HARMONY BETWEEN PAGANISM, CATHOLICISM, AND PROTESTANTISM.
By R. F. C.
"The religion of Rome imperial, when symbolized by the dragon, was paganism; that of the ten kingdoms, was the Papacy; and that of the eastern empire, is Mohammedanism. From these three, then, emerge the 'unclean spirits.' Diverse as their origin appears, they have no marked individual peculiarities. Being alike in their characteristics, they must symbolize some common agency:—a combination of religious teachers, whose views harmonize in a system of belief common to Paganism, Catholicism, and Mohammedanism." Bliss on the Apocalypse. p. 256. In reading the above extract, let the United States, be substituted for the eastern empire, and Protestantism for Mohammedanism, and it will express the truth. For doubtless the three unclean spirits "symbolize a common agency:—a combination of religious teachers, whose views harmonize in a system of belief common to Paganism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. It is the belief of certain doctrines concerning demons," (Campbell's translation,) which is common to them all. Mr. Bliss proceeds to show that Pagans and Catholics harmonize in their teachings concerning demons, and, strange as it may seem, adopts them as the truth. After speaking of the distinction between the two Greek words, one of which is applied to Satan, the prince of the demons, and the other, to those demons which are his angels, he affirms that in order to learn the signification of the term demon "recourse must be had to the testimony of the Pagan, Jewish, and Christian writers of those times." Why not have recourse to the testimony of the Bible on this point? The scriptures given by inspiration of God are "profitable for doctrine," and are able to thoroughly furnish the man of God. Why not understand those angels of the Devil to be the "angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation;" especially since the Bible positively contradicts the heathen notion of departed human spirits? Mr Bliss proceeds: HESIOD taught that, "the spirits of departed mortals become demons when separated from their earthly bodies; and PLUTARCH, that "The demons of the Greeks were the ghosts and genii of departed men." All Pagan antiquity affirms,' says DR. CAMPBELL, 'that from Titan and Saturn, the poetic progeny of Cœlius and Terra, down to Æsculapius, Proteus, and Minos, all their divinities were the ghosts of dead men; and were so regarded by the most erudite of the Pagans themselves.' " Such testimonies as these he takes as "evidence of the New Testament signification of the word;" adopting the fabled notions of the heathens, concerning their gods as the truth. Catholics receive these "doctrines about dead men," (Wakefield,) and so do Protestants, if Mr. Bliss has fairly represented their views. After settling the doctrine of demons to his own satisfaction, and that of Catholics and Pagans, Mr. Bliss refers his readers to the rise of modern spirit manifestations in the United States, as leading directly to the battle of the great day. The three unclean spirits that were to gather the nations to that battle issue from the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet or two-horned beast, all of which B. locates on the eastern continent. The two-horned beast, the last of the three, he locates in the Turkish empire. This beast was to do great wonders—have power to perform "miracles," by means of which he deceives them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. But lo! the last great spiritual wonders and deceptions, which "are to prepare the way for the final destruction of the nations who reject the claims of Jehovah," (see p. 256,) and which should issue from the mouth of the false prophet, instead of appearing in the "eastern empire" among the disciples of Mohammed, take their rise remote from the three great powers which were to be their source, in Protestant United States! How much more consistent to believe that the United States have something to do in the fulfillment of prophecy—that the symbol of the two-horned beast, or false prophet, applies here. Here is a numerous class of religious teachers "whose views harmonize in a system of belief common to Paganism and Catholicism." Here the worship of the beast—obedience to the Papacy—is93urged upon the people in preference to the commandments of God. Here God, in fulfillment of his prophetic word, is sending out the warning message against the worship of the beast and his image; and here demons, professing to be the spirits of dead men, who, according to the word of God, “know not anything,” are working miracles and preparing the way for the gathering of the nations, when the sixth vial of that wrath which is threatened in the warning message, shall be poured out. God is his own interpreter and he is making these prophecies plain. The wise shall understand. Reader, would you be wise in the sight of God? Obey the third angel’s message—keep the commandments of God. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.” Psa. cxi, 10. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” xxv, 14. Obey God and believe when you see his word fulfilled, and he will give you an understanding of those things that are hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes. R. F. C.