UNION OF PROTESTANTISM AND CATHOLICISM.
By A. Smith
A. SMITH.
(Grandville, Mich.) Some time ago the writer attended a Sunday-school convention at Grandville, Mich., at which Rev. R. Smith, a Presbyterian minister of Grand Rapids, Mich., made the following statement:— “The different denominations are drawing together with a closeness never before known; and there is an agreement among them that where one occupies a given field, another will not enter unless invited to do so.” It will doubtless soon, if it has not already, become a disreputable thing for any one, almost anywhere, to introduce doctrines or customs not held in common by the so-called orthodox denominations. Delay therefore on our part immediately to enter the field will make it, everywhere, harder to work. The following editorial, under the heading, “Religious Unity,” is taken from the Grand Rapids Evening Press:— “The fact that the use of the Catholic chapel recently erected in New York for funeral services for strangers dying at city hotels has been offered to Protestants has caused some comment, and Justice Brewer, of the United States Supreme Court, looking ahead into the next century [the twentieth], prognosticates that it will be marked by a wonderful unity among the denominations. The Protestant denominations are now practically one in many branches of work, though maintaining separate church organizations; and Justice Brewer also thinks that ‘the ancient enemies, Catholicism and Protestantism, are drawing closer together. The prelates and members of the two churches do not hesitate to affiliate in a thousand forms of labor.’ “The amalgamation of the several denominations is still a long way from being accomplished, and fundamental differences of belief relative to the authority and functions of the Church forbid such a consummation between the Catholic and Protestant divisions, but fraternization, as Justice Brewer intimates, seems to be drawing nearer. It is now recognized that all the churches are working for the same end. It is also beginning to be realized that every Church contains something of good, and that creeds are for the most part the creation of human minds only. Non-essentials are being pushed aside, and most of the churches now agree upon the main points of doctrine. “In the growing harmony between Catholics and Protestants, the Protestants appear to display the broader spirit of toleration, as is but natural, owing to the liberty of personal opinion their church organizations have permitted. The Catholic Church being the older and the original organization, it is natural that it should be less willing to forget and forgive, and it is, moreover, tenacious of the doctrinal positions it held long before Protestantism was born, and which have remained unchanged while Protestant doctrine has been modified in many particulars. A great change was effected, however, in the attitude of the churches when each admitted that there might be something of good in the other; and as such movements tend to gain headway, Justice Brewer may be justified in his anticipations.” Justice Brewer, of the Supreme Court, is the official who uttered the celebrated dictum that the United States is a Christian nation, basing his decision upon evidence drawn from Roman Catholic sources. Yes, no doubt, this is a Roman Catholic Christian nation. The following prediction was published in 1885, and is evidently now on the eve of complete fulfillment:— “Protestantism will yet stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of Spiritualism; she will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, our country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.”—“Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. IV, page 405.