DURING the past month the world has been startled with the tidings of a remarkable revolution in Portugal. The King has been compelled to leave the throne, and a Republican Government has been set up. It would appear that a spirit of disaffection towards the royal house of Braganza has existed among the Portuguese for a long time. It is only a little more than two years since the present King’s father and elder brother were assassinated in the streets of Lisbon. Manuel succeeded to the throne in unpromising circumstances, and although he expressed sympathy with the social aspirations of the people, and introduced some reforms in Parliamentary rule, he failed to quench the flame of discontent. We are not familiar with the political divisions in Portugal, but the papers report at least three parties—Royalists, Progressives, and Regenerators. Probably the Republicans assume the latter names. The spark which kindled the present explosion was ignited on Monday the 3rd October, when Dr. Bombarda, a Republican leader, “was shot in his consulting room by Lieutenant Santos, a former patient,” and a Royalist. On the day after, the revolution began, and details of events have appeared in the papers. The army and navy largely took the Republican side. One favourable feature of the change is that it has been affected with comparatively little bloodshed, and that the leaders are disposed to carry out their plans in as quiet and orderly a way as possible. Almost the only damage to property we read of was “the sacking of a famous Jesuit house in the capital”—a calamity by no means to be deplored. There was no attempt made on the life of the King or of any of the royal family. Rather, facilities were provided for their escape in a yacht to Gibraltar. The King and his mother, Queen Amelia, are to find a permanent place of refuge in England. According to a reported utterance, he has no intention of formally abdicating his throne, but it is not likely that this will in any wise further his restoration, for it is said that the Royalists are quietly falling in with the Republicans and accepting the new order of things with composure.
The feature of this revolution which is of special religious interest and far-reaching importance is the fact that it largely consists in an uprising against the tyranny and oppression of the Church of Rome. The revolt is distinctly “anti-clerical”—a revolt against the priests and other minions of the Vatican. Portugal has been a miserable, priest-ridden country for centuries—a hotbed of the Jesuits. The King’s mother, who is a zealous Papist, is regarded as responsible for much of the irritation that has caused the revolution. It is reported on the highest authority, says the English Churchman, that the Duke of Oporto, on the recent departure of the royal family from Lisbon, addressed to Queen Amelia the impassioned words: “You and your priests have ruined your son.” From all that is known, it would appear that this statement expresses the exact truth. The priests have kept the country in ignorance and degradation. Seventy per cent. of the people cannot read.
It is interesting to observe that the new Government, with Senôr Braga, a professor of literature, at its head, has repealed the law of 1901 which tolerated the Jesuits, and has decided to enforce ancient laws of 1759, 1767, and 1834, against them. The Order is expelled, and “all monastic property is confiscated.” Monks and nuns may return to their friends and resume private life if they choose, but if they do not accept this suggestion, they must quit the country. Some of the monasteries and nunneries have been attacked by mobs of men and boys. There seems to be a general desire to get rid of the Church of Rome. Its connection with the State has certainly been dissolved, while its general supremacy in the country has received a disastrous blow from which it is not likely to recover. The Lord has arisen for the deliverance of Portugal from the deadly yoke of Rome. May He, in His abundant mercy, send the true life and liberty of the Gospel into this emancipated nation!
There is no doubt that the new rulers purpose to do their best, as far as they know, for the social freedom and welfare of Portugal. But the sad thing is that the most of them are men who, through their disgust at the false Church, have revolted from religion altogether; they are to a large extent infidels, with a kind of infidelity, indeed, which calls for pity as well as condemnation. The Church of Rome has profaned the name of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, so dreadfully among these poor people, that they have, in spiritual ignorance, turned their backs upon Christianity as a superstitious delusion. They never saw the religion of Christ in any other form than that which is to be seen in “the Mother of Harlots and Abominations,” and their moral sense has revolted against such a fearful religion. They are fit objects for the most earnest supplications of God’s people at the present crisis. Who can tell but, when the Most High has removed the mighty Papal stone of opposition to the truth from the door of Portugal, He may be pleased, in His great mercy, to send the Gospel of salvation to a benighted and down-trodden people? One thing is certain—that the Republican Government will not place any special obstacle in the way of the more extensive proclamation of the Gospel among their countrymen. Probably all religions will be placed on an equal footing.
A feature of the present situation which is not so pleasant or hopeful for our own country is the likelihood that many of these monks and nuns who are expelled from Portugal will make Great Britain their house of refuge. We are pleased to see that Spain refuses to receive them, and that a number of them have been sent back from that country, which is at present waging war with its own share of Popish religious Orders. What is Protestant Britain going to do? Is it to open its arms and welcome to its shores the vampires that have sucked the life-blood out of Portugal and other continental nations? Truly, if this is to go on, our country shall fall into a most deplorable condition. It will become a perfect den of what can only be called religious brigands—ready to spring at the life and purse of the people. We are pleased to see that the Protestant Alliance has issued a note of warning, declaring that the situation is imminently dangerous, and calling for immediate action on the part of our Government as imperative to prevent the influx of these dangerous Orders into the country. Let God arise, and His enemies shall be scattered!
Liguori, the Roman Theologian, on the Priesthood.—
Liguori in his Sebzia applies, not merely to Popes but to priests as well, the following amongst other attributes:—”A Priest has same power in the confessional as Christ would have” (7); “Priesthood should be numbered among the things of heaven” (4); “Priests, even if wicked, obeyed by Christ” (6); “God obliged to abide by judgment of priests” (7); “Power of a priest surpasses that of Mary” (10); “Priest holds the place of the Saviour when absolving” (12), and on the altar” (28); “Christ the principal offerer and victim in the mass” (11); “As the word of God created heaven and earth so the words of the priest create Jesus Christ” (11); “The creator of his Creator” (10); “Priest performs the very office of the Holy Ghost in absolving” (13); “The priest is, as it were, a God on earth” (13); “Priests are the Kingdom of God” (24); “God . . . has made him [Priest] as it were a God on earth” (39, 49, 99); “St. Cyprian says that ‘the priest truly holds the place of Christ, and that therefore at the consecration he says, ‘This is my body, this is the chalice of my blood’.’ To His disciples Jesus Himself said, ‘He that heareth you heareth Me'” (74); Liguori calls the priest “the light of the world” (87), “the father of the world” (90, 102, 159), “the saviour of the world” (99) (“in whose hands is placed all the hope and salvation of men” (ib.). The dignity of the priesthood he calls the most Divine of all Divine things (98).).