ROME'S IDEA OF MISSIONARY WORK AND SUNDAY KEEPING.
By Frank C. Kelley
SINCE the Roman Catholic Church claims and teaches that her doctrines never change, we have, therefore, the right to say that she would do now just the same as she did when her power was supreme. Let history tell how she regarded the Sunday and did her missionary work. We will give only those ideas that are taught and practiced upon the American continent, particularly in California, Mexico, and the adjacent islands. Sunday keeping is described by Mr. Hittell, in his "History of California," vol. 2., pp. 502, 503, as follows: "Every Sunday was a festival. After mass the day was devoted to amusement. As there was no impiety in firing salutes to accompany Sunday mass, so there was no sin in Sunday military parades. A man who attended church in the morning was at liberty to enjoy himself in the afternoon as suited his fancy. He could turn out, if he pleased, with rattling drum and ear-piercing fife; or, if he liked better, he could spend the remainder of the day, without impeachment of his orthodox devoutness, at the race course or gaming table. There was no offense in Sunday laughter or hilarity, and no one imagined that Sunday dancing was damnable." In speaking of amusements he says: "Not only Christmas and Easter, but every Sunday, had its religious festivities and amusements. Every mission had its anniversary; every family, its reunion; every individual, his saint's day. Every wedding was made a festival; every funeral, a time of amusement." Here the Church of Rome, backed by the State or government, has stamped her idea of Sunday keeping as a part of the history of this continent. Martyrs' blood and worldly pleasures are fit companions for the church that forsakes Christ, her Divine Head, for that of earthly governments. It has been thus, in Protestant churches as well as in the Roman, and always will be. They turn from Christ to the god of this world, and sacred things are reduced to the level of the common and the profane. The plan followed by the Roman Church in the evangelizing of America can be found on pages 200–202 of "Fox' Book of Martyrs," Aldine edition, Lovell, publisher, from which we quote:— In 1492 Christopher Columbus landed first in the large island of St. Domingo, or Hispaniola, which was at that time exceedingly populous; but as soon as the Spaniards gained a permanent foothold on the island, the inoffensive inhabitants were murdered by multitudes. Blind superstition, bloody bigotry, and craving avarice, turned that which, at the arrival of the Spaniards, seemed to appear as an earthly paradise, to a dismal desert. By the repeated barbarities of the Spaniards 12,000,000 souls were destroyed in the West Indies and on the continent of America in a space of forty years. All the inhabitants of a large and populous town were driven off to the mines, and 6,000 helpless infants, left behind without means of subsistence, perished. Whenever the people of any town had the reputation of being rich, an order was immediately sent that every person in it should turn Roman Catholic; if this was not directly complied with, the town was instantly plundered, and the inhabitants murdered; and if it was complied with, a pretense was soon after made to strip the inhabitants of their wealth. Between the years 1514 and 1522, 800,000 in Terra Firma were destroyed. Between 1523 and 1533,697500,000 natives of Nicaragua were transported to Peru, where they all perished by incessant labor in the mines. In twelve years from the first landing of Cortez on the continent of America, 4,000,000 Mexicans perished. All the inhabitants were seized who refused to turn Roman Catholic, and as they did not know the meaning of the religion they were commanded to embrace, the Spaniards put them all to death. Some may say: "I do not believe it. I do not believe any such barbarities ever took place." We reply, These facts are indisputably ascertained, and the circumstances admitted by their own writers, some of whom have even gloried in their inhumanity, and, as Roman Catholics, deemed those atrocious actions meritorious. A brother of the writer, now in Cartagena, S. A., writes that the implements of torture used in the days of the Inquisition can be seen from the street, they being placed in the windows of the cathedral. He says, "The people need a better religion, more education, and a separation of the Church and State." What religion is better than Christ's? Who will say, Here, Lord, send me? Dear reader, the call is for you and me. Let us say, "Yes, Lord, send us."