Romanism in the Protestant Press
By Editor
As we have stated before, the journals published by Seventh-day Adventists by no means stand alone in recognizing the peril of Romanism which threatens the religious world at the present time. A glance through the Protestant press of the country reveals that many earnest men see in part, if not fully, the menace of the active Roman propaganda which has recently been inaugurated. We append a few of the many quotations which might be made from representative church journals coming to this office. Says the Herald and Presbyter of July 24, 1912, in speaking of the manner in which the Roman Church controls the Catholic vote for its own ends:— While it may not be true that the hierarchy absolutely controls the votes of all Catholics, yet it is the policy of the leaders to make it appear that it does, and that whoever fails to conform his conduct of public affairs to the wishes of the church must expect to be defeated in the following election. And this is true in national as well as in State and county and municipal affairs. It enters into everything. Only very few officials, from the President to the policeman, dare go in the face of a demand made by a Roman Catholic priest or bishop. Speaking of the same subject, namely, the Catholic vote, this same journal in its issue of July 31, 1912, says:— The politicians of the country fear the Roman Catholic vote. Both of the great parties and all the other parties want it. It is usually thrown as by one man and at the behest of the hierarchy. The Roman Catholic is a man of "the people," but he is a man of the church, and of the priest, and of the bishop, and of the cardinal, and of the Pope. He rarely denies it. He is willing to confess the truth in the case. When a Roman Catholic priest or prelate goes to a public10officer for the accomplishment of an object, he does not fail to let the official know that he commands the vote of the faithful. He does not hesitate to intimate that the future of the official depends upon his favor or disfavor of the object in view. The issue is joined just there. True, the vote of the church is usually and traditionally with one of the great political parties, but the other always wants it, and the leaders believe that at least a part of it is essential to success. "We can not afford to offend the Catholics" is a prevailing argument in political councils. The Literary Digest of July 27, 1912, quotes the Standard, a Baptist paper, regarding the efforts of the Catholic Church to Romanize America, as follows:— Is free America to become Catholic America? Protestants do not always realize the tyranny of Catholicism in nations where ecclesiastical and temporal powers are united, and the representatives of "the church" are the acknowledged head of church and state. Yet that is the goal toward which, it is declared, Catholicism is bending every effort in the United States. Catholicism is losing ground in Europe. . . . If Rome is to continue a power, she must rule on this side of the Atlantic. With carefully laid plot Rome, according to those who profess to know, is seeking to bring within her control the government of the United States. Catholic organs openly exhort American Catholics to work together "to make of the United States, according to a dream that is no longer visionary, the first Catholic nation of the world." This same journal in its issue of Aug. 3, 1912, in an article by J. W. Darby, discusses the pertinent question "Shall We Give America Away?" He argues that while Christianity is menaced by many evils, the greatest of these at the present time is Roman Catholic aggressiveness; that Rome is quite willing and even anxious that the Protestant churches of America shall pour their money into heathen mission funds while giving little attention to the thousands of immigrants from the Old World that almost daily land on our shores,—a class of people so constituted as to greatly augment the membership and power of Roman Catholicism in this country. He says:— The Catholic control will be greater in the future unless we awaken to the fact that we have a mission right here at our doors that needs our care and attention. Our American issues can and should be controlled by Americans rather than by the prisoner of the Vatican. . . . Our liberties were bought by the blood of Protestants, and should still be defended and kept alive by them. The only way to hold on to the liberties we have is to prevent Roman Catholicism from gaining power in America. . . . My appeal is not for the church to enter politics, but for it to teach the religion of Jesus Christ as he desired it to be taught. American missions should be supported to-day more liberally than any other cause before us. We must save ourselves from Rome for the sake of the world, or the cause of foreign missions is surrendered as well as our own cause here. If we are to unite Christendom, we must rise to this opportunity now. Narrow? It may be, but it is as God gives us to see it after much study of the present-day movements of Catholicism. Speaking of the position of the Roman Catholic Church on the question of marriage, the Northwestern Christian Advocate of July 17, 1912, comments as follows:— Now if the American people wish to stand for such a program, they may do so, but not with the consent of Protestantism. We are positive the sense of justice, the moral sense of the common American citizen, will certainly turn in revolt from such an utterly dogmatic and positively shameful and cruel attitude. Its strict enforcement would create more adulterers than it would restrain. To arrogate to herself the sole right to sanction marriage in the face of the opinion of the state and the deepest conviction of the greater body of Protestants, may be accounted just cause for deepest indignation. The Advance of Chicago, the organ of the Congregational Church, in its issue of July 18, 1912, quotes Zion's Herald as setting forth two great dangers which confront the American school system at the present time. One of these is the danger of Romanizing influences. The quotation reads:— There are various people in the community—many, but not all, of whom are Romanists—who would, if they could, lay hand upon public funds and devote them to the support of schools which teach particular tenets, and are associated with partisan interests. These intrigues, conducted for the most part with an unholy secrecy, must be detected by an alert patriotism, and combated by the composite Christian mind of the community. The editor of the United Presbyterian, organ of the United Presbyterian Church, in his paper of July 25, 1912, devotes the leading editorial to "The Protestant Awakening." He presents plainly a general view of the Catholic situation as it exists. From this article we make the following somewhat lengthy, but valuable extract:— In our opinion the awakening of the Protestants has largely been brought about by the fact that Rome has been very boldly aggressive of late. She has not been as careful to mask her movements as of yore. She has apparently been a little overconfident, and has ventured to press some of her claims that are most intolerable and repellent to a free people. The arrogance of the new-made cardinals, particularly Cardinal O'Connell, of Boston, the insolent demand that cardinals of the church must be treated as princes of the blood, the grave argument that appeared in Cardinal O'Connell's paper, the Boston Pilot, insisting that in this free America the cardinals of the Church of Rome at state functions must have precedence of members of Congress, the members of the Supreme Court, the diplomatic representatives of other governments, even the Vice-President of the United States; the demand that a cardinal in one of our ports must receive the same salute from the ships of war that would be given for the son of the emperor of Germany,—all this sort of arrogance and insolence has served to stir the blood of the sons of the Reformers. We have commented before in these columns on the unfortunate act of President Taft in setting aside Commissioner Valentine's order regarding the use of sectarian garb by teachers in certain of the government schools among the Indians. The President has said that this order was vacated only that time might be given for an investigation of all the facts in the case. But time has been slipping by, and so far as we have noted, no decision has yet been rendered, and presumably the nuns are still teaching in their distinctive garb in government schools, and are still being exempted from the civil service examinations which other government employees must take. There is a very strong suspicion that action is being held up until the political campaign is fairly well along, and the President has reaped the advantage of his reactionary order in votes. Catholicism has also been making her accustomed assaults upon our public-school system, has been aiding secularism to put the Bible out of the schools, has been renewing her demands for a partition of school funds in the interests of the parochial schools, and otherwise has been showing an itching desire to get a hand on the levers of government. It is these aggressions that have stirred Protestants up. And we feel that it is time for them to be fully awake. There is no need for any alarmist cries. There is no need for harshness or bitterness of feeling. But it is important that Protestants come right out into the open, and stand courageously for the principles that are vital to our religion and to our liberties. It is important that the issues at stake be kept in view. We believe that the thing Rome can least afford to meet is intelligent discussion of her principles and claims. Her strength is in ignorance and indifference. She is weak when the light of truth is shining brightly. As we stated at the outset, these quotations are but a tithe of what might be given. They indicate in a small measure the wide-spread agitation which has been created. We should appreciate the opportunity which the present discussion of this question affords us in placing before our friends and neighbors literature that will show them the meaning of these efforts which are now being made by Rome. Before our eyes to-day the prophecies of Revelation 13 are rapidly meeting fulfilment. It behooves us to be on our guard lest we be found sleeping. God has made us his sentinels. Let us be faithful in sounding the warning message entrusted to us. Our purpose should be to save men, not to condemn them. The most effective way to meet error is to proclaim the truth.