Anonymous

“ Arise, then, men of Germany and of France; men of Great Britain, Italy, and Spain, arise! Men of Europe and America! let us unite with our governments in the noble enterprise! To the work, like men—the work of peace and freedom! The hour is come! let us break the yoke of faith and conscience—drag down lying priesthood and the Hierarchy—annihilate disdainful Jesuitism, insulting God and man—and usher in the glorious reign of truth, and light, and righteousness—of virtue, of freedom, and of love! ”

“ 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 superstition, darkness, and spiritual bondage! ”

“ The peculiar and appropriate armoury for these degrading bonds is the College or Seminary for priests. It is there that the youth, who wishes to devote himself to the teaching of the people, has the brand of slavery stamped deep and painfully upon him; it is there that he is condemned to holy idleness; it is there that his spirit is fettered, and bowed to blind obedience by superstitious dread and sacred statutes; it is there that he is inoculated in heart and soul with hypocrisy and selfish egotism; it is there that man is degraded to the condition of a slave, and becomes a passive tool. ”

“ 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! ”

“ We all endeavoured to attain that heroism, which can resolve at once to sacrifice the heavenly dreams of youth, its hopes, its wishes, and its freedom,—in order, as they told us, that we might the more successfully promote the temporal and eternal well-being of our fellow-men;—as if it were possible for him to raise men to independence and to self-respect, who cannot boast of their existence in his own bosom. That, however, which most excited my indignation and horror, was the ghastly stagnation, which seen from one side exhibited depression,—from the other, levity, discontent, or cowardice. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The despotism of the Roman hierarchy glared at me like an awful monster—a monster which digs graves for the burial of living youth—graves which engulf the freedom and the happiness of nations. The young man who wishes to become a teacher of the people, must witness his open and upright manliness ruined; he must blindly obey, and submit himself to the most degrading oppression, for the first injunction laid on him is unconditional obedience. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Has not religion been degraded to a system of usury and hypocrisy, which aims alone at the enriching and aggrandizement of the Church of Rome! The Church, as the Romish Hierarchy exhibits and teaches, is but a phantom of falsehood and dissimulation, which floats unseen above the nations, keeping them in constant dread and blind obedience. Hence comes the alienation from the priests, the horror and bitterness of feeling unanimously entertained by the considerate and right-thinking portion of mankind, towards the so-called Romish Church! ”

“ Stand forth against the despotism of Rome! abolish superstition, 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! ”

“ I am bound, as teacher of the people, and as teacher of religion, at all hazards to guard, not only my own freedom and independence, but those also of my fellow-men. In accordance with the language of the New Testament,—-"we are all the children of one father, we are brethren," it is my duty, as teacher of the people and of religion, not only to proclaim freedom to all mankind, but to endeavour to realize the lesson, because it is the freeman who alone is virtuous. ”

“ How then can the injunction of love to our neighbour find a place in such a Christian Church, in such a society of Christians? Where then is the succour of alone-saving Rome, amid so deep spiritual degradation, amid so great bodily want among our people? Where is the practical working of brotherly-love! where does she labour for the elevation and improvement of the people! Where is the right understanding of the Lord's Supper, the feet-washing! ”

“ As Romish priest I have no freedom, either of thought or conscience. Neither can I boast, as such, of any of the other rights of man, in opposition to my superior,—him I must blindly obey. The Romish priest is not regarded as a being personally free, but as an automaton, employed to spread abroad the mist of superstition. To cast off this bondage, and become a free moral agent, is a holy duty and injunction of the Christian religion, which demands freedom in the exercise of virtue. ”

“ 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 God. 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 noble opposition to the hierarchical spectacle of Treves. ”

“ You have not dared encounter these Roman wolves in German fleeces; you have not dared to honour God 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 superstition. ”

“ No less are we aware that the Thirty Years' War was not caused by Luther and Melancthon, but had been hatching for centuries by Rome and the lay and clerical nobility of Germany. It is, indeed, most necessary that we pray for ourselves and for the Spaniards, but it shall be for the freedom and independence of ourselves and them—in union with which alone can true religion and morality exist—and not for slavery and dependence, which can at best engender dissimulation and hypocrisy. ”

“ Unworthy cowardice! My courage gradually rose; courage for the contest of life and death within me. I determined to burst my fetters, and to leave the enchanted circle,—a circle drawn amid the incantations and the curses of Romish tyranny in the middle ages; I resolved to assist in tearing off the mask of holiness from the hypocrisy of a thousand years. This my resolve was only strengthened by contemplating the fate of my colleagues, some of whom were greater sufferers than even I. A few were snatched away by early death; they sank mute, and cheated of their lives, into the grave. ”

“ 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 hell exert a widely greater influence than the love of God and of your fellow-men? ”

“ However, so it also happens with many others of my colleagues. They become inconsistent in their opinions; for, being called to fight in the front rank for truth and freedom, they, on the contrary, act in opposition to them, as the conscious or unconscious slaves and servants of the hierarchy. I fancied, when I knew Schneeweiss in earlier days, that he had a more enlightened zeal, but Gibbon's words, alas! are true—"The spirit of bigotry, at once so credulous and insinuating, when it has once taken root in a noble mind, overturns by degrees the living principles of virtue and of truth." ”

“ 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 ”

“ The more we have striven to become acquainted with the true doctrine of Jesus in the Gospel, which is the alone source of revealed truth, the more deeply have we been penetrated with the conviction, that Christ is the only mediator between God and man, and that the doctrine with regard to the Pope and the one infallible Church, has no foundation in the word of God, and weakens the merits of Christ; that the doctrines of the Romish Church of the Holy Sacrament—of the priesthood and its relation to the people, is false, and deprives believers of their choicest privileges. ”

“ If I am bound as a man to resist all violent infringement of my freedom and individual privileges, and rather to hide a free and virtuous heart beneath the poorest clothing, than to strut about as a slave in rich attire,—I am still more solemnly engaged to such a course, as teacher of the people. As such also, in order to bear vigorous and successful testimony to the truth, I must maintain an unblemished reputation among my fellow-citizens. The right reverend Board, however, have at once assailed my freedom and my honour. ”

“ The pain, the torment of this sacrifice is fearful, and nature instinctively revolts when she is robbed of her holiest rights, of the most valued gifts of the Creator. And yet the slave is silent, and all the more so, as the grave is deeper where his freedom and his dignity lie buried. It is but seldom that a despairing cry escapes from his inmost soul, and dies away in utterance, amid the empty sounds of simulated prayer. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the sight of God we separate ourselves from the Pope, and the Hierarchy, and from the whole anti-evangelical system therewith connected, whatever struggles or shame we may have to encounter. We thus separate ourselves—not for the sake of carrying on a war against those who hold a different confession—not even that confession which we abandon—but for the purpose of finding rest for our souls, and of serving and thanking our God and Lord in peace. ”