Liberty of Conscience Threatened
485
employ or control the power of the state; that religious observances
may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church
and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in
this country is assured.
God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this
be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of
Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is
silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence
in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She
is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses
of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and
unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends
when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is
vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see
and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever
shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach
and persecution.
[582]