The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 571

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, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from
heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?” Jesus looked with pity
upon His disciple, and rebuked his harsh spirit, saying: “The Son of
man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Luke 9:54,
56. How different from

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