OR, VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS—BY GEO. STORRS.
We are now prepared for the inquiry—who, or what is the little horn here spoken of? We will inquire, 1st. What is the character of this horn? 1. It makes war with the saints. 2. It speaks great words against the Most High. Let us see if we can find a description of the same character elsewhere in the Bible. See Rev. xiii, 6, 7; "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them;" Daniel says, "he prevailed against them." Now see 2 Thess. ii, 3, 4: "That man of sin be revealed, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, &c. Can there be any doubt of the identity of the character? Daniel's "little horn," Paul's "man of sin," and John's "blasphemous beast," are clearly identified. 2d. Let us inquire, has a power of this description arisen? It must be admitted that there has; and that power is Papacy. The titles the Popes have assumed, of "Most Holy Lord" and their pretentions to pardon sin, even before its commission, if we had nothing else, sufficiently establishes the blasphemous character of that power. Pope Innocent III, writes—"He [Christ] hath set one man over the world, him whom he hath appointed his vicar on earth; 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, that there may be one fold and one shepherd.—Again, Pope Gregory VII, says, "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 His word is not to be repealed by any one. It is to be repealed by himself alone. He is to be judged by none. The church of Rome has never erred; and the Scriptures testify it never shall err." Surely here is a power diverse from all others, and proud and blasphemous enough to answer the character of the little horn. 3d. Let us now inquire, When this little horn arose? Or, which is the same thing, When did Papacy arise? There has been a difference of opinion on that question. But it appears to me the question is not one so difficult to settle now as in former years. First, then—it did not arise before the ten horns. Hence it did not arise before A. D. 483, when the tenth horn came up. It did not arise until three of the first horns fell, or were plucked up. It did not come up after that, because it came up among the ten horns, and three of those horns fell before it. It must then have come up or been established at the identical point where the third horn fell. If that point can be settled, it seems to me there can be no reasonable doubt as to the time Papacy arose. In the year of our Lord 493, the Heruli in Rome and Italy were conquered by the Ostrogoths. In 534, the Vandals, who were under Arian influence, were conquered by the Greeks, for the purpose of establishing the supremacy of the Catholics. The Ostrogoths, who held possession of Rome, were under an Arian monarch, who was an enemy to the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome; hence, before the decree of Justinian, (a Greek emperor at Constantinople,) could be carried into effect, by which he had constituted the Bishop of Rome head of all the churches, the Ostrogoths must be plucked up. This conquest was effected by Justinian's army in the month of March, 538; at which time, the Ostrogoths, who had retired without the city, and besieged it in their turn, raised the siege and retired, leaving the Greeks in possession of the city; thus the third horn was plucked before Papacy, and for the express purpose too of establishing that power. [See Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.] How exactly do the facts answer to the prophecy. I will here introduce the letter of Justinian to the Bishop of Rome, of A. D. 533: "Justinian, pious, fortunate, renowned, triumphant, emperor, consul, &c., to John, the most holy Archbishop of our city of Rome, and patriarch:
"Rendering honor to the apostolic see, and to your holiness, (as always was and is our desire,) and, as it becomes us, honoring your blessedness as a father, we have laid without delay before the notice of your holiness all things pertaining to the state of the church. Since it has always been our earnest study to preserve the unity of your holy see, and the state of the holy churches of God, which has hitherto obtained, and will remain, without any interfering opposition; therefore we hasten to subject, and to unite to your holiness, all the priests of the whole East. As to the matters which are presently agitated, although clear and undoubted, and, according to the doctrine of your apostolic see, held assuredly resolved and decided by all priests, we have yet deemed it necessary to lay them before your holiness. Nor do we suffer anything which belongs to the state of the church, however manifest and undoubted, that is agitated, to pass without the knowledge of your holiness, who are the head of all the holy churches. For in all things (as had been said or resolved) we are prompt to increase the honor and authority of your see." "The authenticity of the title," says Mr. Croley, "receives unanswerable proof from the edicts of the 'Novellæ' of the Justinian code. The preamble of the 9th, states, 'that as the elder Rome was the founder of the laws; so was it not to be questioned, that in her was the supremacy of the pontificate.' The 131st, on the Ecclesiastical Titles and privileges, chapter ii., states: 'We therefore decree that the most holy Pope of the elder Rome is the first of all the priesthood, and that the most blessed archbishop of Constantinople, the new Rome, shall hold the second rank, after the holy apostolic chair of the elder Rome.'"—Croley, pp. 114, 115. Some suppose that Phocas, A. D. 606, by applying the title "universal Bishop" to the Pope, first gave him his supremacy; but this cannot be, for it does not agree with the prophecy that three of the first horns were to be plucked up before it, as it came up, and this happened more than half a century before.—Again, Mr. Croley, a writer of the Church of England, says—"The highest authorities among the civilians and annalists of Rome spurn the idea that Phocas was the founder of the supremacy of Rome; they ascend to Justinian, as the only legitimate source, and rightly date the title from the memorable year 533." Imperial Rome fell about A. D. 475, and was in the hands of the barbarians. Thus it continued till the conquest of Rome by Belisarius, Justinian's general, 536 to 538, when the Ostrogoths left it in possession of the Greek emperor, March, 538. Thus the way was open for the dragon to give the beast his power, and his seat, and great authority. Rev. xiii, 2.—This fact, from Revelation, also, settles the point that the Pope did not receive his power from Clovis, king of France. It was the dragon that gave him his seat, Rome, his power, as head of the churches. The Roman emperors had stood at the head of the churches with power to make important decisions for the church—it is now transferred to the Pope: and he has given him, also, great authority, under the Justinian code of laws, to judge and punish heretics. 4th. The next point we want to settle is, the length of time this power was to continue. Daniel says, "a time, times, and the dividing of time." The Revelator says, [Chap. xiii, 5, "Power was given unto him to continue 42 months." He was to make war upon the saints—the church; and in Rev. xii, 6, we are told, the woman, the church, fled into the wilderness 1260 days; and at the 14th verse, that it was for "a time, and times, and half a time." Here then we have the period of the continuance of this power given us in three forms of expression, which settles the point that the time, times, and dividing of time is 42 months, or 1260 prophetic days or years. 5th. Did the continuance of papal dominion, as a horn of the beast, cease at the end of that period?—1260 years from 538 would extend to 1798. Did any-thing transpire that year to justify the belief that the dominion of Papacy was taken away that year? It is a historical fact, that, on Feb. 10th, 1798, Berthier, a French general, entered the city of Rome and took it. On the 15th of the same month the Pope was taken prisoner and shut up in the Vatican. The Papal governments, which had continued from the time of Justinian, was abolished, and a republican form of154government given to Rome. The Pope was carried captive to France, where he died in 1799. Thus, he that led others into captivity, went into captivity; and he who killed with the sword, those he was pleased to call heretics, was himself killed [subdued] with the sword; i.e., his dominion was taken away by war. See Rev. xiii, 10. Verse 26: "but the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, [he is cut off from being a horn on the beast, or deprived of his civil power, so that he can no longer wield the sword against dissenters] to consume and destroy it unto the end." See 2 Thess. ii, 8: Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming to judge the world in the burning day, when the beast and false prophet will be cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone; then the little horn will be destroyed. Some tell us the civil power of Papacy is not taken away. That the Pope was restored, or a new one chosen, is admitted, and that he may have some civil power in Italy is not denied. But that he has power to depose kings and put to death the saints now, is denied. When he was a horn on the beast, he deposed kings at pleasure, for centuries, and silenced heretics by the flame, the rack, prison, and the sword. Can he do it now? No. Nor has he been able to do it since 1798—since that time the church is out of the wilderness; and Papacy is compelled to tolerate Protestantism. Hear the Pope himself on that subject. Here is his letter, dated Sept., 1840, at Rome. Read it, and see if you think Papacy is now a horn on the beast, or is possessed of power to war against the saints unto death, as formerly. "ENCYLLICAL LETTER OF OUR MOST HOLY LORD GREGORY XVI, by Divine Providence Pope, to all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops.
GREGORY XVI. POPE.
"Venerable Brethren,—Health and the apostolic Benediction.
"You will know, Venerable Brothers, how great are the calamities with which the Catholic Church is beset on all sides in this most sorrowful age, and how pitifully she is afflicted. You know by what a deluge of errors of every kind, and with what unbridled audacity of the erroneous, our Holy Religion is attacked, and how cunningly and by what frauds, heretics and infidels are endeavoring to pervert the hearts and minds of the faithful. In a word, you know there is almost no kind of effort or machination which is not employed, to overthrow, from its deepest foundations, if it were possible, the immovable edifice of the Holy City.
"Indeed, are we not, (Oh, how shameful!) compelled to see the most crafty enemies of the truth, ranging far and wide with impunity; not only attacking religion with ridicule, the church with contumely, and Catholics with insults and slander, but even entering into cities and towns, establishing schools of error and impiety, publishing in print the poison of their doctrines, skilfully concealed under the deceitful veil of the natural sciences and new discoveries, and even penetrating into the cottages of the poor, traveling through rural districts, and insinuating themselves into familiar acquaintance with the lowest of the people and with the farmers! Thus they leave no means unattempted, whether by corrupt Bibles in the language of the people, or pestiferous news papers and other little publications, or caviling conversation, or pretended charity, or, finally, by the gift of money, to allure ignorant people, and especially youth, into their nets, and induce them to desert the Catholic faith.
"We refer to facts, Venerable Brethren, which not only are known to you, but of which you are witnesses; even you, who, though you mourn, and, as your pastoral duty requires, are by no means silent, are yet compelled to tolerate in your diocese these aforesaid propagators of heresy and infidelity; these shameless preachers, who, while they walk in sheep's clothing," "but inwardly are ravening wolves, cease not to lay in wait for the flock and tear it in pieces. Why should we say more? There is now scarcely a barbarous region in the universal world, to which the well known Central Boards of the heretics and unbelievers have not, regardless of expense, sent out their explorers and emissaries, who either insidiously, or openly and in concert, making war upon the Catholic religion, its pastors and its ministers, tear the faithful out of the bosom of the church, and intercept her approach to the infidels.
"Hence it is easy to conceive the state of anguish into which our soul is plunged day and night, as we, being charged with the superintendence of the whole fold of Jesus Christ, and the care of all the churches, must give account for his sheep to the Divine Prince of Pastors. And we have thought fit, Venerable Brethren, to recall to your minds by our present letter the causes of those troubles which are common to us and you, that you may more attentively consider how important it is to the church, that all holy priests should endeavor, with redoubled zeal, and with united labors, and with every kind of efforts, to repel the attacks of the raging foes of religion, to turn back their weapons, and to forewarn and fortify the subtle blandishments which they often use. This, as you know, we have been careful to do at every opportunity; nor shall we cease to do it; as we also are not ignorant that you have always done it hitherto, and confidently trust that you will do hereafter with still more earnest zeal.
"Given at Rome, at St. Mary the Greater, on the 18th of the Kalends of September, of the year 1840, the tenth of our pontificate.
GREGORY XVI. POPE." You see what is to come next after the fall of the little horn.
Now let us see whereabouts we are in the prophetic chain. Have we passed the Lion—Babylon? Yes. Have we gone by the Bear with three ribs in his mouth? Yes. Has the sign of the Leopard with four wings of a fowl and four heads been passed?—It has. The dreadful and terrible beast, with ten horns,—has he been seen? Yes. Have we got past the little horn having eyes like the eyes of a man?—That is among the things numbered with the past.—How far beyond it are we? Forty five years, nearly. What comes next? The judgment, followed by the everlasting kingdom of God. How far off is that?—That question I shall answer, hereafter, definitely. But one thing is certain; it cannot be at a great distance. It is the next prophetic event. Awake, ye slumbering virgins? "Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him." No time to sleep now. The seventh angel is preparing to sound. "Awake, ye dead!" will soon thunder through the skies.—Happy day to those that are waiting. Awful day to those who are saying—"My Lord delayeth his coming." Awake—Awake!!