“FEAR YE NOT THE REPROACH OF MEN.”
THE pope's blessing is really more to be feared than his curse. Of late he has been sending imaginary statuettes of Jesus to the crowned heads of Europe, with his blessing, the last to Queen Victoria. The “Golden Rose,” given from year to year to the ruler who has done most for the “church,” has not proved always a blessing. Bomba, king of Naples, lost crown and kingdom within a year after he received it. Francis Joseph, emperor of Austria, was defeated at Sadowa and lost his Venetian possessions within a year after the pope's blessing came. Queen Isabella, of Spain, lost crown and kingdom shortly after its reception. The Empress Eugenie was a recipient, and defeat by Germany followed. Mrs. W. T. Sherman received the “Golden Rose,” and soon died. Spain's armies were blessed, but defeat followed. The pope blessed Boulanger, and Maximilian and his wife, and many others, and disaster followed. An English steamer, laden with Sisters of Charity, sailed for South America in 1870 under the special blessing of the pope, but it never reached its destination. Says the Primitive Catholic of November, 1898, from which we gather these facts:— “The Grand Bazaar de Charite in Paris, on May 4, 1897, had the papal nuncio to deliver the benediction. It was scarcely five minutes afterward when the building was in flames, and nearly one hundred and fifty of the society ladies of Paris lost their lives. The late Empress of Austria was the recipient of the Golden Rose, accompanied by Leo's blessing. That did not protect her from the dagger of the assassin. “It is not superstition to regard with dread the special marks of the pope's favor, with such a history. It would be madness to ignore this dreadful record and its manifest instruction to the Christians of the globe.” The pope has cursed Italy and Germany and England and Luther, and Protestantism in general and particular, but this has not affected their prosperity. “His curse causeless shall not come,” God's Word declares; and it also assures us that “blessed are, they that do His commandments;” and whosoever God blesses shall be blessed.