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The Claims of the Pope.

dead ones, and conduct to opinion, but I quote the following note appended by the greatest Roman Catholic of this century, Cardinal Newman, to the list of his published writings:

"It is scarcely necessary to say that the author submits all that he has written to the judgment of the Church, whose gift and prerogative it is to determine what is true and what is false in religious teaching."

So long as there was a remnant of democracy in the papal organization, the old maxim "Securus judicat orbis terrarum," made it possible for this claim to har. monize with the great doctrine of modern society, "Vox populi, vox Dei." But when the long contest of pope and council ended in the formal proclamation of the absolute authority of one man, modern society was challenged to a conflict, to which the struggles of pope and emperor are likely to prove an insignificant prelude. Modern society is democratic society; the papal idea is monocratic society. If the democracy will submit in religious and moral questions to the monocrat, of course there will be no quarrel. If the doctrines and acts of popular sovereignty, like Cardinal Newman's books, are submitted for revision and limitation and veto to the judgment of the Church, why of course popular Sovereignty and papal sovereignty are not irreconcilable! And this is what Catholic writers mean when they say that the pope is not opposed to any form of government. To be sure! a submissive republic is preferable to a rebellious emperor; Napo

leon, ready and able to reestablish the pope in France, to the Bourbons, helpless, however legitimate. The papal war is with independent sovereignty of every kind-imperial, royal, oligarchic, democratic; Italian, German, French, English, American. Independence is the sin of sins, obedience the virtue of virtues.

In a recent French work on Hopes of the Church, extracts from which have appeared in American Catholic periodicals, the doctrine of popular Sovereignty is attacked with great subtlety and power. And throughout the work papal sovereignty is everywhere implied as the ordinance of Almighty God, the pope as his authoritative voice in human society, his vicegerent-no more to be disobeyed than God himself. To the utterances of excited priests or newspapers here and there, a candid thinker will attach no great weight. But the opinions of a Rosmini and a Cassani, a Demaistre and a Dupanloup, a Jannsen and a Newman, are to be weighed and pon

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dered. These are great names, that stand for powerful minds, and this claim is a reality! has been for generations and will be for generations to come.

Now this stupendous claim is at war (1) with the independence of the Catholic clergy everywhere, (2) with the independence of all temporal rulers, (3) with the independence of all citizens in their relations to the state, (4) with the independence of all thinkers, all scientific investigators, and all historical scholars. The first point hardly needs discussion; the cases of Lacordaire, who submitted, and of Lameunais who did not, wil occur to everyone acquainted with recent French history. Here were two of the greatest men of their time, full of patriotism, full of devotion to God and to humanity. France needed them; their age needed them. "Silence!" com

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ST. MARK'S PLACE, VENICE.

manded Rome. Pascal's heart was broken by the same decree, and the fruits of that silence can be read in the Catholic journals of America now writing of infidel France.

Here in America we have a right to the unshackled opinion of every citizen. The stronger his mind the greater his learning; the purer the purpose of his life the more is his opinion worth, the greater is his obligation to express it freely for the public weal. But what can the Catholic clergy of America be except the echoes of the Vaticanic policies? Down through all the marvelous machinery works the papal will. "Revoca," it said to Luther. "Revoca," it said to Döllinger. "Silence," it said to Pascal. Silence," it said to Montalembert and "L'Avenir." "Silence," it said to Edward McGlynn. "Imprimatur" stands upon the title-page of Catholic book and Catholic periodical, and the "Index Purgatorius" is the shadow lurking near. And the theory I maintain

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The Claims of the Pope.

cuts up by the roots the independence of the clergy and confiscates their intelligence and their learning. Secondly, the theory is at war with the independence of temporal rulers. Monarchy absolute, monarchy limited, republic aristocratical, republic democratical, let them be what they may-they must not be independent of the papal will. Of course a republic which tolerates any form of worship is preferred by the pope to a monarchy which establishes an antipapal worship. Hence Windhurst's exclamation during the Kulturkampf in Germany, "Give us American conditions!" But the ideal papal policy, never denied and never surrendered, is the establishment by law of the Roman Catholic worship in every organized community. It is folly to talk of the secret designs of Rome in the presence of this ensign floated openly for centuries.

If the pope were infallible in all matters of religion and morals, if he were the vicar of God, clothed with supernatural wisdom and illuminated by the Holy Ghost, then the papal worship and the papal doctrine ought to be incorporated in every commonwealth, the sooner the better! Men should rush to accept his guidance, and rejoice to do his bidding.

The first demand of the pope to any nation must therefore be to declare the Catholic religion the religion of the state. Such a demand was the basis of his concordat with the first Napoleon; such a demand will be made in America if ever the conditions should appear to favor its acceptance. His second and inferior demand must be for toleration. But as Louis Veuillot declared, toleration binds those who grant it, not those who accept it as an inferior right. The Catholic may protit by it, but his principles make any religious system but his own antichrist, and antichrist he must not tolerate where he has the power to forbid. To what extent the pope, through his agents, may bring pressure to bear upon executive, legislative, and judicial officers in the performance of their duties, is another question of great importance. I am unwilling to stretch the scope of the doctrine of infallibility by a single hairbreadth. But if I were a Roman Catholic judge or legislator in America, I should dread the coming of a mandate which might compel me to choose between my country and my Church. In Italy such mandates have been issued. They would be issued in America if they could be enforced.

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Bulgaria.

Bulgaria.

BULGARIA has the Danube for its northern boundary, which separates it from Roumania. On the east is the Black Sea; on the west is Servia; and on the south is Turkey proper.

The Bulgarians belong to the Slavonic race. They have high cheek bones, light and thin hair, and eyelids that do not open wide. They appear for the first time in history about 120 B. C., when, a small band, they settled in Armenia, on the banks of the Araxes. They afterward moved west and settled on the banks of the Danube in Europe. Their language is fundamentally Slavonic, but is largely mingled with Turkish and Persian.

The estimated area of the Bulgaria (including East Roumelia) is 37,860 square miles, with a population in 1888 of 3,154,375. Of these 2,326,250 were Bulgars; 607,319 Turks; 58,338 Greeks; 23,546 Jews; 50,291 Gypsies; 1,069 Russians; 4,699 Servians and other Slavs, 2,245 Germans. Of the population 2,432,154 belong to the orthodox Greek Church, which is the State religion; 668,173 are Mohammedans; 18,539 Roman Catholics. The great majority of the population live by the cultivation of the soil and the produce of their flocks and herds.

The ruler of Bulgaria is Prince Ferdinand, who was elected Prince of Bulgaria by the unanimous vote of the National Assembly July 7, 1887, and who assumed the government August 14, 1887, in succession to Prince Alexander, who abdicated September 7, 1886. His election has not been confirmed by the Porte and the Great Powers. Nominally Bulgaria is tributary to Turkey.

"Though nominally members of the Greek Church, the Bulgarians are in many respects as pagan as they were centuries ago, and their superstitions are almost countless. The clergy are deplorably ignorant, and frequently know as little as their flocks of the meaning of the prayers which they read in Greek."

Dr. George S. Davis writes from Bulgaria: "This is a Christian country but possessing no saving knowledge of Christ. While these people are appropriating all the arts of civilization, we must present the Christ of civilization."

The Methodist Episcopal Church first sent missionaries to Bulgaria in 1857. It was left without a resident missionary in 1864; abandoned in 1871; reoccupied in 1873; broken up in 1877; renewed in 1879; constituted a Mission Conference in 1892.

The superintendent, Rev. George S. Davis, D.D., is the only foreign male missionary now connected with the mission. The Rev. S. Thomoff, Rev. T. Constantine, and Rev. J. I. Economoff, connected with the mission, are Bulgarians who were educated in the United States. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society has an excellent school at Loftcha. It has thirty-four pupils in the boarding department, and twenty-five day scholars, including the primary

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Our Italy Mission.

Our Italy Mission.

OUR Italy Mission was commenced in 1872 and organized into a Conference in 1881. We now have pastors and churches in Rome, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Modena, Naples, Pisa, Palermo, Perugia, Turin, Venice, Bologna, and other cities, and report 965 members and 241 probationers.

Our missionaries from the United States now in Italy are Rev. Wm. Burt, D.D., and wife, Rev. N. W. Clark and wife, and Rev. E. E. Powell. The Woman's Missionary Society is represented by Miss E. M. Hall and Miss Ella Vickery, and five Bible women.

Our mission in Rome has suffered from its poor location. Ground has been purchased in a most eligible position and work will soon begin on a new building which, when completed, will add greatly to our prestige and give increased facilities for successful work. The Board of Managers of our Society indorse the appeal of Dr. Burt for the additional means needed to complete and furnish the mission building.

Rev. Wm. Burt, D.D., is the Presiding Elder of the Conference, with headquarters in Rome. Rev. N. W. Clark has been professor in Martin Mission Institute in Germany. He has now removed to Rome to become the principal of our Theological Seminary. Rev. E. E. Powell is pastor of First Church in Rome. Rev. E. E. Count, who has been at Florence, is now in the United States. The Woman's Missionary Society has an interesting school in Rome.

Miss Vickery writes: "There are now thirty-five girls in the school, ranging in age from three to eighteen years. The girls learn all departments of housework. Some of them have formed themselves into a band, meeting for daily prayer together. They are very apt in learning new melodies, and have already learned many of our good old tunes. Some of the older girls have joined a circle of King's Daughters, the first circle formed in Italy."

The Women of Italy.

BY REV. J. C. FLETCHER.

NOTWITHSTANDING the discouragements, the bondage in which centuries of ignorance, priestly despotism, and consequent superstition have inthralled woman, her position, thanks to the leaven of political freedom, of better schools, and of a purer Christianity, is better than for ages past. All, I believe, is working together for the good of woman in Italy. It is true that in regard to the leaven of a purer Christianity, "not many wise after the flesh, not many noble are called," but, thank God, some few of such have been called; while the greater part of Waldensian women and other Italian women members of the evangelical churches outside of the valleys, do not hold a lofty place in worldly society,

yet quietly their influence for Christianity and education is felt in their immediate surroundings.

As regards the Waldensians, no body of women in any part of Italy are so well educated. Some of them, indeed, possess what we in America term "a finished education," and the testimony given to me in 1889 by the venerable General Kossuth, the exDictator of Hungary, was most emphatic on the good education the Waldenses give all their young people, irrespective of sex, both in the common and the high schools, and in the Vaudois colleges.

In Naples and Rome, directly under the direction of the "Presbytery of Italy" (connected with the Free Church of Scotland), are two schools of a high class for young ladies. I doubt if there is in all Italy a school for young ladies of the higher orders equal to that at Naples, where the regular attendance is two hundred and twenty. The Italian Free Church, the English Wesleyans and Baptists, and the American Methodists and Baptists, are also doing a good work for woman in Italy.

By the census of 1891 Italy had a total population of 31,000,000, and more than one half was of the female sex. Nearly 10,000,000 women (I include girls in their teens in this term) at that date were actively engaged in household labors or in industrial pursuits. More than 3,000,000 were occupied in agriculture from the finest garden operations to the more masculine work in the fields, vineyards, and orchards. There are nearly 2,000,000 engaged in manufacturing industries, such as in cotton, woolen, silk, and linen factories. Of these, 170,000 are occupied in the production of silk, from unwinding the tiny cocoon to the production of the most finished silk and velvet cloths. An immense number of women are also engaged in Tuscany (particularly in the city of Prato and vicinity, not far from Florence) in the plaiting of straw to supply the millinery demands of London, Paris, Berlin, New York, and other great centers of commerce and fashion throughout the world. Women are also found in vast numbers in the great porcelain establishments in Florence, in the glass and lace manufactories of Venice, and in the many manufactures of a high order, requiring skill and delicacy, in Milan, Turin, Genoa, Naples, and Rome.

Perhaps the reason for a preponderance of women in these industries is partly owing to the fact that Italy, in proportion to her population, has the largest standing army and navy of any other country in Europe. Italian male citizens, of whatever class, must serve so many years either in the army or in the navy. Therefore, there is much of the industry of Italy that requires thought and skill which devolves upon the women. This is preparing woman for higher and more powerful influence than she had in the old régime of the pope and priest-ridden retty kingdoms and dukedoms before United Italy became "a fixed fact."-Evangelist.

CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES.

Faith and Census of Some American Churches.

WE have received from the United States Census Office in Washington the following, prepared by Henry K. Carroll, LL.D.:

THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT (KORESHAN ECCLESIA.)

The founder of this body is Cyrus Teed. Cyrus in Hebrew is Koresh; hence the terms Koreshan Ecclesia, or the Koreshan Church, and Koreshanity, the system of Koresh. The foundation principie of the movement is the "reestablishment of Church and State upon a basis of divine fellowship," the law of which is love to neighbor. It has three departments -the Ecclesia, or church; the College of Life, or educational department; and the Society Archtriumphant. As the aims of Koreshanity cannot be secured where the spirit of competition operates, the life of the disciples is communal. Celibacy is a fundamental doctrine. It is held as desirable in order to conserve the forces of life, and necessary to the attainment of that purpose of life which issues in immortality. The disciples hope to pass out of the world as did Enoch, Elijah, and Christ.

had revivals of religion in Pennsylvania and Mary. land resulting in many accessions to membership of the churches they served. Others of like mind assisted them in the ministry, and they met occasionally in conference concerning their work. The first of these informal conferences was held in Baltimore, Md., in 1789. The movement, though meeting with some opposition, gradually developed into a separate denomination. At a conference held in Frederick County, Md., in 1800, attended by Otterbein, Boehm, Geeting, Newcomer, and nine others, an organization was formed under the title "United Brethren in Christ," and Otterbein and Boehm were elected superintendents, or bishops. The preachers increased and new churches arose, and it soon became necessary to have two annual conferences, the second one being formed in the State of Ohio. In 1815 the denomination completed its organization by the adoption at a general conference of a discipline, rules of order, and a confession of faith.

For some years the work of the Church was mainly among the German element. It still has German conferences, but the great bulk of its members are

They number 205 members, with 5 organizations, English-speaking people. or communities.

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THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST.

The United Brethren in Christ are sometimes confounded with the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian Brethren. Though some of the historians of the former body claim that it was connected in some way with the Ancient and Renewed Brethren of Bohemia and Moravia, the United Brethren in Christ and the Moravians are wholly separate and distinct and have no actual historical relations. The Moravians were represented in this country long before the United Brethren in Christ arose, which was about the year 1800.

Philip William Otterbein, a native of Prussia and a minister of the German Reformed Church, and Martin Boehm, a Mennonite pastor in Pennsylvania of Swiss descent, were the chief founders of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. These men, preaching with great earnestness and fervency,

In doctrine, practice, and usage the United Brethren are Methodistic. They have classes and class leaders, stewards, exhorters, local and itinerant preachers, presiding elders, circuits, quarterly and annual conferences, and other Methodist features. Their founders were in fraternal intercourse with the fathers of American Methodism, and in spirit and purpose the two bodies were not dissimilar. The United Brethren, though not historically a Methodist branch, affiliate with the Methodist churches, sending representatives to the Ecumenical Methodist Conferences.

Their annual conferences are composed of itinerant and local preachers and lay delegates representing the churches. The bishops preside in turn over these conferences, and in conjunction with a committee of presiding elders and preachers fix the appointments of the preachers for the ensuing year. The pastoral term is three years, but in particular cases it may be extended with the consent of the conference. There is but one order among the ordained preachers, that of elder. Since 1889 it has been lawful to

license and ordain women. Bishops are elected by the General Conference, not to life service, but for a quadrennium. They are, however, eligible to reelection. The General Conference, which is composed of ministerial and lay delegates, elected by the annual conferences, meets once in every four years, and has full authority, under certain constitutional restrictions, to legislate for the whole Church, to hear and decide appeals, etc.

Their doctrines, which are Arminian, are ex

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