The Irish standard., 1904-02-13
SECTARIAN LIARS
Undeterred by Facts of History, Says
Professor Starbuck.

professor StdrbuCk.
Professor Charles c. Starbuck, the
great Protestant theologan of Ando-
yer, Mass, writes as follows in the
Sacred Heart Review of Boston:
We can imagine some such dialogue
as this between the editor of the Hello
graph and the editors of the Diary:
Heliograph-You tell your readers
that almost all the Filipinos are heath
ems or Mohammedans, when you know
that about seven-tenths of them are
Catholics.
Diary-True. We remember Father
Luthers advice, to make free use of
"edifying and salutary lies" in the
cause of the Blessed Reformation.
Your church prosecuted us once, and
should the Middle Ages return. might
prosecute us again. Therefore, as to-
wards her, holy Luther has granted
us dispensation from all the obliga-
tons of thuth, charity and justice.
Heliograph-But you attack even
w
clergyman lately died. leaving con-
siderable estate, you screamed out that
here was wealth run up by eXtortion
from his people, without presenting
the slightest evidence of your charge
Diary-rrue. AS Luther says again:
"A man that will shrink from a good
plump lie for the sake of the true re-
ligion is poor stick" And again:
EVERY opposer of my doctrine is pos
sesscd of the devil. and therefore is
always mediating all possible mis-
chief.' Perhaps this priest was not
an extortioner, and gained his wealth
by Inheritance, or honest investments.
However, being a Popish priest, he
was of course always doing or plotting
evil as he could. We called him an
eXtortioner, because the pretext was
Obvious. Had it been equally apt, we
might instead have called him a MUIR
derer, or adulterer, or forger, or coiner,
or highway robber. We took the most
convenient epithet. because. as Luther
shows, YOU can not possibly SANDER an
active Papist. The case against him is
always as broad as it is long. If it is
not convenient to call his one hateful
thing, call him something else just as
bad, and you are sure to be in the
right of it. OF course we own that we
ought always to wait until servant
of .Antichrist is dead. and can not sue
us for libel. Otherwise we should be
conveying the wealth of Israel into
the camp Of Moab. We mean that our
courage shall still be allayed with pru-
dence.
MISUNDERSTANDING you have spe-
cial principles in dealing with the
Pope.
Diary-Certainly. In other cases we
manufacture the facts. and then apply
the epithets. In the case of the Pope we
apply the epithets without regard to the
facts. For instance if another man
asks million dollars for some thing
and then, when the price has doubled,
asks two, of course this is straightfor-
ward dealing. If he is Baptist, then
Of course all his dealings are holy,
and pure and upright. and honorable
and benevolent. as witness our illustri-
GUS brother. John d. Rockefeller. But
if the Pope should ask a million, and
then, when the price has doubled. two,
this would be odious, covetousness
and cl;lftiness. because the Pope is
antiClrist, and anti-Christ, who is
simply an incarnation of the devil, can
not act otherwise than GENEROUSLY and
craftily. In other cases, we judge of
the man by the deed, but as concerns
the Pope, we judge of the deed by the
man. AS valued contributor of ours
has lately said: Gown Rome to be
anything else than Antichrist and Ba-
bylon and you are no true Protestant"
The sacred authority Of James Anthony
Froude has said about the same.
IIeliograpll-But you have sgnficd
lately that all Professionals but Baptists
| ilt really hOllltlllStS. lllcH willy
don't you treat them as you do us?
Diary-Don't we? For certain rea-
sons we must pretend to make dis
tinctiOn, but how much difference is
there in our underlying spirit? Do we
not snap and snarl and growl and bite,
very nearly as hatefully in the one
case as in the other? To be sure we con-
suit our convenience. Some times we
treat you both as one indiscriminate
mass of pernicious errorists. Then
again it may suit our turn that those
who yesterday were "mere Roman
lists" shall to-day be refulgent in all
THE brightness of Evangelical light
and truth" AS Sam says, in "Uncle
Toms Cabin" am always consistent
or, as he has it, ''persistent"-for, on
whichever side 1 put up my ladder 1
am always meaning to get to the top
of the haystack.
Heliograph-If you are afraid that
some day we may persecute you again,
} why may not we be afraid that some
day you will prosecute us? At the
Reformation you swept the Catholic