The New York herald., 1844-11-12
The "Nstives" and the "Irish. ,
ST. PAUL ON ROMAN CITIZENSHIP,
AND n
DR.. PISE ON AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP.
A Lecture delivered at 81. Peters Church, Neu
York, on Sunday evening last, by the
REV. G. PIsE, d. d.

REV. q. PIsE, ID. ID.
and When they had bound him Nth thongs Paul saith to
the Centurion that stood by him Is IL iafui for you
scouree a man that is Roman and uncondemned!
Which the Centurion hearing, the tribune aud told
n,m Saying What art thou about to do For this man Is
Roman citizen.
find the tribune coming said to him Tell me art thou
RomGn /! But he said, yea
find the tribune anstpered obtained the being free of
this city pih great find Paul said But was born
so.-Acts of the Apostles, xxi %, 6.7,s
II was indeed the greatest OF privileges in the
time Of st. Paul to be numbered amongst Roman
citizens; and believe that | with justice re-
mark that it is equal privilege at the present day
TO be citizen OF this republic. And ss the tribune
earned his citizenship with great sum OF money,
sc there those who have earned the rights and
privileges Of citizenship In this great country by the
sw-as of THAR brow and The labor Of their hands
many who are willing and ready light mo battles
necessary oi that land of which they have become
citizens, and to die in the which is so glori-
Gus. But !, in the language Of ST. Paul, have been
'born so," and yet is it not astonishing that citi-
zens, whether they have earned the right Of citi-
zenship with ga great sum-" according to the ex-
preston Of the author Of the Acts OF the Apostles,
or whether they have been sborn So" find it ne
cessary to stand forth in vndcation Of that reli-
gious creed which they conscentously profess, and
thus to claim for themselves the right which cti-
zenshp confers upon all-lhe right of worshipping
God according to the dictates of their consciencesl
But such is the spirit Of the present time, and such
are the preudces of the present generation, in
this republic; that it becomes my duty, as it was
the duty in Pagan times-in the dawn of Christian
ity-of Augustine, OF Attanagoras, OF Tertullian,
TO expound the doctrines of Christianity, and to
vndcate the claims of Christianity, or will say, !,
Catholicity, TO the attributes of truth In taxing
this great subject into consl 1eratlon, lind myself
obliged TO contend with these strong obstacles in
the way of our religious belief:
First, we have to contend against sectGrian inRu-
ence secondly, against popular prejudice; and,
thirdly, against what may style dogmatic mi1e-
pyesentdtt0n.
Under the head of sectarian intolerance would
signify that we have to contend with the intoler-
ance which has been exercised and enforced from
the pupits and through the press of those secta.
rians who have presumed TO make the assertion,
and who have attempted to prove 1t, that our reli-
gion is Incompatible with free institutions, and that,
therefore, our religion should not be tolerated in
this our own republic, of which we are citizens,
either having purchased our citizenship with a
grea sum, or having been " born So" as ST. Paul.
Under the head of popular prejudice, will take
briefly into consideration that strong and universal
prejudice propogated against us with regard to the
reading and use OF the scriptures. Under the head
of dogmatic Misrepresentation, will cast my eye,
cursory, in this Introductory lecture, upon the
traordlnary misrepresentation OF the doctrines Of
our misrepresentation which have gone
abroad not merely from vulgar sources, but have
recently been confirmed and settled, as far as il
could be, by the authority OF no less an assemblage
of individuals than those who composed the Epis-
c0pal Convention IN the city OF Philadelphia
Those who know me are fully aware of the man.
ner in which 1conduct these lectures-without any
disposition whatever to inure the feelings of any
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. any Intention to attack any
other creed-with the most perfect respect for the
convictions OF those who may differ from me, but
at the same time with candid purpose, and manful
determination to ovndcate my doctrine, and prove it
TO this community as far as my abilities will allow
me and my privileges acizen, having been ''born
so," will warrant me. Now, the question lie, on
what grounds has been founded that extraordinary
prejudice against our church, under what II is sta
ted and believed by many, that cur church is in
compatible with free institutions! There are here
two things to be taken into consideration. First,
did the Reformation give liberty and secondly,
did the Catholic Church, since the days of the Re-
formation, attempt to destroy it? 1t is generally
believed by those who have taken but superficial
view Of history, and much more SO by those who
derive their views from the defamation which
they hear from the pulpts of those opposed to us,
that at the dawn Of the Reformation, liberty OF
conscience, liberty OF speech, liberty of the press
nay, universal liberty, beamed with its radiance
upon benighted earth and that the Catholic re-
gion stood always opposed to that light, and that
wherever the Catholic religion had means and inf1u-
ence, it attempted TO extlngush, or if it could not
totally extlnguishit, to diminish that light. With
regard to the question, did the Reformation give
and auhorse this universal liberty Of conscience,
will not have recourse, in furnishing a reply, TO
any Catholic author. / will have recourse 10 an
author universally known-to an author whose al-
thority isevery where respected, not merely on ac
count of his general accuracy as an historian, on
account OF philosophy as critic, of his candor
a narrator of events, but likewise on account of
his popularity as man OF extraordinary talents
and OF beautiful and correct taste. Mr.. Roscoe,
whose pen has glowngly depicted the bright age
of Leo the Tenth. In his Life and Pontihcate
of Leo x" vols. octave, he censures-these are
his words" the severity with which Luther treat
too much on the one hand, or too little on the
other, and could not walk steadily on the hair
breadth line which he had presented Again,
"whist Luther was engaged in his opposition TO
the Church Of Rome, he asserted the right of pri-
vate judgment with the confidence and courage
of a martyr, but no sooner had he freed his fol-
lowers from the chains OF papal deusion than he
forged tor them others, IN many respects equally
intolerable" Thus we have the confession OF
Roscoe, that Luther, who is generally considered
the great patriarch of liberty, because he was the
first of the Reformers, was as intolerant towards
those who differed from him, as the Church OF
Rome is accused 10 have been with regard to him
self and his associates Again, passing to the do
mination which Calvin exerclsed-going from one
Reformer to anOther-we find that more than one
thousand Lutheran ministers were prescribed with
their wives and children, and reduced to beg the
bread of charity. Thus we find Luther waging wal
against those who differed from him, and Calvin pro-
scribing the authority ot almost cotemporane
Gus writer, thousands OF Lutheran ministers with
their wives and children! Now, as it is not my inten
ton to enter at length into this all-mporant subject
but merely TO give cursory view of it, let us very
briefly examine what has been the character Of
Catholics with regard to toleration, and dlspos
tion to extend freedom Of conscience and liberty
every where. We find that in Belgium, which j.
essentially Catholic country, the people have sub
mtted to be governed by Protestant King, anc
there has been no attempt to rebel against his au
thOritv We find that Poland was ne resented anf
yet there the Catholic religion was principally dom
inant. We find that no Catholic government eve
united the King and the Church, making the Kin,
head Of both Church and State. No. This wa
Reformation for we find that after that event
Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Engant
established this connection, and made the tempora
sovereign ut the same time their spiritual ruler
the King in these countries, or the Queen as it MAJ
be, being the Head of government both tenn
poral and spirtna Rome has opened he