THE HOLY WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 101, 29 April 1878, Page 2

THE HOLY WAR.

To the Editor of the 'Evening Mail.'

Sib— Some three hundred or so of the Ritualistic clergymen of England have met together to proclaim their sympathies with the Czar Russia in his "Holy War" against the Turks, in which the latter are termed "traditional enemies of Christian civilisation and progress." These don-and-doffi clerical robe gentlemen seem to have forgotten a few historical facts. They have not pointed out the superiority of Russian "civilization" and "progress" over the polite, upright, honest Turk— the professor of a pure Theism, and a believer in the divine mission of our Saviour, which surely is superior to the Czar— adoring worship of the degraded and ignorant Russians, I have just been reading the English papers, and if anything that has happened in Turkey can equal what will be found in their reports of the proceedings of the law courts I fail to discover it. Parricide, fratricide, matricide, suicide, and all the "tides" that can be enumerated, supplemented by the proceedings in the DiTorce Court; form a very pretty picture of Western "civilization" and " progress." I v<rish some of your readers would explain the meaning of these two much used words. The Turk is certainly much more civil than his Western neighbor, and there are certainly two kinds of " progress "— a true and a false (Hogarth's "Bakes Progress" for instance.) That the Russians pay some kind of adoration to their Czar is shown by an extract from a "Catechism" published for the spiritual edification and comfort of the Poles by their benign, humane, " civilised," "progressive/ and Christian conquerors:—" Q. How is the authority of .the Emperor to be considered in reference to the spirit of Christianity? A. As proceeding immediately from God. Q. What duties does religion teach us, the humble subjects of His Majesty the Emperor of Russia, to practise towards him? A. Worship, obedience, fidelity, service, love, and prayer, the whole being comprised in the words " worship " and " fidelity." Q. What kind of obedience do we him? A. An entire, passive, and unbounded obedience in every point of view. Q. What are the supernaturally revealed motives for this worship? A. That the Emperor is the Vicegerent and minister of God to execute the divine commands, and consequently disobedience to the Emperor is identified with disobedience to God himself. Q. Does religion then forbid us to rebel and overthrow the government of the Emperor? A. We are interdicted from so doing at all times and under any circumstances." This catechism was printed at Wilna, the capital of Lithuania in 1832. When Peter the Eirst put himself in the place of the Patriarch at a Synod of St. Petersburg, he uttered the following words:—" Here henceforward is your Pope mid your God.*' The same Peter visitsd Paris during the Regency, and the doctors of the Serbonne drew up a memorial supplicating him to unite the two churches. :The Czar handed the government to his buffoon, saying, " Sotof, that is your business." 6u his return to Russia he created Sotof " Pope " with an allowance of 2 000 roubles, and gave Mm a " sacred college " of fools and drunkards supplied with brandy to get drunk. The following year he expelled the Jesuits (Dubois.) So much for ritualistic coquetting with such a " progressive " church and its "worshipped" head.— lam, &c, E. Tuckeb.