Excerpt from Past and Future, or Romanism of the Middle Ages the Same With the Romanism of to-Day Recent events have imparted a new interest to the long debated question concerning the political tenden cies of Romanism. The conflicts between the spirit of liberty and the spirit of Oppression in Europe, have waxed warmer, and seem evidently approaching the final struggle. The apparent triumphs of the former, in 1848, gave to the Roman clergy an occasion for pro fessing a most ardent attachment for its principles and the late reaction has emboldened them to throw off the mask, and appear more fully in their true character, than for many years. In our own country they have proba bly felt constrained to speak out, lest their followers should be carried away with the prevailing sentiments in favor of liberty of the press and freedom of con science. Certainly it is high time that Americans um derstand this subject. Romanism is radically despotic, and can never be otherwise. Its fundamental articles of faith compel those who embrace it to be the ene mies of liberty; and, therefore, all hope of reform in this respect is perfectly vain. The writer of the following pages wields a vigorous pen, and has brought out some very important truths, which may be safely commended to the very serious consideration of all true Americans, and of all friends of free institutions. Having himself been a member of that communion, he may be supposed to know some thing of its Spirit and principles, N. L. R. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.