The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 569
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 and grievous to be borne, 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.
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 unto Me, all ye that labor and
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