Vou. XXI ALLEGHENY, PA., AUGUST 15, 1900 No. 16 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER REV. R. HEBER NEWTON’S OPINION Doctor Newton writes to the Christian Citizenship League as follows: “The teachings of the church, for the most part, are far from following the teachings of Jesus. Nay, they are far from recognizing what those teachings are. The organization of the church is planned and patterned upon a policy which is the very antithesis of a true society of Jesus. “Commercialism dominates the organization, and conventionality tyrannizes the pulpit. The law of the market, rather than the law of the mount, is accepted by the church at large. “Our Protestant churches are composed, for the most part, of a constituency drawn from the well-to-do classes, and they see nothing essentially unsound or unethical in the economic system of the day. The pulpit, therefore, is rarely free to deliver its soul, if it has one, upon the burning questions of our generation. “Blind leaders of the blind, both seem hastening to fall into the ditch which lies before our civilization. And yet within the Christian church is the very ideal that the world hungers for the very power to solve these problems. Infinitely pathetic is the situation.” This is a very severe arraignment of orthodoxy in any case; but coming from one of its leading lights it is terrible! PROTESTANTISM IN FRANCE AND IN AMERICA Within the past few vears Protestantism has been making considerable progress in Catholic France; but it is to he remembered that there the term Protestant includes all systems of religion and irreligion opposed to Roman Catholicism. As might he expected, this in turn arouses the ire of Romanists, especially the clergy, who, long accustomed to full control of the masses, and to having their mandates pass without dispute or criticism, are now furious in their attempts to hinder their people from slipping the bonds of gross religious ignorance and superstition, and escaping from their control. Deprived of the civil power of the past—lost a century ago—and unable to torture or destroy those who protest against their system, they nevertheless clearly show that the spirit of the past still dominates them, and that only opportunity is lacking, and this by reason of a higher civilization and a more generally enlightened public conscience—not because of a higher and holier religious standing. Words are the cruelest weapons now permitted, and these are used with energy and venom and regardless of the truth. For instance, the Bonne Presse, the organ of the Assumptionists (a Roman Catholie order), and many Croix, or Catholie church papers, are seeking to arouse prejudice and public sentiment against everything not Catholic, by confounding Jews, Freethinkers and Free Masons with Protestant Christians—charging all with treachery to France, ete.,—and the general name of “Huguenots” has been revived as applicable to all those to whom Romanism is opposed. The inference is deducible from some of the writings, that their authors would like to see these modern “Huguenots” massacred as were the others—for the glory of God and the peace of the Roman Catholic church.—See Muirvennrat Dawn, Vol. II., pages 332-353, The names of some of the tracts and books published in the interest of this crusade against Protestantism would. alone, give a clew to the character of the attack; but we will give a few extracts:— “The Protestant Peril,” of 569 pages, declares:— “The Huguenots go hand-in-hand with the traitors of the fatherland and with the foreign foes of France, just as their religious fellows did in the year 1870. .... The Protestants force their way into the houses of the French people. ostensibly to sell Bibles, but in truth to spy out where the honest peasant has hidden his savings. They are picking out quarters for the army of the invasion. Therefore, we must keep 4 watch over these imbeciles and force them to leave our towns. . These pious gospel messengers do not propose so much to make converts to Protestantism, as to demoralize our good people and to lay plans for facilitating the proposed invasion of our country. We appeal to the peasants to become new crusaders in the interests of the good cause.” “The Protestant Conspiracy” charges that the queen of England annually contributes five million dollars to propagate Protestantism in France, and thus to make the latter a vassal] state to Great Britain. Another work is entitled, “The Treachery of Protestantism.” “Treason’s Formation” i3 another of these. It says:— oo “The Huguenot is a born traitor. A Catholic will die for his faith; a Jew to save his money; but a Protestant knows [2679] no martyrdom. . The claim of the innocence of Dreyfus was simply a specimen of Protestant treachery in order to make it possible for England to occupy Fashoda, and William II. to make his journey to Jerusalem. All the defenders of Dreyfus are open or secret Protestants.” “The Protestant Conquest” is the title of another of these blasts of ignorance and falsity, designed to prejudice the populace so that they will give Protestants and the Bible no hearing. It suggests the wisdom and propriety of murdering leading opponents, both political and religious, as follows:— “The Catholics are too scrupulous. Nobody can bake an omelet without breaking some eggs. No revolution can be achieved without advancing over dead bodies. Do you think it would be a crime to condemn and put to death such men as Zadok Kahn, Reinach, Scheurer-Kestner, Picquart, Zola, Brisson, Yves Guyot, Jaures, Clemenceau, Monod, and Rane, because they have organized the Dreyfus conspiracy? JI confess openly that I would have no hesitancy to vote for the death of this Reinach, etc., and such pastors as Monod, ete.” French Protestants are justly indignant at such unscrupulous methods of opposition. and are crying out for freedom and fair and honest treatment; and to offsct it are publishing pamphlets entitled, “Away from Rome,” and scattering them widely. * * * But now note the difference between the sentiments of Protestants in France, and Protestants here. Where they are in the minority they want liberty and God’s Word to prevail, and appeal to reuson and the Bible as in offset to ignorance, superstition and priestcraft. But how is it here in “the land of the free” where Protestantism controls the great majority? Ah! here we see the weakness of fallen human nature displayed; for here Protestants, like the Catholics of France, are most bitterly opposed to any advanced light—especially any further light from the Bible;—not only denying what they cannot gainsay Scripturally, but becoming the more angry in proportion as they find present truth unanswerable. True, they have not published volumes in opposition to our presentations, but this is no doubt due to two facts: (1) There is no opportunity to confound the gospel we preach with any class of politicians or political aspirations; and (2) they know nothing to say against our position and fear to call attention to it lest their closely guarded and tightly penned “sheep” should get a taste of “the good word of God,” and break away from sectarianism to the “green pastures and still waters” of divine truth. But most of their fears are groundless, for the majority of their flocks are not “sheep” anyway; and the “goats,” true to a perverse nature, would prefer tin cans, paper, filthy rags, or anything of a sensational character—Evolution, Higher Criticism, human philosophy, and “science falsely so called”—rather than the truth. United States Protestant methods differ from French Roman Catholic methods, but both have the same object; namely, to prejudice the minds of the people under their control who are trusting to them as their guides and spiritual advisers; thus to hinder them from investigating truth on its merits and in the hght of the divine Word. Having mentioned the Roman Catholic method, it is but just that we cite instances illustrating the Protestant method. For instance, some years ago the pastor of the North Ave. M. E church of this city made a most furious attack upon the Editor of this journal, whom he had never met, and whose writings he probably had never read—as would seem to be implied by the false statements of our position made by him in a discourse over an hour long. What was the ground for the attack? Simply that five members of his congregation had been baptized by us the week previous, and that he knew, in some way or other. that we believed in the imminence of the kingdom of God. He railed at the fact that this teacher did not belong to any of the sects, and was not recognized by any of them, informed fas people that he had been specially educated so as to be able to guide them in all spiritual matters: and that they should seek no other counsel respecting God’s Word. He then demonstrated his wisdom and ability as “a scribe instructed respecting the kingdom” by declaring that the second coming of Christ must be many thousands of years future. because in his judgment, this was clearly taught, not by the Bible writers, but by the coal fields and ore deposits of earth, which he thought would last that long. . If the learned gentleman had only thought of it he might have prophecied a still longer interim—millions on millions of (243-244)
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