68 



ROMANISM. 



mistranslating them in many places, 

 and striking out the second com- 

 mandment, " Thou shalt not make 

 unto thee any graven image," it is 

 easy to understand why he pro- 

 scribes them to the extent he does, 

 or limits the reading of them ; for 

 when they are earnestly and prayer- 

 fully studied by his followers, they 

 lead them to " renounce him and his 

 works," with a bitterness that al- 

 most amounts to an execration, after 

 loosening themselves from the toils 

 in which they had been held. Could 

 not the Pope, in virtue of his re- 

 cently proclaimed superhuman at- 

 tribute, be prevailed on to favour the 

 world with an ex cathedra decision 

 on the meaning of the following 

 passages of Scripture : 



" Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, 

 that in the latter times some shall de- 

 part from the faith, giving 1 heed to se- 

 ducing spirits, and doctrines of devils ; 

 speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having their 

 conscience seared with a hot iron ; for- 

 bidding to marry, and commanding to 

 abstain from meats, which God hath 

 created to be received with thanksgiving 

 of them which believe and know the 

 truth." i Tim. iv. 1-3. 



" Let no man deceive you by any 

 means ; for that day shall not come, ex- 

 cept there come a falling away first, and 

 that man of sin be revealed, the son of 

 perdition ; who opposeth and exalteth 

 himself above all that is called God, or 

 that is worshipped ; so that he as God 

 sitteth in the temple of God, showing 

 himself that he is God." 2 Thess. ii. 

 3,4- 



Lord Bacon used to say that if 

 these passages were printed as a 

 " hue and cry," no constable in 

 England would find a difficulty in 

 laying his hands on the person 

 wanted. 



The ten commandments were de- 

 livered to Moses amidst 



"Thunders and lightnings, and a 



thick cloud upon the mount, and the 

 voice of the trumpet exceeding loud ; so 

 that all the people that was in the camp 



trembled And Mount Sinai 



was altogether on a smoke, because the 

 Lord descended upon it in fire ; and the 

 smoke thereof ascended as the smoke 

 of a furnace, and the whole mount 

 quaked greatly." Ex. xix. 16-18. 



And Christ, whose vicegerent the 

 Pope claims to be, said : 



" For verily I say unto you, Till 

 heaven and earth pass, one jot or one 

 tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, 

 till all be fulfilled. Whosoever there- 

 fore shall break one of these least com- 

 mandments, and shall teach men so, he 

 shall be called the least in the king- 

 dom of heaven" (Matthew v. 18, 19). 

 " Heaven and earth shall pass away ; 

 but my words shall not pass away." 

 Mark xiii. 31, and Luke xxi. 33. 



Here is the second command- 

 ment, which Romanists keep out of 

 their catechisms and books of de- 

 votion, and the Scriptures them- 

 selves, dividing the tenth, so as to 

 nominally preserve the original 

 number : 



" Thou shalt not make unto thee any 

 graven image, or any likeness of any- 

 thing that is in heaven above, or that is 

 in the earth beneath, or that is in the 

 water under the earth : Thou shalt not 

 bow down thyself to them, nor serve 

 them: for I the Lord thy God am a 

 jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the 

 fathers upon the children unto the third 

 and fourth generation of them that hate 

 me ; and showing mercy unto thousands 

 of them that love me, and keep my 

 commandments." Ex. xx. 4-6. 



And in the last verse but two of 

 the Scriptures we find the follow- 

 ing: 



"And if any man shall take away 

 from the words of the book of this 

 prophecy, God shall take away his part 

 out of the book of life, and out of the 

 holy city, and from the things which are 

 written in this book." Rev. xx. 19. 



