Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1904-05-26


OF which would made large church
and every foot Of this great space il
beautiful. The worlds best artist,
genius has been employed on the grea
structure. From the standpoint o
art | stand in admiration, but l can
not say SO much for the worship.
tried to worship, but 1t was an etfor,
to do SO. For the methods and priv.
lsges OF protestant worship are &c
much higher. How I did wish all the
people scattered In the various hooks
OF the great building could join with
one voice In some Of the great hymns
Of praise. OF course the Gregorian
chants (ths present pope having for
hidden the use Of anthems, not to
mention hymns and songs) and they
were sung By choir Of male voices,
priests, men and boys, and the singing
was heavenly, but the formal ritu-
alism seems cold and spiritless. l
never saw so many old priests. A
few OF them have sanity faces and I
believe some OF them are saints but
the sensual look upon toe great
majority is painful to behold. And
some of them are lazy, too, fearfully
lazy. There are too many Of them.
1t has been said throw up stone and
it will surely fall on q priest or
soldier. Then, the pretended celibacy
Of the priests fs against true piety.
The Greek orthodox priests are q far
more benevolent and honest looking
class than the Latin or Romish priests.
Those that are sincere In their pro-
are likely to bloom out into
sanity looking, sweet faced old men,
but the most do not. must &C.
knowledge myself under great obliga-
lions to several Of them however, for,
both at Jerusalem and here, and in
iced at most Of the points visited, l
snjoyed marked courtesies at the
hands OF the priests, but nearly always
rom young men upon whom the
Of their calling had not
yet borne down SO heavily.
| went with several English gentle
men from st. Peters, having first
zone to see the bronze statue Of St.
Peter whose toes have been worn
Iuite short from the incessant kissing
# tbs worshippers, and having picked
Up a sprig Of evergreen for Agnes
curry, over to the Waldensian church
or the II o'clock service. l could
understand comparatively few words,
My proper pames and ecclesiastical
words and phrases which my slight
knowledge of Latin enabled me to
dentjfy, but enjoyed it greatly |
evertheless. The Italian mixed
oices, the noble, manly and benign |
ace and the eloquent gestures Of the
minister. and the close resem blance
o a best American protestant SER
ice-all impressed me very greatly
nd were means OF blessing to me.
went at 8 O'Clock to the Presley
erian church where DR.. Gray, a dis
lnguished specialist on the history Of
.ome as related to religion, delivered
lecture on "St. Paul and the Re.
gious Life OF Rome" 1t was well
'orthy Of publication and careful
tudy. In fact 1t is simply the es-
ence Of q series Of lectures which he
ives annually in Rome, condensed
ito one for the benefit Of our dele
ates. He speaks again tomorrow on
Paul's Life In Rome" He impresses
ne on account Of bis profound learn.
lg as we'll as for the sweetness Of his
lanneE We hastened across the
'ay for q union service, at 4 o'clock,
! all Sunday school scholars In Rome,
/ the NJ. E. church. The pastor, DR..
fright, is an American. Many
ALLAN protestants are present also,
" the Sunday school congress to last
'ur days. The great church was
acked SO we were obliged to adjourn
art Of our EngliSh-speaking contin-
ent for an overflow meeting. II
roved intensely interesting, as we
stoned to some OF the ministers re-
to the successes and joys as well as
lie difficulties in doing Sunday school
ork under the very shadow Of the
atican. One OF the results was the
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