JOHN HAIME—ALLEGED CAUSES OF WAR—THE AUTHOR AND POPERY—CONFESSION TO MAN USELESS—PURGATORY—TRANSUBSTANTIATION—IDOLATRY—LEGENDS—PAPAL PERSECUTIONS.  
nstances of genuine conversion to the faith of the Gospel, attended by the fruits of the Spirit, are also to be met with among what are generally termed ‘common soldiers,’ by which are understood the private men composing the main body of an army, by whom, as making up the physical force employed, the brunt of actual fighting is chiefly sustained; and it has pleased the great Head of the Church so to magnify His grace, that many of these men, when exposed to the most imminent peril, were enabled not only to perform their duty with coolness and intrepidity, but to rejoice in the midst of privation and suffering. No serious and intelligent man can forget that in the last century a most remarkable revival of religion took place in these lands; and the influence, it appears from authentic records, extended to the British army.
A pious soldier, who was engaged in one of the German campaigns then in operation, has observed, ‘The day we marched to Maestricht, I found the love of God shed abroad in my heart, that I thought my very soul was dissolved in tears. The day we engaged the French at Dettingen, as the battle began, I said, “Lord, in Thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded.” Joy overflowed my soul, and I told my comrades, “If I fall this day 212I shall rest in the everlasting arms of Christ.”’ He did not fall; and about ten months afterwards, in another written communication directed to his pastor, he seems more happy than ever, though in circumstances which, in ordinary cases, would have been destructive of mental calmness. At the close of a severe action, he states, ‘As to my own part, I stood the fire of the enemy above seven hours; then my horse was shot under me, and I was exposed both to the enemy and our own horse. But that did not discourage me at all; for I knew the God of Israel was with me. I had a long way to go, the balls flying on every side, and thousands lay dying and dead on either hand. Surely I was as in the fiery furnace; but it never singed one hair of my head.’ Providentially, the veteran was not left to stand alone; for true godliness is essentially communicative. He adds, ‘Going on, I met one of our brethren with a little dish in his hand, seeking for water. He smiled and said, he had got a sore wound in his leg. I asked him, “Have you gotten Christ in your heart?” He answered, “I have, and have had Him all day.”’
The name of the soldier whose remarks I have quoted was John Haime; and he lived to be a useful member of the Church. He was favoured, while in active military service, with the correspondence of one of the most venerable and learned ministers of that age, the Rev. John Wesley, M.A. A copy of one of the letters thus received from him has been preserved, and is worthy of all acceptation, not only on account of the wisdom of the advices it contains, but of the affectionate regard shown in the midst, probably, of multiplied engagements, to an absent member of the flock. ‘It is a great blessing,’ observes the writer, ‘whereof God has already made you a partaker; but if you continue waiting upon Him, you shall see greater things than these. This is only the beginning of the kingdom of heaven, which He will set up in your heart. There is 213yet behind, the fulness of the mind that was in Christ; “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” It is but a little thing that men should be against you, while they know that God is on your side. If He gives you any companion in the narrow way, it is well; and it is well, if He does not. So much the more will He teach and strengthen you by Himself; He will strengthen you in the secret of your heart, and, by and by, He will raise up, as it were out of the dust, those who shall say, “Come, and let us magnify His name together.” But, by all means, miss no opportunity; speak, and spare not. Declare what God has done for your soul; regard not worldly prudence; be not ashamed of Christ, or of His word, or of His servants; speak the truth in love, even to a crooked generation; and all things shall work together for good, until the work of God is perfect in your soul.’
But, although grateful remembrance is made that the Almighty has preserved my life, and though convinced that He is able to keep His faithful people in the most trying situations, let it not be supposed that I consider war as an immaterial occurrence, and a light evil: on the contrary, experience has shown me that it is one of the worst and most destructive calamities by which humanity can be visited. Saved, as we have been in this country, from the tempests which have so repeatedly swept the European continent, and knowing nothing of ‘the horrid alarum of war,’ save through the medium of Gazettes and hear-say evidence, we are apt to overlook the mischief inflicted on those, upon whose peaceful residences the unwelcome avalanche has broken.
As for several years I literally fought my way through the world, it is natural to suppose that the reasons and results of war have frequently attracted my notice. The alleged and ostensible objects for which one monarch or ruler has engaged in war with another, are to punish some 214slight or injury, which the nation, or its dependencies, or some one of its allies, may have sustained; or to prevent or repel the assaults and invasions of its neighbours. In modern times, those who think of war, enlarge eloquently upon the law of nations, the rights of civil society, and especially the balance of power. This latter phrase has been exceedingly in fashion through the range of diplomatic lore; and the conflict, maintained through a long and dreadful struggle, to give equilibrium to the balance in question, has cost an expenditure of blood and treasure previously unknown in the history of this hemisphere. The truth is, that where war is determined, pretences are easily invented or discovered; as those who are for ever in search of a hook on which to hang a fault, seldom fail of success. Such then are the feigned or genuine motives for war; but every man who looks beneath the surface of political expediency, is convinced that other and more really efficacious reasons are to be detected. Avarice, ambition, religious bigotry, the absence of all religion, desire of dominion, thirst for fame, private pique and animosity, with other dispositions equally censurable, have been the actual though unmentioned causes of many of those sanguinary contests by which the face of nature is marred and spoiled.
Roll rapidly, ye intervening years, which are yet to interpose between the present and a better state of things! May the time hasten, when the ingenuity of man shall be no longer misapplied in inventions so hateful; when earth-born malice and resentment, by which it is called into action, are subdued; and in place thereof shall arise the spirit of peace and amity, as a mild and holy dove, to hover over the world, ruling in the hearts of all, and bringing into willing bonds every power of the soul to the obedience of Christ!
But this is a digression. With regard to myself, a 215powerful conviction rested at this season on my mind, that I was not in the right path; but being shackled with the trammels of popery, which I surveyed with increasing suspicion, I scarcely knew how to proceed. During the time I was in Ireland, my besetments on this account were painfully distressing. ‘If the blind lead the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch?’ and for some time my spiritual guides conducted me into many a miserable quagmire of superstition and absurdity. On complaining of uneasiness of mind, I was directed to proceed forthwith to the priest, in order to confess and receive absolution. My misgivings, as to the value of these services, grew stronger; but the importunity of friends prevailed, and away I went. On arriving at the chapel, which, in fact, was a barn, I found a crowd of persons, all waiting to be relieved of their respective moral burdens. His reverence at length appeared; and a haughtier figure I do not remember to have seen. On commencing the service, which to me was an intolerable jargon, a fierce rush was made by those without for admission. The reason for such haste did not consist in any specially devout desire first to catch the benedictions of the reverend gentleman. We had been informed that it was a deadly sin to eat before confession; so that hunger had nearly driven us to extremities; and an open door, leading to what it might, was hailed with delight, as the promise of relief of some sort. On pressing forward, I unfortunately broke my watch-glass, which by no means tended either to sweeten or equalize my feelings; and after a tremendous row, which had nearly ended in a fight, I was ushered into the presence of the priest. ‘Tell out your sins,’ said he. This was a terrific commencement; but there was no escape. I therefore related several particulars of my past life, not forgetting several occurrences that took place during my campaigns abroad. He then advised a course of penance, and ordered me to see him again, stating that 216on a future occasion he should administer the Eucharist, after which all would be well. I hope he obtained a forgiveness better than that he pretended to bestow.
I was then compelled to apply to Father K——, a deep old file, at the parish chapel. On advancing to him he sung out for money due, as he said, to the Church. After such an opening, I had no relish, either for his advice or pardon. I was induced, however, to give him another trial a few weeks afterwards; but, if possible, I fared worse. In this instance the priest had chosen a public ale-house for his station. Some of the audience were adding to existing sin, by excessive drinking; others were confessing sins already committed; and a few were receiving absolution. I left this scene with unmingled disgust; and, as might have been expected, felt my mind depressed, as before. Just at this season I was taken seriously ill; and having been given over by the physician, spiritual consolation was judged needful. The old priest was accordingly introduced; but finding on his arrival that I had declined subscribing to the church, a solitary question was all he asked, and he retired. This priest soon after died. The Almighty was pleased, however, to restore me to health; but no peace of mind could I procure. Having met with another Catholic counsellor, he stated that about seven miles from my residence were six holy wells; and that, if after twelve months’ penance I went round those wells on my bare knees, devoutly saying an Ave Maria and a Pater Noster, I should find relief. To increase the number of pilgrimages to the spot, booths were erected in the vicinity, under which provisions of various sorts were sold, not forgetting a copious store of whisky. This intolerable abuse has, I understand, been suppressed; and the only wonder with me is, that it ever obtained, even among the most credulous.
After a careful inspection of popish doctrine, conducted with all the care and perseverance I possessed, the conclusion 217to which I arrived was, that the precepts and practices of Catholicism are utterly at variance with the revealed will of God, and subversive of sound morality. In no part of their creed is this more evident than in those directions which allow the sale of indulgences. This scandalous impiety first aroused the attention of Luther, and the early Reformers. The following is the form of an indulgence, as held forth in the sixteenth century: ‘May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on and absolve thee, by the merits of His most holy passion. And I, by His authority and that of His blessed Apostles, St. Paul and St. Peter, and of the most holy Pope Leo X., granted unto me in these parts, do absolve thee; first, from all ecclesiastical censures, and then from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may be, even such as are cognisable by the holy see alone; and, as far as the keys of the holy Church extend, I remit to you all punishments which you deserve in purgatory on their account, and I restore you to the unity of the faithful, and to that innocence and purity which you possessed at baptism; so that when you die, the gates of punishment shall be shut, and the gates of paradise and delight opened; and, if you shall not die at present, this grace shall remain in full force when you shall be at the point of death. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’ By way of comment on the preceding article, the Catholic clergy have observed that, ‘if any man shall purchase letters of indulgence, his soul may rest secure with regard to its salvation. The souls confined in purgatory, so soon as the money tinkles in the chest, instantly escape from that place of torment, and ascend into heaven. The efficacy of indulgences is such, that the most heinous sins would be remitted and expiated by them, and the persons be freed from punishment and guilt. This is the unspeakable gift of God, to reconcile men to Himself. Lo! the heavens are open; if 218ye enter not in now, when will ye enter? For a little money ye may redeem the soul of your father out of purgatory from torments. If you had but one coat, you ought to strip yourself immediately, and sell it, in order to purchase such benefits.’ Thus, with feigned words, these jesuitical gentlemen make merchandise of the people. The principal design is evident; and that is—to secure the money.
Archbishop Tillotson has observed, speaking of the superiority of the reformed religion, ‘We make no money of the mistakes of the people; nor do we fill their heads with fears of new places of torment, to make them empty their purses in a vainer hope to be delivered out of them; we do not pretend to have a mighty bank and treasure of merits in the Church, which they sell for ready money, giving them bills of exchange from the pope on purgatory; when they who grant them have no reason to believe they will avail them, or be accepted in the other world.’ Bad as is the plan of purchasing heaven by money, as these deceivers teach, it is not the worse feature in the disposal of indulgences; for among other methods resorted to by the heads of papacy to support a rotten fabric, indulgences for future convenience in this world, and an exemption from punishment hereafter, were given to those who would fight for the Church, or, in plain terms, persecute all others. Bishop Burnet states that a jubilee was granted after the massacre at Paris, to all who had been in that butchery; and they were commanded to go and bless God for the success of that action. The pope sent Cardinal Urson, his legate, to France, to thank the king for so great a service done to the Church, and to desire him to go on, and extirpate heresy root and branch, that it might never grow again. And as the legate passed through on his journey to Paris, he gave a plenary indulgence to all who had been actors in the massacre. It may not be amiss, if we state, that by a plenary indulgence a man returns to the state he 219was in after baptism; and, did he die that instant, his soul would go at once to paradise, without passing through purgatory. On this principle, the furies who shed the blood of the saints in France were so fully meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, that the alembic of purgatory, through which persons less saintly must pass, might in their happy case be omitted.
The depravity connected with the sale of this filthy article has extended itself in other modes. In a book printed in Rome, in the year 1514, by the authority of the pope, entitled, The Tax of the Sacred Roman Chancery, is to be found a table containing a list of prices for which certain sins may with safety be committed. This book was afterwards reprinted at Paris, Cologne, and Venice; and has since been translated into English, under the title of Rome, a great Custom-House of Sin. It informs the world for what price the pardon of heaven and absolution might, for particular crimes, be obtained. For instance, pardon:
￡ s. d.
For stealing holy things out of a consecrated place 0 10 0
For a layman murdering a layman 0 7 6
For murdering father, mother, wife, or sister 0 10 6
For a priest keeping a concubine 0 10 6
For burning a house maliciously 0 12 0
For forging the pope’s hand 1 7 0
Besides absolutions for crimes too shocking to be mentioned, from 9s. to ￡2 10s. The preceding statement requires no comment. To enlarge upon its tendency would be to blacken the chimney. Its design, on the part of the monkish brotherhood who invented and maintain it, is to make a penny, by means at which a modest devil would blush; and proves, by demonstration strong as holy writ, that the abettors of such crimes are the true descendants 220of that scoundrel hierarchy, at whose decline and fall the truly great and good will rejoice and be exceeding glad.
Before now, instances have been known in which the fraternity were foiled with their own weapons. A certain nobleman once told Tet............