The events of the past month show that the time is hastening rapidly when the Papacy will say, "I sit a queen and am no widow." The present Pope, Leo XIII., has just celebrated his fiftieth year in the priesthood, calling it a Jubilee. It has been made the occasion of the grandest gifts and ovations to the Papacy on the part of the civilized world, witnessed in centuries. Engrossed memorial letters and costly presents came from every quarter—from kings, queens, princes, bishops, mayors, clubs, churches and societies, aggregating in value ($15,000,000) fifteen millions of dollars.
The day of the celebration in Rome was a wonderful one, which can only be appreciated by those who realize what the Papacy really claims to be. It claims to be nothing less than the glorious millennial kingdom of Christ established in dignity and power to rule over the kingdoms of earth, the fulfillment of our Lord's prayer—"THY KINGDOM COME, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." The papal hierarchy consisting of the bishops, cardinals, etc., with the pope as their head, claims to be the Kingdom of God in power, the pope being instead of Christ or the "vicar" of Christ, and the bishops, etc., instead of the apostles, in fulfillment of the Lord's promise, "It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." It must be remembered that the papacy claims [falsely] that the time of suffering with Christ is in the long ago past, and that the time of the Millennial reign and rule began long ago, when Papacy obtained the control of the Roman Empire. Papacy claims that the Protestant movement, the "Reformation," led up to the events of 1799, from which time to 1870 was accomplished the gradual destruction of her political power, and this period since 1799 she considers the "little season" of Rev. 20:3, in which the devil is loosed. Papacy thus ignorantly fulfills the predictions of God's word, by establishing a counterfeit kingdom, and instituting an unauthorized reign over the world under a counterfeit head, (the popes), thus constituting the anti-Christ kingdom so prominent in prophecy. Those only who see clearly the coming hierarchy or kingdom of the true kingly priesthood—the true church—under the true head, the Lord Jesus, can appreciate how great is the counterfeit deception by which papacy has blinded, and is still blinding herself and the world.
How great then is papacy's triumph at the present hour, as she seems to see what she considers the little season of Satan's power drawing to a close; and herself rising again to glory and power. But her fall will come all the more severely when it does come. In proportion as she has glorified herself, she shall have trouble and sorrow. The present uplifting in influence is but the lifting of the great millstone to make its casting down the more violent.—See Rev. 17:6,18, and 18:7,8,21.
Papacy's "King of Glory," the pope, wearing the Prussian Emperor's present, the triple crown, covered with a thousand costly pearls, was carried about from place to place during the ceremonies of the celebration, and offered mass, etc. He received the homage of the forty-eight cardinals, two hundred and thirty-eight arch-bishops, and an audience of thirty thousand in the great cathedral known as St. Peters. [It will be remembered that it was the public sale of "Indulgences," to raise money to finish this immense cathedral, that opened the eyes of Luther and others, and led them to search and finally locate Papacy as the "Mystery of Iniquity," photographed in Daniel and Revelation.] But, poor man, as if to show that he was not the real, but only an imitation "King of glory" (Psa. 24:7,9), he fainted twice during the ceremonies.
Everything was done on the princely, or rather the kingly scale befitting to the claim that the pope is Christ on earth. The feeding of a hungry multitude on five loaves and two small fishes was not imitated, though thousands of the so-called children of the papacy are declared to be in a starving condition in Ireland; but on the contrary "Peter's pence," given out of their penury by the wretchedly poor the world over, to help the poor pope, was squandered lavishly by this (would be, if he could be,) "king of nations," (Rev. 15:3.) He began the day with a breakfast costing several thousand dollars,—over eighty dollars each, for all the bishops, cardinals, etc., (princes of the church) who partook of his hospitality. And by the way, it must be remembered that this was not extravagant on the part of the pope; he can well afford to do it. His poor predecessor, it will be remembered, left over twenty millions of dollars in the treasury on his decease—safely and wisely invested with the Rothschilds, the Jewish bankers. This sum with interest and additions is probably not less than thirty millions now, as his regular income is put at a million and a half per year. Evidently the popes are unlike the apostles whom they claim to succeed. They are rich by making others poor, while the apostles were "poor while making others rich."—2 Cor. 6:10.
It should not surprise us to learn that Catholics did homage and sent gifts to their king, but how shall we interpret it when we learn that Protestants in places of representative influence did the same? It inclines us to think that Protestants themselves are beginning to see that they have gradually swung around so much, that they now see the foolishness of calling themselves protestants while they do not protest at all, but flatter and do homage to the system and the doctrines against which their fathers protested even to the stake, the rack and the dungeon.
The Queen of England, (the nation which claims to be the chief protestant against Papacy)—the head of the Church of England sent a very costly gift consisting of plate—ewer basin, etc.,—which was used by the pope in celebrating his Jubilee Mass. These are of gold and probably the most elegant and costly of any ever used in that most blasphemous of all the errors of Papacy—the Mass,—noted in the prophetic Scriptures as "the abomination" greater than all others.*
*We have heretofore shown the error of the principles involved in the Mass, and when Vol. II. of DAWN is ready it will contain a full explanation of it, in connection with the prophecies which foretold its institution, and Papacy's rise and fall.
Next in religious influence among the sovereigns of the earth is Emperor William, of Germany. The Emperor being himself a member of the Lutheran church, and Germany the home of Luther and his notable work, any recognition of Papacy's claims on his part must not be overlooked. Did he send a present? Yes, and one of the greatest significance as indicating the German government's attitude toward the restoration of temporal power to Papacy. He sent as a present a new triple crown such as has been worn by the popes since the time of Benedict XIII. This crown is the distinctive badge of civil authority. It said in figure, Germany recognizes you as a civil ruler, though at present you are dispossessed of your territory; just as the present of the head of the Church of England said in symbol, Protestant England has changed her views on the subject and no longer recognizes your system as that of Anti-Christ, but upholds your communion.
The Duke of Norfolk was the Queen's envoy in this matter and approached the pope kneeling three times, and as the Catholic Times, of Liverpool, pointedly notes, is the only envoy sent by an English sovereign for over two hundred years.
These are so many additional straws, pointing the direction of public sentiment—pointing as we have heretofore noted to the grand confederation of the great religious systems—a union which to the many will seem a grand achievement, [R1002 : page 2] a token of Millennial harmony, but which, to the extent that it is successful, will be as oppressive to the true church as it will be advantageous to the human systems called churches. For when the power of organization is once felt, it will soon be used to frown down and hinder all growth in grace and knowledge, and to suppress all teaching and teachers not in harmony with the errors and bondage of said unions. The only union and bondage which God has ever authorized in his children, is the union between each individual and Christ the head; and the union between the members of the church if in any way more than, or different from that prompted by love and the spirit of the head, is of the devil, no matter how honorable and moral the agents he may employ, or the arguments he may cause to be advanced to secure the bondage of God's children under the name of Christian Union. There can be no union between truth and error to last, and every attempt to secure it is an attempt to fetter the truth. We are in the "harvest" of this age, and the errors must fall before the "sharp sickle" of truth, which the Lord is now thrusting in. (Rev. 14:15,16.) Hence the doings of those who say "a confederacy" (a union) must not discourage us, for though they will succeed and cause a night to come, wherein no man can work except those who worship the beast or his image, (John 9:4 and Rev. 13:16,17,) yet the truth will eventually triumph, as well as all faithful to it, under the true pope, the true "King of glory," the High priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.
Some further showing of the Roman anti-Christ system as "a great Christian camp" by leading protestant ministers, blinded by long cherished errors and wrong expectations concerning the church's [R1003 : page 2] present work and the promised kingdom under the whole heavens, we have been obliged to leave for another number of the TOWER; but they are truly surprising to those who see, but unnoticed by the majority, whom, as always, the god of this world blinds to the truth.
Meanwhile, as a proof that some eyes are getting open while others are being closed, we print below a brief report of a discourse delivered in New York by the ex-priest, now well known as Dr. McGlynn, as reported in the public press.
NEW YORK, Dec. 8.—The announcement that Dr. McGlynn would speak tonight on the Pope's right to interfere in politics drew an even larger audience than usual to the anti-poverty meeting at the Academy of Music. The address was a protest against a recent statement by Monsignor Preston, that Catholics are bound to vote as the Pope advises. Dr. McGlynn handled the subject boldly, declaring that wherever papal influence had been felt in politics it had been a curse to the country where it was exercised. Christ, the founder of the Church, had refrained from mixing religion with politics, but some of his vice-gerents had thought themselves wiser.
The speaker declared that even in religious matters Popes had often shown themselves far from infallible. It was the shameless abuse of the Papal power that led to the disruption of the Church in the sixteenth century. At the time when a flaxen haired German boy, named Martin Luther, was playing around his mother's knee, Pope Alexander VI. was installing his illegitimate children in his papal residence. Many Popes had been guilty of egregious blunders and crimes. It had been said that Catholics must take their religion and not their politics from Rome. But even in matters of religion they were not bound to blindly submit to dictation. Every man's conscience is to be the final arbiter for him how far he is obliged to obey the Pope.