CHEERS FOR THE POPE IN A PROTESTANT MISSION.
By Editor
THE New York World of April 2 gives an account of an exciting meeting at Christ's Mission in that city. Christ's Mission is conducted by Pastor James A. O'Connor, an ex-priest. It is designed as a mission to Catholics, and a temporary home for priests who become converted to the Protestant faith. The meetings are quite largely attended, and quite often by those who are hostile to its purposes. On the occasion referred to, Mr. O'Connor read a letter written by a former Franciscan priest, named Alphonsus Hauberich, to the superior of the order. Cries of "God forgive him!" and "God bless him!" and mingled applauses and hisses followed the reading. The report continues:— "An excited man in the middle of the building jumped up and shouted, 'Read the fifteenth chapter of the book of St. John.' Several ushers advanced through the crowd that packed the building and tried to quell the disturbance, but the man continued to talk. In a moment a woman near by joined him, crying out: 'Heaven help this man. This is the way it was when Henry VIII. scoffed at the signs of the communion.'" "There was a commotion, and above the loud voices of the disturbers could be heard the tones of Mr. O'Connor, saying, 'Yes, these are like the scenes that attended the Reformation centuries ago.'" "The man and the woman who had spoken, followed by another man, started to leave. Just then the first man turned, and, waving his hand above his head, cried, 'Three cheers for the pope!'" "Thereupon Pastor O'Connor reminded them that they were liable to be arrested for disturbing a religious meeting, adding, 'Please keep quiet, and the meeting will do you good.' He then said: 'I am sorry to see our Catholic friends attempting to make a disturbance, but they do not know any better. This young priest who is with us here to-night is the sixty-second priest I have had the pleasure of welcoming on his conversion since I came here and started this mission, twenty-one years ago. More and more are coming. This young man's relatives and friends came here and reviled him, called him a traitor, and said he had brought disgrace upon them, but he does not think so, and he will now tell you why.'" "Then Mr. Hauberich, a young man, made an address, in which he took as his text the words, 'Rejoice in the Lord.'" But the Protestant character of the mission was somewhat sullied by the pastor himself, when he remarked that "when three cheers for the pope are given at a Protestant religious meeting, it is not the police that should be called, but the United States Army and the whole American people to repel the invasion." Only the spirit of Rome will ever call for the military force, or any kind of militant uprising of the people, to defend its religion. For the sake of the good work which Christ's Mission is designed to do, we hope its conductors will learn that all power, in heaven and in earth, is vested in Christ, and may be had only of Him—by His Spirit through the Word—in a way that will be of any service in true Christian work.