774 lines
46 KiB
Plaintext
774 lines
46 KiB
Plaintext
Be patient, this is a rather long story but it gets to the
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point. For a more detailed study on this subject please call
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404-299-1832 and ask for Bible studies, or for more
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information.
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THE MARK OF THE BEAST, A HISTORICAL LOOK.
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How fair was the morning of the Church! how swift its
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progress! What expectations it would have been natural to
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form of the future history which had begun so well! Doubtless
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they were formed in many a sanguine heart: but they were
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clouded soon. It became evident that, when the first
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conflicts were passed, others would succeed; and that the
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long and weary war with the powers of darkness had only just
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begun. The wrestlings "against principalities and powers,
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and the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places"
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(Eph 6:12) were yet to be more painfully felt, and believers
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were prepared to be "partakers of Christ's sufferings," and
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not to "think it...strange concerning the fiery trial
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which...[was] to try...[them], as though some strange thing
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happened unto...[them]" (1 Pe 4:12, 13, [KJV]).
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But worse for the Church than the fightings without were the
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fears within. Men who had long professed the Gospel "had
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need to be taught again what were the first principles of the
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oracles of God" (Heb 5:12). They were falling "from grace,"
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and turning back to weak and beggarly elements, whereunto
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they desired again to be in bondage" (Gal 5:4; 4:9). "Some
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had already turned aside after Satan (1 Ti 5:15)," and, where
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there was no special prevalence of error, a coldness and
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worldliness of spirit drew forth the sad reflection that "all
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seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's" (Php
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2:21). Contentions were rife, and schisms were spreading;
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and men, in the name of Christ and of truth, were "provoking
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one another, envying one another." New forms of error began
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to arise, from the combination of Christian ideas with the
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rudiments of the world and the vagaries of oriental
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philosophy.
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Here were men, like Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses,
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"resisting the truth, reprobate concerning the faith" (2 Ti
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3:8). Here were "Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the
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truth had erred, saying that the resurrection was past
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already" (2 Ti 2:17). Here was the "knowledge falsely so
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called" (1 Ti 6:20), teeming with a thousand protean forms of
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falsehood.
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While the Apostles wrote, the actual state and the visible
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tendencies of things showed too plainly what Church history
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would be; and, at the same time, prophetic intimations made
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the prospect still more dark: for "the Spirit spake
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expressly, that in the latter times men would depart from the
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faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
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devils" (1 Ti 4:1)--that "in the last days grievous times
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should come," marked by a darkness of moral condition which
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it might have been expected that Gospel influences would have
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dispelled (2 Ti 3:1-5)--that "there would be scoffers in the
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last days, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where
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is the promise of His coming?" (2 Pe 3:3)--that the day of
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the Lord would not be "till the apostasy had come first, and
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the man of sin had been revealed, the son of perdition, the
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adversary who exalts himself above all that is called God or
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an object of worship, so that he sits in the Temple of God,
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showing himself that he is God" (2 Th 2:4-4). "The mystery
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of lawlessness was already working, and as antichrist should
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come, even then were there many antichrists" (1 Jn 2:18, 22),
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men "denying the Father and the Son," "denying the Lord that
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bought them" (2 Pe 2:1), "turning the grace of God into
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lasciviousness" (Jude 4), and "bringing upon themselves swift
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destruction."
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I know not how any man, in closing the Epistles, could
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expect to find the subsequent history of the Church
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essentially different from what it is. In those writings we
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seem, as it were, not to witness some passing storms which
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clear the air, but to feel the whole atmosphere charged with
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the elements of future tempest and death. Every moment the
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forces of evil show themselves more plainly. They are
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encountered, but not dissipated. Or, to change the figure, we
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see battles fought by the leaders of our band, but no
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security is promised by their victories. New assaults are
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being prepared; new tactics will be tried; new enemies pour
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in; the distant hills are black with gathering multitudes,
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and the last exhortations of those who fall at their posts
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call on their successors to "endure hardness as good soldiers
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of Jesus Christ" (2 Ti 2:3), and "earnestly to contend for
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the faith which was once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).
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The fact which I observe is not merely that these
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indications of the future are in the Epistles, but that they
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increase as we approach the close, and after the doctrines
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of the Gospel have been fully wrought out, and the fullness
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of personal salvation and the ideal character of the Church
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have been placed in the clearest light, the shadows gather
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and deepen on the external history. The last words of St.
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Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy, with the Epistles of
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St. John and St. Jude, breathe the language of a time in
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which the tendencies of that history had distinctly shown
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themselves.
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The Church was in the beginning a community of brethren,
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guided by a few of the brethren. All were taught of God, and
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each had the privilege of drawing for himself from the divine
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fountain of light. The Epistles which then settled the great
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questions of doctrine did not bear the pompous title of a
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single man--of a ruler. We learn from the Holy Scriptures,
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that they began simply with these words: "The apostles and
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elders and brethren send greetings unto the brethren."
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But these very writings of the apostles already
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foretell that from the midst of this brotherhood there shall
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arise a power that will destroy this simple and primitive
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order.
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Let us contemplate the formation and trace the development
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of this power so alien to the Church.
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Paul of Tarsus, one of the greatest apostles of the new
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religion, had arrived at Rome, the capital of the empire and
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of the world, preaching in bondage the salvation which cometh
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from God. A Church was formed beside the throne of the
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Caesars. Composed at first of a few converted Jews, Greeks,
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and Roman citizens, it was rendered famous by the teaching
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and the death of the Apostle of the Gentiles. For a time it
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shone out brightly, as a beacon upon a hill. Its faith was
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everywhere celebrated; but erelong it declined from its
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primitive condition. It was by small beginnings that both
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imperial and Christian Rome advanced to the usurped dominion
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of the world.
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The first pastors or bishops of Rome early employed them-
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selves in converting the neighboring cities and towns. The
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necessity which the bishops and pastors of the Campagna felt
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of applying in cases of difficulty to an enlightened guide,
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and the gratitude they owed to the church of the metropolis,
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led them to maintain a close union with it. As it has always
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happened in analogous circumstances, this reasonable union
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soon degenerated into dependence. The bishops of Rome
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considered as a right that superiority which the surrounding
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Churches had freely yielded. The encroachments of power form
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a great part of history; as the resistance of those whose
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liberties are invaded forms the other portion. The
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ecclesiastical power could not escape the intoxication which
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impels all who are lifted up to seek to mount still higher.
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It obeyed this general law of human nature.
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Nevertheless the supremacy of the Roman bishops was at
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that period limited to the superintendence of the Churches
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within the civil jurisdiction of the prefect of Rome. But
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the rank which this imperial city held in the world offered a
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prospect of still greater destinies to the ambition of its
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first pastor. The respect enjoyed by the various Christian
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bishops in the second century was proportionate to the rank
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of the city in which they resided. Now Rome was the largest,
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richest, and most powerful city in the world. It was the
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seat of empire, the mother of nations. "All the inhabitants
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of the earth belong to her," said Julian; and Claudian
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declared her to be "the fountain of laws."
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If Rome is the queen of cities, why should not her
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pastor be the king of bishops? Why should not the Roman
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church be the mother of Christendom? Why should not all
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nations be her children, and her authority their sovereign
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law? It was easy for the ambitious heart of man to reason
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thus. Ambitious Rome did so.
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Thus, when pagan Rome fell, she bequeathed to the humble
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minister of the God of peace, sitting in the midst of her
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ruins, the proud titles which her invincible sword had won
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from the nations of the earth.
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The bishops of the different parts of the empire,
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fascinated by that charm which Rome had exercised for ages
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over all nations, followed the example of the Campagna, and
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aided this work of usurpation. They felt a pleasure in
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yielding to the bishop of Rome some portion of that honor
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which was due to the queen of the world. There was
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originally no dependence implied in the honor thus paid. They
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treated the Roman pastor as if they were on a level with him.
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But usurped power increased like an avalanche. Admonitions,
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at first simply fraternal, soon became absolute commands in
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the mouth of the pontiff. A foremost place among equals
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appeared to him a throne.
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The Western bishops favored this encroachment of the
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Roman pastors, either from jealousy of the Eastern bishops,
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or because they preferred submitting to the supremacy of a
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pope, rather than to the dominion of a temporal power.
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On the other hand, the theological sects that distracted
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the East, strove, each for itself, to interest Rome in its
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favor they looked for victory in the support of the principal
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church of the West.
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Rome carefully enregistered these applications and
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intercessions, and smiled to see all nations voluntarily
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throwing themselves into her arms. She neglected no
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opportunity of increasing and extending her power. The
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praises and flattery, the exaggerated compliments and
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consultations of other Churches, became in her eyes and in
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her hands the titles and documents of her authority. Such is
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man exalted to a throne: the incense of courts intoxicates
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him, his brain grows dizzy. What he possesses becomes a
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motive for attaining still more.
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The doctrine of the Church and the necessity of its
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visible unity, which had begun to gain ground in the third
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century, favored the pretensions of Rome. The Church is,
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above all things, the assembly of "them that are sanctified
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in Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. i. 2)--"the assembly of the
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first-born which are written in heaven"(Heb. xii. 23). Yet
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the Church of our Lord is not simply inward and invisible; it
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is necessary that it should be manifested, and it is with a
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view to this manifestation that the sacraments of Baptism and
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the Lord's Supper were instituted. The visible Church has
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features different from those which distinguish it as an
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invisible Church. The invisible Church, which is the body of
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Christ, is necessarily and eternally one. The visible Church
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no doubt partakes of the unity of the former; but, considered
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by itself, plurality is a characteristic already ascribed to
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it in the New Testament. While speaking of one Church of
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God, it no sooner refers to its manifestation to the world,
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than it enumerates "the Churches of Galatia, of Macedonia, of
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Judea, all Churches of the saints." These Churches may
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undoubtedly, to a certain extent, look for visible unity;
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but if this union be wanting, they lose none of the essential
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qualities of the Church of Christ. The strong bond which
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originally united the members of the Church, was that living
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faith of the heart which connected them all with Christ as
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their common head. Different causes soon concurred to
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originate and develop the idea of a necessity for external
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union. Men accustomed to the political forms and
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associations of an earthly country, carried their views and
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habits into the spiritual and eternal kingdom of Christ.
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Persecution, powerless to destroy or even to shake this new
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community, made it only the more sensible of its own
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strength, and pressed it into a more compact body. To the
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errors that sprung up in the theosophic schools and in the
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various sects, was opposed the one and universal truth
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received from the apostles, and preserved in the Church. This
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was well, so long as the invisible and spiritual Church was
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identical with the visible and external Church. But a great
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separation took place erelong: the form and the life became
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disunited. The semblance of an identical and exterior
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organization was gradually substituted for that interior and
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spiritual communion, which is the essence of the religion of
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God. Men forsook the precious perfume of faith, and bowed
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down before the empty vessel that had contained it. They
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sought other bonds of union, for faith in the heart no longer
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connected the members of the Church; and they were united by
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means of bishops, archbishops, popes, mitres, canons, and
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ceremonies. The living Church retiring gradually within the
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lonely sanctuary of a few solitary hearts, an external
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Church was substituted in its place, and all its forms were
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declared to be of divine appointment. Salvation no longer
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flowing from the Word, which was henceforward put out of
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sight, the priests affirmed that it was conveyed by means of
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the forms they had themselves invented, and that no one could
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attain it except by these channels. No one, said they, can
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by his own faith attain to everlasting life. Christ
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communicated to the apostles, and these to the bishops, the
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unction of the Holy Spirit; and this Spirit is to be procured
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only in that order of succession! Originally, whoever
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possessed the spirit of Jesus Christ was a member of the
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Church; now the terms were inverted, and it was maintained
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that he only who was a member of the Church could receive the
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Spirit.
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As these ideas became established, the distinction
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between the people and the clergy was more strongly marked.
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The salvation of souls no longer depended entirely on faith
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in Christ, but also, and in a more especial manner, on union
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with the Church. The representatives and heads of the Church
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were made partakers of the trust that should be placed in
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Christ alone, and became the real mediators of their flocks.
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The idea of a universal Christian priesthood was gradually
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lost sight of; the servants of the Church of Christ were
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compared to the priests of the old covenant; and those who
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separated from the bishop were placed in the same rank with
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Korah, Dathan, and Abiram! From a peculiar priesthood, such
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as was then formed in the Church, to a sovereign priesthood,
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such as Rome claims, the transition was easy.
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In fact, no sooner was the erroneous notion of the
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necessity for a visible unity of the Church established, than
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another appeared--the necessity for an outward
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representation of that union. Although we find no traces in
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the Gospel of Peter's superiority over the other apostles;
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although the very idea of a primacy is opposed to the
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fraternal relations which united the brethren, and even to
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the spirit of the Gospel dispensation, which on the contrary
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requires all the children of the Father to "minister one to
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another," acknowledging only one teacher and one master;
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although Christ had strongly rebuked his disciples, whenever
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ambitious desires of pre-eminence were conceived in their
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carnal hearts the primacy of St. Peter was invented and
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supported by texts wrongly interpreted, and men next
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acknowledged in this apostle and in his self-styled
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successors at Rome, the visible representatives of visible
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unity--the heads of the universal Church.
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The constitution of the Patriarchate contributed in like
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manner to the exaltation of the Papacy. As early as the
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three first centuries the metropolitan Churches had enjoyed
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peculiar honor. The council of Nice, in its sixth canon,
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mentions three cities, whose Churches, according to it,
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exercised a long- established authority over those of the
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surrounding provinces: these were Alexandria, Rome, and
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Antioch. The political origin of this distinction is
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indicated by the name which was at first given to the bishops
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of these cities: they were called Exarchs, from the title of
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the civil governors. Somewhat later they received the more
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ecclesiastical appellation of Patriarchs. We find this title
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first employed at the council of Constantinople, but in a
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different sense from that which it afterwards received. It
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was not until shortly before the council of Chalcedon that it
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was given exclusively to the great metropolitans. The second
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general council created a new patriarchate, that of
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Constantinople itself, the new Rome, the second capital of
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the empire. The church of Byzantium, so long obscure,
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enjoyed the same privileges, and was placed by the council of
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Chalcedon in the same rank as the Church of Rome. Rome at
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that time shared the patriarchal supremacy with these three
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churches. But when the Mahometan invasion had destroyed the
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sees of Alexandria and of Antioch,--when the see of
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Constantinople fell away, and in later times even separated
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from the West, Rome remained alone, and the circumstances of
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the times gathered all the Western Churches around her see,
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which from that time has been without a rival.
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New and more powerful friends than all the rest soon came
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to her assistance. Ignorance and superstition took
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possession of the Church, and delivered it, fettered and
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blindfold, into the hands of Rome.
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Yet this bondage was not effected without a struggle.
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Frequently did the Churches proclaim their independence; and
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their courageous voices were especially heard from
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Proconsular Africa and from the East.
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But Rome found new allies to stifle the cries of the
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churches. Princes, whom those stormy times often shook upon
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their thrones, offered their protection if Rome would in its
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turn support them. They conceded to her the spiritual
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authority, provided she would make a return in secular power.
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They were lavish of the souls of men, in the hope that she
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would aid them against their enemies. The power of the
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hierarchy which was ascending, and the imperial power which
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was declining, leant thus one upon the other, and by this
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alliance accelerated their twofold destiny.
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Rome could not lose by it. An edict of Theodosius II and
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of Valentinian III proclaimed the Roman bishop "rector of
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the whole Church." Justinian published a similar decree.
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These edicts did not contain all that the popes pretended to
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see in them; but in those times of ignorance it was easy for
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them to secure that interpretation which was most favorable
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to themselves. The dominion of the emperors in Italy
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becoming daily more precarious, the bishops of Rome took
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advantage of this circumstance to free themselves from their
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dependence.
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But already had issued from the forests of the North the
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most effectual promoters of the papal power. The barbarians
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who had invaded and settled in the West, after being satiated
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with blood and plunder, lowered their reeking swords before
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the intellectual power that met them face to face. Recently
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converted to Christianity, ignorant of the spiritual
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character of the Church, and feeling the want of a certain
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external pomp in religion, they prostrated themselves, half
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savage and half heathen as they were, at the feet of the
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high-priest of Rome. With their aid the West was in his
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power. At first the Vandals, then the Ostrogoths, somewhat
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later the Burgundians and Alans, next the Visigoths, and
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lastly the Lombards and Anglo-Saxons, came and bent the knee
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to the Roman pontiff. It was the sturdy shoulders of those
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children of the idolatrous north that succeeded in placing on
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the supreme throne of Christendom a pastor of the banks of
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the Tiber.
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At the beginning of the seventh century these events were
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accomplishing in the West, precisely at the period when the
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power of Mahomet arose in the East, prepared to invade
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another quarter of the world.
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From this time the evil continued to increase. In the
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eighth century we see the Roman bishops resisting on the one
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hand the Greek emperors, their lawful sovereigns, and
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endeavouring to expel them from Italy, while with the other
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they court the mayors of the palace in France, begging from
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this new power, just beginning to rise in the West, a share
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in the wreck of the empire. Rome founded her usurped
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authority between the East, which she repelled, and the West,
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which she summoned to her aid. She raised her throne between
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two revolts. Startled by the shouts of the Arabs, now become
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masters of Spain, and who boasted that they would speedily
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arrive in Italy by the gates of the Pyrenees and Alps, and
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proclaim the name of Mahomet on the Seven Hills; alarmed at
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the insolence of Astolphus, who at the head of his Lombards,
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roaring like a lion, and brandishing his sword before the
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gates of the eternal city, threatened to put every Roman to
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death: Rome, in the prospect of ruin, turned her frightened
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eyes around her, and threw herself into the arms of the
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Franks. The usurper Pepin demanded her pretended sanction of
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his new authority; it was granted, and the Papacy obtained in
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return his promise to be the defender of the "Republic of
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God." Pepin wrested from the Lombards the cities they had
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taken from the Greek emperor; yet, instead of restoring them
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to that prince, he laid they keys on St. Peter's altar, and
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swore with uplifted hands that he had not taken up arms for
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man, but to obtain from God the remission of his sins, and to
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do homage for his conquests to St. Peter. Thus did France
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establish the temporal power of the popes.
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Charlemagne appeared; the first time he ascends the
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stairs to the basilic of St. Peter, devoutly kissing each
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step. A second time he presents himself, lord of all the
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nations that formed the empire of the West, and of Rome
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itself. Leo III thought fit to bestow the imperial title on
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him who already possessed the power; and on Christmas day, in
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the year 800, he placed the diadem of the Roman emperors on
|
|
the brow of the son of Pepin. From this time the pope
|
|
belongs to the empire of the Franks: his connection with the
|
|
East is ended. He broke off from a decayed and falling tree
|
|
to graft himself upon a wild and vigorous sapling. A future
|
|
elevation, to which he would have never dared aspire, awaits
|
|
him among these German tribes with whom he now unites
|
|
himself.
|
|
|
|
Charlemagne bequeathed to his feeble successors only the
|
|
wrecks of his power. In the ninth century disunion
|
|
everywhere weakened the civil authority. Rome saw that this
|
|
was the moment to exalt herself. When could the Church hope
|
|
for a more favorable opportunity of becoming independent of
|
|
the state, than when the crown which Charles had worn was
|
|
broken, and its fragments lay scattered over his former
|
|
empire?
|
|
|
|
Then appeared the False Decretals of Isidore. In this
|
|
collection of the pretended decrees of the popes, the most
|
|
ancient bishops, who were contemporary with Tacitus and
|
|
Quintilian, were made to speak the barbarous Latin of the
|
|
ninth century. The customs and constitutions of the Franks
|
|
were seriously attributed to the Romans in the time of the
|
|
emperors. Popes quoted the Bible in the Latin translation of
|
|
Jerome, who had lived one, two or three centuries after them;
|
|
and Victor, bishop of Rome, in the year 192, wrote to
|
|
Theophilus, who was archbishop of Alexandria in 385. The
|
|
impostor who had fabricated this collection endeavored to
|
|
prove that all bishops derived their authority from the
|
|
bishop of Rome, who held his own immediately from Christ. He
|
|
not only recorded all the successive conquests of the
|
|
pontiffs, but even carried them back to the earliest times.
|
|
The popes were not ashamed to avail themselves of this
|
|
contemptible imposture. As early as 865, Nicholas I drew
|
|
from its stores of weapons by which to combat princes and
|
|
bishops. This impudent invention was for ages the arsenal of
|
|
Rome.
|
|
|
|
Nevertheless, the vices and crimes of the pontiffs
|
|
suspended for a time the effect of the decretals. The Papacy
|
|
celebrated its admission to the table of kings by shameful
|
|
orgies. She became intoxicated: her senses were lost in the
|
|
midst of drunken revellings. It is about this period that
|
|
tradition places upon the papal throne a woman named Joan,
|
|
who had taken refuge in Rome with her lover, and whose sex
|
|
was betrayed by the pangs of childbirth during a solemn
|
|
procession. But let us not needlessly augment the shame of
|
|
the pontifical court. Abandoned women at this time governed
|
|
Rome; and that throne which pretended to rise above the
|
|
majesty of kings was sunk deep in the dregs of vice. Theodora
|
|
and Marozia installed and deposed at their pleasure the
|
|
self-styled masters of the Church of Christ, and placed their
|
|
lovers, sons, and grandsons in St. Peter's chair. These
|
|
scandals, which are but too well authenticated, may perhaps
|
|
have given rise to the tradition of Pope Joan.
|
|
|
|
Rome became one wild theater of disorders, the possession
|
|
of which was disputed by the most powerful families of
|
|
Italy. The counts of Tuscany were generally victorious. In
|
|
1033, this house dared to place on the pontifical throne,
|
|
under the name of Benedict IX, a youth brought up in
|
|
debauchery. This boy of twelve years old continued, when
|
|
pope, the same horrible and degrading vices. Another party
|
|
chose Sylvester III in his stead; and Benedict, whose
|
|
conscience was loaded with adulteries, and whose hands were
|
|
stained with murder, at last sold the Papacy to a Roman
|
|
ecclesiastic.
|
|
|
|
The emperors of Germany, filled with indignation at such
|
|
enormities, purged Rome with the sword. The empire,
|
|
asserting its paramount rights, drew the triple crown from
|
|
the mire into which it had fallen, and saved the degraded
|
|
papacy by giving it respectable men as its chiefs. Henry III
|
|
deposed three popes in 1046, and his finger, decorated with
|
|
the ring of the Roman patricians, pointed out the bishop to
|
|
whom the keys of St. Peter should be confided. Four popes,
|
|
all Germans, and nominated by the emperor, succeeded. When
|
|
the Roman pontiff died, the deputies of that church repaired
|
|
to the imperial court, like the envoys of other dioceses, to
|
|
solicit a new bishop. With joy the emperor beheld the popes
|
|
reforming abuses, strengthening the Church, holding councils,
|
|
installing and deposing prelates, in defiance of foreign
|
|
monarchs: The Papacy by these pretensions did but exalt the
|
|
power of the emperor, its lord paramount. But to allow of
|
|
such practices was to expose his own authority to great
|
|
danger. The power which the popes thus gradually recovered
|
|
might be turned suddenly against the emperor himself. When
|
|
the reptile had gained strength, it might wound the bosom
|
|
that had cherished it: and this result followed.
|
|
|
|
And now begins a new era for the papacy. It rises from
|
|
its humiliation, and soon tramples the princes of the earth
|
|
under foot. To exalt the Papacy is to exalt the Church, to
|
|
advance religion, to ensure to the spirit the victory over
|
|
the flesh, and to God the conquest of the world. Such are
|
|
its maxims: in these ambition finds its advantage, and
|
|
fanaticism its excuse.
|
|
|
|
The whole of this new policy is personified in one man:
|
|
Hildebrand.
|
|
|
|
This pope, who has been by turns indiscreetly exalted or
|
|
unjustly traduced, is the personification of the Roman
|
|
pontificate in all its strength and glory. He is one of
|
|
those normal characters in history, which include within
|
|
themselves a new order of things, similar to those presented
|
|
in other spheres by Charlemagne, Luther, and Napoleon.
|
|
|
|
This monk, the son of a carpenter of Savoy, was brought
|
|
up in a Roman convent, and had quitted Rome at the period
|
|
when Henry III had there deposed three popes, and taken
|
|
refuge in France in the austere convent of Cluny. In 1048,
|
|
Bruno, bishop of Toul, having been nominated pope by the
|
|
emperor at Worms, who was holding the German Diet in that
|
|
city, assumed the pontifical habits, and took the name of Leo
|
|
IX; but Hildebrand, who had hastened thither, refused to
|
|
recognize him, since it was (said he) from the secular power
|
|
that he held the tiara. Leo, yielding to the irresistible
|
|
power of a strong mind and of a deep conviction, immediately
|
|
humbled himself, laid aside his sacerdotal ornaments, and
|
|
clad in the garb of a pilgrim, set out barefoot for Rome
|
|
along with Hildebrand (says an historian), in order to be
|
|
there legitimately elected by the clergy and the Roman
|
|
people. From this time Hildebrand was the soul of the
|
|
Papacy, until he became pope himself. He had governed the
|
|
Church under the name of several pontiffs, before he reigned
|
|
in person as Gregory VII. One grand idea had taken
|
|
possession of this great genius. He desired to establish a
|
|
visible theocracy, of which the pope, as vicar of Jesus
|
|
Christ, should be the head. The recollection of the universal
|
|
dominion of heathen Rome haunted his imagination and animated
|
|
his zeal. He wished to restore to papal Rome all that
|
|
imperial Rome had lost. "What Marius and Caesar," said his
|
|
flatterers, "could not effect by torrents of blood, thou hast
|
|
accomplished by a word."
|
|
|
|
Gregory VII was not directed by the spirit of the Lord.
|
|
That spirit of truth, humility, and long-suffering was
|
|
unknown to him. He sacrificed the truth whenever he judged
|
|
it necessary to his policy. This he did particularly in the
|
|
case of Berenger, archdeacon of Angers. But a spirit far
|
|
superior to that of the generality of pontiffs--a deep
|
|
conviction of the justice of his cause--undoubtedly animated
|
|
him. He was bold, ambitious, persevering in his designs, and
|
|
at the same time skillful and politic in the use of the means
|
|
that would ensure success.
|
|
|
|
His first task was to organize the militia of the
|
|
church. It was necessary to gain strength before attacking
|
|
the empire. A council held at Rome removed the pastors from
|
|
their families, and compelled them to become the devoted
|
|
adherents of the hierarchy. The law of celibacy, planned and
|
|
carried out by popes, who were themselves monks, changed the
|
|
clergy into a sort of monastic order. Gregory VII claimed
|
|
the same power over all the bishops and priests of
|
|
Christendom, that an abbot of Cluny exercises in the order
|
|
over which he presides. The legates of Hildebrand, who
|
|
compared themselves to the proconsuls of ancient Rome,
|
|
travelled through the provinces, depriving the pastors of
|
|
their legitimate wives; and, if necessary, the pope himself
|
|
raised the populace against the married clergy.
|
|
|
|
But chief of all, Gregory designed emancipating Rome from
|
|
its subjection to the empire. Never would he have dared
|
|
conceive so bold a scheme, if the troubles that afflicted the
|
|
minority of Henry IV, and the revolt of the German princes
|
|
against that young emperor, had not favored its execution.
|
|
The pope was at this time one of the magnates of the empire.
|
|
Making common cause with the other great vassals, he
|
|
strengthened himself by the aristocratic interest, and then
|
|
forbade all ecclesiastics, under pain of excommunication, to
|
|
receive investiture from the emperor. He broke the ancient
|
|
ties that connected the Churches and their pastors with the
|
|
royal authority, but it was to bind them all to the
|
|
pontifical throne. To this throne he undertook to chain
|
|
priests, kings, and people, and to make the pope a universal
|
|
monarch. It was Rome alone that every priest should fear: it
|
|
was in Rome alone that he should hope. The kingdoms and
|
|
principalities of the earth are her domain. All kings were
|
|
to tremble at the thunderbolts hurled by the Jupiter of
|
|
modern Rome. Woe to him who resists! Subjects are released
|
|
from their oaths of allegiance; the whole country is placed
|
|
under an interdict; public worship ceases; the churches are
|
|
closed; the bells are mute; the sacraments are no longer
|
|
administered; and the malediction extends even to the dead,
|
|
to whom the earth, at the command of a haughty pontiff,
|
|
denies the repose of the tomb.
|
|
|
|
The pope, subordinate from the very beginning of his
|
|
existence successively to the Roman, Frank, and German
|
|
emperors, was now free, and he trod for the first time as
|
|
their equal, if not their master. Yet Gregory VII was
|
|
humbled in his turn: Rome was taken, and Hildebrand compelled
|
|
to flee. He died at Salerno, exclaiming, "I have loved
|
|
righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore do I die in
|
|
exile." Who shall dare charge with hypocrisy these words
|
|
uttered on the very brink of the grave?
|
|
|
|
The successors of Gregory, like soldiers arriving after
|
|
a victory, threw themselves as conquerors on the enslaved
|
|
Churches. Spain rescued from Islamism, Prussia reclaimed from
|
|
idolatry, fell into the arms of the crowned priest. The
|
|
Crusades, which were undertaken at his instigation, extended
|
|
and confirmed his authority. The pious pilgrims, who in
|
|
imagination had seen saints and angels leading their armed
|
|
bands,--who, entering humble and barefoot within the walls of
|
|
Jerusalem, burnt the Jews in their synagogue, and watered
|
|
with the blood of thousands of Saracens the places where they
|
|
came to trace the sacred footsteps of the Prince of
|
|
Peace,--carried into the East the name of the pope, who had
|
|
been forgotten there since he had exchanged the supremacy of
|
|
the Greeks for that of the Franks.
|
|
|
|
In another quarter the power of the Church effected what
|
|
the arms of the republic and of the empire had been unable to
|
|
accomplish. The Germans laid at the feet of a bishop those
|
|
tributes which their ancestors had refused to the most
|
|
powerful generals. Their princes, on succeeding to the
|
|
imperial dignity, imagined they received a crown from the
|
|
popes, but it was a yoke that was placed upon their necks.
|
|
The kingdoms of Christendom, already subject to the spiritual
|
|
authority of Rome, now became her serfs and tributaries.
|
|
|
|
Thus everything was changed in the Church.
|
|
|
|
It was at first a community of brethren, and now an absolute
|
|
monarchy was established in its bosom. All Christians were
|
|
priests of the living God, with humble pastors as their
|
|
guides. But a haughty head is upraised in the midst of these
|
|
pastors; a mysterious voice utters words full of pride; an
|
|
iron hand compels all men, great and small, rich and poor,
|
|
bond and free, to wear the badge of its power. The holy and
|
|
primitive equality of souls before God is lost sight of. At
|
|
the voice of one man Christendom is divided into two unequal
|
|
parties: on the one side is a separate caste of priests,
|
|
daring to usurp the name of the Church, and claiming to be
|
|
invested with peculiar privileges in the eyes of the Lord;
|
|
and, on the other, servile flocks reduced to a blind and
|
|
passive submission--a people gagged and fettered, and given
|
|
over to a haughty caste. Every tribe, language, and nation
|
|
of Christendom, submits to the dominion of this spiritual
|
|
king, who has received power to conquer.
|
|
|
|
What is the official pronouncement concerning the Pope in
|
|
our day? Here it comes:
|
|
|
|
" The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is
|
|
not a mere man, but as it were God and the VICAR OF GOD."
|
|
|
|
"The Pope is of such lofty and supreme dignity that, properly
|
|
speaking, he has not been established in any rank of dignity,
|
|
but rather has been placed upon the very summit of all ranks
|
|
and dignities..."
|
|
|
|
"He is likewise the divine monarch and supreme emperor and
|
|
king of kings."
|
|
|
|
"HENCE THE POPE IS CROWNED WITH A TRIPLE CROWN, AS KING OF
|
|
HEAVEN AND OF EARTH AND OF THE LOWER REGIONS." Ferraris'
|
|
Eccl. Dictionary (CATHOLIC) Article, Pope.
|
|
|
|
|
|
"What are the letters supposed to be in the Pope's crown and
|
|
what do they signify, if anything?"
|
|
|
|
"The letters inscribed in the Pope's miter are these:
|
|
VICARIVS FILII DEI, which is the latin for 'VICAR OF THE SON
|
|
OF GOD.' Catholics hold that the church, which is a visible
|
|
society, must have a visible head. Christ, before HIS
|
|
ascension into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as his
|
|
representative . . . Hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of
|
|
the church, was given the title, 'VICAR OF CHRIST.'
|
|
|
|
Our Sunday Visitor. (Catholic Weekly) "Bureau of information
|
|
Huntington, Ind. April 18, 1915.
|
|
|
|
If you take the roman numerals from the Popes title and add
|
|
them up you will get 666, thus he wears 666 on his miter. In
|
|
his book "The Great Apostasy," Joseph F Berg, after having
|
|
proved that 666 can be gotten from the Greek word LATEINOS
|
|
and the Hebrew word ROMIITH which also refer to the Cathioic
|
|
Church, he states: "Now we challenge the world to find
|
|
another name in these languages: Greek, Hebrew, and Latin,
|
|
which shall designate the same number."
|
|
|
|
Even the Romanists themselves shame you in their clear-
|
|
sighted comprehension of the issues of this question.
|
|
Cardinal Manning says, "The Catholic Church is either the
|
|
masterpiece of Satan or the kingdom of the Son of God."
|
|
Cardinal Newman says, "a sacerdotal order is historically the
|
|
essence of the church of Rome; if not divinely appointed, it
|
|
is doctrinally the essence of antichrist." In both these
|
|
statements the issue is clear, and it is the same. Rome
|
|
herself admits, openly admits, that if she is not the very
|
|
kingdom of Christ, she is that of Antichrist. Rome declares
|
|
that she is one or the other. She herself propounds and
|
|
argues this solemn alternative.
|
|
|
|
You shrink from it, do you? I accept it. Conscience
|
|
constrains me. History compels me. The past, the awful past
|
|
rises before me. I see THE GREAT APOSTASY, I see the
|
|
desolation of Christendom, I see the smoking ruins, I see the
|
|
reign of monsters; I see those vicegods, that Gregory VII.,
|
|
that Innocent III., that Boniface VIII., that Alexander VI.,
|
|
that Gregory XIII., that Pius IX.; I see their long
|
|
succession, I hear their insufferable blasphemies, I see
|
|
their abominable lives; I see them worshipped by blinded
|
|
generations, bestowing hollow benedictions, bartering lying
|
|
indulgences, creating a paganized Christianity; I see their
|
|
liveried slaves, their slaven priests, their celibate
|
|
confessors; I see the infamous confessional, the ruined
|
|
women, the murdered innocents; I hear the lying absolutions,
|
|
the dying groans; I hear the cries of the victims; I hear the
|
|
anathemas, the curses, the thunders of the interdicts; I see
|
|
the racks, the dungeons, the stakes; I see that inhuman
|
|
Inquisition, those fires of Smithfield, those butcheries of
|
|
St. Bartholomew, that Spanish armada, those unspeakable
|
|
dragonnades, that endless train of wars, that dreadful
|
|
multitude of massacres. I see it all, and in the name of the
|
|
ruin it has wrought in the church and in the world, in the
|
|
name of the truth it has denied, the temple it has defiled,
|
|
the God it has blasphemed, the souls it has destroyed; in the
|
|
name of the millions it has deluded, the millions it has
|
|
slaughtered, the millions it has damned; with holy
|
|
confessors, with noble reformers, with innumerable martyrs,
|
|
with the saints of ages, I denounce it as the masterpiece of
|
|
Satan, as the body and soul and essence of antichrist.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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