Progress of Rome in England.—In the recently published Modern Rome in Modern England, the author informs his readers of the rapid strides made by the Church of Rome since 1800. In that year there was no Cardinal resident in Great Britain or in Ireland, and there was not a single monastic house. But since 1851 Rome has gone forward by leaps and bounds. Here are the author’s statistics:—In 1851, priests, 958; in 1905, 3,818; in 1851, chapels, 683; in 1905, 2,008; in 1851, monasteries, 17; in 1905, 303; in 1851, convents, 53; in 1905, 751. These figures show plainly the rapid progress the Church of Rome has made in England in recent years.
Mariolatry in the Church of England.—The Bishop of Bristol in his presidential address to the Bristol Diocesan Conference, in referring to the English Hymnal, a notoriously ritualistic production, said, “My objection to the book is that it is a direct attempt to introduce into the services of the Church of England, under cover of hymns, requests addressed to saints for their prayers on our behalf. As examples, I may quote from Hymn 213:—
Hail, O Star that pointest
Towards the port of Heaven.
God will aid and light us
At thy gentle pleading.
Jesu’s tender mother,
Make thy supplication
Unto Him who chose thee
At His Incarnation.
It appears to me quite useless to prohibit the use of certain parts of the book, while allowing the book itself to be used in the public service of the Church. I am clear that my only course is to prohibit, as I now do, the use of the English Hymnal in the public services of the Church in this diocese.” Had the Bishops taken similar action earlier there would not now be so much ritualism in the Church of England.
Lord Acton’s Letters to Dollinger.—In a recent issue of the Times, the present Lord Acton intimates that it is the intention, after a definite period, to publish his father’s letters to Dollinger, the most distinguished historian that the Church of Rome had in modern times. Dollinger was excommunicated for his refusal to accept the dogma of papal infallibility promulgated by the Vatican Council in 1870. His historical knowledge made him a dangerous and formidable antagonist to the schemes of the ultramontane party. Lord Acton was in full sympathy with Dollinger, so that these letters should be deeply interesting when published.
Lord Halifax and the Reformation.—At the recent English Church Congress, Lord Halifax, the prominent lay leader of the Ritualists in the Church of England, told his audience that “the principles of the Reformation are things to be repented of with tears and ashes.” Rev. Thomas Connellan in the Catholic says that “the Congress, as a whole, was a melancholy revelation of the cleavage in the Church of England, and the weakness of the Evangelical party. The Ritualists have, so far, won all along the line, and are each year becoming more aggressive. The reason why the Evangelical party have grown so weak is that they never make a decisive stand against the Romanising tendencies of their Bishops.”
Is it the Turn of the Tide?—Recently the Times, the Glasgow Herald, and the Daily News have had remarkable articles exposing the weakness of the papacy. One is so accustomed to read in these powerful journals articles that are either inspired by, or in sympathy with the Papists, that we may be pardoned for hoping that this is the turn of the tide, and that they will be done coquetting with Rome.
Mr. MacCarthy’s New Book.—This Roman Catholic writer who wields such a powerful and graphic pen, and whose works have done signal service to Protestantism, has published Church and State in England and Wales. The book is dedicated “to the many thousands of excellent clergymen, within the Church of England, who give themselves to the ministry of the Word; who preach not themselves but Christ Jesus the Lord.”