CAN we uncover the corrupt practices of Romish priests? is a question pressing itself upon the attention of mankind as never before. On its answer hinges the destiny of millions now living and of millions yet unborn. There are hinderances in the way. It is perilous to reputation, and destructive of the prospect of securing the favor of the unthinking multitude to attempt to uncover Romanism as it was and is. An air of sanctity and solemnity envelops the system of error. Like the whited sepulchre which Christ described, Romanism, is white without, while within it is full of dead men's bones and worse.

The Psalmist confronted a terrible iniquity in his, day, and cried, "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men." These words reveal the need of Divine help for the man at this hour who outlines the character, describes the conduct, and uncovers the corrupt practices, of the representatives of that hierarchy of Rome which is opposed to liberty, which is the foe of virtue and the corrupter of youth. �They speak vanity with flattering lips, and with a double heart do they speak.". "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ., And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. " Notwithstanding that millions know this to be the truth, there are very many occupying positions of place and power in the community, who will not look beyond the seeming to what actually exists. They refuse to explore the seething sea of pollution in which Romish priests disport themselves and revel at pleasure; or to contemplate the disgraceful and degrading conduct of these so-called religious teachers, who are blackening the character of our national life, undermining the purity of our homes, and destroying the hopes of millions of the boys and girls who are "identified with us in interest and in hope."

and claims to represent Christ Jesus our Lord. The Roman-Catholic Church profess to find their ritual in the fourth and fifth of Revelation. Blunt points out the resemblance: "The veiled door leading from the choir into the nave of the church, which is only opened when the sacrament is administered," - is his language; behold how it is calculated to captivate the unwary, -"the opening of this door brings into view the altar, and the divine mysteries being celebrated there. When St. John looked through the door, �behold, a throne was set in heaven, . . . and round about the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting clothed in white raiment and they had on their heads crowns of gold,. . . and there were seven lampsof fire burning before the throne, . . . and before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal'

"Here," Blunt, " is exactly represented an arrangement of the altar familiar to the Eastern Church, to the early Church of England, and to the churches of Italy, France, and Germany at the present day, in which it occupies the centre of an Apse in front of the seats of the bishop and clergy, the letter being placed in the curved part of the wall. And although there is no reason to think that the font ever stood near the altar, yet nothing appears more likely then that 'the sea of glass like unto crystal' mystically represents the laver of regeneration through which alone the altar can be spiritually approached." "Another striking characteristic of the ancient Church was the extreme reverence shown the book of the Gospels, which was always placed 'Upon the altar, and surmounted by the cross." "So in the midst of the throne and round about the throne St. John saw those four living creatures which have been universally interpreted to represent the four Evangelists or the four Gospels; their position seeming to signify that the Gospel is ever attendant, the altar, penetrating, pervading, and embracing the highest mystery of divine worship, giving and honor and thanks to Him that sat upon the throne I who liveth for ever and ever. In the succeeding chapter St. John beholds Him for whom altar is prepared. 'I beheld, and to, in the midst and of the four living creatures, and in he elders, stood a Lamb as it had been even horns and seven eyes which are the Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.' It be doubted that this is our blessed Lord in an nature on which the septiformis gratia was without measure; and that His appearance in the form of the Lamb that was slain to receive power riches and wisdom and strength and honor and blessing, represents the mystery of his prevailing sacrifice and continual intercession. I Around this living sacrifice there is gathered all the homage of an elaborate ritual. " It is this which is seen in the Roman-Catholic Church which attracts, which awes, which captivates.

"Experience has taught Roman Catholics that the use of this ritual forms a most effectual means of bringing large congregations regularly to church, and so of making converts to the faith." "Experience proves," says the same writer, "that the only way of attracting and gaining a hold on the vast uneducated masses of our towns and cities is by a worship addressed not merely to the ear, but to the eye."

"Ritualism, " says one of its defenders, "is the object lesson of religion. Services conducted in grand and beautiful buildings, brilliantly lighted, with splendid vestments, touching music, costly decorations, and' every outward token of reverence and solemnity, will impress the young and the poor as nothing else can.�

That is Romanisin in its deception, in its hypocrisy, in its infamy; a painted ship on a painted ocean, unreal, having literally "stolen the livery of heaven to serve the Devil in.�

Shame on them, for neglecting, to quote the concluding verse of the fourth chapter of Revelation, which ignores the dead Mary, and glorifies the living Christ, saying, "Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." They ignore also that terrific prophecy of the fifth of Revelation, when the cry sounded in the dark ages through the world, "Who shall open the book?" There was weeping because there was no one to open the book. In spite of Romanism the book was opened. For one of the elders said, "Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loom the seven seals thereof."

Rome chained the Bible to the altar. There Luther found it. Christ Jesus gave the book to the people, and loosened the seals thereof. Then came the Son of God into the view of mankind. ".And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having, every one of them harps, and golden vials full or odors which are the prayers of Saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and hast made us unto God priests, and we Shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands ,of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy in the Lamb that was slain," not the holy virgin whom Rome worships, but the Lamb that was slain. "He is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." That is our victory in spite of Rome. Jesus is worthy to take the book. Say it, every creature in heaven; shout it, ye redeemed of earth. Let all may, "blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him, that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever."

God's children love it. "Bring out the Book," said the Duke of Guise. It is brought. The Bible is handed the Duke. He takes it into his hands, dripping with the blood of the slain witnesses for Christ. He opens it. He looks at the titlepage. "This the Bible ! " he asks. �It is fifteen hundred years and more since the Scriptures were made, and these were printed within a year.�

The Bible is ever walking out in new garb. It is old, and yet it is now. It was the boast of Napoleon, that he made way for the talents. But such talents I " Talents wriggling to heights where the lion could, scarcely find a foothold, or the eagle a place to perch." It was and is the Bible that opens the way, for the talents. Because of this, redemption has come; and where the Bible is welcomed and read and loved and obeyed, there is prosperity. Life tells. God takes care of his own. It is the man with the Bible in his heart and on his lips that is the opponent of Roman. ism. It is this truth which Rome sees, hence the parochial school from which the Bible is excluded. Hence a religion that appeals to the eye, but that finds no thoroughfare in the ear to the human soul. No one can enter a Roman-Catholic church, see the deluded worshippers bowing down to a man-made Deity, believing that Jesus Christ tabernacles in a wafer which the priest holds between his thumb and, finger, listening to prayers in a foreign tongue, watching the smoke of the incense, and having the hopper of reflection emptied of thought and the soul barring out the Christ, and giving place to mummeries without end and to superstitions born in the eaves of Paganism, nurtured by ignorance, and sustained by the corruptions of a carnal heart, -no one can see all this without feelings of pity and commiseration, that the immortal powers of the mind can be so prostituted to satanic uses and selfish aims. Put over against cardinals, bishops, priests, and what not, Christ with the book, with the assurance that "as many as receive Him, to them gives He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, " and the power can be seen which is to conquer the world, and bring all to worship Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Rome ministers to the eye, and to the corruptions of the human heart. Men of no religion can turn into her courts ' and come away undisturbed and unrebuked. The drunkard can enter the Roman-Catholic Church, and hold on to his rum; the man given up to lust worships before her altar, and is ministered unto by a man as vile as himself. Rome is the playhouse of the Devil. It is the gateway to the broad road through which millions are passing to the retributions of despair.

There are some passages of Scripture which describe Rome, in Revelation. Here she is in her glory. "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication; and upon her forehead was a name written: Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." This is the church whose cardinals flame in red. This is the church drunk with the blood of saints.'

There is Scripture that describes Romanism in her vileness and shame outside of Revelation. Turn to the prophet Ezekiel ' the eighth chapter, and you see a door opening into a room as vile and full of shame as is the sacristy used by the priests as an assignation house as described by William Hogan. "Behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in. " There were creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. "Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, 'The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth...And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house " and behold at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the "porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, 0 son of man I Is it a light thing to the house of Judah, that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger; therefore will I also deal in fury; mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.�

It requires no stretch of the imagination to make this language apply to Rome. Beyond the "apse" is the sacristy. There is kept the idol. There are practised infamies, to be described farther on. For Rome has become, in this and other lands, the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Take off the cover, let in the light, and Romanism. dies. "For then shall the Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming.�

Truth proclaimed is the hope of humanity. Truth locked up in Bibles unread, in histories piled up in libraries, lying as silent as Egyptian mummies in ancient pyramids, is valueless. Truth coffined in metal or in men is dead. Truth spoken, truth printed, truth propelled from the uncapped cannon of God's moral artillery, is mighty to the pulling-down of the strongholds of error, and levelling with the earth the bastions behind which Satan trains his dupes and assaults the faithful and the true.

1. Romanism has a tight to fear the truth. Truth is the death of this foe of Christianity. It is said, "the devil trembles when he sees a saint upon his knees," hence Romanism quails before an exposure of its doings and undoings. Because of this, Rome seeks to suppress the truth. It delights to kill the messenger, that it may destroy the message. In vain. Rome is broken. The Pope is a prisoner in the Vatican. Romanists all over the world are compelled to let him stay there until his end shall come, which will not be long. Already the cry is heard, " Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double." This command is being obeyed in France, in Italy, in many of the South-American states, and it will yet find its way to the peoples of all lands and climes; and then the end of Rome shall come, and the strong voice shall be heard saying, "Babylon the great is fallen.�

It was the truth that broke the power of the Devil when he assailed the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness. Our Lord bit the prince of the power of the air with a text of Scripture; and the arrow drawn from God's quiver went home to the heart of the King's enemy, and rankles there, and will destroy the adversary.

It was a simple proclamation of truth that enabled 'Abraham Lincoln to give freedom to millions of Oppressed bondmen. Let the truth get wing that is being gathered up and made into a, thunderbolt, in "Why Priests Should Wed," and auricular confession must die, and the priests must either marry, or they will be banished the realm.

Put these terrible pictures behind the altar of the Church of Rome, and read the sacristy scene described by William Hogan, and what is duty I What will the American people do about it? What will they say of a man who knows this, and dares not sound out the warning? Will they tolerate this disgrace, or remedy the difficulty, and take away the opprobrium?

Paul said, "Because of fornication let each man have his own, wife and let each woman have her own husband." For hundreds of years the priests of Rome enjoyed this boon. In Greece today Roman-Catholic priests marry. In the Russian Church, the marriage of priests is the rule.

Could priests be permitted to marry in America, it would revolutionize society. It would give the husband in the Roman Catholic home his rightful place as the head of the house.

To tell the truth about the priesthood, is to slander them, we are told. What is slander?

To slander is to injure by falsehood maliciously uttered. To injure by telling the truth, for the good of the people, is not slander, but the reverse. Duty compels a man to speak the truth, if he be faithful to his trust. God says, " Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked front his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." The wicked shall die, though not warned; but in such a case not only does he die, but his blood is required at the hand of the man who failed to sound the slam. In other words - Roman Catholics unwarned if they die without Christ, die without hope; and we that know their peril, and refuse to tell them of it, incur peril.

On the other hand, if we warn them, and they turn not from their wickedness, they shall die in their iniquity; but the faithful watchman has delivered his soul. This principle has a wide application. To ignore it is to imperil the life of the nation. The American people are asleep regarding the encroachments of Romanism. While papists are rocking the cradle, singing their hypocritical songs of peace and safety, endeavoring to grasp the reins of government and take the highest offices of the nation, the watchmen refuse to warn of the approaching enemy, or to support one more brave or more faithful than themselves.

It has been charged, that no exception from the sweeping onslaught has been made. That is untrue. In the sermon, "Why Priests should Wed," this language is found:�

"The theory that a woman may obey the priest in every thing he commands her to do, and that she can never be called to account to God for any action she may have performed to please her priest, compels millions to go wrong." The penitents are compelled to answer questions of the most revolting character, and then it was distinctly stated that it is not charged that all Roman Catholic priests are dissolute. But it is charged that every one is compelled by his oath to pollute the minds and the hearts of the mothers, wives, and daughters with whom he comes in contact; and that it is impossible, in the Church of Rome or elsewhere, to take such thoughts into the mind without being polluted by them. As a result, no thoughtful mind is surprised at the rapid downfall of any nation that is under the yoke of Rome. "The public statistics of the European, as well as of American nations, show that there is among Roman Catholics nearly double the amount of prostitution, bastardy, theft, perjury, and murder, that is found among Protestant nations." In Rome, where Romanisin is the so-called prevailing religion, virtue is almost unknown; bastardy is the rule, and children born in wedlock are the exceptions. Father Chiniquy asks, "Where must we, then, look for the cause of these stupendous facts, if not in the corrupt teachings of the theology of Rome? How can the Roman-Catholic nations hope to raise themselves in the scale of Christian dignity and morality, as long as there remain two hundred thousand priests in their midst, bound in conscience every day to pollute the minds and the hearts of their mothers, their wives, and their daughters? "

Is it strange that priests are asking, "Would we not be more chaste and pure by living with our lawful wives, than by daily exposing ourselves in the confessional in the company of women whose presence will irresistibly drag us into the shameful pit of impurity!

These. words cover with night the priesthood of Rome. No matter about their vow of chastity, before the seducing presence of a woman it is valueless. "Men," said a priest, "may think me an angel of purity; but in God's sight and in my own, I am but a skilful hypocrite. For, according to all the theologians, the confessional is the tomb of the chastity of priests; a tomb well painted and gilded on the outside, but within full of corruption.�

To say this, is to anger the millions of Roman Catholics who are desperate and wholly under the control of the priests whose enormities are exposed. This is but the beginning. By telling the truth about Rome, you strip off the veil, take off the paint, and. leave Romanism, in its nakedness to be hated and despised. Now, it is a strange fact, that millions are willing to be humbugged and deluded who object to being laughed at and ridiculed.

Hence, Episcopalians on the way to Rome, establishing their confessionals, and lighting their candles, object to having their folly pointed out. The field is not an inviting one for the timid or the sensitive.

2. To uncover the corrupt practices of Popish priests, is a duty, despite the charge of obscenity which may be raised. For printing a translation of Dens' Theology, an authority with every Roman-Catholic priest, an English printer is now in tin English jail.

In some way or other, the whole truth should be brought out. The safety of the American people requires it. The best interests of women and girls now under their control require that their attention be called to the corrupt practices of Romish priests, and that they be told of the more excellent way marked out in the Gospel of Christ. At the present time, Dens' and Liguori's Theologies, so called, cannot be translated from Latin, which priests read and enjoy, into English, so that the people under their control might know what corrupting and disgusting suggestions and insinuations fill their minds, and influence their lives.

The books which exhibit the true genius of Popery ate written in Latin and never translated. They are to be found nowhere but on the shelves of priests. Consequently the people are kept in ignorance. It is alarming that men of brain and culture in the Roman-Catholic Church will consent to this state of things.

For the shame and confusion of Romanists, Dens' .Theology and Liguori's Instructions ought to be translated, and placed within reach of the parents of ,those children now exposed to peril. The people have never given this subject proper attention. An evil ought pollutes the soul. Proofs of the result have set forth in these pages. May God bless the truth those who read it I Already the people are aware that Romanism is filthy and debasing. "Let them eschew evil, and do good. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous." The author of the synopsis of Liguori's writings asks the question, "Would it not be a pity to conceal things that ought to be known many, because they are too indecent to be exhibited to all?" Rome hides behind this law forbidding the approach to obscenity, to conceal her shame.

To pour out all the pollutions of the doctrines of Rome, would be to make a book too indelicate to appear in public. To protect the innocent, the guilty are permitted to go scot-free. To protect Rome, history has to be emasculated, and the conduct of her spiritual teachers has to remain undescribed.

In some way or other, society must organize against this horrid iniquity. It has been claimed that no charges have been brought against the priesthood and nunneries, except they were made by ex-priests or nuns. Milman, the author of "Latin Christianity," is not an ex-priest. Henry C. Lea, author of "An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy," published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., in 1884, is not an expriest; and yet he says as hard things against Rome as have ever been uttered by priest or nun. He says, --

"The Church is unquestionably violating the precept, 'Thou shalt not tempt,' when in its reliance that the gift of chastity will accompany ordination, it confers the sub-diaconate at the age of twenty-two, and the priesthood at twenty-five, -or even 'earlier, by special dispensation, -and then turns loose young men at the age when the passions are the strongest, trained in the seminary, and unused to female companionship, to occupy a position in which they are brought into the closest and most dangerous relations with women who regard them as beings gifted with supernatural powers, and holding in their hands the keys of heaven or hell. Whatever may have been the ardor with which the vows were taken, the youth thus exposed to temptations hitherto unknown finds his virtue rudely assailed, when, in the confessional, female lips repeat to him the story of sins and transgressions, and he recognizes in himself instincts and passions which are only the stronger by reason of their whilom. repression. That a youthful spiritual director, before whom are thrown down all barriers with which the prudent reserve of society surrounds the social intercourse of the sexes, should too often find that he has over-estimated his self control, is more than probable."

"Few priests have the self-denial to live without female companionship. Indeed, the census-paper, officially filed in the Vatican and returned in January 1882, stated the population of the palace to be five hundred, of which one-third were women. While course it does not follow that the relations between women and the grave dignitaries of the papal may not be perfectly virtuous, still, considering the age at which ordination is permitted, it would be expecting too much of human nature to believe that in at least a large number of cases among priests, the companionship is not as fertile of as we have seen it in every previous age since the ecclesiastic has been deprived of the natural institution of marriage." "The 'niece,' or other female inmates of the parsonage, throughout Catholic Europe is looked upon as a matter of course by the parishioners while the prelates, content if public scandal be avoided, affect to regard the arrangement as harmless." Priests may not wed, but may live in open violation of God's commands, is what Henry C. Lea says as boldly as William Hogan.

Abbe Helsen, who for twenty-five years was a popular preacher in Brussels, calls upon his bishop "to banish the women who are universally inmates of the houses of priests, and thus put a stop to the sin and scandal which destroy the influence of the Church, and spread immorality among the faithful." Another said, "If women were forever banished from the houses vowed to celibacy, I think we should not see great a number of prostitutes who ply their trade at night in our great cities, nor so many illegitimate children who curse their destiny as they multiply more and more around us."' Is not that equal to any utterances of a Maria Monk or of a Father Chiniquy ?

Again, Henry C. Lea says, "This sort of veiled concubinage is, in fact, a fruitful source of prostitution." "The ordinary custom is, when one of these priest's servants becomes pregnant, and cannot be saved by a prudent absence, to dismiss her, and take another, perhaps younger and more attractive; and this may occur repeatedly, without the ecclesiastic being subjected to any special annoyance or supervision-unless, indeed, he is so ill-advised as to take pity on the unfortunate girl, and refuse to send her away. In that case he becomes a public concubinarian, liable to the canonical penalties, with which he is sometimes disciplined. 112 That is, the priest may ruin as many women as he desires; but if he loves one, and treats her as a wife, he must suffer for it.

The scandal of the Countess Lambertini, who sued for a share of her father's estate, Cardinal Antonelli, is proof "that lust in Italy is not disgraceful." Sixteen bishops urged the marriage of the priests, "to reduce the number of bastards whose existence degrades the Church."

In a similar mood, D. Marco Petronio, a priest of Pirano, in Istria, declares "that the boasted chastity of the priesthood has filled the Church with demons in place of angels, who lead their flocks to ruin by, their acts and example;" and Panzini describes the Church as a brothel filled with men, ruined by the attempt to deprive them of marriage."

How powerful and unscrupulous its influence, appears in numerous instances given. "In 1817, at Availles in France, the sacristan complained to the mayor that his daughter was received every night by the cure, to the scandal of the people. The mayor, thus invited, entered the priest's house one night suddenly and found the girl in dishabille, hidden in a corner. He drew up an official statement of the facts, and forwarded it to the authorities; and the response to this was his summary dismissal from office on the ground of having violated the domicile of the cure, and increased the scandal." There is justice for you. Is it not a type of what we may expect in America, when once Rome gets control? "A priest sickened of a devout married young woman. He murdered her, cut her to pieces with his pocketknife, and threw them into the river Isere, escaped to Savoy, and was provided for as a persecuted saint." Similarly, in 1877, the Abbe Debra, condemned at Liege in default for no leas than thirty. two offences, was, after proper seclusion in a convent, given a parish in Luxembourg by the bishop of Namur. A canon of Cambray seduced three young Jewish girls, and procured their confinement in convents under pretext of laboring for their conversion. One of his victims lost her reason in consequences of her sufferings, and the court of Douay condemned him to six years at hard labor; and Rome calls him a martyr. 112 That was in France. In Brooklyn, N. Y., a case quite as aggravating, where the organist was assaulted by the priest, the jury brought him in guilty and fined him six cents, whereupon the lecherous priest went back to his altar and to his shame.

In Lowell, Mass., in Biddeford, Me., in Charlestown, Mass., women who have fled Rome pronounce her iniquities worse than we have painted them, and claim that the half has not been told.

Rev. William Chauncey Langdon, who had long residence in Italy as agent of the American Episcopal Church, said, "I learned to regard a priest who lived all his mature life openly and faithfully with a woman to whom he had not of course been married, by whom he had children grown up, and for all of whom he was faithfully providing, -with a relative respect, as one who had greatly risen above the morality of the Church and of the society around him, and whose life might be considered, on the dark moral background behind, a source of relative light."

These facts deserve to be pondered by Romanists in America. The frequency with which the councils command that the confessions of women shall not be heard, save in case of infirmity, except in church; that, when heard elsewhere, it shall always be with open doors; and that in church the confessional shall be in a spot publicly visible, with a grating between the confessor and his penitent, --shows that the risk is fully recognized, and requires constant watchfulness.

3. What may be done? The Legislature can touch and handle this subject through a commission, and break up the iniquitous hold which this polluting despotism has upon millions of our fellow-citizens. There are thousands who would be willing to testify against the iniquity. The people have a right to demand that priests should be judged by the same rules that prevail in evangelical denominations. It will not avail our enemies to reply to our charges against the priests of Rome,

It is not true. If a Baptist defalcates, and robs the people, he finds a home in State-prison. What Romish priest has looked out from behind the bars, though money has been squandered, banks wrecked, and costly churches have been built out of the money taken from the trusting and devoted subjects of this terrible despotism I If a minister lapses from virtue, his pulpit is denied him until the stain from his character is effaced. There is no reason why this should not be made true of Roman-Catholic bishops, and priests as well.

The conduct of priests in nunneries ought to be investigated. Nunneries should be examined, and every nun should be permitted to see a representative of the State alone, and apart from the surveillance of her keepers or companions, once a year. Because this was insisted on in Germany, the convent system was abandoned. It might be so here.

Every man and woman opposed to the degrading influence of Romanism can protest against its enormities in private and in public. Nothing will destroy it sooner than for men and women to make it their business to tell what they know, and circulate documents that expose its infamies and corruptions. A society should be supported that will take this work in hand.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is essential to the life of the people. " Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains," is the command of the most high God. Do this, and "the Lord also shall "roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know ,that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my 'holy mountain; then shall Jerusalem be holy, and shall no strangers pass through her any more."

America is given as a trust to the children of the Highest. Let our cry be "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men." Let it be our endeavor to be all and to do all in our power, then shall Gods great purpose revealed in our national life find realization and fulfilment.

Chapter 2