National Republican., 1875-12-08

crease of the number OF churches has kept pace
with the growth Of our population.
The value Of church property has increased in
twenty years from ss7, 900 900 to t355 900. The
500. now 10 IL Is ~ isosYndeating % the Inspeassd s
value Of church property and the increased num-
Der Of church accommodations. The total value
creased two and a half times that Of the growth
OF the population from 1850 to 1850 and four times
tnat OF the population from 1850 to ls7O The null
upneation Of churches may not prove much, as in
Rome there is one church for each day in the year,
and while was there they were building one
more for leap year. In countries where there !"
late Church churches are built by Government,
but here they are built by free contributors, as
an expression Of the religious sentiment Of the
people; All this argues the decrease OF free
Christianity for this reason the people would not
invest their money Of their own choice where 1t Is
not needed. 1t is great fact that the three prin-
dist, Baptist and Presbyterian-haye increased
their membership one third in the last ten years
In our own Church there has been an increase Of
over half million, and we are now adding thereto
at the rate Of 200 each Sabbath in the year.
THE TWO GREAT QUESTIONS.
Two great questions await our careful and
candid consideration:
/. What has this rich boon of Religious Liberty
cost mankind?
2 What are the evils which now impair this
liberty in our landP
Let the records Of the past tell us the cost in
bloed and treasure. Let ten centuries proclaim
Of conscience cost Germany, from the dethrone-
ment Of King Henry ", by Pope Gregory VII, in
treaty ef Westphaiis in % Isls during which time
the soil Of Germany and the soil Of all nations,
under Papal domination, was drenched in blood I
was she not devastated and impoverished during
What did religious liberty cost France, when in
tne 81, Bari holSmew massacre, 10000 Of her best
eihEens, men slain In cold blood? And what did
It cost her in the late war against Prussia? A
war nstgated by the enemies of freedom in
which she lost the empire, sacrificed her army and
many, g. 900 900 00o and tribute and contributions
levied, another sum exceeding that.
WHAT DID IT COST ENGLAND
under the reign of Bloody Mary, by whom Lati-
mer, Kedly, and Cranmer, Lady Jane Grey, her
martyredG And during the reign Of Charles 1,
wren cromwell and his tnyineibles battled for
Letthe Spanish Inqusiten tell the price of relig-
Gus freedom. Let the dungeons of Italy declare
It's cost. Let the goodly company of martyrs, from
the stonng of St Stephen, through all the perse-
cutions under the Roman Emperors, down to the
days fathers proclaim how dearly 1t has been
bought. il was for eonscienee's sake the Puritans
hed the Old World to seek in this the heavenly
boon. For this Warren fell on Bunker Hill: for
prayed.
And shall we ask what is the glory of our Re.
ublie2 Our vast domain? Our inexhaustible
resources of wealth? Our teemIng population 2
Our splendid cities: Our genius in art and aehiev-
insignifeanee when compared with our freedom Of
conscience
These evils impaired Religious Liberty in this
country :-Inhdelity seetarian rivalry and j
powerful pOlltico-rclIgious hierarchy.
ISFIDELITY.
Our religious liberty should be restrained by the
dictates OF reason, by the well-beinS Of society,
by the sublime teachings of Christianity. The
law of limitations is no less applicable to re-
ligious freedom than to political liberty There
is a boundary beyond which citizens shall not 90.
Continental infidelity must not be permitted to
destroy the Christian Sabbath, for the institution
of the Sabbath is an ordinance Of nature and is
sanctioned by our divine religion. The State is
bound to recognize one day in seven for needful
rest for man and beast. This Is the voice of ma
ture, and to disregard this voice is to open wide
the food-gates Of vice and crime. .-
On our Pacific Slope and penetrating the adj
jacent territories the Asiastes with their de-
grading rites Of pagan worship and their debasing
superstitions. We may not prohibit the Chinese
from building their Pagodas and from wOrshipping
Sakya-Nuni, Lav-tsin and COnfucius; but We can
and should prohibit them from selling their
women into the slavery Of eoncubinage and pros
titution.
In one Of the richest and faIrest territories of
the Union Is q numerous, powerful, and wealthy
organization, whose numbers set at defiance the
sacred rites Of monogamic marriage and degrade
woman to domestic slavery; and this in the name
Of religion. We may not Interfere with the Nor
mons in the performance Of their religious rites,
can and should restrain them from violating an
ordinance Of nature, in harmony with which the
Creator has provided one man for one woman and
1t is the province of constitutions and laws to
restrain the masses for the benefit of the individ-
ual and to restrain the Individual for the benefit
Of the masses. There must be some restraint I'M
posed on individual impulses, and religious i'm
pulses are no exceptions to the rule.
sEcTARIAS RIVALRY.
To-day we behold the humiuating spectacle in
the rivalry Of one branch of the Church with an
other TO secure the largest share of the patronage
Of the government. Herein lies an imminent dan
ger, and out OF which may come trouble to the
Republic. As government We can know but one
basis of taxation and that is the public interest;
we can recognize but one obligation, and that Is,
to afford equal rights to all men.
Speaking in behalf Of our own denomination,
whose members number more than million and
half, whose pastoral Influence extends over ten
millions Of the American people; whose twenty
three thousand ministers are in every State and
Territory of the Union; whose church property is
more than sS0, 900 900; who nOurishes in her Sab
bath-schOOls a million and half Of American
youth; who adds to her memberships twelve hun
dred prisons each Sabbath in the year; who builds
at the rate Of two and half churches each day in
the calendar; whose annual contributions for re-
ligious purposes are more than $1,000 900; who
has hOurished as no other branch of the American
ehureh-speaking in her behalf It would be n
humiliating stoop on her part to ally herself to
the State or seek to control the patronage of the
Administration. And although she gave more
men and money in the war to preserve the Union,
although vast majority of her sons are, of their
own free Will and choice, members of the d0mi-
nant party, and have been and are the most ardent
supporters of the present Administration; and al
though the honored head of this Administration
was born within her communion, and carly taught
TO love and revere her doctrines and institutions,
yet am proud to say that she has asked and re-
ceiyed fewer fayors from those in authority than
any other branch of the Christian church in Amer
lea. All this eyinces independence on the one side
and even more than impartiality on the other.
PoLITIco-RELIGIoUs HIERARCHY.
But priest, more imminent, more to be dreaded,
more certain of destruction, comes from the
bold pretensions and uneompromising claims
of a pOlitieo-rellgious hierarchy, whose head
is in Rome, whose body Is in America.
Against the Roman Catholic Church, as purely
religious body, have not now a word to say; but
against the political pretensions Of those within
that Church, ] solemnly protest. As religiOnlsts,
It's members nave tneir eonsutuuonal rignts,
which must and shall be protected. Under the
broad Rgis Of our Constitution they may rest
securely. Here they may rear their cathedrals,
nona;,sres n1nns1ies colleges and tsy asyiqWmsi Wsi
gin, and trust to the ntercession Of Saints; here
they may revere the Holy Father as st. Peter
successor as head of the Church, as infallible In
polity, discipline and doctrines, and none shall
molest or make afraid.
But when Pope, cardinals, archbishops, clerical
and lay Jesuits, combine themselves into Poltl-
cal body to destry our system of free schools; to
limit the freedom Of the press and Of speeehto en-
slave the Individual conscience and overthrow our
free lnst1tu1OnS, Jnen pFeNtnslOus suOul1 Oc
denounced and their plans opposed.
The bold question put forth Is this: ''rhat while
the State has rights, she has them only in virtue
and by permission OF the superior authority, and
that authority Can only be expressed through the
Church, This assertion Is based on the doctrine
that the Pope Is Christs yieegerent and repre-.
sentative in human affairs, and that he has the
right to define the faith and morals Of all men,
and that all Governments and all men are bound
10 obey, under penalty Of eternal damnation. And
the Pontif end his Ultramontane friends also claim
the Divine right to depose rulers and change the
form Of civil Governments. All this Is evident
enough from ofheial documents and acts.
quote from the bull Of excommunication
against Henry ". issued by Pope Gregory VII
II 1915. the doctrine Of which Is stfl held In Rome
snow beseech you, oh most holy fathers and
princes, cause that all the world may understand
and know that If ye are able to bind and loose in
Heaven, ye are able upon earth to give and take
away empires, kingdoms, principalities, marquis
ates, duchies countships, and the possessions oi
all men according to the deserts OF each. Often
indeed, have ye taken away patriarchates, pri
maeies, archbishoprlcs and bishopres from the eyl
and unworthy, and have bestowed these upon men
of true piety. II, then. ye judge spiritual things
what must not be believed Of your power OyeI
worldly thingsf And II judge the angels who
rule over all proud princes, what can you not dc
to their slayes?n 81 .
In 1877 Pope Gregory TX deposed the Emperor
Frederick II, and in 1243 Pope Innocent ~ re
newed the papal anathema and absolved his sub
iects from their allegiance, in these words:
THAT because Of his ini9uities the Emperor has
been set aside by God, from the sovereignty o.
which he has proved himself SO unworthy, and l:
stripped Of all his houors and dignities, which
Judgment the Apostolic See doth now prOnounct
and enforce absolving all from their oath Of ale
glance to him, threatening with excommunicatioI
,ltFls