From his pulpit the priest of a church near Genoa made the announcement to his congregation that the cholera had entered the village. This startling announcement was certainly calculated to awaken some alarm in the community. But an investigation proved that the terrible plague that had entered the place was nothing more or less than a harmless Seventh-day Adventist who had begun to tell the people of the great truth for this time. Our Italian brother has come from California as a self-supporting missionary, and, as his relatives live in this village, he naturally went there first to tell them of the glad tidings. But when the parish priest heard of his arrival, he went to see him, and tried to win him again to Catholicism, the religion to which he adhered in youth. But all the arguments and sophistries that the subtle mind of the priest could bring to bear upon him had no effect except to establish him more firmly than ever in the truth. When the priest saw that his words failed to convert our brother to the Roman church, he denounced him from the pulpit, using the expression already referred to. He also warned the people from speaking to Brother Oberti, saying that the wolf had come in among the sheep, not to take the sheep, but their souls. The people, after this discourse, refused to have anything to do with our brother, and his relatives would even pass him on the street without taking any notice of him. The people have also prohibited their children from speaking to him, and have spread the word from town to town that he is a deceiver.
But amid it all this brother is not discouraged, as can be seen from the following extract taken from one of his letters: “They do not frighten me, for I know in whom I have believed. My heart is very sad to see this great darkness, and to behold the people worshiping idols and bowing down to wood and stone. Here they are now making preparations to celebrate the feast of St. Rocco. They light candles every morning before this statue and sing, asking the saint to intercede for them. I propose to live near God, so that they find nothing of which they can accuse me.”
It is not difficult to see the spirit that still animates the church of Rome, and, had they the power, they would use more than words in trying to suppress the efforts of this worker, as they have done in other places even in these days. The church of Rome not only has persecuted God’s people in the past, but she takes delight in recognizing in herself a persecuting power. This may seem rather a strange declaration, but it can be easily substantiated. For example, under the heading, “How to Write to the Pope,” one of the journals of Rome stated, after speaking of the way in which to obtain a response, that “these words may be written, which will act like a charm: To His Holiness the Pope, Prefect of the Holy Roman and General Inquisition.” The pope since the time of Paul IV has had been the special head of the Inquisition tribunal. So we see that while the pope can not exercise now his prerogative as head of the Inquisition, still he clings fondly to the name, and still it charms his ear to be addressed as “The Prefect of the Holy Roman and General Inquisition.” As the Inquisition stands for the very personification of persecution and cruelty, are we wrong in concluding that the church takes delight in recognizing in herself a persecuting power when that which is most pleasing to the pope today is to be called the head of the Inquisition?
To say that the church of Rome is contesting every inch of ground in Italy, and especially in Rome, is stating the case mildly. The church of Rome is like a great army well organized and well instructed for the warfare which they are waging. I have noticed how quickly they will send re-enforcements to a weak point, that they may hold what they have, and gain more, if possible.
But, as I have said, our brother is not discouraged, but has obtained from us a supply of books and tracts, and is going out among the people to give them a knowledge of the greatest message that has ever gone to this world. And I only wish that, where we now have one, we could have a hundred such faithful brethren who would be willing to put their life and means into the great work of proclaiming the third angel’s message.
