to be God; He was not a man as we are, but God with

The resurrection is given a purely spiritual interpretation. The following passage is characteristic:

"But Mary Magdalene remained without near the sepulchre, and, standing thus weeping, she stooped down to look into the sepulchre; and not finding her idolized master, but only those painful souvenirs which were left (his body having been moved to another grave), there came upon her, in the face of the desperate idea that she might never again see her well-beloved, a crisis or an infinite anguish, and in the intensity of her bitterness she lost consciousness and became as one seeing a vision of angels (as says St. Luke XXIV:23), and she saw two angels dressed in white seated, the one at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? She answered, Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid Him. And having said this she turned about and saw Jesus standing; but she did not recognize Him. Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?' She, thinking it was the gardener, responded, 'Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him and I will take Him away.' Jesus said to her: 'Mary.' She recognized suddenly the affectionate voice of her beloved, was carried away by delirious jubilation, and with all the enthusiasm and tenderness of which a loving daughter is capable, upon seeing her adored father resurrected, exclaimed: 'Rabboni!' (which signifies Master, in the diminutive of affection); but when she attempted to embrace the feet of her fantasmagoric Master, the vision disappeared."

"The sublime self-confidence," comments Dr. Lerrigo, "with which these few half-educated parish priests of a remote island have calmly undertaken to correct, modernize, and adapt to a scientific basis the greatest literary monument of

Translations of several interesting sections of this Gospel have been made by Rev. P. H. J. Lerrigo, M.D., in an article called "A Bible of Filipino Manufacture," which may be obtained from the American Northern Baptist Mission.

the age, to say nothing of its divine authorship, causes one to catch his breath. . . it may be frankly said that Bishop Aglipay has disappointed his friends of the Evangelical missions."

In 1912 the prolific pen of De los Reyes produced the most remarkable document which has yet appeared in the name of the Independent church, and the most remarkable religious work that has ever come from the hand of a Filipino-El Catecismo. That a man with the meager opportunities of De los Reyes, almost wholly self-educated as he was, and unacquainted with any European language save Spanish, could have produced this catechism seems incredible. De los Reyes attempted to reconcile Christianity with the latest science which he knew. Opinions will differ as to his success, but few can fail to admire both the audacity and the ability with which he made the attempt. One admiring reader of the catechism has declared that it might easily be revised in such a way that it would become one of the most progressive Christian catechisms in existence. It lacks inner consistency to be sure yet what catechism does not?

Dr. Jose Rizal has been sainted by the Independent church, and is gaining more prestige each passing year. The Novena del Dr. Jose Rizal, published in 1919, endeavors to show that Rizal, being more modern, better educated, and more scientific than Jesus could have been, avoided certain scientific errors into which Jesus and his contemporaries had fallen. In 1922 Bishop Aglipay was reported in the newspapers as having said: "Rizal, to us Filipinos, is more than a saint. He is the true Filipino messiah, whose coming we had longed to see during our colonial days." Should this tendency to place Rizal above Jesus continue, it would render reconciliation with other Christian bodies impossible. Probably it would hasten the dissolution of the Independent church, for the great mass of its membership is still Christian, is, indeed, Catholic in everything save its allegiance to the Pope.

Missionaries and Protestant Filipino pastors are divided as to the possibility of wisdom of aiding the Independent church. Many believe that the quicker it disappears the better

it will be for the Islands. Others believe that the values in it ought to be conserved, and that a crusade can be launched for a spiritual and moral regeneration within the church body. If a sort of inner circle could be established, consisting of those who were striving for higher standards of character and religion, this inner circle might widen until it would at last save the entire organization. Unless something of this sort should happen, the young generation, with its rising ethical standards, would repudiate the Independent church and it would inevitably perish. It matters not how scientific the theological views of the church may be, these will not save it unless it resolves to step up out of its old Spanish moral laxity and insists upon purer ethical standards for clergy and laity. Multitudes of Aglipayanos are good Christians, but there are many others who are living vicious lives with no open word of protest from their church. Creeds, no matter how excellent, without life, are vain.

PART V: FOREIGN MISSIONARIES

CHAPTER X

UNLOCKING THE FORBIDDEN BOOK

During Spanish times the Roman priesthood never permitted the Bible to fall into the hands of the laity, if there was any way to prevent it. They spread the impression, and sometimes said plainly, that it was a "bad book." The Catholic who concealed and furtively read a Bible was haunted by the dread that he might be forfeiting the salvation of his immortal soul.

The clergy knew better than this, but they also knew that the Scriptures in the hands of laymen were dangerous to autocracy. They were "safe" only when taught orally "with copious explanations." This was not mere theory-they had learned it by bitter experience. And so, to all the other burdens of the friars, was added an endless vigil to prevent their parishioners from seeing the source book of Christian faith! Here was—and is the weakest point in the Roman Catholic system. It cannot survive the white light of modern education-as the Vatican well knows—and a complete reversal of policy began this century. By a curious coincidence, America took the Philippines, and the Papacy reversed its opinion about the Bible in the same year, 1898, when Pope Leo XIII offered plenary indulgence to those who would practice a daily reading of the Scriptures. In 1914 Pope Pius X reiterated this offer in even stronger terms. The Church in the Philippines is lagging behind the Pope, and is doing next to nothing to disseminate Bibles even to this day. That in a quarter of a century a large part of the friars have so changed that they will even permit the reading of the Bible at all is cause for gratitude; it was so few decades ago that the owner of