STUDY IX

THE MAN OF SIN--ANTICHRIST

Antichrist Must be Developed, Revealed and Smitten Before the Day of the Lord--A Contrary View of This Subject Considered--Prophetic Delineation--Antichrist's Birth--His Rapid Development--The Historic Picture and the Bible Description Agree--His Kingdom a Counterfeit --His Head and Mouth Notable--His Great Swelling Words of Blasphemy--His Blasphemous Teachings--His Wearing Out of the Saints of the Most High--His Millennial Reign--Antichrist Smitten with the Sword of the Spirit--His Final Struggle and End.

From the Apostle's exhortations to the Church, to watch for the Lord's return, taking heed to the sure word of prophecy, and from his care in pointing out the signs of Christ's presence, the character of his work at that time, etc., it is evident that he was quite as anxious that the Church should be able to recognize the Lord's presence when he should come, as that they should not be deceived into the error that he had come, before the time of his presence. A fall into the latter error, in the early part of the age, exposed those who embraced it to the deceptions of the Antichrist principle which was even then working; while a failure to recognize the Day of the Lord, and his presence in the day when his presence is due, exposes those failing to recognize him to the continued deceptions and false doctrines of Antichrist, and blinds them to the grand truths and special privileges of this day. Hence the Apostle's anxiety for the Church at both ends of the age, and his warning--"Let no man deceive you by any means." Hence also the exact description of the Man of Sin, in order that he might be recognized in his time.

His Prophetic Delineation

The student of prophecy will find that the Man of Sin is distinctly noted throughout the sacred writings, not only by giving a clear description of his character, but also by showing the times and places of his beginning, prosperity and decline.

Without any desire to treat lightly the opinions of others, we nevertheless feel it necessary to point out to the reader a few of the absurdities connected with the common view concerning Antichrist, that thereby the dignity and reasonableness of the truth on this subject may be properly estimated, in contrast with the narrow claim that all which the Scriptures predict concerning this character will be accomplished by some one literal man. This man, it is claimed, will so charm the whole world that in a few short years he will secure to himself the homage and worship of all men, who will be so easily imposed upon as to suppose this man to be God, and, in a rebuilt Jewish temple, to worship him as the Almighty Jehovah. All this is to be done at lightning speed --three and a half years, say they, misinterpreting the symbolic time, even as they misinterpret the symbolic "man."

And yet those conquerors had all the advantages of dense ignorance and superstition to aid them, while today we live under conditions most unfavorable to such a development of deceit and fraud: in a day when every hidden thing is being manifested as never before; in a day when fraud of the sort claimed is too preposterous and ridiculous for consideration. Indeed, the tendency of our day is toward a lack of respect for men, no matter how good, talented and able, or what offices of trust and authority they may occupy. To such an extent is this true, as never before, that it is a thousand times more likely that the whole world will deny that there is any God, than that they will ever worship a fellow human being as the Almighty God.

But when we get a correct view of the Apostle's words, together with correct ideas of the manner of the Lord's coming, we find no such discrepancies and contradictions, but a convincing harmony and fitness. And such a view we now present. Its Scripturalness the reader must prove.

The various titles applied to this system are evidently symbolic. They do not refer as names to a single individual, but as character delineations to a corrupt religious and civil combination, developed within the nominal Christian church, which, by its subtle opposition to Christ, the Head, and his true Church, his body, well earns the name Antichrist. Such a system could fulfil all the predictions made concerning the Antichrist, or Man of Sin, though an individual could not. It is evident, moreover, that this Antichrist system is not one of the heathen systems of religion, such as Mohammedanism or Brahminism; for the Christian Church has never been under the control of any such system, nor did any of these systems originate in the Christian Church. They now are, and always have been, independent of the Christian Church.

We need not look long to find a character fitting all the requirements perfectly; one whose record, written by secular historians as well as by its own deluded servants, we shall see agrees exactly with the prophetic delineations of Antichrist. But when we state that the one and only system whose history fits these prophecies is Papacy, let no one misunderstand us to mean that every Roman Catholic is a man of sin; nor that the priests, nor even the popes of the Church of Rome, are, or have been, the Antichrist. No man is "the Antichrist," "the Man of Sin," described in prophecy. Popes, bishops and others are at most only parts or members of the Antichrist system, even as all of the Royal Priests are only members of the true Christ, under Jesus their head, and in the same manner that these in their present condition are together the antitypical Elijah, though no one of them is the Elijah or the Christ foretold. Notice, further, that the Church of Rome as an ecclesiastical system only is not the "Man of Sin," and is never presented under any figure of a man. On the contrary, a woman is always the symbol used for a church separate from its head and lord. The true Church is symbolized by a "chaste virgin," while the apostate church, which has fallen away from primitive purity and fidelity to the Lord, is symbolically called "a harlot." As the true "virgin" Church continues to be such to the end of the age, when she is to be united to her Lord and take his name--Christ--so the apostate church was not the Antichrist, or Man of Sin, until she united with her lord and head, the pope, the claimed vicegerent of Christ, and became a religious empire, falsely styled Christendom--which signifies Christ's Kingdom.

The Lord foresaw that nominal Christianity would spread over the world, and that, becoming popular, it would be embraced by many who would appreciate the form without entering into the spirit of its institution. He foresaw that as numbers of this sort would identify themselves with the Church, the worldly spirit, which is the opposite of the spirit of self-denial and self-sacrifice, would come in with them; that selfishness and a desire to be great and to rule, thus coming in, would not have long to wait until they could seize an opportunity; and that thus the Church would seek to dominate the world before the time -- or, rather, that the worldly element which would enter the Church would make its influence felt, and in the name of the true Church would grasp the civil power of earth which God had given over to the Gentiles, and which cannot pass fully into the hands of the true Church until the close of the Times of the Gentiles, A.D. 1914.

Here, then, is what we should expect, and what we do find in Papacy: not an opposition to the name of Christ, but an enemy or opponent of Christ in that it falsely bears his name, counterfeits his kingdom and authority, and misrepresents his character and plans and doctrines before the world--a most baneful enemy and opponent indeed--worse far than an outspoken foe. And this is true, be it remembered, even though some of those connected with that system are conscientiously astray--"deceiving and being deceived."

With these intimations as to the identity and characteristics of the Man of Sin, and when, and where, and under what circumstances, to look for him, we shall proceed to an examination of some of the historic evidences, proving, we think beyond reasonable question, that every prediction concerning the Antichrist has been fulfilled in the Papal system, in a manner and to an extent which, with the enlightenment of this day taken into account, all must admit could never be repeated. Space obliges us here to confine ourselves to a mere outline of the great mass of historic testimony. We have also confined ourselves to historians of recognized accuracy, in many instances going to Roman Catholic writers for their testimony or admissions.

The Circumstances which Gave Birth
to the Man of Sin

Yes, very clearly: The Papal Hierarchy did not come into existence for several centuries after the Lord and the apostles had founded the Church. And of the interval between, we read*:

*Fisher's Universal History, page 193.

"As the church grew in numbers and wealth, costly edifices were constructed for worship; the services became more elaborate; sculpture and painting were enlisted in the work of providing aids to devotion. Relics of saints and martyrs were cherished as sacred possessions; religious observances were multiplied; and the church under the Christian emperors [in the fourth century], with its array of clergy and of imposing ceremonies, assumed much of the stateliness and visible splendor that belonged to the heathen system which it had supplanted."

Says another,+ "Contemporaneously with the establishment [of Christianity as the religion of the empire in the fourth century] was the progress of a great and general corruption which had arisen two centuries before. Superstition and ignorance invested the ecclesiastics with a power which they exerted to their own aggrandizement."

+White's Universal History, page 156.

Rapin observes that, "In the fifth century Christianity was debased by a vast number of human inventions; the simplicity of its government and discipline was reduced to a system of clerical power; and its worship was polluted with ceremonies borrowed from the heathen."

We quote, from Lord's "Old Roman World," a brief and pointed sketch of the Church's history during the first four centuries, which shows clearly and concisely its gradual decline, and its rapid degeneracy after the hindrance referred to by the Apostle was removed. He says:

"In the First Century not many wise or noble were called. No great names have been handed down to us; no philosophers, or statesmen, or nobles, or generals, or governors, or judges, or magistrates. In the first century the Christians were not of sufficient importance to be generally persecuted by the government. They had not even arrested public attention. Nobody wrote against them, not even Greek philosophers. We do not read of protests or apologies from the Christians themselves. They had no great men in their ranks, either for learning, or talents, or wealth, or social position. Nothing in history is more barren than the annals of the Church in the first century, so far as great names are concerned. Yet in this century converts were multiplied in every city, and traditions point to the martyrdoms of those who were prominent, including nearly all of the apostles.

[Organized for Power]

"In this century the polity of the Church was quietly organized. There was an organized fellowship among the members; bishops had become influential, not in society, but among the Christians; dioceses and parishes were established; there was a distinction between city and rural bishops; delegates of churches assembled to discuss points of faith or suppress nascent heresies; the diocesan system was developed, and ecclesiastical centralization commenced; deacons began to be reckoned among the higher clergy; the weapons of excommunication were forged; missionary efforts were carried on; the festivals of the church were created; Gnosticism was embraced by many leading minds; catechetical schools taught the faith systematically; the formulas of baptism and the sacraments became of great importance; and monachism became popular. The Church was thus laying the foundation of its future polity and power.

"The Third Century saw the Church more powerful as an institution. Regular synods had assembled in the great cities of the empire; the metropolitan system was matured; the canons of the Church were definitely enumerated; great schools of theology attracted inquiring minds; the doctrines were systematized [i.e., defined, limited, and formulated into creeds and confessions of faith]. Christianity had spread so extensively that it must needs be either persecuted or legalized; great bishops ruled the growing church; great doctors [of divinity] speculated on the questions [philosophy and science falsely so called] which had agitated the Grecian schools; church edifices were enlarged, and banquets instituted in honor of the martyrs. The Church was rapidly advancing to a position which extorted the attention of mankind.

"It was not till the Fourth Century--when imperial persecution had stopped; when [the Roman Emperor] Constantine was converted; when the Church was allied with the State; when the early faith was itself corrupted; when superstition and vain philosophy had entered the ranks of the faithful; when bishops became courtiers; when churches became both rich and splendid; when synods were brought under political influence; when monachists [monks] had established a false principle of virtue; when politics and dogmatics went hand in hand, and emperors enforced the decrees of [church] councils--that men of rank entered the Church. When Christianity became the religion of the court and of the fashionable classes, it was used to support the very evils against which it originally protested. The Church was not only impregnated with the errors of Pagan philosophy, but it adopted many of the ceremonies of oriental worship, which were both minute and magnificent. The churches became, in the fourth century, as imposing as the old temples of idolatry. Festivals became frequent and imposing. The people clung to them because they obtained excitement and a cessation from labor. Veneration for martyrs ripened into the introduction of images--a future source of popular idolatry. Christianity was emblazoned in pompous ceremonies. The veneration for saints approximated to their deification, and superstition exalted the mother of our Lord into an object of absolute worship. Communion tables became imposing altars typical of Jewish sacrifices, and the relics of martyrs were preserved as sacred amulets. Monastic life also ripened into a grand system of penance and expiatory rites. Armies of monks retired to gloomy and isolated places, and abandoned themselves to rhapsodies and fastings and self-expiation. They were a dismal and fanatical set of men, overlooking the practical aims of life.

"An Imposing Hierarchy Was Established, of
Various Grades, which Culminated
in the Bishop of Rome

"The Emperor decided points of faith, and the clergy were exempted from the burdens of the state. There was a great flocking to the priestly offices when the clergy wielded so much power and became so rich; and men were elevated to great sees [bishoprics], not because of their piety or talents, but their influence with the great. The mission of the Church was lost sight of in a degrading alliance with the State. Christianity was a pageant, a ritualism, an arm of the State, a vain philosophy, a superstition, a formula."

The Hindrance Removed

To their credit be it recorded that not one of the Roman emperors, as Pontifex Maximus or Chief Religious Ruler, ever exercised the tyranny of some of their successors on the Papal throne. On this point Gibbon says:* "It must be allowed that the number of Protestants who were executed in a single province and a single reign, far exceeded that of the primitive martyrs in the space of three centuries and of the [entire] Roman empire." According to the custom of their day they did favor the most popular gods, but wherever their armies went, the gods and worship of the conquered people were generally respected. This was illustrated in Palestine, in which, though under Roman control, religious liberty and freedom of conscience were generally respected by the imperial Pontifex Maximus, who as religious ruler thus showed his clemency toward the people, and his harmony with all the popular gods.

*Vol. II, page 85.

So, then, we see that what hindered the early development of Antichrist was the fact that the coveted seat of spiritual supremacy was filled by the representatives of the strongest empire the world had yet known; and that for any to have attempted an open display of ambition in this direction would have exposed them to the wrath of the masters of the world. Hence this iniquitous ambition at first worked secretly, disclaiming any intent to gain power or authority, until a favorable opportunity was presented -- after the nominal Church had become large and influential and the imperial power was shattered by political dissensions and was beginning to decay.

"Whether Constantine embraced it [Christianity] from conviction of its truth, or from policy, is a matter of dispute. Certain it is, that this religion, though receiving from the Roman power only silent obloquy, or active persecution, had extended among the people, so that Constantine strengthened himself in the affection of the soldiers by adopting it....Worldly ambition pointed to the course which the emperor pursued in declaring himself a Christian, and not the spirit of Christ, who said, My kingdom is not of this world. Constantine made it the religion of the empire, and thenceforth we find its influence sullied with earthly things....No particular bishop was regarded as head of the whole Church, but the emperor was such in point of fact. In this capacity he called the Council of Nice, having in the controversy between Athanasius and Arius taken sides against the latter. The council agreed with the emperor."*

*Willard's Universal History, page 163.

"Whatever advantages might be derived from the acquisition of an imperial proselyte, he was distinguished by the splendor of the purple, rather than the superiority of wisdom or virtue, from the many thousands of his subjects who had embraced the doctrines of Christianity....The same year of his reign in which he convened the Council of Nice was polluted by the execution of his eldest son. The gratitude of the Church has exalted the virtues and excused the failings of a generous patron who seated Christianity on the throne of the Roman world."+

+Gibbon, Vol. II, page 269.

But it is a mistake to suppose, as many do, that the Church at this time was a pure (virgin) church, suddenly lifted into a dignity and power which became her snare. Quite the contrary is true. As already stated, a great falling away had occurred, from primitive purity and simplicity and freedom into creed-bound, ambitious factions, whose errors and ceremonies, resembling those of the pagan philosophies, garnished with some truths and enforced and clinched with the doctrine of everlasting torment, had drawn into the church a vast horde, whose numbers and influence became valuable to Constantine and were respected and used accordingly. No such worldly man ever thought seriously of espousing the cause of the humble, Christlike "little flock"--the truly consecrated Church, whose names are written in heaven. The popularity with his soldiers, mentioned by the historians, is very different from popularity with real soldiers of the cross.

In proof of this let us here quote from history, regarding the state of religious society under Diocletian, the predecessor of Constantine, who, toward the close of his reign, believing that Christians had attempted to destroy his life, became embittered against them and persecuted them by ordering the destruction of Bibles, the banishing of bishops, and finally by decreeing the death of such as opposed these enactments. Gibbon* says of this era:

*Vol. II, page 53 and 57.

Thus under Constantine's reign all hindrance was finally removed, and, as we shall find, the organization of Papacy --the church nominal under the headship of the bishop of Rome as pope--was speedily effected.

Rapid Development of Antichrist

After the death of Constantine the varied fortunes of the Roman Empire seemed to cooperate for the advancement of the apostate church and the development of Antichrist; for a union under one head or pope, esteemed the representative or vicegerent of Christ, had not yet been effected. The emperors succeeding Constantine, down to Theodosius, continued to regard themselves as the heads of the Church, in whom centered divine authority. Though no one of the eighteen hundred bishops of the empire was yet prepared to demand recognition as the head, or pope, several had their eyes on that prize, and the emperors were shown the shallowness of their claims to the title Pontifex Maximus, in the argument that since they worshiped dead saints they owed a similar respect to their living representatives--the bishops. Nevertheless, the emperors in their edicts repeatedly referred to the empire as a divine hierarchy and to themselves as divine personages.*

*See Gibbon, Vol. II, page 108.

As an illustration of this, we note that when, in A.D. 455, the city of Rome was invaded and plundered by the Vandals, and all around was distress and desolation, Leo, the bishop of Rome, improved the opportunity for impressing upon all, both barbarians and Romans, his claim of spiritual power. To the rude and superstitious barbarians, already greatly impressed by what they saw about them, of Rome's greatness and wealth, Leo, arrayed in his pontifical robes, exclaimed: "Beware! I am the successor of St. Peter, to whom God has given the keys of the kingdom of heaven and against whose church the gates of hell cannot prevail; I am the living representative of divine power on the earth; I am Caesar, a Christian Caesar, ruling in love, to whom all Christians owe allegiance; I hold in my hands the curses of hell and the benedictions of heaven; I absolve all subjects from allegiance to kings; I give and take away, by divine right, all thrones and principalities of Christendom. Beware how you desecrate the patrimony given me by your invisible king; yea, bow down your necks to me and pray that the anger of God may be averted."

Henceforth we deal with the Antichrist, whose gradual development and organization from secretly working ambition are a fitting prelude to the terrible character displayed after the coveted power had been grasped--from 539 A.D. to 1799 A.D., 1260 years. Of this period the first three hundred years mark the rise of this temporal power; the last three mark its waning under the influences of the Reformation and civilization; and the intermediate period of seven centuries embraces Papacy's glory-time and the "dark ages" of the world, full of frauds and deceptions in the name of Christ and true religion.

A Roman Catholic writer fully corroborates our findings on this subject, and we present his words regardless of their gloss, as corroborative testimony. Giving, with glowing enthusiasm, a description of the rise of the Papacy to temporal power, describing it as a plant of heavenly origin, and therefore of rapid growth and high exaltation in the world, he says:

"The removal by Constantine of the seat of empire from the West to the East, from the historic banks of the Tiber to the beautiful shores of the Bosphorus, laid the broad foundation of a sovereignty which in reality commences from that momentous change. Practically, almost from that day, Rome, which had witnessed the birth, the youth, the splendor, and the decay, of the mighty race by whom her name had been carried with her eagles to the remotest regions of the then known world, was gradually abandoned by the inheritors of her renown; and its people, deserted by the emperors, and an easy prey to the ravages of the barbarians whom they had no longer the courage to resist, beheld in the bishop of Rome their guardian, their protector, their father. Year by year the temporal authority of the popes grew into shape and hardened into strength, without violence, without bloodshed, without fraud, by the force of overwhelming circumstances, fashioned, as if visibly, by the hand of God."

But let no one suppose that the real Church of Christ, even in those corrupt times, was either extinguished or lost sight of. "The Lord knoweth them that are his" in every age and under every condition. As wheat they were permitted to grow in the midst of a field overrun with tares; as gold they were in the furnace, being tried and purified and "made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." True, the course of the multitude, who called themselves Christians, occupies the most prominent place on the pages of history; but undoubtedly a faithful few through all the persecutions, and in the midst of all the deceptive arts of the Mystery of Iniquity, walked worthy of their high calling, were laid to rest and recorded of God as heirs to the crown that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them.

Antichrist's Character in History

Having located Antichrist, we next proceed to compare the character of Papacy with the prophecies recorded, descriptive of the character and deeds of the Antichrist or Man of Sin.

Some may query whether it be right to pass over the emperors of Rome (who claimed to be Supreme religious rulers), without calling their system Antichrist, and to apply that title complete and entire to the organized Papal system. We answer, This is certainly right; and we refer the reader again to the definition of Antichrist already given, as used in the Scriptures, viz., in the place of, instead of, i.e., to be a spiritual empire: it must claim to rule the kingdoms of earth by this spiritual authority; it must thus be not only an antagonist but a counterfeit, misrepresenting and pretending to be Christ's kingdom, and exercising what will in God's due time be the authority of the true Christ, the church glorified and complete under the only true Head and Lord--the real Pontifex Maximus.

Such find it difficult to see that Papacy is Antichrist. How could they, while faith is not yet free from the poison, and reason is still greatly blinded by the very essence of Antichrist's error. The greatness, the grandeur and the necessity of Christ's Millennial Kingdom and its work of blessing all the families of the earth must be seen, before the greatness of the Antichrist counterfeit can be appreciated, or its havoc to the truth and its desolating and defiling influence in the nominal church or temple of God can be rightly estimated.

None need be surprised at the completeness of this counterfeit, when we reflect that it is Satan's workmanship, and has been patterned after the types and illustrations of future glory presented in the Scriptures. Seeing that the time for the selection of the Church had come, and that the truths planted by the Lord and the apostles had gained rapid headway against all the heathen religions, seeking out the meek wherever it went, the great adversary sought to destroy the purity of the Church and to turn into other and false channels that which he could not stop. Thus the triumph of Antichrist, as well as its present power, has really been Satan's success. But here we behold the wisdom of God; for while the success of Antichrist seemed to presage the defeat of God's plan it was really, though unwittingly,

THE CHURCH OF GOD,
THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD
-------
TRUE TYPE

Aaron--and successors--Chief or High Priest, head and representative and mouthpiece.

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Under-Priests, deriving their official dignity and rights and privileges of service through Aaron, whose body they represented, typified the Church of Christ.

THE REALITY DURING THE MILLENNIUM

Christ Jesus, our Lord and Head and representative; the High-Priest of our profession or order.

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The Church glorified, the Body of Christ, sharers of his glory, majesty, and office of ruler: whose offices will differ, as star differeth from star in glory.

COUNTERFEIT

The Popes, in turn, High-Priests of the Papal Hierarchy; its lord, head and mouthpiece.

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The Church of Rome consists of the bishops and prelates, who share the dignities of the hierarchy, though differing in degrees of honor--cardinals, bishops, etc.

Subject to the Hierarchy are assistants, as follows:

TRUE TYPE

The Levites, who did services connected with the typical Tabernacle--teaching, etc., etc. An inferior order of priests not permitted to enter the Most Holy Sanctuary (typical of the spiritual nature), neither to look therein.

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cooperating to insure the success of his plan; for by no other means could the truly consecrated have been so thoroughly tried, and their faithfulness to God's Word so thoroughly tested, as by the permission of this great counterfeit.

The accompanying table will serve to show how complete has been the counterfeit of the future organization of Christ's kingdom in Papacy, and how it was drawn from the Jewish typical priesthood.

Mosheim, explaining the rise of the hierarchical system in the Church, very clearly shows this counterfeiting, in these words, Vol. I, p. 337:

"Whilst the least probability remained that Jerusalem might at one time or other again rear its head from the dust, the Christian teachers and elders assumed to themselves no titles or distinctions, at least none but the most modest and humble ones; but when the fate of that city had been sealed by Hadrian [A.D. 135], and not the most distant hope could any longer be entertained by the Jews, of seeing their ancient government re-established, these same pastors and ministers conceived a wish to have it believed by their flocks that they themselves had succeeded to the rights of the Jewish priesthood. The bishops, therefore, made it their business to inculcate the notion that they were invested with a character resembling that of the great High Priest of the Jews, and were consequently possessed of all those rights which had been recognized as belonging to the Jewish Pontiff. The functions of the ordinary Jewish priest were, in like manner, stated to have devolved, though under a more perfect form, on the presbyters of the Christian Church: and finally the deacons were placed on a parallel with the Levites, or inferior ministers."

The Head and Mouth of Antichrist
His Great Swelling Words

In addition to the long list of titles of which the above are instances, the author gives the following quotations from a letter which St. Bernard, Abbott of Clairvaux, wrote to Pope Eugenius III, A.D. 1150:

"Who art thou? The High-Priest, the Supreme Bishop. Thou art the Prince of Bishops, thou art the Heir of the Apostles. Thou art Abel in Primacy, Noah in government, Abraham in the patriarchal rank, in order Melchisedec, in dignity Aaron, in authority Moses, Samuel in judicial office, Peter in power, CHRIST IN UNCTION. Thou art he to whom the keys of heaven are given, to whom the sheep are intrusted. There are indeed other door-keepers of heaven, and other shepherds of the flocks; but thou art the more glorious in proportion as thou hast also, in a different fashion, inherited before others both these names....The power of others is limited by definite bounds: thine extends even over those who have received authority over others. Canst thou not, when a just reason occurs, shut up heaven against a bishop, depose him from the episcopal office, and deliver him over to Satan? Thus thy privilege is immutable, as well in the keys committed to thee as in the sheep intrusted to thy care."

All these blasphemously flattering titles have been applied to and received by the Roman pontiffs with complacency and marked satisfaction, as rightfully belonging to them.

From Ferraris' Ecclesiastical Dictionary, a standard Roman Catholic authority, we quote the following condensed outline of papal power as given under the word papa, article 2nd:

"The pope is of such dignity and highness that he is not simply a man but, as it were, God, and the vicar [representative] of God....Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven, of earth and of hell. Nay, the pope's excellence and power are not only above heavenly, terrestrial and infernal things, but he is also above angels, and is their superior; so that if it were possible that angels could err from the faith, or entertain sentiments contrary thereto, they could be judged and excommunicated by the pope....He is of such great dignity and power that he occupies one and the same tribunal with Christ; so that whatsoever the pope does seems to proceed from the mouth of God....The pope is, as it were, God on earth, the only prince of the faithful of Christ, the greatest king of all kings, possessing the plenitude of power; to whom the government of the earthly and heavenly kingdom is entrusted." He further adds: "The pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, declare or interpret the divine law." "The pope can sometimes counteract the divine law by limiting, explaining, etc."

A bull of Pope Pius V, entitled "The damnation and excommunication of Elizabeth, queen of England, and her adherents--with an addition of other punishments," reads as follows:

"He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all power in heaven and in earth, committed one holy, catholic and apostolic church (out of which there is no salvation) to one alone upon earth, namely, to Peter, the Prince of the apostles, and to Peter's successor, the bishop of Rome, to be governed in fulness of power. Him alone he made prince over all people and all kingdoms, to pluck up, destroy, scatter, consume, plant, and build."

St. Bernard affirms that "none except God is like the pope, either in heaven or on earth."

"The Emperor Constantine," says Pope Nicholas I, "conferred the appellation of God on the pope; who, therefore, being God, cannot be judged by man."

Said Pope Innocent III--"The pope holds the place of the true God"; and the canon law, in the gloss, denominates the pope--"our Lord God."

Innocent and Jacobatius state that "the pope can do nearly all that God can do," while Decius rejects the word nearly, as unnecessary. Jacobatius and Durand assert that "none dare say to him any more than to God--Lord, what doest thou?" And Antonius wrote:

"The power of the pope is exercised over heretics and schismatics, denoted also by oxen, because they resist the truth with the horn of pride. God hath subjected these also under the feet of the pope to be punished in a fourfold way, viz., by excommunication, deposition, the deprivation of temporal goods and military persecution. But then they are only to be taken for heretics when they refuse to reform their pestiferous doctrines, and are ready pertinaciously to defend them....The pope can choose or elect the emperor. The emperor is the minister [servant] of the pope, in this, that he is the minister of God, whose place the pope fills; for God hath deputed the emperor as the minister of the pope....I suppose it to be said as a truth, that the pope, the vicar of Christ, hath universal jurisdiction of spiritual and temporal things, in the whole world, in the place of the living God."

The following utterances of the popes, culled from Fox's "Acts and Monuments," by H. G. Guinness, and English writer of note, deserves a place of prominence; and we can sympathize heartily with this writer's comment on the system whose mouth gives forth such utterances, when he says--"If 'he that exalteth himself shall be abased,' what degradation can be commensurate with such self-exaltation as this?"

"After that I have now sufficiently declared my power in earth, in heaven, in purgatory, how great it is, and what is the fullness thereof in binding, loosing, commanding, permitting, electing, confirming, dispensing, doing and undoing, etc., I will speak now a little of my riches and of my great possessions, that every man may see my wealth and abundance of all things--rents, tithes, tributes; my silks, my purple mitres, crowns, gold, silver, pearls and gems, lands and lordships. For to me pertaineth first the imperial city of Rome; the palace of Lateran; the kingdom of Sicily is proper to me; Apula and Capua be mine. Also the kingdoms of England and Ireland, be they not, or ought they not to be, tributaries to me? To these I adjoin also, besides other provinces and countries, in both the Occident and the Orient, from the north to the south, these dominions by name. [Here follows a long list]. What should I speak here of my daily revenues, of my first-fruits, annates, palls, indulgences, bulls, confessionals, indults and rescripts, testaments, dispensations, privileges, elections, prebends, religious houses, and such like, which come to no small mass of money?...whereby what vantage cometh to my coffers it may partly be conjectured....But what should I speak of Germany, when the whole world is my diocese, as my canonists do say, and all men are bound to believe. Wherefore, as I began, so I conclude, commanding, declaring, and pronouncing, to stand upon necessity of salvation, for every human creature to be subject to me."

For an illustration of latter time assumptions, note the fact that the present pope, upon ascending the papal throne, took the title of Leo XIII, and shortly after subscribed himself "Leo de tribus Juda"--i.e., "The Lion of the tribe of Judah"; one of the titles of the true Head. Surely in presumptuous claims, therefore, he is not behind those who held the same office during the dark ages.

Cardinal Manning, Papacy's chief representative in England, endorses and draws public attention to the following clause of the Catholic faith:

"We declare, affirm, define, and pronounce it necessary to salvation, for every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff." And in a published discourse he represents the pope as saying, "I claim to be the Supreme Judge and Director of the consciences of men; of the peasant that tills the field, and the prince that sits on the throne; of the household that lives in the shade of privacy, and the Legislature that makes laws for kingdoms. I am the sole, last, Supreme Judge of what is right and wrong."

Surely, too, in observing modern instances of Papacy's "great swelling words of vanity," we should not overlook the notable decree of the Ecumenical Council, held in Rome in A.D. 1870, declaring the infallibility of the Pope. True, it had been claimed now and then in the past, by supercilious popes, that they were infallible; and bishops and princes desirous of flattering their pride had virtually so pronounced them, in the declaration, "Thou art another god, on earth"; but it remained for a Papal Council in this enlightened nineteenth century to coolly and deliberately inform the world how great this "god on earth" is--that he is almost as perfect as the other God, in heaven; that he cannot err more than the other; that in his ex cathedra utterances the pope is infallible--unerring.

The vote of the council was taken July 13th 1870, and on the 18th the decree was formally promulgated, with ceremony, at the great St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. The following description of the event, by Dr. J. Cummings, of London, will be read with interest. He says:

Among the blasphemous pretentions of Antichrist should be remembered several of its doctrines, particularly the doctrine of the Mass, which we will notice in a subsequent volume. Passing over the worshiping of saints and of Mary, we note some of the still more grievous errors.

Proscribed the Bible. The history of Papacy shows clearly that, while professing to reverence the Bible as the Word of God, it has kept it in the background and its own infallible words in the front. Not only so, but it has proscribed God's Word entirely, as unfit to be read and dangerous to the people, that its own infallible word might have full control. It well knew that the Bible was dangerous to its power, and a constant denouncement of its blasphemous pretentions.

In the days of Papal power, the possession or reading of the Bible by the people was treated as a criminal offense. The art of printing and the general revival of learning resulting therefrom, about the sixteenth century, secured the resurrection of the Bible from the sepulcher of dead languages where Antichrist had long kept it hidden, forbidding the translating of it under severe penalties. And when an awakening spirit of independence began to scatter it in living languages among the people, Bible-burning was no uncommon thing; and long and loud were the merciless curses that issued from the Vatican against the presumptuous sinners who dared to translate, publish or read the Word of God.

Said the Council of Trent, in its session A.D. 1546:

"In order to restrain petulant minds, the council decrees that in matters of faith and morals, and whatever relates to the maintenance of Christian doctrine, no one, confiding in his own judgment, shall dare to wrest the sacred Scriptures to his own sense of them, contrary to that which hath been held, and still is held, by the holy mother church, whose right it is to judge of the true meaning."

From the bull of Pius VII, against Bible Societies, issued June 29, 1816, to the Primate of Poland, we quote:

"We have been truly shocked at this most crafty device, by which the very foundations of religion are undermined; and having, because of the great importance of the subject, conferred in council with our venerable brethren, the cardinals of the holy Roman Church, we have, with the utmost care and attention, deliberated upon the measures proper to be adopted by our pontifical authority, in order to remedy and abolish this pestilence as far as possible....Of your own accord you have already shown an ardent desire to detect and overthrow the impious machinations of these innovators; yet, in conformity with our office, we again and again exhort you that whatever you can achieve by power, provide by counsel, or effect by authority, you will daily execute with the utmost earnestness....The Bible printed by heretics is to be numbered among other prohibited books, conformably to the rules of the Index."

The same pope, in the year 1819, issued a bull against the use of the Scriptures in the schools of Ireland. From it we quote:

Here we have a candid admission of the real object of the establishment of Catholic parochial schools in Great Britain and North America, viz.: to protect their lines. Antichrist has no other object in offering education to the common people. Ignorance and superstition are Papacy's bulwarks; and the centuries of its power, including what is known as the "dark ages," prove this. The education of the clergy under "restrictions" was not neglected; but, that no provision was made for the education of the people, the dense ignorance of all old Roman Catholic countries is strong proof. Schools and Bibles have ever been Antichrist's unendurable enemies, and would not be tolerated, except as they became necessities--upon which a false light must be thrown for the preservation of Antichrist's existence.

From a bull by Leo XII to the Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland, A.D. 1825, we quote:

"It is no secret to you, venerable brethren, that a certain society, vulgarly called the Bible Society, is audaciously dispreading itself through the whole world. After despising the traditions of the holy fathers, and in opposition to the well known decree of the Council of Trent, this society has collected all its forces, and directs every means to one object: to the translation, or rather to the perversion, of the Bible into the vernacular languages of all nations."

Even the late Pope Pius IX expressed his anguish of heart at the triumph on every hand of this great enemy of Antichrist --the Bible. He said, "Accursed be those very crafty and deceitful societies called Bible Societies, which thrust the Bible into the hands of the inexperienced youth."

The doctrine of the natural, inherent immortality of man (that a human existence once begun can never cease) was another fruitful error, borrowed from Grecian philosophy. And, being admitted, it led naturally to the conclusion that if existence must continue forever, then the Bible expressions concerning the destruction of finally wilful sinners, the second death, etc., must be construed to mean the opposite of what they say, viz.: everlasting life, in some condition. Next, it was easy to decree that to the wicked it must be a life of suffering; and the torments were frequently pictured upon the walls of the churches as well as by the words of zealous priests and monks. This error was the more easily impressed upon converts because the Greek philosophers (then the leaders of the world in matters of science, religion and philosophy --whose ideas, as Josephus shows, had even begun to tincture Judaism) had long held and taught a punishment for the wicked in death. To their credit, however, be it noted that they never descended to the horrible blasphemies of God's character and government taught to the world by Antichrist. Next, it was in order to fix a place for this torment and call it hell, and to seek passages of Scripture referring to sheol and hades and gehenna which describe the real wages of sin--the first and second deaths--and dextrously to apply these and the parables of our Lord and the symbols of Revelation, so as to delude themselves and the whole world on this subject and most grievously to malign and blaspheme the character and plan of God, our all-wise and gracious Heavenly Father.

Masses for the dead followed; and rich and poor alike felt it a duty to pay, and liberally, too, to have these. The efficacy of masses, for the relief of purgatorial sufferings, is claimed to be omnipotent--so that not even Jehovah or Christ could interfere with it. This became a source of great income to Antichrist; for the priests were not slow to remind the dying, if wealthy, of the propriety of leaving liberal bequests for masses for themselves--lest those who inherited their wealth should neglect the matter. And, indeed, within the present year warnings of a similar kind have appeared in Roman Catholic journals, urging that less money be spent upon funeral flowers, that the more might be spent for masses for the dead.

There is indeed a difference between this view of Indulgences and a license to commit sins; and yet it is very slight; for Papacy affixed to various common sins a certain amount of suffering, and not only could sins past be thus offset and canceled, but those who had reason to think that they might commit certain sins, in the future, could thus provide beforehand merit to cancel them. Besides this, some, called "plenary [complete, entire] indulgences," are certainly understood to cover all sins, past and future.

The practice even at the present day seems scarcely credible. Romanists have certain prayers, a repetition of which constitutes a ground for indulgence for a limited period; and many added together, they claim, will protect from wrath a long time. Thus, those who say the "Hail, Holy Queen" are granted forty days of indulgence, while for saying the "Litany of the Blessed Virgin" there is an indulgence of two hundred days; and for those who say the "Blessed be the Holy, Immaculate and Most Pure Conception of the Virgin Mary" one hundred years indulgence is granted, etc., etc. In the "darker ages," when indulgences were freely offered for money and for services in the persecution of infidels and heretics, it may readily be imagined to what corruption this blasphemous doctrine led.

To regulate this traffic a graded scale of penalties was affixed to various sins--so many days or years in purgatory for each; and a scale of prices was also arranged to correspond, so that those obtaining indulgence for a murder or a theft, for infanticide, or adultery, or perjury, or other sins, could be charged at different rates. By this means penances were canceled and the torments of purgatory mitigated or ended, at the pleasure of Antichrist's agents. We cannot wonder that the people speedily got to understand that so much money paid for so much sin.

To such an extent was crime increased by these indulgences, that the indignation of the better classes of society was roused to rebellion against the church. Men's eyes began to be opened, and they saw the clergy, from the highest dignitaries of the church down to the lowest orders of officials, steeped in iniquity.

On this subject we quote the following from the pen of the well known clergyman, Lyman Abbott. He says:

"Among other conditions, for which indulgences were formerly granted more than now, was the contribution of money to the church. This traffic reached its height in the beginning of the sixteenth century, under Leo X, who published indulgences to all who would contribute toward the erection of St. Peter's [Cathedral] at Rome. His chief agent for the sale of indulgences in Germany was one John Tetzel. The notorious vices of Tetzel did not prevent him from being selected as the bearer of these pardons to other purer souls, and no extravagance seemed to him too great, so that it brought money to his coffers. He declared that the red cross, which accompanied him wherever he went, had as great efficacy as the cross of Christ--that there was no sin so great that he could not remit it. 'Indulgences save not the living alone, they also save the dead. The very moment that the money chinks against the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from Purgatory and flies free to heaven.' Such were some of his blasphemous declarations. A regular scale of prices was established. 'Polygamy cost six ducats; sacrilege and perjury, nine; murder, eight; witchcraft, two.' It was this open and shameless traffic which, more than anything else, led to the Reformation. Indulgences continued to be granted, not only for acts of worship, but also for contributions in money to the church; but the public and open sale of indulgences is now banished, for the most part, from the Church of Rome."

Another writer quoted Tetzel's language further, thus:

The following is handed down as a copy of the blanks used by Tetzel--filled out with the name of the purchaser, his sins, etc.:

"Our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on thee,...and absolve thee by the merits of his most holy sufferings. I, in virtue of the Apostolic power committed to me, absolve thee from all....excesses, sins and crimes that thou mayest have committed, however great and enormous they may be, and of whatever kind,...I remit the pains thou wouldst have had to endure in purgatory,...I restore thee to the innocence and purity of thy baptism, so that, at the moment of death, the gates of the place of torment shall be shut against thee, and the gates of paradise open to thee. And if thou shouldst live long, this grace continueth unchangeable till the time of thy end. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. The brother, John Tetzel, commissary, hath signed this with his own hand.---."

As to the immediate present we cannot say, but we know that, only a few years since, printed indulgences with prices affixed were kept on sale, at tables, in some of the large Roman Catholic churches of Mexico and Cuba.

"It Was Given Him to Make War with the Saints
and to Overcome Them"--To "Wear Out
the Saints of the Most High"

To gain an idea of the ferocity and relentlessness of this persecution, we must again turn to the pages of history.

How different the persecutions of Papacy, which laid hold not only of prominent opposers but of all, and whose persecutions lasted not for a few months only, but incessantly! What under Pagan emperors had been a passing rage or frenzy, under the popes was reduced to a regular system, animated by religious fanaticism and scheming ambition--and inspired with a Satanic zeal, energy and cruelty unparalleled in the annals of history. The apostate church laid aside the sword of the spirit, and, grasping the arm of the empire, turned its carnal weapons with relentless fury upon every weaker opponent that stood in the way of its ambition; while it courted, flattered and deceived those in authority until it gained their confidence and usurped their place and power.

Upon the accession of Constantine to the sovereignty of Rome, he was inclined to tolerate all religions, as was shown by the celebrated edict of Milan, which granted religious freedom to every individual of the Roman empire. Such a measure should have been hailed with joy by the Christian Church, which had so longed for liberty under previous persecutions; but such was not the case. The true spirit of Christianity had departed, and now the ambition of the church was to exalt itself as rapidly as possible by crushing out every spark of liberty and subduing all things to itself. Accordingly, says Gibbon,* "His [Constantine's] ecclesiastical ministers soon contrived to reduce the impartiality of the magistrate, and to awaken the zeal of the proselyte; ...and he extinguished the hope of peace and toleration, from the moment that he assembled three hundred bishops within the walls of the palace." The emperor was there persuaded to declare that those who resisted the judgment of this clerical body in matters of faith should prepare themselves for immediate exile. And their decisions were declared to be of divine authority. This spirit of intolerance soon ripened into bitter and relentless persecution. Constantine issued two penal laws against heresy, and his example was followed by succeeding emperors--Valentinian, Gratian, Theodosius, Arcadius, and Honorius. Theodosius published fifteen, Arcadius twelve, and Honorius no less than eighteen of these statutes. These are recorded in the Theodosian and in the Justinian codes, to the disgrace of their priestly and imperial authors.

*Vol. II, page 236.

Kings and princes who trembled for the security of their crowns, if they to any extent incurred the pope's displeasure, and whose realms might be laid under a dreaded interdict, should they or their people refuse to render absolute obedience to the pope's commands, were sworn to exterminate heresy, and admonished to purify their provinces from heretical perversity, on the pain of having their dominions wrested from them; and those barons who neglected to aid in the work of persecution forfeited their estates. Kings and princes, therefore, were not tardy in their efforts to comply with the mandates of the Papacy, and the barons and their retainers were at their service, to aid in the work of destruction.

Even before this awakening, as early as the year A.D. 630, the Council of Toledo compelled the king of Spain, on his accession to the throne, to swear to tolerate no heretical subjects in the Spanish dominions; and it was declared that the sovereign who should violate such oath would "be accursed in the sight of the everlasting God, and become the fuel of eternal fire." But the awful import of such demands was much more fully realized when the awakening began, and when Antichrist had obtained the maximum of his power.

The Council of Oxford in 1160 consigned a company of Waldenses, who had emigrated from Gascony to England, to the secular arm for punishment. Accordingly, King Henry II ordered them, men and women, to be publicly whipped, branded on the cheek with a red-hot iron, and driven, half-naked, out of the city in the dead of winter; and none were permitted to show them pity or to grant them the slightest favor.

Frederick, the emperor of Germany, A.D. 1224, sentenced heretics of every description, alive, to the flames, their property to confiscation, and their posterity, unless they became persecutors, to infamy. Louis, king of France, A.D. 1228, published laws for the extirpation of heresy, and enforced their execution. He forced Raymond, Count of Toulouse, to undertake the extermination of heresy from his dominions without sparing friend or vassal.

The faith and works of this people were a stand for reformation, and a protest against error, long before the days of Luther; and they, and other opposers of Romanism, were hunted and hated and persecuted with pitiless fury, by papal emissaries. The Waldenses and Albigenses were the most numerous bodies of Protestants against Papacy; and when the literary awakening of the thirteenth century came, it was mainly from these that the truth shone out, though reflected and intensified in utterance by Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, and others. And their doctrines, backed by simplicity and morality, shone out with the greater luster in contrast to the pompous pride and flagrant immoralities of the then exalted Papacy.

Lavaur was besieged in 1211. The governor was hanged on a gibbet, and his wife was thrown into a well and crushed with stones. The citizens were without discrimination put to death, four hundred being burned alive. The flourishing country of Languedoc was devastated, its cities burned, and its inhabitants swept away by fire and sword. It is estimated that one hundred thousand Albigenses fell in one day; and their bodies were heaped together and burned.

All this rioting in blood and villainy was done in the name of religion: professedly for the glory of God and the honor of the church, but really to uphold Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God [the church], showing himself that he is a god--a powerful one--able to conquer and destroy his enemies. The clergy thanked God for the work of destruction, and a hymn of praise to God for the glorious victory at Lavaur was composed and sung. The dreadful carnage at Beziers was accounted as the "visible judgment of heaven" on the heresy of Albigensianism. The crusaders attended high mass in the morning, and proceeded throughout the day to waste the country of Languedoc and murder its inhabitants.

Be it remembered, however, that these open crusades, against the Albigenses and Waldenses, were undertaken merely because the so-called "heresy" had gained a strong hold upon large portions of these communities. It would be a great mistake to suppose that the crusades were the only persecutions: the quiet, steady crushing of individuals, in the aggregate numbering thousands, all over Papacy's wide domain, went steadily on--wearing out the saints of the Most High.

Charles V, Emperor of Germany and King of Spain and the Netherlands, persecuted the friends of the Reformation throughout his extensive dominions. Supported by the Diet of Worms, he proscribed Luther, his followers and his writings; and condemned all who should aid Luther or read his books, to the confiscation of their property, the ban of the empire and the penalty of high treason. In the Netherlands the men who followed Luther were to be beheaded, and the women buried alive or if obstinate to be committed to the flames. Though this wholesale law was suspended, the work of death in all its horrid forms proceeded. The Duke of Alva boasted of the execution of 18,000 Protestants in six weeks. Paolo reckons the number who in the Netherlands were executed on account of their religion at 50,000; and Grotius gives the list of the Belgic martyrs at 100,000. Charles, with his dying breath, exhorted his son, Philip II, to carry on to completion the work of persecution and extermination of heresy which he had begun--which advice Philip was not slow to follow. With fury he stimulated the spirit of persecution, consigning Protestants to the flames without discrimination or pity.

The massacre of Orange, A.D. 1562, was of a similar character to that of Merindol, and is described with precision by Catholic historians. The Italian army sent by Pope Pius IV was commanded to slay men, women and children; and the command was executed with terrible cruelty. The defenseless heretics were slain with the sword, precipitated from rocks, thrown on the points of hooks and daggers, hanged, roasted over slow fires and exposed to shame and torture of every description.

In these dreadful scenes of carnage Antichrist found extreme satisfaction. The pope and his court exulted at the victory of Catholicism over Waldensianism at Merindol, and the impious Oppeda was styled "The defender of the faith and the hero of Christianity." The French king went to mass, and returned solemn thanks to God for the victory over and massacre of the Huguenots at Paris. This carnage, sanctioned by the French king and parliament and Roman Catholic subjects, was probably at the direct instigation of the pope and the Papal Hierarchy. That it was highly approved, at least, is evident from the fact that at the Papal Court the news was received with great rejoicing. The pope, Gregory XIII, went in grand procession to the church of Saint Louis to render thanks to God for the signal victory. He at once proclaimed a jubilee, and sent a nuncio to the French court, who in the pope's name praised "the exploit so long meditated and so happily executed for the good of religion." A medal was struck by the king in memory of the massacre, bearing the inscription, "Pietas Excitavit Justitiam" --Piety Excited Justice.

Medals commemorative of the event were also coined in the Papal mint by order of the pope. One of these is now on exhibition in Memorial Hall, Philadelphia, Pa. Its face presents a raised figure of the pope and the abbreviated inscription, "Gregorius XIII, Pontifex Maximus Anno I," the first year of his pontificate, viz., A.D. 1572. On the reverse side of this medal is a representation of a destroying angel, bearing in the left hand a cross, and in the right hand a sword, before whom, prostrate and fleeing, a band of Huguenots, men, women and children, is represented, whose faces and figures express horror and despair. Under this are the words, "Ugonottorum Strages 1572"--which signifies, "The slaughter of the Huguenots, 1572."

A picture of the St. Bartholomew Massacre was hung in the Vatican. It had a scroll at the top, on which was inscribed, in Latin, words signifying, "The Pontiff approves the fate of Coligny." Coligny was a prominent leader of the Huguenots and one of the first to fall. After he was killed, his head was severed from his body and sent to the queen (who had it embalmed and sent as a trophy to Rome), while his body was dragged by the populace through the streets of Paris. The king was shortly afterward seized with the horrors of remorse from which he never recovered. It is recorded that to his confidential physician he said, "I know not what has happened to me, but in mind and body I am shaking as in a fever. It seems to me every moment, whether waking or sleeping, that mangled bodies present themselves to me with hideous faces and covered with blood." He died in great agony, covered with a bloody sweat.

O'Niel, the primate of Ireland, pronounced this "a pious and lawful war," and the pope (Urban VIII) issued a bull dated May 1643, granting "full and absolute remission of all their sins" to those who had taken part in "gallantly doing what in them lay, to extirpate and wholly root out the pestiferous leaven of heretical contagion."

The Inquisition or "Holy Office"

To Dominic, the leading spirit in this crusade, is ascribed the honor of inventing the infernal Inquisition, though Benedict, who is zealous in ascribing to Saint Dominic the honor of being the first Inquisitor General, is doubtful as to whether the idea first suggested itself to Pope Innocent or to Saint Dominic. It was first established by Pope Innocent III, in A.D. 1204.

St. Dominic was a monster, devoid of every feeling of compassion, who seemed to find his chief delight in scenes of torture and misery. During the crusade against the Albigenses, with a crucifix in his hand he led and encouraged the holy warriors to deeds of death and destruction. The Inquisition or Holy Office is today a tribunal in the Roman Catholic Church for the discovery, repression and punishment of heresy and other offenses against the Church of Rome.* But in Dominic's day it had no legal tribunal, nor were the instruments of torment brought to the perfection exhibited in later days. Nevertheless, Dominic, without such machinery, found abundant means of torture, in dislocating joints, tearing nerves, and lacerating the limbs of his victims, and in burning at the stake those whose convictions were unshaken by other means, and who would not renounce their faith and liberties.

*The Chair of St. Peter, page 589.

Under his commission from Pope Innocent, to punish with confiscation, banishment and death the heretics who would not receive his gospel, Dominic stimulated the civil magistracy and populace to massacre the heretical Waldenses; and he at one time committed one hundred and eighty Albigenses to the flames. It was for such faithfulness in the service of Antichrist that he was canonized a saint, and is today adored and prayed to by Roman Catholics. The Roman Breviary (somewhat like a Prayer Book), referring to St. Dominic, lauds "his merits and doctrines which enlightened the church, his ingenuity and virtue which overthrew the Tolossan heretics, and his many miracles which extended even to the raising of the dead." The Roman Missal (which embraces the service connected with the administration of the Lord's supper) eulogizes his merits, and prays for temporal aid through his intercession. Thus Antichrist still upholds and honors its faithful heroes.

It would be impossible briefly to convey any adequate conception of the horrors of the Inquisition, or of the dreadful fear which it inspired among the people. Those not loud in their praise of Antichrist, or who ventured a criticism of his methods, were suspected of heresy; and such persons, without warning or redress, were liable to imprisonment in a dungeon for an indefinite time until a convenient season for trial--both the accuser and the accusation often being equally unknown to them. The proceedings of these trials were conducted secretly, and tortures were often employed to extort confessions. The tortures inflicted were almost too appalling to be credited in this age and land of freedom, yet their reality is confirmed by evidence which even Catholic historians cannot deny; and their fruitless attempts to apologize for them only tend to substantiate the evidence. Instruments of torture, relics of the Inquisition, are still in existence which would render denial unavailing. The "Holy Office" even employed physicians to watch the process of torture and stop it when death seemed likely to relieve the sufferer; and the victim was allowed partially to recover, that the torture might be applied a second or even a third time. These tortures were not always inflicted as punishments for the offense of heresy: they were in general for the purpose of compelling the accused to confess, retract or implicate others, as the case might be.

Even within the present century, after the Inquisition had lost many of its horrors, it was still terrible. The historian of Napoleon's wars, describing the capture of Toledo by his army, incidentally mentions the opening of the Inquisition prison, and says:

"In a recess in a subterranean vault, contiguous to the private hall for examinations, stood a wooden figure made by the hands of monks and representing the Virgin Mary. A gilded glory encompassed her head, and in her right hand she held a banner. It struck all at first sight as suspicious that, notwithstanding the silken robe, descending on each side in ample folds from her shoulders, she should wear a sort of cuirass. On closer scrutiny it appeared that the fore part of the body was stuck full of extremely sharp nails and small narrow knife-blades, with the points of both turned toward the spectator. The arms and hands were jointed, and machinery behind the partition set the figure in motion. One of the servants of the Inquisition was compelled by command of the General to work the machine as he termed it. When the figure extended her arms, as though to press some one lovingly to her heart, the well-filled knapsack of a Polish grenadier was made to supply the place of a living victim. The statue hugged it closer and closer, and when the attendant, agreeably to orders, made the figure unclasp her arms and return to her former position, the knapsack was perforated to the depth of two or three inches, and remained hanging on the points of the nails and the knife blades."

A reminder of such outrages in the name of Christ came to public notice recently. A Bible Society's printing office in Rome being crowded for space, it rented a large room near the Vatican. A large and peculiar ring in the ceiling attracted attention, and inquiry discovered the fact that the room in which they are now busy printing the Bible--"the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God," by which Antichrist has already been rendered "powerless" to oppress and wear out the saints--is the very room once used by the Inquisition as a torture chamber; the pulley ring having probably been used to rack many a poor, gagged sufferer.

Those convicted of heresy were sometimes sentenced to what was called an "Act of Faith." The ecclesiastical authority transferred the condemned to the secular power, while the clergy, in pretense of mercy, implored the magistracy to show compassion to the condemned, and, holding up the cross, pleaded with the victim to recant and save his present and future life. The magistrates knew well their part, and showed no mercy except to recanters; thus gaining the blessings and titles of "Defender of the Faith," and "Exterminator of Heretics." The condemned "heretic," dressed in a yellow coat variegated with pictures of dogs, serpents, flames and devils, was led to the place of execution, tied to the stake and committed to the flames.

We cannot here trace Antichrist's persecutions of everything resembling reforms, liberty of conscience or political freedom. Suffice it to say, this persecution extended to every country where Papacy had a footing--to Germany, Holland, Poland, Italy, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Abyssinia, India, Cuba, Mexico and some South American states. Space forbids our reciting individual cases which would serve to show that many of the martyrs were truly saints and heroes, who under the most horrible sufferings had grace sufficient, and were often enabled, while dying by inches, to sing hymns of praise and thanks to the true Head of the true Church, and, like him, to pray for their enemies who, as he had foretold, persecuted them for his sake.*

*To those desiring a fuller account of these awful times and scenes we commend Macaulay's History of England; Motley's Dutch Republic; D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation; White's Eighteen Christian Centuries; Elliot on Romanism; and Fox's Book of Martyrs.

Some of these fiendish atrocities would be quite beyond belief were they not well authenticated. They serve to show to what awful depravity the human heart can descend; and how blind to right, and every good instinct, men can become under the influence of false, counterfeit religion. The spirit of Antichrist degraded and debased the world as the spirit of the true Christ and the power and influence of the true Kingdom of God would have elevated and ennobled men's hearts and actions--and as they will do, during the Millennium. This is to a slight extent illustrated by the advance in civilization, and the increase of justice and mercy, since the power of Antichrist began to wane, and the word of God began to be heard, and heeded, even slightly.

Truly, no device of which we can conceive could have been better calculated to deceive and oppress mankind. Advantage has been taken of every depraved disposition and weakness of fallen men; every base passion has been stimulated and appealed to, and the gratification of those passions rewarded. The vicious were thus allured and enlisted as its devotees, while those of nobler cast were engaged by other means--by an outward and hypocritical show of piety, self-denial and charity manifested in its monastic institutions, but which served only to lead many such far from the paths of virtue. The gay and the frivolous found ample satisfaction in its parade and show, its pomp and ceremony; the enterprising and chivalrous in its missions and crusades; the profligate in its indulgences; and the cruel bigot in its enterprises for oppressing its opponents.

One of the authorized curses published in the Romish Pontifical, to be used against Protestants, reads as follows:

This is the spirit of Papacy; and all who possess the spirit of the true Christ should readily recognize so base a counterfeit.

Since errors of doctrine lie at the very foundation of all these errors of conduct, it cannot be doubted that if circumstances were again favorable, the doctrines being unchanged, their bad spirit and bad fruits would shortly again appear, in similar acts of injustice, oppression, superstition, ignorance and persecution; and any and all means conceivable would be resorted to, for restoring, upholding and extending the counterfeit Kingdom of God. In proof of this, let us cite a few incidents which recently chanced to come to our attention, as follows:

In Ahuehuetitlan, Guererro, Mexico, August 7th, 1887, a native Protestant missionary, named Abraham Gomez, and two assistants, were murdered in cold blood by natives, at the instigation of a Roman Catholic priest, Father Vergara, who, when celebrating mass the day previous, is reported to have urged his people to "make an example of the minister of Satan" who had come among them; adding, that they might "kill him" with all safety, counting upon protection from the chief of police as well as the priest. The priest's word was law to the benighted people, and to the civil authorities. The mangled body of the poor missionary, shot and hacked to pieces, was dragged through the streets, subject to all sorts of indignities, a warning to others. For this no redress could be obtained.

"They [Protestant missionaries] see honest people kneel, at the sound of the Angelus, in honor of the Annunciation and the Incarnation. The Bible, they say, will soon wipe out such 'superstition.' A light burns before an image of the Mother of God. 'Ha!' cries the missionary, 'We shall soon teach the benighted to break that symbol!' and so on. If the killing of a few missionaries of this kind would keep others like them at home, we should almost--we Papists are so wicked!--be inclined to say: 'On with the dance; let joy be unconfined.'"

A minister by the name of C. G. Moule tells a painful story, which has gone the rounds of the press, of the persecution, in Madeira, of Robert Kelley and the converts resulting from his labors, who, with their children, nearly one thousand persons in all, suffered expatriation as the penalty for receiving a crumb of truth.

In "Protestant Prussia," so-called, Pastor Thummel has been arrested for "insulting the Roman Catholic Church." He published a pamphlet criticising Papacy, in which one of the "insulting" remarks was to the effect that Papacy is an apostasy "built upon superstition and idolatry."

Recently the Caroline Islands were in dispute between Prussia and Spain, and the pope got himself appointed arbitrator or judge, to settle the dispute. (Much in this reminds one of his former power and policy as arbiter or supreme judge of nations.) The pope decided in favor of Spain. A man-of-war, fifty soldiers and six priests were at once dispatched by Spain; and on their arrival Mr. Doane, an American missionary, was made a prisoner and cut off from all intercourse with his converts, without cause, except that he refused to surrender his mission work and property to the priests; and because, the islands now belonging to Spain, and Spain belonging to the pope, none but the pope's religion could be tolerated.

A gentleman, formerly a Roman Catholic, and a friend of the writer, states that recently, when traveling in South America, he was assaulted with stones and obliged to flee for his life, because he would neither uncover his head nor kneel with the multitude, when the Romish priests bearing the crucifix and host passed along the streets. And a similar case, in which three Americans were struck by the priests, mobbed by the people and arrested by the police in the city of Madrid, Spain, for a like offense, is no doubt still fresh in the minds of many who read the daily papers.

The Converted Catholic quotes as follows from the Watchman, a Roman Catholic journal published at St. Louis, Mo.:

"Protestantism! We would draw and quarter it. We would impale it and hang it up for crows' nests. We would tear it with pinchers and fire it with hot irons. We would fill it with moulten lead, and sink it in hell-fire a hundred fathoms deep."

In the light of the past, it is entirely probable that with such a spirit, if the power were possessed, the Editor of the Watchman would soon extend his threats beyond "Protestant-ism" to the persons of Protestants.

In Barcelona, Spain, by order of the government, a large number of copies of the Bible were recently burned--of course at the instigation of the Church of Rome. The following, translated from the Catholic Banner, the organ of Papacy there, shows that they approved and appreciated the action. It said:

To encourage another crusade, the same paper says:

"We believe it right to publish the names of those holy men under whose hands so many sinners suffered, that good Catholics may venerate their memory:

"By Torquemada--
Men and women burnt alive............................... 10,220
Burnt in effigy......................................... 6,840
Condemned to other punishments.......................... 97,371
"By Diego Deza--
Men and women burnt alive............................... 2,592
Burnt in effigy......................................... 829
Condemned to other punishments.......................... 32,952
"By Cardinal Jiminez de Cisneros--
Men and women burnt alive............................... 3,564
Burnt in effigy......................................... 2,232
Condemned to other punishments.......................... 48,059
"By Adrian de Florencia--
Men and women burnt alive............................... 1,620
Burnt in effigy......................................... 560
Condemned to other punishments.......................... 21,835
----------
"Total number of men and women burnt alive,
under the ministry of 45 holy Inquisitor-Generals....... 35,534
Total number burnt in effigy............................ 18,637
Total number of condemned to other punishments..........293,533
-------
"Grand total.........................................347,704

The Papal Millennium

4th. The time of exaltation, A.D. 800, when, as already shown, the "Holy Roman Empire" was formed, and the pope, crowning Charlemagne emperor, was recognized as himself King of kings, Emperor of emperors, "another God, on earth."

The four periods of the fall of papal influence are as follows:

1st. The period of the Reformation, which may be said to have had its beginning about A.D. 1400, in the writings of Wycliffe--followed by Huss, Luther and others.

2nd. The period of Napoleon's success, the degradation of the popes, and the casting aside finally of the title "Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire," by Francis II, A.D. 1800-1806.

3rd. The final rejection of the pope as ruler over Rome and the so-called Papal States of Italy, by the pope's subjects and the King of Italy, A.D. 1870, by which Antichrist is left without the slightest temporal authority.

4th. The final extinction of this counterfeit hierarchy, near the close of the "Day of wrath" and judgment already begun--which will close, as shown by the "Times of the Gentiles," with the year A.D. 1914.

Is There Room for Doubt?

He says:

"It is impossible to deny that the polity of the Church of Rome is the very masterpiece of human [we would say Satanic] wisdom. In truth, nothing but such a polity could, against such assaults, have borne up such doctrines. The experience of twelve hundred eventful years, the ingenuity and patient care of forty generations of statesmen, have improved that polity to such perfection, that among the contrivances of political ability it occupies the highest place."

Antichrist's Final End

We have traced Papacy to the present time, to the Day of the Lord--the time of Immanuel's presence. This Man of Sin has been developed, has done his awful work, has been smitten with the sword of the Spirit--the Word of God. The spirit of Christ's mouth has rendered him powerless to persecute the saints openly and generally, no matter how strong the desire; and now we ask, What next? What says the Apostle concerning Antichrist's end?

As to the exact form in which this closing struggle should be expected, we can only make suggestions, based largely upon the symbolic views of the same, given in Revelation. We anticipate the gradual formation throughout the world of two great parties--from both of which the faithful, overcoming saints will stand separate. These two great parties will be composed on the one side of Socialists, Free-thinkers, Infidels, discontents, and true liberty-lovers whose eyes are beginning to open to the facts of the case as they relate both to political and religious mis-government and despotism: on the other side will be gradually associated the opponents of human liberty and equality--Emperors, Kings, Aristocrats; and in close sympathy with these will stand the counterfeit of God's Kingdom, Antichrist, supporting and being supported by earth's civil despots. We expect, too, that Antichrist's policy will be somewhat modified and softened to seek to win back into sympathy and practical cooperation (not actual union) extremists of all Protestant denominations, who even now are panting for a nominal union with each other and with Rome--forgetful that the only true union is that produced and continued by the truth, and not by creeds, conventions and laws. Improbable as this cooperation of Protestants and Catholics may seem to some, we see unmistakable signs of its rapid approach. It is being hastened by the secret workings of Papacy among its people, whereby such politicians as are willing to cooperate with Papacy are assisted into prominent positions in governmental affairs.

Evidently, in the near future, as a part of its trouble, and even before the severity of the great trouble of this "day of wrath" has burst upon the world and wrecked the entire social fabric of earth (preparatory to the new and better one promised under the true Christ), there will be a severe hour of trial and testing of the truly consecrated Church, much as it was in the days of Papacy's triumph; only now the methods of persecution will be more refined and will comport better with the more civilized methods of the present day: the spikes and pincers and racks will have more the form of sarcasm and denunciations, restrictions of liberties, and social, financial and political boycotting. But concerning this, and the new combinations which Antichrist will form in this final struggle against the establishment of the true Millennial Kingdom, more anon.

In concluding this chapter we desire to again impress our readers with the fact that Papacy is the Antichrist, not because of its moral obliquity, but because it is the counterfeit of the true Christ and the true Kingdom. It is because of a failure to realize this fact that many Protestants will be deceived into cooperation with Papacy in opposition to the true King of Glory.

Faithful Until Death

"Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak his name?

"Must I be borne to Paradise
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

"Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vain world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

"Sure I must fight if I would reign.
Increase my courage, Lord.
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by thy Word.

"Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they die.
They see the triumph from afar,
By faith they bring it nigh.

"When thine illustrious day shall rise,
And all thy saints shall shine,
And shouts of vict'ry rend the skies,
The glory, Lord, be thine."