Holy Father, if this is not done, then things
old must disappear to make room for things new,--and a new Church of
Christ must rise from the ashes of Rome! We cannot but call to mind
the words of St. John, 'Repent and do the first works, or else I
will come quickly and remove thy candlestick from its place.' 'Do
the first works.' Holy Father, those first works, as exemplified in
Christ Himself, were love, charity, pity and pardon for all men!
With all my heart I beseech Your Holiness to let these virtues
simplify and sustain our Church,--and so raise it a burning and
shining light of loving-kindness and universal tolerance,--so shall
it be the true city set on a hill which shall draw all men to its
shelter! But if unjust judgment, intolerance, cruelty and
fanaticism, should again be allowed, as once before in history, to
blot its fairness and blight its reputation, then there is not much
time left to it,--inasmuch as there is a force in the world to-day
likely to prove too strong for many of us,--a mighty combat for
Truth, in which conflicting creeds will fight their questions out
together with terrible passion and insistence, bringing many souls
to grief and pitiful disaster. You, Holy Father, can arrest all this
by making the Church of Rome, Christian rather than Pagan--by
removing every touch of idolatry, every recollection of paid
prayers, and by teaching a lofty, pure and practical faith such as
our Redeemer desired for us, so that it may be a refuge in the
storm, a haven wherein all the world shall find peace.
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