ROMISH priests are little known, and less understood. Connected with an oath-bound system, ran as a political machine, worked for all they axe worth to undermine the foundations of the Republic, wreck our school system, and throttle liberty, the average politician resolves to court them instead of fighting them, work with them rather than against them. For this reason, Romanism has been talked about as a power, and not as a plague. Few think of Romish priests in society, because they do not meet them. They an apart and away. They may be a nuisance where they plant and plough; but, as they belong to a so-called Church, false notions regarding religious and soul liberty cause the many to feel that they should be left to themselves, to teach what they like, and to live as they choose. Nothing but a desire to serve the helpless women and girls, enslaved in the Roman-Catholic Church, would induce me ever to spell Romanism again. I would retire to a pastorate, seek to win souls to Christ, and lead some church into the green pastures of God's Word, and so relieve those loved at home and elsewhere of seeing the name they honor and love, linked with a work which exposes immoralities of a character so gross, so sensual, so devilish, that a faithful description of the facts would render one liable to be indicted, and tried before the courts, for the violation of the laws concerning obscene literature. This is a terrible charge to be brought against-Rome. To shield Rome, history must be belied, and the truth must remain untold. For, be it remembered, I do not make facts, but quote them. Every line in the book, so stoutly opposed as improper, is taken from publications, which, with the usual restrictions, may be obtained in our larger and best libraries.
It is possible to be true, and work inside the lines of the law governing the circulation of improper literature. Because of my desire to convince others of this facts, and yet not betray the truth, I carried so much of the copy as I had in my possession to Anthony Comstock, -that brave and fearless champion of purity, -and asked his opinion concerning it The interview gladdened and strengthened me. He recognized the purity of my motives, and the honesty and fidelity of my work. He saw that I had left out what would excite the lascivious, and, at the same time, recognized the need of something being said by a man true, strong, and brave enough to face the consequences of being fearless for the right. The following is his letter: -
Rev. JUSTIN D. FULTON, D. D.
Reverend and Dear Sir, -Having examined a part of the MSS. which you submitted to me, I desire to state,-
First, That I believe your motives and Intentions are absolutely honest and right.
Second, That the facts which you have collected are absolutely true, as supported by living witnesses. I have taken some of the original works which are published, and now In print, from which yon have quoted. I find that much that is gross and Infamous has been left out. At the same time, If you will pardon me a suggestion, I would like to call your attention. to one or two things. First, the law does not regard your motive in putting forth a book, If the tendency of such work would be to deprave or to corrupt public morals. I do not say that what I have seen would do that. I simply express it Angle proposition at law: that your motive does not affect the character or tendency of thin book, so far as affecting public morals, or so far as affecting the law of this land. I would suggest that you keep out from your MSS. any thing that would be construed as sensational, or any description of the secret doings of either priest or nun. While I would state sufficient to emphasize the evil. I would guard very carefully against anything of a prudent nature, or that would cater to those who would look for filthy details rather than for the outrages being perpetrated.
Very truly yours,
ANTHONY COMSTOCK.
It will be seen by the above that he held the books in his hands. He read what I have not written, and what I do not propose to write. To-day Romanism cannot be uncovered unless a man is ready to stand fine and imprisonment. It is a shame that this is true, yet true it is.
I To save the country from the devastations of Popery and from its polluting doctrines, they should be made known; and yet such a book is an impossibility while the law exists against literature calculated to deprave and debauch the mind of the person into whose hands it might fall. The courts judge of a work by its probable effect, not at all by the intent of the writer. "Why Priests Should Wed" is no longer a sealed commission. Not a fact has been altered or erased. All has not been told. It will, as far as it can, expose the practices of priests and the errors of Popery. The cup of shame has risen once more, as when Wicliff stirred up the monks by his fearless exposures. Possibly many will cry out against disturbing so much filth; but the filth is there all the same, and, as another has said, " The scavenger can scarce do all his work at night when men are asleep." If there be doubts concerning these exposures, they can be set at rest by unlocking the pages of history. The celibacy of the religious orders under the papacy has for centuries been a source of infinite scandals, and in the sixteenth century these materially aided the Reformers. They will do similar work now. Thousands are letting go of Rome, and are taking hold of Christ. The facts in the book deserve a resurrection. They are bound now to have It. It is not an obscene book. A book is obscene which is immoral in purpose, indecent in language, causing lewd thoughts of an immoral tendency. This book does nothing of the kind, but will work the opposite result. The peril in uncovering and describing the corrupt practices of priests and nuns, of detailing the conversation in the confessional, was apparent. For this purpose I made myself acquainted with the law, and have worked inside its restrictions. But it remains true that there ought to be some way devised by which Liguori's and Dens' theologies, so called, might be spread before the people. Millions of women and girls would be shamed out of the Roman-Catholic Church, were this done. It would then be seen that a church that countenances houses of prostitution, that rents places to them and pockets the money' that takes a revenue from every rum-shop, that sends her Sisters of Charity to the race-course to solicit funds, lives a life in her priesthood which the pen cannot write and which the tongue cannot describe.
'The wicked one was hidden. Has not the time come to reveal him? Paul said it would come. Three words describe Romanism: "mystery of iniquity. " Every one knows of the iniquities of Romanism in the past. The mystery is, that these iniquities should be tolerated in the present. The time is at hand 'When their undoings shall be unroofed. "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming." The word, consume is expressive. Those who witnessed the Chicago and Boston fires understand its meaning. They saw a tongue of flame reach across a street, touch a massive block, and in the twinkling of an eye it was consumed. It disappeared. It was gone. So shall it be with Romanism. Truth shall consume it, as sun shine scatters mist.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, was separated unto the gospel of God. That was his glory, and is his praise. In him God had a man, from the moment of his conversion to his death, ready to do what was necessary to be done, whether to endure stripes, to have his feet fast in the stocks, and sing with thanksgiving to God, until the earthquake ministered to his needs and opened a path to liberty and to usefulness; or to stand on the deck of a ship, without sun or stars for days, the personification of faith in God's provident care, and so the foremost man about, capable of calmly taking command of ship and crew, and giving orders in the name of God, because he saw Him who is invisible. The prince of the power of the air tries to match Paul, in devotion and in endurance, with Roman-Catholic priests. As in the olden time, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also, so now when the Church of Christ has through ministers and missionaries wrought as never before, Romish priests come, and put forth their counterfeit Christianity, and with it deceive many.
As when Aaron with his wonder-working rod came before Pharaoh, the magicians came in like manner, and threw down rods as long and as lively, and seemed to be able to cope with this man chosen of God. Our hope lies in the sequel. Rome has her papers, her Bibles with notes to deaden or explain away the truth, her sabbath-schools, missions for the unfortunate, and it all looks as if Romanism. was a match for Christianity. But "Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." It shall be so again. Can it not be so now?
is: There is no separation in it to Jesus Christ. They do not believe in. the new birth, in the new creation in Christ Jesus. Father Hecker of the Paulist Fathers says, "My father was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, and believed in the decrees. My mother was a Methodist. I could not believe that a man or a child could be a devil one moment, and a saint the next; or that he must wait for God's call., So when Romanism was explained to me, which by baptism saves, and by sacraments perfects, it fitted into my nature, and I took it."
Romanism is the religion of the natural heart. Hence Paganism finds a place in it, and a home; and the new birth is rejected. It comes to a man, and bids him save himself. This flatters the pride, no matter what torture or flagellation or penance it demands or costs. Romanism permits sin to be enjoyed, and yet promises salvation not through Christ, but through man. It is a man-made religion from beginning to end. Romanism ministers to the pride of intellect. Behold the freedom she gives to push Christ and the Bible and the teachings of the Holy Spirit aside, and to substitute the products of man to take their place, so that in pride she can say, " Behold the Babylon I have built. " " How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow,"'
Romanism ministers to the ambition of men.
Think of Monsignor Capel saying in Chicago, “The time is not far away when the Roman Catholics of the Republic of the United States at the order of the Pope will refuse to pay their school-tax, and will send bullets to the breasts of the government agents, rather than, pay it. It will come as quickly as the click of the trigger, and it will be obeyed, of course, as coming from God Almighty himself. " The hierarchy of Rome rejoices that the Pope, or the cardinal his representative in America, can sell the Roman-Catholic vote as a quantity, and can keep one party in line through fear, and make the other through love do its bidding.
Romanism is not empty-handed, and men of prom inence and seekers after power feel it. They who seek for victory through such means count out God, who declares, " Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God, who judgeth her, and judgeth those who bow down to her," Rome's pride is fanned by seeing the dupes that give up the claims of intellect, of manhood and womanhood, and fall down and worship a cheat and a sham,
Enter a Roman-Catholic Church
at vespers. Was there ever a more senseless procedure? Some boys burning incense; the priest, with his back to the congregation, mumbling over prayers in Latin; the choir singing a Latin chant; and thousands of people on their knees, without a thought for the hopper of reflection, and without an inspiration for the soul. I
The time is coming when the mists will clear away, and this absurdity will appear; and then good-by to the power and the deceptions of Romanism. Two young ladies, reared in a convent, heard me describe vespers, went to the church in the afternoon, saw the lie, rose and, went out, and called upon a lady, asking for a Bible, and gave up Romanism forever.
Rome not only ministers to the pride of man, and to his ambition, but to the lusts of the flesh.
The substitute for marriage for the priests, which Father Quinn, late of Kalamazoo, Mich., declares to be the invention of Pio Nono, for the purpose of holding the priesthood nominally to celibacy, while the widest door is opened for the gratification of lust, uncovers the depths of infamy quite as much as does the translation of Dens' Theology, a book which every Roman-Catholic priest is supposed to understand. It proves Rome to be joined to the
Harlot of the Tiber.
Her wantonness is terrible in America at this hour. The natural man has full swing. There is a place for intellect, for the love of power, and for the pleasures of the flesh. Hence the need of sounding out the peril of Romanists. They are in the broad road to hell. They must be warned to flee from the wrath to come, or they are forever lost, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father.” So it will ever be. Fifty millions of people, started in the roadway of an infinite purpose to build up a nation roadway of an infinite purpose to build up a nation that shall be the light-house of the world, will never surrender to the Pope of Rome and his adherents.
The man who crawls into bed with the harlot of the Tiber for political promotion will degrade and destroy himself in the estimation of thinking men. Truly has it been said, and should be remembered, “No statesman ever trafficked with Rome, except at the sacrifice of his country; no American politician ever intrigued with the papal power, who did not intend to betray some important constitutional privilege, and permit this church to take one progressive step in the direction of dominance over the civil power.”