“The Invisible Spiritual Officers of the Government”
By A. J. S. BOURDEAU
Rome’s Latest Claim in Behalf of Her Clergy
THE essential principle of Roman Catholicism, Mohammedanism, and all other systems of false religion, is the worship of man. And it is against this natural tendency of the unregenerate heart that the great threefold message of Revelation 14 is directed. The very first words of the mighty angel flying in the midst of heaven, and “having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,” are: “Fear God, and give glory to him; . . . and worship him.” Verses 6, 7. The triumphal tours of the three “American” cardinals afford many opportunities for spectacular display, processions, false claims of nobility and rank, and the worship of man—all so clearly repudiated by the Master, whose servants these claim to be. On several occasions it has been the writer’s privilege to study at first-hand, along with other newspaper reporters, these spectacular pageants in honor of one or another of the cardinals. The idolatrous nature of them all is clearly seen, for instance, in the triumphal entry of John Cardinal Farley into New York, Jan. 16, 1912. Witness the following “welcome” song, printed in cardinal red, and passed out to the vast throng assembled in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on that occasion:— “Welcome, welcome, welcome,
All that we love and revere;
But first let the song of our welcome ascend
To greet thee, our Cardinal, our Father, and friend;
Anointed of God, and our guide for above,
We greet thee, we greet thee, with gladness and love.
“As the flowers of the forest unfold to the sun,
So our young hearts rejoice as in kindness you come;
As they brighten to beauty beneath its warm ray,
Let your smiles and applause give us courage to-day.”
Sitting on his scarlet throne before the altar, the cardinal consented to receive the worship of the Catholic clergy of New York as on bended knee they bowed to kiss his ring. A few nights later we witnessed the same process in the great Hippodrome, when both the clergy and the speakers of the evening (among them United States Senators and Congressmen), of Catholic persuasion, knelt before his throne and kissed his extended hand. Cardinal Farley is now completing the first half of his triumphal tour from New York to the Pacific Coast and back. En route he has stopped at Denver, Salt Lake City, and Santa Clara, Cal. In harmony with his claim to be a “Prince of the Church,” he travels in a private car furnished by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, having a special guide, Mr. F. A. Wadleigh, the general passenger agent. In the Denver Catholic Register of November 7, this private car is described as “the finest in the West,” the same being the property of Mr. Charles A. Slack, first vice-president of the Western Pacific Railroad Company. He is accompanied by a retinue of servants and minor clergy. In harmony also with Roman Catholic belief in a union of the church with the state (the church being over the state), his entry into Salt Lake City, Thursday evening, October 31, was notable in that his “escort of honor” through the principal streets of the city to the hotel Utah, was composed of “the Twentieth United States Infantry, the Knights of Columbus, and members of the Young Women’s Sodality of St. Mary’s Cathedral.” At the hotel he occupied the suite of rooms reserved for the President of the United States, and at the banquet in his honor, there were present, in addition to the clergy, Mayor Samuel C. Park; Chief Justice4J. E. Frick; Pres. J. T. Kingsbury, of the University of Utah; Col. James A. Irons, commander of the Twentieth United States Infantry; Capt. John England, United States Army; and scores of other lesser luminaries. As indicative of the unchristlike pomp of this function, we quote the following from a lengthy official description of the event as recorded in the Inter-Mountain Catholic (Salt Lake City) of November 2:—
> “He was escorted to the east banquet-room, where he received dignitaries of state and city prominence. Cardinal Farley was attired in the crimson robes of his high office, a crimson biretta adorned his head, and on his finger sparkled a gorgeous ruby. To a sign from the cardinal the dignitaries assembled in the banquet-room bowed their heads. The cardinal blessed them, and to another sign they seated themselves about the banquet-board.” Rome’s Reply to Protestant Protests
To their credit be it said, a few of the Protestant clergymen of Salt Lake City protested against the use of United States troops as an escort to the cardinal. In defense of this mingling of church and state, the Inter-Mountain Catholic of November 9 devotes its first and lengthy editorial, from which we take the following:—
> “Cardinal Farley came to Salt Lake as the representative of a sovereign whose spiritual sway extends over upwards of three hundred millions of people; a sovereign whose dominions are not defined by the lines of any one country, but are limited only by the broad canopy that encircles the earth.
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> “His elevation to the cardinalate was a signal honor to the country of which he was a citizen.
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> “At the request and in behalf of a large portion of the population of the State, Senator Smoot secured permission from the proper authorities for a detachment of the United States troops stationed at Fort Douglas to participate in a parade in honor of the visit of the distinguished American citizen and prelate.” Invite Protestants to Do Likewise
In reply to the question, “Would the same honor be paid a common clergyman of the Methodist faith, or the Baptist faith, or of other faiths?” the editorial continues:—
> “The answer naturally would be, If such person had earned for himself such a distinction, and had rendered such services to the government, and had brought such honor to the nation as Cardinal Farley, by all means the same honor should be paid him. . . . The voice of no Catholic clergyman would be heard in protest, criticism, or objection.”
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> “Cardinal Farley had rendered important service to the government by counseling and advising those under his spiritual direction to be stanch supporters of the government, to obey its laws, to respect its authority.”
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> “Any representative, therefore, of an organization that is continually advocating such high ideals . . . is continually lending powerful aid to the government and its rulers, and such representatives are entitled to the gratitude and honor that a republic such as we boast of is always glad to extend.” A Most Astounding and Bald Statement
As if to clinch his argument in defense of the use of United States troops in the parade, the Catholic editor frankly discloses the purpose of Rome with reference to the government of the United States and all other civil governments. Mark carefully his words:—
> “The clergy of the Catholic Church are the invisible spiritual officers of the government, and entitled to rank high in the nation’s roll of honor. Cardinal Farley is no exception to this class.” In this statement is wrapped up the very kernel of the Spanish Inquisition and of all other religious persecutions of the past. It is the old sickening story of a persecuting church in control of the civil power. It brings to mind the dreaded Torquemada, confessor to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who, as an “invisible spiritual officer of the government” of Spain, led the king and queen to exterminate the heretics within their realm. It is a justification of the inhuman persecution of the Huguenots of France, the Protestants of Holland, and of Dissenters in England, whether Protestant or Catholic. Rome’s Principle Foretold in the Scriptures
In the book of Revelation the pen of inspiration clearly points out Romanism as the great apostate church, or woman, “that sitteth upon many waters” (Rev. 17:1), or “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” This apostate church the prophet describes as “a woman,” sitting “upon a scarlet-colored beast.” In prophetic language a beast always typifies civil government. Mark that the woman controls and guides the beast. As if in fulfilment of this Bible prediction concerning the belief of Rome in the union of church and state, we read the following questions and answers in the “Manual of Christian Doctrine,” a text-book used by Brothers of the Christian Schools, ninth edition, published by John J. McVey, Philadelphia, Pa., in 1909, under the heading “Union of Church and State,” pages 132, 133:—
> “Question 120.—Has the state the right and the duty to proscribe schism or heresy?
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> “Answer.—Yes; it has the right and the duty to do so, both for the good of the nation and for that of the faithful themselves; for religious unity is the principal foundation of social unity. . . .
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> “Quest. 122.—May the state separate itself from the church?
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> “Ans.—No: because it may not withdraw from the supreme rule of Christ.
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> “Quest. 123.—What name is given to the doctrine that the state has neither the right nor the duty to be united to the church to protect it?
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> “Ans.—This doctrine is called Liberalism. It is founded principally on the fact that modern society rests on liberty of conscience and of worship, on liberty of speech and of the press.
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> “Quest. 124.—Why is Liberalism to be condemned?
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> “Ans.—(1) Because it denies all subordination of the state to the church; (2) because it confounds liberty with right; (3) because it despises the social kingship of Christ, and rejects the benefits derived therefrom.” “To Mold American Public Opinion”
In a speech at the quarterly convention of the Middlesex County branch of the Catholic Federation of the archdiocese of Boston, Rt. Rev. Mgr. Ambrose F. Roche, pastor of St. Patrick’s parish of Watertown, Mass., made the following significant speech showing Rome’s determination to unite church and state in America:— “We must do our part, both as individuals and as an organization, to mold American public opinion into the habit of making correct, and, therefore, favorable judgments with regard to the beneficent influence upon this nation of the Catholic Church. . . .
“Our Catholic men must show this nation that the one plague-spot of modern society is the cesspool of corruption formed by the cutting off of the clean waters of Christianity from legislative, executive, and judicial fields of action.
“True Basis for Politics”
> “They must convince this republic that the commandments of God form the only true basis for politics—that any attempt at just and satisfactory government will fail if it severs political rule from the principles of morality, and if it dares to assert the freedom of political power from moral, and therefore religious, restraint. . . .
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> “To nations as well as to individuals are Christ’s words addressed, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all things else shall be given to you.’”—The Pilot (Boston), Aug. 3, 1912. Cardinal Manning Affirms Right of Church to Meddle in Politics
The following utterances on Rome’s desire to unite the church with the state are well worth noting:—
> “There is a divine obligation binding the church to enter into the most intricate relations with the natural society or commonwealth of men, or, in other words, with peoples, states, and civil powers.
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> “The church has in every age striven to direct, not the life of individual men only, but the collective life of nations in their organized forms of republics, monarchies, and empires.
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> “As soon as the society of the empire became Christian, the church penetrated all its legislative and executive action.
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> “The church never withdraws from the state as such, which would be to abandon the natural society of man to its own maladies and mortalities.”—
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> “Facing the Twentieth Century,” by Rev. James M. King, page 189.5 Rome and the United States Constitution
Rome’s protestation of loyalty to the United States government and its Constitution and free institutions must always be interpreted in the light of her official utterances. In speaking of the Constitution, Dr. Brownson, the renowned pervert from Protestantism, a recognized Catholic authority, uttered the following sentiment as recorded in the Catholic World for September, 1871, Vol. XIII, page 736:—
> “Interpreted by the Protestant principle, so widely diffused among us, . . . We do not accept it, or hold it to be any government at all, or as capable of performing any of the proper functions of government. . . .
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> “If the American republic is to be sustained and preserved at all, it must be by the rejection of the principle of the Reformation [church and state separation and republicanism], and the acceptance of the Catholic principle by the American people.” (See “The Papacy and the Civil Power,” pages 172, 173.) In view of Rome’s declared purpose, “What the church has done in the past for others, she will now do for the United States” (New York Sun, July 11, 1892), is it not high time for students of divine prophecy and Americans everywhere to give heed to the following timely warning voiced by Hon. R. W. Thompson, ex-Secretary of United States Navy, in the year 1876?— “It has seemed to me, for a long time, that it was the duty of the people of the United States to make themselves familiar with the history of the Papacy, its relations to the civil power, and its attempted encroachments upon the rights of existing governments.”—Preface to “The Papacy and the Civil Power,” Harper & Brothers.
Let us turn the searchlight of God’s prophetic Word upon Rome and her subtle arguments and schemes. In no other way can we obtain the victory over this gigantic system of error and oppression.