Romanism at home : letters to the Hon. Roger B. Taney, chief justice of the United States

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ROMANISM AT HOME.

LETTERS

TO THE

HOI. ROGEE B. TANEY

CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES.

BY

KIR WAN.

NEW Y O R K :

HARPER (fe BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
329 & 331 PEARL STREET,

F R A N K L I X SQUARE.

I 8 5 2.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two, by

Hauper & Brothers,

in the Clerk's Oflice of the District Court of tlie Southern District
of New York.

r

TO ALL MEN,

WHETHER PAPISTS OR PROTESTANTS,

WHO CAN

READ, REFLECT, AND REASON,

WHO DESIRE THE EXTENSION CF

CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY,
BY THEIR FRIEND,

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

The history of the following pages is very soon told.
A few years ago I addressed some letters to Bishop
Hughes, stating my objections to Popery, confining my-
self mainly to its unscriptm'al and absurd doctrines. A
controversy ensued, upon which the country has pro-
nounced its opinion. My objections are yet unanswer-
ed, and are likely to remain so. I know of nothing
that promises relief to the good bishop save a " wink-
ing Madonna," which the alms of the faithful, if liber-
ally contributed, can readily secure. Any thing in that
line is supplied to order at Rome.

Fatal to Popery as are the objections drawn from its
doctrines, yet more fatal are those drawn from its " ex-
ternal arrangements," its government, its despotism, its
spirit, its legends, its relics, and its influence on the
moral, social, and political interests of the world. I
have been often solicited to present this aspect of the
subject to the public ; but to do this as I desired, 1
must needs see Romanism at home — I must visit " the
Lady of the Seven Hills" in her own house, where she
is permitted to exercise her maternal authority just as
she wills. With this object in view, I made a flying
visit to Europe within the last year, in company with
a friend, who has attained a distinguished rank in the
medical profession, and w^ho witnessed with me nearly
all the scenes on the Continent described in these let-
ters, and who will testify that they are not overdrawn
The present volume is the first fruit of that tour.

VI PREFACE.

I design these letters to be an appeal from the priests
to the people of the Romish faith ; hence I address them
to a layman of that faith. Upon the face of the earth
there is no people so robbed, deluded, and degraded by
a priesthood, or upon whom so many motives and in-
terests are pressing to assert their mental and spiritual
independence.

I design these letters to reach and to influence, if
possible, the men of education and influence of this
land, whether Papists or Protestants. Hence I address
them to a man distinguished for his mental training,
and by his high social and judicial position. No greater
curse threatens this nation than the spread of Roman-
ism in it. Almost any other evil would be a blessing
in comparison with this. And the man who courts the
priest to get the votes of his dupes — who flatters the
spies of the despots of Rome for the purpose of securing
their assistance to vote him into power, should be re-
garded as selling his country for a mess of pottage.

I speak in these pages as I feel about the priests,
and as all must feel who study them at home, and
who witness the outrages they commit, and the lives
which they lead. If any complain of a want of rev-
erence, I plead guilty, and offer as my excuse an un-
conquerable besetting sin to reverence only the sincere
and the true.

No new thing will have happened unto me if these
letters bring upon me the curses of the priest. I will
consider it a sufficient compensation for all that, if they
only bring upon me the blessings of one poor soul saved
by grace from their wiles, and made to rejoice in the
glorious liberty of the children of Grod.

March, 1852.

CONTENTS.-

LETTER I.
Introductory. — Object of these Letters. — Reasons for addressing them
to Chief Justice Taney Page 13

LETTER II.
The Beginning to be understood. — A Church of God. — The Jewish
Church became Corrupt — had Reformers and Reformations. — Mainly
corrupted by Priests. — The Christian Church became Cormpt —
through what Causes. — The setting up of Mohammedanism and Ro-
manism.— Romanism not the Church Paul found in Rome ... 20

LETTER III.
The Basilica of Saint Peter's a Temple of Art, not a Church. — A Type
of the Romish Church. — Romanism a System of Policy to retain
Power. — The Power it claims — its means of supporting them . . 27

LETTER IV.
Romanism not the Religion of the New Testament. — A Combination
of various political Elements. — A political Compound. — Great Delu-
sions always put forth monstrous Claims. — Priestly Pretensions to
be spmTied 35

LETTER V.
Romanism as a religious System. — Naples. — St. Paul Major a Type of
the Paganism of Romanism. — Holy Water — how made. — Its Uses and
Ends. — St. Anthony's Day. — The Origin of Holy Water 42

LETTER VI.

The Sistine Chapel. — Angelo's Painting. — The Artist's Reply. — In-
cense.— Its Pagan Origin. — Candles: their Use, End, and Origin. —
Candlemass in Rome. — The Light of Candles can not supply the Light
ofTruth 50

VIU CONTENTS.

LETTER VII.
St. Patrick never iu Araenca. — Our Poverty in Holy Wells and Places.
— The Holy Wells at Ballahadireen. — Ballina. — Dovvnpatrick Head.
— Their Origin.— The Cell of St. Mary in Via Lata.— The Atroci-
ty of opening fabulous Wells, and suppressing the Fountains of
Truth : Page 58

LETTER VIII.
The Market-place at Naples. — A ludicrous Disaster at its Gate. — Ima-
ges every where revered. — Church of St. Augustin. — Scene witness-
ed there. — The Image of Peter at St. Peter's. — Worshiped by Pope
and Cardinals. — The Pantheon : Scene there. — Rome, Pagan in Fact,
Christian only in Name 65

LETTER IX.

Cumulative Evidence of the Paganism of Romanism. — Landing at Na-
ples.— Appearance of the Ecclesiastics. — Convent house. — Church of
Capuchins at Rome. — Preserved Monk. — Horrid Burying-place. —
Nuns — how manufactured. — Whence Monks and Nuns, and for what.
— Tools of the Priests and Corrupters of the People 74

LETTER X.

Letter from Rome dated A.D. 90. — The Paganism of Rome then, the
exact Picture of Papal Rome now 82

LETTER XL
Sham Miracles. — Altar in the Catacombs. — St. Januarius — the Lique-
faction of his Blood. — A terrible Incident for the Priests. — Ara Coeli.
— Bambino. — A Scene. — History of Bambino. — Its wonderful Pow-
ers 91

LETTER XII.
Sham Miracles. — Holy House of Loretto — its History — Flight — Dimen-
Bions. — Miracles. — Litany of our Lady of Loretto. — Perpetrators of
such Frauds, Impostors 99

LETTER XIII.

Sham Miracles. — St. Anthony of Padua. — The Virgin of Modena. —
Blood of Thomas a Becket. — Miracles of St. Patrick. — Miracles at
Downpatrick. — St. Dagland's Grave. — The Boy exorcised. — Xavier's
Miracles. — The wonderful Crab. — Priests not to be trusted , .. 108

CONTENTS. IX

LETTER XIV.
Relics. — Scala Sancta. — Saucta Sanctorum. — Relics of Santa Croce —
of St. Praxede — of St. Peter's — in Milan — in Cologne. — Sanctioned by
the Church. — Made to Order. — That they should be true, not essen-
tial.— Their Effects upon the People. — These Forgers of Relics un-
fitted to be our moral Teachers Pago 1 17

LETTER XV.
Legends. — Sabbath evening in S. Carlo. — Gorgeous Scene there. — Le-
gends from Butler — from Lives of English Saints. — Dr. Duffs Testi-
mony.— Foolish Legends of the Dark Ages revived. — The Religion
of Legends not fitted for America 128

LETTER XVL
The Mass not the Worship of God. — A theatrical Exhibition. — Wal-
densian Church in Turin. — High Ceremonies of Rome all theatrical.
— Feast of the Nativity. — Visit of the Wise Men. — Procession of
Palms. — Judgment-hall of Pilate. — Procession at Bonville. — Sab-
bath evening Service in Edinburgh. — Popish Plays and Play-actors
not suited to America - 139

LETTER XVIL
Romanism tested by its Fruits in Rome. — No personal Liberty there —
two Cases in Proof. — No security of Property — two flagrant Illustra-
tions.— No Religion there — no Sabbath — no Bible — no Preaching —
no worshiping Congregations — no serious Devotion there. — Is Popery
the best form of Religion for our Country ? 150

LETTER XVIII.
Fruits of Romanism. — Idolatry in Roine. — A Prodigy. — Pictures of Mary
— her Names and Worship. — Immorality of Rome. — Scene at Naples
— Key to priestly Profligacy. — Experience of Luther. — Mass for the
Soul of Gregory XVI. — Vespers in the Sistine. — Cardinals — their
Character. — Feelings of the Romans toward the Priests. — A Chat at
Civita Vecchia. — Romanism detested at Rome 160

LETTER XIX.
Avignon. — Hotel de I'Europe — mine Host. — Captain Packenham. —
Elasticity of Romanism — the Pope — Priests. — Despotism of Roman-
ism.— Friends of the Pope. — Neapolitan Catechism. — Priests the
Watchmen of Despotism — their horrid Use of the Confessional — it
should be the Abhorrence of all Flesh 171

X CONTENTS.

LETTER XX.

Character of Priests. — A Walk in Turin. — Bishops in England and
America Spies of Rome. — Ecclesiastical Preferments the Rewards of
Spies. — When Priests and Despots are in League, no Hope for the
People. — Examples of priestly Despotism. — Curse from the Altar. —
Case of the Antrim INIiller. — Priests the Curse of Ireland. — Can they
he a blessing to America ? Page 182

LETTER XXL

Ballenglen. — An Incident. — Persecution of Converts. — Tlmlling Fa-
naticism at a Funeral. — The Way the Priests get Money. — An Inci-
dent.— Cursing from the Altar. — Hard Case of Donovan. — Doing
Penance in Sheets. — Priests' Power giving Way. — Anecdote of a
Girl.— The Milkman.— Taking the Bull by the Horns.— The Curse
of Ireland 192

LETTER XXIL
Deceivings of Priests. — Nunneries. — Taking the Vail. — Stories about
Luther and Calvin. — Case of poor Bruley. — The Vaudois Monsters.
— Bridge of Purgatory broken. — Father O'Flanagan. — Why these de-
ceivings ? — Priests deserve Purgatory 205

LETTER XXIII.
Rome Intolerant. — Persecutions sanctioned. — Bishops sworn to per-
secute— Deposed if they do not. — Wiseman's reply. — Proofs of In-
tolerance— Waldenses — Castelnau — Bezieres — Morland's Address
— St. Bartholomew — Edict of Nantes revoked — Irish Massacre of
1641 — other Evidences. — Two Skins 217

LETTER XXIV.
Bad influence of Popery on the Nations. — Results from its Principles. —
No exceptions. — Naples. — Rome. — Sardinia. — Female Degradation.
— Ireland. — Protestant and Papal States compared. — Spain. — Colo-
nies of Papal States. — Is Popery the best Religion for our Country?
— Protestantism has made the United States what they are. — What
will they become if surrendei'ed to the Jesuit and the Priest?.. 230

LETTER XXV.

Emigration — must increase — mostly Popish. — What to be done for them
— Liberty — Conscience — Anierican Spirit. — Tide stayed until now.
— Right of all Men to the Bible — Wickedness of withholding it. —

CONTENTS. XI

Differences between Protestantism and Popery. — Edinburgh Irish
Missions. — Rev. Mr. King. — Character of Priests, — Pilgi-im of Struel.
— Treatment Priests deserve Page 243

LETTER XXVI.
Strictures on Popery ended. — Popery to be extirpated — its End hasten-
ing.— Friends of Freedom Enemies of Popery. — Suspended Wrath. —
Religion essential to national Greatness.— What true Religion is. —
Nature of the Church of God — its Object and End. — Tendency to vi-
carious Religion. — Great Curse of Christendom 260

KIR¥AN'S LETTERS

TO

CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY.

LETTER I.

Introductory. — Object of these Letters. — Reasons for addressing them
to Chief Justice Taney.

Obligations to give reasons. Bishop Hughes.

My dear Sir, — It will probably strike you and oth-
ers with some degree of surprise that I address to you
the following series of letters. And you have a right
to ask, and I confess myself under obligations to give,
the reasons why I select you from all the distinguished
and honorable men of these United States for this pur-
pose. Permit me to state these reasons in the briefest
manner.

It may have come to your knowledge that, within a
few years, I addressed a series of letters to the Right
Reverend John Hughes, the Roman Catholic Bishop
of New York. In those letters I stated my objections
to the doctrines and teachings of the Roman Catholic
Church, with the view of bringing them before the
bishop and the country for a new consideration. I ob-
tained my object in part. The bishop read my letters
— twice attempted a reply — and feeling the objections
to be less vulnerable than their author, fled the con-

14 kirwan's letters.

Appeal to the people. Growth of moral power needful.

troversy, and sought to cover his retreat by a few let-
ters, famed for their weakness, low personalities, and
want of manliness. But, although every where de-
nounced by papal priests and their press, my objec-
tions have received some consideration from the coun-
try, and with what results a future day must fully re-
veal. I return again to the discussion, with the desire
to appeal from the bishop and the priest to the people ;
and who, Sir, from the ranks of those holding a nom-
inal connection with the Romish Church in this land,
could I have selected to whom to address these letters
in preference to yourself? The motives which led
me to select Bishop Hughes from the prelates of this
Church have led me to select you from its people. And
in saying this, I protest against the inference of wish-
ing to reduce you to the level of the bishop.

Again ; ours is a great and growing country. With-
in your remembrance — ^yes, within the years through
which your name has been kno^^Ti in our public affairs,
it has vastly extended in territory, population, and pow-
er. And in all the elements of greatness it is constant-
ly augmenting. Already do we, as a people, stand out
before the world as one of its great powers ; and, if
second, as only second to Britain, in maintaining free
institutions, and in recommending them to universal
adoption. It is of unspeakable importance that the
moral power of our country should grow with its
growth. And you, Sir, as the chief and honored judi-
cial officer of our republic, are in the very position to
appreciate this truth, and to see it in all the magnitude
of its application. And how much to do with the mor-
al power of a nation, and with the right exercise of its

LETTERS. 15

Prevalence of Romanism a curse. I'he remedy with the people.

physical, has the form of religion which obtains among
the people ! Believing in my heart as I do, and as I
shall attempt in subsequent letters fully to place be-
fore you, that the prevalence of Romanism in our land
will have only the tendency to reduce our country and
people to the low level of Italy and the Italians, I wish
to forewarn, and thus to forearm the American people.
And this I shall aim to do, not by appeals to passion
or prejudice, but by a careful and honest statement of
facts, and examination of principles, and reference to
history, and to the state of things now actually exist-
ing. And in order to attract toward my statements
the attention of our entire country, I address myself to
you. The higher our glorious flag is hung, the more
eyes will behold its stars and its stripes.

Again ; I address these letters, Sir, to you, because
I desire to appeal from the priests to the people ; and
especially to the people yet under the influence of the
teachings of Romanism. With the people is the rem-
edy for all our civil wrongs. This is a principle to
which you have given your individual, political, and
official sanction. Government is for the benefit of the
people ; and when rulers pervert the government to
their own purposes, and trample upon its written Con-
stitution, and oppress the people, then the remedy is
with the people — peaceably if they can, by revolution if
necessary. A government perverted by cunning from
its great ends is no longer binding upon its subjects ; it
is their duty to restore it to its original foundations
—peaceably if they can, by rebellion if they must. No
American — scarcely any monarchist — will question
these positions as to civil affairs. And are they not of

16 kirwan's letters.

Mission of the Church. Priests yield power slowly.

equal application to our religious ? If an institution
was ever set up in our world for the good of mankind,
it is the Church of Grod. Grood will to men — to bind
all men in love to God, and in love to one another — is
its great mission. And I hope to prove to your entire
satisfaction, that as far as the Romish Church is con-
cerned, its priesthood have perverted it, as to its con-
stitution, doctrines, and institution, so as to debase and
grind the people — and for their own ends ; that they
assume the position in the Church which absolute mon-
archs do in the state ; that the Church exists by them
and for them. Now, Sir, when men by craft obtain
the possession of high powers, whose exercise brings
them great gain, they are slow to relinquish them ;
they are proof against all the weapons of reason and
logic. And this is especially true of high ecclesiastics,
who have ever manifested an amiable tendency to the
belief of a divine warrant for as much oppression as
may be needful to support their claims and their pomp.
Where and when did they ever freely surrender unlaw-
ful power ? Not among the Jews — nor among the hea-
then— nor under the shadow of the crescent — ^nor with-
in the dominions of Romanism. Priestly power, always
intrenching itself behind divine sanctions, has never
yielded save before the power of the people ; and not
even then without thundering its anathemas against
those who had overthrown it. Need I stop. Sir, to give
illustrations of all this ? They stand, thick as the trees
of our unbroken forests, along the history of our race.
The power of the Romish priesthood is terrific ; and it
claims even more than it can exercise. It has sought
to crush every thing that opposes it. Where it is the

K I R W A N ' S LETTERS. 17

United effort needed. A method of reasoning.

controlling power, it has put out the light of the Bible
and of general literature ; it has put its shackles upon
the press and upon human liberty. Nor will the Pope
or the priest relinquish the power they wield so disas-
trously to all the interests of man, and for their own
benefit, but at the bidding of the people. I desire to
enlist the people in one great and united effort for the
overthrow of this power ; and hence, with the hope of
thus better reaching them, I address these letters to
you. I hope the time has forever passed when the
voice of the people was forbidden to mingle with that
of ecclesiastics in controversy upon religious systems
and topics. Look at Scotland, and England, and Italy,
and then ask, have the people no interest as to the form
of religion which shall obtain among them ? If they
have, I wish them to show it ; if they show it not,
then let them bare their necks for the priestly yoke.

Again ; you are yourself, if not really, at least nom-
inally, in connection with the Romish Church. De-
scended, as I learn, from an honorable family of the
Roman faith, you have received from them that faith
as an heir-loom, which, although treated by you with
indifference, is not yet cast away as a gross imposture.
Indeed, presuming on your fidelity to that system of
hoary error, a Romish prelate has recently dedicated to
you a work on Theology, which embodies in it a vin-
dication of the ferocious and infernal Inquisition ! The
priests and people of that faith seek to make out of your
name and position all that they fairly can for its sup-
port. If not a reasonable, this is, at least, a common
way of argumentation. Perhaps we all seek an argu-
ment for our systems from the honorable and worship-

18 KIRWAN's LETTERS.

Hopes from your decision.

ful names that have embraced them. Now, Sir, I have
a desire that the facts and statements whiclf I have to
make should pass in review before your well-trained,
logical, and judicial mind. Brought up to a profession
which proverbially sharpens the intellect for just dis-
crimination, and having risen to the very highest hon-
ors of that profession, you are as capable of separating
the false from the true, the fiction fi-om fact, the seem-
ing from the real, as any other American citizen. Hop-
ing and believing that you have not surrendered to a
gossamer theory the right of private judgment, I ven-
ture to address my letters to you, with the expectation
that if they receive the attention which their subject-
matter deserves, you will openly renounce the entire
delusion, and withdraw from its support your honored
name and official station. May I not hope for more
than this ? If, on review, you find the system false,
and blighting in all its direct influences, may not the
expectation be indulged, that a mind signalized as is
yours by so many triumphs at the bar and on the bench,
stimulated by philanthi'opy and a love of country, will
rise above the trammels of early education, and the fear
of denunciation by foreign prelates and priests, and de-
vote its energies to the saving of our land and its in-
stitutions from all the influences and machinations of
Romanism ? If I have no line by which to measure
the insolence of a priest that would dedicate a work,
containing a vindication of the Inquisition, to the Chief
Justice of the United States of America, neither have
I any line to measure the good that you might effect
by throwing yourself into a hearty opposition to a sys-
tem whose only fit name is •* Mystery of Iniquity."

kirwan's letters. 19

No reply required. A worthy reply, if any.

Such, Sir, in brief, are my reasons for addressing
these letters to you. I have no desire to draw you into
religious controversy of any kind, nor to withdraw your
attention from the high duties which your country has
devolved upon you. As I address you anonymously,
no law of controversy or courtesy requires you to reply.
Although unknown to me, save as you are known to
the whole country, by character, for that character I
have the very highest respect. And should your many
and important public duties permit you to give suffi-
cient time duly to weigh the statements which I shall
present for your consideration and that of the public,
it will give me unfeigned pleasure in any way to hear
from you. I have no fear that, like our friend in New
York, you will commence answering my letters before
you read them ; and, should you reply, I have no fear
that you will wTite a line unworthy of your name and
station. The characteristics which entitle a man to
wear the ermine as Chief Justice of this great repub-
lic, are very different from those which secure for a cun-
ning priest a foolish fillet made from the wool of holy
sheep.

With great respect, yours.

20 KIRWAN's LETTERS.

Begin at the beginning. There is a Church.

LETTER 11.

The Beginning to be understood. — A Church of God. — The Jewish
Church became Corrupt — had Reformers and Reformations. — Mainly
corrupted by Priests. — The Christian Church became Corrupt —
through what Causes. — The setting up of Mohammedanism and Ro-
manism.— Romanism not the Church Paul found in Rome.

My dear Sir, — In all discussions which involve great
principles and interests, it is always well to begin with
the beginning. When the beginning is well under-
stood, we may carry a stream of light with us to the
end. And we may so simplify the most abstruse and
erudite subjects as to place them within the compre-
hension of the great masses of men. Permit me, then,
in the present letter, to ask your attention to some
statements as to the Church of Grod, and the rise of
the Church of Rome. As I have never heard to the
contrary, I will take it for granted that you are a be-
liever in the Bible. May I not hope that, as the chief
expounder of the laws of a great and Cln-istian people,
you make it the man of your counsel and the guide of
your life ?

Admitting the truth of the Bible, it is beyond all
question that God has erected a Church in our world.
Until the coming of Christ, that Church was confined
to the Jews, and its rites were administered under the
Mosaic economy. Although existing under types and
ceremonies, the shadows of good things to come, it was

21

Jewish Church corrupted. Had its reformers.

truly the Church of God. Yet how sadly was it cor-
rupted ! How deeply, at tunes, did it sink into the most
gross idolatry ! How often were its true members re-
duced to a few who bowed not the knee to Baal ; and
while false priests were offering their incense upon a
thousand altars, and the people were clamorous in the
praises of false prophets, who daily fared sumptuously
at king's tables, how often were the true priests, and
prophets, and people, compelled to seek refuge "in des-
erts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the
earth." In its day and dispensation, the Jewish was
the true Church of God in our world, and yet it fell
into an idolatry as gross as any that existed among the
surrounding heathen, and its priests and people became
to every good work reprobate. And the great object
of heaven in raising up the prophets who successively
appear in the progress of its history, was to recall the
minds of the people from their idols to the considera-
tion of fu'st principles and of God's revealed will ; and
by reforming their sentiments, to reform their lives.
And Elijah, and Elisha, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, were
only the Luthers and the Calvins, the Melancthons,
the Whitefields, and the Wesley s of the dispensation
which has vanished away, each blowing a reformation
trumpet in Israel, calling upon priests and people to re-
turn from their idolatry and wickedness unto Israel's
God. Every thing. Sir, with which man has to do, is
liable to corruption and perversion, because, in his best
state, man is an imperfect being. And I make this
statement for the purpose of impressing this one truth,
that while God was the God of the Jewish, as he is
the God of the Christian Church, he permitted that

22 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

The true Church where ? Christian Church.

Church to fall into a state of backsliding so awful as
to render successive reformations absolutely necessary.
And the Bible reveals the pregnant and warning truth,
that the priests, high and low, and the pretending
prophets, were the main corrupters of the faith and wor-
ship of the people. But where, you will ask, was the
true Church in these days of backsliding, idolatry, and
corruption ? In the dens and caves of the earth, with
those who clung to the truth of Grod, and who bowed
not the knee to Baal.

In the fullness of time the Savior came into the world,
and the Jewish was changed for the Christian dispen-
sation. The Church was continued, but under a new,
and better, and brighter economy. The rites and cere-
monies of Judaism were laid aside for the things which
they signified. The thoughts, the manner of life, the
doctrines of the Savior were perfectly simple, and equal-
ly simple was the dispensation which he introduced.
The power of his religion lay in its truthfulness and
simplicity, and in its adaptation to the moral wants of
the world. He laid down his life for sinners, that
through the efficacy of his atoning sacrifice, all of ev-
ery nation, tongue, and people, who should believe on
him, might be saved. The only qualification required
for admission to his Church was belief in him — the be-
lief of the heart, which manifests itself in a holy life.
And he set apart a class of men, the models of a per-
petual ministry, in his Church, to proclaim to the ends
of the earth that God w^as reconciling the world unto
himself through his Son. The object of the ministry
was to preach salvation through a Savior ; the duty of
all who heard them was to believe in the Savior preach-

kirwan's letters. 23

Causes of its corruption.

ed ; and the privilege of all who believed was to con-
nect themselves with the company of believers, called
the Church, and there to unite their energy and influ-
ence with those of others in extending the news of the
common salvation to the ends of the earth. Such was
the Church of Christ as it came from the hands of its
divine founder.

But it was committed of necessity to imperfect men ;
and although the promise was given that the gates of
hell should not prevail against it, yet that promise did
not protect it against assault from without, nor against
corruption within. A true ministry and true believers
never have, and never will, cease from the earth until
the great ends are obtained for which the Church was
established ; yet we see in the Church of Christ the
very things recurring which in previous ages had be-
fallen the Jewish Church. Converts from Judaism
were multiplied to the new faith, who brought with
them Jewish prejudices and notions, which they sought
to ingraft on the Church, and not without success.
Converts from the heathen were multiplied, who brought
with them their prejudices and notions, and which,
with like success, they sought to ingraft on the Church.
New systems of philosophy arose, which sought to in-
corporate themselves with the teachings of Christ, and
thus to render those teachings subservient to their ends.
As the martyr age passed away, the Church became
secular, its ministry unconverted, and its entire spirit
changed. It sought to gain the world by relaxing its
severe morals, and sinking its great truths, and by con-
formity to existing customs and habits. In the worst
sense of the passage, it became " all things to all men."

24 KIRWAN's LETTERS.

Systems of Rome and of Mecca.

The ambition of priests soon led them to model the
Church after the fashion of the state ; and thus, by
gradual stages, the work of corruption and of external
conformity progressed, until in a few centuries the
Church of Rome was fully developed, which, although
it contains more truth, bears a no more striking like-
ness to the Church established by Christ than does Mo-
hammedanism. While the systems of Rome and of
Mecca agree in some things, they differ much in their
setting up. That of Mecca was framed by a bold im-
postor, was most artfully adapted to human nature, and
was established at once by violence, while that of
Rome was the gradual growth of centuries. One cor-
ruption prepared for another — one step toward supreme
power and ghostly dominion prepared for another —
what was begun in one age was perfected in the next ;
and thus, by slow but sure stages, '' the mystery of in-
iquity" grew and became compacted, until the Church
of Christ was divested of its simplicity and beauty, and
its light was extinguished in all its high places. The
system of Mecca might be compared to a large tree
planted at once, and that of Rome to a tree which grew
up from the seed, striking its roots deeper from year to
year, and spreading wider and wider its branches. Or,
to use a Scripture parable, the enemy sowed tares
among the good seed, and the corrupt clergy, finding
it would be most to their advantage to cultivate them,
fostered and cherished them, and nursed them to a vig-
orous growth, until they choked the good seed, and
flourished almost alone in the garden of the Lord. Ro-
manism is not Christianity ; on the most liberal allow-
ance, it is but little more than a caricature of it.

«.

LETTERS. 25

Elemepts of Romanism. The Church with the truth.

That you, Sir, and all men may see this, just run
over the list of things which, when combined, form the
Romish system, not a pretext for which can be found
in the Christian Scriptures, nor in the life and labors
of Christ and his Apostles. They are such as these :
a pope, cardinals, the mass, auricular confession, pen-
ances, an infallible earthly head, robed priests, purga-
tory, praying to the saints, feasts and fasts, monks,
friars, nuns, celibacy, holy water, mitres, crosiers, pal-
liums made from the wool of holy sheep I These, ce-
mented and jointed by other inventions of men, and
some scriptural truths, make up the system of Roman-
ism, which differs as much from the religion of Christ
as does the harlequin dressed up to play the buffoon
from a plain, sensible, and well-bred gentleman.

You, Sir, will esteem it no answer to all this to say
that if this statement is true, the promise of Clnrist to
his Church has failed. This is begging the question.
G-od's Church existed when the priests and people of
Judea were idolatrous, and when Obadiah thought that
he was left alone. The Church of Christ is with those
who believe and practice the truth. Nor especially is
it any answer that the Romish is the oldest, and, there-
fore, the true Church. Age never converts the lie into
a truth — ^the forged into the real. If so, the Jew or the
Pagan have the argument against the Christian ; and
the " old wives' fables," of which Paul speaks to Timo-
thy, may supplant the teachings of the Apostles. The
Church, as established by Christ, we find in the New
Testament — ^the Romish Church we find in the decrees
of Councils, in the writings of the Fathers, and in the
reveries of enthusiasts. That of Christ is the oldest ;

B

26 kirwan's letters.

All institutions liable to coiruption.

and to it all belong wlio receive the New Testament,
and live as it teaches.

To you, Sir, or to any thinking man, it is no new
truth that the best and most safely-guarded institutions
are liable to corruption and perversion. The more pure
they are, the more are they opposed to oiu* natural self-
ishness, and the greater will be the effort to pervert
them. Have not governments been corrupted ? Have
not despotic supplanted free institutions ? Have not
unlawful acts grown into precedents, and precedents
become laws ? Have not the grants of weakness or of
favor been made the foundations of claims of right ?
Have not privileges enjoyed because of the ignorance,
indolence, or weakness of others, been claimed as divine
rights ? The setting up, in the way that we have
stated, of the Romish Church in our world, is no new
thing under the sun. And I here aver that the present
awfully despotic government of Rome differs no more
widely from the old Roman Commonwealth, than does
the present Church of Rome from that which was found
there by Paul the Apostle, and which was greatly con-
firmed and enlarged by his labors. Of this, more in
the sequel.

With great respect, yours.

' w

K I R W A N ' S L E T T E R S. 27

Saint Peter's. My farewell to it.

LETTER III.

The Basilica of Saint Peter's a Temple of Art, not a Church. — A Type
of the Romish Church. — Romanism a System of Policy to retain
Power. — The Power it claims — its means of supporting them.

]\Iy dear Sir, — On entering the splendid and sumptu-
ous Basilica in Rome, dedicated to Saint Peter, I found
it exceedingly difficult to conceive of it as a church de-
voted to the service and worship of Grod. And the dif-
ficulty increased with every visit made, until every idea
of its being a church at all vanished from my mind.
I have stood under its great cupola, and have gazed
with rapture on the wonders and proportions of archi-
tecture above and around me. I have walked around
its massive pillars, its magnificent walls, its gorgeous
chapels, until wearied with the sensations of pleasure
and delight excited by its statuary and paintings. I
have explored its subterranean vaults by torch-lights ;
and from the ball, high in the air, which surmounts
its dome, I have looked down upon the old historic city
which seemed to lie at my feet. As, on the eighth day
of June, 1851, I passed down the ''piazza" on which
it fronts, I turned round to take of it a full and last
view, and, believing that I never should behold it again,
a feeling of sadness came over me. I took off my hat,
and bowed to it, most profoundly, a final farewell.

But Saint Peter's is not a church dedicated to the
worship of G-od. There is no Bible there on all its al-

28 kirwan's letters.

God not worshiped there. T3rpe of the Church.

tars. There is no preaching of the G-ospel there. Mass-
es are constantly mumbled there by crowds of priests,
but there are no congregations. In the same chapel I
have seen some priests creating G-od at the altar, while
others, with a guide-book in their hand, were criticis-
ing the pictures and statuary around them, talking and
smiling: as if in a museum. And all this on the Sab-
bath day. You will find young ragged Romans play-
ing " hide and go seek" amid its pillars, and squalid
beggars imploring your charity even at the base of the
magnificent " baldacchino" which surmounts the altar
at which the pope alone can say mass ; but the G-ospel
is not preached there, nor is God there worshiped. It
is not, then, a church ; it is simply and only a Temple
of the Arts, where may be seen, in wonderful combina-
tion, the highest efforts of architecture, and the most
splendid creations of the chisel and the pencil. And
regarded simply as such a temple, it is, beyond compari-
son, the most magnificent in the world.

Now, Sir, in many things, this Basilica of Saint Pe-
ter's is a true type of the entire Romish Church. That
Church is far more a system of policy than a religious
system ; and is framed more with a view to sustain
and to extend its power, than to extend the knowledge
of salvation through Jesus Christ. And I see but lit-
tle more reason for calling that system and people, of
which the Pope is the head, a Church, or the Church,
than I do for calling the Russian or the English gov-
ernment a Church, as in Russia the emperor, and in
England the queen, is the head of the Church, And
the Church of Rome, like the governments of England
and Russia, is simply a system of policy to perpetuate

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 29

Claims of the Pope.

the power by which it has lorded it over people and na-
tions, and bowed their minds and souls to its will. Per-
mit me to present to you, Sir, a few considerations bear-
ing on this important point.

The Pope of Rome claims to be the successor of Pe-
ter, and, as such, to be the vicar and vicegerent of
Christ upon earth. In this character he assumes spir-
itual supremacy over the entire Church, regarding
those who admit his claim as his faithful, and those
who reject it, as do all Protestants, as his rebellious
subjects, but not less amenable to his jurisdiction. In
virtue of this spiritual supremacy, he claims a supreme
sovereignty over things temporal as well as spiritual —
over all the kings and nations of the earth. So that,
in the words which have been often applied to him by
his votaries, in their literal sense, he bears " in his hand
a two-edged sword, to execute vengeance upon the hea-
then, and punishment upon the people, to bind their
kinc^s with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron."
And while the first claim is unfounded, and the second
monstrous, yet the whole machinery of Romanism,
from beginning to end, from the Arctic to the Antarc-
tic circle, has for its grand aim the support of these
unfounded and monstrous claims. The claims are pro-
digious, and I may admire or despise the gigantic am-
bition or fanaticism that makes them — the means de-
vised for their support display amazing craft and cun-
ning, and a wonderful adaptation to their end ; but
what title have the asserters of such claims, or the de-
visers of the means to sustain them, or those that ad-
mit them, to the name of a Church, or The Church ?
It is an old trick to compensate by arrogant claims for

30 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Chief elements of Romanism. Monstrous claims.

the want of title ; and the mam elements of the Rom-
ish Church are monstrous claims — monstrous means to
sustain them — and the monstrous faith of its people.
It is no more a Church of Grod, than is Saint Peter's a
temple for his true worship. It is a system of policy
to retain power, to strengthen which every thing in the
way of doctrine or Scripture is made to bow.

Unlawful possession, whether of property or power,
always leads to unworthy means to secure it. With a
good title, we are always at rest ; when conscious that
our title will not hear investigation, we feel always in
jeopardy ; and to cover one fraud we will commit ten
others. A thousand illustrations of this principle will
present themselves to your mind ; hut I ask. Sir, your
attention to some of those frauds by which the Romish
Church seeks to fortify itself in the possession of the
power which it claims, and which it wields with such
disastrous effects on all the higher interests of human-
ity. This is a comprehensive topic, including almost
every peculiarity of Romanism, and must not he dis-
missed with the few barren statements I shall now
place before you.

To prop up the power which by fraud and falsehood
it has been accumulating for ages, it claims a mon-
strous authority for its priests. The Pope is the vice-
gerent of Christ and the centre of unity. Bishops are
his agents, and receive authority from him ; priests are
the agents of the bishops, and receive authority from
them. To resist the priest is to resist the bishop, and
the Pope, and Jesus Christ himself. To rebel against
the authority of the priest, is to rebel against Heaven !
The sacrament of " holy orders" means, with them.

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 31

Holy orders. Involves our liberty.

something more than the giving of canonical authority
to men to dispense the rites of the Church ; it invests
every man, however senseless or immoral, with the
power of shutting and opening heaven and hell, and
of sending his fellow-men to the one or the other, as
they fear him or frown upon him. Is not the attempt
to make men believe that " holy orders" or " ordina-
tion" confers any such power, the perpetrating of a
gross fraud upon the world ? You, Sir, are our chief
justice, by law appointed — the decisions of your court
are binding until reversed. But there are other justi-
ces in the world, and administering law under govern-
ments very different, in form, from ours. Are they
not lawful justices also ? And, as the powers that be
are ordained of God, have not they divine authority for
the due exercise of their functions as well as you ?
And to make " orders" or " ordination," whether con-
ferred by Pope, bishop, or presbytery, any thing else
than the simple authorizing of a man, according to es-
tablished rules, to preach the G-ospel and to administer
ordinances, is to perpetrate a priestly fraud, and for the
maintenance of priestly power. The liberty of the
Church and of the world is bound up in the question
of " orders" and " ordination ;" and you. Sir, and every
other educated layman, should see to it that the pedan-
tic priests and bishops who go through our land flout-
ing their authority and their lawn in our face, and sep-
arating us from the gracious care of our Father who is
in heaven, because our faith is not large enough to ad-
mit their claims, should not have it all their own way.
They are all, so far forth, engaged, whether they hail
from Rome or from Oxford, in palming an imposition

32 K I R W A N ' S L E T T E R S.

The Bible prohibited. Rephes of my valet.

on their race, and are not the less culpable because
some of them may be honest.

While the Romish Church thus claims enormous
authority for its priests, it virtually forbids the Word
of God to its people. I say vu*tually, because I do not
wish to enter into the question as to the teachings of
the Church on tliis subject, which are wisely of such
an elastic character as will enable a bishop to assert in
New York, and to deny in Rome. Yet a real proliibi-
tion of the Scriptures to the masses is not a position
very difficult to establish. But wdiat is the actual
state of things where Popery is in power ? The Bible,
as a rule, is unknown in Italy. I have conversed with
a noble Christian man who was exiled from Rome for
introducing into that city some copies of the Latin Bi-
ble. i\-fter having in vain sought for a Bible in many
shops in Naples, I said to my valet, a sensible man of
fifty, " John, have you ever read a Bible ?" '' No,
sh," was the reply. " Have you ever seen a Bible ?"
Again he replied, " No, sn." " As Grod has given the
Bible to man, why is it not to be found in Naples ?"
" The bishop and priests forbid its circulation, sir, and
forbid us to read it." " And why, John, do they for-
bid your reading of it ?" " 0," said he, with that
shrug of the shoulders so peculiar to the Italian, "they
think that if we should read the Bible, we would be-
come Protestants, and they would not like that." Here
is the revelation of the whole secret. And, as the
world knows, you can be no stranger to events Avhich
have within a few weeks transpired in Florence, where
individuals have been exiled, imprisoned, and con-
demned to the galleys for meeting to read the Bible in

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 33

Why fear the Bible ? The fraud of withholding it.

private houses. And why, Sir, this fear of the Bible ?
Because it is the divine charter of the Church of G-od
and of our religious rights. If any man questions your
authority, you have no fear of his reading the Consti-
tution of the United States. The Prime Minister of
England never thinks of forbidding the people to read
its Constitution and laws. If a question should come
before your court for decision in reference to a close
corporation, which sought to eject a large number of
citizens from their lands and tenements ; and if, on ex-
amination, you found that the said corporation had se-
creted all papers pertaining to their own claims, and
to the title of the citizens, and had forbidden the citi-
zens to make any investigations as to their rights,
would you not be liable to infer that there was a dead
fly in the pot of ointment ; that the corporation wished
to perpetrate a glaring fraud ? Now, Sir, the Romit'h
priesthood is a close corporation ; that corporation puts
forth claims in the name of Grod, deeply affecting your
individual interests and mine, as well as those of all
men and of all nations. Those claims, if right, must
be founded on the Bible ; if not there authorized, they
are not to be allowed for a moment, and their claim-
ants should be held up to universal execration. That
they are not authorized by the Bible, Pope, bishops,
and priests well know ; and hence their dire, their
sleepless opposition to its circulation, and to its perusal
by the people. And by withholding the Bible from
those to whom G-od has given it, they are perpetrating
a great fraud upon the people, and simply and only
for the purpose of perpetuating their ghostly power.
Sir, there is just as rnuch to support Romanism in the

B2

34 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Romanism a system of policy, not a Church.

Bible, as there is in the Constitution of the United
States, and no more. And if Pius IX., or his spy in
New York, deny this, I am willing to meet either of
them before you, and, after a full hearing on both sides,
to leave the decision of the question with you. And
surely they will not question your sympathies, seeing
they have had confidence enough in their Lateran
leanings to dedicate a work to you containing a vindi-
cation of the bloody Inquisition.

Romanism, then, is a system of policy framed to
sustain and extend its power, and by means such as
we now state to you. Can it be a, or the. Church of
G-od ? As a system of policy, it is, like Saint Peter's,
a gorgeous structure : it contains within it many things
which strike the beholder with wonder ; but, Sir, can
it be a Church of G-od ?

With great respect, yours.

KIRWAN's LETTERS. 35

Pope and cardinals in the Sistine.

LETTER IV.

Romanism not the Religion of the New Testament. — A Combination
of various political Elements. — A political Compound. — Great Delu-
sions always put forth monstrous Claims. — Priestly Pretensions to
be spumed.

My DEAR Sir, — In my last letter I presented for
your consideration the statement that Romanism is
more a system of policy to retain and extend its pow-
er than a religious system. Although a layman, and,
from the nature of your profession, not deeply read in
religious controversies, yet it must be quite apparent
to you that Romanism, as a system, is greatly dis-
similar to the system of religion taught in the New
Testament. Have you ever seen the Pope in Saint
Peter's, or in the Sistine Chapel, at the mass ? If
not, you have yet to see a farce, and the more laugh-
able because of its mock solemnity. If you have, then
let me ask you, do you think Christ was ever so dress-
ed, or that he ever so acted ? Can you conceive of any
thing at a farther remove from the simplicity of his
character as portrayed by the Evangelists ? Have you
seen the cardinals, with their scarlet carriages, scar-
let robes, and scarlet skull-caps, going through their
maneuvers in the Sistine? Can you conceive that
ever the Apostles condescended to act a part in such a
scene of gorgeous buffoonery ? You perhaps occasion-
ally visit the cathedral of the city of your residence ;

36 K I R W A N ' S L E T T E R S.

Romanism not Christianity. Its despotism.

have you the least conception that G-od was so wor-
shiped by apostles, or ministers, or congregations, in
the first age or ages of Christianity ? Where, in those
days, could they light up their wax candles, or pack
away their crooks and their crosiers, or carry their
vestments, or burn their incense ? A careful compari-
son, in this way, of Romanism and Christianity, must
convince a mind disciplined as is yours that there is
scarcely a semblance of relationship between them.
"Whence, then, is Romanism, as a system of policy ?
Regarded as a religious system, it is a mixture of Pa-
ganism, Judaism, and Christianity ; as a system to
sustain, and perpetuate, and extend its power, it is a
mixture of the various political elements which have
risen in the world for governing and grinding the peo-
ple and nations.

As a system of policy, it has m it a strong element
of despotism. This is common to it with all false
systems. The external arrangement called " the body
of the Church" is simply this : Christ appointed apos-
tles— over these he placed Peter as Pope — to these and
their successors he committed the government of the
Church in all ages and countries, and the power of the
keys to bind or to loose, as they deemed proper. And
in virtue of his being the vicar of Jesus Christ, the
Pope claims supreme authority over things temporal
as well as spiritual. Here is despotism, not as a doc-
trine of expediency, not as established by the sword,
but as set up by the sanction of Heaven itself, and as
clothed with divine authority. You, Sir, need not be
informed how fully, in past ages, the Pope has acted
the despot ; nor how fully he acts it now, where he

37

Modeled after the Roman state.

can, nor how fully he would act it over us all, if he
could !

Again ; as a system of policy, in its external arrange-
ment it is modeled after the old Roman state. The
emperors were elective, so is the Pope. Until the trans-
fer of the seat of empire by Constantine to Byzantium,
the emperor reigned in Rome ; there reigns the Pope.
When elected, the emperor was the fountain of all au-
thority ; so is the Pope. In all the countries which lay
under the shadow of his sceptre, the emperor had his
subordinates, and these again theirs, down to the low-
est office in the state ; so has the Pope. Cardinals,
archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, canons, monks,
friars, are but the higher and lower constabulary of the
Pope, through which he seeks to collect into his own
hands the reins of universal government, and to hold
in allegiance the nations to Papal, as the Csesars held
them to Pagan Rome. There can not be a doubt but
that the Roman state was the model after which, in its
main features, wily ecclesiastics modeled the Roman
Church. "When Caesar retired to the Bosphorus, the Pope
wisely preferred to remain on the Tiber ; and as, by the
progress of the consumption which led to the dissolu-
tion of the Roman empire, the reins, one after the other,
fell from the hands of the weak successors of Constan-
tine, the Pope was very careful to collect them into his
own ; and thus, by slow but sure stages, he grew up
to the possession of an authority more extended and
powerful than emperor ever wielded, and in the exer-
cise of which he converted emperors into his waiters
and grooms. Need I, Sir, run the parallel farther ?
The likeness is as striking as is that of the pictures of

38 kirwan's letters.

Likeness of the Popes. Feudal system.

the Popes in the Vatican to one another. There is not
only a family likeness among them, but it would seem
as jf they were all sons of the same parents, horn in the
same age, and of the same size, and as if all of them
were equally healthy and burly. As they look down
upon you from the walls of " S. Paolo extra muros,"
each looks as if he were a twin-brother to the other ;
nor do any of them look as if upon their shoulders was
laid the weight of all the churches. Any of them might
be mistaken for a likeness of the man who was clothed
in purple and fine linen, and who fared sumptuously
every day.

Again ; it possesses a very strong dash of the old
feudal system. As a frame-work of policy, Romanism
is not the work of an age or a century. From age to
age, it has sought to incorporate with itself the strong
elements of other systems, that by twining and twisting
them together, it might increase its power. Now, Sir,
that you may see how much of the feudal it has ap-
propriated, permit me to ask you to read again, as I
have no doubt you have read them once, the chapters
of Hallam on the Feudal System of the Middle Ages,
or the remarks of Robertson on it, in his Introduction
to the History of Charles V. As self-defense was the
chief care of kings and conquerors, they parceled out
countries among then* chief followers on the condition
that they should appear in arms when required. Per-
sons receiving land were to contribute men and means
in the proportion of their grants. These chief men made
grants, on similar conditions, to others ; and these,
again, to others, down to the lowest subdivision. And
thus, by grants and conditions, the different classes of

kirwan's letters. 39

Its strong elements incorporated.

society were bound to the next highest, and, through
the chief nobles, were bound to the king or conqueror.
And in the proportion of their possessions, each were
bound to contribute for the mutual defense to the power
above them. Each was bound to gird on his sword at
the command of his superior. It was at this time, also,
that the custom sprang up of nobles dropping their own
name and taking that of their estates, which is yet in
existence. This system had its strong and its weak
points. The weakest point was the absence of a cen-
tral power to balance and regulate the monarchical and
the aristocratic parts ; and for the want of which the
whole system fell into confusion. From this system,
Romanism selected and appropriated its strong features,
and supplied the great central, regulating power which
it wanted, as any intelligent mind can see in a moment.
The Pope is a king ; by feudal tenures he parcels out
the Papal world among his archbishops and bishops ;
and these, again, among their subordinates. Cardinals,
archbishops, and bishops swear to him allegiance, and
their subordinates to them. And when the head of this
system is in a strait, he has only to apply to his chief
vassals, and they pass the word to the next below, and
these, again, to their inferiors ; and soon the Papal world
is in motion to supply the requisite assistance. Thus
it was in the Papal wars — thus it w^as recently in the
collection of the Peter-pence, to sustain a weak and
profligate set of priests when scheming and chamber-
ing in G-aeta. And see the way and manner in which
priests, when made bishops, drop the names which their
fathers gave them, as if ashamed of them, and assume
the name of the territory over which their king has

40 K I R W A N ' S LETTERS.

A monstrous fabrication. Divine claims.

given them jurisdiction, as a farther evidence of this
feudalism. England has its " Nicholas of Westmin-
ster"— ^we have our " John of New York" — and you,
ere this, have your Patrick of Baltimore ; while in old,
dilapidated Rome, a clever and good-looking old gen-
tleman, who is far more a prisoner than a king, and
much more of a puppet in the hands of his cardinals
than an independent ruler, is acting the universal bish-
op under the sobriquet of Pio Nono.

All this. Sir, is to suggest a true analysis of ''the ex-
ternal arrangement," as our friend of New York would
say, which is known as the Romish Church. Take
away from it all its despotism, all that it borrowed
from the Roman state when governed by emperors, and
all that it appropriated from the feudal system, which so
widely obtained in Europe from the seventh to the elev-
enth centuries, and what is there left? Not enough
to command the respect of an Alpine cretin, save what
it holds in common with Protestants.

And yet. Sir, this compound of various political ele-
ments, cemented together by the priestcraft and cun-
ning of ages, is " the external arrangement" which Pa-
pal priests would palm on the world as the Church of
G-od, founded on the apostles and prophets, and forti-
fied by divine sanctions, and out of which there is no
salvation I Can you conceive of a more monstrous fab-
rication ?

Permit me, Sfr, also to remind you of the fact that
this thing of dealing out damnation to the nonrecipi-
ents of theories is always an accompaniment of grand
delusions. The claim of divine authority for priestly
nonsense and fabrications is no new thing under the

LETTERS. 41

Duty of laymen. /. Need of patience.

sun. It is put forth as boldly by Pagan as by Papal
priests, and is asserted as impudently in Stamboul as
in "Rome. You know it is death by law, and without
benefit of clergy, for a Mohammedan to become a Chris-
tian while residing under the shadow of the crescent,
and that Paganism thmiders its excommunications
against all who abandon its superstitious rites. The
foundation of all this lies in the inherent weakness of
the theories put forward, and of the claims asserted ;
and the object is to quell scrutiny, and to induce faith
by authority and by fear. G-od is the Father of us all ;
and Jesus Christ is the Savior of all who believe upon
him ; and how preposterous for Pagan, Papal, Protest-
ant, or Mohammedan priest to cut us off from the grace
and love of our heavenly Father because we deny their
claims, discard their rites, and refuse to submit to their
manipulations ! Su*, the intelligent laymen of this land,
and of all lands, should seek fully to comprehend the
great interests of humanity involved in these priestly
pretensions ; and while rejecting them themselves, they
should see to it that the most ignorant of the people
should not be deluded by our swarming, imported, and
ghostly pretenders. For myself, when I meet with a
man dressed in ecclesiastical livery, urging upon me
or others theories of human device as to the external
arrangements of the Church, and seeking to compel
my belief in them with the threat of damnation if 1
reject them, I can scarcely resist the conviction that
he is either a knave, or a fanatic, or a fool. And it
sometimes requires a little more of the grace of pa-
tience than I possess to forbear telling him so.

With great respect, yours.

42 kirwan's letters.

Romanism as a religious system. Naples.

LETTER V.

Romanism as a religious System. — Naples. — St, Paul Major a Type of
the Paganism of Romanism. — Holy Water — how made. — Its Uses and
Ends. — St. Anthony's Day. — The Origin of Holy Water.

My dear Sir, — Hitherto I have only asked your at-
tention to the '' external arrangements" of Romanism,
which is called " the body of the Church." I have
stated to you their causes and their ingredients, and
that these arrangements form a system of policy to sus-
tain and extend the power and the dominion claimed by
the priests. In its external form, Romanism bears no
possible likeness to Christianity as it received its sim-
ple habit from its glorious and glorified head. I shall
now ask you to pass vvdth me to the examination of Ro-
manism as a rehgious system, premising that, in this
respect also, we shall find it at an equal remove from
Christianity, as we did its external form.

It was on the morning of the twenty-eighth of May
that the steamer Bosphorus came to anchor in the Bay
of Naples. As the morning sun was shedding its first
bright beams on the surrounding scenery, I opened the
window of my state-room, and lo ! the summit of the
fiery Vesuvius was smoking before me ! The desire of
many a long year was gratified. Soon we all debarked,
and after locating myself in a quiet hotel facing the
magnificent bay, and in a room from which I had a
view of the harbor, its islands and surrounding mount-

kirwan's letters. 43

Every thing new. St. Paul Major. A heathen temple.

ains, I went forth with my friend and our valet to see
sights. It was here that I first touched Italian soil, and
that I first mingled with the people of Italy. Every
thing struck me as new, strange, and peculiar. Such
crowds of soldiers, priests, beggars, and donkeys I had
never seen. In beauty of scenery, and in the squalid
wretchedness of masses of the people, Naples stands
pre-eminent. To the causes of this wretchedness I may
allude hereafter. During the morning I made a visit
to the Church of Saint Paul Major, which is one of
the sights of this beautifully located, but misgoverned,
priest-ridden, and degraded city. This is really the old
temple of Castor and Pollux transformed into a church.
There stand the old pillars of the heathen temple ; there,
before the door, is the statue of a heathen god convert-
ed into a statue of St. Paul : on either side of the great
door, and over it, are left remaining the pictures of the
heathen priests offering sacrifices, and all over the in-
terior of the building are the representations of heathen
mythology, mLxed and mingled up with the representa-
tions of the myths and superstitions of Popery. Priests
in their robes were mumbling mass at its altars, wom-
en and beggars were either kneeling before the altars
and gazing around, or were pestering you for alms at
every turn. And to a person at all acquainted with
heathen mythology, with Roman antiquities, and with
the way and manner of the worship of the old Italians,
the conception, on entering this church, would be nei-
ther violent nor unnatural that he was in a heathen
temple, whose altars were surrounded by heathen
priests, upon which they were offering their unmean-
ing sacrifices. Such, Sir, was the strong impression

44 kirwan's letters.

Paganism of Romanism. Holy water. How made.

made upon my own mind as I walked around the old
temple of Castor and Pollux, now called the Church
of Saint Paul at Naples. And unless, Sir, you have
already given it your attention, you will be amazed to
find how largely Romanism has drawn upon Paganism
in the formation of that compound which it calls Cath-
olic Christianity. And to the Paganism of Romanism,
as symbolized in that old temple of Castor and Pollux,
I would respectfully ask your attention.

On entering a Romish Church, the first thing that
strikes you as peculiar is the stone or marble basin of
holy water placed near the door, in which the more ig-
norant and devout dip their fingers, and then, with their
wet fingers, make upon themselves the sign of the cross.
Holy water, you know, is a thing of universal use, and
to w^hich is ascribed wonderful potency in the Romish
system. Have you. Sir, ever seen the farcical ceremony
by which common water is made holy ? If not, permit
me to describe it to you, as I have recently witnessed
it myself. Connected with the Basilica of St. John
Lateran at Rome is the baptistry said to have been
built by Constantine in which to receive baptism from
Pope Silvester. Every thing in Rome, you know, must
have a history, or tradition of some kind ; and these are
easily manufactured, if they do not truly exist. Learn-
ing that there was to be a peculiar ceremony there of
some kind, I sallied out on the morning of the 7th of
June to witness it, in company with some friends.
We entered the little gem of a building, and in its cen-
tre, beneath a cupola supported by columns, was a large
antique urn, almost as large as a bathing tub, filled
with water. Save a few ragged boys and beggars, my-

LETTERS. 45

The ceremony described.

self and friends were the only persons yet present.
Soon the voice of melody was heard in the direction of
the church, which came from a bareheaded procession,
dressed for the occasion, on its way to the baptistry.
A sleepy bishop, that we had seen drowsing on former
occasions, when boys were swinging their incense vases
before him, brought up the rear, most gaudily dressed,
and with an umbrella held over his head. Singing,
they entered the chapel, and surrounded the urn. The
bishop read a little — then all sang, and chanted.
Thrice, at intervals, the bishop, with his hand, made the
sign of the cross in the water, making quite a ruffle on
its surface as he drew his hand through it ; thrice, at
intervals, he breathed into the water, commanding it at
each time to receive the Holy G-host. Then, from a
vessel like a cofFee-pot, he poured oil into it in the form
of a cross ; and from another similar vessel, at a brief
interval, he poured some other liquid into the tub, again
in the figure of a cross. At another interval he took
both vessels by the handles in his right hand, and
bringing their spouts near together, he poured into the
tub a little stream in the form of a cross, formed by the
liquids from both vessels uniting. A powder, some-
thing like fme salt, was also cast into it. Then, after
mixing up all together, he washed his hands in the com-
pound, which were most reverently wiped by his at-
tendants. Before putting them in the water, his hands
were divested of their gloves and rings, and were most
devoutly kissed ; as was his crook when taken by his
attendants. Thus common was changed into holy wa-
ter by one of the most silly and blasphemous ceremo-
nies it was ever my lot to witness. After sprinkling

46 K 1 R W A N ' S L E T T E R S.

Meaning of holy water. Its uses.

the faithful around, they retired to the church with
procession and singing as they came, where mass was
said, without any but the priests and their waiters to
hear it. It was thus I saw holy water made in Rome.
The supremely ridiculous and superstitious way in
which it is ordinarily made, you may see in the closing
chapter of Challoner's Catholic Cliristian Instructed, a
monument to the credulity and folly of its author.

While doctors differ as to the object and meaning of
holy water, it is commonly regarded as a symbol of the
purity with which we should approach Grod in worship.
Grrant this to be a good object, and an excuse for the
thing, how can this explain its other applications ? It
is sprinkled upon candles — upon pahns on Palm- Sun-
day— upon the garments of the living — upon the cof-
fins of the dead — upon dogs, sheep, asses, mules, beds,
houses, meat, bells, fortifications, and cannon. " Noth-
ing," says Croly, " can be blessed or hallowed without
it ; neither candles, nor new fruit, nor new-laid eggs.
Even the butter-churn is sprinkled with it be-
fore churning commences, that the cream may work
the better. It purifies the air — heals distempers —
cleanses the soul — expels Satan and his imps from
haunted houses — and introduces the Holy G-host as an
inmate in their stead." And that you. Sir, may not
esteem this an exaggeration, ponder the following state-
ment affixed to the wall over the vessels of holy water
in the Church of S. Carlo, in Rome. There it is not
under a curtain, like some of the miraculous pictures,
but where every eye can see it.

" The Church proposes holy water as a remedy and
assistant in many circumstances, both spiritual and cor-

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 47

Spiritual and corporeal. St Anthony.

poreal, but especially in these following. Its spiritual
uses are :

"1. It drives away devils from places and persons.

'^2. It affords assistance against fears and diabolical
illusions.

"3. It cancels venial sins.

** 4. It imparts strength to resist temptations.

"5. It drives away wicked thoughts.

"6. It preserves safely from the passing snares of
the devil.

"7. It obtains the favor and presence of the Holy
Grhost.

" Its corporeal uses are :

"1. It is a remedy against barrenness, both in wom-
en and beasts.

"2. It is a preservative from sickness.

"3. It heals the infirmities of the mind and body.

"4. It purifies infected air, and drives away plague
and contagion."

This is the substance, though not a literal or full
translation of the document. Must not, Sir, the com-
mon-sense, equally with the religious sentiment of the
world, brand all this as a vile and wicked imposition ?

But this is not the worst or lowest use of holy water.
You have heard, no doubt, of the good Saint Anthony,
of blessed memory. He was a rare personage, and his
festival is on the 17th of January. Balacius, king of
Egypt, when persecuting the Christians, was exhorted
by this saint to permit God's people to live in peace.
The king tore the letter in pieces, and resolved to make
Anthony his next victim. Five days after, when riding
out, his remarkably tame horse threw him to the earth,

48 KIRWAN's LETTERS.

Horses sprinkled. Holy water a heathen rite.

and then turning round, bit and tore his thigh so ter-
ribly that he died in three days. From this, or some
other legend equally veracious, Anthony is made the
patron saint of horses, and they have gotten up in Rome
the blessing of horses on Saint Anthony's day, and this
is done by sprinkling them with holy water. On that
day, the horses, mules, and donkeys of the city of Rome
and of the surrounding country, gayly dressed, are pa-
raded before the church of this saint, where a priest
takes them under the care of holy Saint Anthony, and
then sprinkles them with holy water, receiving some
small remuneration for each horse, mule, or donkey
which he thus purifies. And the poor people of Rome
are made to believe that, unless their horses, mules, and
donkeys are thus besprinkled with holy water, they will
stumble, or fall, or die, or receive some serious injury
through the year ! These, Sir, are some of the various
uses and benefits of holy water ! Is it possible to con-
ceive of impositions more barefaced or dishonest ! And
all this is under the eye of the Pope, who patronizes
the iniquity by yearly sending his own horses for a
sprinkling !

And the question arises. Whence this custom, so
wicked, so foolish ? There are no traces of it in the
Bible ; there is scarcely a pretension to this by Papal
doctors. It is purely a heathen custom, transferred by
the priests from heathenism into the Church for the
purpose of facilitating the passing over of the heathen
from Paganism to Popery. What was at first a mat-
ter of policy became soon a matter of faith ; and now
a font of holy water is of far more importance to the
complete finish of a Romish church than the Bible

LETTERS. 49

Dr. Middleton's letter. A Pagan rite for gain.

Indeed, while the Bible is supplanted by the Mass-book
and the Missal, the font of holy water is never absent.
Your own acquaintance. Sir, with classic literature and
heathen mythology will supply you with the proofs
which establish the Pagan origin of holy water. And
if you have not time to look them up, I would refer
you, for some of them, to '' Dr. Middleton's Letter from
Rome."

You, Sir, know how much is made of holy water in
the Church with which you hold a nominal connection.
Its origin, beyond all question, is Pagan, and is so ad-
mitted by some Papal vn-iters. And as I have seen
priests in Ireland passing through crowded chapels, fol-
lowed by boys bearing a tub of water, in which he ever
and anon dipped a big brush and scattered it over the
people — as, in the Madeleine, in Paris, I saw an old
monk standing by the door in the railing which fences
out some and fences in others, holding a brush wet with
holy water in his hand, that the polite Parisians might
touch it with their fingers — as I saw the thing manu-
factured by tubs-full in Rome, and by the priests of St.
John Lateran, the holiest church in the world, '' Eccle-
sia urbis et orbis, mater et caput ecclesiarum," I could
not help thinking that, so far forth, these Papal were
Pagan priests, practicing a Pagan rite, and for no other
motive but the gain which it brought them.

I shall return to the Paganism of Romanism in my
next.

With great respect, yours.
C

50 kirwan's letters.

The Sistine. Its appearance.

LETTER YL

The Sistine Chapel. — Angelo's Painting. — The Artist's Reply. — In-
cense.— Its Pagan Origin. — Candles: their Use, End, and Origin. —
Candlemass in Rome. — The Light of Candles can not supply the Light
of Truth.

My dear Sir, — ^As I promised you at the close of my
last epistle, I return again to the examination of the
Paganism of Romanism. I have already shown you
that holy water ^ both as to its origin, and as to its
multifarious and ridiculous uses, is of Pagan origin.
Let me now ask your attention to other things, form-
ing at all times and places essential components of the
Romish service.

As I entered the Sistine Chapel at Rome, so famed
in the annals of art, I was strangely overwhelmed with
a feeling of disappointment. It is an oblong and lofty
room, about thrice the length of its width, and divided
by a low railing into three compartments. In the
most distant of these compartments, as you enter, is
the altar, and the Pope's chair ; and around it are
benches for the cardinals. The middle compartment
is entirely vacant, with nothing but standing-places
for the spectators ; the outer one has some plain bench-
es, and is appropriated to the ladies during the hours
of worship. As there was no person there save the
door-keeper, and a painter who was transferring to his
canvas the pictures on the walls, I walked leisurely

kirwan's letters. 51

Angelo'a picture. Artist's reply. St. Gudule.

round, and without any let or hinder ance. Angelo's
great fresco of the Judgment, sixty by thirty feet,
and so long the wonder of art, was before me. I gazed
upon it from various points to get a clear view of it,
but in vain. I borrowed the magnifying-glass of the
painter, and gazed tlirough that, but yet in vain.
"What," said I to the painter, "is the matter with
these paintings ? Is it the fault of the light that 1
can not see them clearly ? or have the colors faded ?"
" No," said he ; " it is the effect of that ridiculous in-
cense which they burn here at mass ;" and he uttered
the sentiment with a tone and manner which showed
that he, at least, was incensed by the frivolous, but
yet, to the paintings of Angelo, injurious ceremonial.
And if the cause assigned was the true one, I felt, at
the moment, as if every incense vase in Rome should
be cast into the muddy Tiber ; nor do I yet feel that,
by committing such an act, any man would burden
his soul with the sin of sacrilege. I witnessed mass
afterward in the Sistine, and saw clouds of incense
rise and spread themselves all around, and thick
enough to set weak lungs a coughing. The last scene
of this kind that I witnessed was in St. G-udule, the
cathedral at Brussels. It was on a fine Sabbath morn-
ing in June, when the feast of some saint brought a
large number of clergy and several bishops together.
The latter were more richly decorated than any I had
previously seen. When the time for offering incense
arrived, a short but exceedingly fat man came to the
bishops with his censer. So rotund was he, that it
seemed as if he could roll as easily as walk ; and his
efforts to go from one bishop to another, and then his

52 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Incense. An emblem.

efforts to get round his enormous belly, so as to give
the censer the ceremonial swing, made it as ludicrous
and laughable as it is a senseless and superstitious
ceremony.

In the matter of incense, Sir, you well know that
papal priests are very prodigal. You have to smell it,
and breathe it, in all their chapels ; and it seems to me
that the priests would be adding something, at least, to
the comfort of the faithful if they would somehow con-
trive to make it a little more agreeable to the sense of
smell, which it is very pleasant to have occasionally
consulted. You enter a Romish church to witness the
mass : at a certain point a boy, dressed in white, ap-
pears with a vessel — the priest puts something in it,
and it immediately commences to smoke. The priest
takes it and throws it up to the altar, and to the cruci-
fix ; the boy then takes it and throws it up before the
priest, and other persons and things. And before the
ceremony is ended, the smoke, or, as it is called, the
incense, fills the house. This, we are taught, is "an
emblem of prayer ascending to Grod from a heart in-
flamed with his love." But whence this custom ? Not
from Christ — not from his apostles — not a command
or allusion to it in the New Testament. Not a thing
sufficient to sanction it even in the typical economy of
the Jews. And if an emblem of prayer, why not offer
the prayer and drop the emblem ? The whole thing.
Sir, is transferred bodily from Paganism, as any person
informed about Pagan ceremonies must know. Incense
was always offered to the gods from Pagan altars, and,
as we may learn from the sculpture and pictures which
have come down to our day, very much in the manner

KIR WAN's LETTERS. ^ 53

Purely Pagan. Candles. Vestal Virgins.

in which it is now offered in Romish churches — by a
boy in white robes, with a censer in his hand. And
had an old worshiper of Castor and Pollux risen from
the catacombs and entered with me the Church of St.
Paul Major at Naples, he would have felt that, although
great revolutions had taken place in other things, his
old temple and its worship were yet mainly the same.
There, at least, were the holy water and the smoking
incense, just as he had left them.

Another prominent peculiarity of the Romish service
is the use of candles. These are seen burning on all
their altars, in greater or less profusion, according to
the eclat of the occasion, or of the saint or sinner on
whose feast-day mass is offered. I have seen them
burning on the chief altar of San Carlo in the Corso,
in numbers beyond my computation, standing at about
the centre of the gorgeous edifice ; and I have seen them
reduced to about half a dozen on the altar of the Sis-
tine, when the Pope and his cardinals were bowing be-
fore it. I have seen them. Sir, in your cathedral at
Baltimore, on Christmas day, as thick and countless as
trees in a nursery ; and the tomb of Peter, under the
great cupola of Saint Peter's Church, is perpetually
lighted by one hundred and twelve lamps, disposed
round a circular balustrade. These lamps never go
out ; forcibly recalling to the intelligent mind the lights
kept perpetually burning on the Pagan altars in Rome,
by the Vestal Virgins. You, Sir, will not forget what
you learned in your schoolboy days on that subject ;
but, should you have done so, you can easily refresh
your memory by referring to your " Roman Antiqui-
ties."

54

KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Bishop England. Frank confession.

But what mean, and whence, these lighted candles ?
Hear what Bishop England — in his day a clever man,
and an excellent judge of Irish whiskey — says in reply :
" Lights are placed on the altar from the usage of the
most ancient times. It is an Eastern custom to ex-
press joy ; for, even in the light of the sun, the torches
and candles were lighted to manifest this feeling ; and,
as our religion is received from the East, most of our
ancient customs are of Eastern origin.''^ Here is the
whole thing confessed by a Romish bishop, with whom,
no doubt. Sir, you were acquainted, and who flourished
his crook and his crosier in the city of Charleston.
The Pagans of the East expressed their joy by lighted
torches and candles ; and, as Romanists received their
religion from the East, they adopted this among other
Eastern customs !

In our owTi happy America, where we have learned
how to express our joy without lighting lamps or can-
dles, we have scarcely any idea of the extent to which
they are used in Papal countries. With us they are
used whenever mass is said, or extreme unction is ad-
ministered, or any service is performed at the altar or
chapel. In Rome, and the countries of Italy, they are
used not merely in these ways, but in all ways. I
have seen them burnins: on an altar in the catacombs
of Naples — before images of the Yirgm at the corners
of the streets, in whiskey-shops, and by the way-side —
in the gorgeous processions of carrying the Host to some
dying person — at funeral processions. Neither the
light of the moon and stars by night, nor of the glori-
ous sun by day, is sufficient to express the joy of a Ro-
manist ; their light must be increased by that of a few

kirwan's letters. 55

Candlemass. How kept in Rome.

lamps or candles in order to obtain their object and to
give vent to their feelings !

To be sure, the silliness of the whole thing should
save it from this sifting ; but as the origin of the mat-
ter is confessed, and these candles form a part of a sys-
tem addressed to the senses, let us not yet put them
out. You know there is an old feast called C-a-n-d-1-e-
m-a-s-s, so called from the number of lighted candles
used in the procession of the day, and from the custom
of consecrating candles on that day for the rest of the
year. Have you. Sir, ever seen that procession, or wit-
nessed that blessing of candles ? In Rome it is one
of the most gorgeous festivals of the year. Sitting in
his chair of state, the Pope is borne on the shoulders
of eight men into Saint Peter's, attended by huge fans
made of ostrich feathers, with the eyes of the peacock's
tail, and by cardinals, bishops, prelates, and priests.
When every thing is fixed for the senseless ceremony,
candles are brought to him in immense numbers.
They are incensed, sprinkled with holy water, and
blessed. Then they are distributed. Each cardinal
approaches, receives a candle, kisses the Pope's hand,
and retires. Each bishop approaches, receives a can-
dle, kisses the Pope's knee, and retires. Each inferior
functionary on the occasion approaches, receives a can-
dle, kisses the Pope's foot, and retires. On a sudden
an immense number of candles are lighted, in the blaze
of which the Pope is carried round the church, and re-
tires, granting an indulgence of thirty years to all the
faithful present ! This, Sir, is Candlemass at Rome !
And if you. Sir, or I, or any body else, wish an indul-
gence to cover all the years of our sojourn here, we

56 kirwan's letters.

Candles of Pagan origin.

need onlv attend the feast of Candlemass at Saint Pe-
ter's thrice ; for three times thirty years make ninety ;
and beyond ninety years we will not probably need in-
dulgence, save from our heirs or our nurses.

As, beyond all possibility, this can not be Clii-istian
rite, whence is it ? Bishop England says it is of East-
ern origin ; every body acquainted with mythology must
confess that it is Pagan. In heathen temples lamps
and candles were ever burning on the altars, and be-
fore the statues of their deities. Donations of lamps
and candlesticks were often made to temples and dei-
ties. The use of candles in Pagan feasts and proces-
sions is first traced to the Egyptians, who had their
yearly festival of "the lighting of candles," some-
what similar to that in Rome, in which the Pope acts so
conspicuous a part. And some of the Christian fathers
thus ridiculed the heathen ; "they light up candles to
G-od as if he lived in the dark ; but do they not deserve
to be called madmen who offer lamps to the Author
and G-iver of light?" The whole thing. Sir, is ridicu-
lous, and is transferred bodily and confessedly from
Paganism. There is nothing in the Chi-istian Scrip-
tures to countenance it. And should some Pagan Ro-
man come forth from the catacombs, as did Lazarus
from the grave, at the bidding of Him who is the res-
urrection and the life, he would see in the lamps and
candles which burn in all its temples an evidence that
the religion of his fathers was yet there unchanged. 0,
Sir, it is the entrance of Grod's truth into the mind that
gives light ; without this light we may stand amid the
concentrated blaze of all the lamps and candles that
ever burned on Papal or Pagan altars, and yet be in

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 57

Truth is the light of the world.

Egyptian darkness. The oil of all the whales that
swim, the tallow of the cattle upon a thousand hills,
the wax of all the bees that have ever buzzed, if man-
ufactured into candles, and blessed by the Pope, would
not shed as much light upon the mind as would this
one simple text, "He that believeth in the Son hath
life" — or this other text, " Then spoke Jesus unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world ; he that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light
of life." 0, why should miserable priests attempt the
fraud of supplying the light of the truth which they
suppress by the light of candles ?

I am not yet through with the Paganism of Roman-
ism. I shall return to it in my next.

With great respect, yours.

58 kirwan's letters.

St. Patxick. No holy places.

LETTER VI I.

St. Patrick never in America. — Our Poverty in Holy Wells and Places.
— The Holy Wells at Ballahadireen — Ballina — Downpatrick Head.
— Their Origin.— The Cell of St. Mary in Via Lata.— The Atrocity
of opening fabulous Wells, and suppressing the Fountains of Truth.

My dear Sir, — I am not yet through with the Pagan-
ism of Romanism ; and I will ask your attention in the
present letter to some other evidences in proof of their
great similarity. In the mean time, I wish you not to
forget what I have said about the uses of holy water,
incense, and candles.

As good old Saint Patrick, of blessed memory, never
visited these American shores ; and as, in the days of
monkish miracles and legends, and of holy houses flying
through the air, they lay beyond the light of the Dark
Ages, we are very sadly deficient in holy wells, at which
the wondering saints drank, or in which they washed
their feet, and in holy places, where miracles were
wrought when none were needed, to gratify their whims
or their appetites, or to strike with fear their enemies.
And may not this. Sir, be one of the reasons why Ro-
manism flourishes so little here, and why so many ed-
ucated in that faith, in other lands, on reaching these
shores, lay it aside as a compound of old wives' fables ?
Whatever may be the cause of the eflect, whether it be
our poverty in holy wells and places, or our open and
ennobling institutions, it would really seem, especially

kirwan's letters. 59

Holy wells. ^ ^ That at Ballahadireen.

as to our emigrants from Ireland, that they carry their
Popery in the pockets of their corduroys ; for as soon
as they lay aside the one, they seem to get rid of the
other. But if we are poor in holy wells and places,
they abound in those lands where Romanism yet reigns
and rules.

In some letters addressed, not long ago, to our mag-
nificent friend of New York, I had occasion to advert
to these holy wells. I described one that I had seen
in my boyhood. Knowing how to shoot a gun round
a corner to the entire satisfaction of many of the faith-
ful, he sought to throw discredit upon the whole state-
ment. He knew and knows that they exist in almost
every county of Ireland ; but he was ashamed to own
them, and ajfraid to denounce them, lest he should break
their charm over the vulgar mind. Now, Sir, as I have
recently made a pilgrimage to some of these holy wells,
permit me to describe a few of them to you, and of the
least celebrated.

Near to a small town called Ballahadireen, in the
county Mayo, is a holy well of some female saint, whose
name I forget, and whose festival is on the 10th of
August. On the 13th of last July I was all around it.
It stands in a secluded spot, and is surrounded by a
very rough wall of stones, upon some of which are cut
Popish hieroglyphics in the most primitive style of the
art. I found old rags between the stones in place of
mortar ; and in lifting up some stones, I found knots
of thread under them ; and upon the branches of the
little shrubbery by which it was surrounded, there were
tied pieces of old cloth. These were left behind as me-
mentoes of their visits by the poor devotees, who go there

60 kirwan's letters.

Well at Ballina. Holy trout.

to make their stations ; that is, to go round it upon
their knees, praying to the saintess of the well for her
intercessions. Miss H., the noble and pious sister of
the proprietor of the place, told me that she saw one
day a woman at this well pull the hair from her head,
and tie it to a bush on its side. " Wliy," said she to
the woman, " do you do so ?" Her reply was, " If God
will overlook me in the judgment, holy Saint Patrick
will look on this hair and remember me, and will speak
to Grod for me." If Irish Popery is true, heaven is no
place of rest to good Saint Patrick. He has his own
troubles there. The feast of this saintess is kept on
the 10th, and there is a great carousal on the 11th of
August ; and within a few years tliree awful murders
have occurred at these carousals. So I was informed
on the spot.

Another of these holy wells is near to Ballina, in Con-
naught, and on the side of the public highway. This
is one of the many called after Saint Patrick, wdiose
fame is very great for many wonderful things in ''the
Island of Saints." It is surrounded with mud, which
was so deep on the 15th of July as to prevent me from
reaching its brink ; and tlirough that mud all the poor
devotees wade in making their stations. After making
the required prayers around the well, they cross the
road, and pass over a stone wall into a field, in which
is a rock. They walk round this rock praying, drop-
ping at each circuit a little stone upon it. When the
required circuits are aU made, they return to the w^ell,
and gaze into its shallow waters until they see the
holy trout^ whose appearance is an evidence that their
prayers are answered ! The well-known Dr. John Ed-.

KIRWAN's LETTERS. 61

Priests fishing. Well at Downpatrick.

gar, of Belfast, one of Ireland's noblest sons, was with
me on this pilgrimage. He stated that he saw once a
pilgrim at this well watching for " the holy trout,"
that he might have an evidence of the acceptance of
his prayers. Of a sudden he exclaimed, with astonish-
ing emotion, " I see the holy eel!" But, on examina-
tion, it was found that "the holy eel" was only a long,
rotten twig, thrown by some wag into the well. And
as I passed from this holy well through the town, I
saw half a dozen of lazy and carnal-lookmg priests fish-
ing for salmon in the River Moy, which passes thi'ough
it. I felt for the moment as if I should like to have
seen them at least knee-deep, if no further, in the mud
which surrounded the well in which the victim of their
cruel superstition saw " the holy eel."

I visited, also, the holy well, and drank of its \vaters,
which springs up in the moor as you approach Down-
patrick Head. There were the beaten paths of the pil-
grims, along which they perform their stations ; and
there were the old rags stuffed in between the stones ;
and I learned by our guides that hundreds flock to it
on the day w^hen prayers offered there have a peculiar
efficacy. But what need, Sir, of dwelling longer on
these wells ? If slippery John of New York, whose
memory is often very conveniently treacherous, knows
nothing about them, there are millions who do. Who
has not heard or read of the famous well of Saint Pat-
rick, in the county Dowti ? Who is ignorant of Saint
Jolin's well, at Kihnainham, or of the superstitious rites
and licentious practices which are exhibited there on
the 24th of June ? These sacred wells, places, and
spots you meet every where in Papal countries. In

62 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

St. Maria in Via Lata. Pillar and chain.

Italy they abound. Down in a dark cellar, under the
church " St. Maria in Via Lata," I was shown the holy
well, by a burly priest, w^hich miraculously sprung
up for the baptism of those converted by St. Paul. And
there is scarcely a hill, vale, river, spring, road, church,
or village that you meet, w^hich has not its sacred his-
tory, and to which somebody does not make a pilgrim-
age in order to obtain the remission of sin.

And whence. Sir, all this reverence for holy wells
and holy places ? Surely not from the Bible ; surely
not from the teachings of Christ and his apostles.
Whence, then, are these superstitious customs de-
rived ? Most certainly and obviously from Paganism.
You, Sir, will not need me to tell you how frequent
among the heathen were sacred fountains, and rivers,
and lakes, and places. You well know to what an ex-
tent, at this day, are pilgrimages to holy places and riv-
ers made by the Hindoos, and the votaries of Bhood-
ism over all the East. This, also, in the language of
Bishop England, is "an ancient custom, of Eastern or-
igin," and adopted because " our religion has been re-
ceived from the East."

As I gazed around that cell, under the Church of
Saint Maria in Via Lata in Rome, in which the mirac-
ulous well of Saint Paul is kept locked and covered
up, and which is only opened once a year to quench the
thirst of the faithful, my eye lit upon a pillar extend-
ing almost to the ceiling of the cell, around which a
chain was entwined. " What chain and pillar are
these ?" said I to our priestly guide. " 0," said he,
" that is the pillar to which Paul was bound, and that
is the very chain by which he was bound." I smiled

LETTKRS. 63

Wonderful sentence. Other fountains.

but was silent, as I did not care to confess my unbe-
lief down there. I did not go to Rome desirous to ob-
tain a martyi-'s crown from or by priestly hands. I ap-
proached the pillar, and found this sentence deeply chis-
eled into it, " Verbum Dei non est alligatum^'' — the
Word of G-od is not bound. I was amazed. There,
down in that dark, damp cellar, was engraved upon
stone the glorious truth that Grod's Word is not bound,
and yet, when you go up into the light, you find the
Word of G-od not only bound, but banished from Rome.
" There were other fountains," said a friend to our
guide, " which sprung up here ; what is become of
them ?" '' What were they ?" said he. " The fount-
ains called Paul's Epistle to the G-alatians, and Paul's
Epistle to the Ephesians, and Paul's Epistle to the
Philippians, and Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, and
Paul's Epistle to Philemon, and probably Paul's Epis-
tle to the Hebrews," was the reply. ^^ These were
great fountains which sprung up here at the time you
say this holy well did, and where are they ?" He re-
plied, with a shrug of the shoulder, '' I don't know."
And, although a shorn priest, I suppose he did not know.
Now, Sir, how can we estimate the atrocity of that
outrageous system of priestly policy which hides from
the people the fountains of truth, and the truth by
which we are converted and sanctified, and then sends
them to rivers, fountains, or old muddy wells, at which
some fabulous saints are said to have drank, or to have
w^ashed their clothes or their feet, for that cleansingf
which faith in the blood of Christ alone can effect ?
They shut up from the people the fountains of truth,
the wells of salvation, and send them in crowds to per-

64 K I R W A N ' S L E T T E R S.

No priests at holy wells. Heathen origin.

form stations around these holy wells, and to pray to
the saints to whom they are dedicated. I know not,
Sir, how all this may impress you, hut I confess that,
with me, it places a Papal and Pagan priest on the
same level, save that the Pagan is the most excusahle.
You find. Sir, no priests making their stations around
these wells. They never dirty their shoes around that
at Ballina ; they have never heen heard to repeat a
paternoster around that at Ballahadireen ; they are rare
as swallows in winter at those holy places to which they
encourage the vulgar to go. Why is this ? As among
the ancient Egyptians, the priests have a religion for
the people and a religion for themselves.

The ancient heathen helieved, and all the heathen
nations of the East now helieve, that some places are
peculiarly holy, and that a visit to them is greatly mer-
itorious, tending to purify the soul, and to gain the fa-
vor of the gods : Popery adopts from their mythology
this very principle, and in its pilgrimages and penances
we have an exact counterpart of those of the heathen
in ancient and modern times. Are you not beginning
to see that Romanism is far more Pagan than Chris-
tian ; that it hears a nearer resemhlance to the teach-
ings of the Shaster than to those of the Scriptures ?

Nor have I yet exhausted the Paganism of Roman-
ism. More evidence to this point in my next.

Yours, with great respect.

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 65

Many points of agreement. Market-place of Naplesi

LETTER VII I.

The Market-place at Naples. — A ludicrous Disaster at its Gate. — Ima-
ges every where revered. — Church of St. Augustin. — Scene Mritnessed
there. — The Image of Peter at St. Peter's. — Worshiped by Pope and
Cardinals. — The Pantheon : Scene there. — Rome, Pagan in Fact,
Christian only in Name.

My dear Sir, — I am not yet through with the Pa-
ganism of Romanism. So manifold are the points in
which they touch and blend, and so numerous are the
institutions, rites, and ceremonies transferred bodily
from the one to the other, that to exhaust the subject
would require volumes ; but I am not going to write
volumes. Yet that you, and the poor, degraded vic-
tims of the system may see, as I see, that in many of
its main features it is baptized Paganism, I have a few
more things to adduce in order to streng-then my po-
sition. In the mean time, let me ask you not to forget
w^hat I have said about holy water, incense, candles,
and holy wells.

There is in Naples a market held in a square called
Marcenello, and so called, if our valet spoke the truth,
which is not always to be taken for gi'anted in Italy,
from the name of a rebel against the government, who
rose up from among the fishermen, and who, in this
square, put to death, in a barbarous manner, many of
the nobles. You enter this market-place by a gate-
way, on one side of which I saw an image of the Vir-

66 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Ludicrous scene. Devotion to picturea

gin and Child inclosed in a glass case, with candles
burning before it, and to which the peasants, as they
passed out and in, always bowed the knee. In this
gateway I witnessed a most ludicrous scene, which
admirably illustrates the piety of the Neapolitans. On
approaching the gate, a donkey, laden with vegetables,
as I had never seen a donkey laden before, and driven
by a brawny and boisterous master, stumbled, and
cabbages, onions, and turnips were scattered around.
The donkey recovered, and his enraged driver overtook
him in the gateway, where for some minutes I wit-
nessed the farce of his bowing to the Virgin, and whip-
ping the donkey, and swearing at him at the same
time. The obvious distraction caused by his reverence
for the Virgin and his rage at the ass was most divert-
ing. And these pictures and images you see every
where in purely Papal countries, and they are held in
great reverence by the people. They superabound in
Naples.

And they are to be found in all Popish churches.
As you enter these churches, they strike a stranger as
one of their great peculiarities. You see people kneel-
ing and praying before them and to them. Never, on
any occasion, have I seen a more profound reverence
manifested than I have seen toward these pictures and
images in the churches of Rome, and in the presence
of swarming priests. And to multitudes of these pic-
tures miraculous powers are attributed ; and healing
from diseases is sought from their touch, and forgive-
ness of sin from their worship. This statement may
be denied in theory by the priest, but it is true to the
letter in the practice of the people. And that you,

kirwan's letters. 67

Church of St. Augustin. A scene there.

Sir, may be convinced of this, permit me to make a
statement of a scene on which I gazed with my own
eyes, and which may be daily witnessed in Rome.

On the lovely Sabbath morning of the 8th of last
J une, I started in company with others for St. Peter's.
We took in our way the Church of St. Augustin, famed
for its fresco of Isaiah by Raphael. Near to the right
entrance is the statue of the Virgin and Child by San-
sovino, which, for reasons that I could not learn, is an
object of special veneration. Both the Virgin and Child
were most gorgeously robed, and were sparkling with
brilliants, the munificent donations of the opulent. The
church has three naves, and is supported by gigantic
pillars, all of which were covered from top to bottom,
and on all sides, with hearts made of different metals.
Around the statue was a crowd of poor people, each in-
tensely anxious to kiss the toe of the Virgin, and crowd-
ing their way to gain their end. Mothers were there,
holding up their infant children in their hands, and
pushing them over the heads of others, that they might
only touch the venerated image. The successful com-
petitors for the holy kiss, sprinkled themselves with wa-
ter, and, after abstracting a penny or a paul from their
rags, and depositing it in a money-box just by the statue,
they retired, with joy and pleasure beaming from their
countenances. Priests in flocks were passing in and
out, but they sought neither to kiss the Virgin's toe, nor
to stay the idolatry of the people. And what meant
those hearts which hung in thousands from the pillars
and walls of the edifice ? They were the votive offer-
ings of those who received benefit or cure from kissing
the toe of the image made by Sansovino I I heard,

68 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Dr. Duflf. Image of St Peter.

subsequently. Dr. DufF portraying with burning elo-
quence the idolatry of India, but no picture did he draw
so gross or revolting as that which I witnessed, and
which you may witness in the Church of St. Augustin,
which lies within the hearing of a gunshot to the pal-
ace of the Pope ! This is the church to which the poor
in Rome do mostly resort. It lies in a crowded and
dirty part of the city.

We passed on to St. Peter's. Here are pictures and
statuary beyond number. I shall now only ask your
attention to the image of St. Peter. There it is in the
great nave, near to the high altar, and just in the posi-
tion to attract the eye of every visitor. It is a sitting
figure, formed of bronze, and resting on a heavy marble
pedestal. His face is such as you might expect from
his character as depicted in the Scriptures, impulsive
and stern ; his right hand is lifted as if in the act of
blessing ; and in his left he holds two ponderous keys.
This statue is a great afFah* in Rome, and has its his-
tory and its worshipers. Some say that, save the head
and hands, it is the old Jupiter Tonans, with the thun-
derbolts exchanged for the keys. I have scarcely a
doubt but that it is so. And at stated times the Pope
and his cardinals go to it in gorgeous procession, and
render to it, as far as the external act is concerned, as
profound a worship as ever did the old Romans under
the name of Jupiter. I saw myself priests bowing be-
fore it, kissing its toe, and rubbing it with their fore-
heads. Indeed, by constant kissing and rubbing, sev-
eral feet have been worn down ; and, as I can testify,
the present one is dying of consumption. Wliile meas-
uring its dimensions with my eye, and rubbing with

kirwan's letters. 69

Holy images. Mary at Lucca. St. Dominic.

my hand the wasting toes, and thinking of the priestly-
wickedness connected with the whole affair, I was told
that our friend of New York, on his recent visit, pros-
trated himself before it. If so, it is another evidence
of his great fitness to wear the fillet made by withered
nuns from the wool of holy sheep.

We, Sir, away in this land of darkness, and, if a star
at all in the ecclesiastical firmament, only a wander-
ing star that will not obey the impulses of the sun, and
that will not be attracted to the great centre of Cath-
olic unity, are as poor in holy statues and paintings as
we are in holy wells ; and very much for the same rea-
son. But other countries are very rich in them. Have
you not heard, Sir, of the holy image of the Virgin and
Child in Lucca — ^how the shoulder of the image bled
when struck by a furious man — and how the blood is
preserved to this day, and is exhibited with great cere-
mony to the faithful ? Are you — can you be ignorant
of the image of St. Dominic, in Calabria, which was
brought from Heaven by St. Catharine and Mary Mag-
dalene, and which, as cardinals, bishops, and priests
testify, has raised the dead, given eyes to the blind,
and cured all diseases and infirmities ? It is yet visit-
ed by swarms of pilgrims yearly. This St. Dominic,
you will remember, was the father of that wonderfully
human institution, the Inquisition, which your good
archbishop so manfully vindicates in that erudite work
on theology which he has so kindly dedicated to you.
Have you not heard of the picture of Mary, painted by
St. Luke, kept in a church near Florence, which is
brought out in solemn procession in order to avert any
calamity which may be feared as impending over Flor-

70 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Shy of Protestants. The Pantheon.

ence or Tuscany ? But, Sir, the time would fail me
to tell you of the numbers beyond number scattered
over Southern and Northern Italy, Spain, Portugal,
France, G-ermany, and Holland ; and which, even in
our day, are regarded as possessing wondrous and heal-
ing efficacy. Where there is a mixture of Protestants
among the people, these things are kept behind tKe cur-
tain, and are but secretly encouraged ; but where the
people are unmixed Papists, they are openly patronized,
and, in many cases, are of more value than mines of
gold to the priests. I met these things every where in
Italy — in churches, by the road-side, in market-places,
at the corners of the streets, in cigar shops — and, in
multitudes of cases, I have seen the people offering to
them, at least in appearance, the most profound wor-
ship.

If, Sir, you have not seen, you have surely read of
the Pantheon, the most perfect and celebrated monu-
ment of ancient Rome. Although built before the
Christian era, there it yet stands, in all its original
proportions, unaffected by the revolutions of two thou-
sand years. Although various are the interpretations
given to its name, yet in this temple all the gods of the
heathen were worshiped ; and, when new countries
were conquered, their gods, or duplicates of them, were
sent to this temple, that the people from those nations,
visiting the then metropolis of the world, might have
their accustomed images before which to bow. And
for this purpose it was most admirably arranged.

This gem of antiquity, originally built by Agrippa,
the son-in-law of Augustus, and dedicated by him to
Jupiter Ultor, Mars, Venus, and, as its name imports.

LETTERS. 71

Heathen images remain. Whence images.

to all the gods, was dedicated by Pope Boniface IV.
to the Virgin Mary and all the saints. With this sin-
gle change, it remained as it was. Mary took the place,
perhaps, of Venus, and the saints of Jupiter, Mars,
and the other heroic gods of the heathen. The old
images remained, but with new names, and they were
passed off upon the deluded populace as the veracious
images of Christian heroes ! And as the heathen found
there all their gods before which to bow, so now do
Papists find there their favorite saints before which to
pray. Several times did I stand beneath its beautiful
dome, and witness the ceremonies at its several altars ;
and, as I saw the few that resorted there looking for a
few minutes around, and then filing to the right or left
as they discerned the picture of their favorite saint,
how could I resist the impression that it was yet in
substance and form a heathen temple, or suppress the
fear that it was so in fact ? I assure you. Sir, that
I regarded the dirty and clumsy priests I saw there
more as the priests of Jupiter than of Jesus, and the per-
sons I saw worship there more as Pagans than Chris-
tians.

Now, Sir, the question again arises, and imperatively
demands an answer, Whence these images — whether
of the chisel or the pencil, the carpenter or mason —
which every where crowd Papal churches, and which
are multiplied to a surfeit in Papal countries, and which
have so much to do with the genuflections, prostrations,
prayers, and beads of ignorant Papists ; and, as in the
case of the statue of St. Peter, even with those of the
Pope himself, and his crimsoned cardinals ? Whence
all this '> Not, surely, from the Scriptures of the Old

72 ,...,,...,'

KIRWAN S LETTERS.

Not from the Scriptures. Other heathen temples.

Testament, because we are taught nothing by them
more clearly than that G-od, in his anger, visited the
Jews with war, famine, pestilence, and dispersion, to
punish them for the sin of setting up hnages after
the manner of the heathen. Not, surely, in the Scrip-
tures of the New Testament, where we are taught that
there is but one mediator between God and man, and
that we must worship G-od in spirit and in truth.
Whence, then, is it ? Clearly from Paganism. And
so undeniable is its paternity, that many Romanists
not only will not question it, but will absolutely defend
it as a capital stroke of policy to bring over the people
from Paganism to Popery without their knowing it ;
and what was once, on this ground, a stroke of policy,
is now retained and defended as essential to impress
the senses of the vulgar, with whom spiritual concep-
tions is a work of great difficulty !

And as it is in the Pantheon, so it is in the other hea-
then temples that yet remain in Rome ; they have pull-
ed down one idol and set up another, or merely changed
its name. The sweet little temple of Yesta is now pos-
sessed by the Madonna of the Sun ; that of Fortuna
Yirilis by Mary the Egyptian ; that of Saturn by St.
Adrian ; that of Romulus and Remus by Cosmas and
Damianus ; and so on to the end of the chapter. And
with Dr. Middleton I can truly say, that I would rath-
er give divine honors with Pagan Rome to the found-
ers of empires, than with Papal Rome to fictitious
saints, whose miracles and holiness have nothing to sus-
tain them but the miserable legends of the monks of
the Dark Ages. If I must bow before pictures or im-
ages at all, give me Vesta, and Saturn, and Romulus :

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 73

Pagan better than Papal gods.

and I will give the Madonna of the Sun, and Adrian,
and Cosmas to the Pope and his priests.

Are you not now beginning to see that Romanism is
far more Pagan than Christian ?

With great respect, yours.

D

74 kirwan's letters.

Landing at Naples. Appearance of priests.

LETTER IX.

Cumulative Evidence of the Paganism of Romanism. — Landing at Na-
ples.— Appearance of the Ecclesiastics. — Convent house. — Church of
Capuchins at Rome.— Preserved Monk. — Horrid Burying-place. —
Nuns — how manufactured. — Whence Monks and Nuns, and for
what. — Tools of the Priests and Corrupters of the People.

My dear Sir, — I am not yet thi'ough with the Pa-
ganism of Romanism. The evidences of the paternity
of the religion of the Seven Hills grow with investiga-
tion. Like the ruins of Pompeii, they lie concealed be-
neath a slight external covering, which is easily re-
moved.

On landing at Naples, I was struck with the large
number of ecclesiastics, m different garbs, that were to
be seen in all the streets. They all looked extremely
fantastical and self-satisfied. Some wore a thi-ee-cocked
hat, and some no hat. Some wore shorts, and stock-
ings, and shoes with large buckles, and some wore
sandals without stockings ; but, whether they wore
shorts or not, I could not tell from their flowing dress.
Some wore an elegant priestly coat of black cloth, girt
with a sash around the waist, lifted up a little on one
side in order to facilitate their walking ; while others
wore a coarse garb, flowing from their shoulders to their
feet, with a cord around their loins. I soon learned
that the fat, well-fed, and well-dressed persons, with
large shovel hats, were priests ; and that the persons

LETTERS. 75

Monks. Their dress. Vulgar appearance,

without hats, wearing sandals and no stockings, and a
kind of a shoe with no hind part to it, and which flap-
ped against the sole of the foot as they walked, were
monks and friars of various and varying orders. Of
these persons I had often read, but now they were be-
fore me a living reality. The walk, the look, the whole
appearance of the priests seemed to testify that they be-
longed to the better class of society ; and, as I was sub-
sequently informed, they were persons whose parents
had pm-chased for them admission to the priesthood as
the cheapest way of securing to them a competent sup-
port for life. But the monks and friars that were
swarming every where bore the strongest evidence of a
mean origin. Their low foreheads — their shaven pates
— their unwashed faces and uncombed hau* — their
coarse and filthy garments, and their unwashed feet,
bore evidence against them. Of these monks and
friars there are many orders in Naples. Some you see
with bags on their backs, and others with baskets in
their hands, begging from door to door ; while others
are confined to their rooms in their houses, the volun-
tary subjects of rules and customs the most supersti-
tious and degrading. On the side of the hill which
rises up in the midst of Naples, and which is surmount-
ed by a strong fortification, is a monkish house. It is
a very large establishment, making a hollow square,
with the gi-ave-yard in the centre ; and each of the
posts of the fence by which the grave-yard is inclosed
is surmounted by a naked skull. These monks never
speak, and never eat at the same table, save on the
Sabbath I And these establishments you find every
where in Italy. I visited one of their churches in

76 kirwan's letters.

Preserved monk. Horrid burying-place.

Rome, where 1 witnessed the most revolting sight I
ever beheld. It is the Church of the Capuchins, where
is the magnificent painting of the Archangel by G-uido.
In a glass case, under one of the side altars, is the body
of a monk, laid out in his old robes, in a state of mu
raculous preservation. Whether it was dried flesh or
wax I could not tell ; I suspected the latter. I asked
the monk that attended on us why the flesh of this
man was preserved, while that of others decayed. His
reply was most ludicrous. Putting his hands together,
and turning up his eyes, like a duck in a thunder-
storm, he answered, " Because he was a good fellow."
The burying-place of these monks is a horrible sight.
It seems to have been gotten up to outrage all the feel-
ings of humanity. It is partly under the church, and
is entered from the yard by a series of arches. The
burial spot may be twenty or thirty feet by seven or
eight. The clay of this bed, I was told, was brought
from Palestine. In this bed the monks are buried,
where they lie until the flesh falls from their bones.
Then the bones are taken up, and some of them, after
being jointed with wires into a perfect skeleton, are
dressed up in their old garbs, and hung up around the
place, while the skulls, the bones, and the ribs of
others are wrought into fantastical arches and candle-
sticks, which every where cover the walls and meet the
eye. Even Rome does not present a more revolting
spectacle. And shreds from an old dirty garment of that
preserved monk, whose name was Crispini, are said to
have wrought miracles, and have been sold at exor-
bitant prices. And in this revolting den of superstition
and indolence are one hundred and fifteen of these dirty

kirwan's letters. 77

A begging monk. An incident.

Nuns.

Capuchins, who, judging from their appearance, stand
far more in need of a thorough washing than they do
of victuals or wine !

These monks, who spend their time between pray-
ing, begging, sleeping, and sinning, you meet every
where. One of them was regularly stationed in the
hall of the Hotel d'Angleterre every morning to beo-
alms from the strangers retiring from the breakfast-
room. My traveling friend, who liked them about as
much as I did, put his hand in his pocket one morning,
as if hunting for a franc for the shorn monk. Finger-
ing his pocket, he went up stairs, and the monk after
him, his eyes beaming with hope. At the top of the first
stairs, he signified that he could not find any thing to
give him. He stopped a little, but cast a longing, beg-
ging look after him. Again my friend commenced to
finger his pockets, and, again flushed with hope, the
monk renewed his pursuit. But, while ascending the
next flight, the incorrigible Protestant came down upon
the lazy rogue with a thundering rebuke, under which
he went down stairs at least as fast as he ascended
them.

And you. Sir, must well know how large a space in
the history of Romanism is filled by the rise and the
progress, the conflicts and the crimes, of the various
classes and orders of monks and friars.

It has also called into requisition female monks,
called nuns, who have contributed not a little to the
extending of its plans. The fu-st of these persons I
saw abroad was on a funeral occasion, in the Made-
leine, in Paris. The deceased was obviously very poor,
and the priest in waiting mumbled a service over the

78 K I R W A N ' S L E T T E R S.

Their appearance. Whence, and how made.

coffin, so hurried and so heartless as to fill me with
contempt for him. The nun, who, perhaps, was the
nurse of the deceased, was there, and a more common
or ugly woman no man might wish to see. There
were three of them on the steamer from Lyons to Avig-
non, and, in appearance and manners, they were the
very ditto of her I saw in Paris. The great vulgarity
of their appearance in Italy put to flight all the images
of beauty, and delicacy, and modesty which I had ever
associated with them ; nor could I account for what I
observed until my visit to the Catacombs at Naples.
As you approach these subterranean graves, there are
two large buildings on either hand ; that on the left is
devoted to the care of poor old men, and that on the
right to poor young girls, who are deserted by their
parents, or " who had no parents," as said our valet.
This building is capable of containing between one
and two thousand girls, and is usually full ; and all
of these are compelled to be nuns. The fact that they
are taken from the very lowest walks of life accounts
for the commonness of their appearance ; and it is the
same fact which accounts for the yet more common,
and dirty, and sensual appearance of most of the monks
and friars that I saw abroad. Here and there a dis-
appointed maiden may flee to a nunnery to hide her
blushes or her shame, and become a lady abbess ; or
a greatly criminal noble may flee to a monastery to
hide his crimes, and to play the gentleman fanatic
among boors ; but, as a rule, monks, friars, and nuns are
from the very sweepings of society, and ever have been.
Italian nuns, as far as they came under my observa-
tion, needed not the walls of a nunnery to protect them

kirwan's letters. 79

Celibacy not enjoined. Confraternities.

from marriage, for I have seen many females far pret-
tier enjoy the benefits of single blessedness without
any to disturb or to make them afraid. And such are
the monks and friars that are shipped here in cargoes
to civilize and to Christianize us !

But the question again arises, "Whence these orders
of monks and friars ? Whence these nuns of various
names, and, various colored vails ? There is nothing
like them in the Old Testament— nothing certainly in
the New. Celibacy is nowhere enjoined on man or
woman, saint or sinner, in the Bible. Seclusion from
the world, like that practiced in monasteries, is no-
where enjoined by the sacred books of our religion.
When Paul speaks of persons wandering in deserts and
in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth, he refers
to those banished from their homes and friends by the
ferocity of persecutors. Whence, then, these orders ?
They are all of Pagan origin. You, Sir, need not be
told how orders of priests abounded among the Egyp-
tians and the G-reeks, nor how they were copied by the
Romans. The merest novice in mythology will re-
member the Pagan confraternities, to which Francis-
cans, Benedictines, Dominicans, and Jesuits so nearly
correspond, and the Vestal Virgins, to which Popish
nuns are so exact a counterpart. How exactly Homer
and Plato painted the monks of La Trappe in then* de-
scriptions of the priests of Dodonean Jove ! Anchorites,
hermits, recluses, and monks existed in Asia long be-
fore the Christian era ; and, at the present time, the
countries which profess the religion of Brama, Fo,
Lama, and Mohammed, are full of fakirs, and santons,
toners, talapoins, bonzes, and dervises, whose fanaticai

80 kirwan's letters.

Monks among Pagans. Their uses.

and absurd penances are the arts of deception, and not
the fruits of piety. And in some of the countries of
Asia at this hour you will find priests and monks un-
der the vows of celibacy without keeping them, with
shorn heads, with and without turbans, and wearing
peculiar robes tied about their loins, as thick as under
the shadow of St. Elmo, or as on the banks of the Ti-
ber.

But why these monks, and friars, and nuns ? Has
the question ever occurred to you ? The bishops are
generally engaged in the higher affairs of the state or
the Church ; the priests are saying masses in deserted
churches, and faring sumptuously ; and the monks,
and friars, and nuns, collected from the common peo-
ple, and sympathizing with them, are abroad among
them, as the curates or assistants of the priests and
bishops, for the purpose of filling their minds with fa-
bles, and keeping them in bondage. They are priest-
ly spies among the people, save those that go into se
elusion ; and hence you find them begging for the peo-
ple, sitting with the people in the streets, mingling
with them in the market-places, lounging with the laz-
aroni, and laughing with them, and all for the purpose
of doing the dirty work of the priests, and filling their
minds with superstitious legends. The object of im-
porting to our shores monks and nuns can not be mis-
taken ; and as soon as public sentiment will allow it,
you will see these lazy and wicked wretches sticking
their shorn heads into the cottages of the poor, to warn
them against all the elevating influences of Christian-
ity, and flouting their coarse robes in our thorough-
fares for the same purpose for wliich the Pharisees ol

KIRWAN's LETTERS. 81

The curse of Papal pations. Deliverance prayed.

old made broad their phylacteries. These monkish or-
ders were, and are, the curse of Pagan nations ; they
wofully corrupted the Christian Church; they were
mainly the authors of the lying legends of the Dark
Ages, which Papal priests are endorsing even in Amer-
ica ; they are now a grievous curse to the Papal na-
tions of the world. 0, Sir, will you not join me in the
prayer that they may never curse, either by their pres-
ence or their arts, our own happy, thrice happy coun-
try ?

"With great respect, yours.
D2

82 kirwan's letters.

Letter from Rome. Domitian.

LETTER X.

Letter from Kome dated A.D. 90. — The Paganism of Rome then, the
exact Picture of Papal Rome now

My dear Sir, — That you and all men may see at a
glance the entire truth of the Paganism of Romanism,
which I have already so fully proved and illustrated,
will you permit me to go back to the year 90 of the
Christian era, and, like my friend "Nicholas, Cardinal
Archbishop of "Westminster," to address you a letter
"out of the Flaminian Grate," describing the religion
of Rome, both as to its priests and ceremonies, as then
existing ?

Rome, A.D. 90.

Sir, — I have just reached this great city after a tedi-
ous voyage. I have spent several days in visiting the
many temples here erected to the worship of the gods,
and in inquiries as to the civil and social state of the
people ; and I now proceed to detail to you what I have
seen and learned.

Domitian has just brought to a close the Dacian war,
having secured a peace on very humiliating terms.
This, instead of humbling him, has greatly excited his
turbulent passions, so that no man is now safe here,
unless he would degrade himself to flatter the tyrant
and his tools. The philosophers are expelled, Chris-
tians are greatly persecuted, and are prohibited from

kirwan's letters. 83

Awful tyranny. Immorality. Pagan priests.

meeting for worship under the severest penalties ; and
a widespread fear of the emperor is among all the
people. Rumors of conspiracies against his life are
very frequent, and those who are suspected as enemies
are cruelly torn from their families ; but what is done
with them none even conjecture. The unseen hand
of tyranny is every where felt, and every person is in
hourly dread of its chains or its daggers.

But very few Christians are to be found here. They
are compelled to worship in secret, where the eye of
tyranny can not see them. The most frightful immo-
ralities prevail among the people, although the altars
and images of the gods are every where to be seen, and
although their temples are multiplied and gorgeous,
and their worship is maintained with many and impo-
sing ceremonies. And what seems to me surpassing
strange is, that the more immoral the people, the more
they are attached to their religious rites.

There is here a wonderful array of Pagan priests,
filling the temples, and to be met with in all the streets.
These are frequently to be seen leading in processions
in honor of the gods, which processions are calculated
to please the people and render them superstitious.
One of these I have just witnessed. The magistrates
in their robes were there ; the priests in their surplices
were there ; with wax candles in their hands, and car-
rying the images of the gods, finely dressed. These
were followed by young men in white vestments, sing-
ing in honor of the god whose festival was celebrated ;
and these, again, were followed by crowds of all kinds
of people, with candles and flambeaux in their hands.
The whole scene was very gorgeous, but very idola-

84 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Pontifex Maximus. His honors and powers.

trous. The common people are said to be fond of these
things, and they are multiplied by the priests on that
account.

The priests here are very numerous, and wield a vast
power. I will, therefore, give you some account of
them. The chief and head of them all is called Pon-
tifex Maximus, or sovereign pontiff. This man is the
visible head of their religion, and is the chief of a body
of priests, which, in their collective capacity, is called
collegium or college. This college is the final judge
in all cases relating to religious things ; and where
there is no WTitten law, they prescribe what they think
proper. This college is a body of vast influence, and
always sits in secret. When the pontiff dies, it elects
a new one,^ and usually from thek own number. The
Pontifex is almost worshiped as a god ; indeed, he is
sometimes called god, although he only claims to be
the vicegerent of Jupiter. He clahns to exercise among
men the authority of Jupiter — ^he lives in royal state —
he levies taxes upon the inferior priests and upon the
people, and he claims a respect from the people, which,
to me, is just like adoration or worship. Men bow be-
fore himi as he passes, and none can approach him with-
out kissing his feet. He is the infallible interpreter to
whom the people resort ; and while he punishes others
at discretion, he is not himself amenable to the judg-
ment of the senate or the people. All priests, and al-
most all things, are subject to him. He regulates the
year and the public calendar. He usually wears a gor-
geous robe bordered with purple, and a cap in the form
of a cone, and holds a rod in his hand ^^Tapped round
with wool. But you should come to Rome yourself to

kirwan's letters. 85

Other priests. Temples.

understand the power of this man, and the splendor
with which he appears in public, and in which he lives
in private.

In the train of the Pontifex Maximus there is always
a numerous priesthood, divided into several classes.
Some of these are called Augurs, some Q,uindecemviri,
some Septemviri ; these are the chief. But, besides
these, there are fraternities of priests less considerable,
though quite influential. These, in the language of this
country, are called Fratres Ambervales, Curiones, Fe-
ciales, Sodales. Besides these, there are priests of par-
ticular gods, as the priests of Jupiter, of Mars, of Pan,
of Hercules, and of Cybele, the mother of the gods.
There are also here women they call Yirgines Yestales,
or Vestal Virgins, who are consecrated to the worship
of Vesta, and who enjoy singular honor and privileges.
These all wear peculiar garments, by which they are
distinguished from one another and from all the people.
Their dress tells who and what they are, wherever you
meet them, and you meet them every where. And all
these priests have servants, who wait upon them when
they are performing rites at the altars of the gods.

The houses erected to the gods are many and beauti-
ful. These are called Templse, or temples. I have just
returned from the Pantheon, where I witnessed a cere-
mony which I will describe to you. As the morning
here is regarded as the most propitious part of the day,
their great ceremonies are all ended before noon. The
priest entered by a door, dressed in a white robe called
alba.) and ascended by a few steps to the altar. He
wore, also, a tunic of various colors. His head was
shaven, which struck me as singular, and he had upon

86 kirwan's letters.

Service in the Pantheon. Many gods.

his breast a richly-decorated covering called a pectoral.
He wore, also, a vail. The whole dress struck me as
very fanciful, nor could you conjecture, save from his
head and face, whether he was a man or a woman.
When he had washed his hands, he marched round the
altar, and, having made obeisance before it, he stood
fronting the people. Lighted tapers covered the altar.
The servants and inferior priests burned incense, while
the priest made many prostrations. He always spoke
in Latin, which I do not sufficiently know fully to com-
prehend him. When the ceremony was ended, the god
in whose honor it was performed was carefully locked
in a little box upon the altar, and then the priest dis-
missed the people with these words: " Missio est."
And after being sprinkled by the inferiors with water
mingled with salt, which is called " lustralis aqua," or
holy water, they left the temple, smiling and talking,
and apparently gratified. And, with little variation,
this is a picture of what I have witnessed in all the
temples I have yet visited. The sacrifices, as I had
supposed, did not always consist of slain animals ;
sometimes nothing is offered but a little round wafer,
which is called mola^ and the offering of which, as they
declare, removes the sins of the people. This was in-
stituted by Numa, and is called " the unbloody sacri-
fice:'

Nothing here more sorrowfully impresses a true mind
than their great multiplication of gods. They have
twelve superior gods, with whose names you are famil-
iar ; and they have gods inferior, which they multiply
without end. These latter are persons selected for di-
vine honors fi^om the ranks of men, and who, for their

kirwan's letters. 87

Apotheosis. A middle state.

virtues or merits, are placed among the gods. When
the Collegium, of which I have already spoken, has re-
solved to deify any person, they proclaim his apotheo-
sis, which proclamation places him among the gods.
Immediately the ignorant people begin to pray to him,
and to invoke his aid. First they make a god of him,
and then they make him pay for the honor conferred !
From these small gods it is customary for classes and
professions to select a patron. Musicians have select-
ed Apollo ; sailors, Neptune ; farmers, Ceres ; soldiers,
Mars ; cities, towns, and persons select their guardian
gods. Rome has selected Jupiter Capitolinus, and
Athens Minerva ; and families have their gods in their
houses, and individuals carry their patrons in their pock-
ets. And to these gods they give the honor and pray-
er which are due only to the only true Grod. I saw a
poor sailor, the other day, who had escaped drowning
at Ostia, hang up his coat as a votive offering in the
temple of Neptune, and prostrate himself before his
image as if it were our Grod !

I find also here a belief of a state somewhere be-
tween hell and the Elysian fields, where the souls of the
departed go which were not bad enough for hell nor
good enough for heaven. I know not whether they
borrowed this doctrine from Virgil, who is here in great
repute, and who teaches it ; or whether it was older than
Virgil. Probably he only embodied what was a popu-
lar superstition in his fine poem. But the use which
the priests make of it has strongly impressed me with
their want of honesty. They pretend to the power of
abridging the awful sufferings of souls in this inter-
mediate place by prayers and sacrifices, and for which

88 kirwan's letters.

A. wicked city. Wicked priests.

they charge very high prices when the people are able
to pay. In this way the Pagan priests here draw
enormous revenues from the living for the saving of the
souls of the dead. They speculate on the sorrows of
the living ; and from hearts broken by afflictions and
trials they draw some of then* chief revenues.

But I may weary you with these details which I
make, and which you must read with sorrow. This
is a wicked city, and its priests are the most wicked
of its people. It is a most superstitious city. But the
power of these Pagan priests is gradually giving way.
and the influence of superstition over the people is be-
coming less and less. The true Grospel of Jesus Christ
is here as a leaven — may it leaven the mass. It is the
only remedy for the sins and follies of this great but
wicked people.

Very truly your friend.

Now, Sir, if you wiU turn to the history of Rome at
the date of this letter ; if you will turn to any writer
on Roman Antiquities ; if you will read Adams on the
Religion of the Romans, commencing with page 234
of the New York edition of 1826, the one now before
me, you will find that I have given you an exact ac-
count, as far as such an account can be drawn from his-
tory, of the priests and ceremonies of Paganism, as far
as I have gone, and at the time selected. Were it
necessary to go further into the conduct of the priests,
and the manner and character of their ceremonies, I
could have brought out other tilings that would equal-
ly astonish you. And now. Sir, I would seriously ask
you what is the difference between Pagan Rome in the

LETTER 8. 89

Rome in the year 90 — Rome in 1852.

year 90 of the Christian era, and Papal Rome in the
year 1852 ? I assure you, Sir, I can see but little.
The Pontifex Maximus you have in the Pope ; the Col-
legium in the sacred college of cardinals ; the priests
of various classes you have in the varying classes of
the monks and nuns ; the multiplication of demigods
you have in the canonization of the saints ; the cere-
monies described in the Pantheon you have there at
this very hour, almost unchanged ; the wafer called
the " mola" you have in the " unbloody sacrifice of the
mass ;" the intermediate state between Hell and Elys-
ium, as sung by Yngil, you have in Purgatory ; and
the cruelty of Domitian and his tools, and their perse-
cution of the Christians, you have in the infamous, de-
testable conduct of Pius IX. and his cardinals ; and so
on to the end of the chapter. Popery, therefore, is lit-
tle else than Paganism extended. All unbiased minds
on earth, capable of forming an opinion on the subject,
must admit this, especially if they visit Rome, and
examine the subject, as I have done, in what were
once Pagan, and now are Papal temples.

And here. Sir, you have one of my chief reasons for
addressing these letters to you. A man high in char-
acter, station, intelligence, and influence, you are
claimed as a Romanist by Papal priests. Whatever
may be your private views, you would prefer the name
of Christian to Pagan ; while a thorough Papist, can
you be less than Pagan ? And, as the able and tried
friend of your country and its institutions, would you
not prefer that it and they should be under the mold-
ing influence of the reUgion of Jesus Christ, rather than
under that of the old Pontifex Maximus of the Seven

90 KIR WAn's LETTERS.

The Bible to be preferred to Sybilline leaves.

Hills ? Is not the Bible a better book for our people
than the traditions of the Sybils, doubtfully or dogmat-
ically interpreted from Papal altars ? Are not minis-
ters of Christ better teachers of the people than the
commissioned spies of the holy college of cardinals —
than the lineal successors of the augurs, the curiones,
the sodales, the Virgines Vestales of the days of Domi-
tian ? Are you doing your duty to your noble coun-
try, the hope of the aspirants of true liberty in all the
earth, by giving even the approbation of your silence
to the efforts of priests from Ireland, Austria, and Italy,
to transplant to our shores nominally Popish, but really
Pagan institutions, whose very best influences have
been always adverse to the highest interests of human-
ity ? Honor yourself and your posterity, and bless
your country, by a wise and powerful effort, such as
you can put forth, to prevent Papal priests from Pa-
ganizing our country.

With great respect, yours.

kirwan's letters. 91

Catacombs at Naples. Altar. St. Januarius.

LETTER XL

Sham Miracles. — Altar in the Catacombs. — St. Januarius — the Lique-
faction of his Blood. — A terrible Incident for the Priests. — Ara Coeli. —
Bambino. — A Scene. — History of Bambino. — Its wonderful Powers.

My dear Sir, — Having, as I trust, satisfied you, and
all my readers, that Popery, in its forms, ceremonies,
and external arrangements, is nothing but the Pagan-
ism of the old Roman state, which Cliristianity found
there on its first introduction into our world, permit me
to proceed to the consideration of some other topics.

On entering the Catacombs at Naples, the first thing
that strikes you, so as to attract attention, is a rude
Papal altar, covered with all the insignia of Romanism.
You ask. Why is it there buried under a high mount-
ain, and shut out from all save those visiting this won-
derful receptacle of the dead of the heroic ages of Italy ?
The reply is, that " it marks the spot where the bones
of the far-famed St. Januarius were found." " How
long did they remain here," said I to our guide, " be-
fore discovered?" "About three hundred years," he
replied. " But how tell, at that distance of time, whose
bones they were?" "By miracle," he replied. Of
course, I could say no more. In the cathedral church
of the city, dedicated to this saint, is a beautiful chapel,
where are two vials of his blood ; I was shown the
case in which they were locked up ; but my eyes were
unworthy of seeing them. " How," said I to the guide,

92 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Liquefaction. Dead head. Alban Butler.

" could they get this blood, when it was not known
where his body was for three hundred years ?" " By
miracle," was again the reply. " When, and how is
it," I asked, *' that this blood liquefies ?" " In Septem-
ber, May, and December," he replied, " and at other
times when the bishops pray. And the blood melts
when the saint's head looks at it." " But the head is
dead — ^how can it look ?" " By miracle," was the re-
ply. " But how does the look of the head melt the
blood ?" " By miracle," was the answer. And, egre-
giously absurd as the whole thing is, it is by these sham
miracles that Romish priests, in all lands where belief
in them is the vulgar faith, seek to retain their ascend-
ency over a deluded people. And in all this they prove
themselves to be the worthy and true successors of the
Pagan priests, who sought by prodigies and omens to
excite and strengthen the vulgar belief. Let me place
some of these miracles before you.

There, in two old vials, is the fabled blood of St.
Januarius. On the set time, these vials are brought
out by a priest ; and the head, which was cut off about
the year 306, and which must have been often renewed
in nearly sixteen hundred years, is brought out and
placed near them. The blood melts at the sight of the
head. The Rev. Alban Butler, a most erudite scholar
in lying wonders, tells us, "that when the blood is
brought within sight of the head, though at a consid-
erable distance, it melts, bubbles up, and, upon the least
motion, flows on all sides." Then a boy holds up a
lamp behind the vial to make the liquefaction visible.
Then the faithful, usually composed of beggars, press
toward the altar, when a priest touches their forehead

LETTERS. 93

The farce. Vesuvius put out. A good story.

and lips with the wonderful vials. When persons in
a clerical dress approach, which is rarely the case, it is
touched to their forehead, lips, and bosom ; and surely,
like the soothsayers of old, they must laugh when they
look each other in the face. It would seem to me that
the man who left the company of waiters upon the
priests, who were saying high mass for the purpose of
showing us the wonders of the church, was laughing
in his sleeve at our apparent credulity as he was de-
scribing to us the miracle-working relics. And that
mu-acle of stupid credulity. Rev. Alban Butler, tells us,
with all seriousness, that in 1707, the shrine of St.
Januarius, carried in solemn procession, extinguished
a fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius ! Indeed, he at-
tributes the preservation of Naples from being buried,
like Pompeii, in the lava of its neighboring volcano, to
its possession of the head, and blood, and bones of this
old saint, whose holy history is a monkish fable. A
less credulous person might ask, how Vesuvius could
send its lava to Naples, without first making a bridge
across the bay ?

The following story, often published to the confusion
of the priests, was confirmed to me in Naples, and by
a Neapolitan, who, although avowing himself a Cath-
olic, loved the priests just as much as if he were an
American. When the French, in the days of Napoleon,
occupied that country, the blood of St. Januarius refused
to liquefy, as a token of his vast displeasure with the
people for permitting the Franks to abide there. The
awful news was spread in whispers from the confes-
sionals through the city. The people, especially the
Lazzaroni, were determined on another " Sicilian Ves-

94 kirwan's letters.

The effect of cannon. Church of Ara Coeli.

pers," and on the procession of the vials, which usu-
ally calls out the entire populace. The French com-
mander was informed of all the plot. The day arrived.
High mass was said. The old head of the saint was
brought within sight of the old vials, but the blood re-
fused to liquefy ! A low murmur passed through all
the streets. Two cannons were wheeled in a moment
before the church, and other cannon were at the corners
of the streets, ready to sweep them in an instant. Or-
ders were sent to the priests in management of the jug-
gle, that unless the blood liquefied in ten minutes, the
church and city would be fired. In five minutes the
saint changed his mind ; he became alarmed, fearing
the effects of a lighted match when placed in contact
with gunpowder. The blood boiled up, and all the peo-
ple rejoiced together. And the priests yet delude the
people with this contemptible farce ! The priests that
performed Pagan ceremonies in the temple of Castor and
Pollux would have given up this bungling fraud long
ago.

You have no doubt heard of, if you have not seen,
the church of Ara CceH at Rome. It is a very ugly,
barn-looking affair on the Capitoline Hill, and on the
very spot, it is said, where stood the temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus. It is in the possession of the Franciscan
friars, a brotherhood, as I can testify, that stand sadly
in need of washing. This church is less famed for its
fine frescoes illustrating the life of St. Bernard, by Pin-
turricchio, than for its wonderful figure of the infant
Savior, the " Sanctissimo Bambino," whose power in
curing the sick has given it a world-wide popularity,
and which receives more fees than any three physicians

kirwan's letters. 95

The Bambino. Its dress.

Healing process.

in Rome. '' Bambino^^ is the Italian word for child ;
and this image is called // Bambino — The Child, to
mark its superiority to all others. The bare-headed
monks, either bowing profoundly to the earth, or pious-
ly turning up their faces to heaven, call it "II Sanctis-
simo Bambino."

I have seen this wonderful image, and yet I live !
It is a wooden doll about two feet long, and not unlike,
in form, to the Dutch dolls which are often given among
us as a holiday present to children. It is wrapped in
swaddling clothes after the custom of the Italians, so
as to cover it all save its head and its feet. On its head
is a royal crown, sparkling with brilliants ; and from
its head to its feet, it is covered with rubies, emeralds,
and diamonds. This is the favorite divinity of the low-
er classes of the Romans, almost casting into the shade
that of Mary herself !

As the good fortune which always attended me would
have it, I entered the little chapel where this image is
kept in state, just in time to see his little reverence go
tlirough a healing process. A monk opened for us the
main door, and showed us into a small room, whence
we were shown by another monk into the wonderful
chapel. There were there, kneeling before the altar,
three poor women with a sick child. The priest who
acted in the affair was going through some ceremony
before the altar. Soon he turned to the right, and with
a solemnity which, because feigned, was laughable,
opened a little cradle in which lay the glittering doll.
He prayed over it ; and then, taking it in his hands as
if unworthy to touch it, placed it in an upright posi-
tion on the altar. Here he prayed over it again. H»

96 K I R W A N '

S LETTERS.

The ceremony. Its miracles. History.

then took it in his hands, and touched, with its toe, the
head of the sick child, and crossed it with it. He then
put its toe to the lips of the child, which was made to
kiss it. And then each of the women, who were all
the while upon their knees, kissed its foot. After a lit-
tle more ceremony. Bambino was put back in his beau-
tiful cradle, and the women withdrew. When the
chapel was empty of Italians, we were invited inside
by the priest. We were taken up to the cradle. He
told us of the immense value of the jewels, many of
them the gifts of kings ; of the many miracles wrought
by Bambino ; and pointed to the many silver and gold
hearts by which it was surrounded, in evidence. He
gave us some items of its history, which were very rich.
The cradle lies under a canopy ; at one end of it is
Joseph ; at the other, the Virgin Mary ; and over it is
an image of Grod the Father ! The priest was polite,
communicative, but grossly ignorant. We paid him a
few pauls, and retired, wondering more, and more, and
more at the shameless, lying wonders of Popery ; at the
folly and wickedness of its priests ; and at the stupid-
ity of its people.

As the Bambino is among the most wonderful things
at Rome, and is worth more than a mine of gold to the
dirty monks of Ara Coeli, I will give you some account
of it, as quoted from its authentic history, published
with the permission of the Pope and cardinals, and for
the edification of the faithful !

It was carved in Jerusalem, by a monk of St. Fran-
cis, from a tree of olive, which grew near to the Mount
of Olives. The good monk was in want of paint, and
could find none. By prayer and fasting he sought paint

LETTERS. 97

Miraculous paint. Saved from drowning. Its powers.

from heaven. On a certain day he fell asleep, and lo !
when he awoke, the little doll was perfectly painted,
the wood looking just like flesh ! The fame of this
prodigy spread all over the country, and was the means
of the conversion of many infidels. It was made for
Rome, and the maker embarked with it for Italy. But
the ship was wrecked ; and when all gave up the holy
image as lost, lo ! the case in which it was, suddenly
and miraculously appeared at Leghorn ! This wonder-
fully increased its fame and the veneration of the peo-
ple. Thence it was soon transported to Rome ; and
when fu'st exposed to the devout gaze of believers on
the Capitoline Hill, their shouts of joy and their clam-
orous hallelujahs ascended to the stars ! On a certain
occasion, it is said that a devout lady took away with
her the pretty doll to her own house ; but, in a few
days, he miraculously returned to his own little chap-
el, ringing all the bells of the convents as he passed !
The bells assembled all the monks, and as they pressed
into the church, behold, to their infinite joy. Bambino
was seated on the altar ! Did you ever hear of such a
wonderful doll ?

But this is not all. It is the universal belief amonof
the lower classes of the Romans, that the laying of this
doll at the foot of the bed of a woman in child-bhth
insures a safe deliverance ! It is also the universal be-
lief that this doll, by a change of its countenance, by
becoming pale or flushed, infallibly indicates whether
a sick person will live or die ! And when doctors fail,
the aid of Bambino is invoked for the recovery of the
sick. It visits the sick in a splendid coach, and is at-
tended by priests in full canonicals. As it passes along

E

9y K I R W A N ' S L E T T E R S.

Its worship. A shameless fraud.

through the streets, every head is uncovered, and, how-
ever muddy may he the streets, the poor are on their
knees for its worship. For these visitations, the monks,
who have the doll in keeping, charge the most enor-
mous prices. During my sojourn in Rome, it was sent
for to the Vatican for the healing of somebody sick in
the palace of the Pope ! And this miraculous image
is exposed to public veneration and adoration in a scenic
representation of the stable at Betlilehem, from the 25th
of December to the 26th of January of each year, dur-
ing which time tens of thousands of people crowd the
Ara Ca3li and the Capitoline Hill for the purposes of
its worship !

Now, Sir, here is a shameless imposture, palmed off
upon an ignorant people by impious priests and monks.
Nor is this thing done in a corner. This outrageous
fraud is not perpetrated in Connaught, nor in Mexico,
nor in Austria, nor down in deeply-degraded Sicily, but
in Rome — on the Capitoline Hill — and under the eye,
and by the sanction of Pio Nono and his cardinals !
What epithets or adjectives does our language supply
sufficiently strong to express our abhorrence of the enor-
mous wickedness of Pope, cardinals, and priests, who
would thus delude and degrade an ignorant and con-
fiding people ! And yet, Sh, the priests of Romanism,
steeped in these vile, lying superstitions and wonders,
come over here to tell us in America that there is no
salvation for us so long as we refuse to submit our
necks to the yoke of this Pope and his cardinals !

And will you. Sir — will any American citizen, in any
form, give their countenance to the shaven-pated mis-
sionaries of such miraculous nonsense ?

With great respect, yours.

kirwan's letters. 99

Other sham miracles. Holy House of Loretto.

LETTER XII.

Sham Miracles. — Holy House of Loretto — its History — Flight — Dimen-
sions.— Miracles. — Litany of our Lady of Loretto. — Perpetrators of
such Frauds, Impostors.

My dear Sir, — I am not yet thi-ough with the sham
miracles of Romanism, gotten up, and shamelessly ad-
vocated, even in our day, for the purpose of maintain-
ing the terrible, the grinding influence of a wicked
priesthood over an ignorant, deluded, and confiding
people. Bad as is the hungle about St. Januarius, and
base as is the conduct of the dnty Franciscans with
the bandaged Bambino, there are other thmgs of the
same kind, if possible, worse than these.

Have you. Sir, ever heard of the once "Very Rev.
P. R. Kenrick, Y. Gr.," and now the Right Rev. Bishop
Kenrick? He figures not a little among the Romish
priests of this happy country. I have before me his
wonderful work entitled "The Holy House of Loretto."
It is published by Cummiskey, of Pliiladelphia. The
title-page is without date — so is the preface ; but the
copy-right of it was secured by the publisher in the
year 1841. And if you have any desire to see the mis-
erable legends which these imported priests publish for
the edification of the faithfal, just glance at this won-
derful book — I will not ask you to read its drivel. The
authorship of such pages would subject any man, save
a priest, to the charge or the suspicion of lunacy. But
the world has become so accustomed to the lying won-

100 kirwan's letters.

Its history. Flight to Dalmatia. The Virgin,

ders of priests, and knows so well the objects for which
they are put forward, that now they excite little more
than a smile of contempt.

This veracious book of the "Very Rev." and vera-
cious " P. R. Kenrick, Y. Gr.," proves to the satisfaction
of all the credulous that the house in which the Savior
was born became early an object of deep veneration ;
that Helena found it at Nazareth about three hundred
years after the incarnation ; that it was carried by an-
gels through the air in May, 1291, and laid down by
them upon a little eminence in Dalmatia, where it at-
tracted wonderful attention, and performed wonderful
miracles of healing ; that when doubts arose as to its
character, "the blessed Virgin, surrounded by angelic
spirits," appeared to Alexander, then priest of a church
near by, and sick of a violent fever, and informed him
that in that house she was born, lived, received the
messasre of G-abriel, and conceived the Son of Grod.
This vision appeared to Alexander "between sleeping
and waking," and when he had a violent fever. These,
you know, are circumstances under which many be-
sides " this respectable ecclesiastic" have strange vis-
ions. She moreover told him that the apostles had con-
verted this house into a chui'ch ; that Peter had con-
secrated its altar ; that, because insulted in Nazareth
by infidels, and neglected by Christians, it was carried
over by angels to Dalmatia ; and that, as a miraculous
proof of all this, his health should be immediately re-
stored. "On awaking, Alexander found himself im-
mediately restored to health ;" and his story was told
and believed, and was proved true by the miracle of
his restoration !

kirwan's letters. 101

Flight to Lauretum. Walks off to a hill.

But the story is not ended. The Dahnatians were
not long to enjoy this heavenly gift of an old house.
For some cause, not discovered by the profound research-
es of the " Yery Rev. P. R. Kenrick, V. Gr.," the house
resolved to take another journey ! So, on the night of
the 10th of December, 1294, some shepherds, who were
watching their flocks, beheld a house, surrounded by
uncommon splendor, flying across the Adriatic, which
separates Dalmatia from Italy. The shepherds waked
up their companions to see the " mysterious object,"
and they all testified that " it was of a supernatural
character." It pleased " the holy house" to rest in a
district called Lauretum, either from its laurels, or from
the name of the rich lady, Laureta, to whom it belong-
ed ; and hence the name, " the House of Loretto," which
it retains even to this day ! Soon it became very fa-
mous in its new location, and tens of thousands flock-
ed to it for devotion and healmg !

But the restless little house was not yet satisfied.
The faithful, who sought to present, under its holy roof,
their offerings to the Virgin, were often robbed by ban-
dits. This greatly diminished the number of pilgrims,
and, of course, the revenue of the priests. To remedy
this evil, it walked off to a small hill near the road,
where the faithful might approach it without fear of
robbery. This new miracle greatly increased the pub-
lic reverence for it, and the revenue. This hill was the
joint property of two brothers, who quarreled about the
rent they were to receive, when, in the language of ''the
Very Rev. P. R. Kenrick, V. G-.," "most extraordinary
to relate, this miraculous house was once more transfer-
red, and placed in its present site, a very short distance

102 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Gregory and the rock. Its dimensions. Image of Mary.

beyond the property of the unworthy brothers." And
there it remains " to this present." And to prove that
all this is by no means incredible, he refers us, among
other evidences, to the removal of a huge rock at the
command of St. G-regory, as narrated by Alban Butler ! !
Now, Sir, I submit it to you, whether a priest who can
write a narrative like this, in our age and country, is
not entitled to wear a pallium made from the wool of
holy sheep, or from the down of a goose ?

This holy house, that can thus fly or walk at pleas-
ure, is about thirty-two feet long, thirteen feet wide,
and eighteen feet high, with a chimney and small bel-
fry. The walls are of stone. There is in it a small
altar, the one dedicated by Peter ; and on it is an an-
tique wooden cross. On the right of the altar is an
image of the Virgin Mary, with the infant on her arm,
with the hair of each divided after the manner of the
people of Nazareth. This image is surrounded with
gold lamps, by whose constant glare and dazzle it is
somewhat concealed. The Virgin and Son are most
gorgeously decorated, and are brilliant with precious
stones. This holy image was carried to France in 1796,
but it was brought back with pious pomp ; and, wel-
comed by the discharge of cannon and the ringing of
bells, it was borne to the holy house on a rich frame,
carried by eight bishops, on the 5th day of January,
1803.

And the miracles WTought by this holy house are
numerous and wonderful. It is hung round by '' the
votive offerings in gold, silver, wax, and other mate-
rials," presented by those on whom mu-acles were per-
formed. Pietro Barbo was there miraculously healed,

kirwan's letters. 103

Barbo healed. Holy porringer. Holv mouse.

and was informed by the Virgin that he would be elect-
ed Pope ! He was so elected, and assumed the name
of Paul II. He issued a bull, dated November 1, 1464,
in which he speaks of " the great wonders and infinite
miracles''' wrought by means of the Holy Virgin in this
house. This house has been the pet of many a Pope,
who have expended treasures upon it ! And there it
stands at the present hour, '^ the most celebrated sanc-
tuary in Italy" — hung round by votive offerings of great
value — visited by pilgrims from all parts of the world
— and with a regular establishment of priests, sustain-
ed at an enormous annual expense, mainly collected
from the beggar pilgrims. There also is the " holy por-
ringer," in which pap was made for the infant Savior,
and which imparts wonderful sanctity to every thing
that is put into it ! A small stone from this house has
been sold for many dollars ; and it is said that a poor
little mouse caught there was preserved with great art-
istical skill, and was an effectual preservative against
diseases ! !

Now, Sir, permit me to ask you whether imported
priests, one of whose bishops could write such a book
as the " Holy House of Loretto," in which such ridic-
ulous fables are gravely detailed for the edification of
the faithful, are the men to whom the formation of the
religious sentiment and the conscience of our country
should be committed ? When our people can believe
such drivel, where will they be in the scale of civili-
zation ? Where will be the greatness and the glory of
the country of Washington ?

But as to this "Holy House of Loretto," there is a
depth below any to which we have yet attained by the

104

KIRWAN S LETTERS.

Miraculous picture.

Its color.

Exact likeness

aid of the " Very Rev. P. R. Kenrick, V. Gr." I would
gladly omit reference to it, because of its blasphemous
superstition, and because of my reluctance to refer to a
man who is daily proving himself more and more to be
unworthy of confidence, and who is fast sinking to his
true level in the estimation of Papist and Protestant ;
but it seems necessary to the completion of my picture
of this " Holy House." In this flying house is an im-
age of the Virgin, with the infant Savior in her arms.
It is grown black with age ; nor can you tell whether
the person of whom it is an exact picture was black
or white. Now, Sir, conceive of one of your own daugh-
ters prostrate on her knees before that old carved im-
age, very far from being fashioned after a beautiful
model, and with a Missal in her hand, praying to it, in
a most devout manner, the following prayer :

" We fly to thy patronage, 0 Holy Mother of G-od ;

despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver

s from all dangers, 0 ever-glorious and blessed Virgin.

Holy Mary,

Holy Mother of G-od,

Holy Virgin of Virgins,

Mother of Christ,

Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother undefiled.
Mother untouched.
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Redeemer,

r^

KIR WANS LETTERS.

105

Litany of our Lady of Loretto.

Vii'gin most prudent,
Yii'gin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful.
Virgin most merciful.
Virgin most faithful.
Mirror of Justice,
Seat of Wisdom,
Cause of our Joy,
Spiritual Vessel,
Vessel of Honor,
Vessel of singular Devotion,
Mystical Rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of Ivory,
House of Grold,
Ark of the Covenant
G-ate of Heaven,
Morning Star,
Health of the Weak,
Refuge of Sinners,
Comforter of the Afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of Angels,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of Prophets,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Virgins,
Queen of all Saints,
" We fly to thy patronage, 0 Holy Mother of Grod,

E 2

106 kirwan's letters.

Garden of the soul. A conception. Some questions.

despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver
us from all dangers, 0 ever-glorious and blessed Virgin.

" Pray for us, 0 holy Mother of Grod.

" That we may be made worthy of the promises of
Christ."

This, Sir, is extracted from a book now before me,
called '^ The Grarden of the Soul, a Manual of Fervent
Prayers, Pious Reflections, and Solid Instructions, cal-
culated to answer the use of the members of all ranks
and conditions of the Roman Catholic Church, etc.
By the Right Rev. Dr. England, late Bishop of Charles-
ton, with the approbation of the Right Rev. Dr. Hughes,
Bishop of New York." And the above extract is from
" The Litany of Our Lady of Loretto." Again I say,
conceive of one of your own daughters praying this
prayer from the G-arden of the Soul, prostrate on her
knees before that black statue of Mary. Does not your
heart revolt from the thought ? Would you not as soon
see her bowing in a heathen temple, before a heathen
idol ? Wherein would be the practical difference ?
Would you not feel humbled at being the father of a
child that could be reduced to the performance of such
a miserably superstitious and vainly repetitious service
by the arts of priests ? And what would be your feel-
ings of indignation toward a priesthood that could thus
humble you by degrading your child ? And it is to
this low level that Romish priests, with all their appli-
ances, and all their " deceivableness of unrighteous-
ness," are seeking to reduce the youth of this land.
One bishop writes the History of the Holy House — an-
other bishop writes, or translates, the Litany of Our
Lady of Loretto — and John Hughes, Bishop of New

LETTERS. 107

Imposture. How to be treated. A wish.

York, approves the whole ! Have you, Sir, any lan-
guage by which to denounce the whole imposture as it
deserves ? I have none, and will not, therefore, under-
take it. But the men in clerical garb who could coun-
tenance such fraud and superstition, should be esteemed
and treated as we do the priests of Juggernaut, or the
veriest impostors that live by defrauding the commu-
nity. Such vile frauds, practiced by its priests, should
sink Romanism as with the weight of a thousand mill-
stones to the bottom of the ocean. Poor Dr. E norland
has gone to the grave. Peace to his ashes. But Bishop
Kenrick and Bishop Hughes are yet alive ; and the
greatest harm I wish them is, that when the " Holy
House" resolves on another flight across the Adriatic to
Dalmatia, they may be in it as passengers. Judging
from then* books, they will not add materially to its
weight, nor will they be any loss to our country. In
their flight they may responsively repeat the " Litany
of Our Lady of Loretto."

With great respect, yours.

108 kirwan's letters.

More sham miracles. Their absurdity. St. Anthony.

LETTER XII I.

Sham Miracles. — St. Anthony of Padua. — The Virgin of Modena. —
Blood of Thomas a Becket. — Miracles of St. Patrick. — Miracles at
Downpatrick. — St. Dagland's Grave. — The Boy exorcised. — Xavier's
Miracles. — The wonderful Crab. — Priests not to be trusted.

My dear Sir,— I am not yet through with the sham
miracles of Romanism. You know the Romish Church
claims the power of working miracles ; and the abso-
lute working of miracles is put forth as an incontro-
vertible evidence of its being the only true Church.
And to sustain the monstrous claim, no persons, save
those who have waded through their lying legends, can
have any conception of the stupendous absurdity of the
miracles that are adduced. And if those already ad-
duced— ^the blood of Januarius — Bambino — the Holy
House of Loretto — ^patronized by popes, cardinals, bish-
ops, kings, and nobles, and in the face of the world are
so unspeakably absurd, how absurd must be those less-
er miracles, palmed by wily priests on the lower classes
of the people, and in the dark corners of the earth,
where detection is not apprehended from the peering
scrutiny of Protestant eyes ! Let me state to you some
of these.

St, Anthony of Padua was a giant in his day. But-
ler gives an abstract of his life, which has been the
theme of more than one credulous biographer. He was
a man of eloquence ; and, while the rest of his body

LETTERS. 109

His tongue. A miracle. Mary of Modena.

has returned to dust, his tongue was found, thirty-two
years after his death, fresh, red, and incorrupt as when
he was living, and is now kept in a most costly case
in his church at Padua I An unbeliever said one day,
" If this glass does not break on dashing it against that
stone, I will believe in Saint Anthony." He dashed it
down, and it did not break ! The miracle was so ob-
vious that he immediately believed ! Another infidel
said he would believe if the dry slips of vines he held
in one hand would bear grapes enough to fill the cup
which he held in the other. Immediately Saint An-
thony caused the dry vines to bear grapes ; they ri-
pened in an instant, and produced as much juice as was
required, and of the most delicious kind ! This infidel
became a most devout follower of the saint. And by
narratives of miracles as contemptible as these, the
monkish life of this saint is filled !

Amid the Alps in Savoy, and near to the town of Mo-
dena, there is an image of the Virgin that works many
miracles, but nearly all of the same kind. It restores,
on their presentation, dead-born children to life, just
long enough to receive baptism, when they again ex-
pire ! And there is abundant testimony to prove that
such children, when presented to this image, open their
eyes, stretch out their hands, and even sometimes make
water ! But when baptized, all signs of life pass away !
What an image !

Who has not heard of St. Thomas a Becket ? He
was for ages the great Thaumaturgus of England, and
wrought more miracles than did the Savior and all his
apostles. His blood, on his being put to death, was
carefully collected, and possessed astonishing efficacy.

110 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Thomas a Becket. Miracles by his blood.

It cured all diseases, and even restored the dead to life !
When the hlood was found insufficient for the demands
of the faithful, it was mixed with water ; and the least
drop of water, if only tinged with the blood, possessed
a healmg efficacy. And water thus tinged with the
blood of the rebel was sent out into all parts of the
Christian world as an infallible cure for all kinds of
diseases ! You full well know. Sir, what miracles of
wickedness this Thomas of Canterbury committed
while living, who wrought such miracles of power aft-
er he was dead ! But we hear little of him of late !
Might not a revival of miracles at his shrine now great-
ly aid Nicholas Wiseman in subduing the iron obstina-
cy of the English mind in its resistance to the blessings
of Romanism ? Might not that remarkably acute and
veracious historian, the *' Very Reverend P. R. Ken-
rick, Y. Gr.," in the exercise of his wonderful gifts as an
antiquarian, bring something to light concerning Beck-
et which, at this juncture, might have an effect of re-
viving the faith which in our land is so sorrowfully on
the wane ? Such a work, especially if published with
the approbation of the " Right Reverend Dr. Hughes,"
might have a most happy effect in arresting the stream
of converts from Romanism to Christianity.

The Irish, although a noble people in many respects,
are peculiarly credulous and superstitious. The lower
classes are generally Papists, and are exceedingly ig-
norant ; and their faith in their priests, until within a
few years, was unbounded. Hence sham miracles
have been wrought there in greater numbers than, per-
haps, in Italy itself. Jocelin's Life of Saint Patrick is
now before me, as printed in Dublin in 1809, and in a

KIR WAN's LETTERS. HI

Joceliu's St. Patrick. His many miracles.

cheap form for extensive circulation. It contains little
more than a detail of the miracles he wrought, some
of which are of the most astounding character. Here
are a few of them. G-ormas was born blind. He was
informed, in vision, that if he would, with the hand
of the boy Patrick just baptized, make a cross on the
ground, a spring of water would rise on the spot, in
which, if he would bathe his eyes, he would immedi-
ately see. He did as he was advised, and immediately
saw ! And the spring is there to this day I But which
one of many springs it is, none can tell.

Patrick went out to play on a cold day, and brought
home some pieces of ice and cast them down. His
nurse told him, chidingly, that he ought to have brought
home some dry wood for iire. He took the pieces of
ice, and, putting them together, prayed over them, and
soon the ice was in a blaze ! Of course, the nurse was
astonished, as she was in duty bound to be. Who
would not be ?

As he was playing one day, instead of minding his
flock of sheep, a wolf carried off one of the lambs. In
the evening he was scolded for his sloth and careless-
ness. But he bore all patiently, and poured out his
prayers for the restoration of the lamb. On the next
morning, when he led the flock to pasture, the roguish
wolf returned with the lamb in its mouth, and laid it
at the feet of Patrick, and then fled to the woods !

Patrick fell into the hands of strangers, who sold him
to a certain man for a kettle! "How small a pur-
chase for so precious a merchandise," exclaims Jocelyn.
But the kettle would not boil when hung over the fire
— the hotter the fire, the colder was the water in the

112 kirwan's letters.

A wonderful kettle. A stone altar sailing. Foylge.

kettle, until, in the midst of the flames, the water be-
came ice ! The kettle was returned, and Patrick was
taken back, when the kettle boiled as usual, and the
saint was set at liberty !

When Patrick was returning from Rome, where he
was made a bishop, as he was about embarking at a
British port for Ireland, a leper besought him to take
him with him. He consented, but the sailors refused.
So, casting into the sea " an altar of stone, that had
been consecrated and given to him by the Pope," he
ordered the leper to sit on it. And the stone sailed
over the Channel as fast as the ship, and got into port
with its passenger in perfect safety !

E/ius was a very old man and a very gi*eat sinner.
He promised Saint Patrick if he would restore him to
the bloom, the freshness, and the joy of youth, that he
would become a Christian. He prayed over him, and
made the sign of the cross upon him, and he was re-
stored to " beautiful youth," when he became a Chris-
tian.

A very wicked man, named Foylge, one day killed
the coachman of Patrick. The saint struck him dead
by a word, and his soul went to hell. But the devil
entered into the body of Foylge, and it walked about.
In a few days the saint was passing a house where the
soulless body of Foylge was : he ordered the devil to
depart from it, when the body fell down, alive with
worms I It was immediately buried, as neither its
sight or smell could be endured.

And with such silly fables as these a book of nearly
three hundred pages is filled ! And although the trans-
lator will not vouch for the entire truth of all these

kirwan's letters. 113

Priests a curse. Scenes at Downpatrick. St. Dagland.

miracles, and the priests may deny its authority, yet
it is abroad among the people, and its narratives are
believed by multitudes. Nor do I see any thing in the
book any more incredible or ridiculous than the lying
wonders of the Bambino of Ara Coeli, or of the Holy
House of Loretto, which are at this hour encouraged
by the entire Papal court, and drawing vast revenues
from every part of the Papal world. Can a priesthood
which can palm such sublimated nonsense upon any
people, have any object in view but their degradation ?
Can they be otherwise than a curse to them ? Can
such priests be a blessing to America ?

But Jocelin's book is not authentic — its miracles are
not articles of faith ! Here is the door of escape for
the priests. Why, then, not denounce it ? Why do
priests aid in its circulation, while they make bonfires
of the Bible ? And why permit things as bad, if not
worse than any thing narrated in it, to be practiced
under their eyes ? The grave of St. Patrick is said to
be at Downpatrick, in the county Down, in Ireland.
There also are the holy wells of purification. On Mid-
summer eve of each year, the people resort to the grave,
and fill their ears with its clay, and then rush to the
wells, there to bathe, for the purposes of healing from
all their maladies. And men and women, in perfect
nudity, rush into the healing waters together ! And
priests are present to hear confessions, and to receive
their pennies from the beggar pilgrims to these holy
places ! Is any thing in Jocelin worse than this ?

The grave of St. Dagland is in Waterford. His stone
coffin is filled with bones every year by miracle. On
the 28th of June of each year, these bones are taken out,

114 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Old bones. The boy at Boyle, Xavier.

and are borne away as precious relics, and as preserv-
atives against various afflictions and diseases. These
miraculous old bones are, of course, sold ! They have
no miraculous power unless they are paid for, and that
pretty liberally ! Is any thing in Jocelin worse than
this ?

Within a short time, a poor boy, near Boyle, in Ire-
land, went to a Protestant school. His mother gave
a reluctant consent. This boy was chilled almost to
death in a bog during a stormy day, and went home
violently sick. A numbness pervaded his body, which
medicine and time only could remove. The poor moth-
er, thinking it was a visitation of heaven upon herself
and child for permitting him to go to the Protestant
school, sent for the priest. He confii'med her suspi-
cions, and offered to cast out the devil that possessed
the boy on the condition that he should not go again
to the Protestant school. The conditions were agreed
to ; and just as the boy was on the recovery, the priest
exorcised the evil spirit, and he is now alive and well !
And I saw the poor, bare-footed mother of that boy, who
submitted to the locking up of the mind of her child in
ignorance, to secure the muttering of a miserable ex-
orcism over him by a contemptible priest ! Is any thing
in Jocelm worse than this ?

Have you ever. Sir, read the life of Francis Xavier ?
It was one of the classics of my youthful days. If you
have not, will you permit me to ask you to glance at
it — I do not ask you to read it. He wrought prodig-
ious miracles, far surpassing in number and power those
of the Savior of the world. He foretold future events
— spoke unknown languages — calmed tempests at sea

kirwan's letters. 115

His miracles. Wonderful crab. St Crab.

— cured various diseases — and raised the dead to life.
And although all performed in India, Dr. Milner, in his
wonderfully absurd book, " The End of Controversy,"
endorses them all. Permit me to narrate to you one of
the miracles of this saint as a specimen of the rest. St.
Francis had a most precious crucifix, which, in a voy-
age at sea, he lost overboard. He was inconsolable,
and prayed for its recovery. Walking one day upon
the sea-shore, he saw his lost crucifix coming toward
him on the surface of the water ! He went down joy-
fully to the water's edge, when a crab, holding the cru-
cifix in his claws, paddled up to him, and most rever-
ently laid it down at his feet ! But the credit of this
miracle is due, not so much to Xavier as to the crab ;
and, were I one of the court which makes dead men
saints, who wrought miracles in attestation of their
sanctity, I think I would find it difficult to decide be-
tween the claims of Xavier and the crab for a place in
the calendar. Might there not be a St. Crab as well
as a St. Yiar ? An old stone, much mutilated, was
found with the Letters S. Yiar upon it. It was imme-
diately supposed to be the grave-stone of St. Yiar, who
was immediately placed in the calendar. The lost
pieces of the stone were found, and, when put together,
the inscription ran thus ; Prefectus Yiarum, overseer
of the highivays. Yet St. Yiar was not deposed. And
what is in the way of having a St. Crab ?

Now, Sir, are priests who practice such gross frauds
as these — who, by sham miracles like these, seek to
keep the yoke of Romanism upon the necks of the ig-
norant in all lands — are such priests to be trusted, or
in any form countenanced ? Are such priests fit to be

116 kirwan's letters.

Priest jugglers. Not to be countenanced.

intrusted with the formation of the character of our peo-
ple ? Is not every thing we hold dear in danger, just
in proportion to the number and the influence of such
jugglers and their adherents ? If, Sir, it were possible
for you to write a book advocating these sham miracles,
like Milner, or like the " Very Rev. P. R. Kenrick, Y. G-.,"
I have no doubt but that you would die of the disease of
self-contempt. And what respect can you keep up for
the priests that advocate them, or for the system of Ro-
manism, of whose literature and faith they form so con-
spicuous a part ?

With great respect, yours.

KIRWAN S LETTERS. 117

Relics. Foundation. Scala Ssmcta.

LETTER XIV.

Relics. — Scala Sancta. — Sancta Sanctorum. — Relics of Santa Croce —
of St. Proxede — of St. Peter's — in Milan — in Cologne. — Sanctioned by
the Church. — Made to Order. — That they should be true, not essen-
tial.— Their Effects upon the People. — These Forgers of Relics un-
fitted to be our moral Teachers.

My dear Sir, — The spirit of Romanism is the spirit
of human nature. Well considering the instincts of
the fallen nature of man, it has built upon those in-
stincts a system of superstition which towers to heaven,
and which casts its dark shadow over all the earth. A
regard for relics is a part of our nature. We cherish
with fond affection any thing which serves as a memo-
rial of parents, children, valued friends — of the great,
the wise, the good, the heroic, who have adorned the
race, and blessed the earth by then* deeds. And upon
this principle of human nature, in itself innocent, and,
within due bounds, laudable, Romanism has built up
a system of fraud, and falsehood, and imposture, which
should unite the race in hissing it out of the world.
Permit me to ask your attention, in the present letter,
to the relics of Romanism.

Near to the Church of St. John Lateran, and within
the same inclosure, is a little chapel which contains
the celebrated Scala Sancta^ or holy stair-case. It
contains twenty-eight white marble steps ; and the
priests inform us that this is the holy stair-case which

118 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Transported by Angelo. Beggars. Luther.

Christ several times ascended and descended when he
appeared before Pilate, and that it was carried by an-
gels from Jerusalem to Rome. At certain times it is
covered with persons crawling up it on their knees, with
their rosaries in their hands, and kissing each step as
they ascend. I called at this place several times to see
the devotees, but in vain. I went up and down the
lateral steps without any to molest me, save a fleshly
old monk, who sat as sentry facing the holy stairs, and
who never failed to jingle a money-box in my face. On
one occasion, two beggars offered to go up the stairs for
me, in due form, for a paul each, and to pray for me as
they, crawled up ; but it would look like simony, and I
declined the bargain. On another occasion, I ventured
to place my Protestant feet on the three upper stairs,
when my valet was frightened into hysterics lest the
people should know it, or I should be punished for sac-
rilege. Resolved not to be cheated out of a sight I so
long desired to see, I went there on a Friday afternoon,
and the stairs were covered with people, mostly beg-
g^ars, most devoutly crawling on theu' knees ; and when
the ceremony was ended, going away in the highest
merriment. But not a priest was there. As I gazed
upon the revolting and superstitious scene, my mind
recurred to that memorable day in the world's history
when Luther ascended these staks. " While going
through his meritorious work," says D'Aubigne, " ho
thought he heard a voice like thunder speaking from
the depths of his heart, ' The just shall live by faith.''
These words resounded instantaneously and powerfully
within him. He started up in terror on the steps up
which he had been crawling : he was horrified at him-

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 119

Made free. Sancta Sanctorum. Contents.

self; and, struck with shame for the degradation to
which superstition had degraded him, he fled from the
scene of his folly." From that hour he walked forth a
free man ; and thus the fraud of the holy stairs, and
the revolting, degrading superstitions there practiced,
were promotive of the glorious Reformation. This
grand incident gave those wooden-covered stairs more
interest to me than all the legends of monkery and
priestcraft concerning them.

There is a vast amount of mystery and sacredness
tlirown around the little building which contains these
holy stairs. Here are several apartments which are
kept locked, and to which I sought admission in vain.
At the top of the holy stans is a room called the Sanc-
ta Sanctorum^ which is held in peculiar veneration.
There is a picture of the Savior, by Luke, seven palms
high, and an exact picture of him when twelve years
of age ! There is the pen of the seraphic doctor, brought
by an angel from heaven, and with which he wrote his
works ! There is a feather from the wing of the arch-
angel, which he dropped on the salutation of Mary !
There is a bottle of the milk of Mary ! There is a bot-
tle of the tears which Jesus shed at the grave of Laz-
arus ! And there is the cord which bound the Savior
to the post when scourged ! And in the church itself
are the heads of Peter and Paul, which, on certain oc-
casions, are exhibited with magnificent parade. Indeed,
St. John Lateran is exceedingly rich in relics, as it ought
to be, considering it is denominated " Mater et caput
ecclesiarum."

The Church of Santa Croce, in G-erusalemme, is one
of the great basilicas of Rome. It was built, it is said,

120 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Santa Croce. Helena. Many relics.

by Helena, on the site of the residence of the brute He-
liogabalus, and of his successor Severus. It derives
its name from the fact, or fiction, that Helena deposit-
ed there a tliird part of the holy cross which she dis-
covered on Calvary, and mixed with its foundation some
holy clay from Jerusalem. This is the place where the
" golden rose" of former days was consecrated ; but it
is now famous only for its large collection of relies.
Near the chancel are two catalogues hung up for the
perusal of all : one is a detail of the indulgences grant-
ed to all who there worship, and the other is a list of
its sacred relics. The list I saw myself, and give it,
as translated by Seymour. It is very rich, and worthy
of all attention.

" Three pieces of the true cross, deposited by Con-
stantine, and kept in a case of gold and jewels.

" The title placed over the cross, with the writing in
Hebrew, G-reek, and Latin.

" One of the most holy nails by which our Lord Jesus
was crucified.

" Two thorns from the crown of our Lord Jesus.

" The finger of St. Thomas, which touched the most
holy rib of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

" The transverse beam of the cross of the repentant
thief.

" One of the pieces of money supposed to be given for
the betrayal of Christ.

" The bodies of St. Cacsarius and Anastasius.

'* The cord by which our Lord was bound to the cross.

'' The sponge which contained the gall and worm-
wood.

" A large piece of the coat of Chi'ist.

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 121

List of holy relics.

^' A large piece of the vail and hair of the Virgin.

'' Some of the clothing of St. John the Baptist.

'' Portions of the arms of St. Peter and St. Paul.

'' Some of the ashes of St. Lawrence the martyr.

^' A vessel of the balm in which the head of St. Vin-
cent was dipped.

" Some earth from Calvary saturated with the blood
of Christ,

'' A vial full of the blood of Christ.

** A vial full of the milk of Mary.

''A piece of the sepulchi'e of Christ.

" A piece of Mount Calvary.

'' A piece of the place where Christ was smitten."

To shorten this catalogue of wonders, I must omit
the list of bits of stones from the various places men-
tioned in the history of Christ.

" Some of the cotton in which was collected the blood
of Christ.

" Some of the manna which fell in the wilderness.

*' Some relics of eleven prophets.

" A portion of the rod of Aaron, that budded.

*' A part of the head of John the Baptist.

" Some of the skin and hair of St. Catharine of Si-
enna.

«'A tooth of St. Peter.

" A tooth of St. G-iordon."

And then follows a list of some bones of a hundred
and one apostles, prophets, martyrs, widows, and vir-
gins ; and the whole closes up with " a hundred and
thirty-seven cases of other relics of saints, both male and
female, whose names antiquity has not distinguished."
And those relies, Sir, are exposed, on certain occasions.

F

122 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Exposed to adoration. St. Praxede. Other relics.

by cardinals and bishops, for the worship and adoration
of the vulgar !

The following are some of the relics in the Church
of St. Praxede, taken from the catalogue engraved in
marble, and near the altar, where all can read it.

"A tooth of St. Peter.

"A tooth of St. Paul.

" The chemise of the blessed Virgin Mary.

" The gu-dle of Christ.

" The reed and sponge given to our Lord with gall
and vinegar.

" The swaddling clothes of Christ.

" The coat without seam, belonging to our Lord.

" Three thorns of the crown of thorns.

" The tomb of the Virgin Mary."

Then follows a list of the heads, arms, knees, thighs,
cloaks of apostles, monks, martyrs, saints, and virgins,
with which I will neither burden my page nor your
memory.

Even at the risk of disgusting you and my readers
with these miserable relics, I will name a few more of
them. In St. Peter's they show you the very pillar
agamst which Chi-ist leaned in the temple at Jerusa-
lem— portions of the cross — Veronica's image of the
Savior — the head of St. Andrew, and the spear of St.
Longinus, presented by Bajazet. In St. John Lateran
is the table at which the Lord's Supper was instituted.
In the Mamartine prison they show a curious stone,
covered with a grating to preserve it. It has a hollow
on its surface. A soldier knocked down Peter, and his
head fell on this stone, and made that deep hollow in it.
Peter's head must have been quite hard ! At St. Pietro

kirwan's letters. 123

St Peter's chair. Brazen eerpeot. Scene atCol^ne.

di Vinculo they show the chain that hound Peter, and
which was miraculously hroken hy the angel ! Filino-s
from this chain have been sold at exorbitant prices, to
be set in rings and breast-pins by the faithful ! In an-
other church is a square stone of white marble, which
was carried by angels through the air from Jerusalem,
on which the Savior stood when he met the apostles
after his resurrection, and bearing the marks of both
his feet ! Around this stone beggars pray, and cover
it with kisses I In Milan they show you the skeleton
of Borromeo, gorgeously arrayed, and a vast supply of
the teeth, nails, hair, and bits of skin of the apostles,
put up in glass vials ; as also the brazen serpent which
Moses made in the wilderness, and which Hezekiah
caused to be broken in pieces I These relics you find
every where in Papal countries. In a box behind the
altar, in the Cathedral at Cologne, they have the skel-
etons of the three kings that worshiped the Savior, and
the bones of the Magi ; and for six francs you are shown
these old bones, by a jolly beadle, for the good of the
Church ! On the left, as you enter by a side door, and
turn toward the altar, is a case containing Mary and
Bambino, and, as is said, some most precious relics.
This case I saw covered over with heads, and arms, and
legs, and hearts, made of composition, as votive offer-
ings for cures performed by the image and the relics.
I saw a woman, and an old man, and a young girl dis-
eased in the eyes, bowing before this case, while some
females were scrubbing the stone floor and screaming
at the top of their voice, and some boys were playing
hide and go seek around them. But enough of this
horrible wickedness of the priests, and gross ignorance

124 kirwan's letters.

Sanctioned. Are these true relics.

and superstition of the people. I feel humiliated in
even penning these terrible evidences of the enormous
wickedness of Romanism and its priests.

But you will ask, Ai'e these things sanctioned by the
Pope and his cardinals ? Sanctioned by them I Why,
Sir, they glory in them. And on set occasions these rel-
ics are brought out by the Pope and the cardinals, and
are exposed to the populace with magnificent pomp, who
bow and prostrate themselves before these old bones,
old coats, old wood, and old stones, more profoundly
than they ever do before G-od ! 0, Sir, could you be
present at the exhibition of relics in St. Peter's — or in
St. John Lateran — or in Santa Croce in Gerusalemme,
and witness the solemn pomp with which these relics
are adored by Pope, cardinals, bishops, and the inferior
clergy, you would never again think of the question
whether or not they are sanctioned by the Pope and
his cardinals !

But are these the true relics which they are repre-
sented to be ? Impossible. Who can believe that the
Holy House of Loretto — the blood and head of Janua-
rius — the Bambino of Ara Coeli — the chemise of the
Virgin — the bottle of her milk — ^the robe of the Savior
— the bones of the saints, are what they are said to be ?
When you push the keepers of these relics, they will
admit that there is no certainty as to them. And, as
in the case of the bodies of Peter and Paul, which are
said to be under the great altar of St. Peter's, when you
seek to find many of them, they are not there. Multi-
tudes of the old cases and boxes which are shown you
as the sacred deposits of relics, contain nothing — or
nothing like what is represented. The thorns from the
crown of thorns are iron nails — and the bones of the

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 125

Fit to be a priest. What motive ? Mr. Milner.

saints are nothing but old bones collected from the Cat-
acombs, and labeled for the market ! The man who
can believe that that old feather is from the wing of
G-abriel — that that old cloth was the chemise of the
Virgin — that those old bones were those of the persons
to whom they are attributed, is almost fit to be a Pa-
pal priest I He certainly is, if the other necessary
qualifications are as strongly developed as his credulity.
Indeed, he is fit to be a true yoke-fellow of the "Very
Reverend P. R. Kenrick, V. G."

But what motive can there be for such gross imposi-
tions ? Motive enough for men who have no conscience,
and who traffic in the souls of men. What would be-
come of the monks of Ara Coeli without the wonder-
working Bambino ? They would starve. These relics
attract multitudes to their shrines, all of whom pay for
the sight, and pay the priests in keeping, to say masses
for their friends in Pm-gatory . E ven E nglish and Amer-
ican Protestants spend tens of thousands yearly for a
sight at these things, to laugh about them after they
return home. And Rome is the great Relic market of
the world. "When a relic is needed for the sanctifying
of a church in New York or Baltimore, an order is sent
to the Holy City, and a relic is made to order. Nothing
is needful but to take off an old label from an old bone,
or a dry piece of wood, or from an old piece of stone,
and to put on a new one. And Mr. Milner informs us,
that if our devotions are honest, it makes no matter
whether or not the relic is what it purports to be ! ! If
you send for a finger of Peter, and you are sent the
finger of Pilate, it is just as good, if you are only sin-
cere ! ! And who doubts it ? And when the boxes of
acred bones in t^^^ Plnnrr^h of Santa Croce, to which

126 kirwan's letters.

Relics enrich. The morale. Priestly reverence.

antiquity has assigned no names, but to which priests
now do, are exhausted, they are very easily supplied
with bones just as old and as sacred. Indeed, these
relics do more to enrich the Church of Rome, and to
attract pilgrims and wonder-hunters, than any other
scheme which the priests have devised. By means of
relics, the priests have converted the Catacombs into
mines of gold.

And what, you may ask, is the morale of all this ?
Just such as you might expect. If no good can be rea-
sonably expected from worshiping the glorious sun —
or the beautiful moon, with her attendant stars — or the
magnificent river, that waters and fertilizes the earth
— or the statue of an old hero, that, by his prowess in
war, fought his way to a seat on Olympus to quaff nec-
tar with the gods, what good can be expected from the
veneration or worship of rotten bones from the Cata-
combs— of little splinters from the arms, the legs, the
ribs, or the skulls of fabulous saints— of holy bits of
skin — of the parings of holy nails — of little clippings
of holy garments — or of pieces of old wood, or frag-
ments of stones ? To ask the question is to answer it.
But are these venerated or worshiped, you ask ? Gro
to Rome, and to the Church of St. Peter's, and you will
see, at " the exhibition of relics," the Pope, cardinals,
bishops, and priests kneeling and bowing before these
things, with a reverence as profound as ever you saw
manifested by a congregation of Irish Papists on what
is called the elevation of the Host. The Pope and his
entire court give, not merely an assent to the whole
imposture, but are leaders in their veneration and wor-
ship, and for the purpose of giving eclat to the wicked
thing with the populace. And the whole effect upon

kirwan's letters. 127

Disastrous effect. Are these the teachers for us ?

the minds and morals of the people is most disastrous.
God is a jealous god, nor will he give his glory to an-
other. Nor will he permit man, created in his own
image, to give to the creature the worship which is his
due, without causing the consequences of such wick-
edness to follow him. And the worshipers of those
old bones, and stones, and spears, and holy feathers,
are just as moral as you might expect them to be ; and
so are the cardinals and priests, who are the chief act-
ors in the monstrously wicked farce. As I shall show
you in the sequel, Rome is another Sodom.

Now, Sir, in view of all this, whose truthfulness no
informed person will question, permit me to ask you,
whether Romanism is the form of religion suited to
our American people ? Are these forgers of old relics,
and promoters of then- veneration, and who amass enor-
mous revenues by their exhibition and sale, the best
teachers of religion and morals for us ? Is the un-
blushing effrontery of our imported bishop and priests
to be quietly borne, who tell us that these forgers and
Vorshipers of relics, and who, by the sale of old bones
from the Catacombs as the bones of saints and mar-
tyrs, defraud the world yearly of enormous sums of
money, are the vicegerents of Grod, and that there is
no salvation for us but by submission to their teaching
and authority ? What ! no salvation for you or me
save as we submit to that old Pope who bows in rev-
erence and adoration before a box of old bones ! Mon-
strous ! As well might they send you to learn patriot-
ism from Arnold, or me to learn the religion of Grod
from the priests of Baal.

With great respect, yours.

128 K I R W A N ' 8 LETTERS.

Legends. S. Carlo. A scene there.

LETTER XV.

Legends, — Sabbath evening in S. Carlo. — Gorgeous scene there. — Le-
gends from Butler — from Lives of English Saints. — Dr. Duflf's Testi-
mony.— Foolish Legends of the Dark Ages revived. — The Religion
of Legends not fitted for America.

My dear Sir, — In the present letter I ask your at-
tention to the legends of Romanism. Unless I greatly
err in judgment, you will find in them another power-
ful reason for the utter rejection of a system which
lives by fabricating and propagating them.

My first Sabbath evening in Rome was spent in the
Church of S. Carlo, in the Corso. I was attracted
there, with others, to witness a liigh ceremony in hon-
or of a saint whose name I now forget. The house was
full, and in this respect was an exception to all I wit-
nessed in Romish churches in Europe. It has three
naves, divided by Corinthian columns ; the middle one
was crowded with children of both sexes ; the girls
dressed in white, with white vails most gracefully pin-
ned on their hair, and flowing down their shoulders.
Each child held m her right hand a small stick, with
a beautiful flower tied to it with a string, and in her
left, a lighted candle. A forest of candles blazed on the
high altar. The Litany was responsively sung by the
choir and the congregation, and with grand effect. The
appearance of the children, each holding their stick,
flower, and candle, and all kneeling, rising, turning

kirwan's letters. 129

A priest. A cardinal. Explanation.

round at the word of command, like little soldiers, was
most interesting. Indeed, the whole scene was a gor-
geous one. At a pause in the music, a long, lean Ital-
ian priest — and, in these respects, an exception to his
short and stall-fed brethren — ascended a desk, and, in
a most furious style, poured forth a short address to the
children. The music again struck up, and, at another
pause, a fat and monkish-looking priest, from another
part of the house, addressed them ; and, by their winks
and smiles, the children seemed to enjoy the scene very
much. Soon a movement was made to the left, and a
pussy-looking cardinal made his appearance, headed
and followed by priests and servants, bearing candles,
a crook, and a cross ; and, puffing under the double
weight of his fat and canonicals, he made his way to
the high altar. Mass was soon said, for the evening
was quite hot, and the congregation dispersed. "And
what," said I to our attendant, " is the meaning of all
this ? What was meant by that stick, and flower, and
those candles in the hands of the children ?" " This is

Saint 's day," said he. " The saint, when once

going up a hill, was very weary, and he stuck his staff*
in the ground, and he leaned upon its top to rest. He
prayed for some evidence from heaven that he was in
the right way ; and his dry stick instantly bore a beau-
tiful blossom ! To commemorate that miracle was the
object of the stick and flower in the hands of the chil-
dren. And the candle was an emblem of the light of
holiness reflected on the world by his life." Not un-
derstanding Italian, " "What," I asked, " said those loud
preachers to the children ?" " They told them of the
many wonders wrought by the saint, and exhorted them

F 2

130 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Legend defined. St. Agnes. St. Egwin.

to venerate him and to follow his example," was the re-
ply. Here is a foolish legend, that I myself saw com-
memorated by a cardinal and many priests ; and such
legends form a great part of the religious literature of
Romanism. They are published by authority, and have
a prodigious influence upon the ignorant Papists of all
nations. Permit me to detail a few of them, remem-
bering that " a legend is a story told respecting the
saint s.^^ Some of these I have already detailed in my
letters to you on sham miracles.

A man who insulted St. Agnes was struck blind by
a flash of light. On being brought to the young virgin,
she immediately restored him to sight. She wrought
many miracles. >S^. Anthony was often assaulted by
the Devil in human form, was often beaten by him un-
til almost dead, but always came off victor. He cured
many diseases ; but was especially famous for the cure
of that disease which has taken his name, " St. An-
thony's fire." St. Gudule, whose relics are in the
church of that name in Brussels, lighted her candles by
her prayers. Might she not have understood the pro-
cess of making lucifer matches ? St. Theodosius often
miraculously supplied his many guests with provisions,
and a woman was miraculously healed of a cancer by
the touch of his garment. A general, going to war with
the Persians, begged his hair shirt, and, wearing it in
battle, gained a great victory, " by the protection of the
saint through the pledge of that relic." St. Egwin,
going on a pilgrimage to Rome, put on his legs iron
shackles, and threw the key into the Severn ; but he
found it in the belly of a fish in Rome, which enabled
him to take off his shackles. The miracles of St. Hi-

kirwan's letters. 131

St. Placidu8. St. Romuald. St. Scholastica.

lary fill a whole book. ^t. Placidus fell into a lake,
and was carried out by a current into deep water ; St.
Benedict saw this in a vision, and sent out St. Maurus
to save him ; Maurus walked upon the water without
sinking in the least, and drew him to shore. St. Ma-
car ius made a dead man to speak, to convince an unbe-
liever of the truth of the doctrine of the resurrection.
The relics of St. Francis of Sales raised to life two per-
sons that were drowned, and have cured the blind and
paralytics. St. Romuald drove several devils out of his
cell who were scourging him, by mentioning the name
of Jesus, and calmed a tempest on the sea, and wrouo-ht
many miracles. His order of monks wear a white robe,
the idea of which was suggested to him by seeing them
going up a ladder to heaven in white. He died in the
year 1020 or 1030, and his body remained perfect as
late as 1466. His relics have wrought wonders. St.
Richard cured his son by laying him at the foot of a
great crucifix, and his relics have wrought miracles.
St. Stephen told others their secret thoughts, wrouo-ht
many mkacles, as also did his relics. St. Scholastica
was the sister of St. Benedict. They met one day, and
the sister insisted that her brother should spend the
night with her. But the rules of his monastery forbade
him, and he refused. She prayed the Lord to stop his
going away, and immediately a most fearful storm
.arose, which compelled him to remain. The sister died
in a few days after, and Benedict saw her soul from
Mount Cassino going to heaven in the form of a dove !
St. John of Egypt was a prophet, foretold future
events, and did wonders. He gave eyes to a blind girl,
and spent a night, in vision^ with a lady who wished

132 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

The ague cured. Bollandists. English saints.

to see him in the flesh. He miraculously cured a man
of the tertian ague by giving him a good vomit ! Thus
many are cured of the ague in our day, and by doctors
who are not likely to have a name in the calendar.

There are, Sir, two huge volumes before me, contain-
ing, in double columns, about one thousand pages each.
They are " Lives of the Saints," by the Rev. Alban
Butler, and were printed at the Metropolitan Press,
Baltimore, in the year 1845. The legends here quoted
are taken from these volumes, which have received the
highest approbation of the dignitaries of the Romish
Church, and which are crammed with just such stories.
There is a saint or saintess, or several of both, for each
day in the year, and the object of the volumes before
me is to furnish to the faithful a little devotional read-
ing for each day, for the purpose of kindling their de-
votion, and exercising their faith ! The latter effect
their perusal will most certainly produce ! And yet,
for the sake of his English and Protestant readers, But-
ler omits many muacles of the saints exultingly nar-
rated by the Bollandists, the Jesuit compilers of the
Acta Sanctorum, which, without being completed, al-
ready consists of nearly sixty folio volumes.

To show you that, the greater the absurdity, the great-
er the faith, I will produce a few more of these legends,
as quoted from the '' Lives of the English Saints '- If
you or I disbelieve them, or smile at them, we are very
gravely told that it is because " the natural man dis-
cerneth not the things of the spirit," or because of "the
intellectual darkness caused by three centuries of her-
esy." This, Sir, is not the ravings of superstition with
multitudes, however you or my readers may smile.

kirwan's letters. 133

St. Frodobert. Pranks of demons. An old mill.

The saints were greatly tormented by demons. St.
Frodobert was often stopped by one, when going to
school. He drove him away with the sign of the cross.
When at prayer one night, a devil put out his candle.
Another used to steal the bread of St. Auratus. An-
other broke the bell of St. Benedict, with which, when
living on a rock, he used to ring for bread. Another
cast down part of a rock to kill St. Auratus in his cell ;
but the saint made it stop half way down the precipice.
Many female devils used to tempt the saints to sin, but
always in vain. Wliat a pity their power of resistance
was not transmitted, by a kind of apostolic succession,
to the cardinals and priests of Rome. St. Julian, St.
Tozzo, St. G-all, St. Maximin, slew dragons. St. Samp-
son killed several. St. Senan made a very small can-
dle burn a whole week. St. Faro made instantly whole
a cup broken by his servant. St. Aicardus hung up his
gloves on a sunbeam. St. Fintan, expecting company,
and having no flour for bread, ordered an old mill, which
had neither wheat nor water, to supply him, and it went
right to work and did so. St. Tillo, on finding that his
monks had no wine to give him, filled their barrel by
miracle. I wonder if this was the beginning of that
strong relish for wine for which the monks are famous
even to our day ! The reapers of St. Grenevieve were
greatly incommoded by rain. She came out and ordered
it away, and it obeyed. St. Grildas and his companions
took up their abode on an island inconveniently small.
It miraculously expanded to accommodate them. St.
Mochua and his companions sailed over a river on his
cloak. St. Cannera walked over the sea. St. Barras,
sailing in a ship, met St. Scothinus walking over the

134 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Scothinus. Telegraph beaten. Piles of trash.

Irish Channel. He asked the saint on what he was
walking. Scothinus replied, " On a beautiful green
meadow." And when Barras denied this, he plucked
a handful of fresh flowers, and presented them to him.
But Barras turned his own logic against him, by thrust-
ing his hand into the sea, and drawing it up full of fish-
es. And long before rail-ways, or telegraphs, or ocean
steamers were invented, the above Scothinus usually
went from Ireland to Rome in a day, transacted his
business there with his holiness in the evening, and
was back the next morning. The Holy Virgin ap-
peared to St. Alphonsus Liguori in the Church of Fog-
gia, and was seen by all with the beautiful face of a
girl of fourteen ; and so fervent was he once in pray-
ing to her, that he rose up in the air, where he remained
suspended for some time. He must have been made
of light material. St. Ita, finding a man dead, with his
head cut off*, put it on again, restored him to life, and
sent him about his business. And St. Cronon caused
a wild beast, which had killed and devoured a man, to
cast him up, and then restored him to life. And with
legends like these, which are published even in our day,
for the edification of poor, hood-winked Papists, I coukl
fill volumes. These, Sir, are taken indiscriminately
from the piles of trash before me, and are by no means
the worst of their kind. But the miracles of the saints,
when living, dwindle into insignificance, both as to
number and magnitude, in comparison with those per-
formed by their old bones when dead.

And are these monstrous and contemptibly silly le-
gends now out of date, and disregarded by the people
and priests ? Far from it. The report of the speech

kirwan's letters. 135

Dr. Dufl^s statement. Xavier's New Testament.

of the apostolic Dr. DufF, which I heard him make he-
fore the British and Foreign Bihle Society, at its last
meeting, is now hefore me, in which he makes the foK
lowing statements : " There is circulating a work in
India entitled The History of Christ. And what do
you think it consists of ? Ten thousand legends, more
monstrous than what is to he found in the Talmud.
And this has heen circulated, in the name of truth, as
the history of our hlessed Lord and Savior. And it is
a notorious fact, that when the great Emperor Aghad
had, in his tolerance, invited men of all religions to
come to him, the celehrated Xavier, the Jesuit, went
to tell him what Christianity was. The emperor's
mind was open to the reception of the truth from all
quarters, and he was really dissatisfied with Moham-
medanism. Xavier reasoned in this manner : ' Here
is a Mohammedan ; he must he saturated with Mo-
hammedan legends. If I tell him the plain truth, ac-
cording to the simplicity of the Bihle, he will nause-
ate the whole thing, because of its simplicity ; I must
therefore fix up Christianity to suit his taste.' And
he manufactured a New Testament for him, filled with
all manner of Persian legends, and represented this to
the emperor as the New Testament. The emperor read
it, and, with the simplicity of heart and sagacity which
belonged to him, returned it, saying, ' If this be your
Shaster, I have enough of such legends already, without
coming to you to get more.' " And, Sir, wherever the
missionaries of Romanism go in the propagation of that
faith — whether to the Indians of our own woods, to the
islanders of the Pacific, to the savages of Africa, or to
the more refined idolaters of India — ^they pursue the

136 K I R W A N ' S LETTERS.

No Bibles. Romish sermons. Suited to us.

precise course of Xavier at the court of Agbad. Dr.
Duff testifies that, among the converts to Romanism in
India, not a leaf of the Bible has been circulated for
three hundred years, while these utterly despicable le-
gends are circulated there without measure or end.

And when, Sir, you hear an occasional sermon in a
Romish church, what is the topic of discussion ? Ev-
ery day in the year is a saint's day ; some days have
many saints allotted to them. Is it not generally a
harangue apon some saint — his wonderful miracles —
and the whole twisted into an argument to prove that
the Church of Rome is the only true Church, out of
whose pale there is no salvation ? Did you ever hear
an Irish priest preach on St. Patrick's day ? If not,
embrace the first opportunity ; and if you will not hear
of St. Patrick sailing on a flag-stone, it is because the
priest recognizes you among his hearers, and as one
more afflicted with the terrific disease of judging for
yourself than the rest of them. And I am credibly in-
formed that the chief topics upon which the priests
dwell in the chapels filled with the poor Grermans and
Irish, even in America, are the legends, not merely as
found sifted out in the volumes of Butler, but as nar-
rated, in all their grotesqueness, in the huge folios of
the Bollandists.

Now, Sir, as one having as much at stake as any
other man in this nation — as one adorning its present
history, and as truly desirous of its future glory, per-
mit me to ask you whether you think these legends
form the best religious literature for our people ? Is
it that best calculated to instruct and to ennoble the
mind ? Does not such trash oppress the mind '' Does

I, p:tters. 137

Faith in these things injurious. Priests believe them not.

not belief in it enfeeble its powers and debase the man ?
Will not the people that believe these things believe
any thing ? And can they be fit material out of which
to make Republicans, and noble defenders of free insti-
tutions ? Are the priests that write and circulate these
legends worthy of trust ? They can not believe them
themselves, and they write and propagate them for the
very reasons that Xavier wrote a New Testament to
suit the Emperor Agbad. The volumes of Butler are
printed in your city, by the Bishop's press. They are
sold, as the illustrated title-page informs us, " by all
the Catholic booksellers in the United States." If
these legends are disbelieved by your bishop, why per-
mit his press to print them ? Why wink at their uni-
versal sale in the country ? Why not raise his voice
against them ? That Romish bishops believe these le-
gends themselves is impossible ; but they amaze the
ignorant, overwhelm them with wonder, foster their
superstitious regard for nunnery and monkery — for
bishops, abbots, and hermits — for signs of the cross,
holy wells, and relics — and for those means devised by
a wicked priesthood for the purpose of keeping the Light
of Life from the minds of the people. When, Sir, the
religion of the Bible is supplanted by the religion of
legends — when the sturdy Protestantism, that thinks
for itself, is supplanted by that religion that gives up
all thinking to the priest — ^when the twenty-two or
three millions of people who, in our happy land, will
believe only on evidence, is supplanted by a people
who will believe all the lying legends of Romanism —
then the last rays of the glorious sun of our liberty
are fading away on the summit of our mountains.

138 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Liberty's midnight, Rome's high noon.

The midnight of liberty is the high noon of Roman-
ism ; and the deepest darkness of despotism is the par-
adise of the priest.

With great respect, yours.

K I R ^V A N ' S LETTER S. 139

Not the worship of God. Various kinds of worship.

LETTER XVI.

The Mass not the Worship of God. — A theatrical Exhibition. — Wal
densian Church in Turin. — High Ceremonies of Rome all theatrical
— Feast of the Nativity. — Visit of the Wise Men. — Procession of
Palms. — Judgment-hall of Pilate. — Procession at Bonville. — Sab
bath evening Service in Edinburgh. — Popish Plays and Play-actors
not suited to America.

My dear Sir, — I hope that by this time your mind,
and those of my readers, are prepared for the conclu-
sion to which my own has long since arrived — that
Romanism is not Christianity ; and that its priests,
whatever else they may he, are not the ministers of
Christ, nor of his glorious G-ospel. If this conclusion
is just, another immediately follows : neither is its wor-
ship the wo7'ship of God. If not prepared for this con-
clusion now, you may be at the close of the present
letter, in which I shall endeavor to establish its truth.

The Scriptures speak of various kinds of worship ;
as, the worship of G-od — the worship of idols — the wor-
ship of the dragon and the beast — and the worship of
devils. And we find various kinds of worship in the
world, and under various forms. Some truly worship
God in spirit and in truth — some worship idols — some
devils — some mammon — some are " will worshipers"
— and some worship " they know not what ;" but all
is in vain, save that of " the circumcision, which wor-
ship Grod in spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have
no confidence in the flesh." Acceptable worship em-

140 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Acceptable worship. The Maes. What is it?

braces the outward homage, and the mward feeling;
hut the external act is nothing, save as it expresses the
sincere internal feeling ; for they who worship Grod
must worship him in spirit and in truth. True wor-
ship is not confined to places, occasions, or persons ;
wherever the heart bows in humility before G-od, for
the purpose of exalting his glorious name and perfec-
tions, there he is truly worshiped. And, as G-od is the
father of all men, all men have access to Him for them-
selves, through his Son. All this is plain.

The worship of Romanism consists mainly in the
Mass. There are missals, and penances, and prayers
for private use ; and there are high ceremonies for cer-
tain feasts and great occasions ; but the Mass — ^the
mass mumbled over in the same way in Connaught,
Paris, and Rome, and with the same sleepy, unvary-
ing monotony, is that which makes up the public wor-
ship of the people. Now what is the Mass ? is it wor-
ship ? I unhesitatingly say it is not ; that it has no
more claim to be the worsliip of God than had the
ceremonies of Pagan priests at the altars of Pagan
Rome. At best, it is only a theatrical representation
of the truths which it purports to exhibit. And hence.
Bishop England, and other Papal writers, talk of the
" performance of the mass," as we ordinarily speak of
the performance of a tragedy or a farce. And the Mass
holds precisely the same relation to the history of Christ
which Richard III., Henry YIIL, John II., or any other
of the historical plays of Shakspeare do to the charac-
ters and times which they represent. This even a su-
perficial anatomy of the Mass will render quite evident.

As the sensuous encroached on the spiritual in Chris-

LETTERS. 141

Religious tragedies. Priests dress symbolical.

tianity, and as the shades of that long night called
" the Dark Ages" thickened over our world, all the ten-
dencies of religion were to the outward. The Bible
was soon confined to cloisters, and it became the inter-
est of priests to keep it there. To keep up the great
facts of our religion in some way before the people, por-
tions of sacred history were dramatized, and acted be-
fore the faithful. And this system, somewhat modified
in different countries to suit the different states of civ-
ilization, exists at the present day. To see the system
in full operation, you must go to Rome, where the
tragedy and the farce are performed in gorgeous style.
But I must return to the '' performance of the Mass,"
in which, " under the appearance of bread and wine,
the Redeemer of the world is offered up in an unbloody
manner, as a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for
the living and the dead." According to Dr. England,
the altar signifies Christ — the white cloth that covers
it, " the purity which should accompany Christ" — and
the vestments of the priests are to remind us of the pas-
sion of Christ. The alba represents the white garment
in which Herod clad the Savior — the cincture reminds
us that Christ was bound — the maniple hanging upon
the left arm, reminds us of the weight of our sins as
borne by Clirist — the stole on the priest's neck and
crossed on the breast, represents the obedience of the
Son of G-od — the chasuble^ or outward vestment, with
a hole in the centre for the head, with a Cross embroi-
dered on the back, and two stripes representing a pillar
on the front, reminds us of Christ bearing the cross.
When the priest is thus dressed up, he is prepared for
acting. The wafer and wine are then brought out —

142 K I R W A N ' « LETTER tf.

Theatrical representatiou. Waldensian church.

they are turned into the body and blood of the Lord,
by the priest — then, as real Christ, he is offered as a
victim to God on behalf of the people — then the victim
undergoes a destructive chansfc, to show the death of

'&

the Redeemer — then the elements are separated, the
real body is seen under the appearance of bread, and
the real blood under the appearance of wine, and the
priest eats the one and drinks the other. Then the
people are dismissed, if true believers, wonderfully edi-
fied and instructed — if not, smiling at the credulity of
those who can believe that there is any worship in all
this ! This is the Mass ! Now, Sir, if this is any thing
but a theatrical representation of the death of Christ,
with little meaning and less sense, in which the altar
is the stage, the priest the chief actor, the people the
spectators, and the church the theatre, what is it ?
And when, as in high mass, the dramatis personse are
multiplied, and opera singers are brought in to give at-
traction to the various scenes, the conclusion is irresist-
ible that, instead of being engaged in the worship of
Grod, you are actually witnessing a theati'ical exhibition.
Never did I feel this to such an extent as in June
last, when, after weeks spent amid the mass-houses of
France, and Naples, and Rome, I entered, on a pleasant
Sabbath morning, the extremely plain and primitive-
looking church of the Waldenses, in Turin. On look-
ing around me, instead of pictures, and statuary, and
frescoes, I found all the walls presenting to the eye some
passages of Scripture. On looking before me, instead
of an altar blazing with candles and gilding, I saw a
neat pulpit, with a lai-ge open Bible, and a minister of
God reading and expounding it. Instead of persons

kirwan's letters. 143

The transition. Nativity. Feast of the wise men.

gazing around with guide-books in their hands, talking,
and criticizing, and smiling, I saw a devout people,
with Bibles in their hands, turning up the text, and
the passages read, and most devoutly singing God's
praises, and joining in the prayers that were offered I
The sight and the scene were truly refreshing to a mind
jaded, and a heart disgusted with all I had witnessed
for the few previous weeks. The transition seemed
like passing from Purgatory to Paradise. Here was
worship in spirit and in truth, while the gorgeous and
heartless ceremonies of splendid cathedrals were a mere
acting, and by wretched actors, of truths and things
which neither priests nor people understood.

And this theatrical aspect of the Popish ritual is yet
more apparent, if you pass from the Mass to the cere-
monies of some of the high days of the Church. Sey-
mour, in his Pilgrimage to Rome, has made this quite
obvious as well as ludicrous. In St. Maria Maggiore,
in Rome, they profess to have the cradle in which the
Savior was laid at his birth, and at the feast of the Na-
tivity they bring out that cradle, before the dawn of
day, and, amid processions of priests, monks, nuns, pre-
ceded by incense, accompanied by singers, and guard-
ed by soldiers, it is placed on the high altar for the
view and worship of the faithful I And, after all, the
wonderful cradle is only a splinter of old wood, covered
with silver, and in a case of glass, and said to be a
part of the manger ! And the theatrical acting of the
Nativity attracts its thousands !

The visit of the wise men of the East to the Savior
is acted out in the Church of Andrea della Yalle with
great scenic effect. Mary, with her son on her knee,

144

LETTERS.

The introduction. Palm trees. Judgment-hall.

is seated on a throne — ^the Magi, transubstantiated into
kings, dressed with crowns and purple, are introduced
to her, and, after acting the parts assigned to them, re-
tire. And as a reward for their labor and homage, she
gives them some of the milk on which the Savior was
nourished, and which they carry away as a precious
relic !

The feast to commemorate the strewing of the path
of the Savior with branches of trees is yearly celebrated
with great pomp at St. Peter's. The Pope, magnifi-
cently arrayed, is carried into the church on the shoul-
ders of eight men, attended by his court. The priests
bring him palm-trees, which he blesses and sprinkles
with holy water. Then the cardinals, bishops, priests,
and foreign ministers receive from his holiness a palm,
some kissing his hand, and others his foot. Then the
procession of palms commences, and the whole is ended
by high mass ; after which, thirty years' indulgence is
granted to all who witness the ceremony ! And from
the beginning to the end of Holy Week, all the cere-
monies, by day and by night, are nothing but repre-
sentations, in a theatrical form, of the sufferings of our
Lord, about whose true history the people know far less
than do those of the history of England, who know
nothing of it but what they learn from witnessing the
actings of the historical dramas of Shakspeare !

If further evidence is necessary as to the theatrical
character of the Romish worship, permit me to quote
from Seymour his account of the ceremony of Holy
Week, which represents the judgment-hall of Pilate,
" The G-ospel is read by three priests. One of them per-
sonates the Evangelist who wrote the Grospel ; and his

LETTERS. 145

The acting. Choir. Tawdry shows.

part is to read the narrative as detailed. A second per-
sonates Pontius Pilate, the maid at the door, the priests,
the Pharisees ; and his part is to read those sentences
which were spoken by them. The third personates our
Lord Jesus Christ ; and his part is to read the words
which were uttered by him on the occasion. To give
the greater effect to the whole, the choir is appointed
to undertake those parts which were the words of the
multitude. The different voices of the priests reading
or intoning their different parts — Pilate speaking in
one voice, Christ in another, while the choir, break-
ing forth, fill the whole of the vast church with the
shout, ' Crucify him ! Crucify him !' and again with
the cry, ' Not this man, but Barabbas !' produce a most
singular effect. Accustomed as we are to look upon
the Holy Scriptures with reverence, and to read the
narrative of our Lord's sufferings with a profound feel-
ing of awe, it has something repulsive to our tastes, if
not to our judgments, to find a theatrical character
given to so holy an exercise."

Upon this evidence, which might be multiplied to
any extent, I rest. Sir, my position, that the ritual of
Romanism, however splendid, and to some weak minds
attractive, is not the worship of G-od ; that, at best, it
is only a theatrical representation of the truths which
it purports to exhibit. Every thing that enters into
the public worship of Romanism is only a continuation
of the tawdry shows gotten up in the Middle Ages to
satisfy the longings of the religious nature of man,
from whom a wicked priesthood had taken away the
Light of Life. And how can we measure the wicked-
ness of ecclesiastics who, even amid the light of our

G

146 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

The poorest actors going. Scene at Bonville.

advanced civilization, take away the Bible from the
people, and seek to supply the vast void by theatrical
forces like these ? And is it any wonder that, in Pa-
pal countries, the few join the priest at the acting of
the Mass on Sunday morning ? and that the priest joins
the multitude to witness the acting of the farce in the
theatre in the evening ? It is at least an evidence that,
if nothing else is left to the people of Naples, they have
left a little remaining taste, as, while the churches are
deserted, the theatre is crowded. The least interest-
ing actors that are seeking for precedence in the dra-
matic world are lazy and lubberly priests, and they are
the least worthy of patronage.

On the 19th of June last, in company with others, I
reached the little town of Bonville, within a few miles
of G-eneva, on my way to Chamouni. Crowds of peo-
ple were in the streets, and branches of trees graced
all the doors and windows. It was a fete day, but in
honor of what saint I know not ; probably the " Very
Rev. P. R. Kenrick, V. G-.," might inform us. I there
witnessed a scene such as I had not seen before — quite
theatrical in its way. At the ringing of a bell, a pro-
cession was formed at the church of the village. It was
headed by women in white robes ; these were followed
by children bearing baskets of rose-leaves ; these by
children bearing censers ; these by priests ; these by a
ruby-faced bishop, fat and stall-fed as usual, bearing
the host under a canopy ; and the bishop by a vast mul-
titude of people. The day was very hot and very dusty.
At certain signs, the whole mass of people knelt down,
and rose up, and turned to the right and left. At the
sound of a little whistle, the cliildren scattered leaves

LETTERS. 147

Soldiers. Host saluted. Sabbath evening at Edinburgh.

for the bishop to walk on, or incensed the priests. The
soldiers were in the streets in great numbers and in
full uniform. They saluted the Host with volleys of
musketry on its approach ; and when the bishop stopped,
as he did several times, and turned round the Host so
as to face the soldiers, they all fell on their knees in an
instant, save the olficers, who leaned on their swords,
with their faces to the earth. After parading the
streets in this way for some time, the bishop and priests
returned to the church, and the people and soldiers
went to drink and to play. When the farce was end-
ed, the town was a scene of revelry. And with such
mountebank exhibitions as these, the Papal world is
full ! And these exhibitions are what they call wor-
ship ; and a firm belief in their efficacy is what priests
call faith in Grod !

Now, Sir, that you may see, in contrast with all this,
the true worship of Grod, go with me on the first Sab-
bath evening I spent in Scotland to the Grselic chapel
in Edinburgh, which is situated almost under the
shadow of the Castle. The house was crowded in all
its parts. In the hymns of praise the immense con-
gregation united. Every worshiper carried a Bible,
and turned to the Scripture read, and to the text of
the sermon. When prayer was made, every person
rose and took a devotional attitude. Dr. Candlish was
the eloquent preacher ; and for upward of an hour did
the people hang with breathless attention upon his lips,
while he expounded to them the faith of Abraham, and,
with words that burned, exhorted them to the exercise
of faith in Grod. And when the service was ended, the
multitude quietly walked away, praying that the word

148 kirwan's letters.

Which is divine worship. Priest and minister.

of the Lord might dwell in them richly, and that they
might be sanctified through the truth. Now, Sir,
which looks most like the worship of Grod — this scene
in the G-eelic chapel, or the saying of mass by a priest ?
Which looks most like Peter at the feast of Pentecost,
or like Paul in the synagogues of the Jews — the Scotch
minister preaching the G-ospel, or the Italian priest
saying mass ? Which of these teachers is best adapt-
ed to our people and our institutions ? Which is most
likely to foster those principles that never yield but to
the right — ^that will live only for the true? Sir, the
one is a teacher of the truth, the other is an actor of
the truth dramatized. Italy and Naples have only
Popish actors — Scotland and England have religious
teachers ; hence the difference between their people I
Mexico and Peru have had only religious actors for
their people — New England has had religious teach-
ers ; hence the difference between them I The priest
seeks to bind you to the Pope ; the minister seeks to
win you to G-od. The priest hides the Bible, and seeks
to satisfy you with the mass and the other ceremonies
of the Church ; the minister puts the Bible into your
hands, and exhorts you to be satisfied with nothing less
than a heart and life conformed to its teachings. The
priest damns you unless you believe the Church, which
means the Pope and his cardinals ; the minister tells
you that '' he that belie veth in the Son hath life," and
exhorts you to believe in G-od — to fear him, and then
to fear nothing else. Which are the men ordained of
God, and best fitted to be the moral instructors of our
great and growing country ? Need I answer these
questions to satisfy a person of your sense and compre-

K I R W A N

'S LETTERS. 149

Romish Churches Sabbath theatres.

hension ? Sir, Grod is not worshiped in the mass. Ro-
mish churches are Sabbath-day theatres for the enact-
ing of Popish dramas ; and Romish priests are nothing
more or less than actors in sacred dramas, and most
of them miserable hands even at that. Neither the
plays nor their actors are the things for our people,
unless the Bible, with its institutions, and the freedom
which they secure, are a curse ; and unless submission
to the priest and the Pope, and the slavery which they
insure, are a blessing. From such play-actors and their
plays may the good Lord deliver us. Could the proph-
ets, apostles, martyrs, and saints, of all ages and climes,
hear us, we would invoke the aid of them all to save
our land from the curse of Romanism.

With great respect, yours.

150 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Tested by its fruits. Where to be tested.

LETTER XVII.

Romanism tested by its Fruits in Rome. — No personal Liberty there —
two Cases in Proof. — No security of Property — two flagrant Illustra-
tions.— No Religion there — no Sabbath — no Bible — no Preaching —
no worshiping Congregations — no serious Devotion there. — Is Popery
the best form of Religion for our Country ?

My dear Sir, — If the work of framing a government
for a people were committed to your hands, and if you
were in doubt as to which form would best promote
their highest and truest interests, what plan would you
adopt to resolve your doubt? You w^ould adopt the
common sense one, of testing the various forms that
presented themselves by the effects which they pro-
duce, where fully established. This would be walking
in the light of experience. The best fruits of Despot-
ism you would seek in Russia and Austria — of a Lim-
ited Monarchy, in England — and of a Constitutional
Republicanism, in the United States. And as an hon-
est man, you would decide in favor of that form w^hich
promoted, in the highest degree, the highest interests
of the masses of the people. So in religious things.
If desirous to know the influence of Episcopacy upon
a people, you would go to England — or of Presbytery,
you would go to Scotland — or of Independency, you
would go to New England — or of Popery, you would
o-o to Rome. As trees are known by their fruit, so are
political and religious systems by their effects. By

K I R W A N ' S LETTERS. 151

The Holy City. Information sought No liberty.

this test, to which none can object, will you permit me
to try Romanism, that you and all men may see the
multiplied blessings which we may anticipate from its
full establishment in this land ? But where shall we
apply the test ? Where, but in Rome, the seat of the
Pope — the centre of unity — the paradise of the priest
— where the heresy of the Reformation has never ob-
tained a permanent or impressive influence, and where,
for fifty ages together, Romanism has had the molding
of the people, without let or hinderance, in her hands.
If Papal priests could have their wish and their way,
they would, of course, model America after the pattern
of Rome, which Cardinal Wiseman denominates the
"Holy City." Now, Sir, I have been to the "Holy
City" — I have seen its Pope, cardinals, and priests — I
souofht there information as to its civil, social, and re-

a

ligious state — and from personal examination, and from
testimony received from the most credible witnesses,
both natives, and foreign residents, I am prepared to
say that, from the extent of its population, there is not
a worse governed, less religious, or more immoral people
in Christendom. And, tried by its priests, where there
are no obstacles to prevent its natural results, Roman-
ism should be the abhorrence of all flesh.

There is, Sk, no personal liberty in Rome. Since
the return of the Pope from Naples to the Vatican, the
reins of despotism have been tightened by a powerful
hand. The patriots that could escape have fled ; and
you find them in Grenoa, Turin, Greneva, France, and
Britain — ^homeless, yet hopefal exiles — strong in faith
that the sun of liberty will yet rise, even over Rome.
The suspected are in prison ; and the prisons are crowd-

152 K I R W A N S LETTERS

Spies. How they work. An instance.

ed. Spies, by day and by night, surround those who
show any lack of confidence in the priests. While I
was there, the plan was completed of dividing the city
into small sections of about twenty families each, and
of placing a priest over each of these sections ; nomin-
ally to look after their religious wants, but really to act
as the spies of the government I And through the
vigilance of these spies, and the information which they
wring from wives and daughters, and servant-women
at the confessional, the sigh breathed after liberty by
the most obscure man in its most obscure and humble
dwelling is reported in a few hours to the head of the
police ! And if a Roman desires to visit other coun-
tries, before he can get permission, he must first get a
certificate fi*om the magistrate of his district that he
is a good citizen — then from the priest of his section,
that he is a good Papist : with these he goes to the
head of the police, and if there is no information lodged
there against him, he receives a passport. Take one
occurrence as an illustration. A young Roman, a few
years since, went to Sardinia, where he married. Busi-
ness failed him, and he returned to Rome to seek em-
ployment, leaving his wife and children behind him.
He entered the employment of a person who, in the
Revolution, took part against the government. Within
the present year, that man wished to return to his fam-
ily, and with the certificate of the magistrate of his
district, and of the priest of his section, he presented
himself to the head of the police, who, I learned, is a
priest. And simply because he was recorded as hav-
ing been in the employment of an enemy of the old
government, instead of getting his passport he was or-

kirwan's letters. 153

Tobacco monopoly. Peter Ercolo.

dered to prison ; and where imprisoned none know but
Grod and the priests !

Take another instance and illustration of the glorious
liberty with which Romanism would bless us ! The
government holds a monopoly in tobacco, and this mo-
nopoly it farms out to the highest bidder. The more
tobacco used, the greater the duties accruing, and the
higher the Church can sell the monopoly. Of course,
the more the Romans chew, smoke, and snuff of the
vile weed, the greater will be the profits of the Church.
Knowing this, and to curtail the revenues of the priests,
those who bear no fervent love to them agreed to re-
frain from its use, and to induce their friends to do the
same. One evening Peter Ercolo met his friend Luigi
Greuanini in a coffee-room, smoking a cigar, and per-
suaded him to smoke no more. There were several
by-standers ; soon Ercolo was arrested — was tried be-
fore the Second Tribunal, and found guilty of the crime
of persuading his friend to consume no more cigars ;
and for this crime a respectable man, between thirty
and forty years of age, was torn from his family, and
sentenced for twenty years to the galleys ! And I read
the sentence as placarded on the chief corners of the
city of Rome, and as signed by Cardinal Antonelli !
Such, Sir, is the civil liberty enjoyed by the dwellers
in the '' Holy City," amid the relics of the martyrs, and
under the direct government of the vicar of Jesus Christ,
and the infallible head of the only true Church ! And
this is the liberty with which Romish priests, were it
in their power, would bless our country ! It is from
those Roman tyrants that our priests get their author-
ity— it is to them they yield their conscience, and swear

154 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Patriots questioned. Property insecure. An instance.

perpetual allegiance. Are they the men for our people ?
Ask the patriots in exile — ask the patriots rotting in
the prisons of the " Holy City" — ask Ercolo, tugging at
the galleys for persuading his friend to cast away the
end of a wasted cigar, are the spies and tools of Italian
priests the men for our country ?

Nor, Sir, is there any security for property in Rome.
It is constantly confiscated, on the merest pretexts, to
the Church ; and when not confiscated, it is alienated
to the " Holy See" in a great variety of ways. Two
instances, in proof of this, were narrated to me there,
and by a man of high position. A Roman of wealth
married a lady of foreign birth, and by whom he had
a large family of children. After a life of love and har-
mony, he died, leaving his property to his widow and
children, by a will duly authenticated. Although re-
gardless of the priests in health, he sent for one when
dying — who confessed him, and anointed him, and
" fixed him off" for Purgatory or Paradise. A few days
after his death, that priest swore before the tribunal
having jurisdiction in such cases, that the dying man
confessed to him a great sin, and to atone for which he
wished his entire property, contrary to his will, to go
to the Church. And, on the oath of that priest, the
will of the deceased was set aside — ^his property was
turned into the treasury of the Church, and his widow
and children were turned out penniless on the world !
Thus nothing is necessary to deprive any family in
Rome that has lost its head, of its property, but the oath
of a priest ! And if you had seen them in crowds, as
I have, you would conclude, as I have, that it would
be an easy matter to get a priest in Rome that would

kirwan's letters. 155

The illegal son. Shameless mother. No religion.

swear any thing. Absolution from perjury that en-
riches the Church is easily secured.

The other instance is as follows. It would seem as
if there is a law in Rome which gives all property to
the Church which has no lawful heir. An old man,
of large possessions, married a young and handsome
lady, and died, leaving a son behind him, the heir of
his possessions. Just on the eve of his majority, not
many months ago, a suit was instituted to prevent his
entering on his paternal possessions, on the ground of
his illegitimacy. And the Church gained the suit —
the mother of the boy testifying to her own shame, and
confessing that the father of her child was a shaven-
pated, crimson-capped cardinal ! "And this,'^ said my
informant, as we turned out of the Corso, '^ is the pal-
ace in which the old man died, and of which his widow
and repudiated child have just been deprived." And
when men lose not their property by confiscation, or by
the robbery of ecclesiastical courts, they are ground
down into poverty by an enormous taxation for the
support of a Church which only compensates them
with swarms of monks and nuns, splendid churches,
lying legends, gorgeous processions, French soldiers,
and spies to dog them by day and by night. And are
these priests the men for our country ? Ask that wid-
ow and her orphans deprived of her property by the
oath of a confessor — ask those groaning under the yoke
of a government the most detestable that the earth
knows, whether these are the men for our country !
They will soon tell you.

Nor, Sir, is there any religion in Rome. I do not
mean to say that, among its thousands of ecclesiastics,

156 kirwan's letters.

No Sabbath. Monks at market. No Bible.

there are none that love God, nor do I mean to say
that the Lord has no chosen ones hidden amid the chaff
and the trash that are every where visible there ; but
I do mean to say, and to affirm as strongly as language
can do it, that among the masses of the priests and
people there is no fear of Grod, and no knowledge of the
doctrines of our religion. And how could there be, in
the absence of the means instituted by heaven to sus-
tain and to extend religion among a people?

There is no Sabbath in Rome. The only apparent
difference there between the Sabbath and other days
of the week is, that the shops are more gayly dressed
— the markets are more full — and more people are
engaged in buying and selling. On my way to St.
Peter's from the Hotel d'Angleterre, I saw monks and
priests in all the shops and markets, buying, as on oth-
er days, and chattering like magpies. In Naples the
shops are closed, and all business suspended on feast-
days, but on the Sabbath all business is brisker than
usual. Romanism knows no Sabbath.

There is no Bible in Rome. I made many inquiries
there fo-r a Bible, but without success. The people
have no Bible. They know nothing about it. An in-
telligent man of fifty told me that he never saw one.
Multitudes of the priests know nothing about it. And
when asked why they have none for sale, the booksel-
lers will tell you that it is prohibited. Captain Pack-
enham, once a banker in the city, and a most respect-
able gentleman and devout Christian, is now in banish-
ment for circulating the Scriptures there during the
short existence of the Republic. Much of true religion
consists in knowing G-od and Jesus Christ; and how

LETTERS. 157

No preaching. No congregations. Exceptions.

can they be known by a people from whom the Bible
is excluded ?

There is no preaching in Rome. Now and then, a
foreign priest or ecclesiastic visiting there, in search of
a pallium, or of a cardinal's hat, may get up a brief
course of lectures for the edification of the strangers win-
tering there ; but these are usually vain and ambitious
men, who seek in this way to gain favor at court, and
to promote their self-interests. There is no preaching
to the Italians ; and when there is an occasional ex-
ception to the rule, it is not the Gospel that is preached :
it is either a eulogy upon some Popish saint, or a ve-
hement harangue against the Reformation and Protest-
ants. Popery treats as a nullity the ascending com-
mand of the Savior, "Gro ye into all the world and
preach the G-ospel to every creature." This one crime.
Sir, is enough to subject it to the curse of "Anathema
Maranatha."

There are no worshiping congregations at Rome or-
dinarily. Crowds attend the high ceremonies of " Holy
Week ;" on great occasions, when there are gorgeous
processions, at which the Pope and the military attend,
multitudes are drawn together by curiosity ; but, on
ordinary occasions, there are no congregations to wit-
ness the ceremonies in the churches. In this I was
greatly disappointed. The only exceptions I witnessed
were at St. Carlo, in the Corso, and around the image
of Mary, in St. Augustin, as already narrated. On Sab-
bath day, and on every day of the week, I was at the
great basilicas and churches, and very often myself and
company were the whole congregation I I witnessed
the mass in St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Mag-

158 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Last Sabbath morning. Scenes at St. Peter's.

giore, performed by a bishop and many priests, when not
a soul was present to form a congregation but my own
little company. My last Sabbath morning there was
spent between the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's ; and
while mass was going on at several altars in the church,
it would be a liberal calculation to say that there was
an average of five persons at each altar. This was in
the morning ; the masses and vespers of the afternoon
are literally deserted, unless where singing is expected.
Indeed, where there is any religion at all among the
people, it is usually of a vicarious character. The
faithful leave the care of their souls to the priests ; as
a man sometimes commits his business to an agent,
with powers of attorney to act for him. And they
think, and truly, that the masses offered at the altars
will be as efficacious in their absence as if they were
present. Hence there is often a crowd of priests en-
gaged in a ceremony without a soul to witness it. And
what struck me as more singular still, was to see priests
in St. Peter's on Sabbath day entering the beautiful
chapels during the ceremony of the mass at their al-
tars with guide-books in their hands, and criticizing
the works of art by which they are adorned ! Could
they do so if they believed that a brother priest was
creating G-od before them ?

And I was amazed at the manner in which those
who attended performed their devotions. Two girls
will enter, and kneel together, and cross themselves ;
and it is truly ludicrous to see them alternately pray-
ing, and talking, and laughing. Persons upon their
knees, and their lips moving very rapidly, repeating
their prayers, have often eyed me from head to foot,

kirwan's letters. 159

Spanish officer. No religion. Solemn queation.

and gazed on me as I went around the church. Every
thing I saw among priests and people was chillingly
heartless, save in an old Spanish officer, who daily vis-
ited St. Peter's, dressed in half uniform, with his sword
danoflinof behind him. I saw him a few times on his
knees, and he seemed really to pray, and to beat his
breast with his hand, as if he felt the weight of some
awful sins pressing upon his soul. I felt an anxiety
to say to him that the blood of Christ cleanses from all
sin.

Now, Sir, in the absence of the Sabbath — in the ab-
sence of the Bible — in the absence of the preaching of
the Grospel — in the absence of congregations even from
the ceremonies with which the priests seek to fill up
the void left by the prohibition of the "Word of G-od, how
could there be any religion in Rome ? G-od has de-
vised means to ends ; and when the means are not
used, the ends are not attained. Sir, there is no reli-
gion in Rome. There is there blind superstition —
there is Jesuit cunning — there is solemn pomp and
ceremonial observances — but there is no religion. Nor
is there, as a rule, in any country where Popery ob-
tains among the masses.

Is Popery, then, the form of religion best adapted to
our country ? The foundations and bulwarks of our
institutions, are the intelligence, the religion, the morals
of our people ; can these remain to sustain and to de-
fend our institutions if Popery becomes the religion of
our people ? Let the past answer.

With great respect, yours.

160 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

How could religion get into Rome. Idolatry*

LETTER XVIII.

Fruits of Romanism. — Idolatiy in Rome. — A Prodigy. — Pictures of Mary
— her Names and Worship. — Immorality of Rome. — Scene at Naples.
— Key to priestly Profligacy. — Experience of Luther. — Mass for the
Soul of Gregory XVI. — Vespers in the Sistine. — Cardinals — their
Character. — Feelings of the Romans toward the Priests. — A Chat at
Civita Vecchia. — Romanism detested at Rome.

My dear Sir, — In my last letter I commenced the
work of testing Romanism by its fruits at home, that
you and all men might see whether its propagation
should be encouraged among the nations and people
yet beyond the circle of its influence. I have shown
you that in Rome, where the system culminates, where
it has every thing in its own hands, there is no personal
liberty — no security of property — ^no religion. There
is in Rome no Sabbath — no Bible — no preaching of the
Gospel — no worshiping congregations — no serious de-
votions ; and how can religion exist in the absence of
these ? But I am not yet through with the fruits of
Romanism at home. There are a few other statements
I wish to place before you.

There is, Sir, the most gross idolatry in Rome. On
this point I need not dwell, after what I have said al-
ready about the Bambino of Ara Coeli, the Virgin of
St. Augustin's, and the relics which are to be found
every where. You meet there, wherever you go, mi-
raculous pictures, and wonder-working relics, and stat-
ues that came down from heaven, and places rendered

LETTERS. 161

Images worshiped. Snow in summer. Pictures of Mary.

sacred by prodigies ; and before these pictures, relics,
and images, you see poor people bowing down with as
profound a homage as ever the Hindoos render to their
idols. The priests may disguise or excuse this as they
may; it is, after all, no less than idolatry. ''You are
here on holy ground," said our guide, when walking
through and round the church of St. Maria Maggiore.
"What makes it holy," I asked. "Because," said he,
'• God showed where the church should be built by
covering its site two feet deep with snow in summer !"
And this he said with a stolid gravity which would
make it a sin to suspect him of quizzing. I turned to
my "G-uide of Rome" to see if there was any allusion
to this prodigy, where, to my amazement, I read the
following passage : " This church was built in the year
352, under the pontificate of St. Liberius, in conse-
quence of a vision that he and Jolin the Patrician had
the same night, and which was confirmed the follow-
ing morning, the 5th of August, by a miraculous fall
of snow, which extended over the space which the
church was to occupy : for this reason it was called St.
Maria ad Nives." And you can scarcely turn a corner
without meeting with a place which has some sacred
and prodigious history like this. May not this be the
reason why it is called the "Holy City." For similar
reasons, Mecca and Medina are "holy cities."

The pictures and statues that most abound, and to
which most resort in prayer and prostration, are those
of the Virgin Mary. Indeed, what the Prophet is to
Mohammedanism, the Virgin is to Romanism. To her
are given names which belong only to God. She is
called "Mother of God" — "Advocate of Sinners" —

162 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Names and honors. Lyons saved. Rome immoral.

"Refuge of Sinners" — "Grate of Heaven" — "Most
Faithful"— " Most Merciful." And in the Psalter of
David, as reformed by Bonaventura, we find this sen-
tence: "Come unto Mary, all ye that are weary and
heavy laden, and she shall refresh your souls." Church-
es are built to her honor — ^her shrines are crowded with
devotees, and are hung with votive offerings. Her
name is the first which the infant is taught to lisp,
and the dying are directed to look to her for mercy.
The soldier goes to battle under her banner, and the
brigand plunders under her protection. In Italy and
Spain, robbers wear a picture of Mary hung round their
neck by a ribbon. If overtaken suddenly by death,
they kiss the image, and die in peace. And while
apostles, martyrs, saints, and relics are not forgotten,
Mary is the divinity of Romanism. The city of Lyons
erected a pillar to Mary for saving it from the cholera
of 1832. When Pio Nino fled from Rome, he threat-
ened the city with the vengeance of Mary : finding her
rather tardy in her movements, he prayed France for
aid, which, being more propitious than Mary, sent him
forty thousand bayonets ! Why, Sir, while Mary is in
the mouth of every body, the common people do not
know enough about Jesus Christ even to swear by
him. Mary is to the Romans what Diana was to the
Ephesians. Rome, as a city, is given to idolatry.

Rome is, emphatically, an immoral city — probably
the most so in Christendom ; and that notwithstand-
ing it has an ecclesiastic of some kind for every thirty
inhabitants ! There are some statements which I blush
to make on this head, and which I only make out of
an imperative sense of duty. I wish every American

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 163

Gambling priests. Theatre at Naples. A key.

citizen to know the blessings to be expected from Ro-
manism when the system is fully established and de-
veloped among us.

In the broad street opposite the post-office, in Na-
ples, I saw a priest at ten o'clock in the morning at a
gambling table ! The sight astounded me, as I then
witnessed it for the first time ; but my guide soon put
me to rest by stating that the priests were among the
most expert and successful gamblers in the city ! The
theatre of St. Carlo, in Naples, was opened on the king's
birth-day. Without entering it, I went with my trav-
eling friend and our valet to the porch, to see the Ne-
apolitans in their gay attire, and to have a glimpse of
the royal family. Of the men that went to the ballet,
for such it was, the largest number were soldiers, the
next largest were priests. There is no mistaking a
priest in Italy. He is known by his regimentals ; and,
if naked, his shaven crown would reveal him. I was
again astonished ! Soon, however, familiarity dimin-
ished my wonder ; and when, on a more full informa-
tion, I saw that the only relation of the priest to re-
ligion was that of a formal and official kind, like that
of a magistrate to the laws, I also saw that there was
nothing to bind him to a moral life, or to submission
to the moral law, beyond that which binds a civil mag-
istrate. This is the key to much of the priestly profli-
gacy to be found in Papal countries. Boys are devoted
to the priesthood from youth — they are brought up for
it — ^the doctrine of moral fitness is unheard of. They
enter it under but one restriction — not to marry ; but
they may do any thing else. As some magistrates
are excellent men, so are some priests ; but the priest

164 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Luther's experience. Masses for the Pope. Why ?

can do with impunity any thing which a magistrate
can.

It was the experience of Luther, that the nearer he
got to Rome, the more wicked were the priests and
people. And writing from there a few days after he
entered it, and while saying mass at its altars, he said,
"It is incredible what sins and atrocities are commit-
ted here ; they must be seen and heard to be believed ;
it is usual to say here, 'If there be a hell, Rome is
built above it ;' it is an abyss from which all sins pro-
ceed." And although centuries have passed away since
the noble Saxon penned these lines, I am persuaded
that they give, so far forth, a true picture of Rome at
the present hour.

You, Sir, will remember, that on the death of the
late Pope G-regory, masses were ordered for the repose
of his soul all over the Papal world. In many places,
and, no doubt, in the cathedral of your city, these
masses were celebrated with great pomp. The order-
ing of these masses gave rise to many questions among
Protestants ; I confess it staggered myself. The repose
of the soul of the vicar of Jesus Christ ! of the holy
Pope Grregory ! What should disturb the repose of his
soul ? What did he do to disquiet his spirit after it
shot the gulf which divides time from eternity ? "If
you take five mmutes' walk," said a friend of mine,
long a resident of Rome, to me one day, "I will in-
troduce you to two fine young girls, the daughters of
the late Pope !" I then fully understood why masses
were ordered for the repose of his soul ! Perhaps you
may not know. Sir, that it is quite a common occur-
rence for the Popes to leave behind them many "neph-

KIRWAN

'S LETTERS. 165

Pope's children. Ceremony in the Sistine. Secretary of State.

ews" and "nieces," the names by which their illegiti-
mate offspring are designated. But so it is. Their
progeny is not counted by units. And the example
set by pontiffs, the cardinals, and priests, are not slow
to copy.

I went one day to the Sistine Chapel to vespers,
when the Pope and nearly twenty cardinals were pres-
ent. He who has once seen there the entrance of the
cardinals, each with his servant untwisting his robe —
their kneeling before the altar, and their servants ad-
justing their robes while kneeling — their bowing to the
altar and to one another — their taking their seats with
their servants at their feet, and assuming a most de-
votional look — ^their leaving then* seats to salute the
Pope, with their scarlet robes trailing behind them, can
never forget the sight ! 0, Sir, how every idea of the
infallibility of these persons passes away, like the hoar
frost before the sun, on witnessing the silly ceremonies
they practice in the Sistine ! If you should see twenty
children going through these ceremonies, you would
conjecture that they were keeping holiday on the 1st
of April. I sought to read the cardinals, and I think
I did read some of them. "Who," said I, "is that
youngish man, with that dark, penetrating, cold-look-
ing eye?" "That," said my guide, "is the Cardinal
Secretary of State." I need not name him here. He
heads the horrible clique, in whose hands the present
Pope is but a puppet, and will be probably his success-
or. Now and then these men in scarlet turned up
their eyes, and moved their lips quite fast, and put up
their hands after the manner of little Samuel in the
picture ; but all was obviously to be seen of men.

166 kirwan's letters.

Character of cardinals. Of the Pope. No confidence.

*'What," said I to a friend, who knows them well,
*'what is the moral character of these cardinals?"
His reply astomided me. " It is to me amazing," said
he, "that some of these men can keep up even the
form of devotion in the presence of one another, when
each knows that the other keeps three, four, or five
mistresses. Some of them are the greatest debauchees
in Rome ; they go. Sir, from the bed to the altar, and
from the altar to the bed. I know what I say. I have
mixed and mingled with these persons. I have heard
wicked and loose young men talk in my day ; but the
most loose and lewd conversation I ever heard in my
life was from these men." "And is this the general
character of priesthood here?" said I. "I am per-
suaded it is," said he, " except the Pope, who is a pure-
minded man, and who would do better, and make oth-
ers do better, if he could." He then went on to state
that the priests are the corrupters of the people, and
mainly through the confessional and the women. " No-
ble Romans," said he, "have told me, with tears, that
because of the lewdness of these priests, and their way
of ferreting out every thing at the confessional, they
have lost confidence in the virtue of their wives, their
mothers, their sisters, and their daughters. Domestic
love and confidence, as a rule, are unknown in Rome."
So emphatic and terrific was the testimony of this
person, that I went away, feeling that something had
chafed his temper, and that he condemned all for the
known vices of a few ; and it was not until I heard his
testimony corroborated from all the sources at which I
sousfht information that 1 could admit it to be true.
Like sin and death, confession and seduction follow

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 167

Chat at Civita Vecchia. An excited Italian.

each other in Rome. The crimes are there rife that
hrought from heaven a rain of fire on Sodom.

While sitting in the veranda of the hotel in Civita
Vecchia, waiting for the steamer from Naples to car-
ry us to G-enoa, I got into conversation with a most
intelligent Italian, who spoke English with fluency.
"Why," said I, "do you not drive out these French
soldiers ?" as a parcel of them marched along to the
tap of a drum. He replied, " We are not strong enough
to drive out the rascals. But if Louis Napoleon is not
elected — if a true republic is set up in France, that will
recall these men, then we will have freedom." "You
have priests here, too," said I, as half a dozen of them
were tripping along beneath us. "Plenty," said he,
with excited emphasis, and gritting his teeth. "What
good do they do you ?" I asked. " Much good," he re-
plied, with a scornful toss of the head ; "they eat up
a man's own property — ^they suck his own blood out of
him — and they go with his own wife." And this, as
far as I heard it, is the unbroken testimony of Italy
as to the priest ; with one exception, and that was an
American doing business in Rome, and he only as-
serted that the above statements are too strong, and
that things are better than they have been. "If we
can only get these French away," said my friend in
the veranda, "we will show you Americans what we
will do." "And what will you do?" said I. He re-
plied, in a most energetic under tone, "we will estab-
lish an Italian republic, and the first thing we will do
will be to kill off these d — d priests, for they are the
enemies of the people^ and the spies of despotism.^^
The next revolution in Italy will be a terrible one for

168 '

KIRWAN S LETTERS.

Terrible retribution. Morality of the people.

the priests. The people have a terrible retribution in
store for them, and they know it. And hence the
tightening of the chains of despotism, from the lines
of Sardinia down to the Straits of Messina, and the
stealthy meetings between the Pope and his most faith-
ful friend, the King of Naples, the most cold-hearted
and villainous despot upon earth, for mutual support,
when the sleeping fires burst forth. And burst forth
they will.

If the morals of the clergy in Rome are such as we
have described, what must be the morals of the people ?
Depraved and low, according to all testimony, to the
last degree. As by common consent, the marriage vows
are disregarded ; and while externally every thing
seems moral and decent, yet underneath there is little
else than rottenness and putrefaction. I repeat it, Sir,
there is no morality in Rome. Instead of being a
"holy city," it is a fermenting vat of corruption, and
the priests supply the chief ingredients which produce
the fermentation. A venerable professor of one of our
American universities, with whom I traveled on the
Mediterranean, stated that, but a few days previous to
my meeting with him, a priest was taken up in Jordina,
in Sicily, for having eight women in his harem, three
of whom were married persons ! .

Of course, a state of morals like this among the
priests, when connected with a grinding despotism,
framed and executed mainly by them, must make
them and their religion despicable in the eyes of the
people. And they are so, as is obvious from the de-
serted churches that you find every where, and from
the unanimous expressions of their sentiments by the

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 169

Romanism detested in Rome. A wonder. Who wants Rome's morals ?

people whenever they can whisper them. There is,
Sir, not a spot on earth where Romanism is more de-
tested than in Rome — there is not a spot on earth
where the Pope and his priests are more supremely-
contemned. If the people of Rome could only have
their way, the Pope would be to-morrow in exile — his
priests would be in the dungeons where patriots are
now rotting; and the fabled chair of St. Peter would
be at the bottom of the muddy Tiber, or ascending
to heaven in smoke. And it is one of the most unac-
countable anomalies of the day to see men so despised
at home so favorably regarded abroad — to see men who
can only retain their places at home by the aid of Swiss
and French soldiery, claiming a universal dominion
over the people and nations of Christendom, and par-
celing out kingdoms among their spies and tools for
Papal purposes.

Is it. Sir, desirable to have the morals of Rome trans-
ferred to New York and Baltimore ? If not, is it de-
sirable that the priests, and the system which produce
these morals, should be patronized among us? I am
far from saying — indeed, I do not believe — that Rom-
ish priests in this country are as immoral as they are
in Rome. I believe they are worse in Italy than in
any other part of the world. But may it not be owing
to the fact that the keen eye of Protestantism is upon
them ? What will be their morals, or ours, when they
have all things to their mind ? The Chinese say they
find here a fine market for their worst teas — the French
for their poorest silks — and the English for their worst
manufactures. Wlien fashions are worn out in Europe,
they are often in full credit here ! Must it be so with

H

170 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Americans putting on what Italians cast off.

its religion also ? Is it to the credit of our country that
she should be dressing herself up in the old, tawdry,
moth-eaten garments of the old whore of Babylon,
which even the down-trodden Italians are casting in-
dignantly away?

With great respect, yours.

kirwan's letters. 171

Avignon. Its curiosities. Mine host

LETTER XIX.

Avignon. — Hotel de rEin-ope — mine Host. — Captain Packenham.—
Elasticity of Romanism — the Pope — Priests. — Despotism of Roman-
ism.—Friends of the Pope. — Neapolitan Catechism. — Priests the
Watchmen of Despotism — their horrid Use of the Confessional — it
should be the Abhorrence of all Flesh,

My dear Sir, — On Friday, the 23d of May, I was
landed in Avignon, famous in history as the old seat
of the Popedom during the split that rent the Papal
Church in twain. Myself and friend put up at the Ho-
tel de 1' Europe, a most comfortable and pleasant house.
The attractions of this town to a traveler are the old
Palace of the Popes, now a prison, with the old cathe-
dral by its side, both built upon the top of a rock ; and
the Museum, which is a curiosity in its way. On the
side of the old palace is a tower upward of two hund-
red feet high, the Tarpeian rock of Avignon, and from
which multitudes have been cast down for summary
death I It is frightful to look at — it is frightful to think
of the inhumanity that would cast even a dog down
the dreadful steep! And after seeing its sights, and
looking out from its towering cliff upon the winding
Hhone that washes its base — the vine-clad hills every
where visible — and upon the snowy mountains that prop
the sky in the distant horizon, we returned to our hotel.

Its keeper is a polite Frenchman, slender in person,
with an intelligent eye, a thoughtful countenance, a
pretty good knowledge of English, and quite chatty.

172 kirwan's letters.

Where do you go, Sir ? Adaptation. An exile.

After a few minutes of general conversation, he asked,
in a pleasant manner, ^' Where do you go, Sir?" " To
Rome," I replied. '^And be you a Catholique?" he
asked. ''0 no," I answered, "I am a Protestant;"
and immediately added, "there are not many Catho-
lics in America, save those who go there from Europe
— ^the Catholic religion does not suit our institutions."
With that emphatic shrug of the shoulder peculiar to
a Frenchman, and with a peculiar look and accent,
which made me doubt whether he spoke in faith or in
fan, he replied, "You do not understand in America
the religion Catholique : it suits itself to all the insti-
tutions in the world." This was certainly saying much
for its gvim-elastic properties, and it is true, Avith cer-
tain restrictions. It makes perpetual war against the
Bible and the simple institutions of the Gospel. With
these exceptions, it literally becomes all things to all
men, but with this one object steadily in view, that it
may induce some to put on its yoke. But, because its
devices are knowoi, its power is broken.

I met more than once in Sardinia and Switzerland
the well-known Captain Packenham, to whom I had re-
ceived an mtroduction from Sir Culling Eardley, a Brit-
on by birth, a man of family and fortune, a philanthi-o-
pist and Christian, and an exile from Rome and Tus-
cany, where he resided many years, because of his dis-
tributing in those places the Holy Scriptures in Italian !
But few men have had better opportunities of studying
Popery at home, or of forming so true a judgment of its
priests. And as we were walking together the streets
of Lausanne, and as he was pouring forth the noble
thoughts of his noble mind, and with all the ardor of

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 173

Popery a police. Its elasticity. The Pope.

a warm Christian heart, he uttered this memorable
sentiment: '-^Fopery^ Si?', is the police of despotism,
and its priests are its ivatchmen.^^ Never was the
system and its priests more truly, briefly, or eloquent-
ly characterized. The sentence is worthy of a place
among the proverbs of the wise and good ; and you will
permit me, in the present letter, to state to you a few
things to prove and to illustrate the truth of the saying
of mine host at Avignon, and of the exile of Rome.

The gum-elastic properties of Romanism are obvious
every where. Look at it from whatever stand-point you
may, and you can not fail to see them. See these prop-
erties as manifested by the Pope I He is now a tem-
poral prince — now the vicar of Christ — now glittering
from his throne — -now washing pilgi'ims' feet — lauded
in America as a liberal, in Austria as a despot — to-day
he is a shepherd of the sheep, and to-morrow, like Peter,
a fisherman; ''determined," in the language of an En-
glish wit, ''to live by hook and by crook." There is
not a state of things existing, nor is there one likely to
arise, save the spread of the true Grospel, and the put-
ting up of free, civil, and religious institutions in Cen-
tral and Southern Europe, to which he may not extend
or contract himself. His gum-elastic properties are
wonderful.

Look at its priests. They will multiply idols to suit
a Chinaman — they will worship the Great Spirit to
suit the Indian — they will preach up greegrees and
charms to gain the Hottentot. They will synchronize
with any form of error to make friends for themselves,
or adherents to their system, or to raise barriers against
the progress of the truth. They will laud the despotism

174 K I R W A N ' S LETTERS.

Plastic priests. Who can know it ? Despotism.

of Tuscany — ^they will consecrate the trees of liberty
in Paris — they will shout hosannas to democracy in
New York, and to the most despicable despot that lives,
the King of the Two Sicilies, at Naples. They will
preach up liberty of conscience in Baltimore — no lib-
erty of conscience in Rome ; the freedom of the press
here — no freedom of the press in Naples. They will
flout the British ministry for protecting British subjects
from their wiles, and they will curse the King of Sar-
dinia for permitting a Protestant Charch to be erected
in Turin ! Sir, it is my deliberate conviction, that if
upon the face of the earth there is a class of men more
destitute of principle than another, or less to be trusted
than another, it is the priesthood of the Romish Church.
They are a sacerdotal company, disconnected by the
ordinary ties of humanity with their race, a close cor-
poration, and w^ith no principles but those which pro-
mote their interest. '' You do not understand in Amer-
ica the religion Catholique," said my host in Avignon;
and in the name of humanity, who can understand it ?

And the despotism of Popery is equally obvious as
is the elasticity of its principles. To prove this, I will
not go back to the annals of the Dark Ages — to the
claims of Hildebrand — to the wars waged concerning
the risrht of investiture — to the terrible interdicts of
the Vatican, nor to the despotic doctrines which form
the chief material of the system. To prove true the
sentiment uttered by my friend at Lausanne, I will
call before you living witnesses, which you may cross-
examine at your pleasure.

A proverb is a short saying or a moral rule deduced
from an extended experience, and whose truth all ex-

LETTERS. 175

Men judged by their company. A catechism.

perience unites to prove. Now, Sir, it has passed into
a proverb, that "men are judged by the company they
keep." Let us try the Pope by this rule. If sent out
to select from all the crowned heads of Europe the ver-
iest despots, who. Sir, would you select ? If you have
read Grladstone's letters, you would probably select the
King of Naples first ; and in view of the recent atroci-
ties in Hungary, you would select the Emperor of Aus-
tria next. Now he of Naples is the bosom friend of
Pio Nino, and is regarded by the father of the faithful
as the most pious of all his children, while the sin of
perjury lies heavy upon his soul, and the blood of his be-
trayed and murdered subjects stains all his garments ;
and he of Austria, in Avhom centres all the despotism,
superstition, and cruelty of the house of Hapsburg, is
the chief prop of his chair ! What the two great pil-
lars, Jachin and Boaz, were to the temple of Solomon,
these two despots are to the present Pope. And the
greater the despot, the higher he stands in the affec-
tions of the Holy Father. So far for the Pope.

Now, Sir, for the priests. The following are extracts
from a catechism, written by a bishop, and taught to
all the children in all the schools in the Two Sicilies, as
quoted from G-ladstone's letters to the Earl of Aberdeen,
to which I have just alluded. I would recommend
the pamphlet to your serious perusal, and to that of all
men. More horrible doctrines it is impossible to con-
ceive of, or to pen ; and yet they are published under
the vail of religion ! 0 Religion, how often has thy
purity been invoked to give sanction and currency to
the "doctrines of devils," and to the cruel machinations
of priests !

176 kirwan's letters.

Extracts. Liberals lost. People made for submission,

" Q. Are all liberals wicked in one and the same
fashion ?

"A. No; hut, notwithstanding, they are traveling
the same road, and, if they do not alter their course,
they will arrive at the same goal." That is, all liberals
in politics will be eternally lost I There is, then, no
hope for any of us in America !

'' Q,. Can the people establish fundamental laws in
a state ?

"A. No; because a Constitution or fundamental
laws are, of necessity, a limitation of sovereignty ; and
this can never receive any measure or boundary except
by its own act.

" Q. If the people, in electing a sovereign, impose
upon him conditions or reservations, will not these form
the Constitution and fundamental laws of the state ?

"A. They will, provided the sovereign grant them
freely ; otherwise they will not ; because the people^ who
are made for submission, and not for command, can
not impose a law upon the sovereignty, which derives
its power, not from them, but from G-od.

" Q. If a prince has sworn to observe a Constitution,
is he bound to maintain it ?

''A. He is, provided it does not overthrow the foun-
dations of sovereignty ; and provided it is not opposed
to the general interests of the state. When a sover-
eign finds a fundamental law is seriously hurtful to his
people, he is bound to cancel it, because the duty of
the sovereign is the people's weal. An oath can not
become an obligation to commit evil, and therefore can
not bind a sovereign to do what is injurious to his sub-
jects. Besides, the Head of the Church has author-

kirwan's letters. 177

Absolving power. Sovereign power. Careful teaching.

ity from God to release consciences from oaths, ivhen
he judges that there is suitable cause for it.'''' Here
is the old power of absolving kings from their oaths,
and turning them loose as blood-hounds among their
people, revived !

" Q. Whose business is it to decide when the Con-
stitution impairs the right of sovereignty, and is ad-
verse to the welfare of the people ?

''A. It is the business of the sovereign, because in
him resides the high and paramount power established
by Grod in the state with a view to its good order and
felicity.

" Q,. May there not be some danger that the sover-
eign may violate the Constitution without just cause,
under the illusion of error or the impulse of passion ?

" A. Errors and passions are the maladies of the
human race ; but the blessings of health ought not to
be refused through the fear of sickness."

This catechism, teaching such horrible doctrines,
was written by a bishop, is circulated by bishops to all
their priests, and by the priests is taught to all the peo-
ple of Sicily ; its doctrines are more carefully taught
to the young than are any articles of the Christian faith.
With these extracts before you, will you hesitate a mo-
ment to believe that " Popery is the police of despot-
ism ?" And with doctrines like these it supports des-
potism in every country in Europe where it exists, and
where the despots are Papists. And as it absolves a
Papal king from his oath to his subjects, so it absolves
Papal subjects from their allegiance to their Protest-
ant king, when the good of the Church requires it.
Are these catechism-makers the men for our country ?

H2

178 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Watchmen of despotism. Hard swimming. Base means.

Should these spies of despotism receive any counte-
nance from freemen ?

But is it true that the " priests are the watchmen
of despotism ?" Never was a more true sentiment ut-
tered ; and never was the sentiment more true than at
the present hour. The system is struggling for its very
life — its foundations are giving way in all lands — the
waves of public opinion are dashing against the super-
structure, and its priests are putting forth every effort
to save it and themselves, as they well know that when
their ship sinks they will have hard swimming.

Despotisms are always base, and will use any means
to retain their power. They are public robbers ; and,
like other robbers, have no conscience as to the means
they use. They employ spies — use bribery — lay snares
— get up plots — sow dissensions, and use all unright-
eous means to find out and to kill off their enemies,
and to consolidate their usurped power, and to put new
rivets into the chains that bind people and nations to
their thrones. And as the Papacy is the basest of des-
potisms, it has the base pre-eminence of using the most
base means to accomplish its purposes. Other despot-
isms seek by spies to discover plots, and secret cabals,
and overt acts ; but Popery has a plan by which not
only to discover all these, with almost infallible cer-
tainty, but also the very thoughts of men. And this it
does through the infamous confessional — " the slaugh-
ter-house of consciences" — an institution devised in
hell, and set up on earth in the name of religion, that
" the Man of Sin" may find out the secrets of all fam-
ilies, and of all hearts, and for the purpose of wielding
them all to the maintenance of his bad dominion. All

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 179

Confessiona. Their effects in Naples, Rome.

are obliged to confess on the pain of eternal death ; no
confession avails if any sin or secret thought is kept
back ; and these confessions, when necessary, are sent to
head-quarters. In this way the court of Rome is invest-
ed with a kind of omniscience, as through the priests, its
spies, its watchmen, who have their confession-boxes
every where, they find out the secrets of courts, cabi-
nets, and families, and even the very thoughts of men's
hearts. And what is the effect of all this ? A true
Papist is afraid to think, because his conscience drags
him to the confessional ; and the priest who sits there,
weaving webs to catch the unwary, as does a bottled
spider to catch flies, will drag out his thoughts, and
when these thoughts are drawn out, they are sent to
head-quarters ! I know the theory is, that confessions
made to a priest are buried in his bosom ; but has not
'• the Head of the Church authority from G-od to re-
lease consciences from oaths when he judges that there
is suitable cause for it ?" And what cause can be
more suitable than the good of the Church, and the
safety of the chair of St. Peter ?

And what. Sir, must be the natural effect of all this
upon families ? Go down to Naples and see ! Many
is the Neapolitan husband, son, and brother, rotting in
the prisons there on the information wTung from their
wives, mothers, and sisters by the " watchmen of des-
potism" at the confessional. Gro to Rome and see !
Many is the noble Roman in exile, or in chains in the
dungeons of Rome, on the information wrung from the
female members of their families at the confessional.
If a wife or daughter goes to confession, the husband
and father can intrust fio secret to either, can not re-

180 kirwan's letters.

Effects in the family. No fancy picture.

pose any confidence in them. The sweets and the con-
fidences of home are unkno\Yn — the sweet, confiding
love of the family circle is broken up — not a word of
freedom, or of dissatisfaction, or of complaint must he
uttered — no suspected gnest must he entertained — no
private meetings must he held or alluded to, for all, all
must he told at the confessional, sent up to the Vatican,
and down to the police ! Even in the heart of a fond
wife there is no secret chamber which the priest, " the
watchman of despotism," can not enter, and from which
he may not bring forth its most secret and sacred de-
posits. Thus the mother, daughters, and sisters are
converted by the infernal confessional into spies upon
the conduct of their husbands and brothers, and are
taught to believe that they are at once serving God
and the Church, and saving their own souls — yes, and
even doing the greatest good to their husbands and
brothers, when revealing their thoughts and their con-
duct to these " watchmen of despotism." And is this,
Sir, a fancy picture ? Go and spend a month in Naples,
or in Rome, and seek information from those who are
corapetent and not afraid to give it, and you will say
that the picture is not one half to the life. And I only
wonder that the husbands, sons, and brothers of wives,
mothers, and sisters, that go to the knees of Papal priests
to confess, do not rise as one man, and pile up the con-
fession-boxes for a grand bonfire, and drive their rev-
erend confessors and seducei*s to Purgatory for purifica-
tion.

Nor, Sir, are these pictures- of these " watchmen of
despotism" confined to Naples and Rome. Their Ghar?
aoter in those lands of Papal darkness, where the very

kirwan's letters. 181

Priests every where the same. Espionage

light is darkness, is their universal character. Wher-
ever the bishops or priests, the monks or the nuns of
Romanism are found, they are only the spies, " the
watchmen" of the driveling despot that lives in the
Vatican, himself the victim of a clique of cardinal des-
pots. Through their instrumentality the nations of the
earth lie open to the eye of Rome ; and she is enabled
to judge of the best means of keeping them in her pow-
er, or of subduing them to her sceptre. Archbishops
are the spies of the cardinals — bishops, of the arch-
bishops— priests, of the bishops — and your poor Popish
maid or coachman, the nurse of your children, or the
waiter at your table, is the spy of the priest ! And
this vast system of espionage and tyranny is mainly
conducted through the infamous confessional !

Are these watchmen of despotism the men for our
country ? I put this question to you, as its honored
and honorable chief judicial officer, and upon whose
ermine there is not a stain.

With great respect, yours.

182 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Priests unfrocked. Opposite opinions.

LETTER XX.

Character of Priests. — A Walk in Turin. — Bishops in England and
America Spies of Rome. — Ecclesiastical Preferments the Rewards of
Spies. — When Priests and Despots are in League, no Hope for the
People. — Examples of priestly Despotism. — Curse from the Altar. —
Case of the Antrim Miller. — Priests the Curse of Ireland. — Can they
be a blessing to America ?

My dear Sir, — As I have a little more to say on the
subject, I return again to the " watchmen of despot-
ism." These watchmen have heen permitted to wear
the garment and the crook of shepherds long enough ;
it is time that their overcoats should be torn off, and
that they should be revealed in their true livery.

Perhaps in no part of the world are the priests of
Romanism putting forth more strenuous efforts to pro-
mote the interests of the despotism of Rome than in the
United States. And while lauding our institutions,
and at times almost eloquent in favor of liberty of con-
science, there is not a feeling of their hearts, nor a sym-
pathy of their nature, which does not cluster around
the man of the triple crow^n. As w4th one voice, did
they not denounce the Roman Republic, and hurl their
anathemas against its leaders, and preach up a " Peter
pence" contribution for to sustain the priests carousing
at Graeta ? Did not bishops here, while playing into
the hands of Whigs or Democrats to gain their ends,
denounce the revolution in Hungary, rejoice over the
bloody triumphs of the united forces of Russia and

kirwan's letters. 18

Heart at Rome. A talk in Turin,

Austria, and denounce the great Magyar even before
he trod the soil, or breathed the air of our free coun-
try ? How do you account, Sir, for this sympathy with
tyranny abroad, and this eulogy of freedom at home ?
Their heart is in Rome, and so is their allegiance.
Priests are here " the watchmen of despotism," and are
bound to Rome by every tie that can bind a slave to
his master. And if it would only confirm the dominion
of Pio Nono, and tend to suppress the Bible and the
awful heresy of " private reasoning," there is not a
priest in this Union who would not rejoice over the
ruins of our Republic to-morrow. The man who be-
lieves otherwise is almost fit to read without a smile,
and with edification, "the History of the Holy House
of Loretto, by the Very Rev. P. R. Kenrick, Y. (>."

As I was one day viewing with a friend the city of
Turin, admiring the beauty of the surrounding scenery
— the Superga, the snowy Alps, the winding Po, and
the beautiful Colline, sparkling with villas from bottom
to top, " Where," said I, "is the new Protestant church
to be erected ?" We were moving along at the moment
a beautiful promenade, wide, and planted with trees,
and destined at no distant day to be the finest street in
that rapidly increasing city. " In this very street," was
the reply. No finer or more prominent position could
be selected. The question led to a most interesting
conversation as to the progress of free institutions in
that country, and as to the determination of the king,
and nobles, and Parliament to secure freedom to all to
worship Grod as they deem best. During the deeply-
interesting and eloquent remarks of my friend, he gave
utterance to this sentiment : " Our English and Amer-

184 kirwan's letters.

Wiseman and Hughes. Britain. Who get palliums.

ican friends come to Italy to see us. We are glad to
see them. "We give them often in detail what is doing
to promote right views and right institutions ; but they
often, unwittingly, do us great injury. They go back
and publish our statements to the world ; and the first we
know of the matter is by hearing of a most urgent ap-
peal from Wiseman of London, or Hughes of New York,
for the withdrawal of all privileges from Protestants,
so as to check all progress toward freedom in these
countries. What we tell here in private is published
abroad, and is sent back here by bishops and priests,
as information to these priestly despots." What a fact
in proof of the allegation that Popish priests are the
spies of despotism ! You can not. Sir, close your eyes
to the existing state of things in Britain. There is not
an act of Parliament — from its inception to its passage
or defeat — bearing in the most remote degree upon the
education or moral instruction of the people, which is
not known and canvassed at Rome, and on which the
Papal party in the kingdom does not side with the Vati-
can. And in our own happy country, the mitre and
the pallium are usually rewards of merit bestowed by
the Pope upon those priests who have best performed
their duties as his pimps or watchmen. These ecclesi-
astical baubles are not the rewards of piety, or talent,
or of high virtue, but of subserviency to that politico-
ecclesiastical power which claims to fetter the nations,
and to think for the race, by the authority of Grod.
And the winners of cardinals' caps are usually those
most unscrupulous in principle, and most destitute of
the cardinal virtues.

" Popery is the police of despotism," said my friend

LETTERS. 185

No hope. Terrible agency. The prop of despotism.

at Lausanne. That it is the agency through which
despots can hest govern their people, is most obvious.
When the people are Papists, and the priests are in
league with the state, what hope is there for the people ?
If a man breathes at the confessional the aspirations of
his soul after liberty, they are known to the police.
Wives and sisters are made spies upon their husbands
and brothers. Where can a spark of patriotism glow
beyond the scrutiny of priestly eyes ? It prohibits the
circulation of the Bible ; it forbids the religious tract ;
it anathematizes all works which vindicate the natural
rights of man ; it walls out all evangelical influences ;
it withholds all religious rites, as in the case of the
bishops of Sardinia, from those who oppose its policy ;
it muzzles the press ; it stimulates the faithful by prom-
ises of heaven, and terrifies the disobedient by the
threats of sending them to hell, making them all to be-
lieve that the keys of heaven and hell hang by her
girdle. With an agency like this in his favor among
a people, and that can do all this under the sanctions
of religion, and as the vicegerents of heaven, what has
any despot to fear ? And hence the natural inclina-
tions of despotism to Romanism ! Without Romanism
and its priests, the government of Naples could not sur-
vive a day, nor could that of Austria a week. Where
the people are Papists, the priests are their real govern-
ors, and it is the policy of rulers to court their influence.
This explains some things very queer in the recent con-
duct of the King of Prussia ; it explains the entire con-
duct of that puppet, " the Nephew of his Uncle," as he
is contemptuously called, who now rules in France ; it
explains the unworthy conduct of some of our own

186 kirwan's letters.

Priest's power. Despot and priest. Ordinary priests.

farthing politicians, who flatter the priest to get the
votes of the people he rides ! And until the power of
the priest over the people is broken — until thus the
strong motive is removed from despots for protecting
and paying the priest, I see no hope for the nations
now bowed down under the double yoke of despotism
and Romanism. As long as the vigilant police of Pop-
ery can be sustained by a despot among a people that
will submit to it, for the freedom of that people there
is no earthly hope. To be free, the despot and the
priest must go up into the air, or sink down into the
pit together ! Hence, unless I greatly misinterpret the
feelings of Papal Europe, and the signs of the times,
the next war south, or even north of the Alps, will be
a terrible one for the priests. " The watchmen of des-
potism" will be the very first victims ; as far as they
are concerned, it will be a war to the knife. They
have soA\Ti the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind.
And it is astonishing to what a degree the ordinary
priests partake of the spirit of the system, and act the
despot within the bounds of their little parishes. Even
in this free country, much of our emigrant population
suffers under their despotism ; and, although free to
think and to act for themselves under our laws, they
stand in terror of " the higher law" of the priest. I
have known the life of a poor servant girl to be threat-
ened by her own immediate relatives for becoming a
Protestant, and since I commenced AATiting this letter,
another has told me that her own mother threatened to
shoot her dead because she has attached herself to a
Methodist Church ! So horrible is the system that,
when it takes hold of an ignorant mind, it extinguishe>.

kirwan's letters. ' 187

Priests promote violence. A widow. Common thing.

even natural affection ! And, if not exhorters to these
brutal exhibitions of superstitious passion, the priests
are no check to them. In many portions of the world,
they excite to them by exhortation and example.

Not many months ago, a poor Irish widow, with
eight or nine children, came to me to secure service for
one of them. They all looked healthy, but not one of
them knew a letter of the alphabet. " How came
you," said I, "to bring up these children in such gross
ignorance ?" Her reply astounded me. " I lived," said
she, '' in Ireland, between two small towns, in each of
which was a good Protestant school, and I wanted to
send my children to them, but the priest said if I did,
that he would curse me from the altar ; and then no-
body would speak to me ; and they might kill me and
my children." And the least acquaintance with the
cruel despotism of the priests in the south and west of
Ireland, will satisfy any body that this is only a favor-
able illustration of their general conduct. I have re-
cently passed through the north, west, and eastern por-
tions of that unhappy country, and I have learned
things as to their conduct to their people which should
brand them with the brand of infamy as indelibly as
ever was Cain.

Why, Sir, it is no uncommon thing for these '' sur-
pliced ruffians," as they are called by the London
Times, to go to a school collected by the philanthropy
and supported by the charity of a few Protestant ladies,
and to break it up by cowhiding all its pupils. This
is a very common occurrence. The daughter of an
old mamstrate residinG^ near Ballinrobe collected a
school, in which they daily taught the children of the

188 kirwan's letters.

A whipping scene. Crazed by a curse. Raving.

poor. The priest entered it a few months ago, and
asked if the children were taught to read with a view
of reading the Bihle. On heing informed that they
were, he whipped every child out of the house. The
priest denounced from the altar a school under the care
of the lady of the High Sheriff of G-alway, and whipped
a respectable old man out of the chapel for permitting
his children to go to it. These Bihle haters are often
seen flogging poor ignorant mothers in the streets and
roads for permitting their children to go to other than a
Papist school, and when no such school is within their
reach !

One of these Irish priests residing at Ballahadireen,
a few years since, had a quarrel with one of his poor
parishioners ; in this quarrel, the wife of the man sided
with her husband, like a noble-minded and honest
woman. Seeing her in church one day, the priest
cursed her from the altar. Her reverence for the
priest, and her superstitious faith in his ghostly power,
gave to the curse an awiul effect. From that hour she
has been a crazed maniac. She yet lives to testify to
the power of the priestly curse over an ignorant people ;
and as she meets her neighbors, she thus addresses
them : "I have lost my soul ; when the priest cursed
me, I felt my head open, and my soul flew away. I
have been seeking it ever since, but have not been able
to find it. 0, will you not help me to find my soul."

To illustrate the priesfs curse, and to show you its
terrific power over a Popish people, permit me to nar-
rate a case. There lived in the glens of Antrim a plain
country farmer, who, with a few acres of land, rented
a mill. He was well versed in the Irish language, and

kirwan's letters. 189

%rhe Antrim miller. Bell, book, and candle. The effect.

was employed as a reader to his neighbors of the Irish
Bible. He was a Papist. The priest sought to dis-
suade him from the blessed work, but he would not be
dissuaded. He threatened him ; but he disregarded
his threatenings. He then announced that, unless he
desisted from reading to his poor neighbors the Word
of Grod, on a certain Sabbath he would curse him from
the altar, with "bell, book, and candle." But the rav-
ings of the priest were disregarded by the honest man,
who had now learned to fear Grod, and to fear nothing:
else. On the eighteenth of August, 1844, the curse
was pronounced by the Rev. Luke Walsh, priest of
Culfeightrin, upon Charles M'Laughlin, and two others
that he had associated with him, as follows : " My
curse and Grod's curse on Charles M'Lausfhlin, Huffh
Shields, and John M'Cay, and on all who shall hold
any communion with them, or eat at the same table,
or work in the same field with them." Then the bell
was rung, the book was closed, and the candles on the
altar were extinguished. This completed the fearful
cui-se. And thus these men, with their families, were
excluded from the society, the business, the charities
of the earth, and consigned to eternal perdition, for the
sin of reading the Scriptures to their neighbors, and by
a man professing to be a minister of the Lord Jesus
Christ ! !

And what was the effect of this curse as to the chief
offender, M'Laughlin ? No person dared bring corn to
his mill ; he was shunned in the streets as if a leper ;
none would buy of him, or sell to him ; his children
were beaten in the streets ; and on approaching a
wagon in a market town to buy some meal for his

190 ....,.....>

KIR WANS LETTERS.

Fearful state. Father Walshes multiplied.

family, the owner fled from his wagon and his meal,
as if an escaped spirit from the pit were approaching
him ! And, were it not for the protection of some
Protestants in the place, he must have fled from the
home of his ancestors, or have fallen beneath the blow
of the murderer, who, in taking his life, would feel
that he was serving God ; and that if he sinned, he
could easily procure a pardon from Father Walsh. The
priest was brought to trial for damages, and was sen-
tenced to a fine of ^70, with costs ; and the above
facts are taken from the report of the trial now before
me. I believe this " surpliced ruffian," Walsh, is yet
alive ; I know M'Laughlin is, and that he is an hum-
ble Christian, laboriously and successfully engaged in
the prosecution of the work of missions among the Pa-
pal Irish that are swarming in the Cowgate and around
the Grrass Market in Edinburgh. I had the pleasure
of visiting one of his stations in that city, and found
him surrounded with many, once Papists, but who were
brought to the saving knowledge of Christ by the read-
ing of the Bible. Now, Sir, conceive of three or four
thousand of these Father Walshes scattered all over
Ireland — the watchmen of despotism in every parish ;
finding out family secrets at the confessional ; putting
out every light that would expose their wickedness ;
when neither coaxing nor threats will win men to their
will, thus cursing them from the altar ; and then, if
you can, conceive of the fact that eight out of every
ten of all its inhabitants believe that these priests are
the vicegerents of G-od ; that they do all they do by
the authority of Heaven, and you will not wonder that
Ireland is what it is, nor that its people, who are

kirwan's letters. 191

Bad effects of priests. Their two masters.

swarming upon our shores, are what they are. Their
deep ignorance, their low vices, their unbridled pas-
sions, their low civilization, their squalid poverty, are
all, all the results of the despotism of priests, many of
whom are the most ferocious, vicious, profane, and rol-
licking wretches in the country. They care not for
the government of the land ; strong in the superstitious
reverence of the masses, they put it to defiance. They
care not for the rights of landlords who are not sub-
servient to them ; many of them have fallen at noon-
day on their own estates, because of a hint from the
altar in the way of a question like this : " Should such
men live ?" They care not for the people, only so far
as to keep the yoke of bondage on their neck. The
people may do what else they desire if they will not
send their children to Protestant schools, nor read the
Bible, nor become Protestants. These men, who every
where look as if they far preferred prescribing to prac-
ticing penance, have but two masters, the Pope and
their belly. To these they yield implicit obedience ;
blessing all that promote, and cursing all that oppose
these masters. 0, Sir, are these Father "Walshes the
men for America ? If we encourage these mission-
aries of barbarism in our free land until they obtain
the preponderance they desire, we will deserve to be
treated as was Satan by St. Dunstan, who led him
about by the nose with a red-hot pincers ; or to be
ranked with the devout donkey of St. Anthony of Pad-
ua, who, after three days' fasting, left his provender to
worship the Host.

With great respect, yours.

192 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Visit to Ballenglen school

LETTER XXL

Ballenglen. — An Incident. — Persecution of Converts. — Thrilling Fanat-
icism at a Funeral. — The Way the Priests get Money. — An Incident.
— Cursing from the Altar. — Hard Case of Donovan. — Doing Penance
in Sheets. — Priests' Pov^'er giving Way. — Anecdote of a Girl. — The
Milkman. — Taking the Bull by the Horns. — The Curse of Ireland.

My dear Sir, — Even at the risk of taxing your pa-
tience and that of my readers, I will again return to
the conduct of Papal priests toward the Papal popula-
tion of Ireland. I do so for various reasons : to excite
a feeling of compassion in the bosom of all Americans
toward its swarming emigrants weekly landed on our
shores ; to expose the priests and their religion to the
world ; to encourage Popish emigrants here to assert
their independence, where there is no priestly power to
strike them down ; and to place before you and all our
people what blessings we may reasonably expect from
the many priests sent from " the island of saints,"
trained and drilled in Maynooth to guard our institu-
tions, to enlighten and Christianize us.

In company with Dr. Edgar, and of Dr. Andrews, of
Queen's College, Belfast, and of Mr. Allen, of Ballina,
names not unknown in Ireland, or Britain, or America,
I visited the Scotch Mission School in Ballenglen. It
was deeply interesting to see there upward of a hund-
red children, neatly dressed, under pious and compe-
tent teachers, taught " to learn and to earn," and, with

LETTERS. 193

The girl and priest. A motiier. What can we do ?

few exceptions, collected from the surrounding huts of
the Papal peasantry. " Do you see that girl on the
upper seat, about twenty-one or two years of age ?"
said the noble Scotch lady at the head of the female
department to me. I looked, and replied in the affirm-
ative. " That girl," she continued, " has been here but
a few weeks. She came here not knowing a letter,
and scarcely any thing else. She is learning rapidly,
and can now earn two or three shillings a week with
her needle, and can do considerable for the support of
her family. When going home from school yesterday,
the priest met her at the road, and sought to horsewhip
her for coming here, but she outran him. She told
her grievance to her mother, who sided with the priest,
and expressed her sorrow that he did not catch her ;
and yet she returned here this morning, but without
sleeping a wink, or eating a mouthful since she left
here yesterday afternoon." Amazed at the statement,
I asked if there was no redress against such priestly
barbarity. " What can we do ?" was the reply, " We
may indict them, but then nobody will peril their life
by testifying agamst them ; nor can you get a jury, on
which there is a single Catholic, to convict them. A
priest not long ago was indicted for flogging a woman
terribly, and yet, when called to witness against him,
she testified that ' his reverence did not hurt her at
all.' " xA.nd this is but an illustration of what is now
of daily occurrence in almost every portion of Ireland.
Until within a few years, it was at the risk of his
life that any of the peasantry dared to leave the priest
for the minister. The fury of the priest excited the
people to fury, and the poor convert was every where

I

194 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

A discrace. Broken ties. A sister's love.

an unsheltered, unpitied object of abuse, contempt, and
violence. Even the mother cast out the child from
the sanctuary of her heart, and mourned over the con-
version of her child to Grod as a deep, dark disgrace to
her family. Hear a boy tell of the ties through which
one must break when he deserts the religion of the
priest :

" 0 pity the state of a poor Irish youth,
Whose heart has been touched with a love of the truth ;
By father and mother renounced and forgot,
Should he dare to be that which the priest bids him not.
Should he open the Book which to sinners was given,
To try to make out the right way to heaven,
The eyes will look cold that smiled on him before.
And hearts that once loved him will love him no more."

And within a few weeks the constabulary force of
the diocese of Tuam, over which the vulgar and sav-
age M'Hale presides, has been greatly increased, for
the purpose of keeping the peace, which has been great-
ly disturbed by attacks of the mob, stimulated by the
priests, upon converts from Romanism.

It is impossible to make Protestants in America, or
even Papists who have been born here, to understand
the deep degradation to which the priests have reduced
the native Irish, or the extent to which they have
steeped them in the miost gross superstition. Ponder
the following statements selected from a little pam-
phlet, entitled " The Trials and Triumphs of Irish Mis-
sions," by Dr. John Edgar.

" At the burial of a convert, his sister hastily gath-
ered in her apron their parents' bones, and buried them
in another part of the church-yard, lest they should be
polluted by the cursed remains of an impenitent heretic."

LETTERS. 195

Burial of a convert. The way to catch herring.

'' At the burial of a convert who died of hardships
endured in shipwreck, his sisters created a great dis-
turbance by their desperate efforts to have him buried
as a Romanist ; and some idea may be formed of the
excitement created among the Romish .crowd, when
one sister sung to the wild Irish cry,

*' ' O would that thy grave were made under the billow,
And would that the wild shark himself were thy pillow,
Than thus on the bed in thy senses to lie,
And our Church and her priesthood so boldly defy !'

^' And the second sister, taking up the plaintive wail,
sang,

" ' O Donagh ! Donagh ! can it be,

And hast thou left us so.
The gem, the flower of all thy race,

With heretics to go ?
We lay thee m thy father's grave,

Beneath thy mother's head.
No parson o'er thee e'er shall pray,

No Bible e'er be read.'

" In the native Irish grave-yards the latest-buried
coffin is put under the others." This explains a clause
in the above wail.

" How very largely must a Romish priest draw on
the superstition of his victim when he demands a fee
for saying mass to drive away vermin, or for cutting
the sign of the cross to cure a vicious mule. During
the famine priests trafficked to an enormous extent on
the gullibility of their people by blessing salt, for hire,
as a cure for the disease of the potato. Half a dozen
of crews are paying them at the same time for saying
mass over their boats ; and for five or six pounds they
make a bargain with the people alongshore to bring
an abundance of herring or mackerel into the bay.

196 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

An awful oath. The effect An altar curse.

" 0 what would not Ireland he if the power of the
priests was employed for good, as, alas, it is for ill ! A
man-servant in a highly respectable family, being ap-
parently near his death, sent for a priest, who refused
to administer ' the last rites' until he would bind him-
self by an oath, in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Grhost, that he would never listen to the
Bible again. He refused, and the priest left him. On
this a fellow-servant rushed into the room, and so placed
before him the horrors of damnation if he died without
the rites of the Church, that he took the awful oath.
Unexpectedly, he recovered, and he still lives, with the
vow to resist all Scriptural instruction on his soul.
"When asked whether he did not know that the Bible
w^as the word of Grod, he replied that he knew it well,
but that he knew also that he would receive only the
burial of a dog if he died without the blessing of the
priest."

And can we wonder at the ignorance, the supersti-
tion, the poverty, the servility of the peasantry of Ire-
land that are landed on our shores, when they and their
fathers have been crushed for ages under a spu'itual
despotism like this ?

I have given one instance in illustration of the priest-
ly curse from the altar. I select another from the lit-
tle pamphlet before me. A poor woman sent her chil-
dren to a Protestant school, and, on the trial of the
priest for cursing her, a witness thus testified under
oath: "The priest put on a black dress; the clerk
quenched all the candles but one, and that one the
priest put out, saying, ' So the light of heaven is quench-
ed upon her soul.' He then shut the book and said,

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 197

The cursed woman. Father O'Brien.

* The gates of heaven are shut against her.' Her neigh-
bors immediately withdrew all intercourse from her.
Shop-keepers refused to sell her even a bit of bread.
All her children but one were included in the curse ;
her husband forsook her ; and, had she not been taken
into the house of a kind Protestant, she must have per-
ished when on the eve of giving birth to a child, which
the priest had also cursed, for he cursed the fruit of
her womb !"

Now, Sir, with priests of this infernal character
swarming in every part of Ireland, making here a
" sick call" for a shilling — there "giving a communion"
for two and sixpence — there saying mass for five shil-
lings— there baptising for sums varying from two to
twenty shillings ; marrying sometimes for twenty shil-
lings and sometimes for twenty pounds ; and every
where carrying on a war to the knife against the Bible,
and all its free, ennobling, and elevating influences,
can you, can any man wonder that Ireland is so low
in the scale of civilization — that its people are so poor,
ignorant, and superstitious — that its sons and daughters
in all the lands whither they wander are hewers of
wood and drawers of water ?

As illustrating the terrible tyranny of these " sur-
pliced ruffians" as exercised in another way, permit me
to state another case which occurred a few years since.
A Rev. Mr. O'Brien, wishing to build a chapel in the
parish of Clonakilty, drew up a subscription paper, and
taxed his parishioners according to his estimate of their
means. A baker by the name of Donovan was marked
at sixteen shillings and threepence, which he paid. He
was again taxed nine shillings, which he also paid, but

198 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Poor Donovan. Priest inexorable. Penance in sheets.

under protest, because of his poverty. Soon a third de-
mand came for sixteen shillings more, which he refused
to pay. On the next Sabbath, as he was going to mass,
he was asked by the priest whether he would pay that
sixteen shillings or not. He replied, " I am not able."
The priest replied, " I will settle you." Terrified by
the remark, Donovan sent sixteen shillings by his wife
to the priest, who then refused to take less than two
guineas. On the following Sunday he cursed him from
the altar, and all those who refused or neglected to pay
what they were taxed. Donovan went on the next holi-
day to mass, where he was formally excommunicated,
and all were cursed who w^ould have any thing to do
with him. So terrible was the dread of this curse, that
he could not buy turf enough to heat his oven, nor
could he sell any of his stock. Reduced to despair, he
went in penance, in a white sheet, to the chapel, and
asked pardon of the priest and of Grod. The priest took
Him to his house and demanded the two guineas, but
ti- ■- 'heeted penitent told him he could not possibly
maLo it up. The excommunication was continued ;
the man was compelled to shut up shop, and was driven
to beggary. These facts were brought out in a trial for
damages before a jury in Cork, w^hich fined the rev-
erend rascal fifty pounds.

This thing of doing penance, by going to chapel
wrapped up in a white sheet, is quite a common affair
in some parts of Ireland. Sometimes whole families
are compelled to go thus dressed, to atone for the sins
of one member ; and when the sin has any squinting
toward Protestantism, the penance is increased by com-
pelling them to go barefooted and bareheaded. A fam-

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 199

The mortified maid. Her temper. Living protests.

ily in Mayo had thus to do penance for the sins of one
of their number. To the family belonged a young
woman, who, although advanced in years, had not
quite surrendered all hopes of matrimony. Her natural
hair, which was not so dark as it once was, she sought
to conceal by raven locks, which gave her an appear-
ance quite youthful. But on the fated Sabbath her
borrowed locks had to be laid aside ; and she entered
the church sheeted, barefooted, and, sad to narrate,
bareheaded ! Her gray hair, and short and thin at
that, revealed her years, and gave her hopes of matri-
mony to the winds. She yet lives, but has never for-
given the priest the double injury which he inflicted on
her, to uncover her gray hairs and destroy her market.
Although a good Papist, it is rumored that she raves
at his reverence whenever she thinks of the exposure
of her thin gray hairs on that penitential Sunday. I
^ve you the story as I received it from a sympathizing
acquaintance of the deeply-injured spinster.

0, Sir, there is not a poor, ignorant, half-clad Irish
Papist, man or woman, that comes to these shores, that
is not sent here by Providence to be a protest against
Romanism, and a witness against its mercenary and
ruffian priests, and to warn us as a nation against a
system which only blights, to the extent of its influ-
ence, all the interests of humanity. Nations recover
from the wasting influences of war, famine, and pesti-
lence ; but for the people who wear and will bear the
yoke of Romanism, there is no recovery.

But, Sir, it is pleasant to know that, even in Ire-
land, the people are beginning to see, and rightly to
estimate this horrible despotism, and to assert their

200 kirwan's letters.

The wand broken. The Kerry girl. The milkman.

rights, even amid the dangers that threatened them
when cursed and excommunicated from the altar. The
wand of the priest is broken ; and the peasant that once
cowered before him as a chicken before a hawk, or as
a lamb before a wolf, now dares to resist him to his face.
The gentry that once feared him, because of his fear-
ful power over their tenants, are beginning to treat him
as he deserves. In spite of his altar curses, children are
sent to school — in spite of his anathemas, the people by
hundreds and thousands read the Bible and believe it,
and are passing over to swell the ranks of Protestant-
ism. Some amusing anecdotes are every where told in
illustration of all this. " Do you pray to the Virgin
Mary ?" said a priest to a bright-eyed Kerry girl, the
daughter of one of his parishioners, that he met near a
schoolhouse with a Bible in her hand. " No, your rever-
ence ; and why should I ?" was the reply. " Because
she knows all things, and will hear and answer your
prq,yers," said the priest. Quick as a flash, the girl re-
plied, " Now it is singular, your reverence, that if she
knows all things, that she did not know where her Son
was when he was missed from the company that was
returning from Jerusalem to Galilee ; and see, here is
the place," handing him the Bible, and pointing him
to the second chapter of Luke. And he rode away, no
doubt cursing the Bible, the girl, and the school in his
heart.

An Irish milkman commenced reading the Bible ;
his priest heard of it, and was soon at his house. "■ I
am informed that you read the Bible, John," said he ;
^' is my information correct ?" " Sure it is thrue, plase
your reverence ! and a fine book it is," said John. " But

LETTERS. 201

The colloquy. Milks his own cow.

you know it is very wrong to read the Scriptures, and
that an ignorant man like you has no right to do so,"
said the priest. " But you must be afther provin' that
same before I can consint to lave it off," said Jolin.
The colloquy then proceeded as follows :

Priest. " That I will soon do ; I will prove it from
the book itself." And, taking the Bible, he read this
passage, from 1 Peter, ii., 2: "As new-born babes, de-
sire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow
thereby." " Here you see," said he, " that you are
wrong to read the Scriptures yourself; you are only a
babe, and you are enjoined to desire the sincere milk
of the Word ; one who really understands what the sin-
cere milk is, must give it to you, and teach you."

John. "Ah, but be aisy, your reverence, while I tell
you. A little time ago I was took ill ; I got a man to
milk my cows, and to attend on my business, and what
do you think he did ? Why, instead of giving me the
rale milk, he chated me by puttin' water in it ; and if
you get my Bible, you may serve me that same. No,
no, I will keep my cow, and milk it myself, when I can
get the sincere milk, and not, as I should from you,
mixed with water."

Priest. "Well, John, I see that you are wiser than
I thought you were ; and as you are not quite a babe,
keep your Bible, but don't lend it, or read it to your
neighbors."

John. " Sure enough, your reverence, while I have
a cow, and can give a little milk to my poor neighbors
who have none, I feel it my duty to do so, as a Chris-
tian, and, saving your reverence, I will."

Wliat became of the milkman, the little pamphlet,

12

202 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

An incident Harrowing at midnight. Clogher.

" Ireland, its Curse and Cure," from which I quote the
incident, does not state ; but it suggests that he was
probably cursed with "bell, book, and candle," as was
another man for the same offense, and upon whom it
fell most heavily. He had a little field from which he
made a living. It was plowed and sown ; but the curse
of the priest would allow no person to hire him a horse
to harrow it. And, at dead of night, he was compelled
to yoke himself and wife to the harrow, and thus to
cover his seed ! ! And with such priests of barbarism
swarming in the island, and thus every where govern-
ing and grinding the people, is it any wonder that the
emigrants from Ireland are as ignorant and supersti-
tious as we find them ? They deserve our pity and com-
miseration ; and the scorn and contempt with which
they are often visited, should be poured upon the re-
ligion and its priests, which have been, and are, the
chief causes of thek degradation.

To show you the manner in which the gentry, so
many of whom have fallen victims to curses from the
altar, begin to treat the priests, permit me to narrate a
circumstance. There resides at Clogher a family by
the name of Holmes. The present head of the family,
a large proprietor and humane, was denounced, and, to
save his life, he fled to Dublin. The outrage became
known to a younger brother in the army, who was
greatly excited by it. He hastened home from Lon-
don, and, on the eve of a feast-day, called on the priest,
and requested him to ask the people, after mass on the
succeeding day, to remain behind in the chapel, as he
had something to say to them, to which he assented.
Suspecting something, however, the priest commenced

kirwan's letters. 203

A young hero. A fine speech. Priest struck dumb.

mass earlier than usual — hastened through it — and
when young Holmes came to chapel, the people were
dismissed. He invited them back to the chapel, and
sent for the priest ; but the messengers could not find
him. '' I will find him," said he; and left the chapel,
but soon returned with his reverence. With the priest
by his side, he thus addressed the people from one of
the steps of the altar. "My fathers have long resided
in this place, and have they not always been the kind
friends of your fathers ?" " Yes, yes, your honor," re-
sounded from all parts of the chapel. " My brother has
succeeded to the estates here, and has he not always
been a kind landlord ?" The same reply echoed from
every part of the house. "And now what is the re-
ward for all his, and all our fathers' kindnesses, which
you are about to give him ? There are those eating at
your tables, sleeping in your beds, and sheltered in your
houses, who are pledged to murder him ; and, to save
his life, he has had to leave the home of his birth. He
will return in a few days ; and I stand here before you,
to warn you, that if my brother goes down to the grave
a murdered man, there is one man in this parish that
will soon follow him, and that man is this priest, who
has denounced him from this altar." He turned round
and looked the priest full in the face, who cowered be-
fore him. He left the chapel, the people making way
for him, without insult or molestation. His brother
returned in a few days to his family and to his home,
where he resides at the present hour, as safe a man
from assassination as there is in Ireland, as long as that
priest and his brother live ! I was entertained at the
hospitable house of Clogher, and stood on the altar step

204 kirwan's letters.

Cure for curses. Cure for Ireland.

on which that young Holmes stood, when, by his bold
and manly bearing, he struck with a salutary terror
the priest and his parishioners ! As a sense of guilt
always renders men cowardly, denunciations of land-
lords from the altar have greatly diminished since the
hero of Clogher taught them how to put a stop to them.
Romanism and its priests have been, and now are,
the curse of Ireland ; and the only cure for Ireland lies in
their removal. And can the curse of Ireland be a bless-
ing to any land ? Can it be, Sir, a blessing to Amer-
ica ? Are these Father "Walshes and Father O'Briens,
these reverend and right reverend altar-cursing " watch-
men of despotism," the men to^ Christianize and civil-
ize Americans — the men to teach our people the Gos-
pel of Christ, and the true way to heaven ? From these
ministers of barbarism and missionaries of darkness,
may the Lord deliver us and our posterity !

With great respect, yours.

kirwan's letters. 205

Generation of vipers. Priests get money.

LETTER XXII.

Deceivings of Priests. — Nunneries. — Taking the Vail. — Stories about
Luther and Calvin. — Case of poor Bruley. — The Vaudois Monsters.
—Bridge of Purgatory broken. — Father O'Flanagan. — Why these de-
ceivings?— Priests deserve Purgatory.

My dear Sir, — You can readily glean, from my pre-
ceding letters, my estimate of the general character of
Papal priests. While there are exceptions to the rule,
yet I helieve, as a rule, that they are, like the Phari-
sees of old, " a generation of vipers ;" that, as a class,
they are dishonest traffickers in the souls of men. The
trade of a priest, and especially when a priest becomes
a bishop or an archbishop, is an exceedingly lucrative
one. What may not a priest squeeze from a people
whom he makes believe that he carries in his pocket
the keys of heaven and hell, and that he can, at pleas-
ure, admit them to the bliss of the one, or shut them
up amid the eternal miseries of the other ? And hence
it is that these men so easily draw gold from the cof-
fers of the rich, and extract silver and coppers even
from the rags of the most wretched beggars. What
will not a man give to save his soul ? And all their
worldly interests are involved in keeping up their de-
lusions, and in keeping their people from contact with
every thing that would in the least degree tend to dis-
sipate them. And it is to their ways of blinding and
deluding the people, so as to stimulate their faith, and

206 kirwan's letters.

Ways of deluding. Nuns. Nunneries. Taking the vaiL

to protect their frauds and deceivings from exposure,
that I ask your attention in the present letter. Is
there a thing peculiar to Popery which is not intended
to delude ?

How much Popery makes of nuns and nunneries, to
fire the imagination of young, romantic girls, and to in-
duce them to seek seclusion from the world within
monastic walls ! The abbess is a lady of rank, beauty,
and exquisite taste ! The nuns are all damsels of
beautiful face and form, the history of each marked by
some romantic incidents which strongly excite our in-
terest. And then the sacred inclosure is such a charm-
ing spot in which to cultivate holiness, and where hap-
piness is enjoyed by every inmate, but little below that
of paradise itself ! And then the pomp, show, and cer-
emony of " taking the vail" are so arranged as to exalt
the heroism and piety of the maiden that takes it, and
as, if possible, to induce other maidens to do likewise.
How the true history of any existing nunnery would
give all these delusions to the winds — would prove
them to be the prisons of confiding girls — the houses
of refuge for delinquent or disappointed lasses, or for
daughters fleeing fi*om domestic tyranny — and their
parlors to be the lounging-places of immaculate priests !
And how a true narrative of those "taking the vail,"
would dissipate all romance concerning them !

Seymour, to whose " Pilgi'image" I have already al-
luded, gives a very funny account of a " taking the
vail," witnessed by him in Rome. It was in January.
On approaching the monastery, the street, and vesti-
bule, and church w^ere strewed with flowers. The
high altar was loaded with artificial flowers. The car-

LETTERS. 207

Elegant dress. Jeweled servant. Clothes every thing.

dinal- vicar took his seat ; soon the Princess Borghese
entered, leading a beautiful female, and presented her
to the cardinal. Her beautiful chestnut-colored tresses
fell like a vail around her ; her dress was white satin,
riclily damasked in gold ; • on her head glittered a
crown of diamonds ; her neck was covered with pre-
cious stones, flashing through her ringlets ; her breast
was gemmed with brilliants, set off by black velvet ;
so that she sparkled and blazed in all the magnificence
of the richest jewels in Rome I All took her, of course,
to be a youthful princess of vast wealth, renouncing the
world for the cloister ! And yet this beautiful young
woman was only a servant, and the daughter of a serv-
ant, of the Borghese family ; that splendid hair was
only a wig ; the jewelry belonged to her mistress, who
took that occasion to display it ; and the sweet, lovely-
looking girl in her dress, when divested of her robes,
was a vulgar, clmnsy, and unlettered old maid of forty !
And such are usually the nuns of Popery. And the
whole scene was gotten up to gratify the vanity of the
woman who wished to display her jewels, and to induce
those not behind the curtain to believe that another rich
heiress of a noble house had renounced the vanities of
the world for the seclusion of a cloister !

And this is only a specimen of the way and manner
in which priests delude the people every where I Take
away the clothes in which they dress their miummery,
and it would be only revolting. Gro, Sir, on Christ-
mas day, or any high day, into your cathedral, and,
after blowing out all the candles, and sending the boys
with censers and incense to their seats, and taking off
the robes of the priests, and putting to silence the pro-

208

LETTERS.

Barren foolery. A corpse dressed. Pudiculous stories.

fessional singers, cause the priests to go through a high
mass ! Why, Sir, you would laugh at the barren fool-
ery ; and " the awful, mysterious, and holy ceremony
of the mass" would appear to you just as attractive as
did the withering old maid, who was made a nun, to
Seymour, when divested of her robes, her crown, and
her jewels. Romanism is a corpse, and its ceremonies
and canonicals are dresses put on to hide its putres-
cence, and to induce belief in the vulgar that it is a
living body. Sure am I that if any sensible mother
would find her children, at the close of a summer's day,
going through the senseless rounds through which I
have seen about twenty cardinals go, dressed in their
scarlet skullcaps and robes, at vespers in the Sistine,
she would be disposed to whip them and send them to
bed.

To deceive and delude their people it is that priests
and monks have fabricated the most false and ridicu-
lous stories about the great and good men that have led
on the blessed Reformation, and that have achieved the
civil and religious liberty which we enjoy. If they have
made their own adherents demigods, they have made
the reformers demons. Who is ignorant of the Popish
narratives of Luther's conferences with Satan — of the
diabolical agencies which he wielded — and of his soul,
on his death, flying away, leaving something like a
smell of brimstone behind it ? The monkish legends
of the days of Luther are as fall of stories to prove his
Satanism, as is the life of St. Patrick of ridiculous mir-
acles to prove his sanctity. And down to the present
day an ignorant Papist will turn away horrified fi'om
the name of Luther, as it is said a demon will turn

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 209

Calvin. Poor Bruley. Mrs. Bruley.

away from the sign of the cross, or from a sprinkling
of holy salt or of water.

And similar stories are fabricated and circulated
about the scholar and logician of the Reformation, the
ofreat Calvin. Here is the substance of a comment on
Exodus, vii., 11, taken from the Douay Bible, printed
in 1635, as quoted entire by Capper. Calvin, by words
and money, persuaded a man in Greneva, by the name
of Bruley, to feign himself dead, in order that, by a kind
of Popish exorcism or fraud, he might bring him to life.
But, alas for poor Bruley ! when he feigned to be dead,
he absolutely died, and by a direct visitation of Provi-
dence I And all Calvin's efforts could not restore breath
to his body ! 0, if the reformer had only a toe-nail of
St. Anthony, or an old tooth of St. Dominic, or some
shreds from the garments, or some parings from the
nails of some of the holy martyrs or virgins, poor Bru-
ley might have lived again ! G-ood Mrs. Bruley con-
sented to the agreement ; but when she found that
Calvin could not restore her husband, she was in a vi-
olent passion, and called him a false apostle, and " a
secret theefe, and a wicked murderer that had killed
her husband," so that all G-eneva knew, on the testi-
mony of the hysterical Mrs. Bruley, that Calvin killed
Bruley, but could not restore him to life ! And stories
like these against the reformers, and the great and good
men who have opposed Popery, are scarcely less nu-
merous than are the miracles of Mary and Bambino.
And all for the sake of prejudicing the vulgar mind
against their character and writings.

You, Sir, can not be ignorant of the history of the
Vaudois or Waldensians, who kept the light of truth

210 kirwan's letters.

Waldensians. Prince's visit. Horrible lie.

burning for so many ages in the valleys of Piedmont,
when it had gone out in nearly all the earth besides !
Their history is a thrilling one, and is full of blood — of
blood shed by Romish priests, and by orders from the
Vatican. And the question arises how or why the
house of Savoy could turn its arms so long and so cru-
elly against a people so loyal, so moral, and so unof-
fending ? It was because of the horrid representations
made by Popish priests to the court. On a certain oc-
casion, a prince of Savoy determined on a journey
among the valleys of this wonderful people, of whom
the burning bush, as seen by Moses, was a fit emblem.
Standing by the first Yaudois house to which he came,
he saw a fine, healthy, well-formed boy, whose appear-
ance excited his astonishment. He sent for the pa-
rents, who, with their other children, came around him.
His astonishment increased. He spoke with them,
and found them intelligent, well informed, and loyal.
"And are all your people formed like you?" said the
prince to the peasant. " Yes, all," was the reply.
He made them open their mouths, that he might see
their teeth, when there was an increase of his wonder.
" How is this ?" said he, turning to his attendants ;
" we have been always informed by our priests that
these people were monsters — that they had but one
eye, which was in the middle of their foreheads — and
that they had double rows of teeth ; and, instead of
finding them the horrible creatures which we have been
informed they were, we find them in form, and fash-
ion, and mind like ourselves."

Here, Sir, is the secret of the barbarity of the prin-
ces of Savoy to the Waldensian people. That people

kirwan's letters. 211

Priest's revenge. Harpies. Cry of bJood.

refused to bow their necks to the Papal yoke ; they
would not surrender the Bible for the Missal ; with
hearts as firm as the towering Alps, amid whose val-
leys they reside, they resisted every effort to induce
them to surrender their ancient faith ; and hence the
baffled priests represented them as monsters — as the
descendants, perhaps, of the Harpies, so intolerably dis-
gusting, as sung by Virgil. Nor have I a doubt but
that the princes who sent their armies into those peace-
ful valleys, with orders to spare neither age nor sex,
were deluded by wicked priests into the belief that
they were seeking to extirpate a race of monsters from
the earth, instead of slaughtering a race of Christians,
as simple, as pious, as harmless, as steadfast, as heroic
as any which the world has ever known. And as I
recently wandered along the banks of the Po, whose
waters were once crimsoned with the blood of slauofh-
tered "Waldensians, and rode along the valleys through
which the minions of the Pope so often carried fije and
sword, I almost imagined that I could hear the blood
of the slain crying to Heaven, and saying,

" Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ;
Even those who kept thy truth so pure of old,

When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones.

Forget not — in thy book record their groans —
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold,
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks."

Nor, Sir, has this method of deluding the people been
surrendered by the priests. It is practiced, where it
can be, in all shapes and forms in our own day. " I
was traveling up to our valleys in my char-a-banc,"

212 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Pastor's ride. Priest's duty. Father confessors.

said the interesting Vaudois pastor of Turin to me,
" and took in a plain man that I overtook on the way.
I soon found that he was a Papist. After some con-
versation, he asked me where I was going ? I told
him I was going on a visit to our people. He asked
me if I was a Waldensian ; and on telling him that I
was, he eyed me from head to foot with astonishment.
Seeing no deadly weapons ahout me, and as I treated
him in the kindest manner, he hecame somewhat com-
posed ; hut he finally left my carriage, preferring to
walk rather than to continue in so doubtful, if not dan-
gerous a position as that of riding with a leader among
a people respecting whom the priests told him so many
monstrous stories." Indeed, one of the chief duties of
the priests is to sow jealousies and hatred among their
people toward all who are not Papists. To what an
awful extent this is carried in Ireland, where, until re-
cently, the Papist regarded the Protestant as his deadly
enemy I See how Protestant ministers are denounced,
and Protestant hooks forbidden, and Protestant schools
abandoned — see how, even in our free and happy land,
the priests teach their people to look upon every thing
Protestant as white with leprosy. How soon do our
Protestants see, in the altered demeanor of their serv-
ants, the bad influences of those " father confessors,"
who go prowling after silly Irish men and women
through the country, scaring them up to confess their
sins, and to pay for the privilege !

Nor are even their own people exempt from the de-
ceivings of the priests, who feel that they have a divine
warrant to fleece their flocks as they can, and to par-
don one another when they sin. I will not vouch for

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 213

The beer man. Bridge of Purgatory. A dinner party.

the truth of the following story, but I will give it to
you just as I received it from the lips of one of the
most honored and eloquent ministers of Britain, whose
name is known and revered on both sides of the At-
lantic. He asserted its entire truth. There lived a
poor man, in one of the cities of Britain, who made his
support by selling beer. He was honest, and punctual
in his payments, and won the entire confidence of the
brewer. He died ; and, as the priest stated, his soul
went to Purgatory. His widow carried on the busi-
ness, and sent for one barrel of beer after another, un-
til she was in debt to the brewer about one hundred
pounds. The brewer, who was a Papist, went to make
inquiry as to the cause of this large indebtedness. "And
have you not heard of the terrible accident that has
happened?" said the woman. ''What is it?" asked
the brewer. " The bridge of Purgatory is broken," was
the reply, " and it takes a deal of money to repair it ;
and Father O'Flanagan is very faithful in collecting
money to repair it, bless his soul ; and when the bridge
is finished, so that my poor husband can get across, then
I will strive to pay you all."

The brewer did not like to be thus swindled through
the priest, and laid his plans to get his money. He
made a large dinner party, to which he invited the bish-
op, several priests, among whom was Father O'Flan-
agan, and a few other friends. After the punch began
to work a little, he rung a bell, which was the signal
for the introduction of the widow from the beer-shop.
" Have you heard, your reverence," said the brewer to
the bishop, " of the awful accident that has occurred ?"
"Wliat is it?" said the bishop, with excited interest.

214 kirwan's letters.

Father O'Flanagan. A check. Purgatory profitable.

" Father O'Flanagan, will you tell the bishop about
the breaking down of the bridge of Purgatory ?" said
the brewer. Father O'Flanagan blushed, looked at the
woman, and then into his tumbler of punch, and was
silent. The fraud was revealed ; there was the poor
woman to prove its truth ; and the brewer declared
that unless the one hundred pounds were paid down,
he would expose the whole affair. The bishop gave
his check for the amount — the old beer- woman was
glad — the party broke up ; and the breaking of the
bridge of Purgatory cured the brewer of his Popery. I
confess to you. Sir, that the story seemed to me incred-
ible when I heard it, and I was for placing it on the
same shelf with the monkish stories about Luther and
Calvin ; but after seeing what I saw, and hearing what
I heard in Naples, Rome, Sardinia, and Ireland — after
a more extended acquaintance with the profligacy of
priests, their want of principle, and their love of money,
I see no reason, in the nature of things, to doubt the
story of the Rev. Father O'Flanagan. Sure I am that
the fiction of Purgatory is made to yield millions every
year to the priests, and in ways no more justifiable than
that adopted with the poor widow that sold beer.

Such are the ways and the manner in which the
priests of Romanism seek to deceive, to delude, and to
prejudice the minds of their people ; and all for the
base purpose of continuing their own bad dominion,
and of preventing the people from coming to the knowl-
edge of the truth. No Gospel truth is left unclouded
— no good man is left unabused— no good book is left
out of the Index — bonfires are made of Bibles — no seed
that can bear the fruit of discord is left unsown — fables

LETTERS. 215

Stop at nothing. Paaaing events. Man in the Almanac.

are manufactured without end — miracles are made to
order — history and philosophy are libeled — Bacon is
made a dunce — Luther a devil — and Cranmer a knave,
when required to keep the people in shackles, to oppose
the influence of Protestantism, or to make people pass
to heaven through the toll-gate of the priest. I have
just charity enough for them to believe that they will
stop at nothing that promotes their ends — that they will
respect no law of religion, humanity, or propriety that
will cross their path. This will seem to you, and to
many of my readers, very uncharitable ; but I appeal
to the history of Romanism in all lands for its correct-
ness. I appeal to the events now transpiring in Naples,
Rome, Florence, and Ireland, to sustain me. If you.
Sir, with your high reputation, should, on the perusal
of these letters, openly declare yourself Protestant, they
would serve you here, as they have done the Duke of
Norfolk in England on his recent renunciation of Pop-
ery. There is not a priest or a Protestant renegade
that can scribble a line, from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
that would not be out upon you ; and if they would not
transfix you, as is the man in the Almanac, into whom
the signs of the zodiac are pouring their arrows, it is
because, like Achilles, you were baptized in the Styx.
And why is it. Sir, that Papal priests resort to these
frauds and deceivings ? Why is it they seek to prej-
udice their people against all other people, and to sep-
arate them from all the humanizing influences of relig-
ious and social intercourse ? Why is it they prevent
their people from thinking — from examining for them-
selves truths and topics which demand our belief?
They know the feebleness of their position, and the

216 kirwan's letters.

Priests deserve Purgatory.

weakness of their cause ; and that, unless they hedge
up their people on all sides, their craft is gone.

I would not do these priests evil. Were it in my
power, I would convert them all. But if there is a class
of persons living that deserve a good long residence in
Purgatory, they are the men. And should they go
there, and should the bridge break down, I would not
give Father 0' Flanagan a penny to build it — at least
for one year.

With great respect, yours.

kirwan's letters. 217

Spirit of Romanism. Unchanged. Can not change.

LETTER XXII I.

Rome Intolerant. — Persecutions sanctioned. — Bishops sworn to per
secute — Deposed if they do not. — Wiseman's reply. — Proofs of lu
tolerance — Waldenses — Castelnau — Bezieres — Morland's Address
— St. Bartholomew — Edict of Nantes revoked — Irish Massacre of
1641 — other Evidences. — Two Skins.

My dear Sir, — I desire in the present letter to ask
your attention, and that of my readers, to the spirit
which Romanism cherishes and manifests toward all
who deny its claims and reject its dogmas. Unless I
mistake the character of your mind, you will agree
with me that it is only cruel in principle and in action.

But you will meet me at the threshold with the state-
ment that Romanism has greatly changed in these lat-
ter days, both in its principles and conduct. If so,
where is her infallibility ? If so, her main foundation
is gone. No, Sir ; her infallibility places her beyond
the reach of improvement, and stereotypes equally her
truth and her falsehood, her divinity and her demonism.
Nor will she thank you, or any body else, for excusing
her on the ground of a change of principle, as such an
excuse stultifies her boast, and subjects her pretensions
to the ridicule of all men. I admit that in this, and
m^^any countries of Europe, she can. not indulge her
ferocious spirit, or even openly avow her principles ;
but is forced quietness any evidence of a change of
principle ? Do you not know that opinions are often

K

218 kirwan's letters.

The inquisitor's heart. Principles. Church sanction.

cherished which can not he defended, and that a wick-
ed spirit often rages the more intensely hecause it can
not give vent to its fury ? I assure you that even
among ourselves the heart of an inquisitor lies conceal-
ed under the long coat of many an imported priest ;
and that, should cncumstances permit, we would have
our Dominies and Torquemadas in New York as in
Rome, in Baltimore as in Seville, and on the hanks of
the Ohio and Mississippi as on the hanks of the Tagus
or the Duero. Because hurning stones are not shoot-
ing upward from its summit, and rivers of hurning lava
are not flowing down its sides, we must not conclude
that the internal fires of old Vesuvius are extinguished.

The vengeful and persecuting spirit which Rome has
exhihited is characteristic, and is founded on her prin-
ciples. This spirit has received the sanction of Popes
and councils, and is therefore among the things upon
which the Church has pronounced its infallihle decis-
ions. If Pius IX. pronounces against persecution, what
hecomes of the infallihility of Lucius III., who issued
a hull authorizing it and exhorting to it ? If a coun-
cil should now pronounce against persecution, what he-
comes of the infallihility of the famous Lateran Coun-
cil of 1215, or of the Council of Trent, or of the many
other councils that sanctioned it ? Indeed, the priest
that would assert that Romanism has changed her prin-
ciples on the suhject of persecution, would he sent hy
his hishop to Jericho until his heard or his hrains gi-ew.

This spirit of persecution is taught in the Canon Law
of the Church, which is made up of the decrees of
councils, the hulls and decretals of Popes, and the
writings of the Fathers — a law under which every Pa-

kirwan's letters. 219

Canon law. Bishop's oath. They keep it.

pist is placed, and which the officers of the Church are
hound to administer. And this law, as you must know,
is hased on the assumption that the Pope's authority
extends over all nominal Christians, and that none of
us, by any dissent, can place ourselves beyond his juris-
diction, or beyond the reach of this law ! So that all
of us who call ourselves Christians, and who submit
not to the Pope, are to be dealt with as heretics, and
in the way and fashion which this law prescribes ! And
as bishops are the chief police-officers of the Pope for
enforcing the Canon Law, and for inflicting its pains
and penalties, before they receive the mitre or the pal-
lium, made from the wool of holy sheep, they are
obliged to swear as follows : " Heretics, schismatics, or
rebels against our lord the Pope, or his successors, I
will persecute and fight against to the utmost of my
power." And lest an oath should be disregarded, it is
provided, "that if a bishop shall have been negligent
or remiss in purging his diocese of heretical pravity, as
soon as this is made apparent by sure evidence, he shall
be deposed from his episcopal office, and in his place
shall be substituted a fit person who will and can con-
found the heretical pravity." The effects of this oath,
and of this threat to keep up its remembrance, the
world knows. Bishops have been the butchers of here-
tics— that is, of Protestant Christians. To prove their
fidelity to their oath, and to retain their mitre upon
their brow, they have in cruelty out-Heroded Herod,
and out-Neroed Nero. They have stained all their gar-
ments in blood, and have pronounced the benedictions
of Heaven upon men who have shed the blood of their
fellow-men, and for no earthly reason but their rejec-

220 kirwan's letters.

Cardinal Wiseman. Veracity. How with our bishops.

tion of the frivolous, and contemptible, and unreason-
able dogmas of the priest.

To this oath, taken by bishops when receiving their
badges of office from their lord and master, some at-
tention has been recently excited in England. Cardi-
nal Wiseman has been catechized in reference to it ;
and although the policy of bishops is to answer no ques-
tions, yet he was so questioned as to compel a reply.
And what, think you, was his reply ? He did not deny
the taking of such an oath, for the oath itself could be
produced ; but he asserted that, when administered to
British bishops, the above clause was omitted ! The
veracity of Nicholas of Westminster on this point has
been called in question by some, but with that you and
I have little to do. If the fact is as he states, it is a
full admission that the clause is in the oath. And, if
possible, I should like you to find out whether the grace
extended to England by the Holy Apostolic See has
also been extended to us in this heretical land ; wheth-
er slippery John of New York, and the " Yery Rev. P.
R. Kenrick, Y. G-.," author of the wonderfully erudite
book, '' The Holy House of Loretto," were so kind to-
ward us as to ask to have that clause omitted when
they renounced their manhood, and swore allegiance to
the despotism of Rome. Is the oath upon their souls
" to persecute and fight against us to the utmost of
their power ?" I firmly believe it is.

So that Rome persecutes on principle, and swears all
her bishops " to persecute all heretics to the utmost of
their power ;" and when she renounces the principles
of persecution, she ceases to be an infallible Church.
To sustain her character, she is bound to persecute

K I R W A N

'S LETTERS. 221

Fearful dilemma. Testimony. Waldensee.

whenever and wherever she can. To amend or reform
her principles will be her death, and without benefit
of clergy. How fearful the position in which her in-
fallibility places her ; her only alternative is death or
intolerance, and the dilemma of her bishops is perjury
or persecution. Horrible system !

And what a mass of testimony does the history of
the world furnish to prove her fidelity to her principles,
and the sleepless perseverance of her bishops in " per-
secuting and fighting against heretics, schismatics, and
rebels against our lord the Pope !" She has set up a
system of belief not merely differing from, but in oppo-
sition to that of the Scriptures, and has imposed it on
the world as of divine authority. "While she has for-
bidden the Bible to the people, she commands subjec-
tion to her own system, which the vast majority of
men can not comprehend. Without their consent, she
has subjected to her authority all living within the
shadow of her sceptre, and has subjected to the sever-
est penalties all who refuse her obedience. Romish
persecution of those who could not receive as doctrines
of Grod her awful assumptions and silly ceremonials,
have been the most bloody and savage which the world
has ever witnessed. And where, in proof of this, shall
we commence our historic evidence ?

Shall we begin with the Waldenses ? The history
of this people lies before me. Cooped up in secluded
valleys, at the foot of the Alps, they are supposed to
be the descendants of Christians who sought refuge
from the barbarian hordes that ravaged Italy during
the decline of the Roman empire. They were a peo-
ple simple, industrious, pious, scriptural in their faith

222 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Bloodhounds. Castelnau. Bezieres sacked.

and worship, and most unoffending in their conduct to
all men. In two things they were as immovable as
the Alps : they would not give up their Bibles, nor ac-
knowledge the claims of the Pope. These were their
only oifenses, and for these they were declared heretics,
and the bloodhounds of Rome, the bishops and inquis-
itors, were let loose on them. Two vagabond and bru-
tal monks were sent from Rome to see that justice was
meted out to the heretics. They deposed the kind
bishops of the district for permitting the heresy, and
substituted wolves in then* place. Castelnau, a man
of cruel heart, was sent as legate. Raymond of Tou-
louse was excommunicated because he refused to join
'•K, the bloody crusade, but was made finally to consent
5jy the cruel treatment of the Pope and Castelnau.
About three hundred thousand men were let loose upon
this people, to punish them for the sin of worshiping
Grod as did their fathers and the apostles. The first
outburst of their fury was on the town of Bezieres, con-
taining about sixty thousand persons. The legate gave
up the people to slaughter, and the town to pillage and
flames. " But how," said an officer, " can we distin-
guish the Catholic from the heretic ?" And what was
the reply of the atrocious legate, Castelnau ? It is
known, to the confusion of Rome, in all the earth :
''''Kill all; the Lordioill know Ms own!''' And every
being was slain, and the town was consumed by fire !
And this was only the beginning of sorrows. For
nearly fifty years was this carnage continued. Battle
followed battle — city was burned after city — valley
was entered after valley, until the rugged yet fair her-
itage of this pious and simple people was converted

K I R W A N

'S LETTERS. 223

A million slain. Morland^ St. Bartholomew.

into a howling wilderness — until a million of their
number, under the sabre and tread of the minions of
Popery, were made to bite the dust ! After reciting a
list of barbarities, Morland, the high-minded envoy of
Cromwell to Turin, thus addressed the Duke of Savoy :
*' What need I mention more, though I could reckon
up very many cruelties of the same kind, if I were not
astonished at the very thought of them. If all the ty-
rants of all times and ages were alive again, they would
be ashamed when they should find that they had con-
trived nothing in comparison with these things that
might be reputed barbarous and inhuman. Heaven
itself seems astonished with the crimes of dying men,
and the very earth to blush, being discolored with the
gore-blood of so many innocent persons." And all the
guilt of this enormous barbarity lies on the soul of the
Papal Church. 0, Sir, if you have never read, do read
the history of the Waldenses. It has more than the
interest of fiction, and is a fearful argument against
Popery.

Shall we next consider the Massacre of St. Bartholo-
mew, in France, and the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes ? Every thing had been arranged by the per-
fidious Catharine and her son Charles IX. for the slaugh-
ter of the Huguenots. A royal marriage was arranged
for the purpose of collecting in Paris the chief Prot-
estant nobility of the kingdom. Coligny lay in his
chamber, wounded by the hired assassin of the court ;
Mauravel, surrounded by his friends — the houses of the
Protestants were all marked — the badges of the mur-
derers were all arranged — the houses of Papists were
supplied with torches — arms were supplied to the as-

224 kirwan's letters.

The signal. Coligny. Paris a slaugtiter-house.

sassins, and at midnight the alarm-bell was rung from
St. Grermain. At the concerted signal, the Palais, the
Tuileries, the banks of the Seine, the public places, the
streets, the large edifices, sacred and profane, became
illuminated as if by magic. In almost every window
there was a blazing torch. And this sudden blaze was
to illumine the path of the murderers to the houses of
their victims. The noble and wounded Coligny, and
up to his death caressed and flattered by the queen-
mother and her son, was the first victim. He fell un-
der the sabres and daggers of Besme, Petrucci, and
Sarlabous. Tired of waiting the result, Henry of G-uise
called from below, " Besme, have you done ?" " It is
done," was the reply ; and then, taking the dead body,
they threw it out of the window, that Henry might
judge for himself. The shouts of the murderers urg-
ing each other to blood, and the wailings of men, wom-
en, and children, as they were falling beneath theii'
blows, were heard in every street and lane of Paris.
The bright sun of the 24th of August, 1572, revealed
the city converted into a vast slaughter-house. The
massacre continued seven days in Paris. From the
capital it extended to the provinces ; nor for two
months was the murderous sword returned to the scab-
bard ; nor until, according to Sully, seventy thousand,
or, according to Perefixe, one hundred thousand Prot-
estants were slain. And how were the tidings of this
bloody sacrifice to the Moloch of Popery, which spread
consternation through the world, received at Rome ?
With thanksgivings to Heaven, and with the roaring
of cannon from its walls. A Te Deum was sung, at
which the Pope and his court attended ; a medal was

LETTERS. 225

Picture in the Vatican. Louis XIV. Cruelties.

struck to commemorate the event ; and a picture of
the massacre was added to the embellishments of the
Vatican, to commemorate to all ages the triumph of
the Church over her enemies ! Upon that picture, Sir,
I have gazed with mine own eyes in the ante-room of
the Sistine ; and if Rome has changed her principles
on persecution, why permit that picture to perpetuate
her shame ?

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew was followed by
fearful civil wars, in which it is supposed that one
million of men were slain. These were brought to a
close by the Edict of Nantes, published by Henry IV.
in 1598, and which secured to the Protestants the free
exercise of their religion. But Henry was murdered ;
and his illustrious minister. Sully, was exchanged for
the priest, Richelieu. The Jesuits got the ear of Louis
XIV., and soon clouds of portentous aspect were seen
rapidly collecting over the Huguenots. They were re-
moved from office. Their churches were torn down.
They were prevented from assembling for worship.
Their children were torn from them at seven years of
age by the priests, to be educated as Papists. These
cruelties drove them to despair. They emigrated in
great numbers. Soon they were prevented from leav-
ing the country ; their ministers were executed ; boot-
ed and spurred missionaries were every where among
the people ; the sick, who recovered after refusing the
sacraments of Romanism, if men, were sent to the
galleys, and if women, to perpetual imprisonment and
to penances ; and if they died without submission to
the Church, their dead bodies were to be drawn on a
hurdle and cast upon a dung-heap I These awful se-

K2

226 kirwan's letters.

Huguenots scattered. Irish massacre. Lough Erne.

verities soon reduced the Huguenots to the verge of
total extinction ; and from beginning to end they were
instigated, and in great pa»t inflicted by Romish priests.
In the funeral oration of Flechier for Le Tellier the
Jesuit, he ascribes to him the high honor of being the
author of that " work of Grod," the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, and of the bloody cruelties that fol-
lowed !

Shall we next consider the Irish St. Bartholomew of
1641 ? The chapter is a bloody one. Fired by their
priests, and by the Popish gentry whose property had
been confiscated during preceding disturbances, a plan
was concerted, to which the perfidious Charles was no
stranger, to cut off the Protestants of the island. A
chief actor in the bloody tragedy was Ever M'Mahon,
Romish bishop of Down, who was true to his oath "to
persecute and fight against heretics to the utmost of
his power." Bad as was that of France, the Irish Bar-
tholomew was worse. I shudder while I quote from
histories before me some of the narratives connected
with this tragedy. On the Sabbath before the com-
mencement of the massacre, the priests gave the wafer
to the people, and sent them out with an exhortation
to kill the Protestants, and to seize their property, as a
certain preservative against the pains of Pm-gatory ! A
company of nearly one hundred, men, women, and chil-
dren, were driven upon the ice on Lough Erne ; having
pushed them as far as they could go in safety, they
flung the infants, torn from their mothers' arms, toward
the point where the ice was weakest, and, in seeking
to rescue them, all perished save two. Women were
stripped naked, and sent into the woods — to perish.

LETTERS. 227

Various deaths. Sir W. Jones. Other testimony.

Many were sportfully drowned ; many hung ; many
stabbed to death ; many boiled and roasted ; many
were hewn to pieces ; many had their bellies ripped
up, and their bowels torn out ; many were driven into
houses, and were burned in them ; many were torn to
pieces with dogs ; and in some cases, one end of the in-
testines was tied to a tree, and the person was driven
round the tree until his bowels were all torn out ! The
account of the numbers who thus cruelly perished
varies ; but some judicious historians say that it could
not be less than 200,000. Of this awful massacre. Sir
William Jones says, " If we look into the sufferings
of the first Christians under the cruel tyranny of the
heathen emperors, we shall not find any one kingdom,
though of a far larger extent than Ireland, where more
Christians suffered, or more unparalleled cruelties were
acted within the space of the first two months after the
breaking out of this rebellion." Eastern barbarians
never inflicted upon the most base wretches such exe-
crable cruelty. And all the blood there shed lies upon
the soul, if soul it has, of the Papal Church.

But, Sir, the time would fail me, as would your pa-
tience and that of my readers, to give, in testimony,
the persecutions of Italy, of Spain, of Poland, of Aus-
tria, of Bavaria ; or, coming down to our own times, of
Zillerthal, of Madeira ; or, coming down to our own day,
of Florence, of Naples, of France, of Ireland. The prin-
ciples of Popery are unchanged, and so is her conduct
where she can wisely carry out her principles. Did she
not put up the Inquisition as a slaughter-house for her-
etics, and is not the Inquisition vindicated in a work
dedicated to yourself, and does not the Papal Church

228 kirwan's letters.

Auto da f(§. No letting oflf. See ! See !

now send the whole Protestant world to perdition ?
And what better is this than making a great auto da
fe — piling up the dry stubble as mountains, binding
millions of Protestants upon the pile, and then com-
manding the G-od of heaven to apply the torch, and
consume them all ! Why, Sir, the cruelties of the
French or of the Irish St. Bartholomew are mercy when
compared to this ! It is the very sublime of the hor-
rible !

I would not be guilty of the unfairness of making
the children accountable for the sms of their fathers
when they reject their principles and abandon their
practices ; but when they hold theh principles, and ex-
cuse then* practices, and walk in their footsteps where
and when they can, then there is no letting of them
off. The most barbarous cruelty on record is that per-
petrated in the name of Grod, and under the sanction
of religion. Has Rome changed her principles ? She
can not. Have bishops and priests changed theirs ?
They dare not. See how, in Rome, Naples, Austria,
they fetter the press. See how, in Ireland, they oppose
the Bible and the education of the people. See how, in
France, they sympathize with Louis Napoleon to shackle
the press, to drive Protestants from all places of trust,
and to monopolize the education of the people. See
how, in Mexico and Cuba, they waU out all liberty of
conscience, and prevent freedom of worship. With us,
Sir, they are shy of avowing their principles. Here
every tiling is against them ; but where they have the
power, they are as intolerant as was Hildebrand. These
priests from Maynooth and St. Omer's carry, in the same
bag with their vestments, two skins, that of a lion and

kirwan's letters. 229

Two skins.

a fox. For the present, like slippery John, they wear
that of the fox ; but when the fit time comes, it will
he soon doffed for that of the lion. Are these priests
the men for our country ? Should they he trusted ?

"With great respect, yours.

230 kirwan's letters.

Popery has one object. Influence on Papal nations.

LETTER XXIV.

Bad influence of Popeiy on the Nations. — Results from its Principles.—
No exceptions. — Naples. — Rome. — Sardinia. — Female Degradation.
— Ireland. — Protestant and Papal States compared. — Spain. — Colo-
nies of Papal States. — Is Popery the best Religion for our Country ?
— Protestantism has made the United States what they are. — What
will they become if surrendered to the Jesuit and the Priest ?

My dear Sir, — Up to this point I have sought to
place before you what I consider to be the true char-
acter of the Romish Church, of its priests, its cere-
monies, its impostures, and spirit. And my object in
all this is avowed — to demonstrate to you, and to the
entire American people, so far as I can arrest their
attention, that nothing but evil — unmingled evil — can
be expected from the spread of Popery in this land.
Whatever may be its guises, or promises, or honeyed
words, it has but one object in view, and that is its
own elevation, and at whatever expense. And wher-
ever it has reached its desired elevation, it has shed the
deadly shadow of the upas tree upon all the highest
and dearest interests of humanity. , And as confirma-
tory of the statements already made, and of the just
inferences from those statements, I wish, in the pres-
ent letter, to ask your attention to the influence of Pop-
ery on Papal nations. Unless I greatly mistake, you
will find here an argument of overwhelming power for
its rejection.

LETTERS. 231

Bad on principle. All under the Pope. No exception.

Its baleful national influence we might infer from
its principles, and from their bearing upon individuals.
It banishes the Bible from society. The Church does
all the thinking ; the people have only to believe. It
brands ''private reasoning" as heresy, and, unless aban-
doned, as a damning sin. G-od is the source of truth ;
but he has committed it to his Church, and the Church
has committed it to the priest, and the people must go
to the priest for it, and unless they do, they are damned !
Thus it brings every person to the knee of the priest,
to receive, as the truth of Heaven, whatever sense or
nonsense he may utter in the name of the Church,
without any right to question it, and without any
means to authenticate it ! It subjects the people to
the priest, the priest to the bishop, the bishop to the
Pope, and it makes no matter what may be the char-
acter of the Pope — whether he be a tyrant, like Hilde-
brand — a bloody wretch, like Julius — an infidel, like
Leo — or the very pink of lechers and incarnate devils,
with Borgia — he is the vicar of Jesus Christ, and the
infallible head of the Church ! The course, from which
it has never turned aside, save to recruit its strength,
is to involve the people in darkness ; to create and to
increase a superstitious reverence for the ghostly power
of the Church ; to render the masses subservient to
the priest ; and to bring all the powers of the individ-
ual and of the state into obedience to the power which
she claims to exercise by divine right. And as Popery
rises to the heights of its aspirations, the people sink
into darkness and degradation. If there is an excep-
tion to this rule, where is it to be found ?

Is it to be found in Naples ? Would that I could

232

Not Naples. Priests' paradise. The people.

place before your mind the moral picture of Naples, as
it now lies before my own. There Popery has all
things to its mind. The king, the queen, the govern-
ment, the people, the press, the army, the navy, all the
appliances of education, are under its control. And
never did you see a peacock flirting its gaudy feathers
on a summer's day with more ostentatious pride than
do the priests of E-ome their regimentals along the
sunny highways of Naples. Their very tread shows
their consciousness of the firmness of the ground on
which they stand, and their air testifies to their feeling
of security. You meet them every where in numbers
beyond number, fat, sleek, and well dressed, and testi-
fying by their hearty laugh, their lordly port, their sat-
isfied look, that they are at home. And if for priests
there is an earthly paradise, it is Naples. Rome is
nothing to it in this respect. But when you turn to
the people, alas ! what a sight ! Poverty, wretched-
ness, rags, lazzaroni, beggars, soldiers, mountebanks,
and donkeys, meet you every where. The masses of
the people are ignorant, superstitious, and immoral be-
yond your conception. And as you pass from the cities
and large towns through the country, the most astound-
ing evidences meet you every where, that you are
among a semi-barbarous, superstitious, illiterate, and
most degraded people. And the despotism of Russia,
or of Turkey, is American liberty in comparison with
the horrid despotism of Naples ! If Popery, as a sys-
tem, is a blessing, as the " Very Rev. P. R. Kenrick,
V. G-.," would have us believe, judging from Naples, it
reserves its blessings for the priests, and showers its
curses on the people. Popery, like the sun in mid-

LETTERS. 233

Gifts of Popery. Not in Rome, Dreams dissipated.

heaven, has all Naples to itself; and intolerable des-
potism, abject poverty, stupid ignorance, gross super-
stition, and priestly arrogance, are the gifts and bless-
ings which she confers on the people. Apply the rule
where you may, and you will find that Popery and pov-
erty, priests and beggars, always go together.

Is the exception to be found in Rome, or the States
of the Church ? Will you turn to my seventeenth and
eighteenth letters, and read them again, with a view
to answer this question ? We read here at home of
" old Romans," " brave," " noble," " generous Ro-
mans ;" our conceptions of them are large, generous,
and manly. Their generals are Csesars ; their patriots
are all Cincinnati ; their soldiers are all like those of
the seventh legion ; and their women are all Cornelias
or Julias. But on entering Rome, or in riding through
the States of the Church, these dreams all vanish, not
leaving a wreck behind. And you can scarcely imag-
ine that the ignorant, servile, poverty-smitten, deceiv-
ing, lying, superstitious people that you every where
meet, can be the descendants of the men who planted
the eagles of victory at the extremes of the world. In-
deed, I felt like turning my valet out of my room when,
on paying him his wages, he bowed his knee servilely
before me, and impressed his kisses on my hand. Can
this fawning dog, said I, be a descendant of the old
Romans ? Next to the Neapolitans, the subjects of the
Pope are the most degraded people in Europe ; and
why the Neapolitans should have the pre-eminence in
degradation, I know not, save on the principle that the
filth and feculence of a mountain are usually washed
to its base, whence they send up their putrid exhala-

234 kirwan's letters.

Fruits in Rome. In Sardinia. Army of women.

tions. If the Popish system is a blessing, what pre-
vents it from hearing the richest fruits in Italy ? And
what are its fruits there at this hour ? Swarms of
priests, monks, nuns, and beggars ; poverty, ignorance,
superstition ; the press shackled ; no liberty, civil or
religious ; no security of property ; no Bible ; no Sab-
bath ; splendid churches converted into opera-houses,
with no congregations ; and lying wonders without
number or end.

Is the exception to be found in Sardinia ? You feel,
on entering Sardinia, that you are beyond the shadow
of the sceptre of Pio Nono, from the improved condition
of the people, and the evidences of growth which every
where present themselves ; but yet you feel that you
are in a Papal country, where Popery is the religion
of the people, and where, save amid the valleys of Pied-
mont, Popery has had for ages an open field. And yet
the degradation of the masses is most striking. They
are tunneling the Appenines for a rail- way from Turin
to Grenoa, and, in June last, I saw an army of women
performing the work of horses, carrying on their backs,
in baskets, the stones and clay from those tunnels, and
depositing them in the valleys, over which they are
raising embankments. I saw women carrying lime-
stones from the quarries to the kilns in which they
were burned I This is a sample of the civilization
which Popery has conferred on Sardinia. While there
is an improvement upon Rome and Naples in this coun-
try, yet the fruits of Romanism are mainly the same.
Unless the present current of affairs is checked by Rome
and Austria, who are exerting all their power to do it,
a better day is dawning upon the dominions of the

kirwan's letters. 235

Home of freemen. In Ireland. Its curse.

house of Savoy. The exiles from Florence and Lower
Italy, the persecuted for conscience sake, find refuge
there. Because the liberty of thinking and of worship
are secured there, Turin is rising like an American
city. But the blessings it possesses beyond Rome or
Naples it owes to the fact that its Popery is less intense.
Is the exception to be found in Ireland — poor,. de-
graded, yet beautiful and noble Ireland ? There you
find a warm-hearted, generous, imaginative, impulsive,
and noble people, and, as the world knows, capable of
the highest improvement, and what is their state ? Gro
to their holy wells and holy places — ^to their fairs, their
villages, their cabins, and what is their state ? Yisit
them wherever in other lands they congregate, as in
the Cowgate at Edinburgh, and what is their state ?
See them, as in their native dress they are landed on
our shores, and follow them to their places of carousal,
and what is their state ? The Papal population of Ire-
land are greater Papists than the Pope himself, and are
more under priestly influence than the people of Rome
— far more — and what good has Popery done them or
their island ? The curse of Ireland has been, and now
is, its Popery. Its lands are fertile — its climate is
genial — its people are industrious ; but the influence
of the priest, like the breath of the sirocco, has blight-
ed the land — has debased its people — has made them
a by- word in all the lands of their dispersion.

The battle between Popery and Protestantism, as to
their doctrinal basis, has been often fought ; and, when
fairly fought, has been always lost by the priest. Nor
can it be otherwise. If the Bible is true. Popery is a
false system — and, unless the senses of man are made

236 kirwan's letters.

Lying wonders. Systems compared. Their effects

to deceive, it is a system of lying wonders. If there is
any moral position on which the mind of this age is
satisfied, it is that Popery is the mystery of iniquity.
And now, for three hundred years, these two systems
have existed side by side ; and, as if on trial before
heaven and earth, they have each been exerting their
infiiience for the purpose of manifesting their legiti-
mate effects. And what, Sir, axe the results ? What
is the effect of each on human liberty. Compare Na-
ples, Rome, and Austria, with England, Prussia, and
these United States, and see ! What, upon commerce ?
Compare Spain, Portugal, and Austria, with Britain,
and see ! What, upon intelligence ? Blot out the Pa-
pal nations, and what is lost to the intelligent world ?
A few stars only would be missed from the sky. Blot
out the Protestant nations ; and the effect would be like
the sun setting at noon-day. Even the "Very Rev.
P. R. Kenrick, Y. O.," author of the "Holy House of
Loretto," would feel that the darkness was increasing
around him. What are their effects upon thrift and
industry ? Compare Ireland with Scotland, or Con-
naught with Ulster, or Cork with Belfast, and see !
What, upon morals ? Compare Italy with Scotland,
France with England, and see ! The facts in the case
are very plain, and beyond mistake by an honest in-
quirer. Protestantism educates the mind, frees the
spirit, extends the circle of thought and action, expands
the affections, stimulates to independence, puts the
Bible into the hands of all men, and teaches them to
fear Grod, and to fear none else. Hence its effects, ev-
ery where visible, on the people and nations that em-
brace it. On the other hand, Popery seals to man the

kirwan's letters. 237

Back track. Beyond cure. TeBtimony.

Book which the Lamb died to unseal, shackles the spir-
it, forbids reasoning on religious truths, shuts up the
affections to its own adherents, and seeks only the ex-
tension of its power and the submission of the people.
The high noon of its prosperity was the period known
as the '• Dark Ages ;" and it seeks now to put all things
on the back track for those ages. It has no Sabbath
— no Bible — no preaching — nothing, nothing to elevate
— nothing but a silly round of ceremonies as unmean-
ing as they are absurd. Hence, as Wylie says in his
recent excellent work on the Papacy, "AYherever we
meet Popery, there we meet moral degradation, mental
imbecility, indolence, improvidence, rags, and beggary.
No ameliorations of government — ^no genius or peculi-
arities of race — no fertility of soil — no advantages of
climate, seem able to withstand the baleful influence
of this destructive superstition. It is the same amid
the exhaustless resources of the New World as amid
the civilization and arts of the old — it is the same amid
the grandeurs of Switzerland and the historic glories
of Italy, as among the bogs of Connaught and the
wilds of the Hebrides." And the testimony of Macau-
lay, in his eloquent History of England, is to the same
effect: ''Throughout Christendom," he says, "what-
ever advance has been made in knowledge, in freedom,
in wealth, in the arts of life, has been made in spite
of the Church of Rome, and has every where been in
the inverse proportion to her power. The loveliest prov-
inces in Europe have, under her rule, been sunk in
poverty, in political servitude, and in intellectual tor-
por ; while Protestant countries, once proverbial for their
sterility and barbarism, have been turned, by skill and

238 kirwan's letters.

Picture verified. A change. Spain.

industry, into gardens, and can boast of a long list of
heroes, statesmen, philosophers, and poets." Again, he
says, " Whoever passes, in Grermany, from a Roman
Catholic to a Protestant principality — in Switzerland,
from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant canton — in Ire-
land, from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant county,
finds that he passes from a lower to a higher grade of
civilization."

A few months ago I was enabled to verify this pic-
ture of the eloquent and philosophic historian. I passed
from G-enoa to Turin, and from Turin to G-eneva
through Chambery. About three or four miles from
Greneva, you pass through a gate, leaving Sardinia be-
hind you. In five minutes you are persuaded, by the
style of building, the appearance of thrift, the eviden-
ces of taste, of wealth, of intelligence, by the altered
appearance of the people, the tillage, the mode of dress,
that you are in a Protestant country. After spending
a few days in G-eneva, I passed through Bonville and
Sallanche to Chamouni. A few miles from G-eneva,
you pass through another gate, and enter the kingdom
of Sardinia ; and the exchange of decent houses for
huts — of neatly-dressed people for rags — of a self-sus-
taining people for beggars — and the appearance of
crosses, priests, and pictures of the Virgin, soon con-
vince you that you are within the dominions of Popery.
And so it is every where.

But if you wish to see at a view the gigantic na-
tional wreck which Popery can make, look at Spain.
Washed by two seas, with splendid harbors — penetra-
ted by noble rivers — with fertile plains extending from
the Pyrenees to the Straits of Gibraltar — with a cli-

kirwan's letters. 239

Its position. Its ruin. Popish colonies.

mate proverbially genial, and a soil proverbially pro-
ductive— with the key of the Mediterranean by her
girdle, and thus with power to command the trade of
all Western Asia and Southern Europe, she holds a po-
sition on Europe's map which should make her its great
power. And she was so once. Under the Moorish
kings, Spain was the garden of Europe. And why
are her harbors without ships — why her mines un-
wrought — why her national poverty — why her feather-
weight influence among the nations — why her little
exports — ^her decaying cities — her internal feuds — why
has she fallen from a position once so high to one now
so low ? The history of the infernal Inquisition, of the
bloody bigotry of her bishops and priests, and of the su-
perstition of her kings and queens, will answer these
questions. Popery has ruined Spain, and sown all its
fields with salt.

And the national ruin that Popery achieves at home,
she propagates abroad. Where have Spain or Portugal
planted a colony that has not manifested in its devel-
opment the evils of Popery ? Not in Mexico — not in
Brazil — not in Chili or Peru — not in India, nor on the
islands of the Pacific. If you wish to see, and within
the reach of your own eye, the different effect of the
two systems upon national prosperity, compare Papal
Mexico, with its genial climate, its rich lands, its mines
of gold, with New England, with its sterile soil, its
cold climate, and barren hills. Sir, the striking differ-
ence, and under circumstances so favorable to Mexico,
can only be charged to the difference in religion which
has obtained among the people. And this parallelism
holds equally true, whether applied to nations, states,

240 kirwan's letters.

Is it the best form ? All become Papists. It debases.

cantons, counties, cities, commerce, intelligence, mor-
als, habits, or individuals.

Now, Sir, in view of all this, whose substantial truth
you, at least, will not question, permit me to urge upon
you the inquiry. Is Popery the best form of religion for
our country ? If it is the best form for one, it is the
best for every citizen ; and would it be for the future
glory and happiness of this country for us all to give in
our allegiance to Pius IX. — to give up our Bibles — to
give up preaching for the Mass — and Christ for Mary
— and the only Mediator for an army of saints and
nuns — and all our religious books for Butler's Lives
of the Saints — and the history of Jesus for the devout
perusal of the "Holy House of Loretto," by the "Very
Rev. P. R. Kenrick, V. Gr." — and for all of us to come
to the conclusion that the claims of our long-coated
priests are all right, and to submit to them ? I am
sure that you, even you, to whom was dedicated a
work containing a vindication of the infernal Inquisi-
tion, would go against all this with a vengeance. You
love your country, and its institutions, and its future
glory too ardently to place it under the care of the
Jesuit and the priest, and thus to make it a mere trib-
utary to the rickety despotism of Rome, which is only
kept in existence by French bayonets.

But what would work evil to the mass can not be
good for the individual ; and the question returns. Is
Popery the best form of religion for the individual ?
There is but one answer to the question ; it admits of
but one. It is by debasing individuals it debases the
masses, and lays its ax at the root of all national
greatness. There is not a living person that is not the

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 241

Protestantism has made America.

worse for being a Papist ; nor can a man or woman
embrace it without mental and moral injury.

Protestantism, Sir, has made our land what it is.
It originally colonized these states — it laid the mental
and moral training of our people at the foundation of
our institutions — it put up our school-houses and col-
leges— it nerved the hearts of our sires to resist the
encroachments of power — it fought and won the bat-
tles of our independence — it has made us an enterpris-
ing, law-abiding, and industrious people — it has found-
ed our governments — framed our laws — given integrity
to our judges — and has made this the home of the ex-
ile from all lands. It has built our cities — whitened
the ocean with our canvas, and has sent our ships to
every bay, yes, to every creek of the ocean. It has
extended loyalty, and thrift, and enterprise, and wealth,
and security, and happiness from shore to shore — from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, where the west is lost in
the rising east. Nor can you or I indulge any vivid
hopes for our country, save in its Christianized, that is
to say, spiritually-Protestantized futurity. Let the
Pope and the priest reign here as they do in Naples,
Austria, and Rome, and then New York will be as
Naples, and Baltimore as Rome, and our great and
growing country like unto the empire of the house of
Hapsburg, the Sleepy Hollow of the world ; and oui
active, industrious, and thriving people, as lazy, as
poor, as stupid, and as vicious as are our neighbors of
Mexico, or as wicked and avaricious priests can make
them. When the priest gains the ascendent here, the
last rays of the sun of our glory are dying away on
the summit of our Rocky Mountains.

L

242 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

What to be done with Papists ?

What, then, you w^ll ask, is to be done with the Pa-
pists and priests that are rained down upon us from
the old nations of Europe ? This question I will an-
swer in my next.

With great respect, truly yours.

K I R W A N ' S LETTERS. 243

Emig^Einta. Every where. More coming.

LETTER XXV.

Emigration — must increase — mostly Popish. — What to be done for them
— Liberty — Conscience — American Spirit. — Tide stayed until now.
— Right of all Men to the Bible — Wickedness of withholding it. —
Differences between Protestantism and Popery. — Edinburgh Irish
Missions. — Rev. Mr. King. — Character of Priests. — Pilgrim of Struel.
— Treatment Priests deserve.

My dear Sir, — There is, as all the world knows, a
vast influx of emigrants from all the states of Europe
to our shores. Upon the wharves of all our great com-
mercial cities you see the garh, and you hear the tongue
peculiar to all the nations and people extending from
the North Cape to the Island of Sicily, and from the
Black Sea to the western shores of Ireland. And yet
they come. They are penetrating our interior — they
are to he found in the city, in the town, on the prairie,
in the woods, in the shop of the mechanic, breaking up
a virgin soil into which a plowshare has never entered,
and carrying with them their language, their customs,
their morals, and their religion, to the foot of the Rocky
Mountains, and from both the oceans that now hound
our great country. And there is a buzzing stir amid
the old nations of Europe, like unto that which may
be heard in a bee-hive previous to its swarming, which
clearly indicates that what of emigration we yet have
seen here is but as the few ripe grapes when compared
with the overflowins: vintas^e, or but as the little rise in

244 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Tenants of Europe. A saying. Majority Papists.

our great rivers, caused by a few summer showers,
when compared with our spring freshets, caused by the
dissolving of our snows upon our extended mountain
ranges. The masses of Europe are tenants, and they
are beginning to feel the oppression of their landlords,
and that from it there is no way of escape save by rev-
olution or by emigration ; and as the chances of revo-
lution are at present against them, they prefer to emi-
grate. " Our gentry," said a noble Scotch clergyman
to me, " are beginning to think more of sheep than of
men, and are sending off their tenants to make room
for their sheep and black cattle. Our people must go
to America." " You will not find a healthy person any
where that is not thinking of going to America," said
the guard of a stage-coach to me, as I was riding
through Ireland. Soon we came to a stopping-place.
A fine, rosy-cheeked girl, with health in all her move-
ments, came with a message to the guard ; and de-
termined to put his saying to the test, I said to her,
"My fine girl, do you think of going to America?"
" I am going next month, your honor," said she, her
face radiant with smiles. The people of Europe are
waking up to a sense of their wrongs ; and the more
they manifest that they see and feel them, the more
oppressive are their civil and ecclesiastical rulers ; so
that, in the nature of things, great as the emigration
now is here, it must be vastly increased.

And as the majority of emigrants for some years past
have been Papists, so it must continue to be. The
Papal nations are the poorest, the worst governed, and
the most oppressed ; and the Papists of Protestant na-
tions, as of Britain, Prussia, and some of the minor

LETTER S. 245

What to be done. Liberty of conscience. Taint.

states of Grermany, are the least thrifty, and are those
to whom a change of country would seem to offer the
most inducements. So that for years to come there
must be a vast yearly accession to our population of
those educated under Popish institutions, and, of course,
of Popish priests. And if Popery and its priests are
what I have described them to be — if Popery in all
lands, and to the extent to which it obtains, is a na-
tional curse, the question with which I closed my last
letter is a very grave one, '' What is to be done with
these Papists and priests ?" Will you permit me to in-
dicate what I consider the true answer to the question ?
Not a feeling must be indulged or manifested other
than that of permitting them to enjoy, to the utmost
extent of our institutions, a free and full liberty of con-
science. Ignorant, superstitious, and semi-civilized as
they may be, when naturalized they are citizens. Our
Constitution knows neither Jew nor G-entile, Papist
nor Protestant. All good citizens it treats as does a
kind father his children. Nor must we show any jeal-
ousy of placing a fitting man in a place of trust or
power simply because he is a Papist. I rejoice. Sir,
that you, a nominal Papist, are at the head of the judi-
ciary of this great country, and that you were placed
there by a thorough Protestant, who hated the Pope
far more, I fear, than he hated sin, because of the ad-
vantage it gives us, if, for no other reason, of contrast-
ing the two systems. Think you that a Protestant, if
pure as Marshall, if learned as Blackstone, if eloquent
as Webster, could be made chief justice of Cuba, or
Mexico, or Naples, or even Belgium ? Would not the
taint of Protestantism countervail all other qualifica-

246 kirwan's letters.

Rights of conscience. Sacred domain. Power gone.

tions, and tend rather to secure his expulsion than his
elevation ?

And then we must teach them the rights of con-
science, and to respect those rights — that God is the
only lord of conscience. It is hard to learn them this,
when their very conscience has been educated into the
opposite belief, that the Church and the priest give
laws to conscience, and that we are bound to persecute
those who refuse compliance to those laws. It is a
great lesson for us to teach, and for them to learn ; and
when truly learned by them, the power of the priest is
gone. If you, Sir, are conscientiously a Papist, I am
conscientiously a Protestant, and to our God we are
only accountable. Within the domain of conscience
no Pope, prelate, or priest has a right to place his foot ;
and the intruder within that sacred inclosure should
be as unceremoniously expelled as were apostate angels
from heaven, who were driven pell-mell over its battle-
ments, and cast down into everlasting chains and penal
fire. The supremacy of conscience and the supremacy
of the Pope are in the opposite scales ; as the one rises,
the other sinks. The man who enthrones God in his
conscience is lost to the priest. He has no longer any
use for confessions, penances, or extreme unctions — for
holy water or holy chrism. He is a subject of the
perfect law of liberty. We must then teach them to
assert their own rights of conscience, and to respect
those of others. Then the priest will have lost all power
to foment the people to such riots as have occurred in
New York, St. Louis, and Milwaukie, and which have
so clearly demonstrated that a change of country or
climate does not soon change the nature of the hyena

K I R W A N ' S LETTERS. 247

American spirit. Its power. Our way.

"We must also seek to imbue them with the true
spirit of our country. It is among the greatest of the
many blessings of Heaven to our land that our present
tide of emigration was held back until our people be-
came sufficiently numerous, and our institutions suffi-
ciently established, to be unaffected by it — until our
people acquired a character of their owti, and power to
impress it upon those who seek here an asylum for
themselves and their posterity. Had our present emi-
gration taken place one hundred years ago, it would
be substantially a transference here of Ireland and
G-ermany, and of the other European nations, with
their language, and religion, and social institutions.
But now it affects us but little more than do the fresh
waters of the Hudson, the Susquehanna, or the Missis-
sippi, the salt water of the ocean. Indeed, as the At-
lantic takes these and other rivers into its bosom, and
assimilates all their turbid waters to itself, imparting
to them all its color, and salting them with its salt, so
may our country receive into her arms the multitudes
fleeing to her for refuge from the despotisms of the old
world, and mold them all into the American form.
Nothing here lives by divine right, but the true. We
permit men to swagger as they see fit, and to put forth
what claims they please ; but the moment they attempt
to enforce claims by divine right, they soon learn their
latitude and longitude. When priests claim to think
for us, we only think the harder. The more they seek
to induce us to sing hosannas to the Pope, the louder
we proclaim him to be the anti- Christ. The more they
oppose the Bible, the more we print, circulate, and read
it. And the more they circulate such books as " The

248 kirwan's letters.

Privilege of laughing. Our peculiarity. Individualisms lost.

Garden of the Soul," *' Butler's Lives of the Saints,"
and " The Holy House of Loretto," by the erudite and
philosophic P. R. Kenrick, Y.G., to revive the drooping
faith of their flocks, the more we claim and exercise the
privilege of laughing at them from one end of the land
to the other.

The fact is, that we, Sir, have a character peculiarly
our own. Our fathers taught us to think for ourselves ;
and this spirit is fostered by all our institutions. The
prevalence of education makes the masses intelligent ;
and before our general intelligence, and the Protestant
atmosphere that covers the land, ignorance and cre-
dulity are fast disappearing. Indeed, the tendency is
less to faith than to infidelity. Nothing is now taken
for granted, however venerable for years, or however
intrenched behind authority, without examination.
Whether right or wrong, this is the American peculi-
arity. And if we only rightly and truly impress it
upon the emigrants swarming here from other lands,
it will be the death of Popery. The Irish, English,
French, Scotch, Germans, Italians, Hollanders come
here, not to propagate their national characteristics,
but, like different ingredients thrown together, each
yielding, in a chemical process, their peculiarities, and
all uniting: to form a new substance. The British em-
igrant gives up his queen — the French his king, presi-
dent, prince-president, or consul — ^the German his king
or emperor — and why should the Papist cling to the
Pope ? "Why should he fling from his body the chains
of civil despotism, and hug the chains of spiritual des-
potism, which are eating into his soul ? Why should he
not seek a spiritual as well as civil emancipation ? He

K I R W A N

'S LETTERS. 249

Harmless thunder. Contagion. Our mill.

is here beyond the reach of the arm of despotism ; and,
imbibing the true American spirit, he should think,
and read, and act for himself. The men that wear the
fillets made from the wool of holy sheep, and their
priests, may rage, but their rage, like the thunders that
are sometimes heard in the distance of a fine morning,
reminding us of the storms of the night, excites no ter-
ror. When the bear is within bars, he may rage until
he is willing to stop.

And this American spirit is so contagious, that there
are but few emigrants who are not in some measure
affected by it. Even the priests feel it. However
they may feel about it, they have to yield to it. "Why
do you attend our worship and read our Bible ?" said
I to a Papist, on my outward voyage, who was going
home to Ireland on a visit. " 0, I have been some
years in America," was his reply. He had caught the
spirit of our country. And while the exceedingly illit-
erate, and those advanced in life, who emigrate here,
may, with few exceptions, retain their Popish preju-
dices, and may be proof against the contagious spirit
of our country, it will not be so with the young and
intelligent, nor with their children. In the nature of
things, it can not be so, as a rule. The son of an Irish-
man will neither wear his father's breeches nor brogues,
nor will he kneel to his priest. The son of an Irish-
man, a Frenchman, or Italian is an American, and he
will not be a Romanist. We have a mill, of which
the common school is the nether, and the Bible and its
institutions the upper stone ; into this mill let us cast
the people of all countries and forms of religion that
come here, and they will come out in the grist Amer-

L 2

250 kirwan's letters.

Right to the Bible. Post-office. Why such war.

icans and Protestants. And the highest wisdom of our
country is to keep this mill in vigorous operation.

We must also teach them that it is the inalienable
right of every man to read the Bible. As prophets and
apostles spoke "the words of this life" in the hearing of
all that composed their audiences, and to the end that
all should understand them, so their messages, when
committed to WTiting and to the press, are for the pe-
rusal of all, and that all may understand them. And
w^hat right has the priest to obtrude himself, and to
take from you the Bible, or to compel you to receive
its teachings only as he interprets them ? When a
boy, and absent from home, had you not a right to take
your father's letters from the post-office, and to read
them, and to find out their meaning, without going to
the priest ? And is not G-od the father of us all — and
is not the Bible his paternal counsel to us — and what
right has the priest to take it from us ? What if some
parts are omitted that he deems inspired, w^hy not per-
mit you to read the rest ? Wliat if some passages are
not translated to suit him ? these are but few in com-
parison with those to wdiich no objections are made.
There is no excuse that can be made for the opposition
of the priest to the Bible. If I could not get a copy of
the Bible w^ithout having annexed to it the history of
" The Holy House of Loretto," I w^ould take it; if I
could not get it save with the minor prophets omitted,
I would yet take it. Protestant ministers are not
afraid of their people reading the Douay Bible, and
never burn it ; and why should Popish priests wage so
deadly a war, not only against the Protestant Bible,
but against the unrestricted circulation and reading

kirwan's letters. 251

What we owe to the Bible. Right discussions.

even of their own authorized versions ? Their wicked-
ness in all this must be exposed — their object, which
is to keep their people in ignorance of their horrible
deceptions, must be every where proclaimed. We must
not compel any to read the AVord of (lod, but we must
see to it that none are prevented from reading it. We
owe, Sir, to a free, unrestricted use of the Bible all we
are, and all for which we may reasonably hope. And
Bible-hating, Bible-burning priests are the men who,
more than all others, are placing the ax at the root of
the tree of our liberty, under whose branches we nov/
so quietly and securely repose. When the Word of
Grod is read by all our people, the craft of the priest is
over — to use a figure of Luther, a big hole is made
in the head of his drum. And, like unto the " Holy
House of Loretto," when deserted in Dalmatia, he may
take up his line of march for Italy.

We must also wake up the mind of our Papal pop-
ulation to discussions upon the great topics on w^hich
Popery and Protestantism differ. There is a kind of
controversy w^hich is greatly to be deplored — there is
another kind which is greatly to be desired, and which
is absolutely necessary as long as error exists to oppose
the truth. There was once a feeling that inveterate
drunkards were beyond reclamation ; and there was a
prevalent sentiment in the Protestant world that Pa-
pists were beyond the influence of truth, and the hope
of conversion ; but abundant facts prove both to be
groundless. Many priests, and people in multitudes,
have and are yearly deserting and denouncing Popery.
I spent a part of two Sabbath evenings in the Irish
Mission Chapel in Edinburgh, in which the Rev. Mr

252 kirwan's letters.

Irish missions. Edinburgh. People need light.

M'Menomy, once a Papist, presides. It was crowded
to an overflow with Protestants and Papists. Subjects
were selected for discussion, and they were discussed
freely on both sides. The Bible was the standard to
which every thing was brought. I heard there shrewd
Irish Papists, with remarkable dexterity, advocate the
dogmas and customs of their Church ; and the good
results could be seen in the benches crowded with con-
verts from Romanism, and in the multitudes inquiring
whether the religion of the priest was or was not the
religion of the Bible. I attended another meeting,
where, in a more quiet way, M'Laughlin, " the miller
of the glens of Antrim." who was cursed from the al-
tar, is doing also a noble work among the Papists of
Edinburgh. They meet and discuss the claims and
doctrines of the priest ; and the result could be seen in
an upper room filled with plain, humble, but yet intel-
ligent people, who were rescued from the wiles of "the
man of sin," and who could give an intelligent reason
for the hope that was in them. And it is in ways like
these that priests, and the people by tens of thousands
in Ireland, are passing over to the religion of the Bible.
"What the people need is light. Romanism has kept
them in darkness, and has filled their minds with fa-
bles, prejudices, and monstrous superstitions ; let the
light of Heaven into these minds, and these fables,
prejudices, and superstitions are seen in their true
character, and are at once abandoned. Hence the
awful dread of discussion — and of the Bible — and of
good books — and even of common schools, by the priests,
save where their own tools are the teachers. Nothing
suffers by right discussion but error ; and, as in Ire-

kirwan's letters. 253

Rev. A. King. Father Ignatius. Character of priests.

land, so here, all right means should be used to wake
up the mind of our entire Papal population to an ex-
amination of the claims and doctrines of their Church,
to the despotism of the priest, and to their duty to as-
sert their Christian liberty in a land of freedom. One
man like the eloquent and warm-hearted King, of
Dublin, whose name will not soon be forgotten among
us, would be of incalculable benefit to all our great
cities. Familiar with the controversy, courteous in
his demeanor, brilliant in debate, ready at repartee,
full to an overflow of Irish humor, and with a heart
catholic in its instincts, and under the guidance of
the law of love, he is the terror of the priest and a fa-
vorite of the people. Copying the example of his mag-
nificence of New York, Father Ignatius, a predesti-
nated dolt, fled to Halifax before him ; and the right
reverends and the honorables, who head the Papal
gatherings at the Rotunda, decline his invitations to
fair discussion. And thus the eyes of multitudes are
opening to a perception of the errors of Romanism, and
to the wickedness of its priests.

And, above all, we must seek to place before the
people the true character of their priests. What, Sir,
was their character before the Reformation? What
was it at the time of the Reformation, as drawn by Pa-
pal writers ? To the last degree wicked. And what
is it now in Rome ? '' Rome, in its priests and people,
has not been, for a thousand years, such a sink of cor-
ruption as it is at this hour," said a gentleman to me
in Rome, who has resided there for years, and who has
had every opportunity to know it well. And if such
is the character of her priests at the very seat of her

254 kirwan's letters.

Mercy unlimited. Pilgrim of Struel. A ghost

power and her infallibility, what must be their char-
acter in her distant provinces ? Better, I think, than
in Rome, but yet bad. While I am far from saying
that no Popish priests are pious or sincere, and would
not limit the mercy of G-od, who sends his rain upon
the just and the unjust, I am yet free to say that they
awfully impose upon their people, and for no object but
gain.

In addition to the testimony aheady adduced to sup-
port this opinion, permit me to state another, as narra-
ted at length in Hardy's little volume on the " Holy
Wells of Ireland." A gentleman found a young man
performing stations at the Well of Struel, near Down-
patrick, and held with him the following conversa-
tion:

^' What is your name ?

" John L alley.

" Where are you from ?

'' The county of Gralway.

'' What induced you to come so far to do stations at
this place ?

" Last November, a spirit in the shape of a man ap-
peared to me every night for three weeks, near the
house in which I lived in the county of Gralway ; and
one night I took courage and spoke to it, saying, ' In
the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Grhost, do me
no harm, nor any one belonging to me, and tell me
what it is that troubles you.' The spirit then replied,
' I am glad you spoke, for this is the last night I would
have appeared to you. I have been dead these nine-
teen years, and you were but three and a half old
when I departed. Before my death I promised to do

kirwan's letters. 255

Paddy Brady. The sand-pit. Purgatory.

stations at Struel, but never performed my vow ; and
because I did not do them, I can not rest.'

" Did you inquire what was his name ?

" Yes : his name was Paddy Brady.

" "Where did he say he lived when he promised to
do the stations ?

" In the neighborhood of Downpatrick, near Struel.

" What was his calling when living ?

'• A carpenter.

" Where did he say his spirit had been for the last
nineteen years ?

'' For the first five years he was up to his neck in
water, under a bridge in this county ; and for the last
fourteen he has been in a sand-pit in the county Gral-
way.

" Are you certain that no person ever attempted to
impose upon you in this affak ? Were you ever in-
clined to doubt about it ?

" No, never ; for the night he was going away, he
took hold of my hand, and left a black mark on it, and
went off in a flash of light.

" Have you been in a bad state of health lately ?

" No.

'' Have you felt your head very uneasy or in pain ?

" Never in my life.

" Where do you believe the spirit is now ?
' "In Purgatory.

'' And was he in Purgatory at the time he was un-
der the bridge and in the sand-pit ?

"Yes.

" Why did you not come sooner to do the sta-
tions ?

256 kirwan's letters.

Father Coyne. Masses. Promising priest.

'' Because he told me that the proper time to do
them would be from May to Midsummer.

*' Have you ever spoke to your parish priest respect-
ing this strange affair ?

'' Yes, I have.

" "What did he advise you to do ?

" He advised me to do the stations.

" What is your parish priest's name ?

" Coyne.

" Has the Bishop of G^alway ever heard of the mat-
ter?

" Mr. Coyne is the under-bishop of the diocese.

" "Were there any masses said for the soul of this
man after he died ?

" Yes ; his mother got two masses celebrated, for
which she paid.

*' And could not the masses get him out of Purga-
tory ?

" The masses will hold good ; and if he had not
promised to do the stations, they would have fully an-
swered.

" Have you seen the priest of this parish since you
came ?

" I have.

" Have you told him all about the matter ?

" Yes.

" Did he say any thing against your doing these
stations ?

" Oh no.

" Did he say he would write to your priest about you ?

" Yes.

*' Has he done so ?

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 257

Stations performed fasting. Punishment prolonged.

" Not yet.

" Have you brought any letter from your parish priest
to the priest of this parish ?

''No.

" How long have you been here ?

" To-morrow will be the tenth day.

'' What time do you begin your stations ?

" About six o'clock in the morning, and I do six sta-
tions before I break my fast. I have not done until
seven o'clock in the evening.

'' I see you are taking a smoke ; do you never take
a drink of water through the day ?

" No, neither bite or sup till the six stations are fin-
ished.

" Do you believe that you will get any benefit of
your own soul in consequence of your doing these sta-
tions for the spirit you supposed you have seen ?

" Yes, I do ; for the spirit told me if I would do this
for him, that he would do five hundred times as much
for me when he would be happy.

" If you had not engaged to do these, what do you
think would have been the consequence ?

" The spirit said that if I would not consent to do
this for him now, he would have to remain in the sand-
pit fifty -five years longer.

" Could he get no one but you to do the stations for
him ?

" I was the person fixed on since I was three years
and a half old.

" Have you made any agreement to see tiie spirit
when you go back ?

" No ; for as soon as I am done he will be happy.

258 kirwan's letters.

Total darkness. Wretched state. Worse things

*' Do you believe that he is now in pain ?

*' I bless my Lord that he is not now in pain, but he
is in total darkness.

" Do you think that the Lord Jesus Christ could have
saved him without either masses or the stations ?

" To this he made no reply, but, in a hesitating
manner, expressed a persuasion that the masses and
stations were really necessary.

'' Can you read ?

" No.

" How do you earn your bread ?

" I am a brogue-maker.

" Is your father or mother alive ?

" My mother is alive.

" Have you walked from the county of G-alway here ?

" I have, barefoot.

" How do you support yourself while here ?

" I have no means of support but what I get from
the poor family of this house ; they are very good to
me.

" Will you go home as soon as you have done all the
stations ?

" I will not be able, my feet are so sore.

" He then showed his feet ; they were very much
bruised, and, when he pulled up his drawers, his knees
were nearly in a state of complete ulceration."

Here, Sir, is a picture of the degradation produced
by Popery, and of the superstition encouraged by its
priests at the present hour. And this is not an exception
to their influence, but an illustration of it. And black
and bad as it is, it is sense when compared with things
and scenes of daily occurrence under the eye of the

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 259

Heathenism extended. Break the grasp.

Pope himself. And if they do better in this country,
it is owing, not to their principles, but to the civiliza-
tion amid which they live. Romanism is heathenism
extended, and its priests are no more Christian minis-
ters than were the priests of Jupiter. So I believe, and
believing, I so declare. And their influence, through
all its extent, is only evil, as to the temporal, social,
intellectual, spiritual, and eternal interests of men.
Their grasp upon the mind and conscience of their
dupes is like that of the priests of India upon the poor
Hindoos, and is retained in the same way. To break
that grasp, the true character of the priest must be un-
folded ; and, when truly seen, the people will desert
them, and leave them here and every where, as in
Rome, to parade their vestments, and go through their
senseless ceremonies, within the sacred inclosures of
empty churches.

Such, Sir, is my answer to the question, "What is to
be done to our Papists and priests ? We must give light
to the people. But, from the Pope to the most illiter-
ate Irish mass-monger, the priests are impostors, claim-
ing a divine right to exercise their impositions, and to
damn us all, unless we submit to them. "Whatever
they may receive at the hand of G-od, they deserve
nothing at the hand of man but to be treated as im-
postors.

With great respect, truly yours.

260 kirwan's letters.

Mortal sin. If Protestantism was so guilty.

LETTER XXYL

Strictures on Popery ended. — Popery to be extirpated — its End hasten-
ing.— Friends of Freedom Enemies of Popery. — Suspended Wrath. —
Religion essential to national Greatness. — What true Religion is.—
Nature of the Church of God — its Object and End. — Tendency to vi-
carious Religion. — Great Curse of Christendom.

My dear Sir, — I have concluded all that I originally
intended to say to you on the subject of Romanism,
and all that I now deem necessary to expose it, in its
theory, its government, its practices, its frauds, its
fruits, and its priests. Believing it, as I do, to be a
system of huge iniquity, framed like that of Hindoo-
ism, which in so many points it resembles, by the cun-
ning of ages, and solely for the benefit of the priest, I
have spoken plainly and honestly. While I know that,
in the estimate of the priest, my sin is mortal, of so
deep a dye as to defy the cleaning influence of holy
water or holy oil, I yet believe that from you, and mul-
titudes of others in this land, my statements will be
candidly examined, and my motives duly appreciated.
If statements such as I have made in these letters
against Romanism could be made as truly against any
one branch of the Protestant Church, they would be
fatal to its existence. All the world would unite in
hissing it to Purgatory. And, unless I read backward
the indications of Providence, the time is not far distant
when Popery will be thus treated by the nations and

KIRWAN^S LETTERS. 261

Extending its alliance. The worse the better.

people which have been so long crushed beneath the
weight of its intolerable exactions. In this opinion I
am aware I differ from many Protestants, who look
upon Popery as extending its alliance with the despot-
isms of Europe for mutual support. But this only tends
to hasten the event for which the earth is groaning.
The men are every where multiplying whose ardent
souls are thirsting for freedom as does the hunted hart
for the water-brooks ; and wherever found, whether in
Rome, Naples, Tuscany, or Austria, the moment they
see that the priest and the despot are united to crush
them, they will fling to the winds the banner of revolt
against both. Indeed, they are now doing so by tens
of thousands. The tighter Popery now screws on her
fetters, the better. The flesh will quiver where the
pincers tear — the blood will follow where the knife is
driven ; and the more the victims of its cruelty are mul-
tiplied, the nearer the hour when the Lord will destroy
it with the brightness of his coming. We never so feel
like crushing a serpent as when it claims the right of
casting its slimy folds around us, and of injecting its
deadly poison into our veins. Over Romanism and its
ministers the wrath of God and the wrath of man are
alike suspended ; and their unblushing claims, their
monstrous pretensions, their wicked deceptions, their
alliance with despotisms, their readiness to use the
powers of heaven or of hell, as may best suit their pur-
pose, and without the least compunctions, are only
hastening the hour when that suspended wrath shall
fall upon them and grind them to powder. Indeed,
it IS among the darkest enigmas of Providence that they
have been permitted to continue so long.

262 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

Things to be considered. True religion. Some religion.

Will you permit me, Sir, in this concluding letter,
to say to you, and to the thoughtful and educated
minds of this land, a few things which I could not so
well say any where else, and whose bearings you will
readily see upon our individual, national, temporal,
and eternal interests. I ask for them the considera-
tion which their essential importance demands. For
the sake of distinctness, and to prevent all confusion
of thought, I will present what I have to say under a
few heads.

1. I wish you well to consider the importance of
true religion to national greatness. Although the
Christian is the religion established in the minds of
the American people, we have no religion established
by law. And for this, our great peculiarity, the Chris-
tian has far more reason of thankfulness than the in-
fidel. It places the religion of G-od on a vantage
ground among us, which it has nowhere else. While,
in the eye of our law, the Jew, the Christian, the Athe-
ist, the Pagan, are on the same level as to all civil
rights, we are not, therefore, an irreligious people, nor
should our men of education and position therefore re-
gard all forms of religion or irreligion with the same
favor. Man is laid under a constitutional necessity to
have a religion of some kind ; and if he does not em-
brace the true, he will a false system. Some men may
be Atheists, and assert that ours is a fatherless world
— some may be infidels, and deny a divine revelation
— ^but the masses of the people will be neither Atheists
nor infidels ; unless instructed into a knowledge of the
Christian religion, they will be the dupes of gloomy su-
perstition or of burning fanaticism. The evidence of

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 263

Mere negations. Bulls of despots and priests.

all history proves this statement true, as does also the
present state of the nations. Mere negations can not
satisfy the religious longings of our nature ; and if we
know not the true G-od, we will have many gods — if
not the only Mediator, we will have many mediators —
if not the way of true worship, we will have will wor-
ship— if not the Bible, we will believe in lying legends,
old wives' fables, or any spiritual frauds which crafty
and wicked priests may invent. And the influence of
their religion upon individuals and nations must be
known and read of all men, and has already been il-
lustrated in these letters.

These things being so, can you, Sir, can any man,
be indifferent as to the form of religion which shall
finally obtain among the masses of the people which
shall crowd this great confederacy of states ? The re-
ligion of this country will give form and direction to its
destiny. The Bible is the Magna Charta of human
liberty, and hence the bitter hatred of it by despot and
priest. Alexander of Russia and the Popes of Rome
have sent out their bulls to bellow every where against
it. As the religion of the Bible obtains in this land,
the passions of men will be subdued, their principles
will be formed and strengthened, our laws will be just
and humane, our people will be intelligent and indus-
trious, the national mind will be stimulated, commerce
and the arts will flourish, and Grod will make our offi-
cers peace and our exactors righteousness. If forms of
religion not sanctioned by the Bible obtain, the reverse
of all this must be the result ; the chapters of our he-
roic history will soon come to an end ; and however
protracted may be those which shall record our decline

264 kirwan's letters.

True and cheap way. What religion is. How it acts.

and fall, decline and fall we must. If Romanism pre-
vails here, nothing on earth can prevent us from sink-
ing as low as the Romans. By motives, Sir, like
these, I would urge upon you, and upon all men of
character, position, and influence in this land, to cast
the entire weight of their influence in favor of the ex-
tension of the religion of the Bible among all our people.
It is the true and the cheapest way, if not the only one,
of perpetuating our institutions ; and to send them
down, unimpaired, to bless our posterity, as they are
blessing us.

2. I wish you and all men to form a definite idea of
what true religion is. Because so often used as synony-
mous with sect, or with an adjective designating some
sect, untaught minds are very liable to mistake in ref-
erence to it. We speak of the Papal, of the Protestant,
of the Jewish religion — of the Presbyterian, Methodist,
Baptist, Episcopal religion ; and when many consider
it at all, they consider it objectively, or in the light of
sectarian controversy. Now true religion exists apart
from all this, and is independent of all sects, parties, and
controversies. It is a right disposition of mind and
heart toward God, exercising itself in all appropriate
ways. There never was, nor will there ever be but
one true religion in the world. Whether existing in
the bosoms of angels or of men, it is the same in sub-
stance.^ It is independent, as to its essence, of all
priestly interferences, and of all social relations. It is
not assent to certain theological opinions — nor is it zeal
for certain peculiarities — nor is it a rigid adherence to
ritual observances ; it is a right disposition toward G-od,
manifesting itself in ways of beneficence toward man.

kirwan's letters. 265

Bible view, Romish view. Extent of false views.

Wherever that right disposition exists, and is truly-
manifested, there true religion exists. That right dis-
position is of G-od ; and the person that possesses and
manifests it, by whatever name called, within what-
ever temples he worships, is a child of G^od. And all
church privileges and sacraments belong to such a man,
by right of the new disposition wrought within him by
the power of G-od.

This, Sir, is the Bible and the Protestant view of
true religion. Its seat is in the heart — its author is
God — its end and life are to do good to men and to
glorify G-od. I need not tell you how opposite is all
this to the fundamental doctrines of Romanism, which
resolves religion into submission to forms, sacraments,
and ceremonies, and to the influence of priestly inter-
ferences, and which persecutes and anathematizes none
so severely as those who worship God in spirit and in
truth, having no confidence in the flesh, and no faith
in the priest.

To what a fearful extent has this view of true re-
ligion fallen out of the minds of men ! The heathen
will return from the most exhausting pilgrimages, and
from oft-repeated ablutions, to lie and steal, and to com-
mit all sin with greediness. At the canonical hour the
Arab will bow in prayer before Allah, and will then
rush upon his victim and drive his spear through his
heart. The Papist will rush from the Carnival to the
austerities of Lent, and from the humiliations of G-ood
Friday to the frolics and festivities of Easter. The
Spanish buccaneer will devoutly kiss the picture of the
Virgin which he carries in his bosom, and then, for the
sake of a few dollars, plunge his stiletto into the bowels

M

266

LETTERS.

Praying for a prize. Nature of the Church.

of his victim. And the priest will go up the steps of
Ara Coeli, praying the Virgin as devoutly to bless him
with a prize ticket in the lottery, as to intercede with
her Son to secure for him mercy. And even, Sir, in
the Protestant world, the tendency of the human heart
is too obviously manifested in the multitudes who re-
solve true religion into a mere formalism. The forms
and ceremonies of religion are but little worth when its
power and truth are absent ; and when the form and
ceremony not only take the place of, but array them-
selves in hostility against its power and truth, they are-
only evil, and that continually. Well will it be for the
future of America if these truths are understood and
carried out by its mind and its men.

3. I wish you to form a true and definite opinion as
to the true nature of the Church of God. In the light
of Scripture and reason, such an opinion is easily form-
ed, although, amid the fogs of schoolmen. Papists, and
High Churchmen of all kinds and creeds, to find the
Church is as hopeless a task as to find the quadrature
of the circle, or the inextinguishable lamp. A Clu-istian
Church is a company of believers in Christ met togeth-
er for worship. The entire Church of G-od, in its visi-
ble form, is composed of all who profess the true re-
ligion, and their children — in its invisible form, of all
who truly believe and manifest a right disposition of
mind and heart toward God and man. As the grains
of gold exist amid heaps of sand, so the true people of
God are found amid those who make a profession of his
name. It must be quite obvious that those who pro-
fess the true religion are not separated from the visible
Church by any peculiarity which they may adopt, not

KIR WAN's LETTERS. 267

Visible Church. Not confined. Schismatics.

affecting the great principles of truth ; and that, though
different branches of the visible Church may take unto
themselves distinctive names descriptive of their pe-
culiarities, they are not therefore separated from the
great body of believers. As the various tribes of men,
though called by different names, and speaking differ-
ent languages, and possessing peculiar habits, belong to
the human family, so the various denominations of men
who profess the true religion, though differing in many
things, form component parts of the visible Church.
So that the true Church is not confined to the domains
of Popery, Prelacy, or Presbytery ; it is composed of all
who receive and practice the truth. Pascal and Fene-
lon, though Papists — Rutherford, and Chalmers, and
Wesley, and Robert Hall, and Leighton, and Wilber-
force, and Gurney, though Protestants, differing on
minor topics, all belonged to it ; and their true fame
and name should be equally dear to the entire Church
These views, which might be expanded into a volume,
must be here compressed into a paragraph ; but I hold
them as of vital importance to all the great interests of
this land. The Papist confines the Church to those
who submit to the claims of the Pope, and sends all
others to perdition. The Prelatist of the Oxford stamp
confines the Church to those who believe in the divin-
ity of the order of diocesan bishops, and receive ordi-
nances from them, and gives all others over to uncov-
enanted mercies. While yet others would confine the
visible Church to those who enter it through the ordi-
nance of baptism by immersion. In my view. Sir,
these sentiments are all false and schismatical. And
the mind and the men of this nation should rise in open

268 kirwan's letters.

A great principle. Object of the Church. Perverted.

opposition to these schismatics, whether they hail from
Rome or from Oxford, and who are here seeking, for
no good end, to sow the seeds of dissension among be-
lievers in the Grospel. There is a gi*eat principle of
Christian charitv that underlies all sectarian differences,
and which is of more importance than all of them to-
gether ; and when that principle rises to its due im-
portance, the priest, who never turns his back to the
altar, or ascends the pulpit but to flourish his scalping-
knife, will find that he is driving a poor business.

The most simple and beautiful institution in the
world is the Church of G-od ; to it G-od has committed
the truth as contained in the Bible, and with the com-
mand to make it known to all men ; and its great ob-
ject and end are to bind men to G-od and to one an-
other, by the diffusion of the truth, by inducing men to
obey it, and by teaching all men, where they can not
see alike, to exercise toward each other mutual chari-
ty. It is deeply to be deplored that the Gospel, which
is the perfect law of liberty, has too often been made
a yoke of bondage ; that the Church, designed to be
the joyous residence of all those made free by Christ,
has been so often converted into a fortress of priestly
intolerance. Judaizing views of the G-ospel, which
confine its blessings to certain tribes — which give efli-
cacy to ordinances only when administered by certain
hands — low and narrow views of the Church, which
confine its existence and privileges within certain lines,
and which shut up all admission to it save by the doors
opened and guarded by certain porters, have too often
dashed the waters of life with a strong infasion of
wormwood and gall. But this is all the bitter fruit of

LETTERS. 269

Old leaven. Not fitted for us. Vicarious religion.

Romanism ; and where these things exist in Protestant
churches, they are simply proof that the old leaven has
not been all cast out — that some of the bitter roots of
the old tree remain.

The priests, ministers, or people who cut off from the
Church of Grod all but themselves, and who exclude
from heaven all but those who enter by their gate, are
those to whom the least tolerance should be shown.
The man who truly repents of sin, and believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ, is adopted into the family of Grod ;
and to expel such a man from the Church for refusing
submission to our claims, is like a servant expelling a
child from the house of his father for refusing to com-
ply with his low whims. Such men may do for Italy
or Oxford, but they should receive no countenance in
the country of Washington.

4. Permit me. Sir, in closing, to say a word on the
tendency of human nature to a vicarious religion.
Truth is revealed for the benefit of the individual mind
— and true religion has to do with the individual heart,
and its graces are to be manifested by the individuals
who possess it. The object of the ministry is to preach
the truth, and to exhort all men to believe and practice
it. Neither the priest nor the minister can repent for
others — nor believe for others — nor secure meetness for
heaven for others. Nor can any man employ them as
his attorney to transact his individual business with
the court of heaven for him. And yet to all this there
is a tendency in human nature ; and upon this tend-
ency Romanism has built up a vast system of fraud
and falsehood. " Why," said a friend of mine to a
highly-cultivated man and eminent politician, who had

270 kirwan's letters.

A question and answer. Religion a personal thing.

been educated in the Romish faith, and yet held it in
a waning regard, " why do Papists trust so much to
their priests, and pay so little attention to what so
vastly concerns their eternal welfare ?" His reply was
characteristic. " We have," said he, " but little time
to think about religion — and it is hard to know much
about it — and we let the priest do the thing up for us,
as he has nothing else to do— and then, when we come
to die, we send for him to fix us up to meet Grod."
Here is the whole matter revealed in a sentence. The
priests transfer the merits of one man to another — they
transfer the benefit of devotional exercises from one
man to another — indeed, they are the hired proxies
through whom the masses of the people seek to serve
(rod. And they make the people believe that if they
only cling to the Church of Rome, and leave all with
them, all will be well. This, Sir, is what I mean by
a vicarious religion, and through which Papal priests
have ruined generations, and filled the world with the
fame of their pious frauds.

In the great work. Sir, of saving the soul, neither
you nor I can do anything by proxy nor by a priestly
attorney. We sin for ourselves — none can sin for us ;
and the soul that sinneth, it shall die. So we must
repent and believe for ourselves — none can repent or
believe for us ; and he that believeth in the Lord Je-
sus Christ shall be saved ; he that confesseth and for-
saketh his sin, shall find mercy, and none the less read-
ily if all the priests on earth were in Paradise or Pur-
gatory.

kirwan's letters. 271

Blessings resulting from these views.

Such, Sir, are my vie\v«, very briefly, but yet freely
and frankly expressed to you on the importance of re-
ligion to national greatness — on the nature of true re-
ligion— on the nature of the Church of Grod — and on
the tendency in human nature to a vicarious religion.
I believe them worthy of your attention, and of that
of all the educated and influential minds of this land.
If correct, all good men should unite in supporting and
extending them. If adopted by all our people, they
would extend the benign influence of true religion over
them all — they would make all true believers in Christ
to feel and act as brethren — they would destroy the
trade of the priest, a result most devoutly to be de-
sired— they would extinguish all sectarian jealousies,
and induce all men to live unto Grod for themselves
— they would make our land a mountain of holiness,
and the dwelling-place of righteousness. They would
prevent for evermore the transplanting here of the
upas-tree of Popery, under whose baneful shade noth-
ing flourishes but despotism, superstition, priestly in-
tolerance, ignorance, beggary, and moral and social
corruption.

My work. Sir, is done. My letters are ended. I
cast them as bread upon the waters, with the hope that
they may be found after many days. Should you be
induced by them to re-examine the system of Popery,
and to reject it, and to set yourself in a cordial oppo-
sition to it, as have multitudes of the greatest men that
have ever adorned our race, you would write your name
high up on the pillars which support the temple of our

272 KIR WAN's LETTERS.

The great curse of Christendom.

freedom, and you would do much to save our land, in
all future time, from that mystery of iniquity which,
viewed in whatever light, is at this moment the great
curse of Christendom.

With great respect, yours.

THE END.

New York, February, 1852.

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United States. &c. 8vo, Muslin, 62i cents.

2 Wurks in Theological Literature

a

Uphj

Lam's Life of Faith :

Embracing some of the Scriptural Principles or Doctrines ol
Faith, the Power or Effect of Faith in the Regulation of Man's
Inward Nature, and the Relation of Faith to the Divine Guid-
ance. 12mo, Muslin, $1 00.

Upham's Life of Madame Adorna ;

Including some leading Facts and Trails in her Religious Ex-
perience. Together with Explanations and Remarks, tending
to illustrate the Doctrine of Holiness. 12mo, Muslin, 50 cents ;
Muslin, gilt edges, 60 cents.

Upham's Life of Madame Guyon.

The Life and Religious Opinions and Experience of Madame
Guyon : together with some Account of the Personal History
and Religious Opinions of Archbishop Fenelon. 2 vols. ]2mo,
Muslin, $2 00.

Upham's Principles of the Interior or Hidden

Life. Designed particularly for the Consideration of those
who are seeking Assurance of Faith and Perfect Love. 12mo,
Muslin, $1 00.

Sacred Meditations.

By P. L. U. 48mo, Muslin, gilt edges, 3U cents.

Thankfuhiess.

A Narrative. Comprising Passages from the Diary of the Rev.
Allan Temple. By the Rev. C. B. Tayler. 12mo, Paper, 37i
cents ; Muslin, 50 cents.

Book of Common Prayer :

Elegantly printed, according to the revised Standard adopted
by the General Convention, in the following varieties of bind-
ing and size :

Standard 4to. A splendid volume, suitable for the desk.
Turkey Morocco, gilt edges, $10 00.

Standard 8vo. From the same stereotype plates as the
preceding. Sheep extra, $2 00 ; Calf extra, $2 50 ; Turkey
Morocco, gilt edges, $5 00.

Royal 8vo. Hewet's Illustrated Edition. Turkey Morocco,
gilt edges, $6 00.

Medmm Svo. Double Columns. Sheep extra, $1 25 ; Tur-
key Morocco, gilt edges, 84 00.

12mo, Sheep extra, 62^ cents ; Roan extra, 75 cents ; Tur-
key Morocco, gilt edges, $1 75.

ISmo, Roan or Sheep extra, 75 cents ; Calf or Turkey Mo-
rocco, gilt edges, 81 75.

24mo, Sheep extra, 35 cents ; Roan extra, 40 cents; Calf or
Turkey Morocco, gilt edges, 81 25.

32mo, Roan or Sheep extra, 40 cents ; Calf or Turkey Mo-
rocco, gilt edges, 81 25.

Pearl, Roan or Sheep extra, 40 cents ; Pocket-book form, gilt
edges, 81 00 ; Calf or Turkey Morocco, gilt ec'ges. 81 25.

Works in Theological Literature. 3

Saurin's Sermons.

Translated by Rev. R. Robinson, Rev. H. Hunter, and Rev. J
SuTCLiFFE. New Edition, with additional Sermons. Revised
and corrected by Rev. S. Burder. With Preface, by Rev. J. P.
K Henshaw. Portrait. 2 vols. 8vo, Sheep extra, $3 75.

Hall's complete Works :

With a brief Memoir of his Life, by Dr. Gregory, and Observa
tions on his Character as a Preacher, by Rev. J. Foster. Ed
ited by 0. Gregory, LL.D., and Rev. J. Belcher. Portrait
4 vols. 8vo, Sheep extra, ^6 00.

Barnes's Notes on the Gospels,

Explanatory and Practical. Designed for Bible Classes and
Sunday Schools. With an Index, a Chronological Table, Ta-
bles of Weights, &c. Map. 2 vols. 12mo, Muslin, $1 50.

Barnes's Notes on the Acts of the Apostles,

Explanatory and Practical. Designed for Bible Classes and
Sunday Schools. With a Map. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents.

Barnes's Notes on the Epistle to the Romans,

Explanatory and Practical. Designed for Bible Classes and
Sunday Schools. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents.

Barnes's Notes on the First Epistle to the Co-
rinthians, Explanatory and Practical. Designed for Bible Class-
es and Sunday Schools. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents.

Barnes's Notes on the Second Epistle to the

Corinthians, and the Epistle to the Galatians, Explanatory and
Practical. Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools.
12mo, Muslin, 75 cents.

Barnes's Notes on the Epistles to the Ephe-

sians, the Philippians, and the Colossians, Explanatory and
Practical. Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools.
12mo, Muslin, 75 cents.

Barnes's Notes on the Epistles to the Thessa-

lonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, Explanatory and Prac
tical. Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools. 12mo,
Muslin, 75 cents.

Barnes's Notes on the Epistle to the Hehrew^s,

Explanatory and Practical. Designed for Bible Classes and
Sunday Schools. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents.

Barnes's Notes on the General Epistles of

James, Peter, John, and Jude, Explanatory and Practical. De-
signed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools. 12mo, Muslin.
75 cents.

Barnes's Questions on Matthew.

Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools l8mo, Mus-
11... .5 cents

4 Works in Theological Literature.

Barnes's Questions on Mark and Luke.

Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools. 18mo, Mub-
lin, 15 cents.

Barnes's Questions on John.

Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools. 18mo, Mus-
lin, 15 cents.

Barnes's Questions on the Acts of the Apostles.

Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools. 18mo, Mus-
lin, 15 cents.

Barnes's Questions on the Epistle to the Ro-
mans. Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools. 18mo,
Muslin, 15 cents.

Barnes's Questions on the First Epistle to the

Corinthians. Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools.
18mo, Muslin, 15 cents.

Barnes's Questions on the Epistle to the He-
brews. Designed for Bible Classes and Sunday Schools.
18mo, Muslin, 15 cents.

Neal's History of the Puritans ;

Or, Protestant Non-conformists ; from the Reformation in 1517
to the Revolution in 1688 ; comprising an Account of their
Principles, their Attempts for a further Reformation in the
Church, their Sufferings, and the Lives and Characters of their
most considerable Divines. Reprinted from the Text of Dr.
Toulmin's Edition : with his Life of the Author, anil Account
of his Writings. Revised, corrected, and enlarged, with addi-
tional Notes, by J. O. Choules, D.D. With Nine Portraits on
Steel. 2 vols. 8vo, Muslin, $3 50 ; Sheep extra, $4 00.

Noel's Essay on the Union of Church and State.

12mo, Muslin, Si 25.

Abercrombie's Miscellaneous Essays.

Consisting of the Harmony of Christian Faith and Christian
Character ; the Culture and Discipline of the Mind ; Think on
these Things ; the Contest and the Armor ; the Messiah as an
Example. 18mo, Muslin, 37^ cents.

Jarvis's Chronological Introduction to Church

History : being a new Inquiry into the true Dates of the Birth
and Death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ; and containing
an original Harmony of the four Gospels, now first arranged in
the Order of Time. 8vo, Muslin, $3 00.

Butler's Analogy of Religion,

Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Na-
ture. To which are added two brief Dissertations : of Personal
Identity — of the Nature of Virtue. With a Preface by Bishop
Halifax. l8mo, hail Bound. 37^ cents.

DATE DUE

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