IN the SIGNS of the past two weeks we have given an account of the St. Bartholomew’s Massacre, and of the Edict of Nantes and its revocation. We have recalled to the minds of our readers the disposition of Rome wherever she can reach her relentless arm. We know that to the minds of many of the Protestant leaders of theological thought of the present day, this is a thankless task. To them it is a very uncharitable proceeding to hold up these things to the gaze of the people of our day, because they say Rome has changed and progressed with the change and progress of the age. But it is not so. She has not changed, she only bides her time, till Protestants by following Romish doctrines, and practicing Romish principles, bring themselves to that place where they can see no difference between Protstantism and Romanism, and will restore to her the power of which she has been deprived so long. Romanism is not becoming enlightened, Protestantism is becoming more and more darkened.SITI June 23, 1887, page 376.1

In 1569 Pope Pius V. wrote to Charles IX. against the Huguenots, saying:—SITI June 23, 1887, page 376.2

“Our zeal gives us the right of earnestly exhorting and exciting you to use all your influence for procuring a definite and serious adoption of the measure most proper for bringing about the destruction of the implacable enemies of God and the king.”SITI June 23, 1887, page 376.3

After a victory over the Huguenot forces, Charles sent to the Pope some flags that had been captured, as an acknowledgment of the help the Pope had rendered. At that Pius wrote to him in these words:—SITI June 23, 1887, page 376.4

“The more the Lord has treated you and me with kindness, the more you ought to take advantage of the opportunity this victory offers to you, for pursuing and destroying all the enemies that still remain; for tearing up entirely all the roots, and even the smallest fibers of the roots, of so terrible and confirmed an evil. For unless they are radically extirpated, they will be found to shoot up again; and, as it has already happened several times, the mischief will reappear when your majesty least expects it. You will bring this about if no consideration for persons or worldly things induces you to spare the enemies of God—who have never spared yourself. For you will not succeed in turning away the wrath of God, except by avenging him rigorously on the wretches who have offended him, by inflicting on them the punishment they have deserved.SITI June 23, 1887, page 376.5

“Let your majesty take for example, and never lose sight of, what happened to Saul, king of Israel. He had received the orders of God, by the mouth of the prophet Samuel, to fight and to exterminate the infidel Amalekites, in such a way that he should not spare one in any case, or under any pretext. But he did not obey the will and the voice of God.... therefore he was deprived of his throne and his life. By this example, God wished to teach all kings that to neglect the vengeance of outrages done to him is to provoke his wrath and indignation against themselves.—History of Protestantism, book 17, chap. 13.SITI June 23, 1887, page 376.6

To Catherine de Medici, he wrote, promising her the assistance of Heaven if she would pursue the enemies of the Roman Catholic religion “till they are all massacred, for it is only by the entire extermination of heretics that the Roman Catholic worship can be restored.”—Id.SITI June 23, 1887, page 376.7

And that the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day followed, was but the natural consequence. But Pius V. was no worse than Pius IX., and neither of them was any worse than Leo XIII. We related last week how that Massilon, Bourdaloue, Bossuet, and Fléchier, exulted over the horrors brought upon the Huguenots by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Yet to-day there are so-called Protestant divines who sound the praises and exalt the Christion [sic.] virtues of those wicked men. “Oh, but they were eloquent,” it is said. Of course they were eloquent, and as cruel as they were eloquent. When eloquence is employed in exultation over the afflictions and miseries of men, it is an accomplishment that may well be abhorred rather than admired. And when those who are masters of the accomplishment are so cruel at heart as to so employ it, it is difficult to understand how they can be admired by any but such as partake of the same spirit.SITI June 23, 1887, page 376.8

Yet in the face of Rome’s history and fixed character of bitter persecution and perpetual tyranny, there are scores of men of extensive influence professing to be Protestants, who are lending their names and influence to hand over this Government to be ruled in accordance with the principles of the Papacy “the most perfected of all existing forms of tyranny.” The National Reform Association has rallied to its support all the “evangelical churches” and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and proposes to join hands with the Catholic Church in amending the National Constitution, so as to oblige Congress to make laws concerning religion.SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.1

In his little book, “Our Country,” Dr. Strong well says:—SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.2

“There are many who are disposed to attribute any fear of Roman Catholicism in the United States to bigotry or childishness. Such see nothing in the character and attitude of Romanism that is hostile to our free institutions, or find nothing portentous in its growth. Let us, then, first compare some of the fundamental principles of our Government with those of the Catholic Church.SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.3

“The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental. 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 pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a State.’ The same Pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized ‘those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,’ also ‘all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.’”SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.4

“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O’Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’ ... The archbishop of St. Louis once said: ‘Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes.’ ...SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.5

“Every cardinal, archbishops, and bishop in the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to the Pope, in which occur the following words: ‘Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said Lord (the Pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.’”SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.6

“Cardinal Manning advises Romanists throughout the world to enter politics as Romanists, and to do this especially in England and the United States. In our large cities the priests are already in politics, and to some purpose.... We are told that the native Catholics of Arizona and New Mexico are not as energetic as the Protestants who are pushing into these Territories. True, but they are energetic enough to be counted. The most wretched members of society count as much at the polls as the best, and too often much more.”SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.7

It is true that the Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty of conscience, but it is equally true that the evangelical churches and the W.C.T.U., through the mediumship of the National Reform Association, and its proposed amendment to the Constitution, are pledged to put into the hands of Rome, the power to employ force in this Government and so to rid it of this “pestilential error” of liberty of conscience, which is so much “to be dreaded in a State.”SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.8

The Papacy is to-day the most influential power in the world. The Christian at Work admits that “There can be no question that under the new policy of Pope Leo XIII. the Roman Church is coming to the front again in the matter of dealing with political governments.” And further it says that “in doctrine and in the completeness and compactness of her ecclesiastical system, and the far-reaching adaptability of that system to all exigencies the church of Leo I. and of Leo XIII.—though fourteen centuries intervene between them—are substantially one.” And yet in the very same article with these last quoted words it says that if Dr. McGlynn does not obey the command of the Pope, “He will cease to speak with the influence of a priest of the largest Christian denomination.”SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.9

A “Christian denomination” indeed! And “the church of Leo I. and of Leo XIII. are substantially one.” It therefore follows that she always has been a Christian denomination; the Reformation was sheer heresy and schism, a sanctioning of “rebellion by undermining the principle of authority;” it was “the offspring of rebellion,” and “originated with priests impatient of the yoke of the gospel, fond of novelty and ambitions of notoriety”! and Luther was excommunicated and cursed by a Christian Pope! Huss and Jerome were condemned and burnt by a Christian council! the command to massacre the Huguenots was issued by a Christian! the Inquisition was a Christian organization, and all its murders, and assassinations, its torments, and its persecutions, were but acts of Christian kindness, and Christian charity! The minions of the Pope and the Inquisition when thus employed were only Christians at work!SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.10

May Heaven help the Christians who are represented by the editorial utterances of the Christian at Work. And may all people who love liberty of conscience awake to the danger that lies in the strong Papacy and the weak, degenerate, and apostate Protestantism of to-day.SITI June 23, 1887, page 377.11

“The Need of Evangelists” The Signs of the Times 13, 24, pp. 375, 376.

“How God Has Spoken” The Signs of the Times 13, 25, pp. 391, 392.