Today, 10:42 AM
IX. An Instance of Protestant Moderation.
— We often hear Protestants complaining of the violent style of Catholic writers. It is a clerical ruse of great and keen cunning; because, on the other hand, they vaunt great moderation and tenderness in their attitude towards the Church.
Now, we have something to say about it:
1. What they are pleased to call violence in Catholic writers is only an ardent zeal for the truth — that zeal which devoured our Saviour, Jesus Christ, when he whipped the buyers and sellers out of the temple, and made Pharisees and scribes writhe under his scathing anathemas.
2. Catholics attack Protestantism, but only on the defensive, against Protestants. Protestantism is a rebellion, essentially unwarrantable, against truth and the Church, and the children of the Church and of truth never take up arms against Protestantism but to ward off its attacks and save their faith.
3. Lastly, this Protestant moderation is of a kind both with their style of controversy and their tolerance. It does not exist, and we defiantly hurl back the charge they advance against us.
We shall now give a proof of a general character — a well-known proof — upheld alike by the Protestant and the socialistic press.
The journals of the principal sects of France — *Le Lien*, *L'Espérance*, *Les Archives* — have with great zeal announced and encouraged a book as one of the very best, and one which is to be found in all the Protestant publishing houses of Paris. It is an old work by the Lutheran, Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde, recently re-ushered before the public, with a preface by Mr. Quinet.
No Protestant organ protests against its republication. Nay, all hail its appearance.
The preface says: "Our work is not only to refute Popery, but to root it out; not to root it out only, but to brand it with infamy; not only to brand it with infamy, but to stifle it under the mire." (p. 7.) "Catholicity must be done away with."
"Whoever undertakes to root out that sickly and mischievous superstition (Catholicity), provided he feels able to do it, should, first of all, remove such superstition out of sight of the people, and render its practice absolutely and physically impossible. At the same time no hope should be held out for its reappearance." (p. 81.)
"This religious despotism (the Catholic Church) cannot be rooted out unless we get rid of all legality. . . . Blind as it is, it dooms itself to be the victim of blind force." (p. 37.)
"No; no truce with The Unjust." (p. 42.)
"The principle that all religions are equal is at variance with all philosophy, all science, and all history. . . . There exists a religion which glories in its being incompatible with modern liberties. Had the French Revolution seen this difference plainly, it might, by a concentration of its powers, enmities, and decisions, have exterminated a worship which denies existence to modern civilization. But . . . that revolution was wanting in audacity, . . . and the (Catholic) worship, which it was its mission to break, came out of its hands stronger, healthier, and bolder than ever. Let us not be guilty of the same again." (pp. 57 and fol.)
This is a plain talk. We know where we should find ourselves were Protestantism to triumph over the Christian Church! In the face of such open violence, thus openly exciting people to hatred against, and to the destruction of, religion, who will dare find fault with us Christians because we rise to defend our faith and our life?
However, we should not much wonder at this incredible challenge to persecute and annihilate the Church with fire and sword. Mr. Quinet only repeats, with a faint echo, the sanguinary declamations of the founders of Protestantism. He only writes to-day what Luther and Calvin wrote three hundred years ago, and wrote in terms so exaggerated and with a fury so deep, that the revolutionists of our times could not hold the candle to them.
In his fine work *On Protestantism*, Augustus Nicolas says: "No language did ever lend itself to express the sanguinary violence of Luther's writings. His *The Papacy of Rome Founded by the Devil* is a blot that will disgrace forever not only the literature of Germany, but even the annals of mankind. The Pope" (truly the pen almost refuses to copy the words) "is the devil. Were I able to kill the devil, should I not do it at the peril of my life? The Pope is an enraged wolf, against which the whole world should rise without waiting for a magistrate's warrant. In such matters there can never be cause for regret, unless it were for not having been able to plunge the dagger deeper in his breast. . . . No sooner were the Pope convicted by the Gospel, than the whole world should rush and fall upon him, slaughtering him, and with him his emperors and kings and princes and lords, without mercy. Yea, we should fall upon them with all kinds of weapons, and wash our hands in their blood. . . . Monarchs and princes and lords who belong to the crew of the Roman Sodom should be attacked with all kinds of arms, and we should wash our hands in their blood. . . ." (T. xii. f. 233, seq. — T. i. f. 51, a. — T. ix. f. 24, b. ed. Wittenb.)
"Shall I mention Calvin, from or on whose pen perpetually flourished the epithets of rascal, drunken sot, raving madman, beast, hog, donkey, dog, etc.? Hear him: 'As for the Jesuits, who are our greatest opponents, they should be put to death; or, if that could not be easily done, they should be expelled, or certainly crushed out with lies and calumnies.'" (pp. 469, 70.)
Just what Quinet advises — the papacy must be rooted out; it must be dishonored, choked in the mire. After such violent declarations by Luther and Calvin, it is easily understood why the revolutionists of our days have so much sympathy for Protestantism. But it is passing all understanding how such Protestant journals as are called moderate, and Protestant publishers, should have advertised and offered for sale the work of Marnix and its preface!
Marnix's book is a tissue of obscenities, of infamies so revolting that respect for my readers and for myself will not allow me to make any quotation from it. I made an attempt, but gave it up in disgust. He utters blasphemies which no Christian should dare repeat, not even for the purpose of inspiring a salutary horror of them. And yet, there you have a Protestant work, republished, after three centuries, in Belgium with the aid of a national subscription of Protestants, infidels, and free masons; and it is sold in noonday light in Paris — a Catholic city!
Yes, let Protestants wonder at the generous indignation of Catholics! Let them complain because the children of the Church resent and repel the insults heaped on their mother! Let them boast, forsooth, of their meekness and of their moderation.
"Questi moderati sono gente di rabbia infinita," said to me once an Italian priest. They call themselves moderate, but their fury is infinite.
— We often hear Protestants complaining of the violent style of Catholic writers. It is a clerical ruse of great and keen cunning; because, on the other hand, they vaunt great moderation and tenderness in their attitude towards the Church.
Now, we have something to say about it:
1. What they are pleased to call violence in Catholic writers is only an ardent zeal for the truth — that zeal which devoured our Saviour, Jesus Christ, when he whipped the buyers and sellers out of the temple, and made Pharisees and scribes writhe under his scathing anathemas.
2. Catholics attack Protestantism, but only on the defensive, against Protestants. Protestantism is a rebellion, essentially unwarrantable, against truth and the Church, and the children of the Church and of truth never take up arms against Protestantism but to ward off its attacks and save their faith.
3. Lastly, this Protestant moderation is of a kind both with their style of controversy and their tolerance. It does not exist, and we defiantly hurl back the charge they advance against us.
We shall now give a proof of a general character — a well-known proof — upheld alike by the Protestant and the socialistic press.
The journals of the principal sects of France — *Le Lien*, *L'Espérance*, *Les Archives* — have with great zeal announced and encouraged a book as one of the very best, and one which is to be found in all the Protestant publishing houses of Paris. It is an old work by the Lutheran, Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde, recently re-ushered before the public, with a preface by Mr. Quinet.
No Protestant organ protests against its republication. Nay, all hail its appearance.
The preface says: "Our work is not only to refute Popery, but to root it out; not to root it out only, but to brand it with infamy; not only to brand it with infamy, but to stifle it under the mire." (p. 7.) "Catholicity must be done away with."
"Whoever undertakes to root out that sickly and mischievous superstition (Catholicity), provided he feels able to do it, should, first of all, remove such superstition out of sight of the people, and render its practice absolutely and physically impossible. At the same time no hope should be held out for its reappearance." (p. 81.)
"This religious despotism (the Catholic Church) cannot be rooted out unless we get rid of all legality. . . . Blind as it is, it dooms itself to be the victim of blind force." (p. 37.)
"No; no truce with The Unjust." (p. 42.)
"The principle that all religions are equal is at variance with all philosophy, all science, and all history. . . . There exists a religion which glories in its being incompatible with modern liberties. Had the French Revolution seen this difference plainly, it might, by a concentration of its powers, enmities, and decisions, have exterminated a worship which denies existence to modern civilization. But . . . that revolution was wanting in audacity, . . . and the (Catholic) worship, which it was its mission to break, came out of its hands stronger, healthier, and bolder than ever. Let us not be guilty of the same again." (pp. 57 and fol.)
This is a plain talk. We know where we should find ourselves were Protestantism to triumph over the Christian Church! In the face of such open violence, thus openly exciting people to hatred against, and to the destruction of, religion, who will dare find fault with us Christians because we rise to defend our faith and our life?
However, we should not much wonder at this incredible challenge to persecute and annihilate the Church with fire and sword. Mr. Quinet only repeats, with a faint echo, the sanguinary declamations of the founders of Protestantism. He only writes to-day what Luther and Calvin wrote three hundred years ago, and wrote in terms so exaggerated and with a fury so deep, that the revolutionists of our times could not hold the candle to them.
In his fine work *On Protestantism*, Augustus Nicolas says: "No language did ever lend itself to express the sanguinary violence of Luther's writings. His *The Papacy of Rome Founded by the Devil* is a blot that will disgrace forever not only the literature of Germany, but even the annals of mankind. The Pope" (truly the pen almost refuses to copy the words) "is the devil. Were I able to kill the devil, should I not do it at the peril of my life? The Pope is an enraged wolf, against which the whole world should rise without waiting for a magistrate's warrant. In such matters there can never be cause for regret, unless it were for not having been able to plunge the dagger deeper in his breast. . . . No sooner were the Pope convicted by the Gospel, than the whole world should rush and fall upon him, slaughtering him, and with him his emperors and kings and princes and lords, without mercy. Yea, we should fall upon them with all kinds of weapons, and wash our hands in their blood. . . . Monarchs and princes and lords who belong to the crew of the Roman Sodom should be attacked with all kinds of arms, and we should wash our hands in their blood. . . ." (T. xii. f. 233, seq. — T. i. f. 51, a. — T. ix. f. 24, b. ed. Wittenb.)
"Shall I mention Calvin, from or on whose pen perpetually flourished the epithets of rascal, drunken sot, raving madman, beast, hog, donkey, dog, etc.? Hear him: 'As for the Jesuits, who are our greatest opponents, they should be put to death; or, if that could not be easily done, they should be expelled, or certainly crushed out with lies and calumnies.'" (pp. 469, 70.)
Just what Quinet advises — the papacy must be rooted out; it must be dishonored, choked in the mire. After such violent declarations by Luther and Calvin, it is easily understood why the revolutionists of our days have so much sympathy for Protestantism. But it is passing all understanding how such Protestant journals as are called moderate, and Protestant publishers, should have advertised and offered for sale the work of Marnix and its preface!
Marnix's book is a tissue of obscenities, of infamies so revolting that respect for my readers and for myself will not allow me to make any quotation from it. I made an attempt, but gave it up in disgust. He utters blasphemies which no Christian should dare repeat, not even for the purpose of inspiring a salutary horror of them. And yet, there you have a Protestant work, republished, after three centuries, in Belgium with the aid of a national subscription of Protestants, infidels, and free masons; and it is sold in noonday light in Paris — a Catholic city!
Yes, let Protestants wonder at the generous indignation of Catholics! Let them complain because the children of the Church resent and repel the insults heaped on their mother! Let them boast, forsooth, of their meekness and of their moderation.
"Questi moderati sono gente di rabbia infinita," said to me once an Italian priest. They call themselves moderate, but their fury is infinite.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre