FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[121]Matt. x. 42.[122]Every Papal bull commences with these words.[123]I Pet. ii. 23.[124]Heb. xii. 23.

[121]Matt. x. 42.

[122]Every Papal bull commences with these words.

[123]I Pet. ii. 23.

[124]Heb. xii. 23.

Letter

ToCardinal Lambruschini,Secretary of State.—Vide p. 41.

Corfù, Nov. 1842.

Most Reverend Eminence,—

I have reason to be grateful for the singular attention your Eminence has manifested towards me, in so repeatedly recommending me to the care of the Governor of the Ionian Isles, in Corfu. I am aware that the Papal Consul, Signor Mosca, has done his utmost that I should be again given up to the authority of the Inquisition; on the contrary, however, I have, in consequence, been the more sedulously protected by this respectable Government, which glories in granting an asylum to all honest persons from the shores of Italy, particularly to such as come from the Papal States. It was in this same country that the Neapolitan emigrants, and among them the Papal Consul himself, were so cordially received in the year 1821. An equally kind welcome was also extended to the exiles from Modena and Romagna, in the year 1831, to many of whom were granted public employment, and the rights of nationality.

I do not myself belong to that honourable body who, for the sake of their country, have been exiled by their monarch. I am a voluntary exile, in consequence of the priestly domination and despotism which prevails to a greater extent than ever; and I have sought refuge among strangers, hoping to pass the remainder of my life secure from the outrageous oppression with which we were continually visited by our wretched rulers, in consequence of their heart-corroding suspicions and alarms. From the first moment that Ilanded among these noble-minded Greeks, I found hospitality, personal security, liberty of conscience, peace, and tranquillity. I chose this spot as being near to Italy, and where kindred spirits lament over the present disastrous state of affairs, and endeavour to preserve themselves and their children from similar misfortunes. Above all, I came here because I felt a presentiment that I shall be called upon to maintain the cause of the Cross; and I am desirous, moreover, to be ready to defend myself from those who, having before so unworthily attacked me, will doubtless renew their molestations, unless I am present to refute their calumnies.

I need only refer to the late letters written to the Consul and others, to my injury, the falsehood of which your Eminence well knows; not to mention the numberless schemes put in practice to annoy me. But are you not awarethat itis in my power to cover my adversaries with confusion, and render them infamous in the eyes of the whole world, simply by narrating things as they really are? Yet, I shall rather check this spirit of reaction, unless I am absolutely constrained to allow it in my own vindication.

My sole desire is to possess and enjoy peace in my own mind; to have my understanding enlightened; to feel the influence of goodness in my own breast, and to be guided in all things by Him who alone is wisdom and light, "the way, the truth, and the life." I declare to you, Signor Cardinal,—I declare to all your brethren of the Sacred College, and to the Pope himself, that from this very moment I intend no longer to be conjoined with the sect of the so-called Roman Catholics, of which the Pope is the head, Rome the seat, and the Canons the law. I renounce all belief in Papistic doctrines, as being opposed to the Gospel, the only light left us by Jesus Christ, the only volume of religious truth, the single code of faith, the sole rule and guidance for our moral conduct; as such, I desire in all things to be obedient to the injunctions of that Holy Gospel, and to follow it in its original purity, divested of all the corruptions introduced by the Church of Rome, which subject theWordto the domination of asoi-disantVicar of Jesus Christ, a high priest intruded upon the Universal Church. Thus I hope to return to the early faith established by Christ, promulgated by His Apostles throughout the whole world, and professed by His true disciples, our forefathers, to whom neither Pope nor Cardinals were necessary, and who lived together in peace, as brethren; arrogating to themselves no superiority over others, nor any right to commandtheir fellow-servants in the cause of religion, their only distinctions being titles of affection and kindness; knowing that God, who contemneth the proud, and severely rebuketh those who are clothed in purple and fine linen, regardeth with favour the meek and lowly of heart, and him who having two cloaks gives one to his neighbour who has none.

My religion, therefore, is no longer that which God has abandoned to the false prophets; but that which He visibly protects upon earth; that which He has himself brought forth out of the corruptions which the followers of pomp and wealth have occasioned, to the destruction of true morality, the profanation of what is holy, the falsifying of the very truth itself. My religion is that which has been purged from the Romish infection by men raised up for that purpose by the Almighty himself; and to whom was also given the power and grace to rescue half Europe from the abyss of papal contamination. And now is the time that the people of every nation are called upon to join in this reform; and I doubt not they will come from every quarter for that purpose, weary of belonging to an abominable sect, which so greatly dishonours the Gospel by the immoderate luxury of its court, and the ignorance and vices of its entire priesthood.

I rejoice that finally, after so many trials and tribulations, the Lord hath effectually called me to Him, through the truths of faith; and as I owe Him thanks for all His dispensations, I am more particularly called upon to bless His holy Name for having enabled me to turn this last persecution of the Romish priesthood to such good account. Behold me then always a true Roman with respect to my country, but no longer so with regard to religion; a Christian, but no Papist. And as such, in the path that opens before me, I trust I shall be enabled to lead others also unto the truth.

I flatter myself that we may now enter into a sort of agreement with each other. I, for my part, solemnly engage to relinquish every privilege I have received at your hands, and expect that you, in return, will give up all right to exercise authority over me. Let there be a complete divorce, a wall of separation between us. I do not indeed imagine that I shall be further molested, at any rate I shall be but little disposed to put up with it. My intentions are nevertheless far from hostile: now that we are divided, let there be that peace betwixt us which, as long as we were united, never could exist.

Communicate the contents of this letter to the whole Congregation of the Holy Office, to whom I am indebted for the first idea, not of my reform itself, but of my declaration of it; as I am now to your Eminence for this full and solemn protest.

P.S. Your Eminence must know, that among the events which took place the day I left the Inquisition, one was the depriving me of a valuable watch, by one of the Inquisitors in the name of the Holy Congregation, for what reason I cannot tell. As the loss of it was very disagreeable to me, I did not fail to make many urgent requests to have it back again, but all in vain. Poor watch! as it had been my constant companion for ten years, I suppose it was imagined it also had imbibed a portion of heresy, and who knows what terrible sentence may not hang over its head! I maintain, however, that my watch has always beentrueandfaithful, andregular, and if it has no claim toinfallibility, it is solely because it has never belonged to the Pope: it belongs to me, and I have no intention to resign it to others. If, therefore, the Inquisition does not think proper to restore it to me, I shall be under the necessity of making my complaint public; which I shall assuredly do in the Maltese and London Journals.

I have the honour to be, &c. &c.Giacinto Achilli.

ToGregory XVI.,Bishop and Sovereign of Rome,Giacinto Achilli,Minister of the Italian Catholic Church.—Vide p.42.

Letter I.

Howeverknown my sentiments may already be to you, from several letters, which I have recently written to your two Cardinals, Polidori and Lambruschini, I still regard it as desirable to make a more ample declaration to yourself, so as to throw greater light on my faith, and to leave no longer in doubt the form of religion which I follow and profess.

Believe not, Holy Father, that I am urged to this step by any feeling of resentment in consequence of the injuries done me in Rome by certain of your ministers; or that I wish to avenge myself thus, for the hundred days during which I was shut up, last year, inthe Inquisition without any just cause. May God pardon you your offences as entirely as I pardon you that act, though it brought upon me heavy sufferings! I have been enabled to derive benefit from it; and that which by you was designed for my injury, the all-wise God has turned to my advantage. So that now, on reckoning up my account, I find that my gain has been far greater than my loss; that my sorrow has been turned into joy; that the plot has turned against the plotters, to whom nothing has remained but remorse for the attempt, and the shame of a miserable defeat.

Holy Father, if you really fear God, you know sufficiently that He is not to be trifled with—we cannot lie to Him, nor purpose one thing and say another. Allow me, then, now to summon you into His presence, to discuss your faith and my own; for we are both equal before Him; the Decalogue and the Gospel are equally imposed upon us both. Excepting these, I know no other law to direct me in my belief and in my actions; and I am convinced that there should be no other for any one who calls himself a Christian.

Tell me, I pray you, whence you derive those of your dogmas which exist not in the Gospel, and those numerous doctrines which are not to be found in any book of the Scriptures? I am entitled to ask you; for, after examining your lauded fountains of tradition, your theologians, and the Fathers, so dishonestly edited,—I have found superabundant fraud, both in interpretation, assertion, supposition, and inference; for all seem to be concentrated in the object of making the Pope universal sovereign; establishing him as head and lord of the entire Church, with full and absolute power of loosing and binding—that is, of destroying and building up,—declaring his Church, as a spiritual kingdom, superior to every state, to every people, to every dynasty; so that, according to this theory, the power of the pope is made to absorb every other power; from that of God Himself, who alone, in other times, judged men to life or to perdition, down to that of the lowest baron, who can only have from the pope the legitimate power over his vassals.

Such fables might be told in the vaunted days of Gregory VII.; when they were coined with the design of extending the papal mantle over the whole world; subjecting to him, as far as possible, the kingdoms of Europe and Asia. Such was the object of the Crusades. Such was the object of the foundation of the numerous Orders,—enrolled, under various devices, for the purposes of thepopes, and sent to the most remote countries, to preach, together with the Gospel, the primacy, the sovereignty, the infallible, irresistible, fearful omnipotence of the Most Holy Bishop of Rome; under pain, if they did not, of being severely punished, and with the promise, if they did, of being rewarded, after death, with the honours of the altar.

History, Holy Father, teaches us this, whenever we read it with the necessary discernment. These Orders, however, increased, spread, and were laden by Rome with privileges, exemptions, and even riches; for the monks, yet more than the priests, played the papal game, and related to the nations the holiness of the popes, how they were chosen by the Holy Spirit, and how Christ and the Virgin conversed with them familiarly. Happy, then, did those consider themselves, who could obtain anAgnus Dei, or other favour; whilst for an indulgence, silver and gold were spent without restraint. Hence the immense riches which, from every quarter showered upon Rome, and rendered the popes proud, their courts insolent, their city the most beautiful in the world.

But times changed; that is to say, many well-informed persons amongst the faithful, perceived the imposture of these sellers of Christ; and first with words, afterwards by acts, revolted against the disorder which not only blinded them with error, but despoiled and oppressed them.

And now came the epoch of the Reformation—of that religious rising which, excited by God, and guided by the Spirit of the Lord, succeeded in enlightening and persuading half Europe to separate from the theories of popery, without fear of offending religion,—nay, rendering justice, by so doing, to that Gospel which the popes had adulterated, which Rome had profaned, which had been made an instrument of extortion and falsehood, by the aid of priests and monks. But this lesson, honestly given to them by nations, was not enough to correct the popes; even the half of their proselytes who remained to them, were sufficient to maintain their courts in all their luxury; and one hope comforted them, that by the use of skilful artifices, they might destroy the work of Luther and of Henry VIII., as they had done that of many others.

Holy Father, how has this hope for three centuries failed your predecessors! Nay, you yourself have had the grief of losing several districts, in the north and in the south, which called themselves yours, without any hope that they will ever return to you again.

If you wish to know the reason, I can tell it you. It is because our times are no longer in accordance with the impostures that you sell by your monks, who, full of ignorance, superstition, and knavery, still hawk about the fables of Rome. The world will no longer listen to your universal primacy, because every one knows that it does not extend beyond the two millions and a half of people, which, by the deference of the sovereigns of Europe, it is still permitted you to govern by force of arms.

Your indulgences, your relics, are specifics which are gone out of use. The excise upon sins, which you enforce once a-year, to be paid through your privileged exactors, is, be assured, paid by the generality in false money; inasmuch as now nearly every one comprehends that, however great may be the authority you possess, that power assuredly is wanting to you which belongs to God alone. Still it is to be bitterly lamented, that a great part of Europe yet tolerates that trickery of yours—a spectacle revolting to the good sense, not to say to the religion, of mankind—that a priestly juggler should boast of being able to transform, by virtue of certain words, a portion of bread and wine into Deity. Too great, O Holy Father, too great is the abuse attempted to be practised on your adherents; placing them in the very condition of those who were once taught that gods might be born in a garden. Why so far outrage your friends as to make them afterwards ashamed of themselves, when they come to reflect upon the fraud? It makes them hate and curse you when this happens. In these our days, when even children are angry at being deceived, men have sufficient self-respect rather to bear blows than to be treated with fraud and delusion.

And do you know what follows? The gravest of all evils—the total loss of religion. Roman Catholics, if not quick in taking refuge in some reform or other, become Atheists, the first moment that having their eyes open, they perceive they have been drawn into such gross errors. They feel an indignation which makes them discredit everything; believing that there can be nothing good where so many evil things are presented to them to swallow. Just as when in a most exquisite dish we find foreign substances which offend our senses, we do not endeavour to separate them, but rather reject the whole; so it happens to Papists, when they perceive the falsity and fraud which lie hidden under the Roman faith.

What now will you say, Holy Father, if I prove to you that bymeans of popery men become more wicked, and are so speculatively? The power that you claim of granting absolution of sins,—to whom does it secure pardon? Who is there that, having fulfilled the condition you lay down of confession, does not feel persuaded that he has settled his accounts, to open them again with equal extravagance? Where are the greatest numbers of robbers, traitors, adulterers, if not in the midst of your Roman Catholics? And why? Because it costs them nothing but to cast themselves at the feet of one of your plenipotentiaries, to cancel every iniquity. If you have been at Naples, you know of whom it is that the churches are full; who it is that beat their breasts before the altar, who are those that weep all day at the confessionals! And such as Naples is, such are all the other countries more or less papistical.

But there is still more to observe. Who are generally the most wicked persons in every locality? (I speak only of Italy, indeed only of Southern Italy—a country emphatically Roman Catholic.) Forgive me, Holy Father; but it is a matter of fact,—priests and monks; whatever iniquity, wickedness, and abomination has ever existed upon the earth, you will find among them. Haughtiness, luxury, ambition, pride,—where do they most abound? In your temples. There the excessive love of money, falsehood, fraud, duplicity, cover themselves with a sacred veil, and are almost in security from profane censures. And oh! how great are the horrors of the cloisters (sepulchra dealbata), where ignorance and superstition, laziness, indolence, calumny, quarrels, immorality of every description, not only live, but reign. The most abominable vices, long banished from all society, have there taken refuge; and there will they continue miserably to dwell, until God, outraged by them, shall rain down upon them the curse of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Am I exaggerating? or do not you yourself, while reading this paragraph, utter the sigh of sorrowing conviction? But who are to be blamed for such evils? Mankind, you will tell me, evasively. But I reply: Are not the immense mass of Protestants also a part of mankind? and do not they live quite differently? Worshipping the same Deity, followers of the same gospel, their temples are truly the house of prayer; their Sundays the Lord's-day, their ministers patterns of probity and morality. Can this be denied concerning the Protestant clergy in general? But against the Roman Catholic clergy thousands of accusations can be most justly made. Will you venture to deny it? You must first hide theepiscopal prisons of your State, and numerous other places of punishment for ecclesiastics;—you must prevent the world from knowing of the Ergastolo of Corneto, full to overflowing with priests and monks, whom you send there yourself, when they become intolerable to you. Find me anything like this in Germany or in England—countries eminently Protestant. Can you deny, then, that your popery renders men more wicked?

It follows, from what has been said, that such a religion is the pest of society; insomuch as it conceals the truth, disfigures the gospel, promotes error, favours ignorance and bigotry. Hence comes the ruin of poor Italy, which, owing to this system of belief, is in many parts desert, the country uncultivated, the commerce in a deplorable condition. Italy, once the queen of the world, is now the servant and slave of other nations. Kings consulting with their confessors how best to oppress their people! Jesuits restored to the ascendant! Monks continually enriching themselves! While all the rest of the world is progressing, Italy alone is going back, on account of her popery, which degrades, debases, and renders her contemptible in the sight of God and man.

Holy Father, are you grieved by what I say? I rejoice not in your grief, but in the hope that it may be for your benefit. It rests with you, if you will, to change the system. Be not ashamed of having erred till now. You will bethe manof the age; a man glorious in all history: you will be the true apostle of Jesus Christ, if, renouncing the vanity of your primacy, which can last to you but little longer, you lay down the titles and the dignities which do not belong to you. You, better than any other, can bring back to Italy the religion of Christ in its purity; taking away all that has been maliciously invented, to defraud the faithful for the profit of the clergy. The imposture is now thoroughly seen into; there are no longer persons who believe in Confession, in the Mass; in the sufferings of Purgatory, in the patronage of Saints. Your indulgences have lost all their credit; your excommunications are totally valueless: your bulls and canons only raise a smile.

How is the world changed in regard to you! Once all Catholics, even the least earnest, spoke of the pope with respect. Now even your own court speaks ill of you. Accusations against yourself personally, which circulate through the world, and state things in the highest degree disgraceful, originate with Romans. You will call this the work of Satan, but I must, with more suitable language,call it the hand of God; that terrible hand which is preparing your punishment.

It will happen to you as it happened three centuries since, to Pope Clement VII. Germany and England then separated from Rome under his eyes: Poland and Spain are about to do the same under yours. Hasten, Holy Father, to accept the call which Heaven makes to you. Despise not the voice of God, as your ill-advised predecessors despised it. Your measure is now full. In the first days of your pontificate you saw the most violent revolution that ever happened in your States,—the sincere expression of the opinion and wishes of every one. It was echoed and applauded by all Italy. Italy wishes for you no longer; Italy no longer believes, respects, or loves you. It was requisite, at that time, for the Austrians to interfere. Will they do so again? Or, if they do, will they be able to extinguish the flame?

Regard not who it is who gives you these suggestions. I am less hostile to you than you imagine. Nay, I protest to you that I have no hostility in my heart, except towards your doctrine and policy; I have none towards yourself, whom I regard with religious affection, and for whom I desire the holy light of God, to promote your repentance and that of your brethren.

Corfu, January 15, 1843.

ToGregory XVI.Bishop and Sovereign of Rome,Giacinto Achilli,Minister of the Italian Catholic Church.

Letter II.

Itis not party spirit—it is not a vain-glorious craving to contend with you,—but the love of truth, the interests of religion, and the charity of the gospel, which induce me to write to you again.

It has ever been the custom in the Church of Jesus Christ for the elders to treat with the bishops, upon the most important matters. Thus Jerome did with Damasus, and Bernard with Eugenius. I do not set myself up as a judge. I only wish to be a truthful witness, in a cause where there are a thousand accusers. The issue lies between you and the Church—that is, between the Christian people and one Bishop of Christendom. No question could be moreimportant, from the subject to which it relates, the parties who compose it, the period at which it is raised. The subject is the faith of the gospel, the only law given to Christians. The parties are a multitude against a few; a people against individuals; the Christian Church against its pretended lords. The period is the nineteenth century. The terms of the question: whether the world at large should continue to believe in you, to obey you, to follow you, wherever you are pleased to lead it. You support the affirmative, which others deny. I will openly deliver my solemn testimony.

The Christian world will no longer believe in you, because you have deceived it, and because you continue in your intention of deceiving it. It believed you as long as you announced the truths of religion, as they are written in the book of the common faith. To you, as more instructed than others, it allowed the faculty of explaining the mysteries of charity, the symbols of the Divine Word. Your speech ought to have been simple and pure; but you adulterated it with false doctrines, with fallacious arguments, with meanings extorted from the philosophy of the pagans,—you explained the gospel by the theories of Plato and the sophistries of Aristotle. The world no longer knows what to believe.

Your doctors exalted themselves above the apostles; they perverted the holy expressions of those Epistles which men of God left for the instruction of the faithful. A new Word prevailed above the old—an earthly and human over the heavenly and Divine. The faith, the patrimony of a free people, was made over to a caste which domineered over them. The property of the simple was usurped by the cunning; the inheritance of the poor of Jesus Christ was extorted from them by the rich; who, clad in purple and gold, disdained the title of brethren and friends—the only appellation of Christians—and chose instead to be called fathers and lords. And the people were deceived by them.

Yes, the people; they who constitute the Church, were deceived by the ministers of a religion which knows nothing but the people, which is given to the people only—by which, whosoever aspires to be the first, is condemned to be the last,—the people who, as St. Peter says:—

"Laying aside all malice, and all guile, and evil speaking; as new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, in order to grow thereby, after having tasted that the Lord is gracious: to whom coming, as to a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, butchosen of God and precious, they are built up as living stones, a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ ... a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, which in time past were not a people, but now are the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

Yes, the people, deceived by you, have good reason no longer to believe in you. You have deceived them with your doctrines—your own, not those of the gospel; invented for your own profit alone; not for the benefit of men's souls, to which you have even denied consolation, when they could not give you silver and gold in payment for it. You deceive them with your practices, when you, so avaricious, preach disinterestedness; you, so impure, chastity; you, so vindictive, forgiveness; you, so insubordinate, submission; you, so turbulent, peace; you, so self-indulgent, temperance; you, so indolent, industry; you, so immoral, holiness.

Thus to this day you have deceived the people; and they have ceased to believe in you; perceiving that God did not dwell in you, that God no longer spoke through your untruthful lips.

How, indeed, could they longer believe in you, when your words were in open contradiction with the Word of God—your institutions with its principles?

God pardons him that believes and repents—you declare none pardoned but through outward works! God will be worshipped by believers in spirit and in truth; He prohibits sculptures and images, in order that no one may ever give worship and homage to another.

Oh, how many things have you taught, how many divers practices have you adopted! How have you changed the temple of prayer, the mystic table of the Lord's Supper, the simple hymn of the faithful, the pure preaching of the Word!

Who ever saw in the ancient Churches—who could have anticipated in the modern ones, the golden ornaments of your sacerdotal crowns and vestments? so that, on solemn days, your whole person shines in the temple like a sun; to which the dazzled eyes of a deluded multitude of disciples are turned, substituting, alas! the senses for spirit, earth for heaven, man for Deity.

Fatal illusion, which has caused such great evils throughout Christendom! these appearances are supposed to be faith, and in these religion is made to consist. Deny it if you can. What is, infact, the faith of the people, and what must it be from your practical instruction? That, of course, which they see and hear with you. And what else do they see and hear, but superstitions and errors? To whom are the solemn days dedicated? To the saints. Concerning whom are the most glowing orations made in the Churches? The saints. Who is over the altars? A saint, at full length; with, or perhaps without, a small crucifix, scarcely visible. Which way do the people turn on entering the temple? To the spot where they see an image exciting to their feelings. And what follows? They worship that image. And you priests, spectators of that worship, are silent. You are consistent in being so, for none but yourselves deserve to be blamed for this abuse,—you, who place the image there—you, who relate its miracles, so as to enamour the simple who trust you! You are silent also because it is your interest to keep so. Oblations, gifts, offerings, follow the adoration. But are not the people deluded? What matters it, if only the priesthood be profited!

The people, however, will not believe themselves deluded, in doing what they see you do. Who is there among you that does not adore the saints, does not adore and kiss their relics? It is useless to urge the distinction about sorts of worship, which you make in the schools. The people know it not, because they have never been taught it. It is shut up in your books, from whence it never comes out, except to be learnt by those who have to support and defend it against every attack. In short, it is the doctrine of controversy, not of practice.

If you regulated the practice by the doctrine, you would prohibit kneeling before images and relics; but you are the first to kneel. You would not permit the use of incense to relics and images, practised from antiquity in honour of God alone; but it is you who offer incense to them. You would not tolerate even the candles on the altar, to inspire the people with a high idea of the majesty of God; but you light them yourselves. You come upon us with the distinction of the school, between the worship and the adoration of images.

Who are you who dare to distinguish, where the law precludes all distinction? It is God who says in the Second Commandment, "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow downthyself to them, nor serve them." But you have purposely taken this commandment out of your Decalogue, dividing the last into two, in order to complete the number ten.

Need I remind you of all the other inventions by which you have deceived the people; making them believe that you have found them in the Scriptures; and that they have, moreover, the suffrage of a constant tradition within the Church? The people having now learnt to read, take the Bible in their hands, and look for your doctrines in it. Where, they ask, is the precept for auricular confession, of which the Church of Rome makes an express command, and has declared it a sacrament? Not a word of it can be found in the gospel, nor the slightest allusion to it in the letters of the apostles. But perhaps it was practised by some Christians in the early ages? For the first four centuries of Christianity, it was not known even by name, and when it began to spring up, it found more opponents than followers; no one even venturing to reduce it into a precept. The people search the Bible for the famous doctrine of purgatory; and how great their surprise to find that our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought life and immortality to light, with the double eternity of rewards and punishments, has never mentioned purgatory, nor have His apostles.

You send them to read a sentence of the Book of the Maccabees, and wish Judas Maccabeus to teach the Christian people what Jesus Christ did not teach. But the people, who are not wanting in sense, ask their priests what is the value of that Book of Maccabees? The priest, if he have any conscience, is obliged to reply that it is one of the Apocryphal books; it having never been received by the Hebrews, from whom we are bound to receive faithfully the books of the Old Testament; it not being written originally in their language; never being quoted, either by Christ, or by His apostles; consequently, not received in the ancient Catholic Church, and only inserted among the sacred books by the Council of Trent; to whom it was an object to authenticate the doctrine of purgatory. So much for the Scripture proof. Now, let us go to the tradition of the ancient Catholic Church.

You will admit that, for two centuries, prayers for the dead, and still more the doctrine of purgatory, never entered men's heads. Tertullian, that imaginative mind, which saw so many other things upside-down, was the first to recommend prayers for the dead; without, however, mentioning purgatory. Towards the end of thefourth century, Augustine, another African mind, spoke more decidedly both of prayers, and of a sort of suffrages for the dead. However others choose to act, shall we rely on the authority of his discoveries? Even the purgatory of Augustine was not an existing fire, but one which is to be lighted up at the final destruction, through which then, and not previously, souls shall pass. This theory is of perhaps equal value with his theory respecting the Antipodes, whose existence that learned man denied!

The case is similar with all the other dogmas which, since the time of Gregory VII., have originated in the Church of Rome. Is the Christian Church bound to receive the wicked inventions of Honorius III., proposed and sanctioned by him in the Lateran Council (1215)? Shall she adhere to his famous dogma of transubstantiation, invented by the heretic Eutychus, unknown in the first ages, and ably contradicted by Pope Gelatius? (De Duab. Christ. Natur.) Shall she abide by the impious doctrine that the sacrifice of Christ, offered once for all, as a full satisfaction, even to the end of the world, should be renewed every day, by hundreds, by thousands, by hundreds of thousands of priests, who say that they are authorized to offer it, both for the living and the dead? Most enormous sacrilege, to which the whole Bible is opposed, and which the Apostle Paul loudly condemns in his Epistles! What elder, or bishop, in the first centuries, ever allowed himself to celebrate your mass, or the sacrifice which you call unbloody; or to make use of anything but the simple commemoration of the supper of the Lord; very far removed from that idea with which you have clothed it in the ages of error and ignorance? Is the sacrament which you now celebrate the original august mystery of the Divine food, instituted indeed in substances of bread and wine, but containing spiritually the body and blood of Christ, which are communicated to His Church, that is, to the multitude of believers, not materially and physically, as you say, but in virtue of faith? Yes! if you will but celebrate it with that simplicity with which it was celebrated by the first bishops and elders of the Catholic Church, we will come willingly to receive it at your hands. Celebrate it in all its extent, and the people will approach the eucharistic table, to eat of the Divine bread, and to drink of the Divine cup. But the people desire both the one and the other, and cannot yet understand the reason for which you have taken the cup from them.

Is it not the precept of Christ that every believer should drink ofthat cup, as well as eat of that bread? Was not this the practice of the primitive times of Christianity? The Greek Church has always retained that practice, and the Reformation immediately resumed it. The people have as good a right to the cup as have you priests;—even better than you, since you cannot avail yourselves of it without the Church properly so called. In taking it alone, you perform an act contrary to His institution, which is to "communicate,"—that is, to take it together, as the word itself teaches you. Yes! Only on this condition will the people remain united to you, that you be faithful in the exercise of the ministry, not altering the faith, not changing the practice, not deceiving them in anything.

They are willing to confide in you as the appointed servants of the Church, in the offices of religion. But instead of this you think of nothing but to command. The yoke of Christ, which He made easy, and His burden, which He made light, you have rendered so heavy and insupportable that the people refuse to bear them. Something very different from indulgences and benedictions is now needed to satisfy the people. In the present day fables please none but children, and lies are no longer tolerated by any. The Christian people desire from us, the ministers of its Church, the Word of Life as announced by Jesus Christ, as preached by the apostles, as written in the sacred books of our faith.

If, instead of chaplets andAgni Dei, which are deceptions, you, the bishop of Rome, were to give the Bible to the people, you would see how readily they would follow you! But it must be the Bible translated into their own language, so that they may comprehend it. Give them the Bible! Bestow on them those sacred books which Moses and the Prophets, the Evangelists and the Apostles wrote for the people, and not for the priests only! Give the people that which is their own; they have a right to it of which you cannot deprive them. It is the testament of our God, who left His people the heirs of His holy Word; in reading which, faith will be granted, and to the belief of which are attached salvation and life.

Who gave you the power to deprive the people of their privilege and highest benefit? Fear lest God end by avenging His oppressed ones, and causing a curse to fall upon you.

You venture to excommunicate the people, if they read the Bibles which a beneficent Christian society has taken pains to print in all languages, on purpose that all nations may enjoy the benefit of reading them. You condemn the charity and the religion of thosegood men, who, in their zeal for souls, undertake this work with much expense to themselves! O Pope Gregory, what manner of spirit are you of? As one of the bishops of Christendom, you should have a care to feed your flock; on what will you feed them if not on the pure and holy Word of God? You ought, therefore, to be well disposed towards all who take this Word from the holy originals in Hebrew, and Greek, and faithfully translate it into the vulgar tongue, so as to enable you and other bishops to administer it to your flocks. You ought yourself to accept these sacred volumes from their hands, and, accompanying them with the warmest expressions of paternal solicitude, recommend them to the reading and the study of your children. What do I say? You ought, on your own account, to print them, and not wait for others to supply you with them. You would then see the faithful in your Church apply themselves eagerly to that Divine book, and draw from it food and nourishment. But, alas! you do just the opposite. You do not print it, and you do not choose that others should print it. You never give it to the people, and you do not wish that others should give it. I will add what I hear is said,—you do not read it, and you do not wish that others should read it. And for this you allege, as your sole reason, the pretext that the people are not capable of understanding it. Sure enough, they do not understand it in Latin; but they would understand it in their own language. The Germans and the English, to whom their own Churches impart it, understand it; why should it not be understood by the French, the Italians, and the Spaniards?

You say, in your Encyclical of last March, that the Council of Trent, in order to explain the Bible to the people, provides that in each cathedral church a canon should be charged to deliver, every year, certain lectures on the Scriptures. And think you this is enough? I know of this provision, and I know, too, how it is practised. Would that this were done in all the cathedrals, and that the number of lectures amounted to twenty in a year! But, let me ask you, has every village its cathedral and its theologians authorized to lecture on the Scripture? Away with such excuses! why abuse the inexperienced with illusive words, which only mock the people? The fact is, you do not wish the Scriptures to be read at all, still less to be read aloud, by any one who, having no interest in flattering you, would consult them in order to investigate your doctrines. Those humble souls to whom the Lord would reveal theknowledge which he denies to your theologians, would find in them the falsity of your system; instead of believing in you, they would begin to believe in Jesus Christ, who announces to His people salvation by faith, and not by works; remission of sins to sinners by grace, and not by penance; satisfaction by the merits of the Redeemer, and not by those of good men; Jesus Christ the sole Mediator with God, not the Virgin and the saints; Christ the Head and Chief of the Church, not Peter nor you; Christ alone perfectly holy, Christ alone infallible.

These, and other such things, the people would find in the Bible, if they read it. And the consequence would be, that they, being the many, finding themselves deceived by you, who are the few, would summon you to judgment, for having too long kept them in error; to the serious injury of religion, as well as to the danger of their own souls. Think you that the antiquity of dates, the traditions of canons, or the authority of the Fathers would then serve to defend your cause? The people, with the Bible in their hands, after having confuted your errors and those of your Councils and of your Fathers, all of whom were uninspired men, were but too liable to err, as in fact they did err—the people would pronounce such a sentence as would oblige you and your theologians to return to the Bible, that is, to the true Catholic Church of the first three centuries; reforming, by this means, what has been added since, whether by the desire of novelty, or by the spirit of ambition and interest.

Do you know what the people are? They are the Church of Jesus Christ. We are the ministers, or servants, of this Church; and we therefore depend upon the people. This truth, announced by Jesus Christ, and openly taught by His Apostles, but which men have wilfully denied, begins now to revive. The people, whom it has been attempted to deprive of their privileges, now begin to reclaim them. The man who now reads in his own language the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Paul, discovers in them his own privileges; he reflects on the usurpation practised upon him, and claims the rights to which he is entitled. The people, as constituting the Church, to which the ministers are servants in the dispensation of mysteries and in the office of preaching, will then have the help of Christ, even to the end of the world. On this People-Church the promises of the Redeemer descended, and we only participate in them as part and ministers of the people.

Bishop of Rome! continue, if you will, as long as men will allowyou, to sit on the throne of the Cæsars, who are dead; but invade not that of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns. He is the only Sovereign of the People-Church, nor does He allow himself to be represented by others. He governs it at all times by His own laws, nor does He suffer others to usurp His rights, by substituting their laws for His.

And does it follow that He must be longer silent, because He has borne with you in silence until now? It is now nearly the middle of the nineteenth century. Do you not see the providence of God in operation over all material and earthly things? When was there ever such progress in enlightenment, such knowledge of the arts of industry? Remote nations approach each other by the easiest means, connect themselves in the most rapid manner, and form plans for a degree of union, of peace, and of prosperity, such as has never before existed. Nations which slept for ages, have woke up full of vigour and energy; their steps are those of a giant; their look is that of the eagle; they measure the earth, in its vastness, and overrun it in all its extent. The people of our day differ widely from those of by-gone times; their wants are more strongly felt, their language is more decided.

In former times, no Roman could have been found to speak to his pope with frankness. You have now found one who spares you not; who dares to present himself before you: not on his knees, to adore you, but erect, to speak to you with freedom, and to tell you what he thinks. And with him are thousands, nay millions, who partake his views. And who is this man? An Italian, a minister of an Italian Church;—a Church which assembles to pray to God in the Italian language, and to listen to the reading of His holy Word. And in whose name does he minister? In that of God. By whom chosen and received? By the people, who are the Church; and previously by yourself, and by the Church of the priests; if, indeed, that Church of yours be really a Church, consisting, as it does, of priests only, without people. You are called the Latin Church, but where is the Latin people? From the time that the language of the priests has ceased to be the language of the people, priests and people no longer form one Church; unless by the word Church you mean a theatre, with a stage for the actors and a space for the spectators. The country from the Alps to the sea is Italy; its inhabitants are called by all the world, Italians; its language is Italian, and has been so for four centuries. Where is there room for a Latin Church?Such did exist before God extinguished it; but God has extinguished it, and man cannot maintain it in existence.

Yes, Pope Gregory, Italians we are, and Christians we are resolved to be. What shall be the name of our Church? Answer, or the people will answer for you, "The Italian." The Italian Church we are, by the will of God and in the name of Jesus Christ who presides over us. Will you join us? You, too, are an Italian. You, too, are a Christian. Nay, you are a minister and an elder, as St. Peter designated himself; and among the elders we will recognise you as a bishop, whenever you will return with us to the Christianity of primitive times; otherwise we must part.

Understand that in religion there is no compromise, and we are persuaded that the religion of the first three centuries is alone the pure and true Christianity. Can you deny this? You are a conscientious man; do justice, then, to your country, since the providence of God has made you pope, that is to say, Bishop of Rome, in the nineteenth century. Blame us not, that in wishing to be Christians, we refuse to beRomanists. Within the present century, heaven and earth will contradict you; posterity will condemn you; and an Omnipotent God will pass your sentence, dooming you to be the last of a series which has existed long enough, by coming down to our own days.

July, 1844.

Letter toPius IX.Bishop and Sovereign of Rome,Giacinto Achilli,a Minister of the Italian Catholic Church.

Itis not unknown to you that I addressed two letters to your exalted predecessor, Gregory XVI., making a full retractation of the Romish doctrines which I had professed, more or less, up to 1841, and declaring to him my entire belief in Divine Scripture alone, to the exclusion of everything else. In this faith I intend to live and die, so help me God and His holy Word!

Being appointed, however, by the will of the Lord, a minister and elder in His Church, I cannot abstain from the exercise of that employment without entailing upon myself God's anger, and committing a culpable desertion of duty. My ministry is consecrated to the Church of Jesus Christ, and I am deeply impressed with the obligation of fulfilling my vocation. "The Pastor and Bishop of souls"gives me both the command and the strength to discharge my duties. The Church, which is the people, calls me to serve it. I must be faithful to my ministry, rendering a good account of the charge entrusted to me.

I have been bidden to keep in remembrance "that true faith which is in me," and "to keep alive that gift of God which is in me by the imposition of hands," seeing that God "has not given us a spirit of fear," but of strength, and of love, and of a sound mind. Therefore, "I must not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord." "I know in whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." I therefore "keep the form of sound words which I have heard, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." "I keep that good thing, which was committed unto me by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in me." I profess before God and the Lord Jesus Christ "to preach the Word, to be instant in season and out of season, to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." I purpose to be vigilant in everything, "to endure afflictions, to do the work of an evangelist, to make full proof of my ministry."

Such being my office, such my obligations, here I stand before you, Holy Father, "studying to show myself approved of God, a workman not needing to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth." I know that the elders who have performed well the duty of ruling should be "reputed worthy of double honour; especially those who labour in the Word and in doctrine." You are the elder to whom was recently committed the charge of ruling over the Church of our country; and this charge was committed to you by other elders, who divide amongst them the various offices of that Church, or who are called to preside over other Churches. You the overseer, or bishop, of the Church of Rome, took upon you the heavy responsibility of feeding that portion of the flock of Christ, and of strengthening your brethren with good example and holy doctrine; your brethren, who look to you for counsel and direction, and depend in a certain degree on you, regarding you as an elder brother, whose judgment and prudence may aid their timidity and weakness. On you, therefore, it devolves to propose to them that which is of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, and which tends to the welfare of His Church. You it behoves to restore the truths of religion to their primitive purity; to take away every extraneous admixture; to separate the good wheat from the tares, in order to give to theChristian people the nourishment of faith and of salvation. Your brethren look up to you in this matter, which ought to be conducted with harmony, in order to preserve the union of the Christian Churches: and although each possesses over his own Church an equal authority, they nevertheless hesitate to act without you; they expect you to set this work in motion, and to be their model in the reformation of doctrine.

Yes, Holy Father, the reformation of doctrine is the serious business to which you and your brethren are called by the people to turn your earnest attention; for it is well known to all Christians, that upon the purity and holiness of the doctrines of the Church depend the purity and holiness of the actions of believers. Now, the doctrines which proceed from man are neither pure nor holy; seeing that "God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." Therefore, none but the doctrines of God are the truth in religion; all others are lies.

Think you, then, that those are doctrines of God, which are not contained in His Book, but are opposed to the sacred precepts of His holy Word? Have you ever compared the doctrines taught in primitive times with those of later ages? Have you ever compared the dogmas of the Decretals with the doctrines of the Bible? I have compared them, and have shuddered in amazement, that so many strange novelties, amounting to an actual renunciation of the ancient faith, the pure creed of our fathers, should ever have been introduced into Christianity.

Strip yourself, then, of that fatal prepossession that your predecessors were holy and infallible. Examine carefully the sources of the existing belief. Observe what is from God, and what proceeds from man. Man has erred in presuming to legislate in the things of God. Not only singly, but in the aggregate, men have erred. The Divine assistance was no doubt promised, but it was for preserving the ancient doctrines, not for framing new ones; the Holy Spirit is with those who believe in the ancient Scriptures, but not with those who tamper with the Divine Word. In the middle ages the ministers of the Catholic Church revelled in innovation, and from that time the desire for change has grown upon them to such a degree, that primitive Christianity can no longer be recognised.

Think you that it was ever permitted to men to add their ideas and thoughts to the ideas and thoughts of God, or to take anything away from the Divine Book? Are you not rather persuaded withme that whosoever does this, on him are denounced the chastisements of God, as it is written in the last verse of the Divine Revelation—"God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book?" To add to the meaning, or to change it! to overturn, on certain points, the entire system and spirit of the Divine Legislator! I ask you, who were an elder before me, and a ruler among the elders, are such things to be endured? However ancient these errors may be, however concealed by some or acquiesced in by others, shall prescription prevail to this extent? No! not any antiquity can establish the abuses of religion; and even if the whole world were combined to maintain error (supposing such a thing were possible), even that would not hinder its destruction by any single person who had with him the Word of Truth.

This, then, is the point at issue;—the abuses of Rome have existed long, and obtained for a long time the support of the multitude; do they for that reason cease to be abuses? Her errors have been adopted, applauded, followed; do they on that account cease to be errors? And must not abuses and errors be reformed wheresoever they may be found, or however long they may have existed?

But with whom does it rest to effect a reform in matters of religion? Who is to promote it, and by what means? I reply: first, the bishops; then, the elders; afterwards, all who have a zeal for religion. The instrument of reformation is simple; viz. the Word of God as it stands written in the Sacred Scriptures, pure as our forefathers received it, powerful in itself to change the face of the whole universe. The truths of that inspired volume constitute the whole of Christianity; out of it there exists no truth for the Church. Be it yours, then, with the Holy Bible in your hand, to reform the doctrine corrupted by your predecessors! No one can do this work so well as you; no one so much as you is bound to do it by conscience and by special obligation.

Let this consideration sink deep into your mind, how sad is the present state of religion in Italy, that country with which you are most closely connected! Where, now, can be found among us that holiness of faith, whence alone proceeds holiness of works? When we look for Christianity, what do we see around us?Infidelityor superstition. Infidelity in all those classes who call themselves enlightened; superstition in all those who follow the teachingof your priests. On the one hand, are men who have cast off all belief, and have rejected Christianity with popery. Seeing that both Gospel and Canons have come to them through the same hands, they have concluded that both must be lies; that both being preached to them with the same fervour, nay, the Canons sometimes exalted above the Gospel, both have been contrived only to shackle consciences, to degrade the spirit of man, to subjugate the people to the rule of an individual, who has had, in all ages, an insatiable appetite for power! Thus, not distinguishing the work of man from pure Christianity, which is the work of God, they have rejected everything alike, and live the life of infidels. On the other hand, we behold men who receive implicitly all that is taught them—to whom all is gold which is sold by the priests—to whom all is sacred which has any show of religion or piety—men who, not caring for faith, seek only for good works; and, thinking little or nothing about God and Jesus Christ, run after saints and the Virgin,—relics, images, and indulgences!

These two classes, generally speaking, comprise all the Christianity of Italy; and to this unsoundness is to be referred the reigning immorality, the want of energy of mind, the absence of virtue and of union among our citizens. "The Church which divides the races within our country" was the great subject of lamentation to that immortal genius, who, three centuries ago, on the banks of the Arno, revealed to the world the wickedness of princes. "The Church which demoralizes the people" with its doctrines even more than with its practices, is the lamentation which I, a son of Italy, a minister of the Italian people, raise aloud to heaven; and which, with all the strength that is in me, I would echo in the ears of all good men who love our country. Yes! from the Church, or rather from those who call themselves the Church, proceeds all that series of evils which degrades our beautiful land, and lowers our finely gifted people in the eyes of the stranger. Nor will I ever cease to lift up my voice, until, in this respect more than any other, our beloved Italy shall be seen reforming herself, and returning gloriously to holiness of faith, purity of morals, and mutual love among our citizens.

And you, Holy Father; are not you, like me, an Italian? do not you, like me, feel burning within you the sacred love of country—"la dolce carità del natio loco?" Oh! I will not so wrong you as to suppose you now destitute of a sentiment which has hitherto distinguished you; a sentiment which ought rather to grow strongerin your mind, now that, as bishop of the most ancient of cities, you occupy the most glorious of thrones. To you the applauding people ascribe a generous liberality; from you are expected good laws, and ameliorations in the difficult details of government. From you they hope to receive that in which they would receive everything—which by a single act you have the power to give them—a religious reformation. Whoever thinks correctly knows that on this point depend social improvement, public prosperity,—in a word, every good thing which, by the favour of Divine Providence, citizens are capable of enjoying. Without this, we shall always remain in wretchedness, unhappiness, disunion. Without this, there will never be contentment, nor any tranquillity among the people. The spirit of restless change will continue to agitate them—to their own injury, it is true, but also to the destruction of yourself, and of others who are their princes.

Let us then have reform in the Church; but what reform, and in what particulars? Must I repeat it? Remove everything invented by popes, decreed by popes, designed for the interest of popes. All this is popery, not Christianity; and we are resolved to be henceforth Christians, not papists. The reformation will be complete, when once the sentence is uttered, "The Bible, and nothing but the Bible."

For instance, that you, Pius, should be Bishop of Rome, is not contrary to the Bible. Butthisis contrary to it, that you should assume a bishopric over those sees which have already another bishop; for all bishops are equal; each one the pastor of his own flock, and each independent of the other. For my part, you should have my vote to be bishop ofallItaly, wereallthe other bishops removed; but you cannot rightfully co-exist. That elders, too, should exist, is in accordance with the Bible—and you may call them priests, if you will; but as for friars, they are contrary to the Bible; their vows are repugnant to the Gospel and to nature, whatever your theologians may say of them; and their ministry useless, at least, if not hurtful, to the Church.

What, again, do we mean by the Church? You know well that in the Word of God it means the Christian people. It is contrary then to the Bible for the Church to mean the priests only. Let it please you, Holy Father, to consider well, for a moment, this point, which is at present of the highest importance. Do you believe that what has been usurped should be restored? Let it, then, be byyour means that the people resume their ancient rights, and repossess the Church according to their right. But what Church will you restore to the people of Italy? The Latin? But where is now the Latin people, or the Latin language? Do you not perceive what a scourge God sent you, when the priests of Rome wished to appropriate the Church to themselves, and to make it their private property; declaring themselves princes and governors, and the people subjects and slaves to the Church of the priests? It was a chastisement not unlike that which God sent in the valley of Shinar, when daring men set themselves to build the famous tower which was to reach to heaven. Audacious priests, in the thirteenth century, also attempted to raise themselves into a spiritual power, intending to hold the people for ever in subjection. But God sent among them by degrees the spirit of confusion, rendering their language unintelligible to the people, so that people and priests were compelled to separate. With the priests remained the ancient language, in which they had dictated laws at variance with the Gospel; and, sometimes in Christ's name, sometimes in the name of Moses, had oppressed, burned, tortured the people; a language associated with crimes which daily mounted up to the throne of the Omnipotent, provoking the infliction of condign punishment,—such crimes as prayers addressed in the temple to saints instead of to God; the Word of Truth exchanged for fables; and Christian teaching founded no longer on the ancient doctrine of the Bible, but on the new doctrine of the Canons. The whole language of Catholicism, having become exclusively Romish, had adulterated the things of God, the doctrines and maxims of the religion of Jesus Christ.

So grievous a scandal drew down upon Rome the anger of the Eternal, who seemed, as it were, to repeat the ancient words, "Let us go down, and there confound their language." That beautiful idiom, which originating in Latium among the descendants of Romulus, grew with the greatness of ancient Rome, the language of Virgil and of Tully, became confused and lifeless; and Rome, the new Babel, beheld issuing from her bosom and growing up at once, a generation of sons who understood not the language of their fathers. The Church of the priests felt the heavy blow which came upon it from heaven; but, instead of weeping and humbling herself before God—instead of repenting, and correcting her faults, she persisted in her error, and launched her anathemas against the people; declaring, like the haughty synagogue of old, that it wasenough for her to comprehend herself,—as for the people, if they did not understand her language, so much the worse for them!

What followed? People and priests were divided. The Church and the nation became separated for ever; the Church and the priests called themselves Latin, while the nation and the people called themselves Italians. This is a great fact which has not hitherto been sufficiently regarded. The people, ever under subjection to the tyranny of the priesthood, had not the spirit to resist oppression, scarcely even to open their eyes to look upon the chains it had imposed upon them. In the meantime, the priests laboured to impress them with a belief that such was their natural condition. Slaves by the will of the strong, they were taught to believe themselves so by the fatality of nature, and the will of God.

But enough! The eyes of the people are shut no longer. They have opened them; they have beheld their chains. Like a lion they have burst through them. They threaten their former oppressors with a look that may well make them tremble. Their roaring was like the waking up of nature, indicating a grand change in the face of the world. The people have declared that the times are gone by when they would submit to be badly governed by their pretended masters; and that they are now the arbiters in their own affairs. We priests are specially bound to do justice to the people; for to us, more than to others, has their cause been confided. Be it ours, then, to enlighten them; which is the first thing they need. Be it ours to assist and protect them, with that holy ægis which they themselves have confided to us. Let us unite with them in the true religion of our forefathers. When God extinguished our Latin language, he meant thereby to punish us priests, and not the people. Let us submit to that punishment. The Latin language has corrupted the truths of the Catholic Church, and, therefore, God has extinguished it. Let our Church rise again in the Italian language, and let this be the ancient Church of apostolic times. Anathema to the Church of the middle ages! Thus, alone, can we priests become again united to the people; thus, alone, can we recover the Church. For—once more let it be said—the Church means the people; bishops and priests being only the ministers of the people. It is not in the nature of things that the language of the Church should be other than the language of the people. Italian is our language, and Italian must necessarily be that of our Church.

This Church it is which I desire to serve as a minister. Will not you, Holy Father, serve it as bishop? Gladly would I then return to you; and with me many who are now alienated from you would gladly return. Thenceforth they will have no cause to separate from the Church, for Jesus Christ will truly reign in it, and with Him will reign union, peace, concord, charity. Oh, what a sight were this! "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Thus united in the Italian Church, we should remove everything which separates us from other Christian Churches. Germany, England, Switzerland—all other countries at present divided from the communion of Rome, would be again united with us in one faith. Nations would be drawn together in the bonds of brotherhood. And you, Holy Father, would be the blessed instrument by which would be realized the Divine prophecy, "There shall be one fold and one Shepherd."

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all. Amen."

Malta, 1846.

EDICT.

(Vide p. 74.)

We,Fr. Vincenzo Salva,of the Order of Dominicans, Master in Theology, Inquisitor General of the Holy Office of Ancona, Sinigaglia, Jesi, Osimo, &c.

Ithaving been determined fully to re-establish the disciplinary laws relative to the Jews living in our jurisdiction, and which we have hitherto in vain endeavoured both by entreaty and exhortation to carry out in the several ghettos of Ancona and Sinigaglia; we, authorized by the venerated despatch from the Holy Inquisition of Rome, dated 10th June, 1843, in which we are expressly enjoined and commanded to enforce the observance of the Pontifical Decrees and Ordinances, especially with respect to Christian nurses and servants, and the sale of possessions, either in the city or in the country, whether bought and held before the year 1827, or after that period,—we ordain as follows:—

1.—That at the expiration of two months from the present period, all Christians, male or female, employed as servants in the Ghetto, either by day or night, are to be discharged, and the Jews are expressly prohibited to employ in future any Christian whatsoever in domestic affairs, under pain of such fine as the Pontifical Decrees have appointed.

2.—That every Jew possessing real property of any kind whatsoever, or any annuity or mortgage, shall, within three months from the present date, dispose of the same by an actualbonâ fidesale; at the expiration of which term, if the order be not complied with, the Inquisition shall cause the property to be peremptorily disposed of by public auction.

3.—That no Jew, much less any Jewish family, shall inhabit or carry on business in any town or village where there is no Ghetto; and such as are at present acting in contradiction to this law, are hereby commanded to enter into their respective Ghettos, within the period of three months, or they will be prosecuted accordingly.

4.—That no Jew shall be permitted, more especially in towns where there is a Ghetto, tosit at table and eat with Christians, in any eating-house or tavern.

5.—That no Jew shall sleep out of his Ghetto, nor enter any Christian's house for familiar conversation.

6.—That no Jew be allowed, under any pretence whatever, to induce Christians to pass a night in the Ghetto, more especially women.

7.—That no Jew shall employ as day-workers, any Christian men or women, in their houses in the Ghetto.

8.—That no Jew, male or female, shall be allowed to frequent the houses of Christians, orenter into friendshipwith them.

9.—That the law which prohibits the Jews to travel about the State without a licence, shall remain in full force.

10.—That the Jews are expressly forbidden to traffic in church ornaments, or in books of any description, or to buy, read, or keep any prohibited book whatsoever, under penalty of a fine of one hundred crowns, orseven yearsof imprisonment. And in case any Jew, already possessing such, neglects to bring them to the Tribunal of the Holy Office, he will be liable to the same penalties.

11.—That the Jews in the removal of their dead bodies shall notbe allowed to use anyceremonial rite, or public display; more especially are they enjoined toabstain from all singing of psalms, and carrying of lights through the streets, or out of the Ghetto, under penalty of a fine of one hundred crowns, the forfeiture of their lights, and corporal punishment to be inflicted on thenearest relatives of the defunct.

Any person infringing these laws and regulations will be subject to the penalties and fines imposed by the Holy Office. And that no one may plead ignorance of their existence, it is hereby ordered that a copy of the present Edict be published, and fixed up in the synagogue, which shall be deemed equivalent to serving it personally on every separate Jewish individual, as well on those in Ancona, as on such as may reside in other places belonging to the same Ghetto.

Given at Ancona, from the Holy Office,this 24th day of June, 1843.

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