p. 5 | The Hope of the Papacy by Francis M. Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 18, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 41.

The Hope of the Papacy

By Francis M. Wilcox

THE prophecy of Revelation 13 indicates that the one government of all others that will prove a stronghold to the papal hierarchy in the closing years of earth’s history is the United States of America. Of the work to be done by this Government the scripture declares:

“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”

True to prophetic prediction, the Papacy sees in the growth and progress of its work in the United States its hope for the future. The last decade has given many evidences of the determination of European powers to continue the work of shaking off the papal yoke. The papal church, recognizing this growing spirit of insubordination among its older children, turns to the New World, looking to the Benjamin of the nations for future support. These sentiments are voiced by the editor of America in his issue of September 24. We quote:

“The world at large is generally convinced that the Papacy is a wreck. In the northern countries of Europe its very name has been held in abomination for more than three centuries, and the Latin races are now moving in the same direction of revolt. The nation that formerly gloried in its title of the Eldest Daughter of the Church, has thrust out the pope with contempt, and refuses to recognize his existence. The churches are dismantled, the religious orders are expelled, and bishops and priests are haled before the courts as criminals for loyalty to the representative of Christ. Spain, ‘the Catholic,’ has announced its purpose of assuming the same attitude of hate. Little Portugal is also in revolt, and in the pope’s own dominions a usurper rules, while an atheist Jew is the mayor of the Eternal City, and is actively engaged in obliterating every memory of Christ from the very heart of Christianity. Worse conditions are promised for the year 1912.”

From this cry of lament over the waning prestige of the church in the Old World, the editor strikes a more hopeful note as he turns his view toward the western hemisphere:

“Yet what is this occurring in the great city on the St. Lawrence? Half a million people are gathered there for a religious celebration. Triumphal arches span the thorofares; the public buildings are hung with the flags of every nation, and the facades of the houses are almost hidden by the decorations. Multitudes have hurried thither from all parts of the world. There are priests and prelates and laymen from the great Republic beyond the borders; from Italy and France and Germany, and England and Scotland and Ireland, from South America and the islands of the Caribbean. Even Greenland and South Africa and distant Jerusalem have sent their representatives. In the endless and gorgeous pageant that passed through the streets there were Negroes and white men, Indians in their war-paint and Chinese in silk robes with their flags of the flaming dragon. There were university professors in their insignia of office, tonsured monks in their varied garbs, military and ministers of state, priests in their sacerdotal robes, bishops with their copes and miters, cardinals in their royal scarlet, but one conspicuous figure stands out in splendid scene towering like Saul over all the people. In his hands is the Adorable Host which he is bearing from the great basilica to the altar on the Royal Mountain. After His Majesty of the Eucharist, this man is the center of all that splendor and pomp and magnificence, the cynosure of every eye, the one to whom all the cardinals and bishops and priests and people pay their obeisance, and eagerly and affectionately come with their tribute of homage.”

Interior of St. James Cathedral, where the Eucharistic Congress was opened by the papal legate

But hope for the Old World is by no means abandoned. The Papacy expects its cause to grow worse before it is bettered, but looks forward with confidence to the time when the nations of Europe, wearied of the anarchy and political chaos into which, they will believe, the abandonment of the church has thrown them, will once again find enrolment under the papal banner, and seek papal patronage in the bringing about of better political conditions. According to America the Papacy is still the hope of the nations. The editor continues:

“Nor is all lost in the Old World from which that people have sprung. England saw a similar scene two years ago in its great metropolis. In France for the last decade the atheistic government has neglected all its internal affairs, allowed its navy to rot, its army to be disintegrated, its Apaches to turn its boulevards into war-paths while it watched with feverish anxiety the specter of the pope that seemed to be ever startling its secret councils and cabals. Spain would have been long since in wild revolt had not the restraining hand of the pope held back the indignant Catalans, Castilians, and Basques. Rome is constantly thronged with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the world who journey thither, not to pay their respects to the usurper or the Jew, or to take a last glance at the vanishing glories of the past, but to beg on bended knees a blessing from the pope. Not only the poor and humble, but kings and presidents and emperors are there to solicit the favor of entering his presence. His words are more powerful now than ever before, and reach in an instant to the uttermost ends of the earth, where he guides or teaches. More than at any other period, perhaps, tho he is shorn of all earthly glory and power, does the pope of Rome reign, rule, and govern.”

Nor can we deny the correctness of this statement or the possibilities of the implied forecast of the future. The prophet of Revelation tells us that there will come a time when the deadly papal wound will be healed, and all the world shall again wonder after the beast, when the nations of Europe, which have forsaken her standard for a little time, and turned their faces toward the light, will forsake the way of truth, and turn back again by way of the wilderness of Roman superstition. Feeling that national prestige, and even existence, are dependent upon papal edict and churchly influence, the nations of the Old World, following the leadership of apostate Protestantism in the New, shall “have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” United under the leadership of antichrist “these shall

make war with the Lamb.” The real animas of this great false system, and the spirit which has controlled it for ages, is at last plainly revealed. Professing to be a representative of God on earth, the vicegerent of the Lord Jesus Christ, it proves its true character by waging war against the very One it has professed to represent.

But its kingly rule is over. There is a blessed sequel to this controversy between the forces of evil and the forces of righteousness. As the nations all array themselves against the truth of God and against the God of truth in a last superhuman effort to forever destroy from the earth the cause of righteousness, the record says: “The Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings.” And the kingdoms of men which gave their strength to the beast and revived her old-time prestige and power, failing in the realization of their hopes, shall turn upon their pretended savior. “These shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire. For God did put in their hearts to do His mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished.”

For a brief period this great false system shall stand forth in pretentious strength and splendor, with the kings of earth bowing low at its footstool. With resumption of power over the consciences of men, the queen of apostasy shall say in her heart, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” But the divine penman adds, “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”

These are the days of gathering strength for the Papacy, days when decadent Protestantism is shamefully bowing its head, and confessing that its stand for God and truth has been an error, and that after all the great papal system against which Luther and his colaborers contended was the true church of God. The wine of Babylon is making drunken the nations of men. But while this is true, and while the great Christian church, under the figure of Babylon, is represented as filling up with every abominable doctrine, God has a loyal people in every church connection, Roman and Protestant alike. And to them is the living message of God sounding to-day: “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”

These are the stirring events soon to take place on this earth; and we who are living, whether we will or not, must be participants in the controversy. The conflict is not between men, but between principles, between the great system of evil on the one hand and the truth of God on the other. To the world there is sounding a warning message, that all who love truth may be led to recognize the truth and take their stand upon the right side. To this end we should seek to extend the message of salvation. With hatred for sin, but with love for sinners, in humility of soul, but with fearlessness of spirit, leaving to God the consequences, those engaged in this great movement must give uncompromisingly the message designed to awaken a fallen church, and call to the standard of truth and righteousness those who honor and revere God and His requirements above the requirements of men. In simplicity and sincerity, in love and meekness, but with earnest zeal and holy boldness the message must be declared. The conflict before us will be sharp, but it will also be short and decisive. It will test the loyalty and strength of every soul. The degenerate and the weakling will go down before the fierce onset; but he who makes God his trust and the Scriptures of truth his guide, who with humble dependence upon the Lord of Hosts shall walk humbly before his God, him will the Lord safely guide through the perils before us, and bring him off a triumphant conqueror to the end. We need to fortify our souls against the conflict of the morrow by walking closely with God to-day.