The American Sentinel 14
September 14, 1899
“Front Page” American Sentinel 14, 36, p. 561.
THE early church derived her marvelous power in the earth not from politics, but from Pentecost. AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.1
THE law can establish the letter of righteousness; but we are divinely warned that the letter alone “killeth.” AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.2
LET men pass what laws they please; it will still remain true that “the word of God is not bound,” and will prevail in spite of all opposition. AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.3
IT never does anybody much good to be forced to accept a benefit that he ought to take of his own free will. The law is out of place when it tries to force people to accept an unappreciated blessing. AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.4
LAWS and informalities never kept any institution alive after the spirit of it was dead in the heart of the people. How then can laws be relied on to “save the Sabbath”? AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.5
WHAT is needed here, and everywhere, is not that laws should be brought to the aid of Christianity, but that Christianity should be brought to the aid of law. When people are made good, they will do right; but no amount of commands to do right can make any person good. AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.6
BECAUSE “evil men and seducers” are waxing worse, as foretold by the prophet, crime is increasing in the land; and if the law cannot prevent crime from increasing, how can it prevent the progress of the moral degeneracy that is back of the crime? AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.7
WITH the gospel in the world as the divinely-appointed agency to persuade men to do right, it cannot be the province of the civil law to compel men in the moral sphere. If compulsion is right, persuasion must be wrong; and vice versa. AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.8
THE only authority which can rightfully speak in matters of religion, is that Authority which is infallible; hence the pope puts forth the claim to infallibility and “it is at least impossible for the magistrate to adjudge the right of preference among the various sects that profess the Christian faith without erecting a claim to infallibility which would lead us back to the church of Rome.” AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.9
“The Protestant Churches ‘Buncoed’” American Sentinel 14, 36, pp. 561-563.
THE Protestant churches in the United States have been almost wholly in favor of the forcible establishment American sovereignty in the Philippines. Their interest in the future the Philippines, however, has not been that of the politician or financier, looking for new territory from which to acquire new power and riches. The churches have seen in the Philippines and a new field for religious enterprise—for the spread of the gospel of salvation by faith. And in the policy of imperialism upon which the Government has entered there, they have seen what they have taken to be a divinely-appointed means of opening this new field before them. In this, as now appears, they have been sadly mistaken. The hand of the national Government that was so confidently counted on to help them in missionary work, is stretched out as a bar across their path. Imperialism is not a friend of gospel. AMS September 14, 1899, page 561.10
It was only to be expected that Rome would bring determined opposition to bear against the opening up of the Philippines to Protestant missionary work. Rome had long ruled the islands through Spain; she would continue to rule them through the United States if that were possible, and Rome believed it was possible. She has bestirred herself to make her hold on the islands secure under American rule; and from facts now apparent it is evident she has good reason to be pleased with the prospect. AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.1
1. Where American rule has been established in the islands, the Government recognizes not only the regular American holidays, but twenty “holydays” of the Catholic Church. AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.2
2. When the first Protestant missionary landed in Panay, he was promptly ordered out by the American officer in command at Iloilo, in the interests of peace. AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.3
3. The Government recognizes the Catholic Church and in allowing claims presented by the church for “holy water,” wine, and wafers, and in paying rent to that church for the use of two monasteries for hospitals, although these buildings were formerly the property of the Spanish government. AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.4
4. The Government has concluded a treaty with the Sultan of Sulu, by the terms of which “home rule” is to be maintained in his Mohammedan territory. Mohammedan rule is of course hostile to any other than the Mohammedan religion. AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.5
5. President Schurman, of the Philippine Commission, has made his report on the situation, and in effect tells Protestants to let the Catholics in the Philippines alone. “There may be,” he says, “a small field for Protestant activity in the islands, but I am inclined to think the Roman Catholics will continue to have the advantage.” (Italics ours.) AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.6
And how comes it that Rome has been so successful in getting into this position of advantage over the Protestants? A statement which leaves little need of further explanation in the matter, and which Catholic papers affirm, is that “Archbishop Ireland quietly saw the President” about it; and between them arrangements were made under which the Catholic Church was given all the advantage for maintaining her supremacy in the Philippines unimpaired. AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.7
The Protestants are, naturally, much disappointed and chagrined over the situation; feelings which Protestant journals have expressed in forceable terms. The N. Y. Evening Post, for example, says:— AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.8
“It thus appears that Mohammedanism and Romanism are to have free course and be glorified in the Philippines, with the sanction of our Methodist President, while the Protestant missionary societies are to be practically warned off the preserves. It is Dr. Burchard’s, ‘Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion’ over again, with the addition of polygamous and slave-holding Mohammedanism flying the American flag.” AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.9
For the Post says that the Protestant missionaries— AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.10
“have good reason to think they have been buncoed by Mr. McKinley. He has effusively joined them with pious thanks to Providence for having taken us to the Philippines, has shrewdly availed himself of the good political aid they have rendered him, and now is leaving them in the lurch. It is enormous shipments of liquor which have so far been the chief result of his policy and exports of the Bible to the Philippines are distinctly discouraged. The missionaries have our sympathy. They thought this Philippine enterprise was to be a good religious affair, with themselves in charge; and now they find the whole thing a business scheme, with religion shoved one side, and plans ripening every day to keep out the missionaries and let the brewers and distillers in. Providence may in time make the wrath of men the praise Him in the Philippines; but, so far certainly the wrath of man is getting an awful start.” AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.11
The Springfield Republican notes how tables have been turned on, “those who helped to drive the Republic into imperialism—with vassal States, like the slave-holding sultanate of Sulu—in order that Protestantism might be extended and enhanced in prestige and proceeds with a telling statement of facts:— AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.12
“Archbishop Ireland quietly saw the President, and it happens that the treaty with Spain guarantees that the monastic orders in the Philippines shall be formally protected in their lands and establishments. Under Spain these orders my been expelled. Indeed, the Spanish governor-general, in his agreement with Aguinaldo in December, 1897, conceded the expulsion of the monastic orders. The result is that the monastic orders, which are essentially missionary organizations, are better off than ever in the Spanish régime, while the Roman Catholic Church remains absolute master of the spiritual field in the archipelago, outside the Molera Islands. Even Dr. Schurman comes home and says the Protestants ‘may’ find there a ‘small’ opportunity. He is doubtful of that even. AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.13
“It is one of the ironies of the situation that the Protestant zealots in imperialism should have accomplished nothing for their own kind of Christianity, and, at the same time, have strengthened Roman Catholicism not only in the Philippines, but in America. For it can hardly be denied that the Roman Church must gain in importance here at home when the church possesses at the outset a spiritual dominion well nigh absolute in all the territories wrested from Spain. The American branch of the Roman Church is as vigorous as any part of the world’s ecclesiastical organization, and it will not miss its great opportunity. The Philippines, it is safe to predict, will stay Catholic, if for no other reason than that the ceremonial of the Church of Rome appeals strongly to the emotional, esthetic, and sensuous natures of the tropical Filipinos.” AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.14
The Protestants have again been beaten on Rome’s ground. And just as long as they venture on Rome’s ground, they will be beaten. Just as long as they try to advance Protestantism by Rome’s principles and methods, they will advance Romanism, and relegate Protestantism to the rear. AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.15
This is what the Protestant churches have gained (!) by allying themselves with the Government in the cause of imperialism. They have “strengthen Roman Catholic Catholicism not only in the Philippines, but in America.” A possible result, this, and one which can follow only from a terrible mistake. The “church militant,” as a prominent Protestant clergyman recently said, has “saluted the nation militant,” and recognized “that their mission and duty is to-day identical;” but now, behold, the nation militant recognizes its mission and duty as being more nearly identical with that of the Church of Rome. AMS September 14, 1899, page 563.1
Alliance with the state—dependence upon the power of the government—is a papal characteristic entirely. And imperialism is an essentially papal form of government; for imperialism, in common with the papacy, denies the right of individuals to govern themselves. In furthering the cause of imperialism, therefore, it could only be that Protestants would strengthen the hands of Rome. AMS September 14, 1899, page 563.2
If the Protestant church had raised her voice in behalf of liberty, condemning the projected policy of conquest, the nation might have been turned from the course which has weakened Protestantism and strengthened Rome at home and abroad. Will the Protestant church now learn the lesson and take up its neglected duty? It is not yet too late. A firm stand by the Protestant bodies throughout the land in support of the principle of self-government affirmed in the Declaration of Independence, would suffice to turn the tide of sentiment that is sweeping the nation toward the imperialist goal. AMS September 14, 1899, page 563.3
Protestant missionaries cannot succeed hand in hand with the Government. Protestantism cannot gain ground against Rome in that way. Protestants must go to foreign lands, not as representing a civil power of earth, but the government of heaven, and supported by the power of Christianity. Thus they can go always and succeed in spite of all the power of Rome and of earthly governments. AMS September 14, 1899, page 563.4
“Another Rebuff” American Sentinel 14, 36, p. 562.
THE editor of the Outlook—Lyman Abbott D. D.—wrote a letter to Archbishop Ireland asking him if there could not be “agreement and coöperation between Protestants and Catholics in the Philippines, Cuba and Porto Rice, and the work carried on in such relations of mutual friendliness... as will help to draw Protestants and Catholics nearer together rather than to estrange them from each other in the United States.” The Archbishop replied “frankly” “as a Catholic” and “as an American” and said: “As a Catholic, I cannot approve of any efforts of Protestants to affect the religious duties of the inhabitants of those islands. Catholics are there in complete control; they have a thorough church organization; the inhabitants are Catholics.... Protestantism will never take the place in their hearts of that faith.... As an American, I will no less object to efforts to implant Protestantism in those islands”—and much more of the same sort. When will professed Protestants learn enough to quit humbling themselves before Rome only to be spurned? But nearly twenty years ago the compromising Protestants, the church and state “Protestants,” declared that they must, in spite of rebuffs, seek coöperation with Rome in any way that she shall consent; and there diligently following it up. “Protestants, there are some; but Protestantism is dead.” AMS September 14, 1899, page 562.1
A. T. J.
“Ready for a New Constantine” American Sentinel 14, 36, pp. 563, 564.
AT the Methodist camp-meeting at Ocean Grove, N.J., about three weeks ago, President McKinley spent a short time one day and made a speech. After he had gone away, Dr. Schell, the general secretary of the Epworth League, in a sermon, says the New York Tribune, “aroused the enthusiasm of his hearers, and the auditorium resounded with the loud ‘amens’ when he said, “When President McKinley spoke about peace with honor, and meeting our duty in the islands of the sea like men, our souls lead within us, for we recognized in him the conquering spirit of the old Roman and the militant aggressive spirit of Christianity.... He spoke as a patriot and a Christian. There are more than one million young men in the Epworth League alone. No Alexander or Cesar ever had an army like that. We aspire to the Tenth Legion for any campaign. President McKinley may plan for peace at home or peace with honor broad. These young men with their blood and breeding will march through sand or jungle and fling themselves at a breastwork with a hardihood and a daring that no veteran of the Old Guard or Wellington’s Iron Brigade could surpass. He has our prayers to-day. He can have our money to-morrow, and the whole million will enlist the day after if we are needed.” AMS September 14, 1899, page 563.1
How much of a degree is that removed from the spirit of the times of Constantine? AMS September 14, 1899, page 563.2
Another preacher the same day “aroused much enthusiasm” by calling upon all the people of the United States to “stand by the President in his Philippine policy” and declaring that “God has thrown down a thousand isles in the Pacific as jewels, as stepping-stones over which Columbia, with the Stars and Stripes in one hand and the cross of Christ in the other, may pass to the commerce, education, and spiritual salvation of one half of the people of this world.” AMS September 14, 1899, page 563.3
Every sentiment of this whole performance is that of a complete union of church and state, of conquest of the cross with sword and cannon, of “spiritual salvation” by carnal weapons in warfare. AMS September 14, 1899, page 563.4
One of these days these fanatical religionists will find a politician willing to make capital of their thoughtless enthusiasm, and in this country will behold in speaking acting power in this nation the living image of the papacy of the fourth century and onward. A. T. J. AMS September 14, 1899, page 564.1
“Imperial Rome and ‘Imperial Democracy’” American Sentinel 14, 36, pp. 564, 565.
THE similarity of the course pursued to-day by the American Republic, to that taken by the Roman Republic just previous to the establishment of the empire, is in fact not lost to the view of American imperialism. Although they fatuously predict a different outcome from the working of the forces which established would-be despotism two thousand years ago. For example, from the following taken from a paper read by Samuel I. Irish, before the Social Science Association at Southampton, September 6:— AMS September 14, 1899, page 564.1
“I know that in the busy world of to-day close comparisons are somewhat out of date, and yet it may not be inappropriate to recall to mind that nineteen hundred years ago three men, Roman citizens, divided the world among them, Antony, Lepidus, and Octavius Lepidus took Northern Africa and Spain, Antony took Egypt and the East, and Octavius took Italy and the rest of the world. But it was not many years before Octavius, by force of arms, became Cesar Augustus, the ruler of the world. And then it was that the gates of the temple of Janus were closed, which signified, under the Roman law and custom, that war had ceased and that universal peace reigned throughout the empire. And then, too, it was that the Prince of Peace was born. AMS September 14, 1899, page 564.2
“And so, as I look into the future, I see again the world divided into three, but this time it will be three nations and not three individuals who will divide the world among them. If not in actual territorial divisions, at least in dominating political influence. And now three nations will be, in fact are, named in the reverse order of their ultimate political importance. First, Russia, the grim specter of the North, that seeks to enfold in her chill embrace the destinies of the world. Second, Great Britain and her colonies, a vast and magnificent federated empire that will be standing for ity and order, and third and last, the United States of America. And the last shall be first. AMS September 14, 1899, page 564.3
“And as I seek to draw aside the veil still more and gaze still further down through the corridors of the centuries I see again Cesar Augustus sole ruler of the world. But this time it will not be a single individual, but the imperial democracies of the English-speaking race, ruling with directing mind and guiding with sympathetic, outstretched hand a Christian world, bound together by the iron bands of order, justice and of peace.” AMS September 14, 1899, page 564.4
The picture of “imperial democracy” ruling a Christian world is pleasing enough, but is one that can never materialize; for imperialism is not democracy and democracy is not imperialism. The establishment of imperialism marks the end of republicanism. It is impossible to separate imperialism from empire, and empire from emperor. The rule of the many over themselves is republicanism. This gone, there must follow the rule of a few, and eventually of one over the many; and that rule was never anything else than despotism. AMS September 14, 1899, page 564.5
“Back Page” American Sentinel 14, 36, p. 576.
WHEN you read of some whose liberty under this Government is being denied them, by that very token know that your own liberty is in danger. AMS September 14, 1899, page 576.1