The “Holy Coat”-A Second Reformation

Washington, Sept. 22, 1845.

To the Editor of the Union:

The "Holy Coat" is represented to be the identical one in which our Savior was apparelled [appareled], from early boyhood to the period of his crucifixion. It was made by Mary. The material was so peculiar a quality, that the garment expanded in dimensions as the wearer advanced in years and increased in stature. "They parted His garments, casting lots upon them what every man should take;" and the coat became the property of a soldier, who, placing an extraordinary value upon it, sold it to one of the females, (for a trifling consideration,) who believed in his divinity, and witnessed his sufferings on the cross. It was forthwith placed in the vault of a Christian family, where it remained until the beginning of the fourth century, when Constantine-son of Constantius Clovis-was destined by the Almighty to terminate the bloody persecution of the Christians. His mother, Helena had followed him to Orient; and in the year 326, she made a pilgrimage to Palestine, and, after diligent search, found this precious relic. She returned soon afterwards, and carried it with her in triumph to Treves, the oldest town in Europe, and then seat of the Occidental emperors. It was not long before it mysteriously disappeared, causing thousands to wail; and, notwithstanding the most rigid examinations and enquireies [inquiries], no trace could be ascertained by which to lead to its recovery. One of the chroniclers of Treves, speaking of the year 1196, remarked that "it would be memorable in all coming time as the era at which the incomparable treasure of the holy coat of Christ was rediscovered." It seems to have been deposited between two steeples, in an alter [altar] dedicated to St. Nicholas. The Archbishop John, when he was embellishing the dome and erecting new alters [altars], opened the boxes and chests which he found in the progress of the work and from one of them drew forth the "holy coat" from its tenement of eight centuries! On the 1st of the following May, the fele of the apostles Philip and James, it was publicly exhibited amid the rejoicings and congratulations of the multitude.

In the year 1512, the Emperor Maximilian the 1st, was solicited to favor the world with an opportunity of beholding the "holy coat" in the cathedral at Treves. Permission was accordingly asked of Pope Leo X, who graciously consented to the granting of this high boon, upon the condition that every spectator should contribute freely towards rebuilding the old edifice, then nearly in ruins, rendered doubly dear to Catholics from the sacred relic which it contained. The experiment succeeded well. Vast sums were realized, and it was exposed to public view subsequently in the years 1531, 1545, 1553, 1585, and 1594. It was then removed to Ehrenbreitstein. (broad-stone-honor,) the strong fortification of Drusus, before Christ, and the present Gibraltar of Germany, where it was exhibited again in 1734 and in 1765. During the year 1794, when it was foreseen that the French would secure this commanding position on the Rhine, the "holy coat" was secretly conveyed to the interior of Germany, where it was kept hidden until 1809, when a new Bishop of Trevis (Carl Monnay) caused it to be taken back to that city. The year following it was exhibited to nine hundred thousand persons; when the bishop announced, that henceforward it could only be opened once in thirty-four years (the length of time our Savior was upon the earth) to public examination. In pursuance of this declaration, it was exhibited in 1844 in the cathedral at Treves, under the personal superintendence of the bishop, from the 18th of August until the 30th of September, to upwards of two millions of persons.

The "holy coat," it must be confessed, is an exquisitely fine piece of workmanship, both as relates to the material and to the tailorship. It is impossible to form an opinion as to the nature of the staple from which the cloth was manufactured. The threads are so delicately fibrous, that the twist in them is almost imperceptible to the naked eye. The color is also very peculiar, and cannot be directly described, though its chief characteristic is a yellow-brown. Throughout, not the slightest appearance of a seam can be detected. At the

top there is a hole sufficiently large for a head to pass through. The sleeves are one and a half foot long, and a foot wide. The body is five feet four inches wide; its length five feet one inch and a half.

Thus I have given you the history, as related at Treves, as well as a description of the "holy coat" the infamous exhibition of which last year engendered the denunciations of one of the most highly gifted and intrepid theologists of the age. Although a Catholic priest, RONGE dared to denounce the imposition as one unworthy of the church -unworthy of the righteous precepts of religion. His sentiments found an echo in Germany as enthusiastic as that which, more than three hundred years ago, gave such effect throughout Christendom to the tenets of a Luther. Popery, rely upon it, has received a blow, which will eventually upset its stronghold. The serpent was only scotched by the first reformer. It will expire under the tortures of the second. Man, in all civilized countries, is beginning to think for himself; and hereafter he will be guided by reason, instead of being governed by power. There is a spirit of inquiry abroad, which cannot slumber until every shackel [shackle] which binds the intellect is burst asunder. Truth and light, emanating from Heaven itself, must triumph over falsehood and darkness. The miner's son of Eizelben hastened the colonization of this mighty republic, by imbuing the public mind in Europe with proper notions of religious liberty. Political liberty afterwards became its handmaiden; and the salutary results from their union embolden the timid and the fearful to speak aloud-to gird on their armor, and to "go forth conquering and to conquer' the vices of the world.- Union.

(->) We have extracted the foregoing not so much for intrinsic merit, as for the devices and stratagems of men. Jesus said: "hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the prince of the world cometh, and hath nothing in me." and truly "the prince of this world" has ruled the world by flattery and deception: for Jesus never said that virtue went out of his garment when the diseased woman touched the hem, but the virtue went out of HIM.

One of the best traits of Mormonism is, that it cures all kinds of speculations, deceptions, and contrivances, which have the greatness of man for their object, rather than the glory of God.

Mormonism is a perfect Nebuchadnezzar's furnace for this generation, and if those cast into the "fire," whether catholic, protestant, or Pagan, have not "the form of the fourth like unto the Son of God," to shield them from the flames, they will be scorched by it as soon as they come within reach of its blaze. The Infidel, the Perfectionist, and the Christian, are alike to Mormonism; it melts all, for God is a consuming fire.