Show P OF CAT eat u IT is i a noteworthy n otero arthy fact that iwhite catholicism I 1 ia losing ground and iffla ence in italy ft it is gaining constant accessions ces to its ranks and is in the most thrifty and flourishing condition in the united states and eagland Eh gland glaud countries coun trl tri 1 es which have been viewed slewed as the strong holds of protestantism the roman catholic organization ia is thoroughly adapted for the purposes that church wishes to accomplish its agents of both sexes are numerous devoted energetic and tireless the system of tin g adopted by it is complete aa is also the management and aud care of the convert after he has given adhesion to its creed I 1 from every part of the united states we hear of the spread and flourishing con condition of catholicism and grave fear fears sare are entertained by many protestants that it is acquiring such a foothold and a power in the laud land that religious albert liberty will at some time in the not distant future be seriously endangered by its influence and machinations but it is id inn england where it seems to be gaining its greatest triumphs it is becoming fashionable there on the part of chulch choich of england angland E ministers to carry out the practices and doctrines of the rohi roman iari laii catholic church and to imitate the clergy of that church in ap dress devotions preaching etc it is is said on good authority that many of the church of england ministers have established not only the practice of confession among their flocks but bat have actually built themselves confessionals in their churches they are said to be playing popery without the pope and are in this manner prepa preparing rim rIV the english en 0 people to become roman boman catholics tholO Ca there are no churches in lon london daa better attended than the roman boman catholic churches some of the leading catholic priests in that city including the archbishop himself are converts from the church of england to romanism noman there her a are said to be upwards of two hund hundred red roman catholic priests in england one eighth of this number were once ministers of the church of england and among the leading laymen it is the same there are than ten peers who are thease themselves ved converts to the catholic church these swell the number of catholic nobleman and greatly increase their influence besides these peers there are eighteen baronets baranets baro nets who within the last twenty five years have joined the same church then there is a host of men without titles influential in spheres some of them famous who have deserted protestantism and gone over to catholicism these facts indicate very plainly the direction in which the popular religious tide is setting in that country A hybrid sort soft of catholicism is fashionable among some classes of protestants they donot do not like the pope very well but they like the forms and ceremonies of his church they are grand and showy and admit of a display of pomp and glitter that is very fascinating to a certain class of minds after awhile they acquire a liking for the bope pope himself it is remarked that buch such people begin by admiring admirl ng and practicing the forms and ceremonies of romeald Rome Home and end by giving in their adhesion to rome home itself and becoming the pontiffs most faithful followers there is a cause for this defection on the part of leading protestant protestantism ralis jails to meet their thein th ein want wants and to satisfy there is a hollowness about opt its professions a lack of ea earnestness and zeal in its ministers an absence of power in its borgaa organization iza tion the claims of the catholic church however bad the thip foundation on which they are based are more dore r logical and in accordance with the s scriptures than those set forth by the P protestant I 1 churches A reflecting unprejudiced I 1 mind is compelled to admit that lamod if modern ministers are gods servants and act bj HIs sanction they should claim and exercise greater authority than protestant churches extend to their ministers in this thia respect the roman boman catholic church claiming a priesthood and assuming that it possesses possessed power comes nearer to the ancient pattern but on this account viewing it from our standpoint is the more dangerous on the principle that a well executed counterfeit closely embling resembling res les the original is more likely to deceive than a coarse clumsy imitation the claim of the church being the ancient chure church hilts its ministers the successors of the apostles Apost les lea its ita priesthood coming down livan iiran in an uninterrupted descent from the greathead great head of bf the church its so called glorious traditions and hla hia history its compactness astren strength gt h and universality and the splenda splendor of its iti ceremonies isorda a combination of attractions thalis irresistible sis tible to many minds rev KEV dr pullman who piea preaches chesIn in the church of our savior havior new york yore cit city delivered a sermon permon on sunday i the esth the Ecclesiastes text is ix 11 11 1 1 I 1 returned and saw under the r sun bun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor lor yet favor to men of skill but time and chance happ eneth to them all this book of ecclesiastes apont contains ains a chapter which if taken as a law for human affairs would have long since he said destroyed the human race according to his view this was a book so full fall of lies practical lies and so much at variance with human nature that when a revision of the canon of scripture was made it must be struck out through all its pages hopelessness he thought hangs bangs as a pall pali and if it is to be believed nothing comes from courage or hope talent or genius he attempted to show his hearers heaberg that solomon erred in f saying baying that the race was not always to the swift if preachers could have their way the work york N of revising and striking out portions of scripture would be garried carried on so vigorously that the bible would soon under their combined assaults disappear christendom is rapidly coming to the conclusion that it is an old fogy record well enough adapted to bygone by gone barbarous ages bulc buic altogether unsuited uri uni bulted suited to the wants and the advanced thought of an age like the present |