THEORY VERSUS PRACTISE.
By G.
In a recent address in San Francisco, Rev. P. C. Yorke, who seems to be the mouthpiece of the Roman Church in this part of the country, uttered the following sentiment:— He [the pope] is the supreme court of Christendom. He it is who is head as to what Christ has revealed. Now, he himself as a poor man taken from the ranks of the church and placed in the throne of the fisherman, he who is the vicar of Christ, the successor of the apostles, speaking as the head of the church and all the church, he is the arbiter and the only arbiter that exists upon this earth as to what is right and what is wrong. [Applause.] Now ladies and gentlemen, instead of this being treason, and instead of this being inimical to liberty it is absolutely necessary for the preservation of liberty in any land. This is the pith of Roman Catholic doctrine. Assent to this, and you assent to the righteousness of all that Rome ever has done, and to all that prophecy says she will do,—even to the making of the inhabitants of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication with the kings of the earth; even to her own drunkenness with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. (Read Revelation, chapters 13 and 17.) This utterance of a representative Roman priest is theory. For the practise of it, and its relation to the preservation of liberty, we have only to refer to the history of those times when Rome held universal sway, and to the condition of those countries where her theories now dominate. To this may be added her boast that “Rome never changes,” and that “what she has done for other countries she will do for the United States.” Christ forever settled the question of supremacy among His disciples, when He was yet on earth: “There was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” How is it with the pope? Even an emperor must approach him in the most abject humility. Christ also says, “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.” G.