A Brief Commentary on the Apocalypse Part 15

In the ninth century a doc.u.ment was produced, which claimed to be a deed of gift from Constantine to the Pope, dated A. D. 324, ceding him the city of Rome and all Italy, with the crown, the mitre, &c.; but the forgery of this has been fully exposed. With the removal of the capital of the world to Constantinople, the empire began to decline; but the church augmented as fast. A provisional synod at Sardica, in A. D. 344, and a decree of the Emperor Valentinian III., in 445, had acknowledged the Bishop of Rome as the primate of the five patriarchs, and as the last tribunal of appeal from the other bishops; but the edicts of the Pope were often disregarded and opposed, and he continued subject to the civil power till the subversion of the Western empire by Odoacer, King of the Heruli, in A. D.

476.

The ten kingdoms which had arisen on the ruins of the Western empire (p.

169), had nearly all embraced Christianity, corrupted by Arianism. And the barbarians transferred to their Christian instructors, the profound submission and reverence which they were accustomed to yield to the teachers of paganism,-many of the rites and ceremonies of which had been incorporated into the Catholic service. Ecclesiastical courts were established, in which were tried all questions relating to character, office, or property of the clergy; and thus they became nearly independent of the civil judges.

The Heruli, which was the first of the ten horns plucked up, were conquered by the Ostrogoths, in A. D. 493, when all Italy submitted to Theodoric. He fixed his capital at Ravenna, which left the Pope the only Prince of Rome; and the Romans, for protection, were forced to pay more deference to him.

About A. D. 500, two Popes were simultaneously elected, when Theodoric gave the papal chair to Symmachus. Gross crimes being alleged against him by the defeated party, the king summoned a council in A. D. 503 to investigate the charges; and he was acquitted. The other party being dissatisfied, Ennodius, Bishop Ticonum, drew up an apology for the Pope and council, in which, for the first time, the Pope was styled a "Judge in the place of G.o.d, and Vicegerent of the Most High;" and "subject to no earthly tribunal." Thus did the Lawless One attempt, "as G.o.d," to "sit in the temple of G.o.d."

In A. D. 533, Justinian, Emperor at Constantinople, being about to attack the Vandals in Africa, and wis.h.i.+ng first to settle the religious disputes of his capital in which he felt a great interest, he submitted the controversy to the primate of Rome. To induce a decision in his own favor, or to give force to it, he acknowledged the Bishop of Rome the Chief of the whole Ecclesiastical body of the empire; and thus addressed him, in a letter sent by two distinguished prelates:-

"Justinian, pious, fortunate, renowned, triumphant emperor, consul, &c., to John, the most holy Archbishop of our city of Rome, and patriarch.

"Rendering honor to the Apostolic chair, and to your Holiness, as has been always and is our wish, and honoring your blessedness as a father; we have hastened to bring to the knowledge of your Holiness all matters relating to the state of the churches. It having been at all times our great desire to preserve the unity of your Apostolic chair, and the const.i.tution of the holy churches of G.o.d which has obtained hitherto, and still obtains.

"Therefore we have made no delay in subjecting and uniting to your Holiness all the priests of the whole East.

"For this reason we have thought fit to bring to your notice the present matters of disturbance; though they are manifest and unquestionable, and always firmly held and declared by the whole priesthood according to the doctrine of your Apostolic chair. For we cannot suffer that anything which relates to the state of the Church, however manifest and unquestionable, should be moved, without the knowledge of your Holiness, who are The Head of all the Holy Churches, for in all things, as we have already declared, we are anxious to increase the honor and authority of your Apostolic chair."

Says Dr. Croly:-

"The emperor's letter must have been sent before the 25th of March, 533.

For, in his letter of that date to Epiphanius he speaks of its having been already despatched, and repeats his decision, that all affairs touching the church shall be referred to the Pope, 'head of all bishops, and the true and effective corrector of heretics.'

"In the same month of the following year, 534, the Pope returned an answer repeating the language of the emperor, applauding his homage to the See, and adopting the t.i.tles of the imperial mandate. He observes that, among the virtues of Justinian, 'one s.h.i.+nes as a star, his reverence for the Apostolic chair, to which he has subjected and united all the churches, it being truly the head of all; and was testified by the rules of the fathers, the laws of the princes, and the declarations of the emperor's piety.'

"The authenticity of the t.i.tle receives unanswerable proof from the edicts in the 'Novellae' of the Justinian code.

"The preamble of the 9th states that 'as the elder Rome was the founder of the laws, so was it not to be questioned that in her was the supremacy of the pontificate.'

"The 131st, on the ecclesiastical t.i.tles and privileges, chapter II.

states: 'We therefore decree that the most holy Pope of the elder Rome is the first of all the priesthood, and that the most blessed archbishop of Constantinople, the new Rome, shall hold the second rank after the holy Apostolic chair of the elder Rome.'

"The supremacy of the Pope had by those mandates and edicts received the fullest sanction that could be given by the authority of the master of the Roman world. However worthless the motives, the act was done, authentic and unquestionable, sanctioned by all the forms of state, and never abrogated,-the act of the first potentate in the world. If the supremacy over the church of G.o.d had been for man to give, it might have been given by the unrivalled sovereignty of Justinian.

"From this era the church of Rome dates the earthly acknowledgment of her claim. Its heavenly authority is referred to the remoter source of the apostles."-_Apoc._, pp. 14-16, 30, 31.

The war against the Vandals was vigorously prosecuted by Belisarius, Justinian's general, and resulted in their conquest the same year. Thus was the second of the first ten divisions of the empire subjugated: the second horn was plucked up.

Rome was still in possession of an Arian monarch, who was the bitter enemy of the Catholic church. Intelligence of the success of Belisarius in Africa reached the emperor, Dec. 16th, A. D. 533. "Impatient to abolish the temporal and spiritual tyranny of the Vandals, he proceeded, without delay, _to the full establishment of the Catholic church_."-_Gibbon_, Harpers' ed., v. 3, p. 67. Belisarius proceeded to the conquest of Italy, which he effected, and marched on to Rome. Only 4000 soldiers were stationed for its defence; and they could not oppose the wishes of the Romans, who voluntarily submitted. Seized with a momentary enthusiasm, "they furiously exclaimed that the apostolic throne should no longer be profaned by the triumph or toleration of Arianism; that the tombs of the Caesars should no longer be trampled on by the savages of the north; and without reflecting that Italy must sink into a province of Constantinople, they fondly hailed the restoration of a Roman emperor as a new era of freedom and prosperity. The deputies of the Pope and clergy, of the senate and people, invited the lieutenant of Justinian to accept their voluntary allegiance, and to enter the city." Thus was "the city, after sixty years'

servitude delivered from the yoke of the barbarians," Dec. 10, A. D. 536.

And "the Catholics prepared to celebrate, without a rival, the approaching festival of the nativity of Christ."-_Ib._ p. 80.

In the winter, the Ostrogoths made preparations, and besieged Rome with an army of 150,000 fighting men. Pope Sylverius was suspected of treachery, and on proof that he had communicated with the enemy, he was banished by Belisarius. At the emperor's command, the clergy of Rome proceeded to the choice of a new bishop, and elected "deacon Virgilius, who had purchased the papal throne by a bribe of two hundred pounds of gold."-_Ib._ p. 85.

As he had obtained the papal seat by fraud, it was claimed that he was not the lawful Pope; but in A. D. 538, he was owned as such by the 5th General Council, and the whole Christian world.-See Bowers' _Hist. Popes_, v. 2, p. 374. In March of this year (538),-after "one year and nine days"-the Ostrogoths raised the siege of Rome, and burned their tents-one-third of their number having perished under its walls. The arms of Justinian triumphed, and the Catholic hierarchy was established. The third horn had been plucked up by the fall of the third of the first ten divisions of Rome.

The Bishop of Constantinople did not submit willingly to the Primacy of Rome. On the death of Justinian, the supremacy of the Pope was utterly denied; and, in A. D. 588, John, Bishop of Constantinople, himself a.s.sumed the coveted t.i.tle of "Universal Bishop." The Roman bishop, Gregory the Great, indignant at this usurpation, denounced him as a "usurper, aiming at supremacy over the whole church," and declared that whoever claims such supremacy "has the pride and character of _Antichrist_."

Boniface succeeded to the Roman See, and in the following year, A. D. 606, only two years after Gregory's death, applied to Phocas,-who had ascended the throne of Constantinople by the murder of the Emperor Mauritius,-for the same blasphemous t.i.tle, with the privilege of continuing it to his successors. His request was granted, the Eastern Bishop was forbidden its use, and the Primate of Rome was again acknowledged as "Universal Bishop,"

and the unrivalled "Head of all the churches." This t.i.tle has been worn by all the succeeding Popes; "but the highest authority," says Dr. Croly, "among the civilians and annalists of Rome, spurn the idea that Phocas was the founder of the supremacy of Rome. They ascend to Justinian as the only legitimate source, and rightly date the t.i.tle from the memorable year 533."-_Apoc._ p. 117.

In A. D. 730, Emperor Leo issued an edict for the destruction of all images used in religious wors.h.i.+p. From that time the Pope scorned his authority, and acted in defiance of the emperor's will, who found himself unable to compel the Pope to obey the edict.

The Papacy thus defied all human authority; but did not as yet attempt the exercise of political power.

In A. D. 756, Pepin, the usurper of the crown of France, compelled the King of Lombardy to cede the exarchate of Ravenna to the Pope, "to be forever held and possessed by St. Peter and his lawful successors in the See of Rome." The Pope had now become a temporal prince, and one of the kings of the earth. In A. D. 774, Charlemagne, the successor of Pepin, confirmed the former gift, and in addition, subjugated the Lombards, and annexed a large portion of their kingdom and the Duchy of Rome to the Roman See. In A. D. 817, Louis the Pious, granted "St. Peter's patrimony"

to the Pope and his successors, "in their own right, princ.i.p.ality, and dominion, unto the end of the world." Hence, as a temporal prince, the Pope wears a triple crown.

In A. D. 800, Charlemagne was solemnly crowned and proclaimed emperor by the Pope, having reduced under his sway nearly the whole of Europe. From this time the Popes claimed superiority to all kings and emperors, received homage from them, and exercised all the rights of sovereignty; but they were nominally dependent on the Emperors of the West till A. D.

1278, when the Emperor Rudolph released the people of the Papal States from all allegiance they might still owe to the imperial crown. This act was confirmed by the electors and princes of the empire. The Popes, in the greatness of their power, crowned and uncrowned kings at their pleasure, absolved subjects from all allegiance to their rulers, excommunicated whoever they would, and compelled secular princes to put to death heretics.

In A. D. 1294, Boniface VIII. became Pope. From his accession Hallam dates the decline of the Papacy, which, for "more than two centuries, had been on throne of the earth, and reigned despot of the world."-_Dowling_. This was 1260 years from the death of Peter,-the earliest time from which they can date. His bull of excommunication against Philip of France, being disregarded by that monarch, who adroitly made the Pope his prisoner, his rage brought on a fever, which caused his death. Only a few succeeding pontiffs claimed, and none attempted to enforce, the prerogatives exercised by the preceding Popes. For seventy years the successors of Boniface resided at Avignon, in France, and paid great deference to the monarch of that country. After this was the Western schism, which divided the church for forty years,-two rival Popes claiming the mitre, and thundering out their anathemas against each other. These events greatly weakened the Papacy. About this time appeared Wickliffe and Huss, and Jerome of Prague; and still later, in 1517, Martin Luther, in opposition to the Papal pretensions, published his Thesis against Indulgences, 1260 years from the time of the arrogance of Pope Stephen.

In A. D. 1572, 1260 years from the removal of Constantine from Rome to Constantinople, occurred the b.l.o.o.d.y ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew, when in one day 5000 Protestants were murdered in Paris, and in the same proportion in other parts of France. The persecutions of the Papists continued till near the close of the last century; and as late as November, 1781, a woman was burned alive by the Inquisition in Spain.

In 1793, 1260 years from Justinian's letter to the Pope, the Papal church, with all religion, was entirely suppressed in France. And in 1798, which was the same length of time from the establishment of the papacy, by the conquest of the Ostrogoths,-the plucking up of the last of the three horns in 538, Gen. Berthier entered Rome, compelled the Pope to flee, and terminated the Papal government.

The temporal power was afterwards restored; but in 1848, twelve hundred and sixty years from 588 when John a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Universal Bishop, the Pope again fled from his throne. Two years subsequently, he was again restored.

"Flacius, in his 'Catalogue of Witnesses,' represented the twelve hundred and sixty days as having commenced in 606;" and Scott, and several others, reckon them from the same epoch.

4. The image had power to speak. It thus filled the office of the "mouth,"

which was given to the ten-horned beast (v. 5), which synchronizes with the view taken of that appendage, p. 172.

5. It should _cause_ the infliction of death on those who should refuse to wors.h.i.+p. The wors.h.i.+p it would exact, is doubtless of the kind bestowed on the wild beast, 13:4. The Papal hierarchy claimed to be infallible and invincible, and to have power to bind and loose on earth and in heaven; those who refused to recognize its claims, if incorrigible, were punished with death.

The Image was not to put to death, but would _cause_ them to be killed.

The symbolization corresponds with the fulfilment in this particular. The ecclesiastical officials punished rebellious subjects, by delivering them over to the civil arm; which punished heretics according to the will of the Papacy. "Lucius III. and Innocent III. by formal decrees required them to be seized, condemned, and delivered by the civil magistrates, to be capitally punished; and enjoined the princes and magistrates to execute on them the sentences denounced by the canon and civil laws."-_Lord's Exp. of Apoc._, p. 434. This is substantiated by Bellarmini and other writers.

Civil rulers, who refused to enforce the decrees of the councils, were anathematized, excommunicated, and often deprived of their political power. When the Papacy has been reminded of the numbers killed and otherwise punished for alleged heresy, she has replied that the civil power, and not the church, has done this! She, however, has caused the kings of the earth to execute her wishes.

6. The image would cause all to receive the _mark_ of the Beast. A mark is a token of recognition. Slaves, soldiers, and the devotees of various G.o.ds, were thus identified on their hands or foreheads, both before and after the time of St. John-slaves by the name of the Emperor on their forehead, and soldiers by his name on their hand. Mr. Elliott proves this by quotations from Valerius, Maximus, aelian, Ambrose, and others. The devotees of particular G.o.ds gained admittance to the secret meetings of the wors.h.i.+ppers of their respective deity, by a _mark_ by which they identified each other. At the present day the Hindoos are marked on the forehead by the hieroglyphic of the G.o.d they are consecrated to.

The mark of the beast, is its _name_, or the _number_ of its name. The ancients often used numbers to indicate names. "Among the Pagans, the Egyptian mystics spoke of Mercury, or Thouth, under the number 1218, because the Greek letters composing the name Thouth, when estimated according to their numerical value, together made up that number. By others, Jupiter was invoked under the mystical number 717; because the letters of ? ????, _the beginning_, or _first origin_, which was a characteristic t.i.tle of the supreme deity wors.h.i.+pped as Jupiter, made up that number: and Apollo under the number 608, as being that of ???, or ???, words expressing certain solar attributes. Again, the pseudo-Christian or semi-pagan Gnostics, from St. John's time downwards, affixed to their gems and amulets, of which mult.i.tudes remain even to the present day, the mystic word s?asa?, or a?a?a?, under the idea of some magic virtue attaching to its number 365, as being that of the days of the annual solar circle; and equal moreover with that of ?e???a?, or Mithras, the Magian name for the sun, whom they identified also with Christ. Once more, the Christian fathers themselves fell into the same fancies, and doctrine of mysteriousness in certain verbal numbers. For example, both Barnabas and Clement of Alexandria speak of the virtue of the number 318 as being that of ??? the common abbreviation for Jesus crucified; and partly ascribe to its magical virtue the victory which Abraham gained with his 318 servants over the Canaanitish kings. Similarly Tertullian refers the victory of Gideon, with his 300 men, to the circ.u.mstance of that being the precise number of ?, the sign of the cross. In the name of Adam, St.

Cyprian discerned a mysterious numeral affinity to certain characteristics in the life and history of the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Irenaeus notes the remarkable number 888 of the name ??s???, Jesus. And in the pseudo-Sibylline verses, written by Christians about the end, probably, of the second century, and consequently not long after Irenaeus, we find enigmas proposed of precisely the same characters as that in the text;-the number being given, and the name required."-_Elliott's Horae Apoc._, vol.

iii., pp. 204-6.

The "number of the beast" is indicated in the text by the Greek letters "???" which were severally used to represent the numbers 600, 60 and 6, making 666. As the name of the beast is equivalent to this number, the letters in it will represent numbers which amount to six hundred threescore and six.

After the division of the Roman empire, the western kingdom adopted for itself the name of the Latin kingdom; and its subdivisions were called the Latin kingdoms. The church connected with those kingdoms was also emphatically called the Latin church. Says Dr. More: "They Latinize everything. Ma.s.s, prayers, hymns, litanies, canons, decretals, bulls, are conceived in Latin. The Papal councils speak in Latin. Women pray in Latin. The Scriptures are read in no other language under the Papacy than Latin. In short, all things are Latin." The Council of Trent declared the Latin Vulgate to be the only authentic version of the Scriptures; and their doctors have preferred it to the Hebrew and Greek text, written by prophets and apostles.

This Latin kingdom is the only one that ever corresponded to the characteristics of the beast. And its name-_Latinos_ in the Greek, and _Romiith_ in the Hebrew-is equivalent to the required number.

"The Greek and Hebrew letters composing the words ??????, _Romiith_-??????, _Roma.n.u.s_-?ate????, _Latinos_, each of them making in numerals exactly 666, plainly point out not only his name, and the number of his name, but also the _mark_ of his _name_; as for example: