{Chapter 35: Liberty of Conscience Threatened}
Please be advised to read the whole book of the Great Controversy to get Context.
**** #1 ****
Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor
than in former years. In those countries where Catholicism is not in
the ascendancy, and the papists are taking a conciliatory course in
order to gain influence, there is an increasing indifference concerning
the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from the papal
hierarchy; the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do not
differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a
little concession on our part will bring us into a better understanding
with Rome.
#2
The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon
the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased. They
taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony
with Rome would be disloyalty to God.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 563
#3
Many urge that it is unjust to judge the church of today by
the abominations and absurdities that marked her reign during the
centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty
as the result of the barbarism of the times and plead that the
influence of modern civilization has changed her sentiments.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 563-564
#4
The papal church will never relinquish her claim to infallibility.
All that she has done in her persecution of those who reject her
dogmas she holds to be right; and would she not repeat the same
acts, should the opportunity be presented?
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 564
#5
Let the restraints now imposed by secular governments be removed
and Rome be reinstated in her former power, and there would
speedily be a revival of her tyranny and persecution.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 564
**** #6 ****
Pope Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said:
'The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty
of conscience are a most pestilential error-a pest, of all others,
most to be dreaded in a state.'
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 564-565
**** #7 ****
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.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 565
**** #8 ****
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.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 565-566
******* #9 *******
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 conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish
persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 565-566
#10
Men are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism and
the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 566
#11
He who kneels before fallen man, and opens in confession the secret
thoughts and imaginations of his heart, is debasing his manhood
and degrading every noble instinct of his soul.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 567
#12
In unfolding the sins of his life to a priest,-an erring, sinful
mortal, and too often corrupted with wine and licentiousness,-his
standard of character is lowered, and he is defiled in consequence.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 567-568
#13
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.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 568
#14
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.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 568-569
#15
It is Satan's constant effort to misrepresent the character of God,
the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the great controversy.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 568-569
#16
At the same time he causes them to cherish false conceptions of
God so that they regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 569
**** #17 ****
In the days of Rome's supremacy there were instruments of torture to compel
assent to her doctrines. There was the stake for those who would not
concede to her claims. There were massacres on a scale that will
never be known until revealed in the judgment.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 569
*** #18 ***
To secure the favor of Heaven, penitents violated the laws of God
by violating the laws of nature.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 569-570
#19
Through this mammoth system of deception the prince of evil
achieves his purpose of bringing dishonor to God and wretchedness
to man.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 570
*** #20 ***
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.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 570
******* #21 *******
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 Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 570-571
******* #22 *******
The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering
with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed
herself in Christlike garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle
of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines
devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves.
The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the
same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men
of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 571
******* #23 *******
She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it
over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her
spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out
human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 571
******* #24 *******
It is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best
accomplish her purpose; but beneath the variable appearance of the
chameleon she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 571
#25
Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in
the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged as a part of the
church of Christ?
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 571-572
**** #26 ****
There has been a change; but the change is not in the papacy.
Catholicism indeed resembles much of the Protestantism that
now exists, because Protestantism has so greatly degenerated
since the days of the Reformers.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 571-572
#27
Instead of standing in defense of the faith once delivered to
the saints, they are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for
their uncharitable opinion of her, begging pardon for their
bigotry.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 571-572
**** #28 ****
It is true that great light, intellectual, moral, and
religious, is shining upon this generation. In the open pages of God’s
Holy Word, light from heaven has been shed upon the world. But
it should be remembered that the greater the light bestowed, the
greater the darkness of those who pervert and reject it.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 572
+++++++ #29 +++++++
The papacy is well adapted to meet the wants of all these. It is
prepared for two classes of mankind, embracing nearly the whole
world-those who would be saved by their merits, and those who
would be saved in their sins. Here is the secret of its power.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 572-573
**** #30 ****
Thus the false science of the present day, which undermines faith
in the Bible, will prove as successful in preparing the way for
the acceptance of the papacy, with its pleasing forms, as did the
withholding of knowledge in opening the way for its aggrandizement
in the Dark Ages.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 573
******* #31 *******
Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant
America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World. And
that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact
that the principal object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday
observance-a custom which originated with Rome, and which she
claims as the sign of her authority.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 573-574
******* #32 *******
Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances sustained
by secular power were the steps by which the pagan festival attained
its position of honor in the Christian world. The first public measure
enforcing Sunday observance was the law enacted by Constantine.
(A.D. 321) This edict required townspeople to rest on "the venerable
day of the sun," but permitted countrymen to continue their
agricultural pursuits.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 574
******* #33 *******
The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for divine
authority, Eusebius, a bishop who sought the favor of princes, and
who was the special friend and flatterer of Constantine, advanced
the claim that Christ had transferred the Sabbath to Sunday.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 574
******* #34 *******
Eusebius himself unwittingly acknowledges its falsity
and points to the real authors of the change. "All things," he says,
"whatever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have
transferred to the Lord's Day."—Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and
Sabbath Duties, page 538.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 574
*** #35 ***
All who desired to be honored by the world accepted the
popular festival.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 574-575
#36
But steadily a change was effected. Those in holy office were
forbidden to pass judgment in any civil controversy on the
Sunday. Soon after, all persons, of whatever rank, were
commanded to refrain from common labor on pain of a fine
for freemen and stripes in the case of servants.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 574-575
#37
Later the pope gave directions that the parish priest should admonish
the violators of Sunday and wish them to go to church and
say their prayers, lest they bring some great calamity on themselves
and neighbors.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 575
#38
Later the pope gave directions that the parish priest should admonish
the violators of Sunday and wish them to go to church and
say their prayers, lest they bring some great calamity on themselves
and neighbors.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 575
******* #39 *******
This precious document-as base a counterfeit as the institution it
supported-was said to have fallen from heaven and to have been found
in Jerusalem, upon the altar of St. Simeon, in Golgotha. But, in fact,
the pontifical palace at Rome was the source whence it proceeded.
Frauds and forgeries to advance the power and prosperity of the church
have in all ages been esteemed lawful by the papal hierarchy.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 576
******* #40 *******
The churches of Africa held the Sabbath as it was held by the
papal church before her complete apostasy. While they kept the
seventh day in obedience to the commandment of God, they abstained
from labor on the Sunday in conformity to the custom of the church.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 578
******* #41 *******
Upon obtaining supreme power, Rome had trampled upon
the Sabbath of God to exalt her own; but the churches of Africa,
hidden for nearly a thousand years, did not share in this apostasy
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 578
******* #42 *******
When brought under the sway of Rome, they were forced to set aside
the true and exalt the false sabbath; but no sooner had they regained
their independence than they returned to obedience to the fourth commandment.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 578
******* #43 *******
It has been shown that the United States is the
power represented by the beast with lamblike horns, and that this
prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday
observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 579
+++++++ #44 +++++++
She can read what is to be. She bides her time, seeing that the
Protestant churches are paying her homage in their acceptance of
the false sabbath and that they are preparing to enforce it by the
very means which she herself employed in bygone days.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 580
******* #45 *******
The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications throughout
the world, forms one vast organization under the control, and
designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of
communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold
themselves as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality
or their government, they are to regard the authority of the
church as above all other. Though they may take the oath pledging
their loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to
Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her interests.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 580
**** #46 ****
And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never
changes. The principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III are still
the principles of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 581
+++++++ #47 +++++++
Protestants little know what they are doing
when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday
exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment of their
purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her
lost supremacy. Let the principle once be established in the United
States that the church may employ or control the power of the state;
that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short,
that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience,
and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 581
**** #48 ****
God's word has given warning of the impending danger; let this
be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes
of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 581
**** #49 ****
She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their
influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of
men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret
recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily
and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own
ends when the time shall come for her to strike.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 581
**** #50 ****
We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is.
Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur
reproach and persecution.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 581