THE REAL WORK OF PROTESTANT

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 26, Issue 349, 26 December 1879, Page 17

THE REAL WORK OF PROTESTANT

MISSIONARIES.

Fbom tame to time we see, in the columns of our religious and secular contemporaries, glowing accounts of the progress made in Italy France, Belgium, and other Catholic countries, by the Protestant missionaries from England and the United States. So rose-coloured hS,w n £ °J ♦? c » tatementß that one might be led by them to believe that the entire population of these papistical countries was on the high road toward that " higher, purer, and nobler plane of life upon which Protestantism moves." But ever and anon one comes across revelations concerning the Protestant propaganda in Europe SSta^ff T V'T 1 *£* pleaßil * *«"««». In some of the last KEJffLn! e . London u^"^.for instance, there are eye-opening and li^rl 1S "£ °v. th f r HltMeßH ltMeB iQ FraQce ' and also from *&&™ mona^f ■ and l whlch lead *° the suspicion that the Protestant propaganda m these places is conducted by a sort of ring or mutual tickle W' T 6ty> " P ? the P linci P le of "you tickle me and 111 from & \°l a Ue ' G ' F - Newman, writing to the Times whSevlr fhf B V^ relatlon to a recentl y Published boast that ™ c Englishman resorts upon the continent, there arrangeS\t Dmne worship wi i, be found . that this is tr but that g it dPsh-^ I 3I 3 geth . er LUe , tO " lhe reat uumb<Jr of cier e yineu who vSit^DW^hT ih enta u excill ' si on, and who offer their services to IlvJ <f « 5 f theJ otherwise <*>uld not reach." « Hence," he 2£ «X ™ C f le^ me T n where, and a great many more than clLvin r a ■ -J? Switzerland, Air. Newman found three clergymen residing at different hotels and conducting three rival found a'rl^ Qd CVea at i hc SoUtaiy hotel at the *>«cier de Rhone, hi tound a clergyman residing there to conduct services. <• It is very Snon, hi , Newman ' "to multiply services and archdeacons and canons, but uot ea^y io create congregations." At Baden, he found SX^h 6^ I^ sll^ Euglisb Cburch " vef y miserable," and There SinS at'th^T 11 yT nOt ?** At Geneva ' he *»**> the **» <* therf a S 11^ 811 ,C, CQ "eh was "a scandal," and very frequently S h^ f °" nd , nVal AQ g llcaQ churches, as in Rome and in Paris, DODu?ation°» TlyT Iy v, UOt aa edifyin S spectacle to a Roman Catholic of Mr w Another correspondent of the Times endorses ths truth mvn ?? wmux * statements and adds comical illustrations of his ausnices of °th! frpW t ? !rl ? lld he £ound a chaplaincy under the ?he P (}?,,S r •I' G " that ls the Bociet y for the Propagation of i ?he c ; UU a S S 1 - na ? i r h th ? co «S'egation numbered only twelve persons. Koman \, i p , laCe was extrea *ely " high " and he imitated the Extreme v fn aS \ f c V S P°SsibleP ° Ssible - But across the wa y there wa * ™ \ ?So!Si y ,Ti bUlch fIVICCf IVICC SoinßS oin B on UQdcr the patrol of the I dozens of wi ContlQental Socie *- These are only a few out of \ SKVIiS" »"*auces that are adduced. The manner in which 10l dp ° lii f ? Ut a S a » da °*» been carried on in Rome has th™ ? isCaudal> e nd tbe babbles WQich bave be^ blown up in puncS C m PaUS ° f thC continent are " ow beiQ g rapiW i»hri« Ut ' S notthe Eu glish alone who. under pretence of preaching able and D yf™ d ° m S tbe devil ' 8 work itt makin S it disagree^ exceCt bvin? P r? c l °u pagan8 ' whil<i the^ secure for tbemsulves an exceneut living. 1 hose howling dervishes who made religion hideous Jv«. rw™ SII L Ce in ° hio and other West era. and. for that matter the£ nar./ 11 ' ta^ 8 '~ ooru r 0*" sweet Metbodists-seem to be doing r£LF»\i Bast Indies, as we learn from the Lido-European Oorrtt/fondence, which thus laments their mistaken efforts .-"The

American Episcopal Methodists have introduced a new religious teatnre among us. which appears to be looked upon with suspicion in some quarters. Bands of persons, mostly of the female sex we believe, parade the streets of an evening, singing Moody and Sankey bymns. One most know Calcutta to realize the shock it feels at anything of this sort. How far these open-air demonstrations are due to real devotion it would be invidious iv us to conjecture. Bat we think it is a mistake to condemn the practice unconditionally. Calcutta is not in great danger of erring by an excess of Christian enthusiasm. Bo far from this being the case, the danger has ever lain the other way. Perhaps the most valid objection to these singing bands is that they bring Christianity into contempt among the natives. To our way of thinking, there can hardly be any more striking symptom of contempt than the chilling indifference with which the natives in this part of Bengal treat Christianity. In all probability, the singing bands will be a nine days wonder.— Catholic Review.