The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-03-11
TAKES ISSUE WITH
DIR. BOYLE'S SERMON
Rev. J. j. LawIer Makes Some contro-
Versial Points in History.
To the Editor of The Globe:

To the Editor of The Globe:
In his sermon last Sunday evening Rev.
DR.. Boyle is reported to nave made a
statement which fatty contradicts the
records of the past He said: There can
never be an inquisition or a st. Bartholo-
new in Protestant Christianity" But let
it be remembered that there have been
1nquisitions and massacres of Catholics
in Protestant Christianity and many of
them. 1t is vain in the light of historical
evidence to try to fasten responsibility for
the rigors of the Spanish inquistion on
Catholieity. The church denounced them.
Not less futile is the attempt to connect
Catholicity with ST. Bartholomew.
L brand his assertions as false If the
reverend gentleman had stated that re-
hglous persecution forms no part of the
creed of the Catholic church and that the
heads and founder of Protestant Chris
t1anity authorized and sanctioned perse-
cution and death for conscience sake, he
would have expressed truth of history.
Prosecutions among the early Protestants
was a distinct and definite doctrine di-
gested into elaborate treatises and en-
forced against the most inoffensive as
asdlnSt the most formidable Sects 1t
was Ine doctrine of the paimiest days of
IroteStantlSm. Lecky, RationaliSm in
Europe, vol. II, Holland, an eminent Pro
teStant historian, SAYS:
persecution is the deadly orisinal
SIN OF the reformed churches, which cooIs
every honest mans zeal for the cause in
proportion as his reading becomes more
The reverend gentleman declares him
sen as standing for the liberty of the
religious conscience" but his denomina-
~ oton mas not always stood for freedom
Punishment and imprisonment and
d9eeath were some of the punishments in
i1lcted by Calvin on those who differed
from his religious tenets.
Just one instance. In the year of 1853
Mlchael SerVetuS was burnt to death for
H.eresy by John Calvin. Presbyterianism' s
father and founder. Shortly afterward
ne wrote work on furnishing heretics in
which he justified his atrocious execution
OF servetus. Besides, he established in
Geneva an InquiSitiOn for the punish
ment Of refractory Christians. Luther's
intolerance toward the Jews is a matter
OF common history.
Again, the reverend gentleman must
have read of the multifudes who We're
hanged, drawn and quartered in Protest
ant Christianity during Queen Elizabeth S
+ reg "a ana since because they professed
the Catholic religion.
Let Rev. Boyle read about the high
court OF inqulsltion established by Eliz-
aoeth and he will find that inquisitions
are actuaEt1eS in Professionalism. Protest
ant Christianity enacted and enforced
the barbarous penal laws against Cath
ollcs in England, Ireland and Scotland,
and the victims of those laws are legion
Here are a few samples of Protestant
liberation: 1t was high treason in a
priest to say mass. A priest who dared
10 return to his native country was liable
10 De hanged, drawn and CHARTERED. Any
one Who became a Catholic or induced
announcer to become a Catholic, was liable
TO pc hanged, drawn and quartered.
Deatn awaited him who refused to ac-
knowledge the temporal ruler to be the
head OF the church of Christ. Anyone
VINO NO., harp0red priest suffered death.
Why the Spanish inquisition and the
massacre of st. Bartholomew sink into
insigniffcance before the fines, the i'm
prisq3nments. the, cruelties. the sicken-
Catholics by the Protestant Christianity
of the British empire during the past
three centuries. The inquisition set III
by Protestant Christianity has lasted, not
Tor a few years, but for few hundred
years. Professionalism in the early days
our own country lost none of its orig
maj Intolerance. 1t was true to its rec
ORD In the old world.
1t denied freedom of conscience to
Catholics and adopted the penal laws
against them. The Puritans prosecuted
The Episcopalians prosecuted the Puri-
tans In Virginia. All that was done on
the score of religion The blue laws OF
New England tell how Quakers We're
whipped, branded, had their ears cut off,
their tongues bored with hot irons. and
were baniShed upon the pain of death in
case of their return, and were actually
executed upon the gallows. Maryland was
the only Catholic colony, and the only one
to grant liberty of conscience to all.
There as Bancroft says. ''Protestants
We're sheltered against Protestant intol-
erance. few years later. when the
Puritans became the majority in Mary
land. fastened to show their ingratitude
to their Catholic benefactors by passing
an act forbidding liberty of conscience to
be. extended to ''Popery.'' Vide Bancroft's
History of the United States. vol l.. CHI vii.
The history of our country establishes
the fact that Protestant Christianity has
fully sustained its reputation as a perse-
cutor in this hemisphere.
IL I TauNInr