IS ROME BECOMING LIBERAL?
IN these last days it is becoming quite common to rejoice over the growing affinity between Catholicism and the Protestants. This condition is taken as a token of Christian unity, and that the world is growing better. The New York Christian Advocate quotes F. Marion Crawford (not approvingly, however), who, in writing from Italy concerning Leo XIII., says:— “We have, nevertheless, so far advanced upon the rough times that religious warfare is a thing of the past. We may even venture to hope that all extremes or virulence in feeling and speech are at an end between the different denominations of those who believe in one God.” That there is an increasing tendency to compromise differences, especially in Great Britain, Germany, and the United States, no one will deny; but which party is doing the compromising? It is Rome's boast that “Rome never changes,” and how could “infallibility” change? On the other hand, we have heard the sentiment expressed in a Protestant pulpit, by a noted Protestant professor, that the Reformation was a mistake; and the speaker was indorsed by numerous ministers of various Protestant denominations. Who, then, is making the advance, that the relationship is becoming so much more cordial than in former times? Is it not Protestantism in apostasy? For true Protestantism can not change its principles any more than the principles of Roman Catholicism can change. There are loud claims that Rome is becoming more liberal, but quite recent documents show that where in some countries there is a surface showing of liberality, it is not a matter of fundamental principle, but of expediency. Here is a decree of the pope, issued as late as 1881:— “The supreme excommunication, reserved as the special prerogative of the pope, is hereby pronounced against all those who give their names to the heretical sects, of whatever denomination, who take part in their religious services or listen to their preachers, who print the invitation to these services or the subject of the discourses. They commit moral sin who go to sing or play in Protestant churches, the publishers who print Protestant books, and the architects, contractors, masons, and laborers who work in the construction, repairs, or decoration of any Protestant church. Parish priests are hereby instructed to see that no one will work for Protestants.” Later still, in the year 1899, the Vatican organ expressed the propaganda's opinion of Protestantism in these significant words:— “The evil plant of Protestantism, which in the fifteenth century poisoned England, half of Germany, and a part of Switzerland, had as cultivators, as all well know, the corruption of the customs of the people and the favor of perverse governors, who, infected by moral rottenness, might truthfully be termed the negation of God. Every time these generating causes were accentuated, then the evil plant flourished, and every time that the sacred civilization of the Roman Church regained its place, then the evil tree was seen to wither up and disappear. This has been the history for four centuries. To-day the iniquitous schism is nearly at an end. When the so-called pastors of its more than hundred sects meet each other, they laugh among themselves, as did the ancient augurs of paganism. England and Germany are speedily returning to the mother church. Only a few shanties of refuge are left to heresy in the remote parts of the far-away Americas, from which the propagandists, parasites, and epileptics of Europe draw some encouragement at the sound of dollars. Our beautiful and beloved Italy, first among the nations, has never obeyed the internal teachings, but has denied the false prophets who came to sow discord among us.” Rome sees the trend of professed Protestantism Romeward, and sees its consequent weakening. We are in “perilous times” (2 Tim. 3:1-7), in the days of deception, when the enemy of souls is working “with all deceivableness of unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:10). For this reason the masses of professed Christianity see the church and the world walking together, and imagine that the world is being drawn to the church, when, in reality, it is the church going over to the world. And for the same reason they see Protestants walking hand in hand with Rome, for political purposes that are purely Roman in principle, and imagine that Rome is advancing toward Protestantism. It is a matter of prophecy that compromise between Protestantism and Rome means a Protestant-republican “image” to the Roman power. It is a matter of history that every concession of Protestant principle means so much recouping of Roman prestige. It has been demonstrated right in our own country that departure in any degree from Protestant-republican tenets, no matter what the pretext, redounds to the advantage of Rome. When Protestantism clasps hands with Rome, it is only to be drawn over to the Roman banqueting house. Protestants should beware of the delusion, no matter from what source, that Rome is becoming more liberal, or that “we have so far advanced upon the rough times that religious warfare is a thing of the past.”