THE MODEL STATE | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 29, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 34.

THE MODEL STATE.

The Catholic Universe, expressing the hope that a dispute between Ecuador and Peru will speedily be settled by arbitration of the pope, says:—

Ecuador is a model republic, being the only government in the world which grants a subvention to Peter's-pence, and which openly protested against the usurpation of Rome in 1870. Religious orders and all Catholic works prosper there.

Again and again Ecuador has been cited by Catholics as a model state, and so we may know very well what, according to the papal idea, constitutes a well-ordered commonwealth. The priests are the lawmakers, and the country is administered solely in the interests of the church and religious orders. So loose is the administration that no record is kept of revenues or disbursements, and when receipts fall short, an officer with a file of soldiers calls on the merchants of the cities for forced loans. Bible colporters have never been able to get into the country, and no books can be imported save by permission of the Jesuit priests who control the customhouses. No Protestant is allowed to live in Quito, even for purely business purposes. This is therefore a model state in the eyes of Rome, and all Catholic works prosper amid the ignorance and darkness. Some day the light will break even in Ecuador; for the everlasting Gospel must be proclaimed to every nation and people.—Present Truth.