The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

—550 PROSPECTS OF THE PAPACY.which I had given him. The Bible was in the ConstituentAssembly, in several public offices, and in several militaryquarters. Many soldiers defended their country on thewalls of Rome with the Bible in their pockets. You willask me, What effect has the Bible produced in Rome 1 Iwill tell you. I do not think anything can better answeryour question than the encyclical letter of Pio Nono, inwhich he exclaims against the Bible, the missionaries of theBible, the Bible Societies, &c. ; because, he says, in thisway Protestantism,—that is, pure Christianity,—has enteredinto Rome, and into many other parts of Italy. Imight tell you that, after the Bibles were distributed, Romanchurches were quite left by the people, very few goinoanylonger to confession. They talked about religion inthe houses, in the clubs, in the streets, and in the shops.was not only the Pope-king, but it was the Pope-bishop, thatthey thought about. It is quite certain that the Pope ismore afraid of this book than of the repu])lican bayonets,because he knows that this is able to destroy his throne inthe Vatican." To this minute and interesting account it isunnecessary to add a single word.We are to march against Rome, then, with the sword ofthe Spirit, which is the Word of Cod. But how are Biblesto be provided ? We redeemed the slaves in the West Indieswith a sum of twenty millions : shall we grudge twenty millionsof Bibles to redeem Italy from a worse slavery? Wouldit not be a noble act, Britain gives to Italy twentyMILLIONS OF Bibles ? Can it be that there is not enoujrh ofChristianity in Britain for this ? Oh, in this age of greatschemes, let us devise liberally for the evangelization of theworld. Twenty millions of Bibles, which would cost aboutone and a half millions of pounds, would put a Bible intothe hand of every man, woman, and child in Italy, from theAlps to Sicily. But this number is not required ; one-fifthwould suffice.Five millions of Bibles would give a copy ofthe sacred volume to every family in Italy.ItLet, then, everyChristian family in Britain give but two copies of the Word