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Character and Aims of the Papacy
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Satan their master, to invent means to cause the greatest possible
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torture, and not end the life of their victim. The infernal process was
repeated to the utmost limit of human endurance, until nature gave
up the struggle, and the sufferer hailed death as a sweet release.
Such was the fate of Rome’s opponents. For her adherents she
had the discipline of the scourge, of famishing hunger, of bodily
austerities in every conceivable, heart-sickening form. To secure the
favor of Heaven, penitents violated the laws of God by violating the
laws of nature. They were taught to sunder every tie which he has
formed to bless and gladden man’s earthly sojourn. The churchyard
contains millions of victims who spent their lives in vain endeavors
to subdue their natural affections, to repress, as offensive to God,
every thought and feeling of sympathy with their fellow-creatures.
If we desire to understand the determined cruelty of Satan, man-
ifested for hundreds of years, not among those who never heard of
God, but in the very heart and throughout the extent of Christendom,
we have only to look at the history of Romanism. And as we see
how he succeeds in disguising himself, and accomplishing his work
through the leaders of the church, we may better understand why he
has so great antipathy to the Bible. If that book is read, the mercy
and love of God will be revealed; it will be seen that he lays upon
men none of these heavy burdens. All that he asks is a broken and
contrite heart, a humble, obedient spirit.
Christ gives no example in his life for men and women to shut
themselves in monasteries in order to become fitted for Heaven. He
has never taught that love and sympathy must be repressed. The
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Saviour’s heart overflowed with love. The nearer man approaches to
moral perfection, the keener are his sensibilities, the more acute is
his perception of sin, and the deeper his sympathy for the afflicted.
The pope claims to be the vicar of Christ. How does his character
bear comparison with that of our Saviour? Was Christ ever known to
consign men to the prison or the rack because they did not pay him
homage as the King of Heaven? Was his voice heard condemning
to death those who did not accept him? When he was slighted by
the people of a Samaritan village, the apostle John was filled with
indignation, and inquired, “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire
to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?”
Jesus looked with pity upon his disciple, and rebuked his harsh spirit,