Instead of Christ’s instituting the mass, or its finding its precedent in the sacrifices of the Law, the facts show that the mass is of pagan origin. According to Cardinal Newman, the Kyrie eleison, “Lord, have mercy upon us!” which words, set to music, begin the first movement of the mass of the Roman Catholic Church, are of pagan origin and have been “sanctified by their adoption into the Church”.—An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, page 373.
The unbloody feature of the sacrifice of the mass goes back to ancient Babylon. (The Two Babylons, Hislop, pages 156-158) The wafers used in the mass must be round. Here again there is nothing in the Scriptures to support this requirement, but we do find a precedent in ancient Egypt. Says Wilkinson, in his Egyptians, Vol. 5, page 353: “The thin round cake occurs on all altars” and was a symbol of the sun. The requirement that one must have fasted from midnight until the time of mass likewise finds no support in the Scriptures, for the apostles had just finished eating the passover when Jesus offered them the loaf and the wine. (Matt. 26:26) But such a custom did prevail in ancient times among pagan peoples.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 1, 1953 p. 158-159
The foregoing exposes just one sample of religious error. The list of doctrines and practices not corroborated by the Bible is a long one. Such find their origin in paganism, rooted in the teachings found in ancient Babylon thousands of years ago! As John Henry Newman, whom Pope Leo XIII made a cardinal, said of some of these practices: “The use of temples . . . incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons . . . images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin.”—Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, pages 355, 371, 373, edition of 1881.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 1, 1964 p. 196
The reader will discern the Babylonish foundation of Christendom in the unembarrassed admission by John Henry Newman, who was made a cardinal by Pope Leo III in 1879, in his book entitled “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine,” published in 1878:
Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon worship to an evangelical use, and feeling also that these usages had originally come from primitive revelations and from the instinct of nature, though they had been corrupted; and that they must invent what they needed, if they did not use what they found; and that they were moreover possessed of the very archetypes, of which paganism attempted the shadows; the rulers of the Church from early times were prepared, should the occasion arise, to adopt, to imitate, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace, as well as the philosophy of the educated class.
The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church.—Pages 355, 371, 373, edition of 1881.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. May 1, 1966 p. 279
In the year 1878 the Roman Catholic prelate, John Cardinal Newman, published his book entitled “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.” In this he expressed his belief that the early professed Christians had not been infected with spiritual disease by any adopting into their religious organization the things that had to do with the worship of devilish demons. Accordingly he wrote:
Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon-worship to an evangelical use, and feeling also that these usages had originally come from primitive revelations and from the instinct of nature, though they had been corrupted; and that they must invent what they needed, if they did not use what they found; and that they were moreover possessed of the very archetypes, of which paganism attempted the shadows; the rulers of the Church from early times were prepared, should the occasion arise, to adopt, or imitate, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace, as well as the philosophy of the educated class.
Proceeding now to show the origin of Christendom’s things, he says:
The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the [song] Kyrie Eleison [Lord, have mercy], are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church.—Pages 355, 371, 373, of the edition of 1881.
“The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah”—How? 1971. p. 159-160
Many sincere Christians have asked this question out of a desire to avoid any custom of which God might disapprove. Some of the questioners know that Catholic prelate John H. Newman wrote: “The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, . . . sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church.” (An Essay on the Development of the Christian Doctrine, 1878)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1972. p. 63
So, we need to separate from all false religious schemes, teachings and practices. What are some of these practices? The British cardinal Newman describes a number of them in his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, published in 1878:
“The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of [religious] calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, . . . images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant.”
Good News to Make You Happy. 1976. p. 127