Great Protestant Mass-Meeting by A. J. Saxby Bourbeau

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 25, 1913

Great Protestant Mass-Meeting

By A. J. Saxby Bourbeau

Great Protestant Mass-Meeting: “Why We Are Protestants: Reasons for the Separation From Rome,” the Subject of a Powerful Address at Nation’s Capital

A GREAT wave of Protestant enthusiasm has swept over Washington, D. C. On Sunday, December 14, at 3:30 P. M., there was held a union Protestant service in the New National Theater. It had been advertised through the newspapers, by the Protestant pastors to their congregations, and also to the Masonic, patriotic, and fraternal bodies, that a definite reply was to be made to the claims of Romanism and the recent political activities of the Roman Catholic hierarchy at the nation’s capital and elsewhere.

The response to this call to the Protestant colors was as surprising to the Protestants themselves as to their Roman Catholic fellow citizens. Long before the time appointed for the lecture, an audience of some two thousand persons had filled the theater from the orchestra pit to the gallery, several hundred persons being obliged to stand on the stage. Between one and two thousand persons were turned away after the doors were locked. Considering the fact that there were many other attractions in the city at the same hour, among them speeches in other churches by Secretary of State Bryan and Dr. Francis E. Clark, founder of Christian Endeavor Unions of the world, this turnout was a splendid tribute to Protestant sentiment in Washington. After waiting nearly an hour outside, the crowd adjourned to the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, where they waited until Dr. Randolph H. McKim, the pastor, had finished his two-hour lecture at the theater. As soon as he could leave the mass-meeting, Dr. McKim went to his church and delivered a short address to the “overflow meeting.”

The Protestant Ministerial Committee consisted of the following: Rev. Wallace Radcliffe, D. D., Presbyterian, presiding; Rev. Chas. F. Steck, Lutheran; Rev. J. J. Muir, D. D., Baptist; Rev. R. H. McKim, D. D., Protestant Episcopal; Rev. W. R. Wedderspoon, D. D., Methodist Episcopal; and Prof. W. W. Prescott, editor of the Protestant Magazine, who assisted in promoting the meeting.

The program was as follows:— Hymn: “Onward, Christian Soldiers!” Scripture Lesson: Rev. Chas. F. Steck Prayer: Rev. J. J. Muir, D. D. Luther’s Hymn: “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God!” Address: “Why We Are Protestants; Reasons for the Separation From Rome,” Rev. R. H. McKim, D. D. Hymn: “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” Benediction: Rev. W. R. Wedderspoon

The introductory remarks by the chairman, the opening prayer, and the benediction vibrated with the spirit of true Protestantism, even as did the chief address of the day. Recent events in Washington connected with the Fifth Pan-American Thanksgiving Mass, which was attended by President Wilson and other government officials, together with a series of bold and well-advertised “Lectures for Non-Catholics,” held at St. Patrick’s Church, November 9-23, by Rev. B. L. Conway, of the Paulist Fathers of New York, have served to awaken thousands of Protestants in this city to the dangers confronting America through the politico-ecclesiastical activity of the Roman Catholic Church.

Reverend McKim’s address on “Why We Are Protestants” was notable for its calm deliberation, lack of vindictiveness, and invincible historical proofs based wholly upon recognized Roman Catholic authorities. That the speaker did not mince matters nor trim his sails to Roman Catholic breezes is clearly seen from the following list of “reasons” assigned by him for the separation of Protestants from Rome:—

1. “Because we build our faith upon the impregnable rock of Holy Scripture and not upon the shifting sands of ecclesiastical tradition. The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the basis of the religion of Protestants; but tradition, interpreting the Bible and often superseding or contradicting it, is the basis of the religion of Romanists.”

2. “Because we do not believe in bartering our spiritual liberty away for the miserable yoke of bondage exacted by the Church of Rome. The Church of Rome puts the priest between us and Christ.”

3. “Because the doctrine of the Church of Rome, which we are called upon to accept as necessary to salvation, cannot be found in the Bible. The late Cardinal Wiseman acknowledged that neither transubstantiation, nor auricular confession, nor purgatory, nor worshiping of images, can be found in the Bible.”

4. “Because we want liberty of thought, liberty of conscience, liberty of speech, even if it does cause a little row now and then.”

5. “Because we love our country, and cannot contemplate with equanimity the possibility that this land of the free and home of the brave should be brought under the dominion of the Pope. Why not?—Because the popes have solemnly condemned free speech, free press, religious toleration, and liberty of conscience.”

Protestant Origin of America

The speaker declared emphatically that this republic was founded by Protestantism. He said:—

“Colonial America was Protestant, overwhelmingly so, and the statesmen and patriots of the American Revolution were Protestants, though there were many Roman Catholics who nobly and bravely labored and fought and suffered with them. But the ideas which gave birth to the Revolution were the offspring of the Protestant Reformation. The principles which lay at the root of the American Constitution were born of the Reformation; and it behooves us, whose ancestors pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor for American independence, to guard these principles of liberty from every open or secret assault.”

Our Liberties Are Abridged

Dr. McKim then summarized briefly the successful efforts of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to rob American citizens of their Constitutional liberties of freedom of speech and of the press:—

“Tell me, then, I pray you,” said he, “when politicians who are candidates for office tremble lest they should offend the Roman hierarchy; when merchants stand in awe of the boycott which the priests may proclaim against them; when the public press is ever on its guard lest it offend the Roman Church; when lecturers and Salvation Army preachers are in danger of mob violence in this land of free speech; when—

A Great Newspaper in Our Own City

is beaten to its knees by the club, which the priests know so well how to use,—I ask, when these things are true, is it not a fact that our liberties are abridged, that an ecclesiastical tyranny does already, in fact, exist in our midst?”

“Protestants Must Stand Together”

“What then?—Our great Protestant communions must realize the seriousness

of the crisis, and make common cause against this insidious menace to our liberties. They must come out into the open and stand together in solid phalanx against all these invasions of personal liberty, not in anger, not in bitterness, not with violence of speech or action, but calmly, resolutely.”

Reads From “Protestant Magazine” to Prove Romanism Un-American

Denouncing the deceptive sophisms of Archbishop Ireland, Cardinal Gibbons, and other Roman prelates who have been striving to lull American Protestants into the belief that Romanism and Americanism are synonymous, Dr. McKim held up the January number of the Protestant Magazine and read from its pages the following official condemnation of the above-mentioned prelates for their non-Catholic utterances on “Americanism.” The quotations were taken from an editorial in the New Orleans Morning Star (official organ of the Archbishop of New Orleans) of Aug. 16, 1913:—

“They [the prelates] are nearing that world where, thank God, there are no stars and stripes, and no lying Constitution [italics ours] to receive the adulations which involve a dangerously close kinship with heresy.”

“The theory [of the separation of church and state] is absolutely wrong, and he [Archbishop Ireland] knows it, but talks as if he didn’t, for the cheap applause of brainless patriots, whose allegiance to Christ and his universal kingdom must be limited and circumscribed and all but destroyed by their idiotically childish adherence to a scheme of government founded on the sophisms of Jean Jacques Rousseau and his school.”

“Our wonderful Declaration of Independence . . . is nothing but a rehash of the Contrat Social, . . . [but it] is the theme of elaborate laudations . . . even by members of the hierarchy.”

A Word of Warning to Rome

The speaker struck at the very tap-root of all the evils following in the wake of Romanism when he emphatically voiced the following warning to Catholic leaders in America:—

“Be content to be a spiritual and not a political organization; and beware that you make no attempt, direct or indirect, to tamper with the sacred principles of our Constitution. Then there will be peace between us, and we can live and labor together for the honor and the glory of our common country.”

Hears the Tramp of a Mighty Protestant Army

Dr. McKim stated that he felt sure that true Protestants everywhere would now rally to the standard of Bible Protestantism. He said:—

“The Protestant unity of action is coming. I hear the sound of its advancing feet. I hear from afar off the tramp as of a mighty army marching to the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic.’ It is an army of peace; its weapons are not carnal, but spiritual. By the force of reason, by the power of an enlightened public opinion, it will win its victories. Its voice will be the voice of the many millions of Protestant citizens, the great majority of our people, and it will command respect.”

Reverend Radcliffe, who presided at the mass-meeting, declared that “the Reformation,” “Martin Luther,” and “Protestantism” are three of the greatest words in the English language. At the close of the lecture he said that it was only fair to state that the great mass-meeting was due largely to the efforts of two citizens,—Dr. McKim, the speaker of the day, and Prof. W. W. Prescott, editor of the Protestant Magazine. In announcing the closing hymn, “America,” he incidentally remarked that a number of Roman Catholic periodicals and associations are demanding that this hymn shall not be sung on public occasions. Immediately there came from the audience the demand that all four stanzas of the grand old hymn be sung as a rebuke to such attacks, instead of only two stanzas, as announced by the chairman because of the lateness of the hour, 5:30 P. M. Never was the entire hymn sung with more devotion or patriotism, for it breathes the spirit of Christianity, Protestantism, and true Americanism.”

Adventists Should Spring Into Action Everywhere

With the great Washington dailies and the associated press sounding forth this Protestant alarm from the nation’s capital, let every Seventh-day Adventist spring into action and distribute our literature, such as the Protestant Magazine and Liberty, as never before. Patriots everywhere recognize in the third angel’s message of this denomination the very backbone of all lasting opposition to the claims of Romanism. Remember our special offers during the holidays: 5 six-month subscriptions for the Protestant Magazine to five different addresses, for only $1.50 (regular price, $2.50); 10 yearly subscriptions for Liberty, to ten addresses, for only $2 (regular price, $3.50). We have thousands of names and addresses. Send the magazines to leading attorneys, public-school teachers, legislators, judges, business men, sheriffs, and public libraries. Write your tract society today. While they last, the October, November, and December numbers of the Protestant Magazine will be furnished free with all one-dollar subscriptions for 1914. Do not forget that the January number contains a full account of the Pan-American mass (illustrated), of Secretary Bryan’s speech to the Knights of Columbus in Philadelphia, and the famous “Lying Constitution” official declarations of Rome. Nothing will do so much to counteract Rome’s campaign as the circulation of genuine Protestant literature.

A. J. SAXBY BOURBEAU.