Roman Catholicism Always and Everywhere the Same.
By Editor
This is a fact which we hear constantly affirmed, because in its very nature it must be so, because Roman Catholicism says so, and because the prophetic word also declares it. And yet Protestants who do not like to be unpopular are continually telling us that the Roman Catholic Church is not the same that she was in the Dark Ages, and that she is different in Mexico, Spain, Central and South America, from what she is in this country. She is more enlightened, we are told, in America and England. Hear what the chief Catholic paper of America, the Catholic Mirror, of Baltimore, of April 17, says upon this point. In speaking of a lecture of Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith, who apologized as above for the Catholic Church, the Mirror says:— “This discloses how little Mr. Smith really knows of the church, for her practices, ceremonies, and doctrines are the same everywhere—the doctrines absolutely so, and very little difference as to the rites and customs. The Sacrament of Penance in Mexico is identical with that in the United States, China, Africa, and everywhere else on the globe. Certain Protestants like Mr. Smith have a way of pretending that in their travels they found Catholicism in Spain, Mexico, Italy, and some other places, different from that in England and the United States; and so we hear of laxity in the religious orders and of license among the people. It is untrue. Unprejudiced travelers bear testimony to the fact that, while some of the local customs, which have little or no connection with religious belief, are different from ours, the piety of the people is deep and sincere. And as for carelessness with regard to religious obligation among the Orders, it is in those very places that a misstep on the part of a man or woman consecrated to God, excites the greatest horror.” How long will it be ere Protestants will believe that Rome is unchanged? It looks now that that time will not come till Protestantism has become thoroughly Romanized, and then she will love Rome as Rome was, and with Romanists will even defend the inquisition. And the day draweth on apace.