The Spirit of God As Fire Part 3

Those who could manage to escape and flee the country, did so, leaving all of worldly goods and possessions behind them _confiscated to the Church_, and, as strangers, poor and friendless, sought, as best they could, asylums in other lands--some of whom, finally reached our own continent, here to enjoy liberty and the freedom of conscience. And we have to lament the fact that many of them, still tinctured with the rule and form of despotism, had, by the force of previous circ.u.mstances, imbibed notions akin to despotism and persecution, and were, for a time, while they had the power, disposed to use it as manifested by the Puritans first landing on our sh.o.r.es.

But they could not hold this power, because of lack of a complete organization of a hierarchal power. Free thought and free speech, and the liberty of a free untrammeled _conscience_ prevailed, and soon swept away every vestige of religious intolerance and despotism, and our North American continent soon towered in sublime grandeur and beauty, and became the home and asylum of freedom for the oppressed of every clime. This land is the birthright of Protestants, wherein those of every religious faith, Catholics, and all others, have equal rights and privileges; but to maintain our liberties, we must educate into the minds of all, _personal liberty, and accountability_, and leave the conscience untrammeled so far as regards popes, priests, bishops, or ministers, _controlling man's future destiny_. All are held individually, and personally, accountable to G.o.d, and He hath sent His Spirit to enlighten every one, and all who go direct to Him in the spirit of humility, with faith and prayer, will obtain this light.

In regard to the workings of the ruling powers of the Roman Catholic Church less than two centuries ago, we give place to the following recent developments, written as a matter of history, by one who a.s.sisted in the investigations only a few weeks ago. This is from "Catholic Spain:"

GHASTLY REVELATION!

MORE RELICS OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION UNEARTHED.

The London _Star_ has the following from Madrid:

A somewhat ghastly incident has caused considerable excitement here within the last few weeks. Within a few hundred yards of the new Plaza de Dos Mayo, inaugurated on the 2d of this month, there is a locality called the Cruz del Quemadero. It is a field some three hundred metres square, at the top of the Calle Aricha de San Bernardo, near the hospital built by the ex-Queen. Through it a new road was lately opened, and as the ground was elevated, a cutting of considerable depth had to be dug. The workmen laid bare several peculiar looking horizontal strata, of irregular formation. One was one hundred and fifty feet in length, another fifty, another ten. The thickness varied from eight to eighty centimetres. In color the soil was black, the lower strata being much blacker than the superior ones.

On examination lumps of charred wood were found, interspersed with ashes, evidently the remains of some huge fire. Curiosity was soon excited, and further investigation demonstrated that in portions of these ugly-looking strata, the finger came upon small pieces of adipose matter, which yielded, like b.u.t.ter, to the touch. Iron rings were grubbed up; human bones, a cranium, a long tuft of hair, having belonged to some female. All these were more or less charred. Some of the iron was partially fused, and the texture of bone intermingled with sand was plainly discernible. _A gag turned up._ The question, what were these lugubrious records was answered at once. This field of the Cruz del Quemadero was the place where the "_Inquisition_" disposed of some of its victims. Here were the ghastly proofs of the horrors of which this place had been the scene, suddenly brought to light after the lapse of two centuries. On the 12th of May, 1689, eighty-three heretics, including twenty Hebrews, of whom five were women, were immolated on this very spot. The pile of wood was eighty feet in length by seven feet in height. A great concourse witnessed the _auto da fe_, and the horrible ceremonial completed, the people buried the remains of their victims under cart-loads of earth. These irregular geological strata are naught else but the silent testimony to the atrocities perpetrated on this in the name of religion and "Catholic Unity." Out of one, your special correspondent hooked out with his finger, one entire bone of a human vertebral column, a portion of the tibia, a fragment of a shoulder-blade with a hole through it, and a bit of a rib, all bearing the marks of fire. Upward of two cart-loads of remains of this sort have been carried away and decently buried. But these horrible strata! There they remain to tell their own tale, and instruct the present generation. On the 13th, a public meeting was convened, to be held at the Quemadero, by the Republican youth of Madrid, to protest against priestly intolerance and to advocate _freedom of conscience_. That this discovery should have been made at a moment when the Spanish clergy are striving their utmost to affirm the "unity of the Roman Catholic Church," and are preaching in the churches of the metropolis against heresy, is a striking coincidence.

The Quemadero is so frequented by people in search of relics, and the explorations of these strata have been so extensive, that the authorities have barred the frontage off, and prohibited access. It is their intention to cut a square block, and there erect a monument. It is estimated by Llorente, the great historian of the Inquisition, that this atrocious tribunal has deprived Spain of twelve millions of souls, including the Jews, and Moors, expelled from the country. Thirty-one thousand and ninety-two perished by fire; 17,659 were first butchered and then burned; 221,985 died of torture. Total, 270,736.

Rome, ever intolerant in spirit, her persecutions have ever been the same through all ages, and in all countries, where she had the power of physical force. And thus, we believe, it would be to-day, on this continent, had she now the ascendency here. Daily, in private, are you denounced by their priests, and minions, as heretics, while it would seem that no bishop, or priest, of that church, can ascend a rostrum in any of their cathedrals, without venting his spleen in outspoken or implied anathemas against all Protestants.

Your daughters, under their special care in their schools and academies, are taught by the Lady Superiors, and sisters--by insinuations, if not directly--to believe theirs the only true church of G.o.d on earth. They are told by their confidential a.s.sociates, that all who do not believe their faith, and in the Roman Catholic Church, are held by them as "_heretics_" and, without this belief, need never hope to get to heaven. Their governesses and teachers are ever wary, at first, of manifesting, or of exercising a direct influence, as regards controlling their religious belief, and will tell you, when you are about to place your daughters under their care, that they never teach the children of Protestants the Catholic religion, and yet, by their machinations, adopt the most efficient means of accomplis.h.i.+ng it. They are sure to gain their _confidence_, and, very soon, with nine out of ten, they have more of this than even the mother enjoys. When they have gained this, confidence, their task becomes an easy one, and they know well how to perform it. On each recurring Sabbath, all who are under their care must attend church, and they are accompanied by the superiors or teachers, to _their_ church, and there must sit and hear the religion and faith of their own parents denounced in the boldest terms. They are young and inexperienced; their minds susceptible of impressions, and these they receive and nurture with such effect, that long before the period arrives for them to leave the "Inst.i.tution," the faith and doctrines of the "Church of Rome" are firmly ingrafted in their minds; and they return home fully resolved to be (even if they have not already been) confirmed by the ordinance of Baptism in that church. Thus, their religious belief is educated into their minds, and no parental influence can ever change their views.

"But," say some, "we send our children to their day-school, and hence, have them under home influence most of the time, and in this way there is no danger." Let us examine and see whether there is, or is not.

This mode of procedure is one of their organized systems for induction into your "good graces," so that they may eventually accomplish their ends. By this seeming open-heartedness, they allay all suspicion, and overcome any prejudices you may have cherished against their system of religion. They are all working for the future ascendency of their church. It must not be a matter of haste; the minds of Protestants, who are yet in the ascendency, are not prepared to yield all in open conflict. Hence, they must be patient; must work and wait. Such a course, on their part, will disarm you of even suspicion, and cause you to think and speak well of them. This is always their first step.

Soon they will open the doors of their academies to admit your daughters, where they MUST remain during all the term--save a short "home visit" now and then, from which they must return on the day, and even the very hour stated by the "Superior." Have you ever noticed how _promptly_ your daughter has felt it her duty to obey this command, and return to that school? Was it ever thus while she was attending a Protestant school? Think you she would be so mindful of _your_ request; so _anxious_ to leave pleasant society; unwilling to remain even an hour longer, and return to you and loved ones at home? Nay, I tell you she would not do it under ordinary circ.u.mstances. See now who already holds the confidence of, and greater influence over your child!

But see on yonder eminence a Convent, a Monastery, a Nunnery, with its towering dome, and surrounded by ma.s.sive walls. There, perhaps, is the place wherein your young and beautiful daughter will be immured to spend a weary life in _crucifying_ herself, and doing penance daily for imaginary sins she has never committed. Thus, shutting herself up within that living tomb from all the outside world, and the happiness to be enjoyed in social life; she is as dead to you, and to the world, as though in her coffin, and in her grave; while the mind is as obscured as to the true lights and freedom of eternal truth and salvation, as though reason were dethroned, and she a maniac. This condition has been brought about by influences brought to bear upon her mind, commencing with your daughter's first entrance into their primary schools. Confessions must soon be made to the priest, and, by his arts, he soon gains the ascendency over, and becomes the arbiter of the mind and conscience, and more especially is this influence exerted to this end, if the child is an _orphan_, and is the rightful inheritor of a valuable estate. For it would seem that to this end do the ruling powers of that sect devote time, energy, and influence--as witnessed by so many young females, whose parents left them fortunes, surrendering all to the church, and taking up a life abode in their convents.

We do not condemn the poor deluded victims, nor believe they are held accountable in their delusion. They are honest in their devotions, yet perform these under false delusions. And when their spirits are released from this double prison-house, and return to G.o.d who gave them, they will then realize the freedom of the Spirit of G.o.d, and how abundantly it giveth _light_, _life_ and _liberty_. And they will then also realize that their salvation is alone of G.o.d--through his boundless mercy; and not in anywise through intercession of the _Priest_.

We warn you to look well to pa.s.sing events. History so oft repeats itself, that we can but believe there is danger. Remember that when Luther--the bold pioneer of Protestantism--stood forth the champion of Christianity, to his followers there came, from this same source, persecutions, martyrdoms, and ma.s.sacres--even a reign of terror and darkness upon Europe. But it proved a darkness that preceded a dawn; and although seemingly, at the time, dreadful in its consequences, yet none can deny but that the world is far better because of his efforts, than to have slumbered on in ignorance and in sin. From this same cause, our own continent may be destined to pa.s.s through a period like that of the "dark ages." If so, we trust in G.o.d it may come forth from it cleansed and purified; even as the current of the "lost river,"

that loses itself in the bosom of the "Blue Ridge," where, with a wild whirl, its turbid waters dash into the resounding cavern, but on the other side reappear, clear, placid, and beautiful.

We say to all Protestants, remember, that in placing your children under the care and influence of Catholic teachers, and Priests of that Church, you lend your aid to obscuring their minds, and, in accordance to your own belief, shutting out from the eye of faith G.o.d's own eternal truth. They go to men as "intercessors" instead of to Christ the Lord--the Son of G.o.d, who redeemed them with His own precious blood--who alone can intercede for them. And you also aid in re-establis.h.i.+ng universal sway to the ever-intolerant Romish Church.

The time may come when--driven from the Old World--her central power will be on this continent: and, erecting here her gorgeous temples from the estates you leave to your children, the Pope will ascend the throne of the American Vatican--under and around which will be the dark dungeons of the Inquisition--and thence thunder forth his "_Bulls_" and _Anathemas_ against the feeble followers of the blessed Redeemer. That Church is by far the most intolerant of all the professed Christian organizations on this globe. Their members are not even allowed the privilege of attending religious wors.h.i.+p anywhere else than under their own instructions, and we opine, that should any one of them do so without "dispensation," they are held as having committed a sin, for which they must soon repair to the Priest, make confession, do penance, receive absolution from him, and pay the price.

Behold the avarice of this "wh.o.r.e of Babylon!" Not content with tribute paid to her--perhaps weekly--through a long lifetime by her deluded followers, when nature yields to the fiat of the Eternal One, mortality drops to moulder into dust, and the spirit returns to G.o.d who gave it, so completely are the minds of all her adherents under the control of the Priests, that they can still lay _penance_ upon the dead, and demand and obtain _tribute_ from the living offspring.

In closing our remarks upon this subject, we submit, for the reflection of all Protestant ministers and members in every quarter of the world, the following, a portion of the Pope's address to the English clergymen, who presented him an address signed by some eighteen hundred clergy, April 20th, 1869. After examining the doc.u.ment closely, following other remarks, he said:

"In the mean time, we must cultivate in a most special manner the _spirit of unity_, for in that lies our strength, and its want is the weakness of our adversaries. I have noticed the Protestants are perpetually appealing to the primitive Church; but when I turn to the early ages of history, what do I see? Unity! all the more reasonable because existing undoubtedly in a different state of society from the present. The Apostles were all of one accord, and one mind. * * * *

Protestants, on the other hand, are disunited; and our strength, in the difficulties we have to encounter, lies in _perfect union_. * * *

It will be the old story over again. There will be waves and storms and threatenings on all sides, but we shall be brought safely through * * * while our _adversaries_ are struggling with the waves."

Let all ponder well these remarks. The philosophy that "in union there is strength" is a true one. And if all Protestants cannot unite as one great body and family--because of minor non-essentials in matters of faith, forms and ceremonies--let all unite in the one great essential, that all their children, and orphan children of Protestants, shall be educated in other than Catholic schools. For, in these latter, we hold that the mind is chained to error and superst.i.tion, and the true lights of G.o.d's truth and plan of salvation are obscured. Every parent and guardian will be held accountable in a coming day, should they neglect to "train up their children in the way they should go."

Our readers will please pardon us for the digression we have made from the special subject we have under consideration. Had we not been duly impressed with the importance and correctness of our views upon the subject of the freedom and liberty of mind and conscience, and of the personal accountability of _all_ to G.o.d alone, we should not have thus pursued the theme. We believe firmly in the good _offices_ of a teaching and advising ministry, but not in anywise where it _trammels the mind or becomes the arbiter of the conscience_.

Returning to our subject, _viz._, the earlier discoveries of the science of Astronomy. The intelligence of the world is indebted to Sir Isaac Newton, who lived during the latter part of the sixteenth century, for the discovery of the laws of _universal gravitation_. His discovery, and philosophy, furnished the basis upon which all subsequent astronomers have worked.

_ATTRACTION, GRAVITATION, &c._

The power of attraction and force of gravitation are the laws which govern the universe of matter. "The discovery of this law," says Prof.

Olmsted, "made us acquainted with the hidden forces that move the great machinery of the universe. It furnished the key which unlocks the inner temple of Nature, and established the science of Astronomy upon a sure and firm basis. Thus we discover in Nature a tendency of every portion of matter toward some other. This tendency is called gravitation. The larger the body, the more powerful the attraction; and this attraction is always toward the centre. Hence, you may cast an object of weight into the air, and, when the impelling force you have given it ceases to force it upward, it falls in a direct line to the earth." So also may the Chinaman, placed on the opposite side of the globe, cast one as he deems upward, which is forcing it in an opposite direction from where you sent yours; yet, when his impelling force is lost, his too falls back to the earth, each falling toward the other. This is gravitation, produced by the power of attraction.

Thus we now see this principle made plain to the simplest comprehension.

_SUNS, STARS, PLANETS, &c._

We come, now, to the contemplation of that which is of far greater importance to us than all other planets, worlds, stars, and wonders in the siderial Heavens. This is the Sun, which warms and lights up our earth, and all the other planets within its sphere.

Says Dr. Child, "There are not a few in this world who habitually receive G.o.d's blessings so much as a matter of course, that they are scarcely conscious of any active feeling of grat.i.tude in regard to them. The very regularity and profusion with which these blessings are showered on all alike, seem to have the effect of deadening the sense of individual obligation. A general admission of thankfulness may occasionally be made at church or in the closet, but there is a want of that abiding consciousness of it, with which we ought to be imbued, as well as that frequent pondering upon details which, by ill.u.s.trating the dependence of every creature upon G.o.d, causes the heart to swell with grateful adoration. Such thoughts never fail to improve our moral nature by bringing the truth home to us more and more that we are G.o.d's children.

"It would be no easy task for a thankful mind to sum up all the blessings diffused over our planet by the Sun. It is the mainspring of animated Nature. Without its genial rays the present system of Earth's government could not endure, and life itself would soon disappear from the globe. To it we are indebted for light and warmth--the two stimulants of vital force--for our food and raiment; for our busy days and rest-bringing nights, for months and years, and happy alternations of seasons. Its rays, in short, are intertwined with all our wants and comforts; they gladden the eye and cheer the heart. Contemplating all these temporal blessings, the _Psalmist_ exclaims:

"'_I will praise the name of the Lord with a song, and magnify it with thanksgiving._'

"The Sun is the central pivot of the solar system, and round it the earth and all the other planets keep whirling in elliptical orbits.

Its power and influence, its light, heat, and attraction, reach through a domain in s.p.a.ce which it would require _six thousand millions of miles_ to span. With the greater part of this wide field, astronomers are familiar, and it may be truly said that scarcely a man knows the roads of his own parish or neighborhood, or a citizen the streets of his own city or village, with more exactness than they do the highways of the skies. Not only can they map out to a nicety the paths of the planets careering through it like islands floating through a sea of ether, but they can look backward and tell the exact spot where each globe was at any moment of the remote past, or forward, and point to the place where each will be found at any given moment of the remote future.

"What is the mighty power which maintains such order in the Heavens, which steadies the planets in their orbits, and traces out for them a route so wisely planned as to avoid all chances of collision? Two antagonistic forces--gravitation and attraction, combined with a centrifugal impulse--accomplish the wonderful task. To these faithful servants, G.o.d commits the safety of the Universe, nor can anything disturb or derange the order of this machinery, save the Word which created it.

"The Sun was placed in the centre, and became the pivot of the whole system, tying to itself the different planets by the cord of its superior attraction. In accordance with the law we have mentioned, this loadstone power of the Sun is the inevitable result of its superior ma.s.s, as it is computed to be six hundred times greater in magnitude than this earth and all the planets put together. But behold the wisdom and wondrous power of the Great Architect, in creating these vast worlds, and placing each in its proper position in s.p.a.ce; where each revolves within its own orbit--some with the velocity of even one hundred thousand miles an hour--yet maintaining toward each other that _centrifugal_ force which prevents their being drawn by the attractive power of that vast globe _within_ the Sun, into certain destruction, by its surrounding fires.

"Astronomers inform us there are innumerable Suns, each of which is supposed to control a separate, or its own system of planets; giving light and heat thereto, even as our Sun does to this Earth, and its own system of planets. Their distances from the Sun that lights up our Heavens are immeasureable--far transcending our conceptions, or even our imagination--in illimitable s.p.a.ce. They also inform us that the distance from this Earth, to the nearest one of these distant stars, or suns, is about _twenty billions of miles_." So vast is the distance here stated, that the mind cannot grasp or comprehend it. We can more nearly approximate by the measurement of light; a ray of which darting from its surface and travelling at the speed of 192,000 miles a second, would not reach our eye under three years and eight months.

"Such then," says Sir John Herschel, "is the length of the sounding-line with which we first touch bottom in the attempt to fathom the great abyss of the sidereal heavens." Says Olmsted, "Until recently, astronomers gave almost exclusive attention to observations, and the study of the solar system. But Dr. William Herschel turned his attention to the sidereal heavens, and opened up new and wonderful fields of discovery, as well as of speculation. His son, Sir John Herschel, and Sir James South, of England, have followed the old master, with grasping minds and brilliant intellects, until more has been accomplished by them, and others of the present day, than all preceding astronomers had even ventured to conjecture," and that their deductions are founded mainly on facts, no intelligent mind will--on investigation--have reason to doubt.

But having thrown anchor and "touched bottom" in the wide expanse of the unlimited sphere of the sidereal heavens, "let us," says Dr.

Child, "take another flight. Here next, within the domain of Sirius, we find ourselves six times as far distant as when at Centauri, first mentioned"--say one hundred and twenty billions of miles--"from which it would require _twenty-two years_ for a ray of light travelling at the rate of 192,000 miles a second to reach our Earth." But, far distant, yonder, we behold the beauteous _Capella_, in all its splendor and glory, throwing its effulgent rays across the wide expanse of universe, and yet these rays of light, travelling at the same mentioned rate--192,000 miles each pa.s.sing second of time--require about _seventy years_ in transit, before the inhabitants of our Earth catch a glimpse of their brilliancy and beauty. And yet now the mind has only entered the borders of '_the starry regions_'--far beyond, in illimitable s.p.a.ce, lie the 'Hosts of the Stars;' their vast distances cannot be computed even by light itself."

It is wonderful to contemplate the probability that of some of the more distant stars discovered, the rays of light which have found rest in the eye of the Astronomer, through the aid of the telescope, may have left their native sun thousands of years ago, and travelled at the rate of 192,000 miles a second ever since. "A certain cl.u.s.ter of stars was estimated by Sir William Herschel to be 700 times the distance of a star of the first magnitude--therefore at least 700 times nineteen billions of miles!" But, observes Guillemin, if this cl.u.s.ter was removed to five times its actual distance, that is to say 3,500 times the distance of Sirius, the large Herschelian telescope of 40 feet focus would still show it, _but only as an irresolvable Nebula_. It is, then, extremely probable that, among the many Nebulae indecomposable into stars, beyond the Milky Way, in the depths of the heavens, many are as distant as that of which we speak. _Doubtless many are more so._ Now to reach us, light-rays must have left stars situated at such a distance more than 700,000 years ago!" Says Child, "When we have touched the verge of this uttermost range, Infinity, boundless as ever, still lies beyond. The idea of G.o.d extinguishes in our mind every suspicion that there can be any limit to s.p.a.ce, magnitude, or power, in relation to His works. The mighty universe we have been considering is but the stepping-stone to what is farther on; and although our imagination fails to grasp it, our reason a.s.sures us it must be so. There is no such thing as taking from or adding to _The Illimitable_.

"With what just propriety of thought has light been called the 'voice'

of the stars. * * * In the 'speechless' voice of light the stars proclaim to us from the depths of s.p.a.ce, the existence of innumerable other worlds which, like our own, share the Creator's care. * * * With mute argument stars prove to us that, in those far-off regions, gravitation--the power that brings the apple to the ground--still reigns supreme, and with suggestive whispers of probability, they persuade us that, like our own Sun, they bathe attendant worlds in floods of light; deck them in colors of beauty, and shower countless blessings on the life of myriads of beings.