The Donaldsonville chief., 1908-10-24

Society of the Holy Spirit.
We read with interest the aremons.
trance in The Chief of Sept. 26, writ
ten under the auspices of the 'tSociety
of the Holy Spirit. = We beg to as
sert, however, that our correspondent
is a little mistaken when he believes
thatour views are s'derog gatory to Chris
tfanity in general" Not so. We are
not prejudiced towards the individual
Catholic who honestly believes III
his creed. Our appreciation extends
| to any being who pays homage to his
Creator, but we emphasize the fact
tn at every religious denomination
must live upon its own contributions.
No government should tax its subjects
to support state church.
When the Catholics of Ireland We're
taxed to support the English state
church, -Episcopal--it was an injustice
and the Irish Catholics realized the
fact.
When the Catholic church in France
became clothed with the authority by
the French government TO tax the
French easant-Catholic and non.
Catholic, believer and non-b believer
to the amount OF $4,000, 900 per year,
public sentiment in opposition grew
and the intolerable system net its W a.
terloo.
When Virginia in its early days de-
creed that the cavalier should be made
to support the Virginia state church
Episcopal-Thos.J Jefferson, the great
est of American statesmen, entered the
legislature and disbanded the church
alliance. We trust tha the Holy So
ciety will not deny us the right to be-
lieve possibly that history could re
peat itself. If our government in its
infancy sought TO follow the example
of the mother country, what assurance
have we that the attempt will not be
renewed in the future? Why was it
that our government gave the Catho-
lies portion of the public domain at
West Point upon which to build a
church, but denied TO the Protestants
the same right? Why is it that the
Catholic church can enjoy the priv
ilege of drawing money from the ma
tional treasury to support its denom-
national schools among the Indians
plain violation of the letter aud spirit
of our constitution? Surely, the So
eiety of the Holy Spirit will not be
censorious towards us for our timely
exhibition of restlessness.
As for the Culdees, we admit our
error in locating them. Our CORE
spondent is correct: they were in Great
Britain. However, the error is imma-
terial to the argument. Our worthy
CORES pondent states in effect that the
w aldenses were not God fearing
people and that they ultimately
drifted into the pagan practices of the
Albigenses." We don't believe that
We were altogether writing at random.
The Waldenses WERE a religious peo-
pie who held steadfastly to the scrip
lures. The principal among these vas
Bereng arius, who about in A. D. 1000
boldly preached Gospel truths accord
ing to their primitive purity. In the
twelfth century Pope Alexander III. be-
an his persecution of the W aldenses
in France. The AIbigenses were peo-
pie of reformed religion, also. They
practices of Rome. They wanted to
read for themselves the sacred scrip
lures, but were forbidden by the Pope.
They were condemned on the score OF
religion in the council of Lateran, by
order of Pope Alexander Ill, and in
1920 this religious sect met a most
severe persecution. AS to the ST. Bar
tholomew massacre at Paris, men, wo
men and children were slaughtered.
In a weeks time 100, 600 Protesbants
were cut to pieces in different parts of
the kingdom. Our critic will think
this an astonishing statement. And
so it is. Sad, exceedingly sad. If the
correspondent of the Holy Spirit So
ciety will read the fourth chapter of the
Franklin edition of Fox's History of
Martyrdom, (relating to papal perse-
cutions), he will therein find the testi-
mony substantiating my statement.
In Ireland, during the reign of Ed
ward III, hundreds of Lollards, fol
lowers of the celebrated reformer John
De WycIiffe, were burned at the stake.
In Scotland such men as Geo. Wis.
hart, Adam Wallace and Walter Mill
met the same fate. Such statesmen
and reformers as John Huss, jerome
of Prague and William Tyndale met
death for no other crime than expound
ing the scriptures as translated by
Wycliffe, the English reformer.
Prosecutions for conscience sake?
History is full of themi
J. F. ARCENEAUx.
BUDWEI~ER.
The most popular beer in the world There is
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costs most at the brewery, yet its sales exceed