The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
Extreme Ignorance on Scriptural Subjects of Irish Romanists, illustrated by Examples.
But the Irish professing the Romish faith are almost entirely without scriptural knowledge. It is estimated by the Irish missionaries of the that scarcely more than 1 in 50 of the Irish immigrants when they arrive here, have ever even seen a , or heard a page of its blessed truths, except those few portions which are made a part of the Romish service, unless they happen to come from the parts of in which the recent Reformation has taken place, or except they can read the Irish character. Nor is even this the worst. They come here not only without a knowledge of, but with a most fear- ful prejudice against the . Their religious ignorance is most pitiable indeed. One woman stated lately that she always thought the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary were the same. Another woman was heard to be actually cursing God for taking away her son. They will often speak of the Virgin's dreams as important to their future spiritual welfare. A woman recently affirmed, that she dreaded the curse of the priest far more than that of God Almighty. A man also stated, with all gravity, as what he knew, that the consecrated wafer was once im- piously cut, and the whole house was at once deluged with blood. Another man stated, and evidently believed what he stated, that a letter was received by the Pope every Saturday | |
308 | from our Lord . And another man stated that the present Pope was a cousin of 's. These illustrations, which might easily be multiplied, will show how gross is their ignorance of the Scriptures, and what a reproach it is to us to allow them to remain at our doors uninformed, till perhaps they leave Europe altogether, with no more religious knowledge than when they first approached our shores. |