
Xavier? Where are her legions of martyrs? Where do we
find in her a Thomas Aquinas, a Charles Barromeo, a Vincent
de Paul? Theologians, sainted bishops and heroes of charity
such as these the schismatic Church has none to show. A
cold, deaith-like stupor everywhere prevails in her. Since her
divorce from Rome, the despotic will of the Byzantine emper-
ors has paralyzed her energies, and from a free spouse of
Christ, she has become the handmaiden, or rather the helpless
slave of the state. Pier servitude beneath the Turkish rule is
yet more degrading. The condition of the patriarchate of
Cons'tantinople has been rightly described as the lowest and
most miserable to which an old and honored see could have
fallen. And far from possessing within itself any renovating
power, it has but extended its own corruption to the whole
hierarchy. Simony and bribery prevail everywhere to a
dreadful degree, both among the higher and lower clergy, to-
gether with all manner of practices for extorting gifts and im-
posts. The man who can pay most for the office is chosen
by the Sultan to be patriarch, and arbitrarily deposed by him
should another come forward with a higher offer. A patri-
arch, therefore, seldom dies in the enjoyment of his dignities.
Having bought them with hard-won money, he proceeds to
reimburse himself by the sale of bishoprics and archbishoprics.

Origin of the Gtreek Church. 349

and the purchasers of these retahate in their own extortions on
the lower clergy and the people. The ignorance of the priests
is in general such that the greater number cannot write, and
some cannot even read, and with such marks the climax of
degradation. The supreme decision in ecclesiastical questions
very often emanates from the Turkish Government, as was
expressly certified by the patriarch Anthimos to the Holy
Father, Pius IX. In this question there arose a dispute re-
garding the admixture of water with the sacramental wine,
and the matter was laid before the Turkish Reis-effendi, who
pronounced that 'wine was an unclean drink, and condemnetl
by the Koran, and therefore pure water should be used.' "

No better is the condition of the schismatic C^reek Church
of Russia. It had been founded before^ the schism of Ceru-
larius, and was included in the separation from Rome by rea-
son of its dependence on the patriarchate of Constantinople.
A decree in the year 1551 shows into what a state of decay it
had then fallen. A council was held at Moscow by Macarius,
an excellent patriarch, for the re-establishment of Church dis-
cipline, which had fallen into lamentable confusion; and at
this council it was unanimously decreed that "of all heresies
condemned by the Church, none is so culpable as that of shav-
ing the beard, so much so, that martyrdom itself would not be
sufficient to cleanse from such a crime," and that "whosoever
shaves his beard from human respect is a transgressor of the
law and an enemy of God, who created us after His image and
likeness."

Sufficient has been said to show the degeneracy of the
Eastern Church since it broke its faith with Rome. On the

350 Christian Persecutions.

one side we see the triumph of Christianity and the advance-
ment of civiHzation in all its surroundings, while on the other
side we see decay, a lost magnificence, a corrupt administra-
tion of church ofifices, and an intolerance borne of ignorance
and superstition. From these evidences of poverty and pros-
perity, who can say that the great and powerful Greek Church
of centuries ago has not merited a just punishment in its over-
bearing persecutions of the Churdi of Rome? Some of us
may not believe in the Divine punishment of rebellion, but if
not, then we must admit that in the persecution of right, the
reaction of wrong hurls itself against its own bosom, stifles the
principle of justice, and in the overthrow of honesty it goes
down in degradation and ruin.

It matters not whether we believe in a direct punishment
by God, or whether, through the destiny of his law, these ob-
jects are attained. It becomes a fixed attribute of nature that
he who sins must suffer the penalty of disobedience. God, in
His infinite wisdom, made man to follow the pathway of truth,
righteousness, and discipline. If from the proudness of spirit
he selects his own path, and denies the elements necessary
for his own elevation, he brings upon himself his own punish-
ment and his own defeat. As this is true of man, state or na-
tion, so is it true of the Church of Christ. Disobey the laws of
God, and.it sinks into disunion, corruption and ignorance, but
to obey Divine authority is to follow the elements of love and
of truth, to build upon the true foundation of happiness, and
to seek the immortality of eternal life. There can be but one
true path to the object sought. If we follow the will-o'-the-

Origin of the Greek Church. 351

wisp of our imaginations we shall soon flounder in the mad
chase of an unholy phantom. ,

So was it with the Eastern emperors of the Roman empire.
They saw their strength in the success which attended their
conflicts of conquest, in the expansion of wealth, in the brill-
iancy of society, and above all, in the wonderful advancement
of Christianity. The Church of the East becatne proud,
haughty and arrogant. It sought to dictate, to demand, and
to persecute. It established its own worship and its own prin-
ciples of faith. Of its own volition, it severed its relations
with the Church of Rome; and this disobedience, we see,
marked the gradual downfall of the Eastern Church, and the
cause of Christianity. And so it will remain until it is awak-
ened from its sleep of ignorance and has purged itself of its
vices and its follies; then will it again rise in the splendor of its
past, spreading the luster of true repentance, true Christianity,
and true immortality.

The Church of Russia dates from 992, when Prince Vladi-
mir and his people accepted Qiristianity. In form it is largely
Catholic. It retained many of the Catholic forms of worship,
but rejected the Pope. Its government is by patriarchs, which
arc subdivided into divisions similar to the subdivisions of the
Apostolic See of Rome. It has no exact form of worship, but
differs according to the Liturgy where used. The first Article
of Faith reads as follows:

Christianity is a Divine revelation communicated to man-
kind through Christ. Its saving truths are to be learned from
the Bible and tradition, the former having been written, and
the latter maintained uncorrupted through the influence of the

352 Christian Persecutions.

Holy Spirit. The interpretation of die Bible belongs to the
Church, which is taught by the Holy Spirit, but every believer
may read the Scriptures.

The last Article reads:

The Church of Christ is the fellowship of all those who ac-
cept and profess all the Articles of Faith transmitted by the
Apostles and approved by the General Synod. Without this
visible Church there is no salvation. It is under the abiding
influence of the Holy Ghost, and therefore cannot err in mat-
ters of faith. Specially appointed persons are necessary in the
service of the Church, and they form a threefold order, dis-
tinct jure divino from other Christians, of Bishops, Priests and
Deacons. The four Patriarchs, of equal dignity, have the
highest ranks among the Bishops, and the Bishops, united in
a General Council, represent the Church and infallibly decide,
under tlie guidance of the Holy Ghost, all matters of faith and
ecclesiastical life. All ministers of Christ must be called and
appointed to their office, and are consecrated by the Sacra-
ment of Orders. Bishops must be unmarried, and priests and
deacons must not contract a second marriage. To all priests
in common belongs, besides the preaching of the Word, the
administration of the six sacrarnents^Baptism, Confirmation,
Penance, Eucharist, Matrimony, Unction of the sick. The
Bishops, alone, can issue the Sacrament of Orders.

Ecclesiastical ceremonies are part of the divine service;
most of them have apostolic origin; and those connected with
the sacrament must not be omitted by the priests under pain
of mortal sin.

The estimated number belonging to the Orthodox Greek

Origin of the Greek Church. 353

Church, as taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, are

known and classified as follows:

Turkey 10,000,000

Roumania 4,529,000

Servia 1,345,000

Montenegro 130,000

Greece 1,310,000

Austria 3,000,000

Russia 58,000,000

78,314,000
To these may be added :

Russian Dissenters 1,051,000

Armenians 3,000,000

Nestorians 360,000

Syrian Jacobites 90,000

Cops 121,000

Abyssinians 1,200,000

5,822,000
United Greeks of Austria and Poland. . . 4,670,000

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE BIBLE.

IT is a prevalent belief among Protestants that Catholics
are opposed to the Bible, that they do not teach it, and
that the priests do not allow their members to read it. In
this the Protestants are greatly mistaken. Not only do Cath-
olics teach it and read it, but it is sacred and holy to them.
While many Protestants speak jestingly of the Bible, and
even attempt to belittle its divine history, the Catholics are
taught to revere its pages as those of divine inspiration
speaking to the conscience of men.

But some one asks, Why are there two Bibles — the Prot-
estant and Catholic? And which contains the true exposition
of the Word of God? If this questioner will refer to history,
he can easily satisfy himself. Turn to the history of the
Reformation, and you will find that until this particular time
there was no such thing as a Protestant Bible, not even a
Protestant manuscript of the Scriptures. There was no
legend, and there were no records of any kind whatever that
were Protestant. In fact, the Protestant Bible and all Protest
Records in the Protestant Church begin with the Reformation,
which became an organized force about 1520. Previous tt)
that time Christianity was under one head, one Church, and
that was the Catholic Church. Therefore the Bible, and all
the Holy Inspirations emanating from God, could not have
been otherwise than Catholic. Had Protestantism existed

354

The Bible. 355

from the days of Clirist, or the early days of Christianity, they
might lay some claim to a different line of Scripture, but
when we know it to be a positive fact that all Christianity,
and all divine teaching's, and all recorded history of God, of
Christ, and his Holy Apostles, were under the sole care and
protection of the Catholic Qiurch for the first fifteen hundred
years of its existence, then it becomes a self-evident truth
that when Protestantism was instituted their Bible could be
none other than a Catholic Bible, or a translation of it. As
there was — nor could there be — no other source from whence
a Protestant Bible could be obtained, it follows as a logical
conclusion that its origin must be Catholic, and consequently
could not be superior in its divine teachings.

And now it is our province to even go further — not that
we would prejudice any one against the Protestant Bible —
and assert the fact that, if there is a difference between these
Uvo books, we must turn our testimony in favor of the one
that had been established, that had been in existence since the
first century of Christianity, and which had borne the terrible
persecution of Roman despotism. No unprejudiced mind can
say that a copy is more perfect than the original, and when we
attempt to translate from one language to another, and then
condense as may seem best to the translator, we must ac
kno^vledge that such translation cannot be perfect or infallible.

But such is the condition of the Protestant Bible of to-day,
and while we were brought up under its teachings and listened
to the exposition of its divine truth, and while to us it is the
Bible of our faith, yet when we search into the realm of his
toric facts we are convinced that our Bible is a translation

356 Christian Persecutions.

from the original, and that original waS the Catholic Bible.
But, after all, it should not matter to us how we obtained this
Bible, only that we have the proof that from the Christian
Era to this time it was preserved pure in its original instruc-
tion. No other or better evidence in support of this assertion
need be adduced than the evidence of the constant martyrdom
of Christian Catholics who, with unswerving faith, have
guarded it with their lives.

Once a statement of this nature would have startled me,
but why deny what is true? If it is true that there was no
Protestant Bible until the Reformation, and that previous to
that time all Christianity was Catholic, and that every form of
recorded Scripture, whether written in Latin, Greek, Hebrew,
or any tongue whatever, was the work of Catholics, then we
cannot deny that for these fifteen hundred years before the
Reformation there could be only this one source from which
all bibles have their origin. It is, therefore, useless for any
rehgious denomination to place its hand upon the Bible of
that denomination and say that this book is a perfect divine
interpretation of God's word, and that all other bibles, and
especially the Catholic, are not perfect. Such assertions might
be accepted by the congregation, but they could not be sub-
stantiated by the facts of history.

But again, you say Catholics are opposed to the Bible,
that they are not allowed to read it or listen to its reading by
others, nor to allow its teachings in the public schools. Now,
some of these statements may be true, but the first assertion
is an absolute falsehood. It has no possible foundation, and
there is no possible excuse for making it. If there is any

The Bible. ' 357

one thing in the CathoHc faith that is venerated more than
anything else, it is the Bible. This book is treasured closest to
a Catholic's heart. He believes it to be the Word of God,
and past history is full of examples of martyrdom where,
rather than surrender the Bible to its enemies, Catholics
would sufifer the horrors of untold torments, cruelties, per-
secutions and death. As proof of their fidelity, we find that
even to this day Catholics venerate those noble martyrs who
suffered death for refusing to surrender their sacred treasures
to their enemies. Among the devout Christians who gave
their lives in defense of God's Holy Word, we find St. Felix
and St. Euplius, The Church commemorates the 24th of
October for St. Felix and the 12th of August for St. Euplius.

The martyrdom of St. Felix, we find, came about in this
way: The Roman emperor went to him and demanded his
copy of the sacred Scriptures; St. Felix positively refused to
comply, and when he was informed that they must be burned,
he replied: "It were better that you burn me than that you
burn the Divine Scriptures, for God must be obeyed rather
than man.'' St. Felix was given three days in which to relent,
but still remaining firm he was loaded with chains and thrown
into prison. Again and again was he taken from prison and
tortured, but would ever respond: "I have the Holy Scrip-
tures in my possession, but I will not give them up." He was
finally condemned to die by the sword, and as he bowed his
head for the fatal blow he thanked God that he had preserved
the Gospel.

St. Euplius was persecuted with even greater ferocity to
compel him to surrender his Bible. He was cruelly tortured,

358 Christian Persecutions.

but throughout his terrible agonies he thanked the Lord for
strength to resist the demands of his persecutors, and when
he finally failed through the extremity of pain, his lips still
moved in an attempt to offer the same praise. Failing to force
him to surrender the precious volume by these cruelties, St.
Euplius was condemned to death and executed.

We could enumerate a whole line of martyrs from the
days of Nero to the close of the Religious Wars in 1648.
During these sixteen hundred years the whole Catholic faith
was based upon the Holy Scriptures, and its persecution was
owing to its fidelity to Christianity, its resistance to oppres-
sion, and its constancy to the Word of God. As Christianity
was the result of divine instruction, so, too, was the Bible the
written Word of God, which, through all these centuries of
torture and persecution, was maintained in all its purity and
transmitted from one period to another.

The w'onderful work of the monks who, by the bigot, are
considered a useless appendage to the cause of Christianity,
here becomes apparent. While we may be digressing some-
wbat from the subject, yet it is Init simple justice to mention
the real connection that exists between the Church and those
zealous Christians. The monk was a priest who consecrated
himself wholly to the work of the Church. His life was a
constant study, and until the discovery of the art ol printing
in the fifteenth century, all the literature, all forms of educa-
tion, every rule of worship, and every copy of the Bible had
to be transcribed, anid in this work the faithful monks were
constantly employed. In these days of rapid printing we fail
lo realize the difiference which exists between then and now.

The Bible. 359

We do not realize wliat the slow, tedious process of the pen
means in the transcription of one Bible alone. Witli us it is
not a question of time, but numbers. Every individual can
have a Bible, while in the past it was the work of years to
copy a full volume of the Scriptures, and yet these monks
spent their lives in preparing copies of the Bible for the
benefit of mankind; therefore it would be more to our honor
if we praised those faithful workers for their life's sacrifice,
rather than cast calumnies upon the institution that gave
them birth. Who of us, in all the congregations of the Prot-
estant churches, would to-day sever his connection with the
world and devote his life to the transcription of the Scrip-
tures that others might learn from these sacred teachings?
If God should say to us, as He did to Abraham before the
destruction of Sodom, if you can find fifty righteous people
I will not destroy it. If you can find forty-five righteous
people! Aye, if it be forty, or thirty, or even five, who will
give up the pleasures of the world and work, as these monks
did, for the spreading of the blessed light of truth, I will yet
have compassion. Where would you find even these five who
would sacrifice their lives? But those men loved to do this
work for Christianity, this labor which to us would be tire-
some and unremunerative. They were happy in the thought
of doing something for the salvation of man, and in the con-
version of nations to Christianity. Then let us honor them
for their piety, their tireless labors, their Christian zeal, and
not cast on them the slurs of intoleration and unjust criticism.
Thus we find that Catholic lives are full to overflowing
with love and aflfection for the Word of God, the Holy Scrip-

360 Christian Persecutions.

tures, the Bible, and through all these years of persecution
they have defended it with their utmost vigor, with their
power of understanding, and with their lives, and- now to say
that they are opposed to the Bible is an insult to the millions
of Christians who have died for it. Nothing can be said that
is more unjust, more inconsistent, or more dishonest in senti-
ment, than that Catholics are opposed to the Bible. It is
true that they may be opposed to the Protestant Bible, and
for reasons previously explained, but on the other side, are
you not opposed to the Catholic Bible without any reason?
I ask you in all candor, are they not right and you wrong?
Is not the Catholic Bible the original source of all divine
Scriptures? And is not the Protestant Bible copied from it?
My friends, there can be but one answer, and that is, no
matter what you have between the covers of your Bible, it
must either be a copy, or the translator has rendered it into
anotlicr language according to his understanding of the orig-
inal. While we know that King James I, in 1G07, ordered a
new translation of the Bible, we must admit that it was done
more because of his hate of everything Catholic, than from a
desire to have a correct version of it. King James was a
strong Protestant, and in the establishment of the Church of
England, the Cai^holic form of worship was overthrown and
consequently the Catholic Bible also had to be cast aside.
Previous to this Henry VIII had ordered his servile follower,
Bishop Cranmer, to prepare a Bible for the new Church.
This version was known as Cranmer's Bible, and was the first
Bible printed by authority in England, and publicly used in
the Churches.

The Bible. 361

The real history of this Bible, however, is to the effect
that it was the translation of William Tyndall, was revised by
Miles Coverdale, and then given to Cranmer for examination
and approval, who added a preface to it, whence it was called
"Cranmer's Bible." It was dedicated to Henry VTII, and by
his authority became the Scriptures of the English Church.
But imder King James I a new version was ordered, and fifty-
four learned men employed to prosecute the work x)i revising
it. From death, or other causes, however, seven failed to
enter upon their task, but the remaining forty-^seven were
occupied for nearly four years in the work. They were
divided into six divisions, and different portions of the Bible
were assigned to each division. After this translation, or
revision, the other Bibles fell into disuse, and this revision
became the recognized Bible of the Protestant Churches, and
is to-day the Bible of Protestant Christianity.

Now, according to the history of Bibles, the history of the
Reformation, and the history of religion, would it not be quite
inconsistent for Catholics to recognize the Protestant Biblt
as the most complete, perfect, and directly authorized exposi-
tion of the Word of God? As the Protestant Bible came into
existence during the period of Reformation, during the Church
revolt of Germany, Switzerland, Holland, England, and other
countries, it dates its origin from these days of persecution and
intoleration. Historians inform us that while Martin Luther
was under a grave sentence, and in hiding from an execution
of law, he translated the Bible into the German language.
Granting that he wag the father of the German Bible, the
question arises, from what source did he obtain his trans-

(24.)

362 Christian Persecutions.

lation? Martin Luther had been a devout Catholic; he was
educated for the priesthood, entered a monastery, became a
renowned monk, was called to Rome, became a teacher o\
theology at the University of Wittenberg, wrote his ninety-
five theses in opposition to the Church of Rome, and finally,
m open revolt, publicly burned the Papal Bull that was issued
against him, and thus forever severed his allegiance to the
Catholic Church. Now, in the face of this record of Martin
Luther, where could he have obtained the information which
enabled him to make this translation, except from his own
Catholic Latin Bible? The history of his life while a Catholic
tells us of his Latin scholarship, his devotion to his Bible,
and his ability to teach the Word of God. Not for a moment
would I seek to insinuate that Martin Luther did not use
his best powers and his best judgment in the translation, for
he loved his Bible and its divine teachings; but I Vv^ould say,
and that without fear of the possibility of contradiction, that
the Bible he treasured so highly, the one he loved so well, was
none other than the Catholic Bible, which embodied and al-
ways had embodied, the only sacred writings that were pre-
served through these fifteen centuries of Christian conflict.

Now, as we turn to the Church revolt of England, we find
that Henry VIII, the malicious persecuter of the Pope of
Rome, paved the way for the Protestant King James to revise
and retranslate our present Bible. While it contains the Word
of God, yet, judging the work from the standpoint of the
selfishness of human nature, this translation from Catholic
authority, we doubt not, is more in accordance with the spirit
of the Reformation than it is the exact interpretation of Cath-
olic authority.

The Bible. 363

To sanction this version of the translation and its revision,
and to sustain the position held by the Catholics that King
James' Bible is not a perfect translation, we must remember
that during the days of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth,
and James I, nothing would be tolerated that was strictly
Catholic. The acts of these rulers were ever those of the
crudest persecution. Their hatred toward the Pope of Rome
was a bitter hatred, and their opposition was always intoler-
ant and unchristian.

And as we view these conditions, these inharmonious rela-
tions between Protestantism and Catholicism, must it not
be accounted almost a miracle if these translations of King
James should contain such purity of thought and such perfect
conception of the divine truths of God, as the Catholic Bible?

And in closing this Bible controversy, let us assume that
at the time of translation the following conditions existed: that
the fifty-four learned m€n selected were all anxious to come as
near to the right as was possible under the circumstances ; that,
while they were prejudiced against the Church of Rome, they
yet felt that they must accept the Bible of that Church as the
only source of information to make their own translations;
that they realized, while preparing a Protestant Bible, that
they were laboring in the presence of God and were handling
God's divine instructions, and for fear of blaspheming His
Holy Name, they followed the dictates of their conscience, and
instead of producing a distorted version of divine truth they
were impressed with the great importance of their work and
deeply felt their sacred obligations, and made an unprejudiced
translation of the Holy Scriptures, did they not, in truth, but
copy the truths of others?

364 Christian Persecutions.

While, as Protestants, we bless the work of the servants
of King James, we yet must remember that our Protestant
Bible cannot be superior to that of our neighbors, neither have
we any right to censure them for tenaciously holding to their
own, when all evidence shows that theirs is the original, and
has been jealously guarded and defended against all assaults
for nearly nineteen hundred years.

As this applies to the objections of the Catholics to the
Bible in general use, so, too, does it explain their objections
to its use in the public schools. And now, if we should
reverse the question, we would find that if the Catholic Bible
were used in our schools many Protestants would raise the
same objection; therefore, if we condemn their objections we
must, in return, condemn our own, for if we would not use
their Bible we cannot expect them to use ours, though it is
positively proven that they have the original and we a copy.

It is not my purpose, however, to generate prejudice
against the Protestant Bible, but rather to drive out the
absurd notion that we have a monopoly of Sacred Scriptures,
when for over fifteen hundred years it was Catholic property,
and became Protestant only when Martin Luther, John Cal-
vin, Ulric Zwingli, and Henry VIII, rebelled against the
Church of Rome. It is this, and only this, I would raise my
voice against. When you say that Catholics are opposed to
the Bible please explain when, how, and where. They are
entitled to a full exposition of how Bibles emanated, and who
preserved these divine writings through all the trials and
persecutions of Christianity. If they fought for them during
those centuries of idolatrous persecutions, and lay down their

The Bible. 365

lives in holy martyrdom to preserve them, we should at least
honor their faithful dead, honor the self-sacrificing monk who
devoted his life to the spreading of the Gospel of Christ.

Now, as we stand face to face with these historic realities,
let us become more consistent in our claims and denuncia-
tions, more tolerant for the rights of others, and more Chris-
tian in our own existence.

The question often arises among Protestants, Why are
Catholics not urged to read the Bible more, to diligently
search the Scriptures, and not depend upon their priests, or
teachers, for the interpretation of these Divine Truths? Often
Protestant ministers are loud in their denunciation of this
priestly power in teaching their form of worship and the prin-
ciples of faith. Once I listened to an eloquent divine, who
declared that the main objection he had to the Catholic reli-
gion, was that the priests did not allow their congregation to
independently study the Bible, that the priest's interpretation
must be regarded as the true exposition of faith, and no good
Catholic would question it. This divine objected to these
methods as an arbitrary encroachment upon individual rights.
He declared that every individual should read the Bible for
himself, to diligently search for truth, to be independent, to
be a free moral agent, to be his own judge, and not to be
governed by the decisions of others. He very eloquently
described that this was not religion, it was only making a
machine of the poor Catholic, who was made to follow a line
of worship without comprehending either the light of faith
or the blessedness of truth. The priest was the rehgion, and
to obey and read his instructions was to obey God and his
commandments.

366 Christian Persecutions.

Without doubt every Protestant in that church believed
those assertions, and in his mind pitied the poor CathoHc for
his rehgious slavery. As explained it was quite convincing,
but when analyzed according to the facts as they really exist,
we need not spend our time in pitying. If we study this
so-called Catholic slavery, we will find conditions far more
favorable to a true exposition of religion than these represen-
tations indicate. In fact, this minister, in his interpretation of
Catholic teaching, denied to the priest the very same power
he exercised himself. With him it was wrong for the Catholic
Church to say to its members that this is the instruction of
Christ, when he, in the interpretation of his own text, declared
that this is the correct version of the Holy Scriptures. He
did not seem to understand that he was occupying the very
place he condemned. He instructed his congregation that to
understand divine truth we must read it as explained by him,
and not as explained by others. His doctrine was infallible,
and while he urged his members to read the Bible, to study
it morning, noon, ancj eventide, yet they must form no other
conclusion, or interpretation, than his own exposition. It is
but another case of, I am right and you are wrong. According
to his instruction, we are supposed to read and study the
Bible free and independent of any human agency, but in this
study we must not fall into the errors of other denominations.
We must not read it through a Methodist glass, or a Con-
gregationalist, or Universalist, but as he sees it. This is
where every Protestant teacher stands. He would have you
believe that it is your duty to study the Bible, to depend upon
yourself, and from its teachings become a Christian of some

The Bible. 367

particular denomination. Now, this is an impossibility. No
man can study the Bible and discover, of his own knowl-
edge, any particular creed. If he is ever to become a
Baptist, it must be through a Baptist education. If he is to
become a Catholic, it must be through Catholic teaching.
The Word of God in no place specifies a particular creed. It
teaches repentance, love, charity, and salvation. It declares
that Christ was crucified, not for his own benefit, but for the
redemption of man from sin. It authorized the Apostles, the
disciples, and the priests of God, to go forth and teach the
Word of God. The injunction is ever to teach, teach, teach.
Religion involves the education of the soul, and in every form
of education there must be a teacher. The child can never
learn to read without instruction. Without this religious
instruction you will grow to manhood im the darkness of
Deism,' Atheism, and idolatry. Place the Bible in the hands
of a heathen and expect him to teach himself how to follow
in the steps of the true Christian, and you will expect impossi-
bilities. No heathen, no unchristian being, was qver converted
to a faith in Christ without instruction. That instruction may
be obtained through explanation given in religious books,
pamphlets, or other lessons, but almost invariably such con-
version must be by the word of mouth. While the Bible con-
tains the inspired writings of divine instruction, yet the true
interpretation must come from the Church. All churches
provide priests, or ministers, to properly expound their doc-
trine and faith. In no other way can this be accomplished.
Without these instructors the Bible becomes a barren mediutn
of Christian Grace.

368 Christian Persecutions.

Select ten men without any particular religious convic-
tions, and give to each a Bible and tell him to search diligently,
to gain wisdom through his own efforts, and no two will agree
in the exact comprehension of these truths. Now, do not
mistake my meaning. I do not wish to imply that the Bible
is contradictory, but that if this study is left to your own wis-
dom, there will arise a principle of antagonism, the evil ten-
dency of all natures to doubt, deny, seek to evade, and to
trample upon yo.vir own conscience.

The author is personally acquainted with an individual
who for years was an ardent and devout Christian, but by
some means commenced to study the Bible and seek con-
troversy. He soon began to rely upon his own wisdom, and
to-day this man believes in no Infinity, no Bible, no soul, and
no hereafter. His mind is filled with that self-sufficiency which
antagonizes and destroys every Christian thought of God, of
Christ, or His Holy Word, and while, as the world sees him,
he is an honest, upright citizen, yet spiritually he would render
nugatory the ^beautiful thought of immortality, and, like the
plant, he would grow, flourish, blossom, and die, without a
divine origin, a divine purpose, or a divine control.

It is to prevent these occurrences that Catholics are taught
to study and heed the interpretation of the Church, to follow
its wisdom, and to obey its discipline. Protestants say, read
your Bible diligently, study for yourself, obey its teachings,
while Catholics say, study the teachings of those who have
devoted their lives to its service, obey the Church, listen to
the explanation of your teachers, do these things and you
cannot go astray. The Protestant professe.« to believe that he

The Bible. 369

derives his understanding from the Bible, that he is taught
by it, that it points out his creed, that it is his spiritual in-
structor, his adviser, and his source of inspiration. This I
must positively deny. The fact is, he is taught by his Church,
his ministers, by religious books, his parents, or some other
means of instruction. He must be instructed in some way,
otherwise, like the child, he can never comprehend the sublime
truths of God. The Catholic does not profess to possess these
gifts of self-inspiration, the power of individual wisdom, or the
power of the Bible to be self-explanatory regarding the
wisdom of God. While he loves the Bible and venerates it as
the sacred truth of God, yet he does not profess to believe that
it was meant to be a teacher, or that it ever has been a teacher.
He believes that God simply expressed the fact of existence
without the demonstration of why he so organized this exist-
ence. He believes that the world was evangelized by preachers
and not by Scripture-reading, or by each individual reading
the Bible by himself; that no one really learns his religion from
the Bible; that, as a matter of fact, it comes to him through
some form of education; that he goes to the Bible to prove
this education, to prove his belief, and to sustain the truth
that has been revealed unto him. It is this principle of correct
understanding, therefore, that is imposed more firmly on Cath-
olics than on Protestants. While the one is granted free lati-
tude in the acquirement of self-wisdom, the other is based
upon the necessity of a direct course of education. To be a
Catholic, is to believe in the Bible, the Church, and those who
have consecrated their lives to the study of divine truths.
This, in reality, is no more than is required of any member of

370 Christian Persecutions.

a Protestant Church. They must believe in the Bible, the
creed of the Church, and the education of its ministers. Then
why open the door of infidelity by inviting each individual to
read for himself, to interpret for himself, and to educate him-
self? Therefore I will say in defense of the charge made by
Protestants that Catholics do not read the Bible, that it is,
"not that I love Caesar less, but that I love Rome more." Not
that I read the Bible less, but that I listen to its teachings
more.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE TEMPORAL POWERS OF THE POPES.

|\ yi UCH has been said throughout the entire civiHzed world
^ ' * in regard to the Temporal Powers of the Pope, espe-
cially what has been of personal interest to him in the last
fifty years. While the discussion of the Pope's powers in the
past may not be of great interest to the reader, yet that which
affects this generation is of vital importance and worthy of
narration. The rise and fall of the Papal authority covers
a period of more than one thousand one hundred and fifty
years, and would fill a volume. This history, however, will
cover but little more than its beginning and its ending.

At one time the Church of Rome exercised a species of
sovereign authority over nearly all of Europe, parts of Asia,
Africa, and its conquered provinces in all parts of the world.
Up to the time of Martin Luther the religion of all Christen-
dom was of the Catholic faith. This Church, alone, had
fought the pagan world from the days of Nero. Its religion
had subdued the powerful tribes of France and Germany. It
had followed the conquest of England. It had fought, won
and lost in Persia, Egypt, and Turkey. It was prominent
in the Crusades in their long years of contest. It had every-
where sought to spread the gospel of Christ and convert man-
kind to Christianity. It was the instrument of God to turn the
nations of the earth from idolatry to the worship of the living
faith. Men were found, through God's Providence, fitted for

371

372 Christian Persecutions.

the purpose of defending- and extending the Church of the
Apostle Peter,

From that time to this it has been one continual conflict
over idolatry, sophistry and isms. While the temporal power
of the head of the Church has been slowly slipping away,
yet its intelligence has reached deeper and deeper into the
hearts of its people, until now it stands as a mighty tree
spreading its influence over the entire earth.

According to history, we find that the beginning of the
Temporal Power of the Popes dates from the year 754, under
Pope Stephen II. In order to thoroughly understand from
whence this power was obtained, we must go back about two
hundred years and review the history of Italy and its fortunes.

In the year 568 there appeared on the plains of Italy an
army of men called Lombards, from the region of the Upper
Danube. These men were one of the most powerful German
tribes, who will now become known in Italian history. The
name Lombard was given them because of their long beards
and powerful expression of the face. No intelligence had
reached the people of Italy of this invasion until they crossed
the Alps and were in actual possession of territory. After
years of desperate fighting they succeeded in conquering the
Italian Peninsula, excepting some of the large cities and
small portions of territory. They immediately set up a power-
ful empire, which lasted almost exactly two hundred years.
These people were intelligent, industrious, and instituted
many improvements. They built up a system of educa-
tion, devoted themselves to music, the arts, and various
pagan achievements. They occupied that part of Italy called

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 373

Lombardy, and being of light skin and hair, their descendants
are still known by these fair features, which distinguish them
from the inhabitants of Southern Italy.

Let us now drop the two hundred years and return to the
time of Pope Stephen II. The Lombards were becoming
troublesome. They had gone beyond the boundaries of their
provinces and conquest seemed to occupy them more than
their own possessions. The Pope, becoming alarmed lest
their encroachments would reach Rome, besought Pepin, the
king of the Franks, to come to his assistance. The king being
under obligations to the Pope for past favors responded im-
mediately, crossed the Alps with a large army and gave the
Lombards battle. After a series of successful battles the king
succeeded in driving them from their recently acquired ter-
ritory, and in the settlement of peace, took a large part of their
possessions. Not content with his services to the Pope, the
king conceived the idea of donating these captured provinces
to his benefactor, thus showing his twofold gratitude. The
gratitude of the king was on account of the assistance ren-
dered by the Pope in making him king of France.

We have now given a short narrative of the beginning of the
temporal power of the Popes. It was not considered at the
time the gift was made that the Pope should exercise absolute
sovereignty, but it was given rather as a source of revenue to
the Church and to maintain an ally, should future protection
be required. But as time passed ori these transferred lands
were regarded as belonging to the Pope and he the temporal
ruler, with all the rights and privileges of any prince. The
king was to remain as the guardian and protector of this boun-

374 Christian Persecutions.

tiful gift, and in times of danger was to come, as he had done
before, to the rescue. By this gift we now come to understand
how the name, Papal' States, was instituted, and which re-
mained under the temporal power of the Popes up to a recent
date.

In the year 7G8 Pepin died and his kingdom was divided
between his two sons, Carloman and Charles. Within three
years Carloman died and by a free vote of the Franks the en-
tire kingdom was conferred upon Charles, who from this time
on is known in history as "Charles the Great," or better still,
as Charlemagne. It would, indeed, be interesting to follow
this wonderful warrior, statesman and Christian, but space for-
bids more than a few remarks. We find him engaged for
more than thirty years in an endeavor to subdue the pagan
Saxons, one of the German tribes, and establishing Christian-
ity. The Saxons finally yielded to the efiforts of Charlemagne
to overthrow paganism, and in their submission they ardently
embraced Christianity and accepted him as their sovereign.

One of his first undertakings was to conduct a campaign
against the Lombards and wrest from them the entire country,
and with this new acquisition of territory, confirm the donation
of his father, Pepin. The new Pope, Leo III, was thankful
for this kind remembrance, and in the year 800 an event of
apparently small magnitude, but far-reaching in its effect, was
enacted, which in later years developed the great countries of
France, Germany and Italy. At Rome there was a growing
hostility against the Pope, arising from disputes between the
Churches of the East and those of the West. The Eastern
emperors had devised certain changes and reforms in their

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 375

worship, and demanded that the Western, or Roman, Church
should adopt them. This dispute reached Rome, and its in-
habitants were being divided. The Roman bishops were most
determined in their opposition to the Eastern emperors, and
denounced them as heretics and schismatics. This action of
the bishops precipitated trouble, and civil war was about to
burst upon Rome, when the Pope called upon Charlemagne
to aid him in subduing his refractory people and stopping the
contention. The king soon appeared in person with an armed
force and, entering Rome, seized the disturbers of the peace
of the Church and punished them. The Pope was very grate-
ful for the prompt services of the Prankish king and soon after
crowned him emperor of all the Romans, and the rightful and
consecrated successor of Caesar Augustus and Constantine.

To understand the object of the Pope in thus conferring
this great title upon Charlemagne, we must note the causes
and the objects to be attained. We have used the term East-
ern and Western divisions of the Church of Rome. The East-
ern Churches were ruled by the Byzantine rulers, and com-
prised the countries of Russia, Greece, Moldavia and Wal-
lachia, and while they had been established by the same Chris-
tian authority as the Western, yet they were inclined to rebel
as to the matter of the government of their worship and the or-
der of its creed. This was the beginning of the Greek Church,
which, in the ninth century, became independent and so re-
mained under the Byzantine Empire until the capture of Con-
stantinople in 1453. In a preceding chapter we give the
history of the Greek Church, its origin, numbers, how con
ducted and where located.

376 Christian Persecutions.

To continue the causes that led the Pope to bestow the
crown of emperor upon the king of the Franks, we must note
that at this time the Empress Irene, of the Byzantine empire,
committed the terrible crime of deposing her son, Constantine
VI, and putting out his eyes, for the sole purpose of placing
herself upon the throne. The Italians now claimed that the
Eastern throne was vacant, as they contended that no woman
could wear the crown of the Caesars. As the Church was in
rebellion, the Italians demanded that the Pope declare the
throne .vacant and appoint some true Christian to the position,
and thus subdue the feeling of insubordination to the Church
and the Pope of Rome. Accordingly, the Pope looked
around for some strong Western prince who could govern the
whole of the Roman empire, and thus unite the two divisions
of the Church into one harmonious whole. *

Accordingly, as Charlemagne was participating in the re-
ligious festivities on Christmas Day in the Cathedral of St.
Peter at Rome, as he knelt in his devotions and was wholly un-
conscious of this friend's intentions, the Pope approached him
and placed a gold crown upon his head and proclaimed him
Emperor of all the Romans. But no good resulted from this
movement. The Eastern branch of the Church paid no at-
tention to the newly-proclaimed emperor. They continued
their line of administration just as though nothing had hap-
pened in Rome to demand obedience. The Roman empire
and the Church can now be distinctly divided into the two
divisions — the Eastern and Western divisions of the same
empire.

While this new emperor enjoyed the imperial dignity only

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 377

fourteen years, dying in 814, yet he made for himself, his
country and his Church a great name. Being a wise states-
man, he established schools, collected libraries, reformed the
laws, introduced industries, endowed the schools of art, en-
couraged science, and most bountifully provided for the main-
tenance of the Church, its missions and its clergy. Of this
great king it is said: "He laid the foundation of all that is
noble, and beautiful, and useful in the history of the Middle
Ages."

After his death his mighty empire crumbled to pieces and
there followed a troublesome period of wrangling, war and
bloodshed. The empire was divided among his three grand-
children— Charles, Lewis and Lothair. France was given to
Charles, Germany to Lewis, and Italy and the valley of the
Rhone, with a portion of the Rhine, was given to Lothair, who
also Inherited the imperial title.

About the middle of the tenth century we find that Otto the
Great, Emperor of Germany, hke a second Charlemagne, con-
ceived the idea of restoring the whole Christian world to one
grand world-empire. In 962, about one hundred and fifty
years after the coronation, at Rome, of Charlemagne as em-
peror, Otto, by the same Papal authority, and at the same
place, was crowned Emperor of all the Romans. For a gener-
ation this title had not been borne by any one. The newly-
acquired power of Otto was used to advance his ambition.
He would unite the whole Roman empire. He was its head,
its ruler, and now would exercise his authority. This ambi-
tion to exercise control over the temporal affairs of the em-
pire, soon caused a rupture with the powers of Rome. Two

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378 Christian Persecutions.

distinct claims were coming into conflict. The Emperor de-
clared his right to proceed in the management of governm.ent
as best suited his desires, leaving the spiritual teachings to the
Church. ,

Christendom was being divided into two hostile divisions —
the supporters of the imperial authority and the supporters of
the Pope. There were three different theories of the proper
relations of the Pope and Emperor to each other.

The first theory declared that both Pope and Emperor were
divinely commissioned by God to govern the destiny of the
souls and the bodies of men. The first to teach repentance,
immortality of the soul and to govern the worship of faith.
The second to be in actual control of the temporal power of
government, but each to be on the same divine basis, or level,
to work in harmony, maintain order and to advance and pro-
tect the Church.

The second theory placed the Imperial party, its Emperor,
as superior to the Pope. That all powers of government were
vested in the Emperor, independent of the Pope. That the
duty of the Pope was to attend to the affairs of the Church.

The third theory was the opposite of the second. That the
temporal powers of the Emperor must at all times be under
the control of the Pope.

Thus we find that in but little more than two hundred years
from the time the Pope first practically obtained temporal
power, it is being disputed by the growing authority of kings
and princes.

These conflicts are constantly occurring and producing
hostilities, which are often detrimental to the cause of Chris-

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 379

tianity. The most interesting and instructive chapter in
mediaeval history, after the tenth century, is the almost con-
stant struggle between these two contending forces — Pope and
Emperor — for the maintenance of the powers of temporal gov-
ernment.

One of the greatest promoters of the Papal fortunes was
Pope Gregory VII, better known in history as Hildebrand.
This Pope was one of the most noted characters of the Mid-
dle Ages. In 1049 he was called to Rome to become the ad-
viser of the Church and to assist in shaping its duties. Hilde-
brand was called from the cloisters of a French monastery, and
was a man of deep learning, great force of character, and did
much to establish the universal spiritual and temporal sover-
eignty of the Holy See.

In 1073 Hildebrand was elected Pope Gregory VII, and
immediately on 'his accession to power set about establishing
two reforms — the enforcement of celibacy, and the suppression
of simony. The first was to impress upon the clergy that their
constant duty was to the Church, and in the acceptance of this
important position they must sacrifice the attachments of
home, friends and country, and thus devote all their energies
to the advancement of the worship of God and the welfare of
the Church. The second reform refers to the practice of Church
positions being bestowed upon the friends of the princes and
barons. This was conducted much as is the spoils system of
the political parties of to-day. A prince, baron, lord, chief,
or other power, in bestowing rewards, often sold or bestowed
these positions upon those unworthy of them. To the Church
this became an evil, as court favoritism was too often used to

380 Christian Persecutions.

repay a debt of gratitude, or for the pleasure of friendship.
In this way many were selected without regard to their fitness
or ability, and the Church was made to suffer by so doing.
The Pope now saw the great danger, and determined to
remedy the evil by denying the right to bestow such gifts.
The practice had gone so far that princes sought to secure
revenue by actual sale or barter. The name, simony, was ap-
plied to this practice of giving, or selling, an ofifice in the
Church, the ofTense coming from Simon Magus, who offered
Paul money for the gift of working miracles.

Pope Gregory was so determined to destroy this evil that
he issued a decree forbidding this debasement of privilege, and
commanded all ecclesiastics to refuse to do homage to the
temporal lords who violated this decree. In the investiture of
Church authority, Gregory decreed that the individual should
receive the ring and staff, the emblem of his ofQce, from the
hands of the Pope alone, and any one who should dare to dis-
obey this command would be punished with the anathemas of
the Church. The undertaking was one of immense magni-
tude, as the most powerful princes would not surrender their
privileges without a struggle. The boldness displayed in en-
acting this measure, however, was the cause of its great suc-
cess. When it is remembered that, at this time, the Church
owned vast landed interests in Europe, it is easy to see that the
control of the revenues was a great incentive for disobedience
to the demand of the Pope.

The principal means of declaring punishment was by Ex-
communication and Interdict.

The Excommunication was directed against individuals.

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 381

Such persons were cut off from any communication with the
Church, and were denied the association of their friends. Or,
if he were a king, or prince, lord or chief, his subjects were re-
leased from their oath of allegiance. This ban also extended
to anyone providing food, clothing, or shelter. The indi-
vidual was denied association of any kind.

The Interdict was decreed against a city, kingdom or prov-
ince, and wherever this ban was announced all religious cere-
monies must cease. The Churches were declared closed, and
all ceremonies, as of marriage, burial, or otherwise, were de-
nied. Only baptism of children and the rites of extreme unc-
tion could be administered.

Gregory had resolved to meet this just order of reform
with all the force of his Christian character. He looked upon
the offering of Church positions as an article to be bought
and sold with ill-concealed displeasure, and determinedly de-
manded that it should be abolished. The decree created a
perfect hurricane of opposition, not only among the princes
and sovereigns of Europe, but the clergy themselves were
loud in its denunciation. The dispute thus begun distracted
the empires of Europe for centuries, and was not settled until
after the adjustment of the religious peace following the Ref-
ormation.

Some historians claim that the causes which led up to
the Reformation did not emanate from Martin Luther, John
Calvin, Ulric Zwingli, John Huss, or John de WickHffe, but
that the constant jealousies of the royal princes and the
Church of Rome inspired them. That Pope Gregory struck
the keynote of revolt when he sought to elevate the position

382 Christian Persecutions.

of the Church officials by vesting the power of their appoint-
ment in the head of the Church, and not subjecting them to
the temporal power of a sovereign. It was this same class of
opponents that refused to punish Martin Luther for diso-
bedience; that sustained the Huguenots in France; that fed the
spirit of Calvinism; that created revolutions in France, Ger-
many, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands. The
Church revolt of this whole period was caused by the mon-
archs refusing to recognize the rights of discipline, the cor-
rection of evils, and the direct disobedience of the mandates of
the Church.

The most formidable opposition came from Henry IV,
Emperor of Germany, who refused to recognize the decree of
the Pope, and in his desperate madness called a council of the
clergy of Germany, and in retaliation of what he called in-
toleration, he deposed the Pope and then gave official notice
to the world. Henry had not contemplated the result. He
believed he could arouse the whole Christian world against the
decree of Gregory, and that they would follow his persecution,
and that the Pope would be forced to either relent or be re-
moved from the chair. In this he was mistaken. The people
were horrified at Henry's audacity to publicly proclaim the
Pope deposed, and failed to support him in his madness. But
the Pope gathered a council at Rome and, in turn, deposed
the emperor and then excommunicated him. The effect was
most wonderful indeed, Henry was looked upon as a man
accursed by heaven. His subjects began to revolt, and his
authority was disobeyed. His kingdom was going to pieces,
and he was shunned by his subjects as unworthy the con-

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 383

fidence, power or position of sovereign. It was a most terri-
ble ordeal for the emperor. His friends forsook him, his ene-
mies were in revolt, and the Church was closed against him.
In this wretched condition he sought the Pontiff at Canassa,
among the Apennines, but the Pope refused to admit him to
his presence. It was winter, yet the emperor would prove his
penitence and for three days stood in the court-yard of the
palace, barefooted and clothed in sackcloth. On the fourth
day Gregory took compassion on him and admitted him to
his presence, where, kneeling at the feet of the Pope, he sought
forgiveness and pleaded to be reinstated to his favor, and to his
people. Gregory removed the sentence of excommunication
and bade him go home and sin no more. The Pope kindly ad-
monished him for his disobedience, and directed him to unite
his people, and in the future seek to advance Christianity and
not to dethrone it.

We will not narrate the incidents that followed Henry's res-
toration to his people, but having obtained their confidence,
the spirit of revenge for his humiliation was now aroused, and
he raised an army, invaded Italy, and drove Gregory into exile
at Salerno, where, in 1085, he died. His last words were: "I
have loved justice and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in
exile."

The revenge of Henry was but the boomerang of his own
acts. The quarrel did not end here. The successors of
Gregory determined to humble his proud spirit. He was ex-
communicated, and his own sons rose up in rebellion against
him. He strove for a long time to maintain his power, but the
cry of Gregory ever sounded in his ears, and at last he suc-
cumbed, and, in 11,06, died of a broken heart.

384 Christian Peesboutions.

But the feud between the German princes and the Church
of Rome did not cease with the death of Pope Gregory Vll
and Henry IV. A long and fierce contention ensued which
lasted more than one hundred years. The proud House of
Hohenstaufen continued the struggle of opposition to the
Papal See, which had been going on so long between the
German princes and the Church of Rome, but in this strug-
gle the Bishops of Rome won a final triumph and the House
of Hohenstaufen went down in utter ruin. The fight had been
long and bitter, and in the issue of this century of conflict their
power was broken, never again to rise in its past glory and
strength.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE TEMPORAL POWERS OF THE POPES— Continued.

WE now reach the chmax of the temporal powers of the
Popes. It is the 13th century, and the beginning of the
period of Papal splendor. The power of the Church was al-
most supreme. Nearl}^ all of the monarchs of Europe swore
fealty to his power. "Rome was once more the mistress of the
world." Innocent III had succeeded to the Pontifical throne.
Under him was nearly made good the wrangle of centuries.
Innocent was declared the greatest of the Popes after Gregory
VII. His wonderful powers almost united the Church
throughout the entire realm of Christianity.

One of Innocent's greatest triumphs over the kings of
Europe was that of Philip Augustus, of France, who, having
put away his wife, was commanded to take her back and was
forced to submission by a decree of Interdict. Of this sub-
mission the great English historian and critic, Henry Hallam,
said: "This submission of such a prince, not feebly supersti-
tious like his predecessor, Robert, nor vexed with seditions,
like the Emperor Henry IV, but brave, firm and victorious, is
perhaps the proudest trophy in the scutcheon of Rome."

Another wonderful victory for Innocent was the conten-
tion with King John of England, where we find the following:
The See of Canterbury falling vacant, the king ordered the
monks to elect a court favorite, which they did, but the Pope
immedia4:ely declared the election void, as the king had no

385

386 Christian Persecutions.

right to command the election of a favorite, and caused the
vacancy to be filled by the election of Stephen Langdon. John
declared that Langdon should never be installed as the Pope's
archbishop, and proceeded to confiscate the estates of the See.
Innocent, not hesitating in this rebellion, excommunicated
John and placed his whole dominion under an Inderdict. The
people were alarmed, and demanded of the king an immediate
reconciliation. Like the German Emperor before him, he
sued for a restoration of his power and agreed to recognize
Langdon, restore the confiscated property, and even went so
far as to offer, of his own free will, the whole of England as a
perpetual fief, and also to pay to the Papal See the sum of
1,000 marks annually. Tliis tribute money was paid until the
year 1289.

But as time goes on and we reach the year 1309, we, see the
splendor of Innocent III being lost in the decline of the tem-
poral power of the Popes. One of the greatest persecutions
which has ever befallen the head of the Church occurred in
this year, when the French king, Philip the Fair, caused the
Papal Chair to be removed from Rome to Avignon, in Pro-
vence, near the frontier of French territory. It seemed to be
the ambition of this king to establish the head of the Church
on French soil, and to be under the control of French kings.
There appeared to be no conflict of old standing, and no feud
to avenge, but the object seemed to be purely one of ambition
to have the Church located under the care and authority of the
French government.

The Seat of the Church remained captive at Avignon for
seventy years, during which time it is known as the Babylo-

The Temporal Powers op the Popes. 387

iiian Captivity. During this period all the Popes were French
and as a natural consequence, were controlled by the French
kings. In writing of this period of captivity, the American
historian, Charles Stille, says: "In that city the Papacy
ceased, in the eyes of a very large part of Christendom, to pos-
sess that sacred cosmopolitan character Which, no doubt, had
much to do with the veneration and respect with which the
Catholic authority had been regarded."

Probably at no time in the history of Christianity had the
head of the Church borne so little respect as at this. It had
gone from the consecrated city of Rome, the city that Christ
had commanded the Apostle Peter to redeem from pagan
idolatry. Rome had been subdued for the establishment of the
Church of Christ. It was the only sanctified spot on God's
earth fitted to preach repentance and to spread the light of
Christianity unto all nations. It was here that the first mar-
tyrs of the faith of Christ lay down their lives in death and
crucifixion. It was here that Peter gave up his life, as Christ
had given his. It was here that the persecutions of Nero
opened the eyes of the idolatrous pagans and smote their con-
science with remorse. It was here that the power of Chris-
tianity was established, that it received the blessings of God,
and it was here that it was declared that the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. Therefore, it is not strange that this
desecration of the Holy Chair was derogatory to its sacred-
ness and to its veneration. It was a captive in a strange land,
and must be returned to the city of God.

The Italians became discontented with this French confis-
cation— this enforced removal of the Pope to Avignon, and

388 Christian Persecutions.

an open rupture ensued. The French party refusing to allow
a return to Rome, and the Italians, in 1378, deciding to stand
the persecution no longer, and despairing of securing their
rights, elected a rival Pope. The world now had two Popes —
one at Avignon, and one at Rome. Matters were growing
worse. The reverence due this great authority was fast
dwindHng away. Something must be done. There could not
be two heads and still maintain that discipline, that union of
spirit and that strength of character which must prevail.

Finally, in 1409, a general Council of the Church was
called to meet at Pisa for the purpose of ending this uncalled-
for quarrel. In this council both Popes were deposed and
Alexander V elected as the head of the Church. But here
matters even grew worse instead of better. Neither of the de-
posed Popes would submit to the decision of the council, and,
consequently, there were now three instead of two.

Matters thus continued until another council was called
at Constance, and the dispute settled by the resignation of one
and the deposing of the other two. A new Pope was now
elected, Martin V, and the Church was again united and the
Catholic world made glad by its recovery. Rome was the
sanctified city of Early Christianity, and now it was restored
to its place as the great head of the Church of St. Peter.

In this conflict of authority we find that the temporal rulers
of England, Germany and France took advantage of the situ-
ation, and declared themselves as not amenable to the author-
ity of the Pope except in matters spiritual. But be it said to
the credit of those temporal rulers, they were earnest in their
adherence to the Pope as the supreme head of the Church, and

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 889

the authority in all spiritual matters, and while they were
working- against his temporal powers yet they were doing all
that was possible to punish heresy and stop the spread of
spiritual revolt.

After the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte the map of Europe
was readjusted by the celebrated Congress of Vienna. In this
adjustment Italy was divided somewhat as follows: Lom-
bardy and Venetia were given to Austria. The princes of the
House of Hapsburg were given Tuscany, Modena, Parma and
Piacenza. The Bourbon rulers obtained Naples, while Pope
Pius VII, and the king of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel I, were
the only native rulers.

Pope Pius VII, who had now returned to the Eternal City
after being held a captive by Bonaparte and his Papal States
confiscated by the French Empire, was now fully restored to
both his possessions, the spiritual and temporal authority. But
the peace was not of long duration. Secret societies were be-
ing formed all over Italy, the great object being the overthrow
of the powers of the princes and the Pope and the establish-
ment of a republic by a consolidation of all the states of Italy.
Plots and intrigues were everywhere secretly devised, and the
whole body politic was one mass of inflammation.

In 1820-1821 an insurrection broke out in the kingdom of
the two Sicilies. The Liberal Party was about to win when
an army of 60,000 Austrian troops was sent to restore order
and authority. Foreign powers interfered in the affairs of the
Church and continued to feed the discontent of the people.
The leaders of the rebellion were continually spreading their
complaints and heaping calumnies against th^^ Holy See.

390 Christian Persecutions.

Neither prince nor Pope were spared in these maHcious at-
tacks. It was again the cry of the old French Revolution:
Down with the monarchies of Italy! Down with the Pope of
Rome! And while these agitators were loud in their assaults
against the Church, yet it was neither doctrine nor faith that
was being defied, but the power to govern, to be ruled by the
Pope, or by any power of lord or prince. It was not the cry
of Martin Luther, to destroy the Church's dogmatical teach-
ings, but the cry to destroy and to break down the temporal
power of the Pope.

In 1830-1831 a new revolution again appeared, its central
movement being in the Papal States, and again the Austrian
troops hurried to quell the insurrection. Austria was now
dominant over the destiny of Italy. Twice had her armies
crushed the aspirations of those who were secretly intriguing
to overthrow the powers of Italy. These defeats only aroused
more fully the deep hatred of all things German. "Death to
the Germans!" was rung from one end of the empire to the
other. Those who had been inclined to obedience were now
secretly plotting and assisting the numerous conspiracies. The
Pope was not secure in his friendship, for those who professed
fealty were only spies ready to rise in open revolt when an
opportunity was presented. To-day he would express his
plans and to-morrow his enemies were in full knowledge of
them. Sworn secrecy was everywhere the instrument of per-
secution. What the conspirators failed to obtain by honorable
means they accomplished by the secret workings of the so-
cieties that were organized to defeat the Pope and take from
him his possessions.

The Temporal Powers op the Popes. 391

But while there was unity as regards a deadly hatred
against the Austrians, yet in the disposition of the proposed
republic there was a lack of national organization. One party,
known as "Young Italy," and founded by that active republic-
an, Joseph Mazzini, advocated a republic pure and simple.
Another party desired to form a constitutional confederation
of all the states of Italy, with the Pope as its chief. The third
party clung to the ideas of a monarch, and looked upon the
king of Sardinia as its head.

For nearly eighteen years Italy lay smouldering in the cra-
ter of insurrection, when again the fires of revolt Burst forth
anew, and in T848-1S49 the whole country arose in rebellion,
but by the united intervention of Austria and France it was
again quelled, and their leaders either executed, imprisoned, or
forced to leave the country. The hopes of the Italians were
now crushed, and the movement to establish an independent
republic by the overthrow of the monarchies and the Pope
was abandoned, and secret intrigue was again inaugurated.
This time it was to enlist the kingdom of Sardinia in the liber-
ation of Italy. What they could not accomplish by republican
revolution they now sought to obtain by enlisting one mon-
arch against another. It would be a matter of substitution,
not liberty under a republican form of government, but a
substitution of one monarchy for another.

Victor Emmanuel II was the king of Sardinia and Count
Cavour his prime minister, while associated with him was the
"hero of the red shirt," Garibaldi, a man whose life had been
full of romantic adventures, who had most violently clamored
for republicanism, and who had already been twice exiled

392 Christian Persecutions.

from Italy. Around these three characters now crowded the
revolutionary party of the Italian states. The hour for an-
other attack had arrived. In 1859 Count Cavour had made a
secret compact with the French emperor, whereby he solemnly
agreed to demand that Austria should restore Lombardy and
Venetia to their own free governments and cease to interfere
with the internal affairs of Italy, and failing to do this, Sardinia
would declare war and France would be her ally.

The Austrian government refused to accede to these de-
mands, and open conflict immediately followed. The Sar-
dinian and French armies won the two great battles of Ma-
genta and Solferino, and but for the threatening attitude of
Prussia and Germany the war would have been continued, but
Napoleon, seeing the possibilities of a long struggle, opened
negotiations for peace, which resulted somewhat favorable to
the Sardinian government, although the people were not yet
satisfied. In this peace Sardinia acquired Lombardy, Modena.
Tuscany, Parma and Romagna, with a population of 9,000,-
000. With this increase in membership of the Italian family,
her strength was greatly augmented and in the coming conflict
with the Pope of Rome, the Italians would more easily over-
come his authority and become master of the entire peninsula.

Slowly and surely does the planning, the plotting, and the
intriguing of Victor Emmanuel and his daring, venturous
Garibaldi gather the states of Italy into his kingdom. In 1860,
the subjects of Francis II, king of Naples and Sicily, rose in
revolt. Now was the time for another move upon the checker
board of Italy. Victor Emmanuel and his minister, Cavour,
were in strong sympathy with the movement, but fearing

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 393

the jealousy of France and Austria, they were careful in their
outward demonstrations, but in secret conclave the King of
Italy allowed his right-hand accomplice, Garibaldi, to raise an
army of one thousand five hundred volunteers, and set sail
from Geneva for Sicily, where he declared himself Dictator of
Sicily in the name of Victor Emmanuel, "King of Italy." This
strong and passionate general, with the assistance afforded
him by the uprising of the people, soon overcame the troops
of Francis and drove them out of the island; then crossing to
Naples, he agam declared his sovereignty. By a vote, the
people decided that these two countries, Sicily and Naples,
should be annexed to the possessions of Victor Emmanuel,
and the Sardinian kingdom, after this conquest, is to be known
as the kingdom of Italy. By this achievement 9,000,000 more
Italians were added to the new government, and nothing stood
in the way of a total absorption of all the territories of Italy
but the coveted Venetia and the Papal States.

Again were secret societies spreading their revolutionary
tenets in every direction, and with a double force. On to
Rome and a confiscation of the last vestige of temporal power
of the Pope, was the secret intrigue of a thousand leagues.
The Freemasons, the Order of Carbonari, and the Union
Leagues, were secretly and most industriously seeking to in-
cense the people against the Papal authority, and when the
hour should arrive for the final insurrection, its force should
be so strong and overwhelming that no power could resist.
The last move should be so planned that the work of revolu-
tion should not fail. They could build upon the prejudices of
the people. They could establish their missions in the very

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394 Christian Persecutions.

Vatican of Rome. They could spy .upon every movement of
the Pope, and in the coming- time, which proved not far dis-
tant, they could snatch from the Pope the last remnant of the
once magnificent possessions of the Holy See. Only the
Papal States stood between the sovereignty of Victor Em-
manuel and the Church of Rome, and these would soon be
wrested from its temporal power, and the last vestige of its
secular authority would be overthrown.

In 1866 war between Prussia and Austria offered the
looked-for opportunity to compel the Austrian government to
surrender to the kingdom of Italy the Venetian possession.
Here again we see the shrewd diplomacy of Victor Emman-
uel. He formed an alliance with the king of Prussia, the
bargain fee being the province of Venetia when peace was de-
clared, and that no peace should be agreed to without this
bargain. The war was of short duration, only seven weeks,
so in an almost incredibly short space of time this coveted
territory was added to this new kingdom of Italy.

At last the dreams of Victor Emmanuel, Cavour, and his
daring and illustrious Garibaldi were almost to be realized.
They had brought under one government all the Italian prov-
inces except Rome, and now to make the conquest perfect
they must invent some excuse for assaulting the Sacred City of
Christ and his Apostle Peter. In their ambition not even the
sacredness of the Pope's possessions could remain untouched.
Italy must be under one government, and the Pope's power
must no longer prevail. It was argued that to be at the head
of the Church was all the possessions he should have on earth.
Rome and the Papal States were wanted to fill the measure of

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 395

conquest. It mattered not if the Pope was persecuted and
driven from the city of his earthly power. He must surren-
der the last earthly possession and hand over to his conquer-
ors the Eternal City. Rome was the coveted possession of
the king of Italy. It had been the mistress of the world, and
It should now be the mistress of Italy, not through the power
of the Pope, but by the power of Victor Emmanuel. All
eyes of Italy looked tO' Rome. The whole Christian civil-
ization of two continents was waiting with bated breath for
the final struggle. It was no ordinary contest. It was a
contest between the head of the Great Roman Catholic
Church and the ambitions of Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi.
Would the contest come? When? France stood at the gates
of the Holy City as the sentinel waits and watches for the ap-
proach of an enemy. She is the ally of the Pope and Italy
must wait. r>ut still the secret intrigue goes on. Tlie youth
of Italy arc enticed to join the secret societies and thus become
the enemies of the Church. Children are taught to smile with
scorn and derision at the mention of infallibility. In this
teaching they grossly misrepresent its meaning. The teacher
represents that the Pope claims that he cannot err or sin, that
he is raised above the earthly desires of men, that he is divine
in the exposition of faith, and that he gives his life as Christ
gave his for the benefit of all mankind. By these teachings
the youth is taught to disbelieve, to view with skepticism the
sanctity of the position of the Pope, and to mar his faith in the
tenets of the Church.

But not long did these anxious watchers have to wait. In

396 Christian Persecutions.

1870 came the terrible conflict between France and Germany.
The faithful sentinels of the French army were called from the
City of Rome. The door was open and the Pope was now at
the mercy of the king of Italy. The French armies were de-
feated and the ally of the Pope was lost in the establishment
of the Republic of France. Victor Emmanuel ordered his
troops to enter Rome, and on the 20th of September, 1870, he
himself took possession of the papal palace of the Quirinal.

Thus was the last act accomplished in dispossessing the
Pope of the remnant of his temporal power. He was no
longer in his own diminions. Like Christ, he could exclaim:
The birds of the air have their nests and the foxes of the fields
have their holes, but the representative of the Church of Christ
has ncwhere to lay his head. Thus despoiled of his temporal
power, the Pope retired to the Vatican, refusing to accept the
law guaranteeing to him his freedom and the civil list which
provided him with a stipulated revenue.

Thus have we briefly followed the rise aTid fall of the tem-
poral power of the Bishops of Rome. It was more than one
thousand years since Pepin and Charlemagne had invested the
Church with perpetual authority over the Papal States. In
this long period the Church maintained its authority with
scarcely an intermission. The world had ever regarded these
States as sacred to the control of the Church, but while the
Catholic world may mourn over its loss, yet there has been
no decrease in its constant work for the spiritual welfare of
mankind. Its growth among nations has been wonderful,
and although persecutions have often impeded its progress,

The Temporal Powers of the Popes. 397

yet it has surmounted all obstacles, repulsed the forces of
bigotry and fanaticism, and now, in the strength of a magnifi-
cent and unparalleled spiritual government, it asks you to re-
move your prejudices, to cast aside your ignorance, and to
welcome it to your society.

CHAPTER XXX.

INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPES.

pEW Protestants understand the real meaning of the Infal-
■■■ Hbihty of the Popes. Like many important features, or
histories, of the Cathohc Church, which have been grossly
misrepresented, so, too, has this doctrine of Papal authority
been belied, slandered, and condemned, and all because of
ignorance of the subject under discussion.

Probably no interpretation of Catholic dogma has been
looked upon by Protestants with so little reverence as this,
but when we analyze the interpretation that is usually given,
we ought not to wonder wliy it is so, for we find that Prot-
estants are usually taug'ht that the Pope, being called Infal-
lible, is above the possibility of sin. InfaHibility to them can
have but one construction, and that which refers to a perfect
purity of mind and body. Catholics may wonder why such a
belief should become so prevalent among other Christian
denominations, but when I tell you I have always lived in as
intelligent a State, county and town as there is in the United
States, and yet, during my whole life (and I am now turning
the corner of manhood's prime), I have no recollection of
ever hearing a Protestant who pretended to explain Infalli-
bility, except as it meant an impossibility to sin. The whole
argument has ever been to present this one idea, and in its
presentation we could see the error of belief. We could see
that tlie Pope was a man, that once he was an ordinary priest,

398

Infallibility of the Popes. 399

and now to place him in the Papal chair and say by this
act that he is above sin was carrying the subHme to a point of
inconsistency, and of course through Protestant eyes it became
a ridiculous farce.

Thus we find that almost universally, outside of Catholics,
the belief refers to a perfect purity of life, with no error and
no sin; that every act is pure and holy; and because of these
Christ-like inspirations, the Pope is placed above the worldly
passions of men, and thus made Infallible in speech, in deed,
and in instruction. This is the general opinion that is accepted
by Protestants everywhere. And why should they not believe
it? Like myself, they were taught it in society, in the church,
at home, at school, when abroad, in fact it was an unconscious
instruction in every walk of life. Every Protestant child
grows to the years of understanding with this thought firmly
implanted in his mind. How could it be otherwise? He
received no counter instruction, and without even observa-
tion, beheved tliat Catholics accepted the doctrine of Infalli-
biHty as a divine power of man.

When I look back through my career in life, when I
realize that this one lesson of all other lessons was accepted
without discussion, or even investigation, I simply stop in
my meditations and say to myself: This is the only instruc-
tion which I have ever received in w^iich I did not consider
the subject, and in considering, investigate its foundation. I
accepted the statement as a fact and could not conceive how
any intelligent being could be so blinded in faith as to believe
that a Pope could not sin. In my ignorance I actually pitied
the misguided Catholic for his infatuation and blindness,

400 Christian Persecutions.

when ill reality I should have pitied myself for accepting the
statement of others without a study, or even a thought of
investigation.

Having commenced a study of the Catholic Church, it
became an easy matter to follow one principle after another
without any serious trouble of misunderstanding, and as I
did so I found that I had gathered only prejudice and mis-
statements. The history of the Church was becoming fascinat-
ing to me, for it was developing a character so much diflferenit
from what I had been taught to beheve. I found that I had
been deceived in my views concerning it. It was not that
awful instrument of persecution, rack, and torture, which had
been charged against it. There were two sides to every charge
and grievance raised in its opposition. There were two sides to
the Reformation and its long line of wars and desolation. There
were two sides to the history of the Huguenots of France.
There were two sides to the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Two
sides to the Spanish Inquisition, the controversy on the Bible,
the history of Oliver Cromwell, of Queen Mary, and the
oppressed and persecuted Mary, Queen of Scots. And on
further investigation I found a new vision in the sainted and
beautiful life ol the mother of Jesus, and as I developed in
my mind this wonderful miracle of God by Which the Saviour
of man came into the world, I learned to reverence the instru-
ment of purity that gave Him birth. To me the Virgin Mary
was no longer an ordinary woman, no more than was Christ
an ordinary man. By this I do not mean to represent that the
mother of Jesus was of divine origin, but being prepared for
this great event in the history of mankind, she could not

Infallibility of the Popes. 401

be an ordinary woman. Her mission was one of a grander
purpose. Her body was consecrated to the most holy office
which could be conceived in the wisdom of God. He was
to give his only-begotten Son to mankind as a redemption for
sin, and in this gift, this bringing to earth His own spirit. He
could not select only that which was pure and undefiled.

And now, when we find that Catholics look upon the
Virgin Mary with love and veneration, when they kneel before
her shrine, when they invoke her aid in their intercessions
before the throne of Grace, we are forced to believe that they
see and feel wliat Protestants do not understand. I may be
too expressive in my demonstrations of this pure relation
which must exist between Jesus and his mother, yet I cannot
now conceive how any other relation could have existed, nor
can I understand how a Christian can love his Redeemer with-
out loving and blessing the being who gave Him birth. It
would seem to me that the more a person would worship
God, the more he must honor and venerate the Blessed Virgin.

But I can understand why Protestants are not thus en-
thused. I was taught that these demonstrations of affection
are but mockery. I believed they worshiped the Virgin Mary,
just as I believed that their doctrine taught that the Pope was
Infallible and above sin. With these views of a subject it is
not strange, after all, that we grow to manhood in ignorance
of what Catholics profess and believe. In our misjudgment
we mentally condemn What does not exist, and in our imag-
ination we do not stop to inquire or investigate, but follow in
the old line of supposition.

In order to give ati' undisputed evidence of what Infalli-

402 Christian Persecutions.

bility means, I will quote from Cardinal Gibbons, one of the
best Catholic authorities on this continent. The Cardinal
says :

"The Infallibility of the Popes does not signify that they
are inspired. The Apostles were endowed with the gifts of
inspiration, and we accept their writings as the revealed word
of God."

"No Catholic, on the contrary, claims that the Pope is
inspired, or endowed with divine revelation properly so called."

"Infallibility does not mean that the Pope is impeccable, or
specially exempt from liability to sin. The Popes have been,
indeed, with few exceptions, men of virtuous lives. Many
of them are honored martyrs, Seventy-Inline out of the two
hundred and fifty-nine that sat on the chair of Peter, are
invoked upon our altar as saints eminent for their holiness."

"The avowed enemies of the Church charge only five or
six Popes with immorality. Thus, even admitting the truth
of the accusations brought against them, we have forty-three
virtuous to one bad Pope, while there was a Judas Iscariot
among the twelve Apostles."

"But, althoug'h a vast majority of the Sovereign Pontiffs
should have been so unfortunate as to lead vicious lives, this
circumstance would not of itself impair the validity of their
prerogatives, which are given, not for the preservation of their
morals, but for the guidance of their judgrnent; for there
was a Balaam among the Prophets, and a Caiphas among the
High Priests of the Old Law."

"The present illustrious Pontiff (Pius IX) is a man of
no ordinary sanctity. He has already filled the highest posi-

Infallibility of the Popes. 403

tion in the Church for upwards of thirty years, 'a spec-
tacle to the world, to angels, and to men,' and no man
can point out a stain to his moral character. And yet,
Pius IX, like his predecessors, confesses his sins every
week. Each morning, at the beginning of Mass, he says at
the foot of the altar, 'I confess to Almighty God, and to His
Saints, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and
deed.' And at the Offertory of the Mass he says: 'Receive,
O Holy Father, almighty, everlasting God, this oblation which
I, Thy unworthy servant, offer for my innumerable sins,
offenses, and negligences.' "

"With these facts before their eyes, I canuot comprehend
how ministers of the Gospel betray so much ignorance, or are
guilty of so mudh malice, as to proclaim from their pulpits,
which ought to be consecrated to truth, that Infallibility
means exemption from sin. I do not see how they can bene-
fit their cause by so flagrant perversions of truth."

"Finally, the inerrability of the Popes, being restricted to
questions of faith and morals, does not extend to the natural
sciences, such as astronomy or geology, unless where error
is presented under the false name of science, and arrays itself
against revealed truths. It does not, therefore, concern itself
about the nature and motion of planets. Nor does it regard
purely political questions, sucli as the form of government a
nation ought to adopt, or for what candidates we ought to
vote."

Thus we have from the words of the best of authority
tTiat Infallibility does not mean any of the gross charges which
have been preferred against it. A Pope is not above other

404 Christian Persecutions.

men, except tliat his great learning and piety have made him
an acceptable candidate for this exalted position. Possibly
Protestants may not know that when a Pope ascends the
Papal chair he is a man of mature years, when human
ambition and passions are on the wane. "His personal ex-
penses do not exceed a few dollars a day. He eats alone and
very abstemiously. He has no wife, no children to enrich with
the spoils of office, as he is an unmarried man. The Popedom
is not hereditary, like the sovereign of England, but elective,
like the office of our President, and the Holy Father is suc-
ceeded by a Pontiff to whom he is bound by no family ties."

While Protestants often regard the Pope as a man of arbi-
trary power, yet we find him past the prime of life, elected by
his associates because of his power of understanding, because
of his ability to govern his Church, and because he has proved
by his life a worthy successor of those who have preceded him.
We also find him outside of the affairs of state, with no politics
and no desires to dictate what others shall do or say. His
mission is to interpret the laws of the Church, and in all mat-
ters of religion or faith he stands as the exponent, the In-
fallible guide and the highest authority. As the Supreme
Court is the infallible exponent of the Constitution of the
United States, so is the Pope the Supreme Court of the
Church.

"The Pope, therefore, be it known, is not the maker of
divine law; he is only its expounder. He is not the author of
revelation, but only its interpreter. All revelation came from
God alone through His inspired ministers, and it was com-
plete in the beginning of the Church. The Holy Father has

Infallibility of the Popes. 405

no more authority tjiani you or I to break one iota of the
Scripture, and he is equally with us the servant of the divine
law."

To more forcibly impress my readers with the duties of the
office of Pope as it refers to the Church and State, I will again
quote: "The Pope's InfalHbility, therefore, does not in any
way trespass on civil authority; for the Pope's jurisdiction
belongs to spiritual matters, while the duty of the State is to
provide for the temporal welfare of its subjects."

"When a dispute arises in the Church regarding the sense
of Scripture, the subject is referred to the Pope for final ad-
judication. The Sovereign Pontiff, before deciding the case,
gathers around him his venerable colleagues, the Cardinals of
the Church; or he calls a council of his associate judges of
faith, the Bishops of Christendom; or he has recourse to other
lights which the Holy Ghost may suggest to him. Then,
after mature and prayerful deliberation, he pronounces judg-
ment, and his sentence is final, irrevocable, and Infallible."

Not long ago, while discussing the- Infallibility of the Pope,
I read to my friend the above quotations, s'howing that even
in the Pope's decisions of disputes he does not depend upon
his ov;n wisdom, but, like the President of the United States,
who summons his cabinet for advisement, so, too, does the
Pope summon his Cardinals, or Bishops, for advice in all
important anid essential principles relating to the Church. My
friend remarked that the Pope might not call the Cardinals
and Bishops,' but depend upon wisdom derived from the Holy
Ghost, and as such would interpret the law without the aid
of his associates, but would &tiU be Infallible, My friend

406 Christian Persecutions.

seemed to appreciate the efforts made .by the Cardinals to
select omly such an one as was eminently qualified to fill the
position of Pope, but was fearful that the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost might 'not be interpreted without error, while a
full discussion by Cardinals, or Bishops, would be a better
exposition of divine truth.

Here, again, were the outcroppings of doubt, prejudice,
and a misunderstanding. My friend was afraid to trust the
judgment of the Pope, who would become the dreaded one-
man power, which Protestants seem to fear so much. Such is
usually the sentiment of all those who oppose the Catholic
Church. They know that in all organizations, no matter
what is its nature, be it local, secret, or government, there
must be some head, power, or governing influence, to guide,
or control. Without a directing hand to point out the path
of duty and to hold and sustain discipline, there cannot be
harmony. As the general stands at the head of his army
to give instruction to his subordinates, so, too, stands the
Pope at the head of his Church to preserve hannony, to
explain Scripture, to define the duties of faith and worship,
and in this exposition there can be no doubt and no appeal.
His decision becomes final and Infallible. His is the highest
court in the Church. He is the Chief Justice, the elected
power to prescribe, the recognized authority, and while he
calls his Cardinals and Bishops to advise and to give wisdom,
yet it is not because of a necessity, but to insure a perfect and
undeniable decision.

One form of opposition against Papal Infallibility is that
he has no right to interpret the Bible, or any passage thereof.

Infallibility op the Popes, 407

Ministers, in preaching against this Infallibility, are loiid in
their declaration of individual rights to read the Word of
God and determine for themselves the truths contained
therein. They seem to believe that a Pope, Bishop, or Priest,
has no right to explain the divine truths of the Scriptures,
but at the same time they declare that they themselves feel
the presence of God, they pray that his servant shall be filled
with wisdom, that the Holy Ghost shall enter his heart, and
that his words shall be the inspiraticwi of that Spirit. They
teadli from the most approved commentaries, and constantly
explain divine instruction. While they deny to others the
right of instruction, yet they ask that their expositions shall
be accepted as the Infallible doctrine of faith and worship,

A prominent Protestant Bishop once said, when discuss-
ing the right of the Pope to explain the Scriptures : "For my
part, I have an infallible Bible, and this is the only infallibility
that I require." Possibly this Bishop may be able to inter-
pret every passage of Scripture exactly as it is designed by
God; if he can, then he is infallible, and he has delegated tc
himself exactly what he denies to the Pope. If he cannot
positively uinderstand and explain every passage of the Bible,
he may look for someone who can, and again he denies this
right to those whose duty it is to announce these explana-
tions. Therefore this Bishop is either infallible or he is not.
If he is not then he must find someone who is, otherwise he
is not competent to teach a perfect doctrine of faith and
salvation, and if he is infallible then he becomes his own
Pope.

But is this taie? Does he correctly interpret the infallible

408 Christian Persecutions.

doctrine of Christ? If he does, then the one hundred other
denominations who take the Bible as their standard of au-
thority must be in error. If one out of the one hundred is
right, then ninety and nine must be wrong. Now, there can
be but one true version, and yet each deniomination has made
its own infallible doctrine from the same source. Is this not
the result of individual study? And when we place the Bible
in the hands of every seeker after truth and tell him to teach
himself, have we not imposed upon him a burden which he
cannot possibly understand? If the wisest theologians cannot
agree there may be, after all, some grounds for conferring
upon the Popes this Infallibility and thus prohibit the never-
ceasing controversy which must be the result where there is
no defined authority, and beyond which there is no appeal.
Thus is it not demonstrated that it becomes an absolute neces-
sity tliat there must be some authorized and unerring inter-
preter?

For this, and only this, has the Church rested its final au-
thority in the hands of the Pope. To do otherwise would be
impossible and still retain a perfect union. Destroy this
authority and you destroy the rock of its foundation. It is
the compass, the lighthouse, and the pilot, without which the
Church must flounder in confusion and chaos. The wonder-
ful spread of Christianity through all the nations ol the earth
is due to the acknowledged authority to direct, control, and
sustain. Had there been no head, the jealous rivalry of con-
tending forces would have brought disaster and ruin. As
governments require a court of final resort, so, too, does the
Church require its Pope, who is and must be the Infallible

Infallibility of the Popes. 409

guide in all that pertains to the spiritual welfare of the Church.
Many Protestants are not willing to recognize, nor do they
comprehend, that the Catholic Church holds an unbroken line
of Church sovereignty from fhe Apostle Peter to the present
day. For over eighteen hundred years they can trace a per-
fect succession of the two hundred and sixty Popes, with the
name of each, his date of assuming the chair, his time of
sovereignty, his church work, and the time and manner of
his death.

From the Bible, as well as the Church, we find that Peter
was the recognized and the appointed head from the year 42
to the year 67. That he was so appointed must be recognized
by every Christian denomination. It is true that some pro-
fessed Christians deny that any special power was conferred
upon Peter by which he was to hold and sustain the Church.
But if we believe the New Testament there can be no doubt
but on him was laid, the responsibility of Church government,
as well as to preach repentance. If you do not believe in
Divine Scripture then you may deny any or all of the acts
of Providence, as well as to deny the existence of irnmortality.
But if you believe in the words of Jesus, you must concede
that when He addressed Peter, as he did in Matthew xvi, that
there must have been a meaning. Either Christ meant what
he said, or He did not. If he meant it, which he did, for
Jesus in his teachings always meant exactly what he said, then
you must accept his words just as they are written.

"And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build my Church: and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.

(27)

410 Christian Persecutions,

"And I will give unto thee the keys of the king-dom of
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth,
shall be loosed in heaven."

Now, whait is this meaning? Is it for you or for me to
question its assertion, or to present a different explanation?
No language could be more explicit, or more direct. "Thou
art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Again, we find in the language of our Saviour: "I, the
Supreme Architect of the universe, will establish a Church
which is to last till the end of time. I will lay the foundation
of this Church so deep and strong on the rock of truth that
the winds and storms of error shall not prevail against it.
Thou, O Peter, shalt be the foundation of this Church. It
shall never fall, because thou shalt never be shaken; and
thou shalt never be shaken, because thou shalt rest on Me,
the rock of truth."

THius do we have the positive assurance that Peter is the
rock of the Church, the foundation upon which error cannot
prevail, and as He has declared that "I will give unto thee
the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven."

Was greater power ever conferred upon man, than that
every act should be accepted as perfect? Peter was made, not
only the rock upon which the Church should rest, but he
should be above error, infallible, and incapable of expressing
a false doctrine of worship.

Infallibility of the Popes. 411

No other disciple was given this power of infallibiHty, but
being appointed to stand at the head of Christianity, to teach
divine truths, and to advance the Church in its influence
among men, he must be endowed with the gift of truth and the
power to hold and sustain this truth.

Again, we find in the XXl Chapter of St. John, that Jesus,
after having arisen from the dead, said unto Peter: "Feed
my lambs; feed my sheep." And to impress upon him more
firmly this injunction He three times repeats to Peter, "feed
my sheep."

Thus do we find that Peter is appointed by our Lord to
be the universal shepherd of His flock, and were we to follow
this divine injunction, as it must relate to the Church, we
will find that as Peter was the shepherd of all the people, so,
too, would the Pope be the shepherd of all his people, that
he "must feed the flock, not with the poison of error, but with
the healthy food of sound doctrine; for he is not a shepherd,
but a hireling, who administers pernicious food to his flock."

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE VIRGIN MARY.

pEW Protestants, if any, understand the true relation thai
A religiously exists between the Catholics and the Virgin
Mary. They do not understand why she is so warmly ana
earnestly loved and honored, or why, in the fullness of devo-
tion to their faith, the Catholics kneel before her image, or
stand in solemn veneration before her picture. Protestants
see these acts of loyalty, of faithful gratitude, and of deep and
lasting veneration, but they do not comprehend its meaning.
They do not understand the sweet aflfection, the purity of pur-
pose, and the sublime relation existing between the Blessed
Virgin and the Son of God.

Protestants look upon the picture of the Mother of Jesus
just as they would upon the likeness of some renowned char-
acter. It excites their curiosity, but they are not moved to
a feeling of holy piety. Having critically examined it as a
work of art, they turn to other curiosities, but not once do
they have in their hearts a serious thought of pious love for
these representatives of divine existence. Again, as they
stand before the image of Christ on the Cross, they
think not of the sacrifice of the body, the mortal pain, the
redemption of sin, or the salvation of mankind. To them it
is an idol representing a historic past, a figure of history, and
an emblem of Catholic worship. They do not appreciate th^
filial afifection of the devout Catholic. It was never taught to

The VipGiN Mary. 413

them in their infancy, and has never been impressed upon
their minds as a reverence due to Christ, the Savior of man,
and the Son of God. Without these impressions they cannot
appreciate the feeHngs and the motives of the true Catholic.

These things are not written from imagination, but from
reahty. The author knows whereof he speaks, having numer-
ous times stood within the Caithohc sanctuary of divine wor-
ship, but experienced no feehng of reverence for God. His
eyes rested upon the beautiful works of art, but not upon the
beautiful thoughts of divinity. He uncovered his head, be-
cause he was in the Church of God, but not because it was
a sanctified place of worship. He saw kneeling worshipers,
and while he silently respected their solemn meditations, yet
the thought of bending the knee before the throne of Grace
never entered his mind. It was not veneration, but curiosity,
that prompted him to gaze upon the image of Christ and his
Sainted Mother. He saw the pictures of the saints, the altar,
the saored vestments, but he could not comprehend the beau-
tiful conceptions that were carried to the hearts of those who
knew its meaning. He saw the vessels containing holy water,
but he could not realize the sympathetic feelings of divine
love and affection. He saw the worshipers make the sign of
the cross, but this act of piety was to him but the formal act
pertaining to a peculiar ceremonial, and not in remembrance
of Him who suffered crucifixion.

Thus it is regarding Protestant veneration of Catholic
worship. They see the image of Christ, or that of the Virgin
Mary, but beyond the seeing there is no responsive feeling.
To them it is sculptured art representing historic characters.

414 Christian Persecutions.

But why, you may ask, is this so? Why are Protestants not
responsive with feelings of love and adoration for the loved
figures of Catholic faith? Why does the eye see and the heart
not feel? Protestants worship Christ, then why do they not
venerate his image? They know that the Virgin Mary was
the mother of Jesus ; then why do they not honor her with all
the veneration due this wonderful creation of God? While
these questions may seem hard to answer, yet they can be
easily explained. It is a lack of teaching, of study, and of
thbughtfulness. It is not taught to them in their infancy, in
their boyhood, or in their manhood. They were never taught
that the eyes should first behold before the heart could conceive
the impressions of divine love and faith. The Catholic child is
taught that the image of Christ is the counterpart of the
original, not an idol of worship, but the representative of that
Divine Teacher. He is taught to reverence it, to kneel before
it, to kiss the crucifix, to bow the head at Angelus' bells, to
venerate the Virgin Mary, the saints, the martyrs, and all
those who were chosen by God to fulfill the plan of salvation.
These children are taught to love and revere every character
that was associated with Christ, and every person that was
near and dear to Him on earth.

As we love to look at the portrait of a dear friend,
so, too, are they taught to look upon the face of the Blessed
Virgin as the reflection of that dear Mother who gave to the
world the Savior of man. We, who are mature in life, love
to stand before the picture of our own mother and allow our
thoughts to revert to the days of our boyhood, when that
mother watched over us with care, when we went to her for

The Virgin Mary. 415

consolation, when we begged her to intercede for us and
mitigate the stem demands of the father, when she labored
for us, prayed for us, and with patient love and motherly
affection, would lay down her life for us. Who of us can
hold the portrait of a loved one and not feel the spirit of
affection that always creeps into the soul as we think of the
love that once crowned the joy of our existence? Who can say
that such contemplations, such affection that comes to us
through the eye, is not real? That it is not love, or reverence,
for the dead? This being true of those who have shared our
earthly joys and sorrows, why should not the same reverence
and affection extend to those who have labored for us through
the divine power of God?

We are taught to recognize and revere the Apostles as
models of holiness, of purity, and sacred in the history of
the Divine purpose. We do this because they were the fol-
lowers of Jesus, and were selected by Him to preach the
doctrine- of salvation. But how much more should we love
the Being who gave Him birth, whose breast was His pillow,
who nursed and clothed Him in infancy, who guided His early
steps, who accompanied Him in His exile to Egypt, who
abode with Him from infancy to boyhood, from boyhood to
manhood, who constantly listened to His words of wisdom,
who was the first to embrace Him at His birth, and the last
to receive His dying breath on Calvary? If this nearest and
dearest earthly association is not entitled to our homage, our
deepest veneration, then indeed is Christianity cold and cruel.

The Catholic faith is not a cold and formal expKDsition of
divine truth. It is full to overflowing with veneration, love.

416 Christian Persecutions.

and affection. There is not a spot of earth where trod the
Son of God, that is not sacred in the memory of this blessed
reHgion. The manger at Bethlehem, the streets of Nazareth,
the land of Judea, the mount of Calvary, are sacred to the
memory of Him who gave his life that we might live. Cath-
olics are taught to cherish these historic places as a part of
the veneration due that holy period of our world's existence.
As we honor the memory of Washington, and give expres-
sion of it in a thousand ways, so do they honor, or venerate,
the memory of Mary, the memory of the Apostle Peter, or the
memory of the legion of martyrs who gave their lives in de-
fense of Christian virtue, in defense of the Holy Sepulcher,
the Bible, the Church, and the worship of God. While Prot-
estants cannot appreciate this religious veneration, this wor-
ship of God through His representatives of Divine love, yet
they can understand why the tomb of Washington is sacred
to the heart of the true American. Visit this spot of national
reverence, and you instinctively feel that you are in the pres-
ence of some powerful influence, some venerated association,
and some honored dead. As you approach the sepulcher of
this renowned chieftain, you bare your head in solemn rever-
ence, you cease your levity, and you bend your knee in fervent
prayer. Why this deep respect, this worship of God, before
the doors of the dead? Is not this idolatry? Is the grave of
Washington more sacred than fhe grave of Jesus? Is the
pile of masonry a more sublime subject of remembrance than
the cross of crucifixion? No. But why this love of venera-
tion towards one and its lack towards another? This is made
clear by teaching the child. The moment the child compre-

The Virgin Mary. ilT

hends national existence it is taught that Washingfton was
the Father of his country, that he was a devoted patriot, that
his wonderful energies made him a conquering hero, that his
statesmanship was pure and loyal, and that he stands to-day
consecrated in the history of the American Republic. The
child also learns that the 22d day of February is the day of
his birth: that the 4th of July is the birth of Independence, and
thait Mount Vernon is the resting-place of our cherished dead.
Constantly do these remembrances arise in its mind. It hears
the eloquence of oratory, sees the display of patriotism and
becomes enthused with this grand demonstration of venera-
tion. Thus the child grows to manhood, educated to revere
Washington's memory, his work in the cause of independence,
and his marvelous achievements under great difficulties.

We thus manifest our admiration for our historic dead, as
does the .Catholic Church manifest its veneration for the
Mother of Jesus.

"Monuments and statues are erected to her. Tlirice
each day, at morn, noon, and even, the Angelus bells
are rung to recall to our mind the Incarnation of our
Lord, and the participation of Mary in this great mystery
of love. Her shrines are tastefully adorned by pious hands
and visited by devoted children, who wear her reUcs, or any
object that bears her image, or which is associated with her
name. Her natal day, and other days of the year sacred to
her memory, are appropriately commemorated by proces-
sions, by participation in the banquet of the Eucharist, and by
sermons enlarging on her virtues and prerogatives.

"As no one was ever suspected of loving his country and

418 Christian Persecutions.

her (institutions less because of his reverinig Washington,
so no one can reasonably suppose that our homage to God
is diminished by our fostering reverence for Mary. As our
object in eulogizing Washington is not so much to honor
the man as to indicate those principles of which he was the
champion and exponent, and to express our gratitude to God
for the blessings bestowed on our country through him, even so
our motive in commemorating Mary's name is not merely to
praise her, but still more to keep us in perpetual remembrance
of our Lord's Incarnation, and to show our thankfulness to
Him for the blessings wrought through that great mystery in
which she was so prominent a figure. Experience sufficiently
demonstrates that the better we understand the part which
Mary has taken in the work of redemption, the more enUght-
ened becomes our knowledge of our Redeemer Himself; and
that the greater our love for her, the deeper and broader is our
devotion to Him, while experience also testifies that our Sav-
iour's attributes become more confused and warped in the
minds of a people in proportion as they ignore Mary's rela-
tions to Him. I

"The defender of a beleaguered citadel concentrates his
forces on the outer fortifications and towers, knowing well
that the capture of these outworks would endanger the citadel
itself, and that their safety involves its security.

"Jesus Christ is the citadel of our faith, the stronghold of
our soul's afifection. Mary is called the 'Tower of David,'
and the gate of Sion which the Lord loveth more than all the
tabernacles of Jacob, and which He entered at His Incar-
nation.

The Virgin Mary. 419

"So intimately is this living gate of Sion connected with
Jesus, the Temple of our faitl^, that no one has ever assailed
the former without invadiing the latter. The Nestorian
would have Mary to be only an ordinary mother, because he
would have Christ to be a mere man.

"Hence, if we rush to the defense of the gate of Sion, it is
because we are more zealous for the city of God. If we stand
as sentinels around the tower of David, it is because we are
more earnest in protecting Jerusalem from invasion. If we
forbid profane hands to touch the ark of the covenant, it is
because we are anxious to guard from profanation the Lord
of the ark. If we are so solicitous about Mary's honor, it is
because 'the love of Christ' presseth us. If we will not per-
mit a single wreath to be snatched from her fair brow, it is
because we are unwilling that a single feature of Christ's
sacred humanity Should be obscured, and because we wish that
He should ever shine forth in all the splendor ol His glory,
and clothed in all the panoply of His perfection."

The above, showing why Catholics venerate the Virgin
Mary, was taken from the "Faith of Our Fathers," by Cardi-
nal Gibbons, and expresses beautifully the reasons for their
love and veneration. By using his words, we are enabled to
more clearly set forth that what many Protestants call wor-
ship is merely cold formality. They have never studied the
strength and cause of this Catholic love, and are ignorant of
its meaning. They see only outward representations, and
cannot comprehend the holy love they feel for Christ and his
Sainted Mother. Like the Nestorians, they look upon Mary
as an ordinary woman, but differ as to the divine origin of

420 Christian Persecutions.

Christ. While they look upon the Savior as the source of our
Christianity, our faith, and our salvation, yet they carelessly
pass this Mother by as being a character merely of pleasing
remembrance, but not of any special nearness to God. Tthey
do not call her blessed, for they were never taught what that
means. They even doubt the purity of her life and the name
she bears. They say that the birth of Christ, as understood,
is inconsistent with nature, that it is not a reasonable conclu-
sion, nor is it at all probable. Here let me say to my
Protestant friends: If you doubt that Mary was a virgin of
divine origin, that she knew no defilemenit, no sin, no unholy
thought or action, then you may doubt the divinity of Christ,
the miracles of God, and the existence of immortality. Analyze
the purposes of God, and you will find that Christ could not
exist in sin, with sin, or come from sin. That as He was
pure and holy, so, too, must His germ of existence "be pure
anid holy. To be otherwise would be an impossibility, and a
contradiction of divine law. As like begets like, as nature
is true to nature, and as finite is finite, and infinite is infinite,
so too must Christ, who is pure, holy, and Infinite, be con-
ceived by the same elements of purity of which He is, He
has been, and ever will be. To doubt for a moment this
purity of conception, is to cast an element of sin into the exist-
ence O'f God. You believe that Christ came into the world
pure and holy. You believe in the miracles He performed, the
lessons He taught, the persecution, the betrayal, the crucifix-
ion, and the resurrection. You believe He left the gospel of
repentance for all Christianity, and salvation for all men.
Then why close the gates to your belief in this most important

The Virgin Mary. 421

of all the miracles of God? What was feeding the multitude,
relieving the afflicted, or even the raising of the dead, when
compared with the divine necessity of a perfect origin? Those
testimonies of God's power on earth are as nothing when com-
pared to the impossible existence of an imperfect Infinity.

It is from this standpoint, therefore, that we must judge the
jealous love of the Catholics for their religion. They see the
nakedness of suspicion, and the impossible existence of an In-
finite Being of finite origin. They see that to love and venerate
Mary is but a part of their sublime faith in the everlasting truths
of God. As they bless the day that Christ came into the world,
so do they bless the Mother who gave this God gift to man.
The one they worship, the other they love, venerate, and
honor. Christ is the hope of immortality, and Mary the
blessed origin of the child Jesus.

Protestants seem to imagine that Catholics worship the
Virgin Mary; that because of their love and veneration for
her, she is the object of their adoration; that because they
kneel before her shrine they lose sight of God, and their wor-
ship becomes individual, and not that which should be directed
to the Divinity. They seem to think that it is a species of idol
atry, that God must be displeased, that He is robbed of t
part of the glory due Him, that it is making of Mary a divine
being, an object of worship, and thus we become guilty of a
violation of the commandments of God. They seem to feel
grieved at this lack of wisdom, this lack of understanding,
and think Catholics should be pitied for their ignorance. The
truth is, Protestants know nothing of the deep, loving grati-
tude that every Catholic feels for the Mother of Jesus, and

422 Christian Persecutions.

as they kneel in supplication before the Throne of Grace,
they can see no higher form of homage, no stronger evidence
of filial affection, no more devout form of worship, than to
pray in the presence of an image, or a picture, of the Sainted
Virgin. Are Protestants so blind as to imagine that Catholics
cannot distinguish the relationship that exists between the
picture of Mary, or the picture of Jesus, and the originals?
Can they believe that Catholics pray to these images and not
to the God who is behind them?

When individuals sa}'^ it is mockery, or an act of unholy
piety, to venerate Mary, to kiss the lips of her portrait, or to
bless her, they are totally ignorant of the thoughts and
motives of those who love to worship God, and to testify by
their acts their unbounded gratitude to Him. While Prot-
estants may believe that these acts of affection are but reg-
ular requirements prescribed by rule, they have no evidence
except that which their own coldness and their own teachings
furnishes. Because they have no desire to venerate the
Mother of Jesus, they can neither see nor feel any affection in
the acts of others. As the Atheist says that there is no God,
so did the Reformers — and all Protestantism sprang from the
Reformation — declare that to venerate Mary is to worship at
the displeasure of God. As they were taught this, so have
they practiced this cold and inhuman conduct. It is not
natural to be cold and formal while in the presence of purity
and loveliness. No being can deny the beauties of nature
and art. We were created to love all things beautiful and
we cannot deny it. We may fail to see the grandeur of divine
beauties unless taught how to appreciate them. We may not

The Virgin Mary. 423

understand that the mind is the camera of our 'existence, the
origin of inspiration, the power of passion, the inclination
for evil, or the source of good. But so it is. By it we rise
or fall, by it we have faith or distrust, by it we love or hate,
and as we receive the instructions of others so do we transmit
them to those we love and cherish. Teach your boy that
the Blessed Virgin Mary was only a woman, and he will
grow to manhood devoid of affection for her; but teach him
that she was a Sainted Mother, remind him of this great con-
nection between God and man, and whenever he stands before
her image, or her picture, he will renew his affection, his
homage, and his veneration.

We visit an art gallery and gaze with delight and admira-
tion on the beautiful works of art. We praise their loveliness,
their beauties of conception, their perfection, and wonder
how the brush, or chisel, can transform the barren canvas, or
the cold marble, into tbe vision of a seeming reality. In
praising these beautiful pictures, do you disihonor the artist
who wrought them? Does not all the praise which you bestow
belong to the one who fashioned these beauties? If the artist
should overhear your exclamations of joy, would he frown
with displeasure? But utter a remark of contempt, of unjust
criticism, or of ignorant disapproval, and a blaze of indigna-
tion bursts from his eyes. While he may not retort with
words, yet he scorns your presence and spurns you as he
would an adder. It is no longer a pleasure for him to dis-
play tc» you his treasures. You trampled upon the tender
feelings of his affection, and you may never regain his con-
fidence.

424 Christian Persecutions.

Agam, you examine some intricate and perfect mechan-
ism, you declare it is a wonderful invention, a blessing to
mankind, and the work of a master mind. Do you dishonor
the inventor by these words of praise? 'Are your exclama-
tions of appreciation distressful to him? Is he not grateful
for your approval and your interest in him? But belittle the
grandeur of his achievements, and what have you done? Tell
him you distrust his wisdom wlien you can see its perfect
work, and he will distrust your reason, your power of under-
standing, and to him you are as nothing — a mere speck of
infidelity and ignorance, a being dead to the world of
progress. And is he not right? You saw his work. It was
perfect. Millions clapped their hands in their appreciation of
his victory. You, alone, stand there doubting, and yet you
see its work, its marvelous power, and its perfect constmc-
tion.

Again, you visit a man who is proud of his mother, who
loves her, who sees only perfection in her every act, who
labors for her, and would protect her in all the storms of life.
You say to the man, what a lovely mother you have; she
seems so pure, so angelic, so devoted. Would not a blush
of happiness suffuse his cheek? Would he not clasp your
hand in joy and aflfection? But instead you say, I would like
to visit with you, but your mother is distasteful to me; will
you have her leave the room? Can you imagine the result?
As he loves his mother, so will he hate you; and in the pas-
sion of an aroused nature he will say. Depart from me; you
have disgraced my presence by blaspheming against my
mother, T will not harbor your presence, and may curses
follow your footsteps.

The Virgin Mary. 425

What is your verdict? You all exclaim that the visitor
was a poor, ignorant, debased being, and not worthy a place
in Christian society. He had lost his manhood by insulting
the son in his own home. This is exactly the condition of
Protestants in their relations with the Virgin Mary. While
they may not ask that she shall be cast aside, yet she is
ignored as being specially favored of God. She gave birth
to Jesus, but not as a special dispensation of Divine Power.
To them there is no stronger connection than the relation of
birth. The divinity of Christ had not made sacred the vessel
of His conception. His Incarnation had cast no luster over
His Sainted Mother. It was Chrif*- md Christ alone, whom
they honor, venerate, and worship. Mark the contrast. With
Catholics Mary is the beautiful work of art, the perfect
mechanism, and the idolized mother. In praising this perfect
work of God, and in kneeling in reverence before her, you but
receive the blessings of Him who sees it and blesses you for
it, and the more you honor her the greater pleasure you find
in the sight of God. Mary is his handiwork, his model of
perfection, and the means by which Jesus came into the world.
To praise and love His work is to praise and honor Him.
You cannot call her too beautiful, too perfect, or too worthy.
You cannot honor her too often, nor can you displease God
in any of your acts of veneration. She is Jesus' Mother, and
to kneel to her, to invoke her intercession, is but to please
Christ in your homage and filial aflfection. He sees the act
of love and gratitude and feels that it is to Him you render
praise.

The love of the devout Catholic is so great for Mary that

(?8)

426 Christian Persecutions.

not a temple or chapel, how rude soever it may be, but is
adorned with a painting or a statue of the Madonna. There
is no house that is not embellished with an image of Mary,
and no Catholic child is a stranger to her famihar face.

"The priest and the layman, the scholar and the illiterate,
the prince and the peasant, the mother and the maid, ac-
knowledge her benign sway."

"And if Christianity is so fruitful in comparison with
paganism, in conjugal fidelity, in female purity, and in respect
paid to womanhood, these blessings are in no small measure
due to the force of Mary's all-pervading influence and exam-
ple. Ever since the Son of God chose a woman to be His
mother, man looks up to woman with a homage akin to
veneration.''

The chief reason given why Protestants are so lukewarm
in their praises of the mother of Jesus, is that they were never
educated to revere her. But why were they not so educated?
Why were they not taught to see her as she was and as she
is? Why were they not taught to study her character, the
purity of her life, her relationship to God, and the beautiful
example she set for us to imitate? These reasons are easily
answered, and although Protestants may seek to deny the
charge, yet it is true and must be accepted as the only solution
of this seeming cold and almost cruel neglect w'hich is charged
against them by the Catholics. It is because the practice of
veneration is Catholic. The sacrifice of the Mass, a-nid these
acts of piety, date from the beginning of Christianity. They
have ever honored and venerated the Virgin Mary. For fif-
teen hundred years the whole Christian world bowed before

The Virgin Mary. 427

the Mother of Jesus. As the Catholic cherishes the crucifix
as the emblem of martyred faith, so too, does he cherish the
remembrance of Mary as the origin of the Incarnation of
our Savior, The one represenits life and birth, the other faith
and death. These two sacred periods of existence receive the
strongest veneration known to the Catholic faith. The picture
of the Sainted Mother fills the heart with love and affection,
while the cross is that deeper feeling which stirs the soul in
its adoration of God. Deny these cherished representatives
of life and death, and you destroy the beauties of the Catholic
worship of God. Deny the cross of crucifixion, and you deny
Jesus Christ, who surrendered His life for the salvation of
man. Deny the Virgin Mary, and you deny his existence as
the Son of God.

Again I say to my Protestant friends, the practice is Cath-
olic, and you have inherited the antagonistic doctrine of the
Reformation. Is it not true that you do not teach your chil-
dren that the Mother of Jesus was pure, holy, and without sin?
Why have you never taught this? Is it not because it is
Catholic? Because it is a part of the Catholic faith? Because
in the great struggle of Reformation you sought a separate
and distinct doctrine of Christianity? Is it not true that it has
ever been the aim of Protestantism to go as far from the
Catholic practice as possible? You recognize Christ because
you could not be Christians if you did not. You believe Him
to be the Son of God, the great source of salvation, and the
Infinite Man, You believe the Bible is a book of inspirations,
that it is the Divine Truth, and the Word of God, As you
believe these things," then why do you ignore the study of the

428 Christian Persecutions.

character of Mary? You write volumes on the life of Christ,
but scarcely mention the name of His Mother, and yet thi's
Blessed Being was almost constantly with him from the
cradle to the crucifixion. She consoled him during the
agonizing moments on Calvary, and she ran to his sepulcher
on the morn of his resurrection. Why then have you cast
her aside as only a woman and a mother? Is it nothing to
be the earthly mother of such a being as Jesus? Is she not
entitled to all the veneration that it is possible for your soul
to give? Can you honor her without honoring Him? Can
you love Him less by clasping her to your heart? No, these
things are impossible. Catholics love the Sainted Mother
because she was the chosen instrument of God to bless the
world through the birth of Jesus. Now, is it not your duty
to honor and love her? She has earned your affections, and
were you to kneel before her shrine at morn, noon, and even,
you could never praise God more sweetly, more fervently,
nor more purely. If God blessed her, and through His divine
power she became the instrument of salvation by th€ birth
of Jesus, we need have no hesitation in pressing our lips to
her brow, in loving her devotion to God, in revering her purity
of character, and in praising God for this knowledge of His
divine power.

It is not necessary for me to quote any particular passage
of Scripture to prove the divine right to love and venerate
the Virgin Mary. I will only ask you to read for yourself.
You need not search diligently, for if you will but read you
will find constantly recurring evidence of this miracle of God.
You will find that, besides being a woman and a mother, she

The Virgin Mary. 429

was holy and pure, that she was sanctified for the purpose of
the Incarnation of our Lord, and as such, she must have
been, and is to-day, the most sainted soul in all the treasures
of heaven. How, then, can you say, "I love my Redeemer,"
and not in the same breath bless the mother who bore him?
As Christ came into the world to teach men how to live, how
to worship, and how to die, so, too, was Mary the great ex-
emplar of Christian virtues, and in her sainted life she ever
stands as a perfect model for the followers of all mankind.

The Catholic Church ever holds up for the contemplation
of her children the beautiful portrait of the Virgin Mary.
They are taught to study it, that they may thereby the better
admire the original, and by admiring they may love, and
loving, they may imitate, and thus become more dear to God
by being made "conformable to the image of His Son," of
whom Mary is the most perfect mirror.

CHAPTER XXXII.

SISTERS OF CHARITY.

A A Y friends, did you ever stop to consider the mission of
■^ " ■*■ the Sisters of Charity? Did you ever stop to investi-
gate the marvelous organization of this institution, its ahnost
universal presence among the poor and afflicted, the consecra-
tion of womanhood to the relief of distress, and her wonderful
devotion to the true principles of human kindness? "If you
have never seriously thought of who and what they are, I
most earnestly ask you to follow me for a few moments, until
we have uncovered some of these deeds of charity, some of the
modest achievements of this band of silent and yet devoted
followers of Christian love, of gracious deeds of reUef, and of
their zealous piety and devotion.

Sisters of Charity. Do you know them? You do, and yet
you do not. You know them from the history of what the
world has been pleased to describe unto you. You have read
of their devotion to the relief of human suffering and of human
poverty. You read the almost constantly recurring report of
some good Sister Samaritan who appears on the scene of
necessity, and as a matter of fact, performs the work of the
emergency, and then disappears with the same silent unob-
servation as was manifested in her coming. This history is so
familiar to you that not even curiosity prompts you to
wonder who gave this relief and What is the real motive that
prompts its execution. This is about all that you know. You

430

Sisters of Charity. 431

have seen and heard, and yet you did not reahze what a sweet
messenger of love had ministered to the wants of distress.

She came and she went, having left the beautiful impress
of her charity and her devotion. The afflicted felt the pure
touch of her fidelity to Christian virtue, but the world was
ignorant of this noblest of all noble deeds — the gift of relief
without money and without price. In her coming there was
no announcement of one who had earned the public acclama-
tions of merit and renown. There had been no recognition of
brilliant achievements, no approval of the mental victory in
tlie attainment of science, no kingly honor because of fame
and ambition, and no crown of glory to be given by a proud
and grateful populace. In her coming there was no earthly
reward but the glad heart of the afflicted, and no ambition to
satisfy except the ambition to do God's will in the relief of a
poor, distressed humanity. She came as a duty, to lift the
burdens of despair, to soothe the last moments of the dying,
to care for the orphans, to make a home for the homeless, to
encourage, to inspire, to hope, to love, to point out the paths
of virtue, and to save from perdition the soul of a mortal being.

The ambition of the world is to produce some great institu-
tion of amazement, and not the simplicity of meekness. If it
is charity, it must be on such a scale as to excite the approba-
tion and applause of a people. But to bear the cup of relief
with the silent step of an unheralded mission, is to the world
a lost fragrance, an ignored and unknown virtue, and a
blessedness of character that is not appreciated only by those
who feel the tender devotion of this Christ-like manifestation
of a true Angel of Mercy. Not only are they not appreciated

432 Christian Persecutions.

by the giddy fashion of inconsistency, but because there is no
pomp .nor glory in these ministrations of good, because they
have surrendered the ties that bound them to home, to for-
tune, and to worldly pleasure, and because they have dedicated
their lives to the service of affliction. For these reasons of
voluntary action of worthiness, and because the world was
not consulted as to when, how, and why, they must therefore
point the finger of scorn, ridicule the motive of the one who
gives this sacrifice, and actually defame the spirit of noble
womanhood in their acts of Christian charity.

For shame, brothers, to harbor for even one moment the
suspicion of one thought of unholy devotion. In your
thoughtless observances you unconsciously fall into the pit
of ignorance. Whenever you drop a word of disbelief, of re-
proach to fidelity, of purity of character, of honest motives, you
are defaming the worthiest inspirations of goodthat have ever
animated the heart of woman. Because no one rises up to
defend them from your sneer, from the loose jest of your
sarcasm, do not think they are beneath the nobleness of your
own mother, your own sister, your own wife, or your own
daughter. Remember that the hand that is stretched out in the
cause of human kindness is a woman's who, in the nobleness
of a true heart, gives her life for the benefit of others. In all
the realms of duty, is there a consecration so grand and beau-
tiful ."n its purity of conception as this? Can you paint a pic-
ture so full of the grandeur of devotion as is this?

You are selfish. You see the world in all the brilliant dis-
play of fashion and beauty. You believe that the sole sphere
of woman is to be the butterfly of vanity, or the slave to cir-

Sisters of Charity. 433

rumstances. In your health and happiness you turn aside
from the wants of the needy, the afBicted, and those who are
sorely distressed. To you there is but one field of labor, and
that wherein you can best earn the pleasures of existence and
■avoid the harrowing scenes of misery and want. You have
no care for the millions of God's creatures who are daily suf-
fering from disease, from poverty, and from the evils of a
misspent life. You say that, as it is the result of their own
sin, they have earned their misery; that it is but the just
deserts of the disobedience of law. You have no patience, no
humanity, no feelings of pity, and no sorrow for these penalties
of disobedience. You have lived your life in the strict observ-
ance of a moral, and as the world says, an honorable manhood,
and because of your morality, you spurn from your doorsteps
those who have fallen.

If this was all, if you had denied only those who were
seeking the gifts of your charity, you might stand higher in
the scales of human justice, but the sin of injustice is worse,
a thousandfold worse, when you curl your lip "in scorn as you
notice that the good Samaritan did not turn from the stranger
and pass on the other side, who was not so absorbed in the
mad scramble of life that he could not administer to the
afflicted, who did not upbraid him for his sins and, like your-
self, spurn him from the wayside. You see this good Samari-
tan, this Sister of Charity, alleviate his misfortunes and press
to his parched lips the draught of kindness. You see her do
this and more. You see her seek to restore his manhood, to
teach him repentance, and yet you toss your head in scorn,
you attribute some unholy unworthiness to these faithful crea-

434 Christian Persecutions.

tures who, to do the work of Christ, whom you profess to
worship, come in the same lowly garb of meekness as did the
Saviour of Bedilehem.

Now, my friends, let me ask you, w<liy have you done this?
Why do you attribute any other motive than that which you
see in these noble acts of Christian charity? Have you ever
seen an_act, or heard a word spoken, that would betray even
the suspicion of a cause for your ingratitude? Have you ever
heard from any reliable authority or by any authority what-
ever, that (these Samaritans are not the purest in character, the
sweetest in benevolence, the most womanly, and the most
Christian of all women in existence? Have you any reason
whatever, except that derived from idle slander, for not weigh-
ing out to them the full measure of their worth? Have you
formed any reasonable excuse for not honoring them for tlie
chosen field of their usefulness? Can you believe in your heart
that such creatures can harbor even the shadow of shame, of
remorse, or of infidelity to their womanhood?

But you do not base your judgment upon the real acts of
existence. You hear tlie preposterous slanders coming from
the polluted sources of such motorious impostors as Maria
Monks and then say, see what a woman says against woman.
Such characters are not worthy even the silent contempt of an
honest man or woman, and I ask you to consider the history
of these polluted creatures who rise up to defame the hands
who seek to restore womanhood even in its debased sliame.

Had there been no sin, no depravity, no missteps in life,
no unfortunate poor, there would have been no call for the
mission of charity. They are not there for the pleasures of

Sisters op Charity. 435

earth, or the pleasures of existence, except;, as their benevo-
lence gives to them the love of consecrated duty to bring
relief^ and the love of being the instrument of God to raise
man from the depravity of misery and want. Theirs is a con-
scientious duty to dedicate their powers of existence to the
sweet and sublime efforts of relieving distress, of comforting
the desolate, and whispering the words of peace and consola-
tion.

Mark the contrast. You encourage vice and poverty by
not placing your hand against the stream of social crime that
feeds it. They expose their lives in battling with that which
you cross to the other side to avoid. They take from their
basket of poverty the last crust to feed the destitute, while you
spurn from your door the unfortunate poor, just as did the
rich man deny the crumbs of his table to Lazarus. They will
seek to raise the fallen, although he may be the most despised
wretch in existence, but you fear to soil your clothes in a con-
tact with vice and misery. They will enter the dens of infamy,
and as they stop to stanch the flow of blood from an unfor-
tunate victim, a hush falls upon those present, vice for a mo-
ment is forgotten, the presence of purity is a strength greater
than sin, and as this Sister becomes a ministering angel, there
will be no depth of infamy that will mock at 'her efforts, or will
whisper her name in any connection except as it blesses and
reverences the being that is before them. The idle tongue of
jest is silenced, the thought of mother and sister comes back
to them in all the force of a sweet reco'lkction. That woman,
that Sister is safe in that den of infamy, and were you, sir, to
enter and cast one word of reproach, a syllable of slander,

436 Christian Persecutions.

or an unchristian sentiment of baseness, those men, who have
drank the cup of disgrace, of immorality, and of crime, will
rise up in the defense of her whom you seek to dishonor.

Why, may I ask, does this unappreciative world not praise
these deeds of noble doing? Why are these silent Sisters of
Mercy, these true Samaritans, these devoted followers of
Christ, cast in the background of forgetfulness? I will tell
you why. It is from prejudice and not from any foundation
of cause. You do not feel the inspiration of this mission ; you
do not conceive the holy duty that should inspire all men in
the elevation of truth and honor; you do not understand the
true sentiments of Christianity. These things are beyond
your realization of duty and justice, and as you are floundering
in the slough of ignorance, you ascribe a motive that is not
pure and holy. You have never studied this sacrifice; you
cannot understand how it is possible to consecrate the pure life
of woman to the relief of humanity. You may see how man
may spring to the service of his country, how he may imperil
his life to rescue the fire-caught victim or the shipwrecked
mariners, but you do not consider that this same spirit may
actuate woman, and by it she may ignore the pleasures of life,
and seek at all times to aid in the relief of poor, distressed
humanity. It requires no more courage or sacrifice for you
to obey the order to charge, than it does for her to bind up the
wounds of the bleeding soldier, to soothe the delirium of fever,
or to nurse back to life the shattered form of chivalry. While
the world is ever ready to cheer you on, to welcome you, to
ring the praises of heroism from shore to shore and from con-
tinent to continent, yet they are silent to the just dues of her

Sisters of Charity. 437

who follows in the footsteps of war, of bloodshed, and of dis-
ease.

But what is this prejudice, this lack of appreciation due
these noble Sisters? Is it not because they are Catholic?
Have you not been taught in your infancy, in your boyhood,
in your manhood, that there is and ought to be a prejudice?
Have you not been shown what exists in imagination and not
in reality? Were you not taught from the Reform opposition
of the sixteenth century, or from the rebellion of Henry VHI?
Were you not raised in a condition of semi-unbelief; that there
is a secret undercurrent in the Catholic Church that is not
Christian; that the motives of rehef are not a sincere desire
to be what it represents, that, after all, there may be a fountain
of iniquity we know not of?

You seek to deny that it is because it is Catholic, but there
is, and there can be, no other reason. Your prejudice has
made it so. You have inherited it from your ancestors. You
may not be to blame for what was born in your constitution,
but you arc to blame for not being consistent, for not investi-
gating, for not looking upon the other side. You see the
noblest virtue of womanhood dedicated to the mission of
charity, then why not love her for this devotion? You do not
obtain this statement from hearsay; you see it in every walk
of life, and in every form of poverty and misery. You worship
Jesus because of His glorious promises of salvation. You see
Him going about curing the sick and afflicted, the maimed and
the blind. You see Him teaching humility, admonisliing the
wicked to go and sin no more, to do unto others as 3''ou would
that others should do unto you. You see the poverty of life,

438 Christian Persecutions.

His desire to raise tip those who have fallen, His willingness
and desire to assist the needy, to relieve the lowest depths of
misery, and to teach Christianity to all men. You worship
God for His manifestation of love, but when woman seeks to
emulate our Saviour you ascribe to her a motive, the nature of
which, and its utterance, oug'h't to be beneath the dignity of a
man, or a rational human being.

Read the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew and you need no
further evidence of the great responsibility and duty that is
imposed upon all of us,

"Then sliall the King say unto them on his right hand.
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world :

"For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was
thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took
me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me:
I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave
thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or
naked, and clothed thee? Or when saiw we thee sick, or in
prison, and came unto thee?

"And the King shall answer and say unto them. Verily I
say unto you. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the
least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

Here we ihave the divine promise of God, that as we "have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto Me." Likewise we find in the same chapter that if
we deny those Wlio are an hungered, or thirsty, or a stranger.

Sisters op Charity. 439

or naked, or sick, or in prison, then we deny Christ, and he
says: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre-
pared for the devil and his angels/'

Before proceeding further in this discussion, let us examine
this Society, which the world knows so much of and yet fails
to appreciate.

The origin of the Daughters of Charity, or 'as afterwards
called. Sister of Charity, dates back to 1630, when Vincent de
Paul, who, seeing the necessity of a perfect organization for
the dispensation of charity, instituted this Society, which has
grown and spread its branches into every city o£ earth.

But some of you may ask, who was Vincent de Paul?
Read the record of his works, the history of his life, and you
will find in him one of the noblest Christians that the world
has ever produced. His record of good works places him as
one of the most benevolent, the most earnest in the relief of
mankind from the enthrallment of sin and poverty, the purest
in character, the most devoted to truth, piety, and manhood,
the most remarkable in learning, in organization of forces, and
in the spreading of the true gospel of Christianity. Of all the
men that have blessed the world for being in it, none can show
a record of greater worth, of purer principles of conception, or
of grander attainments for good, than Vincent de Paul. His
was a life of the most devoted consecration, of the loftiest
deeds of benevolence, of the grandest Christian devotion, and
the sweetest love for the ministrations of kindness, of filiail
affection to all mankind, and to the practical demonstrations of
true Charity.

This great man was induced to undertake the organization

440 Christian Persecutions.

of charity by a simple incident which occurred in 1627. As he
was ascending the pulpit to preach, a lady approached him and
asked that he should remember to his congregation the pov-
erty of a very worthy family who was living a league distant.
The thought of poverty, in the midst of plenty, touched his
heart with sympathy and in his plea for relief he so wrought
upon his congregation that many journeyed through the in-
tense heat of the day to render aid to the distressed family.
Vincent was much surprised at this spontaneous willingness
to confer benefits^ but at the same time he saw that charity
without a shepherd could not be dispensed with economy and
satisfaction, therefore he brought into an organization a band
of willing workers who, under the name of Daughters of
Charity, laid the foundation oi this wonderful society that has
for more than a century encircled the earth.

Vincent entrusted the supervision of 'this organization to
Mile. Le Gras, a devout and enthusiastic lady. This work,
which was so humble in its origin but great in its conse-
quences, was eagerly sought after because of its beautiful
Christian force in the world of charity. While Vincent wished
to avoid the praises of a grateful and appreciative people, yet
his modesty, his silent ministrations of good, only made him
more lovable and more to be admired.

But we will not discuss the wonderful development of the
Sisters of Charity, as it took ro'ot in alll Europe, in Asia, in
Africa, in America, in the Islands of the Pacific, and wlierever
Christianity was being taught by the brave missionaries of the
Church. On the field of battle, where the presence of woman
h^d never before appeared, there stood this iioble order ready

Sisters of Charity. 441

to receive the last message of the dying and to relieve the un-
fortunate fallen. In hospitals, in fever-stricken localities,
where there was cholera, the plague, or wherever disease, war,
or affliction was raging, there were sent these Angels of Mercy.

Volumes have been written, and volumes more may be
published^ explaining the sacrifice of life, the privations, the
willing desire to obey the call of duty, the tender ministrations
of love, or the complete surrender of self to the wants of others,
and yet there has not, nor can there be expressed the full
measure of that debt which the world owes this unappreciated
order of Charity.

So extensive had become the work of these Sisters that it
was decided best to place the organization m the United States
under a home government, consequently in 1800 there was
estaDlished at Emmetsburg, Maryland, a motherhouse, which
was to govern all the other houses in the United States, but to
look to Paris, the central head, for its general instruction.

Thus establislhed, has the mission of these Sisters become
more and more widespread as the wants of distress have
demanded greater assistance. In all the prominent cities on
this continent do we find the evidences of their labor and their
devotion, by the magnificent erection of schools, hospitals,
asylums, homes, and other institutions to aid the relief of
poverty and affliction.

In order to sihow to our readers what these organizations
are doing, I visited the Sisters of Charity in Milwaukee, Wis.,
and there obtained a list of benevolent institutions which are
located in that city, and which is but a counterpart of what
exists in every city of equal population. While these works

(29)

442 Christian Persecutions.

are not all instituted by the Sisters of Charity, yet they are the
societies of women with the same objects in view and the same
holy purpose to serve, the true objects of Christianity.

I will briefly enumerate these societies and their objects
and attendance:

SCHOOL FOR YOUNG GIRLS.

Number in attendance, 309.

10 Sisters of Charity for instruction.
SCHOOL FOR BOYS.

Number in attendance^ 371.

II Sisters for instruction.

ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL. ' i

Average number of patients, 80.

Cared for during the year, G58.

Number of Sisters of Charity, 10.

Training sdhool for nurses with 14 pupils.
ST. ROSE'S FEMALE ORPHAN ASYLUM.

Number of orphans, 130.

Number of Sisters, 9.
ST. VINCENT'S INFANT ASYLUM. i

Number of infants, 271.

Number of Sisters, 8.
OUR LADY OF ANGELS ACADEMY.

Number of young ladies, 86.

Number of Sisters, 9.
SACRED HEART SANITARIUM.

A water-cure Hospital.

Annual number of patients, GOO.

Sisters op Charity. 443

ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL.

Average number of patients, 55.
Number during the year, 455.
Number of Franciscan Sisters, 20.

ST. ^MELIANUS' MALE ORPHAN ASYLUM AND BOYS'
HOME.

Number of orphans, 157.

Number in Boys' Home, 37.

Number of Sisters of St. Francis of Assisium, 16.
GIRLS' HOME.

Number not obtained.

This Home is under the care of the Sisters of Mercy.
LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR.

Number of inmates, 170.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL OF OUR LADY OF CHARITY OF

THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

Industrial School, 78.

Reservation Class, 45.

Reformatory, 85,
ST. MARY'S CONVENT.

11 Sisters of the Society of the Divine Saviour.

These Sisters attend to the sick in t)heir own homes.

What can you say of this noble array of these institutions of
benevolence? Who can read of the wonderful deeds of in-
dividual sacrifice and then say there is no depth of purity of
purpose in all this wide expanse of charity? And yet this is
but a grain of sand in the monument of doing thait stands to
the credit of these Sisters of a true Christianity. Not alone are
their hospitals, asylums, homes, and institutions of relief found

444 Christian Persecutions.

in Milwaukee, but" they are scattered through all the nations of
earth. Wlhierever we find the worsihip of God there we find the
influence of some good Sister Samaritan, who is seeking to
alleviate distress, to advance the welfare of mankind, and to
build up the religion of Him who said: "Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done
it unito Me."

Now, my friends, we have attempted to show you some-
thing of this most interesting of all important institutions.
You have learned that it was conceived in the simplest of all
beginnings, that from the one act of charity in 1627 the whole
world was made to feel this wonderful influence, and while it
is impossible for me to give an adequate history of the millions
of blessings which have been bestowed by these devoted Sis-
ters, yet I can thank God for the inspiration thait prompted Vin-
cent de Paul to organize woman's sympathy, wo'man's sacrifice,
and woman's filial devotion to the poverty-stricken poor, to
the imfortunate victims of disease, of suffering, and of the
grand spectacle of elevating mankind from sin and the depths of
infamy. Can you form in your mind a sweeter picture, a more
blessed representation of human love, than these silent, lowly,
and never-ceasing scenes of charity? And yet there are those,
who pretend to be Christian, who will raise that double-headed
monster, slander, and allow it to strike its fangs deep into the
quivering flesh of innocence, and then gloat over its brutal
acts of villainy. If there is a hell to torment the souls of those
accursed defamers, if it could burn witih an unending torture,
such punishment would not be too severe as a just sentence for
this unholy blasphemy against these devoted Sisters,

Sisters of Charity. 445

If this simple chapter will be the means of allaying some of
this intemperate and inconsistent prejudice, and above all, if
it will still that monstrous tongue of scandal, of mockery, of
falsehood, of vulgar insinuations of indecency, and of lowest
cunning, then I shall feel that I have not written in vain.

Once I was just as ignorant of the blessings of these minis-
trations of love and aflfection as are you. Once I did not ap-
preciate their holy calling, but I am proud to say that there is
one sin I sliall never be called upon to answer for, and that
is the sin of disrespect, of unmanly speech, of infamous con-
duct, of vile utterances of jest and ridicule, or the insinuation
of a debased shame. And now, if I can be the means of creat-
ing study and reflection, then will the veil of prejudice be
raised and the nobleness of character will shine forth in all
its brilliant splendor, and these gracious deeds, Which God has
been pleased to bestow upon mankind, will rise up and bless
the hand that guides them, and will become an honor in the
unfolding of Christian virtues.

Before closing this short testimony of what we see and
know, I wish to uncover one more jewel in this wreath of ever-
lasting flowers, and this is the jewel of poverty. The rich, the
poor, the lowly, and the great, are all placed upon the same
plane of human kindness. The poorest beggar will receive the
same tender treatment as the count of honor. There are no
distinctions in station or society, no decree against unworthi-
ness, and no respecter of persons. If it is an enemy in afflic-
tion, they will soothe the brow of distress, bind up the wounds
of misfortune, and watch the e'bbing life of disease.

It is charity in its fullest and deepest meaning. There is no

446 Christian Persecutions.

pretense except that of tine strictest observance of duty. They
seek to honor Jesus in their mission of love, and as they scatter
the deeds of loyalty they become the true Samaritans of old,
the Ang-e'ls oif Mercy, and the true Sisters of Charity.

In this chapter I have mentioned the Sisters of Charity as
a special society, and have given them prominence over all
others, not because ithey are more worthy than oither orders of
Sisters, but to follow one branch with a particular name, giving
its origin and mission. To the Proteistant world the Sisters of
Chaiity meain all who have consecrated their lives to the
service of God and the relief of humanity.

Were we to select an order with the greatest number of
commendable virtues, it is probably safe to say that the "Little
Sisters of the Poor" rank in patient humility and unrequited
love and honor with any, or all of the others. These Sisters
do not have even the pleasure of seeing the infant develop
into childhood, or the sick and the maimed restored to health
and manhood, but theirs is to watch and guard the old and
feeble outcasts of society. A class of people without home
or friends, a class who have lived beyond the usefulness in life,
who are childish in spirit, uncongenial in manners, and who
are helpless, irritable, uncouth, disagreeable; in fact, just that
class that no one in the wide world would harbor or comfort.
These Little Sisters aicoept tihis as their dulty, and if God's bless-
ing is to descend because of one act of human charity more
than another, it should be the prayer of all Christian people
that this blessing sihould fall upon these lowly creatures who
soothe and comfort the last hours of the aged men and women
who are homeless, poverty-stricken, and alone and friendless.

Sisters of Charity. 447

When the war with Spain was declared, President McKin-
ley asked for one hundred Sisters of Charity to go to the
camps, the battlefields, and the hospitals, to nurse the sick and
the wounded. Did they respond? Not only did one hundred
offer their services, but three hundred Good Samaritans an-
swered the call, and were you, dear reader, to follow them
through the blighting scenes of disease, you would find them
worthy the greatest homage that it is possible for us to bestow
upon human beings.

At San Juan a Sister died while at her post of duty. At her
funeral every respect was bestowed upon her that was possible.
Her coffin was decked with the stars and stripes, and floral
offerings from ten thousand saddened hearts. Soldiers who
were camping miles away marched in to bow their heads at
the grave of this departed Sister. They had learned to love
her for her bountiful gifts of affection, of tenderness, and
devotion.

Thus we find that the world is full of this same generous
disposition to alleviate distress, to sacrifice their own lives in
the rescue of others, and at all times to be the ministering
xA.ngels of Mercy to those who are in poverty, in affliction, in
the feebleness of age, and in the true spirit of Him who said :
"As ye 'have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye
have done it unto Me."

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE JESUITS.

THE world in general knows nothing, absolutely nothing,
of the Society, or Company of Jesus. They hear the
name Jesuit, they understand that it is Catholic, they are sus-
picious of some Masonic mystery, a secret organization of
religious power, a menace to future liberty, and a something
that ought not to be. This is about as far as the world goes
in its knowledge of the origin, the purpose, the faith, the life,
and the mission of this Order.

The world has never studied the inner nature and motives
of the Jesuit. It has never cared to fathom the depths of
piety, the self-sacrifice, the devotion, the truth of character,
the uncomplaining poverty, and the resistance of hatred
against those who slander and vilHfy. This same world cares
nothing for the noble acts of benevolence and of forbearance,
nor does it care for the religious zeal and the exemplification
of Christian virtues. But whisper a suspicion of evil, and it
rises in alarm, and as the blaze of the incendiary is fanned into
a mighty conflagration, so do the words of slander become a
tempest of power which engulfs the "good and strands the bark
of virtue.

Good deeds are known only when the world delights to
honor, while evil report spreads as a contagion, a plague of
devastation, and the seeds of unbelief.

Few people who are not directly interested in the mission

448

The Jesuits. 449

of the Jesuits read and remember their virtues, but the ear
catches the first sound of distrust and the tongue of calumny
carries this morsel of news, and as it is handed down from
neighbor to neighbor, and from gossip to gossip, it at last
becomes the tumbleweed of inconsistency, w'hich flies with the
wind of slander, scattering the seeds of prejudice, intoleration,
and persecution.

No organization, society, order, or institution was ever so
villified and misunderstood as the Company of Jesus. Many
people believe that the Jesuits are a sworn body of Catholic
priests who have been and are seeking to undermine society,
law, and government. Not one Protestant in one thousand
has ever read of its pious founder, or of his wonderful teach-
ings of love and forbearance. They haven't even the remotest
idea of how or when this Order was founded. The name Jesuit
is a bugbear of plotting, of hidden disloyalty, and of terror, to
those poor, ignorant beings who never investigate for them-
selves, but accept the assertions of others, and the wilder the
assertions, and the more inconsistent they are represented, the
more they believe.

"We shall not fight with the sword, but with the word; we
shall preach to men and instruct children ; we shall make Chris-
tians by preaching and teaching.

"We shall accept money from no one for praying, celebrat-
ing, preaching, or teaching, and we shall be reproached for
this, for we shall have other enemies than the enemies of the
Church.

"Despite the absence of any stipend, our poverty shall erect
immense dwellings and shall scatter large alms.

450 Christian Persecutions.

"This will be astonishing, and we shall be accused for it.
We shall march on, with lowered heads, regardless of insults,
and those who outrage us we sliall love as ourselves for the
love of God.

"My friends and my children, it is hard to do this, and it is
especially hard to believe in it. The law commanding us to
turn the other cheek is unnatural and so repugnant to the heart
of man that when man sees it obeyed, he will insist upon see-
ing nothinig but hypocrisy in the impossible sacrifice, or cow-
ardice in the heroism that he cannot understand.

"No man will admit that without God's help it needs a
^(' tiho'usiand times more valor to drink die bitterness of insult
than it is to strike down the man who insults you.

"Amongst men we shall be considered swindlers for our
miracle of poverty; hypocrites, for our miracle of charity; cow-
ards, for our miracle of humility.

"Glory to God!

"Even our death will not disarm ridicule or insult; it sliall
be said of us as was said of our Divine Master, Jesus, that 'we
have played our parts to the end, and tlM our last sigh is our
last falsehood.' Glory, glory to God alone!"

Who uttered these words? It was Ignatius de Loyola, the
founder of the Company of Jesus, who on August 15, 1534,
at the crypt of Notre Dame, Paris, called together six selected
and loyal followers, and in his plea for humanity and the
spread of the gospel of Christ, he uttered these ever-to-be-re-
membered w^ords.

Now, dear reader, mark the contrast between these words
of Loyola and the words of Gioberti, who, because he was

The Jesuits. 451

rebuked by the Jesuits for eulogizing them to an extreme,
turned in his madness and in the spirit of revenge wrote
"Modern Jesuits," where he declares: "The Jesuits are souls
without pity, souls of iron; they are impenetrable to sentiments
the most sacred, to affections the most noble; they are ever
ready for fraud, imposture, and calumny; they are men without
heart, apostles of hell, ministers of perdition; in fine, they form
the most terrible and fatal enemy of humanity and Christianity
which modern times 'have known. — They teach a riibaild mo-
rality which !has only the semblance of being Christian, and
they inculcate things of which an honest Gentile would be
ashamed; their idea of justice is contradictory to public law,
and can have the sanction of none but aissassins."

Which of these utterances is remembered and quoted in the
writings of the Protestant world? It is needless to answer.
We all know that the evil of man is prone to keep alive the
slanders and calumnies of others. By the prejudice of those
who are raised in ignorance will there be a remembrance of
every charge made against the victims of misrepresentation.

It mattered not how Gioberti came to utter those words of
villification. They were publicly declared, and no passion,
malice, hatred, or any of the vile attributes of man would be
considered in the great scales of human justice. Slander will
outweigh the blackest character that ever uttered it. The
vilest criminal in existence may traduce and villify the hand
that seeks to lift him up, and the world will scatter the sflander
and applaud tJhe villain for it.

The Jesuit is that victim, and the words of Gioberti have
ever been proclaimed by Protestants as the proof df iniquity,

452 CHRISTIANfjIPERSEOUTIONS.

of hypocrisy, of impurity, of perjury, of hatred, of falsity, and
of murder. This writer has ever been held as competent
authority for the right to charge all forms of evil to them.

But before we proceed further, let us return to the begin-
ning of this Society, view the character of the founder, the
spirit of the times, and the great work to accomplish.

Ignatius de Loyola was born in Spain in 1491, and on
arriving at manhood became a brilliant captain in the army,
and won the approbation of his superiors for his unconquera-
ble valor. In outward appearance he was haughty, stern, and
uncompromising in his demands for justice, but when the light
of God fell upon him, as it did like a thunderbolt from a clear
sky, his heart was turned from the fever of war to that of the
deepest tenderness, love, and adoration. His eyes, as they
shone through the beauties of his soul, showed the strong de-
termination of his mind, the grandeur of thoughts and pur-
poses, and the purity of a consecrated life.

This brilliant captain was wounded at the bloody siege of
Pampeluna. His power to lead in the strife of battle was gone
forever. His body was maimed, and though the spirit of
chivaliy raged with unceasing passion, yet Ignatius could
never again fight with the sword of mortal combat. His wild
spirit bounded against the caged bars of his infirmities. He
was raised a soldier, and his life had been one fierce conflict,
and now to be bound down with the cruel pains of afifliction
was a blow that was hard to bear. To soothe his pillow of dis-
tress, he would ask his attendants to read to him the glowing
accounts of the achievements of knig'hthood, the brilliancy of
victory, and the triumphs of his cause. In his imagination he

The Jesuits. 453

could hear the din of war, the trumpet call for action, and the
thundering charge.

Among the knig'htly romances which were brought to his
bedside was a narration of the suflfering of the Christian Mar-
tyrs, and the story of their wonderful faith, their endurance
against mortal pain, their devotion to God, and their willing-
ness to lay down their lives for the cause of Christ. These
recitals awoke in him a new thought of existence, a new powei
of love and aflfection for the word of God, and when the history
of the greatest of all martyrs was again read to him, when he
saw Christ persecuted, reviled, denied, and crucified, he felt
that a new revelation had entered his soul. No longer did the
spirit of chivalry seek to break the bars of affliction, but with
a new light of destiny before him, a new conversion, and a new
purpose, he tore from his heart the honor of warfare, the
knighthood of chivalry-, and the love of comfort. He read
again the Passion of our Lord according to the Apostle St.
John, and as he thought of this wonderful sacrifice, he prayed K
to God for mental strength, for the divine light of truth, and
for the inspiration of thought and action. In spirit he clasped
the Mother of Jesus to his heart, and there dedicated his soul
to the service of faith, his mind to the promotion of the Church,
and his body to the chastity of the crucified Saviour, saying:
"I shall be a knight of the real love and a soldier of the only
glory."

The six followers, like the apostles of old, who met Loyola
on the mom of the 15th of August, 1534, were Peter Lefevre,
Francis Xavier, James Laynez, Anthony Salmeron. Nicholas
Alonzo de Babadilla, and Simon Rodriguez d'Azevedo.

454 Christian Persecutions.

For fourteen years Loyola had studied the inspirations
which now bound together these seven earnest, pious, Chris-
tian men. He had carefully outlined every phase of its char-
acter. He had planned its future power and influence, and in
its organization there could be none admitted who would not
consecrate his life to the work of teaching the gospel of salva-
tion. There was a great work to do. The Church was being
assailed by its powerful enemies, and no decisive efifort was
being made to stay the tide of revolt. The old orders of
Templars, Hoispitallers, and Teutonic Knights, had outgrown
their usefulness. While they sought to plant the standard of
Christ, yet their power was not so much the wisdom of thought
as it was the execution of force. These orders could not fill the
necessity of the new conditions which now faced Loyola.

It is true, there were other religious organizations, but
the}'^, too, were not competent to occupy the field of want. The
old established orders of Benedictines, Dominicans, and Fran-
ciscans, were also unable to meet the rising duties. While for
centuries they liaid been employed in teaching others, not in
the public school rooms, but in their home aibo'des, their chap-
els, and their monasteries, yet their mission in life was one of
study, of consecration of self, ito withdraw from the world as far
as possible, to seek spiritual perfection in a retired life of con-
templaition and prayer, to induce the most devOut and fervent
Christians to forsake the life of worldly pleasure and profit, and
to devote the mind and soul to the great preparation for eternal
life.

In the formation of the Company of Jesus there was a
broader foundation for the advancement of humanity. It

The Jesuits. 455

sought to withdraw reHgious men from retirement and to go
into all the countries of earth and teach the gospel of repent-
ance. It was to be the vanguard of Christianity, the pilot of
information, the watch tower of Zion, and the instrument of
labor wherein idolatry held men from the worship of God.

This Company came into existence just as the Reformation
had set its foot upon the continent of Europe. Loyola saw the
magnitude of the revolt and sought to stay the tide of Prot-
estantism that was sweeping Germany, Switzerland, France,
Sweden, and the Netherlands. He saw that even Spain was
being threatened with disunion. He saw that the Catholic
Church was being defied in England by the arrogant and tyran-
nical power of Henry VHI. He felt that his beloved Church
was everywhere being made the scapegoat of every crime, of
every form of villainy, and of every form of intoleration. His
soul burned with indignation, and he sought to plan assistance
by which, not only would his religion be preserved at home,
but at the same time be preached to the outside world of
ignorance.

In the organization of the Society of Jesus the greatest
number that could be enrolled was sixty, but the demand for
services was so great that within a few months the Sovereign
Pontiff was obliged to undo this limitation and give to the
Company the full power of its mission.

History informs us that "the first ten Jesuits were, all of
them, eloquent orators, unequaled professors, accomplished
theologians, remarkable writers, zealous apostles of charity and
doughty defenders of truth." In James Laynez we find a man
of such powerful mind that wherever he went he was received

456 Christian Persecutions.

with a wonderful confidence. His first mission was to go to
Venice, "where the struggle that he opened against heresy so
aroused the popular enthusiasm that crowds slept at the doors
of the churches so as not to miss his preaching." It is but
proper to mention that the ambition of Laynez was not" to
climb the ladder of fame, but to preach the gospel of Christ.
So interested did he become in the work laid out for him to do
that he refused to accept the Cardinal's hat, believing that he
could render greater service to his Church and to the Company
of Jesus by continuing in his mission labors.

The same can be said of Francis Xavier. He was one of
the most brilliant lights in all the history of the CathoHc
Church. So great was his power of conversion that he was
sent to India, where his march was one continuous victory for
the advancement of Christian faith. His first efforts in his new
field of labor were to convert the Portuguese and Spanish
traders to an honest and conscientious purpose. The oppres-
sion practiced by the Portuguese merchants in India was car-
ried to a hideous excess, and so avaricious and corrupt had be-
come these traders that to the native's mind the name of
Christian was joined to greedy, cruel, dissolute, vicious, and
even criminal traffickers. To correct this evil and to prove
to the natives that Christianity was not a corruption, these
unprincipled merchants must be converted, an attempt which
was considered far more difficult than to conquer all barbarous
India for the faith.

But Xavier accomplished his purpose. His earnest plead-
mg aroused them from their vicious dissolution, and they be-
came a powerful influence in spreading the gospel of Girist.

The Jesuits. 457

He said: "In the name of God, do you wish me to ask those
people, who have no other fault than their bhndness, to be-
come like you, who are full of iniquity?" With this conversion
Xavier felt that the hardest work of his mission was ended.
"His heart swam in torrents of joy and the song of his gladness
broke from his lips; he underwent cold, heat, hunger, disease;
his naked feet were torn by the thorns and briers on his way,
but he complained of nothing, or rather he enjoyed everything;
he kept on his tireless way invulnerable; on earth he walked as
if already in heaven."

"In the meantime his whole mission grew with marvelous
rapidity. At the end of two years the crop of auxiliaries that
he had planted was almost ripe. At Goa, which was his head-
quarters, he founded a seminary; his first priests are now
ready; to-day lie can attempt what seemed impossible yester-
day, and now he penetrates still further and further, for he is
no longer alone. In the Trevancor, in a few weeks, he baptised
ten thousand with his o\vn hand."

It is not necessary to follow this wonderful apostle in his
missions. Whole cities and countries fall prostrate at his feet.
The world was astonished at his brilliant successes. India now
belongs to him. It is now nine years since he left Europe, and
he had not rested a day, but his ardent zeal is just as strong and
his desire to extend his teachings is more earnest than when he
first started on his journey. He now visits Japan and re-
doubles his efforts. In two years of suffering, which cost him
his life, Xavier is master of these islands. He returns to Goa,
where he finds that India numbers half a million of Christians.
"Glory to God! this is a fine harvest; let us sow other fields."

(30)

458 Christian Persecutions.

He turns his eyes towards that great unknown — China. He
will not stop, but will enter upon this gigantic campaign. He
has conquered India and Japan, and now he must scale the
barbarous walls of China; but alas! his strength is wasted^ and
before he reaches the end of his voyage he dies a martyr to his
untiring zeal in the spread of Christianity.

I ask you to read again the slanderous words of Gioberti
and then say that such men as Francis Xavier are guilty of
treason, infidelity, or crime. What I have said of Xavier is
true of the hundreds of missionaries who have braved the wilds
of every country on earth, and all because of their love for
Christ and the spreading of his gospel of salvation. In our
own country do we find their line of progress. We can trace
their footsteps through Canada, up the great chain of lakes,
down the Mississippi River, through the wilds of Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Michigan, and the entire Northwest. We find
them in Louisiana, Missouri, and can follow them through
Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, and California. No State in
the Union can say that the Jesuits have not been the vanguard
of exploration and the apostles of peace and good will. To
them, more than to any other people, do we owe a debt of
gratitude for their unceasing labors in seeking to conciliate
the Indians in their anger, for being the instrument for ex-
ploration, for establishing trading for others, for paving the
way for sdttlemeruts, for opening schools, building churches,
and advancing national progress.

"When a Jesuit engages in trade, the Order puts him under
interdict, cashiers him, expels him, and ruins itself to pay a
debt it has not contracted."

The Jesuits. 459

"The Jesuits do not trade. They give, but do not sell.
They have neither warehouses nor fleets. They let people act
and talk."

So great is their modesty that in their own books you will
find no record or testimony which will in any way exalt their
zeal, their courage, or their self-sacrificing charity. Rarely do
they deny the most dangerous accusations, and because of this
meekness are they libeled and defamed.

Few Protestants have ever written a word of commenda-
tion, although we find in Robertson's "History of America,"
Vol. X, p. 27, the following:

"It is a remarkable thing that those authors who have the
most severely blamed the licentious manners of the regular
Spanish monks, all agree in honoring the conduct of the
Jesuits. Governed by a more perfect discipline than prevailed
among other orders, or restrained by the need of preserving
the Society's honor, so dear to each of its members, the Jesuits,
whether in Mexico or Peru, have ever maintained an irre-
proachable regularity of manners."

If we read Voltaire we will find that this brilliant infidel
would not slander even the Jesuits. He says: "My brothers,
I have not spared the Jesuits, but I should raise up posterity
in their favor were I to accuse them of a crime from which
Europe and Damiens have exonerated them. I should be
only a vile echo of the Jansenists." This was written when the
charge of a crime was made against them and no proof was
produced. The King of France had been assailed, but by
whom no one knew. The cry rang forth, The Jesuits! The

460 Christian Persecutions.

Jesuits are the guilty parties! and even to this day the charge
of attempted assassination rests against them.

Again Voltaire says, in discussing the sincerity of their
acts and their fidelity to manhood: "The Jesuits had the merit
of making their disciples love literature and virtue."

But Protestants will say, if the Jesuits were innocent and
God-fearing men, if they sought only to advance Christianity,
why were they expelled from Spain, Portugal, the kingdom of
Naples, the duchy of Parma, the empire oi Austria, and from
France? Carefully follow the history of these expulsions, and
you will find that in these Catholic states there arose a jealousy
because of their earnest and persistent labors. They were
largely instrumental in staying the tide of Reformation, and as
such had produced enmity among the people of their own
Church. John Calvin said : "There is the obstacle, remove it."
Catholic conspirators followed these words of this most incon-
sistent of all reformers. The Jesuits were in the way for a
sordid and greedy ambition. But be it said to the credit of an
after decision of the governments of these countries, the Jesuits
were recalled, which stands as an evidence of their innocence
and their benefit to the Church and to mankind.

To note something of their extraordinary efforts in battling
against Martin Luther, John Calvin, the Huguenots, and the
entire Reformation, we will quote from the eminent historian,
Macaulay: "Protestantism was. checked in its victorious
march and driven back with a giddy rapidity from the foot of
the Alps to tllie shores of the Baltic. Before the Order had a
century of existence, it had filled the whole world with monu-
ments of its martyrs and of its great struggles for the faith."

The Jesuits. 461

Who can express a greater eulogy to the wonderful
achievements of this Order than is expressed by Macaulay!
Read it again, and you will then hardly comprehend the vast-
ness of the work accomplished. In less than a century "it had
filled the whole world with monuments of its martyrs and of its
great struggles for the faith."

CHAPTER XXXIY.

CONFESSION.

C EW people, who are not imbued with Catholic faith, fully
*■ understand the principles intvolved in the practice of con-
fession. In many instances it has been grossly misrepresented,
and because of this I have ventured to discuss this subject for
the benefit of my Protestant friends. I do not expect to present
any new features not fully understood and practiced by the
Church, nor do I expect to stand as competent authority, but
I do hope to be able to explain, in simple language, what I
have found by investigation, and thus induce others to investi-
gate as I have done.

I believe it is the duty of every earnest Christian to study
the differences that divide Christendom, to go to the fountain-
head and ascertain the facts as they really exist, and not depend
upon what he hears or reads for a justification of his misbelief.
I do not mean that you shall not seek information from others,
but I mean that in your search for knowledge you will apply
to those who are competent, those you know are capable to
explain, and will do so with an earnest desire to impart to
you the desired information.

In studying this subject, I find that the Sacrament of
Penance in the Catholic Church consists of the following parts :

1st — Confession.

2d — Contrition.

3d — Restitution and Satisfaction.

462

Confession. 463

4th — ^The Priest's Absolution,

Confession is the secret enumeration of sins to the priest,
and may refer to whatever act is unjust to fellow men, or
whatever act or omission is displeasmg to God.

Contrition is a sincere sorrow for sin and an earnest desire
to cast it aside and avoid its future influence.

Restitution is to restore_, as far as it is possible, whatever
lias been taken from others. If it is property, it requires a res-
toration of the property, or its equivalent. If it is the defamation
of character, or any injustice, then it is the reparation of the
wrong, so far as lies in one's power. It is the endeavor to right
all wrongs that have been committed.

The Priest's Absolution is the forgiveness which the peni-
tent seeks, and is given in tflie name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, through power received from Christ.

From these principles we may deduce the following:

1. A person, in confession, must be truly penitent.

2. No person can expect any good results from confession,
unless from the earnestness of the heart he seeks to amend his
faults.

3. The mere enumeration of sins is not satisfactory in God's
sight.

4. A priest can grant absolution from sin only when the
penitent has a sincere sorrow.

5. To repeat the acts of sin and not feel sorry for oflf ending
God, is not true confession. It is not contrition, and carries
with it no benefits.

G. As human nature is not, nor cannot be, free from sin,
then constant resolves must be made to avoid it, or, as

464 Christian Persecutions.

Catholics express it, one confession only acts upon the sins
already committed. It gives no assurance that the penitent
will not sin the next week, day, or hour.

7. As sin enters into the daily life of humanity, so, too,
must confession and contrition be the constantly recurring
means for absolution.

8. Priests confess their sins to other priests.

Even the Pope does the same. The present Pope confesses
his sins every week.

9. The Sacrament of Penance is an institution founded by
Christ and delegated to His Apostles and their successors. It
was given as a command that confession is a positive necessity.

10. The power of absolution is delegated by Christ to His
Apostles in St. Matthew xvi, 18, 19; also in St. John xx, 21-23.

"Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will
give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever
thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and
Whatsoever thou slialt loose on earth shall be loosed also in
heaven."

"Peace be to you. As the Fatlier hath sent Me, I also send
you. * * * * Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins
ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins ye
shall retain, they are retained."

11. The Catholic Church recognizes and practices the fol-
lowing institutions founded by Christ for the salvation of man-
kind, which are known as the seven Sacraments : Baptism, Con-
firmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders,
Matrimony.

Confession. 465

It is not my purpose, at this time, to discuss in detail these
seven Sacraments, but to confine this chapter more particularly
to Penance, under which Confession is instituted, but it may
be proper to state here that Protestants recognize only two
of these Sacraments — Baptism^ and Eucharist, or Holy Com-
munion. They deny any special grace in the others, and even
in the practice of Holy Communion it is only in commemora-
tion of that great event, and not the actual participation of the
body and blood of Christ.

With Catholics these sacraments are all sacred institutions
and cherished by them as indispensable in their life and death.
Even matrimony, which by the outside world is regarded only
as a legal tie binding together husband and wife, is a sacred
sacraanent, and cannot be dissolved. Probably no greater
example of the constancy of the Church in sustaining these
sacraments without deviation is found and demonstrated than in
the history of Henry VHI., w'hen this powerful monarch
asked that his marriage with Catherine of Aragon be
annulled and he be allowed to marry again. The request
was not granted, although there was a technical point by which
it could have been accomplished, as Henry had married his
brother's widow, which was against the rules of. the Church.
To do this he had obtained a special dispensation from the
Pope and the marriage vows were consummated. As history in-
forms us, this monarch contended that no dispensation had been
given and thus attempted to establish an illegal union which
could be cast aside as improper and against the rules of the
Church.

When we consider that the Reformation was threatening

466 Christian Persecutions.

the very existence of the Roman Church; when Henry VIII.
was on the verge of a great church rebellion; when the Pope
had no security for any earthly power; when even his own
body might be sacrificed on the altar of faith; when all was
gloom and despair, is it not a powerful argument in favor of
the constancy of the Church to stand unmoved, to deviate not
one iota from this sacred Sacrament of Matrimony? Just for a
moment consider the situation and then ask yourself these
questions: Why was this? Why this constancy, when church
ruin seemed to be an impending fact? Why could the Pope not
recall the dispensation which he had previously granted? Is
matrimony a sacred Sacrament of God, or may it be cast aside
by the will of man? Here was an opportunity to hold this
powerful English monarch, who had won the title of "Defender
of the Faith" by his defense of the Church from the attacks
of Martin Luther and other Reformers. Germany, Holland,
. Sweden, Switzerland, France, Italy, and even Spain were ris-
ing against the Church of Rome. The Pope was being assailed
from every side. The doctrine of John Calvin was dividing the
people of France and Switzerland. Martin Luther was turn-
ing Germany and the Netherlands into a fierce and open re-
bellion. In fact, almost all of Continental Europe appeared
to be against the Pope and his Church. The rising tide of
Reformation, like a prairie fire, was consuming by war's ter-
rible forces the power of the Church and erecting on the ruined
fields of Catholicity a new church and a new creed. So fierce
was this conflict that it seemed as though the Catholic Church
was doomed to destruction, that its faith was lost, and that the
fifteeen hundred years of constancy would fall, never to rise
again.

Confession. 467

Of all the nations of Europe none stood so firmly entrenched
in Catholic Faith as did England and its master, Henry VIII.
To save these to the Church might be the turning-point in
this great religious struggle. To lose them might mean a
complete overthrow of the Pope and the Church of Rome.
Thus do we find the conditions as they existed when Henry
VIII. requested the Pope to declare his marriage to Catharine
of Aragon illegal. The price offered for this evasion of the
Holy Sacrament of Matrimony was the continued support of
this monarch. Refusal meant a bitter and undying hatred
against the Pope and a complete separation of the EngUsh
people from the Catholic Church. Did the Pope hesitate?
Not in the least. The Creed of the Church was not in the
market to buy. The King of England, with all his minions,
could not turn aside that which had ever been held as a holy
union. The Pope had granted a dispensation to please this
monarch, but the marriage had been solemnized and no en-
treaty, no threat, could break the edict of the Church when it
once declares that what God has jomed together let no man
put asunder.

If we follow this controversy we will find that not only did
the Pope deny the demands of Henry VIII., but the moment
the king grossly violated the rules of the Church he was ex-
communicated and no regard placed upon his power and influ-
ence. You all know the 'history of this denunciation and
excommunication. The Cathohc Church was declared the
enemy of the king, a new church was established, and Eng-
land became a Protestant nation.

This history may be a deviation from the subject under

468 Christian Persecutions.

discussion, but it is given as an illustration of the constancy of
the Church to uphold its faith above even the suspicion of
wrong, and that, too, when danger of the greatest magnitude
threatened it. Henry VIII. was the most powerful ally of the
Pope in all Europe, and yet, even under an apparent wrong in
the first marriage of tliis monarch, there could be no recon-
sideration of this dispensation. The marriage had been con-
summated, the Sacrament of Matrimony had been received and
no power on earth could recall it. The Pope might go down
in death in defending this holy rite, but to unloose that which
God had bound was not only a sin, but impossible.

But the Church considers all Sacraments as divine institu-
tions, Penance included. Therefore confession becomes a
sacred tenet in the faith of every true Catholic. Without it
there can be, ordinarily, no absolution. The one depends upon
the other. Before the heart is prepared to receive the Sacra-
ment of Penance there must be a confession of sins, a contrition
for all wrong, a desire to shun the paths of evil, and the earnest
will to do penance ; then, and not until then, can the soul re-
ceive the grace of God and be blessed by it.

But let us return to a more direct discussion of this sub-
ject. The Protestant religion takes the ground that confes-
sion is only to God, that there is no intercession, no power
but his own to reach the ear of Jesus, and yet in a series of
revival meetings the ministers beseech their people to confess
their sins, to ask for the prayers of the faithful, and in their
earnestness they ask every Christian to intercede for some par-
ticular person, and to ask God to open his heart to the light
of repentance. In these meetings the oft-repeated exhortation

Confession. 469

is, that sinners must open their mouths to confession; that
there can be no other means for salvation; that Christ has
declared that we must come confessing our sins; that there
is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, and that no
sinner can enter heaven until he has been forgiven. Here we
have a recognition of the Catholic belief in confession and
intercession. Tlie minister says confess openly to the world,
lay open your heart that all men may see, pray for forgiveness,
and we will intercede with our prayeps before the Throne of
Grace. The Catholic priest says: Confess to me privately
every sin, make restitution for every wrong you have done,
become truly contrite, seek to avoid the paths of evil, go and
sin no more.

And now are you going to say that the minister can inter-
cede before the Throne of Grace and not the priest? The fact
is, you do believe in confession and in intercession, but not as
is done by others. You desire to become a servant of God, but
wish to close the door to others. It is not my province to say
that you are right or wrong, but mine to say that you must
not appropriate to yourself a power of intercession which you
deny to others who have consecrated their lives to the same
work to which you are devoted. You often say a priest is wrong,
that his teachings are errors, and that he can have no stand-
ing before God. But Catholic priests, although they cannot
approve of any teaching which is opposed to the doctrine of
the Church, do not say that you "can have no standing before
God." They say it is not their mission to condemn any man.
A priest once said to me: "Mr. Craig, I dare not say that
such men will never be saved. I am not the judge. These

470 Christian Persecutions.

things we leave to God. We are finite and not infinite. Judge
not, lest ye be judged."'

Protestants say that no man, minister nor priest, has the
power to grant absolution from sin. Infidels might say this,
but why should those who believe in the divinity of Christ and
his mission on earth arbitrarily denounce the belief that the
servants of God have the power of intercession? One of two
things we must adtnit : either there is a salvation and a future
life, or the great principles of Christianity are a myth, a fraud
upon humanity and a beautifully planned superstition. Are
you prepared to admit that this vast universe has no Creator;
that Christ was only a magnified story of impossibilities; that
the history of Christianity and all its martyrdom was only the
result of fanaticism; that God never communicated with man
directly or indirectly? If this is your mind, then I dO' not
expect you to believe that man is anything more than an out-
growth of progression, a natural production of evolution, a
being originating from some unexplained system of generation,
but endowed with reason, elevated by intelligence above his
brute brothers, with no soul, and no resurrection.

Deny creation and you must deny the immortality of the
soul. Deny Christ and you must deny the servants who preach
His doctrine of salvation. Admit that there is a Creator, that
there is a Christ, that there is a Christian religion, that there
is a communion between God and man, and you must continue
your belief that if God is not personally before your vision he
must certainly appear through other sources, otherwise there
would be no communion.

If your soul is immortal, then there is a relationship between

Confession. 471

the finite and the infinite, and some means must be provided
by which there is a communion, an intercession, a mediation,
or a mediator, to hold and sustain this relationship. But skep-
tics say if God is such a wonderful being, what need has He
to employ agents to transact his business, when in His all-
powerful magnificence He can simply will a command to obedi-
ence. God, in His goodness and all-wise providence, created
man after his own image. He placed him, master of all things
that grow or live, upon the earth. He endowed him with rea-
son, with intelHgence, with a soul, and with immortality. In
all the developments of his finite body and mind He created
him only a little below the angels. He gave him the power to
choose between the right and the wrong, and in His infinite
love He provided the means of being redeemed from dis-
obedience.

I wish to say to my readers that this chapter is not written
upon the supposition that skeptics may be right, but that
Christianity is a real institution by which the soul of man may
commune with God. It is based upon what has been, what
is, and what must be. If our Creator has left us with the
responsibility of working out our own existence, we have a
right to consider that it is a great honor conferred upon us.
We are human beings, capable of expressing pas-
sion, of committing sin, of contrition, of sorrow, of love and
forgiveness, and not machines to unfold only what had been
joined together. Can you conceive of a higher honor that
could have been conferred upon man than the honor of being
his own master? And at the same 'time, can you conceive of
greater pleasure to the God of Love, than that man will

472 Christian Persecutions.

bow his knee in reverence, whisper the words of repentance,
ask for a remission of sins, and in the filial affection of his heart
seek to overcome evil and walk in the paths of uprightness
and obedience? The parent sorrows when the child is wrapped
in wrong, but oh, how the heart beats with joyous emotions
when the child sees his error, confesses the wrong and begs
of the parent to kiss away the tears of repentance. Like the
s'hepherd who has lost one sheep, he is more overjoyed at
finding the one that has strayed than over the presence of the
ninety and nine. While it is a grievous sin to deliberately dis-
obey the commands of God, yet when the heart is filled with
a real sorrow of commission, when the mouth utters the words
of confession, and the soul yearns for the blessing of for-
giveness, then has the penitent filled the measure of require-
ment and the sins are all absolved.

We often hear Protestants pronounce against the practice
of Catholic Confession and Absolution, and declare that this
sacrament was instituted hundreds of years after the estab-
lishment of the Church, and in no v/ay becomes a necessary
requirement in the life of the Christian. Some even place the
adoption of Confession to the thirteenth century, but upon
what authority no one can tell. The statement being made,
others rise up and declare it a modem invention and not a
holy requirement instituted by Christ. ,

Human nature is such that we are liable to accept the state-
ments of others without investigation and without due con-
sideration. We hear an individual repeat some story. If it is
in the line of our own wishes, we jump to the conclusion that
it is true and immediately there commences a desire to spread

Confession. 473

the matter as an assured fact, and thus estabHsh a beHef that
is without foundation and possibly devoid of even the elements
of truth. Thus we find that many charges made against the
Catholic Church have for its origin the wild imagination of
some disciple of Ananias, but having been made, they spread
because the desires of others wish to have them so.

That Confession was not adopted by the Church in the
thirteenth century can be proven by the history of other creeds.
You may debar the evidence given by the unbroken record of
the Catholic Church, and still we have the evidence of the
Greek division, which was once a part of the Roman Church,
but in the ninth century, under Photius, it became estranged,
severed its connections with the Roman Pontiff, and from that
date it has been separated from the original Catholic Church.
In this separation they have tenaciously clung to the doctrine
of private confession. Again, go back to the fourth and fifth
centuries and we find that the Arians and Nestorians seceded
from the Christian Church, but took with them, and still
retain as one of their most sacred and cherished forms of
faith, that of the private confession of sins to those who are
given authority to receive them. These are living evidences
that cannot be doubted. The Greek Church records the prac-
tice as of Apostolic origin. The Nestorians and other heretics
of Persia, Abyssinia, and the west coast of India, have ever
retained this faith as sacred and an essential practice in their
lives. Therefore, if you deny Catholic records, are you pre-
pared to deny the established faith of other creeds, who hold
and practice the same institution? It is needless to reply. The
evidence is beyond question. The Sacrament of Penance has

(31)

474 Christian Persecutions.

its origin in Christ. Christ commanded his disciples to hear
Confession, and if the penitent was deserving of absolution, to
speak the words of forgiveness, and from that day to this Con-
fession and Absolution have been a constant requirement of the
Church. The power of absolution is clearly implied in the
words of Christ: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins
ye shall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins ye shall re-
tain, they are retained." The Apostles and their successors are
to judge whether the sinner is worthy of forgiveness or not,
for the power to forgive sins presupposes such judgment
But they cannot, under ordinary circumstances, judge without
knowing the state of the conscience of him whose sins they
are either to forgive or to retain. Therefore confession is im-
plied as a necessary means to that end, for which the power
of the keys is given to the Church. That confession became
an adopted practice at some period after the establishment of
Christianity is an absurd impossibility, as all nations who had
been disciples of the Church of Christ retained, in their re-
volt, this feature of religious requirement, except as we come
to establish new creeds and isms by the revolution of the Ref-
ormation, and then, even Martin Luther declared: "Auricu-
lar Confession, as now in vogue, is useful, nay, necessary; nor
would I have it abolished, since it is the remedy of afflicted
consciences."

Private Confession is also the creed of a portion of the Prot-
estant Episcopal Church of England, and by many devout
Episcopalians has become as essential to their religious wor-
ship as it is for the Catholics. It may be proper to mention
here that the Church of England is divided and may be denom-

Confession. 475

inated as the High and Low Episcopal Church — the High
Church practicing auricular confession and absolution. This
is proven to be a part of their creed by the catechism prepared,
by the Rev. C. S. Greuber, a clergyman of the Church of Eng-
land, and used by hundreds of Episcopal Fathers in their
church work.

The following is a correct copy of the catechism referred to:

Question. What do you mean by absolution?

Answer. The pardon or forgiveness of sins.

Q. By what special ordinance of Christ are sins committed
after Baptism to be pardoned?

A. By the Sacrament of Absolution.

Q. Who is the minister of absolution?

A. A Priest.

Q. Do you mean that a Priest can really absolve?

A. Yes.

Q. In what place of the Holy Scripture is it recorded that
Christ gave this power to the priesthood?

A. In John xx, 23; see also Matt, xviii, 18.

Q. What does the prayer-book (or Book of Common
Prayer) say?

A. In the Office for the Ordaining of Priests, the Bishop is
directed to say, "Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and
work of a Priest in the Church of God. Whose sins thou dost
forgive, they are forgiven." In the Office for the Visitation of
the Sick it is said, "Our Lord Jesus Christ hath left in His
Church power to absolve all sinners that truly repent and
believe in Him." In the Order for Morning and Evening
Prayer we say again, "Almighty God hath given power and

476 Christian Persecutions.

commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to
His people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of
their sins."

Q. For what purpose hath God given this power to Priests
to pronounce absolution in His name?

A. For the consolation of the penitent; the quieting of his con-
science.

Q. What must precede the absolution of the penitent?,

A. Confession * * * * Before absolution privately
given, confession must be made to a Priest privately.

Q. In what case does the OhurcHi of England order her
ministers to move people to private, or, as it is called. Auricular
Confession?

A. When they feel their conscience troubled with weighty
matter.

Q. What is weighty matter?

A. Mortal sin is certainly weighty; sins of omission and
commission of any kind that press upon the mind are so, too.
Anything may be weighty that causes scruple or doubtfulness.

Q. At what times in particular does the Church so order?

A. In the time of sickness, and before coming to Holy Com-
munion.

O. Is there any other class of persons to whom confession
is profitable?

A. Yes; to those zvho desire to lead a saintly life. These,
indeed, are the persons zvho most frequently resort to it.

Q. Is there any other object in confession, besides the seek-
ing absolution for past sin, and the quieting of the penitent's
conscience?

Confession. 477

A. Yes; the practice of confessing each single sin is a great
check upon the commission of sin, and a preservative of purity
of life. .

I have now given you the evidence that the Catholic Church
is not standing alone in the doctrine of Confession and Absolu-
tion, but that it is practiced by the Greek Church, by ancient
Oriental sects, and by the Protestant Episcopal Church of
England, ar.d I might tell you from personal knowledge that in
Chicago and St. Louis the Episcopal Church is to-day practic-
ing these sacred rites, and what may be of special interest to us,
is, that all these people who have and do believe in the Sacra-
ment of Confession and Absolution were originally Catholic,
there being in each case a church revolt that caused a separa-
tion from the parent tree. But as they were taught this doctrine
of faith they have ever held it as sacred, and it has been handed
down as a necessary form of worship. This alone is evidence
that it has always been the practice of the Church and has its
origin in Christ.

For the purpose of clearly expressing to my Protestant
friends the belief of Catholic Absolution, or as usually expressed
by those who bear prejudice against the power of priests to
forgive sins, I will quote from Cardinal Gibbons and thus give
the true relationship between confession and absolution :

"Again, some object to priestly absolution on tlie assump-
tion that the exercise of such a function would be a usurpation
of an incommunicable prerogative of God, who alone can for-
give sins. This was precisely the language addressed by the
Scribes to our Saviour. They exclaimed: 'He blasphemeth!
who can forgive sins but God only?' My answer, therefore, will

478 Christian Persecutions.

be equally applicable to old and modern objectors. It is not
blasphemy for a priest to claim the power of forgiving sins,
since he acts as the delegate of the Most High. It would,
indeed, be blasphemous if a priest pretended to absolve in his
own name and by the virtue of his own authority. But when the
priest absolves the penitent sinner he acts in the name and by
the express authority of Jesus Christ; for he says: *I absolve
thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.' Let it be understood, once for all, tlhat the priest arro-
gates fo himself no divine powers. He is but a feeble voice.
It is the Holy Spirit that operates sanctity in the soul of the
penitent."

A staunch Baptist, or Methodist, or Presbyterian, becomes
horrified at the thought of Catholic Absolution. But allow me
to ask you one question. You believe in the Sacrament of Bap-
tism. Now, will you repeat the words you use as you confer
this Sacrament? Do you not say: "I baptize thee in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost?" Is it
conferring any greater power to absolve than it is to baptize?
You claim the right as a minister of God to hear an open con-
fession, to speak words of consolation to the penitent, to inter-
cede with your prayers, to baptize in the name of the Lord,
and to receive your candidate into a Holy Communion. Do
you deny these rites to others? The Catholic Priest believes
in baptism, in contrition, in confession, in absolution, and in a
Holy Communion. After all, are you not nearer the Catholic
faith than you suppose? If left to an unprejudiced jury, would
they make any particular distinction between the powers you
claim a right to exercise amd those wftiich are exercised by your

Confession. 479

neigilibor? If you baptize in the name of the Father and thus
wipe away the sins that have been committed, are you not
doing the work of absolution?

The cause of the great prejudice which Protestants have
against absolution is because they do not understand its mean-
ing. They have always understood that when Catholics go to
confession they pay a certain scheduled price, either in money
or some form of penance, just in accordance as are the sins
committed, and the priest accepts the price as legal tender, for-
gives them their sins, and they start out with a clean score
ready to commence over again. Noa\ , the Protestant hears this,
and without investigation turns away, believing that the priest
is using his own power and at the same time is charging for his
services. The non-Catholic does not realize, or understand,
that absolution is performed the same as is baptism, in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Nor does he comprehend that it is necessary for the penitent
to feel the weight of sin, that he must make a confession
satisfactory in God's sig'ht, otherwise there can be no absolu-
tion. The priest may be deceived and pronounce the words
of pardon, but there will be no pardon, no forgiveness, no
perfect absolution, unless the individual has prepared himself
to receive it. The hypocrite may impose upon the priest by a
pretended penitence and contrition, but God knows his heart
and has said : "Woe unto you, hypocrites and liars."

Nothing could be said that contained a greater falsehood
than to say that absolution could be purchased. I find that such
a practice could not be. It is absolutely prohibited to receive
any form of compensation, and in many dioceses the priest is

480 Christian Persecutions.

forbidden, under a strong penalty, to receive money, even if it is
for another purpose. It is true, they may receive donations
when they perform the marriage ceremony, or even in baptism,
but under no consideration whatever will this be allowed, or in
the least degree tolerated in confession. The priest who would
so far forget his religious precepts as to accept a
donation, or even a present, would be severely rebuked, and if
these violations were continued, he would be removed. The
fact is this charge is utterly false. Paying for absolution is a
thing unheard of in Catholic practice. Of course, we hear of it
from the outside, as it is the chief stock in trade offered against
tihe Catholic religion.

Catholics reason like this: "If a practice was instituted by
which money could be received on these occasions, it might
lead to some abuse and to give scandal, to say nothing of dis-
couraging frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and
the Eucharist, which the Church has much at heart; therefore
no customs of the kind could be allowed." The fact is, there
can be no charge made for conferring any of the Sacraments.

Many Protestants believe that it is a matter of personal pleas-
ure to the priest to hear ooinfession, to ask questions, to get into
the secret life of their people and to hold this knowledge as a
club to command obedience to their dictation. It might be a
curiosity, a pleasure for you, if you 'had no responsibility to
bear, and no pledge of secrecy you were bound to respect, to
worm yourself into the knowledge of the private life of a par-
ticular individual, but just imagine yourself a priest, pledged
by the sitrongest vows possible to seal your lips to every form
of confidence that is reposed in you, to sit in the sacred

Confession. 481

tribunal, scm'etimes from six to eight consecutive hours, and
listen to the stories of sin and sorrow and misery, to speak
words of con'solation, to admonish the penitent to turn from
his paths of sin, to exact pledges or reformation, to extend
your blessing, and, as a servant of God, db all within your
power to save a soul from ruin. Is this pleasure, except as
you have fulfilled your duties to God and to man?

"No, hearing confessions is, on natural grounds, a burden to
the priest, and often quite a grievous one. This of itself would
suffice to show that it is not a human invention, for there could
be no possible inducement to the priesthood to institute a prac-
tice so full of labor, and putting such a strain as this does on
patience, except the conviction that it was required by the law
of God."

As an illustration of the great fatigue and constant mental
strain whidh is the result of these continued labors, I will cite
you to the Jesuit missionaries, whose duties are to travel from
one place to another, preach repentance, exhort the careless and
indifferent to return to the Church, to receive confessions, and
to grant absolution. I was informed by a friend of mine living
at Beloit, Wis., that the average life of these Fathers did not
exceed ten years after they entered this field of labor. I pre-
sume you doubt this statement, but if you will follow their con-
stant service, you will see that it is not a personal pleasure, but
one constant round of the most tiresome labor that a human
being can engage in. These missionaries arise at a very early
hour in the morning and immediately take up church service.
They say Mass and entreat their hearers to come to repentance.
In the afternoon amd evening it is the same routine of appeal.

482 Christian Persecutions.

It is a constant labor from early morn until late at night. They
never leave the confessional box as long as one soul desires to
pour out its burden of grief, and when this tired body finally
finds a few hours of repose it is not with an expectation of rest
on the morrow, but a continuation of the same labor day after
day, week after week, and year after year, until finally the flesh
becomes too weak to any longer continue this physical struggle.
And now, my friend, I will add but one more feature in this
discussion, and that is this: Is confession, outside of its relig-
ious bearing, a benefit to the morals of those who practice it?
I will say most assuredly it is a benefit. Why? Because a guilty
conscience must have some means of relief, and where else in
all this wide world can the secrets of sin be told with the con-
fidence of a perfect secrecy? The murderer may confess his
crime to a priest and the law may ofler millions for his appre-
hension, but this sacred confidence can never be violated, and
no law can enforce its violation. Once priests suffered martyr-
dom for refusing to divulge the secrets of confession, but now
the court says it is a sealed book and cannot be opened to the
public gaze. Besides bringing relief to a guilty conscience, it
inspires confidence, it creates new resolves, new determinations
to resist temptation, and by the admonition of the priest these
resolutions are strengthened, and instead of the penitent being
alone to grapple with impending sin, there is the protecting arm
of the confessor whose knowledge of the temptation is a guide
to guard and direct.

Cardinal Gibbons says: "My experience is, that the confes-
sional is the most powerful lever ever erected by a merciful
God for raising men from the mire of sin. It has more weight

Confession. 483

in withdrawing people from vice than even the pulpit. In pub-
lic sermons, we scatter the seed of the Word of God; in the
confessional, we reap the harvest. In sermons, to use a military
phrase, the fire is at random, but in confession it is a dead shot.
The words of the priest go home to the penitent. In a public
discourse the priest addresses all in general, and his words of
admonition may be applicable to very few of his hearers. But
his words spoken in the confessional are directed exclusively to
the penitent, whose 'heart is open to receive the Word of God.
The confessor exhorts the penitent according to his spiritual
wants. He cautions him against the frequentation of danger-
ous company, and other occasions of sin; or he recommends
special practices of piety suited to the penitent's wants."

To close this chapter and not mention the consolation which
Catholics feel in their religious faith would be random argu-
ment without giving the real fruits to be gathered from it. To
do this I know of no expression of thought better calculated to
demonstrate this fact than the expressed convictions given by
one of Wisconsin's Circuit Judges. I will not give his name,
but if these lines ever meet his eyes he will recall this form of
conversation, although I cannot give his exact words: "I was
in a hospital in Milwaukee and not expected to live. Only a
hope was held out to me. I could not tell whether it was one
hour or one week that remained for me to prepare for the
Great Unknown. What could I say or do? My religious teach-
ings gave me no positive assurance. I was in the dark and
could only hope that my life would be acceptable in God's sight.
During those trying scenes of doubt and fear what a consola-
tion it would have been to me if I could feel that my life had

484 Christian Persecutions.

not been a failure. I saw the dying Catholic receive the serv-
ices of his priest. I saw that his mind was at rest, his thoughts
peaceful and sweet. I saw tihe confidence and the consolation,
and I said to myself, great indeed is the power of a religion that
can make the last hours of the dying penitent a satisfaction to
himself and give a glad assurance for the hereafter. I will draw
the comparison I felt and saw: I saw my loneliness, my doubt,
my hope, my fear, and at the same time I saw the consoling
influence of the Catholic religion, with the doubt dispelled, the
hope turned to an assured reality, and the fear changed to a
smiling consolation. What would I have given to exchange
my unsatisfied condition for those assuring promises? We may
talk about this and that meeting the wants of a dying man, but
I can assure you from my own personal observation that there
is nothing that gives the satisfaction, the consolation, and the
sweet comfort as does the Catholic faith."

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.

'TJ'OR the purpose of explaining to those who are not Cath-
•*• olics something of this doctrine of worship, I have pre-
pared a short chapter on this most important profession of
faith, and while I make no claim to being sufficiently versed
in Catholic theology to thoroughly explain each feature which
enters into it, yet it may be possible for me to so present this
subject as to excite a desire to study the principles which are
the foundation of this most sacred form of worship in the
Catholic Church.

Probably the greatest of all differences that exists between
Catholics and Protestants, is found in the interpretation of the
real object and meaning of the Holy Eucharist. Other points
of controversy arise, but none have such wide separation of
belief as is found in the actual participation of the consecrated
elements of the bread and wine at the Sacrifice of the Mass.

So great is the difference in the religious belief of the power
and effect of this holy communion, that a union of these divi-
sions of Christianity can never occur. With Catholics, Mass
is the foundation of faith, the means by which Christ enters the
soul of man, and is the most cherished and sacred form of
worship. With Protestants there is no Mass, no recognition
of it as an indispensable factor in the service of God, no belief
in the doctrine of transubstantiation, no sacred reverence for
this faith. To them, the bread and wine contains no spiritual

485

486 Christian Persecutions.

virtue, serving only as a remembrance of that last supper which
Jesus partook with his disciples. Thus, on one side we find
that there is no faith, no doctrine of belief, no divine miracle;
while on the other side it is the foundation of immortal Hfe,
the inspiration of God upon the soul of those who receive into
their hearts the real body and blood of Jesus.

To bring this subject before our readers in an intelligible
manner, it is necessary to state the position of the Catholic
Church in plain and concise language. Their doctrine is
simple, and from the standpoint of the Scriptures becomes a
rational and consistent principle of belief. Their basis is upon
the actual words of Jesus, who, in giving his last instructions,
or commands to his followers, declared that the bread and
wine which he gave unto them was the flesh and blood of his
own body. This is the meaning of the word "transubstantia-
tion," the one word of all others by which Protestants fail to
recognize an absolute change, and in refusing to recognize,
they deny and condemn Catholics for sustaining what the
Protestants are taught to believe is an impossible transaction
of God.

In the beHef of transubstantiation, we find that in the par-
ticipation of the Holy Eucharist the bread has been so conse-
crated by the spirit of God as to contain the real presence of
Christ, the actual transubstantiation of the real bread into the
body of our Saviour, and the transubstantiation of the wine
into His blood.

Protestants declare that such a change is not only unrea-
sonable, but impossible. Catholics reply that nothing is im-
possible with God. That although the bread and wine are not

The Sacrifice of the Mass. 487

changed in appearance, yet, like the unseen chemical action of
substances, the communion with God has filled the bread with
the actual presence or body of Him who said : "Verily, verily,
I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and
drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise
liim up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my
blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. This is the bread that came down
from heaven; not as your fathers did eat manna, and are
dead : he that eateth of this bread shall live forever."

Protestants say they cannot possibly conceive how these
sayings can be literally true. The bread, they say, is bread
and the wine is wine, and for Christ to mean that his flesh is
meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed, is only a parable
to represent that God must enter the heart before man can
receive eternal life.

But why say there is no change because the eye, or taste,
or sensies have noit detected the invisible presence of God? Your
position is not tenable, even in the world of science. You do
not see a change, therefore you doubt the existence of any.
But, my friends, you may look in all the realms of nature,
where there are constantly recurring evidences of change, and
yet you do not perceive it. You do not understand how the
forces of nature are gathered together and act in one har-
monious whole. You see the effects of light and heat, but
you cannot explain how they exist. The chemist puts a subtle

488 Christian Persecutions.

fluid into a glass of water, or wine, but there is no perceptible
evidence of what he has done. You examine the liquid, it has
retained its color, it has not lost its taste, and you declare that
it is the same substance, the fermented juice of the grape, a
beverage to give strength to the body, refreshment to the mind,
and enliven the depressed moods of imagination. But is this
true? Is it nourishment, or is it poison? What change has
been performed by the introduction of that harmless-looking
fluid? The eye, nor the taste, can detect the mystery, the
apparent miracle, the invisible instrument that has changed
life into death. It is no longer wine, it is poison. The invisible
body of the chemist's art has changed the whole influence of
that wine, and while there is no visible effect upon the sub-
stance, yet, when it is taken into the system it becomes the
enemy of life.

The same is true of a thousand conditions of nature which,
in this world of thought and science, you do mot disbelieve.
Your experience, your reason, your study, informs you- of
this change, and there exists no element of doubt. A glass
of water may look to you as pure and undefiled, but your
health-of!icer says it is loaded with germs of disease. Will you
drink it and take the chances of becoming a victim because
of your own rashness? No, you will cast it aside, or you
will subject that water to heat and thus change the lurking
poison to a life-giving principle.

Catholics believe that where the heart is prepared to receive
the divine influence of God this transubstantiation gives to the
recipient of the Eucharist the benefits of Holy Gomimunion. It
becomes the bread of the soul, the coming together of God and

The Sacrifice op the Mass. 489

man, the transformation of a barren heart to one filled with the
divine presence of our Saviour. If you are a Christian, can you
see anything that is irrational; that is not comprehensive, in
these conditions? You believe that Christ enters the heart
of man. You pray for his presence, you plead with your neigh-
bor to open his mouth and confess his sins, to confess the
inability of man to stand alone. You entreat him to renounce
the sins of the world, to cast aside the insidious poison of dis-
obedience, and drink the waters of eternal life. What less have
Catholics done? They believe that a wicked and unconfessed
heart cannot receive the blessings of the divine spirit of God.
There must be a repentance, a desire to renounce the paths of
evil, and an absolute faith that the consecrated bread and wine
contain the presence of the real God, and when thus accepted
the soul of man becomes the dwelling-place of this Divine
Being who declared that "he who eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."

That this declaration of Jesus was no parable, is sustained
by His earnest exhortation to listen and to believe. Three
times does he repeat the same declaration that my body is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. And to make his state-
ment more impressive, more emphatic, and more positive in
its meaning, He says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you," which
is the Jewish custom of solemnly testifying under oath. Thus
we find that there can be no mistake in the purposes of Christ.
He knew that the Jews were murmuring among themselves,
saying, "this is an hard saying; who can hear it"? Christ
knew that to eat his flesh in the form of flesh, and to drink
his blood in the form of blood, would not only be shocking,

(32)

490 Christian Persecutions.

but it would be revolting in the extreme. He would first
prepare the heart to receive the word of God, and then in
the faith of His promises He would bless the bread, consecrate
it with His presence, and as the heart was changed to receive
the Divine Teacher, so was the bread changed so as to con-
tain the real presence of God. Or to more forcibly explain
this union of God and man, the real substance of the bread was
changed into the real substance of the body and blood of
Christ. ' ,

Protestants say that this whole ceremony is to be enacted
only in a remembrance of that last supper. If it is only in
remembrance, why partake of the bread and taste of the wine?
Why perform an act of religious piety and expect no benefit?
If you do not expect a benefit, then this formality is an insincere
act of a most sacred and holy communion. You would be
shocked to have others call it hypocrisy, a pretended reverence,
or a mockery. No, I do not believe you have such unholy
meaning. Your teaching is that it is in commemoration of that
great event in the life of Christ, but the solemnity of the occa-
sion means more. Your heart responds to an invisible inspira-
tion, an unconscious recognition of something divine, of some
unexplained union between God and man. The tongue may
speak falsehood, but the heart in the true nature of its existence
must rebel against it. It is only by a constant perversion of
truth that the conscience becomes hardened and the spirit of
God is rejected forever.

An infidel, reaider, will not believe in the doctrine of divine
presence, or of divine influence over the hearts of our fellow
men. It matters not to him whether it is a belief in the abso-

The Sacrifice of the Mass. 491

lute presence of God in the participation of the Holy Eucharist,
or any dcctrinie of worship whatever; but among Christians who
believe in immortality, .who believe in Christ, who worship
Him, who pray to Him, who believe in His Holy Word, there
should be no division of faith. Either Christ meant what He
said or He did not. Can anyone say that one single expression
of Jesus was said in jest, or not in earnest? Did He ever
say one thing and mean another? In all His teachings have
you ever found a contradiction? It is not necessary for me
to reply. None but scoffers can deny these manifestations of
God.

Now, if Christ always meant what He said, is there evidence
for doubting His teachings in the sixth chapter of St. John?
The position of Catholics is based upon the undenied and
absolute instruction, or commands of Jesus, and now, if Prot-
estants deny this doctrine of transubstantiation, this conversion
of bread and wine into the body of Christ, it is but proper
to ask them, what did He mean? Catholics are not prosecut-
ing a claim. They take the Bible and leave others to prove a
denial. They ask that Protestants shall prove that it was not
the intention of Christ to form a holy union with man through
the participation of the Holy Eucharist. Prove that it was
meant only for a remembrance, an idle illustration, or a com-
mand intended for the apostles only.

Catholics ask you to consider the conditions under which
Christ made this statement. It was on the eve of his cruci-
fixion. . He was soon to depart from this world. He was to
give all that it was possible to give. Pie was to offer his body
as a bloody sacrifice for the redemption of man. It was his

492 Cheistian Persecutions.

last earthly admonition to his apostles. His deep earnestness
could not be mistaken. The conditions were too serious to
speak even in parables. It must be a positive and not an un-
certain truth. It was almost one of his last utterances, and
such utterances, even in the history of criminals, are taken as
statements of truth; therefore, it is impossible to believe in
any other meaning.

Christ declared, as a last declaration, that this is my flesh
and this is my blood. Can an assertion be stronger, more posi-
tive, or more truthful? Christ was to give His body to all who
would take and eat. It was an offer of the greatest sacrifice
which the world could ever see. Christ declared that: "I am
the living bread which came down from Heaven; if any man
eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will
give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
This bread, this flesh, was offered as a means of salvation, and
that he who should eat thereof should never die.

Thus did Christ offer to man his body under the appear-
ance of bread and wine, with the assurance that if man puts
forth his hand to accept the sacrifice, to receive it in faith, to
believe in the Word of God, he shall never die. Or, in other
words, "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwell-
e.th in me, and I in him."

Catholics believe that a religion without a sacrifice is no
religion at all. There must be a sacrifice, otherwise there can
be no repentance. By repentance we place our hearts against
evil, we vow before God that we will seek to do good, that we
will avoid sin, and obey His commands. Sacrifice was the prac-
tice of the Jews from the earliest days of antiquity, and has

The Sacrifice of the Mass. 493

been handed down to us from the Christian era, and was the
practice of all Christianity until the Reformation, and even to-
day it is the practice of heathens, and may be seen even among
the tribes of Indians.

Thus we find that sacrifice upon the altars of worship has
always been an institution of faith until the great religious
rebellion of the sixteenth century. With the Jews it was a
sacrifice in a bloody manner, but since Christ offered himself
a living sacrifice for the redemption of man, it has been a
sacrifice in an unbloody manner.

To quote from Catholic authority, we find this sacrifice
explained as follows:

"The Sacrifice of the Mass is the representation and re-
newal of that of the cross; the representation, because the sep-
arate consecration of the bread and wine reminds us forcibly
of the real separation of our Lord's body and blood, which
took place at His death; the renewal, because it is the same
Victim, the same Host, the same High Priest, and conse-
quently, the same sacrifice, which is offered on the altar, as
was once offered upon the cross. The only difference is in the
manner of offering. On the cross, Christ offered himself by
himself; on the altar, he offers himself by the ministry of his
priests; on the cross, he offered himself in a bloody manner;
on the altar, he offers himself in an unbloody manner. Such is
the sacrifice of the Christian religion; an august sacrifice which
unites in itself all the advantages of which the different sacri-
fices of the Old Law were but the types and figures. It is a
sacrifice of adoration, by which we acknowledge the sovereign
dominion which God has over His creatures; a sacrifice of

494 Christian Persecutions.

thanksgiving, by which we thank Him for all his benefits; a
sacrifice of impetration, by which we obtain new favors; and a
sacrifice of propitiation, by wihich we appease His justice."

We now come to the great stumbling block of Protestant
opposition. They do not deny what Jesus said, nor do they
deny that there must be some invisible union between God and
man, but they do deny that Catholic priests, either by their
ordination, or by any authority whatever, are legalized to stand
before the people and there offer these sacred institutions of
worship. The Reformation taught this falsity, and as such it
has been handed down from generation to generation. If it
was not a false doctrine under the old Jewish law, it is not a
false one now. If for fifteen hundred years it was an admitted
truth, it must be a truth to-day. If Christ delegated to His
ministry the consecrated power of faith, some form of ministry
must still hold it, or it is lost forever. If it is lost, at what
period of our religious existence did it depart from us? If it
still exists, what ministry holds the consecration?

From this line of reasoning it no longer becomes a question
of faith, but a question of who shall administer it. If Prot-
estants believe that their ministers have received a divine call-
ing to preach the gospel of Christ, why deny this calling to a
Catholic priest? Is a priest who has vowed to consecrate his
life to the service of the Church, who is bound to remain faith-
ful to the sick and afflicted, who knows no fear of death, who
crosses the threshold where lurk the most contagious diseases
of earth and there administers to the dying, is such a man un-
worthy the exalted trust reposed in him?

Alark the contrast between the mission of these two min-

The Sacrifice of the Mass. 495

isters of the gospel. The one visits the sick, if the ailment is
not contagious, and hopes that all is well. He can do nothing
nor can he say anything except to pray to God that He will
enter the heart of the sick man and at the last moment save his
soul from perdition. The other visits the sick, his presence is a
great relief. The dying Catholic looks to him for consolation.
He confesses his sins, he asks God to blot out the remembrance
of his unworthiness, he takes the last sacrament and in the
beautiful trust of the blessed promises of his religious faith, he
dies with contentment in his heart and a divine assurance in
his soul that all is well.

But let us return to a further discussion of this holy sacra-
ment. You understand that to change a barren heart to one
filled with the divine presence of our Saviour there must be a
preparation, a repentance, a desire to do right, and a belief in
the power of God, without which the consecrated bread cannot
be the bread of life. But woe unto him who performs these acts
of piety unworthily.

The Holy Eucharist was not instituted for pleasure or
amusement. Christ did not suffer'crucifixion for any purpose
but that of redemption. He did not offer His flesh and blood
for ridicule and mockery, but declared that whosoever should
eat and drink unworthily "shall be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord."

Read the I. Corinthians, XI Chapter, 23, 29 : "For as often
as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's
death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread,
and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty
of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine

496 Christian Persecutions.

himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that
cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's
body."

Not only has Christ declared that the pure heart shall re-
ceive the blessings of divine presence, but he declares that to
do this in mockery, in levity, in unworthiness, is to be guilty
of His death, just as the Jews were guilty of His crucifixion.

But Protestants say this is all foolishness to believe that to
partake of the Consecrated Hosts unworthily one "eateth and
drinketh judgment to himself." Then why believe anything
that Christ has said? If you believe in Him, why believe a
part and not the whole? If you do not believe in Him at all,
then we cannot expect you to believe His teachings. But if
you are Christian, if you believe in God's Holy Word, have
you any right to interpret any meaning except that which is
conveyed in these positive words? Christ not only offered His
flesh as a sacrifice for eternal life to those who believed, but
He declares that he who eats it unworthily, "eateth and drink-
eth judgment to himself."

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Full text of "Christian persecutions : being a historical expostion of the principal Catholic events from the Christian era to the present time written from an unprejudiced standpoint"

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