THE principles upon which the Government of the United States was founded, and the principles of Rome, are directly at opposites. And Rome knows it, and has known it all the time.AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.1

THE principles of the Government of the United States have now been completely subverted, and the principles of Rome fully adopted, by an apostate Protestantism, in the United States. And Rome knows it.AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.2

THE effect of the principles of the Government of the United States upon other nations has ever been to weaken Rome’s influence over them, and to draw them away from her. So certainly is this true, that although Rome long ago denounced religious toleration as one of the eighty heresies of the age, yet even Spain has “granted” “toleration.”AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.3

HERE is a statement that is worthy of consideration in this connection:—AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.4

We must briefly survey the influence of the American system upon foreign countries and churches.AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.5

Within the present generation the principle of religious liberty and equality, with a corresponding relaxation of the bond of union of Church and State, has made steady and irresistible progress among the leading nations of Europe, and has been embodied more or less clearly in written constitutions....AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.6

The successful working of the principle of religious freedom in the United States has stimulated this progress without any official interference. All advocates of the voluntary principle [in support of churches and religion] and of a separation of Church and State in Europe, point to the example of this country as their strongest practical argument.—Schaff, Church and State in the United States, p. 83.AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.7

ROME did not want the nations of Europe, or anywhere else, drawn away from her. Yet here was this very work “steadily and irresistibly” going on. This was not by any means a pleasing thing to her. Yet what could she do? The work was not being done by any official action of the United States Government, in diplomacy or otherwise, and, of course, she could not meet it by any such means. It was by the silent, steady and “irresistible” influence of the divine principle upon which the Government was founded, and which was spread before all the world in constitutional guaranties. Plainly, as long as this was suffered to go on she could do nothing; and still the longer it went on the more her influence over the nations was being weakened and her power with them was vanishing. And this to her was heartrending sorrow, and affliction unbearable.AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.8

YET what could she do? What should she do? Well, as it was the silent, steady, irresistible power of the divine principles of this Government that was sapping her life away, it is evident that the only thing that she could logically or possibly do to save herself was to subvert the principles of religious liberty, of the separation of Church and State, upon which this Government was founded, and thus turn back the Government of the United States into the way of her evil principles, and so regain her influence and power over the nations and thus once more draw all the nations in her train. For with this Government holding such a high place in the estimation of the nations, it is manifest that if the principles of the Government could be subverted and this Nation so turned into her evil course, then the influence of this Nation would be just as powerful to draw the nations back to Rome as it had formerly been to draw them away from her.AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.9

EVIDENTLY this was the logic of the situation. And as Rome is always logical in the application of her own premises, this is the scheme which she set on foot, and which she has been working ever since she awoke to the real situation. As a church, and for this purpose, she entered American politics, she secured political possession of all the great cities, so that now, by this means, she holds the balance of power even in a national election. She worked her agents also into the field of journalism, so that to-day, generally speaking, she absolutely controls the publications of the country, by which she is steadily warping public opinion in her favor, and if not that, then into fear of her power. She sends her secret agents into the Protestant religious schools and theological seminaries, and even into Protestant pulpits, by which means, she steadily and stealthily tones down the principles of the Protestantism and molds religious opinion upon the view that there are at least certain things upon which Protestants and Catholics “can unite to shape legislation for the public weal,” etc., etc. She sends her agents into the trades-unions, the labor-unions, etc., and takes control of these and molds them upon her principles; strikes, with their accompanying violence, are multiplied upon, in which she deftly insinuates herself as the “arbitrator,” whose justice alone can settle the differences and whose word alone can calm the troubled waters. Note the Pope’s encyclicals on the labor question.AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.10

ALL these have, for a long time, been her means of loosening the foundations of integrity to the principles of the Government of the United States. And all the while, too, she has beheld with secret but unbounded satisfaction, the work of professed Protestants in their endeavors to secure the recognition of religion in national legislation and national affairs. And when, February 29, 1892, she heard the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that “This is a Christian Nation,” with Catholic documents quoted to prove it, she could contain herself no longer. She knew that her advantage was so certain, and her time was so fully come, that she need no longer work in secret, but could announce her purposes openly to the American people and to the world, which she did shortly in a letter from the Vatican to the New York Sun, and which was printed in that paper July 11, 1892, under the heading of “The Papacy and Nationality; Pope Leo and the United States.”AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.11

IN that letter are found the following startlingly significant sentences, in which she announces her programme and her purpose concerning the United States, and through this, all humanity:—AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.12

In his [Pope Leo’s] view, the United States has reached the period when it becomes necessary to bring about the fusion of all the heterogeneous elements in one homogeneous and indissoluble Nation.... It is for this reason that the Pope wants the Catholics to prove themselves the most enlightened and most devoted workers for national unity and political assimilation.... America feels the need of this work of internal fusion.... What the Church has done in the past for others, she will do for the United States.... That is the reason the Holy See encourages the American clergy to guard jealously the solidarity, and to labor for the fusion of all the foreign and heterogeneous elements into one vast national family....AMS September 21, 1893, page 289.13

Finally, Leo XIII. desires to see strength in that unity. Like all intuitive souls, he hails in the united American States and in their young and flourishing Church, the source of new life for Europeans. He wants America to be powerful, in order that Europe may regain strength from borrowing a rejuvenated type. Europe is closely watching the United States.... Henceforth we [Europeans] will need authors who will place themselves on this ground: “What can we borrow and what ought we to borrow from the United States for our social, political, and ecclesiastical reorganization? The answer depends in a great measure upon the development of American destinies. If the United States succeed in solving the many problems that puzzle us, Europe will follow their example, and this outpouring of light will mark a date in the history not only of the United States, BUT OF ALL HUMANITY....AMS September 21, 1893, page 290.1

That is why the holy father, anxious for peace and strength, collaborates with passion in the work of consolidation and development in American affairs. According to him, the Church ought to be the chosen crucible for the moulding and absorption of races into one united family. And that, especially, is the reason why he labors at the codification of ecclesiastical affairs, in order that this distant member of Christianity may infuse new blood into the old organism.AMS September 21, 1893, page 290.2

NOW, until the year 1892, what could any nation have possibly borrowed from the United States for “ecclesiastical reorganization”? Nothing. Until that year the Constitution was avowedly against the United States Government even in any way having anything to do with any ecclesiastical matter. That year, however, February 29, the Supreme Judicial branch of the Government unanimously decided and declared that “This is a Christian Nation,” and that this is the meaning of THE CONSTITUTION. This was at one stroke to subvert the Constitution and the principles of the Government as established by those who made the Government and the Constitution. Then this was followed at once by the professed Protestant churches of the country in demanding national legislation declaring Sunday to be the Christian Sabbath, and requiring its observance, because this is a Christian Nation. The success of this committed the legislative branch of the Government to the subversion of the principles upon which the Government was founded. And when President Harrison approved and signed this legislation, this committed the Executive branch of the Government to the subversion of the principles of the Government as established. And thus in the year 1892, in the whole Government of the United States—in its legislative, judicial and executive branches—were the principles of the Government, as established by the makers of the Government, subverted, and the principles of Rome adopted instead. And then it was, and not till then, that Rome could propound for Europeans the important inquiry, “What can we borrow and what ought we to borrow from the United States for our ... ecclesiastical reorganization?” And just then, it was too—July 11—that this important inquiry was openly propounded in the United States. Was this merely a coincidence?—nay, was it not rather an intentional and definite action, taken at that time, upon these proceedings of the Government and churches of the United States which so entirely accomplished her long desired purpose—the subversion of the principles of the United States Government as established by our fathers?AMS September 21, 1893, page 290.3

AGAIN we say that, with sorrow Rome has seen all the nations steadily drawn away from her by the bright example of the separation of Church and State and complete religious liberty in the United States Government, assured in the national Constitution, the supreme law, and the fundamental principles of the Nation. Seeing this, she knew that if she would recover her loss, and regain her influence over the nations, she must draw this Nation into her toils. If she could succeed in this, and get the divine principle of this Nation subverted and its influence reversed, she knew that the influence of this Nation would be as strong to draw the nations back to her as it had been to draw them away from her. And so it has been with the most greedy satisfaction that she has seen the professed Protestant churches in the United States, steadily playing into her hands by their amazing blindness in calling for the legal recognition of religion and the legal enforcement of religious observances. And when at last she saw “the Christian religion” legally recognized, and this Nation plainly declared to be “a Christian Nation” by the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court, and supported in argument by that court, by the citation of Catholic documents; and when she saw the professed Protestant churches joining hands with herself, and by threats requiring Congress to recognize and fix in the national legislation her own chief, sacred day, the very sign of her authority—when she saw all this, and knew that it gave her her longed-for opportunity and advantage, she instantly grasped it with all her might; at once publicly announced to the people of the United States and the world her scheme and her purpose for the United States and for the world; and followed this up immediately by sending over Archbishop Satolli and establishing him here as “permanent apostolic delegate”—the Pope’s personal representative,—to carry out by his immediate and active presence, the scheme and purpose of Leo XIII. as announced.AMS September 21, 1893, page 290.4

AND this is exactly what Satolli is here for. It has been so announced in print, more than once, since he came over. And there is not the least doubt that what the church has done for other nations in the past she will now do for the United States. She has been the continual curse and the final ruin of nations in the past. And she will do that now to the United States, and to the other nations, by the restoration of her power which she gains through the subversion of the divine principle of the Government of the United States. And the chief hand in it all will have been that of the apostate Protestants of the United States, who have sold this Nation into Rome’s ruinous hands.AMS September 21, 1893, page 290.5

Leo’s scheme so far as the United States is concerned has succeeded. And that scheme as it relates to Europe and “all humanity” will certainly succeed. All the nations will now be drawn back under the influence, and to the support, of the Papacy. This we know, not only from the history and the nature of things, but also from the sure Word of God. For it is written: “All that dwell on the earth shall worship him [the beast, the Papacy] whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb.” Revelation 13:8. And again it is written: “The same horn [power, the Papacy] made war with the saints and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” Daniel 7:21, 22. For a long time Rome has not had power to persecute, to make war against, the people of the Lord. The Scripture plainly declares that she will have and will use such power against them until the day that they enter into the kingdom of the Lord. This in itself shows that power is regained by her. And as the only thing that she ever wants with power is to compel all to worship at her bidding, or to persecute to the death all who will not, these two texts together show that her power will yet be universal over all, and all will obey her, whose names are not in the book of life of the Lamb.AMS September 21, 1893, page 290.6

AGAIN it is written of her: “She saith in her heart, I sit a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” Revelation 18:7. There was a time when she could say this; there was a time when so far from being a widow every kingdom and nation of Europe was united to her and living in adulterous connection with her. She had as many husbands as there were kingdoms and nations. The Reformation came and separated some from her. Political vicissitudes of one kind and another separated one after another, all the rest from her, until 1870 when Victor Emanuel completely widowed her by taking Rome and her temporalities, and separating the last kingdom from her. Since that time she has been a widow and has seen sorrow. She has mourned most dismally, and has lost no opportunity to spread her plaint before all the world. She does not sit as a queen; she is a widow, she has no husband at all; and she is exceedingly sorry that she is not living in constant adultery with the kingdoms and nations of the earth.AMS September 21, 1893, page 290.7

BUT the time does come again when she “glorifies herself and lives deliciously,” and joyously exclaims, “I sit a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” And at that very time the kingdoms of the earth are committing fornication and living deliciously with her. Revelation 18:7, 9. This shows conclusively that her scheme of drawing back the nations to her will succeed. Once more she will have all the kingdoms and nations for her husbands and will truly as a queen and be no widow, and will exultantly congratulate herself upon it. And then what? It is written: “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” Revelation 18:8. “That wicked, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8. And this is the end of the course of events which have been begun by this action of the churches and Government of the United States in subverting the principles upon which the Government was founded and going back to the principles of the Papacy. Henceforth God hath a controversy with the nations. God standeth up to judge, and the judgment is ruin because their works are evil and defiant. Jeremiah 25:15-38; Revelation 16 and 18.AMS September 21, 1893, page 290.8

IT may be that this will not be believed. We have nothing to do with that, however. It is the truth, and we know it. It is the truth whether men believe it or not. And whether they will believe it or not is for them to decide, each one for himself alone. For seven years straight ahead in these columns we told the people that this would be made “a Christian Nation,” and that Congress, at the dictate of the churches, would set up Sunday as the Sabbath. The people would not believe it. Now all this has been done and everybody knows it. And this which we have mapped out now will as certainly come as this other has come. For your soul’s sake believe it, and get ready, get ready, get ready, for it is near and hasteth greatly.AMS September 21, 1893, page 291.1

A. T. J.

“Back Page” American Sentinel 8, 37, p. 296.

ATJ

IT is now denied that the Vatican will ask the Government at Washington to receive a papal nuncio.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.1

IT is said that the Pope will shortly publish an important document relative to the Catholic University at Washington.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.2

AN Illinois paper of August 31, says: “Sunday’s paid attendance at the World’s Fair numbered 20,709, the receipts amounting to about $10,000. The expenses were about $3,000.” September 10, the attendance was over 34,000. But the Christian Statesman says that “Sunday-closing has been practically achieved”!AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.3

THERE is to be held in Chicago the last three days of this month, a “Sunday Rest Congress.” The committee in charge of the arrangements, of which Rev. Dr. Atterbury, Secretary of the New York “Sabbath” Committee, is chairman, includes members of the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, Methodist, Universalist and Roman Catholic communions, and a representative of the labor organizations of the country.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.4

THE programme of the Sunday Rest Congress, it is stated, provides for addresses by Protestants of various shades of religious opinion, Roman Catholics, Jews and men who will appear simply as specialists, without reference to their religious affiliations. The question will be discussed in its physiological, economic, social and moral, political religious, and miscellaneous relations.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.5

NO definite action will be taken by the Sunday Congress, and it is understood that each speaker will be solely responsible for the views he may advance, and thus be free to say what he pleases. The Bulletin, of the French Popular League, for Sunday rest, among whose leading spirits are Jules Simon and Leon Say, says that while it might have been expected that a Sunday Congress held on the borders of Lake Michigan would be exclusively Protestant, the programme provides for Roman Catholic and Jewish representation, thus showing that there is no greater liberality displayed on the banks of the Seine than on the shores of the American lake.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.6

BUT there need be no surprise either felt or expressed at the “great liberality” displayed in the matter of this Sunday Congress. It matters not how or by what means Sunday is exalted, if only it be exalted. Viewed only from a human standpoint one might well wonder that Jews would join in exalting the day which has ever been the rival of the time-honored Sabbath of the God of Abraham; but it is only natural that Roman Catholics should have a prominent place in doing homage to an institution which is preeminently the badge of papal authority.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.7

THE article on another page, which we reprint from the Catholic Mirror is apropos to this subject. Its appearance in the leading Catholic paper at this time is significant. Just as the leaders of so-called Protestantism are about to assemble to do homage to Sunday, the taunt is by the Catholics thrown in their faces that the claims of Protestants to any part in Sunday are “groundless, self-contradictory, and suicidal.” And what can such Protestants answer? Nothing at all, for Sunday as a “Christian” institution is wholly of papal origin; and back of that its only religious significance was as “the wild solar holiday of all pagan times.” Sunday-keeping Protestants stand abashed before the well-grounded claims of the Papists to proprietorship in the so-called Christian Sabbath.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.8

THE Catholic Mirror publishes the statement, and apparently sees nothing wrong in the fact, that “the reason that President Cleveland appointed Colonel Jesse Sparks, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., to a Mexican consulship, was because the gallant old confederate officer, during Cleveland’s former term, sent him a present of a couple of fat, juicy, Tennessee opossums, which Grover seemed to heartily relish. To show his gratitude for this unique present, Colonel Jesse was tendered a consulate.” If this is not a slander on the President, it certainly is on the Nation. A consulate for two opossums! And yet some people think our liberties secure because we are living in such an enlightened age!AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.9

THE Examiner (Baptist) of this city, has this to say about the Congress of Religions:—AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.10

There have been intimations—somewhat hazy, it is true—that an attempt is to be made to use the preposterous “Congress of Religions” to convene at Chicago as a sort of catapult for slinging a new religion into the world. The basic proposition is that all religions are true and all are false, and the new cult is to be made up of the best in all of them. Who is to decide what is “best” does not yet appear. A gentleman who professes to have some knowledge of the movement expresses the opinion that it is rather premature; and with that view of the subject we heartily concur.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.11

The congress may not be the occasion of giving a new composite religion to the world, but it will certainly have a tendency to create the impression that one religion is about as good as another, after all; indeed it has done something in this direction already. And as merely moral systems the difference may not be so very great; but while other religions have no power in them or back of them but the power of the human will, there is in Christianity the power of God to transform the soul. This fact has, however, been very largely lost sight of by the promoters of the Congress of Religions. They propose to make an exhibit of Christianity, but they cannot thus exhibit its hidden power, without which it is not Christianity. The Congress of Religions is simply an exhibition of human vanity.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.12

AT its recent meeting at Saratoga, the New York “Sabbath” Association adopted the following resolutions:—AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.13

Resolved, That we rejoice in and indorse the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, on February 29, 1892, that “this is a Christian Nation.”AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.14

Resolved, That we see in such contrary decisions as that of Judge Stein, of an inferior court, the necessity for putting the decision of the Supreme Court into our national Constitution that all our Christian institutions may have an undeniable legal basis in our fundamental law.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.15

Resolved, That we rejoice in the World’s Fair Sabbath-closing law and in the equally impressive failure of Sunday opening, and we urge that these great victories be vigorously followed up with State and local victories over Sunday papers, Sunday trains and Sunday mails.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.16

Resolved, That we recognize the Church of Christ as the chief reform organization and religion as the very heart of all reforms.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.17

Thus, on every hand, the evidence multiplies that it is the settled purpose of the so-called Protestant churches to control the politics of the country in the interest of their dogmas.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.18

THE much talked of “Faribault plan” of settling the public and parochial school question has proved a failure and is about to be abandoned. The matter is thus explained: The Catholics of Faribault, Minn., whose children attend the parochial school, which was placed under the jurisdiction of the city Board of Education, now insist that only Catholic teachers be engaged there. The Board of Education is willing to have two Catholic teachers only. Otherwise, it says, the purpose of the plan would be lost. As usual the Catholics are modest—they are willing to take everything.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.19

THE 19th of March, the Feast of St. Joseph, will henceforth be officially recognized as a holiday in Portugal. So says the Catholic Review. But what of it? St. Patrick’s day is officially recognized in New York; and Sunday, another popish day, is recognized nearly the world over.AMS September 21, 1893, page 296.20

September 14, 1893

November 23, 1893