“I saw now what I had never realized before. The Church of Rome was like no other Church. It did not demand liberty simply that it might extend its distinctive religious dogmas, and thus lead others to adopt those dogmas; it demanded liberty that it might destroy liberty. It was not simply a religious body; it was primarily a huge political machine, which worked for supremacy. It was struggling to obtain power whereby it might make any other form of religion impossible. The liberties it demanded for itself it would not give to others.
“I saw a new look come into Eve Gascoigne’s face as he spoke… At that moment the priest’s words were to her as the voice of God, and she must obey. The influences which had been at work for years were a living force in her life; the chains which had been forged through the years held her fast. She might be free in body, but at that moment her mind, her will, were enslaved. I had in the past laughed at those who talked about the tyranny of the priest, but now I realized what it meant… From The Jesuit
Joseph Hocking was a Cornish novelist and United Methodist Free Church minister. Like the American Presbyterian minister Edward Roe, Hocking’s novels combine rich characters with gripping stories. Joseph Hocking published more than 100 books and was greatly respected as a fiction writer. Hocking passed this life in 1937.