The Express.
London, England, 1853-05-19 00:00:00

FATHER GAVAZZI IN NEW YORK.

(From the New Fork re arse.)
Father Gavazzi delivered his first tree lecture for
the benefit of the Irish population of the city, in the Ta-
bernacle, before a very numerous audience. Long before
' the hour designated for commencing the lecture the house
was filled to its utmost capacity, and many persons stood
in the aisles during the delivery of the lecture, which occu-
pied nearly an hour and a half in the delivery. Making
his appearance upon the stage at eight o'clock, the Padre
was received with loud and long continued applause, and
proceeded to speak as follows :
I shall prove three things—namely, first, that the
individual in the papal sptem is • blind, a supersti-
tious and a poor man. He is a blind man, because
blindness is produced by the teachings of the Ro-
man catholic clergy. Re is a superstitious man
because superstition is produced by the veneration of the
Roman catholic clergy. He is a poor man because misery
is produced by the authority of the Roman catholic clergy.
To prove that the individual in the popish system is a
blind man, because blindness is produced by the teaching
of the Romish clergy, it is salment to say, that in the
popish system it is forbidden, it is strictly prohibited, to
read the Bible. Can the papists deny, that many and many
smong the ancient popes, and all the modern popes, abso-
lutely prohibit the reading of the Bible, especially in the
vernacular tongue? It is true that in protestant countries
the Roman catholic clergy, iii order to evade the impu-
tationthat the church of Rome forbids the reading of

the Bible, permit some catholic booksellers to have-the
Bible in their shops. But this is not my question. My
question is this ; in the popish service, is the Bible
used ? Is the Bible read every Sunday ? Is the Word of
God read before the people in the English language in
America? Or is it read in the French language among the
French population? Or in the German language among
the German people ? Not at all, my dear brethren. In
the catholic service you have mass, and sometimes a ser-
mon, but never the reading of the Bible. This is not all :
does your curate, or your parish priest, or your father con-
fessor recommend you to read the Bible ? Do they recom-
mend the reading of the Bible in your families ? Do they
insist to obtain from the Roman catholic, that every
evening, before going to bed; there shall be read by
the family a chapter from the Bible? No, no! Never
in public—never in private—not from the pulpit,
nor from the confessional; never do the Popish
clergy recommend the reading of the Bible ? And
why is this, my dear brethren ? It is because if the Bible
I was freely read by the Roman catholics, in • few years
pope. and popery will disappear from the earth. (Ap-
plause.) And, therefore, you will never find a priest guilty
of such a suicidal crime. (Applause.) Read the Bible,
and then farewell to pope and popery. But in order to
maintain pope and popery with all due respect, and to pre-
serve it from destruction, the Roman catholic clergy very
prudently forbid the reading of the Bible. Now, in a few
words, my dear brethren, are you in light without theliable,
or are you very blind ? Even though you were the beat phi-
losopher in the world—though you be the most scientific
man in the world, if you were without the Bible, you are
nothing ; because without the Bible there is no moral light
among mankind. (Applause.) This is not • prenatal
opinion. No ! this is the opinion of David, in his psalm,
where he says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a
light unto my path." It is not a protestant sentiment, bat
it is the maxim of St. Peter, who said, that the word a
God is the lamp which lights us through the darkness in
this dark world; and therefore it is the word of God, mad
it alone, that can give us light. And therefore, as the
word of God is our light, we conclude that if a people be
without the word of God they are without the light : and,
as the Roman catholic people are without the word of God,
therefore they are without light. (Great applause.) For
you to deny that the Roman catholic church prohibits the
reading of the Bible would be u aboard as it would
be for you to tell me that the sun did not this morning
rise bright and beautiful over the city of New York.
From the time of Popo Innocent I. to Pope Pius
IX., the church of Rome has always prohibited the read-
ing of the Bible. This is a sign that the church of Rome
fears, and very much fears, the influence of the Bible ;
and, therefore, we are to conclude that the church of
Rome is no more the primitive church of Christ, but is an
apostate church. (Applause.)
The Padre now came to speak upon the second head of
his discourse, namely, that the individual in the Papal sys-
tem is under a superstitious influence, and that this super-
stition increases his veneration for the clergy. He next
spoke of what he styled the capital superstition in Ireland,
namely. the worship of St. Patrick. And in order to con-
clude this part of the superstition, I will say a few words to
Irishmen about St. Patrick's purgatory. We have two
purgatories the purgatory in the other life of fire, and the
purgatory of this life with water. What is the purgatory
of St. Patrick. It is the greatest superstition ever heard
of in this world. Those pilgrims who make the journey to
St. Patrick's shrine believe that the ceremonies enacted
there will purge them of their sin ; but if you pay a
sum of money you can send another in your stead, to per-
form the pilgrimage for you, and all such penance requi-
site, and wash himself in the water, and take to your house
the absolution of all your sins. My dear brethren, is not
this superstition of the purgatory of St. Patrick ridiculous?
What is the use of it? lie was a great saint, it is true,
said the lecturer, and always • great liberal and Christian
patriot. (Applause.) But very different from many of the
modern patriots in Irolar d. lam candid when I say that I
know many Irishmen, both catholic and protestant., whom
I highly esteem—whom I find to be like the Italian people
—warm-minded and warm-hearted ; and I regard it as a
great pity that this people should be crushed by the Roman
catholic priesthood. He then spoke of the power of the
catholic priests in Ireland, and said : The power and autho-
rity of the priesthood in Ireland is all-powerful. The poor
people there work hard and live in misery, in order to sup-
port their priests in luxury. (Applause.) And they do
this under the fear of persecuUmn The priests are wor-
shipped by the people, and keep them in the melt abject
misery and ignorance. And so it always is with thew
priests. Calumnies and persecutions are their daily bread.
(Applause.) And this is the brotherly love, the Christian
spirit, exhibited by them. (Applause.) Do not mistake my
mission. I am not here to please any one but God, and
preach the truth and the Gospel ; therefore, my dear
brethren, what I preach in America I shall preach in Italy.
The Padre closed hie lecture as follows:—Now, hear and
meditate my last conclusion. Irishmen ! you work and toil
for the freedom of your native country ; but remember,
Ireland shall never be free till the Irishmen are no longer
slaves of their priests. (Applause.) Irishmen ! free your-
selves from your priests, and you will also free your dear
country. (Applause.)