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Liberty of Conscience Threatened, Part 2
Outward Splendor, Inward Corruption
Many Protestants suppose that the Catholic
religion is unattractive and that its worship is a dull, meaningless round of
ceremony. Here they mistake. While Romanism is based upon deception, it is not a
coarse and clumsy imposture. The religious service of the Roman Church is a most
impressive ceremonial. Its gorgeous display and solemn rites fascinate the
senses of the people and silence the voice of reason and of conscience. The eye
is charmed. Magnificent churches, imposing processions, golden altars, jeweled
shrines, choice paintings, and exquisite sculpture appeal to the love of beauty.
The ear also is captivated. The music is unsurpassed. The rich notes of the
deep-toned organ, blending with the melody of many voices as it swells through
the lofty domes and pillared aisles of her grand cathedrals, cannot fail to
impress the mind with awe and reverence.
This outward splendor, pomp, and ceremony,
that only mocks the longings of the sin-sick soul, is an evidence of inward
corruption. The religion of Christ needs not such attractions to recommend it.
In the light shining from the cross, true Christianity appears so pure and
lovely that no external decorations can enhance its true worth. It is the beauty
of holiness, a meek and quiet spirit, which is of value with God.
Brilliancy of style is not necessarily an
index of pure, elevated thought. High conceptions of art, delicate refinement of
taste, often exist in minds that are earthly and sensual. They are often
employed by Satan to lead men to forget the necessities of the soul, to lose
sight of the future, immortal life, to turn away from their infinite Helper, and
to live for this world alone.
A religion of externals is attractive to the
unrenewed heart. The pomp and ceremony of the Catholic worship has a seductive,
bewitching power, by which many are deceived; and they come to look upon the
Roman Church as the very gate of heaven. None but those who have planted their
feet firmly upon the foundation of truth, and whose hearts are renewed by the
Spirit of God, are proof against her influence. Thousands who have not an
experimental knowledge of Christ will be led to accept the forms of godliness
without the power. Such a religion is just what the multitudes desire.
The church’s claim to the right to pardon
leads the Romanist to feel at liberty to sin; and the ordinance of confession,
without which her pardon is not granted, tends also to give license to evil. He
who kneels before fallen man, and opens in confession the secret thoughts and
imaginations of his heart, is debasing his manhood and degrading every noble
instinct of his soul. In unfolding the sins of his life to a priest,—an erring,
sinful mortal, and too often corrupted with wine and licentiousness,—his
standard of character is lowered, and he is defiled in consequence. His thought
of God is degraded to the likeness of fallen humanity, for the priest stands as
a representative of God. This degrading confession of man to man is the secret
spring from which has flowed much of the evil that is defiling the world and
fitting it for the final destruction. Yet to him who loves self-indulgence, it
is more pleasing to confess to a fellow mortal than to open the soul to God. It
is more palatable to human nature to do penance than to renounce sin; it is
easier to mortify the flesh by sackcloth and nettles and galling chains than to
crucify fleshly lusts. Heavy is the yoke which the carnal heart is willing to
bear rather than bow to the yoke of Christ.
There is a striking similarity between the
Church of Rome and the Jewish Church at the time of Christ’s first advent. While
the Jews secretly trampled upon every principle of the law of God, they were
outwardly rigorous in the observance of its precepts, loading it down with
exactions and traditions that made obedience painful and burdensome. As the Jews
professed to revere the law, so do Romanists claim to reverence the cross. They
exalt the symbol of Christ’s sufferings, while in their lives they deny Him whom
it represents.
Papists place crosses upon their churches,
upon their altars, and upon their garments. Everywhere is seen the insignia of
the cross. Everywhere it is outwardly honored and exalted. But the teachings of
Christ are buried beneath a mass of senseless traditions, false interpretations,
and rigorous exactions. The Saviour’s words concerning the bigoted Jews, apply
with still greater force to the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church: “They bind
heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they
themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” Matthew 23:4.
Conscientious souls are kept in constant terror fearing the wrath of an offended
God, while many of the dignitaries of the church are living in luxury and
sensual pleasure.
Satan Misrepresents God’s Character
The worship of images and relics, the
invocation of saints, and the exaltation of the pope are devices of Satan to
attract the minds of the people from God and from His Son. To accomplish their
ruin, he endeavors to turn their attention from Him through whom alone they can
find salvation. He will direct them to any object that can be substituted for
the One who has said: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.
It is Satan’s constant effort to
misrepresent the character of God, the nature of sin, and the real issues at
stake in the great controversy. His sophistry lessens the obligation of the
divine law and gives men license to sin. At the same time he causes them to
cherish false conceptions of God so that they regard Him with fear and hate
rather than with love. The cruelty inherent in his own character is attributed
to the Creator; it is embodied in systems of religion and expressed in modes of
worship. Thus the minds of men are blinded, and Satan secures them as his agents
to war against God. By perverted conceptions of the divine attributes, heathen
nations were led to believe human sacrifices necessary to secure the favor of
Deity; and horrible cruelties have been perpetrated under the various forms of
idolatry.
The Roman Catholic Church, uniting the forms
of paganism and Christianity, and, like paganism, misrepresenting the character
of God, has resorted to practices no less cruel and revolting. In the days of
Rome’s supremacy there were instruments of torture to compel assent to her
doctrines. There was the stake for those who would not concede to her claims.
There were massacres on a scale that will never be known until revealed in the
judgment. Dignitaries of the church studied, under Satan their master, to invent
means to cause the greatest possible torture and not end the life of the victim.
In many cases the infernal process was repeated to the utmost limit of human
endurance, until nature gave up the struggle, and the sufferer hailed death as a
sweet release.
Such was the fate of Rome’s opponents. For
her adherents she had the discipline of the scourge, of famishing hunger, of
bodily austerities in every conceivable, heart-sickening form. To secure the
favor of Heaven, penitents violated the laws of God by violating the laws of
nature. They were taught to sunder the ties which He has formed to bless and
gladden man’s earthly sojourn. The churchyard contains millions of victims who
spent their lives in vain endeavors to subdue their natural affections, to
repress, as offensive to God, every thought and feeling of sympathy with their
fellow creatures.
If we desire to understand the determined
cruelty of Satan, manifested for hundreds of years, not among those who never
heard of God, but in the very heart and throughout the extent of Christendom, we
have only to look at the history of Romanism. Through this mammoth system of
deception the prince of evil achieves his purpose of bringing dishonor to God
and wretchedness to man. And as we see how he succeeds in disguising himself and
accomplishing his work through the leaders of the church, we may better
understand why he has so great antipathy to the Bible. If that Book is read, the
mercy and love of God will be revealed; it will be seen that He lays upon men
none of these heavy burdens. All that He asks is a broken and contrite heart, a
humble, obedient spirit.
Christ gives no example in His life for men
and women to shut themselves in monasteries in order to become fitted for
heaven. He has never taught that love and sympathy must be repressed. The
Saviour’s heart overflowed with love. The nearer man approaches to moral
perfection, the keener are his sensibilities, the more acute is his perception
of sin, and the deeper his sympathy for the afflicted. The pope claims to be the
vicar of Christ; but how does his character bear comparison with that of our
Saviour? Was Christ ever known to consign men to the prison or the rack because
they did not pay Him homage as the King of heaven? Was His voice heard
condemning to death those who did not accept Him? When He was slighted by the
people of a Samaritan village, the apostle John was filled with indignation, and
inquired: “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and
consume them, just as Elijah did?” Jesus looked with pity upon His disciple, and
rebuked his harsh spirit, saying: “The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s
lives but to save them.” Luke 9:54,
56. How different from the spirit manifested by Christ is that of His
professed vicar.
The Great
Controversy, pp. 566-571
Next part: Liberty of
Conscience Threatened, Part 3: Catholicism & Protestantism—More Similar
Today?
All Scriptures are quoted from the New
King James Version, including those originally quoted by Ellen White from the
King James Version.—Editors
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