ROMAN CATHOLICS AND THEIR WORK.
THAT the bitter spirit manifested by the Roman Catholics towards Protestants during the Dark Ages is still cherished by them, is now and then evidenced by the bold statements of some impolitic writer or speaker, or by the cruel treatment received by Christians in places where they have full sway. Although hardly creditable, the fact is vouched for by a lady writing in the London Nonconformist and Independent, that the priests and nuns of the Roman Catholic hospital at Barcelona, Spain, show no mercy to the Protestants who fall sick into their hands. "Last Christmas," writes this lady, "I was at Barcelona, and during that time an English sailor who had a broken arm and leg was taken to the hospital. On Christmas day a doll, to represent Christ Jesus, was carried through the wards, and everybody was desired to bless it and do homage to it. This the sailor refused to do, telling them that, as a Protestant, he thought it wicked to do so. In consequence, he was put to half rations, and his bandages were not touched for twenty days, so that the fractures healed badly and had to be reset." The following from the Christian at Work, for Feb. 17, 1881, is also to the point: "The present tendencies in Spain are rather toward increasing restrictions upon religious freedom than the reverse. Ever since Alphonso came to the throne, the liberty of non-Catholics has been undergoing a process of continually severer restrictions. A new penal code is being drafted, and by it the public worship of Dissenters is declared to be a crime. The country is being overrun with religious orders, in the forefront of whom are the Jesuits, and these are preaching intolerance to all out of the church with characteristic vehemence. No less than three law suits are in progress against Protestant clergymen, all instituted by the Government. One clergyman is accused of having buried a Protestant in the general cemetery, and on his pleading the order of the Mayor, that functionary has also been accused. Another had, according to law, held a Protestant service with not more than twenty persons, but, on leaving the house, he found a number of people on the threshold, who he crossed, and spoke to several of them but did not deliver an address or hold a service. For this he has been condemned by the Court of Appeals to two months' imprisonment. This sentence is not likely to be quashed on appeal, for the judge in the upper court has declared that anyone who does not so much as take off his hat when a Roman Catholic funeral passes, is liable to imprisonment. The fact is, wherever Roman Catholics have power, they are to-day as offensively intolerant as they have ever been, all the protests to the contrary notwithstanding." A new Liberal Ministry having come into power since the above was written, it is possible that Protestants will have a better showing now. It certainly is to be hoped that they will. As all know, it is "power" that they seek wherever they can get a foothold. It is what they are working with such undaunted courage to obtain both in this country, and in the old. To show how they regard the success of the Ritualists of the Church of England, we quote from the Tablet, the leading English organ of the Roman Catholic church, which thus speaks of their labors: "To dwell only for a moment on the Ritualists, they are doing our work for us, and as time goes on they will do it more effectually. We consider Ritualism to be, indirectly, the most powerful propaganda for the Church (i. e., of Rome) which England has yet seen."