THE POPE TO THE WORLD

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 3, 1876

THE POPE TO THE WORLD.

A Remarkable Discourse Delivered to an International Deputation.

If the pope is disposed, even though unwittingly, to herald to the world the fulfillment of the prophetic utterances in respect to himself and the papal hierarchy, he is entitled to a hearing. When the prophet said, “They shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it unto the end,” he evidently had in view just that state of things in regard to the papal power which the pope in the following discourse, so piteously bewails. What he says about the dry bones rising again has no significance, only as it is calculated to still further inflame in the hearts of all papists their feelings of hatred and hostility against all other religions. These tokens should cause the people of God to look up and lift up their heads; for they indicate that the dawn of day and the expected hour of deliverance are near at hand.

“One of the most remarkable of the many remarkable discourses of the present Pontiff was pronounced by His Holiness in the Consistorial Hall in the Vatican on the 22d of March. It was addressed to an International Deputation, composed of representatives from England, Ireland, America, Austria, Poland, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, and Germany. The Duc Descars was the President-General of the deputation. His Holiness entered the hall about midday, accompanied by five cardinals and a numerous court of bishops, prelates and laymen. Among the cardinals the noble figure of Cardinal Ledochowski was conspicuous. Near to him stood Monsignor Mermillod. Duc Descars read the address in a low voice and with great emotion. The reply of the Holy Father was delivered with a power and a clearness of voice especially remarkable. The vigor of the pope on this occasion gives every reason to believe that he will live for many years to come. On two occasions, at parts of his subject where particular emphasis was to be given, he smote his breast, and his voice rose and fell with the emotions begotten of his discourse. He said:—

“‘When I turn mine eyes around the different points of the Catholic world, I find before me everywhere the sad and dolorous spectacle of immense masses of ruins, caused by the cruel perfidy of the enemies of the church in the present revolution. I see convents and monasteries which were but lately inhabited by peaceful Cenobites and by virgin spouses of Christ, now deserted by their former occupants in order to make room for people strange and profane, and sometimes worse than profane. I see the fair riches and possessions of the church made the prey of the devourers of to-day, and destined to satiate the insatiable appetite of the revolution.

“‘I see ruins everywhere. I see the rights of the church trampled on and outraged, the ecclesiastical hierarchy interrupted and made useless, because all are condemned, no matter what their grade, to pay that most terrible of tributes, the tribute of blood in the fields of battle, and the church is impeded from selecting her own ministers. I see liberty of teaching rendered a monopoly, which every day augments the tyrannical oppression, and which is accompanied with error, and sometimes also with blasphemy. I see tolerance for many crimes and offenses against God, against morality, and against social order. And very often I see judicial sentences inspired, not by justice, but by the evil-born passions which ever dominate in times disturbed by revolution. These and many other things are what form the great mass of the ruins of the church, which, scattered here and there, occupy an immense space.

“‘While I consider this mournful picture I am reminded of the prophet Ezekiel. The prophet was by God transported in the spirit into a vast plain, all covered over with dry bones. And while he, amazed and astonished, pondered upon the doleful sight, he heard at his ear a voice from above which spoke to him and asked him, “Believest thou that these bones can have life?” The prophet, bending low, humbly responded, “Thou only canst do this, O my God. Domine Deus, tu nosti.” Then said God, “Prophesy concerning these bones. Know that these bones shall live. I will send spirit into them, and will again cover them with nerves, tendons, veins, and blood.

“‘Flesh shall once more return to them. Skin shall again clothe the perfect body, and they shall live.’” The prophet repeated the words of God, and while he uttered them there commenced a noise and then a commotion, caused by the bones, which sought to rearrange themselves to form the several bodies as they had been before. Factus est sonitus, et ecce commotio.

“‘The prophecy, my friends, indicated the end of the slavery of Israel and the return of the Jewish people to their own country. Now, I say that God, observing this present field of waste and ruins, of which I just spoke, heaped up with spoils of the church of Jesus Christ, cannot but ask each one of us, “Dost thou think these bones shall live?” and say to us, “Prophesy concerning these bones.” What, then, shall we answer? With resolute mind and unfaltering accents we shall answer: “Yes, all these bones shall rise again, for the church of Jesus Christ, to which they belong, can never perish. The church must last even to the consummation of the ages.”

“‘These ruins will indeed have a resurrection, but before that they will have also their commotion. Et ecce commotio. And this commotion is even now apparent. We may perceive it in your coming hither as obedient children to their Father. We may perceive it in the movement of Catholic nations in so many devout pilgrimages. We may trace this commotion in the echo of the fervid prayers which arise unto God in the sacred temples. The crowded tribunals of penance and the thronged eucharistic tables prove also that there is a movement among the ruins of the church of Jesus Christ.

“‘But at that time what will be the fate of the impious who are persecuting the church? We have the right to believe that the present persecutors of the church will have no other end than that of their predecessors, and that in the time ordained by Providence, God will stretch out his favoring hand over the church. We may expect that when the church shall have been completely purged and set free from the chains with which her foes and persecutors now bind her, God will cover her with a vestment of gold, and cause her to sit as a queen at the right hand of her divine founder. Astitit Regina a dextris tuis in vestitu deaurato.’”