What Protestants Are Good for—a Catholic Estimate.
Says the Rev. Father Slattery, editor of the American Ecclesiastical Review:— "What good do Protestants do? Water, we know, will never rise above its level, neither will Protestantism. To our mind the Protestant missions joined with the English language are doing the same work for Asia and Africa and the isles of the Pacific that the Roman Empire and the Latin tongue did for the apostles. They are preparing the way, removing barriers, destroying prejudices. Their work is good by a natural goodness; even their handling of supernatural agencies, e. g., Scripture, preaching, or baptism, is more of a natural modus agendi than aught else." That is, Protestants help in "preparing the way" for Catholics; and it looks much that way in this country. But it is only those "Protestants" who have forsaken Christ and ceased to protest that are "preparing the way" for Roman Catholicism. The true Protestant in these days is "preparing the way of the Lord."