The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-12-10
The Bes.t Of IReveIn1ions.

"what the beast is, what constitutes
the image of the beast, and how we
are to avoid worshipping it, and
ceiving the mark" AS the questic
has been made one of interest TO
the readers Of THE NEWS, and so
accepted by you from the fact of its
publication in your paper, feel
justified, az one interested, in ro-
viewing the Interpretation given
this text OF HoIy--Writ Grew. xiv, 8,
1O) by Rev. J. Rankin.
In the first place, would preface
that the remarks of Mr.. J. 4hether
80 intended or not, have painfully
wounded the feelings OF that class
of our citizens who, while glorying
in the fact that they live under the
folds of the American flag of liber-
~, do not the less remain tho faith
ful children OF the Roman Catholic
church, embracing in one and the
same heart the eagle and the cross.
We demand at least at the hands OF
our fellow-citizens, and especially
christians, the common courtesies of
charity and benevolence. u.
Mr.. II. has committed grievous,
although among the highest NOR
tails, q most common error, in that
he did not stop his writings at the
proper time: it was the error of
Napoleon l. His career should
have ended at Austerlilz; he prose-
cuted his gigantic wars, and the
penalty was q Waterloo. Mr.. II.
covered himself with glory few
months since, when in the columns
of The News, he edited with self
satisfaction which few chosen NOR
tals can reach, his remarkable auto
biography. It was the zenith OF his
glorifcation. His last attempt is
sad failure, and If anything, tends
to prove that the days of narrow
bigotry and rank ignorance are not
totally obliterated.
Who IL the beast? do not feel
ineiined to fasLen the animal on any
one, much less on Mr.. r., whose
old age and self-spoken long sphere
OF usefulness entitle TO personal rec
ognition neither do wish him to
hitch 1t to the carriage OF any of his
fellOw-christians.
Mr.. Il. makes q sad confusion of
the early history of christianity. If
i understand him correctly, he aims
at stating that the Catholic church
'(the image of the beast), of which
the Pope (the beast) was head, pass
ed Q sentence of death upon those
whom they doomed as here and
delivered them to the civil aUthori-
ties, to be executed, saying almost
In the same breath, q few lines
above, that ''the beast Is a figura-
tive designation of the Roman EN-
pire, which was oppressive and idol
atrous, as 1t gave sanction to. the
worship OF saints and angels, and
prosecuted to death the true wor-
shippers of God" Early history is
thus made to say that the Catholic
church delivered the primitive
christians to the Roman Empire, to
be executed. Could the Imagination
Of man conceive Q more foul and
moro ignorant traVesty of history?
In the face OF such contradictions,
whore IL truth? 1t IL too late, after
eighteen centuries, to come and
change the facts of histOry7 Does
not every one know that, for three
hSndred years after her birth from
abe bleeding heart of the Savior,
the 0hRrch, founded by Christ,
stood before the Roman Empire as
. victlm q the most cruel oppres-
sion and tyrAany. The hope of the
Roman EmperOrs was to drown her
In the very blood OF her children.
Every street of ancient Rome, and
every house in that street, speaks
volumes on the subject of the mar
tyrdOm Of the heroic pioneers of
christianity. The prison, the Tiber,
the amphitheatre, the public square,
the temples, witnessed daily heca-
tOmbs OF martyrs to the vengeance
of the proud tyrants. POpes, Bish-
ops, Priests, faithful OF all condi-
lions and all sexes--whO will tell
their number-were torn from the
altar and dragged to the place of ex-
ecutiOn to satisfy the sangninary
Instincts of Pagan Rome, and will
you tell us that these very victims
whose lips quivered q prayer for
their Oppressors in their last agony,
were after all the organizers of those
wholesale massacres2 That the
aged Pope who carries his venera-
BILE head to the executiOner's block,
and whose crimson blood flows aud
mingles with the blood of his spirit
nal children, is no moro than a
blood thirsty tiger? Who ever has
heard of q Pope of the early days, or
OF any day in the history of the
church, betraving the eternal trusts
OF the Son of God? Obi truth
shudders at the impIous and horrid
thought OF history thus traVestied
and made snbserVient to base and
degrading biROtry, of Holy script
ure itSelf perverted in order to
blacken the Cstholics2 We know
It; In books Of all sizes, and from
the pulpit Of every church. numer-
Gus well-meaning souls have been
taught from their infancy that the
a0east, the man of sin and the scarlet
whore mentioned in the Revelations,
were names which God himself had
given to the Pope and wero made
to believe OF the Catholic church
that her worship was 'Idolatrous"
and that her doctrines were "damn-
able" To such let US put q plain
question or two. They may say,
indeed, that for the first three humid
red years there was no Pope seated
at Rome, but then for fifteen hum