This may be a new name for the $300,000 Fund, but in very fact this is what it is. It is a fund for saving the lives of our missionaries, who are struggling at great odds where conditions are such that really it seems a miracle of God's protecting grace that they live at all.
That you may have a living picture before you, I wish to give the space of any appeal I could make to a description given by one missionary out in the Bombay district in India, Elder Geo. F. Enoch. What he writes might be said, with slight variation, by many others working in other fields. Read what Brother Enoch says of the actual conditions he faces in hot India, and try to place yourself in his or his wife's or child's place:—
“After it was decided that we should locate near Indapur, there were some vexatious delays; but we finally succeeded in making our forward move on February 1. Unfortunately, an attack of the grippe, which affected all of us, coincided with our date of moving. But the rapidly approaching hot season made it imperative that no time be lost, so we bade farewell to Poona, where we had spent a pleasant year studying the language and becoming acquainted with the customs of this new field.
“Our journey was sixty-five miles by rail. After that we were ferried over the Bhima River. From here to Indapur was fourteen miles. For that part of the trip we were to enjoy(?) the questionable pleasure of a ride in a springless bullock-cart. Unfortunately, all the bullock-carts were gone for that day. I will not write concerning that difficult journey,—of the hot sun, the lack of water, the hard dung floors on which we had to sleep,—but will only say we finally reached Indapur at three one afternoon, completely exhausted.
“At this time of year the country in these parts is all parched and burned; the heat is great, and water is very scarce. We dare not drink unboiled water. As there was no well connected with the bungalow, that first afternoon we were compelled to use the water the people brought us. They assured me it was all right. ‘It is the same as we use every day of our lives,’ they said, thinking that what was good for them should be all right for sahib. However, our native boy brought us water from what he assured us was a superior well.
“As early as possible the next morning we set out to investigate our water-supply. The first well was in a garden, and the people were busy drawing the water by bullock power for irrigation. This well was a little turbid, so our native boy urged us to investigate a second well. We found it near by, right in the center of a Mohammedan graveyard, and filled with dead leaves and semistagnant water. We turned back to the first well. It was a large well, twenty feet in diameter, with steps going down into the water. Imagine our surprise to find a man down in the well busily washing the dirty clothes which he had just removed from his body. Our expostulations were met with the all-sufficient reply, ‘But, sahib, he is a Brahman.’ Somehow we consider a Brahman's dirt no better than any one's else, so we inquired about other wells.
“The people, seeming willing to aid us in spite of our peculiar prejudices, told us of a well near the town dispensary, which had a notice board on it forbidding the washing of clothes in it. So we hastened there, hoping our troubles were over. We found it a well with great wide steps all the way down to the water. As it was early morning, the women were coming for their morning water-supply. A group of half-clad, dirty-looking women from the out-caste quarters near by came while we were watching. They descended into the well, and calmly proceeded to make their morning toilet. They were barefooted, so first of all their dirty feet and legs were well washed, then their hands, arms, and face. After thoroughly washing out their mouths, the contents were ejected back into the well. It only remained for them to wash their dirty water-jugs before dipping up water from the same place to bear happily away full vessels for drinking and cooking purposes. Truly the notice board was there forbidding the washing of clothes; but we wonder how much boiling our medical friends would recommend to make such water fit for human consumption.8
“Further inquiry disclosed a good well without steps, well protected; but alas, it was in the caste quarters, and we could not draw water from it, for we would defile it! The irony of the situation amused us in spite of our difficulties. But as it happens that water is one of the most necessary things in this climate, we finally settled the matter by employing a high-caste man at rather an exorbitant rate to bring water for us. What sort of philosophy can settle the questions arising in my mind as I sit on my veranda watching my half-clad (or less) water-carrier, not too clean, bringing with impunity water from the well I can not touch for fear of defiling it?
“Well, such was our entering into Indapur. The people have made us welcome in their way. We have started a school for the low-caste children. There are three native workers with us, two of whom have their families. Our daily program is something like this: Marathi morning worship, 7 A. M.; Marathi Bible class at noon for native workers; preaching in high-caste quarters at 7 P. M. We are getting nicely settled in our work, and are glad we are here. For one hundred miles to the south, and forty miles in all other directions, lies village after village where the name of Jesus has scarcely been heard.
“Next month the thermometer will register close around 115° F. in the shade, and we have only the uncertain tenure of a government bungalow, in which we can not properly protect ourselves from the heat. Do you wonder that we are very much interested in that big fund for missions, and will watch with anxiety the way our people respond to the call for it?
“It will take perhaps a thousand dollars to build the cottage and the well. If you were in our places, would you not pray for a cottage and a well? We have faith that our prayers will be answered, and will try to conserve our strength as best we can until help arrives.”
Is not the $300,000 Fund truly “Our Life-Saving Fund”? Every dollar sent in helps to relieve just such situations as described above. Who will be first in throwing out a life-line to some missionary?
Takoma Park, D. C.
The South American Union Conference
By N. Z. TOWN
N. Z. TOWN
The second biennial session of the South American Union Conference was held, according to appointment, in the college at Entre Rios, Argentina, February 25 to March 12. The twenty-two delegates began to arrive several days before the appointed time, and at the opening meeting every field was represented except Ecuador, Elder W. W. Wheeler being detained at home by the serious illness of a lady for whom he and his wife were caring. Besides these there were eight delegates to represent the medical, educational, young people's, publishing, and canvassing departments of the work.
RIO DE LA PLATA SANITARIUM AND COLLEGE, ARGENTINA. THE UPPER BUILDING IS THE SANITARIUM
One of the interesting features at the beginning of the meeting was the visit of Brother F. G. Penzotti, the general agent, for Spanish-speaking South America, of the American Bible Society. He has spent thirty-three years in the Bible colporteur work in Central and South America, and has distributed Bibles in every republic in these two fields. The interesting talks he gave us on the Bible, and on the experiences he has had as Bible colporteur, were inspiring. The persecutions through which he has passed in some of the South American republics, especially in Peru, have done much toward bringing about a greater degree of religious freedom. At one time he was imprisoned eight months in Callao, Peru, for selling Bibles; he was finally released through the influence of the United States minister.
During the year 1909 the agents of the American Bible Society distributed over sixty thousand Bibles, Testaments, and Bible portions in the Spanish republics of South America, an increase of about fifteen thousand copies over the previous year. We thank God for this good work. At the close of the last talk given by Brother Penzotti, the brethren took up a collection for the Bible Society, which amounted to about sixty-four dollars, gold. He was very much surprised to see so large a collection from so few. Another collection was taken later, which raised the total to about one hundred dollars.
Owing to the illness of Brother G. E. Hartman, the union secretary, the president was unable to give as exact statistical reports of the work as he otherwise would; but the reports from the different fields showed that the work is onward in the South American Union. The state of Parana, Brazil, which had been organized into a new conference, was received into the union at this meeting, and Peru was changed from an unorganized to an organized mission field. The states of Rio and Espirito Santo were separated from the North Brazil Mission, to form a separate unorganized mission. The South American Union Conference now has five organized conferences, two organized mission fields, and six unorganized mission fields.
The next step in organization in this field will probably be to divide the union conference itself.
This was one of the five questions at this session of the conference. All the delegates, as well as the union conference president, felt that the time has come when Brazil should be organized into a separate union. With the present growth of the work, and so many different interests to look after, in a territory twice as large as the United States, and with traveling facilities very poor in many parts, it is impossible for one man to oversee all. It was therefore recommended that as soon as it can be arranged, probably next year, Brazil be organized into a union conference, and that the General Conference take into favorable consideration a further division of the remaining portion of the field. The general sentiment of the delegates was in favor of organizing Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile into another union conference, setting off Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador into a union mission.
When Elder J. W. Westphal first became connected with the work in South America, before he learned the Spanish, I often translated for him from German to Spanish, and I enjoyed the good meetings we held. The second Sabbath of the union meeting I was glad of the privilege of standing beside him once more as translator while he gave a stirring talk on our duty to South America. The hearts of the brethren were touched as they saw the debt they owe to the dark lands south of the equator. At the close of the meeting a collection was taken for the Indian work on the west coast, which amounted to $535, Argentina paper.
One who had been connected with the work in this field almost from its beginning9could not but rejoice to see the progress that has been made. In October, 1899, Brother F. H. Westphal, two or three of the German Russian brethren, and the writer drove up to the spot on the open prairie where the Argentine school now stands, and there knelt down in the grass, asking the Lord to direct us in staking out our school plot, and in planning for the school enterprise. From the small beginning then made, the school has grown until last year the attendance reached 124.
The accompanying views show the new school building and the sanitarium near by. These two institutions now have property worth not less than $35,000 gold. The sanitarium is crowded to its utmost; every few days, for lack of room, people have to be turned away who would like to come for treatment. “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.”
When one of the delegates was taken ill, how glad we were to see stalwart young men, natives in nurses' uniform, come for him, and take him over to the sanitarium, where he could be properly cared for. Such an institution as this means much more to our brethren in South America than in the home land, where capable physicians are easy of access.
The publishing work, and the proper organization of the book work in the union, received careful attention. Several recommendations were passed, which, when carried out, will result in putting the book work in South America upon a solid basis. Brethren Max Trummer and T. H. Davis gave most encouraging reports of the work already done in their respective fields. These two brethren are “field” men in reality. During the week before the conference opened, they went into the city of Rosario, and spent some time canvassing together, in order to get points one from the other. In fifteen hours, working together, they took sixty orders for the Spanish edition of “Patriarchs and Prophets.” They returned to their fields from the conference determined to organize their forces well, and push the work as never before.
Another important action affecting the publishing work was the recommendation that the printing plants in Argentina and Chile be united. After Jan. 1, 1911, all Spanish printing in South America will be done in Argentina. This unites the two Spanish missionary papers. It is planned to bring out a thirty-two-page paper in magazine form. The new Spanish health journal, Salud y Vida, launched at the beginning of this year, is well received. It started off with an edition of 7,000. The editor of one of the leading dailies in Valparaiso has spoken very highly of this journal in his paper.
The last Sabbath of the meeting was a good day. At the close of the afternoon service Brother Luis Rojas, a native of Chile, Julio Ernst of Uruguay, and Ignacio Kalbermatten of Argentina, were ordained to the gospel ministry. Brethren Ernst and Kalbermatten are both of German-Swiss parentage. Brother F. W. Spies offered prayer in German, Brother J. V. Maas in Spanish, Elder J. W. Westphal gave the charge, and the writer the welcome. It was an impressive service. It was good to see these young men, natives of the country, added to the force of ministers in this needy field.
After having been connected with the cause in South America twelve years, and taking an active part in every general meeting during that time, it seemed rather strange to be present at a conference as a visitor. But I was glad to be present, even as such, and my heart was cheered as I listened to the reports of progress. The Lord has gone out before the workers in the South American Union, and the outlook never was brighter than now. The brethren all returned to their fields with renewed courage, and we expect to see good reports from them in the future.
Takoma Park, D. C.
The Marathi Country, India
By GEO. F. ENOCH
GEO. F. ENOCH
The problems which confront pioneer workers in heathen lands are many and varied. Among these the new worker finds that of his relation to other missions and mission workers. We recognize as from God the great world-wide advance into the unevangelized lands beginning with the time of Carey. God has sent out into these dark places true-hearted, loyal soldiers of the cross, who have successfully planted the banner of Jesus at great sacrifice. No more delicate question faces our workers than that of our relation to this work already started.
Again, it is manifestly impossible to carry forward work along the same lines in heathen countries as in Christian lands. The preacher who depends on the notes on doctrinal subjects which he has been using for years would find himself dumb before a heathen audience. Our workers in these lands must blaze out a new trail, and should have the prayers and sympathy of all in the home land.
Not Where Christ Was Named
After careful consideration our India committee decided that in the Marathi country some unoccupied field should be selected, where the resources of the third angel’s message could be measured up against raw heathenism, there forming a center from which the light could shine forth into all the Marathi country. “Yea, making it my aim [being ambitious] so to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation; but, as it is written, They shall see, to whom no tidings of him came, and they who have not heard shall understand.” Rom. 15:20, 21, A. R. V.
Prospecting for a Location
In carrying out this plan, the preliminary work was left to the writer. Later, Elder J. S. James and Dr. H. C. Menkel joined in a trip through the section which seemed most favorable. A little later our committee selected the field.
We had many interesting experiences during these prospecting tours. In one village during our customary short service, in which I was assisted by our native evangelist, we were interrupted by the inquiry, “Does this Jesus live in Poona?” Further inquiry proved that those people in all their lives had never heard of Jesus or Christians. No Christian had ever before visited their village. This experience was repeated again and again.
At another important town we were waited on by a deputation representing the Mahar caste, asking us to start a school for their boys. They promised to build us a schoolhouse, give free a house for the master, and allow Mang boys, a lower caste, to sit with their boys. From these two castes the majority of the Christians of the Marathi country have come. “Kindly grant our petition; for no one takes an interest in us, no one cares for us,” were their parting words.
We have no desire to represent these people as waiting for Christianity; for they are not. This territory is a stronghold of Hinduism. Panderpur, the largest town in the territory, with a population of twenty-three thousand, is rightly called the Benares of western India. At the time of our visit some eighty thousand pilgrims were attending a religious festival there. But their great need appeals to us; for they are without hope and without God in the world.
The Territory
You will find the territory selected between the Bhima River and the Western Ghats, or mountains. There is here an unoccupied field about one hundred miles long and from forty to eighty miles wide. Roughly speaking, it has a population of about seven hundred thousand, living in about eight hundred fifty villages. We have entered the northern part of this field.
For the most part the country is semiarid, and except along the river-banks, crops are uncertain. The people live almost constantly under the shadow of threatened famine, but somehow they manage to pull through year after year. At one point north of the Nira River there is a large canal, which makes the crops certain there. As our work develops, we should have a foothold on this canal.
We entered Indapur in the northern portion of this territory on February 1. Indapur is a town with a population of about six thousand, the county-seat of a taluka, or county, of the same name. This taluka has a population of about seventy thousand, living in nearly one hundred villages.
We earnestly request an interest in your prayers in behalf of this new work. Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Kelsey are busy in Poona studying Marathi, and will be able to join us as soon as funds for our buildings arrive.
Indapur.
Editorial
By Editor
“For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back.” Heb. 10:37-39.
A Straight Path.—The prophecy of Rev. 14:6-14 reveals a straight pathway of divine truth leading from the judgment-hour cry, in verse 6, to the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, in verse 14. It is one complete prophecy. As the pioneers in our work saw the light of the third angel’s message, and took their stand for “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” they could plainly see the straight path, and pressed joyously along it to carry the warning cry to all the world.
Time’s Vindication.—The mass of the First-day Adventists, instead of accepting the third message, and pressing on in the path of fulfilling prophecy, practically repudiated even the path along which they had come up to the final judgment-hour cry, in 1844. Their experiences, and that of our own people, were thus referred to by Elder U. Smith in the number of the REVIEW closing the year 1870, when for twenty years this paper had been pointing out the straight, undeviating pathway to the city of God:—
The REVIEW is the only paper advocating the third angel’s message of Revelation 14, the message that immediately precedes the second appearing of the Son of man. It alone, therefore, of all the advent papers published, occupies a consistent position on the advent question. During the comparatively long period of its publication, how many ignoble theories of men have we seen crushed into their mother dust by the stately tread of Time! Men, groping in blindness, have set time after time for the Lord to appear; they have marked out certain revolutions to transpire at a certain time; they have set up an insignificant personage as the man of sin, the Antichrist, the destined monarch of the world, etc., and have pathetically appealed to Time to prove them correct. But he, as it must seem to them, like a careless, blundering Jehu, has passed right over their daintily-constructed theories, and trodden them out of sight in his onward march. The past history of these interpreters is but an accumulation of misapplied prophecies and demolished theories. Under no such incubus of multiplied failures does our cause labor. On the contrary, every passing year confirms and strengthens our positions. With tenfold more confidence can the great features of present truth be now set forth than they could even a few years ago.
AND since 1870, what a revelation of fulfilling prophecy has been spread before us! Then our enemies scoffed at the interpretation which saw the rise of a Sunday-law movement in this country. People said it would never come. We have been fighting it, face to face, these recent years. In 1870 not a messenger of ours had crossed the sea. Now the representatives of the message are found in nearly every land, and year by year new tongues are praising God for the truth that transforms the life, and gives hope of soon seeing the Lord Jesus coming in power and glory.
The Ever-Conquering Message
By William Ambrose Spicer
I WRITE from Christiania, where the Scandinavian union and Norwegian conferences are just closing. Others will report the Scandinavian meetings in the Field department. I shall not attempt here to go into the figures and statistics which show that the message is onward in these northern lands.
But it is a cheering message that we can send from Christiania. Ten years ago, “the situation in Christiania” was a phrase that brought anxiety and depression. To-day the suggestion is only of good courage and a strongly developing work. The brethren in America, in those years, and the brethren everywhere, came forward in the time of disaster, and by their gifts saved the good name of this people in Scandinavia. The brethren in charge of the work in Europe and Scandinavia have worked like heroes at the post of duty. And now the old headquarters at Akersgaden 74 is the center of a vigorous work, which is reaching out to all the Scandinavian-speaking world.
Thus there is never any permanent backward movement in this work. It is always onward, out of difficulty and seeming disaster, into greater strength than ever. The Lord is ever giving us even “the valley of Achor,” or of Trouble, “for a door of hope.” Hosea 2:15. Look over the whole sixty-five years of our history, and we shall see this at every stage of the journey.
If those who helped the Christiania institution in the day of its trouble could have seen it during the meetings of the last week, their hearts would have been cheered as mine has been. Akersgaden 74 is splendidly situated in the heart of the city. From just across the street one may look down St. Olaf’s Street to the royal palace, only eight minutes’ walk distant.
In the high basement of the conference building is the printing-office, with the presses running off the pages of printed truth. And the publishing work is showing good financial gains.
On the first floor are well-equipped treatment-rooms, with a vegetarian restaurant; and this department is bringing good returns financially, and proving a strength to the cause. On the second floor are the office of the conference and tract society, and the large meeting hall where our conference was held.
It was the first time I had ever met with the Scandinavian brethren in conference. Day by day I witnessed the rich blessing of the Lord among them. Delegates were present from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and from various parts of Norway, though a large proportion of the congregation was from Christiania. On the Sabbath over four hundred persons filled the hall, and the Lord filled their hearts with the joy and blessing of his good Spirit. The truth is dear to the hearts of these believers, and they are a united band, dedicating their lives and their means to the work.
Only a few years ago the Mission Board was making appropriations to Scandinavia. Now this union is not only carrying its own work, and with a fresh vigor that is bringing increase of membership in every part, but is pouring a liberal and increasing stream of money into the mission fields beyond. Daily it did me good to meet with these believers. They are heart and soul with us for the finishing of the work. Sabbath afternoon, after a talk on Abyssinia, by Elder L. R. Conradi, one hundred dollars was dropped into the collection bags for Abyssinia. And at the closing meeting, Sunday evening, the brethren and sisters united in commending to God a young brother, Emory Lorenz, who is to go to the new mission on the Abyssinian border. His father, Brother John Lorenz — whom workers in the old Review and Herald bindery will remember — said that some had thought he ought to hold his son to help in his large book-bindery, in the city; but that both father and mother had dedicated their son to the cause of missions, and they thanked God they could give him to Abyssinia with glad hearts.
There is a strong, hearty band of young people in Norway, and the brethren are seeking to give them a training for the work. These must carry the message into every far corner of the land. I was glad to meet among them Brethren Gulbrundsen, Olsen, and Wasley, students from Union College, Neb., who have come to Norway for study and service.11
There was a delegate present from Tromso, far within the arctic circle; and I was told of believers in Hammerfest, the northernmost city of the world. The message has also rounded the North Cape, and raised up witnesses in Vadso, on the shores of the White Sea. Beyond lie only the silent polar wastes of water and ice. The message is reaching to the world's extremes.
East of Tromso, they told me, is the region where we have some Laplander believers, and we hope to see the message spreading among these people, who are found through northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The Norway Conference appointed Brother O. J. Olsen to go up into the Northland Mission to lead the work. Elder N. C. Bergersen, recently of Iowa, is president of the Norway Conference, and is thoroughly enjoying his work. This local conference has had a good year. One hundred forty-six souls were baptized during 1909, and book sales rose from $7,029 in 1908, to $12,162 in 1909. The tithes and offerings are increasing.
But this is designed not as a report of the conference, but as a word to our brethren declaring the encouraging outlook in this northernmost union. Elder Conradi and Dr. A. B. Olsen, of England, and myself were the general laborers present from outside the union, and we thoroughly enjoyed the meeting.
Needless to say, Christiania is a beautifully situated city. Still more beautiful, I was told, is the country farther round the coast, and in the mountains to the northward. No one can blame the sons of the old Norsemen for singing:—
> “Ay, we love this land of ours,
> Crowned with mountain domes;
> Storm-scarred o’er the sea it stands,
> With a thousand homes.”
But with all its rugged beauty, sin and suffering and darkness are here; and our brethren have resolutely set themselves to carry this message of hope and comfort and power into every one of its thousands of homes.
W. A. S.
Christiania.
Roman Purpose and American Liberties—No. 2
By C. M. S.
CARDINAL GIBBONS, in his monograph, “The Faith of Our Fathers,” declares that he abhors and denounces “every species of violence, and injustice, and persecution of which the Spanish Inquisition may have been guilty.”—Page 284. He then sets forth the position of Catholicism in these words:—
When I denounce the cruelties of the Inquisition, I am not standing aloof from the church, but I am treading in her footprints. Bloodshed and persecution form no part of the creed of the Catholic Church. . . . In all my readings I have yet to find one decree of hers advocating torture or death for conscience’ sake. She is indeed intolerant of error; but her only weapons against error are those pointed out by St. Paul to Timothy: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, entreat; rebuke with all patience and doctrine.”
These declarations sound good; and how good it would be if the facts would substantiate them. But let us place by their side the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, the most renowned theologian of the Catholic Church:—
It is much more grievous to corrupt faith, which is the source and life of the soul, than to corrupt money, which but tends to the relief of the body. Hence, if coiners and other malefactors are justly put to death by the secular authority, much more may heretics not only be excommunicated, but even justly put to death.—St. Thomas, 2d. 9:11. Art. 3.
This is going considerably farther than St. Paul admonished Timothy to go; but it is not an isolated example. The following from “Libro Necro,” quoted by Dr. Achille in his work, “Dealings with the Inquisition,” page 82, is corroborative testimony:—
With respect to the examination, and the duty of the examiners — either the prisoner [this word “prisoner” sounds ominous when we recollect Cardinal Gibbons’s declaration that he is opposed to “every species of violence,” and raises his “voice against coercion for conscience’ sake”] confesses, and he is proved guilty on the evidence of witnesses. . . . And as the respect due to the glory of God requires that no one particular should be omitted, not even a mere attempt, so the judge is bound to put in force not only the ordinary means which the Inquisition affords, but whatever may enter into his thoughts as fitting to lead to a confession. Bodily torture has ever been found the most salutary and efficient means of leading to spiritual repentance. Therefore the choice of the most befitting mode of torture is left to the judge of the Inquisition, who determines according to the age, the sex, and the constitution of the party. He will be prudent in its use, always being mindful at the same time to procure what is required from it — the confession of the delinquent. If, notwithstanding all the means employed, the unfortunate wretch still denies his guilt, he is to be considered as a victim of the devil, and, as such, deserves no compassion from the servants of God, nor the pity or indulgence of holy mother church: he is a son of perdition. Let him perish, then, among the damned, and let his place be no longer found among the living.
That is a sentence of death upon persons brought before the Holy Office, and refusing to acknowledge error and guilt, or words are meaningless. With the cardinal’s statement still in mind, to the effect that in all his reading he had found no decree of the church “advocating torture or death for conscience’ sake,” let us read the letter of Pope Martin V to the king of Poland:—
Know that the interests of the Holy See, and those of your crown, make it a duty to exterminate the Hussites. . . . While there is still time, then, turn your forces against Bohemia; burn, massacre, make deserts everywhere; for nothing could be more agreeable to God, or more useful to the cause of kings, than the extermination of the Hussites.—Cormenin, Vol. II, pages 116, 117.
It is barely possible that the cardinal will not consider these citations as touching the question which he raised; but it would seem that such a document, prepared by an infallible Pope, ought to settle the question of the church’s attitude toward heretics. If the church of Rome is opposed to the coercion of conscience; if she is opposed to the torture of the body for the salvation of the soul; if she is opposed to the execution of the death sentence upon those who will not yield to her authority in spiritual matters; then she ought to repudiate such teachings. Instead of doing so, however, she says:—
Her [the Catholic Church’s] creed is now identical with what it was in past ages.—“Faith of Our Fathers,” page 29.
Cardinal Gibbons then declares (Id., page 30) that St. Augustine preached in Hippo and in England the same doctrine as that to which the church holds now. It will, therefore, be interesting to learn just what St. Augustine taught then on this matter of compulsory conversion, in order that we may know what the Catholic Church teaches now upon the same point. He says:—
It is indeed better that men should be brought to serve God by instruction than by fear of punishment, or by pain. But because the former means are better, the latter must not therefore be neglected. . . . Many must often be brought back to their Lord, like wicked servants, by the rod of temporal suffering, before they attain to the highest grade of religious development.—“Schaff’s Church History,” Vol. II,Sec. 27.
It is permitted neither to think nor to teach otherwise than the court of Rome directs.—Pope Marcellus’s Decrees, “Corpus Juris Cononice,” part 2, chapter 18.
The secular powers shall swear to exterminate all heretics condemned by the church; and if they do not, they shall be anathema.—“Decretals of Gregory IX,” book 5, title 7.
A heretic merits the pains of fire. By the gospel, the canons, civil law, and custom, heretics must be burned.—“Directory for the Inquisitors,” part 2, chapter 2.
All persons may attack any rebels to the church, and despoil them of their wealth, and slay them, and burn their houses and cities.—Ib., pages 176, 177.
During a discussion in the German Parliament in the year 1902, a Protestant senator made the charge that the Catholic Church advocates the death penalty upon heretics. The charge was denied by a Catholic senator; but the Protestant12senator’s charge was substantiated by the following from a work by the Jesuit priest De Luca:—
The secular power, upon the church’s order and authority, must inflict the death penalty upon heretics, from which penalty they may not be exempted after having been handed over to the secular arm. This penalty is incurred not only by those who abandon the faith when adults, but even by those who are baptized, yet grow in heresy with their mother’s milk and persist in it. This penalty, where received, is to be extended to all the lapsed, or, if they wish to return to the faith, then to all who are pertinacious after an admonition.
The Kalnische Volkszeitung, which gives this excerpt from De Luca, declares that this Catholic authority “advocates the death penalty for heretics even in our day, as he emphatically states in another place (page 142).”
Yet Cardinal Gibbons declares, “Bloodshed and persecution form no part of the creed of the Catholic Church.” He says, further:—
In raising my voice against coercion for conscience’ sake, I am expressing not only my own sentiments, but those of every Catholic priest and layman in the land.—“Faith of Our Fathers,” page 284.
It is difficult to understand a declaration of this kind when we have such declarations before us as the foregoing. But of similar import is the following from the Shepherd of the Valley, published at St. Louis, Mo., in 1876, under the supervision of Archbishop Kendrick:—
We confess that the Roman Catholic Church is intolerant; that is to say, that it uses all the means in its power for the extirpation of error and sin; but this intolerance is the logical and necessary consequence of her infallibility. She alone has the right to be intolerant, because she alone has the truth. The church tolerates heretics where she is obliged to do so, but she hates them mortally, and employs all her force to secure their annihilation. When the Catholics shall here be in possession of a considerable majority,—which will certainly be the case by and by, although the time may be long deferred,—then religious liberty will have come to an end in the republic of the United States. Our enemies say this, and we believe with them. Our enemies know that we do not pretend to be better than our church, and in what concerns this, her history is open to all. They know, then, how the Roman Church dealt with heretics in the Middle Ages, and how she deals with them to-day wherever she has the power. We no more think of denying these historic facts than we do of blaming the saints of God and the princes of the church for what they have done or approved in these matters.
This plain statement of principle and purpose is much more in accord with the facts of history than are the statements of Cardinal Gibbons. We could earnestly wish that the cardinal had correctly represented the matter; but he is contradicted through every epoch of his church’s history.
This, then, is the institution that has set for itself the task of transforming this country into harmony with its purpose, bringing the nation into obedience to its mandates; the institution that has commanded its agents to do all in their power to shape the Constitution and legislation of the nation into “harmony with the principles of the true church,”—in short to “make America Catholic.” And it is this institution with which the great Protestant bodies of the land propose to unite in taking the first step into the quagmire of religious legislation.
