The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 41

The European Union in Prophecy
4. A Peculiar People
Amid the gloom that settled upon the earth during the long period of papal
supremacy, the light of truth could not be wholly extinguished. In every age there
were witnesses for God--men who cherished faith in Christ as the only mediator
between God and man, who held the Bible as the only rule of life, and who hallowed
the true Sabbath. How much the world owes to these men, posterity will never know.
They were branded as heretics, their motives impugned, their characters maligned,
their writings suppressed, misrepresented, or mutilated. Yet they stood firm, and
from age to age maintained their faith in its purity, as a sacred heritage for the
generations to come.
The history of God's people during the ages of darkness that followed upon
Rome's supremacy is written in heaven, but they have little place in human records.
Few traces of their existence can be found, except in the accusations of their
persecutors. It was the policy of Rome to obliterate every trace of dissent from her
doctrines or decrees. Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, she sought to
destroy. Expressions of doubt, or questions as to the authority of papal dogmas, were
enough to forfeit the life of rich or poor, high or low. Rome endeavoured also to destroy
every record of her cruelty toward dissenters. Papal councils decreed that books and
writings containing such records should be committed to the flames. Before the
invention of printing, books were few in number, and in a form not favorable for
preservation; therefore there was little to prevent the Romanists from carrying out
their purpose.
No church within the limits of Romish jurisdiction was long left undisturbed in
the enjoyment of freedom of conscience. No sooner had the papacy obtained power
than she stretched out her arms to crush all that refused to acknowledge her sway,
and one after another the churches submitted to her dominion. In Great Britain
primitive Christianity had very early taken root. The gospel received by the Britons
in the first centuries was then uncorrupted by Romish apostasy. Persecution from
pagan emperors, which extended even to these far-off shores, was the only gift that
the first churches of Britain received from Rome. Many of the Christians, fleeing from
persecution in England, found refuge in Scotland; thence the truth was carried to
Ireland, and in all these countries it was received with gladness.
40