John Ronge: The Holy Coat Of Treves Part 7

_Kazbach_.--"John Ronge--a true German man--a true Christian minister, has openly shewn that the spirit of Christ is not yet dead in the Catholic Church of Silesia. His letter is quite invaluable. Each community has treasured it as a true legacy to posterity, to preserve Christianity from being perverted by the Hierarchy, and to shew that a Silesian priest had courage thus openly to proclaim the truth. And has not the whole of Germany welcomed the earnest words of the worthy man with hearty joy! In a short s.p.a.ce, they have travelled through every German province, from the Oder to the Rhine. Thousands of Germans feel inspired by his name, and declare him one of the most valiant combatants against the dark powers of hierarchical tyranny."

_Ulm_.--"The Germans of the south are determined not to be behind their brethren in other parts of Germany."

Such are ordinary specimens of the extracts with which the German journals are filled, up to the present date. It is in truth impossible to take up any journal, Catholic or Protestant, which does not contain some announcement on the subject. Ronge's name is in every one's lips--his portrait is to be found in every print-shop, along with engravings, in all styles of art, of the Holy Coat. Addresses have been poured upon him from all quarters, expressive of grat.i.tude, and sympathy, and admiration. Take the following specimen from the city of

_Dantzic_:--"Highly Honoured Sir,--when more than 300 years ago the monk Luther declared war upon the Hierarchy, and introduced a new epoch into the history of the world, it could not but be that the man who declared 'I cannot do otherwise,' should be opposed, declared heretic, and persecuted. So shall it also be with you for your exposure of the Spectacle of the Holy Coat; in that letter which, through the press, has now been made the property of all. The enemies of the light shall not cease to calumniate and persecute you. As, moreover, the hearts of all lovers of the truth attached themselves to the monk Luther, and, as to-day, millions thank him for the light which surrounds them, so does the present generation with joy congratulate you, and future generations will preserve your memory in their thankful hearts, as of a man who, without human fear, declared the holy truth of G.o.d. Permit us, though we live far from you, to express to you, in name of all friends of the light, their most hearty thanks for the service which you have done by your open and n.o.ble opposition to the hierarchical spectacle of Treves.

May the Almighty take you into his protection, and may his hand rest on you and bless you.

"Dantzic, 16th November, 1844."

This Address, and many of a similar nature, have been signed by Protestants and Catholics alike. Individual addresses also have been sent, signed exclusively by Catholics, and others signed exclusively by Protestants, as those from Leipsic and Berlin. Accounts from all parts of Germany are of a similar nature; even Bohemia, where the voice of Huss has long been silent, has come under the influence of the excitement,--Ronge's letter having crossed the frontier, and been circulated, no one could tell well how, by the thousand. It has now been translated into several of the languages of Europe, and it cannot admit of doubt, that on all hands the eyes of many are being opened by it, to see the awful bondage in which they and their fathers have so long been held.

While all this was going on, it was not to be expected that the Catholic party should remain silent. Accordingly, they have been striving _per fas et nefas_, to arrest the movement, by calumniations of the author--by defences of their conduct--by appeals to the evils of the Reformation, and occasional significant references to the "powers that be" in the Vatican. It ought to be stated, that several of the Catholic clergy, before the appearance of Ronge's letter, had denounced the intended pilgrimage, manfully declaring, in opposition to all the sayings and doings of Arnoldi, and even the Bull of Leo X., that this was no matter of Catholic doctrine, and that it remained open for each individual Catholic to treat the evidence for or against the genuineness of the relic, as his private judgment and free inquiry might lead him.

From such quarters, the movement of Ronge could not well be opposed; and it is striking, that wherever a priest has so expressed his opinion, but few, indeed, of his people went to Treves. Whether many of this cla.s.s may join the movement remains to be seen, but it certainly seems highly probable.

The ultra-Catholic party have expressed their opinions in two remarkable doc.u.ments,--the one, An Address from the Clergy of Treves, and the other, from the Clergy of Breslau, with whom Ronge was connected, to Bishop Arnoldi. A few sentences will show the spirit of each. In the former it is stated, "that such scandalous Articles (as the publication of Ronge) must produce among all Catholics in Germany the greatest indignation, and shake to its foundation the peaceful relation of the two confessions; and this all the more, as before the ceremony alluded to, nothing had taken place to calumniate or asperse Protestant Christians. When, however, such a publication, by its tone and contents, alike unworthy of refutation, and calculated only to bring Catholics into contempt, is allowed to appear, by permission of the German Union or Prussia individually--this is a matter of deep sorrow to Catholics."

After noticing the Const.i.tution of Germany, in reference to religious matters, it proceeds,--"In so far as such calumnies are unattended to, is the rightfully guaranteed position of the German Catholics overthrown, and they are all the more called on to demand a guarantee, as many late events have shown but too clearly, that a section of the Protestants is disposed to maintain a hostile and intolerant position towards the Catholic Church, We, the Chapter of the Cathedral, accordingly pray that communications may be sent to his Majesty the King, and the German confederate States, to support the existing laws in opposition to what has taken place, to maintain the guaranteed rights of the Catholic Church, and to request the interference of the law against such abuses of the German press."

(Signed) "The Clergy of the City of Treves."

Nothing could be more artful or cowardly than this doc.u.ment, as if the great settlement at the Reformation had been infringed by the open expression of opinion on what has excited the disgust and ridicule of all intelligent Catholics. It is not difficult to trace in the above letter the very spirit which, in a former age, would have found no obstruction in executing, after its own fas.h.i.+on, that law, to which now they are obliged to make a respectful and almost degrading appeal. Most fortunate is it that Ronge is the subject of a Protestant Government, which has it now in its power so materially to advance the cause of the Reformation.

Let us now quote a portion of the address of the clergy of the Cathedral of Breslau. "Most worthy Lord Bishop! 'Troubles must come.' This saying of our Lord and Master has been confirmed so often in all ages, and especially in our times, that we need scarcely question that an Article in the _Sachsische Vaterlands-blatter_, from a Catholic priest, on the Holy Coat of Treves, should appear unexpected, amid the manifold experiences of your Grace. Nor do we believe that this scandal in Germany will at all affect the veneration in which your Grace is held, or cast the slightest shadow on your high and holy office. Taught and accustomed to suffer shame for the cause of the Lord, and comforted by the promise, 'Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake,'

we would have pa.s.sed by this calumny in silence, as a drop of the teeming ocean of blasphemies with which the Lord honours his Church, to see them dashed on its Eternal Bock,--if it had not come from the midst of us--from one who calls himself a Catholic priest. * * * The name of the blasphemer is _Ronge_, who was consecrated to the priesthood in Breslau. The spirit by which he has lately been actuated was not long in manifesting itself in him. An Article of similar stamp, calumniating his ecclesiastical superiors, and the supremacy of the Church, subjected him to an examination. Not being in a position to defend himself, and too haughty and hardened to seek forgiveness, by repentance and penance, he was obliged to give up his office, after the suspension of the Church had been p.r.o.nounced against him. Since this period, Ronge has had nothing to do with the care of souls. What could be more welcome for the enemies of the Church, who looked with indignation on the crowds of pious pilgrims proceeding to the Cathedral of Treves, than that a pretended member of the Church--aye, a priest--should take the Holy Coat into his unclean hands, and tear it with logical power into pieces, while even his executioners left it from pious awe undivided. The holy ceremony is now at an end--the sacred shrine is closed--the holy relic, by the contemplation of which hundreds of thousands have been encouraged, and strengthened, and elevated, lies treasured up for future ages. The calumnies will be silenced--the blessings will remain, and when the holy treasure is again exposed to the wors.h.i.+p of the believing mult.i.tudes, another race shall live and think in the pious prayers of those pilgrims who have completed their pilgrimage, and have attained from faith to sight. May this new race see better days--days of outward and inward peace--days of peace, which the world cannot give! May the pious bands who may then go on pilgrimage to Treves, attain the end of their undertaking, not amid the sneers of the scoffer, but amid the friendly congratulations of all, even of those who are connected with it! May the German people be then truly a people of brothers--one in that one thing which is needful--one in will, and deed, and faith, and struggles; and may the German fatherland, like the holy garment itself, be undivided! G.o.d grant you grace and strength for this great end!

"(Signed) "The Cathedral Clergy of Breslau.

"31st October 1844."

This doc.u.ment, like the preceding, is its own commentary. We leave our readers to weigh it along with the exposure made in Ronge's "Justification." It is not difficult now to see what influences have been at work in procuring its suppression, and it is deeply to be lamented, that a government so liberal as the Saxon, should have interfered in keeping back a statement so important, in the defence of truth and justice.

We do not deem it necessary to make long quotations from the ordinary Catholic journals on this part of the subject. They breathe the same spirit. Many of them are filled with appeals, of which a single sentence may suffice as a specimen:--"Laity and priesthood! have you already forgotten whither such proceedings lead? Know you not the causes and consequences of the Reformation? Will you lead the way to a second breach in the Church, as if the first had not been deplorable enough, both for the Church and country?" &c. All of such extracts are proofs strong enough, how sensible all parties of Catholics are of the danger to be apprehended from Ronge's movement.

THE NEW CHURCH.

It is now our duty to turn shortly to the positive results of this movement, _in the formation of a New Church, independent of all Papal connexion, and as such, calling itself not the Roman but German Catholic Church_. We have seen how Ronge had been excommunicated, and in what terms his former ecclesiastical superiors now spoke of him. Having been discarded by the Church, and no longer admitted to its ordinances, he set himself, without reserve, to the formation of a new Christian community. The first step towards this end was the publication of his second letter, addressed.

TO THE INFERIOR CLERGY.

"Friends and former Colleagues.--Before writing these words to you, I asked myself--shall I be listened to by those to whom I am about to speak? or will my invitations strike in vain upon their ears? No, they will not strike in vain upon your ears--I feel it and I know it, friends and former colleagues! You, the so-called inferior clergy, have been hitherto but little, if at all addressed, because, although you const.i.tute the real ground-work and the strength of the ecclesiastical body, you have been, and you still are held, to be a ma.s.s inaccessible to moral freedom--in fact, morally dead. But I have been compelled, by sense of duty and by love of my country, to address you; and besides, I speak to you at a time when the laity themselves--the congregations--think and act, not according to the dead letter, but in agreement with the spirit of religion. Can it then be, that you, the priests--the teachers of the people, unlike them, can choose supinely to remain in circ.u.mstances of blind surrender of your judgment? Can you alone, and without exception, be so deeply sunk in slavery to Rome and the deadness of the letter, that it is no longer possible for you to arise and shake your spirits free! This I neither can nor will believe, for this were to believe you had forgotten to be men--it were to doubt the triumph of the kingdom of Christ--the triumph of righteousness,--it were to doubt the improvement and the advancement of society, which you are imperatively called on to promote. Oh, I have better thoughts of you, for I have suffered, and still suffer with you; I know the giant-yoke you wear, and to wear which is accounted (to you?) as the fulfilment of a most sacred duty--as a merit--as _religion_. Many a one of you has lamented to me, that the pain of blinded, pa.s.sive slavery to Rome burned incurably in his bosom, and I know how many among you writhe in desperation, and await with longing the hour that is to set you free.

It is, therefore, upon you, and the triumphant strength of a righteous cause, that I ground my confidence of an a.s.sured result. I know full well that you will not all, of one accord, and at my earliest word, strike off the shameful fetters of the Roman despotism, and stand forth as independent German priests--although each one must feel that there is inspiration in the very thought--but I entertain the hope that many a one may be aroused from stupefaction at my call--that many a timid one may be encouraged, and many a dazzled eye restored to clearer vision--that many among you, moved by my example, will dare to cast a bold and fearless glance within, and having done so, with a cry of grief--a cry of horror, at your condition, to stride forward to the contest, which is to make you once more men! It is to that that I invite you; you must become men--independent men, for the sake of our holy religion, for your own sakes, and for the happiness of our common Fatherland,--I invoke your manhood! You must become men, filled with a sense of your great dignity as such, as well as with the importance of your mission--glowing with active zeal for the spiritual and moral elevation of the nations of the earth! you must become men full of love to your calling--burning to secure the happiness of your fellow-mortals!--men full of holy ardour to establish the rights of all your fellow-citizens without distinction--full of holy ardour for the bringing in of the reign of righteousness and brotherly-love among all the children of men; men full of ardour to exhibit your convictions in your actions--to turn your words to truth and actual realization, that all men may become brothers--as the children of one Father. In obedience to your calling, you must become such men. But you are not so at present--you are the hirelings of the Pope! Yes, you are hirelings, without a feeling of your dignity as men, or of the importance of your mission, although you call yourselves the chosen, honoured, and consecrated servants of the Lord! You do not glow with zeal for the honour, the moral freedom, the welfare of your fellow-citizens; you even grind down the bourgeoisie and peasantry, who number in their ranks your parents and their families--by whose sweat you are supported,--and anathematize them when they raise their heads, impatient of Romish interference with their consciences. You feast, while they are hungry; you riot, while they pine! Is this falsehood? See here a bishop with 40,000 annual dollars (6000)--religious inst.i.tutions with incalculable wealth, and not far from them a poor weaver, who can barely earn five silver groschens (6d.) weekly for himself and for his family! You are not filled with holy ardour to spread abroad righteousness, truth, and light--although from desk and pulpit you deceitfully proclaim, 'with us alone are truth, peace, civilization, education, and moral freedom; we are the trusty friends and guides of the nations; it is to us men must commit their faith, in order after earthly toil to become blessed!' Far rather do many of you labour, some consciously, others unconsciously, to promulgate superst.i.tion, darkness, and spiritual bondage! You will say to me,--'Bring proof, bring proof,' and proof you shall have, an hundred-thousand fold:--_the fruits of your words and of your actions!_ Look to your own consecrated cla.s.s--what _corruption!_ Look to the nations--what _misery!_ 'A good tree cannot bear evil fruit.'' The corruption of your consecrated order is the fruit of your soul-killing servitude to your superiors; the misery of the nations is, for the most part, the result of your oppression. The pressure under which you yourselves languish, is fearful and unspeakable, for you have been robbed of freedom in the exercise of reason, will, and affection.

You are slaves--and therefore wish your fellow-citizens to share your bondage. Your spirit lies enchained by despotic bulls and edicts--the unfettered flight of thought is restrained by curses. Your reason is the venal slave of selfishness and terror. The so-called Romish Church--more properly Rome's _despotism_, has placed your faith within such narrow bounds that you are forced to tremble at each rising thought, and ask if it be 'orthodox?'--for these bounds of faith are beset by fiends who threaten your salvation when your spirit thinks to over-step them. Is it not so? Does not the fear of devils and of h.e.l.l exert a widely greater influence than the love of G.o.d and of your fellow-men? And what absurdities are you not commanded to believe and teach!

"You have, further, been deprived of your _free agency_. You must yield blind obedience to your superiors, and this requirement of pa.s.sive, blind obedience is the prime injunction of the Roman Church! Without this blind obedience, all your virtues are of no avail--without it you are criminals. The Roman Church, that kindly mother, has seized your rights as men; you have not, as my example may convince you, even such privileges as are accorded to the worst of criminals in your fatherland.

And of whom is this Church composed? You tremble before her and her edicts? Do you know that it is before yourselves you tremble? for you no less belong to the Church than those among your colleagues who sit in the chapter-houses or in the episcopal seats--no less than that Italian Bishop who is called the Pope! Have you forgotten that your colleagues, to whom you are now required to offer almost idolatrous regard, neither were, nor wished to be, above yourselves in the early centuries of Christianity? Have you forgotten that the bishops and priests of those days were chosen from among the congregations,--that is, the people; and that the people sat in council with them both! The inferior clergy had their synods even in the gloomy centuries of the middle ages, and, when they acted in concert, could give due weight to their desires. And what have you now, in the nineteenth century? Lordly Presbyterial a.s.semblies?! Each one among you fears to utter an honest word in presence of a right reverend brother. You are mere automata. You have no will in opposition to your superiors. _Demand your rights as men!_

"Your _freedom of affection_ also has been destroyed; your heart is stifled and perverted. And how! Shall I hesitate freely to speak out, because I may subject myself to suspicion--because I expose myself to the attacks of vulgar-minded men? Ah, no! the principle at stake is too important, too elevated, and too holy,--it involves nature's highest ordinance, the holiest concerns of man; from it depends the happiness, the welfare of many millions--the virtue, honour, and freedom of the nations; so that I would gladly expose myself on its account to suspicion and attack! It is _love, marriage, and the family-tie_; you have been robbed of these--robbed of them by the Rule of Celibacy! It is by this Rule that your affections are stifled and perverted. Yes, your hearts are corrupted by the ordinance of celibacy, which has no warrant in the Gospel, but has been introduced with blood and murder by an imperious Pope. This ordinance deprives you of your claim to the possession of a virtuous wife, whose love would render you far happier and more honourable; it robs you of the joys, the hopes, the love, which bless the family-tie; it impoverishes and desolates your breast. This ordinance demoralizes your natural instinct, hands you over to those outcasts of womankind, through whom so many fall into the deepest mire of immorality, and become an offence and mockery to their congregations.

This ordinance deprives you of the stamp of open manliness, and makes you _hypocrites!_

"If the free exercise of reason, will, and affection, has been taken from you, what have you left worth living for? Can your luxurious tables compensate for the loss of life's best blessings? Compensate! when your feast is interrupted by the needy, wretched cries of thousands of your starving fellow-creatures! or are your revels only seasoned by the groans of your necessitous brethren? You call yourselves the fathers, the teachers of the people; arise, then! conduct yourselves as such, and help to extricate them from their depth of spiritual and physical misery! Such is your duty, before all others!--'But how can we help them,' do you ask? Not by the bit of silver, thrown to the poor man with an ostentatious air, which, in most instances, but tends to lower or extinguish self-respect; and is besides, but as a drop in the great furnace. Stand forth against the despotism of Rome! abolish superst.i.tion, that barrier to free agency, and the free practice of virtue! break down the dishonouring restrictions upon conscience and religion! contend for the spiritual and physical wellbeing of your fellow-citizens, and you will aid the people and yourselves! Yes, arise and burst the chains of cowardice and shame; tear asunder the web of dissimulation which Rome has woven round you, and become unfettered, honest priests--true teachers of the German people! You will become everything! for at present you are _nothing_; become _men!_ attain at last to the conviction, that the priests exist for the people, and not the people for the priests; that Christ established his religion, and enjoined brotherly love, that mankind might be rendered holy and happy even while on earth; and that it is not his wish that they should pine in soul and body here, in order to be saved at last, as Romish despotism teaches;--dare to achieve this conviction, and act upon it, as in duty bound! Cast off the silly bigotry with which Rome knows how to inoculate you, and live and labour, not for Rome's Bishop and her ambitious prelates, but with and for your fellow-citizens!

"Seek rather to attain an honourable place among your fellow-citizens, and their respect and love--by activity, unblemished character, and a virtuous--life, than to way-lay or supplicate an indolent and hateful benefice. Scorn at length that slave-like prejudice, which would rather follow in the wors.h.i.+pful footprint of its right reverend master, than listen to the unbia.s.sed judgment and opinion of a freeman! Venture to contend for your own and the peopled independence and moral freedom--you will be cordially supported by your fellow-citizens! Employ the pulpit, the confessional,* and the teacher's desk, which long have been abused for the darkening and degrading of your countrymen--for their improvement and emanc.i.p.ation! With and by the people you may become independent! a.s.sist, therefore, first of all, in emanc.i.p.ating the national schools, and in securing for the community the free choice of pastors, and keep abreast of the spirit of the people and of the times. Yes, yes! go hand in hand with your people, and you will be invincible--you will work wonders!

* It must be borne in mind, that this letter is of prior date to Ronge's Justification, in which he unhesitatingly condemns the use of the Confessional.--Trans.

"Am I dreaming? Look into the world, and mark the results of temperance societies! Here, to a certain extent, you have aided in the moral improvement of the people, although many of you have employed means by which your congregations have been more injured than they could have been by the most intoxicating drink.

"Do you fear the Chapters, the Bishops, the Pope? All these are powerless without you--in you alone their strength consists; their despotism has been erected on your cowardice and ignorance. Demand general councils, and hold them, as they once were held, in union with your congregations. Demand of your spiritual superiors that they rule according to law and privilege, and not after their own caprice; be no longer their tame and pa.s.sive slaves.

"Do not allow yourselves to be deceived by the apparent growth of the Hierarchy; it will, it must fall, for its watchwords are retrogression and degradation, while providence has ordained improvement for the world--'Be ye therefore perfect, as my father is perfect.'

"Do not allow yourselves to be persuaded that the ecclesiastical power is increasing, because you hear of numerous conversions to the Romish creed in individual German States! The nation must and shall learn that these conversions are, for the most part, brought about by the intrigues and money of the Jesuits--by money which these spiritual and consecrated bands of freebooters of the Romish Hierarchy, wring from the poor by means of Rosary and Prayer-a.s.sociations, and of which they rob the rich by mortmain. When our people shall have learned this--when they shall have discovered how fearfully all that they hold most sacred--their religion--is abused by the Romish Church, they will cast off Rome and her hypocrites with inexorable indignation. Still you may object,--'A great portion of our people is more attached than ever to the formal mummeries of Rome--to the doctrine of works; they hasten more than ever to places of Pilgrimage and Indulgence, and these processions are not confined to the ignorant populace, but are joined by educated wives and maidens, while the younger clergy are full of fanaticism! Does not this indicate the increase and the triumph of the Romish Creed?' Such phenomena there are indeed--phenomena belonging to the sixteenth, not the nineteenth century--but these phenomena are the curse upon your cowardice, the consequences of a want of moral courage to contend against the hirelings of the Pope. You have not dared encounter these Roman wolves in German fleeces; you have not dared to honour G.o.d and his truth; you have not dared to sacrifice your benefices to your heart's convictions, to the welfare of your congregations--of the nation! The slaves of Rome have therefore been enabled to rule at pleasure in the Catholic States of Germany, speaking big words--shamelessly insulting and intriguing--disseminating darkness and superst.i.tion. They have been free to rage in their congregations, to mislead, unpunished and unchecked, the credulous mult.i.tude, and to excite them and the younger clergy to fanaticism; they have been at liberty to proclaim the grossest abuses as the actual substance of Christianity, announcing follies and absurdities as Christian truths--for it is but seldom that any one, now and then, has ventured to raise his voice against them, or at least it has been speedily reduced to silence when once raised.

"Hence the insolence of these creatures of Rome, who dare, with unblus.h.i.+ng front, here in the midst of Germany, to call the greater part of the nation, which refuses to do them homage--_a vulgar mob!_ But, woe to them! the day has dawned at length,--the mask of their hypocrisy will be torn aside,--the confidence betrayed of our people and the younger clergy will burst forth in flames of merited indignation,--truth will shed a purer and a purer light, until at last the lying fabric shall fall down, and the rotten timbers of the Hierarchy shall crumble into dust! For it cannot be, that the spirit of truth, and justice, and brotherly love, is to be crushed for ever,--the spirit which Christ promised to _His Church_, and not to _Romish ambition_: 'The spirit remains with you till the end, and the spirit will make you free.' But you must seek for and follow after this spirit; then you shall have nought to fear--you shall triumph. This spirit will not greet you on your silken couches of indolence, He will not visit your licentious pillows--the Spirit discovers Himself now and ever as formerly, working in and through human agents. Strive earnestly and zealously for intellectual advancement and moral freedom, in union with your fellow-men,--lend a ready ear to the cries of the needy, enter heartily into the wishes of your fellow-citizens,--and you shall find the Holy Spirit, who shall declare Himself to you--you shall hear Him in the voice, in the call of your people, of your native country! The nation calls you now to a great and holy work. 'You must,' such is its call, 'cast off the degrading and unchristian despotism of the Roman Bishop; you must, in union with your fellow-citizens, the laity, restore, without fear of men, the Christian-Catholic religion, in all its purity and simple elevation; you must establish a German-Catholic (i. e.

universal) Christian Church; you must be no longer Romish, but honest German priests and teachers. Such is the voice of your people,--the call of your country! Will you obey the call? Will you begin the work without fear of men? Oh, I entreat you, I conjure you to obey the call; go promptly to the work, now, while there yet is time! I beg of you to set to the work, and I am not ashamed to beg,--the boon is so elevated and important! I implore you in the name of our religion, for the sake of honour, independence, and the peace of Germany,--I implore you, for your own sakes, by your dignity, honour, virtue,--by your happiness as men!

"Some of you will object--'But then we must cast off the Pope, and that were contrary to the Gospel; for Christ says to Peter,--"Thou art a rock, and upon thee will I build my Church;" Peter was Bishop of Rome, and the Pope is his successor!' What, brethren? Do you interpret the saying of the elevated founder of our religion according to the deadness of the letter? Are you not aware that Christ based His Church upon the faith and love of Peter, and of his other disciples and followers, but not upon his person? Do you not know that Rome has spared, and spares, no fraud to aggrandize herself, and that as history informs us, her prelates and her slaves have availed themselves of any means, however inadmissible, for the attainment of the self-same end? Do you not know that power and riches are the chief objects of the Court of Rome! and, therefore, must no Catholic either think or speak freely on religious matters, but blindly, like an animal, embrace and act upon the opinions of his priest! Ah! you know all this and more;--you know that you even act in direct opposition to the religion of Christ in bringing mankind under the unworthy dominion of the Pope, and in the degrading of your fellow-citizens; but you want the moral courage to shake yourselves free, you fear to lose your livelihood, you shrink from want and labour!

Such fear is unworthy of the disciples of Christ and of the Truth. As such, you ought to fear nothing so much as the degradation of yourselves and of your fellow-men, to which the Papal yoke constrains you; and it is, therefore, your most sacred duty to renounce the Pope, and to become the true priests of your people. Or are you, perhaps, not in a condition to promote the welfare and prosperity of your fellow-citizens? Do you require the aid of a distant Italian Bishop,--of a foreign power? You are better able to promote it than a distant Italian Bishop can be! Do you fear that the renunciation of Rome would lead to discord! Certainly not; for we are men, and we will act like men! With manly energy and discretion, in union with our fellow-citizens, will we call together the communities, freely to deliberate and determine what steps are needful for us all. In such a work there is no room for discord, for all violence is done away. Discord and violence are occasioned only by the Romish despotism, which knows no other law than its own advantage and aggrandizement. The Romish Hierarchy repels that German maiden from the altar, who gives her heart to one who owns a different creed,--profanes the virgin modesty of our sisters by wanton questions under the cloak of religion,--takes upon itself, here in the midst of Germany, to refuse the sacraments to mothers, if their children be not nurtured in the faith of Rome,--rages against all attempts at reconciliation between German Catholics and Protestants,--it is the Romish Church that will not hear of peace, however longed for by the people!

"The Romish Government has likewise brought us under an unchristian constraint, and introduced abuses into our religion, which lead to superst.i.tion and to vice, and which deprive us of the blessings of the Christian doctrine. We must first of all sweep away these abuses, we must dismiss, as unintelligible to our people, from all the houses of G.o.d in Germany, the Latin language,--that monument of our subserviency and spiritual bondage, that unholy constraint which outrages the clearest injunctions of the Gospel; for Paul says, (1st Cor. 14, 19,) 'I had rather speak five words with my understanding, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue,' and in the 23d verse he justly and directly denounces as madness the use of a foreign and unknown language. We must besides abolish the confessional, that moral torture-chamber, that degrading tribunal of Inquisition,--which stamps men hypocrites and blinded slaves to priestcraft,--which expels from the Supper of the Lord so many thousand Catholics who nevertheless feel themselves invited,--and which without a warrant in the Gospel, was first introduced by one of the most power-loving Popes, twelve hundred years after Jesus Christ. We must abolish all those mischievous contrivances of Rome, which are only intended for the extortion of money,--which undermine true piety, and degrade the priest to a farmer and a trafficker in salvation! The pure and true and Catholic Christian religion, shall alone remain, and its fundamental law--the law of love,--shall not only be expressed in words, but practically evidenced in our dealings with all our fellow-men of every faith and creed.

"I have been constrained, my friends, to address you in these few words, to which I have felt myself called by a sense of the duty imposed on me as preacher of religion, as a disciple of the truth,--these words, dictated by love to my fellow-citizens, and anxiety for their salvation, honor, and welfare,--and love to yourselves who languish under the yoke of Rome! It depends now upon yourselves whether you will obey the call of your religion, and of your fellow-citizens, and your improved convictions. Woe! woe! to you, who hear not this appeal! and rest in error and hypocrisy!--the righteous indignation of your countrymen, who are now awaking to consciousness, will condemn you in a voice of thunder, and the sentence will be indelibly engraved upon the page of history! The work, besides, will be achieved without you.

"To you, who obey this call, eternal joy and blessing! You, who armed with the moral courage of your calling, shun no labour and no sacrifice!

Yes, eternal joy and blessing to you! Your own consciences will reward you, the love of your countrymen, the enduring grat.i.tude of history, shall secure you a millennial fame!"

In this letter, as in the former, it is easy to trace the same spirit which so evidently characterizes the author as an honest and fearless a.s.sertor of what he believes to be the truth. The event soon shewed that he had not to fight single-handed. Previously, he had received a.s.surances of the sympathies of thousands; and now, when the period for action came, there were not wanting many to cast in their lot with him, as fellow-workers in overturning the great system of idolatrous wors.h.i.+p.

When first suspended, his whole flock pet.i.tioned that his services might still be continued to them--the best practical reply to the charges advanced against him. Several secessions speedily took place; congregations were formed at _Schneidemuhl_, under pastor _Czerski_, and at Breslau, where Ronge now is occupied with the const.i.tution and settlement of the new community. In most cases, the ultra-Catholic party have done what they could to create disturbance in the meetings, and generally to obstruct the progress of business; but such attempts have proved ineffectual. Of course, much in the const.i.tution of the Church must for a long time remain incomplete, but great unity, as well as zeal, has. .h.i.therto characterized their proceedings.

The princ.i.p.al places where congregations are being formed are Breslau, Schneidemuhl, Leipsic, Dresden, Berlin, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Offenbach, Brunswick, Coblentz, Worms, and even Cologne, where priestly influence is at its _maximum_. Other places it would be useless to name; in fact, accounts have been received from a vast number of quarters; but definite and final steps have not yet been taken, and, on all hands, it is found to be the ease, that great numbers, including clergy as well as laity, desire the formal recognition of the Church by the State, before they openly avow their separation from the Roman See. The doc.u.ments connected with the origin, const.i.tution, and principles of the Church have now been laid before the Prussian Government; but, while we write, no final answer has been returned.

The following remarks will so far explain the relation of this Government to the new movement:--Hitherto they have maintained the position of strict neutrality. The law of the land guarantees full freedom of conscience to every Prussian citizen; and as the new doctrines involve no principles of danger to the common safety, their defenders are ent.i.tled to demand that no police restrictions be put in the way of their progress. The law draws a distinction between religious societies merely _tolerated_, and those formally _acknowledged_ by the State; the latter only having corporate rights and privileges. The two Protestant Churches--the Reformed and Lutheran--have been united into one Church, generally called the Evangelical, which, with the Catholic, have alike the full sanctions of State protection. It is manifest, that where such strenuous efforts have been made to bring about this singular union, and where _unity of creed_ is the avowed object of the Government, the sanctioning a new cla.s.s of separatists, whether from the Catholic or Protestant Church, might lead to serious political consequences. The party of the _Old Lutherans_, who refused to co-operate in the scheme of union, have, strictly speaking, no legal standing in the const.i.tution of Prussia. They are tolerated, but not acknowledged by the State. It seems exceedingly probable that such will be the position of the new German Catholic Church, which would at once secure the legally guaranteed rights of conscience, and, at the same time, form no exception to the determination of the Government, as such, to have only the two great antagonist Churches and Confessions.

Meanwhile, the King of Saxony, though a Catholic, has more openly avowed his principles in connection with the movement. He was waited on by the Bishop and Catholic Clergy of Leipsic, for the purpose of impressing on him the duty of putting down the new sect by law. His reply was as follows:--"I wonder much at the demand you have made; and all the more, as you know that nineteen-twentieths of my subjects are Protestants, whose conduct of late to my Catholic fellow-citizens has greatly rejoiced my heart. You know, moreover, that I am King of a _const.i.tutional State_, and, as such, have promised and sworn to secure full religious freedom to my subjects, of whatever faith. I shall, then, place no obstruction in the way of what has taken place, but give events their free course, because _I will not, and dare not_, make any one swerve from that faith and wors.h.i.+p from which alone he expects salvation. This is my firmly-settled resolution." And with these memorable words, the Bishop and Clergy were most graciously dismissed.

The joy in Leipsic at the answer of the King was unbounded, As an off-set to this state of matters in Prussia and Saxony, we have to state, that the papal influence has been brought to bear upon the Governments of Austria and Bavaria--we believe with success--to prevent _by law_ the formation of any Church in connection with the new sect, throughout both kingdoms.

It is, of course, not to be expected that these congregations can as yet have had time or opportunity to draw up a full and duly authorized Confession of Faith. As matters stand, one congregation has adhered to the Apostolical Creed--another to the Nicene Creed (a.d. 325). The following is the Confession drawn up, and which has been generally adhered to by the congregation of Schneidemuhl:--