but as I am brought to it I must tell you, though as I said before, I am ashamed to mention it, the charges are so shocking that I would not think it safe for me in my conscience, to allow any of my females, I mean any of my young girls into the same room with this person. Now my children, when I had all these in my conscience, and many others that I am ashamed to mention, why do you continue to persecute me by asking me to restore this person, but I must tell you and I am bound to do so, that there is no use in endeavouring to force me to do so, for I am bishop and I must act as my conscience bids me; that I never will restore faculties to this person in my diocess; and again I tell you I will not be forced to it, for I am bishop; for if this house was full of dollars, as much as it could hold, (for I dont care for money, nor never did,) and there were twenty cannons placed before this church, I would not for all them dollars, and if I were to be shot afterwards by these twenty cannon, give that person faculties in my diocess. So let me beg of you my children no longer to ask me. In a pamphlet that lately came out, he says I deprived him of his living, and he styles himself pastor of St. Mary's church. No, I deny it, I never deprived him of a living, for he had no living in this diocess, because any act of the vicar general was not binding unless confirmed by the church, that is by the bishop. Now I did not confirm his being in St. Mary's and he could not then call it his living. Moreover he was no pastor, he could not be pastor, for what is a pastor, the word pastor comes from the Latin word pasco to feed, now it only belongs to the church to feed the flock. And I as being the church, that is the representative of the church, am and can be the only pastor in this diocess: he therefore never was, nor never will be pastor in this diocess. In his late pamphlet he has endeavoured to blindfold a part of the congregation and set them astray, throwing dust in their eyes, but I shall soon satisfy you my children on that head, Oh! them canons he quoted, are long ago obsolete and are no more binding than a law passed in the reigns of Queen Anne or Richard III. or William the Conqueror are at present binding in England: Oh, them laws were done away in the council of Trent and new ones made, which are to be interpreted by the church of God. Now my children I am the church, for I am the bishop I mean I am the representative of the church, and my children I will give you full satisfaction about them before a few days. I came over here from Ireland; I was sent here by the pope with extraordinary powers to act in a papal way, as my conscience directed me. I therefore request of you my flock, not to trouble me any more, for I am resolved not to be forced against my conscience. I have been told that there is a few individuals of the congregation holding meetings and making resolutions to frighten me. Oh it will not do, there was a meeting at Mr. Bazely's the other night, I was told there was some people, who think they are very clever in making speeches, and going about speaking those speeches publicly and privately, to make converts, those persons may be looked upon by this person to be his friends but they are his greatest enemies. I see by some papers that are pasted up on the walls that there is to be another meeting at Mr. Bazely's on Wednesday next in order to force this person into this church; Oh, but it is all of no use, these persons as I said before are the greatest enemies to this person. Now my children as I see by these meetings and also from a pamphlet lately published that this person contrary to all church authority intends to again discharge the priestly functions. I feel myself bound as your pastor, to save you my flock from the jaws of the wolf which would disperse them, to let you know that if any such step be taken by this person, I shall without delay proceed to the most disagreeable necessity in the world, which is that of separating this person from the flock intrusted to my charge, and not only him, but any person that shall hold any communion with him afterward. I beg you then my flock to think with yourselves and not put me to this painful necessity, and I hope this person will think with himself upon his state, and no longer listen to these bad advisers, and not put me to this necessity, I hope he will think with himself upon his poor soul, and perhaps I may do something for him yet. The person I mean is now listening to me, may God grant, he will hear this advice, and I beg of you all my dear children to pray for his poor soul. The next pastoral address will not be kept so long from the public." This is a true copy of the pastoral charge of the right reverend the bishop of Philadelphia; and I shall take care to preserve the original American impression, to satisfy the curious, some of whom may suspect that it is a piece of home manufacture, intended to burlesque popish learning. It is right that Mr. Hogan should be heard a few words in his own defence. Every reasonable man will allow that he has met with hard measures. He came to Philadelphia with a fair character, and a very ample certificate to that effect by ТUоHY, bishop of Limerick. He acquired the good opinion of the congregation of St. Mary's, by great diligence in the discharge of his official duties; and by condescending even to become a sabbath school teacher, for the sake of the young of his flock. His address to his congregation commences in the following manner; and I think it looks very like the appeal of an honest man. "I should be truly ungrateful and undeserving the attentions that have been shown me since my arrival in this city, did I not endeavour to rescue my character from the imputations which the base machinations and unmanly envy of a few individuals, would fain throw upon it. It is with reluctance I would, upon any occasion, presume to intrude on the public attention; but it is with heartfelt pain I do it on the present, knowing how fatal to religion the exposing of perfidy and unmasking of clerical hypocrisy must necessarily be. I have done all in my power to bring those who have endeavoured to injure me to a sense of the impropriety of their conduct, and effect a reconciliation between us. For any supposed offence that I might have given them, I offered to make an adequate apology, but no apology would be listened to from me, no apology would be made for the injury done me. It is well known that I have been deprived of my living in St. Mary's church, by the Right Rev. Dr. Conwell: this step he has taken without giving me any previous notice or admonition, and without assigning any cause for so doing. In vain have I asked why I have been deprived of my living, in vain have the congregation asked why they have been deprived of my services, in vain have I appealed to the metropolitan, the archbishop of Baltimore, in vain have I protested against the precipitancy and injustice of such proceedings against me, no appeal from me will be listened to, and no reason will be assigned for thus injuring me, by depriving me of my living. This is cruel treatment, and unparalleled in the annals of ecclesiastical despotism. Were I so fortunate to live in those happy times, 'when kings could do no wrong, or· bishops in their individual capacities err,' then I should tamely submit; if I had been in a catholic country where the civil authorities would interfere, if I had been in a country where I could appeal to an unprejudiced tribunal, I should quietly await its decision, and cheerfully submit to it; but circumstanced as I am, having no one to appeal to, except a professed enemy, I am reluctantly obliged to have recourse to this mode of vindicating my character." In the sequel it appears, that the popish priests who were settled in Philadelphia before him, were persons of character so contemptible, that Mr. Hogan could not, without sacrificing his own character, associate with them; and this seems to have been one of the secret reasons why he incurred the displeasure of his bishop, and suffered so much persecution. Truly that must be a holy church that nourishes and brings up such sons! CHAPTER CLXXV. POPERY IN AMERICA. ELIGIBILITY OF PAPISTS TO PLACES OF POWER IN THE UNITED STATES. REASONS WHY THIS IS NOT SO DANGEROUS AS IN SOME OTHER PLACES. CONSECRATION OF THE BISHOP OF CHARLESTON. RIDICULOUS TITLES ASSUMED BY POPISH BISHOPS. LETTER FROM A MAN IN THE HIGHLANDS TO HIS SON IN GLASGOW. REMARKS ON IT. IN my SATURDAY, November 17th, 1821. last number I introduced an American popish bishop to the reader's acquaintance; and I gave an example of arbitrary government on his part, which shows that the system receives no amelioration even in that land of freedom. Some of the republican congregation did indeed venture to remonstrate with their bishop; but they could not move him to depart from his purpose of removing the obnoxious priest, whose presence he said was dangerous to the morals of his diocess, particularly of his young girls; but he would give him a recommendation to another diocess; and, in language as dignified as that of his printed address, he told the gentleman who took the priest's part, "He has a light pair of heels, and a clean pair of breeches, and the world is wide for him." Hogan's Address, p. 12. Speaking of the United States of America, I am reminded of the only thing that remains to be mentioned on the subject of making Papists eligible to places of power in a Protestant country. It is argued, that there are no political distinctions on account of religion in that country; that a Papist or a deist is as eligible to the highest office in the state as a Protestant; and that no evil whatever has resulted from this arrangement. I admit the fact, that such is the law in the United States; but then I maintain, that that is not a Protestant country, in any proper sense of the words. The majority of the people in some of the states are indeed Protestants; and in others, at least in Maryland, a vast proportion, if not the majority, are Papists; and the greatest man in that part of the world is the archbishop of Baltimore, who formerly claimed jurisdiction over that, and all the territory southward to the Floridas; but the pope has lately given the Carolinas and Georgia to the newly created bishop of Charleston, as mentioned in my last. Be the majority in any, or in all the states, what it may, it is certain that the United States, as such, is not a Protestant country. The Protestant religion is not acknowledged by its government any more than the Romish, though, in the establishment of all their institutions, they had the advantage of Protestant experience and example. Politically considered, the United States form no part of what is called Christendom. I am not going to inquire into the disadvantages, or the advantages of this state; my business is merely with the fact: and such being the fact, it must be very evident that the admission of Papists to places of power and authority in these states, is not attended by the same danger as in Protestant Britain and Ireland, where every established institution would become their prey. Papists have no motive to overturn the American government, for they would gain nothing by it. There are no church lands there, no tithes, and no estates forfeited by the treasons of their ancestors. In short, there are none of those retrospections which exist in a country where popery was once established, and which, in the very nature of the thing, make Papists desire the overthrow of the present, and the re-establishment of the ancient order. If it be admitted that no evil has arisen from the admission of Papists to places of power, it ought also to be admitted, that the Americans have not yet had time for a fair trial. It was many centuries before Rome was able to enslave England and Scotland, especially the latter; and she may at this moment be working her way to dominion in America, without the enlightened citizens of those states being able to perceive it; though very probably, their children shall see it, and feel it too. Hitherto there have been what our old divines called lets, in the way. The American government was scarcely settled when the French revolution took place, which unhinged the whole European system; and none were more affected by it than the pope and his clergy. Holding their power, and even their lives, at the will of the French emperor, they could do little in the way of propagating the faith in foreign countries. Most of the Papists who had settled in America, were poor emigrants from Ireland, or French refugees from St. Domingo, and other colonies, who had fled for their lives at the time of the massacre by the negroes. With little property and less learning, they could make little way among their more intelligent neighbours. We may judge of the state of literature among them from the composition of HIS ILLUSTRIOUS LORDSHIP, THE RIGHT REVEREND THE LORD BISHOP A flock that OF PHILADELPHIA, which I gave in my last number. Nothing can be more absurd and ridiculous than the high-sounding titles which these eleemosynary bishops take to themselves, and give to one another. Those of the church of England are peers of the realm, in virtue of the baronies attached to their sees; and are, therefore, styled their lordships: but for the popish bishops, who subsist upon what they can collect from the inferior clergy and poor laity, to assume such a style, is more ridiculous than the mock royalty of King Crispin. The following certificate, prefixed to the bishop of Charleston's "Pastoral Letter," is a fine specimen of such popish puff. "NOTE.-The bull of his holiness Pope Pius VII. for separating the states of North requires, and can be profited by the instruction of such a pastor, will not speedily find way to high offices in the state, and, therefore, they can do no evil in that way. But the pope was not restored to the possession of sovereign power twelve months, till he took measures for extending his dominion. The first step of any consequence was the restoration of the order of the Jesuits, which took place, I think, in 1815. These are the sworn propagators of the faith of Rome, and of the authority of the pope, in all parts of the world; and about two years ago I observed in the Orthodox Journal, a work avowedly in the interest of the Jesuits, that the society either had made, or were about to make a settlement in the United States of America. Add to this the information of Mr. Morrissy, contained in my last number, that the pope had lately sent an acquaintance of his, from Ireland, to establish the Inquisition in the United States; referring, I have no doubt, to the new bishop of Charleston, who was consecrated at Cork about a year ago. Now, the Jesuits are men of talents, learning, and intrigue. They know how to make their religion appear respectable in the eyes of worldly men. They will soon throw into the shade such dignitaries as his lordship of Philadelphia, or get them promoted to other sees, where their ignorance will not be so manifest; for as the pope has men for all sorts of places, so he has places for all sorts of men. Upon the whole, there is reason to expect, that the church of Rome will soon appear in great splendour in the western world. The bishop of Charleston has made his debut as a preacher with great eclat; and his church is well attended, even by Protestants, who are attracted by the pomp of the service, and the brilliancy of his eloquence. If it be true, as I fear it is, that infidelity is very prevalent in the American states, there is the more reason to apprehend the increase of popery. Infidelity is a heartless, comfortless system: it will never do to die with. There are certain fearful forebodings of a judgment to Carolina and South Carolina, and Georgia, from the diocess of Baltimore, and for erecting for their government a new episcopal see, in the city of Charleston, (S. C.) suffragan to Baltimore, and appointing the right reverend Doctor John England, bishop thereof, was published in the Roman Catholic church of Charleston, on Sunday the 31st of December, 1820. The certificate of consecration, of which the following is a correct translation, was also then read. "We, John Murphy, by the grace of God and of the apostolic see, bishop of Cork, in Ireland, certify to all whom it does or may concern, that on the 21st day of September, to wit, on the festival day of St. Matthew the apostle, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty; by virtue of the annexed apostolic letters, having first received from him the profession of Catholic faith, and the oath of fealty to our Lord Pope Pius VII. and the holy Roman church; we, celebrating mass in pontifical robes, in the church of St. Finbar, patron of our diocess, have bestowed the grace of consecration, on John England, a priest of Cork, chosen for a new bishop of the church of Charleston; being assisted therein by the right reverend and most illustrious lords, Keiran Marum, bishop of Ossory, and Patrick Kelly, bishop of Richmond; there being also present the most reverend and most illustrious Lord Patrick Everard, archbishop of Mitylene, and coadjutor to the archbishop of Cashel, the right reverend and most illustrious lords, William Coppinger, bishop of Cloyne and Ross, Charles Sughrue, bishop of Ardfert and Aghadoe, and Charles Tuohy, bishop of Limerick. In testimony whereof, we have written these presents with our hand, and affixed to them our episcopal seal. [L. S.] "Given from our residence in Cork the day and year above. |