William Cunningham. In 1837 Cunningham, later to become Professor of Church History in the New College, Edinburgh, reprinted The Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome Truly Represented: in Answer to a Book Entitled “A Papist Misrepresented and Rerepresented”. The author was Edward Stillingfleet (1635-99), who became Bishop of Worcester in 1689 and was responding to a priest by the name of Gothe. When Gothe’s book was reprinted in 1835 the advertisements quoted Cunningham describing it as “a very clever pamphlet”, but not, of course, his other descriptions, such as “full of misrepresentations from beginning to end”. It would seem that by involving Cunningham in this way in their advertisements the publishers provoked him to issue this devastating reply. The following article is extracted from Cunningham’s extensive and masterly preface, in which he gives a brilliant analysis of the principles underlying the whole Roman system, principles which are unaffected by the skin-deep changes since then, even those of Vatican II. Together with the notes which he added throughout the book, Cunningham’s writing amounts to more than half of the 1837 edition of what is usually known as Stillingfleet on Popery.
THE system of Popery occupies a prominent place in the New Testament. Not only are there abundant materials in the Word of God for establishing the erroneous and dangerous character of its tenets individually, but the system, as a whole, is there delineated so fully and plainly, that it seems to be scarcely possible to mistake it. It is predicted as a great apostasy from the true faith, which was to prevail extensively in the professing Church, and to be attended with the most injurious consequences. It is expressly ascribed to the peculiar agency of Satan; and, indeed, the very reason why it forms the subject of so many of the predictions of the New Testament, is because it was Satan’s great scheme for frustrating the leading objects of Christianity — for depriving men of the important advantages, connected both with this world and the next, which the preaching of the gospel was intended to convey; and was to be very successful in effecting these ends.
When God created man after his own image, Satan resolved to tempt him to commit sin; and was permitted to succeed . . . Under his agency the Patriarchal religion degenerated among the mass of mankind into Paganism; the Mosaic into that state of things which is described in the Gospel history, and which, for want of a better word, may be called Pharisaism; and the Christian religion into Popery . . . The leading feature of Paganism is idolatry; that is, worshipping those who are no gods, or worshipping God by images . . . This very idolatry, although in a more mitigated form, corresponding to the greater light of the Christian dispensation, is still a leading feature of Popery, and serves to a large extent, among its deluded votaries, the object of withdrawing men from contemplating God, and holding communion with the Father of their spirits . . .
The state of religion among the Jews in the time of our Saviour, however, was such as to afford abundant proof of the ingenuity and activity of the great enemy of God and man. Pharisaism was a complete perversion of the true religion as revealed by God through Moses, and had a very striking resemblance to Popery, especially in these important particulars: That it was founded not upon the written Word of God, but upon the traditions of men; that the true ground of a sinner’s hope was obscured, if not overthrown, by a principle of self-righteousness; that personal religion was supposed to consist in the observance of outward rites and ceremonies, rather than in genuine holiness of heart and life; and that to a considerable extent the authority of the divine law was made void by human traditions . . .
The most obvious reflections — which must occur even upon a superficial examination of the history of Popery, and which can only be confirmed by more extensive acquaintance with the subject — are, that the Church of Rome pursued with unwearied zeal and perseverance the grand object of the entire subjugation of the Christian world to her sway — the possession of an absolute control over the consciences and the property of men; that she displayed singular skill and ingenuity in taking advantage of every circumstance which could promote her end, and in accommodating her plans to the situation in which she found herself placed; and that she never scrupled to trample upon the laws of God and man, whenever this seemed to be for the time expedient. This view of Popery, which a mere survey of its history obviously suggests, is fully confirmed by an examination of the system itself, which, in all its doctrines, rites and ceremonies, is plainly intended and admirably adapted to make men the abject slaves of their spiritual superiors, and to elevate the priest to an influence which no human being ought to possess over another.
All this is in full accordance with the information given us in the Sacred Scriptures, which unfold also the bearing of Popery upon the spiritual welfare of men, and its fitness to serve the purposes of him to whose agency it is ascribed, and whose zeal and activity, operating upon the depraved hearts of men, who must have some religion, but hate the true one, can alone account for its extraordinary success. It is described by the Apostle Paul in the following remarkable words (1 Tim 4:1-3): “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth”. The first verse gives a general description of an apostasy from the faith, under which men would yield to the influence of deceitful spirits and doctrines of devils, or rather doctrines concerning demons — that is, dead men made objects of worship; and Popery is certainly, if there by any meaning in words, or a possibility of ascertaining God’s will from the Bible, a deviation from the faith once delivered to the saints, in the production and diffusion of which many deceitful spirits were actively engaged, and one leading feature of which was the introduction, in imitation of Paganism, of demons, or dead men to share in the honour and worship due to God alone . . . .
To identify this apostasy still more decidedly with Popery, the third verse specifies two of its particular features — namely, the prohibition of marriage and of meats — well known to be characteristic of the Church of Rome; and these are selected, as an old writer well observes, “not because they are the worst, but the most palpable — not because they are the most impious, but the most easily recognised”. . . .
A full and minute prediction of the Popish system is to be found in 2 Thess 2:3-13 — a passage which should be carefully studied by all who wish to understand what Popery is. Every particular mentioned in these verses has been fulfilled in the doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome; but at present we wish specially to notice the account given here of the means by which it was to gain an influence in the world. First, it is directly ascribed to the working of Satan, and the influence of signs and lying wonders. The system is characterised as a mystery of iniquity, which was displaying itself even in the Apostles’ days — a statement which warrants us to expect in its fuller development an incalculable amount of villainy, and to discover more wickedness the more fully we become acquainted with its secret workings. Its progress is to be marked by all deceivableness of unrighteousness; that is, by every species of fraud, fitted and intended to deceive men. The conduct of its miserable victims is described as a strong delusion, leading them to believe lies. All these predictions are fulfilled in the history of the Church of Rome; and if it be indeed the Popish system which the apostle here describes under the designation of the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition — which cannot reasonably be doubted — then the Word of God expressly warrants us to expect, in the conduct of those who are engaged in promoting the cause of Popery, every kind and degree of iniquity, fitted and intended to deceive; to cherish the strongest abhorrence of the system, and the deepest commiseration for its wretched victims; and to employ the strongest language in denouncing it.
It is of great importance that Protestants should form their views of Popery from the Word of God, that thus they may be guided to feel and act aright in regard to it, and to those who are under its sway . . .
We shall now give a few illustrations of the deceivableness of unrighteousness that has been exhibited by Papists in order to secure the subjection of the Christian world to the Bishop of Rome; and these shall be drawn, not from isolated facts, or from the minor peculiarities of the Popish Church, but from her conduct in regard to her authorised standards, which determine and mark out the main features of her character.
1.
Every Popish priest swears, at his ordination, that “he will never interpret Scripture except according to the unanimous consent of the fathers”; an oath which it is impossible to keep, except by abstaining wholly from interpreting the Bible. They profess to find all the peculiar doctrines of Popery in the writings of the early fathers. That they cannot derive effectual support from this quarter, even if the opinions of these fathers were to be admitted as authoritative, has been fully established by Protestant divines; but in order to get some appearance of support for their heresies and corruptions in the works of primitive writers, they have deliberately and extensively corrupted them . . .
2.
Every Popish priest is sworn to maintain every doctrine defined by the General Councils and Sacred Canons. The earlier councils, however, could not be allowed to speak for themselves, without injuring the cause of the Church of Rome, and therefore they have been extensively corrupted by a series of the most extraordinary forgeries . . . Comber, Dean of Durham . . . proves that, in the authorised editions of the Councils . . . there are inserted the accounts of councils which never assembled, or which never issued the canons ascribed to them — that the canons of some real councils are altogether suppressed, and that in many more cases they are extensively corrupted by mutilations and additions, all directed to the object of supporting the claims of the Church of Rome.
3.
The Sacred Canons, to which every Popish priest is sworn to adhere, are taken, to a considerable extent, from the Decretal Epistles of the Popes. Now, what are these? They are a series of letters, ushered into the world, by the Church of Rome, about the year 800, professing to be written by the Popes (nearly forty in number) from the time of Clement, the immediate successor of the Apostles, down to Siricius, who lived about the end of the fourth century, and containing statements in which many of the doctrines and practices of Popery are approved of, and in which these Popes assumed to themselves, upon the ground of divine and apostolic authority, absolute supremacy — the most extensive jurisdiction which the most insolent Pontiffs have ever claimed. Of course, they are forgeries; and yet they were constantly cited for about 700 years by councils, and by the Popes and their champions, to justify the usurpations and defend the corruptions of the Church of Rome — to determine causes, and to decide controversies in religion. The forgery, however, was so gross and clumsy, that it could not stand the light which the Reformation introduced, and it is now acknowledged by all learned Papists.
4.
Another illustration of the deceivableness of unrighteousness which the Church of Rome has always exhibited, may be found in the legends, especially in regard to false miracles, which she invented and published to deceive men, and promote her great object. Signs and lying wonders are expressly mentioned in Scripture as one of the means by which Popery was to be propagated in the world, and every one acquainted with history must know that this prediction was fully verified . . . . Besides, to a certain extent, these legends and miracles have received the sanction of the Church of Rome in such a way that she must bear the responsibility of them . . . .
The Church of Rome claiming infallibility is, of course, unchangeable in all matters of faith and practice. While her friends among pseudo-Protestants claim for her the credit of having changed, and while she is very willing to enjoy the benefit of this allegation, she is bound in consistency to maintain that it is unfounded. But it is very easy to prove that many of her principal defenders, with the concurrence or connivance of her highest authorities, have given erroneous and fraudulent, as well as contradictory, accounts of her doctrines, according as seemed to suit best the age or the country for which they were intended . . . . The great standard of Popish doctrine is the Council of Trent, to all whose canons and decrees every Popish priest is solemnly sworn to adhere. This council was assembled in 1545, and continued, with various prorogations, till 1563 . . . and it certainly affords an interesting indication of the character of the Church of Rome, that the formation of the infallible standard of her doctrines should have been accompanied and influenced by such a mass of fraud and iniquity as was exhibited at Trent . . . .
The unchangeable principles of Popery provide distinctly and expressly for giving to fellow-sinners lordship over the conscience, which is the prerogative of God alone; and the whole history of the Church of Rome affords ground to fear that she will exercise this lordship whenever she can. It is one of the leading characters given of the Church of Rome in the Word of God, that she is drunk with the blood of the saints; and there is good reason to believe (Rev 18) that her intolerant and persecuting spirit will continue until her final destruction. . . . So lately as 1832 the present Pope in his Encyclical Letter to all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops, denounced, in the strongest language, the liberty of the press and liberty of conscience . . . . It is an interesting fact that the Protestants of New York, in order to counteract the exertions of Papists in glossing over and concealing all the offensive features of the system, have taken the strong step of republishing there, in 1834, the Rhemish Testament, with the original annotations in all their purity, and free from those omissions and modifications which Papists have introduced into them to adapt them to modern times . . . . The reason they assign for taking upon themselves the responsibility of publishing such a mass of heresy, falsehood and intolerance, as the original Rhemish Notes contain, is this, “that the American people, and particularly the Churches of Christ in the United States, until recently, have displayed a morbid incredulity in reference to the Papal system, and an almost settled determination not to be convinced of the damnable heresies and soul-killing abominations of Popery” . . . . There is the less reason why we should take our view of the meaning of the standards of the Romish Church from individuals or bodies of men among Papists, because, in regard to the Decrees of the Council of Trent, which may be considered as the chief part of their authorised standards, all ecclesiastics, even bishops, are forbidden, as has been already observed, by the bull of Pius IV to publish any sort of interpretation of them, under the penalty of the “wrath of Almighty God, and His blessed Apostles Peter and Paul” . . . .
The subjects of dispute between Papists and Protestants extend over the whole field of divine revelation. In almost every department of Scriptural truth, with regard either to doctrine or duty, there is some Popish heresy or corruption which should be refuted and exposed. A mere inspection of the works of the systematic divines who flourished soon after the Reformation establishes the truth of this position.