s the growth of the papa-cy in the period immediately
following A. D. 313. This was the period of Constantine and
onward, in which the papa-cy itself was distinctly formed. And
history records that in that time, while the other principal bishops
of the Church bore the title of "patriarch," the bishop of Rome
studiously avoided that particular term, as placing him on a level
with other "patriarchs." He always preferred the title of "papa," or
"pope" (Schaff 13 13 ): and this because "patriarch" bespeaks an
oligarchical Church government -- that is government by a few;
whereas "pope" bespeaks a monarchial Church government -- that
is government by one. 14 14 Thus the history, and the word of the
counsel of Christ, unite in marking as the characteristic of that
phase of the Church's experience, the formation of the papa-cy,
and the assertion of the authority of the pope.
19. And thus, beyond all question, the papacy is identified, and
that by the very Word of God itself, as that ecclesiastical State, that
church-kingdom, sketched by Daniel, in chapters 7 and 8;
described by Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 2: and fully traced by John,
in the Revelation. The time covered by this third letter of Christ to
His Church is, by that letter itself, shown to be the time of the
making of the papacy; and to the words of that letter correspond
exactly the facts of the history in the period
7
reaching from the Edict of Milan to the ruin of the empire. The
"falling away," the leaving of the "first love," mentioned in the first
letter, had, in this time of the third letter, culminated in the
formation of the papacy.
20. Now this same course is traced on the side of the apostasy, in
the first three steps of the line of prophecy of the Seven Seals of
the book of Revelation. Under the First Seal there was seen going
forth a white horse (Rev. 6:2), corresponding to the Church in her
first phase -- that of her original purity, her "first love." But the
counsel of Christ in His first letter said that there was even then a
falling away from that first love: and this is signified in the Second
Seal, at the opening of which "there went out another horse that
was red." 1515 And, under the Third Seal "I beheld, and lo a black
horse!" 16 16 Thus the symbols of the seals, passing in three steps
from white to black, mark identically the course of the apostasy in
the three steps, from the first love, in which Christ was all in all, in
the first stage of the Church, to the third stage, in which, "where
Satan's seat" was, and where Satan dwelt, a man was put in the
place of God, in that which professed to be the Church of God,
"passing himself off for God."
21. The immediate effect of this apostasy, which developed the
papacy in the Roman Empire, was the complete ruin of the
Roman Empire. And, this consequence of the apostasy, which is
traced in the first three steps of the two lines of prophecy of the
Seven Churches and the Seven Seals, is sketched in the first four
trumpets of the line of prophecy of the Seven Trumpets. And here
it is -- in the Seven Trumpets -- that national history enters, as an
incident, in this book of Church history; as in the rise of the little
horn amongst the ten, in the book of Daniel, there enters Church
history, as an incident, in that book of national history. The Seven
Trumpets aptly enter here, because the trumpet is the symbol of
war; and it was by the universal war of the floods of barbarians
from the north, that there was swept away that mass of corruption
that was heaped upon the Roman Empire by its union with the
apostate Church, in the making of the papacy. 1717
CHAPTER II - THE VISIGOTHS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
THE Ecclesiastical Empire is the grand center of the history
that we are now to study. Yet with this there are inseparably
connected other empires, and the Ten Kingdoms of Western
Europe. In the nature of the case, these will have to be considered
to a greater or less extent. Therefore, in order that each of these
may have its due attention, as well as that the history of the
Ecclesiastical Empire itself may be followed uninterruptedly and
the more intelligently, it will be best first to sketch the kingdoms of
Western Europe through the Middle Ages.
2. The Ten Kingdoms could not continue in either undisturbed
or undisturbing relations, even among themselves. As ever in
human history from the day of Nimrod, the desire to enlarge
dominion, the ambition for empire, was the chief characteristic,
the ruling passion, among these.
3. The first to make their power predominant among the Ten
Kingdoms was the Visigoths. It will be remembered 181 that under
Wallia the Visigoths as early as A. D. 419 had gained a permanent
seat in Southwestern Gaul, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Bay
of Biscay, and from the River Loire to the River Rhone, with their
capital at Toulouse. There the newly established kingdom
"gradually acquired strength and maturity." "After the death of
Wallia [A. D. 419], the Gothic scepter devolved to Theodoric, the
son of the great Alaric; and his prosperous reign of more than
thirty years [A. D. 419-451] over a turbulent people, may be
allowed to prove that his prudence was supported by uncommon
vigor, both of mind and body. Impatient of his narrow limits,
Theodoric aspired to the possession of Arles, the wealthy seat of
government and commerce; but" this enterprise failed.
4. "Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, appears to have deserved
the
9
love of his subjects, the confidence of his allies, and the esteem of
mankind. His throne was surrounded by six valiant sons, who were
educated with equal care in the exercises of the Barbarian camp,
and in those of the Gallic schools: from the study of Roman
jurisprudence they acquired the theory, at least, of law and justice."
"The two daughters of the Gothic king were given in marriage to
the eldest sons of the kings of the Suevi and of the Vandals, who
reigned in Spain and Africa." -- Gibbon. 192 This domestic alliance
with the house of the king of the Vandals was fraught with fa
