Catholic Missionary Work.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
It is proper, in tracing somewhat the history of missions, that we pay a little attention to the missionary work of the Catholic Church. Our object in these articles is not to give anything like a complete or connected history of missionary work since the time of Christ, but to give examples, that we may learn just what spirit characterizes the true missionary; that we may know what qualifications are required in order to work sucessfully in the cause of Christ. We may learn this not alone from those whose lives were modeled as nearly as possible after the divine pattern, but also from those who fell into grievous errors. By the faults of others, it has been well said, wise men learn to correct their own. One of the most necessary qualifications of a missionary is zeal. Paul says, "It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing." Of Christ it was said, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." Paul would never have accomplished the vast amount of good that he did, had it not been for his self-denying zeal. In 2 Cor. 11 : 23-27 we find a brief summary which shows how great it was. The zeal of Peter is proverbial; one cannot think of him except as ardent and active in everything which he undertook. The gospel would never have been carried to the ends of the earth, but for those who disregarded their own comfort and even their lives. Now it cannot be denied that the labors of Catholic missionaries have been characterized by the most intense zeal. Whatever may be said of the indolence, sloth, and dissipation of the digni-taries of the church, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the vices of many of them, the pioneers in the various countries where Catholicism has obtained a foothold, were men who made no provision for self; they gave their lives for the cause in which they were engaged. The crusades were examples of burning zeal, although they were marked by fanaticism. They were missionary enterprises also, the object being to recover Jerusalem from the power of the infidel Turks, so that Christians could make pilgrimages to that city without being molested. The real object for which the crusades were projected, we will notice further on. It is sufficient to say that although they were missionary enterprises, nominally for the furtherance of Christianity, they were not characterized by the true missionary spirit. An excess of zeal, untempered by love, will always lead men astray. Outrageous cruelties were perpetrated, and hundreds of thousands of persons lost their lives in these attempts to increase the power of the church. Inoffensive Jews were murdered without compassion. Such things have no place in the gospel of Christ. Paul says, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. 10 : 3-5. And again: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Eph. 6 : 12. The disciple of Christ will not resort to physical force under any pretext. "The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men." 2 Tim. 2 : 24. We can set down the crusades, therefore, as being Christian only in name. They are examples of a spirit of which the missionary should avoid even the semblance. Still later we come to the founding of the order of the Jesuits, in the sixteenth century. This has ever been one of the most successful means of aiding the growth of the Catholic Church. The labors of the Jesuits have always been characterized by self-sacrificing devotion. The energy which they have displayed is recognized on all sides. No matter how great the danger, either from savages, from storm and flood, or from the ravages of the plague, wherever there was any chance of gaining converts to the church, the Jesuits were found; and they always held themselves in readiness to go to the most distant and unknown regions at the command of their superior. Their zeal may well be emulated by all who would work in the cause of Christ. But while we commend their energy and devotion, we must not forget that it was all put forth to advance—not the pure doctrines of Christianity—but the power of the popes. The order of the Jesuits has been from the first a military aristocracy, in which the Roman pontiffs have held supreme power. The rank and file gave up their own will entirely, it is true, but it was to the pope of Rome, and not to God. Every individual was powerful in his appropriate sphere, but in every act he was closely watched and guarded lest he should transcend his proper limits. The individual members, many of them, have been men of piety and devotion, and really conscientious, but even their influence was perverted, so that the cause of Christ was hindered rather than advanced by their efforts. The following from the "Lives of the Popes" shows the spirit of the Catholic Church in its missions: "In the true spirit of Roman arrogance, Augustine assumed to himself the right of governing all the churches in Britain, whether planted by the recent laborers, or existing from earlier times. But the ancient British churches were indignant at such an encroachment on their independence and liberties. 'We are all prepared,' said Dey-noch, abbot of Bangor, on one occasion, 'to hearken to the church of God, to the pope of Rome, and to every pious Christian, so as to manifest to all, according to their several stations, perfect charity, and to uphold and aid them by word and deed. What other duty we can owe to him whom you call pope, or father of fathers, we do not know; but this we are ready to exercise toward him and every other Christian.' This independence by no means pleased Augustine; and he was heard to say to his Anglo-Saxon followers, 'Well, then, since they will not own the Anglo-Saxons as brethren, or allow us to make known to them the way of life, they must regard them as enemies, and look for revenge.' The horrible spirit which dictated such a speech is too apparent to need comment, and shows how little of real Christianity the Roman missionaries mingled with their zeal for the papal see." This same misdirected zeal led the missionaries to work more to gain large numbers of converts who could be used by the popes, than to instruct them in vital godliness. To convert the people in a mass, was their object. Of this, the historian says: "It was perhaps the zeal of Gregory for multiplying nominal converts to Christianity that led him to introduce alterations in the forms of worship, which were so exaggerated by succeeding pontiffs as to change the solemn service of God into a ridiculous show. Observing the influence which the harmonies of music and the beauties of painting and sculpture exerted upon the minds of the Lombards and other half-civilized tribes, he resolved to employ the arts as handmaids to religion." If the energy and zeal that characterized the labors of the Jesuits, had been put forth solely for the good of the souls of men, and to propagate the doctrines of Christ in their purity, what a vast amount of good might have been accomplished. And shall the servants of the King of kings be less earnest in their efforts than the servants of the pope? Shall those who labor to spread the knowledge of true Christianity manifest less interest in their work than those who are laboring for the establishment of error? It certainly ought not to be so. There is no danger that we will be too zealous in the cause of God or that we will do too much, if our zeal is only according to knowledge. The wisdom that comes from above is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." Let the missionary be filled with this wisdom, and he cannot go astray however zealously he may labor. Without this, all his efforts will be worse than wasted. E. J. W.