480
The Great Controversy 1888
The Roman Church, with all its ramifications throughout the world,
forms one vast organization, under the control, and designed to serve
the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of communicants, in every
country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves as bound in
allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government,
they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other. Though
they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the State, yet back of
this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every
pledge inimical to her interests.
Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to
accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they
are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming
to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let history
testify of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the
affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own
aims, even at the ruin of princes and people. Romanism openly puts
forth the claim that the pope “can pronounce sentences and judgments
in contradiction to the right of nations, to the law of God and man.”
[
The “Decretalia.”
]
And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never
changes. The principles of Gregory VII. and Innocent III. are still
the principles of the Romish Church. And had she but the power,
[581]
she would put them in practice with as much vigor now as in past
centuries. Let the principle once be established in the United States,
that the church may 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