To the Encyclical letter that was issued by Pope Pius, the modernists themselves have made a most bold and fearless answer, and have published it, in connection with the Pope's Encyclical to the world. (See "Program of Modernism," Putman's Sons, 1908.) This movement, by the way, is described as "a clear call for the rejuvenation of Roman Catholicism." The modernists believe that the church, the Roman Catholic church, can harmonize its teachings with the thought of this present age, that the most ancient church can survive by becoming the most modern. The ambitious designs of the modernists may further be learned by the following questions they propound, and answers they make to them: "At this moment (1908) pregnant with all sorts of moral revolution, when the intellectual world, still alienated from Christ and his Church, progresses in a hundred ways towards some undefinable renewal of spirit, we ask ourselves frankly, Is there in the Catholic church, in that great organism in which the religious spirit of the gospel has come to embody itself--is there a power of conquest or simply a conservative instinct? Does she still hide in the secret complexities of her wonderful organization, capacities for winning adherents, or is her vitality threatened by the germs of a speedy decay? Is her mission henceforth to be limited to a suspicious vigilance over the rude and simple faith of her rapidly-dwindling followers, or will she rouse herself to the reacquisition of that social influence which she has lost through long years of listless self-isolation? For ourselves we have long since answered this critical question. We have ever watched the aspirations of the contemporary mind with sympathetic interest; our hearts have beaten in unison with its glowing enthusiasm for the new ideals of universal brotherhood; and we have seen in all its movements the symptoms of a glorious revival of religion. * * * Speaking the language of our age and thinking its thought we have tried to bring it into touch with the teachings of Catholicism, that through such contact their profound mutual affinities might be made evident. We cannot believe that the church will ultimately reject our program as mischievous." I only want to present these statements to you and ask this question: Why is this rejuvenation of the Catholic church demanded? Why this demand to forsake symbol and creed of the middle ages in order to come into harmony with modern truth as it has been developed by modern thought and science? Do not the questions pre-suppose that the church complained against is wrong in creed and doctrine and attitude towards progress? I may not go further into a discussion of this Catholic situation, because I want to call your attention to still more startling things in the Protestant world, especially in our own country. REFORM IN PROTESTANTISM.