Chapter Thirty Five
Character and Aims of the Papacy
Liberty of Conscience Threatened
Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far
greater favor than in former years. In those countries
where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy, and the papists
are taking a conciliatory course in order to gain influence,
there is an increasing indifference concerning the doctrines
that separate the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy;
the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do
not differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed,
and that a little concession on our part will bring us into a
better understanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants
placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience
which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children
to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with
Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different
are the sentiments now expressed!
The defenders of the papacy declare that the church has
been maligned, and the Protestant world are inclined to
accept the statement. Many urge that it is unjust to judge the
church of today by the abominations and absurdities that
marked her reign during the centuries of ignorance and
darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of
the barbarism of the times and plead that the influence of
modern civilization has changed her sentiments.
Have these persons forgotten the claim of infallibility put
forth for eight hundred years by this haughty power? So far
from being relinquished, this claim was affirmed in the
nineteenth century with greater positiveness than ever before. As
Rome asserts that the “church never erred; nor will it,
according to the Scriptures, ever err” (John L. von Mosheim,
Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, book 3, century II, part 2,
chapter 2, section 9, note 17), how can she renounce the
principles which governed her course in past ages?
The papal church will never relinquish her claim to
infallibility. All that she has done in her persecution of those
who reject her dogmas she holds to be right; and would
she not repeat the same acts, should the opportunity be
presented? Let the restraints now imposed by secular governments
be removed and Rome be reinstated in her former
power, and there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny
and persecution.
A well-known writer speaks thus of the attitude of the
papal hierarchy as regards freedom of conscience, and of
the perils which especially threaten the United States from
the success of her policy:
“There are many who are disposed to attribute any fear
of Roman Catholicism in the United States to bigotry or
childishness. Such see nothing in the character and attitude
of Romanism that is hostile to our free institutions, or find
nothing portentous in its growth. Let us, then, first compare
some of the fundamental principles of our government with
those of the Catholic Church.
“The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty
of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental. Pope
Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said:
‘The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of
liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of
all others, most to be dreaded in a state.’ The same pope, in
his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized
‘those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious
worship,’ also ‘all such as maintain that the church may not
employ force.’
“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not
imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless.
Says Bishop O’Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured
until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to
the Catholic world.’. . . The archbishop of St. Louis once
said: ‘Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian
countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people
are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential
part of the law of the land, they are punished as other
crimes.’. . .
“Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic
Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which
occur the following words: ‘Heretics, schismatics, and rebels
to our said lord (the pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will
to my utmost persecute and oppose.’” —Josiah Strong, Our
Country, ch. 5, pars. 2-4.
It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman
Catholic communion. Thousands in that church are serving
God according to the best light they have. They are not
allowed access to His word, and therefore they do not discern
the truth.[* Published in 1888 and 1911. See
Appendix.] They
have never seen the contrast between a living heart service
and a round of mere forms and ceremonies. God looks with
pitying tenderness upon these souls, educated as they are in
a faith that is delusive and unsatisfying. He will cause rays
of light to penetrate the dense darkness that surrounds them.
He will reveal to them the truth as it is in Jesus, and many
will yet take their position with His people.
But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with
the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her
history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or
they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman
Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation.
She is employing every device to extend her influence and
increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined
conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution,
and to undo all that Protestantism has done. Catholicism
is gaining ground upon every side. See the increasing
number of her churches and chapels in Protestant countries.
Look at the popularity of her colleges and seminaries in
America, so widely patronized by Protestants. Look at the
growth of ritualism in England and the frequent defections
to the ranks of the Catholics. These things should awaken
the anxiety of all who prize the pure principles of the gospel.
Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery;
they have made compromises and concessions which papists
themselves are surprised to see and fail to understand. Men
are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism and
the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy. The
people need to be aroused to resist the advances of this most
dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty.
Many Protestants suppose that the Catholic religion is
unattractive and that its worship is a dull, meaningless round
of ceremony. Here they mistake. While Romanism is based
upon deception, it is not a coarse and clumsy imposture. The
religious service of the Roman Church is a most impressive
ceremonial. Its gorgeous display and solemn rites fascinate
the senses of the people and silence the voice of reason and
of conscience. The eye is charmed. Magnificent churches,
imposing processions, golden altars, jeweled shrines, choice
paintings, and exquisite sculpture appeal to the love of
beauty. The ear also is captivated. The music is unsurpassed.
The rich notes of the deep-toned organ, blending with the
melody of many voices as it swells through the lofty domes
and pillared aisles of her grand cathedrals, cannot fail to
impress the mind with awe and reverence.
This outward splendor, pomp, and ceremony, that only
mocks the longings of the sin-sick soul, is an evidence of
inward corruption. The religion of Christ needs not such
attractions to recommend it. In the light shining from the
cross, true Christianity appears so pure and lovely that no
external decorations can enhance its true worth. It is the
beauty of holiness, a meek and quiet spirit, which is of value
with God.
Brilliancy of style is not necessarily an index of pure,
elevated thought. High conceptions of art, delicate refinement
of taste, often exist in minds that are earthly and
sensual. They are often employed by Satan to lead men to
forget the necessities of the soul, to lose sight of the future,
immortal life, to turn away from their infinite Helper, and
to live for this world alone.
A religion of externals is attractive to the unrenewed
heart. The pomp and ceremony of the Catholic worship
has a seductive, bewitching power, by which many are
deceived; and they come to look upon the Roman Church as
the very gate of heaven. None but those who have planted
their feet firmly upon the foundation of truth, and whose
hearts are renewed by the Spirit of God, are proof against
her influence. Thousands who have not an experimental
knowledge of Christ will be led to accept the forms of godliness
without the power. Such a religion is just what the
multitudes desire.
The church’s claim to the right to pardon leads the
Romanist to feel at liberty to sin; and the ordinance of confession,
without which her pardon is not granted, tends also to
give license to evil. He who kneels before fallen man, and
opens in confession the secret thoughts and imaginations
of his heart, is debasing his manhood and degrading every
noble instinct of his soul. In unfolding the sins of his life to
a priest, —an erring, sinful mortal, and too often corrupted
with wine and licentiousness, —his standard of character is
lowered, and he is defiled in consequence. His thought of God
is degraded to the likeness of fallen humanity, for the priest
stands as a representative of God. This degrading confession
of man to man is the secret spring from which has flowed
much of the evil that is defiling the world and fitting it for
the final destruction. Yet to him who loves self-indulgence,
it is more pleasing to confess to a fellow mortal than to open
the soul to God. It is more palatable to human nature to do
penance than to renounce sin; it is easier to mortify the flesh
by sackcloth and nettles and galling chains than to crucify
fleshly lusts. Heavy is the yoke which the carnal heart is
willing to bear rather than bow to the yoke of Christ.
There is a striking similarity between the Church of Rome
and the Jewish Church at the time of Christ’s first advent.
While the Jews secretly trampled upon every principle of the
law of God, they were outwardly rigorous in the observance
of its precepts, loading it down with exactions and traditions
that made obedience painful and burdensome. As the Jews
professed to revere the law, so do Romanists claim to
reverence the cross. They exalt the symbol of Christ’s sufferings,
while in their lives they deny Him whom it represents.
Papists place crosses upon their churches, upon their altars,
and upon their garments. Everywhere is seen the insignia of
the cross. Everywhere it is outwardly honored and exalted.
But the teachings of Christ are buried beneath a mass of
senseless traditions, false interpretations, and rigorous
exactions. The Saviour’s words concerning the bigoted Jews,
apply with still greater force to the leaders of the Roman
Catholic Church: “They bind heavy burdens and grievous to
be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves
will not move them with one of their fingers.”
Matthew
23:4. Conscientious souls are kept in constant terror
fearing the wrath of an offended God, while many of the
dignitaries of the church are living in luxury and sensual
pleasure.
The worship of images and relics, the invocation of saints,
and the exaltation of the pope are devices of Satan to attract
the minds of the people from God and from His Son. To
accomplish their ruin, he endeavors to turn their attention
from Him through whom alone they can find salvation. He
will direct them to any object that can be substituted for the
One who has said: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and
are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28.
It is Satan’s constant effort to misrepresent the character
of God, the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the
great controversy. His sophistry lessens the obligation of the
divine law and gives men license to sin. At the same time he
causes them to cherish false conceptions of God so that they
regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love. The
cruelty inherent in his own character is attributed to the
Creator; it is embodied in systems of religion and expressed
in modes of worship. Thus the minds of men are blinded,
and Satan secures them as his agents to war against God. By
perverted conceptions of the divine attributes, heathen
nations were led to believe human sacrifices necessary to secure
the favor of Deity; and horrible cruelties have been
perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry.
The Roman Catholic Church, uniting the forms of paganism
and Christianity, and, like paganism, misrepresenting
the character of God, had resorted to practices no less cruel
and revolting. In the days of Rome’s supremacy there were
instruments of torture to compel assent to her doctrines.
There was the stake for those who would not concede to
her claims. There were massacres on a scale that will never
be known until revealed in the judgment. Dignitaries of the
church studied, under Satan their master, to invent means
to cause the greatest possible torture and not end the life
of the victim. In many cases the infernal process was
repeated to the utmost limit of human endurance, until nature
gave up the struggle, and the sufferer hailed death as a sweet
release.
Such was the fate of Rome’s opponents. For her adherents
she had the discipline of the scourge, of famishing hunger, of
bodily austerities in every conceivable, heart-sickening form.
To secure the favor of Heaven, penitents violated the laws of
God by violating the laws of nature. They were taught to
sunder the ties which He has formed to bless and gladden
man’s earthly sojourn. The churchyard contains millions of
victims who spent their lives in vain endeavors to subdue
their natural affections, to repress, as offensive to God, every
thought and feeling of sympathy with their fellow creatures.
If we desire to understand the determined cruelty of
Satan, manifested for hundreds of years, not among those who
never heard of God, but in the very heart and throughout the
extent of Christendom, we have only to look at the history
of Romanism. Through this mammoth system of deception
the prince of evil achieves his purpose of bringing dishonor
to God and wretchedness to man. And as we see how he
succeeds in disguising himself and accomplishing his work
through the leaders of the church, we may better understand
why he has so great antipathy to the Bible. If that Book is
read, the mercy and love of God will be revealed; it will be
seen that He lays upon men none of these heavy burdens.
All that He asks is a broken and contrite heart, a humble,
obedient spirit.
Christ gives no example in His life for men and women
to shut themselves in monasteries in order to become fitted
for heaven. He has never taught that love and sympathy must
be repressed. The Saviour’s heart overflowed with love. The
nearer man approaches to moral perfection, the keener are his
sensibilities, the more acute is his perception of sin, and the
deeper his sympathy for the afflicted. The pope claims to be
the vicar of Christ; but how does his character bear
comparison with that of our Saviour? Was Christ ever known to
consign men to the prison or the rack because they did not
pay Him homage as the King of heaven? Was His voice
heard condemning to death those who did not accept Him?
When He was slighted by the people of a Samaritan village,
the apostle John was filled with indignation, and inquired:
"Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from
heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?” Jesus looked
with pity upon His disciple, and rebuked his harsh spirit, saying:
"The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives,
but to save them.”
Luke 9:54, 56. How different from
the spirit manifested by Christ is that of His professed vicar.
The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the
world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties.
She has clothed herself in Christlike garments; but she
is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in
past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest
ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The papacy
that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that
ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of
God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity.
She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that
lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives
of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than
when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of
the Most High.
The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would
be, the apostasy of the latter times.
2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4. It
is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best
accomplish her purpose; but beneath the variable appearance
of the chameleon she conceals the invariable venom of the
serpent. “Faith ought not to be kept with heretics, nor persons
suspected of heresy” (Lenfant, volume 1, page 516), she
declares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand
years is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged
as a part of the church of Christ?
It is not without reason that the claim has been put forth
in Protestant countries that Catholicism differs less widely
from Protestantism than in former times. There has been a
change; but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism
indeed resembles much of the Protestantism that now exists,
because Protestantism has so greatly degenerated since the
days of the Reformers.
As the Protestants churches have been seeking the favor of
the world, false charity has blinded their eyes. They do not
see but that it is right to believe good of all evil, and as the
inevitable result they will finally believe evil of all good.
Instead of standing in defense of the faith once delivered to
the saints, they are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for
their uncharitable opinion of her, begging pardon for their
bigotry.
A large class, even of those who look upon Romanism
with no favor, apprehend little danger from her power and
influence. Many urge that the intellectual and moral darkness
prevailing during the Middle Ages favored the spread
of her dogmas, superstitions, and oppression, and that the
greater intelligence of modern times, the general diffusion
of knowledge, and the increasing liberality in matters of
religion forbid a revival of intolerance and tyranny. The very
thought that such a state of things will exist in this enlightened
age is ridiculed. It is true that great light, intellectual,
moral, and religious, is shining upon this generation. In the
open pages of God’s Holy Word, light from heaven has been
shed upon the world. But it should be remembered that the
greater the light bestowed, the greater the darkness of those
who pervert and reject it.
A prayerful study of the Bible would show Protestants the
real character of the papacy and would cause them to abhor
and to shun it; but many are so wise in their own conceit that
they feel no need of humbly seeking God that they may be
led into the truth. Although priding themselves on their
enlightenment, they are ignorant both of the Scriptures
and of the power of God. They must have some means of
quieting their consciences, and they seek that which is least
spiritual and humiliating. What they desire is a method of
forgetting God which shall pass as a method of remembering
Him. The papacy is well adapted to meet the wants of all
these. It is prepared for two classes of mankind, embracing
nearly the whole world—those who would be saved by their
merits, and those who would be saved in their sins. Here
is the secret of its power.
A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to
be favorable to the success of the papacy. It will yet be
demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally
favorable for its success. In past ages, when men were without
God’s word and without the knowledge of the truth,
their eyes were blindfolded, and thousands were ensnared,
not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation
there are many whose eyes become dazzled by the glare of
human speculations, “science falsely so called;” they discern
not the net, and walk into it as readily as if blindfolded. God
designed that man’s intellectual powers should be held as a
gift from his Maker and should be employed in the service
of truth and righteousness; but when pride and ambition are
cherished, and men exalt their own theories above the word
of God, then intelligence can accomplish greater harm than
ignorance. Thus the false science of the present day, which
undermines faith in the Bible, will prove as successful in
preparing the way for the acceptance of the papacy, with
its pleasing forms, as did the withholding of knowledge in
opening the way for its aggrandizement in the Dark Ages.
In the movements now in progress in the United States
to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the
support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of
papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy
to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has
lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater significance
to this movement is the fact that the principal object
contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance—a
custom which originated with Rome, and which she claims
as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit of the papacy—the
spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for
human traditions above the commandments of God—that is
permeating the Protestant churches and leading them on to
do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has
done before them.
If the reader would understand the agencies to be employed
in the soon-coming contest, he has but to trace the
record of the means which Rome employed for the same
object in ages past. If he would know how papists and
Protestants united will deal with those who reject their
dogmas, let him see the spirit which Rome manifested
toward the Sabbath and its defenders.
Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances
sustained by secular power were the steps by which the pagan
festival attained its position of honor in the Christian world.
The first public measure enforcing Sunday observance was
the law enacted by Constantine. (A.D. 321; see
Appendix.)
This edict required townspeople to rest on “the venerable day
of the sun,” but permitted countrymen to continue their
agricultural pursuits. Though virtually a heathen statute, it
was enforced by the emperor after his nominal acceptance of
Christianity.
The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for
divine authority, Eusebius, a bishop who sought the favor of
princes, and who was the special friend and flatterer of
Constantine, advanced the claim that Christ had transferred the
Sabbath to Sunday. Not a single testimony of the Scriptures
was produced in proof of the new doctrine. Eusebius himself
unwittingly acknowledges its falsity and points to the real
authors of the change. “All things,” he says, “whatever that
it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to
the Lord’s Day.” —Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath
Duties, page 538. But the Sunday argument, groundless as it
was, served to embolden men in trampling upon the Sabbath
of the Lord. All who desired to be honored by the world
accepted the popular festival.
As the papacy became firmly established, the work of Sunday
exaltation was continued. For a time the people engaged
in agricultural labor when not attending church, and the
seventh day was still regarded as the Sabbath. But steadily a
change was effected. Those in holy office were forbidden to
pass judgment in any civil controversy on the Sunday. Soon
after, all persons, of whatever rank, were commanded to
refrain from common labor on pain of a fine for freemen and
stripes in the case of servants. Later it was decreed that rich
men should be punished with the loss of half of their estates;
and finally, that if still obstinate they should be made slaves.
The lower classes were to suffer perpetual banishment.
Miracles also were called into requisition. Among other
wonders it was reported that as a husbandman who was
about to plow his field on Sunday cleaned his plow with an
iron, the iron stuck fast in his hand, and for two years he
carried it about with him, “to his exceeding great pain and
shame.” —Francis West, Historical and Practical Discourse
on the Lord’s Day, page 174.
Later the pope gave directions that the parish priest should
admonish the violators of Sunday and wish them to go to
church and say their prayers, lest they bring some great
calamity on themselves and neighbors. An ecclesiastical
council brought forward the argument, since so widely employed,
even by Protestants, that because persons had been
struck by lightning while laboring on Sunday, it must be
the Sabbath. “It is apparent,” said the prelates, “how high
the displeasure of God was upon their neglect of this day.”
An appeal was then made that priests and ministers, kings
and princes, and all faithful people “use their utmost endeavors
and care that the day be restored to its honor, and,
for the credit of Christianity, more devoutly observed for the
time to come.” —Thomas Morer, Discourse in Six Dialogues
on the Name, Notion, and Observation of the Lord’s Day,
page 271.
The decrees of councils proving insufficient, the secular
authorities were besought to issue an edict that would strike
terror to the hearts of the people and force them to refrain
from labor on the Sunday. At a synod held in Rome, all
previous decisions were reaffirmed with greater force and
solemnity. They were also incorporated into the ecclesiastical
law and enforced by the civil authorities throughout nearly
all Christendom. (See Heylyn, History of the Sabbath, pt. 2,
ch. 5, sec. 7.)
Still the absence of Scriptural authority for Sundaykeeping
occasioned no little embarrassment. The people questioned
the right of their teachers to set aside the positive declaration
of Jehovah, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy
God,” in order to honor the day of the sun. To supply the
lack of Bible testimony, other expedients were necessary.
A zealous advocate of Sunday, who about the close of the
twelfth century visited the churches of England, was resisted
by faithful witnesses for the truth; and so fruitless were his
efforts that he departed from the country for a season and
cast about him for some means to enforce his teachings.
When he returned, the lack was supplied, and in his after
labors he met with greater success. He brought with him a
roll purporting to be from God Himself, which contained
the needed command for Sunday observance, with awful
threats to terrify the disobedient. This precious document—
as base a counterfeit as the institution it supported—was
said to have fallen from heaven and to have been found in
Jerusalem, upon the altar of St. Simeon, in Golgotha. But, in
fact, the pontifical palace at Rome was the source whence it
proceeded. Frauds and forgeries to advance the power and
prosperity of the church have in all ages been esteemed
lawful by the papal hierarchy.
The roll forbade labor from the ninth hour, three o’clock,
on Saturday afternoon, till sunrise on Monday; and its
authority was declared to be confirmed by many miracles.
It was reported that persons laboring beyond the appointed
hour were stricken with paralysis. A miller who attempted
to grind his corn, saw, instead of flour, a torrent of blood
come forth, and the mill wheel stood still, notwithstanding
the strong rush of water. A woman who placed dough in the
oven found it raw when taken out, though the oven was very
hot. Another who had dough prepared for baking at the
ninth hour, but determined to set it aside till Monday, found,
the next day, that it had been made into loaves and baked by
divine power. A man who baked bread after the ninth hour
on Saturday found, when he broke it the next morning, that
blood started therefrom. By such absurd and superstitious
fabrications did the advocates of Sunday endeavor to establish
its sacredness. (See Roger de Hoveden, Annals, vol. 2,
pp. 528-530.)
In Scotland, as in England, a greater regard for Sunday
was secured by uniting with it a portion of the ancient Sabbath.
But the time required to be kept holy varied. An edict
from the king of Scotland declared that “Saturday from
twelve at noon ought to be accounted holy,” and that no
man, from that time till Monday morning, should engage
in worldly business. —Morer, pages 290, 291.
But notwithstanding all the efforts to establish Sunday
sacredness, papists themselves publicly confessed the divine
authority of the Sabbath and the human origin of the institution
by which it had been supplanted. In the sixteenth
century a papal council plainly declared: “Let all Christians
remember that the seventh day was consecrated by God, and
hath been received and observed, not only by the Jews, but
by all others who pretend to worship God; though we Christians
have changed their Sabbath into the Lord’s Day.” —
Ibid., pages 281, 282. Those who were tampering with the
divine law were not ignorant of the character of their work.
They were deliberately setting themselves above God.
A striking illustration of Rome’s policy toward those who
disagree with her was given in the long and bloody persecution
of the Waldenses, some of whom were observers of the
Sabbath. Others suffered in a similar manner for their fidelity
to the fourth commandment. The history of the churches of
Ethiopia and Abyssinia is especially significant. Amid the
gloom of the Dark Ages, the Christians of Central Africa
were lost sight of and forgotten by the world, and for many
centuries they enjoyed freedom in the exercise of their faith.
But at last Rome learned of their existence, and the emperor
of Abyssinia was soon beguiled into an acknowledgment of
the pope as the vicar of Christ. Other concessions followed.
An edict was issued forbidding the observance of the Sabbath
under the severest penalties. (See Michael Geddes, Church
History of Ethiopia, pages 311, 312.) But papal tyranny soon
became a yoke so galling that the Abyssinians determined to
break it from their necks. After a terrible struggle the
Romanists were banished from their dominions, and the ancient
faith was restored. The churches rejoiced in their freedom,
and they never forgot the lesson they had learned concerning
the deception, the fanaticism, and the despotic power of
Rome. Within their solitary realm they were content to
remain, unknown to the rest of Christendom.
The churches of Africa held the Sabbath as it was held by
the papal church before her complete apostasy. While they
kept the seventh day in obedience to the commandment of
God, they abstained from labor on the Sunday in conformity
to the custom of the church. Upon obtaining supreme power,
Rome had trampled upon the Sabbath of God to exalt her
own; but the churches of Africa, hidden for nearly a thousand
years, did not share in this apostasy. When brought
under the sway of Rome, they were forced to set aside the
true and exalt the false sabbath; but no sooner had they
regained their independence than they returned to obedience
to the fourth commandment. (See
Appendix
.)
These records of the past clearly reveal the enmity of Rome
toward the true Sabbath and its defenders, and the means
which she employs to honor the institution of her creating.
The word of God teaches that these scenes are to be repeated
as Roman Catholics and Protestants shall unite for the
exaltation of the Sunday.
The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the power
represented by the beast with lamblike horns shall cause “the
earth and them which dwell therein” to worship the papacy
—there symbolized by the beast “like unto a leopard.” The
beast with two horns is also to say “to them that dwell on the
earth, that they should make an image to the beast;” and,
furthermore, it is to command all, “both small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond,” to receive the mark of the
beast.
Revelation 13:11-16. It has been shown that the United
States is the power represented by the beast with lamblike
horns, and that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the
United States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome
claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. But
in this homage to the papacy the United States will not be
alone. The influence of Rome in the countries that once
acknowledged her dominion is still far from being destroyed.
And prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. “I saw
one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly
wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the
beast.”
Verse 3. The infliction of the deadly wound points
to the downfall of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the
prophet, “his deadly wound was healed: and all the world
wondered after the beast.” Paul states plainly that the “man
of sin” will continue until the second advent.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-8. To the very close of time he will carry forward the
work of deception. And the revelator declares, also referring
to the papacy: “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him, whose names are not written in the book of life.”
Revelation
13:8. In both the Old and the New World, the papacy
will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution,
that rests solely upon the authority of the Roman
Church.
Since the middle of the nineteenth century, students of
prophecy in the United States have presented this testimony
to the world. In the events now taking place is seen a rapid
advance toward the fulfillment of the prediction. With Protestant
teachers there is the same claim of divine authority for
Sundaykeeping, and the same lack of Scriptural evidence, as
with the papal leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the
place of a command from God. The assertion that God’s
judgments are visited upon men for their violation of the
Sunday-sabbath, will be repeated; already it is beginning
to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday observance
is fast gaining ground.
Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Roman
Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time,
seeing that the Protestant churches are paying her homage
in their acceptance of the false sabbath and that they are
preparing to enforce it by the very means which she herself
employed in bygone days. Those who reject the light of truth
will yet seek the aid of this self-styled infallible power to exalt
an institution that originated with her. How readily she will
come to the help of Protestants in this work it is not difficult
to conjecture. Who understands better than the papal leaders
how to deal with those who are disobedient to the church?
The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications
throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the
control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see.
Its millions of communicants, in every country on the globe,
are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to
the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government,
they are to regard the authority of the church as above all
other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty
to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to
Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her
interests.
History testifies of her artful and persistent efforts to
insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained
a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of
princes and people. In the year 1204, Pope Innocent III
extracted from Peter II, king of Arragon, the following
extraordinary oath: “I, Peter, king of Arragonians, profess
and promise to be ever faithful and obedient to my lord, Pope
Innocent, to his Catholic successors, and the Roman Church,
and faithfully to preserve my kingdom in his obedience,
defending the Catholic faith, and persecuting heretical pravity.”
—John Dowling, The History of Romanism, b. 5, ch. 6, sec.
55. This is in harmony with the claims regarding the power
of the Roman pontiff “that it is lawful for him to depose
emperors” and “that he can absolve subjects from their
allegiance to unrighteous rulers.” —Mosheim, b. 3, cent. 11,
pt. 2, ch. 2, sec. 9, note 17. (See also
Appendix
.)
And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she
never changes. The principles of Gregory VII and Innocent
III are still the principles of the Roman Catholic Church.
And had she but the power, she would put them in practice
with as much vigor now as in past centuries. Protestants little
know what they are doing when they propose to accept the
aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they
are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome
is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost
supremacy. Let the principle once be established in the United
States that the church may employ or control the power of
the state; that religious observances may be enforced by
secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state
is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in
this country is assured.
God’s word has given warning of the impending danger;
let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn
what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late
to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her
doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in
the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her
lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which
her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and
unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her
own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All
that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being
given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose
of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey
the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.
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