THE Wesleyan Christian Advocate (Atlanta, Ga.), of January 30, contains the following editorial:—
Standing by His Colors
It seems that on State occasions Canada has places of honor for the dignitaries of the Catholic Church, but does not recognize Methodists, Presbyterians and others, though they represent a majority of the people there. Dr. Carman, the superintendent of Canada Methodism, declined to attend the funeral of Sir John Thompson, because of this discrimination. In explanation of his course, he says:—
“Personal feelings are not here to be considered for a moment. For myself I might well enough have accepted any place; but for the Methodist Church I must have the ground and rank to which the Methodist Church is entitled, and to which for herself and for others that church has asserted that claim. It is an affair of great political significance—of immense civil, social and ecclesiastical significance. It is an affair of human rights, of the resistance of ancient wrongs, of the assertion and maintenance of freedom and proper self-respect, of rejection of pompous and absurd pretensions, and of teaching other people their place and duty. The men that will submit to tyranny are cowards, and proclaim themselves base tyrants were the places changed. Possibly the time has come to set these wrong matters right, and a kind providence may have given us a good occasion.”
This clerical struggle for “place” now raging in the United States and Canada among Protestants, brings to mind the history of the struggle of the papal bishop for place in the early centuries of Christianity.
We recommend Dr. Carman and all clergymen, both in Canada and the United States, to abandon their struggle for first “place” at the side of the State and hasten to press close to the side of the Lord Jesus Christ. They can all have first place there, for he is “no respecter of persons.” [82]