Roman Catholics in
America Falsifying
History

Poisoning the Minds of
Protestant School Children

Roman Catholics in America
Falsifying History
And Poisoning the Minds of
Protestant School-children

The author, Thomas Edward Watson (1856–1922), was an influential American politician, newspaper editor, publisher, and author from Georgia.

THIS year is the 400th since a venereally diseased Pope, at whose dissipations had exhausted the Vatican treasury, sent out monkish peddlers into sundry parts of Europe to sell, at public outcry, the papal pardons for sin, known as “Indulgences.”

Originally, an Indulgence was a financial deal, by which the Roman Catholic violator of church rules could square himself with the ecclesiastical lords; just as the peasants, under the Feudal System, could pay money to the landlord and escape menial service, or military conscription.

But as the Papal usurpation grew in power, it naturally grew also in greed.

Each successful aggression encouraged the popes to attempt another; and so it was that the Bishops of Rome finally became Gods-on-earth, in the eyes of devout, superstitious Catholics.

It logically follows that, if we have a God on earth, this God can forgive sins.

Inasmuch as the popes had, in the course of a thousand years, reached that monstrous height of self-assertion, they changed the original doctrine of Indulgence.

What had formerly been nothing more than the remission of church penalties (similar to the remission of a fine by one of our courts) became a pardon for sin.

This preposterous usurpation of God’s power was carried to such extreme lengths that the popes sold Indulgences which wiped out all crimes past, present, and future; and the price to be paid was set against each crime, in a regular scale, just as you would list the prices of a number of books, of horses, of goods in a store, or of saleable articles at a church fair.

When Pope Leo X. found his Vatican ducats running low, and sent out his peddlers loaded with Indulgences, it so happened that monks, of a peculiarly bold and brazen type, were selected as papal actioneers.

These peddling monks used language which would almost convince us that they themselves despised the business in which they were compelled to engage.

For instance, when Tetzel would “cry” his goods at auction, in the market-place, he would harangue the assembled rustics in words like these:

“Lo! the heavens are open; if you enter not now, when will you enter”?

For 12 pence you may redeem the soul of your father out of purgatory.

If you had but one coat, you ought to strip yourself of it instantly, and sell it, in order to purchase such benefits.

As soon as the money tinkles in the box, the souls in purgatory instantly escape torment and ascend to heaven.” (See Robertson’s “Charles V.,” Vol. 1, p. 462.)

This Tetzel chanced to be peddling his pardon-papers in the neighborhood of a pious monk, named Martin Luther, who had found a copy of the Bible, among the musty manuscripts of the monastery, and he had been stimulated by the Bible to study Christianity for himself.

Therefore, when he heard Tetzel’s blasphemous harangues, he was shocked, and when he read one of the papers in which Pop Leo granted as full a pardon for sin as God could grant, his indignation was stirred.

By the very words of the Indulgence, this licentious Pope undertook to remit not only the ecclesiastical censures, but “from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may be. I remit you all punishment which you may deserve in purgatory …… and restore you to that innocence which you possessed at baptism; so that, when you die, the gates of punishment shall be shut, and the gates of the paradise of delight instantly shall be opened, &c.” (Robertson’s “Charles V.,” p. 462.)

Martin Luther, the pious monk, stood so well with the Roman Catholic high-priests and dignitaries, that he had been selected by them to take charge of a new College which the Elector of Saxony was opening in Wittenberg.

The Elector had asked them to choose their fittest teacher for this responsible and honorable post, and their unanimous choice had fallen upon Brother Martin.

Therefore, at the time Tetzel came into that part of Germany, peddling those pardons, Brother Martin had no cause of quarrel with his church.

He had no grievance, no grudge, no balked ambition.

He had all to gain, by remaining silent.

He had all to lose, by going out of his way to pick a quarrel with Tetzel and the Pope.

CATHOLIC TEXT BOOKS AND TEACHERS IN PROTESTANT SCHOOLS.

In the Public Schools, the Catholics have stealthily introduced text-books written by Jesuits; and your children are being taught that the Roman church was misunderstood in the past; that its doctrines are not fatal to humanity and Gospel religion; that its record is not saturated with the blood of the innocent millions, murdered by papal persecutors, and that there never was such a monstrosity as the alleged sale of papal pardons of sins.

The Catholics denounce secular education and public schools— why?

Because, under the papal system, the child is never to be permitted to do its own thinking.

Its plastic brain must be papalized, in order that the child— grown to manhood or womanhood—will be atrophied on one side of its mind.

In other words, Catholic education seeks to prevent the boy and girl from knowing any truth which may set in motion those dynamic spurs of progress, namely, doubt, desire to see the other side, determination to investigate and form INDEPENDENT OPINIONS.

Educate youth in this Catholic way, and the consequences are logical: the children graduate in obedience; feel no divine thirst for free knowledge; depend upon Authority, rather than upon investigation; cringe to the priest; look to him for guidance and control; lose mental self-reliance, and gradually cease to be liberals, progressives, democrats, republicans—believers in the capacity of the people to govern themselves.

A Catholic, imbued with the idea that he is not entitled to any voice in church affairs, and contented with the dependent position of the man who must silently pay and obey, soon accepts the POLITICAL doctrine of his church, also; and he comes to believe that he has no right to choose rulers, make laws, think for himself on public questions, or to take any initiative, whatever.

PRIEST-RIDDEN IN CHURCH, HE IS READY TO BECOME PRIEST-RIDDEN IN STATE.

Consequently, no Catholic country ever was democratic, or republican, until the Pope’s power was broken.

Hierarchic Catholicism is the religion of emperors and kings, of empires and kingdoms; and you will easily see why this is so, if you will remember that Popery is nothing but an adaptation of the organization of the Roman emperors and their Pagan priesthood.

Consider how artfully the Pope’s American subjects are serving him, in this profoundly important matter of educating the young!

Catholic children are not allowed to attend your schools; nor are your teachers and text-books allowed in theirs; yet, they send their children—grown to be teachers—into your schools, to teach your children; and they so manipulate the Superintendents and the Boards, that Catholic text-books drive Protestant text-books out of the Protestant schools!

It seems incredible, but it is so.

Consider the following extract from a letter concerning the Atlanta Schools:

Atlanta, Ga., April 17, 1917.

Dear Sir: The history teacher at “Girls High” leaves the impression on the minds of the students that Robinson (the author of the textbook) is not a prejudiced man (such as you, for instance) and is endeavoring to lessen the antagonism between the Roman Church and the Protestant churches.

I find on page 585 of the “Girls High” textbook (Outlines of European History, by Robinson and Breasted), and on page 391 of the “Boys High” textbook (History of Western Europe, by J. H. Robinson) the following passages, regarding the Indulgences sold by Tetzel:

“The contribution to the church which was made in return for indulgences varied greatly; the rich were required to give a considerable sum, while the very poor were to receive these pardons gratis.”

Did the “very poor” get them free? Also this statement:

“It is a common mistake of Protestants to suppose that the indulgence was forgiveness granted beforehand for sins to be committed in the future. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO FOUNDATION FOR THIS IDEA. A person proposing to sin could not possibly be contrite in the eyes of the church, and even if he secured indulgence it would, according to the theologians, have been quite worthless.”

STUDENT.

Now, what do you think of that Papal dope, being administered to young Protestants, by the pro-Catholic teachers and the Catholic text-books, in your secular Public Schools?

Such prostitute teachers can do the pope more good than all the priests put together, because such text-books and teachers can sow papal germs, where the priests could never gain access to the fertile soil of youth!

WHAT WERE THE “INDULGENCES”?

The statement in this Public School “History” is a most unblushing falsehood, and it can be as easily exposed as that other papal falsehood about Queen Elizabeth and the English Episcopalians.

The Indulgences sold by Tetzel can he proved with the same historic accuracy that the Great Charter admits of; with the same accuracy as the Edict of Toleration which Henry of Navarre issued in behalf of the French Protestants, and which caused the Jesuits to assassinate its enlightened and statesmanly author.

The Catholic authorities themselves print the decree of Pope Innocent III, annulling and eternally damning the Great Charter of our liberties: and the Catholics themselves published the Scale of Prices for the Papal Pardon of Sins!

In Europe, it is not denied: in the United States, it is denied; in Europe, it is so notorious that it can’t be denied: in the United States, the lack of information about the true inwardness of this European church is so deplorably universal, that it can be denied! NOT ONLY DENIED, BUT TAUGHT IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS!

(The following authorities are a few of the many that can be cited to prove that the Indulgences sold by pope after pope, for centuries, were pardons for sins, not only past, but future; not only for living, but for the dead:

William H. Prescott’s edition of “Robertson’s Charles the Filth.” Lippincott Co., 1884. Pages 400 and following, volume L., giving the origin of Indulgences under Pope Urban IL, and copying the Indulgences verbatim.

Coxe’s “House of Austria,” Vol. 1, page 430 and following. The author copies the actual words of the Indulgence, verbatim.

Markham’s “History of Germany,” John Murray’s new and revised edition, 1869. Page 218:

“At first these Indulgences were nothing more than the remission of penance for sin by which the Christian community was scandalized; but the horrible doctrine began at length to be introduced, that exemptions from the fires of purgatory might also be purchased, not only on account of crimes already perpetrated, but even for those which the buyer INTENDED TO COMMIT.”

See also, Larned’s “Seventy Centuries”: Vol. II, p. 66.)

Menzel’s “Germany from the Earliest Period: published in New York by the Catholic firm, P. F. Collier & Son, 1900. Page 872 (in Vol. II.) says:

“On October 31, 1517, Luther publicly brought forward in the castle-church at Wittenberg, 95 theses against the Indulgence, the principal of which were, “that by sincere repentance and penance alone, not by the payment of a sum of money, could sins be remitted, and consequently, that the pope had no right to dispense absolution for money: moreover, that the pope, being merely the vice-regent of God upon earth, could only remit the external penance ordained by the church on earth, not the eternal punishment rewarded to the sinner after death.

This bold assertion, like a spark of vivid light amid profound darkness, rendered the truth fully visible; once the spell of silence broken, thousands ventured to utter their secret thoughts; thousands became aware of facts of which they had before timidly doubted.”

Timidly doubted, what?

They did not doubt that the pope could remit the penalties incurred for infractions of the church’s rules. No!

What they had timidly doubted was the pope’s power to take the place of God, and forgive sins: especially, when the sinner had not repented, but had only paid money for the remission.

Wolfgang Menzel’s “Germany” is as thoroughly standard, as Gibbons’ “Rome,” Green’s “England,” Rawlinson’s “Seven Great Monarchies,” Thierry’s “Norman Conquest,” or Napier’s “Peninsular War.”

It goes to the American reader with the o.k. of the great Catholic publishing house of Peter Collier & Son: it tells the truth about those Indulgences, just as all other standard works tell it.

If Luther’s quarrel with Pope Leo X. did not pivot on that very question, what was the pivot?

What was it that, as Menzel says, was like a flash of “vivid light amid profound darkness”?

If the popes had not been selling pardons for sin, how did Leo come to do it; and if Leo wasn’t doing it, what aroused Martin Luther?

WHAT STARTED THE REFORMATION?

According to the Catholic textbook taught in the public schools, the Reformation was started about NOTHING.

Isn’t it an infernal shame that your children should be officially crammed with Jesuit lies, meant to blind them as to the origin of modern progress, civil and religious liberty, popular education, free institutions, the abolition of serfdom, and the Emancipation of Woman?

We owe all of these inestimable blessings to the Reformation, which successfully began when Martin Luther denied that the popes could sell forgiveness for sins.

Having taken that bold step, the logic of events led him to take others, until he broke away from the Roman church, saying that it had no more right to imprison women, hide the Bible and murder heretics, than it had to sell pardons of sin.

Two of the grounds upon which the Roman church excommunicated Luther were that he did deny the church’s right to burn heretics, and did deny the pope’s authority to take money for the remission of sin.

The exact copy of the Indulgence issued by Pope Leo X. is also found in “The History of Protestantism,” by Dr. J.A. Wylie. Cassell & Company, London, Paris, New York, and Melbourne. Vol. I., page 258.

D’Aubigne’s “History of the Reformation,” page 73, also copies the Indulgence, and gives a graphic account of how the poor, as well as the rich, were cheated out of their money.

None of the Indulgences were ever given away: they were all sold.

PAPAL TARIFF ON SINS.

The price list of papal pardons of sins can be found in the “History of Auricular Confession,” by Count C. P. Lasteyrie. Vol. II. Page 132 et seq.

It is referred to in the “History of Sacerdotal Celibacy.” By H. C. Lea, L. L. D., 1907. Vol. I., p. 411: Vol. II, p. 55, and 715.

See also the “Formulary of the Papal Penitentiary,” pp. 95-100, Philadelphia, 1891.

An original copy of the first printed edition of this famous Price-list of Sins-whose official name is “Taxes of the Penitentiary’—is preserved in the British Museum.

The book itself and the list of prices are as provable as the Law of Habeas Corpus, or the first American Tariff.

(To be continued.)