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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.
Popery is just what prophecy declared that she would be,—the
apostasy of the latter times. 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. “We are not bound to keep faith and promises
to heretics,” she declares. Shall this power, whose record for a thou-
sand 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 that
Catholicism is now almost like Protestantism. There has been a
change; but the change is in Protestants, not in Romanists. Catholi-
cism indeed resembles the Protestantism that now exists; but it is
far removed from Protestantism as it was in the days of Cranmer,
Ridley, Knox, and other reformers.
As the Protestant 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
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no favor, apprehend little danger from her power and influence.
Character and Aims of the Papacy
261
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 tyra
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 or 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 men 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 fa- [390]
vorable to the success of popery. 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 gen-
eration 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 employed in the service of truth and righteousness; but when
they are idolized, and laid upon the shrine of Satan to be employed
in the service of a false religion, then intelligence can accomplish
greater harm than ignorance.
262
The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4
In the movements now in progress in this country 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 popery 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.
The spirit of the papacy,—the spirit of conformity to worldly
customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commands
of God,—is permeating the Protestant churches, and leading them
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on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has
done before them. Would the reader 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.
Would he 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, human 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 [A. D. 321.] by
Constantine, two years before his profession of Christianity. This
edict required towns-people to rest on the venerable day of the sun,
but permitted countrymen to continue their agricultural pursuits.
Though originally a heathen statute, it was enforced by the emperor
after his nominal acceptance of the Christian religion.
The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for divine
authority, the bishop of Rome soon after conferred upon the Sunday
the title of Lord’s day. Another bishop, who also 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. The sacred garments in which the spurious Sabbath
was arrayed were of man’s own manufacture; but they served to
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embolden men in trampling upon the law of God. All who desired
to be honored by the world accepted the popular festival.