Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-08-02

Medicine Lodge, Kas., July

EDITOR Unconstitutional you have
said once that you would not allow re-
hglous matter TO be discussed in the
INDEX, ask of you the privilege just
this time to publish this letter in the
cause OF justice and to say few words
in defense of my faith and my church
and against calumny and falsehood.
Some time ago there appeared here a
number of small printed sheets; sent to
different persons by somebody. The
recipients in some cases did not know
where they came from or who was the
sender. These little leaflets are truly
messengers of the Prince of Darkness
the enemy of the human soul; they
were sent here to accomplish the ma
liclouS purpose af a designing, secret,
oath-bound society to disseminate en-
nifty and bad feeling among peaceful
citizens of our town. Besides the items
of falsehoOd and Misrepresentation
about the Catholic countries and the
clergy which the author presents as
facts, these little leaflets contain a bo-
gus ''encyclical'' purported as issued by
the Pope, urging Catholics of America
to exterminate all Protestants on or
about the 5th o: September, 1893. If
the Catholics would be guilty of pub
fishing such stuff about the Professionals
they would be held up by the same class
! OF people as human monsters. The for
gerry is so rank and glaring that it would
| a waste fn 81,
cation. Such and the like absurdities
and falsehoods in the form of letters,
| circulars, pamphlets, ETC., are hawked
about for the purpose of exciting AMI
mostly and hatred between the two d.
VISIONS of christian people. This forged
"pncyclical'' of which 1 am speaking
was printed in Springfield, Mo, which
is probably the nest of secret, oath
bound society calling itself the Amerl-
can Protective Association, known
throughout the land as the A. p. A.
The members Of this Anti Peace AS
soclation are bound by an oath to op-
pose Catholic American citizens i'm
their social, commercial and political
lives; not TO employ a Catholic either
professionally, as a tradesman or an or
binary laborer; but above all to keep a
Catholic from getting any Office IN the
gift of the American people. 1t was
not enough for these fire. brands to
adopt open and deliberately a proscrip-
ton policy on account of religious
faith, they endeavor by false reports,
or 70
of enmity between Protestant and Cath
Ole fellow citizens and all this, if YOU
please, in the interest of charity, patri-
Otism and religion. Christ came down
on earth to bring peace to men and good
will, and the A. p. A. has come among
us to destroy that peace and substitute
hatred and lying. AS if ashamed of
their nefarlOus work. the members of
this dark lantern party pledge them
selves under oath to avoid any contro-
versy with Catholics upon the subject
of their order. Thank God this is the |
land of the free; the people are liberal
minded. The spirit of the coming Goth
century is not wholesome atmosphere |
for bigot and a proscriptionist. Old
time know-nothingism was buried I'M
der common sense and the apaism will |
be repudlated with it's un-American.
unpatriotic, inhuman, ungodly work. |
Spreading out like malarious air, this |
moral miasm affected our little city.
Some months ago lecture on "Ro- |
manism" was read in one of our church
| 1tIIct in full ;rof,oo - a.
er. say that he was not the author of it. |
1t was written by Rev. Geo. f. Hall, of |
Emroria, Kansas. The reverend gen.
tleman who delivered the lecture was
kind enough t. let me read the PAM
phlet containing it, and upon the perus-
al of it L found it to contain some most |
atrocious ISLANDERS. The entire lecture
characterized a spirit Of intolerance.
appealing to religious prejudice and |
calculated, under guise of religious
zeal to arouse a bitter feeling of one
class OF citizens against another. One |
could hardly conceive that the minister
OF the gospel would from any motive
SOW the seeds of discord among his fell
low christians. 1t is not Christ-like.
Christ said, love We one another" but
this minister In church that bears H is
holy name, from the pulpit dedicated
to preach Christ and him cruc(ied.
christian love and forebearance, "a chris
tlan congregation is RECALLED to rant
against another body of christians who
choose to differ from Rev. Hall i'm re-
inv Int !
the sweet religion of Christ. What an
insult to the spiritual instinct of an ear
nest christian who goes to church to
hear praised Gods holy name. Perhaps
consollng words of the gospel explained
by the good pastor would soothe an
aching heart or strengthen a faltering
soul in temptations; instead of that he
leaves the church with a seed of dis
trust in his heart, thrown therein to
tester and poison the feeling of conf
dence he has hitherto cherished toward
his fellow christians-the effect similar
to that produced by prating gossip
monger.
In the course of the lecture there
were many imputations charged to the
Catholic church. Some are too absurd
to deserve notice; but the one charging
the Catholics with intolerance can be
answered by referring to the early his
tory of Maryland and to the present
municipal government in Canada.
There, Professionals in the province of
Quebec, namely,i in the city ofMontreal,
where Catholics are in the majority,
enjoy more privileges in educational
matters than do Catholics in Ontario
and Manitoba under the control of
Protestant majority. To answer the
81, rcva tho Catholic ol,,.oL