A SAMPLE ROMAN CATHOLIC COUNTRY.
THE following from the Gospel in All Lands presents a picture of the degradation the Roman Catholic Church will bring a country to if left untrammeled:— Ecuador is the only country in America in which the Romish Church survives as the Spaniards left it. One-fourth of all the property in Ecuador belongs to the bishop. There is a Catholic Church for every one hundred and fifty inhabitants; of the population of the country ten per cent are priests, monks, or nuns; and two hundred and seventy-two of the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year are observed as fast or feast days. The priests control the government in all its branches, dictate its laws and govern their enforcement, and rule the country as absolutely as if the pope were its king. As a result seventy-five per cent. of the children born are illegitimate. The people know nothing but what the priests tell them; they have no amusements but cockfights and bullfights. There is not a newspaper printed outside of the city of Guayaquil. Although Ecuador is called a republic, it is simply a popish colony. The Spaniards are the aristocracy, poor but proud. The mixed race furnishes the mechanics and artisans, while the Indians till the soil and do the drudgery.