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Pamphlets.
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PAPAL TRUTHFULNESS:
A
9
LECTURE
BY
FATHER QUINN,
Formerly Priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
DELIVERED IN NEW YORK CITY, DECEMBER 7, 1879.
CLEVELAND, O. :
LEADER PllTNTTNG COMPANY, 146 SUPERIOR STREET.
1880.
/
PAPAL TRUTHFULNESS:
A
LECTURE
BY
FATHER QUINN,
Formerly Priest in the Roman Catholic Church.
DELIVERED IN NEW YORK CITY, DECEMBER 7, 1879.
CLEVELAND, O. :
LEADER PKINTING COMPANY, 146 SUPEKIOK STKEET.
1880.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the j'ear 1S80, bj' Bernard L.
QuiNN, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
LECTURE.
I propose to review a sermou preached in this city some
months ago by a Romish priest. It contains about the average
number of falsehoods, as we shall prove before we have done
with it, and it may set you thinking how any man can come
out before the public, as the author of the discourse does,
and make such statements.
The heading of the sermon as given in the newspaper report
is, ^' Would not the United States profit by becoming a Cath-
olic nation?" The preacher maintains the affirmative.
The report says. ^ 'After dwelling at some length on the
parable of the mustard seed as illustrative of the universality
of the Papal Catholic Church, the Romish priest turned his
attention to the consideration of the question whether it
would not be to the interest of the people of the United
States to become a Roman Catholic country. He could not
wish the separated brethren of the different sects of Protest-
antism a greater blessing than to become good, practical
Papal Catholics" (I suppose like himself), ''nor the country
a greater blessing^than that she should take her place among
the Roman Catholic nations of the world." [That means
that she should be governed by the Roman Catholic hierarcy.]
"She was great and prosperous with the many blessings of a
kind Providence," [I wonder that Providence has blessed an
heretical country like this,] (having the Papal curses resting
on it,) "and the industry and enterprise of her citizens were
the wonder of the world." [The industry and enterprise of
Roman Catholic countries are not the wonder of the world.]
' ' Her vast fields and valleys were teeming with nature's
choicest gifts, and all over her great area were springing up.
4
as if by magic, towns and cities tilled with enterprising and
indnstrions people. One tliiny (done remained to crown her
]Lap2)iness, and that was to become Roman (kitliolic. No one
should imagine that if this country became Roman Catholic
it would be less great or prosperous than it was before."
[They need not imagine it; it would simply be a positive
fact. Other nations have had a taste of Papal government,
and where are they to-day?] '^The principles of the Cath-
olic Clmrcli were not antagonistic to American institutions.
If they Avere, how could she flourish as she does here? How
could the plant live and flourish, unless the soil was fertile
and the air and sunshine were congenial. There was nothing
anti-republican in the Papal Catholic Church." [That is a
lie, and he knew it.] '^ On the contrary, she conferred her
honors on the poor and the rich and the middle classes with-
out discrimination, the only test of merit being piety and
ability. [Do pious men come out and preach lies on Sunday?]
(as this Papal preacher has done in this very sermon?) ^^It
was the great glor}'^ of the Roman Church that she could live
under any legitimate form of government. She expects that
all governments will be ruled by truth and justice, and when
they are, they will never find the Reman Catholic Churcli ar-
rayed against them."
[The business of the Christian Church is to save souls and
not meddle with governments, but the business of the Romish
Churcli is to meddle with governments, and to be the supreme
government itself.]
" Her bishops and priests are not chosen from among the
wealthy, but, to a great extent, from among the poor and
middle classes."
[The reason is that the wealthy will not become priests.
If a rich man were to accept the teachings of Romanism and
abandon his household, he would be received with open arms.
The entrance into the Papal Catholic Church will justify the
Separation of husband and wife. The fact is that the wealthy
student is always preferred to the poor one, even if the latter
is the more talented. But the wealthy have too much at-
tac bment to their own wills to become slaves. Some pious
*V'
youn^ men imagine they can serve God better in the priest-
hood; others enter the Church to have support and easy
times, to serve Satan, or to make money by working upon
the fears of the people. Yet there are a great many poor
young men who are sincere, but in time they find out their
mistake, and reject conscience or be forced from their po-
sition.]
** Instead of retarding, the Papal Catholic Church would
advance the true interests of this country as she had of every
other country where siie has had sway. The happy aspect
the country presented from year to year of prosperity, and
thriving communities springing up all over its vast territory,
suggested the hope that all these industrious cities might be
pervaded by the grace of God. And was there any channel
by which that grace might better be imparted than by the
Papal Catholic Church? In her practices and doctrines she
would offer an insurmountable barrier to Communism with
its heresies and terrors. She would inculcate respect for
lawful authority and thus make her subjects laAV-abiding, re-
specting citizens. She would teach all classes that honesty
was to be practiced, not because it was the best policy, but
because it was taught by God himself thousands of years ago
from the heights of Sinai. She would force the thief and the
extortioner to restore their ill-gotten goods under penalty of
eternal reprobation. She would inculcate the sacredness and
indissolubility of the marriage tie, and preserve society from
the degradation and immorality of a too loose regard for the
obligations and holiness of that contract. She would extin-
guish hatreds between individuals and between families, and
in fine would teach every Christian virtue, and denounce and
condemn every vice and every crime. Those who had the
happiness to be members of the Catholic Church knew she
was not what her enemies represented her to be. They knew,
on the contrary, that she was a kind, loving mother, ever
calli^ back the sinner to the path of virtue and good works;
ever doing the work of her Divine Master."
There is more to the same purpose, but I will not read fur-
ther. The author wishes the peo^jle to believe that it would
6
be to the interest of this country to become Roman Catholic,
and therefore be subject to the government of that Church.
He knows very well that people are influenced by a regard
for their temporal interests, and he, therefore, holds out these
material benefits as an inducement.
Now it is a fact that this country has been prosperous, and
is very much respected abroad on account of the intelligence
of its people, aud yet it is a fact that it is not a Roman Cath-
olic country. Therefore, the prosperity, intelligence and
respect have not been produced by the Roman Catholic
Church. Our preacher says, that there is only one thing left
to crown this country, and that was, that she should become
a Catholic country. Well, my friends, there are different
kinds, of crowns in this world; there is the crown of glory
which this country wears, and there is a crown of thorns
which this country would wear if it followed this advice.
There is a crown of intelligence which the people of America
wear, and there is a crown of ignorance which millions of the
subjects of that Church have upon their foreheads to-day.
There is a crown of prosperity which surrounds the head of
this country and of many Protestant people, and there is a
crown of shameful poverty which is worn by the vast majority
of those who have been the most faithful subjects of that
Papal system. So-called Papal nations now wear crowns of
decay, ruin, wretchedness, stupor and death put on their
heads by the Papacy. And yet, these men are always going
to c?o so much! Yes! "Accept our Church; accept our gov-
ernment; accept our teaching: and then you will have more
glory!"
If that be so, my friends, why do the poor Irish people
come in crowds to the United States? Why did the Italians
rebel against the Papal government? Where was the great
prosperity of Italy under Papal rule during the centuries of
its domination over that land? Why do the Italians still come
to the United States? Is it not because they expect to^have
opportunities here which they can find in no Papal Catholic
country? Why do the people of France flock to the United
States? Why do the people of Spain and of Germany, of
England and Scotland, and all countries where Eomanism has
ruled at any time, come to America? Why does not the
Papal Catholic Church teach these people common sense, and
convince them that it is to their interest to remain at home
and not come to this God-forsaken, this non-papal, this
heretical (but prosperous) country, the United States? Do
yon suppose that those people who have lived many years
under the dominion of the Romish Cliurch would abandon it
if they were convinced that it is better than any other Church
or any form of civil government? People as a rule have more
sense than to throw away their chances of prosjierity, leave a
certainty for an uncertainty, forsake happiness for misery.
Sometimes men make mistakes, and commit sins; but, as a
rule, industrious, honest people will not reject a government
and a church system, under which they are i)rosperous and
happy by the applicaticn of justice and Christian freedom.
What evidence is there here in New York that the Papal
Catholic Church is working for the interests of the people?
What is the condition of the Roman Catholics in tliis city?
Do you find that the mass of peojile who belong to that
Church are superior in intelligence and morality to the Prot-
estants? Are they more odedient to the laws of the country?
If you judge by the material condition of the people, you
must conclude that the Church is oppressive, and that the
people have to bear heavy burdens; nor does the moral condi-
tion of her people tell a different tale. Our preacher asks, if
the Roman Catholic Church be antagonistic to republican
principles, how does it happen that she flourishes here? The
answer is, because the very institutions of the country permit
her to flourish — give her freedom, as they do to other Churches.
He speaks of the Church as a plant. It grew. Does he mean
that only a few Papal Catholics came here and multiplied, or
that the increase of the Papal Church is owing to conversions
from Protestantism? He cannot mean either the one thing
or the other. The increase in the Romish Church has been
caused by the importation of large numbers of Roman Catho-
lics from other countries. Did they leave to better them-
selves or not? They came to a better country. The Church
8
a plant! There is a good deal of deception and sophistry
about this way of speaking. Is it a cabbage plant, or what?
If it be a plant, it needs plenty of sunshine and air. I sup-
pose it has this in Italy. How does ifc happen then that it
goes down in the scale of civilization — in standing and re-
spectability — and that countries are not prosperous under the
Papacy? How does it happen that when people begin to read
and judge for themselves they cast off the yoke of the Roman
Catholic Church? JSTo pcoj)le can prosper unless they be free.
Of course, there must be instruction and government, but
there must also be freedom.
But do they hold that the Papal Church is only a plant?
No! They maintain that the Church has a Divine right to
govern, and the heads of the Church are princes. You
would insult them by calling them and tlieir Papal Church
mere plants. There is a vast difference between lords and
princes, and ecclesiastical government and plants. The Ro-
man Catholic Church is no plant at all, but an assembly of
people from different parts of the world under the same Church
government as you find in Italy; and if that Church ruled
here, as it governed and grew there, the interests of this
country would suffer, in the course of time, just as the inter-
ests of the people of Italy have suffered.
Our preacher says, that the Church would compel people
to be honest. Where is the honesty in Archbishop Purcell's
affairs? Thousands of poor people in Ohio have suffered, and
this is only a fair specimen of the kind of justice meted out
to the subjects of the Papal Church in other countries. The
only difference is that in this free country the newspapers
publish the facts, whereas, if the Romish Church had control
of the press the newspapers dare not publish the facts. A
free press is one of the safeguards of the rights and interests
of the people, and, generally speaking, it tells the people the
truth and prevents them from being deceived. But the
Papal portion of the press generally publishes what is false
and deceptive. And yet many are deceived. Christ taught
the people, and yet they were deceived. The fault is not with
those who write honestly for the press, but with those who
9
study the arts of deception, and those who submit to decep-
tion without an effort to learn the truth.
Where was the honesty, I ask, of that Bishop of xllton who
threw a Churcli into bankruptcy to defeat the honest claims
of people to the amount of $24:,00()? If he were an honest
Christian, acting according to the principles of an honest
Church, he would not retain his tens of thousands and leave
the poor jieople to go w ithout their money.
Where was the honesty of that priest, McManus, who after
cheating the people for some years, finally Inirned his church in
broad day-light, and, to escape their vengeance, tlirew himself
on the ground, and pretended he had fainted ? This same priest
afterwards got some of the worst men in the parisli to be his
advisers; and when one poor man brought suit in the courts,
the priest perjured himself, and the poor man was defeated.
I suppose the priest got absolution. The man then went to
the bishop, but the bishop hustled him out of the confession-
al, though he well knew that the man had been cheated. If
he were a man of God, he would have required the priest to
pay his debts, but instead of that lie promoted him for his
dishonesty.
No, it is not simj^le piety and simple ability that are wanted
in the priests! There are pious and able priests, but there
are very many who are neither pious nor able, but who rob the
people.
I could tell of another case in which, when all other means
failed, the threat of the Catholic vote was used to intimidate
the lawyers and judges. Where was respect for the civil law
in this case?
A bishop ordered a poor man to sue for the principal and
interest of a mortgage held by the Church, but afterwards
excommunicated that man for suing. The sliock caused the
man's death, and the bishop would oot permit the parish
priest to visit him on his death-bed] but the priest went in
spite of the bishop's threat of excommunication.
Talk about the fears of the confessional keeping people
honest! What did the fears of the confessional do in these
cases, and in many similar ones.^
10
There are thousands of such cases in the United States.
We need not go to Europe for them. And yet this Papal
preacher wishes the people of the United States to believe
that they will be so happy if they become Eoman Catholics!
Where was the happiness of that poor old man, of whom
I have told you, of the man who lost his home to pay
the men's wages for building the church, of the poor people
who placed mortgages on their little farms and allowed their
wives and children to go without shoes, that they might give
money to the priest for two churches; he swindled the people
and the men who worked on these churches and furnished
material. I will give you another case.
The same bishop of whom I have spoken pretends to be a
very conscientious man, and is, no doubt, as much so as the
rest of them. Well, there was a young woman who got into
some trouble, as people say, and he made this young person
go down on her knees in the hospital and swear to him that
a certain Father O'Brien was the father of her child. This
was confession, although it was not done in a confessional.
The regulation is that a clergyman cannot hear a woman's
confession, unless there is a screen or crate pierced with holes
between them.
But a bishop has a dispensing power and, of course, can
hear a woman's confession wherever he pleases. Well, he
sent the accused priest away. Mark: this was the same
bishop who told the poor old man to sue and then excommu-
nicated him for suing. He knew that Father O'Brien was
not the father of the child, and he knew who was the father,
and before the child was born the young woman was sent to
keep house for Father O'Brien, to give plausibility to her
story. The unjust and wicked ^bishop retained the guilty
priest' in office, and dismissed the innocent priest — the bishop
said he sent him to the devil. The author of this sermon
speaks of forcing people to do justice. Where was the justice
or moral rectitude of this transaction? Nor does this act
stand alone. It is a common way of destroying priests who
are obnoxious to their superiors.
11
There was another case of an aged French priest. He had
been the best friend of an Irish priest, named McManus, and
simply remarked on one occasion that he did not think the
bishop and McManns were doing riglit by the people. The
Irish priest reported this, and by and by a woman was sent to
keep house for the old priest, and for tlie same unjust purpose
as that just mentioned. Now if the Roman Catliolic Church is
bound to make people do right in dealing with each other,
should not her bishops and priests set the example? This
bishop was under no temptation of poverty to do wrong. He
had $30,000 worth of furniture for his house. His in-
come from dwellings was I^12,000, and he refused $230,000
for one church and a few buildings adjacent to it. The prop-
erty he controls in one city is estimated at nearly two millions
of dollars, and he has a large amount of money besides bonds
bearing interest. Where, tiien, is the force of the confessional
as bearing upon his evil conduct? It does not appear to make
him conscientious. And if it cannot do this for the heads of
the Church, do yuu think it will do it for the members?
Many members of the Papal Catholic Church, knowing of
such things as those of which I have told you, have lost con-
fidence in the Church, and no wonder! But very many of
these are kept in the Church by fear or self-interest.
Talk of compelling people to restore their ill-gotten gains
by the threat of eternal reprobation! My friends, there are
very few Roman Catholic Churches in the United States that
have not the scandal of injustice connected wirh them. Many
are built and kept m debt for the purpose of extracting money
in larger amounts from the people, who are informed by their
dishonest and untruthful clergy that the churches and other
buildings, together with the lands on which they are erected,
belongs to them and their children; while in truth the prop-
erty .belongs to the rulers of the Papal Church but not to the
people. Let any one ask the bishop of thej|iocese for a share
or portion of this property, and he will have the door slammed
in his face. The fact is that the bishops do nearly as they
please with the property, even to mortgaging or selling it.
Some of them require that it be vested in them in fee simple.
12
so that they may own it as citizens and dispose of it at pleas-
ure.
The author of this sermon we are refuting^ says that the
Papal Catholic Church places an insurmonntable barrier before
communism; but it is quite certain that there is not a more
communistic institution in the world, claiming to be Chris-
tian, than the Papal Church. It is a community in itself,
and it is full of the spirit of communism.
But to avoid details I will quote some extracts from the
writings of a Papal Catholic, one who died in the Church.
He says:
First. '^'It is the lack of due instruction in the principles
of the (Catholic) Christian religion, (mauner of living), that
has suffered the Roman Catholic nations to fall back into
Greek and Roman Paganism." Is it possible they have fallen
baek into Paganism? A Roman Catholic says so, and that it
is because they have not been instructed in Christianity; he
cannot say Romanism, because it is the constant effort of the
Papal Church to instruct the people in Romanism. He says:
Second. '* The leaders in the modern ('apostacy ') com-
motions and upheavals of society have, in most (^all') cases,
been educated in Roman Catholic schools.
Third. "Paris was the hot-bed of the wildest and most
destructive theories."
Fourth. *'The Commune of 1871 threatened for a time
the very existence of French society. In 1872 the census of
religions showed that 1,700,000 out of 1,800,000 were Roman
Catholics."
In other words 17 people out of 18 in Paris, in 1872, were
Roman Catholics. Now, our Papal preachers need not talk
about the Roman Catholic Church as being a barrier to com-
munism.
If the people had any religion at all they were Roman Cath-
olics. It was Romish teaching, not the Christian religion
which had created in them the spirit of communism. The
13
peo})le lacked religion, though they had abiiiidancoof Roiiiaii-
isiii, which bore tlie fruits of coniiiiiiui.sni.
Fifth. "The great body of the Comiminards must have
been Ilonian Catholics, baptised and trained in that Papal
Cliurch."
SixtJi. " Tiie masses of the people have been (in the Roman
Catholic Cluirch), insufficiently instructed in their social or
public duties, or as to their Christian relations and obligations
to the State and society."
There is a great deal of instruction given the papists about
their duties to the Romish Church, but not their duties to so-
ciety. In the Protestant churches there is much instruction
on Christian and social duties. And is not this rioht? Do
we not owe something to the State that protects our interests,
and ought not the people therefore to be instructed in these
points of duty? It is the want of proper instruction in such
matters that makes the people liable at any time to rise up
in mobs or in communistic riots, as they are called.
Seventh. ^' We find all through the history of Christendom,
principles and theories embraced and acted upon by Papal
Catholics (of all classes;, which are really pagan and
anti-christian in their character; hence has so often arisen the
conflict between the two powers; hence the communistic up-
risings of contemporary society.'
??
These are the statements of a Roman Catholic, showing
that the Papal Church has not placed a barrier to communis-
tic principles, but on the contrary has generated them.
Where was there a more communistic order than that of the
Inquisition, taking entire possession of the property of the
Saracens and the Jews in Spain, overturning society, robbing
the people wholesale? Every evidence of the most commu-
nistic order was found in the administration of the Inquisition-
And does not the Roman Church still claim the right to
govern all people, to make laws for all people, to control even
the earnings of the people? Do you wonder that the people
14
rebel when they find that on their side is poverty, and in their
church is luxury at their expense.
A great deal has been said concerning the wickedness of
the French revolution, but the corruptions and communistic
wickedness of the Papal church and clergy were the chief
causes of the revolution. Why, the priests, as Macauly states,
Avhen they found an opportunity, threw aside their robes
and " proclaimed that their whole life had been an impos-
ture."
You have read, many of you, of the great papal schism in
the 14th century, when rival popes cursed each other, and of
Boniface 7th in the 10th century, who caused his predecessor
in the papal chair to be strangled to death.
Were these events calculated to make the people revere and
love the Papal Church, and profit by her example? This
same Boniface Tth was driven by the people from Eome, and
tied to Constantinople, taking with him many valuables of the
church, A^essels, vestments, etc., and selling them for the
highest price offered. Another pope was appointed in his
place and reigned nine years, and at his death, Boniface re-
turned to Eome and through bribery and the use of popular
scheming, succeeded in dethroning John 14th, whom he
found in the papal chair, and in having himself reinstated in
that position. He imprisoned John the 14tli in the castle of
St. Angelo, starved him to death, and finally caused the dead
body of his rival to be exposed naked to the gaze of the popu-
lace. Was this an edifying episode in the history of the
Papal Church; destined to promote the happiness of the
people and advance the cause of Christianity? No, indeed.
But the people began to think for themselves. They looked
inside the doors of the church and instead of seeing just and
good men there, they found ministers of iniquity — men dis-
obedient to the laws of God and nature. Hence they were
forced to seek for the the principles of Christianity outside of
the papal system.
Let me now read a little further from Macaulay.
15
First. " During tlie last tliree centuries, so stunt the
growth of the' human mind has been the cliief object of the
Churcli of Rome.
Second. TJuougiiuul Cliristendom, wliatever advance has
been made in knowledge, in freedom, in wealth, in the arts of
life, has been made in spite of her, and has everywhere been,
in inverse proportion to her power.
Third. The loveliest valleys and most fertile provinces of
Europe have, under lier rule, been sunk in poverty, in polit-
ical servitude and in intellectual torpor, wiiile Protestant conn-
tries, once proverbial for steriliy and barbarism, have been
turned by skill and industry into gardens, and can boast of a
long list of heroes and stfttesmen, poets and plilosophers.
Fourth. "' The descent of Spain, onee the foremost among
monarchies, to the lowest depths of degradation; the elevation
of Holland in spite of many natural disadvantages, teach the
evil influence and tendency of papal dominion.
Contrast these words of Macaulay with a statement from
another source, that the ambition of the Roman Catholic
Church is to gain control of the United States. ^'^The
future of the United States belongs, under God, to that (the
Roman Catholic) religion, which by its conscious possession
of the truth, and by the indwelling spirit of divine love shall
succeed in bringing the American people to unity in their
religious belief, as they are actually one in the political sense."
Here is something that touches everybody. It was a maxim
of Pope Boniface 8th, that every human being should be sub-
ject to the Roman pontifT.
^'Porro.^^ — '^Everybody from necessity of being saved, or
wishing to be saved must become a subject of the Roman
pontiff."
That applies, of course, to every citizen of the United
States. It is a pronouncement of Pope Boniface, and it re-
mains in force, and will be enforced whenever the interests of
the Papal Church require it. A clergyman of this city, a
pervert to the Roman Church, makes this statement.
16
lu reply to such assertions, permit me to read from the
address of the first president of the United states. ^'^ Against,
the insidions wiles of foreign inflnence I conjure yon to be-
lieve me, the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly
awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influ-
ence is one of the most baneful foes of republican govern-
ment." Such are the prophetic words of George Washington.
How can a clergyman say that there is nothing in the Ro-
man Church antagonistic to a republican government, when
that Church claims that the Pope ought to rule this govern-
ment? One of the institutions of this country is the public
school system; and is not the Roman Church opposed to that
system? The very first principle of .the Church is to control
all the institutions of the land, educational institutions in-
cluded, and even the civil government itself. In its very
essence, therefore, the Roman Church is opposed to the
republican government of this nation. Besides, Romanism is
a foreign government, claiming the allegiance of 6,000,000
or 7,000,000 subjects in the United States. The present Pope
advises the clergy of Ameriea to study Thomas Aquinas, who
lays it down as a principle that it is a justifiable act to put
heretics to death. Protestants are heretics. People who leave
the Catholic Church are heretics. It is, therefore, justifiable to
put them to death, according to St. Thomas Aquinas. Is
that prineijile not opposed to the principles of a republican
government — of the government of the United States which
is based upon the liberty of conscience?
I will give a few special cases of priestly and episcopal in-
justice and villainy. A certain priest who ridiculed ordina-
tion and the whole of Romanism as a farce, threatened
violence and death, threatened shooting through the window
and poisoning the well of water, because he, and a priest
whom he accused of adultery and swindling, and another
priest who had been swindling many vears, were not permitted
to have a high mass — a high mockery — at a funeral. A cer-
tain bishop, who made love to Sisters in the confessional,
confession-room and priests' housCj a bishop who gave money
17
to throe women — oue of them a priest's housekeeper — to bribe
them to work for him and against the priests, compelled a
man to 2;-o on his knees and perjure himself against a priest,
whom the bishop, with a ring of Belgian, Dutch, and a few
villainous Irish priests, desired to injure and ruin. The man
who perjured himself in this cruel case, fell dead suddenly.
Then tlie agents of this bishop and of the priest who had
perjured himself, who had burned a church in daylight, who
had swindled the people of the parish and the man who built
the church, were bribed with money and whiskey to burn the
church and burn the priest to death in the dead of night, if
possible, and in case the priest escaped alive, to report that he
set fire to the church out of revenge and to get the insurance
monev.
The priest could not, did not, gQt the insurance money as
all was insured in the name of the bishop. This bishop got
the insurance money, kept part of it for himself and used an-
other part of it to pay the expenses of the suit that had been
brought by Patrick Grady, who built the same church and
had been swindled out of a large portion of his wages. The
bishop and his unjust perjured colleagues, priests iind laymen
desired to put the church out of existence, to prevent Grady
from suing or giving them any more trouble and to get the
insurance money to cover their past law expenses in the case.
These clergy of the Romish church tried to put the blame and
guilt of all their crimes in that parish on the priest who set-
tled the scandalous debts by the request of some of the people
to save their church from being burned on account of the
dishonesty of some of his predecessors and the neglectful,
faithless, pompous, injust bishop. The priest would have
been burned to death, had not some men coming from a
party discovered the tire in time to wake him from sleep.
Thus wickedness and much of like nature, drove that priest
and many people from Romanism forever.
The Papal Church rules the people for its own benefit and
aggrandizement, but not for the interest of the people; hence
the nation that is under Papal influence becomes impoverished,
18
whereas people who are guided by the principles of Christian-
ity work out their destiny and are prosperous. Look at the
countries where the Papal Church has ruled and you will find
poverty, ignorance, decay, ruin and frightful misery in its
tracks. It is constantly going to do something good for the
people, but it is always working and scheming for itself and
against the people. Can this be a Christian system? Can
Christian men uphold it and proclaim such falsehoods as we
find in the sermon which I am revicAving?
What has the Roman Catholic Church done for the common
people? Has it educated them? Has it refined them? The
men who preach these discourses in favor of that system will
go behind the curtain and say that there is not a more gigan-
tic swindle on earth than the Papal Church. And yet they
try to impose that system on the American people.
Perhaps you will say that educated people ought to know
better than to be deceived. So they ought, but they are
either deceived or deceivers. Many educated people in the
Papal Church detest it, and yet for selfish reasons they de-
fend it, because it serves their personal interest. But are not
all the priests educated men? By no means. They hear
confession, say mass, rub a little oil on the sick people; but
it is all a performance, a trade, and they shuffle through their
parts somehoio. Out of thirty-five young men preparing for
the priesthood, there were not four who had read the Xew
Testament through twice. There is little need for the Scrip-
tures, as they teach the people Romanism, the Roman, system,
the Papacy and opposition to heretics. Christianity is sec-
ondary, the Papal Church is primary.
It is strange that the bishop when he takes his oath of
allegiance to the Pope, swears that he will not sell what belongs
to his table — that is, whatever affects his stomach and his
pocket. They are bound by oath to retain whatever they get.
When did God authorize, or Peter institute, or Christ teach
any such practice? The great object of Christianity was to
help the people, to lift burdens from their shoulders and to
save their souls: but the prominent aim ot the Roman system
19
is to deceive the people, to build itself up by all possible means,
just or unjust.
When a nation submits to that it is "given over," as the
Scriptures say. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but iniquity
will destroy people. Justice, charity, benevolence, a disposi-
tion to aid and educate and enlighten — these things build up
the temporal prosi3erity of a nation and promote its spiritual
advancement also; for when people are comfortably circum-
stanced they are not so strongly tempted to commit crime as
when they are reduced to poverty.
There are many thousands of unfortunate women in this
city who were baptized in the Romish Church: what is the
Romish Church doing to rescue them? They send a few to
the Convent of the Good Shepherd, but the treatment they
receive there often makes them worse. There have been in-
stances m which they have been strapped down to an iron bed
and fed there on bread and water. Some of these poor women
would rather die than submit to such treatment. Some years
ago a certain priest got the sisters in Cincinnati to open a
house for these unfortunate women, and a few were saved
from lives of shame, no doubt; but a great many were driven
back to their degradation, and I suppose that to-day there are
three unfortunate women in that citv to one at that time.
The sisters soon became wealthy. The Papal Church estab-
lishes religious societies to build itself up in the estimation of
the public, and for the purpose of augmenting its revenues.
Some time ago a poor Irish girl, a Roman Catholic, with only
one cent in her pocket, went to a nunnery in this city on a
dark stormy night and said: " Sister, I have only one cent,
let me stay to-night and when I get a place I will pay you
what you like; for God's sake let me stay." The sister shut
the door in her face, and the poor girl went away. Fortunate-
ly she met some strangers who had some charity, and in a day
or two, through the influence of some good protestant people,
she got a situation.
Do you not think that this made an impression upon her
mind? Many Catholic girls have been driven to despair and
sinful ways by harsh treatment and poverty^ and yet when
20
tliGj are earuiag money tliey give freely to the Church. Mean-
while the clergy walk the streets as big as two ordinary men,
while the poor people are thankful for half a meal a day, and
yet remain faithful Roman Catholics.
There is a movement among the clergy for obtaning land in
Minnesota, and the state of Minnesota will probably give some
land for farms, and the people of New York will be asked to
contribute, but you may depend upon it that it is not the
people so much that will receive the benefit of all this gener-
osity as the church.
There are many people in the United fStates who do not
believe in Christianity, and if thev form their idea of Chris-
tianity from the actions of the clergy, is this to be wondered
at? Were the examples I have referred to at the beginning of
this discourse calculated to make people believe in Christian-
ity? Is it likely that a people ruled by a Church in which
such examples are numerous, will be a happy people. I know
what your answer is, and we all know too well that under the
government of this Papal Church, individuals, families, com-
munities and nations have been reduced to poverty, misery,
ruin and appalling wretchedness. Let not that system con-
trol and rob America of its freedom, energy, activity, life and
marvellous prosperity!
Arn L iy^y
