PROTESTANTS APING THE CUSTOMS OF ROME.
By Editor
THERE is not a little imitation of Romish customs on the part of Protestants, much of it a mere thoughtless compliance with the dictates of fashion, but not, on that account, less injurious in its effects. A notable example has just been afforded by Mrs. Grant, who, according to news which comes direct from Rome to Washington, when she was presented to the pope, asked him to bless for her a silver cross which her husband had given her when they celebrated their silver wedding at Long Branch, in August, 1873. She said that on account of its being her husband's gift on the twenty-fifth anniversary of their marriage, she felt it to be particularly sacred, and desired the pope to bless it for her, which he did. We have no doubt that Mrs. Grant entertains the same convictions as to the real value of the pope's blessing on a piece of silver which are held by all Protestants. We have no belief that she thinks herself any surer of Heaven because she owns a cross over which the Roman Pontiff has extended his hands in benediction, or imagines that it can in any way affect her spiritual interests. Probably she only wished to be able to say: “This little article was blessed by the pope in my presence,” a very pretty and interesting way of preserving the memory of her visit to Rome. But the effect of her act on Catholic minds is shown in the exultant comments of the Catholic Review:— “The mental agony that ‘Chaplain’ Newman and ‘Bishop’ Simpson must have experienced on receiving this shocking information must have been intense. Here are two most unpleasant revelations. It was bad enough that President Grant—the man whom the Methodists had looked upon as their own, and whom they had wished to parade before the country as a champion of pure Protestant principles—it was bad enough to find that he had given to his wife as a wedding souvenir, a cross; the very emblem of Popery! But to learn also that she carried this idolatrous and superstitious article to Rome, had taken it to the ‘Man of Sin,’ and had besought him ‘to bless it’ for her—this, indeed, is terrible! . . . Seriously, this little incident, which we mention only because it has a serious side to it, has this significance. At the bottom of the soul of every intelligent Protestant there is the feeling—hidden, smothered, refused utterance, denied and vilified, but still alive—that the pope is his spiritual father, and that he is the visible head of the church of God on earth. . . . The spectacle of the living and teaching church in this country—her beauty, order, unity and majesty—affects the hearts and minds of those outside her pale in spite of themselves. The contrast between her and the sects daily becomes more striking: the common sense of Americans, once freed from the trammels of ignorant prejudice, recognizes the divinity of her commission and the weight of her claims upon their submission. They may defer this submission, or refuse even at the last to make it, but the feeling exists, and is often powerful in its effects.” The points of compliance with Romish customs, in fashionable circles, are almost numberless, and we submit that, in view of the effect which they produce on the Catholic mind, they ought to be discountenanced by all earnest Protestants. One cause for the invasion of these customs into good society is shown in the startling declaration which has been repeatedly affirmed on good authority, that “there are at this time, in this country, thirty-five thousand girls from professedly Protestant families in attendance upon Roman Catholic schools; and it is claimed by the managers of these schools that one of every ten of the girls in these schools is converted to the Romish faith; that three of every ten learn to hate Protestantism for life, and a large proportion of the whole become indifferent for the rest of their lives to all Protestantism in the simplicity of its faith and worship.” We are not able to verify the number here cited, and it is not necessary to do so. Every one at all conversant with the facts knows that the number of daughters of Protestants educated in Catholic schools is very large, and the results are greatly to be deplored. Protestants ought not to play into the hands of the enemies of their faith; American patriots ought not to bring aid and comfort to the subtlest and most dangerous enemies of the republic.—Christian Statesman.