Newspaper Page Text
September 11, 1912 ] T H ?
I
becomes a sincere Protestant is the most zealous
Christian you ever saw. As soon as he has found
Christ, he is zealous to have his folks and those
whom he loves, know of his discovery, and
anxious to have them led to a like joy. And
when he "moves"?that is, when he goes back to
Italy?and tells, about this promised land, his
zeal is felt for the folks at home, and he is
Rafifer to have thpm rmmo intn +Vi r? comn !** ...>
0 ?? . ? ???- vv-*v J?vv "IWU.C 1VVC UilOrl
fills his heart. In that heart he carries the
Gospel. In his hands he should carry it as well.
That is, you must remember that there is a
l'amine of the printed "Word in Italy, by policy of
the Latin Church, and that these neighbors of
ours who have moved out, can do a fine bit of
colportage if they take home a supply of Italian
Bibleq, See to that, will you f Thus the home
missionary is constituted a foreign missionary.
The fact is that those neighbors while they are
next door make the best of Christians, and when
they move out they make excellent missionaries.
Think it over. Call on them! Yes, call on
those neighbors. Be neighborly. "Why not ? By
so doing you will be in accord with the plans and
work of our Lord, who has always loved Italy,
and who sends the Italians here so that we may
lead them to Christ, so that, in turn, they may
(when they "move") lead Italy to the faith
preached by St. Paul.
Hartford, Conn.
CHRISTIAN GROWTH.
It is a very imperfect conception of Christian
life which views personal salvation as being an
end in itself. He who is concerned only for his
own spiritual safety is intensely selfish. Conversion
is only the mere starting point of a career of
growth and broad development; at least, this is
the Gospel pattern and ideal. It argues poorly
for the young Christian convert who has no set
purpose to use those means which are adapted to
promote his growth in the spiritual life. But the
chosen means are not enough. Prayer and de
votional reading are valuable helps, and they
cannot be neglected without harm to the soul
and mind. But, beyond these, there are processes
of discipline, ordered by God, for the furtherance
of Christian growth. Many a stalwart
Christian would not have attained his present
spiritual robustness had it not been for the acute
and probing trials which he experienced. The
winds of adversity which swept through his soul,
left him more deeply rooted in the foundations of
truth and faith in God.
The late Dr. A. McLaren, of Scotland, said:
"It is an experience, I suppose, common to all
devout men, that their times of most rapid
growth were their times of trouble. In nature,
lirimfAw nil irArfntnKlo 1 i fn Tn ffl*Q HA t.VlP
tTUlbCl OIU^O Oil mw. xii
growing time is the winter. They tell us that, up
in the arctic regions, the reindeer will scratch
away the snow and get at the succulent moss that
lies beneath it. When that Shepherd, who himself
has known sorrows, leads us up into those
barren regions of perpetual cold and snow, he
teaches us, too, how to brush it away, and find
what we need, hurried and kept safe and warm
beneath the white shroud. It is the prerogative
of the Christian soul, not to be without trouble,
but to turn the trouble into nourishment, and to
feed on the barest heights.'' O, tossed and
troubled soul, do not spend your time in brooding
over vonr sorrows, but make them ministers of
strength and greater growth!
C. H. Wetherbe.
Let the man who goes to church, who reads
the Bible, feel that it is peculiarly incumbent
upop him so to lead his life in the face of the
world that no discredit shall be brought upon
the faith that he professes.?Roosevelt.*
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
The Significance{ Im
Citizenship an>
By JUAN OR7i
Fifty years ago Protestant Christianity was
su puwcriui ana mnuenciai in Uie public Me af
America and in the public daily preset that
Christian doctrines and Christian sentiments
were pervading in many ways the public
thoughts and the collective Me of this great
nation.
This Protestant influence exerted a controlling
and upMting effect upon the foreigner and
even upon the Roman Catholic Church. 1
said four years ago: How many millions of
foreigners who have never known before what
Christianity means, who have never enjoyed
the sweet blessings of social and political freedom,
have learned here in America, tlirough
your teaching to be both faithful ChrLilians
and good citizens! How many thousands of
Italians, Poles, Russians, Mexicans, Cubans, and
so on, who before their coming to America,
were ignorant, bigoted, immoral and dangerous,
after having lived here for some time have
become civilized, honest, active, intelligent, useful
1--- > i- 1 ? ~
i.m vm<.uio lu uiuxiiviiiu, loyai to tiieir uod and
good patriots to their respective nations! How
many thousands of them return to their old
homes not only rich and civilized, but also apt
and ready to circulate and propagate American
doctrines, civilization and Christianity 1
And even more than this, your conception of
Christianity and freedom has accomplished a
great deal of good even to the Roman Catholic
Church, the oldest, strongest and most
numerous of all the Christian denominations.
Americans are accustomed to say?and 1 think
they are correct in some respects?that the
American Catholicism is many times purer and
' better than the Catholicism of Mexico, Italy,
Spain, and other Roman countries. Both Protestants
and Catholics alike think so, say so
and write so. Both Americans and Europeans
believe so, feel so, propose so.
But to-day it is not so. Protestantism is being
set aside in the public press and in public
life. Look carefully through the most well
Known magazines and daily papers and tell me
for instance what were the denominational religious
issues for the last year and for this
year. Were they not Roman Catholic? Did
not the Eucharistic Roman Catholic Congress,
Cardinal Gibbon's Jubilee, the creation of the
new Cardinals, their reception in America, etc.,
fill for days and days the most important columns
of the best known and most widely read
papers and magazines. Is it not true that space
is always given to the speeches and utterances
of Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Ireland, Cardinal
Farley, of New York; Cardinal O'Connor,
of Boston, etc? And this space is granted to
them in nnr most rolioKlo ?J ?
? a vuoimic lua^aijiiics ana pfl*
pers.
I will not insist upon this topic because only
the dormant or indifferent Protestant will question
the emphatic and almost controlling influence
exerted by the Roman Catholic Church
upon the national press. I will only briefly
point out some of the consequences of this influence.
Protestantism is no longer the uncoauuromising
religious system of the Pilgrim Fathers.
It is no longer the stern gospel affirmations of
tVlP PllPlUno T* i. -? 1 *' "
U..WU. At is xiu iuugur me vivid and
militant preaching of Luther, Calvin and Kj?o^
It is no longer the brave and burning teaefe^g
of Paul. American Protestantism (I dw
mean the Protestantism as it is stated in *ne
Creed but Protestantism as it is preached in
pulpit and expressed in Protestant magazines;
OTH (1033) 3
migration to American
d Christianity
LGONZALEZ
thnt (in nnl I'ni-nuf tlint I J"
Lnui x ixo nut spea*.
of the Presbyterian Church particularly since
this is one of the few churches which keeps
itself somewhat alive in its light for the pure
gospel.) American Protestantism i say appears
to-day a timid and compromising religious
system ready to be silent on fundamental
doctrines for the sake of peace and mutual
tolerance. This policy reached its climax in
the last Edinburgh conference where all Protestant
churches agreed to exclude from that meeting
all the missionaries who were preaching
among Catholics. This was a tremendous
blunder which will cause in the near future
very dangerous consequences.
Mark well that 1 do not at all advocate fanaticism
and intolerance. Every one who has
read my book on Catholicism or my pamphlets
on the articles 1 am publishing in the Presbyterian
of the South knows how lnvincrlir T
O-., ?
always treated any question connected with the
Koman Catholic people.
Since Protestant Christianity has been banished
from the public national life, the foreign
views about public amusements and keeping
of the Sabbath are dominant to-day in America.
At least this is already a fact in the large cities
where foreigners constitute a majority. In
these cities you will see saloons open on Sunday,
moving pictures, theaters, baseball, etc.
The last attempt to break down respect for
the Sabbath day was made in New York by
several Roman Catholic churches, which last
month planned and began to play a public
baseball contest. It is true that the Police
stopped the games but the Roman Catholic
Church protested and 1 am sure they will succeed
as they have succeeded in forcing the Bible
out of the public schools in many States.
The liberties taken in some of the theaters, mov
picture snows ana the jokes used by some
of the popular magazines are also indications
of controlling foreign influence. The general
amusements to-day are rather in accord with
those of Paris, Rome, Madrid and other Latin
cities than with the usual amusements of a
Protestant country.
Again the efforts of the Roman Catholic
Church have removed from the public schools
about two million pupils who are now attending
parochial schools conducted almost exclusively
by foreign friars and nuns.
1 do not mean to complain about the existence
of parochial schools. I believe that Catholics
have a perfect right to open their parochial
schools just as we have to open our Presbyterian
seminaries. What 1 mean to say is
this, how can boys become good citizens of the
United States when they attend foreign schools
conducted by foreigners and in many cases the
teafihincr is aivam ? 1 "
???q ?* g*?yu iu cl language tnftt is not
English T
What will be the final result! So far as I
know the problem the results will be the paralizing
more and more in public life of Protestant
influence, the increase of Catholic influence and
the spread of socialism, anarchy and unbelief.
Brethren for God's sake and for the good of
the country do not believe that I exaggerate.
Stll^v tlm t\i?aK1ow j ? 11
j auu yuu wm see that either
the Protestant churches must awake and do
more aggressive work, well organized and national
in character in order to change foreigners
into good citizens or your sons will see the destruction
of American civilization and will find
a nation made up of fanatics, unbelievers, socialists
and anarchists.