Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 03 - The Apostasy - The Great Controversy
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Free the apostasy. The Apostle Paul, in his second letter
- 0:05Speaker 1: to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result
- 0:08Speaker 1: in the establishment of the papal power. He declared that
- 0:12Speaker 1: the day of Christ should not come except there come
- 0:15Speaker 1: a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,
- 0:18Speaker 1: the son of Perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above
- 0:22Speaker 1: all that is called God or that is worshiped, so
- 0:25Speaker 1: that he as God, sitteth in the Temple of God,
- 0:28Speaker 1: showing himself that he is God. And furthermore, the Apostle
- 0:32Speaker 1: warns his brethren that the mystery of Iniquity doth already work.
- 0:36Speaker 1: Even at that early date, he saw creeping into the
- 0:39Speaker 1: Church errors that would prepare the way for the development
- 0:42Speaker 1: of the papacy. Little by little, at first in stealth
- 0:46Speaker 1: and silence, and then more openly, as it increased in
- 0:49Speaker 1: strength and gained control of the minds of men. The
- 0:52Speaker 1: mystery of iniquity carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous work,
- 0:57Speaker 1: almost imperceptibly. The customs of Heathenism found into the Christian Church.
- 1:02Speaker 1: The spirit of compromise and conformity was restrained for a
- 1:05Speaker 1: time by the fierce persecutions which the Church endured under paganism.
- 1:10Speaker 1: But as persecution ceased and Christianity entered the courts and
- 1:13Speaker 1: palaces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of
- 1:17Speaker 1: Christ and his apostles for the pomp and pride of
- 1:20Speaker 1: pagan priests and rulers, and in place of the requirements
- 1:24Speaker 1: of God, she substituted human theories and traditions. The nominal
- 1:29Speaker 1: conversion of Constantine in the early part of the fourth
- 1:31Speaker 1: century caused great rejoicing, and the world, cloaked with a
- 1:35Speaker 1: form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now the work
- 1:40Speaker 1: of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished,
- 1:44Speaker 1: became the conqueror. Her spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies,
- 1:49Speaker 1: and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of
- 1:52Speaker 1: the professed followers of Christ. This compromise between Paganism and
- 1:57Speaker 1: Christianity resulted in the development of the man of Sin
- 2:00Speaker 1: foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God.
- 2:05Speaker 1: That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of
- 2:08Speaker 1: Satan's power, a monument of his efforts to seat himself
- 2:12Speaker 1: upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will.
- 2:16Speaker 1: Satan once endeavored to form a compromise with Christ. He
- 2:19Speaker 1: came to the Son of God in the wilderness of temptation, and,
- 2:22Speaker 1: showing him all the kingdoms of the world and the
- 2:25Speaker 1: glory of them, offered to give all into his hands
- 2:28Speaker 1: if he would but acknowledge the supremacy of the Prince
- 2:30Speaker 1: of darkness. Christ rebuked the presumptuous tempter and forced him
- 2:35Speaker 1: to depart, But Satan meets with greater success in presenting
- 2:38Speaker 1: the same temptations to man to secure worldly gains and honors.
- 2:43Speaker 1: The Church was led to seek the favor and support
- 2:46Speaker 1: of the great men of earth, and having thus rejected Christ,
- 2:49Speaker 1: she was induced to yield allegiance to the representative of Satan,
- 2:54Speaker 1: the Bishop of Rome. It is one of the leading
- 2:57Speaker 1: doctrines of Romanism that the Pope is the visible head
- 3:00Speaker 1: of the universal Church of Christ, invested with supreme authority
- 3:04Speaker 1: over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world.
- 3:07Speaker 1: More than this, the Pope has been given the very
- 3:10Speaker 1: titles of deity. He has been styled Lord God the Pope,
- 3:14Speaker 1: and has been declared infallible. He demands the homage of
- 3:18Speaker 1: all men. The same claim urged by Satan in the
- 3:22Speaker 1: wilderness of temptation, is still urged by him through the
- 3:25Speaker 1: Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield
- 3:28Speaker 1: him homage. But those who fear and reverence God meet
- 3:31Speaker 1: this heaven daring assumption. As Christ meant the solicitations of
- 3:35Speaker 1: the wily foe, Thou shalt worship the Lord, Thy God,
- 3:38Speaker 1: and him only shalt thou serve. God has never given
- 3:42Speaker 1: a hint in his word that he has appointed any
- 3:45Speaker 1: man to be the head of the Church. The doctrine
- 3:48Speaker 1: of papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of
- 3:51Speaker 1: the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ's
- 3:55Speaker 1: Church except by usurpation. Romanists have persisted in bringing again
- 4:00Speaker 1: ngst Protestants the charge of heresy and wilful separation from
- 4:04Speaker 1: the True Church, But these accusations apply rather to themselves.
- 4:09Speaker 1: They are the ones who laid down the banner of
- 4:11Speaker 1: Christ and departed from the faith which was once delivered
- 4:14Speaker 1: unto the saints. Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures
- 4:17Speaker 1: would enable men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power.
- 4:22Speaker 1: It was by the Word that even the Savior of
- 4:24Speaker 1: the world had resisted his attacks. At every assault, Christ
- 4:28Speaker 1: presented the shield of eternal truths, saying, it is written
- 4:33Speaker 1: to every suggestion of the adversary, he opposed the wisdom
- 4:36Speaker 1: and power of the Word. In order for Satan to
- 4:39Speaker 1: maintain his sway over men and establish the authority of
- 4:42Speaker 1: the papal usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of
- 4:46Speaker 1: the scriptures. The Bible would exalt God and place fin
- 4:49Speaker 1: eyed men in their true position. Therefore, its sacred truths
- 4:53Speaker 1: must be concealed and suppressed. This logic was adopted by
- 4:57Speaker 1: the Roman Church for hundreds of years. The circulation of
- 5:01Speaker 1: the Bible was prohibited, the people were forbidden to read
- 5:04Speaker 1: it or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled
- 5:07Speaker 1: priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions.
- 5:12Speaker 1: Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as
- 5:16Speaker 1: the vice cherrant of God on earth, endowed with authority
- 5:19Speaker 1: over church and state. The detector of error having been removed,
- 5:24Speaker 1: Satan worked according to his will. Prophecy had declared that
- 5:28Speaker 1: the papacy was to think to change times and laws
- 5:31Speaker 1: this work. It was not so to attempt to afford
- 5:35Speaker 1: converts from Heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols,
- 5:38Speaker 1: and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity. The
- 5:42Speaker 1: adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the
- 5:45Speaker 1: Christian worship. The decree of a General Council finally established
- 5:50Speaker 1: this system of idolatry. To complete the sacrilegious work, Rome
- 5:55Speaker 1: presumed to expunge from the law of God the Second
- 5:57Speaker 1: Commandment forbidding image worship, and to divide the Tenth Commandment
- 6:02Speaker 1: in order to preserve the number. The spirit of concession
- 6:06Speaker 1: to paganism opened the way for a still further disregard
- 6:09Speaker 1: of Heaven's authority. Satan, working through unconsecrated leaders of the Church,
- 6:14Speaker 1: tampered with the Fourth Commandment also and essayed to set
- 6:18Speaker 1: aside the ancient Sabbath, the day which God had blessed
- 6:21Speaker 1: and sanctified, and in its stead to exalt the festival
- 6:24Speaker 1: observed by the heathen as the venerable day of the Sun.
- 6:29Speaker 1: This change was not at first attempted openly. In the
- 6:32Speaker 1: first centuries, the true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians.
- 6:36Speaker 1: They were jealous for the honor of God, and believing
- 6:38Speaker 1: that his law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness
- 6:41Speaker 1: of its precepts. But with great subtlety, Satan worked through
- 6:46Speaker 1: his agents to bring about his object that the attention
- 6:49Speaker 1: of the people might be called to the Sunday. It
- 6:51Speaker 1: was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ.
- 6:55Speaker 1: Religious services were held upon it, yet it was regarded
- 6:58Speaker 1: as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly
- 7:01Speaker 1: observed to prepare the way for the work which he
- 7:05Speaker 1: designed to accomplish. Satan had led the Jews before the
- 7:08Speaker 1: advent of Christ to low down the Sabbath with the
- 7:10Speaker 1: most rigorous exactions, making its observance a burden. Now, taking
- 7:15Speaker 1: advantage of the false light in which he had thus
- 7:18Speaker 1: caused it to be regarded, he cast contempt upon it
- 7:21Speaker 1: as a Jewish institution. While Christians generally continued to observe
- 7:25Speaker 1: the Sunday as a joyous festival, he led them, in
- 7:28Speaker 1: order to show their hatred of Judaism, to make the
- 7:31Speaker 1: Sabbath a fast, a day of sadness and gloom. In
- 7:35Speaker 1: the early part of the fourth century, the Emperor Constantine
- 7:39Speaker 1: issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the
- 7:42Speaker 1: Roman Empire. The day of the Sun was reverenced by
- 7:45Speaker 1: his pagan subjects and was honored by Christians. It was
- 7:49Speaker 1: the emperor's policy to unite the conflicting interests of Heathenism
- 7:52Speaker 1: and Christianity. He was urged to do this by the
- 7:56Speaker 1: bishops of the Church, who, inspired by ambition and thirst
- 7:59Speaker 1: for power, perceived that if the same day was observed
- 8:02Speaker 1: by both Christians and heathen it would promote the nominal
- 8:05Speaker 1: acceptance of Christianity by Pagans and thus advance the power
- 8:09Speaker 1: and glory of the Church. But while many god fearing
- 8:12Speaker 1: Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a
- 8:16Speaker 1: degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath as
- 8:19Speaker 1: the holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience
- 8:22Speaker 1: to the fourth Commandment. The ark Deceiver had not completed
- 8:26Speaker 1: his work. He was resolved to gather the Christian world
- 8:29Speaker 1: under his banner and to exercise his power through his
- 8:32Speaker 1: vice errant, the proud Pontiff, who claimed to be the
- 8:35Speaker 1: representative of Christ through half converted pagans. Ambitious prelates and
- 8:41Speaker 1: world living churchmen. He accomplished his purpose. Vast counsels were
- 8:45Speaker 1: held from time to time in which the dignitaries of
- 8:48Speaker 1: the Church were convened from all over the world. In
- 8:52Speaker 1: nearly every council, the Sabbath, which God had instituted, was
- 8:55Speaker 1: pressed down a little lower, while the Sunday was correspondingly exalted.
- 9:00Speaker 1: Thus the pagan festival came finally to be honored as
- 9:02Speaker 1: a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a
- 9:06Speaker 1: relic of Judaism, and its observers were declared to be accursed.
- 9:11Speaker 1: The Great Apostate had succeeded in exalting himself above all
- 9:14Speaker 1: that is called God or that is worshiped. He had
- 9:17Speaker 1: dared to change the only precept of the Divine Law
- 9:20Speaker 1: that unmistakably points all mankind to the True and living God.
- 9:25Speaker 1: In the Fourth Commandment, God is revealed as the creator
- 9:28Speaker 1: of the heavens and the earth, and is thereby distinguished
- 9:31Speaker 1: from all false gods. It was as a memorial of
- 9:35Speaker 1: the work of creation that the seventh Day was sanctified
- 9:38Speaker 1: as a rest day for man. It was designed to
- 9:41Speaker 1: keep the Living God ever before the minds of men
- 9:44Speaker 1: as the source of being and the object of reverence
- 9:47Speaker 1: and worship. Satan strives to turn men from their allegiance
- 9:51Speaker 1: to God and from rendering obedience to His law. Therefore,
- 9:54Speaker 1: he directs his efforts, especially against that commandment which points
- 9:58Speaker 1: to God as the creator. Protestants now urge that the
- 10:02Speaker 1: resurrection of Christ on Sunday made it the Christian Sabbath,
- 10:06Speaker 1: but scripture evidence is lacking. No such honor was given
- 10:09Speaker 1: to the day by Christ or his apostles. The observance
- 10:13Speaker 1: of Sunday as a Christian institution had its origin in
- 10:16Speaker 1: that mystery of lawlessness, which even in Paul's day had
- 10:19Speaker 1: begun its work. Where and when did the Lord adopt
- 10:23Speaker 1: this child of the papacy? What valid reason can be
- 10:26Speaker 1: given for a change which the scriptures do not sanction.
- 10:30Speaker 1: In the sixth century, the papacy had become firmly established.
- 10:34Speaker 1: Its seat of power was fixed in the Imperial City,
- 10:37Speaker 1: and the Bishop of Rome was declared to be the
- 10:39Speaker 1: head over the entire church. Paganism had given place to
- 10:43Speaker 1: the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast his
- 10:47Speaker 1: power and his seat and great authority, and now began
- 10:50Speaker 1: the twelve hundred sixty years of papal oppression foretold in
- 10:53Speaker 1: the Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation, Christians are forced
- 10:58Speaker 1: to choose either to yield their integrity and accept the
- 11:01Speaker 1: papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives
- 11:04Speaker 1: in dungeons, or suffer death by the rack, the faggot
- 11:07Speaker 1: or the headsman's axe. Now were fulfilled the words of Jesus,
- 11:11Speaker 1: ye shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren, and
- 11:15Speaker 1: kinsfolks and friends, and some of you shall they cause
- 11:18Speaker 1: to be put to death, And ye shall be hated
- 11:21Speaker 1: of all men for my name's sake. Persecution opened upon
- 11:25Speaker 1: the faithful with greater fury than ever before, and the
- 11:28Speaker 1: world became a vast battlefield. For hundreds of years, the
- 11:32Speaker 1: Church of Christ found refuge in seclusion and obscurity. Thus,
- 11:36Speaker 1: says the prophet, the woman fled into the wilderness, where
- 11:40Speaker 1: she hath a place prepared of God, that they should
- 11:42Speaker 1: feed her there a thousand, two hundred and threescore days.
- 11:47Speaker 1: The accession of the Roman Church to power marked the
- 11:49Speaker 1: beginning of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the
- 11:53Speaker 1: darkness deepened, faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation,
- 11:57Speaker 1: to the Pope of Rome. Instead of trusting in the
- 12:00Speaker 1: Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal salvation,
- 12:04Speaker 1: the people look to the Pope and to the priests
- 12:07Speaker 1: and prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were taught
- 12:10Speaker 1: that the Pope was their earthly mediator, and that none
- 12:13Speaker 1: could approach God except through him, and further that he
- 12:16Speaker 1: stood in the place of God to them, and was
- 12:19Speaker 1: therefore to be implicitly obeyed a deviation from His requirements,
- 12:23Speaker 1: with sufficient cause for the severest punishment to be visited
- 12:26Speaker 1: upon the bodies and souls of the offenders. Thus, the
- 12:30Speaker 1: minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible,
- 12:34Speaker 1: erring and cruel men, nay more, to the Prince of
- 12:37Speaker 1: Darkness himself, who exercised his power through them. Sin was
- 12:41Speaker 1: disguised in a garb of sanctity. When the scriptures are
- 12:45Speaker 1: suppressed and man comes to regard himself as supreme, we
- 12:48Speaker 1: need luck only for fraud, deception, and abasing iniquity. With
- 12:53Speaker 1: the elevation of human laws and traditions, was manifest the
- 12:56Speaker 1: corruption that ever results from setting aside the law of God.
- 13:00Speaker 1: Those were days of peril for the Church of Christ.
- 13:03Speaker 1: The faithful standard bearers were few. Indeed, though the truth
- 13:07Speaker 1: was not left without witnesses, yet at times it seemed
- 13:10Speaker 1: that error and superstition would wholly prevail, and true religion
- 13:14Speaker 1: would be banished from the earth. The Gospel was lost
- 13:17Speaker 1: sight of but the forms of religion were multiplied, and
- 13:20Speaker 1: the people were burdened with rigorous exactions. They were taught
- 13:25Speaker 1: not only to look to the pope as their mediator,
- 13:27Speaker 1: but to trust to works of their own to atone
- 13:30Speaker 1: for sin, long pilgrimages, acts of penance, the worship of relics,
- 13:34Speaker 1: the erection of churches, shrines, and altars, the payment of
- 13:38Speaker 1: large sums to the church. These and many similar acts
- 13:42Speaker 1: were enjoined to appease the wrath of God or to
- 13:44Speaker 1: secure his favor, as if God were like men, to
- 13:47Speaker 1: be angered at trifles or pacified by gifts or acts
- 13:50Speaker 1: of penance. Notwithstanding that vice prevailed even among the leaders
- 13:56Speaker 1: of the Roman Church, her influence seemed steadily to increase.
- 14:00Speaker 1: About the close of the eighth century, papists put forth
- 14:03Speaker 1: the claim that in the first ages of the Church,
- 14:06Speaker 1: the bishops of Rome had possessed the same spiritual power
- 14:09Speaker 1: which they now assumed. To establish this claim, some means
- 14:13Speaker 1: must be employed to give it a show of authority,
- 14:16Speaker 1: and this was readily suggested by the Father of Lies.
- 14:19Speaker 1: Ancient writings were forged by monks, decrees of councils before
- 14:23Speaker 1: unheard of were discovered, establishing the universal supremacy of the
- 14:27Speaker 1: pope from the earliest times, and a church that had
- 14:30Speaker 1: rejected the truth greedily accepted these deceptions. The few faithful
- 14:35Speaker 1: builders upon the true foundation were perplexed and hindered as
- 14:39Speaker 1: the rubbish of false doctrine obstructed the work. Like the
- 14:43Speaker 1: builders upon the Wall of Jerusalem in Nehemiah's day, some
- 14:46Speaker 1: were ready to say, the strength of the bearers of
- 14:49Speaker 1: burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish, so that
- 14:52Speaker 1: we are not able to build. Wearied with the constant
- 14:55Speaker 1: struggle against persecution, fraud, iniquity, and every other obstacle that
- 14:59Speaker 1: s Satan could devise to hinder their progress, some who
- 15:03Speaker 1: had been faithful builders became disheartened, and for the sake
- 15:06Speaker 1: of peace and security for their property and their lives,
- 15:10Speaker 1: they turned away from the true foundation. Others, undaunted by
- 15:14Speaker 1: the opposition, of their enemies, fearlessly declared, be not yet
- 15:17Speaker 1: afraid of them, Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible.
- 15:21Speaker 1: And they proceeded with the work, every one with his
- 15:23Speaker 1: sword girded by his side. The same spirit of hatred
- 15:27Speaker 1: and opposition to the truth has inspired the enemies of
- 15:30Speaker 1: God in every age, and the same vigilance and fidelity
- 15:33Speaker 1: have been required in his servants. The words of Christ
- 15:37Speaker 1: to the first disciples are applicable to his followers. To
- 15:40Speaker 1: the close of time, what I say unto you, I
- 15:43Speaker 1: say unto all watch. The darkness seemed to grow more dense.
- 15:48Speaker 1: Image worship became more general. Candles were burned before images,
- 15:52Speaker 1: and prayers were offered to them. The most absurd and
- 15:56Speaker 1: superstitious customs prevailed. The minds of men were so completely
- 16:00Speaker 1: controlled by superstition that reason itself seemed to have lost
- 16:04Speaker 1: its sway. While priests and bishops were themselves pleasure loving, sensual,
- 16:09Speaker 1: and corrupt, it could only be expected that the people
- 16:11Speaker 1: who looked to them for guidance would be sunken in
- 16:14Speaker 1: ignorance and vice. Another step in papal assumption was taken
- 16:18Speaker 1: when in the eleventh century, Pope Gregory the seventh proclaimed
- 16:22Speaker 1: the perfection of the Roman Church. Among the propositions which
- 16:26Speaker 1: he put forth was one declaring that the Church had
- 16:29Speaker 1: never erred, nor would it ever err, according to the scriptures,
- 16:33Speaker 1: but the scripture proofs did not accompany the assertion. The
- 16:37Speaker 1: proud pontiff also claimed the power to depose emperors, and
- 16:40Speaker 1: declared that no sentence which he pronounced could be reversed
- 16:43Speaker 1: by any one, but that it was his prerogative to
- 16:46Speaker 1: reverse the decisions of all others. A striking illustration of
- 16:50Speaker 1: the tyrannical character of this advocate of infallibility was given
- 16:54Speaker 1: in his treatment of the German Emperor Henry the Fourth,
- 16:58Speaker 1: for presuming to disregard the pope authority. This monarch was
- 17:01Speaker 1: declared to be excommunicated and dethroned. Terrified by the desertion
- 17:06Speaker 1: and threats of his own princes, who were encouraged in
- 17:09Speaker 1: rebellion against him by the papal mandate, Henry felt the
- 17:12Speaker 1: necessity of making his peace with Rome. In company with
- 17:16Speaker 1: his wife and a faithful servant, he crossed the Alps
- 17:19Speaker 1: in midwinter that he might humble himself before the Pope.
- 17:23Speaker 1: Upon reaching the castle whither Grigory had withdrawn, he was
- 17:26Speaker 1: conducted without his guards into an outer court, and there,
- 17:29Speaker 1: in the severe cold of winter, with uncovered head and
- 17:32Speaker 1: naked feet, and in a miserable dress, he awaited the
- 17:35Speaker 1: Pope's permission to come into his presence. Not until he
- 17:39Speaker 1: had continued three days fasting and making confession did the
- 17:42Speaker 1: pontiff condescend to grant him pardon. Even then, it was
- 17:46Speaker 1: only upon condition that the Emperor should await the sanction
- 17:49Speaker 1: of the Pope before resuming the insignia or exercising the
- 17:53Speaker 1: power of royalty, and Grigory, elated with his triumph, boasted
- 17:57Speaker 1: that it was his duty to pull down the pride
- 17:59Speaker 1: of king. How striking the contrast between the overbearing pride
- 18:04Speaker 1: of this haughty pontiff and the meekness and gentleness of Christ,
- 18:08Speaker 1: who represents himself as pleading at the door of the
- 18:10Speaker 1: heart for admittance that he may come in to bring
- 18:13Speaker 1: pardon and peace, and who taught his disciples. Whosoever will
- 18:17Speaker 1: be chief among you, let him be your servant. The
- 18:21Speaker 1: advancing centuries witnessed a constant increase of error in the
- 18:24Speaker 1: doctrines put forth from Rome. Even before the establishment of
- 18:29Speaker 1: the papacy. The teachings of Heathen philosophers had received attention
- 18:33Speaker 1: and exerted an influence in the Church. Many who professed
- 18:36Speaker 1: conversions still clung to the tenets of their pagan philosophy,
- 18:40Speaker 1: and not only continued its study themselves, but urged it
- 18:43Speaker 1: upon others as a means of extending their influence among
- 18:46Speaker 1: the Heathen. Serious errors were thus introduced into the Christian faith.
- 18:51Speaker 1: Prominent among these was the belief in man's natural immortality
- 18:55Speaker 1: and his consciousness in death. This doctrine laid the foundation
- 19:00Speaker 1: upon which Rome established the invocation of saints and the
- 19:03Speaker 1: adoration of the Virgin Mary. From this sprung also the
- 19:07Speaker 1: heresy of eternal torment for the finally impenitent, which was
- 19:10Speaker 1: early incorporated into the papal faith. Then the way was
- 19:14Speaker 1: prepared for the introduction of still another invention of paganism,
- 19:18Speaker 1: which Rome named purgatory and employed to terrify the credulous
- 19:21Speaker 1: and superstitious multitudes. By this heresy is affirmed the existence
- 19:26Speaker 1: of a place of torment, in which the souls of
- 19:29Speaker 1: such as have not merited eternal damnation are to suffer
- 19:32Speaker 1: punishment for their sins, and from which, when freed from impurity,
- 19:36Speaker 1: they are admitted to Heaven. Still, another fabrication was needed
- 19:41Speaker 1: to enable Rome to profit by the fears and the
- 19:43Speaker 1: vices of her adherents. This is supplied by the doctrine
- 19:47Speaker 1: of indulgences. Full remission of sins past, present, in future,
- 19:51Speaker 1: and release from all the pains and penalties incurred were
- 19:55Speaker 1: promised to all who would enlist in the Pontiff's wars
- 19:57Speaker 1: to extend his temporal dominion, to punish his enemies, or
- 20:01Speaker 1: to exterminate those who dared deny his spiritual supremacy. The
- 20:05Speaker 1: people were also taught that by the payment of money
- 20:08Speaker 1: to the church, they might free themselves from sin and
- 20:11Speaker 1: also release the souls of their deceased friends who were
- 20:13Speaker 1: confined in the tormenting flames. By such means did Rome
- 20:18Speaker 1: fill her coffers and sustain the magnificence, luxury, and vice
- 20:22Speaker 1: of the pretended representatives of Him, who had not where
- 20:25Speaker 1: to lay his head. The scriptural ordinance of the Lord's
- 20:28Speaker 1: supper had been supplanted by the idolatrous sacrifice of the
- 20:32Speaker 1: mass papal priests, pretended by their senseless mummery to convert
- 20:36Speaker 1: the simple bread and wine into the actual body and
- 20:39Speaker 1: blood of Christ. With blasphemous presumption. They openly claimed the
- 20:43Speaker 1: power of creating God, the creator of all things. Christians
- 20:48Speaker 1: were required, on pain of death to avow their faith
- 20:50Speaker 1: in this horrible heaven, insulting heresy. Multitudes who refused were
- 20:55Speaker 1: given to the flames. In the thirteenth century was established
- 20:59Speaker 1: that most terrible of all the engines of the papacy,
- 21:02Speaker 1: the Inquisition, the Prince of Darkness, wrought with the leaders
- 21:06Speaker 1: of the papal hierarchy in their secret councils. Satan and
- 21:10Speaker 1: his angels controlled the minds of evil men, while unseen
- 21:14Speaker 1: in the mid stood an angel of God, taking the
- 21:17Speaker 1: fearful record of their iniquitous decrees and writing the history
- 21:20Speaker 1: of deeds too horrible to appear to human eyes. Babylon
- 21:25Speaker 1: the Great was drunken with the blood of the saints.
- 21:27Speaker 1: The mangled forms of millions of martyrs cried to God
- 21:31Speaker 1: for vengeance. Upon that apostate power. Popery had become the
- 21:35Speaker 1: world's despot. Kings and emperors bowed to the decrees of
- 21:38Speaker 1: the Roman pontiff. The destinies of men, both for time
- 21:42Speaker 1: and for eternity, seemed under his control. For hundreds of years,
- 21:47Speaker 1: the doctrines of Rome had been extensively and implicitly received,
- 21:51Speaker 1: Its rites reverently performed, its festivals generally observed, Its clergy
- 21:56Speaker 1: were honored and liberally sustained. Never since has the Roman
- 22:00Speaker 1: Church attained to greater dignity, magnificence, or power. But the
- 22:04Speaker 1: noon of the papacy was the midnight of the world.
- 22:07Speaker 1: The holy scriptures were almost unknown, not only to the
- 22:10Speaker 1: people but to the priests. Like the Pharisees of old,
- 22:14Speaker 1: the papal leaders hated the light which would reveal their
- 22:17Speaker 1: sins God's law. The standard of righteousness having been removed,
- 22:21Speaker 1: they exercised power without limit and practiced vice without restraint. Fraud, avarice,
- 22:27Speaker 1: and profligacy prevailed. Men shrank from no crime by which
- 22:32Speaker 1: they could gain wealth or position. The palaces of popes
- 22:35Speaker 1: and prelates were scenes of the vilest debauchery. Some of
- 22:39Speaker 1: the reigning pontiffs were guilty of crimes so revolting that
- 22:42Speaker 1: secular rulers endeavored to depose these dignitaries of the Church
- 22:46Speaker 1: as monsters too vile to be tolerated. For centuries, Europe
- 22:50Speaker 1: had made no progress in learning, arts or civilization. A
- 22:54Speaker 1: moral and intellectual paralysis had fallen upon Christendom. The condition
- 22:59Speaker 1: of the world under the Romish power presented a fearful
- 23:02Speaker 1: and striking fulfillment of the words of the prophet Hoseiah.
- 23:07Speaker 1: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou
- 23:10Speaker 1: hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee. Seeing thou
- 23:14Speaker 1: hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also
- 23:17Speaker 1: forget thy children. There is no truth, nor mercy, nor
- 23:21Speaker 1: knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying,
- 23:25Speaker 1: and killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break out
- 23:28Speaker 1: and blood toucheth blood. Such were the results of banishing
- 23:33Speaker 1: the word of God. End of Chapter three