Democratic messenger., 1894-04-07
REV. ROBERT SCOTT
Declares that We Owe OuS
Religious Liberty tn Pro.
testamtisrn, and Not To
Catholicism.

Catholicism.
BY request We publish the followin.
extracts from the bi-centennial discours
of Rev. Robert Scott, delivered some
time since in All Hallow's Church o
this town. This sermon is now in pres
and the extracts here published ar,
taken from the authors proofs:
1T is the proud bnnSt of the Roman
lists that in this colony, under the rnle Of on
of their faith. religious tolerance was. fo
the first time, granted-that in this state q
COLONY the invitation was first sent fortl
for all men to come and worship God ac
cor'iing To the dictates of their own con
science. We do not deny to them all th,
praise they deserve for this stand taken il
an age when such freedom was counted i'm
practical and disloyalty Ia the religion o
the state was treated with the same severit,
as disloyalty or treason To- the civil anthor
ities; at fhe same time, there would h'
vastly more grounds for boasting ii til,
charter. under which the COLONY was formed
hal issued from u Roman Catholic country.
rather than from Protestant England, fro.n
II Roman Catholic king, rather than from
the Church loving Charles |. Had Loui.
NIIi of France. or Philip " of Spain. ther
living. sent out such colony, with such
charter, aud invited others tn mite with
them under these liberal terms. then. indeed
might we acknowledge the superiority oi
that Church above all Others. in her love fol
r, :sious liberty and her infallible wisdom
in anticipating the nober freedom of
later age We cannot close our eyes To th,
fact however. that in the countries dnmi
mated hy her influence, at this period, any
such freedom would have been denounced n
the most detestablc heresv. We have SAN,
pies of this in the revocation al the Edicl
of NAMES. some years after, which destroA et
all religious liberty in France. and the
iuquisitions in Spain, under Romish control,
strangling the last spark of religious toler-
alton in that celebrated land. The cnnvic-
tion is forced upon us, from review oi
these facts. that ii Roman Catholics in the
Seventeenth century invited others to JOIN
with them in founding II COLONY on the
principles OF relig ious federation for all forms
of faith, the reasons are to be found in the
liberty lowing race from whom they sprang,
rather than the Church al which they were
members in the ROYAL authority from whence
derived their charter. rather than from any
purpose to promote human freedom. IN the
conditions forced upon them by their envir.
onment, and not any design To lead the van
in march Of civil and religious libert', or IL
open up an asylum for those prosecuted for
their religions faith. That Roman Catholics
were oppressed in England, at this period.
and that Lord Baltimore secured his charter
from Charles in order tn provide freedom
for them in this land NAV not be denied
At the same time, il is becoming better
understood that religious prosecutions. i'll
those days were more ON political grounds
than religious, were designed rather for the
safety of the state than for any care or love
for religion which the rulers of these times
possessed. When members of Church
professed allegiance tn "A foreign power which
did not hesitate to authorize the extermina-
tion OF the reigning monarch, aud only n
generation or two before had strained the
resources of the treasury to rcpel the Spanish
Armada sent to subvert the British con-
stitution and bring the people back to ROM
ish rule. need we wonder il the state. under
these circumstances, should deal harshly with
the aGherents OF such faith, or pass laws
which made their lives hardship in the ma
tion! That they could 80 to the territory
of the same nation. aud enjoy religious
freedom ON condition of allowing the like
privilege to all others. was stretch OF
generosity for those days which we yainly
seek to parallel in any Romish land, or among
any people dominated by the Romish Church
nor WAS il alone the charter under which the
colony came to this land that compelled re-
ligious liberty to those casting in their lot
with the enterprise. The great majority OF
those who accompanied the expedition. or
those who followed soon after, were any
thing but Roman Catholics; Father White
the Roman priest accompanying the colony,
and Henry Moore, the Provincial. in their
reports To Rome. plainly state that Roman
Catholics were greatly in the minority. The
latter says, speaking of the colony: ''The
affair was surrounded with many AMI great
difficulties; for in leading the colony to
Maryland, by far the greater part was here
ties and IN an assembly of the colony
which met in loss, five wears after the first
arrival in this country. he declares that il
was composed with few exceptions. OF here
ties. t'a,ier the name Of heretics, he must
have referred mainly to members of the
English. or Episcopal Church. for those 0i
the Puritan way of thinking would naturally
go To New England. among their co-relig-
ionists. and not to Maryland where, close Ia
Virginia. the English Church was the con-
trolling power in the religious life. This
condition of affairs in the colony, together
with the meddlesome and dangerous char
acter which the Jesuits among them had
acquired, compelled Lord Baltimore, in l6ss.
TO appoint only Protestants to the various
Offices Nor could this have been in accord.
ance with his own wishes. but on account
of the preponderating influence of the
Church, because the assembly. or Legislature.
of the colony was almost entirely composed
Of churchmen who reiterated and proclaimed.
in the following year. liberty TO all those
settling among them. From IA religious
point Of view. Church people seemed TO he
MS strong in the neighboring colony ot
Virginia, composed almost entirely of such
| and they maintained this ascendency even
during the period of the commonwealth in
England, when Cromwell was supreme IN
the nation, and worship of the Church and
the Use of the PRAYER book were made II
crime. IL is of the colony np {" this period
That Bishop Wilberforce truly says: "Ai
The very time when Puritan Massachusetts
WAS prosecuting to the death all who ,lisa-
greed with the dominant sect, the Governors
of MARYLAND, were hound by AN annual oath
not by theunse elves, or indirectly, TO trouble,
nolest. or discountenance any person pro-
Tossing to believe in Jesus Christ. for. or.
in respect OF religion, and if any such were
so molested. To protect the person molcste'l.
and punish the offender.