ROMAN CATHOLIC PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

This Council, consisting of the Bishops and Prists of Romanism, met recently at Baltimore. Their proceedings are now on their way to the Pope, and cannot be published til they have received his sanction. These councils says the Boston Recorder, are the Pope's tribunals of justice, established in our republic'imperium in imperior;' exercising jurisdiction for him, without responsibilities to our own government. The Catholics thus explain the spiritual power of the Bishops; 'it lies not only in preaching the gospel, and so by persuasion and exhortation only, as some heretics hold, to rem it or retain sins, but it hath authority to punish, judge and condemn heretics and other rebels.' The full import of this explanation is learned from the histories of the Inquisition.

It is stated in the 'Conn Observer,' that the government of four of the most distinguished papal countries in Europe, Spain, Portugal, France and Germany, have thought it proper, for centuries past, to prevent the meeting of these provincial assemblies within their limits, because of their dangerous character. But in our country, they must be tolerated. Our safety lies, not in our laws, but in the vigilance of the Christian community, and in the formation of a correct public sentiment in regard to the nature and tendencies of Romanism.
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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The late 1820s and 1830s saw a Protestant religious revival called the Second Great Awakening which had a strong impact on American religion and reform. The people of New England were strongly opposed to the Catholic Church and its teachings. This article denounces the Council of Bishops and Priests as being an instrument of the Pope and above the laws of the land. It is interesting to note that the author calls upon the "Christian community" for vigilance against Romanism, when he should instead call upon the Protestant community. People opposed to the Roman Catholic Church felt that society was actually threatened by its presence. The Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald was the newspaper in Greenfield, Massachusetts, from June 26, 1827 to June 27, 1837. It changed its name to the Gazette & Mercury.

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