Page images
PDF
EPUB

falsehood; but in Rome, a faithful minister could point to the Inquisition, and say, "There, in that edifice, are the evidences that your religion is not of God; there are the proofs of its hatred and revenge; there is the stupendous monument of its shame and crime." And not a man would dare say, "It is not true." He could point to the shameful lives of the popes; the unblushing licentiousness of the priesthood; the ignorant duplicity of monastic life; and say, "These are not of God; the religion which supports them is not of God." None could reply. These sober facts no sophistry can elude; and could they be shown up, and discussed by the people of Rome, who already know them, they would hurl the throne of St. Peter over into the Tiber. And the day is coming. The eyes are already open which will see it. The present pope is not secure. Once he has been driven from the Vatican; and to-day is sustained in Rome by the bayonets of foreign armies. The usurpation of Louis Napoleon, the "prince president," as he calls himself, has darkened the prospect

[ocr errors]

cause, takes a false £. s. d.
oath,
..0 9 0

a man or woman that is

A work, called Taxa Camaræ For him who, in a criminal Apostolicæ, was some years ago published in Rome, and republished in Paris, Venice, Lyons, and several other Papal cities, in which were the fines demanded by the priests for absolution from various crimes. The work was published by authority of Pope Innocent III. The following To eat flesh and white meats is a specimen:

For a layman for murdering £. s. d. a layman,

"him that hath killed his

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

076

[blocks in formation]

66

found hanged, that
they may have Chris-

tian burial,

176

а man to change his vow, 0 15 0

in Lent and other fasting days, ...0 10 6 To go into a nunnery alone, 0 18 0 For the remission of a third

part of one's sins, . 7 10 0 How easily could a pious man show that such a system is an abominable outrage! Here it is a greater sin to eat flesh during Lent than to commit murder; to go into a nunnery alone than to commit adultery. O,

"a priest or clergyman
that keeps a concu-
bine, . . . . 0 10 6 shame!

[blocks in formation]

of an immediate change, and strengthened the hands of the pope; but the "glorious time is rolling on,” and the day cannot be far distant when the predictions of Scripture, with reference to the false church, must be realized. Her recent usurpations have weakened her cause in England, and opened the eyes of the people to her intolerant and aggressive spirit. Her triumphs in France will only give new power to the preaching of Protestants. While Adolph and Frederick Monod are allowed to preach in Paris, the night will not be very dark. In America, her converts are almost entirely from the ranks of the ignorant paupers who are being emptied upon our shores from the almshouses of Europe. I found, while in England and in France, that an idea existed that conversions were being made in intelligent families, and among men of office and honor, who are native-born Americans; but this is not a fact, as the statistics of Popery will show. Our country is, indeed, filling up with Catholics from foreign countries; but if I do not mistake, the American branch of the church will yet prove a most troublesome child for his ghostly eminence at Rome to manage. The Christian need not despair; God's hand is seen, and God's name is heard, in the changes and convulsions which are abroad among the nations; and if any great gain is made by his sovereign holiness, it will not correspond with the movements of the church of Rome for the last half century, which have been almost entirely backward. I cannot close these observations more appropriately than in the words of Hon. and Rev. Baptist W. Noel, addressed to a Papal missionary now in England:

"One thing I will predict, from the signs which are multiplying around us: You may endeavor to warp the minds of your partisans from infancy; you may

::

exercise the influence of the confessional to prevent the study of the Bible; you may impoverish the education of those within your power; you may compress and chain down the minds of thousands and of myriads; but you will yet see such an insurrection of the Catholic masses of Europe against your priestly sway, that while you are arguing about 'the rock,' you will find your sandy foundations giving way; and while you are proving your possession of the keys,' your prisoners, despite of keys and bolts, will burst from your thralldom forever."

6

"

XXXII.

FLORENCE

Tas our came for me to leave mighty Rome, and all is seenes of glory and shame. I did not regret it; for that renowned city contains so many objects of disgrace md wa, so much over which a philanthropist can but ween, that I tumed from its museums and galleries of art with no prospect of ever beholding them again, without any żeling of sorrow. There is little in Rome conwall with my feelings; and I was glad to be gone. The palaces of the Cesars and the tombs of the Scipios are there, indeed; but what of that! Like Egypt, when the ten plagues were visiting the city of the Nile, Rome swarms with th feas, fevers, and pestilence; and where once captive princes walked in chains of gold, and emperors rede along in victorious state, hungry cardinals and a besotted priesthood roam; and on the throne once filled by proud Cæsar sits a weak, imbecile old man, with a paper cap upon his head, receiv ing the adoration of a superstitious and ignorant people. I could look upon the pomp and aristocracy of the English nobility with some pleasure, for there seems a stately elegance in it; I could gaze upon the gay and voluptuous pleasures of Paris with some allowance, for nature has her will in Paris, and, like a goddess, sweeps along, receiving the homage of a blinded multitude; but with the hollow rites and foolish mockery of Rome my soul could have no fellowship. It was neither natural,

grand, dignified, manly, or pleasing. The pomp of Rome is an insult to God and a disgrace to man, and utterly unworthy of rational beings. The mass of the people are blinded and in ignorance; but the higher ecclesiastics must be aware of the infamous fraud which they are practicing upon the multitude. Their religion is a cheat, and no man in his sober senses can deny it; and the priests must be aware that they are arrant impostors. Joe Smith, with his Book of Mormon, never perpetrated a greater deception than this same religion of Rome shows itself to be; and one feels relieved to be away from the dominion of the pope, out of sight of the cardinal's red hat, the chapeau of the lazy priests, and the dirty rig of the shaven-headed friars.

is

From Rome to Civita Vecchia by diligence, from thence to Leghorn by steamer, and from thence to Florence by railway, we hurried, arriving at the latter place on the 25th of June. Florence, or Firenze, as the Italians call it, is a city of about one hundred thousand inhabitants, lying on both sides of the "smiling Arno,” and is one of the most gay and delightful places in Italy. It is the capital of Tuscany; and though, with the decline of Italy, it has lost much of its former glory, yet full of life and gladness. frolick is carried on, or some great amusement of strangers. were told was San Victoria's day, and the whole people seemed to be out in masses. The day was observed with many civil and religious demonstrations, and ended in a horse race. Three horses were painted and lettered, and let loose in the public streets. The people crowded the sides of the thoroughfares and windows all along the race course by thousands, military men were parading up and down, and for some two hours we gazed from

Almost every day some saint celebrated, to the We arrived on what we

« PreviousContinue »