THE SOURCE OF PAPAL AUTHORITY.
By H. C. Giles
[This is article fourteen of the series.] WHENCE did "the beast" (the Papacy) receive its power and authority? Answer—"And the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority." Rev. 13:2, R.V. While the dragon is secondarily a symbol of Pagan Rome, primarily it is symbolic of Satan, the great adversary of God in this world, of whom Pagan Rome was, at the first advent of Christ, but the tool and agent, being actuated by the same spirit. That the dragon actually symbolizes Satan is shown from the following: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan." Rev. 12:9. The dragon, then, is Satan, who was cast out of heaven. Verses 7-9. From Satan, therefore, the adversary of God and man, the Papacy received its authority and power. Truly this is no pleasing picture; but it is painted by the divine Artist, and is therefore true. It is the system of which we speak. "By their fruits ye shall know them," is the inspired test. Applied here, what are the fruits of the papal tree?—Exaltation of self, opposition to God, blasphemy, persecution of the saints, casting down the truth to the ground, treading underfoot the sanctuary, the Dark Ages, ignorance, and superstition. It is but the low trail of that old serpent that first reared its ugly head in heaven, and in its downward fall to earth drew after it one-third of the angels (Rev. 12:4), and in all the ages since has been working even with "all power and signs and lying wonders," to "draw away" into the same ruin and oblivion the church of Christ. We have seen that paganism was Satan’s means anciently to "draw away" the people of God into idol worship, which inspiration declares to be the service of "devils." 1 Cor. 10:20. No sooner was the church firmly established upon its divine foundation than Satan manifested his "great wrath" (Rev. 12:12) through his faithful instrument, paganism, to scatter the "little flock." Christ was "God manifest in the flesh," "the mystery of godliness," declared to be "great." 1 Tim. 3:16. Satan determined to set in operation a rival power, whose "look" was more "stout," and whose influence should be "greater." And as God in Christ is incarnate in the church, thereby to show that the power of His love is great, so did Satan incarnate himself in the "man of sin," to prove that the force of cruelty and hate, the forces of iniquity, are greater. Let the reader here reflect that it was God’s "eternal purpose" to make the church, redeemed from a fallen race, a trophy of His grace, and a triumph of love, and love alone, over every and all other forces, thus to prove to all His creatures that He is what He claims to be,—a God whose name and every attribute is Love. Eph. 2:4, 7; 3:10, 12; 1 John 4:8. For this reason it was the strategic part of Satan’s great plan of rebellion against the government of heaven to get control of the church. Isa. 14:13. He tried Paganism as his agent to subdue the church, but the church was "more than conqueror," as the following extract beautifully sets forth:— During the succession of persecution which came to an end on the accession of Constantine to supreme power, and his adoption of the Christian faith, there were very many who submitted to imprisonment, torture, and death. . . . It was the heroic age in the history of the church, when, with no aid from the arm of flesh, the whole might of the Roman Empire was victoriously encountered by the unarmed and unresisting adherents of the Christian faith. Imperial Rome, the conqueror of the world, was herself overcome by the bands of Christian disciples, whose meek but dauntless courage was more than a match for all her power.—Fisher’s History of the Christian Church, pp. 50, 51. Satan’s next and last resort was to corrupt the church itself, and thus to envelop it in the same cloud of darkness that rests like a funeral pall upon the world. Those whom he could not in this way corrupt, he sought to exterminate altogether, hoping thus that the earth, with all its inhabitants, would be in his hand and under his dominion. We have learned in previous articles that God’s Sabbath of rest in the seventh day, was the institution ordained in the beginning "for man," by which he might ever know of his Creator’s sanctifying power. So long, therefore, as man truly kept God’s Sabbath, so long would he continue to know and to serve God. Hence, before the church could be corrupted and "drawn away" from God, God’s Sabbath must first be taken away, and a counterfeit established in its stead, and established too as one of the institutions of the church, for it is the church that is to be drawn away. Again, the Sabbath precept is the only part of God’s law that represents, on its true basis, the authority of God. The reason given by God for requiring the observance of the Sabbath is that God created "heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is" (Ex. 20:11); and "hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God" (Eze. 20:20). The Sabbath, therefore, represents God’s right to rule His people, and the individual who keeps God’s Sabbath thereby acknowledges God’s right to set up His throne in his heart, and rule his life with His own authority. This sign of God’s authority must, therefore, be taken away and be substituted by a fitting symbol of apostasy, in order for the apostate power to be successful in its work of drawing away the disciples. The fact has already been noticed that "the dragon gave him [the beast, the symbol of apostasy] his power, and his throne, and great authority." Rev. 13:2, R.V. Therefore the Sabbath must be the point where this apostate power will especially attack the truth of God. As just noted, the Sabbath is the institution in which God sets Himself forth as He is to His people. In no other commandment of the Decalogue is God set forth as He is—the Creator of all, thus distinguished from all false gods or objects of worship. Of this apostasy we read "that He sitteth in the temple of God [the church, 1 Cor. 3:17; 2 Cor. 6:16], setting Himself forth as God." 2 Thess. 2:4, R.V. As already noted, this power is characterized as having a notable disregard for the law of God. Add to that the thought that he is to set himself forth as God, and remembering that in the Sabbath precept God sets Himself forth, it will be seen that the prophecy points, unmistakably, to an attempt to change the Sabbath of Jehovah. As stated, the Sabbath precept represents God’s throne and authority. Let it be remembered that in the beginning Satan declared: "I will exalt my throne; . . . I will be like the Most High." Isa. 14:13, 14. This apostate power is said to be he that "opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." 2 Thess. 2:4. It is also declared in the prophecy under consideration that "the dragon [the devil] gave him [this apostate power] his power, and his throne, and great authority." Rev. 13:2, R.V. This also clearly points to an attempt by this power to change the Sabbath, the sign of God’s authority. It is plain, therefore, that the same unholy ambition for self-exaltation, which possessed Lucifer in heaven, is the inspiration of this apostasy in the church. It was declared by God to be "iniquity" then, the "mystery of iniquity" still. The same unrighteous "traffic" in souls, which Lucifer began in heaven in the inception of his iniquitous scheme, this apostate power employs in the church to draw away disciples from their rightful Lord, by counterfeiting His Sabbath. All these considerations plainly mark this apostasy as a continuation of the great rebellion which began in heaven, the scene of the conflict being transferred to this earth.