p. 8 | CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Jul 18, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 29.

CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION.

By G.

A ROMAN priest, named Dalton, of Kansas City, upholds the course of the Catholic missionaries in China, who have organized the "Christianized" natives into armies and intrenched themselves against attacks by the Boxers. He says:—

"The day of martyrdom is past, and I have no respect for a man who will bow his head and let another fellow hit him. A few hundred years ago that was the proper thing, but now the only way to cope with men so narrow in religious belief as the Boxers is with a club or a bullet. I am fully in accord with the Catholic missionaries in China."

Mr. Dalton also approves of the plan of Bishop McFaul, of Trenton, N. J., to secure a federation of all the Catholic societies in the United States. On this point he says:—

"I agree with the bishop in the sense that I believe these societies ought to unite to create a public sentiment that would make any anti-Catholic movement impossible. . . . We are numerically strong, but morally weak. I don't believe in political organization of the Catholic societies; that would be nonsensical and would hurt rather than help us, but there is such a thing as making the politicians understand that public sentiment is more strongly in favor of than against the Catholic."

Of course this is all consistent from the standpoint of Catholic polity, but when we reflect that many professed Protestants are organizing for work on the same lines, and practically to the same end—church power in politics—the inconsistency is most flagrant. When we take into consideration the fact that much that now passes for Protestantism is really based on Catholic principle, we see considerable force in the remark that "public sentiment is more strongly in favor of than against the Catholics." The statement is still more forcible in the light of the "more sure word of prophecy." When the apostle John was shown in the Revelation the history of the world, he saw near the end of time the restoration of power to Rome, and that "all the world wondered after the beast." And he saw the government of the United States (represented by a beast having two horns like a lamb) making an "image to the beast" whose power was restored. This is all set forth in Revelation 13, and the warning against the work is given in chapter 14:6-12. To the student and believer of God's Word, such utterances as this of Mr. Dalton are not surprising. The question is, Will the people be admonished by such signs of the times?