The Progress., 1893-02-04

/ Democratic party ask the Rcpubncan.
| If you want 10 tnd ont about the Meth
odists go to the Baptists. Ii you want
/ to find out the facts about a man straight
/ from the very fountain head, always 60
/ to the enemy Of the man about whom
| you want your information. and you are
certain to get it. 1t would not he fair il
we consulted only those sources of in
formation.
First-Is this church today an enemy
| to be crushed!
| In some things, reS-that is, from
my point of view. The church Of Rome,
as constituted today, still has in it much
| of intolerance and bigotry. 1t has too
much of the doglnatIc in 1.-THE spirit
! that says, Because tradition has decreed
| this thing to De so you must bow to il,
! and if you do not believe ii you will be
damned. | do not like that spirit,
| whether in the Roman or the Baptist
! church-the bigotry that says You must
not marry a Protestant, because he is q
| heathen; the bigotry that would damn
to eternal hell men outside the pale Of
/ the church
! | believe that those dognas are de
structive of the very fundamentals Of
/ Christianity; that they are destroying
| the faith of the world and Of Catholics
/ themselves The Catholic church does
| not hold its members when they cone
over here AMI begin TO look over thin
| great free nation of ours. They cauEo:
| swallow those dOgmatic assertions when
/ they breathe this free air. | have. GaI,
TIED some of them in my church. The
number that baptizc is very small, hE.
| the number that go into infdelityi- very
large. This latter fact should give ts
| their leaders most serious thought
ECCLESIASTICAL POWER.
| think the Catholic church is wrong
in its question of the concentrated power
| of ccclesiasticism. | believe democracy
is the world conquering power. | be.
heve, in other words, that the dogma Of
a papal infallibility is a stumbling block
over which many Catholics Will lose
their faith, and over which we, too, may
have serious fears do not say that SO
much about the present pope. He has
done so many remarkable things since
have been studying him that | am in
clined to believe myself that he is almost
infallible. IL all the popes of history
had been like him we would have had q
different civilization from what we have
today. l do not say that the influence OF
such a man may not be i'll the crisis Of
the world power for good. But there
is a certain intolerance of free thought
that still survives that threatens the dc.
velopment. You will find surviving
there spirit willing to burn at the stake
today a man who would dare to differ
from him.
Turn today to the great city of New
York. i have an idea that faction OF
the Roman Catholic priesthood practi.
cally dominates this city-has entirely
too much influence in saying who shall
be the governors of the metropolis The
Roman Catholic element today seems
the dominating force that supports the
iniquities of Tammany Hall. / have
seen Catholic priests going in and out
there, as though that were the center OF
Manhattan Island. The question sug.
gested itself to me, What is the mutual
relation between those two forces-the
force of gloved ecclesiastical power be.
meath the surface and the force that
dominates thus above the surface? Curl
GUS fact that whenever little follow who
aspires to power in Tammany Hall be.
gins to climb you will hear of him join
ing the Catholic church, and then he is
really promoted.
] do not say that because hate the
Catholic church, but because the Protes
tants are asleep. You are too slow; you
are behind the times; you are out OF
date; you are of no account. These men
run the whole thing, and you sit down in
your seats on the day of election and let
them run it. SO far as this town has got
any religion in its government it is a
Catholic religion, and if it did not have
that little, what would become of usl
think the devil himself would sell out
the whole town if it were not for the
small amount of saving grace that must
percolate from the good brothers and
sisters that form a part of the vital
Catholic church in this city today.
But while we bring these charges
against our Catholic brethren we must
not say we are entirely holy. do not
like their dogmas, but if we look around
in Protestant history we will find that
John Calvin was not without fault. We
find today, even in the city of New York,
in an enlightened Protestant church, that
our good brethren persist in appealing
to the general assembly against the great
hereto who has had the audacity to
think few thoughts different from them
selves. 1t is the same spirit that burned
Bruno and cursed the world in the past !
You will find the same spirit that has
disgraced the history of Christianity thus
alive in Protestant circles today.
PRESERVE THE FREE SCHOOLS.
Now the Catholic church is an enemy
today that we must guard from another |
point of view, and that is the school
point of view. There has been con
spiracy to destroy the American school
system. That conspiracy has eliminated
during the past wear or two in crises that /