save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. The connexion and union between imperial and papal Rome form the subject of the vision, and they are not divided at its close. Letters being equivalent to figures, Romiith, the Roman, (agreeing with either beast or kingdom,) Lateinos, the Latin, (the number of a man,) and Apostates, apostate, the Roman kingdom, the Latin apostate-contain each the precise number six hundred sixty and six,*-the name, the number, and the mark of the beast. Such, in past history, is the Roman empire and papal power-giving, we apprehend, no vague or ambiguous commentary to the words of the prophet. The significancy, at least, of the first and second beast, may not be held doubtful. But the whole of their history may not yet be told, nor the whole or the prophecy be developed. The great red dragon, the symbol of the Roman empire as the enemy of the church, reappears at the close of the preceding vision. The witnesses have also to be killed. And in the judgment against the papacy, (chap. xvii.) its character and power, as well as fate, together with those of the empire, are yet more fully defined; the tenhorned beast, rising at last out of the bottomless pit and going into perdition, is again upon the scene. And things noted in scripture, and perhaps, not to be expounded yet, may possibly be reserved as the signs of other times. And therefore it may remain for that time to disclose an infinitely clearer illustration of the last form of government of imperial Rome, (though now, it is not,) than all human ingenuity can devise. Having thus glanced respectively, in brief review, * See Evidence of Prophecy, Appen. iii. at those separate visions which John saw, when, after having delineated the political history of the world down to the close of the seven thunders, it was told him by the angel that he must prophesy again, and when, in the renewed prophesying, he was commanded to measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that worship therein, we may here, before entering on the consideration of a new series of predictions, give heed to the time which, in these visions, is measured and thrice repeated by the prophet, in precise accordance with the same prophetic period, which is also twice announced by Daniel. There are other periods, not yet expired, connected with that of the twelve hundred and sixty years, during which the various kingdoms into which the Roman empire was subdivided, was given into the hands of the papacy. And it is not, perhaps, yet possible to determine with absolute precision, the commencement or termination of that period. But in respect to the time when religious persecution (if so sacrilegious a term may be used) was sanctioned and established in the church by civil authority, when he that letted had been taken out of the way, and the pope's authority was submissively deferred to, by the Roman emperor then reigning at Constantinople, as that of the head of the church, no era in history seems to be more marked, than that of the age of Justinian, whether we look into the pages of the ecclesiastical or civil historian. "The emperor Justinian," says Dupin, "may be justly ranked among ecclesiastical writers, for NEVER prince did meddle so much with what concerns the affairs of the church, nor make so many constitutions and laws upon this 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 defend its faith, to regulate external discipline, and to employ the civil laws and the temporal power to preserve in it order and peace. Upon this account he did not only make a collection of the laws made by the princes, his predecessors, about ecclesiastical discipline, but he added many to them."* "Justinian," says Gibbon, in summing up his character and reign," has been already seen in the various lights of a prince, a conqueror, and a lawgiver: the theologian still remains, and it affords an unfavourable prejudice, that his theology should form a very prominent feature of his portrait. The sovereign sympathized with his subjects in their superstitious reverence for living and departed saints; his code, and more especially his novels, confirm and enlarge the pri vileges of the clergy; and in every dispute between the monk and the layman, the partial judge was inclined to pronounce that truth, and innocence, and justice are always on the side of the church. In his public and private devotions, the emperor was assiduous and exemplary: his prayers, vigils, and fasts displayed the austere penance of a monk, his fancy was amused by the hope, or belief, of personal inspiration; he had secured the patronage of the virgin, and St. Michael the archangel; and his recovery from a dangerous disease was ascribed to the miraculous succour of the holy martyrs Cosmos and Damian. The capital and the provinces of the east were decorated with the monuments of his religion; and, though the far greater part of these costly structures may be attributed to his taste or ostentation, the zeal of the royal architect was probably quickened by a genuine sense of love and gratitude towards his invisible benefactors. 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 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 faith. While the barbarians invaded the provinces, while the victorious legions marched under the banners of Bellisarius and Narses, the successor of Trajan, unknown to the camp, was content to vanquish at the head of a synod. "Toleration was not the virtue of the times, and indulgence to rebels has seldom been the virtue of princes. But when the prince descends to the narrow and peevish character of a disputant, he is easily provoked to supply the defect of argument by the plenitude of power, and to chastise without mercy the perverse blindness of those who wilfully shut their eyes against the light of demonstration. The reign of Justinian was an uniform yet various scene of PERSECUTION; *Cent. 6. vol. v. p. 37. and he appears to have surpassed his indolent predecessors, both in the contrivance of his laws and rigour of their EXECUTION. The insufficient term of three months was assigned for the conversion or exile of all heretics; and if he still connived at their precarious stay, they were deprived, under his iron yoke, not only of the benefits of society, but of the common birthright of men and Christians." From this evidence, it appears that never did prince meddle so much with the affairs of the church, as did the Emperor Justinian; that he esteemed it a duty to defend the faith of the church, and to employ the civil laws and temporal power; that he confirmed and enlarged the privileges of the clergy; and that his reign was an uniform yet various scene of persecution, &c. Such was the man, who, perhaps more than any other, may be said to have given the church into the hands of the pope. Though more ambitious of vanquishing at the head of a synod than at the head of an army, he owned and maintained the supremacy of the pope, expressed his devotion to the Roman see, and subjected and united to his holiness all the priests of the whole east. But the supremacy of the pope was not then confined to the east. Under the same date, in the age of Justinian, it is recorded by Gibbon, "The perseverance of the popes insensibly transferred to their adversaries the appellation of schismatics; the Illyrian, African, and Italian churches were oppressed by the civil and ecclesiastical powers, not without some effort of military force; the distant barbarians TRANSCRIBED THE CREED OF THE VATICAN."+ the In the answer of the pope to the epistle of Justinian, previously quoted, he declares that, among virtues of the emperor, "one shines as a star, his reverence for the apostolic chair, to which he has subjected and united all the churches, it being truly the * Gibbon's Hist. vol. viii. pp. 321-324. head of all." Though the emperor's epistle was dated in 533, yet in it he states, that he not only did, but always had rendered honour to the apostolic chair, and honoured his holiness as a father. Here we Would only submit a few historical facts and dates to the reader, and leave it to his determination whether there be not a rational presumption that the twelve hundred and sixty years, during which period the church was given into the hands of the pope, did not commence in the reign of Justinian, while their termination was correspondingly marked by the French Revolution, which, alike rejecting every form of faith, broke the charm by which popery had spell-bound the nations, when infidelity, armed with power, first assumed an active form, and, becoming the scourge of superstition, unconsciously avenged the blood of the saints, and, while disavowing every form of faith, proclaimed religious toleration, unknown among Roman Catholics since the days of Justinian. Justinian ascended the imperial throne in the year 527. In the year 529 the Code of Justinian was published, and the order of Benedictine monks, afterwards the most extensive and influential in Christendom, was instituted. The new CODE of Justinian was honoured with his name, and confirmed by his royal signature; authentic transcripts were multiplied by the pens of notaries and scribes; they were transmitted to the magistrates of the European, the Asiatic, and afterwards the African provinces; and "the law of the empire was proclaimed on solemn festivals at the doors of churches."* Twelve hundred and sixty years subsequently to the first publication of the Code of Justinian, the French Revolution began in 1789, and before the close of that year it was decreed "that the estates of the church were at the disposal of the nation."+ * Gibbon's Hist. vol. viii. p. 38, c. 44. |