The San Francisco call., 1895-12-29


December IS, 1895.
20 ne Editor OF the CdEi-DEAR SIR: Once
again Dr. Case comes forward to support the
accusauons which he made on last sunday
against the catholic Church. He writes many
words about his own sunny disposition and
ABOUT the manifold infirmities of my temper
ana ana my Hyer. l do not consider, Mr.. Editor,
~edG tneSe are subjects which interest your
leaders. Dr.. Case is no doubt another Mark
1apely, and can be happy under the most de-
pressing circumstances, and l acknowledge
tH5t aaYe not YET reached that stage OF holy
lhdlnerence when l can contemplate with
equ2nanlty the spectacle OF a minister of the
gospel standing before the American people
with hand Upltfted 10 heaven and bearing false
witness against his neighbor.
nave no desire, Mr.. Editor, to allow this
controversy 10 degenerate into a jungle OF
mere words. We are dealing now with spe-
cine charges and with specific proofs. The
only cues tions before the public are: Have
these charges been sustained? Are these
proofs ValloY l have said nothing about St.
Refers domestic relations and l cannot i'm
egIne what that worthy person, his mother-in-
Iaw has 10 do with this discussion. The fact
thaC 81. Peter was at Rome is just as irrelevant
as the fact that ~. Eases library contains
oOoOs volumes and weighs several tons. All
these questions are foreign TO the controversy
ana wish 10 brush them aside once and foT
all and come straight at the points which DR..
Case Undertook to prove.
Ihesduestion which has brought out these
4etterS IS simple one. Last Sunday DR. Case
denYered lecture under the auspices of the
i. Z. A. entitled political Romanism." In
InsI lecture he attempted TO prove that the
roman Catholic church is a political institu-
JlQn, which mas for its object the crushing out
or civil and religious freedom.
HIS argument was rope of three strands:
(o) Bold assertions; tb) statements of fact; tcl
quotations. To the bold assertions I said
nothing. They rested entirely on DR.. Cases
authority, and as Dr. Cases authority is worth
nothing his assertions deserved no attention.
Some OF his quotations were taken from the
works OF men notoriously hostile TO CGtho-
Hclty; others were said 10 be from Catholic
how r.a+E frar -
tons from our enemies, therefore l consigned
them to the same limbo whittier l have just
consigned DR.. Case snd St. Peters mOther-in-
law :There remained then: FIRST, the alleged
statements OF fact and, second, the alleged
quotations from Catholic authorities.
I. THE STATEMENTS OF FACT.
In order TO prove that RomanisIn is a politi-
cal institution, hostile to civil and TO religious
liberty, Or. Case gave the following facts:
l. In Spain naval officers and Government
eInploves are compelled To walk and kneel in
religious professions under penalty Of eight
wears in convict prison.
= SpaiI is still low in tn e scale OF the nations
and sil on account OF the tyranny OF the
RoInESh system,
8 The priests are in politics; they have been
incur poll .lcs for many years.
I Fifty years ago Archbishop Hughes was
head and ears IN politics.
8. He did all i'll his power to destroy the
public school system in this country.
s. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by
Roman Catholics.
bellion OF the thirteen colonies against the
Government OF George III.
q. a.- II. ALLEGED QUOTATIONS.. /"
In order to condemn Us out of our own
mouths, he produced what he termed quota
tions from Roman Cath Ollie authorities
/. From DR.. McGlynn he quoted words which
make. the church foe TO education.
2 From the shepherd of the Valley he quoted
words which make Catholics declare that their
design is TO destroy religious liberty.
g. From BownsOn's Quarterly Review for
October. 1852, he quoted words which deny
tolerance to the seets.
4. From the New York Tablet he quoted
words which justify the persecution OF Prot
estant missionaries
). From Fr. Hecker he quoted words which
deplore the sorry condition OF the church and
ascribe the cause to pTiestly domination.
o. From Gurys Compendium OF Theology
he quoted a question: "Are ecelesiastics
obliged to obey the civil law?'' ana he quoted
the answer as NO"
CONCERNING FACT NO. l.
1. The Authority offered by DR.. Case for
his first fact was what he termed missionary
reports.p l impugned mis- authority by refer
ring 10 the missionary reports" OF his cousin,
J. Il. Nelson. About this gentleman the "mis-
sionary reports" had ii that he was prosecuted
for conscience sake. Dr. Case ma1e the same
statement. ! replied that j. II. Nelson was not
prosecuted for conscience sake, but that he
was Jailed for blackguardly behavior in the
public sIreets and for blackguardly writing in
his papers.
AMY critic has not proven that his slanderous
charges against Rev. J. w. Nelson have
scintilla of truth in them, and he never can
The burden of proof lies upon me. When l
make q positive assertion and. Dr.. Case denies
it am bound to produce my authorities. My
cn6ree includes three points: la J. II. Nelson
was not prosecuted for conscience sake. (b) J.
Il. Nelson misbehaved on the public streets.
III J. n. Nelson wrote blackguardly articles in
his paper. Here are my proofs.
,io5 There is no persecution for conscience
50 ke in Brazil. Religious liberty is granted by
the laws of that country both for private belief
and nuhlic worship, for the sale of Protestant
Bibles books and tracts, and even for the pub
fishing of a Methodist newspaper. call on the
Brazilion Consul Will verify TINS statement;
The following quotation from Sketches OF
Residence and Travels in Brazil, ETC., By Mr..
Daniel P Kfdder, agent OF the Methodist
Episcopal Missionary Society IN NJ ds42 VOL l.
He saws: ''The BraZllians, on their polltlcel
disenth hrallment, adopted liberal and toler-
ant constitution. Although II maze me ho- @
man Catholic apostolic religion that OF the
state vet il allowed all other foims of religion
to be held and practieed. save IN bnlIdlngs
having the exterior form OF temple. IL also
forbade persecution on the ground OF religious
opinionsns In another place he says: "1t is
my firm conviction that there Is not roman
Catholic country on the face OF the globe
where there prevails greater degree OF toler-
alton or a greater hberality OF feeling toward
Hrotestants." -
f6) Justus III. Nelson, then, could not have
pefsecltion is against the law, was aga nst the
LAW fn.1 S45 and was more specifically forbid
den since the revolution. What, then, brought
him into trouble? Here is the fact. Justus
II. Nelson. went out into the public streets on
the OCCASION 1f religious procession He was
not compelled to attend this procession, and II
he wished TO look at il he should have behaved
as a gentleman. This he did not do ana some |
OF the bystanders knocked his hat on This |
fact give on the authority of Justus d. nelson |
himself. VIII DR.. Case deny IL!
tc) E.uraged by the outrage onered MS ieel-
ings and his hat, the Rev. J. ID. Nelson retired |
teilis sanctum and proceeded to denounce ana |
ridietlie the religion of the people as super |
sfitious mummeries' and 'fdolatry OF the
Virgin" lie also arraigned the Blsnops and |
priests as impostors and as protectors OF open |
vice The Brazilian priests did not propose 70 |
stand thatkind of thing, so the Kew j. h Mel |
son was arrested for defamation ano olsturD- |
snce OF tie peace and was sentenced 10 q rev |
Imprisonment in st. Joseph's JAM
THESE facts l give ON the authority OF the |
New York Christian Advocate. Does the KEY. |
W. w Case deny them?
3. After impugning his authority | dealt
with MS main statement: "In Spain naVal |
oficers and Government employees are COM |
nelIed to walk and kneel in religions prcces- |
sions under penalty OF eight years IN convict
prison."
: In answer I stated that unless as q police |
escort naval officers are not compelled to at /