A NEW RELIGIOUS CRUSADE.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 5, 3 November 1877, Page 3

A NEW RELIGIOUS CRUSADE.

\ very curious society," the "Saturday .view " observes, " has chosen the present as a favorable moment for revealing its existence. It is called 'The .Militia of Jesus Christ,' and it is said to number a million of volunteers, principally in France and Belgium. Probably this is a great exaggeration; but the society is so eminently in harmony with the ecclesiastical spirit of the times that it is easy to believe that its ranks will be tolerably full, more especially as women are allowed to be members. The society is stated by its founders to be modelled on the institution of St. Dominic, which ' conferred great benefits on society' by the ardent and effectual way in which it combated heresy and schism. Its great object is to be the restorer of the temporal power of the Pope, and until the time comes for effecting this object the associates are to pray, to contribute at least a franc a month to the Pope's funds, to support the Catholic press, and to wear a white cross openly if possible, and, if not, under their clothes. It is, in fact, to be a sort of Ultramontane International. That it will have a considerable success may be predicted, just as it may be safely predicted that the remarkable progress of Socialism in Germany will not be without its counter-part in other countries. Socialism and Ultramontanism are the constant enemies of modern society, and they are both beginning to lift up their heads after the defeat they sustained in the German war and the suppression of the Commune. No one can say what will happen in the next fevv years; but

so far as materials fur calculation exist, there is no reason to suppose that modern society cannot hold its own against both its enemies. We may await the struggle without misgiving, but there is every indication that a struggle is coming which will shake the Continent, although England may happily stand outside its influence. How soon it will come depends, perhaps, more on the fate of the present French Ministry than on anything else."