"The Romish Government has likewise brought us under an unchristian constraint, and introduced abuses into our religion, which lead to superstition and to vice, and which deprive us of the blessings of the Christian doctrine. We must first of all sweep away these abuses, we must dismiss, as unintelligible to our people, from all the houses of God in Germany, the Latin language,—that monument of our subserviency and spiritual bondage, that unholy constraint which outrages the clearest injunctions of the Gospel; for Paul says, (1st Cor. 14, 19,) 'I had rather speak five words with my understanding, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue,' and in the 23d verse he justly and directly denounces as madness the use of a foreign and unknown language. We must besides abolish the confessional, that moral torture-chamber, that degrading tribunal of Inquisition,—which stamps men hypocrites and blinded slaves to priestcraft,—which expels from the Supper of the Lord so many thousand Catholics who nevertheless feel themselves invited,—and which without a warrant in the Gospel, was first introduced by one of the most power-loving Popes, twelve hundred years after Jesus Christ. We must abolish all those mischievous contrivances of Rome, which are only intended for the extortion of money,—which undermine true piety, and degrade the priest to a farmer and a trafficker in salvation! The pure and true and Catholic Christian religion, shall alone remain, and its fundamental law—the law of love,—shall not only be expressed in words, but practically evidenced in our dealings with all our fellow-men of every faith and creed.
"I have been constrained, my friends, to address you in these few words, to which I have felt myself called by a sense of the duty imposed on me as preacher of religion, as a disciple of the truth,—these words, dictated by love to my fellow-citizens, and anxiety for their salvation, honor, and welfare,—and love to yourselves who languish under the yoke of Rome! It depends now upon yourselves whether you will obey the call of your religion, and of your fellow-citizens, and your improved convictions. Woe! woe! to you, who hear not this appeal! and rest in error and hypocrisy!—the righteous indignation of your countrymen, who are now awaking to consciousness, will condemn you in a voice of thunder, and the sentence will be indelibly engraved upon the page of history! The work, besides, will be achieved without you.
"To you, who obey this call, eternal joy and blessing! You, who armed with the moral courage of your calling, shun no labour and no sacrifice! Yes, eternal joy and blessing to you! Your own consciences will reward you, the love of your countrymen, the enduring gratitude of history, shall secure you a millennial fame!"
In this letter, as in the former, it is easy to trace the same spirit which so evidently characterizes the author as an honest and fearless assertor of what he believes to be the truth. The event soon shewed that he had not to fight single-handed. Previously, he had received assurances of the sympathies of thousands; and now, when the period for action came, there were not wanting many to cast in their lot with him, as fellow-workers in overturning the great system of idolatrous worship. When first suspended, his whole flock petitioned that his services might still be continued to them—the best practical reply to the charges advanced against him. Several secessions speedily took place; congregations were formed at Schneidemühl, under pastor Czerski, and at Breslau, where Ronge now is occupied with the constitution and settlement of the new community. In most cases, the ultra-Catholic party have done what they could to create disturbance in the meetings, and generally to obstruct the progress of business; but such attempts have proved ineffectual. Of course, much in the constitution of the Church must for a long time remain incomplete, but great unity, as well as zeal, has hitherto characterized their proceedings.
The principal places where congregations are being formed are Breslau, Schneidemühl, Leipsic, Dresden, Berlin, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Offenbach, Brunswick, Coblentz, Worms, and even Cologne, where priestly influence is at its maximum. Other places it would be useless to name; in fact, accounts have been received from a vast number of quarters; but definite and final steps have not yet been taken, and, on all hands, it is found to be the ease, that great numbers, including clergy as well as laity, desire the formal recognition of the Church by the State, before they openly avow their separation from the Roman See. The documents connected with the origin, constitution, and principles of the Church have now been laid before the Prussian Government; but, while we write, no final answer has been returned.
The following remarks will so far explain the relation of this Government to the new movement:—Hitherto they have maintained the position of strict neutrality. The law of the land guarantees full freedom of conscience to every Prussian citizen; and as the new doctrines involve no principles of danger to the common safety, their defenders are entitled to demand that no police restrictions be put in the way of their progress. The law draws a distinction between religious societies merely tolerated, and those formally acknowledged by the State; the latter only having corporate rights and privileges. The two Protestant Churches—the Reformed and Lutheran—have been united into one Church, generally called the Evangelical, which, with the Catholic, have alike the full sanctions of State protection. It is manifest, that where such strenuous efforts have been made to bring about this singular union, and where unity of creed is the avowed object of the Government, the sanctioning a new class of separatists, whether from the Catholic or Protestant Church, might lead to serious political consequences. The party of the Old Lutherans, who refused to co-operate in the scheme of union, have, strictly speaking, no legal standing in the constitution of Prussia. They are tolerated, but not acknowledged by the State. It seems exceedingly probable that such will be the position of the new German Catholic Church, which would at once secure the legally guaranteed rights of conscience, and, at the same time, form no exception to the determination of the Government, as such, to have only the two great antagonist Churches and Confessions.
Meanwhile, the King of Saxony, though a Catholic, has more openly avowed his principles in connection with the movement. He was waited on by the Bishop and Catholic Clergy of Leipsic, for the purpose of impressing on him the duty of putting down the new sect by law. His reply was as follows:—"I wonder much at the demand you have made; and all the more, as you know that nineteen-twentieths of my subjects are Protestants, whose conduct of late to my Catholic fellow-citizens has greatly rejoiced my heart. You know, moreover, that I am King of a constitutional State, and, as such, have promised and sworn to secure full religious freedom to my subjects, of whatever faith. I shall, then, place no obstruction in the way of what has taken place, but give events their free course, because I will not, and dare not, make any one swerve from that faith and worship from which alone he expects salvation. This is my firmly-settled resolution." And with these memorable words, the Bishop and Clergy were most graciously dismissed. The joy in Leipsic at the answer of the King was unbounded, As an off-set to this state of matters in Prussia and Saxony, we have to state, that the papal influence has been brought to bear upon the Governments of Austria and Bavaria—we believe with success—to prevent by law the formation of any Church in connection with the new sect, throughout both kingdoms.
It is, of course, not to be expected that these congregations can as yet have had time or opportunity to draw up a full and duly authorized Confession of Faith. As matters stand, one congregation has adhered to the Apostolical Creed—another to the Nicene Creed (a.d. 325). The following is the Confession drawn up, and which has been generally adhered to by the congregation of Schneidemühl:—