By T. W. Medhurst, Glasgow, Scotland.
I am aware that, if I undertake- to prove that Romanism is not Christianity, I must expect to be called “bigoted, harsh, uncharitable.” Nevertheless I am not daunted; for I believe that on a right understanding of this subject depends the salvation of millions.
One reason why Popery has of late gained so much power in Great Britain and Ireland, and is gaining power still, is that many Protestants look on it now as a form of true Christianity; and think that, on that account, notwithstanding great errors, it ought to be treated very tenderly. Many suppose that at the time of the Reformation, it was reformed, and that it is now much nearer the truth than it was before that time. It is still, however, the same; and, if examined, will be found to be so different from, and so hostile to, real Christianity, that it is not, in fact, Christianity at all.
Christianity, as revealed in the Sacred Writings, is salvation by Christ. It sets Him before us as at once a perfect man, the everlasting God, the God-man Mediator; who, by appointment of the Father, became a Substitute for all who were given Him. It teaches that by Him God’s justice was magnified, and His mercy made manifest; that, for all who trust in Him, He fulfilled the law, and brought in a complete righteousness; and that by this alone they can be justified before God. It teaches that His death was a perfect sacrifice, and made full satisfaction and atonement for their sins, so that God lays no sin to their charge, but gives them a free and full pardon; that He has ascended to the right hand of God, and has sent down the Holy Spirit to be His only Vicar and Representative on earth; that He is the only Mediator between the righteous God and sinful man; that it is by the Holy Spirit alone that we are convinced of sin, and led to trust in Jesus; that all who trust in Him, and obey Him with the obedience of faith and love, are saved, and, being saved, are made “kings and priests unto God,” and have “eternal life” in Him.
This is Christianity, the Christianity which the Apostles preached. But side by side with the Apostles, Satan went forth also, and preached what Paul calls “another gospel.” Paul did not mean that it was called “another gospel;” but that as Satan “beguiled Eve through his subtlety” (2 Cor. 11:3), so some, while professing to teach the Gospel, were turning men away “from the simplicity that is in Christ;” and by doing so, did, in fact, teach “another gospel.” Paul, speaking of those who were thus deceived, said, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.” He means that there can be but one Gospel, though something else may be called the gospel; and he says of those who had thus perverted “the Gospel of Christ”: “If any one preach any other gospel unto you … let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:6-9). He calls those who did so “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ;” and he adds, “no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
Let us consider well the meaning of these passages of Scripture. Paul says that there cannot be another Gospel; the conclusion, therefore, is evident, that these teachers were not teachers of Christianity, but of a Satanic delusion.
I submit that the teaching of Rome is at least as different from that of the Sacred Writings as that which Paul calls “another gospel;” and that, therefore, his words authorize us to say that Romanism is not Christianity.
FIRST, Christianity consists of what Christ has taught, and commanded in Scripture. But Romanism does not even profess to be founded on Scripture only: it claims a right to depart from what is contained in it - a right to add to Scripture what is handed down by tradition; and both to depart from and add to Scripture by making new decrees. It forbids the cup to the people, for instance, in what it calls “the mass,” and yet admits that it was not forbidden to them at “the beginning of the Christian religion” (Council of Trent, Session 21, chap. 2). It says that councils and the pope have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to make decrees by which, in reality, the doctrines delivered by Christ are entirely annulled. To show how extensively this has been done, let the reader endeavor to trace the full effect of what Rome teaches as to baptismal regeneration, transubstantiation, justification by means of sacraments and deeds done by us, the invocation of saints - things which are entirely opposed to the teaching of Christ.
The canons of the Council of Trent, which sat at intervals from 1545 to 1563, may be called the Bible of Romanism. They were translated into English, as late as 1848, by a Roman Catholic priest, under the sanction of Dr. Wiseman. The Council tells us that one end for which it was called was “the extirpation of heresies.” What, then, according to it, is the standard of truth? It tells us that Rome receives The Sacred Scriptures and “The Unwritten Traditions … preserved in continuous succession in the Catholic Church, with equal affection of piety and reverence” (Session 4); also that “no one may dare to interpret the Sacred Scriptures” in a manner contrary to that “Church; whose it is to judge respecting the true sense and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures;” nor may any one interpret them “in a manner contrary to the unanimous consent of the fathers” (Session 4).