The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 10

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10 The Lutheran Pioneer.

“Here is the Book.”

Last year, quite in the south of Italy, at Ca- |
tanzaro, there was an auto-da-fe in the street, |
not a burning of men and women — thank |
God, the laws of Italy do not permit that! —/
but on it there were Bibles, New Testaments, |
and Portions which the colporteurs had sold, |
and which the priest was burning ‘‘to the}
glory of God,”’ according to his ignorance. |

This colporteur was a man of more than |
common courage and intelligence, and he went |
to the priest and said: ‘‘Sir, you

Rome and the Bible.

From Quebec comes the following state-
ments, verified by Rev. Edward Strobo, Rev.
Donald Tate, Rev. W. T. Noble, and Rey.
T. Y. Lefebvre:

The Committee of the Quebec Auxiliary
Bible Society has requested us, the under-
signed ministers of the gospel, to prepare the
following statement of facts for the press, be-
lieving that the time has come when the public
should know how the Roman Catholic priest-

permission of His Eminence, ‘*Monsigneur

Le Cardinal de Noailles,’’ Archbishop of Paris.

They then give five specific instances; the
three which we copy speak with suflicient clear-
ness :

Four students attending college here ob-
tained a copy of the New Testament and be-
gan to study it with great interest, but.it soon
became known, and they were charged with
reading a bad book. It was agreed that the
book should be submitted to the judgment of
one of the professors, who pronounced it good,
but added that the church had con-
demned it. He was then asked how

haye been committing a double

sin; you have heen taking these
books from the poor people who
had bought them, and you have
robbed them, and, secondly, you
have been committing a sin by
burning the Word of God.’”’ The
priest was not a stupid man, and
he said: ‘‘You are a pretty fellow
to come to teach me my duty.
Iam the pastor of this flock. Your
books are poison books, and it is
my duty, as the shepherd of my
flock, to prevent them from hay-
ing them.”’ -‘Then there ensued a
discussion — of course with no re-
sult. The colporteur, struck with
an idea, said to the priest: ‘‘Here
is a book. I am going to give it
to you upon your promise to read
if before you burn it.’’ So he
promised. The book given was the
‘Compendium of Controversy.’
It simply gives the various doc-
trines of the Church of Rome with-
out a word of comment, but with
verses of the Bible underneath
them. The priest was struck with
that, and he wrote to Florence to
' geta Bible. The same that he had
burned he had to pay for. He was
convinced; and, the Spirit of the
Lord working on him, he wanted
more instruction, like the eunuch,
and he wrote to the depot-keeper
at Florence, asking the name of a
minister. ‘The instruction was
given, and he threw off his priestly
garb, came to him and said, ‘‘Here
Tam; sir,’’ telling his story. He
had sfill five sous left— the padres
are not blessed witha large fortune.
The. minister said, to put him to
the test, ‘‘I can not maintain you;
what can you do to work?”? The
poor ‘ fellow, like many others,
knew no work but to say his mass. Then the
other said, “‘Here are New Testaments and
Portions ; 80 out and sell them to make your
ee et accepted this, and he is
_ now in Naples, selling the .
beh ad burned. — J4 ue books pach
ELtEvER's dying day is his crowning day.

“fy burden, in Thy passion,
Lord, thou hast borne for me,
For it was my transgression,
Which brought this woe on Thee.
I cast me down before Thee,
Wrath were my rightful lot,
Haye mercy, I implore Thee,
Redeemer, spurn me not.”

it could be a good book in 1701 and
a bad book later on. Shrugging
his shoulders, he replied: ‘‘Ask
me no more questions; the Church
says that it is bad, and that is
enough.’’

In Daulac street, St. Roch’s, a
DeSaci New Testament. was sold
to a family, the mother of which,
according to instructions, took the
book and showed it to the cure,
who pronounced it a bad book, and
condemned it to be burned, saying
at the same time that he had heard
of fifty more such books, of which
he had burned many. The woman
herself, when seen, acknowledged
that she had found only what was
good in the book, but the Church
did not permit them to read it.

A New Testament was left on
trial with a family on King street,
St. Roch’s. Some days after, the
book was returned, with the expla-
nation that it was not a fit book
to have in their possession, as it
had been shown to the cure, who
pronounced it a bad book, and
who had also told them to put it
in the fire, and it would save wood,
as it was not fit for anything else.
The book being on loan, they re-
solyed to return it to the owner.

Facts speak more loudly than

words.
+> + o-oo oe

It’s only Father.

It is related of three children,
that during a thunderstorm they
were asked each to choose a
favorite text. One selected, ‘‘The
Lord of glory thundereth,’’ and
being asked her reason, said, ‘I
once heard a great noise when I

hood encourage the reading of the Holy Script- | thought I was all alone in the house; and I

ures, and how, in almost every instance where
the New Testament is found in a Roman Cath-
olic family, it is condemned to the flames as a
book which endangers their salvation.

The version of the Holy Scriptures sold, or
loaned, by the Quebec Bible Society, is that
of DeSaci, first published in 1701, with the

was so frightened I screamed, and father’s
voice called out, ‘Don't be afraid, little Maggie,
it?s only father.’ And now when it thunders
very loud it always seems as if I heard God
say, ‘Don’t be afraid, little Maggie, it’s only
Father,’ and-I don’t feel a bit frightened.”
opty $ Nellie’s Mission.

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