Signs of the Times, Vol. 2, No. 9. (1/27/1876)

Signs of the Times

Jan 27, 1876

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 27, 1876

The Second Advent.

Elder J. B. Cook, Baptist, addressed the following letter to Elder F. G. Brown, Baptist, in April, 1843, when it was put in print. Both of these ministers embraced the Advent faith about the same time, and for several years labored ardently and successfully in the cause. The communication correctly represents the spirit of consecration, and devotion to God and his living word which distinguished the great second advent movement. Ed.

Dear Bro. Brown:—It gives me pleasure to be able to add my humble testimony to yours, relative to our Lord's glorious appearing, and the influence of this truth upon the heart and life. “In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.”

It is an interesting fact, that there are several ministers, one of the Episcopal church, another of the Baptist, and another of the Congregational, whose deep and awful convictions of these things may be expressed in your own language. Indeed, all with whom I have conversed, who are waiting for the coming of Jesus, have substantially the same experience. In most instances, it is in advance of all ordinary Christian experience. It cuts the soul loose from the world, lifts it above the earth, and fills it with glory and with God. They feel, speak, pray, and sing with unwonted energy. They are more like the first Christians than any whom I have known. On the day of Pentecost they felt so deeply, spoke with such power, and were so much above the fear of man, that unbelievers said, “These men are filled with new wine.” It was not natural for poor men to feel so happy and independent. It was not common for uneducated men to utter such strong emotions in such resistless argument, without something to excite them. It is apparent, also, that the Second Advent friends have something that is not natural to them; therefore they ascribe it to some cause. They know that we do not drink wine, and they dare not say it is from Satan; hence they aver that we are crazy. Anything to set aside the agency of the Holy Ghost.

A fact may not be amiss: One of my good deacons, who felt obliged to account for my depth of feeling for the salvation of men, and burning love to Christ and his appearing, said, in a neighboring city, that I must be crazy. He called several times, from sheer sympathy, to see me; we did not dispute, but sung, and then bowed in solemn prayer till all prayed. The good deacon, though he felt like a great sinner under awful conviction, was touched, and made more willing to look at our Lord's coming. In a short time he became quite as crazy as his much pitied pastor. But now he knows “we are not mad.” No upright mind can long ascribe this spiritual phenomena to any other agency than that of the good Spirit which applies the most overwhelming truths to the soul.

Judging from facts that have come under my own observation, I should think that thousands have had an experience, in all its leading characteristics, like our own. Our spirit is one. Our views, our language, our desires are the same. Each pulsation of my soul beats in unison with yours. Six ministers, as I have learned very recently, say their experiences agree with ours. There is a flood of light poured on our minds from the Bible. The seals of the prophecies seem broken off, and the mysteries unravelled. Indeed, the Sacred Volume seems all light, the blessed Saviour its fullness, and the glory to be revealed as in open vision. I have learned more of the present and prospective condition of man, more of Christ and his kingdom, during the past few weeks, than during all my former life. My soul reposes on God, and seems satisfied with its having, at least a clue to his purposes relating to man.

The nature and reality of our experience may be seen by contrasting it with those who have opposed the speedy coming of our Lord. Were we in a delusion, and our opponents basking in the sunshine of truth, we might expect to see them just so much more spiritual and separate from the world, and zealous for the Lord of Hosts. But alas, their Lord seems, as he says he will, in the parable of the talents, to have taken away what they had. Many of them lose their interest in prayer, even for inquiring souls. I have seen them go straightway into darkness, their lamps go out, and they feel and say that they are wretched. Now my brother, “do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” “Make the tree good, then the fruit will be good.” The truth is adapted to our minds. It sits easily and naturally on our hearts. It is attended by the good Spirit, makes us at home with God in prayer, at peace with ourselves, and to feel compassion toward all mankind. If, therefore, any feel at war with themselves, and in sympathy with the wicked, they have proof positive that they are wrong—radically wrong.

This experimental truth is so simple that every mind can grasp it. Every one, not a stranger to themselves and to truth, must see that when love to God burns within, till it absorbs the whole soul, and our eyes are opened to see that we should warn the world, doomed to fire—when we are “crucified to the world, and the world to us,” we must be actuated by a spirit that is not of this world. It is the good Spirit, which has no sympathy with sin, in the church, or out of it. This experience standing out in such striking contrast with that above stated, is a strong confirmation of prophecy. Thousands who do not receive our views, say that we are in the last days, but the Spirit must be “poured out” according to prophecy. Now we may ask where are any more remarkable proofs of this fulfillment, than in cases like our own, among those who believe the Lord's coming at the doors?

Allow me to say some things, which I feel when our Lord has written it on my heart. He has written out two classes of ministers, as plainly as he has two classes of people. Matt. 7: 21–27. One class digs deep; and does God's will at all hazards—does not, dares not, flinch, though traduced and despised: these stand. The other class do many things, achieve wonders, are highly esteemed; but they build on human wisdom and prudence, which is folly—’tis sliding sand. This class “fall” forever.

In Matt 24: 42–51, our Lord has given us a pair of scales in which all ministers may be weighed. One class is free to avow their expectation of their Lord's coming. They do not fear a failure; therefore they say to the household, be ye ready, trim your lamps, have them well filled and burning. Let your work be all done and well done. Now what says the Judge? “Blessed is that servant.” “He will make him ruler.” The other class is not looking for the Lord's coming. From some cause they say that our Lord is not now to be expected. They call their fellow-servants, who would rouse the household, weak, or deluded, or insane. Oh, that they would read their doom!

They say to others, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.” My soul is pained to see ministers living in disregard of more plain and pointed descriptions of their character and their doom than did the scribes and Pharisees. If charity demands silence, as to the doom which Jesus has written out beforehand, for those who say their “Lord delayeth his coming,” then are they required, on the same principle, to hush the note of alarm, given to arouse the unbelievers in their congregation? No, no, it is not charity to be silent. It is treason to Christ, and cruelty to man, either to suppress or misconstrue the doom of the unbeliever, or the unfaithful minister.

My brother, we must renounce all our ideas of spiritual guidance, and become infidels in heart, before we can cherish a doubt as to which of the above classes we and all other ministers should belong. At all events I go for trusting all with God—for following the Lamb whithersoever he leads. When the truth is seen, it should be received, though it subject us to a banishment in our day, as was that of Roger Williams. Nay, it should be proclaimed, though it consigned us to the fiery furnace, seven times heated. I hear the Judge saying, “If any man come to me, and hate not father and mother, wife and children, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” These are fearful words, because they cut off so large a portion of those for whom we would entertain a hope. Our Lord is coming. Then let us preach his coming in public and in private.

Encourage Your Children.

At times it is necessary to punish, but very much more may be done by encouraging children when they do well. Be, therefore, more careful to express your approbation of good conduct than your disapprobation of bad. Nothing can more discourage a child than a spirit of incessant fault-finding on the part of its parents; hardly anything can exert a more injurious influence upon the disposition both of the parent and child. There are two great motives influencing human action—hope and fear. Both of these are at times necessary. But who would not prefer to have her child influenced to good conduct by a desire of pleasing rather than by the fear of offending? If a mother never expresses her gratification when her children do well, and is always censuring them when she sees any thing amiss, they are discouraged and unhappy, their dispositions become hardened and soured by this ceaseless fretting, and at last, finding that whether they do well or ill, they are equally found fault with, they relinquish all efforts to please and become heedless of reproaches.

Preparation for Learning

No man can learn when he has not preparation for learning, however near to his eyes is the object.—Emerson.

“Abba.”

Dear God, where art thou gone? I cannot see thy face— I dare not live alone; Lord grant me grace Till I can feel thee near In every place!

Father, where art thou gone? I cannot feel thy hand. With groping steps and slow, In a strange land, Blindly I struggle on At thy command.

Why dost thou leave me, Lord, In this mine utmost need? I trusted in thy word; Is this the meed, Of those who follow thee Where’er thou dost lead?

Dear child, foolish and blind, Footsore and weary—lo! Mine arms about thee twined, Feel thy heart-beating. No, I have not left thee—I Will with thee go.

Through the dark, chilly night— The silent night—and I Will strengthen thee, when sight Is gone, and with lone cry Thou seemest God-forsaken, Fain to die.

Behind the lonely cloud, Through which must lie thy way, Behind the weeping crowd, There lingering to pray, The angels sing aloud In endless day!

THE SECOND ADVENT:

By James White

(Continued from last issue.)

PROMINENT AND IMPORTANT.

The second coming of Christ is a subject of great importance to the church. This is evident from the amount of testimony relative to it, in connection with the resurrection of the just and the Judgment, found both in the Old and New Testaments. The inspired writers, in their threatenings against the ungodly, in their words of hope and encouragement for the saints, and in their exhortations to repentance and holy living, hold up the great fact of the second coming of the Son of man, as that which should alarm and arouse, and also comfort the people of God.

Before Adam passed from the stage of life, Enoch, the seventh in the line of his descendants, proclaimed this doctrine in the ears of the impenitent, “Behold,” said he, “the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all.” Jude 14. And as we pass from book to book through the Bible, we find that the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, have made the same use of the doctrine; and in the very last book, John describes a coming day, when all classes and ranks of men, because they have not prepared for the coming of Christ, will call for rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from the overwhelming glory of his presence, as he appears in the clouds of heaven. Rev. 6:14–17.

Christ’s coming is also held prominently forth in the sacred writings, as the time when the righteous will be rewarded. “When the chief Shepherd shall appear,” says Peter, “ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” 1 Pet. 5:4. And Paul looks forward to the day of Christ’s appearing as the time when not only he, but all who love the appearing of their Lord, shall receive the crown of righteousness which is laid up for such. 2 Tim. 4:8.

Most frequently, however, is this great doctrine used as an incentive to repentance, watchfulness, prayer, and holy living. “Watch,” is the emphatic injunction of the Son of God in connection with the numerous declarations of his second coming in the gospels.

Paul exhorts to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:12, 13.

James says, “Be ye also patient; establish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the Judge standeth before the door.” James 5:8, 9.

Peter says, “But the end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” 1 Pet. 4:7. And again, “What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.” 2 Pet. 3:11, 12.

Such is the use which holy men, who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, have made of the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. Have not they, therefore, lost the spirit of the gospel, who openly contend against so prominent and weighty and precious a doctrine, or who even pass it by in silence?

Ministers and popular professors may cast this doctrine aside as not essential to the Christian faith; nevertheless, it may be traced through the Sacred Scriptures, as made prominent by prophets, Jesus, and apostles. The Bible dwells upon essentials. It does not deal in non-essentials. When the Lord in his word gave his people a rule of faith and practice, he was careful to leave the non-essentials all out. Hence, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine.” 2 Tim. 3:16. And let all the people say, Amen!

ABSURD APPLICATIONS.

But the doctrine of the second appearing of Christ, made so very prominent in the Scriptures, is lost sight of by those who receive theories not found in the Scriptures. Thus the fulfillment of all the threatenings of God’s word, relative to the swift approaching day of wrath, and the revelation of the Son of God in flaming fire, to destroy the inhabitants of the earth, as they were once destroyed by water, are put far into the distant future, if not completely lost sight of, by the unscriptural doctrine of the world’s conversion and the temporal millennium.

The second personal appearing of Jesus Christ is most absurdly applied to several different things. Some teach that death is the second coming of Christ. This is not only a violation of plain Scripture declarations, but of the laws of language. There can be but a single second advent of Christ; while this misty sentiment has as many appearings of Jesus as there are deaths. The early disciples did not receive the idea that death was the second coming of Christ.

Peter, seeing the beloved John, “saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die; yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” John 21:21–23. So far were the disciples from holding that death was the second coming of Christ, that when they understood their Lord to intimate that John might remain until his return, they at once concluded that he would not die.

And what foggy theology is this, that makes death the second appearing of Christ! He is coming as the Life-giver, and the believer’s best friend. Death is the life-taker, and man’s last enemy. 1 Cor. 15:26. Christ is coming to give life to the just, and to “destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil.” Heb. 2:14. The devil has the power of death, and in the providence of God, is permitted to send the barbed arrow even to the heart of the just, lay him low in death, and lock him in the tomb. But the Life-giver, having passed under the dominion of death, and having been gloriously raised from the embrace of the grave, triumphantly says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive forever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell [hades, the grave] and of death.” Rev. 1:18.

The devil holds the power of death. Christ holds the keys of death and the grave, and at his second appearing he will unlock the tombs of the just, break the power of death, their last enemy, and lead them forth to immortal and eternal scenes of glory.

Again, conversion is said to be the second coming of Christ. Then there are as many second comings of Christ as there are conversions. There can be but one second appearing of Christ. And again the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are said to be the second advent of Christ. Hence, men talk of the spiritual coming of Christ, and his spiritual reign for one thousand years. But here, also, they are involved in the difficulty of a plurality of second comings of Christ; for in this case they would have Christ appear at each gracious manifestation of the Holy Spirit. There can be but a single second advent of Christ.

The distinction between the manifestations of the Holy Spirit and the personal presence of Christ at his second appearing is made very plain in the Scriptures. Says Jesus, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.” John 14:16. This language implies the distinct existence of more than one comforter. When Christ was with his people, he was their comforter. In his absence, the Father was to send another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth. During the absence of the Son the Holy Spirit was to be his representative, and the comforter of his sorrowing people.

The facts in the case are distinctly stated in the following impressive words: “But now I go my way to Him that sent me.” “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart I will send him unto you. And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. John 16:5, 7, 8.

And again Shakers see the second appearing of Christ in the person of Ann Lee. And the Mormons see the fulfillment of the prophecies relative to the coming and kingdom of Christ in the gathering of “the Latter-day Saints.” And the Spiritualists generally agree in saying, Lo, here is the second advent of Christ in the manifestations of spiritualism.

In the prophetic discourse of Matt. 24 and 25, covering the entire Christian age, our Lord, after speaking of the tribulation of the church under papal persecutions, says of our time: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matt. 24:23, 24. The word then in this passage points to a specific period of time when, “Lo, here is Christ, and Lo, he is there,” would be heard. Our Lord here describes the spiritual deceptions of the present age. False christs arose not far from the first advent, to deceive the Jews in regard to that advent (Matt. 24:5); likewise false christs and false prophets have arisen at this day to deceive the people on the subject of the second advent.

Dr. Henshaw, the late bishop of Rhode Island, speaking of the doctrine of the temporal millennium, in his Treatise on the Second Advent (page 115), says:— “So far as we have been able to investigate its history, it was first advanced by the Rev. Dr. Whitby,* the commentator, and afterwards advocated by Hammond, Hopkins, Scott, Dwight, Bogue and others, and has been received without careful examination by the majority of evangelical divines in the present day. But we may safely challenge its advocates to produce one distinguished writer in its favor who lived before the commencement of the eighteenth century. If antiquity is to be considered as any test of truth, the advocates of the pre-millennial advent and personal reign of Christ with his saints upon earth, need have no fears of the results of a comparison of authorities with the supporters of the opposite theory.”

And from the modern and popular error of the temporal millennium and the spiritual reign of Christ have grown those mystical applications by which the plainest declarations of Scripture relative to the second appearing of the Life-giver, are applied to death, to conversions, to the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, to Shakerism, to Mormonism, and to Spiritualism.

LO, HERE! LO, THERE!

How forcible, then, are the words of Christ when applied to the subject before us: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.” Matt. 24:23. No one need fail to see who the men are that are crying, “Lo, here is Christ, and, Lo, he is there!” The Lord continues in verses 25, 26: “Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth; behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” Our Lord is here dwelling upon what he had just before told them. His subject is still the teachings of those who cry, “Lo, here is Christ!” “Lo, he is there!” If the Mormons say, “Behold, he is in the desert,” the injunction of our Lord is, “Go not forth.” Or, if you hear proclaimed from the popular pulpits of our time, “Behold, he is in the secret chambers,” Christ’s second coming is spiritual, and at death or at conversion, “believe it not.”

And why not receive such mystical teachings? The reason is given in the next verse: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Our Lord has not only pointed out false prophets, and warned us against their mystical teachings, but he has, in contrast, set before us the manner of his second coming in the plainest terms. The vivid lightning, flashing out of the distant east, and shining even to the west, lights up the whole heavens. This, probably, is the most appropriate figure that our Lord could employ to illustrate the flaming glory that will attend his second advent, when he shall come attended by all the holy angels.

The presence of only one holy angel at the new sepulchre where Christ lay in death, caused the Roman guard to shake, and become as dead men. The light and glory of a single angel completely overpowered those strong sentinels. The Son of man is coming in his own kingly glory and in the glory of his Father, attended by all the holy angels. All the holy angels are coming with the Lord. Not one will be left in Heaven. The number of angels round about the throne, as the body-guard of the Son of God, are “ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands.” See Rev. 5:11. And Paul speaks of the heavenly messengers as “an innumerable company of angels.” Heb. 12:22. What grandeur! what dazzling brightness! when the King of kings shall come down the lighted vault of Heaven, attended by all the angels of the heavenly world! Then the whole heavens will blaze with glory, and the whole earth will tremble before him.

JAMES WHITE

Troubles.

Some good Christians have a great deal of trouble in this world. The reason of it is, that God is preparing them for very great happiness in heaven.

While in the city of Amsterdam, Holland, I was very much interested in a visit we made to a place there, famous for polishing diamonds. We saw them as they were engaged in this work. When a diamond is first found, it has a rough, dark outside, and looks just like a common pebble. The outside must be ground off, and the diamond polished before it is fit for use. It takes a long time to do this, and it is very hard work. The diamond has to be fixed very firmly in the end of a piece of hard wood or metal. Then it is held close to the surface of a large metal wheel, which is kept going round. Fine diamond dust is put on this wheel, because nothing else is hard enough to polish the diamond. And this work is kept up for days, and weeks, and months, and sometimes for several years, before it is finished. And if a diamond is intended to be used in the crown of a king, then longer time and greater pains are spent upon it, so as to make it look as brilliant and beautiful as can be.

Now Jesus calls his people his jewels. He intends them to shine like jewels in the crown he will wear in heaven. To fit them for this, they must be polished.

And God makes use of the troubles he sends on his people in this world, to polish his jewels. And when we get to heaven and see how beautiful they look, we shall see that it was indeed good for them that they were troubled. It has fitted them for greater happiness there.— Christian World.

Holiness and Humility.

JONATHAN EDWARDS describes a Christian as being like “such a little flower as we see in the spring of the year, low and humble on the ground, opening its bosom to receive the pleasant beams of the sun’s glory; rejoicing, as it were, in a calm repose; diffusing around a sweet fragrance; standing peacefully and lowly in the the midst of other flowers.” Humility is indeed one of the loveliest graces which adorn the Christian character and between it and holiness there is an intimate connection. The nearer a Christian gets to God, the more profoundly is he impressed with his infinite purity, majesty, and glory, and the more impure, insignificant, and worthless does he appear in his own eyes by reason of the marked contrast. We observe this in the case of the pious patriarch in the land of Uz, who, when the voice of the Lord came to him out of the whirlwind, exclaimed, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Character of the Papacy.

By John Norton Loughborough

CONCERNING the character of the great apostolic papal church, and some of its popes, we will quote a few statements from De Cormenin. Of the rise of the power, he says:—

“The emperors beheld with contempt, sometimes with indignation, the progress of this new religion, which was elevating its worship on the ruins of the gods of the empire. . . . We arrive at the epoch when Constantine placed Christianity upon the throne. From thence we see Christians, animated by a furious zeal, persecuting without pity, fanning the most extravagant quarrels, and constraining pagans, by fire and sword, to embrace Christianity.”

Again, he says: “The bishops commenced toward the close of the second century to claim for themselves a jurisdiction over other churches, which they had not received from the apostles; and, in the third, had already abandoned the precepts of humility taught by Christ.”

In speaking of the corruptions of the papacy in the thirteenth century, he quotes and indorses the words of Matthew Paris: “All belief is annihilated; . . . and greedy priests can devour without sin the substance of the people and the Lord. Evangelical charity has now taken its flight toward the heavens; ecclesiastical liberty has disappeared, religion is dead, and the holy city has become an infamous prostitute, whose shamelessness surpasses that of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

This De Cormenin, although a Catholic, was not blinded, but could see some of the wrongs in his own church. In his preface he says concerning the history of the popes: “It runs through a long series of ages during which the bishops of Rome, whose mission was to announce to men a divine religion, have forgotten it in their pride of power, have outraged the morality of Christ, and become the scourge of the human race. They thunder launched from the Vatican by sacrilegious priests, overthrew kingdoms, and covered Europe, Asia, and Africa, with butcheries, wars, and conflagrations.”

De Cormenin makes some remarks concerning individual popes which I will notice. In the sixth century, he speaks of Pope Saint Gregory I., who reigned from A. D. 590 to A. D. 602, as the one who “discovered the doctrine of purgatory.”

In the seventh century, he says of Boniface IV., who was pope from A. D. 608 to A. D. 614: “The tyrant Phocas offered to Boniface IV. the Pantheon, built by Marius Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus, thirty years before the Christian era; and consecrated formerly to all the divinities of paganism. The pontiff thankfully accepted the offer of the emperor, and transformed this splendid building into a Christian church, which he solemnly dedicated to the virgin under the name of our lady of the Rotunda.”

In the eighth century, he says of the reign of Zachary, or Zacharias, as some call him: “We now enter upon the most remarkable period of papal grandeur. History will show us the bishops of Rome abandoning the principles of the Bible, trampling under foot the precepts and the morals of Jesus Christ, plunging into all the excesses of depravity, tearing diadems from the foreheads of kings, and crushing the unfortunate people beneath their execrable tyranny.” Zachary himself wrote to the primate of Gaul: “Has not Rome itself been filled with scandals by its clergy? Has not the chair of St. Peter itself been soiled by pontiffs who were guilty of adultery, incest, murder, and poisoning?” It was this same Zachary who persecuted Virgilius, the Scotch priest, calling his theory that the earth was round and inhabited on all its sides, “sacrilegious idolatry.” It was also upon him that Pepin conferred several rich domains of France. By the gift of Pepin, and of Charlemagne, his son, “the pontiffs became possessors of the isle of Corzo, the city of Bari, Reggio, and Mantua, the exarchate of Ravenna, the province of Venice and Istria, and the Dutchies of Spollette and Beneventum.”

In the ninth century, or from A. D. 853 to A. D. 855, the Catholic church was favored with the rule of a female pope, Joan. The deception of her disguise, as well as her own iniquitous course, was discovered in her being delivered of a child during a public procession. Some Catholic writers undertake to deny that there ever was a female pope, but De Cormenin says: “It’s no use to deny it. All that scaffolding of superstition and idolatry on which is placed the chair of St. Peter falls before a female pope!!! God permitted the pontificate of the popes for the purpose of abasing the pride of the Holy See, and of showing that the vicars of Christ are not infallible.”

In the eleventh century, there were three popes ruling at one time: “One at St. Peter’s, the other at St. Mary Majura, and the third at the palace of the Lateran.”

In the same century, or from A. D. 1073 to A. D. 1085, Gregory VII.—Hildebrand—ruled as pope. He had poisoned eight popes while trying to exalt himself to the Holy See. Bayle, in speaking of Hildebrand, says: “The popes have been more than once wicked hypocrites, worthy of the rope and fire.” Hildebrand himself, in one of his works, boasts that his “justice resembled rather the cruelty of a tyrant than the severity of a judge.”

As a sample of his manner we will present his anathema against king Henry of Germany: “I prohibit Henry, who, by reason of an unheard-of pride, has elevated himself against us, from governing the kingdoms of Germany and Italy. I free all Christians from the oaths which they have taken to him, and I prohibit all from serving him as king; for he who would oppose our authority deserves to lose his crown, his liberty, and his life. I burden Henry, then, with anathema and malediction. I devote him to the execration of men, and I deliver up his soul to Satan, in order that the people may know that the sovereign pontiff is the rock upon which the Son of the living God has built his church, and that the gates of hell shall never prevail against it. . . . He addressed a circular to the German and Italian bishops and lords, in which he ordered them, in case Henry should persist in his revolt against the Holy See, to choose another king who would govern the empire in accordance with the laws of the church.”

“Henry presented himself alone at the outer gate of the fortress, and waited with patience until the pope was ready to have them opened. When he had passed the outward entrance, he laid aside all his royal ornaments, unclothed himself entirely and put on sackcloth. A broom and scissors were then placed in his hands as a sign that he consented to be whipped and shaven. He remained in this position for three days and three nights, with naked feet, during the most extreme severity of the winter, without covering, without any nourishment, shedding torrents of tears, and imploring with many groans the mercy of the pope!”

Hildebrand himself said respecting the position of the pope: “Christians are irrevocably submitted to his orders; they should murder their princes, fathers, and children, if he commands it; no counsel can be declared universal without the orders of the pope; no book can be received as canonical without his authority; finally, no good nor evil exists but in what he has condemned or approved.”

In the same connection with the above, De Cormenin quotes and indorses the words of Bayle relative to the papacy, as follows: “We cannot consider without astonishment that men, by the assistance of the word of God, a gospel which preaches disdain of grandeur, which exalts humility and poverty, have had the hardihood to aspire to absolute sway over the sovereigns of the earth. But, what surprises us still more is, that the popes have been enabled to maintain this incredible sway during almost a thousand years. This conquest is more admirable than those of the Alexanders and Cæsars; and Gregory VII., who is the principal author of it, ought really to have his place among great conquerors.”

In the eleventh century also, the crusades were commenced, and in these crusades more than one million persons perished. In the fourteenth century, or from A. D. 1318 to A. D. 1335, John XXII. was pope, and was he that published the celebrated tariff of the Roman chancellors for the absolution of all crimes. De Cormenin says of this tariff: “In fact, the tax exacted by John XXII. became for the popes, his successors, one of the most vast and fruitful financial operations that the avarice and infernal genius of the pontiffs ever invented.”

In the fifteenth century, or in A. D. 1410, John XXIII. commenced his reign as pope. It was under his reign that John Huss was burned. When Gerson, the chancellor of Paris, told Huss he must either bend or break, Huss said: “I prefer the most terrible punishments to the disgrace of being called the defender of popes and kings. Let your infernal proceedings take their course; give John Huss to the flames; but ere a century passes, there will spring from these ashes an avenger who will proclaim anew the truths which I have taught, and for which you would condemn Christ himself, should he return to earth.”

In A. D. 1492 commenced the reign of Roderic Borgia, under title of Alexander VII. Of him, De Cormenin says: “We are finally entering upon a period in which the theocracy reached the apogee of its power, and in which far from concealing its perfidies, corruption, and cruelties, in the dark, it exposes them to the light of day, and even glories in them. The pope who comprehended this new phrase of the pontificate, is beyond all contradiction the successor of Innocent VIII. and the execrable Roderic Borgia.”

It was in the sixteenth century, while Leo X. was pope, that Martin Luther engaged in the work of the Reformation. Leo X. was the first to proclaim by a bull the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. De Cormenin says that Leo X. “organized on a vast scale the speculation in indulgencies.” It was one of the venders of these indulgencies—Tetzel—that stirred the spirit of Luther to proclaim loudly against the corruptions of the papacy. De Cormenin says: “On all sides they attacked the collossal statue with the feet of clay; bold men cried out to the people, ‘Draw away from the dominion of the popes those shameless thieves who have made the temple of Christ a cave of robbers.’”

Archembold, one engaged in the sale of indulgencies in Saxony, said: “As our Lord Jesus Christ absolves you by the merits of his passion, I, by his authority, and that of the blessed apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and that of our most holy father, absolve you from all ecclesiastical censures under which you may have fallen, from all sins, delinquencies, or excesses, which you may have committed, or shall commit hereafter, how great soever they may be, and I make you a partaker in all the spiritual merits acquired by the church militant or its members.” Leo X. printed documents announcing that, “for money, one could purchase pardon for any crime, even parricide.”

In the sixteenth century, while Paul III. was pope, the society of the Jesuits was founded by Ignatius Loyola. Of this society, De Cormenin says: “Whilst the Reformation was making great strides under the burning inspiration of Luther and Calvin, and was threatening to crush the papacy, a society of fanatical devotees were sharpening their daggers in the dark, and were preparing to exterminate the Protestants.” Of the Jesuits I may have more to say hereafter.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

Continue reading: Is the Soul Immortal?—No. 2