Facts of Faith

(9) Could it be thought possible that an all-wise Creator would bring so many millions of people into existence, as the inhabitants of this earth, and give them no information as to why they are here, or what His will is concerning them? No, that would be unreasonable. Just as surely as there is a judgment day coming, on which we all shall be called to account for our conduct, so surely He must have given us an infallible rule of life. But what is this "infallible rule"? The Roman Catholics say it is "The Church, with its traditions." But the Church has changed so greatly since its origin that if the apostles could arise from the dead they would not recognize it as the church they established. As for "tradition," it is like a story that grows and changes as it travels. No government would be satisfied with oral laws. In so important a matter as our eternal happiness we need a rule that is more stable and unchangeable, and this we have in God's infallible word, the Bible.

THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE

The Bible is not the product of man's thought and planning. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21. (Compare Isaiah 55:8, 9; 2 Corinthians 2:5.) Peter says: "The Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake," and David himself declares: "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me." Acts 1:16:2; 2 Samuel 23:2. Of Jeremiah we read: "Then the Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth." Jeremiah 1:9. Thus the whole Bible is God's word, spoken through human instrumentality, for "God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21), and His hand guided them while they wrote. "All this," said David, "the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me." 1 Chronicles 28:19. And so, the prophets, after writing of Christ's coming, were "searching" their own writings to find out "what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 1 Peter 1:11.

(10) We have now presented the testimony of the Bible itself to the fact that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God." 2 Timothy 3:16. No consistent person can, therefore, receive one portion of it while he rejects another. Jesus says: "The Scripture cannot be broken." John 10:35. He, the author of the Scriptures, displayed such implicit confidence in them, that even the devil did not dare to question their authority, when Christ faced him with the words: "It is written." Matthew 4:4, 7, 10. Yes. "devils also believe, and tremble" (James 2:19), for they know the Bible is true, while critics today doubt and ridicule (Jude 10). What has caused such terrible unbelief among men? We shall now briefly review the causes and the history of modern "Higher Criticism."

ROME VERSUS THE BIBLE

After the Church had fallen from its apostolic purity of life and doctrine, it found that, where the Bible was read by the common people, they lost faith in the Church and opposed her worship as a species of idolatry. This was particularly true of the Waldenses, who had retained the Bible in their native language since the days of the apostles, and had copied and spread its pages over Catholic Christendom, wherever their missionaries traveled. It was natural, therefore, that the Roman church, instead of supplying the common people with the Scriptures in their native tongue, should oppose this. Cardinal Merry del Val says that on account of the activity of the Waldenses, and of the Protestants, in spreading the Scriptures in the native language of the people, "the Pontiffs and the Councils were obliged on more than one occasion to control and sometimes even forbid the use of the Bible in the vernacular."

(11) He also says: "Those who would put the Scriptures indiscriminately into the hands of the people are the believers always in private interpretation - a fallacy both absurd in itself and pregnant with disastrous consequences. These counterfeit champions of the inspired book hold the Bible to be the sole source of Divine Revelation and cover with abuse and trite sarcasm the Catholic and Roman Church." - "Index of Prohibited Books, revised and published by order of His Holiness Pope Pius XI," "Foreword" by Cardinal Merry del Val, pp. x, xi. Vatican Polyglot Press, 1930.

These plain words from such an authentic source need no comment. Ever since the first "Index of Prohibited Books" was issued by Pope Paul IV, in 1599, the Bible has had a prominent place in these lists of forbidden books. And, before the invention of printing, it was comparatively easy for the Roman church to control what the people should, or should not, read; but shortly before the Reformation started, the Lord prepared the way for its rapid progress by the discovery of the art of printing. The name of Laurence Coster, of Holland, is often mentioned in connection with the story of the first production in Europe, in 1423, of movable type. In 1450 to 1455 John Gutenberg printed the Latin Bible at Mentz (Mainz), Germany. He endeavored for a time to keep his invention a secret, but Samuel Smiles relates:

"In the meanwhile, the printing establishments of Gutenberg and Schoeffer were for a time broken up by the sack and plunder of Mentz by the Archbishop Adolphus in 1462, when, their workmen becoming dispersed, and being no longer bound to secrecy, they shortly after carried with them the invention of the new art into nearly every country in Europe." - "The Huguenots," p. 7. London: John Murray, 1868.

There being so few books to print, and there being a ready sale for Bibles, the printers risked all hazards from the opposition of the Church, and printed Bibles in Latin, Italian, Bohemian, Dutch, French, Spanish, and German. While these were so expensive that only the wealthy could afford to buy them, and their language was not adapted to the minds of the common people, yet they "seriously alarmed the church; and in 1846 the Archbishop of Mentz placed the printers of that city, which had been the cradle of the printing-press, under strict censorship. Twenty-five years later, Pope Alexander VI issued a bull prohibiting the printers of Cologne, Mentz, Treves, and Magdeburg, from publishing any books without the express license of their archbishops. Although these measures were directed against the printing of religious works generally, they were more particularly directed against the publication of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue." - Id., p. 8.

THE REFORMATION AND THE BIBLE

(12) The time had now come for the light to shine, and God's word could no longer be kept from the people. Prophecy states that in spite of captivity, fire, and sword, "they shall be holpen with a little help." Daniel 11:33, 34. But the people had been kept in darkness so long that they could not endure the glaring light of all the Bible truths at once. They had to come gradually, and the hour had struck for the Reformation to begin.

In preparing for the Reformation, the Lord had worked in marvelous ways to provide protection for the Reformers. The night before Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, the Elector Frederick of Saxony had a remarkable dream. In relating it to Duke John the next morning he said:

"'I must tell you a dream which I had last night....For I dreamed it thrice, and each time with new circumstances....I fell asleep,...I then awoke....I prayed...God to guide me, my counsels, and my people according to truth. I again fell asleep, and then dreamed that Almighty God sent me a monk....All the saints accompanied him by order of God, in order to bear testimony before me, and to declare that he did not come to contrive any plot....They asked me to have the goodness graciously to permit him to write something on the door of the church of the Castle of Wittenberg. This I granted through my chancellor. Thereupon the monk went to the church, and began to write in such large characters that I could read the writing at Schweinitz. The pen which he used was so large that its end reached as far as Rome, where it pierced the ears of a lion that was crouching there, and caused the triple crown upon the head of the Pope to shake. All the cardinals and princes, running hastily up, tried to prevent it from falling....I awoke,...it was only a dream. [Again he fell asleep.]

(13) "'Then I dreamed that all the princes of the Empire, and we among them, hastened to Rome, and strove, one after another, to break the pen; but the more we tried the stiffer if became, sounding as if it had been made of iron. We at length desisted....Suddenly I heard a loud noise - a large number of other pens had sprung out of the long pen of the monk. I awoke a third time: it was daylight.'...

"So passed the morning of the 31st October, 1517, in the royal castle of Schweinitz....The elector has hardly made an end of telling his dream when the monk comes with the hammer to interpret it." - "History of Protestantism," J. A. Wylie, LL.D., Vol. I, pp. 263-266.

One can hardly wonder that the Elector of Saxony became Luther's protector during his long struggle with the Papacy. The greatest work that was accomplished by these "pens" of the Reformation was the translation of the Bible into the language of the common people. True, there had been some attempts made before this time to produce the Scriptures in the vernacular, but without much success, as the language was almost unintelligible to the common people, and the price prohibitive.

After Martin Luther had spent much time in the homes and company of the people that he might acquire their language, he, with his co-workers, translated the Bible into a language that, while it was dignified and beautiful, was so natural and easy to be understood by the ordinary mind that it made the Bible at once "the people's book." The New Testament was translated in 1521, and fifty-eight editions of it were printed between 1522 and 1533: seventeen editions at Wittenberg, thirteen at Augsburg, twelve at Basel, one at Erfurt, one at Grimma, one at Leipzig, and thirteen at Strassburg. The Old Testament was first printed in four parts, 1523 to 1533, and finally the entire Bible was published in one volume in 1534.

(14) In 1522, Jacques Lefevre translated the New Testament into French, and Collin, at Meaux, printed it in 1524. In 1525, William Tyndale translated the New Testament into English. All these New Testaments were translated from the original Greek, and not from the imperfect Latin Vulgate, used by the papal church.

Printing presses were kept busy printing the Scriptures, while colporteurs and booksellers sold them to the eager public. The effect was tremendous.

"Every honest intellect was at once struck with the strange discrepancy between the teaching of the Sacred Volume and that of the church of Rome." - "Historical Studies," Eugene Lawrence, p. 255. New York: Harper Brothers., 1876.

In the Book of God there were found no purgatory, no infallible pope, no masses for the dead, no sale of indulgences, no relics working miracles, no prayers for the dead, no worship of the Virgin Mary or of saints! But there the people found a loving Saviour with open arms welcoming the poorest and vilest of sinners to come and receive forgiveness full and free. Love filled their hearts and broke the shackles of sin and superstition. Profanity, coarse jests, drunkenness, vice, and disorder disappeared. The blessed Book was read by young and old, and became the talk in home and shop, while the Church with its Latin mass lost its attraction.

ROME'S FIGHT

Rome was awake to the inevitable result of allowing the common people to read the Bible, and the Vicar of Croydon declared in a speech at St. Paul's Cross, London: "We must destroy the printing press, or it will destroy us." - "The Printing Press and the Gospel," by E. R. Palmer, p. 24. The papal machinery was therefore set in motion for the destruction of the Bible.

(15) "There now began a remarkable contest between the Romish Church and the Bible - between the printers and the popes....

"To the Bible the popes at once declared a deathless hostility. To read the Scriptures was in their eyes the grossest of crimes....The Inquisition was invested with new terrors, and was forced upon France and Holland by papal armies. The Jesuits were everywhere distinguished by their hatred for the Bible. In the Netherlands they led the persecutions of Alva and Philip II; they rejoiced with a dreadful joy when Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent, the fairest cities of the workingmen, were reduced to pauperism and ruin by the Spanish arms; for the Bible had perished with its defenders....

"To burn Bibles was the favorite employment of zealous Catholics. Wherever they were found the heretical volumes were destroyed by active Inquisitors, and thousands of Bibles and Testaments perished in every part of France." - Historical Studies," Eugene Lawrence, pp. 254-257.

In Spain, not only were the common people forbidden to read the Bible, but also university professors were forbidden by the "Supreme Council" of the Inquisition to possess their valuable manuscripts.

"The council, in consequence, decreed that those theologians in the university who had studied the original languages, should be obliged, as well as other persons, to give up their Hebrew and Greek Bibles to the commissaries of the holy office, on pain of excommunication." - "History of the Inquisition of Spain," D. J. A. Llorente, Secretary of the Inquisition, p. 105. London, 1827.

"In 1490, Torquemada [the Inquisitor-General] caused many Hebrew Bibles and more than six thousand volumes to be burnt in an Auto da fe at Salamanca." - "Literary Policy of the Church of Rome," Joseph Mendham, M. A., p. 97. London, 1830.

How many thousands of invaluable manuscripts thus perished in the flames of the Inquisition, eternity alone will reveal. It is exceedingly difficult for a Protestant in our days to fathom the extent of this fear of and enmity against the Bible, manifested by the Roman church. With her it was actually a life or death struggle! A person must read the history of the Inquisition, and examine the Roman Indexes of Forbidden Books, to understand her viewpoint. Inquisitor General Perez del Prado gave expression to her feelings and her bitter lament when he declared in horror "'that some individuals had carried their audacity to the execrable extremity of demanding permission to read the Holy Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, without fearing to encounter mortal poison therein.'" - "History of the Inquisition of Spain," D. Juan Antonio Llorente, p. 111.

(16) The funeral piles were lit all over Europe. Samuel Smiles says of France:

"Bibles and New Testaments were seized wherever found, and burnt; but more Bibles and Testaments seemed to rise, as if by magic, from their ashes. The printers who were convicted of printing Bibles were next seized and burnt. The Bourgeois de Paris [a Roman Catholic paper] gives a detailed account of the human sacrifices offered up to ignorance and intolerance in that city during the six months ending June, 1534, from which it appears that twenty men and one woman were burnt alive....In the beginning of the following year, the Sorbonne obtained from the king an ordinance, which was promulgated on the 26th of February, 1535, for the suppression of printing!" - "The Huguenots," Samuel Smiles, pp. 20, 21, and first footnote.

"Further attempts continued to be made by Rome to check the progress of printing. In 1599 [1559] Pope Paul IV issued the first Index Expurgatorius, containing a list of the books expressly prohibited by the Church. It included all Bibles printed in modern languages, of which forty-eight editions were enumerated; while sixty-one printers were put under a general ban." - Id., p. 23.

"Paul IV, in 1559, put it [Sully's name] in the first papal Index Expurgatorium." - "History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages," Henry Charles Lea, Vol. III, p. 587.

(17) "The first Roman 'Index of Prohibited Books' Index librorum prohibitorum), published in 1559 under Paul IV, was very severe and was therefore mitigated under that pontiff by decree of the Holy Office of 14 June of the same year." - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, p. 722, art. "Index."

Persecution raged more or less all over Europe: "In 1545, the massacre of the Vaudois of Province was perpetrated"; the 24th of August, 1572, the St. Bartholomew Massacre commenced, and continued until between 70,000 and 100,000 innocent and unsuspecting persons were murdered in cold blood for being Protestants. The massacre was secretly planned by the leaders of the Roman church.

"Sully says 70,000 were slain, though other writers estimate the victims at 100,000." - "The Huguenots," Samuel Smiles, pp. 71, 72.

"Catherine de Medicis wrote in triumph to Alva, to Philip II, and to the Pope....Rome was thrown into a delirium of joy at the news. The cannon were fired at St. Angelo; Gregory XIII and his cardinals went in procession from sanctuary to sanctuary to give God thanks for the massacre. The subject was ordered to be painted, and a medal was struck, with the Pope's image on one side, and the destroying angel on the other immolating the Huguenots." - Id., 71, 72.

NEW LINES OF ATTACK

Finally, however, the papal church discovered that her opposition to the Bible only betrayed the sad fact that, instead of being the divinely instituted church of the Bible, she and the Scriptures were deadly enemies, and that her open fight was furnishing the world with the clearest evidences to justify the Reformation. Her relentless persecution was making martyrs, but not loyal Catholics. She must halt her course and forge new weapons against Protestantism, if she ever hoped to win the battle. But what were these weapons to be? These we shall consider in the next two chapters.

Chapter 2

Forging New Weapons

(18) The Roman church had discovered that the root of her troubles lay in the reading of the Bible by the laity, and had opposed it with all the power at her command. But she finally realized that her open war on the Scriptures had aroused suspicion that her life and doctrines were out of harmony with God's word, and could not endure the light of an open Bible.

To allay such feelings she must make it appear that she was not opposed to the Scriptures, but only to the "erroneous Protestant Bible." But how could such an impression be made, when that Bible was a faithful translation of the Hebrew and Greek texts, in which the Scriptures were originally written? Then, too, the Protestants had, at that time, some of the most able Hebrew and Greek scholars in all Christendom.

Providence had brought the Reformers in contact with some of the best sources of Bible manuscripts: (1) When the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, many of the Greek Scholars fled to the West, bringing with them their valuable manuscripts from the East where Christianity originated, and then Greek and Hebrew learning revived in the West. (See "History of the English Bible," by W. F. Moulton, pp. 34-36.) (2) With this influx from the East came also the Syrian Bible, used by the early church at Antioch in Syria (Acts 11:26), which was translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts long before the Massoretic (O.T.) text, and is the oldest known Bible manuscript (unless it should be the one lately discovered by Chester Beatty. (Copies of the Syriac Bible were later found among the Syrian Christians at Malabar, South India, with all the earmarks of the old Syrian manuscripts. See "The Old Documents and the New Bible," by J. P. Smyth, pp. 166, 167; "Indian Church History," by Thomas Yates, p. 167; "Christian Researches in Asia," by Claudius Buchannan, pp. 80, 143.) (3) During their severe persecutions the Waldenses came into contact with the Reformers at Geneva, and thus their Bible, which had been preserved in its purity from the days of the apostles, was brought to the Reformers. (An illustration of how some learned Roman Catholics have estimated the Protestant Greek New Testament can be seen when we read of the Catholic legislation on forbidden books. A commentator says: "In diocesan seminaries the textbook prescribed in Greek was very often some portion of the original text of the New Testament, and Protestant editions were selected, as they contained a more ample vocabulary, and, perhaps, better grammatical annotations than Catholic editions. Such an act would appear quite pardonable and excusable, as the text was entire and pure....But according to the present rule...bishops have no power to select such works." - "A Commentary on the Present Index Legislation," Rev. T. Hurley, D. D., p. 70. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1908. With their feelings against Protestant books, such permits could not have been given, unless the superiority of the book demanded it.)

(19) Translations direct from the original languages in which the Holy Scriptures were written, and comparisons with ancient sources, by men of high scholarly ability and sterling integrity, gave the Protestants a perfectly reliable Bible. (See the previous footnote.) In spite of these plain facts, the Catholic authorities had to do something to turn the minds of their people away from the Protestant Bible, so widely distributed. They therefore advanced the claim that Jerome's Latin Vulgate translation was more correct than any copy we now have of the original Hebrew and Greek texts. We shall now examine this claim.

THE LATIN VULGATE BIBLE

At the Council of Trent (1545-1563), in the fourth session, the second Decree, in 1546, they decided that the Latin Vulgate should be the standard Bible for the Roman church. But then they discovered a curious fact, that during the 1050 years from the time Jerome brought out his Latin Vulgate Bible in 405 A.D., until John Gutenberg printed it in 1455, it had been copied so many times, mostly by monks, and so many errors had crept in, that no one knew just what was the actual rendering of the original Vulgate. The learned Roman Catholic professor, Dr. Johann Jahn says of it:

"The universal admission of this version throughout the vast extent of the Latin church multiplied the copies of it, in the transcription of which it became corrupted with many errors....Cardinal Nicholas, about the middle of the twelfth century, found 'tot exemplaria quot codices' (as many copies as manuscripts)." - "Introduction to the Old Testament," Sec. 62, 63. (Quoted in "History of Romanism," Dr. John Dowling, ed. of 1871, p. 486.)

(20) The Catholic Encyclopedia says of the Latin Vulgate:

"From an early day the text of the Vulgate began to suffer corruptions, mostly through the copyists who introduced familiar readings of the Old Latin or inserted the marginal glosses of MSS. which they were transcribing." - Vol. XV, p. 370, art. "Versions," "The Vulgate."

The Council of Trent having made Jerome's Latin "Vulgate the standard text," (See Cardinal Gasquet's article in the Formum for August, 1926, p. 203.) it must now determine which of the hundreds of copies (all differing) was the correct "Vulgate." A commission was therefore appointed to gather materials so as to "restore St. Jerome's text," but its members were "not to amend it by any new translations of their own from the original Hebrew and Greek." ("History of the Council of Trent," T. A. Buckley, Part II, chap. 16, p. 127.) They "were merely to collect manuscripts and prepare the evidence for and against certain readings in the text, after which the Pope himself, by reason not of his scholarship, but of his gift of infallibility, decided straight off which were the genuine words!" - "The Old Documents and the New Bible," J. Paterson Smyth, b. C., LL.D., pp. 174, 175. London and New York: 1907.

Pope Sixtus V undertook this work of revision, and to make sure of its being correct, he read the proofs himself. This edition was printed at Rome in 1590, accompanied by a bull forbidding the least alteration in this infallible text. "But alas!...The book was full of mistakes. The scholarship of Sixtus was by no means great, and his infallibility somehow failed to make up for this defect." - Id., p. 175.

The Catholic Encyclopedia comments:

"But Sixtus V, though unskilled in this branch of criticism, had introduced alterations of his own, all for the worse....His immediate successors at once proceeded to remove the blunders and call in the defective impression." - Vol. II, p. 412.

(21) All available copies of the Bible of Pope Sixtus were called in and burnt as were the heretics. Pope Clement VIII, in 1592, ordered a better edition to be made, accompanying it with a similar bull. Dr. James, keeper of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, where one of Pope Sixtus's Bibles remained, compared it with that of pope Clement, and found two thousand glaring variations in them. He published his findings in a book called: "Bellum Papale, i.e. the Papal War." ("History of Romanism," Dr. J. Dowling, p. 487. New York: 1871.)

"Dr. Jahn candidly relates the facts above named, and makes the following remarkable admission: 'The more learned Catholics have never denied the existence of errors in the Vulgate; on the contrary, Isidore Clarius collected eighty thousand.' It is amusing to notice the embarrassment caused to this learned Romanist, by the decree of the Council of Trent establishing the authority of the Vulgate. As a good Catholic he was bound to receive that decree, and yet his learning forbade him to blind his eyes to the errors of that version, elevated by the said decree to a higher stand than the original Hebrew and Greek Text." - Id., pp. 487, 488.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says of the latest revision of Pope Clement:

"This revision is now the officially recognized version of the Latin Rite and contains the only authorized text of the Vulgate. That it has numerous defects has never been denied." - Vol. XV, p. 370.

That the Roman church is not satisfied with the present Vulgate text is seen by the fact that in 1907 Pope Pius X, according to the Forum, commissioned H. E. Francis Aidan Cardinal Gasquet, with his Benedictine Order, to reproduce the true Latin text of St. Jerome by a new revision. Cardinal Gasquet says of the former attempt made by Pope Clement VIII, in 1592:

"The commission labored for some forty years, and strange to say, many of the changes proposed by them were never inserted in the final revision. From the notes of this commission it may be safely said that had they been accepted we should have had a much better critical text than we now possess." - "Forum," August, 1926, p. 203.

(22) The Catholic Encyclopedia points out a fact often overlooked by scholars today, that "the Hebrew text used by St. Jerome was comparatively late, being practically that of the Masoretes. For this reason his version, for textual criticism, has less value than the Peshito and the Septuagint. As a translation it holds a place between these two." - Vol. XV, p. 370.

E. S. Buchanan, M. A., B. Sc., says of Jerome's translation:

"Jerome, to the great loss of posterity, did not dig deep into the history of the text. He did not revise on the Latin and Greek texts of the second century; but solely on the Greek text of the fourth century, and that was a text too late and too limited in range and attestation on which to base an enduring fabric....He was not bidden to make inquiry for the lost autographs with a view to the reconstruction of the Apostolic text. He was only bidden to prepare a suitable text for ecclesiastical usage. And this he has done; but it is painful to think of all he left undone, that with his position of vantage he might have done." - "The Records Unrolled," p. 20. London: John Ouseley, Ltd.

From these considerations we see, that, even if the original text of Jerome's translation could be reconstructed, it would not be of as much textual value as is sometimes supposed. We are not depreciating the Catholic Bible. We wish Catholics would read it more than they do. All we are here aiming at is this: When leading Catholic authorities admit that their Bible is of so little value as a "Standard Text," then why do they so relentlessly oppose the circulation of the authorized Protestant Bible, which is translated from the best original sources? Henry Guppy, M. A., D. Ph. et Litt., Librarian of the John Rylands Library, England, says:

"The Church of Rome has always bitterly opposed any attempt to circulate the Bible in the language of the people, and license to read the Scriptures, even when truly and catholicly translated, was but sparingly granted.

(23) "In spite, however, of the denunciations uttered by the Roman Catholic priests against what they were pleased to term the incorrect and untruthful translations which were in circulation, the Bible continued to be read by increasing numbers of people. Indeed, the attempts to suppress it created a prejudice against the Roman Catholic Church; and, as time wore on, it was felt by many Catholics that something more must be done than a mere denunciation of the corrupt translations in the direction of providing a new version which the Roman Church could warrant to be authentic and genuine." - "A Brief Sketch of History of the Translation of the Bible," p. 54. London: University Press, 1926.

After the Jesuits had been expelled from England in 1579, they settled at Rheims, France, where they translated the New Testament from the Latin Vulgate into English. This was printed in 1582. Later they moved to Douay, where they printed the Old Testament in 1609. We have seen that the learned Catholic doctors, Johann Jahn and Isidore Clarius, acknowledged that there were 8,000 errors in the Vulgate Bible, and as a stream cannot be expected to rise higher than its fountain, we must conclude that the errors are carried over into the Douay Version. We shall take the space to mention only two of them:

1. The Douay Bible uses the word "adore" where the Protestant Bible has "worship." (Compare Matthew 4:10 in both Bibles.) While the Protestant Bible says that Jacob "worshiped, leaning upon the top of his rod." Hebrews 11:21. "The Approved Holy Catholic Bible," with "Annotations by the Rev. Dr. Challoner," and approved by Pius VI, says "Jacob...worshiped the top of his rod." Thus Catholics have proof for worshiping relics.

2. Our Protestant Bible correctly translates 2 Timothy 3:16 to read, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," but the Douay Version reads: "All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable." As can be readily seen, this latter rendering gives no assurance that the Bible is inspired, but simply makes the superfluous statement that what is inspired is profitable. And so it is left with the church to say what is inspired.

(24) In full view of all the foregoing facts, how can Roman Catholic authors shut their eyes to it all, and brazenly declare that their church alone has the true and correct Bible? They say:

"She alone possesses the true Bible and the whole Bible, and the copies of the Scriptures existing outside of her pale, are partly incorrect and partly defective.

"This Bible was the celebrated Vulgate, the official text in the Catholic Church, the value of which all scholars admit to be simply inestimable....The Council of Trent in 1546 issued a decree, stamping it as the only recognized and authoritative Version allowed to Catholics...It was revised under Pope Sixtus V in 1590, and again under Pope Clement VIII in 1593, who is responsible for the present standard text. It is from the Vulgate that our English Douai Version comes." - "Where We Got the Bible," Right Rev. Henry G. Graham, pp. 7, 16, 17. London: Eighth Impression, 1936.

Do these men actually believe that Protestants have no access to the facts of history, but are dependent on such misstatements! Or are they vainly hoping that the public will have no opportunity to read the Protestant side of the story?

The interesting part of it all is the fact that the Catholic Church, after proclaiming so loudly since 1546 that the Latin Vulgate is "the only recognized and authoritative version," and crying out against the Protestant Bibles (translated from the original Hebrew and Greek text) as "heretical," is herself at last driven, by facts long known within her own circle, to translate the Bible "from the original text," Hebrew and Greek. What a complete somersault! This late Catholic version is called "The Westminster Version" (printed by Longmans, Green, and Co., London). But, as the work is intrusted mostly to the Jesuits, we can expect very little change from their former Douay Version, except that it will be more carefully written to conform to the Roman viewpoint (judging from the portions that have already been published). For instance, the correct note under Revelation 13:18 is entirely changed, but Revelation 22:14 reads the same as in the Douay Version: "Blessed are they that wash their robes." In our Authorized Protestant Version (King James') it reads: "Blessed are they that do His commandments."

(25) P. P. Bliss, who assisted D. L. Moody, and composed many beautiful hymns, inspired by Revelation 22:14, wrote the hymn:

"Hear the words our Saviour hath spoken,

Words of life unfailing and true:

Careless one, prayerless one, hear and remember,

Jesus says, 'Blessed are they that do.'

Blessed are they that do His commandments,

Blessed, blessed, blessed are they."

Later Mr. Bliss went to Rome, where he learned that "Blessed are they that wash their robes," "must be the correct" rendering. And "during his last week in Rome," he told his brother-in-law that he was sorry he had written that hymn. He declared: "I see so clearly its contradiction of the gospel that I have no liberty in singing it." Then he wrote the hymn: "Free from the law, oh, happy condition." - "Memories of Philip P. Bliss," D. W. Whittle, pp. 131, 132. New York: A. S. Barnes and Co. 1877. It is deplorable that this good Christian man should get such impressions at Rome. But, sad to say, P. P. Bliss is not the only beloved Protestant that has been in touch with Rome, and lost his desire and liberty to teach the good old truths of the Protestant Bible.

Some follow the Roman Catholic translation of Revelation 22:14, because the Vatican possesses one of the three oldest Bible manuscripts (Codex Vaticanus). But that manuscript ends with Hebrews 9:14, so that it could not give Catholics the proper rendering of Revelation 22:14. (For further light on this point see "A Brief Sketch of the History of the Translation of the Bible," H. Guppy, p. 7, and "The Records Unrolled" by E. S. Buchanan, p. 50.)

Chapter 3

Rome Undermines the Protestant Foundations

(26) The second, and more effective, weapon Rome used against the Reformation was "higher criticism," in an effort to undermine the very foundation of Protestantism.

The strongest appeal of the Roman Catholic Church lies in its claim to "apostolic succession," that is, that its popes descended in direct line from the apostles. Protestants, originating in the sixteenth century, have no such appeal. Their strong argument lies in their exact conformity with the Bible in faith and morals. "The Bible, and the Bible only" is their battle cry. The Bible reveals man's utter inability to attain justification by his own works, and offers it as a "free gift," obtained by faith in the merits of Jesus Christ alone. The Bible presents good works only as the natural fruit of genuine faith. On this foundation was Protestantism built. Before going further we shall let Catholics and Protestants state their foundations.

CATHOLIC FOUNDATION

"Like two sacred rivers flowing from paradise, the Bible and divine Tradition contain the Word of God, the precious gems of revealed truths. Though these two divine streams are in themselves, on account of their divine origin, of equal sacredness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, Tradition is to us more clear and safe." - "Catholic Belief," Joseph Faa di Bruno, D.D., p. 33. New York: Benziger Brothers., 1912.

"But since Divine revelation is contained in the written books and the unwritten traditions (Vatican Council, I, II), the Bible and Divine tradition must be the rule of our faith; since, however, these are only silent witnesses,...we must look for some proximate rule which shall be animate or living....The Bible could not be left to interpret itself." Therefore Catholics declare the "Church to be its acknowledged interpreter." And under the heading: "The Catholic Doctrine Touching the Church as the Rule of Faith," we read: "Now the teaching Church is the Apostolic body continuing to the end of time." But of the teachers of this body, they say: "Unless they be united with the Vicar of Christ [the Pope], it is futile to appeal to the episcopate in general as the rule of faith." They then sum up their rule of faith thus: "'Hence we must stand rather by the decisions which the pope judicially pronounces than by the opinions of men, however learned they may be in Holy Scripture.'" - "Catholic Encyclopedia," Vol. V, pp. 766-768, art. "Faith, Rule of." The teaching Church, with the pope at its head, is therefore the Catholic "rule of faith."

(27) Thus we see that the Roman Catholic Church places tradition above the Bible as more safe, and substitutes the pope for the Holy Spirit as the guide. Christ promised His followers: "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance." John 16:13; 14:23. That these promises are not confined to the leaders of the church, is made plain by John, who applies them to all Christians: "But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,...ye shall abide in Him." 1 John 2:27. In answer to these Scriptures the Catholic writers say:

"Nor can it be said that being a divinely inspired book, its prime Author, the Holy Ghost, will guide the reader to the right meaning." - "Things Catholics Are Asked About," M. J. Scott, S. J., p. 119. New York: 1927.

PROTESTANT FOUNDATION

Protestants have announced as their rule of faith: "The Bible, and the Bible only," with the Holy Spirit as its sole Interpreter. William Chillingworth, M. A., says:

"The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants!...I for my part, after a long and (as I verily believe and hope) impartial search of 'the true way to eternal happiness,' do profess plainly that I cannot find any rest for the sole of my foot but upon this rock only. I see plainly and with my own eyes, that there are popes against popes, councils against councils, some fathers against others, the same fathers against themselves, a consent of fathers of one age against a consent of fathers of another age, the church of one age against the church of another age....In a word, there is no sufficient certainty but of Scripture only for any considering man to build upon." - The Religion of Protestants," William Chillingworth, M. A., p. 463. London: 1866.

(28) "'The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants!' Nor is it of any account in the estimation of the genuine Protestant, how early a doctrine originated, if it is not found in the Bible....

"He who receives a single doctrine upon the mere authority of tradition, let him be called by what name he will, by so doing, steps down from the Protestant rock, passes over the line which separates Protestantism from Popery, and can give no valid reason why he should not receive all the earlier doctrines and ceremonies of Romanism, upon the same authority." - "History of Romanism," John Dowling, D. D., pp. 67, 68. New York: 1871.

This childlike faith in the Bible as God's infallible word carried the Reformers above all opposition, and swept over Europe with an irresistible force which threatened to engulf the old, decaying structure of the Roman church. This unabated force could be broken only by robbing Protestants of their implicit faith in the Bible. They would then lose their power as surely did Samson, when he was shorn of his locks. (Judges 16:19, 20.)

ROME UNDERMINING PROTESTANT FOUNDATIONS

Richard Simon, a Roman Catholic priest, called the "Father of Higher Criticism," in 1678 wrote "A Critical History of the Old Testament" in three books, laying down the rules for a more exact translation. He advanced the new theory that only the ordinances and commands of the books of Moses were written by him, while the historical parts were the product of various other writers. Simon's declared purpose was to show that the Protestants had no assured principle for their religion. (See edition of 1782.) "This work led to a very extended controversy and the first edition was suppressed." (Catalogue of R. D. Dickinson, 1935, No. 462, p. 10, book No. 167.) So vigorous was the opposition of the learned, that his theory lay dormant for seventy-five years. The Catholic Encyclopedia says:

(29) "A French priest, Richard Simon (1638-1712), was the first who subjected the general questions concerning the Bible to a treatment which was at once comprehensive in scope and scientific in method. Simon is the forerunner of modern Biblical criticism....A reaction against the rigid view of the Bible [was one of] the factors which produced Simon's first great work, the 'Histoire critique du Vieux Testament' ['Critical History of the Old Testament'] which was published in 1678....It entitles him to be called the father of Biblical criticism." - Vol. IV, p. 492.

"In 1753 Jean Astruc, a French Catholic physician of considerable note, published a little book, 'Conjectures sur les memoires originaux dont il parait que Moyse s'est servi pour composer le livre de la Genese (Conjectures on the original records from which it appears that Moses composed the book of Genesis)." - Id., same page. (See also New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. I, p. 336, art, "Jean Astruc.")

His book is rightly named, for in it he conjectured that the book of Genesis must have been written by two different authors, because the Creator is there called "God" ("Elohim") is some places, and "Lord" ("Jehovah") in other places. Such a line of reasoning would be as inconsistent as to claim that Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, for instance, must have been written by two different apostles, because our Saviour is there called "Jesus" in some places, and "Christ" in others. But what about the places where He is called "Jesus Christ"? And so in Genesis. Who wrote the five passages where He is called "Lord God" ("Jehovah Elohim")? In 1792, Dr. Alexander Geddes, a Roman Catholic priest of Scottish origin, carried this "fragmentary hypothesis" still further. Absurd as this theory was, the Protestants fell into the trap set for them, and Germany, the seat of the Reformation, became the seat of this destructive "higher criticism." Today this inconsistent criticism of the Bible has invaded the seminaries, colleges, and universities of practically all Protestant denominations, and few ministers are free from its blighting influence. Edwin Cone Bissell, Professor in McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, carried out this "fragmentary" theory in his book, "Genesis Printed in Colors, Showing the Original Sources from Which It Is Supposed to Have Been Compiled" (Hartford, 1892), displaying the seven colors of the rainbow in shorter or longer fragments, each representing a different author or editor.

(30) Harold Bolce spent two years investigating American colleges from Maine to California, and wrote his astounding findings in the Cosmopolitan Magazine, May to August, 1909. Here are a few expressions culled from his report:

"In hundreds of classrooms it is being taught daily that the Decalogue is no more sacred than a syllabus; that the home as an institution is doomed; that there are no absolute evils; that immorality is simply an act in contravention of society's accepted standards;...and that the daring who defy the code [the moral law] do not offend any Deity, but simply arouse the venom of the majority - the majority that has not yet grasped the new idea;...and that the highest ethical life consists at all times in the breaking of rules which have grown too narrow for the actual case....

"There can be and are holier alliances without the marriage bond than within it....Anything tolerated by the world in general is right....The notion,...that there is anything fundamentally correct implies the existence of a standard outside and above usage, and no such standard exists." - Pp. 665, 666, 674, 675, 676.

(31) Can anyone wonder at what Dr. Charles Jefferson declares? He says:

"A theological student at the end of the first year of his seminary course is the most demoralized individual to be found on this earth. His early conception of the Bible has been torn down all the way to the cellar, and he is obliged to build up a new conception from the foundations." - "Things Fundamental," pp. 120, 121.

In regard to the inevitable result of teaching the rising generation such revolutionary ideas, and of undermining completely their moral standards, and their belief in God, the editor of the Cosmopolitan Magazine says in a note to Mr. Bolce's articles:

"These are some of the revolutionary and sensational teachings submitted with academic warrant to the minds of hundreds of thousands of students in the United States. It is time that the public realized what is being taught to the youth of this country. 'The social question of to-day,' said Disraeli, 'is only a zephyr which rustles the leaves, but will soon become a hurricane.' It is a dull ear that cannot hear the mutterings of the coming storm." - "Cosmopolitan Magazine," May, 1909, p. 665.

The Bible declares: "They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind." "There is not truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood." Hosea 8:7; 4:1, 2. (Compare 2 Timothy 3:1-5.) Yes, the saying is true, that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Galatians 6:7.

The Christian Register for June 18, 1891, page 389, commenting favorably on the work of higher criticism, says:

"Thomas Paine, though stigmatized and set aside as an infidel, finds reincarnation in the modern scientific Biblical critic....He lived too far in advance of his age. The spirit of modern scientific criticism had not yet come....And now it is interesting to find that, in a different spirit and with different tools, and bound by certain traditions,...the professors in our orthodox seminaries are doing again the work which Paine did."

(32) As long as these men domineered over the Old Testament, most of the Christian teachers remained silent. But the work did not stop there. The Lutheran Pastor Storjohan of Oslo, Norway, says of Wellhausen:

"After they have permitted him to domineer over the Old Testament for more than twenty-five years, it is not more than reasonable, and a just punishment, that he in his presumption has now undertaken his war on the Gospels." - "Bibelen pad Pinebaenk [The Bible on the Inquisitorial Rack]," p. 7. Christiania, 1907.

In closing let us briefly point out the road which higher criticism had to travel, after it had taken the first step: When critics had denied the historicity of the books of Moses (the Pentateuch), they discovered that the Psalms 33:6, 9; 29:10; 77:20; 103:7; 105:6-45; 106:7-33.) To be consistent, the Psalms had to be rejected. They also found that the books of Joshua, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Nehemiah, and the prophets acknowledged the Pentateuch as the inspired work of Moses (Joshua 23:6; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Chronicles 35:6; Nehemiah 8:1, 8; Daniel 9:11, 13; Malachi 4:4), so these books had to be rejected.

But then they found that the New Testament repeatedly referred to the Old Testament as inspired authority (about eight hundred twenty-four times), and to their consternation they discovered that Jesus declared the first five books in the Bible were written by Moses (Mark 12:26; Luke 24:25, 44, 45), and that He asked: "If ye believe not his [Moses'] writings, how shall ye believe My words?" John 5:46, 47. The critics had declared that the account of the Flood was only a myth, which no intelligent person could believe. But Jesus said: "Noe entered into the ark," and "the Flood came, and took them all away." Matthew 24:38, 39. He even believed the truthfulness of the account of Jonah's being in the great fish for three days, and of his preaching in Nineveh afterwards. (Matthew 12:40, 41.) There was, therefore, no way of reconciling Jesus to higher criticism, so they rejected Him as the divine Son of God. For if Jesus did not know that those Old Testament stories were only myths, He was deceived. If He knew this, and yet taught them, He was a deceiver. In either case He could not be divine, they reasoned.

(33) "If in the dawning of the fortieth century, it shall be found that the law and the prophets are obsolete, the Gospels and Epistles discarded, Moses forgotten, and Paul and his writings set aside to make room for the inerrant productions of [higher critics],...if it shall then appear that the hunted prophets who wandered in sheepskins and goatskins, and were destitute, afflicted, and tormented, 'of whom the world was not worthy,' have gone down before the onslaught of the learned and well-salaried professors of modern universities; if it shall appear that the word of the Lord which they uttered at the loss of all things and at the peril of life itself has paled its ineffectual fires before the rising radiance of oracular higher criticism; if it shall then be learned that God hath chosen the rich in this world, poor in faith, and heirs of the kingdom - who can tell how welcome this information may prove to those who suppose that gain is godliness, and that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a poor man to enter the kingdom of heaven?" - "The Anti-Infidel Library," H. L. Hastings, "More Bricks from the Babel of the Higher Critics," pp. 172, 173. Boston. Scriptural Tract Repository, 1895.

Some might properly ask how Romanists dared to start higher criticism. Would not this menace be equally dangerous to their church? Absolutely not! The Roman church rests on an entirely different foundation. The Church, and not the Bible, is her authority. She flourishes best where the Bible is least circulated, as history amply shows. But Protestantism that rejects the inspiration of the Bible, has abandoned its foundation, and stands helpless. It is like a ship that has lost its mooring, thrown away its chart and compass, and is drifting toward - Rome.

Chapter 4

The Prophetic History of the World

(34) The prophecies of the Bible are not difficult to understand, if we follow the rules laid down in Scripture for interpreting prophecy. These rules are few in number, and they are not complicated. When used in connection with prophetic symbols, "sea," or "waters," stand for "multitudes" of people (Revelation 17:15; Isaiah 8:7; 17:12; Jeremiah 6:23); "wind" stands for "war" (Jeremiah 4:12, 13; 25:31, 32); "beasts" stand for "kingdoms" (Daniel 7:23); and "days" for "years" (Ezekiel 4:6).

The prophet Daniel saw in vision four winds of war, which strove upon the great sea of people, and four great beasts, or kingdoms, came up one after the other. "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings." Daniel 7:2-4. In Jeremiah 49:19, 22, 28, a lion is used to symbolize the kingdom of Babylon (606-538 B.C.). The second beast was like a bear (Daniel 7:5), and denoted Medo-Persia, the next world empire (538-331 B.C.). The "three ribs in the mouth of it" were the three chief countries which it conquered, Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt.

He next saw a leopard having four heads and four wings (v. 6), symbolizing the Grecian Empire (331-168 B.C.). A leopard is very alert, and adding to this symbol four wings would indicate that Grecia would make rapid conquest, which was true. Alexander the Great marched his army 51,000 miles in eight years and conquered the then known civilized world. The four heads on the leopard denote the four divisions into which that empire was split up after the death of Alexander.

"The fourth beast," the angel explained, "shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth." V. 23. The fourth empire from Babylon was Rome (168 B.C. to 476 A.D.). The angel also informs us that "the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise." V. 24. The Roman Empire was split up into just ten smaller kingdoms between the years 351 and 476 A.D. The following are their ancient and modern names:

(35) 1. Alemanni - Germany. 2. Franks - France. 3. Anglo-Saxons - England. 4. Burgundians - Switzerland. 5. Visigoths - Spain. 6. Suevi - Portugal. 7. Lombards - Italy. 8. Heruli. 9. Vandals. 10. Ostrogoths.

This prophecy is so plain, and the explanation so natural and easy to understand, that all commentators, both Protestant and Catholic, fully agree on it. (See Sir Isaac Newton's "Observations upon the Prophecies," pp. 157-159; Bishop Thomas Newton, "Dissertations on the Prophecies," pp. 201-221; Joseph Tanner on "Daniel and the Revelation," pp. 1650174; Martin Luther's "Introduction," pp. 32, 33, Frederidshald, 1853.)

The Douay, or Catholic, version of the Bible has the following notes on Daniel 7:3, 7, 8. "Four great beasts. Viz., the Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires." "Ten horns. That is, ten kingdoms, (as Apoc. 17.12,) among which the empire of the fourth beast shall be parcelled." "Another little horn. This is commonly understood of Antichrist."

In regard to these ten kingdoms, Sir Isaac Newton says: "Whatever was their number afterwards, they are still called the Ten Kings from their first number." - "Daniel and the Apocalypse," p. 187; first printed, 1733, reprinted, London: 1922.

THE LITTLE HORN

"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn." Daniel 7:8. Let us now consider all the characteristics this prophecy gives to the little horn, and we shall be forced by weight of evidence to settle on just one power as the fulfillment of these predictions.

(1) It was to come up "among" the ten European kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was split. (V. 8.) (2) It "shall rise" to power "after them." (V. 24.) (3) "And he shall be diverse from the first" ten kingdoms; that is, different from ordinary, secular kingdoms. (V. 24.) Any one acquainted with history knows that the Papacy is the only power that answers to all these specifications. It rose "among" the kingdoms of Western Rome, "after" they were established in A.D. 476, and it differed from a purely civil power. But the angel gives still another mark of identity to the little horn. (4) Before it "there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots." (V. 8.) That is, in coming up it pushed out before it three of the former horns by the roots. Thus three kingdoms were to be plucked up to give place for the Papacy. This prediction found its exact fulfillment in the destruction of the three Arian kingdoms: the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths, as we now shall see. Rev. E. B. Elliott, M.A., says:

(36) "I might cite three that were eradicated from before the Pope out of the list first viz., the Herulie under Odoacer, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths." - "Horoe Apocaypticoe," Vol. III, p. 168, Note 1. London: 1862.

In former days crowns of conquered kings were placed on the head of the conqueror. (2 Samuel 12:30.) It is symbolically fitting, therefore, that the pope wears a triple crown. Bishop Thomas Newton, speaking of the power that destroyed the three horns, says: "And the pope hath in a manner pointed himself out for the person by wearing the triple crown." - Dissertations on the Prophecies," p. 220. London.

A brief statement of the political and religious conditions in the Roman world is necessary here in order that the reader may better grasp the real situation in which these three Arian kingdoms found themselves. After Constantine had removed the seat of the empire from Rome to Constantinople, the Roman people were (at intervals) ruled from that Eastern capital, until the pope had grown to power in Rome. While the Papacy was gradually gaining control over the people of the West, the Eastern emperors were courting the good will of the popes in order to hold their Western subjects.

From the time of Constantine to that of Justinian there was a deadly struggle between the two largest factions of the Church, the Catholics and the Arians. Often there was terrible strife, and even bloodshed. "The streets of Alexandra and of Constantinople were deluged with blood by the partisans of rival bishops." - "History of Christianity," H. H. Milman, Book III, chap. 5, par. 2, p. 410. New York: 2-vol. Ed., 1881. Most of the barbarian nations into which the Roman Empire was now split had accepted the Catholic faith. But the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths were Arians.

(37) While the emperors courted the help of the popes for political reasons, the popes sought the assistance of the emperors to destroy the Arians. Theodosius, the Emperor of the East, had already (380-395 A.D.) given "fifteen stern edicts against heresy, one of the average for every year of his reign....So began the campaign which ended in the virtual extinction of Arianism in the Roman world. - "Italy and her Invaders," Thomas Hodgkin, Vol. I, pp. 368, 369. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 8-vol. ed. Of 1899.

In A.D. 380, the Emperor Theodosius issued an edict which said: "We order those who follow this law to assume the name of Catholic Christians: we pronounce all others to be mad and foolish, and we order that they bear the ignominious name of heretics....These are to be visited...by the stroke of our own authority." - "Italy and her Invaders," T. Hodgkin, Vol. I, p. 183. Two-vol. ed. Of 1880.

"Thus did the reign and legislation of Theodosius mark out the lines of future relationship between Pope and Emperor." - Id., p. 187.

Embassies passed continually between the pope of Rome and the emperor of Constantinople, and in 381 A.D. Theodosius arranged for a general council of the clergy at Constantinople, which finally established the Catholic doctrine. "To him also, at least as much as to Constantine, must be attributed the permanent alliance between the Church and the State." - Id., pp. 182, 183.

THE HERULI

The Heruli under Odoacer had established themselves in Italy, 476 A.D.: and while this Arian king ruled all his subjects impartially, he endeavored to shield his people from the persecution inaugurated by the combined efforts of the pope and the emperor. Pasquale Villari, writing of the period between 468 and 483 A.D., says:

(38) "At that time the Pope was morally, and even more than morally speaking, the most powerful personage in Italy. If Odovacar [Odoacer], as an Arian, had openly opposed him, Simplicius [the Pope] could have easily roused the whole country against him, and made it impossible for him to maintain his position in Italy." - "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy," Vol. I, pp. 145, 146. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1902.

And just such an opportunity soon presented itself:

"Pope Simplicius died on the 2nd of March, 483, whereupon Odovacar made a false move, of which he felt the consequences before long. Undoubtedly it was very important for him to control the choice of a new Pontiff. He sought not only to prevent the riots which had often caused bloodshed in the streets of Rome on similar occasions, but also desired a Pope well disposed to himself. Thus when the preliminary assembly failed to agree in the choice of a candidate, the Pretorian Prefect, Cecina Basilius, suddenly intervened in Odovacar's name, and declared that no election would be valid without the King's voice....A decree was likewise issued prohibiting the alienation of Church property and threatening anathema on all who failed to respect it. After this the Assembly was summoned to sanction the decree and decide the election, which resulted in favor of Felix II (483-493), the candidate recommended by Odovacar." - Id., p. 146.

Rome could never forgive such an affront, and through its faithful ally, the emperor, another barbarian nation, the Ostrogroths, were called in to destroy the hated Heruli. Niccolo Machiavelli relates how the popes used such a method. He says:

"Nearly all the wars which the northern barbarians carried on in Italy, it may be remarked, were occasioned by the pontiffs; and the hordes, with which the country was inundated, were generally called in by them. The same mode of proceeding still continued, and kept Italy weak and unsettled." - "History of Florence," p. 13. Washington and London: Universal Classics Library, 1901.

(39) Villari says that Theodoric at the head of the Ostrogothic hordes entered Italy in the autumn of 488, backed by the authority of the emperor and the Church. Because the discord that had now broken out between Odovacar and the pope had weakened the former and consequently made him less formidable, after two disastrous battles he retreated toward the city of Rome for safety from the Ostrogoths, but "the gates of Rome were shut in his face, and the inhabitants of Italy began to show him marked hostility; partly for the increased deeds of spoliation....The Church had taken advantage of all these causes of discontent in order to excite the populace against him; and before long it was openly said that the clergy had organized a general conspiracy against him somewhat it would seem, in the style of the Sicilian Vespers." - "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy," 2-vol. ed. Of 1880. Vol. I, pp. 153-156.

John Henry Cardinal Newman, D. D., says:

"Odoacer was sinking before Theodoric, and the Pope was changing one Arian master for another." - "An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine," Part II, p. 320. London: 1878.

Villari continues: "On the 5th of March, 493, Theodoric entered Ravenna in triumph, all the clergy coming forth to meet him, chanting Psalms, and with the Archbishop at the head of the procession." - "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy," Vol. I, p. 158. Ten days later Odoacer was murdered in cold blood.

Hodgkin points out that this coming of the archbishop to meet the Ostrogoths was staged so as to "impress vividly on the minds both of Italians and Ostrogoths that Theodoric came as the friend of the Catholic Church." - "Italy and Her Invaders," 8-vol. ed., Vol. III, book 4, pp. 234, 235. Hodgkin further states that the Roman clergy were privy to a terrible secret plot of murdering the followers of Odovacar all over Italy. (Id., pp. 225, 226.)

(40) The Heruli disappeared from history. Thus the first of the three horns of Daniel 7:8 was "plucked up by the roots," and history leaves no room for doubt but that the Papacy through its allies engineered this act because of its opposition to Arianism.

THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN

Before passing to the next power destroyed by the Papacy we shall briefly state the condition of the Roman Empire at this time. Justinian had finally ascended the throne of Constantinople as the Emperor of the East, 527 A.D. He was a shrewd politician, and in his effort to extend his rule over the whole of the Roman Empire he realized his need of securing the co-operation of the highly organized Catholic Church, for it was directed by a single head (the pope), and worked as a unit all over the empire, while the Arian nations stood separately, without any central organization, and hence they were weak. Then too, the Arians were very wealthy, and if Justinian could conquer them in the name of "the true Church," he could confiscate their property and thus secure means to carry on his many wars. We read:

"Justinian (527)...already meditated...the conquest of Italy and Africa." - "Decline and Fall," Edward Gibbon, chap. 39, par. 17.

"Justinian felt that the support of the Pope was necessary in his reconquering of the West." - "History of Medieval Europe," L. Thorndike, Ph. D., p. 133. Cambridge, Mass.: 1918.

"Justinian spared nothing in his efforts to conciliate the Roman Church, and we find inserted with evident satisfaction in Justinian's Code pontifical letters, which praised his efforts to maintain 'the peace of the church and the unity of religion.'" - "Cambridge Medieval History," Bury, Gwatkin, and Whitney, Vol. II, p. 44. New York: 1913.

(41) Procopius, the historian who followed Justinian's armies, says:

"In his zeal to gather all men into one Christian doctrine, he recklessly killed all who dissented, and this too he did in the name of piety. For he did not call it homicide, when those who perished happened to be of a belief that was different from his own.""- "Secret History of the Court of Justinian," pp. 138, 139. Chicago: P. Covici, 1927.

"Now the churches of these so-called heretics, especially those belonging to the Arian dissenters, were almost incredibly wealthy." - Id., p. 121.

"Agents were sent everywhere to force whomever they chanced upon to renounce the faith of their fathers....Thus many perished at the hands of the persecuting faction;...but most of them by far quitted the land of their fathers, and fled the country...and thenceforth the whole Roman Empire was a scene of massacre and flight." - Id., p. 122.

Dom John Chapman (Roman Catholic) says of Justinian:

"He felt himself to be the Vicegerent of the Almighty to rule the world and bring it all to the service of Christ. His wars were holy wars. In later centuries a Byzantine battle began like a church ceremony. Even in the sixth century every enterprise was consecrated by religion.

"He was well aware that judicious persecution is a great help towards conversion!...He strengthened the existing laws against pagans, Jews, and heretics....Many were burnt at Constantinople after the Emperor had made vain attempts to convert them. John of Ephesus...was employed in this apostolate. He boasts that in 546 he gained 70,000 pagans in Asia Minor, including nobles and rhetoricians and physicians, and many in Constantinople. Tortures discovered these men, and scourgings and imprisonment induced them to accept instruction and baptism. A Patricius, named Phocus, hearing that he had been denounced, took poison. The Emperor ordered that he should be buried as an ass is buried. The pious Emperor paid all the expenses of this Christian mission, and gave to each of the 70,000 Asiatics the white garments for their baptism and a piece of money."

(42) "Other heretics were given three months grace. All magistrates and soldiers had to swear that they were Catholics." - "Studies in the Early Papacy," Dom John Chapman, p. 222. London: Sheed and Ward, 1928. New York: Benziger Brothers.

THE VANDALS

"Justinian's cherished aim was the reconquest of Italy by the Empire; but in order to succeed in this it was necessary to secure his rear by overthrowing the Vandals and resuming possession of Africa." - "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy," P. Villari, Vol. I, p. 197.

A pretext for breaking his oath of peace with the Arian Vandals soon presented itself. The Vandal government had oppressed the Roman Catholics just as the emperor, under the influence of the Papacy, had oppressed the Arians. But when Hilderic came to the Vandal throne he, through the influence of his Catholic wife, had restored the Roman clergy to their ancient privileges, and this had so displeased the Vandal leaders that Gelimer, a zealous Arian, had dethroned and imprisoned him, and reigned in his place. "A strong appeal was thus made to the piety [?] of the Emperor to deliver the true Catholic Church of the West out of the hands of the barbarian heretics." - "Medieval and Modern History," P. V. N. Myers, p. 62. Boston: 1897.

Justinian wavered for a time, fearing to attack these warlike Vandals, but a Catholic bishop assured him of victory, claiming "he had seen a vision, in which God commanded that the war should be immediately undertaken. 'It is the will of Heaven, O Emperor!' exclaimed the bishop." - Id., p. 63.

Treachery, which with Rome and her allies has always been a justifiable weapon, was here used in the service of the church by her dutiful son. Justinian sent an army of 200,000 trained men under the leadership of Belisarius to conquer the Vandals, without declaring war, and unbeknown to Gelimer, their king. Villari says:

(43) "Belisarius landed on the African coast at nine days' march from Carthage [the Vandal capital]. He did not assume the attitude of a conqueror, but came, he said, as the deliverer of the Catholics and Romans, the clergy and lay proprietors, who were all equally oppressed by those foreign barbarians, the heretic Vandals." - "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy," Vol. I, p. 198.

Thus Belisarius won the enthusiastic support of a large part of the population. To undermine the zeal of the Vandal leaders for their king he sent the "leading men of the Vandals" a letter from Justinian, stating that he intended only to dethrone the usurping king, who was tyrannizing over them, and to give them back their liberty. The letter reads:

"It is not our purpose to go to war with the Vandals, nor are we breaking our treaty with Gaiseric. We are only attempting to overthrow your tyrant, who making light of Gaiseric's testament keeps your king a prisoner....Therefore join us in freeing yourselves from a tyranny so wicked, that you may enjoy peace and liberty. We give you pledge in the name of God that we will give you these blessings.'...The overseer of the public post deserted and delivered all the horses to Belisarius." - "History of the Later Roman Empire," J. B. Bury, Vol. II, p. 130. London: The Macmillan Co., 1925.

But Justinian never intended to keep his solemn oath to grant them liberty, and the people soon found Rome the severest of tyrants.

"In 533 the Byzantine general, Belisarius (q.v.) landed in Africa. The Vandals were several times defeated, and Carthage was entered on Sept. 15, 533....In the next year Africa, Sardinia, and Corsica were restored to the Roman Empire. As a nation, the Vandals soon ceased to exist." - Nelson's Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, art. "Vandals," pp. 380, 381. New York. 1907.

"Religious intolerance accompanied the imperial restoration in the West. In Africa, as in Italy, Arians were spoiled for the benefit of Catholics, their churches were destroyed or ruined, and their lands confiscated." - "Cambridge Medieval History," Bury, Gwatkin, and Whitney, Vol. II, p. 44. New York: 1913.

(44) "The Arian heresy was proscribed, and the race of these remarkable conquerors was in a short time exterminated....There are few instances in history of a nation disappearing so rapidly and so completely as the Vandals of Africa." - "A History of Greece Under the Romans," George Finlay, p. 234. London and New York: J. M. Dent, ed., 1856.

"Africa, subdued by the arms of Belisarius, returned at once under the dominion of the empire and of Catholicism....One imperial edict was sufficient (A.D. 533) to restore all the churches to the Catholic worship." - "Latin Christianity," H. H. Milman, Book 3, chap. 4, p. 455. New York: Crowell & Co. 1881. Thus the second horn of Daniel 7:8 was plucked up by the roots."

Here we have one sample out of many in history as to what kind of religious liberty Rome grants wherever she obtains the power.

THE OSTROGOTHS

Theodoric, king of the Ostrogothic nation of Italy, maintained complete religious liberty for all classes and creeds. He wrote to Justin, Emperor of the East, who was persecuting the Arians:

"To pretend to a domination over the conscience, is to usurp the prerogative of God; by the nature of things the power of sovereigns is confined to political government; they have no right of punishment but over those who disturb the public peace; the most dangerous heresy is that of a sovereign who separates himself from part of his subjects, because they believe not according to his belief." - "History of Latin Christianity," H. H. Milman, Vol. I, Book III, chap. 3, p. 439. New York: 1860.

The wars of the migrating barbarians on the one side, and the persecutions of heathen, Jews, and Arians by the Catholic Church on the other, had kept Italy in constant turmoil. Agricultural pursuits were neglected, people crowded into the cities, and want and starvation faced the population. But Theodoric's wise and firm rule, and the strict religious liberty he established in Italy, brought peace, prosperity, and happiness to all classes. J. G. Sheppard, D. D., says:

(45) "'Theodoric deserves the highest praise; for, during the thirty-eight years he reigned in Italy, he brought the country to such a state of greatness, that her previous sufferings were no longer recognizable.'...What then prevented this man, with so great a genius for government, and so splendid an opportunity for its exercise, from organizing a Germanic empire, equal in extent and power to that which obeyed the sceptre of the old Roman Caesars? Or why did he fail, when Charlemagne, with a greater complication of interests to deal with, for a time at least, succeeded?

"The causes were mainly these; causes...very similar, at all times, in their operation. In the first place, Theodoric was an Arian, and there was a power antagonistic to Arianism growing up already on the banks of the Tiber, stronger than the statesmen's policy or the soldier's sword - the spiritual power of the church of Rome....Such a power was necessarily altogether incompatible with the existence of an Arian empire. And it proved mightier than its rival." - "Fall of Rome," John G. Sheppard, D. D., pp. 301, 302. London: 1861.

In order to give the reader a better understanding of the means used by the Papacy to destroy these Arian kingdoms, we shall quote from Thomas Hodgkin a few brief statements. He states that Theodoric, the Ostrogothic king, endeavored to have "a close league for mutual defence formed between the four great Arian and Teutonic monarchies, the Visigothic, the Burgundian, the Ostrogothic, and the Vandal." But "diplomatists were wanting [who could act] as their skillful and eloquent representatives, traveling like Epiphanius from court to court, and bringing the barbarian sovereigns to understand each other, to sink their petty grievances, and to work together harmoniously for one common end. Precisely these men were the Catholic prelates of the Mediterranean lands to whom it was all-important that no such Arian league should be formed....All over the Roman world there was a serried array of Catholic bishops and presbyters, taking their orders from a single centre, Rome, feeling the interest of each one to be the interests of all, in lively and constant intercourse with one another, quick to discover, quick to disclose the slightest weak place in the organization of the new heretical kingdoms. Of all this there was not the slightest trace on the other side. The Arian bishops...stood apart from one another in stupid and ignorant isolation." - "Italy and Her Invaders," Thomas Hodgkin, (8-vol. ed.) Vol. III, Book 4, pp. 381-383. Oxford: 1899.

(46) This same principle was clearly stated by the Catholic bishop Avitus, when the Arian king Gundobad appealed to him not to allow the Catholic king Clovis to overrun his country. Avitus answered: "If Gundobad would reconcile himself to the Church, the Church would guarantee his safety from the attacks of Clovis." - Id., p. 384.

The religious liberty, with its attendant blessings to the country, which Theodoric had inaugurated, did not satisfy the Catholic bishops; for Rome does not want religious liberty for other churches, but sole domination for herself.

"The religious toleration which Theodoric had the glory of introducing into the Christian world, was painful and offensive to the orthodox zeal of the Italian." - "Decline and Fall," Edward Gibbon, chap. 39, par. 17.

"Theodoric,...being an Arian, could not long remain on harmonious terms with a Pope and [an] Emperor of the Orthodox creed, [who were] necessarily bound to combine against him sooner or later." - "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy," P. Villari, Vol. I, p. 178. London: 1913; New York: Scribner, 1902.

This was only natural. The fundamental principles of the church of Rome are such that she can never concede to any other denomination the equal right to exist and to carry on its worship. Urged on by the pope and his bishops, Emperor Justin had enacted severe laws against Arians (524 A.D.), and Justinian began his reign in 527 by making laws still more severe.

"Theodoric, the King of Italy, at first maintained something of his usual calm moderation; he declined all retaliation, to which he had been incessantly urged, on the orthodox of the West." - "Latin Christianity," H. H. Milman, D. D., Vol. I, Book III, chap. 3, p. 440.

(47) But the concerted efforts of pope and emperor, by fire, sword, and exile, to exterminate "Arianism" at last "awakened the just resentment of Theodoric, who claimed for his distressed brethren of the East the same indulgence which he had so long granted to the Catholics of his dominions....And a mandate was prepared in Italy, to prohibit, after a stated day, the exercise of the Catholic worship. By the bigotry of his subjects and enemies, the most tolerant of princes was driven to the brink of persecution." - "Decline and Fall," chap. 39, par. 17.

"In Italy, Theodoric's prolonged toleration had reconciled no one to him, and his ultimate severity exasperated his Roman subjects. A dumb agitation held sway in the West, and the coming of the Emperor's soldiers was eagerly awaited and desired." - "Cambridge Medieval History," Bury, Gwatkin, and Whitney, Vol. II, p. 10. Chicago: The Macmillan Company, 1913.

"And truly the chief men of Rome were suspected, at this very time, of carrying on a treasonable correspondence with the Court of Constantinople, and machinating the ruin of the Gothic empire in Italy." - "History of the Popes," A. Bower, Vol. II, p. 421. Dublin: 1749.

In the summer of 535 Belisarius started with 7,500 men besides his own guards to conquer Italy and destroy the Arian heretics. This he could do only by the assistance of the Roman Catholics.

"But with great shrewdness he had quickly won their good will, by announcing that he came to deliver them from the barbarian yoke, and from the Arian persecution, and also for the purpose of restoring Rome to her ancient grandeur." - "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy," P. Villari, Vol. I, p. 201.

Witigis [Vitiges] was now the king of the Ostrogoths, and Rome was continuing its usual policy. Professor J. B. Bury says:

"In the meantime Belisarius had left Naples and was marching northward. The Romans, warned by the experiences of Naples, and urged by the Pope, who had no scruples in breaking his oath with Witigis, sent a messenger inviting him to come. He...entered Rome on December 9, A.D. 536." - "History of the Later Roman Empire," Vol. II, pp. 179, 180.

(48) "Such, then, was the Pope Silverius...who, having sworn a solemn oath of fealty to Witigis, now, near the end of 536, sent messengers to Belisarius to offer the peaceful surrender of the city of Rome." - "Italy and Her Invaders," T. Hodgkin (8-vol. Ed.), Vol. IV, Book 5, p. 93. 1885.

"Rome betrayed. The Catholics, on the first approach of the emperor's army, boldly raised the cry that the apostolic throne (!) should no longer be profaned by the triumph or toleration of Arianism, nor the tombs of the Caesars trampled by the savages of the North; and deputies of the pope and clergy, and of what is called the senate and people, waited upon the approaching army to whom they threw open the gates of the city; and the Catholics were rewarded for their treason by the apparent respect of Belisarius for the pope." - "History of the Christian Church," N. Summerbell, page 340, third edition. Cincinnati: 1873.

Witigis then besieged the city of Rome from March, 537, to March, 538, when he raised the siege, after losing the flower of his army, and retired to Ravenna, his capital. T. Hodgkin says:

"With heavy hearts the barbarians must have thought, as they turned them northwards, upon the many gallant men which they were leaving on that fatal plain. Some of them must have suspected the melancholy truth that they had dug one grave, deeper and wider than all, the grave of the Gothic monarchy in Italy." - Italy and Her Invaders," (8-vol. Ed.), Vol. IV, p. 285.

A deathblow was thus given to the Ostrogoths in 538 A.D., and their attempts to re-establish themselves after this were but the last flicker of a lamp being extinguished. Belisarius followed them this same year to their "last stronghold of power. Ravenna was soon entered by the troops of the empire, and with it fell the great kingdom of the Ostrogoths." - "Fall of Rome," J. G. Sheppard, p. 306. London: 1892.

(49) "Then occurred a singular phenomenon, - the annihilation and disappearance of a great and powerful people from the world's history." - Id., p. 307.

But let all remember, that "the success of Justinian's invasion was due to the clergy; in the ruin they brought upon their country, and the relentless tyranny they drew upon themselves, they had their reward." - "History of the Intellectual Development of Europe," J. W. Draper, M. D., LL. D., Vol. I, p. 355. New York: Harper Brothers., 1889.

The last of the three Arian "horns" of Daniel 7:8 had passed away, and with it passed also the liberty of the common people. Dr. N. Summerbell truthfully says:

"The Dark Ages, introduced by the persecution of an enlightened Church in the sanguinary wars of Justinian to exalt the Catholics, continued up to the fourteenth century. It was a long, dark night, when ignorance, bigotry, and cruelty reigned, and truth, purity, and justice were crushed out." - "History of the Christian Church," p. 342.

THE LOMBARDS

It has been claimed by some that the Lombard nation was one of the three horns of Daniel 7:8, which were rooted up by the Papacy. We shall therefore investigate this claim carefully before leaving this subject. It is true that the Lombards, who settled in Italy, 568 A.D., were at first Arians, but they soon became converted to the Roman Catholic faith (615 A.D.). Professor J. B. Bury says:

"In the century which intervened between the death of Gregory I [604 A.D.] and the accession of Gregory II [715] the Lombards had been transformed from Arian heretics into devout Catholics, so that the religious difficulty which parted Roman from Lombard had disappeared." - "The Cambridge Medieval History," Vol. II, p. 694. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1913.

(50) That the Lombards were not subdued on account of any opposition to the papal church is also witnessed by the following quotation:

"Slowly however the light of faith made way among them and the Church won their respect and obedience. This meant protection for the conquered." - The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, art. "Lombards," p. 338.

Even though the Lombards were subdued by Pepin (755 A.D.), and later by Charlemagne (774), yet they were not destroyed. The Lombard kingdom in Italy had long been divided into smaller "duchies," and Charlemagne allowed several of these to continue, while they nominally recognized him as emperor (such an arrangement became common for centuries in Italy).

"The Lombards, having now been two hundred and thirty-two years in the country, were strangers only in name; and Charles, wishing to reorganize the states of Italy, consented that they should occupy the places in which they had been brought up, and call the province after their own name, Lombardy....

"In the meantime, the Emperor Charles died and was succeeded by Lewis,...[and] at the time of his grandchildren, the house of France lost the empire, which then came to the Germans. [During these changes] the Lombards [were] gathering strength." - "The History of Florence," N. Machiavelli, pp. 15, 16. Washington and London: Universal Classics Library, 1901.

In 1167 A.D., the different Lombard cities were organized into separate republics, and combined into the famous Lombard League. Being devoted to the pope they fought the excommunicated German emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, who would subjugate them, and who "endeavored to force upon the church an anti-pope in the place of Alexander III."

Finally in 1176 A.D., the combined armies of the Lombard League met the emperor's forces in a decisive battle on the plains of Legnano.

(51) "The imperial army was so utterly overthrown an dispersed, that for some time the fate of the emperor was uncertain. Three days after the battle he appeared in Pavia, alone, and in...disguise....For twenty-one years Frederick had been struggling against the independence of Lombardy. With seven armies he had swept their doomed territory, inflicting atrocities the recital of which sickens humanity. The fatal battle of Legnano left him for a time powerless, and he was compelled to assent to a truce for six years. At the expiration of this truce, in the year 1183, by the peace of Constance, the comparative independence of Lombardy was secured; a general supremacy of dignity rather than of power being conceded to the emperor." - "Italy from the Earliest Period to the Present Day," John S. C. Abbott, pp. 438, 439. New York: 1860.

Not only had the kingdom of Lombardy maintained its independence, but "the generous resistance of the Lombards, during a war of thirty years, had conquered from the emperors political liberty for all the towns in the kingdom of Italy." - "A History of the Italian Republics," J. C. S. de Sismondi, p. 61. New York: 1904.

If space permitted, we could trace the kingdom of Lombardy for nearly two centuries more, but this will suffice to prove that the Lombards were not destroyed by Charlemagne, when subdued by him in 774, neither could they be one of the three powers plucked up by the roots to give place for the Papacy. (Daniel 7:8.) A people plucked up by the roots in 774 would hardly fight so heroically for four hundred years afterwards to maintain their independence till mighty emperors had to yield. But even if the Lombards had been destroyed by Charlemagne in 774, they could not be reckoned as one of the three nations plucked up to give place to the Papacy; for, if we reckon the 1260 years of papal supremacy from 774, they would end in 2034 A.D., which would entirely dislocate the prophetic reckoning, as we shall see in the next chapter.

Chapter 5

"A Time, and Times, and Half a Time"

(52) The little horn of Daniel 7:8, 25, was to reign for "a time and times and the dividing of time." This same "time, and times, and half a time" is also mentioned in Revelation 12:14, and in the sixth verse it is said to be "a thousand two hundred and threescore days." In prophecy a day always stands for a year. (Ezekiel 4:6) This prophetic period is therefore 1260 literal years. We shall now show that these 1260 years began in 538 A.D., and invite the reader to notice the four great changes that took place that year:

1. We have already seen that the little horn symbolized the Papacy, and three Arian kingdoms, which stood in its way, were plucked up by the roots, and that the last of these received its deathblow in 538 A.D. through the efforts of Justinian, the faithful son of the church of Rome.

2. History states that the work of Justin and Justinian in elevating the Papacy to power brought on a new era, introducing the Middle Ages:

"Accordingly, the religious and political tendencies of the Empire now took so different a direction as to positively constitute the dawn of an new era....Thus at last Rome had triumphed, after fighting so long with unflinching vigour and without yielding a single point." - "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy," P. Villari, Vol. I, pp. 177, 178.

"The reign of Justinian is more remarkable as a portion of the history of mankind, than as a chapter in the annals of the Roman Empire or of the Greek nation. The changes of centuries pass in rapid succession before the eyes of one generation....

"With the conquest of Rome by Belisarius, the history of the ancient city may be considered as terminating; and with his defence against Witigis [A.D. 538], commences the history of the Middle Ages." - "Greece Under the Romans," George Finlay, pp. 198, 240, Dent edition, revised by author, 1877.

(53) 3. Even the Papacy itself changed, so there was a new order of popes after 538 A.D. History relates:

"Down to the sixth century all popes are declared saints in the martyrologies. Vigillius (537-555) is the first of a series of popes who no longer bear this title, which is henceforth sparingly conferred. From this time on the popes, more and more enveloped in worldly events, no longer belong solely to the church; they are men of the state, and then rulers of the state.' - "Medieval Europe," Belmont and Monod (revised by George Burton Adams), p. 120. New York: H. Holt & Co., 1902.

In the foregoing quotation the date of Vigillius should be 538 instead of 537 for the following reason:

"Vigililius having been thus ordained in the year 537,...and the death of Silverius having been certainly not earlier than 20 June, A.D. 538, it is evident that for a least seven months his position was that of an unlawful anti-pope, his predecessor never having been canonically deposed." - Dictionary of Christian Biography, Drs. Smith and Wace, Vol. IV, art. "Vigillius," p. 1144. London: 1887.

For this reason A. Bower says:

"From the death of Silverius the Roman Catholic writers date the Episcopacy of Vigillius, reckoning him thenceforth among the lawful popes." - "History of the Popes," Vol. II, p. 488, under the year "538." Dublin: 1751.

"His [Silverius'] death happened on the 20th of June...538." - Id., p. 488.

Dr. Philip Schaff says:

"Vigillius, a pliant creature of Theodora, ascended the papal chair under the military protection of Belisarius (538-555)." - "History of the Christian Church" (7-vol. Ed.), Vol. III, p. 327. New York: Scribner's, 1893. See also "General History of the Catholic Church," M. l'Abbe J. E. Darras, Vol. II, pp. 146, 147 (New York: 1866), and "The Official Catholic Directory" for 1933, "List of Roman Pontiffs" on page 7.

(54) 4. Dr. Summerbell gives still another reason why we should date the beginning of the papal supremacy from 538. He says:

"Justinian...enriched himself with the property of all 'heretics' - that is non-Catholics, and gave all their churches to the Catholics; published edicts in 538 compelling all to join the Catholic Church in ninety days or leave the empire, and confiscated all their goods." - "History of the Christian Church," pp. 310, 311. Cincinnati: 1873. The same is stated by Samuel Chandler in "History of Persecution," pp. 142, 143; and by Edward Gibbon, in "Decline and Fall," chap. 47, par. 24.

THE STATE RELIGION

Thus we see that Roman Catholicism was made the state religion in 538, and all other religions were forbidden. What gave special significance to these edicts of Justinian was the fact that he had already in 533 declared the bishop of Rome to be the head of the universal church, and had subjected all the priests even of the East under the see of Rome. This fact he wrote to Pope John II on March 15, 533, in the following language:

"With honor to the Apostolic See,...We hasten to bring to the knowledge of Your Holiness everything relating to the condition of the Church, as we have always had great desire to preserve the unity of your Apostolic See, and the condition of the Holy Churches of God, as they exist at the present time, that they may remain without disturbance or opposition. Therefore, We have exerted Ourselves to unite all the priests of the East and subject them to the See of Your Holiness....For we do not suffer anything which has reference to the state of the Church, even though what causes the difficulty may be clear and free from doubt, to be discussed without being brought to the notice of Your Holiness, because you are the head of all Holy Churches, for we shall exert Ourselves in every way (as has already been stated), to increase the honor and authority of your see....

"Therefore we request your paternal affection, that you, by your letters, inform Us and the Most Holy Bishop of this Fair City, and your brother the Patriarch, who himself has written by the same messengers to Your Holiness, eager in all things to follow the Apostolic See of your Blessedness, in order that you may make it clear to Us that Your Holiness acknowledges all the matters which have been set forth above." - "The Civil Law of Justinian," translated by S. P. Scott, A. M. (in 17 volumes), Book 12, pp. 11-13.

(55) To this letter Pope John II answered:

"John, Bishop of the City of Rome, to him most Illustrious and Merciful Son Justinian.

"Among the conspicuous reasons for praising your wisdom and gentleness, Most Christian of Emperors, and one which radiates light as a star, is the fact that through love of the Faith, and actuated by zeal for charity, you, learned in ecclesiastical discipline, have preserved reverence for the See of Rome, and have subjected all things to his authority, and have given it unity....

"This See is indeed the head of all Churches, as the rules of the Fathers and the decrees of Emperors assert, and the words of your most reverent piety testify....

"We have received with all due respect the evidences of your serenity, through Hypatius and Demetrius, most holy men, my brothers and fellow bishops, from whose statements we have learned that you have promulgated an Edict addressed to your faithful people, and dictated by your love of the faith, for the purpose of overthrowing the designs of heretics, which is in accordance with the evangelical tenets, and which we have confirmed by our authority with the consent of our brethren and fellow bishops, for the reason that it is in conformity with the apostolic doctrine....

"Therefore, it is opportune to cry out with a prophetic voice, 'Heaven will rejoice with You, and pour out its blessing upon You, and the mountains will rejoice, and the hills be glad with exceeding joy.'...

"The favor of Our Lord...remain forever with you, Most Pious Son, Amen....

(56) Given at Rome, on the eighth of the Kalends of April, during the Consulate of Emperor Justinian, Consul for the fourth time." - Id., pp. 10-15.

Both of these letters appear in the "Code of Justinian," as well as the following law:

"Concerning the Precedence of Patriarchs:

"Hence, in accordance with the provisions of those Councils, we order that the Most Holy Pope of Ancient Rome shall hold the first rank of all the Pontiffs, but the Most Blessed Archbishop of Constantinople, or New Rome, shall occupy the second place after the Holy Apostolic See of Ancient Rome, which shall take precedence over all other sees." - Id., Vol. XVII, p. 125. ("Constitutions of Justinian," Vol. XVII, 9th Collection, Title 14, chapter 2.)

Under date of March 25, 533, Justinian, writing to Epiphanius, Patriarch of Constantinople, stating that he had written the above letter to the pope, "repeats his decision, that all affairs touching the Church shall be referred to the Pope, 'Head of all bishops, and the true and effective corrector of heretics.'" - "The Apocalypse of St. John," George Croly, A. M., p. 170, second edition. London: 1828.

"The epistle which was addressed to the Pope, and another to the Patriarch of Constantinople, were inserted in the volume of the civil law; thus the sentiments contained in them obtained the sanction of the supreme legislative authority of the empire....

"The answer of the Pope to the imperial epistle was also published with the other documents; and it is equally important, inasmuch as it shows that he understood the reference that had been made to him, as being a formal recognition of the supremacy of the see of Rome.""- "" Dissertation on the Seals and Trumpets of the Apocalypse," William Cuninghame, pp. 185, 186. London: 1843; cited in "Source Book," pp. 383, 384, ed. Of 1922.

"The recognition of the Roman see as the highest ecclesiastical authority (cf. Novelloe, cxxxi) remained the cornerstone of his [Justinian's] policy in relation to the West." - New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Vol. VI, art. "Justinian," p. 286.

(57) Thus we see that the way had been prepared in 533, in anticipation of the three final acts which were to occur in 538, when the Arian powers were destroyed, Catholicism made the state religion, and the Papacy placed under the protection of the state, which gave rise to the long struggle between church and state as to which should be supreme.

CLOSE OF THE 1260 YEARS

Having now seen that the 1260 years of papal supremacy began in 538 A.D., it is an easy matter to find their close. Adding the 1260 years to 538 brings us to the year 1798. And if we have given the right application to this prophecy, history must record an event in 1798 that would appear like a death stroke to the Papacy. Turning to history we find just such an event recorded:

The official Swedish newspaper, Stockholms Posttidning, for March 29, 1798, has the following news item:

"Rome, the 21st of Feb. [1798], Pope Pius VI, has occupied the papal chair for all of twenty-eight years, but the 15th inst. His government in the Papal States was abolished, and five days later, guarded by one hundred French soldiers, he was taken away from his palace and his capital....

"His...property was sold by the French, and among it were seven hundred head of cattle, one hundred fifty horses, and eight hundred cords of wood....

"Poor Pius! He must have felt very sad as he left Rome to go into captivity. When he departed his tear-filled eyes were turned heavenward."

Rev. E. B. Elliott, A. M., says of these events:

"In the years 1796, 1797, French dominion being established by Bonaparte's victories in Northern Italy,...the French armies [urged] their march onward to the Papal Capital....The aged Pope himself, now left mere nominal master of some few remaining shreds of the Patrimony of Peter, experienced soon after in person the bitterness of the prevailing anti-papal spirit....

(58) "On pretence of an insult to the French Ambassador there, a French corps d'armee under Berthier, having in February, 1798, crossed the Apennines from Ancona, and entered Rome, the tricolour flag was displayed from the Capitol, amidst the shouts of the populace, the Pope's temporal reign declared at an end, and the Roman Republic proclaimed, in strict alliance fraternization with the French. Then, in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, the ante-hall to which has a fresco painted by Papal order commemorative of the Protestant massacre on St. Bartholomew's day, (might not the scene have served as a memento of God's retributive justice?) there, while seated on his throne, and receiving the gratulations of his cardinals on the anniversary of his election to the Popedom, he was arrested by the French military, the ring of his marriage with the Church Catholic torn from his finger, his palace rifled, and himself carried prisoner into France, only to die there in exile shortly after." - "Horoe Apocalypticoe," Rev. E. B. Elliott, A. M., Vol. III, pp. 400, 401. London: 1862.

Arthur R. Pennington, M. A., F. R. Hist. Soc., says of this event:

"One day the Pope was sitting on his throne in a chapel of the Vatican, surrounded by his cardinals who had assembled for the purpose of offering him their congratulations on his elevation to his high dignity. On a sudden, the shouts of an angry multitude penetrated to the conclave, intermingled with the strokes of axes and hammers on the doors. Very soon a band of soldiers burst into the hall, who tore away from his finger his pontifical ring, and hurried him off, a prisoner, through a hall, the walls of which were adorned with a fresco, representing the armed satellites of the Papacy, on St. Bartholomew's day, as bathing their swords in the blood of unoffending women and helpless children. Thus it might seem as if he were to be reminded that the same God who visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation, had made him the victim of His retributive justice for a deed of atrocity which had been long crying aloud to Him for vengeance." - "Epochs of the Papacy," pp. 449, 450. London: 1881.

(59) Rev. Joseph Rickaby, an English Jesuit, writes:

"When, in 1797, Pope Pius VI fell grievously ill, Napoleon gave orders that in the event of his death no successor should be elected to his office, and that the Papacy should be discontinued.

"But the Pope recovered. The peace was soon broken; Berthier entered Rome on the 10th February, 1798, and proclaimed a republic. The aged Pontiff refused to violate his oath by recognizing it, and was hurried from prison to prison in France....No wonder that half Europe thought Napoleon's veto would be obeyed, and that with the Pope the Papacy was dead." - "The Modern Papacy," p. 1. London: Catholic Truth Society.

Rev. George Trevor, Canon of York, writes of this eventful year:

"The object of the French Directory was the destruction of the pontifical government, as the irreconcilable enemy of the republic....The aged pope was summoned to surrender the temporal government; on his refusal, he was dragged from the altar....His rings were torn from his fingers, and finally, after declaring the temporal power abolished, the victors carried the pope prisoner into Tuscany, whence he never returned (1798).

"The Papal States, converted into the Roman Republic, were declared to be in perpetual alliance with France, but the French general was the real master of Rome....The territorial possessions of the clergy and monks were declared national property, and their former owners cast into prison. The Papacy was extinct: not a vestige of its existence remained; and among all the Roman Catholic powers not a finger was stirred in its defence. The Eternal City had no longer prince or pontiff; its bishop was a dying captive in foreign lands; and the decree was already announced that no successor would be allowed in his place." - "Rome, From the Fall of the Western Empire," pp. 439, 440. London: 1868.

An English secular writer, John Adolphus, says of 1798:

(60) "The downfall of the papal government, by whatever means effected, excited perhaps less sympathy than that of any other in Europe: the errors, the oppressions, the tyranny of Rome over the whole Christian world, were remembered with bitterness; many rejoiced, through religious antipathy, in the overthrow of a church which they considered as idolatrous, though attended with the immediate triumph of infidelity; and many saw in these events the accomplishment of prophecies, and the exhibition of signs promised in the most mystical parts of the Holy Scriptures." - "History of France from 1790-1802," Vol. II, p. 379. London: 1803.

God's prophetic clock had set the year 1798 as the end of the papal supremacy, and when that hour struck, the mighty ruler on the Tiber, before whose anathemas the kings and emperors of Europe had so long trembled, went "into captivity" (Revelation 13:10), and his government in the Papal States was abolished. Thus the historical events fit exactly into the mold of prophecy, and establish the fact that "we have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn." 2 Peter 1:19. But prophecy foretells that this "deadly wound" would be healed, and that the world once more, for a brief moment, would follow the papal power. (Revelation 13:3.) In the following chapter we shall consider the other specifications of this remarkable prophecy.

Chapter 6

Other Marks of Identity

"HE SHALL SPEAK GREAT WORDS"

(61) The little horn was to "speak great words against the Most High." Daniel 7:25. We shall now quote a few extracts from authentic Roman Catholic sources showing the fulfillment of this prophetic utterance: Pope Leo XIII in his "Great Encyclical Letters" says: "We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." - P. 304. In this encyclical the pope has capitalized all pronouns referring to himself and to God.

In a large, authentic work by F. Luccii Ferraris, called "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica Juridica Moralis Theologica," printed at Rome, 1890, and sanctioned by the Catholic Encyclopedia (Vol. VI, p. 48), we find the following statements regarding the power of the pope:

"The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God....

"Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions....

"So that if it were possible that the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope....

"The Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief king of kings, having plenitude of power, to whom has been entrusted by the omnipotent God direction not only of the earthly but also of the heavenly kingdom." - Quoted in "Source Book," (Revised Edition) pp. 409, 410. Washington, D.C.: 1927.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says of the pope:

"The sentences which he gives are to be forthwith ratified in heaven." - Vol. XII, art. "Pope," p. 265.

(62) Pope Leo XIII says:

"But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself." - "The Great Encyclical Letters," p. 193.

We leave it with the reader to decide whether or not these are "great words." St. Alphonsus de Liguori, a sainted doctor of the Roman church, claims the same power for the Roman priests. He says:

"The priest has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering sinners from hell, of making them worthy of paradise, and of changing them from the slaves of Satan into children of God. And God himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of his priests....The Sovereign Master of the universe only follows the servant by confirming in heaven all that the latter decides upon earth." - "Dignity and Duties of the Priest," pp. 27, 28. New York: Benziger Brothers., Printers to the Holy Apostolic See, 1888.

"Innocent III has written: 'Indeed, it is not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their offices the priest are so many gods.'" - Id., p. 36.

These must truly be called "great words"!

A PERSECUTING POWER

The little horn was also to "wear out the saints of the Most High." Daniel 7:25. That is, it was to persecute them till they were literally worn out. Has the Papacy fulfilled this part of the prophecy? In order to do Roman Catholics no injustice, we shall quote from unquestioned authorities among them. And, since they persecute people for "heresy," we must first let them define what they mean by "heresy." In the New Catholic Dictionary, published by the Universal Knowledge Foundation, a Roman Catholic institution, New York, 1929, we read:

"Heresy (Gr., hairesis, choice), deciding for oneself what one shall believe and practise." - "Heresy," p. 440.

(63) According to this definition any one who will not blindly submit to papal authority, but will read the Bible, deciding for himself what he shall believe, is a "heretic." What official stand has the Catholic Church taken in regard to such heretics? This we find stated in the Catholic Encyclopedia in the following words;

"In the Bull 'Ad exstirpanda' (1252) Innocent IV says: 'When those adjudged guilty of heresy have been given up to the civil power by the bishop or his representative, or the Inquisition, the podesta or chief magistrate of the city shall take them at once, and shall, within five days at the most, execute the laws made against them.'...Nor could any doubt remain as to what civil regulations were meant, for the passages which ordered the burning of impenitent heretics were inserted in the papal decretals from the imperial constitutions 'Commissis nobis' and 'Inconsutibilem tunicam.' The aforesaid Bull 'Ad exstirpanda' remained thenceforth a fundamental document of the Inquisition, renewed or reinforced by several popes, Alexander IV (1254-61), Clement IV (1265-68), Nicolas IV (1288-92), Boniface VIII (1294-1303), and others. The civil authorities, therefore, were enjoined by the popes, under pain of excommunication to execute the legal sentences that condemned impenitent heretics to the stake. It is to be noted that excommunication itself was no trifle, for, if the person excommunicated did not free himself from excommunication within a year, he was held by the legislation of that period to be a heretic, and incurred all the penalties that affected heresy." - Vol. VIII, p. 34. (See also "Dictionary of the Inquisition," in "Illustrations of Popery," J. P. Challender, pp. 377-386, New York, 1838; and "History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages." H. C. Lea, Vol. I, pp. 337, 338, New York. 1888.)

This Encyclopedia was printed in 1910, and bears the sanction of the Catholic authorities, and of their "censor," so that here is up-to-date authority showing that the Roman church sanctions persecution. The Roman church here acknowledges, that, when she was in power, she forced the civil government to burn those whom she termed heretics, and the government officials who failed to execute her laws, became heretics by that neglect, and suffered the punishment of heretics. Professor Alfred Baudrillart, a Roman Catholic scholar in France, who is now a Catholic Cardinal, says:

(64) "The Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of liberty....She has, and she loudly proclaims that she has, a 'horror of blood.' Nevertheless when confronted by heresy she does not content herself with persuasion; arguments of an intellectual and moral order appear to her insufficient, and she has recourse to force, to corporal punishment, to torture. She creates tribunals like those of the Inquisition, she calls the laws of the State to her aid, if necessary she encourages a crusade, or a religious war and all her 'horror of blood' practically culminates into urging the secular power to shed it, which proceeding is almost more odious - for it is less frank - than shedding it herself. Especially did she act thus in the sixteenth century with regard to Protestants. Not content to reform morally, to preach by example, to convert people by eloquent and holy missionaries, she lit in Italy, in the Low Countries, and above all in Spain the funerals piles of the Inquisition. In France under Francis I and Henry II, in England under Mary Tudor, she tortured the heretics, whilst both in France and Germany during the second half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century if she did not actually begin, at any rate she encouraged and actively aided, the religious wars. No one will deny that we have here a great scandal to our contemporaries....

"Indeed, even among our friends and our brothers we find those who dare not look this problem in the face. They ask permission from the Church to ignore or even deny all those acts and institutions in the past which have made orthodoxy compulsory." (This explains why some Catholic authors deny that their church ever persecuted.) - "The Catholic Church, the Renaissance, and Protestantism," pp. 182-184. London: 1908. This book bears the sanction of the Roman Catholic authorities, and of their "censor."

Andrew Steinmetz says:

"Catholics easily account for their devotion to the Holy See, in spite of its historical abominations, which, however, very few of them are aware of - their accredited histories in common use, 'with permission of authority,' veiling the subject with painful dexterity." - "History of the Jesuits," Vol. I, p. 13. London: 1848.

(65) Dr. C. H. Lea says:

"In view of the unvarying policy of the Church during the three centuries under consideration, and for a century and a half later, there is a typical instance of the manner in which history is written to order, in the quiet assertion of the latest Catholic historian of the Inquisition that 'the Church took no part in the corporal punishment of heretics.'" - "History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages," Vol. I, p. 540. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1888.

Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241) made the following decree for the destruction of all heretics, which is binding on civil rulers:

"Temporal princes shall be reminded and exhorted, and if needs be, compelled by spiritual censures, to discharge every one of their functions: and that, as they desire to be reckoned and held faithful, so, for the defence of the faith, let them publicly make oath that they will endeavor, bona fide with all their might, to extirpate from their territories all heretics marked by the Church; so that when anyone is about to assume any authority, whether spiritual or temporal, he shall be held bound to confirm his title by this oath. And if a temporal prince, being required and admonished by the Church, shall neglect to purge his kingdom from this heretical pravity, the metropolitan and other provincial bishops shall bind him in fetters of excommunication; and if he obstinately refuse to make satisfaction this shall be notified within a year to the Supreme Pontiff, that then he may declare his subjects absolved from their allegiance, and leave their lands to be occupied by Catholics, who, the heretics being exterminated, may possess them unchallenged, and preserve them in the purity of the faith." - "Decretalium Gregorii Papae Noni Compilatio," Liber V, Titulus VII, Capitulum XIII, (A Collection of the Decretals of Gregory IX, Book 5, Title 7, Chapter 13), dated April 20, 1619.

(66) The sainted Catholic doctor, Thomas Aquinas, says:

"If counterfeiters of money or other criminals are justly delivered over to death forthwith by the secular authorities, much more can heretics, after they are convicted of heresy, be not only forthwith excommunicated, but as surely put to death." - "Summa Theologica," 2a, 2ae, qu. xi, art. iii.

That this principle is sanctioned by modern Catholic priests, we can see from the following statement:

"The church has persecuted. Only a tyro in church history will deny that....Protestants were persecuted in France and Spain with the full approval of the church authorities. We have always defended the persecution of the Huguenots, and the Spanish Inquisition." - "Western Watchman," official organ of Father Phelan. St. Louis, Mo." Dec. 24, 1908.

We have now seen from the "decretals" of popes, from sainted doctors of the Roman church, and from authentic Catholic books, that they sanction and defend persecution, and history amply bears out the fact. Dr. J. Dowling says:

"From the birth of Popery in 606, to the present time, it is estimated by careful and credible historians, that more than fifty millions of the human family, have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by popish persecutors, an average of more than forty thousand religious murders for every year of the existence of Popery." - "History of Romanism," pp. 541, 542. New York: 1871.

W. E. H. Lecky says:

"That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history. The memorials, indeed, of many of her persecutions are now so scanty, that it is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that no power of imagination can adequately realize their sufferings." - "History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe," Vol. II, p. 32. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1910.

(67) John Lothrop Motley, speaking of papal persecution in the Netherlands says:

"Upon February 16, 1568, a sentence of the Holy Office [the Inquisition] condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics....A proclamation of the king, ten days later, confirmed this decree of the Inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant execution....This is probably the most concise death warrant that was ever framed. Three millions of people, men, women, and children, were sentenced to the scaffold in three lines." - "The Rise of the Dutch Republic," (2-vol. Ed.) Vol. I, p. 626. New York.

Many Roman Catholic authors today have tried to prove that their church does not sanction persecution, but facts of history are too plain to be denied. Eternity alone will reveal what God's dear children suffered during the Dark Ages. Accordingly as the Papacy attained to power, the common people became more oppressed, until "the noon of the Papacy was the midnight of the world." - "History of Protestantism," J. A. Wylie, LL.D., Vol. I, p. 16. London.

"THINK TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS"

But Daniel 7:25 has still another prediction concerning the "little horn"; namely, that it should "think to change times and laws," or as the Revised Version has it: "times and the law." James Moffatt's translation reads: "He shall plan to alter the sacred seasons and the law." Now, as the two preceding statements in this verse depict what the Papacy should do against the Most High, we must conclude that it is also the "times and the law" of the Most High which the Papacy should attempt to change. This could not refer to the ceremonial laws of the Jews, which were abolished at the cross (Ephesians 2:15; Hebrews 9:9, 10), but to the Ten Commandments, which are binding in the Christian era, to which dispensation this prophecy applies. (Matthew 5:17-19; 19:16-19; Luke 16:17; Romans 3:31; 7:7, 12, 14; James 2:10, 11.) From the prophecy of Daniel 7:25 it is therefore evident that the Papacy would attempt to make some changes in the moral law.

(68) After the worship of images had crept into the church during the fourth to the sixth centuries, its leaders finally removed the second commandment from their doctrinal books, because it forbids us to bow down to images (Exodus 20:4, 5), and they divided the tenth, so as to retain ten in number. Thus the Catholic Church has two commandments against coveting, while Paul six times speaks of it as only one "commandment." (Romans 7:7-13.) Then, too, the Lord has purposely reversed the order of the supposed ninth and tenth commandments in Deuteronomy 5:21 to what they are in Exodus 20:17, have it as part of their tenth commandment, and their ninth command is: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house." Thus we see how people get themselves into trouble when they attempt to change the law of God.

The Papacy was also to change times. But the only commandment of the ten that has to do with time is the fourth, which commands us to keep holy the seventh day, on which God rested at creation. (Exodus 20:10, 11; Genesis 2:1-3.) It is a remarkable fact that Christ, His apostles, and their followers kept the seventh day in common with the Jews (Mark 6:2, 3; Luke 4:16, 31; 23:52-56; Acts 13:42, 44; 16:12, 13; 17:2; 18:1-4), and that the New Testament is entirely silent in regard to any change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. This would be natural enough if the original Sabbath, which they were then keeping, should continue. But if a new day was to take place in the Christian church, its Founder would certainly have given explicit directions for its observance. Yet not a word was spoken by Christ or His apostles, either before or after His resurrection, as to such a change.

It is another remarkable fact that Sunday is never called by any sacred title in the New Testament, but always referred to as a weekday, never as a holy day. It is classed as one of the weekdays, being called "the first day of the week."

(69) And yet we find the Christian world generally keeping it. Who made this change, when it is not recorded in the Bible? When, how, and why was it made? Who dared to lay hands on Jehovah's law, and change His Holy Sabbath, without any warrant of Scripture?

All Protestant denominations disclaim any part in this crime. But the Roman Catholic Church boasts of having made this change, and even points to it as an evidence of its authority to act in Christ's stead upon earth. We shall therefore ask her two pointed questions: 1. When did you change the Sabbath? 2. Why did you do it? Here are her answers:

"The first proposition needs little proof. The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her Divine mission changed the day from Saturday to Sunday." - "The Christian Sabbath," p. 29. Baltimore, Md.: "Catholic Mirror," Sept. 23, 1893.

"Ques. - Which is the Sabbath day? Ans. - Saturday is the Sabbath day.

"Ques. - Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

"Ans. - We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday....

"The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her." - "The Convert's Catechism of Christian Doctrine," Rev. Peter Geiermann, C. SS. R., p. 50. St. Louis, Mo.: 1934. (This work received the "apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X, Jan. 25, 1910.)

"The Church...took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday....And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus." - "Catholic World," (New York), March, 1894, p. 809.

We shall enter into this subject more thoroughly in the following chapters.

Chapter 7

Christ and the Sabbath

(70) THOSE who oppose the Bible Sabbath center their attack on three points, claiming (1) that the Sabbath was not instituted at creation, and hence is not an original law for the whole human family; (2) that the Sabbath commandment is not a moral command as the other nine, but was a part of the Jewish ceremonial law; (3) that Christ or the apostles abolished the Sabbath, and gradually substituted the first day of the week in its place. We shall now test these propositions one by one.

THE SABBATH AN EDENIC INSTITUTION

God the Father has always worked through His Son, both in creation and in redemption. (Genesis 1:26; Hebrews 1:1, 2, 8-10; John 3:16.) Therefore it was Christ who created the world is six days and rested on the seventh day. "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made....He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." John 1:3, 10. (Compare Colossians 1:14-18.) It is a great comfort to a poor, weak sinner to know that our Saviour is "the Mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6) who spoke the worlds into existence (Psalm 33:6, 9), and who is "upholding all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3). His word has creative power, and if we receive it by faith, it will change our hearts and lives, and give us victory over sin. (John 1:12; Genesis 1:3; 2 Corinthians 4:5, 6; Matthew 5:16; Isaiah 60:1.)

As the crowning act on the sixth day, the Lord made man in His own image, and then He "rested on the seventh day" from a "finished" work. (Genesis 1:27, 31; 2:1-3.) Thus the seventh days stood as a memorial and reminder of a finished work in Christ. And when man lost the image of God through sin, Christ came to restore in man that divine image by a new creation. (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24; 2:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17.) On the cross He cried out: "It is finished." John 19:30. This was on Friday evening, and He rested the Sabbath day from a finished work of re-creation, just as He had originally rested on it from a finished work of creation. (Luke 23:52-56.) Thus the seventh-day Sabbath stands in the New Testament as a memorial of a "finished" work in Christ, just as it did in the Old Testament. The work of Christ, both in creation and redemption, was for the whole human race, not for the Jews only.

(71) Christ says: "The Sabbath was made for man." Mark 2:27. And therefore it was made when man was created. "So God created man in His own image,,,,And the evening and the morning were the sixth day....And He rested on the seventh day....And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." Genesis 1:27, 31; 2:2, 3. This was two thousand years before Abraham (the first Jew) was born, therefore the Sabbath could not be Jewish. But, as Christ says, it was "made for man," and the term "man" is not confined to any one race, but embraces all mankind.

We are not alone in believing that the Sabbath was instituted at creation, as the following quotations from leading men in different denominations show:

F. C. Cook, M. A., Cannon of Exeter, says:

"'And God blessed the seventh day.' The natural interpretation of these words is that the blessing of the Sabbath was immediately consequent on the first creation of man, for whom the Sabbath was made (Mark 2:27). It has been urged from the silence concerning its observance by the patriarchs, that no Sabbatic ordinance was really given until the promulgation of the law, and that this passage in Genesis is not historical but anticipatory. There are several objections, which seem fatal to this theory." - "The Holy Bible, with an Explanatory and Critical Commentary by Bishops and Clergy of the Anglican Church," Vol. I, p. 37. New York: 1875.

Thomas Hamilton, D. D., in his Five-Hundred-Dollar Prize Essay, meets this objection to the historicity of Genesis in the following forceful way:

(72) "Palcy...says: 'The words [of Genesis 2:1-3] do not assert that God then blessed and sanctified the seventh day.'...But such an interpretation really amounts to an interpolation. It alters the passage....Once admit such a mode of dealing with Scripture, or of dealing with any other book, and we may bid farewell to certainty regarding any author's meaning....No history could stand if subjected to such treatment. The plainest and most unvarnished statements might be so twisted and distorted as to bear a meaning the exact contrary to that intended by its author....

"It is not only said God 'rested,' but He 'blessed,' the day and 'sanctified' it....If all this do [sic.] not amount to the institution of a weekly Sabbath for man in all time coming,...we fail to see what intelligible meaning or purpose is to be extracted from the narrative." - "Our Rest Day." Pp. 10-15, New edition. Edinburgh: 1888.

Dr. Martin Luther says on this text:

"God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it to Himself. It is moreover to be remarked that God did this to no other creature. God did not sanctify to Himself the heaven nor the earth nor any other creature. But God did sanctify to Himself the seventh day. This was especially designed of God, to cause us to understand that the 'seventh day' is to be especially devoted to divine worship....

"It follows therefore from this passage, that if Adam had stood in his innocence and had not fallen he would yet have observed the 'seventh day' as sanctified, holy and sacred....Nay, even after the fall he held the 'seventh day' sacred; that is, he taught on that day his own family. This is testified by the offerings made by his two sons, Cain and Abel. The Sabbath therefore has, from the beginning of the world, been set apart for the worship of God....For all these things are implied and signified in the expression 'sanctified.'

"Although therefore man lost the knowledge of God by sin, yet God willed that this command concerning the sanctifying of the Sabbath should remain. He willed that on the seventh day both the word should be preached, and also those other parts of His worship performed which He Himself instituted." - "Commentary on Genesis," Vol. I, pp. 138-140, translation by Professor J. N. Lenker, D. D., Minneapolis: 1904; and also "Copious Explanation of Genesis," Vol. I, pp. 62, 63. Christiania: 1863.

(73) The following words from a distinguished Hebrew scholar are worthy of note here:

"'Finished.' To finish a work, in Hebrew conception, is to cease from it, to have done with it. On the seventh day. The seventh day is distinguished from all the preceding days by being itself the subject of the narrative. In the absence of any work on this day, the Eternal is occupied with the day itself, and does four things in reference to it. First, He ceased from His work which He had made. Secondly, He rested....Thirdly, He blessed the seventh day....In the fourth place, He hallowed it or set it apart to a holy rest....

"The present record is a sufficient proof that the original institution was never forgotten by man....

"Incidental traces of the keeping of the Sabbath are found in the record of the Deluge, when the sacred writer has occasion to notice short intervals of time. The measurement of time by weeks then appears (Genesis 8:10, 12). The same division of time again comes up in the history of Jacob (Genesis 29:27, 28). This unit of measure is traceable to nothing but the institution of the seventh-day rest." - "A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Genesis with a New Translation," J. G. Murphy, D. D., T. C. D. (Professor of Hebrew, Belfast), pp. 70, 71. Andover: 1866.

Dr. J. P. Lange says: "The expression, He hallowed it, must be for man, for all men who were to be on the earth.

"If we had no other passage than this of Genesis 2:3 there would be no difficulty in deducing from it a precept for the universal observance of a Sabbath, or the seventh day, to be devoted to God, as holy time, by all of that race for whom the earth and its nature were especially prepared. The first man must have known it. The words 'He hallowed it,' can have no meaning otherwise. They would be a blank unless in reference to some who were required to keep it holy." - Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, John Peter Lange, D. D., Vol. I, pp. 196, 197. New York: 1884.

(74) Dr. M. W. Jacobus, Professor George Bush, and C. O. Rosenius, and others forcefully emphasize the same facts. The preceding statements taken from leading men in different denominations need no comment. They state the plain facts of the Bible narrative in their most natural setting.

Another remarkable thing in this connection is the fact that the heathen nations for centuries after the days of Noah retained the seventh-day Sabbath. The learned Dr. John Kitto says:

"We find from time immemorial the knowledge of a week of seven days among all nations - Egyptians, Arabians, Indians - in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of this week of seven days, for which it is difficult to account without admitting that this knowledge was derived from the common ancestors of the human race." - Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature, Vol. II, art. "Sabbath," p. 655.

Professor A. H. Sayce declares:

"The Sabbath-rest was a Babylonian, as well as a Hebrew, institution. Its origin went back to pre-Semitic days....In the cuneiform tablets the Sabattu is described as 'a day of rest for the soul,'...it was derived by the Assyrian scribes from two Sumerian or pre-Semitic words, sa and bat, which meant respectively 'heart' and 'ceasing,.'...The rest enjoined on the Sabbath was thus as complete as it was among the Jews." - "Higher Criticism and the Monuments," pp. 74, 75.

During their servitude in Egypt, the majority of the Jews evidently worked on the Sabbath, just as the rank and file of the Jews do today, but the knowledge of it was retained then as now, and it was kept holy by a faithful few. Besides other evidences, we see this from the fact that, thirty days after they left Egypt, and more than two weeks before the law was given on Sinai, God tested the people on Sabbath-keeping (Exodus 16:4, 27, 28), which He certainly could not have done, if the Sabbath had not been known among them till the law was given on Sinai. Then, too, God speaks of it as a familiar institution. (Compare Exodus 16:28 with Genesis 26:5 and 2:3.) The fourth commandment itself points back to creation and commands us to "remember the Sabbath day" on which He rested at the close of creation week. (Exodus 20:8, 11.) No human logic can therefore explain away the historical facts that the Sabbath was set apart for man at creation.

THE SABBATH MORAL OR TYPICAL?

(75) Some claim that the Sabbath commandment does not enforce the observance of the seventh day of the week, but only the seventh part of our time, the particular day being left to our choice. But nothing could be more contradictory to the plain wording of the commandment. If God's commands and promises are to be so construed as to mean the very opposite of what they state, then we may bid farewell to all certainty and comfort derived from the Scripture. God commands us to keep, not a seventh, but the seventh day, on which He rested, the day He blessed and sanctified. (Exodus 20:10, 11.) The Sabbath rests on a historical event that cannot be changed to another day, any more than our birthday can be changed.

In regard to the claim that the Sabbath commandment is not moral as the other nine, but ceremonial, it needs only to be said that there is no statement to that effect in the whole Bible, and it would involve its advocates in the most serious difficulty. All through the Bible a clear distinction is maintained between the two laws, the moral and the ceremonial. God spoke the Ten Commandments to the people directly, "and He added no more" (Deuteronomy 5:22); He engraved them on two tables of stone (Exodus 32:16; Deuteronomy 9:10); and had them laid "in the ark" (Deuteronomy 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9). But the ceremonial law of ordinances was spoken to the people by Moses, was written by him "in a book," and laid beside the ark. (Exodus 21:1; 24:3, 4, 7; Deuteronomy 31:24-26. -- The English and American Revised Versions, the Jewish, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish versions render Deuteronomy 31:26, by the side of the ark." Others render it at the side of the ark," and beside the ark.") Now we respectfully ask: Would any one claim that God did not understand the difference between moral and ceremonial laws, and hence wrote a ceremonial command into the very bosom of His moral law, the Decalogue? Such an accusation of God would be preposterous, and yet, this is what the above claim necessarily implies! We must therefore conclude that all the Ten Commandments are moral, which practically all the leading religious denominations teach in their confessions of faith.

DID CHRIST CHANGE THE SABBATH?

(76) Christ came to lift people out of the degradation of sin, not to leave them in sin. He received the name "JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21. And "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. The law here referred to is the moral law of the Ten Commandments. (Romans 7:7, 12; James 2:10, 11.) Christ firmly refuted the idea that He was to abolish any part of God's law. He says: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law……. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." Matthew 5:17, 18. Christ was to "magnify the law, and make it honorable." Isaiah 42:21. And this He did, for He freed it from all the traditions and additions of men. (Matthew 15:3, 6, 9, 13.) The Pharisees had burdened down the Sabbath with hundreds of man-made regulations. All these Jesus swept away, and restored it to its original purpose, that it should be a blessing, a sacred "delight" to God's people. (Isaiah 58:13.) But He never made any change in the day. He kept it Himself, and taught His followers to do the same. (Luke 4:16, 31; Matthew 24:20; 12:11, 12.)

SATAN'S HATRED OF THE SABBATH

The Lord gave His Sabbath to man as a weekly reminder of Christ's sanctifying and keeping power, because man needed this reminder. (Ezekiel 20:12.) But Satan has always tried to blot out all memory of the true God from the earth, and to draw man's allegiance and worship to himself through idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:20.) He has therefore made relentless efforts to pull down God's Sabbatic flag, and to trample it in the mire. We have seen that for a long time after the descendants of Noah had dispersed over the earth retained the knowledge of the Sabbath. This was true even after they went into idolatry. Egypt was the first among the heathen nations to turn from honoring the seventh-day Sabbath, and to lead other nations to regard the first day as the weekly holiday of their sun-god. Truels Lund gives a detailed story of this change, tracing it back to 1400 B.C. We quote the following from his extensive work:

(77) "According to the Assyrian-Babylonian conception, the particular stress lay necessarily upon the number seven....The whole week pointed prominently towards the seventh day, the feast day, the rest day, in this day it collected, in this it also consummated. 'Sabbath' is derived from both 'rest' and 'seven.' With the Egyptians it was the reverse....For them on the contrary the sun-god was the beginning and origin of all things. The day of the Sun, Sunday, therefore, became necessarily for them the feast day....The holiday was transferred from the last to the first day of the week." - "Daglige Liv I Norden," Vol. XIII, pp. 54, 55.

"The seven planetary names of the days were at the close of the second century A.D., prevailing everywhere in the Roman Empire....This astrology originated in Egypt, where Alexandria now so loudly proclaimed it to all....'The day of the Sun' was the Lord's day, the chiefest and first of the week. The evil and fatal Saturn's day was the last of the week, on which none could celebrate a feast....

"From Rome, through the Roman legionaires, the seven planetary days pressed farther north to Gaul, Britain, and Germany. Everywhere...people yielded respectfully to the astrology in its popular form: the doctrine concerning the Sun-day with its fortune, the Mood-day with its alternative play, and the filthy, unlucky Saturday....As a concentrated troop the planetary appellations and names of heathen deities stood on guard, when later Christianity reached Europe, and attempted to displace them....

(78) "For the Christians the lost was cast by the reception of the...day of the sun. Not till they themselves had later gained power were they awakened to doubt....And the heathen names of the days seemed at variance with Christian faith." - Id., pp. 91, 92, 110.

The London Anglican rector, T. H. Morer, says of Sunday:

"It is not to be denied but we borrow the name of this day from the ancient Greeks and Romans, and we allow that the old Egyptians worshiped the sun, and as a standing memorial of their veneration, dedicated this day to him. And we find by the influence of their example, other nations, and among them the Jews themselves, doing him homage." - "Six Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p. 22. London: 1701.

Thus we see how Satan, through heathenism, tried to stigmatize the Sabbath of Jehovah and to elevate Sunday as a joyful day. The Egyptians worshiped their sun-god under the name of Osiris, and the Apis bull (the golden calf made at Horeb) was a representation of him. This worship was conducted by turning to the rising sun. (Ezekiel 8:16.) Therefore the Lord ordered the tabernacle always to be pitched with the front toward the east, so that the people, worshiping before it, had to turn their backs upon sun worship. (Numbers 3:23. See also Exodus 26:22; 36:27, 32 in American Revised Version, and Jeremiah 32:33.) Talbot W. Chambers, D. D., says that sun worship was "the oldest, the most widespread, and the most enduring of all forms of idolatry known to man."

"The universality of this form of idolatry is something remarkable. It seems to have prevailed everywhere. The chief object of worship among the Syrians was Baal - the sun....In Egypt the sun was the kernel of the state religion." - "The Old Testament Student," pp. 193, 194. January, 1886.

(79) In Babylon the sun-god was called Bel, in Phoenicia and Palestine, Baal, and Sun-day was "the wild solar holiday of all pagan times." - "North British Review," Vol. XVIII, p. 409.

Rev. W. H. Poole says:

"The first and principal idol was the sun - the glorious luminary of the day....Baal was the great sun-god of all the East. With our Israelitish ancestors the sun-god came west. His day is our Sunday. Every time you name our Sabbath-day Sunday you are reminded of our great, great, great grandfathers' principal deity." - "Anglo-Israel in Nine Lectures," pp. 389, 390. Detroit, Mich.: 1889.

The Encyclopedia Britannica says of the worship of Baal:

"As the sun-god he is conceived as the male principle of life and reproduction in nature, and thus in some forms of his worship is the patron of the grossest sensuality, and even of systematic prostitution. An example of this is found in the worship of Baal-Peor (Numbers 25)." - Vol. III, (New American ed., Werner Co.), art. "Baal," p. 175.

This sun worship was the greatest of all abominations to God (Ezekiel 8:13-16), and the warnings to Israel have great significance to us today: "I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat Me, saith the Lord." Hosea 2:13. (See also 1 Corinthians 10:11.)

When we remember that it was Christ who took Israel out of Egypt (Hebrews 11:26, 27; 1 Corinthians 10:4), and who labored so earnestly to turn them away from sun worship and Sunday-keeping, and that it was Satan who always led them into this idolatry, we ask with all candor: Could any one suppose that Christ, in the New Testament, has exchanged places with Satan, so that He is now leading people to keep Sunday, while the devil is leading them to keep the Sabbath of Jehovah? Every thoughtful person must say with the Apostle Paul: "God forbid." Rom. 3:31.

Chapter 8

The New Testament Rest Day

(80) CHRIST is "the way, the truth, and the life." John 14:6. He has gone all the way before us, "leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps" (1 Pet. 2:21), and "he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2:6), and all will admit that the footsteps of Jesus cannot lead any one astray. Let us therefore agree to follow His steps in regard to Sabbath observance. He worked as a "carpenter" at Nazareth during "the six working days," but rested on the seventh-day Sabbath. (Mark 6:2, 3; Eze. 46:1; Luke 4:16.) And after He began His ministry, He faithfully continued His Sabbath-keeping. (V. 31.)

While He taught His disciples that such necessary work as eating, healing the sick, or lifting a sheep out of a pit, was lawful to do on the Sabbath days (Matt. 12:1-12), He thereby acknowledged the claims of the Sabbath law, which makes ordinary work not lawful on that day. It was "the Spirit of Christ" in the prophets (1 Pet. 10, 11) who instructed His people to "bear no burden on the Sabbath day" through the gates of Jerusalem (Jer. 17:21, 22, 27). And when foretelling the destruction of that city (which took place A.D. 70) Jesus warned His disciples saying: "But pray ye that your flight be not...on the Sabbath day." Matt. 24:20. This warning was not, as some would have us believe, on account of the gates being closed on that day, for in the same connection Jesus says: "Let him which is on the housetop not come down." V. 17. But how could he flee without coming down from the housetop? There can be only one answer. There was an elevated road from one flat roof to another on which they could flee till they reached the wall, where they could be let down. (See Acts 9:25; Joshua 2:15; 1 Sam. 19:12.) In such a case closed gates could hardly come into consideration. This instruction shows Christ's sacred regard for the Sabbath, and His anxiety that His church should keep it properly. A Lutheran minister says:

(81) "When God gave the third [fourth] commandment,...He designated definitely the seventh day, which already had been sanctified by Him at creation, as this rest day. And as Christ says that He had not come to destroy the law )Matt. 5:17), so He has also in the words of His last prophetic speech (Matt. 24:20), which has reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the flight of the Christian church from the doomed city, expressly emphasized the Sabbath, or Saturday, as the still valid rest day, by saying: 'Pray, that your flight be not on the Sabbath' (on which day ye according to the third [fourth] commandment should rest, and not undertake any long journey). For this reason many godly Christians have solemnly upbraided the Christian church for keeping Sunday instead of Saturday: it [the church] can have no right to change God's commandment, and, if in the catechism the whole commandment had been embodied verbatim in its entire wording from Exodus 20:8-11, as has been done in the Heidelberg Catechism, then we should still keep the Saturday holy, and not the Sunday." - "Opbyggelig Katekismus undervisning," ("Edifying Instruction in the Catechism,") K. A. Dachsel, pp. 23, 24. Bergen: 1887.

"'Neither on the Sabbath day.' The Jewish Christians might entertain scruples against traveling on the Sabbath beyond the legal distance, which was about five furlongs." - "A Commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark," John J. Owen, D. D., LL. D., p. 314. New York: Scribner and Co., 1868.

Christ had so carefully instructed His followers about proper Sabbath-keeping, that they would not even anoint His sacred body on the Sabbath. They "prepared spices and ointments" on Friday, "and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment," but early the next morning, "the first day of the week," they came to the grave to anoint Him. (Luke 23:52-56; 24:1.) They left their work unfinished from Friday evening until Sunday morning, because they "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke wrote this thirty-five years after the resurrection. Some claim that the Sabbath commandment is not mentioned in the New Testament. But here we find that it enjoins the keeping of the "Sabbath" which comes between Friday and the "first day of the week" and that Christ's followers were keeping it.

(82) The apostles are entirely silent in regard to any change of the day of rest from the seventh to the first day of the week. Paul, while working among the Gentiles, knew of no change. At Antioch he preached on the Sabbath, and when asked by the Gentiles to preach the same sermon again, he did not suggest a meeting on Sunday, but waited till "the next Sabbath day." (Acts 13:14, 42, 44.) He knew of no other weekly rest day than the Sabbath, for he worked at his trade as tent maker during the "six working days" (Eze. 46:1), but "he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks" (Acts 18:1-4). And this was his custom. (Acts 17:2.) When he came where there were no Jewish synagogues, he did not stay in the hustling, bustling, heathen city on God's holy day, but the record says: "And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made." Acts 16:12, 13. This shows it was a matter of conscience with him to keep the Sabbath. He says: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3:31.

If Christ or the apostles had changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, does it not seem strange that they never informed us about it in the New Testament, which is the only record they left us? Could they have neglected to inform us regarding so important a matter? Paul declares emphatically: "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you." Acts 20:20. History reveals that the whole Christian church kept the seventh-day Sabbath till the seventh century.

Chapter 9

The Sabbath In History

(83) As we continue our study of the Sabbath question, we shall first consult an eyewitness, who had traveled over the greater part of Christendom: Socrates, the Greek historian, who was born about 380 A.D. M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopedia says of him: "He is generally considered the most exact and judicious of the three continuators of the history of Eusebius, being less florid in his style and more careful in his statements than Sozomen, and less credulous than Theodoret. 'His impartiality is so strikingly displayed,' says Waddington, 'as to make his orthodoxy questionable to Baronius, the celebrated Roman Catholic historian; but Valesius, in his life, has shown that there is no reason for such suspicion.'" - Vol. IX, art. "Socrates," p. 854.

Socrates says of the year 391 A.D.:

"For although almost all Churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [the Lord's Supper] on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this. The Egyptians in the neighborhood of Alexandria, and the inhabitants of Thebais, hold their religious meetings on the Sabbath, but do not participate of the mysteries in the manner usual among Christians in general:...for...in the evening...they partake of the mysteries." - "Ecclesiastical History," Book 5, chap. 22, page 289. London: 1853.

The footnote which accompanies the foregoing quotation explains the use of the word "Sabbath." It says:

"That is, upon the Saturday. It should be observed, that Sunday is never called 'the Sabbath' by the ancient Fathers and historians....The Latins kept the Sabbath as a fast, the Greeks as a feast." - Id., p. 289.

This shows that all the churches throughout the world kept Saturday as the Sabbath in 391, but that some did not have the Lord's Supper till in the evening. There had sprung up a hot controversy in regard to fasting on the Sabbath. Who was it that urged this Sabbath fasting against the will of the churches in general? Pope Sylvester (314-335) was the first to order the churches to fast on Saturday, and Pope Innocent (402-417) made it a binding law in the churches that obeyed him.

(84) Dr. Peter Heylyn says:

"Innocentius did ordaine the Saturday or Sabbath to be always fasted....It was by him intended for a binding law. [Most of the churches refused, however, to obey him.] And in this difference it stood a long time together, till in the end the Roman Church obtained the cause, and Saturday became a fast, almost through all the parts of the Westerne world. I say the Westerne world, and of that alone: The Easterne Churches being so farre from altering their ancient custome, that in the sixth Councell of Constantinople, Anno 692, they did admonish those of Rome to forbeare fasting on that day, upon pain of censures. Which I have noted here, in its proper place, that we might know the better how the matter stood betweene the Lord's Day, and the Sabbath; how hard a thing it was for one to get the mastery of the other." - "History of the Sabbath," part 2, chap. 2, pp. 44, 45. London: 1636. (The original spelling is retained.)

This shows how the popes tried to get rid of the Sabbath. They knew that the churches generally would not give it up willingly, and as yet the popes did not have the power to force them to do it. But if the Sabbath was made a day of fasting, the children would soon tire of it, and after a few generations the majority would gladly give up the gloomy fast day. This effort continued from about A.D. 391 to 692, and even then it was hard for the Sunday to get the mastery over the Sabbath, says Dr. Heylyn. Here we can readily see that it was not changed at the time of the apostles.

Rev. Joseph Bingham, M. A., says:

"The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the seventh day, which was the ancient Jewish Sabbath. Some observed it as a fast, others as a festival; but all unanimously agreed in keeping it as a more solemn day of religious worship and adoration. In the Eastern church it was ever observed as a festival, one only Sabbath excepted, which was called the Great Sabbath, between Good Friday and Easter-day....From hence it is plain, that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival....Athanasius likewise tells us, that they held religious assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same." - "Antiquities of the Christian Church," Vol. II, Book XX, chap. 3, Sec. 1, pp. 1137, 1138. London: 1852.

THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS

(85) Bishop Jeremy Taylor says:

"The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews:...therefore the Christians, for a long time together, did keep their conventions upon the Sabbath, in which some portions of the law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council; which also took care that the reading of the Gospels should be mingled with their reading of the law." - "The Whole Works" of Jeremy Taylor, Vol. IX, p. 416 (R. Heber's Edition, Vol. XII, p. 416). London: 1822.

The edict here mentioned is "Canon XVI," which reads:

Canon XVI. - The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath Day, with the other Scriptures." - "Index Canonum," John Fulton, D. D., LL. D., p. 255. New York: 1883.

Dr. T. H. Morer (a Church of England divine) says:

"The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived this practice from the apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose." - "Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p. 189. London: 1701.

Dr. Theodore Zahn (Lutheran Professor in Theology at the University of Erlangen) says:

(86) "The Apostles could not have conceded to any other than one man the right to 'change the customs Moses had given:' the Son of Man, who had called Himself Lord also of the Sabbath day; but of Him they knew that He had neither transgressed nor abolished the Jewish Sabbath, but truly sanctified it. And they knew also, how He had threatened any of His disciples who might dare to abolish even one of the least of the commands of Moses.

"But this has no one dared to do with the Sabbath commandment during the time of the Apostles. Certainly not within the territory of the Jewish Christendom; for they continued to keep the actual Sabbath....Nor could any one have thought of such a thing within the Gentile Christian domain as far as Paul's influence reached." - "Sondagens Historie" (History of Sunday), pp. 33, 34. Christiania: P. T. Mallings, 1879.

THE EXAMPLE AND COMMAND OF JESUS

Dr. Zahn further says in regard to the early Christians:

"They observed the Sabbath in the most conscientious manner: otherwise, they would have been stoned. Instead of this, we learn from the book of the Acts that at times they were highly respected even by that part of their own nation that remained in unbelief....That the observance of Sunday commenced among them would be a supposition which would have no seeming ground for it, and all probability against it....The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of the whole people, and in keeping the Sabbath holy, they followed not only the example, but also the command of Jesus." - "Geschichte des Sonntags," pp. 13, 14.

Bishop Grimelund of Norway (Lutheran) says:

"The early Christians were of Jewish descent, and the first Christian church in Jerusalem was a Jewish-Christian church. It conformed, as could be expected, to the Jewish law and Sabbath-custom; it had no express instruction from the Lord to do otherwise." - "Sondagens Historie," p. 13. Christiania, Norway: Den norske Lutherstiftelses Forlag, 1886.

(87) After citing the fact that Christ arose on the first day, he continues:

"But, one could reason, that for all this it does not follow that one should give up and forsake the 'Sabbath' which God Himself has commanded,...nor that we should transfer this to another day of the week, even if that is such a memorable day. To do this would require an equally definite command from God, whereby the former command is abolished, but where can we find such a command? It is true, such a command is not to be found." - Id., p. 18.

Dr. John C. L. Gieseler says:

"While the Jewish Christians of Palestine retained the entire Mosaic law, and consequently the Jewish festivals, the Gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath and the passover (1 Cor. 5:6-8), with reference to the last scenes of Jesus' life, but without Jewish superstition." - "A Compendium of Ecclesiastical History," Vol. I, chap. 2, sec. 30, p. 92. Edinburgh: 1846.

A little later we shall trace Christ's true followers from the days of the apostles to our own time, and show how they retained the Bible Sabbath with the other parts of the apostolic faith. But we will here break off this narrative, and trace step by step how Sunday-keeping came into the popular church, and the influences which worked together to accomplish the change from the seventh to the first day of the week.

Chapter 10

Sunday in the Early Church

(88) The word "Sunday" is not found in the Bible, but the "first day" of the week is mentioned just nine times. Let us examine these nine texts.

1. The first day of the week originated as a work day. This world was created on a Sunday, so that, wherever one goes, he is reminded of God's Sunday work. (Gen. 1:1-5.)

2. "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene." Matt. 28:1. Here we notice that Sunday is an ordinary "week" day, not a holy day, and that the New Testament says the Sabbath is over when the first day begins.

3. "When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone." Mark 16:1-3. Here again we see that Sunday is a working day on which work was resumed.

(The fourth text we will examine a little later.)

5. Christ was buried on Friday, "and that day was the preparation" for the Sabbath. After the burial, His followers returned home "and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices." Luke 23:54-56; 24:1. Here three consecutive days are mentioned: They prepared the spices on Friday, rested on the Sabbath, and early Sunday morning they went to finish the work left over from Friday. So we see that Sunday is a working day, which follows immediately after the Sabbath of the New Testament.

(89) 6. "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher." John 20:1. This is simply a repetition of the other texts.

7. "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews," Jesus appeared. John 20:19. "Here," says some one, "you see the disciples were gathered to keep the new Sabbath in memory of the resurrection." But the text does not say that they were gathered in honor of the day, but "for fear of the Jews." Let us now examine the fourth text.

4. "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene....She went and told them that [she] had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that He appeared" to the two who went to Emmaus. They returned and told the rest: "neither believed they them. Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen." Mark 16:9-14. This is the same meeting which is recorded in John 20:19. We ask: How could they be gathered to celebrate Sunday in honor of Christ's resurrection, when they did not believe He had risen? No, the disciples were simply in their common living quarters, and were having their evening meal when Jesus came, and they gave Him some fish and honey that was left. (Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43.)

8. In Acts 20:7 we have the only place in the New Testament where a religious meeting is said to be held on the "first day of the week," and this was a farewell meeting, when, of course, it was natural to celebrate the Lord's supper in parting. (Vs. 7, 25.) Besides this, the believers gathered "daily," "breaking bread" (Acts 2:46), so there was nothing in the act to indicate that the day was holy. Then too, the meeting at Troas was held on Saturday night. In the Bible reckoning, every day begins and ends at sunset, because God began the work of creation with the dark part and ended the day with the light part. "The evening and the morning were the first day." Genesis 1:1-5. "From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath." Lev. 23:32.

(90) "And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all that were diseased." Mark 1:32. They would not bring them until after the Sabbath; but "at even, when the sun did set," the first working day of the week began. Therefore the Sabbath began at sunset Friday, and ended at sunset Saturday, and the first day of the week began at sunset on our Saturday evening, and ended at sunset on our Sunday evening. The only dark part of the first day, was therefore the night that preceded it, as the night following it was part of the second day. The meeting at Troas was held at night, for "there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together," and Paul "continued his speech until midnight." Being "the first day of the week," it must have been our Saturday night. (Acts 20:7, 8.) Having spent the Sabbath together, they simply had a farewell meeting in the evening. Professor McGarvey says:

"I conclude that the brethren met on the night after the Jewish Sabbath which was still observed as a day of rest by all of them who were Jews or Jewish proselytes; and considering this the beginning of the first day of the week, spent it in the manner above describe. On Sunday morning Paul and his companions resumed their journey." - Commentary on Acts, under Acts 20:7.

Conybeare and Howson write:

"It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath....On the Sunday morning the vessel was about to sail. The Christians of Troas were gathered together at this solemn time....The night was dark....Many lamps were burning in the room where the congregation was assembled." - "Life and Epistles of the Apostle Paul," pp. 520, 521. New York.

If Sunday was their holy day, why then would Paul stay with the brethren at Troas seven days, and leave them on Sunday morning to walk eighteen and one-half miles that day, "for so had he appointed." This was planning quite a work for Sunday! (Acts 20:6, 13.)

(91) 9. "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store." 1 Cor. 16:2. This text says that every one should "lay by him in store." The new Swedish and new Norwegian Bibles read, at "home by himself." Weymouth's reads: "Let each of you put on one side and store up at his home." Ballantine's translation reads: "Let each of you lay up at home." And the Syriac has it: "Let every one of you lay aside and preserve at home." So the text proves the opposite of what is often claimed for it.

The apostle Paul was instructing the believers to take time on Sunday to lay aside at home from the wages received during the preceding week, such an amount as they could afford to give for the relief of their poor brethren at Jerusalem. If we always remembered on Sunday to take something from our previous week's earnings and lay it up at home, we would find a larger ready offering at hand, when the call comes, than if we wait, and give what we happen to have on hand. The fact that they should sit down and figure up their accounts to see how "God hath prospered" them, and give accordingly, would indicate that the day was not considered a holy day. Then, too, Sunday is never given a sacred title in the New Testament.

THE LORD'S DAY

Some claim that "the Lord's day" of Revelation 1:10, refers to Sunday, but this text does not say which day is meant, and Sunday is not called the Lord's day in any other place in the New Testament. There is therefore no evidence that Sunday is meant here. It is generally agreed that John wrote his Gospel two years after he wrote Revelation. If the term "Lord's day" had become the designation for Sunday, when John wrote Revelation, then he would have used that name for it two years later when he wrote the Gospel, but he simply calls it "the first day of the week." John 20:1. The only day which the Lord has designated as His day, is the seventh. (Ex. 20:10; Isa. 58:13; Mark 2:28.)

(92) Dr. Summerbell says:

"Many suppose that they must denominate the first day of the week the 'Lord's day,' but we have no certain Scripture for this. The phrase 'Lord's day,' occurs but once in the Bible: 'I was in the spirit on the Lord's day,' and there probably refers to the day of which Christ said: 'The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day,' as the whole book of Revelation has a strong Jewish bearing." - "History of the Christian Church," p. 152. Cincinnati: 1873.

W. B. Taylor says:

"If a current day was intended, the only day bearing this definition, in either the Old or New Testaments, is Saturday, the seventh day of the week." - "Obligation of the Sabbath," p. 296.

Dr. Peter Heylyn remarks:

"Take which you will, either of the Fathers, or the Modernes, and we shall find no Lord's day instituted by an Apostolic Mandate, no Sabbath set on foot by them upon the first day of the weeke, as some would have it: much lesse than any such Ordinance should be hence collected, our of the words of the apostle." - "History of the Sabbath," (original spelling), Part 2, p. 27: London: 1636.

THE CONCLUSION

Dr. William Smith, LL. D., after carefully examining all the texts in the New Testament usually adduced in favor of the first day, comes to this conclusion:

"Taken separately, perhaps, and even all together, these passages seem scarcely adequate to prove that the dedication of the first day of the week to the purposes above mentioned was a matter of apostolic institution, or even of apostolic practice." - A Dictionary of the Bible, art. "Lord's Day," p. 356. Hartford: Burr and Hyde, 1871.

(93) The learned Dr. John Kitto sums up those texts in the following words:

"Thus far, then, we cannot say that the evidence for any particular observance of this day amounts to much; still less does it appear what purpose or object was referred to. We find no mention of any commemoration, whether of the resurrection or any other event in the Apostolic records." - Cyclopoedia of Biblical Literature (2-vol. Ed.), Vol. II, art. "Lord's Day," p. 269. New York.

"'But,' say some, 'it was changed from the seventh to the first day.' Where? when? And by whom? No man can tell. No, it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again: for the reason assigned must be changed before the observance, or respect to the reason, can be changed!! It is all old wives' fables to talk of the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day. If it be change, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio - I think his name is DOCTOR ANTICHRIST." - Alexander Campbell, in "The Christian Baptist," revised by D. S. Burnit, from the Second Edition, with Mr. Campbell's last correction, page 44. Cincinnati: D. S. Burnit. 1835.

A tract widely circulated against those who keep the seventh day as the Sabbath has this to say in its fourteenth proposition:

"If Christians are to keep the Sabbath day, how do you account for the fact that the apostles preached the gospel in Jerusalem, Samaria, to Cornelius the Gentile, and to many others, without commanding a single individual to keep it: Did they under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit fail to properly instruct their converts?"

We answer: The Christians everywhere were keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and there was an acknowledged law enforcing its observance. There was therefore no occasion for giving any commandment on this point. (Luke 23:52-56; 16:17; Matt. 5:17-19; Romans 3:31.) And the apostles by their example and teaching had educated both Jewish and Gentile believers to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. (Acts 13:42-44; 18:1-4; 17:2; 16:12, 13; 1 Cor. 7:19; Romans 7:12; 3:31.) What more could they have done in this direction?

(94) But if a new day (Sunday) was to be instituted among God's people, how can we account for the fact that the apostles preached the gospel in Jerusalem, Samaria, to Cornelius the Gentile, and to many others, without every mentioning the institution of Sunday in place of the Sabbath, or ever commanding any one to keep Sunday, the first day of the week? If the day of rest was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, how can we account for the fact that the New Testament is entirely silent about any such change, and that the apostles wrote four Gospels, and twenty-one letters to instruct the churches, besides the Acts and the Revelation, and never instructed the Christians to keep Sunday, or even mentioned it with any sacred title, but always as a "week" day; that is, a work day? Did the apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, fail to instruct their converts properly? (See Acts 20:26, 27.)

The new Christian institutions of baptism and the Lord's supper are clearly taught in the New Testament. We can point to the chapter and verse where they are commanded. Then why should not so important an institution as a new Christian rest day be mentioned? To this there can be but one answer: The silence of the New Testament as to any change of the weekly rest day is an indisputable evidence that no such change was made till after the New Testament canon was closed.

SUNDAY A WORKING DAY

Dr. Francis White, Lord Bishop of Ely, says:

"In S. Hieromes days [420 A.D.], and in the very place where he was residing, the devoutest Christians did ordinary worke upon the Lord's day (Sunday was called "Lord's Day" in England in the seventeenth century when Bishop White wrote this; he therefore uses this designation of the day. Jerome is here spelled Hierome.), when the service of the Church was ended." - "Treatise of the Sabbath-Day," p. 219. London: 1636.

"The Catholic Church for more than six hundred yeares after Christ, permitted labour, and gave license to many Christian people, to worke upon the Lord's-day [Sunday], at such houres, as they were not commanded to bee present at the publike service, by the precept of the church." - Id., pp. 217, 218. (original spelling.)

(95) Bishop Jeremy Taylor says:

"St. Ignatius expressly affirms:...'The Christian is bound to labor, even upon that day.'...And the primitive Christians did all manner of works upon the Lord's day, even in the times of persecution, when they are the strictest observers of all the divine commandments: but in this they knew there was none." - "Whole Works" of Jeremy Taylor, D. D. (R. Heber, ed.), Vol. XII, Book 2, chap. 2, rule 6, par. 59, p. 426. London: 1822.

Dr. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A., says:

"Chrysostom (A.D. 360) concludes one of his Homilies by dismissing his audience to their respective ordinary occupations." - Cyclopoedia of Biblical Literature, Vol. 2, art. "Lord's Day," p. 270.

Dr. Peter Heylyn quotes St. Jerome as telling us that, when the services were ended on Sunday morning, the holy women, "after they returne from thence,...set themselves unto their tasks which was the making garments for themselves or others: a thing which questionlesse so good a woman had not done, and much lesse ordered it to be done by others; had it been then accounted an unlawful Act. And finally S. Chrysostome...confesseth,...that after the dismission of the Congregation, every man might apply himselfe to his lawfull business....As for the time appointed to these publicke exercises, it seems not to be very long...an houre, or two at the most." - "History of the Sabbath" (original spelling} Part 2, chap. 3, par. 7, 8, pp. 79, 80. London: 1636.

Dr. Heylyn says further that the people in the country worked freely on Sunday, and that those "in populous cities" "might lawfully apply themselves to their severall businesses, the exercises being ended" in the church. (Id., pp. 80, 81.) And of the Christians of the East he says:

(96) "It was neere 900 yeares from our Saviour's birth, if not quite so much, before restraint of husbandry on this day, had beene first thought of in the East: and probably being thus restrained, did finde no more obedience there, then it had done before in the Westerne parts." - Id., chap. 5, par. 6, p. 140.

"The Sunday in the Easterne Churches had no great prerogative above other days, especially above the Wednesday and the Friday." - Id., chap. 3, par. 4, p. 73. (original spelling.)

Some may wonder why these early morning meetings were held on Sunday, when the Christians considered it only a working day. We shall see that there was a natural cause for it, when we learn that the heathen living around them were sun worshipers, who met at their temples Sunday morning, and prostrated themselves before the rising sun. Christians are a missionary people, and to win their neighbors they held a meeting at the time when their neighbors were used to worshiping their sun-god. And, as it takes a crowd to draw a crowd, the church leaders requested their members to gather at this early morning hour, after which all went to their respective places of business. But this custom became a steppingstone toward eventually adopting the heathen Sunday, as we soon shall see. Other influences also led in the same direction.

Chapter 11

Influences Toward Apostasy

(97) MITHRAISM, an outwardly refined sun worship, invaded the Roman Empire in B.C. 67, and made way for itself by gathering under its wing all the gods of Rome, so that "in the middle of the third century [A.D.] Mithraism seemed on the verge of becoming the universal religion." - Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. XVIII, art. "Mithras," p. 624, 11th edition, 1911.

That which made Mithraism so popular was the fact that the Roman Caesars adopted it, and the soldiers planted its banner wherever they went. The higher schools of Greek learning also accepted it, as did also the nobility, or the better classes of society, which gave it great prestige. Its "Mysteries" had a bewitching and fascinating influence on the people. And Sunday, "the venerable day of the sun," was the popular holiday of Mithraism.

On the other hand, the primitive Christian religion appeared to the learned Greek scholastics and their followers of eminent nobility only as "foolishness" (see 1 Cor. 1:18-23), and the Romans looked down upon the Christians with disdain and utter contempt. After the Jews had rebelled against the Roman government (Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed by Titus, A.D. 70, and multitudes of the Jews were sold as slaves), hatred and contempt for them had become quite general among the Romans, and everything Jewish was despised. Thus Sunday, in the Roman world, stood for what was eminent and popular, while the Sabbath, kept by the Jews, stood for what was despised and looked down upon. The temptations placed before an aspiring man, therefore, lay all in one direction. Dr. J. L. Mosheim says:

"The profound respect that was paid to the Greek and Roman mysteries, and the extraordinary sanctity that was attributed to them, were additional circumstances that induced the Christians to give their religion a mystic air, in order to put it upon an equal footing, in point of dignity, with that of the Pagans. For this purpose, they gave the name of mysteries to the institutions of the Gospel, and decorated particularly the holy sacrament with that solemn title. They used in that sacred institution, as also in that of baptism, several of the terms employed in the Heathen mysteries, and proceeded so far, at length, as even to adopt some of the ceremonies of which those renowned mysteries consisted....A great part, therefore, of the service of the Church, in this century, had a certain air of the Heathen mysteries, and resembled them considerably in many particulars." - "History of the Church" (2-vol. Ed.) Vol. I, Cent. 2, part 2, chap. 4, par. 5, p. 67. New York: 1871.

(98) Gradually, as the church lowered its standards, many of the Greek scholars accepted Christianity (while they retained their heathen philosophy), and they carried with them into the church more or less of their former viewpoint and teaching. Then, as heathenism assailed the church, and the Roman government persecuted it, these men, such as Origen, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, et al., wrote "apologies" and "treatises" to vindicate Christianity. They, however, sadly mixed heathen sentiments with Christian doctrines, and the church gradually became permeated with the teachings of these men, who now had become the new leaders. Dr. Cummings says:

"The Fathers who were really most fitted to be the luminaries of the age in which they lived were too busy in preparing their flocks for martrydom to commit anything to writing....The most devoted and pious of the Fathers were busy teaching their flocks; the more vain and ambitious occupied their time in preparing treatises. If all the Fathers who signalized the age had committed their sentiments to writing, we might have had a fair representation of the theology of the church." - "Lectures on Romanism," p. 203; quoted in "History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, pp. 199, 200.

In a very short time, the customs of Mithraism became incorporated into Christianity. John Dowling, D. D., says:

(99) "There is scarcely anything which strikes the mind of the careful student of ancient ecclesiastical history with greater surprise, than the comparatively early period at which many of the corruptions of Christianity, which are embodied in the Romish system, took their rise." - "History of Romanism," Book II, chap. 1, par. 1, p. 65.

Christianity soon became so much like Mithraism that there was only a step between them. Frantz Cumont (who is probably the best informed man of our age on the subject of Mithraism) says of Christianity and Mithraism:

"The two opposed creeds moved in the same intellectual and moral sphere, and one could actually pass from one to the other without shock or interruption....The religious and mystical spirit of the Orient had slowly overcome the whole social organism and prepared all nations to unite in the bosom of a universal church." - "Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism," pp. 210, 211. Chicago, Ill.: Open Court Pub. Co., 1911.

The Introductory Essay by Grant Showerman says:

"Nor did Christianity stop here. It took from its opponents their own weapons and used them; the better elements of paganism were transferred to the new religion." - Id., pp. xi, xii.

It would be too long a story to trace the doctrines of Mithraism that were brought into the church. We must confine ourselves to our subject, Sunday-keeping. Mr. Cumont says further:

"The ecclesiastical authorities purified in some degree the customs which they could not abolish."

"The pre-eminence assigned to the dies Solis [Sunday] by Mithraism also certainly contributed to the general recognition of Sunday as a holiday [among Christians]." - "Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans," pp. 171, 162, 163. New York: 1912.

"Sunday, over which the Sun presided, was especially holy....

"[The worshipers of Mithra] held Sunday sacred, and celebrated the birth of the Sun on the twenty-fifth of December." - "The Mysteries of Mithra," pp. 167, 191. Chicago: Open Court Pub. Co., 1911.

(100) Professor Gilbert Murray, M.A., D.Litt., LL.D., F.B.A., Professor of Greek in Oxford University, says:

"Now, since Mithras was 'The Sun, the Unconquered,' and the Sun was 'The royal Star,' the religion looked for a King whom it could serve as the representative of Mithras upon earth:...The Roman Emperor seemed to be clearly indicated as the true King. In sharp contrast to Christianity, Mithraism recognized Caesar as the bearer of the divine Grace, and its votaries filled the legions and the civil service....

"It had so much acceptance that it was able to impose on the Christian world its own Sun-Day in place of the Sabbath, its Sun's birthday, twenty-fifth December, as the birthday of Jesus." - "History of Christianity in the Light of Modern Knowledge," Chap. III; cited in "Religion and Philosophy," pp. 73, 74. New York: 1929.

Rev. William Frederick likewise states the same historic fact:

"The Gentiles were an idolatrous people who worshiped the sun, and Sunday was their most sacred day. Now, in order to reach the people in this new field, it seems but natural, as well as necessary, to make Sunday the rest day of the church. At this time it was necessary for the church to wither adopt the Gentiles' day or else have the Gentiles change their day. To change the Gentiles' day would have been an offence and stumbling block to them. The church could naturally reach them better by keeping their day. There was no need in causing an unnecessary offence by dishonoring their day." - "Sunday and the Christian Sabbath," pp. 169, 170; quoted in Signs of the Times, Sept. 6, 1927.

Thomas H. Morer makes a similar acknowledgement. He says:

"Sunday being the day on which the Gentiles solemnly adored that planet, and called it Sunday,...the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear causelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice than might be otherwise taken against the gospel." - "Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p. 23. London: 1701.

(101) The North British Review gives the following reasons for the Christians' adopting the heathen Sun-day:

"That very day was the Sunday of their heathen neighbors and respective countrymen, and patriotism gladly united with expediency in making it at once their Lord's day and their Sabbath....That primitive church, in fact, was shut up to the adoption of the Sunday, - until it became established and supreme, when it was too late to make another alteration." - Vol. XVIII, p. 409. Edinburgh: Feb., 1853.

Thomas Chafie, a clergyman of the English Church, gives the following reasons why the early Christians could not continue to keep the Bible Sabbath among the heathen, nor change the heathen custom from Sunday to Saturday:

"Christians should not have done well in changing, or in endeavouring to have changed their [the heathen's] standing service-day, from Sunday to any other day of the week; and that for these reasons:

"1. Because of the contempt, scorn and derision they thereby should be had in among all the Gentiles with whom they lived; and toward whom they ought by St. Paul's rule to live inoffensively, 1 Cor. 10:32, in things indifferent. If the Gentiles thought hardly, and spoke evil of them, for that they ran not into the same excess of riot with them: 1 Pet. 4:4, what would they have said of Christians for such an innovation as would have been made by their change of their standing service-day? If long before this, the Jews were had in such disdain among the Gentiles for their Saturday-Sabbath,...how grievous would be their taunts and reproaches against the poor Christians living with them, and under their power, for their new set Sacred day, had the Christians chosen any other than the Sunday?

"2. Most Christians then were either Servants or of the poorer sort of People: and the Gentiles (most probably) would not give their servants liberty to cease from working on any other set day constantly, except on their Sunday....

(102) "5. It would have been but labour in vain for them to have assayed the same, they could never have brought it to pass." - "A Brief Tract on the Fourth Commandment...About the Sabbath-Day," pp. 61, 62. London: St. Paul's Church Yard, 1692.

Richard Verstegen, after much research, writes of the heathen nations:

"And it is also respectable, that the most ancient Germans being Pagans, and having appropriated their first Day of the Week to the peculiar adoration of the Sun, whereof that Day doth yet in our English tongue retain the name of Sunday." - "Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities," p. 11. London: 1673.

Speaking of the Saxons, he says:

"First then unto the day dedicated unto the especial adoration of the Idol of the Sun, they gave the name of Sunday, as much as to say the Sun's-day, or the day of the Sun. This Idol was placed in a Temple, and there adored and sacrificed unto, for that they believed that the Sun in the Firmament did with or in this Idol correspond and co-operate. The manner and form whereof was according to this ensuing Picture." - Id., p. 74. (Capitalization as given in this ancient book.)

It is hardly fair to accuse the Roman Catholic Church of exchanging God's holy Sabbath for a heathen festival without giving her the opportunity to deny or acknowledge this accusation; so we will now let her state the fact in her own words, frankly. She says:

"The Church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen....She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday....There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about the sun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice. Hence the Church in these countries would seem to have said, 'Keep that old, pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.' And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus." - "Catholic World," March, 1894, p. 809.

(103) So willing were church leaders to adopt the popular heathen festivals, that even heathen authors reproached them for it. Faustus accused St. Augustine as follows:

"You celebrate the solemn festivals of the Gentiles, their calends and their solstices; and as to their manners, those you have retained without any alteration. Nothing distinguishes you from the pagans except that you hold your assemblies apart from them." - Cited in "History of the Intellectual Development of Europe," Dr. J. W. Draper, Vol. I, p. 310. New York: 1876.

Similar reproaches had been made earlier, for Tertullian answers them, making the following admission:

"Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we pray toward the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festivity. What then? Do you do less than this?...It is you, at all events, who have even admitted the sun into the calendar of the week; and you have selected its day, in preference to the preceding day....You who reproach us with the sun and Sunday should consider your proximity to us." - "Ad Nationes," Book I, chap. 13; in "Ante-Nicene Fathers," Vol. III, p. 123, ed. By Drs. Roberts and Donaldson. New York: 1896.

Tertullian had no other excuse for their Sunday-keeping than that they did not do worse than the heathen. Not only did the Church adopt heathen festivals, but Gregory Thaumaturgus allowed their celebration in the degrading manner of the heathen:

"When Gregory perceived that the ignorant multitude persisted in their idolatry, on account of the pleasures and sensual gratifications which they enjoyed at the pagan festivals, he granted them a permission to indulge themselves in the like pleasures, in celebrating the memory of the holy martyrs, hoping that, in process of time, they would return of their own accord, to a more virtuous and regular course of life." - "Ecclesiastical History," J. L. Mosheim, D.D., Vol. I, Second Century, Part II, chap. 4, par. 2, footnote (Dr. A. Maclaine's 2-vol. Ed., p. 66). New York: 1871.

(104) Cardinal Newman says:

"Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon-worship to an evangelical use,...the rulers of the Church from early times were prepared, should the occasion arise, to adopt, or imitate, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace, as well as the philosophy of the educated class....

"The same reason, the need of holy days for the multitude, is assigned by Origen, St. Gregory's master, to explain the establishment of the Lord's Day....

"We are told in various ways by Eusebius, that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen, transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own....Incense, lamps, and candles;...holy water; asylums; holy days and seasons,...the ring in marriage, turning to the east, images...are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church." - "Development of Christian Doctrine," pp. 371-373. London: 1878.

"Real superstitions have sometimes obtained in parts of Christendom from its intercourse with the heathen....As philosophy has at times corrupted her divines, so has paganism corrupted her worshipers." - Id., pp. 377, 378.

"The church...can convert heathen appointments into spiritual rites and usages....Hence there has been from the first much variety and change, in the Sacramental acts and instruments which she has used." - Id., p. 379.

Speaking of the immoral pagan feast he says:

"It certainly is possible that the consciousness of the sanctifying power in Christianity may have acted as a temptation to sins, whether of deceit or of violence; as if the habit or state of grace destroyed the sinfulness of certain acts, or as if the end justified the means." - Id., p. 379.

The terrible nature of these sensual gratifications of the pagan festivals, in which the leaders of the Church now allowed its members to indulge, a person can hardly imagine till the sickening facts are spread before one's eyes by Livy. (Hist., lib. xxxix, chap. 9-17.) The learned Englishman, George Smith, F.A.S., in his "Sacred Annals," Vol. III, on the "Gentile Nations," pp. 487-489, says that this "most revolting and abandoned villiany" was so general, that when the Roman Senate had to proceed against its worst features, "Rome was almost deserted, so many persons, feeling themselves implicated in the proceedings, sought safety in flight."

(105) A church that will take in such members, without conversion, and then allow them to continue in the most putrid corruption, must have lost all respect for morality (not to say true Christianity), and cannot be in possession of the divine power of the gospel; which changes the hearts and lives of people. (Romans 1:16; 2 Cor. 5:17.) The Apostle Paul had foretold this "falling away" of the church. (Acts 20:28-30; 2 Thess. 2:1-7.) And it was during this fallen condition that the Church changed its weekly rest day from the Sabbath to the Sunday. Dr. N. Summerbell says:

"The Roman church had totally apostatized....It reversed the Fourth Commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday." - "The Christian Church," p. 415. Cincinnati: 1873.

Now, long after the Sabbath has been changed, Protestants are at a loss to find authority in the Bible for this change. They have rejected the authority of the Roman church to legislate on Christian faith, and cannot accept tradition, therefore they know not where to turn. Professor George Sverdrup, a leading man in the Lutheran Church, gives expression to this predicament in the following words:

"For, when there could not be produced one solitary place in the Holy Scriptures which testified that either the Lord Himself or the apostles had ordered such a transfer of the Sabbath to Sunday, then it was not easy to answer the question: Who has transferred the Sabbath, and who has had the right to do it?" - "Samled Skrifter I Udvalg," Andreas Helland, Vol. I, pp. 342, 343. Minneapolis, Minn.: 1909.

(106) Walter Farquhar Hook, D.D., Vicar of Leeds, expresses the same thought:

"The question is, whether God has ordered us to keep holy the first day of the week. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are undoubted ordinances of God; we can quote the chapter and verse in which we read of their being ordained by God. But as to the Lord's Day [Sunday], we are not able to refer to a single passage in all the Scriptures of the New Testament in which the observance of it is enjoined by God. If we refer to tradition, tradition would not be of value to us on the point immediately under consideration. The Romanist regards the tradition of the Church as of authority equal to that of Scripture. But we are not Romanists....But on this point there is not even tradition to support us....There is no tradition that God ordained the first day of the week to be a Sabbath....The change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday was never mentioned, or, as far as I can discover, thought of by the early Christians. The Sabbath, that is to say, the observance of Saturday as a day to be devoted to God's service, to rest of body and repose of mind, was an ordinance of God. This ordinance relating to Saturday could be changed by God and by God only. We, as Protestants, must appeal to the Bible, and the Bible only, to ascertain the fact that God has changed the day - that God has Himself substituted Sunday for Saturday....It is no answer to this to say that the apostles seem to have sanctioned the assembly of Christians for public worship on the Lord's Day, or that St. John in the Apocalypse speaks of the Lord's Day and may possibly allude to the Sunday festival. For this is one of those arguments which prove too much. We ourselves keep Easter Day; this is no proof that we do not keep Christmas Day, or that Easter has been substituted for Christmas. And if we have instances of the first day of the week being kept holy by the apostles, we have more instances of their observing the Jewish Sabbath." - "Lord's Day," p. 94. London: 1856; quoted in "The Literature of the Sabbath Question," Robert Cox, Vol. II, pp. 369, 370.

(107) Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of the "Baptist Manual," says:

"There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week with all its duties, privileges, and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not. There is no Scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week.

"I wish to say that this Sabbath question, in this aspect of it, is the gravest and most perplexing question connected with Christian institutions which at present claims attention from Christian people; and the only reason that it is not a more disturbing element in Christian thought and in religious discussions, is because the Christian world has settled down content on the conviction that somehow a transference has taken place at the beginning of Christian history....

"To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus during three years' intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day; also that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit, which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach this subject.

"Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun-god, when adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!" - A paper read before a New York Ministers' Conference, held Nov. 13, 1893. From a copy furnished by Dr. Hiscox for the "Source Book," pp. 513, 514. Wash., D.C.: Review and Herald, 1922.

(108) Bishop Skat Rordam, of Denmark, says:

"As to when and how it became customary to keep the first day of the week the New Testament gives us no information....

"The first law about it was given by Constantine the Great, who in the year 321 ordained that all civil and shop work should cease in the cities, but agriculture labor in the country was permitted....Still no one thought of basing this command to rest from labor on the 3rd [4th] commandment before the latter half of the sixth century. From that time on, little by little, it became the established doctrine of the church during its 'Dark Ages,' that the holy church and its teachers, or the bishops with the Roman Pope at their head, as the Vicar of Christ and His apostles on earth, had transferred the Old Testament Sabbath with its glory and sanctity over onto the first day of the week." - "Report of the Second Ecclesiastical Meeting in Copenhagen, Sept. 13-15, 1887," P. Taaning, pp. 40, 41. Copenhagen: 1887.

Bishop A. Grimelund, of Norway, says:

"Now, summing up what history teaches regarding the origin of Sunday and the development of the doctrine about Sunday, then this is the sum: It is not the apostles, not the early Christians, not the councils of the ancient church which have imprinted the name and stamp of the Sabbath upon the Sunday, but it is the Church of the Middle Ages and its scholastic teachers." - "Sondagens Historie" (The History of Sunday), p. 37. Christiania: 1886.

"What do we learn from this historical review?...That it is a doctrine which originated in the papal church that the sanctification of the Sunday in enjoined in the 3rd [4th] commandment, and that the essential and permanent in this commandment is a command from God to keep holy one day in each week." - Id., pp. 47, 48.

CONSTANTINE

(109) Constantine had been watching, he said, those Caesars who had persecuted the Christians, and found that they usually had a bad end, while his father, who was favorable toward them, had prospered. So, when he and Licinius met at Milan in 313 A.D., they jointly prepared an edict, usually called "The Edict of Milano," which gave equal liberty to Christians and pagans. Had Constantine stopped here, he might have been honored as the originator of religious liberty in the Roman Empire, but he had different aims in view. The Roman Empire had been ruled at times by two, four, or even six Caesars jointly, and in his ambition to become the sole Emperor, Constantine, as a shrewd statesman, soon saw that the Christian church had the vitality to become the strongest factor in the empire. The other Caesars were persecuting the Christians. If he could win them without losing the good will of the pagans, he would win the game. He therefore set himself to the task of blending the two religions into one. As H. G. Heggtveit (Lutheran) says:

"Constantine labored at this time untiringly to unite the worshipers of the old and the new faith in one religion. All his laws and contrivances are aimed at promoting this amalgamation of religions. He would by all lawful and peaceable means melt together a purified heathenism and a moderated Christianity....His injunction that the 'Day of the Sun' should be a general rest day was characteristic of his standpoint....Of all his blending and melting together of Christianity and heathenism none is more easy to see through than this making of his Sunday law. 'The Christians worshiped their Christ, the heathen their sun-god; according to the opinion of the Emperor, the objects for worship in both religions were essentially the same.'" - "Kirkehistorie" (Church History), pp. 233, 234. Chicago: 1898.

Constantine's Sunday law of 321 A.D. reads as follows:

"On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time." - "Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3"; translated in "History of the Christian Church," Philip Schaff, D.D., (7-vol. Ed.) Vol. III, p. 380. New York: 1884.

(110) Dr. A. Chr. Bang (Lutheran bishop, Norway), says:

"This Sunday law constituted no real favoritism towards Christianity....It is evident from all his statutory provisions, that the Emperor during the time 313-323 with full consciousness has sought the realization of his religious aim: the amalgamation of heathenism and Christianity." - "Kirken og Romerstaten" ("The Church and the Roman State"), p. 256. Christiania: 1879.

That Constantine by his Sunday law intended only to enforce the popular heathen festival is acknowledged by Professor Hutton Webster, Ph.D. (University of Nebraska), who says:

"This legislation by Constantine probably bore no relation to Christianity; it appears, on the contrary, that the emperor, in his capacity as Pontifex Maximus, was only adding the day of the sun, the worship of which was then firmly established in the Roman Empire, to the other ferial days of the sacred calendar." - "Rest Days," p. 122. New York: 1916.

A. H. Lewis, D. D., who spent years of study and research on this subject, declares, that "the pagan religion of Rome had many holidays, on which partial or complete cessation of business and labor were demanded," and that Constantine by his Sunday law was "merely adding one more festival to the festi of the empire." - "A Critical History of Sunday Legislation from 321 to 1888 A.D.", pp. 8, 12. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1888.

This is clearly seen when we carefully examine all the circumstances presented by Dr. Lewis:

1. Constantine's Sunday edict was given March 7, 321. The very next day he issued an edict commanding purely heathen superstition. We quote:

(111) "The August Emperor Constantine to Maximus:

"If any part of the palace or other public works shall be struck by lightning, let the soothsayers, following old usages, inquire into the meaning of the portent, and let their written words, very carefully collected, be reported to our knowledge." - Id., p. 19.

2. The Caesars for over a century had been worshipers of the sun-god, whose weekly holiday was Sunday. Dr. Lewis says: "The sun-worship cult had grown steadily in the Roman Empire for a long time." - Id., p. 20. He then quotes the following from Schaff in regard to Elagabalus, a Roman Caesar of a century before Constantine's time:

"The abandoned youth, El-Gabal or Heliogabalus (218-222), who polluted the throne by the blackest vices and follies, tolerated all religions in the hope of at last merging them in his favorite Syrian worship of the sun with its abominable excesses. He himself was a priest of the god of the sun, and thence took his name." - Id., pp. 20, 21.

Dean H. H. Milman says:

"It was openly asserted that the worship of the sun, under the name of Elagabalus, was to supersede all other worship. If we may believe the biographies in the Augustan history, a more ambitious scheme of a universal religion had dawned upon the mind of the emperor. The Jewish, the Samaritan, even the Christian, were to be fused and recast into one great system, of which the Sun was to be the central object of adoration." - "History of Christianity," Vol. II, Book 2, chap. 8, par. 22, p. 178, 179. New York: 1881.

Dr. Lewis further says that Aurelian, who reigned from 270-276 A.D., embellished the temple of the Sun with "above fifteen thousand pounds of gold." - "History of Sunday Legislation," p. 23. Diocletian, who reigned from 284 to 305, "appealed in the face of the army to the all-seeing deity of the sun." - Id., p. 24.

(112) "Such were the influences which preceded Constantine and surrounded when he came into power. The following extract shows still plainer the character of Constantine and his attitude toward the sun-worship cults, when the first 'Sunday edict' was issued:

"'But the devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly directed to the genius of the Sun, the Apollo of Greek and Roman mythology....The sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine.'" - Id., pp. 26, 27.

"These facts combine to show that Sunday legislation was purely pagan in its origin." - Id., p. 31.

"In this law he only sought to give additional honor to the 'venerable day' of his patron deity, the sun-god." - Id., p. 32.

"His attitude toward Christianity was that of a shrewd politician rather than a devout adherent." - Id., p. 6.

Dr. Lewis quotes from Dr. Schaff a very fitting conclusion to his remarks regarding Constantine:

"'And down to the end of his life he retained the title and dignity of pontifex maximus, or high-priest of the heathen hierarchy. His coins bore on the one side the letters of the name of Christ, on the other the figure of the sun-god, and the inscription 'Sol invictus.'" - Id., p. 10.

That the Christians at this time were still keeping the Sabbath can be seen from the following statement of Hugo Grotius, quoted by Robert Cox, F. S. A. Scot.

"He refers to Eusebius for proof that Constantine, besides issuing his well-known edict that labor should be suspended on Sunday, enacted that the people should not be brought before the law courts on the seventh day of the week, which also, he adds, was long observed by the primitive Christians as a day for religious meetings....And this, says he, 'refutes those who think that the Lord's day was substituted for the Sabbath - a thing nowhere mentioned either by Christ or His apostles.'" - "Opera Omnia Theologica," Hugo Grotius (died 1645), (London: 1679); quoted in "Literature of the Sabbath Question," Cox, Vol. I, p. 233. Edinburgh: Maclachlan and Stewart, 1865.

(113) Pope Sylvester co-operated with Constantine to bring paganism into the Christian church (especially Sunday-keeping). This caused the true Christians to have repugnance for him. The Waldenses believed he was the Antichrist. Dr. Peter Allix quotes the following from a prominent Roman Catholic author regarding the Waldenses:

"'They say that the blessed Pope Sylvester was the Antichrist, of whom mention is made in the Epistles of St. Paul, as being the son of perdition, who extols himself above every thing that is called God; for, from that time, they say, the Church perished...'

"He lays it down also as one of their opinions, 'That the Law of Moses is to be kept according to the letter, and that the keeping of the Sabbath...and other legal observances, ought to take place.'" - "Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont," p. 169. Oxford: 1821. Page 154 in the edition of 1690.

Having obtained a glimpse of the opposition of God's people to this falling away, let us now return to our subject, to get a view of the novel means Constantine employed to make converts in accordance with his amalgamation scheme. Edward Gibbon says:

"The hopes of wealth and honors, the example of an emperor, his exhortations, his irresistible smiles, diffused conviction among the venal and obsequious crowds which usually fill the apartments of a palace....As the lower ranks of society are governed by imitation, the conversion of those who possessed any eminence of birth, of power, or of riches, was soon followed by dependent multitudes. The salvation of the common people was purchased at an easy rate, if it be true that, in one year, twelve thousand men were baptized at Rome...and that a white garment, with twenty pieces of gold, had been promised by the emperor to every convert.""- "Decline and Fall," chap. 20, par. 18.

Constantine gave the following instruction to the bishops at the Council of Nicaea, which shows his constant policy:

(114) "'In all ways unbelievers must be saved. It was not every one who would be converted by learning and reasoning. Some join us from desire of maintenance; some for preferment; some for presents: nothing is so rare as a real lover of truth. We must be like physicians, and accommodate our medicines to the diseases, our teaching to the different minds of all.'" - "Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church," Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D., Lecture 5, p. 271. New York: 1875.

The bishops were only too willing to follow the emperor's instruction, and the result was disastrous to the church. J. A. W. Neander in the following paragraph gives us some of the results of this policy:

"Such were those who, without any real interest whatever in the concerns of religion, living half in Paganism and half in an outward show of Christianity, composed the crowds that thronged the churches on the festivals of the Christians, and the theaters on the festivals of the pagans." - "History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. II, Sec. 3, Part 1, Div. 1, par. 1, p. 223. Boston: 1855.

No wonder Rev. H. H. Milman exclaims:

"Is this Paganism approximating to Christianity, or Christianity degenerating into Paganism?" - "History of Christianity," pp. 341, 342. He answers this question later by saying: "With a large portion of mankind, it must be admitted that the religion itself was Paganism under another form." - Id., p. 412.

Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, and an admirer of Constantine, co-operated with him in bringing "the venerable day of the sun" into the Christian church. Speaking of Pope Sylvester, Constantine, and himself, he says:

"All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath these we have transferred to the Lord's day, as more appropriately belonging to it, because it has a precedence and is first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath. For on that day, in making the world, God said, 'Let there be light, and there was light.'" - "Commentary on the Psalms"; quoted in Literature on the Sabbath Question," Robert Cox, Vol. I, p. 361.

(115) Eusebius evidently used the strongest argument he knew as proof for Sunday-keeping; but advocates of this new holiday had probably not yet conceived the idea that Christ's resurrection would be an argument in favor of Sunday-keeping, so he used creation instead.

OLD AND NEW CHURCH MEMBERS

The church at this time consisted of two widely different kinds of church members: 1. The old class, with their devoted leaders, had accepted Christianity in the primitive way, by genuine conversion and separation from the world, suffering for Christ and His unpopular truth. This class lived mostly in the country and in out-of-the-way places. 2. The new converts lived mainly in the large cities, and had come in through a mass movement, following the crowd in what was most popular, attracted by the hopes of temporal gain or honor, or they had been forced in by the secular arm. These were devoid of any personal Christian experience, but constituting the majority, they elected bishops of their own kind.

The elections of bishops were attended with secret corruption and bloody violence, which was only too natural for that kind of "Christians." Edward Gibbon says of these elections:

"While one of the candidates boasted the honors of his family, a second allured his judges by the delicacies of a plentiful table, and a third, more guilty than his rivals, offered to share the plunder of the church among the accomplices of his sacrilegious hopes." - "Decline and Fall," chap. XX, par. 22.

Rev. H. H. Milman says:

"Even within the Church itself, the distribution of the superior dignities became an object of fatal ambition and strife. The streets of Alexandria and of Constantinople were deluged with blood by the partisans of rival bishops." - "History of Christianity," Book 3, chap. 5, par. 2, p. 410. New York: 1881.

Schaff declares that "many are elected on account of their badness, to prevent the mischief they would otherwise do." - "History of the Christian Church," Vol. III, Sec. 49, par. 2, note 5, p. 240. Even the sanctity of the church was not respected by the fighting parties. Milman, speaking of the installation of a bishop at Constantinople, says:

(116) "In the morning, Philip [the prefect of the East] appeared in his car, with Macedonius by his side in the pontifical attire; he drove directly to the church, but the soldiers were obliged to hew their way through the dense and resisting crowd to the altar. Macedonius passed over the murdered bodies (three thousand are said to have fallen) to the throne of Christian prelate." - "History of Christianity," Vol. XI, p. 426. New York: 1870. Socrates ("Ecclesiastical History," Bk. II, chap. 17, p. 96) gives the number slain as 3150.

Can we wonder at the lack of spiritual insight and sound judgment of such bishops when they met at their councils to formulate the creed of Christendom? They decreed in favor of image worship, purgatory, prayers for the dead, veneration of relics, and many other heathen customs, persecuting all who would not fall in line with their mongrel customs. At the Council of Laodicea, A.D. 364, they anathematized Sabbath-keepers in the following way:

"Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be Anathema from Christ." - Canon XXIX, "Index Canonum," John Fulton, D. D., LL. D., p. 259.

That the Christians were then keeping the Sabbath we see from Canon XVI of the same council, in which they decreed:

"The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath Day, with the other Scriptures." - Id., p. 255.

Dr. Heylyn also declares that the Christians were keeping the Sabbath at that time:

"Nor was this only the particular will of those two and thirty Prelates, there assembled; it was the practice generally of the Easterne Churches: and of some churches of the west....For in the Church of Millaine [Milan];...it seemes the Saturday was held in a farre esteeme....Not that the Easterne Churches, or any of the rest which observed that day, were inclined to Iudaisme [Judaism]; but that they came together on the Sabbath day, to worship Iesus [Jesus] Christ the Lord of the Sabbath." - "History of the Sabbath" (original spelling retained), Part 2, par. 5, pp. 73, 74. London: 1636.

(117) The true Christians paid very little attention to the anathema of the bishops, for they continued to keep the true Sabbath, as the following quotations show:

"From the apostles' time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observation of the Jews' Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of many authors; yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council against it." - "Sunday a Sabbath," John Ley, p. 163. London: 1640.

That the Sabbath was kept, "notwithstanding the decree of the council against it," is also seen from the fact that Pope Gregory I )A.D. 590-604) wrote against "Roman citizens [who] forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day." - "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers," Second Series, Vol. XIII, p. 13, epist. 1.

As late as 791 A.D. Christians kept the Sabbath in Italy. Canon 13 of the council at Friaul states:

"Further, when speaking of that Sabbath which the Jews observe, the last day of the week, and which also our peasants observe, He said only Sabbath, and never added unto it, 'delight,' or 'my.'" - Mansi, 13, 851; Quoted in "History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, p. 539. 1912.

Bishop Hefele summarizes the canon in the following words:

"The celebration of Sunday begins with Saturday evening. It is enjoined to keep Sunday and other church festivals. The peasants kept Saturday in many cases." - "Conciliengesch.," 3, 720, sec. 404; Quoted in "History of the Sabbath," Andrews, pp. 539, 540. 1912.

Chapter 12

The Waldenses

(118) While Constantine's purchased converts, and the superficial-minded multitude followed the popular church, there were many honest, God-fearing Christians, who resented this sinful compromise with paganism; and, when they saw that all their protests were useless, they withdrew to places where they could more freely follow their conscience and bring up their children away from the contamination of the fallen church, which they looked upon as the "Babylon" of Revelation 17. Several hundred Sabbath-keeping Christian churches were established in southern India, and some were found even in China. Likewise the original Celtic Church in England, Scotland, and Ireland kept the seventh-day Sabbath. St. Patrick, Columba, and the churches they established kept the seventh day.

The majority of these original Christians settled, however, in the Alps, a place naturally suited for their protection, being situated where Switzerland, France, and Italy join. They could, therefore, more easily get protection in one or another of these countries, as it would be harder for the Papacy to get joint action of all these countries in case of persecution. Then, too, these mountains were so steep and high, the valleys so narrow, and the passes into them so difficult, that it would seem as though God had prepared this hiding place for His true church and truth during the Dark Ages. William Jones says:

"Angrogna, Pramol, and S. Martino are strongly fortified by nature on account of their many difficult passes and bulwarks of rocks and mountains; as if the all-wise Creator, says Sir Samuel Morland, had, from the beginning, designed that place as a cabinet, wherein to put some inestimable jewel, or in which to reserve many thousand souls, which should not bow the knee before Baal." - "History of the Christian Church," Vol. I, p. 356, third ed. London: 1818.

(119) Sophia V. Bompiani, in "A Short History of the Italian Waldenses" (New York: 1897), quotes from several unquestionable authorities to show that the Waldenses, after having withdrawn to the Alps because of persecution, fully separated from the Roman church under the work of Vigilantius Leo, the Leonist of Lyons, who vigorously protested against the many false doctrines and practices that had been adopted by the Church. Jerome (A.D. 403-306) wrote a very cutting book against him in which he says:

"'That monster called Vigilantius...has escaped to the region where King Cottius reigned, between the Alps and the waves of the Adriatic. From thence he has cried out against me, and, ah, wickedness! There he has found bishops who share his crime.'" Sophia V. Bompiani the remarks: "This region, where King Cottius reigned, once a part of Cisalpine Gaul, is the precise country of the Waldenses. Here Leo, or Vigilantius, retired for safety from persecution, among a people already established there of his own way of thinking, who received him as a brother, and who thenceforth for several centuries were sometimes called by his name [Leonists]. Here, shut up in the Alpine valleys, they handed down through the generations the doctrines and practices of the primitive church, while the inhabitants of the plains of Italy were daily sinking more and more into the apostasy foretold by the Apostles." - "A Short History of the Italian Waldenses," pp. 8, 9.

"The ancient emblem of the Waldensian church is a candlestick with the motto, Lux lucet in tenebris ['The light shineth in darkness']. A candlestick in the oriental imagery of the Bible is a church, and this church had power from God to prophesy in sackcloth and ashes twelve hundred and sixty days or symbolic years." - Id., p. 17.

Dr. W. S. Gilly, an English clergyman, after much research, wrote a book entitled: "Vigilantius and His Times," giving the same information.

Roman Catholic writers try to evade the apostolic origin of the Waldenses, so as to make it appear that the Roman is the only apostolic church, and that all others are later novelties. And for this reason they try to make out that the Waldenses originated with Peter Waldo of the twelfth century. Dr. Peter Allix says:

(120) "Some Protestants, on this occasion, have fallen into the snare that was set for them....It is absolutely false, that these churches were ever founded by Pete Waldo....It is a pure forgery." - "Ancient Church of Piedmont," pp. 192. Oxford: 1821.

"It is not true, that Waldo gave this name to the inhabitants of the valleys: they were called Waldenses, or Vaudes, before his time, from the valleys in which they dwelt." - Id., p. 182.

On the other hand, he "was called Valdus, or Waldo, because he received his religious notions from the inhabitants of the valleys." - "History of the Christian Church," William Jones, Vol. II, p. 2. See also Sir Samuel Morland's "History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont," pp. 29, 30.

Henri Arnaud, a leading pastor among the Waldenses, says:

"Their proper name, Vallenses, is derived from the Latin word vallis, and not, as has been insinuated, from Valdo, a merchant of Lyons." - "The Glorious Recovery by the Vaudois," Henri Arnaud, p. xiii. London: 1827.

The Roman Inquisitor, Reinerus Sacho, writing about 1230 A.D., says:

"The heresy of the Vaudois, or poor people of Lyons, is of great antiquity. Among all sects that either are, or have been, there is none more dangerous to the Church, than that of the Leonists, and that for three reasons: the first is, because it is the sect of the longest standing of any; for some say that it has been continued down ever since the time of Pope Sylvester; and others, ever since that of the apostles. The second is, because it is the most general of all sects; for scarcely is there any country to be found where this sect hath not spread itself. And the third, because it has the greatest appearance of piety; because, in the sight of all, these men are just and honest in their transactions, believe of God what ought to be believed, receive all the articles of the Apostles' Creed, and only profess to hate the Church of Rome." - Quoted on page 22 of William Stephen Gilly's "Excursion," fourth edition. London: 1827.

(121) Now it must be clear as the noonday sun, that Reinerus would not have written as he did, if the Waldenses had originated with Peter Waldo, only seventy-five years before; nor could Waldo's followers have multiplied and spread over the whole world in so short a time, under great persecution, and with so slow means of travel.

Henri Arnaud, a Waldensian pastor, says of their origin:

"Neither has their church been ever reformed, whence arises its title of Evangelic. The Vaudois are, in fact, descended from those refugees from Italy who, after St. Paul had there preached the gospel, abandoned their beautiful country and fled, like the woman mentioned in the Apocalypse, to these wild mountains, where they have to this day handed down the gospel from father to son in the same purity and simplicity as it was preached by St. Paul." - "The Glorious Recovery by the Vaudois," p. xiv of preface by the Author, translated by Acland. London: 1827.

THE WALDENSIAN FAITH

The Waldenses took the Bible as their only rule of faith, abhorred the idolatry of the papal church, and rejected their traditions, holidays, and even Sunday, but kept the seventh-day Sabbath, and used the apostolic mode of baptism. (See "Ancient Churches of Piedmont," by P. Allix, pp. 152-260.). Their old catechism shows that they believed in justification by faith in the grace of Christ alone, and that obedience to the Ten Commandments was the sure fruit of living faith:

"Q.--By what means do we hope for grace? A.--By the Mediator Jesus Christ....

"Q.--What is a living faith? A.--That which worketh by charity.

"Q.--What is a dead faith? A.--According to St. James, that faith which is without works, is dead....

"Q.--By what means canst thou know that thou believest in God? A.--By this: because I know that I have given myself to the observation of the commandments of God.

"Q.--How many commandments of God are there? A.--Ten, as it appeareth in Exodus and Deuteronomy....

"Q.--Upon what do all these commandments depend? A.--Upon the two great commandments, that is to say: Thou shalt love God above all things, and thy neighbor as thyself." - "Waldenses," Perrin, Part III, Book I, pp. 1-10. (1624 A.D.) "The Glorious Recovery by the Vaudois," Henri Arnaud, pp. Xcvi, xcvii, cv. London: 1827.

(122) Dr. Peter Allix quotes the following from a Roman Catholic author: "'They say that blessed Pope Sylvester was the Antichrist, of whom mention is made in the Epistles of St. Paul, as being the son of perdition, who extols himself above everything that is called God: for, from that time, they say, the Church perished.'...

"He lays it down also as one of their opinions; 'That the Law of Moses is to be kept according to the letter, and that the keeping of the Sabbath, circumcision, and other legal observances, ought to take place.'" - "Ancient Churches of Piedmont," p. 169 (page 154, edition of 1690). Oxford: 1821.

In regard to the accusation that the Waldenses practiced circumcision, Mr. Benedict truthfully says:

"The account of their practicing circumcision is undoubtedly a slanderous story, forged by their enemies and probably arose in this way: because they observed the seventh day they were called, by way of derision, Jews, as the Sabbatarians are frequently at this day, and if they were Jews, it followed, of course, that they either did, or ought to circumcise their followers." - "General History of the Baptist Denomination," Vol. II, p. 414, edition of 1813.

That this was exactly the way this slander was fastened on Sabbath-keepers, we can see from the "Epistle" written against them by Pope Gregory I (A.D. 590-604), in which he says:

"It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you some things that are wrong and opposed to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day....

(123) "For, if any one says that this about the Sabbath is to be kept, he must needs say that carnal sacrifices are to be offered: he must say, too, that the commandment about the circumcision of the body is still to be retained." - "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers" (Second Series), Vol. XIII, Book 13, epist. 1, p. 92. New York: 1898.

Going back to Judaism was considered by the Roman Catholic Church as one of the most serious heresies, punishable with death. And any one at all familiar with the tactics of Romanists knows that it has been a practice, only too common among them, to blacken the character of those whom they would destroy, so as to justify their destruction. Dr. Peter Allix says:

"It is no great sin with the Church of Rome to spread lies concerning those that are enemies of the faith....There is nothing more common with the Romish party, than to make use of the most horrid calumnies to blacken and expose those who have renounced her communion....Calumny is a trade the Romish party is perfectly well versed in." - "Ancient Church of Piedmont," pp. 224, 225. (Pages 205, 206 in edition of 1690.)

William Jones says:

"Louis XII, King of France, being informed by the enemies of the Waldenses, inhabiting a part of the province of Province, that several heinous crimes were laid to their account, sent the Master of Requests, and a certain doctor of the Sorbonne, who was confessor to his majesty, to make inquiry into this matter. On their return, they reported that they had visited all the parishes where they dwelt, had inspected their places of worship, but that they had found there no images, nor signs of the ornaments belonging to the mass, nor any of the ceremonies of the Romish church; much less could they discover any traces of those crimes with which they were charged. On the contrary, they kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism, according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the article of the Christian faith, and the commandments of God. The King having heard the report of his commissioners, said with an oath that they were better men than himself or his people.""- "History of the Christian Church," Vol. 2, pp. 71, 72, third edition. London: 1818.

NAMES OF THE WALDENSES

(124) John P. Perrin of Lyons writes of how the Waldenses went under different names, either from the territory in which they lived, or from the name of the missionary they had sent to that country. He says:

"First therefore they called them...Waldenses; of the countries of Albi, Albigeois [Abligenses]....

"And from one of the disciples of Valdo, called Ioseph [Joseph], who preached in Dauphiney in the diocesse of Dye, they were called Iosephists [Josephites]....

"Of one of their pastors who preached in Albegeois, named Arnold Hot, they were called Arnoldists....

"And because they observed no other day of rest but the Sabbath dayes, they called them Insabathas, as much as to say, as they observed no Sabbath.

"And because they were alwayes exposed to continuall sufferings, from the Latin word Pati, which signifieth to suffer, they called them Patareniens.

"And for as much as like poore passengers, they wandered from one place to another, they were called Passagenes," - "Luther's Fore-Runners," (original spelling) pp. 7, 8. London: 1624.

This author quotes the following from the Waldensian faith:

"That we are to worship one only God, who is able to help us, and not the Saints departed; that we ought to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that there was no necessity of observing other feasts." - Id., p. 38.

Goldastus, a learned German historian (A.D. 1576-1635) says of them:

They were called "Insabbatati, not because they were circumcised, but because they kept the Jewish Sabbath." "Circumcisi forsan illi fuerint, qui aliis Insabbatati, non quod circumciderentur, inquit Calvinista [Goldastus] sed quod in Sabbato judaizarent." - Robert Robinson, in "Ecclesiastical Researches," chap. 10, p. 303. (Quoted in "History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, p. 412, ed. 1887.)

(125) David Benedict, M. A., says:

"Robinson gives an account of some of the Waldenses of the Alps, who were called Sabbati, Sabbatati, Insabbatati, but more frequently Inzabbatati. 'One says they were so named from the Hebrew word Sabbath, because they kept the Saturday for the Lord's day. Another says they were so called because they rejected all the festivals." - "General History of the Baptist Denomination," Vol. II, p. 413. Boston: 1813.

Dr. J. L. Mosheim says:

"Pasaginians...had the utmost aversion to the dominion and discipline of the church of Rome;...and celebrated the Jewish Sabbath." - "Ecclesiastical History" (two-volume edition), Cent. 12, Part 2, Chap. 5, Sec. 14, Vol. I, p. 333. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1871.

The papal author, Bonacursus, wrote the following against the "Pasagini":

"Not a few, but many know what are the errors of those who are called Pasagini....First, they teach that we should obey the law of Moses according to the letter - the Sabbath, and circumcision, and the legal precepts still being in force....Furthermore, to increase their error, they condemn and reject all the church Fathers, and the whole Roman Church." - "D'Achery, Spicilegium I, f. 211-214; Muratory, Antiq. Med. Aevi. 5, f. 152, Hahn, 3, 209. Quoted in "History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, pp. 547, 548. 1912.

The Roman Catholic Church has always had a special enmity toward the Bible Sabbath and Sabbath-keepers. Mr. Benedict says:

"It was the settled policy of Rome to obliterate every vestige of opposition to her doctrines and decrees, everything heretical, whether persons or writings, by which the faithful would be liable to be contaminated and led astray. In conformity to this, their fixed determination, all books and records of their opposers were hunted up, and committed to the flames." - "History of the Baptist Denomination," p. 50. 1849.

(126) Dr. De Sanctis, who for years was a Catholic official at Rome, and at one time Censor of the Inquisition, but who later became a Protestant, reports in his book a conversation of a Waldensian scholar as he pointed to the ruins of the Palatine Hill at Rome:

"'See,' said the Waldensian, 'a beautiful monument of ecclesiastical antiquity. These rough materials are the ruins of the two great Palatine libraries, one Greek and the other Latin, where the precious manuscripts of our ancestors were collected, and which Pope Gregory I, called the Great, caused to be burned.'" - "Popery, Puseyism, Jesuitism," De Sanctis, p. 53.

Eternity alone will reveal how many precious manuscripts have been destroyed by Rome in its effort to blot out all traces of apostolic Christianity.

We have now seen that the ancient apostolic church, scattered by persecution, and often in hiding, went under various names. Being peaceful, virtuous, and industrious citizens, they were tolerated, or even shielded, by princes who understood their value to the country, while the Catholic Church hunted them down like wild beasts. After the Waldenses and Albigenses had lived quietly in France for many years, Pope Innocent III wrote the following instruction to his bishops:

"Therefore by this present apostolical writing we give you a strict command that, by whatever means you can, you destroy all these heresies and expel from your diocese all who are polluted with them. You shall exercise the rigor of the ecclesiastical power against them and all those who have made themselves suspected by associating with them. They may not appeal from your judgments, and if necessary, you may cause the princes and people to suppress them with the sword." - "A Source Gook for Mediaeval History," Oliver J. Thatcher and E. H. McNeal, p. 210. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905.

(127) Philippus van Limborch, Professor of Divinity at Amsterdam, speaking of the way the liberty of the people was suppressed after 1050, says:

"In the following ages the affairs of the church were so managed under the government of the Popes, and all persons so strictly curbed by the severity of the laws, that they durst not even so much as whisper against the received opinions of the church. Besides this, so deep was the ignorance that had spread itself over the world, that men, without the least regard to knowledge and learning, received with a blind obedience every thing that the ecclesiastics ordered them, however stupid and superstitious, without any examination; and if any one dared in the least to contradict them, he was sure immediately to be punished; whereby the most absurd opinions came to be established by the violence of the Popes." - "History of the Inquisition," p. 79. London: 1816.

Ignorance and superstition generated vice of the basest sort, and brought the Christian world into the darkest of the Dark Ages, which made the Reformation of the sixteenth century an absolute necessity. And, as "the darkest hour of the night is just before dawn," so the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries were the darkest in the Christian Era. For a time, however, there were still a few lights shining on the religious horizon, shedding their mild gospel light into the dense darkness. But when these were extinguished, the darkness became well-nigh complete. 1. The Celtic church of Scotland was extinguished in 1069; that of Ireland in 1172; that of the ancient Albigenses in 1229; the Assyrian lamp of the East was extinguished at Malabar, India, by the Inquisition in 1560; and the Waldensian lamp, that had been shining the longest, and had sent its mild rays over Europe for centuries, was extinguished in 1686. The history of these evangelical churches during this dark period is very interesting and has many valuable lessons for our day.

The Waldenses and Albigenses were quiet and industrious people, and followed the Bible standard of morality, which actually caused their persecution.

(128) "But their crowning offence was their love and reverence for Scripture, and their burning zeal in making converts. The Inquisitor of Passau informs us that they had translations of the whole Bible in the vulgar tongue, which the Church vainly sought to suppress, and which they studied with incredible assiduity....Many of them had the whole of the New Testament [memorized] by heart....Surely if ever there was a God-fearing people it was these unfortunates under the ban of Church and State....The inquisitors...[declare] that the sign of a Vaudois, deemed worthy of death, was that he followed Christ and sought to obey the commandments of God." - "History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages," H. C. Lea, Vol. I, pp. 86, 87. New York. Harper and Brothers, 1888.

"In fact, amid the license of the Middle Ages ascetic virtue was apt to be regarded as a sign of heresy." - Id., p. 87.

On the other hand, the licentious lives of the Catholic clergy placed insurmountable barriers for a Waldensian ever to become a Catholic. When in 1204 Pope Innocent III sent his commissioners to crush the peaceful Waldenses and Albigenses in Southern France "with fire and sword," these monks returned to the pope asking for help to reform the lives of the Catholic priests. Lea says:

"The legates...appealed to him for aid against prelates whom they had failed to coerce, and whose infamy of life gave scandal to the faithful and an irresistible argument to the heretic. Innocent curtly bade them attend to the object of their mission and not allow themselves to be diverted by less important matters." - Id., p. 129.

Professor Philippus van Limborch writes:

"It was the entire study and endeavour of the popes, to crush, in its infancy, every doctrine that any way opposed their exorbitant power. In the year 1163, at the synod of Tours, all the bishops and priests in the country of Tholouse, were commanded 'to take care, and to forbid, under the pain of excommunication, every person from presuming to give reception, or the least assistance to the followers of this heresy, which first began in the country of Tholouse, whenever they shall be discovered. Neither were they to have any dealings with them in buying or selling; that by being thus deprived of the common assistances of life, they might be compelled to repent of the evil of their way. Whosoever shall dare to contravene this order, let them be excommunicated, as a partner with them in their guilt. As many of them as can be found, let them be imprisoned by the Catholic princes, and punished with the forfeiture of all their substance."

(129) "Some of the Waldenses, coming into the neighbouring kingdom of Arragon, king Ildefonsus, in the year 1194, put forth, against them, a very severe and bloody edict, by which 'he banished them from his kingdom, and all his dominions, as enemies of the cross of Christ, prophaners of the Christian religion, and public enemies to himself and kingdom.' He adds: 'If any, from this day forwards, shall presume to receive into their houses, the aforesaid Waldenses and Inzabbatati, or other heretics, of whatsoever profession they be, or to hear, in any place, their abominable preachings, or to give them food, or to do them any kind office whatsoever; let him know, that he shall incur the indignation of Almighty God and ours; that he shall forfeit all his goods, without benefit of appeal, and be punished as though guilty of high treason.'" - "History of the Inquisition," pp. 88, 89. London. 1816.

To destroy completely these heretics Pope Innocent III sent Dominican inquisitors into France, and also crusaders, promising "a plenary remission of all sins, to those who took on them the crusade...against the Albigenses." When Raymond VI, Earl of Tholouse, shielded these innocent people, who were such an asset to his country, he was "deposed by the pope." (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, art. "Raymond VI," p. 670.) Being frightened by the savage crusaders Raymond submitted, and the papal legate had him publicly whipped twice till "he was so grievously torn by the stripes" that he had to leave the church by a back door. (Id., pp. 98, 100.) He later appealed to Innocent III. "The pope, however, ceded the estates of Raymond to Simon de Montfort," (1215) (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, art. "Raymond VI," p. 670.) Thousands of God's people were tortured to death by the Inquisition, buried alive, burned to death, or hacked to pieces by the crusaders. While devastating the city of Biterre the soldiers asked the Catholic leaders how they should know who were heretics; Arnold, Abbot of Cisteaux, answered: "Slay them all, for the Lord knows who is His." - Id., pp. 98, 101.

(130) In 1216 to 1221 Raymond reconquered his land, and after his death (1221) his son became Earl, and "the Inquisition was banished from the country of Tholouse." But Pope Honorius III "proclaimed an holy war, to be called the 'Penance war,' against the heretics," and "to subdue the Earl of Tholouse, he sent letters to King Louis" of France to make war on Raymond, which he did. But treachery, which has always been one of the most successful weapons of the Papacy against God's people, had to be resorted to here: When the Pope's legate saw that he could not take the city of Avignon by force, he "scrupled not to adopt the vilest treachery and to practice the basest hypocrisy. - He offered to suspend hostilities, and to pave the way for peace, if the besieged would admit a few priests, only to inquire concerning the faith of the inhabitants: and those terms being agreed upon and sealed by mutual oaths; the priest entered, but in direct violation of their solemn engagement, brought the French army with them, who thus fraudulently triumphed over the unsuspecting citizens; they plundered the city, killed or bound in chains the inhabitants." - Id., pp. 104-106.

(This is in perfect harmony with the Catholic teaching and practice, that they need not keep faith with a heretic, as carried out in the case of John Huss. In spite of the safe-conduct form the Emperor Sigismund, he was imprisoned, November 28, 1414, and burned July 6, 1415.)

HUNTED LIKE WILD BEASTS

(131) The Earl of Tholouse was finally forced to bow to Rome, and God's people were hunted as wild beasts everywhere. Here are some of the laws of Louis IX, King of France, A.D. 1299:

"Canon 3. - The lords of the different districts shall have the villas, houses, and woods diligently searched, and the hiding-places of the heretics destroyed. Canon 4. - If any one allows a heretic to remain in his territory, he loses his possession forever, and his body is in the hands of the magistrates to receive due punishment. Canon 5. - But also such are liable to the law, whose territory has been made the frequent hiding-place of heretics, not by his knowledge, but by his negligence. Canon 6. - The house in which a heretic is found, shall be torn down, and the place or land be confiscated. Canon 14. - Lay members are not allowed to possess the books of either the Old or the New Testament." - "Hefele's Councils," Vol. V, pp. 981, 982. ("History of the Sabbath," New, p. 558).

These laws were only echoes of the "Bulls" of the popes. But while the Waldenses on the French side of the Alps were being exterminated, the pope had a more difficult task to destroy them in the Piedmont Alps. From Pope Lucius III (A.D. 1181-1185) to the Reformation in the sixteenth century the persecution of the Waldenses was the subject of many papal "anathemas." Army after army was sent against them, and all manner of trickery was resorted to in order to destroy these honest, plain, Christian people. In 1488 Albert Cataneo, the papal legate came with an army into the midst of Val Louise. The inhabitants fled into a cavern for shelter, and the soldiers started a fire at the mouth of the cavern and smothered the entire population of 3,000, including 400 children. Then Cataneo entered the Piedmont side. Here the Waldenses retreated to Pra del Tor, their "Shiloh of the Valleys." Cataneo ordered his soldiers into the dark, narrow chasm that formed the only path to this citadel. The poor Waldenses were now bottled up, and their enemies were proceeding towards them, sure of their prey, but God heard earnest prayers:

(132) "A white cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, unobserved by the Piedmontese, but keenly watched by the Vaudois, was seen to gather on the mountain's summit....That cloud grew rapidly bigger and blacker. It began to descend....It fell right into the chasm in which was the Papal army....In a moment the host were in night; they...could neither advance nor retreat. {The Waldenses] tore up huge stones and rocks, and sent them thundering down into the ravine. The papal soldiers were crushed where they stood....Panic impelled them to flee,...they threw each other down in the struggle; some were trodden to death; others were rolled over the precipice, and crushed on the rocks below, or drowned in the torrent, and so perished miserably." - "History of the Waldenses," J. A. Wylie, pp. 48, 49.

In 1544 the treacherous and heartless Catholic leader, D'Oppede caused the terrible butchery of thousands of Waldenses. At Cabrieres he wrote a note to the people, saying that if they would open the gates of their city he would do them no harm. They, in good faith, opened the gates, and D'Oppede cried out: "Kill them all." Men, women, and children were massacred or burned alive. In 1655 there was another massacre of Waldenses. After the Catholic leaders had made several vain attempts to break into the fastnesses of the mountains where the Waldenses lived, and were defeated, the Marquis of Pianesse wrote the various Waldensian towns to entertain certain regiments of soldiers to show their good faith. These Christian people, who always had such sacred regard for their own word, never seemed to learn that it is a fundamental Catholic doctrine, that Catholics need not, and should not, keep faith with heretics, when the interest of the "Church" is at stake. After they had sheltered the soldiers, and fed them of their scanty store, a signal was given at 4 A.M., April 24, 1655, and the butchery began.

"Little children, Leger says, were torn from the arms of their mothers, dashed against the rocks, and cast carelessly away. The sick or the aged, both men and women, were either burned in their houses, or hacked in pieces; or mutilated, half murdered, and flayed alive, they were exposed in a dying state to the heat of the sun, or to flames, or to ferocious beasts." - "Israel of the Alps," Dr. Alexis Muston, Vol. I, pp. 349, 350.

(133) These people suffered tortures too terrible to mention, which only devils in human form could have invented. The towns in the beautiful valleys were left smoldering ruins. A few people save themselves by flight to the mountains.

FURTHER DESTRUCTION

In 1686 another terrible edict was issued against them, and an army raised to exterminate them. And again it was the same story of treachery. Gabriel of Savoy himself wrote them:

"'Do not hesitate to lay down your arms: and be assured that if you cast yourselves upon the clemency of his royal highness, he will pardon you, and that neither your persons nor those of your wives or children shall be touched.'" - "Israel of the Alps," Alexis Muston, Vol. I, p. 445.

The Waldenses accepted the official document in good faith and opened their entrenchments. But the Catholic officials, true to the nature of their church doctrines, rushed in and butchered men, women, and children in cold blood. Unspeakable tortures were inflicted on the innocent people, while a few escaped to the mountains. All the towns of the valleys were smoldering and charred ruins. Rome had at last quenched the ancient lamp. "The school of the prophets in the Pra del Tor is razed. No smoke is seen rising from cottage, and no psalm is heard ascending from dwelling or sanctuary,...and no troop of worshipers, obedient to the summons of the Sabbath bell, climbs the mountain paths." - "History of the Waldenses," Wylie, p. 173.

As these exiled Waldenses fled from country to country, they were persecuted and harassed, but they sowed the seeds of truth as they went. Let us now consider the experiences of other branches of the apostolic church, that were scattered by persecution and by early missionary endeavors to the outskirts of civilization.

Chapter 13

Celtic Sabbath-Keepers

(134) We know from several sources that Christianity entered the British Isles in apostolic times. (Colossians 1:23.) Rev. Richard Hart, B.A., Vicar of Catton, says: "That the light of Christianity dawned upon these islands in the course of the first century, is a matter of historical certainty." - "Ecclesiastical Records," p. vii. Cambridge: 1846. Tertullian, about 200 A.D., included the Britons among the many nations which believed in Christ, and he speaks of places among "the Britons - inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ." - "Answer to the Jews," chap. vii. Dr. Ephraim Pagit, in his "Christianography," printed in London, 1640, gives an interesting account of the early Christians in these islands.

Before the church in the British Isles was forced under the papal yoke, it was noted for its institutions of learning. The Rev. Mr. Hart says:

"That learning and piety flourished in these islands during the period of their independence is capable of the most satisfactory proof, and Ireland in particular was so universally celebrated, that students flocked thither from all parts of the world." - "Ecclesiastical Records," p. viii.

He says, some came to "Ireland for the sake of studying the Scriptures." - Id., p. xi.

THE COMING OF PATRICK

Patrick, a son of a Christian family in southern Scotland, was carried off to Ireland by pirates about 376 A.D. Here, in slavery, he gave his heart to God and, after six years of servitude, escaped, returning to his home in Scotland. But he could not forget the spiritual need of these poor heathen, and after ten years he returned to Ireland as a missionary of the Celtic church. "He had now reached his thirtieth year [390 A.D.]." - "The Ancient British and Irish Churches," William Cathcart, D. D., p. 70.

(135) Dr. E. Pagit says that "Saint Patricke had in his day founded there 365 churches." - "Christianography," Part 2, p. 10.

Dr. August Neander says of Patrick:

"The place of his birth was Bonnaven, which lay between the Scottish towns of Dumbarton and Glasgow, and was then reckoned to the province of Britain. This village, in memory of Patricius, received the name of Kil-Patrick or Kirk-Patrick. His father, a deacon in the village church, gave him a careful education." - "General History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. II, p. 122. Boston. 1855.

Patrick himself writes in his "Confession":

"I, Patrick,...had Calpornius for my father, a deacon, a son of the late Potitus, the presbyter....I was captured. I was almost sixteen years of age...and taken to Ireland in captivity with many thousand men." - "The Ancient British and Irish Churches," William Cathcart, D.D., p. 127.

PATRICK NOT A CATHOLIC

To those who have heard of Patrick only as a Catholic saint, it may be a surprise to learn that he was not a Roman Catholic at all, but that he was a member of the original Celtic church. There is no more historic evidence for Patrick's being a Roman Catholic saint, than for Peter's being the first pope. Catholics claim that Pope Celestine commissioned Patrick as a Roman Catholic missionary to Ireland; but William Cathcart, D.D., says:

"There is strong evidence that Patrick had no Roman commission in Ireland."

"As Patrick's churches in Ireland, like their brethren in Britain, repudiated the supremacy of the popes, all knowledge of the conversion of Ireland through his ministry must be suppressed [by Rome, at all cost.]: - Id., p. 85.

(136) The popes who lived contemporary with Patrick never mentioned him. "There is not a written word from one of them rejoicing over Patrick's additions to their church, showing clearly that he was not a Roman missionary....So completely buried was Patrick and his work by popes and other Roman Catholics, that in their epistles and larger publications, his name does not once occur in one of them until A.D. 634." - Id., p. 83.

"Prosper does not notice Patrick....He says nothing of the greatest success ever given to a missionary of Christ, apparently because he was not a Romanist." - Id., p. 84.

"Bede never speaks of St. Patrick in his celebrated 'Ecclesiastical History.'" - Id., p. 85.

But, writing of the year 431, Bede says of a Catholic missionary: "Palladius was sent by Celestinus, the Roman pontiff, to the Scots [Irish] that believed in Christ." - "Ecclesiastical History," p. 22. London. 1894.

But this papal emissary was not received any more favorably by the church in Ireland, than was Augustine later received by the Celtic church of Scotland, for "he left because he did not receive respect in Ireland." - "The Ancient British and Irish Churches," William Cathcart, D.D., p. 72.

No Roman Catholic church would have dared to ignore a bishop sent them by the pope. This proves that the churches in the British Isles did not recognize the pope.

Dr. Todd says:

"The 'Confession' of St. Patrick contains not a word of a mission from Pope Celestine. One object of the writer was to defend himself from the charge of presumption in having undertaken such a work as the conversion of the Irish, rude and unlearned as he was. Had he received a regular commission from the see of Rome, that fact alone would be an unanswerable reply. But he makes no mention of Pope Celestine, and rests his defense altogether on the divine call which he believed himself to have received for his work." - Id., pp. 81, 82.

(137) "Muirchu wrote more than two hundred years after Patrick's death. His declaration is positive that he did not go to Rome." - Id., p. 88.

There are three reasons why Patrick could not have been a Roman Catholic missionary: 1. Early Catholic historians and popes avoided mentioning Patrick or his work; until later legendary histories represented him as a Catholic Saint. (These legendary histories of St. Patrick, written during the Dark Ages, are so full of childish superstition and fabricated miracles, that they have to be rejected as actual history.) 2. When papal missionaries arrived in Britain, 596 A.D., the leaders of the original Celtic church refused to accept their doctrines, or to acknowledge the papal authority, and would not dine with them. (Compare 1 Cor. 5:11; 2 John 8-11.) They "acted towards the Roman party exactly 'as if they had been pagans.'" - "Ecclesiastical Records," by Richard Hart, pp. viii, xiv. 3. The doctrines of the Celtic church of Patrick's day differed so widely from those of the Roman church, that the latter could not have accepted it as "Catholic." Patrick, and the churches he established in Ireland, as well as the mother church in Scotland and England, followed the apostolic practice of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and of working on Sunday, as we soon shall see. But this was considered deadly heresy by the Papacy.

COLUMBA

Another leader in the Celtic church deserves to be mentioned: Columba, who was born in Ireland, A.D. 521. Animated by the zeal and missionary spirit he found in the schools established by Patrick, Columba continued the work of his predecessor, and selecting twelve fellow workers, he established a missionary center on the island of Iona. This early Celtic church sent its missionaries not only among the heathen Picts of their own country, but also into the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. This Sabbath-keeping church (as did their Waldensian brethren) kept the torch of truth burning during the long, dark night of papal supremacy, till finally they were conquered by Rome in the twelfth century. Professor Andrew Lang says of them:

(138) "They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical manner." - "A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation," Vol. I, p. 96. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1900.

Dr. A. Butler says of Columba:

"Having continued his labors in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday, the ninth of June, said to his disciple Diermit: 'This day is called the Sabbath, that is, the rest day, and such will it truly be to me; for it will put an end to my labors.'" - "Butler's Lives of the Saints," Vol. I, A.D. 597, art. "St. Columba," p. 762. New York. P. F. Collier.

In a footnote to Blair's translation of the Catholic historian, Bellesheim, we read:

"We seem to see here an allusion to the custom, observed in the early monastic Church of Ireland, of keeping the day of rest on Saturday, or the Sabbath." - "History of the Catholic Church in Scotland," Vol. I, p. 86.

Professor James C. Moffatt, D.D., Professor of Church History at Princeton, says:

"It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week." - "The Church in Scotland," p. 140. Philadelphia: 1882.

But the church of Rome could never allow the light of pure apostolic Christianity to shine anywhere, for that would reveal her own religion to be apostasy. Pope Gregory I, in 596, sent the imperious monk Augustine, with forty other monks, to Britain. Dr. A. Ebrard says of this "mission":

"Gregory well knew that there existed in the British Isles, yea, in a part of the Roman dominion, a Christian church, and that his Roman messengers would come in contact with them. By sending these messengers, he was not only intent upon the conversion of the heathen, but from the very beginning he was also bent upon bringing this Irish-Scotch church, which had hitherto been free from Rome, in subjection to the papal chair." - "Bonifacius," p. 16. Guetersloh, 1882. (Quoted in Andrews' "History of the Sabbath," fourth edition, revised and enlarged, p. 532).

(139) Through political influence, and with magnificent display, the Saxon king, Ethelbert of Kent, consented to receive the pope's missionaries, and "Augustine baptized ten thousand pagans in one day" by driving them in mass into the water. Then, relying on the support of the pope and the sword of the Saxons, Augustine summoned the leaders of the ancient Celtic church, and demanded of them: "'Acknowledge the authority of the Bishop of Rome.' These are the first words of the Papacy to the ancient Christians of Britain." They meekly replied: "'The only submission we can render him is that which we owe to every Christian.'" - "History of the Reformation," D'Aubigne, Book XVII, chap. 2. "'But as for further obedience, we know of none that he, whom you term the Pope, or Bishop of Bishops, can claim or demand.'" - "Early British History," G. H. Whalley, Esq., M. P., p. 17 (London: 1860): and "Variation of Popery," Rev. Samuel Edger, D.D., pp. 180-183. New York: 1849. Then in 601, when the British bishops finally refused to have any more to do with the haughty messenger of the pope, Augustine proudly threatened them with secular punishment. He said:

"'If you will not have peace from your brethren, you shall have war from your enemies; if you will not preach life to the Saxons, you shall receive death at their hands.' Edelfred, King of Northumbria, at the instigation of Augustin, forthwith poured 50,000 men into the Vale Royal of Chester, the territory of Prince of Powys, under whose auspices the conference had been held. Twelve hundred British priests of the University of Bangor having come out to view the battle, Edelfred directed his forces against them as they stood clothed in their white vestments and totally unarmed, watching the progress of the battle - they were massacred to a man. Advancing to the university itself, he put to death every priest and student therein, and destroyed by fire the halls, colleges, and churches of the university itself; thereby fulfilling, according to the words of the great Saxon authority called the Pious Bede, the prediction, as he terms it, of the blessed Augustine. The ashes of this noble monastery were smoking; its libraries, the collection of ages, having been wholly consumed." - "Early British History," G. H. Whalley, Esq., M. P., p. 18. London: 1860. See also "Six Old English Chronicles," pp. 275, 276; edited by J. A. Giles, D. C. L. London: 1906.

(140) D'Aubigne says of Augustine: "A national tradition among the Welsh for many ages pointed to him as the instigator of this cowardly butchery. Thus did Rome loose the savage Pagan against the primitive church of Britain." - "History of the Reformation," D'Aubigne, book 17, chap. 2.

This was a master stroke of Rome, and a great blow to the native Christians. With their university, their colleges, their teaching priests, and their ancient manuscripts gone, the Britons were greatly handicapped in their struggle against the ceaseless aggression of Rome. Still they continued the struggle for more than five hundred years longer, till finally, in the year 1069, Malcolm, the King of Scotland, married the Saxon princess, Margaret, who being an ardent Catholic, began at once to Romanize the primitive church, holding long conferences with its leaders. She was assisted by her husband, and by prominent Catholic officials. Prof. Andrew Lang says:

"The Scottish Church, then, when Malcolm wedded the sainted English Margaret, was Celtic, and presented peculiarities odious to the English lady, strongly attached to the establishment as she knew it at home....The Celtic priests must have disliked the interference of an Englishwoman.

"First there was a difference in keeping Lent. The Kelts did not begin it on Ash Wednesday....They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner." - "History of Scotland," Vol. I, p. 96.

William F. Skene says:

"Her next point was that they did not duly reverence the Lord's day, but in this latter instance they seem to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early Monastic Church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours." - "Celtic Scotland," Vol. II, p. 349. Edinburgh: David Douglas, printer, 1877.

(141) "They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work." - Id., p. 350.

"They were wont also to neglect the due observance of the Lord's day, prosecuting their worldly labours on that as on other days, which she likewise showed, by both argument and authority, was unlawful." - Id., p. 348.

SCOTLAND UNDER QUEEN MARGARET

Professor Andrew Lang relates the same fact thus:

"The Scottish Church, then, when Malcolm wedded the saintly English Margaret, was Celtic, and presented peculiarities odious to an English lady, strongly attached to the Establishment as she knew it at home....

"They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner....These things Margaret abolished." - "A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation," Vol. I, p. 96. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1900.

The Catholic historian, Bellesheim, says of Margaret:

"The queen further protested against the prevailing abuse of Sunday desecration. 'Let us,' she said, 'venerate the Lord's day, inasmuch as upon it our Saviour rose from the dead: let us do no servile work on that day.' The Scots in this matter had no doubt kept up the traditional practice of the ancient monastic Church of Ireland which observed Saturday, rather than Sunday, as a day of rest." - "History of the Catholic Church in Scotland," Vol. I, pp. 249, 250.

Finally the queen, the king, and three Roman Catholic dignitaries held a three-day council with the leaders of the Celtic church. Turgot, the queen's confessor, says:

"It was another custom of theirs to neglect the reverence due to the Lord's day, by devoting themselves to every kind of worldly business upon it, just as they did upon other days. That this was contrary to the law, she proved to them as well by reason as by authority. 'Let us venerate the Lord's day,' said she, 'because of the resurrection of our Lord, which happened upon that day, and let us no longer do servile works upon it; bearing in mind that upon this day we were redeemed from the slavery of the devil. The blessed Pope Gregory affirms the same, saying: "We must cease from earthly labour upon the Lord's day."'...From that time forward...no one dared on these days either to carry any burdens himself or to compel another to do so." - "Life of Queen Margaret," Turgot, Section 20; cited in "Source Book," p. 506, ed. 1922.

(142) Thus Rome triumphed at last in Scotland. In Ireland also the Sabbath-keeping church established by Patrick was not long left in peace:

"Giraldus Cambrensis informs us that in the year 1155 [Henry II, King of England, was entrusted by Pope Adrian IV with the mission of] invading Ireland [with devastating war] to extend the boundaries of the church, [so that even the Irish would become] faithful to the Church of Rome." The pope wrote Henry:

"'You, our beloved son in Christ, have signified to us your desire of invading Ireland,...and that you are also willing to pay to St. Peter the annual sum of one penny for every house. We therefore grant a willing assent to your petition, and that the boundaries of the Church may be extended,...permit you to enter the island.'" - "Ecclesiastical Records of England, Ireland, and Scotland," Rev. Richard Hart, B.A., pp. xv, xvi.

Thus we see, that in Scotland an English queen "introduced changes which, in Ireland, came in the wake of conquest and the sword. For example, the ecclesiastical novelties which St. Margaret's influence gently thrust upon Scotland, were accepted in Ireland by the Synod of Cashel (1172) under Henry II. Yet there remained, in the Irish Church, a Celtic and an Anglo-Norman party, 'which hated one another with as perfect a hatred as if they rejoiced in the designation of Protestant and Papist.'" - "History of Scotland," Andrew Lang, Vol. I, p. 97.

(143) But whether this triumph of Catholicism over the native Celtic faith was accomplished by the devastating wars of Henry II, or by Queen Margaret's appeal to Pope Gregory, and her threat of the civil law, in either case it lacked an appeal to plain Bible facts, accompanied by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. And, while the leaders of the Celtic church might reluctantly yield to the civil authorities, the people, who had kept the Bible Sabbath for centuries, requested divine authority for Sunday-keeping. For some time the papal missionaries, who preached this strange gospel to the Britons, fabricated all kinds of stories about miraculous punishments that had befallen those who worked on Sunday: Bread baked on Sunday, when it was cut, sent forth a flow of blood; a man plowing on Sunday, when cleaning his plow with an iron, had it grow fast to his hand, so that he had to carry it around to his shame for two years.

FORGED LETTER FROM CHRIST

When the Abbot Eustace, 1200 A.D., was continually confronted with requests for a divine command for Sunday-keeping, he finally retired to Europe, and returned the next year with a spurious letter from Jesus Christ, claimed to have fallen down from heaven upon St. Simon's altar at Golgotha. This letter declared:

"I am the Lord....It is my will, that no one, from the ninth hour on Saturday [3 P.M.] until sunrise Monday, shall do any work....And if you do not pay obedience to this command,...I swear to your...I will rain upon you stones, and wood, and hot water, in the night....Now, know ye, that you are saved by the prayers of my most holy Mother, Mary." - "Roger de Hoveden's Annals," Vol. II, pp. 526, 527, Bohn's edition. London. 1853.

In that superstitious age such childish fabrications might, to some extent, satisfy some people, but four hundred years later the trouble flared up again.

(144) "Upon the publication of the 'Book of Sports' in 1618, a violent controversy arose among English divines on two points: first, whether the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was in force among Christians; and, secondly, whether, and on what ground, the first day of the week was entitled to be distinguished and observed as 'the Sabbath.' In 1628 Theophilus Brabourne, a clergyman, published the first work in favor of the seventh day, or Saturday, as the true Christian Sabbath. He and several others suffered great persecution." - Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, art. "Sabbatarians," p. 602. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1883.

Several ministers arose in England about this time who defended the Bible Sabbath, and who were bitterly persecuted by the state church. John Trask was put in prison; his wife, a schoolteacher of a devout Christian character, remained in prison for fifteen years. On November 26, 1661, John James, a godly Sabbath-keeping preacher, was hanged for advocating the Sabbath truth, "and his head was set upon a pole opposite the meeting house in which he had preached the gospel." - "History of the Baptists," Dr. J. M. Cramp, p. 351. London: Elliot Stock, 1868. Dr. Thomas Bampfield, (See Robert Cox's "Literature of the Sabbath Question," Vol. II, pp. 86-91.) who had been speaker in one of Cromwell's parliaments, wrote two books defending the seventh-day Sabbath (1692, 1693), but he also was imprisoned. In 1664, Edward Stennet, an English minister, wrote a book entitled: "The Seventh Day Is the Sabbath of the Lord." But like the rest, he had to spend a long time in prison. In 1668 he wrote the following letter to his Sabbath-keeping brethren America:

"Abington, Berkshire, England,

"February 2nd, 1668.

"Edward Stennet, a poor unworthy servant of Jesus Christ, to the remnant in Rhode Island, who keep the commandments of God, and the testimonies of Jesus, sendeth greeting:

"Dearly Beloved:

(145) "I rejoice in the Lord on your behalfs that He hath been graciously pleased to make known to you His holy Sabbath in such a day as this, when truth falleth in the streets, and equity cannot enter. And with us we can scarcely find a man that is really willing to know whether the Sabbath be a truth or not, and those who have the greatest parts, have the least anxiety to meddle with it.

"We have passed through great opposition for the truth's sake, repeatedly from our brethren, which makes the affliction heavier; I dare not say how heavy, lest it should seem incredible; but the Lord has been with us, affording us strength according to our day. And when lovers and friends seem to be moved far from us, with such quick and eminent answers to our prayers, has encouraged and established us in the truth for which we suffer. But the opposers of truth seem much withered, and at present the opposition seems declining away; the truth is strong, and this spiritual fiery law will burn all those thorns which men set up before it. For was there ever any ceremonial law given us? But this law was given from the mouth of God, in the ears of so many thousands - written on tables of stone with His own finger - promised to be written on the tables of their hearts - and confirmed by a miracle for the space of forty years in the wilderness, the manna not keeping good any other day but the Sabbath....

"It is our duty as Christians, to carry it with all meekness and tenderness to our brethren, who, through the darkness of their understanding in this point, differ from us. We have abundant reason to bless our dear Father, who hath opened our eyes to behold the wonders in His law, while many of His dear servants are in the dark; but the Lord has in this truth as in others, first revealed it unto babes, that no flesh shall glory in His presence. Our work is to be at the feet of the Lord in all humility, crying unto Him, that we may be furnished with all grace to fit us for His work; that we may be instruments in His hands, to convince our brethren (if the Lord will) who at present differ from us....

(146) "Truly, dear brethren, it is a time of slumbering and sleeping with us, though God's rod is upon our backs. Oh! pray for us to the Lord, to quicken us, and set us upon watch-towers. Here are, in England, about nine or ten churches that keep the Sabbath, besides many scattered disciples, who have been eminently preserved in this tottering day, when many once eminent churches have been shattered in pieces. The Lord alone be exalted, for the Lord has done this, not for our sakes, but for His own name's sake. My dear brethren, I write these lines at a venture, not knowing how they will come to your hand. I shall commit them and you to the blessing of our dear Lord, who hath loved us, and washed away our sins in His own blood. If these lines come to you safely, and I shall hear from you, hereafter I will write to you more largely....The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. "Edward Stennet." - "An Original History of the Religious Denominations," I. Daniel Rupp, p. 71. Philadelphia: 1844.

Chapter 14

Wycliffe, Huss, and Zinzendorf

(147) The Inquisition and the devastating wars which the popes and the Councils directed against the Albigenses and Waldenses during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had scattered some of them over Europe, where they settled mostly in Germany, Poland, and Bohemia. "Others turning to the west obtained refuge in Britain." (See "Dissertation on the Prophecies," by Bishop Thomas Newton, p. 518, and "History of the Evangelical Churches of...Piedmont," by Samuel Morland, Esq., p. 191. (London, 1658).) Everywhere these God-fearing people worked quietly for the salvation of souls, and thus prepared the way for the Reformation. But the books of heaven alone contain the true record of the work done by these humble Waldenses.

"John Wycliffe was the herald of reform, not for England alone, but for all Christendom. The great protest against Rome which it was permitted him to utter, was never to be silenced. That protest opened the struggle which was to result in the emancipation of individuals, of churches, and of nations." - "The Great Controversy," pp. 79, 80.

In Bohemia, Huss and Jerome were, in their labor, animated by the writings of Wycliffe, so that the light of truth, which the Papacy had quenched in the "Vallies" was flaring up in England and Bohemia. Dr. Fr. Nielsen, of Denmark, says of the papal opposition:

"The struggle against the Waldenses...was as nothing compared to the trouble that broke out in the Bohemian church when Wycliffism had taken root in that country....About the year 1400 Jerome, M.A., of Prague had been at Oxford, and from thence had brought with him to Prague Wycliffe's 'Dialogus' and 'Trialogus,' and in 1403 John Huss stepped out openly as one of Wycliffe's disciples." - "Haandbog i Kirkens Historie" (Handbook of Church History), Vol. II, p. 874, ed. of 1893. Copenhagen.

(148) After Huss was burned, July 6, 1415, and Jerome, May 30, 1416, their work of reform was carried on by their followers. But they were divided into two camps, the conservative of Prague, and the radical of Tabor. Dr. Nielson continues:

"All Hussites were agreed upon yielding obedience to the 'law of God.'...Those of Prague...rejected only that which conflicted with the law of God, [while the] Taborites...would acknowledge only what was expressly mentioned in the Scriptures....The Taborites read the Scriptures with their own eyes....The radical party rejected all holidays, even Sunday....Some longed for the condition of the apostolic times....The religious enlightenment among the Taborites was great, and their women had a better knowledge of the Scriptures than the Italian priests....In Germany the Waldenses had, without doubt, as in Bohemia, several places prepared the way for the Hussitism....

"If any one after the middle of the fifteenth century wanted to find genuine disciples of Wycliffe and Huss in Bohemia he had to go to the eastern border where the remnant of the Taborites, as 'the quiet in the land' in strict discipline endeavored to follow the law of God. At the close of the fifteenth century there were in Bohemia and Moravia about two hundred churches of the 'Brethren,' who rejected all connection with the Roman church and had their own ministers and bishops, who through a Waldensian Bishop from Austria believed they had preserved the apostolic succession....Time and again they were subject to bloody persecutions." - Id., pp. 886-888, 896, 897.

We shall now show that these Waldensian and Hussite brethren were Sabbath-keepers. Dr. R. Cox says: "I find from a passage in Erasmus that at the early period of the Reformation when he wrote, there were Sabbatarians in Bohemia, who not only kept the seventh day, but were said to be...scrupulous in resting on it." Erasmus' statement follows: "Now we hear that among the Bohemians a new kind of Jews has arisen called Sabbatarians, who observe the Sabbath." - "Literature of the Sabbath Question," Cox, Vol. II, pp. 201, 202.

(149) Bishop A. Grimelund of Norway speaks of them as "the anciently arisen, but later vanished sect of Sabbatarians in Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary." - "Sondagens Historie" (History of Sunday), pp. 46, 47. Christiania: 1886.

About the year 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhard, of Lichtenstein, "as the princes of Lichtenstein held to the observance of the true Sabbath." - "History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, p. 649, ed. 1912. Lord Leonhard asked the Sabbatarians to submit to him a statement of their belief, which was sent to Wolfgang Capito, a leading Strassburg Reformer, and to Caspar Schwenkfield, This document is lost, but Schwekfield's answer to it (printed in 1599) contains several quotations from it, showing that their arguments for the seventh day were much the same as those used by Seventh-day Adventists today. In 1535 they were driven from their homes by persecution, but "once more they were granted respite." Finally in 1547 the king of Bohemia, yielding to the constant urging of the Roman church, expelled them. "The Jesuits contrived to publish this edict just before harvest and vintage....They allowed them only three weeks and three days for their departure; it was death to be found even on the borders of the country beyond the expiration of the hour....At the border they filed off, some to Hungary, some to Transylvania, some to Wallachia, others to Poland." - "History of the Sabbath," Andrews, pp. 648, 649.

COUNT ZINZENDORF

Scattered and torn by persecution, the old sect of Moravian Brethren wandered about till about the year 1720 Count Zinzendorf invited them to his estate, later called Herrnhut. He began to keep the Sabbath, and became the leader of these Brethren and the head of a great missionary movement. Bishop A. D. Spangenberg says of him:

(150) "He loved to stick to the plain text of the Scriptures, believing that rather simplicity than art is required to understand it. When he found anything in the Bible stated in such plain language that a child could understand, he could not well bear to have one depart from it." - "Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf" (Life of Count Zinzendorf), pp. 3, 546, 547, 1774.

In 1738 Zinzendorf wrote of his keeping the Sabbath thus:

"That I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and our Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel - that I have done without design, and in simplicity of heart." - "Budingsche Sammlung," Sec. 8, p. 224. Leipzig: 1742.

Spangenberg gives some of Zinzendorf's reasons for keeping the seventh day holy:

"On one hand, he believed that the seventh day was sanctified and set apart as a rest day immediately after creation; but on the other hand, and principally, because his eyes were directed to the rest of our Saviour Jesus Christ in the grave on the seventh day." - "Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf" pp. 5, 1422, note.

In 1741 he journeyed to Bethlehem, Pa., where some Moravian Brethren had settled. Of his work there Spangenberg relates:

"As a special instance it deserves to be noticed that he is resolved with the church at Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest day. The matter had been previously considered by the church council in all its details, and all the reasons pro and con were carefully weighed, whereby they arrived at the unanimous agreement to keep the said day as Sabbath." - "Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422. (See also "Varnhagen von Ense Biographische Denkmale," pp. 5, 301. Berlin. 1846.

The church records of the Bethlehem Moravian Church (now in the Moravian Seminary archives, and dated June 13 O. S., or June 24 N. S., 1742) has this paragraph:

"The Sabbath is to be observed in quietness and in fervent communion with the Saviour. It is a day that was given to all nations according to the law for rest, for the Jews observed it not so much as Jews as human beings."

PERSECUTION IN THE UNITED STATES

(151) But even in the United States, Sabbath-keepers had endured more or less persecution, and when, on the second of October, 1798, a member of their Ephrata society was haled into court for working on Sunday, the judge read a letter, which George Washington wrote to the Baptists of Virginia, dated August 4, 1798, in which he assured them of full religious liberty. It was not easy, however, for the people to grasp the truth that religious liberty is an inherent right, and that governments are instituted to protect the individual in his God-given rights, and that church and state are to be kept separate. (Luke 20:25.) The champions of liberty had a long, hard fight to secure the adoption and ratification of the Federal Constitution and its First Amendment, and it will take the utmost watchfulness by the friends of freedom to retain the liberty there guaranteed.

When the Constitution was drafted and made its appearance, the friends of religious liberty, especially those who had been oppressed under the religious establishments of the colonies, felt that liberty of conscience was not sufficiently secured by the proposed Constitution. While Article 6 forbade religious tests as a qualification for office under the government, there was no guaranty against religious tests and religious intolerance to those not in office. So on August 8, 1789, the United Baptist churches of Virginia addressed a communication to George Washington, in which they gave expression to the prevailing fears in this matter. Washington replied as follows: "If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the convention where I had the honor to preside might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it; and if I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of religious persecution. For, you doubtless remember, I have often expressed my sentiments that any man, conducting himself as a good citizen and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." - "History of the Baptists," Thomas Armitage, D.D., pages 806, 807.

(152) About a month later, James Madison, with the approval of George Washington, introduced in the first Congress that met under the new Constitution, the first ten amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, the first of which enjoins Congress from all religious legislation. It is as follows:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Thus the champions of liberty secured for the citizens of the new republic full liberty of conscience to worship, freedom of speech and of the press, and it will take eternal vigilance to retain these rights unimpaired. See "American State Papers," William Addison Blakely, pp. 152, 153, revised edition. Washington, D.C.: 1911.

Chapter 15

Sabbath-Keepers in India

APOSTOLIC ORIGIN

(153) We shall now briefly trace the apostolic Christian Sabbath-keepers from Antioch in Syria to their farthest mission stations in old China. Thomas Yeates in his "Indian Church History" (London: 1818), has collected from several sources statements that all agree on the points he presents, that the apostle Thomas traveled through Persia into India, where he raised up many churches. "From thence he went to China, and preached the gospel in the city of Cambala, [which is] supposed to be the same with Pekin, and there he built a church." - Indian Church History," p. 73. "In the year 1625, there was found in a town near Si-ngan-fu, the metropolis of the province of Shin-si, a stone having the figure of a cross, and inscriptions in two languages,...Chinese and Syriac...as follows: 'This Stone was erected to the honor and eternal memory of the law of light and truth brought from Ta-Cin, and promulgated in China.' [The inscription consists of 736 words, giving] a summary of the fundamental articles of the Christian faith." - Id., pp. 86-88.

That the missionaries who brought the gospel to China were Sabbath-keepers can be seen by the following extract from the inscription:

"On the seventh day we offer sacrifice, after having purified our hearts, and received absolution for our sins. This religion, so perfect and so excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by its brilliant precepts." - "Christianity in China," M. l''Abbe Huc, Vol. I, chap. 2, pp. 48, 49, seq. New York. 1873.

Returning to India we shall find traces of the Sabbath among those churches also. And they had retained the Bible in the ancient language used by the church at Antioch, where the name "Christians" originated. (Acts 11:26.)

(154) "It was in these sequestered regions that copies of the Syriac Scriptures found a safe asylum from the search and destruction of the Romish inquisitors, and were found with all the marks of ancient purity." - "Indian Church History," T. Yeates, p. 167.

"Whatever may be the future use and importance of those manuscripts, one thing is certain, and that is, they establish the fact that the Syrian Christians of India have the pure unadulterated Scriptures in the language of the ancient church of Antioch, derived from the very times of the Apostles." - Id., p. 169.

Thomas Yeates shows that they kept "Saturday, which amongst them is a festival day, agreeable to the ancient practice of the church." - Id., pp. 133, 134.

The Armenians of India and Persia had evidently received their faith from the same source as the other Christians of India. Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D. D., says of them:

"The Armenians in Hindostan are our own subjects....They have preserved the Bible in its purity; and their doctrines are, as far as the Author knows, the doctrines of the Bible. Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship, throughout our Empire, on the seventh day; and they have as many spires pointing to heaven among the Hindoos, as we ourselves." - "Christian Researches in Asia," p. 143. Philadelphia. 1813.

The Jacobites, another branch of the original Christians of India, can add one more link to this evidence. Samuel Purchas, the noted geographer and compiler, said of them:

"They keep Saturday holy, nor esteem the Saturday fast lawful, but on Easter even. They have solemn service on Saturdays, eat flesh, and feast it bravely, like the Jews." - "Pilgrimmes," Part 2, book 8, chap. 6, p. 1269. London. 1625. (We must remember that the papal church demanded all to fast on the Sabbath, but these Christians refused to obey her.)

J. W. Massie says of these Indian Christians:

"Remote from the busy haunts of commerce, or the populous seats of manufacturing industry, they may be regarded as the Eastern Piedmontese, the Vaudois of Hindustan, the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth through revolving centuries, though indeed their bodies lay as dead in the streets of the city which they had once peopled." - "Continental India," Vol. 2, p. 120.

PAPAL PERSECUTION

(155) Mr. Massie further says of these Christians:

"Separated from the Western world for a thousand years, they were naturally ignorant of many novelties introduced by the councils and decrees of the Lateran; and their conformity with the faith and practice of the first ages laid them open to the unpardonable guilt of heresy and schism, as estimated by the church of Rome. 'We are Christians, and not idolaters,' was their expressive reply when required to do homage to the image of the Virgin Mary....LaCroze states them at fifteen hundred churches and as many towns and villages. They refused to recognize the pope, and declared they had never heard of him; they asserted the purity and primitive truth of their faith since they came, and their bishops had for thirteen hundred years been sent, from the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians." - Id., Vol. II, pp. 116, 117.

When the Portuguese (Roman Catholics) came to Malabar, India, in 1503, "they were agreeably surprised to find upwards of a hundred Christian churches on the coast of Malabar. But when they became acquainted with the purity and simplicity of their worship, they were offended. 'These churches,' said the Portuguese, 'belong to the Pope.' 'Who is the Pope?' said the natives, 'we never heard of him.' The European priests were yet more alarmed, when they found that these Hindoo Christians maintained the order and discipline of a regular church under Episcopal jurisdiction: and that, for 1300 years past, they had enjoyed a succession of Bishops appointed by the Patriarch of Antioch. 'We,' said they, 'are of the true faith, whatever you from the West may be; for we came from the place where the followers of Christ were first called Christians'" - "Christian Researches in Asia," Claudius Buchanan, D. D., p. 60. Philadelphia. 1813.

(156) "These Christians met the Portuguese as natural friends and allies, and rejoiced at their coming: - but the Portuguese were much disappointed at finding the St. Thome Christians firmly fixed in the tenets of a primitive church; and soon adopted plans for drawing away from their pure faith this innocent, ingenuous, and respectable people." - "Indian Church History," Thomas Yeates, p. 163. London. 1818.

When the Jesuit, Francis Xavier, and his colaborers, were sent to India, they displayed the true spirit of Romanism. "The Inquisition was set up at Goa, in the Indies, at the instance of Francis Xaverius, who signified by letter to Pope [King] John III, Nov. 10, 1545, 'that the Jewish wickedness spread every day more and more in the parts of the East Indies, subject to the kingdom of Portugal, and therefore he earnestly besought the said king, that to cure so great an evil, he would take care to send the office of the Inquisition into those countries. [Accordingly the Inquisition was erected there.] The first Inquisitor was Alexius Diaz Falcano, sent by Cardinal Henry, March 15, A.D. 1560....The language of F. Xavier, used on this occasion, is truly suspicious, and that under the mask of correcting 'the Jewish wickedness,' is rather to be construed an avowed design against the liberties, the independence, and the firmness of the native Christians of Malabar, who refused to acknowledge the Pope's supremacy, and with a true Protestant zeal bravely resisted the Catholic tyranny." - Id., pp. 139, 140.

"The Jewish wickedness" of which Xavier complained was evidently the Sabbath-keeping among those native Christians, as we shall see in our next quotation. When one of these Sabbath-keeping Christians was taken by the Inquisition, he was accused "of having Judaized; which means, having conformed to the ceremonies of the Mosaic law; such as not eating pork, hare, fish without scales, &c., of having attended the solemnization of the Sabbath." - "Account of the Inquisition at Goa," Dellon, p. 56. London. 1815.

(157) "The Inquisitors, by degrees, begin to urge him in this way - 'If thou has observed the law of Moses, and assembled on the Sabbath day as thou sayest, and thy accusers have seen thee there, as appears to have been the case; to convince us of the sincerity of thy repentance, tell us who are thine accusers, and those who have been with thee at these assemblies.'"

Dellon then suggests that in the mind of the inquisitors "the witnesses of the Sabbath are considered as accomplices." - Id., p. 58.

Some have thought that these Sabbath-keepers were relapsed Jews, but Dellon declares:

"Of an hundred persons condemned to be burnt as Jews, there are scarcely four who profess that faith at their death; the rest exclaiming and protesting to their last gasp that they are Christians, and have been so during their whole lives." - Id., p. 64.

"The prisoner, who was entirely innocent, would be given over to the civil arm to be burned, unless he confessed the very crimes of which he was accused, and signed his confession, and also named six or seven of his accusers. But, not being told who they were, he might have to name many before striking the right ones, and, as his accusers were supposed to have been eyewitnesses to his Sabbath-keeping, they might be Sabbath-keepers, who, like himself, were in the clutches of the Inquisition. His only hope, therefore, was to name some of his brethren, who would then be taken by the inquisitors, and forced to repeat the same experience to free themselves. thus the prison would be filled with people who were tortured for guilt of which they were innocent, or to remain in solitary confinement and terrible suspence and agony of mind unto the Auto da Fe, or public burning, which took place every two or three years." - Id., pp. 53-60, 67. And whether they were released or executed, their property was confiscated to the Inquisition. Dr. C. Buchanan says:

"When the power of the Portuguese became sufficient for their purpose, they invaded these tranquil Churches, seized some of the Clergy, and devoted them to the death of heretics....They seized the Syrian Bishop Mar Joseph, and sent him prisoner to Lisbon: and then convened a Synod at one of the Syrian Churches called Diamper, near Cochin, at which the Romish Archbishop Menezes presided. At this compulsory Synod 150 of the Syrian Clergy appeared. They were accused of the following practices and opinions: 'That they had married wives; that they owned but two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, that they neither invoked Saints, nor worshipped Images, nor believed in Purgatory; and that they had no other orders of names of dignity in the church, than bishop, Priest, and Deacon.' These tenets they were called on to abjure, or to suffer suspension from all Church benefices. It was also decreed that all Syrian books on ecclesiastical subjects that could be found, should be burned; 'in order,' said the Inquisitors, 'that no pretended apostolical monuments may remain'" - "Christian Researches in Asia," p. 60.

(158) The papacy had adopted the policy that all remains of the pure, apostolic church, whether persons or books, should be carefully eradicated, so that no trace of them might betray the sad fact that the Roman church had fallen away from the apostolic purity. And she has also tried to destroy all accounts of her persecution during the Dark Ages, so that her tracks would be covered up.

Chapter 16

The Reformation

NECESSARY BECAUSE THE CHURCH HAD FALLEN

(159) The Roman church was sadly in need of a reformation, but she refused to surrender the elements that corrupted her, and slew those who tried to save her. There were two papal ordinances which especially contributed toward the terrible and widespread depravity of her priesthood: (1) enforced celibacy (forbidding priest to marry), and (2) exemption of the clergy from the domain of civil law, so that government officials could not punish them for any crime. H. C. Lea says of the Roman Catholic clergyman:

"No matter what crimes he might commit, secular justice could not take cognizance of them, and secular officials could not arrest him. He was amenable only to the tribunals of his own order, which were debarred from inflicting punishments involving the effusion of blood, and from whose decisions an appeal to the supreme jurisdiction of distant Rome conferred too often virtual immunity." - "History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages," Vol. I, p. 2. New York. 1888.

This author makes a further statement concerning a "complaint laid before the pope by the imperial Diet, in recounting the evils arising from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction which allowed clerical offenders to enjoy virtual immunity, adduced, among other grievances, the license afforded to those who, debarred by the canons from marriage, abandoned themselves night and day to attempts upon the virtue of the wives and daughters of the laity, sometimes gaining their ends by flattery and presents, and sometimes taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the confessional. It was not uncommon, indeed, for women to be openly carried off by their priests, while their husbands and fathers were threatened with vengeance if they should attempt to recover them. As regards the sale to ecclesiastics of licenses to indulge in habitual lust, the Diet declared it to be a regular and settled matter, reduced to the form of an annual tax, which in most dioceses was exacted of all the clergy without exception, so that when those who perchance lived chastely demurred at the payment, they were told that the bishop must have the money, and that after it was handed over they might take their choice whether to keep concubines or not." - "An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church," pp. 431, 432, and Note 1. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, 1884.

(160) Let the reader remember that those "complaints were made by the highest authority in the empire." - Ibid.

Professor Philip Limborch records the same fact, and adds:

"Erasmus says: 'There is a certain German bishop, who declared publicly at a feast, that in one year he had brought to him 11,000 priests that openly kept women': for they pay annually a certain sum to the bishop. This was one of the hundred grievances that the German nation proposed to the Pope's nuncio at the convention at Nuremberg, in the years 1522 and 1523. Grievance 91." - "History of the Inquisition," p. 84.

H. C. Lea says:

"The extent to which the evil sometimes grew may be guessed from a case mentioned by Erasmus, in which a theologian of Louvain refused absolution to a pastor who confessed to having maintained illicit relations with no less than two hundred nuns confided to his spiritual charge." - "An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy," pp. 567, 568.

While the pope had ample machinery in the Inquisition for correcting his sinning priests, yet he was very lenient with them, except for "heresy." In fact, heinous depravity seemed to have been worse where the Inquisition reigned supreme. H. C. Lea continues:

"It is rather curious that in Spain, the only kingdom where heresy was not allowed to get a foothold, the trouble seems to have been greatest and to have first called for special remedial measures." - Id., p. 568.

(161) Of the "remedial" laws enacted in 1255, 1274, and 1302, Lea says:

"However well meant these efforts were, they proved as useless as all previous ones, for in 1322 the council of Valladolid, under the presidency of the papal legate, [enacted still more laws]. The acts of this council, moreover, are interesting as presenting the first authentic evidence of a custom which subsequently prevailed to some extent elsewhere, by which parishioners were wont to compel their priests to take a female consort for the purpose of protecting the virtue of their families from his assaults." - Id., p. 310. "The same state of affairs continued until the sixteenth century was well advanced." - Id., p. 312.

"We have already seen ecclesiastical authority for the assertion that in the Spanish Peninsula the children sprung from such illicit connections rivaled in numbers the offspring of the laity." - Id., p. 336.

Such conditions seem almost unbelievable. But, when in 1900 W. H. Taft was sent to the Philippines to establish civil government with a public school system there, he reported finding in those islands conditions similar to those described above. See Senate Document No. 190, 56th Congress, 2nd Session: "Message from the President of the United States, 1901 A.D."

If some Protestants of today had known the conditions existing at the time of the Reformation they would not have judged Dr. Martin Luther so critically for his harsh statements. That the Reformation was the inevitable result of the fallen condition of the Catholic Church, was acknowledged by the speakers at the Council of Trent. H. C. Lea says:

"Even in the Council of Trent itself, the Bishop of St. Mark, in opening its proceedings with a speech, January 6th, 1546, drew a fearful picture of the corruption of the world, which had reached a degree that posterity might possibly equal but not exceed. This he assured the assembled fathers was attributable solely to the wickedness of the pastors, who drew their flocks with them into the abyss of sin. The Lutheran heresy had been provoked by their own guilt, and its suppression was only to be hoped for by their own reformation. At a later session, the Bavarian orator, August Baumgartner, told the assembled fathers that the progress of the Reformation was attributable to the scandalous lives of the clergy, whose excesses he could not describe without offending the chaste ears of his auditory. He even asserted that out of a hundred priests there were not more than three or four who were not either married or concubinarians - a statement repeated in a consultation on the subject of ecclesiastical reform drawn up in 1562 by order of the Emperor Ferdinand, with the addition that the clergy would rather see the whole structure of the church destroyed than submit to even the most moderate measure of reform." - "An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy," pp. 518, 519.

"SALE OF INDULGENCES" AROUSED PROTEST

(162) The subject of indulgences is of great importance at this time, for the strenuous protest of Romanists against any discussion of this subject has changed both our schoolbooks and our encyclopedias. We therefore invite the reader to a careful investigation of this subject. The grossest doctrines that ever disgraced the church of Rome, usually began as apparently innocent injunctions, which developed for centuries into the final monstrosity. This was the case with "indulgence." It began simply as a release from some ecclesiastical punishment.

Catholic authorities today teach that there are two kinds of punishments for sin, one eternal and the other temporal. Dr. M. J. Scott, S. J., says:

"The forgiveness of sin is...the remission of the eternal chastisement....

"After the guilt and eternal punishment have been remitted there remains the temporal chastisement,...which must be suffered either here or...hereafter...by the suffering of Purgatory." - "Things Catholics Are Asked About," p. 145. New York: P. J. Kenedy and Sons. 1927.

The debt in purgatory may be settled in this life by penances, masses, or by indulgences. On the cost of having masses celebrated see "Fifty Years in the Church of Rome" by Charles Chiniquy, chap. XXV. Catholic authors admonish a Catholic to settle his account with the church in this life, for when he dies "his family might have hundreds of Masses offered up for his soul," before it affects him in purgatory. - 'Things Catholics Are Asked About," p. 147. As some Catholics may be unwilling to pay such sums for their deceased relatives, Dr. J. T. Roche warns them:

(163) "The last will and testament of a Catholic in which there is no provision made for Masses gives evidence of an oversight which is truly deplorable. Children and heirs-at-law are the same the world over. In many instances they are dissatisfied with the bequests made to them individually. Their disappointment precludes the possibility of having Masses said for the dead testator. Some of them too are so selfish and grasping th