And no truly enlightened Protestant will thank him; for if he succeeds, he only shows that the papacy has not done the work which it was predicted that it should do, and so that the prophecy has failed, and the Scriptures are unreliable.

The matter had better stand as the propheqy has placed it, and the claim which the pope unwittingly puts forth, had better be granted.

When a person is charged with any work, and that person steps forth and confesses that he has done the work, that is usually considered sufficient to settle the matter.

So, when the prophecy affirms that a certain power shall change the law of God, and that very power in due time arises, does the work foretold, and then openly claims that he has done it, what need have we of further evidence?
The world should not forget that the great apostasy foretold by Paul has taken place; that the man of sin for long ages held almost a monopoly of Christian teaching in the world; that the mystery of iniquity has cast the darkness of its shadow and the errors of its doctrines over almost all Christendom; and out of this era of error and darkness and corruption, the theology of our day has come.

Would it then be anything strange if there were yet some relics of popery to be discarded ere the reformation will be complete?
A.Campbell (Baptism, p.