A membership certificate
signed "Thomas DeWitt," as President of the American Protestant Society to Colonel Darius Branch, is being sold on eBay.
According to the listing, the American Protestant Society (1844-1849) was founded during a period of heavy Irish Catholic immigration into the United States. The American Protestant Society directed its efforts toward converting foreign-born American Catholics to evangelical Protestantism. In 1849, it merged with two other anti-Catholic organizations to form the American and Foreign Christian Union. That organization was finally disbanded in 1884.
This particular certificate, dated June 21, 1848. New York, NY, says, "This is to certify that Col. Darius Branch by a Contribution of Twenty five Dollars by Himself is constituted Member for Life of the American Protestant Society."
The certificate, according to the seller's description, bears a beautiful engraving on the top, which depicts a magnificent vision of Judgment Day, complete with the destruction of Babylon. Underneath the depiction is an excerpt from 2 Thessalonians 2:8: "When the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."
