rality, and making good and honest citizens of the entire human family; that the obsequious adulation paid to and privileges enjoyed by the clergy be discouraged; that wisdom, instead of flowing robes and divinity school diplomas, be proof and criterion of fitness to hand down spiritual truths; that men of the highest intelligence be employed by the governments to critically and exhaustively examine as to the probable origin and truth of what is known as the Holy Bible, together with the past history and practices of the various sects; all of which will help clear the atmosphere of exploded doctrines, to discard false theories and beliefs, and give capacity to appropriate new truths when discovered and proved. With the people thus educated, religion will cease as a merchantable commodity, the avocation of the priest is gone, and, happily, other fields of usefulness opened for his delectation.

History and science have put an end to belief in certain portions of the Bible as the inspired word of God, and proved beyond question that the authorship of the most important books, though ascribed to certain writers, is unknown, and is the work of unscrupulous and designing men. This applies no more to the claims of the Roman Catholic Church than to that of any other religious denomination, and claiming the right exercised by the followers of all sects, I frankly admit that, while a firm believer in an "All Wise Intelligence," I am unable to share with them a belief in their respective tenets. For the good and

true men and women of every denomination I have the utmost respect. The Roman Catholic Church is an ancient organization, is and has been in the past instrumental in doing a great amount of good in the world, and will continue to exist and do good until something better takes its place. For its leaders and representatives in the United States I have personally no animosity, but on the contrary the most kindly regard. They are excellent gentlemen and mean to be good citizens, and while I may speak with warmth of the Roman Catholic System," with whose historical pretensions and political aims I have no sympathy and cordially detest, my motives are good, and " as principles are of more importance than individuals, I have deemed it best to write the truth, hoping and trusting that it may not give offense."

66

TEACHINGS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

I

As already stated, the basis of Roman Catholic belief was taken from Matt. xvi. 18, 19. "And say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." With these lines as a pivot, in due course of time a few men came together and formed an association called the Roman Catholic Church, increasing in number and power from century to century, the word Catholic being adopted A.D. 380. Assuming Matthew said these words were uttered by Jesus Christ to Peter, which is neither admitted nor believed, in view of the proven inaccuracy and unreliability of the writings ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the absurd claims that Christ knew anything of the All Wise Intelligence, called God, the Father, or that he, Christ, was the equal in all things with God Almighty, that he, Christ, knew anything about a place called heaven, and much less had any keys of that, or any other place, to bind and loose, that Peter was some kind of a rock on which to build a church (meaning, if anything, that the rock was not the person, but

the previous confession of Peter); that Peter transferred his authority to his successors, or that Christ gave authority to Peter to bind and loose anybody, and the monstrous claim that, "whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," are no longer tenable, which latter for centuries has served to frighten the ignorant, unsuspecting masses and robbed them of their money and their heritage. With the dawn of the twentieth century this church no longer rests in fancied security that its dogmas and divine rights cannot be disproved because no one is now living who was present at times specified, or can set aside the word of God. These false claims, which for centuries frightened the masses intentionally kept in ignorance by the church, have no terrors for the world intelligence of to-day, which now demands proof and delivery of the goods, failing which to acknowledge defeat, and seek other avenues for idleness or usefulness. But do you think it can all be settled easily as that? Ah no. This organization is not afflicted with the disease of modesty. Its aim is national, to control nations as in the past. You think not? Wait until you see the power it develops in our country in the next twenty-five years, unless meantime the nation awakes from its deep sleep and recovers its own. It is the "System," the "Curia,” at Rome, the veiled prophets behind the throne with whom the nation takes issue and has to deal; who are all powerful through their army of bishops

and priests, and who assert the present Pope is the vice gerent of God, with full authority from God to govern, handed down by Peter through his successors. Neither time nor space admits a history of popes. There have been in all ages and in all professions good and bad men. The same may be said of popes. The "American Text-Book of Popery, Chronological Table," page 115, gives among the many events cited the following, quoting authorities, which serves to throw some light on the lives and character of the gentlemen referred to,- successors of Peter and vice gerents of God, viz. "In A. D.606 Pope Boniface got from usurper Phocas (who had murdered Emperor Mauritius and all his family) ecclesiastical supremacy, and declared the appellation pope should ever after be restricted to the Roman pontiff. In 863 Nicholas I, the Pope, and Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, reciprocally excommunicated each other. In 881 Pope John was put to death for his intolerable wickedness. In 896 Pope Boniface VI was expelled from his high office before the end of the first month, on account of his atrocious lewdness. In 897 Pope Stephen, a more outrageous monster than Boniface, was seized and strangled in prison. In 930 (John XII), the two preceding popes were murdered by the harlot Marozia, daughter of Theodora, that she might place in the popedom her son John, whose father was Pope Sergius III. In 964 Pope Leo was caught in adultery and slain upon the spot, by the husband. In 1045 Pope Benedict