THE POPES AMONG RULERS

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 14, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 27.

THE POPES AMONG RULERS.

It seems that from any and every point of observation that we may choose, the Papacy appears to the worst advantage of any power on the earth. In studying the list of Popes, we were struck with the shortness of the reign of a large number of them, and were thus led to draw a comparison between the average length of the reigns of the Popes, and that of other rulers of the world. The following table shows the result:—

Dates.			Duration of kingdom.	No. of rulers.	Average reign.
					yr.	mo.	da.
B. C. 975-599	Judah	376 years	20	18	9	18
" 975-720	Israel	255 "	19	13	5	1
" 747-538	Babylon	209 "	18	11	7	10
" 538-330	Medo-Persia	208 "	14	14	10	8
" 795-168	Macedonia	627 "	35	17	11	2
" 304- 30	Later-Egypt	274 "	15	18	3	5
" 312- 65	Syria	247 "	20	12	4	6
" 48-A. D. 364	Rome	411 1/4 "	49	8	4	21
A. D. 364- 476	Western Empire	111 1/2 "	15	7	6
" 364-1453	Eastern "	1089 "	84	12	11	17
" 428-1793	France	1365 "	84	16	3
" 411-1868	Spain	1457 "	106	13	8	28
" 404-1603	Scotland	1199 "	71	16	10	14
" 632-1258	Caliphs	626 "	55	11	4	17
" 800-1804	Germany	1000* "	59	16	11	11
" 827-1881	England	1061 "	61	17	4	21
" 862-1881	Russia	10221 "	65	15	5	24
" 842-1795	Poland	9502 "	48	19	9	15
" 1299-1881	Turkey	588 "	36	16	4
" 1093-1881	Portugal	788 "	36	22		10
" 1015-1881	Sweden	867 "	53	16	5	13
" 803-1881	Denmark	10603 "	52	20	6
" 1134-1881	Prussia	7444 "	37	20	3	7
" 1627-1881	China	254 "	9	28	10	20
" 66-1881	Papacy	1796 1/5 "	272	6	7	15

Thus it may be readily seen that the average length of the reigns of the Popes is within forty-five days of a whole year shorter than that of any other succession of rulers from Babylon to this day. And it is a significant fact, that the next shortest is in the Western Empire, and still the next shortest is in the Roman Empire before it was divided; which all goes to show that the state of affairs was much worse under the Popes, than during the empire either before or after its division.

But an objection might be raised against this count of the line of the Popes, to the effect that it is not exactly fair, because it embraces the era of martyrdom, during which time many of the bishops of Rome were put to death in the persecutions suffered by the Christians. It is true that many of the early bishops suffered martyrdom. Therefore we will admit the justice of the claim, and will begin at the close of the era of martyrdom, when Constantine gave peace (?) to the church, and count to the Reformation. From Sylvester to the death of Leo X., or from A. D. 314 to 1522, a period of 1195 1/2 years, there were 202 Popes, whose average reign was five years, ten months, twenty-nine days. This reveals the fact that the state of affairs was actually worse than appears by the preceding calculation; enough worse, indeed, to reduce the average a period of eight months and sixteen days.

Without going into particulars, which would extend this article to an undue length, we will simply add a few leading facts:—

Two of the Popes reigned less than a day. Six of them reigned less than a month. Twenty-five of them reigned less than a year. Eight of them were murdered. Four of them died in prison. Six of them were deposed.

This by no means completes the list, but is enough to show somewhat of the character of these Popes and their times. With a slight change, the words which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of King Richard II., would be literally true of these:—

And tell sad stories of the death of Popes:— How some have been deposed, Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed; Some poisoned, some sleeping killed; For within the hollow crown, That rounds the mortal temples of a Pope, Keeps death his court; and there the antic sits, Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp; Allowing him a breath, a little scene To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks; Infusing him with self and vain conceit,— As if this flesh, which walls about our life, Were brass impregnable, and, humored thus, Comes at the last, and with a little pin Bores through his castle wall, and—farewell Pope.

As in Christ is embodied and manifested the "mystery of godliness" (1 Tim. 3:16), so, on the other hand, in antichrist is embodied and manifested the "mystery of iniquity." 2 Thess. 2:7. As in Christ, from whatever point we view him, we behold only godliness, so in the Papal system, from whatever point we view it, we behold only iniquity, more than in any other system the world has seen. Whether it be viewed in its representative Popes, such as Innocent III., crushing out heresy with fire and sword, deposing kings, trampling upon nations, filling Europe with bloodshed and woe; or Gregory VII., infamous Hildebrand, asserting absolute control over emperors, princes, priests, and people; or whether it be viewed as a system, infusing mankind with its baleful influence till it is reduced to the condition revealed by its place in the foregoing table, it presents itself as the worst of all things earthly—worse than the "unspeakable Turk," worse than the Eastern Empire of Rome when for five hundred years "the sepulcher was ever beside the throne," worse than old Rome itself when the purple was never clear of blood. It fully justifies every title bestowed upon it in the Scriptures; and by the view here given, is especially illustrated and justified the comparison given in Daniel 11:31 and 12:11, between Pagan and Papal Rome, where Pagan Rome is designated as the "daily desolation," while the Papacy is the "ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION."