Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-05-15

to sanction the idea OF the establishment of re-
hgious tests, as qualification for office. AS it
is, it was received with fierce opposition by
many of our most distinguished statesmen; but
what would have been said if it had contained
an authority for such religious tests as are now
proposed as qualifications for Office? James
Madison was its great advocate and defender,
as it now stands; but, in the contingency Of
which speak, what would he have said Of it,
distinguished as he was for large and generous
sentiments on the subject Of human liberty?
And what would old George Mason have said,
the author of the declaration in favor of reli-
gious freedom, III our Bill of Rights? And,
above all, what would he have said, who once
exclaimed, "Give me liberty or give me death"
when it was supposed that life and property
were mperilled by such declaration ?
Fellow-ctizens, care not in what capacity
it be, whether as representatives or coustitu-
ents, that we violate the spirit and defeat the
objects of the Constitution; in either case, we
sap and mine the foundations of our govern
ment, and disregard our plainest obligations as
citizens.
But object to this prescription of Catholics,
on account of their religious opinions, for other
reasons, which are yet to be given. 1t is undo
ing the work of Martin Luther; it is unprotest-
anizing Professionalism itself, and returning to
the practices of the darkest ages of religious
bigotry and persecution.
What was the great object Of Luther's mis-.
sion? Was it not to establish the right of pri
vate judgment in matters of conscience? And
what was the great work of Professionalism
Was il not to make good that right and that
duty OF individuals, and to enter solemn pro-
test against any human authority, whether of
bishops, churches, or governments, to override
or destroy it? And yet there are men, claim
ing to be good Protestants, who propose to pun
ish, by prescription from Office, all persons
whose private judgments lead them to the adop-
ton of the Catholic faith. have shown how
such prescription may be punishment of the
worst sort; but go farther, and say that the
idea upon which this is justified, if carried out
to its logical consequences, must lead us to far
greater lengths. In short, there is no middle
ground between absolute and perfect liberation
on the one hand, or positive persecution on the
other. If the Catholics are unfit to hold any
Office, however small on account Of their faith,
they are unfit to vote; for it requires as much
patriotic feeling and sound judgment to do the
one as the other, If, then, they are incompe.
tent to the discharge of the first duties of cti-
zenship, and are to be treated as aliens, they
become dangerous members of the society
which thus distrusts them; and the planest die
tates of prudence would seem to require their
removal. Louis XIV, therefore, who revoked
the edict of Nantes, and drove SO many of his
Huguenot subjects to bear their industry and
their arts to Germany, Holland, England, and
even to this country, did but carry out the prin-
ciples upon which it is now proposed to act to
its inevitable and logical consequences As
said before, there can be no middle ground, no
debatable land, between positive prohibition
and perfect liberation. If the right Of private
judgment in matters of conscience exists at all,
it is absolute and independent of all human au-
thority. Such is the result of the great princi-
pie established by Luther, and such the mighty
work of Protestant reform. 1t is now q little
more than three centuries since the city of
Worms presented one of the most remarkable
scenes which has ever appeared in the course
of human affairs. The Emperor Charles, the
German Caesar, had convened there Diet Of
princely dignitaries. The Archduke, Electors,
Landgraves, Margraves, civil and ecclesiastical
Princes; Counts of the Empire, and belted
Knights we're there, numbering, in all, more
than two hundred persons Of regal, or semi
gal estate. That Diet was assembled to con
slider the case Of a poor monk of Wittemburg
whohad made IAN issue with the See Of Rome, upon
nothing less than the right Of private judgment
in matters OF conscience, and dared TO take an
appeal TO public opinion for its judgment upon
that great controversy. So poor was that monk,
that he depended upon the charity Of one Prince
for the money which was to bear his expenses
to Worms, and upon that Of another, for the
very clothing which be wore; he had neither
official place, nor dignity, nor was there one man
whose services he could, as matter of right,
command; but he had spoken the word at
which whole nations must pause 20 listen. 1t
was in vain that his friends, and even the more
generous Of his enemies, dssuaded him from
appearing before that Diet. They said that the
German Caesar, at that day in point Of temporal
power the foremost man in all the world, was
his bitter and implaeable foe that his Spanish
cavaliers, at that day the truest representatives
of Christian chivalry, were riding about the
streets upon their mules, and swearing ven
geance against the monk and his friends that
the Church Of Rome, whose ecclesiastical cen
sures then Illuminated over nearly the whole Of
Chrstendom, would be there with its hostile
array Of learning and power, and that poten.
tates, ecclesiastical and civil, would also be there
thirsting and crying aloud for his blood. But be
said he would 20, if there we're as many devils
10 meet him in Worms, as there were tiles up
on the houses. And he did go, he did appear
before that Caesar, whose frown, indeed, was
terrible, before that Church exulting in its pride
Of strength and before those princes who had
fixed an evil eye upon him; bis face was pale
but with study and rot with fear; his body so
emaciated with vigils and labor that its every
bone could be detected by the least observant
eye in human form, he was not above the
average stature, but as q representative man,
the representative of the mightiest issue which
it had ever fallen 10 mortal lot 10 make, he
lowered in moral majesty to the height of that
great argument, by which he was to sustain it.
The fire Of his eve quenched not in the pres
ence Of imperial majesty itself, the tones OF his
voice rung clear and true as the tempered steel,
and he faltered not as he responded to the en-
snaring questions OF the adversary his heart
quailed not before that great array Of hostile
power. He spoke, and princes, catching the
infection Of his noble zeal, crowded about him
inthe council-cbamber, and said to him, "Speak,
speak out like man, fear not them who can
kill the body, but cannot harm the soul wild,
warlike soldiers, too, were won by the gallant
bearing of the lion n-hearted~priest. "Monk"
said a celebrated captain Of the times, stake
heed to your steps, You are treadinp n path far