THE

BRISTOL PROTESTANT.

IS POPE PIUS IX. A PROTESTANT?

"Pio nono bello e buono."

Letters from Rome, of the 8th instant, contain, inter alia, the following news:-" The gratitude of the people to the Holy Father has been of late enhanced by an abundant distribution of money, from his own private chest, to the indigent of Rome. He has even ordered that ONE-HALF of the collections made in the Churches for the SOULS IN PURGATORY, be divided amongst the poor.”— Times, 20th April, 1847.

Reader, bless GOD, and take courage. Can any man for a moment doubt that the Pope is right in this determination? Can any one in his senses imagine that the Pope would have given such a direction, if he really believed that any souls were FRYING in Purgatory?" (we use their own words.) Assuredly, not.

POPERY THE BITTER ENEMY OF ALL RELIGIOUS TOLERATION.

The spirit of Popery is ambitious, tyrannical, and intolerant. Hear the words of one of her most eminent Prelates, of one whose works are sold at the Bristol Catholic Depôt :

"The Church of Rome is, and ever will be, opposed to religious indifference, because she is THE MOST INTOLERANT of all Christian Societies. She will stand alone. She cannot suffer her doctrines

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to be questioned. It is this which renders her so severe, so unsociable, and so odious to all sects which are separated from her. They desire only to be tolerated by her, or not to be fulminated by her anathemas, but her holy severity, and her holy delicacy (!!!) FORBID such indulgence, or rather such weakness. There is no illusion MORE DANGEROUS than to make TOLERATION

a

characteristic of the true Church."-BOSSUET, HIST. DES VAriat. SIXIEM. AVERTISS.

POPERY

UNMASKED;

OR LORD ARUNDEL & SURREY'S PATENT EXTINGUISHER.

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Thus spake the Earl of Arundel and Surrey in the House of Lords, as recorded in the various newspapers of the 16th of April, 1847:

"The struggle for religious freedom, he maintained, would continue, and must continue, until PROTESTANTISM became extinct." And again, "ROMANISM is necessarily ANTAGONISTIC to PROTESTANTISM, and must be as long as the world shall last, or till PROTESTANTISM itself shall be EXTINGUISHED."

Protestants of every denomination-behold the AVOWED enemies of religious freedom!!!

Extract of a letter, dated Switzerland, September 14, 1846, from Mr. Harford (Biographer of Bishop Burgess), to a friend in the neighbourhood of Devizes :

"We are now bidding adieu to Val d'Aosta and Mount Blanc, and are about to proceed to-morrow by way of Turin, to visit the Protestant valleys of the Vaudois. We expect to spend a happy

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fortnight among these our tried and faithful Protestant brethren. It will be quite a repose to the mind and the eyes to be set free during that time from Popish sights and fooleries. This very day I entered a Church dedicated to the Black Virgin, and there beheld a Madonna as black as ebony, with a triple crown on her head, bearing in her arms the figure of a child, intended for our SAVIOUR, the body of which was ivory, and the face, arms, and legs, of jet black. Candles, of variegated coloured wax, were burnt before it ; two angels, richly gilt, held a large gilt diadem over the figures; their vestments were as tawdry as ribands and other finery could make them; and before these figures, alas! various poor ignorant creatures were kneeling, and repeating prayers. I cannot express the indignation I felt at beholding this base and trumpery substitute for the pure Gospel of JESUS CHRIST."

THE MAN-SERVANT ACTING AS CHAMBER-MAID; OR THE HISTORY OF A SISTER OF CHARITY.

(Concluded from page 8.)

There was no difficulty in the matter. Americans can be gulled at all times. The Sisters of Charity have always some friend in readiness to supply them with the means of performing corporal works of mercy. This friend went round to these American families where this chambermaid had lived from time to time; told them that she wanted to come on as far as Baltimore; that it was a pity to have her travel as a steerage passenger; a person of her virtue and correct deportment should not be placed in a situation where she might be liable to insult or rude treatment. A cabin passage should be procured for her; she should be introduced to some respectable family who were going North, and would take charge of her. The necessary funds were immediately collected for her; the generous Protestants with whom she lived, pitying the poor girl, told her she might want the little she had earned to support herself in the North until she could get a place. A handsome purse was soon made up, a cabin passage was engaged, and the young ladies on whom she waited

made her presents of every article of dress necessary for her comfort or convenience. She was the depository of all their love stories,-she knew the names of their lovers, she heard their love-sighs, and probably witnessed many of their tears; at all events, if there were secrets among them, they were known to her; and having made herself acquainted with the state of things in New Orleans, she started for Baltimore, laughing in her sleeves at the success of her mission so far, and at the credulity of American dolts, as JESUITS very properly term them.

"On arriving in Baltimore, she, of course, called upon the Nuns of that city, who were prepared for her reception, and had already a situation engaged for a chambermaid whom they expected from New Orleans, and who was coming highly recommended by some of the first families in that city.' She took possession of a place as soon as convenient, spent several months in that city, discharging all her duties faithfully, no one finding any fault with her, except her restlessness in not staying long with any family. Having now become acquainted with the secrets and circumstances of almost every Protestant family of note in Baltimore, and made her report to the Mother Abbess of the Nunnery of her Order of Mercy, she retired to the district of Columbia, and after advising with the Mother Abbess of the Convent, she determined to change her apparent character and appearance.

"By advice of that venerable lady, the holy Prioress, on whom many of the wives of our national representatives, and even grave senators, look as an example of piety and chastity, she cut short her hair, dressed herself in a smart-looking waiter's jacket and trousers, and, with the best recommendations for intelligence and capacity, she, in her new dress, applied for a situation as waiter at Gadsby's Hotel, in Washington city. This smart and tidy-looking young man got instant employment; and now we have the Lay Sister in quite a different character. His intelligent countenance,-we must not say her in future,- -soon attracted the notice of some of our most eloquent Statesmen. He appeared so humble, so obedient, and so inattentive to anything but his own business. that those Senators on whom he waited, not suspecting that he had the ordinary curiosity of servants in general, were entirely thrown off their

guard, and in their conversations with one another seemed to forget their usual caution. Such in a short time was their confidence in him, that their most important papers and letters were left loose upon their tables, satisfied with saying, as they were going out, Theodore, take care of my room and papers.'

"Now the JESUIT was in her glory. Now the Lay Sister had an opportunity of knowing many of our national secrets, as well as the private characters of some of our eminent Statesmen. Now it was known whether Henry Clay was a gambler; whether Daniel Webster was a libertine; whether John C. Calhoun was an honourable but credulous man. Now it was known what value was put upon Popish influence in this country, and what were the hopes of Papist foreigners in the United States. In fact, this Lay Sister in male uniform, and but a waiter in Gadsby's Hotel, was thus enabled to give more correct information of the actual state of things in this country, through the General of the Jesuit Order in Rome, than the whole corps diplomatic of foreign countries then resident at our seat of Government.

"After relating to me in her sick room,-as the family in which she lived fancied it was,—all these circumstances, she deliberately said to me, 'I want a written character from you. You must state in it that I have complied with my duty; and as it is necessary that I should wear a cap for a while, having cut off my hair, you must say that you visited me in my sick room, that I confessed to you, received the viaticum, and had just recovered from a violent fever, in which I lost my hair. My business is not done yet,' said she. 'I must go to New York, where the Sisters of Charity will find a place for me as waiting maid.' It is needless to say with what reluctance any man could comply with such a request as this; and my having done so is a stronger evidence than I have heretofore given of the indomitable strength of early education.

"The conduct of this emissary of Satan, was the embodyment of all that was iniquitous and dishonourable; it was a violation of every tie that holds society together; it was a part of a system of social, political, moral, public, and private treachery, which no other being than a devil or a JESUIT could devise. Yet I was a Popish Priest. My education,