Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years. In those countries where Catholicism takes a conciliatory course to gain influence, the opinion is gaining ground that 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 better understanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants taught their children that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed!
(HF 345.1)
Defenders of the papacy declare that the church has been maligned, that it is unjust to judge the church of today by her reign during the centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the barbarism of the times.
(HF 345.2)
Have these persons forgotten the claim of infallibility put forth by this power? Rome asserts that the “church never erred; nor will it, according to the Scriptures, ever err.”
(HF 345.3)
The papal church will never relinquish her claim to infallibility. 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.
(HF 345.4)
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. God looks with pitying tenderness upon these souls, educated in a faith that is delusive and unsatisfying. He will cause rays of light to penetrate the darkness, and many will yet take their position with His people.
(HF 345.5)
But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period. The Roman Church is employing every device to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground on every side. See the increasing number of her churches. Look at the popularity of her colleges and seminaries, so widely patronized by Protestants. Look at the growth of ritualism in England and the frequent defections to the ranks of the Catholics.
(HF 346.1)
Protestants have patronized popery; they have made compromises and concessions which papists themselves are surprised to see. Men are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism. The people need to resist the advances of this dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty.
(HF 346.2)
While Romanism is based upon deception, it is not coarse and clumsy. The religious service of the Roman Church is a most impressive ceremonial. Its gorgeous display and solemn rites fascinate the people and silence the voice of reason and 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 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, impress the mind with awe and reverence.
(HF 346.3)
This outward splendor and ceremony mock the longings of the sin-sick soul. The religion of Christ needs no such attractions. The light shining from the cross appears so pure and lovely that no external decorations can enhance its true worth.
(HF 346.4)
High conceptions of art, delicate refinement of taste, are often employed by Satan to lead men to forget the necessities of the soul and to live for this world alone.
(HF 347.1)
The pomp and ceremony of Catholic worship has a seductive, bewitching power by which many are deceived. They come to look upon the Roman Church as the gate of heaven. None but those who plant their feet firmly on the foundation of truth, whose hearts are renewed by the Spirit of God, are proof against her influence. The form of godliness without the power is what the multitudes desire.
(HF 347.2)
The church’s claim to the right to pardon leads the Romanist to feel at liberty to sin, and the ordinance of confession tends also to give license to evil. He who kneels before fallen man and opens in confession the secret imaginations of his heart is degrading his soul. In unfolding the sins of his life to a priest—an erring mortal—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. 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 than to crucify fleshly lusts.
(HF 347.3)
While the Jews at Christ’s first advent secretly trampled upon the law of God, they were outwardly rigorous in observance of its precepts, loading it down with exactions that made obedience burdensome. As the Jews professed to revere the law, so do Romanists claim to reverence the cross.
(HF 347.4)
They place crosses on their churches, their altars, and their garments. Everywhere the insignia of the cross is outwardly honored and exalted. But the teachings of Christ are buried beneath senseless traditions and rigorous exactions. Conscientious souls are kept in fear of the wrath of an offended God, while many dignitaries of the church live in luxury and sensual pleasure.
(HF 347.5)
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 gives men license to sin. At the same time he causes false conceptions of God so that they regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love. By perverted conceptions of the divine attributes, heathen nations were led to believe human sacrifices necessary to secure the favor of Deity. Horrible cruelties have been perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry.
(HF 348.1)
The Roman Catholic Church, uniting paganism and Christianity, and, like paganism, misrepresenting the character of God, has resorted to practices no less cruel. Instruments of torture compelled assent to her doctrines. Dignitaries of the church studied to invent means to cause the greatest possible torture and not end the life of those who would not concede to her claims. In many cases the sufferer hailed death as a sweet release.
(HF 348.2)
For Rome’s adherents she had the discipline of the scourge, of hunger, of bodily austerities. To secure the favor of Heaven, penitents were taught to sunder the ties which God has formed to bless and gladden man’s earthly sojourn. The churchyard contains millions of victims who spent their lives in vain endeavors to repress, as offensive to God, every thought and feeling of sympathy with their fellow creatures.
(HF 348.3)
God lays upon men none of these heavy burdens. Christ gives no example for men and women to shut themselves in monasteries in order to become fitted for heaven. He has never taught that love must be repressed.
(HF 348.4)
The pope claims to be the vicar of Christ. But was Christ ever known to consign men to prison 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?
(HF 349.1)
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 in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the dark ages are still held. The papacy that Protestants now honor is the same that ruled in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up at the peril of their lives to expose her iniquity.
(HF 349.2)
The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the latter times. See 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4. Beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. 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?
(HF 349.3)
The claim has been put forth in Protestant countries that Catholicism differs less from Protestantism than in former times. There has been a change; but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism indeed resembles much Protestantism that now exists because Protestantism has so greatly degenerated since the days of Reformers.
(HF 349.4)
The Protestant churches, seeking the favor of the world, believe good of all evil, and as the result they will finally believe evil of all good. They are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for their uncharitable opinion of her, begging pardon for their “bigotry.” Many urge that the intellectual and moral darkness prevailing during the Middle Ages favored the spread of Rome’s superstitions and oppression; and that the greater intelligence of modern times and the increasing liberality in matters of religion forbid a revival of intolerance. The thought that such a state of things will exist in this enlightened age is ridiculed. But it should be remembered that the greater the light bestowed, the greater the darkness of those who pervert and reject it.
(HF 349.5)
A day of great intellectual darkness has been favorable to the success of the papacy. A day of great intellectual light is equally favorable. In past ages when men were without the knowledge of the truth, thousands were ensnared, not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation many discern not the net and walk into it as readily as if blindfolded. When men exalt their own theories above the Word of God, intelligence can accomplish greater harm than ignorance. Thus the false science of the present day will prove successful in preparing the way for acceptance of the papacy, as did the withholding of knowledge in the Dark Ages.
(HF 350.1)
Sunday observance is a custom which originated with Rome, which she claims as the sign of her authority. The spirit of the papacy—of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commandments of God—is permeating the Protestant churches and leading them to the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them.
(HF 350.2)
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. Though virtually a heathen statute, it was enforced by the emperor after his nominal acceptance of Christianity.
(HF 350.3)
Eusebius, a bishop who sought the favor of princes, and who was the special friend of Constantine, advanced the claim that Christ had transferred the Sabbath to Sunday. No testimony of Scripture was produced in proof. Eusebius himself unwittingly acknowledges its falsity. “All things,” he says, “whatever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s Day.”
(HF 350.4)
As the papacy became established, Sunday exaltation was continued. For a time the seventh day was still regarded as the Sabbath, but steadily a change was effected. Later the pope gave directions that the parish priest should admonish violators of Sunday lest they bring some great calamity on themselves and neighbors.
(HF 351.1)
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 Sunday. At a synod held in Rome, all previous decisions were reaffirmed and incorporated into ecclesiastical law and enforced by civil authorities.
(HF 351.2)
Still the absence of scriptural authority for Sundaykeeping occasioned embarrassment. The people questioned the right of their teachers to set aside the declaration, “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.
(HF 351.3)
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. When he returned, 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 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. Frauds and forgeries have in all ages been esteemed lawful by the papal hierarchy. (See Appendix, note for page 37)
(HF 351.4)
But notwithstanding all efforts to establish Sunday sacredness, papists themselves publicly confessed the divine authority of the Sabbath. In the sixteenth century a papal council 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.” Those who were tampering with the divine law were not ignorant of the character of their work.
(HF 352.1)
A striking illustration of Rome’s policy was given in the long and bloody persecution of the Waldenses, some of whom were observers of the Sabbath. (See Appendix) 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 enjoyed freedom in their faith. At last Rome learned of their existence, and the emperor of Abyssinia was beguiled into an acknowledgment of the pope as the vicar of Christ. An edict was issued forbidding the observance of the Sabbath under severe penalties. But papal tyranny soon became a yoke so galling that the Abyssinians determined to break it. The Romanists were banished from their dominions and the ancient faith was restored.
(HF 352.2)
While the churches of Africa kept the seventh day in obedience to the commandment of God, they abstained from labor on Sunday in conformity to the custom of the church. Rome trampled on the Sabbath of God to exalt her own, but the churches of Africa, hidden for nearly a thousand years, did not share this apostasy. When brought under 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)
(HF 352.3)
These records clearly reveal the enmity of Rome toward the true Sabbath and its defenders. The Word of God teaches that these scenes are to be repeated as Catholics and Protestants unite for the exaltation of Sunday.
(HF 353.1)
The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the beast with lamblike horns shall cause “the earth and them which dwell therein” to worship the papacy—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.” 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. The United States is the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns. This prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the acknowledgment of her supremacy.
(HF 353.2)
“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.” Revelation 13:3. 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 that the “man of sin” will carry forward his work of deception to the very close of time. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8. And “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 Sunday.
(HF 353.3)
Since the middle of the nineteenth century, students of prophecy have presented this testimony to the world. Now 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 papal leaders. The assertion that God’s judgments are visited upon men for violation of the Sunday-sabbath will be repeated; already it is beginning to be urged.
(HF 353.4)
Marvelous in shrewdness is the Roman Church, She can read what is to be—that Protestant churches are paying her homage in their acceptance of the false sabbath and that they are preparing to enforce it by the means she herself employed in bygone days. How readily she will come to the help of Protestants in this work is not difficult to conjecture.
(HF 354.1)
The Roman Catholic Church forms one vast organization under the control of the papal see, its millions of communicants in every country bound in allegiance to the pope, whatever their nationality or their government. Though they may take the oath pledging loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to Rome.
(HF 354.2)
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.
(HF 354.3)
It is the boast of Rome that she never changes. 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 their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let the principle once be established that the church may 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 is assured.
(HF 354.4)
The Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome 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 strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground. Whoever shall believe and obey the Word of God will incur reproach and persecution.
(HF 354.5)