The American Sentinel 9
October 25, 1894
“Editorial” American Sentinel 9, 42, p. 329.
WE note that six Christian ministers in Cleveland recently attended the dedication of a new synagogue in that city, and united with Jewish rabbis “in delivering discourses of exultation.” AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.1
COMMENTING on the fact stated in the preceding paragraph, the Sun of this city says:— AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.2
This whole thing is wonderful. Was there ever another occasion upon which a half dozen Protestant clergymen of as many denominations united with two rabbis at the dedication of a synagogue? The clergymen judiciously refrained from making any allusion to the gospels in that place. We guess they were more shrewd than the Apostle Peter or the Apostle Paul would have been under the circumstances. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.3
This is certainly true. “This whole thing is wonderful,” and it is not hazarding too much to say that not one of the apostles would have gone into a synagogue without taking Christ with him. There is a vast difference between Christian charity and unchristian indifference. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.4
THE Christian is required to love all men; yea, the Christian does love all men, for that is the Spirit of Christ; and “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.” Moreover the Christian will do good to all men as he has opportunity; but the latter he cannot do by encouraging them in error, and the former he does not do except as he does it in the Spirit and power of his Master. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.5
OUR Saviour himself, and his apostles and the early Christians, preached the gospel to the Jews declaring that without Christ there was no salvation. When they went into the synagogues it was to preach Christ; and upon no occasion did they by word or act admit that Judaism without Christ was as good as Christianity, or that there was salvation in it. But this is virtually what those Cleveland preachers did when they joined with Jewish rabbis in dedicating a house from which the name of Christ must be excluded, or if admitted at all, admitted only to be denied. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.6
ON the occasion referred to one of the ministers is credited with these words: “Is there, after all, such a difference between us? Have we not one God?” Doubtless to the minds of many this latter question admits only of an affirmative answer; but the truth is that God, the true God, is revealed to us only in Christ. Says the Saviiour: “Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” It follows that there can be no true worship of the true God except through Christ, and the Christian who by word or act denies this, thereby denies his Lord. To insist that Hebrews shall enjoy equal civil and religious rights with all other men, is Christlike, and honors our divine Lord, for Christian charity requires this; but to admit that Judaism is to-day acceptable worship of the true God is to deny Christ and put him to an open shame. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.7
“Seeing the Invisible” American Sentinel 9, 42, pp. 329-331.
THE Christian is to see, and does see, the invisible. He is to “look at the things that are not seen” (2 Corinthians 4:18), and he is to see—he can see—the things that he looks at. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.1
“The things that are not seen are eternal:” and the things that are eternal are the things of God; for he is “the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,” and “the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen” (Romans 1:20), though not with the natural eyes—the eyes of this world. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.2
There are things even of the natural order, which are invisible to the natural eyes unaided. There are innumerable worlds that cannot be seen at all—that are invisible—without the telescope; there are the countless forms of life in this world of ours that are invisible without the microscope. And all men are eager, and delighted, to use either the telescope or the microscope whenever it is possible, in order that they may see these things that are otherwise invisible. And the invisible things even of the natural order awake more interest, and engage more profound study than do the visible things. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.3
Why should not then the invisible things of the spiritual order awake interest and arouse study as well as the invisible things
of the natural order? It may be answered that they do. Yes, that is true; but the interest shown, and the study carried on, in this line, is so largely done in a defective way, that, practically, the effort amounts to very little, and brings no benefit to the greater part of mankind.
AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.4
The one grand defect, and, indeed, a fatal one, in the efforts of the greatest part of mankind to see the invisible things of the spiritual order, the invisible things of God, has always been that it is attempted to be done in the natural way and with the natural faculties. Because of this the gods of the heathen have always been but the reflection of the natural character of the worshipers, and even then must needs be represented before the devotee in some shape visible to the natural eye, whether it be in the form of the heavenly bodies, or of sticks or stones, or of graven or molten images, or of pictures. So that all false worship—all idolatry—is but the result of effort to grasp the spiritual in the natural way, to comprehend spiritual things with the natural faculties. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.5
But it is eternally true that “spiritual things are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-14. The truly spiritual things—the things of God—it is impossible truly to discern in any other than the truly spiritual way. For “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24. It is only by the Spirit of God that the things of God can be discerned. For, as it is written: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things; yea, the deep things of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:9, 10. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.6
Thus it is evident that God has put within the reach of man the means by which he can see “the invisible things of him.” And the Spirit of God and the revelation which he by that Spirit has given, are the means by which men may know the things of God and may see the invisible things of him. For, again it is written: “What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:11, 12. AMS October 25, 1894, page 329.7
Although it be eternally true that spiritual things are only spiritually discerned; and although it be evident that it is by the Spirit of God alone that the things of God are known; yet it is also true that even this good Spirit men desire to see—they desire that it shall be visible—before they will receive it, even as it is written: “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.” John 14:16, 17. Thus the sole means by which the things of God can be made known to the world—even this the world insists shall be discerned and known in the worldly way. But this will never do. This the Lord could never, by any means, allow in any degree. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.1
God can never accommodate himself nor his ways to the ways of this world. This world is wrong, and all its ways are wrong ways. And for the Lord to accommodate himself in anything to the ways of this world, would be only to confirm the world in its wrong ways. If the world could see God, or the things of God, with worldly eyes, and could know God or the things of God with worldly knowledge, this would at once reduce God to the level of this world, and all the things of God to the level of the things of this world. And this would be only to confirm, by the sanction of God, this world forever in its own ways as they are, making the ways of this world the ways of God, and making iniquity and transgression and sin eternal. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.2
But God wants to turn this world from its own ways unto himself, that it may know him as he is. He wants to lift this world up to himself and to his ways, instead of allowing the world to bring him down to its own level and to confirm it in its own wickedness. And in order that this may be accomplished, he must, in the very nature of things, require that the world shall see with other than worldly eyes, and know with other than worldly knowledge. The world must forsake all worldly elements and all worldly methods, and accept and use exclusively the means which God has supplied, or else it can never see God as he is in truth. And whosoever will do this will see him as he is, and everywhere, and to all eternity. He who would refuse the use of the telescope and the microscope, the means by which alone he can see the invisible things of the natural order, might strain his eyes till the faculty of sight should be lost, in an effort to see those things, and all in vain; for without these instruments he simply cannot see the things which he would see. Even so the things of God can no man see, who refuses to use the means which God has supplied for this purpose. Without the instruments which God has supplied, man may strain all his powers to the breaking point in the effort to see God as he is in truth and all in vain; without these he simply cannot see him. And this, not because God has arbitrarily fixed it so that he shall not see him if he does not do so, and so, and simply and only because that if he will not use the instruments by which alone the invisible things of God may be seen, literally he cannot see them. “Except a man be born again [born from above, margin] he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.3
What, then, are the instruments by which men may see the invisible things of God? We have read that “the Comforter,” “the Spirit of Truth,” “which is the Holy Ghost,” the world cannot receive “because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.” And further, on this it is written that “we receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:14. That is to say, therefore, not only that the world cannot receive the Spirit of God because it seeth him not, but that the world sees him not because it does not believe. Instead of believing, in order that it may see, the world wants to see in order that it may believe. But to those who believe and therefore do receive him, Jesus says, “Ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you;” and, “Ye see me;” and “I will manifest myself to him.” So that it is literally true that by faith we know God and the things of God, and see the invisible things of God. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.4
It was “by faith” that Moses endured “as seeing him who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:27. It is written that “the pure in heart shall see God;” and he purifies the heart “by faith” (Acts 15:9); and therefore it is by faith that men see him who is “the invisible God.” Colossians 1:15. And in order that all men may see “the invisible things of him,” and “him who is invisible,” “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Romans 12:3. Faith is ‘the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8. It is not the gift of God in the sense that the natural faculties, as reason, night, hearing, etc., are the gifts of God, so that it should be of ourselves. It is the gift of God in the sense that it is from above and beyond ourselves, a supernatural faculty bestowed since sin entered, and acting only at the free choice of the individual himself. “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17); and the word of God is able to make things to be seen which before did not appear, and which indeed were not; so that faith, acting through the word of God, sees in very truth, and sees clearly, the invisible things of God. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.5
True faith, the faith that is the gift of God, the faith of which Christ is the Author, the faith of which the word of God is the channel—this faith hears the word of God and depends upon the divine power of that word itself to accomplish the thing which that word says. For when the centurion came to Jesus asking that his servant should be healed, he said to the Lord, “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Thus he expected the word of the Lord itself to accomplish that which it said when the Lord should but speak the word. And this the Lord pronounced not only “faith” but “great faith:” even such as he had not found in Israel. And this, too, in the face of the fact that the Scripture, upon the knowledge of which Israel was greatly priding itself, had long before plainly stated this very thing, in these words: “As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.” Isaiah 55:10, 11. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.6
To expect the word of God to do the thing which that word says, and to depend wholly upon that word itself to do it, this the Lord Jesus pronounces faith. This is true faith. This is the faith by which men can see the invisible thing of God as certainly and as easily as by the telescope and the microscope they can see the invisible things of the natural order. This is the faith which works by love purifies the heart, so that he who is thus “pure in heart shall see God,” invisible though he be. For this is the faith by which he who exercises it sees the invisible. This is the faith which, working through the word of God, accomplishes the new birth (1 Peter 1:23) by which a man is enabled to see the kingdom of God, which “except a man be born again he cannot see” at all. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.7
This is why it is that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Faith is of God, and whatsoever it works is the work of God; while whatsoever is not of faith is not of God, but is of the world. And all that is in the world is not of the Father, but is of the world. 1 John 2:16. Whatsoever is not of faith is of the world, is of the nature of the world, and is of the way of the world, and perverts the way of God to the ways of the world, and demands that God shall accommodate himself to the world and accept a worship that is altogether of the nature and spirit of this world. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.8
No stronger proof, therefore, could possibly be given, of the absolute falsity, the sheer worldliness, and the utter naturalness, of any system of religion, than that it must needs avail itself of visible representations of the object of its worship. And of all the systems of religion that are in the world, there is no one which insists more upon the visible and upon seeing the visible than does the Roman Catholic system. It is essential to that system that it shall have “a visible head.” It must needs have a visible kingdom. It must have a visible sacrifice. Professing to worship the Crucified One, the Catholic Church must have visible “crucifix” by which to do it. Professing to glory in the cross of Christ, she must have a multitude of visible crosses of her own by which to do it. There must be a visible interpreter of the Scriptures. And for all the worshipers according to that system, there must be visible representations of the object worshiped, in the shape of images and pictures. Throughout the whole system the one chief essential is the seeing of the visible. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.9
While this paragraph is being written, there comes to hand an encyclical of Leo XIII., pope, “On the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin,” in which, describing the purpose of the rosary, that is, of the beads which are used by Catholics in their prayers, he says: “The rosary is arranged not for the consideration of dogmas of faith and questions of doctrine, but rather for putting forth facts to be perceived by the eyes and treasured up in the memory.” Even though it be recognized that the invisible exists and is to be worshiped, yet it can be comprehended and worshiped only through, and by the aid of, the visible. This is the characteristic of all heathenism and of all idolatry. And this is only to say that by this characteristic the Catholic system of religion is demonstrated to be essentially heathenish and idolatrous. AMS October 25, 1894, page 330.10
We know full well of the plea that is made in defense of the use of images, pictures, etc., in the worship of the Roman Catholic Church; that is, that “the honor which is given them is referred to the originals which they represent, so that by the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover our heads or kneel, we adore Christ and venerate his saints, whose likeness they represent;” and “the bowing before an image outside of us is no more to be reprehended than the worshiping before and internal image in our own minds; for the external image does but serve the purpose of expressing visibly that which is internals.”—Faith of Our Fathers, pp. 285, 287. But if they only saw Him whom they profess to worship, they would not need any image of him, either external or internal, nor any representation of him either visible or otherwise. They could then be true worshipers, worshiping him who is invisible, in spirit and in truth. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.1
This plea that is made in justification of the use of images and of the visible, is in itself the greatest condemnation of the use of images and of the whole system of Roman Catholicism; for it is a confession of inability to see the invisible, and therefore a confession that the whole system is destitute of true faith and a stranger to the new birth, and altogether without God. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.2
The Catholic system being confessedly unable to see the invisible, is clearly not of faith. And as whatsoever is not of faith is sin, it is perfectly clear that the whole Catholic system is a system of sin. And the professed Protestantism that panders to it, that compromises with it, that courts it, and that is “wheeling into line with it,” is simply like unto it. The one is “the man of sin,” “the son of perdition,” “the mystery of iniquity,” “the beast;” and the other is “the image” of it. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.3
“Did the Roman Catholic Church Ever Persecute?” American Sentinel 9, 42, p. 331.
IN our issue of September 27, we discussed this question at some length, quoting first a negative answer from Donahoe’s Magazine, and then some affirmative testimony from Schaff and Herzog and from the “Encyclopedia Britannica.” It is the purpose of this article to carry the investigation still farther, and this time we shall quote only Roman Catholic authorities. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.1
In his book, “The Faith of our Fathers,” pages 284-286, Cardinal Gibbons says:— AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.2
But did not the Spanish Inquisition exercise enormous cruelties against heretics and Jews? I am not the apologist of the Spanish Inquisition, and I have no desire to palliate or excuse the excesses into which that tribunal may at times have fallen. From my heart I abhor and denounce every species of violence, and injustice, and persecution of which the Spanish Inquisition may have been guilty. And in raising my voice against coercion for conscience’ sake, I am expressing not only my own sentiments, but those of every Catholic priest and layman in the land. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.3
Our Catholic ancestors, for the last three hundred years, have suffered so much for freedom and conscience, that they would rise up in judgment against us, were we to become the advocates and defenders of religious persecution. We would be a disgrace to our sires, were we to trample on the principle of liberty which they held dearer than life. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.4
And when I denounce the cruelties of the Inquisition, I am not standing aloof from the church, but I am treading in her footprints. Bloodshed and persecution form no part of the creed of the Catholic Church. So much does she abhor the shedding of blood, that a man becomes disqualified to serve as a minister at her altars who, by act or counsel, voluntarily shed the blood of another. Before you can convict the church of intolerance, you must first bring forward some authentic act of her popes or councils sanctioning the policy of vengeance. In all my readings, I have yet to find one decree of hers advocating torture or death for conscience’ sake. She is indeed intolerant of error; but her only weapons against error are those pointed out by St. Paul to Timothy: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove entreat; rebuke with all patience and doctrine.” 1 AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.5
But you will tell me: Were not the authors of the Inquisition children of the church, and did they not exercise their enormities in her name? Granted. But I ask you: Is it just or fair to hold the church responsible for those acts of her children which she disowns? You do not denounce liberty as a mockery, because many crimes are committed in her name; neither do you hold a father accountable for the sins of his disobedient children. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.6
These are the cardinal’s own words as recorded in his own book. Two points should be specially noted: first, he does not say that “the church” never used against heresy other weapons than those “pointed out by St. Paul to Timothy;” though that is the idea that he evidently seeks to convey; for, second, he attempts to lift the odium of the Inquisition from “the church” and place it upon the “children” of “the church;” as though to individuals and not to “the church” belonged the responsibility for the Inquisition and the crimes against humanity committed by it. But this will not do. The Inquisition was an institution of the Roman Catholic Church; and it was instituted by the visible head of that church for the express purpose of using against “error” weapons never pointed out by St. Paul to Timothy, nor to anybody else; namely, the weapons of civil pains and penalties. That this is true is not only admitted, but is asserted in a Roman Catholic book, 2 published in this city in 1891, and approved by Cardinal Gibbons himself. On pages 58, 59, of the work referred to, we read:— AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.7
For many ages after the conversion of Constantine it was easier for the church to repress heresy by invoking the secular arms than by organizing tribunals of her own for the purpose. Reference to ecclesiastical history and the codes of Justinian and Theodosius shows that the emperors generally held as decided views on the pestilent nature of heresy, and the necessity of extirpating it in the germ before it reached its hideous maturity, as the popes themselves. They were willing to repress it; they took from the church the definition of what it was; and they had old established tribunals armed with all the terrors of the law. The bishops, as a rule, had but to notify the appearance of heretics to the lay power, and the latter hastened to make inquiry, and, if necessary, to repress and punish. But in the thirteenth century a new race of temporal rulers arose to power. The Emperor Frederic II. perhaps had no Christian faith at all; John of England meditated, sooner than yield to the pope, openly to apostatise to Islam; and Philip Augustus was refractory towards the church in various ways. The church was as clear as ever upon the necessity of repressing heretics, but the weapon—secular sovereignty—which she had hitherto employed for the purpose, seemed to be breaking in her hands. The time was come when she was to forge a weapon of her own; to establish a tribunal the incorruptness and fidelity of which she could trust; which, in the task of detecting and punishing those who misled their brethren, should employ all the minor forms of penal repression, while still remitting to the secular arm the case of obstinate and incorrigible offenders. Thus arose the Inquisition. St. Dominic is said by some to have first proposed the erection of such a tribunal to Innocent III., and to have been appointed by him the first inquisitor. 3 Other writers trace the origin of the tribunal to a synod held at Toulouse by Gregory IX. in 1229, after the Albigensian crusade, which ordered that in every parish a priest and several respectable laymen should be appointed to search out heretics and bring them before the bishops. 4 The task of dealing with the culprits was difficult and invidious, and the bishops erelong made over their responsibility in the matter to the Cominican order. Gregory IX. appointed none but Dominican inquisitors; Innocent IV. nominated Franciscans also, and Clement VII. sent as inquisitor into Portugal a friar of the order of Minime. But the majority of the inquisitors employed have always been Dominicans, and the commissary of the holy office at Rome belongs ex officio to this order. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.8
Of the powers of inquisitors, the same books says (page 60):— AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.9
The duties and powers of inquisitors are minutely laid down in the canon law, it being always assumed that the civil power will favor, or can be compelled to favor, their proceedings. Thus it is laid down, that they “have power to constrain all magistrates, even secular magistrates, to cause the statute against heretics to be observed,” and to require them to swear to do so; also that they can “compel all magistrates and judges to execute their sentences, and these must obey on pain of excommunication;” also that inquisitors in causes of heresy “can use the secular arm,” and that “all temporal rulers are bound to obey inquisitors in causes of faith.” 5 No such state of things as that here assumed now exists in any part of Europe; nowhere does the State assist the church in putting down heresy; it is therefore superfluous to describe regulations controlling jurisdiction which has lost the medium in which is could work and live. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.10
This paragraph tells why “the church” does not now persecute, why “her only weapons are those pointed out by St. Paul;” it is because the weapon of her own which she “forged,” the Inquisition, the “tribunal the incorruptness and fidelity of which she could trust,” “has lost the medium in which it could work and live.” And that is the only reason. “Rome never changes,” and the Roman Catholic Church to whose fold Leo XIII. invites “the princes and peoples of the universe,” “the Roman Catholic Church of to-day,” upon which “Protestants,” so-called, are invoking the divine blessing, is unchanged in spirit and purpose, and would persecute to-day as she persecuted in the past if she had the power. Her denial of persecution is as disingenuous as we have in the past shown her professions of love for the Scriptures of truth and the Constitution of the United States to be. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.11
But let not any lose faith in religion because of the unchristian course of a professed church of Christ. The Word of God foretold the great apostasy which resulted in the setting up of the papacy and warned his people, and through them the world, against it long before there was any such system claiming to be Christian; and through all the long dark night of papal supremacy God preserved to himself witnessess [sic.] for his trust, faithful men and women who counted not their lives dear unto themselves, if only they might glorify their Lord. Moreover, since the Roman Catholic Church has become hopelessly corrupt, and, as a church, irretrievably estranged from Christ, the same divine word which eighteen hundred years ago warned the world against the falling away and the “man of sin,” which was to follow it, now raises a standard against this system of iniquity and calls to the remnant people of God, not only in the Roman Catholic Church, but in her fallen and apostate daughters, saying, “Come out of her my people.” There is hope in this invitation; God has “set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people,” and this gathering will be final, for its consummation will be the coming of the Lord to take his people to himself. Let as many as are dissatisfied with Roman Catholicism, and with papacy, whether in the Roman Catholic Church or in any other, turn to the Lord and be saved by him from sin now, and from the penalty of sin at his coming. AMS October 25, 1894, page 331.12
“Evicted Tenants” American Sentinel 9, 42, p. 332.
THE city of Montreal, Canada, is under the control of the Roman Catholic Church. Here, the church, though influenced to some extent by the presence of Protestants in the city, has matters somewhat to her liking. Of course, she cannot punish heretics with civil pains and penalties as of old, since an appeal to the higher courts of the Dominican which are under English influence have been fined for refusing to remove the hat at the passing of a Catholic procession, and for crossing a street occupied by a church parade. AMS October 25, 1894, page 332.1
While the church is limited in the use of one of her two potent weapons—the civil law—she uses the other, the ecclesiastical boycott, for all it is worth. And it is worth millions. AMS October 25, 1894, page 332.2
It is quite generally understood that the Roman Catholic Church does make merchandise of the souls of men in collecting millions upon millions of dollars annually from her deluded votaries for the hastening of the souls of men through the terrible flames of purgatory. While this trading in the souls of men brings in this enormous revenue, the church does not let the body escape untaxed, as appears from an investigation of her burial laws now in force in Montreal. AMS October 25, 1894, page 332.3
In order to appreciate the situation there it must be borne in mind that the church teaches that the bodies of Roman Catholics must be buried in ground consecrated by the church, from which are excluded the contaminating bones of heretics. To be buried outside of this consecrated ground is regarded by the faithful as the greatest of calamities. With this idea in mind, the reader will understand how it is possible for the Roman Catholic Church to impose on the people in the manner indicated by the following facts:— AMS October 25, 1894, page 332.4
The church authorities in charge of the Catholic cemetery of Montreal, like the authorities of non-Catholic burial grounds, sell burial plots. But here the likeness ends. Not satisfied with the revenue collected by chasing the soul through purgatory, so long as there are living friends to pay for the chasing, the church now starts in pursuit of the body and levies on it as long as there are living friends to pay the tax, after which the bones are chased out of the cemetery and dumped with others in a nameless grave. Notwithstanding relatives have paid from four to twenty dollars for a resting place for the body of the deceased, still, at the end of every five years, they are taxed an amount equal to the first cost of the plot; and if for any reason the relatives fail to raise the amount, they must bear the shame and endure the sorrow of having the body of a loving father or mother, the remains of a companion sister or brother, or the sacred dust of an angel-faced child, distinterred and mingled with the bones of hundreds of other “evicted tenants” in a potter’s field,—a nameless grave. A wanderer in a foreign land, on returning home and paying a visit to a mother’s grave, would find the marble slab gone, and in its place another, marking the grave of a stranger. AMS October 25, 1894, page 332.5
But, says the non-Catholic, let the Catholic bury his relatives where the mercenary hand of Rome will not disturb their dust. But the church has taught them that this is to exchange a life in paradise for the pains of hell. There is no escape from this tyranny, but separation from the “holy mother church,” which means to the Catholic the loss of everything. AMS October 25, 1894, page 332.6
Thus it is seen that the church corrals the souls of men in purgatory and taxes them until the day of judgment, and in like manner corrals their bodies in “consecrated” ground and taxes them until exhumed by the sexton’s pick, or “the trump of God.” Verily, the Roman Catholic Church, at least in Montreal, literally fulfills the description of Revelation 18, and makes merchandise of the “slaves, [Greek, bodies] and souls of men.” AMS October 25, 1894, page 332.7
Oh, that the deluded victims of the papacy would flee this tyranny and refuse longer to permit “the church” to make merchandise of both body and soul! Let them trust in Him who said, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25), and who has promised that even the unconsecrated sea shall give up her dead. “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, ... and they were judged [not according to their burial place, but] according to their works.” Revelation 20:13. AMS October 25, 1894, page 332.8