The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1912-11-14

sovereign. With these false charges
against Freemasonry, (and there are
many others | will not MENTION he
says that his predecessors have not
carried out the punishments that
should have been melted. out to them;
which means to torture them at the
rack in order to make them renounce
Freemasonry, as they have done in
very many instances, and would do
the same thing today had they the
power. He instructs his clergy to
strengthen the hands of the Jesuits
and Franciscans, whose main object
is to uphold, and strengthen the
power of the corrupt church Of
Rome, and says in conclusion, ''Let
us pray to St. Michael, the prince of
the Angelic Army, st. Joseph,
Spouse of the Most SANITY Virgin
Heavenly Patron of the Catholic
church. The great apostles Peter
and Paul, propagators and defenders
of the Christian faith of the Roman
Catholic Church" Please glance over
the early history Of the Roman Cath
Ole church, and you will find after
the church became an organized
body, with a regular graduation of
officers, such as presbyters, bishops,
metrOpolitans Or arcnbishops and
patriarchs or district superintend-
ents, centered in great cities of
Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria,
and Antioch, and also Jerusalem,
the Bishop of Rome began to assume
more authority, and appointed him
self the head of the church on the
earth. And he claimed supremacy
over the other bishops and patri
archs, and based his claim on several
grounds, the chief one of which was
that the church of Rome had been
founded by St. Peter himself, to
whom Christ gave the key of the
Kingdom of Heaven, and that the
church Of Rome is commissioned to
interpret and to teach the word of
God and that this was to be trans
mitted to his successors forever.
Before long the authority of the
bishops of Rome was felt even by
imperial Rome, and kings and prin-
ces of the Christian world. And af-
ter Constantine the Great removed
the seat of government to Byzantine,
on the Bosporus, tended powerfully
to promote his claim and authority.
In IT'S A. d. Pope Gregory II
wrote to the Eastern emperors and
the people ''The very stature of the
founders of the Roman church
seemed God on earth" Think of
any one comparing the church to
God. How blasphemous is any such
language; but the church Of Rome
has no shame for anything.
In TIT A. D., when Leo, the
Isaurian, came to the throne of Con-
s'antinople he condemned the wor-
ship of images, and issued a decree
that they were not to be used in the
churches. The pope of Rome, not
only opposed Leo's edict, but cut off
communion from the emperor and
the Eastern Christians, and assumed
authority, proving by such scripture
texts as this: "But he that is spiri-
tual judge all things, yet he him
self is Judged of no man. Cor. lis,
and said, "As God set two lights in
the Heavens, the sun and the moon,
so has He established two powers,
the spiritual and the temporal. But
as the moon is inferior to the sun,
so is the temporal power inferior to
the spiritual power
The church of Rome has all pow
err, even to disfgure the word of
God, whenever it suits their pur-
pose; as the Great Apostle, Ulpilias,
translated the Bible into the Goths'
language, emitting the books of the
Kings, because he feared the Goths