We have now reached the final objective in our studies in church history, namely, the synchronizing of the two prophetic predictions of the 1260 years' supremacy of the "little horn" of Daniel 7:25, and the "church in the wilderness" for the same length of time, both beginning 538 A. D. and ending 1798 A. D.
We will divide this survey into two phases. The first will cover the struggle for supremacy by the "little horn;" the second, the persecution of the "church in the wilderness" by the Holy Roman Empire.
(In following these studies in church history, the reader should bear in mind that, owing to limited space, no attempt has been made to write an exhaustive and consecutive narrative of the historical events brought to view. However, sufficient authentic historical extracts have been used to sustain the points under consideration, even though at times the narrative has been broken for the sake of introducing matter essential to the subject under consideration.)
First Phase (From Constantine to Justinian, 321-538)
We have already pointed out in a former study that Constantine was the founder of the "little horn" of Daniel 7, when he united church and state, and his successors, with one exception, pursued the same course in strengthening the union of church and state. Numerous laws were enacted against heresies, as recorded in the Theodosian Code. Sects multiplied during this period of "the church in Pergamos." The Lord reproved this church because of the doctrine of Balaam which was held by the church. They also professed the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, and were admonished to repent or their light would be removed. Neverthless, the Lord says that there were in that church those holding the true faith, and who had not denied the name of the Lord. (See Rev. 2:12-17.) The pressure of worldliness was so great that the true children of God would in the future have to separate themselves from the apostates in the church. This separation took place in the days of Justinian, the Eastern emperor. We will let the historians tell the story. Concerning Justinian, we read:
"For by an edict which he issued to unite all men in one faith, whether Jews, Gentiles, or Christians, such as did not, in the term of three months, embrace and profess the Catholic faith, were declared infamous, and, as such, excluded from all employments, both civil and military, rendered incapable of leaving anything by will, and their estates confiscated, whether real or personal. These were convincing arguments of the truth of the Catholic faith; but many, however, withstood them; and against such as did, the imperial edict was executed with the utmost rigor. Great numbers were driven from their habitations with their wives and children, stripped and naked. Others betook themselves to flight, carrying with them what they could conceal, for their support and maintenance; but they were plundered of the little they had, and many of them inhumanly massacred, by the Catholic peasants, or the soldiery, who guarded the passes."'
Another historian says:
"The reign of Justinian was a uniform yet various scene of persecution; and he appears to have surpassed his indolent predecessors, both in the contrivance of his laws and the rigor 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." 2
This persecution began in the eastern part of the empire, but could not be executed in the west because in Africa the Arian Vandals had virtual control of the Catholic Church, having banished almost all their bishops.
In Italy the Arian Ostrogoths held rule, but they were tolerant, and tried by equitable laws to purge out simony from the church. The Vandals were rooted up in 534 A. D., and the Ostrogoths in 538 A. D. The "little horn" rooted up three horns,—the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths. These nations perished, root and branch, from history, as independent nations. The year 538 A. a marks the supremacy of the "little horn," which is a union of the Catholic Church and the Roman state.
The supremacy could never begin until the three horns were rooted up, so that the laws of persecution enacted by Justinian could be carried out in the West as well as in the East. Never again was the "little horn," in part or as a whole, subject to any foreign power, not even the Lombards, during its twelve hundred and sixty years of supremacy, as we shall presently show.
Second Phase (The Holy Roman Empire and the Persecution of the "Church in the Wilderness," 538-1759)
We read, "To the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent." Rev. 12:14. God made provision for His persecuted church by sending her into the wilderness on eagle's wings to a place where she could dwell for 1260 years, protected from the flood cast out of the dragon's mouth against her. The question arises, Where was that place? Our answer is: The Cottian Alps in northern Italy, the mountains of Piedmont, and the valleys among these mountains. The protection of the Ostrogoths ceasing when they were conquered by Belisarius and later exterminated by Narses, the prophecy says that the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth against the woman. The year 538 A. D. marks the exact time when human, governmental protection for the "woman," or dissenting church, ceased; and then the direct, divine interposition began for the protection of the church.
We have now located this place of refuge for the church. Limited space forbids an adequate dissertation on the history of the Vaudois of Piedmont, hence we shall use the most complete and authentic history of the Vaudois yet published. It is entitled "The Israel of the Alps," by Dr. Alexis Muston, translated by Dr. John Montgomery, and published by Blackie and Son, Glasgow (1858, two-volume edition).
Doctor Muston traces the history of the Vaudois right down to the early times of Christianity on the Italian peninsula. He mentions Ambrose, who occupied the see of Milan for twenty-three years, as being opposed to the practice of the Church of Rome. Ambrose died in 397 A. D. The diocese of Milan was very independent of Rome, especially while under the protection of the Lombards, 568-784. What the Ostrogoths had been to the church in northern Italy prior to 538 A. n., the Lombards were after their invasion of Italy, 568 A. n., right up to their defeat at the hands of Charlemagne, 784 A. D. They had stood as a wall of defense against the inroads of the "little horn" in the diocese of Milan. They were first Arians and later Catholics. However, they did not allow the Catholic clergy to sit in their councils. Although they controlled the greater part of Italy, the Catholic Church was never subject to them. After their defeat by Charlemagne, they were subject to his rule, and became a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Considerably later they organized themselves into a number of small republics, each republic being governed by a consul. These republics formed themselves into a league, usually known as the Lombardic League, or the League of Lombardy, with Milan as the chief city and center of the league.
In the struggle between the emperor Frederick of Barbarossa and the popes, Pope Alexander III was the head of this Lombardic League against the emperor, and so strong was the league that they inflicted a serious defeat on the emperor's forces at Legnano, May 29, 1176. This victory won for the Lombard republics their independence.'
Toward the middle of the thirteenth century we again find the emperor at war with the Lombardic League. This time it is Frederick II. About this struggle another historian says:
"There was bitter irony in the reply of Frederick II, when, in 1236, he was subduing the rebellious Lombards, and he answered the clamor of Gregory IX, who called upon him to transfer his arms to Syria, by pointing out that the Milanese were much worse than Saracens, and their subjugation much more important."'
The Lombards were defeated, but never rooted up by the "little horn." Therefore they were not one of the "three horns" plucked up by the "little horn."
At first the diocese of Milan was a shelter for the fugitives of the church. Says the historian:
"We see her first sheltered in the diocese of Milan, where popery still pursues her. She then retires into the diocese of Verceil, and thither also the hostile pretensions of popery are extended. She takes refuge in the diocese of Turin, but popery still gains upon her; and at last she seeks an asylum in the mountains. We find her in the Vaudois valleys?"
When the great contest, between the emperors and kings of the Holy Roman Empire on the one side and the popes on the other, for the supremacy of the government had been decided in favor of the popes, the Post-Apostolic Catholic Church has been discovered just where God placed her—on eagle's wings. (See Rev. 12:14.) When brought into the light of day, before the public gaze, by a bull of Pope Urban II, in the year 1096 A. n., in which he mentions the Vallis Gyrontana as the focal point of --heresy, these- dissenters- were found to consider themselves the true Catholic Church. They used the Romance language, and Doctor Muston has given both the original and a translation of the most important tenets of their belief. We give a few quotations:
1. "[This is our Catholic faith, which is contained in the articles of faith, and in the sacraments of the holy church.]—Vaudois MS'S. of Geneva, No. 208, fol. 3."
2. "[Take counsel from good priests, for those who are united to the ancient and apostolical church, in the similarity of works of holiness and of faith. But take not counsel from those who separate from the holy church.]—Geneva MS., 207, treatise on repentance."'
The reason for total separation from the Roman Catholic Church is given as follows:
"[The cause of our separation from the ritual unity (unity of the customs) of the Roman Church, and from all things, in whole or part, having resemblance thereto and contrary to the truth, may be viewed in two ways. The one is (a regard to) the truth which saves: the other, to the falsehood which is contrary to salvation.]—MS. of Dublin, class C. V. 25.
The Vaudois were opposed to priestly absolution. Listen to this:
"[He supposes he has made satisfaction for (the guilt of) his sins, because he has entrusted the priest with them. . . . Such is the delusive repentance which priestly absolution engenders.]—De La Penitencia, No. 207, art. ii and
They were commandment keepers. Hear what they say:
"[It is impossible for any in this life to fulfill the commandments of God if they have not faith; and they cannot love Him perfectly, nor with a proper love, if they keep not His commandments.]—Vaudois MSS. of Geneva, No. 208, fol. 2."
Bearing the date 1120 A. D., the MSS. of Cambridge contain a confession of faith and an ancient catechism of the Vaudois. Historians think the date is too early, that it should be in the latter part of the twelfth century, instead of the beginning of it. Be that as it may, the confession adds nothing to the belief of the Vaudois which cannot be substantiated by the ancient manuscripts in the archives of Europe. There are fourteen articles in the confession, which was the appendix to the first one-volume edition of "The Israel of the Alps," Hazlitt's translation. We give here a glimpse of the confession. Art. 1 expresses faith in the twelve articles of the apostles' creed; Art. 2, the trinity; Art. 3, the canonical Scriptures as we have them today; Art. 4, creation; Art. 5, the law; Art. 6, the birth of Christ on time; Art. 7, Christ as Saviour; Art. 8, belief only in the mediation of Christ, and not of the saints; belief in the immortality of the soul; Art. 9 expresses belief in paradise and hell, but repudiates purgatory; Art. 10 opposes vigils of saints, holy water, and masses; Art. 11 proclaims freedom of conscience; Art. 12, belief that sacraments are visible forms of invisible grace, but if not knowing them, can be saved without them; Art. 13 acknowledges two sacraments, viz., baptism and the Lord's supper; Art. 14 expresses loyalty to civil governments. The historian says:
"Thus was the primitive church preserved in the Alps to the very period of the Reformation. The Vaudois are the chain which unites the reformed churches with the first disciples of our Saviour. It is in vain that popery, renegade from evangelical verities, has a thousand times sought to break this chain; it resists all her efforts. Empires have crumbled, dynasties have fallen, but this chain of Scriptural testimony has not been broken, because its strength is not from men, but from God.""
Doctor Muston is not the only authority who has arrived at this conclusion. Doctor Allix, in his book on the Vaudois, traces their history from the very beginning to the fifteenth century in the original Romance language, and gives it with a translation in parallel columns in his book. Doctor Gillis and a number of other well-qualified writers upon that subject, have come to the same conclusion.
Let us now take a look at the Scriptures for the final analysis of the true church as found in Revelation 2. First, the condition of these seven churches in Asia corresponded to the seven periods of time covering the history of the church from Pentecost to the second coming of Christ. Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos reveal to us one church, one organization, although the synagogue of Satan had become located in the church. This period extends from 34 A. D. to 538 A. D. The church of Thyatira is commended for faith, works, patience, and charity, but is reproved because she allowed "that woman Jezebel . . . to teach and to seduce" the church. Jezebel is an appropriate representation of the papal church. A woman is a symbol of a church,—a pure woman, a pure church; an impure woman, an apostate church. Revelation 17:1-6 should be studied with Revelation 2:20 for a thorough understanding of the subject. The union of the church with God is called a marriage ceremony. (See Jer. 3:14; 31:32; Hosea 2:19; Rev. 19:7.) God is represented as a husband to His church, and when Jezebel the queen caused Israel to forsake the Lord and worship Baal, the pagan sun god, the church committed fornication by substituting Baal for Jehovah in joining the pagan religion to the Jewish state. In precisely the same manner the ancient Catholic Church repudiated the Lord, her husband, and committed fornication when she joined herself to the Roman state; and no better symbol could be used than the pagan queen Jezebel to represent the Church of Rome during the 1260-year period of Thyatira, for all the kings of the Holy Roman Empire committed fornication with her in supporting the union of church and state.
God gave Jezebel time to repent of her unholy alliance with the state, but she would not; hence, when we reach the churches of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, there is no mention made of the papal church, whose probation ended as a church, and who was, historically, an organization wounded to death in 1798 A. D. Thyatira is the true church in the wilderness. Jezebel, the papal church, through seduction caused some of her doctrines to be taught in Thyatira, such as the immortality of the soul, and a few others.
Washington, D. C.
1 Bower, "History of the Popes," Vol. I, p. 334. (Bower gives, as usual, his original sources from which he drew his conclusions, and this one is taken from Cassiodorus 1.9. Ep. 15 in footnote.)
2 Gibbon, "Decline and Fall," Chap. 47, par. "Persecutions of Heretics." (Gibbon gives his sources as found in John Malala [torn. 2: p. 63]. These laws were given in the years 527 to 530 and later.)
3 Milman, "Latin Christianity," Vol. IV, pp. 431-438 ; Eobinson, "Readings in European History," Vol. I, pp. 303-309. Ginn and Company, New York.
4 Lea, "History of the Inquisition," Vol. II, p. 194.
5 Muston, "Israel of the Alps," Vol. I, p. 10.
6 ia., pp. 10,11.
7 Id., p. 12.
8 p. 25.
9 p. 21.
10 p. 29.
