The dangers of education in roman Catholic seminaries

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THE

DANGERS OF EDUCATION

ROMAN CATHOLIC SEMINARIES,

A SERMON,

DELIVERED BY REQUEST^

BEFORE THE SYNOD OF PHILADELPHIA,

JN THE CITY OF BALTIMORE, OCTOBER 81, 1837 ; AND AFTERWARDS
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 26, 1837.

(Published by Request of the Synod.)

BY SAMUEL MILLER, D. D.

PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, AND CHURCH GOVERNMENT IN THE
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT PRINCETON.

THIRD THOUSAND.

BALTIMORE:
PRINTED BY MATCHETT & NEILSON,

Corner of Baltimore and Charles streets .

1838.

1

THE

BANGERS OF EDUCATION

IN

ROMAN CATHOLIC SEMINARIES

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall he in thine heart, and
hou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. — Deut. vi. 6. 7.

The trust committed to Christian parents, in regard to their chil-
dren, is, evidently, next to the salvation of their own souls, the
most momentous and solemn that can be committed to mortals.
They are bound by every tie to train them up for usefulness and
happiness in this world, and for eternal blessedness in the world to
come. And, for this purpose, to instruct them in truth ; to exhort
them to duty ; to warn them against every species of error and dan-
ger ; and to go before them in every thing adapted to prepare them
to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

There have been some indeed so unreasonable as to contend,
that the minds of our children ought not to be pre-occupied by any
particular form of religious belief, or sentiment, lest we fill them
with prejudice, and thus interfere with an impartial selection of a
religion for themselves when they reach mature age. It is hoped
that none in this assembly need to be put upon their guard against
an opinion so perfectly absurd. As well might it be said that we
ought not to pre-occupy the minds of our children with the belief
that lying, theft, and drunkenness will injure them; but that it is bet-
ter to leave them to make the discovery in after life, by their own
painful experience ; and this lest we fill their minds with prejudices !
Surely none but those who are destitute of natural afTection, and
of all regard to the order and happiness of society, as well as of
reason, can contemplate such a sentiment without the deepest ab-
horrence.

But against what errors and dangers are we to warn our children ?
I answer, against all, and, of course, especially against those which
are most fashionable and most destructive ; those which present the
strongest allurements to the youthful mind ; and are most adapted
to destroy their hopes for both worlds.

To a particular danger of this class it is my desire to call the at-
tention of my hearers at this time. I mean the great danger of
entrusting the education of our children to roman catholic
Seminaries.

I am well aware that, in the discussion of this subject, I have to
meet in the onset a powerful prejudice. There are very many who
believe that, in regard to this matter, there is no need of either
warning or caution. Many serious, well meaning Protestants im-
agine that the Popish controversy, though deeply interesting in
other lands, and in former times, has become, at the present day,
and especially on this side of the Atlantic, in a great measure ob-
solete ; and, of course, that it demands no special attention. They
have felt as if the numbers of Romanists in our country was so
small ; their influence so inconsiderable ; the popular sentiment so
adverse to their superstitions and claims ; and a competent amount
of light concerning these superstitions and claims so generally
diffused ; that the whole subject might be very safely dismissed
from public attention. The consequence is, that a degree of apa-
thy in reference to this matter prevails, which certainly bodes no
good to the great interests of truth and righteousness. Meanwhile,
the advocates of Romanism are growing in numbers, in almost
every part of the United States ; are gradually extending both their
plans and means of operation ; and are manifesting a very marked
increase of zeal and confidence. Meanwhile, when their preach-
ers have an opportunity of speaking in the presence of Protestants,
they seldom fail to express the utmost surprise at the opposition of
Protestants to their system. They gloss over their most enormous
errors, with a degree of art and plausibility, which would seem to
render all opposition unnecessary, and even uncandid. They
make no scruple of positively denying the most serious charges
brought against them ; — charges founded on the unquestionable,
published acts of the Council of Trent, and the works of their own
Bellarmine ; and endeavouring to persuade their credulous hearers
that these charges never had any other origin than Protestant igno-
rance or malice : many believe these representations, and wonder
why it is that Protestants are so much prejudiced against the Ro-
manists, and so much disposed to denounce the principles and
practices of that large portion of nominal Christendom. And hence
we so often see intelligent Protestants not hesitating to commit the
education of their beloved offspring to Roman Catholic seminaries;
and that from the slightest consideration of local convenience, of
comparative cheapness, or of any trivial advantage.

Now, is there no need of correcting this mistake ?— ^this deplora-
ble and mischievous mistake? Shall thousands be permitted un-
wittingly to cherish these opinions, and to take this course, un-
warned, unadmonished ? Every principle of compassion to the souls
of men, and of fidelity to our Master in heaven forbids it. The

watchmen on the walls of Zion are bound to lift up their voice in
solemn warning ; and every one who loves the Redeemer's king-
dom, or feels the least interest in the welfare of the rising genera-
tion, ought to respond to the warning of the watchmen, and to take
an active part in guarding their own children, and all with whom
they have any influence, against the threatened evil.

Allow me, then, to employ the remainder of the time allotted to
this discourse : — First, in showing, that there is real danger of our
young people being beguiled, and drawn into Roman Catholic
seminaries ; and Secondly, in pointing out some of the evils which
are to be apprehended from the influence of those seminaries on
those who enter them.

I. There is real danger of our youth being allured and drawn
into Roman Catholic seminaries. This will appear evident to ev-
ery impartial mind from the following undoubted and prominent
facts.

1. The first fact which I shall mention is, that the founders and
conductors of these seminaries do not hesitate to avow, that one of
their favourite objects is to obtain, as far as possible, the education of
our youth. For this purpose they multiply seminaries as far as they
have the power. They publicly invite into them children of all re-
ligious denominations. They frequently accompany this invitation
with the most solemn pledges not to interfere with the religious be-
lief of any of their pupils. They endeavour to make their terms
of admission and instruction as chenp as possible, and, in some
cases, entirely gratuitous, so as to attract the most indigent classes of
parents. And they scruple not to say, in so many words, that one
great object which they have in view, is, to bring large numbers of
children within the reach of their instruction and influence. The
late Archbishop of Baltimore, in a published report to a foreign
society ; — a society, be it remembered, formed for the express pur-
pose of spreading Romanism in America ; — speaking on this sub-
ject, expresses himself thus : — " I cannot help mentioning, that in
this school, as in all the Catholic institutions for education, a large
proportion of the children are Protestants; a circumstance which
contributes not a little to the spread of our holy doctrine, and the re-
moval of prejudices." — It is, surely, no want of charity to impute
to them that which they openly declare to be one of their favourite
and most interesting objects. It is no calumny to charge them with
aiming at that which they themselves declare to be a primary pur-
pose.

2. Another fact, which very strongly illustrates, and confirms the
preceding, is that, with a far-seeing policy, the Papists in the midst
of us are most careful to plant and to multiply seminaries in those
parts of the United States in which they will be likely to exert most
influence on the Protestant population. Let their policy be brought
to the test of indubitable facts. In what parts of our country are

seminaries under the direction of Papists most numerous, and es-
tablished on the most popular and captivating plans ? Is it in the
Eastern States, and in our largest cities, where the amount and the
exigencies of the Roman Catholic population most urgently de-
mand them ? By no means ; but in the Southern and Western
States, in which the general means of education are most inade-
quate ; which are destined, ultimately, to control this great coun-
try ; and where, of course, seminaries formed and conducted with
skill, will be likely to attract the greatest number of pupils, and to
produce the most important ultimate results. It is believed that
three-fourths of their larger institutions for the training of youth are
in the South and West. But it is self-evident that this is not the
relative proportion which the wants of their own children demand.
Their plan is palpably founded on a proselyting principle ; and is,
beyond all doubt, most skilfully adapted, and indefatigably pursued.
Their own children are in a multitude of cases, notoriously and
most grievously neglected, in their zeal to provide for educating the
children cf their Protestant neighbours.

3. Another feature in the Papal system as administered in the
United States, which goes to confirm all I have said, is, that its con-
ductors manifest so much desire to take the lead in female education.

I need not say to those who are accustomed to reflect on the na-
ture and history of human society, that female character, and of
course, female education, lie at the foundation of all that is precious
and vital in the social system. Those who have the training of the
female part of any community, may be said to hold in their hands
the moral and religious interests of that community. The influ-
ence of woman on the character of the rising generation ; on the
tone of public sentiment ; and, of course, on the purity and edifi-
cation of the church, is so extensive and commanding, that if it
were possible for any one man, or body of men, directly or indi-
rectly to control it, the same individual or body might govern the
nation. Our Roman Catholic neighbours, aware of this — have sa-
gaciously directed a large share of their attention to this great ob-
ject. Their establishments for female education are greatly dispro-
portioned to the wants of their own people ; and are avowedly
adapted to attract the daughters of Protestants. This is, perhaps,
the most artful and efficient system of proselytism that can well be
imagined All ecclesiastical history bears testimony to its power.
So that if Protestants give their encouragement to this insidious
scheme, no one can estimate the extent of the mischief which it
may ultimately produce. If the fountains be poisoned, the streams
must inevitably pour forth disease and death.

4. One more under this head ; the system pursued in Roman Cath-
olic seminaries is peculiarly adapted to attract, and, having attracted,
to dazzle and deceive. I alluded, not long since, to a pledge fre-
quently given, either virtually or formally, by the conductors of these

seminaries, not to interfere with the religious opinions or prefer-
ences of their pupils. Now, even supposing this pledge to be, in
all cases, sacredly regarded, even to the letter, which is, perhaps,
supposing more than can be rationally expected — considering the
character of the Papal system ; considering their tenets, that " no
faith is to be kept with heretics," and that " the end sanctifies the
means ;"— -yet even if they do adhere to their pledge, the danger is
in a very small degree, if at all diminished. The whole design and
tendency of their ritual, in all its parts and exhibitions, is to daz-
zle and allure. It is calculated to address the imagination—to
captivate the senses — and through the medium of both, to win the
heart. It cannot be expected, or even requested of the conduct-
ors of such seminaries, that they should hide from the eyes of their
pupils the rites and ceremonies of their own worship. Yet it is al-
most impossible that these rites and ceremonies should even be
witnessed, fom day to day, for a number of months together, with-
out mischief. The instructors, indeed, may so far keep their prom-
ise, as never to say a word to their pupils which, if heard even by
their parents themselves, could be construed into a direct violation
of their engagement. But they can, systematically, pursue a course
of treatment peculiarly affectionate and attractive towards those
whom they wish to win. They can flatter, cajole, and draw them
in a thousand nameless and covert ways. They can manage so as
to present some of their most unscriptural rites and practices un-
der very alluring aspects. They can invest those rites and opin-
ions with all the attraction and splendour which the most refined
efforts of sculpture, painting and engraving, can confer. They can
contrive to give hints, innuendoes, and various practical suggestions
in favour of what they wish to impress, not only without words, but,
perhaps, more powerfully without than with them. Of these arti-
fices, many pious, simple-hearted Protestants are not sufficiently
aware ; but Jesuits, and those who have imbibed Jesuitical prin-
ciples and maxims, (which may, without injustice, be said essen-
tially to belong to the whole system of Romanism) understand
them perfectly. Meanwhile there is nothing more adapted to cap-
tivate the youthful mind than the Popish ritual. Its dazzling
splendour ; its addresses to the imagination and the senses, can
scarcely fail of fascinating every young person, who has not a re-
markably enlightened and well balanced mind. For this express
purpose this ritual was devised ; and thousands have been entan-
gled and enchained by its power before they were aware.

So much for the real danger that our children will be captivated
and deceived by the seminaries of the Romanists. But perhaps it
will be asked by some — " Suppose our children do become captiva-
ted by these alluring arts : suppose they are attracted to these sem-
inaries, and become subject to their plenary influence : — suppose,
in a word, they do become Romanists ? Where is the great harm of

it ? Many think that the anxiety of pious Protestants on this sub«
ject is altogether excessive ; that the religion of the Papists is a
far less dangerous system than is commonly supposed; and that
the apprehension of mischief is founded far more on sectarian pre-
judice, than an enlightened and benevolent zeal. In reply to this
erroneous estimate, let me,

II. Secondly, Call your attention to some of the great evils which
will be likely to result from your children being brought under the
power of the Roman Catholic system. And, 1 — The Salvation
of their Souls will be awfully endangered. I am far, indeed,
from supposing that a Romanist, as such, cannot be saved. On
the contrary, I cherish the pleasing hope, that, of the many mil-
lions who belong to that corrupt body, there are some who, amidst
all the deplorable superstition and darkness with which they are
surrounded, have been taught by the Holy Spirit to know more
than their earthly teachers. If, in times long since past, a Thomas
a Kempis, a Savonarola, a Pascal, an Arnaud, and a Fenelon man-
ifested by their spirit and conduct that they had been taught of God,
why may there not be now some chosen ones in that mass of enor-
mous corruption ? I dare not deny or doubt that such may be found
to be the case when the secrets of all hearts shall be laid open.
But the question is, what are the essential character, and the native
tendency of the Papal system ? Can any intelligent Christian doubt
that it is a system of abomination, which disguises and perverts
the Gospel, and which of course, must jeopard the perdition of
every soul exposed to its influence. Glance, for a moment, at the
dark, revolting features of this system, and then, with the Bible in
your hand, say whether it is not replete with peril to every soul that
receives it? It is the great refuge of the guilty and the blinded con-
science from the humbling requisitions of the Gospel. It is a sys-
tematic and most ingenious plan for gaining power, affluence, and
a license to sin, under the mask of religion. In a word, it is a
miserable system of Jewish ceremonial and Pagan superstition,
disguised by a Christian nomenclature ; and adapted to turn men
away from the only scriptural foundation of a sinner's hope. Yes,
my friends, so long as the Roman Catholic Church claims for the
bishop of Rome, universal supremacy and infallibility ; so long as
she openly teaches the Anti-Christian doctrine of human merits,
and sells for money indulgences for committing every species of
sin; so long as she puts a set of deified saints, and deified ceremo-
nies, in the place of Christ, as the ground of hope toward God ; so
long as she maintains the miserable idolatry of transubstantiation,
which sets at defiance all sense, reason, and scripture ; so long as
she maintains the system of auricular confession, that nefarious
juggle between a corrupted priesthood, and a corrupted people ; as
long as she enforces the celibacy of the clergy ; the worship of im-
ages ; prayers to the saints, and for the dead ; especially, so long

as she in a great measure, locks up the scriptures from the com-
mon people, and compels them to take both the contents and the
meaning of the word of God, from her own tyrannical dictation; —
so long as she continues to maintain these things, she cannot cease
to be "Anti-Christ," "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots
and abominations."

Now, shall we deliberately expose our children to the contagion
of this soul-destroying system ? Shall parents who call themselves
Christians, act with so much blindness and cruelty to their offspring ?
Shall we commit them to instructors who, we know, will send them
for a hope of heaven to rites and penances, and relics, instead of
the Saviour ? Shall we commit them to the instruction of those who
will teach them to fly from the terrors of a guilty conscience to •' the
confessional, and the wafer,'' without the sacrifice of a single lust?
Alas ! my friends, this is so much like the conduct of some who
boasted of being the covenant people of God of old, who "caused
their children to pass through the fire to Moloch/' that it is difficult
to speak of it in terms of adequate reprobation.

% Another source of danger connected with the Papal system is,
that, corrupt and destructive to the soul as this system is, it is, at the
same time, peculiarly attractive and fascinating to depraved
human nature. One of the most polished and popular living writers
in England, Dr. Southey, remarks, in a late work, " that a system in
all things so unlike the religion of the Gospel, and so opposite to
its spirit as the Papal, should have been palmed upon the world,
and established as Christianity, would be incredible, if the proofs
were not undeniable and abundant." The Book of the Church, vol.
I. p. 29*2. This is the remark of a man much better qualified to
decide a question of polite literature, than one of theology or ec-
clesiastical history. His representation is just the reverse of truth.
It is so far from being incredible that the fact of which he speaks,
should be a fact, that it would be strange if it were otherwise.
The system of Romanism is the religion of depraved human na-
ture. It is the natural confederacy of blinded, self-righteous man
to get rid of Christ ; and to substitute a gilded and dazzling ma-
chinery of superstitious rites in place of his holy, humbling, and
self-denying religion. No wonder, then, that this system has been
so extensively popular. It finds a ready response in every selfish,
worldly, sensual heart. Our children will be a thousand times more
apt to be fascinated and led captive by it, than if it were a purer
and more rational system. Before their inexperience, and unsus-
pecting credulity are apprehensive of danger, they will be borne
away, " as the ox is led to the slaughter, not knowing that it is for
their life."

3. A third consideration which shews the danger of commit-
ting our sons and daughters to Roman Catholic instruction, is, the
notorious and dreadful moral corruption which is known to

10

characterize many of their institutions. The moral profli-
gacy of monasteries and nunneries has been, for many centuries,
the astonishment, the loathing and the horror of the Christian world.
The evidence of this is as unquestionable as it is abundant. I trust
that no reflecting hearer will imagine that the charge here made
rests, in any degree, on the authenticity of any recent " awful dis-
closures" made by a popular manual ; or that it can be affected by
the character of the person alleged to have made those " disclosures.''
With any recent publications on this subject, I have no intention, at
this time, to meddle. Concerning such publications, it is not my
intention either to affirm or deny any thing. They make no part
of the authority on which I rest. But I do affirm, that, even if they
be all given to the winds, and their authors consigned to perpetual
discredit and infamy, — the evidence of the wide spread and awful
pollution of monasteries and nunneries remains unimpaired. Un-
less we are prepared to discard the accumulating testimony of a
thousand years ; Unless we are willing to set at naught the suffra-
ges of the greatest and best men that ever adorned the church of
God ; nay, unless we are prepared to reject the confessions of some
of the most respectable Romanists themselves : — we cannot evade
the evidence that many — very many of those boasted seats of celi-
bacy and peculiar devotedness, have been, in reality, sinks of deep
and awful licentiousness. Indeed, if it were not so, — considering
what human nature is ; and considering the nature and manage-
ment of those institutions, it would encroach on the province of
miracle. And that the institutions referred to, in our own country,
are not free from the corruption to which I allude, he must have
great hardihood of unbelief who can entertain the smallest doubt.
Surely, then, it requires no laboured argument to convince a con-
scientious Christian, that he ought not to commit his children to
such polluted and polluting hands. Surely he who can deliber-
ately expose a beloved son or daughter to the possibility of such
danger, must be either strangely blinded, or as destitute of natural
affection, as of Christian principle. I am not ignorant of the force
both of prejudice and of habit ; and can make much allowance for
Protestant parents who have long been accustomed to regard Po-
pish instructors as safe in every respect, and as peculiarly accom-
plished as literary guides. But it is difficult to frame an apology
for those who, with such a flood of light on this subject as now
shines around them, can still pursue their old course. Fathers!
Mothers ! can it be necessary to beg that you will pause and con-
sider well before you place your children in circumstances which
will put in fearful jeopardy all their most precious interests for this
world, as well as for that which is to come.

4. If our children should ever be brought under the power of the
Roman Catholic system, we may rest assured it will be to train them

UP AS SLAVES, INSTEAD OF HIGH-MINDED FREEMEN. The system of

11

Romanism is, throughout, a system of tyranny on the part of the
priesthood, and of abject submission and servitude on the part of the
people. It is a fixed enemy to civil and religious liberty in every form.
It denies and takes away the rights of conscience. It prohibits the
people from reading the scriptures in their vernacular tongue, and
judging for themselves what the inspired oracles teach. It sub-
jects the whole Christian world, as far as it can, to the despotic do-
minion of a kind of deified individual. It is a decided foe to lib-
eral inquiry, whether in literature, in science, or in duty. It rules,
as far as it has the power, by terror and persecution ; — persuading
the people that their destinies, for time and eternity, are in the
hands of their priests. It claims the power of remitting and re-
taining sins ; and, of course, of inflicting upon those who are not
submissive to their will, not merely the penalty of exclusion from
the covenant and the privileges of mercy in this life ; but by with-
holding that which is essential to salvation, the terrors also of eter-
nal perdition. In short, every thing pertaining to the Papal sys-
tem, tends to repress free inquiry ; to destroy the freedom of the
press ; to keep the people in ignorance ; to take out of their hands
the choice of their spiritual rulers and teachers ; and, eventually, of
their civil rulers ; to enslave their minds ; and to prepare them for
the most abject submission to a priesthood, whose lust of power,
of pleasure, and of gold may be considered as forming the promi-
nent character of nine out of ten, and, more probably, of nineteen
out of twenty, of the whole body, from the sovereign pontiff, down
to the lowest member of their ecclesiastical orders.

My friends ! have you the souls of freemen ? Are you desirous
of maintaining and transmitting unimpaired to posterity the dearly
purchased rights, and the spirit of your patriot fathers ? I know you
are. Guard, then, 0 guard with sacred care against exposing your
children to the influence of a system, which, however plausible in
its professions, or high in its claims, can only prepare them to be-
come recreant to all their privileges, and, ultimately, ignoble slaves.

5. Once more ; to all the preceding evidence of the danger to
which your children are exposed from Papal delusions, we may add
the testimony of patnful experience. Were I able, my friends^
to set before, you examples of the kind which I have described, with
all the vividness of colouring possessed by the reality, you would
be filled with mingled feelings of grief and horror. Your own ci-
ty, as well as many other parts of our nation, furnishes many sig-
nal and mournful examples of the perversion of the minds of ingen-
uous youth, when committed to the instruction of Romanists.
Never shall I forget one remarkable instance, which occurred, many
years ago, not only within the bounds of my own knowledge, but
in one of the families of my own pastoral charge. An amiable,
elegant, and highly promising youth was sent to a Roman Catholic
seminary, for the single object of learning, to rather more advantage

12

than was otherwise practicable, a polite living language. He attain-
ed his purpose ; but at a dreadful expense. He very speedily be-
came a zealous Papist ; began in a few weeks to address and
reproach his parents, by letter, as blinded heretics, out of the way
of salvation ; was deaf to every remonstrance, both from them and
their pastor; and remains, to the present day, a devoted, incorrig-
ible Romanist. And similar to this is the mournful story of hun-
dreds of the sons and daughters of Protestant parents in our land,
who have inconsiderately and cruelly committed their children to
Papal training ; and found, when too late, that they had contracted
a moral contagion never to be eradicated.

The foregoing statements, my friends, have been made, if my
heart does not deceive me, in the fear of God, and with a deep con-
viction that I have uttered nothing but the truth. Indeed, I am
quite certain that, in every case, a picture still more dark and re-
volting might have been presented without the least exaggeration.
If there be a serious Romanist in my audience, Itake for granted
that- he hears me with the most revolting impression that I am
slandering the body to which he belongs. And I doubt not that
there are really many individuals connected with that large body,
who, conscious of sincerity and honesty themselves, have never yet
penetrated beyond the exterior of the " whited sepulchre" to which
they bear a relation ; and really know but little of the death and
rottenness which reign within. For Romanists, as well as the old
Pagans, have their "mysteries," and their " chambers of imagery ,'*
which are fully disclosed only to those who can be trusted with the
knowledge of them. It is with Romanism in general, as with the
artful and profligate society, of Jesuits. Even when that society
was at the height of its prosperity and power, many nominal Jesuits
were notoriously, in a great measure ignorant both of the princi-
ples and policy of their order. For all who, thus, for want of in-
formation, in the honesty of their hearts adhere to the Papacy, I
have unfeigned respect, and know how to make the proper allow-
ance. But such honest Romanists, must allow those who have
paid a little more attention than themselves to the history of the
church of God ; and who cannot close their eyes against the testi-
mony, not merely of one, but of multitudes of the most pious,
learned, and venerable Protestant divines that ever lived, and the
direct confessions of Romanists themselves : — I say, they must al-
low such to believe, what can really no more be questioned, than
the existence of such a city as Rome, or of the pontiff who sits en-
throned there. The great searcher of hearts knows that I have no
desire to slander any individual or body of men. But being, how-
ever unworthy, among those who are set as " watchmen on the
walls of Zion,'' wo to me, and wo to others, similarly situated, if
we give not a distinct and faithful warning.

Can it be, my friends, that such men as Luther, and Calvin, and

13

Cranmer, and Knox, and Melancthon, and others, their compeers
and contemporaries, who were all bred in the bosom of the church
of Rome, were ignorant what Romanism was, and opposed it with-
out reason ? Can it be that the enormous corruption, both in doc-
trine and morals, which they describe and denounce, were mere
idle fancies, which had no existence but in their own imaginations ?
Can it be that the most learned, wise, and pious Protestant divines
of England, Scotland, France, Holland, and Germany of later
times, were all ignorant, or deceived, or slanderers concerning a
body in the midst of which they lived, and wrote, and died? We
must either suppose all this, or admit the representations which I
have given to be substantially correct.

Say not, my friends, that these remarks are made in a spirit which
amounts to the persecution of the Romanists. Far, very far from
us be such a spirit ! Did our blessed Saviour persecute, when he
pronounced woes against the scribes and pharisees, and warned
men to flee from their fatal errors ? Did the inspired Apostles per-
secute, when they proclaimed to Jews and Pagans that there was
"no other name given under heaven among men whereby they
could be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ;" and that all who
rejected him must " die in their sins"? Did the noble-minded re-
formers persecute when they came out from the church of Rome,
as they found her three centuries ago, and solemnly exhorted all
whom they addressed to come out of her also, that they might not
be " partakers of her plagues"? I ask again, were these exhortations
and warnings persecution ? Surely no Christian man will dare to
ascribe to them this character. And is it come to this, that taking
precisely the same ground, and speaking precisely the same lan-
guage with those great leaders, shall be stigmatized as persecution ?
Is it come to this, that warning our children and neighbours against
errors and superstitions which we verily believe are adapted to de-
stroy their souls, is denounced as persecution? No, my friends, we
desire not to " destroy men's lives, but to save them.5' Our great
object is to warn men of the dangers to which they are exposed,
that " their blood may not be required at our hands."- —

These things being so, what, then, some will ask, is to be done ?
Our duty, my friends, is plain. It is, first of all, to arouse from our
torpor and indifference on this important subject; — to believe that
the venerable reformers did not wage war with imaginary, but with
real and appalling evils; and that when we make a truce with Ro-
manism, we abandon their spirit, and dishonour their memories.
It is to recognise that the Papal system is the same now that it was,
when, more than three centuries ago, the illustrious Saxon hero,
taking his life in his hand, stood forth an undaunted witness against
the " man of sin." In this free country, indeed, Romanism, re-
strained by public sentiment, as well as by wise and equitable laws,
would seem to be a mild and inoffensive system :- — but go to Spain,

14

to Portugal, to Italy, where it reigns without control, and, of
course, has the power to act out its native, essential spirit, and be-
hold the fearful aspect which it wears there ! Has it materially
changed since the days of Luther and Calvin ? It rejects this de-
fence, and denies that it has materially changed even for the better.
In fact a church which professes to be " infallible," can never ac-
knowledge that she has changed, without abandoning one of her
most prominent and essential claims.

Settle it in your minds, then, that Romanism, — while many of
its " adherents " mean not so, neither do they in their hearts think
so, — Romanism, as a system — is anti-Christian,— tyrannical, — im-
moral,— and hostile to all the most precious interests of man, tem-
poral and eternal. Let every friend of the Redeemer's kingdom
regard it as the great " mystery of iniquity," and keep at the ut-
most distance from all fellowship with it. I do not exhort you to
hate the men who hold it; on the contrary, love them, and be ever
ready to do them good. But hate, and turn away with loathing
from their system. Be aware of its radical corruptions. Guard
your children, and all with whom you have influence, against its
fascinating allurements. Keep back those whose education is en-
trusted to your care from Papal seminaries of every kind. Ima-
gine not that any branch of knowledge can be better acquired in
those seminaries, than in the Protestant institutions around you.
Never was there a more miserable delusion. And even if it were
otherwise, you have seen the fearful expense at which even a real
advantage may be obtained.

But something more is necessary than merely abstaining from
contact with the danger in question. We are bound, as members
both of the church and of the civil community, to do all in our
power, by Christian means, for removing the contagion by healing
the infectious disease. Let us endeavor, then, to pour the light of
divine truth all around us, by holy living, by faithful instruction, and
by unceasing prayer. Nothing more certainly expels the darkness
and corruption of which I have spoken, than the light of spiritual
knowledge, accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit. The
Bible and Romanism cannot live together. As well may light
and darkness, Christ and Belial attempt to maintain fellowship*
To this great principle, then, let every patriot, every parent, and es-
pecially every Christian direct his attention and his efforts. Let a
Bible be placed in every family. Let an efficient Sabbath , school
be established in every neighbourhood, from one end of our land to
the other. In every one of these schools, let Biblical instruction,
in al! its simplicity and richness, be faithfully imparted. Teach all
the rising generation, from their mother's lap, that the Bible/ the
Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice ; the common
legacy of all Christians ; the common charter of our hopes ; and
the best pledge and safeguard of our rights, civil and religious*

15

Let our whole population be brought, as far as possible, under
such teaching, and the power of the Holy Spirit implored to give
it success, and all will yet be well. Let the only weapons em-
ployed in opposing Romanism be example, instruction, and prayer.
Ever abhor, I beseech you, those weapons of blood which Roman-
ists have so long and so cruelly wielded against Protestants. Let
not the pictures of the sword and the fires of martyrdom, with which
their history teems, move you to return evil for evil. The man who
recommends religion to all who converse with him by the lustre of
a holy life ; who contributes, by all the means in his power to the
circulation of the word of God ; to the enlightened and faithful in-
struction of the rising generation ; and to t,he diffusion, in every
form, of simple, pure, scriptural truth; and who accompanies every
effort with humble, importunate prayer for help from on high ; — that
man is the best benefactor of his country, and of the Church of
God. These are the means by which every species of error is to
be opposed. These are the means by which Anti-Christ is finally
to be put down. These are the means by which every thing adapt-
ed to " hurt or destroy" is to be banished from the abodes of men ;
and by which the earth is to be " filled with the knowledge of the
Lord as the waters fill the sea." Amen ! "come quickly, even so
come, Lord Jesus" !

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