The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 566
worship,’ also ‘all such as maintain that the church may not employ
force.’
“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a
change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop
O’Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be
carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’... The archbishop
of St. Louis once said: ‘Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian
countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are
Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law
of the land, they are punished as other crimes.’...
“Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic Church
takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which occur the following
words: ‘Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord (the
pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and
oppose.”’—Josiah Strong, Our Country, ch. 5, pars. 2-4. [See Appendix
for Corrected References.]
It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman Catholic
communion. Thousands in that church are serving God according to
the best light they have. They are not allowed access to His word, and
therefore they do not discern the truth. [Published in 1888 and 1911.
See Appendix.] They have never seen the contrast between a living
heart service and a round of mere forms and ceremonies. God looks
with pitying tenderness upon these souls, educated as they are in a faith
that is delusive and unsatisfying. He will cause rays of light to penetrate
the dense darkness that surrounds them. He will reveal to them the truth
as it is in Jesus, and many will yet take their position with His people.
But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel
of Christ now than at any former period in her history. The Protestant
churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the
times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of
operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and
increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined
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