The Italian Church must be built on the ruins of the Latin Church, which is already an anachronism. The Church of Christ must arise from the destruction of the Church of the Popes, which has become a blasphemy and an impiety. I do not believe it possible for the Church of the Priests to be reformed; it must be destroyed, as it is written in the 18th chapter of the Revelations. It is the people of this Church that will be reformed; and it is precisely the object that I myself and a few others are endeavouring to effect.
The religious reformation of Italy, at the time I am now writing, in the month of December, 1850, has already made considerable progress; and, except for the interference of an Inquisition, similar to that which existed in the time of Pius IV. and Pius V., it is impossible, humanly speaking, for it to be checked.
Undoubtedly, in some parts of Italy, it is yet concealed, inasmuch as it is denounced by the present government; and may be said to exist, as was the case with the Church herself, in early times, among the catacombs.
We have seen with our own eyes, the Bible itself persecuted not only in Rome, but in Tuscany also. A scandalous process was instituted against a printer, for having published the New Testament, according to the faithful version of Diodati; at a period, too, when the liberty of the press was pretended to be unrestrained. In Piedmont and Genoa, the people are more fortunate, as the Bible is allowed to circulate among them; and our brethren the Waldenses, since they have obtained their civil freedom, have also had their religious liberty granted them. But in all other parts of Italy even the Jews are better off than we are. They are allowed to assemble together and to open their temples to the public; they can educate their children in their own faith, and they are not subject to the pains and penalties of the Romish Church. The Jews are, at least, tolerated in Rome; but we are not. Still we have our secret meetings, even in the papal city; with a prison staring us in the face, we read our Bibles, and meditate on their contents, and we converse with each other on the essentials of salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the true faith, as revealed in his Holy Word: and to these vital points we adjoin all that is necessary for Christian doctrine, at the same time confuting the errors of the Church of the middle ages. And what our brethren are personally engaged upon in Italy, we, who are banished on that very same account, are carrying on in other countries. The day will assuredly come when we shall be re-united, and publicly return thanks to God, for having associated us in the same faith, and saved us through the same hopes. And this day we trust is not far distant.
Eight years have now passed away since I first put my hand to this great work, and it has never, during all that time, ceased to go forward. As a minister of the Gospel, a servant of the Church, I called on my brethren to arise from their slumbers, and witness the brilliant light that was brightening the horizon. I called upon them to break the bonds with which they had hitherto been fettered; and, with the Bible in my hand, I endeavoured to enlighten their eyes, and convert their souls.
Could I know that the day would arrive when I might myself behold the salvation of my country, I would ask of the Lord that I might then depart in peace from this life, singing the song of Simeon,[95] and hoping for the benediction of the Almighty.
I have been accused as a man of extravagant desires, of overweening ambition. I do not deny it. My desire is that the people of Italy should be no longer the slaves of the priesthood, at once the prey and the laughing-stock of the Jesuits; that they should worship God, and not bow down before a wafer, a painted canvas, sculptured brass, or wood, or stone, or dry bones: that this beloved people should be taught to believe in the revelation of God, and not in the false inventions of the priests. These and similar desires have possessed my mind, and led me to implore their fulfilment from the Lord. And as to my ambition, it is to be foremost in this good work, and to teach others to labour effectively, through the grace of God, in the same holy cause.
My preaching in the Italian Church, as I have already stated, began about eight years ago, and I have been continually occupied in carrying it forward. From Corfu to Zante, and from thence to Malta, where, in the midst of opposition, not only from my enemies, but also from my weaker brethren, I established my church.
It was contrary to the opinion and advice of many that I went to this latter place.
"Reflect," they wrote to me, "on the ignorance and barbarity of the people; consider that they are much more subject to their priests and their monks, than they are to their English rulers, and that they will wage an incessant warfare against you. You will endanger your own safety, and run the risk of injuring your cause; you will also endanger us, who are powerless to afford you assistance."