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Page 50
"How incomprehensible the apathy with which the English regard the
promulgation of Puseyism in their church! It is stealing silently but
swiftly to the very heart of their ecclesiastical institutions,
and total subversion will ultimately ensue. That Americans should
contemplate without apprehension the gradual increase of papal power
is not so astonishing, for this happy land has never groaned beneath
its iron sway. But that the descendants of Latimer and of Ridley, of
Hooper and of Cranmer, should tamely view the encroachments of this
monster hydra, is strange indeed. Do not imagine, Florry, that I doubt
the sincerity of all who belong to the Church of Rome. I know and
believe that there are many earnest and conscientious members--of this
there cannot be a doubt; yet it is equally true, that the most
devoted Papists are to be found among the most ignorant, bigoted,
and superstitious of men. The masses of your church are deceived with
pretended miracles and wondrous legends, such as the one currently
reported respecting the holy house of Loretto, which seems so
migratory, and flies hundreds of miles in a night. These marvelous
tales are credited by the uneducated; yet no enlightened man or woman
of the present age, who has fully investigated this subject, can say
with truth that they conscientiously believe the doctrines of the
Romish Church to be those taught by our Saviour, or its practises in
accordance with the general tenor of the Bible. This may seem a
broad assertion, yet none who calmly consider the subject in all its
bearings, and consult the page of history, will pronounce it a hasty
one."
"Yet remember, Mary, that the sect in question is proverbial for
charitable institutions. One vital principle is preserved. Surely
this is a redeeming virtue. Catholics are untiring in schemes of
benevolence and philanthropy."
"You will start, and perhaps condemn me, when I reply, that their
boasted charity is but the mask behind which they disseminate the
doctrines of the Romish Church. I may appear very uncharitable in
the expression of this opinion; yet hear me, Florry; facts are
incontrovertible. If you will think a moment, you cannot fail to
remember Patrick, the porter at our friend Mrs. D----'s. Having
received a dangerous wound in his foot, he was sent to the hospital,
where several of the nurses were Sisters of Charity. He remained
nearly a month, and on his return related to Mrs. D----, in my
presence, some of the circumstances of his long illness. His words
made a lasting impression on my mind:
"'Indeed, and I am glad enough to come home, ma'am; for never was I
treated worse in my life. The first week Sister Agnes, who nursed
in my room, was kind and tender as could be, and thought I, if ever
angels come to earth, this good woman is one; but I can tell ye I did
not think so long: she read some saints' lives to us, and asked me if
I was a Catholic. I said no, I was no Catholic. Then she tried every
way to make me one, and told me if I refused I would surely die and go
to purgatory. Faith! the more she talked that way the more I wouldn't
be a Catholic; and then she just let me alone, and not another thing
would she do for me. I might call from then till now, and never a step
would she come, or nurse me a bit. It is no good care of hers that has
brought me back alive and well: I tell you, Sister Agnes won't do for
any but Catholics.'
"Florry, is such charity akin to that taught by the Bible? Catholics
boast of their asylums; and by means of fairs and suppers, large
amounts are annually collected for the support of these numerous
institutions. I have been told by a directress of a Protestant orphan
asylum, that on one occasion a squalid woman, accompanied by two boys,
presented herself and entreated that her children might be received
into the asylum. The unhappy mother informed the directress that she
was a Roman Catholic, and had claimed the protection of her own sect;
but, said she, tearfully, 'Indeed I had no money to pay for their
entrance, and they refused to take my children.'
"Such, Florry, is their boasted charity; and I might add, their lives
are little in accordance with the spirit inculcated by our Saviour,
who said, 'When ye do your alms, let not your left hand know what your
right hand doeth.' There are thousands who daily dispense charities
of various kinds; yet they do not term themselves Sisters of Charity;
neither promenade the streets in a garb so antiquated and peculiar
as to excite attention, or elicit encomiums on their marvelously holy
lives and charitable deeds. Do not suppose, Florry, because I speak
thus, that I doubt the sincerity of all who enroll themselves as
Sisters. I do believe that there are many pious and conscientious
women thus engaged; yet they are but tools of the priests, and by them
placed in these institutions for the purpose of making proselytes."
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