The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

"Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of 1850, speaks of Bible study as 'poisonous reading,' and
urges all his venerable brethren with vigilance and solicitude to put a stop to it. A
clergyman lost his wife in Rome, and wished to put a text on her tombstone. The Pope
refused permission, not only on the ground that it was unlawful to express a hope of
immortality as to a 'heretic,' but because it was 'contrary to law, to publish in the sight of
the Roman people any portion of the Word of God'! . . .
"'After the day of Christianity had dawned, she was able to cover Europe with darkness;
and by the exclusion of the Bible, to perpetuate that darkness from age to age. The
enormity of this wickedness cannot be known on earth. But she cannot conceal from
herself that, despite her anathemas, her indices expurgatorii, her tyrannical edicts, by which
she still attempts to wall round her territory of darkness, the Bible is destined to overcome
in the conflict. Hence her implacable hostility--hostility founded to a large extent on fear.
. . . To popery a single Bible is more dreadful than an army ten thousand strong. . . . When
she meets the Bible in her path, she is startled, and exclaims with terror, I know thee who
thou art! Art thou come to torment me before the time?'
"For the last three hundred years, ever since the Reformation, the Papacy has been in
process of consumption by the spirit of the Lord's mouth. It will ere long [when the
seventh plague is poured out] be 'destroyed by the brightness of His coming.'"
Other changes in the attitude of Rome
As still further proving what seems to be the correctness of this interpretation and
application of this very significant symbol, we call attention to a letter written by Pius X in
which there are utterances that are in direct conflict with these decrees and anathemas of
Pius IX against the Bible. The letter was written in 1905. Supplementing the letter we quote
a comment on the same by the Christian Intelligencer in an article entitled "The Pope on the
Bible":
"It betokens a marked change in the attitude of the Church of Rome toward the Bible for
the laity, when the Pope gives his blessing to an association engaged in sending it forth in
the language of the people. The St. Jerome Association is engaged in this for Italy, and
when requested to bestow his blessing on the new work and the spread of the Gospel, the
Pope answered:
"'Gladly do I give my blessing, and that with both hands and with full heart, for I do not
doubt that this work will produce the richest fruit and is already blessed by God. The
more we read the Gospel the stronger our faith becomes. The Gospels are writings that are
valuable for everybody and under all circumstances. I have lived among the common
people and know what they want and what pleases them. Tell them the simplest Bible
stories and you will have attentive listeners and effect blessed results.
"'Your purpose is to spread the Gospels. You are doing a noble work. Some people think
[Pius IX, for one] that the peasants, with their plain, everyday way of thinking, would not
profit by the reading of the Scriptures. This is incorrect. The average peasant is a shrewder