The Roman conflict [microform] : or rise, power and impending conflict of Roman Catholicism, as seen in ancient prophecy, ceremonial worship, medieval and modern history

618 Pages·1997·20.1 MB·English

by  Shaw, James

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THE
U N VERS
I.TY
I
OF CHICAGO
LIBRARY

Worship of the Pope.
THE ROMAN CONFLICT:
OH,
RISE, POWER, AND IMPENDING CONFLICT
OF
ROMAN
CATHOLICISM,
AS SEEN IN ANCIENT PROPHECY, CEREMONIAL WORSHIP,
METJI.ffiVAL AND MODERN HISTORY, WITH A SKETCH
OF PROTESTANT CLAIMS AND DESTINY.
IN STEEL AND WOOD, WITH MANY FULL-PAGE PLATES OF CHURCHES, TEMPLES,
CEREMONIALRITKS, ANDPORTRAITSOFPOPES, PRINCES, CAHDINALS,
AND MARTYRS OF ROMAN PERSECUTION.
BY REV. JAMES SHAW.
n
THETIBER, ST. ANOST. ANGELO.
' v .'""
FOR THE AUTHOR":
^
HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, CINCINNATI',CHICAGO, AND ST. LOUIS;
NELSON & PHILLIPS,"NEW YORK>;AND S'AN FRANCISCO;
SAMUEL ROSE, TORONTO, CANADA
;
I'1. J. JOBSON, LONDON, WESLEYAN/.CONFERENCE OFFICE.
1878.
,
5
5" 5*
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by
REV. JAMES SHAW,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London.
UN1VERST1Y
OFCHICAGO
UBMICf
PREFACE.
the preparation of the chapters of the "Roman
IN
Conflict" the writer has been led by a way he
knew not. At the close /of a gracious revival in the
early part of his ministry he was requested by the
leading friends of his Church to deliver a series of
A
lectures on the Book of Revelation. course of
lectures was delivered from March to midsummer on
Monday mornings in the village church, where the
revival commenced. The lecture was crowded to
the close, many realizing the promise in Revelation
i, 3, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear
the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
that are written therein; for the time is at hand."
An extraordinary influence rested on the people, an
intense desire for the reading of the Scriptures pre-
vailed, and a number of leading Catholics, who
attended first from curiosity, were powerfully con-
verted, and left Rome for the Reformation. Some
of those views delivered then have reappeared in this
Book. In the conflict arising from Rome's assault
on the common-schools of America the writer was
requested by several editors to prepare articles on
the Romish controversy. These articles appeared
in the periodical press of the Methodist Episcopal
4 PREFACE.
Church, were quoted by the press of other Churches
extensively, and were severely criticised by the Cath-
olic press in the West. These chapters, in a more
extended form, have found a place in this work.
The remarkable changes and transitions intro-
duced into European society by the sudden revolu-
tions that have swept over Christendom, terminating
in the battle-fields of Solferino, Sadowa, and Sedan,
resulting in the fall of the temporal power of the
Papacy, the unity of Germany, and the rise of Italy,
demand attention. The transfer of the coming con-
flict from the Old World to the New awakens
anxiety.
To trace the origin, progress, and results of the
oldest monarchy that has ruled the world, the might
iest despotism that ever cursed it, the writer has
spared no pains in labor and research among tracts,
octavos, and folios from those of the ancient .fathers
to the latest works -of the "Vatican Decrees," by
Hon. W. E. Gladstone, and the "Papacy and Civil
Power" by Secretary Thompson, including Flem-
ing's "Rise and Fall," and Keith's "Signs of the
Times." As prophecy foreshadowed, dogma and
rite enshrined, and history embodied the workings of
Romanism, so all these sources of knowledge have
been used to illustrate the system.
As Romanism is peculiarly a ceremonial Church,
armed with the seductive fascinations of a ritual-
istic system that captivates weak minds and allures
weaker imaginations, so the writer has endeavored
PREFACE.
5
to show the pagan origin and anti-Scriptural charac-
ter of that Ritual by illustrations drawn from the
classics, the great masters, and some of the most
distinguished modern artists, making the work an
Art Gallery, a pictorial representation of the Romish
A
system. large number of full-page plates in steel,
wood, and colored maps illustrate the system in all
A
its phases. sketch of the rise and destiny of
Protestant Christianity forms the closing chapters of
the work.
Political and persecuting Romanism history rep-
resents as rising on the ruins of the Roman Empire,
subjugating the ancient Churches by persecution, and
the ten-horned kingdoms by political intrigue, dyeing
her hand in the blood of millions, a hand that has
never been washed, and the Syllabus and dogma of
infallibility forbid even an apology or a reform. The
national or race type of Romanism is variable, and to
this the reader's attention is invited, as it is not
generally noticed in books on Romanism. Catholic
Italy, France, Spain, and Germany are building no
new churches, planting no new colonies, founding no
new empires, and cease comparatively to affect Prot-
estant America by their emigrants or their votes,
while Irish Romanists stand out almost alone as
the fiery propagandists of Romanism throughout the
world. These go wherever the Anglo-Saxon race
travel, and carry with them their religion and their
morals. The last of the ancient Churches subjected
to Rome by English kings, by centuries of suffering
6 PREFACE.
they have become more Romish than Rome, and
more bitter than any followers of the Pope. The
Irish famine drove millions of them to Great Britain,
Australia, and America. Hence the rapid rise of
Romanism in those countries. These form the basis
of the Romish hierarchies in England and America,
with a cardinal in each to complete the system, and
embryo hierarchies shortly to be introduced in Scot-
land and Australia.
From the sixth to the tenth century the Irish
Church was the great missionary Church of Christen-
dom to-day, were the Celtic Irish Scripturally con-
;
verted to God, they would make the most active
missionaries of the world. Church, Presbyterian, and
Wesleyan agents are actively engaged in preaching to
them in their native isle but of all these the most
;
successful are the Wesleyan Methodists, whose mis-
sionaries tell in her streets and towns, in her native
language, the ustory of the Cross." It was of these
that the late Lady Louisa Le -Peer Trench, sister
of the last Archbishop of Tuam, said to the writer,
" When our Church [meaning the Establishment] was
almost gone to Romanism the Wesleyans saved it
;
and when our ministry was asleep yours awoke them.
Put me down as a life-subscriber to your missions."
While she lived her ladyship fulfilled her promise,
but she has passed home to her reward in the skies.
A
donation of ,20,000 ($100,000) to the above mis-
sion would do much to purge the apostasy at its
fountain head, and send upon these shores in the