Chapter 3—An Era of Spiritual Darkness

An Era of Spiritual Darkness

The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold

the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of the papal

power. He declared that the day of Christ should not come, “except

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 worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple

of God, showing himself that he is God.” And furthermore, the apostle

warns his brethren that “the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” 2

Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7. Even at that early date he saw, creeping into

the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of

the papacy.

Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then more openly

as it increased in strength and gained control of the minds of men,

“the mystery of iniquity” carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous

work. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found

their way into the Christian church. The spirit of compromise and

conformity was restrained for a time by the fierce persecutions which

the church endured under paganism. But as persecution ceased, and

Christianity entered the courts and palaces of kings, she laid aside the

humble simplicity of Christ and His apostles for the pomp and pride of

pagan priests and rulers; and in place of the requirements of God, she

substituted human theories and traditions. The nominal conversion of

[50] Constantine, in the early part of the fourth century, caused great rejoicing;

and the world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into

the church. Now the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism,

while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her spirit

controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions

were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers

of Christ.

This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in

the development of “the man of sin” foretold in prophecy as opposing

and exalting himself above God. That gigantic system of false religion

40

Era of Spiritual Darkness 41

is a masterpiece of Satan’s power—a monument of his efforts to seat

himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will.

Satan once endeavored to form a compromise with Christ. He

came to the Son of God in the wilderness of temptation, and showing

Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, offered to

give all into His hands if He would but acknowledge the supremacy

of the prince of darkness. Christ rebuked the presumptuous tempter

and forced him to depart. But Satan meets with greater success in

presenting the same temptations to man. To secure worldly gains and

honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great

men of earth; and having thus rejected Christ, she was induced to yield

allegiance to the representative of Satan—the bishop of Rome.

It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the

visible head of the universal church of Christ, invested with supreme

authority over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world. More than

this, the pope has been given the very titles of Deity. He has been

styled “Lord God the Pope” (see Appendix), and has been declared

infallible. He demands the homage of all men. The same claim urged

by Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him through

the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield him homage. [51]

But those who fear and reverence God meet this heaven-daring

assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the wily foe: “Thou shalt

worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Luke 4:8.

God has never given a hint in His word that He has appointed any

man to be the head of the church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is

directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have

no power over Christ’s church except by usurpation.

Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge

of heresy and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations

apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down

the banner of Christ and departed from “the faith which was once

delivered unto the saints.” Jude 3.

Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures would enable men to

discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It was by the word that

even the Saviour of the world had resisted his attacks. At every assault,

Christ presented the shield of eternal truth, saying, “It is written.”

To every suggestion of the adversary, He opposed the wisdom and

power of the word. In order for Satan to maintain his sway over

42 The Great Controversy

men, and establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep

them in ignorance of the Scriptures. The Bible would exalt God

and place finite men in their true position; therefore its sacred truths

must be concealed and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the

Roman Church. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible

was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it

in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its

teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost

universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed

with authority over church and state.

The detector of error having been removed, Satan worked according

to his will. Prophecy had declared that the papacy was to “think

[52] to change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25. This work it was not slow

to attempt. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the

worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of

Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced

into the Christian worship. The decree of a general council (see

Appendix) finally established this system of idolatry. To complete the

sacrilegious work, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God

the second commandment, forbidding image worship, and to divide

the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.

The spirit of concession to paganism opened the way for a still

further disregard of Heaven’s authority. Satan, working through unconsecrated

leaders of the church, tampered with the fourth commandment

also, and essayed to set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day which God

had blessed and sanctified (Genesis 2:2, 3), and in its stead to exalt

the festival observed by the heathen as “the venerable day of the sun.”

This change was not at first attempted openly. In the first centuries the

true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were jealous for the

honor of God, and, believing that His law is immutable, they zealously

guarded the sacredness of its precepts. But with great subtlety Satan

worked through his agents to bring about his object. That the attention

of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in

honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon

it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still

sacredly observed.

To prepare the way for the work which he designed to accomplish,

Satan had led the Jews, before the advent of Christ, to load down the

Era of Spiritual Darkness 43

Sabbath with the most rigorous exactions, making its observance a

burden. Now, taking advantage of the false light in which he had thus

caused it to be regarded, he cast contempt upon it as a Jewish institution.

While Christians generally continued to observe the Sunday as a

joyous festival, he led them, in order to show their hatred of Judaism, [53]

to make the Sabbath a fast, a day of sadness and gloom.

In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine

issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman

Empire. (See Appendix.) The day of the sun was reverenced by his

pagan subjects and was honored by Christians; it was the emperor’s

policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity.

He was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who, inspired

by ambition and thirst for power, perceived that if the same day was

observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal

acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and

glory of the church. But while many God-fearing Christians were

gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness,

they still held the true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord and observed it

in obedience to the fourth commandment.

The archdeceiver had not completed his work. He was resolved

to gather the Christian world under his banner and to exercise his

power through his vicegerent, the proud pontiff who claimed to be the

representative of Christ. Through half-converted pagans, ambitious

prelates, and world-loving churchmen he accomplished his purpose.

Vast councils were held from time to time, in which the dignitaries

of the church were convened from all the world. In nearly every

council the Sabbath which God had instituted was pressed down a

little lower, while the Sunday was correspondingly exalted. Thus the

pagan festival came finally to be honored as a divine institution, while

the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observers

were declared to be accursed.

The great apostate had succeeded in exalting himself “above all that

is called God, or that is worshiped.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4. He had dared

to change the only precept of the divine law that unmistakably points all

mankind to the true and living God. In the fourth commandment, God

is revealed as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and is thereby [54]

distinguished from all false gods. It was as a memorial of the work

of creation that the seventh day was sanctified as a rest day for man.

44 The Great Controversy

It was designed to keep the living God ever before the minds of men

as the source of being and the object of reverence and worship. Satan

strives to turn men from their allegiance to God, and from rendering

obedience to His law; therefore he directs his efforts especially against

that commandment which points to God as the Creator.

Protestants now urge that the resurrection of Christ on Sunday

made it the Christian Sabbath. But Scripture evidence is lacking.

No such honor was given to the day by Christ or His apostles. The

observance of Sunday as a Christian institution had its origin in that

“mystery of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:7, R.V.) which, even in

Paul’s day, had begun its work. Where and when did the Lord adopt

this child of the papacy? What valid reason can be given for a change

which the Scriptures do not sanction?

In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its

seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome

was declared to be the head over the entire church. Paganism had given

place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast “his power, and

his seat, and great authority.” Revelation 13:2. And now began the

1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel

and the Revelation. Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5-7. (See Appendix.)

Christians were forced to choose either to yield their integrity and

accept the papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives

in dungeons or suffer death by the rack, the fagot, or the headsman’s

ax. Now were fulfilled the words of Jesus: “Ye shall be betrayed both

by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you

shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men

for My name’s sake.” Luke 21:16, 17. Persecution opened upon the

[55] faithful with greater fury than ever before, and the world became a vast

battlefield. For hundreds of years the church of Christ found refuge

in seclusion and obscurity. Thus says the prophet: “The woman fled

into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they

should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three-score days.”

Revelation 12:6.

The accession of the Roman Church to power marked the beginning

of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the darkness deepened.

Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to the pope

of Rome. Instead of trusting in the Son of God for forgiveness of

sins and for eternal salvation, the people looked to the pope, and to

Era of Spiritual Darkness 45

the priests and prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were

taught that the pope was their earthly mediator and that none could

approach God except through him; and, further, that he stood in the

place of God to them and was therefore to be implicitly obeyed. A

deviation from his requirements was sufficient cause for the severest

punishment to be visited upon the bodies and souls of the offenders.

Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible,

erring, and cruel men, nay, more, to the prince of darkness himself,

who exercised his power through them. Sin was disguised in a garb

of sanctity. When the Scriptures are suppressed, and man comes to

regard himself as supreme, we need look only for fraud, deception,

and debasing iniquity. With the elevation of human laws and traditions

was manifest the corruption that ever results from setting aside the law

of God.

Those were days of peril for the church of Christ. The faithful

standard-bearers were few indeed. Though the truth was not left

without witnesses, yet at times it seemed that error and superstition

would wholly prevail, and true religion would be banished from the

earth. The gospel was lost sight of, but the forms of religion were

multiplied, and the people were burdened with rigorous exactions.

They were taught not only to look to the pope as their mediator, but

to trust to works of their own to atone for sin. Long pilgrimages, acts

of penance, the worship of relics, the erection of churches, shrines, [56]

and altars, the payment of large sums to the church—these and many

similar acts were enjoined to appease the wrath of God or to secure

His favor; as if God were like men, to be angered at trifles, or pacified

by gifts or acts of penance!

Notwithstanding that vice prevailed, even among the leaders of

the Roman Church, her influence seemed steadily to increase. About

the close of the eighth century, papists put forth the claim that in the

first ages of the church the bishops of Rome had possessed the same

spiritual power which they now assumed. To establish this claim, some

means must be employed to give it a show of authority; and this was

readily suggested by the father of lies. Ancient writings were forged

by monks. Decrees of councils before unheard of were discovered,

establishing the universal supremacy of the pope from the earliest

times. And a church that had rejected the truth greedily accepted these

deceptions. (See Appendix.)

46 The Great Controversy

The few faithful builders upon the true foundation (1 Corinthians

3:10, 11) were perplexed and hindered as the rubbish of false doctrine

obstructed the work. Like the builders upon the wall of Jerusalem

in Nehemiah’s day, some were ready to say: “The strength of the

bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we

are not able to build.” Nehemiah 4:10. Wearied with the constant

struggle against persecution, fraud, iniquity, and every other obstacle

that Satan could devise to hinder their progress, some who had been

faithful builders became disheartened; and for the sake of peace and

security for their property and their lives, they turned away from the

true foundation. Others, undaunted by the opposition of their enemies,

fearlessly declared: “Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord,

which is great and terrible” (verse 14); and they proceeded with the

work, everyone with his sword girded by his side. Ephesians 6:17.

The same spirit of hatred and opposition to the truth has inspired

[57] the enemies of God in every age, and the same vigilance and fidelity

have been required in His servants. The words of Christ to the first

disciples are applicable to His followers to the close of time: “What I

say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13:37.

The darkness seemed to grow more dense. Image worship became

more general. Candles were burned before images, and prayers were

offered to them. The most absurd and superstitious customs prevailed.

The minds of men were so completely controlled by superstition that

reason itself seemed to have lost its sway. While priests and bishops

were themselves pleasure-loving, sensual, and corrupt, it could only

be expected that the people who looked to them for guidance would

be sunken in ignorance and vice.

Another step in papal assumption was taken, when, in the eleventh

century, Pope Gregory VII proclaimed the perfection of the Roman

Church. Among the propositions which he put forth was one declaring

that the church had never erred, nor would it ever err, according to the

Scriptures. But the Scripture proofs did not accompany the assertion.

The proud pontiff also claimed the power to depose emperors, and

declared that no sentence which he pronounced could be reversed by

anyone, but that it was his prerogative to reverse the decisions of all

others. (See Appendix.)

A striking illustration of the tyrannical character of this advocate of

infallibility was given in his treatment of the German emperor, Henry

Era of Spiritual Darkness 47

IV. For presuming to disregard the pope’s authority, this monarch

was declared to be excommunicated and dethroned. Terrified by the

desertion and threats of his own princes, who were encouraged in

rebellion against him by the papal mandate, Henry felt the necessity

of making his peace with Rome. In company with his wife and a

faithful servant he crossed the Alps in midwinter, that he might humble

himself before the pope. Upon reaching the castle whither Gregory

had withdrawn, he was conducted, without his guards, into an outer

court, and there, in the severe cold of winter, with uncovered head and

naked feet, and in a miserable dress, he awaited the pope’s permission [58]

to come into his presence. Not until he had continued three days

fasting and making confession, did the pontiff condescend to grant

him pardon. Even then it was only upon condition that the emperor

should await the sanction of the pope before resuming the insignia or

exercising the power of royalty. And Gregory, elated with his triumph,

boasted that it was his duty to pull down the pride of kings.

How striking the contrast between the overbearing pride of this

haughty pontiff and the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who represents

Himself as pleading at the door of the heart for admittance, that

He may come in to bring pardon and peace, and who taught His disciples:

“Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.”

Matthew 20:27.

The advancing centuries witnessed a constant increase of error in

the doctrines put forth from Rome. Even before the establishment

of the papacy the teachings of heathen philosophers had received

attention and exerted an influence in the church. Many who professed

conversion still clung to the tenets of their pagan philosophy, and not

only continued its study themselves, but urged it upon others as a

means of extending their influence among the heathen. Serious errors

were thus introduced into the Christian faith. Prominent among these

was the belief in man’s natural immortality and his consciousness in

death. This doctrine laid the foundation upon which Rome established

the invocation of saints and the adoration of the Virgin Mary. From

this sprang also the heresy of eternal torment for the finally impenitent,

which was early incorporated into the papal faith.

Then the way was prepared for the introduction of still another

invention of paganism, which Rome named purgatory, and employed

to terrify the credulous and superstitious multitudes. By this heresy

48 The Great Controversy

is affirmed the existence of a place of torment, in which the souls of

such as have not merited eternal damnation are to suffer punishment

[59] for their sins, and from which, when freed from impurity, they are

admitted to heaven. (See Appendix.)

Still another fabrication was needed to enable Rome to profit by

the fears and the vices of her adherents. This was supplied by the

doctrine of indulgences. Full remission of sins, past, present, and

future, and release from all the pains and penalties incurred, were

promised to all who would enlist in the pontiff’s wars to extend his

temporal dominion, to punish his enemies, or to exterminate those

who dared deny his spiritual supremacy. The people were also taught

that by the payment of money to the church they might free themselves

from sin, and also release the souls of their deceased friends who

were confined in the tormenting flames. By such means did Rome

fill her coffers and sustain the magnificence, luxury, and vice of the

pretended representatives of Him who had not where to lay His head.

(See Appendix.)

The Scriptural ordinance of the Lord’s Supper had been supplanted

by the idolatrous sacrifice of the mass. Papal priests pretended, by

their senseless mummery, to convert the simple bread and wine into

the actual “body and blood of Christ.”—Cardinal Wiseman, The Real

Presence of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed

Eucharist, Proved From Scripture, lecture 8, sec. 3, par. 26. With

blasphemous presumption, they openly claimed the power of creating

God, the Creator of all things. Christians were required, on pain of

death, to avow their faith in this horrible, Heaven-insulting heresy.

Multitudes who refused were given to the flames. (See Appendix.)

In the thirteenth century was established that most terrible of all

the engines of the papacy—the Inquisition. The prince of darkness

wrought with the leaders of the papal hierarchy. In their secret councils

Satan and his angels controlled the minds of evil men, while unseen

in the midst stood an angel of God, taking the fearful record of their

iniquitous decrees and writing the history of deeds too horrible to

appear to human eyes. “Babylon the great” was “drunken with the

[60] blood of the saints.” The mangled forms of millions of martyrs cried

to God for vengeance upon that apostate power.

Popery had become the world’s despot. Kings and emperors bowed

to the decrees of the Roman pontiff. The destinies of men, both for

Era of Spiritual Darkness 49

time and for eternity, seemed under his control. For hundreds of years

the doctrines of Rome had been extensively and implicitly received, its

rites reverently performed, its festivals generally observed. Its clergy

were honored and liberally sustained. Never since has the Roman

Church attained to greater dignity, magnificence, or power.

But “the noon of the papacy was the midnight of the world.”—J. A.

Wylie, The History of Protestantism, b. 1, ch. 4. The Holy Scriptures

were almost unknown, not only to the people, but to the priests. Like

the Pharisees of old, the papal leaders hated the light which would

reveal their sins. God’s law, the standard of righteousness, having

been removed, they exercised power without limit, and practiced vice

without restraint. Fraud, avarice, and profligacy prevailed. Men shrank

from no crime by which they could gain wealth or position. The

palaces of popes and prelates were scenes of the vilest debauchery.

Some of the reigning pontiffs were guilty of crimes so revolting that

secular rulers endeavored to depose these dignitaries of the church

as monsters too vile to be tolerated. For centuries Europe had made

no progress in learning, arts, or civilization. A moral and intellectual

paralysis had fallen upon Christendom.

The condition of the world under the Romish power presented a

fearful and striking fulfillment of the words of the prophet Hosea: “My

people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected

knowledge, I will also reject thee: ... seeing thou hast forgotten the

law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” “There is no truth, nor

mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying,

and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out,

and blood toucheth blood.” Hosea 4:6, 1, 2. Such were the results of

banishing the word of God.