tion, wars, and rebellion among the people. It nourishes fanaticism and folly; and extended the empire of the spiritual despotism even beyond the limits of the known world. This doctrine has obliged princes to violate treaties which they had confirmed with oaths. has enslaved the free church in times of fierce persecution; and it is completely at variance with the spirit and the precepts of the gospel.

It

"During the eleventh century, those false decretals were published. Besides the independence of the clergy of the temporal government, it was distinctly inculcated, that the orders of the Roman court should be every where obeyed, and by all classes of persons, without delay or contradiction; that no civil law had any force or authority against its canons and decrees; that the tribunal of the church is superior to that of the sovereign; and that the laws of the state ought only to be obeyed when they are not contrary to those of the church.

"About that period also were falsified those ancient laws and canons which militated against this monstrous system. The clergy, supported by these false documents, not content with the independence which they had acquired by open rebellion, and rendered audacious by the ignorance and attachment of the people, usurped the authority which belonged to the magistrates. After this usurpation, the authority of the civil governments was overthrown, and demolished by means of false documents, which taught the superiority of the spiritual over the temporal powers; that princes were inferior to bishops; and that they ought to undertake nothing without their advice.

"Such was the monstrous system, so totally contrary to the doctrines of the gospel, and before that time unknown to any age or nation, by means of which Gregory VII. pretended that the temporal power was subordinate to the spiritual; that the church alone had the power of conferring crowns and judging sovereigns; and that all Christian princes are vassals of the court of Rome, who ought to take an oath of fidelity to it, and also to pay the pope an annual tribute.”—Memoirs of Scipio de Ricci, chapter viii. page 272, &c. to 301.

In connexion with this topic, it is likewise requisite to understand "Secreta Monita, the Secret Instructions of the Jesuits," extracts from which are found in the twenty-ninth, the hundred and forty-second, and the hundred and forty-third essays in these volumes.

This documentary evidence might be indefinitely multiplied-but ample testimony has been adduced to demonstrate that the avowed policy of the court of Rome is totally destructive of the rights of man individually, and of all national independence. That this was historical fact during several ages which elapsed prior to the Reformation in the sixteenth century, is recorded and boasted of by the Roman annalists themselves; and pleaded in proof of the claims of the papacy even at this period. Their statements in this case cannot justly be disputed.

The interesting inquiries for our consideration as American citizens therefore are these: Are those principles yet maintained by the Roman pontiffs and their subordinate ecclesiastics? Is that dreadful bull, In Cana Domini, yet in force? And are these shocking dogmas taught, and in operation in this republic ?-To these questions we reply that all these blasphemous, despotic, and anti-social doctrines and mandates, which have been quoted, are in full sway in Americas

equally as in every other part of the world, where the papal authority is acknowledged, as far as the system can be executed without exciting alarm and opposition.

The undeniable facts on this momentous subject are these. Every Roman prelate and every Roman priest in this republic has made the profession, and taken the oath already quoted; and notwithstanding all the perfidious casuistry of the Papists and Jesuits respecting equivocation, mental reservations, and justifiable falsehood, yet it may be admitted, that in the paramount allegiance which they swear to their "Lord God the Pope," they are sincere. The promiscuous laity are not possibly coerced to take the same or a similar oath with all its canonical solemnities; although it is undeniable that they do virtually, if not actually, enter into the direct obligation. Yet, the mere external form in this case is of no importance; because the bull in all its tyrannic requirements and ungodly exactions is enforced in the confessional. There, by the priest from the chair of absolution, which in a genuine Papist's estimate is equivalent to the voice of God, he is taught the traitorous doctrine; there he promises to execute, whenever a favourable opportunity is afforded, all that his "God upon earth," through the "father confessor," may require.-Otherwise, he can obtain no holy salt water to mark him; and no bell to "drive" the devil away from seizing his soul; and no unction as a passport to qualify him for purgatory. Consequently, every sincere Papist is equally a bond slave of the Roman court, as though he lived within sight of the Vatican.

The three mainsprings of popery are despotism, and ignorance, and deception-without them, that unholy system could not exist: but each of those characteristics of Romanism is totally incompatible with the principles upon which all our American institutions are founded.

There is nothing more repulsive to all the noble theories upon which our social compact is based, than that the religious faith, the political influence, and the moral conduct of one man, should be regulated according to the mandate or caprice of another citizen. Yet it has already been demonstrated by the Italian secretary of state, that such is exactly the case with every devoted Romanist. He believes nothing which is not to him attested by his priest-thus, combining the most marvellous unbelief, with the most fatuitous credulity. He will know nothing, if it be not communicated by his father confessor-and thus he unites the most marvellous want of intelligence, with the utmost self-conceit. He does nothing, except under his priest's direction; or what is equivalent, unless he is satisfied that he can obtain the priest's favour or absolution. Of course, a Papist thus enthralled, possesses no one implied attribute of a genuine American citizen.

Under his sworn obligations to a foreign power, the fulfilment of which allegiance combines all his earthly comfort and expectations; how can popery be compatible with our civil institutions? how can a Roman priest, in strict parlance, ever be a faithful citizen? how can a resolute Papist consistently avow himself a patriotic adherent of a country, all the social rules of which are at the direct antipodes of that system to which he believes himself bound, by the very highest claims. of his religion, unreservedly and always to submit?

If despotism, ignorance, and deceitfulness are the great constituents of the Roman sway, it may be at once affirmed, that by no artifices:

can such a combination of evil be reconciled with the constitutions of the American states; all of which are sustained solely by freedom, knowledge, and morality.-But as the proposition itself is denied, it is requisite to illustrate the practical operation of the Romish assumptions in civil society.

1. How is the papal tyranny exemplified in Protestant countries, and especially in this republic?

The doctrines which are inculcated by the Roman pontiff and the inferior orders of the papal hierarchy have already been detailed. It is impossible that either civil, or religious liberty can consist with a system which asserts supreme uncontrolled power over all nations; which claims for its priests, exemption from the operation of all municipal and criminal laws, when enforced by the national authorities; which interdicts the assessment or taxation of all persons, places and property over which it announces jurisdiction; and which condemns to unutterable tortures and death, all those who infringe upon its prohibitions, or disobey its commands.

Popery always and every where develops that its votaries are enslaved by the court of Rome. In America, equally as in other countries, it testifies both its craftiness and its indissoluble connexion with a foreign undisputed control. One remarkable example will suffice. In every part of the United States, Roman priests are known to be guilty of the most heinous offences against female purity and the connubial bond. In ordinary cases, through the wiles of those seducers, the affair is concealed, and the injured parties, who are either incurably vitiated, or fearfully intimidated, deem it preferable to submit to the defilement and disgrace, rather than risk the consequences of priestly vengeance. Occasionally, however, they find persons who will not submit to this degradation, and whose obstinacy and influence the priestly debauchees dread-what is the consequence? As the priests have no home, no family, and no tie in one place more than another; ere the complaint can be made to the civil authority, the ecclesiastic is ordered by the prelate or the vicar-general to abscond-not only to evade the operation of the national laws, but also expressly to prove, that a Roman priest is not amenable to any civil jurisdiction, if he can possibly elude it. Many popish priests have fled from Ireland, France, and Spain, to America, only to escape from the punishment due to their crimes.-Many of the priestly confessors in the United States, have suddenly disappeared for the same cause. Many such Roman ecclesiastics are now resident in various parts of this Union. And many profligate priests have either been removed by their superiors from one end of the continent to the other, or have migrated to Europe as the only alternative, to save the criminals from arrest and punishment, and their boasted "Holy Roman church" from appearing before American citizens, emblazoned in all her meretricious loathsomeness, as the "Mother of Harlots, and abominations of the earth."

This entire and constant subjection to the papal authority is ever in culcated by all the priests at confession. Unreserved obedience to his mandates, without scruple, is taught as the paramount duty of every Papist, and as the most meritorious and acceptable work in the sight of God, which a Roman can perform. Every sincere Papist believes that all the decrees of the Roman pontiff are obligatory; that every

other claim must yield to the promotion of the interests of the Papacy; and that it is his noblest privilege, and his most sacred duty to oppose all governments and all people, who are not subject to the pope. It is consequently self-evident, that a man who contends for these principles, let him otherwise profess what he may, cannot correctly avow himself to be an American citizen. In this respect, the Roman priests are partly consistent; as they never do assume the character and responsibilities of citizens, unless their craft would be injured by their neglect to take their treacherous oaths. Hence it is manifest, that the Roman pontiff, and his subordinate priests direct the votes of all those who unhesitatingly submit to their sway. This is done through the medium of those secret proceedings, which are an essential attribute of "the mystery of iniquity." No Papist dares to vote differently from the appointment of his confessor, unless he chooses to falsify, or risk the appointed penance. The priest in the confessional makes inquiries upon all subjects; but there are none upon which he so severely scrutinizes the men, as their obedience to the laws of the church, as they are called; or rather, their compliance with his injunctions. Many instances could be cited, wherein all the superstitious Papists have voted exactly as the priest has prescribed and means have been devised to ascertain, whether the tickets transferred to the ballot box have been those which have been directed by him. This pertinacity and minuteness of inquiry account for the remarkable fact, that in all districts where there are Papist votes to be given; a very disproportionate number of the stated attendants around the polls are Romans; who are constituted by the priests watchmen upon each other, although they themselves are unconscious that they are all spies. At confession, or at the idolatrous altar, or in the sacristy, which the Papist believes to be equally authoritative, he is ordered to vote for a certain candidate; and he must do it, unless he chooses to sacrifice the absolution of the church, or bear on his conscience the burden of having wilfully deceived the priest, even when avowedly revealing all his heart. Hence, it follows, that the increase of popery and Jesuitism in the United States, is fraught with the utmost danger to our constitutional rights and liberties. It establishes the secret sway of a foreign power, of the most abhorrent character; and sanctions the crime of high treason, as of the most imperative obligation, from pretended Christian claims of the most sacred authority.

2. How is the papal ignorance displayed? Not only is the proverbial adage true "Knowledge is power;" but it is not less correct, that the prevalence of sound knowledge is essential to the existence of our republican institutions. Now it is absolutely certain, that the popish system is an enemy of all useful instruction.

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Prior to the Reformation by Luther, Zuingle, Calvin, Cranmer, Knox, &c., the utmost darkness and gloom overspread all the dominions of the beast and the false prophet." The Jesuits since that period have endeavoured to efface that indelible stigma; by establishing seminaries, and imposing themselves upon the world, as the most qualified and successful instructors of youth. But the inquiry recurs -what do they teach? The only correct answer is, that they teach all iniquity; and little else except corruption. But even admitting that erudite scholars are formed in the Jesuit monasteries, which

however, is not the fact: it is not a few literary men who constitute the governors of the American confederacy; the people emphatically rule; and the national character will be disclosed in the acts of its rulers. Correct intelligence is essential to the choice of wise and efficient public officers; and this must chiefly be attained by the capacity of the citizens to think, read, and imbibe knowledge. Popery is a mortal enemy to universal elementary instruction, and the freedom of the press. Wherever it has held unrestricted sway, it has been the deadly opponent of both; and so it continues to this day. Throughout Italy, Austria, Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland, South America, Canada, and every other district where the pontifical despotism controls, the people grope in mental darkness, and are debased by the most corrupt morals. Public instruction is altogether excluded, and those vehicles of information which to us are necessaries of life, are almost or entirely unknown. In the United States also, the disproportion between the children of the Papists who are nurtured in ignorance, and those Romans who can read the ordinary journals of intelligence, and the reformed youth who are carefully instructed, and Protestants who examine the newspapers, is far greater than any persons not acquainted with the subject would believe.

But not only is wide spread knowledge essential to the permanency of our constitution and laws, and liberties and prosperity; but that knowledge must be of the holiest and most influential character. Popery again develops its deleterious qualities in this respect; and proves, that it is irreconcilable with every thing dear to Americans; because it prohibits the perusal and circulation of the Holy Scriptures, to the sacred impulses of which, we are indebted, in divine providence, for every civil and religious privilege which we enjoy.

It is a fact attested by all anterior history, and corroborated by the present condition of the world, that the grand moral distinctions, and the superior mental elevation, and comfortable enjoyments of life, which this country realizes in addition to those inferior possessions only, which most other nations have yet attained, originate in our study of the sacred oracles, and our professed admission of their authority as the directory of conscience, and the rule of conduct. And it is equally undeniable, that the gradations of national intelligence, freedom, opulence, and advancement, are exactly proportioned to the influence which Christianity exercises over the people.

Hence no greater crime can possibly be committed against our social institutions, than the attempt to exclude the Holy Scriptures from general use. A most pernicious retrogression to debasement, and ignorance, and vice, and wretchedness, must be the inevitable conse quence. Although it is not a transgression cognizable by the civil laws, and therefore may be perpetrated with impunity; yet against God and human welfare, no higher atrocity can be executed than that injunction of the papal authorities, and their practical conformity to the unholy requisition, which extinguishes the Bible, the light of Heaven; and removes those restraints of iniquity, provided by the sacred oracles.

This heinous offence the Roman ecclesiastics of all orders constantly and universally perform. Whether such a system which is accursed of the Supreme Arbiter, ought even to be tolerated in a coun