ROMAN CATHOLICISM by Rev. W. S. Bovard

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 11, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 10.

ROMAN CATHOLICISM.

By Rev. W. S. Bovard

Catholics are exultant over the project of establishing a great university at Washington, where it may impress its character upon the whole nation. Relative to the completion of this enterprise, Bishop Spalding recently said:

"The Catholic Church will then be the center of light in America, moulding public opinion and appealing to all men. The Catholic Church will lead the intellectual purpose of the land, and will make itself a power among American thinkers and educators. Politicians at Washington will receive a wider education, higher, nobler aim in life, a better purpose to make this country live in faith, in hope, and in thought."

The Bishop says, "The Catholic Church will then be the center of light in America."

To this apparently joyful statement we would reply, in the language of the scripture, "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" Whatever may be the extent of the ground for fear that Rome, with her seven million subjects in America, may seize and hold the strategic points in our nation, enough is apparent to cause every lover of American liberty to consider the wisdom of Washington, when he said, "Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens), the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican government."—Rev. W. S. Bovard, in California Christian Advocate.