Smyrna times., 1884-03-05
Cannot be Taken Back.

Cannot be Taken Back.
MIR. EDITOR.-In a communicable,
In your issue of February Goth. signed
Americus," l am arraigned for bov
ing in my articles to the TIMES ON IN,
irish question, tried to bring down
upon the Catholic Church of Smvrna
the ill-will of the Protestants of this
community, by attacking tho Roman
Catholic faith.
Now in regard to bringing religion
INTO the Irish question-it was not INV
IDEA to do SO when | commenced to
write on the subject. Ionly wanted 70
snow that all Ireland was not in a state
OF revolt against England and that she
was not the terrible oppressed country
winch some people considered her
MY articles were doubted at least bv the
edltor OF the Record and rather than
lle under the shadow of doubt with
the lhslhuatlons of the Record heaped
on my head | chose the course 7 b.ve
taken and have told the trutb w;,bou.
lear or favor. did not want to do if {.
dld not want to hurt any mans feel
lnSs; bear hatred to no man. not nvon
10 my countryman "by Birth, Blood
and Parentage." l do not hate amy
man because of his religion we are tbn
most OF us slaves to custom. If | had
oeen born Roman Catholic it is very
likely l would have been a Roman
Catholic yet. Yes, perhaps Fenian
or even an lnvincible of the very worst
type And while not engaging in n
fharlsalcal prayer, thank God that
my forefathers embraced the truth and
handed it down, and so saved me from
being Communist, or traitor. to the
land Of my birth or adoption, and it NAV
Ce an outcast in the world to come.
And as for attacking the Roman
Catholic faith, don't think | have
alluded to single doctrine of that
church. have not made an allusion
TO Peter not being the first Pope neitb-
er nave | asked for Scripture to prove
(what Americus asserts), that he
was, or that he ever wore the mitre
the tunic, the cassock, the rocket and
the pail, or that he ever offered up the
sacrifice of the Mass, or used the uten-
slis of the Romish Church, such as
Deaas' lnccnse-boat, holy-water, host.
feilc-case, chaiing-,iish, confessional.
&C. OF taught the doctrines of purga-
tory, prayers to the Saints, prayers for
the dead, image-worship, transubstau-
tlation, indulgences, celibacy of the
clergy, &c. No, Americus," have
not attacked single doctrine of vour
Church. And when l say she is an
enemy to the educational System ofthe |
United States l only reiterate the state
ment of high functionary of your
Church one who speaks with authority
.MonsignoP Capel. And when | call
her Infallibility" it is what you call
her yourself. When 1 say she is the
MYSTERY of Ireland's wrong, l know
l speak and whom St. Paul
mas described as she who should arise
IN the latter day, and whom the Apos-
lie John saw in his Vislan on the Isle
1t Patmos and which he described
throughout his Revelations.
And as for being "an enemy to civil
zation," how could say that? Was
t not she who lighted the streets of
Rome with the burning bodies of here
'ics? Was it not she who kindled the
Tres of Smithfield, whose light ascend
ID up even to Heaven and illumined
he length and breadth of the British
Empire and shed a halo over France
where it hung in all its blazing glory.
Illuminating that darkest day in the
history of EurOpe-the day of st. Bar
hOlemew, 1872. An enemy to ciUiIi-
dtiOn" Shall take it back? With
he pains and tortures of the Inouisi-
ion, with the cries of its hapless vic
inns sounding in my ears. With the
Wild shrieks of the old Waldenses
slain by the bloody Piedmontese that
oiled mother and infant down the
ocks." and whose blood is yet crying
o Heaven from the lonely valleys
It Lucerne and Agrogna. With
he dark ages looming up be.
ore my vision, displaying to my view
he bloody graves of the martyrs of the
Intellect who suffered beneath her in
allible Jurisdiction, from the tender,
loquent Hypatia, to Giordano Bruno,
f Naples and the many thousands
nore of that region, then radiant with
he dawn of intellectual life. Alas
hat the sacred land Of the Pythagor-
ans should now lie as the Pariah of
atiOns, its very soul trampled out be-
cath the hoOfs of the Holy Inquisi-
on." But as "the darkest hour
the hour before day." so North
'ard is seen the morning star of eIylli.
alton heamrllng out amidst the black ]
ess of darkness and first shedding its
ays over that nation which was to be ]
lost instrumental In carrying civlliza-
on to the ends Of the earth, as we be-
old John Wickliffe lighting the fair
elds of England with a light which ]
'as soon to expand and beam out in
Il the glory of the midday sun. Who
m deny that with the Reformation
anne the dawn Of enlightenment and
ivilizatiOn2 And that civilization has 9
dyanced according as the prestige of 1
iome has declined, is a fact beyond $
ontroversy. Give the world into her |
ands to-day; let monks and priests |
n \