The Watch Tower by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 8, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 48.

The Watch Tower.

By Editor

"Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night." Isa. 21: 11, 12.

INCREASE OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM.

FROM a biblical and true Protestant viewpoint one of the most alarming symptoms manifest in Church and State circles is the increase of the influence of Roman Catholicism; and this influence is everywhere manifest. It is seen in overweening sympathy and praise for the Roman Catholic hierarchy, clergy, and church. They are fawned upon by Protestant ministers and officials; they are truckled to by Protestant politicians; and secular newspapers are wide open for truculent praise and fulsome laudation of Rome in her various aspects, while Protestantism must be content with a "stick of type." All of this is in harmony with the "sure word of prophecy," which declares that all the world shall wonder after the beast, and worship it; that the harlot Babylon, the apostate church, would cause all nations to drink of the wine of her fornication. See Rev. 13: 3-8; 17: 8; 18: 3. It may be well to note some of the many evidences which are continually rising to the surface:—

1. Rome in This Country.

Rome controls our great dailies. Note the comparative space given to Catholic news and subjects, as compared with Protestant. Rome controls many of our great municipalities. Witness New York, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, San Francisco. Rome controls, to an extent greater than all other denominations combined, the finances of the United States Government. During the fiscal years 1886 to 1893 there was appropriated by this government to Indian schools under religious control, the vast sum of $3,767,951, of which Roman Catholics alone received $2,366,416, or nearly two-thirds. In 1893 the sum of $525,881 was appropriated for this purpose, of which Roman Catholics received $369,535. It had, as compared with the whole, more than nine-thirteenths. Is not this evidence sufficient?

In speaking of the results of the Parliament of Religions, Rev. J. H. Barrows says, in the Forum of September:—

One of the best results of the Parliament has been a better understanding, among enlightened minds, between Catholics and Protestants in America. When the American Catholic archbishops, with the knowledge and consent of the Vatican, decided to take part in the Parliament, they did much to give the meeting its historic importance. . . . The fanaticism and wicked folly of the methods of the American Protective Association have not destroyed the pleasant recollections of those golden days when, for the first time in history, Protestant and Catholic sat together in loving fellowship.

But all who understand the case know that Rome did not compromise at the Parliament. She took the glory of America to herself, and "Protestants" more than half admitted it. Here is a result. Says a recent number of the Catholic Telegraph:—

The Catholic Church is making converts among Protestants in every State of the Union every day in the year, while, on the other hand, the Protestant sects are finding no converts among Catholics.

Senator Edmund O'Connor (Republican), of New York State, in speaking of his election and the effort put forth against him because he was a Roman Catholic, says:—

It had not the slightest effect upon the strictly farming portions of that district. . . . Strong Protestants came to the polls, and with great satisfaction deposited their ballot for the Roman Catholic senator. My majority in the district lacked but a few votes of 7,000. The previous vote of the same counties was 3,000 majority. It may be said in this connection that because of the attack made upon me the Roman Catholic vote in the Democratic party was cast for me.

This shows where the church will always stand in politics.

2. Rome's Increase in England.

Says the Catholic Mirror of the 22d ultimo:—

The growth of the Catholic Church in England is remarked by every observer who visits that country. Not many years ago the sight of a religious habit was rare; now that sign of consecrated life no longer excites remark.

It then goes on to speak of the immense Catholic cathedral soon to be built in the Westminster district of London, costing $1,250,000, 370x270 feet and 100 feet high. It will seat 8,000 persons, and will include a monastery for thirty monks and forty-five lay brethren. In speaking of the reason of this increase, the Mirror thus refers to Cardinal Newman:—

By his example and his wonderful writings and sermons thousands have been brought back to the old faith; and in, say a century, or even half a century, from now, who can tell what may be seen?

The Moniteur de Rome, the official organ of the pope, thus speaks of the High Church Anglican clergy:—

The Anglican Church (especially since the accession of Leo XIII.) has endeavored to show that the chasm which separates her from the Roman Church has never been as great as the Lutheran, Calvinist, and various Protestant sects have been passionately anxious that it should be believed to be. The most distinguished members of the Anglican clergy insist and endeavor to prove by an appeal both to theology and history that, though externally divided from one another, they have always remained united in fraternal union with the Catholic clergy.

And then it goes on to say, "That a solution [of the difficulties which now hinder] will come, cannot be doubted." England is fast passing, without knowing it, into the hands of the Papacy.

3. The Papacy and Italy.

For years certain Protestants who have thought that the work of Protestantism was done, have been wont to point with triumph to the Italian Government, the victory of Victor Emmanuel, and the maintenance of it by King Humbert. But poor Italy! her life-blood is sapped by two leeches of heavy war debt and military expenses, and an avaricious priesthood; she is between the upper and nether millstones of the Papacy and Anarchy. She has reached about the limit of her endurance. While the very genius of the Papacy breeds anarchy, the Roman Church ever poses as the only one who is able to save from the dreaded foe. Says the Catholic Mirror of September 15:—

It was rumored soon after the attempt on the life of Signor Crispi that he realized the formidable and desperate character of the Anarchist conspiracy throughout Europe, especially in Italy, and was not unwilling to make terms, if possible, with the church to whom alone it was possible to look for an influence strong enough to cope with that of the great enemy of the social order.

Now comes news that Crispi has made a speech at Naples in which he openly advocated a reconciliation between the Vatican and the Quirinal. One day last week, according to the London Pall Mall Gazette, Crispi's private secretary had a long interview with Cardinal Rampolla.

This visit, the Gazette asserts, began a series of negotiations, the results of which are shown in the pope's prompt establishment of an apostolic prefecture in Massowah, immediately following which King Humbert gave his assent to the appointment of Cardinal Sarto, the pope's nominee, to the office of patriarch of Venice, concerning which appointment there has been a prolonged disagreement between the Vatican and the Quirinal.

The most significant incident of all, however, is the act of Signor Crispi going out of his way in his speech at Naples Tuesday to compliment Cardinal Sanfelice, the archbishop of Naples, and to summon the Church and the State to join their forces against the common enemy. . . .

Still, all the proceedings are significant, and, as the New York Herald says, "At present it seems as though Leo XIII. were to score another triumph before his Papacy comes to a close."

The two last paragraphs but one are taken verbatim (from the word "began" in the first) from the Pall Mall Gazette. Both Protestant and Catholic look upon the matter in the same light. The Boston Herald of September 16 has the following to say (we condense):—

In order to understand the condition of affairs it must be taken into account that, in his early life, Francesco Crispi was a noted revolutionist. He took a very active part in the revolutionary movement of 1848; he was the inspiring spirit in a long series of conspiracies running through the next twelve years. He must have been in constant daily association with conspirators and Carbonari of all kinds, and was indirectly, if not directly, connected with Garibaldi to undermine, not only the power of the various Italian civil rulers, but also the influence and authority of the pope. . . .

It is a marked change for a man with these experiences in past associations to affirm, in his position as the responsible head of the Italian Government, a government that has been for the last twenty-four years in open conflict with the Papacy, that the time has come when the civil and religious authorities must unite in leading the people, must close their ranks together, and, under the flag bearing the motto, "Our God, our king, and our country," must fight against the revolutionary spirit of the age.

An assertion of this kind coming from an English or an American statesman would not have a tithe of the significance that it does when coming from the Italian premier, for the religious recognition here recorded, the precedence given to the Divine Ruler, signifies under these conditions the subordination of the State to the Church, and that in order to defend society, as it is now organized, the Italian premier, in spite of his early experience, believes that it is necessary for the civil authorities of Europe to come to the head of the church, to accept of his leadership, and to work in harmony with him.

If the policy of the Vatican was a purely spiritual policy, such a recognition, while carrying with it a great deal of force, would not have the significance that attaches to it when one takes into account that Pope Leo XIII. has steadily maintained the pretensions of his predecessor, Pope Pius IX., to temporal authority. Since the day in 1870 when, taking advantage of the Franco-German War, the Italian soldiers under Victor Emmanuel entered the sacred city and marched through the streets of Rome, the pope have theoretically held that they were prisoners in the Vatican, and that an enemy, the king of Italy, was in possession of their proper domain. Hence, if Signor Crispi proposes to unite with the head of the church in a struggle against those who would disrupt society, it will become necessary for him to make terms with his chief ally, and it remains to be seen whether this understanding can be brought about on any terms short of an abandonment of Rome by the Italians as the capital of their kingdom, and the reestablishment in that city and in the surrounding country of the temporal government of the head of the church.

More might be given; this must suffice for the present. These events are but the prelude to still greater events. The submission of Italy, the abject servility of Germany, are but the ushering in of that time declared of God when the nations of the Old World "shall have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast," "until the words of God shall be fulfilled." Rev. 17: 13, 17. Then sudden destruction awaits them all. "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom."