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Show T The Oldest Church. In the October number of the Ladies' Home Journal is found this eloquent tribute to the Cath-lic Cath-lic church : "Lord Maeaulay rightly called thf Roman church the greatest organization that the world has ever had ; and its greatness is never quite so evident at any other time as when a Pope dies and a new one is chosen. The solemn and impressive series of ceremonies, in the most fitting surroundings that the hands of men have ever made, call forth very strongly the reverence of men of all nations and of all creeds. The throne of St. Peter has seen a longer dynasty than any other, and the spiritual subjects of the Pope are more numerous now than they ever were before. This is the throne that survives temporal changes; and, as most men regard it, it has ever grown stronger with the loss of its own temporal power. It survives even the changes of thought survives religious revolutions. "Its largest and richest diocese is in our republic repub-lic a land that was Protestant from the beginning. Under every political' system, in every grade of society, so-ciety, in countries given to every form cf religious faith or worship, whatever church thrives or dies, it remains. An American naval officer recently told this story whatever port his ship had ever ap-pror ap-pror bed, and however, forbidding or bleak the cou . 7; in war or in peace, a priest had soon made his way aboard, offering the ministrations and consolations con-solations of the church alike to believer and unbeliever. unbe-liever. This simple story hints of the force that makes the Roman church stronger in an era of many religious changes than it ever was before." 1 .j |