The Project Gutenberg eBook of Thirty Years in Hell, by Bernard Fresenborg

A structure of enlightenment is to be built in this land, which to finish, every man of intellectual power must contribute.

The structure which I refer to, is the structure of "SPIRITUAL LIBERTY," as the spiritual part of man must have room to expand and grow the same as any other God-given privilege that man is blessed with.

Those who go forth into the world and profess to be the teachers of men should be giants of intellect and fully prepared to contribute to this monument of "SPIRITUAL LIBERTY."

These giants are the "KNIGHTS OF THE SPIRIT," who stand upon the summit of righteousness and proclaim an intelligent God to a sinful world.

Many say they do not feel that they possess the ability to contribute to this structure of "SPIRITUAL LIBERTY," but I say, none who possess [Pg 6]the power to reason are exempt, for if they cannot place in the arch of this structure the golden "key-stone" that shall securely bind this structure together, they can carry mortar or stones, which is as imperative in this structure, as the polished "Cap stone" which shall complete this great pyramid of emancipation.

I do not crave to have my name engraven in bold letters upon the "Cap stone" of this structure, but I do desire to contribute my mite towards the completion of this grand structure of free thought, which, when completed, will stand out upon the horizon of time as a towering monument to Christ and his cause.

Roman Catholicism, as taught by our modern priests and inspired by the papal power at Rome is naught but the distant rumblings of an antiquated chariot of darkness, as the teachings of this MONARCHICAL creed has naught in view but the enslavement of reason for the financial gain and benefit of the "Robed" few who claim the right to think for the masses.

For thirty long years I was bound to this bewitching spirit of darkness by the chords of superstition and never dared to look above my blind superiors for wisdom, until a "something" which I will call "fate" broke the windows of my mental dungeon and permitted the light of "SPIRITUAL LIBERTY" to filter through my being which awoke "reason and common sense" from her long sleep of lethargy.[Pg 7]

Now, what I once thought "Holy" I detest as abominable; What I once worshipped, I now hate.

It is not the glitter of gold nor the applaudits of the protestant world that I crave, but it is the Master's approval that I desire. Therefore I deem it my duty to both God and mankind to proclaim to the world what I know of the awfulness of Roman Catholicism, and I know enough to make my poor soul often wonder if I shall ever be permitted to sing with the blest around that GREAT WHITE THRONE in the New Jerusalem.

As you peruse these pages, I pray that you may whisper a prayer to God in my behalf, as I am now fifty-six years old and only a child in wisdom.

With pity for the blind hosts of Catholicism and a prayer upon my lips for their deliverance from the trenches of paganism, I dedicate this book to the world as coming from a heart which poured out its youth's vitality upon the barren fields of superstition, and wasted its vigor in serving only the god of myths. With a feeling of brotherly love for the entire world, I am,

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Chapter I.

Who I Am, What I Am, and Why I Am What I Am.

My parents were Catholics, and for this reason I suppose, is why I became a Catholic Priest.

I was born in Germany, in 1847, thus you see I am now almost what the world would call an old man—56 years old.

A few years ago, I was of the opinion that my life had been well spent, but to-day I firmly believe that the major part of my life has been spent in erroneous doctrines and nonsensical teachings, as the broad light of wisdom and independent thought has penetrated the dark resources of my bewildered conception of right, and has caused me to look upon things in general in an intelligent manner. Therefore, I feel that my youth and the vig[Pg 16]orous years of my manhood have been spent in what one might term idolatry.

From this time forward I am going to endeavor to undo, as near as possible, what I have helped to accomplish in the past.

In the first place, I desire to give the reader an idea of who I am, as the reader is entitled to this knowledge, and in the second place I want the reader to understand what I am, and in the third place to understand why I am what I am, as there must be a reason for all things.

My ancestors came from Sweden, but becoming tired of religions warfare under Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, they settled in a Catholic colony in Germany, in the southern part of the Dukedom of Oldenburg, near the River Haase.

The reader, if he be a Protestant, is familiar with Protestant affiliations, and I am led to believe belongs to one of the many Protestant denominations, known under the head of Methodist, Baptist, Christian, United Brethren, Presbyterian, Free Baptist, or some one of the many other Protestant[Pg 17] Churches. Therefore you can easily see why it was that I became a Catholic, as I was taught it from my infancy.

My father, like his ancestors, lived in Essen, Oldenburg. Essen is a town of considerable trade in grain, in fine Oldenburg horses and Holstein cows, in fact, it is a town noted for its fine stock.

The beautiful town of Essen has a considerable population. Two fine rivers, which unite their rapid waters in its very midst, make it an ideal spot to live.

My relatives were among the first and best families of the Dukedom. These families were by name Dickmann, Meyer, Junker and Mohlenkamp, who are at the head of the intellectual and material movements of that place. They are all related by marriage and intermarriage to the Fresenborgs. My parents had ten children. This, however, may not interest the reader, so I will confine myself to my own biography.

The school to which I was sent was one of the leading schools and had a world-wide reputation, especially of sending many scholars and students[Pg 18] to the gymnasium and afterwards to universities for different branches of sciences.

It seems as though all of those who attended this school became successful in their individual careers, as lawyers, doctors or some other of the chosen avocations of life.

I was raised, I might say, under the walls of the free City of Bremen, and was inspired with the idea of freedom, and this, perhaps, may be the reason why, when I have come to be an old man, that I have shaken off this eternal bondage of Catholicism and launched my boat so late in life upon the broad waters of Protestant freedom.

As the son of a wealthy family, I was sent to the Gymnasium of Vechta for higher studies, where I received the best education which Germany could give to her sons, and from there I was dismissed with the diploma of "Maturity" in 1870, which was a passport to any man holding such a diploma in any scholarly community, for a diploma from this institution meant all that it implied.

After I had gone through a perfect study of Gymnasium, and after having obtained my[Pg 19] diploma, I could then decide for any career that I might choose.

About this time came the disturbance of all of Germany caused by "The German-French War." Like every patriot, I volunteered as a soldier, but the officers in the German army were practical men and they had little use for unseasoned "student soldiers" in the field of action, and I was left in garrisons where universities were situated, where I had military practice for a few hours each day, and then could follow my studies at the same time.

Peace followed quickly after the Waterloo of Napoleon III at Sedan, and this peace was restored quickly in the "fatherland," as not one victorious Frenchman had crossed the "Rhine."

I followed my favorite study, forestry and agriculture, for some time, but as my parents and my forefathers, both on my father's and mother's side, had been devout Catholics, I had an earnest longing to become a Catholic Priest, as I desired to go forth in the world and proclaim the cause of Christ, believing that Catholicism was the only[Pg 20] church which had a right to establish her doctrines, and, of course, cast my lot with this church, and to-day finds me an old man with every vestige of childhood's faith shaken from center to circumference, as I have lived in America so long and seen so much of the intelligence of Protestantism, and so much of the deception of Catholicism, I could not remain in the Catholic Church and be true to my conception of what was right and wrong, therefore I laid aside, with a degree of regret, the relics of Catholic barbarism.

I discarded the Scapular and everything that has no more intelligent meaning to it than the cungering devices of the heathen has towards the uplifting of humanity and the civilization of the world.

Many, many years ago my faith was shaken by what I had seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears, but I nursed my religious belief from my mother's bosom; my religion was born and bred in my bones; every drop of blood in my person was electrified in childhood by the cungerings of Catholic legerdemain, and I was taught at my[Pg 21] mother's knee to believe that there was no other church that had a ghost of a chance of eternal salvation but the Catholic Church, and I was taught that all Protestants were heretics and abominable in the sight of God and sure of eternal damnation, unless they turned from their sins and joined the Catholic Church.

Ofttimes I would have my faith shaken by the actions of some lustful priest, but I clung tenaciously to the religion of my mother and refused to look beyond the horizon of Catholic superstition.

About the time that I had fully made up my mind to become a priest, I had my faith shaken in the priesthood to a great extent by a scandalous happening near the College of Vechta, which concerned and strictly involved one of the great dignitaries of Catholicism in my college town, but I fought this feeling of dislike down and forced myself to believe that what a priest or bishop did was all right in the sight of God, but at the same time I had a feeling of distrust, as I could not reconcile myself to believe that God would look with compassion upon the acts of a dignitary more[Pg 22] readily than he would upon the transgressions of his blind and duped followers, but nevertheless I went ahead and prepared myself for the priesthood, which I followed for thirty years.

Right directly opposite the college which I was attending resided the Very Rev. Harold. This reverend gentleman was a high dignitary in the Catholic Church.

We young priests had often heard it whispered about that Priest Harold had in his house at different times a number of concubines, which are nothing more nor less than lude women. We often saw ladies around the mansion, dressed in the very height of fashion, and their actions led us to believe that they were there at the solicitation of Rev. Harold, as they were seen there at all times of the day and night, and this certainly made a very strange impression upon us young students, as there were so many different faces; one day we would see two or three young girls, and the next day the same number would be about the mansion, but different faces. All of we young students endeavored not to believe the rumor, as we were[Pg 23] Catholics in every sense of the word, and we did not want to believe that anything so degrading would be tolerated in the very mansion of one of the officials who were teaching us.

The acts of this dignitary became so flagrant that even the students who were trying not to believe the scandal were forced to believe there was something wrong about the mansion of this Catholic dignitary.

About this time there was a young priest by the name of Wulf, from Rome, who was sent to Vechta and made secretary of this dignitary's mansion, who, during the day, worked in the office of the mansion, where court was held in cases of the Catholic Church and schools.

He was soon familiar in and about the mansion and the surrounding grounds and was given many privileges, and the dignitary seemed to like him because he did not meddle with his vile conduct, and the ladies who frequented this place also seemed to admire him. There was a large lawn surrounding the mansion and at night-time a number of vicious dogs were unchained to guard it.[Pg 24]

The priest that was sent from Rome was soon on familiar terms with the dogs and they would mind him and became as obedient as children, and he was soon on such good terms with these dogs that he could approach the house at any time, day or night, and one word from him would cause them to sneak off to their kennels and not molest any who desired to approach the mansion.

The young priests of this college were determined to learn, if possible, if this Catholic dignitary was guilty of the immoral conduct that he was accused of, so they went to Wulf and explained to him that they desired to make a personal investigation, and got this young priest to promise that he would let them into the grounds one night and also see that the dogs did not molest them.

We selected a dark night and a few of us young priests slipped into the lawn surrounding the mansion and placed a ladder up to the second story window, as there was a bright light inside, and we determined to learn, if possible, what was going on in this room.[Pg 25]

Dr. Wulf, the secretary, was the first to ascend, and there in this room was the dignitary of the Catholic Church in a half drunken condition, with two licentious and lude women, playing cards and drinking wine, and the trio were in a half nude condition, and frequently this dignitary of the Catholic Church would kiss these harlots.

After Dr. Wulf came down the ladder and told what he had seen, of course the rest of us wished to become eye witnesses to the perfidy of this vagabond of the Catholic Church.

We would take time about going up the ladder to look at this sight, and sometimes one would remain so long at the top of the ladder the others would become restless and urge him to come down and give the rest of us a chance.

It seemed as though this Catholic dignitary and the women up stairs within had implicit confidence in the dogs, and had no fear of detection in their drunken orgy of immorality. This dignitary seemed very drunk, and the ladies began to undress him preparatory to putting him to bed. When[Pg 26] they had him undressed, one of them pulled off her clothes and went to bed with him.

The next morning the report in the form of affidavits was presented to the parents of the girls, which caused a very great sensation, and this bundle of infamy and abomination was forced to leave the city by the parents of these daughters whom he had desecrated by his filthy touch.

It was afterwards learned that this state of affairs had existed in this Catholic mansion for years past, and all that had transpired in this mansion would blush the inhabitants of Sodom if it could be told, but it is so filthy that it could not be repeated by any one who had much respect for himself.

After this dignitary had left the mansion there were a number of children's skeletons unearthed in the park belonging to the mansion, and one child's skeleton was found in the waters surrounding the palace.

No one was ever arrested for this awful, awful crime, as this Catholic dignitary fled to some monastery and there was concealed from the law's[Pg 27] clutch, as there is no law whereby these monasteries can be forced open and their criminals brought to justice.

A monastery is a Catholic institution that may be used for divers purposes, but for one great purpose, and a very heinous purpose, is to hide and conceal Catholic officials who break the laws of their country, as they can flee to these monasteries and there hide themselves from the wrath of the civil government.

It makes no difference how vile the culprits may be, these Catholic institutions are always a refuge for them, and especially if the culprit who has money or friends supply them with same, as the Catholic Church is and always has been a great money machine, as money, in the eyes of the Catholic dignitaries, covers up a multitude of sins.

You may not know it, but it is a fact, nevertheless, that the monasteries never allow the officers of the civil laws to enter, and suppose the officers did enter, the culprit would never be found, as Catholic institutions are built with the purpose of sheltering her abominable faithless in case these[Pg 28] criminals' desire to hide themselves therein, as the convents, monasteries and cloisters have a labyrinth which would mystify any one who was not used to these underground passages.

No one ever learned where the dignitary of this Catholic institution at Vechta went, but we were thoroughly convinced that he was hiding somewhere in a monastery.

At this point in my religious training I perceived the nonsense of celibacy, and the Apostle's injunction: "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." (I Cor. 7:2.) But the teachings of my childhood caused me to believe that it would be sacrilegious upon my part to even allow myself to believe that the Pope of Rome could possibly make a mistake, therefore I did as all true Catholics are expected to do, and forced myself to believe that all of the abominations practiced by this church were godly.

At this time I would conceal myself in privacy, and endeavor to reason why a minister of the gospel should be expected to do things which were[Pg 29] unnatural and against the direct teachings of God, as we find in Gen. 21:18 that our Creator said: "It is not good that man should be alone, I will make a helpmate for him," but whenever I would undertake to study and try to convince myself of the erroneousness of the Catholic doctrines, her teachings would loom up and blind my intelligent conception of things, as I had been taught that I should not question a single mandate that the Pope of Rome should see fit to promulgate, therefore I made up my mind that it was a sin for me to use the intelligence that God had given me, and I resolved to follow the Catholic doctrine, regardless of what it might lead me to, consequently I closed my eyes to reason and common sense and became a blind and superstitious follower of Rome.

When I came to America I beheld her great civilization and at once my conception of intelligent action presented itself again, but I fought hard to drive these feelings from my bosom, but the more I fought the stronger I became convinced that I was wrong and that my early training was wrong, and that the entire machinery and mechan[Pg 30]ism of the Catholic Church was founded upon abominations and superstitions, but the teachings of my mother would prevail and I would slink back into the trenches of Catholicism, and there I remained until less than a year ago, when I resolved to burst the bands of iniquity and walk out upon the plains of Protestantism, regardless of the deep feelings of respect that I had for my early training.

If God is an intelligent God, then we are expected to worship Him in an intelligent manner, and if he is not an intelligent God, it is impossible for Him to be a God, and if the Lord of Hosts is an intelligent Creator and expects us, as His children, to worship Him in an intelligent manner, the Catholic Church and all of her followers are sinning against God every day, as her mode of worship is steeped in the drugs of heathenish superstitions.

In this volume I propose to set forth nothing but absolute truths, and I call upon an intelligent God for my witness, and I am qualified to make oath before any official that is qualified to bind me[Pg 31] under oath that every word that appears in this volume shall be the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

I will give $5,000.00 to any charitable institution named by any state of the United States if any Catholic priest, bishop or cardinal will prove by any of their church doctrines that I have misstated or misrepresented the teachings of Catholicism in any letter, word or sentence.

I want to thoroughly impress the reader with the truthfulness of this volume, so when he or she has perused these pages they may know that it has been written by one who has served in the capacity of a Catholic priest for the past thirty years, but who, to-day, stands out upon the broad plains of spiritual emancipation, and from this time forward will always be found upon the side of spiritual liberty and following the doctrines of an intelligent God, and when my earthly race is run I hope and pray to be ushered into the presence of an intelligent God.[Pg 32]

Chapter II.

Some of the Abominations of Catholicism Carried On in the Name of Blessed Saviour.

What I will now relate is not hear-say nor something that I have read about, but it is something that know about, and which I witnessed.

It is a well-known fact that Catholicism endeavors to impress her subjects with the miraculousness of latter day miracles, as she will hold up the bones of some supposed Catholic Saint, and declare to her benighted followers that if they worship these relics, they will work wonders and cure the ailment of any affliction they may be possessed of.

For instance, they will take the bone of some Catholic Saint (?) and admonish the followers of Catholicism to touch this bone, or to kiss it, and declare to them that by so doing they will become[Pg 34] entirely cured of any malady that may rack their person with misery.

In fact, Catholicism will resort to all kinds of nonsensical practices in order to completely keep their subjects in darkest ignorance, which will enable the officials to "hoodwink" their followers and make them believe anything the officials see fit to teach them.

I will now relate what I saw in Munster, Germany. The news spread all through Germany that the "Mother Superior" of the house of Saint Clement was living upon "Holy Communion" only.

Now that the reader may understand what "Holy Communion" is, I will here state that it is a thin wafer, used for sacramental purposes, which would not weigh more than the one-hundredth part of an ounce, and this is what they claimed the Mother Superior of the house of Saint Clement was existing upon, she only taking one of these wafers every twenty-four hours.

Of course, this was given out by the dignitaries of the Catholic Church in order to blind their fol[Pg 35]lowers, and I desire to state right here that I also believed that this was the fact until it was demonstrated thoroughly that it was an infamous lie and that the instigators were infamous impostors. However, pilgrimages started from all directions to see this "Mother Superior," and when they could not see her, they fought for the opportunity of praying in her chapel. Some stayed for weeks and weeks to see her. Applications for intercessions of all kinds of misery were sent to her, as these simple "dupes" of Catholicism actually believed that this impostor had the power to heal any ailment that might afflict them.

There were thousands of fanatics who visited Munster and hung their crutches on the chapel walls and declared they were cured of their ailment. The blind claimed to see by her intercessions. It was claimed that all, possessed of every kind and description of ailments, could be cured if the one who was afflicted only had faith in this Mother Superior's wonderful power?

"The finger of God is in the land!" was the cry,[Pg 36] and tens of thousands of Catholics from all over the country gathered in Munster.

There was a certain man by the name of Friedhoff who doubted the proclaimed powers of this Mother Superior and boldly declared his doubt, and the Catholic world was indignant over the audacity of such a doubt. It was learned that the Mother Superior would allow but one sister of the institution to come to her room, and also her Father Confessor. By the way, it might be pertinent to say that the Mother Superior was an extremely handsome young lady; in fact, very young for the position she occupied.

The guard that was placed over the Mother Superior was given instructions by the Mayor of Munster to watch her closely and see that she lived entirely upon "Holy Communion." The Protestant world took an active part in this matter and gave close attention to the guard that was over this "Mother Superior," as they were determined to learn from whence originated this bold deception, as they were thoroughly convinced that it was nothing more nor less than a deception.[Pg 37]

The confessor of the "Mother Superior" was changed and the sister who waited upon her was changed, and in a very short time the "Mother Superior" asked for food; thus it began to dawn upon the public at large that they had been grossly deceived, and they began to learn that all of these miraculous cures (?) were brought about and promulgated by the leaders of Catholicism. Numerous physicians were taken into confidence and an examination was made of the "Mother Superior," and it was learned that she was pregnant, and it was proven that the child belonged to the priest in charge of the convent, who, by the way, was the one this "Mother Superior" confessed her sins to.

This "Mother Superior" sat in her room and gave her orders to at least two hundred sisters who were inmates of this institution.

The Catholic world advertised this "fake" so thoroughly that every house in and about Munster was filled to overflowing with pilgrims who came there on the strength of this well-advertised "fake."

Munster was the Mecca. Every train arriving[Pg 38] brought in hundreds and added great multitudes to the already great crowd. Some claimed that the sight of the chapel, or even the sight of the hospital, healed them.

Even the newspapers began to report the wonderful miracles (?) that were performed by this "Mother Superior."

By this time the Protestants in Munster were getting very active and denounced this worship in round terms, and set about to have an investigation made, which was bitterly opposed by the Catholics. The hotel keepers and shop keepers of Munster were bitterly opposed to the Protestants' denunciation, as they were anxious for this "fake" to be advertised as thoroughly as possible, as it was bringing them in large revenues, as the thousands who were visiting Munster were compelled to have raiment, food and lodging; but the denunciation of this "fake" by the Protestants became so great that the bishop was compelled, greatly against the wishes of the citizens of Munster, to investigate, and this investigation brought forth enough to startle the civilized world. How[Pg 39]ever, it is only one of the many, many colossal "fakes" that are promulgated by Catholicism. However, the clamor of the Protestant world brought things to a crisis, as the "Mother Superior" was ordered to stay in strict confinement and a watch was placed over her.

This brought matters to a climax and the "Mother Superior" confessed that one of the inmates of the convent had secretly carried her food during all of this time that she was claiming to exist on "Holy Communion." Of course, this is only one of the tens of thousands of such schemes that are practiced by Catholicism all over the world, and the Protestants were not surprised and stated boldly and above board that they knew there was some "scull-duggery" attached to all of this "fake" miracle business.

This "Mother Superior" fled from Munster, and it was learned that she went to the City Rheine, on the river Ems, and gave birth to a child, and the father of this child was the Catholic priest in charge of this convent, who helped and was the prime instigator in giving out to the world[Pg 40] that the "Mother Superior" was performing miracles, which was a malicious lie made of whole cloth and promulgated in order to securely bind the followers of Catholicism to their idolatrous belief.

This is not the end of the "Mother Superior," as she afterwards practiced in the open what she had practiced in this Catholic convent at Munster, as she entered a house of ill fame in the City of Rheine in Germany, and there led a life of shame as a harlot of the world; however, she was only living the same life she had been living when she was sailing under the name of "Mother Superior" in this convent at Munster.

Now, reader, if Catholicism would practice such abominations upon the ignorant dupes of her followers in Munster, Germany, is it not reasonable to suppose that she would practice them to-day wherever she can fasten her hellish belief upon the minds of the people?

Hardly a day passes over our heads but what we see in some newspaper where Catholicism is brazenly declaring to the intelligent public that[Pg 41] miraculous cures are being performed by some "hoodoo saint" of their idolatrous creed.

One would believe that in enlightened America the Roman Church could not wield such an idolatrous influence over her followers, but when you stop to think that the children of Catholic parents are brought up from infancy to believe all of this "hoodooism," it is not strange that they fall into these idolatrous practices.

When America learns that the majority of the convents and monasteries of this country are used for the purpose of shielding and protecting Catholic criminals, and for the purpose of Catholic dignitaries to glut their lust upon the female inmates of these institutions, and will exact and demand laws that will force a rigid examination every thirty or sixty days of these institutions, then the world at large will know and thoroughly understand that these institutions are practically the homes of depravity and licentiousness.

To give the reader more information in regard to what Catholicism resorts to to impress their "dupes" with their idolatry, we want to take up[Pg 42] their great magician, "St. Anthony." The Catholic priesthood teaches their followers that St. Anthony's spirit possesses the power to answer all prayers, in fact, to perform any favor the supplicant may ask.

Now, to illustrate what I mean, is this: Suppose you had lost your pocketbook containing $50.00; the Catholic Church teaches that all you have to do is to pay a few dimes into the priest's pocket and then get down and pray to St. Anthony and you will at once learn where your pocketbook is.

Now, bear in mind that this praying to St. Anthony don't cut any ice unless you pay something, as every prayer must be backed up by money, and the more money paid the quicker action you can get on St. Anthony.

The Catholic Church calls it "St. Anthony's Bread Box," and right by the side of this box they have a large number of small candles, and you are supposed to drop the money into this box to pay for the candles that St. Anthony uses when looking for what is lost, or to light his path on his road to answer your prayer.[Pg 43]

These candles cost the priest from one-half cent to one cent each, and the "dupe" will drop in from ten cents to ten dollars to have his prayer answered, so you can see that the Catholic Church is a good thing for the candle makers.

We will now give you a few idiotic prayers that are offered to St. Anthony by the followers of blind Catholicism.

"O, Glorious St. Anthony, noble Sunflower of divine conformity, I salute thee in the name of the Queen of Angels and of all the angelic choirs; and I thank Almighty God for the grace bestowed on thee, that like to this Great Queen and the angelic choirs thou wert ever conformed to His holy will. I beseech thee that with this glorious Lady and all the angelic choirs, thou wouldst approach the throne of God, lovingly offer Him this my petition and strengthen it by thine intercession.

"OUR FATHER. HAIL, MARY. GLORY."

"I salute thee, Blessed Anthony, noble Narcissus-flower of knowledge, in the name of all the patriarchs and prophets; and I thank the good God for bestowing on thee, like to the patriarchs and[Pg 44] prophets, the gift of divine knowledge and of foreseeing future events. I beseech thee that with the patriarchs and prophets thou wouldst approach the throne of God and by your united prayers and merits obtain for me this my petition.

"OUR FATHER. HAIL, MARY. GLORY."

"I salute thee, Blessed Anthony, noble Carnation-flower of fervent love, in the name of all the holy apostles and disciples of Christ; and I thank the most merciful Lord for the great grace bestowed on thee, like unto that of the apostles and disciples, when He chose thee to proclaim the holy Gospel and to spread the Christian faith. I beseech thee that with the apostles and disciples thou wouldst approach the throne of God and by your united prayers and merits obtain for me this my petition.

"Our Father. Hail, Mary. Glory."

We will give you an instance of this "St. Anthony's" witchcraft business that came under my personal observation. A lady was standing upon a bridge that spans one of the many streams that rushes down from the Adirondack Mountains, gaz[Pg 45]ing at this crystal stream and watching the fishes below, and while standing there she was toying with a beautiful diamond ring that had been given her by her lover. In a careless manner she allowed this ring to slip from her finger, and it fell into the waters below.

With a sudden cry those who were near her were attracted to the spot and she explained to them her misfortune, and it was not long until there was quite a crowd about her, offering their sympathy and also their assistance.

Some volunteered to wade into this stream and search for the ring, which was done, and a number of buckets of mud were carried up out of the stream from the point the lady had stated she had dropped her ring, but the ring could not be found.

At this point one of our Catholic "dupes" appeared and explained to the lady that if she would put her trust in St. Anthony and would pay $500, that St. Anthony would restore to her her ring.

This lady being a Catholic also, of course, was easily persuaded to do this, so they knelt down and prayed to St. Anthony and beseeched him to re[Pg 46]store the lost treasure, and it was not long until all of those in the crowd that belonged to the Catholic Church were in sympathy with this distressed lady, and they were also kneeling and supplicating St. Anthony to restore the lost treasure. They prayed for an hour, but still the lost treasure would not appear; then the ringleader of this barbarous belief informed this lady that the ring had been swallowed by a fish. He pretended to be inspired and claimed that he could catch this identical fish with the bait of St. Anthony's bread. Everything was soon prepared and the line was let down into the water, and sure enough a good sized fish was caught upon this St. Anthony's bait, and the crowd went into rapturous delight, as they were quite sure they had the identical fish that had swallowed the ring.

As soon as the fish was caught a collection was raised by a priest who was in the crowd for the benefit of "St. Anthony's Bread Box." All of the Catholics in the crowd contributed, of course, as they were afraid not to, for Catholics believe that if they do not do what a priest tells them to[Pg 47] they are sure to have something awful befall them, and, of course, all of these Catholics believed in the witchcraft of St. Anthony and believed that he was the actual restorer of all lost things.

The Protestants in the congregation were determined to see what was inside of the fish, so they followed the one that carried it to a butcher shop and the fish was cut open, but naught was found in it but what is usually found in any old fish that never saw or heard tell of a diamond ring.

Now, this is one of the thousands—yea, tens of thousands of such instances that are forced down the throats of the ignorant, superstitions followers of Catholicism.

Now, what I relate above is true in every conceivable manner, and not one sentence or statement is misrepresented.

This belief in the power of St. Anthony is simply abominable and belongs to the dark ages of heathendom.

I have often wondered when I was acting as priest in the Catholic Church why it was that Protestants, when they attended my church, would[Pg 48] look on in wonderment and surprise, and I attributed this wonderment to a desire upon the part of Protestantism to make fun and villify the teachings of the Catholic Church, but I now realize that this bewilderment came from minds which had been elevated far above the cungerings of the Catholic Church, and I am now surprised that the Protestants who visit Catholic churches are not more bewildered and mystified, as the teachings of Protestantism are based upon the inspirations derived from the Word of God and the teachings of Catholicism are naught but the rumblings of the dark ages.

Chapter III.

All Children of Protestant Parents Are Declared Bastards by Catholicism.

The Catholic Church declares that all of those who contract marriage otherwise than in the presence of a Catholic Priest, that such marriages are null and void.

Catholicism further declares that your darling child, which is the fruit of your marriage, is nothing more nor less than a common bastard.

How do you Protestants like to hear this? How do you feel when you know that this is the belief and opinion of all Catholic dignitaries, and this belief is taught to all the Catholic world by those who presume to dictate?

Your darling baby boy or girl is branded as an illegitimate offspring by Catholicism, simply because their parents were not united in wedlock by[Pg 52] a Catholic Priest, who perhaps is as immoral as hell itself.

The reason why Catholicism so sternly demands that all should be married by the priestcraft is from a monetary standpoint, as the Catholic priest gets his fee, as he will not under any circumstances unite any one in wedlock without a fee, and I have known in many instances where the contracting parties were unable to pay a money fee, and the grasping priestcraft would refuse to unite them in marriage until they had given him some article of intrinsic value, and I have often seen jewelry, silver-mounted pipes, watches and many other things confiscated by the priestcraft before they would perform the ceremony.

It is strange to me, indeed, that America, which is and should be by every law of justice and right, a Protestant nation, is so unconcerned and so listless over the insults that Catholicism daily offers Protestantism, for if it is not a most damnable insult to stigmatize your offspring as bastards, then we are unable to discern and distinguish between a brazen insult and a flattering compliment.

Whenever America learns the actual and true meaning of Catholicism and her teachings, there will be an awakening among the Protestant world that will make the four corners of the government of the United States tremble with a righteous indignation.

Now, if the offspring of that dear old mother is a bastard, then she is nothing more nor less than a common whore, and you cannot arrive at any other rational conclusion. This is only reasoning from intelligent deductions; therefore, whenever Catholicism calls the children of Protestant parents bastards simply because these parents were not united in wedlock by a Catholic priest, they villify the sacred name of father and mother, and trail in the slime of disgrace the sweet memories of that sturdy old father and that angelic old Protestant mother.

I am at a loss to know and to understand how Protestantism can sit so unconcernedly by with folded hands and allow this vulturous foe of human rights and human privileges to brazenly rear its institutions in Protestant America, and[Pg 54] teach such damnable doctrines about those who have made America all she ever was, and is, or ever will be.

A creed or doctrine that exists upon the dwarfed ambitions of its followers is undoubtedly an institution which exists upon the carrion of human miseries, and is a menace to a nation, which possesses the godly ambitions that permeate the minds of Protestantism.

We have in this country scores—yea, hundreds of Protestant fathers and mothers who allow their children to attend Catholic schools, when those who are teaching them in these Catholic institutions brazenly, flagrantly and openly declare that those children are the offspring of immorality, as they do not hesitate to say that all children are bastards whose parents were not married by the priestcraft; but still these Protestant parents allow their children to be taught by those who villify and defame their parents' names.

This is one of the strangest things that has ever come under my observation in the United States, as the Protestant world in general knows that[Pg 55] Catholicism teaches these things, and the Protestant world also knows that under no circumstances nor conditions would Catholicism allow their children to attend a Protestant college, but Protestant parents go right ahead and allow their children to be taught by a class of men and women who will boldly declare to these children that their own parents are immoral, and that the teachings of their youth were erroneous and would lead to everlasting damnation.

Is it not about time that the Protestant world was arousing themselves from this lethargetic sleep of unconcern, or do you propose to allow Catholicism to convince you, by her doctrines of degeneracy, that she is right, and that you acknowledge her as right by you sending your children to her institutions of learning?

Catholicism has always made her boast that if she can control the children until they are 7 to 10 years old, that they will control the government in the future, and it seems as though Protestant America is perfectly willing to risk the consequences, but let me sound a warning in your ears[Pg 56] in this chapter, which may not arouse you from your national stupidity, but which, in after years, will rumble down the avenues of the future the truthfulness of this assertion that will make the Protestant world shudder. It is this: "Unless you guard the goddess of your American liberty with the patriotism of you Protestant manhood, it will not be long until you will find this government face to face with a problem more perplexing than the government of France is wrestling with to-day, on account of this Romish beast, whose jaws are dripping with the blood of doomed ambition."

Catholicism is like a thief in the night, as she goes about her devastation of human rights with the tread of a thief and with the cunning of a bold deceiver, which she is, and this country must station trustworthy men upon the ramparts of this government to watch her progress and batter down her foundation of superstition and ignorance, or within the next fifty years America will find herself bound hand and foot by this Romish creed of abominations, which has caused every nation on[Pg 57] the face of the earth that she has ever controlled to wither and decay under her touch, like the tender plant under the broiling rays of a tropical sun.

I have a right to sound this warning, as I know whereof I speak, as I have traveled this Romish road of despair for thirty years, and I know her cunning and dastardly deception so well that her history and her teachings are to me like the primer is to the school boy or girl.

The warnings that I now sound in the ears of Protestant America are not sounded by an alarmist, nor one who does not know whereof he speaks, but these warnings come from one whose back has been lashed for thirty long years with the whip of a Catholic tyrant, and I know the history of Catholicism from beginning to end, for if one cannot learn the history of an institution in thirty years' devout study, then pray tell me of what use it is for man to apply himself to the study of anything?

I was once as devout a Catholic as I am to-day a Protestant, and I am only a Protestant to-day because I was forced to become such, after having[Pg 58] the scales of Catholicism brushed from my eyes, which had been blinded by the superstition and fearful doctrines of this abominable creed.

Arouse, ye men and women of America, or else the time will come when you will not be permitted to make a protest; when your wives and mothers are declared whores by Catholicism, and your fathers and brothers are declared whore-mongers and your children bastards!

I have been a careful observer of events through my entire life, and I never was more thoroughly convinced than to-day that we stand near the threshold of Popish power in America, and I ask of the reader, and of the Protestant world at large, Are we about to realize the prediction made by the father of our country? Are we nearing the time when liberty shall be bound to the stake by Catholicism? Are we nearing the great Romish chasm that has swallowed up the hopes of many nations? Are we nearing the crater of a Roman volcano that pours out its desolation and devastation upon free men? Are we nearing the inky night of servitude, where no light is possible, but[Pg 59] the dim and treacherous lamp of idolatrous Catholicism? Are we nearing the stretch of waste lands that contains no friendly oasis for him who seeks liberty? Are we building our own sepulchers to bury all the hopes of liberty cherished by our forefathers? Are we willingly carrying fuel for our own funeral pyres, there to be consumed by the greedy and relentless ghouls of Catholicism?

These are questions that demand an answer and demand an answer at once, as we are far along the road to the end of human rights in Protestant America, unless we call a halt and kindle anew the fires of patriotism that have so long been unnoticed by those who have been left in charge to guard our interests.

Catholicism is a vile deceiver and a rank hypocrite, therefore we must diligently watch her serpentine movements, for she will appear where you least expect her, as she wraps about her the American flag and other symbols of patriotism and goes about as a lamb in wolf's clothing.

I have no reason for writing this book only a[Pg 60] desire to help undo what I have already done in my fifty-six years of the past, and by writing this book I have cut every tie that binds me to those whom I have associated with since my childhood, therefore the reader must know that what I am doing is being done in the name of right, justice and the love I bear my fellowman and my adopted country, which is the "Garden of Eden" of all the universe.

"The fool doubts what a wise man tells him because the information is new." You may doubt what I am telling you, but your doubt will cost you your liberty.

I have your cause at heart and I have no ambition to gratify, as I am an old man and have no other desire than to help those who need help, and I have come as a friend to talk to you around your firesides, with no mission but that of truth.

Many of us have never been told to our face that we were fools, but because no man has been frank enough to tell us the truth is no reason why we should not investigate what is told us, and which you have no right nor reason to doubt.[Pg 61]

The mission of this book is to get you to think and to examine and pry into the past history of Catholicism, and when you have examined the pages of Catholic history and then scrutinize her present, you must know that her future promises no more than her past and present would indicate her future to hold.

This book is written from a Protestant standpoint, but by a man who was a Catholic fifty-six years before he ever became a Protestant, and we feel absolutely certain that the Catholic world will endeavor to throttle its circulation, but we have laid aside every vestige of fear from that standpoint and have made up our mind that we are no better than Martin Luther, and thousands of Protestants who were burned at the stake by Catholicism for proclaiming to the world the awful deeds of that awful creed.

We want you to consider this book as a friend, who has called at your fireside to tell you truths that you should know, and which, if you do not learn, will lower you and your posterity to the level of the commonest slave and place over[Pg 62] the most brutal despots the world has ever known, and these despots are nothing more nor less than the Catholic Church.

This book comes from a man who does not court the friendship of any sect of class of men; therefore, it comes to you with intentions as pure as it is possible for a book to come from the hands of a poor mortal, who fears nothing but the wrath of a living God.

Catholicism is taught her cunning from her childhood, as she is taught to watch the ranks of Protestantism and whenever she finds a weak spot, she turns her forces upon this weakened line, and is further instructed never to weaken in her continual march of devastation.

Could the tears that have been shed on account of heartless Catholicism be gathered in one body, the mighty oceans of the earth would appear as silvery mountain brooks. Could the innocent blood of Protestants shed by the heartless hand of Catholicism be congealed, it would build a purple mountain that would cast a shadow the length and breadth of this land.[Pg 63]

The nations of the earth have had wars from the creation of the world, but the myriads of those who have fallen in all the battles of the world would only be a small portion compared to the millions who have laid down their lives that greedy, abhorrent Catholicism might be appeased.

It is time for us as American freemen to become free men in every sense the word implies, and exercise both our franchise and our brains in relegating this "Scarlet-Robed Hag of Rome" to her original haunts.

Will you perform your American duty and band together and become a Protestant army and march out under the blood-stained banner of King Emanuel and help to make America the greatest Protestant nation the sun has ever shone upon?

Be men, and by your manhood you can, if you make the start now, lull into eternal sleep this Romish power which villifies your ambitions and brands your offspring with the stigma of disgrace.

Chapter IV.

Tear from the Citadel of Reason, the Power to Reason, and You Make Slaves of Humanity.

The men and women of the world, who have caused nations to advance and prosper, have never been, nor never will be Catholics, unless she discards her present mode of procedure, and this she will never do. Whenever you tear the cloak of superstition and idolatry from the form of Catholicism, you have naught left but the skeleton of abominations.

The men of science and of reason, all over the world, boldly accuse the Roman Catholic Church of being the enemy of science, detesting it and desiring to spread the mantle of ignorance over all those whom she controls.

The Church seems not to understand that everything finds its source at the fountain of reason, as[Pg 66] all things must originate from God, and most assuredly the Supreme Being is an intelligent, reasonable and rational God. The Catholic Church must resist, as a matter of life or death, the progress of modern civilization, or else go down in disgrace, for civilization and reason is a nightmare and an everlasting enemy to Catholicism, as "scientific thought" makes her doctrines and dogmas stand out as abominations.

If the world is to depend upon the Romish Church for her intellectuality, and for her philosophy, and for her scientific resources, she will always be groping her way in darkness, as the Popish church has never advanced one-hundredth part of an inch from the trenches of ancient ignorance and superstitions, nor has she in any material way been instrumental in advancing a single interest of the masses which elevates, as her every cry and her combined efforts have been to paralyze progress and scientific research, as she well knows that to have the searchlight of reason turned upon her mystified labyrinths of hoodooism, the world[Pg 67] will behold the marks of ignorance, superstition and barbarism upon her degraded form.

Whenever an institution comes to believe that it is infallible and an impossibility to err, then she settles back into the ruts of tyranny, and whenever you find an individual or a body of individuals who believe whatever they do is right, no matter what it may be, you will find those who believe themselves ordained rulers of men, and whenever this happens, the individual who believes this becomes a tyrant, and tyranny belongs to the dark ages of heathendom, whence Roman Catholicism originated.

To demonstrate to the reader and give him or her some idea of the tyrannical rule of Romanism, we will take the history of Galileo, which every child, perhaps, is acquainted with.

Galileo declared that the sun did not move, and this declaration greatly insulted Pope Urban, who grew very angry, as this pope had taught that the sun did move and that the earth stood still.

The teachings of Galileo so angered the pope that he called together an inquisitorial board and[Pg 68] had Galileo tried by this Romish tribunal, and Galileo was sentenced to imprisonment for what Catholicism termed a heretical doctrine.

Who was right—Catholicism or Galileo? Not a school boy or girl six years old in this land but what knows that Catholicism was wrong, as she usually is, but she would not have acknowledged her wrong had not the world-at-large been thoroughly convinced of her error, which would have brought her to the very feet of ridicule had she persisted in teaching the doctrine promulgated by Pope Urban that "the sun did move, and that the earth stood still."

The Catholic Church is always desirous of evading questions which are susceptible to debate, and which, by mature thought and deliberation, can be analyzed, as she does not desire to come into contact with the brains of any nation, but is satisfied to prey upon the ignorant and superstitiously inclined, as those are her dupes and the ones from whom she derives her revenue, and "revenue" is one of the main perquisites of the Catholic Church, as this Romish institution is run for the sole pur[Pg 69]pose of making serfs of men and controlling the destiny of nations, so that the inhabitants may be forced to disgorge their sustenance in her lap of greed, and it matters not how low she brings her followers, nor what may be the hardships they have to endure, just so she accomplishes her diabolical end.

The reader may think it strange that a man who was born and raised a Catholic, and who for thirty years officiated in the capacity of a Catholic priest, could turn his back upon the creed of his forefathers and so vehemently endeavor to destroy every vestige of his childhood's doctrines, but this is no more unreasonable than it was for Paul, in the twinkle of an eye, to turn from his wickedness and become one of the chosen Apostles of Christ.

Many years before I cut loose entirely from the Catholic Church my faith in her abominations was at times almost threadbare, and I have declared time and time again that never would I enter another Catholic Church in the capacity of a priest, but as often as I declared and made these resolves, just so often I broke them, as my early training[Pg 70] and my superstitious fears would get the better of my convictions, and I would be whipped back into the trenches of superstition.

I have often tried within the past ten years to "nag" those officials who were above me into a paroxysm of fury and have them excommunicate me, as I tried to make myself believe that it would be better to have them throw me out of the church than to leave it on my own free will, but it appeared as though they discerned by intentions and they would not do as I desired, and at last I made up my mind that I would swing out upon my own account from the dark shadows of this superstitious belief, and every word of this book has been written without a single charge preferred against me by the Catholic Church, therefore the Catholic Church cannot declare that I was not in good standing as a priest at the time this book was compiled.

What I mean by "good standing" is that the robed monarchs who boldly claim the power to damn the soul by excommunication, have not as yet seen fit to eternally obliterate my prospects[Pg 71] of ever entering the "New Jerusalem," but as soon as this book is given to the reading public, then those who wield the axe will let it fall with all the diabolical vengeance of Roman hatred upon my head and declare the "pearly gates" have been forever closed upon my depraved soul; but what I most desire is to have the public understand that NOW, while I am writing this book, I am considered AND AM BY ALL THE RIGHTS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH A PRIEST AND ENJOY ALL THE PRIVILEGES OF CATHOLICITY AS SUCH.

Why I so earnestly desire to impress this upon the minds of the reader is that I know so well the trickery of those whom I write about and I know full well that the Catholic officials will at once endeavor to make the world believe that I am an outcast and in bad standing with the Catholic Church.

This book is being written in the year 1903, and I will make oath before any court of record on earth to the truthfulness of the statements herein set forth, and I will give ten thousand dollars to any charitable institution in America if any priest, bishop or archbishop on the face of the whole[Pg 72] earth will make oath and prove before any lawful tribunal of America if one word of the foregoing is not true.

Furthermore, I will give up all of my earthly possessions, which amounts to several thousand dollars, if any priest, bishop or archbishop living upon the face of the earth can prove before any court of justice in America that I have not always endeavored to live an exemplary life and rigidly taught the doctrines of the Catholic faith, although at times my whole life rebelled at being compelled to do so, but my whole training and long association would invariably get the master of my reason and better judgment, and I would be forced by my superstitious training back into the mystified labyrinths of my childhood's education.

I stood it until I became tortured day and night by the prod of reason, then I quietly left the church and bade farewell to the heathen Scapular and the ten thousand other trinkets of blind paganism, and resolved to break the chain of this "slave of the soul" and "tyrant of reason."

In this chapter we want to give the reader some[Pg 73] idea of the nonsensical and unreasonableness of the claims of Catholicism, so that you may more fully understand how disgusting it is for a man who endeavors to use his God-given abilities to submit to such abominations.

The Catholic Church depends more upon the saving power of the Scapular than it does upon the saving power of Jesus Christ. Now, this is a broad expression, but I know whereof I speak and I am prepared to back up the assertion with facts.

The Scapular is a veil or cape, which covers the shoulders. It was worn as such by Monks and Nuns, over their dress, but which is best known among Catholics as two little pieces of cloth worn out of devotion, under ordinary garments, and connected by a string which goes around the neck and hangs down, allowing this "trinket" to rest upon the breast.

Catholic children, from their infancy, are taught that this trinket is a preventative against accident and disease, and they actually believe it, and should they lose this "nothing" they at once be[Pg 74]come miserable and will undergo any hardship to possess another.

It was through the Carmelites (Monks) that this devotion began and I believe that the history that I will relate in regard to it is the first history ever repeated in this or any other country by an ex-priest that ever lived or died.

A man by the name of Simon Stock was elected to the generalship of the Carmelite Order, and this same Simon Stock was considered a Saint, and it is taught by Catholicism that the Virgin Mary appeared to Simon Stock in a vision and exhibited this Scapular and gave Stock to understand that it was to be worn by the Catholic world in the future as a preventative against accident, disease and sudden death.

There is another story which is told in regard to this Scapular, as follows: It is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to Simon Stock in a vision in behalf of the Carmelite Order, which at that time was in great trouble, and gave to Stock a Scapular, which she bore in her hand, in order that it could be worn, and which she guaranteed was an[Pg 75] order direct from God Almighty that the Carmelite Order should wear this "trinket," which would be a preventative from any evil overtaking any of those who did wear it, and further stating that all of those who wore this Scapular "shall never suffer eternal burning."

It is further stated that Pope John XXII, in his famous Sabbatine Bull, declared that the Virgin Mary had appeared to him and informed him that all the members of the Carmelite Order who wore this Scapular should be gotten out of purgatory by her on the Saturday after their death, and this Pope winds up his declaration with the following sentence: "I accept, corroborate and confirm, in the name of Jesus Christ, for our Glorious Virgin Mary, who has granted this great privilege to those who wear the Scapular."

This abomination is nothing more nor less than a "tale of fiction," and promulgated by men who know that it is a positive lie, but they do it in order to mystify the ignorant and to compel them to remain in darkest ignorance.

Now, to convince the reader that Catholicism is[Pg 76] as densely ignorant to-day as it ever was, we will bring her history up to date.

Pope Leo, in the good year of 1903, on his death bed, ordered this Carmelite veil brought from Mount Carmel, that he might have assistance from it in his dying hour, and declared that by the assistance of this mythical Scapular that when he died he would go straight to Heaven.

You can take the history of the Roman Catholic Church from the earliest days of its cussedness up to the present time, and you will find that the same heathenish superstition that surrounded it centuries ago still follows it to-day.

Is there any proof that the Virgin Mary appeared to Simon Stock and made to him the promise above related? No proof whatever, only the cungered up proof of the officials of Catholicism, and the Sabbatine Bull of Pope John has no more sense nor righteous meaning in it than the ghost dance of the American Indian.

The Scapular that we above refer to is not the only emblem of heathendom that Catholicism resorts to, but we have a number of others which the[Pg 77] Protestant world knows but little about, and especially the Protestants in America, as the Catholic officials do not want "this Scapular business" talked about too much in this country, for fear that the Protestant world will give it the deserving ridicule that it should have. However, we have started out to show up the teachings of Catholicism as they actually exist, and the more light we turn upon this subject the more prominent her abominations will become, consequently we want to mention these other Scapulars.

The first that we will mention is, "The Trinity of White Linen with Red Cross;" the second is, "The Survite Scapular of Seven Dolors," which is of black woolen stuff; the third is, "The Immaculate Conception," which is of blue woolen cloth, and the fourth and last Scapular is one that was originated in 1846 by a Sister of Charity in Paris, France, who is said to have received a revelation from God Almighty, and this one is called "The Red Scapular of the Passion."

While American Catholics are a class far superior in intellect to the Catholics of other[Pg 78] nations, they still tenaciously cling to the inert Scapular and believe in its efficacy and power; however, the Catholic Church is getting to have quite a number of these Scapulars, which is causing the intelligent Catholics to become a little doubtful as to which has the greatest "pulling power," and many of them, in order to make no mistake, wear all five of them in a bunch; thus they are assured that if one fails to get in its work another will come to the rescue, and should they fall off of a train moving 60 miles an hour, this little bunch of woolen goods will save them from a bruise, or should they drink a quart of the essence of strychnine they would be saved from instant death by one of these five Scapulars.

You ask a Catholic to explain the merits of the Scapular and all they can tell you is that if they die during the week that the Virgin Mary will then take them to heaven on the Saturday following, but if they happen to die on a Saturday, bear in mind that the Virgin Mary gives them a cold shoulder until the next Saturday. Now, this is the[Pg 79] only explanation that you can get a Catholic to give you in regard to a Scapular.

Is it any wonder that the power to reason is shattered by these cungering devices of Catholicism, and do you wonder that the dense ignorance of Catholic nations are completely under the power of this angel of darkness?

Let us repeat, in conclusion of this chapter, that Romanism is the everlasting enemy of science and individual intellect, as she knows full well that when the broad, effulgent light of Protestantism dawns on the benighted minds of her followers that she at once loses her grasp upon her "hood-winked" dupes, as it is impossible for the teachings of Catholicism to exist side by side with the teachings of Protestantism, provided that those who believe in these Romish abominations care to look above the horizon of Romanism.[Pg 80]

Chapter V.

Innocent Girlhood at the Confessional Box.

Blight girlhood and you destroy the usefulness of womankind. Tarnish the sacredness of girlhood and you scar the purity of womanhood. Deface the beautiful countenance of chastity, which is found in the bosom of girlhood, and you not only mar the happiness of girlhood, but you deface and obliterate the families of the future, for without that priceless treasure, virtue, the eternal principles of conjugal love becomes a barren waste without a single oasis.

Oh, if I could but call about me in one vast throng the girls of this land, and all other lands, who have had the first thought of carnality planted in their bosom by the scheming Priestcraft, I would have a throng of tear-faced mortals[Pg 82] that would rend the heart of stone and stigmatize the cunning of Catholicism with a stigma blacker than the lowering clouds of despair.

When you force childhood to believe in the infallibility of the priestcraft you educate the mind of that child to implicitly believe in the officials of the Catholic Church, and when you gain the implicit confidence you have established a belief that cannot be easily eradicated, as this belief has become a part of that child, and as it grows older, this erroneous belief grows in proportion to the body, and by the time this child has arrived at the age of maturity, she is as densely ignorant of the cunning of this doctrine as she was when she first learned to repeat the Catechism with a childish lisp.

We desire to preface this chapter with common-sense arguments, so that the reader may thoroughly understand how completely the female element of the Catholic Church is under the control of the priesthood of this institution.

Priests are, as a rule, men of more than average intellect, and, as they have no other calling nor no[Pg 83] other avocation in life than to make good impressions upon their members, they of course become cunning in their art, especially with the female members of their congregations, and more especially with their young and handsome members.

Imagine the power that a Catholic priest has over a young girl in her teens—yea, over any female member of their congregation, when you take into consideration the fact that from infancy these girls and women have been taught that it is almost an absolute impossibility for a priest to commit a sin.

When you dwell upon the doctrines taught these girls and women it will not be a matter of surprise that the priestcraft wields such a powerful influence over them, as any one with this doctrine funneled into them from childhood is open and ready to believe what the priestcraft may tell them, and the individual is not to blame for believing this, as they have been taught it by their parents from infancy, and the officials of the Catholic Church have taught it; then why should[Pg 84] we be surprised at the dense ignorance upon the part of these girls and women?

Priests always try to impress their members with the idea that they are infallible and that it is impossible for them to sin. They do this for many reasons. First, in order that they may have their congregations in humble submission to any of the demands of the church, and, secondly, it enables them to accomplish any devilish deed they may wish to accomplish under the guise of priestly sanctity.

It is no pleasant task to dwell upon this most distasteful and most repulsive of all of the fallacies of Rome and the abominable rottenness of the priesthood, but without giving a vivid description of the cunning of the priestcraft in regard to the "Confessional" would be treating the subject in a manner that would not do justice to the abominations of her hideous doctrines; and to fail to touch upon this subject would leave the greatest and most deadly weapon in the hands of this band of devils.

The Confessional Box is an emblem of pagan[Pg 85]ism, as innumerable trustworthy authorities prove that Roman Catholicism has pre-empted this custom as well as many other of her practices from the dark ages of paganism.

Oricular confession was practiced centuries ago by the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Mexicans, Peruvians and the Japanese—in fact, it is not only an ancient custom, but one which belongs to the darkest of the ancient ages, which should have been relegated to the haunts of hell centuries ago.

A priest once said: "Nobody should be surprised when we priests, bishops and popes sink into the bottomless abyss of immorality, for the celibacy of the priestcraft is only a cudgel in the hands of Catholic officials to drive us to the haunts of immorality."

A priest once said "that the Confessional is one of the most damnable institutions that was ever permitted to exist, as these Confessionals are only traps to lead the piously and morally-inclined priest to the plains of immorality, for a priest is naught but man, and when he is forced to compel women penitents to pour into his ears their every[Pg 86] thought, feeling, desire, emotion and act, it kindles the fires of unholy thought upon the altars of his better ambitions and before he knows it he has committed adultery and not only ruined his own soul, but has been the implement in the hands of the devil to destroy the virtue of innocent womanhood."

He further states "that not only do the thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc., have to be related, in all of their details, to the priest, and perhaps a bad priest, but all circumstances leading to and the results growing out of these thoughts, must be given in detail."

The immorally inclined and licentious priest is not satisfied with the female penitent enumerating only her mortal sins, but he insists and forces the penitent to give circumstances, minutely describing her thoughts and feelings of every-day life, which leads both the penitent and the confessor to the lowlands of immorality.

The priestcraft is instructed by the Romish Church not to allow the penitent to conceal anything from them, and the priestcraft is given in[Pg 87]structions to probe the penitent to the heart's core.

In this chapter we propose to give you a little insight to the character of one or two priests that I have personally known, and if I dared and if it was possible to print the nasty history of a number of priests that I have been acquainted with, I could fill this volume with their depravity; but should I do so this book would not be permitted to circulate through the mails of the United States. But I will endeavor to clothe my recital of a few instances of priestly immorality in language of chastity, but will make my recital plain enough that any one who can read may understand.

Rev. Chas. Kuhlman, who was pastor of a Catholic Church in Edwardsville, Ill., was suspicioned of having become too intimate with a sister of his own school, and this sister soon left the sisterhood, and it was rumored that she went to St. Louis to evade the birth of a child.

This very same priest was caught in the act of adultery with a married woman in his office in East St. Louis. He was at that time, besides being[Pg 88] pastor, the editor and publisher of a very important Catholic paper called "The Catholic Progress." This immorality of Priest Kuhlman became public property and formed such a nasty mess that the Catholic bishop had to take some notice of it and the case was tried before the Bishop of Alton, Ill., and Kuhlman was excommunicated for life.

This married woman gave testimony that was very damaging to the Rev. Kuhlman and gave her evidence before a notary public, which cannot be disputed, and it matters not how hard the Catholic Church may try to villify these statements, they cannot overcome the truthfulness of the same, as there are too many living witnesses at this time who know that what I am relating is absolutely true.

Rev. Kuhlman was not satisfied with the verdict of the bishop of Alton, Ill., and appealed his case to Rome, and the bishop was indeed glad to get rid of this dirty case and did not appear in Rome to prosecute the case, and the Rev. Kuhlman won the case in Rome by default, and this same Rev.[Pg 89] Kuhlman became a Catholic priest in good standing again and was permitted to officiate as a minister of the gospel, with all of this abominable slime of immorality clinging to his priestly garments.

Now, bear in mind that Rev. Kuhlman, after having all of this immorality laid at his door, was permitted by the Pope of Rome to go right ahead with his priestly duties, but a short time after he won his case at Rome there was an affidavit sworn out against Kuhlman by a man in East St. Louis, averring that he had been again caught in the act of adultery with another woman. This time the case was reported to Bishop Janssen, of Belleville, Ill., and also to Cardinal Martinelli, of Washington, D.C., but there was no attention paid to it, and this Rev. Kuhlman was permitted to go right ahead in his pastoral duties and is at the present time the pastor of a church in East St. Louis and is also the spiritual director of a convent, which contains many sisters and many pupils.

Now, if what I have related is false, Rev. Chas. Kuhlman has redress at law; and if I have libeled[Pg 90] him he can make me suffer for the crime, and he will not have to spend any money to locate my whereabouts, as he is aware of my location at the present time and can find me at any time that he desires to bring suit against me for blackmail or any other crime that he sees fit to instigate against me.

It is no pleasant task to relate these very nauseating things, but it is my aim and intention to so plainly and powerfully set forth the deceit, cunning and dastardly deeds of Catholicism that I may be able to open the eyes of not only the Protestant world but of Catholicism at large, for there are thousands of the followers of the Pope who are very weak in their faith, and if I can by the righteousness of my cause, convince them that they are following the blind leaders of paganism, I am absolutely certain that the Protestant ranks will have an in-gathering of the hosts of Catholicism that will cause the angels in heaven to shout hallelujahs of thanksgiving.

Do not understand me to say, or to intimate, that there are no sincere priests, as there are; but[Pg 91] their sincerity is founded upon superstitious beliefs and erroneous doctrines, consequently their sincerity and devoutness only helps to fasten the abominations of Catholicism more completely upon humanity, as those who are candidly sincere are held up to the Protestant world as models of Catholicism, when, in fact, they are but exceptions to the general herd of Catholic officials.

To more plainly illustrate to the reader how fascinating and powerful the teachings of Catholicism is upon the minds of man, I would illustrate this by the power that parents have over a child. You teach a child some doctrine, it matters not whether it is right or wrong, and you will impress it with the truthfulness of this doctrine in its childhood, and let it understand as it grows into manhood and womanhood that this doctrine is absolutely true, and hedge it about with superstitions confirming this doctrine, and the hosts of hell can hardly convince it that its early teachings were wrong; so you can easily see what a powerful influence Catholicism has over the minds of its followers, as you must bear in mind that Catholicism[Pg 92] takes up the child when it is only a few days old and continually hedges it about with emblems of ignorance and superstition and never allows it to gaze above the horizon of this mass of erroneous doctrine; therefore the child is not to blame for its implicit confidence, but the cunning of those who practice this deception upon this child is to blame, and the doctrine of Catholicism is what I am assailing in this volume, for if I can be instrumental in opening the eyes of those who have arrived at the years of accountability, I feel sure that I can be instrumental in having those so reached declare to their offspring that their first lessons have been altogether erroneous, and if the Catholic parents will begin to teach their children before they leave the parental roof that their first lessons were erroneous it will not be so hard for the Protestant world to finish the job and turn these hosts of darkness into the highways of intellectuality.

The reason that we have so many disgraceful happenings and immoral incidents in the lives of the priestcraft is because of the absolute confi[Pg 93]dence that their followers have in them, as it is a well-known fact that the female world has a greater confidence in humanity than the male population, so it is an easy matter for any sane man or woman to understand why an immoral priest, and one who has no regard for honor, has such an easy task in accomplishing the ruin of those whom he seeks to destroy.

The paradise of the priestcraft is inky darkness, as they prefer darkness to light, and by their actions, their every-day lives take on the hue of midnight. If we can read God Almighty's hand-writing in a legible manner, we believe that any intelligent man or woman can discern in the countenance of a majority of the priestcraft a look which is almost equal to a condemnation of their actions, as a large majority are lacking of that manly frankness of countenance which is found in the countenances of godly men.

In conclusion of this chapter, I beg to state that the Confessional Box of the Romish Church is one of the darkest pages of the dark history of Catholicism, and if this hideous chapter was removed[Pg 95] from Romanism, three-fourths of her diabolical deeds would be eradicated; but when you remove the "Confessional" you remove the charm for that part of the priestcraft which exists upon the carrion of the human family, and whenever you remove the "Confessional," the celibacy of the church will be abandoned and the priestcraft will be allowed to marry, as Protestant ministers are permitted to do, and when this is done, instead of having a Roman Catholic Church, we will have a Protestant denomination in its stead, and my prayer is that a just God will hasten the day when this "virtue trap" will be relegated to the dark recesses of paganism, from whence it came.

Chapter VI.

The Nations Completely Dominated by the Power of the Pope Are Nations of Illegitimacy.

In this chapter, we have before us the vision of two countries; one is Protestant America and the other Catholic Ecuador.

Protestant America stands upon a plane of morality and chastity, which is pleasing to contemplate, and for which she can thank only the principles of Protestantism, for Protestantism teaches, by both precept and example, as she looks to the only true standard of morality that ever existed, which is the Holy Bible. But Catholicism looks only to a standard which the Pope of Rome sees fit to establish, and a standard of morals which is set by mortal man, can only be, at its best, a very inferior standard, as the licentiousness and[Pg 98] lust of unholy man can never compare with that great and infinitely good being, the Lord of Hosts.

Broad education of the mind means a subduing of the passions, and broad education is something that the Catholic Church fights against, as she knows full well that to educate her masses would be equivalent to losing her grasp upon their actions, for no man or woman of a broad education and an individual intellectuality will permit these hosts of darkness to dictate to them.

Ignorance is the greatest breeder of crime known to the intelligence of man, and it is an established fact that crime breeds immorality, and immorality of course is the equivalent of illegitimacy, and historical facts will bear me out in the assertion that the countries which are absolutely under the power of the Pope are countries which are densely ignorant, and again, as above stated, ignorance leads to crime, and crime to immorality, and now we are back to the first proposition and have proven without going further that "The nations completely dominated by the power of the Pope are nations of illegitimacy," but we[Pg 99] propose to use historical records to convince without the shadow of a doubt that our statements are true. However, I do not need these historical facts, as I have traveled extensively through Europe and many other countries, and I know whereof I speak, by personal observation and by coming into personal contact with both Catholic and Protestant nations. However, we are not going to be satisfied with this alone, as we do not want the reader to rely implicitly upon our individual statements, but we propose to bring facts to bear upon your mind which cannot be over-thrown, as statistics are stubborn and unyielding facts, which none but fools dispute.

We propose to take statistics from the Peabody Reporter, which you can corroborate with the official report of the United States Commissioner of Education. The statistics that we above refer to follow:

"To every ten thousand inhabitants under the Roman Catholic school system, there are 1,400 illiterates, 410 paupers and 160 criminals, while in the public school system we only find to every ten[Pg 100] thousand inhabitants 350 illiterates, making a difference of 1,050 to every ten thousand." Thus you see that what we have said in previous chapters of this book in regard to Romanism being founded upon the mountains of ignorance is true.

Education in its literal meaning, means an infusion of intelligence that lifts up the minds of man, and it is generally so accepted by the world at large, but education, as far as Catholicism goes, means only a rehearsal of abominations, which have been practiced upon the followers of this creed for centuries in the past, and does not in the least bear upon the principles of true education.

The public school system is established on the principle that the intelligence and virtue of the people constitutes the foundation of free government.

Our public schools therefore form one of the chief cornerstones of our American republic; they are the sheet anchor of our hopes. The growth and prosperity which have characterized the first century of our schools fulfills their mission.

Education is the watchword of the hour among[Pg 101] Protestants, but never among Catholics. We must educate if we would elevate, and unless we elevate the minds of men we will have humanity running riot with vice and immorality, and this is why the Catholic nations of the earth are found with their morals trailing in the slime of degeneracy.

Our public schools are to-day the great assimilating power in this country. We find in them children of all nationalities, and whether they be English, Irish, Scotch, Danish, Norwegians, French, Italians, or some other nationality, when they enter these institutions they pass out of the school houses, scattered all over this land, Americans, one and all, as it is absolutely impossible to make anything but a true American out of a pupil who has been turned out of the public schools of this country, and one who has been permitted to assimilate the doctrines of broad education taught in these schools.

The influence of the public schools works rapidly upon childhood and is felt through all of their after lives. A child who has been educated in the public schools of this country is always an unre[Pg 102]lenting foe of caste, but the child who is educated in the parochial schools is taught to look up to innumerable superiors, and such an education dwarfs the minds of childhood and teaches them to continually look to others for their individual happiness, but the teachings of the public schools broaden the individual mind and gives courage, which enables the child to swing out from the influence of others and become a mighty power in the mechanism of the universe.

We touch upon the public schools in this chapter, only in connection with the dominating influence of the Pope over nations which he completely rules, in order that the reader may thoroughly understand that ignorance begets crime and crime begets illegitimacy, as we expect to dwell more fully upon the education of nations in the future, but we want the reader to begin at the "Alpha" of reason, so that when he or she is through with this chapter that there will be no doubt in their minds as to why the power of the Pope breeds illegitimacy among his followers.

We have contrasted the difference in morals of[Pg 103] the inhabitants, which are completely dominated by Roman Catholicism, to that of the inhabitants of Protestant America, but we have made this comparison in a general way; but we now want to select a country which for its absolutism of Catholic monarchy has no comparison, and that country is Ecuador.

In Ecuador the Catholic Church has such a complete hold upon the inhabitants that they will not allow Protestantism taught, and the consequence of her tyranny is that out of every 100 children born in that country, seventy-five are bastards or illegitimate and have no idea of their father, and the immorality of the priestcraft is so vile that their actions are absolutely passed over without notice, as there is scarcely a single priest to be found in that country but who is the father of from ten to twenty-five and thirty children; but still the Roman Church continues to forbid her priests to wed, when they know full well that celibacy in the Catholic Church is the cause of all of this degeneracy.

This state of affairs is not confined to Ecuador[Pg 104] alone, but the same state of affairs exists throughout the length and breadth of all Catholic nations which are completely under the power of the Pope.

Italy, for instance, which is the home of the Pope and which has been the home of the Catholic Church since the existence of her abominations, is one of the most immoral countries that ever besmirched the face of the earth.

The first lesson that a Catholic child is taught is "hate," and that lesson is directed at Protestantism; therefore, is it any wonder that the education of Catholicism only reaches out far enough to hoodwink the student and does not elevate him or her above the festering mess which surrounds it?

We want, to repeat the statement that the Roman Catholic Church does not want to educate anybody, nor will it do so, where it is not under the pressure of Protestant influence. However, the American people demand figures and facts before they will be convinced; so as further evidence of the truthfulness of what we are telling you, we propose to quote from a report of the minister of education in Italy, made some few years ago. This[Pg 105] report is true in every particular, and bear in mind that this minister of education was a Catholic himself. The report follows:

"Of every 1,000 males in the province of Lombardy, 539 only were able to read, and 461 did not even know their letters. Of every 1,000 females, only 426 could read and 574 could not read, neither did they know their letters.

"In Naples and Sicily, out of every 1,000 males, only 165 were able to read and 835 could not, and out of every 1,000 females, only 62 could read and 938 could not read and did not know their alphabet. Taking this report, you will find that out of every 100, only about 10 were able to read.

"In 1864, out of 21,000,000 people, only 3,500,000 could read and write, and the rest did not know their alphabet, and to-day Spain, another country which is completely dominated by the power of Rome, has a population of ignorant dupes, as 80 per cent of the population of Spain cannot read and write.

"In Ireland, where the Romish Church is dominant, this same record is repeated, as in other[Pg 106] Catholic nations. In European countries where Protestantism is taught there is but one out of every ten that cannot read and write, but in the same countries, where Catholicism has absolute sway, there is but one out of every 125 that can read and write.

"In six leading Protestant countries of Europe there are 315 inhabitants to every newspaper or magazine, while in six Roman Catholic countries in Europe there is but one newspaper to every 2,715 people.

"It is estimated that at least seven-eighths of the twenty million inhabitants in Spanish-America, which consists of the countries of Mexico, Cuba, Central America and the north and west parts of South America, are unable to read, and in Mexico alone 90 per cent of the inhabitants cannot read nor write, neither do they know their alphabet;" thus you can see what Roman Catholicism does for the countries which she controls.

We are writing this book, believing that an intelligent class of people will read it, and if such is true, we believe that it is useless for us to try to[Pg 107] demonstrate further why the countries which are completely controlled by Catholicism are countries of illegitimacy, for an intelligent reader knows full well that ignorance is the greatest brooder of immorality known to man, and, of course, immorality means illegitimacy, and we believe that we have thoroughly demonstrated to the mind of the reader that Catholicism spreads a cloak of ignorance and superstition wherever she is allowed to rule supreme, and if this is the case, then the natural consequences of such a state of affairs is illegitimacy.[Pg 108]

Chapter VII.

The Power of the Pope in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands.

It makes my heart sick when I realize that the Government of the United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars upon the Islands of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, and, after all, these Islands are still in the grasp and the filthy embrace of the Vatican at Rome.

Not only fabulous amounts of money have been spent by the United States upon these Islands, but hundreds of our noble boys in blue have given up their lives in battle and by the scourge of disease, and still Catholicism has absolute sway in these far-away countries.

These islands have been under the immediate control of Popery for hundreds of years, but when the Government of the United States took charge[Pg 110] of them, their inhabitants had advanced no further in intellectuality and the freedom of free men than they were centuries ago.

It may sound strange to the average reader when I declare that all of the lives lost and all of the money expended by the United States upon Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands was brought about by the tyrannical rule of Rome, for it was by her abominations that Cuba rebelled, which was the prime cause of the interference by the government of the United States; therefore you can readily see why it is that I claim that Catholicism is to blame for the part that the government of the United States took in the affairs of these countries, and what puzzles me so much is why the government of the United States still permits Catholicism to control the destinies of these countries, when the officials of this government know full well that had it not been for abhorrent Catholicism that Cuba would never have rebelled and that Porto Rico would have been satisfied, and that the Philippine Islands would not to-day belong to the United States; but, instead of this gov[Pg 111]ernment trying to remedy the great wrong done to the inhabitants of these countries, it went right ahead and allowed the bone of contention to remain, and to-day finds this government not only permitting Catholicism to continue to practice her abominations in these countries, but this government is instrumental in sending Catholic teachers over to these countries, when, if this country would do its whole duty, it would not permit Catholicism to take any part in the affairs of these countries.

Archbishop Chapelle was shipped to the Philippine Islands with all the pomp of a ruler, and so was Archbishop J.J. Harty, whom I am personally acquainted with, and whom I have been on intimate terms with for a number of years, and this man Harty is to-day in the Philippine Islands ruling with the same tyrannical hand that has characterized Romanism for centuries past, and whose rule is only symbolic to ruin, as the interests of the inhabitants of these countries are never considered, as it is Rome's ambition and only de[Pg 112]sire to keep them under the heel of perpetual tyranny.

We would like to know why Archbishop Chapelle should be given the best stateroom in a transport ship sailing for Manila, while our pure-blooded, honest, sincere Protestant boys who wear the blue were huddled together like so many cattle.

Ah, this is the reason: Archbishop Chapelle is an emissary of the Pope of Rome and stands ready at all times to serve the wishes and obey the orders of that Italian pontiff, and our officials were aware of this fact and they did not want to stir up the Catholic officials for fear of losing a few votes, as both of our old parties have sunk so low into the quagmire of filth that they would allow their country to sink to the level of Romish abominations if they thought by so doing they could control the Catholic vote for either party.

Was one of your boys on this transport ship? Was your kith and kin aboard this vessel that showed this ungodly discrimination between the soldier boy who wrung a poor mother's heart by leaving the parental fireside? If such was the[Pg 113] case, you can vividly see the injustice done to these brave lads in favor of this Archbishop Chapelle, as these boys were on their way to this terrible land of disease and death to help plant the emblem of liberty upon the ramparts of these far-away Islands, and this same Archbishop Chapelle was on his way to destroy the influence of these boys' mission.

The time is not far distant until the Protestant world will wake up to the realization that they have been humbled before this Italian pontiff for the simple reason that our officials are willing to cater to Catholicism in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands for the sake of votes.

We do not care whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, this chapter should fire your blood to the fullest extent, for I am telling you truths, and if you have got the common decency of the most ignorant liberty-loving American you will right now make a resolve that Protestant America must redeem her pledge to Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands to liberate them not only from the hardships placed upon them by a foreign na[Pg 114]tion, but liberate them from the bonds of Catholicism, which not only binds the body, but chains the soul with the fetters of ignorance and superstition.

When it became known that the government of the United States was to interfere in the affairs of Cuba, the Catholic Church put all of her machinery to work immediately in order to fool Uncle Sam and cajole him into dealing only with the government of Spain, which would permit Catholicism to exist in these Islands, and the pages of history only tell us too well how successfully she laid her plans, as to-day we have the awful spectacle of beholding the government of the United States playing the part of "protector," while she is quietly aiding the identical institution which caused the misery in these far-away countries.

What I tell you in this chapter is true, as I was a Catholic priest and was on the inside of the workings of Catholicism at that time, and what I relate is not guess work nor imagination, but it is plain, unvarnished and unadulterated truths, and the American people will sooner or later wake up to the realization of these awful truths, for just so[Pg 115] long as the United States permits Catholicism to control the destinies of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, just that long turmoil and misery will remain in these tropical regions, for Catholicism has sworn by all of her imaginary saints that Protestantism shall never rule these countries, and so far she has carried out her threat truly and well, as Protestantism to-day has no more control over the inhabitants of these islands than she did before the damnable creed of the Pope was molested by the appearance of Dewey's guns at Manila.

Can you expect these countries to grow in greatness, and can you expect the inhabitants of these countries to become giants in intellect when they practice the cungerings of Catholicism?

We want to give the reader an insight in this chapter to what Catholicism practices in this country and in other countries that are not near so densely ignorant as Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, and then you can have an idea of what the inhabitants of these countries may expect in the way of advancement from Catholicism,[Pg 116] and what I will repeat is the abominations that I have helped to practice myself for thirty years; therefore I know whereof I speak and no man dare dispute.

We will take a Catholic cemetery, for instance, and in order that the ground may be sanctified and fit to receive the dead bodies of those who believe in the Catholic faith a bishop must sanctify this earth and consecrate it before it is fit to conceal the body of one of the Pope's followers.

Our Savior has declared that "From earth we came, and to earth we shall return," and there was no proviso made that before we should return to earth that it would have to be consecrated by a human being, as any man or woman of intelligence knows full well that what the Lord our God has made cannot be improved upon by the idiotic chant and superstitious rant of a Catholic bishop.

It matters not how godly nor how piously a Protestant may have lived, Catholicism teaches that it is an abomination to bury a Protestant in a Catholic cemetery, and one of her laws is that to bury a heretic (which means Protestant) in a[Pg 117] Catholic cemetery is unlawful, and the Catholic Popes instruct that the remains of any Protestant buried in a Catholic cemetery shall, if they can be distinguished, be removed, and if they can not be distinguished, that the cemetery shall be cleansed by sprinkling holy water over the ground, and bear in mind that this holy water is to receive its cleansing power from some priest or bishop, who perhaps is as immoral as hell.

In Canada, some time since, the laws of that country forcibly effected the burial of a Protestant in a Catholic cemetery, and the bishop of that diocese, by the name of Bourget, declared that portion of the cemetery as "desecrated and filthy" and forbade any priest to step his foot upon the ground.

Now, do you expect an institution which teaches such doctrines to elevate a nation above their own doctrine? If you do, you are expecting something unreasonable, and if the inhabitants of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands are not to be elevated above such abominations can the future hold anything for them but misery?[Pg 118]

There is but one thing that beats a bishop's consecration of a graveyard, and that is money, and money only; but a few dollars will turn the trick and will open up the ground in a Catholic cemetery for a heretic, and enough money will turn the entire cemetery into a Protestant graveyard.

In the City of St. Louis there is a Catholic cemetery called "Calvary," and lots twelve feet square are sold at from $50 to $1,000 each. A lot was bought by a Protestant whose son died and who was baptized in his last hour by a Catholic nurse. While his people were Protestants, they consented, since he had been baptized into the Catholic Church, that they would give him a Catholic burial, and a priest by the name of Ward performed the ceremony. Now, bear in mind that the father of this young man had bought a lot large enough for his whole family to be buried there, when they should die, as he, of course, wanted his entire family to be buried together, but the Catholic Church would not consent to consecrate any part of that lot but the grave in which the young man was buried that was baptized on[Pg 119] his death bed, simply because the remainder of the family were Protestants; but for money they consecrated a portion of this lot, four feet wide and six and one-half feet long, but the remainder of this lot was not consecrated, therefore you will see that money in the Catholic Church has as much power to consecrate the earth as doth the bishopric and priestcraft.

Ah, what abominations! but still this Government expects Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands to be elevated to the standard of manhood and womanhood by this class of ghouls.

Now, if we could halt with the recital of only a few abominations, my task, perhaps, would not be so disgusting, but had I the endurance to live on, until I were a thousand years old, and could write what I know and have experienced in the ranks of Catholicism, I would be unable to portray to the reader all of her abominations.

The Catholic Church is a church of show and glamor, and of nonsensical doctrines, and not a church of God and of holy worship.

Many believe that Catholicism has taught all[Pg 120] of her cungerings for centuries past, and this is the case, but bear in mind, that Catholicism often has to have new "fakes," in order to make the money slide out of the pockets of their "dupes" more easily, so they get up new intrigues and modern shows for this purpose, and the fake that works the best is the one that they work the hardest, as I solemnly declare that the Catholic Church as a whole is a money proposition upon the part of those who teach her abominations, and I further declare that it is a "graft" conceived by minds that are more cunning and deceptive than any class of men upon the face of the whole earth.

The Catholic Church changes its form of worship like cheap chop houses change their bills of fare, as they are after "suckers," and if one bait will not get them, they throw out another, and the pomp and show of the church is to catch the eye and not to save the soul.

Not long since, the Catholic Church, with singular devotion, turned its attention to the five wounds of Christ, and immediately after giving these five wounds their solicitous attention, they[Pg 121] bade their followers to have recourse to the sacred heart of Jesus, and in hundreds of Catholic Churches you will find to-day a statue made in the likeness of Christ, with a heart attached over the breast, and this heart is illuminated by electricity or candle, and the followers of Catholicism absolutely worship this mechanism of man, and it has proven a great drawing card, and you can rest assured that Catholicism is pushing the scheme along good and hard, and "The St. Anthony Bread Box" hoax is another scheme that is not very old, but which the Catholic Church has found to be another great paying investment, and they are working "St. Anthony" for all that he is worth.

Now, can any man or woman of intelligence believe that the inhabitants of these islands can ever expect to become men and women of affairs—men and women of individuality—and men and women of intellectuality? If you can give a rational reason why these countries should ever expect to be elevated to the standard of greatness under such influences and under the tutelage of[Pg 122] such an institution, then the road to greatness must be a very easy one to travel.

The Catholic Church is conducted on about the same principle as Dun's and Bradstreet's mercantile agencies, as they go into the minutest detail to keep record of the affairs of the country, so that they may know the weakest as well as the strongest points of their creed, so that they may at all times be prepared to exercise the greatest influence at the proper time, and what makes this creed so dangerous, is that they impress upon their dupes that the church is "eternal law," and they hold out the crown of glory on high as a reward for following their doctrine, and this is the most dangerous and damnable scheme ever perpetrated by mortal, for when you force a man or woman to believe that you hold in your hands their future destiny, you have them to the point where you can force them to do your bidding, and this is exactly what Catholicism does to her followers, and this is the reason why Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands can never expect to go higher in the scale of morality and[Pg 123] intellectuality than they are at the present time, if the Government of the United States permits this troop of ghouls to continue to be their masters.

We believe that we have in this chapter made, it plain to the reader why the influence of Catholicism should be remotely removed from these islands, and if I am right, the Government of the United States is everlastingly wrong in permitting Catholicism to retain her hold upon the throats of the inhabitants of these islands, and I undoubtedly am right, as I know whereof I speak, as I have trod the deceptive road of Catholicism for the past thirty years, and I dare not tell in this book all that I know of her cunning in regard to these far-away countries, as I would have to use language so plain that I could not expect this volume to pass through the mails, as the priestcraft in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands are an immoral set, as a whole, and treat the female population of these islands in a manner that breeds immorality from generation to generation, and the awful part of this immorality[Pg 124] is that those who commit it with the priestcraft do not consider that it is a wrong, as they have been taught that it is no sin to do as the priestcraft demands, therefore it is ten thousand times worse than if the sin was committed with the knowledge of the fact that it was a sin, as the mother or father who is aware of the fact that they are sinners will not teach their offspring to commit the sins that they are guilty of, but when they are not aware of the fact that they are committing a sin, of course, they allow their children to believe that their actions are in harmony with the teachings of God, therefore this damnable practice goes on and on, from generation to generation, and this is why the morals, intelligence and progress of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, are to-day on the same plane of depravity as they were centuries ago, and no one is to blame for this carnality and debauchery of the inhabitants of these islands but the Roman Catholic Church, and until the Government of the United States shall declare and back up her declaration by Protestant manhood, the inhabitants of[Pg 125] these islands will never know of the beauties of chastity and morality and the wonderful blessings that are held in store for them by embracing Protestantism.

May the Lord of Hosts hasten the day when the eyes of those who rule in Protestant America may be opened to the awful sins they are committing, by allowing Romanism to hover over these islands with her vulturous and carnivorous appetite of depravity, and may the time soon come when the Government of the United States shall proclaim to the Vatican at Rome that this veil of abomination shall be lifted from the inhabitants of these islands; and when this is done, the goddess of liberty that has made Protestant America what she is to-day, will hover over these far-away islands of the sea, and new life will pulsate in the veins of these Romish-ridden countries.

Chapter VIII.

Monasteries Are Often the Abode of Criminals, and Nunneries the Slaughter Pens of Virtue.

When I was living beneath the folds of the black banner of Catholicism, I sincerely and devoutly believed that to shield a Catholic criminal was a righteous and Godly calling, as I believed that to prevent the civil law from taking hold of the criminal career of a Catholic official, for his short-comings, was but an act of Godly justice.

I also believed that anything that was done between the walls of a Nunnery was sanctified by the approval of those who were higher in authority in the Catholic Church than myself; therefore, the things which I now realize are both criminal and immoral, as well as utterly detestable, I at one time considered righteous, simply because my education had been confined to the narrow channels of[Pg 128] bigotry, and the effulgency of Biblical knowledge had never penetrated my Romish-inspired perceptibilities.

I believe that I will make many assertions in this chapter that have never been made before, but there will not be an assertion made but what is true; however, there will be many that will arise from the trenches of Catholicism to denounce the truthfulness of them, but I know whereof I speak, and I defy any mortal man to successfully dispute what I may state.

This chapter will relate to monasteries and nunneries, which in olden times were called "asylums."

These asylums are used by Catholicism to scuffle criminals of their following into, in defiance of law and justice, as these asylums are notorious among those who are on the inside workings of this creed, as to places where Catholic criminals can be concealed without fear of having the civil law bring them to justice, as these places are a retreat for Catholic criminals who are pursued by the ministers of justice, and where, so long as[Pg 129] they remain, they cannot be arrested; but in order to elevate these "asylums" to the plane of religion, they, are called by different names which are misnomers, and are only raised to the level of religious institutions to cover up the infamy of their actual missions, as Catholicism has learned that as long as she can throw around and about herself a religious glamor, that she is permitted to go ahead and violate the laws of man without molestation.

The "asylums" of olden times were intended as retreats for those who were persecuted for their religious belief, but the mission of these institutions became useless, under the splendid and godly progress of Protestantism, as Protestantism planted her banner of enlightenment under the glorious leadership of Martin Luther, and such institutions were done away with, but Catholicism turned these asylums, which were once a protection to the persecuted followers of Christ, and converted them into an abode for Catholic criminals.

There is scarcely a man or woman in America[Pg 130] but what has heard of Wm. Morgan, who lived at Batavia, in Western New York, who, it was claimed, wrote an expose of Freemasonry, and who, the Catholic Church claims, was killed by the Masonic fraternity for writing this expose.

The fact of the matter is that this book was prepared by the Catholic Church for electioneering purposes, and it served their scheme well and truly.

It is history that Morgan disappeared very suddenly, and the Catholic Church gave it out that he had been killed by the Masonic fraternity, which is untrue, as Wm. Morgan was spirited away, and the trick was turned by Catholicism.

"Wm. Morgan" became the issue for the campaign, and it was narrated around that Morgan was conveyed in a carriage from Batavia to Niagara by Freemasons, and there drowned in Lake Ontario.

A body was produced near the mouth of the Niagara River, but a friend of Wm. Morgan, who knew him well, by the name of Mrs. Wm. G. Barr, denied that the body that was found at the mouth[Pg 131] of the Niagara River, was that of Morgan, and a devout Catholic remarked at the post-mortem examination that "It was a good enough Morgan until after the election."

A rigid investigation was made and no one was ever convicted of murdering Morgan.

The result of the election was that Catholicism carried her point. The Catholic Church had turned by this excitement the eyes of the world towards Freemasonry, and claimed that Morgan's fate was caused by the Masonic fraternity.

When I came to America, I was given instructions in regard to secret societies, and the Morgan case was gone over with me in detail, and I was given "The Bulls" of three popes, which excluded all members of Freemasons from the Catholic Church, and all who belonged to the Masonic fraternity were denied even a Christian burial by the Catholic Church.

I was told by a priest, who was in good standing, that the Masons had in their meetings a literal devil concealed in a box, and that when they would meet, they would stick pins in a picture of[Pg 132] some supposed "traitor" and shriek out in their madness: "Die like Morgan!"

Mrs. Wm. G. Barr was called to identify the supposed body of Wm. Morgan, which was found at the mouth of the Niagara River.

Her husband, Wm. G. Barr, was an old dry goods man and once ran for governor of the State of Kansas, but was defeated because his wife had declared "that Wm. Morgan's body had never been discovered at the mouth of the Niagara River, and further declared that it was a 'fake,' pure and simple, and gotten up by Catholicism in order to villify the Masonic fraternity."

I had always been of an investigating turn of mind, and the stories that were told to me in regard to Wm. Morgan did not sound right, so I took the train for Topeka, Kans., where Mrs. Wm. G. Barr lived, and this is the story that she related to me in great emotion:

Mrs. Barr told me that she was a friend of Wm. Morgan, and that she was called to identify his body, but instead of finding the corpse of Wm. Morgan, on the seashore, she found the body of[Pg 133] some one else and not that of Morgan, and she further told me that Wm. Morgan, before his disappearance, had written her that he was persuaded by a number of Catholic priests to leave the Masons, and that he, to his sorrow, had followed their advice, and that these priests had written a book, and insisted that he should publish it, but he never did give his consent, and stated that he never would; however, the book appeared, and the fact of the matter is that it was a clumsy forgery by the priestcraft of Catholicism.

This book appeared in print, and Wm. Morgan became frightened, as he realized that should the country at large believe that he was the author of this book, he would be considered as a traitor, and he became frightened and did not know what to do, and about this time two Catholic priests approached him, and persuaded him to leave the country, and they took him to "a Trappist monastery," near Montreal, Canada.

He remained there quite a time, and left Canada and went to Asia, and he was seen and identified in Asia years after Catholicism had declared[Pg 134] that he had been murdered by the Masonic fraternity.

I do not remember of ever reading this history before, and I am under the impression that I am the first man—in fact, I know that I am the first man who was for thirty years a Catholic priest that ever gave this information to the public.

Now, if a monastery in Canada would be turned into a lie and a deception in order that the Catholic Church might carry out her diabolical and cunning schemes, what can we expect of other monasteries?

If this history attaches itself to a monastery like that in Canada, what must be the condition of the monasteries and nunneries of nations which have not the enlightenment that Canada has?

I desire to call to the attention of the reader a little history that is not exceedingly old, and which every boy and girl is acquainted with, as it has transpired in the past ten years—yea, later.

It was in the afternoon of a December day, in 1900. A boy, Edward Cudahy, Jr., was walking to his father's mansion and was invited to step into a[Pg 135] buggy and was informed that he was under arrest. This boy was then and there abducted, and this abduction became known by the boy remaining away from his home that night.

The police and detectives of Omaha and the detectives from Chicago and other cities were busy on the case day and night. Days and weeks passed and nothing came to light except letters from the ones who had kidnapped this boy, asking for a ransom of $25,000, and stating that if this sum of money in gold was not forthcoming, that the boy's eyes would be put out and he would forever lose his sight.

This last threat startled the poor, heart-broken mother, and as the time approached for these devils to put into execution their threat, this poor frantic mother insisted that her millionaire husband, Edward Cudahy, Sr., give up the $25,000 and save her precious boy's eyesight.

Her husband resisted as long as he could, but at last took the $25,000 in gold and stepped into his buggy, with the signal lantern, and drove to a certain spot, designated by Pat Crow, who is the one[Pg 136] who abducted Cudahy, and with this $25,000 bought his boy's liberty, and this boy was brought from that cottage on Grover street, unhurt, and Pat Crow made away with his $25,000 in gold.

Cudahy was called up a number of times by telephone and was threatened that if he did not withdraw the reward that he was offering for Pat Crow's arrest that there would be something awful befall him; but he resisted and would not withdraw his offer of reward, consequently this made it necessary for Pat Crow and Eddy McGehee, alias Burns, to leave the country.

These men were known in Omaha, St. Joe, Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago, not only by a number of their ilk, but also to the police forces, consequently the nets of the law were stretched all over the United States for these abductors.

On December 28 it was reported from La Salle, Ills., that Pat Crow was arrested. Kansas City police promised his arrest before sunset, but he was not arrested.

There were 80,000,000 people looking for Pat Crow, but he took a Pullman sleeper and traveled[Pg 137] to New York, and from there sailed on a first-class ticket for Europe and spent a good time in London, from whence he went to South Africa and played a deceptive role in the English-African war.

Now, I am going to relate something that will make one's blood boil with indignation and the cold sweat stand out with the clamminess of death, but what I tell you is true.

Priest Dempsey, pastor of St. Patrick's Church in St. Louis, was president of the "Emmet" celebration in the year 1902.

After a speech by Judge Ryan of St. Louis, and a most eloquent address by a priest, who had been a young Boer officer, he inspired Irish patriotism by an elegant appeal against "Old England." He was indeed an orator who, by his recitation, held the audience for an hour. I was one who was nearest to him on the platform and congratulated him on his powerful speech.

After the applause from his Irish friends, as he had called them, he decided to leave with me for his hotel, and I was stopping at St. Patrick's par[Pg 138]sonage, so we both had to go in the same direction.

I had become interested in the fellow while he was delivering his speech and I became much more interested in him in our car ride, together, to the Lindell Hotel, and he invited me to stop off with him awhile at the Lindell Hotel, and we were soon engaged in all kinds of discussions, both religious and political. He was a "Dutchman" and had asked his government of Holland for a leave of absence to fight in the Boer war, which was granted him, and to prove the truthfulness of this assertion he showed me a wound on his breast which had not yet healed.

He remarked that he came "nearly" telling in his address at the "Emmet" meeting about the miraculous escape of Pat Crow to South Africa, and stated that if it had not been for the bad impression Pat Crow had made in America, he would have told of the trick that had been turned to gain him his freedom and rob some one in America of the reward that had been put on his head by Millionaire Cudahy.[Pg 139]

"One night I was in Johannesburg, South Africa, and stayed with Pat Crow in the same room. I knew that it was Pat Crow and did not intend to have much to do with him, but he noticed me and I became interested in him, and he spoke to me about matters, and the millionaire's boy being abducted, and the ransom that he received, and his escape to Africa.

"He remarked that I would realize from his name that he was an Irish Catholic, and stated that he had gone through the Catholic schools and was a 'brother' in the cloisters, and stated that this was his strong point in never being caught in his daring undertakings.

"He stated that when they received their $25,000 ransom from Cudahy that it was divided at the cottage where the crime was committed. He stated that it cost him quite a sum of money to stay with friends a few days in Omaha, but that he soon disguised himself as an inmate of the Jesuit College, a school for Catholic boys.[Pg 140]

"He stated that he traveled on a 'permit' as Father O'Connor to Kansas City, and stated that from there he went to St. Louis, disguised as a Catholic priest, and that the conductors on the train spoke to him as 'How do you do, Father?'

"When I arrived in St. Louis I went to St. Anthony's Church, where you can obtain most anything from that saint. I rang the bell for confession. I confessed all kinds of things. I confessed to murder, robbery, kidnapping, and the Father Confessor was impressed with me because I was a 'big fish' in my line, and because I had done no harm to the millionaire's boy. I told the inmates of St. Anthony's Church that I wanted to make confession and do penance the remainder of my life.

"A brother came with the scissors and I received the 'tonsure' for the third time, which left only a circle of hair around my head, and no Pinkerton detective, or even Bertillion himself could have identified me.

"In a short time I left this St. Anthony Church in a 'Catholic Habit,' which disguised me as a[Pg 141] Catholic official, and I went to Omaha and passed myself off as 'Brother Clement from St. Louis.'

"When I reached Omaha I had no trouble in passing myself off as 'Brother Clement.'

"After I had remained there awhile I excused myself and in my priestly robes I walked to the banks of the Missouri River and raised my buried treasure, as I had left a part of the money that I received from Cudahy buried near the river, and I took the train to St. Louis, and from there to New York, and from New York I took a German steamer to Southampton.

"I stayed in London two weeks and read in the papers all about Pat Crow. London was not the place for a man like me, as I had been there before, and they knew me; so I sailed for the diamond fields of South Africa, where I am now free, by the system of 'asylums' (which are Catholic monasteries) of the Catholic Church. Pat Crow wound up his story by telling me that if I ever needed to try this plan that I could do it, and stated that the Catholic Church was the refuge of criminals."[Pg 142]

Now, bear in mind, the reason that the Catholic Church is such a refuge for criminals is because no police or detective is ever allowed to cross over the door-sills into these places of Catholic refuge, where the worst chapters of crime never will be told, and where these criminals flee to avoid the punishment of their crimes.

This is the first time in the history of the world that this awful history in regard to Pat Crow and Catholicism was ever given to the reading public.

Catholicism teaches, and acts accordingly, that if a confessor forgives the sins of these criminals that God has taken away all guilt from their heinous crimes and that the civil laws have no right to punish these criminals after a Catholic priest has forgiven their sins, and on this damnable dogma, Catholicism bases her right for the existence of these "asylums."

I want to give the reader a little history in regard to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Wilkes Booth, a Roman Catholic, was the assassin of President Lincoln. The Roman Catholic Church, under the mask of Democracy, was always be[Pg 143]lieved to be responsible for this diabolical assassination. In fact, it is believed, and the belief is well founded, that through the "inquisition" in the City of Rome that a plot was laid to destroy the republican form of government of the United States, and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln was the first step, and the plotting on this side of the water was done in Catholic houses, adorned with crucifixes, religious saints, religious statues, religious relics, and rosaries, scapulars, holy water pots, and medals of Catholicism innumerable.

It was in the house of Mrs. Surratt, located in the very heart of Washington, D.C., that the officers of this government proceeded after the assassination of President Lincoln, and bear in mind that Mrs. Surratt was a Roman Catholic, and the occupants of this house were arrested. The ones who were arrested were; Mrs. Surratt, a Roman Catholic; her daughter, Anna, a Roman Catholic; Mrs. Fitzpatrick, a Roman Catholic, and Miss Hollahan, a Roman Catholic. Before the officers had left this house a light knock was heard[Pg 144] at the door and a young man appeared in disguise, as he was dressed as a common laborer and carried a pick upon his shoulder; his hands were white and soft and he was also arrested, and his name was Powell, another Roman Catholic.

John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, was a Roman Catholic, consequently the belief is undoubtedly well founded that not only the scheme to assassinate Abraham Lincoln was laid in the City of Rome by Roman Catholics, but was carried into execution by the same set in this country.

Booth, after the assassination, fled to Surrattsville to the hotel of Mrs. Surratt, and there a Roman Catholic woman had concealed a carbine. Mr. Surratt, at Washington, had warned the folks at the hotel that the weapon would be called for the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, which is prima facie evidence of the plot to assassinate Lincoln. After the assassination Booth fled, but on the eastern shores of the Potomac he was concealed in a Roman Catholic Church for nearly a week. As we relate this history, which is[Pg 145] true, the evidence becomes more damaging against Roman Catholicism.

The finale of this national tragedy was that Herald, Powell and Mrs. Surratt were hung, and Dr. Mudd and O'Laughlin were committed to life-long imprisonment, and all of these were Roman Catholics.

The question now arises, How did John H. Surratt escape from the same fate of Herald, Powell and Mrs. Surratt? I will tell you! John H. Surratt escaped by the assistance of Catholic officials and went to Canada, and was concealed in a "Trappist cloister" near Montreal, and remained there until 1865, when, as a Priest, he went to Liverpool.

In the spring of 1866, Mr. Wm. H. Seward was informed by a Mr. King, at Rome, Italy, that John H. Surratt had enlisted in the Papal Guards, under the name of John Watson. He was arrested at Teroli, in Italy, but escaped by plunging down a ravine twenty-three feet deep.

He was wounded by the fall and crawled off to a monastery and remained there until he was[Pg 146] healed and then resumed his flight. After his wounds healed, he went to Egypt, as he was not satisfied with Italy, and was there captured by our minister, Mr. Hale, and sent to America.

I could go on and on, giving you history of lesser importance that this, which occurs week in and week out, month in and month out, and year in and year out, and which is strictly connected with the Catholic Church, but what I have given you are truths, and indisputable truths, which should be evidence enough of the awfulness of monasteries of this and other countries, and a class of men who will commit such dastardly deeds in the monasteries would not hesitate to slaughter innocent virtue in the nunneries of this country.

I could give you history in regard to the nunneries that would make the cheek of virtue blush with shame, but to give you this history I would have to use language that I do not desire to use, as I want to keep the minds and morals of the girls of this country as pure as possible; but from this chapter, Protestant fathers and mothers must know what Roman Catholicism consists of, and[Pg 147] Catholic fathers and mothers who are not everlastingly blinded by the false light of this damnable creed should rally from their lethargetic walks of debauchery and snatch their children from the Romish mire of degradation and place them upon the Protestant highways, which lead to the beauties of individual and collective greatness.

Chapter IX.

Un-Married Cussedness of the Roman Priest-Craft.

In the Book of Books, we find that the Lord of Hosts declares that, "It is not good for man to dwell alone," and our Heavenly Father also teaches us that "Every man should have one wife."

Now, the Good Lord was either right or wrong when He made this declaration, and who is there that would declare that the Lord was mistaken in His injunction? Not one! Therefore, we must acknowledge that either the Lord our God made a declaration that was nonsensical and unreasonable, or else the Roman Priestcraft is living a life which is diagonally contrary to the commands and demands of God Almighty, for when the Roman Church declares that her Priests shall not wed, they at once set up a rule for their teachers which[Pg 150] is in violation, to not only the laws of God, but laws of man, as the silent whisperings of man's nature demands a helpmate. The heathen nations of the earth who are not acquainted with the sanctity of the marriage vow, have a longing for the companionship of the opposite sex, and this longing cannot be termed anything but "a godly love," as this feeling was placed in the bosom of humanity by a divine being, and whenever this desire is thwarted, you have disturbed the most blissful inspiration of the human family; but the Roman Catholic Church would have us believe that a few of the human family have been ordained by God to live recluses, or, as we may term it, "unmarried hermits."

Catholicism, with all her damnable dogmas and creeds, cannot change that God-given impulse that was planted in the bosom of man, when Adam was created in the Garden of Eden, and the more Roman Catholicism endeavors to eradicate that feeling, the greater her sins become, for it is a most damnable sin to try to force man to eradicate from his bosom this everlasting and godly[Pg 151] craving for the love of the opposite sex, and as long as "man is born of woman," just so long that inspiration will live in the bosom of mankind, and just so long as Roman Catholicism endeavors to force humanity to purge itself of this blessed longing, just so long the mark of deception, depravity and ungodliness will be left upon the brow of this Romish demon.

This chapter is one that must be written in a delicate manner, which prohibits me from becoming emphatic and explicit, for should I allow myself to write exactly what I have seen, and the truths that exist in regard to Romish hellishness, and the deeds of the unmarried cussedness of Catholicism, I would have to resort to language that would be unchaste, but I have in mind a story that was told some time ago, by a young lady, who had spent a number of years in a convent, which I will relate word for word as she gave it, and which will be only the history over and over again of thousands—yea, tens of thousands of girls who have had the same experience as this[Pg 152] poor mortal, only perhaps had new agonies added to their lives.

The history of this girl's life in a convent is more than pathetic, from the fact that her father on his deathbed requested that she be placed in a convent by her mother, which was done, and her sufferings, the reader will see, were not a fault of hers, but the fault of her parents, who had been raised to believe in the diabolical teachings of Roman Catholicism, but who did not know that these teachings were only echoes of the dark ages of paganism, therefore you will see that this poor girl's history is laden with a sadness for which she is not to blame, and the fault can only be laid at the fountain head, as her parents were sincere in their belief, and did not, of course, realize that they were helping to ruin their darling girl's future.

I will now relate her history, as near as possible, the way she gave it, which will be symbolic of the history of thousands of other girls, and which is absolutely true. Her story follows:

"When one becomes an inmate of a convent,[Pg 153] they become a prisoner, as every act is scrutinized by the mother superior, and you have no privilege any more than if you were a convict and placed behind the bars for some heinous crime. With this exception, however, you are allowed to receive letters from a priest without having the letter opened and read before it reaches you, as there is always some mark to distinguish a letter received from a priest, but all letters that you write and all letters that you receive, unless they bear the mark indicating that they have been sent by a priest, are carefully read, and if the contents of either the letter you write, or the one that has been written to you does not meet with the arbitrary opinion of the "mother superior," they are destroyed, and you never have the opportunity of sending the one that you have written, or to receive the one that has been written to you, unless they can pass the inspection of the "mother superior," who is nothing more nor less than an agent of the Pope of Rome, as she receives her instructions from the priestcraft, and they receive their instructions from the Pope of Rome.[Pg 154]"

When an inmate of a convent receives a letter from a priest it is handed her without being opened, as the "mother superior" is instructed not to open such letters, and is told that all such letters, of course, relate to the spiritual welfare of the nun.

In these letters the priest will tell the nun what day he will call to give her a general confession. As soon as such a letter is received the nun informs the "mother superior" that on a certain day Priest So-and-So will visit her, and, of course, this "mother superior" gives the permission, and on the day that the priest is to arrive, this nun is excused from all duties for that day, and when the priest arrives he is shown into what is called the Retreat Parlor; and no matter how long he remains there, no one will disturb him. He is supposed to be talking with his penitent on the welfare of her soul. Ah, could any one look through the door, they would find this priest with his arms about the form of this fair penitent, or perhaps in a far more compromising position!

Right here the reader may ask if these nuns are[Pg 155] willing to submit to the embraces of these priests?

I will allow this girl to answer this question in her own language, and her answer is this:

"I answer that in fifteen out of twenty cases—No! But she is there helpless; the priest has seen her somewhere in the garb of a nun and has taken a fancy to her, and whether she be willing or not, he compels her to allow him to satisfy his hellish passion!"

This girl continues by exclaiming: "Oh God! Great God! When I think of this system—this system born of the devil and nurtured by hell—and realize that under the cloak of religion it is stealing away our liberty, entering into our homes, ruining our womanhood and girlhood, and painting childish purity with the brush of immorality, and defiling everything with which it comes in contact, I then become a mad woman, and I become as a venomous serpent, wanting revenge for what has been done to me, and it seems as if I cannot remain quiet, but, closing my eyes and ears to everything, as I have no redress, I am compelled to warn thousands who may come after[Pg 156] me, of their fate, should they take up convent life, which is a hell upon earth and a blotch as black as the shadows of hell to any land."

The same lady who related the above, and a great deal more which I cannot tell in this chapter, gave an account of the sufferings of another nun, who was in the same convent with her, and I now learn that the same story that I will now relate has been told to others.

Reader, you must bear in mind that convents have many tortures outside of the torturing conscience on account of having the virtue of their inmates destroyed. The teachings of Catholicism lead people to practice self-infliction upon their person in order to appease a living God, as they seem to worship a living God the same as the pagans would worship a God of stone, or a ferocious God in the form of some carnivorous beast, and in order to atone for their sins, these inmates of the nunneries are taught that they must bear self-infliction; in fact, Catholicism teaches her followers that in order that any of them shall receive[Pg 157] absolute pardon, that they must resort to heathenish practices.

As stated above, the same lady whom we speak of in the first part of this chapter, relates her experience with a sister nun, who endured self-torture, believing that it was an outward demonstration of godliness. Her story follows:

"I call to mind a case of cruelty under the guise of devotion that happened in our convent. A consecrated penitent, Sister Madeline, had been for some time a victim of consumption. She was a beautiful girl, and her exquisitely sweet voice could be heard in church every Sunday, taking part in the high mass. Poor Sister Madeline! How many humiliations she received! How often she was censured for leaving her work unfinished when she was not able to do it, and how I have pitied her as she tried to eat the bread and dripping we had for supper. Failing in the attempt, I would notice the tears gather in her eyes. Oh, how often I longed to be able to obtain some little delicacy for her! but dared not ask for it.[Pg 158] Her gentle, patient, suffering face will never fade from my memory.

"One Sunday evening she and I were walking in the garden after benediction. She felt more than usually weak, and, therefore, I could offer her my arm to lean upon.

"'Dear Sister Magdalene Adelaide,' she said, 'I think our blessed Lord is soon going to come for me.'

"I tried to cheer her by telling her that it might be His will to restore her again to health and strength.

"'No, dear Sister,' she replied; 'and oh, I do not want to stay. I long to see my Master's face. At night, when I lay awake in pain, I long, oh, so much, that I might go!'

"'Sister Madeline,' I said, 'you have been happy here, have you not? You love your present life?'

"We had seated ourselves by this time in a little grotto made up in honor of 'Our Lady of Lourdes.' She buried her face in her hands, and I saw the tears trickling between her fingers.[Pg 159]

"At last, raising up her head, she said: 'I have tried my best to be contented; but oh! Sister Adelaide, it has been a bitter struggle. It is wrong in me to give way thus; but I cannot help it. May Our Lady pity me! I want you to promise, dear Sister, that you will say a rosary for me every day for a year after I am dead, and one communion every month.'

"'I will gladly do this for you, Sister Madeline,' I answered. 'Tell me,' I continued, 'is there any particular day you prefer?'

"'Yes,' she replied, 'I would like your Friday communion. Promise me that on the anniversary of the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, my patron saint, you will offer your communion for me.'

"'I know,' she said, 'that I shall have a long purgatory.' She shuddered as she spoke. 'And oh! I do hope the dear sisters will remember me in their prayers and communions.'

"'Dear Sister Madeline,' I said at last, 'purga[Pg 160]tory is better than hell and our Blessed Lady will intercede for you.'

"'Yes, dear Sister Magdalene Adelaide,' she said, 'you are right; but oh!' she continued, 'I cannot help the shudder that passes through me as I think of the suffering I shall be in for years, especially after the mortifications I have practiced here, the discipline I have applied to myself, the days I have abstained from food, the prayers I have offered, the tears I have shed; and now, as death approaches, there is no other prospect before me than a long term of purgatorial punishment. Besides, the punishment will be all the greater since I have given away to an unnatural thought.'

"'Dear sister, I have endeavored to bear my cross,' she commenced, speaking with difficulty; 'But oh! sister, I dread the end; I have so much[Pg 161] to expiate; and oh!' she continued, her voice now choked with sobs, 'if only I could have my mother near me; if only I could hear her voice once more; it is so long since I have seen her. I have asked for any letter that may have come, but they tell me none has arrived, and oh! I don't think mother has quite forgotten me.'

"I durst not trust myself to speak; my heart was too full. At last I said, 'Dear sister, do not grieve thus; our Blessed Lady will intercede for you. Remember, in coming here your purpose, even as mine, was to make reparation for sin. You and I have both suffered. Be brave now, dear, and now that the end is near do not take away from God's glory by fearing for the future.'

"'I know it is wrong to grieve so much, Sister Magdalene Adelaide, but oh, I am so weak! Will you read a meditation for me?'

"I took up the book and did as she requested. Soon she fell into a sleep which lasted about one hour, and again I commenced saying my rosary beads. Presently I heard her murmur, and, listening, I heard her whisper, 'My feet! oh, my feet!'[Pg 162] I arose from my chair and removed the sheet with the intention of rubbing her limbs; as I did so her feet were disclosed. A thrill of horror passed through my being as I looked at them, for they were all cut, festered and bruised; a fearful suspicion took possession of me, and, stooping down, I picked up her infirmary shoes. On examination I discovered in them pieces of broken glass; a thrill akin to horror ran through my whole frame. I held the shoes in my hands and looked at the pale, suffering face of Adeline as she lay there on her bed, and this evening the whole scene rises before me—the little infirmary with its clean, white floor, a few cheap prints of the stations of the cross hanging on the otherwise bare walls, the two or three small iron bedsteads, then the white wooden altar upon which was spread a white linen cloth embroidered with red; the two statues, one of 'Our Lady of Dolours' and the second of St. Joseph, the patron of happy deaths. In the center of the altar was a vase with a few cheap paper flowers.

"Yes, it comes to me most vividly. There she[Pg 163] lay, the sin of her past life being that she, too, had been deceived at the altars of Rome—a victim of priestly solicitation in the confessional. Even as she lay there in the last stages of consumption, traces of what had at one time been a beautiful face were clearly discernible. What had she not suffered for years! Who could tell the many weary hours of heart anguish she had passed through? And yet she was young—hardly twenty-five years old. She had given up all that was near and dear, and, for the years she had lived in the convent, she had tried to appease God's justice for her early sin by mortifying and chastising herself in a way that can only find a parallel in the doctrines of Buddha. Oh, Madeline! poor, wounded, betrayed one! Who can wonder, as you lay there with the fever of consumption running and coursing through your veins, that, in spite of all the teachings and practices of self-denial in the convent life in which you had lived so many years, yet, when the hour of death drew nigh and your soul was hovering on the borders of the unknown eternity, your thoughts once more went back to the old[Pg 164] home-scenes, and you longed, as only a child can, for the sight of a mother's face, the sound of a mother's voice, the cool, soothing touch of a mother's hand passing over your brow? They tried to crush down the natural love that God placed in your heart for your mother, but they could not. The use of the discipline caused the blood to flow and gave you physical suffering; fasting and long prayers made you weak, and thus incapable of exercising will-power; and, when no other eye but God's was upon you, when struggling with the desire to leave forever the hateful prison walls of the convent, the bitter tears forced their way. Then, kneeling before the statue of the 'Mother of Sorrows,' you pleaded with her to help and intercede for you. What comfort did you get? What hope? What consolation? None! You might make good confessions and communions, practice all the self-denials required of one in your vocation, and the only thing that the church could give you, the only gleam of hope she could offer, was that, through your works of supererogation, your purgatory would be less[Pg 165]ened; and now, wasted through suffering and consumption, dreading the punishment of purgatory, endeavoring in your dying state to do something to lessen its pangs, you have walked with glass in your shoes and your poor feet give evidence of the agony you endured. And this is Christianity!

"I applied cold cloths to her feet; I sat down in the dimly-lighted infirmary by the side of her bed, and, holding the fevered and trembling hand, I, in my ignorance, tried to give her some comfort. I promised to remember her in my intentions, my communions, and at the sacrifice of the Mass. I spoke to her of the mercy and compassion of Mary, the 'Mother of Sorrows,' and tried to give her hope by pointing to her as mediator between her soul and Christ, but I could see that she received no satisfaction, no assurance. Then her eyes closed and she dozed for a few minutes, only to wake with a moan of pain—'Oh, my feet! oh, my feet!' And then again, 'If only I could see my mother!' would issue from her parched and cracked lips.

"And so I sat through the night, soothing her[Pg 166] as well as I knew how, and repeating aspirations for her, until the dawn crept in and the nuns' bell rang out at 4:30 o'clock, arousing the inmates. The quietness and deep stillness still remained throughout the institution, the sisters and penitents walking in the dimly-lighted cloisters with soft tread and down-cast eyes, as if in the land of the silent dead and not the living."

As I write I wonder how it was possible for me to endure the paganism of Catholicism for thirty years, and the only rational reason I can give for this endurance is that I, like thousands of these poor nuns whom I have just written about, was raised to believe that the teachings of Catholicism were right and the only road that lead to eternal glory; therefore I look with pity and compassion upon those black-garbed nuns when I behold them tramping the streets of our large cities, as I realize that they actually believe they are performing God's work, when the truth of the matter is that they are only following the practices of heathen nations.

I could go on and write a thousand pages upon[Pg 167] "The Unmarried Cussedness of the Roman Priestcraft," and each page would be as black as the shadows of hell, but I deem it unnecessary, as I have confidence in those who may read this book that they will believe every word of what I have written, therefore it is unnecessary for me to dwell longer upon the hideousness of celibacy.

In conclusion, I desire to say that so long as Roman Catholicism demands that her priestcraft shall not wed, just so long the priestcraft will remain vultures of virtue and just so long convents will be turned into carnivals of vice.

It is only natural that such should be the case, as both the priestcraft and the inhabitants of our convents are brought up from childhood to believe in the absurdities of Roman Catholicism, and to believe that all of their many sins can be pardoned by the cungerings of this Romish doctrine.

My prayer is that the government of the United States may learn in the near future that the broad light of Protestant inspection must penetrate these recesses of darkness before we can ever have them cleansed of their immorality, and this in[Pg 168]spection must be made often, and I sincerely believe that the time is not far distant when Protestant America will demand that Catholicism shall do away with her monasteries and nunneries, unless she submits to a rigid examination of her actions, and whenever she submits it will be because she is forced to submit, and whenever she is forced to do so, these monasteries and convents will be closed up, as Protestant America will not allow nor permit these plague spots to exist to pollute the fair name of America when she learns of their actual mission.

Chapter X.

A Brazen Insult to God.

Catholicism teaches that the Pope of Rome is infallible and cannot sin, neither can he make a mistake. This claim, if true, would place the Pope of Rome, who is nothing more nor less than a human being, upon the same footing as Jesus Christ.

The Bible says, "There are none pure; no, not one." Now, if the claim of Catholicism that the Pope of Rome is infallible, is true, then the Bible is a myth and a mockery.

If Catholicism's claim that the Pope of Rome is infallible, is true, then God is not an impartial God, for if He is an impartial God He would not bestow upon any of His mortals the gift of purity, without being ready to bestow the same gift upon[Pg 172] all of those who are deserving, and who by their righteousness deserve this grand and princely distinction.

We want to use a little common sense and a philosophy that can be assimilated by any man or woman of ordinary intelligence.

The Bible does not relate in any verse or chapter that any one can reach the point of infallibility during life. Now, is not this true? And if it is, then the claim of Catholicism that the Pope of Rome is infallible is a lie, woven in the devil's loom.

We want to prove to our readers that this claim is one founded upon fallacious grounds, as the Pope of Rome is elected by the cardinals of the Catholic Church, who are human and who are often as immoral as the devil; therefore the infallibility of the Pope rests in human hands, for it is by these cardinals that the Pope is created, therefore you will see that by the ballot of these cardinals the Pope derives his infallibility, and not from any power of God Almighty, consequent[Pg 173]ly this proclaimed infallibility of the Pope rests in the hands of these cardinals.

Now, to illustrate this damnable doctrine and show it up in its rabid ignorance, we will suppose that when Pope Pius X was elected Pope of Rome that if some other priest had received a majority of one of the votes of the cardinals, Pope Pius X would never have had this blessing from God, but he would only have missed it one vote, therefore you will see that this infallibility which was about to rest on Pope Pius X, but did not, would have been snatched from him by the failure of one cardinal to vote for him.

Now, any man or woman of ordinary "horse sense" can see that God Almighty has nothing whatever to do with filling the office of the Pope, and this infallibility rests altogether with the pulling power that the candidate for Pope exercises over the cardinals, as it is an indisputable fact that there is as much political chicanery in the election of a Pope as there is in the election of a justice of the peace at a township election.

We want to learn just how far this infallibility[Pg 174] of the Pope goes. If a man is infallible he can not make a mistake, and I can prove by every man of broadmindedness and intelligence that the Popes of Rome, for centuries past, have made nothing but mistakes, and their mistakes have been not only ruinous to those whom they profess to teach, but their mistakes have had a tendency to paralyze the righteous ambitions of every nation to which their influence has extended. If the claim of Catholicism is true that her Popes are infallible, then we must acknowledge that this great gift was received from God Almighty, and we cannot believe such nonsense when we are aware of the fact that these Popes are elected by the cardinals, and the election of a Pope depends upon the tactics and schemes of these cardinals; then, pray, tell us how any man who has been raised up under the arch-light of Protestantism, or who has had the searchlight of Protestant intelligence penetrate his soul, can for a moment believe in the infallibility of the Pope?

I sincerely believe, in fact, I know that there are millions who believe this damnable doctrine,[Pg 175] as I can honestly say that I at one time believed it myself. But those who do believe it are those who have been raised beneath the dark shadows of superstition, and my mission in writing this book is to brush the cobwebs of ignorance from these dwarfed minds and help to point them to "the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world," and if I can be instrumental in this mission I will not only open the eyes of the followers of Catholicism, but I will put stiffening into the backbone of Protestantism and help them to brand this idolatrous doctrine of Catholicism wherever she may dare to rear her abominable head.

The great danger in teaching that the Pope is infallible is in making thieves and murderers of our citizens, for if Catholicism is right in teaching her followers that the Pope of Rome is infallible, this doctrine is bound to have an influence that is awful in its effect, for whenever a man or woman believes in the infallibility of the Pope they are bound to believe in the infallibility of all things that he creates; therefore you will see that this doctrine is far-reaching in its effects, for if a[Pg 176] Pope is infallible the bishops which he creates are infallible, and if the bishops which he creates are infallible, the priests which they create are infallible, and whenever we teach a nation this abomination we have a nation of people which believes that there is no sin so heinous which they may commit but which may be forgiven by the priesthood, as they have learned to believe that all things created by the Pope are infallible, simply because they have been created by the Pope, and whenever you preach a doctrine that has such effect upon the inhabitants of any country you will have a set of inhabitants who will commit crime without hesitation, as they are assured that by paying a few dollars into the coffers of the priest they can have their sins pardoned, and whenever you cause a nation to believe this, you at once have a nation of criminals.

It is, in my estimation, absolutely impossible for an individual who believes in such a damnable doctrine to become a pure, patriotic American citizen. Now, this may seem to the reader a very broad assertion and one that may appear too broad to be substantiated, but I propose to demon[Pg 177]strate to you that it is only a natural consequence, and if we fail to make this point clear to the reader's mind we will not ask them to believe it.

In the first place, we desire to say that the Catholic religion—if religion it can be termed—is founded upon the rock of superstition. Every code of their church doctrine teaches that the Pope is infallible and cannot err, which is absurd, and not only absurd, but a festering lie, for no man or woman who believes in the teachings of the Holy Bible can believe in such a doctrine, and whenever a man or woman does believe in the infallibility of the Pope and believes that the Pope cannot err, he or she believes that the Pope is superhuman, and such we know cannot be the case as long as there is life in the body, as we are all liable to the Adamic sin, as the world at large was cursed with the Adamic sin in the Garden of Eden.

Now, we want to deal in simple facts and truths that are so simple that the commonest man of ordinary intelligence can understand.

Now, if the Pope of Rome is infallible, he is immortal, and if every action of this Pope is pure,[Pg 178] then everything that is created by him must be pure; and if such is the case, I was at one time as pure as Jesus Christ Himself, as I for thirty years was a Roman Catholic priest and a creature created by a Roman Catholic Pope. Every man and woman of very ordinary intelligence knows that neither I nor any other priest ever was pure; in fact, that man has never lived or died who could claim infallibility and purity so long as life was left in his body.

If the doctrines of Catholicism are correct then we have no use for a God any longer, as we already have a Pope; and should Pope Pius X die to-day the cardinals to-morrow, or some day in the near future, would elect another Pope, who would take the place of Jesus Christ Himself, according to their doctrine; and if such doctrines are true, then the human family in the future and the unborn millions could be saved as easily without God as they could with Him, as the Pope would perform that mission himself.

There are thousands—yea, tens of thousands, who send handkerchiefs and trinkets each year[Pg 179] to Rome to be blessed (?) by the Pope, and who believe that by having some article which has been blessed (?) by this presumptuous vagabond will prevent them from being overtaken by bad luck, ill health or any other misfortune that besets the path of man.

Now, if the Pope of Rome has the power to bless and sanctify a piece of cloth, a ring, or any dead and inert object, he undoubtedly is "the real thing," and if such is the case the Bible is a lie, the gospel a fallacy, and God Almighty becomes a hireling, and we have no further need of a God.

What can we expect of the followers of Catholicism who believe in this hellish doctrine, and what can we expect of a nation which is controlled by those who teach and preach such abominations?

An institution which will teach such damnable ignorance and practice such superstitious paganism is a plague spot and a curse to any country, and the man or set of men who claim that the Pope is infallible offers "a brazen insult to God."

Chapter XI.

The Characters of the Followers of Catholicism Compared to the Followers of Protestantism.

I believe that I am not presuming too much when I consider myself authority on the subject of "Character," as I have had the privilege of studying the characters of the followers of both Catholic and Protestant countries, as I have traveled extensively over both Europe and America and have had occasion to compare the characters of the followers of the Pope to the characters of the followers of Jesus Christ, and the comparison is one that will lead any sane man, or woman, and one who desires to reach a true verdict, to arrive at the conclusion that it is a physical impossibility for any man or woman who depends upon mortal wisdom for their inspiration to ever attain the broadness and purity of character that the man or[Pg 182] woman who lives beneath the shadow of the Cross, and who looks to a living God for their wisdom.

Character is not a spontaneous fungus which grows without proper care, as character is an essential that must be cultivated in the fertile soil of morality, as there is no code of morals which will stand the crucial test of godliness unless it springs from the eternal injunctions laid down in the Holy Bible, and without morals an individual as well as a nation loses its identity among the good of the land, and when this happens, society in general is the loser, for whenever we degrade society we degrade ourselves, for there is no man or woman so strong and powerful in their individuality but what they can become besmirched and contaminated, to a degree at least, by the association of those who have been lowered in the scale of morality by the lack of this most precious jewel of the human family.

We are aware of the fact that Protestantism is not exempt from sin, as we are well aware that we will find sinners of all degrees in the Protestant ranks, but we make the assertion, without fear of[Pg 183] contradiction, that the characters in general of the followers of Protestantism are many times superior to the characters in general of the followers of Romanism.

We will take the large cities in the United States as an illustration, and we will find that the saloon-keepers, comparatively speaking, are from the ranks of Catholicism, and to engage in the saloon business is no bar to a member of the Catholic Church, for if this saloon-keeper, no matter if he runs a wine-room in connection with his saloon and is responsible for the downfall of an army of precious girls, he is considered a fit subject for heaven by the Catholic Church provided he liberally donates to the support of this damnable institution.

Statistics show that ninety-four bar-rooms out of every one hundred in America are owned and controlled by the followers of Romanism. As Catholicism establishes and builds character out of money, she makes money her god, and as long as her followers liberally support the great army of Catholic dignitaries they are taught that they[Pg 184] have performed the essential part in the establishment of character; thus you can see what the result of this doctrine would lead to, and you have demonstrations of this doctrine in this country, and more especially in other countries where Catholicism is solely responsible for the condition of the inhabitants.

Everything that is not in the Bible is taken by the Catholic Church from the heathens and the Jews, and you will find the doctrines and the practices of Catholicism founded upon heathenish practices and not upon the broad plane of morals taught by Jesus Christ.

Those who may read this book, and who are not acquainted with the characters of the rabble of Catholicism, we would be glad to have them go to any of our large cities and visit some of the districts of these cities which are inhabited by the followers of Romanism, and there you will find a class whose countenances alone would condemn them in any criminal court of the land, as they are men and women who are made up of a foreign element and from the criminal districts of[Pg 185] European countries, and who are as ignorant as rams and glory in their ignorance, and who have no idea of patriotism and of loyalty to country, and only have an idea and desire to worship the images and symbols of Catholicism, and any man or body of men, or any nation, who will practice this heathenish worship cannot possess character.

I have traveled extensively over the United States and over European countries which are controlled by the Pope, and if I could vividly portray the characters of Catholicism and Protestantism the comparison would resemble the countenance of the criminal compared to the innocent and loveable features of a girl baby.

Catholicism poisons the very atmosphere that surrounds her followers, and she is not satisfied by confining her contaminating influences to her own followers, but she is everlastingly stretching her filthy grasp to pull Protestantism down to her degraded level. Catholicism lowers the standard of public opinion. She makes war on morality and virtue, which destroys character. Catholicism countenances wrong-doings. Catholicism tolerates[Pg 186] evil and rewards vice, and it is a well-known fact that "evil communications corrupt good manners," and if this is the case, then is it any wonder that the characters of the followers of Catholicism cannot, nor never will, favorably compare to the followers of Protestantism?

I am about to make an assertion that will perhaps shock those who are not familiar with the teachings of Catholicism, but I make it without fear of contradiction, as I know whereof I speak, as I have traveled the Papist road for thirty years, and I declare to you with all sincerity and honesty that Rome would not go far wrong if she counted in her membership 95 per cent of the men and women who are on their road to hell, and if this assertion is true, and if I have not overdrawn my estimation, then, pray, tell me what we can expect in the future in this country should such characters as I have just portrayed be permitted to dominate this government.

Every Roman Catholic that is born in the world comes into the world alienated from God and God's teachings, and is taught from infancy not[Pg 187] to depend upon God Almighty for guidance, but to depend upon Romanism for their everlasting future, and with such doctrines everlastingly funnelled into childhood, what can we expect of the child when it has grown to maturity?

Protestant children are born into the world of parents who look above the horizon of earthly things for their inspirations, and these children are taught from infancy that they must look to an all-wise God for succor and support; but Popery ignores all of this and teaches by heathenish symbols and by paganic practices. Thus it is an easy matter for any sane man or woman to understand why character cannot be found in such a class.

The followers of Catholicism are taught that by the payment of a few dimes they can have their sins remitted and pardoned; thus you will see that crime has no terrors for such a class, as they believe that when they have committed a crime all they have to do is to go to the priestcraft and have their sins pardoned, in exchange for per[Pg 188]haps a part of the money which they gained in their criminal transaction.

To rule such men, no religion is required. A Romanist does not look to God Almighty for his salvation, but to the church, and the church gives him her unbounded sanction to commit sin, provided that he returns after he commits the crime and pays a few dollars to have his sins pardoned.

A Roman Catholic can swear, break the Sabbath, dishonor his parents, lie, steal, commit adultery, get drunk and commit any other crime that he chooses, provided that he returns to the confessional box and pays for having his sins pardoned.

Now, what can you expect of a class of men and women who believe in this doctrine, and can you expect to find anything but the character of a criminal or a degenerate? If you do, you are undoubtedly as ignorant as the followers of Romanism, as it is a physical impossibility to reasonably expect a man or woman who has been taught these abominations to ever make men and women of character who will adorn this or any other nation.[Pg 189]

One of the rulers of England, Charles II, died with prostitutes about him and died a disgrace to England and to himself, but Rome glorified in him as one of her converts. The more of Rome a man or woman possesses, and the less of God, the more the Roman Catholic Church glorifies in him.

Catholicism is a coward—yea, a cringing coward—when not surrounded by large numbers of her followers, as she has no excuse for her existence and cannot defend herself by intelligent and godly arguments, and the only way she can defend herself is by numbers; but whenever she can resort to physical and brutal strength, she then makes a fight which crimsons the earth with blood, and Protestantism pays the penalty, and the reason why those in the country and in sparsely settled districts do not know more of the hellishness of Catholicism is because this creed cannot intelligently defend itself and will not take issue with Protestantism unless she can take issue by brutal power, but in our cities we have an exhibition of the diabolical deeds of Catholicism, as the majority of our municipal elections are con[Pg 190]trolled by the followers of Catholicism, as Rome's followers congregate in our large cities, because they love darkness better than light, and they infest the "tough" sections of our cities and control our municipal elections by brute force, which is sanctioned by the priestcraft.

We will take it for granted that the inhabitants of the United States know more of Mexico than any other nation which is priest-ridden, so we desire to dwell for a short time upon the characters of the Mexican peon. You will find Mexico, which lays right across from Texas on the Rio Grande River, a dividing line between ignorance and intelligence, crime and godliness, and morality and immorality; however, that part of Texas which lays near the Mexican border has become contaminated to a great degree by these Mexican "dupes" who follow the black flag of Romanism; but the difference in character, in manhood, in womanhood, in intelligence and everything which distinguishes right from wrong is so marked and so plain that one does not have to look twice to see the difference, and there is no cause nor no reason[Pg 191] for this great difference in character, in manhood and womanhood but the teachings of Rome.

If we expect America to retain her place among the nations of intelligence and nations of greatness, and nations of goodness and godliness, we must be character-builders, for without character we can never expect to reach the zenith of godliness, and without godliness individual greatness is an impossibility.

Catholicism paints the countenances of her followers with the brush of ignorance and criminality.

Chapter XII.

Why Teachers in Our Public Schools Should Not Be
Selected from the Ranks of Catholicism.

The Catholic world does not hesitate in declaring that our public schools in this country are "Sinks of Iniquity," "Schools of Vice," and "Nurseries of Hell;" then why should the followers of Catholicism be permitted to teach in our public schools?

This is a question that ought to vitally interest every Protestant father and mother in this land, and the time is not far distant until they will become interested, for just as sure as God reigns, the time is not far in the future when Catholicism will endeavor to close up the public schools of this land and establish her nurseries of darkness and superstition in their stead.

If the public schools of this country are not[Pg 194] good enough for the children of Catholic parents, it seems to me that the Protestant parents of this country should see to it that their children are too good to be taught by Catholic teachers.

Why is it that the Pope does not promulgate one of his "holy bulls" and excommunicate those of his believers who take the money so freely for their services from the public schools of this country?

Oh, no; the Pope and the priestcraft are perfectly willing, so long as Protestants have the power to maintain those schools, that their "jesuitical dupes" shall receive the money that is set aside for these schools. My blood fairly boils with unbounded indignation when I think of the hard, harsh, and ungodly slurs that Catholicism is ever ready to throw at our public school system, and then see blind Protestants help to place a Catholic teacher in one of our schools.

We propose to give facts and figures in this chapter that we hope will open the eyes of drowsy, unconcerned Protestants, and help them and their children to apply the brakes to their downward[Pg 195] course, and spike the guns of the Vatican with American manhood.

We hope by the time you are through with this chapter you will be ready to make inquiries as to who is to teach your children in the public schools. Let me ask you, Mr. Protestant, if you ever heard of a Protestant teaching in a Catholic school? Oh, no! But then you will fold your hands and be content to allow your children to be taught by a man or woman who secretly despises the public school system. Shame! Ten thousand times we exclaim you should be ashamed for not asserting your American and God-given privileges of Protestantism gained for you through the blood of your forefathers!

A general system of education, such as affords all alike an opportunity to cultivate and expand the intellect, the poor as well as the rich, is, beyond all question, one of the greatest blessings that any nation can enjoy. Such a system had its birth in America while it was yet comparatively free from the blighting influence of a religio-political corporation whose whole history is one uninterrupted[Pg 196] and relentless war upon every system of education which broadens the intellect and causes people to think. In America was born the public free school system, and from the date of its birth, in 1695, to the present, it has been the means of giving to this nation its most renowned statesmen, jurists, patriots, agriculturists, teachers and divines. It is one of the principal agents by which the United States of America has been enabled to advance to the first rank in all things that make a nation great.

But against this most sacred product of American liberty Rome lifts her unholy hands. Against our schools she hurls her worst anathemas. But it is our purpose in this chapter to let the Roman Catholic Church speak for itself. Its language is plain and needs no interpretation. Listen to Rome's damnable utterances:

"These public schools are devouring fires and pits of destruction. They ought to go back to the devil, from whence they came."—The Freeman's Journal.

"If your son or daughter is attending a state[Pg 197] school you may be sure that you are violating your duty as Catholic parents and conducting to the everlasting anguish and despair of your child. Take it away. Let it rather never know how to write its name than to become the bound and chained slave of satan."—The Shepherd of the Valley.

"The common schools of this country are sinks of moral pollution and nurseries of hell."—Chicago Tablet.

"The public or common school system is a swindle on the people, an outrage on justice, a foul disgrace in matters of morals, and should be abolished forthwith."—New York Tablet.

"The hideous fetish, called the public school, is only an ugly idol after all."—Colorado Catholic.

"It will be a glorious day for Roman Catholics in this country when, under the laws of justice and morality, our school system shall be shivered to pieces."—Catholic Telegraph.

"We hold education to be a function of the church and not of the state, and in our case we do[Pg 198] not and will not accept the state as an educator."—New York Tablet.

They love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Listen to the snarls of Rome's "dupes:"

"Unless you suppress the public school system as at present conducted, it will prove the damnation of this country."—Father Walker.

"I frankly confess that the Catholics stand before the country as the enemies of the public schools."—Father Phelan.

"The duty of all loyal, God-fearing Christian men (Roman Catholics) then, I repeat it, is to make common cause against this common foe."—Father Gleason.

"The public schools have produced nothing but a godless generation of thieves and blackguards."—Priest Schauer.

"I would as soon administer the sacrament to a dog as to Catholics who send their children to public schools."—Priest Walker.

"The public school system must be destroyed. It must be done by stopping Bible reading, Psalm[Pg 199] singing and eliminating objectionable books."—Priest Phelan.

"To rescue these little ones out of the grasp of that monster (the public school), of that popular idol, is our work."—Bishop John Hennessy.

"We can have the United States in ten years. And I want to give you three points for your consideration: The Negroes, the Indians and the public schools."—Bishop Ireland.

"Emphatically a social plague."—Archbishop Perche.

"A ripe knowledge of the cathechism, minus Massachusetts education, is preferable to her education, minus the catechism."—Cardinal Antonelli.

"The common school system of the United States is the worst in the world."—Cardinal Manning.

"The catechism alone is essential for the education of the people."—Cardinal Antonelli.

"We must take part in the elections. Move in solid mass in every state pledged to sustain the[Pg 200] integrity of the public schools."—Cardinal McCloskey.

"The Roman Church alone is endowed with power to educate the young."—Cardinal McCloskey.

"Education outside of the control of the Roman Catholic Church is a damnable heresy."—Pius IX.

"Public schools open to all children for the education of the young should be under the control of the Romish Church, and should not be subject to civil power, nor made to conform to the opinions of the ages."—Pope Pius IX.

"When I see them drag from me the children, the poor little children, and give them an infidel education, it breaks my heart."—Pope Pius IX.

"It is desirable, therefore, venerable brethren, that in concert with your colleagues in the Episcopate, your efforts and your zeal guard Catholic children from frequenting schools in which their religious instruction is neglected and open danger incurred of spiritual loss. Therefore we vehemently desire, as has already been intimated to you by the propaganda, that in approaching Episcopal[Pg 201] meetings you carefully discuss the measure that may best help to attain this end. We wish you also to use earnest efforts that the civil magistrates, who know full well that nothing is more advantageous to the commonwealth than religion should provide, by the enactment of wise laws, that the office of teachings, which is carried on at the expense of the public, including consequently the contributions of Catholics, should contain nothing that stands in the way of their conscience or runs foul of their religion."—Pope Leo XIII.

We could go on and quote diabolical denunciations of our public schools from hundreds and thousands of Catholic officials, as the followers of Rome make no "bones" of declaring their animosity towards the public schools of this country, and they are only waiting for the time to arrive when they will be able to wipe from the face of the earth every vestige of our public schools, and place in their stead their parochial schools, which are nothing more nor less than "mills of ignorance" and "institutions of superstition."

An institution of learning is something that is[Pg 202] not desired by Catholicism, for whenever you educate you destroy the doctrines of Romanism, as the hosts of Catholicism cannot stand the searchlight of wisdom, for whenever you educate the followers of Catholicism they become disgusted with their dogmas of damnation.

Our public schools are the bulwarks of this government, and all that we are to-day, and all that we may expect to be in the future, has come and must come by and through the public schools, which are the dearest institutions that adorn this country.

There must be no sectarianism, whether political or religious, in our public schools, but there must be truth and duty there. The unchanging and undying maxim of moral rectitude should be taught to every child. It is not enough that a boy or girl should be educated mentally. The safety of our nation, as well as his own usefulness and happiness, demand that they should be trained to habits of truthfulness and develop a fine standard of honor. They should be inspired to form exalted ideals of manhood and womanhood, charity, rectitude and godliness, and made strong in the reso[Pg 203]lution to defend the truth, which is never found in parochial schools, as the Catholic doctrine always tends to humiliate her followers.

The time has come when the pupils of our public schools must be taught the love of country, and Catholicism does not teach this, but the reverse. The children of this nation must learn to love their native land. To whom shall we look for the inculcation of those patriotic sentiments which should inspire the heart of every American citizen? Not to Catholicism, by any means, but to the three hundred thousand teachers of our public schools.

Over every school house in hamlet and city, in country and town, in the North and in the South, in the East and in the West, the American flag should kiss the morning breeze. Place it where twenty millions of children will see it every day, and learn to love it as the emblem of all that is great and good. It will represent to us and to all the world, in a new and peculiar manner, the great fundamental truth that the bulwark of our liberties is in the education of our people.[Pg 204]

The war of the revolution was fought to establish our nationality. Incalculable blood and treasure have been spent to establish and keep our national life intact, and the national policy with relation to our public schools is part and parcel of that all-absorbing determination to secure the perpetuity of the state. Men make better citizens for being educated. The higher the popular intellect is raised the more intelligent and independent will be its vote. The stronger the source of government, the stronger the government. If the "bayonets that think" are the most potent, the "ballots that think" are the most beneficent.

Every victory which our nation has won has been a victory of the public schools and a death knock to Catholicism. They have been the nursery not only of our statesmen, but of our patriots and soldiers. They are an American institution and are destined to live as long as the republic survives. There is no other American institution that American people would sooner fight for and die for than that which secures an educated and intelligent nationality. Let us maintain inviolate our[Pg 205] public schools to the end that our nation may ever be the home of liberty, "the land of benedictions."

In the unbounded universe of God's domain there are manifold diversities, and yet there is an essential unity that binds the world together; there is a common point where all matter unites.

As there is great freedom and diversity permitted in the unity of nature, so, in our country of religious and political freedom, we must grant the greatest latitude possible to the individual conscience in personal, religious and civil rights consistent with good government. But that there must be a code of morality common to all as the basis of our civilized jurisprudence, in which the rights of all center or unite and are equally protected, every reasonable mind must admit. But where do we get our ideas of what is morally right, and what is morally wrong, as the basis of our common law and jurisprudence? What book or books contain the best code of morals? We answer, the Bible. For the excellency of the morality of the Bible has been admitted by the most dis[Pg 206]tinguished men who have opposed its supernatural revelation, among whom are Gibbon, Byron, Carlyle, Lord Bollingbroke, Napoleon Bonaparte, Goethe and Renan. Thomas Jefferson, speaking of Christ as a teacher, said: "He set forth the sublime ideas of the Supreme Being, aphorisms and precepts of the purest morality."

Catholicism says: "No Bible shall be taught in the public schools," but demands that she be allowed to proclaim her dogmas.

Benjamin Franklin, five weeks before his death, said of Christ: "I think His system of morals, and His religion, as He left them, are the best the world ever saw or is likely to see." The services of the Bible in behalf of human rights and freedom, and in reforming and purifying jurisprudence and politics, have been recognized by many of the most distinguished historians, jurists and statesmen.

As the makers of our laws and the founders of our government have accepted the moral code of the Bible as the basis of our jurisprudence, and have forbidden the union of church and state, and have[Pg 207] left every citizen free to "worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience," so long as he does not interfere with the rights of others or violate the moral code common to all citizens, for the law cannot allow a person to murder or steal, or burn human sacrifices, or be a polygamist, or commit any other public crime, even if the dictates of his conscience should lead him into such a form of religion, because the moral code of the Bible is the basis of our jurisprudence, and it forbids such things.

Therefore, we demand that the "book of books" be kept where the rising generation shall come under its moral teaching without party or sectarian comment, so that all may understand the fundamental principles upon which the science of our common law rests, and thus one of the objects of the order is "to maintain the public school system of the United States and to prevent sectarian interference therewith, and upholding the reading of the Holy Bible therein."

The argument that the reading of the Bible in the public school should be abolished because it is[Pg 208] objectionable to the conscience of some comes only from the Church of Rome, and applies with equal force against the moral code of jurisprudence, because it is objectionable to the conscience of the anarchist, and the conscience of the anarchist is just as sacred and entitled to as much respect, under the law, in this free country of ours as the conscience of any one else.

We have just as much right to take the moral code out of our common jurisprudence as to take the Bible out of our public schools, because the moral code of the Bible is the moral code of our common law.

We desire the Bible to be kept in the school as the standard of moral truth, as the dictionary is kept there as the standard of words and their definitions. As the unabridged dictionary contains all the words of the English language, so the Bible contains all the truths of Christianity. Every book has a part of the words of the dictionary, so every Christian creed has a part of the truths of the Bible. As there never was a book written that contained all of the words of the dictionary, so[Pg 209] there never was a creed written that contained all the truths of the Bible. Therefore, as the dictionary and not the books is the standard for words and their meaning, so the Bible, and not the creeds, is the standard of moral truth. A man can take the words in the dictionary and write a bad book, but that is not the fault of the dictionary, but of the man. A person may take passages of Scripture and misapplied truths and write a bad creed, but that is not the fault of the Bible, but of the creed-maker. But every man who takes the Bible as a whole has a complete standard of moral truths.

It is claimed that the Bible should not be read in the school because there are passages that are not proper to be read before children, or a promiscuous audience, but this is only claimed by Catholicism. Yes, and there are words in the dictionary that it would be just as improper to use and define before children or a promiscuous audience as any passage in the Bible. Therefore, it would be just as reasonable to exclude the dictionary as the Bible from the school room on this[Pg 210] hypocritical argument in favor of false modesty.

The man's conscience that will object to the reading of the Bible in the public school will ultimately object to the moral code of our jurisprudence, and such a conscience is dangerous to our form of government, inimical to the best interests of society and good government, as has been clearly demonstrated in the past. The Mormons claimed the right under our constitution to live in polygamy, as that was their religion and the way they served God according to the "dictates of their own conscience." But the supreme court decided they could not worship God according to the dictates of their conscience if their worship was a violation of the moral code common to all. Thus all must submit to the moral code irrespective of their individual conscience. So the Bible should be read in the public schools, irrespective of the conscience of any, until the majority of the government of the people, for the people and by the people shall say: "Away with your Bible, away with your Sabbath, away with your Christian jurisprudence, and give us infidel,[Pg 211] revolutionary France, or lawless anarchy, or the inquisition of the dark ages!"

Our public school is the mill that is to grind out this standard of morality, knowledge and patriotism common to all. Hence we must have the Bible in it as the standard of morality, and primary principles of literature, science and art, the standard of knowledge, and the American flag and its essential principles as the standard of patriotism. Our American school system is like a great paper mill, into which are cast rags of all kinds and colors, but which lose their special identity and come out white paper, having a common identity. So we want the children of the state, of whatever nationality, color or religion, to pass through this great moral, intellectual and patriotic mill, or transforming process, and thus lose their foreign peculiarities and come out not as Germans, Irish, English, Huns or Poles, but as Americans, having the common identity of morality, knowledge and patriotism that is essential to true American citizenship and good government stamped upon their minds, and when they[Pg 212] pass through this mill of purification they then begin to lose confidence in the heathenish doctrines of Catholicism.

In a government where the people are the rulers, intelligence and education are necessary to maintain the nation's stability. Under this belief, the public school system of the United States was founded.

Following are expressions of prominent Americans on the general subject of popular education:

President Hays: "I am firmly convinced that the subject of popular education deserves the earnest attention of the people of the whole country, with a view to wise and comprehensive action by the government of the United States. The means at the command of the local and state authorities are in many cases wholly inadequate to deal with the question. The magnitude of the evil to be eradicated is not, I apprehend, generally and fully understood."

President Garfield: "Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be perma[Pg 213]nently maintained. Its interests are intrusted to the state and to the voluntary action of the people. Whatever help the nation can justly afford should be generously given to aid the states in supporting common schools, but it would be unjust to our people and dangerous to our institutions to apply any portion of the revenue of the nation of the states to the support of sectarian schools. The separation of the church and the state in everything relating to taxation should be absolute."

Washington's Farewell Address: "Promote them as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinions should be enlightened."

Calhoun: "In proportion as a people are ignorant, stupid, debased, corrupt, exposed to violence within and danger without, the power necessary for a government to possess in order to preserve society against anarchy and destruction be[Pg 214]comes greater and greater, and individual liberty, less and less, until the lowest condition is reached, when absolute and despotic power becomes necessary on the part of the government and individual liberty extinct."

The church of Rome wants to rule by tyranny so that she can force her "dupes" to do her bidding.

No subject could be of more interest to American citizens to-day than that of foreign immigration to America. Every section of the country has felt, to some degree, the demoralizing effect of the free admission of aliens, unsuited morally and mentally for participating in a government of the people.

The consensus of opinion among all classes of good citizens is that some restrictive measures should be adopted, and this can be effected only by popular agitation and demand.

Hon. Wm. E. Chandler: "We should prepare ourselves with wisdom and vigor to enforce com[Pg 215]pletely such laws of exclusion as we have adopted. We should throw our strongest force into a stricter administration of those laws so that no man and no family shall pass through the Ellis Island doors, or into any seaport, or across the Canadian or Mexican borders, who is a pauper or likely to become such. One method of stricter administration should be the requirement that all immigrants before leaving their own countries shall obtain consular certificates abroad, showing their right to enter the United States."

Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge: "You ask me for a few words on the subject of immigration. My opinion has been stated at length, both in speeches in Congress and in review articles, but I am very glad to restate it in the briefest possible form. I think that immigration to this country is increasing too fast on one hand and deteriorating on the other. We are ready to welcome every honest immigrant who comes to make a home and become an American citizen, but I believe that the present immigration ought to be sifted and restricted much more than it is, both as a protection to the[Pg 216] quality of our citizenship and to the rates of wages to our workingmen."

Hon. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent of Census: "The unrestricted admission of the diseased, half-fed swarms of helpless humanity from the purlieus of Southern European cities is the dangerous phase of immigration. If continued, it will prove a curse and blight to American citizenship and American institutions. There was a time in our history when the better class of foreign immigrants and our own population was able to swallow up the less desirable class, but it takes no great discernment now to see the congested spots here and there on our body politic. In this lies the danger. Such a change in the character of immigration as herein shown cannot have taken place without materially affecting the entire immigration problem, and the sooner our statesmen get to the bottom of the present condition of affairs, the better for the republic."

Rev. Josiah Strong, D.D.: "It is immigration which has fed fat the liquor power, and there is a liquor vote. Immigration furnishes most of the[Pg 217] victims of Mormonism, and there is a Mormon vote. Immigration is the strength of the Catholic Church, and there is a Catholic vote. Immigration is the mother and nurse of American anarchy, and there is to be an anarchist vote. Immigration tends strongly to the cities and gives to them their political complexion, and there is no more serious menace to our civilization than our rabble-ruled cities."

Samuel Gompers, President American Federation of Labor: "It almost grieves me even to recommend the slightest restriction to the full and free immigration of anyone who desires to escape from the iniquitous conditions from which he may suffer, but the progress of our civilization is hanging in the balance, and intelligent and brave men should not be afraid to express themselves to secure us against results which may be appalling. Unrestricted immigration injures the people of our country and does no good to the people of other countries. It injures all."

A.S. Draper: "I would hang the flag in every school room, and I would spend an occasional hour[Pg 218] in singing our best patriotic songs, in declaiming the masterpieces of our national oratory, and rehearsing the proud story of our national life."

Francis Marion: "Men will always fight for their government according to their sense of its value. To value it right, they must understand it. This they cannot do without education."

Winship: "The public school is the one force, is the only force, that can unify all classes and conditions of society. Here we have the children of the nation in their entirety, and we can, if we will, teach them in the schools so much of the grandeur of our possession, of the heroic in our history, of the brilliant in our prosperity, of the fascinating in our traditions, that the fathers of the future will be willing to vote for and die, if necessary, for the American idea; that the mothers of the future will teach their sons to develop our resources by industry, to honor the active duties of private and public system, because it lies at the foundation of our national existence."

Where does the vicious element which is found in this country come from, and to what church[Pg 219] does it belong? Ah, 98 per cent of those whom we call anarchists can trace their origin from foreign countries, and they are always identified with the Roman Catholic Church.

Wherever you find a national disturbance, and wherever you find the spirit of anarchy in this country, you will find a spot where Roman Catholicism exists, as her teachings are anarchistic, as she teaches her followers a doctrine that is as sure to lead to anarchy as water is to flow down hill.

Catholicism teaches her children that our public schools are "plague spots" and "nurseries of hell," and impresses upon their minds that education, in a broad sense, is not essential, and also teaches them that they must look to the priestcraft for their education, and at the same time the priestcraft is instructed by the Pope of Rome that a broad-gauge education is not permissible to be given to the followers of Catholicism, and the Pope of Rome teaches her bishopric and her priestcraft that they must fight the public school system, and in its stead erect the parochial schools[Pg 220] of Rome, which are nothing more nor less than schools of dogmas, and these dogmas are incubators of anarchy, for without education and without love of country, anarchy is as certain to follow as the day is certain to follow night, but still Protestantism stands idly by and allows Catholicism to villify her institutions, and at the same time permits Catholicism to place her followers in a position to draw salaries from the institutions which they despise and hate with the venom of hell.

It is my object and my aim to arouse Protestantism to a sense of their duty, and if I can do this I will feel that I have accomplished a task that will eventually call forth the plaudits of the American people, for as sure as God reigns, just that sure our public schools will be crushed out of existence by Catholicism unless Protestant America raises her voice and her strong arm in defense of our public school system, and against the encroachment of the damnable and diabolical doctrines of Catholicism.

Our greatest American statesmen, our greatest[Pg 221] American patriots, our greatest American thinkers, our wisest and most loyal citizens, and our grandest old mothers are Protestants, and born of Protestant stock; then why should we hesitate to denounce this anarchistic demon of Rome, when we know what she thinks of our American institutions, and when we are absolutely certain that if it was within her power she would crash into dust everything that is near and dear to Protestantism?

Arouse, ye Protestant hosts, and buckle on the armor of your forefathers and march out in a solid body of Protestant warriors and fight to the death the encroachment of Romish rule and force her back into the trenches of her degradation, and compel her to remain within the border of the countries which she has desolated by her hellish dogmas, and purge the shores of the "home of the brave and the land of the free" of this scarlet-robed hag, who would paralyze our American institutions which are near and dear to every pure American, both man and woman, who dwells beneath the folds of the American flag.

Chapter XIII.

The Influence of the Priesthood of America Upon the Morals of This Country.

An institution which is allowed to flourish in this country, should be an institution whose teachers are in harmony with the fundamental principles of godliness, morality and liberty, and unless they are, the teachers at once become traitors.

We want to investigate and see if this logic and philosophy is not reasonable and founded upon common sense, and if we find that it is, then any man or woman of intelligence must acknowledge that if the teachings and the fundamental principles of a free country are correct, then the doctrines of Catholicism are altogether wrong, and[Pg 224] the sooner the American people can arrive at this conclusion, the better it will be for us, for if the teachings of our Protestant forefathers are right, and the teachings of Rome are wrong, the quicker we can eradicate and stamp out these popish doctrines, the better it will be for our posterity.

If this country is a home for those who love liberty, then the influence of the priesthood of America is detrimental to the fundamental principles of America, as Catholicism does not teach patriotism and loyalty of country, as the burden of her teachings is, "Loyalty to the Pope," and the Pope of Rome, who is at the head of the Catholic Church; is a despot pure and simple—yea, he is worse than a despot, as he rules his followers by a superstitious belief, which teaches that not only the body of Rome's followers is subject to the Pope's every whim, but the soul as well is directly under the control of this despotic sovereign.

A Roman Catholic form of government is more despotic than a monarchy which is ruled by an absolute despot, as these monarchs who have abso[Pg 225]lute sway in the affairs of the state only are satisfied with this absolutism, but not so with Catholicism, as she haunts her followers to the grave and then demands of their surviving relatives that homage be paid her in order to keep their dead out of the regions of despair.

It matters not how strong we are in our endeavors to do right, the commission of wrong under our nose will corrupt to a certain extent the morals of the young, and I say without fear of contradiction that the priestcraft of this and every other country are, as a whole, a set of men whose morality is below par; however, I sincerely believe that there are some few who are chaste, but I am sorry to say that this class is greatly in the minority; and why should it be otherwise, as the priesthood is composed of men who are mortal, and the vow of celibacy which they must take before they enter the priesthood is an unnatural and an unreasonable vow, and one which is not kept sacred by one out of every fifty; thus you will see at once that the priestcraft is a cancer upon the body of morality, for whenever the young and rising[Pg 226] generation learns that those who are supposed to teach them in chastity and morality, are men who will commit the very sins which they have been taught are heinous. Then, what can you expect of future generations, and what must eventually be the morals of a country which is controlled by the priestcraft?

We do not have to confine ourselves to the recital of the immorality of the priestcraft of foreign countries, but we could mention scores of cases that have happened in this country and which will continue to happen as long as the Romish Church demands the vows of celibacy by the priestcraft.

We will give you an instance of the practices of Romanism in this country which happened no later than November of this year (1903), and if I had the space, I could fill this volume full of such actions by the priestcraft.

Priest Geo. D. Sander, of St. Leonard's Catholic Church, Hamburg avenue and Jefferson street, Brooklyn, New York, was known in that city as a devout Catholic priest, and he was also known in Far Hills, New Jersey, as a race horse man, by the[Pg 227] name of "Geo. West," who was interested in a stock farm, on which lived a woman known as "Mrs. Geo. West," but her right name is Mrs. Mamie Kipp, who formerly belonged to Priest Sander's church, but disappeared from Brooklyn very mysteriously, and whose whereabouts had been unknown to her family and her friends, until it was learned that she was living on this stock farm at Far Hills, N.J., and bore the fictitious name by which this priest was known.

The double life of Priest Sander began in 1901. Then Jos. C. Peck, racer and raiser of trotting horses, met this priest in Albany, who wore the ordinary garb of a citizen. They met at the race track, which was not a very good recommendation to say the least of it, for the Rev. Father Sander. Peck found that this priest was a keen judge of horses and their love for horses established a bond of friendship between them.

In Baltimore, a short time afterwards, these two men again met at the race track. Peck told Priest Sander that he had just sold a stock farm at Millington, N.J., and contemplated buying an[Pg 228]other. Sander told Peck that he was the owner of a fine mare named "Ethel Burns," and that he would place her on Peck's farm if he purchased it. He told Peck that his mare had a track record of 2:20-1/4 and a trial record of 2:16.

Peck informed this priest that he was a bachelor. Priest Sander proposed that they should keep house jointly and said that he would provide a housekeeper and share the expense of the establishment. He was the guardian, he said, of a Mrs. Mamie Kipp, who had had some trouble with her husband and who wanted to get away from Brooklyn. He informed Peck that this lady had a young son, and that he would bring both the mother and son to the farm at Far Hills, N.J.

It was obvious that the priest could not indulge in his love for fast horses, and make regular visits to the stock farm in his priestly robes, as he knew it would cause considerable comment; so this priest suggested to Peck that Mrs. Kipp be called "Mrs. Geo. West," and that it be given out to the neighbors that she was the wife of a drummer for a large mercantile house in New York, and[Pg 229] further stated that he could visit this woman as "George West," and not create any comment.

The trainmen became acquainted with this priest and considered him a "good fellow," as he was always smoking and played the part of a "drummer" in an elegant manner, and these trainmen came to know "Geo. West" as Peck's partner in the race horse business.

The merchants about Far Hills knew this priest as the husband of "Mrs. West," and when this priest would put in his appearance at Far Hills, the neighbors, of course, thought it was nothing more than natural that "Mrs. West's" husband should come to see her whenever he could get an opportunity to get off of the road.

The accounts for the supplies of the household were billed sometimes to "Geo. West" and sometimes to Jos. C. Peck, thus you will see that Priest Sander acknowledged by these bills that he was "Geo. West."

This story got to be noised about, and the Protestant element of Brooklyn as well as Priest Sander's flock became very much interested in [Pg 230]the tale, and sent a reporter out to interview Jos. C. Peck, and the first question this reporter asked him was, "Is that the picture of your sister?" pointing to a portrait of the woman hanging on the wall. "No," he replied. "That is Mrs. West." The reporter asked if it was not the picture of Mrs. Mamie Kipp. Peck hesitated, his lips trembling, and he began to look very nervous, then he gave way completely and said: "Yes, it is Mrs. Mamie Kipp." "How does she come here under the name of 'Mrs. West,' and who is 'Mr. West?'" was then asked, which Peck refused to answer.

With these facts in hand, the reporter returned to Brooklyn and sought Priest Sander in his parlor, in his parish residence, and the first question he asked him was this: "You own a trotting horse out at Far Hills, N.J., don't you?" The answer was, "Yes." "Don't you own a string of trotting horses?" The answer was, "Certainly not! Who told you that?" The reporter replied, "Oh, no; you don't own a string of horses as Priest Sander, but as 'Geo. West,' don't you?" Priest [Pg 231]Sander tried to look surprised, and he folded a slip of paper he held in his hand and got very nervous and replied, "Now, that is a pretty story, isn't it; who told you all this?"

The reporter laid before him all the facts he had gathered at Far Hills, and demanded that he affirm or deny the story. Then this priest said, "I may as well confess; it will be the ruin of me; it will take the bread out of my mouth, but you have got it absolutely straight." The reporter asked Priest Sander if he positively didn't know that this woman who sailed under the name of "Mrs. Geo. West" wasn't Mrs. Mamie Kipp.

This priest, not being content with the dastardly part that he had played in his immoral conduct with Mrs. Kipp, absolutely denied that it was Mrs. Mamie Kipp, and further declared that he knew nothing about her, except that she was the "housekeeper" at Peck's farm, and why she was called "Mrs. West" he did not know; thus you will see that while he was guilty of immorality with Mrs. Mamie Kipp, he also was a notorious liar; but bear in mind that this same Priest Sander was still[Pg 232] at this time presiding over a Catholic church in Brooklyn.

The reporter was determined to lead him out as far as possible so he repeated again, "Are you absolutely positive that 'Mrs. West' at Peck's farm is not Mrs. Mamie Kipp?"

This priest replied that he was "positive," and stated that this woman at Peck's farm was Peck's housekeeper, and further stated that he did not know anything about her at all, when he knew as well as he knew that he was living that he had been the cause of her forsaking her husband in Brooklyn, and also had been instrumental in her going to Far Hills, N.J., where he could live his life of shame without molestation.

After this vagabond had made this denial, Mr. Peck was again seen at Far Hills, N.J., and emphatically stated that Priest Sander had told him that this woman was Mrs. Mamie Kipp, and that he knew that this priest was living in adultery with her.

What is the consequence? Did the Roman Catholic Church excommunicate this bundle of perfidy[Pg 233] for immorality? Ah, no! As the "moguls" and "high up" officials of Catholicism are cognizant of the fact that the priestcraft are, as a whole, the most immoral set of men that ever infested the face of the earth. Now, what can we expect of the morals of a country which has for its leaders and teachers men of this caliber? We might as well expect our daughters to become women of virtue and godliness, who were raised in houses of ill fame, as to expect young men and women to become men and women of morality and chastity, who have for their teachers such men as Priest Sander of Brooklyn, New York.

There is no denying the fact that Catholicism has already a strong hold upon the affairs of this country, as we find the hydra-headed demon in every branch of our government, and since such is the case, it is folly to deny the fact that if Catholicism is what we have shown it to be, that her influence is demoralizing, and the influence of the priesthood of America upon the morals of this country is bound to be detrimental, and who will deny the truthfulness of my assertions, as I have[Pg 234] not misstated a single paragraph in this book; and if this is true, what shall we expect of the present generation and the generations that are yet unborn, if we permit Catholicism to make as great headway in the future as she has in the past?

We call to mind another case which belongs to the history of to-day, and in this chapter we desire to refer to the present sins of the priestcraft, as history teems with the abominations of the priestcraft immorality, but in this chapter we want to thoroughly convince the reader that the same immorality that has existed in the ranks of Catholicism in bygone centuries, is to-day as degrading and as rampant as it ever was, and if we can do this, we feel satisfied that we will impress the Protestant world with the importance of overthrowing the power of the Pope, and erecting in its stead the true spirit of Protestantism, whose influence will not blight the characters of our boys and girls, but which will make of them an army of giants, ever ready to battle for the chastity of our American homes.

One of the most fashionable Roman Catholic[Pg 235] churches in New York City is "St. Cecilia's," situated on North Henry and Herbert streets.

Only a few years ago the organist of this church went to the room of the priest in charge, in company with a little boy. The priest informed this boy to stay down stairs, and invited the organist to his parlor, near which were his living rooms. This priest locked the door behind him, and without a moment's warning, leaped upon her like a beast and attempted to bear her down upon the sofa and commit an assault, but her cries frightened him away.

With flushed face she rushed from this priest's room and passed the servant, out into the street, with the priest begging her to say nothing about what had happened. We want to know if this attempted crime injured the priest in the estimation of Catholicism? Not by any means, as he continued to serve the church in the capacity of priest, after both this girl's father and mother had publicly denounced him as a seducer of virtue.

The entire congregation learned of this priest's attempted assault upon virtue, but this degrading[Pg 236] notoriety did not injure him in the least, as his services are just as crowded as they were before. This outrage was carried before the bishop of the diocese in which this church was situated, but nothing was done.

The priest which we refer to was a drunkard, and he drank as deeply after this attempted assault as before, and in a short time he assaulted a 12-year-old girl, and not long after that he assaulted his servant, who was a girl 18 years of age, and continued his raid upon her virtue until one day, while in a drunken spree, he struck her and injured her, and she made public the actions of this human viper, who had been parading in the robes of a priest.

Did this exposure disgrace him in the eyes of the Catholic officials who were above him? Not at all, as he continued to serve this New York church without molestation, and it was a notorious fact, and known by the members of his church what he was accused of, but still hundreds of boys and girls, young men and young women, and old men and old[Pg 237] women, bowed at the feet of this depraved devil and confessed their sins.

If we cared, we could write from now until our old arm would become palsied with age, and each chapter would be a new story of the perfidy and hellishness of the priestcraft, as every age reeks with the stench of their immorality, and the countries which are completely under the power of the Pope of Rome are only the shadows of what this country will become if this demon of darkness is not halted, for the influence of the priesthood in America upon the morals of this country will spread its blight over the face of our fair land until our nation's morals will be a nauseating sight to behold.

Reader, remember what I tell you to-day: that unless the spirit of Protestantism takes a firm stand in this land against Catholicism, we will find our Protestant hopes and ambitions within the near future paralyzed by the infusion of Rome's immorality.[Pg 238]

Chapter XIV.

The Chastity of the Home Invaded by the Lustfulness of the Priest-Craft.

Catholicism begins to teach her children from their infancy that no act of their officials is impure; thus their followers grow up to believe that any advancement made by these officials are made in behalf of the salvation of their souls, consequently it is an easy matter for the Priestcraft to make the female members of their congregation believe that whatever they may do or say is done and said through a righteous motive, and no stigma of disgrace can possibly attach itself to the act.

With this erroneous doctrine funneled into the minds of the female members of the Catholic Church, is it any wonder that the Priestcraft exerts a wonderful power over these members? And[Pg 240] is it any wonder that thousands of trusting and confiding wives and daughters are forced to the level of immorality by this belief?

As an introduction to this chapter, and in order to make the conduct of the priestcraft in general thoroughly understood, so that the reader may know what character of men I refer to, I will give a part of a story told by a nun who had been in a convent for a number of years.

I repeat what this nun related in order that the reader may not be compelled to take my statements alone. Her story follows:

"It was customary with the sisters in our convent to give the bishop and priests of my diocese a grand dinner once every year. Of course, this entailed a great deal of extra work upon our part; however, we were glad to undergo these hardships, as I thought at that time that it was a part of my religion. The finest delicacies of the season and the choicest wines graced the table. The dinner was always served in the dining-room of the priest of the house. The bishop would usually arrive along in the afternoon about[Pg 241] two or three o'clock. We would spread scarlet felt upon the floor of the cloister in honor of the occasion, and the drawing room would be banked with the rarest flowers; the dining table would groan beneath its rich silver and cut-glass."

Now, bear in mind that what I am going to tell you is what happened when there were a number of priests together with their bishop in their midst, and it is a well known fact that "numbers" is often a check to the actions and ungodly inclinations of many, but if what this nun related is true, with an assemblage of a score or more of priests, with their bishop in their midst, then what could be expected of one of these priests alone in the presence of a female whom he preferred? I make this statement so that the reader can draw an intelligent conclusion. I will now proceed with the nun's story:

"This annual dinner would be made an occasion for great rejoicing and recreation on the part of the holy ecclesiastics. Everything was all right as long as the meal was in progress, but as soon as the sisters who had waited on them had withdrawn,[Pg 242] after placing an abundance of wine, whiskey and cigars on the table, then all restraint would be set aside and these holy fathers (?) would then exchange confidences as to the latest items of news they had gathered in the confessional from Catholic servants employed in Protestant families, and, without mentioning any names, would repeat, amid shouts of drunken laughter, the sins that some of their female penitents had confessed.

"We nuns would often put our ears to the key-hole and listen to the stories that were being told by the priests, and upon my word, I never in all my life heard as many dirty, immoral, filthy stories told as these vagabond priests would repeat, and it always seemed as though the bishop heartily enjoyed them.

"These carousals would proceed for hours. The whiskey bowl would be placed in the center of the table, then these drunken priests would sing songs which were vileness personified."

I feel that it is not necessary for me to go further to convince any one of my readers that the lustfulness of the priestcraft is a menace to[Pg 243] the chastity of womankind, for if this nun has told the truth, and which I know from past experiences is true, and which I also know is a recital that could be intensified ten thousand times over, if the whole truth could be told, but which cannot be told in this volume, as I have too much respect for my readers to recite what I have seen with my own eyes and what I have had repeated to me by broken-hearted "sisters" who have come to me with tears in their eyes and with sighs in their throats to tell me of their miseries.

"I know of a nun who spent many years in a convent, who declared that on many occasions the priests would come to the convent and demand that a number of the nuns even do worse than expose their entire person; however, I cannot conceive of a demand that would be more degrading than this of forcing those benighted souls to prostitute their persons for the gratification of those who pretend to be the followers of a crucified Christ."

In relating her experience, I understand that a nun who had been confined in a convent for years[Pg 244] made the following declaration: "That the superior of the seminary would often come and inform us nuns that an order had been received from the Pope to request those nuns who possessed the greatest devotion and faith to perform some particular deeds, which he would name in our presence, but which no moral or decent person could ever endure to speak of, and I cannot repeat what these demands often were, as I would have to resort to language so filthy that it would blush the cheek of one who was hardened in sin."

Now, if those who sail under the garb of righteousness would go so far that the inmates of the convents, who are there believing they are doing the work of God, would rebel against the priests' immorality, then what can we expect of the priestcraft when they are in the presence of your wife, daughter or sister, whom they may prefer, and who has been taught to believe that every act of the priestcraft is sanctified by God Almighty?

We want to bring the history of Catholicism down as near to the present time as possible, so[Pg 245] the reader may understand the confidence the "dupes" of Catholicism have in the priestcraft, for, as stated in a previous chapter of this book, it is a well-known fact that the feminine world in general have more confidence in humanity than the male population, but to demonstrate to the reader what implicit confidence the male members of Catholicism have in the priestcraft, we call attention to Ed Butler, of the State of Missouri, who resides in St. Louis.

Ed Butler is a full-fledged Catholic and believes in Catholicism twenty-four hours each day. By the way, it may be necessary for us to refresh the readers' mind of the fact that Ed Butler of St. Louis, Mo., is considered one of the most high-handed "boodlers" in America, and who has had a number of his "dupes" placed in the state penitentiary and kept himself out of the same institution by a "technicality." But to go back to the point that we wanted to make, we will just say that a Catholic priest in the City of St. Louis by the name of Coffey had a falling out with Butler over some thing or another, and in order to get even[Pg 246] with him he took sides against Butler and said many harsh but true things about him. One day a reporter of one of the St. Louis newspapers met Butler and called his attention to what Priest Coffey had said about him, and the only answer that Butler gave this reporter was: "Father Coffey is a Catholic priest and I have nothing to say, and if he should spit in my face I would not resent the action, as I was born and raised a Catholic, and do not believe that a Catholic priest can commit a sin."

Now, if a man of Ed Butler's intellect can be brought up in this land of intelligence to believe such abominations in regard to a Catholic priest, is it not reasonable to suppose that the female members of the Catholic Church would have a severe task in defending their virtue should a priest desire to destroy it, by telling them "that no act of his could defile them, as it was impossible for him to sin?"

Now, reader, you may not know just what kind of treatment from the Catholic Church I will receive for writing this book, but as soon as it is[Pg 247] placed upon the market the Catholic Church will "excommunicate" me; however, it may be possible that the reader does not understand what a horrible curse this excommunication is, but in order that you may thoroughly understand what I mean I will repeat, word for word, what some Catholic official will declare against me for writing this book, which will further go to show the reader the vileness of this damnable creed, and which will also go to convince the reader what fear the followers of Catholicism have of the priestcraft, which will more fully convince you that timid, unsuspecting woman, who has been brought up to believe in the paganism of Catholicism, can be easily led to yield to the lustful desires of the priestcraft, for fear that by refusing his request that he would pronounce this terrible curse upon her, which she has been taught would forever damn her eternal soul.

The curse of excommunication which I am certain to receive at the hands of Catholicism for writing this book follows:

"By the authority of God Almighty, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and the undefiled Virgin Mary, mother and patroness of our Savior, and all of the Celestial Virtues, Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Cherubim and Seraphim, and of all the Holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and of all the Apostles and Evangelists, of the Holy Innocents, who in the sight of the Holy Lamb are found worthy to sing the new songs of the Holy Martyrs and Holy Confessors, and of all the Holy Virgins, and of all the Saints, together with the Holy Elect of God, may he, Bernard Fresenborg, be damned!

"We excommunicate and anathematize him from the threshold of the Holy Church of God Almighty. We sequester him, that he may be tormented, disposed, and be delivered over with Dathan and Abiram, and with those who say unto the Lord, 'Depart from us, we desire none of thy ways;' as a fire is quenched with water, so let the light of him be put out for ever more, unless it shall repent him and make satisfaction!

"May the Father, who creates man, curse him!

"May the Son, who suffered for us, curse him![Pg 249]

"May the Holy Ghost, who is poured out in baptism, curse him!

"May the Holy Cross, which Christ for our salvation, triumphing over his enemies, ascended, curse him!

"May the Holy Mary, ever Virgin and the Mother of God, curse him!

"May St. Michael, the Advocate of the Holy Souls, curse him!

"May all the Angels, Principalities and Powers, and all Heavenly Armies curse him!

"May the glorious band of the Patriarchs and Prophets curse him!

"May St. John the Precursor, and St. John the Baptist, and St. Peter, and St. Paul, and St. Andrew, and all other of Christ's Apostles together, curse him!

"And may the rest of the Disciples and Evangelists, who by their preaching converted the universe, and the holy and wonderful company of Martyrs and Confessors, who by their works are found pleasing to God Almighty; may the holy choir of the Holy Virgins, who, for the honor of[Pg 250] Christ, have despised the things of the world, damn him!

"May all the Saints from the beginning of the world to everlasting ages who are found to be beloved of God, damn him!

"May he be damned wherever he be, whether in the house or in the alley, in the woods or in the water, or in the church!

"May he be cursed in living and dying!

"May he be cursed in eating and drinking, in being hungry, in being thirsty, in fasting and sleeping, in slumbering, and in sitting, in living, in working, in resting, and ... and in blood-letting!

"May he be cursed in all the faculties of his body!

"May he be cursed inwardly and outwardly!

"May he be cursed in his hair; cursed be he in his brains and his vertex, in his temples, in his eyebrows, in his cheeks, in his jaw bones, in his nostrils, in his teeth and grinders, in his lips, in his shoulders, in his arms, in his fingers!

"May he be damned in his mouth, in his breast,[Pg 251] in his heart, and appurtenances, down to the very stomach!

"May he be cursed in his ... and his ... in his thighs, in his ... and his ... and in his knees, and his legs, and his feet, and toe-nails!

"May he be cursed in all his joints and articulations of the members; from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet may there be no soundness!

"May the Son of the living God, with all the glory of His majesty, curse him!

"And may Heaven, with all the powers that move therein, rise up against him, and curse and damn him, unless he repent and make satisfaction! Amen! So be it! Be it so! Amen! Amen! Amen!"

I have given you the diabolical "curse" of excommunication, word for word; thus you can see how un-Christlike the Catholic Church is.

As I have before said in this chapter, the foregoing is the curse that will fall to my lot as soon as this book is placed upon the market, thus the[Pg 252] reader can see that my motives for writing this book must come from a pure incentive, or else I would not willingly cut myself asunder from all of those whom I have associated with during my life. This task is not one that I enjoy, as it breaks my heart to realize that I have all through my life been burdened down with this load of superstitious filth, but I could not in justice to myself and in justice to a living God refrain from the task, after I had had my eyes opened to the beauties of Protestantism.

With tears in my eyes and with a heart full of sadness, I remember the angelic face of my old mother, as she conscientiously taught me my first Catechism and directed my feet in the paths of what she sincerely believed righteousness, and believing in a just God, I knew that He has taken her to His bosom in His home beyond the skies, for what she taught me she sincerely believed, as she never had her eyes opened to the abominations of the creed of which I write, and I do not believe that a just God would damn the soul of a pure mother who honestly taught what she con[Pg 253]scientiously believed, but the priestcraft in general are men who are above the average in intellect, and are men whom I believe have often had had the same thoughts relative to the doctrines of Catholicism that I had long, long years before I cut loose from the teachings of Rome; however, the priestcraft is not to be excused from their raid upon virtue by ignorance, as they are taught the lessons of chastity in their childhood, but the bond of celibacy which binds them in an unnatural way, and the hellish doctrines taught by the Catholic Church that the priestcraft cannot sin, turns them into pirates upon virtue.

When we take into consideration the fact that all of the teachings of Catholicism lead to not only implicit confidence in the purity of the priestcraft, but carry with them the cudgel of destruction of the soul of her followers, if they do not submit to her teachings and demands, we can then realize why it is that the chastity of the home becomes a rendezvous for those of the priestcraft who deliberately ravish virtue to gratify their inhuman lust.

Chapter XV.

Nations Which Have Been Disgraced by the Toleration of Popish Rule.

There is no nation on the face of God's green earth to-day which has been enslaved by the power of Popery, and which has been burdened by an idle and worthless army of Priests, Monks and Nuns, but what would have become, not only tired, but disgusted with their burden, if they had ever been permitted to mingle and commingle with Protestant countries, and learn that Protestantism leads to individual intellectuality and collective greatness.

It is true, however, that there are many countries in South America that have been Priest-ridden for centuries, and who are as heavily burdened to-day with this ancient parasite as ever, who offer not a single protest, but the only reason[Pg 256] for this is that Catholicism has always forbidden these priest-ridden nations to make any advancement towards Protestantism, which has been instrumental in keeping these nations under the complete control of the Vatican; thus you will see they have never been permitted to taste of the grandeur of Protestantism.

We will take France for instance, which was at one time one of the most priest-ridden countries on earth, but which is to-day endeavoring to extract herself from the meshes of this damnable creed, as the intelligent statesmen of France have learned that Catholicism is only another name for ignorance and superstition, and they have also learned that so long as the affairs of France remain under the control of papal power, just that long advancement and greatness stand aloof from the portals of their country, so in the past two years the government officials have removed tens of thousands of the Pope's hirelings from authority and have closed up hundreds of parochial schools.

Now, if Catholicism is such a glorious creed,[Pg 257] why is it that France is so anxious to get rid of her influence? Ah! France has learned by coming in contact with Protestant countries that she need not expect to ever become a great nation if she permits popery to control her affairs.

Italy, the home of the Pope, has begun to wince under the Vatican's rule, as her national back is getting raw by the saddle of this diabolical creed. The inhabitants of Italy have been for the past few years protesting against the high-handedness of Catholicism, and the officials have begun to take notice of this vulture of humanity, and my predictions are that within a very short time Italy will do as France has done and close up the monasteries and convents, for just as long as these institutions are allowed to keep open house, and dictate to the inhabitants of Italy, just that long we may expect the immigrants who come over from Italy to bear the Vatican's mark of vice, immorality and criminality.

Go to Ellis Island and watch the immigrant ships from Catholic nations as they vomit forth their load of human carrion upon the fair shores of this[Pg 258] country, and your heart will become sick with fear, as this class that hails from the nations of popery are a class, as a whole, that will disgrace and ruin any nation on earth, as these immigrants are men and women who have no conception of a free country, as they are men and women who have never been taught to look above the horizon of Catholicism; therefore they land upon the shores of America as criminals and not as citizens, and you cannot make pure American citizens out of them until you boil this hellish creed from their system by the fire of patriotism, and this cannot be done as long as this country permits Catholicism to run her mills of degeneracy unmolested upon our shores.

All of our large cities are infested more or less with this "scarlet-robed hag of hell," and more especially our eastern cities, as this foreign herd of the Pope's followers land in eastern ports and spread themselves out like a blanket, reeking with a moral stench over the eastern borders of this country, and they make a specialty of settling in our eastern cities.[Pg 259]

We will take Boston, Mass., for instance, as there is but very little difference in the "rabble" of that city and the immoral degenerate class that infests the densely populated centers of Catholic countries.

Several notorious cases of open defiance of civil law and violation of civil rights by the tools of popery have recently occurred in Boston. One of these is the escape of two girls from the so-called "House of the Good Shepherd," in Roxbury, and the re-capture of these girls by a policeman.

Now, bear in mind that this "House of the Good Shepherd" is a Catholic institution, pure and simple, but these girls who escaped from this "plague house," were arrested by the police and returned to this Catholic dungeon without the semblance of law.

On questioning "The Mother Superior," she said that the girls were not committed to the institution by the courts, but by "the church." The question then arose: Has the Roman Catholic Church the right to give sentence of imprison[Pg 260]ment with hard labor as a penalty? For this is exactly what imprisonment in this "House of the Good Shepherd" means; therefore, if these girls so sentenced escape, what right has a city policeman to arrest and carry them back to this Catholic institution, which exists without the semblance of a State law and without an iota of moral law? Are the policemen of the cities of Massachusetts servants of the Roman Catholic Church? Have the courts the right to sentence prisoners to Catholic prisons, and after sentence, have the prisoners no right? Many of them are kept for life, or until too old to work, and then they are set adrift to become public charges upon a Protestant country, after the Roman Catholic Church has made hundreds of dollars from the labor of these unfortunates.

We want to call attention to another flagrant case, which happened in the north end of Boston not long since.

A few months since, a Protestant Italian family in the north end of Boston was about to move to New York. There were two children and the[Pg 261] wife soon expected to become mother again. She expressed the wish that some one would care for one of her children for a few weeks, until she got well and was settled in her new home. A neighbor sent a woman to her who offered to care for the children, and when this little one was turned over to her, she took it straightway to the home for destitute Catholic children, on Harrison avenue, in Boston. In a month the mother called for her baby and was told that it was "up in the country," and was requested to leave it there for a month, and was told that it would be good for the child. She consented to this, believing that the fresh air would be good for her baby, but she was an uneducated woman and was inclined to believe what others said, as she was an honest lady herself, but she did not know the trickery of the Catholic Church, so when she was asked to sign a paper, she readily agreed to it, not thinking that she was giving her own blood and flesh away.

In a month she came on from New York to get her baby and was told that she could not have it,[Pg 262] and was further told that she had signed a paper giving it away. Then the husband came on from New York and demanded the child, but was refused. He then appealed to the pastor of the Italian Methodist Church, on Hanover street, Boston. The two went to a very prominent Romanist office-holder, who was chairman of the trustees of this so-called "Catholic Home." This man draws seven thousand dollars per year from the city, and is elected largely through Protestant influence, simply because Protestantism believes that she can reform Catholicism by being liberal with her; but oh! Liberty! what crimes are perpetrated in thy name! This Boston official, after much talk with this Italian father, told him to bring a letter from a priest, and that he would see what he could do. The Italian said, "I am a Protestant," at which the official became very indignant, but after a little more talk said: "Bring a letter of recommendation from a minister." This Italian father got a good, strong letter commending his character from a Protestant minister in New York, and one who already[Pg 263] knew him, and went this time alone to this Boston official.

In about an hour this heart-broken father appeared before a Methodist minister in tears, saying: "He will not give me my child. He said I am a bad man for becoming a Protestant, and that by doing so I have proven that I am unfit to care for my children, and when I gave him my letter from the Protestant minister, he said: 'I will not take the word of a Protestant minister!'"

Now, if what we have related is true, which I know to be absolutely true in every particular, would happen in the United States of America, "the land of the free and the home of the brave," you might know what would happen in a Catholic country which is completely under the tyrannical and damnable rule of the Pope.

A minister informs us that on three occasions lately, children have come to him and told him that an Irish public school teacher in Boston had forbidden them to attend Protestant services, as their parents were at one time Roman Catholics,[Pg 264] and that this talk from this Romish school teacher was had during school hours.

What we need in this country is a "vigilance committee," and we need it badly, and we need it right away, and this committee should be instructed to impeach every public official who endeavors to usurp the law in favor of Roman Catholicism.

The brightest minds of the past, and the brightest minds of the present have pointed out to Protestant America the dangers of Romanism, but it seems as though we will not heed their warning, when we see upon every side evidences of moral decay and national degeneracy by permitting this "Romish hag" to supervise and superintend the affairs of this nation.

Protestant European nations have for many years beheld the despotic march of Catholicism in America, and this country for a number of years has been the laughing stock of Protestant European countries for permitting this brazen demon to tread up and down the avenues of our liberties without molestation.[Pg 265]

A few years before Bismarck of Germany died, he, in a public speech delivered in the German parliament, pointed out that the Roman Catholic Church was only free in America, and for the benefit of the reader we will quote a part of this great statesman's speech:

"The Pope being purely a religious chief, there is no occasion to keep a permanent political representative at his port. Things, indeed, might have been left in status quo had not the present Pope thought it fit to revive the ancient struggle of the papacy with the temporal power, and more especially with the German empire. The spirit emanating the papacy in this campaign is too well known to require comment; still we would tell the house a story, which has long been kept a secret, but which had better be made public. In 1869, when the Wurtemberg government had occasion to complain of the action of the papacy, the Wurtemberg envoy at Munich was instructed to make representations, and in a conversation which passed between the envoy and the nuncio; [Pg 266]the latter said, 'The Roman Church is free only in America.'"

This nuncio further stated that the Roman Catholic Church in all other countries had to look to revolution as the sole means to retain her position. This, then, was the view of the priestly diplomatist stationed at Munich in 1869, and formerly representing the Vatican at Paris.

Bismarck further stated: "I know from the very best sources that the Emperor Napoleon was dragged into the war very much against his will by the influence of Jesuit priests."

Who can deny these statements, as Bismarck was a man who made the study of Catholicism a part of his life, and he was a man who was of rugged character and undaunted courage, and a man whom the world at large believed.

There has not been a war for centuries past but what the cunning hand of popery has been mixed up with the blood shed in these wars, as popery never misses an opportunity to take sides with the nation which represents Catholicism, as this creed of abominations will resort to blood[Pg 267]shed if by so doing she believes she can carry her point and establish her rule of despotism.

If America will take a lesson from France she will be taught a lesson that will save this country from passing through the same ordeal that France is passing through to-day, and unless the government of the United States begins in the near future to suppress this giant of darkness, Roman Catholicism, we will within the next fifty years have to resort to the same means that Combes of France is resorting to, to annihilate the serpent of Catholicism from our shores, or else meekly submit to being dragged down to the level of Roman Catholicism, which is equivalent to losing our identity as a government, and taking our places among the nations noted only for either ignorance, vice or criminality.

Catholicism does not believe in a free country. Catholicism does not believe in a country of the people, by the people and for the people, as such a country is not the natural abode for this detestable creed.

Catholicism believes in a country which is ruled[Pg 268] by a monarch, as she then only has to control the monarch himself, and this is why the Catholic clergy and the Catholic officials, from the smallest to the greatest, are in sympathy with Russia, as the Russian government is a most complete monarchy, and the emperor is an absolute monarch, and this is why Catholicism is always ready to toss up her hat in glee for the success of the Russian army.

Catholic prelates all along the line, up to the Pope himself, have been trying to make Americans believe that Russia is deserving of our sympathy, but her solicitude in behalf of Russia is only a sympathetic shriek for her own polluted carcass.

Catholicism never sympathizes with any nation nor any individual who have for their motto "Emancipation," as emancipation means to Catholicism a vital blow to her teachings, as slavery of both body and soul is Rome's uppermost desire.

Can we expect Catholicism to change her abominations without force? Most assuredly not, as[Pg 269] her every inspiration comes from a set of men who know no more about loyalty to country than her dupes know about a living God, as the Pope is a native born Italian, and her cardinals are recruited from the ranks of Italy's king-ruled inhabitants, consequently it is impossible to expect the Pope of Rome or those cardinals to recommend anything in harmony with the teachings of Protestant America, as they are strangers to Protestantism and American manhood; therefore it would be as reasonable to expect sunlight in the caverns of the earth as to expect Rome to recommend a doctrine which would be beneficial to humanity.

When I declare to the American people that unless this country in the near future makes a combined effort to stamp out the political intrigue of Catholicism, or it will not be long until America will find her every interest tied tight and fast to the carcass of Romanism; I do so because I feel that it is my duty to warn this country of her awful fate, for just as sure as God reigns, just that sure Catholicism has America "spotted" as her vic[Pg 270]tim, as this spirit of darkness has for many years in the past made her boast that "America is Rome's future possession."

There is not a nation on the face of the earth which has permitted Rome to plant her banner of infamy unmolested but what has been disgraced by the toleration of her creed, and America cannot expect to meet with a better fate.

The dangers that beset the path of America's future are in the form of a political serpent, as Rome has learned to know that by holding out the "vote bait" to our politicians, that she can retain the balance of power, as she has long since learned that as long as she can be instrumental in keeping two political parties, both largely made up of Protestants, and fighting each other, that she can associate herself with one or the other by offering this party the undivided suffrage of Catholicism, and by this act she can gradually get control of the offices of this land, and this is her main object, for if she can control the officials, she will see that such laws are passed as will enable her to coil her slimy self about the[Pg 271] vitals of Protestant America, and just as long as the Protestant denominations allow themselves to be made Protestant simpletons of, just that long Catholicism will fool Protestant hosts by offering the "vote bait" to the politician.

Whenever Protestantism learns that she has a common cause to champion, and a common enemy to fight, then we will have an "American party" on one side, and a "Catholic party" on the other, and when this time comes, Catholicism will be deprived of her cudgel of deception, and will have to fight her battles without the assistance of "Protestant partisan fools," and will cease to believe that she belongs to either this or that political party. Protestantism is a band of American patriots, and should only have the welfare of Protestantism at heart.

Catholicism, if left alone without the assistance of Protestant votes, could not turn a wheel in the affairs of this country, but by permitting Romanism to make Protestantism believe in one of two political parties thus dividing the Protestant votes, Catholicism is allowed to hold the bal[Pg 272]ance of power and dictate terms to a Protestant country.

Shame, eternal shame upon the hosts of Protestantism for permitting themselves to be made fools of by the Romish Church, as this is exactly what the hosts of Protestantism are allowing Catholicism to do with her!

Now, I know whereof I speak, as I have been on the inside of politics in our large cities, and especially in the City of St. Louis, and Catholicism's scheme is always to allow the cities to elect a Protestant mayor, but they always endeavor to elect the other officials.

Oh, could I but whisper into the ears of every Protestant in America and make them understand what I know of the cunning and deception of Catholicism I would march an army of Protestants to the polls at our elections that would represent a mighty army of patriotism; but just so long as Protestantism permits Catholicism to make her believe that it is necessary to have two or more political parties, just that long we will have partisan block-heads, and as long as this[Pg 273] state of affairs exists, just that long the cunning schemes of Catholicism will be able to control the balance of power, which will disgrace the fair name of Protestant America.

I solemnly declare that there never has been a nation completely under the control of Romanism but what has been disgraced by that toleration, and America will live to realize the truthfulness of this assertion unless she becomes "Protestant patriots" instead of "prattling partisans."

To give the reader a better idea of what happens in countries absolutely controlled by Catholicism, and to more thoroughly convince the reader that what I have said is true in regard to nations which have been disgraced by the toleration of popish rule, I desire to repeat a little history that is not many months old, which happened in the United States, where it is supposed that man and woman can worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience, and if what we are going to relate happens in this free land, what do you suppose is the condition in Catholic[Pg 274] countries that are completely under the control of the Pope?

In Worcester, Mass., not long since, a 19-year-old girl by the name of Maggie Barry received a public whipping from her mother for attending services of the Salvation Army.

Miss Maggie Barry, who is 19 years of age, had been for some time occasionally attending the meetings of the Salvation Army, and was desirous of becoming a member of the corps, having been converted a short time since.

Her parents were Irish Roman Catholics and insisted that Maggie should remain a Romanist. They regarded the Salvation Army, which is purely non-sectarian, as a Protestant organization, and they were determined that their daughter should have nothing to do with it, and forbade her attending any of the meetings.

On a Sunday evening not long since she attended the services of the Salvation Army at No. 5 Commercial street, where there were at least 250 people present. While the commander of the corps was reading from the Bible, Miss Barry's[Pg 275] mother came through the doorway and down to the front row of seats near the corner of the platform, where Maggie was sitting, and grabbed her daughter by the arm and began to pound her over the head, and at once proceeded to pull the girl from the hall and down the stairs into the street, all the time unmercifully beating the poor girl over the head and shoulders.

The incident happened so quickly that for a moment the audience could not realize what was taking place, but as soon as the audience could gather their wits, there was a rush made for the street.

After the meeting had adjourned many of the attendants found Miss Barry in the street weeping like her heart would break and afraid to return to her home.

She told the audience that as soon as she reached the street where a number of relatives were waiting for her that she broke away from her mother and fled.

A policeman was called into consultation relative to the case and stated that as Maggie was[Pg 276] under twenty-one years of age, that she had better be taken to her parents at 125 Salem street, and two policemen accompanied her to her home.

It is stated that Miss Barry has received many unmerciful beatings because she attended these religious meetings, and her old Romish mother, while dragging her down the stairs that Sunday night, threatened to do her bodily harm if she ever attended these meetings again.

A few days after this disgraceful and un-American spectacle happened in the streets of Worcester, a notice in the Central District Court appeared that "Miss Margaret Barry was charged with being a stubborn child and was sentenced to the Woman's Prison at Shearborn. She appealed and furnished a bail. The girl was arrested on the complaint of her mother because she would not stay away from the meetings of the Salvation Army."

Now, reader, you have a case right in the United States of America where a poor girl was sentenced to prison for attending a Protestant meeting. What do you think of a judge of a court[Pg 277] who will sentence a child to a State prison for attending a Protestant meeting?

We know what you think if you are a pure Protestant, and we know that your blood boils with pure indignation; but you cannot expect any relief from this state of affairs and you can only expect to see things grow worse if you continue to be "partisans" instead of "patriots."

If such things are now happening in the State of Massachusetts, how long will it be before the Protestant churches in this country will be closed up by the order of the Pope, and how long will it be before those who attend Protestant meetings will be liable to arrest and thrown into prison, as it was during the dark ages when the Roman Catholic Church had full control?

Authentic history, and history that cannot be denied nor disputed, nor even questioned, gives the appalling record of 70,500,000 Protestants who were slain by the greatest curse the world has ever known—Roman Catholicism.

We, in America, cannot expect anything bet[Pg 278]ter until we have a set of Protestant preachers who will practice what they pretend to believe.

Our Protestant ministers of to-day are weak-kneed, weak-spined, "nothings," who have not enough religion nor backbone to take a firm stand against Catholicism, and until we have such men we will continue to see "Maggie Barrys" dragged from Protestant meetings and publicly whipped by parents, and then sentenced to imprisonment by judges elected by Roman Catholics.

Again we want to repeat the head lines of this chapter for the benefit of those who are weak-kneed and who are entirely "spineless:" "Nations who have been disgraced by the toleration of popish rule," and we leave it to the reader to decide whether this headline is a misnomer or not, as we have offered you evidence in this chapter that should convince any right-thinking man or woman that if the Roman Catholic Church has grown so bold in America, with the ink upon the Declaration of Independence scarcely dry, what shall we expect for our posterity if there is not[Pg 279] a stand made by Protestantism to halt this "emperor of darkness" in his march of devastation?

This black-winged vulture of human rights is growing bolder day by day by being permitted by Protestantism to separate and divide the Protestant vote among different parties, and combining the hosts of Catholicism for an onslaught against everything American in order to control the affairs of this country. If you will listen you can almost hear the death rattle of Protestantism as the serpent of Rome has so gently entwined her slimy self about the throat of our American goddess of liberty that the death rattle is almost perceptible.

Strike while you have the power, and do not delay, or else the time is not far distant when the once powerful arm of Protestantism will be paralyzed by the infusion of Roman virus.

Chapter XVI.

Nearing the Trenches of Physical Strength.

We can only judge the future of nations and institutions by the past and present, and if we are to judge Catholicism by her past, and if we are honest with ourselves, we cannot paint a future without producing a panoramic view that is dreadful to behold, as Catholicism in the past has been an institution which always endeavored to rule by the tyranny of oppression, and her decisions and mandates to-day are the same as they were during the inquisitorial days when our Protestant forefathers were burned at the state for disobeying the commands of Catholic officials.

Catholicism makes her boast that she never changes; then what are we to expect the future to bring forth, if her dogmas of damnation are al[Pg 282]lowed to fasten her intolerable hold upon this country: for if she "never changes," and we are compelled to judge her future by her past, which is the only rational conclusion that can be arrived at, then we can expect nothing more than to behold her future trail stained with the blood of Protestants, as such has been her history of the past.

It is our purpose in this chapter to give the reader an authentic epitome of a few of the doctrines and facts which we defy Roman Catholicism to successfully deny, as what we propose to give you is Roman Catholic law, and if such is Roman Catholic law, then we will have no trouble in establishing the fact that no loyal Catholics can possibly be loyal American citizens; therefore should not be placed in a position where they can carry out the mandates and dictates of the Church of Rome, for whenever they are placed in power and thoroughly believe in the laws of Catholicism they can not possibly be naught but traitors to our American form of government.

We propose to give the reader "Canon Law"[Pg 283] to establish our statements, as we are as well acquainted with the laws that govern Roman Catholicism—yea, better than we are with the laws that govern this country, as we for fifty-six years have been directly influenced by this "Canon Law," and for the past thirty years, or since we became a Roman Catholic priest, have been a servant and an executioner of this law; therefore, I know whereof I speak, and no man dare deny my statements.

The first declaration of this "Canon Law" is: "All human power is from evil and must therefore be standing under the Pope."

You will thus see that the first declaration of the "Canon Law" is to place the human family as a whole, under the tyrannical control of Catholicism.

Another declaration of this law is: "The state has not the right to leave every man free to profess and embrace whatever religion he shall deem true."

In this declaration, you will further see that Roman Catholicism would, if it was within her[Pg 284] power, take from the American citizen the right to worship a true and living God.

The next law that we will refer to is as follows: "The state has not the right to establish a church separate from the Pope."

Again you will see that Rome's idea is to force all of humanity to bow at the feet of her creed.

Again she declares in her "Canonistic Laws:" "That the state has not the right to assist the inmates of monasteries and convents to abandon them."

Again you will see that Catholicism desires to usurp the rights of the courts and establish prisons of their own without a semblance of law.

Once more this "Canonistic Law" thunders forth her monarchial law as follows: "The Roman Catholic church has the right to require the state not to leave every man free to profess his own religion."

Again the reader will see that Roman Catholicism with her iron hand demands this nation to force and compel every man, woman and child that lives under that old red, white and blue flag,[Pg 285] which was bought by the blood of our forefathers, to humbly bow to this heathenish creed.

The next, and one of the most damnable laws found among the "Canonistic Laws" of Catholicism, is as follows; "Roman Catholicism has the right to exercise her power without permission or consent of the state."

Within this Romish law any one can easily discern her monarchial designs, as she boldly and flagrantly declares that she has the right to do as she sees fit, without even being molested or questioned by the laws of this country.

Further on in the "Canon Laws" of Catholicism we find the following: "Roman Catholicism has the right to prevent the foundation of any national church not subject to the direct authority of the Roman pontiff."

Thus the reader will see that the Protestant churches of America exist only by and through the numerical power of Protestantism, but should Romanism ever become powerful enough in this country she would, within the twinkling of an eye,[Pg 286] destroy or confiscate every Protestant church now in existence.

Further along in this Romish "Canon Law" we find that she strikes at the dearest institutions of our land, as follows: "The Roman Catholic church has the right to deprive the civil authorities of the entire government of the public schools."

The reader will see by this declaration that should Catholicism ever come in control of the affairs of this government that our public schools, which are the bulwarks of our American government, would have their very foundations rooted up and scattered to the four winds of the earth.

The most devilish and damnable law, in my estimation, that is to be found upon the statute books of Catholicism is the following: "Roman Catholicism has the right to require that the Roman Catholic religion shall be the only religion of the nation, to the exclusion of all others."

We have the entire principles of Catholicism embodied in this last "Canonistic Law," as Roman Catholicism's aim and intention is to put this[Pg 287] declaration into effect as soon as she can become powerful enough to execute her plans.

In my estimation, the next "Canon Law" that I will quote, is the one most detrimental to our American form of government, as it is a law, when put into execution, that will throttle every ambition and strangle every hope that now permeates the bosom of Protestantism, and it is one that should freeze the very flesh and blood of Protestantism to the bone's marrow. It is as follows: "Roman Catholicism has the power to require the nation not to permit free expression of opinions."

In this last law, which is found upon the statute books of Roman Catholicism, we have a declaration from her rulers that would deprive you and your posterity from expressing an opinion in regard to Roman Catholicism; that is, if that opinion did not coincide with her abominations, and an institution which would place such a law upon her statute books is an institution which would burn and flay alive those who would disregard this law; thus the reader may have some idea of[Pg 288] what he or she may expect should their posterity ever live to see America pass into the ungodly clutches of this unholy demon.

The history of Roman Catholicism in the past plainly demonstrates what she has done and how well and awful she has carried out her laws herein quoted, and Catholicism makes her brags that she "never changes," consequently the only reason why these laws are not put into execution in the United States is the lack of physical power, and whenever Roman Catholicism reaches the point in the history of this country where she possesses this physical power, Protestantism will feel her tyrannical heel upon their necks.

That the reader may thoroughly understand and realize that Roman Catholicism of to-day is the same as Roman Catholicism was hundreds of years ago, we desire to quote a letter written by Pope Leo XIII during his reign, which will thoroughly demonstrate to the reader that Roman Catholicism of the present retains all of her harshness and cussedness that she possessed when our forefathers were burned at the stake and our[Pg 289] mothers were punished for worshiping a true and living God, Pope Leo's letter follows:

"The teachings given by the Apostolic See, whether contained in the syllabus and other acts of our illustrious predecessors, or in our encyclical letters, has given clear guidance to the faith as to what should be their thoughts and their conduct in the midst of the difficulties of time and events. There they will find a rule for the direction of their minds and their work."

The reader will see from this letter from Pope Leo XIII that he reiterates to his followers the "Canonistic Law" laid down by his predecessors, making it obligatory upon the followers of Catholicism to put in practice to-day the hellish doctrines of Roman Catholicism of the past.

If Catholicism depends upon numbers and physical strength to accomplish her ends, then what must this country expect when such a time arrives, as Catholicism can govern by the power of physical strength?

Will we have any one to blame for what Catholicism does to this country when such time arrives?[Pg 290] Ah, No! No one but Protestantism, for if America, which is a Protestant country, sits idly by and permits Romanism to reach a point where she can control the affairs of this government, it will be on the account of the lethargy and imbecility of Protestantism, as we have it within our power to-day to halt this Emperor of Darkness before that time arrives, but the question is, will we do it?

The history of other nations which have been controlled by Catholicism should be enough, not only to frighten the Protestant hosts, but to paralyze them with fear, as the pages of history teem with the awfulness of Rome's rule, wherever she has been permitted to become master.

France, which has been priest-ridden for centuries, is now at this time in the throes of a national convulsion, brought about by the tyranny of Romanism.

Now, if Rome is such an abominable master and such a tyrant that France has to deport the priestcraft and close up her institutions, is it not time that the United States was taking some step to[Pg 291] protect her offspring from this vulture of human rights!

This country is undoubtedly a Protestant country, and if it is a great country, which no man dares to deny, she surely owes her greatness to Protestantism.

Our soul is poured into this chapter, as we never were more in earnest than we are at this time, as we can shade our eyes and look down the avenues of the past and behold naught but skeletons of protestant despair on every byway which has been traveled by Romanism, and when we behold this mighty waste of despair we can not conceive how the United States of America can expect to fare better than have the nations of the past, unless she exerts her American and Protestant manhood and gives Roman Catholicism to understand that it is time to halt, and, in the name of an intelligent God, forbid her to transgress further upon the rights of this country.

In this chapter we will endeavor to be explicit and above all truthful, and we ask God to give us courage to present facts in a way that will fan to[Pg 292] life again the patriotism that has been lulled to sleep by the bat-like wings of Roman Catholicism.

We hope that this little volume may arouse unconcerned Protestantism to a realization of the fact that our public officials are year by year forcing her nearer and nearer the great chasm of Roman despair, and if we can be instrumental in this great undertaking we will feel that when our race is done, that we have fought a good fight, and will be remembered by the Protestant world as a man who taught a doctrine which was the salvation of Protestant America.

Roman Catholicism has no politics, as she is ever ready and willing to join hands with any party that will guarantee her more complete control of national affairs, as she teaches her followers that whenever they find that the Republican party will grant her requests that they should be Republicans, and she also teaches them that whenever the Democratic party or any other party will enter into a contract with her and grant her the right of way of devastation, that they should be[Pg 293] Democrats, or be adherents to whatever party grants them the most power.

Roman Catholicism wraps herself about the smaller officials and wheedles herself into the good graces of the small officials by promising them the Catholic vote, and by so doing she is able to control the officials higher up in power, and in this manner she reaches the highest officials of the land, as we find to-day the boa-constrictor of Catholicism wrapped about every official at Washington city, from the President of the United States on down.

Suppose that the Pope and his tribe of liberty-destroyers realized that the officials of America were Protestants, and implicitly believed and lived up to the teachings of Protestantism; do you think that she would presume to approach our Protestant officials and demand their support in behalf of her damnable creed, or do you suppose that she would dare to send her emissaries into the halls of our national congress and brazenly approach those Protestant officials? Ah, never! as Catholicism is a base coward and never makes[Pg 294] her appearance only where she is assured that her overtures will be gracefully received.

Protestant America! do you not believe that you have granted Romanism her requests long enough, and do you not realize that unless you throttle this carnivorous beast of human rights within the near future that your protests will only be received with ridicule and jeers?

Protestantism from this day forward should resolve that her ballot in the future should be a Protestant ballot, and whenever she has reasons to believe that there is one place upon their ticket that is tainted with the abominations of Romanism they should be dropped as though they were a poisonous reptile.

It matters not what the office may be that is to be filled and what power it carries with it, Protestantism should find out whether or not the applicant believes in Protestantism, and learn, if possible, whether they or their family are tainted with the virus of Roman Catholicism, and if you should find that the taint extends to any part of their family then scratch them off your ballot, and[Pg 295] by so doing you will help to woo back the spirit of both Protestantism and patriotism, as one is symbolic of the other.

It may seem strange and also untrue for me to make the statement that there are cities in the United States which are as completely under the control of the Pope of Rome as Rome herself, but such is the case, and the city of St. Louis, Mo., is one of them, as Romanism rules the inhabitants of that city with a despotism that is only equaled in a nation where the pontiff of Rome is an acknowledged ruler.

During the last election in the city of St. Louis I was a Catholic priest, and was in the Catholic confidence, and I declare to you as a man of truth and before a living God that it was understood between the Catholic church and those who controlled the Democratic party that the Protestants should elect the present mayor, Rolla Wells, but that Catholicism was to be permitted to name the other officials, or at least enough to control the city government.

Now, is there any politics in such an agreement?[Pg 296] Ah, no; but the only object in this secret agreement was a desire upon the part of Roman Catholicism to control the revenues of the city of St. Louis, as Catholicism is a money machine and endeavors to keep her exchequer full by preying upon the ignorance of her followers.

I have mentioned St. Louis only for the simple reason that it is a recent happening, but there are a score of other cities in the United States of America which are controlled by Catholicism on the same principle, as Romanism joins hands with either the Republican or Democratic party if she sees a chance to put her hellish schemes and dogmas into practice.

That the reader may know what element controls the municipal governments of our cities we desire to call attention to the fact that over one-half of the officials of our large American cities are direct representatives of Roman Catholicism, and over two-thirds of all the policemen of these cities are the Pope's followers.

Why does this state of affairs exist? Ah, it is because the Protestant voter has "politics" in[Pg 297]stead of "principles"; therefore you yourself are to blame for this awful state of affairs.

Yes, I say that you are to blame, for you are a voter and you pretend to represent Protestantism but still will permit yourself to be made tools of in behalf of Roman Catholicism; then am I not right in declaring that you are to blame for this state of affairs that exists in our large cities?

In our municipal elections you will find Roman Catholicism courting the political power which has the greatest chance of electing their candidates; it matters not what party it may be, as Roman Catholicism has no politics, as her only desire is power, and it does not matter from what source she receives it, so long as it is granted her, as Romanism is like a chameleon, as she will change her political color to suit her surroundings if she is assured that she will be permitted to inject her deadly virus into the veins of Protestantism.

If Roman Catholicism can extract a promise from a Republican candidate they are Republicans; but, on the other hand, if they can make a Democrat do their bidding, they are Democrats;[Pg 298] and if they can "wiggle" into the Populists' favor, they are Populists; in fact, they are any and everything that will serve their purpose and help to bind and throttle Protestant principles.

The nation of France is making history to-day, and each line and page of this history is a warning to Protestant America, as every page of this history is covered with the slime of Roman Catholicism, for had it not been for her tyrannical despotism, France would not have had to close up the monasteries and convents of that nation, but on account of her teachings, and in order to protect the rising generations from her influence, not only have the convents and monasteries had to be closed, but the schools which teach her damnable dogmas have been closed.

We do not have to cross the ocean and visit European countries to learn of Roman Catholicism's depravity, but we can stand upon the southern shore of the United States, almost in hailing distance of Cuba, and there behold the shores of a country which had to rebel against the hellishness of Roman Catholicism, as Cuba would to-day[Pg 299] belong to Spain had it not been for Roman Catholicism, as it was her abominations that continually kept Cuba in a feverish ferment.

It was Spain's ungodliness that brought about the Spanish-American war, and Spain's ungodliness was taught her by Romanism.

The West India islands were the progenies of Spain, and the Spanish government permitted the Papists to control these islands with her dogmas of instructions, which were directly instrumental in continually keeping the spirit of anarchy alive.

The only reason that Roman Catholicism does not control this country with her tyrannical hand is on account of numerical numbers, for did Rome believe that she could rule this country to-day, before the sun would set to-morrow night this would be a nation of serfs instead of a nation of independent men and women.

I perhaps have made my declarations broader and stronger than any man of the present day, but I am fresh from the ranks of Catholicism and I know her cunning, and since I have forsaken her[Pg 300] blind leadership and drank deep from the well of Protestantism, I have resolved that no stone shall go unturned that will help me to convince America of her great danger which shadows her future by permitting this Romish despot to flood this country with not only her blind followers, but by being permitted to brazenly denounce everything that is near and dear to this country, as her brazen denunciations of our American institutions is nothing more nor less than treason, and which should be treated as such.

To give the reader some idea of what Roman Catholicism will do if she ever has the power, we quote an article which appeared in a Catholic journal known as "The Catholic Citizen," of Milwaukee, Wis.

Now, if Catholicism has at this time become so brazen that she dares offer the Protestant world the insults that is contained in this article, what shall we expect if this damnable creed ever becomes powerful enough to control by physical strength? The article follows:

"Protestantism in Cuba? What good will it do there? If only the good it has wrought elsewhere, Heaven help the Cubans! Protestantism is nothing but a disorganizer and a pathway to infidelity and atheism. This is the only reason of its existence. As a positive moral force, it is a farce. It has never converted a single nation, but it has unconverted Protestants themselves with a holy vengeance. Berlin has 75,000 church goers out of 2,000,000 people; London 400,000 out of 6,000,000 and so on. 'Without baptism you can not enter Heaven,' says the Scripture, and lo! thanks to Protestantism, nearly 60,000,000 people in the United States are not baptized. A nice system (for the devil), that produces such results—results as fatal to the heathen as to the Christian. Protestantism found the Sandwich islands with 400,000 people. Where are they now? Gone. A million Macris in New Zealand. Where are they? Gone. Seven million Indians in the United States. Where are they? Gone.

"On the other hand, the friars found 300,000 natives in the Philippines 400 years ago, and there are 9,000,000 now; 12,000,000 Indians south of the[Pg 302] Rio Grande, and there are 50,000,000 now. 'By their fruits you shall know them.' In view of such facts, we think Protestants should leave 'Boonioboola Gha' alone and confine their proselytizing to unfortunates nearer home. An American is just as well worth saving as a Cuban or a Chinaman any day."

"The American Citizen," a journal published in Boston, Mass., made the following comment on this article, which appeared in this Roman Catholic journal:

"The above is as good a specimen of papal logic as we have ever seen—and it is the real thing.

"'It has never converted a single nation!' Christianity is not supposed to convert nations—it converts individuals. Mohammedanism converted (?) many nations by the sword, and popery attempted to do it by the inquisition, but failed—except in the case of the Jews and Moors in Spain, which it 'converted' into beggars and refugees.

"Rome 'converted' the Albigenses from being peaceful and industrious citizens into the best mountain warriors in Europe—and the handful[Pg 303] defied and defeated the best papal armies of Europe.

"But how about England, and Scotland, and Scandinavia, and the Netherlands, and many other nations—were they not all papal at one time, but converted through reformation? How about the Huguenots—the very flower of France; the Protestant Irish, the very salvation of the Emerald Isle—were not these all at one time Romanists—converted to Protestantism?

"Read the record of Rome's 'conversions' in Mexico, in Central America, in South America, as told by Prescott and other historians—the introduction of slavery by the papal church, and the unspeakable cruelties perpetrated upon the Indians, or aborigines, of the countries mentioned. Read, in United States senate document 190, the record of Rome's 'conversions' in the Philippines—a work which has made every Filipino a bitter hater of the priests.

"'The Indians of the United States!' Have they ever been Protestants? Have not the priests had control of them since this land was discover[Pg 304]ed? Are not the vices which have killed them—apart from war—the peculiar vices of popery, especially drunkenness? What good have the priests wrought among them? Take California as an example, where these priests enslaved tens of thousands of the Indians for the sole purpose of enriching their church!

"This is a matter of history—of undeniable history. If the American Indians were slain in battle, in nine cases out of ten the Jesuits instigated them to the deeds which brought on the war. While Prescott's 'Mexico' and 'Peru' are accessible in our libraries, popery had better be dumb.

[Pg 305]"That the Filipinos have increased from 300,000 to 9,000,000 and the South Americans from 12,000,000 to 50,000,000, may be true, for all travelers tell us that it is no uncommon thing to find a priest with a halfscore of concubines and fifty children. Certainly these priests have an advantage over Protestant missionaries in this respect. The pagans would naturally follow the example of their 'spiritual' advisers. Oh, yes, the population certainly increases where the priestcraft live."

The Roman Catholic church says that the priests shall not wed, but at the same time the priestcraft fathers an army of children.

The Philippine islands is a nation of heathens, and Catholicism has been in charge of these islands for centuries, and to-day they are worse off than they were before Catholicism planted her black banner in their midst.

Wherever you find intellectuality, morality and civilization in its fullest meaning, you will find a country where Protestantism is the predominating doctrine, as Catholicism can not exist only in the "underbrush" of ignorance and vice.

The greatest menace this country has to contend with is the influx of Rome's followers from other nations, and unless our immigration laws are remedied it will not be long until Rome will be able, by physical strength, to enumerate the United States as one of her countries, as each succeeding year tens of thousands of the followers of Rome from Italy and other priest-ridden countries flock to our shores to practice in this country the abominations taught them in their childhood.[Pg 306]

France's woes and miseries have been expected for years by men of intelligence and men who could read the signs of the times, as Rome's influence was year by year growing more intolerable, and it was only a matter of time when France would be forced to either permit herself to be dragged down to the level of the debased teachings of Catholicism or else by a heroic effort boldly stamp out this Romish creed of damnation, and the latter course is the one she has chosen to pursue, and to-day finds the Roman Catholic church despised and detested by every intelligent and patriotic Frenchman of the land.

In July 1874, Eugene Lawrence, in the columns of "Harper's Weekly," made a prediction that ought to convince every sane man and woman in this land that the woes of France are directly traceable to the Roman Catholic church, as Mr. Lawrence was a historian of national repute, and a man who was a patriot whom the American eagle was proud of, and for the benefit of the readers of my little book I desire to quote in full this prediction made thirty years ago, as to-day finds[Pg 307] Mr. Lawrence's prediction being fulfilled in every particular, and Roman Catholicism is the incarnate fiend that has forced this prediction to come true. Mr. Lawrence's article follows:

"The Papal church is chiefly responsible for the decadence of the French mind. The priests have long controlled the education of the nation and have striven to shut it out from all contact with the culture of America, Germany and England. Under the rule of Napoleon III, the Jesuits obtained the guidance of nearly all the secondary colleges; Protestant schools were sedulously discouraged, and nothing was taught that could offend the mediaeval tastes of Rome. When, two years ago, the French republicans had resolved to found a free and compulsory system of instruction for all France as the chief want of the nation, the papal bishops and priests suppressed the measure by all their arts. They were resolved to have no education which they could not control. The republican movement failed; Bishop Dupanloup and his associates succeeded once more in shutting out the light of knowledge from the peo[Pg 308]ple, and have sown the fires of warfare in the place of mental progress and moral culture.

"France, which has often made the most rapid progress toward reform, has also been the most successful leader of modern reaction. Its revolutions have set in motion all other nations, but have failed to purify itself. It is enslaved by a single church and ruled by Roman superstition. At the recent assembly at Paris, of all the hierarchy of France, of Jesuits, Dominicans, Monks and prelates, it was resolved that all the strength of the papal party should be given to an effort to grasp the control of the higher education of the people, and make every college and seminary the teacher of the worship of the Sacred Heart; to confine instruction within the limits of Roman theology, and shut out more strictly than ever before the light of modern progress. At a great and powerful meeting of all the Roman Catholic editors of France, a similar policy was resolved upon. By a strange revulsion of sentiment the press was made to advocate its own restriction or repression. The papal editors apparently sigh[Pg 309] for a return of the mediaeval practices when Francis I. burned ardent printers in Paris, and the Sorbonne would have banished the printing press from France forever. The Roman Catholic papers invoke the restoration of the Bourbons and of the temporal power of the Pope, and in the ardor of a new spirit of martyrdom offered themselves up to a spiritual bondage that must end in their own slow destruction and the death of the national intellect They would enforce anew that policy if isolation which has filled France with impurity, and left it the prey of emperors and marshals, princes and priests.

"France has thus displayed, since its first revolution, a most remarkable contest. The spirit of freedom has more than once placed its people in front of human progress, and ever again the spirit of reaction has dragged them back into the abyss of mental and moral decay. Its priests have invariably triumphed over its reformers. The Roman church has always held a supremacy above the law. Of all the national institutions, it has alone preserved its freedom of action unimpaired.[Pg 310] It receives an enormous subsidy from the state. While all other associations are held under a strict subjection, while political meetings are scarcely allowed, while the press is silenced, while Protestant churches can hold no assemblies or synods except by the connivance of the government, while Protestant churches are forbidden to have either bell or steeple, the Roman priesthood hold their councils and assemblies unrestrained, and cover the land with their sodalities, their societies, their processions, and their pilgrimages. The church is the only well-organized political party. Its agents are active in every commune. Its severe discipline produces order through all its hosts of Jesuits, monks and priests. Its confessors rule in the palaces of the wealthy and the hovels of the peasants. It forbids education, it stifles thought, it inculcates a pitiless severity against Protestants and reformers; and with natural indignation the leading Republicans point to the dominant church as the chief source of all the woes of France, as sacrificing the morals, integrity and mental elevation of the nation to the single[Pg 311] purpose of maintaining the ascendency of a foreign Pope. The French Republicans have been forced to see that the Papal church is the necessary foe of freedom. It would be well if our own people could learn from their experience, and guard with strict vigilance their institutions from the secret and open assaults of a foreign priesthood.

"There is no doubt, at least in the minds of the French Republicans, that to the intrigues of the Papal faction is due the disordered and hopeless condition of the nation. Gambetta's paper, La Republique, assures its readers that the assembly is ruled by a party devoted wholly to the ecclesiastical interests; that they labor only to reduce the whole country to an abject submission to Rome, and are ready to accomplish their aims by measures fatal to the peace of France. It asserts that the priesthood forms a league as rigorous as that over which the Guises ruled and against which the Huguenots struggled; that the church has its myriads of societies, committees, agents, an overflowing treasury, the favor of the government, a[Pg 312] single aim—an infallible ruler. It calls upon the people, if they would be free, to strike down the hydra that preys upon the state. The policy of Bismarck, indeed, finds its best defense in the condition of France. If the interference of the papal faction proves so disastrous to the welfare of the French people, it is plainly the interest of Germany to crush it forever by all the resources of statesmanship. If the rule of papal Rome be so intolerable to its friends, what might it not accomplish in the dominions of its opponents? France may yet learn from its neighbors over the Rhine the only path to freedom. What it seems most to need is a Bismarck."

If in 1874, Mr. Lawrence, after making a thorough study of the conditions of France, could so accurately prophecy what would happen thirty years hence, the conditions at that time must have been indeed very palpable, but no more so than they are in America to-day, as Roman Catholicism within the past ten years has made greater strides in strangling American liberties than she ever has in any twenty-five years, before, as this[Pg 313] creed of abominations has been losing its hold upon not only the throats of France, but of Italy as well. As she has made the effort of her life to plant the seeds of anarchy and revolution in the bosom of her followers in the United States, in order that she may at the proper time, and as soon as she believes she is numerically strong enough to overcome by physical force, to strike a blow that will paralyze every ambition of Protestantism in this country.

Hundreds of the best and wisest men this country has ever known have been for years warning the United States of her dangers from Romanism, but it seems as though we will not heed the warning, but bear in mind that unless this country does heed this warning and halt the Czar of Darkness, we will live to see the time when we will have to resort to arms to protect our Protestant interests.

The nation of France has swung out from the power of the Vatican, and is to-day defying the Pope of Rome and daring him to do his worst, and France is a nation that has always been a[Pg 314] Catholic nation and controlled by her abominations, but she has woke up to the fact that unless this hellish doctrine is stamped out from her shores that she will become a nation of mental pygmies and nonentities, as she has long since learned that Catholicism is nothing more nor less than a poisonous breath that withers intellect and causes nations to decay and sink to the level of Romish degeneracy.

It seems as though the Vatican will not learn that the world moves, as the Vatican is determined that Italy shall not appear above the horizon of papal abhorrence.

It is hard for the Vatican to learn that the world moves and that Italy moves with it. In its final resolution, the quarrel between the Pope and the French government is based on the recognition of the king of Italy as the sole sovereign in Rome, but the Pope is as determined that him and his reign of darkness shall be the only acknowledged ruler of Italy.

President Loubet of France, the executive of this Catholic nation, gave great offense to the[Pg 315] Vatican, by visiting the king of Italy, who is in the eyes of the church a usurper.

According to the Vatican's standards, the kingdom of Italy is not an accomplished fact, as the Vatican refuses to recognize any government in Italy save that which he chooses to establish and build up out of the filth and abominations of Roman Catholicism.

The Pope declares himself to be the only legitimate sovereign in Rome, but the Italian government has for a number of years been learning that the power of the Vatican is a power of darkness, emanating from the putridness of paganism, and which is detrimental to any nation that aspires to individual intellectuality, morality and greatness.

The reader must bear in mind that Italy is the home of the Pope, and the home of Popes, and that Rome is the city of Popes, archbishops and cardinals.

This statement can not be denied by any living man, and since it is true, we want to learn something of the inhabitants of Rome, so that we may be prepared to judge whether Roman Catholicism[Pg 316] is beneficial or detrimental to those whom she rules.

We make the statement without fear of successful denial, that Roman Catholicism is a power which withers the hopes and ambitions of any nation, which is so unlucky as to fall under her tyrannical tread, as Romanism is a power for evil, unequaled by any creed of deviltry and diabolical cunning ever conceived by mortal man.

We have made the statement that the city of Rome was one of the most immoral and ungodly cities under the shining canopy of Heaven, and we have also made the statement that Rome is the home of popes, archbishops and cardinals, and we propose to prove to the reader that, while Rome is the home of Roman Catholic officials, that she is also the home of the libertine and immoral.

We also propose to prove that the immorality of the inhabitants of Rome is taught them by the Catholic officials of Rome, as we are not writing of what we have learned from the mouth of others, but we are writing of what we know by the power of sight, as we have visited Rome more than once[Pg 317] in the official capacity of Roman Catholicism, and we make this statement with a living God as our witness, that Roman Catholicism is responsible for the immorality found in the city of Rome, and this immorality is not confined alone to the city outside the walls of the Vatican, as this atmosphere of immorality and degradation permeates the very atmosphere of the Vatican, as illegitimacy is found within the walls of the Vatican, as well as without.

Rome is a city of popes, cardinals, archbishops, priests, monks, friars and ecclesiastical students.

In the city of Rome, which is the home of popes, there are 39 cardinals, 35 archbishops, 1,469 priests, 2,832 monks and friars, 2,000 nuns and 1,000 ecclesiastical students, making in all 7,576 teachers of this abomination; and for every 4,375 children born in the city of Rome, 3,160 are bastards, and for every 750 people in the city of Rome, there is a murder committed during the year; thus you will see that this herd of Catholic teachers are not only teachers of immorality and degradation, but are also responsible for murder,[Pg 318] as such a pestilence of immorality will lead to murder.

Is it any wonder that France and Italy are to-day struggling with this polluted beast in order to free themselves from her filthy grasp? Is it any wonder that France has closed up the monasteries, convents and schools of this abomination!

With such nations as France and Italy declaring to their inhabitants that Catholicism is not only a nuisance but a menace to intelligence and morality, what can this government expect in the future if she permits Romanism to continue to flourish in the future as she has in the past?

This book is not written by a man who seeks notoriety, or a man who is writing from a prejudiced standpoint, but we are writing from what we know of the awfulness of Catholicism, as fifty-six long years have rolled into eternity since I began to worship at the feet of this immoral hag; therefore, the reader must know that it is not a pleasant task to acknowledge before the world that we have been not only fifty-six years a follower of this creed of abominations, but for thirty long[Pg 319] years we helped to fasten this creed upon the human family.

I wish that it was within my power to become a spirit, which would enable me to navigate the air and whisper my warnings into the ears of Protestant America, for no nation on the face of the earth needs the warning as badly as the United States, as day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year the Vatican's shadow grows longer and longer upon our shores, and wherever this shadow of paganish darkness stretches itself you will find the withered hopes of man, as Roman Catholicism's only ambition is to place humanity at her feet, which will enable her to bind her followers with the cords of superstition and ignorance, as she exists upon the blasted hopes of those whom she rules.

If what I have told you in the pages of this book is true, then is it not time for Protestant America to arouse herself from her lethargy and buckle on the armor of righteousness and patriotism and go forth to battle this "Strumpet of Sin" with the valor of our American forefathers?[Pg 320]

I have prayerfully endeavored to lay bare the sins of Roman Catholicism, and the only hindrance I have encountered in my efforts is on the account of not being more familiar with the English language, as I am a German born, and my power of expressing myself in the English language is materially hindered by being educated in Germany, but thank God that education does not stand in the way of a living God helping the foreign tongue to express itself in a manner which can be understood.

I have endeavored to inform the reader who I am, what I am, and why I am what I am, and have taken up the abominations of Catholicism and treated these abominations in a manner that I hope will carry conviction to the hearts of the reader, as I am qualified to go before not only any official who has the power to administer an oath and to make oath to the truthfulness of every assertion made herein, but I am willing to meet my God around the great white throne in Heaven and stand upon the declarations herein contained.

I have endeavored to give the Protestant reader[Pg 321] to understand that his offspring are considered bastards, and their parents persons who live in immorality, by not belonging to the Roman Catholic Church and being married by the priestcraft.

I have endeavored to tear the mask of ignorance from the bleared and polluted features of Romanism and show her up in all of her detestible ugliness.

I have in my weak manner endeavored to try to warn our American fathers and mothers of the great danger of the "confession," as the confessional is the stepping stone that leads to Romish abominations, as it is there that the seed of immoral thought is planted and it is there that the purity of girlhood is first tarnished, and if I can arouse Protestant mothers and fathers of this land to these awful sinks of iniquity I will consider that I have been instrumental in helping to obliterate one of the greatest evils known to the human family.

I have endeavored to point out to Protestant America the awful mistake made by the United States in permitting Roman Catholicism to con[Pg 322]tinue her debauchery in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, as I declare to the reader with eyes wet with grief that not only the flower of our army is being sacrificed in these far away islands, but that millions of dollars are being spent upon these islands and that Roman Catholicism is being benefited by this great expenditure of Protestant money, as the Pope of Rome is as powerful in these islands to-day as he ever was, and every intelligent Protestant in this land who has made this subject a study knows full well that had it not been for Roman Catholicism and her outrages, that the Spanish-American war would never have been fought.

I have earnestly tried to make the reader understand that the monasteries in this country are often the abodes of criminals, and the nunneries of this land are the slaughter pens of virtue, and I trust that my readers will read it in the spirit that I have written it, and if such is the case I know that this little book will be instrumental in not only opening the eyes of drowsy Protestantism, but it will be instrumental in turning thou[Pg 323]sands of Roman Catholics from the error of their ways and pointing them to "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world."

I have endeavored to demonstrate to the reader that celibacy upon the part of the priestcraft is one of the most damnable crimes known to civilization, as it is the unmarried cussedness of the Roman Catholic priests that is instrumental in the slaughter of virtue.

I have endeavored to prove to the reader that the Roman Catholic Church is a living infamous insult to an all-wise God, by claiming that the Pope of Rome is an infallible being, and I believe that if the reader has read my book with a determination of discarding that which is bad and holding to that which is good, that he or she will close this book with an enlightened conception of this devilish creed which would have its followers believe that the Pope of Rome is on an equality with Jesus Christ.

I have endeavored to lead the reader from clime to clime, so that he or she might behold the characters of the followers of Rome, and by compari[Pg 324]son I have endeavored to convince the reader that the characters of the followers of Roman Catholicism are not nor never can be on a par with the character of Protestantism, as Roman Catholicism follows the teachings of paganism, born in the kennel of filthiness and surrounded and led by a class of men who glut their lust upon the virtue of their "dupes," while Protestantism is led by the lowly Nazarine, whose teachings have made Protestant America all that she is to-day or ever will be.

I have endeavored to point out to the readers of this little volume the sin of Protestantism, permitting Catholicism to control our public schools and teach our children doctrines that will be instrumental in strangling their ambitions and paralyzing their aspirations, which is near and dear to Protestant America.

I have from the bottom of an honest heart endeavored to impress upon the reader the awful influence that the priestcraft of America has upon the morals of this country, and I trust that this task has not been a useless one, for America has[Pg 325] no plague that is so deadly to patriotism as this black-garbed army of priests, who tramp up and down the length and breadth of this land, seeking whom they may devour.

With every drop of blood in my old veins electrified with a desire to serve a living God, I have endeavored to warn Protestant America of the lustfulness of the priestcraft, who without a blush of shame invade the chastity of our American homes, and by the hellishness of this Romish doctrine pollute the wives and daughters of this fair land.

I have pointed out the dangers which beset this nation by the toleration of Popish rule, and have compared Protestant nations with the nations which have been morally damned and disgraced by Romanism, and I trust that my comparisons will lead an intelligent public to see the dangers that beset this country unless Romanism is relegated to the everlasting haunts of oblivion.

In conclusion I desire to say to the reader that he or she will never know of the diabolical cunning of this Romish doctrine, for it is impossible[Pg 326] for mortal man who has traveled this road of debauchery to ever portray in print to the public what he has seen along this journey of ignorance, superstition and immorality, as no man who has the welfare of the young and rising generation at heart would sink so low as to write all of the awfulness that I have seen upon my journey for thirty years upon this Romish highway of carnality, as every turn in the path that leads through this desert of desolation is strewn with the bleached bones of ambition.

There is not an oasis in this vast stretch of Romish desolation, as her every ambition is to rule by superstition, ignorance and tyranny.

Again I would warn Protestant America that we are nearing the trenches of physical strength, and unless we infuse into our Protestant manhood the liquid fires of Protestantism, the time is not far distant when the Bunker Hill that was made famous by the blood of our forefathers will have her base dripping wet with the blood of Protestantism, in defense of the principles that have[Pg 327] made America all that she ever has been, all that she is, and all that she may hope to be.

Can we expect anything else should Roman Catholicism ever become numerically strong enough to rule by physical strength? The answer to this question must come from the pages of Romish history, and this history has every page wet with Protestant blood shed by this Monarch of Darkness, as 75,000,000 Protestants to-day sleep beneath the sod of the universe, bearing the scars of Romish torture.

My task is done; my warning has been sounded; my prayers have been offered, and now in the evening of old age, when life's sun is slipping down behind the horizon of earthly things, I find myself surrounded with the faces of new friends, but in the dim far away I behold the countenance of my Lord beckoning me to that rest beyond the skies, where I hope to receive a full pardon from a God I so recently learned to serve.

For the sake of right, I bade farewell to the associations of my childhood, but in doing so I have been permitted to taste of realities that were[Pg 328] bought for the human race "By the blood of the Lamb," and I feel assured that when this earthly race is over that I will be taken home to glory, where I will be permitted to sing the songs of the new Jerusalem, and my prayer is that this little volume may march on down the ages after I am gone, to warn the generations that are yet unborn of the damnable teachings of Romanism, and be instrumental in wooing away from this human viper those who have been taught to worship at the feet of this hydra-headed monster, Roman Catholicism.[Pg 329]

THE LIE NAILED.

Catholicism is circulating a lie that BERNARD FRESENBORG never was a Catholic Priest. Here is a copy of a Check given Mr. Fresenborg by ARCHBISHOP J.J. HARTY, for saying "Mass" in 1903. J.J. Harty is now an Archbishop in the Philippine Islands and one of Rome's big guns.

Archbishop Harty at the time this Check was given was Priest in charge of ST. LEO'S CATHOLIC CHURCH, St. Louis, Mo.

[I will give $1,000 to any man, woman or child who will prove that this statement untrue.]

THE END.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

On the cover page, "circumfrence" was corrected to "circumference" in the following text: "This great book has stirred America from center to circumference."

In the Author's Announcement, "enlightment" was corrected to "enlightenment" in "A structure of enlightenment ..."

On page 18, "Catholocism" was corrected to "Catholicism" in the following text: "... that I have shaken off this eternal bondage of Catholicism ..."

On page 20, "ledgerdemain" was corrected to "legerdemain" in the following text: "... Catholic legerdemain, and I was taught ..."

On page 22, "Herold" was corrected to "Harold" to be consistent with other mentions of this name on the same page.

On page 28, "crimnials" was corrected to "criminals'" in the following text: "... built with the purpose of sheltering her abominable faithless in case these criminals' desire to hide themselves ..."

On page 34, "hodwink" was corrected to "hoodwink" in the following text: "... which will enable the officials to "hoodwink" their followers ..."

On page 94, the text "carion" was corrected to "carrion" in the following text: "... that part of the priestcraft which exists upon the carrion of the human family ..."

In the first paragraph of chapter VI (on page 97) "Ecquador" was corrected to "Ecuador" in the following text: "In this chapter, we have before us the vision of two countries; one is Protestant America and the other Catholic Ecuador."

On page 128, "asylumns" was corrected to "asylums" in the following text: "The "asylums" of olden times were intended as retreats ..."

On page 136, "Crowe" was corrected to "Crow" to be consistent with other mentions of this name.

On page 138, "absense" was corrected to "absence" in the following text: "... asked his government of Holland for a leave of absence to fight in the Boer war ..."

On page 141, "sytem" was corrected to "system" in the following text: "... so I sailed for the diamond fields of South Africa, where I am now free, by the system ..."

Also on page 141, the word "by" was corrected to "my" in the following text: "... I walked to the banks of the Missouri River and raised my buried treasure ..."

On page 147, "degredation" was corrected to "degradation" in the following text: "... snatch their children from the Romish mire of degradation ..."

On page 214, the word "concensus" was corrected to "consensus" in the following text: "The consensus of opinion among all classes ..."

On page 255, "paracite" was corrected to "parasite" in the following text: "... who are as heavily burdened to-day with this ancient parasite ..."

On page 277, "Massachuetts" was corrected to "Massachusetts" in the following text: "If such things are now happening in the State of Massachusetts ..."

On page 297, "Ctholicism" was corrected to "Catholicism" in the following text: "... permit yourself to be made tools of in behalf of Roman Catholicism ..."

On page 285, "blod" was corrected to "blood" in the following text: "... every man, woman and child that lives under that old red, white and blue flag, which was bought by the blood of our forefathers ..."

Also on page 285, "boldy" was corrected to "boldly" in the following text: "... as she boldly and flagrantly declares that she ..."

On page 293, "emmissaries" was corrected to "emissaries" in the following text: "... send her emissaries into the halls ..."

On page 306, "convice" was corrected to "convince" in the following text: "... made a prediction that ought to convince every sane man and woman ..."

On page 311, "hopless" was corrected to "hopeless" in the following text: "... the intrigues of the Papal faction is due the disordered and hopeless condition ..."

On page 312, "interefrence" was corrected to "interference" in the following text: "If the interference of the papal faction ..."

On page 320, "expres" was corrected to "express" in the following text: "... helping the foreign tongue to express itself ..."

On page 321, "detestible" was corrected to "detestable" in the following text: "... in all of her detestible ugliness."

On page 322, "sacrified" was corrected to "sacrificed" in the following text: "... the flower of our army is being sacrificed ..."

"Villify" and "villified" are consistently spelled with two lls and are used multiple times by the author. They have been left unchanged.

The word "cungering" is spelled consistently and is used in multiple places in this book. This word has been left unchanged.

The following words each appear once, and are left unchanged: "cathechism;" "effulgency;" "engraven;" "jesuitical;" "Macris;" "Oricular;" "perceptibilities."

		Page
Chapter I. Who I Am, What I Am, and Why I Am What I Am.		15
Chapter II. Some of the Abominations of Catholicism Carried On in the Name of Our Blessed Savior.		33
Chapter III. All Children of Protestant Parents, Declared Bastards by Catholicism.		51
Chapter IV. Tear from the Citadel of Reason, the Power to Reason and You make Slaves of Humanity.		65
Chapter V. Innocent Girlhood at the Confessional Box.		81
Chapter VI. The Nations completely dominated by the Power of the Pope, are Nations of Illegitimacy.		97
Chapter VII. The Power of the Pope in Cuba, Porto Rica and the Philippine Islands.		109
Chapter VIII. Monasteries are often Criminals' Abode, and Nunneries the Slaughter Pens of Virtue.		127
Chapter IX. Unmarried Cussedness of the Roman Priest-Craft.		149
Chapter X. A Brazen Insult to God.		171
Chapter XI. The Characters of the Followers of Catholicism, Compared to the Followers of Protestantism.		181
Chapter XII. Why the Teachers in our Public Schools should not be Selected from the Ranks of Catholicism.		193
Chapter XIII. The Influence of the Priesthood in America.		223
Chapter XIV. The Chastity of the Home Invaded by the Lustfulness of the Priest-Craft.		239
Chapter XV. Nations which have been Disgraced by the Toleration of Popish Rule.		255
Chapter XVI. Nearing the Trenches of Physical Strength.		281

		Page
Author's Picture.		2
"What Shall I Do To Be Saved?"		14
The Two Inspirations—The Holy Bible and Catholicism.		33
The Unmarried Life of the Priest-Craft, compared to the Married Life of Protestant Ministers.		50
The Two Ways—"As the Twig is Bent, the Tree's Incline."		64
Immorality of the Priest-Hood—With Romish Lust, the Blossom of Virtue is Destroyed.		80
America's Ruin.		96
Free in Name Only—Take Their Chains Off Uncle Sam, or You will always have Trouble with Them.		108
Save The Girls—Batter Down the Doors of Convents, and the Civilized World will Stand Amazed.		126
Take Your Choice—The Christ of Protestantism Compared to the God of Catholicism.		148
Being Ex-Communicated for Reading the Bible—"May She Be Damned in her Mouth, in Her Breast, in Her Heart, Etc., Etc."		170
A Modern Judas—In His Wake, Misery always Follows.		180
Foes to Knowledge—Like a Poisonous Serpent, Etc., Etc.		192
Heathenish Practices—A Catholic "Dupe" Kissing the Supposed Bone of St. Ann.		222
A Catholic Tool—Begging in the Name of the Lord, but in Reality, to Support the Priest-Craft, Etc.		238
Systematic Robbery—The Road to Glory along the Catholic Highway, Etc.		254
Uncle Sam—"Here is Your Next Fight Boys."		280

"Thirty Years in Hell"

... OR ...

"From Darkness to Light."

BY

Ex-Priest, Bernard Fresenborg,

Who for thirty long years tread the slippery and deceitful path of abhorrent Catholicism, but who to-day stands at the Vatican's door, with the torch of Protestant wisdom, and denounces Popery with a tongue livid with the power of a living God.

Like a Meteor From God's Throne,

This great book has stirred America from center to circumference.

About 400 Large Pages,

And each Page a stinging rebuke to Roman Catholicism.

Published by North-American Book House, St. Louis, Mo.

Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1904, by

NORTH-AMERICAN BOOK HOUSE,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Author's Announcement.