The Accession Act and After.—It does not promise well for the Protestantism of this country if it shall quietly submit after Mr. Asquith’s humiliating surrender to the emissaries of Rome in this country. Our Protestantism ought not to be of the useless type that will take defeat in such a momentous matter with equanimity. It is time for Protestants to awaken, to realise that the enemy is already at the steps of the British throne, and to pray earnestly to the God of nations that He would mercifully avert such a disaster as will leave the throne open to Roman Catholics. All those who value the blessings that God gave us through the Reformation should in the coming election lay aside all party feeling and place Protestant interests in the forefront, and if they have not a candidate who will pledge himself to vote in the interests of Protestantism to refrain from voting altogether. We believe the English Protestant organisations are to begin a determined campaign in the autumn in the hope of having a statement disapproving of the Mass inserted in the Accession Declaration. It is to be hoped that such an agitation will be successful. Meantime, we feel that we are not able to meet this great company that is arrayed against Protestantism in this country, but we must not forget that this battle is not ours, but God’s.
Romish Superstitions.—“PAULINUS,” in the Leeds Mercury of 9th August, says the Protestant Observer, exposes some remarkable instances of Popish superstitions. “I have,” he states, “several Roman Catholic weekly papers, in which are advertisements from various convents. They run thus:—‘Send your donations to the convent of —. A lamp is kept burning before the statue of Saint Anthony, at whose feet petitions are laid.’ Here are some of the petitions:—Mrs. — sends 3d. for successful week-end; S. B. sends 1s. for mother’s eye to get better; 2s. 6d. to recover lost spectacles; 4s. 6d. that her daughter may pass an examination well; 2d. that work may be found for father and that I may grow big; 3d. for my daughter to succeed in business, if granted will send more; 2d. for a little girl to obtain a prize; 6d. that my cough may get better, if granted will send 1s.; 2s. 6d. for my son to go to Mass; 6d. to help me out of debt; 6d. that I may find my purse and the money that I have lost; 6d. that my brother’s fingers may get better; 6d. that she may receive a letter and meet a dear friend; 3d. for conversion of a Protestant friend; Mary sends 1s. for mother’s leg to get better, and her own finger to get better, if granted will send more; a poor mother, 2s. 6d. begging for my son to go to Mass, if granted will send 10s. for the souls in purgatory; a poor sinner, 1s. for my husband to become a Catholic; M. R. sends 3d. that my daughter may be taken back to the convent; 2s. 6d. for a Mass for a most abandoned soul in purgatory; Irish girl sends 1s. for a better situation, if granted will send 10s.; and so on. The foregoing are facts. Is
it not pitiable that in this twentieth century in England, right in our midst, such superstition should be practised and encouraged?”
Subserviency to Rome.—Posterity will attach an unenviable notoriety (says one of the leaflets issued by the Imperial Protestant Federation) to the harmonious co-operation of Asquith, Balfour, and Redmond in the task of marshalling the forces of the Liberal, Conservative, and Popish parties for a strong pull, and a long pull, and a pull altogether for the Pope, against the Protestant people of Britain. The recent proceedings in Parliament have proved how marvellously well these ostensibly hostile parties can work together with a right hearty good will for the destruction of our Protestant laws, in order that the way of the Pope of Rome may be made straight and easy. The campaign for the destruction of the Declaration against Transubstantiation has been conducted in an inimitably anti-Protestant spirit. How marvellously the whole business savours of Jesuitical tactics, especially in regard to the sneers at Protestant opinions, the fear of frank and open discussion, the indecent haste to rush the Bill!