to all the various sub-divisions of modern Christians. Any one who examines these differences of opinion must see at a glance that they belong to the order of differences that must always produce discord rather than harmony.

Men can agree to differ upon matters which they are indifferent about; but, unfortunately, modern Christians regard points of doctrine as of vital importance. Hence, on these subjects they will never agree to differ, until they appreciate the fact that Christ did not insist upon doctrinal beliefs as needful to salvation. The practical duties of a Christian life, with faith in God's love, he did insist upon; and here, we find that all Christians, of whatever denomination, are unanimous. About what is false or irrelevant they have been quarrelling for eighteen hundred years, and are as far from agreeing as ever they were.

As an instance of the angry feelings which doctrinal differences between modern Christians are causing in our midst, I may recall a circumstance which was reported in the Times, under the heading, "A Temperate Controversialist," in September, 1875.

This melancholy exhibition of the antagonistic feelings which rival followers of Christ are led to indulge in by reason of their doctrinal differences was published in the Times in October, 1875, and will doubtless be fresh in the memory of most of my readers. The controversy arose between two rival ministers of Christianity, one a Protestant clergyman and the other a Catholic priest, the latter having made a convert of the son of the former. In reply to a letter of indignant remonstrance from the father of the boy convert, the priestly fanatic replies as follows:

"St. Leonard's-on-Sea, Sept. 24, 1875.

"Rev. Sir, I have received a letter from you on the subject of your son. You there express your great aversion to my having been the instrument, in God's hands, for his reconciliation with the Church of his fathers, the Church of the living God, One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, the pillar and foundation of truth, outside of which no one can be saved. This, however, according

to your letter, seems to have given you very great umbrage indeed. It seems to vex you much; and you are evidently embarrassed through it, in your position of life, as being a paid minister of an heretical sect.

"In general, I find that you are aggrieved at the invasion of your parental authority,' which seems to awaken in you the expectation that the fathers and mothers in this free country' must decide whether they will submit to the hearts of their children, whom God has given them, being secretly admitted into a Church whose teachings they believe contrary to the Word of God at an age when those children are not capable of forming an opinion for themselves on the most important truths. To be sure, 'the fathers and mothers of this free country,' who for these last twenty years have been turning the children out of doors, locking them up in prison in their own homes, and disinheriting them, because, even as men and women, they only exercised their liberty in becoming reconciled to the Catholic Church, and then in workhouses, and all such institutions, the wholesale pitiless pirating away by force of thousands of our children from their parents, who execrate the sects into which their little ones are plunged, more even than hell. And, as if we had all forgotten, the grim crusade of Protestantism in Ireland these thirty years back, going with its counterfeit Bible in one hand and its lean soup in the other, and because that Catholic people 'in their liberty' would not desert the Church of their hearts, were left by tens of thousands to perish by famine. Better a million times over they had fallen into the hands of Turks or cannibals who sucked up their blood, than to have perished under the stark dereliction of these lost myrmidons of a Protestant apostolate.

"Finally, in the face of the thousand ministers and members of the two great universities who have, in spite of the greatest earthly sacrifices, left Protestantism to enter that Church, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, be not so positive. In sight of all those ancient churches and parishes in your own county, all whose steeples and walls proclaim that they were built and founded by your Catholic forefathers, pause, lest on the Day of Judgment they who raised them should call God to condemn you, because, in sight of His eternal laws, you are but a usurper in one of them. Pause! For obstinately resisting the Church of the living God, and refusing to enter it, the sword of God's eternal damnation is hanging over your head; and it requires but the moment of death for it to fall upon you and plunge you into that eternal ruin, where there is no order, where there is gnashing of teeth, where the worm

never dies, and where the fire is never extinguished.-I am, Rev. Sir, your obedient servant,

In the foregoing, we have a good illustration of the smothered feeling of hatred and ill-will which still smoulders in the breasts of these rival sects, ready at any time to break forth again in actual violence. Those who think that in the nineteenth century such scenes are impossible should recall the incidents of the Murphy riots, which are still fresh in our recollection.

It is not too much to say that, if the rival Christian sects, the Protestants and Catholics, could but agree to sink their doctrinal differences, and unite on the firm basis of Christ's moral teachings, the political atmosphere of the whole of Europe would be deprived of its greatest disturbing element Probably the exact influence of religious differences, even in our day, in promoting hostility and jealousy between rival Christian nations, will never be made known; but, that it is still considerable, there can be no doubt. The days of crusades and religious massacres are probably over, and any examples of the bloodshed, wickedness, and misery which Christian differences on points of doctrine have brought about in past times, are surely needless for any student of history. For the purpose of this work, it is unnecessary to inquire which side was to blame-whether Protestants or Catholics—it is sufficient to point out that the atrocities in question were perpetrated, and that, by men calling themselves Christians, and professing to act in the interests of Christianity, and really persuading themselves that what they did was pleasing to Christ. The leading divines on both sides sanctioned and approved of persecutions and bloodshed, and their followers naturally followed the example of their teachers, and from what motives did they do so? Simply because those whom they tortured, rejected one or other of those points of doctrine which the Christian world still continues to quarrel about. Now-a-days, we are content to abuse one another,

and show our hatred and distrust by political fights and social ostracism. Formerly, it was war to the knife, when one or other sect got the upperhand for the time being. The cause of dispute, however, still exists; and although the rival sects may not seek to destroy life, they are none the less alien to the teachings of him who said "By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, that ye love one another."

If men who rule the destinies of nations are more capable of judging what are the hidden motives of the principal actors in European politics than we who do not see behind the scenes, then a recent declaration by Prince Bismarck touching the influence of Rome in bringing about the Franco-German war of 1870 is entitled to considerable weight. It will be remembered that Prince Bismarck -in a remarkable speech at Berlin- directly accused the emissaries of Rome of telegraphing from Berlin false rumours about the alleged insult by the German Emperor to the French Ambassador at Ems in 1870—just before that terrible war-for the express purpose of inflaming the angry passions of the French people. Be that as it may, it is exceedingly probable that the Romish Church has, in more than one instance in our day, betrayed its trust as an expounder of Christ's teachings by encouraging war and bloodshed. The wars of 1866 and 1870 were both sanguinary contests between Protestant and Catholic nations, and those who are best able to judge, believe that the Romish Church has secretly striven to humiliate Prussia, through Catholic powers. In return, as we all know, Prussia has entered upon a domestic warfare against the representatives of Catholicism in Germany. So far, indeed, are Christian nations, from acting up to the teachings of Christ in regard to the all-important precept not to avenge wrongs, that a war of revenge by France against Prussia was, quite recently, openly talked of in the public press. After eighteen centuries of Christianity, the bare

possibility of such a shocking motive for further bloodshed being publicly canvassed, is itself a commentary on modern Christianity which it is needless to enlarge upon.

As a specimen of the sentiments which are thus openly expressed, I quote the following, in May, 1873 :—

"THE GERMAN AND SWISS CONFLICT WITH ROME.-There is no doubt whatever that, in order to recover its old ascendancy, says the Press and St. James' Chronicle, Rome is even now contemplating a religious war in the form of a war of races between the Latin and the German peoples. The overthrow of Protestantism, which opposes the right of free inquiry into spurious authority, is the end to be accomplished. Rome is eagerly preparing for this great struggle. The overthrow of the temporal power of the Pope, the triumph of Germany-the birth-place of the Reformation, the attempted invigoration of Switzerland by the revision of its constitution, and the recent changes in Austria and Spain, render action imperative after Rome has gained concentration by the new dogma, and thus become better prepared for the conflict. France is the centre of its hopes and the mainstay of its policy. It is expected that France will seek ere long to avenge, on the Rhine and the Po, her recent defeat and disasters; and this war of revenge will be fostered by Rome, by all the means in its power, in the hope of destroying the German empire. With this view, Jesuitism strives to rouse to fanaticism, against the State's authority, the Ultramontane populations of Germany and Switzerland, so that they may aid the enemy against their own land on the day of trial. At this moment even respectable French papers preach zealously this alliance with Ultramontanism. Rome (they say) is Germany's worst foe, and therefore it is France's best ally. Switzerland is already doomed to destruction in the councils of these new confederates. The expulsion of Mermillod is to be avenged by blotting Switzerland from the map of Europe, and leaving only the historical memory to its posterity. That will be the signal for the great struggle and the greater war of vengeance that will follow. When such things are openly spoken and written it is time to make ready for the battle. Germany and Switzerland are warned in time. They do wisely to buckle on their armour and sharpen their weapons."

The following from the Times, in October, 1873, in commenting upon the remarkable correspondence between the Pope and the Emperor of Germany-which at that time made such a sensation throughout Europe—is also significant of what may be impending even in England :—