JOHN HAIME—ALLEGED CAUSES OF WAR—THE AUTHOR AND POPERY—CONFESSION TO MAN USELESS—PURGATORY—TRANSUBSTANTIATION—IDOLATRY—LEGENDS—PAPAL PERSECUTIONS. Instances of genuine conversion to the faith of the Gospel, attended by the fruits of the Spirit, are also to be met with among what are generally termed ‘common soldiers,’ by which are understood the private men composing the main body of an army, by whom, as making up the physical force employed, the brunt of actual fighting is chiefly sustained; and it has pleased the great Head of the Church so to magnify His grace, that many of these men, when exposed to the most imminent peril, were enabled not only to perform their duty with coolness and intrepidity, but to rejoice in the midst of privation and suffering. No serious and intelligent man can forget that in the last century a most remarkable revival of religion took place in these lands; and the influence, it appears from authentic records, extended to the British army. A pious soldier, who was engaged in one of the German campaigns then in operation, has observed, ‘The day we marched to Maestricht, I found the love of God shed abroad in my heart, that I thought my very soul was dissolved in tears. The day we engaged the French at Dettingen, as the battle began, I said, “Lord, in Thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded.” Joy overflowed my soul, and I told my comrades, “If I fall this day The name of the soldier whose remarks I have quoted was John Haime; and he lived to be a useful member of the Church. He was favoured, while in active military service, with the correspondence of one of the most venerable and learned ministers of that age, the Rev. John Wesley, M.A. A copy of one of the letters thus received from him has been preserved, and is worthy of all acceptation, not only on account of the wisdom of the advices it contains, but of the affectionate regard shown in the midst, probably, of multiplied engagements, to an absent member of the flock. ‘It is a great blessing,’ observes the writer, ‘whereof God has already made you a partaker; but if you continue waiting upon Him, you shall see greater things than these. This is only the beginning of the kingdom of heaven, which He will set up in your heart. There is But, although grateful remembrance is made that the Almighty has preserved my life, and though convinced that He is able to keep His faithful people in the most trying situations, let it not be supposed that I consider war as an immaterial occurrence, and a light evil: on the contrary, experience has shown me that it is one of the worst and most destructive calamities by which humanity can be visited. Saved, as we have been in this country, from the tempests which have so repeatedly swept the European continent, and knowing nothing of ‘the horrid alarum of war,’ save through the medium of Gazettes and hear-say evidence, we are apt to overlook the mischief inflicted on those, upon whose peaceful residences the unwelcome avalanche has broken. As for several years I literally fought my way through the world, it is natural to suppose that the reasons and results of war have frequently attracted my notice. The alleged and ostensible objects for which one monarch or ruler has engaged in war with another, are to punish some Roll rapidly, ye intervening years, which are yet to interpose between the present and a better state of things! May the time hasten, when the ingenuity of man shall be no longer misapplied in inventions so hateful; when earth-born malice and resentment, by which it is called into action, are subdued; and in place thereof shall arise the spirit of peace and amity, as a mild and holy dove, to hover over the world, ruling in the hearts of all, and bringing into willing bonds every power of the soul to the obedience of Christ! But this is a digression. With regard to myself, a I was then compelled to apply to Father K——, a deep old file, at the parish chapel. On advancing to him he sung out for money due, as he said, to the Church. After such an opening, I had no relish, either for his advice or pardon. I was induced, however, to give him another trial a few weeks afterwards; but, if possible, I fared worse. In this instance the priest had chosen a public ale-house for his station. Some of the audience were adding to existing sin, by excessive drinking; others were confessing sins already committed; and a few were receiving absolution. I left this scene with unmingled disgust; and, as might have been expected, felt my mind depressed, as before. Just at this season I was taken seriously ill; and having been given over by the physician, spiritual consolation was judged needful. The old priest was accordingly introduced; but finding on his arrival that I had declined subscribing to the church, a solitary question was all he asked, and he retired. This priest soon after died. The Almighty was pleased, however, to restore me to health; but no peace of mind could I procure. Having met with another Catholic counsellor, he stated that about seven miles from my residence were six holy wells; and that, if after twelve months’ penance I went round those wells on my bare knees, devoutly saying an Ave Maria and a Pater Noster, I should find relief. To increase the number of pilgrimages to the spot, booths were erected in the vicinity, under which provisions of various sorts were sold, not forgetting a copious store of whisky. This intolerable abuse has, I understand, been suppressed; and the only wonder with me is, that it ever obtained, even among the most credulous. After a careful inspection of popish doctrine, conducted with all the care and perseverance I possessed, the conclusion Archbishop Tillotson has observed, speaking of the superiority of the reformed religion, ‘We make no money of the mistakes of the people; nor do we fill their heads with fears of new places of torment, to make them empty their purses in a vainer hope to be delivered out of them; we do not pretend to have a mighty bank and treasure of merits in the Church, which they sell for ready money, giving them bills of exchange from the pope on purgatory; when they who grant them have no reason to believe they will avail them, or be accepted in the other world.’ Bad as is the plan of purchasing heaven by money, as these deceivers teach, it is not the worse feature in the disposal of indulgences; for among other methods resorted to by the heads of papacy to support a rotten fabric, indulgences for future convenience in this world, and an exemption from punishment hereafter, were given to those who would fight for the Church, or, in plain terms, persecute all others. Bishop Burnet states that a jubilee was granted after the massacre at Paris, to all who had been in that butchery; and they were commanded to go and bless God for the success of that action. The pope sent Cardinal Urson, his legate, to France, to thank the king for so great a service done to the Church, and to desire him to go on, and extirpate heresy root and branch, that it might never grow again. And as the legate passed through on his journey to Paris, he gave a plenary indulgence to all who had been actors in the massacre. It may not be amiss, if we state, that by a plenary indulgence a man returns to the state he The depravity connected with the sale of this filthy article has extended itself in other modes. In a book printed in Rome, in the year 1514, by the authority of the pope, entitled, The Tax of the Sacred Roman Chancery, is to be found a table containing a list of prices for which certain sins may with safety be committed. This book was afterwards reprinted at Paris, Cologne, and Venice; and has since been translated into English, under the title of Rome, a great Custom-House of Sin. It informs the world for what price the pardon of heaven and absolution might, for particular crimes, be obtained. For instance, pardon:
Besides absolutions for crimes too shocking to be mentioned, from 9s. to £2 10s. The preceding statement requires no comment. To enlarge upon its tendency would be to blacken the chimney. Its design, on the part of the monkish brotherhood who invented and maintain it, is to make a penny, by means at which a modest devil would blush; and proves, by demonstration strong as holy writ, that the abettors of such crimes are the true descendants Before now, instances have been known in which the fraternity were foiled with their own weapons. A certain nobleman once told Tetzelius, a mighty preacher of indulgences, that he had a mind to commit a very heinous sin, and desired an indulgence or present pardon for it. This was granted for a considerable sum; and when the money was paid, the bull was given. Some time after, this nobleman took occasion to meet Tetzelius in a certain wood, and breaking open his chest, robbed him of his entire stock of indulgences. When Tetzelius threatened him with all manner of curses, the nobleman showed him the bull he had paid so dear for; and laughing at him, observed that this was the very sin he had a longing to commit, when he was so fully absolved. Equally absurd, though not so malignant in its immediate result, is the doctrine of purgatory, of which the Scriptures know nothing. The hypothesis on which this notion is founded seems to be an opinion that some are not quite good enough to go to heaven, and yet too good to be sent to hell; an idea evidently borrowed from the fabled invisible domains of heathen writers. In errors of this sort, and indeed of any description, our resort must be ‘to the law and to the testimony;’ and if the truths therein contained are contradicted by an angel of light, we are not to believe him. The holy Scriptures leave no ground for the doctrine of purgatory. ‘There are twelve hours in the day, wherein men ought to work: work while ye have the day; for the night cometh, when no man can work,’ When death arrives, probation ceases; the die is cast, the destiny is fixed, and cannot be revoked or amended. St. Paul asserts that, ‘if the earthly house of our tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,’ He also affirms, that Papists affect that Augustine taught the doctrine of purgatory; but this pretext will avail little; for if it could be proved, the weight is nothing against Scripture. There was, indeed, a time when he had some debate in his mind upon the subject, and observed, ‘that such a matter as a middle state for purgation might be inquired of;’ but after more diligent investigation and thought, he says: ‘We read of heaven and of hell, but the third place we are utterly ignorant of; yea, we find it is not in the Scriptures. Nor will any thing help thee but what is done while thou art here. As the last day of man’s life finds him, so the last day of the world shall hold him. Nor is there for any body any third place that he can possibly be in, but with the devil, who is not with Christ.’ The scheme of purgatory, like the other legends of papacy, was doubtless invented with a special view to the ‘main chance,’ that is, the cash. When a Roman Catholic talks of securing bliss, he means, making money; and it is clear that in this view the doctrine now exploded is intimately connected with indulgences, and that they stand or fall together. This invisible trial was never heard of till the year 600; and Transubstantiation is another of the absurdities of papacy, which no man of sane mind can comprehend, much less receive. ‘Since Christ, our Redeemer,’ observes the Council of Trent, ‘has said that it was truly His own body which He offered under the appearance of bread, it has always therefore been believed in the Church of God, and is now again declared by this holy Council,—That, by the consecration of the bread and wine, there is effected a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood; which conversion is fitly and properly termed by the holy Catholic Church, Transubstantiation.’ To this proposition is annexed, in the usual spirit of that persecuting Church, ‘If any one shall deny these statements, he is accursed.’ This is advancing upon us with a vengeance. I see only one alternative here for a reasonable being. We are compelled either to take leave of our senses, or expose ourselves to eternal ruin. We are to receive a positive, palpable contradiction as confirmed truth, that a consecrated wafer, made of flour and water, is the real body of Christ; that the wine, compressed from fruit, is His real blood; and what is more, though we are sure that the bread and wine have been thus prepared, we are nevertheless called upon to believe that they were not. We are to believe that He who fills heaven and earth, and is immutable, is as small as a crumb of bread or a drop of wine, and can be eaten and drunk. In fact, we are expected to give implicit credit to impossibilities; as if religion, instead of being a reasonable service, was a tissue of absurdities, and a cunningly devised fable. The conclusion is inevitable. Transubstantiation, like most other items of popish belief, is opposed Nor is the matter mended if we contemplate the worship of the Host, and homage paid to images and pictures. Like many other of the antics of popery, these are novelties, and were not known till 1216. Pope Adrian the Sixth, it is said, had so much doubt of their value, that in his own practice he used the precautionary form, ‘I adore thee if thou art Christ;’ and judged the people should say the same. His suspicions were well founded. As no power whatever can work a self-contradiction, so no being can make that which is already made; but Christ was many years before the Eucharist; therefore no power could make the eucharistic bread to be the man Christ Jesus. Of course it ever remained a creature, and adoration offered to it is idolatry. So of images. Referring to these, an old writer remarks, ‘Now would anyone be pleased to consider the pains taken in the formation of images, he would be ashamed to stand in such fear of a thing that the hand of the artist had been so long playing upon, to make a god. For this wooden god, taken perhaps out of some old faggot or pile, or a piece of some forlorn stump, is hung And what a bungling attempt is the usage of penance to purchase heaven! Papists tell us, that confession to a priest is of infinite value, and amounts to an exchange, which God allows, of the temporal punishments we have deserved by sin, into these small penitential works. Yet, it is to be feared, say they, that the penance enjoined is seldom sufficient to take away all the punishment due to God’s justice on account of our sins. The balance of the account remains unpaid, and must be settled in purgatory. After confession, the penitent is ordered to say, ‘I beg pardon of God, and penance and absolution from you, my ghostly father.’ The priest then gives the absolution, and adds, ‘May the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of all the saints, and whatsoever good thou shalt do, and whatsoever evil thou shalt suffer, be to thee unto the remission of thy sins, and the increase of grace.’ In conformity with this piece of priestly But of all the proofs which may be adduced to discover the true character of this base and fallen Church, her persecuting spirit is the most conclusive. This has always been seen. The friends to the Reformation were anathematized and excommunicated; and the life of Luther was often in danger, though at last he died on the bed of peace. Innumerable schemes were resorted to for the purpose of overthrowing the Reformed Church, and wars were waged with that view. The invincible Spanish Armada, as it was vainly called, had this end in view. The Inquisition, which was established in the twelfth century, was a dreadful weapon. Terrible persecutions were carried on in various parts of Germany, and even in Bohemia, which continued thirty years; and the blood of the saints was said to flow like the waters of a river. Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary were similarly visited. In Holland and the Low Countries the most amazing cruelties were exercised under the merciless and unrelenting hands of the Spaniards, to whom the inhabitants of that part of the world were then in subjection. Father Paul states, that the Belgian martyrs amounted to fifty thousand; but Grotius observes, that at least twice that number suffered by the hand of the executioner. THE MARTYRDOM OF RIDLEY. RIDLEY. What aggravated the cruelty of these scenes, and is demonstrative of the sanguinary spirit of papacy, is, that the news of these excesses was received at Rome with boundless satisfaction. When the letters of the pope’s legate were read in the assembly of the cardinals, by which he assured the pope that all was transacted by the express will and command of the king, it was immediately decreed that the pope should march with his cardinals to the church of St. Mark, and in the most solemn manner give thanks to God for so great a blessing conferred on the see of Rome and the Christian world; and that on the Monday after, solemn mass should be celebrated in the church of Minerva, at which the pope, Gregory the Thirteenth, and cardinals were present; and that a jubilee should be published throughout But these persecutions, though black as Erebus, were far exceeded in cruelty by those which took place in the time of Louis the Fourteenth. The troopers and dragoons, hired for the purpose, went into the houses of Protestants, where they destroyed the furniture, broke the looking-glasses, wasted their corn and wine, and sold what they could not destroy; so that in four or five days the Protestants had been plundered of property worth a million of money. But this was only the beginning of sorrows. They turned the dining-rooms of gentlemen into stables for horses, and treated the owners of the houses where they quartered with the greatest insolence and cruelty, lashing them about, and depriving them of food. In several places the soldiers applied red-hot irons to the hands and feet of men, and to the breasts of women. Mothers that gave suck they bound to posts, and let their perishing infants lie languishing in their sight, crying, and gasping for life. Some they bound before a great fire, and, when half dead, let them go. Amidst a thousand other till then unheard-of cruelties, they hung up men and women by the hair, and some by their feet, on hooks in chimneys, and smoked them with wisps of wet hay till they were suffocated. Others they plunged repeatedly into wells; and many they bound, and then with a funnel forced them to drink wine till the fumes destroyed their reason, when they made them say they were Catholics. If any, to escape these barbarities, endeavoured to save themselves by flight, they were pursued into the fields and woods, where they were shot like wild LATIMER. Nor did England escape. Though Wickliffe, the first Reformer, died peaceably in his bed, yet such was the malice of persecuting Rome, that his bones were ordered to be dug up, and cast on a dunghill. The remains of that excellent man, which had rested undisturbed four-and-forty years, were accordingly disinterred; his bones were burnt, and the ashes cast into an adjacent brook. In the reign of Henry the Eighth, Bilney and many Reformers were burnt; and when Queen Mary came to the throne, persecution was let loose with ten-fold terror. Hooper and Rogers were burned in a slow fire. Saunders was cruelly tormented at |