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139 -
2.82.
.C. 74-
THE
3.19 (DC3ſ ſºil 1573
ST, Jo HN,
PROPHECY
OS
THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND FALL OF THE CHURCH or
ROME ;
THE INQUISITION:
THE REVOLUTION OF FRANCE:
THE UNIVERSAL WAR ;
- AN ID
THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY.
IBEING
A NEW IN'TERPRETATION.
ę
BY THE
REV. GEORGE CROLY, A.M. H. R.S.L.
—G)—
PHILADELPHIA :
E. LITTELL, CHESTNUT STREET,
AND
G. & C. CARVILL, NEW-YORK,

1827.
TO
THE RIGHT REVEREND
THOMAS,
LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY,
CHANCELLOR OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER,
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL society of LITERATURE,
&c. &c. &c.
º, THIS VOLUME,
`s Is (witH PERMISSION) DEDICATED,
\\ .
* * B Y
HIS LORDSHIP's VERY FAITH FUL
AND OBEDIENT SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
LoNDON,
March, 1827.
Øvſt
6. ... } ſy st .
ſ/º łº , … .
}. tº. ºff- *... |
tº 3 |
} ..} &
PREFACE.
THERE is the strongest reason for believing, that as
Judaea was chosen for the especial guardianship of the
original Revelation; so has England been chosen for
the especial guardianship of Christianity. -
The original Revelation declared the one true God;
Paganism was its corruption, by substituting many
false gods for the true. The second Revelation, Chris-
tianity, declared the one true Mediator; Popery was
its corruption, by substituting many false mediators
for the true. Both Paganism and Popery adopted
the same visible sign of corruption, the worship of
images. - - -
The Jewish history opens to us a view of the acting
of Providence with a people appointed to the preser-
wation of the faith of God. Every tendency to receive
the surrounding Idolatries into a participation of the
honours of the true worship, every idolatrous touch
was visited with punishment, and that punishment not
left to the remote working of the corruption, but im- .
mediate, and, by its directness, evidently designed to
make the nation feel the high importance of the trust,
and the final ruin that must follow its betrayal.
A glance at the British history since the Reforma-
tion is enough to show how closely this Providential
a 2
wi FIREFACE.
system has been exemplified in England. Every reign
which aftempted to bring back Popery, or even to give
it that share of power which could in any degree pre-
judice Protestantism, has been marked by signal mis-
fortune. It is a striking circumstance that almost eve-
ry reign of this Popish tendency has been followed by
one purely Protestant; and, as if to make the source
of the national peril plain to all eyes, those alternate
reigns have not offered a stronger contrast in their
principles than in their public fortunes. Let the rank
of England be what it might under the Protestant
Sovereign, it always sank under the Popish; let its loss
of honour or of power be what it might under the Po-
pish Sovereign, it always recovered under the Pro-
testant, and more than recovered; was distinguished by
sudden success, public renovation, and increased sta-
bility to the freedom and fortunes of the empire.
Protestantism was first thoroughly established in
England in the reign of Elizabeth.
Mary had left a dilapidated kingdom; the nation
worn out with disastcr and debt; the national arms dis-
graced; nothing in vigour but Popery. Elizabeth, at
4 wenty-five, found her first steps surrounded with the
most extraordinary embarrassments; at home, the
whole strength of a party, including the chief names
of the kingdom, hostile to her succession and religion:
in Scotland, a rival title, supported by France: in Ire-
land, a perpetual rebellion, inflamed by Rome; on the
Continent, the force of Spain roused against her by the
double stimulant of ambition and bigotry, at a time
when Spain commanded almost the whole strength of
Europe,
PREFACE. vii
But the cause of Elizabeth was PROTESTANTISM:
and in that sign she conquered. She shivered the
Spanish sword; she paralyzed the power of Rome; she
gave freedom to the Dutch; she fought the battle of
the French Protestants; every eye of religious suffer-
ing through Europe was fixed on this magnanimous
woman. At home, she elevated the habits and the
heart of her people. She even drained off the bitter
waters of religious feud and sowed in the vigorous
soil, which they had so long made unwholesome, the
seeds of every principle and institution that has since
grown up into the strength of the empire. But her
great work was the establishment of Protestantism.
Like the Jewish King, she found the Ark of God with-
out a shelter; and she built for it the noblest temple
in the world; she consecrated her country into its tem-
ple. -
She died in the fulness of years and honour; the
great Queen of Protestantism throughout the nations;
in the memory of England her name and her reign
alike immortal.
Charles I. ascended a prosperous throne; England
in peace, faction feeble or extinct; the nation prosper-
ing in the full spirit of commerce and manly adven-
ture. No reign of an English king ever opened out
a longer or more undisturbed view of prosperity. But
Charles betrayed the sacred trust of Protestantism.
He had formed a Popish alliance, with the full know-
ledge that it established a Popish dynasty. He had
lent himself to the intrigues of the French Minister
stained with Protestant blood; for his first armament
. º x -
º “iº. "...º. - &
. . . . . §: *:::: #
- ... *.*.* . . . . . . * : *.
* . . . . . . . . .
viii & PREFACE.
was a fleet against the Huguenots. If not a friend to
Popery, he was madly regardless of its hazards to the
constitution.” . . . . . . . .
Ill fortune suddenly gathered upon him. Distract-
ed councils, popular feuds met by alternate weakness
and violence, the loss of the national respect, finally
deepening into civil bloodshed, were the punishments
of his betrayal of Protestantism. The sorrows and -
late repentance of his prison hours painfully redeemed
his memory.
- Cromwell’s was the sceptre of a broken kingdom.
He found the reputation and influence of England
crushed; utter humiliation abroad; at home, the ex-
haustion of the civil war; and furious partizanship
still tearing the public strength in sunder.
Cromwell was a murderer; but, in the high de-
signs of Providence, the personal purity of the in-
strument is not always regarded. The Jews were
punished for their idolatry by idolaters, and restored
- *~
* By the marriage contract with the Infanta, the royal children
were to be educated by their mother until they were ten years” old.
But France, determined on running no risk of their being Protes-
tants, raised the term to thirteen years. . Even this was not enough;
for Popery was afraid of Protestant milk; and a clause was insert-
ed that the children should not be suckled by Protestant nurses.
The object of those stipulations was so apparent, that Charles must
have looked to a Popish succession; and the stipulations were so
perfectly sufficient for their purpose, that all his sons, even to the
last fragment of their line, were Roman Catholics. Even the
king's Protestantism was doubtful. Olivarez, the Spanish minis-
ter, openly declared that Charles, on the treaty of marriage with
the Infanta, had pledged himself to turn Roman Catholic. * .
PREFACE. ix
by idolaters. Whatever was in the heart of the Pro-
tector, the policy of his government was Protestant-
ism. His treasures and his arms were openly devoted
to the Protestant cause in France, in Italy, through-
out the world. He was the first who raised a public
fund for the support of the Vaudois churches. He
sternly repelled the advances which Popery made to
seduce him into the path of the late king.
England was instantly lifted on her feet as by the
power of miracle. All her battles were victories;
France and Spain bowed before her. All her adven-
tures were conquests; she laid the foundation of her—-
colonial empire, and of that still more illustrious com-
mercial empire to which the only limits in either
space or time may be those of mankind. She was the
most conspicuous power of Europe; growing year by
year in opulence, public knowledge, and foreign re-
nown; until Cromwell could almost realize the splen-
did improbability, that, “Before he died, he would
make the name of an Englishman as much feared and
honoured as ever was that of an ancient Roman.”
Charles the IId came to an eminently prosperous
throne. Abroad it held the foremost rank, the fruit
of the vigour of the Protectorate. At home all fac-
tion had been forgotten in the general joy of the re-
storation. *
But Charles was a concealed Roman Catholic. * He
attempted to introduce his religion; the star of Eng-
* He had solemnly professed Popery on the eve of the restor-
ation.
X PREFACE.
land was instantly darkened; the country and the
king alike became the scorn of the foreign courts; the
national honour was scandalized by mercenary sub-
Serviency to France; the national arms were humili-
ated by a disastrous war with Holland; the capital
was swept by the memorable inflictions of pestilence
and conflagration. *
James the IId still more openly violated the nation-
al trust. He publicly became a Roman Catholic.
This filled the cup. The Stuarts were cast out, they
and their dynasty for ever; that proud line of kings
was Sentenced to Wither down into a monk, and that
monk living on the alms of England, a stipendiary
and an exile. - -
William was called to the throne. He found it, as
it was always found at the close of a Popish reign,
surrounded by a host of difficulties; at home, the
kingdom in a ferment; Popery, and its ally Jacobit-
ism, girding themselves for battle; fierce disturbance
in Scotland; open war in Ireland, with the late king
at its head; abroad the French king domineering over
Europe, and threatening invasion. In the scale of
nations England nothing!
But the principle of William’s government was
Protestantism; he fought and legislated for it through
life; and it was to him, as it had been to all before
him, strength and victory. He silenced English fac-
tion; he crushed the Irish war; he then attacked the
colossal strength of France on its own shore. This
was the direct collision, not so much of the two king-
doms as of the two faiths; the Protestant champion
PREFACE.- xi
stood in the field against the Popish persecutor. Be-
fore that war closed, the fame of Louis was undone.
England rose to the highest military name. In a
train of immortal victories, she defended Protestant-
ism throughout Europe, drove the enemy to his pa-
lace gates, and before she sheathed the sword, broke
the power of France for a hundred years.
The Brunswick line were called to the throne on
the sole title of Protestantism. They were honoura-
ble men, and they kept their oaths to the religion of
England. The country rose under each of those Pro-
testant kings to a still higher rank; every trivial re-
verse compensated by some magnificent addition of
honour and power, until the throne of England stands
upon a height from which it may look down upon the
world. - - - s
Yet in our immediate memory there was one re-
markable interruption of that progress, which, if the
most total contrast to the periods preceding and fol-
lowing can amount to proof, proves that every intro-
duction of Popery into the legislature will be visited
as a public crime. -
During the war with the French Republic, Eng-
land had gone on from triumph to triumph. The
crimes of the Popish continent had delivered it over
to be scourged by France; but the war of England
was naval; and in 1805, she consummated that war
by the greatest victory ever gained on the seas.” At
one blow she extinguished the navies of France and
*Trafalgar, Oct. 1805.
xii PREFACE.
Spain. The death of her great statesman at length
opened the door to a new administration.* They were
men of acknowledged ability, some, of the highest;
and all accustomed to public affairs. But they came
in under a pledge to the introduction of Popery soon
or late into the legislature. They were emphatically
“The Roman Catholic Administration.” -
There never was in the memory of man so sudden
a change from triumph to disaster. Defeat came upon
them in every shape in which it could assail a govern-
ment; in war, finance, negociation. All their expe-
ditions returned with disgrace. The British arms
were tarnished in the four quarters of the globe.t
And, as if to make defeat more conspicuous, they
were baffled even in that service in which the national
feeling was to be the most deeply hurt, and in which
defeat seemed impossible. England saw with aston-
ishment her fleet disgraced before a barbarian without
a ship on the waters, and finally hunted out of his seas
by the fire from batteries crumbling under the dis-
charge of their own cannon. -
But the fair fame of the British empire was not to
be thus cheaply wasted away. The ministry must
perish; already condemned by the voice of the coun-
try, it was to be its own executioner. It at length
* February, 1806.
+ The retreat from Sweden, 1807.-Egypt invaded and evacu-
ated, 1807.-Whitelock sent out to Buenos Ayres, 1807.-Duck-
worth’s repulse at Constantinople, 1807. All those operations
had originated in 1806, excepting Whitelock's, which was the final
act of the ministry.
PREFACE. xiii
made its promised attempt upon the constitution. A
harmless measure” was proposed, notoriously but a
cover for the deeper insults that were to follow. It
was met with stern repulse; and, in the midst of pub-
lic indignation, perished the Popish Ministry of one
month and one year. f
Their successors came in on the express title of re-
sistance to Popery; they were emphatically “The
Protestant Administration.” They had scarcely en-
tered on office, when the whole scene of disaster
brightened up, and the deliverance of Europe was be-
gun with a vigour that never relaxed, a combination
of unexpected means and circumstances, an effective
and rapid success, that if a man had ventured to Sup-
pose but a month before, he would have been laughed
at as a visionary. Of all countries, Spain, sluggish
and accustomed to the yoke of France, with all its old
energies melted away in the vices of its government,
was the last that Europe could have looked to for de-
fiance of the universal conqueror. *
But if ever the battle was fought by the shepherd’s
staff and sling against the armed giant, it was then.
England was summoned to begin a new career of tri-
* The granting of commissions in the army. Mr. Perceval op-
posed this, as only a pretext; he said, “It was not so much the
individual measure, to which he objected, as the system of which
it formed a part, and which was growing every day. From the
arguments that he had heard, a man might be almost led to sup-
pose that one religion was considered as good as another, and that
the Reformation was only a measure of political convenience.”
f March, 1807,
5
xiv PREFACE.
umph. Irresistible on one element, she was now to be
led up step by step to the first place of glory on ano-
ther; and that Protestant ministry saw, what no human
foresight could have thought to see, Europe restored;
the monarch of its monarchs a prisoner in their hands;
and the mighty fabric of the French Atheistic Empire,
that was darkening and distending like an endless
dungeon over the earth, scattered with all its malig-
nant pomps and ministers of evil into air. -
It is impossible to conceive that this regular inter-
change of punishment and preservation has been with-
out a cause and a purpose. Through almost three
hundred years, through all varieties of public circum-
stance, all changes of men, all shades of general polity,
we see one thing alone unchanged, the regular con-
nexion of national misfortune with the introduction of
Popish influence, and of national triumph with its ex-
clusion.
It might be possible even to show, that, as the time
for the great trial of nations hurries on, England has
become the subject of, if such a phrase may be per-
mitted, a still more sensitive vigilance; and that not
to have sternly repelled the first temptation of the
corrupt faith has in our later day been punished as a
Crime. .
This language is not used to give offence to the Ro-
man Catholic. His religion is reprobated, because it
is his undoing, the veil that darkens his understand-
ing, the tyranny that forbids him the use of his natu-
ral liberty of choice, the guilty corruption of Christi-
anity that shuts the Scriptures upon him, that forces
PREFACE. XV
him away from the worship of that Being, who is to
be worshipped alone in spirit and in truth; and flings
him down at the feet of priests, and images of the
Virgin, and the whole host of false and idolatrous me-
diatorship. But, for himself there can be but one
feeling of the deepest anxiety, that he should search
the Scriptures; and, coming to that search without in-
solent self-will, or sullen prejudice, or the haughty
and negligent levity to which their wisdom will never
be disclosed, he should compare the Gospel of God
with the doctrines of Rome. -
But, whatever may be the lot of those to whom
error has been an inheritance, woe be to the man and
the people to whom it is an adoption. If England,
free above all nations, sustained amidst the trials which
have covered Europe before her eyes with burning
and slaughter, and enlightened by the fullest know-
ledge of Divine truth, refuse fidelity to the compact
by which those matchless privileges have been given,
her condemnation will not be distant. But if she
faithfully repel this deepest of all crimes, and refuse
to place Popery side by side with Christianity in the
temple of the state, there may be no bound to the sa-
cred magnificence of her preservation. Even the
coming terrors and tribulations of the earth may but
augment her glory; like the prophet in the mount,
even in the midst of the thunderings and lightnings
that appal the tribes of the earth, she may be led up,
only nearer to behold the Eternal Majesty; and when
the time of the visitation has past, to come forth from
zvi PRIEF.A.C.E.
the cloud with the light of the Divine presence round
her brow, and bearing in her hand the law for man-
kind. -
In dedicating this volume to the Lord Bishop of
Salisbury, the author feels gratified by the opportu-
nity of expressing his thanks for personal attentions,
and his perfect respect for a rank of learning and vir-
tue worthy of the best ages of the Church, for tolera-
tion in the true spirit of Christianity, and for manly,
pious, and principled resistance to Claims which me-
nace alike the Constitution and the Religion of Eng-
}and. -
INTRODUCTION
- * ~ * To -
THE APOCALYPSE.
THE Apocalypse is the great final prophecy of the
Church of Christ, written by St. John, the last survi-
vor of the Apostles, during his banishment in the Isle
of Patmos, about the year of our Lord 97, in the time
of the Emperor Domitian.
Its purpose was to prepare the Asiatic Churches for
the impending persecution, which was to commence
under the Emperor Trajan, and be continued until the
acknowledgment of Christianity under the Emperor
Constantine; and to detail to the universal Church
the leading events of her future history down to the
end of the world; showing that the true Faith should
be either directly persecuted, or remain in a narrow
and depressed state, during the whole human govern-
ment of the earth; that it should, notwithstanding, be
sustained; that its oppressors should be punished from
time to time, until their final extinction by a consum-
mate act of the Divine power and justice; and that the
Church, the body of the faithful in all nations, should
thenceforth enjoy a splendid and miraculous prosperity
for a long, yet limited, period, closing with the gene-
ral resurrection.
The Apocalypse is a collection of Divine visions,
seen probably at different times, yet all during the
Apostle's exile. It consists of six distinct portions:–
1. -
2 INTRODUCTION.
The Vision of the Asiatic Persecution.*—The Vision
of the Seals, or general view of Providence in the
government of the Church and the World, beginning
with the period of Constantine, and ending with the
close of the final age of Mankind.t—The Vision of
the Trumpets,f-the Vision of the Vials,S which two
are identical, and describe the inflictions laid upon the
persecutors of the Church, beginning from the esta-
blishment of the Inquisition, and closing with the final
ruin of the Popedom in the triumph of Christianity.—
The Vision of the Church, distinguished into the
three aeras of Pagan persecution, Papal persecution,
and the catastrophe of her oppressors. —The Vision of
the triumph of Christianity. T
It will be shown in the course of the Interpretation,
that this prophecy includes in the most direct manner
all those great events which make the frame-work of
History since the first age of Christianity; that it dis-
tinctly predicts—
The establishment of the Church under Constantine
and his successors. . -
The overthrow of the Roman Empire.
The erection of the Barbarian Kingdoms on its ruin.
The rise of the Popedom.
The establishment of the Inquisition.
The persecution of the first reformers.
The successive punishments laid on Italy, Spain,
and France, as the three powers by which the Inqui-
sition was let loose against Protestantism; namely,
The papal factions, and French wars of the fourteenth
century.—The destruction of the Spanish Armada.-
The civil war following the overthrow of Protestant-
ism in France in 1685.-The wars of Louis the 14th.
The French Revolution; not narrowed into a few
conjectural verses, as is usual; but detailed in an entire
* Ch, i. ii., iii. † Ch. iv. v. vi. vii. # Ch. viii. ix. x, xi,
§ Ch. xv. xvi. with the connected chapters xvii. xviii. xix,
| Ch. xii. xiii. xiv. * Ch. xx, XXi, XXii,
INTRODUCTION. 3
and unsuspected Chapter, with its peculiar characters
of Atheism, and Anarchy; its subsequent despotism,
and its final overthrow by the armies of Europe.
The cessation of the Inquisition, and the simultane-
ous and extraordinary diffusion of the Scriptures.
The remainder of the prophecy is future, and of
course beyond any exact interpretation. But it con-
tains the most unquestionable predictions of events,
to the magnitude and fierceness of whose havoc of the
power, the institutions, and the lives of mankind all
the past inflictions are trivial. It is fully predicted
that there shall be a sudden revival of Atheism, Su-
perstition, and religious violence, acting upon the
European nations until they are inflamed into univer-
sal war. All the elements of terror and ruin shall be
roused; Protestantism persecuted; Popery, after a
momentary triumph, utterly destroyed; in a general
shock of kingdoms, consummated by some vast and
palpable developement of the Divine Power, at once
protecting the Church, and extinguishing, in remedi-
less and boundless devastation, infidelity and idolatry.
Apparently for the express purpose of compelling
us to believe in a catastrophe so repugnant to our natu-
ral impressions and the usual course of the world, this
visitation is prophesied no less than four times;* each
time with some added terror, and the last with the
most overwhelming accumulation of the images of
individual and national ruin. It takes successively
the language of the prophets exulting over the fall of
the great and opulent cities of the east, the broken
sceptres, the spoiled wealth and burning palaces and
temples of Tyre and Babylon; and of the still sterner
denunciations over the crimes of Jerusalem; the ima-
ges of wild and sudden invasion, and hopeless battle,
the massacre, the conflagration, the final crush of polity,
* At the close of the Visions of the Seals, the Trumpets, the
Wials, and the Church,
4 INTRODUCTION,
power and name. Even the agencies of nature are
summoned to deepen the prediction; earthquakes and
subterraneous fire, lightnings and ponderous and fatal
hail. And in the midst of this chaos of bloodshed,
fire and tempest, towers the form of the Avenger,
flashing with terrible lustre; crowned and armed with
the power and the wrath of Deity against a world that
has for so many ages of long-suffering resisted his
Spirit, worshipped idols, and enslaved and slain his
people—God, a consuming fire!
It is further declared that this catastrophe is now ap-
proaching hour by hour; the French Revolution stand-
ing as the last great event before it; with but a brief
intervening period, occupied by Providence in pre-
paring and securing the Church; in spreading the
Scriptures, and in giving a last opportunity to the
unbeliever and the idolater to accept the truth of God.
The Apocalypse thus assumes the rank of not merely
an elucidation of the Divine will in the past, nor an
evidence of the general truth of Christianity, but of a
WARNING, of the highest and most pressing nature, to
all men, in the entire range of human society. It is
not the mere abstract study of the theologian, nor the
solitary contemplation of the man of piety. But a
great document addressed to the mighty of the earth;
Wisdom calling out trumpet-tongued to the leaders of
Tiational Council; the descended Minister of Heaven,
summoning for the last time the nations to awake to
the peril already darkening over their heads, and cut
themselves loose from those unscriptural and idolatrous
faiths, with which they must otherwise go down; the
Spirit of God, commanding the teachers and holders
of the true faith to prepare themselves by the cultiva-
tion of their powers, by a vigilant purity, by a gene-
rous and hallowed courage, for that high service of
God and man in which they may so soon be called on
to act, and perhaps to suffer; and proclaiming to all
men alike the infinite urgency of redeeming the time
INTRODUCTION. 5
before the arrival of a period, that to the whole world
of idolatry, European and barbarian, shall come with
a civil ruin, of which the subversion of Jerusalem was
but a type; and with a physical destruction, that can
find no parallel but in the inevitable fury of the De-
luge.
Yet, vague as those combinations of all the forms of
public calamity may appear, we are not left without
the means of approaching a more distinct conception.
It will be shown in the course of the volume, that
this final infliction bears a very singular resemblance
to the procedure of the French Revolution; the dif-
ference being chiefly in magnitude. The commence-
ment of the French Revolution in Atheism and anar-
chy, the spirit of hostility to all nations, the sudden
change of the whole people into a soldiery, the indig-
nities offered to the popedom, the captivity of sover-
eigns, the suspension or change of laws and establish-
ments, and even the means by which those horrors
were partially combatted and restrained—all find their
counterparts in the final plague. The chief distinc-
tions are, that the latter, instead of being limited to
Europe, incomplete, and apparently under the sole
influence of human means, will be universal, com-
plete, and, at least towards the close, palpaby influ-
enced by the action or presence of the Deity.
CAUSES OF THE FAILURE OF INTERPRETATION.
Of all the Books of Scripture the Apocalypse has
most consumed the labour of Commentators, and with
the least valuable results. To this day there is no sa-
tisfactory interpretation; and though parts have been
cleared, yet they have been so remote from each other,
so frequently conjectural, and so little capable of
throwing light on the general prophecy, that the Apo-
calypse has hitherto remained, in the strongest sense,
debateable ground; an unfertile and undefined district,
1 *
6 INTRODUCTION.
in which every new comer may set up his claim, but
no one establish his possession.
Of the acquirement and vigorous understanding of
many among the interpreters, there can be no doubt;
but so obvious has been their failure, that at length
the attempt has been looked on as exhibiting little
more than a strong determination in the experimental-
ists, a love of tasking themselves with insuperable
difficulties, something of a theological hardihood, par-
donable for its waste of time only in the honesty of
its motives. With the world, the Apocalypse has,
in consequence, become nearly a dead letter. The
more pious, who believe in its divine inspiration,
place it apart from the general study of Scripture, as
a book for whose use they must wait until some hap-
pier age. The multitude, who, like Gallio, “care for
none of these things,” lay it by, as an old matter of
dispute with which they have no concern, or forget
its existence. The scoffers and half-learned taunt re-
ligious men with the acknowledgment of a “sacred
document,” of which the meaning cannot be ascer-
fained after the labours of eighteen hundred years; or
indulge themselves with making mirth of its strong
Orientalisms and mysterious symbols. Thus, in the
present state of our knowledge, the book is practically
valueless; it makes no impression on the Christian
world, none is so seldom quoted even in the pulpit,
and the man who quoted its authority on any public
question would probably be looked on as doing no
very distinguished honour to his own understanding.
Yet, with all this, the Christian, in the possession of
the Apocalypse, holds in his hand the most distinct,
complete, and wonder-working instrument of Divine
knowledge that was ever communicated to earth; the
clearest elucidation of Providence, and, not less, the
most convincing and vivid evidence of the truth of
Christianity. -
Sufficient reasons may be found for this failure of
INTRODUCTION. 7
the commentators. They have in general,—and I
am sure I make the observation in perfect respect for
their learned and pious labours, been too much in-
fluenced by the great names of Sir Isaac Newton and
Joseph Mede. The system of almost all among the
multitude of commentators whom I have consulted,
has been formed on that of those distinguished men.
Yet Newton’s treatise was but a sketch, and apparent-
ly a hasty one, appended to his “Observations on Da-
niel.” Mede’s more diligently laboured work is yet
singularly strained, obscure, and gratuitous. Both
have the grand disqualification, that they wrote at a
time when those events which are the absolute key of
the whole prophecy, had not yet occurred. The na-
tural result of determining, under such circumstances,
to find a meaning for every part, was error; and to
adopt their authority was but to propagate their er-
ror. In the arrangement of the prophetic visions, and
their mutual dependance, both were wrong; and a mis-
conception of this rank must be fatal to the formation
of any true system. Yet, in an important portion of
the past, the predictions immediately relative to the
rise of the popedom, their interpretation is not to be
shaken; though their credit as discoverers may be im-
paired by the same application of the prophecy so
early as the twelfth century.
Perhaps a reason remains why the sagacity of even
later writers should have been still baffled. It may be
the Divine will that no prophecy should receive a full
explanation at a time distant from its final fulfilment.
A prophecy, convincingly interpreted at a remote pe-
riod, would be, if the phrase be allowable, a history of
the future; it must interfere with human will, and
thwart that most admirable part of Providential go-
vernment by which general good is forced out from
the individual and spontaneous waywardness of man.
The predictions of the Jewish prophets were chiefly
capable of immediate interpretation; but it was be-
8 INTRODUCTION.
cause their purpose was immediate, the punishment
of the people for their idolatries, or the Divine retri-
bution on the head of their oppressors. But their pre-
dictions of the distant Messiah were wrapped in a
cloud which, though no longer obscured to us, was
thick darkness to the multitude. It may thus be al-
most a maxim, that no prophecy can be accurately in-
terpreted until it is either past, or on the point of be-
ing fulfilled.
The circumstances which led me to the task are
briefly these. -
Some years since, in a casual reading of the Apoca-
lypse, I was struck with the apparent reference of the
eleventh chapter, that of “the two witnesses,” to
one of the most extraordinary events of our time or
any other, the abjuration of religion by a government
and people! a circumstance perfectly alone in the his-
tory of the world. But I further found that this event
was declared to mark the conclusion of an aera, on
which the whole chronology of the Apocalypse was
fixed, the well-known “twelve hundred and sixty
years,” which in their turn were declared to mark the
papal supremacy from the time of its commencement
until the cessation of its “power over the saints,” its
power of persecution.
This abjuration occurred in 1793, the first year of
the French Republic; reckoning 1260 years back led
to their commencement in A. D. 533. On referring
to Bishop Newton’s work to ascertain whether this
date had been noticed; I found a note mentioning the
opinion of Dr. Mann of the Charter-house, then de-
ceased, that the year 533 was to be considered as the
true epoch of the papal supremacy.” On reference
to Baronius, the established authority among the
Roman Catholic annalists, I found the whole detail of
* Bp. Newton on the Prophecies, vol. ii. p. 305.
INTRODUCTION. 9
Justinian’s grant of supremacy to the Pope formally
given.” * t -
Baronius has been a suspected authority, where the
honour of the popedom is concerned. But his state-
ment was, at least, proof of the Romish opinion of
the original epoch of the supremacy; and it received
an unanswerable support from the books of the Impe-
rial laws, in which the grant of “primacy and prece-
dency over all the Bishops of the Christian world,”
is registered and repeated in a variety of forms. The
entire transaction was of the most authentic and re-
gular kind, and suitable to the importance of the trans-
fer. The grant of Phocas was found to be a confused
and imperfect transaction, scarcely noticed by the
early writers, and, even in its fullest sense, amounting
to nothing beyond a confirmation of the grant of Jus-
tinian. The chief cause of its frequent adoption as an
epoch by the commentators, seemed to be its conve-
nient coincidence with the rise of Mahometanism.
From this point I laid aside all commentators; and
determined to make my way alone, to form my
opinions without bias, and discover whether the diffi-
culties of the prophecy could not be cleared off by an
inquiry on the common principles of interpretation.
The difficulties were less stubborn than I had conceiv-
ed; and the present arrangement and interpretation
were soon decided upon.
Subsequently, I read all the commentaries that I
could meet with; and the crowd of writers on this
subject would be scarcely suspected by those who
have not made the same experiment. But, admiring
their frequent ingenuity and literature, I found but
little to add to my own interpretation, and nothing to
alter.
Where I could make use of them in illustration or
reference, they will be found in the shape of notes,
* Baronii Annal, Cen, 6.
10 INTRODUCTION.
My chief authority in dates and points of history, has
been the very diligent and exact Lardner; in both
his “Credibility of the Gospel History,” and his
“Dissertations.” In the learning of the Apocalypse,
Vitringa is a voluminous guide, his research extends
through almost all languages and all authorship; but
like his countrymen he is overwhelmed by his litera-
ry opulence, his meaning is lost in endless and irrele-
vant discussion, and the severest task that I have been
put to in a work proverbially intricate and laborious,
has been the toil of wading through the ponderous
“Implementa Prophetiae” of Vitringa.
AUTHENTICITY OF THE APOCALYPSE.
The Apocalypse can be proved to have existed and
been received as a portion of the inspired Volume in
the earliest period of Christianity; it is quoted in the
first writings of the Church; it became the subject of
early commentary, and was fully accepted during
the first three centuries, those of the clearest know-
ledge, and most immediate transmission of authority
from the Apostles.
It appears from some passages in “The Shepherd
of Hermas,” a work contemporary with St. John, to
have been seen by the writer.
About the middle of the second century, scarcely.
more than fifty years after the death of St. John, there
was a persecution under Marcus Antoninus, in which
Pothinus, Bishop ot Lyons, with many others suffer-
ed. The Churches of Lyons and Vienne sent an
Epistle relating their afflictions to the Churches of
Asia, a well known document, and said to have been
drawn up by Irenaeus. In this there are obvious re-
ferences to the Scriptures, and, among the rest, to the
Apocalypse, “Those are they who follow the Lamb
whithersoever he goeth.”
* Ch, xiv. 4.
INTRODUCTION. 11
Justin Martyr, still earlier, (about A. D. 140,) thus
writes: “A man from among us by name John, one of
the Apostles of Christ, in the revelation (Apocalypse)
made to him, has prophesied, that the believers in
Christ shall live a thousand years in Jerusalem, and
after that shall come the general, and in a word, the
eternal resurrection and judgment of all together.”
Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, (successor of Pothinus,
about A. D. 178,) a disciple of Polycarp, who had
been the disciple of St. John, thus writes: “We will
not run the hazard of too positively affirming any
thing of the name of Antichrist, for if his name were
to have been declared at this time, it would have been
declared by him who saw the Apocalypse. For it
was seen, not long ago, but almost in our own age,
near the close of the reign of Domitian.” Irenaeus
further attempts to give a solution of the mysterious
number 666.
Clement of Alexandria (about A. D. 194,) writes:
“Such a one, though here on earth he be not honour-
ed with the first seat, shall sit upon the four and
twenty thrones, judging the people, as John says in
the Apocalypse.”f
Tertullian (about A. D. 200,) writes: “The
Apostle John in the Apocalypse describes a sharp
two-edged sword proceeding out of the mouth of
God.”f
“We have Churches that are disciples of John, for
though Marcian rejects the Apocalypse, the succession
of bishops traced to the original will assure us that
John is the author.”S - -
Origen, (A. D. 230,) the father of Biblical Criti-
cism, writes, “Therefore John the son of Zebedee
Says in the Apocalypse, ‘I saw an angel fly in the
midst of heaveh.’”|
* Dial, Tryp. f Stromat. 1. vi.
# Ady, Marc. l. iii, c. 14, § Ib. l. iv. c. 5.
| Com, on the Gospel of St. John.
12 INTRODUCTION.
Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, (A. D. 247,) in
his work against the Millenarians, treats of the
Apocalypse as written by an inspired man, doubting,
however, whether he were St. John the Apostle.
Cyprian, the Martyr, bishop of Carthage, writes,
(A. D. 248,) “And in the Apocalypse the Angel re-
sists John attempting to adore him, and says, Do it
not.” “Hear in the Apocalypse the voice of your
God.”t Lactantius (A. D. 306,) writes: “This
name, (the Son of God,) is known to no one, but him-
self and the Father, as John teaches in the Apoca-
lypse.”f - -
The Apocalypse was received by Arius (A. D.
319,) and his sect; by the Donatists, (A. D. 400,) of
whom one, Tichonius, wrote a commentary on it;
and by the general Church. - -
Those authorities are undeniable; and they fully
establish the fact that the Apocalypse was received in
the first ages of Christianity as sacred, and forming a
portion of Scripture. -
I now proceed to the questions relative to the wri-
ter, and the time of the prophecy; some of the autho-
rities already quoted are necessarily repeated, but in
another sense, and merely for the purpose of showing
the original strength of the testimony.
OF THE WIRITER OF THE APOCALYPSE.
It is the earliest opinion of the Church that John
the son of Zebedee, the writer of the Gospel, was the
writer of the Apocalypse.
The arguments on this point are briefly, Ś
1. No doubts were entertained of the fact in the
first century, the century of his contemporaries.
2. There is no denial of it from Polycarp, Papias,
Ignatius, &c. -
* De Bon. Pudic. † De Op.
# Epist. c.42. § Woodhouse’s Dissertation.
INTRODUCTION. 13
3. The book was public from the beginning, was ex-
tensively quoted as a book of Scripture, and must
have thus excited inquiries relative to its authorship,
if there had been any doubt on the subject. It is al-'
lowed by Michaelis himself that it must have existed
at least before the year 120, (within 23 years of the
date generally received.) ~,
4. No opinions are advanced in the Apocalypse
contradictory to those found in the Gospel. - -
The principal opponent is Michaelis; and his argu-
ment turns chiefly upon the dissimilarity of styles,
that of the Gospel being gentle, and generally, pure
Greek; that of the Apocalypse being rapid, abrupt,
figurative, and abounding in Hebrew idioms.
To this argument there are evident answers.
The difference of subject between a detail of the
doctrines of Christianity, and the penal consequences
of its rejection, might well account for a marked dif-
ference of style. . . . . -
In transcribing his Gospel, St. John probably em-
ployed a Greek amanuensis; it was understood in the
ancient Church, that the Apostles employed at least
occasional amanuenses;” that St. Paul did so, is evi-
dent from his distinguishing certain of his Epistles as
written by himself. - - -
“Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you
with mine own hand.”t
“I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand, I
will repay it, (the debt of Onesimust.”)
It may be fairly conceived that he limited himself
in his other Epistles to the “Salutation” at the end,
as the sufficient mark of their authenticity. “The
Salutation of Paul with mime own hand,” which is
the token in every Epistle. §
* Jerome, quoted by Woodhouse, p. 122. i Galat. vi. 11.
# Philem. 19. § 2. TheSS. iii. 17.
2
14. INTRODUCTION.
“The salutation of me, Paul, with mine own
},0.700. ”* .
The probability is strong, that St. John, a Hebrew
fisherman, (who, till about the year 68, is not known
to have left Palestine,) should have availed himself
of the hand of some Greek to transcribe his Gospel, a
document prepared at his leisure, and which was to
fill up and finish the narrative of Christianity.
But in writing the Apocalypse all this is reversed.
He seems to have beheld the visions even with the
pen perpetually in his hand. - -
In the first vision, he receives the command; “write
the things which thou hast seen, and the things which
are, and the things which shall be hereafter.”f
“ Unto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus
write.”f The same command to write is given with
reference to all the churches. It is scarcely to be
presumed, that, when writing was to be the instru-
ment of conveying this most important prophecy, its
use should have been deferred. -
But the evidence is still more direct. “And when
the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was
about to write, and I heard a voice from Heaven say-
ing unto me; Seal up these things which the seven
thunders uttered, and write them not.”S
Under a Revelation so immediate he must have
used such language as he could; a mixture of Hebræ-
isms and Greek, the habitual style of his countrymen,
and of the Septuagint. It may be doubted, whether in
the desert island of Patmos, the Apostle could have
found any one capable of correcting that style; it may
be much more doubted, whether he would have dared
to submit to any other hand the record of those solemn
impressions which he must have felt to be struck by
the very stamp of Heaven.
* 1 Cor. xvi. 21. - † Apoc. i. 19.
# Chap. ii. 1, § Chap. x. 4, 5.
INTRODUCTION. 1 5
An additional argument for the identity of St. John
with the writer of the Apocalypse is derivable from
the use of peculiar words. “The word apvtov which
occurs so frequently in the Apocalypse, (a word sel-
dom used in the LXX.) is found no where else in the
New Testament, except in the Gospel of St. John.”
The form of expression towsw cºnóstow and rºotsw lºvěos
is used Apoc. xxii. 15, and in the first Epistle of St.
John i. 6. Further, in Apoc. i. 7, there is a quota-
tion from Zechariah xii. 10, not according to the text
of the LXX, but with a different reading, used by St.
John when he saw Christ pierced on the cross, but
quoted by no other of the sacred writers.”t
Lardner reinforces this argument. Our Saviour
says to his disciples, “Be of good cheer, I have over-
come the world.” Christian firmness under trials is
several times represented by “overcoming, overcom-
ing the world, or overcoming the wicked one,” in
St. John’s first Epistle. f And it is language peculiar
to St. John’s writings in the New Testament. Our
Lord says," “To him that overcometh will I grant to
sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame,
and am set down with my father on his throne.”
Further instances of similarity of phrase may be
found in Mill’s Proleg. No. 176, 177. –Wells—
Beausobre, and L'Enfant preface sur l’Apocalypse.
The argument is still stronger where there is an
identity of thought as well as of phrase. St. John in
the Gospel is remarkable for habitually appealing to
the evidence of the eye. “And the word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.”"
Again; when the soldier pierced our Lord’s side.
“And he that saw it bare record, and his record is
true 2.5 × #
* Chap. xxi. 15. f Michaelis, vol. iv. p. 535.
# Chap. ii. 13, 14.—iv. 4.—v.4, 5. § Rev. iii. 21.
| Chap. ii. 7, 11, 17, 26.-iii. 5, 12, 21, and xxi. 7.
T Chap. i. 14. ** Chap. xix. 35.
I 6 INTRODUCTION.
Again; his first Epistle commences with, “That
which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
booked on, and our hands have handled of the Word
of Life. For the life was manifested, and we have
seen it, and bear witness.” -
Again; “This is the disciple which testifieth of
these things.” Nothing like this frequency and force
of appeal to personal cognizance is to be found in the
other sacred writers.
. But the Apocalypse bears the same characteristic on
its front. It is declared to have been sent and signi-
fied to John, “Who bare record of the Word of God,
and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things
that he saw.”f -
An additional argument for the identity of the
writers may exist in the verses at the close of the
Gospel and beginning of the Apocalypse. “This is
the disciple which testifieth of those things (6 uaprupov,)
and wrote those things, and we know that his testi-
mony (n waprupto) is true.”f
“He sent and signified it to his servant John, who
bare record of the word of God and of the testimony
of Jesus Christ, and of all things which he saw.” (O;
suaptupnos tow Aoyov tou Gºgov ×at ºnv uopºvptov.S.) This ex-
pression is repeated, when the writer describes him-
self as “John, their companion in tribulation and in
the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, of the Isle
called Patmos, for (8vo, on account of) the word of
God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”" (Tov Aoyov
tov Øsov xa, env wapeuptav.) The identity of expression
in these three passages of the original seems to imply,
that the second had a direct reference to the first, and
that the third assigns the fact of St. John’s writing the
Gospel as a ground of his exile. The connexion runs
* Gospel, xxi. 24. † Chap. i. 2. # John xxi. 24,
Ś Apoc, i, 2. | Chap. v. 9. * Chap, i, 9,
INTRODUCTION. 17
thus. In the close of the Gospel, St. John declares
himself to have been an eye-witness of our Lord’s
ministry, and to have been the writer of the history.
In the commencement of the Apocalypse, he declares
himself to be one who had given his evidence “to the
word of God, and the testimony of Jesus.” A few
verses further, he declares that he was banished to
Patmos on account of having given this evidence to
the “word of God and testimony of Jesus.”
The usual way of interpreting the verse at the com-
mencement” is, that the writer is merely intending to
express his having given a faithful account in the Apo-
calypse. But this is overthrown by the 9th verse,
which states, that it is in consequence of “the testimo-
ny,” &c. that he has been exiled. It refers to some-
thing previous to the Apocalypse. It is true, that
“the word and testimony” sometimes express, mere-
ly the doctrine. But the peculiarity of their use by
St. John in the very places where we should look for
them, if it were his purpose to state himself the writer
of both, makes the evidence nearly conclusive. And
there would be a value in the identification. It must
have been important to the general acceptance of the
Apocalypse by the early Churches, that it should be
known as the work of an Apostle.
It is unnecessary to multiply discussion on this
point. Yet there is one argument, which, so far as
I can observe, has been altogether overlooked; and
which, as it offers an explanation of a passage hitherto
baffling all interpretation, and even giving rise to one
of the oldest and most curious misconceptions in
Christian history, may be worth proposing.
In our Lord’s interview with the Apostles,t per-
haps his last, he declared to Peter that he should die
a violent death. Peter turning and seeing John, the
favoured disciple, inquired what death he too should
* Apoc, i. 2. t John xxi. 18, &c,
2 % - .
18 INTRODUCTION.
die. “Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry
till I come, what is that to thee?” This has been ge-
merally taken simply as a rebuke, and such it may
have in some measure been, though the inquiry may
have proceeded as much from friendship as from cu-
riosity. But the disciples, who heard the words and
saw the countenance of the Divine Speaker, evidently
took it for more, for a prophecy, a new miracle, by
which John was to be immortal. “Then went this
saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple
should not die.” St. John, in writing of this many
years after, does not contradict the idea of its having
been a prophecy; he merely objects to the interpreta- .
tion as urged too far. “Yet Jesus said not unto him,
He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I
come, what is that to thee?” At that coming, St.
John evidently understands, that he was to die.
The commentators” have conceived that our Lord
here spoke of his “coming,” at the siege of Jerusalem.
But words like his are not to be taken in so loose a
way; for St. John long survived that date. He wrote
his Gospel nearly thirty years after the siege, without
allusion to that date. But at the very time of his
writing the Gospel, he was on the eve of receiving a
Revelation, in which it was declared that our Lord
was “coming,” and that his advent was to punish and
purify the Asiatic Churches by withdrawing the pro-
tection which had hitherto saved them from the pagan
sword. The Apocalypse opens with the announce-
ment of this “coming.” It closes with the declara-
tion, “Surely I come quickly.” The writer responds,
like one who felt that it was to be the termination of
life and the beginning of happiness, “Amen, even so
come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all, Amen.”
It has been supposed that the “coming” applied
* Hammond, Stanhope, Lightfoot.
INTRODUCTION. 19
merely to the general fates of Christianity. But this
must be wrong; for the prophecy of the future, the
wa usaxovra, is distinguished in the strongest manner,
by location, circumstances, and even by the peculiar
solemnity of its declaration, from that of the Asiatic
Churches, to all and each of which the threat is repeat-
ed, that the Lord is coming quickly to them, and
that his coming should let loose the pagan persecutor
upon them. Thus, to the Church of Ephesus, he
says, “Repent and do the first works, or else I will
come to thee quickly.” To Pergamus, “Repent or
else I will come to the quickly.” And so of others.
But to the Church of Philadelphia, the declaration is,
that, in consequence of her purity, she shall be pro-
tected under her trial. “I will also keep thee from
the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all
the world.” This proves that the persecution was to
be immediate and local, as regulated by the degrees
of impurity in the several Churches. It was finally
to visit every Church of the Roman empire, then
looked on as equivalent to the world. *
And the history is conformable. The Apocalypse
is stated to have been made public (about A. D. 97,)
in the reign of Nerva.t That Emperor died in 98;
and, from the accession of Trajan, the great persecu-
tion had begun in Asia Minor, one year after the
publication of the prophecy. In two years from that
time (A. D. 100) St. John died. † Thus then would
be, at once, substantiated the identity of the writers of
the Gospel and the Apocalypse; and would be cleared
*Apoc. ii. 5. * Lardner, vol. vi. p. 638.
# Jerome, in his book “Of Illustrious Men,” says, “The Apostle
John lived in Asia in the time of Trajan, and dying at a great age
in the 68th year after our Lord’s passion, was buried in the city
of Ephesus.” Supposing the crucifixion to have been in the year.
32 (Jerome’s opinion,) 68 years will reach to the year 100, or 3d
of Trajan, in which year the death of St. John is placed by Jerome
in his Chronicle, Lardner, vol. vi. p. 169,
20 INTRODUCTION.
up the meaning of the mysterious passage relative to
St. John’s immortality.
This local prophecy is easily distinguished from the
more, solemn and universal advent of our Lord, de-
clared in the first verses of the Apocalypse. The
timé when “every eye shall see him, and they that ,
pierced him, and the kindreds of the earth shall wail
because of him,” was determined for the last ages,
and for an assertion of his majesty and judgment be-
fore all mankind. - & - * *
THE DATE of THE APOCALYPSE.
It was the original opinion of the Church that the
Apocalypse was written before the close of the first
century. -
The testimony of Irenaeus has been already detailed;
he fixes it in the reign of Domitian.*
Clement of Alexandria speaks of St. John’s return-
ing from Patmos to Ephesus after, the death of the
tyrant Domitian.t -
Victorinus (A. D. 290) says that John was ban-
ished by Domitian, and in his reign saw the Apoca-
!ypse. I -
Eusebius, in the history of Domitian’s persecution,
says, “In this persecution, as it is said, John, the
Apostle and Evangelist, being still living, was banish-
ed into the island of Patmos, for the testimony of the
word of God.”S -
Jerome, in his book of “Illustrious Men,” already
alluded to, says, “Domitian, in the fourteenth year of
his reign, raising the second persecution after Nero,
John was banished to the island of Patmos, where he
wrote the Revelation, which Justin Martyr and
Irenaeus explain, (or attest.) When Domitian had
* Lib. v. c. 30. + Euseb. H. E. l. iii. c. 23.
# Apud Cave. - § H. E. l. iii, c. 18.
INTRODUCTION. 21
been killed, and his edicts repealed by the semate for
their excessive cruelty, he returned to Ephesus, in
the time of the Emperor Nerva.”
In his treatise against Jovinian, he repeats that
“John was at once Apostle, Evangelist and Prophet.
Apostle, in that he wrote letters to the Church as a
master: Evangelist, in that he wrote a Gospel: and
Prophet, in that he saw the Apocalypse in the island
of Patmos, whither he was banished by Domitian.”t
Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, towards the close
of the second century, in a document of great import-
ance and publicity, his “Letter,” in the name of the
Asiatic Bishops to Victor the Bishop of Rome, on the
controversy relative to the keeping of Easter, says,
. “John also was buried at Ephesus, who leaned on
the Lord’s breast, who was a priest, bearing a plate,
(or bearing a rank equivalent to that of Jewish High
Priest, who wore a golden plate on his forehead,) a
martyr and master, fell asleep at Ephesus.”f
Further evidence of the early opinions must be un-
necessary. . -
But in subsequent times there have been no less
than six different conjectures as to the date. Upon
those I shall not dwell, because, all admitting the in-
spiration of the book, the differences of date can affect
only the interpretation. -
It has been asserted, on the authority of Epiphanius,
that this book was written in the time of Claudius.
To this it is to be answered, that there is no proof
of any Christian persecution in the reign of Claudius.
(A. D. 41, &c.) He commanded the Jews to leave
Rome; yet the command did not affect the Jews who
lived out of Italy, nor the Christians; consequently,
St. John’s exile to Patmos cannot be referred to that
time. -
* De V. H. C. 9. f Ady, Joy, l, i. t, 4,
# Euseb. H. E. l. v. c. 24.
22 INTRODUCTION.
It is altogether improbable, from the history of the
planting of the Asiatic Churches, that they existed in
the reign of Claudius, or that St. John had been then
in Ephesus; for St. Paul” found no Apostolic Church
there.
Another opinion is, that John was exiled to Patmos,
and wrote the Apocalypse in the reign of Nero, and
for this has been adduced the subscription to the Sy-
riac version. “The Revelation which was made by
God to John the Evangelist in the island of Patmos,
whither he was banished by the Emperor Nero.”
This version is a part of the Philoxenian made at the
beginning of the sixth century.
To this the answer is, that a subscription which
might have been written by any one, however ignor-
ant, at any time, however late, is no authority,+and
that, in the titles of the Sacred Books of the Syriac
version there are known errors.
The opinion of this date has been much assisted by
a prejudice. . Many commentators, misconceiving the
prophecies addressed to the Seven Churches, and anxi-
ous to find some great event applicable to our Lord’s
declaration that he was “coming quickly,” looked for
that “coming” in the fall of Jerusalem, and, in con-
sequence, attempted to throw back the date. Sir
Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, and Michaelis, with
others of name, have adopted this error; which has
been lately revived by Mr. Tilloch in a volume of
considerable ingenuity. He concludes that the Apo-
calypse was written before the Gospels and Epistles,
from certain phrases in the latter, which might seem
to have been adopted from the prophecy. The answer
is plain. Similarity of subject might naturally induce
similarity of phrase. The Apostles were all prophets,
all acting under the same views, and all deriving a large
* Acts xix.
INTRODUCTION. 23
portion of their imagery, and even of their expressions,
from the ancient Scriptures. .
His two principal arguments, that the Apocalypse
is mentioned by name in the Epistles, and that St.
Paul, in speaking of the resurrection at the last trum-
pet, alludes to the seventh trumpet of the prophecy,
allow of the obvious answers, that the use of the verb
anoxcºurtrø is frequent in the Septuagint, from which it
may have been derived equally by both the Epistle
and the prophecy; and that the use of the trumpet as
a summoner in the hands of the Deity to great changes,
and peculiarly to that change by which his people
shall be placed in final security and glory, is familiar
to the prophets. -
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come
that were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and
the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship
the Lord in the Holy Mount at Jerusalem.”
“The Lord God shall be seen over them, and his
s arrow shall go forth as the lightning, and the Lord
God shall blow the trumpet.—And the Lord their
God shall save them in that day as the flock of his
people, for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lift-
ed up as an ensign upon his land.”f
On the other hand, St. Peter talks of things as in
Some degree future, which the Apocalypse declares to
have already come. “There shall be false teachers
among you who privily shall bring in damnable here-
sies, even denying the Lord that bought them.—And
many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason
of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”f
His description, “But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the
* Isaiah xxvii. 13. f Zech, ix. 14, &c. + 2 Peter ii. 1, 2,
24 INTRODUCTION.
works that are therein, shall be burnt up,” is not like
that of a man who had known the detail of the Apo-
calypse which marks the progress of the judgment,
and divides the “Great Coming,” from the final con-
summation by a thousand years. It is fairly conceiv-
able too, that in speaking of that day of judgment, of
which so many doubted at the time, he would have
availed himself of the authority of a prediction so pow-
erful and distinct as the Apocalypse, if it had been in
existence. - *
The dates of Trajan and Hadrian are given each
only on the authority of a single MS.
On the whole, there is discoverable no sufficient
reason to disturb the most ancient decision, that the
Apocalypse was written between A. D. 95 and 97;
and thus, after the fall of Jerusalem, and shortly be-
fore the persecution by Trajan. -
It may seem extraordinary that a book of Scripture,
sanctioned by the name of the beloved disciple, and
received by the first, second, and third centuries,
should have come down to us the subject of so many
contradictory opinions. But it should be recollected,
that the chief opposition arose from sects to which its
doctrines were obnoxious; or from the absurdities of
those who, in the fourth century, perverted the pure
Scriptural triumph of Christianity into a sensual para-
dise; and, in general, from the pride of fathers and
philosophers, who, embarrassed by a prophecy not to
be solved but by later events, haughtily conceived
.that what was darkness to them must be destitute of
all light to the future. •
Peculiar circumstances too aided this error. The
MSS. of the Apocalypse, as of a book containing
neither express history nor doctrine, were fewer than
those of any other portion of the New Testament.
The seizure and destruction of the Christian Scrip-
* 2 Peter iii. 10,
INTRODUCTION. 25
tures was the habitual object of Heathen persecution.
Thus, as persecution grew, the records were dimin-
ished. And again, on that sudden accession to pow-
er, under which the doctrines of Christianity were so
rapidly corrupted, the whole body of the Scriptures
fell year by year more into neglect. Worldly pur-
suits and childish and inextricable disputations led the
way to the ages of ignorance. The Apocalypse, un-
intelligible to the time, was gradually neglected, was
Sometimes dropped out of the canonical lists, some-
times even declared apocryphal, and probably often
totally forgotten or unknown.
Eusebius, in his settlement of the sacred canon,
by his lists of
The Ogowoyovuevot—or universally acknowledged:—
The Avrºsyowevot—or acknowledged by some, and
objected to by others:— .
The Noðot—or spurious books:—
Places the Apocalypse in the first and the third—
adding the words, “if it should so appear” (st powsin);
thus stating that the opinions of his day varied in a
strong degree; but that none of them fixed it in his
fourth class—the works of heretics. The meaning
of No60, is scarcely more than the doubt of its having
been written by the Apostle. Yet those questions
can be to us but learned trifling. The only test of
a prophecy is the fulfilment. If its prediction be
found true, we can ask for no higher authority. Yet
the Apocalypse is deficient in nothing of even the
customary human evidence. There is the plainest
proof that it eacisted in the first ages;–that it was re-
ceived as the work of the Apostle;—and that it was
received in the sense in which we now receive it, of
a declaration of the sufferings and rewards of the
Christian Church. Than this, what more can be
asked? Or what injury can be done to this clear tes-
timony by the doubts of corrupt or ignorant contro-
26 INTRODUCTION.
versialists,” of furious sectaries, or of perplexed and
wilful perverters of all Christianity, then going down
into the night, which, from the sixth century, cover-
ed alike the literature, the freedom, and the religion
of the European nations?
ARRANGEMENT OF THE INTERPRETATION.
The purpose of the Jewish prophecies was two-
fold; the declaration of the Messiah, and the denun-
ciation of the national crimes. The purpose of the
Apocalypse is one; a Warning, —to the Apostolic
Church against going over to idolatry in the pagan
persecutions; and to the Church in all succeeding
times against being seduced or terrified by the bland-
ishments or persecutions of Popery. In its form, and
its symbols, it bears a remarkable similitude to some
portions of the book of Daniel; but altogether exceeds
it in directness of application, and copiousness and
clearness of circumstance. Daniel was worthy of the
brightest period of Jewish inspiration. The Apoca-
lypse is worthy of the comprehensiveness, the majes-
ty, and the splendour of Christianity. They both dif-
fer remarkably from the other prophecies, in their
frequent use of dates, the only mode by which pro-
phecies of remote events can be substantiated: for
they were both intended to reach to the remotest times.
They both have the scarcely inferior value of show-
ing, that in all the complication of the history of man-
kind, there is a Divine plan, carried on unceasingly,
counteracting human evil without infringing on hu-
man will, and finally producing the most comprehen-
sive and elevated happiness and honour to the crea-
tion.
But there is another value of prophecy, which has
been seldom observed—its value as an independent
* Epiphanius; the Alogi, &c.
INTRODUCTION. 27
evidence of Christianity. All historic evidence must
have an alloy of uncertainty; it must depend largely
on documents, in themselves often uncertain, Some-
times strongly disputed, and at best liable to human
error. But he who has fairly satisfied his understand-
ing by facts that a prophecy is true, is master of a
conviction immediate and irresistible. On this, per-
sonal experience must give the answer. Educated a
Protestant, led by early inclination to the Church,
and, of course, long conversant with the received evi-
dences of Christianity; I yet should say, if I might
be allowed to allude to individual impressions, that
of all evidences, the most entire and intense is that
which is to be felt in the study of this great prediction.
Let prophecy be but proved—the conclusion is in-
stinctive; it must have come from God; the religion
which it vindicates, the doctrines which it con-
tains, must have come from God. The Chris-
tian world would justly lament the loss of a single
line of those glorious records of its origin, the historic
books of the New Testament; but if by some fatality
they could perish, all their doctrines might be reco-
vered from the burning characters of the Apocalypse,
truth without a touch of mortality, the direct trans-
mission, the living language of the Spirit of God.
In stating the arrangement of this prophecy, I shall
no more than allude to those which are to be found in
the commentators, the present arrangement, the in-
terpretation, and the general system will be found
widely different from those of all my predecessors.
So far as can depend on original inquiry, the entire is
original. The notes are already acknowledged. In
the multitude of writers on this subject, it is perfectly
possible that some points may have been anticipated
of which I am not conscious. But, at least, with the
principal writers of late years, who may be presumed
to have ascertained the most important of those points,
28 INTRODUCTION,
the present work will be found remarkably at vari-
3. Il C62.
For instance; the seals, trumpets, and vials, are
usually conceived to be successive, and contained in
each other. The present order makes them nearly
contemporaneous. The Greek Church and empire;
the Mahometan invasion; and the late extinction of
the Germanic empire; are usually presumed to be
among the principal subjects of the Apocalypse. The
present interpretation excludes them all. It further
differs from its predecessors in the whole explanation
of the trumpets and vials; in the solution of the num-
ber 666; in that of the very remarkable chapter,
“The Vision of the Locusts;” and, as may be sup-
posed from such essential discrepancies, in the gene-
ral conception of the prophecy.
Yet, it would only embarrass the reader to find the
interpretation pausing to fight its way through this va-
riety of opinions, however untenable; all remarks on
them are therefore postponed to the final part of the
volume. The work proceeds as if the Apocalypse
were now given for the first time; and the reader is
left to form his judgment of the elucidation on its
own grounds. -
By following the course of the chapters, the history
of the Church is necessarily given in fragments; but
a connected sketch of the history is subjoined. An
Appendix examines the theories of former commen-
tators, replies to arguments, &c.
END OF THE INTROIDUCTION.
INTERPRETATION
OF
THE APOCALYPSE.
THE first three chapters must be rapidly passed
over. They consist chiefly of precepts, made neces-
sary by the approach of that long course of suffering
by which the Church was to be tried, from the time
of the Apostle to the imperial acknowledgment of
Christianity. They are scarcely prophetic; and their
interpretation limits itself to a few verbal remarks.
THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE.
CHAPTER I.
Verse 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto
him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant
John: -
2. Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony
of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein:
for the time is at hand.
3 *
30 THE APOCALYPSE.
INTERPRETATION.
The titles of the books of Scripture have in some
instances been added by transcribers.” But the pre-
sent seems undisputedly the writing of St. John. The
concluding words, “for the time is at hand;” imply
the Apostle’s pen; and in addition, this title is found
nearly entire in the fathers.t
But the head line, “The Revelation of St. John the
Divine,” is not established. Griesbach rejects it, as
wanting in some of the older MSS. The book was
originally named “The Apocalypse of John.” But
when the doctrine of the Trinity had come into con-
troversy, John’s powerful testimony to the Divinity
of the Son, the Osov Aoyos, made the application of the
epithet Theologus usual to both him and his distin-
guishing doctrine.f
The third verse, “Blessed is he that readeth,” &c.
is one among the many encouragements to the unre-
strained use of the Scriptures. “And they that keep
the things which are written therein, for the time is
at hand.”—Keep, in the original, (repso) is not mere-
ly, to observe, but to hold in possession, to preserve
against a peculiar effort to wrest the Christian faith
from the disciples. “For, the time is at hand,”—in
the matural meaning of the words, directs this part of
the prophecy to St. John’s contemporaries. He gives
them the immediate warning, because the danger is
on the heels of the prediction.
FROPHE CY.
Ver, 4, John to the seven Churches which are in Asia: Grace
be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and
which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his
throme;
5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, and the
* Michaelis, Introd. c. 7. f Euseb. H. E. l. vii, c. 25.
# See Euseb. H. E. l. iii, c. 24.
THE PAGAN PERSECUTION. 3 i
first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own
blood,
6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;
to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. -
7. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith
the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Al-
mighty,
INTERPRETATION.
The seven Churches of Asia, in the days of St. John,
formed the most considerable, if not the only regular-
ly established portion of Christendom. They were
under the peculiar superintendence of the Apostle.
They acted with something of the union of an eccle-
siastical commonwealth, they had mutual correspon-
dence, and St. Paul desires that his Epistle addressed
to one of those Churches shall be communicated to
another. In Asia the Gospel chiefly flourished; and
in Asia was subsequently the chief violence of pagan
persecution. A general address to the seven congre-
gations was virtually an address to the Christian
world.
Asia in the ancient writings bore four meanings.
The third part of the globe. -
Asia Minor. .
Asia on this side of mount Taurus.
Proconsular Asia, extending along the Mediterra-
mean, and bounded inland by a line from Pergamos
to Caria, with mount Tmolus for its Lydian boundary.
This, with perhaps some little enlargement of its li-
mits, is the Asia of the Apocalypse.”
The announcement of the general prophecy is of the
most Solemn kind. It comes from the Three persons
of the Godhead; the Father in his eternity, the Son in
.* Sigon, de Antiq. Jure Prov, Vitring.
}
32 - ... • ‘THE
- . . . ~~~~
-
his Omniggesence, *
forth in ºil the eart
(Heb. vi. 6) ruin upon the wh;
Scriptures by the same Eternity which
HE APOCALYPSE. "
his character:gfººing and Sayiour, and the Spirit in
nce, “the seven Spirits of God sent
* -. ër. 5 ) 3. - “...”.
is “the faithful wit:
haracteristics
s'. * * 'C * . ... • .* -
€.
*
of our Lord
- to Christianity. He
ness, (‘o Hapºws) the first begotten fr
first fruits of the resurrečtion; ārid “the prince of the
kings of the earth,” the universal Sovereign of the
It is also declared (ver. 7,) that his coming is to be
palpable to mankind as the work of heaven, -utter
wrath upon the rebels to his religion, those who daily
ut him to open shame;”
signalized by a tremendous, and universal infliction,
“crucify him afresh and • *, *. S.
e body of impurity
r
and idolatry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It is among the unanswerable proofs of the Diviné
Nature of our Lord, that he is distinguished in the
: same Eternity which here distin-
guishes the Father, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever.”f . . . .
* . . . . . . $.
* . . . . . . - - w -
** -- - . . . - . . . . . . . . . - -- • { ...
“ . . * * * y * - . . . . . . 'i: , )
PROPHEcy.
... *.
* : * > *
- * * *
W. -. - w". - t
Wer. 9. I John, who also am your brother and companion in
tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was
in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the
testimony of Jesus Christ. . .
10, i was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me
a great voice as of a trumpet, * '' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; and,
what thou seest, write. in a book, and send it unto the seven
Churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and
Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto
- .” •.
'- ...,'
* Seven implies perfection. “Unum spiritum dicit septiformem
quae est perfectio et plenitudo.” (Bede.)
f Apoc. v. 6. # Heb. xiii. 8.























THE PAGAN PERSECUTION. 33
The original is, “In Spirit,” (sy rºwevgoro) in a state
of Divine vision. .
PROPHEcy.
Ver, 12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, And
being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto
the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt
about the paps with a golden girdle.
14. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as
Snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15. And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a fur-
nace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his
mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was
as the sun shineth in his strength.
17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he
laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not; I am the
first and the last:
18. I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive
for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
19, Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which
are; and the things which shall be hereafter;
20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my
right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks; the seven stars are
the angels of the seven Churches: and the seven candlesticks
which thou Sawest are the seven Churches.
INTERPRETATION.
In this passage our Lord declares himself the Al-
mighty,+“the first and the last,” shows his perpet-
ual superintendence of the Christian Church, by walk-
ing among its lights, and appears, at once, in the garb
of the high priest, and in the splendour peculiar to the
Deity.—“The Ancient of days, whose garment was
white as snow.”—His body like the beryl, and his eyes
like lamps of fire, and his arms and feet like in colour
to polished brass.”f Expressions probably altogether
inadequate to the vision, yet the only ones within hu-
* Dan, vii. 9. f Dan, x. 5, 6,
34 THE APOCALYPSE.
man language. This symbolic appearance is imme-
diately explained, (“The seven stars are the seven
angels,” &c.) for the purpose of appearance was im-
mediate. Angel or messenger was the title of the
chief minister, the Sheliac Zibbor, of the synagogue;
from which it was transferred to the Christian con-
gregations. -
PROPHECY.
CHAPTER II.
Ver, 1. Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write: These
things Saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who
walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and
how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried
them which say they are Apostles, and are not, and hast found
them liars: -
3. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake
hast laboured and hast not fainted.
4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou
hast left thy first love.
5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and re-
pent, and do the first works ; or else I will come unto thee quick-
ly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou
repent.
6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nico-
laitanes, which I also hate.
7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the
tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
INTERPRETATION.
Ephesus, seated in the richest part of one of the
richest regions of the Roman Empire, was remarkable
for its opulence, its voluptuousness, and its idolatry.
The celebrated temple of Diana attracted worshippers
from all the realms of Paganism. To combat evil in
its source may have been among the motives of that
strong interest which St. Paul felt towards this city.
He resided in Ephesus two years. It was also a cen-
THE PAGAN PERSECUTION. 35
tre, from which opinions were to be most extensively
propagated; and by his residence, “all they who
dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both
Jews and Greeks.”
The history of those periods is imperfect; as might
be presumed from the destruction of the Christian re-
cords during the persecutions. But it is ascertained
that Christianity, violently opposed by the priests and
the populace, for its repugnance to image-worship,
was constantly involved in still more serious perils by
the attempts of the half-converted Jews, and philoso-
phers, Egyptian and Asiatic, to mingle it with their
own mysticism. Against the traditions of the Jew
and the Platonic fables of the Sophist, the Apostles
continually warred. But the energies of truth and
reason are feeble against prejudice fortified by inter-
est and habitual impurity. The Asiatic Churches had
gradually given way. Exposure to the ready fury of
the Roman sword alone stopped them in their degra-
dation. The trial was long and terrible; it lasted for
nearly three hundred years. But it was effectual.
Gnosticism, the great corruptor of the faith, lost its
temptation. It lingered for an obscure period in the
perishing schools of the Alexandrian philosophy. But
early in the sixth century it perished, and is heard of
I] O II). OT62.
The church of Ephesus long retained the rank at-
tached to it by the peculiar presence of St. Paul, of
Timothy, and of St. John. The Nicolaitanes, whom
the text reprobates, seem to have been Gnostics, who
added to their mysticism, as was the custom, perso-
nal licentiousness. The Ephesian congregation is
praised for denouncing their perverted practices; but
reproved for a decay in its early devotedness to the
Christian cause. Finally, a promise is given, that all
* Acts xix, 10.
36 THE APOCALYPSE.
who adhere to the faith in the approaching persecution,
shall obtain an immortal reward.
In the general fall of the Greek Empire in Asia,
(A. D. 1312,) Ephesus was ruined. Its remnant is
now Aiasalic, a village of fifteen cottages, containing
but three Christians. i
PROPHECY.
Ver, 8. And unto the angel of the Church in Smyrna write:
These things Saith the first and the last, which was dead and is
alive; -.
9. I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art
rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews,
and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. -
10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold,
the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried;
and ye shall have tribulation ten days; be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life.
11. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the Churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second
death.
INTERPIRETATION,
Smyrna, now the chief commercial city of the Le-
vant, was considered, in the time of the Apostles, the
second city of Asia;" Ephesus holding the first rank.
One of its early bishops was Polycarp, who had been
the disciple of St. John. His successors sat in the
general councils for a long period. Like Ephesus it
was ruined in the Turkish invasion. Yet its admira-
ble situation for commerce revived it, and it is now
large and opulent, containing 140,000 inhabitants, of
whom about 2,000 are Greek, 6,000 Armenian 5,000
Roman Catholics, and a few Protestants.
The Apostolic Church in Smyrna seems to have
been harassed by the insults of the Jews, the original
persecutors, who retained their hostility, and even
* Pliny Hist, Nat, l. v. c. 29.
THE PAGAN PERSECUTION.
37
their power long after the fall of their city. Eusebius’
describes them as actively hostile, even in the time of
the emperor Verus. *
To the Church of Smyrna it is prophesied, that it
shall have persecution ten days. This peculiarity of
date most probably alluded to the final persecution un-
der Diocletian and his successors; which is always
described by the ancient writers as “the ten years’
persecution.” The period was remote. But the
whole bearing of the prophecy to the seven Churches
sustains the idea, that it was applied to the entire
course of that regularly established persecution which,
grounded upon the law of Trajan, never altogether
ceased till the fourth century, and marked the last
period of its existence by ten years of massacre.
This final fury fell equally upon all the Churches; for
the trial to one is predicted as the trial to all. Each
prophecy is obviously generalized; “He that hath
ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the
Churches.” .'
Days are in prophetic language years,f The use
may have arisen from the adoption of the seven days
of the creation for the model of the week of years
ending with the Sabbatical year, and of the other
Jewish cycles. A sufficient proof of the authority of
this use is to be found in its accurate accordance with
the completion of the several prophecies.
PROPHE CY.
Ver, 12. And to the Angel of the Church in Pergamos write;
º: things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two
edges; -
13. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where
Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not de-
nied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful
martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
* * * * Euseb. H. E. l. iv, c. 13.
i Ezekieliv. 6; Lowth's Isaiah chap. xx. 3; Numbers xiv. 34.
4.
38 THE APOCALYPSE.
14. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast
there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak
to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat
things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
15. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nico-
laitanes, which thing I hate. -
16. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and wil
fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the Churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the
hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone
a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that re-
ceiveth it.
INTERPRIETATION.
The city of Pergamos was celebrated for its magni-
ficence, as the ancient capital of the line of Attalus;
for its libertinism; and for its literature; the famous
library of 200,000 volumes naturally rendering it the
seat of philosophy, &c. It is here called the “throne
of Satan,” in reference alike to its vices, its false
doctrines, and its cruelty to the Christians. The
martyr Antipas is mentioned by Andreas Caesarien-
SIS. "
The “doctrine of Balaam”f was image worship and
dissoluteness. The “two-edged sword” is the word
of God. t “The manma,” or bread of life, and the
“white stone,” or token of acquittal, usual in the
earlier ages, are emblems of the immortal happiness
promised to those who held the faith at the hazard
of their lives.
Pergamos was the seat of a Proconsul. It flourish-
ed long, was finally overrun in the Turkish invasion,
and exists as a remnant, still retaining its ancient
name. The Christian population amounts to 3000.
* Com, in loco. † Numbers, chap. xxy, and xxxi. 16.
# Heb. iv. 12.
THE PAGAN PERSECUTION, 39
PROPHE CY.
Ver. 18. And unto the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write;
These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a
flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; -
19. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and
thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the
first.
20. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because
thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophe-
tess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit formication,
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she
repented not.
22. Behold I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit
adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of
their deeds.
23. And I will kill her children with death; and all the Churches
shall know that I am he which searchest the reins and hearts: and
I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
24. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many
as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of
Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burthen.
25. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
26. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the
end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels of a
potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my
Father.
28. And I will give him the morning star.
29. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the Churches.
INTERPRETATION.
Thyatira was a considerable city; it is mention-
ed" as the residence of Lydia, who had at Philippi
received St. Paul. It still exists in Ak-hizar, and
contains 30,000 inhabitants, of whom 3000 are
Greeks. The cavil reported by Epiphanius, and re-
peated by Gibbon, that in St. John’s time there was
no Church in Thyatira, is entitled to no credit. The
* Acts xvi. 14.
40 THE APOCALYPSE.
residence of Lydia, a woman of influence, and a zeal-
ous disciple; the prediction itself, in which we can
discover no necessity for its direction to a non-exist-
ing Church, in a region abounding with great Chris-
tian communities; the general authenticity and un-
questionable fulfilment of the Apocalypse; the know-
ledge that the Gospel was spread without any marked
exception throughout proconsular Asia, are enough,
and much more than enough, to rebut the conjecture
of a giddy and ill-informed writer, three centuries
after the death of the Apostle.
“Jezebel,” is a general name for idolatry and per-
secution. There was probably in the city some fe-
male zealot violent against Christianity. “Adultery,”
and similar expressions in Scripture, frequently mean
less the personal crime than a revolt from the true
religion. The Christian Church is distinguished as
the “bride,” or the “wife;” and forgetfulness of the
faith is thus naturally figured by breaking the mar-
riage vow. The “Depths of Satan,” are the mystic
doctrines of the heathen, connected as they were with
secret ceremonies generally impure, and always op-
posed to the innocence and plainness of the Gospel.
“The Morning Star,” is a name for Christ, enlighten-
ing the darkness of the heathen world.” .
FROPHE CY.
CHAPTER III.
Ver. 1. And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis write;
These things, saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the
seven Stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou
livest, and art dead.
2. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain; that
are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before
God.
3. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard,
and hold fast and repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will
come on thee as a thief; and thou shalt not know what hour I will
come upon thee. &
* Apoc, xxii. 16.
THE PAGAN PERSECUTION. 41
4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled
their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they
are worthy. * * g
5. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white rai-
ment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life; but
I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
6. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit Saith unto
the Churches.
INTERPRETATION.
Sardis was the ancient seat of the Lydian Kings,
and memorable as the city of Croesus. It was, like
all the leading cities of Asia, magnificent, intellectual,
and profligate. It perished in the general decay of
Asia Minor, and can be scarcely said to have revived
in the modern Sart. A few Christians, prohibited
from having a Church within the walls, some years
ago built one in the adjoining plain. A small village,
named Tartar-keny, has grown round it, and about
forty persons attend the service. - -
The crime imputed to the Church of Sardis is in-
activity in the preservation an diffusion of the faith.
its punishment is appropriate. It shall be taken by
surprise. (Ver. 3.) “The white garment” is the
bridal and festal dress, the emblem of Christian purity
and happiness.
PROPHE CY.
Ver, 7. And to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia write;
These things, saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath
the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth and
shutteth and no man openeth;
8. I know thy works; behold I have set before the an open
door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength, and
hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which
say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make
them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have
loved thee. - -
10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also
4*
42 THE APOCALYPSE.
will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come
upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11. Behold I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast,
that no man take thy crown.
12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of
my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him
the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which
is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of Heaven from my
God, and I will write upon him my new name. -
13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the Churches.
INTERPRETATION.
Philadelphia had been a flourishing city, and pos-
sessed a comparatively pure church. Its Bishop,
Melito, a man distinguished in the second century,
wrote a treatise on the Apocalypse, which has perish-
ed in the general destruction of the early Christian re-
cords. .
The city suffered much from earthquakes, yet was
remarkable for the number of its Christian population,
even subsequently to the Turkish invasion. This
feature has not altogether passed away. The purity
of the Apostolic doctrine may be degraded, but its
form, at least, is retained by the Greeks, who have
twenty-five places of regular worship, five of them
large churches, with a bishop, and twenty clergy. The
name is now Alashehr.
“Who say of themselves that they are Jews and
are not.” This is probably to be explained by the
expression,-‘‘All are not Israel that are of Israel;”
nominally Jews, but destitute of the spirit of the Cove-
nant. It is declared, that they shall be humbled be-
fore the peculiar congregation of this city. An event
which has been lost in the obscurity of the time.
“The New Jerusalem” is the symbolical name for
that period of Christian triumph which is to close the
providential system of the earth.
- - - - . . . . • , “. . . . * ... ." ... - -
* . . . . . . . . in cºnfir:rºrtſ T & '#' ... ". . . . ... º. 't ºn : * *:::, , ,
- * ... a * * * ... Tº * * * * ; , , ; - . . . . . . . . . . . * * *- : * : * ~ * tº - * : * : . . .
. . . . . PROPHEGY..", sº ... . . g.º.º. º.ii, º, .
- - • * - > * . . . - s - - - -
‘. . . . . . . . •,• * ... . . . ; : * ~ * * - • . ‘.... ‘. . . . . . . . . - * * *... . . . . . . . . ." ... . . . .
4 cº- ‘. . . . .i. • , ; - . . -- - - * -- * - *- : * > : ...- - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *: ... . . . . .
. . . . . . . . ." . " : . . - - -
Jú -
ºver. 14, And unto the Angel of the Church of the faodi
*
write; These things saith the Amen, the faith
the beginning of the creation of Göd;
15. I know thy wor
. . . . . .' * : . . .'; 'A'. - ... I' ºl; . . 3. . . . . . . . . . . . * **, , , ,
would thouwert cold of hôt, ºr . . .
16. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold not
hot, I will spew, thee out of my mouth. . . . . . ; • * _ . . .
.**
º
***, &
... 17. Because thou sāyest, I am rich and increased with goods,
and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou’áńt’wretch-
ed, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: . . . . . "
18 ºr counseithee to buy of negold tried in the fire, that thou
>}} ', ... --
mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed,
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint
thine eyes with the eye-salve that thou mayest see.
... 19. As many as I love, Irebuke and chasten: be zealous there-
fore, and Fépent… . . . . . . . . . . . .
20, Béhold, #stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my
sº . . . . . . .: Alºiº-, * : * ~...~ : {, , i.: + ... ...’, i. 1. -->
voice and he door, I williéome in to him, and sup with him,
21. To him that overcométh will I
* . . . . * * * . " . " will I grant to sit with me in my
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father
“in histºroné: . . .
- 22. He that hathan earlet him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the Čhurches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
INTERPRETATION.
Laodicea, upon the river Lycus, was an opulent
city, and was probably, betrayed by its opulence into
its neglect of the sincere spirit of religion. Colossae
stood near it, and seems to have been péculiarly united
with it as a Church, for St. Paul directs that his Epis-
tles shall be interchanged,” and speaks of them in
conjunction.f. . . . . . . . . . . .
After a long period of the usual charges of the Greek
Empire in Asia, Laodicea sank, and is now a heap of
ruins, with a village, Eskihisar, of fifty inhabitants
near its site, among whom two Christians only could
be found by a late traveller, f. There is a small Chris-
. . . . . sº . .* -...". º . . " • , ** -. ... " : A. : : -3.
* Coloss. ii. 16. . . . . . . . . . . . f Chap. ii.1.
# Lindsay’s Letters. ' ' ". . . . . . . . . .
*, * *











44 THE APOCALYPSE.
tian congregation in the town of Denizli three miles
from the ruins.
The peculiar expressions in this address are few.
The “Amen,” is verity and certainty. The “Be-
ginning of the Creation,” refers less to the origin of
the world, than to the resurrection, by which our
Lord is “the first-born,” the beginning of a new spir-
itual world. “Gold tried in the fire,” is virtue that
can withstand trial. The “throne,” is the promise of
glory to all who shall retain their faith in the persecu-
tion.
Those chapters have been commented on but brief-
ly, from their complete disjunction from that part of
the Apocalypse which relates to the latter ages.
Their chief value now consists in their proof, that
Providence is watchful, even minutely watchful, over
the fortunes of Christianity; that peculiar offences are
punished, and cleared away by peculiar means; and
that even the violences of man are but instruments in
the divine hand for good to the Church. The perse-
cutor is a criminal, perhaps the most guilty of all of.
fenders, but his crime is converted into the means of
correction and purity to the people of God.
All attempt at that close adaptation of fact to pro-
phecy, which is so easily affected in the subsequent
chapters, must be nugatory here. The period before
Constantine is precisely that one, of which the fewest
records have survived. Mosheim’s Tract, “De re-
bus Christianis ante Constantinum,” while it shows
more than German industry, shows how little can be
obtained by research. The persecution, as has been
already observed, had for a principal object the ex-
tinction of all the Christian documents. In the time
of actual peril, those memorials could seldom be re-
newed. And, excepting some of the “Defences” of
the conduct and doctrine of the persecuted, and some
passing notices of the opinions of Sectaries, we have
scarcely any authentic remains of the three centuries
THE PAGAN PERSECUTION. 45
of struggle that first wrought the Church into vigorous
virtue. . .
But the prophecy to the Asiatic Churches does not
demand much elucidation of this nature. It is chiefly
unconnected with facts. Its purpose too closed with
paganism. The age was not yet come, when Chris-
tianity was to form a great moving power of the sys-
tem of nations. Its state was almost unvaried; and
the events of Roman History during those centuries
exercised no other influence upon the Church than the
greater or less severity of a persecution that never
wholly died. What was it to Christianity whether
the lash was brandished by a Caesar, or an Usurper,
when the stripes were the same from all? The only
references made in such a prophecy would probably
be to some extension of the sphere of suffering, or to
some more remarkable period of its violence. And
such are made. It is declared, that the persecution
shall spread to all the congregations of the empire.
The hour of temptation* is predicted, “which shall
come upon all the world, to try them that dwell up-
on the earth.”f It is also predicted, that there shall
be a peculiar epoch of suffering. “Ye shall have
tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death.”:
Both had their completion.
The persecution did actually spread through all the
congregations of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
There was a remarkable epoch; the attempt at the
extirpation of the Christians under Diocletian and
Galerius, continuing during ten years, from A. D.
303, to 313; a period pre-eminently marked by the
Church Historians as the “ten years’ persecution.”
Thus, the beginning, the extent, and the only sig-
mal variation in the ages of pagan persecution, the in-
crease from partial infliction to general, and from qual-
iſied severity to massacre, are marked by the prophe-
* Temptation, (nºtpadſtos,) rial offith by persecution. -
fApoc, iii. 10. # Apoc, ii. 10.
46 THE APOCALYPSE. .*
cy. There is scarcely a ground for particularity of a
higher degree in any prediction of the centuries be-
tween Trajan and Constantine. Yet, it is left to the
reader, whether he will consider this prediction as
stretching through the whole period. The only point,
which it is of importance to prove, is that St. John
here writes of the beginning of the trial under Tra-
jan, and that the expression of “coming quickly” re-
fers to that beginning. -
'I HE
TA MEAAONTA,
OR
FUTURE.
The Apocalypse is henceforth a fasciculus of pre-
dictions, explaining each other by their parallelism.
The same events are frequently repeated, as in the
prophecies of the Old Testament; but under different
points of view. Apparently for the purpose of in-
troducing order into those involvements and repeti-
tions; three regular series of periods are given :-the
Seals, the Trumpets, and the Vials. The first two
immediately in the commencement of this portion of
the prophecy; the third at a certain distance, being
preceded by some chapters necessary to its elucida-
tion. In the following table a general view of the
three series is given. The seals commence with the
close of the great Persecution in the fourth century,
and comprehend the whole course of Providence down
to the consummation of all things. The Trumpets
and Vials commence with the close of the great Per-
secution in the thirteenth century, are contemporane-
ous, and typify the punishments visited on the chief
persecutors of the reformed.
TABLE
OF THE
SEALs, TRUMPETs, AND VIALs,

THE SEALS.
1.
The establishment
of Christianity,
2
The faii of the
Western Empire.
J -
The Papacy.
comprehending 4
l
THE TRUMPETS.
THE VIALS.
1.
The Papal and
French wars of the
fourteenth century.
2
The destruction of
the Spanish Armada.
J.
The war of the
Cevennes.
The wars of Louis
XIV.
1.
The plague of the
fourteenth century.
The destruction of
the Spanish Armada.
a)
The war of the
Cevennes.
The wars of Louis
lution.
**
J.
An interval.
The universal war.
The triumph of the
Church,
4.
The French Revo-
5.
The French Revo-
volution.
The overthrow of
the Revolution.
7
The universal war.
The seizure of
Rome in the French
Revolution.
6.
The overthrow of
the Revolution.
7
The universal war,
48 THE APOCALYPSE.
THE PROPHECY OF THE SEALs.
CHAPTER IV.
Verse 1. After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in
heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a
trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will
show the things which must be hereafter.
2. And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne
was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. *
3. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine
stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight
like unto an emerald. \
4. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: a
upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in
white Taiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
5. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings
and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the
throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. -
6. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto
crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the
throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
7. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like
a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast
was like a flying eagle.
8. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him;
and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night,
saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is,
and is to come.
9. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to
him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
10. The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat
on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and
cast their crowns before the throme, saying,
11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and
power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they
are and were created.
INTERPRETATION,
The purpose of this chapter and the following is to
authenticate the connexion of the Jewish and Chris-
tian dispensations. The Deity, the God of Israel, as
he appeared to Isaiah” and Ezekiel,t is seen combined
with the Christian Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, in
* Chap. vi. f Chap, i.
THE SEALS. 49
the developement of the Seals, a course of Provi-
dence, relative to the Christian Church.
His splendour is imaged by precious stones, a habi-
tual emblem of all that is most magnificent and lumi-
nous. The “rainbow” is probably expressive of the
Divine mercy exercised in the act of covenant and
protection. -
The “Beasts” (Zoo) should be translated “living
beings,” or, perhaps, from the frequent Scriptural
contrast between animal life and the life of the soul,
(Wuxn and zon) “Immortalities.” They resemble the
Cherubim and Seraphim of Isaiah and Ezekiel; and
under the shapes of the lion, the bull, the man, and
the eagle, are emblematic of the supremacy, strength,
wisdom, and rapidity of Providence. The “ Glassy
sea,” a natural and usual image of tranquillity, signi-
fies the perfect peace of the Church when it shall
stand in the presence of God. The “Four and
twenty Elders,” like the four and twenty priests of
the courses appointed, two for each tribe, to offer up
the sacrifices and supplications of the Jewish people,”
are the representatives of the Christian priesthood.
A great deal of learned labour has been unproduc-
tively expended on the attempt to assign the precise
values of those emblems. Such exactness may be be-
yond us, or, more probably, is unnecessary. It is
enough to look to their general purport, of showing
that the old dispensation and the new are spiritually
the same; that the true believer among the ancient
people of God, was but the ancestor of the true be-
liever among the disciples of the Gospel. The Che-
rubim, the Elders, the Sea of Glass, &c. are those of
£he temple.
ſ * 1 Chron, xxiv.
5
50 THE APOCALYPSE.
PROPHE CY.
CHAPTER W.
Verse 1, And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the
throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with
seven seals.
2. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice,
Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof
3. And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth,
was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to
open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
5. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not: behold, the
Lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, hath prevailed to
open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
6. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the
four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the Se-
ven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. -
7. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him
that sat upon the throne.
8. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four
and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of
them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers
of Saints.
9. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and
tongue, and people, and nation;
10. And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we
shall reign on the earth, .
11. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of
them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou-
Sánds; -
12, Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and ho-
nour, and glory, and blessing.
13. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth,
and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in
them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power,
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for
ever and ever.
14, And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty
elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever,
THE SEALS. 51
INTERPRETATION.
In this chapter the divine nature of our Lord is
distinctly displayed. He is in the midst of the
throne; not as the cherubim, in the midst and round
the throne, nor as the elders, only round it; the Sa-
viour is in intimate union with the Father. The
throne is subsequently called “the throne of God and
the Lamb.” He is also in intimate union with the
Holy Spirit. He is the Lamb, having “seven horns,
and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God.”
“Horns” are a customary Scripture expression of ma-
jesty and power. The number seven implies perfec-
tion. The Saviour is thus Omnipotence and Omni-
science—GoD !
The connexion of the Jewish and Christian dispen-
sations is sustained, as in the previous chapter. Christ
is at once the “Lion of the tribe of Juda,” and “the
Lamb that was slain:” the Jewish conqueror, and the
Christian sacrifice.
The Book with Seven Seals is the prophecy of the
whole course of Christianity, from the time of its im-
perial establishment to the end of the world. It is
apparently alluded to by Daniel, who at the close of
his visions, is commanded to “shut up the words, and
Seal the book, even to the time of the end,” the close
of the Jewish dispensation.t
The Apostle’s extreme solicitude and tears express
the unequalled importance of the prophecy of the Se-
ven Seals. The impossibility of its being opened by
any created being ; and its being subsequently open-
ed by our Lord, imply, at once, that it contains coun-
sels beyond all human wisdom,--that those counsels
relate to Christianity, and that the distinction be-
£ween Our Lord and all created existences is total.
“The Elders,” in their capacity of representatives
* Chap. xxii. 1. † Daniel xii, 4.
52 THE APOCALYPSE.
of the priesthood, offer up the prayers and praises of
the Church. They alone have the harps and vessels
of incense, (szovts; exagros kºopas, which excludes the
Kao.) Their hymn is the hymn of the people of God
on earth; offered through the elders, as the supplica-
tions of public worship are made through its appoint-
ed ministers. -
The general acclamation of the angels and the uni-
verse is an expression of the boundless homage and
gratitude that ought to fill the heart for the sacrifice
of Christ, and the wisdom and grandeur of Christian-
ity.
CHAPTER VI.
In this chapter the Seals commence. They consti-
tute the chief prophecy of the Apocalypse. The sub-
sequent predictions, the Trumpets, Vials, &c., all re-
fer to portions of this leading series. It is distin-
guished from them all by the peculiar majesty of its
announcement in the presence of the Eternal Father,
Son, and Spirit; of the representative priesthood in
Heaven of the Church on earth; of the multitude of
the Heavenly Host; and of the whole universe, utter-
ing one voice of wonder and thanksgiving. The re-
maining predictions are either announced by subordi-
mate spirits, or are solitary visions, seen in the desert
or on the shore. There is no other mention of the
Trinity, but in the Benediction in the opening of the
book,” declaring the general purport of the Apoca-
lypse. The Seals repeat that purport, but with more
distinct splendour, and on a more expanded scale.
Yet, it is to be observed, that their descriptions are
extremely brief. They give scarcely more than a sin-
gle feature of each period. Their interpretation must
consequently be brief and general. The subsequent
* Chap, i, 4, &c.
THE SEALS. 53
chapters go into the details. The principal value of
the Seals is that of an index map, by which the rela-
tive positions of the subsequent charts are to be ar-
ranged; a kind of chronological table reducing to or-
der the mingled and episodical narratives of the suc-
ceeding history. In the interpretation of the Seals, I
shall not contend for minute points; the more import-
ant object is the truth of the Outline
The form adopted in the “Interpretation” is that
which appears calculated to show the connexion of the
text and the comment, in the least involved manner.
The text is first explained as to its verbal meanings.
An express summing up of the bearings of the passage
is then given, where necessary. This is followed by
a concise statement of the facts. The “History of
the Decline and Fall” will be the chief source of re-
ference, from its being the most accurate in chronolo-
gy and research, and also from its supplying a testi-
mony, which Gibbon’s unhappy prejudices render un-
impeachable, where Christianity is the subject of his
praise. -
THE FIRST SEAL.
THE PROPIIICC Y OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRIS-
TIANITY,
CHAPTER VI.
Verse 1. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the Seals;
and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts,
saying, Come and see.
2. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him
had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth
conquering, and to conquer.
INTERPRETATION,
In the visions of Zechariah,” a succession of ange-
* Chap. i. and vi.
jºk
54 THE APOCALYPSE.
lic shapes come forth mounted on horses, red, black,
white, and black and white; emblematic of the course
of events, by which Israel and its enemies should be
alternately sustained or punished. The same em-
blem reappears in the Seals. The “horse,” the an-
imal chiefly used in war, refers to changes influenced
by military power. The several colours are obvious-
ly emblematic. “White” was the colour of victory;
and white horses drew the Roman triumphal chariot.
The emblem is repeated in the victorious coming of
the Redeemer.”
The “Bow,” peculiarly the oriental weapon, refers
the triumph in this Seal to some Eastern agency.
The “Crown” implies acknowledged supremacy.
The rider on the horse represents not an individual,
but an aera. * -
By a sovereignty, warlike, and seated in the East,
Christianity shall be made the sovereign religion. It
shall finally conquer heathenism; and thenceforth shall
be the declared Religion of Europe for ever.
IHISTORY.
From the close of the first century to the year 313,
Christianity had been in a state of persecution, par-
tially intermitted by the policy or humanity of a few
of the Roman emperors, but capriciously recurring
with a degree of violence which made even the time
of its cessation, still deeply anxious and miserable; by
the death of Galerius and the military superiority of
Constantine in 313, the persecution ceased. But Li-
cinius was still a competitor, and it was only by his
defeat that Constantine obtained the final sovereignty.
He had already determined to remove the seat of em-
* Chap. xix, 11.
THE SEALS. 55
pire to the east, and he now commenced the building
of Constantinople. -
A. D. 324. His first act of government was the
despatch of an edict throughout the empire exhorting
his subjects to embrace Christianity. In about six
years after, Constantinople was dedicated, and became
the seat of the imperial government.
Christianity had yet but begun its triumph. It was
still retarded by the popular prejudices; and was even
utterly suspended during the reign of Julian; but the
suspension was short; for, on the death of this empe-
ror, twenty months from his accession, it was re-es-
tablished, and continued to spread, until it saw the
heathen altars extinguished by the emperor Theodo-
sius in 390. A ruin which Gibbon" pronounces,
“perhaps the only eacample of the total extirpation
of any ancient and popular superstition.”
THE SECOND SEAL.
THE PROPHECY OF THE FAILL OF THE westERN EMI-
PIRE.
Ver. 3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the
second beast say, Come and see.
4. And there went out another horse that was red; and power
was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth,
and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto
him a great Sword. ..
INTERPRETATION.
In the first seal, the first of the Zoo, or existences
before the throne, a lion, the emblem of Christ, (the
lion of the tribe of Juda,) summoned the Apostle; for
the subject was the triumph of Christianity. The
summoner of the second seal is the Moczos, which
should have been translated the Bull; the emblem at
• Chap. xxviii.
56 THE APOCALYPSE. ~~
once of strength and sacrifice. The fire colour (wppos)
of the horse; the falchion, and the declaration against
the peace of the earth; equally imply extensive ravage
by armies. - - - -
The empire shall be visited by an extraordinary
course of desolation inflicted by the sword.
HISTORY,
A. D. 395. On the death of Theodosius the empire
was divided between his sons; Arcadius retaining the
east, and Honorius the west.
In the winter of the same year the Goths revolted,
and Alaric invaded the western empire. From this
time the barbarians were never expelled; a succession
of new invasions by new devastators at length crushed
the western empire.
A. D. 476. Augustulus the last emperor of the west
resigned to Odoacer, and after unparalleled havoc and
misery the empire was at an end.
THE THIRD SEAL.
THE PROPHECY OF THE POPEDOM.
Ver. 5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the
third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black
horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A
measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a
penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. '
INTERPRETATION.
The “living creature” that summons the Apostle
to the contemplation of this seal is in the “likeness
of a man,” the emblem of sagacity; and it accordingly
THE SEALs. 57
announces the rise of an influence sustained, not by
the sword, but by the instrumentality of the mind.
This characteristic marked the growth of the papal
power. By the exercise of superior subtlety and also
of superior knowledge, it rose above the barbarian
sovereignties of the time. The distinction had been
already predicted by Daniel. “Behold, in this horn,
(the papal sovereignty,) were eyes like the eyes of
772&70. ”* *
“The black horse,” the colour of night, is, by me-
taphor, that of ignorance. .
“The pair of balances,” in the original is a “yoke,”
Zºvyos or Zvyos-“Instrumentum quale jumentorum
cervicibus impositum,” metaphorically a system of se-
vere or positive ordinances; a law of ceremonies and
privations. (Schleusner.) The express word “yoke”
was used by some of the early writers with reference
to rehigious prohibitions, similar to those of popery;
IIapósvua; ºvyov unčevº grºwtv980, 64 lay upon none the yoke
of celibacy.” The ceremonies, &c. introduced in the
fifth century were spoken of as a yoke, “jugum,” more
severe than that of the Jewish law.f This seal is
distinguished by its being accompanied by the “voice
from the midst of the four beasts,” the voice of Deity;
which marks the prediction as either intrinsically
more important, or more directly affecting that perse-
cuted church which is under the peculiar protection
of heaven. -
“A measure of wheat for a penny.” This penny
is the denarius, or sevenpence. The measure is the
choenix, or eighth part of a bushel. The price implies
a great scarcity; for the ordinary value of the bushel
was but a denarius.j.
* Daniel vii. 8. 20. -
f Augustin. Ep. 19. Socrat. Hist. lib. xi. Woodhouse,
# Cicer, in Verr, Maxima annonae gravitas significatur, Schleus-
¥) CI", .
58 THE APOCALYPSE.
Wheat, barley, wine, and oil, are proverbially the
most valuable produce of the earth; and in the descrip-
tion of the opulent fertility of the promised land, they
are generally combined. Canaan is declared by Mo-
ses, “a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-
trees, and pomegranates; and a land of oil, olive, and
honey.” Solomon, in his day of glory, gives the
builders of the temple, “of that house,” which was
to be “wonderful great,” twenty thousand measurss
of wheat, and barley, and wine, and oil.t
Yet in their values in this place an evident distinc-
tion is intended. The wheat is three times the price
of the barley; and the wine and oil seem, by the pro-
hibition against their being hurt, to be the objects of
Superior injury. But, in the New Testament, wheat
is constantly the emblem of the people of God. “In
the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather
ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles
to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”f
The barley, an inferior grain, implies men of an infe-
rior degree of Christian knowledge; the wine and oil,
more costly than , either, the more conspicuous com-
munities or individuals of Christianity.
There shall be a period of ignorance. It shall be
marked by the imposition of a system of ceremonies
and oppressive observances. It shall be introduced
by military means; but it shall be sustained and ag-
grandized by mental. During its influence, the hol-
ders of the faith in purity shall be few. But there
shall be a crowd of sectaries, approaching in various
degrees to the true standard. Of the church the most
distinguished portions, or individuals, shall be expos-
ed to persecution.
* Deut, viii. 8. f 2 Chron. ii. 10,
# Matt. xiii. 30.
THE SEALs. 59
HISTORY.
A. D. 533. The papacy, after successive efforts to
obtain spiritual supremacy, was placed in possession
of it by the edict of Justinian, declaring the Pope
“universal bishop and head of all the Churches of the
east and west,” and further ordaining that “all mat-
ters, relative to the Church, should be referred to
Rome.” -
In this century, “the western Churches were load-
ed with rites by Gregory the great.”—“He prescribed
a new method of administering the Lord’s Supper
with a magnificent assemblage of pompous ceremo-
nies.” This Institution of his was called “The Canon
of the Mass.”* l - -
In the 7th century, the rites increased, and homage
was paid to the remains of the “true cross,” to the
images of the Saints and to bones.t Celibacy was
next made the law of the clergy, fastings and other
severities were enacted, and the religion of Rome was
formed into a code of showy, laborious, and supersti-
tious observances.
In the 11th century, with the commencement of
the reformation in Piemont and the south of France,
a great variety of sects started up, some closely ap-
proaching the purity of the Gospel, and others devia-
ting widely from it, even into extravagance and fana-
ticism, under the names of Catharists, Petrobrussians,
Beghards, Arnaldists, Henricians, &c. &c. yet all par-
taking of the truth; for all acknowledged the Bible as
the standard of faith; and nearly all, when the first
wildness of sudden religious freedom had subsided,
gradually purified their practices and opinions into
sound Christianity.
In the 12th century, Persecution, always existing,
was established with memorable violence by the Po-
pedom against the Reformers.
* Mosheim, Cen. vi. f Ibid. Cen, vii.
60 THE APOCALYPSE.
In the 13th, the Inquisition was invested with pow-
er; and thenceforward the most exemplary, learned,
and pure, among the Reformed, were hunted down by
this tribunal, and by the other agents of Papal perse-
cution in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, &c.
THE FOURTH SEAL.
| THE PROPHECY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
Ver. 7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the
voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. •
8. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat
on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was giv-
en unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,
and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
INTERPRETATION.
The summoner in this instance is the Eagle; the
emblem of rapidity and fierceness of execution; the
favourite standard of conquest and rapine, even in our
own day. .
The pale horse (xxopo';) is of the livid colour of cor-
ruption. ... •
“Death” is used in Scripture for the extinction of
the moral principle, the absence of spiritual life.
(“Dead in trespasses and sins.”) Christ is declared to
come as the “day-spring” to give lightto those who sat in
“ the shadow of death.” -
“Hell” is the emblem of hostility to God. The
Scribes and Pharisees, in perverting the Jews, are
said to be making them the children of hell.t
“The fourth part of the earth.” This expression
is remarkable, as the only instance of such a division
in the Apocalypse.
To kill with “the sword, and death (disease)” &c.
implies an extraordinary loss of life, arising from war
and its consequent famines, contagions, and that wast-
ing of the human race which leaves the land to the
ravage of wild beasts, &c.
" *.
* Lukei, 79. f Matt, xxiii. 15.
THE SEALS, 61
There shall be a period of havoc, arising from total
moral corruption. The doctrine of the immortality of
the soul, and a God, shall be abrogated; death and hell
shall be the creed and the impulse of the time. The
war shall extend over one quarter of the globe.
Great slaughter in the field shall be accompanied by
various and extensive misery and desolation.
HISTORY.
A. D. 1789. The French Revolution began. It
was excited and sustained by the singular corruption
of Church, court, and people. -
A. D. 1793. The Republic began. It declared
that death was an eternal sleep; that Christianity was
an imposture; and that there was no God!
In the same year it became military, raised the na-
tion in arms by the Levee en Masse, and declared hos-
tilities against Europe. Its civil and foreign wars, un-
der both the Republican and Imperial governments,
were marked by slaughter exceeding all within mem-
ory; and still more marked by the misery which they
inflicted on Europe, in the shape of tyranny and insult,
the waste of private happiness, and the sacrifice of the
materials of renovation.
THE FIFTH SEAL.
The political changes, designated by the riders and
horses, or the intervention of human force, are now
finished. The events of the world are rapidly closing,
and Providence becomes its own Agent. The pun-
ishment of the oppressors of the Church, and the final
peace and triumph of Christianity, are now the unmixed
purposes of Providence. The French Revolution, the
quintessence of moral turpitude and furious cruelty, had
given proof of the natural consequences of a corruptreli-
6 -
62 THE APOCALYPSE.
gion,-rebellion and infidelity. A general retribution
visited on the crimes of the world; and a plain and
universal vindication of the wisdom and justice of the
Deity, are henceforth the subjects of the Seals. -
PROPHIECY.
A.
Ver. 9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the
altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and
for the testimony which they held: :
10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord,
holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them
that dwell on the earth? - - - -
11. And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it
was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, un-
til their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be kill-
ed as they were, should be fulfilled. * -
- INTERPRETATION.
The altar is the “Brazen Altar”* on which the
sacrifices of the Temple were offered. The spirits
are still gathered round the spot where they were
slain; indicating that the depression of the Church has
yet undergone no signal change.
Their cry to God, the Asgrown; or Supreme Ruler,
implies that the measure of this depression is nearly
complete, and that Providence is now about to take
up the cause of its people. . This demand of a thing
to be done is not an unusual mode in prophecy of ex-
pressing the Divine Will, that it shall be done.
It is not improbable that some decided interposition
of Providence may be prefigured by this Seal, some
actual persecution checked, and some considerable
accession to the Church effected. One purpose of the
Seal, at least, is to declare that there shall be an in-
terval, though comparatively brief, for the preparation
* Altare autem Holocausti hic intelligendum esse patet, quia.
absolute dicitur 0.uotaotºmptov, cum altare sancti passim vel aureum,
vel suffituum dicatur. Vitring.
THE SEALS. 6
3
of the Church against the Christian trial and civil
overthrow which are to follow in the next Seal. The
interval seems to be given, for the distribution of the
Scriptures and the awakened zeal of Christianity to
take their effect, and call into the Church those who
are to be saved. - * -
The “slain” represents the whole multitude of the
faithful departed; vast numbers having actually died
by persecution; and the rest having been ready to lay
down their lives for the faith.
The Fourth Seal closed the 1260 years, the pro-
phetic period of the depression of the Church. The
spirits of the Saints, in strong expectancy, now cry
out for their promised triumph. But they are told,
that it shall not be yet; though the delay shall be but
for “a little season.” Christian blood is to be shed;
—and then comes the consummation.
THE SIXTH SEAL.
THE PROPHEcy of THE UNIVERSAL war.
12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth Seal, and, lo,
there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sack-
cloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-
tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty
wind. g -
14. And the Heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled to-
gether; and every mountain and island were moved out of their
places. -
15. And the Kings of the earth, and the great men, and the
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every
bond man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and
in the rocks of the mountains; -
16. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide
us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the
wrath of the Lamb.
17. For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able
to stand?
64 THE APOCALYPSE.
INTERPRETATION.
This Seal predicts a tremendous and final affliction
of the earth; in which the visible power of Heaven
will overthrow, at least, the guiltier portion of the
present state of things in policy, national dominion,
and religion. - -
The obscuration of the sun, moon, and stars, Scrip-
ture emblems of the governing powers; the earthquake;
the disappearance of mountains and islands; all appli-
ed by a customary and easy figure to great political
changes, predict a general summoning of the powers
of destruction. This fearful prediction is repeated
four times in the parallel chapters,” and the fall of the
papal power forms one of its most express subjects. But
the destruction goes beyoud that fall; sweeps the whole
extent of the earth, and Smites, root and branch, all
the false religions. On referring to the passages pre-
dicting the ruin of Jerusalem, t of Egypt, f and of
Babylon, Ś the same images will be found, yet, in
each instance, and peculiarly in that of Jerusalem,
there will be discovered a reference to some destruc-
tion more complete, terrible and universal.
Our Lord’s prediction of the fall of the Jewish po
lity and nation employs a force of language not to be
accounted for eved by the unequalled calamnities of
the Jews, except it were intended as the type of some
infliction adequate to the crimes or the purification of
a world. And that it was thus typical is substantiated
by the almost verbal repetition of our Lord’s prophe-
cy in this Seal. -
In this period the papacy shall be extinguished, po-
pery shall cease to be a religion, infidelity shall be
crushed, the various and debasing forms of barbarian
* Chap. xi. 15. xiv. 20. xvi. 17. xix. 19. + Matt. xx. 4.
# Ezekiel xxx. 2. xxxii. 7, 8, § Isaiah xiii.
THE SEAL.S.T. 65
worship shall dishonour God, and disgrace human
reason no more. Pure Christianity shall be fixed on
that splendid eminence on which it is never to be
clouded by the impurity or violence of man. We
may not yet know in what form, whether of religious
persecution, military ambition, or infidel ferocity this
trial is to begin; it may be in a combination of them
all.” But the catastrophe is not distant, and when it
comes, it will leave no future earthly vengeance for the
power and justice of Heaven.
THE PROPHEcy of THE compIETION of THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER VII. r
Ver. 1. And after these things I saw four angels standing on the
four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that
the winds should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any
tl’ee. . -
2. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the
Seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four
angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3. Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till
we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there
were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the
tribes of the children of Israel.
5. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Gad were sealed twelve thousand. .
6. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. -- .
7. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issa-
char were sealed twelve thousand. -
8. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of
the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
INTERPRETATION.
In the previous chapter, a divine infliction was pre-
* Chap. xvi. 13.
6 *
66 THE APOCALYPSE.
dicted to fall upon all nations. The Church might,
therefore, have been presumed to undergo the com-
mon ruin. But the present chapter intervenes, to
show that the protection of the Church is provided for
by the Deity; four great agents, four great Monar-
chies, are appointed to keep Europe in peace, until
the propagation of the Scriptures shall have produced
its effect, and the due number required to complete
the Church shall have been called from the spurious
religions of Rome and the Barbarian countries. Are
we not under this superintendance, this restraint from
general convulsion, for this purpose, at this hour?
How the final security of the Church is to be ac-
complished, must be for a while even beyond concep-
tion. There are intimations in the New Testament”
of an extraordinary interposition, of which the solitary
examples of Enoch and Elijah in the antediluvian and
Jewish ages may have been intended as the types; the
mode of their deliverance being extended to the mul-
titude of the Church on earth.
The four angels, standing on the four corners of
fhe earth, imply an influence exerted in all regions of
the world. i -
The Angel from the East is an angel of protection;
the East being the original place of the Church. The
Seal of the living God is Conversion, the mark by
which his people are to be distinguished in the gener-
al catastrophe. The same symbol occurs in Ezekiel,
where, previously to the capture of Jerusalem by the
Chaldeans, the prophet sees an angel sealing those
who where to be preserved. §
The 144,000 are the Christian Church. The same
expression is used in the 14th chapter, where this
* 1 Thessalonians iv. 7.
† Isaiah xi. 12. Ezek. vii. 2. Mark xiii. 27.
# Ideo rei ponis signum, ne res, cum aliis confusa, a te non po-
test agnosci. Augustin, in Joh, yi,
§ Ezek, xi.
THE SEALs. 67
meaning can be proved on other and more direct
grounds. The mention of Israel does not necessarily
imply the Jews. The Christians, the, successors of
those to whom the promises, were given, are called
the “Israel of God,” even to the exclusion of the
Jews. The Christians are possessed in the New Tes-
tament of the forfeited appellatives that originally be-
longed to the Jews alone—“the holy nation;” “the
chosen people;” “the temple of the living God.”
. Besides, independently of the non-existence of ten of
the tribes for ages before the Apocalypse, the list here . .
given is not that of the Jews. Dan and Ephraim, the
idolatrous tribes, are rejected for Levi and Joseph;
the Christian Church, the declared enlargement, and
remoulding of the Jewish, bearing an especial refer-
ence to the extinction of idolatry. . - . . . - .
Thé number 144,000, the square of twelye, the
number of the Apostles, implies a complete body or
regulated church, raised upon the foundation of the
Gospel.f The square was a customary sign of per-
fection. . . . . . . . . . . . ~~
*... .* *
THE PROPHEcy of THE RESURRECTION of THE DEAD
- IN CHRIST. . . . . . .
Ver. 9. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no
man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes, and palms in their hands; •. . . .
10, And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God
which sittéth upon the throne, and tº: the Lamb. . . . . . .
,11. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about
the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their
faces, and worshipped God. . . . . . . . . - - - -
... 12. Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks-
giving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for
ever and ever. Amen. - . . . . --
13, And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are
- these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
* Gal. vi. 16. Phil. iii. 5, &c,. . . . . . -
f Apoc, xxi. 10, &c.; . . . . . . -
6S THE APOCALYPSE.
14. And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me,
These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have wash-
ed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him
day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall
dwell among them. -"
16. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neith-
er shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed
them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
INTERPRETATION.
The whole countless multitude of those who have
died in the pure faith from the beginning, are now
summoned to receive their reward. Those are they
who in the Fifth Seal were seen waiting for their tri-
umph, and to whom white robes were given.
The distinction between the living Church, whose
calling and completion have been already stated; and
this risen multitude, is obvious. The former is capa-
ble of being numbered, and is symbolised by 144,000,
—the latter is numberless. The former is sealed,—
the latter is not; it being by the grave separated from
the immediate unholiness of the earth. The former
does not yet wear the white robe, its spiritual triumph
not being yet begun, --the latter has washed away its
last stain of earth, and is ready to enter into its glory.
This coincides with the order of St. Paul, who pre-
dicts that “the dead in Christ shall rise first.” The
previous summoning of the living church in this chap-
ter was merely with a view to the general visitation
of the world, in which the Church was still to have
its share of trial, yet still to be secure.
This resurrection is, for the obvious purpose of im-
pressing the mind still more powerfully, observed
upon by one of the Elders, who interprets it to be the
general assemblage of those who had preserved their
faith in the Great Tribulation, that long course of suf-
THE SEALs. 69
fering which has marked the Church under the domi-
nion of both paganism and the false church from the
beginning. Their happiness is represented by all that
language can express of perfection. They are no more
to feel human infirmity; no more to be sufferers by
the injuries of man or nature; no more to be afflicted
by those common anxieties to which man is born;
they are to weep no more; but are to drink of the
fountains of immortality, under the guidance of their
God.
THE SEVENTH SEAL.
THE PROPHECY OF THE TRIUMPHANT PEACE OF THE
- CIH U R C H. -
CHAPTER VIII.
Ver. 1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was
silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
This is the Sabbath, the day of rest of the Church.
The purport of this Seal had been anticipated in the
preceding description of the happiness of the redeem-
ed entering into peace. The only expression that
could be added is given in this continued “silence,”
the emblem of the utterly undisturbed tranquillity in
which Providence preserves the kingdom of its saints.
Persecution is at an end; no change menaces their
glorious Sabbath; they are enthroned in the paradise
of the Redeemer. Thus closes this magnificent out-
line of the providence of God. Its filliug up is to be
found in the succeeding prophecies, all of which are
* Crediderim tamen silentii vocem hic potius, quam ullam aliam
a propheta esse adhibitam; quia illa notio aptior fuit ad statum ec-
clesiae septimi temporis depingendam quam ulla alia. Nune
itaque tandem, postguam Deus vindictam sumpsisset de hostibus
Ecclesiae, silentium, quies, pax, serenitas, continuas has turbationes
et motus exciperet. Vitring. -
70 THE APOCALYPSE.
but repetitions and enlargements of the Seals, and all
subsidiary in point of comprehensiveness, as well as
grandeur of announcement. No following prediction
is, like this, developed in the presence of the three
persons of the Godhead; none unfolded by our Lord
as the express Saviour; none whose opening agitates
the mind of heaven and earth, and whose discoveries
are succeeded by the universal Hosanna, the shout of
joy from all nature, the holy homage of the redeemed,
the burning adoration of the thousands and ten thou-
sands of the host of heaven. t
THE PROPHECY
TRUMPETs AND THE VIALs.
This is altogether a new course of prediction.
The consummation of the grand general plan of
Providence having been shown in the Sabbath of the
seventh Seal; symbolized by a period, which, though
brief in itself, amounts to a long duration, compared
with the undelayed succession of the other seals: St.
John now beholds enlarged that part of the previous
prophecy, which, to the Reformed Church, is of the
most important nature, and connected with it in the
closest degree. -
The first verse of the Sth chapter, should be trans-
ferred to the close of the preceding; thus completing
the chapters of the Seals. -
It will be found that the Trumpets and Vials are
nearly identical and synchronical; having little more
than the distinction, that where the event predicted is
principally of a political nature, its chief description is
given under the Trumpets; where it is more directly
ecclesiastical, it is expanded under the Vials. And
those emblems are respectfully suited to such pur-
poses; the Trumpet, the instrument of war and state;
the Vial,” or vase, the instrument of the temple wor-
ship, Sacrifice, libation, &c. -
A reason may be assigned, why those two series of
similar predictions should be given. Political events
strike the eye, and are matters of familiar knowledge;
their unbroken series is therefore valuable as evidence.
But events relating to the Church, being the chief ob-
* @taxº, used in anointing. 1 Sam. x. 1. The patera used
in the temple. See the phrases, “the cup of wrath;” of trem-
bling, &c. -
72 THE APOCALYPSE. .
jects of the whole prophecy, also require detail. The
mixture of both in this extended form might produce
serious confusion, and therefore they are separated.
In the great prophecy of the Seals, the political and
ecclesiastical views are, it is true, conjoined; but the
predictions are remarkably succinct; there is no confu-
sion, because there is no detail. -
Against the repetitions of the Apocalypse in gene-
ral, no objection lies.—It is the constant custom of
the Hebrew prophets to repeat their predictions.
Isaiah is perpetual parallelism. Daniel repeats the
visions of the monarchies; and such parallelism seems
to have been expressly intended, as the chief instru-
ment of interpretation. -
In the present instance the two series are placed to-
gether, and the interpretation is deduced from both,
3.S. Olle. -
THE PROPHECY OF THE TRUMPETs.
CHAPTER VIII.
Ver. 2. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God;
and to them were given seven trumpets.
3. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a
golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that
he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden
altar which was before the throne. -
4. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers
of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
5. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the
altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thun-
derings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
6. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepar-
ed themselves to sound.
INTERPRETATION.
These verses are introductory. It will subsequent-
ly be ascertained, that the Trumpets and Vials begin
after the date of the Inquisition. They contain the
punishments inflicted on the nations, who, by means
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 73
of the Inquisition, in the first instance, and by general
tyranny afterwards, persecuted the Church. The
prediction reaches to the final overthrow of popery.
To signify that the plagues of the seven angels are in
retribution of the injuries done to the people of God;
an Angel, mingling their complaints and prayers with
incense, offers them on the golden altar, which, in the
earthly temple, stood before the mercy seat, or place
of the Divine glory; an altar, on which, by the law
of Moses, no offering was to be made but of the
purest kind,” and no strange fire was to be laid.
The prayers and the incense are accepted, “they rise
before God;” and his answer is symbolized in the
filling of the censer with fire from the same altar, and
the casting of the fire into the earth, the token of the
divine wrath.
To this the introduction of the chapter of the Vials
corresponds. -
THE PROPHECY OF THE VIALS.
CHAPTER XV.
Ver. 1. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous,
seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up
the wrath of God. -
2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and then
that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and
over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of
glass, having the harps of God.
3. And they sing the Song of Moses the servant of God, and the
song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints.
4. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for
thou only art holy : for all nations shall come and worship before
thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. .
5. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tab-
ernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
6. And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the se-
yen plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their
breasts girded with golden girdles.
* Exod. xxx. 9, &c,
7
74 APOCALYPSE.
7. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven
golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God,
and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple,
till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
CHAPTER XVI.
Ver. 1. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to
the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the
wrath of God upon the earth. .
INTERPRETATION.
It may be inquired, why the series of the Vials
should be placed so remote from the Trumpets in the
original. The sufficient reason is that, in alluding to
the Church, “who had gotten the victory over the
Beast, and his Image, and his Mark, and the number
of his Name,” an explanation of those terms is ren-
dered necessary; but their explanation is to be found
only in the “Vision of the Church,” which occupies
the 13th, 14th, and 15th chapters. The chapter of the
Vials then follows, without an interval.
The use of those terms fixes the epoch of the Vials.
The Image of the beast, and the Number of his name,
did not exist before the Inquisition; of this the proof
will be given in the interpretation of the 13th chapter.
The Vials being evidently scarcely more than a rep-
etition of the Trumpets, the aera of both is the same;
both are subsequent to the beginning of the thirteenth
century. .
The Introduction of the vision clearly applies it to
the Church, which is seen standing on a “sea of glass
mingled with fire,” or, in a state of mingled success
and suffering. The people of the faith exult in God,
their peculiar King, the King of Saints; and sing the
song of Moses and the Lamb, the hymn of deliverance
and gratitude, of Israel freed from Pharaoh, and of the
redeemed of the Lord.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 75
The angels, appointed to “manifest the judgments
of God,” by punishing the persecutors, now come forth.
They are in the garb of Christ, the priest of his peo-
ple.* The temple is filled with the smoke of the di-
vine wratht, for judgments are to be done, with which
no man can intervene. One of the “living creatures,”
the special emblems of Providence in the government
of the Church, delivers the cups of wrath to the an-
gels, and they are commanded by the voice of God
himself, to go forth and execute his anger.
THE FIRST TRUMPET. Chap. viii.
PROPHIE CY. *
Ver, 7. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and
fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and
the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt
up. - .
THE FIRST VIAL. Chap. xvi.
Ver. 2. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the
earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men
which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worship-
ped his image.
INTERPRETATION. -
The first Trumpet predicts a long and peculiarly
ruinous state of war, designated by the destruction of
the products of the soil, great and small alike; the
land is covered with sterility and massacre.
. The first Vial predicts a great pestilence at the same
time sweeping the popish world. *
It is to be remarked that the first four Trumpets are
declaredly inferior in importance, as they obviously
are in extent of description, to the last three, which
are specially named “ the three, wors,” and are an-
f Apoc, i. 14. * Isaiah vi. 4.—Exod. xix, 13, &c.
76 THE APOCALYPSE.
nounced by a peculiar minister of Providence “ flying
through the midst of heaven,” and crying “with a
loud voice to the inhabiters of the earth;” expressions
implying the paramount extent, and havoc, of the three
final inflictions.
HISTORY.
A. D. 1229. The reformers in the south of France
after having undergone a furious persecution, were
now respited from the immediate pursuit of fire and
sword; the Provençal war had ceased. As a power
the Albigenses had been vanquished; but, as a church,
they had conquered. They had preserved the faith,
had extended it through Europe, and had made it con-
spicuous even by their sufferings. The Reformation
was fully commenced. The Church of Christ, for the
first time since the assumption of the papal suprema-
cy, had taken that visible form, which has never been
extinguished. Yet it was still to be a victim; its
“sea of glass” was to be still “mingled with fire.”
The defeat of the Albigenses, and the establishment
of the Inquisition, placed the popedom within view
of all the objects of its ambition. But, while the
blood of the saints was scarcely dried upon the ground,
their cause was solemnly avenged.
A. D. 1303. Rome had slain the Reformers by the
sword of France, she was now to be punished by that
sword. A quarrel arose touching the supremacy.
Pope Boniface the VIIIth was suddenly attacked,
was made prisoner, and died of the insult. The po-
pedom was trampled under the foot of the French
king. Rome was deprived of the papal throne; and
the popes were held in the chains of France during a
memorable exile at Avignon, a captivity of seventy
years.
The “seat of the beast” had now been made deso-
late. But it was to be visited with still more direct
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALS. 77
evil. The “Great western schism” began; rival popes
contested the throne; the Guelphs and Ghibelines
rose again; and Italy was one vast scene of profligate
conspiracy and ruinous battle. “This dissension,”
says the historian, “was formented with dreadful suc-
cess. For the space of fifty years the Romish Church
had two or three different heads at the same time;
each of the contending popes forming plots and thun-
dering out amathemas against his competitors. The
distress and calamity of those times is beyond all pow-
er of description.” The trumpet had sounded stern-
ly against Rome. -
A. D. 1340. The infliction was now to fall on the
instrument of papal persecution. The slaughter of
the Reformed in the south of France has been com-
puted at a million of lives. The avenger that had
laid Italy waste; that had “burned up” alike the “tree
and the grass,” and filled the land with “fire mingled
with blood,” was civil war. The avenger that was
to make a desert of France was invasion. The minis-
ter summoned for this act of justice was England.
The famous wars of the Edwards and Henries began.
The conflict was all but utter ruin. Her king cap-
tive, her nobility cut off in the three fatal battles of
Crecy, Poictiers, and Agincourt, an English king
master of her throne; France was smitten with the
deadliest infliction that the modern world had wit-
nessed. “No war had broken out in Europe, since
the fall of the Roman empire, so memorable as that of
Edward the Third, and his successors against France;
whether we consider its duration, its object, or the
magnitude and variety of its events. It was a strug-
gle of one hundred and twenty years, interrupted
but once by a regular pacification.”f -
An additional evidence determines the application
* Mosheim, Cen. xiv. -
f Hallam, Middle Ages, Vol. I. p. 69, 8vo.
7 *
7S - THE APOCALYPSE.
of the “First Trumpet” to this period. An event of
the deepest terror fixes the aera. The contemporane-
ous “Vial” had predicted a pestilence. Italy was
still bleeding with civil wounds, and France strug-
gling with the overmastering strength of England,
when the prediction was made true. -
In 1348 a pestilence, “the most extensive and un-
sparing, of which we have any memorial, visited
France as well as the rest of Europe, and consummated
the work of hunger and the sword.”
This tremendous calamity had begun in Asia two
years before. It spread through Italy; and crossing
the Alps wasted France; in Paris five hundred died
in a day. It continued in Europe until 1350, destroy-
ing literally a third of the population. -
THE SECOND TRUMPET. Chap. viii.
Ver, 8. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great
mountain burning with fire was castinto the sea; and the third part
of the sea became blood: - - -
9. And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea,
and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
THE SECOND VIAL, Chap. xvi.
Ver, 3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea;
and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul
died in the sea.
INTERPRETATION.
The second infliction falls upon some naval power.
There is a vast destruction of ships and men. The
destruction is as sudden and striking as the plunge of
a volcano into the ocean. + *
* Hallam, Middle Ages, Vol. I, p. 78.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 79
HISTORY.
A. D. 1588. The Inquisition had been adopted in
Spain, in 1232, and had continued to persecute with
signal ferocity. The power of Spain was now mar-
shalled against England for the express ruin of Pro-
testantism. The Armada was the floating army of
Persecution. It came with Inquisitors, racks and
chains on board. All Europe looked on the downfall
of the Church in England as inevitable. In three days
this mightiest of all armaments was ruined; part
burned by fire-ships, part sunk or captured by the
English fleet, part buried in the ocean. Of one hun-
dred and thirty “great ships of war,” but a remnant
returned to Spain. All invasion was thenceforth ex-
tinguished, and Spain received a blow which was the
beginning of her decline. ... 3,
Of a destruction, complete and terrible as this, by
the mingled fury of fire, sword, and storm, perhaps
imagination could shape no truer emblem than the
plunge of a flaming mountain into the waters. He
who has seen even a single ship on fire, and, as it
burns, going down, will feel the force of this most na-
tural and powerful image.
THE THIRD TRUMPET. Chap. viii.
Ver. 10. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great
star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the
third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11. And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the
third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died
of the waters, because they were made bitter.
THE THIRD VIAL. Chap. xvi.
Ver, 4. And the third angel poured out his Vial upon the rivers
and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous,
º º which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judg-
€d thus.
SO THE APOCALYPSE.
6. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou
hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
7. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God
Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
INTERPRETATION.
The contrast of this Vial with the corresponding
Trumpet substantiates the remark, that where the pre-
diction peculiarly refers to the Church, it is delivered
more largely under the Vials. The two former pre-
dictions, chiefly referring to military transactions,
found their more distinct expression under the Trum-
pets. - -
The event of which the punishment is here pre-
dicted was the most memorable violence suffered by
the Church, since the establishment of Protestantism:
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
The emblems are obvious and common in Scrip-
ture. —“A star,” typifies the chief minister of a
Church, or a Church itself.”—“Shining like a lamp,”
zeal, purity, eminent reputation for Christian virtues.
—“A fall from heaven,” an extinction of authority.
—“Bitter waters,” waters of strife, civil bickerings,
&c. -
The name, Wormwood, in no degree necessarily
implies evil in the star. It describes merely the evil
produced by the injury done in its extinction. This
style of phrase is frequent. Christ declares that he
was come “not to send peace, but a sword.” Thus
the Bible is said to be “bitter,”t from the persecu-
tions that follow its true believers and propagators.
The evil is inflicted not, as before, on the land or
the sea, but on the “rivers and fountains of waters.”
This implies a change of circumstance. The springs
of rivers are to be looked for in the mountainous dis-
* Apoc, i. 20. ii. 28. xxii. 16. f Ib. x.9.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 81
tricts of a country; the turning those springs to bit-
terness and blood, typifies a mountain war.
The prediction of the Vial adds, that this is a war
for religion. The angel who inflicts the punishment
declares it to be a Divine retribution. “ Thou art
righteous, O Lord, because thou hast thus judged.”
And, as if to give double proof, the angel is answer-
ed by a voice from “that altar” on which the
wrongs and prayers of the saints had been offered be-
fore God; and the answer is given in the language al-
ready used by the persecuted Church, (v. 4.) “Even
So, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy
judgments.” ,” . - -
HISTORY.
The Protestant Church of France, established by
the edict of Nantes, 30th of April, 1598, rapidly rose
into distinction. It formed the most valuable popu-
lation of France. Its ministers were remarkable for
literature, zeal, and purity. Though always exposed
to vexations under a government guided by the influ-
ence of Rome, it increased in numbers, intelligence,
and reputation. Before the close of the next centu-
ry it was computed at two millions and a half of souls.
A. D. 1685. Louis the XIVth abolished the edict
of Nantes. A violent persecution fell upon the Pro-
testants. Some were slain, a million were driven in-
to exile. The “burning and shining light,” the true
“star” of France was extinguished. -
The chief strength of Protestantism lay in the south.
The troops sent to crush it were gradually resisted.
The Alpine country to the north of the Gulf of Lyons
afforded a refuge to the Protestants; and the moun-
tain war, named “the war of the Cevennes,” began,
which, until 1704, occupied two Marshals of France,
and an army of twenty thousand men. -
82 THE APOCALYPSE.
THE FOURTH TRUMPET. Chap viii.
Ver. 12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of
the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third
part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and
the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
THE FOURTH VIAL. Chap. xvi.
Ver, 8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun;
and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. -
9. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed
the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they
repented not to give him glory. * - -
INTERPRETATION.
This Trumpet predicts a state of general confusion
and diminution of power among kingdoms and ruling
authorities, represented, as is usual in the prophecies of
the Old Testament, by the partial eclipse of the hea-
venly bodies. . .
The Vial marks the instrument of convulsion; it
comes from a sudden power given to “the Sun to
scorch” the nations. - .*
The heavenly bodies, when conjoined, typify sove-
reignty in general; when separate, they have separate
significations. It will be remembered, that at the
commencement of the almost boundless wars of Louis
the Fourteenth, he adopted the SUN for his emblem,
with the motto, “Nec pluribus impar,” in defiance,
and sign of superiority to the whole kingly firmament
of Europe. The power to scorch, implies some ex-
traordinary extension of injury, arising from the sun
or sovereign. The blasphemy of the sufferers expresses
at once the severity of the infliction, and their wrath
and wonder that such power should be permitted to
their injurer. Yet “they repent not to give God
glory.” The suffering produces no religious change.
In this prediction there is no mention of injury to
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. S3
the Church. The punishment and the crime are alike
Papal. - -
HISTORY.
From the 13th century there had been a continu-
ance of persecution in Spain, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, &c. The general crime was now to
meet a general punishment. -
A. D. 1687. To the astonishment of Europe,
France, just deprived of an immense multitude of her
most valuable subjects by the exile of the Protestants,
and with a civil war in her provinces, was discovered
to be aiming at universal conquest. The “League of
Augsburg’’ was formed, a general alliance against her
ambition. - .
A. D. 1689. Within two years Europe was cover-
ed with battle. The French armies had rushed out
in every direction with irresistible success, and invad-
ed, at once, Piemont, Flanders, Spain, Italy, and
Germany. The war, after eight years of ruin, was clos-
ed by the peace of Ryswic in 1697; a hollow truce,
broken within four years. . - - -
A. D. 1701. The “War of the Succession” began.
France had intrigued for the possession of Spain, by
the establishment of the grandson of Louis the XIVth
on the throne. The French armies swept all before
them; Europe was again devastated. But this tide of
war was at length to be rolled back, and France her-
self was to feel the calamities which she had so fierce-
ly dealt out to the guilty nations of the Papal pale.
A. D. 1702. Marlborough took command of the
allies. He trampled down the armies of France, and
pursued their remnant to the gates of the capital.
France was saved only by the peace of Utrecht, in
1713. During this tremendous term of twenty years
of almost perpetual war, kings were made and un-
made; every throne of the continent was shaken, and
S4 THE APOCALYPSE.
Papal Europe deluged with blood. But it was at-
tended with no religious change; no reform of Popery.
It is remarkable that its chief results were the tri-
umph of Protestantism,_the acknowledgment of the
Protestant Queen of England; of the Protestant suc-
cession; and of the utter exclusion of the Popish fa-
mily from the throne.
THE FIFTH TRUMPET,
This is the first of three predictions, distinguished
from all the preceding by their importance, their ha-
voc, and their being the last fates of the earth They
are proclaimed by a peculiar messenger of heaven;
and announced as the three . 4. Woes. "?
Ver. 13. And I beheld, and heard an angel” flying through the
midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Wo, wo, wo, to the in-
habiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet
of the three angels, which are yet to Sound,
By this Trumpet is predicted an event from which
the world still trembles, The French Revolution.
One of the tasks which most tries the sagacity and
power of history, is the condensation of its materials.
To compress into a succinct narrative a vast subject,
full of various and complicated interests, embracing
kingdoms, and extending through a large space of hu-
man life; yet in that conciseness to preserve the char-
acteristics of the period, amounts to a difficulty which
has often baffled the most masculine and dexterous un-
* For the “Angel” which announces the “Woes,” (Chap.
viii. 13,) the Syriac version, the Vulgate, and some of the MSS.
read, “Eagle.” Griesbach admits this reading, and it would co-
incide strikingly with the “Eagle,” announcing the fourth seal,
which is only a briefer prophecy of the French Revolution.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALs, S5
derstandings. Even the discovery of those character-
istics themselves; the seizure of those bearings on which
the whole map is essentially constructed; the delving
down into those depths where the true springs of ac-
tion, the mighty heavers of the surface, are alone to
be seen at work, is seldom more the prize of diligence
than of good fortune. ... •
No event of European annals has been represented
under so many contradictory points of view as the
French Revolution. From the recency which has
made all its historians doers or sufferers, and from the
magnitude which has awed and bewildered the gene-
ral mind; all its histories are still unworthy of the name.
The pen is still dipped in the passions. e
To the partizans of popular rule it still stands forth
a bold and necessary effort of human nature to shake
off the weight of an intolerable oppression:-to the
partizans of the ancient monarchy, it is still a Fiend;
a new and fierce creation of Evil, without cause or
parentage in the land; a sudden shape of embodied
rebellion, starting up from that gulf of fire and blood
into which the virtues, glories, and religion of France
were to be plunged; and them going forth on its mis-
Sion to lay waste the world. - -
A sketch, divested of the prejudices of both sides,
shall now be given. It divides itself naturally into
the three parts of, The Republic, The Empire and the
Overthrow, wº -
THE REPUBLIC.
“The corruption of religion in France had produ-
ced corruption of morals. From this corruption had
gradually arisen contempt of all rule and all religion.
A burst of popular vice swept away the government,
the throne was sacrificed, the religion was abjured.
The national spirit rose in desperate hostility against
universal Europe. Abroad a succession of wars was-
- 8
S6 THE APOCALYPSE.
ted the Continent. At home, an unbroken continu-
ance of horrid slaughters consumed the nation. Life
was of all things the most insecure. Atrocious tyran-
my was the spirtt of the government, unequalled mis-
ery the portion of the people.”
THE EMPIRE.
“A great change suddenly arrived. A democracy,
of all others the most squalid and wild, was supplant-
ed by the most stately, splendid, and rigid monarchy.
The civil discords were instantly suppressed. The
power of France was thrown into foreign conquest on
the largest scale. The half-naked and bandit armies
of the Republic became the most brilliant, disciplined,
and formidable force that the world had ever seen.
“The army of a nation which had extinguished all
titles, became full of titled leaders, and was command-
ed by sovereigns. And at the head of the King-ha-
ting nation and army, moved, supreme Lord of the
whole, a King! himself an abstract of the Revolution,
born in democracy, and its destroyer, yet even upon
the throne, still the Infidel and the Jacobin; a man of
military prowess, and fortune, unrivalled; the very
announcement of whose march was dreaded as equiv-
alent to ruin; whose name, beyond that of any con-
queror on record, was ‘Destruction.’”
*
THE OVERTHROW.
“Four monarchies, never actively combined before,
at length made war upon the Infidel Empire. They
attacked it, not by conspiracy nor civil change, but in
the field. They crushed its sovereign. He was final-
ly extinguished; and his empire reduced to the bounds
of the ancient kingdom. Yet this triumph was but a
great political subversion; it left the land to Popery,
as of old. The immorality, the suppression of the scrip-
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALs. S7
tures, the image worship, the whole ancient tissue of
Superstitions that had stifled the truth of God, and
made the land guilty before Heaven, survived unchan-
ged.”
This sketch unquestionably contains the substance
of the French Revolution. Yet it is the work of no
living pen. It is seventeen hundred years old,—The
Ninth Chapter of the Apocalypse. -
THE PROPHEcy of THE REPUBLIC.
- CHAPTER Ix.
Ver. 1. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from
heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bot-
tomless pit. . • -
2. And he opened the bottomless. pit; and there arose a smoke
out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and
the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth:
and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have
power. -
4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the
grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but
only those men which have not the Seal of God in their foreheads.
5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but
that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was
as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. .
6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find
-it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
This chapter allowing of a more circumstantial in-
terpretation than any of the former, the verses are
explained separately.
INTERPRETATION.
Ver. 1. A star falls from heaven; the emblematic
fall of a church. It is observable, that this star is des-
titute of the character of “shining as a lamp,” which
SS THE APOCALYPSE. . .
belonged to the Protestant church previously abolish-
ed.” It is another church, and of an inferior rank of
purity. . . . . . . . . . .
Ver. 2. This star opens the bottomless pit, Hell;
this church is instrumental in letting loose infidelity.
and its consequent corruption of morals. Hell is a
frequent scriptural emblem of direct hostility to God
and his religion. The Pharisees, blasphemers of
Christianity, are called by our Lord, “The children
of Hell.” He pronounces that the “gates of Hell”
shall not prevail against it. Infidelity, the denial of
God, is the most decided work of Hell. • *- :
From the opening of the bottomless pit, a great
smoke bursts forth; smoke is a natural and scripturalf
emblem of obscuration and tumult. From the spread-
ing of infidelity and corruption arises a vast public
confusion. . . . . . . . . .
The Sun is darkened by this smoke; the throne is
abolished in this confusion. . . . . . . .
Ver, 3. A new shape of power appears in the tu-
mult. Its emblem is a flight of locusts, a proverbial
name for merciless devastation. The emblem may
go still deeper, and imply anarchy. It is the Scrip-
ture character of the locusts that “They have no
king,”f . . . . . . . . . . . .
To this power a quality of evil, even beyond that
of the locust, is attributed. It has “a sting, as the
torment of the scorpion, when he striketh a man.”
Ver. 4... But it is appointed, not to destroy, like its
emblem, the trees and surface of the soil, but to com-
mit cruelties against “the men who have not the seal
of God in their foreheads;” the seal of God is the to-
ken of the Church of God. § Those cruelties are to
be exercised on the subjects of the corrupt religion.
Ver. 5. In another point the office of this power .
• Apoc, viii.10. f Joel ii. 10. Prov. ii. 13, &c.
4 Prov, xxx. 27. Ş Apoc. vii. and xiv. 1.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. S
{}
differs from that of the natural locust; it stops short of
utter destruction. Its appointment is the continued
misery and torment of those exposed to its tyranny.
Ver. 6. This verse sums up the character of the
Atheistic power.—Such is the agony of living under
its government, that life becomes valueless; and death
is looked upon as a fortunate refuge. Its reign is em-
phatically, a Reign of Terror.
It comes to a close; its time is “five months.”
THE EMPIRE.
Ver, 7. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses
prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like
gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were
as the teeth of lions. - - -
9. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron;
and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many
horses running to battle. - -
10. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings
in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11. And they had a King over them, which is the flngel of the
bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but
in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (The Destroyer.)
12. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more
hereafter. - -
INTERPRETATION.
Ver. 7. This portion of the prophecy presents a re-
markable change in the aspect of the infidel power;
its express and peculiar purpose in the beginning of
the chapter, had been to make men miserable, and
agonize the adherents of a corrupt faith, &c.
But its new form is pre-eminently martial; the lo
custs are “prepared for battle,” they spread before
the prophet’s eye a mighty host, headed by crowned
leaders. . -
Ver. 8. The aspect of its former state is now chang-
ed, the human countenance, “the face of man and
90 THE APOCALYPSE.
hair of woman,” has succeeded to the old fierce phy-
siognomy. Yet it is a destroyer, it has “lion’s teeth,”
the emblem of irresistible force. The change of as-
pect from the brutal to the human implies a nearer
approach to the general forms and polity of civilized
nations. This meaning was not lost upon Vitringa,
though he mistakes its object, “Certe"licet hi populi
ortu essent barbari,. &c. Laudant tamen historici in
iis humanitatem.” . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ver, 9. This state of the Power is distinguished by
splendour of equipment. It is armed in mail. Its
movement to the field fills the ear with the “running
of many horses and chariots to battle.” It is multi-
tudinous and magnificent. . . . . .
Ver, 10. Yet with all those differences, it retains
the inmate tyranny and cruelty of its former state. It
still bears the “scorpion sting.” . . . . . . .
It comes to a close; its time is “five months.” .
}
The duration is remarkable. It is in each state the
same. The period is emblematic.
Through the whole prediction the nature of the em-
blem is kept in view. The appetite for the tree and
the grass, the configuration, the wings, the tail, are
all parts of the original image, and have no meaning
as applied to any thing else. The “five months’”
life is also a part, and in its literal sense refers only
to the natural locust.” The true purport is, not the
* “The longest period of locustlife is five months. Their reach-
ing that term depends on the heat and dryness of the season. The
rains kill them after they have laid their eggs.” (Daubuz.)
This, which is known by common experience in the east, has
the old testimony of Pliny, (Hist. Nat, lib, ii, c. 29.), “Vergiliar-
ilm ortu parere, deinde ad canis ortum abire, et alias renasci.” The
rise of the pleiades is in spring, of the dog-star in autumn. The
+. §: are seen from the latter end of April until September in-
CIUSIWe, - . g . . * * - -
the TRUMPE
is 4 SD VIALs. º:
91
" length, but the equality of the period in each state.
It is a prediction that the republic and the empire shall
endure for exactly the same number of years. .
. . . Ver, 11. This Power has at its head a Monarch,
deeply imbued with the original spirit of the Revolu-
tion; the agent of that infidelity and rebellion; “the
minister of that bottomless pit,” from which burst out
the original elements of subversion; a Jacobin upon
the throne! His very name conveys, beyond all others,
the impression of ruin; it becomes synonymous with
“Destruction.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ver, 12. With the triumph and supremacy of this
Power, one “woe” is completed; one visitation of
God upon the votaries of a corrupt religion has gone
its-course; two more remain. . . . . "
. . . . . . . . . THE overTHRow. . . . .
* +. Ver, 13. And, the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice
from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. ,
14.” Saying to the sixth angel which had thé trumpet, Loose the
four.angels which are-bound in the great river Euphrates.
15: And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared
for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the
*...third part of men. . . . . . . . . . .
* 16, And the number of the army of the horsemen were two
hundred thousand thousand; and I heard the number of them.
17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat
on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone:
and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of
their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. . . . . .
18. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire,
and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19, For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for
their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them
they do hurt. . . . .- . . . . . . . . . . . .
20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these
plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they
should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass,
*ºne, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear nor
walk:, * , . . . . . .
21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorce.
ries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. ,

92 *- THE APOCALYPSE,
INTERPRETATION.
Ver. 13. On the sounding of the sixth trumpet, a
sacred interposition takes place. From the altar on
which the prayers of the saints had been offered, a
command issues for the infliction of this woe. The
voice of the Church demands, that the instruments of
vengeance shall be let loose on the great infidel king-
dom, a chief portion of the general Babylonish em-
pire of idolatry, and corruption of Christianity. Four
sovereigns are summoned to execute this retribution.
Those four have never been combined before. Their
united power has been kept back by the hand of Pro-
vidence, has been “bound in the great river Euphra-
tes.” - -- -
The Euphrates was the peculiar defence of Babylon.
When the Euphrates was once passed, as it was by
the Persians, who dried up the bed of the river, Baby-
lon was an open city. When the will of Providence
commanded that the four sovereigns should at last
coalesce, the long impassable defences of France were
defences no more. - * º
Ver. 15. This combination is prepared for a speci-
fic purpose; not for government, nor for the punish-
ment of men by continued suffering; it is not armed
with scorpion stings; its mission is to kill in battle;
to extinguish the infidel empire by the sword; this
is to be done through great loss of lives, the death of
the “third part of men,” a usual expression of mul-
titude.
It is also prepared for a specific crisis; for “the
hour, and day, and month, and year,” as it should be
translated, (sts tºv opav x00 nºvepov x00 wºvo, xat svtovtov)
for that precise moment in which vengeance was full,
and it was the will of Heaven that it should appear.
Ver. 16. The combination is military; its force is
immense, almost incalculable, “thousands of thou-
sands.” Yet the Prophet hears the number; perhaps,
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. § 3
in intimation, that it was a regular force, and contra-
distinguished from the originally anarchical multitudes
of the infidel power. -
Ver. 17. The Prophet describes this vast force as
if he saw it only in action. It seems armed and cov-
ered with flame and sulphur; out of the ranks of cav-
alry volumes of smoke and fire explode.
Ver, 18. By means of those explosions of smoke
and fire the enemy are slain.
Ver. 19. For battle is its only instrument. The
serpent that springs from the rear, and whose head
kills, is a military weapon. * .
A shell or rocket with its fiery train has frequently
Suggested the same similitude. Joinville, in his ac-
count of the siege of Acre, describes the large rockets
thrown from the town, as, “like fiery barrels with
tails issuing from them like a great sword,” and like
“dragons flying through the air.” * .
It is further to be observed, that the prophet, in
speaking of the appearance of this army, uses a phrase
almost implying that indistinct view in which an army
engaged must be seen, (sy opace.) This expression is
used to describe the undefined and overpowering
Splendours surrounding the Deity, for which the eye
could find no similitude but the blaze of precious
stones. “And he that sat upon the throne was like
in appearance to a sardine stone: and there was a rain-
bow round about the throne, in sight like to an emer-
ald: (owoto; opaqst cuapayówo,)” like to the look of an em-
erald. In the text this is insufficiently translated, “in
the Vision.”
It may be not too minute to contrast this dazzled
and rapid view of the invading army, which gives it
the look of being involved in panoply of fire, with
the more composed and distinct view of the Imperial
force in the ninth chapter; the polished mail, the mil-
* Apoc. iv. 3.
94 THE APOCALYPSE.
itary pomp, the regulated march, the Sound of chariot
and horse advancing to battle. The distinction is
probably, that the great combined host was to be con-
templated only as an invading force; that its sole
business was conflict, and that, when that conflict was
finished, the office and military existence of the com-
bination must be closed together. The Imperial force,
on the contrary, was to have had an existence inde-
pendent of actual conflict; and, though essentially war-
like, was yet capable of being seen in splendid pre-
paration, still unwrapped in flame, nor sweeping-be-
fore the eye in the confused and furious energies of
battle. * - a
Ver. 20. Yet the overthrow of the Empire works
no reform in the ancient corrupt religion. “The rest
of the men which were not killed by those plagues,” the
remainder of the men without the seal of God in their
foreheads, yet “repented not of the works of their
hands, that they should not worship devils, (demons
or dead men,) and idols of gold and silver, and brass
and stone and wood.” The adherents of the Romish
worship had been idolaters before; they continue ido-
laters still, worshipping images, stocks and stones,
“which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk.” The
warning of the mighty catastrophe is lost upon them.
They are still captive to their corrupt religion; and
with it they retain their moral corruption. “ They
repent not of their murders,” &c.
The fifth and sixth Vials are nearly the repetition
of the fifth and six Trumpets, but on a much more
concise scale; the events having much more reference
to political and military change, than to ecclesiastical.
They are here placed together, to avoid the interrup-
tion of the detailed prophecy of the Trumpets.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 95
PROPHECY OF THE FIFTH VIAL. Chap. xvi.
Ver, 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat
of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they
gnawed their tongues for pain.
11. And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains
and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. -
INTERPRETATION.
(The seat of the beast,) in the original, the throne,
is smitten. Rome is visited with severe calamity du-
ring the French Revolution. “Its kingdom is dark-
ened;” its sovereignty is broken down for the time.
And its people are exposed to great suffering, yet
without reform of either morals or religion. .
PROPHECY OF THE SIXTH VIAL. Chap. xvi.
Ver, 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great
river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way
of the kings of the east might be prepared. -
ū.
INTERPRETATION.
This Vial is obviously but another expression for
the sixth Trumpet, the summoning of the “four an-
gels that were bound in the Euphrates.” But it al-
ludes more directly to the memorable operation by
which the conquest of Babylon was effected; the
drying up of the bed of the river. Cyrus, the eastern
King, was led to conquest by the hand of Providence,
for the liberation of the Jews. The deliverers of Eu-
rope, the overthrowers, like Cyrus, of a Babylonish
Empire of atheism and oppression, and, like him, led
by the Divine hand, bear his title.
96 THE APOCALYPSE.
HISTORY.
From the death of Louis the XIVth, in 1715, to
the Revolution, the tone of manners in France had
rapidly deepened in corruption. The banishment of
Protestantism had removed the great check on nation-
al impurity. The regency and the reign of Louis
the XVth were profligate beyond all example; Pope-
ry was the sole guardian of public morals, and France
soon became conspicuous at once for the most active
bigotry, the most daring infidelity, and the most uni-
versal and unhesitating vice, of any people of the
world. The cup was at length full. The solitary
virtues of Louis the XVIth and a few round his
throne, could not redeem the nation; and the Revo-
lution began.
THE REVOLUTION.
A. D. 1789. On the 5th of May, the States Gene-
ral opened their sitting at Versailles. On the 16th of
June, the formation of the National Assembly was de-
creed. On the 27th it was formed. On the 13th of
August, but three months from the commencement
of the Revolution, the Gallican Church was overthrown
by the “Decree for the abolition of tythes.” The
whole of the Parochial Clergy of France were instant-
ly pauperized. The succeeding measures, the seizure
of the Church lands and houses, the confiscation of
funds, the exile and massacre of the priesthood, were
but the practical execution of the decree. The blow
was struck in 1789. The Church of France was the
first public body subverted by the Revolution!
THE REPUBLIC.
A. D. 1793. Jan. 21. The king was murdered; he
had been deposed, August 14th, 1792.
June 23. The constitution of the Republic was
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALs. 97
proclaimed; its three principles being—the sovereign-
ty of the people—the indifference of the government
to all distinctions of religion—and the levee en masse,
or summons of the whole population to arms.
August 8th. The levee en masse, (the locust ar-
my,) was ordered. “All Frenchmen were com-
manded to hold themselves in permanent readiness for
the armies.” - s.
Sept. 28. The Christian aera was abolished. The
aera of the Republic was substituted. Sunday was to
be observed no more. Olympic games every four
years were appointed in honour of liberty. y
Oct. 16. The sections of Paris demanded at the bar
of the Convention the total suppression of religious
worship. They passed through the hall, shouting,
“no more altars, no more priests, no God but the God
of nature.” This blasphemy was followed by a de-
mand, that the cathedral of Paris should be made the
temple of reason. -
Nov. 1. Gobet, the Vicar-general of Paris, attend-
ed by a body of his priesthood, abjured his functions
and Christianity, uttering the fearful words, “all re-
ligion is an imposture.” The blasphemer was shortly
after guillotined. -
Nov. 19. It was ordered that in all burial places, a
monument should be erected representing sleep, with
the inscription, “DEATH is an ETERNAL SLEEP.”
The Republican system was now complete. Im-
morality and infidelity had produced their natural
fruits in rebellion, regicide, and national atheism.
This tremendous consummation was all the work of a
single year—The “first year of the Republic.”
During the democracy, the most unsparing blood-
shed was continued through France. The armies
were perpetually engaged along the vast frontier; and
the Vendée war consumed multitudes. But the pecu-
liarity which distinguishes the bloodshed of the
French Revolution from all other, is the flood of it
- . 9 -
98 THE APOCALYPSE.
that was poured from the scaffold. The governing
faction perpetually changed, and every change sent
the vanquished to the guillotine. Of the original
movers of the Republic scarcely one survived. In Pa-
ris the axe was in constant exercise. In every city
of France, there was a scaffold covered with the blood
of all ranks of society. - - - -
This state of miserable suffering, utter uncertainty
of life, and unprincipled and unsettled government,
continued until the year 1804; gradually mitigating
towards the close, yet still presenting to Europe an
aspect so fierce, squalid, and savage, that it excluded
France from the ranks of civilized nations. The
characteristic of the Republic was blood-thirsty ty-
ranny in the governors; ferocity and terror in the peo-
ple. -
THE EMPIRE.
A. D. 1804. May 18. Bonaparte was declared
Emperor. The change from the Republican habits
of France was total. He proclaimed an amnesty to
the emigrants. He patronised literature and its insti-
tutions in a high degree. Ostentatious magnificence
was the character of the Imperial establishments. His
court was the most splendid in Europe. He brought
back the old nobility, he created new. He reinstated
the national religion. His first public act, after his
coronation by the Pope, was to write a letter to the
King of England, disclaiming the Republican doctrine
of war against all Monarchies, and professing himself
ready to enter into an universal pacification. The
“Sans-culotte Republic” was no more. France was,
in the phrase of the day, “reunited to the great Euro-
pean family.”
But, with those professions of peace on his lips, he
retained the ambition of Republicanism. He sud-
denly usurped the crown of Italy, raised the French
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALs. 99
army to half a million of men, reorganized it into the
highest state of strength and discipline, gave titles and
principalities to its generals, and at the head of mon-
archs marched to unrivalled victory.” -
Napoleon was, in a stronger sense than can be aſ-
firmed of any other Sovereign or Chieftain, the soul
of his Empire and his army. To the Continent his
name was a terror; the battle fought against him was
pronounced beforehand a battle lost; the kingdom in-
vaded by him, was looked upon as already overwhelm-
ed. The presence of no man within human record
conveyed such impressions of certain defeat to all op-
posing power. - -
Yet, even with the crown upon his brow, he had
the evil spirit of his original Jacobinism. He made
war by the offer of revolutionary freedom. His only
conception of government was tyranny: he was a scof-
fer at all religion; and in the proudest supremacy of
the sword, he still loved the dungeon and the dagger.
—The Empire was Jacobin. -
In the interpretation of prophecy nothing could be
idler than to build upon a solitary phrase or name.
Yet, when the proof is complete on other grounds,
even a name has a right to our attention. We have
in the text two for this minister of the Revolution,
Abaddon and Apollyon, each signifying “the Des-
troyer.” There is no reason to suppose that the sec-
ond name was the work of interpolation; for an attempt
of that kind,—as in the instance of the Vulgate, “La-
tine nomen habet exterminans,” must have been long
since made a matter of inquiry. Nor is there more
reason to suppose that the translation of the Hebrew
was given by the prophet for the sake of explanation;
“the angel of the bottomless pit,” being enough for
* The French army numbered five Kings, four Princes, twenty-
one Dukes, &c.
100 THE APOCALYPSE.
that purpose. The angel Michael,” and Armageddon,f
are alluded to without translation. But St. John is
“in the Spirit;” a passive réceiver of the dictates of
Heaven, and he writes what he is commanded. The
twofold name must have been given with a purpose
beyond its mere intelligibility to the Greeks; to whom
the whole prophecy was a sealed book. But, to our
generation, who know that by so slight an addition as
a single letter, it would bear the pronunciation of the
most remarkable name of the Revolution, even of that
man who, commencing his career its servant, became
its champion, and from its champion, its sovereign;
and that name too superseding his early appellative,
and peculiarly combined with his crown; it may be,
not unfairly, allowed to conceive that the same in-
spiration which, seventeen hundred years ago, reveal-
ed the empire of Napoleon, might have willed to in-
timate the name by which he wielded the sceptre.
The prophecy of the fifth Vial, relative to the suf-
ferings inflicted on Rome and the papal states during
the Revolution, was closely fulfilled. -
In 1797, the second year of his Italian campaigns,
Bonaparte advanced towards Rome, and was prevent-
ed from the seizure of the papal throne only by the
treaty of Tolentino, concluded in February, 1797,
which the Pope purchased at the bitter price of three
of his legations, Ferrara, Bologna, and Romagna; mo-
ney to the amount of a million and a half sterling, and
the plunder of the chefs-d'oeuvre of the Vatican.
Yet this was but a respite. On the 10th of Febru-
ary, 1798, the French army under Berthier entered
Rome; took possession of the city, and made the Pope
and the cardinals prisoners. Within a week Pius VI.
was deposed; Rome was declared a Republic; the tree
* Apoc. xii. 7. f Ibid. xvi. 16.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 10]
2”
of liberty was planted; and the city and the states were
delivered up to a long series of the deepest insults, re-
quisitions, military murders, and the general injury
and degradation of the feelings and property of all clas-
ses of the people. Pius VI. died in captivity. Pius
VII. was dragged across the Alps to crown Napoleon,
was held in duress, and was finally restored only on
the fall of the French Empire. The papal indepen-
dence was abolished by France, and the son of Napo-
leon was declared King of Rome.
1812. The capture of Moscow closed the triumphs
of Napoleon. The hand of the storm, and of Him
who guides the storm, smote him; and he was thence-
forth to be undone.
1813. A league of the four great European pow-
ers, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, was for
the first time practically combined against the French
Empire. -
It is among the most remarkable circumstances of
an extraordinary period, that this measure had defied
all efforts for its accomplishment before. All the pow-
ers had been successively at war with France; but it
was by duple or triple alliances. The whole labour
of diplomacy, in the full consciousness that the hope of
Europe depended on an alliance of the four, had con-
tinually failed. Some strange impediment had always
started up to forbid a coalition which yet each and all
felt essential to their common safety.
The mysterious and invincible restraint was now
removed. The prophecy pronounces that it was re-
moved by the commAND of HEAVEN' By the same
command the four Allies were summoned to consum-
mate the overthrow of the Empire of blood and Athe-
ISIT).
On the 17th of August, the Grand Alliance declared
hostilities. It had been reserved by Providence for
this crisis, “for the hour and day and month and
year.” Its objects were not less remarkable than its
9*
102 THE APOCALYPSE.
construction. Unlike all others, the Alliance was
formed not for possession of terrritory, nor for per-
manent continuance, nor even against the enemy as a
nation. Its declared and single purpose was the ex-
tinction of Napoleon, and with him of his system.
A host, of a number that throws even the military
multitudes of Napoleon into the shade, a million of
men with another million in their track, now rushed
into France. England had the glory of leading the
way. In September, 1813, the British troops invaded
the South. In January, 1814, the Allies crossed the
Rhine; they fought their road through all the obsta-
cles of valour and despair up to the gates of Paris, and
after twice capturing the capital, England giving the
last blow, as she had given the first, they extinguish-
ed Napoleon and his guilty, abhorred, and godless
Empire. * |
Thus was accomplished the second wors. The first
had smitten the Continent through France. The pun-
ishment had been at length inflicted on the Revolu-
tionary throne. The loss of human life was immense.
The slain of France, from the battle of Leipsic to the
carnage of Waterloo, defy all calculation!
In the text the times of the first and second States
were predicted to be equal. This was exactly ful-
fillled. Each lasted eleven years! The Republic
continuing from 1793 till 1804, and the Empire from
1804 till 1815. - -
The prophecy concluded by declaring that this
mighty lesson would be utterly lost to the Popedom
and Popery. The fact has exactly followed the pre-
diction. No reform of doctrine, nor additional ten-
dency to the purification of the Romish Church, or
of the morality of Popish countries, has arisen from
their condign punishment. Yet, it is the natural ope-
ration of adversity to reform the grossnesses into
which men and nations fall through long impunity.
And this result has, in England and some other Pro-
THE TUMPETS AND VIALs. 103
testant nations, unquestionably followed the French
Revolution. The Freethinking, which the brilliant
celebrity of France had made almost a fashion in Eng-
land fifty years ago, has hid its head. It is no longer
the boast of men ambitious of fame, that they are un-
believers. No man of character now dares to insult the
common feeling of society by a caricature of religion.
The name of Atheist now implies not a lofty superi-
ority to prejudice, but a melancholy and frightful
abandonment of understanding; not genius, but insani-
ty. Voltaire is no more the lord alike of wit and wis-
dom, but a pitiable evidence of the utter worthlessness
of talent without principle. The bustling tribe of his
imitators are sunk into contemptuous oblivion; or re-
membered only with horror, as the realisers of his
dreams of evil, the actors in the Pagan abominations,
the remorseless murders, the mad and blind blasphe-
mers of the Revolution. - -
But, in the Papal countries, no change of the old
bigotry, or of the old impurity, is yet discoverable.
The decay of the ancient nobles may have rendered
vice less glittering, but it is not less popular. The ac-
tual misery and beggary of the multitudes pressed to
the dust by vicissitude and war, may have retarded
for a while the direct licentiousness, which was once
the grand business of Continental life. But with pub-
lic leisure the temptation is returning in full flood.
Voltaire, Rousseau, and their whole crowd of subor-
dinate corruption again form the reading of Papal Eu-
rope. The copies of Voltaire circulated through the
Continent since the peace are reckoned by hundred
thousands.
The court of Rome has started into sudden life.
The old somnolent tranquillity of the Braschis has
passed away for the vigour of Sixtus the Fifth. The
monastic orders have been raised into new opulence
and activity. Jesuitism, the crushed conspirator, the
fiercest and subtlest shape of superstition, the last
104 THE APOCALYPSE.
compound of the wiliness and venom of the Serpent,
has been rewarmed in the bosom of idolatry, and sent
out to wind its way through Europe. New anathe-
mas have been issued against the propagation of the
Scriptures. New Romish correspondences, new mis-
sions, new alliances, have been planted through the
world; and at this moment the Popedom, shaking off
the sackcloth and dust of the Revolution, is rising in-
to a haughty stature and strength, ominous of the perse-
cution that it shall yet inflict, and in the midst of
which it shall be extinguished by the lightnings.
PROPHECY.
THE PROPAGATION of THE GOSPEL.
CHAPTER X.
Ver. I. And I saw another mighty angel come down from hea-
ven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and
his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2. And he had in his hand a little book open; and he set his right
foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, -
3. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when
he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. -
4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was
about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write
them not. . - * -
5. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the
carth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6. And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created
heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the
things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are there-
in, that there should be time no longer: . -
7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he
shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he
hath declared to his servants the prophets.
INTERPRETATION.
This passage is but introductory; yet, by the ma-
jesty of the speakers, it clearly contemplates some
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALS. 105
transaction of the very highest importance. The
“Mighty Angel,” is the Lord Christ. He appears
clothed with the spendours of the first vision of the
Apocalypse, when he came to threaten the crimes of
the Asiatic Churches. f But his head is now encircled
with the rainbow, for he comes on a purpose of mer-
i. His voice is that of the “Lion” of the tribe of
Juda. - -
He bears in his hand “a little book,”—THE BIBLE.
He plants one foot on earth and one on sea, to show
that the mission of that book is co-extensive with the
globe. * -
His cry, the summons to mankind of the bearer of
the Gospel, is attested as the will of Heaven, by the
thunders, the Scriptural harbingers and attendants of
the presence of God the Father. The command, not
“to write” what the thunders uttered, is but an ex-
pression of the measureless grandeur of the Godhead,
whose presence they announce. Their voices are not
to be communicated, ſor they are inconceivable by the
mind of man. - .#
There is no ground for presuming that those thun-
ders delivered any prediction yet to be revealed. A
prophecy, not to be written, where writing is the
only medium of communication, is equivalent to none.
Besides, we have no instance of a prophecy uttered
by any but a living being. The prophet, too, by his
final malediction against all attempts to add or di-
minish,i declares the completeness of the Apocalypse.
If the voices of the thunders had been written, and
then sealed, we might look upon them as a future pro-
phecy, but in no other case. - -
Our Lord calls to witness the power of the Eternal,
whose presence and participation in his act have been
announced by the thunders; “That the time of the
* Ver, 1. / † Apoc, i. 14.
# Apoc. xxii, 18. -
I 06 THE APOCALYPSE.
deliverance and happiness of the Church shall come,
and that it awaits only the sounding of the next trum-
pet.” The translation in the text is not accurate. It
should be, “That the TIME shall not be yet; but, in
the days of the voice of the Seventh Angel; when he
shall begin to sound, and the mystery of God shall be
finished, according to the good tidings which he gave
(ws evnyyewgs) to his servants the prophets.”
To this the distribution of the Scriptures is made a
preliminary. . . -
PROPHE CY. .
Ver. 8. And the voice which I heard from Hedven spake unto me
again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in
the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the
earth. * , . -
9. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the
little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and seat it up; and it
shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as
*
homev. - - - - . . . •
10. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate
it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had
eaten it, my belly was bitter. . . . . .
11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before
many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. -
INTERPRETATION.—
The voice of the Eternal commands the taking of
the book. And the purpose of its taking from the
hand of the Saviour, is that it may be “prophesied,”
a phrase synonymous in Scripture with “preached,”
before all nations. This book is not a book of pro-
phecy, but the BIBLE; for the obvious reason: It has
the most express dissimilitude from the only declared
Book of prophecy, the “Book of the Seven Seals.”
That book is a closed one,—is reserved at the right
hand of God, is incapable of being opened by any
created being, is given into the power of the Lamb
alone to touch or unseal,—and its opening generates
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALs. 107
a long, and splended succession of visions, hailed with
the acclamations of earth and Heaven. -
The “little book” is open,-is capable of being
given into human hands; and even of assimilating with
us so closely as to become a part of our nature. It
unfolds no prediction. Heaven and earth are not as-
sembled to rejoice in the magnificence of its develope-
ments. Yet it has a solitary grandeur, that equals the
most glorious manifestation. It is given by the im-
mediate command, and in the very presence of the
Godhead. - -- - ' '
The proof of its identity with the Scriptures is
equally strong.—“The little book” is given for our
spiritual food. Such is the constant purpose of the
Scriptures.—The reception of the book is like honey
within the lips;* but its digestion results in bitterness.
Such is the work of the Scriptures. Conversion is
“joy in the Holy Ghost,” but its consequences is the
exposure of the convert to persecution. This has been
the history of Conversion since the first days of Chris-
tianity. In all instances of decided and extensive con-
version in papal countries by the study of the Scrip-
tures, fierce persecution has followed. The distribu-
tion of the Scriptures, predicted in the text, and of
which our age is the living witness, has not yet had
time to penetrate the popular mind of the Continent;
but in the first hour that Popery shall begin to dis-
cover the inroad of the Gospel, we shall see the jea-
lous and unsleeping spirit spring up from its darkness
armed with fire and sword. What would be the to-
lerance of the most tolerant Roman Catholic country
of Europe, if some new Wickliffe, with his holy wis-
dom and unanswerable learning; or some second Lu-
ther, with his heroism, his impetuous eloquence, and
his indefatigable zeal, were to come forth in its midst,
proclaiming the Scriptures for the sole standard of
* Psalm xix. 2. cxix. 103. Prov, xvi. 24.
108 THE Apocalypse.
faith, calling on the people to use their understandings,
for themselves, to learn the will of God from the
word of God, to scorn the idle legends, and cumbrous
pageantries of ignorant monkery and dusty supersti-
tion; and, as St. Paul cried out to the Paganism of
antiquity, cry out to the worshippers of Saints and
images, to turn from dumb idols, and dead men, to
serve the living God! -
But further, this book is given to human hands for
the purpose of being spread through every nation.
This is affirmed of the Gospel, and of what other
book than the Gospel? “Go into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to every creature.” We even
have the very name givent to it, where the angel is
seen bearing “the everlasting Gospel to preach unto
them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,
and tribe, and language, and people.”
It is, of course, not to be conceived that this com-
mand was laid on St. John individually. He was
then in his extreme old age, and his earthly labours
were done. But, by the emblematic eating of the
book, it had become a portion of his being; he was
the representative of the Gospel; and the words,
“thou must prophesy again before many peoples and
nations, were in substance,—“an especial commission
was once given to you and the Apostles, to preach the
Gospel to the ends of the earth:f that commission
shall again be given, and the Gospel shall again be di- .
vinely impelled through every region of the world.”
A further proof that this book is the Bible, and that,
consequently, an extraordinary circulation of the Scrip-
tures is the subject of the prediction, is given in the
chapter immediately following, in which our Lord de-
tails the history of the papal suppression of the Scrip-
tures. . - -
* Mark xyi, 15. † Apoc, Xiy, 6.
+ Acts i. 8.
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALs, 109
PROPHECY.
THE SUPPRESSION AND PROPAGATION OF THE
SCRIPTURES.
CHAPTER XI.
Ver. 1. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod; and the
angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God, and the
altar, and them that worship therein. . . .
2. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and
measure it not: for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy
city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
INTERPRETATION. .
Those verses are introductory to the history of the
Scriptures; and express that there shall be, existing at
the same time, two Churches, a true and a false.
The whole site of the ancient Jewish temple, the
symbol of the Christian world, was consecrated
ground. But, by the command to measure off the
inner portion, in which was the sanctuary, and to
omit the measurement of the outer, nay, “cast it
out,” (sz800s såw) a complete distinction is made be-
tween the parts of the temple, and, by consequence,
of Christendom, which it symbolizes. The act
amounts to a divine declaration that, of Christen-
dom, a part is holy; and a part is unholy, “given
to the Gentiles,”—is, in fact, heathen, under the
Christian name. It declares also, that this heathen-
ism shall trample and persecute the holy part during
forty two prophetic months, or twelve hundred and
sixty years.
In the New Testament, the Jewish temple is an
usual emblem of the whole people professing the
Christian faith,” among whom, however, the Apos-
* 2 Cor. vi. 16. 1 Tim. iii. 15. Heb. iii. 6.
“In genere, per templum et civitatem sanctam intelligi debere
populum Christianum.”—Vitring. p. 450. -
“Per atrium autem exterius oportet utique intelligi ecclesiam
Christianam secundum illam suam partem, qua excludi potest
communione Christi.” Id,
- 10
i iO THE APOCALYPSE.
tles make the most marked distinctions. “He is not
a Jew who is one outwardly,”* &c.
Forty-two months, by the Jewish reckoning of
thirty days to a month, amount to 1260 days. It has
been already stated that a prophetic day stands for a
year. T . - ... • -
PROPHECY.
Ver. 3. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and
they shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and threescore days,
clothed in sackcloth. . . . . . .
4. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks stand-
ing before the God of the earth. . . . .
5. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their
mouth, and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt
them, he must in this manner be killed.
6. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the
days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them
ºlood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they
Will. ---. - .
7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast
that ascended out of the bottomless pit, shall make war against
them and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord
was crucified. . - -
9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and na-
tions shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall
not suffer their dead bodies to be putin graves. -
10, And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them,
and make merry, and shall send gifts one to añother; because
these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
INTERPRETATION.
Ver. 3. There are three different expressions of the
period during which the Church is to be subjected to
suffering; twelve hundred and sixty days; forty-two
months; a time, times, and half a time;f all which
* Rom, ii. 28. f Ezekiel iv. 6. Numbers xiv. 34.
# A time is a prophetic year. The prophet (Chap. xii. 6,) states
that the “Woman” shall be nurtured in the wilderness 1260&ays,
and, in verse 14, states that she has been nurtured for a time,
times, and a half. The periods are thus the same.
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALs. 111
signify the same duration; or twelve hundred and
sixty prophetic years. - . -
There are four remarkable predictions in the Apo-
calypse, and two in Daniel, each connected with one
of those periods. . . .
Rev. xi. 2. The Gentiles shall trample the holy
city—42 months. - g
Rev. xiii. 5. The beast (the Papacy) shall oppress
the Saints—42 months. -
Rev. xi. 3. The witnesses shall prophecy in sack-
cloth—1260 days. • , ,
Rev. xii. 6. The woman (the Church) shall be in
the wilderness—1260 days. -
Dan. vii. 25. The saints shall be persecuted by the
Papacy—for a time, times, and half a time.
Dan. xii. 7. The holy people shall be scattered
—for a time, times, and half a time. .
The natural conclusion is, that all those events,
each occupying the same aera, from the rise of the
Papacy to the French Revolution, are the same. The
more exact proof, however, shall be given in the re-
spective chapters.
The “two witnesses” are the OLD and NEw TES-
TAMENTs; which it has been the constant object of
the Papal power to narrow in their use, and which its
laws and councils prohibit to the people.
The essential purpose of the Scriptures is to give
witness to the mercy and verity of God. Our Lord
commands, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye
think ye have eternal life, and they are they which tes-
tify (bear witness) of me.” This was addressed to the
Jews, and described the character and office of the
Old Testament. The New Testament is similarly
pronounced the giver of testimony. “This Gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for
a witness unto all nations.”f
• John v. 39. f Matt. xxiv. 14.
1 12 THE APOCALYPSE.
They shall “prophecy in sackcloth.” Their state.
shall be one of depression and difficulty. The Scrip-
tures shall not be widely circulated; their doctrines
shall be the objects of persecution. .
Ver. 4. They are emblematically, the olive trees
and the lamp-bearers; the givers of spiritual anointing
and light. In the vision of Zechariah,” two olive
trees are seen, which probably designated the two
Jewish leaders after the captivity; and in the first,
chapter of the Apocalypse, the Auxvat, or candlesticks,
are interpreted the Churches of Asia. But the em-
blem is not confined to those allusions. The qualities
of supplying oil, and supporting light, are the founda-
tion of its use; which, in the present instance, is, by
an equal right, applicable. - -
Ver. 5. “And, if any man will hurt them, fire pro-
ceedeth out of their mouth.” All attempts at perse-
cuting the doctrines of the Scriptures shall bring down,
Divine vengeance. The chapters of the Trumpets and
Vials detail the chief instances in which the persecu-
tion of the Church has been visited on Rome and the
Papal world. - 3 .
Ver. 6. “They have power to shut Heaven, that it
rain not.” The wrath of Heaven against the perse-
cutors shall be the cause of a vast extent of inflictions,
natural as well as by the sword; plagues, famines, &c.
This power of punishment was sometimes given to
the ancient prophets.f -
Ver. 7. “And when they shall have finished their
testimony.” When they shall have completed their
time of preaching in this state of depression, they shall
be slain; the spirit of Popery, in its shape of Infidelity,
shall publicly abolish the doctrines of Christianity.
Ver. S. “And their dead bodies shall lie in the
street of the great city.” Their abolition shall be lo-
*~~
* Chap. iv. 11.
T Jer, v. 14, Exod, vii. 20. James v. 17.
THE TRUMPETs AND vials. 113
cal, and executed in a country of great magnitude and
importance, deserving the name of Sodom for the no-
toriety and excess of its vices, and of Egypt for its
persecution of the people of God. It has the addi-
tional characteristic of general infidelity, or, that de-
nial of the revelation, and mission of our Lord, which
caused his crucifixion by the Jews. “The city where
our Lord was crucified,” is, like “Sodom and Egypt,”
emblematical. “To crucify him afresh,” is a fre-
quent Scripture phrase for a revolt from his doctrine.
Jerusalem, being the place in which he was slain, is
the type of all countries in which his Gospel shall be
insulted. . . . . * * - a'
Ver. 9. The public abolition of the doctrines of
Christianity shall continue for three years and a half.
Ver, 10. The triumph of irreligion shall be mark-
ed by impious rejoicing; the time shall be distinguish-
ed by showy festivals and celebrations, in contempt
and hate of the Gospel, the reprover of the national
profligacy. * -
HISTORY.
A. D. 533. The Pope was declared HEAD of ALI.
THE CHURCHES by the Emperor Justinian.
The circumstances of a transaction, so pregnant with
the most momentous results to the Christian world,
are to be found at large in the Annals of Baronius, the
chief Romish Ecclesiastical historian.* -
Justinian being about to commence the Vandal war
an enterprize of great difficulty, was anxious previous-
ly to settle the religious disputes of his capital. The
Nestorian heresy had formed a considerable number
of partizans, who, conscious of the Emperor’s hostili-
ty to their opinions, had appealed to the Bishop of
Rome. To counteract the representations of Cyrus
* Vol. vii. p. 194. fol. Antwerpiae.
10 *
1 14 THE APOCALYPSE.
and Eulogius, the Nestorian deputies, the Emperor
sent two distinguished prelates, Hypatius, Bishop of
Ephesus, and Demetrius, Bishop of Philippi, in the
character of envoys, to Rome. . . -
Justinian had been remarkable for taking an un-
kingly share in the dubious theology of the time: he
felt the passions of a disputant; and to his latest day
enjoyed the triumphs of controversy with the delight
of a zealot, as he sometimes signalized them by the
fury of a persecutor. On this occasion, whether
through anxiety to purchase the suffrage of the Ro-
man Bishop, the Patriarch of the West, whose opinion
influenced a large portion of Christendom; or to give
irresistible weight to the verdict which was to be pro-
nounced in his own favour; he decided the preceden-
ey which had been contested by the Bishops of Con-
stantinople from the foundation of the city; and, in
the fullest and most unequivocal form, declared the
Bishop of Rome the Chief of the whole Ecclesiastical
body of the empire. .
His letter was couched in these terms: -
“Justinian, pious, fortunate, renowned, triumphant,
Emperor, consul, &c. to John the most holy Arch-
bishop of our city of Rome, and patriarch.
“Rendering honour to the Apostolic chair, and to
your Holiness, as has been always and is our wish,
and honouring 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 constitu-
tion 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.” .
... * “Ideoque omnes sacerdotes universi orientalis tractus et sub-
Jicere et unire vestræ sanctitati properayimus.” -
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS, 115
“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 ac-
cording to the doctrine of your Apostolic chair. For
we cannot suffer that any thing which relates to the
state of the Church, however manifest and unques-
tionable, 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 de-
clared, we are anxious to fincrease the honour and au-
thority of your Apostolic chair.” *
The letter then proceeds to relate the matter in
question, the heresy of the monks and the mission of
the bishops, and desires to have a rescript from Rome
to Epiphanius, Archbishop of Constantinople, giving
the papal sanction to the judgment already pronounced
by the Emperor on the heresy. It further mentions
that the Archbishop also had written to the Pope,"
“he being desirous in all things to follow the Apos-
tolic authority of his Blessedness.” -
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 al-
ready despatched, and repeats his decision, that all aſ-
fairs touching the Church shall be referred to the
Pope, “Head of all Bishops, and the true and effec-
tive correcter of heretics.t
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 the imperial mandate. He ob-
serves that, among the virtues of Justinian, “one
* “Vestrae Sanctitati quae caput est omnium sanctarum ecclesia.
rum.”
ºf “Veleo maxime, quod quoties in his locis haretici pullular-
unt, et sententia et recto judicio illius venerabilis sedis correcti.
sunt,” * . .
116 THE APOCALYPSE.
shines 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;" as was testified by the
rules of the Fathers, the laws of Princes, and the de-
clarations of the Emperor’s piety.” r
The authenticity of the title receives unanswerable
proof from the edicts in the “Novellae” of the Justin-
ian 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 pon-
tificate.” - - - -
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. But the yoke sat uneasily on the Bishop of
Constantinople; and on the death of Justinian the su-
premacy was utterly denied. The Greek who wore
the mitre in the imperial city of the east, must have
looked with national contempt on a pontiff whose ci-
ty had lost the honours of the imperial residence, and
whose person was in the power of the barbarians.
Towards the close of the sixth century, John of Con-
stantinople, surnamed for his pious austerities the Fas-
ter, summoned a council and resumed the ancient title
of the see, “Universal Bishop.” The Roman Bish-
op, Gregory the Great, indignant at the usurpation,
and either hurried away by the violence of controver-
sy, or, in that day of monstrous ignorance, unacquain-
ted with his own distinctions, furiously denounced
* “Et ei cuncta subjicitis, et ad ejus deducitis unitatem, quam
esse omnium vere ecclesiarum caput, et patrum regulae, &c.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 117
John, calling him an “usurper aiming at supremacy
over the whole church,” and declaring, with uncon-
scious truth, that whoever claimed such supremacy
was Antichrist. The accession of Phocas at length
decided the question. He had ascended the throne of
the east by the murder of the Emperor Mauritius.
The insecurity of his title rendered him anxious to ob-
tain the sanction of the Patriarch of the west. The
conditions were easily settled. The usurper received
the benediction of the Bishop of Rome; and the Bish-
op in 606 vindicated from his rival patriarch the gor-
geous title; that had been almost a century before con-
ferred on the papal tiara by Justinian. He was thence-
forth “Head of all the Churches,” without a compe-
titor, “Universal Bishop” of Christendom. * That
Phocas repressed the claim of the Bishop of Constan-
tinople is beyond a doubt. But the highest authori-
ties among the civilians and annalists of Rome spurn
the idea that Phocas was the founder of the suprema-
cy of Rome; they ascend to Justinian as the only le-
gitimate source, and rightly date the title from the mem-
orable year 533.t - -
The sixth century is distinguished by other features
of that extraordinary aspect which the Romish see so
portentously assumed in its ambition of boundless em-
pire; the building of a vast number of Churches in
honour of the Saints, and for Saint worship; the crea-
tion of a multitude of festivals, adopting the forms of
the abolished pagan rites; and the commencement of
that sullen and benighted ignorance of Scripture and
literature, which for six hundred years brought back
barbarism upon the European world. • .
With the title of “Universal Bishop,” the power
of the Papacy, and the Dark Ages, alike began.
The Latin language, overwhelmed in the dialects
* Anastatius Historia Ecc. Paulus diaconus de gestis Longob
ardorum.
f Gothofredus Corpus Jur. Civ. &c.
1 18 THE APOCALYPSE.
of the Gothic invaders, had ceased to be spoken; the
Latin Scriptures were thus in an unknown tongue;
and the people, disturbed and impoverished by per-
petual war, had neither time nor knowledge for their
translation. The ignorance had reached the clergy;
and the Pope, more a warrior and a statesman than a
priest, found that he could rise to dominion without
the writings of either prophet or apostle. The scrip-
tures died out of the world’s memory. ,
But, in the twelfth century, the attempts of the lit-
tle Christian congregations of the Alps to translate the
Gospel came like a thunderclap to the ears of Rome.
In the absence of all rule of Scripture the papacy had
followed the course of human nature, adding supersti-
tion to superstition, and power to power. The sitter on
its throne, in the fantastic madness of ambition and ig-
norance, assumed the attributes of Deity, proclaimed
himself infallible, the remitter of sins, Lord of the gates
of Hell and Heaven, the Vicar of God, the IMAGE of
GoD on earth. The fountain of sanctity to man, he made
saints, he wrought pretended miracles, he was worship-
ped with incense. The King of Kings, he sent forth his
oracular voice to the Sovereigns of the earth, he claim-
ed tribute of all nations, he took away and gave dia-
dems, and commanded their wearers to come and kiss
the dust at his footstool! sº
His temple had been built in a night of six hundred
years; and it had been, from age to age, filling, unre-
proved, with the strange works of darkness; the forms
of ancient heathenism, the rites of the barbarian con-
querors of the West, and the still more monstrous in-
ventions of monkish dreams, the embodyings of
mingled absurdity and terror. The light from the
Gospel suddenly broke in, and showed the whole
portentous abomination. Thousands shrank at the
sight, and turned to the living God. But Popery was
not to be converted. Sincerity and wisdom would
have rejoiced in the light, and cast away the abomina-
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALS. 119
tion. Tyranny and bigotry loved the darkness better
than the light, and strove to crush the Gospel. A
code of the most furious persecution was established
against all who dared to bring the Scriptures out of
the dust, and put a tongue into the dead. The Gos-
pels were trampled and destroyed, their readers were
proscribed and exterminated. Rome, in the name of
Christ, raged against the Revelation, that he had com-
manded with his latest words to be “preached to every
man under Heaven.” - -
A. D. 1793. The Bible had passed out of the hands
of the people, in all the dominions of Popery from the
time of the Supremacy. The doctrines had perished,
and left their place to human reveries. The converts
were martyred. At length, the full triumph of the
old spirit of corruption and persecution terribly ar-
rived. In the year 1793, twelve hundred and sixty
years from the letter of Justinian declaring the Pope
“Universal Bishop,” the Gospel was, by a solemn
act of the Legislature and the people, abolished in
France. The indignities offered to the actual copies
of the Bible were unimportant after this; their life is
in their doctrines, and the extinction of the doctrines
is the extinction of the Bible. By the decree of the
French Government, declaring that the nation ac-
knowledged no God, the Old and New Testaments
were slain throughout the limits of Republican
France. But contumelies to the Sacred Books could
not have been wanting, in the general plunder of every
olace of worship. In Lyons they were dragged at
the tail of an ass in a procession through the streets. .
A very remarkable and prophetic distinction of
this period was the spirit of frenzied festivity which
seized upon France. - - - -
The Capital and all the Republican towns were the
scene of civic feasts, processions and shows of the
most extravagant kind. The most festive times, of
peace under the most expensive Kings were thrown
120 THE APOCALYPSE.
into the shade by the frequency, variety, and extent
of the Republican exhibitions. Yet this was a time
of perpetual miseries throughout France. The Guil-
lotine was bloody from morn till night. In the single
month of July, 1794, nearly eight hundred persons,
the majority, principal individuals of the State, and
all possessing some respectability of situation, were
guillotined in Paris alone. In the midst of this hor-
ror, there were twenty-six Theatres open, filled with
the most profane and profligate displays in honour of
the “Triumph of Reason.”
But more formal scoffings were prepared by the ex-
press command of the government. On the 1st of
November, 1793, Gobet, with the Republican priests
of Paris, had thrown off the gown, and abjured Reli-
gion. On the 11th, a “Grand Festival,” dedicated
to “Reason and Truth,” was celebrated in the Cathe-
dral of Notre Dame, which had been desecrated,
and been named “the Temple of Reason;” a pyramid
was erected in the centre of the Church, surmounted
by a temple, inscribed “To philosophy.” The torch
of “Truth” was on the altar of “Reason” spreading
light, &c. The National Convention and all the
authorities attended at this burlesque and insulting
ceremony. -
In February, 1794, a grand fête was ordered by the
Convention, in which hymns to Liberty were chant-
ed, and a pageant in honour of the abolition of slavery
in the colonies was displayed in the “Temple of Rea-
Son.” In June another festival was ordered—To the
Supreme Being; the God of Philosophy. But the
most superb exhibition was the “General Festival”
in honour of the Republic. It was distinguished by
a more audacious spirit of scoffing and profanation than
all the former. Robespierre acted the “High priest
of Reason” on the day, and made himself conspicuous
in blasphemy. He was then at the summit of power,
—actual sovereign of France.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 121
That day had passed the sentence upon his iniqui-
ties. . It was remarked even then, that, from the time
of that most impious festival, his fortunes turned.
The 14th of July was the date of the Festival. On
the 28th, Robespierre was a mutilated trunk, with all
France exulting over his body. A single fortnight
had separated the throne and the scaffold.
PROPHIECY.
THE PROPAGATION of THE SCRIPTURES.
Ver, 11. And after three days and a half the spirit of life from
God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great
fear fell upon them which saw them. -
12. And they heard a great voice from Heaven, saying unto them,
Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and
their enemies beheld them. - - -
13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the
tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men
seven thousand; and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory
to the God of heaven. -
14. The second woe is past, and, behold, the third woe cometh
juickly. -
INTERPRETATION,
Ver. 11. In three years and a half from the aboli-
tion of religion in France, it shall be restored, and
even placed in a more secure and prominent rank than
before. The doctrines of Christianity shall be preach-
ed with less restraint; the Bible shall “be set on its
feet,” to the surprise of those who conceived it pros-
trate for ever. ... •
Ver. 12. But a still higher and more miraculous
distinction is at hand. It shall suddenly, by the very
Sanction and impulse of God himself, be elevated be-
yond the power of man to impede its progress. It
shall “ascend in a cloud,” (the scriptural expression
for triumph and pre-eminence,) possessing by the di-
11
H 22 THE APOCALYPSE.
vine command an extent of diffusion and dominion,
that shall confound its enemies. -
Ver. 13. The aera of this triumph is strongly de-
fined. There shall be, “in the same hour,” (apa, pe-
riod) a political earthquake. -
“The tenth part of the Atheistic City” shall fall;
a portion of the Infidel Empire of France shall be torn
away, with the slaughter of many thousands; express-
ed by seven, the number of completeness. And this
catastrophe shall produce a religious influence on the
mind of nations. -
It is to be observed, that there is a distinction be-
tween the “remnant” in the text, and that mentioned
in the close of the sixth Trumpet,” who were stated
to have been uninfluenced by the proofs of Divine wrath
given in the overthrow of the Revolutionary Empire.
The “remnant,” (which should in both instances have
been translated, the rest, Aowntow) in the sixth Trumpet
are named “those who were not killed by the plagues;”
men in the same class of obnoxiousness to punishment
with those who perished;—Idolaters, persecutors, &c.
But in the present text, there is no such description,
the word Aouzot alone is used. The absence of the pre-
vious designation generalizes the word, and leaves it
capable of being applied to all the spectators of the ju-
dicial ruin, whose less impure faith might be increased
in purity by the terror of the example. - * -
Ver 14. But the aera of this stupendous triumph of
the Bible is marked still more distinctly. It takes
place before the end of the Second Woe.
HISTORY.
A. D. 1794. From the fall of Robespierre, the fury
of Atheism was gradually diminished, and some at-
tempts were made to restore the old worship. But a
* Apoc, ix. 20, 21.
THE TRUMPETs AND VIALs. 123
conception of the remoteness of this re-establishment
from Christianity may be formed by the declaration
of the Constitutional Bishops in 1796, that “Christi-
anity was only a republication of the Rights of Man.”
The popish Church, however, made continual ad-
vances to its former privileges; and, excepting the di-
minished salaries of the clergy, was placed nearly in
its original situation. -
But this system was about to be contrasted with a
Church to which France will owe whatever of mercy
she may find in the coming hour. -
A. D. 1797. On the 17th of June, Camille Jourdan,
in the “Council of Five Hundred,” brought up the
memorable report on the “Revision of the laws rela-
tive to religious worship.” It consisted of a number
of propositions, abolishing alike the Republican re-
strictions on Popish worship, and the Popish restric-
tions on Protestant. - .** :
1. That all citizens might buy or hire edifices for
the free exercise of religious worship. -
2. That all congregations might assemble by the
sound of bells. . . -
3. That no test or promise of any sort unrequired
from other citizens should be required of the minis-
ters of those congregations. -
4. That any individual attempting to impede, or
in any way interrupt the public worship should be
fined, up to 500 livres, and not less than 50; and that
if the interruption proceeded from the constituted au-
thorities, such authorities should be fined double the
SUl Ill.
5. That entrance to assemblies for the purpose of
religious worship should be free for all citizens.
6. That all other laws concerning religious wor-
ship should be repealed. - ... -
Those regulations, in comprehending the whole
state of worship in France, were, in fact, a peculiar
boon to Protestantism. Popery was alseady in sight
I24 THE APOCALYPSE.
of full restoration. But Protestantism, crushed under
the burthen of the laws of Louis XIV., and unsup-
ported by the popular belief, required the direct sup-
port of the state to “stand on its feet.” The Report
seems even to have had an especial view to the griev-
ances of the Church; the old prohibitions to hold
public worship, to possess places of worship, to have
ingress, &c. - . . -
From that period the Church has been free in France,
and it now numbers probably as large a population as
before its fall. It is a striking coincidence, that al-
most at the moment when this great measure was de-
termined on, the French army under Bonaparte was
seen invading and partitioning the papal territory.
The next year, 1798, saw it master of Rome, the
rºom a Republic, and the Pope a prisoner and an
£X] HC. -
The Church and the Bible had been slain in France
from November 1793, till June 1797. The three
3years and a half were expended, and the Bible, so
long and sternly repressed before, was placed in hon-
our, and was openly the Book of free Protestantism!
A. D. 1805. In this year the ea'altation of the Bi-
ble began; the first great issue of Bibles for the gene-
ral use of mankind was made. Without entering into
the questions that arise out of this subject, the mere
historic fact is; that then, for the first time in the An-
mals of the Church, the diffusion of the Scriptures oc-
cupied a large space in the mind of Europe. “The
Bible is the religion of Protestants,” and to them the
general knowledge of the Scriptures had always been
a subject of the first interest. The Church of Eng-
land with that spirit, which has placed it at the head
of Protestantism, had the high honour of leading the
way by an institution formed a century before, (1698.)
But the prophetic time was not yet come. The im-
pulse has been given at the appointed hour; and the
Scriptures, translated into one hundred and forty-three
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALs. | 25
languages, already penetrate the remotest regions of
the world. - …
It is the supreme and unrivalled glory of England,
that she has been the earthly instrument of this bless-
ing; that, towering, like another Sinai, in the wilder-
ness of a world covered with idolatry, crowned by the
light that flows from the presence of God, and supe-
rior to all human aggression, from her has been given
the Law of life, the Gospel, to the Nations.
By these chapters, (x, and xi.) the identity of the
“little book,” the Two Witnesses, and the Bible, is
established. It is the same Christ, “the Mighty An-
gel,” who gives the “Book” to the Apostle, and who
details the History of the Two Witnesses. It is the
same voice of the Eternal, that from Heaven com-
mands the Book to be taken into the hand of the
Apostle for distribution to all kindreds and tongues
and summons the Witnesses to a height above all hu-
man tyranny. Neither Pope nor Monk can suppress
the Bible now; neither Inquisition nor Army. It is
multiplied beyond all the art or strength of man to de-
stroy ; the Witnesses have ascended, like our Lord,
“on the clouds of power,” to be slain no more.
It was predicted that the triumph of the Scriptures
should precede the close of the Second Woe. That
woe was inflicted on the French Infidel Empire in
1815. It did precede that catastrophe. Its triumph,
still advancing, is further declared to have been con-
spicuous in an aera of public conflict, great havoc of
life, and the avulsion of a part of the Infidel dominion.
It must be almost unnecessary to repeat, that the fall
of the French Empire was marked by all those cir-
cumstances, and particularly by the dismemberment
of territory; the whole of the conquests of Revolution-
ary France having been cut away by the Allied Sword,
a feature of the conquest of the most singular kind.
11 *
T 26 THE APOCALYPSE.
History contains scarcely a similar example of the
sudden and complete diminution of a mighty empire.
i
THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. Chap. xi.
PROPHECY.
THE tnIVERSAL WAR.
Ver. 15. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great
voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become
the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign
for ever and ever.
16. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on
their seats, fell on their faces, and worshipped God,
17. Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which
3rt, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee
thy great power, and hast reigned.
18. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and
the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou
houldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the
wº. and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest
destroy them which destroy the earth.
19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there
was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were
lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and
great hail. *
INTER PRETATION.
The third woe is the most terrible of all the visi-
tations of the Divine wrath. It is more strikingy
connected with the Divine government of the
Church than of any of the former; and is announced
by the voices of heaven, proclaiming that the final fall
of the Papacy is come, and that the full triumph of
Christianity in the visible kingdom of God and Christ,
so long delayed, is about to begin. The Elders, the
representatives of the Christian priesthood, do homage
before God, in proof that this is a pre-eminent triumph
of religion; and declare that the time of the resurrec-
tion of those who died in the faith, “the first resur-
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 127
rection,” is come, and that they shall receive their vi-
sible glory. In this hymn, the destruction of the
persecutors is also declared. - -
The opening of the Temple, and the view of the
Ark of the Testament, (800nxn, the covenant,) are
emblematic of the Gospel; our Lord having by his
sacrifice abolished the exclusiveness of the Jewish
Temple, and thrown open to mankind the Covenant
which was originally restricted to the Jews, as the
sight of the Ark of the Covenant was to the Jewish
high priest. This seems to predict an extensive con-
version to the Church from the idolatrous faiths, imi-
mediately preceding or conjunct with the final plague.
On the completion of the number of the Church,
the woe commences, the lightnings and thunders are
launched forth, and the earth is overwhelmed.
THE SEVENTH VIAL. Chap. xvi.
w PROPHECY.
THE UNIVERSAL w AR.
Ver. 13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out
of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and
out of the mouth of the false prophet. . -
14. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which
go forth unto the kings of the earth, and the whole world, to ga-
ther them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth,
and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked aud they see his
shame. M. -
16. And he gathered them together into a place called in the
Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
INTERPRETATION.
Those verses are introductory to the seventh
plague, or universal war. % -
It will be shown in the “Vision of the Church,”
* Apoc, xii. xiii. xiv.
I 28 THE APOCALYPSE.
.*
that the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, typi-
fy infidelity, Popery, and the influence of the monas-
tic orders. —Frogs were unclean, and one of the
plagues of Egypt: the whole three express the com-
bined influence of atheism and superstition, suddenly
acting upon the earth for the general disturbance of
nations. The power of delusion had been already as-
cribed to the monastic orders, the agents of Rome
and persecution. *
Under the excitement of the triple influence, which
differs from the Jacobinism of the French Revolution,
only in uniting to the fury of infidelity the steady
fierceness of superstition, and the subtle artifice of the
monkish agency, the nations of Europe, and finally
the world, shall be involved in one blaze of war.
This war shall take the world as the siege of Jeru-
salem took the Jews, by surprise. It is announced by
the same words, “Behold, I come as a thief.” Yet,
as in the instance of the siege, it will be no surprise,
but to the negligent, the adherents of the idolatrous
Church, and the general worldly, and irreligious por-
tion of mankind. To those whose eye is fixed in hu-
mility upon the signs of the great coming, there will
be in the circumstances of the times warning suf-
ficient, if not to enable them to anticipate the precise
steps by which the Universal Convulsion will arrive,
at least to ascertain its approach, and to feel the so-
lemn necessity of preparing by a renewed spirit, by a
purer morality, and a more anxious study of the Gos-
pel, for a trial in which all that the earth has of strength
or greatness will be utterly shaken.
Far be it from the writer of these pages to conceive
that he has any right of superior virtue to impress his
opinions upon his fellow men; human vanity shrinks
in the presence of such times and things. Yet he
would entreat minds wiser and better than his own to
examine whether, even in the events of the present
* Apoc, xiii. 14, 1 Tim. iv. 1.
THE TRUMPETS AND VIALs. 129
day, there are not discoverable some most remarkable
coincidences with the prophecy. .
The close of the war against the French empire
promised an all but interminable peace to Europe.
The folly of human ambition had been so strongly
displayed in the career of Napoleon; the severity of
the public sacrifices was so deeply felt by all; and
so stern and decisive an evidence was given of the
feebleness of any single kingdom of the continent
against the determined resistance of the rest; that
war for conquest seemed to be consigned to dreams
and madness for ever. When France failed, with its
central position, its magnificent army, its countless
and martial population, its long experience of war,
and habit of victory, and with a leader at its head,
who, perhaps, in a superior degree to any man that
ever lived, was made for the nation and the time, for
the developement and inflammation of the national
powers to the highest point of evil energy, when
all those qualities for triumph and tyranny seemed
but to increase the downfall; like the massiveness and
loftiness of some great fortress, but making the blast
of the mine that blew it up, fiercer and more ruin-
ous:–what king or kingdom would again hazard the
desperate experiment of rousing the wrath of man-
kind? -
Yet, with this consciousness, which must have
made nations sick of the very name of war, with
many a wound to heal, and with the prospect of ten-
fold suffering in the committal of their strength in the
field, the spirit of war has been perpetually creeping
through Europe. Sovereigns have not been the cri-
minals in this conspiracy against mankind. Its fires
burn in a lower zone; it is seen in a reckless hatred
of the powers that be, a wandering love of a life of
plunder, liberty on the lips, with an utter ignorance,
if not an utter scorn of its principles in the heart, a
gambling in codes and constitutions, and an invete-
I 30 - THE APOCALYPSE.
rate, sneering, and ostentatious contempt of all reli-
gion. Jacobinism is stripped of its crowns and ban-
ners, but its disbanded soldiery are roving through
Europe, and rebellion is their natural food.
That there are abuses in the governments of the
continent; that there are gallant and honourable spi-
rits among those who have made themselves obnox-
ious to those governments; and that the cause of kings
and people would be equally prospered by a sincere
and intelligent purification of their polity; is all un-
deniable. But there has been a deep and sullen evil
in all that has been done, an alloy in the coin of this
new liberty, that rejects it from the use of nations.
With England before their eyes, the unrivalled ex-
ample of safe freedom, the patriots of the continent
have bowed down to the French Revolution. Mys-
terious oaths, midnight meetings, secret clubs and
confederations, the libel and the dagger, have been
the general instruments of their early state. But,
where they had at length obtained the mastery, the
evidence of origin was more perfect; the constitution
was a democracy; Rousseau was the moralist, and
Voltaire the lawgiver; the populace was the living
idol that snuffed up the incense of their altar. Their
Providence was Jacobinism.
It was predicted that a second influence, the power
of the monks, should be added to Jacobinism. Of all
alliances, this seemed the most forbidden and impos-
sible. The French Revolution had thrown monkery
under foot, turned its palaces into barracks, confiscat-
ed its revenues, cast out its tribes to wander in their
original pauperism through the earth, and, a still
deeper wound had stricken the whole system through
with the most contemptuous and bitter ridicule. The
influence of monkery, on any scale of public or politi-
cal importance, was pronounced to be abolished for
©Ver, 3.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 131
Yet what is the state of things at this moment? A
monkish war! No human contingency could, in all
its circumstances, have more defied calculation. We
are at war, not with a great rival power, capable of
gaining by war; not with an opulent neighbour, stimu-
lated by overflowing wealth to ambition; not with an
old and beaten enemy, burning to wipe off disgrace;
but with a power the most embarrassed, the most as-
sailable, the most naturally connected with England,
the most bound by the mightiest services, the most
associated by mutual and glorious hazards, the most
united in the noblest triumph ever gained in Europe.
It is by the generous sacrifices and guiding valour of
England, that Spain exists as a kingdom, that the Spa-
nish peasant is not a bandit and a beggar, that the
monk has a roof over his head, and that the king is
not a slave, chained to a French footstool. Yet it is
this nation and this king that monkery is marching
into the field against the giant strength of England.
The Spanish hostilities may be suppressed and pass
away, by the bidding of those great powers in whose
hands is the European commonwealth. But the monk-
ish potency has displayed itself; and but one influence
more is demanded, to lead the world to war.
It is predicted that Popery, in some extraordinary
display of violence, shall give the sign. The Apoca-
lypse appears, in many places, to intimate a final per-
secution. Yet we cannot hope to interpret the future,
however near, with minute accuracy. It is probable
that the Popedom will not be the direct persecutor;
for the “power over the Saints” had been, at the
close of the 1260 years, prohibited either entirely, or
in a remarkable degree. The great instrument of
Papal vengeance—the Inquisition, was abolished in
Rome by the French invasion. But superstition shall
be displayed in sudden fury in the Popish countries;
converts by the recent diffusion of the Gospel shall be
132 THE APOCALYPSE.
the chief objects of the sword; and then “shall the
time of the end come.” -
Another distinct feature of the final aera was to be
the superintendence of Europe by four principal go-
vernments. - •. -
In the Sixth Trumpet,” those four monarchies were
summoned by the voice of Heaven to destroy the
French empire. In the Sixth Seal,t the description
of the universal war was interrupted, to declare to the
Church that four monarchies shall prevent the approach
of that war, until Providence shall have filled up the
number that is to complete its people. The natural
inference is, that when governments shall be found
exercising that extraordinary influence, the consum-
mation is nigh.
But, what has been the state of Europe during these
ten years?—A commonwealth. The alliance between
England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, the conquerors
of the French empire, has continued unbroken, and
continued with a constant and intimate communication
that forms the strongest contrast with the old frigid,
and tardy, diplomacy of Europe. If but a possibility
of public disturbance arose in any corner of the conti-
ment, monarchs hurried from their capitals to meet in
some remote spot, and linger out weeks and months
concerting measures for the preservation of the gene-
ral peace. There have been a greater number of con-
gresses within the last ten years of peace, than within
the hundred before with all their vicissitudes. But
the nature of these memorable meetings has been still
more a distinction than their number. The declared
identity of interests, the confidential form of the inter-
course, the common acknowledgment of the necessity
of peace, the threat of combined war against its first
disturber, and the obvious result of this salutary threat
in the public tranquillity of Europe during a period
* Apoc, ix. 14, † Apoc, vii. 1.
THE TRUMPETS AND WIALS. 133
so pregnant with the materials of irritation, constitute
a system which never existed before but in the fine
theories of philosophy.
Yet, it is predicted that the efforts of those monar-
chies shall at length be either remitted or be inef-
fectual, and that Europe shall be committed in general
hostility. &
It is also predicted that the catastrophe shall come
by surprise upon nations; the world shall not conceive
it to be the “ day of destruction.” But the Church
is commanded to be prepared for it, in the words which
warned the early disciples of the siege of Jerusalem,
“Behold I come as a thief.” St. Paul expressly ap-
plies those words to the coming of our Lord to punish
his enemies. “But, of the times and seasons, breth-
ren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For you
yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so
cometh as a thief in the night. But ye, brethren, are
not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a
thief.”f The warning is now again urged, because
the last time is at hand; and the people of the faith
are, like the early disciples, commanded to put on new
vigilance, lest at the coming of the Bridegroom to the
marriage feast, even they should be found without the
marriage garment, and be cast out from the presence
of the Lord. - -
“And he, (in the original they; the evil spirits,)
gathered them together into a place called Armaged-
don;” ºup in Mount Megiddo, overlooking the plain
in the half tribe of Manasses in which Barak and
Deborah destroyed Sisera’s army,i and in which Jo-
sias was routed by Pharaoh Necho. § The name is
typically used to express immense slaughter.
* Matt. xxiv. 43. Luke xii. 39. f 1 Thess. v. 1, 2, 4.
# Judg. v. 19. § Chron. xxxv, 22.
12
134 THE APOCALYPSE,
THE SEVENTH VIAL. Chap. xvi.
THE CONFLICT.
Ver. 17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air;
and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the
throne, saying, It is done.
18. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and
there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were
upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. \ ,
19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the
cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance
before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness
of his wrath. - -
; And every island fled away, and the mountains were not
found.
21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every
stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God be-
cause of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was ex-
ceeding great.
INTERPRETATION.
The Vial is similar to the Seventh Trumpet. It
announces the last visitation of wrath, and, like it,
connects the havoc of earth with some direct and to-
tally unexampled agency of Providence. In both,
the fall of the antagonists of the Gospel is the promi-
nent object. The trumpet was received with a hosan-
na from the Saints in Heaven, declaring that the king-
dom was at last become the kingdom of Christ, and
that they were to receive the crowns so long promis-
ed. In the Vial the most defined ruin is that of the
unbelievers, the cities of the nations, (in the original,
Heathens, sºvov,) the Great City, and the Great Babylon.
Whether the two latter are the same, or, as is not im-
probable,” distinct portions of the general idolatrous
Church, is a question which must be left to the fu-
£ure.
* Apoc. xi. 8.
THE TRUMPETS AND YIALS. 135
The Vial is poured out upon the air, the kingdom
of Satan.” Its effect is final. The voice from the
throne declares the completeness of the plague. The
mystery is finished. “It is done.”
The visions of “Babylon” which follow,i are but
an enlargement and explanation of the manner and sub-
jects of the last plague. They detail the nature, crimes
and punishment of the papacy. Their connexion with
the prophecy of the Vials is expressly marked by their
being shown by one of the angels commissioned to in-
flict those plagues.t But their importance requires
that they should be considered apart, and after the
‘‘Vision of the Church,” which assists in their inter-
pretation. -
On a general view of the Seals, Trumpets and Vials,
it is observable, that the Seals are contemporaneous
with the two latter from their commencement in the
thirteenth century. Both aeras of the Church succeed
a great persecution, but the Trumpets and Vials, be-
ing the prophecy of the punishments of the persecu-
tors, close with the universal war, the final plague;
the Seals, being the entire history of the Church, pro-
ceed one step beyond, and give its triumph.
The Trumpets and Vials are virtually the History
of the Reformed; for the punishments of the persecu-
tors were the preservation of the Reformed. If the
popish sovereigns had retained their power undistur-
bed, nothing but a succession of direct miracles could
have saved the Church. But every plague of the se-
ven was as a shield to the Protestants. The first, the
factions of Italy, and the English invasions of France,
so deeply drew off the eye of persecution, that Pro-
testantism in France increased to the strength that af-
terwards resisted the League, and established itself as
* Eph. ii. 2. f Apoc. xvii. xviii. xix. # Apoc, xvii. 1.
136 - THE APOCALYPSE,
a religion by the edict of Nantes. The second, the
destruction of the Armada, at once saved England from
an invasion, whose success must have issued in the fier-
cest persecution; and enabled Elizabeth to give her un-
divided assistance to the struggling Protestants of the
continent. The importance of the third, the war of
the Cevennes, is less obvious, but it seems to have pro-
tected the remaining million of French protestants from
the fury of the king. The fourth, the wars of Louis
the XIVth protected the Protestants, while they con-
tinued; and his final discomfiture left the monarchy in
such a state of weakness, that it dared not provoke a
Protestant war with either its own subjects or their
powerful protector, England. In the interval Protes-
tantism increased so rapidly, even under all its politi-
cal disabilities, that in half a century it reckoned near-
ly as large a number as before the revocation of the
edict of Nantes. The fifth and sixth, the French Rev-
olution, while it fell furiously on the chief persecutor,
the Gallican church, reinstated Protestantism in its
original freedom. The seventh plague will at once
extinguish Popery, the head and front of all persecu-
tion; and place the Church in magnificent triumph be-
yond all change.
THE
VISION OF THE CHURCH.
This great vision consists of three parts. 1st, the
Church under pagan persecution.* 2nd, Under papal
persecution.t 3rd, Approaching to its triumph, and
avenged. Í ... . . -
PROPHECY.
THE JEWISH CHURCH.
Chap. xii.
Ver. 1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon he
head a crown of twelve stars: , -"
2. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pain-
ed to be delivered.
3. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a
great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven
crowns upon his heads. .
4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did
cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman
which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon
as it was born.
5. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations
with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God, and to
his throne.
INTERPRETATION.
This vision is totally separate from that of the
Trumpets which precedes it. A great Sign, or Sym-
bol, is displayed; a new view of providential history
is begun. § Such expressions as “..And I saw,” “..?nd
* Apoc. xii. † Ib. xiii. # Ib. xiv.
§ Novam hic orditur prophetiam Spiritus Sanctus. (Vitrin.)
12*
1 38 THE APOCALYPSE.
after this I looked,” &c. do not necessarily imply a
connexion of subject. Where the connexion really
subsists, it is always indicated by some internal evi-
dence.
Ver. 1. A city, or an empire, was customarily re-
presented on the ancient coins by a female figure. In
the Gospel the Church is similarly described. In
the text, she is seen clothed and crowned with the
heavenly bodies, the emblems of sovereignty. Her
crown is “twelve stars,” emblematic of the twelve
patriarchs or heads of the tribes. *
Ver. 2. She is in child-birth and anxious to bring
forth her illustrious offspring.
Ver, 3. An adverse power, a religion of evil, Pagan-
ism, comes forth to destroy her child as soon as it shall
be born. This religion is the visible embodying of
the old serpent, Satan. Its form, the Dragon, sym-
bolizes the whole number of the kingdoms, oppressors
of the Church in both its states, Jewish and Christian;
seven crowned sovereignties, of whom the prophet
subsequently declares that the sixth lived at the time
of the vision, five being past and one not yet come;i
and ten crownless horns, sovereignties: then non-ex-
isting, but to spring from those heads. -
Ver. 4. The child is brought forth, is felt to be the
supreme antagonist, and the evil spirit of the persecu-
fing religion labours first to destroy him, but he is
caught up into Heaven, there to remain until he shall
come to overwhelm his enemies, “to rule them with
a rod of iron.”S The Dragon’s striking down the third
part of the stars probably symbolizes the absorption
of the chief Pagan religions into the paramount idola-
try of Rome; a star being the emblem of a religion,
whether pure or impure; and a fall from “Heaven,”
but another expression for a fall from authority.
* Gen. xxxvii. 9, Apoc. xvii. 10.
+ Dan, xii, 24. § Psalm xxviii, Dan, vii. 27.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 139
PROPHECY.
THE ROMAN PERSE CUTIONS.
Ver, 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she
hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a
thousand two hundred and threescore days. -
7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.
8. And prevailed not: neither was there place found any more
in heaven. • T * -
9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called
the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was
cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10. And I heard a voice saying in heaven, Now is come salva-
tion, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of
his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which ac-
cused them before our God day and night.
11, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by
the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the
death.
12. Therefore rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.
Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the Devil is
come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth
that he hath but a short time. - -
INTERPRETATION.
Ver. 6. “The woman flies into the wilderness.”
From the time of our Lord’s ascension, the Church
was to be placed in the same situation, in which she
was subsequently to be placed during the Papal in-
fluence; namely, she was to be persecuted.
The common misconception of the text is, that the
Church is in this verse declared to undergo a suffering
of 1260 years. But the error is easily rectified by
comparing the 6th verse with the 14th, which announces
the Papal persecution. In the 6th, the Church flees
into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared
of God, that she showld be fed 1260 days. In the 14th,
she flees “into her place where she is fed 1260 days.”
The distinction between the wa ºpspoow of the 6th
140 THE APOCALYPSE.
verse, and the orov ºpepostat of the 14th, is obvious,
The former is a prospective arrangement, the latter an
actual one. The true interpretation is that the Church,
under Paganism, shall be driven into that same wil-
derness, or state of privation, in which under Popery,
she is to remain for 1260 years. The two states are
in their nature the same; Pagan and Popish persecu-
tion are essentially alike in their spirit, but the des-
cription is derived from the final period, because the
longer and the more persecuting. In the latter also,
she is supplied by heaven with “two great eagle
wings;” the symbol of a more signal interposition,
required by a more formidable trial.
Ver. 7, 8, 9, 10. There is “war in heaven.” Pa-
ganism is cast down from authority. It is the Impe-
rial Religion “no more.” The saints in glory re-
joice over the fall of the persecuting Idolatry.
11. They exult in the proof of sacred constancy
given in their adherence to the faith, in defiance of the
Pagan sword.
12. But they declare to the Church on earth, that
a time of fiercer persecution than Paganism ever in-
flicted is coming; and that Satan, feeling his power
about to close, will rouse his servants to more fero-
cious cruelty.
Inhabitants of the “earth, land, and the sea,” is an
expression for men of a great variety of countries,
continents, islands, &c.—the authority is to be exer-
cised over a large extent of the world.
- PROPHECY.
THE PAPAL PERSECUTIONS.
Ver. 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the
earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man
child. -
14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle,
that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 141
is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face
of the serpent.
15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after
#. woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the
OOCl. - t
16. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened
her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out
of his mouth.
17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to
make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the command-
ments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
INTERPRETATION.
Ver. 13. The Evil Spirit that had reigned in the
imperial idolatry, being now cast down from his Pagan
throne, assails the Church in another shape.
14. She is persecuted, but preserved from utter ex-
tinction by the express help of God. She is borne
“on eagles’ wings;” an usual expression for Provi-
dential protection. Thus the Deity says in Exodus,
“Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and
how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and how I brought
you unto myself:” the period of depression begins in
which she is to continue during 1260 years, persecut-
ed, yet preserved.
15. The mode of persecution in the commencement
of the period is remarkable. It is by “floods,” an
usual and natural metaphor of Scripture for an attack
by multitude, a torrent of headlong and furious human
force. T - -
16. But those floods are absorbed by the earth:-
the violence of the armies of persecution is virtually
baffled. The Church is not undone, though her chil-
dren may be scattered.
17. “The serpent goes to make war with the rem-
mant of her seed,”—Persecution spreads from the
original scene of its cruelties, and pursues the people
* Exod. xix. 4. † Apoc, xvii. 15. Psalm xxxix. &c.
I42 THE APOCALYPSE.
of the faith who have taken refuge throughout Eu-
rope,
HISTORY.
The original state of the Church was the Jewish
Theocracy. Religion was supreme. The temporal
power was her servant. She was clothed in sover-
eignty, and sustained by direct communication with
the wisdom and arm of heaven. This state has exist-
ed but once. It shall exist again, in splendour never
to pass away.
But it was known to all the holy men of old, that
the Jewish dispensation was at length to produce the
Messiah ; whose day the whole Church earnestly
longed to see.*
The Jews were, for their national punishment, sub-
sequently delivered into the successive hands of As-
syria, Persia, Greece, Egypt, Syria, and Rome, all
monarchies. The Roman empire was sovereign
at the time of the birth of Christ, and by Roman
power he was slain; though he could not be destroy-
ed. The Roman idolatry was, at that period, the
paramount religion ; having drawn into itself and
adopted all the various idolatries of the empire.
The Roman persecution of the Christians began in
the tenth year of Nero, was renewed under Domitian,
was established by law under Trajan, and was conti-
nued with various violence down to Constantine, A. D.
3.13.
From Constantine to Theodosius, Paganism was
gradually shaken, and was finally overthrown and pro-
hibited throughout the empire.
* Mich. v. 2, 3, Rom, viii. 22.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 143
THE PAPACY.
A. D. 533. Idolatry revived. The Scriptures were
forgotten or forbidden. The Church was persecuted
with a ferocity and slaughter altogether exceeding that
of Paganism, and the power of the idolatrous persecu-
tor was to continue in force during 1260 years.
The period had begun with the spiritual supremacy
of the Pope, in 533. The chief persecution began
with the possession of independent power, temporal
and spiritual, by the Papacy in the beginning of the
13th century. The period closed with the beginning
of the French republic in 1793.
By a common error it has been conceived that the
close of the 1260 years was to be the extinction of the
Papacy; but the Prophet says no more than that it
shall be the end of its means of persecution,--tº its
power over the saints.” The fall of the Popedom is
predicted to be subsequent; and contemporaneous with
the universal war. The Papal hostility to the Church
was, from the 13th century, exerted in two ways, -
the suppression of the Scriptures, and the torture and
death of their preachers and converts by the Inquisi-
tion. The French Revolution was the close of its
power in both. The French armies abolished the In-
quisition in Rome, (1798,) and in Spain, (1808;) it
has been revived but is inactive. The extraordinary
circulation of the Scriptures commenced during the
French Revolution, and they are now beyond sup-
pression by man.
The prediction that the Reformed Church should
be persecuted in the first instance, by “floods,” by
great masses of military force, was fully verified in
the armies sent against the Albigenses. Pope Inno-
cent the IIId, proclaimed a “Crusade,” and the
troops of France, headed by monks, and by Simon
de Montfort, were poured upon them during thirty
years. Those armies were boldly repelled, and often
144 - THE APOCALYPSE. .
defeated with great slaughter. The war ended in
1229, with the submission of the last count of Thou-
louse. This mode of persecution was remarkable, as
it was the only instance of a Crusade in Europe.
The Inquisition was soon established through the con-
tinent; and on the cessation of the war, it began to
persecute with dreadful violence, wherever the fugi-
tive Albigenses, or their converts were to be found.
It is predicted that, the fury of persecution, after
Paganism shall have fallen from the imperial throne,
and taken a new name, shall be even more murderous
than before. This was deplorably realized in the suf-
ferings of the reformed. “We shall conclude,” says
Gibbon,” “by a melancholy truth, that the Christians,
in the course of their intestine divisions, have inflicted
far greater severities on each other, than they had
experienced from the zeal of infidels. The Church of
Rome defended by violence the empire which she had
acquired by fraud: a system of peace and benevo-
lence was soon disgraced by proscriptions, wars, mas-
sacres, and the institution of the Holy Office. In the
Netherlands alone, more than one hundred thousand
of the subjects of Charles the Vth are said have suf-
fered by the hands of the executioner.”
In this chapter the two antagonist religions, each in
its first state, had been shown to the Apostle; the re-
ligion of God in the purity and independence of the
theocracy, and the religion of the evil spirit in imperial
power. Towards the close of the chapter, each was
also seen in a second state; the religion of God cast
down from its independence, and an object of perse-
cution; and the religion of the evil spirit deprived of
its imperial dignities, yet exercising a still fiercer vi-
olence against Christianity. But the description of
the latter states was merely touched on; the former
being the proper subject of the chapter.
* Chap. xvi.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 145
A vision is now given for the purpose of elucidat-
ing those states, and minutely displaying the nature,
the instruments, and the action of Paganism in its new
form. º
PROPHECY.
THE PAPACY.
CHAPTER XIII.
Ver. 1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast
rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and
upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blas-
phemy. -
2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his
feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a
lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great
authority. - -
3. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;
and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after
the beast.
4. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the
beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto
the beast? who is able to make war with him?
5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things
and blasphemies: and power was given unto him to continue
forty and two months.
6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to
blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in
heaven. * * >
7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and
to overcome them; and power was given unto him over all kin-
dreds, and tongues, and nations:
8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.
9. If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he
that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here
is the patience and faith of the saints.
INTERPRETATION.
The Papacy is in this chapter shown in its full ac-
tion. Its symbol is a combined image, “..? wild
13
146 THE APOCALYPSE.
beast” inspirited by the “dragon.” May I solicit
the reader’s observation to the miraculous accuracy of
the prediction?
A wild beast, conveying the idea of savage feroci-
ty, and perhaps also of the natural brute insensibility
to things beyond this world, (“the brutes that pe-
2°ish”) was the usual prophetic emblem of the old Pa-
gan kingdoms, Babylon,” &c.
The Papacy could not be symbolized by the “wild
beast” alone; for that emblem expressed little more
than Pagan independent sovereignty; the ancient re-
ligions being of minor political influence, and scarcely
exercising any degree of persecution.
Nor could it have been expressed by the “dragon”
alone; that emblem representing Roman Paganism,
which had no sovereignty in itself, was a subject of
the state, and, in all its eagerness to destroy Christi-
anity, was yet compelled to pause for the will of the
sovereign. --
But the Papacy comprised both, the actual fierce
sovereignty which made the distinction of the earlier
Pagan kingdoms; and the violent spirit of persecution
against Christianity which characterized the Paganism
of Rome. Its symbol in the prophecy is therefore a
combined one. “The wild beast,” with the spirit of
the “dragon” transfused into its frame.
Ver. 1. The prophet sees the “wild beast” rise up
out of the sea; the symbol of barbarian and various
multitudes. Thus, in the subsequent prophecy, f
“The waters which thou sawest are peoples, and
multitudes.”—The Papacy shall rise out of a state of
public confusion, barbarian invasions, struggling and
savage kingdoms, &c. •
It shall be the representative and successor of
* Dan, vii. † Apoc, xvii. 15.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH, 147
Roman Paganism, but at the time of its rise, the
“Heads” shall be crownless, and the “Horns” or
sovereignties, which were to follow those heads, shall
be in existence, shall be crowned.
The imperial Paganism shall have passed away be-
fore the time of the Papacy; whose rise shall be in the
age of the ten sovereignties that have sprung up out
of the fallen empire.
Ver. 2. The Papacy shall partake of the nature of
the earlier Pagan powers, Babylon, &c. (expressed by
the leopard, bear, lion, &c. the symbols of the old
kingdoms,”) and like them possess independent sove-
reignty. It shall, at the same time, partake of the
nature of Roman Paganism, and be stimulated to per-
secution by a fierce desire to extinguish the Church.
The dragon shall give it “his power, his seat, and
great authority.”—The Papacy shall possess the in-
fluence of Paganism over the general mind; it shall
fix its throne in the ancient capital of Paganism, and
it shall by the aid of the Pagan spirit of delusion obtain
a vast extent of power. -
The prophet having given the general view of the
construction of the Papacy, proceeds to its history.
Ver. 3. He sees one of the “Heads” of the great
body of Paganism, “as it were wounded to death.”
The wound is stated, (ver. 14,) to have been “given
by a sword.” It destroys the head, but does not kill
the body, the “wound is healed” in the sudden pre-
eminence of the beast, and the whole empire is sub-
jected to the new form of Paganism in wonder.—The
imperial head of Paganism shall be destroyed by bat-
tle. , Paganism shall appear to be undone for ever.
But its wound shall be healed by the rise of the Pa-
pacy, (Paganism under a new form,) which shall sub-
due the nations to more than their old obedience,—
to adoration.
* Dan, vii.
148 THE APOCALYPSE.
Ver. 4. “And they worshipped the dragon, which
gave power unto the beast.” . . . . . ; sº lº
In the new homage of the nations to the Papacy,
they are virtually doing homage to Paganism, the
origin and essence of its power and nature. ... . . .
Ver. 5. “There was given to him a mouth'speak-
ing great things and blasphemies.”—The language of
the Papacy shall be contemptuous of governments, and
- ... . . ºn S
“’, ‘J. . .
insulting to the majesty of God.”
Ver. 6. It shall insult the name of God, of his
Church on earth, and of his redeemed in heaven.
Ver, 7. It shall wage a continual war of persecu-
tion against the people of God, and “shall overcome
them;” they shall be constantly overpowered and de-
feated. Its influence shall extend over a vast space of
the world. And this power of persecution shall con-
tinue during 1260 years (ver. 5.) . . . . . . . . .
Ver. 8, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall
worship him.” The earth (yn) should be translated
the “land.” In the prophetic Scriptures, the “land,”
generally signifies the people acknowledging the God
of Israel.f The text implies that all Christendom
shall be subservient to the Papacy, excepting those
whose names are written in the Book of Life, the
Saints, the Church of God. . . . . . . .
Ver. 9. The description closes with that demand
on the attention of mankind, usual in the language of
our Lord, when a declaration of some most important.
truth was to be pronounced: “He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear.” The declaration is, that the pa-
pacy shall be punished, in the manner of its crime;
that, for having thrown the saints into captivity, it shall
* Blasphemy is either the denial of the homage due to the
Deity, or the assumption of that homage. “Datum est ei os 19-
quems magmaet blasphemias, magno quippe cum fastu et arrogantia
Sibi vindicaret quae solius Dei et Christi sunt, in injuriam Christi
et Sanctorum.” Vitring, in loc. . . . . . . . . .
- - † Isaiah xxiv.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 149
be thrown into captivity; and for having slain them,
it shall be slain. And in this high consciousness that
the guilt of its persecutor shall be stricken with com-
plete retribution, the Church is commanded to sustain
its sufferings in patience, and in reliance on the sure
judgments of heaven.
PROPHECY,
THE INQUISITION.
Ver. 11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;
and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before
him, and causeth the earth, and them which dwell therein to wor-
ship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come
down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means
of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the
beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should
make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and
did live.
15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast,
that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as
many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16. And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free
and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their fore-
head.
17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the
mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count
the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his
number is six hundred threescore and six.
INTERPRETATION.
Ver. 11. Another extraordinary shape of power
shall arise in Christendom, (m yn) bearing a close re-
semblance to the Papacy, like it combined of the
“wild beast,” and the dragon: assuming to be inde-
pendent of temporal sovereigns, and persecuting the
Church in the spirit of pagan and papal Rome. It
13 *
150 THE Apocalypse.
shall, however, have a distinction from the Papacy; it
shall consist of two parts; which shall be (okova opywº)
lamb-like, adopting the semblance of the virtues of .
primitive Christianity, the example of our Lord.— .
This power shall consist of two bodies of men pre-
tending to a remarkable degree of self-denial, humili-
&
and inflamed with the spirit of persecution. . .
Ver. 12. And those men “exercise all the power
of the first beast before him.” They shall be by the
papal commission combined exercisers and deposito-
ries of his authority among nations, and they shall
compel the dwellers in Christendom to “worship the
first beast whose deadly wound was healed;”—tº
converts to Popery, the revi
guished by the sword of Constantine.
Ver. 13. “And H
ligious order shall act with great influence upon Chris-
tendom by the usual means of Popery, pretended mi-
racles, and by “calling down fire from Heaven,” or
exciting monarchs to destroy the Church; "
Ver. 14. The object of the combination is declared.
By their influence with Princes they shall be enabled
to establish an institution possessing the close resem-
blance of an “Image,” to the Papacy. -
Ver. 15. Their next success shall be that of giving
“life to the Image,” and making it “speak:”—the
Institution shall gradually acquire a local existence;
and shall have a voice of its own, a power of menace
and sentence; that “as many as would not worship.
the Image,” those who disowned or resisted its au-
thority, should be put to death.
Ver. 16. “And he causeth all, &c. to receive a
ie doeth great wonders:” this re-
t
, - * : * ~ *
ty, and holy zeal, but in reality hostile to Christianity;
val of paganism, extin-
mark.” He should be translated It, the Image. In
the previous verse the Order had been empowered to
give life to the Image that it might “speak, and
cause” (wo zoº Woºnon zoº women,) the recusants to be slain.
In the pretent verse the work is effected. The Image

THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 1 5 I
(rºotst, in direct reference to the nowmon,) compels men
of all conditions to “receive a mark on their right
hands or foreheads.” Among the ancients, it was
not unusual to mark slaves with the name or device
of the master.” The Papacy is a tyranny, and there-
fore the subjects of the Papacy must bear the brand of
slaves. -
Ver. 17. “No man shall buy or sell, save he that
hath the mark.”—Those who disdain to be among the
slaves of Popery shall be excluded from the common
dealings of man with man; shall be excommunicated.
The translation in the text is not exact. Instead of
“save he that hath the mark, or the name of the
beast,” &c., it should be, ‘‘save he who hath the
mark, either the name of the beast, or the number,”
&c. which latter refers to the Institution, (st un szov to
zaëayua, n to ovoſta tou 07ptov, n row optówov, &c.) the mark
equally implying direct obedience to the papal see, or
indirect through the “Image.” -
The Order was the Dominican. The image of the
Papacy, erected under its influence, was the Inquisi-
tion. The Order is subsequently named, “the false
prophet, that wrought miracles before the beast.”t
Ver. 18. The description of the Inquisition having
been given, this verse gives the date of its origin, the
surest mode of getting rid of the vagueness that hangs
about all description. The date, by directly referring
us to history, gives the only proof to which no doubt
can cling.
* The stamp was frequently put upon prisoners. The Athe-
nians taken at Syracuse were stamped with the figure of a horse on
the forehead. (Plut. in Nicia.) Prisoners of war were slaves. The
votaries of some of the idolatrous worships were stamped with an
emblem of their idol, thus the priests, &c. of Bacchus with a vine
leaf. But slavery of some kind or other seems to have been always
included in the pagan marks. The Orientals stamped their slaves
as property.
f Apoc. xix. 20.
152 THE APOCALYPSE.
It may have been known to the reader, that the
number of the beast, “the 666,” has exercised more
intellects than perhaps any one problem, sacred or
profane, that ever perplexed the human mind. Whole
treatises have been written upon it. It occupies a
considerable space in almost every commentary on
the Apocalypse. The inquiry and the failure began
so early as Irenaeus, in the second century, and have
been perpetuated to our days by a multitude, among
whom were many of the most undeniable learning and
sagacity: hitherto no satisfactory solution has been
given.
One of those offered by Irenaeus has been the most
popular. And a moment and the place of honour may
be given to a Father of the Church, though all refer-
ence to the opinions of those who have succeeded him
be postponed. He thus writes in the Treatise on the
Heresies.” “It is undoubtedly better and safer to
await the fulfilment of the prophecy, than to conjec-
ture and divine any names. This, however, we say, not
through any want of names containing the “number,”
but through godly fear, and a zeal of the truth. Eyav0a;
contains the number in question; but of this name we
affirm nothing. But Aarstvos contains the 666, and is
very like the answer, for this last empire is called by
the name. For they are Latins, who now reign, but
on this conjecture we shall not depend much; (we shall
boast, sed non in hac nos gloriabimur.”) He even
gives it up in the next sentence. “But Tevrav written
with the two Greek vowels, s and in the first sylla-
ble, is of all the names found among us the most
worthy of attention, (magis fide dignum est,) for it
has the required number, and has six letters, and is
old, and sacred,” &c.
This passage shows the double misconception of
those who have taken it for granted, that Irenaeus sat-
* P. 448, fol. Lond. 1702.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCHI. 153
isfied himself with the word Lateinos; and that he had
gained his discovery from some hearer of St. John
himself. He evidently makes a common guess upon
common grounds, thinks little of it, and abandons it
for what he thinks a better. The adjective feminine
nºpy (Romana,) which is generally and strangely
offered as a correlative of the Greek-Latin-masculine
is equally ineffectual, and but an additional instance of
the difficulty in which the problem is presumed to be
involved.
Vitringa, undoubtedly a man of understanding, and
of the most extensive learning, approaches it with an
almost superstitious awe. His apostrophe is solemn
and eloquent.
“‘Here is wisdom, let him that hath understand-
ing count the Number of the beast.”—Yes, here is
wisdom. Let the man, gifted by grace with such gifts,
here display the acuteness of his genius, the clearness
of his Sagacity, the depth of his spiritual knowledge,
things, which fall to the lot of few; but for which he
who by grace possesses them, will here find abundant
exercise. If I have made any progress in the know-
ledge of divine things, which might be supposed from
my long study and labour, and from the office, pub-
lickly conferred upon me; I still dare not presume so
far upon my ability and knowledge, as to arrogate that
highest rank of intelligence and sagacity, (supremum
illum intelligentiae et perspicacitatis gradum,) which
the Holy Spirit seems to demand in those who are des-
tined to explain the number.” For nothing can be
more evident, than that an intellect of a higher and
more divinely awakened kind, (divinioris et praestan-
tioris mentis acumen,) is here demanded, than in
interpreting any other part of this book of prophecy.”
He proceeds to say, that he might “modeste decli-
mare,” give up the attempt from a justified feeling of
humility; but that the reader naturally expects some
elucidation. He then goes through a crowd of the
154 THE APOCALYPSE.
conjectures of his predecessors; names Hebrew, Greek,
Latin; numbers squared and cubed; disproves them all,
and finally rests upon the extraordinary guess Dºns,
for the equally extraordinary reason that Adonikam
is said in Ezra,” to have had a family of six hundred
and sixty-six. -
The coincidence is curious, but altogether unimpor-
tant; for it has no conceivable reference to the text,
and explains nothing. One of the most singular cir-
cumstances in the whole subject, is the great variety
of words which correspond to the number 666. If it
had been the intention, that the prophecy should long
be hid; and who shall say, that an early interpretation
was purposed? perhaps no number in the whole com-
bination of figures could have served so well to bewil-
der, by glimpses of elucidation. -
After such testimonies to the nature of the inquiry,
it becomes almost necessary to deprecate the charge
of presumption in venturing to propose, what yet
seems to me, an easy and consistent Solution.
The first error of the commentators has lain in their
disregard of the plain meaning of the original. The
“ number” is described to be “aptopog avéportov,” not
“the number of a man;” but a “number of man,”
a number, such as are in human use, or simply, a num-
ber. The idiom is common, by which of two substan-
tives, the latter, in the genitive and without an article,
acts adjectively, Ypakov st; autov Ypoº avoporov, “write
to him with a man’s pen;” or simply, “a pen.” In
this prophecy, the angel finds the wall of the city 144
cubits, uszpov avóportov, by man’s measure, measure in
use among men; or simply, “by measure.” But
there can be no dispute about the idiom.
It is further observable that the expression, “the
number of a man,” to which the commentators have
* Chap. ii. 13.
i Esaias viii. 1, Septuag. # Apoc. xxii. 17.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 155
uniformly looked as the most essential of all, is the
least essential; for wherever the passage is afterwards
alluded to, it is left out. Thus, in the next chapter,”
“If any man worship the beast and his image, and re-
ceive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand.”f—
“They have no rest day or night, who worship the
beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark
of his name.”f—“And I saw, as it were a sea of glass
mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the victo-
ry over the beast and over his image, and over the
number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having
the harps of God.” -
The exact translation would be, “Let him that
hath understanding calculate the number of the beast,
for it is a number, and his number is 666.” The
commentators looked for a name from a number, while
they should have taken the directly contrary course,
and looked for a number from a name. The problem
is to be solved by the discovery of that peculiar num-
ber which is at once the “ number of the name of the
beast,” and equivalent to 666.
It is to be remarked that dates and numbers are the
frequent instruments of the Apocalypse ; obviously,
from their use in fixing facts. “The 1260 years,”
is so habitually applied to the Papacy, that the num-
ber is almost a substitute for the title; the 666 simi-
larly applies to the Inquisition. The words Lateinos
and Romiith are useless; and belong to the heap of
merely curious coincidences. What can be learned
by being told that the prophecy alludes to some Latin
existence masculine, and some Roman or Hebrew ex-
istence feminine, supplying neither time nor circum-
stance? The 666 is not the name of a man, nor con-
tained in a name of any kind; it is a date, and, to a
certain degree, a description; its purpose is to mark
* Apoc, xiv. 9. f Ib. xi,
# Apoc, xv. 2.
156 THE APOCALYPSE.
the birth of the Inquisition, and to connect that birth
with the Papacy. -
The natural paraphrase of the verse (18) is thus.-
The Inquisition has been, in the preceding verses, de-
scribed and denounced, by the Spirit of God; but, to
remove whatever doubt might arise from mere de-
scription, and to prove to posterity, that it is the In-
quisition which is here denounced and held up to the
abhorrence of Christians by the Divine Spirit; the
eacact date of its origin shall be given. That origin
shall be when the title of HEAD of ALL THE CHURCHES,
the impious name of the Beast, shall have reached
its 666th year, “shall number 666.” That name
was given in 533. The Inquisition shall be born in
1198.
The prediction was exactly fulfilled. In the first
year of Pope Innocent III., the first year of the com-
plete supremacy, when the Papacy was enthroned
spiritual and temporal lord of the civilized word—in
the year 1198, was the portentous offspring of its na-
ture and its crimes, THE INQUISITION, issued to man-
kind'
HISTORY.
In this slight detail of the leading events alluded to
in the prophecy, some repetitions of the dates and
facts given in the preceding chapters, must be ex-
cused. They are made necessary by the parallelism.
A. D. 324. Constantine by a series of battles from
A. D. 312, finally conquered the heathen masters of
the empire, and gave the death blow to paganism by
the decree declaring Christianity the Imperial Re-
ligion. -
A. D. 390. Christianity was finally established by
Theodosius. The western empire stained with Chris-
tian blood was thenceforth broken up, and filled with
the northern tribes. Before the close of the sixth
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 157
century, ten barbarian kingdoms were formed in
Europe.
Their names and number are stated by Machiavel,”
certainly an unconscious interpreter of Scripture; the
dates are furnished by Bishop Lloyd. 1. The Huns
in Hungary, A. D. 356. 2. Ostrogoths in Moesia, 377.
3. Visigoths in Pannonia, 378. 4. Franks in France,
407. 5. Vandals in Africa, 407. 6. Sueves and
Alans in Gascoigne and Spain, 407. 7. Burgundians
in Burgundy, 407. 8. Heruli and Turingi in Italy,
476. 9. Saxons and Angles in Britain, 476. 10.
Lombards begin to reign in Hungary 526, were seat-
ed in the north of Germany in 483, and finally settled
in the north of Italy. This division had been twice
prophesied by Daniel,t “the ten horns are ten kings.”f
Those kingdoms all adopted the faith which in the
sixth century emanated from Rome. The kingly suc-
cessive heads of paganism were gone. The Roman
had been “wounded to death,” by the sword of Con-
stantine; one more was to appear, but it was declared
by prophecy that its time was not come. § The Pa-
pacy established its influence over the ten sovereign-
ties of the western empire; and paganism, revived
from the dead, began its new career, under its new
form. -
The spirit of the ancient Roman paganism consisted
in ceremonial pomp, founded on fables, and construct-
ed with a view to attract the people, in the worship
of dead men, whom it deified;—in the worship of
images, which it honoured with prayer, hymns, and
incense, and in persecution of the Christian Church.
'Popery was its heir in all those things in the face of
the Christian world. It differed from the elder pa-
ganism in worshipping, by the name of a saint, the
statue which its predecessor worshipped by the name
* Hist, Flor, lib, i. - f Daniel, ii. and vii.
# Dan. vii. 24. Ś Apoc. xvii. 10.
14
158 THE Apocalypse.
of a goddess, and kissing the feet of St. Peter, for
, those of Jove. . . . . . . . . . .
But Roman paganism with all its arts was simplicity
itself to the new master of its throne. It was a thing
of external glitter, and there its pºwers and its ambi-
nóñºld upon the mind; it had
none of those keener arid. fiétéérinstru ments of grasp
and possession, the fangs and claws; that were yet to
strike into the very marrow of mankind. It was a
luxurious and giddy, a splendid, and sometimes-a
profligate exhibition, laughed at by the higher minds,
amusing to the multitude, popular and pleasant to all;
the graver game of the idle and self-indulgent natiºs
of the south; a more señous shàpeºfshūfman pleasiſ
gratifying the worshippéºby some empty sense of duty
done without restraint upon his passions, and keeping
his vanity awake without distâbing theºfiber of
his conscience. It went dowºgººline
with its idle generation. But, whe
tion closed; it solicité
4׺
4,
when tº
the world, a great revolution had passed over:
face. It found the old system of s ºiety Bºſéñºiń.
ruin irreparable, a host of new nations with new and
rival interests, a bolder temperameñt, and a manlień
intellectual capability, struggling”for mastery, swºrd
in hand, on the soil which had once lain smooth’āńd
uniform as the slavery that moved overit. It found
a still sterner trial in the presence of the true religion,
that stood, even in that day of adversity, like its Igord
in the wilderness, the sign to the Evil Spirit that is
time was at hand; and putting his proudest temptation
To fight its battle through this iconºmultitude up to
empire, other means were essential" than the feeble
contrivances of the past. A kingdom and a priest-
hood, it must seek conquests and converts, and it must
obtain the one without an army, and the other with-
out the Gospel. Auricular confession, absolution, in-
dulgences, miracles of bones, images, and pictures,





































THE VISION OF THE CHURCH, 1.59
and, to crown the whole stupendous imposture, Tran-
substantiation, the claim of man to be the maker of
God were the guilty and powerful means by which
paganism, new risen, forced its way through the tu-
mult of nations,—the spells by which weakness was
made stronger than strength; which turned the Lom-
bard and the Norman, that had cloven down the RO-
man empire, into the nerveless slaves of Rome; and
bowed in worship the bold barbarian crowns and hel-
mets of the north and west before the feet of a Monk
and an Italian. ...
One of the prophetic characters of Popery was its
“blasphemy;” the enormous crime of insulting the
majesty of God by abusing his name, and usurping
his attributes. What are the claims of the right to
forgive sins, of miracles, of canonization, of infallibility
in either Pope or council, of a right to be the sole in-
terpreter of Scripture, to withhold the Scripture, to
hold the keys of purgatory, to commute the virtues of
the living for the crimes of the dead, to dissolve oaths,
to dethrone kings, to break allegiance, to command
that men shall be tortured and slain for their faith?—
BLASPHEMy!
Pope Innocent III. writes, “ so hath Christ esta-
blished the kingdom and the priesthood in the Church,
that the kingdom is sacerdotal, and the priesthood is
kingly, he hath set one man over the world,” him
whom he hath appointed his vicar on earth,t and,
as to Christ is bent every knee in heaven, in earth,
and under the earth, so shall obedience and service
be paid to his vicar by all, I that there may be one
fold and one shepherd.” This was worthy of the
founder of the Inquisition.
* Unum praeficiens universis.
† Quem suum in terris vicarium ordinavit.
# Et sicut ei flectitur omne genu coelestium, terrestrium, et etiam
inferorum. ITA ILLI omnes obedient, &c. Spicil. Dacher. t. v.
| 60 - THE APOCALYPSE.
The epistles of Gregory VII. supply abundant ex-
amples of this appalling presumption. “The Roman
Pontiff alone is by right universal. In him alone is
the right of making laws. Let all kings kiss the feet
of the Pope. His name alone shall be heard in the
churches. It is the oNLY NAME IN THE world. It
is his right to depose kings. His sentence is not to
be repealed by any one. It is to be repealed by him-
self alone. He is to be judged by none. The church
of Rome has never erred; and as the Scriptures testi-
fy, it shall never err.”
The language of the Bulls thundered against the re-
fractory monarchies of Europe is one tissue of wild
and boundless presumption. The Bull of Sixtus V.
against Henry IV. of France, thus pronounces the
Supremacy:
“The authority given to St. Peter and his succes-
sors, by the immense power of the eternal king, ea:-
cels all the power of earthly kings! It passes un-
controllable sentence upon them all.”
The Bull of Pope Pius against Elizabeth thus de-
clares: -
“He that reigneth on high, to whom all power is
given in heaven arid earth, hath committed the one Ho-
ly Catholic and Apostolic Church, out of which there is
mo salvation, to one alone on earth; namely to Peter,
the Prince of the Apostles, and to the Roman Pon-
tiff, successor of St. Peter, to be governed with a
plenitude of power.”
“This one he hath constituted PRINCE over all na-
tions, and all kingdoms, that he might pluck up,
destroy, dissipate, overturn, plant and build.”
The prophecy had declared that, the Evil. SPIRIT
* Solus Romanus Pontifex jure dicitur Universalis. Illi Soli
licet pro temporis necessitate novas leges condere.—Papa: Solius
pedes omnes principes deosculantur.. Illius Solius nomen in Ec-
clesiis recitatur. Unicum est momen in Mundo.-Illi licet Impera-
tores deponere. Greg. Epistol.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 161
which lived in Paganism should inspire the Papacy,
and should give it power alike “to open its mouth in
blasphemy;” to slay the saints, and to claim dominion
“over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” The
very phrase of the prediction is unconsciously adopted
in the papal statutes: “Pontificem Romanum super
gentes et regna et populos esse constitutum.” The
overwhelmed understanding and prostrate reverence
with which Europe worshipped the Papacy passed in-
to common language. “All the world wondered af.
ter the Beast,” is scarcely more than a translation of
the words of Petrarch: “Bonifacium VIII. verum
populorum et regum, atque Orbis Stuporem.t
THE INQUISITION.
A. D. 1198. The narrative which fixes the date of
the Inquisition is given at length in the history of
Languedoc by the Benedictines, Vich and Vaisette.
The folowing are the principal points relative to its
T1S62. .
“The Archbishop of Auch having informed Inno-
cent III., almost as soon as he had ascended the chair
of St. Peter, of the progress of the Vaudois in Gascony
and the neighbouring provinces, he, on the 11th of
April, 1198, wrote to him to drive them out of his
diocess, and if it were necessary, to call on the force
of the princes and people. On the 21st of April, he
wrote a circular letter to the Archbishops of Aix,
Lyons, &c. to announce that, having learned that Vau-
dois, Cathari, and Patarines, (reformed preachers and
converts,) were spreading heresy, he had named bro-
thers Raynier and Gui, ‘commissioners against the he-
retics.” The prelates were commanded to receive and
observe inviolably all the statutes which brother Ray-
* Jur. Pontif. Extray. Com. lib. i. tit. 1.
f De Otio Rel. apud Spondan.
14 *
162 THE APOCALYPSE.
nier should enact against the heretics, the Pope pro-
mising to confirm them himself.”
“Brothers Raynier and Gui were two religious of
the Cistercian order. They were the first who exer-
cised in Provence the functions of those who were af-
terwards named Inquisitors, t
“Thus it is properly to this commission that we
ought to refer the origin of the Inquisition, f which
was established in this country against the Albigenses;
and which afterwards passed into the neighbouring
provinces, and into foreign countries.”
If further confirmation could be necessary, it is
given by the very accurate Fleury ºff his narrative of
the first year of Innocent III. “. . -
“The south of France was infected with the heresy
of the Manichees, and the still newer one of the Vau-
dois, as appears by many letters of Pope Innocent,
written in the first year of his Pontificate, the year
1198. He wrote to the Archbishop of Auch, &c.
He sent into these provinces two monks of the Cis-
tercians, Raynier and Gui, to convert those heretics,
and wrote to the bishops of the country to treat them
favourably, to observe inviolably,” &c.
“We also command,” adds the Pope, “the princes,
the counts, and the lords of your province, to assist
them powerfully against the heretics, by the power
which they have received for the punishment of evil
doers. So that when brother Raynier shall have pro-
nounced the excommunication against them, the
lords shall confiscate their goods, banish them from
* De recevoir et observer inviolablement tous les statuts que
frere Raynier feroit contre ces heretiques, avec promesse de les
confirmerlui-méme.
# Ils furent les premiers qui exercerent dans la Province les
fonctions de ceux qu'on nomma depuis Inquisiteurs.
# Ainsi c'est proprement d cette commission qu'on doit rappor-
ter l'origine de l’Inquisition, Vich et Vaissette, Hist, de Lang,
Vol. iii. p. 131, fol.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. I 63
their territories, and punish them still more severely
if they dare to stay. But also we have given power
to brother Raynier to compel the lords to this by ex-
communication and by the interdict of their territo-
ries. We also write to all the people of your pro-
vince, that when they shall be required by the bro-
thers Raynier and Gui they shall march against the
heretics, and we grant to those who shall assist them
cheerfully, the same indulgence as if they went to
Rome or to St. Jaques.” “This letter was circular
and was sent to the Archbishops of Aix, Narbonne,
Auch, Vienne, Arles, Embrun, Tarragone, Lyons,
and their suffragans, and the Pope wrote conformably
to the lords and people of their diocesses. And those
commissioners sent against the heretics, were, what
we have since called Inquisitors.”
To those perfectly sufficient authorities may still be
added the confirmation to be derived from a writer
of the most anxious accuracy, and whose history is
only too brief to satisfy the interest excited by its
learning and eloquence.
“About the middle of the twelfth century certain
religious opinions began to spread over Languedoc.
Those who imbibed them have borne the name of Al-
bigeois. In spite of much preaching and some per-
secution they made a continual progress, till Innocent
III, in 1198, despatched commissaries, the seed of the
Inquisition, with ample powers both to investigate
and to chastise.”f
The various dates assigned by Limborch, &c. arose
from the various states of the Inquisition; some wri-
ters contemplating it only in its earlier degrees, others,
in its settled establishment, a term which reached
from 1198 to 1232. But, in the prophecies, an event
fully begun is spoken of as complete. The year 1198
was the true date of the Inquisition.
* Hist. Ecclesiast. 12 and 13 cen.
f Hallam, Middle Ages, Vol. I, p. 37, 8.
164 THE APOCALYPSE.
The Inquisition had been planted by Pope Innocent,
but its form, establishment, and influence were to be
the work of other hands.
It was predicted that it should be shaped by a pow-
er rising in Christendom, consisting of two parts, and
those affecting remarkable piety, “like the lamb,”
in ostentatious imitation of our Lord’s life; and at the
same time speaking the language of persecution, “like
the dragon.” This power was the mendicant Domi-
nican Order, whose two parts were its ecclesiastic and
its lay orders, combined in the government of the In-
quisition. . .
A. D. 1216. Dominic de Guzman, a Spaniard, had
applied to Innocent III. for permission to found a
mendicant order, but the measure was interrupted by
the death of the Pope.
“The Dominicans were established by Honorius
III. in 1216. Dominic, active and ferocious, had ta-
ken a prominent part in the crusade against the un-
fortunate Albigeois, and was the first who bore the
terrible name of Inquisitor.” x
“The Progress of the Dominican and Franciscan
Friars in the thirteenth century bears a remarkable
analogy to that of our English methodists; not devia-
ting from the faith of the (Romish) Church, but pro-
fessing rather to teach it in greater purity, and to
observe her ordinances with greater regularity, while
they imputed supineness and corruption to the regular
clergy.”f
“The Pontiffs of the thirteenth century, aware of
the powerful support they might receive in return,
accumulated benefits upon the disciples of Francis and
Dominic. They were eacempted from episcopnl au-
thority, they were permitted to preach, to hear con-
fessions without leave of the Ordinary, to accept of
legacies, and to inter in their Churches.”
* Hallam, Mid, Ages, Vol. II. p. 291. # Ibid. 292.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. I 65
Those privileges, which made them a new and in-
dependent body in Christendom, were resisted by the
priesthood, but in vain. “Boniface VIII. appears to
have peremptorily established the privileges and im-
munities of the mendicant orders in 1295.”%
The testimony of Mosheim is equally explicit; he
says, “Dominic, a regular canon of Osma, a man of a
fiery and impetuous temper, set out for France in or-
der to combat the sectaries. This he executed with
the greatest vigour, we may add, fury, attacking
the Albigenses and the other enemies of the (Romish)
Church with the power of eloquence, the force of
arms, and the terrors of the Inquisition, which owed
its form to this violent and sanguinary priest.”t
“He obliged the brethren to take a vow of absolute
poverty, and to abandon entirely all revenues and
possessions.” - . . .
“His monks were originally distinguished by the
name of ‘preaching friars,” because public instruc-
tion was the main end of their institution. But
they were afterwards called Dominicans, from their
founder.” - -
It must be superfluous to add to those authorities on
the character of the Dominicans, or their formation of
this fatal tribunal. -
It was predicted that in urging the princes of Chris-
tendom (yn) into the creation of the tribunal, they
should be erecting an Image of the Papacy. The
prediction was exactly accomplished. The three
characteristics of the Papacy were, its assumption of
superiority to all earthly power, its persecution, and
the suppression of the Scriptures. And those were
the more remarkable, as no other power or sovereignty
had ever before asserted such prerogatives. The In-
quisition asserted them all, with, however, an ac-
knowledgment of deriving its right to the assertion
* Ibid. p. 292. † Eccles. Hist. Vol. iii. p. 195, &c.
166 THE APOCALYPSE.
from the Papacy. It claimed to judge sovereigns, and
actually cited even Charles V. and Philip II. to
answer before it;" its office was persecution; and the
universal result of its success was the suppression of
the Scriptures. It was the Papacy on a subordinate
scale. • - .
The prophetic signs of the secondary “Wild Beast,”
Wel’62 : — -
That it should exercise the delegated power of the
Papacy. Ver. 12. -
That it should be known as a preacher.t
That it should consist of two parts. -
That it should pretend to miracles. Ver. 13.
That it should obtain extensive influence, and estab-
lish an institution possessing the characters of the Pa-
pacy. Ver. 14. * . . . *
That it should give activity and influence to that in-
stitution, and that the result should be the torture and
death of the people of God. Ver. 15. •
That the institution should excommunicate and de-
prive of their social rights all who refused to obey the
Pope. Ver. 16.
That the origin of the Inquisition should be in the
666th year of the papal supremacy. Ver. 18.
The fulfilment of those signs was exact. We have
already seen the delegation of the papal authority to
the Inquisition. -
The attempts of the Dominicans to establish their
case on miracles were notorious. I
They had found the Inquisition a travelling com-
mission of two friars; who, however, had been able
* Per Imaginem Bestiaº, et mihi persuasum est, hic esse intel-
ligenda Tribunalia Inquisitionis. (Vitring. in loc.)
f Apoc. xix. 20.
# Et in reditu doctrina, pietate, miraculis, omnes convicit, is the
description of Dominic's French mission. Multis antem pugnavit
signis. “Est Vero mentio laborum et Miraculorum ejus contra her.
eticos.” (Spondan. A. D. 1206.)
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 167
to raise a persecution and a civil war.” The superin-
tendence of the Dominicans raised it into a powerful
establishment, with a fixed location, revenues, and
laws.t • º
The Dominicans were distinguished by the name of
the “Preachers.”f ‘.
Dominic established two orders. One of ecclesias-
tics and one of laymen. The lay order was original-
ly termed the Militia of Christ; its members fought
against the Reformed, and assisted the Inquisitors in
their office. They were considered as a part of the
Inquisitorial family; and were thence called Famil-
iars. § .
The Inquisition was given into the hands of the
Dominicans about 1217. It was more fully authenti-
cated and formed in 1227, in the Pontificate of Greg-
ory IX, who had been the zealous protector of Do-
minic. It was introduced into Spain in 1232, which
from that time became the chief seat of the Inquisition.
In 1486 a new model of the Inquisition was sanction-
ed by Innocent VIII; a royal council was created; its
inferior tribunals received authority; a new code of
horrible laws began; and, with Torquemada at its head,
the Inquisition of Spain, then the most powerful of
European Kingdoms, and about to assume the sover-
eignty of the new world, planted its branches in the
* In initio mullum Inquisitionis concessum fuisse tribunal, sed sol-
ummodo in haereticos inquisivisse quos postguam detexissent, in-
dicasse Episcopis.-Nonnumquam principes ad arma contra haereti-
cos capienda commovebant. (Limborch, Hist. Inq. lib. i. c. 13.)
f Hactenus igitur Inquisitionis officiales non constituebant Sena-
twm Ecclesiasticum; nullae aedes publicae huic officio destinatae, nulli
ministri officiales, tortores, carceres. Sed haec omnia procedente
tempore obtinuerunt et praecipue post A. D. 1250.
# Constat illos sibi cum simulatione majoris perfectionis vita vin-
dicasse nomen titulumque praedicatorum. Populus Parisiensis eos
vocavit pseudo-praedicatores Anti-Christi successores. (Aquinas,
Vitring. in loc.)
§ Llorente, Hist. Inq.
168 THE APOCALYPSE.
most remote dependencies of the empire, and became
the scourge of mankind. •
The slaughters committed by the Inquisition are
now beyond any accurate calculation, but they stand a
fearful rivalry with the most prodigal expenditure of
blood by war. The tribunal went on its course of
plunder, imprisonment, torture, and burning, for six
hundred years! During the last century, the common
feeling of mankind had so far penetrated even within
the walls of the Inquisition, that the chief cruelties
were kept from the public eye. Yet a Nun was burnt
alive by the Spanish Inquisition so late as the year
1781.” But what calculation of the slain can give us
the true estimate of the evil, the myriads of broken
hearts of orphans, widows, parents deprived of their
children, families banished and beggared; the life of
perpetual fear in the presence of a tribunal against
which no man at any hour was secure; in whose hands
torture, death, or an imprisonment of a length and se-
verity that made after-life useless, and from which no
man came, but as hardly escaped from the grave? And
what are we to think of the Religion that could create,
sanction, and triumph in this tribunal? What of the
abject and desperate prostration of mind which that re-
ligion must labour to produce, before it could venture
to lay the weight of the Inquisition on the world?
What of the hideous repulsion of all the principles of
Christianity, in the establishment of this formal and
cold-blooded system of murder? We may presump-
tuously doubt, if we will, the Scripture that declares
the existence and hostility of the Evil Spirit; but on
what other conception can human reason account for
the horrors of the Inquisition? we are driven back to
the revealed Word; and forced to see, in this triumph
of torture and death, a cruelty beyond man, the form
* Llorente, Hist. Inq,
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 169
of the Fiend enveloped and enthroned in the circle of
agony and flame.
A. D. 1808. In the overthrow of the Inquisition in
Rome and Spain, Christianity was not the impulse.
The decree of Napoleon, issued from his head-quar-
ters near Madrid, declared that “the tribunal was an
encroachment on royal authority.” Its end was de-
cided by a bold usurper, who would suffer no mine,
ºsed whether by priest or people, to lie under his
eet.
A. D. 1813. The abolition was renewed by the
General Cortes, as essential to the constitution.
A. D. 1814. The tribunal was revived by Ferdi-
mand “at the request of the clergy, corporations,” &c.
But it has not committed any public atrocities. A re-
markable change in the papal councils has virtually
completed what the French Revolution began. Pius
the VIIth had scarcely returned, under the sanction
of the allied sovereigns, when it was declared, that the
use of torture in the holy office was abolished, and that
the papal decree on this head had been communicated
to Spain and Portugal. In March, 1816, the Inquisi-
tion was stated, in a letter of the Portuguese ambassa-
dor to the papal court, to be thenceforth formally sup-
pressed in Portugal; and in the same year the Pope
annulled a sentence of the Inquisition of Ravenna; and
pronounced that in all trials for heresy the accuser
shall be confronted with the accused; and the trial be
so conducted as not to involve death.”
It would be unfair to deny that humanity and com-
mon sense may have had their share in this measure;
but persecution is interwoven with the claim of Infal-
libility; the crime had been too long continued, and
too fiercely upheld for an unsuspected repentance; and
we must look for the chief motives of the suppression
to the known will of the allied sovereigns, and to the
* Llorente, Hist. Inq.
15
170 THE APOCALYPSE.
older discovery that the Inquisition, if generally a re-
morseless servant of popery, was sometimes a haughty
and stubborn opponent of the Pope. “The govern-
ment considers it to be dangerous to allow a body to
exist which is useless, and always armed against red-
son,” is the language of one of the writers, who an-
nounces the measure, and his assertion carries with it
the weight to be derived from the history of the Pope-
dom. - -
The extinction of forture and secrecy is the virtual
extinction of the tribunal. The power of the Pope, as
a systematic persecutor, has been annulled by the
events growing out of the Republic of 1793. The
prophecy is fulfilled. -
Yet it is predicted that persecution shall yet make
one fierce struggle, in which the Papacy with its aux-
iliary ministers shall be conspicuous. In what shape
that calamity may come is still obscure, but its time
shall be brief. The system of persecution was broken
in the same aºra that saw the chains fall from around
the Bible.
PROPHECY.
THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT.
CHAPTER XIV.
Ver, 1. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion,
and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Fa-
ther’s name written in their foreheads.
2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many wa-
ters, and as the voice of a great thunder: And I heard the voice
of harpers harping with their harps:
3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and
pefore the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn
tº at song but the hundred and forty and fourthousand, which were
redeemed from the earth.
4. These are they which were not defiled with women; for
they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whith-
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 171
ersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, be-
ing the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. - : -
5. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without
fault before the throne of God. -
6. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having
the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7. Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him;
for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him that made
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen,
is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the
wine of the wrath of her fornication. -
9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice,
If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark
in his forehead, or in his hand, -
10. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indigma-
tion; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the pre-
sence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and
ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast
and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep
the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. -
13. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write,
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea,
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their
works do follow them. -
14. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud
one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden
crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a
loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and
reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the
earth is ripe. -
16. And he that sat on the cloud thrustin his sickle on the earth;
and the earth was reaped. -
17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in hea-
ven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18. And another angel came out from the altar, which had pow-
er over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp
sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters
of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. -
19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gath-
ered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of
the wrath of God. -
20. And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood
172 THE APOCALYPSE.
came out of the wine-press, even unto the horse-bridles, by the
space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
INTERPRETATION.
Ver. 1. As the preceding chapter began with a
view of that state to which the Papacy was to arrive
at the fulness of its power, so this chapter gives at its
commencement a view of the Church in the triumph
to which it shall arrive only at the close of the pre-
sent order of the world. - -
The 144,000 standing on mount Sion are the
Church of God in its completed number on earth.
Thus, the Apostle; “But ye are come unto mount
Sion, and unto the city of the living God.”
Ver. 2. Its completion is a subject of rejoicing in
Heaven. It holds a communication of joy and thanks-
giving with heaven neither understood nor shared in
by the rest of mankind.
Ver. 3, 4. Those are they which were not defiled
by turning away to image worship; they are hence-
forth to be in the perpetual presence of the Lord; they
are purified from all sin through his blood.
Ver. 6, 7. The church having been shown to the
prophet in its triumph, the steps by which that tri-
umph is to arrive are now detailed. The first dis-
tinct point of the advance was the general diffusion of
the Bible through the world, an evidence to all ma-
tions that the time of the final catastrophe is at hand,
“ the hour of his judgment is come.”
Ver. S. Connected with this diffusion was the sen-
tence passed on the Papacy; whose career of persecu-
tion was broken off at the same period. -
Ver. 9, 10, 11. A summons goes forth, whether by
the transmission of the Bible alone, or by missions in
conjunction with it to the papal nations, adjuring
* Heb. xiii, 22.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 173
them to fly to the Gospel from the utter ruin that is
about to overwhelm the Papacy, its dominions, and
its people.
Ver. 12. This ruin has been long since predicted as
the punishment of its persecution of the people of God.
“He that killeth with the sword, must be killed by
the sword; this is the patience and faith of the
Saints.”* -
Ver. 13. The voice of God, the “voice from hea-
ven,” declares that the saints who now die shall not,
like those who died before, be retarded from their
glory in the kingdom of the Lord. They shall soon
enter into their rest, the seventh age, the Sabbath of
God; “their works shall follow them,” they shall
receive without delay the reward of their labours in
the cause of holiness. The end of human evil and of
the polluted state of the world is at hand.
Ver. 14, 15, 16. The day of the Divine Visitation
comes; our Lord, at length crowned, being about to
receive his kingdom, first gathers his people, the wheat
of the great harvest. The earth is reaped, probably
by a brief but violent persecution.
Ver. 17, 18, 19, 20. The final affliction begins, the
wine-press is trodden, the frequent Scripture emblem
of havoc. t There is boundless destruction of life in
battle, “blood to the horses’ bridles.” Sixteen hun-
dred furlongs was the measurement of the land of
Canaan. The visitation is merciless War.
Thus the Vision of the Church terminates, like the
Seals, Trumpets, and Vials, in an universal war. The
1600 furlongs, comprehending the whole Jewish ter-
ritory, are the symbol of the whole of Christendom;
which, we may easily conceive, cannot be involved
in hostilities of such fierceness, without involving all
“Apoc. xiii. 10. - e i Joel iii. 13.
# Mede states it to be also the measurement of the Papal terri-
tory. -
15%
| 74 THE APOCALYPSE.
nations. We are to observe also how closely this
vision coincides with those already detailed, which
place the diffusion of the Bible at but a short interval
from the final convulsion. - -
PROPHECY.
THE FAILL OF PAPAL ROME.
CHAPTER xvii. l
Ver, 1. And there came one of the seven angels which had the
seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I
will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth
upon many waters: |
2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornica-
tion, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with
the wine of her fornication. -
3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and
I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,
and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls, having a
golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her
fornication: - -
5. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mysºre RY, BABY-
LoN THE GREAT, THE MOTHER of HARLots AND ABox INATIONs of
THE EARTH.
6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints,
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I
wondered with great admiration.
7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel?
I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that
carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not: and shall ascend
out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that
dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in
the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they be-
hold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads
are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and
the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue
a short space.
11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth,
and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 175
12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which
have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one
hour with the beast. *
13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength
unto the beast. \
14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall
overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and
they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou Sawest,
where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations,
and tongues. -
16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these
shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and
shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. -
17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to
agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of
God shall be fulfilled. . -
18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which
reigneth over the kings of the earth. S.. ."
INTERPRETATION.
The prophecy of the Seven Vials had closed with a
compressed statement of the final War. But the great
purpose of that war being the destruction of the Pa-
pacy, and the consequent security and triumph of the
Church, a separate vision was reserved for a subject
of such interest to the people of God. The Vision is
distinct from the Vials, for the prophet is led away
into the desert; and it is yet connected with them,
for its developement is assigned to one of the seven
angels.
Ver. 1. The Vision is announced as a detail of the
final afflictions on the great Harlot, which had cor-
rupted Christendom; and which is (ver. 18,) defined
to be the city that in the time of St. John governed
the world. This description was equivalent to the
name, Rom E. . . -
The preceding visions were directed to the Papacy,
or general dominion of Popery over Christendom; the
immediate vision narrows itself to Rome, the capital
of idolatry.
2 -
176 THE APOCALYPSE.
Ver. 3. She is seen under the usual ancient emblem
of a female figure. The mention of crowns on the
several sovereignties composing the Papal Church,
and as such, supporting Rome, is omitted; the object
of the vision being Rome alone and supreme.
Ver. 4. Her system is splendid, profligate, and
idolatrous. -
Ver. 5. She is the mother-city of all the idolatries
and impurities of worship throughout Christendom.
Ver. 6. She is stained and intoxicated with the
blood of the people of God. Her magnificence and
power over mankind are calculated to excite the won-
der of the prophet. “The blood of the saints,” and
“the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,” probably im-
ply the double stain of the persecution of the imme-
diate followers of our Lord, and of the Christians of
the later ages; identifying Pagan with Papal Rome,
and making the latter accountable for her inheritance
of crime. -
Ver. 7, 8. The Angel interprets the Symbol. The
beast on which the woman sits, is the Papacy; whose
religion is but another name for Paganism. In its
shape of Paganism it had excisted. In its shape of
Papacy it did not yet eacist. But it should eatist.
Its birth-place is the bottomless pit. And to the bot-
tomless pit it shall return. It shall have the power
of delusion on earth over those who are not the serv-
ants of the Gospel.
The text “The beast that was, and is not, and yet
is,” should probably be translated “that was, and is
not, and is at hand.” The true reading in the origi-
mal seems to be zav ſtapscºw. The reading is supported
by MSS., it differs in the slightest possible degree
from the common reading, (xatrºsp so tw.) So far as the
letters are concerned; and it has the advantage of fully
agreeing with the former clause of the verse, “The
beast that thou sawest, was, and is, and shall ascend,”
of which it is indeed but a repetition. The reading
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 177
preferred by Griesbach is xa, rapegºat, a change of three
letters without any additional advantage. His rule,
however, may supply a key to his criticism. “Praefera-
tur lectio brevior, obscurior, durior, sensum FALSUM,
aut apparenter falsum, fundens.”
Thus the triumph of emendation is to be perplexity.
The rule has been often put in practice, but perhaps
Seldom so candidly avowed.
Ver. 9, 10. The seven heads symbolize seven
mountains, and also seven kings. The translation,
“there are seven kings,” is not sufficiently close to
the original, (at erro xspóżow op” stov Erºtop, -xo~ 30.6%ts
87tz'C, evow.)
The site of Rome on the seven hills is matter of
such common knowledge as to prohibit quotation.
But their name of mountains has been thought so far,
too magnificent, as to be applicable only symbolically.
For this there seems no necessity. Mons and Collis
were formerly used without much distinction, and
the “seven hills” are expressly called by a popular
classic, “ septem dominos montes.”f The evident
purpose of the vision was to point out the city with a
plainness beyond all mistake; and this it does in two
ways; by a circumstance in which it shared with no
other, and by a situation equally peculiar.i It de-
signates the seat of the beast as at once the “mistress
of the world,” and the “city of the seven hills.”
Either designation perhaps strong enough, but com-
bined, unanswerable. ~ .
But those heads are also seven kings; in prophetic
language, kings are kingdoms. § Five are fallen, As-
syria, Persia, Greece, Egypt, Syria; one existed at
the time of the vision, Imperial Rome; and a seventh
* P1’, ad. N. Test. † Mart. Epig. 64. l. 4.
# Constantinople has been said to reckon its seven hills, but
apparently in mere imitation of Rome.
§ Dan, vii. 17, &c. Apoc, xvii. 12.
178 THE APOCALYPSE.
was to come, the empire of Charlemagne and his Ger-
IY13 Il SUlCCCSSOTS. -
Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the west, by
the Pope, in the year 800. He was sovereign of
Rome. His successors asserted the sovereignty; and
the chief civil magistrate, the praefect of Rome, took
an oath of allegiance to them. The domination con-
tinued from A. D. 800, until A. D. 1198, when In-
nocent II. declared the Popedom independent of
earthly power. - .
In this passage (ver. 10) is one of those extraordi-
nary instances of prophetic accuracy, that may well
excite feelings higher than wonder. -
“The beast that was, and is not, even he is the
eighth, and is of the seven. ”The interchange of go-
vernment between the new imperial head of Rome
and the Pope, was of the most curious intimacy.
Charlemagne was nominally king, the Pope actually
exercised the power. During the long absence of
the great conqueror of his day from Italy, the Pope
was sovereign. In his presence the Pope acknow-
ledged his emperor. Thus, the Pope was monarch or
vassal, according to the point of view in which the
spectator stood. If he looked at him from Germany,
he saw but the most sacred of the imperial subjects.
If he stood within the shadow of his presence at Rome,
he saw a great potentate exercising full authority, with
the keys of St. Peter in his hand, and the crown of
Christendom on his forehead, scorning the remote
sceptre of a barbarian, and summoning the kings of
the earth to kneel at his feet. The commixture of
sovereignty was sustained in even its most minute
bearings. The names of the Popes and the emperors
were joined in the government of the Roman territo-
ry, and in the proclamations; even their effigies are to
be found on the same coin. The Popedom was thus,
at once “the eighth,” a new power, a spiritual mo-
marchy; and one “ of the seven,” a temporal mo-
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 179
narchy; and, like the others, idolatrous and persecut-
ing. Charlemagne was not an idolater; he even
wrote against image worship, but he was a man of
blood; and his massacre of the Saxons is enough to
exclude him from the name of Christian. But his
successors fell into idolatry with the proneness of Pa-
ganism, and lent themselves to the guiltiest violences
of the Popedom. -
Ver. 12. The prediction defines the epoch of the
Papacy by the formation of the ten kingdoms of the
western empire. “They shall receive power one
hour with the beast.” The translation should be,
“in the same aera,” (atov opov.) The ten kingdoms
shall be contemporaneous, in contradistinction to the
“seven heads,” which were successive.
Ver. 13. It is predicted that those kingdoms shall
all alike embrace Popery, and that, not content with
the simple admission of its doctrines, they shall assist
it with their physical means. - -
Ver. 14. And this assistance shall be directed to
warfare with the Church; they shall aid the Popes as
persecutors. - -
Ver. 15, 16. But the period shall come, when their
arms will be turned against the popedom, which they
shall destroy. Their acknowledgement of the doc-
trines, and their obedience to the authority of the
popedom having been suffered to subsist, only until
the fulfilment of a great providential design.
Ver. 18. The city is Rome. In the former verse,
(5,) it had been called Babylon, an evidence in itself
of the symbolical application of the names of the an-
cient seats of impurity and idolatry. It is striking to
find such remorseless advocates for Popery as Baro-
nius and Belarmin unhesitatingly affixing the name
on Rome.*
* Certissimum est nomine Babylonis Roman urberm significari,
(Baron, ad. A. 45.) Johannes in Apocalypsi passim Roman vocat
Babylonem. (Bellar. de Rom. Pontif. l. iii. c. 13. Newton.) They
however contend that it is confined to ancient Rome.
180 THE APOCALYPSE.
PROPHECY.
THE FALL OF PAPAL ROME.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Ver. 1. And after these things I saw another angel come down
from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened
with his glory.
2. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon
the greatis fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils,
and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and
hateful bird. -
3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication
with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through
the abundance of her delicacies. * -
4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of
her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues. -
5. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath re-
membered her iniquities. -
6. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her
double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled
fill to her double.
7. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously,
so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart,
I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and
mourning, and famine: and she shall be utterly burned with fire:
for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
9. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication
and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her,
when they shall see the smoke of her burning. -
10. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas,
alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is
thy judgment come.
11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over
her; for no man buyeth her merchandise any more:
12. The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones,
and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and
all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner
vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble.
13. And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankin-
cense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts,
and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and Souls of men.
14. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 181
thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed
from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. . . .
15. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by
her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and
wailing. -
16. And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in
fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and pre-
cious stones, and pearls,
17. For in one hour so great riches is come to naught. And
every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and
as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18. And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying,
What city is like unto this great city!
19. And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and
wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made
rich all that had ships in the sea, by reason of her costliness! for
in one hour is she made desolate.
20. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and
prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
21. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone,
and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great
city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
22. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and
trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no crafts-
man, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee;
and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
23. And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee;
and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no
more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the
earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
24. And in her were found the blood of prophets, and of Saints,
and of all that were slain upon the earth. - -
INTERPRETATION.
This chapter gives a view of the wrath of heaven
against papal Rome. It is in some degree a parallel-
ism with the concluding chapter of the Vision of the
Church,” and commences with a declaration that sen-
tence has been passed upon Rome; which is in conse-
quence to be delivered over to ruin; and that those
who would avail themselves of the Divine mercy,
must hasten to abandon her communion. “Come out
* Apoc, xiv.
16
182 THE APOCALYPSE.
of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins,
and that ye receive not of her plagues.” -
Ver. 4. This language had been previously used by
St. Paul, in his exhortation to the pagan converts,
“What agreement hath the temple of God with idols,
for ye are the temple of the living God.--Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will
receive you.”
The denunciations of the papal crimes and ruin, the
sorrows of those who had indulged themselves in her
temptations or carried on a luxurious and corrupting
traffic with her in spiritual things, symbolized by the
dealings of merchants in spices, &c. are expressed
nearly in the language of the ancient prophets on the
fall of Babylon and Tyre. f But as the fulfilment is
still future no exact elucidation can be given.
PROPHECY.
THE FALL OF PAPAL ROME.
CHAPTER XIX.
Ver. 1. And after these things I heard a great voice of much
people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and hon-
our, and power, unto the Lord our God: -
2. For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judg-
ed the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornica-
tion, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3, And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for
ever and ever. •
4. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down
and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alle-
luia. - -
5. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God
all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder-
ings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
* 2 Corinth, xvi. 17. f Isaiah xxii. Ezek, xxvi. 27, &c.
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 183
7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself
ready. : -
8. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of
SaintS. .
9. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are
called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto
me, These are the true sayings of God. * -
10. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me,
See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that
have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. - - -
11. And I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse; and he
that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteous-
mess he doth judge and make war. -
12. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many
Crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he
himself. --
13. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his
name is called the Word of God. . . -
14. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon
White horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. -
15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he
should Smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron :
and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Al-
mighty God. \ . . - -
16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written,
KING!of KINGS, AND LoRD OF LORDs. .'
17. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with
a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven,
Come and gather yourselves together unto the Supper of the great
God; - . - * -
18. That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains,
and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them
that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both
Small and great. - -
19. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their
armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the
horse, and against his army. - 's
20. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet
that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them
that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped
his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning
with brimstone. - ‘. - - -
21. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat
upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth : and all
the fowls were filled with their flesh. - *
| 84 THE APOCALYPSE.
INTERPRETATION.
Ver. 1. The prophet beholds the rejoicing of the
saints in heaven over the fall of their great enemy,
which had been announced in the preceding chapter,
and is now to be completed by the direct interposition
of our Lord. They rejoice in it, as the sign that the
aera of happiness is about to begin.
Ver. 10. Overwhelmed by gratitude and wonder
the prophet prostrates himself before the angel, who
forbids all semblance of worship, declaring that it
is not for angels but for God alone; angels being
subordinate agents and fellow-servants with those em-
ployed on earth to propagate the gospel; for the gos-
pel, “the Testimony of Jesus,” was the purpose and
spirit of the angelic prophecy, as it was that of the
apostolic mission. - .
St. John seems to have conceived the angel to be
our Lord, who had in the commencement of the Apo-
ealypse similarly prophesied to him. The angel’s
words had been highly authoritative, “Write, Bless-
ed are they which are called unto the supper of the
Lamb. These are the true sayings of God.” (Ver,
9.) The worship is repeated,” apparently under the
same impression, the angel’s language being still more
directly authoritative ; “Those sayings are faithful
and true; and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent
his ANGEL to show unto his servants the things which
must shortly be done. Behold I come quickly, Bless-
ed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of
this book.” The “Angel of the Lord,” was a frequent
name of the Messiah; the words, “Behold I come
quickly,” however spoken in a representative sense,
might maturally have suggested the idea that the Lord
stood before him ; the apostle prostrates himself
and worships, but is stopped by the declaration that
angel-worship is forbidden. The error may have
been divinely permitted for the sake of the precept;
* Apoc, xxii, 6, 7,
THE VISION OF THE CHURCH. 1 S5
one of the most forcible and frequent given in the
whole Scripture, yet one of the most fearlessly and
idolatrously profaned by the Church of Rome.
Ver. 11. The great execution is now to be done
upon Popery. The Lord Christ comes in his glory,
followed by the Saints, to destroy the system of the
idolatrous religion. This is the fulfilment of the pro-
phecy of Peter.” “The day of the Lord will come
as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that
are therein, shall be burnt up.–Nevertheless we, ac-
cording to his promise, look for new heavens and a
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
Ver. 12. Our Lord comes with the splendour of him
to whom “all power was given in heaven and in
earth.” He bears three names. The first is one
“that no man knew,” a name beyond human concep-
tion, his heavenly name. The second, “the Word of
God,” his name as the mediator, his Scriptural name.
The third, “King of kings and Lord of lords,” his
name as the conqueror of the idolatrous religion, and
sovereign of the world; his earthly name. This con-
jecture is, perhaps, rendered additionally probable by
the context. With the first name is mentioned, the
“eyes as a flame of fire;” the distinctions of our Lord’s
presence as Deity.t With the second, the “vesture
dipped in blood,” the sign of his sacrifice; and with
the third, the sword that Smites the nations, and the
iron sceptre with which he crushes all hostility. The
triple name also exhibits a strong contrast to the triple
title of Rome, as the head of the Papacy.j: 1. “Mys-
tery,” the name that no man knew, derived from
some deeper and darker source than man can fathom,
the spiritual name. 2. “Babylon the Great,” the
name by which she is symbolized, the Scriptural name.
* 2 Pet. iii, 10, 13, i Apoc, i. 14, #1b. xvii. 3.
16% -
186 'THE APOCALYPSE.
And, 3. The “Mother of harlots and abominations of
the earth,” the name expressive of her actual worldly
influence, the earthly name. 3.
Ver. 20. The power of God overthrows popery and
its adherents, and extinguishes the Papacy in the midst
of general ruin. ,’ -
c
PROPHECY.
THE THOUSAND YEARS.
CHAPTER XX.
Ver, 1. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the
key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. -
2. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is
the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and
set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more,
till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must
be loosed a little season.
4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment
was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were be-
headed for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and
which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither
had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands: and
they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand
years were finished. This is the first resurrection. . -
6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection:
on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests
of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be
loosed out of his prison, - -
8. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four
quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together
to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sca. -
9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compass-
ed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire
came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. -
10. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and
shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heavens fled away; and there was
found no place for them, . . . . -
THE THOUSAND YEARS. 187
12. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;
and, the books were opened : and another book was opened,
which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those
, things which were written in the books, according to their
works. : . . . -- . . . . . . . . .
; : 13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they
were judged'évery man according to their works. . . . .
14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death. / J . . . . . . . .
15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life,
was cast into the lake of fire. , , . . . . . . . . . . .
x - INTERPRETATION. .
This chapter is so entirely future, and relates to
events so much beyond our present comprehension,
that it would be at once presumptuous and useless to
attempt any detailed elucidation of its solemn and glo-
rious promises. Yet we have no reason to doubt that
this part of the prophecy, like all the former, describes
real acts of the Divine Providence. The outline, at
least, is clear, is reconcileable to human reason, and
seems to receive striking confirmation from the whole
body of prophetic. Scripture, from the discourses of
our Lord in the Gospels, and from the revelations of
the Spirit through the apostolic writers. The chapter
declares, that for a long period after the fall of the
Papacy, and the utter abolition of the powers by which
it was sustained, there shall be a renovated system;
in which Christianity shall be the paramount, or the
only religion; the Evil Spirit shall be despoiled of the
guilty supremacy, which he has exercised over the
human mind since the Fall; and some signal and pre-
eminent.display of the favour of God shall distinguish
those who died in the faith from the earliest ages of
the Church. Their open resurrection, or reunion of
soul and body, with some extraordinary and preter-
matural addition of power and glory, physical and spi-
ritual, shall mark them out to the wonder of man, and
188 THE APOCALYPSE.
justify the magnificent prophetic promises of the tri-
umph over death, and the restoration of the world. .
Wer. 7. But this state shall suffer a brief interrup-
tion.” The Evil Spirit shall, for purposes concealed
in the depths of the future, be again let loose, shall
corrupt a portion of the mortal dwellers on the earth,
and shall finally, with the guilty, be expelled into the
kingdom of—darkness for ever. The last judgment
shall sit, and sin and death shall be no more. ... ."
PROPHECY. . . . . . . . .
THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT.
CHAPTER xxi.
-> ** r ... •
Ver. 1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:-for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no
more sea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
-2. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her hus- .
band. - - ~. • * - * , -* . . - . * ~ *
3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and
be their God. . . . . . " ... . . . . . . . . . . .
4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away. • - - • , . . ... -- - - - - .' • º -
5. And he that sát-up
things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are
true and faithful. . . . . . - . . . • --
6. And he said unto me, It is done. ...I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end, I will give unto him that is athirst of
the fountain of the water of life freely. . . . . -
7.<He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his
God, and he shall be my son. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
8. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable; and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and
all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire .
and brimstone; which is the second death. . . . . . . . . . .
9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had
the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me,
on the throne said, Behold, I make all
THE THOUSAND YEARS. 1S9
saying, Come hither, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's
wife. .
10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high
mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, de-
scending out of heaven from God.
11. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone
most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12. And had a wall, great and high, and had twelve gates, and
at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are
the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
13. On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the
south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them
the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. -
15. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure
the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16, And the city lieth four square, and the length is as large as
the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thou-
sand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it
are equal. -
17. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty
and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the
angel, -
18. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper ; and the
city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. . . . . . -
19. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished
with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jas-
per; the second, Sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth,
an emerald; - -
20. The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chry-
solite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chry-
soprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth ; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several
gate was one of pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as
it were transparent glass. -
22. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it. -
23. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon,
to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is
the light thereof. -
24. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the
light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and ho-
nour into it.
25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there
shall be no night there. • -
26. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations
into it. - - 3. -
27. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that de-
fileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie:
but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
1 90 THE APOCALYPSE.
INTERPRETATION,
Ver. 1. This chapter seems to be a parallelism of
the passage,” in the preceding, which describes the
coming happiness of the earth. That “the sea
gave up the dead that were in it,” does not necessarily
imply any contrast in point of time with “there was
no sea,” the former phrase possibly meaning merely
that all the dead were summoned. The direct reasons
for conceiving that this chapter refers only to the earth
are, that the Celestial Church is represented descend-
£ng from Heaven, to complete that final union which
had been so long symbolized by Marriage; that this
happiness is promised to the people of “the first re-
surrection;” that the announcement of the sentence.
of those who had rejected or abandoned the faith
Jollows, and that, in express contrast to the fall of
the Papal Babylon, one of the angels who had inflict-
ed the plagues on her, leads the apostle to contemplate
the triumph of the Church; an earthly punishment
being contrasted with an earthly triumph; though the
earth may be but the earlier place of a happiness which
is declared to be, like those to whom it is given, im-
mortal. - .
Ver. 10. The splendour and costliness of precious
stones is used to express the glory and indescribable
beauty of the new state of the Church. That splen-
dour, which no human imagination can adequately
conceive, is to be approached only by accumulating,
as the vision has done, images of the highest earthly
lustre and value. The glory of God had been already
figured by gems.t. The Vision seems to imply that a
glory like his own shall irradiate the Church that he
has saved. :
* Apoc. xx, 4, 5, 6. - f Apoc, iv.
THE THOUSAND YEARS. 191
PROPHECY.
THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT.
CHAPTER XXII.
Ver, 1. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear
as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the
river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of
fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the
tree were for the healing of the nations. . .
3. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God
and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
4. And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their
foreheads.
5. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle,
neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and
they shall reign for ever and ever. -
6. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true:
and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show un-
to his servants the things which must shortly be done.
7. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the
sayings of the prophecy of this book. - -
8. And I John saw these things and heard them. And when I
had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet
of the angel which showed me these things. .
9. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fel-
low servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which
keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
10. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophe-
cy of this book: for the time is at hand.
11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is
filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him
be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me,
to give every man according as his work shall be. r
13. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first
and the last.
14. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may
have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates
into the city. -
15. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers,
and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh
a lie. -
16. I Jesus have gent mine angel to testify unto you these things
192 THE APOCALYPSE.
in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and
the bright and morning star.
17. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that
heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And
whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.
18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the
prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God
shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book
of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of
life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written
in this book. --
20. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quick-
ly; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. - -
21. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.
INTERPRETATION.
The description of the triumphant Church has now
been given. The triumph is that of the thousand
years, which, in the announcement of the final fall of
the Papacy, was predicted to be at hand. The angel
had there declared that the “marriage of the Lamb
was come.”* The present description is that of the
Bride. “Come hither, I will show thee the Bride.”f
The marriage, or intimate union of the Church with
Christ in his manifest glory and sovereignty, is there-
fore antecedent to the second, or general resurrection;
an event which is to be rapidly followed by the close
of the great mediatorial system, the giving up of the
kingdom by Jesus as the Messiah, and his resump-
tion of the glory which he had with the Father and
the Spirit, before the world was. “Then cometh the
end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to
God, even the Father.”f The kingdom of Christ is
prophesied in the ancient Scriptures to be everlasting.
And such it shall be, but under the sway of its Lord,
resuming his original grandeur, after having triumph-
ed over death and Satan, upon the spot of their su-
* Apoc, xix. 7. # Ibid. xxi. 9, #1 Cor. xv. 24.
THE THOUSAND YEARS. 193
premacy; and rescued from the double grave, an in-
numerable host to be the inheritors of glory for ever.
Ver. 8. The Apostle, hearing words which were
the very oracles of God, once again conceives the an-
gel to be the Lord; and, as has been already observed,
worships under the error. The angel, without rebuke,
again discloses his subordinate rank, and having thus
guarded against misconception, proceeds to speak in
the person of Jesus. “I am Alpha and Omega.”
Ver, 11. “He that is unjust let him be unjust still.”
An ancient phrase for the condemnation of the self-
willed. As in Ezekiel. “Thus saith the Lord God,
He that heareth, let him hear, and he that forbeareth,
let him forbear; for they are a rebellious house.”%
The warning of prophecy has been given; the mercy
of God has been offered; if men will not receive it,
the crime is their own. The unspeakable blessing of
immortal happiness is offered freely, and offered to
all who feel a wish for it. “Let him that heareth,
Say, Come. And let him that is athirst, say, Come.
Ver. 18. The angel prohibits under the strongest
malediction, all attempts to falsify or add to the Apo-
calypse, on pretence of a new prophecy, —a command
rendered necessary by the practice of the Gnostic and
other heretical writers in the early ages; Apocalypses
having been forged under the names of several of the
Apostles; they, however, were soon detected, and pe-
rished. º -
Ver. 20. The angel had already commanded (ver.
10) that the prophecy should not be sealed, or shut up,
for the time of its commencement was at hand. He
now, at the close, as if to give peculiar force to the
impression of its nearness, repeats the warning,
“Surely, I come quickly.” The immediate visita-
tion reverts to the seven Churches, there being no
other reference to them since the original vision.”f
• Ezek, iii. 27. f Apoc, i. ii. iii.
17
! 94. TIIE APOCALYPSE.
“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you
these things in the Churches.” (ver. 16.) St. John,
being the Apostle of the Asiatic Church, is made the
depository of the warning of the Roman persecution.
He receives it with holy obedience. “Even so, come,
Ilord Jesus,” and transmits it with the Apostolic bles-
sing to his people. “The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all. Amen.”
END OF THE A PO CALYPSE .
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
in this rapid view of Christian history, all discus-
sion of doctrines is avoided as much as possible; the
purpose of the sketch being merely to mark the princi-
pal facts, and their connexion.
The great characteristic of the Church of God in the
Apocalypse is, that it shall be a PERSECUTED RELIGION.
It is predicted, that there shall be a false Church, the
perpetual enemy of the true, which shall be constantly
the inferior in power and popular name, and shall be
constantly liable to the Sword, until the period of a
mighty and universal consummation; when the ways
of God shall be justified by the ruin of the oppressor,
and the full and magnificent triumph of christianity.
This characteristic had been already declared by
our Saviour and the Apostles. .
John xv. 20. “Remember the word that I said unto
you. The servant is not greater than his master. If
they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
(Ver. 21.) But all those things will they do unto you
for my name’s sake; because they know not him that
sent me.”
Matthew v. 10. “Blessed are they which are per-
secuted for righteousness' sake: for their’s is the king-
dom of Heaven. (Ver, 11.) Blessed are ye, when
men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my
Sake.” -
196 - HISTORY.
Chap. xxiii. 34. “Wherefore I send unto you
prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them.
you shall kill and crucify: and some of them shall ye
scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from
city to city.” - - - , - . .
Chap. xxiv. 9. “Then shall they deliver you up to. .
be afflicted, and shall kill you: and yé shall be hated
of all nations for my name’s sake.” . . . . . . .
We find this prediction of our Saviour sustained by
the whole experience of the Church. St. Paul, nearly
thirty years after, and'towards, the close of his course, ~.
gives this vivid picture of suffering. “We are trou-
bled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplex-
ed; but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken;
cast down, but not destroyed!” . . . . . . . . .
The conviction, that the state of the true Church was
to be one of struggle till the end, amounted to a
māxīrā. “All that will live godly in 20hrist Jesus
shall suffer persecution.”f . The Apostie goes even
further, and distinctly points out a crisis when the
sincerity, and strength of the faith would be put to the
test by public and remarkable sufferings. “Every
man’s work shall be made manifest: for THE DAY shall
declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the
fire shall try every man’s work, of what sortitis.”f
St. Peter, in the same spirit and experience, pre-
pares the Church for an immediate and public perse-
cution, and declares it to be the natural inheritance of
the followers of our Lord. . . . . . . . . .
some strange thing happened unto you.. (Ver. 13.)
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s
sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye
may be glad also with exceeding joy. -(Ver. 16.) If
any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be
"2 Cor. iv. 8, 9, #2 Tim, iii. 12, #1 Cor. iii. 13.
1 Peter iv. 12. “Beloved, think it not strange con-
cerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though
.*
THE PAGANPERSECUTIONs. 1 97
ashamed. (Ver. 17.) For the time is come that judg-
???ent must begin at the house of God: And if it first
begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey
not the Gospel of God? (Ver. 19.) Wherefore let
them that suffer, according to the will of God, com-
mit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing,
as unto a faithful Creator!” -
It might be thought that those trials were merely
incident to the first state of all great innovations. But
then stands forth the mysterious splendour of the
Apocalypse, like an archangel covered with his own
wings, and shows the principle prolonged through age
on age, the spirit of violence and bloodshed paramount
until the hour of its destined overthrow by the visible
hand of Heaven.
The first persecutors of Christianity were the Jews.
The fear that the new dispensation would supersede
their law; and the sublime boldness of the Apostles,
who openly charged them with the death of our Lord
as a sacrilegious murder, stirred the Sanhedrim to ven-
geance. Three distinguished servants of the Faith,
Stephen, James the son of Zebedee, and James the
Just, head of the Church of Jerusalem, were slain, and
the Church was altogether dispersed, excepting the
Apostles. * - - -
The scattered Disciples were still pursued. Mes-
sengers were sent by the High Priest to the Jews liv-
ing out of Palestine to persecute; and they were re-
presented to the proverbial jealously of Rome as rebels,
impatient of her government, and acknowledging an
alien and self-elected sovereign.t
The Heathen history of those times is imperfect.
But it is impossible to doubt that the calumnies of a
* Acts yiii. 1. - † Mosheim’s Eccles. Hist, ch, i.
17%
198 HISTORY.
people, dwelling in every part of the empire, habit-
ually dexterous, and on whom prejudice seems to fix
a more inveterate grasp than on any other among man-
kind, must have prepared their imperial masters for
violence against Christianity. The occasion suddenly
occurred, and the terrible course of Pagan persecution
began. , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the 10th year of Nero, and two years before the
commencement of the final war of the Jews, Rome was
almost burned to the ground. Of the fourteen quar-
ters of the city, but four remained; multitudes perish-
ed. The suspicions of the people were fixed upon the
Emperor; and, as the historian remarks, they might
be well entitled to charge any atrocity upon the no-
torious murderer of his mother and his wife.* . To
avert his danger, Nero' threw the crime upon the
Christians. already obnoxious to Paganism, and
amounting to a “great multitude” in Rome. . . . . . .
Tacitus, almosta contemporary, describes their deaths
as combining all the forms of horror. “They died
in torments, and their torments were embittered by
insult and derision. Some were nailed to crosses;
others were sewn up in the skins of wild beasts, and
exposed to the fury of dogs; others, again, smeared
over with combustible materials, were used as torches
to illuminate the darkness of the night. . # ,
“The gardens of Nero were destined for the mel-
ancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with ahorse
race, and honoured with the presence of the Emperor,
who mingled among the populace in the dress and at-
titudes of a charioteer.’’t . . . . . .
The agonies of the sacrifice overwhelmed even the
national ferocity of the Romans. “The public abhor-
rence was changed into commiseration, as the opinion
grew that those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not

• Gibbon, c. xvi. . f Tacitus Ann. 15.
THE PAGAN PERSECUTIONs. 199
- ~ *
jealous tyrant.” . . . . . . . -
This was the act of an acknowledged lover of blood.
But it is too high an honour to the spirit of Paganism
to doubt that it was in principle a persecutor. The
Pagań, accustomed to the sight-of a multitude of idols,
might, in general, feel no keen alarm at the increase
of their number by the contributions of Egypt or Asia.
The line drawn between the ancient idolatries was no
abrupt and frowning barrier. The Roman eye saw the
religions of the world, like its territory, spread out,
an easy level to Roman, conquest and association; the
same powers of nature, the same poetic fable, often
the same heroes, made the mythology of the subject
and the master; and the religion of Rome followed the
example of its polity, and gave the rights of citizen-
so much to the public welfare, as to the cruelty of a
ship to the stranger. . - *
But the spirit only slumbered. It was living in the
laws of all Paganism. The introduction of “strange
gods” was a matter of public vigilance. The temples
of foreign idolaters were sometimes plundered and
overthrown; new opinions were visited with the se-
verity of the state. “It is difficult,” says Plato, “to
attain, and dangerous to publish the knowledge of the
true God.”f. In Greece, the fount of religious law to
the ancient world, the name of Atheist, or dissident
from the popular worship, was ruinous. The fate of
Socrates is proverbial.-The Athenians burned the
books of Protagoras.f-St. Paul was brought before
the Aréopagus for preaching “strange gods.”$—Jo-
sephus charges the Athenians with merciless severity
* This abhorrence arose from an opinion that the Christians were
united in a hatred of the human race. “Odio humani generis con-
juncti,” Calumny had done its work. Gibbon slowly inclines to
the reading of “conjuncti" for “convicti.” But the text “Haud pe-
rinde in crimine, quam odio humani generis,” &c, might have assis-
ted him. . . - . . . ' -
f Gibbon, c. xvi. # Suidas in voce. § Acts xyii.
200 HISTORY.
to those who spoke against their national faith.*—In
the conference between Augustus, Agrippa, and Mae-
cenas, described by Dion Cassius, Maecenas declares
the received opinion of the sovereign’s duty. “Do
thou thyself worship the gods, strictly in the manner.
of the country, and compel others to do so; but those
who bring in strange practices in thqse things, hate
and punish.”f . . . . . . . . . . . .
Judaeism, for ages a living testimony against hea-
thenism, had yet seldom attracted persecution; but the
essential adaptation of its law to a peculiar people, and
its rigid and hermit-like remoteness from general in-
tercourse, had rendered it an object rather of scorn
than of alarm. Few things in ancient history are more
remarkable than the slight impression made upon the
manners or learning of Greece and Rome by Judaeism;f
easy of access as were its Scriptures; close as Judaea.
was to Europe; curious and magnificent as were its Sa-
cred customs and worship; and profound, philosophi-
cal, and splendid as was the spirit of its laws, its reli-
'gion, and its language. The storm, that was to sweep
away paganism, gathered in Judaea; but it hung there,
like the storm of the prophet, “a cloud no bigger than
“a man’s hand.”. It came with Christianity; suddenly
covered the horizon, and at once fixed every eye of
the pagan world in wrath or terror. •
Judaeism and paganism were hostile powers, kept
from conflict by a great intermediate desert; Christi-
anity and paganism were hostile powers standing up-
**C. App. l. ii. c. xxxvii. . .
f To nev Šstov ravtºn towtos autos osſov, xata to tatpua, zoº
rows.gºous awayzoºs, vov; 6s #evićovegg respº avrouwest za zowaćs,
Lib. lii. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
# The feeble traces of Jewish intercourse. are scarcely dis&Svera-
ble in a few practices of the early Greeks, in the dreams of Plato,
and perhaps in the poetry of Virgil. See Dr. Gray's learned and
sº work on the “Connexion of Sacred and Profane Litera-
ure,” . - . . . . .
THE PAGAN PERSECUTIONs. 201
on the same soil, and committed by their nature in a
struggle which was to end but by the extinction of ei-
ther. There was an utter incapability of alliance be-
tween them. - The idols, the pompous and mystic ce-
remonial, the still darker practices of the heathen wor-
ship, were all profanation to the Christian.' The con-
verts shrank from them, the apostles denounced them
as things irrational, criminal, and devoted to speedy
ruin. But idolatry was still upon the throne; and the
whole rage of a despotic government alarmed by the
novelty of resistance; the frenzy of a powerful and su-
perstitious priesthood inflamed by the open revolt from
its ritual; and the headlong self-interest of the thou-
Sands and tens of thousands dependent on the costly
expenditure of the temples; rolled in one fiery stream
of persecution against the people of God. .
A. D. 68. The first persecution closed only with
the death of Nero. The slaughter which had shocked
even Rome, accustomed as it was to the gladiatorial
shows, lasted four years. It has been idly doubted
whether this suffering extended beyond the city.”
The popular mind was already infuriated. There must
have been multitudes who waited only for the impe-
rial nod to strike down the Church. When Nero
held games, and drove his chariot by the light of the
burning Christians; the populace in the remote and
half barbarian dependencies must have claimed their
privilege of imitating the master of the empire. Chris-
tianity once branded in Rome must have borne its
mark for popular contumely wherever it wandered
through the Roman world. . . .
A. D. 96. . During the brief interval between the
death of Nero and the last year of Domitian, the
Church enjoyed comparative peace. The Jews, her
sleepless persecutors, had been stricken down by the
long threatened vengeance, and were now an outcast
• Dodwell. Diss. Cyprian,
2O2 HISTORY.
people. Even the proverbial cruelty of Domitian was
too busy with senatorial slaughter to have leisure for
pursuit of peasant blood. But he was at last roused
by the rumour that his throne was to be seized by
some new sovereign, of the kindred of our Lord.
Persecution instantly burst out; but after a year’s con-
tinuance, it subsided on the death of the tyrant. In
the former persecution, St. Peter and St. Paul are
presumed to have been slain. In this, St. John was
banished to Patmos, where the Apocalypse was given. .
A. D. 98. The death of Nerva, the successor of
Domitian, gave the throne to Trajan, a brave soldier,
and a vigorous king, but infected with the double pre-
judices of the Roman and the idolater. Popular vio-
lence had continued to disturb the Church in the pro-
vinces, and when the younger Pliny was, in the third
year of Trajan, sent as proconsul to Asia, he found it
the object of general severity. His celebrated letter
gives equal proof of the innocence of the Christians,
the fury of their enemies, and the singular ignorance
of even the most philosophic and inquiring Romans
on the Christian doctrines. Trajan’s answer to the
letter established the law for the empire:– “That the
Christians were not to be officiously sought after,
but that such as were accused and convicted of an ad-
herence to Christianity" were to be put to death, as
wicked citizens, if they did not return to the religion
of their ancestors.” Such was the legislation of pa-
ganism. It is clear that this law left the Christians
exposed to the most extensive and continued suffer-
ing. It made the mere profession of Christianity a
crime. It opened the power of accusing to all, and
it left no alternative but apostacy or death.
The Asiatic churches, powerful and distinguished
from the beginning, had, in a few years, become al-
most the only establishment of Christianity. The
Church in Jerusalem had been scattered in the gene-
ral ruin of the Jews. The Church in Rome had been
THE PAGAN PERSECUTIONs. 203
broken down by the persecution under Nero. The little
Christian communities, dispersed at wide intervals
through the empire, carried on their solitary work of
holiness almost unknown. Asia, the greatest of all the
provinces, and at length the favoured seat of the Em-
perors, exhibited the faith in its grandeur. Through
the whole period of future persecution, the weight of
the storm was turned upon Asia. The feebler and
more distant communities felt the visitation from age
to age, but on Asia fell the perpetual thunder.
The decree of Trajan was the first direct and for-
mal rule, the statute against Christianity. It was made
the principle of all legislation on the subject of the
Church; and, however modified by the character of
successive sovereigns, it established persecution as the
law of the empire.
A. D. 303. This law continued during two centu-
ries. The violence of paganism had alternately burst
out and subsided, like the flashes of a great conflagra-
tion, broader or feebler from time to time, but conti-
nually burning. The name of Christian was through-
out the whole period, a source of hazard, often of
plunder, often of death. The habitual heathen love
of blood, the proverbial avarice of the Roman gover-
nors, the personal revenge of individuals, the roused
and merciless jealousy of the Pagan priesthood, were
principles that no moderation of the Emperors could
have extinguished. But, when a tyrant or a bigot as-
cended the throne, he found in them an exhaustless
and wild power of desolation. Multitudes of Chris-
iians had been sacrificed; their noblest leaders, their
wise, their pure, their aged, had been, from year to
year, flung into a dishonoured grave before their
eyes; matrons and maidens had been tortured in the
midst of barbarian riot, and the haughty and insulting
scandals of the officials of Rome; no Christian could
be secure of his property, his freedom, or his life, be-
yond the hour. In this tremendous struggle the
204 HISTORY.
Church was not destroyed, but it was deeply bruised
and wounded, and nothing but the hand, which touch-
ed the dead and they arose, could have sustained it in
that day of terror. What deeper earthly misery can
there be than that of a condition in which every man
might be an accuser, and every accuser carried death
upon his lips!—where the whole power of a great
public body, including the first ranks of the empire,
was sullenly fixed on blood; where the empire was a
despotism, in the hands of a fool or a madman, him-
self in the hands of a profligate and fierce soldiery,
who hurried despot after despot up the steps of the
throne, to fling them from it with the rapidity of cri-
minals from the scaffold; and where the perpetual
cloud of burning and massacre, that hung over Rome,
threw its broad coverture over the rapines and cruel-
ties of governors and people to the borders of the em-
pire. Within one hundred and forty-three years,
from the death of Antoninus the philosopher to the ac-
cession of Constantine, Rome saw no less than thirty-
eight Emperors and partners of the empire, almost the
entire of whom were slain in popular convulsions, or
rebellions of the soldiery. The whole ponderous fab-
ric of the state had been for ages tumbling beam by
beam; and what must have been the sufferings of those
sure to be stricken down, whoever escaped, and with
no hope of exemption from public fury, but in the
sweeping ruin, which left all alike sufferers, naked to
every wind of Heaven, exiles or slaves, without an
altar, and without a country! - -
A. D. 303. A great prophetic change was at hand.
Paganism was to be uncrowned, but it was to make a
last desperate effort for dominion. The division of
the imperial authority between the two Augusti, Dio-
cletian and Maximian Herculeus, and the two Caesars,
Constantius Chlorus and Maximinus Galerius divided
the councils of the empire, and overpowered the fee-
ble or fictitious humanity of Diocletian. The progress
THE PAGAN PERSECUTIONS. 205
of the faith stirred up the last paroxysm of expiring
Paganism. The sovereigns Maximian and Galerius,
ferocious soldiers, and owing their elevation to the
sword,” had already been secret persecutors in their
camps and palaces. The superstition of the mother of
Galerius;t the insolence of the tyrant himself, inflated
by recent Persian victory; the artifices of the priest-
hood, dreading the rapid extinction of their shrines;
and the cold and infirm nature of Diocletian, perhaps
alarmed at the growing multitude of the Christians; had
worked together, until the whole vengeance exploded
in one burst of popular, kingly, and military persecu-
tion. &
The 23d of February of the year 303, the day of the
festival of the Terminalia, was appointed for levelling
to the ground the principal Church of Nicomedia, the
imperial residence. On the next day, the “General
Decree” of persecution was issued, commanding the
instant demolition of all the Christian places of wor-
ship,-the death of all who dared to worship,-the de-
livery of the Scriptures to be burned,—the confisca-
tion of all property belonging to the Churches,—the
acceptance by the tribunals of every charge brought
against a Christian,—the refusal of every complaint
brought by a Christian,—and, finally, the exclusion of
the whole body from the protection of the law! )
This terrible denunciation, which could scarcely
have been justified against rebels in arms, did not break
down the sacred fortitude of the Christians. The de-
cree had been fixed up in the most public place of Ni-
comedia; it was openly torn down by a Christian, who
loudly expressed, at the same moment, his scorn and
horror of its rash and blinded tyranny. His offence
was accounted treason, and he was burned alive by a
slow fire, exhibiting in his tortures, and amid the
* Gibbon, c. xvi. º
f Described by Lactantius as “Deorum montium cultrix, mulier
admodum superstitiosa.” Gibbon, c. xvi.
l8
206 HISTORY.
taunts of his Pagan murderers, the inextinguishable
courage of conscience. The Christians, while they
lamented his bold imprudence, yet applauded his mag-
nanimity, and their applauses struck terror to the heart
of Diocletian. . ... . . . . . . . . . . .
To rouse his tardy spirit, his palace was twice set
on fire by the contrivance of Galerius.* The Chris-
tians were massacred as the incendiaries: Their ca-
sual resistanče in the provinces was magnified into re-
volt; and extermination was proclaimed by three
edicts of successive and deepening atrocity. By the
first, the bishops and priests were cast into prison.
By the second, torture was enjoined to force them to
sacrifice to the idols. By the third, the whole Chris-
tian people were to be driven to idol worship, under
the penalty of death. This unspeakable trial was en-
dured for six years, when Galerius, already, by the
retirement of Diocletian, lord of the whole empire,
excepting Gaul and Britain, was seized with a mortal
disease. The unconquerable patience of the Church,
policy, and perhaps the terror of approaching death,
wrought upon his mind; an imperial rescriptappeared,
commanding that “clemency should be extended to
the Christians, and that they should be suffered to
meet in their worship without molestation.” The
edict closed with the hope “that this indulgence would
engage the Christians to offer up their prayers to the
Beity whom they adored, for the safety and prospe-
rity of the emperor, of themselves, and of the repub-
lic.”f . A memorable confession. wrung from the dy-
ingºlips of doubt and fear. . . . . . . . . .
In the Roman world there had been but one refuge
for the Church. Constantius, the governor of Gaul
and Britain, had refused to imbrue his hands in inno-
cent blood. But the day of retribution was come.
In defiance of the emperor, the troops of Gaul had sa-
* Lactantius, guoted by Mosheim. Gibbon, c. xvi.
THE PAGAN PERSEC UTIONS. 207
luted Constantine, the son of Constantius, successor to
the throne. The rival Caesars plunged into war. Af-
ter twelve years of battle, in which the blood of the
savage and licentious armies of Rome was poured out
like water, Constantine triumphed. The persecution
was by the joint edict of Constantine and Licinius, so-
lemnly extinguished in the year 313. In the eleventh
year after, Constantine, by the defeat and death of Li-
cinius, sat sole lord of the civilized world. - -
A, D, 324. The path of Providence is in clouds.
The historian’s eye is seldom suffered to see more than
the results of that great agency by which the changes
of nations are wrought; like the changes of the ele-
ments, their causes are hid in an upper region of gran-
deur and mystery beyond the reach of man. But
Scripture sometimes gives the nobler privilege of pe-
netrating beyond those clouds, and seeing the shapes
and principles of events before they descend to man.
The acknowledgment of Christianity by Constantine,
might have seemed the promise of a boundless period
of Roman prosperity. It had conciliated a vast mul-
titude of faithful and high minded subjects, whose
gratitude to the emperor, and whose conscientious
obedience to authority, made them pillars of the state.
The death of the last rival of Constantine had sealed
the peace of the empire. Rome was once more the
undisputed queen of nations. But, in that hour of
elevation and splendour, she had been raised to the
edge of a precipice. Her next step was to be down-
wards and irrecoverable.
The change of the government to Constantinople,
still perplexes the historian. It was an act in direct
repugnance to the whole course of the ancient and
honourable prejudices of the Roman mind. It was
the work of no luxurious Asiatic, devoted to the in-
dulgencies of eastern customs and climates; but of an
iron conqueror, born in the west, and contemptuous,
like all Romans, of the habits of the orientals. It was
20S HISTORY.
the work of a keen politician, yet was impolitic in the
most palpable degree; it was the work of a bold and
sagacious chieftain, who knew the infinite hazards of
Italy, and who had seen the rising of that very inun-
dation of barbarism, before which the northern and
western barriers of the empire were so soon to melt
away. Yet Constantine abandoned Rome, the great
citadel and throne of the Caesars, for an obscure corner
of Thrace; and expended the remainder of his vigor-
ous and ambitious life, in the double toil of raising a
colony into the capital of empire, and degrading the
capital into the feeble honours and humiliated strength
of a colony.
For this there is one solution, and but one. Rome
was purple with the blood of the people of God.
Three hundred years of the sufferings of Christianity
were to be at length repaid. It is no superstition,
but a most solemn and authentic truth that, on every
nation which has shed that blood, it has been, and
shall be avenged. The purpose of the Roman great-
mess was done; the earth had been given to one scep-
tre, for the surer and more comprehensive diffusion of
Christianity. The reduction of the civilized world
had spread knowledge, laws, habits of obedience, a
universal language. The golden weight of the Roman
chariot wheel, had in its triumph gone on levelling the
road for the naked feet of the Gospel. . -
But the persecution of the faith had covered Rome
with crime; and in the instant when the Church was
to be free, the punishment began. The first act of
Constantine had been to lay the foundations of the
new Rome; in six years after, A. D. 330, he declared
it the seat of empire, and thenceforth the west was
given over to all the various work of ruin; to the ex-
tortions of viceroys, to popular feuds, to religious
discord, all to be consummated in the invasion of the
northern tribes, that drowned the land, like the over-
flowings of the ocean.
THE PAGAN PERSECUTIONs. 209
| Christianity was at length upon the throne. But
Paganism had been too long embodied in the national
customs, was too tempting to the sensual nature of
the popular mind, and was too congenial to the be-
wildered philosophy of the ancient world, to be easi-
ly destroyed. Julian, the nephew of Constantine,
A. D. 361, had the evil merit of retarding its fall.
The Apostate restored the heathen temples, and la-
boured, with the keenest artifice, to abolish Christian-
ity. But the Church was invincible; Julian was slain
in the rash invasion of Persia; and his reign of twenty
months was the last attempt to restore the name of
Paganism.
A. D. 379. The triumph of Christianity was come.
Theodosius, a statesman, a soldier, and a man of vir-
tue, was called from obscurity to the empire. The
lingering reluctance of the throne to repress the ancient
superstition, was instantly changed for a wise and bold
activity. A succession of decrees, like successive
flashes of light from the sword of the Spirit, smote
the worship of the idols, shut the Heathen temples,
and established Christianity the Religion of the Roman
world. Thus fell Paganism, the great antagonist of
truth, purity, and wisdom ; the pamperer of human
passion, and pride; splendid and stately to the eye,
but made to be the oppressor and the murderer. At
this distance the mind still contemplates it, like the
ruins of one of its own temples, and, wondering at its
stupendous extent, the depth and age of its foundation,
the grandeur and costliness of the embellishment lay-
ished upon it by the genius of antiquity, may we!!
doubt that it was either raised or overthrown by the
strength of man. But it was the house of darkness;
vice and blood were the offerings on its altars; its fall
was the freedom of nations, the beginning of a da
which shall know no end; and loud and lofty be the
thanksgiving for that fall which let in light upon man-
kind. .
18 #
210 HISTORY.
The infidel historianº acknowledges the singularity
and completeness of this ruin. He had already la-
boured to prove that the progress of Christianity was
accountable on natural grounds. His proof failed; for
nothing lower than the mind of Heaven could have
conceived Christianity in the darkness of heathenism;
and nothing feebler than the Divine arm could have
upborne it in the tyranny of Rome. But of the five
causes which he alleged, the substance is not far from
the truth. Christianity was made to impress the hu-
man understanding. Its generous and lofty princi-
ples were congenial to all that was still unstained in
the human heart. And what was this congeniality,
but the additional evidence that it was the work of
God. Providence makes no ostentation of power.
Where its will can be done by the common order of
things, it expends no miracle. The glorious birth is
the work of Heaven, but the infant is thenceforth de-
łivered to the ordinary care of man. The moral sun
is commanded to start into light, and lighten the uni-
verse, but he is sent on his course, to be borne along
by the grand general laws of nature.
No conformity of circumstance can account for the
origin of Christianity.
A Being, known to the world only as a Jewish
peasant, delivered a system of doctrine, which over-
threw not merely some feeble philosophy, or some
harsh and unpopular superstition, but both theory and
establishment of the State Religion, guarded and
fought for by the armed strength of the most powerful
government of the greatest of all empires. Thousands
and tens of thousands owed their daily bread to their
connexion with that religion. Millions on millions
had identified it with all their conceptions of life, of
enjoyment, and of that obscure hope in which the
heathen saw a life to come. The noble families owed
* Gibbon, Ch., xxviii,
THE PAGAN PERSECUTIONS. 2 11
to it a large portion of their rank and influence. The
Emperor himself was the High Priest. Old tradition,
invigorated into living belief, made it the pledge of
safety to the empire, a sacred protector, without
which the glories of Roman dominion were destined
to inevitable ruin. Yet against this colossal and
haughty erection,--the consummate work of subtlety
and strength, stood forth a solitary Being, and at his
word the whole pile, the great fortress that towered
up to Heaven, came, wall and gate, to the ground.
And by what means had this been done? By nothing
that can find a parallel in the history of human im-
pulse. Signal austerity, enthusiasm, wealth, military
genius, the promise of splendid success, visionary
doctrines, the displays of a sensual paradise, have
made proselytes in barbarous ages, or among the loose
creeds of contending heresies. But the founder of
Christianity cast away all those weapons of our lower
nature. He shrank from no declaration of the most
unpalatable truth. He told the Jew that his spiritual
pride was a deadly crime. He declared that the che-
rished impurity of the Gentile was a deadly crime.
He plucked up the temporal ambition of his followers
by the roots, and told them, that if they were to be
great, it must be through the grave. In the full view
of unpopularity, desertion, and death, he pronounced
to the Jews the extinction of their national existence;
to the disciples, their lives of persecution. At the
time of his death, his name had scarcely passed be-
yond his despised province; and when it at length
reached Rome, it was known only in contemptuous
connexion with that of a crowd of unfortunate men,
condemned to the rack and the flame. Yet, within
the life of man, his religion constituted the worship
of Emperor and people, his doctrines were acknow-
ledged as inspiration, and the civilized world bowed
down before him as the God whom the Heaven and
the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain.
212 HISTORY.
Those wonders are familiar to the Christian, but
they are still wonders, the mightiest phenomena on.
which the spirit of man can gaze, the stars of our
mortal twilight, and worthy of our loftiest admira-
tion, till the gates of the grave shall be unbarred, and
the vision of glory shall spread before us without a
choud. * * * * , . . . . . . .
A. D. 388. The destruction of Paganism was not
left to the gradual and obscure work of time. It was
made a great public act. In the senate, Theodosius
put the question to the vote, “Whether the worship
of Christ or of Jupiter should be the religion of the
Romans.” The old idolatry was sentenced. The
subsequent conduct of the Christian Emperor shows
the noble superiority of Christian principle. Armed,
as he was, with unlimited power, and often offended
by the stubborn prejudices of the Pagan, he yet kept
his hands pure from persecution. Distinguishing be-
tween the misguided people and the misguiding reli-
gion, he laid no infliction on the former, while on the
latter he pressed with the vigour of justified authority.
He even recéived some of the more eminent Pagans
into his confidence, while he firmly commanded the
closing of the temples. -
But the victory of Christianity can scarcely be esti-
mated, but by knowing the power of the hostile es-
tablishment. The ancient religions of the Heathen
had for their main object the support not of doctrine
but of power. The religions of the East were chiefly
political, and devised to strengthen the sovereign.
Those of the West were chiefly military, and devised
to animate the warlike prowess of the nation. The
religion of Rome, adopting the genius of both, but
born in a later age, rapidly found the importance of
combining its interests with those of the higher ranks.
There is no instance on record of a religion so strongly
imbedded in the passions, prospects, and general influ-
ence of a government and nobility. In the Christian
THE PAGAN PERSECUTIONS. 213
establishments, the Church justly desires that natural
pº which belongs to an alliance with the opu-
ent and powerful of the state. But to this connexion
there is a simple, yet impassable boundary. The Cleric
is a separated man; he abandons the whole field of
that stirring and brilliant career which dazzles the eye
of the young, the ambitious, and the high born. He
cannot gather, and he must not even desire to put
forth his hand into the harvest of such laurels as are
to be won by martial or political renown. .
But in Rome the connexion was at once of the
most extensive, and the most intimate nature. The
noble might be a priest, without relinquishing the
sternest prizes of ambition. He might on one day
lead the procession to the temple of Jove as a pontiff,
and on the next as a consul and a conqueror. Emolu-
ment, influence, the sanctity attached to the official
rank, all attached the nobles to the Pagan establish-
ment. There was no worldly penalty to repel the
union. The ensigns of political power were not to be
laid down by the hand that took up the Augural staff;
the armour might be worn under the sacrificial robe.
The bloodshed of civil war, the ambition which usur-
ped the state, even the deepest excesses of the luxury
of Rome, were not incompatible with the exercise of
the priesthood, by the long succession of fierce rivals
for the throne. . -
The numbers and accurate subordination of the Pa-
gan Hierarchy rendered it, above all others, capable
of combining with the passions of a nobility, struggling
for popular honours. The rank of the Chief Pontiff -
was for life. Augustus, when he had stripped Lepi-
dus of all other distinctions, yet would not venture to
outrage public opinion so far as to deprive him of the
pontificate.” And the power of this priest was wor-
thy of all but imperial envy. He commanded the
* Dio, lib, xxxvii.
214 HISTORY.
whole religious Ministry. He appointed all the high
priests of the various deities, the vestals, the formula-
ries of religion. In conjunction with the College of
Pontiffs, originally formed of his secretaries, he ruled
the calendar, the adoption of children, and matrimo-
nial causes; the two latter constituting a highly im-
portant portion of the jurisprudence of Rome.”
Next in consideration, were the sixteen Augurs.
Their office was the idle one of observing omens, the
signs of the skies, the flight of birds, &c. Büt this
trifling included the material of great public power.
The Augur hostile to the newly elected Consul could
drive him from the ivory chair, by the simple declara-
tion that the heavens were unpropitious.t. This for-
midable influence rendered a seat in the college of Au-
gurs of the highest importance to all who contemplated
the high offices of the state. Originally the candidate
was proposed by the college, and elected by the peo-
ple. But, under the Empire, the power was too
menacing to be entrusted to chance, and the Empe-
rors assumed the first rank, and the election.
The Quindecim viri, the guardians of the Sybilline
books, and general inspectors of the sacrifices, held
the next, a scarcely less important rank. The Sybil-
line books had been burned in the year of Rome 670.
But new collections had been formed by order of the
senate, and on the college of fifteen devolved the duty
of their interpretation. In an age, when an Oracle de-
termined a war, or a sacrifice decided the fate of a
kingdom, the power of the fifteen was formidable.
The rank was solicited by men of the first éminence.
Those chief colleges were followed by a crowd of
powerful subordinates. - .
The seven Epulones, superintendents of the feast of
Jove.
* Beaufort. De la Republique Romaine, vol. i. Moyle, vol. i.
i Plutarch in Marcello.
THE PAGAN PERSECUTIONS. 215
senators.f
The Arvales, superintendents of rural sacrifices.
The Sodales Tatienses, established by Romulus.
The Salii, or priest of Mars.
The Fabians, the Julians, the Quinctilians, the Pa-
mites, religious brotherhoods all possessing extensive
public influence. -
The college of the twenty Feciales, who superin-
tended the declarations of war. - -
The fifteen Flamens, who superintended severally
the worship of the principal deities, Jupiter, Mars, &c.
All those classes reckoned among their members the
leading men of the state. We have an inscription of
the Emperor Tiberius, in which he bears the titles of
Chief Pontiff, Augur, Quindecimvir, and Epulo. Cae-
sar, Crassus, and Augustus, were Chief Pontiffs. Sci-
pio Africanus was one of the Salians. Marc Anthony
was a Julian, and had officiated as a priest in the Lu-
percalia. * This brotherhood was chiefly composed of
the young nobles. Dolabella was a Septemvir Epulo,
and a Tatian. The Feciales were chosen from the
first families. Among the Flamens, the high priest
of Jupiter had a seat in the Senate.
The Aruspices, though of a lower rank than the
Augurs, were yet sufficiently high to be occasionally
Besides those officers, there were a vast number of
individuals employed in the pompous ceremonial of
Rome, and all, either in person, or by patronage, con-
nected with the nobles. Rome was divided into thir-
ty curiae, each of which had its priest, and at the head
of the thirty, was a chief priest, generally a noble,
and always a man of public considertion. Subordinate
to those was a host of priests, officers, sacrificers, and
attendants, forming a large and strongly compacted
corporate influence in Rome, and throughout the Em-
plpe. . -
* Philipp. II. f Cic, ad Familiares.
216 - HISTORY.
Thus the priesthood of ancient Rome was cemented
into the state. The mobility, instead of looking with
envy at its wealth, with contempt at its pacific pur-
suits, or with hostility at its power, felt an interest in
the security of the great hierarchy, in whose honours
they were to possess the principal share, and in whose
strength was to consist so-large a portion of their own.
Yet this vast and solid establishment was to vanish
like a dream; the gigantic growth of policy and pow-
er, rooted in the very centre of the Roman constitu-
tion, shooting its fibres through every corner of the
Empire, and towering to a height and expansion be-
neath which all the other idolatries were at once shel-
tered and thrown into eclipse, was to be smitten into
dust, almost without an effort. No human violence
was to intervene, no blow from axe or sword red with
innocent blood, no popular frenzy, no penal fire; like
the barren fig-tree, it was to be withered to the ground,
at the miracle of the Word. -
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS.
“And when he had opened the sécond seal, I heard the second
beast say, Come and see. -
“And there went out another horse that was red; and power
was given unto him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth,
and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto
him a grest sword.” - -
A great prophetic change was at hand. The domi-
nion of Rome was to pass away. The work for which
the world had been subdued before her, was done in
the establishment of Christianity; and the long career
of idolatry and blood was now to be stricken by utter
I’ll II], -
To a man who looked on the world with a merely
* Apoc. vi. 3, 4.
THE PAGAN PERSECUTIONS. 217
human eye, the most magnificent promise of perpetual
strength and growing dominion was to be seen in the
laws, the manners, the warlike spirit, and the heredi-
tary civilization of Rome. Rising from the condition
of a colony she had fought her way into the sover-
-eignty of the proudest empire that was ever given to
human control; and the conquest was achieved not
by those lucky accidents that sometimes lift incapaci-
ty into sudden eminence, but by the real and resistless
superiority of arts and arms. Asiatic conquerors had
subdued more extensive space; but their conquests
were over barbarians. They were fierce, rapid, and
fruitless. Their chariot wheels ploughed the sand.
They came like the whirlwind, and passed like the
whirlwind. The Roman conquests were over the ci-
vilized world; their evidence was no wrecked and ra-
vaged land, no rude encampment, or licentious posses-
sion by soldiery; but a solid connexion with the an-
cient authority of Roman laws, privileges, and litera-
ture. Where civilization already existed, it was con-
verted into Roman civilization; where Barbarism had
usurped the soil, it was driven back into the wilder-
ness, or coerced with a strong hand into salutary sub-
mission. Where the Roman marched, he filled the
land with the temples, theatres, and palaces of his own
matchless country. He raised round himself the no-
ble remembrances and images, and filled them with
the spirit of Rome. Thus the vigour of the dominion
grew with its extent, till the sitter on the throne, is-
suing his commands to an Empire stretching from the
Euphrates to the Atlantic, and from the wall of Anto-
ninus to the tropic of Cancer, could be answered
through the whole of that stupendous circle of power
by Roman colonies, bound to their country by citizen-
ship, by a common language, and by a proud and un-
broken inheritance of customs, rights, and laws. The
dominion was a tyranny, and unfitted alike for the
endurance of later European nations, and for the diffu-
19
218 HISTORY.
sion of those high principles which make the security
and the civilization of our time. But it was of all ty-
rannies the most illustrious; permanency of dominión
seemed to be the principle of its power; and we may
well forgive the human oracle which pronounced the
capitol the centre, of an eternal Empire, “ . . . . .
But the sceptre was now to be broken. Trajan had
advanced the boundaries of the Roman territory to the
fated limit. From the time of his death, the strength
of the barbarian nations was felt pressing upon their
barrier; and the rude bravery, the athletic frame, and
the endless multitude of those sons of the storm and
the desert, must have often filled the mind of the pat-
riot and the statesman with gloomy forebodings. But
the decree had not yet gone forth. The vigour and
discipline that still survived in the Roman armies might
justly scorn the divided councils and naked valour of
Savages; and the chief part of the early invasions end-
ed in the slavery or massacre of the invaders. . .
The Emperor Theodosius was scarcely in his grave,
when this period of victorious, though troubled, su-
premacy was at an end. In the winter of the year in
which he died, the Gothic nations, as one man; rose
in arms. Headed by Alaric, a lame that still stands
in the foremost rank of barbarian courage and devas-
tation, they crossed the Danube, and rushed down up-
on Constantinople. But their true summons was to
the havoc of the Western Empire. From Constantino-
ple, whose battlements defied the attack of a roving
enemy, their march turned to Greece. The beauty,
of that land of the temple and the trophy, which, even
under all the inflictions of sterner barbarians than the
troops of Alaric, still gives some image of its ancient
loveliness and grandeur, was instantly wasted under
the hoofs of the Scythian cavalry. Terror went be-
fore them; the mountain passes were deserted; and in
the midst of universal flight and despair, the conquer-
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 2 i 9
ors plunged into the Peloponnesus. There they first
met the troops of Rome. A series of obscure, yet
bloody conflicts followed, which had already overspread
the richest portion of the peninsula with the wreck of
Goth and Roman; when Alaric, determined to strike
at the heart, sprang upon Italy.
A.D. 406. But while this stream of destruction,
at length, like a river charged with corpses, checked
its speed; another still broader and more sweeping
burst from the north of Germany. It poured direct
upon Rome. Rhadagast the German, at the head of
the chosen troops of the Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians
and Goths, an army of two hundred thousand savages,
crossed the upper Danube, mastered the successive
barriers of Italy, the Alps, the Po, the Apennines, and
spread fire and blood through the land.
In the first pause of the invasion, an army of a hun-
dred thousand men was detached to the conquest of
Gaul, where they laid waste the seventeen Roman pro-
vinces. Thus was completed the overthrow of the
Roman Empire beyond the Alps. Those invaders
were never expelled.
There seems to be a distinct line drawn between
the action of man and Providence. We may have the
petty affairs of the world for the exercise, or perhaps
for the triumph of our powers. But there are times
when the GREAT KING vindicates his sovereignty.
The mightier changes of nations, those breakings up
of the great deep that leave the earth no more the thing
it was, are none of ours. There is probably not one
of those grander Revolutions, in which, to the man
who will liſt his eye above the shifting and turbulent
atmosphere of human passions, the hand of God is not
visible. Human action stops as if in exhaustion or ex-
pectancy; a new and more resistless presence is felt,
with which our weakness must not partake; it goes
forth alone, and triumphs alone.
The fall of the western empire was wrought by an
220 HISTORY.
agency whose existence no European mind could have
conceived, which was altogether unexcited by Eu-
rope, and which continued to act steadily and re-
sistlessly until its whole tremendous work was
done. A fugitive slave at the eastern extremity
of Asia had collected a band of robbers; from a band
they swelled into a tribe; the tribe became rapidly
the head of tribes. At length the final impulse was
given. As by the sound of a trumpet, the whole
northern world, from the wall of China, was in mo-
tion towards the west; nation rolled on nation, each
as it reached Europe, filling up the intrenchments of
the Roman empire, each bringing with it a new pow-
er of desolation, and all rushing down on one devoted
centre, Rome. * -
A. D.408. The German armies had scarcely satiated
themselves with conquest; when Italy was startled by
a new invasion. Alaric had again advanced, trampled
down all opposition, and pushed his cavalry to the
gates of the capital. The city was helpless; and the
conqueror condescended to be bought off with the
gold of the nobles. For the first time since Hanni-
bal, a period of six hundred and nineteen years, the
imperial city had now felt the insult of an enemy’s
presence. But a deeper disgrace was still to be
borne; within two years the Gothic army again ad-
vanced to the walls, and while the senate was feebly
labouring to deprecate the wrath of Alaric, the gates
were thrown open. The shouts of the barbarians at
midnight roused the city from its sleep. The whole
furious multitude poured in; and the indescribable
excesses of savage cruelty, avarice, and licentious-
ness, raged through Rome. - :
But no nation suffers without a crime. The old
rough virtues of Italy had long perished, and Rome
* Gibbon, c. xxx.
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. - 22 1
was not more prominent in rank than in corruption.
Enormous wealth applied to the most worthless pur-
poses; the morals of Paganism under the abused name
of Christianity; prodigal self-indulgence even when
every hour might be their last; and the loss of all
public spirit, when nothing but the boldest patriot-
ism could have saved them; made the portraiture of
the Roman nobles.” The populace, to the love of
indolence inherent in the climate of the south, added
the grossest personal license. Industry had perished
amonst them, they lived upon the alms of the state;
and their lazy and pestilent condition seemed to be
conscious of life only in the public shows; in the
desperate tumults common to the last feverish ages of
Rome; or in the alternate pursuit of low enjoyment,
and merciless revenge. With a nobility of tyrants
and profligates, a, people of paupers, a constitution
merged in the will of dissolute boys and women, a
religion rapidly sinking into the pollutions of Paganism,
and a diadem shifted from head to head, at the bloody
caprice of a soldier, a courtezan, or a slave; Rome
presented the last spectacle of a nation self-doomed.
Its fall belonged to the course of nature. There stood
the great crowned criminal, ripe for the first thunder
cloud. y - -
A. D. 409. But before the final ruin of Italy, every
realm of her empire was to be shaken. Spain was in-
vaded. The Vandals and Suevi stormed the Pyre-
nees. The troops posted to defend their passes, re-
volted and swelled the invasion. Roman and Spaniard
fell before them; and the land was ravaged by the
sword, pestilence, and famine.
A. D. 409. In this general and tumultuous over-
throw of Roman power, there was one striking ex-
* The description by Ammianus of the general dissoluteness
of Rome is highly curious and instructive, even to later times.
See Gibbon, c. XXXi,
1.9%
222 - HISTORY.
ception, the bloodless recovery of our own indepen-
dence. Britain was neither insulted by the Suprema-
cy of the barbarians, nor stained with the guilt of re-
bellion. The war in Italy had compelled the return
of the Roman garrisons. Britain, thus left to her own
strength, took up arms, fought her battles boldly
against Pict and Saxon, and exhibited even in that
unhonoured warfare, the manly courage and vigorous
perseverance, which seem the gifts of nature to the
soil of freedom.
A. D. 430. There was now but one untouched frag-
ment of the dominion of the Caesars; the vast tract of
Africa that borders the Mediterranean, a land in
whose proverbial solitude we can trace no image of
the granary of Italy, covered with superb architecture,
fertile fields, and an opulent and civilized population.
Genseric crossed the sea at the head of the Vandal ar-
my. The seven provinces, from Tangier to Tripoli,
were instantly in flames. The mountain tribes join-
ed the invaders. The Roman settlers found them-
selves surrounded at once by native and foreign hos-
tility. During nine years the war raged with unut-
terable desolation; until Carthage was taken; five
hundred and eighty-five years after its siege by the
younger Scipio; and Genseric was monarch of nor-
thern Africa. t
The war in Europe had gradually subsided. If
that can be called intermission, which was filled up
with the desperate feuds of rival tribes, and the rash
struggles of the ruined inhabitants against their lords.
But the time of ten fold tempest was come. The
northern invaders had themselves been fugitives,
chafed and kindled into conquerors, only by the col-
lision with Rome. But the conqueror of the con-
querors was now on his way, -Attila, the Calmuck.
Others had been the kings of barbarians, Attila was
the king of barbarism. “He alone among the con-
querors of ancient and modern times, united the two
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 223
mighty kingdoms of Germany and Scythia.” His
actual dominion touched at once the Rhine, the Bal-
tic, and the Volga. The boundless regions of the
north of Asia were filled with his tributaries. Na-
tions with their hereditary sovereigns at their head,
fought under his banners. A crowd of monarchs and
leaders of famous tribes served round his person as
guards and attendants; and when he moved to battle,
his army, which might be more justly called a column
of that countless army which was waiting his com-
mand in the desert, the advanced guard of the nor-
thern world, amounted to half a million of men.
A. D. 441. The Tartar multitude had long uncon-
sciously been drawn within that influence which urged
all nations, the near and the remote alike, on the Ro-
man empire. Its first movements had been dubious
and desultory. It had bent to the south, and spread
over a part of Persia. But the flow of the great liv-
ing morass, once loosened from its bead, soon follow-
ed a broader and more fatal road. The whole line of
Europe, from the Black Sea to the Gulf of Venice,
was assaulted; a frontier of five hundred miles was
covered with fire and slaughter. The old arts and de-
fences of war were idle before the inexhaustible num-
bers, and wild fury of the Huns. The fortified cities
were instantly reduced to ashes; the troops of Con-
stantinople were trodden down without stopping the
march; two battles hunted them into the Thracian
Chersonesus, and a third left the emperor without a
soldier in the field. The cavalry of the Huns now
swept the whole splendid territory from the Propon-
tis to Thermopylae; seventy cities of the eastern em-
pire were sacked; and Rome awaited, in terror and
weakness, the summons of a conqueror who seemed
armed with powers more than of a man.
* Gibbon, c. xxxiv. .
224 - HISTORY.
A. D. 452. The Eastern Empire had been terrified
into peace, tribute, and the cession of a large territory
on the Danube. Attila fixed his camp in Hungary, a
camp that contained more of the elements of sover-
eignty than the world besides; and from his saddle
dictated the law at once to Constantinople and Rome.
His language to both has the uncouth grandeur of un-
controllable barbarian power. His envoys entered
the presence of the Eastern and Western emperors,
with the words “Attila, my lord, and thy lord, com-
mands thee to provide a palace for his immediate re-
ception.” But the wealth of the west dangerously
tempted him. He made a march of seven hundred
miles with Scythian speed, crossed the Rhine, and
less forced than tore his way through all resistance to
the heart of Gaul. But he there found troops like his
own, no degenerate Italians, but the sons of the north,
the Visigoths, in order of battle under their king
Theodoric. In the battle of Chalons, Theodoric fell;
but Attila was repulsed, he retreated, and at length
resolved on the easier triumph over Italy. The en-
suing spring (A. D. 452,) saw him moving down from
the Alps, on the shore of the Adriatic. The cities
along its border were laid in dust. It was the pro-
verbial saying of the Tartars, that “where they ruin-
ed a city a horse might gallop without stumbling.”
The proverb was fearfully made true. Attila reached
JMilan, leaving the country behind him a conflagration
and a grave; but he was not to achieve the crowning
triump of all invaders, the mastery of Rome. A
mightier conqueror, that takes delight in baffling the
vanity of man, stood between him and the capitol.
Excess, accident, or the dagger, suddenly and ob-
scurely closed the march and life of the great king of
the Huns. - *-
Rome was saved. But ruin was inevitable; and her
exultation over the death of Attila had scarcely sub-
sided, when she received the mortal blow.
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 225
From the shores of Africa, Genseric the Vandal
saw the spoil about to fall into the hands of all nations;
and he determined to have the lion’s share. He se-
cretly equipped a fleet, embarked an army, eluded or
despised the feeble opposition of the imperial officers,
and, before Rome dreamed of his approach, was mas-
ter of the Tiber. The intelligence roused the city
into universal uproar. All was confusion and help-
less rage among the people. In the palace all was
terror. Without troops on which he could depend;
and in the midst of impotent or traitorous counsellors,
the Emperor Maximus had no resource but in flight.
Even that base refuge was denied to him; he was met
by the populace, dragged from his horse, and stoned
to death. Genseric moved slowly on, leaving anarchy
to do its work. But, on the 15th of June, as the day
dawned, Rome saw, with the horrors of instant as-
sault, all her avenues thronged with the dusky visages
and strange banners of Numidia. The Roman eagle
had long been despoiled of the thunderbolt, but it was
now stripped of every plume. -
In even the most rapid glance at the history of this
pre-eminent seat of human power, it is difficult to
to avoid the contrast of its early manliness with its
deep and effeminate decay. Nor is it without advan-
tage to reflect upon the feebleness of individual opu-
lence and national supremacy, divested of public mo-
rals, and the noble love of country. Hannibal, six
hundred years before, when the dominion of the sen-
ate was confined within the walls, was frowned away
by the armed majesty of Rome. In the glow of his
triumph at Cannae, he dared not venture on the attack
of a city where he found three armies drawn up, ready
to die to the last man, before a Carthaginian foot
should defile the steps of the capitol. In the invasion
of Genseric, Rome, still the head of a great, though
distracted empire, containing incalculable wealth, and
with a population of millions, could not command the
226 HISTORY.
services of a single soldier. The multitudes, who
might have crushed the invaders by their mere weight,
could find neither leaders, nor spirit to follow, if they
had found them. For that torrent of more than fire,
that stream of heroic steel, and indignant, patriot
courage, which would have burst from the gates of
ancient Rome, the city of cities could send but a pro-
cession of aged ecclesiastics to deprecate the wrath of
the conqueror. - g . . . . . . . . . . .
This last resource partially succeeded. The pur-
pose of the Vandal was plunder, not massacre; and
Genseric stooped to make a treaty with the Bishop of
Rome. The customary horrors of Italian invasion
may be best known from the terms of the treaty,
which would now be barbarous to a garrison at the
point of the sword. “The unresisting population -
were not to be slaughtered; the city was not to be
given to the flames; the captives were not to be put
to the torture.” But how much of even this merci-
less stipulation must have been forgotten in the scene
that followed! . The African army, already furious at
the temporary restraint, like a wild beast roaring for
its prey, at length broke through the gates; the Vān-
dal, the Moor, the Negro, the savage of the Atlas,
were all let loose together; and from the palace to
the hut, Rome was filled with rapine, violation, and
carnage. i • - . . . .
Genseric sailed for Carthage, with fruits of triumph
unrivalled, an Empress and her daughters, the last
survivors of the line of the great Theodosius; thou-
sands of the noblest youths and maidens captives; and
a spoil of all that was venerable, lovely, or magnifi-
cent, in the imperial opulence of Rome. Among
those were the ornaments of the capitol, the sacred
vessels of the churches, and, more precious still, from
their splendour and their history, the plunder of the
temple of Jerusalem; the cups of gold, the golden ta-
ble, and the seven-branched golden candlestick, the
THE PAPACY. 227
|
mysterious emblem of the holiest of all things. Four
hundred years after Titus, those matchless reliques of
the most singular, and most unfortunate people of the
earth, were carried from the Roman Temple of
Peace to be the sport of savages in the sands of
Africa. * &
This was the death blow. The rest was the quar-
rel of vulgar faction, in which the alternate victors
fell without use and without honour. At length, for
the final degradation, a boy, the son of Orestes, a
Pannonian, and subject of Attila, was placed on the
throne. By a striking coincidence, his name was
Romulus Augustus, as if the national ruin was to be
made more bitter by the memory of the first founder
and first Emperor of Rome. But popular usage, per-
haps popular contempt, soon degraded those lofty ap-
pellations into Momyllus Augustulus.
A. D. 476. Odoacer, a bold barbarian, at the head
of an army, commanded him to retire from the insult-
ed throne. Augustulus submissively resigned. The
Senate formally declared the seat of sovereignty to be
removed to Constantinople; and the EMPIRE of THE
WEST was no more. -
THE PAPACY.
“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third
beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse;
and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
“And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A
mcasure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a
penny ; and see that thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”f -
A. D. 451. A great prophetic change was at hand.
A new Power was to rise out of the ruins of the Wes-
* They were recovered, on the conquest of the Vandals, by
Justinian. -
f Apoc. vi. 5, 6.
228 HISTORY.
tern Empire, and to exercise an influence which threw
all earthly sovereignty into the shade. -
The transfer of the sceptre to the East had largely
increased the influence of the Roman See. Venera-
tion for his spiritual office pointed out the Bishop of
Rome as the natural mediator with the barbarians, the
protector of the city, and the representative of its dis-
tant monarch. But a darker temptation than this hon-
ourable suffrage of the people soon arose. Rome and
Constantinople, the one, proud of theimperial residence,
the other of its ancient sovereignty, disputed the pri-
macy of Christendom. The spirit of ambition spread;
and, after long and factious struggles, the council of
Chalcedon recognized the five patriarchates of Rome,
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Palestine.
Leo, the Roman Bishop, protested in vain against the
equality of the Bishop of Constantinople; the Empe-
ror sided with the council. But the papal power was
already fixed on a foundation not to be shaken by coun-
cils or Emperors. The fifth century had been from
the beginning one fierce convulsion. The Northern
Invasions had often clouded Rome altogether from the
sight of the Sovereigns of Constantinople. When
peace came, less a remission of war, than a pause for
whetting the blunted sword, and renerving the barba-
rian arm; the allegiance of the man who held the keys
of Rome was not to be lost for points of ceremony.
An additional source of power was found in the quar-
rels of the Eastern Sees, of which the rank and re-
moteness of the Pope made him the frequent arbiter.
He thus rose, until the edict of Justinian at length so-
lemnly conferred the fatal and guilty title, which first
fixed him within sight of empire. -
A. D. 533. Fortune had made Justinian an Empe-
ror, necessity had made him a warrior and legislator,
but nature had made him a monk. He brought to
the throne the prejudices of the cloister; and at the
head of a dominion, still the stateliest and most pow-
THE PAPACY. 229
erful of the earth, gave himself up to the hopeless per-
plexities and bitter personal vindictiveness of monkish
controversy. “The Emperor,” is the exclamation of
his indignant contemporary, “sits like a private man,
closeted whole nights with old priests, doing nothing
but turning over Church writings.” The perpetual
feuds of Constantinople gave ample employment to
this midnight diligence. But they were all suddenly
eclipsed by the bolder novelty of Nestorianism. A
peculiar homage to the Virgin Mary had been for
some time growing up in the East; it had at length
approached to divine worship, and the Virgin was na-
med “ The Mother of God!” Nestorius, a Syrian
bishop, distinguished for learning and eloquence, fear-
lessly pronounced the doctrine impious; and, even in
the hearing of the palace, declared that the Virgin Ma-
ry was but the mother of Christ in the human nature;
and that the divine nature, however mysteriously join-
ed to it, could, as God, neither be born nor die. Jus-
tinian plunged headlong into this sacred war; persecu-
tion soon reinforced his argument for the divine ma-
ternity, and, by an imperial decree, he laid Nestorius
and his disciples under the spiritual ban. f Some of
the anathematized, in their distress, appealed to the
common arbiter, Rome. To govern by artifice was
the pride of the Emperor; and this unkingly craft led
him to the extraordinary concession of the Papal su-
premacy, a measure pregnant with eternal division to
his empire, hopeless schism to his religion, and still
deeper and darker consequences to the world. An-
cient Rome had reigned for more than twelve hun-
dred years. But the pen which wrote the decree of
Justinian was to give birth to the dominion of another
Rome of a still longer duration, armed with a sterner
power, and using it with a more unchangeable and re-
morseless pressure on mankind.
* Procop. de Bello Goth. Gibbon, c. xlvii.
† Baronii Annales. Justinian, c. vii.
20
230 - HISTORY.
- In the beginning of the memorable year, five hun-
dred and thirty-three, Justinian sent two. of the Eas-
tern Bishops as his envoys to state his case before John,
“ the most holy Archbishop and Patriarch of Rome.”
They were furnished with an imperial rescript, detail-
ing the controversy, expressing “ the Emperor’s anx-
iety, in all instances, to communicate matters touch-
ing the General Church to his Holiness,” and declar-
ing, “that for the purpose of preserving the unity of
the Apostolic See, and the existing establishment of
the holy Churches of God, he had lost no time in sub-
jecting and uniting all the priesthood of the entire
East to his Holiness.” The rescript further declared
the Roman Bishop “ Head of all the Churches;” and
concluded by making the “knowledge of the doctrine
held by his Holiness, the standard of the faith, and
source of unity to all the Christian world.” . . . .
This momentous paper was not left to the, dubious
fate of the royal archives. The doctrine that the Pope
was “the Universal Bishop” was thrown into the
shape of law; the substance was repeated in the vari-
ous forms of the Justinian Code; and was thus made
general and immortal. It may be hopeless now to
detect the entire motives of this vast concession in the
subtle, yet feeble system of the imperial policy. The
chances of the Vandalic war which he was about to
commence, and which must have made the extinction
of the religious feuds of Constantinople more impor-
tant than ever; the hope of retaining an interest in the
heart of Italy, which it was the imperial purpose to
reconquer; or that common frenzy, which makes the
true polemic think all sacrifice cheap for the triumph
of words; all might have urged Justinian to purchase
the voice of Rome. *, But, however worthless the
motives, the act was done, authentic and unquestion-
.* Baronius imputes it to the first motive. Annales. Justin, Imp.
Wil, - • * - - - ... r
THE PAPACY. a 231
able, sanctioned by all the forms of state, and mever
abrogated,—the act of the first potentate of the world.
If the supremacy over the Church of God had been
for man to give, it might have been given by the un-
rivalled sovereignty of Justinian.
From this aera the Church of Rome dates the earthly
acknowledgment of her claim. Its heavenly autho-
rity is referred to the remoter source of the Apostles.
But the turbulence of the period was adverse to all
titles but those of the sword. Fifty years had scarcely
passed before the Patriarch of Constantinople dared to
assume the name of “Universal Bishop.” He found
in Gregory the Great an antagonist who fiercely re-
sisted the usurpation; pronouncing, whether in the
heedless wrath of controversy, or in the more unac-
countable ignorance of his own distinctions, that to
arrogate the name of “Universal Bishop” was to be
Antichrist. But the oversight was soon repaired.
Boniface the Third obtained from the Emperor Pho-
cas the recognition of the original title; and the Bishop
of Constantinople was consigned to the second rank
until the remaining union of the Churches was at an
end.
A. D. 726. Two paramount doctrines, which would
have struck the Apostolic age with astonishment, have
long distinguished the creed of Rome. They are the
pillars of her throne. On the worship of the Virgin
and the Saints was already raised the spiritual supre-
macy; on the worship of images was now to be raised
the temporal. Idolatry had rapidly spread through
Christendom, in the ignorance and superstition of a
time of relaxed Church discipline and civil disorder.
Its worship was expressed in the strongest language
that man can use to Deity.” “How shall we,” is the
Byzantine hymn to a supposed picture of Christ,
“contemplate this image, whose celestial splendour
* Gibbon, c. xlix,
282 HISTORY. I
the host of Heaven presumes not to behold. He who
dwells in Heaven condescends to visit us this day by
his venerable image. He who is seated on the cheru-
bim visits us this day by a picture, which the FATHER
has delineated with his immaculate hand, which he
has formed in an ineffable manner, and which we
sanctify by adoring it with fear and love.” s '
This picture, “not made with hands, oxstporovnzos,”
the visible creation of the Almighty, was declared to
have already wrought miracles, and saved the city of
Edessa from an assault by the Saracens.” ‘.
In the luxury of the huge, turbulent, and dissolute
capital of the East, image-worship, found its natural
support. It was splendid, and caught the eye; it was
fitted to the sensual taste of a people, extravagantly
fond of ceremonial; and it sustained a vast priesthood
in pompous indolence. But, in the remoter parts of
the empire were “the seven thousand that had not
yet bowed the knee to Baal,” Churches and nations
that shrank with horror from the adoration of any em-
blem of the Invisible and Omnipotent God. The Em-
* It is appalling to find even in our own day, in the midst of
disavowals of idolatry, and with Protestantism before their eyes,
the Romish priesthood using, almost word for word, the idolatrous
language of the Byzantine hymn. In the “History of the winking
of the Virgin’s eyes,” the famous Ancona miracle, in 1796, the
Abbé Albertini thus follows his model. “The Angels, which, in
the height of the Empyrean, profoundly venerate their eminent
Sovereign (the Virgin), those Angels, to whom it is fiot allowed to
see her face, Anconitans, almost envy your good fortune.—It was
Jesus Christ who first conceived the idea of this miracle. He thus
addressed his mother. Go, O Reconciler and Mediator between
God and man, whom thou hast vanquished. I have placed thee in
thé seat of my power. It is by thy intervention that I bestow mercy.
As thou hast given me the essence of man, so give I thee 'the
essence of God, my omnipotence, by which thou canst save from
punishment all who recommend themselves to thee!” -
Pope Pius the VIIth authenticated this abomination by crown-
ing the picture, May 13, 1814, annexing to it a plenary indulgence
for the remission of sins, and appointing the second Sunday of
May for its annual holiday ! -
THE PAPACY. * 233
peror Leo, the Isaurian, a peasant, but endowed with
that vigour and capacity which made the throne less
the prize of fortune than the right of the first soldier
and statesman of the empire, determined to abolish a
worship which he unhesitatingly pronounced Idolatry.
His first reform was its prohibition in Constantinople.
His next step was a command to Gregory the IId. to
remove the images and pictures from the Roman al-
tars. The Pope answered his Sovereign with haughty
defiance. His letter was a declaration of war. “You
accuse the Catholics of idolatry. By the accusation,
you betray your own impiety and ignorance. You
assault us, tyrant, with a carnal and military hand.
We can only implore Christ that he will send you a
devil for the destruction of your body, and the salva-
tion of your soul. Are you ignorant that the Popes
are the bonds of union, the mediators of peace between
the East and the West? The eyes of the nations are
fixed on our humility, and they revere, as a GoD ON
EARTH, the apostle St. Peter, whose image you
threaten to destroy. The remote kingdoms of the
West present their homage to Christ and his Pice-
gerent. The barbarians have submitted to the yoke
of the Gospel, while you alone are deaf to the voice
of the shepherd. Those pious barbarians are kindled
into rage, they thirst to avenge the persecution of
the East. Abandon your rash and fatal enterprize;
reflect, tremble, and repent. If you persist, we are
innocent of the blood that will be spilt; may it fall on
your own head.”
The manifesto was followed by instant action.
Gregory cast his pastoral letters like firebrands through
Italy, and the whole Peninsula was in a blaze. The
Imperial fleets and troops were baffled in a series of
conflicts by the undisciplined valour of fanaticism. A
final battle was fought on the Po with such slaughter
* Gibbon, c. xlix.
20%
234 HISTORY.
of the Greeks, that, for six years, the people refused
to eat the fish of the river. Rome became once more
a republic; the Imperial vassalage of seven hundred
and fifty years was closed; and as the proudest sym-
bol of victory, image-worship was established the re-
*
ligion of the Western world.
In the Jewish Code, idolatry was declared to be
the sin of sins, the most direct offence to that God
who claims the undivided homage of the heart, the
most open evidence of the alienation of man, the great
peculiar crime which smote beyond the criminal, and
tainted the blood of posterity.” No evasion was suf-
fered in either the degree of the worship, or the form
of the Image. The people were forbidden to “bow
down or serve,” and they were equally forbidden to
take their graven Image from any object in the worlds
of matter or mind. Earth and Heaven—nature, and
the imagination of those glorious shapes that inhabit
immortality, were alike closed upon them. Neither
the sacred animal of the Egyptian, the Greek demi-
god, the Syrian star-worship, nor the Indian emblems
of the attributes, though all familiar to the knowledge
of the Jew, were endured by the Divine law. The
purpose of Judaeism was, to preserve the knowledge
of the true God among men. But the preservation of
that knowledge was so incompatible with image-wor-
ship, that its slightest touch was declared to be na-
tional pollution. The ruin of the idol priests and
altars constituted the merit of kings; the toleration
was their downfall; the national perversion, which
still dared to adopt the rites of the neighbouring
states, was visited with a succession of tremendous
and predicted calamities, wound up in that seventy
years’ captivity, which gave the Jews into the hands
of a barbarian, left their Temple in dust, and broke
- • “ Unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”
Exod, xx. 5. - * - * –,
THE PAPACY. - e 235
them down from the ancient and illustrious kingdom
of David and Solomon into the trembling dependency,
which one consummate crime more was to extinguish
by the sword of Rome. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
But there is no wilfulness in the divine prohibition
of idolatry. The evil grows out of no mere positive
law; which yet the Lord of our being must have a
right to impose at his pleasure; the natural effects of
image-worship are impurity and impiety. . . . .
The world has been often pronounced a place of
trial. Its truer title might be a place of education;
life, a discipline, by which we are eacercised into the
*
possession of those loftier qualities, which, by exer-,
cise, become habit, by habit become nature, and with-
out which man may, even by physical laws, be inca-
*
pable of the future world. “Without holiness, no. "
man shall see the Lord,” is equivalent to the words;
without holiness no man can see the Lord. But the
chief part of human vice is evidently founded on the
predominance of the sensual over the moral and intel-
lectual nature, grasping the trivial and immediate en-
joyment, in preference to the nobler, but more remote
reward, earth, to the Supreme prospects of eternity.
-But, to raise mankind into the habit of resisting the
immediate impulse, what could be more effectual than
the idea of an Omnipotent Being perpetually present,
living and acting in the whole course of nature, read-
ing their inmost thoughts, incapable of being evaded,
and viewing their whole lives at once with the eye of
a father, and the justice of a sovereign; yet, in all in-
visible. The contemplation of such a Being, incon-
testibly existing, and incontestibly superior to all that
the senses can show, must shake their supremacy. Ex-
perience gives proof of this; and perhaps nô man has
ever fixed his mind upon the idea of God, without
finding himself for the time less shackled by theim-
pressions of his corporeal nature. But the habit
created by this one stupendous conception would have,
236 . HISTORY.
like all other habits, a tendency to spread over the
whole mind. . . . . . ;- --
Thus too, we, perhaps, may solve the problem of
the extraordinary magnificence of the Jewish ceremo:
mial. All that the arts and opulence of earth could
contribute, architectural grandeur, sculpture, the
jewels and embroidery of the East, a host of minstrels,
a whole tribe for the service of the altar, illustrated the
Temple worship beyond the most pródigal splendours
of Paganism. Its purpose was to fill the Jewish mind
with the transcendent idea of HIM to whom that wor-
ship was still an unworthy homage. But the offering
was to THE INVISIBLE. An image, even a true im-
age, the most sublime attempt to visibly represent the
being of God, would have overthrown the intellectual
worship, and so far restored the old dominion of the
sensual nature. We can conceive the astonishment
of a Pagan conqueror, a Pompey or a Titus, when,
after hastening through marble courts and passing veil
after veil of gold and purple, to wonder at the over-
whelming glory of the idol worthy of such a shrine,
he found but the sacred loneliness of the sanctuary;
yet more majestic in that loneliness, than if within
it had been throned a Colossus of solid diamond.
Another unanswerable charge lies against all image-
worship. It gives an untrue representation; a pic-
ture or a statue cannot realize the form of Deity. It
gives a humiliating one; matter for spirit, lifelessness
for essential activity; feeble, earthly locality for that
Infinite Presence, which the Heaven, and the Heaven
of Heavens, cannot contain. • . ar
But the evil is more than negative. It is the course
of human weakness to substitute the seen for the un-
seen. The statue rapidly supersedes the God. Yet,
let the worshipper’s veneration be what it will, he
cannot escape the consciousness that the thing to
which he kneels is a stock or a stone. If such be the
Deity, what must be the religion. Deification will
THE PAPACY. 237
be as easy as the erection of a statue. The supersti-
tious will deify their dreams, the profligate their pas-
sions, the timid and ignorant their fears and follies.
Thus the ancient Roman raised altars to beings of no-
torious fable, and to actual impurity. The modern,
often on the strength of the same legend, offers to the
same image; the African fabricates a devil, and bows
down. • *
From this the course is precipitate to the deepest
religious corruption. Multiplied statues involve mul-
tiplied shrines, ceremonies, and priests. Number
produces competition; popularity is purchased by ar-
tifice; increased pomp of ceremonial, more dexterous
legend, or bolder miracle. There is at this hour
scarcely a Church in Italy that has not its favourite
Saint, its wonder-working relic, and its chronicle
crowded with the achievements of both. The rivalry
is urged on, until the land is covered with idols, or
partitioned into sacred principalities, within whose
bounds the reigning saint admits of no division of pow-
er. What is the God of heaven and earth at Naples
in the presence of St. Januarius, at Palermo in the pre-
sence of St. Rosolia, at Loretto in the presence of the
Virgin, at Rome in the presence of St. Peter!
In this struggle of hypocrisy and ambition, the
Scriptures are, of necessity, forgotten, or suppressed
as a dangerous testimony; the simple fervour and un-
worldly wisdom of religion are trampled down in the
general bustle of the passions; and the system issues
forth armed and accomplished, in the perfect evil of
idolatry; tradition for Scripture; ritual for virtue;
Atheism for Christianity; for the authentic and neces-
sary ministers of the faith, a boundless priesthood,
nurtured in fatal ignorance, or indolent and luxurious
corruption, Soliciting the favour of the populace by re-
laxing the obligations of the divine law; the ready
tools of zealotry and persecution, having an original
and vital interest in suppressing the progress of truth;
238 HISTORY.
preachers of blind submission, and artificers of pro-
ductive imposture. f
The representative adoration of Popery was the ex-
press worship of the Pagans. “Statues are worship-
ped,” says Arnobius, “not that the gold or silver, or
similar material of the images are gods, but because
through them, the invisible gods are honoured and
worshipped.” And this was unquestionably the im-
pression of the higher and thinking classes of Pagan-
ism. Yet against the whole image-worship the Apos-
tles contended, not less vehemently than the Jewish
Lawgiver, declaring it in all its shapes an abomina-
tion, a demon-worship, and infecting even those who
merely ate of the sacrifice with the guilt of rebellion
against Heaven.
A. D. 754. To the abolition of image-worship, the
Eastern Church at length gave its most complete
adherence. The Emperor Leo had proceeded demo-
lishing the symbols of idolatry till his death. His
Son and successor, Constantine, summoned the By-
zantine, or seventh general council, consisting of three
hundred and thirty-eight bishops of Europe and Ana-
tolia. The western Churches had been already with-
drawn by the Pope. A deliberation of six months
produced a unanimous decree, “that all visible sym-
bols of Christ, except in the Eucharist, were blasphe-
mous and heretical;--that image-worship was a cor-
ruption of Christianity, and a renewal of Paganism’
—that all such monuments of idolatry should be bro-
ken or erased; and that those who should refuse to de-
liver up the objects of their private superstition, were
guilty of disobedience to the Church and Empe-
ror.”2%
A. D. 787. In scarcely more than thirty years aſ-
ter, this wise and scriptural decision was subverted by
a corrupt council, the second of Nice, hastily convened,
* Gibbon, c. xlix,
THE PAPACY. 239
and influenced by the Empress Irene, a usurper, and
a persecutor. * n -
The connexion of the Popes with the dynasty of
Charlemagne is the true commencement of the modern
history of Europe. The mind turns with equal wea-
riness and disdain from the useless slaughters and
nameless rivalries of that barbarism, which had conti-
nued to cover the fallen Empire with disorder, till, in
the just emblem of prophecy, it was a “raging sea.”
The uproar at length subsided; and ten separate and
independent sovereignties, like mountain-tops from
the flood, the promise of better times, were seen
slowly to emerge. But the controversy of image-
worship had inflamed anew the minds of the northern
warriors; the summons of the Pope to resist the Em-
peror had awakened the old love of battle; and the
Greeks were scarcely repelled, when Rome, in Sur-
prise and terror, saw the Lombard banners advancing
to her walls. Gregory implored the aid of France,
then governed by Charles Martel in the name of its
imbecile monarch. Fear of the first soldier of Europe,
immortalized by the overthrow of the Saracens; and
the dexterity of papal negociation, induced the Lom-
bards to retire. A new king of this turbulent tribe
more resolutely repeated the invasion. But the Popes
had in the interval secured an irresistible ally. Pe-
pin, the son of Martel, weary of the second rank, had
dethroned his sovereign, Childeric, the last of the line
of Clovis. In superstition, or in fear of the popular
memory of the famous founder of the throne, he soli-
cited the papal sanction. It was freely given; Pope
Zachary pronounced that the king should be deposed,
shaven, and imprisoned in a monastery for life. The
usurper was crowned by the Papal delegation to Boni-
face, the Apostle of Germany. This important ser-
vice was not forgotten. In the new peril of the city,
Stephen, the successor of Zachary, fled across the
Alps, to lay his grievances before the usurper. Pe-
240 HISTORY.
pin, to give a still firmer title to his diadem, was
re-crowned by the Pope; and at the head of an army
escorted him to Italy, attacked the Lombards, and
compelled them to a peace. A second invasion was
met by a second and heavier repulse, and the Exar-
chate of Ravenna was torn from Astulphus, the Lom-
bard king, and given in full dominion to the Pope,
who was invested with the choice of magistrates, the
exercise of justice, the imposition of taxes, the whole
sovereignty of a government comprehending the ter-
ritories of Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara, with the
Pentapolis, stretching along the Adriatic, from Rimini
to Ancona, and advancing into the country, to the
foot of the Apennine. The Lombards shrank under
the blow; but a new monarch in France, a new Pope,
and the recovery of their strength in twenty years of
indignant submission, roused them to a last desperate
hazard. Pope Adrian again summoned his ally.
Charlemagne, at the head of the chivalry of the west,
came thundering into the field. The Lombards were
crushed by the discipline and multitude of Gaul and
Germany. After a succession of ruinous encounters
and a blockade of two years, Desiderius, their king,
was taken prisoner in Pavia, and (A. D. 774,) the so-
vereignty was at an end.
The conqueror marched to Rome, and was received
with the honours of an ancient triumph. Of all pomps,
the pomps of war are the stateliest, yet perhaps, nei-
ther old Rome could have seen, nor can modern ar-
mies furnish a show of such picturesque and impres-
sive magnificence, as the march of a conqueror of the
middle ages. . -
In the triumph of Charlemagne, superstition height-
ened the pomp. He had fought the battle of the
Popedom. The Holy Banner met him at the distance
of a day’s journey. As he advanced, the emblems of
the saints and martyrs, the cross and the relic, were
mingled with the lances and standards. Moving through
THE PAPACY. 241
the ranks of the Roman soldiery, and saluted by the
hymns of palm-bearing youths and maidens, as he
reached the gates of the holy city, he dismounted, and
at the head of his nobles, putting off the conqueror,
and assuming the pilgrim, he kissed each step of the
ascent to the Vatican. On the threshold, presumed
to have been trodden by the Apostles, he was receiv-
ed by the Pope surrounded by his chief clergy, and,
amid the applause and almost the adoration of Rome,
the eldest son and champion of the Church, was con-
ducted by its spiritual king to worship at the feet of
St. Peter! - *- -
From this crisis sprang up consequences the most
momentous. Charlemagne, in the exultation of his
triumph, made over to the Popes the whole of the
cities and islands belonging, in the widest sense, to
the Exarchate: Ambition was inflamed. A forged
decree of the first Constantine, the guilty “donation,”
was then produced by Adrian, declaring the original
resignation of the sovereignty of Rome, Italy, and the
west, to the Popes for ever. Thus the revolt of Gre-
gory was justified; the gift of Pepin and Charlemagne
declared to be only a restitution; and the right estab-
lished, by which the Romish see was to arrogate the
temporal and spiritual supremacy of the world.
The assumption of temporal sovereignty by a Chris-
tian Ecclesiastic was a crime against the whole tenor
of Scripture. The strongest declarations that could
be made by language or emblem, had been made by
our Lord, against any claim of temporal authority for
himself or the Apostles. The precept lived through
the whole teaching of our Lord, was acted upon in
the whole Apostolic history, and was transmitted to
the last ages of the Church as its irreversible law. In
the subordination necessary for the service of the pri-
mitive Church, there was the most anxious avoidance
of all that partakes of temporal power. St. Paul, in
the full exercise of his gifts and labours, and with an
2 l
242 HISTORY.
unhesitating assertion of his rights, throws aside all
personal claim. St. Peter dies with the words on his
tongue, “Be not lords over God’s heritage.” As
they lived, so they died; whether slain among the
promiscuous executions of the Roman sword, or in a
laborious and humble old age, laying their bones in a
barbarian grave.
Yet the ground of the prohibition is perhaps not
equally obvious. That our Lord, who came for the
express purpose of laying down his life, should have
refused earthly power; or that he who was the King
of kings, should have turned away from a kingdom of
this world, is conceivable. But the primary pur-
pose of the Apostolic mission was not to die. The
purest shape of virtue might sit unstained upon a
throne, or be even more resplendent from the greater
difficulty and temptation of the high place of power.
Providence wills the happiness of man; and among
the most beneficent gifts of Providence to a nation is
a good king. What a fortunate and glorious change
might not have been wrought in the fates of the Ro-
man Empire, if the throne of Nero had been filled by
one of the early followers of our Lord. They had
among them the native qualities for a throne. Chris-
tianity supersedes none of the talents or virtues of our
nature. The mere human courage, promptitude, and
sincerity of Peter, would have made him a noble de-
positary of power. If manliness and decision, vigour
of mind and generosity of heart, become a sovereign;
glory and happiness would have overshadowed the
people among whom Paul bore the sceptre. And the
acquisition might have been easy. The pursuit of
sovereignty could have offered to such men but few
of the obstacles that beset ordinary ambition. With
the power of miracle, they possessed all power. What
could finally resist the popular strength of those who
came armed with supernatural might, before whom
disease vanished, who bade the dumb speak, and the
THE PAPACY. 243
blind see, and the lame take up his bed and walk?
What grateful and irresistible millions would not have
cleared the way to supremacy, before beings of whom
they already cried, “The gods have come down among
men P” . -
Nor was the combination of divine office with hu-
man power prohibited by the original law. The Jew-
ish Judge, under the theocracy, exercised the func-
tions of king and priest. He made war, and he con-
secrated peace, he led the armies to the field, and he
sacrificed in the temple; and this union of powers, es-
tablished by the express ordinance of the Deity, and
emblematic of his own concentration of all power,
continued through the golden age of Israel, from
Joshua to Samuel, a period of more than three hun-
dred years. . -
The source of the distinction is, that the Christian
ecclesiastic, from the highest rank to the lowest, is
appointed for a teacher. The chief purpose of the
Jewish priesthood was the performance of the temple
worship, teaching was the inferior duty. But, “Go
ye, and teach all nations,” is the one comprehensive
commission given to the Apostles and their successors
through every age of Christianity.
A duty of this nature excluded temporal sovereign-
ty. What reception could the Gospel expect from
men to whom it was delivered by a missionary bear-
ing the Bible in the same stern hand that ruled the la-
bours of the throne and field? With what conviction
could they listen to the preaching of the gentle vir-
tues, from the lips that had but the moment before
been proclaiming even justifiable wrath against a re-
bel or an enemy? How were converts to be won to
the meekness and unworldly humility of the gospel,
by a teacher however pious, clothed in the habitual
pomp of royalty, or wielding the sword that is to be
a terror to evil doers. . . .
But a still more sufficient reason may have origi-
244 HISTORY... '
mated in the divine foreknöwledge. He who knew.
what was in man, must have contemplated the péril;of
Christian truth in the caprice of a teacher armed with
royal authority. Religion allows:éfºno appeal but to
the understanding; for nô righteous cofºvićtiºn gån
be produced by foree. But with what fearful facility
might not the monarch priest confound the limits of
reason and power; how insensibly might not resist-
ance to the doetrine 'bº construed into resistance to
the sovereignty; how rapidly might not the igno-
rance, the passions, and the corruptions of the scep:
red eontroversialist gather in ruin over the héad of
his rash antagonist; the doubter and the rebel be de-
clared one, and the truth be borne down by the ār-
gument of fire and sword! The full illustration is to
be found in the history of the Popédom.
... The temporal dóminion of the Pontiffs had now been
established by the gift of the Exarchate, yet they were
still at a distance of four hundred years from complete.
supremacy. Charlemagne in right of his father and
grandfather was Patrician of Rome, a rank confer-
ring the honours and authority-6f the ancient repre-
sentative of the eastern emperors. Under this popu-
lar title he was virtually *monarch; allegiance was
sworn to him and his family by the Romans, money . .
was coined, and justice administered in his name,
eventhé election of the Popes required his confirma-
tion; and to the end of his life Rome and Ravenna
were included ifi the list of cities belonging to the re-
sistless sovereign of the Franks and Lombards.”
Italian intrigue, or the natural ambition of the first
king and soldier of Europe, at length gavé him his
true title, and Rome, after a lapse of three-centuries;
was again to see an emperor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A. D. 800. On the death of Adrian the first, his
nephew had been set aside for Leo, a priest of the
* , .. J - - ...-- - . . . . . . . ... '
- * Gibbon, c. xlix. - *- : ,
-
Z.

THE PARAby. 245
Laterañº The partizans of the disappointed candidate
waited but the moment for revenge. In a public ce-
' ' , ~ t , , , ºf ...— . . i. i : - ; , ; # ºr : **, 33 rºß -- i. 1; ; ; -ia---...- 3. ..
remony they rushed on Léo, Ščáštered his attendants,
and left him for dead: ‘He régévérèd, made his com-
plaint to the Patrician, and finally appeared before
Charlemagne at his camp in Westphalia. His quar-
rel was espoused, an army marched to the capital, the
Pontiff purified by oath of all charges, and the de-
feated faction sent into banishment. On Christmas
day, mass was: celebrated in St. Peter’s, at which
Patrician. At a patise in the service, Leo advanced,
beariñga diadem, which he placed on the unconscious
head of Charlemagne, who long after persisted in de-
nying all expectation of this act of “irresistible grati-
tude.” He was instantly hailed with the universal
acclamation; “Long life and victory to Charles, the
most pious Augustus, crowned by God, the great and
pacific emperor of the Romans.” . . . . . . . . .
This event cemented that connexion with the Ger-
man, empire, one of the most singular in history,
by-which the Pope was at once a subject and a king,
and the Popedom at once in a state of independence
and vassalage. Charlemagh.e. was now the unques-
tionable prince of Rome. Yet the rights of personal
and public sovereignty granted by his father and him-
self had never been annulled. Even the sweeping.
of the west had been claiméd, was not disturbed.
That claim never slumbered, and it was at length put
into tremendous action. But, until the hour, seen
through a vista of four hundred years of dissimulation
and blood, when it was realized, and the Pope wield-
ed from the Vatican all the monarchies of Europe;
he was the nominal vassal of the successors of Charle-
§ Yet, in Rome, the Pope already possessed the pow-
er of a monarch. "The life of the emperor was all a
battle, or the march that led to battle; the furious
21



246 HISTORY.
overthrow of Barbarian altars, or the hazardous strug-
gle with the native bravery and rugged resources of
the Baltic tribes. The eye and the arm of this inde-
fatigable man were in constant activity; and his re-
liques still give evidence of the extraordinary effects
that may be wrought by the energy of an individual
mind. Charlemagne either conquered or kept in obe-
dience by his single vigour an empire embracing
nearly the whole of France, Italy, Germany, Hunga-
ry, and Spain! He was besides a legislator, and a
theologian, such as the age could make; the convener,
and leader of the celebrated council of Frankfort, in
794, in their condemnation of the worship of images.
But his more unshared praise is, that he had the intel-
ligence to conceive, and the manliness to adopt sys-
tems of national improvement, to which his personal
habits could have offered but slight temptation. A
soldier, he yet encouraged commerce and the arts; a
despot, he drew round him able men of all opinions;
little acquainted with literature, and not even having
learned to write until mature age, he founded schools
and colleges; and those honourable labours were the
fruit of such leisure as could be snatched from thirty-
three campaigns of constant and sometimes doubtful
battle. - - - -
A. D. 888. In the division of the empire by his
degenerate descendants, in the decay of his line, and
in the long interregnum of seventy-four years that
followed the deposition of the last remnant of his
blood, the Popes consolidated their influence, without
yet asserting their freedom. ... "
A. D. 962. The restoration of the Western empire
by Otho, the Saxon, produced only a repetition of the
march of Charlemagne. He poured his troops into
Italy, overwhelmed its innumerable and corrupt fac-
tions, fixed the Pope in unmolested power, and claim-
ed the Imperial crown as the inalienable right of the
Sovereign of Germany. This established the two
THE PAPACY. 247
memorable maxims with the force of law. 1. That
the Prince elected in the German diet acquired from
that instant the subject kingdoms of Italy and Rome.
2. That he might not legally assume the titles of Em-
peror and Augustus, until he had received the crown
from the hands of the Pope.*
A. D. 1073. But this connexion had now done its
work, and was to be dissolved. Gregory the VIIth,
a man of ability and ambition, openly laid the founda-
tion of independence, by determining to fix the elec-
tion of the Popes in the College of Cardinals,f and to
abolish the right of interference alike of the German
Emperors, and of the people of Rome. Another still
bolder project inflamed the spirit of this celebrated
monk; the privilege of bestowing the Western empire
as a fief of the Church, and the extension of the tem-
poral dominion of the Popes over Christendom.
A. D. 1198. The man at length appeared who was
to consummate the ambition of the Popedom. The
Pontiffs had hitherto been chiefly of obscure birth,
and of advanced age, I taken from the cloister, and
withered by the cloister. Lotharius, Cardinal Deacon,
was elected to the Papal chair, by the name of Inno-
cent the IIId., in his thirty-seventh year. By descent
a man of rank, Count of Segni; celebrated for his
knowledge of the canon law, the chief learning of
the age; and in the vigour of life, of talent, and the
bolder passions, he possessed all the qualities essential
to the triumph of kingly ambition. The time was
favourable. From the Vatican he saw Europe a dun-
geon or a desert; Germany convulsed with political
faction ; France perplexed with religious dispute;
Spain sustaining a ruinous and protracted war with the
Moor. England wasted by ancient feuds, and about
* Gibbon, c. xlix. . .
† This was done by the decree of the Lateran Council, A. D.
1179, under Alexander the IIId. (Mosheim, Cen. xii.).
# The average reign of the Popes has been about nine years.
24s HISTORY,
*
to plunge her regaining vigour into civil and eccle-
siastical struggle; that bitter travail from which, in a
remoter age, her faith and freedom were to be born.
If the whole circle of Europe neither sagacity nor
strength were visiblé to resist the young and idaring.
monarch who domineered overit from its sacred Čen-
tral throñe: The Roman polity already spoke the
haughtiest language of power. “The Pope is the Lord.
of the world; neither Prince nor Bishop; neither civil
nor ecclesiastical ruler, can have any lawful authority
in Church or State underived from him.” The sué-
cessful activity with which this more than conquerór .
pursued hisºareer imây be seen from a slight detail of


his principalitransactions in hearly the order in which
they beeurredº ºil sº ºf . º. ºº
His first ačt was the total subjection of the city of
Rome to the Papa? See: The prefect and magistrates.
had hitherto taken ańºath of allegiance to the Em-
peror of Germany. This he instantly abolished, and
transferred their allégiance to himself. . . . . . . .
He recovered the March, of Ancona and other disº
tricts; surpedºdmºthésée. *º
He now coſminenéed the exercise of his power over
sovereigns. He excommunicated Alphonsus King of
Gallicia and Leon for marrying within the prohibited.
He compelled; by the threat of excommunication; :
Sanctius King of Portugal to renew his tribute to
He laid the foundations of the Inquisition, by send-
ing commissioners tº Fränge, superseding the autho.
rity of the Bishops in matters of heresy. . . . . . sº
gº
$&
$ . # * * - **

He invested €oñstäntia, the widow of the Emperor.
of Germany, and herson, with the kingdom of Sicily.
. He declared and supported a new candidate for the
empire, thus giving rise to a furious war which lasted
. till J.207., sº . º . . . ." . . . . . . . ... . " . ; : , , ... s.
* * * *
' '... . . . . . . . . ...ſºjº, - 3 ; ' ' ' " . sº C “. . is sº - . . . .’ - . r: -
* * * ~ *... --- * ~ 1. ‘TM-- " "... • ...' ... …" ... * * * * ~' ". . . . . ~ + i
* Mosheim. Cen, xii. ºf Muratori, Gesta Innoc, Script. R. Ital.
THE PAPACY. 249
He laid France under an interdict for its Monarch’s
rejection of his Queen. By this most formidable in-
fliction to a superstitious age, the King was compelled
to submission. . -
He reunited Bulgaria and Wallachia to his See. He
º the King of Hungary with excommunica-
tion, and reduced him to obedience.
He crowned Peter King of Arragon, demanding of
him an oath to be “faithful and obedient to his Lord,
Pope Innocent the IIId,” and obtaining a yearly tri-
bute. -
He received the submission of the Patriareh of Con-
stantinople; subsequently declared his election null;
and finally confirmed it, consecrating him.
He excommunicated the Venetians. - .
He confirmed the German imperial crown to Phi-
lip, whom he had before excommunicated. The ex-
communication was taken off only at the entreaty of a
deputation from the Bishops of Germany.
In 1203, Innocent raised the war of persecution
against the Albigenses in the south of France, ab-
solving the subjects of the Count of Thoulouse from
their oath of allegiance.
In 1208 the celebrated transaction occurred, which
showed England that she was neither too remote nor
too powerful to be safe from the Roman sceptre. King
John’s refusal to receive Langton as Archbishop of
Canterbury on the Pope’s nomination, had roused the
wrath of the Vatican. England was laid under an In-
terdict. By this act, which may well excite our asto-
nishment at the temper of the times in which it could
have been inflicted, or been borne, the whole kingdom
was instantly put out of the pale of Christianity. The
churches were closed, the dead were buried in the
highways, and without any funeral solemnity; the
sacrament was prohibited; of all the rites, baptism
alone remained. A more personal blow was then
levelled at the King, in his excommunication, and the
25O HISTORY.
nullity of the oath of allegiance. A third, and, if pos-
sible, still more extraordinary assumption of power,
was the declaration that the English throne was va-
cant, and that it was given to the French King. The
result is too familiar to be repeated. The haughtiness
of the Papal Legate, the guilty pusillanimity ºf John,
and the bitter and contemptuous wrath of the nation at
seeing the crown profaned by the foot of an Italian
priest, have been engraved in records more imperish-
able than brass or marble, have been burnt in on the
memory of England by the indignant and immortal
fires of poetry. - -- - -
His daring and turbulent life had now approached
its end. His last act was worthy to crown his suc-
cessors. In 1215, he convened the fourth Lateran
Council; the most pompous assemblage ever gathered
under the auspices of Rome, a convocation of the Ec-
clesiastical world. At it were present the two Patri-
archs of Constantinople and Jerusalem; the deputies
of the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch; four
hundred and twelve Bishops; and Ambassadors from
all the Christian Kings. It was the declared submis-
sion of Christendom, East and West; the civilized
earth at the footstool of the Popedom. At this coun-
cil, the tenets of Popery, hitherto growing up in
silence or shapelessness, were collected, formed, and
promulgated, as the eternal law of Rome. Innocent
had the ominous distinction of setting the seal to
transubstantiation—auricular confession—the right of
deposing kings—the subjection of all ecclesiastical
powers—and the Papal supremacy, spiritual and tem-
poral, over all Christians, all ranks of authority, and
all mankind. - * r
His dying hours were characteristic of the super-
stition which held even his bold and sagacious spirit
in chains. Feeling his decay, he carried in public
procession the Veronica, a pretended picture of our
Lord on a napkin, from the Church of the Holy
THE INQUISITION. 251
Ghost to St. Peter's, and back again; composed a pray-
er in honour of the picture; and granted a ten days’
indulgence to those who should visit the idol. He
died in 1216. -
THE INQUISITION.
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he
had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,
and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship
the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”
The spiritual supremacy of Rome had, almost in
the moment of its birth, been disowned, even in Italy.
The Arch-diocess of Milan, consisting of the seven
provinces, Liguria, OEmilia, Flaminia, Venetia, the
Cottian and Greek Alps, and Rhetia or the Grisons,
the ancient government of the Lieutenant of the west-
ern Praetorian Praefect, had long pursued their own ri-
tual, and established the Ambrosian Liturgy.
But their first open separation from Rome was in
the year 553. It became still more distinct in 590,
when nine of the bishops, rejected the communion of
the Pope as a heretic, and refused obedience to the
command of the Emperor Mauritius, to be present at
a council at Rome, denying that they could commu-
nicate with Gregory the 1st.t .
A. D. 817. The prelates of the Milanese had strug-
gled, at the council of Francfort, against the general
corruption of the Papacy. But an eminent man Sud-
denly arose to embody their resistance, and to take
the lead equally in enlightening the Church, and
breaking down the Romish supremacy. Claudius, a
* Apoc. xiii. 11, 12.
† Allix. Churches of Piemont, p. 35.
252 HISTORY.
Spaniard, had been one of the chaplains of Lewis the
Pious; who, on his accession to the German Empire,
had appointed this able and learned man to the bish-
opric of Turin. The rank was high, for Turin was a
metropolitan see; though the title of archbishop was
not yet introduced. The Romish idolatry had made
rapid advances in the north of Italy; and the appoint-
ment of Claudius was the honourable testimony to ta-
lents and virtues which made him the fittest champion
of the truth. He instantly unsheathed that only le-
gitimate and irresistible sword, which is put into hu-
man hands by the Spirit; he spread the Scriptures.
He wrote for the people successive explanations of
Genesis, St. Matthew, the Epistle to the Galatians,
the Ephesians, Exodus and Leviticus. The chief
points of his teaching were all in direct opposition to
the Papal theology. He declared that—
Christ is the only head of the Church, the Apostles
were all equal, and the only primacy of St. Peter con-
sisted in his having had the sacred honour of found-
ing the Church among the Jews and Gentiles.
The Romish doctrine of merits is altogether un-
founded in Scripture. . -
Tradition in religion is of no value. -
Man is to be saved only by faith in the Saviour’s
sacrifice. - - -
The Church among men is liable to error.
Prayers for the dead are useless.
Image-worship is sin. - -
The reputation and doctrines of this great man soon
spread through Italy, and even into Spain. The Pa-
pal court, not yet daring to persecute the favoured
bishop of the Emperor, turned its pen upon him; and
the chief memorials of his opinions are now to be
found in the writings of his adversaries. But even in
those suspicious depositories, they exhibit a manliness
and vigour which realize the character of the man.
He had broken the images in his diocess, and had
THE INQUISITION. 258
written, in defence of this bold proceeding, a treatise
against image-worship, pilgrimages, the adoration of
Saints and relics, &c. A fragment of this treatise is
quoted by Dungalus, one of his opponents. Its force
distinguishes it strikingly from the loose and heavy
perplexity of the old controversial style.
“But, mark what the followers of the false religion
and superstition allege; they say, it is in commemora-
tion and honour of our Saviour, that they serve, hon-
our, and adore the cross. They witness thereby that
they perceive of him only what the wicked perceived,
whether Jews or Heathens, who do not see his resur-
rection, nor consider him but as altogether swallowed
up by death; unminding what the Apostle saith, “we
know Jesus Christ no longer, according to the flesh.”
“God commands one thing, and those people do
the direct contrary. God commands us to bear our
cross, and not to worship it. But those are all for
worshipping it, whereas they do not bear it at all.
“If we ought to adore the cross because Christ was
fastened to it, how many other things are there which
touched Christ? Did he not remain nine months in
the Virgin’s womb? why not then on the same ground,
worship all virgins, because a virgin brought forth Je-
sus Christ? why not adore mangers and old clouts, be-
cause he was laid in a manger, and wrapped in swad-
dling clothes? why not adore fisher-boats, because he
slept in one of them, and preached to the multitude,
and caused a net to be cast out, wherewith was caught
a miraculous quantity of fish?. why not adore asses,
because he entered Jerusalem upon the foal of an ass?
and lambs, because it is written of him, Behold the
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world?
yet those men would rather eat lambs than worship
their images! why not worship lions, because he is
called the Lion of the tribe of Judah? or rocks, be-
cause it is said, ‘and the Rock was Christ?” or thorns,
22 *
2.54 HISTORY.
because he was crowned with them? or lances, be-
cause one of them pierced his side?
“All those things are ridiculous; and rather to be
lamented, than to be written. But we are forced to
write them in opposition to fools; and to declaim
against those hearts of stone which the arrows and
sentences of the word of God cannot pierce. Come
to yourselves again, ye miserable transgressors; why
are ye gone astray from the truth, and why being be-
come vain, are ye fallen in love with vanity, why do
ye crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to open
'shame? - - *. -
“We know well that this passage of the Gospel is
very ill understood, ‘Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build my Church; and I will give un-
to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; under the
pretence of which words the stupid and ignorant peo-
ple, destitute of all spiritual knowledge, betake them-
selves to Rome, in hopes of obtaining eternal life.
For the ministry belongs to all the true superinten-
dents and pastors of the Church; who discharge the
same, as long as they are in this world; and when they
have paid the debt of death, others succeed to their
places, who enjoy the same authority and power.
“Return, O ye blind, to your light; return to him
who enlightens every man that cometh into the world!
If we must believe God when he promiseth, how
much more when he swears, and saith that, if Noah,
Daniel, and Job, were in it, that is, if the Saints whom
you call upon were endowed with as great holiness,
as great righteousness, and as much merit as those
were, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter.
And it is for this end that he makes this declaration,
viz. that none might put their confidence in either the
merits or the intercession of Saints. Ye fools, when
will ye be wise? Ye who run to Rome, to seek there
the intercession of an apostle? -
“The fifth thing with which you reproach me is,
THE INQUISITION. 255
that it displeaseth you that the Apostolic Lord, (for
so you are pleased to call Pope Paschal deceased,) had
honoured me with this charge. But, forasmuch as
the words, “Apostolicus dicitur quasi Apostoli cus-
tos,” may intimate as much as the Apostle’s keeper;
know that he only is Apostolic, who is the guardian
and keeper of the Apostle’s doctrine; and not he who
boasts himself to be seated in the chair of the Apos-
tle, and in the mean time doth not acquit himself of
the charge of the Apostle; for the Lord saith, ‘The
Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ chair.’”
Those who have glanced over the dreary volumes
of the Romish apologists will best feel the wonder of
this noble vigour in the ninth century, the spirit of
eloquence and life which is administered by the de-
fence of the truth of God. The mind that then
could pour out this lofty and hallowed reprobation of
Idolatry and Rome, was visibly touched by the coal
from the altar. - -
But the increasing temporal power of the Papacy,
and the blind submission with which the German
Prmperors lent themselves to the violences of Rome,
gradually destroyed the independence of the Mila-
nese Church. The Scriptures perished, or were borne
away with the exiled Christians to the valleys of the
Alps; and the seven provinces were added to the gi-
gantic diocess of Rome.
The last embers of the faith in Italy had been scat-
tered, and the Popedom had turned to its secondary
work of territorial aggrandizement, when the flame
was discovered to have been rekindled in the Alps.
Persecution was let loose upon the people of the val-
leys, and a multitude were driven to take refuge in
the southern provinces of France. Under the pro-
tection of the Count of Thoulouse and the principal
Lords of the south their converts multiplied, until
they amounted to so large a number that the Papal
order commanding their expulsion found the Count
256 History.
Raymond determined to support the cause of the Albi-
genses.” - -
In the year 1160, Peter, surnamed Waldensis, (of
the Valleys,) a Barbe,t or preacher of the Vaudois,
had come into France, distributing the Scriptures, and
converting the people of Provence to the Faith. But
the origin of the Vaudois system of doetrines was
known to be even then of great antiquity. There are
extant copies of their Belief, dated A. D. 1100. The
Inquisitor, Reinerius Sacco, computed it to be five
hundred years old. He might have justly ascended
still higher, and placed it in the age of the Apostles.
The first effort of the Papal Missionaries was to ca-
lumniate the doctrines; the next, to destroy the peo-
ple. The Waldenses were charged with Manichæism.
But their creed is the irresistible proof of the utter
futility of the charge. -
The Manichees, an Asiatic sect, who had risen in
the third century, totally perverted the Gospel, by
mingling it with the fabulous and metaphysic corrup-
tions of the East. They held two eternal principles,
a good and an evil. They rejected the entire of the
Old Testament, and nearly the entire of the New.
Tbey condemned marriages. They conceived the
creation of the earth and man to have been the work
of an evil principle. They denied free will. They
denied the mortal existence of our Lord, his death,
and his resurrection. They denied the resurrection
of the body. They rejected baptism; they rejected
the cup in the communion. †
The creed of the Waldenses must be taken not
* The name was not general till after the council of Albi,
1254. It was given from the principal district of the Reformed,
(Albi being the chief city,) which lay between the Garonne and
the Rhone.
† Barbe is uncle in the Vaudois dialect, a name of affection given
to their preachers. -
# Allix.
THE INQUISITION. 257
from the Romish divines, who alternately slaughter-
ed and libelled them, but from their own public ex-
positions at the time. From those documents it ap-
pears incontestibly, that
They received the whole Scriptures of the Old an
New Testament, and those alone. -
They believed in one Mediator between God and
man; and denied the mediation and worship of
saints. . -
. They believed in the hope of eternal life, only
through the sacrifice of the Lord Christ, and without
purgatory. -
They allowed of but two Sacraments, Baptism and
the Lord’s Supper.
They denied the efficacy of the Mass; tradition, as
equal to, or fit to be associated with the authority of
Scripture; and the Scriptural necessity or suitable-
ness of the fasts, feasts, and general hierarchy of the
Romish Church.” •
It is evident that those are the doctrines of Scrip-
ture, and that they are equally and irreconcileably
opposed to Manichæism and Romanism. But it was
the Popish outcry of the day. The denial of tran-
substantiation was pronounced to be the denial of our
Lord’s real existence,—Manichaeism. The refusal to
worship the Virgin and the Cross was pronounced to
be a denial of the actual birth of Christ and of his
crucifixion,-Manichæism. But the charge was use-
ful to involve the Reformed in the persecution of those
unfortunate enthusiasts. The decrees of the Eastern
and Western Monarchs had already gone forth against
the Manichees; and it required only to combine the
Christians in the scandal, to combine them in the
execution. -
Yet it is unquestionable that some extraordinary
sects were generated from the sudden freedom of the
* Ranken. Hist, France, v. iii. 202. See Perrin, &c. &c.
22 *
258 . HISTORY.
Scriptures. Opinions started forth, whose extrava-
gance excited the pity and astonishment of the Chris-
tian. The first burst of light is often too strong for
the eye accustomed to darkness; the first conscious-
ness of liberty has often maddened the prisoner; and
there is no instance of a revival of religion in which
the truth has not been humiliated by those sectarian
wanderings, which prove at once the ardour of the
human heart, and the weakness of the human under-
standing; Beghards, Cathari, Arnoldists, Free Breth-
ren, and a crowd of enthusiasts nameless, or named
only in contempt, scattered themselves through Eu-
rope. But the evil was transient. They had the
Scriptures in their hands. The word of sacred sober-
ness subdued their extravagance, while it confirmed
their Christian fortitude. They went out like colo-
nists of the desert; but they gradually softened down
into civilization; and some of the noblest Seeds of
the Church were sown by those bold and irregular
hands. - -
The preaching of the Waldenses was the true aera
of the Reformation. Wickliff, Luther, and Calvin,
were but the successors of the Barbes, in a nobler and
more fortunate time. Literature, civil freedom, the
balance of the European governments, were the splen-
did auxiliaries that made their triumph at once com-
paratively easy and secure. The art of printing,
that scarcely less than miracle, went before them like
the pillar of fire through the wilderness; and the rest
was conquest and possession by the command of
Heaven. -
The efforts of Rome to crush the infant Church
showed how keenly she felt her danger. A general
rescript was issued by Innocent the IIId. to all the
Lords of the south, to the French king, and to the
nation to take up arms against the Reformed. A
Crusade was proclaimed, with the promise of the pri-
vileges, temporal and spiritual, hitherto confined to
THE INQUISITION." 259
those who fought for the recovery of Jerusalem.” An
army of half a million of men marched under the Pa-
pal banner, led by the Abbot of the Cistercians. Count
Raymond was overwhelmed by this “flood” of des-
perate fanaticism. He was forgiven only on the in-
Sulting conditions, of standing naked to the shirt at
the gate of the Cathedral; prostrating himself at the
feet of the Legate; and taking the cross against his
own people. -
But the sword must be fed. Raymond, the ne-
phew of the Count, himself Lord of an extensive ter-
ritory, had refused to abandon his subjects to the mer-
cies of the Pope. The whole weight of the crusade
was flung upon him. Beziers, his capital, was storm-
ed, and its twenty-three thousand inhabitants were
put to the sword. On this occasion was uttered one
of those memorably ferocious expressions which pass
into portraitures of men and their times. Some he-
sitation had arisen before the assault, as to the fate of
the Romish inhabitants who might have remained in
the town. “Kill all,” was the comprehensive answer
of the Abbot, “God will find out who belong to
him.”
The Count of Thoulouse was at length forced into
the field. His nephew had been taken prisoner, and
was dead. Simon de Montfort, a man of blood, had
resolved on the seizure of Raymond’s territory, and
entered it with fire and sword. But the whole south
suddenly rose against him; he was defeated; and the
war became fierce, general, and doubtful. The south
was covered with slaughter; the deaths of the Albi-
geois were often sternly repaid. De Montſort was kil-
ied in 1218, at the siege of Thoulouse. Count Ray-
mond died, and dying, left his wrongs, and more than
his resolution, to his son. But the whole power of
France headed by Lewis the VIIIth, at length closed
* Ranken, v. iii.
260: - HISTORY... . .
upon him; and, in 1229, hostilities ended by a treaty,
which merged the territory of the Counts of Thou-
louse in the Royal dominions. The war cost a mil-
lion of lives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In our fortunate country, the power of the Romish.
Church has so long perished, that we find some diffi-
culty in conceiving the nature, and still more in be-,
lieving the tyranny of its dominion. The influence of
monks, and the murders of the Inquisition, have pass-
ed into a nursery tale; and we turn with a generous,
yet rash and most unjustifiable scepticism from the
history of Romish authority. . . . . . . . . . . .
Through almost the entire of Italy, through the
Flemish dominions of Germany, through a large por-.
tion of France, and through the entire of Spain, a great
monastic body was established, which, professing a
secondary and trivial obedience to the sovereign, gave.
its first and real obedience to the Pope. The name
of spiritual homage cloaked the high treason of an
oath of allegiance to a foreign monarch; and whoever.
might be king of France, or Spain, the Pope was king
of the Dominicans. All the other monastic orders
were so many Papal outposts. But the great Domi-
nican order, immensely opulent in its pretended po-
verty; formidably powerful in its hypocritical disdain
of earthly influence; and remorseléssly ambitious, tur-
bulent, and cruel in its primitive zeal; was an actual
lodgment and province of the Papacy, an inferior
Rome, in the chief European kingdoms. . . . . .
In the closest imitation of Rome, this spiritual
power had fiercely assumed the temporal sword; the
Inquisition was army, revenues, and throne in one.
With the racks and fires of a tribunal worthy of the
gulf of darkness and guilt from which it rose, the Do-
minicans bore Popery in triumph through. Christen-
dom, crushing every vestige of religion under the
wheels of its colossal idol. The subjugation of the
Albigenses in 1229 had scattered the Church; the
THE INQUISITION. 261
shock of the great military masses was past; a subtler
and more active force was required to destroy the wan-
dering people of God; and the Inquisition multiplied
itself for the work of death. This terrible tribunal set
every principle, and even every form of justice at de-
fiance. Secrecy, that confounds innocence with guilt,
was the spirit of its whole proceeding. All its steps
were in darkness. The suspected revolter from Po-
pery was seized in secret, tried in secret, never suf-
fered to see the face of accuser, witness, advocate, or
friend, was kept unacquainted with the charge, was
urged to criminate himself; if tardy, was compelled
to this self-murder by the rack; if terrified, was only
the more speedily murdered for the sport of the mul-
titude. From the hour of his seizure he never saw
the face of day, until he was brought out as a public
show, a loyal and festal sacrifice, to do honour to the
entrance of some travelling viceroy, some new mar-
ried princess, or, on more fortunate occasions, to the
presence of the sovereign. The dungeons were then
drained, the human wreck of the torture and scourge
were gathered out of darkness, groupes of misery and
exhaustion with wasted forms and broken limbs, and
countenances subdued by pain and famine into idiot-
ism, and despair, and madness; to feed the fires round
which the Dominicans were chanting the glories of
Popery, and exulting in the destruction of the body
for the good of the soul!
But there were instances in which the power of
truth gave vigour to the dying moments, and the vic-
tim put his torturers to shame. Of those, but one
shall be alluded to, from its comprehending the chief
features of those dreadful sacrifices.
On the return of Philip II. from Flanders in 1559,
by Valladolid, the Inquisition of the city determined
to give their king the highest indulgence of his nature
and their religion. The whole pomp of the Spanish
court was displayed,—the king, his son, his sister,
262 HISTORY.
the prince of Parma, three ambassadors, a crowd of
dukes, commanders of military orders, bishops,
grandees, women of rank, with the tribunals, councils,
and other authorities; and, as the grand master of the
ceremonies, the archbishop of Seville, Inquisitor Ge-
neral. The first martyr was Don Carlos de Seso, a
noble of Verona, son of the bishop of Placenza, dis-
tinguished for learning, an eminent servant of Charles
V. and a judge. The German reformation had con-
verted him, and he had devoted himself to spreading
the Gospel; he was seized, thrown into a secret pri-
son, and after a confinement of a year and a half, was
suddenly told that he was to die. He called for pen
and paper, and wrote his belief, which was complete-
ly Scriptural. He said that “the belief of the Church
of Rome was corrupted for centuries, that he would
die in the faith of the Gospel, and that he offered him-
self to God in memory of the suffering of Christ.”
“It would be difficult,” says the narrator, himself a
Spaniard, a priest, and an inquisitor, “to express the
vigour and energy of his writing, which filled two
sheets of paper.””
De Seso’s conversion was attempted twice that
might by the monks; but he was firm, and his manli-
mess was so much dreaded that he was brought to the
pile gagged, lest he should preach to the people. As
he was fastened to the stake, a last effort was made to
convert or to disgrace him; he was exhorted to ac-
knowledge Popery. To this insult he replied, with
noble constancy, and in a firm and uplifted voice, “If
I had time, I should convince you that you are lost by
not following my example. Now, be quick, and light
the wood that is to burn me.” The pile was lighted,
and he died.
In the original establishment of the Inquisition in
1198; it had raged against the Vaudois and their con-
* Llorente H. Inquis.
THE INQUISITION. 263
verts. But the victims were exhausted; or not worth
the pursuit of a tribunal which looked to the wealth
as keenly as to the faith of the persecuted. Opulence
and heresy were at length to be found only in Spain;
and there the Inquisition turned with a gigantic step.
In the early disturbances of the Peninsula, the Jews,
by those habits of trade, and mutual communion, which
still make them the lords of commerce, had acquired
the chief wealth of the country. The close of the
Moorish war in the 15th century had left the Spanish
monarch at leisure for extortion; and he grasped at the
Jewish gains in the spirit of a robber, as he pursued
his plunder with the cruelty of a barbarian. The In-
quisition was the great machine, the comprehensive
torturer, ready to squeeze out alike the heart and the
gold. In 1481, an edict was issued against the Jews;
before the end of the year, in the single diocess of
Cadiz, two thousand Jews were burned alive! The
fall of the kingdom of Grenada in 1492, threw the
whole of the Spanish Moors into the hands of the King.
They were cast into the same furnace of plunder and
torture. Desperate rebellions followed; they were de-
feated and, in 1609, were finally exiled. “In the
space of one hundred and twenty-nine years, the In-
quisition deprived Spain of three millions of inhabi-
tants.”* - - -
On the death of Leo X. in 1521, Adrian, the In-
quisitor General, was elected Pope. He had laid the
foundations of his Papal celebrity in Spain. “It ap-
pears, according to the most moderate calculation, that
during the five years of the ministry of Adrian, 24,
0.25 persons were condemned by the Inquisition, of
whom one thousand six-hundred and twenty were
burned alive.f -
In 1517, Luther began to preach the Gospel. The
earliest violences of the Inquisition had been directed
* Llorente, # Ibid.
264 HISTORY.
to the Bible; and the edict of the council of Thoulouse,
in 1229, had forbidden the laity to read it in their own
tongue. The Bible, thus shut up in a dead language,
had passed away from the hands of man; or was re-
tained only by refugees, at the peril of their lives.
Luther had at length found it, and flashed this living
torch of light and hope in the eyes of the Popedom.
The Inquisition was instantly up in arms. All the
translated scriptures, all the Commentaries suspected
of the pollution of a Protestant pen, were prohibited.
But the rage was not confined to Lutheran translations.
The BIBLE itself was the enemy, in whatever language.
The Oriental professors, in the chief seat of Spanish
theology, Salamanca, were commanded, on pain of
excommunication, to give up their Greek and Hebrew
Bibles to the Holy Office! In the year 1558, the
“terrible law” of Philip II. was published, which de-
creed confiscation and death for all who should sell,
buy, keep, or read, any of the books prohibited by
the Holy Office.* Even penitents at confession were
compelled to denounce the transgressors of the edict;
and in this hideous aggravation of tyranny, which
turned a professed act of religion into an act of blood,
and armed child and parent against the life of each
other, the Pope was a fellow conspirator with the
king and the Inquisition; the law was sanctioned by
a bull issued in 1559.
This was an aera of activity. An additional document
of the utter darkness and slavery of conscience de-
manded by Popery was furnished in the ordinance of
Valdez, the Inquisitor General, in the same year.
His “catalogue” prohibited “all Hebrew books, and
those in other tongues treating of the Jewish customs;
all Arabic, or treating of Mahometanism; all works
written or translated by a heretic, or an individual
condemned by the Holy Office; all works in Spanish
* Llorente H, Inq.
THE INQUISITION. 265
with a preface, letter, glossary, comment, &c. by a
heretic ; all unpublished MSS. sermons, writings,
treatises on Christianity, its sacraments, and its Scrip-
tures,” &c. “Such is the age,” says Perez del Pra-
do the successor of Valdez, “that some men have
carried their audacity to the easecrable eartremity of
demanding permission to read the Scriptures in the
vulgar tongue, without fearing to encounter mortal
poison therein.” -
A prophetic character of the Inquisition had been—
its claim of independent authority. It was already
too strong for even the Pope. Sixtus V. a wild and
tyrannic man, but a scholar; in one of those fits of ec-
centricity, which in such men sometimes strike across
the whole settled order of things, had published an
Italian Bible. The Spanish world was on flame. The
cardinals of Spain demanded the king’s interposition
against this inconceivable breach of the constitutional
law of Popery. From the time of Leo X., by the in-
dex of the council, and by the Inquisitions of Rome
and Madrid, all works of doctrine in the vulgar tongue
had been prohibited. Philip ordered his ambas-
sador, Olivarez, to remonstrate with the Pope on the
fatal effects of publishing the Scriptures. Sixtus, furious
alike in good and ill, threatened to hang Olivarez on
the spot. But his resistance was subdued in a more
noiseless way, familiar to the land of absolutions and
inquisitions. The Pope was poisoned; and the poison
was said to have been administered by order of the
king. The Sixtine Bible was condemned.
The Holy Office was now the dictator of Europe.
No matter what was in the field, it fell before the
mace of the Inquisition. The eight bishops and nine
doctors of theology sent by Spain to the council of
Trent, as the élite of her scholarship and Church, were
all seized by the tribunal on the moment of their re-
turn. The sound of the Lutheran preaching was pre-
sumed to have polluted their allegiance to the infalli-
23
266 HISTORY.
bility of Rome and persecution. The archbishop of
Toledo, the first ecclesiastic of Spain, the celebrated
Carranza, was cast into prison, and died, after a con-
finement of eighteen years, and a trial of nearly the
same duration.” But Popery had a still higher mark.
Neither the most eminent rank, nor even the most un-
hallowed zeal, could be a shield against the all-grasping
ambition of Rome; Charles V. the greatest monarch
of Europe, and Philip II. the darkest of all its bigots,
were struck by the same blow.
It is the constant sophism of those who would cast
Christianity bound hand and foot at the mercy of her
enemies, that the Pope desires to exercise no interfe-
rence in the internal concerns of kingdoms; that, if he
had the desire, he has not the power; and that, if he
possessed the power, he would be resisted by the
whole body of the national clergy. For the exposure
of this traitorous delusion, we are to look to the times,
when it was the will of Popery to put forth its strength;
not to the present, when it is its will to lull us into
a belief of its consistency with the constitution, in de-
fiance of common sense, common experience, the spi-
rit of British law, and the loud warnings of insulted
and hazarded religion. - -
In 1555 Paul IV. was raised to the Papal throne.
Ambitious of forming a house among the Italian
princes, he determined to overthrow the emperor and
his son. At the age of seventy-nine, he plunged into
negociations with France, for the invasion of Italy,
Sicily, and the Empire; and prepared bulls of excom-
munication against Charles as a heretic and favourer
of heretics, depriving him of the Imperial crown, and
his son of the kingdom of Naples; and further releas-
ing the people of Spain, Italy, and Germany, from
their oaths of allegiance.
the documents fill twenty-four volumes in folio, of from 1000
*Q 12:00 pages each.
THE INQUISITION. 267
Charles, feeling his danger, collected the opinions
of the famous Melchior Cano, and other jurists, to
sustain him against the amathema. They decided that
it was lawful to resist the Papal ordinance. The
Pope ordered the jurist to be seized by the Inquisition.
His order was sustained by almost the whole body of
the Spanish prelates, with the archbishop, who had
been Philip's preceptor, at their head. They obeyed
their Master, and rebelled against their King!
Philip, then in England, wrote upon this occasion
to his sister, the Regent of Spain, a letter remarkable
for its relation to English Protestantism.
“Since I informed you of the conduct of the Pope,
and of the news from Rome, I have learnt that his ho-
liness proposes to excommunicate the Emperor and
me; to put my states under an interdict, and to pro-
hibit divine service. Having consulted learned men
on the Subject, it appears that it is only an abuse of
the power of the sovereign Pontiff, founded on hatred
and passion, certainly not provoked by our conduct;
but that we are not obliged to submit in respect of our
persons on account of the great scandal which would
be caused by our confessing ourselves guilty, and the
great sin which we should commit in so doing. In
consequence, it has been decided, that if I am inter-
dicted from certain things, I am not obliged to deprive
myself of them, as those who are excommunicated;
though a censure may be sent to me from Rome, ac-
cording to the disposition of his holiness. For, after
having destroyed the sects in England, brought the
country under the influenee of the Church, pursued
and punished the heretics without ceasing, and ob-
tained a success which has been constant, I see that
his holiness evidently wishes to ruin my kingdom.”
* It is a striking exemplification of the honesty of this religion
of the Jesuit and the Monk, that while Philip was laying up this
store of merit with Rome, by secretly stimulating the persecution
of the English protestants, he was publicly the abhorrer of all vio-
268 HISTORY.
The letter concludes with forbidding the reception of
the Papal rescripts in Spain.” -
Paul IV. had tempted the French king to war; but
the ruinous battle of St. Quentin in 1557 broke up the
league; and the Pope was left to the wrath of the duke
of Alva, who marched from his vice-royalty of Naples
full on Rome. Alva habitually forgot his superstition,
when he put on his sword; and would have made a
memorable example of the hoary disturber, who, now
deserted by every ally, was crouching at his feet. But
Philip restrained the indignant grandee; made a treaty
with the Pope on lenient terms, and put the chain
round his own neck once more. Within less than six
months, Paul flung the treaty and its author into pub-
lic contempt, by an edict to the Spanish Inquisitor, to
revive all his orders against heretics of every rank,
“including Princes, Kings, and Emperors.” The
names of Charles and Philip were not pronounced;
but it was notorious that the brand was for their fore-
heads.
Of the multitudes who perished by the Inquisition
throughout the world, no authentic record is now dis-
coverable. But wherever Popery had power, there
was the tribunal. It had been planted even in the
east, and the Portuguese Inquisition of Goa was, till
within these few years, fed with many an agony.
South America was partitioned into provinces of the
Inquisition; and with a ghastly mimickry of the crimes
of the mother state, the arrivals of viceroys, and the
lence. In the midst of the burnings in Smithfield, his confessor,
Alphonso di Castro was ordered to mount the pulpit, and exoner-
ate his master. The Monk’s sermon of the 10th of February
1555 was a model of charity; he asked,—“How was it possible that
any human being, much less any Christian, could desire to force
conviction? How was the Sword compatible with human reason?”
&c. The whole nation wondered, but were still wisely incredulous.
Philip’s letter has unfortunately escaped the diligence of the
English champions of Popery.
* Llorente,
THE INQUISITION. 269
other popular celebrations were thought imperfect
without an Auto-da-fe. The Netherlands were one
scene of slaughter from the time of the decree which
planted the Inquisition among them. In Spain the
calculation is more attainable. Each of the seventeen
tribunals during a long period burned annually on an
average ten miserable beings! We are to recollect
that this number was in a country where persecution
had for ages abolished all religious differences, and
where the difficulty was not to find the stake, but the
offering. Yet, even in Spain, thus gleaned of all here-
sy, the Inquisition could still swell its lists of murders
to thirty-two thousand! The numbers burned in effi-
gy, or condemned to penance, punishments generally
equivalent to exile, confiscation, and taint of blood,
to all ruin but the mere loss of worthless life, amount-
ed to three hundred and nine thousand.” But the
crowds who perished in dungeons, of the torture, of
confinement, and of broken hearts; the millions of
dependent lives made utterly helpless, or hurried to
the grave by the death of the victims, are beyond all
register; or recorded only before HIM, who has sworn
that “He who leadeth into captivity, shall go into
captivity: and he that killeth with the sword, shall be
killed by the sword.”t
Such was the Inquisition, declared by the Spirit of
God to be at once the offspring and the image of the
Popedom. To feel the force of the parentage, we
must look to the time. In the thirteenth century, the
Popedom was at the summit of mortal dominion; it
was independent of all kingdoms; it ruled with a
rank of influence never before or since possessed by a
human sceptre; it was the acknowledged sovereign of
body and soul; to all earthly intents its power was
immeasurable for good or evil. It might have spread
literature, peace, freedom, and Christianity to the ends
* Llorente. f Apoc. xiii. 10.
23%
270 History.
§
ing of human virtue, Rome, in the ºh
of Europe, or the world. But its nature was hostile;
its fuller triumph only disclosed its fuller evil; and, to
the shame of human reason, and the terror afid suffér-
oup of its con-
summate grandeur, teemed with theºmoſºsºrous and
horrid birth of the Isºuisition! ºr ºr
* , &
.*
** *
THE SEVEN PUNISHMENTS OF THE
PERSECUTORS... . . . .
" . . . º, s ...s ‘. … º . - .
“And I saw the sev
*
an angels which stood before God; and to
them were given seven trumpets. . . . .
“And another angelcame and stood at the altar, havingágolden
Čenser; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should
offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which
was before the throne. ' - . . . . . . . . .”
“And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers
s *
of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
“And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the
altar, and cast it into the earth; and there were voices, and thun-
derings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. . . . .
, “And the seyen angels which had the seven trumpets prepared
themselvés to sound,” “ . . . . . . . . . . .
* *
X, - . \ . . .
I. THE ITALIAN AND FRENCH wars.
. . . . . . . , - • ? . . . . # - . +
The ruins of the Albigeois villages were scarcely
cold, and the Inquisition had scarcely commenced the
pursuit of their unfortunate exiles, when a tremendous
visitation fell upon the whole of the Papal world. It
first smote the first persecutors, Italy and France, in
the shape of anarchy and war. . . . . . . . . .
A. D. 1301. The insolence of a French bishop to
his king had provoked an order for his arrest. The
bishop was a legate; and the Pope, Boniface VIII.,
of whom it has been said that, as Gregory VII, seemed
* Apoc, viii. 2, &c.


*
*by the
: shade by it
edia
s, ifi temporals as
& arºus ſigs p : at Rome. Philip the fair was
a soldier, and his temper was stung by this insult in
the face of Europe; he ordered the bull to be burnt
ºn the streets of Paris, and summoned the first meet-
häzardous defiage ºf the ---…-ass----
leg simmöfiedźmiantagºnist council, and pro-
the memorable-bull # Unam sanctam,” a
of the sovereign law of Popery, declaring
aré:two stoºds, the spiritual and thet and that
thé subjection of effeºyºhuman à. sº
ily follo
spirituals, and orderin
tº attend his presence at
tendom.
sum
# th
2. º. º.
Rome is a neces: * This su-
sº
l; s
the execution of his sentence, by a measure which, in
that age, seemed beyond the daring of man. De No-
garet, one of those, who, in the unsettled professional
demarcation of the time, combined the Jurist and the
Soldier, was sent-to-strike at the Papal person. He
found Boniface unguarded in Anagni, a village néâr
Rome. The Pope was seized by this resölute agent,
sult had sunk into his fiéryso
nation within three-days. Clement V.,t
y soul; and he died of indig-
*
ge
he next Pope
but oné, corrupted or alarmed by Philip, removed the
- - * * * * } . . . " … - • * , ‘. . . . ºr -, . . ' . . . . . . . -
throné to Ayignon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
-* rir - . *...*.*.*. . . . . ; :-- * * ~l. - º-i-. ~~ i: .# *.* tr * - - -- ... • * - • Tº. * . -
2 : This was the first shock to the Supremacy. Rome
. º: ºt ‘. . . º, y . . . º ** º' . tº: º 3. - . - ‘... … . º -
ºr ºl.ºz. º.º... . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.** Poiro subesse Romanó pontifici, omni humana, creaturae de-
claramus, dicinius; definimus et pronunciamus, omnino esse. de
necessitaté fidei.” (Extray, l, i.) Hallam;II, 324.
e . . . \
*


































































































272 HISTORY.
was abandoned during seventy years to the furious
excesses of baronial factions, peasant tumults, and all
the dilapidation of morals, property, and order, in-
cluded in the absence of a customary throne. But a
still more formidable evil to the Papacy was the Euro-
pean scorn which began to spring out of the open
abasement and notorious demoralization of the Papal
court at Avignon. The “Seventy years’ captivity,”
as it was termed by the Italians in mingled contempt
and shame, was followed by the “Great Schism,”
in which rival Popes contested the robe of St. Peter;
treachery, bribery, and bloodshed, were the instru-
ments of election and government; and three Infal-
libles at once raised the laughter of the world!
France had been made the punisher of Rome. She
was now to feel her share in the visitation. The
claim of Edward III. to the French throne through
his mother, Isabel, sister of the late king, Charles IV.,
involved France and England in a war inflamed by
all the fury of barbarism, personal hatred, and the
general profligate cruelty of the time. It raged through
almost a century and a half. It swept away, as with
a scythe, the successive generations of the French no-
bility; and finally left the whole of that great country
covered with ruin.
A. D. 1348. A still more terrific evil suddenly ap-
peared in the midst of this havoc of armies. The
universal flight of the Levant traders brought the first
intelligence of the coming of the Great Plague. It
flowed over Europe with the regular and resistless
advance of a sea. Wave on wave of death covered
the successive kingdoms. In the improved science
and habits of our age perhaps no imagination can con-
ceive the horrors of pestilence in the fourteenth cen-
tury. All was despair; whole cities and provinces
were depopulated; where human life was still left, its
precariousness maddened men into fierce riot, or sav-
age disregard of the common ties of nature; Europe
THE SEVEN PUNISHMENTs. 273
was one vast scene of mingled agony and licentious-
mess, superstitious terror, and blasphemous outrage.
Like the locusts, the time of the plague in each land
was about five months; when it had destroyed all
that it was to slay in the south and west, it passed
onwards; and in 1350 turned the north into a grave.
II. THE DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA,
A. D. 1588. In the tumults of France, Spain had
grown powerful beyond rivalry; and with her power,
by the inevitable law of Popish states, had grown her
religious cruelty. She was now to feel in a single
blow the guilt of the Inquisition. England, raised to
be the head of Protestantism, was marked out by
Philip II. for vengeance. “The point,” says the
historian, “on which he rested his highest glory, the
perpetual object of his policy, was to support Ortho-
doxy and exterminate heresy; and as the power and
credit of Elizabeth were the chief bulwark of the Pro-
testants, he hoped if he could subdue that princess,
to acquire the eternal renown of reuniting the whole
Christian world in the Catholic communion.” The
“Invincible Armada” was launched. Its building
had occupied the treasures and the labour of the Spa-
nish empire for three years. Troops from Italy, Ger-
many, Flanders, and Spain, were embarked, or sent
to the points from which they might be thrown on
England. The Spanish nobles volunteered. Men of
the highest rank in the Popish realms solicited em-
ployment; the first sea officer of the age, the Marquis
Santa Croce, whose very name seemed an omen, com-
manded the fleet; the first general of the age, the
Prince of Parma, marched the Spanish army, 34,000
of the most celebrated troops in Europe, down to the
Flemish shore for the invasion. The fleet numbered
* Hume, vol. v. 331.
274 - HISTORY.
one hundred and thirty ships of war, carrying thirty
thousand troops and seamen. But it had a darker
freight of monks, Papal bulls, and instruments of tor-
ture.
The heroism of England in that time of trial, de-
serves a place among the noblest recollections of a
land of liberty and valour. But even then the victory
was felt to belong to a higher arm. The war was the
assault, less of Spain, than of Rome, against England;
of religious tyranny against religious freedom; of sul-
len imposture and sanguinary persecution against
Christianity. The Inquisition, not satiated with its
dominion over the land, had lately usurped the sea.
A tribunal was established on board the Spanish
fleets. * England conquered would have been not
simply the appanage of Spain, and involved in the ge-
neral misgovernment, beggary, and ignorance of the
native kingdom of sloth and superstition; it would
have been the especial conquest of the Inquisition;
the very victim which monkery had longed above all
others to lay bare and cut to the heart; a vast, untasted
prey for the burning jaws on which the gore of the
continent had begun to dry. The zeal of Philip
would have then found bolder witness than a letter.
The Inquisition would have disdained the hypocrisy
of the secret rack. The whole Popish vengeance
would have been fearlessly developed in the death of
law, liberty, and religion. The Dominican would
have sat upon the British throne; and sat in robes
crimson with the blood of all that was generous and
brave, and learned and holy in the land. Rome
would be all in all. England would be a funeral
pile. -
But, if in that hour the veil were taken from the
eyes of man, he would, like the servant of the pro-
phet, have seen England guarded by the horses and
* Chandler, Hist. of Persecutions.
THE SEyEN PUNISHMENTs. 275
chariots of fire. Wreck, burning, and capture,
man, and the elements, were let loose upon the gi-
gantic force that had come to defy the living God.
The Armada was undone; and with it the crown of
Spain was cloven. The intrinsic strength of Spain
made decay tardy, but it was inevitable; and from
the day of her defeat by England, she was marked
for the alternate prize and victim of European war.
III. THE WAR of THE CEven NEs.
A. D. 1685. The power of England, established
by this great victory, made her the universal cham-
pion of Protestantism. The Popish kingdoms shrank
from provoking the resentment of a country which
had thus splendidly shown the impotence of all ex-
ternal hostility. The Church in France thenceforth
continued undisturbed, but by the private jealousies
and provocations of the monks. But the accession of
Charles II., a Popish hypocrite and a French slave,
degraded England, and stripped Protestantism abroad
of sword and shield. ;
The Church in France had increased rapidly under
the reigns of Henry IV. and Louis XIII. At the
beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. it amounted to
two millions and a half, incomparably the most indus-
trious, intelligent, and orderly portion of the people.
Its clergy were distinguished for piety and learning.
It had 626 places of worship, and 647 ministers.
Protestantism is a safe religion in either master or
subject; for the Christian honours the laws for con-
science sake. The Huguenots were eminently loyal
during the period from the edict of Nantes in 1589
to the beginning of the persecutions under Louis
XIV. They have even the testimony of Louis to
their unimpeachable allegiance. In a letter to Crom-
well, who had desired that the Duke of Savoy, in his
cruelties to the Vaudois, should not be suffered to ex-
276 - History. . .
pect encouragement from France, the king stated,
“ that it was not likely that he would co-operate in
inflicting any punishment on the subjects of the duke
of Savoy, on account of their attachment to the pre-
tended reformed religion, seeing he conferred so ma-
ny tokens of favour on his own subjects of the same
religious profession. For he had reason to applaud
their fidelity and zeal in his service. They omitted
no opportunity of giving him evidence of their loyalty,
even beyond all that could be imagined, contribut-
ing in all things to the advantage of his affairs.”
Laws against religion are justifiable, only where
that relgion is made a political engine; where under
the pretence of pious zeal, treason lurks, and where a
hatred to the recognized establishments of the state,
and an alliance with its foreign enemies are principles.
The rebel must be restrained, let his pious pre-
tence for rebellion be what it will. But the spirit of
persecution waits for none of those things.
Within five years from this testimony to the pacific
and obedient conduct of its Protestant subjects, the
government commenced a course of the most galling
irritation. Every year some new drop of bitterness
was instilled into the wound of the last, until the
whole calamity was completed by the revocation of
the edict of Nantes. -
On the 22nd of October 1685, the decree of revo-
cation announced,— - -
1. A repeal of the whole edict of 1598, and of
every concession in favour of the reformed; with a
declaration that their Churches should be demo-
lished. -
2. A prohibition of meeting for worship in any
place or under any pretence. -
3. An express interdict of every kind of religious
exercise in the houses of those among the reformed of
* Ranken, Hist, of France, VIII. 270.
THE SEVEN PUNISHMENTS, 277
high rank or noble birth under pain of confiscation
and death. -
4. The banishment of all their ministers from the
kingdom within fifteen days, unless they became Ro-
man Catholics. - -
5. An offer of a third more than their stipend to
those ministers who would conform, with a continua-
tion of it to their widows.
6. An offer of admission to the profession of the law
three years sooner than the regular time.
7. The absolute shutting up of all their schools.
8. The baptism of their children by the Popish
priests under a penalty of 500 livres.
9. Permission by the king’s clemency for the refu-
gees, if returned within four months, and converted
to Popery, to recover their property and privileges.
10. A prohibition of leaving the kingdom under
the penalty of the galleys or death.
11. The decrees against the relapsed were to be put
in execution; but those who were not decided or pre-
pared to declare themselves, might remain where they
resided, until it pleased God to enlighten them, con-
tinue their trade or arts, and enjoy their property
without being disturbed, provided they refrained
from all eacercises of their religion, and from every
kind of meeting on that account.”
The apparent lenity of the final article, which yet
utterly prohibited the exercise of that religion in
which was all the hope of the reformed, was soon
found to be no defence. Hired informers were sent
among the people. Soldiers hunted them down like
wild beasts and shot them. Their houses were burn-
ed, their property was plundered, their families were
treated with the cruellest indignities; many were tor-
tured, many of their more important persons were
• Ranken, Hist, of France, VIII, 277.
24
278 HISTORY.
sent for galley slaves.” Above a million of people fled
into the Protestant countries, carrying with them their
arts, industry, and manufactures to strangers. The
loss to France in wealth was immense; but in charac-
ter, honour, and religion, was incalculable.
The difficulty of even this unhappy escape became
at length so great, that the reformed in the south took
up arms for the mere preservation of their lives. Suc-
cess increased their numbers, and the war of the Cami-
sards began, The whole mountain country of the
Cevennes became the seat of a severe conflict. The
king's troops were harassed and defeated in a long
series of encounters by the undisciplined valour of a
peasantry who fought the battle of despair. This
southern La Vendée raged during four years.f The
Cevennes was the grave of a multitude of the persecu-
tors. The Dragonnade was sternly repaid. The go-
vernment finally found the necessity of gentler means;
partial pacifications were offered; and it is perfectly
probable that the comparative quiet of the remaining
protestants, during the century, was largely due to the
exploits of the men of the Cevennes.
But the persecution was to be retaliated by a deeper,
though more circuitous, vengeance. Some links of
the chain are traceable. It may be beyond human
eyes to see how far they still extend. The first result
was the encouragement of William III. to attempt the
English throne. Holland had received with generous
hospitality a vast number of the refugees. Many of
them were military, they had among them distinguish-
ed officers, and William thus found himself in posses-
sion of a most valuable body of troops; he obtained an
allowance for their pay from the States; and prepared
for invasion! - -
* See the very curious and melancholy narratives of Marolles
and Lefevre. .
f Memoirs of Colonel Cavalier—Ranken, &c.
THE SEVEN PUNISHMENTS, 279
Another striking result was its effect on the mind
of England. The notorious connexion of James II.
with Rome had already prepossessed the nation against
the Stuarts. But this fearful development of the na-
tural heart of Popery; the cries that came on every
wind across the Channel; the spectacle of the unhappy
Emigrants, flung on the British shores, worn out with
flight and disease, terror and wounds; and those men,
their fellow Christians, bound by the closest tie of
faith; and those sufferings undergone for the purest
cause of Christianity; put an énd to all the insidious
glosses and flatteries of Priest or King. The warning
trumpet had been blown. Within three years from
the Revocation, the Stuarts were driven into eternal
exile; and William was placed on the throne, to be
the Champion of the Church throughout Europe, and
the leading enemy of France! . . . ,
Another, and still sterner result, was the nationa
impurity; which, at length, after undermining, and
consuming away the foundations of the public strength,
flamed out in the French Revolution. .
IV. THE WARs of Louis XIV.
A. D. 1688. In the Providential Government of
Europe, France seems to have been appointed to the
punishment of the Continental kingdoms, and Eng-
land to that of France. -
From the Reformation in 1517, a long train of vio-
lences had been committed by the Continental Sove-
reigns against Protestantism. A multitude of pious
and learned men had been sacrificed by the most cruel
torments. Fierce hostilities had followed, and the
“Thirty years' war,” signalized by the heroism and
fall of Gustavus Adolphus, gave a formidable lesson
of the precariousness of the Imperial power. But the
death of the illustrious Swede at Lutzen left the Church
once more exposed to the severities of Ferdinand II.
and his successors. - - .
28O HISTORY.
The other Popish states were not less stained. The
persecutions of the Vaudois, who still lingered in Sa-
voy; and the merciless spirit that had nearly extermi-
mated all knowledge of the Scriptures in Italy and
Spain; deeply justified the vengeance that was now
about to fall upon the persecutors. . . . .
A. D. 1679. The peace of Nimeguen had raised
Louis to the highest point of his prosperity. In all
that constitutes the brilliancy of nations, nature has
given the people of France singular advantages. By
an universal acknowledgment, they have long led the
more graceful tastes of Europe. Their skill in the
arts of life, their general accomplishment, and their .
national urbanity, ought to have made their history
the happiest of the world. It rivals the most unfortu-
nate. Their unquestionable bravery, their love of en-
terprize, and their physical qualities for soldiership,
ought to have made their successes the most secure;
yet no nation has wasted its blood with such fruitless
gallantry, or has been so often forced to feel the bit-
terest reverses of fortune. Louis had scarcely cele-
brated his triumph, and laid the foundation of a still
more honourable triumph in his famous Academies,
than he was summoned to a war, extensive, furious,
and finally disastrous beyond any visitation of France
since the times of the Edwards. Prophecy assigns
the cause. -
The first steps of Louis had been turned to the ex-
tinction of the Church. “He published regulations,
calculated to discourage the Protestants, and sent mis-
sionaries into those districts where they most abound-
ed, to instruct and convert them.” But those in-
structers were soon followed by missionaries of a less
equivocal character. Regiments of cavalry were sent
to scour the country, and Dauphiné and the adjoining
provinces were the scene of ferocious license. The
Ranken, VIII, 154.
THE SEVEN PUNISHMENTs. 281
final subversion of the Church followed; and Louis
exulted in the policy which had purified his kingdom
of every man who read the Bible. . . . . . . . .
. In the midst of this extirpation of the heretics, Louis
Sprang from a couch, on which even the morals of
France looked with shame, to send desolation through
Germany. The burning of the Palatinate was an act
of horror; but it stirred the heart of Europe against
France; to the states of the Empire it was the fire of
a beacon; it roused, them all to anms. Yet the first
irruptioni of the French armies has always been irre-
sistible; and Germany was overrun. The troops of
Spain and Savoy were next-broken; and if the suffer-
ings of the persecuted Church; in Germany were to be
º
atoned by the general, havoc of the Continent, the
atonement was given by the unsparing sword and
' , . . . • ?: “y”; “ “. * *
'firebrand of, the French invasion. . . .
"...A. D. 1700. The war was roused again by the
struggle for the -succession to the Spanish throne.
The continent was again devastated; Italy, Germany,
and Spain, became the theatre of long and desperate
slaughters. . . ."
*
s
At len gth; England put forth her stren gth, and sent .
a General to the field, who has since had but one rival; .
and him, too; summoned to a conflict with the same
enemy; displaying, from the beginning of his career,
the same unquestioned superiority over all its vaunted
leaders; and consummating the war with the same ac-
knowledged supremacy of the arms of his country. . .
Yet the aspect of war since the lastage has so much
deepened, its chances, have so much more involved
the life and death of nations, that all the past grows
pale in contrast with the perils and glories of the pre-
sent. If military renown is to be measured by the
i • ** - * • * : s' --> --> ! - - - & ... • (; --~~~ - “... * , , tº . +.
difficulties overcome, by the magnitude and complete-
ness of the success, and by the mighty name of the
vanquished; it is no dishonour to the noblest prowess
of England in the days of our fathers, to give the first
24*
---
{ -
• *:
rank to that generous valour, exhaustless public spirit,
and lofty devotion to truth, liberty, and religion, which
stopped a torrent of conquest swelled with the strength
of Europe; redeemed kingdoms; overthrew from its
foundations the most powerful military empire since
the days of Rome; and, finally, hand to hand; wrest-
ed the sword from the grasp, and the diadem from the
2
brow of NApolfoN)
* "
** -.
- - * * *
- * * ~ *
. . * .* * * * * - * -"
W. & VI. THE FRENCH REvoluTION. ºº is
“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice
of the fourth beast say, Comé and séé. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“And I looked, and behold, a pale horse: and his name that
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power
was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with
sword and with hunger, and with death, and with the béasts ºf the
earth.”* * * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
~ . - - - - •'. . . -
• ** - º -
. . 's f
‘.... . . . . . . .”. . A.
-The primary cause of the French revolution was the
exile of Protestantism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Its decency of mannèrs had largely réstrained the
licentioſis tendencies of the higher orders; its learn-
ing had eompelled the Romish Ecclesi àstics to similar.
labours; and while Ghristianity could appeal to such
a Church in France, the progress of the Infidel wri-
ters was checked by the living evidence of the purity,
peacefulness and wisdom of the Gospel. It is not
even without sanction of Scripture and History to
conceive that, the presences of such a body of the
servants of God’ was a divine protection to their .
But the fall of the Church was followed by the .
most palpable, immediate, and ominóus change. The
great names of the Romish priesthood;...the wigorous
literature of Bössuet, the majestic oratory of Massil-
lon, the pathetic and classic elegance of Fenelon, the
mildest of all enthusiasts; a race of men who towered
* - " - - *.
• Apoc, vii. 7, 8,

THE FRENCH REvoluTION. 283
above the genius of their country and of their religion;
passed away without a successor. In the beginning
of the eighteenth century, the most profligate man in
France was an Ecclesiastic, the Cardinal Dubois, prime
minister to the most profligate prince in Europe, the
Regent Orleans. The country was convulsed with
bitter personal disputes between Jesuit and Jansenist,
fighting even to mutual persecution upon points either
beyond or beneath the human intellect. A third
party stood by, unseen, occasionally stimulating each,
but equally despising both, a potential Fiend, sneering
at the blind zealotry and miserable rage that were
doing its unsuspected will. - Rome, that boasts of her
freedom from schism, should blot the eighteenth cen-
tury from her page. - ~...
The French mind, subtle, satirical, and delighting
to turn even matters of seriousness into ridicule, was
immeasurably captivated by the true burlesque of
those disputes, the childish virulence, the extravagant
pretentions, and the still more extravagant impostures
fabricated in support of the rival pre-eminence in ab-
surdity; the visions of half-mad nuns and friars; the
Convulsionnaires ; the miracles at the tomb of the
Abbé Paris; trespasses on the common sense of man,
scarcely conceivable by us if they had not been re-
newed under our eyes by Popery. All France was
in a burst of laughter. .
In the midst of this tempest of scorn an extraordi-
nary man arose, to guide and deepen it into public
ruin, VoITAIRE ; a personal profligate; possessing a
vast variety of that superficial knowledge which gives
importance to folly: frantic for popularity, which he
solicited at all hazards; and sufficiently opulent to re-
lieve him from the necessity of any labours but those
of national undoing, Holding but an inferior and
struggling rank in all the manlier provinces of the
mind, in science, poetry, and philosophy; he was the
prince of scorners. The splenetic pleasantry which
284 - HISTORY.
ºt
stimulates the wearied tastes of high life; the gross-
ness which half concealed captivates: the loose, with-
out offence to their feeble-decorum; and the easy bril-
liancy which throws what colours it will on the darker -
features of its purpose; made Voltaire the very genius
of France. But under this smooth and sparkling Sur-
face, reflecting like ice, all the lights flung upon it;
there was a dark and fathomless depth of malignity,
He hated government; he hated thorals; he hated
man; he hated religion. He sometimes 'bursts. Out
into exclamations of rage and insane fury against all.
that we honour as best and holiest, that sound less the
voice of human lips than, the echoes of the final place.
of agony and despair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A tribe worthy of his succession, showy, ambitious,
and malignant, followed; each with some vivid lite-
rary contribution, some powerful and popular work,
a new depositiof combustion in that mighty mine on
which stood in thin and fatal security the throne of
France.—Rousseau, the most impassioned of all ºrd-
maneers, the great corrupter of the female mind.--
Buffon, a lofty and splendid, speculator, who dazzled
the whole multitude of the minor philosophers, and
fixed-the creed of Materialism.--Montesquieu, emi-
nent for knowledge and sagacity; in his “Spirit of
Laws” striking all the establishments of his country
into contempt; and in his “Persian Letters,” level-
ling the same blow at her morals.--D’Alembert, the
first mathematician of his day, an eloquent writer, the
declared pupil of Voltaire, and, by his secretaryship
of the French academy, furnished with all the facili-
ties for propagating his master’s opinions.—And Dide-,
rot, the projector and chief conductor of the Encyclo-
pedie, a work justly exciting the admiration of Europe,
by the novelty and magnificence of its design, and by
the comprehensive and solid extent of its knowledge;
but in its principles utterly evil, a condensation of all
f
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 285
the treasons of the school of anarchy, the lea: scripta
of the Revolution.
All those men were open Infidels; and their attacks
on religion, such as they saw it before them, roused
the Gallican Church. But the warfare was totally
unequal. The priesthood came armed with the anti-
quated and unwieldly weapons of old controversy, for-
gotten traditions and exhausted legends. They could
have conquered them only by the Bible; they fought
them only with the Breviary. The histories of the
saints, and the wonders of images were but fresh food
for the most overwhelming scorn. The Bible itself,
which Popery has always laboured to close, was
brought into the contest, and used resistlessly against
the priesthood. They were contemptuously asked,
in what part of the sacred Volume had they found the
worship of the Virgin, of the Saints, or of the Host?
where was the privilege that conferred Saintship at
the hands of the Pope? where was the prohibition of
the general use of Scripture by every man who had a
soul to be saved 2 where was the revelation of that
Purgatory, from which a monk and a mass could ex-
tract a sinner 2 where was the command to imprison,
torture, and slay men for their difference of opinion
with an Italian priest and the college of cardinals?
To those formidable questions the clerics answered by
fragments from the fathers, angry harangues, and more
legends of more miracles. They tried to enlist the
nobles and the court in a crusade. But the nobles
were already among the most zealous, though secret,
converts to the Encyclopedie; and the gentle spirit of
the monarch was not to be urged into a civil war.
The threat of force only inflamed contempt into ven-
geance. The populace of Paris, like all mobs, licen-
tious, restless, and fickle; but beyond all taking an
interest in public matters, had not been neglected by
the deep designers who saw in the quarrel of the pen
the growing quarrel of the sword. The Fronde was
286 HISTORY.
not yet out of their minds; the barrier days of Paris;
the municipal council which in 1648 had levied war
against the government; the mob-army, which had
fought, and terrified that government into forgiveness;
were the strong memorials on which the anarchists of
1793 founded their seduction. The perpetual ridi-
cule of the national belief was kept alive among them.
The populace of the provinces, whose religion was in
their rosary, were prepared for rebellion by similar
means; and the terrible and ſated visitation of France
began. . - - - -
The original triumph over the clergy was followed
up with envenomed perseverance. The first licensed
plunder was of the Church property; the first massa-
cre was of the clergy;” an atrocious act, of itself
enough to make the Revolution abhorred; during the
war the rage of the republicans burned fiercest against
the unfortunate remnant of their pastors; and, with
the solitary and illustrious exception of the Vendée,
they found no refuge within the borders of France.
It is to the high honour of England that she opened
her asylum to the fugitives, supplied their wants in
the spirit of a liberal benevolence; and gave them the
unostentatious proof of the unwearied excellence of
a religion raised on the foundation of the Bible.
Of all revolutions, that of France was the least ac-
countable on the ordinary grounds of public over-
throw. No disastrous war had shaken the system;
no notorious waste of the public resources, no tyran-
nical master, no ruined finance. The whole deficit
of the revenue was only 2,300,000l. sterling, a sum
which should not have overwhelmed the poorest
kingdom of Europe. The court was economical; the
country was in profound peace; the great families
were attached to the crown, the king was a mmn of
singular lenity and liberality. He had granted much
• At the Carmes, in 1792.
THE FRENCH REvolution. 287
to the demands of the popular representatives, he was
prepared to grant up to the fullest demands of rational
freedom. Before a drop of blood was shed on the
scaffold or in the field, France was in possession of
the constitution, which after five and twenty years of
suffering, she was rejoiced to reclaim. -
The true cause was the want of solidity in the na-
tional belief. When a popular declaimer had sunk
into gontempt the impostures of a wonder working
image, or a picture that shed tears, opened its eyes,
and healed diseases, the controversy was done; Popery
had no deeper grasp upon the mind. The image was
their deity, the legend was their creed; when both
perished, where was their religion? The declaimer
next led them, exulting in their release from the
thraldom of ancient prejudices, to look upon the
golden temptations of revolt; the plunder of the cha-
pel kindled their thirst for the plunder of the Châ-
teau; till with no principle to check, and the hottest
stimulants of unholy appetite to madden them on,
they rushed from minor rapine to the throne. But
the fall of Christianity, was the passion, original and
supreme. The unhappy and innocent king was im-
molated on the altar of this monstrous anarchy; his
queen, a noble being, whose beauty, heroic heart,
and patient fortitude, would have won mercy from
the savages of the desert, followed him in the long
train of sacrifice. The monarchy was offered up.
Still there was a more illustrious and more hated vic-
tim. The infidel philosophers had early and easily
torn down the feeble belief of France; and the Gal-
lican Church was no more. But the death of religion
was the original bond of the great conspiracy. The
slaughters of kings, nobles, and priests, were but the
partial advances to its fulfilment. The republic was
at length enthroned. Power, resistless and remorse-
less; was in their hands; and in the midst of celebra-
tions of prodigal pomp, immeasurable impurity, and
blood flowing night and day from a hundred scaffolds,
288 . HISTORY.
they filled up their cup of horrors, and consummated
their earliest pledge in the public abolition of Chris-
tianity. ‘. .
A. D. 1797. The death of Christianity was local
and limited; no nation of Europe joined in the despè-
rate guilt of the French Republic, and within three
years and a half, the predicted time, it was called up
from the grave to a liberty which it had never before
enjoyed; the Church in France was proclaimed free.
Simultaneous with this restoration, the Popedom
received a wound, the sure precursor of its ruin. .
In 1797, the French army under Bonaparte, march-
ed on Rome. Resistance was hopeless against the
conqueror of the Austrians; and the treaty of Tolen-
tino dismembered the Papal territory. Citizen Jo-
seph Bonaparte was left ambassador from the Repub-
lic; and a pretended attack on his privileges furnished
the necessary pretext for the breach of the treaty,
the return of the army, and the seizure of Rome.
The announcement that the ambassador had left the
city, alarmed the Vatican; and Rome had recourse
to its highest protectors. Let those who disbe-
lieve the extravagances of image worship look to the
narrative of Popery in the hour of its danger, the hour
when all are sincere. The Pope issued a summons
to the people, to walk in procession with three of
the most sacred relics of the Church of Rome; the
Santo Volto, or portrait of our Lord, supposed to
have been painted by miracle; the Santa Maria in
Portico, a miraculous miniature of the Virgin and
Child; and the chains worn by St. Peter in prison!"
For attendance on this procession, and for some ad-
ditional ceremonies, the Pope granted the remission
of sins, as in the jubilee. . .
For all, who on the seven days after the procession
should visit St. Peter’s, reciting before those relics,
which were then to have been placed on the high al-
* Duppa. Subversion of the Papal Government.
THE FRENCH REvolution. 289
tar, the prayer, “Ante oculos tuos, Domine,” or in
lieu of it the “Pater Noster,” or “Ave Maria,” ten
times, the Pope granted for each time in each day,
an indulgence for ten years and forty days!
For all who should recite, kneeling, the seven Pe-
nitential Psalms, or the third part of the Rosary on
each of those days, the Pope granted for each day an
indulgence for seven years and forty days!
On the 9th of February, the French corps com-
manded by Berthier, encamped in front of the Porta
del Popolo. On the next day, the castle of St. An-
gelo surrendered; the city gates were seized; and the
Pope and the cardinals excepting three, were made
prisoners. . . “s.
On the 15th, Berthier made his triumphal entry;
delivered a harangue at the foot of the Capitol, invok-
ing the “shades of Cato, Pompey, Brutus, Cicero,
and Hortensius, to receive the homage of free French-
men,” on the soil of liberty; proclaimed Rome a re-
public; and declaring the suspension of every office of
the old government, planted the tree of liberty.
Ten days after the Pope was sent away under an
escort of French cavalry, and was finally carried into
France, where he died in captivity. -
On the 20th of March, the act of federation was
published in a fête. The consuls swore eternal hatred.
to monarchy, burned a paper containing emblems of
royalty, the Tiara, &c. and established the union of
the three republics, Rome, the Cisalpine, and France.
All that followed was insult, misery, and plunder.
The Papal palaces were sacked; the museums were
robbed; the nobility were forced to sell their valua-
bles at the caprice of the French; and the populace
were famished, roused into insurrection, and slaugh-
tered. The whole currency of Rome carried off;
forced loans, even to the demand of the silver forks of
every family; a paper circulation, even down to a
- 25
290 HISTORY.
penny; the free quartering of French soldiery; and
the innumerable, nameless sufferings that belong to
the presence of an invader, combined to make Rome
taste the bitterness of slavery. - - -
The seizure of the French throne by Napoleon, on-
ly gave Rome an imperial master. By a striking co-
incidence, the Papal territory had been conferred, and
resumed by a French conqueror; and alike at the com-
mencement and the close of his dominion the Pope
had crossed the Alps to consecrate the sword, and
place the crown upon the brow of an usurper.
The further detail of the revolutionary history is ir-
relevant to the purpose of this sketch, which contem-
plated merely the acting of Providence in the preser-
vation of the Church, and the punishment of its op-
pressors. -
Yet it is difficult to part from this period of strange
and appalling vicissitude, without solemn admiration
of the noble share which our country has borne in the
liberation of Europe. And it is but a source of still
more solemn admiration and prouder triumph, to be-
lieye that she has fought her way through the infinite
hazards of the time, in the strength of a loftier gui-
dance than the sword or counsel of man.
*
Why the Church, the chosen people of God, should
have been the constant subject of depression on earth,
justly admits of inquiry. The full answer may re-
main among the mysteries, reserved for our knowledge
in a higher state; but some not insufficient reasons are
easily discoverable. * * *
The proverbial dangers of prosperity to individuals
must extend to all communities, and the first corrup-
tion of the Church arose from its first security. But
the two great bursts of persecution, the Pagan in the
Apostolic acra, and the Popish in the thirteenth centu-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 29 l
ry, are accountable on peculiar grounds. The origi-
nal converts had been born in idolatry, reared in idol-
atry, and after their conversion lived with idolatry
on every side. Paganism offered strong temptations
to our lower nature; the influence of habit, wordly in-
terest, and family ties, were all in perpetual action
against the new and remote hopes of Christianity,
The Roman world, present, splendid, and sensual, was
on the one hand; on the other, a world whose rewards
were to be reached only through the grave. Perhaps
nothing but that pressure of adversity, which sobers
the human spirit, and forces it to "look for strength
beyond the world, could have finally divorced the
great body of the converts from the temptations of Pa-
ganism. But in the Persecution, they saw the true
shape of that selfish, dark, and blood-thirsty maligni-
ty which lurked under the embroidered pageantries
of the idolater; the stronger necessity for consolation
from the Bible compelled them to its more fervent
study; and in the loftier communication of their spirit
with the Spirit of their Lord, they felt, and adored the
mercy that drew an impassable line between them and
Paganism, even with the sword. -
The circumstances of the Albigeois were nearly the
same. They had been born under Popish idolatry,
they were reared with its altars fuming round them,
they were tempted to its worship by habit, by inter-
est, by family affections; like the early converts, they
had been Pagans, differing from those of the day of
Nero, only in the substitution of St. Peter for Mars
or Jove. In the ordinary course, the world would
have re-absorbed them, and the glories of the Gospel
would have been eclipsed in eyes dazzled by the pomps
and pleasures of a sensual religion; but the tempest,
which longed to overwhelm them, was let loose; thcy
were roused to feel their spiritual nakedness by the
fury of Rome; they were driven to the shelter of the
Gospel, and taught to rejoice in the Providential mer-
cy of persecution.
292 HISTORY.
The depression of the Church has continued. To
this day it has borne no comparison in numbers, in-
fluence, or extent of dominion, with the Church of
Rome. But actual persecution has ceased with its
necessity. The districts of Protestantism and Pope-
ry have been so long and so distinctly separated, that
the habits of idolatry have passed away from the Chris-
tian mind. Yet, if a great conversion should take
place in Popish countries, we should probably see the
roots of their old habits wrung out of the converts by
the permitted rage of persecution. It is predicted,
that such a persecution shall be among the distinguish-
ing terrors of the coming time; but whether it shall
immediately precede, as is most probable, or be min-
gled with the general convulsion, is not clearly reveal-
ed. . . .
The Jewish oeconomy, in its rise and progress, was
typical” of Christianity; of its original suffering; the
gradual corruption that was suffered to invade its doc-
trines, and the calling of a pure portion out of the na-
tional body of crime. - -
But a scriptural type is more than a shadow; it is at
once a picture and a pledge of the thing typified,—
a visible prophecy that the event shall come. The
dissolution of the Jewish government and nation was
the pledge of a more extensive dissolution, sanguina-
ry and final. The date of this event may be, like
that of the fall of Jerusalem, a secret in the bosom of
Providence. Yet, as the disciples were then command-
ed to liſt up their eyes to the signs of its coming; so
may the command and the means be equally applica-
cle to those among ourselves, who will desire unpre-
Sumptuously to search, and be prepared. -
A very striking typical connexion to this effect, and
which seems to have been overlooked, is traceable be-
* Archdeacon Nares on Types, Warburton Lecture,
THE FRENCH REvoluTION. 293
tween our Lord’s ministry, and the predicted career
of the “Two Witnesses.” (ch. xi.)
Our Lord preached in Judea three years and a half.”
He was crucified in Jerusalem. .
After three days he rose again.
At his rising there was an earthquake.t .*
He remained on earth for a certain period after his
conquest of the grave. *-
He ascended to heaven. -
To this the history of the “two witnesses,” or the
preaching of the Scriptures under the Papacy, is a
close parallelism, and evidently a designed one.
The Bible is preached in depression during three
prophetic years and a half. - .
It is slain—“in the great city where our Lord was
crucified,” actually France, but with a direct reference
of phrase to the place of our Lord’s death.
In three prophetic days and a half it is raised again.
At its rising there is an earthquake. -
It remains for a period “on its feet,”—in a state of
greater security than before, but still unexalted.
It is summoned by the voice of God, and ascends
to glory, a scriptural figure for its diffusion through
all nations. - . - -
Thus far the ministry of our Lord, in person, and
his ministry by the Bible, have been parallel. And
we may pursue the analogy as a key to the future. One
of the most remarkable signs, by which the disciples
were to discover the immediate approach of the fall of
Jerusalem, was the propagation of the Gospel. “This
Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall
the end come.”f There is sufficient reason to believe
that, before the fall of Jerusalem, the Gospel was ac-
• Another conjecture, as to the time, has been lately offered,
But the duration is not important to the typical connexion, .
f Matt. xxviii.2. # Ibid, xxiv. 14. . .
25*
29.4 HISTORY.
tually preached in the remotest portions of the world;
and then came the end. The same extraordinary dif-
fusion of the Gospel has taken place in our day to the
same eastent, and for the first time since the Pente-
cost. This diffusion has been effected, not simply by
the labours of a single kingdom, but by a great com-
bination of all the kingdoms of Europe out of the bon-
dage of Popery, and by their dependencies and allies
in the other quarters of the world. An operation of
such extent, of such labour, of such singularity, and
directed to a purpose of such matchless and holy use
to man, rises altogether beyond the rank of human
and temporal influences. It is a SIGN; and, like the
first preaching by the gift of tongues, attests equally
the presence of a spiritual energy, and the imminent
coming of a great catastrophe. • *
Within thirty-six years from our Lord’s death the
consummation came. But, lest we should conceive
that the original proportion of time between his minis-
try and that of the witnesses, of common years to pro-
phetic, is to be preserved in the period yet to come;
it is declared that, the end shall be quickly; and the
distinguishing facts, the French Revolution, the mo-
nastic influence, &c. are given by which its approach
is capable of being ascertained. - .
We are now in the thirty-fourth year from the abo-
lition of Christianity in France; and, if the analogy
were to be exact, in two years would commence the
general overthrow. But we have no right to deter-
mine strictly in matters future, and of this high im-
port; a few years further may make no interval in the
eye of Providence; and we may not improbably be
left, like the disciples, to discover the time by that
evidence of events which supplies its knowledge only
to Christian humility, and disappoints and eludes the
haughty vision of the wisdom of this world. --
But the close of this stupendous subversion is de-
clared in Daniel. “From the time that the daily sa-
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 295
crifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that
maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two
hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth,
and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five
and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be:
for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of
the days.”* It is thus revealed to the prophet that
he shall enter into his rest, the sabbath of the saints,
and shall once more be a priest before the Lord, at
the end of 1335 years from the abolition of the daily
sacrifice. The actual abolition had occurred at various
periods, from Nebuchadnezzar to Titus. But the tem-
ple service was a continual type of the Christian
Church; and the true prophetic abolition of the daily
sacrifice was when Popery abolished the purity of the
Gospel, at the beginning of the 1260 years. That
epoch is distinctly referred to; “And I heard the man
clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the
river, when he held up his right hand and his left
hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for
ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and a halſ;
and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the
power of the holy people, all these things shall be
finished.”f . The things, whose fulfilment was to com-
mence at the end of the 1260 years, are the universal
war, and the fall of Popery and its adherents. The
prophet then asks, “O my Lord, what shall be the
end of these things,” (ver. 8,) and he is answered, that
it shall be in 1335 prophetic days, or 75 years from
the year 1793; in the year 1868.
The previous epoch of 1290 years is not declared
to be connected with any event, and is probably but a
boundary between the French Revolution and the
preparatives for the final one, a warning that the trial
is at length determined and approaching.
To this date of the peace of the Church may be ob-
Dan xii. 11, 12, 13. f Ibid, xii. 7.
296 HISTORY.
jected the very ancient and natural analogy, by which,
as the seventh day of the creation was the sabbath,
with the seventh thousand should begin the sabbath
of Christianity. But Chronology is still so imperfect
a science, that all the early epochs are unsettled. There
are no less than 200 dates offered for the creation, and
a scarcely inferior number for the deluge. Even the
date of the Nativity is still matter of dispute. The
difference of 132 years sinks into nothing, compared
with the enormous diversities assigned by Chronology.
No argument can be shaken by objections derived from
a science which remains the dishonour of literature.
So far as we can discover the ways of Providence,
it acts by a system of general laws, interfered with
from time to time by the will of the Deity for his im-
mediate purposes of mercy. The ruin of a nation in-
fected by a corrupt faith seems to follow the overthrow
of that faith, by an established law. Of the peculiar
religious corruption of mankind before the flood we
have no certain kuowledge, but it is clear that they
had debased the original idea of God, and it is the
natural working of the mind to invent a substitute;
they and their false religion, perished together. The
idolatry of Canaan was proscribed; and the people
were with their idolatry destroyed. The corruption
of the Jewish covenant wrought its downfall; and with
it the nation was destroyed. The fall of Roman Pa-
ganism was predicted by the Spirit of God; and with
it the whole civil frame of the Western Empire, the
seat of Paganism, was undone in the midst of bound-
less slaughter. The corrupt religion of the later Rome,
the second shape of Paganism, must perish; and from
the argument of all the past, independently of pro-
phecy, its fall must involve a vast extent of sanguinary
overthrow. But prophecy is explicit; and all language
sinks under its fiery breathings of the fierce and resist-
less vengeance, the comprehensive and final ruin, that
is to cover the Popedom from the eye of man.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 297
The vengeance shall spread; the brutish idolatries
and hideous cruelties of the Barbarian superstitions
shall be enwrapped in the same cloud of wrath; and
the earth be finally cleared by some great elemental
agency, a deluge of flame, for the dwelling of an un-
stained generation of man. The fate of our own coun-
try in this visitation may well exercise the deepestin-
terest of piety and human nature. She may be se-
verely tried; it is scarcely conceivable that in so vast
an extent of suffering she should remain untouched.
But she has been hitherto sustained in a manner little
short of miracle. ; -
In the great trial which has so lately passed upon
Europe, England was of all nations placed in the most
direct road of peril. In the Revolutionary race we
had the natural means, and hereditary powers, the
right, to have flung even France behind; a more de-
mocratic constitution, a more democratic spirit than
any other monarchical people; a national character,
more daring, disciplined, and obstinate; a bolder and
more numerous array of the higher ranks on the po-
pular side; our means of public correspondence more
rapid and more secure; our means of public inflamma-
tion more prepared by the general habits of the peo-
ple. The press, an open and inexhaustible armoury
of weapons, old and new, which no power of govern-
ment could shut upon the people, and where the sound
of the insurrectionary workman was ringing day and
might; itself threw all the capabilities of foreign re-
bellion into scorn. The defilement of the British
throne, and the triumph of faction, fierce passion, and
lust of power, would have found us no novices; we
should have been driven to no obscure search among
the reliques of the middle ages, like our neighbours,
for the Revolutionary costume. We had the whole
picture-gallery of subversion among our heirlooms,
Scarcely a centuay old; and had but to follow the
fashions of men, whose names were familiar as house-
298 HISTORY.
hold words, whose desperate triumphs were recorded
before our eyes, and whose blood was still running
through our bosoms. Yet from this unrivalled peril
England was saved; and more than saved; raised to
be successively the refuge, the champion, and the
leader of the civilized world. --
In all the interpositions of Providence the fewness
of the instruments is a distinguishing feature. In the
commencement of the great European conflict, a migh-
ty mind stood at the head of English affairs, a man
fitted, beyond all his predecessors, for the crisis, gifted
with all the qualities essential to the first rank in the
conduct of Empire; an eloquence singularly various;
vivid, and noble; a fortitude of soul that nothing could
shake or surprise; a vigour and copiousness of re-
source inexhaustible. Yet he had a still higher ground
of influence with the nation, in his unsullied honour,
and superiority to all the baser objects of public life;
the utter stainlessness of his mind and habits; the un-
questioned purity of that zeal which burned in his bo-
som, as on an altar, for the glory of England. The
integrity of PITT gave him a mastery over the na-
tional feeling, that could not have been won by the
most brilliant faculties alone. In those great financial
measures, rendered necessary by the new pressure of
the time, and on which all the sensitiveness of a com-
mercial people was alive, the nation would have trust-
ed to no other man. But they followed Pitt with the
profoundest reliance. They honoured his matchless
understanding; but they honoured still more the lofty
principle and pure love of country, that they felt to
be incapable of deception. -
The British minister formed a class by himself. He
was the leader, not only of English council, but of
European. He stood on an elevation, to which no
man before him had ascended. He fought the battle
of the world, until the moment when the struggle was
to be changed into victory; he died in the night of Eu-
THE FRENCH. REVOLUTION. 299
rope, but it was when the night was on the verge of
dawn. If it could ever be said of a minister, that he
concentrated in himself the mind and heroic heart of
an Empire, that he was at once the spirit and the arm
of a mighty people, Pitt was that man!
Another extraordinary intellect was summoned for
a separate purpose, scarcely less essential. The Re-
volutionary influence had made its way extensively
through the country. A crowd of daring writers,
from whose pen every drop that fell was the venom
of atheism and anarchy, were labouring to pervert the
public into general rebellion. Success had made them
insolent; and the country was filled with almost the
open array of revolt. The connexion with France
was palpable; for every hue of tempest in that troubled
sky there was a corresponding reflection in our own;
we had the fêtes, the societies, and the spirit of
France; every burst of strange fire from the wild and
bloody ºrites that Republicanism had begun to cele-
brate flashed over our horizon; every voice of its
fantastic and merciless revelries found an echo on our
shore. t - - -
BURKE arose; his whole life had been an uncon-
scious preparation for this moment. His early politi-
cal connexions had led him close enough to democra-
cy, to see of what it was made, like Milton’s Sin,
“woman to the waist and fair,
“But ending foulin many a scaly fold.”
His parliamentary life had deeply acquainted him
with the hollowness and grimace, the selfish disinter-
estedness, and the profligate purity of faction; and
armed in panoply, he took the field. He moved among
the whole multitude of querulous and malignant au-
thorship a giant among pigmies, he smote their Babel
into dust, he left them without a proselyte or a name.
His eloquence, the finest and most singular combina-
300 HISTORY.
tion that the world has ever seen of magnificent fan-
cy and profound philosophy, yet too deliberate, too
curious in its developements, for the rapid demands of
public debate, here found its true region, here might
gather its strengh like cloud on cloud, touched with
every glorious colour of heaven, till it swelled into
tempest, and/poured down the torrents and the thun-
ders. No work within human memory ever wrought
an effect so sudden, irresistible, and saving, as the
book on the French Revolution. It instantly broke
the Revolutionary spell; the national eyes were open-
ed. The fictitious oracles, to which the people had
listened as to wisdom unanswerable, were struck dumb
in the moment of the true appearing. The nobles, the
populace, the professions, the whole nation from the
cottage to the throne, were awakened, as by the
sound of a trumpet; and the same summons, which
awoke them, filled their spirits with the patriot ardour
that in the day of battle made them invincible. Burke,
too, made a class in himself. As a public writer he
had no equal and no similar; his place was alone.
Like Pitt, when his labour was done, he died! . .
England had now been prepared for war; and had
been purified from disaffection. Her war was naval,
and her fleets, commanded by a succession of brave
men, had been continually victorious. But a struggle
for life and death was to come. From 1798, France
was in the hands of Napoleon. His sagacity saw that
England was the true barrier against universal con-
quest; and he forced the whole strength of Europe
against her. A man was now raised up, whose achieve-
ments threw all the past into the shade. NELSON
instantly transcended the noblest rivalry in a profes-
sion of talent and heroism. His valour and genius
were meteor-like; they rose above all, and threw a
splendour upon all. His name was synonymous with
victory. He was the guiding star of the fleets of Eng-
land. Each of his battles would have been a title to
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 301
immortality; but his last exploit, in which the mere
terror of his name drove the enemy’s fleet before him
through half the world, to be annihilated at Trafalgar,
has no parallel in the history of arms. Nelson, too,
made a class by himself. Emulation has never ap-
proached him. He swept the enemy’s last ship from
the sea; and, like his two mighty compatriots, having
done his work of glory, he died!
The Spanish insurrection, in scarcely more than two
years after the death of Pitt and Nelson, let in light
upon the world. England, the conqueror of the seas,
was called to be the leader of the armies of Europe.
A soldier now arose, equal to this illustrious task. He,
too, has made a class by himself. But his praise must
be left to the gratitude of his country, and the homage
of the future. . -
The true conclusion to be drawn from such remem-
brances is no idle human exultation in the exploits of
England, but a justified and hallowed feeling that our
preservation has been the especial act of Providence;
that a succession of silent miracles have been wrought
for our safeguard; and that it is by the outstretched
hand of Heaven that England has been borne unwound-
cd through the mightiest of all wars, and has been
finally raised to the summit of earthly power. To
this the most glorious triumph ever given to the arm or
counsel of man, would be trivial; yet we cannot doubt
that this protection has been given, and that its gift
was for the security of the true religion. Contem-
plations like those may cheer us in the coming of that
still sterner trial, which is already shaking the ground
under every continental throne. In the deepest ruin
of the day of terror the people of God will be secure,
and alone secure. The increased dominion of the
Church of England over the remote dependencies of
the Empire within these few years, an increase with-
out compulsion, in the spirit of the purest benevolence,
and even already attended with the brightest promise
302 HISTORY.
of morals, knowledge, and the propagation of the Gos-
pel; the increased diligence among ourselves in pro-
viding for the public worship by additional Churches;
and the increased zeal for the religious knowledge of
the people; are proofs that the Divine favour which
raised, and has so long sustained the venerable estab-
lishment of this great Christian country, is not with-
drawn; or even that it has looked down with a more
protecting eye on our own day. -
But, whatever shall be the sufferings of that fearful
period, we have the highest declaration that they shall
be boundlessly repaid by the coming of the KINGDom
of GoD. The descriptions of the Apocalypse are veiled
in the symbolic language of prophecy, and are to be
fully interpreted only by the event. But in the
Gospels and Epistles there are distinct indications,
though generally overlooked, of many circumstances
of the future; a change in the human nature, in the
social state, in the intellectual capacity, in the nobler
affections; the whole exalting the Christian to a rank
of power and actual splendour immeasurable by our
present faculties, and preparing him to be an “heir
of God, and joint heir of Christ,” in itself a promise
of unimaginable glory.
END OF THE HISTORY.
THE
TEMPTATION of our LoRD.
DURING a thousand years, Popery was the sole re-
ligion of Europe, for the Church was scarcely visible.
When Protestantism began to appear, the Popish loss of
numbers was made up by the growing population of the
new world. Supposing the whole Papal population
to have been one hundred millions, renewed even but
twice in a century, the result in a thousand years is a
number that overwhelms the mind. Yet of this enor-
mous multitude has Popery sent the whole to the grave
—idol-worshippers, denied the light of Scripture, and
substituting stocks and stones, reliques of old garments
and dead bodies, imaginary Saints, and the profaned
memory of the true, for the one great Mediator, by
whom alone man can have access to God. .
That the perversion of God’s truth to so vast a por-
tion of mankind, two hundred times the existing
population of the world, should have called forth the
most solemn wrath of Providence, was conformable
to the whole tenour of the Divine intercourse with
man. The Apocalypse, as the final prophecy, deliv-
ered on the commencement of the Christian dispensa-
tion, is accordingly throughout a description, a warm-
ing, and a judgment of the great Apostacy. But
Popery had been already described in the other chief
portions of the New Testament. In the Epistles, St.
Paul gives a direct portraiture and prophecy of the
304 THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD.
assumption of Divine power, the yoke of ceremonies
and celibacy, and the idolatry and miracle-working of
Rome. * But a still more circumstantial detail, hither-
to overlooked, is given in the Gospels. The “temp-
tation of our Lord” is in all its parts a type, or visible
prophecy, of the corruptions of Rome. -
No passage of Scripture has hitherto more exercis-
ed, and baffled. the labour of the commentators than
our Lord’s temptation. None of the hypotheses have
been in any degree satisfactory.
Doddridge, Bishop Newcome, and others, look
upon it merely as a proof of the virtues of Christ, and
a consolation to us when we shall be under trial. But
our Lord’s virtues were sufficiently shown in the daily
hardships of his life, and in the perverseness of his
countrymen. The trial was secret, and therefore
useless for all purposes of his public mission. It is
also too remote and too peculiar to have any conceiv-
able reference to the ordinary course of life.
Milton, in the “Paradise Regained,” considers it
as the actual conflict in which our redemption was
won by the final overthrow of Satan. —But Satan re-
turned, and the redemption was won upon the cross.
Among later writers Mr. Townsend” supposes it to
have been analogous to Adam’s temptation in the gar-
den, and that its degrees correspond with the plea-
santness to the eye, sweetness to the taste, and power
of knowledge in the forbidden fruit. But Adam was
not tempted by the forbidden fruit. He was tempted
by the voice of Eve. “Because thou hast hear/eened
wnto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the
tree,” is the language of the Judge. The only Scrip-
ural similitude of the first and second Adam is their
being the heads of the two great races of mankind;
Adam, the first born of the earthly, Christ of the risen.
* 2 Thess. ii. 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2, 3,
+ Harmony of the N. T.
THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD. 305
There is also no possible correlative of Adam’s trial,
in Christ’s casting himself from the pinnacle of the
temple. - •
Dr. Miller, the last commentator, conceives the
three successive trials to have been—1. To admonish
the Church against the evil of depending wholly on
human means for salvation. 2. To caution Chris-
tians against the opposite evil of relying so implicitly
On the support of the Deity, as to abandon their own
efforts. 3. To warn them against the corrupting in-
fluence of sensual gratification. But those lessons are
too obvious to have required the teaching of miracle;
they are the common and general teaching of Scrip-
ture; and besides, if they are deducible at all from the
“Temptation,” it is only in the most shadowy and
circuitous manner. - - •.
The theory which the present writer would offer,
is, that the “temptation” is a direct prophetic sym-
bol of the progress of Papal corruption.—THE THREE
GREAT ACRAs of CRIME in the Church of Rome.
Our Lord, from the time of receiving the Spirit,
was evidently the symbol of his Church. He is the
“Temple.” And as the temple was the peculiar
dwelling of the Divine influence and purity; so was
our Lord, and so is the Church which he represents,
in the midst of the various stains and profanations of
the world. - -
The first trial is a solicitation to his hunger, to in-
dulge itself. “Command that these stones be made
bread.” Our Lord’s answer to the tempter is, that
there are things more important to the well being of
man than mere food; that he liveth, “not by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God;” that obedience to God is of more me-
cessity than mere sensual food. It is a declaration
against the sinful indulgence of the sensual nature.
* John ii. 19.
26 %
306 THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD.
The second trial is in the Jewish temple. The
tempter bids him throw himself down from the pin-
nacle for no other reason, than to show that—he is the
Son of God. “If thou be the Son of God, cast thy-
self down.” Jesus rebukes him by “It is written,
thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” The re-
buke is from a command against the practices of ido-
latry.* The temptation here was to a display of mi-
racle, for the ostentatious purpose of obtaining perso-
mal honour. Our Lord’s refusal is a declaration
against the corrupt assumption of supernatural power.
The third trial is an offer of boundless temporal
dominion, a supremacy over the world. “All these
things will I give thee,” is the language of the temp-
ter. And the price of the supremacy is tremendous,
“if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” This is
the consummate temptation. The God of this world
could offer no higher reward than the possession of
his own throne. He is rebuked again, and cast out
from the presence of the Lord.
The whole series is fatally applicable to the progress
of guilt in the Church of Rome. - - . . .
The original state of Christianity was one of severe
privation during nearly three hundred years. Like
our Lord, the Church had scarcely received the de-
scended Spirit, when it was led out from the baptism
of the Holy Ghost, into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. The persecutions began with the preach-
ing of the Apostles.
During the three centuries of Pagan severity, the
Church was, like our Lord, sustained fasting in the
wilderness. 2.
But, on the cessation of this period by the edict of
Constantine, the Church was tempted by worldly gra-
tification; it first felt the sensation of hunger for the
* Deut. vi. 14, Ye shall not go after other gods. 16. Yeshall
not tempt the Lord your God. -
THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD. 307
food of this world, and its baser portion gave way to
the tempter. “Passing rapidly from a condition of
distress and persecution to the summit of prosperity,
the Church degenerated as rapidly from her ancient
purity; and forfeited the respect of future ages in the
same proportion as she acquired the blind veneration
of her own. Covetousness especially, became almost
a characteristic vice. Valentinian I., in 370, prohi-
bited the clergy from receiving the bequests of women;
a modification, more discreditable than any general
-law could have been.” -
The second trial was the corrupt assumption of su-
pernatural power; the pretence of miracle-working
for the honour and emolument of the Romish Church.
In the sixth century, Rome became the centre of all
idolatry. Popes and priests, by the bones and relics
of presumed martyrs, images of the Virgin, pictures
of our Lord, every contrivance that could more
deeply bewilder the minds of a half savage people,
wrought pretended miracles eclipsing the most fla-
grant frauds of Paganism. “The western Churches
were loaded with rites by Gregory the Great. He
prescribed a new method of administering the Lord’s
Supper with a magnificent assemblage of pompous
ceremonies. The places set apart for public worship
were already very numerous; but it was now that
£hristians first began to consider those sacred edifi-
ces as the means of purchasing the favour and protec-
tion of the saints, and to be persuaded that those de-
parted spirits defended against evils of every kind, the
provinces, lands, cities, and villages, in which they
were honoured in the temples. Many of the festivals
seem to have been instituted on a Pagan model.”f
The rage for miracle working now overran the
whole Romish Church; the hunting for the bones of
saints, became a title to sanctity. Images were de-
* Hallam, Mid, Ages, ii. 199. f Mosheim, Cen. vi.
308 THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD.
clared to perform miracles, and Rome assumed to it-
self the whole honour of being the chief depositary of
the insulted power of heaven.” -
The third trial was the assumption of vast tem-
poral dominion. This temptation, seized, as we
have seen, upon the whole soul of Popery. In the
thirteenth century the Pope was the declared Lord of
this world. He dethroned, he made kings; he gave,
and he took away kingdoms; he sat upon the haugh-
tiest throne that the earth had ever seen, for his am-
bition domineered over body and spirit, the present
and the future world; he bore the sceptre of the earth,
he assumed to bear the keys of heaven and hell.
“The dragon had given to him his seat, and his pow-
er, and great authority.” He proclaimed himself the
vicegerent of God; above all kings; incapable of be-
ing judged of man; more than man! . . . .
The fearful price of this supremacy was the worship
of its Giver. Popery bowed down and worshipped.
It fulfilled the will of Satan by blood. It instantly.
unsheathed the Sword; and slaughtered by hundreds of
thousands the faithful people who would not be its
slaves and the slaves of its Idolatry. ... Persecution is
the declared work of Satan. “Behold, the devil shall
cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried,”
is the prophecy of the Pagan persecutions. “Wo to
the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil
is come down among you, having great wrath, be-
cause he knoweth that he hath but a short time,” is
the prophecy of the Popish persecutions.
The true Church had, from the beginning, rejected
the successive allurements. The false Church had
grasped at them all, and given itself over to the pro-
gress of covetousness, superstition, and slaughter.
A striking analogy subsists between the ancient
Jewish corruptions and the Romish. The forty years
* Middleton. Letter from Rome,
THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD. 309
in the wilderness, the period of miraculous sustenance,
delivered the people into the ease of Canaan. Their
first general corruption arose from the luxuries of life
in the promised land. Their second was the public
establishment of idolatry by the ten tribes, the setting
up of the two golden calves on the death of Solomon.
The third was the passion for temporal dominion;
through which they rejected and slew the Messiah,
and persecuted his disciples. The nature of the events
varies, but the progress of the degeneracy is the same.
But as Jesus and his disciples came a pure and separ-
ate body out of that old corrupted Church, so came
the reformed out of the Romish corruption; and as the
disciples were preserved in the fall of Jerusalem, so
shall the Church be preserved in the final visitation of
the nominal Christian world.
Those aeras of Romish crime are not the accidents
and floating matters of history. They are bound to
the greatest civil changes; the first, to the conversion
of Constantine ; the second, to the giving of the title
of “Universal Bishop,” the spiritual supremacy, by
Justinian; and the third to the rejection of the German
sovereignty, and the seizure of the temporal supre-
macy by Rome. .
The location of the several trials is remarkable.
The first is in the “wilderness,” an emblem of the
state of the Church when but just emerging from the
Pagan persecutions. The second was in the temple;
for idolatry sprang up in Rome only when she had
become the presumed “Holy City.” The third was
on a high mountain; the usual scriptural emblem alike
of a place of Pagan worship, and of temporal power;
for the Pagan rites were frequently celebrated on
mountain-tops, and they were the matural place of ci-
tadels. The two-fold sense was applicable to Rome,
the head of idolatry and of temporal dominion.
The “temptation” and the Apocalypse are but the
counterparts of each other; the one, at the commence-
\
310 THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD.
ment of our Lord’s ministry, a brief and visible pre-
diction, a condensation of the trials of the Church into
a type; the other, at its close, copious and magnificent,
a luminous expansion of the type into a prophecy.
At the same time, its typical nature does not pre-
clude its havin
our Lord.
g been an actual test of the virtues of
The principal features of this explanation are here
collected into one view.”
THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD.
The fast in the
; Symbolizing }
The Pagan
wilderness. Persecutions.
phs,º *| Miracles. - Things signified. AEras. Leading events.
I.
The Wilder-The change|Early and The 4th cen-|The conver-
Il CSS. of the bread. sensual op-] tury and Sion of Con-
ulence of following. stantine.
the Romishl
Church.
- II. - - -
The Temple|The casting|The pretence|The 6th cen-The title of
from the of working tury and Universal
pinnacle. miracles, following. bishop con-
and Saint- ferred by
worship. the Greek
- - emperors.
III. - t
The Moun-The vision|The univer-ſhel3th cen-The cession
tain. of allking- sal tempor- tury and of the So-
doms. al domi-] following. vereignty
nion of the of the de-
Popes. scendants
of Charle-
magne over
| | Rome.
The visit of
the angels.
* This theory was stated a few months sinch in a periodical pub-
lication.
% Symbolizing st
--
he future triumph of
the Church of God.
APPENDIX.
THE labour of enumerating all the arrangements
that have been proposed for the Apocalypse, would
be so useless to the reader, that I shall confine myself
to as few remarks as possible. Those arrangements
may be placed in two classes. The older commenta-
tors, Sir Isaac Newton, Mede, Bishop Newton, Dau-
buz and others, generally conceive the Seals, Trum-
pets, and Vials, to have been series, at once consecu-
tive and comprehending each other; the last Seal con-
taining the Trumpets, and the last Trumpet the Vials;
the Seals ending with the conversion of Constantine,
the Trumpets detailing the subversion of the Western
Empire, and the Vials the general fall of the Church
of Rome. -
The later commentators, who have chiefly written
since the beginning of the French Revolution, have
changed the interpretation of the Vials; and, nearly
preserving the former scheme of the Seals and Trum-
pets as to succession and objects, have devoted the
whole seven Vials to the consecutive view of the fall
of the French monarchy. A remarkable error; they
containing nothing on the subject.
Dean Woodhouse conceives the Seals to be a pre-
diction of the state of the Church from the apostolic
age to the end of the world; the Trumpets a distinct
series representing the persecutions of the Church;
and the Vials, the spiritual impurities and afflictions
visited on its enemies.
Pastorini (Bishop Walmsley) conceives the three
series to begin at the same period. The first Seal,
312 APPENDIX.
the first age of conversion after the Pentecost,--the
first Trumpet, the early sufferings of the Church,-
and the first Vial, the simultaneous disturbances of
the Roman Empire; the three series proceeding with
a detail of the sufferings and triumphs of the Church
of Rome to the close of the world.
Those arrangements cannot all be right; and if the
one already proposed in this volume be right, they are
all wrong; for it essentially differs from them all. It
must be unnecessary to go into the proof of their in-
adequacy to explain the Apocalypse; the sufficient evi-
dence is, the doubt of their interpretations which re-
mains on the minds of pious men; and the public doubt
whether the prophecy is capable of being interpreted
at all. . . $ -
Note p. 55.
“The summoner of the second seal is the bull,” the
Mooxos. This was the prediction of the barbarian inva-
sions. By a curious coincidence, the name belonged
to the north. “The Muscovites were a colony of
Mesech or Mosoch, called by the Greeks Moschi.”
(Wells's Geography, I. 158.)
Note p. 79.
“The Star burning as it were a lamp,” has been
sometimes presumed to symbolise the resignation of
Augustulus, sometimes Arius, Mahomet, &c. To those
the answer is, that the brightness of the star is an evi-
dence of its purity; and that all the hypotheses are at
utter variance with the position of the peculiar pro-
phecy as to time. -
Note p. 82. -
The fourth Vial was interpreted a hundred years
since of the wars of Louis XIV., by Robert Fleming,
a minister of the Scots’ Church; and his interpretation
gives a remarkable evidence of the closeness with
APPENDIX. 313
which the prophetic Data of the Apocalypse can ap-
proach to fact, as The pouring out of the fourth Vial
must denote the gmiliation of some eminent poten-
tates of the Römish interest, whose countenance sup-
ports the Papal éause; and those therefore must be
principally understood of the houses of Austria and
Bourbon, though not exclusive of the other Popish
princes. As to the remaining part of this Vial, I hum-
bly suppose that it will run out about 1794! and per-
haps the French monarchy may begin to be consider-
ably humbled about that time: that whereas the pre-
sent French king takes the sun for his emblem, and
this for his motto, ‘nec pluribus impar,’ ‘not equalled
by many;’ he may at length, or rather his successors,
and the monarchy itself, at least before the year 1794,
be forced to acknowledge that, in respect to neigh-
bouring potentates, he is even “singulis impar.’”
He further says: “If any require, whether the sun
of the Popish kingdom is not to be eclipsed himself at
length; I must positively assert he will; and we may
justly suppose that the French monarchy, after it has
scorched others, will itself consume by doing so to-
wards the end of the century.”—Discourse on the
rise and fall of the Papacy, 1700.
Fleming must have arrived at his date of the French
Revolution by ascertaining the connexion of the fall
of the monarchy with the end of the 1260 years, and
reckoning those from Justinian. I had either not
read, or had forgotten his book, when the present in-
terpretation was written; but I find that extracts from
it had been extensively published at the beginning of
the war. r
Note p. 84.
The fifth Trumpet. This Woe has by the whole
body of commentators, excepting Dean Woodhouse
and Pastorini, been pronounced to be the Mahometan
Invasion. The sufficient answer is the suitableness


27
314 APPENDIX.
of the prediction to the more important catastrophe
of our own day. But the old solution is totally im-
perfect on its own showing. If Mºmet was a star,
he did not “fall from heaven,” hisºthority was not
overthrown. If the fallen star is tº be Sergius, the
Monk, he was too trivial a personage to stand in the
front of such a prophecy; or if it is to be Phocas, or
the Pope, they had nothing to do with the progress of
the Mahometan arms. If the “five months” mean,
according to the calculation appended to this theory,
150 years, or twice 150 years, they are inapplicable
to the duration of the Mahometan conquests, which
have lasted, under the Sultans, to our time.
In the prophecy, the sixth trumpet follows without
any discoverable interval. But on this theory the
interval is no less than six centuries, from the original
Mahometan conquests, to the victory of Ortogrul, in
1281. The four Sultanies of Bagdad, Damascus,
Aleppo, and Iconium, are also supposed to be the
“four angels.” The interpretation, however, varies
on this point, between Ortogrul and his three sons,
who conquered; and Solyman Shah, who with his
three sons was drowned. But what ground can there
be for conceiving that those obscure and transitory
barbarian tribes, or their forgotten leaders, should have
been the object of a divine command, issued at the
prayer of the Church for the destruction of the “de-
stroyer?” or that the prayer of the Church should have
been put up for the capture of Constantinople? or that
the “year, day, and hour” appointed by Heaven for
its victory, should have any reference to Mahomet
II.'s astrology? or that a great event which is declared
in the prophecy to be the last but one of European
history, should have happened in either the seventh
century or the thirteenth? Yet such are the immediate
contradictions implicated in the hypothesis of the Ma-
hometan invasion. The difficulties multiply, if any
reference be made to the adjoining or parallel chap-
ters. The whole conjecture is untenable.


APPENDIX. 315
Dean Woodhouse, feeling the difficulty, conceives
the fifth trumpet to have designated the Gnostic heresy,
and the sixth, the Mahometan Invasion. But there
is nothing in those predictions to justify our conceiving
one of them to mean a religious controversy, and the
other an open war. All the former chronological diffi-
culties, too, lie equally against this conjecture.
Pastorini, in his zeal for Popery, determined of
course, that Lutheranism is the offspring of the bot-
tomless pit, and that the “woe” was a denunciation
of the Reformed. He even hazarded the calculation,
founded on the double period of five months, or 300
years, that Protestantism would end in “fifty or fifty-
five years from the time of his writing,” A.D. 1771;
a calculation which lately revived his memory and his
book, among those who could feel a pious interest in
Protestant massacre in the year 1825. Time, the great
interpreter, has shown the emptiness of the bishop’s
interpretation; and the remainder of his volume is
valuable only as showing the absurdities into which
an acute mind, for Dr. Walmsley enjoyed some ma-
thematical reputation, may be betrayed by the rank-
ness and blindness of Popery. -
The general misconception has arisen from the men-
tion of the Euphrates. Not suspecting the typical
application of that name, and of every other ancient
name, in the prophecy; the commentators followed the
example of Mede, in whose day the Turks were still
the bugbear of Europe; who, of course, looked for
them in the prophecies; and like every man who can
be satisfied with a mere unconnected similitude, found
the similitude he sought for.
Note p. 138.
The usual interpretation of the seven heads of the
dragon, or Paganism, is, the successive forms of go-
vernment in ancient Rome. But this is insufficient;
316 APPENDIX.
for Livy’sº enumeration of kings, consuls, dictators,
decemvirs, and consular tribunes, reaches down no
further than to the capture by the Gauls, A. D. 364,
thus omitting the Triumvirate, which yet was one of
the most remarkable forms of the government. Ta-
citust names six—kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs,
consular tribunes, and triumvirs. By this reckoning
the Roman emperors would form the seventh head;
while the prophecy evidently marks the seventh as
one existing at a remote period, and transmitting its
authority directly into the hands of the Pope.
But other difficulties occur. The heads in the pro-
phecy are all crowned; where were the crowns of the
republican governors of Rome? their possession of
authority in the commonwealth is not enough to satisfy
a symbol so peculiar. The heads all symbolise perse-
cutors: where were the persecutions of the Republic?
But a still stronger evidence is to be found in the lan-
guage of the prophecy itself. The heads are distinctly
referred to the prophetic “wild beasts,” the leopard,
the bear, and the lion. The Apostle sees Paganism
in its imperial Roman state, which is pronounced its
siath; and he is referred to the emblems of Paganism
in the Jewish days for its five previous states. In all
those states it wore a crown. Assyria, Persia, &c.
were kingly. Its last head was also kingly, and the
crown was laid on Charlemagne in Rome.
Note p. 149.
The conjectural extravagancies on the number of
the beast would make a long and erudite treatise. The
mystical motions annexed by the Jews and Greeks to
letters and numbers excited this fruitless ingenuity;
and one of the most extraordinary circumstances in the
subject is the variety of words which numerically
* “Qua: a condita urbe Roma ad captam eandem.” L, vi, c, 1.
† Annal, l. i.
APPENDIX. 31 7
correspond to the 666; O Nexmºns, the conqueror, An-
tichrist, Tevospizos, Genseric, the Vandal invader, &c.
St. Jerome finds it in Evagº, a serpent finder. It is in
Bevsötzros, the name of several Popes. Grotius finds
it in Ovarios, a name of Trajan. It has been tried upon
- Luther’s name, and found in the fabricated word
Aovôspava. And also in Xoftoveto; a Saxon, in allusion to
his birth. Bishop Walmsley finds it in Maouetts, Ma-
homet. Mr. Wrangham in Arrograwns, an Apostate;
and among the latest conjectures is Bovvsnaptn. -
The Latin names are still more numerous and equally
useless. “Vicarius filii Dei.”—“Ludovicus.”—“Sil-
vester secundus.”—“ Linus secundus.”—“ D. F. Ju-
lianus Caesar Atheus,” &c. See “Clarke on the Dra-
gon, Beast, and False Prophet.” -
The Popish interpretations of the Apocalypse by Bel.
larmin and others have not been adverted to in this
volume, for they are occupied in the hopeless labour
of fixing on Pagan Rome all the descriptions and de-
nunciations that belong to the Popedom. Boundless
perplexity must be the consequence of so essential an
error in principle ; and the few Popish works on the
subject seem to be unread even by their own com-
munion.
Note p. 161.
The reader will observe the additional force which
the system adopted in the present volume derives from
the close connea-ion of the three epochs on which it is
founded. The “1260 years” include the three: viz.
the beginning of the Papal supremacy in 533, the end
of its power of persecution in 1793, and the birth of
the Inquisition in 1198, the 666th year from the be-
ginning of the 1260. Each depends on its separate
proof; yet if one of the three be proved, the whole
are established. -
3.18 APPENDIX.
Note p. 283.
The opinions of intelligent men at the time gene-
rally attributed the French Revolution to religious
decay. -
“In short, to the errors and defects of Popery we
cannot but impute in a great degree the origin of that
revolutionary spirit which has gone so far towards the
subversion of the ancient establishments of religion
and civil government. The maintenance of opinions,
unfounded on the authority of the Gospel and incon-
sistent with its purity, has given occasion to minds
perhaps naturally averse to religion to reject the most
valuable evidences of Christianity. By the abuses of
religion such minds have been led into all the extrava-
gancies of deism and atheism, of revolution and anar-
chy. They had not the discernment or candour to
distinguish between Christianity and its corruptions.
The conspiracy against the religion of Christ, which
originated in those delusions, burst on the devoted
monarchy of France.” (Bishop of Durham’s Charge,
1801, p. 2, 3.) x
“When I myself was in France in 1774,” says
Dr. Priestly, “I saw sufficient reason to believe, that
hardly any person of eminence in Church or state,
and especially in a great degree eminent in philosophy
or literature, whose opinions in all countries are sooner
or later adopted, were believers in Christianity.
And no person will suppose that there has been any
change in favour of Christianity in the last twenty
years. [He writes in 1794.] A person, I believe,
now living, and one of the best informed men in the
country, assured me very gravely that, (paying me a
compliment,) I was the first person he had ever met
with, of whose understanding he had any opinion, who
pretended to believe Christianity. To this all the
company assented. And not only were the philoso-
APPENDIX. 319
phers and other leading men in France, at that time
unbelievers in Christianity, or deists, but atheists,
denying the being of a God.” (Fast Sermon.)
THE END.
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