  “And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the wild beast, that the image of the wild beast should even [pg 189] This new creation is not another beast, but the image of one. An image is only the likeness of something. As the beast symbolizes a political power, its image must symbolize some analogous power of a different nature; and this likeness can only be found in a religious government. 1. The beast which received its death-wound (v. 14), was the form of government to which the image was made, i.e., the imperial. Of this the Roman hierarchy was a perfect counterpart. It was an ecclesiastical government, coËxtensive in its authority with the political power of the empire. And, like the officers of the civil, there was a regular gradation of rank in the subordinates of the religious government. The head of the former was an emperor, chosen by an electoral college,—the senators of Rome.3 The head of the latter was a Pope, chosen in a similar manner by the college of Cardinals,—the ecclesiastical senators of the religious empire. Each of those bodies constituted the highest [pg 190] 2. The religious customs of the empire, as well as its political, were likewise imitated by the papacy. Rome deified her heroes; the papacy canonized her saints. The ghosts of the departed were the gods of the heathen; and the papists supplicate the dead. The Pagans burned incense to their gods; the Papists burn incense in their religious ceremonies. The ancient heathen sprinkled themselves with “holy water;” the Papists use the same material in a similar manner. Lactantius says of the Pagans, they “light up candles to God as if he lived in the dark; and do they not deserve to pass for madmen who offer lamps to the author and giver of light?” This custom is imitated by the Papists in the use of wax candles on their altars. The ancient Romans prostrated themselves before images of wood and stone; and Jerome tells us that “by idols were to be understood the images of the dead.” In Catholic Rome, worshippers prostrated themselves before [pg 191] Dr. Middleton, who visited Rome in 1729, says: “Nothing, I found, concurred so much with my original intention of conversing with the ancients; or so much helped my imagination, to find myself wandering about in old heathen Rome, as to observe and attend to their religious worship; all whose ceremonies appear plainly to have been copied from the rituals of primitive Paganism: as if handed down by an uninterrupted succession from the priests of old, to the priests of new Rome, whilst each of them readily explained, and called to mind some passages of a classic author, where the same ceremony was described, as transacted in the same form and manner, and in the same place where I now saw it executed [pg 192] Says Mr. Lord: “After a struggle of more than four centuries, the ecclesiastics of all the hierarchies in the empire were united in one vast organization, with the pontiff as their supreme legislative and judicial head, and a single ecclesiastical government was established over the whole Roman church, after the model of the civil government of the ancient empire under Constantine and his successors. It is, accordingly, denominated by Catholics themselves a monarchy. ‘All Catholic doctors agree in this, that the ecclesiastical government committed to men by God is a monarchy.’—Bellarmini de Rom. Pont., lib. i., c. v. Bellarmine devotes his first book ‘of the Pontiff’ to prove that such is and ought to be its government. ‘If the monarchical is the best form of government, as we have shown, and it is certain that the church of God instituted by Christ its head, who is supremely wise, ought to be governed in the best manner, who can deny that its rule ought to be monarchical?’—Ib., i., c. ix., p. 527. “The canonists are accustomed, accordingly, to denominate the Pope a king. “The pontiffs were as absolutely the legislative and judicial head of this ecclesiastical kingdom, as the emperors from Constantine to Augustulus were of the civil empire, and imposed [pg 193] “They appointed to all ecclesiastical offices throughout the empire, as the Christian emperors appointed to all civil and military offices in their dominions. “They exacted oaths of fidelity from all whom they advanced to important offices; as the emperors exacted engagements of fidelity from their civil magistrates. “They established courts in which all violations of their laws were tried, and a tribunal at the capital for the decision of appeals. There were gradations of rank in the hierarchy, like those of the magistrates of the civil empire. The hierarchies, as nationalized by Constantine, were formed in each patriarchate, after the model of the civil government in the provinces. The hierarchy of the western kingdoms, under the Pope, was formed after that pattern; having archbishops or metropolitans at the head of the clergy of each nation, or large district, and bishops, abbots, and [pg 194] “They levied taxes for their support on ecclesiastics and laics. “They inflicted ecclesiastical penalties on the violators of their laws; exclusion from communion, suspension from office, deposition, excommunication, and a sentence of eternal death.”—Exp. of Apoc., pp. 429-432. These, with many other striking resemblances, demonstrate that the Roman hierarchy, in all its great features, was a counterpart to imperial Rome—an image of, and belonging to, the seven-headed, ten-horned monster, whose deadly wound was healed. Life was to be given to this image by the two-horned beast. The papal hierarchy is created when its supremacy over other churches is declared and sustained; and the power by which this is done, is that which gives life to it. This was done, according to the following history, by the Eastern empire. The power of the papacy, symbolized by the image, had been predicted in Daniel under the symbol of “a Little Horn,” that came up among the previous “ten horns,” before whom “there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things,” Dan. 7:8. These horns were thus explained to Daniel: “The [pg 195] When Paul spoke of the second coming of Christ, in his first epistle to the Thessalonians, they understood that it was an event then imminent. The apostle, in his second epistle, corrects this impression, by referring to the foregoing prediction in Daniel, which must be previously fulfilled. He assures them that “the day of Christ” “shall not come, except there be” an apostasy, or “a falling away first, and that Man of Sin,” or the lawless [pg 196] The uniform application of these predictions to the Papacy, by Protestant writers, renders it unnecessary to argue this point. That power began early to be manifested, but its full development was “let,” i.e., hindered, by the continuance of the Western empire, which had to be taken out of its way. Tertullian, near the close of the second century, in expounding those words, says: “Who can this be but the Roman state, the division of which into ten kingdoms will bring on Antichrist?” And he gives as a reason why the Christians of his time prayed for the Roman empire: that the greatest calamity hanging over the world was retarded by the continuance of it. Cyril of Jerusalem in the fourth century applied the passage in the same manner, and says: [pg 197]“Thus the predicted Antichrist will come when the times of the Roman empire shall be fulfilled, and the consummation of the world shall approach. Ten kings of the Romans shall arise together, in different places indeed, but they shall reign at the same time. Among these the eleventh is Antichrist, who, by magical and wicked artifice, shall seize the Roman power.” A large number of the ancient fathers interpreted this text in the same manner. In A. D. 257, 1260 years before the time of Luther, Stephen, Bishop of Rome, began to act the pope in good earnest,—excommunicating those who dissented from the doctrines of Rome. In 312, 1260 years before the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572, Constantine became Emperor of Rome, embraced Christianity, and terminated the last and bloodiest of the Pagan persecutions—that of Diocletian, which had continued ten years. Constantine undertook to remodel the church, in conformity to the government of the state, and the unhallowed union of the two resulted in the dignities of patriarchs, exarchs, archbishops, canons, prebendaries, &c., which he endowed with wealth and worldly honors. While paganism was superseded by Christianity under Constantine, its ceremonies were not suppressed. The senate was still pagan; and “the title, the ensigns, and the prerogatives [pg 198] In the ninth century a document was produced, which claimed to be a deed of gift from Constantine to the Pope, dated A. D. [pg 199] 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 [pg 200] 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 God, and Vicegerent of the Most High;” and “subject to no earthly tribunal.” Thus did the Lawless One attempt, “as God,” to “sit in the temple of God.” In A. D. 533, Justinian, Emperor at Constantinople, being about to attack the Vandals in Africa, and wishing 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:— [pg 201] “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 constitution of the holy churches of God 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 titles of [pg 202] “The authenticity of the title receives unanswerable proof from the edicts in the ‘NovellÆ’ 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 titles 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 God had been [pg 203] “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 CÆsars should no longer be trampled on [pg 204] 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 [pg 205] 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 assumed the coveted title 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 title, 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 title has been worn by all the succeeding Popes; “but the highest [pg 206] In A. D. 730, Emperor Leo issued an edict for the destruction of all images used in religious worship. 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, principality, and dominion, unto the end of the world.” Hence, as [pg 207] 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 [pg 208] In A. D. 1572, 1260 years from the removal of Constantine from Rome to Constantinople, occurred the bloody massacre 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 [pg 209] The temporal power was afterwards restored; but in 1848, twelve hundred and sixty years from 588 when John assumed the title 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 worship. The worship 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 [pg 210] 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 gods, 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, Ælian, Ambrose, and others. The devotees of particular gods gained admittance to the [pg 211] 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 title of the supreme deity worshipped 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 multitudes 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 [pg 212] 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. [pg 213]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. Mass, 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—??????, Romanus—?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: in ? ? ? ? ? ? Romiith; so likewise 400 10 10 40 6 200 = 666 ? ? ? ? ? ? Romanus; and also 300 6 50 70 40 200 = 666 [pg 214]the Greek ? a t e ? ? ? ? Latinos, 30 1 300 5 10 50 70 200 = 666. in each of which the exact mark is contained. “It therefore evidently appears, that each name is both a mark and a number; a mark, when viewed as made up of so many letters, therefore called the mark of his name; a number, when viewed as made up of so many numerals, then called the number of his name. But when considered merely as a name, derived from Romiith, a Roman, or Romulus, the founder of Rome, a name common among men, it may then be properly called the mark, or number of a man.”—Fleming's Rise and Fall of Papacy. To receive the mark of the beast, would be an acknowledgment of subjection to it. The connection of the beast and its image was so intimate, that submission to the one, was virtual submission to the other. To submit to the rites of the church modelled after the wild beast, to profess its faith, and to honor its authority, would be a reception of its mark. And all persons were compelled to do this, and give evidence of submission to its authority on the peril of their lives. 7. Those who should refuse the mark of the beast, were to be prohibited from buying and selling. The Lateran Council under Pope Alexander II., passed an act forbidding any to harbor heretics in their houses or to trade [pg 215] So exact a correspondence between the wild beast and the Western kingdoms, the two-horned beast and the Eastern empire, and the image to the wild beast and the Roman Hierarchy, makes the symbolization of this chapter very intelligible. These three agencies will severally continue till the end of the world. The latter will be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming (2 Thess. 2:8), and the two former will then be taken and “cast alive into the lake of fire,” 19:20. The vision would have been defective without [pg 216] |
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