Christianity Cannot Be Put On
THE English princess Ena, of Battenburg, is to be married to the young king Alfonso, of Spain. Being a Protestant, the princess must change her religion and become a Catholic before the sanction of the pope can be obtained for the marriage, and it has been prominently announced in the papers that the princess would take this step. Incidentally, the nature of the Catholic religion is revealed in the fact that it can be put on like a garment, to suit the exigency of circumstances, and as a matter of policy. The Catholic religion is a religion of submission to human authority and guidance in the place of that which is of God, and requires no change of heart. Christianity can not be acquired in this way, but comes only by the operation of divine agencies on the heart, in response to repentance and the exercise of faith by the individual. A person can become a Christian only by the co-operation of God with his efforts, which co-operation will not be given because it is desired by the individual in order to attain some other end, but only as the individual recognizes salvation as the end superior to all others, and makes every other consideration secondary to it. Christianity is an armor, but not a cloak.