Romanism in Belgium.—The Rev. N. H. Louwyck, an ex-priest, writing in the Protestant Alliance Magazine, says:—I am a Belgian by birth and an ex-Roman priest, and I know Belgium fairly well. I also know what would happen if a family of Anglicans or Protestants settled down in any country parish in the provinces of the north, west, and east of Flanders—Antwerp, Limberg, and part of Brabant. The opposition would be most intolerable. The curés would denounce them from the pulpits, and the devotees would insult them. Life would be entirely impossible. Look at what happened a few years ago. The Liberal Government passed an Education Act on 1st July, 1879. This Act was enforced on the first day of October. The whole camp of the Papists was in arms, and a more infamous campaign against the State school-masters—themselves good Roman Catholics—was never witnessed. Wherever they went they were insulted in the most vulgar manner; their houses attacked, the windows covered with mud, and in many places boarding and food refused. Does Dr. Casartelli know what happened in the parishes of West Flanders, East Flanders, and, in fact, the whole north of Belgium? If he does, how can he speak of toleration? The Sacraments were refused to schoolmasters, and every pressure was brought upon them by the clerical party to make life intolerable. Ask the nuns and the monks what they would do with the Protestants if they were free to act as they like, and you will know what toleration means. True, this bitter spirit is dying out in Belgium, but that is not the work of the clergy or the Roman Church. People are getting more broad-minded because they are travelling more than they used to do; and on the day that toleration is admitted by the clerical party anti-Romanism and anti-Papalism will gain the day.
Rome and the Extermination of “Heretics.”—As there are some who seem to think that the Church of Rome has become less stern in the suppression of “heresy” and of “heretics,” it may be useful to bring to their notice the following item of news. One of the officially-appointed Lenten preachers in Notre
Dame, Paris, is reported, in a French paper of 17th May, 1912, to have said in that cathedral during the Lent of this year, and to a congregation of at least 4,000 persons:—
“The Church may punish heretics, that is, those who separate themselves from her dogmatic teaching, and consequently from her unity. They are culprits, for they do not hold the revealed faith, they violate the sworn fealty, they are in revolt against the infallible authority, they disseminate their perversity, and corrupt other souls. The Church has, therefore, the right to subdue their diabolical depravity, not only by anathema, but by the sword; that is to say, by obtaining from Catholic States the suppression of heretics by penalties which may extend to death. As Pope Boniface VIII. has said, the sword of kings and of soldiers should be placed at the service of the Church, and be ready to obey the signal of the priesthood. The modern world has ceased to regard ‘opinion’ as a crime; this must be established, for it is sometimes more criminal than a criminal deed.”—Protestant Observer.
The Sale of Advowsons.—Our readers may ask—What is an Advowson? Well, it is a term used more particularly in connection with the Church of England, meaning the right of patronage or presentation to a church benefice. In the Church of England patronage is still in existence with its blighting influences, with the result that patrons favourable to Ritualism always appoint a clergyman after their own heart. The Evangelical party in the Church of England are making strenuous efforts to combat this evil, but in our estimation they are going about it in the wrong way. The Church Association, for instance, is making an appeal for funds to buy up advowsons or the right of presentation to livings. These advowsons are highly valuable from a monetary point of view to many of their possessors, and they consequently demand handsome sums for the transfer of the rights. This is a peculiarly hateful system, and one can appreciate all the more the stand made by the Disruption Fathers against patronage when we read of these well-meant but practically useless methods. The axe must be laid at the root of the tree.
The Bible in the School.—The Christian Statesman, the organ of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States, has an article on the above subject from which we give the following quotation:—”There was a time in the history of our public school system when the reading of the Bible and other religious exercises received unanimous support. For six generations not a voice was lifted against them. On whichever side of the controversy American citizens align themselves, they ought to be well-informed as to the historic origin and the real nature and purpose of the assaults now made on these time-honoured usages. Our public school system had its origin about one hundred and twenty-five years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. These schools were established in harmony with
that same spirit and purpose which brought the Colonists of an earlier day to these shores. Daniel Webster spoke truly when he said: ‘Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and laboured in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions—civil, political, or literary.’ Speaking in defence of our public school system, he said: ‘By general instruction, we seek, as far as possible, to purify the whole moral atmosphere; to keep good sentiments uppermost, and to turn the strong current of feeling and opinion, as well as the censures of the law and the denunciations of religion, against immorality and crime. . . . We confidently trust, and our expectation of the duration of our system of government rests on that trust, that, by the diffusion of general knowledge and good and virtuous sentiments, the public fabric may be secure, as well against open violence and overthrow, as against the slow, but sure undermining of licentiousness. . . . Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principles, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits.'”
Prayer for the Dead.—The following extraordinary prayer, taken from the correspondence columns of The English Churchman, shows to what remarkable depths of delusion leading ecclesiastics may descend. The last petitions in the prayer were much needed after the blind groping in the dark at the beginning. The Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand, after a series of sermons on the after-life announced that he had prepared and had printed a prayer for the dead, which he recommended to his hearers. The following is a copy of the prayer:—”O Heavenly Father, the Father of the spirits of all flesh, in Whom all creatures live and move and have their being, in whatsoever world or condition they be; I beseech Thee for him whose name and abiding place and every need Thou knowest. Lord, vouchsafe him rest and peace, joy and consolation in the presence of Christ, in the ample folds of Thy great love. If he hath ever been hurt or maimed by any unhappy word or deed of mine, I know that Thou of Thy great pity canst heal and restore him, that he may serve Thee without hindrance. Suffer him to know, O gracious Lord, if it may be, how much I love him and miss him and long to see him again, and if in aught I can minister to his peace, be pleased of Thy love to let this be, and mercifully keep me from every act which may hinder me from union with him when this earth life is over, or mar the fulness of our joy when the end of the days hath come. Pardon, O gracious Lord and Father, whatsoever is amiss in this my prayer, and let Thy will be done, for my will is blind and erring, but Thine is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
The Romanizing of the Church of England.—At a recent meeting of the National Churches’ League, presided over by Sir Edward Clarke, K.C., the annual report was read, which stated that doctrines totally at variance with Holy Scripture, and with the formularies of the Church of England, were being taught in churches throughout the country, and were accompanied by ceremonies which, like the doctrines they symbolized, were borrowed from the Church of Rome. The Mass, the confessional, purgatory, the worship of the Virgin Mary, the invocation of Saints, devotions to the Reserved Sacrament, vestments, incense, holy water, were all being introduced into our churches, and the Bishops, with certain distinguished exceptions, neither took steps themselves to secure from the clergy the fulfilment of their ordination vows, nor permitted others to invoke the authority of the law to that end. In many cases they even encouraged the law-breaking clergy by giving them permission to do what was plainly illegal.
Mixed Marriages—A Priest’s Intimidation.—The iniquitous operation of the “Ne Temere” decree is still being felt in Ireland. A case has been brought to Captain Craig’s attention of an attempt made to compel a Protestant inmate of the Cork Workhouse, named Wilkins, who had been married six years ago and had one son, to have a marriage ceremony gone through again in the presence of a priest; otherwise, as his wife had been told, their previous marriage would be illegal and their child illegitimate. When the letter of the Protestant chaplain complaining of this action came before a committee for investigation, the matter was quickly hushed up, and the name of the Roman Catholic priest who went to the workhouse, and who tried to influence Wilkins and his wife to go through the ceremony of marriage again, was not given although asked for.—Newsletter.