I quoted the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, and pointed out how deftly the Church has managed to slip in a prayer for worldly prosperity.  But the Catholic Church does not show any squeamishness in dealing with its “million imbeciles”, its “rough, purblind mass”.

There is a department of the little magazine entitled “Thanksgiving”, and a statement at the top that “the total number of Thanksgivings for the month is 2,143,911.”  I am suspicious of that, as of German reports of prisoners taken; but I give the statement as it stands, not going through the list and picking out the crudest, but taking them as they come, classified by states: 

General favors:  For many of these favors Mass and publication were promised, for others the Badge of Promoter’s Cross was used, for others the prayers of the Associates had been asked.

     Alabama—­Jewelry found, relief from pain, protection during
     storm.

     Alaska—­Safe return, goods found.

     Arizona—­Two recoveries, suitable boarding place, illness
     averted, safe delivery.

     British Honduras—­Successful operation.

California—­Seventeen recoveries, six situations, two successful examinations, house rented, stocks sold, raise in salary, return to religious duties, sight regained, medal won, Baptism, preservation from disease, contract obtained, success in business, hearing restored, Easter duty made, happy death, automobile sold, mind restored, house found, house rented, successful journey, business sold, quarrel averted, return of friends, two successful operations.

And for all these miraculous performances the Catholic machine is harvesting the price day by day—­harvesting with that ancient fervor which the Latin poet described as “auri sacra fames”.  As Christopher Columbus wrote from Jamaica in 1503:  “Gold is a wonderful thing.  By means of gold we can even get souls into Paradise.”

#The Holy Roman Empire#

The system thus self-revealed you admit is appalling in its squalor; but you say that at least it is milder and less perilous than the Church which burned Giordano Bruno and John Huss.  But the very essence of the Catholic Church is that it does not change; #semper eadem# is its motto:  the same yesterday, today and forever—­the same in Washington as in Rome or Madrid—­the same in a modern democracy as in the Middle Ages.  The Catholic Church is not primarily a religious organization; it is a political organization, and proclaims the fact, and defies those who would shut it up in the religious field.  The Rev. S.B.  Smith, a Catholic doctor of divinity, explains in his “Elements of Ecclesiastical Law”: