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Signs of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 48.

Remarkable Travel in Modern Times

Signs of the Times

Dec 16, 1889

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 16, 1889

Remarkable Travel in Modern Times

As showing the wonderful amount of travel which can be done in a brief time in these days of invention, take the following recent remarks from Dr. J. M. Buckley, editor of the Christian Advocate:—
“Last Monday I was in Paris, the Monday before that in Vienna, the Monday before that in Constantinople, the Monday before that in Athens, the Monday before that in Bierut, the Monday before that in Shechem, the Monday before that in Jerusalem, the Monday before that and the Monday before that and the Monday before that on the Nile, and the Monday before that at the Pyramids, and the Monday before that and the Monday before that in Algiers, and the Monday before that in Morocco, and the Monday before that in Gibraltar, and the Monday before that and the Monday before that and the Monday before that in Spain, and the Monday before that in Brindisi, and the Monday before that in Rome, and the Monday before that in Paris, and the Monday before that in London, and the Monday before that in the New York Preachers’ Meeting.”

“PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.”

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. . . . Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
WE are not always so situated that we can enter into our closets to seek God in prayer, but there is no time or place in which it is inappropriate to offer up a petition to God. There is nothing that can hinder us from lifting up our hearts in the spirit of earnest prayer. In the crowds of the street, in the midst of a business engagement, we may send up a petition to God, and plead for divine guidance, as did Nehemiah when he made his request before the king Artaxerxes. A closet of communion may be found wherever we are. We should have the door of the heart open continually, and our invitation going up that Jesus may come and abide as a heavenly guest in our souls.
Although there may be a tainted, corrupted atmosphere around us, we need not breathe its miasma, but may live in the pure atmosphere of heaven. We may close every door to impure imaginings and unholy thoughts by lifting the soul into the presence of God through sincere prayer. Those whose hearts are open to receive the support and blessing of God, will walk in a holier atmosphere than that of earth, and will have constant communion with God. But those who reserve their thoughts of God, their earnest soul longings for purity and grace, for certain times, and places, and occasions, will be overcome by temptation. The thoughts will be impure, the promptings of the natural heart will be fulfilled, and the man will be worsted in the conflict; for he will be drawn away of his own lust and enticed. The injunction of the Saviour is, “Pray without ceasing.” The heart is to be continually going out in desire for the presence and grace of Jesus, that the soul may have divine enlightenment and heavenly wisdom.
We need to have more distinct views of Jesus, and a fuller comprehension of the value of eternal realities. The beauty of holiness is to fill the hearts of God’s people, and that this may be accomplished, we should seek for divine disclosures of heavenly things. Brethren, we should pray in all places, and under all circumstances. Our petitions may be only broken ejaculations, or they may be but secret thoughts of the heart, but whatever we have opportunity for, let the soul be drawn out and upward, that God may grant us a breath of his heavenly atmosphere. Let the spirit groan after God, and mingle faith with fervent desire. We should encourage gratitude and praise, and always be found warring against every unholy impulse, crushing out of the soul every unclean lust. This is the warfare that must be accomplished. We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial our thoughts may turn to God as naturally as the flower turns to the sun. The sunflower keeps its face sunward. If it is turned from the light, it will twist itself on the stem, until it lifts up its petals to the bright beams of the sun. So let everyone who has given his heart to God, turn to the Sun of Righteousness, and eagerly look up to receive the bright beams of the glory that shine in the face of Jesus. Thus we may educate the soul to press its way out of the corrupted moral atmosphere of the world, of sin and selfishness, into the atmosphere that is divine and health-giving.
We are to pray in the Spirit, with the understanding also, and God will prompt the longings of the soul, and satisfy the desires of the heart. We must become intelligent as to the conditions upon which God will hear and answer prayer. There are many useless, meaningless words employed in prayer, but these heartless petitions are not acceptable, and cannot prevail with God. If the soul is stained with impurity, if iniquity is cherished in the heart, the offering of prayer is an abomination to God.
The psalmist says: “Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Says the prophet Isaiah: “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
The psalmist says again: “Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly; but the proud he knoweth afar off.”
The Lord is under no obligation to grant us his favors, yet he has pledged his word that if we will comply with the conditions stated in the Scriptures, he will fulfill his part of the contract. Men often make promises, but do not live up to them. Often we have found that in trusting to men we have leaned upon broken reeds; but the Lord will never disappoint the soul that believes in him. “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed.” He still speaks to the soul, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” “With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee.”
(Concluded next week.)

Affliction and Virtue

By Archbishop Tillotson

The best people need afflictions for trial of their virtue. How can we exercise the grace of contentment, if all things succeed well; or that of forgiveness, if we have no enemies.—Archbishop Tillotson.

Heterodoxy Within the Church

By Editor

WE have warned our brethren of the growth of all kinds of heterodoxy, not outside of the church, but inside. The Nation is responsible for the statement that to-day there are more Universalists in the evangelical sects than in the Universalist body. Ballou was the rude apostle of a once despised, now steadily increasing, faith.—St. Louis Christian Advocate.

Dr. Hodge on Bible Inspiration

By Editor

THIS is what Dr. Hodge says of the inspiration of the Bible:—
"Inspiration does not suppose that the words and phrases written under its influence are the best possible to express the truth, but only that they are an adequate expression of the truth. Other words and phrases might be equally adequate, might furnish a clearer, more exact, and therefore better expression."
If "other words and phrases" "furnish a clearer, more exact, and better expression of truth," why were they not used by the Holy Spirit; for it is the Holy Spirit which spake through the prophets and writers of the Scriptures, as asserted and reasserted by Holy Writ. And who is to judge as to whether the mind of God is more clearly expressed or not in the altered wording? Who knoweth the mind of the Spirit of God that he may instruct him?

The Mormon Question in Utah

A SEEMINGLY thoughtful writer in the Salt Lake City Daily Tribune of November 5, does not present a very optimistic view of the Mormon question. He hangs but little hope on the political victories won by the Gentiles in Salt Lake City and Ogden. Utah is largely agricultural, and the Mormons own the land, and that without which the land would be worthless, the water. They look upon Gentiles something as the Crusaders looked upon the Mussulmen in the Holy Land, and are instructed to sell no land to Gentiles. Polygamy is believed in and practiced, as it ever has been, and the church is a political machine, the women working for Mormon principles as well as the men. The Mormons are continually recruited by immigrants from the lowest and most ignorant classes in Scandinavia and England.

Italy and Pope Leo XIII

A ROME (Italy) correspondent of the Churchman, in the issue of that journal of June 29, in referring to the position of the Italian Government toward Leo XIII., says:—
“Popular feeling is mostly for him. ‘Why should this poor old man, who has done nothing but good, be insulted for the sins of popes who burned rebellious friars 300 years ago?’ is one expression of sentiment. ‘Cannot papists share in the liberty of the press and freedom of conscience enjoyed by all their fellow-citizens?’ is another problem suggested on their side. At the Quirinal palace there was not more cheerfulness on this Whitsunday than at the Vatican, for King Humbert could scarcely mistake the anti-monarchical spirit of the demonstration. He cannot tell one tune from another, but his son, the prince of Naples, who inherits a musical ear from his mother, must have been struck by the strains of the Marseillaise, which was played by all the bands passing the royal palace, with especial emphasis.”

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

Just as an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit, so an evil heart cannot produce good deeds. Man in his natural, unregenerate state has an evil heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jer. 17:9. See also Mark 7:21, 22; Gal. 5:19-21. Man, therefore, cannot do God's law that he may be righteous; he must be made righteous before he can keep God's righteous law. "He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous." 1 John 3:7. But while it is man's duty to obey this righteous law, while it is utterly impossible for him to do it of himself, God will, through Christ, enable him to do it. He will change the heart; he will plant within man his own spiritual nature; Christ will dwell in his heart by faith. That which he could not do alone, God will through faith in Christ do in him and through him by his own mighty power.

THE HAND OF GOD.

Loose not Thy hold, O hand of God! Or utterly we faint and fall. The way is rough, the way is blind, And buffeted with stormy wind; Thick darkness veils above, below, From whence we come, to what we go; Feebly we grope o'er rock and sand, But still go on, confiding all, Lord, to thy hand!
In that stronghold salvation is; Its touch is comfort in distress, Cure for all sickness, balm for ill, And energy for heart and will. Securely held, unfaltering, The soul can walk at ease, and sing, And fearless tread each unknown strand, Leaving each large thing, and each less, Lord, in thy hand!

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

By H. A. St. John

1. "Thy word is truth." John 17:17. No higher compliment could be given the Scriptures than to call them the truth. And to be called thus by Christ, a teacher sent from God in a pre-eminent sense, is the highest encomium possible. The writings of men may contain much truth, but we cannot enter upon their study with assurance, or absolute certainty, that all is truth. But the Holy Bible is pure, unadulterated truth. It can be believed and trusted with the fullest assurance. Its purity is such that it is likened unto silver "purified seven times." Ps. 12:6. No alloy or dross is here.
2. "Given by inspiration of God." 2 Tim. 3:16. This can mean nothing less than that the Holy Spirit of God, the executive of the Godhead, moved holy men to write, so that the things written, whether history, or prophecy, or precept, or doctrine, are the inspired truth of God.
3. "And is profitable." 2 Tim. 3:16. This word of pure truth, thus inspired of God, is highly profitable to man in many ways. It is the infallible source of sound doctrines. Justifiable reproof must be drawn from the word of God. The reprover should be able to put a Thus saith the Lord between himself and the reproved. The word of God is profitable for correction. It not only reproves the erring, but reveals the way by which the wrong may be corrected. It does not leave the reproved under the sense of guilt, without help, but it points to the remedy for sin, and to the promises of pardon full and free. And the reprover should associate these promises with the reproof. Then the Scriptures are profitable for instruction in righteousness. All the instruction needful in that which is of the first and highest importance, is here found.
4. Will thoroughly furnish "unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3:17. This divine utterance was once the watchword of Protestantism and reform. It should be still. As the Bible thoroughly furnishes the man of God unto all good works, it follows irresistibly that those doctrines and ceremonies and works, of whatever name or nature, or however antiquated, that have not their basis in the clearly-revealed word of God, are not good. The observance of Sunday, or Lent, or Christmas, or Ash-Wednesday, or Corpus-Christie, or Feast of all Souls, or Feast of all Saints, and a host of other doctrines and observances of to-day, are not so much as hinted at in the Scriptures, hence are not good, but evil.
5. "Make thee wise unto salvation." 2 Tim. 3:15. The science of salvation takes the precedence of all other sciences. A person may become wise in the science of mathematics, or philosophy, or astronomy, or all the sciences combined, and with all this wisdom miserably perish in a few years. But he that becomes wise unto salvation, though he be sadly deficient in all other wisdom, will secure eternal life, when all true science may be studied throughout eternity with immortal strength and vigor. Hence we should, first of all, become wise unto salvation, then if we secure but little besides in this world, we will have a grand and never-ending opportunity to learn in the world to come. But if we do not become wise unto salvation, in a few brief years we will lose all we may have gained here, with life itself. How foolish that would be!
6. "Search the Scriptures." John 5:39. Here the Saviour enjoins the duty of searching the Scriptures. How eternal life may be obtained is revealed in the Scriptures, hence, truly it is in them we have eternal life if we ever have it at all. But to simply think we have eternal life in the Scriptures, and not study and obey them, will result in our being sadly deceived at the last.
7. Noble to search the Scriptures. Acts 17:11. The great apostle to the Gentiles designates the Bereans as more noble than the people of Thessalonica, because "they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." It is not a noble trait to receive new things because they are new, or because they are professedly drawn from the Scriptures; nor is it noble to reject a thing because it is new, and contrary to our education or way of thinking. The noble way is to receive the new doctrine for investigation, and bring it to the searching test of the Holy Scriptures. Nothing could please the apostles more, or any sincere preacher of the gospel, than for their hearers to resort to a search of the Scriptures. Then, as at Berea, many will believe.
8. It is a light to our path. Ps. 119:105. Nothing will answer as a substitute for it, as a guide to our footsteps. A light supposes darkness. Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people; hence the great need of a lamp for our feet, and a light to our path. The word of God is all we need in this respect.
9. Its entrance gives light. Ps. 119:130. The Bible cannot give light if simply in our libraries, on our tables, or in our pockets. It must abide in us richly. It is highly commendable in the sight of Heaven to seek for truth as for hid treasure, and to become rich in this way.
10. It is a girdle. Eph. 6:14. The truth of God serves its first purpose in our behalf when used as a girdle. It binds in strong consistency the armor of God to the Christian warrior.
11. It is the Christian's sword. Eph. 6:17. We say the Christian's sword. None but the Christian has a right to take this sword as an implement of aggressive warfare. The word of God must first be used as a girdle, as the rule of life, before we are divinely authorized to take it as the sword of the Spirit. When once our feet are in the paths of obedience, we will have great need of this sword in fighting the battles of the Lord.

MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN.

ROBERT BONNER told a reporter three or four years ago that the Ledger could be run for five years on the manuscripts then paid for and stowed away in his safes, without the purchase of another line. Still, he was constantly buying, and by this time is doubtless eight or ten years ahead. The Century and Harper's Magazine, it is claimed, could be published for fifteen years on matter already accepted. A sensational story paper inferior to the Ledger claims to have on hand "serials" enough for ten years to come. And the story is the same in periodical publication offices where matter is allowed to accumulate. Yet the avalanche of words poured forth by the victims of cacoethes scribendi continues with seemingly ever-increasing volume. The editor of a magazine said recently:
"We receive on an average about twenty prose and as many poetical manuscripts per day. They vary in lengths and subjects greatly, but have a harmonious style—that of utter badness. Not one in a hundred is worth passing to a second reader for consideration. The writers generally send along letters trying to influence publication through sympathy with their ambition or their misery, or by giving fictitious ideas of their social, political, or literary prominence. Of course no attention is paid to such letters. Each manuscript has to go on its own merit—or demerit. Many of them can be sufficiently judged on their first two pages, and sometimes a story is rejected without any reading at all, simply because its length unfits it for our use. I do not think we could keep up with the constantly inflowing mass, if we did not adopt such 'short cuts' in reading and judging manuscript. No, instead of getting 'more than our share,' I have no doubt there are other offices where much more matter is offered than in ours. One that I know of gets from fifty to sixty manuscripts a day. All sorts of people send in stuff, but the most prolific and persistent are those who have absolutely no qualifications as writers."
—Selected.

THE WORLD'S CONVERSION OR EVANGELIZATION?

(Concluded.)
3. Finally, the question naturally arises, Has Christianity, then, been a failure?—God forbid! Have modern missions proved a failure?—By no means! Canon Taylor, of England, announces to the world that missions are a failure. Is the sun in the heavens a failure because it has not dispelled the darkness that covers one-half of the globe? Light has been chasing the darkness around the globe for 6,000 years. Is light a failure because it has not driven the earth's dark shadow into infinite space? The word failure is a comparative term. What was the gospel intended to do? To convert all men? Then it is a sad failure, for all men have not been converted; they are not, and will not be, converted. Jesus Christ plainly foretold this fact. He said that tares and wheat will grow together until the harvest; . . . that wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it; . . . nowhere in the Bible has God said, "This gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the world for the conversion of all men, and then shall the good come;" but, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness, and then shall the end come."
The purpose of this dispensation is not the conversion of the whole world, but the evangelization of the whole world, the taking out of the whole a people for God. From the word of Christ to his first disciples, "I have chosen you out of the world," to the triumph song of the saved, heard by the seer of Patmos, "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation," the bride of Christ is always the ecclesia, the called out. As Dr. Gordon, of Boston, has well said: "Nowhere is universal redemption predicted as the result of preaching the gospel in this dispensation. . . .
"Sacramentarianism would take the world into the church by instituting a baptized paganism, instead of taking the church out of the world by preaching spiritual regeneration, and behold the result in a half-heathenized Christendom. Latitudinarianism would make the church co-extensive with the world bypreaching the gospel of universal salvation, men by nature the sons of God, and thus, by crowding the Lord's house with the children of the wicked one, turn it into the 'synagogue of Satan.'
"Though it be in mystery, and sorrow, and tears, we had best work on, therefore, by the divine schedule, preaching the gospel among all for a witness, that we may gather out for Christ a chosen and sanctified people. The beams of sunlight both elect and irradiate, taking out here and there from muddy pool or acrid dead sea, a fine crystalline drop, and lifting it heavenward, but also lighting and warming all the atmosphere by their radiance. So Christ preached among the Gentiles, elects from them a holy flock, a regenerate church, and besides this he changes the moral climate of the world, so that such noxious growths as cannibalism, slavery, polygamy, and infanticide disappear. These two results inevitably attend the proclamation of the gospel—regeneration, saving some out of the world, and civilization, putting something of Christianity into the world; but by neither process, as now going on, is the millennium destined to be ushered in." . . . We are nowhere commanded to Christianize the world, but to evangelize the world. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature [evangelize]. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
The church has spent ages in trying to Christianize a small part of the world instead of trying to evangelize the whole world. The morning of the world's evangelization is at hand, but the world's conversion is apparently no nearer to-day than it was 1,800 years ago. As Anthony Grant sententiously said in the Bampton Lectures of 1843: "The gospel is not to be in all places at all times, nor in all places at any one time, but in some places at all times, and in all places at some time. Missions are therefore not a failure, since they are doing just what God intended them to do, proclaiming the gospel as a witness among all nations, and then shall the end come." We often hear the psalm quoted, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession," as if this promise referred to the conversion of the world by the church, whereas it refers to the time of our Lord's second coming, when he shall sit as King upon his holy hill Zion, when he shall break the kings of the earth with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. We are often told that "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," as if it referred to the church, whereas it refers to the time when Christ shall come in the glory of his Father, to set up his visible kingdom on this earth.
We are often told that the stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall yet fill the whole earth, as if it referred to the church, whereas Daniel says: "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."—

"WILLING TO JUSTIFY HIMSELF."

By E. Hilliard

A CERTAIN lawyer came to Jesus and asked him the most important question that is possible for a man to ask, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" To this vital question Christ replied by asking the lawyer a question that directed his attention to that which contained the answer, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" He answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus said unto him: "This do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus then told him of a certain man who fell among thieves while journeying to Jericho, and how they left him bruised and bleeding by the wayside. A priest and Levite came that way, but passed by on the other side, while the Samaritan dressed his wounds, took him to an inn, and paid his bills. He then asked the lawyer, "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?" He replied, "He that showed mercy on him." Then said Christ, "Go, and do thou likewise."
When asked, "Why do you observe the seventh day," we point to the same scriptures to which Christ referred the lawyer, and ask, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" The answer comes back, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work," etc. But many, like the lawyer, willing to justify themselves, ask, "Which is the seventh day?" We reply by asking, "Why do you observe Sunday?" You answer, "To commemorate Christ's resurrection from the dead." "Upon what day does the Bible say Christ arose?" "Why," you say, "according to the scriptures it was upon the first day of the week." Then if Christ arose from the dead on Sunday, and the Bible says he arose on the first day of the week, is not Sunday the first day of the week? Having found the first day, will it be very difficult to find the seventh?
Reader, this no-definite-Sabbath theory will not stand the test of the judgment; for the Scriptures point out the first and seventh days very clearly, denominating the seventh day the Sabbath, telling us that it comes the day before the first day. Matt. 28:1. It is a subterfuge behind which many hide, who are willing to justify themselves. E. HILLIARD. Duluth, Minn.

"IT'S JEWISH."

WHEN we present God's holy law, And arguments from Scripture draw, Objectors say, to pick a flaw, "It's Jewish."
Though at the first Jehovah blessed And sanctified his day of rest, The same belief is still expressed— "It's Jewish."
Though with the world this rest began, And thence through all the Scriptures ran, And Jesus said 'twas made for man, "It's Jewish."
Though not with Jewish rites which passed, But with the moral law 'twas classed, Which must endure while time shall last, "It's Jewish."
If from the Bible we present The Sabbath's meaning and intent, This answers every argument— "It's Jewish."
Though the disciples, Luke and Paul, Continue still this rest to call The "Sabbath-day," this answers all— "It's Jewish."
The gospel teacher's plain expression, That "sin is of the law transgression," Seems not to make the least impression— "It's Jewish."
They love the rest of man's invention; But if Jehovah's day we mention, This puts an end to all contention— "It's Jewish."
O ye who thus God's day abuse, Simply because 'twas kept by Jews, The Saviour, too, you must refuse— He's Jewish.
The Scriptures, then, may we expect For the same reason you'll reject, If you but stop to recollect,— They're Jewish.
Thus the apostles, too, must fall; For Andrew, Peter, James, and Paul, And Thomas, Matthew, John, and all, Were Jewish.
So to your hapless state resign Yourself, in wretchedness to pine, Salvation surely you'll decline— It's Jewish. —Selected.

THE ROMAN CURIA.

Now consider the other point—the character of the Roman Curia to which the Romish bishops all over the world have sworn implicit obedience, just as the priests also have sworn entire submission to their bishops. The Curia is a cabinet of long standing, great practice, experience, and knowledge of affairs. It never goes out by the action of an adverse majority in a representative chamber. It never suffers change, except as one member or another drops off by old age and death. Like the Russian cabinet, it comprises all the best intellects of Europe and the New World. It combines the astuteness of the Italian, the solidity of the Englishman, the inventive genius of the American, the clear subtlety of the Frenchman, the dogged perseverance and persistence of the German, the duplicity of the Oriental, and the falsehood of all. All those varied intellects have been carefully trained for their work, and been experienced in diplomacy, while from the intimate reports derived from priestly confessors all over the world, the best and most detailed knowledge of the characters and intentions of statesmen and the passions of people, are ready to their hand. The Vatican is the center of all the intelligence and information of the world; and every bishop has periodically to visit Rome, in order that his inmost soul may be probed, and his continual reports may be tested. Such is the cabinet with which Protestant statesmen hope on equal terms to cope!
The Church of Rome is, in fact, not a body of theological doctrine or belief, but a huge and intricate system of government. It is an empire; it is an absolute monarchy, with its college of cardinals, or privy councillors—a monarchy which rules not only by means of force, and which governs not only the bodies and outward actions of its subjects, but which rules the conscience by means of spiritual terrors, and insures the most abject obedience by means of superstitious feelings. As a study of the Syllabus of December 8, 1864, will show, the papal government is a conspiracy of the subtlest and best-informed minds against the fortunes and liabilities of mankind. It has agents in every land and every nation; for every priest, every monk, every nun, every member of a religious confraternity, is an agent of that government. And every one of these—the whole body, indeed, of the Romanists—move as one army, in accordance with the orders from the Vatican.
By all the allurements of sense, by the feigned terrors of the unseen world, by artifices nicely calculated on an intimate acquaintance with each man's idiosyncrasies, tendencies, antecedents, and present frame of mind, by the power acquired through the knowledge of some secret crime, by enticing young persons of mark to commit themselves in perpetrating some disgraceful act, so that their fair name and fame, their honor and their liberties, are placed in the hands of the agents of Rome, by memories of the past, and poignant stings of remorse, by offers of preferment, office, glory, and fame, with assurances of safety and secrecy in exchange for services rendered clandestinely to Rome,—by all these means, and many others, the Vatican is ever increasing in every land its body of adherents, who must implicitly obey, while they hate her. Nor can honor, or patriotism, or even family affection, intervene. Conscience is goaded, and oaths compel them to discard the laws and the welfare of their nation, with the love of kindred, the entreaties of a wife, the paternal instincts of a father for his children, in order to submit to and obey the mandates of the pope.
The system of the Church of Rome is a wonderful mechanism. Its center is the pope. Yet it is independent of the pope. Many a pope has been a dotard; very many have been debauchees. Yet the machine works on, irrespectively of his idiosyncrasies. It is the cabinet, the privy council, the college of cardinals, that governs. That body never dies. One old man and another falls away, like a sere and yellow leaf, but the tree remains; the traditions and the knowledge of centuries are still there. The records of the past are added to the daily experience of the present; and that experience is being ever gathered in every corner of the earth, wherever there is a priest or a missioner. From every race, from every land, from every people, nay, from every family, there stretches a telegraphic wire of secret intelligence to the central station of the Vatican. There the intelligence is used by free minds, who are destitute of family, without all the affections which are natural to man, without a country or a home, without patriotism, without restraint of obligations, oaths, moral principles, or divine laws, because the word of the pope is supposed to tear those holy fetters away as gossamer webs, and priestly absolution is held to wash out even the slightest taint of sin. That is right which is done to advance the power of the pope. That is true which the pope may please to assert ex cathedra. That which favors the interest of the church is good. Even crime is commendable if it be done for the church. Coleridge, the poet and philosopher, said that there are two kinds of strong persons who must always prevail over men that vary in their aims, and sometimes move in one direction and sometimes in another. He is strong who acts always in accordance with the will of God, and allows no consideration, no passion, and no interest, to make him deviate from the path of rectitude and simple justice; and he, too, is strong who puts before himself one end, to which he constantly aims, without swerving to one side or the other, allowing no considerations of right and wrong, no soft or benevolent feeling, no passion, no natural affection, to intervene or deter. Forte nihil difficile. The latter succeeds in this world, the former lives for eternity. Hence the success, for centuries, of the Vatican. Emperors have resisted it, and fallen. Ministers have framed their policies to curb the pretensions of the pope, and have been overcome. The devices of premiers are weak in opposition to the intrigues of the curia. The advance of the Papacy has always been as the advance of the plague, irresistible, unsparing, remorseless, and deadly. Its myriads of secret agents overmatch armies and dispose of their generals. Its purposes are fathomless as the sea and silent as the grave. Its action is in every State, setting nation to hamper nation, and exciting one statesman against another, breaking up, dividing, crumbling its enemies, while its own party is always united, conspiring everywhere towards one object. Ever victorious, it will triumph until the great hour for the doom of the harlot, which sits upon the nations of the earth, has struck; until the warning voice has been heard through the world: "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. . . . For she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."
—Lord Robert Montague.
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