[Calvin E. Amaron. Your Heritage; or New England Threatened.]

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PART I.

THE INVADING FORCE.

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CHAPTER I.
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OUR PURPOSE.

The American nation has the reputation of being preeminently practical. Whilst ready to give generous help, it is cautious and does not commit itself blindly to new schemes, the necessity and practicability of which are not made clear.

This book is, from beginning to end, a plea for the evangelization of the French speaking populations of this country.

Believing as we do, that the relations between the French of the United States and those of Canada will, from year to year, become closer and closer, it is our conviction, that this great religious movement on this side the lines, will exert a very great reflex influence upon the Dominion of Canada, and help mightily in freeing it from the weight of ecclesiastical tyranny, unsurpassed in any part of the world, and which is paralysing the whole nation, both Protestant and Roman Catholic. We may therefore say, that our plea is on behalf of the French speaking people of America.

In order to convince those whom we hope to reach, of

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the righteousness of the cause we advocate, it may not be amiss at the outset, to call attention to some of the claims of the French to the sympathy, affection and gratitude of the people of the United States. This we will do later on.

We will have to urge very strong reasons for affirming that the vast majority are not evangelized, since in so doing, we are impeaching the church of Rome, which for some three centuries, has had absolute control over this people in matters religious and educational. When we ask to-day, that they be evangelized through the efforts of English speaking Protestants, we do unhesitatingly say, that they know not the truth such as taught by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that to their ignorance of this Gospel of salvation and to no other cause, must be traced the general state of backwardness and ignorance of the people, taken as a whole.

We will have to make clear another important fact, namely that the American nation cannot afford to affect indifference toward this problem, neither the Christian nor he who makes no profession of religion.

The French Roman Catholics of Canada and New England, and Canadians and American Protestants of these two countries, are in one and the same ship. To say, we do not care whether these French Canadians are sunk to the bottom, under the burden of ecclesiastical tyranny or not, is to say we are indifferent to our own fate.

As we shall show later on, the French are here in large numbers and are increasing at a fabulous rate and will soon have outnumbered you. They are a foreign state within your state. One vote of theirs is just as powerful as one of yours, and when they have five votes to your one, they will be five times as strong as you.

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The question is: Are they becoming Americans? This means, are they imbibing the spirit of your Protestant republican institutions, or are they remaining monarchical and priest-ridden? Are they creating a New France in your midst?

It will be our purpose to show that as things are now developing, the French are not being, to any extent, affected by American institutions. They keep aloof from them, they are educated on other lines and are not being prepared for American citizenship. Having, for long years, lived in Canada, a Protestant country with a Protestant majority to be sure, but a majority which Romanism has brought down to an abject and humiliating subserviency, we can without fear of going far astray, predict what shall be the condition of New England fifteen years hence, unless the French and Irish are taken out of the old ruts, emancipated from the yoke of clericalism and made free citizens.

It is a mistake to think that the public schools will do it all, that the liberalizing influences which surround these foreigners, will alone and unaided, effect the desired change. These influences will certainly remove them in a very large measure from the old dogmatism that has held them so long but instead of making of them good, law-abiding citizens, will rather convert them into rank infidels, into French Revolution men. The only power that will save them is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which they know not. We must evangelize them. In this alone lies their happiness and prosperity, and the safety of the nation.

We will then speak of the best means to be employed to attain this most desirable object. These are of a practical nature, do not call for very large sums of money, have given in the past encouraging results, for the amount spent,

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and if made to a reasonable degree what they should be, will help mightily this nation in its onward course.

It is right that the great West be well provided with educational institutions and Gospel privileges. The church and country have already reaped a blessed harvest of good from the policy of the past. No one possessing a missionary spirit would think of criticising the policy adopted in the past, whereby emphasis has been laid on the needs of the West and on the duty of the New England churches toward the work of Western evangelization.

But may it not be asked very seriously, whether the time has not fully come for the East to consider carefully its changed and changing condition, and both for its own sake and for the sake of all those missionary enterprises so dear to the hearts of God's people, to enquire most earnestly, what measures shall be taken to keep New England Protestant and American, that she may be in days to come a power for self preservation, and that centre of Christian and elevating influences she has been in days gone by?

When dealing with these problems, a great many seem to forget, that the New England of to-day, unto which the herculean task of the assimilation of these vast multitudes of foreigners is committed, is not the New England of days gone by. It no longer exists save in the memory of the few gray-haired men and women who remain. The populations which threaten the institutions which have been the life of the nation, were not here a few decades ago. Now they are as numerous as the Protestant American population, and join in pulling the ship of state toward the rapids.

On the other hand the founders of these world-renowned states are gone and it must be humbly admitted that many of their virtues--integrity, manliness, devotedness to principles--have been buried with their bones. Thousands of

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their children have died, leaving no sons and daughters to replace them. Thousands have deserted the old homes to go South or West and their places have been filled by those with different aims and purposes, holding religious views which make them natural foes of Americanism, since the latter and Romanism rest on principles mutually destructive.

It follows then that the Christian patriots of to-day, cannot command the strong force their fathers had at their disposal, have not the same sturdy soldiers, while they are confronted by a vast, well organized, powerful and united army, of which the New England of a few years ago, knew comparatively nothing.

Can we overcome these opposing forces? Will the ship of state ride through these surging waves without being wrecked? We think not, unless there be an awakening on the part of both clergy and laity.

A child can slay a giant if the latter allows it. So this strong nation will fall if it continue to underestimate the strength of the disintegrating forces that are at work.

If however, we are ready, as wise men, to readjust our methods of work, and not carry conservatism to undue limits, but adapt ourselves to the needs of our age; if above all, we will remember what Protestantism means, allow God to baptize us anew with his Spirit and that of the Reformation, which is his, and consequently wrought such wonders; if we will understand that there is such a thing as truth, that it differs from error, and that the latter must be eradicated from, and the former implanted in the heart of all the citizens of this nation, then and then only will this nation prosper.

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CHAPTER II.
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OUR ATTITUDE.

It should be altogether unnecessary for a Protestant writer, at the close of the nineteenth century, writing under the shadow of the banner of a great Protestant nation, to explain his attitude toward Ultramontane Romanism and those who are held under its tyrannical sway.

To have to do so, disturbs in a measure my Waldensian blood, and must disturb the peaceful silence of the ashes of the Puritans and Pilgrims, those noble fathers who suffered so much in the defense of those principles of evangelical truth, of Christian freedom and independence which are to-day so utterly distorted, that they are in the hands of an unscrupulous, politico-religious organization, used as weapons, to bring this nation into bondage. However paradoxical the statement may seem to be, it is none the less true. American liberties are turned into weapons of slavery by Romanism.

Our purpose is, in a humble way, to help a great and good cause, and it is with that end in view that we make ourselves "all things to all men."

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We wish to free the three millions of French Canadians in the United States and Canada, from the burdens of Ultramontanism, because we love their souls and desire their salvation; because we desire them to attain unto that position among the nations of the world, which they would have reached had they been under Protestant influences; and finally because we are interested, as lovers of humanity, in the steady progress of both the British Empire of which we were once a citizen and the American Republic, to the Constitution of which we have now sworn allegiance.

We are once again in Reformation days. The necessity of such a movement was perhaps never more felt since the days of Luther and Calvin than at the present hour. It is all the more needed because of the fact that so many do not recognize its necessity.

If it were necessary to convince men that the French aggressive leaders in this reformatory movement are actuated by disinterested, unselfish, patriotic and Christian motives, it might be said that they have undertaken a herculean task, beset with great and manifold obstacles, offering inadequate financial support.

They are compelled to bear the insults of their countrymen, their taunts and ridicule, not to speak of the scandalous accusations constantly thrown into their faces. Their motives are aspersed, their patriotism is called into question and in every shape and fashion they are trodden down by their countrymen.

Is it not because the love of God and the flame of sacred patriotism burn in their hearts, that they oppose a bold front to Romanism both as a system of religion and politics?

The charge of uncharitableness and illiberality made against those who, on bended knee, have given themselves

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to God, that he may use them for the overthrow of that gigantic system of error and delusion, is short-sighted and ill-advised.

We write, fully conscious of the responsibility of the statements we make. We ask men and women who differ from us, who oppose, rather than help the movement to which our whole heart is committed, to inform themselves.

Have you lived all your life in a Roman Catholic country? Have you made yourselves acquainted both from books and from the lips of adepts of that system, with Romish theology and principles? Have you taken the trouble to ascertain the difference which exists between Romish dogmas as expressed by wily theologians and the practical application of these anti-scriptural dogmas? Have you seen the baneful results of such teachings among the masses? Have you seen the thirsty soul, dying for the "water of life," and in vain going for it, to those broken cisterns which contain no water? Have you seen on the other hand, the utter indifference, irreligion and godlessness to which Romanism leads three-fourths of its adepts?

If you have, we charge you with uncharitableness, with a misconception of your duty, either as Christian ministers or as Christian laymen, we charge you with a want of love for dying souls, because you do nothing to save them and put obstacles in the way of those who do.

If you are unacquainted with the facts we mention and by which our hearts have so often been saddened, study them. Take care lest God should some day accuse you of being partakers in other men's sins, because you did not try to prevent them. And especially do not oppose a movement, every enlightened Christian is bound to help, lest you be found fighting against God.

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If we are asked further, why we put ourselves in conflict with Romanism, we answer: Because we are Protestant American Christian citizens; because the nation has a right to continue to exist and its citizens have a right to perpetuate the great republican and Christian principles which have in the past made the nation strong, and without which she must fall; because we have a right to ask that the pure republican air which has filled the lungs of the nation for a century, and which we find exhilarating, be left pure, uncontaminated by the foul air of jesuitical equivocation and dishonest, of monarchism and absolutism, which destroys all individuality and manhood and kills a Christian republic. It does not at all matter whether the air we breathe poison every one of the eight millions of Romanists in this country or not. They need not come here, they are perfectly free to return to Ireland, Italy, Spain and Quebec. There, the atmosphere is saturated with ultramontanism. If that be healthy to morality, religion, pure politics, true education and commercial prosperity, why did they leave it? If it was debilitating there, if it produced stagnation and death, it will do the same here. You must not, and you shall not poison the life of this nation.

Moreover, we know that if this nation puts a stop at once to the secularizing process begun to please Rome, if it will keep its atmosphere, not only republican, but Christian,--by keeping its public schools Christian,--the only safeguard of a republic, without which it is sure to become subject to the worst despotism, blind and godless anarchism,--not a single Romanist will be poisoned, all will thrive and prosper and thank God for the overthrow of sacerdotalism, ecclesiasticism, and grinding absolutism.

It has often been a wonder to me, that men of intelli-

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gence, of thought, possessing logical acumen, should be so slow in grasping the situation. The exercise of a little ordinary common sense would convince every Protestant American citizen that he cannot consistently with his duty as a Christian man and citizen, be anything but an active opponent of Romanism.

Here are two systems face to face. Each has a history, with which all can become acquainted. Each is governed by principles which it cannot abandon without forfeiting its own existence.

There is no occasion to state here what are the distinctive principles of Protestantism. They are fully known. On these, this great Protestant republic rests; to them it owes its birth, its rise, its steady march, its wonderful growth and prosperity. Without these it cannot stand. As well might Bunker Hill monument attempt to resist the winds and storms, without its broad and solid foundation, as this republic without the Protestant Christian liberties it has enjoyed in the past.

Now here comes a great, powerful, thoroughly organized corporation, possessing a religious and political character. It also rests on certain great principles, unfortunately for the good of this nation, unknown by the American people. The church of Rome cannot give up its principles without committing suicide, any more than Protestantism can. It has not been doing it even on American soil. It does not intend to do so. It would stultify itself by so doing, it would compromise the dogma of papal infallibility, now the key-stone to the whole structure.

In matters of religion it preaches out and out intolerance. There is but one religion, the Roman Catholic, none other is recognized by God. There is no salvation in the "sects." It is the duty of the "true church" to destroy all

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heresies, and all means are lawful, persecutions, imprisonment, the rack, the gibbet. To give but one quotation out of the volumes that could be given. Archbishop Kendrick says: "When the Catholics shall here be in possession of a considerable majority, which will certainly be the case by and by--then religious liberty will have come to an end in the United States. Our enemies say this, and we believe with them."

In matters political and educational the church of Rome and the republic are at opposite extremes. Rome does not believe in republics, save inasmuch as it can use the liberties they offer, for its own purposes. It is for that reason that while Italy and France have become intolerable to the hierarchy, the United States republic is the paradise of the clergy to-day.

The whole tendency of Rome's teaching is monarchical. The state is to be under the church. The head of the church, the Pope, has power over all sovereigns. "If the laws of the state are in open contradiction with Divine law (that means only what Rome calls divine law) if they command anything prejudicial to the church . . . . it is a duty to resist them and a sin to obey them." So says the Pope in his last encyclical letter given in January, 1890.

[Leo X, Sapientiae Christianae (On Christians as Citizens), January 10, 1890

10. But, if the laws of the State are manifestly at variance with the divine law, containing enactments hurtful to the Church, or conveying injunctions adverse to the duties imposed by religion, or if they violate in the person of the supreme Pontiff the authority of Jesus Christ, then, truly, to resist becomes a positive duty, to obey, a crime; a crime, moreover, combined with misdemeanor against the State itself, inasmuch as every offense leveled against religion is also a sin against the State. Here anew it becomes evident how unjust is the reproach of sedition; for the obedience due to rulers and legislators is not refused, but there is a deviation from their will in those precepts only which they have no power to enjoin. Commands that are issued adversely to the honor due to God, and hence are beyond the scope of justice, must be looked upon as anything rather than laws. You are fully aware, venerable brothers, that this is the very contention of the Apostle St. Paul, who, in writing to Titus, after reminding Christians that they are "to be subject to princes and powers, and to obey at a word," at once adds: "And to be ready to every good work." Thereby he openly declares that, if laws of men contain injunctions contrary to the eternal law of God, it is right not to obey them. In like manner, the Prince of the Apostles gave this courageous and sublime answer to those who would have deprived him of the liberty of preaching the Gospel: "If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."]

Now the laws of the state and of Romanism are in almost everything opposed to one another. What this Protestant nation cherishes almost as much as life, is hated by Rome with a bitter hatred, for the simple but necessary reason that it destroys her. Freedom of speech for all--not the priests only but the laity,--liberty of the press, freedom of worship, a free system of education for all the children of the land, non-sectarian but truly Christian, a clean separation between church and state, these we prize;

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they are strength, growth and life to us. Rome must oppose them, she cannot do otherwise, for to her they are weakness, decay and death.

There is no conciliation possible. It has been tried again and again. The forerunners of the Reformation tried it, Luther tried it, other reformers tried it. They failed and our would-be, better-informed, more liberal, more enlightened and refined thinkers, will equally fail.

They have God's Word against them which Rome disregards. They have the history of centuries and the briefest history of the nation against them. They have elementary logic opposing them at every step.

The warfare into which we are forced by the Voice of God and of conscience is called for. We enter into it because souls that groan under it should be set free. We would not bear these fetters a single hour, and will we be satisfied to have them remain about the hands and feet of our brethren? Will we help to strengthen them and make them heavier? God forbid. We enter into this moral battle because we wish to be consistent Protestant citizens, loyal to truth, loyal to God and country.

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CHAPTER III.
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SOME OF ITS ANTECEDENTS.

The limits of this book do not admit of even the briefest sketch of the history of the French Canadian people, however interesting it may be.

It will suffice to say that there are several reasons which might well lead the Christians of the United States to take a very deep and lively interest in them and in their deliverance from the intellectual and moral bondage in which the majority has been held for three centuries.

The people we are now called upon to evangelize are the descendants of natives of France who had made of Canada, then known as "La Nouvelle France," their home, between its discovery by Jacques Cartier in 1535 and the capture of Quebec by England in 1759.

In Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick are still to be found, several settlements of French, preserving the language, manners and religion of their forefathers.

When the first attempt was made to give to the French Canadians the simple teachings of Christ as taught in the Bible, these colonists, located on the rich lands lying along

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the banks of the St. Lawrence and its magnificent tributaries, did not number much more than half a million of souls; now about a quarter of a century later, they have increased to nearly three millions if you include those who have immigrated to the United States.

That part of Canada where they were chiefly located, was still under the old feudal tenure, at lest coeval with the 17th century in France and pretty nearly the same as the old Norman system in England which was abolished about the time of Charles II.--[Canada Com. Report.

New France was particularly fortunate in the kind of settlers who made of it their home, at the very beginning of the colony. By no means were they all of the kind generally found in new countries. Among them were several men of rank and learning who had made of New France their home, through motives of piety. They devoted themselves to the conversion of the Indians and occasionally succeeded to induce the red man to bury his hatchet of war for a time at least. Aided by a number of Jesuits, Recollets and other ecclesiastics, male and female, they displayed a wonderful and commendable zeal in propagating their erroneous religious views, and might well have put to shame the careless and indifferent Protestant churches of Canada, as well as those of Europe.

The report of the French Canadian Missionary Society, the labors of which have been so signally owned of God, speaks of the favorable circumstances in which the Church of Rome was for the development of the colony, in the following terms: "The grants for the support of education and religion were of the most princely character; the Island of Montreal, those extensive domains known as the Jesuit Estates, and many of the most valuable portions of the country were freely given. Nor was aid of other

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kinds wanting, either from the Parent country or from the Colonists, to promote these objects, wisely felt to be of such vast importance in the founding of a new community. In addition to those grants, a provision was created by law, to the shape of a twenty-sixth of the grain raised, payable by the farmer to the priest of the parish, and which still remains, although only recoverable from those of the Roman Catholic faith. As has been remarked there were among the Colonists not a few whose acquirements were of a superior description; indeed, a writer remarks that great attention was in general given to the choice of those who went to establish themselves in Canada, and that as respects the rank of the settlers, it was said that Canada had more of the ancient nobility than any other French colony, and perhaps than all of them put together. Such was the field which the Church of Rome had to occupy in Canada."

We may be permitted to ask whether this church which, in God's inscrutable purpose was to be the guardian of this important charge, could have had a better and grander opportunity, by the bestowal of intellectual and moral care, to build up a strong, thrifty, prosperous nation?

Some say: "Romanism is right enough, it is not the best system for a people but it has many great excellencies." In the case before us, the Romish hierarchy had ample provision to establish her system, her priests were considered demigods by the people; they had a clear field before the English conquest and not only the fullest toleration since, but also received many favors from the British and Canadian governments. Nothing then stood in the way to prevent the church from doing her work. If she had been what she claims for herself, the only true and living church of Christ, the mistress of nations, the source of intellectual and moral power, the salt and light of the earth, she should

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have made of this French colony one of the first nations in North America, in commercial, intellectual and moral greatness.

But what did the Protestant Christian church of Europe find out after three centuries of culpable neglect? Was it discovered that this much-vaunted system of religious and secular education had enlightened the mind, had raised the people above the prejudices and superstitions peculiar to ignorance/ Was it found that the heart had been made liberal and generous, that this Roman Catholic colony was foremost in relieving human suffering and in benevolent enterprises? Did the Christian Church find a people resembling the Protestant colony of New England, founded about one hundred years later, well educated, thrifty, prosperous? The ansewr is too well known to be repeated.

Scarcely a trace of education could be found among the peasantry, out of every jury summoned one-half could not read, and when a parish had occasion to send a petition, ninety per cent of the names were accompanied by a mark. This led an English officer to state in his report to the home government that "the French Canadians were good marksmen!"

In commercial and industrial affairs the same sad state of things prevailed. There was a total lack of enterprise among the people. As for religion it was not at all what Protestants imagined, the reverent worship of God; it was nothing but a round of empty and meaningless forms accompanied by the deepest and most degrading superstitions and bigotry. Notwithstanding her great privileges and her wonderful pretensions--which are the same to-day--Rome had failed completely, to raise this colony6 and give it a name among the nations of the world.

It was when English Protestants realized to what state

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of abject ignorance and backwardness, one of the most promising colonies of the British empire had been brought, that they began to ask themselves seriously the question; "Have we done our duty toward these poor victims of error since they have become English subjects? They come from the same stock as the Huguenots, that noble and strong race, that has enriched all the nations of the earth, that wisely opened their arms to them, when driven from France by Romish fanaticism. Why have they been at a stand-still, intellectually and morally, during these three centuries?

There could be but one reason. The Gospel of Christ has been kept from them; they have known nothing of its saving and elevating influences.

The French Canadians, who rejoice in the Gospel, and who are prosperous under its benign rule, as they look back over the pages of their country's unfortunate history, exclaim with a sad heart: "Why, O God of nations, did not Protestant England see this sooner?"

And as we say this, we ask most earnestly, that the Christian people of New England, may not repeat the mistake made by Old England. You have in your midst a colony of French Canadians almost as large as Great Britain had one hundred years ago. It stands in need of the Gospel to-day, just as much as it then did. It will gladly receive it if you will only offer it. Let not the opportunity slip by, both for the sake of this down-trodden, priest-ridden people, and for your own.

It may not be amiss to recall the fact that on more than one occasion the French have given signal help to the United States in time of war. In three notable instances, recorded by historians, French arms secured or greatly

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helped in securing the victory for American troops over the forces of the enemy.

Neither can Americans forget what the Huguenot refugees have done for the nation. They fought nobly and bravely for truth and conscience' sake in their own beloved land; they reddened with their blood the streets of many a town and city, especially unfortunate Paris. It was only when Louis XIV by his foolish, impolitic, as well as cruel and iniquitous revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, drove away some 400,000 of these his most devoted subjects, that they became exiles, to those countries that wisely received them and which they enriched with their learning, skill and sterling integrity and piety.

Many thousands came to this country. Everywhere French names are found, sometimes intact, but oftener Anglicized. Wherever the Huguenot is found a wholesome influence prevails.

And finally, can Christian New England forget what it owes to the theology of one of the greatest men who ever lived, John Calvin? His system no doubt has undergone modifications, but who will deny that its great features have been the backbone of the theology that has made New England? Possibly a return to some of these cardinal principles would do more good than harm.

Enough has been said by way of showing that the antecedents of the French Canadians are such as to warrant us in saying that they have a claim upon the attention of the Christians of this nation.