ROMANISM. 63 



world. They meet an opponent in 

 possession of a faith " from time 

 immemorial, and universal in its do- 

 main," with a people, or a large part 

 of it, devotedly attached to it ; 

 which all history and the very na- 

 ture of man prove to be the most 

 difficult of labours to change by ag- 

 gression from without, even when 'it 

 lays claim to no positive authority 

 for its origin and truth. They must 

 also meet an organization which has 

 been truly called " the very master- 

 piece of human wisdom," the princi- 

 pal end of which is to maintain its 

 dominion over its subjects ; and 

 which utilizes every class and kind 

 of sentiment to be found within its 

 communion, forming them into so- 

 cieties for that purpose; all lay 

 As well as clerical being inspired i 

 by the same motive, and acting as | 

 one body to accomplish the com- 

 mon end ; the most ignorant of its 

 members being the most devoted to 

 its interests. If Christianity itself, 

 with its divine influences and mirac- 

 ulous accompaniments, did not suc- 

 ceed till after many centuries in 

 ridding part of the world of hea- 

 thenism, which, in a sense, rested on 

 nothing, and, as it were, had nothing 

 to support it, how can Protestantism 

 expect, by ordinary means, to suc- 

 ceed with what is, for the most part, 

 Christian in name only, in posses- 

 sion of the history and associations 

 of Christianity, running back so 

 long, with its many plausible argu- 

 ments to support it, as being the 

 only Christianity, and all others 

 claiming it to be but " doctrines of 

 hell ;" both of which its votaries 

 generally absolutely believe in, not- 

 withstanding it being proved, or 

 offered to be proved, from the 

 Scriptures, tradition and history, 

 that Protestantism a protest against 

 the errors of Rome is the Chris- 

 tianity of Christ and his Apostles, 

 and that Romanism itself is a 

 " doctrine of hell" ? 



Romanists, with the exception of 

 many of the men, who are such lit- 



tle more than in name, find what is 

 necessary to serve the purposes of a 

 religion in their belief, and igno- 

 rance of everything different from 

 it, and a determination to learn 

 nothing else; for their belief is 

 most sincere, and they cannot bring 

 their minds to entertain the ques- 

 tion whether their priests, " who 

 never deceived them," can be in 

 error, and far less impostors. The 

 sincere Romanist, realizing the cer- 

 tainties of life and death, and the 

 idea of a future state, with its re- 

 wards and punishments, believes 

 and does what the priest tells him 

 to do. What he wants is a cer- 

 tainty, which the priest readily 

 enough assures him of; and he ac- 

 cepts the pardon of his sins in this 

 world, which the priest as readily 

 gives him, for to wait till forgiven by 

 God, in this world or the next, is 

 not what his knowledge or fears call 

 for. The confession of sins at 

 death, with a desire to atone for 

 them and lead a better life, made to 

 some one present on that awful oc- 

 casion, are feelings natural to man, 

 which Romanists have cunningly 

 abused, as they have perverted most 

 of the other religious instincts. Not 

 content with death-bed scenes, they 

 will confess and pardon votaries 

 proceeding on short trips, such as 

 to bathe in the sea, with the same 

 object, giving them amulets to carry 

 on their persons as sovereign as- 

 surances of certainty and safety. 

 Nor will a surgeon approach Ro- 

 manists, in serious cases, till after 

 they have seen their priest, or rather 

 the priest them, when they become 

 the most satisfactory subjects to ope- 

 rate on. 



Nominal Romanists, whatever 

 they may ultimately become, will, as 

 members of their respective com- 

 munities or nationalities, defend 

 their Church, as they would any 

 other institution that is theirs, not 

 merely because it is " the religion of 

 their fathers," but from motives of 

 pure party-spirit, as is common with 



