Chapter 35—Liberty of Conscience Threatened

Protestants now regard Catholicism far more favorably than they did years ago. In those countries where Catholicism takes a peaceful course to gain influence, the opinion is gaining ground that we do not differ so widely on vital points as we had supposed, and that a little concession on our part will bring us into better understanding with Rome. Some time ago, Protestants taught their children that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how different are the sentiments people express now! 5TC 326.2

Defenders of the papacy claim that the church has been misrepresented, and that it is unfair to judge the church of today by her reign during the centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse the church's horrible cruelty as the harsh customs of the times. 5TC 326.3

Have these people forgotten the claim of infallibility coming from this power? Rome asserts that the “church never erred; nor will it, according to the Scriptures, ever err.”^{1John L. von Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, book 3, century 11, part 2, chapter 2, section 9, note 17.} 5TC 327.1

The papal church will never give up her claim to infallibility. If secular governments remove their current restraints and Rome regains her former power, there would quickly be a revival of the church's tyranny and persecution. 5TC 327.2

It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman Catholic faith. Thousands in that church are serving God according to the best light they have. God looks with pitying tenderness upon these souls who have been educated in a faith that is delusive and unsatisfying. He will cause rays of light to penetrate the darkness, and many will yet join with His people. 5TC 327.3

But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any time before. The Roman Church is using every means available to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo everything that Protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground on every side. See the increasing number of her churches. Look at the popularity of her colleges and seminaries, so widely attended by Protestants. Look at the growth of ritualism in England and the frequent defections to the ranks of the Catholics. 5TC 327.4

Compromises and Concessions

Protestants have supported Catholicism. They have made compromises and concessions that Catholics themselves are surprised to see. People are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism. They need to resist the advances of this dangerous opponent of civil and religious liberty. 5TC 327.5

While Catholicism is based on deception, it is not coarse and clumsy. The religious service of the Roman Church is a most impressive ceremony. Its gorgeous display and solemn rites fascinate the people and silence the voice of reason and conscience. It charms the eye. Magnificent churches, stately processions, golden altars, jeweled shrines, choice paintings, and superb sculpture appeal to the love of beauty. The music is of the finest quality. The rich notes of the deep-toned organ blend with the melody of many voices as the music swells through the soaring domes and pillared aisles of her grand cathedrals, impressing the mind with awe and reverence. 5TC 327.6

This outward splendor and ceremony mocks the longings of the sin-sick soul. The religion of Christ does not need attractions like this. The light that shines from the cross is so pure and lovely that no external decorations can add to its true worth. 5TC 328.1

Satan often uses high concepts of art and delicate refinement of taste to lead people to forget the real needs of the heart and to live for this world alone. 5TC 328.2

The pomp and ceremony of Catholic worship has a seductive, bewitching power that deceives many. They begin to see the Roman Church as the gate of heaven. Only those whose feet stand firmly on the foundation of truth and whose hearts are renewed by the Spirit of God are secure against her influence. The form of godliness without the power is what most people want. 5TC 328.3

The church claims the right to pardon, and this leads its people to feel free to sin. The rite of confession also tends to open the way to evil. Those who kneel before fallen man and open the secret imaginations of their hearts in confession are degrading their spiritual natures. In unfolding their sins to a priest—an imperfect mortal—they lower their standard of character and corrupt themselves. Their idea of God is degraded to the image of fallen humanity, because the priest stands as a representative of God. This degrading confession of human to human is the secret spring from which has flowed much of the evil that is defiling the world. Yet to those who love to follow their own desires, it is more pleasing to confess to a fellow mortal than to open the heart to God. Human nature finds it more agreeable to do penance than to turn away from sin. It is easier to punish the flesh by sackcloth than to crucify fleshly lusts. 5TC 328.4

A Striking Similarity

When Christ lived on earth, the Jews were secretly trampling on God's law while outwardly they kept its requirements strictly, loading it down with additional duties that made obedience a burden. As the Jews professed to revere the law, so do Romanists claim to reverence the cross. 5TC 328.5

They place crosses on their churches, their altars, and their clothing. Everywhere the symbol of the cross is outwardly honored and exalted. But the teachings of Christ are buried beneath senseless traditions and rigorous requirements. Church teachings keep conscientious people in fear of the wrath of an offended God, while many officials of the church live in luxury and sensual pleasure. 5TC 329.1

Satan constantly tries to misrepresent the character of God, the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the great controversy. His false arguments give people permission to sin. At the same time he implants false ideas of God so that they think of Him with fear and hate rather than with love. By such perverted ideas of God's character, Satan led heathen nations to believe that human sacrifices were necessary to secure God's favor. People have carried out horrible cruelties under the various forms of idolatry. 5TC 329.2

Union of Paganism and Christianity

The Roman Catholic Church has united paganism and Christianity and, like paganism, has misrepresented the character of God and resorted to practices that are just as cruel. Instruments of torture compelled people to accept her doctrines. Officials of the church studied to invent ways to cause the greatest possible torture and not end the life of those who would not give in to the church's claims. In many cases the sufferer welcomed death as a sweet release. 5TC 329.3

For those who followed Rome's teachings, the church had the discipline of the whip, of hunger, and of denying the body's normal needs. To gain Heaven's approval, repentant people were taught to break the ties of family and friendship which God has formed to bless and gladden our earthly journey. The churchyard contains millions of victims who spent their lives trying unsuccessfully to repress every thought and feeling of sympathy with their fellow creatures, as though these were offensive to God. 5TC 329.4

God does not put these heavy burdens on us. Christ's life provides no example for men and women to shut themselves in monasteries in order to become fit for heaven. He has never taught us to repress our human love and sympathy. 5TC 329.5

Doctrines From the Dark Ages

The pope claims to be the vicar, or representative, of Christ. But was Christ ever known to put people in prison because they did not worship Him as the King of heaven? Was His voice heard condemning to death those who did not accept Him? 5TC 330.1

The Roman Church now presents a pleasing front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments, but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy in past ages exists today. The church still holds the doctrines devised in the Dark Ages. The papacy that Protestants now honor is the same that ruled in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up at the risk of their lives to expose her evils. 5TC 330.2

The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the end times. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4.) Under the changeable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the changeless venom of the serpent. Shall we now acknowledge this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, as a part of the church of Christ? 5TC 330.3

A Change in Protestantism

In Protestant countries we hear the claim that Catholicism differs less from Protestantism than it did before. There has been a change, but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism does in fact resemble much Protestantism that now exists because Protestantism has degenerated so greatly since the days of Reformers. 5TC 330.4

The Protestant churches are seeking the approval of the world, and so they believe good of all evil. As a result, they will finally believe evil of all good. They are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for their unkind opinion of her, begging pardon for their “bigotry.” Many claim that the intellectual and moral darkness that ruled during the Middle Ages helped to spread Rome's superstitions and oppression. They say that the greater intelligence of modern times and the increasing liberality in matters of religion will prevent any revival of intolerance. They ridicule the idea that such a state of things will exist in this enlightened age. But we should remember that the greater the light that is given, the greater the darkness of those who pervert and reject it. 5TC 330.5

An era of great intellectual darkness has been favorable to the papacy's success. We will yet see that an era of great intellectual light is equally favorable. In past ages when people did not have the knowledge of the truth, thousands were caught in the snare, not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation also, many do not see the net and walk into it as readily as if they were blindfolded. When people place their own theories above the Word of God, intelligence can do even more harm than ignorance. So today's false science will prove successful in preparing people to accept the papacy, just as the withholding of knowledge did in the Dark Ages. 5TC 331.1

Sunday Observance

Sunday observance is a custom that originated with Rome, and she claims it as the sign of her authority. The spirit of the papacy—of following worldly customs and honoring human traditions above the commandments of God—is seeping into the Protestant churches and leading them to the same work of exalting Sunday that the papacy has done before them. 5TC 331.2

Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances backed by secular power were the steps by which the pagan festival reached its position of honor in the Christian world. The first legal effort to enforce Sunday observance was the law that Constantine enacted. Though it was basically a heathen statute, the emperor enforced it after he accepted the forms of Christianity. 5TC 331.3

Eusebius, a bishop who tried to gain the favor of princes and who was the special friend of Constantine, claimed that Christ had transferred the Sabbath to Sunday. He offered no proof from Scripture. Eusebius himself unwittingly admits that this claim was false. “All things,” he says, “that it was our duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's Day.”^{2Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, page 538.} 5TC 331.4

As the papacy became established, it continued to exalt Sunday. For a time people still regarded the seventh day as the Sabbath, but steadily a change came in. Later the pope directed the parish priests to warn violators of Sunday that their behavior could bring some great calamity on themselves and their neighbors. 5TC 332.1

When the decrees of church councils were not enough, the church called on the secular authorities to issue a decree that would strike terror to the hearts of the people and force them to stop working on Sunday. A synod held in Rome reaffirmed all previous decisions and incorporated them into church law. The civil authorities in nearly all Christian countries enforced them.^{3See Heylyn, History of the Sabbath, part 2, chapter 5, section 7.} 5TC 332.2

Still the lack of scriptural authority for Sunday keeping was embarrassing. The people questioned the right of their teachers to set aside the declaration, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God,” in order to honor the day of the sun. To make up for the lack of Bible testimony, the church had to resort to other proofs. 5TC 332.3

About the close of the twelfth century, a zealous advocate of Sunday visited the churches of England. Faithful witnesses for the truth resisted him, and his efforts were so fruitless that he left the country for a time. When he returned, he brought with him a document that claimed to be from God Himself. It contained the needed command to observe Sunday, with awful threats to terrify the disobedient. This precious document, he claimed, had fallen from heaven and was found in Jerusalem on the altar of St. Simeon, in Golgotha. But in fact, the pope's palace at Rome was the source. In all ages, the papal hierarchy has regarded frauds and forgeries as acceptable. (See Appendix, note for page 27.) 5TC 332.4

But despite all efforts to establish Sunday sacredness, Catholics themselves publicly admitted the divine authority of the Sabbath. In the sixteenth century, a papal council declared: “Let all Christians remember that the seventh day was consecrated by God, and has been received and observed not only by the Jews, but by all others who claim to worship God, though we Christians have changed their Sabbath into the Lord's Day.”^{4Thomas Morer, Discourse in Six Dialogues on the Name, Notion, and Observation of the Lord’s Day, pages 281, 282.} Those who were tampering with God's law were not ignorant of what they were doing. 5TC 332.5

Severe Penalties

An impressive illustration of Rome's policy is found in the long and bloody persecution of the Waldenses, some of whom kept the Sabbath. (See Appendix.) Also, the history of the churches of Ethiopia and Abyssinia is especially significant. Amid the gloom of the Dark Ages, the world lost sight of the Christians of Central Africa and forgot them. For many centuries, then, they enjoyed freedom in their faith. Finally Rome learned that they existed and tricked the emperor of Abyssinia into acknowledging the pope as the vicar of Christ. Then the church issued an edict forbidding people to observe the Sabbath under severe penalties.^{5See Michael Geddes, Church History of Ethiopia, pages 311, 312.} But Roman tyranny soon became a yoke so bitter that the Abyssinians determined to break it. They banished the Romanists from their territory and restored the ancient faith. 5TC 333.1

While the churches of Africa kept the seventh day in obedience to the commandment of God, they also refrained from work on Sunday in keeping with the custom of the church. Rome trampled on the Sabbath of God to exalt her own, but the churches of Africa, hidden for nearly a thousand years, did not share this apostasy. When brought under Rome's control, they were forced to set aside the true and exalt the false sabbath. But no sooner had they regained their independence than they returned to obedience to the fourth commandment. (See Appendix.) 5TC 333.2

These records clearly reveal the hatred of Rome toward the true Sabbath and its defenders. The Word of God teaches that these scenes will be repeated as Catholics and Protestants unite to exalt Sunday. 5TC 333.3

The Beast With Lamblike Horns

The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the beast with lamblike horns will cause “the earth and those who dwell in it” to worship the papacy—symbolized by the beast “like a leopard.” The beast with two horns will also tell “those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast.” Furthermore, it will command all, “both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave,” to receive the mark of the beast. (Revelation 13:11-16.) The United States is the power that the beast with lamblike horns represents. This prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States enforces Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. 5TC 333.4

“I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast” (Revelation 13:3). The deadly wound points to the downfall of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, “his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.” Paul states that the “man of sin” will carry on his work of deception to the very end of time (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8). And “all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life” (Revelation 13:8). In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive worship in the honor paid to Sunday. 5TC 334.1

Since the middle of the nineteenth century, students of prophecy have presented this message of Revelation 13 to the world. Now we see events rapidly moving toward the fulfillment of the prediction. Protestant teachers make the same claim of divine authority for Sunday keeping with the same lack of Bible evidence as do Catholic leaders. The assertion that God sends His judgments on people for violating the Sunday-sabbath will be repeated; already it is beginning to be heard. 5TC 334.2

The Roman Church is amazingly shrewd. She can read what is happening and what will come—that Protestant churches are recognizing her superiority by accepting the false Sabbath, and that they are preparing to enforce it in the same way that she herself did in ages past. It is not hard to guess how quickly she will come to the help of Protestants in this work. 5TC 334.3

The Roman Catholic Church forms one vast organization under the control of the papal see. Its millions of members in every country are bound in loyalty to the pope, whatever their nationality or their government. Though they may take the oath pledging loyalty to the state, yet behind this lies the vow of obedience to Rome. 5TC 334.4

History tells of her sly and persistent efforts to insert herself into the affairs of nations, and having gained a foothold, to advance her own aims, even if it means the ruin of princes and people.^{6See, for example, John Dowling, The History of Romanism, book 5, chapter 6, section 55; and John L. von Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, book 3, century 11, part 2, chapter 2, section 9, note 17.} 5TC 334.5

Rome boasts that she never changes. Protestants do not understand what they are doing when they propose to accept Rome's help in the work of exalting Sunday. While they are focused on their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Once the principle is established that the church may 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—Rome's triumph is assured. 5TC 335.1

The Protestant world will learn what Rome's intentions are only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing in power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in people's hearts. She is strengthening her forces to gain the advantage when the time comes to strike. All that she wants is favorable ground, which she is already receiving. Soon, whoever believes and obeys the Word of God will face censure and persecution. 5TC 335.2