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284 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. 17. The Development of the Romano-Babylonian Name of Blasphemy (Continued from page 228) The Name of Blasphemy is the Eye and Mouth, or ecclesiastical element of the Eighth Head. As we have seen, this ecclesiastical con- stituent of the Beast was working upwards towards enthronization over all, anterior to the establishment of the Ten Gothic Horns upon the Roman Habitable. When the citizens and clergy of Rome were seized with a spirit of patriotism and superstitious zeal, A.D. 536, "they furi- ously exclaimed," says Gibbon, "that THE APOSTOLIC THRONE should no longer be profaned by the triumph or toleration of Arianism." Be- lisarius was then at the gates, and the Gothic king in possession of the city. Hence, the people of that day evidently recognized two thrones in contemporary existence within the walls — the Secular Throne of the king of Italy; and the Ecclesiastical Throne of the Archbishop and Pa- triarch of Rome. In Italy, the "Apostolic Throne" was overshadowed by the Secular; and as the Patriarch of Constantinople was in domestic slav- ery under the eye of his master, the Greek emperor, as he is at this day under the Sultan; so the Patriarch of Rome, occupying a distant and dangerous station amidst the Barbarians of the West, was the enthroned slave of his master, the king of Italy; who, while he professed great re- verence for the throne of St. Peter, did not hesitate to chastise his pre- tended successor when convinced of disloyalty to the Gothic throne. But as to this Apostolic throne. Whence its origin; by what author- ity was it established? John was informed that "the Dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and an extensive jurisdiction." This was the con- stitutional source of all the Bishop of Rome's preeminence. He ob- tained no honors, privileges, and immunities from the kings of the Seventh Head. He derived all he possessed from the emperors of the East and of the West; who were the great and powerful patrons by whom he was acknowledged as a god of gods upon earth. His development, however, into an enthroned god was gradual and progressive. In the Canons of the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 450, the Bishop of Rome is styled, "Beatissimus Papa urbis Romae, qui est caput omnium ecclesiarum," i.e. the most blessed Pope of Rome, who is "THE HEAD OF ALL CHURCHES." About five years before this the western em- peror, Valentinian III., and the eastern emperor, Theodosius II., un- itedly published an imperial edict, or law, in which the Bishop of Rome is styled, "DIRECTOR OF UNIVERSAL CHRISTENDOM." In this edict, the pre- sumptuousness of resistance to the Holy See was sharply rebuked, the whole body of bishops bidden to do nothing without his approbation, and the universal clergy to obey him as their ruler. "From this time" EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. 285 (A.D. 445) says Ranke, "the power of the Roman Bishops grew up under protection of the Roman Emperor himself." He was their espe- cial patron, and predicted as such, as we have already seen in what is tes- tified concerning the Dragon in the second verse of this chapter. We come now to that remarkable epoch of four years, extending from A.D. 529 to 533. This belongs to the earliest years of Justinian, who began to reign in Constantinople, A.D. 527. The Catholics of Italy, then subject to the Arian kings of the Seventh Head, were greatly at- tached to him as "worshippers of the Dragon and the Beast," because as Gibbon says, "he trod the narrow path of inflexible and intolerant or- thodoxy. After a schism of thirty-four years, he reconciled the proud and angry spirit of the Roman Pontiff, and spread among the Latins a favorable report of his pious respect for the Apostolic See. The thrones of the East were filled with (Trinitarian) Catholic bishops devoted to his interests, the clergy and monks were gained by his liberality, and the people were taught to pray for their sovereign as the hope and pillar of the true religion." In this epoch of his reign, and by his care, the Roman Civil Jurispru- dence was digested in what Gibbon styles," the immortal works of the Code, the Pandects, and the Institutes." These, "the public reason of the Romans, have been silently or studiously transfused into the domes- tic institutions of Europe; and the laws of Justinian still command the respect or obedience of independent nations." "The Code, Pandects, and Institutes were declared to be the legitimate system of civil jurispru- dence; they alone were admitted in the tribunals, and they alone were taught in the academies of Rome, Constantinople, and Berytus. Justin- ian addressed to the Senate and provinces his Eternal Oracles; and his pride, under the mask of piety, ascribed the consummation of this great design to the support and inspiration of the Deity." In the theological character drawn of him by Gibbon, he says, that he sympathized with his subjects in their superstitious reverence for liv- ing and departed saints: his Code, and more especially his Novels, con- firm and enlarge the privileges of the clergy; and in every dispute bet- ween a monk and a layman he was inclined to pronounce that truth, and innocence, and justice were always on the side of the church. His fancy was amused by the hope or belief of personal inspiration; and that he had secured the patronage of the Virgin, and St. Michael the archangel. Among the titles of imperial greatness, the name of Pious was most pleasing to his ear; to promote the temporal and spiritual interest of the Catholic church was the serious business of his life; and the duty of father of his country was often sacrificed to that of defender of the Catholic faith. Justinian was a bigoted tyrant; and his reign a uniform 286 EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. yet various scene of persecution. He surpassed his indolent predeces- sors, both in the contrivance of his laws against heretics and the rigor of their execution. He assigned three months for the conversion or exile of all such; and if he still connived at their precarious stay, they were dep- rived, under his iron yoke, not only of the benefits of society, but of the common birthright of men and religionists. The residue of pagans, Jews, and Samaritans were equally obnoxious to his theological ire. The last were exterminated with fire and sword; and the once fruitful province of Samaria was converted into a desolate and smoking wilderness. It has been computed that one hundred thousand Roman subjects were extir- pated in this Samaritan war. "But in the creed of Justinian," says the his- torian, "the guilt of murder could not be applied to the slaughter of un- believers: and he piously labored to etablish with fire and sword the unity of the Catholic faith." Such was Justinian, the diademed representative of the Dragon from A.D. 527 to A.D. 565; and of Daniel's Little Horn King, who worked according to his will; to whom the Patriarch of Rome was greatly indebted in the establishment of his self-exaltation "over all cal- led god or sebasma" — an object of veneration. His "policy" was that of an ecclesiastical ruler of the class typified by Constantine the great." "Never prince," says Dupin, "did meddle so much with what concerns the affairs of the Church, nor make so many constitutions and laws upon the subject. He was persuaded that it was the duty of an emperor, and for the good of the State, to have a particular care of the church, to de- fend its faith, to regulate external discipline, and to employ the civil laws and the temporal power to preserve it in order and peace." Although the Bishop of Rome had himself claimed supremacy over all other bishops of the Roman earth, including the Patriarch of Con- stantinople, this claim had not been imperially, or Dragonically, recog- nized, until the publication of a Decretal Epistle from Justinian to the Pope, dated March, A.D. 533. "It is hence evident," says Gothofred, the editor of the Justinian Code, cited by Cunninghame, "that they who suppose Phocas to have been the first who gave imperial recognition to the primacy of the Roman See over that of Constantinople are in error: Justinian having acknowledged it before." "And the King (the Dragon-Power of the Apocalypse) shall do ac- cording to his own will. And in his estate (or empire) he shall honor the god of guardians (the Bishop of Rome): even a god whom his (pagan) fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver, and pre- cious stones and things desired. Thus shall he do in the Bazaars of the Guardians (temples dedicated to fictitious saints and angels) with a foreign god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory" (Dan. EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE. 287 11:36-39). The form of this acknowledgment is found in the aforesaid Decretal Epistle; from the Latin copy of which, as given in Elliot's Notes, I have translated the following extracts for the information of the English reader. "Justinian the Victorious, the Pious, &c, always August, to John the Most Holy Archbishop of the Sacred City Rome, and Patriarch. Rendering honor to the Apostolic Throne and to your Holiness... we hasten to bring to the knowledge of your Holiness all things which pertain to the state of the churches: because we have always a great de- sire to preserve the unity of your Apostolic Throne, and the state of the holy churches of God which hitherto obtains, and unchangeably con- tinues, nothing to the contrary intervening.