The Papacy Grows
TimeWatch Editorial
March 07, 2017
The beginning of the Papacy began with the transference from the study of God’s word to the authoritarian control of thought and worship. The “Church” no longer represented the family of God, but rather the domain of earthly monarchs. This was not just a governmental shift, it was also a degrading of the concept of the theology they embraced. The Bible was removed from the people, form took the place of substance, and priests were for the most part, spiritually illiterate. J. A. Wylie, in his book, "The History of Protestantism, Vol 1” puts it this way.
“The inward power of religion was lost; and it was in vain that men strove to supply its place by the outward form. They nourished their piety not at the living fountains of truth, but with the "beggarly elements" of ceremonies and relics, of consecrated lights and holy vestments. Nor was it Divine knowledge only that was contemned; men forbore to cultivate letters, or practice virtue. Baronius confesses that in the sixth century few in Italy were skilled in both Greek and Latin. Nay, even Gregory the Great acknowledged that he was ignorant of Greek. "The main qualifications of the clergy were that they should be able to read well, sing their matins, know the Lord's Prayer, Psalter, forms of exorcism, and understand how to compute the times of the sacred festivals. Nor were they very sufficient for this, if we may believe the account some have given of them. Musculus says that many of them never saw the Scriptures in all their lives. It would seem incredible, but it is delivered by no less an authority than Amama, that an Archbishop of Mainz, lighting upon a Bible and looking into it, expressed himself thus: 'Of a truth I do not know what book this is, but I perceive everything in it is against us.'" J. A. Wylie, "The History of Protestantism, Vol 1"page 8
Wylie’s work is definitely inspired. The accuracy of his description, clearly defines the corrupt expansion of the Papacy. There is so much we have become accustomed to today, that we hardly remember the simplicity of ancient worship. Those who were called to labor were filled with simple humility, willing to do that which God required of them. But as time progressed, each task was given a particular name, and with the name came an office, and with each office came authority. Soon, the task lost its true value as the work of God. The task became a means to gaining an office. Not even the office itself retained its true values as a servant of the Living God, but it became the means to achieving authority. Once authority was gained, the next objective was to expand the lordship, until competing for the highest place became an eternal objective. It did not matter whether one was properly prepared for the role; lustful ambition was the driving force, until the mediocre leadership destroyed the very purpose for existing. Listen to Wylie.
“Apostasy is like the descent of heavy bodies, it proceeds with ever-accelerating velocity. First, lamps were lighted at the tombs of the martyrs; next, the Lord's Supper was celebrated at their graves; next, prayers were offered for them and to them; next, paintings and images began to disfigure the walls, and corpses to pollute the floors of the churches. Baptism, which apostles required water only to dispense, could not be celebrated without white robes and chrism, milk, honey, and salt. Then came a crowd of church officers whose names and numbers are in striking contrast to the few and simple orders of men who were employed in the first propagation of Christianity. There were sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers, choristers, and porters; and as work must be found for this motley host of laborers, there came to be fasts and exorcisms; there were lamps to be lighted, altars to be arranged, and churches to be consecrated; there was the Eucharist to be carried to the dying; and there were the dead to be buried, for which a special order of men was set apart. When one looked back to the simplicity of early times, it could not but amaze one to think what a cumbrous array of curious machinery and costly furniture was now needed for the service of Christianity.” J. A. Wylie, "The History of Protestantism, Vol 1"page 9
The question then must be, have we seen the same symptoms occurring today in the once Protestant Movement? Is the corrupting power of the authoritarian hierarchy finding its way back into the role of leadership? Is it that individuals have invaded the once devoted house of Faith, or is it the old attitudes that have resurfaced? In describing the past, Wylie says the following:
“Looking back at this stage to the change which had come over the Church, we cannot fail to see that its deepest originating cause must be sought, in the inability of the world to receive the Gospel in all its greatness. It was a boon too mighty and too free to be easily understood or credited by man. The angels in their midnight song in the vale of Bethlehem had defined it briefly as sublimely, "goodwill to man." Its greatest preacher, the Apostle Paul, had no other definition to give of it. It was not even a rule of life but "grace," the "grace of God," and therefore sovereign, and boundless. To man fallen and undone, the Gospel offered a full forgiveness, and a complete spiritual renovation, issuing at length in the inconceivable and infinite felicity of the Life Eternal. But man's narrow heart could not enlarge itself to God's vast beneficence. A good so immense, so complete in its nature, and so boundless in its extent, he could not believe that God would bestow without money and without price; there must be conditions or qualifications. So he reasoned. And hence it is that the moment inspired men cease to address us, and their disciples and scholars take their place, we become changed.” J. A. Wylie, "The History of Protestantism, Vol 1"page 9
While studying the events of the past, let us be watchful of the times in which we live and the path of the future.
Cameron A. Bowen
