The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-01-06

de asks for bread-that living bread, which
came down from heaven, which Christ lived
life of privation and died death of agony to
bring to him and us Let us share it with him
In its pure and wholesome state-not give him,
either by precept or example, stone which he
can neither swallow nor digest Offend not
your brother with your meat nor even, I'M
necessarily, with your spiritual meat, for whom
Christ died! Do not let us insist upon having
1t served up, seasoned with superauous spices
and condiments, which, however we may relish
them, may weaken and sicken him."
But, dearest Herman, do not mean to of
fend or injure any one. If this faith is the best
for me, but not for others, cannot | have and
keep it for myself? i need not be propaganda
ist"
No, my love; you shall keep it as long as
you think it right but keep it to yourself you
cannot; and a propagandist l fear you must be.
Every brilliant and distinguished man or woman,
who becomes a convert to Romanism-I do
not think exaggerate in saying SOS, Of ne
cessity more or less propagandist of Roman
ism. When you let your light SO shine before
men, that, seeing your good works, they may
glority the Father they are too likely to glori-
fy instead the Church of Rome. Thus the dan
ger is, that your very virtues enlisted against
the cause of Gods pure truth. You are bound
to do what In you lies to promote the coming
of Christ's kingdom on earth and Christ's
kingdom on earth viii be something very diff
ferent from the dominion of the Papacy, unless
the Papacy has been very much--almost incred
ibly-belied. / can understand that morbid
cowardly, selfconceited souls may be glad to
shuttle off, as they fancy, the risk of their own
personal responsibility upon others, or selfish
lovers of excitement to obtain religious excite
ment at any hazard to their neighbors or coun
try. INIT do bal; hot oh
hearted, patriotic persons, like you, have the
least idea of what they may be doing to over
throw religion and undermine the prosperity of
their native land, when they throw their infu
ehce and example into the scale of this super
stition. Spread out the map of Europe before
you, and lay your finger, if you can, on that Ro-
man Catholic country which you would like to
have this country resemble a few centuries
hence. Consider how you would like to have
either the clergy or the laity Of these Uni
ted States resemble those of the States of the
Church. Your eyes are saying something"
But, indeed, l think you must be prejudiced.
The Bishop was a most wise and holy old man
and yet he upheld the Church of Rome"
"And therefore you uphold it? A case in
point l beg your pardon, though. That was
assertion, not argument You will forgive
me?"
" Yes, this once; because there are some lit
tie arrears of forgiveness, if recoect right, to
be made up on my part, before we can settle
our accounts. But let me ask if you have ever
thoroughly examined the tenets of the Romish
Church,"
Constance, have your"
"Ah, that is not fair Never mind me Just
now. / will tell you by and by"
Now, it really had happened to Herman, as
it does to many or most romantic young people,
W ha cl. Al
himself once upon time Feeling the symp-
toms coming on, but still retaining his reason
so far as to suspect that the distemper might be
ia dangerous one to an American citizen and
Christian, brought up to know better, he had
had the good sense or good fortune to write
for advice to his old friend, Dr. Lowell.
+ That spiritual potentate, according to his
custom in dealing with those of his subjects
who possessed clear heads and good educations,
had instead of saving Herman the trouble of
making up his own mind by making it up for
him, Ito be unmade again, very likely, by the
next spiritual potentate who came in his way,)
sent him word where he could find the mate
rails for making it up for himself.
| Herman had thus read, by his recommends
ton, one or two solid church histories. and
some admirable numbers of Whateley's Cau-
tons for the Times, but chiefly the writings of
past or present Romauists themselves. He had
profanely chuckled over |" the thrice-happy ST.
Louis de Gonsague, "*roling himselfupon sharp
pointed thorns by night instead Of salubrious
mattress, and studied with sadder and more
indignant interest, on the one hand, the melan-
choly account of the life and death of that splen-
did genius, Blaise Pascal, selfimmoated to the
gloomy spirit of selftorment, which, under the
name of religion, he served and, on the other.
his mastery exposition, in the Provincial
| Tofto ,f fho nff bo
as expounded by the Jesuits, and the later rev.
Citations of one or two abjuring Romish priests
| in Europe. But some of the discoveries, which,
as he suspected, he thus had made, were too
| ugly to be impaired, except in case of the ut
most need, to Constance. When a sensitive
girl has unsuspectingly just slipped at the brim
of poisoned chalice, and by Gods mercy
escaped alive, who would show her the spider
lurking in the dregs, if by any means less shock
ing she can be kept from drinking more?
Observation-Disclosures rightly or wrongly do not
know though l, too, would hope the former
he rejoiced in hoping that in this country, up to
this time, the Church of Rome had borne quite
as many of her fair and sweet flowers as of her
baneful and bitter fruits. He believed that,
with the remarkable sagacity and power of
adaptation for which she has been Justly COM
mended she had her uses for good men as we'll
as bad, and would hardly send the worst speci-
mems of her manufacture into a new and yet
unconverted country. He had known one ex-
lcellent priest, and women of her communion,
who might have been an ornament to any.
He ventured to suggest to Constance, how
ever, that setting up claim to infallibility was
always a suspicious indication of spiritual as
well as of medical quackery and that such
claim sat i'll upon upon church which had
proved itself capable of such little mistakes
M oh ota witt oh --ac
the Inquisition the elevation of Alexander Boz
gia to the spiritual headship of ChristendonI
and the fires of Smthfeld. He also pointed
ont to her what seemed to him one or two of
the more glaring contradictions between the
spirit, and even letter. of the Bible, and some
of the tenets and practices of the Church Of
Rome and while he assured her that there were
some members of that church in whose saintli-
ness no one could believe more devoutly than
he, declared that all that was good in that, as
well as in all other Christian sects was not what
was essentially Romish, but what was essential
ly Christian.
Constance was too warm to generalize. "The
Bishop" she exclaimed, "after being hard at
work all day among the poor, would jump up
again cheerfnlly, at the very beginning of the
most interesting conversation with Aunt Cora
and me, and hurry away to soothe the death
bed of some poor old Ignorant negro cook!
" But that was his Christianity. So would
any really Christian clergyman or physician, of
any denomination.'
"Oh, but he scourged himself dreadfully in
secret, like any medieval saint, and no one
ever suspected it; until at last, early one morn
ing, his valet put new cassock in his room,
ana took away the old one while he was asleep;
ana there was the knotted scourge, all stifened
with blood, in the pocket"