The Life of General Garibaldi: Translated from his private papers; with the history of his splendid exploits in Rome, Lombardy, Sicily and Naples, to the present time.Garibaldi, Giuseppe
History
The Life of General Garibaldi: Translated from his private papers; with the history of his splendid exploits in Rome, Lombardy, Sicily and Naples, to the present time.
Garibaldi, Giuseppe
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 1807-1882
In other words, or comprehending the two theories in one: Earth and
heaven constitute a perpetual antagonism—-Right, equality and truth
reign in heaven; fact, force and inevitable evil reign upon earth. There
are two human races: the race of the rich and powerful, and the race of
the poor and servants. The poor exist for the benefit of the rich, in
order that the latter may obtain heaven by exercising charity; and the
servants, in order that the masters can govern with clemency and the
spirit of love. When this is not done, God will give punishments and
rewards in heaven; but, every attempt at melioration on earth, by the
efforts of the poor and servile race, _is sin_.
And this is the religious doctrine which the church of the Pope teaches
to mankind in the nineteenth century; and she teaches it in the name of
the Gospel of Christ, confronting it to the words—
"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven:"
the only prayer which Jesus taught to believers; confronting it to the
command, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve;" confronting it to, "That all may be one, as thou, Father, art in
me and I in thee."
No—it is not true that heaven and earth are in antagonism; it is not
true, that, while in heaven the truth and justice of God reign,
submission to fact and reverence for brute force are a law of the earth.
It is not true that the salvation of human creatures is secured, as if
by expiation, by means of resignation or indifference. The earth is the
Lord's; the earth, on which, and for which, Jesus, first, and after him
all the holy martyrs of mankind, shed their tears and their blood.
THE CONDITION OF ROME.
The time approached when all eyes were to be opened to the real designs
of the French. A crisis was near, when all the charitable hopes of the
sincerity of their amicable professions were to be dispelled. The city
was to be attacked by a foreign army for the first time since the days
of Charles V., in the period of the Reformation, and for the second time
since that of the Northern invasions. In looking back for preceding
events of the same kind, the mind had but a single step more to make—the
attempt by the Gauls. How different the state of the world since those
times! How different the condition of the city; the mode and means of
warfare; the principles engaged; the effect to be anticipated on the
world!
Never before had the city of Rome been voluntarily deserted by a pope,
and brought to a state of order and tranquility by a mere declaration of
a republic, and become practically and truly a Protestant city. Never
had she been, in the judgment of the world, more certain to be overawed
by a powerful host, and more unable to resist. Deeply interesting must
have been the situation of many a family.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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