Pope, or president? Startling disclosures of Romanism as revealed by its own writers. Facts for Americans

Front matter

O-

Pope, or President?

STARTLING DISCLOSURES

Chapter I

No snch Person as Pope in Christianity — ^No Successor of Peter appointed — "WTien the first Pope arose — First Forgery, and Proofs — Second Forgery, and Proofs — Third Forgery, and Proofs— Who made Peter a "Pope," and put liim among the Papal Imposters— When the Bishop of Rome was first called Universal — When first a Temporal Bishop— Hildebrand, the Tyrant and Poisoner — Archbishop Kenrick— Stupendous Fraud — The Master-piece of Satan — Quotations — The Main Dogmas all proved to be Novelties in Eeligion — Dates — Proofs — The Voice of Scripture.

The liierarcby of Rome which has occupied so large a ])ortion of history ; which has so forced itself npoii communities and nations by priestly ambition and thirst for dominion ; which arrogates to itself divine supremacy, and blasphemously usurps the prerogative, titles, and sovereignty of God — to absolve from sin, to dispense pardon and eternal blessedness or eternal damnation to the souls of men — and which has so bound the conscience and frightened it into submission to itself, we now proceed to show is a mere human invention.

Under the garb of religious claims, this human device has deluged the world with its floods of crimes, — incest, perjuries, murders, extortions, concubinage, avarice, assassinations, tyranny, immoralities, and bloody persecutions.

lo Romanism a Human Invention.

"We give the dates and the proofs when this hierarchyarose and its dogmas were enacted.

We exhibit it as based on forgeries and fiction. Our proofs will be clear and incontrovertible, deduced from history and from Romish authorities.

As this chapter is designed to be but an epitome of the argument, we shall condense the whole subject into as brief a comjoass as possible. We shall assert nothing — we shall assume nothing on doubtful authoritv. . We shall fortify our facts as we proceed from step to step, by the highest and most incontestible proofs.

Our proposition is this : —

That Popery is a mere human invention for the advancement of prelatical ambition, wealth, and power; and that it is founded on forgeries and fiction.

Fh'st Proof. — No such person as Pope existed or was known in the Christian church in the days of the Apostles or for five hundred years afterwards. The Apostles were all on an equality.*

Second Proof . — There is no chronology or history which certifies that Peter was ever at Rome, or that any bishop became his successor as head of the church. Let the reader bear in mind, that in the iSTew Testament, inspired by the Sph'it of God, minister and bishop mean precisely the sime thing — they are convertible terms. We mention this feet as of importance, for, in the present day, l^ersons not acquainted with the original Greek in which the New Testament was written, and as superiority is fancifully ascribed to a bishop, may suppose that a distinction exists between these terms. But it is not so ;

* Histon'- of the New Testament. Coleman's Chris. Antiqui. Mosheira's Eccle. Hist. Gibbon's Eise and Fall of R. E. Haweis' Chiirch History.

Romanism a Human Invention. ii

minister and bishop mean one and the same thing in the New Testament.

The first bishop who was called " Pope," was Soramachus in 501. But he was only one bishop among all the others, having no superiority over them.*

The bishops of the principal cities of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, and Alexandria were all independent of each other during the first seven centuries, and were sometimes called " patriarchs," which name tiie bishops of ConstantinoiDle and the Eastern Grecian churches retain to the present day.f

Boniface III., a bishop of Rome, was, in the seventh century, or GOQ, Jlrst called U7iiverscd by the emperor Phocas of Constantinople, a murderer and a tyrant. And in 588, John, bishop of ConstantinojDle, assumed the same title of Universal. Both were usurpations..];

In this sixth century, and during the three preceding, the bishops began gradually to usurp prelatical powers, and Eunodius in his Apology for the obsequious acts of the Fourth Council, held by order of Theoderic, 503, said that the bishop of Rome was subject to no earthly tribunal, and styled him judge in the place of God, and the vicegerent of the Most High. This was the first time that such a blasphemous title was given to the bishoj) or Pope of Rome. And thus w^e see Paul's prediction fulfilled. " So that he as God sitteth in the temj^le of God, showing himself that he is God."§

Now, reader, observe how during the fourth, fifth and

* Wilkes' History. Bower on the Popes.

t Coleman's Chris. Antiquities, Sec. p. .56. Gieseler's and Mosheira's Kccle. Hist.

X Waddington's Church Hist of the Sixth Century. § 2 Thess. xi. 4. Gieseler, Vol. I, p. 339.

sixth centuries, the bishops dispensed with the plain simphcity of the ministers of the gospel, and gratified their thirst for wealth and splendor as well as power, by the following testimonies: "When the Emperor Maximus, surrounded by his illustrious guests, sat in his banqueting chamber, Martin the Bishop of Tours, and one of his presbyters, sat next to him in all the pride and pomp which attended on a stimulated ambition. According to the usual custom, an attendant ' jDresents a chalice of wine to the emperor, who commands it to be oifered first to the bishop, that he may receive it from the prelate's hands ; but no sooner has Martin drunk, than he passes the wine to his presbyter, as next in importance to himself, while the empress bathes his feet with her tears, wipes them with the hair of her head, attends as a slave to every mean indulgence, and regards the crumbs of his meal as the richest delicacy. Thus early had the nominal followers of Christ departed from Christii\n simj^licity."* Xo wonder, then, that in the third century history thus describes the existing state of the Christian church: "Long peace had corrupted the discipline divinely revealed to us. Each was intent on improving his patrimony, and had forgotten what believers had done under the apostles, and what they always ought to do. They were brooding over the arts of amassing wealth ; works of mercy were neglected, and discipline was at its lowest ebb; luxury and effeminacy prevailed; meretricious arts were practised. Many bishops, neglecting the peculiar duties of their stations, gave themselves up to secular pursuits ; they deserted their places of residence and their flocks ; they traveled through distant provinces in quest of pleasure and gain, and they gave no assistance

* Sulp. Sevenis, chap. 20.

to their needy brethren, but were insatiable in their thirst of money. They possessed estates by fraud and multiplied usury.*

Thus, by reference to the Kew Testament, we have shown that there was no such person or title as Pope. We never read there of Pope Paul or Pope John. We do not find one particle of authority given to Peter more than to the other apostles, for when our Lord spoke of the " rock," he spoke of the truth on which his church should be built ; for any one who will examine the passage will see that it was not Petrus, but petra, rock, or rock of truth, of which the Saviour spoke, and Paul says, "that rock was Christ." As for the word "keys," it merely meant the admission of a person to or his rejection from the visible church on earth ; that is, meaning the sj)iritual, not the corporeal discipline of the church. But this church power of mere discipline of membership was no more given to Peter than it was to the other apostles ; no one was superior to the others ; they were all on an equality. But the popish interpretation involves a double absurdity, for they take it literally, as they take the figurative expression, " This is my body," literally ; and then, according to their own showing, Peter would be a literal rock, as the bread, or " wafer," in their interpretation is made a literal body. Peter was not constituted the head of the church. No such head, temporal or spiritual, was appointed in the I^ew Testament. Popery commences its succession with the chair of Saint Peter at Rome ; but there was no such chiiir. There is not a scrap of history, profane or ecclesiastical, to prove that Peter ever was at Rome, and from the above facts and proofs there was no papal see and no papal succession

* See Mosheim, Third Century.

of that apostle. The pontifical succession, therefore, is the sheerest imposture. Any mmister of the gospel or bishop has the same reason to call himself Pope, and assert himself to be the universal head, spiritual and temporal, of the church. Throughout Greece, the Ionian Islands, etc., all the priests are called pope, such as Pope John, Pope Adrian, &c., consequently, independent of any additional proof, popery, with all its mummeries and iniquities, is a human invention, without one primitive jolank to stand on, or even a cobweb for its support.

Here we might rest the argument, for any one may see that the Word of God is the only authority on this subject. If that says not one word nor gives the slightest hint about popery, as a jDart of the Christian system, we need pursue the argument no farther. And when we add to this the total absence of all primitive cotemporary authority — ^for which we refer the reader to Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Haweis's Church History, Dupin's Auteurs Ecclesiastiques, and other undoubted historians — the argument is complete, and we might be satisfied to scorn the hollow pretensions of popery ; but we now j)roceed to show that the whole of the above alleged facts are sustained by the most barefaced

Forgeries. — In the first place, it is proper to notice certain documents called " Apostolical Constitutions."

These so-called Apostohcal Constitutions Mere a collection of church regulations, attributed to the apostles, and pretended to have been collected by St. Clement, whose name they bear. They Avere designed to augment the power^of each minister or bishop in his own church. They appeared first in the fourth century, but have been changed and corrupted iii successive periods. They consist of eight books, and 250 octavo pages ; but it is worthy of notice, as a very significant fact, that not a word is mentioned in them of the supremacy of the Pope or of the Church of Rome over other churches. They give the names of all the apostles, and represent them as performing ministerial duties, but never give even a hint at the supremacy of Peter or at his suj)erior rights. Nothing, from the beginning to the end of the book, can be found to favor in the slightest degree any superior name, title or claim of the Church of Rome or of the supremacy of the Po]De. That they were forgeries, is manifest from the following proofs :

First. That no mention is made of them by Irenoeus, Origen, Eusebius, or by any historian. Christian or profane, until the third and fourth centuries.

Second. In this period the bishops had assumed authority and powers which never belonged to them, and to which they had no right. Superstition had begun to mar the simplicity of worship, and the people were overawed by the pride and arrogance of the priests who could easily deceive thera.

Third. There are many things in them diffei-ent from the New Testament, and even contrary to the design and genius of Christianity, and the " Constitutions" carry on thQTo.^ prima facie evidence of forgery.

Fourth. Upon the character and writings of Cyprian ; the papacy chiefly rest for the origin of popery and these, " Constitutions," which never speak a word about popery. But a work published by Longman & Co., London, written by the Rev. J. Shepherd, shows the forgery of Cyprian's writings, in the most convincing light. He not only pronounces the whole of Cyprian's writings to be forgeries, but he denies the very existence of Cyprian !

i6 Romanism a Human Invention.

The references to him in Jerome and Eusehius, are Interpolations. The life of him by Pontius is an ill written fiction. Mr. Shepherd has critically examined every scrap of history in the early ecclesiastical periods of the chm-ch, and by the proofs which he has collected, arrives at these conclusions.*

But, forgeries, as they maybe, let it be remembered, that they contain nothing to give the smallest countenance to the pretensions of the Pope or the Church of Rome. Having given the first or elementary forgery, which prepared the way for the enormous power of the popes in after periods, we come now to

The Second Foegert. — This is the greatest forgery ever perpetrated on earth. The Roman or Western empire was destroyed by barbarians from the north, under Odoacer, King of the Heruli, in 476. Fifteen years before that, the Bishop of Rome, whom the papists in their false catalogue of popes, call Leo 1.^ first made Peter the fabulous basis of j^apal ambition. f From this period to the year 800, Rome was sometimes under the control of barbarians, and sometimes under that of the Emperor of Constantinople. Four important facts are here noted : — 1. The bishops of Rome, during all these periods, had no temporal possessions; they were not temporal rulers of Rome, nor of any provinces. They w^ere subject to the control of barbarians, or that of the Emperor of Constantinople. 2. Their chief business was to wrangle with the bishops of Constantinople for some kind of spiritual authority. 3. The bishops of Rome, at the time of the inroads of the barbarians and the destruction of the Ro-

* See Grab's Answer to Whiston; Saurin's Ser., vol ii., p. 185; Lardner's Cred, vol. iii, p. 2, ch. last; Doddridges' Loc. 119. t See Ranke's History of the Popes ; Wilkes, also.

Romanism a Human Invention. \j

man empire, came near losing their place altogether, at Rome. 4. The emperors had supreme civil authority over the bishops at this period ; and, the emperors alone^ and not the bishops, called general councils of the church, and no pope or legate then existed to preside in them. By considering these facts, and the ambitious design of the priesthood, and the growing prevalence of ignorance, superstition, and vice, among the people, the reasons for these forgeries will appear evident. The first general council called by the emperor, was that of Nice, A. D. 325. This fact of the emperor calling it, and not the minister or bishop of Rome, nullifies all the present claims of the popes of Rome to any power over the churches or bishops ; and also cuts off all their authority for appeals to their usurped " See." A small provincial council, it is true, called to meet at Sardica, the metropolis of Lacia, in Illyricum, after the above general council authorized an appeal to the Bishop of Rome. " But, a provincial council, Rome being judge, has no lawful right to rescind or repeal the canons of a general council. And the council convened afterwards by the Emperor Theodosius, at Constantinople, condemned the proceedings of the Council at Sardica." Hence the popes, in some way, must contrive frauds for their usurpation and to establish their power.

This second important ybr^ery, of which we are speaking, is a pretended donation from the Emperor Constantine the Great, in the year 324, of the city of Rome, and all Italy, with the crown, mitre, etc., to Sylvester, then bishop of Rome. So the first annunciation to the world of this pretended " donation" was not made till near the close of the eighth century, in an epistle of Pope Adrian I. to the Emperor Charlemagne, in w^nch he i8 Romanism a Human Invention.

exhorts him to imitate the liberality of the great Constantine. According to the legend, " the first of the Christian emperors was healed of the leprosy and purified in the waters of baptism by St. Sylvester, the Roman bishop, and never was physician more gloriously recompensed."*

Thus for nearly five hundred years from the time this pretended donation was given, history was silent — the world knew nothing of it — the bishop of Rome had no civil or temporal power. And all of a sudden, after a lapse of nearly five centuries, and when the bishop of Rome wanted some better authority, some pretended donation, some prop to stand upon, this forgery was cunningly and shrewdly manufactured for the purpose ; and on this stupendous imposture the temporal usurpation or the temporal power of tlie pope of Rome is based ! f

When this fictitious donation and other false decretals were imposed upon the world, Mosheim states that the corruptions and profligacy of the clergy had reached the most enormous height, and the people were shrouded in darkness. Said Mabillan, a very learned theological French writer of the seventeenth century, " not one priest in a thousand in Spain could write a common letter of salutation to another." A little later, Alfred the Great, King of England, declared that "he could not find a single priest south of the Tliames who understood the ordinary prayers, or could translate latin into his mother tongue." We need not wonder then, that the forgeries were j)erpetrated, and that they corresponded

* Gibbon.

j- See Mosheim, Eighth and Xinth Centuries. Hallam's Middle Ages, pages 380 to 460. Teraboschi, Storia, della Litteratura, torn, iii.

to the corruptions and knavery of the priests and the blindness and credulity of the people.

Third Forgery. — Another most barefaced imposition, by which the above false decretals and other forgeries are palmed upon the world to establish the imposture of the popish " See," is contained in a volume by Severinus Binius, published at Cologne, 1618, authenticated by a bull of Pope Paul V., sanctioned by the Emperor of Germany, and approved and licensed by the Romish censors of the press. The front X-)age contains a pictorial border, "at one of the four corners of which, on the top, Peter with his keys and coat of arms is represented as seated beside the three persons of the Trinity ; at the other, is represented the pope with a sword wielding temporal power ; on the right side, the church is holding a cross, the Pope's trij^le crown and keys ; on the left side, religion with a crucifix, and over each, the Holy Ghost is painted as a dove. At the bottom, the Pope surrounded by and at the head of his bishops, is represented as treading on a prostrate band of so-called heretics, and over them, in latin, the inscription, ' They are dead who sought the church's life.' " This audacious volume, with its pictorial imposture, agrees well with popery. It verifies the description. The Mystery of Iniquity, 2d Thess. ii. 7. And mother of harlots and abominations. Rev. xviii. 5. Now let us read the title page. It is as follows :

Councils^ General and Provincial^ GreeJc and Latin^ so far as knoion. Also Decretals, Epistles, and Lives of Roman Pontiffs ; all by the study and labor of Severinus Pinius, P.P., Presbyter of the Metropolitan Chiirch of Cologne. Revised, enlarged, and again illustrated with Notes, and arranged in an historical method. To

S. D. J^. Paul Pope. By John Gymnicus^ 1618, wiih the favor and privilege of his Moyal Majesty.

In these forged decretals there is a long epistle from the pretended Pope Clement to James, the Apostle at Jerusalem, establishing all the present claims of the pope of Rome. Successions, keys, supremacy, and the dogmas and canons, which complete this whole master, piece of Satan and finish the building of Babylon, the pope and hierarchy of Rome.

Proofs of these Forgeries, — Firsts The internal evidence. The utter absurdity in supposing them to have been written in an age in which they profess to have been written, that is, during the first and second centuries. They omit all that is proper to that age. They contain numerous contradictions and false dates. The style of one man appears. They contain peculiar Latin words, and the style of the middle ages, which were not known in the first age. The Christians in the early age in which these epistles and decretals profess to have been written, were weak and sufi"ering horrible persecutions, and yet they are not adapted to console them, but are only intent in rearing a Romish hierarchy to gratify the lust, pride, arrogance, and power of the popes of Rome. It is as if Thomas Aquinas, a voluminous Romish writer in 1270, had described the battle of Waterloo in 1815, in the style of the present day, or of Pins the IX., and his decrees of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, or the doings of Archbishop Hughes in 1858. It is the same as if Erasmus in 1520, had written about the American Revolution, and Washington, and railroads, steamboats, and spinning jennies.

But one of the grossest blunders is, in trying to link the chair of the Pope to Peter. "The forger makes

Clement say that Peter, before his death, enjoined it on him to wiite to James, brother of our Lord, at Jerusalem, and inform Him of all the facts. Now, it is well knoAvn, that James died seven years before Peter, and yet, Peter, it seems, did not know this fact, and is made to enjoin Clement to write to a dead man !

Well might this blunder stagger Binius, who. Jesuit-like, says either Clement did not write the epistle, or that tlie name of James crept into the letter instead of Simeon. " But James is introduced, not only in the letter, but in the body of the work, and not only in one letter, but in two."

Second. Baronius, a great Romish authority of the sixteenth century, abandons the defence of these transparent and notorious frauds.

Bellarmine, a cardinal, and the champion of the Roman cause, abandons their defence. Fleury, the great French historian and papist, not only abandons their defence, but most clearly establishes their falsehood. David Blondell, at Geneva, in 1G2S, annihilates the whole fabric and completely refutes Surianus and Binius.

Notwithstanding all the evidences of the forgeries and their exposure, yet, the Popes of Rome chng to them, and on these base and wicked impostures the whole monstrous system of popery rests !

Thus the Papacy has built up the hierarchy of Rome, manufactured Peter's chair, placed the Popes, from the eighth and ninth centuries, in it, and instigated the cruel and bloody dogmas of persecution against all who disbelieve and oppose such fabricated wonders and knavery.*

* See Dr. Geddes on Popery, vol. ii. and iii. Hallam's Middle Ages, pages 50 to 80. Mosheiin, Eighth, Ninth, and Seventeenth Centuries. Fleury's Eccle. His., vol. xvi. Cardinal Baronius Eccle. A^nnals, Eighth and Ninth Centuries.

Thus we have seen that there was no temporal^ spiritual, or universal pope, or any pope, during all the time of the apostles, and during all the time of the early fathers — that popery is a novelty, gradually emerging through priestly corruption, worldly thirst for power, and frauds and forgeries of the most Avicked and transparent character.

That the very name of pope, and the existence of popery were not known for several hundred years after the Christian era — that the first Christian minister or bishop to whom the name of pope (papa) was given, was Sommachus, and this not until the sixth century — that the first annunciation to the world that the Pope was a temporal bishoj) of Rome, was not made until near the close of the eighth century, and for the very plain reason, that the forgeries upon which this temporal usurpation was based, were not completed; and then it was introduced, says Gibbon, " by an epistle of Pope Adrian I. to the Emperor Charlemagne," in which a jDrotended " donation of the city of Rome and all Italy," was given by Constantine, in the fourth century, to Sylvester, then a bishop of Rome ! /So that nearly five hundred years interval elapsed heticeen the pretended gift and its pjuhllcation to the world.

Here then, we have the origin of the temporal usurping power of the apostate church. From this period, the temporal and spiritual power of the Romish hierarchy appeared in all its superstitions. Shortly after, in the eleventh century, we see Hildebrand, or Pope Gregory VII., mouDting the papal throne in all the pride of royid power.

This fanatical and ambitious monk, "whose name is proverbial for impjriousness and wickedness, was the poisoner," s:iys Ranke, " of popes ; and, in the accomplishment of his schemes for his despotic elevation, liad buried eight pontiffs, who were the instruments of his policy and the tools of his ambition."

Having thus shown the rise and establishment of popery by authentic history and chronology, we shall now show the dates when the various main jDarts of the scaffolding or structure of this temple of Babylon were reared, which will be a confirmation of the whole of the preceding evidences, and will clearly establish our proposition, viz. : that Popery from its foundation is a novelty in religion and a mere human invention.

Auricidar Confession is a novelty. It was established by the Council of Lateran, 1215 ; and this enactment was made twelve hundred years after the Christian era ! By the confessional, the priest obtains dominion over the conscience, and there is an end to personal liberty ; and if the priest controls in the confessional the conscience of the nation, then, farewell to national liberty.

Baptism of the hells is a novelty ; it was first introduced by Pope John XIII., in 972. This is a foolish force, and a blasphemous perversion of the holy ordinance of Christian baptism, ordained only for human beings. The ceremony of baj)tism in this jDaj^al church takes place in private, wherever the child is presented. " Sometimes the font is represented with John the Baptist pouring water on the head of Jesus Christ, from an oyster shell, while the Saviour stands half immersed in the water. The mixture of salt w^ater and two different kinds of sacred oils, which are required to make a good water of baptism, is prepared on 'holy Saturday' in each year, which is the day before Easter Sunday. It takes about five hours to make it. Popery has chosen to improve on the gospel mode as practised by St. John the Baptist and the Apostles, when on earth ; then, the jnire water of the stream, was all they required."

The child is first exorcised, to drive away evil spirits ; then it promises, through its sponsors, to give up Sataii / next, it has soda-salt put in its mouth (given as the salt of wisdom), with one kind of oil a cross is made on the forehead; with another kind, a cross on the shoulders and breast — the liquid from the fountain is then poured over the child's head, three times — then the priest hands the sponsor the end of his white stole, and says in latin, "Receive the white stole to be brought spotless before the Lord." The sponsor then, on his knees, recites the "Credo," according to the formula of the Jesuit Bellarmine, as they say it during mass. And the child is evermore a member of the Roman Catholic Church, or under its eternal curse as a heretic*

The use of Images is a novelty. It was not fully established until the ninth century. This violates the second commandment, and is a heathenish practice.

"In 1837, the 27th of July, the ancient wooden statue of St. Anna having worn out, a new one was purchased from a dealer in saints, and was that day inaugurated at Ravenna, in Italy. The programme of the exhibition was hung in all directions. On the ground before the church were booths of the dealers in saints. Madonnas, rosaries, relics, Christs, of every material and description. Then, there were dealers in everythbig to eat and drink that the appetites of the multitude might be satisfied. There are numbers of priests there, who have no chaige of a church, but live by selling masses to the highest bidders on solemn occasions. They were paid that day * Gajani.

fifty cents, and a good dinner. Then tliere were clerks, destined for priests; they got five cents and a dinner. There were many hasty masses said that day, but at eleven o'clock a solemn one was sung, and then the procession formed. A plaster statue of Christ was borne by a young girl ; four others followed, with candles ; then followed men, women and children, attended by overseers, armed with sticks. These overseers were a brotherhood, clad in long white " cajDpe" and red cowls. After them followed the young priestly clerks, etc. All this crowd of poor ignorant creatures were singing in what they called latin praises to St. Anna. St. Anna's statue was borne by six yomig men, and under a canopy, borne by other six men. There was the old curate in pontifical robes ; old priests ; young clerks, who were burning incense and ofiering smoke of it to the statue with their censers. When they stopped by a large oak tree, an altar was foimd efe(!ted for the i^urpose. St. Anna was set on the altar, and all knelt in the dust to worshij) her statue ! The old curate also knelt a few moments, and then rising before the rest, ordered the bearers to move the statue here and there, so as to form a cross in the air, while he pronounced his latin benediction. Then began the firing of five hundred mortars at measm'ed intervals.