Pope, Or President?
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com S~0?£ , If HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROM THE BEQUEST OF JOHN AMORY LOWELL CLASS OF 1815 Pope, or President? STARTLING DISCLOSURES ROMANISM AS REVEALED BY ITS OWN WRITERS. Facts for Americans. " It ha* always been the subtlety of grand deceivers to graft tbelr greatest errors 1 some material truths. thus to make them pass unnoticed by those who look tore at the root. than at the fruits. Their most destructive principles have ever a founded on some necessary and important truths." 8TILLIKQFLEET. e NEW YORK : R. L. Delisser, (LATE aTASrOBD * DELISStU.) No. 508 Broadway. 1859. MAWAtD OOLLBQE UMUWr (W| 3C . &* («>^ci£_- Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by K. L. DELISSEB, In the clerk's office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. .J A I y> ' "2 TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. "The keen vibration of bright truth is, hell." — Young. The extreme incredulity of the American people to believe, that their civil and religious freedom is emi nently perilled by the Roman Hierarchy, has induced the publication of this volume. Its principles, practices and aims as revealed in the authorities quoted are, for the first time, presented to the American public. It is not because the Roman Catholic Hierarchy is founded upon superstition ; but because it involves a con spiracy against human freedom, that we now address this volume to you, people of the United States. The works of Romish theologians are all printed in a language foreign to our country, and consequently sealed books ; except to scholars, who from culpable blindness on the subject, have never undertaken a thorough expo sition of their principles. For this reason the people are [v] To the Reader. incredulous, and cannot comprehend the danger which im pends over them. The Papal Church has now become a destined and formidable power in this republic. It therefore becomes vitally important, that some one should dare assume the responsibility of revealing the astounding mysteries of the Vatican. We have allowed its own writers to un tangle the fearful meshes of their crafty and corrupt sys tem, and to prove to the American people by their own authorities, that the Romish priesthood are here to sub jugate the liberties of this country ; and should these truths be impugned by the adherents of Rome, we are prepared to make still further disclosures of their princi ples and practices. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PASB POPERY PROVED A HUMAN INTENTION ... 9 CHAPTER II. THE ROMISH CONFESSIONAL . ... 86 CHAPTER III. CONVENTS EXPOSED BY ROMISH WRITERS ... 81 CHAPTER IV. TIIE INQUISITION 133 CHAPTER V. THE SOCIETY OF JESUS 170 vi Contents. CHAPTER VI. PICK THE PRINCIPLES OF JESUITISM 198 CHAPTER VII. SECKET INSTRUCTIONS TO THE JESUITS . .223 CHAPTER VIII. SAN FIDESTI SOCIETY, OR SOCIETY OF HOLY FAITH 239 CHAPTER IX. THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS .... 244 CHAPTER X. CATHOLIC CONGREGATIONS 262 CHAPTER XI. "THE GUILDS" OF IRELAND 267 CHAPTER XII. THE WEALTH OF THE ROMISH CHURCH . 273 Contents. vii CHAPTER XIII. PAGK BEDINI'S MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES . .290 CHAPTER XIV. THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 300 SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER 336 CONCLUDING REMARKS 348 APPENDIX 354 ROMANISM AS REVEALED BY ITS OWN WRITERS. CHAPTER I. POPEKY PROVED A HUMAN INVENTION. No such Person as Pope in Christianity — No Successor of Peter appointed — When the first Pope arose — First Forgery, and Proofs — Second Forgery, and Proofc — Third Forgery, and Proofs— Who made Peter a "Pope," and put him among the Papal Imposters — When the Bishop of Rome was first called Universal — When first a Temporal Bishop— Hildebrand, the Tyrant and Poisoner — Arch bishop Kenrick — Stupendous Fraud — The Master-piece- of Satan — Quotations — The Main Dogmas all proved to be Novelties in Religion — Dates — Proofs — The Voice of Scripture. The hierarchy of Rome which has occupied so large a portion of history ; which has so forced itself upon com munities and nations by priestly ambition and thirst for dominion ; which arrogates to itself divine supremacy, arid blasphemously usurps the prerogative, titles, and sovereignty of God — to absolve from sin, to dispense pardon and eternal blessedness or eternal damnation to the souls of men — and which has so bound the conscience and frightened it into submission to itself, we now pro- , ceed to show is a mere human invention. Under the garb of religious claims, this human device has deluged the world with its floods of crimes, — incest, perjuries, murders, extortions, concubinage, avarice, assas sinations, tyranny, immoralities, and bloody persecutions. 1* " [9] io Romanism a Human Invention. We give the dates and the proofs when this hierarchy arose and its dogmas were enacted. We exhibit it as based on forgeries and fiction. Our proofs will be clear and incontrovertible, deduced from history and from Romish authorities. As this chapter is designed to be but an epitome of the argument, we shall condense the whole subject into as brief a compass as possible. We shall assert nothing — we shall assume nothing on doubtful authority. We shall fortify our facts as we proceed from step to step, by the highest and most incontestible proofs. Our proposition is this : — That Popery is a mere human invention for the ad vancement of prelatical ambition, wealth, and power ; and that it is founded on forgeries and fiction. Mrst Proof. — No such person as Pope existed or was known in the Christian church in the days of the Apostles or for five hundred years afterwards. The Apostles were all on an equality.* Second Proof. — There is no chronology or history which certifies that Peter was ever at Rome, or that any bishop became his successor as head of the church. Let the reader bear in mind, that in the New Testament, inspired by the Spirit of God, minister and bishop mean precisely the same thing — they are convertible terms. We men tion this fact as of importance, for, in the present day, persons not acquainted with the original Greek in which the New Testament was written, and as superiority is fancifully ascribed to a bishop, may suppose that a dis tinction exists between these terms. But it is not so ; * History of the New Testament. Coleman's Chris. Antiqui. Mos- heim's Eccle. Hist. Gibbon's Rise and Fall of R. E. Haweis' Church History. Romanism a Human Invention. 11 minister and bishop mean one and the same thing in the New Testament. The first bishop who was called " Pope," was Som- machus in 501. But he was only one bishop among all the others, having no superiority over them.* The bishops of the principal cities of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, and Alexandria were all inde pendent of each other during the first seven centuries, and were sometimes called " patriarchs," which name the bishops of Constantinople and the Eastern Grecian churches retain to the present day.f Boniface III., a bishop of Rome, was, in the seventh century, or 606, first called Universal by the emperor Phocas of Constantinople, a murderer and a tyrant. And in 588, John, bishop of Constantinople, assumed the same title of Universal. Both were usurpations.^ In this sixth century, and during the three preceding, the bishops began gradually to usurp prelatical powers, and Eunodius in his Apology for the obsequious acts of the Fourth Council, held by order of Theoderic, 503, said that the bishop of Rome was subject to no earthly tri bunal, and styled him judge in the place of God, and the vicegerent of the Most High. This was the first time that such a blasphemous title was given to the bishop or Pope of Rome. And thus we see Paul's prediction ful filled. " So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."§ Now, reader, observe how during the fourth, fifth and * Wilkes' History. Bower on the Popes. t Coleman's Chris. Antiquities, Sec. p. 56. Gieseler's and llos- heira's Eecle. Hist. \ Waddington's Church Hist of the Sixth Century. § 2 Thess. xL 4. Gieseler, VoL I, p. 339. 12 Romanism a Human Invention. sixth centuries, the bishops dispensed with the plain simplicity of the ministers of the gospel, and gratified, their thirst for wealth and splendor as well as power, by the following testimonies: "When the Emperor Maximus, surrounded by his illustrious guests, sat in his banqueting chamber, Martin the Bishop of Tours, and one of his presbyters, sat next to him in all the pride and pomp which attended on a stimulated ambition. According to the usual custom, an attendant 'presents a chalice of wine to the emperor, who commands it to be offered first to the bishop, that he may receive it from the prelate's hands ; but no sooner has Martin drunk, than he passes the wine to his presbyter, as next in importance to him self, while the empress bathes his feet with her tears, wipes them with the hair of her head, attends as a slave to every mean indulgence, and regards the crumbs of his meal as the richest delicacy. Thus early had the nominal followers of Christ departed from Christian simplicity."* No wonder, then, that in the third century history thus describes the existing state of the Christian church : " Long peace had corrupted the discipline divinely revealed to us. Each was intent on improving his patrimony, and had forgotten what believers had done under the apostles, and what they always ought to do.