The Present Truth, vol. 11
March 21, 1895
“Calling Things by Their Names” The Present Truth 11, 12, pp. 182, 183.
THE American Sentinel, a vigorous Protestant journal published in New York, has been charged by the Monitor, a Catholic journal, with dealing in “steady and unlimited abuse of the Pope of Rome and the loudly dressed lady who sat on seven hills,” whereupon the Sentinel replies, in part, as follows:— PTUK March 21, 1895, page 182.1
As for what the Monitor calls “the loudly dressed lady who sat on seven hills,” we have never spoken of her as a “lady.” That term does not properly belong to her. It is not the term that the Lord uses in referring to her. The Scripture says that she said of herself, “I shall be a lady,” and that she would be called “The lady of kingdoms;” but what the Scripture itself calls her is a term that is absolutely incompatible with any suggestion of a lady. We shall not quote the scriptures which describe her, lest the Monitor and other Catholic papers should not only charge us with abuse, but worse. We shall therefore cite chapter and verse, and the Monitor and all others can read the words for themselves as the Lord has spoken them; and then let them make their charges as they choose. Here they are: Revelation 17:1-6, 15, 16; 18:2, 3; 19:2. PTUK March 21, 1895, page 182.2
And that the Monitor may the better be prepared to understand the application of these scriptures, we also cite the two standard and popular Roman Catholic authorities—“The Faith of Our Fathers,” p. 131; and “Catholic Belief,” p. 323—both of which say that the Babylon referred to by Peter (1 Peter 5:13) and the early Christians, is Rome. And when the Lord says that she is a harlot herself, and “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth,” it is not abuse when we say or anybody else says that that is what she is. PTUK March 21, 1895, page 182.3
When the plain statements of the word of God seem to any person to be abusive, then the only proper thing for such person to do is so to change his attitude that that word will not seem so, but can be accepted as the exact truth. To the scribes and Pharisees it no doubt seemed to be very great abuse when Jesus told them that they were hypocrites, whited sepulchres, serpents, and a generation of vipers. It was the truth, though, and instead of persecuting and crucifying him, it would have been far better for them to have acknowledged that it was all true, and changed their course from that of disobedience to that of faith. PTUK March 21, 1895, page 183.1
It is altogether likely that the devil would rather still be called Lucifer—Lightbearer—than to be called Satan—the adversary—and Diabolus—the slanderer. It may be that he thinks the Lord is engaging in “steady and unlimited abuse,” when he insists in continually referring to him by these titles. But be that as it may, it is certain that these titles define precisely what he is; and the Lord, in constantly using these terms, is not in any sense abusing him—he is simply telling the truth. PTUK March 21, 1895, page 183.2
It is just so as between us and the papacy. We have no doubt that the Catholic Church would much rather that we, like most other people, would always refer to her as “the true church,” “a Christian church,” “a branch of the Christian church.” “the Holy Catholic Church,” etc., instead of speaking of her, as the Lord does, as “the man of sin,” “the mystery of iniquity,” “the son of perdition,” “the great harlot,” “Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth,” “the beast.” But all these latter things are just what the Lord calls her, and he is right; in all this he simply tells the truth. The Lord is not abusing her when he constantly speaks thus of her—he is simply telling what she is in truth; and neither are we abusing her when we use the terms, and only the terms, which he uses in describing her. PTUK March 21, 1895, page 183.3
We do not intend to abuse the papacy nor anybody else. But we do intend to tell the truth. We do intend to proclaim the truth of God as it is in the word of God, the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. We do intend to proclaim this truth precisely as it is, whether it be concerning the Papacy—the beast—or whether it be concerning apostate Protestantism—the image of the beast. If this truth—the truth of God—should seem to any one to be abusive, let him change his attitude toward the truth, and then it will cease to appear to be abuse. The change must be in him, for the truth of God cannot change nor be changed. PTUK March 21, 1895, page 183.4