ROMANISM IN THE UNITED STATES.
By Hatfield
It is an encouraging fact that large numbers of good and thoughtful men are giving increased attention to the assumptions and aggressions of Romanism in our country. When the conclusion is reached that something must be done to check and crush this arrogant power, a great point will be gained. We shall then be in a condition to consider what our resources are, and how they may be used to the best advantage. The condition of the European nations, and the state of affairs in our own country, indicate that the next great battle for liberty of conscience, and for civil and religious freedom, is to be fought on American soil. Slavery, in its worst form, is hardly a more malignant and dangerous enemy to human progress and the rights of men than is the Romanism of to-day, as it exists in the United States. And the emissaries of the Pope are thoroughly united and determined in their efforts to perpetuate and extend the power of the church to which they have sworn allegiance. Confronted as we are by these facts, a class of amiable and excellent persons see in the signs of the times only a call to modest stillness, or to the greatest tenderness, in dealing with Romanism. According to their theory, we must abandon all “less direct hostility” to this system of arrogance and oppression. By kind and loving endeavors, we must lead the members of this apostate church to Christ, and to a better life. We are told that when this is done the Catholics will give us no further trouble. One writer of marked ability insists that in this work we must begin with the priests; and that we can hope to accomplish but little until we have gained the ear and heart of the spiritual guides of the Romanists. This goodish kind of talk is exactly of a piece with what South-side conservatives said about slavery twenty-five years ago. When pointed to the abominations of slavery, and the aggressions of the slavery-power, their ready reply was: There is but one way of dealing with this question. All agitation must be avoided; nothing must be done to irritate the slaveholder. Send ministers, and Bibles, and the good books published by the American Tract Society, to the South, and all will be well. And these good men dozed, and dreamed, and uttered their pious platitudes, until the thunder of rebel artillery compelled them to open their eyes. Then, for the first time, they saw that slaveholding church-members and ministers were ready to deluge the land in blood, rather than lift their heel from the neck of the bondman. The slaveholder cared nothing for gentle words or missionary efforts, so long as he grew rich by oppression, and was permitted to mature his plans for the overthrow of our government. And Romanism laughs to scorn the efforts that are made to convert her priests and bishops, while she moves steadily toward the political control of our country. It is not with popery as an ecclesiastical system that we have chiefly to do. Efforts for the moral and spiritual improvement of the members of the church of Rome cannot be too highly190commended. But these evangelistic efforts do not cover the whole field of duty. If all the immoral and vicious persons in the country could be converted into intelligent and consistent Christians, we should have little need of prisons or officers of justice. Sunday-school teachers and ministers of the Gospel are doing a better work than sheriffs and jailors. But it does not follow from this that we are to do nothing to restrain crime, or protect ourselves against the reprobates who trample the Gospel under their feet. We are called just now not only to labor for the benefit of Romanists, but also to efforts to save ourselves and our country from the machinations of the false and persecuting church to which they belong. When the “friends” of Horatio Seymour swept like a whirlwind through the streets of New York, leaving behind them a track of fire and blood, the first question with every good citizen was not, How may these cut-throats be conciliated and converted? but, How may this mob be dispersed, and life and property be protected? Rome aspires to the political control of our country, and will secure it unless her efforts in that direction are counteracted. Her most devout and spiritual members regard themselves as doing her service while engaged in efforts to destroy any institution that stands in the way of the aggrandizement of holy Mother Church. The Pope claims to be not only head over the church, but to be the king of kings, and supreme over all rulers. He has never renounced the right to depose potentates, and to release subjects from their allegiance, at his pleasure. His last allocution makes a noise more like the bleating of a calf than the roar of a bull; but is of the same breed with the bovines that have been wont to push with their horns in time past. Rome is just as ambitious, tyrannical, and unprincipled as she was five hundred years ago. It is hardly more than twenty-five years since she struggled hard to revive the horrors of the Inquisition in Spain; and recent events show that she would establish the institution, or its equivalent, in the United States, if she had the power to do so. However tolerant she may be, from the force of circumstances or as a matter of policy, give her the way, and she has still the will to lay a heavy hand upon schismatics and heretics. She knows how to prate of “charity” and “freedom” in words that are “smoother than butter” and “softer than oil,” while she reads once a year in all her churches the following anathema against all who refuse to bow to her authority: “We place under ban, and pronounce accursed, on behalf of God the Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and by virtue of the authority delegated to the sainted apostles, Peter and Paul, as well as to ourselves, all Hussites, Wickliffites, Lutherans, Zwinglians, Calvinists, Huguenots, etc., as well as all other heretics.” It is passing strange that intelligent Protestants do not see with what adroitness—and success, too—she is now manipulating the political affairs of our nation. She aspires to rule the country by securing a controlling influence in the great cities and chief centers of power. Look at what she has already accomplished in Baltimore, St. Louis, and New York. It is not often, Mr. Editor, that I have occasion to quote from your columns in my communications to The Independent. But a recent article of yours contains some truth on this subject that should be repeated and reiterated until it reaches the ear and heart of every Protestant in the country. You say, in speaking of the Empire City: “No man can hold any office in this city unless he at least professes to be in favor of slavery; but he must in addition be an Irishman, and a Roman Catholic. . . . New York is governed by an Irish-Roman-Catholic-Democratic pro-slavery majority, which will permit no one who does not either belong to its ranks or subscribe to its doctrines to hold any office whatever, either in the county or the corporation. New York is, in reality, a foreign city on American soil. The majority of all the city officers are Irish Romanists. The sheriff is an Irishman, the comptroller is an Irishman, the county clerk is an Irishman, the city chamberlain is an Irishman, and all the judges are either Irishmen or in the interest of the Irish party. There is one part of New York that has an American look; it is orderly, elegant, economically administered, and is the boast of all New Yorkers as well as the admiration of all strangers. It forms the strongest possible contrast to all other parts of the city. It has never been under the domination of the Democratic party, nor of the Irish Roman Catholics. It is called the Central Park; and what that is all the rest of the city might be, but for the remorseless rule of the party which Mr. O’Gorman represents.”
We are reminded on reading these words, of the threatening of Jehovah: “Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.” And for the removal of this evil something more is needed than efforts for the conversion of Romanists. I yield to no man in my veneration for God’s word, or in my confidence in the truth and power of the gospel. But, if a wheat-field is to be harvested, one of Marsh’s reapers is better for that purpose than a shipload of Bibles. It is no disparagement of the gospel to say that it is no substitute for broad-axes in hewing ship-timber. Here we have among us a politico-ecclesiastical organization banded together and bound by oaths and obligations, such as are known in no other sect or society. With the precision of trained battalions, they are moving right onward to the subversion of our liberties. The great mass of them are almost impervious to any moral influence we can bring to bear upon them—far more so than the heathen of India or Japan. Shall we sit supinely until Rome is in a condition to treat us as she has treated Spain and Mexico? “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Whatever trading politicians, or Rip Van Winkle conservatives may say, the aggressions of this formidable power must be confronted and repelled. And God in his mercy will, I am confident, prepare his people for this work, and make them successful in it. He is against the false prophets who see only visions of peace, and who “sew pillows to all arm-holes.”—Hatfield, in N. Y. Independent.